Sort of a Round Up of the Indy Tea Party

First, let me do this ted nugent "star spangled banner" video ... nevr thought I'd say this "Even better than Jimi!"
Outstanding...Now I wonder why I never liked Nugent?
Here we go...
The Yahoo! version of the national story was entitled "Thousands rally with 'tea parties' on tax day" but I've read elsewhere that there were over 550,000 participants across the country. The photos on this page are all mine from the statehouse lawn.



The lead paragraph is predictably snarly...

ATLANTA – Whipped up by conservative commentators and bloggers, tens of thousands of protesters staged "tea parties" around the country Wednesday to tap into the collective angst stirred up by a bad economy, government spending and bailouts. The rallies were directed at President Barack Obama's new administration on a symbolic day: the deadline to file income taxes. Protesters even threw what appeared to be a box of tea bags toward the White House, causing a brief lockdown at the compound.

Can't speak for others, but what "whipped" me up to attend was the ceaseless repititious criticism from D.C. about the Bush administration while promoting policies that are even worse. If Bush's deficit spending was SO bad - and no one is saying they were any good - then why isn't the Obama administration's four times worse?

Over at the Indianapolis Tea Party website, they are saying ...

Although the local media would have us believe we only had around 2,000 attendees at the event (which would be correct if you were counting 2 hours before the event even started!), those trained in crowd control AND the IMPD estimated our rally had somewhere between 12,000 - 15,000 Peaceful Patriots!!!! In fact, the Capital Police remarked that they were amazed at how well behaved our crowd was!! AND, what's more, our volunteers expected to spend a few hours after the event, picking up trash and cleaning the area, BUT, there was hardly ANY evidence that 15,000 people were just there!! We Patriots sure know how to party AND not make a mess!!!

Richard and I want to thank each one of you who braved the crowds, the parking, the chilly temps AND rearranged your schedules to be a part of the rally to have our voices heard together! We really were the ROARING LION!! I know most of you did not have the vantage point that we had and could not see the crowd fully, but I want to tell you I was moved to tears on a number of occasions yesterday as I looked out at the sea of faces, the signs, the red, white and blue, ....friends, we most assuredly are NOT ALONE!

.........a few paragraphs later, the article closes...

Again, on behalf of the over 100 Tea Party volunteers, THANK YOU Freedom-Loving Americans for joining us in having our voices heard. Let the non-representing representatives in Washington say, as Japanese Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto said after his attack on Pearl Harbor, "I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve."

We are asleep no longer.

FREEDOM!!!

Richard & Laura Behney
Indianapolis Tea Party Coordinators

The website includes links for further action...
Indy Defenders of Liberty

...and......
The Independence Caucus

A Citizen's movement* to take
our government back from the
"Big Money" Special Interests groups...

*(...And the first to defeat a compromised incumbent!)

Someone started a comment thread for the Indy Tea at
free republic with some pictures...

related RCB post Indianapolis Tea Party

Indianapolis Tea Party

This event was well put together. My congratulations to those involved, WELL done! The local press is saying the crowd numbered about two thousand. I would have been happy with two hundred, and thought the predictions by organizers of 8,000 had some other, possibly marketing, motives. I was ecstatic at the crowd. It was kind of like realizing that we really aren't alone.






I felt as natural and welcome here as I would at a church cook-out. Honestly, the only thing missing was the grill, barbeque sauce and the the buns.




It was a little cool, probably about fifty degrees, but some were on fire, some were just supplying some friendly warmth. Even "Satan" wore a hearty smile! The event organizershad printed signs that read "ENOUGH" (I got one of those - for the wife of course. Poor dear couldn't make it, flu.) But the signs were, for the most part, hand written. Some were very catchy, some caught me by surprise, all were right on the money. I saw a couple of Libertarian Party signs, otherwise, there was no party politicking.







Got some pretty cool photos - I'm gonna put together a slide show, but wanted to get some pictures up quick - blogger is threatening a "scheduled outage" soon.




I was especially surprised and pleased at the turnout among younger adults. Some brought their own young children with them. Made it all the more homey feeling.
















I had a great time wandering the crowd. Everyone was very polite, and there wasn't an unfriendly vibe on the whole block. You could sense the boredom in the faces of the police crowd hanging out. We used to call that kinda' gig "easy money!"






Indianapolis
Tax Day Tea Party
April 15th

ENOUGH!

Congress, Repeal the Stimulus Packages
& uphold the Constitution of
the United States
NOW
OR we will replace every
Member of Congress starting in 2010!

"Legislator: I'll Stand Up For Pea Shakers"

Right here in Indy.
Now, there are campaign promises, and there are...moronic statements made to the press. I don't know what shaking peas is all about, but the actual title of the Channel Six News article gives just a hint...Police: Senator Defended Illegal Gambling During Raid

INDIANAPOLIS -- A state senator tried to persuade officers to ignore an illegal gambling operation as they raided it last week, Indianapolis police said.
Police said state Sen. Glenn Howard went to the site -- 1410 Roache St., a home that investigators said was hosting "pea shake" games -- during the raid Friday night and talked to the officers.

I'm a little speechless here, but indyernie attended a Town Hall Meeting at Broadripple HS and spoke with leading Sheriff's Dept (before the merger) folks.

Colonel Forestal told me that beginning Jan.1, that all illegal gambling would be investigated.
This is interesting, I have talked to LEOs

(law enforcement officers -- not the astrological sign)

and I hear the same comment from all of them. The LEOs state that they have been told to stay away from the pea shake houses.

Another graph from the story caught my eye...Glenn Howard, D-Indianapolis told 6News'Jack Rinehart:

"I said if they stay in the community and give back to the community, I will stand up for them. That's exactly what I've been doing," the senator said.

"Give back to the community...??" Methinks the Hon. Senator Howard (D-Indianapolis) believes that means to support HIS campaigns. The accompanying photo shows the Senator wearing a baseball cap with the words "I Love Jesus" on the brim.
Sometimes we in Indiana trade chuckles with folks in Kentucky over who is more backward. We win.
IndyU's article is short, but has commenters on both sides of the "bart/brizzi" thang!

LEOs, if Bart won't do his job, Brizzi will. Indyu's sources told it today that Brizzi has filed charged against Lance Howard for illegal gambling! Maybe this is the start of something big! Indyu hopes so!

Over at wxnt's blogs , Abdul has some interesting info...

Police did make arrests and confiscated more than $5,000. In addition, there was an “elaborate video security” system there but it is unclear whether there were any tapes taken.
If there were tapes, it will be interesting to see who was on them. This could be the start of something big.

For some folks, a good nights rest would be plenty big - Channel Six...

Some people who live in the neighborhood of the raided home told 6News that the gambling attracts gun crime, trash, traffic and loud noise.
"We're trying to revitalize this neighborhood," said one resident whom 6News didn't identify, "and we can't do that as long as these illegal houses are allowed to be here."

espresso beans to indyernie

Colts - World Champs

The Colts have always been a great team for exciting games. Even through the Art Schlicter and Gary Hogeboom days of 3 - 13 seasons, they at least were never boring. These days the team wins as often as the old teams used to lose, but the excitement somehow just continues to build. And it was no less emotional at the indoor/outdoor rally and parade in downtown Indianapolis last night, during the coldest weather of the winter.

A frenzied crowd descended on downtown Indianapolis and filed into the RCA Dome for a homecoming rally Monday night to celebrate the Colts' 29-17 victory over the Chicago Bears in the NFL championship. The fans chanted "dee-fense, dee-fense" and basked in the city's first major pro sports title in more than 30 years.

Indy is relatively new to the NFL, has no experience with winning the "big one," and many in town don't understand what, to them, is still nuanced football talk. Thus the impromptu chanting for "dee-fense" was startling - showing a general knowledge of how important a role they played in the playoff run! The Indy crowd didn't seem to respond so well though, when team members started chanting "ree-peat" into the mic. Lady espresso didn't get it that they were calling for a second trip next year, thus "ree-peat!" (IndyStar's Kravitz has some thoughts on that...)

Once the team arrived, still wearing their parkas or hooded sweat shirts from the below-zero wind chill outside, it was the Colts themselves who delivered all the thank yous. 'You guys are awesome,' coach Tony Dungy told the crowd. 'For the last 16 or 18 hours, we've been enjoying this championship. We had a team party (in Miami) last night, but we were looking forward to coming home. This is more than we could have ever expected. Thank you for this turnout.'

"The Move" Is Remembered

Umm...In football, Indianapolis and Baltimore have a little more in common than just the next playoff game...From the Baltimore Sun...

Those who don't forgive and don't forget still view Hudnut as Baltimore's public enemy No. 2 -- almost as ignominious as the detested, and now deceased, Colts owner Bob Irsay -- for his role in luring away the Colts when he was the mayor of Indianapolis.

And from the Indy Star...

The trucks rolled out of Baltimore in the dead of the night -- drivers were told, under no circumstances do you stop for anything within the Maryland border -- and hours later, they convened in Carmel. As the next day dawned, cool and sunny, the area around the school filled with media awaiting the police escort and the Mayflower moving vans.