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Title: Anti-Obama Taxpayer Tea Parties steeped in insanity
Source:
LA Times
URL Source: http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion ... pr15,0,2784720.story?track=rss
Published: Apr 15, 2009
Author: Marc Cooper
Post Date: 2009-04-15 08:39:28 by Refinersfire
Keywords: None
Views: 1728
Comments: 135
he Web is buzzing with information about how to throw an anti-Obama Taxpayer Tea Party, something organizers hope will be held today from Santa Monica to South Carolina. But no need to burn up your bandwidth reading complicated instructions. Here's a simpler recipe: Go to a hobby store. Buy a scale model of a U.N. One-World-Government Black Helicopter and a tube of glue. Toss the model kit. Sniff the entire tube of glue. You're all set for the party. I can recall only a few outbreaks of such collective insanity as these tea parties in recent years. There was that time in the mid-1990s when a $19.95 video proving Bill Clinton was some sort of serial killer went viral. And then, a few years back, there was that chilling, televised midnight seance from the floor of the U.S. Congress aimed at reviving the long-brain-dead Terri Schiavo. And now this. Whip out your Lipton and don your tinfoil hat and join the protest against ... against ... against what exactly? The original Boston Tea Party was caffeinated by a very simple injustice: American Colonists refused to be taxed by a government that lacked any popular representation. That was remedied a few years later in a heroic struggle that stretched from Concord to Yorktown. So, if you'll excuse the mixed metaphor, what's the beef behind today's protests? The Obama administration is cutting taxes for all except the very richest of Americans. Reduced withholding is already showing up in millions of paychecks. Then again, this rash of tea parties is being organized not only by the pseudo-journalists at Fox News (with Glenn Beck, Neil Cavuto and Sean Hannity actively stoking the flames) but also by FreedomWorks, a conservative lobbying outfit headed by former House Majority Leader Dick Armey. I suppose it was Armey's constitutional if morally dubious privilege to have built an entire political career out of defending the wealthy. But are common folks actually going to dump Earl Grey into Santa Monica Bay because they are outraged, simply infuriated, by the marginal tax rate rising 3% for millionaires? Or maybe they'll do it for some other reason. The FreedomWorks site says the Tea Party movement began in reaction to President Obama's corporate bailouts and ensuing yawning budget deficits. These same conservatives, however, were mum when George W. Bush erased our budget surplus and put us deep in the red by drunken spending on a pointless war in Iraq and by, yes, granting massive tax rollbacks for the loaded country clubbers who fund the GOP (and Armey's FreedomWorks). Another bothersome detail: The bailouts were also initiated by Bush. Nobody I know is very pleased with the billions ladled out to teetering banks and corporations. Yet a clear majority of Americans are sophisticated enough to know that these bailouts are a necessary evil and are intended -- unlike the lollipop Bush tax cuts -- not for personal profit but rather as a radical, emergency measure to help Americans keep their jobs, their homes and their retirement. And while way too many otherwise sane Republicans are actively pandering to the tea-bag battalions, some old-fashioned conservatives are calling out the Teabaggers for their silliness. Writing in Fortune magazine, conservative policy analyst Bruce Bartlett, who has a long anti-tax history, says: "The irony of these protests is that federal revenues as a share of the gross domestic product will be lower this year than any year since 1950. ... The truth is that the U.S. is a relatively low-tax country no matter how you slice the data." The Tea Party movement, more than anything else, is a rather garish display of a Republican right that seems to have lost not only the national elections but also any semblance of political bearings. Staying on this course, the GOP risks -- in the words of one pundit -- becoming "the Talk Radio Republican Party." Better put that kettle on, Marge. It's going to be a long and bizarre four years. Marc Cooper is director of Annenberg Digital News at the Annenberg School for Communication at USC.
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#59. To: HOUNDDAWG (#58)
Thanks.
"I think the subject which will be of most importance politically is Mass Psychology...It's importance has been enormously increased by the growth of modern methods of propaganda...Although this science will be diligently studied, it will be rigidly confined to the governing class. The populace will not be allowed to know how its convictions were generated." Bertrand Russel, Eugenicist and Logician
I can see his point - although I'm trying not to.
"I think the subject which will be of most importance politically is Mass Psychology...It's importance has been enormously increased by the growth of modern methods of propaganda...Although this science will be diligently studied, it will be rigidly confined to the governing class. The populace will not be allowed to know how its convictions were generated." Bertrand Russel, Eugenicist and Logician
Exactly. And another thing--in reply to any who would whine about others wanting the "first black president to fail," I say that I want him to fail, not because he is black but because he is a freakin' communist! I would want him to fail if he was as white as snow.
Liberty is not a means to a higher political end. It is itself the highest political end. The issue of color and race is another diversion and PsyOp. The race card is played as a disinformation tactic to avoid discussing the specifics - the actual issues. It is a way to brand opponents as I care not one whit what race he is, if he were a Frederick Douglas (which he most definitely is NOT), I would admire him as great leader, but that is not the case. He is a teleprompter trained droid to deliver the PsyOp control messages while the country is looted and its people enslaved. He is the exact opposite of a Frederick Douglas who was a great orator and desired freedom and prosperity for all.
"I think the subject which will be of most importance politically is Mass Psychology...It's importance has been enormously increased by the growth of modern methods of propaganda...Although this science will be diligently studied, it will be rigidly confined to the governing class. The populace will not be allowed to know how its convictions were generated." Bertrand Russel, Eugenicist and Logician
Yes, of course. It is easier for them to brand you a racist than to actually have to think about something. To such people thinking is painful and they don't want to engage in it.
Liberty is not a means to a higher political end. It is itself the highest political end. Do you have a blog? Though I occasionally disagree, you always have a well thought out, reasoned analysis.
Thanks. No, I don't have a blog. I have thought of it but my schedule is sometimes erratic so I haven't wanted to take on maintaining one.
"I think the subject which will be of most importance politically is Mass Psychology...It's importance has been enormously increased by the growth of modern methods of propaganda...Although this science will be diligently studied, it will be rigidly confined to the governing class. The populace will not be allowed to know how its convictions were generated." Bertrand Russel, Eugenicist and Logician
Incorrect.. There was Both D and R members, along with Indys and members of the Constitution Party there today. And all were in agreement, that this WAS NOT about a party, but WAS ABOUT being an American and taking back OUR GOVERNMENT! p.s. It was an Honor to talk to Christine on the phone today and to meet JT.. he is def a asset to this site and IRL :-) p.s.s I counted over 250 people for a Tea Party that was only put together, in the last 3-4 weeks with little notice.. It was a GREAT Time by all and for all..
Indeed :-(
thank you, RF, for the kind words and your report. you also are a fine man and asset to this site. do you know there are 20k tea partiers in Atlanta?
The smooth criminal transition from Bush/Cheney to Obama
We all know what you'll find. These people hate liberty as much as they did in Oct 2008. They are just out of power. I did just that.. and I am VERY happy to report, that everyone I spoke to, had an opinion on each and every subjest, and were very well versed on each subject. It did my heart good to see so many folks, taking their Citizenship so much to heart. Thanks for posting the idea to do so. :-)
You are more then Welcome and no, I did not.. as I just got home.. will watch the news in a bit.. N E E D to eat...LOLOL
That sounds great.
Liberty is not a means to a higher political end. It is itself the highest political end. While I agree with you, I am like the Good Capitan, I will man the deck till she goes under.. fighting the whole damn time.. as I will not face my sons and say, "oh, I didn't care enough to leave the world better for you"
Back at ya' Refinersfire. You and your two boys bring a fire and a passion to this budding movement that I haven't seen since Perot took off in '92. Today I felt we're at the very beginning of our last stand, and I'll be proud and ready to stand with you. And more are coming, I can feel it. PS: Refinersfire was interviewed by a university station and it will be aired this Friday on local TV. I'll TiVo it and ask my son load it on VHS and from there - hopefully - to YouTube.
It really was.. if you did not leave there, with a spring in your step, you were dead.. It was a bunch of Americans, proudly saying just that, standing for a just cause.. God Save and Bless America!!!!!
Looking forward to it.
And the PBA was an example of this.. read the second part of this "Law" and pay close attention to the "Sense of Congress".. it was one of the many reasons Santorum lost his seat
Please keep in mind, I always feel I do better behind the curtain.. Tho my oldest told me, between that Interview and Speech I gave later, he thought I should be in DC..
DAMN! were you get them brains at? I want a set like that.. ;-) Good Job...
That would be great.
Liberty is not a means to a higher political end. It is itself the highest political end. I've never heard that Dreck was trained in Israel...but don't doubt it. Can you give a little more detail on that?
But these same sophisticates can't see they're played like a Stratavarius by the left/right ... conservative/liberal string pulling mullets in DC ... gimme a freaking break !
Resolve to serve no more, and you are at once freed. I do not ask that you place hands upon the tyrant to topple him over, but simply that you support him no longer; then you will behold him, like a great Colossus whose pedestal has been pulled away, fall of his own weight and break in pieces. De La Boétie
Possibly a slight overstatement, but during the short time his radio program was in my market he spent a week broadcasting his show from Israel. Given that he is a shameless apologist for Israel I am actually just assuming. However, he is someone's "asset" of that I am sure.
"I think the subject which will be of most importance politically is Mass Psychology...It's importance has been enormously increased by the growth of modern methods of propaganda...Although this science will be diligently studied, it will be rigidly confined to the governing class. The populace will not be allowed to know how its convictions were generated." Bertrand Russel, Eugenicist and Logician
Thank you for the kind words worthy sir. I had no way of doing an accurate count, but the Portland Tea Party was minimally 500 people and possibly more. The Pioneer Courthouse Square in downtown Portland was elbow to elbow, and it pretty much takes up an entire block. "I think the subject which will be of most importance politically is Mass Psychology...It's importance has been enormously increased by the growth of modern methods of propaganda...Although this science will be diligently studied, it will be rigidly confined to the governing class. The populace will not be allowed to know how its convictions were generated." Bertrand Russel, Eugenicist and Logician
This is exactly right, just as a few years ago when i contended that the 'anti illegal immigration' movement that got so much play in the mainstream media was then led by the likes of tancredo and gilcrest, who i believe were sincere in their single issue, yet were both zionists and supporters of the GOP led police and surveillance state, and real id act, etc. this allowed people to 'vent' about 'illegals' and the 'gov't'. This actually served as a very effective pressure release valve at the time, yet still allowed most of the same people to slather over fag bush and his empirical nonsense wars. it's just so ridiculous. today i listened to hannity and his hourly intro says, paraphasing, we've been taken over by radical left, your taxes are about to go sky high,... stand up for our military. thus equating anti taxation with blind ''support of troops''. it's just mindless garbage, all of it.
Glory to God in the highest, and Peace to His people on Earth. this allowed people to 'vent' about 'illegals' and the 'gov't'. This actually served as a very effective pressure release valve at the time, yet still allowed most of the same people to slather over fag bush and his empirical nonsense wars. it's just so ridiculous. That's pretty much where I wound up in my thinking. They're channeling the outrage and the slave revolt trying to control and direct it into harmless and ineffective activity in the hopes the it will be spent in unproductive ways. However, I think we've moved beyond that point where this kind of a diversion will work. That is what "Pills" Limburger's function is - to make people feel like they're involved by listening to him pontificate and seed disinformation for 3 hours a day. Limbuggerer's audience is firmly under control doing nothing, but it is also dwindling. However, it was heartening to see so many people turn out and I did see at least one 911 sign. I think the event did end up creating a certain amount of energy.
"I think the subject which will be of most importance politically is Mass Psychology...It's importance has been enormously increased by the growth of modern methods of propaganda...Although this science will be diligently studied, it will be rigidly confined to the governing class. The populace will not be allowed to know how its convictions were generated." Bertrand Russel, Eugenicist and Logician
the message of 911 truth is something that is so radical and jolting that any real revolutionary will not pass the opportunity by. as far as the tax stuff, one thing that bothers me about russo's film is that he conveniently omits several facts of those profiled who are in prison, or settled, such as kuglin, who beat some counts but settled and paid a lot of money. and why doesnt anyone mention shiela jackson lee who is rotting in prison along with dick simkanin, schiff, and so many others? the govt dont give a damn about someone missing work to march with a sign. stop paying and they will care, which, i dont even suggest people do, but i admire those who do it. most people will not though, because they have too much to lose. This issue is going nowhere; the 'fed' will never end. let's talk about real issues and wake the public up about the literal satanist murderers running the government who sacrifice innocent people regularly. and if someone such as all the hannity listeners at these tax rallies is too weak minded to address these truths then they are no revolutiuonary. Just my two cents.
Glory to God in the highest, and Peace to His people on Earth. There is a big difference. They both still suck ass. But to say there isn't a dimes worth of difference is well stupid. We are suffering now because people think a candidate has to be perfect. Less evil is less evil. God said there is evil in all of us. So there will always be evil in our candidates. Take Ron Paul for example. The guy is right on so many issues but stupid on a few. He doesn't support constitutional amendment banning murdering one class of citizen. He doesn't oppose same sex marriage through constitutional amendment. He is for legalizing all drugs. Those are stupid positions. But he is still better then most of the competition.
I've never heard that one. A link would be nice. Thanks.
So what? What can you find in the Constitution that gives the government any authority to ban any drugs? It is your opinion that Ron's position is stupid but many people share that opinion. So do I. And it doesn't bother me if someone calls it stupid.
Liberty is not a means to a higher political end. It is itself the highest political end. That's your opinion. I have a different opinion.
Liberty is not a means to a higher political end. It is itself the highest political end. Shouldn't Annenberg be torpedoed and every one of their Traitors in ameriKa hung by the neck until they are dead ??
Partisan toe suckers are not capable of seeing the whole picture.
http://bluegrassfool.blogspot.com/2007/12/shirley-q-liquor-12-days-of-kwanzaa.html
Yeah, it's sad to me. I knew as far back as the early 70's that most politicians were working hand in hand and that, for the most part, their "game" is a good bit like professional wrestling. You know how they bad mouth their "opponents" but all drink together and ride together between "matches"? Same kinda deal with politicians. All that shuckin' and jivin' is just a show for the rubes and the gullible. Sound and fury signifying nothing.
Liberty is not a means to a higher political end. It is itself the highest political end. I am listening to Alex Jones and he seems to have come to the same conclusion we reached yesterday - that the attempt here is to polarize things and to set up the Tea Parties as scary, scary, shudder, right wing race haters and "hisssssssss" Obama haters. It is being spun as something totally different than what happened. I don't watch TV so I didn't see it but I guess the media is going into a frenzy to distort and mischaracterize the types of people and their motivations at the Tea Parties. The other play seems to be to build up the left-right poles so as to prevent a convergence of interests. There are areas of agreement such as the fact that we are being robbed blind, BUT the media circus wants to create a divide to keep us from uniting on our common interests against a corrupt government. I think that the Master Class is getting a bit nervous as their are too many upwelling currents of awareness and discontent. To some degree this is chaos theory in action - sensitive dependence on initial conditions i.e., the pot is beginning to boil and they're trying to keep the lid on the building pressure. When an in-equilibrium system reaches a "tipping point" where is has diverged far enough from the equilibrium point it can behave unpredictably in its attempt to establish a new equilibrium point. What the push seems to be with the media, and all of the other perception management tools at the disposal of the Psych Warfare Team assaulting us with their salacious advances, seems to be trying to do is to blunt the spontaneous outburst coming from the non-equilibrium society in which we now live. In simple terms I think they are genuinely afraid of a crowd of "Peasants with Pitchforks" showing up on their doorstep. So, the "Tea Parties" and the way they are being spun is an attempt to drive in a wedge to keep the "left-right" false paradigm in operation and to prevent people who have associated with one or the other from waking up to how they are being played for fools. Oh, and "Whino" your play has been diagnosed and you have identified yourself as the replacement for the now discredited "Whore". Stay Tuned.
"I think the subject which will be of most importance politically is Mass Psychology...It's importance has been enormously increased by the growth of modern methods of propaganda...Although this science will be diligently studied, it will be rigidly confined to the governing class. The populace will not be allowed to know how its convictions were generated." Bertrand Russel, Eugenicist and Logician
Oops! Forgot to include you on the ping list.
"I think the subject which will be of most importance politically is Mass Psychology...It's importance has been enormously increased by the growth of modern methods of propaganda...Although this science will be diligently studied, it will be rigidly confined to the governing class. The populace will not be allowed to know how its convictions were generated." Bertrand Russel, Eugenicist and Logician
Ping.
"I think the subject which will be of most importance politically is Mass Psychology...It's importance has been enormously increased by the growth of modern methods of propaganda...Although this science will be diligently studied, it will be rigidly confined to the governing class. The populace will not be allowed to know how its convictions were generated." Bertrand Russel, Eugenicist and Logician
Whenever I need a jolt of reality I conjure up an image of Mary Matalin married to James Carville. That to me is our political system in a nutshell.
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#60. To: Original_Intent, noone222 (#59)
Anderson Cooper says it's hard to talk while tea bagging.
"If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask not your counsel nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen.”—Samuel Adams 
#61. To: Rotara (#60)
#62. To: Original_Intent (#57)
(No, you're mind controlled schmuck if you think the "bail-outs" are anything other than a massive stick-up.)
Lord Acton
#63. To: James Deffenbach (#62)
And another thing--in reply to any who would whine about others wanting the "first black president to fail," I say that I want him to fail, not because he is black but because he is a freakin' communist! I would want him to fail if he was as white as snow.
anti-semites, oops wrong PsyOp, as racists and thus shut down debate and examination.
#64. To: Original_Intent (#63)
The issue of color and race is another diversion and PsyOp. The race card is played as a disinformation tactic to avoid discussing the specifics - the actual issues. It is a way to brand opponents as anti-semites, oops wrong PsyOp, as racists and thus shut down debate and examination.
Lord Acton
#65. To: Original_Intent (#57)
#66. To: mininggold (#65)
#67. To: Rhino369, christine, Jethro Tull, Esso, Kamala, Deacon Benjamin, TwentyTwelve, bluegrass, HOUNDDAWG, CadetD, Wudidiz, James Deffenbach, Sam Houston, All (#37)
The number of tea baggers who watch Glen Beck, and Rush dwarf the people like you.
#68. To: James Deffenbach (#35)
Sad business that.
#69. To: Refinersfire, Brian S (#67)
#70. To: Rhino369 (#45)
Everyone who is going to these protests, ask your fellow protestors their feelings on the war on terrorism, the drug war, the government spying on people it says are terrorists, the ability of the government to censor immoral media, etc etc.
#71. To: christine (#69)
#72. To: Refinersfire (#67)
Incorrect.. There was Both D and R members, along with Indys and members of the Constitution Party there today. And all were in agreement, that this WAS NOT about a party, but WAS ABOUT being an American and taking back OUR GOVERNMENT!
Lord Acton
#73. To: Sam Houston (#49)
It will be clear in the history books that the U.S. militarism of the past several decades, from whatever source derived, is what destroyed it. There's literally no "foundation" on which to stand anymore.
#74. To: Refinersfire, all tea baggers who despise socialism (#67)
#75. To: James Deffenbach (#72)
That sounds great.
#76. To: Jethro Tull, Refinersfire (#74)
#77. To: mininggold (#55)
And their backdoor funding of abortion while claiming they were against it is a prime example.
#78. To: Jethro Tull, All (#74)
PS: Refinersfire was interviewed by a university station and it will be aired this Friday on local TV. I'll TiVo it and ask my son load it on VHS and from there - hopefully - to YouTube.
#79. To: Original_Intent (#57)
I'm still chewing on this one but several elements stand out.
#80. To: Jethro Tull, Refinersfire (#74)
Refinersfire was interviewed by a university station and it will be aired this Friday on local TV. I'll TiVo it and ask my son load it on VHS and from there - hopefully - to YouTube.
Lord Acton
#81. To: Original_Intent (#57)
Glenn Dreck: Trained in Israel as a disinformation broadcaster and then promoted to national prominence.
#82. To: Original_Intent (#57)
Yet a clear majority of Americans are sophisticated enough to know that these bailouts are a necessary evil
#83. To: CadetD (#81)
#84. To: Refinersfire (#79)
The Spirit of '76 LIVES!
#85. To: Original_Intent (#57)
So, with growing restiveness and opposition they put forth a false opposition to lead and channel the discontent
"I don't know where Bin Laden is. I truly am not that concerned about him"
George W, Bush, 3/13/02 http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2002/03/20020313-8.html
#86. To: Artisan (#85)
(Edited)
... just as a few years ago when i contended that the 'anti illegal immigration' movement that got so much play in the mainstream media was then led by the likes of tancredo and gilcrest, who i believe were sincere in their single issue, yet were both zionists and supporters of the GOP led police and surveillance state, and real id act, etc.
#87. To: Original_Intent (#86)
"I don't know where Bin Laden is. I truly am not that concerned about him"
George W, Bush, 3/13/02 http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2002/03/20020313-8.html
#88. To: James Deffenbach (#56)
Whatever. One of these days you will figure out that there isn't a dime's worth of difference.
#89. To: Artisan (#87)
shiela jackson lee who is rotting in prison
#90. To: Old Friend (#88)
He is for legalizing all drugs.
Lord Acton
#91. To: Old Friend (#88)
But to say there isn't a dimes worth of difference is well stupid.
Lord Acton
#92. To: Refinersfire (#0)
"If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask not your counsel nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen.”—Samuel Adams
#93. To: James Deffenbach (#91)
That's your opinion. I have a different opinion.
"If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask not your counsel nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen.”—Samuel Adams
#94. To: All (#92)
12 Days of Kwanzaa
"If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask not your counsel nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen.”—Samuel Adams
#95. To: Rotara (#93)
Partisan toe suckers are not capable of seeing the whole picture.
Lord Acton
#96. To: Artisan, TwentyTwelve, Wudidiz, christine, Rotara, Kamala, lodwick, Pinguinite, Whino369, Whore, rhino369, war, all (#87)
#97. To: James Deffenbach, litus, CadetD, ratcat, Peppa, all (#95)
#98. To: Refinersfire (#79)
#99. To: James Deffenbach (#95)
Yeah, it's sad to me. I knew as far back as the early 70's that most politicians were working hand in hand and that, for the most part, their "game" is a good bit like professional wrestling. You know how they bad mouth their "opponents" but all drink together and ride together between "matches"? Same kinda deal with politicians. All that shuckin' and jivin' is just a show for the rubes and the gullible. Sound and fury signifying nothing.
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