I received a call from the Worcester Tea Party’s Ken Mandile at the end of the rally. He said the crowd was so large that you couldn’t see the end of it. Michelle Malkin is saying the numbers were running toward 2 million! That’s a lot of friendly but angry conservatives. Will the government listen now?!?!?
UPDATE: Superb time lapse view of the crowds at the march. Thanks for the heads up, Michael.
UPDATE2: We had about 100 people show up in the pouring rain here in Worcester to rally with the 912 marchers in DC.
Congressmen Jim McGovern and Richard Neal held a town hall on Obamacare at UMass Medical School today. Try though they might, they could not get the crowd that overflowed two big rooms to buy in to the stuff they were shoveling about universal health care. What appalls me most is that they stood there in front of this crowd of as many as 200 and said with a straight face that the voters must be misinformed about their concerns. Excuse me? I’ve ben reading the bill as have many voters. Apparently they haven’t if they can’t answer simple questions from we the people.
The Worcester Telegram didn’t waste any time picking up the story. It was online within hours of the town hall:
U.S. Reps. James P. McGovern and Richard E. Neal were heckled and booed after trying to rally support today for President Barack Obama’s plan for a comprehensive national health insurance program.
The two Worcester-area Democratic lawmakers were shouted down several times by people attending a packed “town hall” meeting at the University of Massachusetts Medical School.
UMass officials threatened several times to end the gathering because of the raucous behavior, which occurred despite a heavy police presence.
At one point, Mr. McGovern was likened by an attendee to Josef Mengele, the Nazi officer who performed experiments on concentration camp survivors.
Despite the generally hostile crowd, the two legislators insisted that a health care overhaul was desperately needed and that changes to the system would financially benefit all.
Most attending the meeting, however, disagreed — charging that the huge price tag for a new health care program would bankrupt the country.
They argued care options also would be limited and that life-sustaining support would be denied to senior citizens, points vehemently disputed by the two congressmen.
Mr. McGovern, who represents Worcester and other communities in the 3rd Congressional District, said after the meeting that health care reform opponents clearly managed to muster supporters to attend the meeting.
And in case you haven’t seen this, here’s President Obama supporting single payer, socialized medicine:
I happen to be a proponent of a single payer universal health care program. I see no reason why the United States of America, the wealthiest country in the history of the world, spending 14 percent of its Gross National Product on health care cannot provide basic health insurance to everybody. And that’s what Jim is talking about when he says everybody in, nobody out. A single payer health care plan, a universal health care plan. And that’s what I’d like to see. But as all of you know, we may not get there immediately. Because first we have to take back the White House, we have to take back the Senate, and we have to take back the House.
Nicolas Sanchez, Professor of Economics at Holy Cross, spoke to a standing room only crowd of more than 100 people on June 30, 2009, at the Worcester Public Library. His talk, “Why President Obama’s Economic Policy Will Not Solve Our Economic Problems,” provided startling information about the economic crisis — how we got here, what’s being done that won’t work, and what should be done to turn things around.
Below is an excerpt from the talk with horrifying numbers about what the current administration has done to the money supply and what that means over the long run.
How, then, is the current Administration dealing with the crisis?
I will begin this third part of my presentation with something that I discussed at the Tea Party in Worcester on June 20th. This is the statistic that you should memorize; and that you can easily obtain if you forget it, for it is available at the web site of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, one of the branches of our central bank. Five years after the Fed’s creation, in 1918, the monetary base—which is what allows the money supply to expand in multiple proportions—grew from $4.8 billion to $870 billion, as of August of last year. This growth of the monetary base occurred at a steady pace for over 90 years. Yet, between August of last year and May of this year the monetary base has risen by almost $1,000 billion—in other words, it has more than doubled in the past eight months! This is the type of behavior that you find in Argentina or the approach that communist regimes have used to attach the problem of unemployment: print enough money so that firms can hire the people who want to be employed.
Let me make clear that I do not believe that this Administration is simply imitating communist regimes—for some other, non-communist countries have also followed this type of reckless monetary behavior in the past. I gave the example of Argentina, which has never been a communist country, but I do believe that a more appropriate example is the Weimar Republic—in other words, Germany in the 1920s. Germany was an advanced country that was in deep trouble because of its military commitments and the debt that it had acquired as a result of the First World War. Unions were also quite powerful and big business tolerated the power of those unions. Big government, big labor and big business finally decided that the country could only get out of debt by inflating the currency—big time.
The one surprise that you will hear in this lecture is that the policy was in fact successful, at least initially and with regard to unemployment and the financial markets. (The stock market boomed.) The big German inflation began slowly but peaked in 1923; then the German government finally stabilized the mark (which was the German currency) by forcing an exchange of 1 trillion old marks for 1 single new mark. (The stock market collapsed.) The consequence of this approach was that the structural problems of the nation were not addressed and that there was massive redistribution of income within the country that ultimately led to massive social unrest, and ultimately to the rise of Adolf Hitler. People on fixed incomes, like the elderly, were financially devastated by the inflation. This, I believe, is a possible scenario for our own economy.
Our forefathers never envisioned the role of legislator as permanent or full-time. It’s easy to see the problems. Our elected officials are mere humans and humans in a position of power will more often than not do what it takes to keep their position of power. That includes breaking ethics laws and bending or ignoring rules. In Massachusetts, we see a perfect example in the indictments of three consecutive Speakers of the House: DiMasi, Finneran, and Flaherty.
That’s why I was quite happy to learn that Rep. Karyn Polito (R-Shrewsbury) filed a term limits bill earlier this year.
‘Allowing the same people to remain in power in decades is not healthy for our democracy and our state,” state Rep. Karyn Polito of Shrewsbury told me during a recent interview. “If we really want to change the culture on Beacon Hill, end entrenched bad practices and level the balance of power, we need a system that encourages fresh ideas and fresh perspectives.”
She made those remarks as she was filing a constitutional amendment that would place term limits on members of the Legislature. “Timing is everything,” she said. “Scandals, mismanagement and the absence of political balance have diminished people’s confidence in government. We need to restore integrity.”
She’s right on target. The alarming loss of credibility on Beacon Hill has many roots, ranging from the criminal indictments of three House speakers in a row, to the ethical morass created by self-serving politicians who bilk the treasury and fatten their pensions — not to mention fiscal irresponsibility that caused state spending to increase 57 percent in a decade. About 40 percent of those lawmakers have been around for more than 12 years, and 80 percent of them belong to the same party, marching in lockstep with leaders who exercise all but dictatorial authority.
Great event coming up this week sponsored by the Worcester Tea Party. It’s their first public forum. Nicolas Sanchez, Professor of Economics at Holy Cross, has been an invited speaker at events across the country. Now he’s bringing his extensive knowledge home to us here in Worcester County to talk about Obama’s failed economic policies, how we got here, and what should be done instead.
“Why President Obama’s Economic Policy Will Not Solve Our Economic Problems”
Tuesday, June 30, 2009, 7-8:30pm
Worcester Public Library
3 Salem Square, Worcester
In the talk, Professor Sanchez will discuss:
- Origins of the economic crisis
- Structural problems to overcome
- The wrong policies to take
- The inflation that is to come
- What could have been done instead
- How the media misinforms America
If we care about electing more responsible officials, then we all need to have a better understanding of what’s going on and how things need to change.
Government expansion, a shocking rise in national debt, socialized medicine…make sure your voice is heard.
Worcester Tea Party: Rally for Responsible Government
Saturday, June 20, 2009
12 noon – 3pm, rain or shine
Elm Park, Worcester
Sign protests along Highland St. and Park Ave. start at 11am.
Speakers start just after noon. Lots of music. Bring a picnic and the kids (and an umbrella, just in case
Speakers:
Ken Mandile, Worcester Tea Party
Chip Faulkner, Citizens for Limited Taxation
David Tuerck, Beacon Hill Institute
Carla Howell, Center for Small Government
Professor Nick Sanchez, Holy Cross
Kris Mineau, Mass Family Institute
Todd Feinburg, WRKO
Plus music by Olivia O’Toole, Bob St. Germaine, Pete Michaud, and The Big Guns!
From the planning committee at the Worcester Tea Party…the next big rally. Call all your friends and neighbors. We can’t sit idly by while Beacon Hill grabs every penny they can.
Dear Tea Party Patriots:
Next week we’ll publicly announce our speakers for the Worcester Tea Party-Rally for Responsible Government, but we’re giving you the information today! The rally will be held at Elm Park on Saturday, June 20 from noon to 3 p.m.
Here are some of the speakers that will be featured:
- Chip Faulkner, Associate Director of Citizens for Limited Taxation
- Todd Feinburg, WRKO Radio
- David G. Tuerck, Executive Director of The Beacon Hill Institute and Chairman, Department of Economics Suffolk University
- Nicholas Sanchez, Professor of Economics, College of the Holy Cross
- Carla Howell, President of the Center for Small Government.
Professor Sanchez will also be the featured speaker at our first Worcester Tea Party Forum, to be held in the Saxe Room at the Worcester Public Library. The forum will be held on Tuesday, June 30 at 7 p.m. More details about this forum will follow in a couple of weeks.
What can you do to help our movement to bring fiscal responsibility to all levels of government? Get the word out about our Rally for Responsible Government!
We need to build our organization so that when elections come around we have the ability to provide meaningful support to fiscally responsible candidates.
Over the weekend I will be emailing you a PDF file with a full color poster for the Rally for Responsible Government. Please print out several copies and put them up in your neighborhood and at work. Also, please forward it to everyone you know. Ask your friends, family, and co-workers to come to the rally and ask them to promote it.
Finally, if you want to be involved in planning events, please join our committee. We’ll be having our next meeting this Sunday, May 31 at 7 p.m. in Oxford. You will need to contact me via the Worcester Tea Party web site if you wish to come. I will respond with directions.
An update from Rep. Lew Evangelidis (R-Holden) on the apparent favoritism being shown by the Department of Education on school waivers. Swine flu is a serious issue, but so was our December 2008 ice storm crisis, during which many schools served as emergency shelters.
It was reported in [the] newspapers that the Commissioner of Education was considering granting waivers to certain schools who have chosen to close in response to the swine flu. As we all know, the Commissioner showed no flexibility with our districts following the devastating ice storm of December 11th. As a result of that inflexibility our students were required to attend an unprecedented school schedule which included Saturdays, three weeks of extended school days, and classes during vacation weeks.
Although I don’t question any districts decision on whether to keep their schools open or not, I do have concerns about what I perceive as a possible double standard from the Department of Education regarding their flexibility on the 180 day school requirement.
Today I spoke with the Chief of Staff for the Commissioner of Education who informed me that the Commissioner was inclined to grant a waiver to the schools who closed as a result of the swine flu. I had a long discussion with her about the concerns that my dist rict has regarding this decision. Our schools were closed from December 12th to January 5th and many of our schools were being used as shelters. I am writing a letter at this time along with some of my colleagues expressing our concerns about what we perceive as a double standard being applied to the 180 day requirement.
Our district has come to learn that DOE will only grant waivers in extraordinary conditions. I look forward to hearing the Commissioners rationale as to why the current conditions warrants granting a waiver.
Well, this is certainly good news for the strained Worcester City budget. I just hope the City doesn’t use these payments as an excuse for trimming the fat and getting a handle on the out of control Worcester Public School budget, which currently accounts for about 60% of the City’s budget.
Worcester Polytechnic Institute will pay the City of Worcester $9 million over the next 25 years under a voluntary “payment in lieu of taxes” agreement announced this afternoon at the Worcester Public Library.
The money, starting with $270,000 this year, will go directly to the library and Institute Park, a public park located near the university. The first payment will promote improvements at the park and allow the city to restore Wednesday and Sunday hours at the library, according to City Manager Michael O’Brien.
WPI President and CEO Dennis D. Berkey said funding the park and library is an extension of its work as a community-minded educational institution.
“The notion of lifelong learning is so central to our mission at WPI,” he said.
WPI is the second city institution to agree to a PILOT. The Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences announced in November that it would pay between $1.25 million and $1.5 million to the library over 25 years.
WPI took pains to avoid setting the new agreement up as a precedent for other colleges and nonprofits in the city. In a statement released at the announcement, Berkey said that the college “does not intend for the agreement to serve as a model” for others. But after the event, City Councilor Philip P. Palmieri, who has pushed for PILOT agreements as the chair of the city’s economic development committee, promised “others to follow.”
The PILOT payment will increase by 2.5 percent each year, averaging $360,000 over the life of the agreement. The agreement also formalizes a college policy of paying some taxes on properties that qualify for tax exemption. That accounts for $180,000 this year.
If you’re fed up with our overspending, overtaxing, pork-filled government, then be at the Worcester Tea Party on April 15, 2009, 4-6pm, Lincoln Square. This is part of the National Tea Party movement. Bring signs, friends, family, and kids. We’ll have speakers, fun giveaways, and lots of chanting
Organizers call it the beginning of a revolution, and Worcester will take its place among more than 500 cities around the country to hold a Tax Day Tea Party on April 15 — the income tax filing deadline — to protest what they call runaway government spending, taxation and attacks on the free market.
Kenneth J. Mandile of Webster, organizer of the Worcester event, said he has never considered himself to be a political activist, but the Washington bailouts of failed companies, as well as billions to be spent in the administration’s stimulus plan for new programs, prompted him to organize the local protest to be held at Lincoln Square.
“Our individual rights are under attack,” said Mr. Mandile, president of SwissTurn/USA in Oxford, which manufactures machine parts. “This is about free speech. Use it or lose it.”
Barbara Anderson, president of Citizens for Limited Taxation, reiterated the notion that the local tax tea parties around the state mark the groundswell of a revolution.
“An awful lot of people doing these are not habitual activists,” she said. “What I’m seeing is truly the beginning of the revolution. People who have been putting up with it for years are springing into action.
“Maybe we can see some real change, not just a political candidate’s platitudes. It’s probably the most exciting time in my lifetime.”
