Atlanta Bailout Protest

Taxpayers are chumps

2009-03-03T08:09:00.000-05:00

Let's make this a permanent thing.

2009-02-28T19:53:00.002-05:00

I'm going to make this movement a priority in my life.

That said, I need help.

I want to form a board for this thing. If you're interested, mail me at the email address to the right. If I get enough interest, I'll do it.

Why I am not a Democrat

2009-02-28T19:51:00.002-05:00

Placeholder for a pluperfect rant.

It Rained, But We Paraded Anyway!

2009-02-27T14:48:00.009-05:00

I attended the Atlanta Tea Party today.

Here's the slide show I created on Flickr The full photostream is here.

Or, just watch the show:

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

It was drizzling lightly when I arrived, but by the time the protest started, it was really pelting down. Nonetheless, the crowd, which had to have been over 200, was of good cheer. Let me tell you, getting 200+ people together in less than a week, on a pelting rainy day was quite an achievement. Atlanta Tea Party is to be congratulated. I'm to be congratulated. Hell, the people who showed are to be congratulated. And, of course, thanks very much to the police for keeping good order and discipline.

A few people didn't get the word, and showed with placards on wooden stakes. They were politely, but firmly turned away. I alternated between handing out Obama Bucks and taking pictures. Eric Von Haessler from Q100 Atlanta showed and gave a real stem-winder of a speech. By the time he finished, I was soaked to the skin, and late in my return to work, so I fled the scene.

Anyway, it was a fun crowd, with loads of smiles.

When I got off MARTA at the Dunwoody station, I looked down to see an actual puddle around my feet. Back to work anyway.

Come to the GA State Capitol Building and Protest!

2009-02-27T09:40:00.003-05:00

Come to the GA State Capitol today, and protest!

Date: Today!!!
Time: 12:00 PM, high noon.
Place: Georgia State Capitol - look for the gold dome.

Why I am not a Republican

2009-02-27T08:57:00.005-05:00

I had the good fortune to be interviewed yesterday by the Regular Guys at Q100 Atlanta.

I was there representing the Atlanta Tax Protest. There was a lady from Atlanta Tea Party as well.

Half way through the interview, she remarked that a statement by President Obama on taxes and spending was the equivalent of President Clinton's now-infamous statement about him, Ms. Lewinsky, and the stained blue dress. It was quite the cringe-making moment, but it also got me thinking.

It seems to me that a lot of the Republican party is obsessed with the last battle. President Clinton got elected twice, beat the rap, and is now traveling the world with his Canadian heiress. I've no doubt he's a scoundrel, but consider:

a. He's yesterday's news. Why keep harking back to him? All those battles have been fought, and he's not coming back. Bringing him up is a complete waste of energy.

b. President Clinton, through his assorted flacks, portrayed the Republican pary as a collection of sex-obsessed puritans. I know, I know, it was about perjury and suborning perjury, but in the minds of most people, it was about sex, and about Republicans hounding a man for getting a little trim.

c. Whatever President Obama may be, he doesn't strike me as a philanderer. Attempting to tar him with President Clinton's sins is a complete waste of time and effort.

Anyway, this anger, this rage at President Clinton is one of the most unattractive aspects of the Republican Party, and as long as Republicans keep bringing it up, that long will they deserve their minority status. That long will younger people look at them as old puritanical fogies, completely undeserving of respect or support.

What it keeps coming down to is that Republican rage over President Clinton keeps raising its ugly head, and every time it does, it stinks up the room.

Rather than re-fighting old battles, and re-opening old wounds, Republicans ought to be focused on the here-and-now, and the future.

Forget the sex-driven pogroms. Invest instead in Protest Babes. Don't throw values in my face when Newt Gingrich is still part of your organization. Don't talk to me about prayer in schools, I can pray well enough at home. Don't talk to me about Intelligent Design, unless you wish to scrap Occam's Razor and a thousand years of scientific progress. Rather, tell me how you'll stay out of my bedroom, out of my conscience, out of my science, and out of my damn wallet.

But Republicans can't do that. It's what they're about. Lower taxes are nice, but if they come wrapped in the poison pill of culture war, count me out.

And so, I am not a Republican.

All that said, please come to the Georgia State Capitol today at noon to protest our profligate Government. I'd be thoroughly jazzed to see a Democrat contingent.

All signs must be hand-held.

2009-02-26T16:02:00.003-05:00

I just got an email indicating all signs must be hand-held. Just passing on the news.

UPDATE: In response to questions, here's an extract from the letter I got, with edits to protect the anonymity of the private citizen involved.

=====

From: Negris, Nancy
Subject: FW: [FWD: News from Atlanta Tea Party]
To: "Jane Doe"
Date: Thursday, February 26, 2009, 2:19 PM

Good afternoon Jane,

Someone sent this to me today and I wanted to make sure that you understand that signs must be hand held. As I had said, we typically mail a letter to confirm and a copy of policies and procedures. Since we didn’t have time for that, I am attaching a copy of the policies – sorry it is so lengthy.

Thank you, Nancy

Atlanta Tax Protest on The Regular Guys!

2009-02-26T10:35:00.005-05:00

Listen here!

Thanks, Q100 Atlanta, for making this available.

I got your mortgage support right here!

2009-02-26T08:36:00.005-05:00

Last Wednesday, the President announced a $75 billion program to slow the rate of foreclosures in the US. Within a day, the price tag for the program was up to $275 billion. That's an overnight increase of about 300%.

That got me wondering what the multiplier might end up being on the rest of the spending. And finally got me riled up enough to start this blog and write to the Instapundit. The following instalanche got the tax protest movement rolling in Atlanta.

But, back to the mortgage program.

I live in a nice part of Atlanta. In the last few years it's been getting nicer and nicer as million-dollar house after million-dollar house began replacing the 1960's split-levels. Take this, for example. Yes, that's a house in my neighborhood.

A couple of years ago, I found myself looking around the neighborhood, and thinking to myself that I must be living wrong. There I was in my split-level - nice, but not too nice - and schlepping a largish amount of my income over to WAMU every month in order to keep a roof over my head, while my neighbors were moving into decent facsimiles of French Chateaux.

I now know my neighbors were most likely bad credit risks, helped into their houses by an unholy alliance of government altruism and investment banking greed. Please read and grok that Michael Lewis article.

So, where do we find ourselves now? Well, if you're a profligate person, your profligate government is willing to swoop in and help you. If you're careful about your obligations, thrifty, and self-reliant, your profligate government swoops in and rifles your wallet to support your profligate neighbor.

Quick question: why don't *I* go into default and beggar my neighbor? Right, because I have principles, chief among which are the notions of thrift and self-reliance.

If my profligate neighbor made a bad decision about a home, and can no longer afford it, let that neighbor leave that house and find something affordable. Foreclosure may be rough, but look at it like this: my neighbor got to live high on the hog in a French Chateau for a few years. Now it's time to learn thrift and self-reliance. Or maybe not.

Megan McArdle points out another issue: government intervention to prevent foreclosures keeps prices artificially high, thereby keeping renters from becoming owners. This is the perfect government program: the thrifty are punished, the profligate are rewarded, and those trying to better their station are oppressed. Oh, and all this for the sake of five states.

So, for destroying the notion of moral hazard, for locking renters out of the housing market, for beggaring me, I oppose this program.

PROTEST HIMBOS!!!!

2009-02-25T22:53:00.007-05:00

Bowing to massive New Media pressure, and noting its willingness to accept pictures of Protest Goats, this blog hereby throws open its doors. Come one, come all.

I'm non-partisan, y'all.

Remember, the protest is here:

Date: Friday, 27 February, 2009.
Time: 12:00 PM, high noon.
Place: The Georgia Capitol Building - look for the gold dome.

UPDATE: Instalanche! Love the Instapundit.

PROTEST BABES!!!!!

2009-02-25T20:29:00.007-05:00

As the Instapundit has long noted, protests go better with protest babes. In fact, if I take him correctly, the arrival on the scene of protest babes indicates the protest is about to be a huge success.

So, if you're a babe, and will be attending the protest, email me a tasteful picture, and you'll be up in lights.

Remember, the protest is here:

Date: Friday, 27 February, 2009.
Time: 12:00 PM, high noon.
Place: The Georgia Capitol Building - look for the gold dome.

C'mon, protest babes, email me! I'll make you famous!

UPDATE: Though not Norwegian, I will also accept pictures of Protest Goats. "Chacun a son goat", as the cheese-eating surrender monkeys might say.

UPDATE: Instalanche! Love the Instapundit.

If you get served and serve them back...

2009-02-23T18:45:00.008-05:00

...then it's on!

UPDATE: Facebook event (Facebook login required) here.

You can bring pictures of pitchforks, but not actual pitchforks.
All signs must be hand-held.
If you have a concealed carry permit, leave the weapon at home.

Show up to have some fun!

UPDATE: Here are the date, time, and place:

Date: Friday, 27 February, 2009.
Time: 12:00 PM, high noon.
Place: The Georgia Capitol Building - look for the gold dome.

The People Are Revolting!

2009-02-23T07:46:00.003-05:00

Well, here's us, at Starbucks.

We're looking into permits, writing press releases, etc.

More information to come as time goes on.

Keep checking in!

Reactions

2009-02-22T13:05:00.003-05:00

In the last 48 hours I've had a number of conversations about this protest, with random people I know from, oh, the coffee shop, or conterences I've attended.

What's interesting to me is the initial reaction. In all cases, it was something along the lines "Oh crap, he's a right-wing Republican nutcase. And I thought he was normal."

Persevering, and endeavoring to understand before being understood, we'd eventually began to realize that while we might have different concerns about government spending priorities, we both had concrete objections to boneheaded government spending. And in many cases, we agreed exactly on the boneheadedness.

Point being that Republicans own the issue of tax cuts, and if you say "tax cut" to a Democrat, you get the kind of reaction Dracula gives to garlic - because for good or bad, Republicans also own a lot of other issues. But if you're willing to listen, you can all end up singing koom bay ya - no - I mean agreeing on some issues, er, boneheadedness.

This is important to bear in mind as, if this becomes a partisan thing, you immediately lose 50% of your possible support.

So, despite the name you see at the top, think ot this as the "Atlanta Taxpayer Protest Against Boneheaded Government Spending That's Going To Begger The Children" and imagine tht's not the name because, well first off, who'd ever type that URL?

But, surely that's something we can all agree on.

Full disclosure

2009-02-21T21:29:00.001-05:00

I grabbed the subtitle above from a post by Arnold Kling.

Meetup!

2009-02-21T15:04:00.002-05:00

Details.

Gettin' your freak on, or some such...

2009-02-21T01:10:00.008-05:00

Via Insty: Clues for the clueless.

Thanks, Instapundit. I read your book!

(Edited to meet the wife's exacting standards.)

Planning comments go here

2009-02-20T23:17:00.004-05:00

Please post here about where to meet this weekend. Let's meet face to face and plan for next weekend, and beyond.

Let's get an idea of how many people want to be involved in planning, so we can pick a venue that can accommodate us. (Hey! Fat Matt's!)

Let's plan on meeting this Sunday.

Let's plan for a second meeting next weekend, with action to happen on Monday week.

I'd really appreciate input from a public safety person of some sort about permits. Please! If you have information about this, or know someone who does, please come forward. Thanks in advance.

PLEASE!!! Tell everyone you know about this. Pass on the blog and email address.

How do we organize this?

2009-02-20T22:41:00.002-05:00

Do we need permits? Does FUCO or ATL PD need a heads up? Where will we gather? How many will come? I mean, might we need traffic control, etc.

Who out there has ever done this before? Please provide guidance.

Facebook!

2009-02-20T22:05:00.002-05:00

Michael has us on Facebook.

A pitcher of 420 (Sweetwater, not the other) to that man!

Let's pick a day!

2009-02-20T21:55:00.004-05:00

April 15 is a Wednesday. Do you want to protest on a weekday? Me, I have a day job.

So, let's do it the weekend before. Let's make it the Sunday before, and let's use Protest Warrior for ideas.

What think ye?

God! I wish Gut Rumbles was still alive.

Instalanche?

2009-02-20T21:50:00.002-05:00

Thanks very much, Instapundit. From Kerrygold to this, in a single moment.

Let's Protest!

2009-02-20T10:56:00.000-05:00

I'm starting this in an attempt to raise the local taxpaying populace from its dogmatic slumbers, or some such.

If you want to join in, let me know.