•Obama's State of the Union Address on April 29, 2009

>> Thursday, April 30, 2009

Barrack Hussein Obama had his third state of the union address tonight. Imagine it was to mark his 100 days of unabashed money spending. And, to celebrate more and more Socialism for America.

Obama has had more press conferences than Clinton or Bush--but I predicted he would do so before he stepped into office.

What else is predictable is the fact he didn't talk about the massive spending bills he has signed. Oh, yes, he mentioned he signed something today--but true to form he cannot specifically say what is in the bill with a connect the dots plan of what it will do.

Obama and congress passed a $3.4 trillion budget outline that will help him pass health care reform later in the year, today before he cost each network anywhere from $1.5 to $10 million and didn't go into detail about this.


For instance, did you know when the White House requests TV stations to air his boring talks (much ado about nothing) they are aired as PSAs? Public Service Announcements, which are done at the expense of the TV stations.

Last February The Washington Post went into detail the cost to each station. One of the points the newspaper made was: "Although the broadcast networks can opt out of carrying these presidential appearances, "you don't want to incur the wrath of the White House" because "if you're on the [poop] list, you are last in line for interviews and things like that," one network exec explained."

I can see their point, after all, asking about Obama's stance on abortion tonight was a real seat jerker. I was glad I was sitting down for that one. His stance has always been a bit murky (said with tongue in cheek). After all, we always have to get down to abortion in order to figure out who is the worthiest politician and if they are smart enough to carry on.

And, the question of being enchanted as president...about blew my hair back as well.

Yes, I can see why they wouldn't want to get aced out of those questions.

And, his funnies about people waving tea bags around, I am still laughing. His disdain and looking down his nose at the Tea Parties...as he says he will sit down for a serious talk. Umm...I'm confused, wasn't that what tonight was about? Oh, I forgot, it is to campaign for poll points--not to discuss how he is spending OUR MONEY, not to discuss why time after time he continues to break promises. You know, no earmarks, yet today again, another 400 plus earmarks.

And, after that he flew to Michigan at a cost of over one million dollars. This cost does not include the cost of the secret service. Yes, King Obama lives as Marie Antoinette is 'portrayed' to have lived. Little does he know, that was a myth. He asks us to tighten our belts as he takes his wife out on her Friday night dates at the cost of over a half million dollars--for the secret service, the bomb detection units, the sweeps for miles around, the traffic being held up for them, the list goes on. And, the extravagant Wednesday night cocktail parties held, which have nothing to do with government business, where according to ABC’s Jake Tapper, the menu includes alcoholic beverages (vodka martinis are an Obama favorite, reportedly) and wagyu steak at $100 per serving. At times, these parties happen when dignitaries are visiting from other countries, yet, they aren't even invited.

But, it's not his money, go ahead throw it around, you deserve it...we don't care. Or do we?

Michael Steele said as of today, adding up all of the packages Obama has signed, it will cost Steele's family of four, his wife and his two sons, a 17 year-old and a 16 year old (a typical American family), a total of $5 million dollars to pay back. This is what Obama is giving each one of us, what will that do for your families future?

House Minority Leader John Boehner said last week that the Democratic policies, including the health care and energy plans in their budget blueprint, will only hurt the economy and hurt jobs.

"The stimulus bill was supposed to be about jobs, jobs and jobs, and it turned into spending, spending and more spending," Boehner said. "And then we've got this budget. ... And the fact is, we've got trillion-dollar deficits in his budget proposal for as far as the eye can see."

But, you see Socialism cannot come in the front door, honestly. It has to be done by lies, deceit, appear as the answer to a solution, look like the government is taking 'care' of its people, and to show that Capitalism doesn't work. Can you think of a more effective way to break down Capitalism than to overspend? To break not only our futures, but that of our children, and our grandchildren.

God help us.

The Media Pressed Obama Hard

Q 1 What about the flu? A. Government doing everything it can, Mexican border doesn't need to be closed.
Q2 What about the auto business? A. Obama is hopeful, his goal to get out of the auto business.
Q3 Is waterboarding torture? A. Yes, it is. Winston Chuchill and Great Britain refused to torture. (IRA would disagree with this. The SAS is extremely feared world-wide)
Q4 Did waterboarding save lives? A. He would not answer this directly. Rough interrogation is a short cut he would not take. Guess LA is lucky he wasn't prez a few years ago...
Q5 What about Pakistan and nuclear weapons? Blah blah blah. WE have their nukes under control!
Q6 He likes Arlen Spector (What a surprise)
Q7 Afghanistan--we need to help stabilize them, being taken over from Al Quaeda. (My prediction from his campaign speeches, we are going to war with them. He sent another 21,000 troops this week, right after he took office sent 30,000 troops a few weeks ago news reports said 15,000 more were sent. )
Q8 Abortion

Q 9-13 Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah...

There were 13 questions in all, not one pressing him to answer what he is doing with the budget. But, Obama and his yes-men are taking credit for the economy stabilizing.

I don't see it, we live in the Bay Area and right now there are over 20,000 more foreclosed homes just in the Vallejo, California area ready to hit the market. These homes were purchased for $390K to $850K and if the market doesn't slide again (it has been going down weekly here) will have an asking price of around $150,000.

Our home has lost much of its value, yet our property taxes don't reflect it. Our schoos had to pink slip several of their teachers; our state gave out IOUs for tax refunds, and we are now paying the highest sales tax in the US, car taxes, etc.

Now, the next plan, socializing medical care--using the Swine flu, as their motto goes, never let a good crisis go to waste. Now, I ask you, please tell me one program the government does competently, efficiently (cost, time, paper), and in your best interests?

For instance, a VA loan at best takes 45 days to close, after everything has already been taken care of--which is considered fast--government time, plus the seller has to kick up about $1,500 or more in closing costs, pay for the pest inspection and home inspection, plus--have all repairs done on the report before they will allow their buyer to get a home. And, they ask for four trees of paperwork before it is all done. Even at the height of the housing boom, when appraisers were at a premium, inspection companies were working expanded hours, and loan reps were booked back to back with closing--they could still pull off a closing in two weeks time.

Medical and Medicare--just two examples, for children, you cannot get braces unless you have 12 points--of really bad troubles in your mouth. Doesn't matter if their teeth are so crowded they will lose them. Fillings--they are still using mercury fillings and you cannot choose to pay the $9 or $11 difference to get the non-mercury filling. Now, when the 'so-called green' light bulbs (filled with mercury) break the government almost requires a hazmat team to clean it up.

When asked why the patient could not have braces or choose non-mercury fillings, the answer is they are considered cosmetic dentistry. This is our government in action, looking out for our best interests.

God, help us.

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•Minnesota to Hold Tax Cut Rally Saturday May 2

"Minnesota and the nation need you and your neighbors to show up in force Saturday, May 2 in St. Paul so that the tax and spenders can get the message loud and clear: not one more dime."

~Sincerely, Jason Lewis, Organizer of Minnesota Tax Cut Rally

The tax rally will have food, refreshments, music, activities for children and prizes for the best signs. Also, vendor boothes, and other points of interest.

Please register ahead in order for them to gauge the turnout and to be kept in the loop of rally-related updates.

Bring the family, enjoy the day with a group of concerned citizens, and know you are standing up to preserve this great Republic.

Much more information at the Minnesota Tax Cut Rally Website.

Steve Richards who gave us the report of the Rochester Minnesota Tea Party will be attending this one and here is what he has to say:

I feel another streaming video coming on. Excited? You bet! I get off-air myself at 10am, and then, I'm heading north to St... Paul.

I'm thrilled that Pawlenty is speaking! He is truly one of the rising-stars!

Minnesota Tax Cut Rally Schedule, including Minn. Governor Tim Pawlenty to speak.

Minnesota Tax Cut Rally Contests, they have all sorts of fun things planned.
(I foresee another photo-stream on the horizon)

Have a great weekend!
-Steve, Train Wreck Radio Blog


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Congressional Credit Card Image by Jenci Spradlin at Tea Party

>> Friday, April 24, 2009

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• Ricky Cain on Lansing, Michigan Tea Party

>> Wednesday, April 22, 2009


Ricky Cain doesn't seem to fit the news media's description of who attended the tea parties on April 15th. This is Cain's story of the day:

His Belief's

I am a libertarian and I voted for Barr. I'm more libertarian in a stance that is more pro state than vs. pro-government. As the general saying forgoes kind of what the protest was about; if everyone is bailing out these companies and they are printing money it contributes to infl
ation. I am standing against the bail-outs from my retro points. I’m not a politician, I can’t really judge...I can’t say what would be a better use of tax money, but my stance is to keep our money and let us decide where to use our tax money for the state and as individuals.

I come from a lovely state that is tax friendly. I would say in a federal sense we pay less. But, in Michigan everything is more and more tax. For instance, car insurance went up sixty percent. Jennifer Graholm, the governor of Michigan is very social program oriented. The higher taxes went to pay for her food stamps programs and the social programs that she goes for. She has increased the social programs budget and in doing so she had to increase the taxes.

Another thing, property taxes went up thirty-one percent, but yet, the value of my home went down. It was appraised at $150k two years ago and it is pry worth $90k now. Of course for me, I can understand where the property value went down, but the property taxes going up are not proportionate; incongruent.


The Lansing Tea Parties

I can tell you from me being there, the state tea party seemed like a lot of conservatives there...like a lot of Republicans there. It didn’t seem so biased as there were a lot of people who may have been Republican's and they were the ones organizing it.

The local one, by the county was organized by the county and that tea party seemed so scripted. I knew a few friends who were doing it, and you know, how you go to protest there is aliveness? The state one had more energy to it, there wasn’t that aliveness to the county, it was more scripted in a sense.

There were at least 100 people at the county tea party and I heard 3,000 to 6,000 were at Lansing, Mich. Not sure on the numbers, PJTV will be able to verify later how many. Which, getting those kinds of numbers here is amazing because this is very democratic and liberal territory.

I was surprised at the number of people who showed up. It was said that many people haven’t come out for this kind of protest since the 70s. I can’t think of anything that would have brought that many people out in the 70s around here.


About Litter?

I didn’t stay long enough for the capitol tea party to see if there was any litter left behind. There wasn't any while I was there. For the county one there wasn’t much left behind of litter, there may have been a few things left behind.


I can’t say for the state one I wasn’t there long enough I would say the atmosphere was very hospitable and friendly for some rallies they always have their mantras with is the energy i was talking about

I didn’t see any crazies, it wasn’t like anything like so anti-government they weren’t advocating anarchy

The state capitol and the county weren’t the only tea parties, either. There was one in Troy, Mich. and Taylor, Mich. They are maybe about an hour’s drive from state capital. Plus, there were seven or more little tea parties around the state capitol.

Favorite Signs

Some of them had the Obama acronyms, I took a few pics of them.

I like the "Don’t Tread on Me" the most out of them all.

Ricky’s Background

I am 23. I consider myself a computer geek or techie. I am an entrepreneur in the sense that I do my own computer business, I run a solo gig fixing computers in my little town. I can also do remote support now. I am a very a one person-minded, mellow tech guy.

Ricky Cain can be contacted at http://caintechservices.com

And, for those of you who would like to see what really happened instead of the biased ??news?? version:

Videos

For the Lansing Tea Party here are some videos I took.
When you are on the first part click the More info. I have links to part 2, 3 and 4. I must say, It wasn't excellent camera work. But, it shows how many people were there and I am sure one day, it would have historical value.

Thank you Ricky.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yrPMf69bCs


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MSNBC and Jeneane Garafolo on the April 15th Protesters

>> Monday, April 20, 2009

I let this speak for itself...

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• The Fabulous Michelle Malkin

>> Saturday, April 18, 2009

Michelle Malkin is one of the catalysts in giving root to the Tea Parties. She is the epitome' of the F word.

Funny, Factual, and Fundamental--meaning she serves as an original and generating source of assisting us to remember our basic principles when things get muddy, murky, and downright dirty and still have a sharp sense of humor backed up with the facts and the proof.

This page is dedicated to her brilliance and is filled with her blogs, articles and articles of others she found of interest. It also has some of her snippets from Twitter and other random funnies. She is entertaining, educational and evokes emotion in many.

You can click on all the blue links to go to the actual columns and read more about it. Again, these are snippets for your convenience.

Million Taxpayer March

This is a teachable moment for GOP public relations peddlers in Washington. While they search for the Holy Grail of Re-branding in tony salons and country club conferences, the agenda for 2010 is smacking them in the face. It's the three T's, stupid: Too Many Taxes, Trillions in Debt, and Transparency.

As one of the most popular Tea Party signs read: "You can't fix stupid, but you can vote it out."


You Might Be a "Radicalized Right-Wing Extremist" If…

Department of Homeland Security Sec. Janet Napolitano has turned her attention away from acts of Islamic jihad on American soil (which she now refers to as "man-caused disasters"). Instead to...

"Right-wing extremist chatter on the Internet continues to focus on the economy, the perceived loss of U.S. jobs in the manufacturing and construction sectors, and home foreclosures," the assessment warns.

The SPLC, you see, has designated the venerable American Legion a "hate group" for its stance on immigration enforcement.


Snippets from Malkin

Around 3000 at second Greenville, South Carolina tea party, practically booed Republican Gresham Barrett off stage.

NBC-DC website runs leftist spoof video of tea party as real thing for two days and counting. This article is by Amy Ridenour and copy of the video NBC-DC was running as a 'true' news video is on Eric the Red on his Vocal Minority blog.


Sixteen-Year-Old Rocks Philly




Friday fun: Conservative rebels in blue jeans

From George Will, the weirdest comment of the week:
“Denim is the carefully calculated costume of people eager to communicate indifference to appearances.”

Photo credit: Scott Ableman

Malkin's Advice? People in yellow pants shouldn’t throw stones.

Here’s hoping Will is cured of his intellectual wedgie soon.

Oh, and my prescription for what ails him in the above photo: A pair of Genuine Wrangler’s Loose Fit Jeans.


Malkin Found the Tidbit Below. The Video of Susan Roesgen is at CNN Reporting News of Tea Party.

Partied-Out CNN Reporter Takes a Break

Roesgen_4.17.jpg

Two days after Susan Roesgen's much talked-about Chicago Tea Party live shots, we are learning more about what happened off-camera.

Sources close to the situation tell TVNewser as Roesgen was reporting her 2pmET live shot for CNN, she heard shouts from the crowd including "Damn CNN" and "Shut up, bitch."

As we now know, Roesgen wrapped up the live shot, saying "I think you get the general tenor of this," that it was "not really family viewing" from an "Anti-CNN" crowd.

Our source says Roesgen received an avalanche of email messages, some supportive, and some "vitriolic with crude insults."

CNN denies reports that Roesgen's email was shut down. A spokesperson tells TVNewser many people were emailing what they believed to be Roesgen's CNN account, but it was actually a non-existent inbox. Her email account was and continues to be active.

So far Roesgen is not talking publicly about the situation. CNN tells us she's now on a previously-planned vacation.

Click continued to see a longer version of Wednesday's 2pmET live shot...

Related: Gawker reports Roesgen twice applied for a job at "the right-wing conservative network Fox."


James Wolcott: Beclowned

By Michelle Malkin • April 16, 2009 12:09 PM

Watch this. Liberal toady James Wolcott argues that since he didn’t see big Tea Party crowds on his favorite left-wing tv stations and didn’t read front-page stories about the protests in his favorite left-wing newspapers, they weren’t newsworthy and no one really turned out except at the ones Fox News covered. C-SPAN host Susan Swain then displays front page after front pa

ge of local news coverage showing thousands of Tea Party participants:

“Does that change your view?” [Video of Wolcott is on Malkin's website]

Wolcott: Er, no.


What is the difference between Anderson Cooper and

Matt Taibbi?

By Michelle Malkin • April 16, 2009 04:36 PM

Does internationally respected, award-winning CNN journalist Anderson Cooper feel any shame in the fact that he dragged David Gergen down with him to get in his cheap shot at hundreds of thousands of Tax Day Tea Party protesters?

250,000 Americans assemble peacefully to protest high taxes, massive spending, and endless bailouts, and all the liberal media can do for a week is recycle each other’s lame teabagging jokes on prime time TV?

[Read More..Vulgar Matt Taibbi Words and Cooper's Video]


Stop blaming Bush for DHS hit job

By Michelle Malkin • April 17, 2009 12:02 PM

Ed Morrissey nails the buck-passers on the DHS rightwing extremism assessment:

First, while the Bush administration might have wanted an assessment of right-wing extremist threats, it didn’t necessarily want one that painted returning veterans and conservative thought on abortion, illegal immigration, and federalism as extremist threats, nor did it want a threat assessment that couldn’t find a threat and had no data on actual, specific groups. Secondly, and most obviously, this report was dated April 7, 2009, almost 3 months after Bush left office.

Just when does the new administration take responsibility for reports they release? 2013? For people who thought Bush was such a dunce, they seem to give him remarkable powers to control government months after he’s retired to Crawford....[Read More DHS Hit Job]


Obama Census Plan: No Illegal Alien Left Behind

The fate of $300 billion in federal funding -- and, most importantly, the apportionment of congressional seats -- rest in their hands. As for "privacy rights," it's not your privacy rights they care about. It's the privacy rights of millions of illegal aliens, whose advocates have enshrined for them a sacred right never to be questioned about their immigration status...[More on This-another thing he disreagards-89% of population do not want illegal aliens in our country]


And, Her Number One Favorite Sign of the day

By Michelle Malkin • April 13, 2009 05:10 PM

Leslie at Temple of Mut blogged the San Diego Tea Party this weekend and took a pic of my favorite sign of the day:

If you are a grass-roots activist who believes in fiscal accountability and transparency, you see a protester who is sending a clear message to the Chicken Littles in both parties in Congress: No more bailout/spending legislation without deliberation!

If you are a race-obsessed leftist like Geraldo Rivera, all you can see is a “person of color” who must have been brainwashed into holding the sign!


MalTwitisms

Can't get the Tax & Spend Rap outta my head.

My friend T. Hayes, who made the Chuck "Let them eat pork" Schumer pic, has a new site. Gr8 #teaparty signs: http://bit.ly/v21qe #tco

Of course. They're not about him. RT: @allahpundit Obama is "unaware" of tea parties http://is.gd/sBgq (via @Slublog)

Favorite tea party sign: 'Went to bed a conservative, woke up a threat to national security.' (via @Slublog)

More Tea Party signs: "Obama Help Me...They want me to work and Stuff!" (via @onpointcoach)

Gov taxinator mentioned here in Sacto. Huge boos.

Janet Napolitano goes on an Extremist Makeover media tour http://bit.ly/Zqm2J #tcot

RT @JTlol: The Beavis & Butt-head of News: http://tr.im/j2Y5 The great @battonl does it again!| Shame on @andersoncooper

Another Gorestorm here in Colorado. Ugh.

Greeley CO sheriff receives bomb threat 4 jailing illegal aliens. Paging Napolitano. Oh, never mind. http://bit.ly/18FkUZ #tcot

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• How Many ?Reporters? Does it Take to Get the Facts?

Apparently for the LA Times the answer is more than ten. I know great joke fodder, yes?

This is the headline they ran on April 16, 2009

Republicans stage 'tea party' protests against Obama

The First Paragraph of Their 'news???' Story

Reporting from Washington and Santa Ana -- Republicans sought to ignite a popular revolt against President Obama on Wednesday by staging "tea party" protests across the nation to demand lower taxes and less government spending -- but the tactic carried risk for the party.


Attribution to the Article

michael.finnegan

@latimes.com

janet.hook@latimes.com

Times staff writers Eric Bailey in Sacramento, Ari B. Bloomekatz in Glendale, Richard Cooper in Washington, Richard Fausset in Atlanta, David Kelly in Temecula, Nicholas Riccardi in Denver, Catherine Saillant in Ventura, and Michael Oneal in the Washington bureau contributed to this report.

Where's the Punchline?

So, one wonders, is this part of the reason the LA Times is having financial difficulties? Is it, perhaps, because they need so many people to contribute to their editorials? Here's a novel idea, maybe if they used reporters to do the job, their rag would be successful.

What a refreshing thought. Well, I've got work to do, so I need to get out of fantasy land.

Dawn Bonner, Editor in Chief

Living Life…Boomer Style
Tea Party Update

Most Obnoxious Blog

Music & Entertainment News

I Know, Let's Have a Contest: If you make-up the best joke about How Many Reporters Does it Take? and win the contest (to be judged by the readers, your friends, and family, etc...) you will win first choice of:

Autographed Hardcover Book by Lin Enger, Undiscovered Country

Or the newly published book, Fifty is Not a Four-Letter Word, by Linda Kelsey

Or an Autographed book by John Trudell, Lines from a Mined Mind

Or an Autographed CD by Karmina Backwords into Beauty

Or an Autographed book by Robin Hoselton Sinners and Secrets

And, who knows, I may be able to get the girls from Karmina or John Trudell or Robin Hoselton to give you a congratulations call to boot...I'll ask them. Perhaps even Linda Kelsey.

Second, third, fourth place winners choose in order of win--and fifth place winner gets the last prize standing. So, put your best jokes in the comments box of this post, then send everyone you know to vote for their favorite joke. Hey, I'd rather laugh than cry...wouldn't you?


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• Mike Perez on the Rancho Cucamonga, California Tea Party

Mike Perez Shares His Experience (CelleCast TalkBack)


I'm a conservative Republican and participate in the Top Conservatives group on Twitter, which is how I got involved with the Tea Party.
It was an awesome gathering of patriots and families with children all gathered there together for one common cause and very peacefully done .

There were anywhere from 1200 to 2000 people who attended by my estimation. We'll probably have more exact numbers tomorrow. The ages were from two to 80 something. The type of people who attended--all kinds; there were Democrats, Republicans, Libertarians, and Independents.

I thought all the signs were great, but the keep your change was pretty good.

One of Perez' friends observed, "What we didn't see today says a lot, too: No desecration of our flag, no giant Che posters, no signs glorifying our enemies."

By The Way


It was a record day for emails on Rush Limbaugh with 425,000 yesterday (April 16, 2009) talking about the Tea Parties around the nation.

Go to Pajamas TV (PJTV) for replay of coverage, photos from citizen reporters, and attendance numbers.

The media coverage was pretty...well, you decide: James Wolcott, a contributing editor to Vanity Fair says nobody showed up to the tea parties, except the ones Fox News was at.

Not to much mention, I heard the New York Times had protests from other countries on their front page, yet no tea parties here in the U.S.

About Mike Perez

I'm a 47 year-old Hispanic and I have a route sales job delivering to restaurants. I make less than than $50,000 per year, but I am tired of this out of control spending by both parties.

All Images Courtesy Mike Perez










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• Steve Richards on Rochester, Minnesota Tea Party


I loved the Tea Party here in Rochester, Minnesota. To be honest, this was the first rally of this type I have ever attended. It was time well spent.

Attendance far exceeded that of what I expected going in. I joined the local interest group via Wiki & Facebook about five weeks ago and monitored the progress. This is how I arrived at "exceeded expectations" label; for it was hard to gauge organizational progress from the activity level the aforementioned social realms alone.

It became apparent to me that organizing this type of event still takes a roll-up-the-sleeves, get actively involved mentality. Facebook, Wiki, and Twitter all very useful tools indeed, but it still takes 'firecrackers' to get the party started, if you know what I mean!

I originally considered becoming actively involved from day one, but the way it turned out, shooting some photo's at the event would be my prime contribution.

Interesting Point

I did, at several points in the five-week period, drop a reminder to local mainstream television media.

Only once did I get any response, and that was once from the so-called, self-proclaimed NBC "news leader" in the market. Here is the news director's quote:

"Thanks for the tip, I believe we are already aware of this planned protest. This is the one sponsored by Fox News Channel, no? We will try to be there for some coverage, if manpower allows".
~Noel- News Director, KTTC-DT

My response to Noel

Noel...thanks for getting back!

Noel, I'm sorry to say you have been misinformed! (This is the NEWS DIRECTOR!)

This event is NOT sponsored by FOX News, but rather, being sponsored by the American people! Those of us who are tired of OUT-OF CONTROL TAXATION and SPENDING in Washington!

BTW...attendee's to the above are being encouraged to bring a non-perishable food item to donate to Channel One food bank! (I've got a LOVELY can of PORK & beans to donate!)

See you there Noel!

~Steve, NW Rochester

The Point I'm Making

The mainstream television & newspaper media's level of arrogance continues to bounce off the charts while their revenues and various ratings continue to 'tank.' They continue to gush and drool over the Obama's use of smoke and mirrors. Lemming-like kook's running amuck. It is truly sickening and this is a very small market! As you know, it only gets worse as the market gets larger!

As mentioned above, rally goers were encouraged to donate a non-perishable food item (IE: pork & beans or spam). The collection barrel was over flowing when I walked
past it, as I left the site. Our event was staged in a city park. I did not see any trash or litter. Two police officers were dispatched to the area before the start of the
event as folks were assembling. (See photo) Those officers were not present an hour into the demonstration.

I saw a nice cross section of the community on hand, including self-proclaimed democrats who made their presence known. I was surprised that there was a nice slice of younger citizens on hand. That impressed me!

Our event had six formal speakers, all touching on a different main topic point. KUDOS to those who spoke and to those who selected the speakers. No professional politicians spoke at our event.

Before the program started, there was vibrant conversation and a 'buzz' in the air. For the NEXT event, which I'm hoping will happen on July 4th; I'm personally going to make sure there is a way of playing music. I had prepared a recording prior to start of this event, hoping there was a CD player on hand (I assumed there would be...I was WRONG). I ended up giving the CD to a kid after the event. It contained some versions of the Star Spangled Banner; along with some harder-edged offerings from some well-known rockers.

Local television news reported "several hundred" in attendance, but if I had to make a good guess, I would say there were 600-700 people on hand.

The weather was beautiful, under a nearly cloudless sky with the temperature around 62 degrees when the assembly began at 5:30pm. The event permit allowed for an assembly from 5:30-7:30 p.m.

Even though the site was located on the far east end of Silver Lake, an inner-city body of water, no tea bags or tea leaves were dumped in the water, nor was is part of the formal program.

A Little About Myself, Steve Richards

I am a fifty-something boomer and an unemployed retail manager by profession. I have been looking for a full time gig since late November 2008. I do have a part time radio job with Cumulus Broadcasting of Rochester, Minn. at KWWK FM. As you may know, commercial radio has been decimated by the current state of our economy, so I'm thrilled to have a part time gig! I am a divorced father of three lovely daughters (who reside in WI), and am also blessed with the company of my girlfriend and domestic partner, Karyn, for the last ten years. We moved here to South East Minnesota after a four and a half year stint in the Valley of the Sun, Ariz.

Richards has made a wonderful slide show of the photographs he took at the Rochester Tea Party to share with all of us. Thank you.
Images Courtesy Steve Richards

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• Stephen Kruiser 'America Needs Me' on Van Nuys, California Tea Party

>> Thursday, April 16, 2009

A Tea Party Day and Night for Stephen

My impression was a little different than most, PJTV had me doing the live tweeting things. I was involved with naysayers all day; it was interesting. Mostly people from the left, I kept trying to phrase it as non partisan ad I could, which is very unusual because I am very partisan.

The tone started to shift because I had to keep hammering on this all day, "Look I’ve been involved in this since February and there is no funding or no talking points." They kept saying, "Look,"…I said, "You are calling me a liar now?"

There were a lot of people who thought it was a GOP thing. I talked about the picture Tammy Bruce posted online where people were mad at both sides. Then a Republican politician tried to speak and people refused him to be a speaker.

That was the struggle for me all day, while watching the numbers, as they got bigger, it was easier to dismiss. The tea parties in the East were mostly during work or at lunch—the numbers weren’t good, it was hammering rain, etc. After people got off work, the numbers started getting better. As the numbers started shifting, the naysayers got better, lighter. I'm not saying there is a correlation, it's just the way it happened.

The day did have an election type feel at first, slow and boring--not much coming out of the polling booths. As things closed in the East and started opening across the country, it started looking better.

There were a couple of people who were generally surprised that they ended up in agreement. I said, "Look this is about taxation and spending, even if you believe the government should have a role, you can’t really be happy with how the government is spending the money."

As the day wore on, this being an evil right wing thing started wearing out, it was easy to keep disproving it with all of the unsubstantiated things. In LA we didn’t have that because instead of having one big centralized tea party we had it all over. LA is a pain to get around in. Orange County, Inland Empire, in the Valley, San Diego...the one in Orange County appeared to be pretty significant, pretty large. The Van Nuys was the only one I attended last night and there were 900 to 1200 people. And, we had a late last minute change of venue.

We were getting royally hosed with permits. One of our organizers, who knows how to work the channels pretty well, got the run around all day long Monday. Then, late that afternoon, he ended up with the same guy who sent him on the goose chase in the early morning. The cops said, look if it's peaceful we don’t start looking for things like that.

[Editor's note: This is the third party I have heard of that had difficulties getting their permits. The Treasury Department (you know, the one that is storing ALL of OUR $$$$) pulled the permit for Washingtonian's tea party.]

We had some people who were pretty enthusiastic. We had cars that kept honking and honking and honking; it sounded like a wedding--like when they drive away. Only it went on constantly. You can’t say they attended, but you get the feeling they were supporting us. I tried to get someone to pull the audio, it was a nice impression. That honking was just relentless, the whole time we were there.

A Few Favorite Signs:

• The Constitution, the Other Document They Didn’t Read.
• Don’t Tax Me Bro—I thought of this line before the last Tea Party, and posted it on twitter, they got it out to other cities, today I got photographs from Tennessee, etc. It was really gratifying personally.
• There was a kid holding a sign; Eight-Years-Old and $36,000 in Debt.
• Don’t Tax All My Money, I’m Only 10, I haven’t Earned it All, Yet.
• New Dog in the Whitehouse, Same Pigs in Congress.
• One had a picture of George Washington, it simply said, DUDE...cracked me up.

Sadly, I didn’t see any inspired ones at Van Nuys.

I was speaking about Prop 1A at the rally. In cities like San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, the people on the right are so used to being marginalized. I live, basically, in Santa Monica--I am in Henry Waxman’s district down here and I don’t even know if I’ve met another Republican here. I've met a few of them online, but have never seen them in person.

The Press

We had someone from NBC show up—they didn’t have anyone interviewing, just getting footage to show. There was someone from LA Times—don’t know if we identified anyone from LA Daily News, which is odd, since it's the Valley paper. They may have gone to some of the other tea parties.

I thought CNN headline news had a story in there, they rotate stories everyhalf-hour, which seemed to be okay, but you know there was that thing in Chicago where the CNN woman came unhinged. Michelle Malkin showed a thing where that same reporter was at a protest against Bush, they were saying and doing all sorts of crazy things and she wasn’t at all upset about that.

Fox news was at the huge rally in Sacramento. They say Fox News was getting the Tea Parties together, but the other news media could have gone out. I get frustrated when they do over advocate, like the CNN woman—but, it’s kind of like people who have weird relationship with their parents. You hope it changes, but it never does. I am never going to hope that they get on board, if we happen to get some big time left wing people on board they may move, but if we keep it up, and keep doing it they can’t dismiss it. It won’t go away.

About Stephen Kruiser

I run a blog called 'America needs Me.'

I have been a standup comic as my job most of my life. In college, a guy I knew from high-school and we became friends in college, he inspired me to start at a comedy club with him. He quit after awhile and I kept doing it. I've also written an EBook on how to get into standup and have been blogging for a long time, for a political website. And, I have written for other comics.

Stephen's Tweetisms from Twitter (Voyeurism into one-side of a conversation)

To @pinkelephantpun: See? @heytammybruce is following u and not me. And I sleep w/ her books under my pillow. Told ya u were a rock star.
Just had my hair chopped off. Permanent state of bedhead at the moment. Ought 2 look ridiculous on camera tomorrow.
All of my friends & family in AZ are glad the state has been cured of Napolitano. She's a national plague now.
You did a good job w/that. He has that Lanny Davis/Carville disease so he can only repeat 1 or 2 misleading talking points.
• I'm not wearing any pants right now.
Be honest, how many real conservatives do you interact with on a regular basis?
ABC News reported that the president is "unaware" of tea party protests. Has any1 seen that reported elsewhere?
This isn't an either or thing. U like excessive gov't spending and taxes?
Real news? As if that exists. I'll ask u too: Ru a big fan of out of control spending and excessive taxation?
I'm gonna make ALL kinds of friends today.
Let me 'splain: taxes & spending r American issues, not "left or right" issues.
Thank u for that important Obama dog news. Perhaps we can hear about Michelle's arms & fashion sense now!
• Pants back on now.
How the hell can any rational person be FOR taxes & wasteful spending?!?!?!?
In all my yrs of being politically active I've never seen "common sense spending."
Have u ever paid ANY attn to how that $ is actually spent? Appropriation & wise spending don't go hand-in-hand.
The opportunities in this country are a by-product of the Constitution as a whole, not taxes.
I must say, my deodorant is fabulous today.
I know, facts are difficult for the parallel universe people.
U haven't noticed an across-the-board lack of fiscal responsibility on the Hill for the last several years? Seriously?
RepubliCONS? Original. For a 4th grader.
Boxer-briefs, for those of you who were curious.
The name-calling lets me know that I'm on the right track.

And...the day rolled on from there, many more conversations were had with people who hate the Tea Parties...And, that my friends is another day in the life of Stephen Kruiser.

All Images Courtesy Stephen Kruiser, 1. Kruiser explaining right wing hand gestures. 2. Sign at Tea Party by Michael Leahy. 3. Kruiser with Tea Party attendee and signs, Don't tax me Bro.

Interview by Dawn Bonner, Editor in Chief

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