[pumpineemob]

Tea Bag Terror: Protests Causing Scares, Evacuations At Congressional Offices
April 14, 2009 at 10:43 AM
Nico Pitney
A recent email to hundreds of thousands of conservatives exhorted them to "Send a Tea Bag to Washington, D.C. for $1." Other activists have organized local efforts to mail tea bags to the offices of their members of Congress.
It's all part of the anti-Obama, anti-tax "tea party" movement, backed aggressively by corporate-funded "astroturf" organizations like FreedomWorks. But now one of their symbolic protests is drawing attention for the wrong reasons.
Local reports indicate that the practice of mailing actual tea bags to legislators has repeatedly raised security concerns, and sometimes forced the evacuation of congressional offices in anthrax-like scares.
Brian Sperry, a spokesman for the U.S. Postal Service, told the Salt Lake (Utah) Tribune that tea bags in the mail "cause us some concern. ... They could pose a problem if the tea bag is mailed in a regular envelope instead of a padded bag."
The Chicago Tribune reports:In Boulder, Colo., the district office of U.S. Rep. Jared Polis recently called for help after a lumpy white envelope with no return address arrived in the mail. The Boulder County Hazardous Materials Response Team found a tea bag and a note reading "We the People, 1773."
Earlier this month in Manchester, N.H., a hazmat team descended on the office of U.S. Rep. Carol Shea-Porter after employees opened an envelope marked "tax protest" and found a bunch of tea leaves.And two days later, the office of Rep. George Radanovich in Modesto, Calif., was evacuated "after an intern in the mailroom came upon a suspicious package that was later found to contain tea." A haz-mat team and the FBI were were called in.About 20 people from the building, including those in the congressman's office and two mortgage firms, were evacuated as a precaution.
Modesto Fire Battalion Chief Rich Sasser said the envelope held a granular substance. It did not have a return address.
About 3 p.m., the Stanislaus County Hazardous Materials Response Team went into the office. Sasser said their monitors showed there was nothing dangerous, so the hazmat team double-bagged the sealed envelope and turned it over to the FBI."We can't control who mails what to wherever," Sgt. Kimberly Schneider, a Capitol Police spokeswoman, told the Salt Lake Tribune. "At all times, [United States Capitol Police] will investigate and take the appropriate police action in response to any calls to us for any suspicious items that congressional staff might be concerned about."

[Longwow]

Teabags....These people are such a nuisance!
get over it - you lost!

Tea bagging...And where have I head that before...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F26vC...layer_embedded

[ballerturfali]

The tea bag is the boring part of a double feature -

[leijggeds]

It's from a bunch of people that really do not understand the full context of a historical event and take it out of that context in order to apply select content to whatever they feel fits.

Very sad.

[topcasinobonua]

A second thought just hit me.

Why don't we research and see who is asking for these cuts? If this is coming primarily from the "Red states" it would be pretty easy to just say "ok, less taxes for you" and the, at the same time, simply remove federal funding from them.

Most of these states receive more than they get anyway! It's those damn liberal hippie states like NY and Cali that are providing all the cash, so I say:

"Fine! No taxes for you. Now give me my money back!"

[CDCL7WKJ]

It's all part of the State Sovreignty Movement.

[indianstory]

One of the tea baggers "Must Have" talking points:
No law suits against Mortgage Companies!
Wonder who is behind that action?

Doesn't sound tlike grass roots to me.

Folks can so esily be used as tools when others tap into their mis-directed anger.

[Reatclaplen]

This is the most H I L A R I O U S footage... I beg you all to watch. It is the funniest, most embarrasing thing... my favorite clip since the crazy bag-lady at the McCain speech. Scroll down to the second video:

A report from the trenches:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/0..._n_187243.html

[Anckzxik]

According to reports, the truck filled with teabags pulled up to Lafayette Park, but didn't have a permit, and so they were loaded back on to the truck and driven off to an undisclosed location The Teabags enter the Witness Protection Program.


What was that sticking out of the bottom of that woman's jacket - a flag shirt?

[Tinasblue]

Toooo funny, this whole thing.

[Maphpseurse]

Don't Let That Teabag Smack You in The Face!
Advice from FreedomWorks: DON'T BE DUPED! The term "teabagging" has strong sexual connotations. Be wary of anyone with a camera asking you if you are a "teabagger" or if you enjoy "teabagging" or similar leading questions - they are trying to make a fool of you.

[Attarderb]

they are trying to make a fool of you. Too late! No help needed!!

[HagsPusia]

Exactly, they're doing just fine. Yet I'm still amazed that not one of those people knew what teabagging meant.

Where were these people with all of Bush's spending and use of tax money for the bailout? Why are they protesting Obama and not Republicans, the ones who got us into this predicament?

And their taxes haven't gone up.

They don't know what they're protesting, if you could call it that.

What a joke, I love it.

[CesseOveldset]

They want to make sure Plumber Joe gets what he deserves....if he actually ever earns that much.....




I love it when people scream about rhetoricals before they actually see how many it would really effect.

I don't think we should punish people for earning more, but until we establish a flat tax that does not have more rabbit holes than the English Countryside, how can you get, flat out, 90% of the taxes for the US by the very people who earn 90% of the money?

[Anavaralo]

Do these tea party retards know what they're protesting? .. the tax rates of George W Bush!!! (since Obama's tax plan which CUTS taxes for 95% of Americans doesn't go into effect until 2010. And those in the highest tax bracket will still be paying less taxes than under their sacred Reagan.)

Where were the tea parties over the past 8 years when spending was out of control and the deficit exploded? This is just a bunch of angry old white people who resist change and are being riled up by nut jobs. I'm resisting the ignorant, ideologues who never give any real solutions.

Most of those people when asked have a laundry list of things they don't like (none of which has anything to do with the Boston tea party). Just a bunch of angry (ignorant, racist, small minded) people with no good ideas who just want to dissent because they didn't get their way in the last election. Typical of republicans.

If they see another way of climbing out of this recession then by all means. But I'm pretty sure that the republicans idea of more tax cuts for the wealthy and a government spending freeze isn't going to do the trick.

Thankfully we have a new Democratic majority in this country of progressive thinkers. I trust the Obama administration with knowing how to spend our tax dollars for the good of ALL in this country. Taxes are a fact of life. They help to pay for things that everyone depends on daily. They talk of fiscal responsibility.. again I ask, where was it the last 8 years when the so called fiscal conservatives ran the show?
You can't just pretend we elected Obama and found ourselves in this place.

These people can't just rewrite the not so distant past.

[seicslybearee]

Neo-Puritans acting as Puritans do.

[cokLoolioli]

If there was a point to be made in all of this, it was obviously drowned out by the attention paid to the easily-spotted fringe kooks. I went by City Hall Park a bit after 7 pm last night & saw stuff like this, generally tamer than some of the signs seen elsewhere, but still...you have a gripe about taxes? My respectful suggestion is that this is not a great platform for airing it.

[Sdinozes]

Seems folks aren't judging this tea-bag gang with an open mind.

Maybe they're just concerned citizens looking out for what's best for the Country?

Then again, maybe not ...

[gkihueonhjh]

Glad to see Sullivan picked up on that. I saw that sign yesterday on the news somewhere & it was easily the most vile thing I saw in any of the coverage.

This site is not exactly centrist, and even they're dismayed by this garbage.

http://littlegreenfootballs.com/arti...rn_the_Books!/

[Cheeniandab]

Just a bunch of sour-grapes (anti-democrat), corporate-puppet (anti-socialist), white-supremacist (anti-Obama), anti-semititic (anti-FED), selfish (anti-conficatory), tax-cheats (anti warfare/welfare state).

These (evil) people make me sick.