TEA PARTY PANIC! “What’s the big deal? ACORN, MoveOn, and Soros get to pull puppet strings year after year, and that’s ok. But God forbid Fox News puts so much as its imprimatur on Tea Parties! No way! That’s too sinister, too insidious; and makes the whole movement illegitimate and inauthentic. Whatever… Jane Hamsher and Oliver Willis are probably asking ‘Who the hell are this Tea Party bunch? Where did they come from?’ I’ll tell you who they are, Jane and Oliver. They’re your worst nightmare: they’re small-governmenters first and party-loyalists second.”

LAUGHING AT JANE HAMSHER. “If we’re being organized by ‘corporate lobbyists’ then where the heck is my check? We’re coining the term ‘Tea Party Truthers’ to designate these people who try making these ridiculous connections that don’t correspond to reality.” Coming soon: The “Tea Party” protests originate in Roswell, New Mexico. Meanwhile, Hamsher ducks an interview in DC.

WHAT HAPPENED TO THAT “NET SPENDING CUT” we were promised? “Did Obama campaign on doubling, trebling even the federal budget deficit? No, he campaigned against the then-incumbent president’s profligacy. As he said in the third debate: ‘But there is no doubt that we’ve been living beyond our means and we’re going to have to make some adjustments. Now, what I’ve done throughout this campaign is to propose a net spending cut.'”

BRUCE BARTLETT WONDERS WHY TEA-PARTIERS ARE PROTESTING, as the United States remains a comparatively low-tax country. I think the protest isn’t about the present, but about where people fear the country is heading. And, once again, it’s time for this graphic. In addition, there’s the question of where the tax money is going. . . .

JOHN ALTHOUSE COHEN: Top 10 Posts From A Year of Blogging.

MEDIA BUDGETS are tight all over.

FAULTING THE WASHINGTON POST for going soft.

A REPORT FROM THE Pasadena Tea Party protest.

BACK TO CINCINNATI: “Cincinnati’s Fountain Square will be among 550 sites in the country Wednesday to host a Tax Day Tea Party protesting President Barack Obama’s federal stimulus package. . . . This is the second such event in Cincinnati. The first on March 15 drew around 5,000 people.”

Also, more advance publicity for Columbus.

“A NEW WAY FORWARD” GETS ITS LARGEST CROWD IN PORTLAND: “So far, it looks like the largest turnout for A New Way Forward was in Portland where about 150+ people gathered together to demand nationalization of all companies they deem too big.” Plus, blog reports on other cities’ turnout from the ANWF blog. And a roundup of video from ANWF rally attendees.

I’m not dissing these people — they’re trying and they mean well — but this turnout in Portland, and the second-biggest turnout in San Francisco, is dwarfed by the Tea Party turnouts in places like Yakima, Goshen, and Marysville.

DAN RIEHL: Where is your governor today? “While I wouldn’t be surprised to see Republicans caught out on an issue like this too, I was a bit surprised to see this item about a Democratic Governors Association meeting in Georgia that just happened to coincide with the last two days of The Masters golf championship.” Hey, it’s not like it was a trip to reward successful insurance salesmen or something. Now that would be a scandal.

MISSING FROM THIS WASHINGTON POST ANALYSIS OF THE TED STEVENS PROSECUTION DEBACLE is any hint of a political agenda on the part of the prosecutors.

THIS IS WEIRD: Amazon De-ranks adult-themed books? One thing I’ve liked about Amazon is its neutrality toward what it sells, from bibles to sex toys. (No really, they sell sex toys. Lots of ’em.) So this doesn’t make sense. Perhaps this will all turn out to be some sort of glitch or mistake? Just because folks on Twitter are upset doesn’t mean it’s an actual policy, and this article lacks any official response from Amazon. Note this cautionary comment. I’d give ’em until Monday, anyway, as this seems to have all heated up over the weekend.

UPDATE: Reader Leo Jiang writes: “The best part about the amazon sex toys … is the user reviews. And by far the most amusing of the user reviews are the one star reviews. ‘If you’re going to work your junk, use the right junk.’ Simply priceless.” If you’ve got the right attitude, you can find fun anywhere!

ANOTHER UPDATE: Discussion on Slashdot, especially in the comments. Plus this: “I am not a big subscriber to slippery slope theories but this is definitely a development that needs to be nipped in the bud. I may be a little more sensitive than others because of experiences I have had in local Seattle book stores. Most recently I have been trying to find a copy of War and Decision by Douglas Feith. I called all the Barnes and Nobles and Borders and quite a few other stores in the area. Not one carried it. When I asked about it at one store I was asked why would we carry that it’s nothing but a bunch of lies. This about a book by one of the architects of one of the major national policy decisions of the last half century.”

I still suspect that this is just a mistake. I can’t imagine Amazon imitating Abunga, which didn’t exactly burn up the marketplace.

MORE: It’s a glitch. No big surprise.

WHO’S AFRAID OF TEA PARTIES?

UPDATE: “Wake up, sheeple!” Hear Jane Hamsher’s cry!

ANOTHER UPDATE: How do you cover a Tea Party “incognito” when nobody knows or cares who you are anyway? With no great difficulty, I guess!

MORE: Reader Arthur Lueck writes: “”How do you cover a Tea Party ‘incognito’? I’m assuming you wear something other than your favorite Che t-shirt.” An idea so crazy it just might work!

STILL MORE: Worrying about provocateurs, a reader emails: “Might be a good idea for tea party organizers to have some citizen
journalists there themselves, looking for ‘citizen journalists’ who brought friends with instructions to yell out idiotic remarks. I’m just sayin.”

LAME: Microsoft bails on its campus pub, sticking owner with a lot of built-out space that’s now useless. Metaphorical, somehow.

2016 DOESN’T LOOK THAT GOOD: The new Terminator: Salvation game trailer.

“THE TYPICAL AMERICAN IS NOT A GOOD CITIZEN.” Moe Lane observes: “I’d submit this without comment …except where’s the fun in that?”

VETERANS AFFAIRS: A model for the rest of us?

ASTROTURFING ON A WHITE HOUSE SCALE. “Supposedly, guns from America are arming the Mexican drug gangs.” Not the first time we’ve seen bogus reporting used to sell a bill of goods.

Debunking here. Also here.

STACKING THE DECK? If so, now unstacking as quickly as possible . . . .

THE MUDVILLE GAZETTE follows the pirate rescue and critiques the media coverage. “One thing that’s clear from having seen the briefing – this has been one of the worst examples of reporting a major story I’ve seen in a long time. From the beginning rumors have been reported as fact – one of the reasons the first report done here on the topic was titled ‘Initial Reports are always Wrong’. That point was lost on those covering this subsequently. . . . I wonder if they’ll consider arming crews now? Four pirates can overwhelm a ship crewed by 20+, grab a hostage, and keep the US Navy and two thousand Marines tied up for days? How many such victories can we expect in the future?”

MAYBE I SHOULD GET A FULL-TIME MAKEUP ARTIST. Hey, to each according to his needs, and can anyone deny that I need the help more? I didn’t think so.

NATIONALIZE the ATMs!

THAT’S A NICE THING TO DO: A special showing of the new Star Trek movie for troops deployed in the Middle East. With the cast on hand!

HEH: “Never waste a crisis… Yeah, somebody said that recently. But it sure as hell wasn’t about resisting spending money.”