Tea Party: Rumors of Its Demise Greatly Exaggerated

It's been a spring and summer full of  "blame-the-tea-party" bullfeathers, with the usual false claims that the Tea Party is full of racists and right-wing extremists.  My God, the Libs even tried to make the Norwegian whacko mass murderer into some kind of "rightwing extremism"and, therefore, in the Bizarr-O world emblematic of the Tea Party.  (Talk about a leap in logic -- and not just across the Atlantic from one continent to another!)  We Partiers became America's whipping boy for the S&P downgrade, with the Press and Dems dubbing it "Tea Party Downgrade."   Now, I don't particularly care for Rand Paul (why does a Freshman politician get so much PR? ... odd), but I had to agree when he said: "Blaming the Tea Party is like blaming the fireman when he comes to put out the fire."

Today, in a feeble attempt to get caught up with the world, I read Bill Hennessy's post "Are You Ready for the Next Wave?"  Hennessy is one of the leaders of The St. Louis Tea Party and is initiating a second phase -- The After Party -- and calling Partiers to not lose steam:

Are You Ready For The Next Wave?

Do you ever feel like Dan Blackford?

Dan is an original Tea Party organizer. He’s been at it since 2009. And he’s just about worn out. According to the Wall Street Journal, Blackford’s given up his position in the  Houston Tea Party.

All the protests, the organization, the fundraising, the block-walking, has it done anything? Are we better off than we were two years ago? I say ‘No.’

How many other people feel the way Dan feels?  Do you think the past two-and-a-half years were a waste?

You Are Not Alone
Sometimes I do.  Since the end of 2009, I have been ready to throw in the towel many times.  Each time, my friends bolstered me.  They reminded me how far we’d come since February ‘09.  The reminded me that nothing has stopped our movement, locally or nationally.

So now it’s my turn to bolster the spirits of those like Dan Blackford.

Rome Didn’t Fall in a Day
First, let’s get something straight: your expectations must match reality.  The United States has been on the path to bigger government, more debt, and less liberty since the Constitutional Convention.  Larry Elder points out:

Congress began ignoring its lack of authority for charity before the ink dried on the Constitution. When Congress appropriated $15,000 to assist French refugees in 1792, James Madison – a Founding Father and principal author of the Constitution – wrote, “I cannot undertake to lay my finger on that article of the Constitution, which granted a right to Congress of expending, on objects of benevolence, the money of their constituents.”
Read more: Charity: Not in the Constitution

The tendency of government to grow is not new.  Nor will it go away. Let’s accept what we cannot change and move on.  Please don’t make the mistake of assuming we could roll back sixty years of rapid government growth with a single election.  

Everybody’s Talkin’
Next, let’s look at what we have accomplished.  Let’s begin with the fact that Dan Blackford gets quoted on the front page of the Wall Street Journal more than two years into the Tea Party era.  

Do you know how many nascent movements and organizations are born and die in any two year period?  Do you know how rare it is for a movement to survive 30 months?  Do you realize much rarer it is for a movement that’s only two years old to drive 100 percent of the conversation about government?

Sure, it’s easy to say, “conversation” is all the Tea Party’s gotten for its work.  That’s what Ellen Gilmore of LaGrange Tea Party told WSJ.  I would tell Ellen that driving the conversation is a very big deal in a republic.

Tomorrow’s decisions—in primaries, in general elections, in school board meetings, and in Congress and the Supreme Court—evolve from to today’s conversations.  In 2008, no one cared what Ellen Gilmore  or Dan Blackford thought about anything. Today their thoughts are on the front page of one of the most read papers in the world. 

If we give up now, Dan and Ellen will be correct: it will have been a waste of precious time, money, and energy. 

But we’re not giving up.  We’re not standing still.  We are still advancing.

The After Party
Over next several weeks, we will roll out a plan. The plan builds upon our accomplishments and strengths.  It looks reality squarely in the eye.  And it begins to fill the void we feel in our movement and in ourselves. 

Once we fill that void, we’ll begin moving the debate a little faster.  We’re going to launch an upward spiral of effective action. 

Beginning  Sunday, August 7, read every episode of The After Party series on www.stlouisteaparty.com.  And put a placeholder on your calendar for the 3rd Thursday of every month.  

It’s time to launch the next wave. And you won’t be alone.

The St. Louis Tea Party is now announcing its first monthly meeting on Thursday, Sept. 15th:

The After Party--St. Louis Tea Party Monthly Action Meeting

When: Thurs, September 15, 7:00pm – 10:30pm

Where: Crowne Plaza Hotel 7750 Carondelet Avenue, Clayton, MO 63105 (map)

Description: See The After Party series on http://stlouisteaparty.com/category/the-after-party/

Meeting from 7:10 until 8:00. Social Hour until they kick us out :-)

RSVP: https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=200026046720114

If you live in the area, I highly encourage you to attend.  Please RSVP on the Facebook site to give the group a heads-up.  As of this morning, there are 60 that are "for sures." 

I noticed today, too, that the St. Louis Teaparty's website now has a handy PayPal button so you can contribute monthly at rates of $2 or $10.  I signed up!  It's too easy and convenient not to!  (Once you've clicked on the link to the St. Louis Tea Party, look at the sidebar menu to the right and you'll see the PayPal donation section.)

November 2012 is just around the corner, and it is going to be a vicious fight.  The MSM have been mercilessly attacking, investigating and vetting to the umpteenth degree each and every individual in the field.  (My, if only they had vetted Obama 1/10th of what they are with Bachman, Romney, and Perry!!!)  The GOP, however, does at this time have the upperhand, if you believe the all the polls.  Let us hope the best candidate for the nomination is chosen.  In the meantime, "We The People" need to prepare, educate, plan, and use our best "strategery."

Rick Perry: Pro-Israel

I am currently still undecided about which GOP candidate I would like to see get the nomination for the 2012 campaign.  (I still dream of a Ryan/Christie ticket, although sadly neither will throw his hat into the ring.  But, a girl can still dream, can't she?)  One issue for me, though, is a candidate's position on Israel, especially in light of the shameful anti-Israel stance of this current administration.

I luckily ran across this column from good ol' William Kristol of The Weekly Standard (the update at the end is very telling of do-nothing Obama and his moronic henchmen):

Jews for Perry?

Rick Perry: Is he good for the Jews?

10:16 AM, Aug 25, 2011 • By WILLIAM KRISTOL

Andrew Ferguson inexplicably neglected, in his fascinating and entertaining piece on Rick Perry in the current issue, to raise the question that’s surely on so many readers’ minds: But is he good for the Jews?

To begin to remedy this oversight, I’d call your attention to two posts. One is by the estimable Kinky Friedman, who ran as a liberal third party candidate against Perry for the Texas governorship in 2006 (a race memorably covered for THE WEEKLY STANDARD by Matt Labash—see here). The world’s most famous Jewish cowboy (or so he says) explains why he would vote for Perry for president:

“I have been quoted as saying that when I die, I am to be cremated, and the ashes are to be thrown in Rick Perry’s hair. Yet, simply put, Rick Perry and I are incapable of resisting each other’s charm. He is not only a good sport, he is a good, kindhearted man, and he once sat in on drums with ZZ Top. A guy like that can’t be all bad. When I ran for governor of Texas as an independent in 2006, the Crips and the Bloods ganged up on me. When I lost, I drove off in a 1937 Snit, refusing to concede to Perry. Three days later Rick called to give me a gracious little pep talk, effectively talking me down from jumping off the bridge of my nose....You might call what Rick did an act of random kindness. Yet in my mind it made him more than a politician, more than a musician; it made him a mensch....

“If the issue of the day is jobs and the economy, Rick Perry is certainly the nuts-and-bolts kind of guy you want in there...

“Compared with the rest of the country, Texas is kicking major ass in terms of jobs and the economy, and Rick should get credit for that, just as Obama should get credit for saying ‘No comment’ to the young people of the Iranian revolution....

“As a Jewish cowboy (or ‘Juusshh,’ as we say in Texas), I know Rick Perry to be a true friend of Israel....

“A still, small voice within keeps telling me that Rick Perry’s best day may yet be ahead of him, and so too, hopefully, will be America’s.”

Don’t trust Kinky Friedman? (I don’t think I do either.) Then go to the website, mezuzahstore.com. There you can read about—you’ll have the opportunity to buy, for a mere $999.00—“The Rick Perry Mezuzah.” Let the folks at mezuzahstore.com explain why there is a Rick Perry mezuzah:

“Over the last few years we have been following with great interest the different stories of condominium boards making rules prohibiting Mezuzahs....

“Recently in June of this year (2011) Texas did something unique in passing a special law explicitly permitting the display of a Mezuzah up to 25 inches tall. This law overrides the authority of the Condo boards to ban Mezuzahs....

“After the bill was passed by the Texas legislature, the only question was whether Governor Rick Perry would sign it into law. When he did, we came up with the idea of commissioning a large, Texas style Mezuzah in his honor....

“In order to push the envelope a bit we told them to make it 26" tall - one inch taller than is protected by the Texas law. They loved the idea and got right to work on it. It arrived in our store in Los Angeles only a few days before Governor Perry announced his presidential campaign. What timing!”

The endorsement of Kinky Friedman! A 26” tall mezuzah! As they say—what could go wrong?

UPDATE: I appear to have left out another “Perry, Good for the Jews” item. Perry urged Attorney General Eric Holder to enforce the Neutrality Act, effectively helping to prevent the latest Gaza-bound flotilla from setting sail.

Navy SEAL Remembered by Family & Friends: Human and Canine

I've been so lazy and lax in blogging, and I don't know why.  There's so much crap going on in the world, that I think I need(ed) a break.  Anyway, I'm sure you've already seen this story, but it's one that I just have to post.  It makes my little teeny-tiny problems seem so petty and totally unimportant.  Major Kleenex warning!

From the UK's Mail Online:

Loyal to the end: Heart-breaking photo shows Navy SEAL's devoted dog guarding his coffin

• Petty Officer Jon Tumilson killed in Afghanistan crash
• Navy SEAL was one of 38 shot down in helicopter
• Labrador retriever Hawkeye was at emotional service

By Mark Duell

This heart-wrenching photo shows how a Navy SEAL’s dog refused to leave his master’s side during an emotional funeral. 

Petty Officer Jon Tumilson, 35, killed in the major U.S. helicopter crash in Afghanistan this month, was remembered by around 1,500 mourners.

But it was his Labrador retriever Hawkeye that really captured the public’s emotions in the photo taken by Mr Tumilson’s cousin, Lisa Pembleton.

Mr Tumilson, of San Diego, California, was one of 38 killed on August 6 when a rocket-propelled grenade took out a U.S. Chinook helicopter.

His funeral was held on Friday in his hometown of Rockford, Iowa, at the Rudd-Rockford-Marble Rock Community School.

Ms Pembleton said: ‘I felt compelled to take one photo to share with family members that couldn't make it or couldn't see what I could from the aisle.

'To say that he was an amazing man doesn't do him justice. The loss of Jon to his family, military family and friends is immeasurable.'

WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO HAWKEYE?

Nikki Virgilio, a friend of Mr Tumilson (known as J.T.) who was at the funeral, said Hawkeye was a personal pet rather than a military dog.


'I can happily report to you that Hawkeye was willed to one of J.T.'s good friends, the same one that took care of him whenever J.T. was deployed overseas,' she wrote on Facebook. 

This close friend was revealed by the Des Moines Register to be Scott Nichols.

Hawkeye's new owner was revealed by the Des Moines Register to be Mr Tumilson's close friend Scott Nichols, who said at the funeral that the fallen SEAL was more scared of his parents dying than being killed himself.

During the service, U.S. Navy Lieutenant Robert Bradshaw told Mr Tumilson's parents that they helped raise an ‘outstanding man - a hero’.

Family, friends and servicemen, along with Iowa Governor Terry Branstad and U.S. Senator Charles Grassley, packed the school's gymnasium.

Mr Tumilson, who joined the Navy in 1995, was known to friends as J.T.

‘J.T. was going to be a Navy SEAL come hell or high water,’ friend Scott Nichols said. ‘He wasn't afraid of dying.’

‘If J.T. had known he was going to be shot down when going to the aid of others, he would have went anyway,’ friend and soldier Boe Nankivel said.

Mr Tumilson's sister, Kristie Pohlman, said he always dreamed of joining the military's elite special forces unit.

‘Your dreams were big and seemed impossible to nearly everyone on the outside,’ she said. ‘I always knew you'd somehow do what you wanted.’

Family members followed Hawkeye into the service. Mr Tumilson is survived by two sisters and his parents, George and Kathleen.

• A fund was set up in the SEAL's honour. Donations can be sent to 'Frogman 238 Memorial Fund' at: First Security Bank and Trust, 201 West Main Ave, Rockford, Iowa, 50468