Occupied with violence

Remember when Sarah Palin was accused of promoting “Tea Party violence” because she used an ad graphic depicting crosshairs on a map of the United States? On Wednesday, the Occupy Wall Street movement declared a general strike in Oakland, Calif. According to the Occupy Oakland website, the goal of their “anti-capitalist march” was to “shut down Oakland” and “blockade everything.” This was no drawing - the violence was real.

Chanting hippies shut down commerce at the Port of Oakland, apparently unaware that this vital link to the outside world is what delivers the coffee beans for their Starbucks lattes and brings in the trendy iPhones they use to coordinate their activities. Riot police were dispatched to deal with those among “the 99 percent” who expressed themselves by smashing some windows, lighting fires, setting off explosives, spraying graffiti, assaulting police, throwing rocks and looting stores. Local developer Phil Tagami was forced to brandish a shotgun to dissuade occupiers from “reclaiming” his capitalist property, as the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

MORE