>Coffee Party meetup in Birmingham

>Tired of Tea?

Join the Coffee Party in Birmingham. There will be a meeting on Friday, April 9, 2010 from 2:00 to 3:00 at Starbucks at the Mervyn H. Sterne Library on UAB campus. 917 13th Street South Birmingham, Alabama 35205 The library is across the street from the Arts and Humanities Building. Between 8th and 10th Ave. So. on 13th street. Birmingham, AL.

Here is the mission statement of the Coffee Party.

COFFEE PARTY MISSION STATEMENT: The Coffee Party Movement gives voice to Americans who want to see cooperation in government. We recognize that the federal government is not the enemy of the people, but the expression of our collective will, and that we must participate in the democratic process in order to address the challenges that we face as Americans. As voters and grassroots volunteers, we will support leaders who work toward positive solutions, and hold accountable those who obstruct them.

I have highlighted phrases that stand out to me in contrast to the Tea Party movement.

cooperation in government. This does not mean voting “no” just for the sake of voting no, or trying to create a Waterloo at the expense of the American people.

the federal government is not the enemy of the people. How often have we heard from the Teabaggers about the federal government being the enemy, about states rights and sovereignty, and about secession (Texas?)?

but the expression of our collective will. The President, and the current congress, was, in fact, elected by the people of this country to accomplish the agenda that they are pursuing.

democratic process. Not spitting on people, mocking older men with Parkinson’s disease, using the “N” word or the “F” word to taunt congressmen.

support leaders who work toward positive solutions, and hold accountable those who obstruct them. The Party of Solutions or the Party of No?

The Coffee Party is not a political party. It is a movement, and from what I have seen the people are more diverse by age, race, and sexual orientation than the Tea Party.

Check it out.

>GOP = Tea Party = GOP

>Here are some more videos that show without a doubt that the GOP = Tea Party = GOP = Racism = GOP. Racism, by the way, is not just animosity toward blacks from whites. It can also involve hatred toward Latinos or Asians and others.

Exposing the Racism Part 1

Demand an Explanation Part 2 They call Mexicans “filthy stinkin animals.”

The GOP Supports the Teabaggers Part 3

Remember, if they are not like you, they do not like you.

>Roots of Republican racism

>The Republican Party of 2010 often cites itself as “The party of Lincoln,” in an effort to increase the size of its tent. They even went to far as to hire an African American to be the number 3 guy, (#1 – Rush, #2 – Sarah). Michael Steele is RNC chairman.

In the years after the Civil War ended, Republicans apparently began to re-think their positions (emphasis mine):

But the succeeding years would come as if the masses of poverty stricken whites
and blacks were twin siblings of a parent indulgent to one and venomous to the
other. A new national white consensus began to coalesce against African
Americans with shocking force and speed. The general white public, the
national leadership of the Republican Party, and the federal government, on
every level were arriving at the conclusion that African Americans did not merit
citizenship and that their freedom was not valuable enough to justify the conflicts they engendered among whites. Blackmon, Douglas; Slavery by Another Name;
pages 86-87.

Blackmon follows with (emphasis mine):

As early as 1876, President Ulysses S. Grant, commander of the Union army of liberation, conceded to members of his cabinet that the Fifteenth Amendment,
giving freed slaves the right to vote, had been a mistake: “It had done
the Negro no good, and had been a hindrance to the South, and by no means a
political advantage to the North. Blackmon; p 87.

Grant, of course, was a Republican, first elected in 1868 and re-elected in 1872.

Grant’s 1868 campaign poster, created with early “photoshop,” by superimposing his image onto the platform of the Republican Party. Library of Congress public domain

So just a decade after the Civil War the systematic disenfranchisement of the new franchisee began, under the leadership of the Republican Party. We know where this led. Segregation. Jim Crow. Plessy v. Ferguson. 1901 Alabama Constitution.

It would take a Democratic President (Lyndon Baines Johnson)to lead the way to the breakdown of Jim Crow and separate but equal, with the signing of the Civil Rights act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (and Brown v Board of Education in 1954).

(As a side note some are trying to re-create the “separate but equal” ideology in relation to same sex marriage, where certainly civil unions and domestic partnerships are not equal to marriage, in spite of what people are saying).

The Republican Party of 1876 has evolved into the Tea Party of 2009/10

Tea party leader Dale Robertson at a Tea Party.

Oh, but that’s not the Republican Party, you say.

Michelle Bachman (Republican – MN) (emphasis mine):

Well, it’s embrace the tea party movement with full arms and hold as many open forums as they possibly can to bring people in and listen to them because the
leadership right now is truly coming from the tea party movement … there’s
no question that the heartbeat of the tea party movement would be more in line
with the mission state of the Republican party certainly than that of the
Democrat party. So if the Republican Party is wise, they will allow
themselves to be re-defined by the tea party movement. And I hope that
that will be the case.

Here’s a classic picture taken at a Tea Party.

My sources tell me the kid got out alive. “This sign is the brownest thing on this entire block” it reads.

OK. That’s enough for today. But rest assure there will be more.

New feature on Bessemer Opinions. The latest comments are now shown on the left and you can click on them to see the post from which they came. Now if you comment, others are more likely to see them. Isn’t that a good thing?

Update: The comments feature doesn’t seem to be updating as it should. I am going to leave it up and see what it does, but there have been more comments posted today on blog posts from a couple of days ago.

>Western Tribune Column February 10, 2010: Literacy tests

>In my never ending mission, the calling out of those who want to damage our country, I wrote this for the Western Tribune column this week. Teabaggers, you are not going to get away with it. American’s are smarter, and fairer, than you think.

I have inserted links of interest.

Western Tribune Column

The Tea Party may have lost any chance of becoming more than a flash in the pan when they allowed Tom Tancredo, a former Republican candidate for president, to address their first convention on their opening night.

Tancredo ran for the 2008 Republican nomination for president with anti-immigration as his number one issue.

At the Tea Party convention on Friday he brought back memories of the “Jim Crow” era as he said that President Obama was elected because “we do not have a civics, literacy test before people can vote in this country.”

Lest there be any doubt what he meant, he followed with, “People who could not spell the word vote or say it in English put a committed socialist ideologue in the White House — name is Barack Hussein Obama.”

During the Jim Crow era laws reduced the political power as well as the social standing of black citizens.

Literacy tests were used during that era to disenfranchise blacks and poor whites by denying them the right to vote in order to continue wealthy white control. The results are lasting, most notably in that we still live under the 1901 Alabama constitution, put in place by wealthy whites in order to control blacks.

(a 1950’s Alabama voter registration application , an actual literacy test used in Alabama)

The last time a political party with similar ideals about race gained such national attention was when the States Rights Democratic Party, or Dixiecrats, formed in the south in 1948. At that time disgruntled Democrats were fighting to uphold segregation. Now former Republicans (many of whom are former Democrats) are promoting this new class warfare with one aim, stated by Tancredo: stop the black president.

A recent documentary by Rick Rowley and Jacquie Soohen titled White Power USA, examined the connection between the Tea Party and the white power movement. The connection is there, and it is solid.

It makes one wonder if the decision to locate the Tea Party convention so close to the birthplace of the Ku Klux Klan was a coincidence. The KKK was founded in Pulsaski, Tennessee, just after the Civil War ended in an effort to preserve white control in the rapidly changing social environment. Pulaski is about 75 miles south of Nashville.

The American majority of 2010 will turn from this racially charged movement. Remember, the real majority voted for the type of change Obama is pushing, in spite of what the vocal minority is saying. Congress should respond.

>Poll results are in – OMG!

> Photo – A local teabagger

Daily Kos had a poll conducted (by independent poller Research 2000) and the results are sickening. Really.

The poll was conducted by telephone survey of 2003 self-identified Republicans between January 20 and January 31, this year. The margin of error is less than 2%.

The entire results can be found here, with further breakdown of the raw numbers.

Here are the highlights.

Should Barack Obama be impeached, or not?

Yes – 39%
No – 32

Never mind that there has to be high crimes or misdemeanors.

Do you believe that Barack Obama was born in the United States, or not?

Yes – 42
No – 36

Over one third of your party still can’t accept the fact that a black man born in the United States is president.

Do you think Barack is a socialist?

Yes – 63
No – 21

Do you believe Sarah Palin is more qualified to be president than Barack Obama?

Yes – 53
No – 14

Do you believe your state should secede from the United States?
Yes – 23
No – 58

In the south, 33% of Republicans believe we should secede.

Should openly gay men and women be allowed to serve in the military?

Yes – 26
No – 55

Should sex education be taught in the public schools?

Yes – 42
No – 51

At least over half of you want your children educated and safe.

Should public school students be taught that the book of Genesis in the Bible explains how God created the world?

Yes – 77
No – 15

Should the next question have been about doing away with science completely?

Do you believe the birth control pill is abortion?

Yes – 34
No – 48

Do you consider abortion to be murder?

Yes – 76
No – 8

So, that means that 25.84% of Republicans think that women who use birth control are committing murder.

Do you support the death penalty?

Yes – 91
No – 4

Barbaric!

And I actually know people who are part of this party. Yikes!

Update: Del Ali, president of Research 2000 said this earlier today to Kos. “We have received two threatening phone calls in the past hour. Interestingly enough, both calls conclude that both you and I are terrorists promoting a gay and of course anti-American agenda. “

>More on the teabaggers and racism

>This video shows the link between the current tea parties and the racist white supremacy.

It’s 24 minutes long, but worth it.

The teabaggers say “Take back America.”

The white supremacists say “Take back America.”

And this is why anyone associated with Tea Parties is suspicious.

Glenn Beck is identified, along with a certain “News” network.

Yes, I know the video was aired on AlJazeera English. So?

>What do the teabaggers believe in?

>

The teabaggers may feel energized, but why? I mean, I understand that their centerfold candidate won in Massachusetts and all.

But Americans with brains want to to know: what do you stand for?

Reduced spending? Give specifics. What would you cut? Give me specifics, and I will address them in future postings.

Reduced government regulation? Then why do you keep trying to prevent loving couples from getting married?

When I try to find out what specifically the Teabagger party folks believe in, I either come up with web sites that you can’t enter without registration (scary) or videos like this (I think I posted this one before, but let’s watch again).

Dang, they are as uneducated as local letter writer Snuffy Garrett, (who made a fool of himself in this week’s Western Tribune by not researching before he wrote).

We watched a story on BBC in America where Tea Party members in Washington, Missouri, were interviewed. They couldn’t say what they believed in, but they did claim not to be the fringe that we see on TV. Then the fangs came out and they said they would sabotage Republicans that did not agree with their beliefs.

But the Tea Party movement is not all roses either. This video calling on grassroots protesters to avoid the upcoming national teabag convention, and unite, not letting the GOP hijack their efforts.

Notice that while a black person or two is shown in the video, that when they speak of uniting, it is all white hands that come together. A fist bump between a white fist and a black fist seems to represent conflict, not approval, because it immediately follows the words “Don’t fall for it again. Not now!”

As best as I can tell, the Tea party movement is a white supremacist, anti-choice, dominionist, homophobic, uneducated (obvious from the first video) group of noisemakers.

I’m not saying they shouldn’t be taken seriously. But realize this, as well. Part of the anger in the country is coming from the left. After all, we helped elect the congress and president, and they haven’t come through like we expected. So don’t think that all the anger reflected in polls and election results comes from the right.