Worcester Tea Party rally
Apr 19th
About 400 people turned out yesterday for the Worcester Tea Party rally/pig roast. It was a cold damp day but as always, tea partiers persevered. There were lots of great speakers, including Dr. Colin Blake who I had the privilege of introducing. As always Ken Mandile did a great job.
About 15 minutes into the rally about 10 kids wearing bandannas over their faces showed up to protest. They were loud and nasty, screaming “nazis” at the top of their lungs. They attempted to rush the stage and were fended off by two Worcester Police officers, who smartly forced them to cross the street and screech from over there.
According to radio talk show host Jim Polito the screechers were organized by a staffer of congressman
I wonder how much those kids were paid by McGovern.
Was this another example of our tax dollars at work?
Will the DOJ attempt to silence the tea party?
Apr 14th
Over at PJ Tatler, J Christian Adams reports that Southbridge Town Manager, Christopher Clark has asked the DOJ to intervene in an upcoming local election between Geraldo Alicea, Peter Durant and two independents, Peter Boria and Robert Cirba.
Some history: Last November in a race for state rep for the 6th Worcester District, Peter Durant beat incumbent Geraldo Alicea by one vote. Rather than declare Durant the victor, a judge later decided that a new vote was in order starting with a new primary. Both candidates faced primary challangers. The primary was held last Tuesday, and it was won by Alicea and Durant. Two independents, Boria and Cirba also qualified to be on the May ballot.
The reason for the request for the DOJ involvement is this billboard. The Southbridge Town Manager, Christopher Clark decided that the presence of the billboard is in itself voter intimidation. Clark contacted Eric Holder’s DOJ, and they are awaiting a decision on whether the same DOJ that determined that Black Panthers with billy clubs at a Philadelphia polling place were not a threat, will decide the white lady on the billboard, is a threat.
It is worth noting that Alicea is from Southbridge and a Latino. One of his relatives Madaline (Alicea) Daoust is the town clerk. Durant is from neighboring Spencer and is not a Latino.
The Massachusetts Tea Party has adopted a state wide project of passing a voter ID law. The billboard is certainly commensurate with that goal. In addition, after reports of voter fraud in November, tea party members have trained to be poll watchers. It is an uphill climb at best as the state legislature is overwhelmingly democrat and the democrats oppose any voter ID. The Town Manager complained that the billboard intimidates Latinos, a complaint that I do not understand, unless they are illegal and shouldn’t be voting.
More likely this action is aimed at intimidating the Tea Party before the May election.
Finally! A tax I can get behind!
Apr 13th
Instapundit proposes the one tax I can really get behind – a 5-year 50% surtax on the earnings of former government officials.
Glenn’s reasoning is impeccable:
After all, the private-sector is only willing to pay those inflated salaries because of the time the officials spent on the taxpayers’ dime. Why not let the taxpayers get some back? Fair is fair.
I’m with Roger Kimball:
My only question is whether a mere 50% is fair enough. Roger Kimball thinks we should go higher, to 75%, or 90%. In the interest of “compromise,” I’m willing to go along. Just to show that I’m not one of E.J. Dionne’s crazed tax-hating “fire eaters.” After all, from reading Dionne over the years, I know that there’s nothing more moderate than agreeing to a big tax increase for other people!
And for good measure, let’s collect back taxes. Jamie Gorelik’s contribution alonecould fund Headstart for a year or two.
Win? Lose? Draw?
Apr 11th
I’m fascinated by all the opinions from all sorts of sources about whether the Tea Party won or lost in the Boehner negotiations last week on the continuing resolution.
From my perspective there are two things in play and they are inextricably linked. The first is reality. We are on the brink of ruin because of the enormous amount of spending by this administration – and the ones before it to a lesser degree. The second, is that in these negotiations you have to win the political front to have a chance to deal with the substance.
$38 billion in cuts is, as so many are willing to say, a rounding error. But making cuts, rather than increasing spending is a virtual tsunami of change. Not only did the dems and the administration back off from their refusal to cut anything, they now appear to be on the cutting bandwagon. Seeing the inevitability of the cuts the tea party demands, they now want to choose what gets cut. In fact the president who proposed trillions in new spending in his 2012 budget now wants a do-over, reportedly to cut spending for the elderly and the poor – and of course raise taxes on the rich. We may not like the target, but cutting , rather than spending, is finally change we can believe in.
Spending cuts were brought to you by the Tea Party. Without us, Paul Ryan would have dangled his plan and the whole country would have responded like Harry Reid. Not so much now. There is a reason Chuck Schumer’s handlers told him to refer to the Tea Party as “extremists”. Alinsky is hard at work. And he is failing.
The Tea Party has changed the politics in this country – hopefully forever. The substance will catch up as long as we stay on our game.
Remember – the 2nd anniversary of the tea party is April 15th, tax day. Find a rally this year and show your support.
Washington Wars vs. Real Wars
Apr 8th
The latest from Matt’s Meditations, by Matt Holzmann
In another sign of the complete disconnect between Washington and reality, this morning we are witness to the spectacle of our leadership and their masters, the special interest groups, declaring the budget conflict a “War on Women” according to Nancy Pelosi and a “Civil War” according to Jesse Jackson. That oasis of rationality, Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), was quoted this morning saying “We are absolutely outraged. This is the functional equivalent of bombing innocent civilians.”
And they call the tea party advocates extremists?
The battle in Washington is both real and kabuki, but in no way shape or form does it compare to the fighter pilot ejecting from a burning plane or a machine gunner peppered with shrapnel from a vehicle borne suicide bomber or a young SGT with 2nd and 3rd degrees from his knees to his abdomen from an IED while on foot patrol in the Arghandab Valley. This is the everyday reality of war, and of our own sons and daughters.
But these days, one only hears this truth if one has a loved one in the military or is near to a base or lives somewhere in the red zone. Washington is busy with its infighting, and the blue states are for the most part at a far remove from the realities of our wars these days.
If the budget was so important, why would the President be going for a long weekend at Williamsburg, after all? He and the family will be entertained by all of the quaintly dressed re-enactors and eating nutritious snacks and maybe he’ll even get in a game of golf. Virginia in April can be glorious, after all.
In the meantime, our best will be crammed into 6 up bunks on warships or out on COP’s or on patrol humping 80 lbs. when it’s 110 degrees and in contact every single day. They will all be counting the days home. They are redeeming those checks written by our government in blood, sweat, and tears every single day.
We deserve better from our leaders. Our nation’s finances are in disorder. Hard choices must be made. Congress is writing checks the American people can no longer pay from Libya to Wall Street to Beijing. At a time when we must spend every dollar wisely, Congress and the administration and the special interests continue in their profligacy. TARP I becomes TARP II becomes TARP III and the pork trough is still overflowing.
We deserve honest answers and honest choices. I would have thought that the last election drove that message home. Fiscal responsibility is not a political issue, it is an imperative for our survival. With April 15 looming and the tax bill coming due, perhaps our leadership will keep in mind that it is the people’s money, not theirs. They may also want to abstain from the inflammatory rhetoric as well.
