◼ Tea Party organizers are threatening to sue the city of Atlanta, saying Mayor Kasim Reed has given special treatment to Occupy Atlanta protesters. - Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Atlanta Tea Party co-founder Julianne Thompson told Channel 2 Action News that the group, which supports limited taxes and reduced government deficits, has made a request in writing after being denied permission to hold an event downtown because city officials said there was too much red tape and cost involved.
"I think it's very sad that in the city of Atlanta, we seem to have a mayor who picks and chooses who receives special rights regarding free speech -- based on his political ideology," Thompson told Channel 2.
Debbie Dooley, national coordinator of the Tea Party Patriots, told the AJC that the group had inquired about renting Woodruff Park or Centennial Olympic park but had decided against it due to fees, red tape and restrictions.
If Tea Party members had used civil disobedience, "we would have been removed and arrested," Dooley said.
"We feel like the mayor is selectively deciding who can use the parks," she said.
The Tea Party members say Reed should grant them a special executive order -- as he did for Occupy Atlanta -- allowing an outdoor event last past 11 p.m.
◼ Tea Party to Mayor: Make ‘Occupy Richmond’ Pay Up - Washington CBS
Richmond Tea Party spokeswoman Colleen Owens told CBS Washington that the protesters have been given special treatment and free reign of the park and have not had to comply with the strict liability and security provisions that the city required of a Tea Party Tax Day in 2009.
As the person in charge of the 2009 event, Owens said Richmond officials dictated the number of police and emergency personnel they were required to have on site and required a $1 million liability policy to protect the city. Owens said that when a Tea Party member decided to call the mayor’s office to see if the protesters had required any of the necessary permits for the park, the city said that “Occupy Richmond” didn’t have any requirements for them to protest and stay overnight in Kanawha Plaza.
“We’re forced to comply with the laws, but yet they don’t have to,” she said. “That’s such a blatantly unequal application of the laws.”
#OccupyWallStreet is no tea party
◼ The media chorus is singing a new song this week in its anti-tea party echo chamber. It goes something like this: The law-breaking anarchists who want to tear America down are somehow just like law-abiding tea partiers — who are working tirelessly to build America back up. - Politico
...The tea party movement started spontaneously from the rant of CNBC’s Rick Santelli on Feb. 19, 2009. His words resonated with millions across the country, and his spontaneous call for a “tea party” spurred tens of thousands to action.
Within a week, in close to 50 locations across the country, almost 40,000 people turned out to protest the U.S. government’s fiscal irresponsibility. By Tax Day in April 2009, the movement had grown to millions — and there were more than 850 peaceful, lawful protests across the nation attended by more than a million people.
The movement was organic, fast moving and had a cogent message: It’s time for fiscal responsibility in government.
Tea party rallies have always felt like “parties” — and safe and clean ones at that. Unlike protesters in New York, I can find no reports of tea partiers being arrested, individually or en masse, at the thousands of tea parties across the country with millions of attendees that have taken place for years now.... Read the rest
◼ The Tea Party movement which is driven by "We The People" is the polar opposite of the George Soros and far left organizations funded Occupy Wall Street assault on Capitalism and America. How dare they compare their low rent "trashy movement" to the dignified Tea Party. - Lloyd Marcus/American Thinker
...The tea party movement started spontaneously from the rant of CNBC’s Rick Santelli on Feb. 19, 2009. His words resonated with millions across the country, and his spontaneous call for a “tea party” spurred tens of thousands to action.
Within a week, in close to 50 locations across the country, almost 40,000 people turned out to protest the U.S. government’s fiscal irresponsibility. By Tax Day in April 2009, the movement had grown to millions — and there were more than 850 peaceful, lawful protests across the nation attended by more than a million people.
The movement was organic, fast moving and had a cogent message: It’s time for fiscal responsibility in government.
Tea party rallies have always felt like “parties” — and safe and clean ones at that. Unlike protesters in New York, I can find no reports of tea partiers being arrested, individually or en masse, at the thousands of tea parties across the country with millions of attendees that have taken place for years now.... Read the rest
◼ The Tea Party movement which is driven by "We The People" is the polar opposite of the George Soros and far left organizations funded Occupy Wall Street assault on Capitalism and America. How dare they compare their low rent "trashy movement" to the dignified Tea Party. - Lloyd Marcus/American Thinker
Tea Party Tells #OccupyWallStreet: We’re Patriots, You’re a Mob
◼ Tea party activists have gone on the offensive against anti-Wall Street demonstrators just a day before the New York protest threatens to come to a head. - Newsmax
In the run-up to Friday’s possible confrontation, conservatives are increasingly trying to point out the differences between the tea party and what columnist Ann Coulter called the “flea party” because its supporters are “wingless, bloodsucking, and parasitic.”
Tea Party Express Chairwoman Amy Kremer said she is “offended” that the media portrays the two groups as mirror images of each other.
“I see no similarities,” she said in a fundraising letter. “The OWS crowd have had thousands of arrests, have harassed citizens trying to go to work and do their jobs, have had confrontations with law enforcement and destroyed public property.
“They are a disorganized unruly mob of shiftless protesters that has been reinforced by union and organized labor thugs,” she added.
“Their goal has been to cause as much disruption as possible and force anarchy.
“In contrast, there have been thousands of peaceful and respectful tea party rallies across the USA over the past three years,” she said. “The Tea Party Express alone has hosted over 301 and there has not been one arrest or incident of violence. We say a prayer, recite the pledge of allegiance and sing the national anthem before each rally.”
Brendan Steinhauser of the grass-roots conservative organization FreedomWorks told Newsmax the difference between the two groups is clear. He pointed out that, when the tea party movement blossomed in 2009, “No one was assaulted, no one trashed the place, no one relieved themselves on cop cars because we respect private property rights and we respect public property rights.
“In the entire history of the tea party movement, I’m not aware of over a handful of arrests. And these guys have easily had a thousand or more.
In the run-up to Friday’s possible confrontation, conservatives are increasingly trying to point out the differences between the tea party and what columnist Ann Coulter called the “flea party” because its supporters are “wingless, bloodsucking, and parasitic.”
Tea Party Express Chairwoman Amy Kremer said she is “offended” that the media portrays the two groups as mirror images of each other.
“I see no similarities,” she said in a fundraising letter. “The OWS crowd have had thousands of arrests, have harassed citizens trying to go to work and do their jobs, have had confrontations with law enforcement and destroyed public property.
“They are a disorganized unruly mob of shiftless protesters that has been reinforced by union and organized labor thugs,” she added.
“Their goal has been to cause as much disruption as possible and force anarchy.
“In contrast, there have been thousands of peaceful and respectful tea party rallies across the USA over the past three years,” she said. “The Tea Party Express alone has hosted over 301 and there has not been one arrest or incident of violence. We say a prayer, recite the pledge of allegiance and sing the national anthem before each rally.”
Brendan Steinhauser of the grass-roots conservative organization FreedomWorks told Newsmax the difference between the two groups is clear. He pointed out that, when the tea party movement blossomed in 2009, “No one was assaulted, no one trashed the place, no one relieved themselves on cop cars because we respect private property rights and we respect public property rights.
“In the entire history of the tea party movement, I’m not aware of over a handful of arrests. And these guys have easily had a thousand or more.
Media Coverage: Tea Party v. #OccupyWallStreet
◼ Some Tea Partiers Note Slight Disparity In Media's Attitude Towards Themselves, Occupy Wall Street - Ace of Spades
◼ "Seen on Facebook" HolyCoast.com via Networked Blogs
◼ Tea party groups criticize media coverage of ‘Occupy Wall Street’ - Daily Caller
◼ TheDC’s Jamie Weinstein: Unlike the tea party, ‘Occupy Wall TheDC’s Jamie Weinstein: Unlike the tea party, ‘Occupy Wall Street Will Fail - Daily Caller
There are many differences between the tea party and the “Occupy Wall Street” movement, but perhaps the most significant is this: on Election Day, tea partiers will make it to the polls to vote while many of the “Occupy Wall Street” protesters will be to busy smoking weed to remember to cast a ballot.
I know that may sound juvenile, but it is hardly off base.
Having visited with Washington, D.C.’s version of the “Occupy Wall Street” protests on multiple occasions, it is abundantly clear we are not dealing with a new phenomenon. We are dealing with a usual left-wing protest composed of a smorgasbord of focuses.
Tea partyers scoff at ‘#Occupy’ comparisons
◼ Tea party leaders are openly rejecting attempts to liken the #OccupyWallStreet protest to their movement, saying that the two groups are heading in opposite directions. - Washington Times
While tea partyers say they yearn for the nation to return to its founding principles, Mark Meckler, co-founder of the Tea Party Patriots, one of the largest such groups in the nation, said the Occupy protesters in New York, Washington and other cities across the country “severely dislike our country’s founding principles.”
“We’re a country founded, from an economic system point of view, on free-market capitalism,” Mr. Meckler said. “These folks are intensely offended by free-market capitalism.”
While tea partyers say they yearn for the nation to return to its founding principles, Mark Meckler, co-founder of the Tea Party Patriots, one of the largest such groups in the nation, said the Occupy protesters in New York, Washington and other cities across the country “severely dislike our country’s founding principles.”
“We’re a country founded, from an economic system point of view, on free-market capitalism,” Mr. Meckler said. “These folks are intensely offended by free-market capitalism.”
Van Jones’ Tea Party Envy
◼ Front Page Magazine: Of all that the Tea Party has accomplished, perhaps the movement’s most unlikely achievement to date is the admiration it has inspired on the activist Left. Disillusioned with President Obama and the rapid dissipation of a long-term left-wing dominance that Obama’s victory was supposed to usher in, left-wing activists and commentators have come to look upon the Tea Party as a model to revive their faded political fortunes.
Speaking for many on the Left, Washington Post columnist Richard Cohen recently acknowledged, “I suffer from Tea Party envy.” Similarly, the disgruntled twenty-somethings taking part in the Occupy Wall Street campaign have styled their protests as a left-wing and anti-capitalist version of the Tea Party. The latest left-wing admirer of the Tea Party is none other than Van Jones, the disgraced former Obama administration official who was ousted from his post as green jobs czar following revelations of his radical past, which included signing a 9/11 “Truther” petition. Time off from professional politics has afforded Van Jones an opportunity to reflect, and like many on the Left he has concluded that in order to regain their relevance, progressives must take a page from the Tea Party’s playbook. Read The Rest at the link.
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