PUTTING TWO AND TWO TOGETHER

My last post poked a little fun at the Occupy movement.  What can I say?  I just can't resist such low hanging fruit!  Seriously though, aside from hygiene and a disturbing number of anarchists, anti-semites and commies, at the heart of it, it could be argued that Occupy is sort of following in the Tea Party's footsteps.  Both want to end the FED, both are vehemently against bank bailouts, and both see crony capitalism as the disease that is crippling this great nation.  Unfortunately, the most glaring difference between the two groups is that the Tea Party holds government responsible, and Occupiers think government is the solution.

At least, until now.

In an interesting series of events, it came to light that the Mayor of Richmond, apparently an Occupy sympathizer, has been passing on the costs of the occupation to the taxpayer, instead of requiring the Occupiers to foot the bill as the Tea Party was.  Over the past three years, the local Tea Party chapter has held Tax Day rallies and were required to pay for permits and other fees, to the tune of about $8,500.  When the Tea Party realized the Occupiers were getting a free ride, they submitted an invoice to City Hall for reimbursement of the fees they have paid, citing fair treatment under the law.

The city's response?  Why, an audit, of course.

The Tea Party isn't going down fighting, and is preparing a lawsuit.  What is really surprising is the group that is standing with the Tea Party against the democrat-led City Hall.  This weekend Occupy Richmond voiced their solidarity (via Fox News):

“Occupy Richmond believes in absolute free speech, including the right to criticize the government without fear of retribution," Occupy Richmond said in a statement posted Thursday on its website. "Given the duplicitous and violent manner in which the city government chose to raid our peaceful occupation, it would not surprise us if the recently announced city audit of the Richmond Tea Party were retaliation for their criticism of the mayor.”

The statement also called audits "bureaucratic harassment" and "one weapon oppressive regimes use to silence dissent."

"Not only do we call on the city to drop the audit, but we also demand the immediate refund of any money paid specifically to secure the Tea Party's free speech and assembly privileges,” the Occupiers said.

 
Okay, so there's still a little room for improvement.  Apparently the Occupy spokesperson doesn't understand that the charges don't just disappear.  Those fees cover the cost of cleanup or damage to facilities incurred during the exercise of free speech.  The magical creatures who pick up the tab for the mess are not social justice fairies flitting from camp to camp, happy to spend their stardust for the cause.  In reality, the people who pay are fellow Americans who have been busy working, not camping, and will see their taxes go up as a result of the shenanigans in cities across the land.  Tea Party spokeswoman Colleen Owens was happy to have the moral support, but commented that they don't  want the taxpayer to foot the bill - that isn't the point of the suit:
 

“But this has never been about the money. It was about the principal," Owens said. "A public official should not be able to pick and choose which groups are charged."

It is a refreshing change to see the Occupiers starting to identify the government - and not just republicans, but majority party democrats, too - as a major player in the ills of the day.  It was almost heartwarming to see them actually protesting President Obama on one of his many, many, many trips to Wall Street for fundraising cash.  They grow up so fast, don't they?  Gee, perhaps if the Occupiers went home and sat down and talked to their Tea Party parents, maybe common ground could be established.  And maybe, after that, common sense. 

Two things to remember about these angry, disillusioned kids:  First, as Churchill said, show me a young Conservative and I'll show you someone with no heart. Show me an old Liberal and I'll show you someone with no brains.  Second, sometimes a conservative is just a liberal who was mugged by reality.  There has been a mass mugging (sometimes literally) in parks and plazas across the country over the past few months as those who were once embraced and celebrated became those who were being either co-opted or ignored (Tea Partiers can definitely empathize with that).  Some poor souls have even been traumatized by it all.

All we can hope is that the rest open their ears (and minds) and start thinking.  Many of our centers for higher education, where we send our children to learn how to think, have become indoctrination centers where they are taught what to think.  Perhaps the disillusionment of their failed experiment in commune-ism will get them thinking.  If Richmond is any indication, the worm may be turning. 

Could it be that the spring might bring a new crop of protests featuring not just Occupiers, but Tea Partiers, too, standing together as one against the banks and politicians?  Now there's a thought.

And if that doesn't work?  Well, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em!  (or become a competitor!)

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PUTTING TWO AND TWO TOGETHER

ATTACK OF THE DEBT TERRORISTS

The best way to defang a verbal attack is to own the label being applied.  The past few weeks have shown that the newest label for Tea Partiers is "terrorist".  Perhaps it's because the accusing liberals are struck with fear every time they realize the Tea Partiers really were elected with a mandate, refuse to back down and actually gain strength by standing strong against politics as usual.  Perhaps it's just political hackery at it's most base.  But when even the Vice President is using the smear (a charge he has since denied), you know it's gone mainstream.   Go figure - the tea party movement is all about defusing the debt bomb progressives from both parties have spent decades building, but they are the terrorists.  Huh. 

So I have a suggestion. For all you tea partiers who are offended by the slur (as was I at first), rethink your offense. Let's take it and make it work for us. They want to call us terrorists?  Well, okay.  Let's take a look at the movement first, and what motivated it on it's current...well, for want of a better word, jihad.  It really has its roots in the Bush administration, specifically those who voted out republicans in 2006 due to their RINO tendency to spend like a debutant with daddy's credit card.  The grumbling grew in the summer of 2008 when the TARP scheme was hatched and ushered in the age of Obama.  The movement really exploded in 2009 in the run-up to the passage of the failed nearly trillion-dollar "stimulus" bill and has established itself as a fiscal conservative David battling the Goliath of tax and spend Washington.  They dealt the beast quite a blow last November and gained some power as a result.  The victims of the Tea Party onslaught were strewn across both sides of the aisle then; the only common thread being their profligate, politics-as-usual ways. 

It might help to swallow the bitter pill of the terrorist label to know that you are, actually, in excellent company. 

The newly minted "Debt Terrorists" should release their manifesto:

Be warned, all you big spenders on Capitol Hill, your days are numbered. The agenda is clear. There will be no stopping until these demands are met:

1) Cut spending on a deep, meaningful, long term level

2) Cap spending levels by tying them to GDP

3) Balanced Budget Amendment

4) Reform Social Security (a good place to start is means testing)

5) Reform Medicare (means test here, too)

6) Repeal of the economy killing ObamaCare legislation

7) Rein in the out of control EPA and NLRB

8) Revamp tax code - lower it, flatten it out and get rid of the loopholes

If you do not give in to these demands, you will be replaced with someone who will in the next election.  If you think we're not as good as our word, consider the sixty-three who didn't come back in 2010.  We mean business.

Please note "create jobs" is not on the list. Why?  Because government doesn't create jobs it only creates the conditions to create jobs, that's why. But if the things on that list are done, jobs will follow.

If that is what the left calls "terrorism" these days, then terrorists we are. And if part of the jihad is having to stomp on Harry, Barry and Nancy's toes to get them to open their mouths and take the medicine We the People voted for last year, well so be it. 

The debt jihad has begun.

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ATTACK OF THE DEBT TERRORISTS

DID THEY REALLY JUST SAY THAT?

There may be hope yet!  The first step towards recovery is admitting there's a problem, right?  Can we consider this the first step?



Considering this is coming from the network that has been, by far, the most egregious offender, this is quite
an admission, isn't it?  Mika's tangible dismay is priceless.  You can see her having a "darn it, we do it too!" (or was it a "darn it, why were they stupid enough to get caught on camera?") moment.  I'm sure she won't stymied by it for long.

Oh, and don't you just love their nonchalance about something they are normally fervently, ardently and vociferously denying?   No need to deny when you're in the echo chamber, eh boys?

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DID THEY REALLY JUST SAY THAT?

MEME BUSTERS Updated

This week seems to be meme destruction week.  It has been a devastating week for some well-worn liberal canards. Two different vehemently upheld liberal/progressive beliefs have been proved  wrong and one is under heavy fire.  We seem to be reaching a point of implosion for the democrat party and the fallout is not restricted to just the halls of Congress.

First on the chopping block was the much-hyped "shovel ready jobs" that were used to sell the Porkulus bill.  According to President Obama in a recent New York Times piece, he has since learned that

"there's no such thing as shovel ready projects".

 

Apparently the only thing shovel ready about that bill was the bill itself.... Too bad Mr. Obama couldn't have figured out the futility of the effort before he spent a trillion dollars of other people's money.

And then there is the meme that the Tea Parties are chock-a-block full of racist signs carried by white-hooded klansmen out for blood.  All the press and liberals have been talking about is how incredibly, overtly racist and dangerous the movement is.  Eh, not so much, it turns out.   The woman who did the study has liberal creds, inasmuch as she is a graduate student from UCLA.  For anyone who has attended a Tea Party, the results of this study are unsurprising.  What is surprising is the fact that the Washington Post actually carried the story.  Doubtless the rest of the neo-pravda media will be all over this story and apologize for their biased, flat-out wrong coverage of the movement.  Yeah, riiiiiiiight.

Another meme that is in the process of being busted is the one about conservatism being solely the jurisdiction of whites.  In a piece in Ebony Magazine entitled "The Browning of the GOP", author Armstrong Williams makes the case for the growing number of self-identified Black Republicans and their place in the history of the GOP.  He also explains the single event that caused the exodus from republicans to democrats in the 1960's - an exodus that has been the norm for so long that Democrats have managed to fool the black community into thinking they were always democrats.   But, as Mr. Williams states:

But today, the great flight has the chance to be met by the great return as a new breed of Black conservative has emerged and taken center stage in the Republican Party.

This meme has not yet been busted, but it seems to be coming off the tracks.  The best argument in favor of the Ebony article is the unprecidented fourteen black republican candidates running for Congress this fall.  Primary season boasted a whopping thirty-two black conservative candidates vying for the republican nod.  There is a very good chance that three of them will win their elections, which would set a record for the most black republicans since Reconstruction.  It is a small number, but it is a start, and hopefully more black conservatives will step up and run in the future.  If Messrs. West, Scott and Frasier are any indication of the caliber of candidate in the offing, the Republican party could hardly do better.

The liberal/progressive talking points seem to be going down like a line of dominoes.  Not only are their recent claims being proven to be false, but even long-held positions are being challenged. 

The information age is a beautiful thing, isn't it?

UPDATE:  Uh-oh, another one bites the dust!

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MEME BUSTERS Updated

STALKING ON A NATIONAL LEVEL

The NAACP and various left-wing media groups have started up a new website, TeaPartyTracker.org.  The point of this new website?  Why, to monitor and report on any and all examples of "racism" and "extremism" in the Tea Party movement, of course.  They are calling on bloggers and assorted lefties with camera phones to document any wrongdoing on the part of the tea party.

Good luck with that, guys.  Oh, and here's a tip for you - the idiots on the fringes who carry the Obama is Hitler signs are LaRouchies - democrats.  Just a little FYI for ya, 'cause so far you don't seem to have gotten the memo.  

If the NAACP is so interested in rooting out racism on a national level, perhaps they should start here.  Or here.  And don't forget all of these.  It's really amazing that their highly tuned 'racedar' didn't go off over this one - but, then, "death to cracka's" isn't really racist, so it's understandable that they would have missed that.

Even with a $100,000 bounty for video proving claims of racism in the tea party, there has still been no video tape to prove the point, even with the hundreds of cameras present - including ones in democrat hands.  Perhaps the NAACP and their ilk should be focusiing on people like this who make their living off the back of racial prejudice, even when it is a hoax, and even when the result is violence and riots.

These constant, fruitless attempts to smear the tea parties as racist are wearing very thin.  According to a press release from Project 21, a black activist group sponsored by the National Center for Public Policy Research:

"Progressives have hijacked the NAACP to the extent that the group stands silent as conservative blacks suffer indignities for their beliefs. Some NAACP even egg on this appalling behavior – providing political cover and lapdog services for these elitists," said Project 21 member Kevin Martin. "As a conservative black man, I have felt more welcomed and at home within the tea party movement than among those of my own who side with the this new NAACP. If a few random signs of President Obama looking like the Joker is indeed racist, then where was the NAACP when conservative blacks are depicted as lawn jockeys, Oreos and Uncle Toms?"

Actually, members of the NAACP themselves are guilty of this.

It's time to stop the race baiting.  The damage being done is damage to themselves.  As long as the NAACP and other progressive groups indulge in these antics, there will never be progress and there will never be healing.  Resorting to baseless name-calling cheapens the NAACP and causes people to question their relevance.  Attempts to make the dissent against the current administration (and just about every other issue) about race does a disservice to their cause. 

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STALKING ON A NATIONAL LEVEL

SWATTING DOWN THE TEA PARTIES

On Tax Day this year, President Obama was on the road again.  This time he was in Quincy, IL to speak about financial reform.  Tea Party protesters were out for the occasion, and apparently they were so frightening that the local riot police/SWAT team was called out. 

The Huffington Post's coverage attempts to make the whole incident as sinister as possible, of course.  The evidence is pretty slim, though.  Their mention of a lady calling Obama "the annointed one" repeatedly and a man questioning why SWAT were called on them but not on the "rioting" protesters in Arizona attempts to make these people out to be violent dissidents out to create havok.  The horror!  She called him a name!!  Shh...don't mention that it's a name used by pundits and regular Americans alike....

Apparently there were  *gasp*  catcalls and one lady shouted "This is communism".  Doesn't she know that communist leaders would never bring out elite forces against their own peaceful countrymen?  Besides, don't they know the accepted behavior towards police during protests is throwing water bottles at them, not grumbling and catcalls?   It's obvious the excessive police force was a measured, necessary step to take with that unruly, practically out of control mob of right-wing extremists.  How dare those Tea Party ingrates grumble at the fact that the state obviously overreacted by calling out such an intimidating force for so little reason? 

One wonders what was going through the officers' minds as they were marching down the street, sizing up their little blue-haired opponents.   A few eye rolls, perhaps?  No doubt there were those on both sides who were bemoaning the waste of taxpayer funded resources for such a silly exercise.

As for the catcalls, one would hope that the crowd understood that the team had no choice in the matter - they were just following orders and doing their jobs - it's the morons who sent them out there in the first place who deserve the jeers.  It's is a tough job, and our riot police deserve respect and admiration, even when we don't agree with their orders.  They also deserve to be used in the most effective way possible against threats that are beyond the capabilities of ordinary police.  That was definitely not the case in Quincy.

The police had things in hand, but, according to Fox Nation:

Who gave the order to call in the riot police on protesters? Word is that Secret Service from inside the venue and the presidential team pressured local law enforcement, who were against the idea. Local cops were overruled, I’m told by various sources, including a few members of local press. Moore reported that she overheard Secret Service telling the riot squad to “push them back, out of sight.“

Hmmmm.....It seems our Community Organizer in Chief suddenly doesn't like protesting.  Go figure.  The administration has now set a pattern for attempting to cover up and/or squelch any dissent.   Intimidation tactics - the only path to peace, unity and "post-partisan politics".

The SWAT team was officially called on a tea party so now the democrats can finally claim that the tea parties are so out of control that an elite riot control group had to be called in to handle the situation.  Expect to see that argument start popping up on the left very soon.  They've all been waiting for this as illustration for their little narrative.  They've got quite the little fairy tale going on, don't they?

Remember the progressive motto - smear your opposition, by whatever means necessary.

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SWATTING DOWN THE TEA PARTIES

POLICE WEIGH IN ON TEA PARTIES

From NewsBusters, here's a little something that should bring a smile:

On Monday, the Christian Science Monitor bucked its mainstream peers by reporting something truthful about the TEA party movement: police officials have begun to relax security requirements at conservative rallies because of the remarkable absence of violence.

Uh-oh!  Well that sure kills the narrative!  (I love the 'remarkable' part - perhaps if they had actually attended a tea party, they might not be so surprised).

Did the Christian Science Monitor not get the talking points on the Tea Parties?  No doubt the White House will be in touch if the story gets legs.  Please note the report came out Monday, and here it is, Friday, and it's barely
 getting noticed.  The article is about how unfair it is that the Tea Partyers are allowed to carry full sized flag poles, signs on wooden sticks and even guns to their rallies, but the left-wing's anti-war protests, for example, are not. 

Hmmmm....I wonder why.....There is even a 2005 blog post from the Democratic Underground about why the blogger hates liberal protests.  It's refreshing to hear a liberal complain about getting blamed for some fringe idiot's sign, and how the media are inevitably drawn to it.    Although this seems to have been meant more as a "don't change the subject" complaint, not a "whoa, don't you think 'kill Bush' is a little too radical" issue.  Glenn Beck has a great rundown of the difference between conservative and liberal rallies.

It seems that at a liberal protest, the police are more likely to be spat upon, whereas at a tea party, they are more likely to be thanked for their service.

 Liberal protests seem like an excuse to a certain faction who attend to destroy and denigrate.  Perhaps because the protesters of the 1960's made it okay to be arrested for protesting - it was patriotic, after all.  Not to mention non-violent.  The kids of today are told by their liberal professors that being arrested at a protest is a badge of honor.  And so, the callowness of youth being what it is, destruction is sure to follow.

The big difference these days is that back in the '60's they were arrested for holding peaceful sit-ins, which brought things to a halt in a non-violent way.  Nowadays, they are getting arrested for smashing windows, burning cars (often at climate rallies - 'cause nothing says caring for the environment like torching a car.) and attacking police.

Ultimately what it comes down to is that the grown-ups know who and what the real opponent is and understand  that more is accomplished by being passionately peaceful than forceful and violent.  Meanwhile, the callow youth are showing how thoughtless, shortsighted and violent rhey are.

It's too bad they've never learned what respect and integrity are.  Perhaps if they had, the police wouldn't have taken their sticks away.

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POLICE WEIGH IN ON TEA PARTIES

TEA PARTY ROUNDUP Updated

I went to the Fair Tax Tea Party on Thursday.  It was a smallish crowd, but there was plenty of passion.  The lowlight of the day was a gentleman who was passing out "Grayson for Congress" stickers.  I was with a friend who happens to be a reformed Hollywood Democrat, and his only comment on her sign was, "Are you really from Hollywood?"  She said yes and he just shrugged and moved on.  I guess a reformed Hollywood democrat is more than he wanted to deal with.  If she managed to see the light of reason even in the ultimate liberal bubble, there's probably no way in hell he's going be able to talk her back in!  You have to give him credit, I suppose, for braving the crazy extremist mob, right?  Perhaps Grayson was hoping the guy would get attacked or something and illustrate his narrative that the tea party is an unhinged fringe group.  Aside from the guy who used his sticker to blow his nose, things remained civil.  Here are some pictures from the event:

 

Here's the guy passing out Grayson stickers:

The guest speaker was Katy Abrams, who was the PA lady who spoke at Arlen Specter's town hall back in August:

She was a sincerely concerned citizen speaking from the heart.  In her speech, she described her ordeal with the press after her confrontation with Specter.  She went on MSNBC's Hardball with Larry O'Donnell, who made an example of her with his ruthless attacks - Beware, all ye who would stand up to the administration and it's minions.  He ripped her to pieces and spit her out in his quest to paint all tea partyers as know-nothings who have no right to speak their own minds.  Her speech was heartfelt and moving.

As obviously shaken as she was by the press ordeal, she refuses to let them get her down or make her quit.  She's just a stay at home mom, sure, but she is also a mama bear protecting her cubs' futures.  They can knock her down, but she will just get back up, dust herself off, and start all over again.  She is living proof that we can all stand up to "the man" and survive.  They are trying to intimidate us, make us doubt ourselves and give up hope, but we are made of sterner stuff than that.

We are, after all, Americans.  We should never, never be underestimated.

UPDATE:  Here is a great roundup of Tea Party crashers in San Francisco from Pajamas Media.  Check it out for some laughs.

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TEA PARTY ROUNDUP Updated

IT'S TIME TO PARTY!

Happy Tax Day.  Today, across the country, people are gathering to protest the taxation and radical left tilt of the current administration.  The tea parties, despite all of the media furor over alleged racism and violence, are exciting, energetic, downright friendly events.  It is always surprising that they are portrayed in the press as angry, hostile mobs. 

But are they a violent, fringe mob?  All evidence so far points to no. This, however, is the narrative the neoPravda media, good lapdogs that they are, have decided to go with, whether due to personal bias or adherence to party talking points.  The democrats' Alinsky based tactics require the demonization of opposition, and so, good radicals that they are, they are following the instructions to the letter.  It's a sad  illustration of their lack of creativity that they are resorting to the usual old, tired accusations of racism and stupidity.  People, you really need to freshen it up a little bit.  Recheck your Alinsky Rule #7 - "A tactic that drags on too long becomes a drag."  Even radical activists get bored.

After eight years of Bush is stoooopid and the past two years of any dissent from the current radical agenda being called racist, it is definitely time for them to try something else.  It is a sad day when being called a racist is a joke or, God forbid, a badge of honor due to it's absurdity.  These days you just aren't a tea partyer worth your salt if you haven't been called a racist at least once.  Their overplayed, tattered race card is disintegrating before their eyes, but what else have they got?  They certainly can't argue the merits of their plans - if they could, their master-orator-in-chief would have managed to make the health care bill one of the most popular pieces of legislation in recent history, given that he has been desperately trying to sell it for well over a year now. 

The blatant lies about taxation that they have been attempting to disseminate are literally laughable.  They are now dealing with an electorate that is wide awake and paying attention to every little thing they are trying to do.  The usual lies just don't seem to work anymore.  The electorate are also managing to put all of the disparate pieces of the agenda together and thus envision the entire scope of the "transformation" Pelosi, Reid and Obama are attempting.  As with most arrogant foes who buy their own press, the lefties have completely underestimated their opposition and so are continuously being caught off guard by them and their grasp of what is happening.  Tea partyers have even managed to turn around the "teabagger" epithet:



The radical left have now found themselves in quite a dilemma.  They have carefully nurtured a narrative, but those rotten teabaggers have failed to prove their theory.  No matter how they goad, poke, and provoke conservatives, they refuse to sink to the level they are being accused of.  So now the left find themselves having to funlfill the narrative themselves and then blame the tea party for their antics.  An interesting idea, but one that always seems to backfire.  The recent blatant advertising for anarchists and other liberal allies to "crash" the tea parties is a perfect illustration of their desperation.  A putz named Jason Levin set up a website calling for radicals to infiltrate and subvert the tea party.  Apparently those stoooopid teabaggers are refusing to show their true racist, homophobic, mouthbreather sides, so the lefties are determined to do it for them.  Levin, however, is experiencing a bit of blowback.  He is a middle school teacher, and he is being investigated by the school board for using school computers to create and monitor his website.  He is also being investigated for possible attempts at identity theft (via Fox News):

“Some other thoughts are to ask people at the rally to sign a petition renouncing socialism. See just how much info you can get from these folks (name address, DOB, Social Security #). The more data we can mine from the Tea Partiers, the more mayhem we can cause with it!!!!” he wrote.


The state agency is investigating whether this is a hint at identity theft, and whether it is appropriate behavior for a public school teacher. It also will investigate charges that Levin used school computers during school hours to work on his Web site. Levin works at Conestoga Middle School's media lab and teaches 6th, 7th and 8th graders about computers and technology.

Do they really not realize how their tactics hurt their own cause?  Is this man really willing to steal people's identities in order to ruin their lives simply because they hold a different political philosophy?   Have we really sunk so low in this country?  When did the tenets of free speech and tolerance get stricken from the left's list of ideals?  These people are having conniptions about tea partyers metaphorically putting Nancy Pelosi on the firing line, as in, getting fired, not incitements to violence as the left attempts to paint it, but they have no problems with trying to destroy the lives of common Americans, whether it be through violence, threats or identity theft and exploitation. 

It almost seems that the anger directed at the movement is because of their refusal to live up (down?) to the expectations of the left.  Let's not forget, too, that lefties expect screaming invective and violence at rallies because that is the norm for them.  The fact that the tea parties, with crowds numbering in the thousands, are peaceful must just boggle the progressive mind.  How is it that they are managing to get their point across without burning flags, smashing windows and torching cars?

And so the lefties continue to push their narrative as best they can.  Unfortunately for them, camera phones are everywhere, and there is just no proof to back up their argument.  They are still trying to milk the allegations that the n-word was hurled not once, not twice, but fifteen times during the Congressional Black Caucus' symbolic march through the protesters the day health care passed.  Rep. Jessie Jackson, Jr. had not one but two video cameras panning the crowd as he walked, as well as numerous mainstream media cameras and the literally hundreds of camera phones in the audience, and yet there is not even a single instance of racist invective caught on film.  There is no doubt whatsoever that if such footage existed, it would be all over the news, even now, nearly a month later.

Tea partyers, be careful out there today.  Keep an eye out for protesters, and don't sign any petitions today - Jason Levin has made every petition suspect now.  But don't let these attempts to discredit and intimidate keep you from assembling.  Continue to prove the left's narrative wrong - be passionate but respectful, enthusiastic but controlled.  Isolate the infiltrators and show them for what they are.

If you go to an event, please send me your pictures and stories. Let's show the world that democracy in action can be peaceful.

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IT'S TIME TO PARTY!

PROGRESS

Just when it all starts getting to be too much and it seems like we're fighting a losing battle, a poll like this comes out.

The message is getting out there, even though sometimes it seems like it isn't.  The press is doing all they can to paint the Tea Parties as fringe and idiotic, but it just isn't working. 

As for our 'betters' in Congress, not only would  45% of Americans prefer random people chosen from the phone book to replace their them, but their desperate ploy to make anyone who disagrees with them and their agenda seem stupid, out of touch and ignorant of the issues isn't getting any traction, if this latest  poll  is anything to go by.

Most of the polls these days show that a majority of Americans are against the agenda that is currently being foisted upon them, so it really is mind boggling how they expect to win reelection with their current tactics.  One can only assume that they have convinced themselves that Americans really are so stupid and in possession of such poor short term memories that their insulting, degrading tactics won't come back to haunt them in November.

This most recent poll must really be insulting to our esteemed members of Congress.  After all, if the Tea Partyers are as stupid, braindead and uninformed as our representatives in Washington keep saying they are, then what does this new poll say about them?

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PROGRESS

(YET ANOTHER) OBAMA HEALTH CARE SPEECH

I'm sitting here trying to listen to Obama's speech to the Democrat Caucus, but I'm having a hard time.  I keep bursting out in laughter.

The line that really got me?  Obama claiming that the bill is "middle of the road".

Needless to say, the bs is flowing fast and thick at this meeting.  The meeting is basically a pep rally for The One to encourage the troops to vote for this mess.  Now that demon pass is not an option, they are going to have to suck it up and vote for the toxic Senate bill.

The meeting was also most likely a ruse to get the dems out of their offices and in a closed meeting so that they didn't have to face their constituents, who have stormed the Capitol to have their voices heard. 

Finally, a moment of truth from the Deceiver-in-Chief:

"Now, is this bill perfect?  Of course not.  Will this solve every single problem in our health care system right away?  No."

But it will tax us right away, so at least there's that....Oh boy, here's the liberal guilt push:

"If you honestlly believe, in your heart of hearts, in your conscience, that this is not an improvement over the status quo, in spite of all the information that's out there that says that without serious reform efforts like this one, people's premiums are going to double over the next five, ten years; that folks are going to keep on getting letters from their insurance companies that their premiums just went up 40 or 50%, if you think that somehow it's okay that we have millions of hard working Americans who can't get health care, and that it's alright, it's acceptable, in the wealthiest nation on earth that their children with chronic illnesses that can't get the care that they need, if you think that the system is working for ordinary Americans rather than the insurance companies, then you should vote no on this bill.  If you can honestly say that, then you shouldn't support it." 

One minor point, Mr. President - I know the image of sick kids is always an effective liberal tool to conjure up votes, but, um, didn't you take care of the uninsured children problem last year with the expansion of SCHIP?   Or is that program working as well as most other government agencies, and thus the uninsured kids?  I know it's hard to say no to sick kids - which is why SCHIP passed last year.  Sorry, Mr. President, those human shields have already been used. 

Oh, and, as for the increasing premiums, one of your own has disabused us of the notion this bill will fix that problem, as has the CBO.

Oh, and more people would have health insurance if they had a JOB!!!  It's going to be hard to get jobs for the millions of people who are out of work, so how about untying insurance from employment?  Another thing that might help is dropping state line rules and allowing the free market to work it's magic.  But those are republican ideas, so obviously they won't work and shouldn't even be considered.

There is only one other part of the speech that I agree with, aside from the moment of truth:

You're here to represent your constituencies, and if you think your constituencies honestly wouldn't be helped, you shouldn't vote for this."

Amen, brother.

Stay tuned tomorrow for the big vote....

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(YET ANOTHER) OBAMA HEALTH CARE SPEECH

THE COFFEE PARTY Updated

In a remarkably well-orchestrated first week, a 'nonpartisan' rival to the Tea Parties has arisen practically overnight.  They are calling themselves the Coffee Party, and are exactly what you might think they would be - left-leaning, big government embracing, Starbucks sipping elites (think goatees and Janeane Garofalo types). 

In their first week of existence, they have launched a website and video, garnered 40,000 followers on facebook and gotten not one but two favorable write-ups from major lefty publications. 

But they are entirely grassroots.

Really.

Really!

Only a week and they already have a slogan and a mission statement.  Yup, sounds grassroots to me!  I wonder if they have a nifty logo, too?  Maybe some cool pre-printed, government issue, NEA-created, taxpayer funded signs to wave at rallies?

The slogan is “Wake Up and Stand Up.” The mission statement declares that the federal government is “not the enemy of the people, but the expression of our collective will, and that we must participate in the democratic process in order to address the challenges we face as Americans.”

Sounds like the communist creed, no?  Government is not the enemy, it is the answer.  "Collective will"?  What are we, the Borg?  I prefer not to be absorbed into the collective, thanks.  And, in true progressivespeak, "democratic" can be freely interchanged with "socialist".

Really, how stupid do they think we are?

“We’re not the opposite of the Tea Party,” Ms. Park, 41, said. “We’re a different model of civic participation, but in the end we may want some of the same things.”

Hmmm...apparently, pretty stupid....

UPDATE:  As I was saying:

In fact, a simple internet search (which the NY Times apparently is not capable of doing) reveals that Park organized the Coffee Party for the specific purpose of undermining the Tea Party movement.


Park is a former Strategy Analyst at the NY Times who was one of organizers and operators of the United for Obama video channel at YouTube

Lots more info on Legal Insurrection.  Be sure to check out Ms. Park's tea party tweets! 

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THE COFFEE PARTY Updated

LAKE CITY BILLBOARD

This is a billboard that was put up this month on I-75 near Lake City, FL:

According to the email accompanying the picture (hat tip Jean M.):

The attached photo is of a billboard recently established on I-75 just south of Lake City . A group gathered there to celebrate its unveiling. The cost of 10 months rental of the billboard and doing the artwork was $6500. We feel that is a reasonable cost to reach out to 1,000,000 vehicles per month and perhaps motivate their participation in the electoral process to get our country on a sound footing.

How long do you think it will take for some liberal to cry that this is an implied threat by extremist right-wing fringe militia groups and they were traumatized by it?  Do you think Olby would make it the Worst Person in the World, even if it's not a person?  That's like winning liberal-hate gold!  Dare to dream....

I hope this is one of the first in a rising tide that will wash over the country.

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LAKE CITY BILLBOARD

CRAZY TALK

Today a very disturbed man flew his small plane into an Austin, TX building housing IRS personnel.  The pilot, Joe Stack, and an unnamed victim died at the scene and 13 people were injured.  Prior to this act, the Stack set fire to his home.

Stack  posted a long anti-government rant before he flew his plane into that building.  Because of these lunatic ravings, there are many on the left who are calling this a terrorist act that they are linking to the Tea Party movement.  Now, one would expect something like this from lefty blogs, but the Washington Post has picked up the meme, as have other mainstream media outlets (I'm sure Olby and Maddow will be all over it tonight).  As of this writing, if you google 'Joe Stack', 'Joe Stack Tea Party' is number 8 on the suggested search list.

There is much about Stack's post that they aren't talking about, though - things that would change the post from an anti-government Tea Party slanted rant into what it really was - the rabid ramblings of a man teetering on the brink.

HotAir's Allahpundit has a great rundown of the liberal slant:

5. He was mad at the IRS, and left what CNN reports was a suicide note on a local website, detailing his trials with the agency. In fact, a lot of his rhetoric could have been taken directly from a handwritten sign at a tea party rally.

Yeah, it could, although I confess to not having noticed a strong “capitalism is for suckers” vibe at rallies that are, let’s face it, driven mainly by laissez faire libertarian impulses. Meanwhile, Time magazine, while mentioning the anti-Bush passage, slipped the following hyperlink into its story on Stack:

According to news reports, 199 IRS employees work in the building, and all are accounted for. Toward the end of what appears to be his final note, Stack wrote, “Well, Mr. Big Brother IRS man, let’s try something different; take my pound of flesh and sleep well.” (See the making of the Tea Party movement.)

What is really interesting is the media response to the University of Alabama murderer as opposed to the fervor of the coverage of Stack's actions.  This woman was obviously sick, but, by the same standard the media is using for Stack, Amy Bishop should be making headlines for her rabid obsession with Barack Obama (a clearly disturbed woman obsessed with the President?  not good) and obvious feelings of entitlement towards tenure - very liberal positions.

But we're not hearing too much about Ms. Bishop, are we?  We're not hearing about her liberal congressional protector.  We're not hearing that this Obama worshipping, Harvard-trained university faculty member was a Socialist (but only after class!).  If a Tea Partier had perpetrated this crime, do you think it would have made the news cycles that the three victims were minorities? 

I'm not trying to say that Bishop killed Adriel Johnson, Maria Ragland Davis and Gopi Podila out of some sort of ideology (although there actually was an attempt to lump her in with the Tea Partiers, if you can believe it).  She is a seriously ill woman who had a history of violence who had gotten away with murder and attempted murder before.  Violence became an acceptable solution.

As for Joe Stack, he was a frustrated man who was pushed to the brink by a system that, in his unbalanced mind, became predatory.

These events are not politically motivated, they are the product of unstable minds.  On the surface, John Hinkley, Jr.'s assasination attempt on Ronald Reagan could have been politically motivated.  But just scratch the surface a little, and it's obvious the attempt was based on the movie Taxi Driver and was designed to impress Jodi Foster, not make a political statement.

For those who say he was a terrorist, I can see that point.  But, then, so would Amy Bishop - murder, attempted bombing, random violent attacks.  For me, though, a terrorist is someone who is participating in a campaign of terrorist attacks, be it based on religious or political ideologies.  The Ft. Hood shooter was a terrorist.  IRA bombers were terrorists.  Stack and Bishop were just plain crazy. 

In this post 9/11 world, it is easy to see dire subtexts in everything, but sometimes the acts of a crazy person are just that - the acts of a crazy person.

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CRAZY TALK

THE SILVER LINING OF ANGER

There are some interesting polls out today from Rasmussen.  I have mentioned before that I like Rasmussen because they poll likely voters, instead of just adults.  It gives a more accurate snapshot of electorate leanings.

According to Rasmussen,75% of Americans are somewhat angry with the current government policies.    Out of that 75%, 45% are very angry.  Just 19% are not very (11%) or not at all angry (8%).  I have to admit I'm a little surprised that there are even 8% not at all angry.   Considering those people are likely to vote, it makes requiring current events tests before voting seem more imperative than ever....

Broken down by party, 89% of Republicans, 61% of Democrats and a jaw-dropping 78% of independents are ticked off.   That's right, sisters, you are definitely not alone!

These numbers represent an overall anger at Washington in general; it is not party specific at all.  There is great discontent will any incumbent.  Agendas and voting records will be sharply scrutinized this election cycle.  If you have been fiscally irresponsible with taxpayer money, your days are most likely numbered, whether there is a D or an R after your name.

The question is how it will happen - primary challenges, D's turning to R's and vice versa, or Independent (TEA) party surprise wins. 

And therein lies the silver lining.  The American people, after decades of allowing our politicians to ride roughshod over us and our Constitution, are going to be set straight.  Americans are rediscovering their country, their roots, their heritage and their pride.  We are throwing off the Progressive yoke we have been harnessed to and returning to the core beliefs that have helped make this country the greatest superpower in history.

The more polls I see with results like this, the more I realize we are in for an exciting, surprising, potentially revolutionary election cycle.  The American people have woken up and are getting ready to flex their long dormant muscles and remind the elitist career politicians entrenched in Washington who is really boss.

I can't wait!

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THE SILVER LINING OF ANGER