Tea party group to attend DC march
By Walt Frank, wfrank@altoonamirror.comAt least 200 members of the Blair County Tea Party will join tens of thousands of demonstrators today to voice their concerns about what they call Congress' "nonstop tax-and-spend agenda" in a taxpayer March on Washington in the nation's capital.
The three-day event, which began Thursday, culminates today with a march from Freedom Plaza down Pennsylvania Avenue to a rally on the U.S. Capitol steps.
Event organizer Brendan Steinhauser of FreedomWorks - a conservative grass-roots organization headed by former House Majority Leader Dick Armey - said he expects tens of thousands of people to attend today.
Four busloads of Blair County Tea Party members and others in private vehicles will participate in the March, said Jim Rokosky of Altoona, organization provisional president.
"We hope to deliver a message to Congress and the president that we are very serious about the fact we want to see the size of government controlled and reduced, see a reduction in government spending and let us make our own decisions on what to do with our own money," Rokosky said. "We believe many of the functions of government are better accomplished at the state and local level."
John Kasun of Duncansville said the rally is not politically motivated.
"This is not a Republican, not a Democrat or not an independent movement. These are citizens who have a concern about how we we see our country and where we see our country heading," said Kasun, who will not attend the march. He will help to staff the group's booth at the Altoona First Festival at Lakemont Park.
"This truly is a grass roots movement," he said. "People are angry and upset but especially fearful. These are average citizens who had been silent until now. They have decided they can no longer remain silent."
Cathy Kozak of Hollidaysburg said she believes elected officials have lost touch with "we the people."
"I think government has become too intrusive and a little too large, and people need to be held accountable for their actions," Kozak said. "I think a lot of our politicians on both sides of the aisle are abusing their positions. I believe we need term limits. [Politicians] need to be more in touch and represent the people."
Kozak said she believes the march will be the turning point in getting the politicians' attention.
"There seems to be a belief the Tea Party movement will go away. I don't think that is going to happen," Kozak said. "We hope to get people to start to listen to us and what we are saying and understand there can be a middle ground to work together and solve a lot of problems."
Mirror Staff Writer Walt Frank is at 946-7467.
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theadvocate
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09-15-09 12:27 PM
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faux would never show those signs retired, but the msnbc would want you to see them. Think about that fair and balanced thing for just a minute and then tell me how good any of the media suppliers are at discerning between the parties messages
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retiredarmy20years
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09-13-09 8:33 AM
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Failure is Not an Option. We The People can not nor should we accept Failure. I watched the news yesterday and I don't really know how many marchers there were in DC and around the country but, it sure looked like a lot of citizens to me. I didn't see Nazi Signs, Confederate Flags, Guns or any type of racial lines being drawn. What I saw were citizens exercising their right that was given to each of us through our founding documents. For anyone not familiar with these documents, you may read them at: Treasured Documents blaircountyteaparty.o rg/treasured-historical-documents-vf31.html
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F16vipers
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09-13-09 8:20 AM
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The idea here is that these people are standing for something. Even if it's not a completely success or even successful at all at least they are doing something rather than sitting back and whining that we have no power. I think you have to respect the one that tries and fails much more than the one who never tries in the first place!
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Webmasterblaircountyteaparty
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09-13-09 8:06 AM
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ACES20? Where were you? blaircountyteaparty.o rg/here-vt73.html?sid=f881d5857002c01ce0773889e26dff74
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Webmasterblaircountyteaparty
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09-13-09 7:59 AM
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ACES20....stay tuned. I'll see you there. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
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homerbeep
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09-13-09 7:46 AM
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steeler: Do all the NATO members have soldiers helping our troops anywhere? They remain our allies, right? Calling displaced Arabs "Palestinians" is analogous to calling Americans "midwesterners" or "southerners." There has NEVER been a country called "Palestine." The Arabs began to call themselves "Palestinians" only since 1964. Israel was a desolate place until the **** worked until it flourished. THEN the Arabs began to claim it as theirs! I really get weary hearing Israel criticized and the "victimization" of the "Palestinians." The "Palestinians" have elected Hamas to run their "country." Hamas? They deny Israel's RIGHT TO EXIST!
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Aces20
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09-13-09 7:39 AM
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Webmasterblaircountyteaparty: I will support and join your cause when you start targeting all local government officials regardless of political affiliation and political views and leanings unbiasedly. Meaning that you don't "pick and choose" what government officials are "good" and which are "bad". Even 1 instance of an elected official ignorning the populace (as Bill Shuster admittedly did in October) should warrant his expulsion from government and make him a target of the tea parties. If you don't keep a consistant message, then you project a double standard.
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Webmasterblaircountyteaparty
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09-13-09 6:33 AM
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We had a great time in DC. Wish you all could have joined us on our March on DC for Fiscal Responsibility, Limited Government and a Free Market Place. We Are Republicans, We Are Democrats, We Are Independents, We Are Libertarians........We Are America! Join Us In Our Cause.
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SteelerNation
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09-12-09 10:06 PM
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PS - 'Israel is our ONLY true ally in the Middle East.' Mmmmmmmmm..... How many Israeli soldiers are helping our ground forces in Iraq?
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SteelerNation
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09-12-09 9:57 PM
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shoot...all this censorship??? ****** means Palestinian Jewwws...
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SteelerNation
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09-12-09 9:56 PM
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I'm not quite sure what the relevance is of stating that the Palestinians are not an ethnic group. It seems to be a meaningless attack. You never defined what an ethnic group is, so I find it hard to just go along with your claim. Whether you want to call the Palestinians an ethnic group or not, they have a shared identity different from other Arabs largely based on their experience of dispossession, oppression, and resistance. Their story is filled with myths, just like the official Israeli/Zionist story. I do think that their version is often more dishonest. Calling their identity a deliberate creation makes it sound as though they wished this identity upon themselves. I don't think it was completely within their control. Before 1948, Israelis called themselves Palestinian ****... What does educate yourself already mean? Is that Beer-speak? LOL.
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homerbeep
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09-12-09 9:23 PM
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steeler: Educate yiourself already! Israel is our ONLY true ally in the Middle East. That "stolen" land has been theirs ONLY for about 3000 years! "Palestinians" are NOT an ethnic group of people! They are all Arabs and are refugees ONLY because Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Syria, etc. refuse to allow them re-entry. Yassir Arafat was an Egyptian, NOT a "Palestinian!"
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F16vipers
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09-12-09 8:14 PM
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57-73: 58,209 03-09: 4,261 You might want to check this website ***********globalsecurity****/military/ops/iraq_casualties.htm Specifically the July, August, and Sept 09 Casualties in Iraq from the previous few months. I'm no mathematician but they don't seem to be rising...
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F16vipers
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09-12-09 8:05 PM
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I never said it was completely stable...I did say it's not getting worse. There has been improvement. Everything you do in life has risk. How many people are killed every year in automobile accidents? I think its around 50,000? At least over here all those who've died gave there lives for something, at least something I believe in. Personally I'd rather make a sacrifice for my country than bite it on the highway because I was in a hurry to get to work. So you can believe what you want. So enjoy that beer while I go walk down the street.
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SteelerNation
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09-12-09 8:03 PM
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F16. Hell, we haven't caught Bin Laden yet, so I suppose wholesale invasion of countries isn't working. I'm not talking about giving up the hunt for Bin Laden. But let the SEAL Teams, Delta Force, CIA, Covert Ops do their jobs. Invading countries isn't the answer. Bin Laden could be 10,000 miles away from a combat zone. Please, please, please. Don't equate the Civil War with current day turmoils in Iraq. The sniper insurgents are not making 750 yard kill shots on our troops with musket balls. Now, you could equate it to Vietnam. Jesse Ventura spoke with SEALs there who said it was no different.
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F16vipers
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09-12-09 7:55 PM
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So what were we supposed to do after 9/11? Just take that punch? If you give into their demands they are only going to push you more to see how far they can get you to go. It has nothing to do with our middle east policy. It has to do with the American culture, how we act, our media, how women dress, they see us as a civilization with no morals and believe it's their duty to destroy us. That is the view the extremists embrace and they are the ones that are the problem. You can't quit in the middle just because it's not going exactly the way you want it to. After all it's failures, the Union managed to win the Civil War after nearly being defeated. Like you said the tide can change at anytime so why are you so sure it's going to turn against us? I can't say what the outcome of the current world situation will be but I do know if we quit now, not only is everything we've done already for nothing, we tell the rest of the world when things get rough we get out.
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SteelerNation
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09-12-09 7:49 PM
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They hate our policies. Not us. Not at least until we invaded their countries. You have to appreciate the complexities of their world. Forget your own motivations. You can't put yourself in their shoes, so don't try. People outside the U.S. live such a completely different life, you can't begin to project yourself into it.
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SteelerNation
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09-12-09 7:45 PM
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F16...any place where you risk getting shot in the head when walking down the street, or blown up by a dog carcass stuffed with explosives is unstable. Shit. How could you say otherwise? Better? What does that mean? Say what you want, but I prefer drinking a beer in a place where I don't have to worry about the waitress being strapped with C-4 or dynamite. And I'm going to drink one now...
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F16vipers
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09-12-09 7:43 PM
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Haha they aren't going to stop just because we leave. They hate us. If we leave like they want us too then they see that as a win. The more they win the more bold they will become. I'd rather give them home field advantage than fight them at my front door. But that's just me.
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SteelerNation
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09-12-09 7:40 PM
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Terrorism is a tactic, not an entity, and it is a tactic used by people who have a political grievance. Therefore, if you want to eliminate terrorism, you have to address the political problems that gave it birth. You sow you reap, and it is a bad business to sow hatred, but unfortunately our presidents have been seduced by the great power they command. They think the military and the intelligence community can solve the problem of terrorism. Since 1947, the Israelis have been trying to use force instead of diplomacy to solve the Palestinian problem. And what is that problem? The Zionists, encouraged by the British, planted a colonialist country in Palestine with no regard for the rights or wishes of the Palestinian people.
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SteelerNation
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09-12-09 7:39 PM
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Just as the **** used terrorism to drive the British out of Palestine, the Palestinians have been forced to resort to it, and for 59 years the Israelis have been trying to kill their way out of it. It hasn't worked. The Palestinians are still there. They kill, too. And, 100 years from now, the Palestinians will still be there, but it's not at all certain Israel will be. I tend to agree with a former head of Israeli military intelligence who said that if the Palestinians are not given their own state, Israel will be committing national suicide. The Israelis have become so paranoid, they are walling themselves in and, of course, stealing more Palestinian land in the process. But the wall won't help. There are Palestinians inside the wall who hold Israeli citizenship. There are Palestinians in the West Bank, in Gaza, in East Jerusalem, the West Bank and in Lebanon, Syria and Jordan. So long as there is no justice for the Palestinians, there will be no peace in that region.
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SteelerNation
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09-12-09 7:38 PM
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Thanks to a powerful Israeli lobby, our government, instead of pursuing our interests, has made itself an accessory to the crimes the Israelis commit against the Palestinians. Hence, we have become a target for terrorists, too. The president's statement that the terrorists "hate freedom" was just a cart full of cow pies. What they hate is our Middle East policy, and it is hardly a policy that has anything to do with freedom. When the Palestinians held a free election and didn't elect the corrupt group of men we wanted, what did we do? We took our marbles and went home and pouted. We proved ourselves hypocrites, because a key element of democracy is to recognize the results of a free election. For decades, we have denied the Palestinians the protection of international law by vetoing every United Nations resolution that sought to correct the wrongs committed by Israel. We have poured billions of dollars into Israel and made it a regional superpower complete with nuclear weapo
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SteelerNation
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09-12-09 7:38 PM
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In the meantime, we have invaded two Muslim nations, neither of which was at war or was a threat to us. It's taken the Taliban some time to get reorganized, but they've come back. We've lost many, many men in Afghanistan, and if we stay, we'll lose more. Anybody who thinks we can do what neither the British at the height of their power nor the Soviets could do is, I think, mistaken. Killing foreigners has been the national pastime in Afghanistan for centuries. The longer we stay, the more Afghans will turn against us. We should pull out of the Middle East and adopt a fair and just attitude toward the Palestinians. Otherwise, we are risking disaster. All of America's allies in Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Kuwait are one bullet away from a change of government.
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SteelerNation
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09-12-09 7:37 PM
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The tactical and strategic situation could change as quickly as an earthquake strikes. If Iran makes you nervous, how would you like to see an Islamist government in control of Pakistan, with its nuclear weapons and missiles? Or commanding the 70 million people in Egypt? We should get out now while, as they say in the South, the "getting is good." That's the only way you can win the so-called war on terrorism. Okay, enough of this*****for the night. I’m going to drink some beer. Peace to all of you.
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F16vipers
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09-12-09 7:28 PM
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You're trying to use that to justify that Iraq is becoming unstable be the casualty count is up which is not true. Is it really that hard to understand?
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