 Now, I've gone over and over what a moron Michael Hancock is but this almost tops it all (it's difficult to top his justifying mayoral takeover of the public schools if this November's board elections don't land in-line with his privatization agenda...)
Over the weekend it was released that the City and County of Denver has spent $365,000.00 on trying to crush the Occupy Denver protest. I haven't seen any in-depth analysis of this number and I'm frankly shocked it isn't higher.
You'll recall that one of the first things Hancock did upon getting elected is hire his friends and give them all huge raises. Now he's whining about how crushing free speech is costing the city. He says:
"You can't plan for this," Hancock said at a community forum at West High School Saturday. "We're at a point in the city where we simply can't afford any major surprises."
But of course, you can plan for this sort of thing. It's very simple: don't crush free speech. See? Wasn't that easy? Here's another incarnation of that sentence: don't trample on the First Amendment because you're afraid of the message.
One of the expenses the brilliant Mayor has complained about is the trash. Specifically, the only trash issue he could cite was mentioned during the meeting between delegates from Occupy and the Mayor, Hancock murmured about the city having to clean up the wreckage the police created from destroying the protest. Can you believe the nerve?
Since Occupy Denver has occupied the park, they have created a place where anyone can find food, (shelter as long as the mayor doesn't turn the sprinklers on them), have a real security team, experience camaraderie and a community that is an alternative to one based on the isolation of American cutthroat capitalism. <-- frightening to the status quo because it is an integral part of a true shift away from our outmoded economic way of life.
Hancock and Hickenlooper are scared of Occupy because the message is antithetical to their life-long mission to cater to the 1%. If you were a frightened, unthinking and manipulative despot with the cops at your command, you'd probably crush the movement too. But since you're not, you should support it. |
