Illustrating Absurdity: The Occupy Wall Street Expanded Edition
As our own village idiot, Mayor Villiaragosa, passed out 100 ponchos to rain-soaked protestors last week, and City Councilmember Richard Alarcon rides this wave of unrest by pimping his "responsible banking" ordinance, it's clear that the OccupyLA movement has been fully embraced by our supposed city leaders. You know, the ones that are tasked with balancing our budget shortfall and and bringing back jobs and industry to Los Angeles. How's that working for them? We already know how it's working for us.
Well, the lovefest may be coming to a screeching halt: Los Angeles is broke, and complying with the rabble's demands of cracking down on banks could cost at least $58 million. A pull quote on the potential "damage" of sticking it to the Man:
"Last week, lawmakers asked city analysts to continue developing a plan to use the city's financial heft to punish misbehaving financial institutions. On Tuesday, City Administrative Officer Miguel Santana issued a dire warning: Such a move could cost the city at least $58 million.
"Severing agreements with major lenders could trigger sizable termination fees and lead to higher interest rates, Santana said. That could in turn complicate financing for an array of city initiatives, from replacing deteriorating sewers to rebuilding part of the Convention Center to make way for an NFL football stadium, he said."
Official's embrace of OccupyLA loosens a bit over fiscal issue.
Hell, just tell Angeleans about the kabosh on NFL football in L.A. and I betcha the sports fans would pour into the streets and kick the occupiers out!
And the Kabuki theater is now being peddled to children as education. This just in from the Los Angeles Times.
"The fifth- through eighth-grade students from Sequoyah, a private school in Pasadena, munched on their lunches while protesters engaged them in discourse about how democracy works."
Students visit OccupyLA for a lesson in democracy.
And this gem came from one of the teachers who organized the field trip:
"'My goal as a teacher, regardless of my own personal beliefs, is to expose the students to as many viewpoints as possible,' Barkataki said as she watched her students explore the Occupy L.A. encampment. 'We're here to get first-hand experience.'"
I thought influencing with viewpoints was the role of the parent, and the teacher's job was to teach them the Three Rs? I wonder how much any of these children are learning about the the Revolutionary War and the United States Constitution? Johnny don't know much about history, but he sure knows how to protest!
LA Weekly at its snarky best, keeps it real. Their commentary on the first of the OccupyLA protests:
"The turnout was less than rousing:
The blog LA Activist says about 70 protesters showed up Saturday outside City Hall. And if you're in L.A., class warfare is really about Trader Joe's vs. Whole Foods (we kid)."
They may kid, but I do not. That statement is exactly on the money. It's very hard to take a movement seriously that offers "Yoga with Raquel" at their medical tent as part of "wellness".
As far as I'm concerned, the supposed 99 percenters of OccupyLA would be more effective if they marched due west and parked their protest at the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power building. LADWP holds every Angelean hostage with their rate increases to support massive CEO salary and lactation classes for employees.
Apparently Steven Crowder is finding the same "lack of seriousness" in the Occupy Dallas bunch, who were on, wait for this... lunch break! when he arrived to interview them. He had great fun talking to some 9/11 Truthers and LaRouchites, then makes an effort to comprehend what is truly incomprehensible:
http://youtu.be/e84L-Xsrxmg.
And from the New York Zuccotti Park crowd, this self-described 99 percenter has been outed as part of the 1 percent. It seems Edward T. Hall III is a Columbia graduate student and a trust fund baby --so I'm sure he doesn't carry any student loan debt. Wish I could say the same.
Mr. Hall appears to be starving... for attention. Language alert here:
http://youtu.be/oSo-MEiMbac
The pushback over all this silliness gets little to no attention from the L.A. Times or any other mainstream media outlet. But thankfully, it does exist.
Tumblr has a great blog, We Are The 53%, for all of us who actually pay taxes so the supposed 99 percent can whine, protest, clog streets, and stink up parks and city property.
And Heather Mac Donald pulls no punches in her City Journal article, "Get A Job":
"There are times when mass protest carries an undeniable dignity and grows out of an unbearable necessity; the civil rights marches and sit-ins in the 1950s South were one of those moments. But our culture’s glamorization of protest—most celebrated when the message is a leftist one—scants the unsung virtues of showing up and doing your job."
What a concept. One that is lost in the rush to legitimize this illegitimate movement.