16 APR 09: Tea for 200 (or more)

A CNN headline Tuesday put the truth very well: "Every day is Tax Day." You'll likely pay some kind of tax to somebody today, whether it's through shopping at a store or writing a check for your utilities. It's simply that 15 April is the day when people whine about it the most.

For a change, the spotlight on this year's Tax Day was directed away from local post offices. Organized "Tea Parties" were held across the country, including one outside the Government Center Wednesday evening. But somehow, I think this was one time when the tea in the South was NOT automatically sweet.

I drove by the Government Center around 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, and a crowd was gathering at the eternal flame 30 minutes before the start time. A woman even was singing, to get people in the mood for a protest. That's probably the wrong time for a Republican woman to sing "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend."

WRBL reported about 650 people attended the local Tax Day Tea Party. Why, this may go down as the biggest "TalkLine reunion" in Columbus history....

The point of the Tax Day Tea Parties was to protest high taxes and big government spending. Why do I have the feeling Muscogee County Superintendent Susan Andrews did NOT attend this event?

But from watching late-night news coverage of the Columbus rally, it was clear other issues were also on people's minds. One woman explained she's concerned about the "hidden tax, inflation" - hours after the federal government announced the biggest 12-month decline in consumer inflation since 1955. Prices even may be dropping for wheelbarrows, to hold those worthless dollar bills.

Then there was the sign outside the Government Center which read: "IN WITH GOD, OUT WITH OBAMA." I'll probably see this person downtown again in three weeks, on the National Day of Prayer....

The Redneckin blog attended a Tax Day Tea Party in Auburn, with an estimated 600 protesters. Since no harbor is close to the Auburn University campus, tea bags were dumped in a child's inflatable wading pool. This is what happens when the coaches of the college swim teams are paid in part with state money.

The Redneckin blog warned in advance that it's against the law to carry firearms at public protests, such as the Tea Party. I suppose that prevented some real "radicals" from showing up in Auburn. But the National Rifle Association will have to come up with a creative way to protect the Second Amendment from President Obama - such as a gun show with nothing but seltzer bottles.

Excuse me for asking a silly question - but where was all this Tea Party tumult last year? Weren't taxes high then? Wasn't government spending huge then? Or did Wednesday's protesters somehow conclude an M.B.A. President like George W. Bush knew what he was doing?

As it happened, Rep. Sanford Bishop was in Columbus Wednesday presenting the other side of the issue. He hosted a "Stimulus 101" seminar at the National Infantry Museum, on how the area can benefit from the federal stimulus package. Since the museum received a federal highway grant to improve roads around the site, it was almost a Tax Day love-fest.

Meanwhile, it was a busy Tax Day as usual at the main Columbus post office. WXTX "News at Ten" showed a live line of customers - so WRBL's web site apparently was wrong to claim the deadline to get a 15 April postmark was 8:45 p.m. The Postal Service still hasn't downsized quite as much as they're threatening.

So what did I do on Tax Day? I put God ahead of country, by attending a special worship service in Montgomery. The checks for federal and state taxes were put in the mail last week. I saved them for the end of Serious Spring Cleaning, since government agencies were cleaning my bank account.

To be honest, I didn't owe the U.S. government that much this year. But the check to the state of Georgia was well into triple figures - so everything on Governor Perdue's "Sonny Do" list had better get done this year.

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E-MAIL UPDATE: The man we consulted for Wednesday's main topic wants to add a P.S., after reading the e-mail which led us to call him...

Richard,

An FYI for the writer of the email about CTVEA and the Citizen. A subscription to the Citizen is only $25 per year, so there is really no correlation to a $60 annual increase for a $25 annual product. Advertising is the driving revenue behind the Citizen. The Citizen is offered to CTVEA subscribers as a courtesy only. If you call the Citizen at 334-664-0145 they will be glad to take you off of the mailing list. You do have a choice.

You can also get a lower rate with a basic package that includes only channels 2-13. I don't know what that rate is.

Hope this helps.

Craig S. Howard

So there you are, Cable TV of East Alabama subscribers. You can do without the weekly paper. But if you do, your cable rate won't go down. You'll be less informed about Phenix City. And the Boy Scouts will be disappointed with you, when the annual paper drive comes.

We're saving a couple of other e-mails for another day, so now let's check other mid-week wonders:

+ A source I tend to trust says "Easter week" sales at shops in the Columbus Park Crossing area were down only two percent from last year. And I imagine some business owner fainted in shock, when North Highland Assembly of God asked for 16,000 eggs.

+ Richard Hyatt's web site reported former Muscogee County Republican chair Josh McKoon has moved into Seth Harp's State Senate district. Somewhere, Ed Harbison began dancing around and shouting hallelujah.

(Hyatt seems to suspect McKoon will run for Harp's State Senate seat next year. Given McKoon's legal fight involving land around the Columbus Public Library, we know he'll be endorsed by the Georgia Garden Club.)

+ Georgia Lieutenant Governor Casey Cagle stunned political watchers, by dropping out of the 2010 Governor's race. Cagle cited health problems - and that's understandable. Presiding over 40 days of the Georgia Senate would give almost anyone indigestion.

(But wait a minute - Casey Cagle plans to run for a second term as Lieutenant Governor. Why is he healthy enough to run for that job, but not for Governor? Does Cagle think Democrats covet the top job so much that they'll forget his job exists?)

+ WRBL reported Columbus Lions kicker Carlos Martinez will miss this weekend's game, because he'll be trying out with the Kansas City Chiefs. This Kansas City native knows the Chiefs have a tradition of great kickers. There was Jan Stenerud, Nick Lowery -- and in recent years, the cheerleaders on the sidelines.

+ Instant Message to WLTZ: I see your 38.2 channel shows up on my screen as "D-2" now, instead of "Duce." Is it safe to assume World War II veterans called to complain?

SCHEDULED FRIDAY: Is the Columbus city web site up for sale? And is that a bad thing?....

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