SEIU crossed the line with a police escort

When the Montgomery County (MD) Police responded to 911 calls to the home of Bank of America exec Gary Baer Sunday, they discovered that D.C. Metropolitan Police officers were already there.  What?  From Big Journalism:

The family of Greg Baer, Bank of America executive, is located in a jurisdiction protected by the Montgomery County Police Department (MCPD), which responded promptly to a disturbance call from his neighborhood last weekend.

According to Corporal Dan Friz, an MCPD spokesperson in Rockville, Maryland, the department received a disturbance call from one of Baer’s neighbors at 4:10 pm last Sunday. Four MCPD units arrived at Baer’s Greenville Rd. address at 4:15 pm. At least two Metropolitan Police Department units from the nearby District of Columbia were already at the scene when they arrived.

Why? Because police cars attached to the Washington MPD’s Civil Disturbance Unit had escorted the SEIU protesters’ buses to Baer’s home. Such cross-jurisdictional escort activity is not uncommon for both departments according to Friz and Metro Police Department spokesperson Officer Eric Frost. Still, the District police did not inform their colleagues of what was about to happen in one of their Maryland neighborhoods.

Like birds of a feather, I guess D.C. unions stick together.

John Fund has an interesting comparison of media scrutiny of the Tea Parties and Unions at The Wall Street Journal.

Tea Party Express chairman Mark Williams "frightens" Geraldo

You just can't pass up an opportunity to expose Geraldo Rivera for the intellectually challenged, liberal narcissist that he is.  The Right Scoop does so beautifully:

Geraldo had just finished running a piece where the Southern Poverty Law Center was the sole voice, attacking all the so called militias as hate groups and lumping in the tea party sentiment into the mix. Of course the reason for all of this ‘hate’ is because we have a black president.

When he starts the interview with Mark Williams, chairman of the Tea Party Express, Williams quickly scolds him for his hit piece and explains that the tea parties are actually victims of ‘hate violence’, not the perpetrators.

And then it gets good:

Click on The Right Scoop link to see the offending SPLC hit piece.

Atlanta Tax Day Tea Party: Glad we could amuse you, Mr. President!

At a Democratic National Committee fundraiser at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts in Miami today (prior to a $30,400 per person or couple-depending on which source is correct-cocktail reception at the home of famed Cuban-American singer Gloria Estefan), President Obama said he was "amused" by the Tax Day Tea Party rallies.  Glad we could amuse you, Mr. President.  Florida's Republican-leaning Cuban-American community was not amused with Ms. Estefan, and the thousands that showed up at the Georgia Capitol in Atlanta today are clearly not amused with you.

  

Breitbart "Deconstructs" Alinsky

Andrew Breitbart continues to shine a laser beam on the Alinskyesque tactics of the left in its attacks on the Tea Party movement.  It's a long read, but worth it, if only to make you stand a little taller and continue to speak up without fear.  Just a few photons from his recent article at Big Journalism:

Those in the movement who are Hispanic or black are given the Clarence Thomas treatment: mocked, ridiculed and marginalized. The Democratic party cannot afford for minority groups to break from the pack, so they show that apostasy is met with high-grade ridicule. Those willing to withstand vile and hateful un-American taunts are some of America’s greatest patriots.

The press went straight to petrified Republican leaders like John Boehner and Michael Steele over the falsified “N-word” allegations, who dutifully offered apologies that they were not qualified to give. It was a set-up.

I smelled a rat so I offered at first $10k five days after the highly publicized alleged incidents happened. How could we be five full news cycles into this major controversy and not have any evidence? In fact, the existing footage showed the Congressional Black Caucus walking and never once moving their heads toward any “racist outbursts.” Is it conceivable that all of them stoically walked by the N-word as it was hurled 15 times — as they were holding up cameras to convey they were suspicious of the crowd to begin with?

We are now two weeks since the bill was signed and the $10k reward jumped to $20k in a day after it was mentioned on both Hannity and O’Reilly. At the Searchlight Tea Party event last weekend I upped the ante to $100k. So where’s the evidence? Ken Vogel of Politico covered this story and said calls to Rep. John Lewis — one of the originator’s of the N-word storyline – were never returned.

These days, there is rarely a high school hall fight in America that doesn't wind up in color video on YouTube within hours.  How is it that this historic overture to the passage of the most sweeping legislation in a generation attended by thousands has not produced a scintilla of evidence to support these claims?

Andrew Breitbart describes Searchlight Reid supporters: "Children of the Corn Meet River's Edge"

Jim Hoft at Big Government provides us with Andrew Breitbart's account of his welcome to the Tea Party showdown in Searchlight, Nevada:

“I can just say that the irony could not be greater. The press is barking up the tree that the tea party movement is the one that is unhinged, that is frothing at the mouth, that is violent… I could just say that the irony could not be greater.”

Andrew Breitbart
After Harry Reid Supporters Attacked the Tea Party Bus
Searchlight, Nevada

Andrew Breitbart witnessed first hand today the cunning manipulation and violence of the unhinged left. Harry Reid supporters stood on Highway 95 outside of Searchlight, Nevada and held signs steering tea party protesters heading to the Tea Party Express Showdown in Searchlight Rally in the wrong direction. Andrew also witnessed these violent leftists attacking the Tea Party Express bus with eggs as it drove by. The Harry Reid supporters then swarmed him, harassed him, threatened him and made false statements to the police.

My blog title comes from my favorite line of the conversation occurring around 1:52.

Shocker: CNN lowballs tea party turnout in Searchlight, NV

The kickoff to the next circuit of the Tea Party Express was held yesterday in Senator Majority Leader Harry Reid's hometown of Searchlight, Nevada.  Not surprisingly, it was sparsely or overwhelmingly attended, depending on where you get your news.  From Jeff Poor at News Busters:

If the media outlets are going to report on tea party events, they're not likely to get any benefit of the doubt much of the time.

Case in point - at the Tea Party Express event on March 27 in Searchlight, Nev., which former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin spoke, CNN's Fredericka Whitfield wasn't quite prepared to give the rally credit it was due as far as participation. She estimated that hundreds, but if not, "at least dozens of people" were in attendance. (h/t fstaff with assist from Mark Finkelstein)

"Former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin there in Searchlight, Nev., was the backyard of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, but today it's the backdrop of this Tea Party Express - making a stop here," Whitfield said. "Hundreds of people, at least dozens of people - we haven't gotten a count of how many people turned out there. We heard Sarah Palin talk about everything about the campaign, to unseat Sen. Reid to what she calls ObamaCare, on the heels of that health care vote and even talking about her definition of her love of America."

Politico's Kenneth Vogel had a little higher number, saying "an estimated 20,000 tea partiers gathered for a rally in a windswept desert lot," in his March 27 report on the event.

So predictable.

Tea Party Express rolls into Atlanta

The buses of the Tea Party Express arrived in Atlanta tonight to the cheers of the people gathered at the Georgia State Capitol.  I will leave it to others to estimate the crowd size, but I can say that it was substantial and continued to grow throughout the evening.  Patriots, young and old, turned out in solid numbers with wonderful props, unabashed enthusiasm and a shared resolve to take back our country.  Here are just a few examples:

The program featured impressive speeches by Deborah Johns and Mark Williams, and wonderful music from Lloyd Marcus, Diana Nagy and Rivoli Revue.  There was also a stirring testimony from Kenneth Gladney, the young man who was beaten by SEIU thugs in St. Louis at a town hall meeting for selling "Don't Tread on Me" flags.

The Tea Party Express moves on to Augusta, GA tomorrow, then to Beaufort, SC and Brunswick, GA.  Wednesday they will be in Daytona, FL and finish the cross country tour on Thursday in Orlando.  Visit the Tea Party Express website for more details.

Tea Party Express comes to Atlanta

I will be joining the Tea Party Express II as it rolls into Atlanta today.  Please join us in front of the State Capitol at 5:30.

More here from the Atlanta Journal and Constitution.

Tea partiers hit Capitol

From Politico:

Thousands of Tea Party activists descended on Washington Thursday to protest the trillion dollar health care bill and government spending, holding signs protesting Barack Obama’s agenda while aiming chants of “you work for us” at the Capitol building. .

The gathering was organized by local Tea Party groups around the country, who are arriving in Washington this morning by the busload. Conservative leaders in Congress, led by Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), have taken to the airwaves to encourage the activists to show up on the Capitol steps and demand meetings with members of Congress. The crowd is expected to grow into the thousands by noon, when Bachmann has promised to lead some protesters to a press conference inside the Capitol to express their opposition to the health care bill in person to members of Congress.

House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) is expected to be a surprise guest speaker this afternoon.

They arrived as early as 8:30 a.m., by bus, car and plane — from Bluffton, S.C., Des Moines and Dorris, Calif. — to rally with conservative lawmakers and possibly roam the halls of Congress.

"Can you hear us now!" they chanted from the foot of the Capitol, as they awaited the arrival of their heroine — Bachmann.

"She's very brave," said Nancy Holmberg of Dorris.

"Palin/Bachmann 2012," came a shout from the crowd. The crowd is also chanting Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s name and demanding that she come address them on the steps of the Capitol.

Another hero of the movement, Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.), has been autographing tea bags for the crowd and is wearing a jacket covered in pins and stickers reading “Yes! Freedom!”

Speaking on conservative talker Laura Ingraham’s radio show this morning, Bachmann encouraged people listening to show up on the West Front steps, but she said they should show up with “cameras” instead of “pitchforks.”

In an unrelated incident, nine activists were arrested in the Hart building, and they are being processed at police headquarters, but Roll Call is reporting that these were protesters from the opposite end of the political spectrum – Code Pink. All the buildings in the Capitol complex remain open for now.

The protesters, who are occupying the patch of grass only a few yards from where Barack Obama took the oath of office on Jan. 20, have also chanted “you work for us!” Many are holding signs that echo their distrust of Obama and their belief that he is pursuing socialist policies.

The Los Angeles Times reports on the protesters and asks the question, "Can they kill healthcare bill?"

YES WE CAN!

Michelle Malkin has more here.