Can I Join the Party If I Don't Drink Tea?

Tea Party. Visions of barrels of English tea floating and staining Boston Harbor a nice shade of brown dance through my head.

But this has nothing to do with the drink so much as the sentiment. Taxation without representation has always been a hotbutton issue in our nation's history. Today the sentiment is echoed as we see the continued parade of tax bills and fines levied without the consent of the governed for the benefit and welfare of those who are both deserving and undeserving.

The line in the sand has been drawn and redrawn so many times that the issue is becoming a 'revolutionary' idea. Thomas Jefferson, one of the old time Tea Partiers, said it best: "When injustice becomes law, resistance becomes duty."

The Tea Party movement is, in part, a response to a government that has become so full of its own self-important divine right to tell us what to do, that someone needs to remind them all of the roots from which they have sprung. We are not, any of us, too many generations removed from those righteous American patriots who were willing to nourish the tree of freedom with the blood of kings and tyrants who would be willing to subject us to unjust treatment for their own benefit.

The current version of the tea party uses tea bags to make a point once in a while, but the sentiment is less "Lipton tea with a sprig of mint" and more "bag the administration and all others who obstruct freedom in the name of oppression and taxation" which isn't sustainable.

Today,  I was reading the online news trying to glean something sensible from the offerings of the media outlets that seem to be more interested in liberal policy than in real news. I ran across an article which certainly caught my attention.

The Tea Party movement, which to this point is just that - a movement, is now under fire from those who support Obama simply because they are the same race. Those who are also self-identified as African-American that have the audacity to join with the Tea Party are being treated callously and shamefully by those who claim to support freedom and choice.

Apparently, if you are African-American, you are NOT allowed to make your own choices. You are to walk lock-step with your president because he is also African-American. It has nothing to do with policy anymore, rather, it's all about 'supporting a brother'.

Talk about racial motivation!

If you don't support his policy stand, you are a racist. If you are African-American and don't support his policies, you are, to quote the article, "Oreos, traitors and Uncle Toms" undeserving of respect because you don't fall into blind obedience based solely upon race.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/04/06/black-tea-party-activists-called-traitors/

Being called a traitor or a Benedict Arnold is a shameful stripe with which to be painted. It means that you have turned your back on your core beliefs and sacrificed all that you hold dear to achieve fame within the other camp. To do so actively means that you are not truly welcome on either side of the aisle because the folks whom you betrayed for your own ends are certainly not going to trust you anymore, and those to whom you turned traitor for don't have any respect for you now that they know you can be bought.

But living up to the core beliefs you have even though they stand in opposition to all who are in power isn't being a traitor. It's being an American. We fought a bloody, painful and harsh war to have the right to say "I don't share your views!".

Years later, we fought another war for the same reasons. We called it 'civil', however, it was anything but civil. Brother fought against brother to protect what they believed in. We called it 'states rights'.

Now, we are saying if you don't support your 'brother', then you are a traitor.

Not true.

We are all God's children, which makes every person in the Beltway my family under God. But some of those family members spend a lot of time, money and breath espousing ideas that I can't get behind and which I most certainly do not support.

That doesn't make me a racist any more than it makes African-Americans who don't like certain policies racists. It makes us consciencious objectors to policies that don't represent our views, our lifestyle and our choices. It makes us participants in our republic and joint heirs in the democratic process that we fought to create. It makes us actively engaged in choosing what we believe to be best for us as individuals, for our family and their future and for our nation as we see fit.

The most troubling aspect of this idea that we don't have the right to protest is that in every nation in the world which seeks to subject its citizenry to wholesale abuse of power and corruption, the first right to go is the right to protest governmental actions whether verbally or through visible, organized rally.

When the right to say "NO" is removed, we have forgotten that our nation was founded solely on the belief that WE THE PEOPLE have the right to seek a redress of wrongs, even if that wrong is advocated by a king.

Our current political structure isn't based on the divine right of kings. But I believe that there are those in the Beltway and some who'd like to be in the Beltway who seek exactly that... a right to tell us they are divinely appointed to tell us what to do, how to do it, and how to shut up in case we may feel differently.

In the Book of Mormon, we are given the sad tale of woe pronounced upon an entire nation when they allowed 'kingmen' to take over and make decisions that affected the lives of the whole.

No different than asking a person to openly state for whom they are voting, these kingmen actively sought out any and all opposition to their plans and removed them from society through prison and death.

Are we heading in that direction? I'm certain we are.

We have a nation in crisis. Those people elected to office have got the mindset that WE THE PEOPLE are incapable of doing, thinking and deciding for ourselves what is best. They have determined that only those 'intellectuals' in the Beltway can possibly acertain what is the correct course for our form of government and our way of life.

I want to join the Tea Party. Although I don't drink tea, I certainly have imbibed the message that was given to the heads of state in Boston Harbor all those years ago. Then and now, we have the sacred responsiblity of taking back our freedom to choose from the hands of powerbrokers who don't have our interests at heart at all.

I want to stand up and be counted and I want to pledge my life and my sacred honor to support and defend those principles which made our nation great.

I believe those emotions have more to do with the spirit of God that is resident in every living soul that comes to this earth than in a beverage representative of a greater purpose.

We have the right, the power and the obligation to stamp out tyranny wherever it exists even if the results of doing so will be personally uncomfortable.

I don't believe the men and women in the first Revolution felt that they were especially protected from hardships that resulted from choosing to be a Patriot rather than a Tory. In fact, many deliberately embraced those hardships and taught their offspring from the words of the Declaration of Independence that WE THE PEOPLE have rights and privileges granted to us by God Almighty.

Those same rights are still here. And we cannot allow the voices of dissent to tell us what we can believe and what we are allowed to do when it conflicts with the will of the powerful few.

Power doesn't mean right.

And being in office doesn't make someone infallible or render them incapable of recognizing that they have made a stupid decision.

Taxation without representation is still a valid argument for change in our society.

King George made that discovery when he and the British Parliament decided to make a few pounds sterling on the backs of the colonists.

But colonists made angry turned Boston Harbor into the world's largest teapot. Believe me when I tell you that King George got a bellyfull of a drink he didn't expect or want.

When the last shot was fired and the celebrations began, we had a new nation. To borrow the words of Abraham Lincoln, it was conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men were created equal.

It's past time to restore equality to our national government. It's time for term limits for ALL government office. It's time to let the Patriot in us shine. Time to show the people in the Beltway that we still humbly remember and are thankful for our roots in freedom. And, it is past time to tell them that they aren't in charge any more - WE THE PEOPLE are!

Sanity isn't measured in positions of elected or appointed power, but rather in actions that help everyone without crippling the lives of the few to accomplish them. The Preamble to the Constitution states:

"We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."

No powers are granted to the government nor are any powers given outside of what WE THE PEOPLE grant unto our elected representatives. We allowed them to forget that principle by worrying more about what would happen if we threw them out of office instead of the harm they cause by staying IN office.

The Tea Party movement is a small grassroots effort to create change.

Though some say it lacks power to do any 'real damage', I hastily remind them that a grassroots effort of just a few colonists created enough impetus for change that an entire nation was born from the ashes of a colony burned by unjust and tyrannical edicts from those far removed from the circumstances of the daily life of its citizenry.

It happened once before... and I am certain that it can happen again.

I believe it's time that the Tea Party movement becomes more than just a movement and instead becomes a real alternative to the two-party system that pits us as Republicans and Democrats in an ideological warfare. Instead, we need a party that reminds us that, first and foremost, WE THE PEOPLE ARE AMERICANS! We can rally around the flag, remember the constitutional principles by which we are goverened and set aside differences to "promote the common welfare" once again.

This is about far more than just seeking change. We are seeking a change that will bring back the strength and unity we saw for a short time after 9-11. We are seeking a change that will unite us under God as a nation that believes our best days are still AHEAD of us, not in dusty textbooks of the past. And we need a change that humbly acknowleges the greatness of our nation's history and the glory of our blessings that are provided by God.

No other nation in the world can claim the blessings given to America.

The only way they get them is when we willingly give them away through our own inaction and lack of concern and care for our birthright.

It is high time we stopped eating the pottage of complacency and started seeking for and demanding the birthright inheritance of a child of the Revolution.

Naked Air

Forget all that you ever thought you knew about the airline industry. They have jumped the shark and gone back for seconds. A brilliant move in some board room somewhere in our vast nation of think tank mentalities has produced what has to be the most dumbass policy of all time.

Flyers will now have to PAY for carry-on luggage.

That's right happy campers... your carry on will now cost you on Spirit Airlines. It is a regional airliner with a limited service, but the stupidity they have just enacted will most certainly ripple its way through the fetid pond of greedy commerce that already charges passengers for checked luggage.

The entire rest of the shark infested pool of airliners are watching the proceeding to see if they, too, can follow suit and start charging for the use of those pesky and annoying overhead bins. Afterall, they inconvenience so many people who have to wait while some poor drone collects their bag and besides, the wait can totally prevent sprinters from setting Olympic qualifying times while leaving a flight.

Since airlines started charging for checked bags several years ago and lemming-like, we all paid for the privilege of carrying our undies with us on a flight, I guess they assume the gravy train is good for another round with this latest stunt.

Considering all that we are subjected to with new restrictions and searches with body scanners that are going online everywhere, is there to be no end to the continued layers of hoops we are expected to obediently jump through? I have to ask myself if these people have been breathing or drinking something the rest of us aren't.

So, in the interest of idiocy, why not just get rid of the entire parade and spectacle of baggage hell once and for all? Hmmmm. I wonder how that might play out?

"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Naked Air, with non-stop service to no place you'd ever want to travel anyway and no-frills flying on a skimpy, shoestring budget. First class passengers will please fasten your velcro straps on your plastic lawn chair and prepare for takeoff."

"For those of you in our economy section, in-floor handles have been provided for your convenience in lieu of chairs or seatbelts as we take off. Those of you who are taking advantage of our student tickets who are traveling in the area formerly designated as cargo are free to simply float about as our pilot for this flight performs a series of perabolas for your entertainment."

"If this is your first flight with Naked Air, rest assured that truly we care about your flight experience. Those who mailed packages of your clothing and toiletry items to their arrival destination will be pleased to know that the USPS has guaranteed package delivery in 3 to 5 working days from the time of shipement under their newly structured work week. For our new passengers who only mailed their items today before flight time, please do not concern yourself with how you appear to the crew or other passengers who are frequent fliers of Naked Air in your embarrassed nudity." 

"Whatever you have, we've already seen and if we see something new, we won't know what it is anyway, so relax."

"Due to sanitary and disease policies of Naked Air, all onboard equipment is upholstery free and can be santized with a pressure washer and disinfectant between flights. We are totally compliant with current CDC policy regarding the prevention of transmission of contagious diseases."

"Should there be an emergency requiring an unexpected landing at an airport not on our route plans, Naked Air has made arrangements for every contingency and has aboard a selection of handiwipe smocks for any unforseen public appearance. These will only be distributed in case of dire emergency. Also, due to CDC policy, there are no airline blankets due to risk of cross contamination, so we hope no one has thyroid issues and trouble regulating their body temperature."

"Again, we thank you for choosing Naked Air to be your carrier and hope you will enjoy the spacious overhead room and the freedom you feel as you fly with the knowlege that you have saved hundreds of dollars without the cumbersome and expensive additional fees charged by other airlines to carry silly baggage."

I hope it doesn't come to that.

But on the off chance that it does, be prepared to give advance notice of every event and expect it to take a week to go somewhere in the US by car in my clothing and with my luggage...

Airport Duty

It's not like I was sleeping anyway... but looking at the precious minutes tick past and knowing that I wasn't getting any shut-eye, I dragged my carcass up from the bed to jiggle the toilet tank handle 'one more time' and give it an evil glare. Is there anything so maddening in the middle of the night as water trickling induced insomnia? The clock said 2:10 a.m.

Insomnia is bad enough by itself, but when you have things to do the next day that require wit and alertness, it makes the next day a precarious dance between slap-happy giddiness and a tiresome slow burning anger that threatens to pop up and randomly kill someone. The appointed duty in the graying light of dawn for today was to get Beth and Pete to the airport in time to catch their flight so they wouldn't have to sprint down the runway behind the plane helplessly flapping their arms in the vain attempt at being allowed on the departing bird.

No problem. I'm happy to help. I just hope they will be happy I helped when they get to the airport. Generally, the screaming passengers from careening vehicles aren't allowed to board planes.

Lying in the bed counting breaths, I hoped time had passed by. It hadn't. I glanced at the clock again and realized that it was still well before 4 a.m. Rather than continue to lie there and stir around until I woke Rick up, I decided it was time to just get up. Tossing on some clothes, I trundled along trying not to crunch down too hard on my sore ankle and still make it to the desk where the other ankle brace lie in wait for application. It's bad enough when one leg has abandoned you. A reasonable person can still kind of hobble along and hope for the best. But when both have given up the ghost and offer crunchy pain at every step, it can be kinda disheartening.

I have no idea what is wrong with it and frankly, I'm afraid to find out. But I digress.

The airport patrol started in the driveway of the darkened home of my friends. I waited until just before the appointed time to dial their home phone because I didn't want to scare the snot out of them just in case Beth and Pete were getting a few last winks. When Beth answered the phone, I heard them both stirring around so I was glad I hadn't awakened them. Of course, they were both occupied in hastily finishing the last minute details before departure. I told her I was in the driveway and she came to the front door to let me in.

EZ, their canid child, was nowhere in sight when I got in the house and sat in a chair at the table to wait out the last few minutes before leaving. When he noticed I was inside, he growled at me. To be fair, the room was dark except for the luminous glow of the iTouch screen and I'm sure I looked like a bluish devil sitting there smiling at him. Come to think of it, if I'd seen that spectral image, I'd growl too.

When I talked to him he bounded over and we were friends once again. Poor little guy... it's patently obvious that he is in dire need of affection and care... he slavishly rolls to the floor for belly rubs and lots of patting when I come. I'm quite sure that Beth and Pete do all they can for him as he is NOT an abused, neglected or ignored mutt, but he is quite adapt at giving the impression that he is persecuted, picked on and much maligned. It's a gift. The dog could rake in money in Hollywood. I don't mind the floor show since my own mutt does the same thing.

After making sure the happy travelers had gathered all the necessary items for their boarding and departure, I headed out of the airport. I could blame the next segment on lack of sleep, other drivers or poor signage, but let's just tell the truth. I am a brilliant woman with no sense of direction.

When the happy travelers were appropriately dropped off at their flight area and I was heading back home, I had an epiphany of sorts. Apparently you can leave the airport without ever really leaving it at all. I was circling the drain. That's right. Random driving while the airport security guy was giving me the evil eye. I'm sure he thought I was some sort of lunatic. Finally, a dude on a motorcycle seemed to know where he was going and I managed to find my way out of the airport campus before running out of gas.

It probably wasn't actually that close a thing on the gas, but I always get concerned when I can't find my way around. What if I stay in a holding pattern until the tank is drained and no one saves me? Will it be of concern to others? Or will they just assume, and probably rightly so, that I have no one to blame but myself?

The strange thing is that I have navigated my way BY MYSELF through several states and around the nation from time to time. But somewhere along the way, a POOR sense of direction was replaced with absolutely NO sense of direction at all. It's not like I expect to look down and see a compass in my belly, but sometimes it would be nice to have some inner voice telling me which way to go. As it is, I do possess an 'outer voice' telling me where to go, but I left the GPS thingy hickeydoojer at home. I'm sure it would have helped me if only it wasn't asleep in my desk drawer.

The sun is now up, the day promises brilliant skies and sunshine bathing this segment of the world in a warm glow and sometime today, I have to find the time to take the resident mutt for an outdoor assassination attempt... uh, I mean a training exercise.

I hope the crunchiness in my ankle works itself out. Otherwise the walk will be slow and painful. Which simply gives Gypsy more time to plan my demise. It's not like she is in the will, but she tries hard. And I'm quite sure she can use the time to get even with me for petting and loving on her cousin EZ while I was at his house. She is a jealous thing.

Vaya con Dios! And be sure and call if you need a ride to the airport. I'll be happy to take you if you tell me how to get there and eventually, I'll find my way back out to the highway.

Good Morning, Sunshine

I'm sure I went to sleep last night. I remember it distinctly. Yet, this morning, it is as if I never made the weary trip down the hall to the bed.

It's one of those days that started before bed last night. You know the kind. Where you are in a perpetual fog and every movement seems like an exaggerated mime of activity that would normally take much less time and effort.

Jared cooperatively woke up about six. Great time for school days. Not so great for a Saturday.

I can't recall the last time I got the opportunity to 'sleep in'.

Even if I am sick, I can't be sick and lounge around in bed because there is just too much to do.

Despite evidence to the contrary, I do make at least a half-hearted attempt to clean the house and do laundry, it's just that I'm swimming against the current on the effort. When there are 4 human and 1 non-human messmakers in the household, as well as the assorted canid guests (I do babysit my furry nieces and nephews from time to time), there is always something to sweep up, wipe up, pick up or straighten up.

Times like these, I am all in favor of living in the great outdoors.

Have you ever awakened from one of those "gee, I'm sure I went to bed but why am I so dang tired" nights and felt as if only careful movement would keep your head from rolling right off of your body? I haven't got reliable experiences to share regarding the degrees of hangover since I am not a boozer, but I have been told by those who have abundant life experiences waking up in odd places so frequently that it has become 'normal' to them that the foggy "I'm not sure how I got here" feeling is a major league component of the event.

I'm thankful that isn't a daily occurence in my own life. And I'm thankful that this groggy morning will pass as the sun eventually climbs into the eastern sky and stops burning a hole in my retinas from the window by my desk.

I started the laundry about 6:15 this morning in the hopes that I can get it done and relax this evening. Ha ha ha! Yeah, I know. It was funny to me too.

Even if the clothes are washed, there are beds to strip and recover, sheets, pillowcases and the assorted wayward sock that must be gathered, mopping that calls out to be done, carpeted floors in need of a serious vacuuming and bathrooms that desperately need their weekend reprieve from the grime of daily living.

I'm thinking there won't be much relaxing going on if these chores are to actually be performed.

Just sitting here looking at the items on my cluttered desk in desperate need of organization, I am reminded of a favorite quote: "A clean desk is the sign of a sick mind." Ha! I love that, simply because if my desk IS clean, then I can't find anything. That sounds stupid, but it's true.

This morning, my eyes feel as if they have been used to play marbles in the sandbox. It's a real shame I can't do as Mad Eye Moody and plop them into a glass of water for a quick once over rinse. Some days, they really feel like they could use one.

I suppose there isn't any reason for prolonging the inevitability of the chores that await. They will still be there if I do nothing, but the depressing thing about that is that they will still be there... No magic fairy dust sprinkled over the chores to miraculously complete them, no wand waving spectacle - just elbow grease and hard work.

Enough slacking. If I continue to sit here and type, I'll completely talk myself out of doing anything resembling useful effort. And somehow, that won't feel so good later on tonight.

It's an odd trade-off. Exhaust yourself now to feel good later.

Time to move, people. We're burning daylight!