You Say You Want A Revolution?

"Congress shall make no law...abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

This age seems to have brought out the crazies. The above twitter...tweet, or whatever, seems fairly straightforward. Yet, contacted by press for details, the author retreated most riki tik, explaining that he was, in fact, commenting on how "other" revolutions have expressed themselves. He was just a "rebelrouser [sic] trying to cause a stink and clearly it worked.”
Oh.

The utter recklessness of the rhetoric emerging from the Occupy Movement is astonishing. It isn't enough to write this kind of crap off as a few "crazies" with time on their hands and a laptop on a TV tray in their mom's basement. The Occupy Movement is about the maelstrom of free expression, of fighting oppression by the 1% by getting together, standing strong and.... Having a multitude of personal, conflicting messages, one being as relevant as the next, I suppose.

So, Rusty Braxton of Oviedo, FL - come on up to Colorado. Spring is here, the trees are budding and I'd love to discuss your notion that I and a couple of my friends should die so your cause can be taken seriously.

Feeding the Crocodile

Winston Churchill said, “An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last.” Perhaps, where the various occupy movements are concerned we have met that crocodile.

Last week, the mayor of Oakland gave city employees the day off to participate in the “Occupy” rallies. In return, she got a riot. Property damage, injuries, the Port of Oakland shut down. The only city employees not granted the opportunity to bite the hand that gorges? The police.

What was she thinking? Maybe, to quote Young Frankenstein’s Inspector Kemp, “A riot is an ugly thing. And it’s just about time we had one!” Maybe she figured to get out ahead, to appear hip and fashionable when the inevitable happened. Who knows.

Imagine yourself a police officer, on duty as a part of a team charged with protecting your city from the inevitable outcome of an out-of-control mob. Imagine further that portions of the horde throwing things at you are fellow city employees. You know some officers are going to be injured;