Have you ever wondered why the teabaggers weren't treated like OWS people?

[Lostlover]

Why weren't the teabaggers weren't treated as badly as the OWS protesters? I have never seen a teabagger with a cracked skull or getting mace sprayed at their faces. Nor have I seen a coordinated effort to stop the teabaggers from assembling in public spaces.

At least the OWS protesters have other things to do and are there on principles. The teabaggers only showed up after Denny's early bird special.

 

[JayHawk]

Actually most TP folks want the government to CUT spending sa eliminate most government run programs. The republican party is the entity deeply in bed with the corporation but you might as well agree so are most of the Democratic party.

I see the movement as one desiring no government, the other desiring government to take from the few and give to the all and if ask would probably support bigger government.

I know it is fun to get your panties in a bunch but really... isnt their a forum for bunched panties?

 

[chrisrobin]

Some of them had guns?

 

[opinterph]

Were the tea partiers "occupying" anywhere?

I recall that they “occupied” some town hall meetings. [TPM]

 

[evanrick]

tea partiers are simply delusional.

ive always said of republicans, conservatives in America, the 'religious' folk:

if you can them (gop voters) to believe in nothing (god), you can get them to believe in anything, no matter how many facts they are presented with.

 

[Ambrocious]

I think both sides of resistance, the tea partiers and the OWS people need to shed their differences in exchange for a co-operative move against this global financial takeover. It is more important that people overlook our past conflicts in order to achieve a genuine change that everyone would be responsible for bringing about.

True victories against corruption and tyranny are achieved and for the most part, maintained by less or no division amongst the people whom are being oppressed. If the majority of the people were to be responsible for a truly good change, there would be no room for any real boasting or pride which causes great divisions in any sort of person who can be narcissistic. If most people, on both sides of the fence (tea party and OWS) defeated this tyranny by being able to humble themselves for just a few weeks, a great deal of things could be accomplished and maybe people would even realize just how connected we were once we drop our political prejudices towards each other as well.

Once people realize that in the end, none of us were ever really any different, then change can be truly effective. Great clashes of minds and beliefs and opinions fuel quite often the destruction of the worlds greatest innovative discoveries and progress simply by not being able to reach an agreement.

I find it then to be not just an important but a purely vital step to take that people feel united by what we share in common rather than what we hold in opposition. The vitrification of any corrupt thing is most effective when people unite under universal justice and respect for everyone. Find the things that unite you or cause you to be similar to them, not purposely seek methods to destroy each other. Humanity has a choice that is purely unique to us that includes entropy as an option but NOT a must.

 

[Stardreamer]

tea partiers are simply delusional.

ive always said of republicans, conservatives in America, the 'religious' folk:

if you can them (gop voters) to believe in nothing (god), you can get them to believe in anything, no matter how many facts they are presented with.

Amazing how well this works if you replace the each of the nouns with its opposite.

I've always said of democrats, liberals in America, the 'atheist' folk:

if you can (get) them (dem voters) to believe in nothing (atheism), you can get them to believe in anything, no matter how many facts they are presented with.

In fact I've heard this exact sentiment expressed by some of my more devout far right friends. To them atheists literally believe in 'nothing' and therefore have no foundation or center to ground themselves on. Not sure I really have a point here but I often take points and flip them around to see if there is a contrast and this one just glared right out at me.

 

[JayHawk]

No. The entire tea party movement is a farce. They are neo-conservatives. Nice try!

If you believe that then you truly are delusional.

Seems as if the TP is getting what it wants via spending cuts. Their POV is that we have a spending problem not a revenue problem. The folks holding the republican feet to the fire this time around are TP. They not only wanted to see the 1.2 trillion get cut but even more. If you wanna call that pandering to the rich because nobody is taking their money and giving it to you then please feel free. But to say it is a farce? The movement currently a farce would be the one with no political clout whatsoever who are camped on the doorsteps of power hoping to make change with a a sleeping bag.

The other reason the TP isn't treated like OWS is they rally, express their point of view and then go the fuck home. Apparently judging by the cumulative effects of each organization that appears to be the more effective model. They also don't attract the drug addled and the criminally minded. For some reason those folks don't find a group of armed Americans a fun place to hang out.

I dont support a great deal of the TP demands. I do believe we have a spending problem in defense and entitlements. I don't think we should take away the Bush tax cuts that affected the middle class but the playing field should be leveled so that the wealthy pay the same percentage rate on ALL the money they earn.

Likewise on the OWS side I support very few of their ideas BUT getting corporate money out of politicians back pockets, and tax reform are key. The idea that corporations or their chairmen or their board would be put in jail for what was legal when they did it is a pipe dream of the disaffected and will never occur. So i would suggest as I have been for a while that the OWS pack up their sleeping bags and get about the business of changing a government. Or keep pissing and moaning about being dispersed by security and police. Eventually the American public will get tired of the bullshit and stop listening.

 

[Kulindahr]

I see the movement as one desiring no government, the other desiring government to take from the few and give to the all and if ask would probably support bigger government.

I know it is fun to get your panties in a bunch but really... isnt their a forum for bunched panties?

In practice, the Tea Party believes in a trickle-up economy rigged that way by government which takes from the poor and gives to the rich. That's what their people in Congress fight for. It's no accident that while the Tea Party has been forcing lopsided compromise on the Democrats the wealth inequality gap has only expanded.

They don't understand economics, they don't understand government, and for all their professions, they don't understand Christianity.

 

[Kulindahr]

I'm not delusional. I know the facts. Keep the personal insults to yourself. The tea party want their defense spending protecting and perhaps even increased. The whole movement is a complete farce and has lost sway.

Yes. And they don't understand that a strong defense requires a strong economy and a debt being paid down. Their policies in practice aim against both of those.

 

[JayQueer]

I'm not going to discuss my beliefs about the Tea Party or Occupy Wall Street.

But I will say that, to my knowledge, the Tea Party has never set up "camp" in public parks or other public facilities for weeks on end, and then refused to leave the premises when city officials asked them to.

The Tea Party has also also not gotten into direct confrontation with police officers during any mass gatherings or public demonstrations.

I have been to a Tea Party rally in Santa Monica before (as an observer -- I did not directly participate), and people came together with signs for 2 to 3 hours, and then left. I don't know of any Tea Party events that have lasted more than 24 hours, in the same location.

The "Occupy" movement, if you read the news, has set up camps in public parks for weeks (perhaps now months), in cities from New York to Oakland to Los Angeles. There have been reports of assault and rapes occurring in these "Occupy" encampments. Communicable diseases such as influenza and meningitis have been spreading through the "Occupy" camps. Recently when NYC Mayor Bloomberg ordered Occupy protesters temporarily out of a park, so the park could be sprayed & sanitized, many of the Occupy protesters got upset.

I'm a strong believer in the 1st amendment, and for people to freely assemble to voice their grievances against the government. But there has been a difference in the way the Tea Party and "Occupy" have conducted themselves in public.

With that said, I don't support the police brutality that occurred on the UC Davis campus last week.

 

[JayQueer]

The Occupy movement is against the corruption within society. The tea party movement are simply defending the capitalist system. You don't seem to understand the 1st amendment too well. Or the right to assembly.

Well, I believe in capitalism (as most Americans do). I make no apologies for that.

 

[JayHawk]

Noted delusional.

The idea that we have a defense and THAT is the only job of government I disagree with but it is in no way trickle up economics. TP don't believe we should fund a Federal Department of Education because they are simply a duplicate administration that serves no purpose of what states already do. Return that to the people and if the states want to increase the tax to compensate for lost federal tit money then fine.

They don't believe in the DOE as well. That I happen to disagree with because Nuclear powered energy production needs oversight.

They don't believe that man can somehow miraculously change the course of the warming of the earth. The other planets apparently are warming as well.

They don't believe the EPA does a damn thing and I am on the fence here.

Theirs is a grassroots movement just as OWS is from the people. The umbrella under which people call themselves TP is huge and encompasses many who hold views I can not support. However to singularly say that everyone in that group is manipulated by corporations is plainly ignorant.

 

[JayHawk]

More power to the states is the basis of this country.

That system that the NCLB act tried to fix simply set it further into chaos. The federal standards amount to teaching the test to children not interested in being in school so that schools can keep their accreditation and thereby their funds.

Some folks NEED to be directed to trade type schools and not be forced to learn something they will never employ. Our educational is designed to create citizens not thinkers. THAT is the issue. Adding layers of federal bureaucratic red tape is not the answer.

 

[JayHawk]

Some states? Like California who has 'cratered' in the words of their former Governor?

No Sir! The states with the highest bubble with be feeling that biggest collapse. ALL the federal money did was delay the inevitable. Those states will not be the south.

The point of Meredith Whitney’s investigation, in her mind, was not to predict defaults in the municipal-bond market. It was to compare the states with one another so that they might be ranked. She wanted to get a sense of who in America was likely to play the role of the Greeks, and who the Germans. Of who was strong, and who weak. In the process she had, in effect, unearthed America’s scariest financial places.

“So what’s the scariest state?” I asked her.

She had to think for only about two seconds.

“California.”

You ought to give it a read.

 

[Kulindahr]

Public facilities are places that allow protest. You don't seem to have an understanding of the history of protest, JQ. YOu think the OCcupy wall street protests were the first to occupy city parks and facilities for weeks on end? This goes back decades.

Like, WW I.

 

[Kulindahr]

Capitalism? Or kleptocracy? Because the present system is kleptocracy.

Noted delusional.
. . . I disagree with but it is in no way trickle up economics.

GC has it right -- he's just saying "trickle up" differently.

Read this and tell me it isn't trickle up:

http://articles.latimes.com/2011/oct/27/business/la-fi-rich-poor-20111027

Or this:

http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/story/2011-10-27/income-gap/50952720/1

Tax changes have been shunting more wealth to the already wealthy. Wages have been stifled to the point of being half of what they were in Kennedy's time. CEO compensations have gone to sheer plundering.

We're past mere capitalism into corporatism and, as GC said, kleptocracy. The 1% get great amounts of income for doing nothing, while the poor get less and less for working their asses off.

 

[Kulindahr]

More power to the states is the basis of this country.

That system that the NCLB act tried to fix simply set it further into chaos. The federal standards amount to teaching the test to children not interested in being in school so that schools can keep their accreditation and thereby their funds.

Some folks NEED to be directed to trade type schools and not be forced to learn something they will never employ. Our educational is designed to create citizens not thinkers. THAT is the issue. Adding layers of federal bureaucratic red tape is not the answer.

Exactly.

There are three and a half million unfilled jobs in this country because of all the "Everyone go to college!" foolishness. The employers who need those jobs filled say for every one filled they'd employ another three people.

That's fourteen million jobs that don't exist in this country because of idiotic federal education policies.

Now -- how many people do we have who need jobs at the moment?

It's not unreasonable to say that having a federal education agency brought us this unemployment.

 

[Kulindahr]

More power to the states simply means letting states pass whatever silly policies they want. This country has evolved since the 18th century. Time change. And I'm talking about the general rules. Maybe if states did their job right (which they certainly don't) then the federal govenrment wouldn't have to step in so frequently. And some states, especially in the deep south, are extremely corrupt. People calling for the reduction of federal power may realize they are dependent on it.

Total elitism.

The Department of Education should be shut down. We have non-governmental education agencies that certify universities as being up to standards; the same would work for high schools and on down.

 

[Kulindahr]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/21/the-top-01-percent-capital-gains_n_1105055.html

"The top 0.1 percent of earners are netting half of all capital gains -- or gains on the sale of shares or property -- according to Forbes. That means that 315,000 Americans are benefiting disproportionately from the financial transaction, which accounts for 60 percent of the income of the Forbes 400."

--------

How about a tough capital gains tax? This is getting ridiculous. This isn't just 1%. This is .1%.

This is ridiculous.

End the capital gains tax -- just count it as income along with the rest.

And add a financial transaction tax, 0.1% on all transactions over $1k.