Tax Day Tea Party - April 15th

[Casper]

I'll be going to this in Columbus. Read up, and join in if you agree.

http://ohioteaparty.com/

http://columbusteaparty.com/

http://taxdayteaparty.com

http://taxdayteaparty.com/teaparty/ohio/

http://www.americansforprosperity.org

http://www.americansforprosperity.org/ohio

http://www.feesaretaxes.com

Americans for Prosperity, ShotsontheHouse.com, various college groups, and various community groups are once again joining forces to combat reckless local, state, and government spending. A rally is planned as part of the national tax day tea party movement at 6 PM, April 15th, in front of the Ohio Statehouse.

WHEN: April 15th at 6:00PM - 7:20PM

WHERE: The Ohio Statehouse

For Immediate Release: Friday, March 20, 2009

Contact: Justin Higgins (right@rightontheright.com, contact for more info)

Americans for Prosperity and Shots on the House Hosting Columbus Tax Day Tea Party

AFP Once Again Joining with Bloggers / Community to Protest Wasteful Spending

COLUMBUS- Americans for Prosperity, ShotsontheHouse.com, various college groups, and various community groups are once again joining forces to combat reckless local, state, and government spending. A rally is planned as part of the national tax day tea party movement at 6 PM, April 15th, in front of the Ohio Statehouse.

Justin Higgins, a Columbus area blogger and Ohio State student said that, “these protests really tap into the communities and they’re upset. They’re tired of stupid bailouts, lying politicians, and trillions being dumped down the drain in the name of stimulus.” Justin runs www.ShotsontheHouse.com and served as the Master of Ceremonies for an AFP protest event held on March 14h. He’s assisting in the organization of the April 15th event.

“We need to really send a message. 5,000 people showed up in Cincinnati to protest the stimulus, and that’s just the start here in Ohio. We have a state budget that is poorly crafted, and passed off as balanced when in all honesty, it’s not. That, in addition to Columbus’s problems with budgeting, and we’re looking at a fiscal mess here in Ohio. It’s awful from the top down,” Justin noted.

Americans for Prosperity has been emphasizing the budget battle on the state level, launching their “Fees are Taxes” website (www.feesaretaxes.com) which tackles Governor Strickland’s plan to increase fees across Ohio.

AFP and all related parties are urging Columbus area residents to attend the tea party at the Statehouse on April 15th, and urging them to bring signs, posters, and their friends. More information on speakers and itinerary will be released as confirmed.

ShotsontheHouse.com is a blog covering sports, entertainment, and politics published and maintained by Justin Higgins, a 19 year old student studying Political Science and International Studies at the Ohio State University.

The Tax Day Tea Party movement has a website at www.taxdayteaparty.com

Americans for Prosperity (AFP) is a nationwide organization of citizen leaders committed to advancing every individual’s right to economic freedom and opportunity. AFP believes reducing the size and scope of government is the best safeguard to ensuring individual productivity and prosperity for all Americans. AFP educates and engages citizens in support of restraining state and federal government growth, and returning government to its constitutional limits. For more information, visit www.americansforprosperity.org

[FocusDave01]

they had one of those down here in cinci i think they do it all over the US not 100% i wanted to go but work was in the way

[Casper]

Yeah, they're all over the US. The last one was March 15th. They're gaining popularity quickly.

Here's in the info for Cinci's on April 15th: http://www.cincinnatiteaparty.org/Events/415rally.htm

[that dude]

government has grown too big..wont attend but kudos who do

[Disclaimer]

I'm all for protesting against things that are unfair or unjust... but, I'm not quite sure I understand the goals of this organization.

Specifically, what their vision is for solving this economic crisis? health care? their budget proposal? It's really easy to bitch about something, but it's much harder to fix what you're bitching about.

It seems they have a reason, but they don't have an answer.

[Disclaimer]

This concerns me.

1) This whole concept revolves around generating money - so the creation of this "movement" appears highly commercially motivated. Which makes the "brainwashing" statements kind of ironic.

2) Glenn Beck is involved and Fox News. Fair and Balanced, yup yup.

3) COMMUNISTS ARE EVERYWHERE fear mongering

4) Education is bad? Burn books? Yea, I can't get behind that. Education is what sets you free.

But, whatever you want to support I suppose.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/12/tea-party-insanity-burn-a_n_185991.html

Big bucks are pouring in to the tea party movement. Fox News reports that organizers are making a fortune in merchandise sales -- the online store for the Tax Day Tea Party website has already lodged over $48,000 in sales, according to tea partier Eric Odom. But the big bucks aren't only in T-shirts with pithy slogans - Fox's Glenn Beck said on his radio show that he plans to attend a $500 dollar-a-plate fundraiser for the tea party movement.

One wonders how much that fundraiser will resemble the scene in this video of a small event organized by the 9-12 Project, in which a man rouses the rabble with a conspiracy-alleging rant.

"In the early 50s our country was infiltrated by the communist party," he says, calling the Obama administration the culmination of that infiltration. "They're doing everything they can to brainwash our public...This thing they're putting on our TVs," he says, presumably referring to digital cable converters, "it's a brainwash unit!"

As his speech winds down, he exhorts his listeners to get their kids "the hell out of college. They're brainwashing 'em!"

The anti-school message resonates with one woman.

"Burn the books!" she yells from off-camera. The surprised camera man asks if she's serious, and which books she'd burn. "The ones in college, the brainwashing books, like the evolution crap."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kwdOwgD5OsY&feature=player_embedded Edited April 13, 2009 by JRMMiii

[Casper]

This concerns me.

1) This whole concept revolves around generating money - so the creation of this "movement" appears highly commercially motivated. Which makes the "brainwashing" statements kind of ironic.

2) Glenn Beck is involved and Fox News. Fair and Balanced, yup yup.

3) COMMUNISTS ARE EVERYWHERE fear mongering

4) Education is bad? Burn books? Yea, I can't get behind that. Education is what sets you free.

But, whatever you want to support I suppose.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/12/tea-party-insanity-burn-a_n_185991.html

YouTube - Project 912 Glenn Beck Tea Party

Wow you threw that way out of context.

One wonders how much that fundraiser will resemble the scene in this video of a small event organized by the 9-12 Project, in which a man rouses the rabble with a conspiracy-alleging rant.

"In the early 50s our country was infiltrated by the communist party," he says, calling the Obama administration the culmination of that infiltration. "They're doing everything they can to brainwash our public...This thing they're putting on our TVs," he says, presumably referring to digital cable converters, "it's a brainwash unit!"

As his speech winds down, he exhorts his listeners to get their kids "the hell out of college. They're brainwashing 'em!"

The anti-school message resonates with one woman.

"Burn the books!" she yells from off-camera. The surprised camera man asks if she's serious, and which books she'd burn. "The ones in college, the brainwashing books, like the evolution crap."

Facts:

• Glenn Beck is an idiot
  
• That event was a 912 Project event
  
• The 912 Project is a Glenn Beck thing
  
• The guy talking about communists was just someone in the audience
  
• There are crazy people on both sides of the spectrum
  

It's completely unfair to base your entire opinion on one article, which was almost completely based on Glenn Beck.

Tax Day Tea Party

The Tax Day Tea Party is a national collaborative grassroots effort organized by Smart Girl Politics, Top Conservatives on Twitter, the DontGo Movement and many other online groups/coalitions.

The Tea Party protests, in their current form, began in early 2009 when Rick Santelli, the On Air Editor for CNBC, set out on a rant to expose the bankrupt liberal agenda of the White House Administration and Congress. Specifically, the flawed “Stimulus Bill” and pork filled budget.

During Rick’s rant (see video below), he called for a “Chicago tea Party” where advocates of the free-market system could join in a protest against out of control government spending.

A few days later, grassroots activists and average Joe Americans began organizing what would soon become the Nationwide Chicago Tea Party effort.

On February 27th, an estimated 30,000 Americans took to the street in 40+ cities accross the country in the first nationwide “Tea Party” protest.

Organizers of the February 27th events pledged to continue on with an even bigger and better protest to follow the first. With April 15th being “Tax Day”, it was decided to schedule the second round of Tea Party protests to ride alongside the tax deadline.

And with that, the “Tax Day Tea Party”, the second round of the Nationwide Tea Party protests, moved into reality.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=1039849853

[Disclaimer]

Facts:

• Glenn Beck is an idiot
  
• That event was a 912 Project event
  
• The 912 Project is a Glenn Beck thing
  
• The guy talking about communists was just someone in the audience
  
• There are crazy people on both sides of the spectrum
  

It's completely unfair to base your entire opinion on one article, which was almost completely based on Glenn Beck.

I agree, that's why I asked for more information. I'm not judging the entire movement based on that single video, just like when the right-wingers tried to judge Obama because he was supported by Farrakhan. No matter what your stance, you're always going to has some crazies that end up on your team through no fault of your own.

I watched the Santelli vid. I'm not sure what I'm supposed to glean from that. No one wants to pay for their neighbors' "extra bathroom" - so they're bitching about it. But that still harkens back to my original issue. It seems there's a reason to bitch, but there's no solution.

If the solution is to let people suffer the "wrath of the market" - that's not going to bode well for the economy either. And we're back to the discussion about what to do with these people that can't pay their mortgage because they overextended themselves, or they were living paycheck-to-paycheck and lost their job.

And, this movement is still a commercially-backed movement, not a grassroots campaign like it's stated.

[kawi kid]

when does it come to coshocton??

[Casper]

I agree, that's why I asked for more information. I'm not judging the entire movement based on that single video, just like when the right-wingers tried to judge Obama because he was supported by Farrakhan. No matter what your stance, you're always going to has some crazies that end up on your team through no fault of your own.

I watched the Santelli vid. I'm not sure what I'm supposed to glean from that. No one wants to pay for their neighbors' "extra bathroom" - so they're bitching about it. But that still harkens back to my original issue. It seems there's a reason to bitch, but there's no solution.

If the solution is to let people suffer the "wrath of the market" - that's not going to bode well for the economy either. And we're back to the discussion about what to do with these people that can't pay their mortgage because they overextended themselves, or they were living paycheck-to-paycheck and lost their job.

And, this movement is still a commercially-backed movement, not a grassroots campaign like it's stated.

The goal is to raise awareness. In recent polls, the majority of the country disapproves of the stimulus packages. The majority of the country wants GM and Chrysler to deal with their own mess. In no way, shape, or form does the Constitution give the federal government the powers to bailout banks, automakers, insurance companies, etc. Our tax dollars should NOT be going towards shit like this. Fuck, technically we shouldn't be paying a federal income tax at all.

As for being commercially backed and not grassroots, how so? Because they've made money selling t-shirts and stickers? I guess that means we're commercially backed to here at Ohio Riders.

Look at the WhoIs info for www.taxdayteaparty.com:

http://whois.domaintools.com/taxdayteaparty.com

Eric Odom, a political blogger, is the owner.

If you don't agree with the ideals, then simply don't participate. It's cool.

[Disclaimer]

As for being commercially backed and not grassroots, how so? Because they've made money selling t-shirts and stickers? I guess that means we're commercially backed to here at Ohio Riders.

If you get Fox News, MSNBC, or CNN to cover what's going on here at OR.net, then we'll talk commercialization.

If you don't agree with the ideals, then simply don't participate. It's cool.

Fo sho' its all good.

[Casper]

If you get Fox News, MSNBC, or CNN to cover what's going on here at OR.net, then we'll talk commercialization.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/europe/04/11/polar.bear.attack/index.html

So, did the polar bear or the woman have commercial backing??

[Disclaimer]

What are the polar bear and/or woman selling? Is she trying to get people to buy "I survived a polar bear attack and all I got was this lousy T-shirt" T-shirt?

[Disclaimer]

Here's a better article today by one of my favorite Nobel Prize winning economists... Granted, it's an OP ED, but he's get merit. He better explains my contention that this isn't a "grassroots" campaign and largely commercial by who's backing this.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/13/opinion/13krugman.html

Tea Parties Forever

By PAUL KRUGMAN

This is a column about Republicans — and I’m not sure I should even be writing it.

Today’s G.O.P. is, after all, very much a minority party. It retains some limited ability to obstruct the Democrats, but has no ability to make or even significantly shape policy.

Beyond that, Republicans have become embarrassing to watch. And it doesn’t feel right to make fun of crazy people. Better, perhaps, to focus on the real policy debates, which are all among Democrats.

But here’s the thing: the G.O.P. looked as crazy 10 or 15 years ago as it does now. That didn’t stop Republicans from taking control of both Congress and the White House. And they could return to power if the Democrats stumble. So it behooves us to look closely at the state of what is, after all, one of our nation’s two great political parties.

One way to get a good sense of the current state of the G.O.P., and also to see how little has really changed, is to look at the “tea parties” that have been held in a number of places already, and will be held across the country on Wednesday. These parties — antitaxation demonstrations that are supposed to evoke the memory of the Boston Tea Party and the American Revolution — have been the subject of considerable mockery, and rightly so.

But everything that critics mock about these parties has long been standard practice within the Republican Party.

Thus, President Obama is being called a “socialist” who seeks to destroy capitalism. Why? Because he wants to raise the tax rate on the highest-income Americans back to, um, about 10 percentage points less than it was for most of the Reagan administration. Bizarre.

But the charge of socialism is being thrown around only because “liberal” doesn’t seem to carry the punch it used to. And if you go back just a few years, you find top Republican figures making equally bizarre claims about what liberals were up to. Remember when Karl Rove declared that liberals wanted to offer “therapy and understanding” to the 9/11 terrorists?

Then there are the claims made at some recent tea-party events that Mr. Obama wasn’t born in America, which follow on earlier claims that he is a secret Muslim. Crazy stuff — but nowhere near as crazy as the claims, during the last Democratic administration, that the Clintons were murderers, claims that were supported by a campaign of innuendo on the part of big-league conservative media outlets and figures, especially Rush Limbaugh.

Speaking of Mr. Limbaugh: the most impressive thing about his role right now is the fealty he is able to demand from the rest of the right. The abject apologies he has extracted from Republican politicians who briefly dared to criticize him have been right out of Stalinist show trials. But while it’s new to have a talk-radio host in that role, ferocious party discipline has been the norm since the 1990s, when Tom DeLay, the House majority leader, became known as “The Hammer” in part because of the way he took political retribution on opponents.

Going back to those tea parties, Mr. DeLay, a fierce opponent of the theory of evolution — he famously suggested that the teaching of evolution led to the Columbine school massacre — also foreshadowed the denunciations of evolution that have emerged at some of the parties.

Last but not least: it turns out that the tea parties don’t represent a spontaneous outpouring of public sentiment. They’re AstroTurf (fake grass roots) events, manufactured by the usual suspects. In particular, a key role is being played by FreedomWorks, an organization run by Richard Armey, the former House majority leader, and supported by the usual group of right-wing billionaires. And the parties are, of course, being promoted heavily by Fox News.

But that’s nothing new, and AstroTurf has worked well for Republicans in the past. The most notable example was the “spontaneous” riot back in 2000 — actually orchestrated by G.O.P. strategists — that shut down the presidential vote recount in Florida’s Miami-Dade County.

So what’s the implication of the fact that Republicans are refusing to grow up, the fact that they are still behaving the same way they did when history seemed to be on their side? I’d say that it’s good for Democrats, at least in the short run — but it’s bad for the country.

For now, the Obama administration gains a substantial advantage from the fact that it has no credible opposition, especially on economic policy, where the Republicans seem particularly clueless.

But as I said, the G.O.P. remains one of America’s great parties, and events could still put that party back in power. We can only hope that Republicans have moved on by the time that happens.

Edited April 13, 2009 by JRMMiii

[InyaAzz]

What are the polar bear and/or woman selling? Is she trying to get people to buy "I survived a polar bear attack and all I got was this lousy T-shirt" T-shirt?

I think I saw a news report somewhere where she was wearing a "German women like it when you eat them" shirt.

Edited April 13, 2009 by InyaAzz

[FocusDave01]

Yeah, they're all over the US. The last one was March 15th. They're gaining popularity quickly.

Here's in the info for Cinci's on April 15th: http://www.cincinnatiteaparty.org/Events/415rally.htm

thanks for this im gonna try to go down here..

[Blitzburgh]

WE ARE RIGHT, THEY ARE WRONG. END OF THE STORY!!!!

I love my Sirius 144...

Edited April 13, 2009 by Blitzburgh

[Disclaimer]

http://crooksandliars.com/john-amato/howard-kurtz-attacks-fox-over-their-slo

Howard Kurtz hit FOX News for their promotion of the "Tea Party" protests on CNN's Reliable Sources. He actually says the shows are now "a full-fledged Fox fight." Transcript:

KURTZ: The folks at Fox News have found something to be fore in this age of Obama. They are firmly in favor of tea parties.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KURTZ (voice-over): On Wednesday -- that would be April 15th -- there will be tax protests around the country on the theme of the original Boston Tea Party. TaxDayTeaParty.com says it was inspired by that rant against President Obama's mortgage aid plan by CNBC's Rick Santelli.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: President Obama, are you listening?

NARRATOR: From sea to shining sea, in every city, we, the people, take our nation back.

KURTZ: Among those backing what's being billed as a grassroots movement, a conservative blogger, Michelle Malkin, a Fox contributor. Newt Gingrich, the former House-speaker-turned-Fox-analyst, will also will be attending one of the parties. Fox News, whose new online slogan is "Just Say No to Biased Media," began publicizing the protests, and soon some hosts were signing on.

GLENN BECK, FOX NEWS: We're getting ready for next week's Tax Day tea parties. All across the country, people coming together to let the politicians know, OK, enough spending.

SEAN HANNITY, FOX NEWS: And, of course, April 15th, our big show coming out of Atlanta. It's Tax Day, our Tax Day tea party show. Don't forget, we're going to have "Joe the Plumber."

KURTZ: Now, the hosts at Rupert Murdoch's network all make up their own minds, right? But soon the tax protest became a full-fledged Fox fight.

BECK: Fox News with "Your World With Neil Cavuto" is going to be live in Sacramento, California at 4:00 p.m.. That's 4:00 p.m. Eastern, 1:00 p.m. Pacific. Our show is going to be at the Alamo at our regular time. Then "Hannity" will be in Atlanta, Georgia, at 9:00 p.m. Eastern, 6:00 p.m. Pacific. And then Greta is live in Washington, D.C., 10:00 p.m. Eastern, 7:00 p.m. Pacific Time.

KURTZ:

These hosts said little or nothing about the huge deficits run up by President Bush, but Barack Obama's budget and tax plans have driven them to tea.

On the other hand, CNN and MSNBC may have dropped the ball by all but ignoring the protests.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KURTZ: Glenn and company joining the somewhat over-caffeinated tea parties. They are commentators who are paid for their point of view, and these aren't Republican Party events. At least not officially. Obviously, they're playing to their conservative base.

The test for me is whether these Fox hosts occasionally find something nice to say about President Obama. In the interest of being fair and balanced, of course.

The right-wingers want to know how FOX is financing this movement? It's because they are endlessly promoting it on every show that has. The hosts are saying they will be covering the event as if it's a presidential debate.

And that type of publicity costs, ladies and gentleman. It costs big time, and FOX is giving thousands upon thousands of dollars of free advertising to a movement that is being financed by right-wing special-interest groups who DO NOT care about the working class in America. It's shameful for a TV network to engage in such slobbering programming, but it's FOX and Roger Ailes. They use their media as a wedge to attack liberals and Democratic politicians every single day. It's what Ailes has lived for ever since he was a Nixon operative.

It's nice that Howard Kurtz admits that FOX is acting like a propaganda network, but when he says CNN and MSNBC might be missing the boat, he cheapens his complaints somewhat. CNN and MSNBC are smart enough to know what's happening here. They've obviously made a conscious choice not to feed the Bonfires of Wingnuttery.

http://firedoglake.com/2009/04/13/corporate-lobyists-raising-money-for-tea-parties/

Teabaggers are having a hard time coming to terms with the fact that "grassroots" demonstrations aren't orchestrated by corporate lobbyists. Understandable -- if you didn't have any experience organizing a demonstration that didn't have millions in free PR from Fox News and well-funded GOP fat cats providing a national infrastructure, you wouldn't know the difference.

They seem to be particularly upset about links I sent out yesterday on Twitter (using the teaparty hashtags #tcot and #teaparty) regarding a report by Lee Fang at Think Progress documenting the involvement of corporate lobbyists FreedomWorks in organizing the teabaggers. FreedomWorks is run by ladies' man (and registered lobbyist) Dick Armey, and if they're not "organizing" the Tea parties, it's news to them.

From the FreedomWorks website:

With your help,

we have been able to organize hundreds of Taxpayer Tea Parties across the country

, from Santa Barbara, California to Amarillo, Texas, and all the way to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

[]

If you are not able to organize or attend a Taxpayer Tea Party, you can still help the cause by

donating

or

buying a t-shirt

. You can also spread the word via email, facebook and word of mouth. If you would like to post updates on tea parties in your state, or if you’d like to get in touch with other people planning tea parties, visit our

Tea Party HQ

. We have created an interactive Google map that you can use to locate a tea party near you!

The "donation" for the Tea Parties page goes to -- you guessed it -- the FreedomWorks Foundation. The "thank you" lettter is signed by Matt Kibbe, President & CEO, who cut his teeth working for Lee Atwater. He was behind the attempt to get Ralph Nader put on the ballot in Oregon in 2004, prompting a complaint to the FEC of illegal collusion with the GOP.

FreedomWorks was launched a GOP version of MoveOn. "We believe that hard work beats daddy's money," said Dick Armey at the time. Armey seems to be a bit irony challenged -- Steve Forbes is on the FreedomWorks board. As Krugman notes, their money comes from the Koch, Scaife, Bradley, Olin and other reliable funders of right wing infrastructure including Exxon Mobil.

I don't know which is sadder -- the fact that the Teabaggers don't understand that it would be impossible for them to do what they're doing without this kind of infrastructure behind them, or the fact that they're being manipulated by the very people they appear to be raging against who are only looking to channel their anger for their own purposes.

Whatever. Glenn Reynolds seems to have blown a gasket over the whole thing today, and that's always a good thing.

Any articles from the right that can refute any of this? I need more reading material.

[cmoosego]

don't blame me I voted for PEDRO......

[fusion]

Teabaggers

[Casper]

Teabaggers

Better to be a teabagger than teabagged...

[fusion]

Better to be a teabagger than teabagged...

This is true.

[Casper]

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/04/15/tea.parties/index.html

[magley64]

glad to see this event is going well...

[cmoosego]

who's going down there tonight at 6pm??