Can monkeys bring together the Tea and Coffee Parties?

B-Daddy has some more info on the Coffee Party, here and comes up with some pretty telling info as to their goals, motives and backings. Not that you would be able to tell what it is these people are all about by reading their "About Us" at their home page. Yes, they have a national homepage.

Coffee Party USA aims to reinvigorate the public sphere, drawing from diverse backgrounds and diverse perspectives, with the goal of expanding the influence of the People in America's political arena. We do not require nor adhere to any preexisting ideology. We encourage deliberation guided by reason amongst the many viewpoints held by our members. We see our diversity as a strength, not a weakness, because we believe that faithful deliberation from multiple vantage points is the best way to achieve the common good. It is in the responsible and reasonable practice of deliberation that we hope to contribute to society.

We know what is going to be bookmarked on our insomnia reading list from here on out. Honestly, what the heck did that paragraph above really say?

We want to give these folks the benefit of the doubt, particularly if the tea party can find some common ground but as you will read at B-Daddy's piece, it's going to be awfully hard.

They are big on money in politics and in particular the concept of "corporatism", or the hand-in-glove partnership between government and private industry (picking winners and losers) decried by the (now extinct) class of good government liberals like Thom Hartmann, author of the book What Would Jefferson Do?

Hey, we're all for getting rid of "corporatism" or as we refer to it around here, crony capitalism or economic fascism but is the coffee party's corporatism merely code speak for bashing Wall St. to the exclusion of ignoring the federal government's complicity in the financial and mortgage meltdowns? When we hear phrases like "The government is not the enemy", which is big in the Coffee Party lexicon, that question is all but answered.




P.S. B-Daddy has garnered a comment from a Coffee Party participant who seems like a very reasonable fellow. He thinks there is common ground in money in politics (campaign finance reform) and gerry-mandered districts.

Since money in politics is directly proportional to power in politics/government that might be a tough nut to crack. To wit, we see as a Coffee Party goal, more of McCain/Feingold which did absolutely nothing to stem the flow of money and which only rerouted the flow on its way to the same destination.

Districting, however, is an abomination and is a spoil of whatever party is in power. We have previously said we would prefer a team of monkeys armed with crayons and letting them loose on a map of California rather than the way districts are now hacked up. Hey, we may be on to something. It's some progress.

Who are these guys?

Obama supporter and campaigner, Annabel Park, pens a column for CNN.com, “Why I started the Coffee Party USA”.

We’ve stated before that the Coffee Party movement is simply a collection of disaffected liberals who are frustrated Obama’s agenda has not progressed quickly enough and her article only re-enforces this notion.

What it is that they appear to be really big on is the influence wielded by lobbyists working on behalf of corporations. While that may be a noble and legitimate concern, it doesn’t address the central issue that the reason lobbyists enjoy such seemingly undue influence in the democratic process is because the government itself is such a powerful and authoritarian entity. Why else would these corporations and industry groups invest so much money lobbying if there was not going to be a payoff from the government in position to grant the wishes of these corporations? At the end of the day, the lobbyists are only a symptom of the problem.

Park never addresses this central issue. There is a lot of talk in the article about civil discourse and collective deliberation and what not but she never addresses the breadth and reach of government that is the cause of what the Coffee Party claims to be upset about.

Towards the end of the article, she lets the mask slip and reveals herself and her nascent movement for what it is.

We can find immediate institutional solutions -- for example, changing Senate rules and procedures that impede government, countering misinformation and promoting campaign finance reform and term limits.

It doesn’t take our vaunted de-coder ring to decipher this as frustration with the Republicans using the filibuster rules of the Senate to prevent/stall Obama’s statist agenda. Never mind the fact, it has been House Democrats that have been the ones gumming up the works.

Perhaps Ms. Park doesn’t speak for the entirety of the national Coffee Party movement, just as there is no national spokesperson for the Tea Party movement but any person interested in joining the Coffee Party should realize that despite the feel-good yet vague rhetoric, the Coffee Party is nothing more than Obama supporters who cannot believe that with their guy in office and majorities in both the House and Senate, they have not yet achieved the statist utopia of their dreams.

The Coffee Party: the obviously obvious answer to the Tea Party...

... and other related thoughts.

Confirmed: As suspected, the Coffee Party is comprised of disaffected netroot types that are trying to get Hope’n’Change back on track and who can’t believe the unwashed masses of the Tea Party have effectively leveraged against the grand transformative statist agenda of the Obama administration.

The founder, Annabel Park has a long history of activism with various lefty groups but you know what? We’re not here to quibble over grass-roots bona fides – it’s about the ideas and we happen to think that the message of limited government, low taxes and fiscal responsibility is a winning one in this center-right country.

Not so random thought regarding the political demographics of the Tea Party: given who we know is involved, it certainly appears to be a re-birth of the Reagan coalition, no? Disaffected (I didn’t leave the party the party left me) Reagan Democrats, fiscal conservatives and libertarians with a smattering of government-wary social cons.

Unlike the Reagan coalition, though, we believe you may find a few more doves in the ranks. That’s cool. As B-Daddy pointed out regarding the rally on Saturday and with respect to counter-protesters carrying anti-war placards… “and you’re point is?” And we think that is to the Tea Party’s advantage. You cannot effectively counter what it is you do not comprehend.

We forgot where we heard it but the person said conservative activists have co-opted Saul Alinsky’s tactics and were now beating the Left about the head and shoulders with them. You know what else we’ve co-opted? Their music. Check out Waynok’s totally excellent video of the proceedings down at the Star of India on Saturday.

Finally… B-Daddy (the Tea Party's unofficial ideologist?) has unveiled his revised Freedom Coalition agenda. No big changes, though it is tweaked slightly to reflect some Tea Party priorities.

‘Night, all.

P.S. Picture above is of our first Tea Party event last April. We missed the kick-off Tea Party rally a few weeks before as our previously non-activist asses goofed up on the time and date. We were so adorable back then.

Great moments in the history of grass roots politics

So, how's that whole Coffee Party thing working out?

If imitation is the highest form of flattery, the "tea party" movement must be honored.

In an effort to replicate the tea party's success, 170 liberal and civil rights groups are forming a coalition that they hope will match the movement's political energy and influence. They promise to "counter the tea party narrative" and help the progressive movement find its voice again after 18 months of floundering.

The large-scale attempt at liberal unity, dubbed "One Nation," will try to revive themes that energized the progressive grassroots two years ago. In a repurposing of Barack Obama's old campaign slogan, organizers are demanding "all the change" they voted for -- a poke at the White House.

Apparently, the "civic" tone of the Coffee Party wasn't inspiring enough to generate any momentum so the statists are turning to the old hands to see what they can do.

The groups involved represent the core of the first-time voters who backed President Obama -- including the National Council of La Raza, NAACP, AFL-CIO, SEIU and the United States Student Association. (The effort is separate from the Democratic Party's plan to spend $50 million trying to reach those same voters.)

Their aha moment happened after the health-care overhaul passed this spring. Liberal groups, who focused their collective strength to push the bill against heavy resistance, felt relevant and effective for the first time in a long while. That health-care coalition -- composed of civil rights groups, student activists and labor leaders -- liked the winning feeling.

(italics, ours)

The gang's all here!

We like the fact that they thought they had anything to do with the passage of Obamacare rather than business-as-usual backroom buy-offs and deals and parliamentary wrangling.

The coalition's first goal is to plan a march to "demonstrate to Congress that these agenda items have support across multiple demographics," Jealous said. The demonstration, to be held Oct. 2, will center on pressing for more government spending on job creation.

That the Lord would be so good to us that the far Left of this country will be on full display in our nation's capitol a month before the midterm elections.

The Coffee Party never got off the ground for one basic reason: statist policies, particularly those pushed by this administration are simply not popular with the public. It isn't rocket science. Now we see, however, the natural evolution of things where unpopular policies will now be pushed by unpopular groups. That, to us, makes the most sense, any way.

Decaf?

Standing by for the outrageous outrage over the House approval of the Senate health care reform bill from our new friends in the Coffee Party movement.

If they decry the undo influence of lobbyists on Capitol Hill and the “corporatism” that describes today’s public/private marketplace, then surely they must object to the compulsory nature of Obamacare where for the first time, the federal government is forcing citizens to purchase a good or service, in this case, health insurance coverage, from a private entity – the very health insurance companies that have allegedly been getting fat off the American people for years now.

And you think the healthcare industry lobby is influential now, just wait until it’s Congress telling them what medical practices they will be required to cover and dictating the deductible amounts for specific drugs and so on and so forth.

Surely, the hypocrisy of demonizing the health insurance industry and then turning around and handing them 30 million new customers would gall the Coffee Party to the degree they would stand with the Tea Party in opposition to this sham of a bill.

We can imagine that this is not the HopenChange they were waiting for. The Cornhusker Kickback, the Louisiana Purchase, Gator Aid and all the other backroom bribes, special-interest deals and general whoring-out that was required for this once-in-a-generation legislation should definitely be an anathema to the good-government instincts of the Coffee Party.

And surely, they must be disappointed in the man whom we are assuming most of them voted into the Oval Office as it was he who was going to change the way business was done in Washington and it was he who was going to usher in a new era of bipartisanship, cooperation and understanding in this country. Yet, it is he who will sign this illegitimately-fashioned and fatally flawed bill into law.

The cynic in us says that, yes, yea verily has Obama delivered on his promises. Any amount of corruptness, rank partisanship, naked power-grabbing and toxicity that existed previously in Washington has been exceeded by a degree we never thought possible. Change we can believe in is change we can now see with our very eyes.

So, what say ye, Coffee Party? Here’s your opportunity to prove to America you are not the statist shills for the Obama agenda we believe you to be. Prove us wrong. Prove us wrong by standing with the majority of Americans in opposing Obamacare.

Addendum #1: We’re calling you out also, ACLU, on the grounds of the compulsory nature of O-Care.

One year anniversary Tea Party rally round-up... in absentia. UPDATED

Never give in--never, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.

-Winston Churchill

Despite the rain, it looks like there was a pretty good turnout for the 1-year anniversary San Diego Tea Party rally.

Job obligations prevented us from attending but we want to extend our heart felt thanks to those who did make it out there yesterday.

A round-up of yesterday’s events:

B-Daddy here and here

W.C. Varones here

Temple of Mut here



(UPDATE #1): Sweet. Lefties have started up their alternative to the Tea Party movement and have named it, wait for it… the Coffee Party movement.



No real strong policy positions but we busted out our statist decoder ring and broke down the unspoken meaning behind the talking points:

“Cooperation” = Pass Democratic legislation

“We object to obstructionism” = Pass Democratic legislation

“reality-based” = Pass Democratic legislation

“fear-based tactics” = Pass Democratic legislation

“the system is broken” = Pass Democratice legislation

“Congress works for us not the corporations” = Pass Democratic legislation

“We need to get people out of the way” = Pass Democratic legislation

Nice little whiny strawman set up by the young lady that the media has portrayed the Tea Party movement as “representative of America”. Really?

Interesting bone-throw to the Tea Partiers, though, with respect to finding common ground on fiscal conservatism. Given what we saw in the video, however, we aren't buying the sincerity of the claim.

No matter. It’s pretty obvious these are net-rootsy types who find it incomprehensible that more than one year in, Hope and Change has been, for the time being, derailed.

But in the spirit of grass-roots democratic activism, we welcome the Coffee Party to the scene. Let’s get it on!

H/T: Hot Air

Coffee and/or Tea?

Two Sundays ago, we informed you B-Daddy was contemplating attending San Diego’s inaugural Coffee Party event at Lestat’s in (ab)Normal Heights. He went and his excellent account of the proceedings can be found here.

Not really sure what it is they’re after or attempting to accomplish. They’re big on emphasizing civility which is cool but that overarching theme is an obvious attempt to differentiate themselves from the state-controlled media-driven template of the Tea Party as the angry mob without (yet) having to stand for anything.

We know what they will eventually stand for so we will save you all the suspense: They are disaffected liberal-lefties who are disappointed Obama’s statist policies haven’t moved along swiftly enough. Fancy that.

But is there any common ground that can be found between the two groups? That depends on them. We’ve been beating the drum on this for quite some time but a good and honest liberal who railed at the “corporatism” of the Bush years should be equally if not more outraged by the corporatism of the Obama administration. What else would one call the hand-in-glove partnership of the government and two of the three U.S. auto manufacturers without any apparent exit strategy than corporatism or as we like to refer to it, crony capitalism and economic fascism.

We wait to be surprised but we have a sneaking suspicion that the Obama administration’s governing penchant for picking winners and losers in the private sector won’t be a pressing concern of the Coffee Party movement.

Wow us, guys.

Graphic of the Day

In: Tea Party

Out: Coffee Party

So Out, they're really In: Legal Insurrection


In the Coffee Party's defense, it's really tough to generate any excitement... or actual membership, for that matter, when you are unable to state what your agenda (see: progressive statism) is other than some mindless drivel about "civility".

Headline of the day

Courtesy Jim Treacher at the Daily Caller:

The schism in the Coffee Party is so bad, they split up into two different booths at Denny’s


Our previous thoughts on this curious faux-roots political organization, here.

When it formed about this time last year, the Democrats had control of the Oval Office and both the Senate and the House and with the resulting progressive agenda being advanced through the corridors of power, we just could never figure out what this crew was supposed to be all about.

Oh, that's right... civility. They were going to bring civil discourse to the public arena.

“We are writing to you because it is our belief that much can be learned from the experience of the Interim Board, and the dynamics on the Board which we believe seriously impeded our process. We would like to identify some issues which, from our point of view, have become problems within the Coffee Party, and which, if not corrected, will hinder its success,” wrote ousted board members Bahiya Cabral-Johnson, Teri Torres-Hart and Sabina Virgo in an open letter.

Painting a general picture of organizational chaos, they pointed to a lack of civility in the organization, a lack of democracy and a lack of consultation.

Bummer, dudes.

Goody... more "civility" or something.

Though it didn't fare too well the first time around, it looks like liberal William A. Galston and um, conservative, David Frum are cranking up Son of The Coffee Party.

On Dec. 13, more than 1,000 citizens from the 50 states will convene in New York to change the odds. They are founding a movement - No Labels. Among them will be Democrats, Republicans and independents who are proud of their political affiliations and have no intention of abandoning them. A single concern brings them together: the hyper-polarization of our politics that thwarts an adult conversation about our common future. A single goal unites them: to expand the space within which citizens and elected officials can conduct that conversation without fear of social or political retribution.

And just what will The Coffee Party Pt. II aim to accomplish?

Over the next 12 months, No Labels plans to organize citizens' groups in every state and congressional district. Among other activities, these citizens will carefully monitor the conduct of their elected representatives. They will highlight those officials who reach across the aisle to help solve the country's problems and criticize those who do not. They will call out politicians whose rhetoric exacerbates those problems, and they will establish lines that no one should cross. Politicians, media personalities and opinion leaders who recklessly demonize their opponents should be on notice that they can no longer do so with impunity.

So, by this calculus, it is implied that a Republican Congressmen who does not vote for the DREAM Act in this congressional session is somehow a less-than-worthy pol because he is clearly thwarting the will of the public. And to be fair (and civil, because that's just the type we are around here) a Democratic congressmen who does not reach across the aisle to defund portions of ObamaCare in the next Congressional session when the Republicans have the majority is somehow not serving the interests of this country as defined by No Labels.

While we're at it, we'd like to get an operational definition of "rhetoric that exacerbates the problem"? Who within No Labels gets to vote on what qualifies and what doesn't?

And who should their first call-out be? How about the meanie who wrote this?

What man or mouse with a fully functioning human brain and a résumé as thin as Palin’s would flirt with a presidential run? It makes the political biography of Barack Obama look more like Winston Churchill’s, despite the fact that the 44th president breezed into the Oval Office as little more than a glorified state senator.

That would be Joe Scarborough. Member: No Labels.

So about that whole civility thing?

This probably explains why that Coffee Party never got off the ground.




So, just what is it with libs and their infantile obsession with cursing and in particular, acts of reproduction?

Back in July, a gathering of "angry" libs put together a video to raise money for an something called Un-F**k the Gulf.

Now some Democratic party operatives and heavies have launched the "Fu*ck Tea" project as a way to counter the tea party movement and advance liberal, excuse us, progressive causes.

As you can see, the spelling of the operative verb of this group is slightly different from that of the Gulf oil spill group but we are positive you will find their respective M.O.s mind-numbingly redundant.

Hey, look. They've even got their own video:

"We hate what you do and we hate your whole crew."



Again, seething hatred and F*ck-ing or F**k-ing represents the sum total of what these people know/do.

Stay classy.

No really... they're here to help.

One of the great statist economic policy follies is that of this concept of the “living wage”, which is manifested by the incessant push from minority and civil rights activists to raise the minimum wage, or as we around here at BwD headquarters like to call it, “the great jobs killer”.

Forcing businesses, mostly small businesses, to raise their minimum wage will result in one of two things: that increase in the cost of doing business will be passed on to the consumer in the form of higher prices for goods and services and/or the employer will cut back on the hours of or lay off the employees at the bottom end of his wage scale.

Higher prices and higher unemployment… now who can't get with that program?

Of course, these self-styled activists because of their noble-minded efforts wind up shafting the very people they are most trying to help. Check out the graph below tracking the corresponding rise in the minimum wage alongside the rising black teen and overall teen unemployment rates.



For all you back-patters out there we leave you with this little gem from our boy, B-Daddy.

Ever notice how Democrat favored policies have a racist outcome, even if Dems aren't racist? Welfare trapped minorities into a life of dependency. Racial quotas breed resentment of minorities. Public school monopolies primarily put inner city minorities at a disadvantage. Abortion impacts blacks disproportionately more than whites.

Add the push for increases to the minimum wage to this list of unintended consequences.

Because it’s feeling good about yourself and your efforts that trumps actual results.


P.S. B-Daddy is thinking about going to a Coffee Party get together at Lestat's Coffee House in North Park in a friendly gesture/effort to find some common ground with those folks. Let him know whether or not you think that is a good idea. After some initial reservations, we figure, screw it - why not? We do believe conservatives have some common ground over what they call "corporatism" and we call economic fascism and what we both refer to as crony capitalism.

P.P.S. Lestat's... are they serious?

Could they possibly find a more obvious venue for disaffected Hopenchange beta-male types. At least no one's going to get lost trying to find the place.

P.P.P.S. Sorry, can't let this go. Leslie, Sarah, Dawn, were we to do anything similar could I suggest KnB Wine Cellars in Del Cerro or Hoffer's in La Mesa.

Discussing things as important as the future of the nation should not be accompanied by anything less than a wide variety of fine adult libations.

How's that working for ya?

Re: ObamaCare.

So, that was it?

That was the liberal-Left's Big Idea?

We have essentially created public utilities out of the health insurance corporations. The federal government and the health insurance industry in a hand-in-glove partnership... picking winners and losers!.

The very corporatism they claim to have despised, they, in the end, clawed, scratched, bribed, swindled, decieved, misled, lied and whored in order to achieve.

As I have said before, if we want an anti-corporate agenda, then let's end the subsidies, bail outs and tax breaks that go to corporations. But that would mean vast simplification of the tax code not seen since Reagan and Rostenkowski worked out a deal. In general, it means we have to renounce government interference in the economy to achieve a true anti-corporate agenda. But politicians of both parties can't resist the temptation. This is where the Tea party comes in, we educate the public on the negative impact and demand a smaller more accountable government. I'm not talking laissez-faire but just minimally intrusive policies.

Will we get any help from our left-leaning Coffee Party friends? One would think that an anti-corporate agenda would be in their wheel house. However, because of the progressive's reflexive instincts towards more government regulation (read: more government intervention into the free market), the result turns out being the government and private industry having that much greater of a vested interest in each other.

The very corporatism they seek to end, is only strengthened by the progressive's statist policies and legislation.

Catch the rest of B-Daddy's take down here.

You'll be pleased to know what it is you are paying for.

The head of the Toyota National Dealer Council today blasted the federal government for using 'taxpayer dollars' to fund incentive campaigns to lure customers away from Toyota, and accused GM of using ‘fear’ in an attempt to lure away its customers, 1200 WOAI news reports.

"As an American citizen, it is tough on my part to pay tax dollars to an entity that can turn around and use those tax dollars to get my fellow American citizens to not do business with me," Paul Atkinson, who owns Atkinson Toyota in Bryan Texas, and is President of the dealer council, tells 1200 WOAI news.

Here’s the rub: a concerted effort by the government to exploit the current Toyota recalls may be complete fiction. However, when the U.S. government is the majority owner of General Motors, that government leaves itself open to entirely legitimate criticism and suspicion that it is indeed doing so.

Applying Occam’s razor, let’s take the federal government out of the equation. Suppose GM was a fully privately-owned entity answerable only to their customers and shareholders. Wouldn’t it be expected for GM and Chrysler and Ford to leverage Toyota’s woes to their advantage? Of course, it would. Not only would it be entirely predictable, it would be entirely acceptable. That’s life in the big boy world of market capitalism: someone screws up, they suffer the consequences while others reap the benefits.

So, how would that entirely predictable response be altered by the fact that the U.S. government owns 60% of General Motors? It wouldn’t and it doesn’t.

But is it also acceptable? In Bailout Nation where crony capitalism/economic fascism is the governing economic structure, it’s pretty much a moot point. It’s now the big boy world of picking winners and losers where your tax dollars are funding an attack campaign against another private entity that directly and indirectly provides tens of thousands of jobs for people in this country.

The fact that we are even having this conflict of interest discussion is appalling.





B-Daddy is thinking of attending a Coffee Party event on Sunday. We have encouraged him to go in order to see precisely what these disaffected Hopenchangers want to accomplish but also to see if there is any common ground with the Tea Party agenda. We believe a good and honest liberal who has railed against “corporatism” in the past should be as outraged as we are regarding the current state of affairs in the domestic auto industry.

Your Occupy San Diego update (UPDATED)

(please scroll to bottom of blog post for update)



Here's some more of that new civility we've been hearing so much about.

A pair of Southland street cart vendors who were forced to shut down their businesses after “Occupy” protesters vandalized their carts are hoping to get some help from local residents.

KNX 1070′s Tom Reopelle reports a fundraiser in the Gas Lamp district in San Diego on Monday night is aimed at helping two vendors get back on their feet.

The coffee and hot dog carts were located in Civic Center Plaza, the same location as the Occupy San Diego protesters.

That group first settled in to the plaza Oct. 7 and set up a tent city which has since twice been taken down by police.

Coffee cart owner Linda Jenson and hot dog cart operators Letty and Pete Soto said they initially provided free food and drink to demonstrators, but when they stopped, the protesters became violent.

And according to one city councilman, bodily fluids were used in the attacks.

“Both carts have had items stolen, have had their covers vandalized with markings and graffiti, as well as one of the carts had urine and blood splattered on it,” said Councilman Carl DeMaio.

Another real-life lesson learned the hard way for the #OWS set: That "free" food and drink wasn't free. The cart operators had to pay someone in exchange for that food and drink so it shouldn't have come as any big surprise to the economically illiterate malcontents here in San Diego that the "free" food and drink the cart operators were kind enough to supply them was going to be on a temporary basis only.

Also, please note the sense of entitlement that is required as a mindset in order to trash someone's place of work when they are no longer hooking it up for "free".

The #OWS set may share a sense of anger and frustration with the tea party regarding corporate bailouts and subsidies but there is an addendum to that with #OWS and that is, "... where's my bailout?" that is absent the tea party message.

We are reaping the benefits of a generation of young men and women that received a trophy in sports regardless of how bad their team was. We are seeing first hand what emphasizing self-esteem over actual accomplishment in our public education system is getting us.

Trashing food and beverage carts because they could no longer provide "free" food and drink is the perfect metaphor for the #OWS movement.


Yep, kind of like the tea party.




(ed. note: It should be noted that the linked news piece came from a media outlet up in L.A. The local paper of record, the San Diego Union-Tribune, seems content to run feel-good articles about veterans joining the #OWS movement.)



(UPDATE #1): Yet, even more of that new civility we keep hearing about.

Zuccotti Park has become so overrun by sexual predators attacking women in the night that organizers felt compelled to set up a female-only sleeping tent yesterday to keep the sickos away.

The large, metal-framed “safety tent” -- which will be guarded by an all-female patrol -- can accommodate as many as 18 people and will be used during the day for women-only meetings, said Occupy Wall Street organizers.

“This is all about safety in numbers,” said Becky Wartell, 24, a protester from Portland, Maine.

“When you’re in a large group of people sleeping, you will, of course, feel a lot safer than if you were by yourself,” she added.

“It will also keep away people that might feel more inclined to prey on two- and three-people tents.”

The safety measure comes amid a terrifying spree of sexual assaults -- including an alleged rape -- in the Zuccotti Park camp.

The article notes that these incidents very rarely get reported to the police as they are matters that are handleded internally.

We will restate our desire to see the victims of these assaults and rapes sue the pants off the cities as the cities refuse to enforce the law and refuse to see after the safety of the people.

Word around the campfire is that the cities, by initially backing down to the Occupiers, painted themselves into a corner and are now terrified that any efforts to move in the police to clear out and shut down the drug-infested and rape-y Occupy tent slums would result in full scale riots.

Cry us a river. This is what happens when you give in to terrorists. Oh, think we're being a little too harsh with that terminology? Think we're not employing the proper amount of civility? What, then, do you call people who either explicitly or implicitly promise violence if their demands are not met?

We have a sighting

It has come to our attention that local U.S. congressional representative, Bob Filner will be attending a civil meeting to engage in discourse in a civil matter on the subject of god knows what.

Whatever it is that will be discussed, though, will be done in the manner and spirit of civility. Because that's like really important or something.

Cordiality, compassion and general ass-hattery may also be on the docket.

Temple of Mut has the details here on the Coffee Party that is being thrown for the elusive South Bay Bob this weekend.

Video clip of the day

This is so awesomely awesome, we can't type straight for the gid which we now possess for the opportunity to post this.

In what can only be described as angry, pro-government rhetoric, the purple people-beaters of the SEIU staged a rally for the cause of... raising taxes!

Except that you will get the distinct impression after viewing this clip that the "our" in "Raise our taxes" is subject to highly selective interpretation.

O Joy...



If the Coffee Party had the nerve to sport their true colors, this is what one of their klatsches would look like.

Mark Steyn and math

But first, a related slice-of-life in England article for context:

MIDDLESBROUGH, England — It is by far the largest employer in town, accounting for one out of every two jobs. Its workers are teachers, doctors, museum curators and social workers whose salaries range from £21,000 to £210,000 a year.

The employer is the government, and the responsibility of its 17,000 employees here has been to work the levers of Britain’s expansive welfare state. Now, for the first time in a generation, this public colossus is shrinking — threatened by rising levels of government debt and the political bent of the Conservative Party government — and many of the jobs are being cut.

Throughout Britain, austerity will result in many thousands of lost public jobs, compounding the blow from reduced entitlements. But the cuts will be most keenly felt across the iron and steel belt of this country’s depressed northeast, in places like Middlesbrough, which in many ways is a British version of Detroit.

And now, Mark Steyn trying to clue in a person to the obvious:

Still, on balance I prefer the class-war thugs trashing the joint, who at least have the courage of their convictions. The “nice” people bussed in from the shires struck me as some of the most stupid people I’ve ever met anywhere on the planet. One elderly lady from Yorkshire told me she was there because her grandson’s university fees were likely to go up. I was in a cranky mood because I hadn’t had my coffee. “You can protest all you like,” I said. “But this country’s broke, so all you’re doing is postponing its reacquaintanceship with reality, and ensuring that your grandson and his contemporaries are going to be stuck with the tab because you guys spent their future.” I pointed out that in her part of the world – northern England – as in Wales and Northern Ireland, the state accounts for three-quarters of the economy. And it’s still not enough for the likes of her and her pals.

All the rioting in the world is not going to make budget deficits and unsustainable entitlement obligations disappear. The math will prevail in the end.