MyLiberty San Mateo Tea Party

Nearly 300 protesters pounded the sidewalk of El Camino Real in San Mateo, CA on Wednesday to demonstrate their disapproval of the federal stimulus package and the implications of bailouts for taxpayers.

Some participants grabbed the attention of drivers-by and cameramen with colonial costumes, teakettle props, signs reading "Change - it's what's in your wallet," and chants of "no more pork." Others standing on the sidewalk quietly planned for a 2010 Republican comeback, or discussed their differing views with each other under swaying signs and flags. Some spoke their minds freely, while others balked at talking to me, since this piece was for the Huffington Post. Several in the crowd expressed their anxiety at the way I might twist their words, and how Arianna Huffington was "not credible" and a "nutcase."

Those who did speak to me described feelings of anger toward a stimulus bill that they called unconstitutional and a tax system that they felt leaned toward socialism. To support the argument that the stimulus package is not constitutional, veteran Leonard Stone passed out a resolution written in the Texas legislature, stating that the federal government is in violation of the tenth amendment, in which "powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people." Stone said that 33 states are now adopting a similar resolution.

"Bailouts are unconstitutional," Stone said. "Let capitalism do what it does...when government pays for failure, you're only going to get more failure. You get what you pay for." Stone said that the vast majority of Americans are employed at small businesses, which are the cornerstone of American prosperity. He argued that the government should keep its hands off of business altogether: "The business of government is not business. It's governing. The rule of law. Treating everyone the same. Regulating for protection. Not to stop growth."

Barbara Barnes is a fourth-generation Californian who agrees with Stone. She came out to the Tea Party because she disapproves of being overtaxed. "This [protest] is not Democratic or Republican. This is for the people," Barnes said. She said that people are now taxed almost 50 percent, and that for those benefitting from others: "Once you run out of other people's money, I don't know what's going to happen."

Standing next to Barnes, 24-year-old Charles Hoelzel said that he did benefit from taxpayer money as a child, when his single mother was on welfare. But Hoelzel has done well for himself since then and plans to run for office in November. Originally from New Orleans, Hoelzel said that he took an unpaid day off to be at the Tea Party protest: "I'm 24 and I'm fed up with prosperity leaving us. I've seen poverty, and I'm not going back." Hoelzel's main purpose was to voice concern at the administration's recent actions and hope for a correction of the problem: "At the end of the day, Obama is still our president. No matter what, we need to back him and pray," a comment that many surrounding him did not agree with.

By Natasha Chen
Huffington Post
Submitted by R.L.

Jon Voight Makes Us Proud!

Actor Jon Voight read a letter he wrote to the American people on the Mike Huckabee Show. It takes him only three minutes to read his letter, but he should get an award for this.

Go to the link below and listen to Jon.  You will be proud of him!

http://www.thefoxnation.com/jon-voight/2010/04/11/watch-jon-voight-reads-letter-american-people

pel

Media Coverage of Protest Movements, Then vs. Now

Once President Obama was sworn in, protesting became incitement to violence.

If you've opened up a newspaper or watched a cable news program in the past week or so, you've probably seen members of the media painting Tea Party activists as dangerous bigots. That's because disagreeing with President Obama on issues like government spending and high taxes makes you a racist, you see.

What's interesting about the media's latest freak-out is that there were radicals a-plenty under President Bush. They protested in the streets. They talked openly about revolution and killing. But oddly, the violent imagery used by people claiming to be advocates for peace never registered with the media. They were too busy fawning over Cindy Sheehan.

Why the difference in coverage? Did the media cheerlead the protests against President Bush to hurt him politically? Are they trying to marginalize the increasingly powerful Tea Party movement because they favor President Obama's agenda?

One thing's for sure: If there is such a thing as dangerous rhetoric, then the media is at least one president too late in reporting the story.

Let's take a trip down memory lane...

http://brain-terminal.com/posts/2010/03/31/a-trip-down-memory-lane#video

Bob Zeidman

pel

You Scare Me, Øbama...

[Snopes has verified this letter and author.]

A LETTER FROM A PROCTER AND GAMBLE EXECUTIVE TO THE PRESIDENT

(Lou Pritchett rose from soap salesman to Vice-President, Sales and Customer Development for Procter and Gamble and over the course of 36 years, made corporate history.)

AN OPEN LETTER TO PRESIDENT OBAMA

Dear President Obama:

You are the thirteenth President under whom I have lived and unlike any of the others, you truly scare me.

You scare me because after months of exposure, I know nothing about you.

You scare me because I do not know how you paid for your expensive Ivy League education and your upscale lifestyle and housing with no visible signs of support.

You scare me because you did not spend the formative years of youth growing up in America and culturally you are not an American.

You scare me because you have never run a company or met a payroll.

You scare me because you have never had military experience, thus don't understand it at its core.

You scare me because you lack humility and 'class', always blaming others.

You scare me because for over half your life you have aligned yourself with radical extremists who hate America and you refuse to publicly denounce these radicals who wish to see America fail..

You scare me because you are a cheerleader for the 'blame America' crowd and deliver this message abroad.

You scare me because you want to change America to a European style country where the government sector dominates instead of the private sector.

You scare me because you want to replace our health care system with a government controlled one.

You scare me because you prefer 'wind mills' to responsibly capitalizing on our own vast oil, coal and shale reserves.

You scare me because you want to kill the American capitalist goose that lays the golden egg which provides the highest standard of living in the world.

You scare me because you have begun to use 'extortion' tactics against certain banks and corporations.

You scare me because your own political party shrinks from challenging you on your wild and irresponsible spending proposals.

You scare me because you will not openly listen to or even consider opposing points of view from intelligent people.

You scare me because you falsely believe that you are both omnipotent and omniscient..

You scare me because the media gives you a free pass on everything you do.

You scare me because you demonize and want to silence the Limbaugh's, Hannitys, O'Reillys and Becks who offer opposing, conservative points of view.

You scare me because you prefer controlling over governing.

Finally, you scare me because if you serve a second term I will probably not feel safe in writing a similar letter in 8 years.

Lou Pritchett

According to the author, this letter was sent to the NY Times but they never acknowledged it. Big surprise. Since it hit the internet, however, it has had over 500,000 hits.

wtp

The Cow and the Ice Cream

Supposedly from a teacher in the Nashville area. There's a good chance you've seen this, but it's good to be reminded. Besides, for me at least, the illustrative graphic is new! —wtp

We're worried about the Cow—
when it's all about the Ice Cream.

The most eye-opening civics lesson I ever had was while teaching third grade this year... The presidential election was heating up and some of the children showed an interest. I decided we would have an election for a class president. We would choose our nominees. They would make a campaign speech and the class would vote.

To simplify the process, candidates were nominated by other class members. We discussed what kinds of characteristics these students should have. We got many nominations and from those, Jamie and Olivia were picked to run for the top spot. The class had done a great job in their selections. Both candidates were good kids.

I thought Jamie might have an advantage because he got lots of parental support. I had never seen Olivia's mother.

The day arrived when they were to make their speeches. Jamie went first. He had specific ideas about how to make our class a betterplace. He ended by promising to do his very best. Everyone applauded and he sat down. Now it was Olivia's turn to speak.

Her speech was concise. She said, "If you will vote for me, I will give you ice cream." She sat down. The class went wild. "Yes! Yes! We want ice cream..."

She surely would say more. She did not have to. A discussion followed. How did she plan to pay for the ice cream? She wasn't sure. Would her parents buy it or would the class pay for it?. She didn't know. The class really didn't care. All they were thinking about was the ice cream.

Jamie was forgotten. Olivia won by a landslide.

Every time Barack Obama opened his mouth he offered ice cream and 52 percent of the people reacted like nine year olds. They want ice cream. The other 48 percent know they are going to have to feed the cow and clean up the mess."

This is the ice cream Obama promised us: