TAX DAY 2010

Before class on Thursday, I took a drive over to the Courthouse-on-the-Square.

Take a guess what I saw?

People going about their business on the Square in Denton, TX on a Thursday before noon.

I was also expecting the same with our campus Republicans when I drove by the University Union.

Nope, no one was outside the Union in the Free Speech area either. Students transiting to and from their classes. It is just what you would expect on a typical day at the University of North Texas.

Wait a minute…. This was NOT a typical day. It is April 15, Tax Day. Where are the Tea Baggers?! Where are their creative signs?

Well, apparently they got together at the Air Hogs ballpark in Grand Prairie. Bah, too far of a drive for me. And not worth it either.

Nationally, they gathered in DC ending their corporate sponsored cross country tour on tax payer funded roads (Note the irony).

I was surprised to read this article.

My take: People, including Tea Baggers, have benefited from the Obama Tax Cuts (this is even backed up by fact checkers). Even though someone may have a piece of paper saying they are educated, that does not equate to actual intelligence. Also, Glenn Beck is NOT a credible source.

Whenever I watch clips of interviewers talking to the Tea Baggers, I have one general feeling: disgust.

A brief tangent here: Sorry Tea Party, Fox News said it and I quote: "We're going to Tea Bag the White House." Perhaps someone should have taken the time to look up what Tea Bagger actually means. Apparently, there is a new movement called "2 Million For Marriage" or 2M4M in order to "promote the sanctity of marriage" (cough bullshit cough). Apparently, THAT is NOT what 2M4M stands for. Nice try, though.

Anyway back to the topic at hand.

These feelings are not because I identify as a Progressive Dem, but these feelings come from being a Veteran. Not don't get me wrong, I am a flag waving American as much as the next person, BUT I also recognize that there is a HUGE difference between patriotism and right wing paranoia.

I am in favor of calm, rational debating, but clearly this Tea Party movement is warped by irrationality and blatant falsehoods. You can disagree with your government, but I do not advocate in any way armed insurrection against the elected government of the United States of America. That sounds like the definition of treason to me.

Also statements like these make me cringe as shown in these video clips:

9-12 Party led by Harold Hill Glenn Beck (pay close attention to the young man at 1:28. This is proof that we need a better funded education system)

Health Care Reform Vote

Sean Hannity's comments. (Entire clip)

Is Hannity not aware of history? 15 years ago, two men warped in right-wing paranoia destroyed a federal building in Oklahoma City with a makeshift bomb. It was one of the worst acts of domestic terrorism committed in American History by American citizens. 168 were murdered. Of those that died, 19 were children. Who could forget that iconic image of the firefighter cradling the bloodied child?

What I find disturbing is that Tea Baggers and some lawmakers want to create a militia in Oklahoma in order to fight this big bad scary health care bill. Since Tea Baggers love to quote the Constitution, let's review it shall we: Article II, Section 2, Clause 1.

As a matter of fact, former US Congressman Dick Armey (snicker), who is one of the leaders of the Tea Bag Movement through his chairmanship with the DC Lobby Group FreedomWorks has some very disturbing connections.

So… If shit really hit the fan, your militia would come in command under this guy.

Another tangent: If want to watch someone getting owned in a debate, watch Rachel Maddow school Dick Armey on Meet The Press from August 16, 2009. (Part 1, Part 2)

In closing of this post about Tax Day 2010, I leave with something to consider the next time someone screams SOCIALISM/COMMUNISUM/FACISM/WE'RE BEING TAXED TO DEATH/ETC.

This morning I was awoken by my alarm clock powered by electricity generated by the public power monopoly regulated by the U.S. Department of Energy.

I then took a shower in the clean water provided by a municipal water utility.

After that, I turned on the TV to one of the FCC-regulated channels to see what the National Weather Service of the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration determined the weather was going to be like, using satellites designed, built, and launched by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

I watched this while eating my breakfast of U.S. Department of Agriculture- inspected food and taking the drugs which have been determined as safe by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

At the appropriate time, as regulated by the U.S. Congress and kept accurate by the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the U.S. Naval Observatory, I get into my National Highway Traffic Safety Administration- approved automobile and set out to work on the roads build by the local, state, and federal Departments of Transportation, possibly stopping to purchase additional fuel of a quality level determined by the Environmental Protection Agency, using legal tender issued by the Federal Reserve Bank.

On the way out the door I deposit any mail I have to be sent out via the U.S. Postal Service and drop the kids off at the public school, and return some books to the public library.

After spending another day not being maimed or killed at work thanks to the workplace regulations imposed by the Department of Labor and the Occupational Safety and Health administration, enjoying another two meals which again do not kill me because of the USDA, I drive my NHTSA car back home on the DOT roads, to my house which has not burned down in my absence because of the state and local building codes and Fire Marshal's inspection, and which has not been plundered of all its valuables thanks to the local police department.

I will sign up for Social Security and Medicare on the very first day I am eligible. I will ensure that all my assets are placed in the names of my wife or children so that the state and federal government -- through Medicaid -- can support me in a nice private room in a nursing home for the last five or six years of my life, without sacrificing a dime of my children's inheritances.

And then I log on to the Internet -- which was developed by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Administration -- and post on Freerepublic.com and Fox News forums about how SOCIALISM in medicine is BAD because the government can't do anything right.