Tea party news - Texas says it can leave
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| Wed, 04-15-2009 - 6:26pm |
Looks like Fox was there to capture the news. Texas claims it can leave the union if it wants. Personally I don't see how its possible, we had a civil war which seemed to decide this issue.
Our federal government is growing without any restraint. I can understand the concern of productive states that their wealth will be taxed to cover less productive states.
http://www.statesman.com/news/content/gen/ap/TX_Perry_Tea_Party.html
Perry fires up anti-tax crowd
Texas Gov. Rick Perry fired up an anti-tax "tea party" Wednesday with his stance against the federal government and for states' rights as some in his U.S. flag-waving audience shouted, "Secede!"
An animated Perry told the crowd at Austin City Hall — one of three tea parties he was attending across the state — that officials in Washington have abandoned the country's founding principles of limited government. He said the federal government is strangling Americans with taxation, spending and debt.
Perry repeated his running theme that Texas' economy is in relatively good shape compared with other states and with the "federal budget mess." Many in the crowd held signs deriding President Barack Obama and the $786 billion federal economic stimulus package.
Perry called his supporters patriots. Later, answering news reporters' questions, Perry suggested Texans might at some point get so fed up they would want to secede from the union, though he said he sees no reason why Texas should do that.
"There's a lot of different scenarios," Perry said. "We've got a great union. There's absolutely no reason to dissolve it. But if Washington continues to thumb their nose at the American people, you know, who knows what might come out of that. But Texas is a very unique place, and we're a pretty independent lot to boot."
He said when Texas entered the union in 1845 it was with the understanding it could pull out. However, according to the Texas State Library and Archives Commission, Texas negotiated the power to divide into four additional states at some point if it wanted to but not the right to secede.
Texas did secede in 1861, but the North's victory in the Civil War put an end to that.
Perry is running for re-election against U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, a fellow Republican. His anti-Washington remarks have become more strident the past few weeks as that 2010 race gets going and since Perry rejected $550 million in federal economic stimulus money slated to help Texas' unemployment trust fund.
Perry said the stimulus money would come with strings attached that would leave Texas paying the bill once the federal money ran out.
South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, also Republicans, have been outspoken against the federal economic stimulus spending and were supportive of tea parties in their states. The protests were being held throughout the country on federal income tax deadline day to imitate the original Boston Tea Party of American revolutionary times.
In an appearance at the Texas Capitol last week, Perry joined state lawmakers in pushing a resolution that supports states' rights protected in the 10th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. He said the federal government has become oppressive in its size and interference with states.
Since then, Perry has been featured on the online Drudge Report, and other conservative commentators and citizens have latched on to his words.
After praising veterans in the cheering crowd Wednesday, he said: "I'm just not real sure you're a bunch of right-wing extremists. But if you are, we're with you."
Perry said he believes he could be at the center of a national movement that is coordinated and focused in its opposition to the actions of the federal government.
"It's a very organic thing," he said. "It is a very powerful moment, I think, in American history."
For her part, Hutchison issued a newspaper opinion piece Wednesday criticizing the Democratic-led Congress for spending on the stimulus bill and the $1 trillion appropriations bill.
"On April 15 — Tax Day — some in Congress may need a reminder of just who is underwriting this spending: the American taxpayer. I am deeply concerned over the swelling tax burden that will be imposed on all Texas families," she wrote.
The crowd at the Austin tea party appeared to be decidedly anti-Democrat. Many of the speakers were Republicans and Libertarians.
One placard said, "Stop Obama's Socialism." Another read, "Some Pirates Are in America," and it showed photographs of Obama, U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid wearing pirate hats.
Rebecca Knowlton, 45, of Smithville, said she took the day off of home-schooling her three children and brought them to the rally to teach them about civic duty. Knowlton, a critic of the Social Security system and the United Nations, said she felt camaraderie at the demonstration.
"The movement is growing stronger," she said. "You're not alone."

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I watched coverage on Cavuto (both programs), Happy Hour (where anti-Republican anti-Democrat Cody covered the Boston tea party) and on O'Reilly.
There was one sign, O = W, which sort of summed it up. This was not a partisan protest. If you had watched happy hour, you'd have seen Cody lace into the only Republican politician interviewed in Boston. He wasn't all that kind to the libertarian come to think of it.
Much credit was given to organization by those who supported Ron Paul.
Those who watched the coverage, understand what was broadcast. Those who didn't and rely on liberal smear sites to tell them what to think, have only smear to offer into the conversation. :(
These protests around the country are just a minority of loud mouths and politicians who are mostly republicans and against Obama's administration. The majority of Americans want change and are willing to sacrifice to make the U.S. better and to once again have the respect of other countries. We have been the laughing stalk of the world lately but... we are just now starting to be taken seriously again.
Yikes. Sorry about the blanketing of all Texans as not nice. Wasn't my intention really. I had a very bad experience in Dallas, and some not so nice 'damn yankee' comments in the New Braunfels area. It was very disconcerting - I have family in LA, TX, OK, and AR and I went to school in VA - and I never had to deal with any kind of Stars and Bars rhetoric. And VA is the Civil War capital of the world. It was very off-putting. Especially when you've grown up with Southern hospitality and half your family is from the area. But being verbally assaulted for wearing a Red Sox hat, and told to go back to where I came from was a little much. I know Boston can seem like a foreign country, but really.
But I do stand by my other statements, people who complain about taxes like this better think twice when they use any sort of public service. I don't like April 15th anymore than anybody else - but I do like have a military to protect me, and streets to drive on, unemployment as I'm laid off and had to cash out my 401k to pay the bills, etc. As for SSI - well, by the time I'm eligible for it, it'll be long gone, and since I've already paid in, not much else to say about.
~Heather~
~Heather~
Wow.
Ayuh. New Englanders can be aloof. I think its the Puritan influence, still alive and well.
As for the accent, I've never had a Boston accent and people around here sometimes challenge that I was born and raised here. My mom also has a Southwest twang - she's from Fort Smith, so I'm more apt to ask where people are from than to snicker, but just goes to show that you are correct that it's not good to judge everyone by actions of a few.
If you ever get back here, send out a shout and I'll buy a pint. I haven't been to TX in awhile either, but I remember the Stockyards in Fort Worth fondly.
As far as the tax, I hail from Taxachusetts, so they don't faze me all that much. Not a fan, but I'm not going to complain much.
~Heather~
~Heather~
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