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"Tea Parties" funded by conservitive lobbiests?


Jamie_B

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Not really surprised...

[url="http://thinkprogress.org/2009/04/09/lobbyists-planning-teaparties/"]http://thinkprogress.org/2009/04/09/lobbyi...ing-teaparties/[/url]

[quote]Spontaneous Uprising? Corporate Lobbyists Helping To Orchestrate Radical Anti-Obama Tea Party Protests
Yesterday, Think Progress reported on Republican lawmakers planning to speak at anti-Obama “tea party” protests taking place nationwide on April 15. Last night, Eric Odom of the DontGo website — one of the organizers of the protests — wrote a blog post stressing that these protests are displays of “regular American[s] in protest of government spending and extreme taxation,” rather than something affiliated with a political party or special interest agenda.

Today on Fox News — which has actively been promoting the protests — Glenn Beck pushed the tea party talking points, similarly claiming that the protests aren’t “coordinated” and are fully organized by “regular” people. Watch it:


Despite these attempts to make the “movement” appear organic, the principle organizers of the local events are actually the lobbyist-run think tanks Americans for Prosperity and Freedom Works. The two groups are heavily staffed and well funded, and are providing all the logistical and public relations work necessary for planning coast-to-coast protests:

– Freedom Works staffers coordinate conference calls among protesters, contacting conservative activists to give them “sign ideas, sample press releases, and a map of events around the country.”

– Freedom Works staffers apparently moved to “take over” the planning of local events in Florida.

– Freedom Works provides how-to guides for delivering a “clear message” to the public and media.

– Freedom Works has several domain addresses — some of them made to look like they were set up by amateurs — to promote the protests.

– Americans for Prosperity is writing press releases and planning the events in New Jersey, Arizona, New Hampshire, Missouri, Kansas, and several other states.

This type of corporate ‘astroturfing‘ is nothing new to either organization. While working to promote Social Security privatization, Freedom Works was caught planting one of its operatives as a “single mom” to ask questions to President Bush in a town hall on the subject. Last year, the Wall Street Journal exposed Freedom Works for similarly building “amateur-looking” websites to promote the lobbying interests of Dick Armey, the former Republican Majority Leader who now leads Freedom Works and is a lobbyist for the firm DLA Piper.

Americans for Prosperity is run by Tim Phillips, who was Ralph Reed’s former partner in the lobbying firm Century Strategies. The group is funded by Koch family foundations — a family whose wealth is derived from the oil industry. Indeed Americans for Prosperity has coordinated pro-drilling ‘grassroots‘ events around the country.[/quote]
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I don't like to see the attack specifically toward Obama...

Because there are a hell of a lot of guys, and gals, up there that need to be kicked out on their ass.


I do like the grass roots movement (if that is what it is) toward an uprising against our government in general. I hope it generates some results. If it does then Obama will have been a success in office (even if he didn't intend for it to happen that way).
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[url="http://forum.go-bengals.com/index.php?s=&showtopic=47378&view=findpost&p=755237"]What?[/url]

[url="http://forum.go-bengals.com/index.php?s=&showtopic=47497&view=findpost&p=756343"]Really?[/url]

And while we're at it....can we stop using the wrong "ism" to describe what is unfolding?
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Distractions...

I'm more worried about the robbing of country by bankers ($12.8 trillion thus far) as we bicker about "who funded the TEA PARTIES!?!?!?!?"

[url="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=armOzfkwtCA4"]http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=new...id=armOzfkwtCA4[/url]

[quote]Financial Rescue Nears GDP as Pledges Top $12.8 Trillion (Update1)


By Mark Pittman and Bob Ivry

March 31 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. government and the Federal Reserve have spent, lent or committed $12.8 trillion, an amount that approaches the value of everything produced in the country last year, to stem the longest recession since the 1930s.

New pledges from the Fed, the Treasury Department and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. include $1 trillion for the Public-Private Investment Program, designed to help investors buy distressed loans and other assets from U.S. banks. The money works out to $42,105 for every man, woman and child in the U.S. and 14 times the $899.8 billion of currency in circulation. The nation’s gross domestic product was $14.2 trillion in 2008.

President Barack Obama and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner met with the chief executives of the nation’s 12 biggest banks on March 27 at the White House to enlist their support to thaw a 20-month freeze in bank lending.

“The president and Treasury Secretary Geithner have said they will do what it takes,” Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Chief Executive Officer Lloyd Blankfein said after the meeting. “If it is enough, that will be great. If it is not enough, they will have to do more.”

Commitments include a $500 billion line of credit to the FDIC from the government’s coffers that will enable the agency to guarantee as much as $2 trillion worth of debt for participants in the Term Asset-Backed Lending Facility and the Public-Private Investment Program. FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair warned that the insurance fund to protect customer deposits at U.S. banks could dry up because of bank failures.

‘Within an Eyelash’

The combined commitment has increased by 73 percent since November, when Bloomberg first estimated the funding, loans and guarantees at $7.4 trillion.

“The comparison to GDP serves the useful purpose of underscoring how extraordinary the efforts have been to stabilize the credit markets,” said Dana Johnson, chief economist for Comerica Bank in Dallas.

“Everything the Fed, the FDIC and the Treasury do doesn’t always work out right but back in October we came within an eyelash of having a truly horrible collapse of our financial system, said Johnson, a former Fed senior economist. “They used their creativity to help the worst-case scenario from unfolding and I’m awfully glad they did it.”

Federal Reserve officials project the economy will keep shrinking until at least mid-year, which would mark the longest U.S. recession since the Great Depression.

The following table details how the Fed and the government have committed the money on behalf of American taxpayers over the past 20 months, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

===========================================================
--- Amounts (Billions)---
Limit Current
===========================================================
Total $12,798.14 $4,169.71
-----------------------------------------------------------
Federal Reserve Total $7,765.64 $1,678.71
Primary Credit Discount $110.74 $61.31
Secondary Credit $0.19 $1.00
Primary dealer and others $147.00 $20.18
ABCP Liquidity $152.11 $6.85
AIG Credit $60.00 $43.19
Net Portfolio CP Funding $1,800.00 $241.31
Maiden Lane (Bear Stearns) $29.50 $28.82
Maiden Lane II (AIG) $22.50 $18.54
Maiden Lane III (AIG) $30.00 $24.04
Term Securities Lending $250.00 $88.55
Term Auction Facility $900.00 $468.59
Securities lending overnight $10.00 $4.41
Term Asset-Backed Loan Facility $900.00 $4.71
Currency Swaps/Other Assets $606.00 $377.87
MMIFF $540.00 $0.00
GSE Debt Purchases $600.00 $50.39
GSE Mortgage-Backed Securities $1,000.00 $236.16
Citigroup Bailout Fed Portion $220.40 $0.00
Bank of America Bailout $87.20 $0.00
Commitment to Buy Treasuries $300.00 $7.50
-----------------------------------------------------------
FDIC Total $2,038.50 $357.50
Public-Private Investment* $500.00 0.00
FDIC Liquidity Guarantees $1,400.00 $316.50
GE $126.00 $41.00
Citigroup Bailout FDIC $10.00 $0.00
Bank of America Bailout FDIC $2.50 $0.00
-----------------------------------------------------------
Treasury Total $2,694.00 $1,833.50
TARP $700.00 $599.50
Tax Break for Banks $29.00 $29.00
Stimulus Package (Bush) $168.00 $168.00
Stimulus II (Obama) $787.00 $787.00
Treasury Exchange Stabilization $50.00 $50.00
Student Loan Purchases $60.00 $0.00
Support for Fannie/Freddie $400.00 $200.00
Line of Credit for FDIC* $500.00 $0.00
-----------------------------------------------------------
HUD Total $300.00 $300.00
Hope for Homeowners FHA $300.00 $300.00
-----------------------------------------------------------
he FDIC’s commitment to guarantee lending under the
Legacy Loan Program and the Legacy Asset Program includes a $500
billion line of credit from the U.S. Treasury.


To contact the reporters on this story:
Mark Pittman in New York at
mpittman@bloomberg.net;
Bob Ivry in New York at
bivry@bloomberg.net.[/quote]


[size=7]$12.8 TRILLION PEOPLE[/size]

How is [i]anything else[/i] being discussed right now? We all just got stuck with $40,000 bill, without our permission.
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[quote name='CTBengalsFan' post='763629' date='Apr 14 2009, 02:37 PM']Distractions...

I'm more worried about the robbing of country by bankers ($12.8 trillion thus far) as we bicker about "who funded the TEA PARTIES!?!?!?!?"

[url="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=armOzfkwtCA4"]http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=new...id=armOzfkwtCA4[/url]




[size=7]$12.8 TRILLION PEOPLE[/size]

How is [i]anything else[/i] being discussed right now? We all just got stuck with $40,000 bill, without our permission.[/quote]


And that's a trillion more than our National Debt...

[url="http://www.brillig.com/debt_clock/"]http://www.brillig.com/debt_clock/[/url]


And yet the morning news spends more time rehashing American Idol than anything involving our complete economic collapse...
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[quote name='Homer_Rice' post='763624' date='Apr 14 2009, 03:12 PM'][url="http://forum.go-bengals.com/index.php?s=&showtopic=47378&view=findpost&p=755237"]What?[/url]

[url="http://forum.go-bengals.com/index.php?s=&showtopic=47497&view=findpost&p=756343"]Really?[/url]

And while we're at it....can we stop using the wrong "ism" to describe what is unfolding?[/quote]
Which "ism" would you prefer?

To quote Ferris Bueller, "A man should not believe in an 'ism'. He should believe in himself."
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[quote name='CatScratchFever' post='763787' date='Apr 14 2009, 08:49 PM']You avoid answering questions like the most seasoned politician.

Care to enlighten us [b]uncultured, illiterate heathens[/b] as to what exactly would be an accurate one?[/quote]

could have just said "Ohioans"....
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[quote name='CatScratchFever' post='763787' date='Apr 14 2009, 09:49 PM']You avoid answering questions like the most seasoned politician.

Care to enlighten us uncultured, illiterate heathens as to what exactly would be an accurate one?[/quote]
I'm guessing this is a poor attempt at a joke. If so, then semi-lol.

If not, then the supposition that I avoid questions implies that I haven't taken plenty of time in the past to state my views pretty clearly and forcefully.

Which isn't true.

But, to answer your question more directly, I can think of three--two that are related and might only really count as one: corporativism and/or corporatism. These are more or less already here in economic form. The third is one which the future may hold for us, if we don't stop acting like petulant assholes: fascism.

But I really shouldn't have to spoon-feed this to folks. One might hope that a certain measure of "waking-the-fuck-up" has been taking place over the last year or so.

But, maybe not, for many.
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[quote name='Homer_Rice' post='763828' date='Apr 14 2009, 10:53 PM']I'm guessing this is a poor attempt at a joke. If so, then semi-lol.

If not, then the supposition that I avoid questions implies that I haven't taken plenty of time in the past to state my views pretty clearly and forcefully.

Which isn't true.

But, to answer your question more directly, I can think of three--two that are related and might only really count as one: corporativism and/or corporatism. These are more or less already here in economic form. The third is one which the future may hold for us, if we don't stop acting like petulant assholes: fascism.
[b]
But I really shouldn't have to spoon-feed this to folks. One might hope that a certain measure of "waking-the-fuck-up" has been taking place over the last year or so.

But, maybe not, for many.[/b][/quote]


its amazing how many people act like nothing is going on, somewhat myself included. the assumption of "if i lose this job there are plenty more" etc is still strong.

a good friend of mine lost his job, and i had him set up and done with drug testing, background check, and through his series of interviews, essentially all but signed on the doted line hired.. and my company decided to close a location, so we went from being short two people to being over 3 people at our location.... so he is still job hunting.... when we had the req open, we normally get 3-5 applicants.. and 3-4 of them typically SUCK... this time we had 68... and like 40 of them were great....

I am forever greatful to have a job i enjoy, that im damn good at, and that the position's entire purpose is to retain and save the company money, in a very very VERY cash wasteful business.

i went off topic a bit there..

carry on.
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[quote name='GoBengals' post='763848' date='Apr 15 2009, 01:19 AM']its amazing how many people act like nothing is going on, somewhat myself included. the assumption of "if i lose this job there are plenty more" etc is still strong.

a good friend of mine lost his job, and i had him set up and done with drug testing, background check, and through his series of interviews, essentially all but signed on the doted line hired.. and my company decided to close a location, so we went from being short two people to being over 3 people at our location.... so he is still job hunting.... when we had the req open, we normally get 3-5 applicants.. and 3-4 of them typically SUCK... this time we had 68... and like 40 of them were great....

I am forever greatful to have a job i enjoy, that im damn good at, and that the position's entire purpose is to retain and save the company money, in a very very VERY cash wasteful business.

i went off topic a bit there..

carry on.[/quote]


A friend of mine works for a small reprographics company and they put an ad out for a delivery driver position.

They got over 300 applications.

Half had college degrees.

Forty-two of them had a Masters... :mellow:

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[quote name='Homer_Rice' post='763828' date='Apr 14 2009, 11:53 PM']I'm guessing this is a poor attempt at a joke. If so, then semi-lol.

If not, then the supposition that I avoid questions implies that I haven't taken plenty of time in the past to state my views pretty clearly and forcefully.[/quote]
Well, since it was a half-assed joke, I guess I only deserve a semi-lol. You usually have very well thought out remarks, but you were definitely avoiding that particular question, so I found it odd.

[quote name='Elflocko' post='763962' date='Apr 15 2009, 01:12 PM']A friend of mine works for a small reprographics company and they put an ad out for a delivery driver position.

They got over 300 applications.

Half had college degrees.

Forty-two of them had a Masters... :mellow:[/quote]
I read a story a while back where a certain pet store chain here in Dayton received over 500 applications for two basically minimum wage positions. Sad.

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^^^ i thought this was funny



^^^ this rocked too

i saw some teabaggers wednesday, there were like 6 of them at a corner, i took a cell phone picture, they looked like they had just walked out of the 1980s, one guy was wearing short shorts

me and my friend wanted to go up and bait them into making racist comments but i was going to meet someone
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