Archive for 2009
April 16, 2009
COMING SOON TO THE U.S.? Tuk Tuk USA gets DOT and EPA approval. Will it really become the favored car of hot blondes with bare midriffs? Only time will tell . . . .
IN THE MAIL: From Steve Miller and Sharon Lee, Longeye.
THE DISSIDENTS’ WAR: Michael Totten interviews Tom Ricks about Ricks’ new book, The Gamble.
ARE THE “STRESS TESTS” REALLY “FUDGE TESTS?”
HOPE AND CHANGE: Nicolas Sarkozy puts Barack Obama in the doghouse. I thought the world was going to love us!
OBAMA’S “BORDER CZAR” supports posse comitatus law. Good.
THE EXAMINER: Stop Stalling and Show Us The Bailout Books. “Unwarranted secrecy regarding the largest disbursement of public funds in U.S. history continues in the executive branch. So Congress should finally exercise its oversight authority and find out where every last bailout dollar has been spent. Three major news organizations – Bloomberg News, Fox Business News, and The New York Times – had to file lawsuits against the Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve Board after they were refused bailout documents requested under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). All three were stiffed by an administration that failed to deliver on a promise of more government transparency and accountability.”
WHAT TO DO ABOUT aging nuclear warheads.
LINDSAY LOHAN’S video personal ad.
NBC: THE WHOLE MEETING WAS really kind of creepy. Plus, White House “infuriated” at Tea Parties?
FROM BOINGBOING TV: The Flaming Bacon Lance of Death. From Theo Gray’s Mad Science.
MATT WELCH NOTES an Obama “speech tic.” Where “tic” means “saying things that aren’t true.”
BOB KRUMM: The People Have Turned To Themselves For Leadership. “A sign near the center of the crowd summed up the sentiment succinctly: Above side-by-side pictures of President Bush and President Obama were the words ‘Dumb & Dumber’.”
MISCUE: US govt faces veteran anger at extremism report. “The US Homeland Security Department, under fire for saying US forces returning from the Iraq and Afghan wars were potential right-wing extremist recruits, said Wednesday it honors US veterans.”
Except, you know, when it calls them murderous extremists.
THE TEA PARTIES: Nine hours of coverage from around the nation, on PJTV.
IT’S ONLY TAX DOLLARS: Pay-to-play scandal broadens at NY pension fund.
AN AMUSING REPORT from the Greenville, South Carolina Tea Party: “They will be selling the ‘Obama burger’ — you pay for one and they cut it in half and give the rest to the guy behind you for free!!” Heh. Be glad that they don’t take it all.
ON NPR, my live report from the Knoxville Tea Party. It starts about 20 minutes in.
CHANGE YOU CAN BELIEVE IN: “The National Security Agency intercepted private e-mail messages and phone calls of Americans in recent months on a scale that went beyond the broad legal limits established by Congress last year, government officials said in recent interviews.”
POWER LINE: Tea Party Time in Minnesota: With video.
Plus, Tea for 2000 in Rancho Cucamonga.
And 10,000 turned out in St. Louis.
And over 10,000 in San Antonio.
And here are Photos from Providence, Rhode Island.
Also, here’s a gallery of pictures from NYC.
And lots of reporting from Orlando.
MORE: Reader Russell Goble writes on Atlanta:
Where’s the love for Atlanta on your site? We had probably the largest event. I’ll just assume no one has sent you anything. Estimates were at over 15,000 (though I don’t pretend to understand how they get those numbers). . Attaching some pictures from down Washington Street in front of the capital. We got there after 7pm so we could not get even close to the capital steps, but they had big screens to broadcast the speakers. Echoing Jennifer Rubin, it was not a pro-Republican event even though we had some local Republican speakers. Some of the loudest cheers came when one of the organizers talked about how the RNC called her to “coordinate the message” and she, in so many words, told them to stick it. I can also report I only saw 3 signs that didn’t fit: one confederate flag, one “bow to the Muslim king” and one abortion sign. I did not see a single sign discussing immigration outside of one instance of snark about the DHS report (something like Terrorist = Wanting to enforce Immigration law). Lots of signs in reference to the DHS report. Considering there was not a coordinated message (the ATL tea party site just said to focus on fiscal responsibility) the signage and tenor was consistently anti-tax, anti-spending and anti-socialism. Hannity brought in some of the crowd (he did his Fox news broadcast from the event). Many people started to bolt when Hannity came on, including myself, since he wasn’t really speaking to the crowd just doing his FNC broadcast from there. It must be noted the Fair Tax people were out in force. This is Boortz’ home turf after all. Also a lot of Ron Paul folks.
Great event. Definately a lot of anger, but in a good spirited sort of way. And a note of appreciation to the organizers as well as the city and the MARTA people specifically. They were quite helpful to all the lost suburbanites who had no clue how to navigate MARTA and downtown. The city handled the event quite well and there were no problems at all as far as I could tell.
Sorry — I was really busy yesterday! I’ll try to do another roundup tonight. Here’s an Atlanta pic from Goble.
JENNIFER RUBIN ON THE TEA PARTIES: “The protest revealed a mood among Americans that spells trouble for both parties.”
April 15, 2009
WORST TEA PARTY COVERAGE in the Galaxy.
MORE ON THE Columbus, Ohio Tea Party. It was big.
And here’s a St. Louis Tea Party picture from Dave Glosecki.
And reader John Marcoux sends these pics from Charleston:
Here’s a New York picture from Andrew Koenig.
