Tax Day Tea Party: No Permission to Protest in DC

Protesters in Washington, DC were told today that they could not protest in front of the Treasury, even though they had the necessary permit:

[The event organizers] were told they had two permits. One before the Treasury Department so folks could speak directly towards the nice Secretary who need not pay taxes like the rest of us. The second at Lafayette Park.  When people showed up Obama’s secret service overrode the DC promised permit and claimed jurisdiction over Treasury, but not evidently over Lafayette.   We have never had a problem like this with previous white Houses… The organizers were told all was okay and then White House changed the rules.   Why this happened this year and not the previous 20?  Dunno.

The secret service, much like the Department of Homeland Security, must earnestly believe the attendees were dangerous right-wing extremists.  But violent?  No more so than Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Paine, John Adams, and other Founding Fathers- these were the clear idols of attendees.  The crowd- both protesters and speakers- seemed happy with the label and felt in good company among the country’s early history.  If a speaker wasn’t poking fun of the DHS report, the crowd would do it for him or her.

“Civil disobedience?  No, Constitutional obedience,” said one of the early speakers, Mike Church.  He got the crowd yelling in support with each reference to the US Constitution.

But that wasn’t the only major last-minute roadblock put up by the leaders in DC:

According to national tax day event organizers, a donation of one million tea bags didn’t make it in time to be included on the event’s permit. So after the tea was delivered police officers made organizers load the tea bags back onto a delivery truck and take them away.

Is this not a perfect example what the people were protesting?!  No permission to hold tea?  How over-regulated is our society that one needs permission to have tea?

Despite these two setbacks, 3700 people attended the event.  All of them were crowded around the small ancillary stage in Lafayette Park which was originally intended to be an open mic.  It wasn’t as crude as a bullhorn and a soap box, but it seemed that way among the large crowd of umbrellas and signs.  The grassy park became deep mud as the heavy rain began right on queue with the first speaker.  From a distance, all one could see is mass of umbrellas and posters, and you would never know there was a stage in its center if not for the crowd quieting to listen between cheers.

Laura Ingraham drew a lot of applause, while some less famous speakers got the crowd thinking.  Grover Norquist (Americans for Tax Reform), Rachell Hoff (Young Republicans), and Tom Shatz (Citizens Against Government Waste) all made good points.  My favorite speaker may have been Ed Hudgins of the Atlas Society, who talked about the different types of failed socialism the world has already seen.  A portion of his speech on what “Going Galt” means- and yes, there were lots of signs referring to John Galt- can be found online here.

The event organizers, who have now formed Smart Girl Politics, looked like vanilla soccer-moms.  Clearly this was a grassroots movement, and the event had a rather non-partisan feel.  Everyone was unified on the subject of freedom; liberty is very popular!  Some speakers and attendees identified themselves as conservatives, but the overwhelming message of the event was support for the Constitution (as interpreted by the Founding Fathers).  The Constitution is not partisan.

This was just one of over 700 similar protests happening in cities around the United States (and even a few in Europe).  An estimated one million people attended a tea party today.

Bias in Media: So what does the NY Times say about today’s event?  It isolate the movement by calling it a partisan event “largely created by the clamor of cable news and fueled by the financial and political support of current and former Republican leaders.”

The only organization in Boston re-enacting the original tea party — the Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender group — was not associated with the partisan movement.

And their coverage quickly became a reprint of Obama’s teleprompter, reminding America that the president claims to have, “Passed tax cuts that will help our economy grow.”  In a second article, the smear coverage continued to show woman with tea bags on her head.

Update on State Sovereignty Movement

Texas Governer Rick Perry is getting the State Sovereignty movement back into headlines, saying:

‘I believe that our federal government has become oppressive in its size, its intrusion inton the lives of our citizens, and its interference with the affairs of our state,’ he continued. ‘That is why I am here today to express my unwavering support for efforts all across our country to reaffirm states’ rights affirmed by the Tenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.’

State sovereignty legislation has cropped up in nearly thirty states, but it never had a spokesperson like Rick Perry.  Perhaps because of this lack of leadership, sovereinty bill votes have been split down party lines, resulting in somewhat of a roadblock.  Some rightfully call the law unnecessary, as it would be redundant with existing law (the Constitution)- essentially sovereignty bills are laws that enforce existing law.

But that’s no reason not to get excited.  A lot of big problems facing this country would either go away or be much easier to address if we simply enforced our older, simpler laws, particularly the 10th amendment which makes things like socialized health care, schooling, energy creation, and banking illegal.  Consider the state sovereignty movement more of a protest than an action, but it’s an important protest that could get a larger ball rolling.

Dave Nalle has had my favorite coverage of the state sovereignty movement, with his most recent update found here.

Department of Homeland Security: Constitutionalists are Terrorists

Seen here, the Department of Homeland Security has followed the state of Missouri in taking guard against so-called “Rightwing Extremism”.  The full report from the Department of Homeland Security may be seen here.  From this gem of a document:

Prominent antigovernment conspiracy theorists have incorporated aspects of an impending economic collapse to intensify fear and paranoia among like-minded individuals and to attract recruits during times of economic uncertainty.

The nation’s economic leaders, such as Ben Bernanke, have played a large part in creating the paranoia for a, “…global financial and economic meltdown.”  Even more than that, many renowned economists- even Nobel prize winners- are warning of an impending economic collapse.  This fear is very rational, however it is being used.  The unclassified document continues:

Conspiracy theories involving declarations of martial law, impending civil strife or racial conflict, suspension of the U.S. Constitution, and the creation of citizen detention camps often incorporate aspects of a failed economy.

Russia is anticipating martial law, based on their best intelligence.  And Obama was ignoring the Constitution before taking office.  So again, these fears- at least some of them- are very rational, and in some cases aren’t theories at all.  Suspension of the Constitution has happened in a great many ways already, and it is this very reason that conservatives- or constitutionalists, or whatever they shall be labeled- are rising in protest.

It’s fair to call these ideas extreme, but these are extreme times we live in.  The president put the taxpayer on the hook for more debt than the previous 43 presidents combined, cannot account for that money, and is placing blame on targeted individuals without due process.  Congress is voting for legislation overwhelmingly opposed by their constituents.  What connection do the people have to their elected leaders anymore?

Many rightwing extremist groups perceive recent gun control legislation as a threat to their right to bear arms and in response have increased weapons and ammunition stockpiling, as well as renewed participation in paramilitary training exercises.

Guns, ammunition, and paramilitary training exercises are necessary for creation of a well-regulated militia, which is what the second amendment protects and the Founding Fathers wished for.  The establishment of said militia protects the people from enemies foreign and domestic.  Thomas Jefferson said it best with:

What country can preserve its liberties if its rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms.

Thomas Jefferson was considered a radical, too.  He and his “radical” friends liberated America from the British and created one of the greatest civilizations in all of history.   Thomas Jefferson would be happy, then, that the government is fearful of its people.  The government is supposed to fear its people; that was the surest way to protect the freedoms granted by the Bill of Rights.

Even those who trust the current administration must wonder who will protect the people during an administration they do not trust.

Obama Wishes to Not Do Job

A US ship was taken over by Somalian pirates yesterday. The courageous crew managed to regain control of the ship- remarkably doing so unarmed while the pirates held AK47 rifles.  However, the pirates made off with the ship’s captain in a lifeboat.  The crew, without US military support, attempted to trade hostages: a captured pirate for the captain, with no luck.

While the unarmed shipmates have continued to try and trade food for their captain, the US Navy moved a missle-guiding destroyer into the area, where it has sat idle through the night as instructed.  The US Navy cannot- or rather, is not permitted to- defeat four pirates floating, out of fuel, on a life boat.  Do we not have snipers for this sort of thing?

Today, the military’s leader was asked whether he were concerned about the situation.

Obama responded: “Guys, we’re talking about housing right now.”

The Commander-in-Chief of the US military, during a hostage situation, would rather talk housing.  Housing!

It is not the president’s job to talk about housing, nor do anything more with the economy than propose a budget.  Only Congress can legalize a budget or regulate commerce.  And neither branch of government has anything to do with housing, except for purposes of taking a census.  Perhaps Obama, a Constitutional Lawyer from Harvard, needs to re-read the job description created for him by the Founding Fathers.  Surely there was a class on it while at Harvard.

But that’s not what Obama wants to talk about; he would rather not do his job.  For the president is not granted much power by the Constitution, except over the military, and Obama wishes to ignore this construct of his job description.  He cannot be bothered with the safety of a few Americans he should be saving, when he could be interfering with the economy instead.  The economy has much more reach than over a few desperate pirates, and no piece of paper will restrain Obama from that grand of a cookie jar.

Or, perhaps Obama’s teleprompter has not yet been programmed with answers to military questions.

Congress Creates Hitler-Jugend (Hitler Youth) Program

The GIVE act was quietly passed by both the House and Senate, amongst a string of diversions towards “evil” CEO’s.  The summary by OpenCongress.org reads,

The Generations Invigorating Volunteerism and Education (GIVE) Act would dramatically increase funding for AmeriCorps and other volunteer programs, including those for seniors and veterans. It also establishes a goal of expanding from 75,000 government-supported volunteers to 250,000, and would increase education funding and establish a summer service program for students, paying $500 (which would be applied to college costs) to high-school and middle-school student who participate.

That sounds very politically correct.  But from the actual bill:

Sec.6104, (b)(6): “Whether a workable, fair, and reasonable mandatory service requirement for all able young people could be developed, and how such a requirement could be implemented in a manner that would strengthen the social fabric of the Nation and overcome civic challenges by bringing together people from diverse economic, ethnic, and educational backgrounds.”

Mandatory service requirement to overcome civic challenges and strengthen social fabric?  So this clause permits mandatory camps for the purpose of getting America’s youth to pledge their loyalty to government or their chosen organizations. Mandatory service directly violates the 13th amendment, which outlaws such involuntary servitude.  Even scarier is the blatant conflict of interest from government taught social or civic issues.  Expansion of government requires the forfeit of individual liberties, which government only exists to protect!

Hitler knew the power of sculpting young minds, too.  He used these camps to instill beliefs of antisemitism, for the purpose of motivating soldiers to fight for the Third Reich.  Hitler’s youth camps mirrored the structure of his Sturmabteilung (Brownshirts), which is significant, because the structure of this law suggests that Obama may be looking for his modern-day Brownshirts to run these youth camps.  Again, from the GIVE act:

Sec.111, (b)(1)(A) providing training for teachers, supervisors, personal from community-based agencies (particularly with regard to the RECRUITMENT, UTILIZATION, AND MANAGEMENT OF PARTICIPANTS), and trainers, to be conducted by qualified individuals or organizations that have experience in service-learning.

This sounds innocent enough, but as was found in this report, an ammendment to restrict such qualified organizations to ones not actively involved in political advancement was shot down.

The U.S. Senate killed an amendment Thursday offered by Sen. David Vitter, R-La., that would have prohibited federal volunteer funds from going to the community group ACORN and its affiliates.

Vitter singled out the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, a nationwide community organization of low- and moderate-income people. He laid emphasis on the fact that group members have been arrested for fraudulent voter registration.

Vitter contended that no charitable group with a political arm should receive the volunteer funding. “At the heart of this debate is whether this new federal bureaucracy would, in effect, politicize charitable activity around the country, which we certainly do not want,” Vitter said.

The bill was not so kind to the Boy Scouts of America, as a clause banning religiously motivated groups was included.  Make no mistake, this means that groups like ACORN, LaRaza, LULAC, et al, will be in your child’s school teaching their methods of “service-learning”.  These are the same organizations that are use mob-rule scare tactics against anyone who denounces their leader, Obama.  Not only that, but these organizations will be paid for doing it.  The bill allocates $5.7 billion tax dollars to help finance such these teachings, which covers 80% of the funding initially, 50% for the next three years, and the rest comes from you directly.

So yes, parents could be required to pay for their children to go to camps or classes run by politically motivated groups who use mob tactics to denounce or scare opponents of Der Fuhrer the president.  There is even a provision in the bill for uniforms.

The Founding Fathers of this country created the 10th ammendment to prevent government from expanding its power beyond its enumerated powers, none of which permit programs of this sort.  Even those who naively believe in good government must wonder, why legalize the opportunity for authoritarian control over the country’s youth?