April 15 Tea PartyI forgot to bring a sign.  I’m not exactly an expert at this.  
I was also carting kids across town to this and that during this particular protest. 

Should the 2-15 year old black belts have skipped Tae Kwon Do lessons yesterday to attend? Terribly Korean though ..what are we thinking? Violin lessons and the library visit….There must be a move you can make with used violin strings that can cause serious harm. 
Clamping fingers in a Newt Gingrich book?  I’m just not an expert on being a "right wing" protester, but many in the media seem to think they have it figured out.

This post could also be titled:  A New Lesson Learned Today

What lesson?  There seems to be a powerful media agenda that doesn’t tell the truth.  I know many friends and family who would say: Where have you been?! 

I just need to see it with my own eyes a time or two.

Update: The real story, as opposed to the media’s message.  Upon review and once again, on a grassroots level:

Time for Tea- Life on the Planet

Tea Party: We Stand Here This Day . . .-Ragamuffin Studies

About the media….The Big Lie- Ragamuffin Studies


Paul Krugman of the NY Times starts with this: Tea Parties Forever

"This is a column about Republicans — and I’m not sure I should even be writing it."

So true. (The part about whether he should be writing it, that is.)
I am not a Republican. 

I might be a member of the Tea Party; a grassroots organization filled with people of various sorts. 

But I’m not anymore sure about that then I was when we became part of the homeschooling community many years ago.  We were doing it on our own, without the expert labeling and interpretation. 
When we started out, those people who didn’t say anything, likely didn’t have anything good to say about homeschooling and kept it to themselves. (Dead silence can speak volumes too.)  The Krugman types, who did have a snooty thing or two to say about homeschooling, were not looking and listening to our particular family story.  Those family and friends who said, "Good for you and best of wishes", were people we knew we could count on through thick and thin.  They were reliable.

If my kids had wanted to skip lessons to attend the Tea Party, I would have obliged.  Instead, they came for a bit to see what a civilized protest is about. We had a lengthy discussion about the purpose of this movement while walking around the perimeter of the park.  As one of our neighbors said to me yesterday, it’s a good civics lesson for the boys. 

Another Krugman gem:

The tea parties were promoted by FreedomWorks, a conservative nonprofit advocacy group based in Washington and led by former Republican House Majority Leader Dick Armey of Texas, who is now a lobbyist.

Dick Armey?  The midnight hacker of vaccine bills?  If anyone knew anything about me, they’d know Dick Armey has no positive effect on my life.

MSNBC seems to speak with the same Krugman voice:

Anti-tax ‘tea parties’ being held across U.S.

The tea parties were promoted by FreedomWorks, a conservative nonprofit advocacy group based in Washington and led by former Republican House Majority Leader Dick Armey of Texas, who is now a lobbyist.Dillon and Susan

I went to a Champaign Tea Party in the same park down the street from our old house. I took my little ones there to swing and slide and play when they were babes.  It was great to be in my old stomping grounds and see hundreds of people who are concerned about this country.  Nothing wrong with being concerned about our country and having an opinion.

Far as I can tell, this was a grassroots effort with various individuals who might be involved with various organizations.  We’re in 4-H and the kids play in a String Band.

MSNBC did actually come up with some original fresh fluff, but it doesn’t seem any more accurate:

While FreedomWorks insisted the rallies were nonpartisan, they have been seized on by many prominent Republicans who view them as a promising way for the party to reclaim its momentum.

I don’t believe most Republican politicians were encouraged to speak at these events.  My neighbor to the east, Indiana Jane, had this to say, and that’s what I saw too:

They are not anti-Obama. There may be some people who are stridently anti-Obama in attendance, but that isn’t the purpose. I would venture a guess that you would find as much disgust with Republican politicians and congressional Democrats among the protesters as with Obama. When I go to our local tea party on Saturday, one of our signs will be questioning our Republican congressman and his vote for the bailout.

Huffington Post says this:

National Republican figures have been trying to attach themselves to the growing anti-tax "Tea Party" movement — with limited success. Requests from politicians to speak at tea party events around the country have been rebuffed. "We’re not a function of the Republican party,"

One’s head could spin.

I enjoyed it.  It was wonderful running into Rhonda Robinson and meeting some of her good lookin’ kids.  I remembered yesterday how women like Rhonda held steady through thick and thin protecting Illinois homeschool rights. 

Illinois native, Elisheva,  made some wonderful signs for their Albuquerque tea party.  (I don’t think Elisheva likes to be typecast any more than I do.)
I like this sign below from our Tea Party yesterday.  My sons and I have been having a continuous conversation about what freedom means.  Dillon thinks I might have a different freedom interpretation than he does.  I’m going to keep trying to tease some written thoughts out of him.  I’ve learned a lot from him, as he’s coming from a decidedly different angle.  Our children had the freedom and education to make up their own minds.  I want to keep that.

  Freedom: Give it Back

Here’s some Consent of the Governed suggestions for After Tea Party - What YOU Can Do

Update: Press release from Representative Jan Schakowsky, Senate Candidate # 3

Schakowsky Statement on ‘Tax Day Tea Parties’

Schakowsky Calls Parties "Despicable’ and "Shameful"

CHICAGO, IL (April 15, 2009) – Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-IL, released the following statement in response to “tea parties” being held on Tax Day.
“The ‘tea parties’ being held today by groups of right-wing activists, and fueled by FOX News Channel, are an effort to mislead the public about the Obama economic plan that cuts taxes for 95 percent of Americans and creates 3.5 million jobs. It’s despicable that right-wing Republicans would attempt to cheapen a significant, honorable moment of American history with a shameful political stunt. Not a single American household or business will be taxed at a higher rate this year. Made to look like a grassroots uprising, this is an Obama bashing party promoted by corporate interests, as well as Republican lobbyists and politicians.”

They love her in Chicago. Schakowsky, whatever her political bent, is part of the problem.  From Wikipedia:

 On March 11, 2004, Schakowsky’s husband, lobbyist Robert Creamer, the executive director of the Illinois Public Action Fund, was indicted in federal court on 16 counts of bank fraud involving three alleged check-kiting schemes in the mid-1990s, leading several banks to experience shortfalls of at least $2.3 million[8]. "He is innocent," Schakowsky said in a statement [9]. In August 2005, Creamer pleaded guilty to one count of failure to collect withholding tax, and bank fraud for writing checks with insufficient funds. All of the money was repaid. According to USA Today Congresswoman "Schakowsky has not been accused of any wrongdoing." [1] Schakowsky served on the organization’s board during the time the crimes occurred [10] and Schakowsky signed the IRS filings along with her husband[9]. U.S. District Judge James B. Moran noted no one suffered "out of pocket losses" and Creamer acted not out of greed but in an effort to keep his community action group going without cutting programs, though Creamer paid his own $100,000 salary with fraudulently obtained funds. [2] On April 5, 2006, Creamer was sentenced to five months in prison and 11 months house arrest [11]. Creamer served his 5 month incarceration at the Federal Correction Institute in Terre Haute, Indiana and was released on November 3, 2006.