My morning at the tea party legislative forum.

[proud2BlibKansan]

Three of our newly elected tea party state reps had a legislative forum this morning. Very interesting. Our county Dems had a meeting before this forum so a group of us car pooled and walked in together, about a half hour after it had started. We were handed blank cards for written questions. (And I found it interesting that these were not index cards, but expensive card stock that would be used for wedding invitations. I am certainly hoping my tax dollars didn't pay for these cards.)

The reps (who all beat good Dems) are:

1. A man who runs a lasik eye surgery center. His brother is the recently retired county sheriff. His number one issue is illegal immigration.

2. A woman who used to teach elementary school and quit to homeschool her children. She is married to a police officer. She also admitted never being involved in politics before Obama was elected, when she came forward to help start the local tea party.

3. A man who is a teacher in a local public high school. He voted against funding our schools.

There isn't enough room here to note the numerous pieces of misinformation and downright lies that came out of the mouths of these three. Just unbelievable.

The lasik guy claimed that he wouldn't vote to repeal the state wide smoking ban because smoking causes blindness. He also said that some of the patients at the state neurological institute that Governor Brownback wants to close are "mentally ill criminals" which is completely false.

The tea party woman talked about changing funding allocations for ELL kids, apparently not realizing that her suggestions would violate federal regs. She repeatedly referred to federal dollars that districts receive for educating and feeding low income children and clearly implied this funding was unfair to kids whose parents are not poor.

The teacher who voted against funding our schools said "I have never said I would not fund schools. I am willing to put my principles on the line and act on them."

At one point, one of the reps encouraged us to shout out our questions and comments, and so we did. We also wrote down our questions as we heard the reps speak. Our cards were collected and since we had come in after the event started, our cards were at the top of the pile and our questions were the only ones read. By the time they got through them, the forum had ended.

There were about 30-40 people there. I didn't recognize all of them but it soon became apparent that there were not many tea party friends present - the bulk of the crowd seemed to disagree with much of what the reps were saying. One man who came in after we did sat next to me and made several comments about the Kochs. Another I learned later was an attorney who had obviously done his homework on the Kochs. When the reps were asked how much money they had received from the Kochs, all three reps claimed they didn't know, and it was public information we could look up. This attorney stood up and was able to tell each of these reps exactly how much money the Kochs had donated to each of their campaigns. Another guy in the front row brought up the Kochs as often as they and their money could be related to a point one of the reps was making. It was beautiful.

As the forum ended, a woman approached me and asked if I was a teacher. I said yes and she said she wanted to know how much NEA had spent on beating the teacher rep. I said I had no idea, as I didn't belong to the NEA, but I was sure it wasn't more than what the Kochs had spent on getting him elected. She said the Kochs have the legal right to make those contributions. I replied "So does the NEA."

[Frustratedlady]

1. Love it! How did you keep from laughing out loud?

I'm also glad to see the Koch Krooks brought into the conversation.

[Matariki]

2. Yeah, they hate that. Like cockroaches, they prefer the shadows.

[proud2BlibKansan]

7. The locals are sure pulling away from the Koch image as fast as they can

They'll take their money but when reminded of this, they change the subject pretty darn quickly. LOL

[proud2BlibKansan]

3. It was hard.

After the gold plated faucet comment, someone said something about schools being desperate for money and one of my friends shouted out that they should sell some of those gold faucets. That got a chuckle from the crowd.

[XanaDUer]

4. Could the Tea Party be a way to mainstream ignorant,

uninformed people with no idea how US government works and with their collective heads up their collective asses?

Over and over I hear - the TP rep wants to do this, but it violates federal regs, or will lose the state money (which they may or may not want)

DUH.

[proud2BlibKansan]

5. I'm not sure it's deliberate

I think the racists and haters came out of the woodwork when our president was elected. And a lot of them are ignorant fools.

[XanaDUer]

6. Yeah, that's more likely

nt.

[Enthusiast]

10. Ignorance is a prerequisite for racism.

That is the deal we are facing.

[proud2BlibKansan]

8. kick

[Enthusiast]

9. "It was beautiful."

It certainly was.

This increase in public awareness is so encouraging. We need to build on it. We can't get discouraged, we must remember the right wing propaganda machine has been at work for many decades. The dummying down has been institutionalized.

[texshelters]

11. How have we let it get so far that

so many believe pure nonsense based on fear and prejudice and not data, facts or logic?

Thanks.

Peace,
Tex Shelters