"TEA" TIME...5 pm...

I will be present this afternoon at the Shreveport-Bossier City Tea Party. Go ahead and LOL , as OL as you want if you will, but I must attend.

I have been reading much from those on the left (and some on the right) guffaw about the futility of the "Tea Party" movement. But I must go for one reason. It currently is the only party in town!

If I saw anything resembling "hope" that the freight train of socialism, massive debt, and ceding of US national sovereignty will be stopped, then I'd take a pass. But I do not see any "hope" on the horizon. The Libertarians are powerless. Most Republicans in Washington are silent (if not complicit). The Democrat majority is "at the throttle," and laying the hammer down. I can not "not go."

I can only call, write, and send just so many computer letters up to Washington to get them to listen to me. Yet my protests fall on deaf ears.

I have four sons, three of whom are grown and on their own. One serves in the US Air Force, and another is headed to The US Army. They are patriots. I have always believed that we civilians are in a compact with those that serve. They protect us against enemies "foreign." It falls to us to protect them, and ourselves against enemies "domestic." This is a fight that they have been winning...and sadly, that we have been losing. In my lifetime I have watched our liberty that "they" sacrifice their lives for being eroded by our inaction.

But even if they were worthless, whimpering, liberal simps...they do not deserve the burden that their nation is laying on them. They do not deserve the crush of heavy taxation which surely will be required of them in the future due to trillions and trillions of dollars of debt. They don't need to be paying for Grandma's hip replacement, or Shaquanda's 5th baby, or Marvin's tatoo removal, or some GM employee's health care, or Ted Stevens' Bridge to Nowhere, or some Rest Area on I-70 named after some worthless State Senator when they are 50 years old! This madness must stop!

I get angry about very few things. But I do get angry when somebody...anybody...puts their hand in the pocket of my children (and my grandchildren yet unborn). My sons have their own "hopes" for the future. They have goals, desires, girls they love, and dreams to be realized. But what Washington is doing today will surely hamstring them for the rest of their natural lives...making their goals almost impossible to reach. I am going for them.

I have seen the scope and reach of the Federal government multiply exponentially in my short 35 "paying attention" years. And I will confess that it is frightening. I do not let "fear" rule me. But I do pay attention to "fear." "Fear" can be a valuable friend that steers you to action.

I do not want to see "blood in the streets." That is the last thing I want my family to live through. But my experience, and knowledge of history tells me that it is not an unreal possibility in the US. If in some small way my attendance at a small event in a small spot in these United States happens to somehow send a message to Washington...well...I wouldn't be much of a father if I didn't at least make the effort.

Will my effort be futile? Probably. Am I going just to "feel better" about myself like the libs do when they protest? I hope not. But I know for certain that I will feel worse about myself if I do not.

My Freshman Congressman, Dr. John Fleming, is scheduled to speak. Good man! An MD that decided to go to Washington to try to lead the insane toward sanity. He's a physician, not a psychiatrist (obviously). He is a true rock-ribbed, low-taxes, small-government "fish out of water" in Washington. At least he'll have a friendly crowd for once.

I'll take my computer camera, and snap some photos. I'll report back to y'all. Gotta go...it's almost Tea Time...