Chicago was host to the NATO Summit this week-end. It was preceded by a week of protests from
various groups. Each day had a
theme. Strangely, the themes had
precious little to do with NATO itself.
But beating the drums means you don’t have to provide
substance. Noise trumps logic. There is no need for an agenda, solutions or
proposals. Just keep the rhythm going.
Here is the daily menu of protest choices:
- Monday – Obama’s Re-election HQ
- Tuesday – Immigration Reform
- Wednesday – Moratorium on Foreclosures and Evictions
- Thursday – Obama’s Re-election HQ (again)
- Friday – Nurses
Now, there are side trips to BP, the stock exchange, Mayor
Emanuel’s home, city hall…
The nurses were burdened with a chip on their shoulder from
last October. They claimed to be
on-call at the Occupy protest (in case some poor dear got a splinter from their
protest poster), but the Chicago Police weren’t buying it after the nurses
refused to pack up at the end of the day.
They were warned but they thought they were somehow exempt from the
rules. A few of them spent the night in
jail. They’ve been rather upset ever
since.
So the nurses got a day unto themselves for the NATO
protest. They had red t-shirts and
green caps. It was the Robin Hood
theme. Tax the stock market and give
the proceeds to government programs for social justice.
Of course, every liberal cause known to man wanted a chance
to be in front of the cameras. They had
guaranteed face time in Chicago all week long.
Who could resist the drum circles?
Much like the Occupy movement, the message is obscure and
their solutions even more so.
Here is a partial list of all the “causes” represented
during NATO week:
- End Drone Attacks *
- Women’s Rights (except SAHMs and female fetuses)
- Chicago Teachers Union
- Unions in general
- ACLU (Where were they when the Tea Party was protesting?)
- Mental Health Clinics
- Illegal Alien Rights (Do they ever stop to think about the lifestyle the third world escapees already enjoys in NATO countries like France, Great Britain and the United States?)
- Occupy (fill in the blank)
- Vegans
- Ron Paul
- Code Pink
- Global Warming
- National Nurses United
- National Lawyers Guild
- Veterans (throwing their medals away in protest)*
- Obama’s Re-election Campaign HQ
- Canadian Consulate*
- British Consulate*
- German Consulate*
- Afghans for Peace*
- Chicago Tribune
- Social Justice
- Oil Exploration
- Tar Sands Extraction
- Economic Justice
- Chicago’s Homicide Rate
- COEXIST
- Tax Wall Street
- Foreclosures
*indicates those causes marginally associated with NATO
Even some of the protesters got turned off by all the mixed
messages.
This sort of reminds me of the Hail Mary effort to get May
Day protesters riled up in 2008. They
invited everyone but Sara Palin and had 2,000 participants. (See previous blog here: http://alienrants.blogspot.com/2008/05/whats-your-point.html
)
Those wacky progressives love to gather around a tom-tom and
protest something…anything.
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