Nightgaunt

He's locked himself away in seclusion, trying to come up with a way to tax the volcano.

I would imagine that they're worried about the fact that he's inciting people to commit illegal acts.

This Jason Levin guy (who has ties to Obama's "Coffee Party") is calling for people to "exaggerate the group's least appealing qualities". He also says, ""Do I think most of them are homophobes, racists or morons? Absolutely." So does this mean that the provocateurs are going to be holding up racist and homophobic signs? Are they planning on shouting "the N word"? If so, then I think we need to take just as hard a look at these people as Tea Party members who might spout bigotry. I don't think they should be let off the hook just because they claim to be pursuing some kind of "higher ideal". I thought the Coffee Party was formed to counter the Tea Party by coming up with reasonable counter arguments, not by setting it up to take a fall by staging "false flag" events. I hate what the Tea Party has become, but the tactics that this "Crash the Tea Party" movement is talking about employing seems to me to be even more despicable. I think we should be outraged at either group if they're espousing bigotry or violence, regardless of "noble intent". The end does not justify the means. Ever. So, I don't see how the crashers are actually helping the Tea Party (not that they deserve any kind of "help"). I haven't seen any hard evidence of bigotry at Tea Party events. I've seen a lot of media spin and hatchet jobs that end up getting retracted or disproven. Are there individuals who identify themselves as "Tea Partiers" who are also "racists, homophobes, or morons"? Absolutely. I know some. Some are members of my extended family, to my shame. This doesn't necessarily mean that the organization as a whole is racist. I may not like what they now stand for, but I don't think ad hominem attacks are the way to go in expressing that disagreement. That's the lazy and stupid way out. In the final analysis, Phee, you said it best: "Does this make anybody's life actually better?" I think we can all agree that the answer is a resounding "NO". What can we do about it? What can we, as individuals, do to make people's lives better? We're doing one thing right now: talking about it; identifying the problems. Maybe some thought should be given to starting our own grassroots movement, putting our money where our mouths are, as it were, and start publicly cutting through the bullshit with our own manifesto based on things we can agree on, regardless of party affiliation. Just a thought, but I'd be open to sitting down and discussing the formation of such an organization.

Agreed, and I think you've done a great job in succinctly making the point. Neither the Tea Party nor the agents provocateur working against it are doing anyone any good. This is not to say that disruption cannot be employed in a constructive manner. Imagine the country we'd be living in had the Civil Rights movement never disrupted the status quo. I just want to point out the difference between effecting change and sitting on your hands so as not to rock the boat.

Are you referring to the group planning to infiltrate and destroy the Tea Party movement, or DGNers discussing it?

I was out demonstrating in the early days. It was most definitely grassroots. There was no central planning, no "Tea Party Express". It took time for the GOP to infiltrate, although they started their efforts very early on. It was primarily a bunch of people who wanted to put an end to the Federal Reserve, opposed the "banker bailout", and were angry about Congress passing legislation that curtailed our freedom in the wake of 911. You saw just as many anti-Patriot Act signs as anti-bailout. I can only speak for the rallies that I attended, but they were composed primarily of those that didn't buy into the false "Left/Right paradigm" and had awakened to the fact that the People were getting assfucked six ways from Sunday, no matter who happened to be slouching around the Oval Office. Whether or not the forces of evil were trying to slither their way in at the time is immaterial to me, because I believe we did some good. I was part of a small group that explained to an interested policeman how the Federal Reserve system worked. Seeing his jaw drop made it all worthwhile. We were achieving our goal of waking people up to the fact that they were being scammed. Now we've got Sarah Palin running around saying all the right things, but the fact remains that she's John McCain's good buddy. The same John McCain who voted for the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (the "banker bailout"), the Patriot Act, the Military Commissions Act of 2006, and voted in favor of warrantless wiretapping. I'm disappointed by the Tea Party takeover, but not surprised. I say let it go, and move on. The truth does not need an official organization to back it up. A brief note on racism accusations: I have been told time and time again that I am an anti-Semite because I oppose international banks running our economy. The first time I heard this I was really confused. It's been explained to me that it's because Jews are associated with banking. People actually invoke a stereotype in order to paint me as a bigot. I suspect that this kind of thinking is one of the sources of claims of racism against Tea Partiers.

I agree. That's always good for mad lulz.

Television does induce a trance state; you don't even have to fall asleep while watching. I'm sorry to hear about your father's troubles. My grandfather went through the same thing in his later years. He believed that it was 1974 (it was 2000), Jimmy Carter was President and that I was his grandfather. It's a horrible thing to watch and know there's nothing you can do. :(

It's the graduation to social conditioning combined with "product placement" that bothers me. If product placement is done well (read "unobtrusively"), I don't have a problem with it if it means that the artist gets more funding for his art. I also don't have a problem with an artist trying to get a message across. That's intrinsic to art in general, with a long and noble history. My problem is when a corporation forgoes trying to sell a product in favor of changing social mores to see a product group as morally or ethically essential. "You don't buy Ecocorp brand biodegradable garbage bags? Why do you hate the earth??" "You didn't take a morning after pill? Don't you care about overpopulation?" It's even scarier when governmental entities can buy their way in. No one has more to gain by shaping people's perceived reality than government.

That's a great point about how we were sold a bill of goods concerning smoking! Sorry about the bold text...I couldn't get it to "unbold".

Government coverup? What? I'm talking about the Tea Party being co-opted by the likes of Sarah Palin & Company. Oh, I get it. I forgot that anyone who talks about real issues is a conspiracy theorist-unamerican-racist-terrorist. The Tea Party did not start out as an anti-Obama circle jerk. All this GOP-inspired nonsense didn't start until the GOP jumped on the bandwagon and turned the Tea Party movement into a platform from which to spew rhetoric. The Tea Party was not "policed" because it was a grass-roots movement. The cries of racism and violence did not start until the GOP officially got on board. Which side do you want me to come out for? Do you want me to be a Republican or Democrat here, because I'm not sure exactly what you're trying to imply with your statement.

Eternal, that incident where the tea party fellow allegedly spit in the Congressman's face and there were supposedly cries of "the N word" has been discredited. The video of the event has been analyzed and there was not a racial epithet to be heard. The Congressman claimed to have been spit on, but what actually happened was that he got right in the protester's face while he was chanting and a little bit of spittle unintentionally landed on him. Not that it matters, people are going to believe what they want to and the idea of provocateur action never crosses their minds. The Tea Party movement (at least the main and most vocal part) has been taken over by the Republican party and the situation has become yet another distraction from what's actually going on in government. Instead of addressing concerns about the Federal Reserve and the $28 trillion* (and growing) bank bailout, it has now been reduced to good little Republicans and good little Democrats arguing, apparently now, about space aliens. The issues that the Tea Party was founded upon have become buried. Mission accomplished, Uncle Sam. Great job. Meanwhile, we're losing our livelihoods while the offshore private banks turn record profits and gain ridiculous amounts of control over a government that is supposed to be of, by, and for the People. I now return you to your regularly scheduled Divide & Conquer, already in progress. *That's about 2 1/2 times the yearly gross domestic product. Your taxes have to pay that back. With interest. We have to pay back 2 1/2 times more money than is actually in circulation. Do I need to say it again?

Most people who know me well know why I can't stand watching television. "Law & Order" is a perfect example. Every week, the cops on this show blatantly violate people's rights, but by the end of the show, it's no problem because, well, they were bad guys and the end justifies the means. Ever since police tasering people unnecessarily or to an extreme degree became an issue, we see being tasered portrayed as just wacky hijinks in TV and movies. Constitutionalists are portrayed at best as "conspiracy nuts" and at worst, public enemies. This article talks about warm fuzzy stuff like encouraging people to be healthy and to recycle, but I have to conclude that if this practice is effective in these arenas, it's also being used to promote agendas and social conditioning that maybe isn't so nice. What do you think? Is it art reflecting society, or government and corporate dollars attempting to sway public opinion?

I think you're missing my sister's point. Substitute "Pope" with "President", "Dalai Lama", or "Elvira, Mistress of the Dark". The point is that the homeowner makes the rules and must be respected, even if the homeowner or rules are not to your liking.

We'll see more and more of this kind of thing in the coming years. IS YOUR NEIGHBOR A TERRORIST?

I am in awe, sir! Good luck with Illustrator; I've been learning it over the past year or so. It's humbling, especially if you've been using Photoshop for a long time.

Original article here. Here's another one. Opinions?

It's okay, StormKnight. I saw Episode IV in 1977, too. Of course I was only three. My favorite character is a toss up between Chewbacca and R2D2, and of course, I'm going with Empire. I hated the prequels. I thought the writing was some of the worst in cinematic history and both Jake Lloyd and Hayden Christiansen were horrid. My son plays with my old Star Wars toys.

I'll be there on Friday...

Gaf, I know that you've studied enough to know that the Civil War era Democratic party was nothing like the one we know today. <opinion> The less we fight along partisan lines, the better. By taking sides (really, two sides of the same coin) and having a "Republicans suck! No, Democrats suck!" argument, our attention is diverted from the evils the Republicrats are visiting upon the People. </opinion> My main concern is twofold: 1. Is every President required to publicize his/her birth certificate? 2. What does the Republican leadership have to say about the Democrats' assertion that Obama has demonstrated to Congress his qualifications?

Original article at WeAreAustin.com What do you think the ramifications of this sort of thing could be if it was practiced in every town? Can we look forward to a future where neighbors monitor each other for breaking ordinances? Think maybe some of these volunteers are going to go ticket-happy?

Does every President have to produce a birth certificate? I would imagine so, given the restrictions on who can become President. If that is the case, how was Obama able to ignore the requirement?