Last Sunday, I attended a Tea Party in Melbourne, Fla., where the Space Coast's U.S. Rep. Bill Posey, a Republican, was well received.
Some 2000 Space Coast residents cheered when Posey held up two large reams of Stimulus Bill print-out before tossing it to the floor. After Posey ended his speech to loud applause, emcee Bill Mick of Melbourne's WMMB Radio told organizers to leave the Stimulus print-out on the floor, as it was just trash anyway. The crowd roared approvingly.
Posey's remarks were favorably met, unlike the "welcome" given another Republican congressman at the Greenville, S.C., Tea Party.
Gresham Barrett was roundly booed and repeatedly told to "Go home." Many turned their backs to him as others sounded air horns, letting the TARP and porkulus package supporter know they didn't appreciate his votes or his doublespeak.
Dave Logan, radio producer of "The Andrea Shea King Show," covered the bases at the Sacramento Tea Party last Wednesday, reporting, "The turnout was bigger than anyone dreamed possible on a work day."
Dave spent some time with Lloyd Marcus, singer/songwriter of the American Tea Party Anthem.
Last week's Tea Parties across the country were a historic grass-roots eruption of Americans protesting Washington's reckless spending, alarming bureaucratic growth and overarching control. Eric Odom’s Tax Day Tea Party website, the unofficial command center for Tea Party information, has posted a nearly comprehensive roundup complete with citizen reports and photos.
The TCOT Report
Michael P. Leahy's popular TCOT Report
is recognized by growing numbers as a conservative alternative to other news aggregators, with current events, Tea Party news and real-time TCOT Twitter feeds. Both Odom and Leahy will join me on "The Andrea Shea King Show"
Friday night with an after-action report and their views on where the Tea Party movement goes from here.
By the numbers
Different sources are quoting Tea Party attendance numbers. WorldNetDaily has reported an estimate of one million. Henchster is collating Free Republic reports coming in by state and town, constantly refining the numbers as more accurate assessments come in. Currently the estimates vary between 701,449 and 811,508.
The underdog's 18 million hits
It's the classic story of the underdog who comes out on top. As of this writing, more than 18 million hits. I first heard about this when Rush Limbaugh
opened his radio program Thursday talking about the phenomenal 47-year-old Susan Boyle.
"You can't watch that without getting tears in your eyes. You really can't. … she violated society's expectations of what we believe success should look like and what we think success should be and in doing so she put a bullet through cynicism."
A commenter at the Kansas City Star wrote that he shared the story with his Junior Achievement class: "By now many of you have heard of Susan or seen the YouTube video.
She's one of the great feel-good stories I've come across in a long time. Never-been kissed, never had a boyfriend, church-choir member from a small Scottish village dreams of becoming a professional singer. Gets her shot on "Britain's Got Talent," the U.K. equivalent of American Idol. …Last week, Susan was a nobody. This week, a great inspiration story.
Resisting tyranny
A bill recently introduced in the House would require gun owners to register their firearms, and worse. HR 45, authored by former Black Panther Bobby Rush, D-Ill., would make it illegal to own any rifle with a clip or any pistol unless you are fingerprinted, supply a current driver's license and your social security number, and submit to a physical and or mental evaluation at any time.
The Blair Holt Firearm Licensing & Record of Sales Act of 2009 was among topics of discussion when Larry Pratt of the Gun Owners of America organization joined me on my radio program, "The Andrea Shea King Show," last Thursday. Download the show to learn more about HR 45. We also discussed whether maritime crews of commercial vessels should be armed.
Getting into the act
In the continuing convergence of communication technologies and TV meet Internet.
Google Inc.'s YouTube is
getting into the act, competing with other websites already offering full-length movies and older fare TV programs. The long-form videos will be housed on a unique page accessible by a "Shows" tab on the main YouTube site.
The company will add to its movie and show content over time, offering for free hundreds of TV show titles including "Beverly Hillbillies" and "Married With Children," and hundreds of movies.
Once-in-a-lifetime
This is a once-in-a-lifetime gift for that special someone. Beginning this month on the West Coast and continuing on a cross-country tour through September, you can fly on a B-17 bomber. Each flight experience aboard "The Flying Fortress" lasts approximately 35 minutes, of those 20 to 22 minutes will be in the air. Take this time to visit the various compartments of the aircraft like the nose, bomb bay, navigation/radio, cockpit and waist sections. If you want to understand the connection between these aging aircraft and our older veterans, especially those who were members of a flight crew, you needn't go any further than this short story: "My Father Asks For Nothing." The lesson here to all: Do it now. Don't wait. Here's a list of when the B-17 will be in your area.
History
Twenty-nine years ago this week on April 25, James Earl Carter went before the nation to give a speech that would mark the beginning of the end of his presidency.
"The night before his speech, Carter gave the 'green light' to the Iranian hostage rescue mission – Eagle Claw – that ended in disaster at Desert One. Eight U.S. servicemen died at the site and had to be left behind. At the time, it was by far the worst humiliation the U.S. had ever suffered, and it cost Carter his re-election bid later that year. Ronald Reagan won in a landslide."
See videos, photos, and a link to the complete history of the disastrous mission.
Nanoseconds?
"HI TWITTERS." With that, Oprah Winfrey entered the Twitter world last Friday, and within mere nanoseconds (Ok, I exaggerate, but only slightly) the diva of daytime talk TV had 306,249 followers. How many is Oprah following? Ten. So, don't look for a "follow back" anytime soon. But do look for Twitter to grow exponentially now that Oprah's twittering on her show about it.