What if they called a war protest and no one came?

During the 1960s, there was a pacificist saying, "What if they called a war and no one came?"

In the entire course of human history, that has not happened.

But on Chicago's Near West Side today, the Chicago Police found out what happens when a war protest is called, and then canceled, and no one shows up. You get hundreds of cops--many of them in riot gear--standing around looking for something to do. What else occurs? A lot of taxpayer money is wasted and there's a lot of finger pointing.

Months ago, the Illinois Anti-War Coalition requested a permit for a rally to be held today in the Washington Square neighborhood. So the police figured there would be a protest.

From ABC 7 Chicago:

The organizer of the protest, John Beacham, says his group instead decided to pass out anti-war flyers throughout neighborhoods. He says the mix up is the city's fault.

"We never got a permit from the city," said John Beacham, Illinois Anti-War Coalition.

The police showed us what they say is the permit -- approved months ago -- with John Beacham's name right at the top.

"I know nothing about that. We applied for a permit and there was never any confirmation of the permit from the city and a long time ago we decided not to have a demonstration," said Beacham.

Beacham made a ridiculous claim that the Chicago Police should've known the rally was cancelled, stating "The city is usually spying on us and watching us carefully, so we just figured they understood there wasn't a demonstration today."

There's plenty of idiocy to go around with this story.

Technorati tags: anti-war Activism Chicago Illinois The Left humor