Protesters Call For Tax Fairness At Oil CEO’s Home

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http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2012/04/12/463203/protesters-tax-fairness-ceo/

Members of the 99 percent took to millionaire Chevron CEO John Watson’s home on Tuesday to protest tax loopholes for oil corporations and the extremely wealthy. Watson, who earned $1.48 million in 2010, has defended Chevron and the oil industry’s $4 billion subsidies.

Many of these protesters were from Richmond, California, where Chevron now owes $27 million more in taxes for a refinery that the county found was undervalued. According to San Jose Mercury News:

About 30 people, many of them Richmond residents, braved the drizzly conditions to protest in front of the home of CEO John Watson, whom they criticized as an example of what they called the “corporate welfare” and undue influence of the richest Californians on the state’s tax code.

“People like Watson represent the 1 percent that have destroyed opportunities for the middle class,” said Andres Soto, a Richmond resident and one of the protesters.

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1. I am not comfortable with this tactic

Put the shoe on the other foot. Leave a person's family, their home, etc. out of it. Picket their businesses, their public appearances, and any other place but their home.

The reason? The right wing nuts have a history of this sort of thing. Dr. George Tiller dealt with this for decades. Eventually he was gunned down at his church. But he the extent to which he had protesters at his home was the extent to which he had police protection.

This is an extreme example, but while I lived in Wichita, KS it was a big issue. The Dems were proper to call it for what it was, overt personal intimidation.

I think we all need to be careful here. No matter who you are, our government was founded on free speech, but also on rights which include principles that can argue that ones family is not to be blamed.