The Official Teabagging thread

[Sally Sensational]

Question #1: If Bill Clinton can get impeached for 1 blowjob while in office, what happens to President Obama if he gets teabagged by a million Americans while in office?

Question #2: Has NO ONE AT ALL clued any of these people into what the word "teabag" means when it is used as a VERB?

Question #3: Would anyone like to join us tomorrow as we offer Fair Trade, Shade-grown, Organic COFFEE to the protesters at the local tea party? It's gonna be FUN!

[Bo Bo]

ummm I'm out of the loop.... what's all this tea stuff about? :redface:

[Cam63]

1. What were the Secret Service guys doing to allow one million wankers get that close to the President ?

2. *Shrugs*

3. Can't you just Gibbs slap them ?

[Tetsuo_man]

http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=220573&title=indignation-populist-uprising
and
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/09/rachel-maddow-ana-marie-c_n_185445.html

Should explain it bo bo.

[Bo Bo]

http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=220573&title=indignation-populist-uprising
and
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/09/rachel-maddow-ana-marie-c_n_185445.html

Should explain it bo bo.

Thanks for the links. :biggrin:

Except I can't see the daily show one. I have to search for it through Comedy networks site instead of watching it from the daily show site... :mad:

[Lester C.]

ummm I'm out of the loop.... what's all this tea stuff about? :redface:

Another reason why we need to burn Canada to the ground. You bastards burned down the White House and don't even know the history this country.:mad:

[Arrogantcur]

Another reason why we need to burn Canada to the ground. You bastards burned down the White House and don't even know the history this country.:mad:

I thought that was the Brits in the War of 1812.

[Infra-Man]

Is there a counter protest to teabagging that involves chili dogs or frothy walruses?

[Lester C.]

I thought that was the Brits in the War of 1812.

Without getting into a history lesson. that war was about annexing Canada. We invaded and in turn got our asses handed to us by Canadians of all people. :eek: Canadians. :frown:

[Lester C.]

ummm I'm out of the loop.... what does a lebain know about teabagging, anyway? :redface:

I can't belive you said that, Mr. Bobo.:eek:

[Tobias March]

Another reason why we need to burn Canada to the ground. You bastards burned down the White House and don't even know the history this country.:mad:

Wait you got this arseways...Canadians know American history, because they're not in denial about the White House incident.

[Crowforge]

Another reason why we need to burn Canada to the ground. You bastards burned down the White House and don't even know the history this country.:mad:
Actually they do know they sing songs about it. I heard it from a comedy group I was following til this came up, apparently killing americans is the height of comedy up north.

As for teabagging? I just don't get the appeal, maybe I'm insensitive...

[Ben Morgan]

Without getting into a history lesson. that war was about annexing Canada. We invaded and in turn got our asses handed to us by Canadians of all people. :eek: Canadians. :frown:

He's right Lester, Britain burned down the White House (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burning_of_Washington)

[Stressfactor]

http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=220573&title=indignation-populist-uprising
and
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/09/rachel-maddow-ana-marie-c_n_185445.html

Should explain it bo bo.The BEST thing about the Daily Show clip is when Jon Stewart says: "I love that our audience tonight is perversion literate."

I think it also shows a kind of 'with it' divide that so many other newscasters are apparently unaware of the current slang meaning of "teabagging". It just makes them look silly and pathetic.

[KevinTBrown]

The BEST thing about the Daily Show clip is when Jon Stewart says: "I love that our audience tonight is perversion literate."

I think it also shows a kind of 'with it' divide that so many other newscasters are apparently unaware of the current slang meaning of "teabagging". It just makes them look silly and pathetic.

However, Keith Olbermann was having a very tough time in keeping a straight face during last night's Couintdown. Especially when one of the people backing this was named "Dick".

[Royal]

My favorite part is that when you ask the teabaggers why they didn't think of doing this a year or two back, their general and calm answer is that they either didn't have the tech until then or didn't have a good understanding of the tech.

Like LGF was a tome that fell from the sky and Michelle Malkin just came out of the ether like Mary Poppins.

Then again, their is a slim chance they're right. I mean, the Bush admin. was running off of obsolete tech.

[EdContradictory]

However, Keith Olbermann was having a very tough time in keeping a straight face during last night's Couintdown. Especially when one of the people backing this was named "Dick".
Someone made the brilliant comment that "if you're going to teabag across the country, you're going to need a Dick Armey."

[rick]

I drove by our local Tea Party here in Colorado Springs today, and of course it being Colorado Springs, there were easily three or four thousand people enjoying the nice Spring day and protesting whatever the Hell it was that they were protesting.

I do have to say that one of the protestors very politely allowed me to pull ahead of him to get to the turn lane.

All in all it looked like a bunch of middle class white people having a good time.

[rick]

My favorite part is that when you ask the teabaggers why they didn't think of doing this a year or two back, their general and calm answer is that they either didn't have the tech until then or didn't have a good understanding of the tech.

Like LGF was a tome that fell from the sky and Michelle Malkin just came out of the ether like Mary Poppins.

Then again, their is a slim chance they're right. I mean, the Bush admin. was running off of obsolete tech.

Interestingly LGF thinks that the whole Teabag protests are sort of stupid.

Which when you think about it, really does say something.

[Infra-Man]

There is a proposed set of follow-up protests for Republicans who are not happy with Democratic majorities in all branches of government. Said a spokesperson, "We got hit in 2006 and 2008, now it's time to hit back!"

The dates for these "Donkey Punch Parties" have yet to be determined.

[Royal]

Interestingly LGF thinks that the whole Teabag protests are sort of stupid.

Which when you think about it, really does say something.

I also think that if it took them this long after Dean and Paul's use of tech to realize it's power to astroturf a protest, they are going to have so many problems with tech in the next couple years.

[Tetsuo_man]

Ron Paul organizers mad their idea got ripped off by GOP
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/15/tea-party-origins-ron-pau_n_187184.html
Tea bag protesters don't like the jokes
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/15/teabagging-jokes-offend-c_n_187313.html
Tea bag war on twitter
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/15/twitter-teaparty-war-erup_n_187260.html
Teabagers blocked form whitehouse
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/15/million-tea-bag-protest-i_n_187243.html
Willard at Tea party protest shown on Fox Business says both conservatives and liberal are fascists who want your money
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/15/fox-news-reporter-wake-up_n_187289.html
Cnn reporter battles with teabager
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/15/cnn-reporter-battles-tea_n_187326.html
Poll shows majority of americans like government support of economy showing not much support for teabagers
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/15/sorry-teabaggers-majority_n_187368.html
Tea Party highlights
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/10/tea-party-video-right-win_n_185577.html
Next wave of tea party protests planed for july 4th
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/15/tea-party-movement-plans_n_187393.html

[Royal]

I wonder if any of these people realize that this little stunt is saving hundreds if thousands of jobs right now.

[Royal]

BTW, is it wrong for wanting a Chairman Maobama shirt, cause that looks freaking awesome.

[That JonoGuy]

At least they are helping out the economy by buying tea bags in large quantities.

[Infra-Man]

http://i373.photobucket.com/albums/oo172/hvigilla/DSC_1233.jpg

Source:
http://phillybits.blogspot.com/2009/04/yes-its-true-philadelphia-was-heavily.html

[Sound Silence]

Teabagging? I'd hit that.

[Tetsuo_man]

Texas govener talks about possible secession attempt at Tea Party Protest
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/15/gov-rick-perry-texas-coul_n_187490.html

[Tetsuo_man]

Joe the Plumber at Tea Party Protest claims that saying in god we trust can get you shot in some parts of the country
http://washingtonindependent.com/38902/joe-the-plumber-at-michigan-tea-party-saying-in-god-we-trust-will-get-you-shot-in-some-places
and a pic from same article (is it truly hate speech):
http://michiganmessenger.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/hate-speech.jpg
Man at supermarket when asked if he is going to a tea bagging party misinterpts it:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/15/teabagging-party-query-co_n_187412.html
http://thebloggess.com/?p=2281
Then when I was checking out the bagger asked me if I was "going to any teabagging parties today". Like, WTF? And the cashier was just looking at me waiting for my response and I was all "Uh...no" because I was too shocked to say anything else and then I got home and thought maybe teabagging means something else now but no, I googled it and it still totally means the same thing.

Yes. One truth will remain after Fox closes up shop on Tea Party Day: ask a person if they're going to come to a teabagging party, and that person will think you are a pervert.

[That JonoGuy]

Joe the Plumber at Tea Party Protest claims that saying in god we trust can get you shot in some parts of the country
http://washingtonindependent.com/38902/joe-the-plumber-at-michigan-tea-party-saying-in-god-we-trust-will-get-you-shot-in-some-places
and a pic from same article (is it truly hate speech):
http://michiganmessenger.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/hate-speech.jpg
Man at supermarket when asked if he is going to a tea bagging party misinterpts it:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/15/teabagging-party-query-co_n_187412.html
http://thebloggess.com/?p=2281

That last sign is too funny. That must be why they are constantly trying to change the constitution because they believe in it so much.

[Infra-Man]

http://i373.photobucket.com/albums/oo172/hvigilla/teaparty08.jpg

http://i373.photobucket.com/albums/oo172/hvigilla/facepalm-1.jpg

[Cam63]

http://i373.photobucket.com/albums/oo172/hvigilla/teaparty08.jpg

Does that man's carers know he's wandered off ?

[Cam63]

http://i373.photobucket.com/albums/oo172/hvigilla/DSC_1233.jpg

OK... The John Mayer in a mankini photo doesn't look so bad now.

[Infra-Man]

http://i373.photobucket.com/albums/oo172/hvigilla/gallery-teaparty6.jpg

C'mon. This one has to be a photoshop (looking for verification, saw it on another site).


EDIT:
It's real. It's from Talking Points Memo's Tea Party gallery (http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/gallery/2009/04/tax-day-tea-parties.php?img=1)

[Black Atom]

This is strangely reminiscient of the movement in the 1940's in the wake of the Pearl Harbor bombing to "Give the Japanese a Pearl Necklace!"

[kingdom2000]

On the bright side it makes it easy to see who the stupid people are. Its like that Boston Legal episode where a guy fired a co-worker for being stupid because she voted for Bush but couldn't articulate why. I would fire anyone that participated in the tea bag parties because they are clearly to stupid to be employed.

Whats sad though is they are protesting against their own self interest (nearly all in the 95% tax cut range) but not Fox's (all of them are in the top 5% that would pay more). Its atrue sign of how many people don't bother to verify anything and just accept their marching orders without question.

[Infra-Man]

If I could have just infiltrated the NYC tea party today, I would have yelled the following through a megaphone:

Oh, we're mad as a frothy walrus, as furious as an angry dragon, but today we're also as loud as a screaming pelican. Your average Joe the Plumber, Hot Carl, Tony Danza, or Stanley Steamer out there is outraged that some dirty Sanchez is taking our jobs in a Mexican avalanche. These Washington elites keep saying "Let them eat cake" when we can't buy a strawberry shortcake or glazed donut because of current tax rates. It's gotten so bad that we can barely afford a chili dog for dinner. I have a neighbor who had to sell a rusty trombone to make rent. I have another neighbor who couldn't give his wife a pearl necklace. I say that after getting hit in 2006 and 2008, it's time for conservatives to hit back--to donkey punch those Dems after we've tea bagged them.

[Chris Hansbrough]

that's funny. there was a group of guys doing it here (Next dooe to our comic shop is the turn in) We went over and asked if we could join them for teabagging and then asked which one of them we were teabagging.

jesus christ people wikipedia before you try to name something

[Kyuubi]

When is Cleveland Steamer day?

[section 8]

At least they didn't dress as Indians this time.

[Crowforge]

I'm cool with these people refusing fed tax dollars the next time there's a natural disaster.

[tangentman]

Did some neanderthal really compare Obama's tax plan to Dachau? What the fuck? :rolleyes:

The worst part of working out at my local Y: Fox News in the Men's lockers. When a pack of reactionary good ol' boys cheer on that drivel, I make a point of ogling nervous straight men's dicks just to spite them!

[Venom Melendez]

Ok.....Can someone explain to me who's out of the loop......WTF is all this about? And these people know what teabagging means right?

[Shades0077]

I heard that the next protest is going to involve writing letters to the President and using special postage with pictures of fungi.

That's right, Obama is going to get mushroom stamped.

[Kyuubi]

I heard that the next protest is going to involve writing letters to the President and using special postage with pictures of fungi.

That's right, Obama is going to get mushroom stamped.



They are also planning to dump a ton of blue pumpkins, or "Blumpkins" on the steps of congress.

[Crowforge]

I heard that the next protest is going to involve writing letters to the President and using special postage with pictures of fungi.

That's right, Obama is going to get mushroom stamped.

I love the taste of a big shitake!

[Royal]

Ok.....Can someone explain to me who's out of the loop......WTF is all this about? And these people know what teabagging means right?

They don't know and.....nope, they don't know.

Just an event created by sore losers to pretty much be disruption. voices of the many rallying around the faux compassion of the few.

[Kyuubi]

One man at a protest in Texas said he would physically assault any liberal counter-protesters, claiming to have done so in the past and calling himself, "a proud Donkey Puncher".

[Crowforge]

While that is hilarious he should still be arrested, probably best to keep him in a single cell though, if only to keep him from donkey punching anyone else.

[Venom Melendez]

While that is hilarious he should still be arrested, probably best to keep him in a single cell though, if only to keep him from donkey punching anyone else.

Not necessarily, he might be the one to get donkey punched.Whatever that means.

[bringthenoise]

One man at a protest in Texas said he would physically assault any liberal counter-protesters, claiming to have done so in the past and calling himself, "a proud Donkey Puncher".

Will he sound the Rusty Trombone to lead the GOP charge to retake Washington? Is he worried that someone is going to take his wife's Pearl Necklace?

... God, this is too easy.

[Infra-Man]

A future protest will involve the throwing of mung beans onto the White House lawn. It is hard to say how effective this Munging Party will be.

[Charles RB]

I like these tax protests because every time I hear about them I laugh my arse off.

Saw one quote related to them: "it is not the government's responsibility to take care of it's people. It is the government 's responsibility to take care that the people can take care of themselves."

and I thought "isn't that an excuse politicians would use to cut public services and welfare and shit?".

(Another take I saw was WHERE were these people when Bush was RACKING UP HUGE DEBTS?)

[Chris Hansbrough]

I can't wait till that group in clevland starts organizing protests. what was there name again......

anyway this is just the first sign of the bukkakelips

[Infra-Man]

At least they didn't dress as Indians this time.

Saw these this morning...
http://i373.photobucket.com/albums/oo172/hvigilla/Picture.jpg
http://i373.photobucket.com/albums/oo172/hvigilla/texasteabag6-1.jpg

[Charles RB]

What the fuck has dressing up as Native Americans got to do with tax protests?

[Corrina]

Know your history, Charles. :)

At the original Boston Tea Party, the Sons of Liberty dressed in Native American gear to disguise themselves. It didn't fool anyone but it did hide exactly who they were.

Of course, these guys apparently aren't going for hiding.

I'm still snickering over holding a protest at the Alamo.

Where, you know, everybody got slaughtered.

And probably not a good way to appeal to the Hispanic vote, either, if the Republicans are still interested in that. I don't think they look too fondly on the whole thing, especially since they're drawn as the worst kind of villains in the whole "white guys stole a good chunk of Mexico because they could" thing.

[Charles RB]

Know your history, Charles. :)

At the original Boston Tea Party, the Sons of Liberty dressed in Native American gear to disguise themselves. It didn't fool anyone but it did hide exactly who they were.

Ahhhh.

God, this is silly.

[Corrina]

Yeah, a little.

Though the Sons of Liberty did destroy the tea as a strike against British property.

I'm not sure what the current day protest equivalent would be. Burning tax forms?

I am glad that no one has suggested destruction of property, though.

[Cam63]

One man at a protest in Texas said he would physically assault any liberal counter-protesters, claiming to have done so in the past and calling himself, "a proud Donkey Puncher".

I bet he has a lovely mugshot.

[David O Burcham]

Funny how nobody mentions that the Tea Parties were attended by Libertarians, liberals and moderates as well as conservatives, or that the protests were directed at Democrats AND Republicans.

But, why let little things like "facts" and "truth" get in the way of a good joke?

Have fun, kids.

I know I will be November 2010.:smile:

[Stressfactor]

Funny how nobody mentions that the Tea Parties were attended by Libertarians, liberals and moderates as well as conservatives, or that the protests were directed at Democrats AND Republicans.

But, why let little things like "facts" and "truth" get in the way of a good joke?

Have fun, kids.

I know I will be November 2010.:smile:Actually, it HAS been pointed out elsewhere that these protests really had NO unifying feature.

Several more reputable news services (*cough* NPR *cough* heck, even the LOCAL news in my neck of the woods made a point of... er... pointing it out) that there were people participating who actually had conflicting protests with other protesters!

At the same "tea party" there were people protesting the fact that the U.S. even HAS taxes, there were people who were advocating the "flat tax" there were conservatives protesting using tax money for bailouts, there were people protesting using tax money for ANY Federal Programs (including things like school meal programs and such like), there were people protesting perceived tax increases, etc.

To make a long story short the whole thing was more of a mess than anything else and it was rather like the old: "What are you rebelling against?" "What have you got?" bit. You could ask 100 different tea party goers WHY they were there and WHAT they were protesting and you would have probably gotten AT LEAST 20 different answers.

To my mind it isn't a truly useful protest when you've got a bunch of different messages -- some of which don't even agree with one another.

And, on top of all of that, the ignorant useage of the term "teabagging" without knowing it's common slang meaning kind of showed these people up as 'out of touch'. Hell, I'm FAR from being (in the immortal words of Jon Stewart) "perversion literate" but even I knew that "teabagging" had become a sexual slang term.

If they want this to be effective then in the future they need to decide EXACTLY WHAT they're protesting against (i.e. "We want a flat tax" or "We want an end to Medicare" or "We want an end to the bailouts") and THEN rally their faithful to the cause.

[David O Burcham]

Great point, but there was a unifying theme everyone could agree on: the bloated size of the Ferderal government thanks to the Republican and democratic politicians in Washington, D.C.

I do think using the term "Tea Party" was unfortunate. When people hear that, they think "Boston Tea Party", which has been wrongly limited as just a tax revolt.

[EdContradictory]

Funny how nobody mentions that the Tea Parties were attended by Libertarians, liberals and moderates as well as conservatives, or that the protests were directed at Democrats AND Republicans.

These ridiculous "faux"tests were organized and promoted by the Republican establishment and Fox News. Anything else is a lie.

The majority of the people holding Ayn Rand signs never even read a sentence of Atlas Shrugged, I bet.

[David O Burcham]

These ridiculous "faux"tests were organized and promoted by the Republican establishment and Fox News. Anything else is a lie.

You mean all of my friends and family who vote Democratic and attended the Tea Party in my home town have actually been part of The Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy for over 30 years?

I did not know that. I'll keep my eye on them from now on!

[Grazzt]

You mean all of my friends and family who vote Democratic and attended the Tea Party in my home town have actually been part of The Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy for over 30 years?

I did not know that. I'll keep my eye on them from now on!

It's sort of hard to convince people that these protests are really bipartisan when they have "FNC" in their names.

[Infra-Man]

It's sort of hard to convince people that these protests are really bipartisan when they have "FNC" in their names.

Or that Fox News personalities appeared at certain tea parties. Or that the tea parties were promoted via programs on Fox News.

[Stressfactor]

At the one in my local area both of the main speakers were leaders of the local Republican party.... Just sayin'.

[Grazzt]

At the one in my local area both of the main speakers were leaders of the local Republican party.... Just sayin'.

Although, to be absolutely fair, they did reject Michael Steele. (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/09/chicago-tea-party-rejects_n_185026.html)

[EdContradictory]

You mean all of my friends and family who vote Democratic and attended the Tea Party in my home town have actually been part of The Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy for over 30 years?

I did not know that. I'll keep my eye on them from now on!

No, all your friends and family who are paying less in taxes now than they were a year ago (when they were fine with it) are being lied to and looking like morons on national tv. But hey, they get to pose for a picture with their favorite Fox celebri-pundit!

[David O Burcham]

What really befuddles me is why all of the "open-minded" Progressive politicians and media are so upset and offended by the Tea Party protests.

Seriously, a few hundred rent-a-mob protesters bussed in by Acorn or the American communist party with various left-wing agendas are praised for exercising their first ammendment right (which they SHOULD be praised for.... until the rolling of cars, death threats, and fire-bomb throwing begins, that is).... yet, when HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of conservatives, liberals and moderates come together in hundreds of peaceful meetings nation-wide to protest BOTH political parties, they are characterized by those same "progressive" politicians and media as right-wing extremist kooks who need to be monitored by law enforcement Homeland Security and/or maginalized as being no more important of a news story than Mrs. McGuillicutty's cat stuck in a tree.


No wonder Mussolini was such a beloved figure by the progressive movement in the early 20th century!

[Royal]

Funny how nobody mentions that the Tea Parties were attended by Libertarians, liberals and moderates as well as conservatives, or that the protests were directed at Democrats AND Republicans.

But, why let little things like "facts" and "truth" get in the way of a good joke?

Have fun, kids.

I know I will be November 2010.:smile:

It's also fun how these protests where organized by several rightwing think tanks. It's also funny how several metro teaparty websites were registered in others states and as late as March of last year.

That's not a movement by the people. Getting propagated by Fox News is not a movement of the people.

This is the movement of old grown up white guys who grew up spoiled little brats and have too much money and time on hand. All wasted on AstroTurf.

[Royal]

What really befuddles me is why all of the "open-minded" Progressive politicians and media are so upset and offended by the Tea Party protests.

Seriously, a few hundred rent-a-mob protesters bussed in by Acorn or the American communist party with various left-wing agendas are praised for exercising their first ammendment right (which they SHOULD be praised for.... until the rolling of cars, death threats, and fire-bomb throwing begins, that is).... yet, when HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of conservatives, liberals and moderates come together in hundreds of peaceful meetings nation-wide to protest BOTH political parties, they are characterized by those same "progressive" politicians and media as right-wing extremist kooks who need to be monitored by law enforcement Homeland Security and/or maginalized as being no more important of a news story than Mrs. McGuillicutty's cat stuck in a tree.


No wonder Mussolini was such a beloved figure by the progressive movement in the early 20th century!

So what's the solution? What are we going to do about the situation?

And where in the DHS report did it say "teabag party"?

[Grazzt]

What really befuddles me is why all of the "open-minded" Progressive politicians and media are so upset and offended by the Tea Party protests.

I haven't seen people being upset. I have seen tons of derision, but then the protesters did use the word "teabag" as a verb, so that's their fault. Also, attempting to make it seem like a grass roots thing when the whole thing is pretty clearly being organized and promoted by Fox News and right wing lobbyists.

Of course, if there is offense, it could be the fact that the protesters, by using the "Tea Party" theme, are making a comparison between taxation without representation and taxation that's just a couple points too high. Some people might feel it cheapens the actual Boston Tea Party.

[Alan Lynch]

Not wanting to disrupt the actual discussion, but I can't see the videos and it's bugging me. There guys aren't seriously calling themselves "teabaggers" are they?

[Stressfactor]

Hell, they can't even agree on WHAT they're protesting! THAT'S one of the problems.

When you're protesting something PICK SOMETHING TO PROTEST!

A lot of people were out there protesting one thing while people standing right next to them were protesting something else.

To be fair -- I think SOME people got schnookered. I think SOME of these protests were organized by the Right Wing agenda but they were amorphous about what their agenda was and they schnookered some other people -- like the Libertarians -- into going along with the Libertarians thinking that this protest was about an issue THEY cared about when in all actuality it wasn't.

And then there was, yes, the absolutely STUPID deal of using the word "teabagging" for this. COMPOUNDED by the stupidity of using AN OUTMODED SYMBOL!

Dear IDIOTS, America has not suffered a tax on tea (well, no more than your state sales taxes which you pay on everything unless you live in Oregon) in CENTURIES. It's like those idiots who go around protesting anti-abortion forces waving WIRE HANGERS AROUND. It's a DAMN EMPTY SYMBOL. If you want to stop LOOKING LIKE IDIOTS find a symbol that IS RELEVANT TO TODAY.

And also, yes the Boston Tea Party was FAR more about REPRESENTATION (which we now have -- if you don't LIKE who's in office, vote them out but they ARE your representatives) than it was about TAXES. LEARN YOUR DAMN HISTORY!

That is all, idiots.

[FanboyStranger]

However, Keith Olbermann was having a very tough time in keeping a straight face during last night's Couintdown. Especially when one of the people backing this was named "Dick".

Olbermann acknowledged this the other night when he said he was trying to stuff as many double entredres into his coverage of the "teabaggings" as possible. Then Richard Wolffe, of all people (he doesn't strike me as being a particularly humorous man), when asked by Olbermann what the focus of the teabag movement is, replied, "The focus of the teabagging is two particular... things... (long pause)... " He then explained that it was 1) frustration with the bailouts and 2) taxes in general. It was so funny I spit water all over my living room.

Richard Wolffe, who knew?

[kingdom2000]

What really befuddles me is why all of the "open-minded" Progressive politicians and media are so upset and offended by the Tea Party protests.

Seriously, a few hundred rent-a-mob protesters bussed in by Acorn or the American communist party with various left-wing agendas are praised for exercising their first ammendment right (which they SHOULD be praised for.... until the rolling of cars, death threats, and fire-bomb throwing begins, that is).... yet, when HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of conservatives, liberals and moderates come together in hundreds of peaceful meetings nation-wide to protest BOTH political parties, they are characterized by those same "progressive" politicians and media as right-wing extremist kooks who need to be monitored by law enforcement Homeland Security and/or maginalized as being no more important of a news story than Mrs. McGuillicutty's cat stuck in a tree.


No wonder Mussolini was such a beloved figure by the progressive movement in the early 20th century!

LOL. Anyway this "bipartisan" aspect is news to me. The only reason I have heard people protesting primarily they are under the impression they are about to pay more taxes (which isn't true for a majority). The secondary reason, government spending, seems to be minor part of that. What am I going by? Well the "Boston Tea Party" aspect is a big freaking clue since that was about taxation (w/o Representation), that is how Fox News has been promoting it, and the people I spoke to tend to put it in terms of taxes.

Its great that others showed up for a different set of reasons...if for no other reason then confusion of message during protests is hilarious to watch and accomplishes absolutely nothing.

Anycase, our amusement at this is just how manufactured this is. Its being promoted as a grassroots effort but it is a corporate manufactured protest. It was a carefully orchestrated plan started by Armey and other conservatives groups that was heavily promoted by Fox (hell the primary website was purchased last August, before Obama was even elected). They started the swell and people joined in. Its a beautiful example of the power of the press and the ability to manufacture outrage from people that had given a subject much thought until the press pointed out they should be outraged. If this had been a grassroots efforts, then I would be suitably impressed but this isn't and its getting the derision it deserves.

It doesn't help that they chose "teabagging" as the primary descriptor. Just in case your like Fox and don't know what the term now rather commonly means:
Teabagging is a slang term for the act of a man placing his scrotum in the mouth[1] or on or around the face (including the top of the head) of another person, often in a repeated in-and-out motion as in irrumatio. The practice vaguely resembles dipping a tea bag into a cup of tea.[2][3]

Teabagging is also an erotic activity used within the context of BDSM and male dominance, with a dominant man teabagging his submissive partner, either a woman or a man, as one variation of facesitting and/or as a means of inflicting erotic humiliation.

That alone, outside of the faux "grassroots effort" makes this worthy of much amusement and derision. Did your family enjoy teabagging it the other day?

[Black Atom]

Want to know what this protest is REALLY about? Why it has flimsy, if any, political backing? It's about people who're (poorly) coming to terms with all the indicators that white/male privilege (or the illusion thereof, in some cases) they've enjoyed is in jeopardy. That's why protestors are all over the board with their stupid, paranoid stances ("I'll keep my guns"? WTF?) . It's also why morons are shooting up policemen, old folks homes or their own homes--one last, pitiful grasp for control they never had to begin with. That's what they're really angry about and what's really whipping them into a stupid, paranoid frenzy--even if they don't know it.

[section 8]

Saw these this morning...
http://i373.photobucket.com/albums/oo172/hvigilla/Picture.jpg
http://i373.photobucket.com/albums/oo172/hvigilla/texasteabag6-1.jpg

*Sigh*

*grabs Tomahawk*

[kingdom2000]

Here are some numbers. Sadly it turns out that it appears that the overall support, considering Fox's media blitz, wasn't as big a success as you would think. Overall participation numbers are floating at around 250,000 (http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2009/04/tea-parties-appear-to-draw-at-least.html). Not bad, just not as substantial as all the buzz makes you think it was.

As for what some think its about, Maddow does a good summary (http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/heather/rachel-maddow-show-teabags-across-america)and Crooks posted their footage (http://crooksandliars.com/david-neiwert/my-visit-seattle-tea-party) at one of the events. Listen to the people there, especially the women speaking in the background...they are almost entirely framing the argument in terms of paying more taxes. Not spending. One is silly considering the proposed plan...the other has legs. I could almost support the second half of the argument (assuming there was more thought beyond aping Fox News) but that doesn't seem to be why a majority are there.

Here is another video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=huExrkOIUWQ) from Countdown that pretty much sums up my perspective on the whole thing.

[David O Burcham]

Did your family enjoy teabagging it the other day?

Listen, I can handle personal insults. But to insult my family (the conservatives and the liberals) for no other reason than you disagree with tem is not only foolish, it's a tad bit fascist.

HOWEVER... I'll just answer in the way you and the other sheep who have been trained by the Huffington Post and Daily Kos to expect a person who attended a Tea Paty to answer.

Ahem!




http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/dr_doom.jpg


Bah! By parroting everything you have read in the left-wing blogs you have proven... PROVEN I say... that there were only 15 people at four Tea Parties and they were all in Texas and Fox News LIED about the actual number of people there and LIED about how many cities were involved and LIED about Democrats and Independents attending them and have FOILED our grand Republican Party/Libertarian Party/Constitution Party/Tri-Lateral Commission/Flat-Earthers/Big Oil ~VAST RIGHT WING CONSPIRASY~ ! Curse you, Richards!

But we'll be back... BACK, I say... in our black helicopters. you haven't heard the last of us, Richards! (mwa-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha)




Stay classy.

[Grazzt]

Listen, I can handle personal insults. But to insult my family (the conservatives and the liberals) for no other reason than you disagree with tem is not only foolish, it's a tad bit fascist.

I'm sorry, you go to an event where teabagging is going on, and you take your chances that you'll get ridiculed.

Bah! By parroting everything you have read in the left-wing blogs you have proven... PROVEN I say... that there were only 15 people at four Tea Parties and they were all in Texas and Fox News LIED about the actual number of people there and LIED about how many cities were involved and LIED about Democrats and Independents attending them and have FOILED our grand Republican Party/Libertarian Party/Constitution Party/Tri-Lateral Commission/Flat-Earthers/Big Oil ~VAST RIGHT WING CONSPIRASY~ ! Curse you, Richards!

Dude, no one on this thread is lying about anything. The post above yours has unbiased counts by 538. Just because we think that there are people being dishonest about the whole thing and that it's kind of silly, doesn't mean we have to stoop to lying.

[David O Burcham]

Hell, they can't even agree on WHAT they're protesting! THAT'S one of the problems.

When you're protesting something PICK SOMETHING TO PROTEST!

A lot of people were out there protesting one thing while people standing right next to them were protesting something else.



You mean there's a law that says only one issue can be protested at a time?

Boy, do I feel foolish!


For all of those who have said that 12.8 trillion dollars in debt created by the spending oand increase in the size of government by Bush, Obama and the congressional Republicans & Democrats can NOT be protested at the same time as the tax increases on everyone that will result, I humbly take back everything I said.

I have seen the light! There is absolutely no way that 12.8 trillion dollars owed the Chinese will only cause those damn evil rich folk's taxes to increase ever (except our children and grandchildren... but, c'mon, that's THEIR problem, right?). Besides, just last month the government printed another trillion or so. Surely those silly Libertarian-spirited, small government kooks are just too plain stupid that doing so would never cause inflation (or hyper-inflation either, silly folk).



To show my appreciation to all of those who have convinced me of my Federalist folly, I offer you the investment of a LIFETIME!


You see, I have this deed to a big shiny bridge....

[Grazzt]

Best sign from the protests:

http://static.crooksandliars.com/files/uploads/2009/04/IShavedMyBallsForThis_71fe7.JPG

[Chris Hansbrough]

Best sign from the protests:

http://static.crooksandliars.com/files/uploads/2009/04/IShavedMyBallsForThis_71fe7.JPG

I still prefer the down with sodomy up with teabagging sign from page 2.

[Chris Hansbrough]

You mean there's a law that says only one issue can be protested at a time?

Boy, do I feel foolish!


For all of those who have said that 12.8 trillion dollars in debt created by the spending oand increase in the size of government by Bush, Obama and the congressional Republicans & Democrats can NOT be protested at the same time as the tax increases on everyone that will result, I humbly take back everything I said.

I have seen the light! There is absolutely no way that 12.8 trillion dollars owed the Chinese will only cause those damn evil rich folk's taxes to increase ever (except our children and grandchildren... but, c'mon, that's THEIR problem, right?). Besides, just last month the government printed another trillion or so. Surely those silly Libertarian-spirited, small government kooks are just too plain stupid that doing so would never cause inflation (or hyper-inflation either, silly folk).



To show my appreciation to all of those who have convinced me of my Federalist folly, I offer you the investment of a LIFETIME!


You see, I have this deed to a big shiny bridge....
dude fucking protest whatever the hell you want. I'm not going to hold it against anyone. but don't go around for days calling it TEABAGGING and then complain that people are mocking it. They spent days calling it TEABAGGING! how would they not expect to get mocked mercilessly for TEABAGGING! It's not a difficult concept to see why the thing is being mocked. Maybe if they tried something unique to protest that actually y'know had some relevance to the situation I wouldn't mock it but I'll be damned if I'm not going to laugh all the way to the bank at people and their tea parties. because everyone needs a good old TEABAGGING every now and then. Stop acting like it's the bukkakelips and it's making fun of you or most of the other poeple personally. It's not.....it's making fun of the fact they spent days calling it FUCKING TEABAGGING!

[kingdom2000]

dude fucking protest whatever the hell you want. I'm not going to hold it against anyone. but don't go around for days calling it TEABAGGING and then complain that people are mocking it. They spent days calling it TEABAGGING! how would they not expect to get mocked mercilessly for TEABAGGING! It's not a difficult concept to see why the thing is being mocked. Maybe if they tried something unique to protest that actually y'know had some relevance to the situation I wouldn't mock it but I'll be damned if I'm not going to laugh all the way to the bank at people and their tea parties. because everyone needs a good old TEABAGGING every now and then. Stop acting like it's the bukkakelips and it's making fun of you or most of the other poeple personally. It's not.....it's making fun of the fact they spent days calling it FUCKING TEABAGGING!

LOL. I have heard teabagging more in the last week then have in the last ...well ever. Its freaking hilarious. I am sure some, like Phooey's family, went in with informed minds, well aware of the cause and the issues. But as many many images, coverage etc show, they were clearly a very small minority. Most just thought it was "they taking my guns and taxing me more, those facist/socialist bastards, cause Fox News told me they were!!!!" variety.

Those (and those that keep using phrase "teabagging") are those we question and really really enjoy rediculing.

[David O Burcham]

Kingdom, exactly how many different dumb signs and dumb quotes did you read? A dozen? A hundred?

The VAST majority of the the 300,000 people who attended the tea Parties are a helluva lot more informed that the miniscule, handful that have been shown on TV and the web for the purpose of ridicule. To say otherwise shows just how little you understand about the people who attended and why they attended.

Any protest is going to have it's fair share of uniformed going morons.

Just like with every Left-wing protest that has ever existed.

Well, except for the car-rolling, profaninty, looting and death threats.

[David O Burcham]

Dude, no one on this thread is lying about anything. The post above yours has unbiased counts by 538. Just because we think that there are people being dishonest about the whole thing and that it's kind of silly, doesn't mean we have to stoop to lying.

Like I wrote, I can handle a personal attack. Fire away. To isult a person's family, however, is about as low and chicken-shit cowardly as a person can go in a disagreement or debate. I responded with the maturity level his attack deserved.

So it's silly for people of one political mindset to exercise peaceful demonstrations, but perfectly acceptable for another group? :confused:

And it's okay to make jokes about my under-age nephews having scrota shoved in and out of their mouths, but it's not okay to make a Dr. Doom parody about how liberals view conservaties? (double-:confused: )

And if the whole thing was so silly and unimportant, why do so many progressive media sources and politicians feel they have to resort to lying about who organized the events and who attended?

There have been lies told in this thread.

1.) The Tea Party protests were not organized by the Republican Party.
2.) Fox News may have reported from and about various Tea Parties, but they did not organize any of them.
3.) Believe it or not... and I know this may be hard for some to believe.. there WERE Democrats and liberals in attendence.
4.) Even more impossible for some people to believe... people are capable of protesting different issues at the same time.

There have also been lies told in other media:

1) The protesters are upset about Bush growing the size of governement and doubling the national debt and did voice their dissapproval(see the Republican purging in the 2006 and 2008 elections).
2) Democrat and Independent viewers OUTNUMBER the conservatives who watch Fox News.
3) Out of 300,000 people... not a so much as a parking ticket (those right-wing radicals!!!).
4) The protests weren't just a bunch of rich, white people complaining about their taxes, despite what an inept Speaker of the House says.
5) Organizers didn't have to pay people to show up, bus them out of state, or artificially inflate the numbers of those in attendance.


The flat-out lies about the Tea Party rallies, and the misreprentation of those who organized and attended them, reminds me of a quote by Stephen Schnieder, "To capture the public imagination, we have to... make simplified dramatic statements and little mention of any doubts one might have. Each of us has to decide the right balance between effective and being honest."




Again I ask, if these Tea Parties are so silly, then why are so many people doing to their damnedest to discredit them and ridicule the people who attended? Are they intetionally not telling the truth or are they teenagers trapped in adult bodies who are incapable of maturing past the Beavis and Butthead stage (A-huh, A-huh... you thaid "tea bag") to do a little fucking research by other people outside of their own political mind-set?


But as far as the Doom parody goes...

Insult me? No sweat.

Insult my family (especially my fiance and the nephews I've practically raised as my own chidren)? Fuck him. There was absolutely no call for that.

I know that kingdom didn't know I was including my kids and future wife when I wrote "my family"... but that's just the point. Kingdom DIDN'T know, but said it anyway.

Of all the arguments and disagreements I've been in at CBR, I have never had to lower myself to insulting another person's family. And I'm more disappointed in kingdom than mad that one who posts regularly on YABS would resort to family attacks.

[Village Idiot]

Although, to be absolutely fair, they did reject Michael Steele. (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/09/chicago-tea-party-rejects_n_185026.html)

Why? Because he is black?

[Village Idiot]

Seriously, a few hundred rent-a-mob protesters bussed in by Acorn or the American communist party with various left-wing agendas

Ah, now we see.

[Village Idiot]

Anycase, our amusement at this is just how manufactured this is. Its being promoted as a grassroots effort but it is a corporate manufactured protest. It was a carefully orchestrated plan started by Armey and other conservatives groups that was heavily promoted by Fox (hell the primary website was purchased last August, before Obama was even elected). They started the swell and people joined in. Its a beautiful example of the power of the press and the ability to manufacture outrage from people that had given a subject much thought until the press pointed out they should be outraged. If this had been a grassroots efforts, then I would be suitably impressed but this isn't and its getting the derision it deserves.

That alone, outside of the faux "grassroots effort" makes this worthy of much amusement and derision.


QFT! QFT! QFT!

[David O Burcham]

dude fucking protest whatever the hell you want. I'm not going to hold it against anyone. but don't go around for days calling it TEABAGGING and then complain that people are mocking it. They spent days calling it TEABAGGING! how would they not expect to get mocked mercilessly for TEABAGGING! It's not a difficult concept to see why the thing is being mocked. Maybe if they tried something unique to protest that actually y'know had some relevance to the situation I wouldn't mock it but I'll be damned if I'm not going to laugh all the way to the bank at people and their tea parties. because everyone needs a good old TEABAGGING every now and then. Stop acting like it's the bukkakelips and it's making fun of you or most of the other poeple personally. It's not.....it's making fun of the fact they spent days calling it FUCKING TEABAGGING!

Another misrepresentation. There were a small handful who called themseleves "tea baggers" once or twice on some news shows... but it was the CRITICS who "went around for days calling it teabagging."

You are either mis-informed or being dishonest.

"Maybe if they tried something unique to protest that actually y'know had some relevance to the situation."

However, dad-gum you sure are right about that! 12.8 trillion in debt and growing the size of government will NEVER result in ANYONE in the United States EVER paying another cent in taxes for the rest of eternity, by golly! Nope. The first two will NEVER lead to the other. No relevant connection to that and the Boston Tea Party tax protest at all. No SIREE! You all have me CONVINCED!

Well... except for the new 100% + increase in the cigarette tax. Only RICH people smoke cigarettes anyway. No way am I going to be tricked by all of them fansy-shmansy FACTS and STATISTICS that say the majority of people who smoke make less than $12,000 a year. That would mean the new federal cigarette tax would be a tax on POOR people! Ha! Tell me another one, Right-wing extemists! No WAY Obama's administration would allow that!

[Chris Hansbrough]

your need to play the victim is hilarious.

[Crowforge]

Why? Because he is black?
That's my guess, what with who we're talking about.

[Charles RB]

Funny how nobody mentions that the Tea Parties were attended by Libertarians, liberals and moderates as well as conservatives, or that the protests were directed at Democrats AND Republicans.

To be brutally honest, if there's a really silly-looking protest and the theme is anti-tax, we don't need to say "oh, and libertarians are there". Of course they are. It'd be like saying "and hippies were there!" about anti-war protests.

Though the complete clash between the views and aims of the protesters (not to mention some of the protestors and the protests' backers) also helps make the story funny.

What really befuddles me is why all of the "open-minded" Progressive politicians and media are so upset and offended by the Tea Party protests.

Upset and offended? I dunno about the politicians (though it wouldn't surprise me that politicians are upset/offended by protests against them), but the impression I was getting is the left-leaning US media was amused by it.

[Charles RB]

Okay, I've seen photos of a guy in Georgia (and this is from the photos by someone who was happily protesting) holding a sign saying "Restore The Republic, Rise Against Socialism".

Which is why I'm amused by the thing cos not only is the US still a republic, but you're not socialist either.

[Crowforge]

Oh we have socialist institutions though... like libraries and public schools.

[Tetsuo_man]

Huff Po's list of twhat they deem the top ten most offensive protest signs
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/16/10-most-offensive-tea-par_n_187554.html

[Tommy]

Okay, I've seen photos of a guy in Georgia (and this is from the photos by someone who was happily protesting) holding a sign saying "Restore The Republic, Rise Against Socialism".

Which is why I'm amused by the thing cos not only is the US still a republic, but you're not socialist either.

Well when you can perceive a nation as socialist, then you are allowed to over throw it, because even if it is democratically elected it is still not democratically elected. See Guatemala.

[kingdom2000]

Of all the arguments and disagreements I've been in at CBR, I have never had to lower myself to insulting another person's family. And I'm more disappointed in kingdom than mad that one who posts regularly on YABS would resort to family attacks.

Who knew a simple question (Did your family enjoy teabagging?) ...that could have been answered in any number of ways (after all they did go teabagging) could create such outrage. Damn I am good and I wasn't even aware of it.

And the arguments, if you were not spending so much time deflecting with fake outrage is one side believes the whole tea party thing is a bunch of manufactured bullshit (me) and the other side (you) doesn't.

At no point has anyone on this thread may any comment that a protest shouldn't be allowed. Again deflecting, your the only one here trying to make it into a 1st admendment argument. It wasn't until this post I partially quoted that you argued straight on. But then you started deflecting again. Overall this is a very simple argument we are having and you are going through some massive gymnastics to make it more.

[sk716]

Guys, deep calming breaths please.

[EdContradictory]

Listen, I can handle personal insults. But to insult my family (the conservatives and the liberals) for no other reason than you disagree with tem is not only foolish, it's a tad bit fascist.
Fascist? :rolleyes: Get over yourself.


Stay classy.
You first.

[CutterMike]

Another misrepresentation. There were a small handful who called themseleves "tea baggers" once or twice on some news shows... but it was the CRITICS who "went around for days calling it teabagging."

Of course, those who used it initially were doing so to try to own and control the terms of the debate and equate themselves with the Sons of Liberty, and it backfired on them -- if not disastrously then, at the very least, hilariously -- and are stuck paying the price in public ridicule of the image. As penalties for failed political strategies go, pointing and laughing aren't as bad as some.

However, dad-gum you sure are right about that! 12.8 trillion in debt and growing the size of government will NEVER result in ANYONE in the United States EVER paying another cent in taxes for the rest of eternity, by golly! Nope. The first two will NEVER lead to the other. No relevant connection to that and the Boston Tea Party tax protest at all. No SIREE! You all have me CONVINCED!

And that's... what...? ... the third time that you've used that "Golly gee..." sarcasm riff, instead of actually discussing the issues? Once, it was almost funny; three times, not so much.

Now, if you and your family and the tea-baggers were out at all of those anti-deficit/anti-tax rallies in the last 8 years when George Bush and -- for most of that time -- the Republican-controlled Congress were throwing the budget and economy into the crapper (http://www.scribd.com/doc/11003027/Chart-of-US-Economic-Indicators-19802008-Why-I-Voted-for-Obama-US-Census-statistics-demonstrate-correlation-between-Republicanconservative-polic) that Obama inherited, then I'm right with you. And if you and they were with the protesters decrying the unprecedented erosions of the Constitution and expansion of government power during that same administration, then I'm with you again.

But ONLY if they were as vocally protesting during that period as they are now.

OTOH, if this conversion came upon anyone there like Saul reading "Damascus -- Next Right" once the black Democrat was elected President, then I cut them no slack, because it would then be glaringly obvious that THAT was the real issue that had their panties in a twist. (But, of course, that has absolutely nothing to do with any of those Fine Upstanding Americans' stance on this, does it?)

As to:
No relevant connection to that and the Boston Tea Party tax protest at all. No SIREE!

Are you being disingenuous, or are you ignorant?

The issue *MAY* have been taxation, per se, but if we are to take the revolutionaries at their word, the issue was "taxation WITHOUT REPRESENTATION". The colonies had no representation in Parliament, no representation in the King's council. They had no one to whom they could argue their case and no one who could present it for them.

You, and everyone at those protests, HAS an elected official whose job it is to represent their interests. It may not be the person that YOU or THEY voted for, but that is still the person that you can approach and say, "I WANT Citigroup, Fannie Mae, General Motors, and Chrysler to live or die on their own merits; NO BAILOUTS!", or "I don't want you to take a DIME of stimulus money for this state! We'll have no pork-barrel here!"

If more people say that than say "The economy sucks and we want you to fix it NOW," then that's what they'll do. If not, they won't. And if more people don't agree with their decisions than do agree with them, then someone else will be your representative, next time.

Because... you know... that's what representation is all about.

Which the colonies didn't have.

So, yeah... Not a lot to do with the Boston Tea Party...

(I'm presuming that somewhere in here will be another of your patented "Gollygeewhillickers™" snarkfests. Save it, unless you want to actually discuss the issues raised, please.)

[Tetsuo_man]

Interesting video where speech is aplauded until Bush's handeling of the surplus into a defeceit and pointing out other things about Bush lead on booing:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AkOwsIIIe5I

[Solaris]

However, Keith Olbermann was having a very tough time in keeping a straight face during last night's Couintdown. Especially when one of the people backing this was named "Dick".


This was the only thing I could find on countdown... it's the third entry in the "Still Bushed" segment:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677#30235382

However, this was *really* interesting... from Keith Oberman's "Still Bushed" commentary, "Tea Bag Gate" (Number 1 on the list):

The U.S. Public Interest Research Group has analyzed a Senate Report from last year, showing just how much we LOSE as a nation in tax revenues, hidden by Corporations in places like the Cayman Islands---the opportunities to do so growing IMMEASURABLY under the Bush Administration. The total figure is up to A HUNDRED BILLION DOLLARS A YEAR.

U.S. PIRG broke it down state by state:

Texas loses 8 Billion Dollars per year that its ordinary citizens have to pay in taxes. So is New York State, at that amount. [8 Bil] Residents in California have to make up 11 Billion lost to "Tax Dodge Island," the District of Columbia 713 million. Even Alaska---ALASKA, 174 million that Alaskans have to pay, because Alaskan Corporations do not.

So where are your damned Tea Bag Protests about THAT? Where is the Foxx "Out of Business" Network on this Corporate Piracy? Where is Neal Kabuto, explaining to the simpletons in Sacramento that they're getting ripped off by International outfits like, ooo, NEWSCORP? Where is Capt. Tea Bag Himself, Glenn Beck? Why don't you take credit for THIS idea from somebody else? Get up there and weep about U.S. Corporations making us, ALL of us, rich AND poor, pay A HUNDRED BILLION DOLLARS of THEIR taxes, so we get the privilege of getting to buy THEIR products, and bail out THEIR failures...


...And Oberman kicks another one through the goalposts. :biggrin:

[Solaris]

PS---thanks for the linkies on "Tea Bagging"... I think I'd heard of it once before (read it somewhere), but had totally forgotten what the "colloquial" definition meant.

And yes, I totally LOL'd. :biggrin: Especially after watching that segment of the Rachel Maddow Show. (So kind of the Huffington Post to provide the link to the Urban Dictionary...) :biggrin:

[Solaris]

Interesting video where speech is aplauded until Bush's handeling of the surplus into a defeceit and pointing out other things about Bush lead on booing:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AkOwsIIIe5I


Somebody really needs to teabag that guy---because what he did was freakin' AWESOME!!! :biggrin: He deserves a teabag, a blow job, AND a reach-around. *chuckles*

[Calybos]

Frankly, I'm surprised. Suddenly a bunch of right-wingers are angry about "wasting a trillion dollars"?

http://whatafteriraq.files.wordpress.com/2008/03/iraq_map.png

Who would have suspected such a reaction? They never had any problem with it before.



.

[Arkaengel]

You mean there's a law that says only one issue can be protested at a time?
Not a "law" as much as a principle that genuine activists - you know, people who don't need Fox to tell them what to get angry about this week - have discovered through years of protests: the more diluted the message on the ground is, the easier it is to paint any given protest as a gathering of random kooks.

Now, given that the American right wing at this point basically is a gathering of random kooks, I don't know if strict message discipline and tight focus could have made The Great White Male Protest Of 2009 That Had Nothing To Do With Putting Your Balls In Someone's Mouth And Stop Laughing At Us anything other than a bloody joke. But it couldn't have hurt.

[Grazzt]

There have been lies told in this thread.

1.) The Tea Party protests were not organized by the Republican Party.
2.) Fox News may have reported from and about various Tea Parties, but they did not organize any of them.
3.) Believe it or not... and I know this may be hard for some to believe.. there WERE Democrats and liberals in attendence.
4.) Even more impossible for some people to believe... people are capable of protesting different issues at the same time.

There have also been lies told in other media:

1) The protesters are upset about Bush growing the size of governement and doubling the national debt and did voice their dissapproval(see the Republican purging in the 2006 and 2008 elections).
2) Democrat and Independent viewers OUTNUMBER the conservatives who watch Fox News.
3) Out of 300,000 people... not a so much as a parking ticket (those right-wing radicals!!!).
4) The protests weren't just a bunch of rich, white people complaining about their taxes, despite what an inept Speaker of the House says.
5) Organizers didn't have to pay people to show up, bus them out of state, or artificially inflate the numbers of those in attendance.

First batch:

1) Has anyone actually said that? Because what seems to be what's being argued isn't the Republican party per say, but other right-wing organisations (Fox News and a set of right-wing lobbyists whose name escapes me at the moment).

2) As I mentioned before, the protests have Fox News in their names. It's disingenuous to play down Fox's role.

3) That's not hard to believe. They're protesting taxes, I'm sure there were lots of people who would simply rather not pay taxes/pay less taxes. I doubt that they were the majority, but more on that later.

4) Of course they are, but it dilutes the protest and makes it less effective over all. You don't want to try to make a point about the economy only to have people saying homosexuals are bringing the country down to make you look like douchebags for having to associate with them. And that's not an attack on the right, the left has any number of organizations that make it look similarly bad.

Second batch:

1) If that was the case, then why was this guy booed? (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AkOwsIIIe5I) (thank you Tetsuo!) You're right, the average person is upset with the Republicans, but it doesn't seem that very many average people were in attendance.

Where are the signs attacking Bush? Find me some, the more you can the more credibility you'll get. The left-wing blogs were able to find tons of signs attacking Obama, if these protests were also angry at Bush there should be a few attacking him as well.

2) It's hard enough to count crowds, much less determine their political makeup. It's easy to claim that they're mostly right wing, given the vast number of signs about right wing issues. What do you base your claim that the protests were mostly left-wing or independent on?

3) Except of course the protest that got broken up because they threw something (that could have been an attack) onto the White House lawn. And the other protest that didn't get properly underway because they forgot to get a permit to dump the million teabags that they wanted to. And let's not forget that none of the individual protests got over 10000 people in size, either, so there were fewer people to screw up and break a law.

4) Oddly enough, I don't think I saw a single black or latino person in any of the pictures. But again, I'm sure you can remedy that by showing me my error with pictures I missed.

5) And while I can probably agree with the first two (until I see proof otherwise), the third one is probably inaccurate. The side protesting always inflates its numbers. Not even maliciously, but just because, as I mentioned earlier, it's really hard to count crowds.

[KevinTBrown]

Frankly, I'm surprised. Suddenly a bunch of right-wingers are angry about "wasting a trillion dollars"?

http://whatafteriraq.files.wordpress.com/2008/03/iraq_map.png

Who would have suspected such a reaction? They never had any problem with it before.



.

Well, that's entirely different!!!!! *sputter* They're fighting for peace over there!!!! *grumble*

[KevinTBrown]

By the way, I need to point out that "fighting for peace" is a lot like "fucking for virginity".....


:biggrin:

[Charles RB]

Oh we have socialist institutions though... like libraries and public schools.

That's another thing. There's protests about tax and how the government isn't meant to "take care" of its citizens...

...in a recession when a number of those protesting will likely end up on welfare if they aren't already, when almost all of them were in education, when they're doing the protests in cities where the infrastructure was paid for by tax and where they might have used public transport to reach, and a number of them support the military.

Well when you can perceive a nation as socialist, then you are allowed to over throw it, because even if it is democratically elected it is still not democratically elected. See Guatemala.

Ahhh.

That puts the sign and comments in a much grimmer light, doesn't it? Not that I believe the vast majority of protestors would ever do anything violent or secessionist, but the rhetoric is fucking retarded.


However, this was *really* interesting... from Keith Oberman's "Still Bushed" commentary, "Tea Bag Gate" (Number 1 on the list):

And that's a good point. Shouldn't people be protesting that if the tax issue bothers them?

[Solaris]

That's another thing. There's protests about tax and how the government isn't meant to "take care" of its citizens...

...in a recession when a number of those protesting will likely end up on welfare if they aren't already, when almost all of them were in education, when they're doing the protests in cities where the infrastructure was paid for by tax and where they might have used public transport to reach, and a number of them support the military.



Ahhh.

That puts the sign and comments in a much grimmer light, doesn't it? Not that I believe the vast majority of protestors would ever do anything violent or secessionist, but the rhetoric is fucking retarded.



And that's a good point. Shouldn't people be protesting that if the tax issue bothers them?


It won't happen. Corporate backers like Foxx and their cronies will keep that as far from their zealots as possible, focusing attention instead on the place these people already *want* to protest: Obama and the "Terrible Liberals." These people don't like (and some quite literally hate) Obama and Liberals... and they're desperate to find an excuse, ANY excuse to vent that hatred in a public fashion that, in their eyes, has some semblance of "legitimacy."

They've been hunting for something to protest about him since he won the election... and *this* is their attempt: Taxes, and a mis-named campaign that has anyone in the know laughing their asses off at these "Tea-baggers."


BTW, I understand Foxx was running times and places for the events, all over---that sounds like contributing to organizing the event to me. I don't see them covering gay protests *ahead* of time, where they post "helpful info" like time and place about it---unless, of course, they're trying to organize a "counter protest." Gay protests don't make it onto their "community calendar."

[Charles RB]

It won't happen. Corporate backers like Foxx and their cronies will keep that as far from their zealots as possible

Well, I didn't think Fox was going to protest that - it can't, News Corporation is one of the tax dodgers!

[Tommy]

That puts the sign and comments in a much grimmer light, doesn't it? Not that I believe the vast majority of protestors would ever do anything violent or secessionist, but the rhetoric is fucking retarded.

Well, America has a loooooooooooooooooooooooooong history of knocking over progressive democracies, under the guise of stopping the spread of socialism.

[Solaris]

Well, America has a loooooooooooooooooooooooooong history of knocking over progressive democracies, under the guise of stopping the spread of socialism.

And McCarthyism is alive and kicking. :frown:

[Tetsuo_man]

I decided to post the whole episode of yesterday's daily show instead of clips since except for the Ben Affleck interview at the end it pretty much is only about the protests.
http://www.thedailyshow.com/full-episodes/index.jhtml?episodeId=224273
My favorite part is when Stewart goes, "Ok so Fox are the hippies, CNN is a more dickish version of Fox and MSNBC is now us!"

Here's another huff po blog post that I pretty much am posting based on it's title alone "The Tea Bags vs. The DoucheBags":
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-sirota/the-teabags-vs-the-douche_b_187900.html

Also another Huff Po article on the possiblity of the Tea Party Protests alienating more independents:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/17/tea-party-fallout-indepen_n_188235.html

And your welcome Grazzt.

[Black Atom]

This was the only thing I could find on countdown... it's the third entry in the "Still Bushed" segment:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677#30235382

However, this was *really* interesting... from Keith Oberman's "Still Bushed" commentary, "Tea Bag Gate" (Number 1 on the list):

...And Oberman kicks another one through the goalposts. :biggrin:

Great countdown last night. And Jeneane Garofalo totally nailed it on what the tea bag protests are really about.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ms45EzMR0f8

[Spike-X]

I like these tax protests because every time I hear about them I laugh my arse off.

Saw one quote related to them: "it is not the government's responsibility to take care of it's people. It is the government 's responsibility to take care that the people can take care of themselves."

and I thought "isn't that an excuse politicians would use to cut public services and welfare and shit?".

(Another take I saw was WHERE were these people when Bush was RACKING UP HUGE DEBTS?)

Probably calling for anyone speaking out against the President to be imprisoned, or shot, or something.

Where were these douchebag teabaggers when the previous Government was "raiding their children's piggybanks" to invade a country that had never lifted a finger against the US? Sure, there's all the money in the fucking world when it comes to dropping bombs on people on other countries, but when it comes to helping people in your own? "Not on my dime, mister!"

Shows you exactly where the Right's priorities lie, doesn't it?

"Fox News - respecting dissent since November 4th, 2008"

[section 8]

Saw these this morning...
http://i373.photobucket.com/albums/oo172/hvigilla/Picture.jpg
http://i373.photobucket.com/albums/oo172/hvigilla/texasteabag6-1.jpg


Oh and
http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/mm258/Shogunofshotguns/fail-owned-native-toy-fail.jpg

[Mermaid]

what? Too many links and assumption.

Is teabagging now slang for a blow job then?

[section 8]

not really I'll explain

[Mermaid]

Oh and
http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/mm258/Shogunofshotguns/fail-owned-native-toy-fail.jpg

That last one is very strange. On what planet do native american indians look like him?

[Bo Bo]

Definition of teabagging from urban dictionary....

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=teabagging

[Charles RB]

In one of the Olbermann clips he saw, he makes a reference to The Young Ones.

Which is just excellent.

[Tetsuo_man]

In one of the Olbermann clips he saw, he makes a reference to The Young Ones.

Which is just excellent.

Oh yeah which I forgot got but that is awesome. Love the Young Ones!

[Pinball]

Okay. So we know what "teabagging" is.
But no one has made any effort to explain what that has to do with ANYTHING AT ALL!!!
So i'm going to make a guess.
Some Republicans are holding tea parties so they can protest Obama's bailout program?
And some of them referred to it as "teabagging"?

Am i right? huh?

[Copper]

Does this whole movement strike anyone else as being a bit well...cartoonish? This is starting to play out like one big SNL skit.

[kingdom2000]

Okay. So we know what "teabagging" is.
But no one has made any effort to explain what that has to do with ANYTHING AT ALL!!!
So i'm going to make a guess.
Some Republicans are holding tea parties so they can protest Obama's bailout program?
And some of them referred to it as "teabagging"?

Am i right? huh?

I can't decide if this is a serious question or a joke. But yeah the humor is a bunch of stuffy personalities on TV all anger with fake outrage over tax increases saying "teabagging" over and over often in unintended double entendres (cause they didn't know the definition that has been around for years).

[Cam63]

Frankly, I'm surprised. Suddenly a bunch of right-wingers are angry about "wasting a trillion dollars"?

http://whatafteriraq.files.wordpress.com/2008/03/iraq_map.png

Who would have suspected such a reaction? They never had any problem with it before.

Apparently God told them it was a great idea.

[Crowforge]

Okay. So we know what "teabagging" is.
But no one has made any effort to explain what that has to do with ANYTHING AT ALL!!!
So i'm going to make a guess.
Some Republicans are holding tea parties so they can protest Obama's bailout program?
And some of them referred to it as "teabagging"?

Am i right? huh?

It's about flirting with revolution instead of making a counter argument because you don't like what the majority has decided is right.
Apparently this goes on every year and it's just that the republican are so lost right now that they'll hitch their wagon to any cause that'll take them somewhere.

[Pinball]

I can't decide if this is a serious question or a joke. But yeah the humor is a bunch of stuffy personalities on TV all anger with fake outrage over tax increases saying "teabagging" over and over often in unintended double entendres (cause they didn't know the definition that has been around for years).

i wonder who didn't catch the irony of so many people on FOX News not knowing what "teabagging" means, when FX's "Prison Break" has a character who pretty much brought the term into the mainstream

the left hand not know what the right hand do, eh?

[Crowforge]

I thought videogames did that?

[Tetsuo_man]

i wonder who didn't catch the irony of so many people on FOX News not knowing what "teabagging" means, when FX's "Prison Break" has a character who pretty much brought the term into the mainstream

the left hand not know what the right hand do, eh?

And in this situation isn't that itself a double entendre?

[Royal]

i wonder who didn't catch the irony of so many people on FOX News not knowing what "teabagging" means, when FX's "Prison Break" has a character who pretty much brought the term into the mainstream

the left hand not know what the right hand do, eh?

I thought John Waters did.

[Tetsuo_man]

I thought John Waters did.

I'm just wondering how many people have seen Pecker in comparison to Prison Break. Let's see I have never seen Prison Break and the first time I heard of Tea Bagging was in the movie Pecker. So there is one sample for a possible conclusion.

[bringthenoise]

I'm just wondering how many people have seen Pecker in comparison to Prison Break. Let's see I have never seen Prison Break and the first time I heard of Tea Bagging was in the movie Pecker. So there is one sample for a possible conclusion.

I first heard about it on Sex and the City, to muddy things further.

[the4thpip]

Great point, but there was a unifying theme everyone could agree on: the bloated size of the Ferderal government thanks to the Republican and democratic politicians in Washington, D.C.


Can you explain to me what that even means?
Too much bureaucracy? Too many rules and regulations (I do believe you have much less of those than Germany). Government employees who have nothing to do?

[Crowforge]

I'm just wondering how many people have seen Pecker in comparison to Prison Break. Let's see I have never seen Prison Break and the first time I heard of Tea Bagging was in the movie Pecker. So there is one sample for a possible conclusion.I'm a pervert so I've known about it since I was a kid. I've seen pecker but I don't remember it, I've never seen prison break.
Can you explain to me what that even means?
Too much bureaucracy? Too many rules and regulations (I do believe you have much less of those than Germany). Government employees who have nothing to do?
Military spending? Wait, of course not! You never know when the next five most powerful nations might join together to take us on...

[Crowforge]

weird.......

[PatrickG]

Listen, I can handle personal insults. But to insult my family (the conservatives and the liberals) for no other reason than you disagree with tem is not only foolish, it's a tad bit fascist.


Okay... That little jab, which I have seen coming a lot coming from Obama opposition, really just makes me want to lump them in with radical feminists.

I can't agree with the use of the word fascism here. Fascism isn't a mild inconvenience nor is it some kind of subtle, sociologically applied pressure.

Fascism is a gun in your face. Fascism is torture and militarism.

There are examples of white privilege or male dominance or, yes, tax agents where the actions DO in fact border on fascism. But those are bizarre and individual incidents.

Socialism is not synonymous with fascism or tyranny in a democratic society if socialism has civil political support behind it. It doesn't make it good or ideal, necessarily, and even our more socialist posters probably have some kind of defining limit or rationale for what they'd like to see socialized. But not all bad things are the same and it's absurd to compare two things if the only point of connection is that you find both distasteful.

You might as well say that asparagus tastes like the festering, charred corpse of a murdered prostitute.

It's about as meaningful as describing a blind date as bubblegum and cherry cola wrapped in a feathery blanket of gold leafed cherub farts, doused in a refreshing splash of radioactive spring water and dried out with spider legs and confectionery cinnamon. Any conclusion that COULD be drawn would be surreal beyond measure. It doesn't SAY anything.

Fascism seems to have become a pronoun for "a person place or thing which I do not like but which I feel helpless in escaping". And that lets off the real fascists light if the perpetrators of genocide are only about on par with a deadend job or your dream girl's new boyfriend.

[PatrickG]

I'm a pervert so I've known about it since I was a kid. I've seen pecker but I don't remember it, I've never seen prison break.

Military spending? Wait, of course not! You never know when the next five most powerful nations might join together to take us on...

Hey, now... It happened to Germany in the 40s and Iraq in the 90s.

What if we WANTED to challenge a few borders, invade a few countries, kill a few dissidents...? We ought to be able to hold our own if we do, right? Right?

[CutterMike]

Does this whole movement strike anyone else as being a bit well...cartoonish? This is starting to play out like one big SNL skit.

...And, specifically, one where they used all the good material in the first half of the show and now they're running a couple of minutes short at the end and they have to stretch it out any way they can...

[Spackling Compound]

I thought John Waters did.

I heard it in 1989 when I was lifting weight. My spotter was standing too close as I was benchpressing and said, "Wanna teabag?"

I was more a Gatorade man then.

[Crowforge]

Hey, now... It happened to Germany in the 40s and Iraq in the 90s.

What if we WANTED to challenge a few borders, invade a few countries, kill a few dissidents...? We ought to be able to hold our own if we do, right? Right?
Look it's clear to me that our most powerful weapon is a floundering econemy, we are kicking the world's ass right now!

[Spike-X]

Look it's clear to me that our most powerful weapon is a floundering econemy, we are kicking the world's ass right now!
Yep, you Americans can always be relied on to fuck the world up, one way or another.

[the4thpip]

http://d.yimg.com/a/p/uc/20090417/ltt090417.gif

[Tetsuo_man]

http://d.yimg.com/a/p/uc/20090417/ltt090417.gif

Oh man I lol'ed that.

[KevinTBrown]

http://d.yimg.com/a/p/uc/20090417/ltt090417.gif

You b*stard.

You damn near had me choking on the sip of water I had just taken when I started laughing.

[Crowforge]

Yep, you Americans can always be relied on to fuck the world up, one way or another.
Don't worry if history is a good judge the next guys will be even better (worse?).

[Charles RB]

What someone should do is bring a load of boiling water and milk over to the next tea party, so when they dump the bags we can drink the biggest tea cup ever.

[PatrickG]

What someone should do is bring a load of boiling water and milk over to the next tea party, so when they dump the bags we can drink the biggest tea cup ever.

Except these parties actually had people drinking tea, not destroying it. And it was tea they bought, not tea they stole from the government.

So it's really a bit UNLIKE the Boston Tea Party, isn't it...?

I mean:

Stealing government tea and disposing it to protest excessive taxation without representation.

VS.

Buying privately owned tea with a modest sales tax and drinking it to protest government spending that is democratically backed by the majority.

I'm not saying that things like the bailout, excessive defense spending, excessive domestic spending and even the idea of an income tax (whose constitutionality has changed in the last 100 years in what I would consider a true case of an activist judiciary; I don't necessarily think there should be no income tax but I think the constitution should have been amended to permit one) don't warrant dissent or protest.

I am saying that this method of protest is dumb because the very fact that people are drinking privatized tea (against socialism?) in protest of actions taken by a democratically elected government make any comparison to the Boston Tea Party ignorant.

This is the same brand of malarkey that made me embarrassed to be a libertarian. This sounds like one of their crackpot ideas. Howabout we put a moratorium on histrionics...?

You want to protest something? Protest the corn lobby. Companies like Monsanto have infiltrated every level of government. You can't eat a hamburger or drink apple juice without getting pumped full of calories that come mostly from genetically modified corn. Almost every major politician takes money from these guys.

It goes against the free market because these guys have regulations which support their practices and use the system to force people to use their technology against their will.

Here's a tip: a regulation which expands or actively deregulates or promotes an industry is just as anti-free market as regulations which restrict an industry. That outrage you feel over the bailout? Where is that outrage when it comes to farm subsidies or laws which actively protect corporations from the responsibilities that individual human beings have?

Farm subsidies impoverish the third world, force us to eat crap, promote corn and tobacco and end up creating a climate in which cancer and diabetes run rampant. They promote rather than diminish the problem of global hunger. They've resulted in pushing the small, self-reliant American farmer out of the game in favor of big ag which wants the FDA to be responsible for our safety rather than standing good behind their own products.

[the4thpip]

You want to protest something? Protest the corn lobby. Companies like Monsanto have infiltrated every level of government. You can't eat a hamburger or drink apple juice without getting pumped full of calories that come mostly from genetically modified corn. Almost every major politician takes money from these guys.


The (conservative) German farming minister just outlawed Montsano's genetically modified corn on German soil. (http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/apr2009/gb20090416_667169.htm?chan=globalbiz_europe+index+ page_top+stories)

She made it very clear that she feels her decision is based on sound science showing the corn has not been proven safe for the enviroment, but everybody still expects Monsanto to sue.

However the ban could prove costly for the German government. Experts in Aigner's ministry recently told SPIEGEL that it will be hard to prove conclusively that MON 810 damages the environment, which could enable Monsanto to win a court case opposing the ban and potentially expose the government to €6-7 million ($7.9-9.2 million) in damages.

Monsanto said Tuesday that it would look into the question of whether it would take legal proceedings as quickly as possible. Andreas Thierfelder, spokesman for Monsanto Germany, said the matter was very urgent as the planting season was just about to start.

[PatrickG]

The (conservative) German farming minister just outlawed Montsano's genetically modified corn on German soil.

She made it very clear that she feels her decision is based on sound science showing the corn has not been proven safe for human consumption, but everybody still expects Monsanto to sue.

See... I don't think this is a liberal vs. conservative issue either.

Liberals are wary of corporate power looming over the little guy and endangering people and true conservatives don't want the government intervening ON BEHALF OF anyone in the free market because that isn't free market capitalism.

The problem is that we have a skewed strawman debate in Washington where Republicans claim they not only need to deregulate but actually introduce regulation designed to protect irresponsible business practices and control the market by promoting certain rich entrepreneurs and the Democrats hand out loads of money to lobbies while claiming that doing so helps the little guy or support regulations which damage their corporate opposition.

Pro-business is anti-capitalism. Regulation, when it does exist, must be based around ideological fairness, not economic protections or making the little guy "feel good".

[Charles RB]

everybody still expects Monsanto to sue.

What would happen if the German government won the case?

[the4thpip]

What would happen if the German government won the case?

That's a good point. There'd be legal precedent that the GM corn is not safe.

[Charles RB]

That's a good point. There'd be legal precedent that the GM corn is not safe.

If I was a foreign government that had issues with big agriculture, I'd be paying very close attention to this case.

[Tommy]

I don't necessarily think there should be no income tax but I think the constitution should have been amended to permit one)

That would be the sixteenth amendment.

[PatrickG]

That would be the sixteenth amendment.

The definition of what constitutes income didn't include wages at the time the wording was adopted and has been a source of dispute which the courts went back and forth on.

In theory, as I recall, "incomes" used to refer to money made from investments and was once determined as such by the courts but the interpretation was later expanded to salaries and wages.

The issue is whether the legal definition of a word changing changes the constitution.

My issue with this is that I favor a pretty strict and rigorous approach applied to authorial intent, otherwise we could all wind up boarding soldiers as long as "soldiers" get redefined or the word religious exercise or free press could get redefined and it would alter the constitution because the words in it take on a new meaning.

[Nick Soapdish]

The issue *MAY* have been taxation, per se, but if we are to take the revolutionaries at their word, the issue was "taxation WITHOUT REPRESENTATION". The colonies had no representation in Parliament, no representation in the King's council. They had no one to whom they could argue their case and no one who could present it for them.

You, and everyone at those protests, HAS an elected official whose job it is to represent their interests. It may not be the person that YOU or THEY voted for, but that is still the person that you can approach and say, "I WANT Citigroup, Fannie Mae, General Motors, and Chrysler to live or die on their own merits; NO BAILOUTS!", or "I don't want you to take a DIME of stimulus money for this state! We'll have no pork-barrel here!"

If more people say that than say "The economy sucks and we want you to fix it NOW," then that's what they'll do. If not, they won't. And if more people don't agree with their decisions than do agree with them, then someone else will be your representative, next time.

Because... you know... that's what representation is all about.

Which the colonies didn't have.

So, yeah... Not a lot to do with the Boston Tea Party...


Maybe the protesters have criminal records. In many states (including Florida), it's difficult to get your voting rights back after being convicted of a felony, even after you've served time and made it through any parole or probation time.

[Chris Hansbrough]

Maybe the protesters have criminal records. In many states (including Florida), it's difficult to get your voting rights back after being convicted of a felony, even after you've served time and made it through any parole or probation time.

that would explain the teabagging....

[Aspield]

What is wrong with this world when the powerful can't be suckled, needled and fondled in inappropriate ways?
I mean, they pay good money for that in some states.

[Tetsuo_man]

Congressman booed at tea party protest over bailout
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/18/gresham-barrett-gop-congr_n_188578.html

[Lester C.]

I have no problem with my current level of taxation. My only problem is that I don’t think we, as a society, are getting our money’s worth. I would feel much better if numbers were made available as to where my money goes, with technology the way it is that shouldn’t be too hard.

[pooja87]

HI
friends However, Keith Olbermann was having a very tough time in keeping a straight face during last night's Couintdown. Especially when one of the people backing this was named "Dick".

[Charles RB]

To be fair, it's hard not to laugh ever when someone's called Dick.

[Crowforge]

That's Richard to you!

[KevinTBrown]

HI
friends However, Keith Olbermann was having a very tough time in keeping a straight face during last night's Couintdown. Especially when one of the people backing this was named "Dick".

Not just that, but his name is Dick Armey.

Yes, the teabaggers are following a Dick Armey.....


Irony never felt so good. :biggrin:

[the4thpip]

Congressman booed at tea party protest over bailout
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/18/gresham-barrett-gop-congr_n_188578.html

Oh my god that was fun to watch.

When he said "this is what this is all about: people being hurt!" I expected something to hit him in his head.

[Tetsuo_man]

Not just that, but his name is Dick Armey.

Yes, the teabaggers are following a Dick Armey.....


Irony never felt so good. :biggrin:

Peter: Hey, What's His Name?
Al Gore: Dick Army
Peter: Phhhhh, ha ha ha ha. No Seriously What Is It?
Al Gore: Dick Army
Peter: Phhhhh, ha ha ha ha. Hey Dick, What's Your Wife's Name? Vagina Coastguard?

[Tetsuo_man]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/19/axelrod-the-tea-bags-shou_n_188715.html
During an appearance on CBS's Face the Nation on Sunday, senior White House adviser David Axelrod expressed bewilderment with some of the virulent anti-Obama sentiment at many of the tax day tea parties.

Axelrod noted that President Obama had recently signed tax cuts that would benefit 95% of American families. "The tea bags should be directed elsewhere," he said.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/18/teabaggers-stray-off-topi_n_188630.html

http://images.huffingtonpost.com/gen/75472/thumbs/s-HUFFPO-POSTER-large.jpg

I politely asked her what her sign said and she held it up proudly for me to take a picture and added just as proudly, "they're liberals!"
I could not help myself and leaned in slightly, smiled and in a friendly way said "...so am I." Her face immediately contorted into rage, and she blurted out, "You can't be here. You have to leave!" I smiled and politely told her, no I didn't, it's a free country and I can go where I want in a public place, especially in the city where I live, and a block from where I work.

Many citizen journalists reported that protesters brought the issue of gay marriage to the table. Eric Aguirre, who attended an assembly in College Station, Texas, described how one of the guest speakers, a World War II veteran, spoke about gay marriage.

He said that while he believed that God made you the way you were, he felt there were limits to how marriage is defined. He said God made men, and God made women, and marriage is between each of those sexes. The crowd erupted in applause. Texas was not the only state where anti gay marriage statements were cheered by tea party protesters.

Counter-protesters organized in Boston to support the issue of gay rights. Demonstrators threw boxes labeled "taxes" into the water, reports Booklynne Peters. The event's participants took issue with filing their federal taxes as "single" when many of them have been living in committed relationships for years.

Another recurrent theme at tea parties across the nation was the right to carry weapons. In Chicago, Dave Hossler explained how Eric Mancow, a local radio personality, kicked off the protest by saying, "I don't care what you believe in. I'm a Christian, I'm American and I'm proud of it [...] Hi, ACORN. You are a morally bankrupt organization. I'll keep my God and my guns, thank you very much."

Carla Cheshire observed that some of the loudest cheers during a rally in Houston, Texas came when several of the guest speakers alluded to the right to bear arms. In addition, citizen journalists described a number of cardboard signs reading messages like, "I'll keep my faith, my guns and my money, and you can keep your change!"

Protesters also spoke out about immigration, especially in Border States. Several HuffPost reporters noticed the presence of "Americans for Legal Immigration," a group who call for the deportation of illegal immigrants. Many cardboard signs blamed immigrants for costing the government too much money, and taking away the funds that could be spent on "Real Americans." Lakshmi Sankar, in New Jersey, explained, "The message was supposed to be all about taxation," but according to her, other messages prevailed, such as "anti-immigration" and the "upholding of American-born citizenship."

In Orange County, Syd Flatt noted a preponderance of anti-immigration signs and observed an absence of ethnic diversity in the crowd:

Noticeably absent were Asians, who comprise 16% of the OC's population. Historically, Asians were overwhelmingly Republican, yet there were few in attendance. This could be an indicator of a decisive shift in the political structure of Orange County.
Many reporters underlined the fact that the crowds that gathered at the tea parties were not racially diverse. And as Flatt put it, "What they lacked in diversity of race they made up for in diversity of reasons to protest."

Reporting contributed by Matthew Palevsky, Thibault Chareton, Kelly Van der Kwast, and the HuffPost citizen reporters who are highlighted above.

[Tetsuo_man]

California GOP decries anti-semtic tea party activism but only that ignoring other offensive signs and etc.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/21/california-gop-decries-an_n_189500.html

[PatrickG]

California GOP decries anti-semtic tea party activism but only that ignoring other offensive signs and etc.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/21/california-gop-decries-an_n_189500.html

You know, that's funny.

Aside from some of the union types like my late grandfather, I'd wager most blatant anti-semites are conservative.

But blatant anti-semitism goes 110% against core Republican positions on Israel, which you pretty much have to swear allegiance to ahead of the United States.

I imagine it creates an awkwardness in that most overt anti-semites are right wing but most right wingers seem to revere the modern state of Israel more than Catholics revere the Vatican.

[K-DoG7p7]

Let me get this straight...




the Teabaggers want Anarchy?

[kingdom2000]

Let me get this straight...

the Teabaggers want Anarchy?

Naw they don't know what they want. Some want Obama to go away, others want less taxes (and not educated enough to know they "fighting" for something that only effects the rich) and apparently some are complaining of spending (yet oddly quiet when a billion was dropped on Iraq).