Memorial Day 2010

Greater love has no one than this, 
that one lay down his life for his friends.

You can find Memorial Day events & parades scheduled for the valley listed in the local papers:
Memorial Day events scheduled throughout the region this weekend in The Express-Times
Memorial Day events in the Lehigh Valley in The Morning Call

Yesterday I read this on the Pennsylvania Progressive blog:

Who is the largest Tea Party group?

In Pennsylvania is looks like we may be the largest Tea Party group. Hard and fast numbers are hard to find if you try to research the subject but all the evidence is pointing to the fact that we are one of the largest groups in the nation!

Many groups claim to be "one of the largest". Recently in a letter to a local paper you can read where being "among the largest tea party organizations in the area" is used as one of the justifications to  be endorsing candidates in the Lehigh Valley by a Philadelphia based Tea Party. In case you didn't know, our Lehigh Valley group does not endorse candidates, but educates on the issues... leaving the picking of candidates to the individual personal responsibility of the voter.

If you do a search of MeetUp groups you'll find that in their network we are one of the largest groups in the country!
http://politics.meetup.com/
http://9-12-we-surround-them-tea-party-liberty.meetup.com/
As you can see, only Tampa Florida has a larger membership with over 1,800 members.

You can find other groups by checking out sites like http://teapartypatriots.org/State/Pennsylvania (registration required) or by visiting them individually after finding them through a web search. Many have internet discussion forums or blogs.

Here in the Lehigh Valley we have just gone over 1,200 members. Our monthly meetings routinely exceed 200  in attendance. Inside the group there are a multitude of action committees, study groups, & book discussion groups. Our internet forums are active daily. Come check us out...

The Limited Government Resolution

ACCOUNTABILITY, THE NEW FUTURE
“Resolved, That this resolution shall be communicated to the Lehigh County Republican and Democrat Party Committees and Northampton County Republican and Democrat Party Committees, and every elected official whose district is wholly or partially within Lehigh and Northampton Counties and they shall be urged to apply these principles to all public policy decisions.”

Several groups throughout the Valley have or are in the process of adopting the resolution. We are building a coalition and will be bringing it to all of our local elected officials for them to sign.

Click to see the single page "Limited Government Resolution"You may have to click on it to enlarge

Click here to download the Resolution as a pdf file. Click on the blue "Download Now" button.

In the news...

Our local group is featured in this article in the Morning Call titled:
Tea party movement finding its way

Local leader says focus is not on candidates but on educating the public.

The Education of Joan Walsh

James Taranto, columnist for the Wall Street Journal, has been a steadfast supporter of the truth when it comes to the media's coverage of the Tea Party movement. Today's article is no exception. The subtitle is "I'm coming to regret using the term 'racist' about the Tea Party."

People are funny...

An recent experience related by one of our members:


Something very hilarious happened last night to a handful of us who were enjoying a beverage at an establishment that will remain unnamed.

We were discussing amongst ourselves our recent experiences working at the polls and a couple across the way decided to weigh into our conversation. The discussion started with we should give away healthcare to all because it's too expensive and why should people get a job and give up their handouts. When they lost that argument, they switched to the oil spill in the gulf, which they then turned into a movement to ban ALL cars because they're "bad." Of course, as they started to lose that one, they resorted to personal attacks about the weight and physique of some of us and saying we should get rid of our cars and start riding bikes everywhere. When I asked if they owned cars, they reluctantly admitted they did and then one of them got so pissed off that they raised their glass and went to throw it at us. The staff then stepped in and we left shortly thereafter.

The kicker is, as we were continuing our discussion in the parking lot, the couple left, got into their two, separate SUV's and took off, one of them proudly displaying a "Teach Kindness" bumper sticker.

It was surreal! I try very hard not to buy into stereotypes, but....

The best news is that everyone in the bar was laughing at the couple's ludicrous arguments and two individuals actually followed us out and were eager to talk to us about our group. They were given the group brochure and hopefully will join us soon.

VOTE!

What are you doing here reading this? Get out and vote if you haven't already!
Get the candidate evaluation report if you need it.

Is the Tea Party here to stay?

Channel 69 Business Matters with Tony Iannelli

Monday, May 17th, 2010

Is the Tea Party here to stay?

Guests: Jeff Warren (Easton City Council), Kim Schmidtner (Lehigh Valley Tea Party),

Jude-Laure Denis (Obama for America), Paul Saunders (Lehigh Valley Tea Party)

This show was taped on April 28th in a debate format.

Update: The show has aired and can now be viewed online.
http://wfmz.img.entriq.net/htm/PopUpPlayer-v4.htm?articleID=1395058&v=b

Candidates Evaluated for the 2010 Primary Election

Our Candidate Action Committee has come out with their candidate evaluation report for the 2010 primary elections.

Most of the candidates appearing on the May 18, 2010 Primary ballot in those districts covered by
Lehigh and Northampton counties are included in this report. Specifically, all state-wide candidates,
i.e., all those running for the PA offices of US Senate, US Congress-15th District, and for governor are
included, as are all the candidates for the PA Senate. Only candidates running in contested district
races for PA state representative are included.

To download your own copy of the report (a PDF file) go here:
Lehigh Valley Candidate Report
and click on the blue "Download Now" button.

Update 5/13/2010:The Candidate Evaluations Report has been updated, the link will take you to the updated file.
Based on additional information, changes have been made to the evaluations of candidates Tom Corbett and Charlie Dent.

Who is the Tea Party candidate?

No one.
You may hear or read about "the Tea Party candidate" in the media, but there is no such thing here in the Lehigh Valley. A person running for office may belong to our organization, or may have the ear and favor of many of our members, but we do not as a group endorse or support candidates. Thought you ought to know.