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A Texas Two Step

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Useful idiots on display (and they haven't changed!)

By SHEILAH PEPPER

The Gazette Staff

I've been watching various news clips to the Occupy Wall Street protesters, who range in number from a few hundred to a couple of thousand depending on the day.

They seem to be composed of one part students, one part middle-aged folks who don't seem to have a day job, and one part aging hippies.

I used to run into the latter group back in the 1960s, but these days, a long grey pony tail on a man is really unattractive. Other wise, in terms of clothing and language, they haven't changed.

As for the students, why aren't they in school? Are their parents paying tuition? Those student loans are something they'll have to start working on one of these days.

With regard to the middle-aged men and women – I wonder if they are still living in daddy's basement.

Their organizers say they are protesting capitalism and banks. Well, okay, it's still a free country, more or less. The thing is, when reporters put a microphone in their face and ask individual protesters why they are in the street, they seem totally inarticulate. One young man with dreadlocks called himself Pigpen, which was apt. But here was his moment on national TV and he was tongue-tied.

As for the women, why do public protests attract really ugly females who insist on baring their breasts? I didn't think it was possible to make the upper part of the female body ugly, but these women managed to do just that!

Two or three Columbia graduate students were interviewed. They said they had Ph. D. degrees, big student loans and could not find jobs. One had a degree in musicology. I'm not sure what kind of job that would lead to, but I suspect, as a degree, it ranks up there with Marxist Dance Theory and trans-gender studies. Any hope of employment for these people can only lie in the world of academe.

I'd be more impressed if they were able to offer a few accurate quotes from Karl Marx, or at least Hugo Chavez.

Although the demonstrations may harm tourism, there might be some benefits for New York City. The police can pull in some overtime without having to confront anyone with enough courage to threaten anything. Yelling and spitting won't bother New York's Finest. A few kids were pepper-sprayed, and some went to jail for getting totally out of hand on the Brooklyn Bridge, but it all seems rather juvenile.

In fact, their erstwhile 'beliefs' are rather juvenile.

We are all supposed to chip in and then we will all live in a communal utopia. It hasn't occurred to them that those doing the chipping in will run out of cash. They seem to think this is all new, but its not. It's really quite old, in fact, it's an anachronism. They were out in the streets in the mid-1900s during the failed Paris communes. These protesters have been taught an antiquated and failed ideology.

Their professors march to the drum that states "From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs." If this was workable, the Soviet Union would still exist. Human needs are similar but human abilities differ greatly.

The correct credo is "From each according to his ability and to each, according to his ability." The Soviet system finally died because those who contributed more were left unrewarded. It is simply human nature to resent such a system.

Recently the mob gathered in Zuccotti Park expecting to hear from a band called Radiohead. But it was a hoax. The band never showed up. Then they came up with the brilliant idea of marching on the New York Police Headquarters, evidently hoping to cause the police to die of laughter.

However, the mob got lost and ended up in front of One St. Andrew's Plaza, which is home to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Many are camping out, which while hazardous to public health does provide some nice overtime for the city's sanitation workers. However hygiene concerns are getting very serious.

Does someone pay the protesters? Who feeds them? Is someone providing porta-potties? The media never asks these questions.

Coverage of the motley crew at one point was followed by video of young Marines arriving home in Houston, greeted by joyful families, after several deployments in the war zones – young people who risked their lives so that the protestors can sit in Zuccotti Park and munch on free pizza.

Protesters say it's the beginning of a revolution. With a cast of characters that resemble a play by Bertolt Brecht, it looks more like a Grateful Dead concert.

At any rate, its fun to watch the antics of the useful idiots, at least until the cold weather rolls in. Then they'll have to head back to daddy's basement.

Copyright©2011SheilahPepper