Hillary Clinton… She Can’t Help Herself

Daily Times – Site Edition	Friday, October 30, 2009

Al Qaeda leadership in Pakistan: Hillary Clinton

* US taxes everything, and ‘that’s not what we see in Pakistan’
* Pakistan must start planning for challenges posed by population growth
* US secretary of state meets COAS

LAHORE: The leadership of Al Qaeda is in Pakistan, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Thursday.

“I find it hard to believe that nobody in your government knows where they are and couldn’t get them if they really wanted to,” she added.

“Maybe that’s the case; maybe they’re not gettable. I don’t know… As far as we know, they are in Pakistan,” Clinton told senior Pakistani newspaper editors in Lahore, AFP reported. “The percentage of taxes on GDP (in Pakistan) is among the lowest in the world… We (the United States) tax everything that moves and doesn’t move, and that’s not what we see in Pakistan,” she said.

“You do have 180 million people. Your population is projected to be about 300 million. And I don’t know what you’re going to do with that kind of challenge, unless you start planning right now,” she said.

“If we are going to have a mature partnership where we work together” then “there are issues that not just the United States but others have with your government and with your military security establishment”.

Separately, Clinton also met army chief General Ashfaq Kayani and exchanged views on a host of security-related issues. afp/sajjad malik

 

Daniel, Hoosier Taxpayer, and CPA to Evan Bayh

August 20, 2009

Senator Bayh,

After reading the attached letter to you from a fellow Hoosier (Whom I have never met), I need to remind you how I feel as well regarding H.R. 3200 “America’s Affordable Health Choices Act” and any similar bill.  My wife and I have written and called Rep Peter Visclosky, Senator Lugar and your self on various topics during 2008 and 2009.  We have received responses from your office and appreciate them.  Since you represent us, we need to understand what you stand for and what you are doing in Washington.

Concern is growing daily over the direction our current President and Congress are taking us.

As a CPA, I believe in small, medium and large business based on my experiences.  Businesses have adjusted extremely quickly to the recession during the last 9 months.  We have cut cost in order to be able to service our customers, pay our vendors and employ as many people as we can considering the current environment.  We are making these changes so that we can return to creating wealth which can be used to reinvest back into our people and communities.  Those that have not been able to adjust because their business models completely broke down have the Bankruptcy System to re-employ the remaining assets into new productive structures.  It would take years for the US Government to adjust operations/spending the way that American Businesses have already been able to. 

My experience also tells me that the smaller businesses can adjust much more quickly than the very large ones.  That is why growing the US Federal Government with Deficit Spending and unavoidable Increased Taxes is UNACCEPTABLE.  Like AIG and GM etc, the US Government is also not TOO BIG TO FAIL.  Like the US Taxpayer Bailouts of AIG and GM only the US Tax Payer will be able to save the US Government causing extreme pain to those Tax Payers.

I say all this to say that the average tax paying Hoosier is against Government Run Health Care in whatever form or language Congress uses.  The larger the US Government grows the less freedom individual Americans have.  The Doctor expressed this very well.

We ask you to vote against any form of Government Run Health Care and any form of Health Care Reform that increases deficits or raises taxes.

Most importantly, whether you vote for or against Government Run Health Care doesn’t really matter.  What matters is if Government Run Health Care passes.  If it passes than you did not do enough to stop it!  Our only alternative than will be to vote you out of office and replace you with someone who represents us.  My family is prepared to spend our time and resources to see that we are represented in Congress now and in the future. 

No we are not a large special interest, we are Americans!  Our individual voice is small but we have remembered how to use it, and there are many of us.  Please hear us and act on our behalf.

Sincerely

Daniel  XXX, CPA

Hoosier Tax Payer and Voter

 

Health Care Takeover… It’s the Ideology Stupid

Healthcare Take Over.. It’s the Ideology Stupid

By: Jeff Petersen

Today many around the nation are rallying together to make their voices heard in opposition to the idea of Uncle Sam taking over the health care industry. I know that many do not like to call it a take over but that is exactly what it is. The liberal left hates the idea of individual choice unless it deals with women killing their unborn babies. The liberal left loves bureaucracy. The liberal left hates freedom. The voices that are rising up today are not those of the liberal left but of working (well some may be out of a job at the moment) Americans who hold to the idea that our Constitution does not support the government taking over any part of the private sector; not the auto industry, and certainly not health care.

From 1200EST-1:00PM EST, grassroots movements around the country will be protesting at government offices across the nation. The Tea Party Patriots are one of these groups. The truth of the matter is that everyone who reads this article (maybe it will only reach 300 people) should make an effort to keep this “reform” from happening. So if you were unable (like I am) to make it to one of the protests, then call the Senators and the Representative that represent you. You can find their contact information by clicking the link contact your representative right here on my blog.

In doing some research I found that the House version of this bill actually has a provision in it that will allow community organizations (read ACORN) to survey you based on your weight, your lifestyle, and your need for health care! My dear readers, this is yet another power grab by a hungry group of statists and progressives who truly believe that Big Brother can run your life better than you can. The liberal left wants to control your healthcare; this same liberal left is in full support of allowing women to kill their unborn babies on demand and is often found on the side of supporting euthanasia. Do you want this type of person making life and DEATH decisions for you? Remember that the socialist/communist mantra is based on the good of the community not the individual. If these are the people who run healthcare you would do well to never get sick and to stay productive (helping the community).

This legislation is also very expensive. I will not address the idea that healthcare is a right in this particular article. The bill that passed the House does not even satisfy the goal of insuring every American. What will happen is we will spend the money of working men and women to the tune of at least 1.5 trillion dollars. 1,500,000,000,000 dollars.  How is spending 1.5 trillion dollars going to save people money?  If taxes must be raised to pay for this behemoth legislation how is that saving people money?  Then there is the fear that 1.5 trillion is actually what it will cost or if the bureaucracy, that is sure to rise out of this system, doesn’t drive the costs higher. That is what happened with Medicare. I am sure history won’t repeat itself.

Another thing to consider is how invasive this new legislation will be. This bill is more about ideology than it is about practicality. It is about taking away choices away from individuals and giving them to a bureaucrat. It will no longer be a question about what your doctor thinks, or even what you think. Uncle Sam will decide if you really need to have that lump looked at. You are fooling yourself if you don’t think an Excel spreadsheet will be used to figure out if you are worthy of healthcare… put age into cell A1, weight into cell C44, taxes paid in last FY in cell AA22, political affiliation in cell R1. Presto.. coverage denied.

Lastly, it is about closing down the private sector. This bill, in tandem with Cap and Trade, is designed to repress small businesses and entrepreneurs. I know it is hard to believe but the liberal left is for BIG business. Why? Because BIG business can be manipulated. This bill is a scam. It is meant to drive private insurance companies out of the private sector. It is simply a lie that the progressives do not want to take full control. Of course they do. Though most people are unaware, there is a big push by the left to cease 401ks and replace them with an upgraded social security program. The liberal left and our political elite feel that you, the working men and women of our country, need to be managed. Our founding fathers would roll over in their graves.

This is a fundamental right we have as citizens of the United States. I am calling on you to fight for our country. My children are depending on you. Call, call, fax, fax, email, write, call your Senators… your representative… Let them know.. That you, the American taxpayer, have had ENOUGH.

 

Why Higher Taxes isn’t the Answer

This is something that many people don’t understand. In one way, it should work this way — the higher the tax rate, the more revenue you take in — but it doesn’t. The Laffer Curve is the visual reason why; but the explanation is also quite simple: the more you tax, the more people hide their money; the more you tax, the more they move themselves and/or their money; the more you tax, the less incentive people have to earn money; the more you tax, the less there is to spend; the less there is to spend, the slower the economy goes; the slower the economy goes, the less revenue comes in.

One of the series of books I read through and greatly enjoyed was the Nero Wolfe mystery series, written by Rex Stout (and a few years ago, also made into a series of A&E TV shows). The books were set contemporary to when they were written, with the first one being published in the 30s, I think, and going all the way through the 70s. A recurring motif in several of the earlier ones (probably those written in the 40s and 50s), was the oppressive income tax, and how it squelched the brilliant detective’s desire to take on a case. When the novels were set in late November or early December, it was frequently noted that Wolfe would turn down cases because he was at or near a certain income, and if he earned any more, he would be taxed at a rate of 90% for it, so he figured that 10% of whatever fee simply wasn’t worth it. And that’s true — would you want to do the same amount of work and actually get to keep only 10% of your gross? It’s ridiculous! It’s time to trim the federal budget, so that we can keep more of our money. We are

Taxed

Enough

Already!

 

Ask not what your country can do for you…

Remember that famous quote from John F. Kennedy in his inaugural address? That famous line, “Ask not what your country can do for you, but ask what you can do for your country,” has been repeated by many different people over the past 48 years in a variety of contexts and for a variety of purposes. But it seems that we have forgotten it, and are only asking what our country or our government can do for us.

During this past election cycle, I got in a conversation with someone who was planning on voting for Obama and basically an entire Democrat and/or liberal ticket. She asked me why I was going to vote Republican, because “what have the Republicans ever given you?” I’ve thought about that question a lot in the past several months, and found it to give insight into the reason why government is so big, why they take so much from us in taxes, and why they are elected into office again and again, despite their massive failures. [Massive failures? Yes! Pres. Johnson declared “War on Poverty” in the 60s, and it’s only gotten worse. Yet we continue to throw good money after bad, in the apparent insane hopes that maybe this time history won’t repeat itself. And that’s just one example.]

This woman didn’t realize it, but she was selling her vote to the highest bidder — to whomever was able to convince her that s/he was going to give her the most. In one way, that’s not too different from what everyone does — everyone votes for the person that s/he thinks is the best. The difference comes in the way someone determines who will be the best candidate for the job. It’s an easy thing to vote for someone who promises you to “give” you what you want (even if, like so many campaign promises, the promise is forgotten the day after the election). It’s much harder — requires more discipline, more maturity, more circumspection, more thought — to vote for someone who does not promise you the moon.

But it is important to remember, that “the government” cannot give unless it first takes. They take our money in the form of taxes, then they take a percentage of our money off the top for bureaucracy, then they give us back a smaller portion of our money in the form of “benefits” and services. Some taxation is necessary, and some benefits and services are needful; but it’s time to say enough already!!!

We have to step up and let our voice be heard. A reader named Craig sent the link to this news story about various Representatives and Senators going apoplectic about proposed budget cuts, because the cuts were going to affect their districts. One of the items was a Presidential helicopter that Obama says is not necessary. Although $800,000,000 is a drop in the bucket, compared to the monstrosity of the “stimulus” package, it is still eight hundred million dollars of your money and my money that will be spent unnecessarily unless it is ultimately cut. And it will be spent because people voted, not for what they could do for their country, but what their country could do for them. Unfortunately, that comes at a very steep price, because as I said before, the government cannot give anything that it does not first take away.

 

Ripley, MS, TEA Party

Earlier, Chuck gave his perspective on the TEA Party he helped organize [in seven days] in Ripley, Mississippi. Here is the video of the rally, with speaker Les Riley.

 

Generations… A Tea Party Experience

Generations
Last November as I watch the news of “bailouts”, big spending and out of control congress, I could see our great country of great heritage to be turning a 180. Then I seen that I was not alone in the righteous anger I felt. I heard about the tea party idea and said to myself, this is something that I can do to help our voice be heard. I contacted our local tea party website to see what I could to help. So for ten days I left flyers anywhere they would let me, (church, gas stations, my own customers) As a result along with many others you see what happened. What a turn out! A special thanks should be given to the families that helped organize this great effort.
As I began to make my way to downtown Indy, I could see the people walking with their signs and banners making there way to gather on the statehouse lawn. What a sight to see, at 3pm there were already hundreds. A sense of hope started to stir within me seeing all these Americans standing up to be heard. As time went on more and more people began to flood in to express there outrage with the issue at hand. By 4:30 the number was in the thousands. I was sitting on the steps of the statehouse and what I seen was the real number of Hoosiers (10-12 thousand not 2-3). So we won’t listen to the disgraceful media that has no understanding of what is really going on (I’m sure the Bible calls this type “willingly ignorant”)
I title this Generations because as I sat there that day, with me was my father, two of my brothers, my nephew and my own son. I look at my father who was born in 1930. His life started in the depression, so you can understand what all he has seen in his long life. At eighteen he started at General Motors working in hot box cars loading scrap metal. He soon started as an apprentice and then made his way to a tool & die making career. After 38 years. Through much hard work he became general die maker supervisor. Then after retirement they called him back to do overseas consulting. So to see how this Government and Unions are ruining this great company, the one that supported my family for all those years is very troubling. Through all this he and mom raised six boys(sorry Mom!). I hope that with all that is going on he does not have to end his life in a depression.
Then I look at my son and think of my daughter, what will all this mean for them? He’s 13 and a bright boy. If we do not stop this out of control Government, what future will they have? What debt will they have? Will they enjoy the same freedoms and opportunities that we do? What I do know is that we CAN stand today! We can teach our children the truth!
Then I look at myself. Am I going to stand and watch or am I going to do something more. Well I am. I have made it a point to get educated, read, learn the founding principle that our fathers learned and get involved . I recommend anyone to read the 5000 year leap, I didn’t even make it to the introduction and realized how backwards our country is compared to its founding. I would ask the same from anyone who reads this to do that which is needed!!
So as I sat there that day on the steps I looked over the crowd that was gathered and had such hope and inspiration given to me from all of those who took a stand that day, from the great prayer that was given, to the great speakers and of course Thomas Paine. LET US BE THE SILENT MAJORITY NO MORE. We have sat back and watched for far to long, so you can see where it has gotten us.
So out with P.C. and in with COMMON SENSE. As three generations sat on those steps that day, I seen the past, the present and the future. A past which taught us much good, a present that gives me hope and inspiration and a future that is questionable if we do nothing. Please consider what is at stake and do the right thing. There is only one true hope for this country, it is from above. Pray for our nation as our founders did, Pray for our leaders and pray that we will be better a people through our Great and Mighty GOD. He is our only True Savior.
See you in Washington,
The Wilson’s

 

Dear Senator Bayh

They are stealing THEIR MONEY!

Dear Senator Bayh,

In reviewing your voting record over the past few years I was brought to question your current “Nay” vote on the 3.5 trillion dollar budget. In the past politicians (note I do not use the word statesman) in this country figure their constituents look at the last year of their voting record (if at all). You are a smart man. You realize Hoosiers are really a pretty conservative bunch of people who by nature want to work hard and be left alone. Here is my beef with your “Nay” vote on this budget… it comes across as disingenuous when you look at the fact that you are the supposed leader of the “blue dog democrats”. If you really felt that this budget was yet another step in bankrupting our country I would think you would have used your influence to join up with the GOP and at least created a filibuster to this atrocious, socialistic, illogical, spending bill. Do not get me wrong sir, I believe the GOP is at much fault as anyone for this progressive idea that growing the government is a good idea.

You are a professional politician. I am dedicating myself to see you unseated in 2010. I will work as hard as I can to bring a statesman to power. Someone who will not pull punches or waste any influence they have. As you thumb you lapels about how “smart” you were to simply vote “nay” on a bill you knew would get passed and then garner the vote of the conservative Hoosier, know this, there are many like me who are ready to see your kind lose their power over “We the People”. “We the People” are waking up. I attended the April 15th Tea Party at the State Capitol. It was the first political rally I have ever attended. I am now helping organize a July 4th rally. I wonder if your fellow Democrats and our President will continue to make fun of Americans who participate in these events failing to realize that this is not a GOP event, not just republicans, not just libertarians, not just democrats, not just “right wing extremists”, but rather angry Americans who still believe that they have a right to earn a decent wage and keep it for themselves and not be forced to share it with someone who has made BAD choices. These are people who realize that this is punishing good behavior and rewarding bad behavior.

On November 3, 2010 when you wake up wondering what just happened you might want to save this letter and put a note on it that reminds you to “Read me if I lose in 2010”. I might be dreaming that someone as powerful and manipulative as yourself can actually lose with your long history in the state. Rest easy, I am sure you will be fine and I am sure this is just a rant. I am sure you succeeded and fooled all the Hoosiers with your “Nay” vote. You and all the incumbents are going to be fine. Americans really are happy with how things are going. The GOP is not even going to back a candidate in any significant way in Indiana in 2010. They have basically already conceded defeat. It is doubtful that there really is an undercurrent of anger that is brewing and could boil over and wash away many of the politicians who have gotten America into this mess. The funny thing is people keep on talking about how the GOP needs to be rebuilt and how the democrats are on the right track. I find this funny because it seems to me that you all are in the same bed with big business, big lobbyists, and each other in many respects. I find it funny because I (and I pretty sure I am the only one who thinks this so rest easy) have been thinking that both parties need to be scrapped. The players must be replaced. Our liberty must be restored.

So maybe a “thank you” for your “nay” vote on a bill so heinous and destructive that it has the potential of driving our country into a ditch is in order. I for one will withhold my thanks realizing that it was rather easy for a “Blue Dog” in an election year to push the “nay” button knowing that the success of the bill was a foregone conclusion. I have to run and let Mr. Lugar know what I think of his “nay” vote. My sentiment is the same. Once again rest easy… all is well… you are a shoo-in come 2010.

Regards,

Jeff Petersen

 

From Doubt to Hope to Excitement

Only a few people are going to show up

They seem happy with how things are going

I work from 6 am till 2:30 pm. I drove from my job up on 75th and Binford Blvd to downtown. After a small stop at the leather supply shop on South and Illinois, I drove down to the Circle Center Mall’s parking garage on Illinois. After parking, I walked the long way down Maryland and came at the State House Lawn from the southwest. I was almost sad at the few people I saw as I came with in the view of the state house.

“It’s still early,” I told myself, “There will be more people.”

I walked around, some. I saw a homemade coffin leaning against a tree just south west of the steps. There was quite a bit of writing on it complaining about what has happened in the country. That was about the time that I heard the first horn. “Oh, gods, please say that we don’t have people out blocking traffic during rush hour.” Must to my relief, when I looked, it was just people driving by and honking their encouragement to this line of people standing on the edge of the state house lawn on Washington St. Where the people had come from I don’t know. One minute there was no one there, next, there’s people out on the edge of the lawn.

I finally made my way around to the medical area to say hi to Lori and reassure her that I had no intention of catching fire and that I didn’t even bring any matches. When I missed her the first time and started another “orbit” of the stage, there were more people. “Wow, its going to be a pretty good turn out.” (At this time, I had not quite noticed that people were coming in from the south east corner of the lawn.)

I walked around the lawn again, looking at some of the people, getting some pictures of the statues and people there. Gotta say, there were some pretty hot looking college girls there supporting the cause. I did hear some guy saying how Obama was going to repeal the constitution and declare martial law. We were all doomed. This guy just seemed like he was interested in talking to his friends, not pushing his beliefs on everyone else.

Then the music started. I found myself singing along with all of them. (Much like everyone else was. I have to say that the Wright Brothers were very good. I wish I had heard of them sooner.

It seems like I blinked and there were more people. I stopped to get pictures of the reinactors. One of who told me, “That will be a dollar, capitalism and all,” I responded, “Sorry, I am broke.” Another guy spoke up, “I know where you might get a loan.” There was laughter all around.

Once again, I actually looked at the number of people. There were people all down the walk to Washington street and all down the walk to Washington & capitol streets. The noise was getting louder and the people were starting to get excited. And the temp suddenly dropped.

I made two or three more orbits back and forth looking at the people there, reading their signs shaking my head at some of them, laughing at some of them, seeing others as “acorn plants” and wondering what the rest of them were thinking. Flags were being handed out (I still have mine as well as the don’t tread on me flag that I bought which will get put up in my van eventually).

I ended up almost in a line from the stage to the south west corner of the lawn as they called for everyone’s attention. I listened to Laura and Richard speak, applauding and waving my flags every so often. Then they announced the immigrant from Pakistan (a naturalized American citizen) who was going to give the invocation. I noticed that quite a few people were stunned when they heard him talk, till he started talking about Jesus and his experiences in American and his love for the country. I could feel the crowd warming up to him in an amazing way. When he actually started the prayer, I bowed my head. (While I am not Christian, I still believe in showing respect if nothing else to the founding fathers that were Christian and would have bowed their heads as well.) The prayer was very moving and I could tell that he greatly cared for his new home country and the religion that I am pretty sure he was not born to.

A young girl was next up and she led the Pledge of allegiance. It reminded me of every day in elementary school and middle school, the pledge would be read by one student at random each morning over the p.a. system at school. I think this is the first time I have taken the pledge of allegiance in nearly 25 years I think.

Mr. Garrison spoke after that. I listen to him once in a while in the morning (when time and work permit). I agree with what he said and enjoyed listening to him. I have to say that I was worried for a moment that he was going to turn it into a political speech but he really didn’t.

More people spoke, I am sorry I don’t remember them all. I had started walking again moving around the crowd getting pictures again and looking at the crowds. When “Thomas Payne” began to speak it was quite in thrilling. I agreed with him entirely. The crowd also seemed to love him as well. Other than one small group encouraging everyone to get their lifetime gun permits and get their guns. I think they were trying to get people to rise to action but I missed some of what they were saying as I was trying to get closer to the speakers to hear Mr. “Payne”.

Once his speech was over, I decided to head out. I needed to go to my parents and do a few things there before I went home. It was funny though. On my drive out of downtown, I saw at least 1/2 a dozen people who either by carrying flags or just a look about them, that I could tell had been to the event. Maryland Street waving a huge don’t tread on me flag. It was good to see it and to see the reaction of people who were not at the event as they passed by.

If you made it to here, you are way more patient than I would have been. Just my thoughts and time at the party.

Shawn B.

 

Beck, 912, and bandaids… oh my!

I’m a Beck fan and have been since long before it was “trendy” to do so. I jumped on the “We Surround Them” movement and sent my picture to Beck for what became a mosaic of thousands of faces. I helped Laura and Richard the day of the viewing of the 3/13 reveal of Beck’s The 9-12 Project. My part was small…I dragged family members to attend, brought some signs Laura asked me to make and agreed to help sign people up for “Tea Parties” during the event. Confession time now….I really didn’t have much interest in the Tea Party deal…I wanted to promote the 12 Principles and 9 Values with Beck. But Laura and Richard were genuinely nice people and when they asked me to attend the planning committee meeting for the Tea party, I went just put in my 2 cents and didn’t plan on continuing with the whole “Tea Party deal”. Well if you haven’t had the pleasure to meet and work under Laura and Richard then you might not understand but they are “infectious” when it comes to their enthusiasm! So I kept going to the committee meetings and sign making meetings and I volunteered to help co-ordinate people who wanted to blog to promote the Tea Party. By now I had been “converted” as I saw Laura and Richard recruiting more and more people that felt the same way I did about the direction of this country. As the Tea Party came together there were high hopes and a few disappointments (I had hoped Beck would choose to do his show from Indy on 4/15) but due to Richard and Laura’s leadership it was growing into a real “professional production” pulled together with nothing but dedicated volunteers who knew “people” who “knew people”. There are so many other volunteers that I never met that helped get the word out on the event, namely the printers who at their cost printed fliers, signs that said “Enough” and the handouts with info on how to stay active after the Tea Party ended. We had no idea how many would attend our little Tea Party and hoped we wouldn’t have more volunteers at the event then attendees. Just to cover our bases though we felt it necessary to have a medical response team so Wes and I recruited two other R.N.s and another volunteer “recruited” her husband who is an MD. We had a meeting on the Friday before the event at the Capitol with the security team volunteers and the rest of the committee. We closed the meeting with an incredible prayer offered by Jeff while we stood on the Capitol building steps. The day of the Tea Party I arrived a short time after the other volunteers who were already setting up hospitality tables. My husband helped me set up the first aid tent. While putting the “patient” cot together he pinched his finger in the tubing and started bleeding everywhere. It took 3 bandaids to get the bleeding to stop. I thought…this isn’t a good sign if the volunteers become “patients”before the event even begins. Medical superstition says “If you don’t have something…you will definitely need it. If you have everything set up and ready for an emergency…the emergency will never happen”. Ask any medical person who has been in the profession for a while and they will tell you it’s true. So since we weren’t able to find a loaner AED (Automatic External Defibrillator) I went into the Capitol building to locate where they were in case we would need one later. (I was certain someone would have a heart attack during the Tea Party). We won’t go into all the bloody details but lets just let it be said that if you plan to have a heart attack…DON’T have it on Capitol grounds. After being sent to 3 different offices, and talking to no less than 3 police officers and many, many people…no one seemed to know what an AED was or where one was kept. There might have been one in the Governor’s office but that office closed and would be locked at the end of their work day which happened to be the same time the Tea Party was to start. I debated in my mind if I had the courage to break in to the Governors office if someone had a heart attack. I gave up on the AED and said a prayer for the health of anyone that might show up for the event. Back outside people were beginning to straggle in. I took it as a good sign people were arriving early but still wondered if we would get much of a turnout. Then as it got closer to the time to start the Tea Party people started arriving at ever increasing rates. It became clear we were going to have a HUGE turnout! The signs were incredibly creative and just about everyone had one. People lined the sidewalks holding their signs for people passing in cars, trucks and buses to see. The tooting of horns and shouts of agreement and thumbs up signs from the passengers driving by was music to my ears and to my heart! From the first aid tent I couldn’t see the stage or speakers but I could hear and it was inspiring especially our own medical team member Wes R.N. who was a Soap Box speaker. Everyone who spoke was incredible in a different way but incredible nonetheless. Since I couldn’t see the stage I watched the reaction of the people in the crowd…they were totally focused on the message even the kids! Everyone knew this was something important, something great and we were UNIFIED! It was an inspiring event to say the least…from beginning to end! We volunteers were amazed at our sucess, pulled together entirely by “amatuers”. But the day wasn’t over, after clean up and tear down we met for pizza with Richard, Laura, Dr Basso (Thomas Paine). We all agreed we were in awe of how flawlessly the event had gone considering the huge number of people who attended (I credit our excellent security crew headed by Jeff and Paul). Dr. Bob Basso told us that our jobs weren’t over tho. Clearly we had started something BIG and we needed to keep it moving forward so he shared with us what he thought we needed to do. He is an amazing man and had our full attention. So now, under the excellent leadership of Laura and Richard, with the talents of the committee, and the infusion of new people with new resources we will go forward…us and more than 12,000 of our new best friends! We Surround Them!

Lori