The funny thing is that normally I am not in that much sympathy with Ivy League types, either; I find their resumes rather tedious (David Brooks has written a great book on “the resume gods,” by the way), and their pontificating disengaged. But at least it is typically grounded in facts and not ideology. As a result and you can often have a decent conversation with them.

Tony Waters

1. Miner’s Foundry be the venue the first night.
2. GV Vet’s Hall be the venue the second night.
3. Don Baggett Theatre be the venue the third night.
4. A final meeting at an outdoor location in either Nevada City or Grass Valley, as the spring buds are springing and everyone is feeling her oats.

Let’s give air to the things we have in common, and honor where we agree to disagree.

It’s time for team building. The days of yelling past each other should be over.

http://washingtonindependent.com/62054/tea-party-patriots-vs-tea-party-express

Another interesting issue to me is whether or not a “movement” that is basically an opposition reaction to the election of a centrist Democratic government can act as as an alternative opposition to the Republican party and not either a) be co-opted into becoming a wing of the Republican party, or b) damage the unity of the opposition and diminish returns during upcoming election cycles.

A fight between libertarian minded tea partiers, moderate republicans, and social conservatives could backfire by creating so much friction within the Republican party that energy is sapped before general elections.

This inner party fighting is usually a Democratic Party problem and is pretty common to being in opposition for the first time in many years.

“The political action committee that created the Tea Party Express dropped $1,597.29 for a meal for six at a tony Sacramento Chops restaurant, an expenditure that has some members seeing red, according to Mother Jones.

“”Six people averaged $266; that’s not grassroots. I kill bugs and cut grass for a living. I’m splurging when I spend $19 at Chili’s. Outback Steakhouse is reserved for Mother’s Day,” Robin Stublen, organizer of the Punta Gorda, Fla., Tea Party patriots.

As Mother Jones points out: “While Tea Party Express professes to be a driving force in the Tea Party movement, it was actually started by a California-based GOP political consulting firm, Russo Marsh & Rogers, which also set up Our County Deserves Better.

Seriously, the whole tea party thing is kind of fascinating. It is entirely consistent with a long tradition in the United States of popular anti-government, anti-intellectual, anti-urban movements in times of stress. Almost every economic recession or depression in the US has come with a concomitant counter government movement. I am reading a great book right now titled “What Hath God Wrought-The Transformation of America 1815-1848″ The Panics of 1819 and 1837 both led to such movements. In 1819 it fanned opposition to a national bank and helped spur on the second “great awakening” and a burgeoning conservative religious revival. In 1837 it helped spur on the growth of the nativist movement that held that it was the influx of new immigrants who were responsible for economic hard times.

I heard Sarah Palin on the Sean Hannity radio show today talking about what is necessary in the next generation of leadership. I am paraphrasing but what she said was, “we are going to have to stop trusting people with big resumes and fancy ivy league educations” to get back to real common sense American leadership. As though experience and education are the root of the problem.

This is the “real America”. It is great and beautiful at times. It is the country I love. At times it is suspicious, anti-government, anti-intellectual and xenophobic. The Tea Party movement is all that: an exercise in freedom of speech that we should applaud, and a reaction to a sense of disempowerment and loss of control and position. The Tea Party movement is fear based rather than driven by a carefully thought out political philosophy. As David Brooks and others are now rightly beginning to point out the lack of a solid philosophical center will likely lead to a series of struggles within the movement that will lead to its splintering demise.

Perhaps it was not intended to stir up more resentment. And ,if not, then why?

Thans for the context.

I’m not convinced that atmospheric CO2 levels are directly causing weather change, though, because we should all be skeptics. At least not until they can forecast tomorrow’s weather accurately. My point is that I don’t need to be convinced to see the scale of human impact affecting the planet’s ecosystems and the need to respond responsibly now.

Why is it that there is very little talk about how CO2 is affecting the ocean pH and the potential for an ecosystem collapse there? This is pretty straight forward.