Tea Party System

Less than three months after a landmark election, throngs of demonstrators everywhere gathered to object to the revolution that our new president is steamrolling into law. It was a landmark protest in the history of the republic.

But how can the voices of tens if not hundreds of thousands of angry taxpayers be turned into concrete political action? Investor's Business Daily attended one of these historic events, the Fishkill Tea Party in upstate New York, just east of the Hudson River. The original Fishkill Tea Party took place Aug. 26, 1776, when 100 women forced a storekeeper named Abram Brinckerhoff to sell them tea at the lawful price of 6 shillings per pound. This year's Fishkill Tea Party nearly filled Dutchess Stadium, the county's minor-league ballpark.

In a region of liberal New York state where Democrats have been consolidating their power during the last two elections, thousands traveled long distances to support pretty much the classic Reagan political agenda — and not just on taxes and spending.

Banners and placards sported slogans that included "Don't Spread My Wealth. Spread My Work Ethic," "Who'll Bail Me Out?" "Atlas Will Shrug," "Tea Today. No Kool-Aid," and "Acorn Didn't Have To Bus Us Here," referring to the left-wing activist group that specializes in voter registration drives benefiting liberal Democrats.

The crowds responded with thunderous applause to the various local activists' rallying cries, ranging from "How about those Navy Seals!" referring to the recent rescue of Americans from Somali pirates, to attacks on Hollywood for its role in moving America away from traditional Judeo-Christian values.

The audience roared when resentment was expressed toward illegal aliens who eat away the social welfare resources funded by taxpayers. When unemployed information technology manager Troy Johnson took the podium, he elicited an ovation with the quip:

"Just to prove how radical I am, I believe we should all be speaking English!"

The throng cheered calls for term limits to curb the power of elitist career politicians; applauded taunts that the establishment media would proceed to underestimate and misreport the size of the turnout; shouted in approval for blocking the president's planned federal intrusion into health care; and rose from its seats for a speaker who called Washington's march toward socialism "a slap in the face to those who have served in the military."

It was quite clear, however, that the tea partiers feel betrayed by Republicans, not just the Democrats now in power in both the executive and legislative branches in Washington.

One youthful speaker described the cause of the financial crisis as an "assault on our free market system paired with corporate bailouts." The Bush White House late last year lobbied skeptical congressional Republicans hard on a $14 billion auto industry bailout.

Johnson pointed out that "we know that they know that nobody can read 1,000 pages overnight," referring to the rush to get a stimulus bill passed and to the lawmakers who signed it without knowing much of what was in it.

The crowd may not have been aware that apart from liberal Republican Sens. Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe and Arlen Specter, the GOP in Congress formed a united front against the Democrats' tax-and-spend behemoth. But the Republican brand is blemished.

During 12 years of dominance in Congress and eight years in the White House, the GOP failed to kick its addiction to pork and make tough decisions on controlling entitlement spending. It found it too politically risky to secure the U.S. borders — even in the post-9/11 years when homeland security trumped all other concerns.

It's almost as if Republicans were daring the kind of people who attended this week's events to go the dead-end route of starting their own third political party.

The tea party movement proves that even in the left-leaning Northeast, a huge natural constituency exists for these bread-and-butter American issues — lower taxes, less government, a strong military that's allowed to win, tough measures to end illegal immigration, term limits and family values.

It's all there, waiting to be tapped into — if only a few smart politicians would grasp the opportunity. (Source: IBD)

Thousands are downtown for Tea Party

A crowd believed to be a few thousand has gathered downtown on Tax Day 2009 for the Dayton Tea Party on Courthouse Square. The event going on this evening, Wednesday, April 15, was created in protest of what organizers call “runaway government spending.”

Rob Scott, one of the organizers, said petitions would be circulated in the crowd, calling for the repeal of economic stimulus funding or for governments agencies to refuse to accept stimulus funding.

People in the crowd offered their take on the event and its intended message. “People are getting the same treatment as the Indian people,” Ricky Slow Elk, an American Indian from Ohio, said in answer to why he came out. Bill Barga, of Coldwater, said he just sold a business he started and paid about $1 million in taxes. He carried a sign that read, “Pelosi adopt me” in reference to U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California. “I’m upset with our entire system,” Barga said. “It’s becoming more socialist with the federal government running things, and the state has no control.”

Darla Williamson of Piqua brought a sign that read, “Free markets not freeloaders.” She said the sign refers to people who don’t want to work and that the government has to bail out. “What we’re doing right now is not the solution,” she said referring to the government bailout of businesses. According to event organizers, about 7,500 people signed up to attend the event that is to run from 6 to 8 p.m., featuring speech making and musical entertainment.

About 2,000 attended a similar event — modeled after the Boston Tea Party tax protest of 1773 — held in Cincinnati’s Fountain Square this afternoon. Dayton police said if the crowd swells as anticipated, Main Street in front of Courthouse Square would be closed temporarily. Scott, the event co-organizer, said the petitions will be mailed to city commissions, city councils, township boards of trustees, as well as state and federal legislators.

The movement will continue after this evening’s event, with the Marshall Tea Plan, Scott said. People of like minds are being asked to volunteer to attend local government and school board meetings to monitor spending. The goal is to draw attention to the need for fiscal restraint, support for the free market and small businesses, and respect for the U.S. Constitution, Scott said. (Source: Dayton Daily News.)

COLUMBIA Tea Party (SC) -- When: April 15, 12:30pm - 2:30pm Where: State House, 1101 Gervais Street, Columbia, SC 29201 Contact: taxdayteaparty2009@hotmail.com UPDATE Thousands of protesters gathered on the State House grounds on Tax Day to vent their frustration over government spending and to dangle tea bags in a tribute to colonial protests against British rule. The rally, one of a dozen organized around South Carolina, drew about 3,000 people. Hundreds of similar rallies were organized around the country this week. --- Gov. Mark Sanford drew the biggest ovation during the Columbia Tax Day Tea Party rally for his stance opposing $700 million in federal aid unless the state pays off an equal amount of debt. Organizer Britton Clark told the crowd "Thank God for officials like Gov. Mark Sanford," Clark said. "They have been reviled, they have been mocked by the media for doing the right thing."



VIDEO: Columbia SC

Joseph Finlay writes:

Along with six co-workers, I went to the Tea Party rally at the steps of the South Carolina State House in Columbia, SC. As many of you probably know, Governor Mark Sanford has been a state and national lightning rod for refusing stimulus money on principle.

Perhaps the most striking aspect of the gathering was the sign, signs "everywhere a sign!" "Stop Trickle Up Poverty," "Stop Socialism," "Stop the Somali and Washington Pirates," "No More Bailouts," and countless pithy maxims summing up the present state of affairs. Many people were decked out in Revolutionary-era garb and props! There were no discernible counter demonstrators other than the obligatory college student or two yelling from a passing car. Police presence was visible but not dramatic or pronounced. Local news estimates so far put the crowd at around 1500-2000, although we in the crowd were guessing at least 3000 as the grounds, and State House steps were a throng of humanity.

The crowd was spirited and gave thundering applause to Sen. (R) Jim DeMint, who spoke about his concern over the direction of Washington and his desire to return the country to small government principles as outlined in the US Constitution. Sen. DeMint then turned the podium over Gov. Mark Sanford, who received an enthusiastic welcome and applause for his principled, yet unpopular stance on receiving bailout money.

Many people that I spoke with indicated that this was the first type of activism or public demonstration in which he or she had taken part. Once could sense the palpable frustration among the crowd regarding the current state of affairs, but at the same time hope and vocal, vibrant enthusiasm about today representing a small step toward reaffirming the greatness of the Republic as envisioned by the Founders.

CLEAR LAKE Tea Party (TX) -- April 15 (LOCAL UNANNOUNCED TEA PARTY) -- Near Houston) UPDATE About 2000 people showed up at this tea party event. Since Rep. Ron Paul was speaking, there was a large contingent of Paulbots there. But I did see a lot of McCain-Palin bumperstickers on cars there too. Wide variety of people there. Also note that nearby Houston had attracted 5000+ people and even closer Pearland had a good turn out too. And Galveston had a fair turnout, considering it is still recovering from hurricane Ike. Apparently very close by Kemah also had a small tea party. All of these events were going on simultaneously, so people just went to which ever one was closer. Also note that this is less than a mile from the NASA Johnson Space Center, where a lot of Federal funds employ a lot of people in this area, directly or in businesses benefiting from a those high income jobs. I am sure a lot of people didn't show up out of fear of getting spotted, thus risking their job. Not to mention the high level of Democrat transplants working there.

We were on our way to the downtown rally & the news said that streets were being closed off due to the amount of people. Radio news also said that traffic was backed up to I10... not sure how far, etc, because we ended up not going. This was about 3:00, and the rally was scheduled to start at 4:00.

Radio announced a rally at Clear Lake Park, so we turned around and went there. We got there an hour and half before the rally started. There were about a dozen or so people there. By the time the rally began... people were stacked like sardines as far as I could see. I talked to the park ranger (I guess that's what he was, he was in uniform & driving a park truck); he told me that was the largest crowd he had ever seen at the park. I know we use to go to the firework shows there (back when they were "allowed") and I never saw as many people in the park itself at the firework shows as were at this rally.

This was the most peaceful, cordial, and friendly rally I have ever attended. None of that screaming opposition and nuttiness. I only saw one news camera, no news reporters from the media, and one documentary camera crew from the Ron Paul people.

Take home message I got: rally at your home, rally in your neighborhood--- community, and rally at these rallies. Everybody was encouraged and encouraging rallying together. I was really impressed. Frankly, I don't give rats pa-toot that the media didn't show. I am more concerned and happy that "folks" showed up in numbers... and have no intention of rolling over to play dead or letting this insanity continue unchallenged!

After the Clear Lake Park Rally, we drove downtown to the Jones Plaza Rally. It was about 8:15, and a decent crowd still remained. I sat in the car with the 2 youngest g'babies (watching Sponge Bob) while their parents & older g'kids went up to the plaza. (Other people arrived while I was sitting in the parking lot.) The kids said they encountered a couple of aggitators on the streets on the way to and from the plaza. Things had pretty much wound down, but they stayed about an hour. Two of my kids were interviewed for a You Tube thing by a candidate.

At both sites, the organizers told us about upcoming rallies in May. The kids didn't catch where the Jones Plaza rally group would meet next... we were so tired! The Clear Lake Park group will be holding another rally on May 2nd. There were also rallies in Friendswood & Pearland yesterday. I found out about those at the CL Park Rally. Everybody was saying how hard it was to "find" the rally. Several people didn't even know about the downtown rally. I have to admit, that is a problem, IMHO.

MARCH TO MAIN EVENT in OLYMPIA:
When: April 15th, 11:00 am - 11:30 am
Where: MEET at Olympia City Hall, I-5 Exit 105. At 11:30 we march to the State Capital for the rally there. Bring a flag and a sign with your city’s name on it. We are joining the Noon rally on the Capital Steps.
Contact: netseptic@earthlink.net
Phone: 360.923.1080

UPDATE The Tea Party in Olympia has just broken up. Slated as one of the biggest in the state, the event lived up to its billing. The Washington State Patrol estimates that between 4,000 and 5,000 people packed the Capitol Campus, covering the Capitol steps and spilling out onto the lawn and nearby streets. Evergreen Freedom Foundation spokesperson Scott St. Clair said the event had a festive atmosphere, much like it was a public holiday. "We had no idea so many would come out," St. Clair said over the phone. "There were hundreds of signs - some of them pretty witty - kids, old people, families. It was kind of like a political convention with signs from this city and that across the state. This is the people taking back their government." EFF sponsored the "No Tax - Push Back" rally in conjunction with the BIAW, Lakewood Chamber of Commerce and other organizations. However, the event was transformed thanks to the nationwide Tea Party movement. A spokesman for the State Patrol's campus office, Sgt. Ted DeHart, said the event was orderly and festive with "no hints of trouble". He also did not see anything in the way of counter-protestors in the crowd. --- The protesters' signs made their message crystal clear: No. More. Taxes. The national Tax Day Tea Party brought the largest rally of the year to the Washington Capitol on Wednesday, with the State Patrol estimating the crowd at more than 5,000. --- “According to the state patrol, we had 5,000 people at the capitol building in Olympia, WA!!!!!!!! Not too shabby in the liberal bastion of the Northwest! It was great with great speakers and great people!” --- “I am STILL hyped from the Olympia rally! Estimated count was OVER 5,000! Add that to the rest of Washington State and the numbers say to our government here - Wise Up or Pack Up!”

Tea Party on the River

WHEELING - The $787 billion bank bailout. The $3.6 trillion budget. The auto bailouts. AIG bonuses. All these issues - along with what many believe is a now unresponsive federal government - came to a head Wednesday as protesters nationwide gathered to demand government accountability.

In Wheeling, nearly 2,000 residents turned out at the city's Heritage Port for the "Tax Day Tea Party," one of more than 2,000 such events that took place nationwide. Attendees at the local event symbolically dumped tea bags into a trash can. It was a local version of the Boston Tea Party, organized in many cities by a loose coalition of political groups. "But the question is no longer how long we will have to pay for tea, but for billions of dollars of pork," said Dave Soltis of Moundsville. He spoke of government leaders he believes are unresponsive to those they represent. "They feel like they can play God and run a company when none of them has had to make a payroll," he added.

It was expected that between 1,500 to 2,000 people would attend the event, and despite a light rain it appears that mark was reached. Those turning out were quick to answer with a strong voice when asked why they were there. "The Constitution - I'm protecting my Constitution," said Linda Timberlake of Wheeling, huddling under an umbrella. "This administration is trying to destroy it."

Ron Clark of Triadelphia noted he was "outraged about the bailout," which occurred during the final months of the Bush Administration. "They're spending the money that belongs to our grandkids," he said of Congress. "And I think our representatives in government don't listen to us. "This protest probably won't go anywhere, but we have to do something. It seems you can't vote them out." Krujetta Clark, who accompanied Roy Clark, also expressed her concerns. "We're so far away from the Constitution," she said. "We have to return this country to what it should be and take a stand."

Many in attendance made note of what they termed "irresponsible spending" by the federal government, and they believed many of their elected officials don't read the spending bills of which they vote in favor. This was the case in particular with the $787 billion bank bailout, as members of Congress admitted after its passage that they had not read the bill.



"Some have asked, 'Why the tea parties?'" said event organizer Mike Camden of Wheeling. "I can't speak for everyone, because there are (more than) 2,000 of these happening across the nation. But over the last several years, I became concerned as government became more expansive and began spending more." He said he wrote his federal representatives, but received no response. "I thought, 'These people work for me,'" Camden continued. "Even if they just say, 'I don't agree with you,' they owe us a response." He said it was among the goals of the local tea party that U.S. Rep. Alan Mollohan and U.S. senators Robert Byrd and Jay Rockefeller, all D-W.Va., "collectively listen to us." Some in the crowd added, "and Charlie Wilson, too," referring to the Democratic congressman who represents the district on the Ohio side of the river.

Teenager George M. Kellas III of Wheeling made reference to a book written by his late father, George M. Kellas II - "America Sees This Book" - when he spoke of money the U.S. is giving to foreign countries as its own national debt increases. Kellas noted the $50 billion given to the country of Georgia in its battle against Russia, and how this in itself would cost each American $150. "I want to be part of a country that wants to help us - not rob us," Kellas said.



College student Matthew Cummins of Wheeling called for business tax freedom in the U.S., proclaiming, "Liberty is the only stimulus we need." "There are no incentives for achieving," he told the crowd. "We're being punished for being innovative."

Wheeling business owner Don Meredith spoke of "the decline of values in society, fiscal irresponsibility in government, an overextended military, and government's failure to protect our borders" against illegal immigration. He urged those present to "teach their children responsible spending, register to vote, engage elected officials about their thoughts, to vote for responsible candidates and hold them accountable."

Donna Crawford, a grandmother from Moundsville, said she is rethinking about retiring and collecting Social Security as she is uncertain about the future and how much she will be taxed. "I think government thinks we're a Robin Hood society where you rob the rich to feed the poor," she said. "But who are the rich? The government thinks we are." (Source: The Intelligencer.)

WYOMING Taxed Enough Already (TEA) Party The American Family Association, or AFA, is coordinating 1,000Taxed Enough Already, or TEA, parties to be held at 12 p.m. in front of city halls across the nation. The Wyoming organizers are:

• Larry Lone (307) 637-0511 Cheyenne WY
• Jim Kinkade (307) 587-1561 Cody WY
• Gary Dawson (307) 257-9050 Gillette WY

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HOW THE MEDIA REPORTED TAX DAY TEA PARTY (15 APRIL)

In Tennessee, an overwhelming crowd of 10,000 people met on the Legislative Plaza, spilling into sidewalks and up the hill toward the Capitol building. Cars circled the area honking horns. In Rochester, N.Y., 1,000 tea partiers marched on the county administration building and city hall. Approximately 4,000 people crowded Fountain Square in Cincinnati, while 8,000 gathered in Madison, Wis., 5,000 surrounded the Oklahoma Capitol and 4,000 attended the Chicago party. Even Rhode Island, the smallest U.S. state, brought 1,000 protesters to its Capitol. Washington state police estimated crowds of 5,000 in Olympia while 2,500 marched the streets of Boise, Idaho and 1,500 rallied in Austin, Texas. In Lansing, Mich., throngs were measured at 7,000, while 3,000 gathered in Hartford, Conn., and 2,000 Floridians in Jacksonville poured wagons of tea into the St. Johns River. An additional 1,000 people packed into Market Square in Pittsburgh, Pa., while 1,000 gathered in Des Moines, Iowa.

VIDEO: Fox News: Greta Van Susteren at Washington, D.C.:

So how did the Mainstream Media (MSM) react to these events. The liberal CNN, MSNBC, et al simply stated that it was a REPUBLICAN-sponsored event that drew "thousands" nationwide. Or more simply like the Wall Street Journal and others, there was NOTHING. Others like the Associated Press took the Obama administration line of either denigrating the efforts or simply like Obama (What Tax Day?).

And how about the politicians? Did they hear the stirrings of national discontent? YES!!! But beneath it all was the great building fear that this was a serious threat to the power structure. Janet Napolitano of the Department of Homeland Security issued a report warning of "extremists" in the right-wing conservatives -- going so far as to warn of veterans joining this group. The Republicans at a very late date tried to jump on the bandwagon -- but the majority of the grassroots movement simply want nothing to do with the Republicans who voted for the Stimulus package and Omnibus Pork package that followed. As a group, the movement response was to "vote the weasels out" in 2010.


The success of the Tea Party nationwide inspires people to more political action -- just wait for the Fourth of July protests!!!

All the indicators were positive when it was reviewed from the CONSERVATIVE viewpoint. There was a comeuppance in the future for politicians -- and more will follow. However, the LIBERAL view was one of denigration and simply refusal to even consider the grassroots movement significant. Many mainstream meida (i.e., Wall Street Journal) simply didn't mention the protests on their frontpage. However, the World Net Daily ran an article on 17 Apr that showed the positive aspects of the protests. Though the headline read "a million" -- and it probably will be in a final count -- the tallies as of 18 Apr for 485 cities documented no less than 602,000 and as many as 680,000.

1 million attend tea parties in 50 states

An estimated 1 million Americans participated in at least 1,000 tea parties, according to reports by organizers tabulating the nationwide numbers, with documented protests held in 50 states.

Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform told WND, "The Obama administration has awakened a sleeping giant." Tax Day Tea Party national event coordinator Amy Kremer told WND she has confirmed that more than 850 parties took place. She has at least 100 more reports in her e-mail inbox that have not been posted. Asked how many people attended the events, she responded, "I would estimate it at over 1 million. I'm waiting on more numbers to come in from organizers right now. I can tell you it is absolutely over 750,000 right now."

The largest protests occurred in Atlanta, Ga., with 15,000 participants. As many as 10,000 protesters participating in Sacramento, Calif., and Overland Park, Kan., according to data compiled by Americans for Tax Reform on more than 207 tea parties.

Americans for Tax Reform has established an Internet page on the group's website where organizers of tea parties can submit attendance estimates to be included in the running tally. Michael DePrimo, special counsel to American Family Association President Tim Wildmon, told WND that AFA's tea party website, Tea Party Day, had 2,031 confirmations that tea parties were to be held in as many cities. "Since yesterday, we have had 394 cities give us reports, many with photographs, about the tea parties that were held," he said. "We have not been able to get all the information up. We expect more to come in as the days go by."

Glenn Beck reported yesterday on his Fox News program that official estimates of the participation in the Tea Party held in San Antonio, Texas, reached as many as 20,000 people. The Glenn Beck show broadcast on Fox News live on April 15, from the Tea Party held at the Alamo in San Antonio.

"The establishment in Washington, D.C., is terrified," Norquist said. "There were no such demonstrations four months into the administrations of Democratic presidents Carter or Clinton." Norquist told WND that the Obama administration was taken by surprise by the nationwide protests because the administration had calculated increased government spending was supposed to be the popular part of President Obama's economic stimulus plan. Instead, Norquist said, the tea parties held in every state on Wednesday proved Americans nationwide are demonstrating in anger and disappointment against Obama administration plans for massive deficit spending.

"Imagine what happens when President Obama, House Speaker Pelosi and Majority Leader Reid begin to pay for their 'spend-fest' with higher taxes and inflation," Norquist said. Kremer said the mainstream media have completely neglected their duty to accurately report on this nationwide movement. "It's amazing that the mainstream media is reporting it the way that they are," she said. "It's just crazy. It's basically just going to come down to us. We're now reporting it ourselves because they are not reporting it accurately."

Many say the mainstream media attempted either to ignore the protests altogether or characterized tea partiers as disgruntled Republicans unable to accept that "they lost" the 2008 presidential campaign or as "rich taxpayers" unwilling to pay their fair burden of taxes.

However, Kremer said she is constantly receiving reports from organizers about the movement's resounding success. "I think it was an absolute success," she said. "We want to send a message to them: We hired them; we can fire them. They work for us. They seem to have forgotten that." She continued, "If it means we have to go after every incumbent in office from now until 2012, we will do that. But the American people are tired of sitting by, and they are starting to step forward and take notice." (Source: WND.)

Implications of tea-party-ism unclear

It wasn't the Constitutional Convention. It wasn't the Lincoln-Douglas debates or even a staff meeting at National Review in the palmy days of Bill Buckley. So?

The numerous tea parties held around the country on April 15 had a compact and conspicuous character all their own – one that embodied the alien notion of pushback by conservatives, of all people.

Conservatives?! Conservatives, as experience tends to confirm, don't do pushback. They do moping and muttering with fine aplomb. As for getting in the faces of liberals — egad! That sort of activity is what liberals do to conservatives: witness the Daily Kos, the Huffington Post, Robert Gibbs, Rachel Maddow, Frank Rich, Keith Olberman, Jon Stewart , Tina Fey, The View, Bob-wuh Wah-Wah…why go on?

We know what goes on here. The official script for American politics – insofar as one can tell there's a script – accords to liberals the right to show indignation about practically everything. Conservatives are bidden, at a minimum to give due thought to their offenses, which include oppression in several sizes and, generally, Making Too Much Money (though MTMM is fine if, say, you give generously to Democratic causes).

Much sport, now and in the near future, will be made of the tea party attendees for daring to suspect Washington, D.C., of trying to control them. Nor, it must be said, was every comment made to the media by every attendee necessarily well-advised. ("Obama's not a Christian," some guy told a reporter for WFAA-TV in Dallas. Oh, please. )

Gov. Rick Perry's bit of fun with the idea of secession will stereotype him forever with Daily Kos devotees. (Can't wait for the return of slavery, can he?! Just about what you'd expect from the guy who took W's job! Etc., etc.)

An Austin attendee did tell the Austin American-Statesman something of import: "What I'm reduced to is this. I can't do anything else." There is something authentic in this plaint – something that reeks disgust, as well as weariness, with the state of politics as practiced by both political parties.

Few conservatives doubt that blame for a substantial portion of the nation's troubles lies on the late Bush administration's doorstep. At the same time, the New Democrats have taken the bit in their teeth : using the Bush deficits and Bush's lowly esteem in the polls as justifications for trying to remake America – without invitation.

Barack Obama's boldness takes some gettingused to, but the sooner we take it seriously, the better for all –even Obama's, if he doesn't want to wind up in the history books as the man who French-fried America, domestically and internationally. Obama's plans for health care, global warming, and energy are terrifying to minds that fail to see the good in nearly tripling the national debt during the next decade. Why? Wherefore? Because Nancy Pelosi says so? Because the administration owes the Daily Kos?

Not to be upset about the drift of American policy, both here and abroad, is not to be sentient – anyway if one holds much regard for the uses and benefits of limited government and market capitalism.

What's a conservative to do? Well, first, recognize the footprints in this dusty road. It was the left — the hard, uncompromising left – that set about a few years back to bury Bush-ism. The left yelled, obstructed, organized, propagandized, fought, bled – and won: first having settled on a presidential candidate whose personal image and ideology made him the right man for the job. A major conservative frustration at present is the lack of a leader with similar gifts and style. No Reagan in sight – not even an Ev Dirksen. Certainly not a Gingrich! (Was there ever a better propagandist-organizer and worse political leader than the voluble Newt?)

A compelling leader could emerge from the smoke of battle: someone we're not even thinking about now. Or maybe not. The tea party movement is inchoate. Will it lead somewhere – or just lie at the bottom of the bay amid all those tea bags? That's to be seen. What's to be remembered is that five years ago few, apart from Democratic insiders and perusers of bestselling books, knew anything much about the junior senator from Illinois. Today…?

It's not safe to suppose that Republicans are the natural beneficiaries of tea-party-ism. The post-Reagan GOP has dropped the ball too many times. There's thirst out there for a Perot (not the original version, one is glad to say!). There's thirst even for..Kinky Friedman? Boy, that show s how desperate many have become. The desperation, even so, is real – and larger than any tea party guest list. There's someone out there for whom conservatives are waiting. Should be fun finding out who it is. (Source: East Texas Review: William Murchison.)

Tea Party System

Less than three months after a landmark election, throngs of demonstrators everywhere gathered to object to the revolution that our new president is steamrolling into law. It was a landmark protest in the history of the republic.

But how can the voices of tens if not hundreds of thousands of angry taxpayers be turned into concrete political action? Investor's Business Daily attended one of these historic events, the Fishkill Tea Party in upstate New York, just east of the Hudson River. The original Fishkill Tea Party took place Aug. 26, 1776, when 100 women forced a storekeeper named Abram Brinckerhoff to sell them tea at the lawful price of 6 shillings per pound. This year's Fishkill Tea Party nearly filled Dutchess Stadium, the county's minor-league ballpark.

In a region of liberal New York state where Democrats have been consolidating their power during the last two elections, thousands traveled long distances to support pretty much the classic Reagan political agenda — and not just on taxes and spending.

Banners and placards sported slogans that included "Don't Spread My Wealth. Spread My Work Ethic," "Who'll Bail Me Out?" "Atlas Will Shrug," "Tea Today. No Kool-Aid," and "Acorn Didn't Have To Bus Us Here," referring to the left-wing activist group that specializes in voter registration drives benefiting liberal Democrats.

The crowds responded with thunderous applause to the various local activists' rallying cries, ranging from "How about those Navy Seals!" referring to the recent rescue of Americans from Somali pirates, to attacks on Hollywood for its role in moving America away from traditional Judeo-Christian values.

The audience roared when resentment was expressed toward illegal aliens who eat away the social welfare resources funded by taxpayers. When unemployed information technology manager Troy Johnson took the podium, he elicited an ovation with the quip:

"Just to prove how radical I am, I believe we should all be speaking English!"

The throng cheered calls for term limits to curb the power of elitist career politicians; applauded taunts that the establishment media would proceed to underestimate and misreport the size of the turnout; shouted in approval for blocking the president's planned federal intrusion into health care; and rose from its seats for a speaker who called Washington's march toward socialism "a slap in the face to those who have served in the military."

It was quite clear, however, that the tea partiers feel betrayed by Republicans, not just the Democrats now in power in both the executive and legislative branches in Washington.

One youthful speaker described the cause of the financial crisis as an "assault on our free market system paired with corporate bailouts." The Bush White House late last year lobbied skeptical congressional Republicans hard on a $14 billion auto industry bailout.

Johnson pointed out that "we know that they know that nobody can read 1,000 pages overnight," referring to the rush to get a stimulus bill passed and to the lawmakers who signed it without knowing much of what was in it.

The crowd may not have been aware that apart from liberal Republican Sens. Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe and Arlen Specter, the GOP in Congress formed a united front against the Democrats' tax-and-spend behemoth. But the Republican brand is blemished. (SITE NOTE: Specter is the first to feel the wrath as he runs for reelection in 2010. Snow and Collins are trying to portray themselves now as "centrists" and "moderate Conservatives" -- but there are already movements afoot to work against their reelections in 2012. However, that's a far way off.)

During 12 years of dominance in Congress and eight years in the White House, the GOP failed to kick its addiction to pork and make tough decisions on controlling entitlement spending. It found it too politically risky to secure the U.S. borders — even in the post-9/11 years when homeland security trumped all other concerns.

It's almost as if Republicans were daring the kind of people who attended this week's events to go the dead-end route of starting their own third political party.

The tea party movement proves that even in the left-leaning Northeast, a huge natural constituency exists for these bread-and-butter American issues — lower taxes, less government, a strong military that's allowed to win, tough measures to end illegal immigration, term limits and family values.

It's all there, waiting to be tapped into — if only a few smart politicians would grasp the opportunity. (Source: IBD)

However, on the opposite end of the spectrum we have the mainstream media reports. The first report we saw on 15 Apr was from Associated Press. As expected, the rallies were downplayed in the headline as being in the "thousands" (versus tens of thousands). Second, as expected the Associated Press was crediting the Republicans as the leaders of this movement who have been only minimally involved. Also they credit "Freedom Works" as the head of this grassroots process -- A FLAT OUT LIE!!! This rush to report has not even touched on the FLORIDA and CALIFORNIA tea party rallies which were expected to draw tens of thousands. In essence, this is a MAIN STREAM MEDIA attempt to downplay a major event that they have refused to report on. Now they are going to have egg on their faces when the truth comes out.

What was sad was that foreign newspapers draw their information from America's main news sources (AP, UPI, etc.). Vancouver Sun (Canada) stated, "A reportedly corporate-financed grassroots" anti-tax movement, paid for, planned and promoted by right wing think tanks, corporate lobbyists and Fox News Channel, has failed to bring about the "popular uprising" against the Obama administration its creators had hoped for. The day of "tea parties" pushed by Republican operatives and partisan advocacy groups such as FreedomWorks, that sought to protest the Obama government's tax and stimulus policies by encouraging people to 'wave tea bags' brought about only a few hundred "tea-baggers" in most parts of the U.S., despite relentless promotion by Fox News TV hosts." It was sad that this was almost verbatim of the Obama party line -- and the foreign press bought it hook-line-and-sinker. They were just suckered into erroneous news.



The popular Liberal "HOPE" that the Tax Revolt was a flash-in-the-pan (SITE NOTE: The Fourth of July will tell these Democratic and Republican politicians that their jobs are on the line. Just wait and see how wrong this cartoonist is.)


Another liberal attempt to portray the Tea Party as a bunch of hypocrites (SITE NOTE: To answer this simply look at the tens of thousands who turned out -- do they fit this image? You then understand how the liberals -- including the cartoonists -- are scared.)

According to Mona Charen, "When thousands of people in all 50 states assemble to protest government policy, you might suppose that this is news. Not according to the coverage on the front pages of the Washington Post, New York Times, or the Wall Street Journal. The "tea party" rallies went unmentioned. In Washington, D.C., despite temperatures in the 40s and a driving rainstorm, about a thousand demonstrators assembled across from the White House. The front page of the Times found space for a big story with accompanying pictures of competing public demonstrations in Kabul, Afghanistan, but not a word about the American protestors. Perhaps this snub was intentional. Fox News (becoming a participant itself and not a recorder of events) had been beating the drums for these rallies for days, and some pressies clearly regarded them as therefore necessarily illegitimate. To show how Reuters treated the protests, they simply gave it scorn -- and used a picture from 4 April to illustrate their response...and making it seem like the faceless organizers (like Obama's organization) got people to complain to Reuters. (SITE NOTE: What the conservative movement should do from now on is to give direct feeds to FOREIGN news services -- and let the embarassment fall where it might. The problem is that the foreign news services use the AMERICAN news services for their reporting. That is why the protests were not really heard about overseas.)

In general, the mainstream media treated this grassroots movement as something that was vile and offensive. The Tax Tea party was treated with open scorn and derision. The Reuters response for lack of coverage from readers was a good example. The mainstream media grossly underestimated the numbers -- which was in the "hundreds of thousands" if not a million plus. Another factor was simply that even the smallest towns had turnouts that were unreported. "There were many rallies in small towns not reported. I’m from Lima, Ohio, and 500 showed up, but most of the surrounding towns, as few as 3000 population, had their own. I reckon in this area alone, there were several thousand Tea Partiers. And, on a Wednesday afternoon, when most people are working. Not bad for a middle of the week rally." These small 10-500 people will add up to a very big deal. But we expected this from the mainstream media going into the protests.

How is it that America had thousands of Tax Protests yesterday and you don’t have anything listed in your “Top Stories” section?

If there were thousands of individual protests across the county speaking out about war you would have been all over it. But when average American Citizens gather peacefully you act as if it didn’t happen?

Chris

Not one article online about the tea parties. If this had been done during the previous administration your reporters would have been falling all over themselves covering it. What a biased left wing organization. I won’t read your crap again.

S.A.

I have to say supporters of yesterday’s protests certainly did a good job of getting people to complain about our coverage.

We did include several paragraphs about the tea parties in our main Obama tax story yesterday, which seems about right for something that drew “tens of thousands” of people in total. These events make pretty good pictures, and we also did a photo slideshow on them today. GBU Editor

Some activists wear Boston tea party themed costimes as they gather to participate in a tax revolt rally in Santa Barbara, California April 4, 2009. Picture taken April 4, (Source: Blogs Reuters.)

Who invented this Tea Party stuff, anyway? Glenn Beck? Rick Santelli? Twinings? The matter is up for dispute. Serious dispute. In fact the dispute over who invented the tea party may be a more serious and substantive dispute than anything that will actually be disputed at the Tea Parties themselves.

On the Rachel Maddow Show Tuesday night (22 Apr), Maddow explained the burgeoning teabaggy rift that's emerged within the teabaggers. On one side: RON PAUL SUPPORTERS! They were going to float around the country on a blimp and drop tea into Boston harbor. On the other side: a special Astroturf comprised of Newt Gingrich and Fox News and Dick Armies. (Source: Huffington Post.) (SITE NOTE: As sort of poetic justice, on 23 Apr it was reported that MSNBC's Rachel Maddow has suffered some steep audience of erosion in recent months, down more than 40 percent in viewership from her peak last fall during the election. According to the Los Angeles Times, Maddow's audience has gone from a high of 1.9 million viewers in the fall to just over 1.1 million in March. That's a big drop. Maddow was at her worst last week, falsely minimizing the tea parties held across the country as "the fizzle in the drizzle" and mocking the participants. Though the liberals tried to denigrate the Tea Party it is now being sorted out how many attended the grassroots protest that was up to over 750,000 without the end count from all the small towns yet.)

(SITE NOTE: Ariana Huffington's blog. Huffington Post, refuses to admit that it is a grassroots movement -- because any movement that can turn out between 750,000-1,000,000 folks on a workday means that they are serious and the Democrats and Obama's administration are in real trouble. When the other groups join with the tax revolt on July 4 nationwide, there will be no denying it and the mainstream media who are also fighting the movement will be ridiculed. If it is as successful -- as we think it will be -- when 2nd Amendment (NRA) folks, anti-abortion folks and tax revolt folks join in unity to show their displeasure with the Obama agenda, then the real fireworks will start. The next step is the Million American March on Washington on 9/12. The 15 Apr tax day attempted to beg the mainstream media for publicity -- but were spurned and even without publicity, it was mind-boggling with the numbers that showed up. Now the attitude is that WE THE PEOPLE don't need the Mainstream media -- as they have started up their own local networks to keep the loose-knit groups in touch. The Republicans are being told that they are welcome as conservatives -- but don't bring your politics here. As for the Democrats, they are all being warned to change their ways or face retirement at the next election.)

Thousands rally with 'tea parties' on tax day

(By JOE BIESK Associated Press Writer) FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) -- Whipped up by conservative commentators and bloggers, tens of thousands of protesters staged "tea parties" around the country Wednesday to tap into the collective angst stirred up by a bad economy, government spending and bailouts. The rallies were directed at President Barack Obama's new administration on a symbolic day: the deadline to file income taxes. Protesters even threw what appeared to be a box of tea bags toward the White House, causing a brief lockdown at the compound. (SITE NOTE: Notice the choice of words "whipped up" by "conservative commentators and bloggers" as though it is an unruly mob. This ties in with the just released Department of Homeland Security report that uses unsubstantiated claims and does NOT name any groups, but paints conservative "ultra-right extremists" as a threat. Even the American Legion got into that act when the DHS claimed that veterans would be recruited into the groups. The Obama establishment is getting afraid -- and the kowtowing mainstream media reflects this sentiment.)

Shouts rang out from Kentucky, which just passed tax increases on cigarettes and alcohol, to Salt Lake City, where many in the crowd booed Republican Gov. Jon Huntsman for accepting about $1.5 billion in stimulus money. (SITE NOTE: The same thing happened in Sacramento CA. Organizer Mark Meckler singled out GOP opportunists who wouldn't give him the time of day weeks ago — and then wanted to hitch their wagons to the Tea Party bandwagon at the last minute. Meckler said he heard that California GOP chair Ron Nehring was in the audience. Meckler invited him to say hi to the crowd — and then ripped him for waffling on the massive tax hike ballot measures (particularly Prop1A - $16 billion tax hikes). (Michelle Malkin.))

"Frankly, I'm mad as hell," said businessman Doug Burnett at a rally at the Iowa Capitol, where many of the about 1,000 people wore red shirts declaring "revolution is brewing." Burnett added: "This country has been on a spending spree for decades, a spending spree we can't afford."

In Boston, a few hundred protesters gathered on the Boston Common - a short distance from the original Tea Party - some dressed in Revolutionary garb and carrying signs that said "Barney Frank, Bernie Madoff: And the Difference Is?" and "D.C.: District of Communism."

In Atlanta, thousands of people were expected to gather on the steps of the Capitol, where Fox News Channel conservative pundit Sean Hannity was set to broadcast his show Wednesday night.

The tea parties were promoted by FreedomWorks, a conservative nonprofit advocacy group based in Washington and led by former Republican House Majority Leader Dick Armey of Texas, who is now a lobbyist. (SITE NOTE: Though we have been following this movement from its inception, we NEVER have heard of this group's ACTIVE involvement except as a "repository" website. Note how the AP turns this into a sleazy "former Republican House Majority Leader" and now a lobbyist slime-ball. This again is to link the movement to the Republicans -- and nothing is further from the truth. Glenn Reynolds, author of "An Army of Davids," had a nice overview of the Tea Party movement in the Wall Street Journal on 15 Apr. He said: "There's good news and bad news in this phenomenon for establishment politicians. The good news for Republicans is that, while the Republican Party flounders in its response to the Obama presidency and its programs, millions of Americans are getting organized on their own. The bad news is that those Americans, despite their opposition to President Obama's policies, aren't especially friendly to the GOP. When Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele asked to speak at the Chicago tea party, his request was politely refused by the organizers: "With regards to stage time, we respectfully must inform Chairman Steele that RNC officials are welcome to participate in the rally itself, but we prefer to limit stage time to those who are not elected officials, both in Government as well as political parties. This is an opportunity for Americans to speak, and elected officials to listen, not the other way around." (Wall Street Journal))

Organizers said the movement developed organically through online social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter and through exposure on Fox News. (SITE NOTE: This is NEAR TRUTH. However, again the AP missed the point that it was more "developed organically" as self-organized. Fox News was the only mainstream media that seemed to support the cause, but even in their news was Geraldo Rivera and his ilk that were detractors with their misinformed comments. I'm surprised that the AP article didn't try to credit it to the CNBC newsman Rick Santelli. Michelle Malkin stated: Detractors have tried to "discredit the Tea Party organizers — first blaming a cabal tied to CNBC, then jeering at the amateurishness of the participants before crying "astroturf," then claiming the events were "financed by Fox News" or (fill-in-the-blank) conservative conspiracy, then smearing the protesters as crazed gun nuts (FNC's Bob Beckel) and racists (FNC's Geraldo Rivera)." (Source: Michelle Malkin.))

While FreedomWorks insisted the rallies were nonpartisan, they have been seized on by many prominent Republicans who view them as a promising way for the party to reclaim its momentum. (SITE NOTE: Again -- who cares about Freedom Works -- who did NOT have DIRECT involvement with the national grassroots movement. It is the AP attempt to credit them where there is no credit due. This is the sleaziest of Mainstream Media reporting. For the REAL STORY of how the grassroots movement came about see Michelle Malkin article, Tax Day Tea Party Cheat-sheet How It All Started.)

"All you have to be is a mildly awake Republican candidate for office to get in front of that parade," said Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform. (SITE NOTE: Again the AP attempt to give credit to the Republicans -- with the hint that they are manipulating the people. The Huffington Post and other liberal blogs continued to attempt to imply that the tea party was "owned" by certain groups -- and thereby denying that it was a true grassroots movement. It is true that many politicians spoke at the rallies, but if one notices their credentials, most of them are SEEKING office. They are the outsiders and the tea party group is hostile towards the insiders -- the current elected officials down to the state level.)

The movement attracted some Republicans considering 2012 presidential bids. (SITE NOTE: NO, THEY DID NOT. These Republicans have taken a stand against the Stimulus Package but have stayed clear of the grassroots movement. This is the AP attempt to make it appear that the Republicans are in control. It's true that those governors who took a stand against the Stimulus monies (Perry, Jindal, et al) were invited to speak at the rallies -- it was not associated with their potential Presidential aspirations. It dealt with their fight against the invasiveness of big government taking away the 10th Amendment states rights.)

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich planned to address a tea party in a New York City park Wednesday night. Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal sent an e-mail to his supporters, letting them know about tea parties throughout the state. South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford planned to attend two tea parties. (SITE NOTE: Newt jumped on the bandwagon only when it appeared that this was actually a nationwide movement -- he jumped on as an opportunist. Though he is welcome to join as the movement needs widely recognized personalities like Michelle Malkin, Rush Limbaugh to make personal appearances -- it also needs people of Newt Gingrich's stature -- though he's a bit tarnished around the edges for his past.)

"There is no such thing as so-called free money and that includes stimulus," Sanford told several thousand people outside the statehouse in Columbia, S.C. "Paying down debt is an old American theme and never a bad thing." (SITE NOTE: Sanford is in a fight with the President over getting the funds whether he wanted it or not. However, he was NOT a part of the tea party movement. He had his own troubles fighting Obama and his legislature.)

There were several small counter-protests, including one that drew about a dozen people at Fountain Square in Cincinnati. A counter-protester held a sign that read, "Where were you when Bush was spending billions a month 'liberating' Iraq?" The anti-tax demonstration there, meanwhile, drew about 4,000 people. (SITE NOTE: AH HA!!! Now we have anti-tax demonstrations with a few people. But notice how the paragraph is worded. The impression after the first read is that there were 4,000 counter protestors -- when actually it is the tea party participants.)

In Lansing, Mich., outside the state Capitol, another 4,000 people waved signs exclaiming "Stop the Fiscal Madness," "Read My Lipstick! No More Bailouts" and "The Pirates Are in D.C." Children held makeshift signs complaining about the rising debt.

"I'm really opposed to spending the way out of our problem," said Deborah Mourray, 56, a business administrator from the Detroit suburb of Troy. "How I run my home is: I don't spend more money so my situation improves. Save and conserve."

In Salt Lake City, where more than 1,000 protesters gathered outside a downtown federal building in the rain and snow, Kate Maloney held a cardboard sign that read "Pin the tail on the jacka$$", with a picture of Obama on a Democratic donkey.

"I want to get back my way of life again," said Maloney, who runs a small costume business and said she's recently had to lay off 10 of 33 workers. "Right now things change too much."

Other protesters also took direct aim at Obama. One sign in the crowd in Madison, Wis., compared him to the anti-Christ. At a rally in Montgomery, Ala., where Twisted Sister's "We're Not Gonna Take It" blared from loudspeakers, Jim Adams of Selma carried a sign that showed the president with Hitler-style hair and mustache and said, "Sieg Heil Herr Obama." (SITE NOTE: OUCH!!! Now the tea party protests are filled with hate mongers and wierd punk rockers. However, the "anti-Christ" comments are coming from the far-right religious conservatives based on Obama's stand on abortion.)

Still others talked of their children's futures. In Washington, D.C., Joe Hollinger said he took the day off to attend the protest with his 11-year-old daughter. "I'm concerned about the incredible amount of debt Congress is going to put on our children," Hollinger said, pointing to his daughter's sign, which read, "Congress get your hand off my piggy bank." (Source: AP.)

Tax Day, 2009: The day the mainstream media died?

In the past, major media outlets have given antigovernment 'tea party' protests – like the ones held today – short shrift. Critics say it is because they are out of touch with America.

Atlanta - They came to public squares and parks across the country by the hundreds and thousands on Tax Day, April 15, hoping for nothing less than a second American revolution. Their "tea parties" are part of a burgeoning national movement, they said – a nonpartisan wave of Americans outraged by Washington's profligacy and its intrusion into every aspect of daily life.

And yet ... only a whisper in the mainstream press, they complain.

To tea partyers, the disconnect points up the wide divide between elite media and the population at large. To others, any downplaying of the protests is just a symptom of the broader reordering of the media world.

The hold that a few media conglomerates have held on the dissemination of news is quickly vanishing. Blogs and upstart websites like HuffingtonPost.com are providing a wider array of voices and viewpoints. The decidedly liberal HuffingtonPost, for instance, sent 1,800 "citizen journalists," toting iPhones and laptops, to cover the tea parties. In response to such "competition," traditional newsrooms are beginning to shift their mind-sets, too, using Web-based networking sites like Twitter to try to become more immediate and relevant to people across the US.

In that vein, April 15th's Tea Party protests are a kind of D-Day for alternative journalism.

"Today is one of those days that may lead to more awareness that this is a great tool and a great way to connect with people," says Jen Reeves, a new media specialist at the Missouri School of Journalism in Columbia. "It's fabulous that more media outlets are looking in and peering in."

The mainstream media have, to some extent, questioned the real grass-roots aspect of the tea-party movement. New York Times columnist Paul Krugman called it "astroturf" in a column this week – implying that political and corporate forces lie behind it. Critics say that mainstream and blogosphere ideologues are both acting as "parasites on a populist movement," skewing the truth and overstepping the bounds of responsible reporting in the process.

Cable news channel Fox News has jumped on the bandwagon, at times blurring the line between promotion and coverage as two of its top-ranked personalities – Sean Hannity and Glenn Beck – get set to cover Wednesday's events, according to Media Matters for America, a liberal media watchdog group in Washington.

"[Partisan news organizations] are normalizing conspiracy theories and making hysteria more palatable," says Erikka Knuti of Media Matters, noting what she calls a "hysteria ... about socialism, fascism, and a new world order."

Fox News grandstanding aside, the enduring momentum of the tea-party movement, which began in February, underscores real grievances, which participants say the mainstream media have largely ignored – providing an opportunity for alternative, Web-based news sources.

"Who's actually reporting on this?" says Michael Patrick Leahy, a Nashville-based blogger and tea-party organizer who will appear today on PJTV, a Web-based, right-leaning news channel. If there is slight media coverage of the tea parties, he says, "we may well look back historically and determine that April 15th, 2009, is the day the mainstream media died."

While the tea-party protests may reveal hypocrisy on both sides of the blogosphere, the coverage of on-site citizen reporters should be welcomed, not feared, by mainstream media organizations, says Ms. Reeves. If news organizations ignore or downplay such events, they risk missing the conversation that Americans are having day to day.

The growth of information is an organic process, she says. "I feel as if journalists – if we don't try to learn how it works – we are missing a backchannel of life." (Source: Christian Science Monitor.)

Jeffrey Kimball, a professor emeritus of history at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, says the protesters seemed to represent the most extreme adherents of American conservatism, hardly representative of the average American. "We may have just seen the whole movement" at these protests, says Mr. Kimball. "I don't see it as a groundswell, but a manifestation by those people who form the core of … the extreme right reacting both to the condition of our time and President Obama – he's black and he's liberal."

Rasmussen: 51% view tea parties favorably

Fifty-one percent (51%) of Americans have a favorable view of the "tea parties" held nationwide last week, including 32% who say their view of the events is Very favorable.

Thirty-three percent (33%) hold an unfavorable opinion of the tea parties according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey. Fifteen percent (15%) are not sure.

While half the nation has a favorable opinion of last Wednesday's events, the nation's Political Class has a much dimmer view—just 13% of the political elite offered even a somewhat favorable assessment while 81% said the opposite. Among the Political Class, not a single survey respondent said they had a Very Favorable opinion of the events while 60% shared a Very Unfavorable assessment. (Source: Rasmussen.)

FBI spied on TEA Party Americans

Exclusive to the Northeast Intelligence Network & Canada Free Press

Douglas J. Hagmann, Director & Judi McLeod, Founding Editor, Canada Free Press

19 April 2009: Even as average Americans were planning to get out in towns and cities to demonstrate against Big Government and Big Taxes, Federal Bureau of Intelligence Investigation (FBI) surveillance was being unleashed upon them. In fact, unsuspecting Tax Day TEA Party participants were being closely watched during the demonstration planning stages in a covert operation that began on or about March 23, 2009.

If you one of the estimated 750,000 Americans who attended one of about 600 TEA parties last week, you might have seen media cameras covering the event. Media cameras, however, were not the only cameras taking video at these events, something that has at least one current FBI agent concerned over the future of America. According to this agent - the same agent who provided the Northeast Intelligence Network (NEIN) exclusively the unreleased photographs of the 11 missing Egyptian students who were the subject of a FBI BOLO in August 2006–placed his concerns for true patriots of the U.S. over his own career when he confided that covert surveillance was "planned and performed" at each of the TEA parties that took place last Tuesday.

"Listen to what I am saying," stated the source during an interview with Doug Hagmann, founder (NEIN). "The Department of Homeland Security Intelligence Assessment that is receiving so much attention is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg, and the true patriotic citizens of this country are on the Titanic. This is what bothers me. But is goes far beyond that assessment. There have been very significant changes made over the last few years that redirect the focus and assets of the intelligence community internally. These changes have greatly accelerated under this administration, and the threats have been redefined to include those who used to be patriots. It's not only chilling but absolutely insulting to God-fearing Americans."

According to this unimpeachable source, a single-page confidential directive issued by the FBI headquarters in Washington, DC (FBIHQ) was sent to each of the 56 field offices located across the United States on or about March 23, 2009, instructing the Special Agents in Charge (SACs) of those offices to verify the date, time and location of each TEA Party within their region and supply that information to FBI headquarters in Washington. The source stated this correspondence termed the TEA parties "political demonstrations," and added that the dissemination of the directive was very tightly controlled. "Not all agents were privy to this correspondence," stated the source, who compared the dissemination to an older "Do Not File" classification.

In addition to obtaining or confirming the location and time of each "demonstration," each field office was instructed to obtain or confirm the identity of the individual(s) involved in the actual planning and coordination of the event in each specific region, and include the local or regional Internet web site address, if any. The information collected by region was then reportedly sent to FBI Headquarters.

The source alleges that a second directive was issued on or about April 6, 2009 that reportedly instructed each SAC to coordinate and conduct, either at the field office level and/or with the appropriate resident agency, covert video surveillance and data collection of the participants of the TEA parties. Surveillance was to be performed from "discreet fixed or mobile positions" and was to be performed "independently and outside of the purview of local law enforcement."

Although the level of detail collected from each operation is unclear, the information was reportedly submitted to Washington, where, "at the level of the National Security Branch (NSB), this information was to "include the office of the Directorate of Intelligence (DI), and integrated with a restricted access database, one that reportedly is accessible to only two agencies" [of the 14 agencies that comprise the U.S. intelligence community, according to the source.

"The implications to the citizens of the U.S. are ominous. It seems that there is a hostile political agenda coming from Washington that characterizes the supporters of our constitutional freedoms as threats to our domestic security, which is totally absurd. The redirection, the refocusing of domestic threats from al Qaeda cells to 'flag waving right-wingers' is something that has gone from a murmur a few years ago to a roar today."

Training government-issued cameras on ordinary citizens, many of whom brought their children to an estimated 600 Tax Day TEA Parties is a page torn out of George Orwell's 1984 and makes the term "God Bless America" more meaningful than ever.

The Northeast Intelligence Network and Canada Free Press expect the government's denial of the surveillance of the TEA Parties to go viral as soon as this story is posted. (Source: Homeland Security US.)