Washington State Tax Day Tea Party Events

Here you have it; pick your location and make plans to attend!

Bellevue AM
Location: Bellevue City Hall
Date: April 15th, 2011
Time: 11 AM to 1:30 PM
Sponsor: Song of Truth Foundation, Washington Conservative Enthusiasts Theme: Rob McKenna Bellevue Tax Day rally
Link: http://www.songoftruth.org/events/bellevue-tax-day-2011

Bellevue PM
Location: Factoria, corner of Factoria Blvd and SE 36th St
Date: April 15th, 2011
Time: 5 PM to 7 PM
Sponsor: Issaquah/Sammamish Tea Party and the Renton/Kent Tea Party Patriots Theme: Who Decides? and FAIR TAX
Link: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=168046393244626

Bellingham
Location: Guide Meridian near Bellis Fair Parkway
Date: April 15th, 2011
Time: 4:30 PM to 6:30 PM
Sponsor: Bellingham Tea Party
Theme: We’re Not Going Away

Everett
Location: Snohomish County Courthouse, 3000 Rockefeller Avenue
Date: April 15th, 2011
Time: Noon to 2 PM
Sponsor: Sno-Isle Tea Party (formerly Everett Tea Party)

Okanogan
Location: Okanogan County Courthouse, Intersection of 3rd Avenue and Norman
Date: April 15th, 2011
Time: 5:30 PM
Sponsor: Lewiston-Clarkston Tea Party

Olympia
Location: North Steps – Olympia Capitol Building, 416 Sid Snyder Ave
Date: April 15th, 2011
Time: 2 PM
Sponsor: Tea Party Patriots, Freedom Foundation, co-sponsor: AFP, Tacoma 912 Group, Lakewood Chamber of Commerce Theme: Push Forward
Link: http://pushforward.eventbrite.com/

Sequim
Location: Corners of Washington & Sequim Avenue
Date: April 15th, 2011
Time: 11 AM to 1 PM
Sponsor: Concerned Citizens of Clallam County

Tri-Cities
Location: John Dam Plaza, Richland WA
Date: April 15th, 2011
Time: 4 PM to 6 PM
Sponsor: TriCities Tea Party
Theme: FairTax

Yakima
Location: 2nd St Park, 2nd St. & Yakima Ave.
Date: April 15th, 2011
Time: 3 PM to 5 PM
Sponsor: Yakima Tea Party – 9.12 Project
Theme: It Ain’t Over

Teaching All The Wrong Lessons

I know and respect many teachers, but “educators,” taken as a group, must be among the stupidest people on earth. Their inability to distinguish between a one-inch plastic toy and an actual weapon is legendary. And who else would think it a good idea to strip search a middle school student in a frenzied search for…Advil?

Please click through and watch this video. (But remember to come back and read the rest of this post!)

Do you know what this reminded me of? Friday Flip-Up Day. When my oldest daughter was in kindergarten, The boys at her elementary school had a “game” they would play to torment the girls, Friday Flip-Up Day. Every Friday, any little girl who was so foolish as to wear a dress would be at the mercy of the boys, who would attempt creep up behind her and flip up the hem of her dress, hoping for a peek at her panties.

Friday Flip-up Day had been going on for years and, while it was officially forbidden, it was forbidden in a wink-and-a-nod, boys-will-be-boys sort of way. Other parents were apparently resigned to it; I first heard about it from another mother who told me, “Whatever you do, don’t let your daughter wear a dress to school on a Friday.”

So naturally, I told my daughter that if anyone ever flipped up the hem of her dress, she was to turn around and smack him in the face as hard as she could. Which is what I would do if some random guy flipped up the hem of my dress; it was a teachable moment.

Then I phoned the school principal to let him know what I’d done. He was indignant!

And doesn’t that attitude illustrate nicely exactly what’s wrong with the situation in this video? Every adult in this boy’s life has failed him. Think about that. Every adult, his parents included. Whether through a failure of resolve, of ability or of empathy, they’ve failed to protect him from apparently relentless bullying. Then when he’s lost all hope that the adults can or will do anything to improve his situation (or that they even know or care) and decides to take matters into his own hands, there they are to hand out some “consequences.” It was another teachable moment but it’s one lesson I hope he fails.

An Appropriate Use Of Power

Dan Riehl has a post up, In Contrast to Boehner, Pelosi “Drove Health Care Down GOP’s Throat.” I’d like to suggest an alternate title, “In Contrast to Boehner, Pelosi Had the Cojones to Use Her Power and Position to Get What She Wanted.” Over long, I know, but accurate nonetheless.

This brings up the question, would I want Speaker Boehner to use raw power to “drive something down the Democrats’ throat? When it comes to repealing or defunding Obamacare, absolutely, the difference being that Boehner would be acting in accordance to the will of the people, rather than in direct opposition to it…as Nancy Pelosi did. So a word of advice to Speaker Boehner: you’re not winning any friends by including funds to implement Obamacare in your continuing budget resolutions. I’m just sayin’, you know, because the the tea party has a bit of power of its own to wield.

Other than that, Dan said it very nicely, so be sure to click through and read it all.

Rasmussen Poll Finds 17% of Americans Completely Out Of Touch With Reality

A Rasmussen poll released today finds 17% of Americans so out of touch with reality, they should be hospitalized for their own protection; they are the pitiable few who believe Obamacare will lower costs.

I can understand a person taking the position that using the force of government with regard to universal health care is a moral position – although I don’t agree – but to believe that a plan with no actual cost cutting measure will drive down the cost of health care is a stunning denial of reality.

Thankfully, 61% of Americans understand that costs will necessarily rise and 62% believe it should be repealed.

Wait, Where Are We Going Again?

To paraphrase the old Barry McGuire song, the Middle-Eastern world, it is exploding and our president does…nothing.  Our ally, Japan, is devastated by an earthquake and tsunami and our president…plays golf. At home, unemployment remains high, gas prices are skyrocketing and unsustainable federal spending threatens our children’s and grandchildren’s futures and our president…writes a letter to the editor of the Arizona Star.

We’re riding out a storm in a rudderless ship, God help us.

Update: Japan is facing nuclear disaster and Obama takes time out to fill out his NCAA bracket. From Politico’s March 15th Playbook:

Japan’s nuclear crisis verged toward catastrophe on Tuesday after an explosion damaged the vessel containing the nuclear core at one reactor and a fire at another spewed large amounts of radioactive material into the air, according to statements from Japanese government and industry officials.

…

PRESIDENT OBAMA is taping his NCAA picks today, and they’ll be revealed tomorrow on ESPN.

I understand everyone needs some down time but a photo op? Really?

Keeping Man In Perspective

First, there was the earthquake, on Friday morning (Japan time), March 11th.

The earthquake triggered a massive tsunami.

Then, today, March 13th, Mount Shinmoedake continued its latest activity after having been quiet since late February.

Slideshow

When all is said and done, man is a puny creature and we’d do well to keep that in mind.

File Under “W” For Weird

Man has 82 tattoos of Julia Roberts on his body

Now – finally – we know the answer to the burning question, “What would Julia Roberts look like if she was desperately in need of a shave?”

H/T @DavidOnkels, @jetts424

An Epic Rant From Sen. Rand Paul

Honestly, I don’t know much about Rand Paul but I think I may want to see more of him, if his performance today during an Energy and Natural Resources Committee meeting today is any indication.

Paul launched into an epic rant that started with a simple question to Kathleen Hogan, Deputy Assistant Secretary, Energy Efficiency, with the Department of Energy: “Are you pro-choice?”

Watch the entire thing, because, really, it’s just too good to miss.

Here’s Paul’s point in a nutshell:

You’re really anti-choice on every other consumer item that you’ve listed here, including light bulbs, refrigerators, toilets – you name it, you can’t go around your house without being told what to buy. You restrict my choices, you don’t care about my choices. You don’t care about the consumer frankly. You raise the cost of all the items with your rules, all your notions that you know what’s best for me. (This snippet via ABC’s The Note)

Ms. Hogan’s response, I think,  illustrates our current issues with out-of-control, out-of-touch government quite nicely.

One, I think the Appliance Standards Program is an example of a really great partnership between Congress and the Administration over many, many, many years.  So much of what we are implementing really had its genesis in bi-partisan bills that have been put forth at a number of different points over the history of this country over the last 30 to 40 years…and I really do not believe that the appliance standards end up restricting personal choice.

You can see that Senator Paul is focused on the hypocrisy of the so-called “pro-choice” set and on the consumer…you and me and Ms. Hogan is focused on the Beltway establishment…the “great partnership” between “Congress and the Administration” and their “bi-partisan bills.” This woman doesn’t have one thought to spare for the people who pay her salary, the ones who are affected by the standards they’re implementing. (I would imagine it’s a safe bet that she’s not all that concerned that Chinese workers are being poisoned manufacturing CFL bulbs either, but I digress.)

Getting back to Senator Paul’s opening question, Ms. Hogan’s inexplicable response was, “I’m pro-choice of bulbs.” Inexplicable because on first examination, it would appear that she was either brazenly lying to a U.S. Senator or that she lacks a good working knowledge of what would otherwise appear to be her native tongue. A second look, however, reveals the real answer.

Paul: I can’t buy the old light bulbs. That restricts my choice on buying.

Hogan: My view is what you want is lighting, right?”

So Ms. Hogan’s real answer is “you’ll take whatever light bulbs we give you and be happy to have the light, damn it!”

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Knowing What’s Important

How perverted has feminism become – even the name of the movement implies, wrongly, it seems, a celebration of all things feminine – when a simple, spontaneous and beautiful expression reflecting the joy of becoming a mother could be considered wrong or controversial?

Read what Alexa Shrugged has to say about it.

Congratulations to Ms. Portman on her Oscar win and for understanding, even in the midst of the Hollywood insanity, what things are really important.