Political Chili

HOME STAR: Making an Efficient Home Energy Efficiency Market

Mark Schrieber — Thu, 27 May 2010 15:41:23 +0000

Currently winding its way through the legislative hoops of Capitol Hill is HOME STAR, a highly touted piece of legislation by President Obama. The program is perhaps the most important piece of legislation, outside of the Recovery Act and will provide for direct energy efficiency incentives for homeowners. HOME STAR’S potential benefit to homeowners is simple: [...]

Media vs. the Volcano: Airline’s $ loss more valued then Passenger’s $ loss

Jason Adams — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 13:39:10 +0000

By focusing on the large sum of money the Volcano erupting in Iceland has cost the airline industry, Big Media has missed the real story: Stranded passengers' discovery that airports are an unlikely vacation paradise.

Origins of the Tea Party Movement: Part V-B – Militia-ization: The Council for National Policy and the Christian Patriot Militia

James Scaminaci III — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 13:46:18 +0000

The Posse Comitatus eventually transformed into the Christian Patriot militia. At least three organizations linked to the Council for National Policy—the National Rifle Association, Gun Owners of America, and the Constitution Party—played instrumental roles. Posse Comitatus drew its principal support from radical anti-tax protesters, absolutist Second Amendment proponents, and survivalists. Similarly, the U.S. Taxpayers Party [...]

Origins of the Tea Party Movement: Part V-A – Posse Comitatus and the Tea Party Movement

James Scaminaci III — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 13:45:56 +0000

The militia-ization of the Tea Party movement encompasses the following processes and behaviors: the transmission of the underlying ideas of Posse Comitatus through the Patriot militia to the Tea Party movement; in this regard Ron Paul’s association with the militia movement is important; the behavioral expression of Posse Comitatus’ ideology in the current Tea Party [...]

Origins of the Tea Party Movement: Part IV-J – The Christian Nationalists’ Agenda and the Tea Party Movement

James Scaminaci III — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 13:11:34 +0000

The Koch-planned movement has from the start been plugged into the Christian nationalist’s Council for National Policy’s Conservative Action Project. There is some dispute as to whether or not the Tea Party movement will include “culture war” issues in their agenda. I will show that there is no real obstacle to making these “culture war” [...]

The Death of Discourse?

Dawn Shirreffs — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 00:51:17 +0000

I drove past a Tea Party protest in downtown Fort Lauderdale just a few weeks prior to the passing of Obama’s health care reform bill. If I had more time, I would have stopped, crossed the picket line and engaged in a dialogue with the protesters. It’s really important to find common ground, to listen, [...]

Origins of the Tea Party Movement: Part IV-I – Paul And The Tea Party: The Centrality of Race

James Scaminaci III — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 00:51:16 +0000

Discussions of the centrality of racism to the Tea Party movement range from “not present at all“, to “it’s present but on the fringe“, to “it’s central to the movement“. All of these discussions suffer from two theoretical flaws: First, there is no discussion of race and racism and the larger white nationalist or Christian nationalist [...]

Origins of the Tea Party Movement: Part IV-H – Ron Paul’s “Revolution”: Mobilized And Ready To Go

James Scaminaci III — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 00:50:39 +0000

In Part IV-G I documented that we are dealing with a known but incomplete (to us) political strategy and known unknown virtual and grassroots structures. We know that this political strategy is to undermine the legitimacy of existing political structures and we know that this grassroots structure is to operate using “stealth tactics.” Thus, we [...]

Origins of the Tea Party Movement: Part IV-G – Ron Paul’s Own Tea Party Emerges

James Scaminaci III — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 00:49:56 +0000

In previous sections I have detailed Ron Paul’s courtship of white Christian nationalists through his newsletters, Texas Straight Talk articles, and his legislative actions. I have also established that white nationalists responded to this courtship with a massive outpouring of fundraising efforts and funds to his presidential campaign. And, I have also suggested that his [...]

Origins of the Tea Party Movement: Part IV-F – White Nationalists Show Ron Paul The Love

James Scaminaci III — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 00:48:41 +0000

This section conclusively demonstrates that Ron Paul did, in fact, court white nationalists through his newsletters; these newsletters were a significant source of income—nearly one million dollars in 1993—and campaign contributions—two million dollars in 1996. Moreover, Ron Paul in the 1996 congressional campaign resolutely out of strategic necessity, indeed a strategic imperative, did not disavow [...]