The Conundrum of the Tea Party Complainers

Tax day is upon us. The Tea Party activists are churned up into a media frenzy led by the great orator and stateswomen – Sarah Palin. Yesterday she made the point that people should be able to keep more of the money they earn so they can spend the money how they wish and not how the big bad government wishes. Well, thanks to Gail Collins of the NY Times, a conundrum is indeed before us.

Stay with me on this one. According to the Tax Policy Center 47 percent – the lowest income American households – did not have to pay any income tax in 2009. This was largely aided by the Obama stimulus plan that included tax credits for families with income under $50,000. But taxation is the core issue of the Tea Party, right? One would think so, but wait, there’s more…

According to Gallop Polls 45 percent of the Tea Party members have income below $50,000. Stay with me here. According to a NY Times/CBS Poll, The Tea Party is the only organization that has a majority of members who think their taxation is unfair. So we have maybe millions of pot bellied, middle aged white folks, who largely pay no taxes driving around the country complaining about their unfair tax burden!!

As Gail Collins eludes- clearly this is not the core reason for their existence, not the rag they treasure chewing more than any other. These patriots of the Tea Party crawled out of the woodwork in mass only after Obama was elected. They were conspicuously absent for eight years while Bush spent trillions on war like a drunken Yale freshman, and even treaded lightly on Clinton for eight years, despite his immoral behavior.

The Obama administration has exposed them to what they really are- good ole racial and homophobic bigots still smarting from the reality of being governed by a black man, with an Arab sounding name, who they believe was not even born in the US. They proudly carry their “Kill Obama-care” signs and yell profanities at politicians in the name of lower taxes, liberty, freedom, and taking back America. Yeah right. They all seem to have lost their sheets and don’t know where to find them.

Strategic Arms Insanity

Ok, let’s all get up and do the happy dance. Come on- out of your seat! President Obama has signed a new nuclear arms reduction treaty. Each side will reduce their nuclear warhead count to 1550 over the next seven years. We need to celebrate, right?

Before we get too excited, we should reflect on just how meaningless this all really is. These are really big hydrogen bombs- a thousand to ten thousand times more powerful than the bombs we dropped on Japan. One of these bombs can wipe out New England. Ten to twenty of these bombs can kill all life in the continental United States. Having 1550 of these dooms day weapons still sounds like “overkill” to me- which, by the way- is the source of the saying.

Yet we are asked to do the happy dance. I’m afraid this is much ado about nothing. Until all nuclear weapons are buried we have nothing to celebrate- except less “overkill”- what ever that is.

President Obama Endorses the Tea Party

In a rare meeting with Sarah Palin at the White House following the announcement to open offshore drilling in Alaska, President Obama has decided to endorse the Tea Party. He plans to address the Tea Party at the gala assembly on April 15th in Washington. Sarah Palin will introduce the President He’s expected to make another landmark speech denouncing same sex marriage rights and reversing his position on abortion.

Minority Leader John Boehner immediately renounced his support for the Tea Party calling it a Green Tea Party, and warned of President Obama being a sheep in wolf's clothing, who will undermine everything the Republicans stand for by agreeing with them.

Rush Limbaugh has decided to go to Costa Rica as promised, but he did refer to the President as “two faced” for giving up his long held liberal beliefs to follow the Conservative agenda.