10,000 Turn Out At Tea Party Rally in Houston

How much longer can the large media outlets ignore the Tea Partiers? They seem to be on the receiving end of all kinds of invectives and salacious sexual references from those paid to read the news off of teleprompters but when they continue to turn out crowds like this for a rally somebody is going to have to start paying serious attention.



Both major political parties ignore them at their own risk. These Tea Party folks are the reason the Independent box is being checked on more and more polls and surveys. While it is true they have a conservative point of view what they are doing is shaping the political landscape on the local level. Yes, Nancy, this is what long term grassroots activism looks like, unlike the liberal and progressive brand which is short term, and while more outrageous and able to get an inordinate share of attention, fails to have any sort of long term effect.

There was no big event happening in Houston to spur this sort of turnout. No big election pending. This was just a gathering of people who are sick and tired of what they see as an encroaching intrusion into their lives from the nanny state federal government. These people are not drawing any political allegiances, just ask the Republicans in New York.

“We vote primarily Republican, but they don't seem to be that much different anymore than Democrats,” said Everett Cochran of Montgomery, who attended the rally with his wife, Donna. “Nobody in the party apparently is listening to what the moderates to conservatives are saying — all they're listening to is the moderates to the liberals.”

The thrust of this gathering was indeed the pending healthcare takeover being planned by our federal government, and while the Republicans may indeed be handcuffed in anything they can do legislatively to stop it, they still are not lending their voices strongly enough in opposition to it. While the Republicans are trying their damnedest to piggy back on the Tea Party movement they have been called out by the tea partiers a few times, and most organizers will not allow them to take over their events and indeed go right down the middle of the road and bar all politicians from having a central position at these events.

People like this, who will turn out on a Monday to decry the overreaching power of the federal government, can very well be counted on to turn out for elections.

American Trained With Al Qaeda in Somalia

Another homegrown jihadi.

An American citizen charged with receiving terrorist training at an Al Qaeda camp in Somalia — including classes in how to become a homicide bomber and "wage violent jihad" — was taken into custody by FBI agents and returned to the U.S. Monday night night, Justice Department officials told FOX News.

An indictment unsealed Tuesday by the U.S. Attorney's Office in Houston charges Daniel Joseph Maldanado, 28, a.k.a Daniel Aljughaifi, whose last known address was in Houston, with receiving training from a foreign terrorist organization and conspiring to use an explosive device outside the United States.

Maldonado was captured by the Kenyan military on January 21 as he fled to avoid capture by Ethiopian and Somali government forces battling Al Qaeda-backed rebels, Justice Department officials said.

The Boston Globe reports he's a Boston native.

Federal officials charged Daniel Joseph Maldonado, 28, a Muslim convert also known as Daniel Aljughaifi and Abu Mohammed, with undergoing military training with a terrorist organization and conspiring to use a destructive device.

Maldonado, a native of Boston who also lived in Houston, was returned to the United States on Monday night and appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Calvin Botley Tuesday afternoon, the U.S. Attorney's office in Houston said. He was ordered held without bond until a detention hearing next week. Nancy Herrera, a spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney's office, said she was unsure whether Maldonado had an attorney yet.

Although he spent only three months in Houston before heading to Somalia, the LA Times calls him an Ex-Texan.

UPDATE: LGF notes he had a blog. More here.