Occupy Houston Finally Shuts The Hell Up

18 Oct, 2011 by Unicorn Jones

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What does it take to get an entire OccupyWhatever group to be quiet for one God-forsaken minute? Apparently, just give them the idea that the best way to protest something is to have a “rally of silence.”

Members of Occupy Houston will rally in silent protest at Energy Day on Saturday October 15, 2011.

Energy Day is sponsored the big oil companies responsible for the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and for building the Keystone XL Pipeline, a potential serious environmental disaster running from Alberta, Canada right into our backyard! Valero and other oil refining companies are seeking a tax refund to the tune of $135million to cover the cost of hydrotreating equipment to reduce pollution. This refund is coming from our property taxes. Money meant for schools may go to large oil companies to cover these costs! We need to educate festival goers that there are serious threats to our planet, local tax money wasted, and a serious corruption chain behind big oil!

For a moment, I’m just going to ignore that they called for everyone to use Krylon spray paint – a corporate brand – to spray “99%” on the front of their shirts, in order to discuss how ridiculous this entire protest actually is. For starters, oil and gas companies support something like 9 million jobs in this country and boosting the tax burden could actually cost us jobs in the long run:

And if lawmakers allow our energy sector to increase domestic production, it could create 250,000 jobs in the short run and then add $73 billion in economic growth annually. Conversely, boosting the tax burden borne by these companies could actually lead to a net loss of $53.5 billion: in tax revenue over 10 years due to reduced activity on their part.

Not to mention the little, eensy-weensy fact that most of these tax breaks come from the Federal government whereas school funding is supposed to come from the state and local government. But, of course, economics and subsidiarity of government resources are two things people who are actively supported by the Communist Party, the Chinese and the Nazis can’t exactly claim as their strong suits. But the whole thing makes even less sense in Texas, where the Keystone XL pipeline – an underground pipeline that would bring oil from the Canadian tar sands directly to Texas for refining and production – would create thousands upon thousands of jobs. It is literally the future of the Texas energy sector. Even Obama’s BFF former Dem Rep. Harold Ford is all hot and bothered over the fact that radical environmentalists and Dem crazies are standing in the way of what could be the biggest single boost to American industry in years.

But, here’s the tradeoff. If you let the OccupyHouston or OccupyNewYork or OccupyYourParentsBasement movement actively protest this for a few more weeks, we don’t have to listen to them insisting that “this is what Democracy looks like” or them bitching that their student loans are too high or they can’t find a job that uses their Masters degree in French film or that is “fulfilling to their psyche” or lets them buy weed of whatever.

Personally, I think it might be a fair trade off.