Tea Party!

[Savonarola]

If only we could deprt Joe the Plumber back to Ohio 

Tea Party protest movement heats up in Lansing
BY DAWSON BELL • FREE PRESS LANSING BUREAU • April 15, 2009

LANSING – The grounds of the state Capitol were packed with protesters today, as several thousand Michiganders turned out for one of the national Tea Party demonstrations against excess taxation, government regulation and assorted other maladies.


An estimated 3,000 to 4,000 people showed up for the midday event, one of dozens across the state and hundreds nationally. The Lansing event was headlined by Joe Wurzelbacher, the Ohio native made famous duing campaign 2008 as "Joe the Plumber" after he confronted then-candidate Barack Obama about raising taxes.

Wurzelbacher's message, like that of other speakers and most of the throng on the lawn, was generally anti-Obama and against the current direction of the federal government. But the crowd – bearing one of the most impressive collection of homemade signs ever assembled at the Capitol -- targeted a whole range of grievances, including Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm, the Federal Reserve and gun control.

Sharon Heide, 52, a nurse from Allen Park who took the day off from work to attend the rally at the Capitol, brought one that read: "Big Government Regulation Got Us Into This Mess, More of the Same Won't Bail Us Out."

Heide said government has gotten too big, and individual freedoms too small.

"Government is to protect us in war," she said. "Let's get back to the Constitution. We're supposed to be individuals, that's what made this country great. They're trying to control everything we do."


Scott Hagerstrom of Americans for Prosperity, one of the organizers of the Lansing protest, said the Tea Parties are not aimed at any single government policy, but against a rapid escalation of government intrusion into private lives and economic activity. The aim is to "get people involved," he said.

In the 90's I lived by Oakland County's major post office in Royal Oak, Michigan.  On April 15 the city would block streets in order to funnel last minute tax filers to the post office.  Every year a number of malcontents would show up with home made signs protesting the government.  In those days the Michigan Militia would show up basking in their then new found glory brought on by the Oklahoma City Bombing.  They wore hunter camouflage and sported ZZ-Top beards.  This article reminded me of that.

[derspiess]

So what's wrong with people protesting government expansion & wasteful spending? 

[Ed Anger]

If only we could deprt Joe the Plumber back to Ohio 

Oh no, you keep him.

[Savonarola]

So what's wrong with people protesting government expansion & wasteful spending? 

It's a waste of time.  Protests cannot succeed without giant puppets.

[Malthus]

They'd get a better turnout if they called it a "teabagging party".

[derspiess]

So what's wrong with people protesting government expansion & wasteful spending? 

It's a waste of time.  Protests cannot succeed without giant puppets.

Well, true.  Conservatives & Libertarians generally suck at protesting, because as the more productive members of society, they're usually too busy working.  Having fringe loonies (a la Michigan Militia) pitch in to fill the void doesn't help things.

[KRonn]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30227452/

Anti-tax 'tea parties' being held across U.S.

Thousands of protesters, some dressed like Revolutionary War soldiers and most waving signs with anti-tax slogans, gathered around the nation Wednesday for a series of rallies modeled after the original Boston Tea Party.

They chose the income tax filing deadline to express their displeasure with government spending since President Barack Obama took office.

[The Brain]

Don't they understand that taxes are for their own good?

[Valmy]

'Taxation with Representation is Really Annoying!'

Just doesn't inspire as much as the old slogan.

I am glad to finally see people protesting government debt.  I mean fuck we have deficit spending for what...40 years?

[Valmy]

They chose the income tax filing deadline to express their displeasure with government spending since President Barack Obama took office.

Huh?  Obama has pretty much done the exact same thing as his predecessors.  What has changed?

[The Brain]

They chose the income tax filing deadline to express their displeasure with government spending since President Barack Obama took office.

Huh?  Obama has pretty much done the exact same thing as his predecessors.  What has changed?

[vinraith]

They chose the income tax filing deadline to express their displeasure with government spending since President Barack Obama took office.

Huh?  Obama has pretty much done the exact same thing as his predecessors.  What has changed?

1. He's a demoncrat

2. He's a secret muslim

3. He said the US isn't a Christian nation

4. He's an evilutionist

5. He's a darkie

6. He stole their jerbs

I think that about covers it, but I'm open to things I've missed. The "gubmint is evil" crowd is just doing what they always do, but the new members of the movement...

[Faeelin]

They chose the income tax filing deadline to express their displeasure with government spending since President Barack Obama took office.

Huh?  Obama has pretty much done the exact same thing as his predecessors.  What has changed?

He restored the tax levels to Clinton years, and is continuing the Republican policy of deficit spending; but instead of it being for a disastrous, disastrous war, it's for useless things, like ending the Recession.

[Faeelin]

Summed up pretty well  here:

Tea Partiers are hoping that if they mimic the energy of anti-war protests and the savvy of Obama's new media operation, that at some point an actual movement will spawn.  Getting together a bunch of pissed off middle-aged white people with no clue about how the tax system works in public areas will generate a coherent agenda designed to combat the stimulus; if it gets enough media coverage, they will DOMINATE THE AGENDA.

It's like taping a horn to a horse and waiting for it to alight on a magic cloud of stardust and pixies. 

http://pandagon.net/index.php/site/unicorn_nutson_your_face/#When:18:31:00Z

[garbon]

They'd get a better turnout if they called it a "teabagging party".

Some news outlets are reporting it that way.

The radio this morning told me that I could teabag Pelosi!

http://teaparty.gop.com/Default.aspx