Seems like it was only yesterday RBO asked “What’s Next?”
Looks like there may a different kind of fireworks on July 4th. TeaPartyDay.com already has an organizer sign up widget posted for the next Taxed Enough Already (TEA) party rally. To date there are 74 organizers in 68 cities.
- The Tax Foundation says that because of unprecedented budget deficit over $1.5 trillion, it will take each individual until May 29 to pay their taxes this year. On May 30th, you begin working for yourself instead of your government. This is wrong!
Join others in your hometown and across the country by participating in the American Freedom Day rally. We suggest you have your meeting at noon in front of your city hall, but you will make the decision on where and when the rally will be. [...]
Bring your cell phone and call Congress and the president while attending the TEA party rally (Representative and Senators, 202-224-3121; President, 202-456-1414). Tell Every American about this effort by forwarding this invitation to your friends.
More April 15th Coverage
Pajamas Media TV has some more links and coverage of National TEA Party Day activities. The guesstimated attendance now stands at 618,068.
Andrew Ian Dodge at Pajamas Media has an assessment of how things went:
- I think there are several ways of looking at the events nationwide. From what I have seen, there was none of the promised trouble from anti-tea party activists, though there were plenty of problems for those brave souls who volunteered to organize local events.
Things were not much easier for the state coordinators, some of whom were finding out about additional tea parties the evening before tax day. Even with all the new technology, we were faced with people who didn’t communicate, dodgy mobile phone reception, frozen and overfilled email accounts, hacked websites, and people who were trying to take over the day’s events for their own partisan aims.
It became obvious along the way that many of those who signed up to arrange events did not know the hassles and annoyances that come with this sort of endeavor. I was able to help people locally and nationally deal with some of the ins and outs of dealing with the media. (In fact, a few kind souls on a conference call took notes which can be found here. These might prove useful the next time you encounter journalists.)
We can all agree that the national effort was a cracking success. We should all be very proud.
The “notes” are stored in teapartyteam’s pbwiki account, which requires permission for access.
Lastly, please take time to read a heartfelt rant at Native Americans Against Obama. Here’s just a taste by someone saddened by the TEA Parties’ success — and why:
- But, it is anger and sadness that encompasses me. On tax day I drove by our tea party, and hundreds filled the sidewalks holding signs. Young, old, women and men, of all ages held the signs high and shouted to the passing cars. As a member of PUMA I should have been proud. But as I drove by, the anger welled up inside me. Anger toward all those who refused to listen to all of us, for so many months. I wanted so badly to shout to them, “Where were you when it came time to vote!” But, I didn’t, I guess I lacked the courage. I am sure many felt the same as I did that day.
Let this serve as an inspiration — and a word of warning. Lead, follow or get the f#$% out of the way.
WONDERFUL. About 600 people lined the street in our town in Florida. All were waving flags holding posters. Most people agreed with us as they drove by..honking their horns..waving. I do hope by that time everyone realizes that it’s not just a republican thing…it’s an American thing!!
Sorry for the length but I wanted to share a portion of my TEA Party protest article in the local paper.
Scroll by if it’s too long for you.
When CNBC’s Rick Santelli performed his infamous anti-mortgage entitlement expansion rant on the Feb. 19 Squawk Box Show calling for a July 4th Tea Party style protest, he never could have predicted the impact his words would have on a nation full of irate taxpayers.
Santelli had touched a nerve, expressing what millions of Americans were thinking.
But people weren’t willing to wait until July
They were already reeling from the $780 billion bailout of Lehman Brothers, Bear Sterns, Morgan Stanley, Citibank and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
The $870 billion Stimulus Package had passed.
The $450 billion Omnibus Bill to fund government agencies for the rest of the current fiscal year was on the table.
A $3.5 trillion spending bill was well on its way to becoming law.
$12.3 Billion had been spent in just six months, first under a Republican Administration, now under a Democratic one and there was a growing consensus the government was mortgaging the country’s future.
So while Santelli’s unscripted from-the-gut rage at what some have characterized as generational theft may have provided the impetus for the grassroots movement which culminated in Wednesday’s nationwide rallies, the anger had been simmering for a months.
Taxed-Enough-Already (TEA) protests, an internet-based initiative cutting across party lines started cropping up, driven mostly by people across the country who had never engaged in local activism before.
On April 15th, there were over 700 rallies in 50 states and according to PMTV, the estimated turnout was over 200,000.
Among the largest crowds were 25,000 in Sacramento, 20,000 in Atlanta, 12,500 in NYC, 10,000 in Nashville and 3000 in Albany.
Protest slogans ranged from the clever to the comical, the angry to the sarcastic.
Give me Liberty, not Debt. Pillage and Plunder:
At Least the Vikings did it Openly.
Bailouts, Stimulus, and Pork. Oh My!
We the People…are now owned by the Chinese.
I’ll keep my freedom, you keep the Change.
Housing is not an Entitlement.
Wall Street got a bailout and all I got was the bill.
The sheer scope of government spending is so mindboggling dozens of imaginative analogies have sprung up helping people wrap their minds around exactly how much a trillion dollars is.
‘A stack of a trillion one-dollar bills would reach 68,000 miles in space.’
‘If you spent $1 million dollars a day from the day Jesus was born until now, you would only have spent about three quarters of a trillion.’
‘A million seconds is 11.5 days. A billion seconds is 32 years. A trillion seconds is 32,000 years.’
The national outrage has not been lost on Durham and last night they held their version of a TEA protest at the Shamrock House, sponsored by the Durham Republican Committee.
(The article continues with details from the Durham event).
Wanna see what this is all about and listen to a man that supported Obama but is honest enough to tell it like it is. Listen to Bill Black being interviewed by Bill Moyers. Bill Black did an intense investigation into the Saving and Loan Scandal. I know young folks don’t know what that is. This interview says what is happening now makes that scandal peanuts. Take a look:
http://www.cannonfire.com
Concerning the NAAO-rant, BOzo DID say he would want to bankrupt the coal industry, it seems to happen quicker than he imagined.
OT but to raise the spirits:
Sarkozy pegged BOzo (and others) a bit too well :)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/apr/17/nicolas-sarkozy-obama-zapaterom-merkel
Obama Bought The Presidency
For at least a year, I have been reading about the housing crash, which has led directly to this recession at the website patrick.net (link below).
For those who are most interested in the link between Obama, Geithner and Paulson with Wall Street there is much to be found here. I am not a finanancial genius, but even I get the ungodly relationship between Goldman Sachs and those three (trinity).
Wall Street is the mother’s milk for the motherless Obama, read that as a psychoanalytical bullseye.
http://patrick.net/housing/crash.html
All these TEA parties are great! But what is the point…the President makes his own laws, he vetoes what he wants, and does not listen to the people of the United States. Yes, he won the Presidency but how many citizens voted? Enough rambling…what are we to do?
How about everyone that wants to stop socialism, stop dictatorship, wants the American Peoples votes to be upheld, to do something. Why don’t we all pick a day not to work so the world can see how unpopular the white house is, so congress and the President can see, the press can see. I think there was a recent day in the public schools that the teachers were not going to speak all day to protest something. Isn’t this what congress promotes, Acorn promotes, GLADD promotes? If we don’t take a stand now we will end up like Sweden and the rest of Europe. No one will have a choice or a voice. Let’s do something!
Someone pick a work day….a day that counts and let’s all not go to work….