Unbelievable — but true

To the Editor:

If the following were a movie script, it would sound too unreal but it did happen: The billionaire mayor, a 1 percenter, had the Occupy Wall Street protesters, the 99 percent, removed, backed by a court ruling.

First Amendment rights, free speech are legally limited. Yet the billionaires — both Bloomberg and the Koch brothers — have unlimited free speech guaranteed by another court, the U.S. Supreme Court, by a decision called Citizens United.

The Koch brothers have unlimited funds and therefore unlimited free speech for the Tea Party protesters who fight to preserve their Second Amendment rights and to end Medicare and Social Security for future generations.

The Ryan budget, which was passed in the House, voted for by every Republican and spearheaded by the Tea Party representatives, does exactly that while giving huge tax breaks to millionaires and billionaires.

Lastly, let us not forget that the mayor, the 1 percenter who is accountable for the education of our students, the 99 percent, did not join the UFT in lobbying Albany to get more funds for our schools in last spring’s budget battle. He kept on imploring the governor to help him make some nasty cuts.

He did not succeed. Imagine if we did not have a strong union with collective-bargaining rights and a great fighter, President Michael Mulgrew.

Doreen Ellis, retired