Saturday, February 6, 2010

Teabagging: More, more, more!

Socialisum I enjoyed reading about the roundup of yesterday's tea party convention festivities. Sort of the way I enjoy a jab in the eye with a sharp stick, but I enjoyed it nonetheless!

One of the speakers was Judge Roy Moore, and I wrote a little about him yesterday. When he signed on to speak at the convention, he remarked that "Our rights are being taken away and they never stop—whether it's our right to our guns, as outlined in the Second Amendment, or our right to religious expression as outlined in the First Amendment, or our property rights, as outlined in the Fifth (Amendment) or state sovereignty" in the Tenth Amendment.

Once again, we're delving into paranoiac behavior with a persecution complex. This seems to be the mantra of many of these folks. Obama is not going after your guns, people. No one is denying your right to religious expression, unless you do it as part of government business, something that Moore doesn't quite seem to comprehend. Religion has no business in government. As for state sovereignty, didn't we settle that for good about 150 years ago? Didn't we fight a war about that, or am I just imagining it? States still have rights, but they are also beholden to follow the law of the land in certain overarching issues including civil rights and equality for all. Last time I checked, we were still the United States, although Texas doesn't seem too happy about that lately.

Bob & Doug In his speech yesterday, apparently Moore quoted scripture and Patrick Henry, much to the delight of the attendees. He said that America's "borders are open to criminals and terrorists who now roam among us." Again with the stuff about Canadian immigrants! Man, they must be badass to be generating such hatred and fear among the teabaggers. I'm really going to be on the lookout for these marauders.

About President Obama, Moore said he "has ignored our history and our heritage by denying we are a Christian nation. An appeal to the God of hosts is all that is left." Either that or "300 million people armed in the cause of liberty."

I have written about this before. For all this speechifying about how we are a Christian nation, and all their orgasmic love over the Constitution and our Founding Fathers, they are completely ignoring both by their continued clinging to the "Christian nation" meme. It is simply not so. And did he just advocate an armed insurrection? Isn't that considered treasonous?

By the way, Moore is running for Governor of Alabama in 2010, and has been endorsed by Chuck Norris, who pushes the levers in the voting booth with a roundhouse kick.

Another speaker was Joseph Farah, who is the editor of WorldNetDaily, a conservative website. (I think I've seen a few of their stories here and there.) He opened his speech with jokes about...President Obama's citizenship. That's right. The Birther movement is alive and well at the tea party convention.

To loud approval from the crowd, Farah said his dream is that if Obama seeks re-election in 2012, he won't be able to go to any city in America without seeing signs that ask, "Where's the birth certificate?" The fact that the rest of the media has declared the issue settled is proof, he said, that it's not.

Orly Owl To me, this speaks of the irrationality of this group more than anything else they do and say. The twisted logic of thinking that because the media says it's no longer an issue only "proves" that it still is...that's just beyond paranoia and frankly, it's pretty fucking stupid. It wasn't up to the media to "prove" anything, anyway. It was up to the hospital where he was born in Hawaii, by them producing his birth certificate, which they did. It was up to the judges who heard the continued suits filed by wild-eyed, batshit crazy Orly Taitz; the judges threw the suits out as having no merit, one of them even slapping her with a hefty fine for filing a frivolous lawsuit. If you're sticking with Orly Taitz and continue to believe that President Obama is not a U.S. citizen, you're just as batshit crazy as she is. Get some help. Seriously. Or maybe you're just a dumbass. That can be even harder to fix.

[As an aside, speaking of Hawaii...back when McCain picked Palin as his running mate, I was making fun of writing about her foreign policy experience, which consisted of Alaska sharing a border with Canada, and being able to look over and see Russia (As well as Putin rearing his head into U.S. airspace...hahaha...still a classic!). I said that since I've been to other countries, I thought I was qualified to be Vice-President, too, and since I eventually want to go to Hawaii one day, that would give me even more foreign policy experience. Someone actually thought I was serious, and believed that I thought Hawaii is a foreign country. heehee I still find that funny, and it says more to me about that person's obvious lack of any sort of irony or sarcasm detector. Or maybe it goes back to the dumbass factor.]

Some of the topics covered today included involving youth with the conservative movement. Apparently not too many young people showed up.

Jordan Marks, executive director of the conservative Young Americans for Freedom, suggested that activists use Facebook, volunteer to speak at high schools ("bastions of liberalism") and simply do fun stuff that hooks high school and college-age kids. Marks described a bowling party he organized - "Knock Down the Pinheads of Communism." A strike equaled Mao, a spare, Pol Pot. Mishelle Perkins, a 44-year-old mother of five children, said she supplements her children's education with books by Tea Party authors, but right now it's hard to get them too interested.

Bowling pins No doubt. That bowling thing sounds pretty fun, though. "Woohoooo, I got a Pol Pot!" But wait...high schools are "bastions of liberalism?" I'd like to see their evidence on that. I suppose that colleges are some sort of Dantean level of liberal hell for them.

Another speaker today was Steve Milloy, a guy who believes that global warming is not connected to human behavior, and owner of the site junkscience.com. He referred to modern environmentalism as “totalitarianism,” criticized Lindsey Graham for working with John Kerry on climate change legislation, and called for "reverse immigration" for Gov. Schwarzenegger for his work on environmental efforts.

Milloy...questioned the sanity and morality of cap and trade supporters, whom he called "bad people."

"Bad people?" He's giving a lecture at a convention about a topic he's focused on for years and presumably feels passionate about, and the worst he can come up with is that they're "bad people?" Oh yeah, Steve? Well...I know you are, but what am I? Man, he really needs to work on his Rickles skills.

I tell you what, it's a good thing this convention isn't a long one and is drawing to a conclusion tonight. I don't know how much more of this I could take. I find myself immersed in their words, slack-jawed and glassy-eyed, wondering what Bizarro World I've wandered into. If I stayed there too long, you'd probably find me rocking back and forth, holding onto myself, a little runner of drool descending from my bottom lip. Being the trooper that I am, I'm going to see if there's a live stream on the web of...gulp...Sarah Palin's speech tonight. If I need to, I've got that bottle of tequila that I haven't cracked open yet. I'm thinking that it might be kind of fun, though, if I get myself in the right frame of mind. It looks like it's going to be live on CNN tonight, but I'm not sure if I can handle her on the big screen, so I might have to watch it online; it looks like this site is going to stream it.

Anyone brave enough—or liquored up enough—to join me?

Note: I hope that everyone who got socked by the storm is safe and warm. Don't go out there if you don't have to!

8 comments:

  1. Hi Beth,
    I'll stick with watching the highlight reports of the Tea Parties. While I share your opinion of them -- the comments coming out of them seem pretty far-fetched/ridiculous -- I've grown to take these groups more seriously. There are a lot of disgruntled people these days and in the absence of strong leadership, people are more susceptible. Obama was too silent/cerebral for too long last year and I think that helped fuel this kind of opposition, zany as it is.
    Best,
    Marty

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  2. I find many aspects of this convention fascinating. First, if they are charging $500 per person, and 600 people showed up, doesn't that mean they brought in $30,000? Aren't they paying Madam Quitter $100,000? How are we to trust this movement with any budgets? If they think proof still exists the Prez isn't a citizen, instead of blaming the media, why haven't they come p with proof, aside from the terrible fake certificate of Oily Rags. And I constantly wonder if they have truly read the Constitution they claim to want to rescue from the cloven hooves of Democrats.

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  3. I'd join you in wathcing the live feed of The Quitter's speech, but I just can't; you're a much stronger man than I, Beth! >=[

    As for this: "Man, he really needs to work on his Rickles skills."
    I'd respond with: "Steve Milloy is a hockey puck."

    Whooooosh, I feel better!

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  4. With only 600, and at an income of $300,000, how can this be considered a national movement? They have not defined what they are really for, and there are no concrete ideas being put forth. It is more of the Party of No.

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  5. Beth, you gotta let it go. You're giving them credence by even letting it get you upset. They should be totally ignored. After all, their 2012 candidate is SP, the brainless ice princess herself. They're crazy. They deserve no energy or attention whatsoever.

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  6. I agree with Stan. The movement won't last because there's no truth to it. Evil sticks around for a while but eventually it evaporates, dissipates and erodes.

    D

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  7. We won the election and now these sore losers will continue to spew your hate with lies. The way our courts work is that you get a competent lawyer, verifiable facts and present them to a judge, if the facts are real and not half baked lies, then, and only then, you proceed to trial. The Birthers seem to be having a problem with their so called facts that they present. Let’s face it no one will go along with you until you guys win a case, but until then, you will continue to appear dumb, crazy or racist, or maybe all three. Keep plucking that chicken.

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  8. So maybe the Brit, Neil Sankey can succeed where the Russian immigrant (from the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic) has failed, bring it on.

    Poor little Birthers (still in denial about their losses), Judge Land and now judge Carter, smack down the crazies (case dismissed).

    Not even “Fake News” Glenn Beck or Bill O’Reilly believes the crazies, how funny.

    To all the birthers in La, La Land, it is on you to prove to all of us that your assertion is true (TOUGH WHEN YOU KEEP LOSING CASES), if there are people who were there and support your position then show us the video (everyone has a price), either put up or frankly shut-up. I heard Orly Taitz, is selling a tape (I think it’s called “Money, Lies and Video tape”). She is from Orange County, CA, now I know what the mean when they say “behind the Orange Curtain”, when they talk about Orange County, the captial of Conspiracy Theories. You know Obama has a passport, he travel abroad before he was a Senator, but I guess they were in on it.

    In my opinion the Republican Party has been taken over the most extreme religious right (people who love to push their beliefs on others while trying to take away the rights of those they just hate) and that’s who they need to extract from their party if they real want to win. Good Luck, because as they said in WACO, “We Ain’t Coming Out”.

    I wonder if she is a mail order bride, just like her law degree? She is perfect reporter material for “Fake News”, where unfounded rumors and innuendo reign supreme , unlike a our US courts of law. The way our courts work is that you get a competent lawyer, verifiable facts and present them to a judge, if the facts are real and not half baked lies, then, and only then, you proceed to trial. The Birthers seem to be having a problem with their so called facts that they present. Let’s face it no one will go along with you until you guys win a case, but until then, you will continue to appear dumb, crazy or racist, or maybe all three. Keep plucking that chicken.

    A lawyer, dentist, realtor and black belt, WOW I must say a JACK of all trades master of none

    I heard that she now wants to investigate the “Republican 2009 Summer of Love” list: Assemblyman, Michael D. Duvall (CA), Senator John Ensign (NV), Senator Paul Stanley (TN), Governor Mark Stanford (SC), Board of Ed Chair, and Kristin Maguire AKA Bridget Keeney (SC). She wants to re-establish a family values party.

    I can only hope that Taitz will resist the state collectors that will be hounding her like the “ruff ruff” that she is to collect the $20K.

    We won the election and now these sore losers will continue to spew your hate with lies.

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I'm funny how, I mean funny like I'm a clown, I amuse you?