PrintMay 22, 2010
SEIU thugs terrorize banker and his family
Protesting in front of a Congressman's house is one thing. He is a public servant and deserves little privacy.
But a banker? SEIU thugs, bused in from around the region, descended on the private house of Bank of America deputy general counsel Gregory Baer. More than 500 strong, they terrorized the banker's teen aged son while screaming through bull horns about bank "horror stories."
And what is it they want?
"Bank of America came to the homes of everyday Americans when you spread predatory loans in neighborhoods across, the country, when you financed payday-lending storefronts, when your reckless behavior sent the economy to the brink of disaster, and when your bank-owned properties littered neighborhoods from coast to coast," said a letter the group asked Baer to deliver to CEO Brian Moynihan. "You've created a historic mess and have been unreceptive to very polite, very formal and very consistent requests to fix the problems you helped create."
They want the industry to stop lobbying Congress on the FinReg bill.
Stop lobbying? Beg your pardon but lobbyists are protected under the First Amendment's right to redress grievances. It is almost as absolute a right as free speech, or freedom of the press. Is the industry supposed to sit quietly by while Obama and the Democrats savage their businesses with a gargantuan regulatory regime?
Aping Obama, these thugs want the banks to just sit there, shut up, and take it.
BTW - does anyone else see a pattern in the "complaints" listed above? Even if big banks finance pay day loan centers, what force compels consumers to use them? What unseen hand guided people's signatures on loan agreements?
Not taking responsibility for one's own mistakes is about what we've come to expect from these cretins. One of the leaders of the SEIU group protesting at the house complains that her government bail out was not extended by Bank of America. She wants the terms of her loan renegotiated and the bank is refusing.
Who held a gun to her head when she signed a loan agreement that she couldn't pay back? It's a sad thing that people are losing their houses but why have we lost sight of whose responsibility that is?
Update:
Dolly Decker calls our attention to the horrifying post from Democratic Underground, and notes: "There are more sites like this where they encourage each other to hurt people and start massive riots."
Thomas Lifson asks: does this constitute incitement to riot?
Thomas Lifson asks: does this constitute incitement to riot?
Update:
Archy Cary of Big Government points out the SEIU thugs had a police escort from DC Police, who went into a neighboring jurisdiction – Montgomery Country, MD -- to complete their mission. The SEIU thugs apparently had instructions on how far to go, while avoiding arrest:
Archy Cary of Big Government points out the SEIU thugs had a police escort from DC Police, who went into a neighboring jurisdiction – Montgomery Country, MD -- to complete their mission. The SEIU thugs apparently had instructions on how far to go, while avoiding arrest:
The Maryland officers reported there were approximately 500 protesters on and near the front lawn of Baer's house. Montgomery County was not given a "heads-up" concerning the planned protest. Although a protest permit is technically required in Montgomery County, in practice no citation is issued if the protestors disperse when requested to do so by the owner of the private property they occupy.
The primary role of the Washington cops in this event was to protect the protesters. The D.C. officers had no authority to act to disperse the protesters even had the homeowner been present and asked them to vacate the private property. The event ended as a “dash one”– no arrests, no citations – according to Friz. The Montgomery County units left the scene at 5:29 pm.
According to Friz, “members of protest groups know how far to push the envelope” and wait for “the key words” – for example, the property owner’s request that they leave – in order to avoid arrests or citations. For example, protesters are required to keep on the move, since a standing protest violates a Montgomery County code. And, while photographs clearly suggest that many of the SEIU protesters were stationary, the District police don’t have any authority to enforce Montgomery County laws.
So, let’s sum this up: A caravan of SEIU buses receive a Metropolitan (D.C.) Police Department escort to a private home in Maryland where the protesters, from all appearances, violate Montgomery County law by engaging in a stationary protest. The Montgomery County police were not informed by their cross-jurisdictional colleagues of the impending, unusually large protest pending in their jurisdiction.
What’s up with that? Had the mob decided to torch the house, the D.C. police would not have been authorized to intervene.
