The Stewart/Colbert Rallies in Pictures

It only stands to reason the three major differences between a typical Tea Bagger rally and one of ours is A) Better-spelled signage, B) a surfeit of actual intelligence and awareness and C) We tend to be much more numerous. What follows below are all the pictures Mrs. JP and I took of the rally today. Much of the signage was hilarious (Click on the images for bigger versions).












































Hey, who's that handsome devil?

Tony Bennett and you just missed him.

Memo to Teabaggers: You Can't Tread on Us, Either

The two questions that first spring to mind are, why isn't Rand Paul campaign coordinator/professional thug Tim Profitt in jail for curb-stomping a defenseless woman and why does he think she owes him an apology? An apology for what, putting her head and shoulder under his jackboot?

Another question I'd like to add is, considering that Profitt is not only still a free man and that there are no pending assault charges and nothing worse than a criminal summons against him, how come Democrat Jon Taylor was arrested, wrestled to the ground and charged with three crimes just for peacefully appearing at an Eric Cantor event with an invitation?

And, while I hate to side with Tim Profitt on this issue, how come Kentucky police let things get so out of hand that a woman was openly assaulted when they were certainly within range to do something about it if not prevent it?

It would be easy to dismiss these random acts of violence visited on Democrats and liberal activists on campaign staffers and supporters but the one fact that no one had addressed is why the police are letting them get away with it? Anyone keeping track of the rise in right wing violence as the midterms approach will see an unmistakable pattern of the police aiding and abetting such violence if not not actually taking part in it. After all, why would Jon Taylor get tossed from a coffee shop when he had an invitation to the Cantor event? It seems to more than suggest that if you're a Republican, you have the right to create your own little (Sorry, Ms. O'Donnell) witch hunt. Just point your finger at a Democrat, tell lies such as him disturbing the peace and the local constabulary will be only too glad to do your bidding. It seems for every Victor Phillips, there are 100 Tim Profitts and Alan Wests.


So, what's going on? Is police protection only for Republicans in spite of the fact that they and they alone are calling for "2nd amendment remedies" and hiring bikers and other camera-blocking, unlicensed thugs to do security at a middle school?

Well, I have had enough. Mrs. JP and I are going to be at the rallies from start to finish. And to anyone out there planning on organizing a counter rally to the Stewart/Colbert counter rallies, I have one thing to say to you:

Try and start trouble, I'll step on you like I would an over ripe grape. Just try to disrupt this rally with your right wing thuggery and you'll be outnumbered probably by at least 1000 to 1 and I'll be right at the vanguard taping the whole thing. It's a public event and anyone can come but that doesn't give you the right to start violence. You start it, I'll finish it if I have anything to say about it.

Because I've had it with us being the nice guys and I think we all know what Leo Durocher said about nice guys. You don't want to be treaded on by our big, bad Socialist government? Fine.

But you can't tread on us, either, starting with me.

Trying to Keep Fear Sane and Rational

Mrs. JP and I will be leaving in a little over 12 hours to drive down to the rallies in DC. If anyone knows the area well, please tell me where the wifi hot spots are on the Mall or between 3rd and 7th streets since I'll be bringing my Dell and will try to videotape and live-blog the event both here and at Pottersville.

And if you'll be there, too, look for the screaming lunatic wearing a Jason hockey mask, an official rally tee shirt and a black leather jacket. Mrs. JP will likely be standing a respectable distance away pretending not to know me.

More Republican Thuggery

When we hear the phrase "curb-stomping", many of us, I'm sure, think of the practice of gang members placing their enemies' teeth on a curb and violently stomping on the back of their head. Those of us who are movie buffs may think of that indelibly violent scene in the Edward Norton movie, American History X.

But even in today's highly polarized and openly nasty partisanship that often involves Republican thuggery, we certainly don't expect to see or hear about liberal activists getting literally curb-stomped by Republican voters or campaign coordinators such as Rand Paul staffer Tim Profitt.

Yet this is exactly what had happened to liberal activist Lauren Valle, a 23 year-old young lady of slight build who'd merely tried to give Paul a fake employee of the month sign from the fictional organization Republicorp and to get her picture taken with Paul. That's when she was wrestled to the ground and then curb-stomped by Profitt, a guy who easily had 6 inches and about 100 pounds on Valle.

Valle was taken to the hospital and released after being treated for a concussion and a sprained shoulder and arm. To make the Paul campaign look even more out of touch with reality than it already is, the campaign issued a statement expressing relief that she wasn't injured.

Wasn't injured? What the fuck do you call a concussion, and a sprained shoulder and arm?

This is very reminiscent of the 2006 attack at the Omni Hotel on left wing blogger Mike Stark at the hands of two middle aged staffers who nearly put Stark's head through a plate glass window. Stark offered no resistance but he's a former Marine who can take care of himself. Valle isn't.

So what was Profitt's excuse for curb-stomping the diminutive Valle? "I'm sorry that it came to that, and I apologize if it appeared overly forceful, but I was concerned about Rand's safety." (Note: the video plainly shows that Paul had already long since passed her.)

Uh huh. I guess Paul didn't have a paramilitary, wouldbe Blackwater doing his private security like Joe Miller.

I suppose we shouldn't be shocked to hear of Republican thuggery even when we learn that the curb-stomper in question is an official campaign coordinator for Rand Paul out of Bourbon County. Rather than being a random supporter, this ties Profitt, his thug life tactics and brutal misogyny directly to the Paul Camp, a campaign that is so unbelievably out of touch that either they believe or pretend to believe that the girl didn't sustain any injuries.

When the hell are we going to man up and start fighting back? Now they're assaulting our women and what else are we gonna do besides blog about it?

Black Gold, Texas Tea

Pastor Stephen Broden is pure black gold and Texas Tea. If only every Congressional district in the country could field someone as spectacularly insane and as shamelessly disingenuous as Pastor Steve, there wouldn't be any more of this nonsense from the MSM about the GOP retaking either chamber of Congress (You have my guarantee that, while the Democrats' majority will erode in both, the GOP is not going to take either.).

And Pastor Stevie isn't even saying anything new. Other GOP candidates in the past had also threatened the establishment with revolution (like these idiots, for instance) if not enough of them come out to vote for some of the most extreme fringers running for office. Democracy, for Republicans, is only viable and a hallowed institution if they win or get to steal every election with impunity.

Oh, sure he was talking about revolution at the ballot boxes... after the 2010 midterms, not now. Broden's comments were obviously a desperate Hail Mary pass thrown in the hopes that the Tea Baggers will come out in force for him and save him from a humiliating 30 point loss to the corrupt incumbent Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (who has some ethical issues she doesn't want to talk about).

And when you lose the prior support of the right wing Dallas Morning News and even Glenn Beck, who's also threatened open insurrection that led at least one guy to literally take up arms, you know it's time to shut your pie hole.

What I can't understand is, why hasn't this guy's church lost its tax-exempt status when he's plainly getting involved in politics?

Quote o' the Day

"If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their money, first by inflation and then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them will deprive the people of their prosperity until their children will wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered." - Thomas Jefferson

Great Moments in History #312: Dick Armey Meets the Teabaggers, 2009

FreedomWorks' Dick Armey Meets with the leader of the Tea Baggers in the Tea Party movement's super duper, double secret underground bunker.