Tea Party Fear Factor

Here is my idea for a new "reality" TV show, Tea Party Fear Factor: each week, in exchange for a sum of money, a Tea Party member is placed in a setting full of young African-Americans or brown people who do not speak English. It will be full of excitement. How much will the teabagger play for? How long will he or she last? How soon will he or she start a conflict?


I also have a motto for the Tea Party: "It's not about racism, it's about giving our hard-earned pay to help non-Whites."

Alex Budarin

Drill, Baby, Drill!

The "Deepwater Horizon", an oil rig drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, 50 miles off the coast of Louisiana, exploded on April 20, 2010, and sank two days later.

Will Republicans say, "So what?" Here's what:

"Weather forecasts indicate the spill was likely to stay well away from shore at least through the weekend, but if winds change it could come ashore more rapidly, said Doug Helton of the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration's office of response and restoration." [AP]

BP will try to manage the spill, but the risk of serious damage is real. So, when petroleum-crazed Republicans cheer for offshore drilling, I think they should be asked, "Which coastline are you willing to lose?" The residents there might like to know.

Alex Budarin

[President Obama, you might want to reconsider your earlier proposal concerning offshore oil exploration....]

What Has Obama Done?

“What has he DONE?,” scream the Teabaggers. Sarah Palin sneers, “How is that hopey-changey thing working for you?” Fair questions. Here is what I have seen in the news:

New home sales surged in March, biggest monthly jump in 47 years [2010]

Jobless Rate Falls to 9.7%, Giving Hope Worst Is Over [2/6/10]

Signaling Jobs Recovery, Payrolls Surged in March
After losing eight million jobs since the recession began in December 2007, payrolls finally surged in March, the Labor Department reported on Friday. Employers added 162,000 nonfarm jobs last month. Nationwide, the unemployment rate held steady at 9.7 percent. [4/3/2010]

Dow Jones Industrial Average for 1 year as of 4/23/10:
[shows steady increase]

Retail sales surge in March [2010]

"...[T]aking into consideration the effects of inflation, effective tax rates may actually have remained level or even dipped a bit." [for 2009 taxes]

Teapublicans live on the hope that Obama will fail to deliver. They are the Goldman Sachs of US politics.

Alex Budarin

Colorado Springs, Teabagger Paradise

What would a Teabagger's Paradise look like? Perhaps we shall soon see, in Colorado Springs. According to a recent report, most residents of Colorado Springs have no problem with the drastic reduction of their city's services due to lack of revenue. Already, it is said,

• one third of the city's street lights have been turned off
• cab drivers have been asked to help police watch the city
• park budgets have been cut 75%
• nine city buses have been sold, and there are no services on evenings or weekends
• police and fire department budgets have been cut, and police helicopters have been auctioned off

And some residents want further reductions. Apparently the presumption is that differences can be made up by volunteers and donations. I doubt it, but it will be interesting to see what happens.

I have a theory that Teapublicans would not care if their cities - or their country - ended up looking like Sao Paulo, Brazil: a place where the rich live in heavily guarded enclaves, and the poor live in shantytowns with no public services, surviving on drugs, prostitution, and other criminal activities. Teapublicans would be happier then, knowing that they were not paying for any social programs, and their guards could shoot to kill.