My First Protest

Sounds like it should be a thing sold by Mattel - Baby's First Protest. Or at least a T-shirt. But T-shirt or not, I just attended my first protest, which was against the Koch brothers and their financial plotting which, as I understand it, essentially stymies democracy and how it's supposed to work. Who says machine politics is dead? Its just diversified.

For those of you who missed my last post, the Koch (pronounced like Coke) brothers are billionaires who own oil refineries, Brawny paper towels, Stainmaster carpet, Lycra and other lucrative properties. They have an annual, invitation-only, secretive meeting to strategize how best to affect the political process in this country and influence elections accordingly. See Jane Mayer's fab New Yorker article for details. Koch Industries is headquartered outside of Wichita, Kansas which further begs the question: just what is wrong with Kansas, anyway?

Protest groups, operating under the assumption that the brothers and their invitees are planning how to best influence current national policy as well as the 2012 election assembled from 1:30 - 4 p.m. today practically just outside my front door. The ironic truth here is that both factions - the billionaires at the Rancho Las Palmas Resort in Rancho Mirage, California and the assortment of organizations against them - believe that they are acting in the best interests of Americans. The Koch crew, though, is acting in the interest of rich Americans. All the other organizations protesting are demonstrating for the rest of us. Really, the two groups have a basic mission in common: to keep more of what they have.

Check out BiologicalDiversity.org.

Phyllis Burgess, 72, of Palm Springs.

Interesting about this demonstration: just about everybody with an ax to grind shows up. Even a polar bear was in attendance, no doubt motivated by the Koch brothers' efforts to convince Americans that climate change is not real, but a fabrication of scientists. (Could someone please tell me why scientists would make that up? Someone?) Even a 72-year-old Palm Springs resident named Phyllis Burgess showed up with her cross to bear. Phyllis survived a Prop 8 demonstration at which she was one of few demonstrators supporting marriage for straight people only. Of course, the 9-11 conspiracy theorists were there as well.
Not to sound like Pollyana, but what I'm grateful for in all of this is that I live in a place where we can protest peacefully and not get dragged in to police custody, shot, or worry about someone looting my home while I'm at the protest. If you've been conscious for the past few days, you'll note that Egyptians have not been so fortunate in trying to oust Mubarak. And when this crowd of about 1,000 people walked across Bob Hope drive and effectively shut down traffic for the better part of an hour, the police did nothing besides continue to stand watch with their helmets and batons at the gates of the resort (oh, and on the roof, too) and, further down the road, direct traffic away from the site.

Local press was present, and here's an early posting on KPSP local news.