Last November, I blogged about being disturbed by the absence of anger and the outrage [1] in the middle of the worst economic crisis in 80 years.  I'd been reading a column by Bob Herbert [2] of the New York Times where he asked,

Why aren't people confronting their employers, resisting mass firings, marching, creating new organizations to fight?

But maybe things are starting to change.  Last week the Daily News featured our BRU rally [3] as part of a surge of protests not just in a week, but on just one day! 

So, how did your protest work out Wednesday?

You say you weren't in a protest Wednesday?

Seems like you're the only one.

There was a rally by parents, teachers and students to protest a staff overhaul at Fremont High School. And a "march for justice" by Superior Court employees to protest layoffs. And a demonstration by the Bus Riders Union against what it calls "racist" fare hikes. And brief rallies by health care legislation proponents, scheduled concurrently at more than a dozen medical clinics.

All of these rallies, protests and demonstrations were slated for the Los Angeles area on Wednesday afternoon.

They're not to be confused with the march two weeks ago by California State University, Northridge, students and faculty protesting public-education funding cuts ... or the downtown-L.A. demonstration earlier this month by union members protesting cuts in state services ... or the recent rally by activists calling for an investigation of alleged racial profiling by Torrance police ...

What could it all mean?  They quote a scholar at CSUN saying this could be an "El Nino season of protests":

Looking back on decades of political protests in the United States, Brownlee said a rising cycle of public demonstration tends to reflect real dissatisfaction in society, usually over economic strife or controversial wars.

"You don't see these quite as much in times of prosperity and peace," he said.

Right on.  Right on.