Sorry so long, but hey all the tea bagging commentary fun without having to stand there for 2 hours listening to them scream it in your ear, like i had to.
Today's adventures began at 11am at the Downtown Chico City Plaza, where I had expected to bare witness to a bunch of conservative hate mongers railing on and on about Obama's race and their fear that he'll take their guns, but What i was met with was "Senior-Palooza", at least a hundred people gathered with "clever" little signs and to my surprise mostly protested on the merits of their less tax, less spending ideals. But there were of course a few of those "fringe right wing nut jobs" there to add some drama.
I'll start off with the first thing i saw and while I didn't agree with the message he had, i still could appreciate the flag design.
The rally started off slow, as the seniors packed in, then i spot the stage with of course Tea Bags and boxes for canned food donations
There were petitions going around to make sure everyone stayed connected so that the Tea Baggers could keep their movement going, as well as one protesting the fairness act.
The Organizer then took the stage and asked the crowd how many of them spend 5-10-20 thousand in taxes, Then asked How many illegal immigrants live in their neighborhoods, but then quickly said they weren't gonna "go there" and that this was going to be a peaceful protest. Country music was playing over the loud speaker as well as "Proud to be an american" and some song about this being a small town.
She then introducer a local singer to sing the Star Spangled Banner and "God Bless America"
First speaker to take the stage was Former Chico Mayor now State Assemblyman Rick Keene
Rick basically spewed some conservative rhetoric about less spending and taxing and then said that the government needs to cut back like the American people do.
Next up was this guy:
His big complaint was being taxed too much when buying a car or a boat. He said the registration on vehicles was too much. Other talking points included: I Will not be your ATM! And We will not bailout the irresponsible taxpayer who knew they were buying things they couldn't afford. He compared this to the boston tea party (as did most of the speakers after him) But didn't seem clear as to what the people at the BTP were protesting. He went on to complain about the California Energy Bill being passed and how it was a waste of money, then said the government does nothing to prevent crime, upgrade roads, deal with illegals, address prison populations and improve school (All BTW are things Obama is trying to address though it take MONEY, but they didn't want to hear that).
More Talking points "Stop trying to buy our votes with our money!" and "Stop treating us like a nanny state".
He maintained that the government continues to "Take so much and deliver so little"
The Organizer came back and led the crowd in a chant of "Fed Up! Fed Up! Fed Up!" Then encouraged everyone to vote all the dems out of office in 2012. Yet she kept repeating that this was a non partisan protest. And they weren't there to attack "the other side"
Next up, the "token youth" From Chico State, just to show that not all college student are liberal zombies. Not sure why the suit or all the hair gel, but whatve...
He read a speech about the history of the boston tea party, but didn't really add a lot of original thought to the rally.
He went on to confuse the facts of history and then criticized FDR for creating a welfare state and an environment where poor lazy people can get rich off the backs of the real working class. He continued by saying FDR equaled "poor quality of life" and "Wide spread misery". He ended with telling everyone to think about how they are victims of taxation without representation next time they are in the voting booth. And then read Winston Churchill's quote: "We contend that for a nation to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle."
Next up, the Chairmen of the Butte County REPUBLICAN party who again stressed that this was a non partisan protest not taking aim at the "other side"
He told everyone to make sure to visit the tables behind them to register to vote, though he stressed that he wasn't suggesting which party to register for, the table's spoke for themselves:
He went on to say that he couldn't put food on the table because the government had taxed him too much (yet honestly if he made so little that he couldn't buy food with his take home pay, chances are he isn't getting taxed a whole lot since only the wealthy are getting the higher tax rate).
More talking points followed" This is the land of opportunity not opportunists"
Then the Faculty advisor for the Chico State REPUBLICAN Club came up (sorry no pic), greeted the crowd with "Hello REAL Americans!" and then talked about how undeserving people were taking away money from the hard working family. And IF those hard workers wanted to donate to the poor, it should be up to them, not the government. And with all the extra taxes they didn't have the choice to give to charity cause they couldn't afford to to help their communities now. She then called for the government to give them back their money. she also added that the "goodness of american was at stake"
She went on to bash the liberals by saying that we can protest as much as we want because we don't have jobs, other then once a month leaving the house to cash our welfare checks, but these were hard working people at this rally who took time off from work, and they were sure there would be thousands more but they couldn't take time off. She added that they were not against Government employees that got paid with tax dollars and urged them to join the movement. Lastly she urged everyone to vote against Cal Props 1A, 1B, 1D, and 1F.
In the background began some typical right wing yelling:
"Stop using our taxes to pay for abortions" Said this guy:
Lots of cries for Anti-Socialism
And this gem:
He's not even our president, Show us the birth certificate!" This scream came form "Santa", we talk more about him later...
Santa was backed up by this "lovely" women (We'll call her "the crazy bitch") who spent most of the rally screaming anti-obama sentiment in my ear (how i ended up on the looniest side of this rally i don't know.
We'll talk more about her later too...
Next was "Tom" a 2nd amendment and Sarah Palin lover.
Tom was ANGRY that his government was slapping him in the face with the stimulus bill. He made a big deal about congress not reading it before signing it. He said it needed to be repealed and it was bad for our economy. Then he shared this "wonderful" thought with us:
"Diversity equals owning guns from 2 different manufactures"
Up next, a local Small Business Owner
He had a big sign that listed all the taxes he felt were unfair and shouldn't have to pay including: Utility tax, Unemployment tax, Medicare, Property Tax, Luxury Tax, Sales Tax, Social Security, Car Registration tax, Payroll tax, Income Tax, Gas Tax, Liquor Tax, Cig Tax, Workers Comp, And the Death Tax. Pretty much any tax, he wasn't big on.
He then talked about how 100 years ago we didn't have any of these taxes and our country was debt free.
Then This lady spoke:
She felt that Taxes = Control and if she was in office, she swore that for every law she signed she would find 2 to remove. (the theme of her speech seemed to be we needed less laws and government control). She also said we needed to get "courageous" and take on our government. She tried to play the bi-partisan card and say that no one here actually had to pay more taxes ...YET!!!
Up next this lady who felt this rally was better than school for her kids, as well as other parents who brought there kids and exploited them for there cause. She gave them all kudos for sharing this experience with their children and passing down their message to the next generation.
(Kids faces are smudged out for their protection in case you're wondering why they look a little odd.
More kid exploitation:
Next:
This guy lead the crowd in a lot of anti-Dem protesting like "Get rid of Pelosi" Someone then shouted "She already our president anyway!" He railed on about how poorly Sarah Palin was teated and then said we all needed to listen to Rush Limbuagh that he was the only one in the media who would tell them the truth. He said that the "LEFT" despise you and they hate you and want to demoralize you. He also said Rush explained to him what "Tea Bagging" was and "No way" would he ever!
He shouted "Don't let the Left have the only voice" And then reiterated the talking point the organizer had been saying all morning "We are the SILENT MAJORITY!"
Then he told some joke about how your liberal in your 20's it means you have a heart, but then if you turn conservative at their age you have a brain.
Then the crowd was led in some more chants:
"STIMULUS...NOT FOR US!!"
And
"No More Bailouts!"
And
"Hey Hey Ho Ho, Pork and Ear marks have to go!"
Up next the "I'm not a racist, but let me tell you how illegal immigrants are evil!"
This one had lots of "Fun" stories about "illegals"
She stared off with saying the Government is allowing anarchists in the way of 7000 illegals crossing the border each month who then proceed to march down main street america waving their mexican flag. (I can't go into how much is wrong about that statement, because her next few stories are equally false)
She told a story about how she lived next to an apartment building that was FILLED with illegals and how one of them "totaled her car". The cop told her that he could arrest them, but they would be out the next day and then told her to get an estimate, present it to the illegal and if they said no, call INS. So she did this, the illegal laughed in her face and said he'd rather go to jail then pay for her car and so she called INS and they told her they couldn't help her cause they were "too busy"
Next story was about how these border towns are filled with mexicans that run across the border, pick up their welfare check, cash it and run back home.
Next story: The Border towns complain they can't have decent landscaping because the Mexicans hide in the bushes and wait until they are about to "Crown" then run across the border to give birth.
She again reiterated that she wasn't racist because someone in her family had a latino name.
He next talking points were about universal health care and how we don't want it because in Canada they take 55% of their paycheck to pay for it.
More yelling from the crowd about socialism.
Then she said that the banks have fallen 6-7 other times, but this was the first time we ever bailed them out.
Then...(she was all over the place), it was complaining that congress had given Obama the authority to shut down the internet
Then back to "the well", another story about illegals, that she heard a "Doctor" on "FOX NEWS" say that all these mexicans are bringing over the "bad kind of tuberculosis" (there's a good kind?) I guess the kind that is hard to cure. She said Fox showed footage of illegal aliens just walking pass the border control, right next to the cars at the border...
She adds that she wants to appeal the laws that make it so if you are born here you are a legal citizen.
Lastly she left us with "They are building a social security office down there to make it easier for them to steal our hard earned money"
The Organizer came back and commented that the news had showed up finally and then asked how many of them had subscriptions to the local paper, hands were raised..., then she asked "What are you guys gonna do if you aren't on the front page tomorrow?" They all yelled out "Cancel our subscription!" (I doubt they have to worry, the Chico paper is pretty Right leaning)
Next up another token student from Chico State:
He shared this "awesome" story with us:
"I thought I was a liberal and taxes were ok, but I was stupid. I then saw my first paycheck and what they took out and now I'm a conservative"
He added that if Congress could tax AIG bonuses 90%, then what's to stop them from doing that to the rest of us.
Someone yelled "2nd amendment!"
Around this point the news was interviewing a sweet old man that was there protesting against the TEA baggers. He was called out earlier by one of the speakers when they were trying to show how non partisan the event was.
Here he is:
So this sweet guy is being interviewed and the before mentioned "Crazy bitch" and "Santa" run over to the reporter and try to stop the man from being heard.
There they go...
See the crazy bitch come back saddened that the reporter told her to get lost.
So while that happened, a new speaker took the stage, i call him "Socialism guy"
His Big thing was how he didn't really know what Socialism was, but he read a lot online about how people who live in socialist country are miserable and oppressed. He urged everyone to learn what Socialism was and tell every one they could to spread the word about how bad it was (Without him knowing exactly what it was about). He went on to trash Liberals and Dems saying we couldn't read and we had to pay people to read for us.
He then bitched about how we all have to pay 30 grand for Pelsoi's Jet, and how that's so unfair.
Then he said "We all voted for McCain..." He was then interrupted by the "crazy bitch" who yelled "Not really, we voted for Palin!"
He went on to say that Socialism=oppression and that he was shocked about how "Many Many Americans were ok with socialism" and that's why they need to educate us about how bad it was, but first they had to learn what it was themselves....(No the irony is not lost on me).
He finished with saying that America had become "Whimpy" And it is "God who gives us our freedom, not the government", so we need need to stop being "Whimpy" and stand up to the government.
Next to the stage, "Flag Lady" (I was tired at this point and was less creative about my names...
Her Big thing was how she brought her kids with her and pretty much said what the other lady with kids said about how great it was that parents were showing their kids how to be better americans. as she pointed to her kids holding up flags:
She complained that we have to teach our kids , because we have no idea what garbage the schools and internet are teaching them. Perhaps that's why she didn't mind her kids playing hookie today.
Here we have Radio Guy:
Radio Guy said something interesting:
"THIS IS NOT A DEMOCRACY, THIS IS A REPUBLIC!"
He Said he rejected "Republicans" and "Dem-publicans", and this wasn't a partisan issue, it was about the american people.
He called for the dismantlement of the Federal Reserve
(Loud cheers)
Said the constitution is document that details how the government should be governed, not the people.
Next came "Vet guy" (see lazy nick names i know)
He said:
We all need to listen to Rush, Sean Hannity and Michael Savage!" He reminded them when they were on and encourage everyone to listen to them because the liberal media wont tell them the truth.
The Organizer came back and said that She invited the city council members but they declined to come, so the crowd called them "Cowards" and yelled for them to be "Voted out!"
There were a couple other speakers that repeated most of what was said, but last up was "SANTA!!!"
His name, if you can believe it, is "Chris Nicholas", and he has something important to say, gosh darn it!!!
Santa AKA Chris warned us all it was going to be a horrible christmas this year....
Chris goes on to tells us that Obama is a fraud and not a us citizen, so no one needs to worry because none of they laws he signs are valid. He goes onto say that Obama's own grandmother said Obama was born in Kenya and that none of us have seen a birth certificate, the hospital he was supposedly born in or the doctor who supposedly delivered him.
He ends with saying he's not a racist because if Alan Keys ran for president he'd vote for him.
And as the rally came to a close, an anti-Tea Bagger jumped on stage and yelled into the mic "TOO MUCH TAX FOR THE MILITARY!".
SHE IS SEEN HERE WITH THE ORGANIZOR (WHO'S IN YELLOW)
The crowd flipped out on her and was yelling and booing, they tried to rip the mic from her hand and the organizer tried to pull her off stage. The drama didn't last long.
So that was my day with the tea baggers, it felt longer then 2 hours and at the end of the day i was left with a ringing in my ear and a parking ticket for being a couple of minutes late on the meter. Not sure but all the obama stickers on my car might not have helped.
I leave you with the crowd and sign shots i was bombarded with all morning. Enjoy.
Last one is of "Crazy Bitch" who touch my shoulder and asked me if I was a reporter, i told her i was there for my blog, and she replied "Hoping a conservative one"
And to all that made it to the bottom of this post, Thank you for taking the time to read about my day.