http://www.billboard.com/bb...

 So, the Flaming Lips' "Do You Realize" will become Oklahoma's official state rock song, despite some controversy about the integrity of the band.  The song is pretty uncontroversial and sounds pretty commercial friendly.  Say what you will about the band and their beliefs, but I think it's pretty cool that Oklahoma gets to have an official rock and roll song.

California doesn't and I wonder what it would be if we did...

 So, Shane Murphy is safe at home now.  I think we can all appreciate someone who doesn't like being used as political capital and when they are they aren't afraid to say so.

http://www.thebostonchannel...

Limbaugh is entitled to his opinion and people who don't agree with some of President Obama's domestic policies are entitled to theirs as well, but I think the president handled the situation appropriately.  And I think Limbaugh was grasping at straws when he was attempting to make his argument.

 Lurking the internet I stumbled upon TEA (Taxed Enough Already) and their official website for another proposed round of Tea Parties.  www.teapartyday.com/

There you can see that this site's intention is to "inform" those that may be interested in another Tea Party this July 4th.  On the homepage they have a list of the various things that they are angry about. and their reason for the planned demonstration.  After reading this list I was a bit concerned about the information that they were spreading to people so I wrote them a letter.  Here it is:

On your homepage you state that the current administration wants to do away with secret ballots for unions...  I am fairly positive that that is completely false.  I think you may be referring to the Employee Free Choice Act which, in fact, maintains the option of a secret ballot but also gives employees the option of a majority sign-up election.  But anyway, I don't think it is conducive to the TEA party movement to spread false information just to get people angry.  If the cause is legitimate people would already be mad enough about the stated issues of the TEA party movement; that being high taxes, the bailout, and other fiscal legislative issues.  Instead it feels like the original, essentially non-partisan, message of the movement is being swept up in a general mix of Republican/social conservative issues and flat out lies about our current president.  Don't get me wrong, I believe that all elected officials should be held accountable for their actions and taken to task on them, but America already has enough problems as it is.  Your organization and members of the TEA party movement shouldn't be making up fake ones just to lend more outrage to the agenda.

Another point that seems to not be founded in truth is that you allege the current administration of refusing to deal with illegal immigrants.  They aren't refusing to do anything.  In fact, the President plans to begin a push for immigration reform starting this summer.  He plans on making the system more orderly.  President Obama has stated that having secure borders is an essential to protect the integrity of our borders, even favoring more personnel to make sure that they are indeed secure.  He has not changed any of former President Bush's policies... were you guys angry about Bush's policies as well?

Also according to you the President and Congress want to force health care providers to provide abortions against their own will.  That is also completely false.  President Obama has no plans on changing any aspect of the abortion issue, simply maintaining a woman's right to choose.  Perhaps you were confused about his Prevention First Act which addresses discrimination by health insurance companies for women who want contraception, not abortion, contraception (oral birth control, condoms, etc).

Your organization also seems to be confused about the current administration's stance on health care.  Your homepage says that under the Obama plan we would all have government controlled health care.  This too is wrong.  The potential (because legislation hasn't even passed on the issue yet)  plan that Obama would favor would mean that if you already had health care provided by an employer you would remain on the same plan but you would also potentially pay 2,500 dollars less a year.  If you needed to purchase your own health care you could do so.  The proposed reforms in health care would include more control over your own insurance plan.  You would choose your own doctor and make decisions with them based on your needs and not what was in the best interest of your  health insurance company.

I know that many people who participated in the April 15th tea parties are angry about coverage from all news organizations (except for FOX) because they seemed to be mocking their outrage.  Many have claimed that people just don't understand what these Tea Parties were all about.  Perhaps these news organizations and other people around the country didn't see the Tea Parties in an entirely favorable way because when they saw the footage of these events the message was so muddled.  Instead of signs and slogans addressing taxes and bailouts they saw signs vilifying President Obama and expressing non-related personal beliefs.  Whether it be pictures of him in Nazi uniform, signs questioning the legitimacy of his citizenship, or people displaying their religious beliefs and their second amendment rights, the majority of protesters weren't solely interested in fiscal issues.  Let's be honest, these weren't, and probably never will be, non-partisan demonstrations.  The variety of messages seen in these signs are the same mix of messages we hear from the Republican party.  And that is fine; people are allowed to hold their own political beliefs.  So why not just call a spade a spade: Instead of demonstrating under the banner of anger over taxation, do so honestly under the banner of the Republican party.  And instead of being mocked for being "teabaggers," you can go back to being mocked for the same reasons the Republican party has been mocked for the past 8 plus years.