Get of my lawn!

[sandwichwarrior.livejournal.com]

This deserves attention...

In my mind this protest sets a dangerous precedent. In essence the SEIU has declared banker's homes, and families to be fair game. Do they not see how this could go wrong?

What would have happened if a neighbor, or worse a member of the banker's family, had decided to confront the protesters a la Gran Torino

In my previous post I bemoaned the "militarization" of civil authority. Now I'm going to go the other way and ask, where was the damn calvary?

There is a line in Slaughterhouse 5 that I have used in my posts about Iraq that goes "Those who have seen the elephant rarely go looking for it."

"Seeing the elephant" is a euphimism for combat, the idea being that any veteran "worth his salt" will be anti-war.

That's all well and good for physical warfare but what about class warfare?

Do we really want to find out?

Comments

[spaz-own-joo.livejournal.com]

In essence the SEIU has declared banker's homes, and families to be fair game.

Not that I necessarily disagree, but the protestors' homes have been 'fair game' for a good long while now.

[badlydrawnjeff.livejournal.com]

How so?

[ygrii-blop.livejournal.com]

Let the rich bastards reap what they have sown.

Reaping the whirlwind works both ways.

[sandwichwarrior.livejournal.com]

Hypothetical...

What happens if a protester had decided to torch the house?
or more likely...
If the Banker's teenage son had paniced, grabs dad's shotgun, and fired into the crowd?

Are you prepared to see turn "Class Warfare" into "Open Warfare", I know I'm not.

One of the nice things about the US that most people(who haven't spent much time outside of it) fail to appreciate is how "nice" our political disputes are. Sure we have more than our fair share of quackery but at least no one is getting set on fire (http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20100505/wl_time/08599198736800).

[silver-chipmunk.livejournal.com]

I don't see anything in that article that says there was any damage done; did I miss something? Because if not, I can't see how you can say that their homes were "fair game" for anything. As a protest site, why not? I know that protests have been held outside of people's homes that the protestors thought were responsable for whatever they were protesting for decades. I remember it being done in the '60s This is not new.

[badlydrawnjeff.livejournal.com]

It's one thing to protest in the street. It's entirely another to go up on their property, up on their porch...

[blorky.livejournal.com]

I'd have a shred of respect for these protesters if they were presenting some productive plan to rein in the excesses of the banks/lobbyists they're protesting. From the sound of it, the protests are juvenile exercises in making themselves feel better.

[spaz-own-joo.livejournal.com]

yeah, I far prefer the shouting mobs which can hammer out detailed economic policy in the streets.

Lots of productive plans have been proposed, and I don't think this protest needs to commit itself to a particular one, in order to call attention to the problem.

torches and pitchforks

[debergerac.livejournal.com]

where were all these angry people when bush was president? they must be racists.

Re: torches and pitchforks

[spaz-own-joo.livejournal.com]

Still protesting, as far as I know. This isn't an especially new cause.

[3fgburner.livejournal.com]

The article says they were on his lawn. That's criminal trespass. Now, being in DC, he's kind of stuck without the wherewithal to defend himself. If it were my place (I live in VA), I'd decide to water my lawn. And then maybe fertilize it. With a slurry of composted manure, from a hose.

Bet they wouldn't stick around. Or, at any rate, they'd stay on the sidewalk and street.

Is it trespassing when the police drive you?

[verytwistedmind.livejournal.com]

A caravan of SEIU buses receive a Metropolitan (D.C.) Police Department escort to a private home in Maryland where the protesters, from all appearances, violate Montgomery County law by engaging in a stationary protest. The Montgomery County police were not informed by their cross-jurisdictional colleagues of the impending, unusually large protest pending in their jurisdiction.
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2010/05/dc_police_escort_seiu_thugs_to.html

[telemann.livejournal.com]

Sucks to be a banker, huh?

[badlydrawnjeff.livejournal.com]

I'm going to take a bunch of people and go onto Alan Grayson's lawn and start protesting his lunacy. You cool with that?

[verytwistedmind.livejournal.com]

Sucks to be the child of a banker too apparently.

[meus-ovatio.livejournal.com]

I miss the elephant.

[sandwichwarrior.livejournal.com]

???

The real story

[verytwistedmind.livejournal.com]

Actually, Mr. Baer was away from his home and he returned home after his teenage son called him. Mr. Baer did say as he was walking up to his home that he needed to get inside his home to be with his son who was frightened and upset over what was going on outside

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/16/class-warfare-hundreds-pr_n_578015.html

Headline should read: Crazy liberal protesters strike fear into teenage boy.

Re: The real story

[debergerac.livejournal.com]

irony is when union lobbyists are protesting bank lobbyists.

16 Anti-Abortion Protesters Arrested

[verytwistedmind.livejournal.com]

16 Anti-Abortion Protesters Arrested in San Jose
Rally: Picketers taking part in Operation Rescue's nationwide effort are accused of targeting a doctor's home.

http://articles.latimes.com/1993-07-11/news/mn-12212_1_operation-rescue
SAN JOSE — Challenging a new law enacted to protect clinic workers, 16 anti-abortion protesters were arrested Saturday on charges of picketing outside the home of a doctor as Operation Rescue gears up its nationwide summer offensive.

Re: 16 Anti-Abortion Protesters Arrested

[geezer-also.livejournal.com]

Yeah, but that was different.....not sure how, but it must have been.

(Thanks for the link. This has happened several times with the protesting of abortion Doctors and wanted to mention it, but couldn't provide a link)

(personal aside: We finally looked into AMAC, actually my wife did, she's the more political activist, apparently it was conservative enough for her cuz we signed up :D)

[tridus.livejournal.com]

Well, on the upside at least they're not murdering people who happen to be in banks they choose to set on fire, like the Greeks are doing.

But yes, I'm not fond of this type of protest. Do they think they'll win support for their cause by going around scaring the children of bankers? Not that I really supported them in the first place, after reading this in the article:

"Bank of America came to the homes of everyday Americans when you spread predatory loans in neighborhoods across, the country, when you financed payday-lending storefronts, when your reckless behavior sent the economy to the brink of disaster, and when your bank-owned properties littered neighborhoods from coast to coast," said a letter the group asked Baer to deliver to CEO Brian Moynihan. "You've created a historic mess and have been unreceptive to very polite, very formal and very consistent requests to fix the problems you helped create."

Were the banks out there forcing homes on people who couldn't possibly afford them? The truth is that there's pleanty of blame to go around here, and not all of it is on the bankers. People need to look in the mirror for their part of the problem.

[reality-hammer.livejournal.com]

There's a reason they didn't try that bullshit in Texas.

[sandwichwarrior.livejournal.com]

True but they were DC Metro, wich means they were outside thier jurisdiction likewise those reports seem to indicate that there were only two cars wich means 4 cops max. There's not much they could have done had the crowd turned ugly.

Fortunatly it didn't.

[anfalicious.livejournal.com]

As someone who is vocal in his support for mass protests, I have to say that I don't like this at all. If this becomes a trend, it ends badly.

[sandwichwarrior.livejournal.com]

^ Exactly what I was thinking.

[eracerhead.livejournal.com]

One has to bring the protest to the privileged because the privileged have the privilege of ignoring it.

If bank regulators aren't going to do their job on the people's behalf, the people will respond with tar and feathers. People in power often need to be reminded of this; it's humbling.

[sandwichwarrior.livejournal.com]

First off I agree with you on principal. However, I find the fact that they went onto his porch and (depending on who you ask) attempted to gain entry to the house troubling.

Had the protest stayed on the street or even in the driveway, I would not be so concerned. but as anfalicious pointed it out, if this becomes a trend it will end badly.

What comes into my head as I read this:

[ghoststrider.livejournal.com]

They're just asking to get shot.

[kinvore.livejournal.com]

Let's not forget, the tree of liberty and the blood of tyrants and all that.