While the act of "derailing" a bus would be problematic, the Northbay MDS did do alot by passing out free signs with radical messages. Our signs outnumbered the signs of the DemocRAT Party loyalists 2 to 1!
Announcement from "Northbay MDS": 
2011-08-27 "Dunk the right-wing Tea Baggers" rally flier from "California MDS":
2011-08-27 "Dunk the right-wing Tea Baggers" rally chanting flier from "California MDS":
2011-08-11 "Tea Party Express ready to roll"
by JAMES NOONAN [http://napavalleyregister.com/news/local/tea-party-express-ready-to-roll/article_c804319e-c3e5-11e0-b714-001cc4c03286.html#ixzz1UhhiYGBB]
What’s being billed by organizers as a “Tea Party Super Rally” is headed to Napa later this month, and event organizers say a few White House hopefuls have already committed to appear.
The event — a kickoff rally for the nationwide Tea Party Express tour — is set to take place on Aug. 27, and has already generated RSVPs from a few GOP presidential candidates, said Pam Silleman, head of the Napa Tea Party.
Silleman wasn’t willing to reveal which candidates were making plans to attend the rally, saying it was up to the candidates themselves to announce whether they would be attending.
Tea party luminaries such as Michele Bachmann and Herman Cain would likely be among those most willing to commit to the Napa rally, although inquiries to their respective campaigns were not immediately returned.
Calls to Sal Russo, a GOP consultant and co-founder of Tea Party Express, were also not returned Wednesday.
While the names of the candidates will remain a mystery for now, Silleman was willing to report that the logistical aspects of the rally had largely fallen into place.
“It seems like it’s going to be quite a big rally,” she said. “It’ll be something Napa’s never seen before.”
Silleman previously said that attendance at the event could be measured in the tens of thousands.
Not everyone gathering in Napa that Saturday will do so to support the tea party movement. Members of the local Green Party have already announced plans for a counter rally that day.
According to Napa County Green Party spokesman Alex Shantz, the local chapter will be hosting what they are calling a “green tea party” at Veterans Memorial Park to protest the tea party’s presence in Napa.
“The purpose of this rally is to show our opposition to the tea party's far right-wing agenda while affirming positive Green Party values, such as grassroots democracy, social justice, respect for diversity, nonviolence, community-based economics and ecological wisdom,” Shantz said in a statement.
---
Comment from Napa Greens: Come join the Green Party's Counter-rally the same day from 10:30 AM to 3:00 PM at Veterans Park in Downtown Napa! Oppose the Tea Party and affirm a healthy alternative-- the Green Party. There will be Green and progressive speakers, live entertainment, iced green tea, and veggie cuisine from Food Not Bombs out of Santa Rosa.
2011-08-28 "Tea, Green Parties Don’t Mix; An estimated 800 people (and one inflatable rat) took part in Saturday’s dueling political rallies, with no violence or arrests" by Louisa Hufstader from "Napa Patch"
[http://napa.patch.com/articles/tea-green-parties-dont-mix]
The national tea party movement held what was billed as a major rally in Napa Saturday, but the promised thousands of conservative voters failed to turn up.
Police and newspaper estimates placed the crowd at the Napa Valley Exposition at about 600, with another 200 Green Party, Democratic and union activists demonstrating in opposition outside the Expo fence.
However, Alex Shantz of the Napa County Green Party said the size of the counter-demonstration was closer to 300.
While the protesters outside chanted, marched, waved signs and even briefly displayed a giant inflatable rat, the tea party rally on the Expo grounds featured heavily-amplified singers and speakers, two gleaming “Tea Party Express” buses and a mammoth American flag.
Across the Napa River in Veterans Memorial Park, the planned “Green tea party” counter-rally was a comparatively tepid affair, with what appeared to be fewer than half the number of people that had taken part in the protest outside the Expo.
The tea party rally had leather-lunged media personalities and Nevada Republican Sharron Angle, who led the mostly gray-haired crowd in singing “God Bless America” and mocked the counter-demonstrators, saying “they must only have been paid for an hour.”
The Green Party rally had a folksinger, members of the local Dream Act coalition and state party stalwarts including Fairfax mayor Larry Bragman, who spoke at length and more than once argued that the tea party and Green Party can be allies on issues like the Pacific Gas & Electric “smart meters,” which both sides oppose.
The rally at the Expo had the upper hand in numbers and sound volume, but the counter-demonstration in the park had something the tea party didn’t: A police observer stationed on the roof of the Riverfront with binoculars and a cell phone.
"People from the Green Party told us that there was a guy yelling at them while they were setting up," said Napa police commander Steve Potter in an email exchange with Napa Patch Sunday.
"We wanted to make sure everyone was safe and to identify any troublemakers early."
After a couple of hours, the officer had little to observe after protesters again marched from downtown to the Expo, leaving only a handful of people who had set up information tables in the park
Potter issued a press release Sunday morning saying, in part:
[begin excerpt]
The Napa Police Department monitored the events while the members of the political parties exercised their constitutional rights of assembly and speech.
Temporary roadway closures took place on Burnell Street and Third Streets while these rights were exercised.
Each party provided their own group monitors and managed their own group’s activity.
[end excerpt]
According to the release, there were "no physical confrontations or other illegal acts" during the dueling rallies.
"I think all of the groups did a very good job managing their own invited guests," Potter added in his email to Napa Patch.
2011-08-27 photographs from "Napa Patch"
Tea party opponents and their rat at the Expo fence. Credit Tim Thulin
Tea party rally at the Napa Valley Exposition. Credit Louisa Hufstader
"Green tea party" in Veterans Memorial Park. Credit Louisa Hufstader
One of the two buses that arrived in Napa for the Aug. 27 rally kicking off a national tour. Credit: Louisa Hufstader
At the tea party rally. Credit: Louisa Hufstader
Green Party, union and Democratic protesters prepare to march to the Expo. Credit: Tim Thulin
The Guy on the Roof Police observer watching Veterans Park. Credit: Louisa Hufstader
The Tea, the Green and the Random: Youths repurpose some protest signs to send their own messages. Credit: Louisa Hufstader
2011-08-27 photographs created by Serena Peck of Napa showing the anti-"Tea Party" march and rally:
people at the tea party were pretty harsh...they screamed through the gates calling the protesters some pretty bad stuff i shall not repeat
The Napa Police, under direction of the Federal agencies who picked up on the accusations about "SDS terrorism" from Napa Tea Party Express, appear on a rooftop monitoring the Green Tea Party
Larry Bragman.
2011-08-27 "Tea Party Express Bus Tour" photos by J.L. Sousa
Nicolas Holmes of Concord distributes signs before a planned march to the Napa Valley Expo on Saturday morning. The protest was against the Tea Party Express Reclaiming America bus tour, which kicked off its nationwide tour in Napa on Saturday.
A group of anti-tea party protesters form up at a downtown Napa parking lot before heading to the Napa Valley Expo on Saturday morning. Napa played host to the Tea Party Express Reclaiming America bus tour, which left Napa in the afternoon and headed to Sparks, Nevada for the next stop on the nationwide tour. J.L. Sousa/Register
A group of young people walk near the Napa Valley Expo to protest the arrival of the Tea Party Express Reclaiming America bus tour on Saturday. The nationwide tour headed for Sparks, Nevada following a few hours of speeches and music.
Marchers walk along Third Street on the way to the Napa Valley Expo on Saturday morning to protest the arrival of the Tea Party Express Reclaiming America bus tour. The nationwide tour began in Napa before heading for Sparks, Nevada for its next stop
A pair of protesters, who only identified themselves as Anonymous and being from outside Napa, stand outside the gates of the Napa Valley Expo on Saturday morning, during the Tea Party Express Reclaiming America rally on Saturday.
Assemblymember Mariko Yamada, (D-Davis), attends the anti-tea party rally outside Napa Valley Expo on Saturday. The Tea Party Express Reclaiming America bus tour kicked off in Napa on Saturday. The state's redistricting efforts have placed the legislator in Napa's new assembly district and Yamada has announced the intention to run for the Napa seat in 2012.
A group of motorcycle officers with the Napa Police Department and the California Highway Patrol wait for the start of a march by anti-tea party protestors on Saturday morning. The Tea Party Express Reclaiming America bus tour began in Napa before heading for the next stop in Sparks, Nevada on its nationwide tour.
Nathan McMahon from Russian River, waves flags while attending the Tea Party Express Reclaiming America bus tour on Saturday, at the Napa Valley Expo. Following speeches and music, the nationwide bus tour headed for the next stop, Sparks, Nevada.
Napa Tea Party coordinator Pam Silleman welcomes the roughly 600 people to the Tea Party Express Reclaiming America bus tour on Saturday morning at the Napa Valley Expo. The nationwide tour would head to Sparks, Nevada on Saturday afternoon following music and speeches.
Former Senate candidate Sharron Angle was one of the speakers at the Tea Party Express Reclaiming America bus tour at the Napa Valley Expo on Saturday. The nationwide tour will conclude in Tampa, Florida in mid-September.
2011-08-27 "Tea Party Express rally falls short of early billings" by James Noonan from "Napa Valley Reguster" newspaper
[http://napavalleyregister.com/news/local/tea-party-express-rally-falls-shorts-of-early-billings/article_f26775ca-d0e9-11e0-9559-001cc4c002e0.html]
SATURDAY - AUGUST 27, 2011 - NAPA, CA - Part of the crowd of roughly 600 people who attended the Tea Party Express Reclaiming America bus tour at the Napa Valley Expo, are seen during the singing of the National Anthem on Saturday morning. J.L. Sousa/Register (A crowd of White American Nationalists gather to worship their idol of false patriotism [link])
A day of political rallies
• 9:30 a.m. — Anti–tea party protesters begin to gather in the county parking lot at Coombs and Fourth streets.
• 10 a.m. — Napa Valley Expo begins filling up with people attending the Tea Party Express Rally. Anti–tea party protesters begin marching from Coombs Street toward the Expo with police on motorcycles acting as escorts.
• 10:20 a.m. — Roughly 200 protesters arrive at main gates of the Expo. Tea Party Express buses enter the grounds from Burnell Street.
• 10:30 a.m. — Anti–tea party demonstrators march toward Burnell Street, where they picket, chant and inflate a large rat. Tea party rally attendees continue to use main entrance.
• 11:15 a.m. — Pam Silleman, coordinator for the Napa Tea Party, kicks off a round of speakers inside the Napa Valley Expo. The crowd numbers around 600 tea party supporters.
• 11:45 a.m. — Protesters leave Burnell Street and return downtown.
• Noon — Former Senate candidate Sharron Angle takes the stage.
• 1:15 p.m. — Final speakers wrap up and Tea Party Express buses prepare for departure. Tea party crowd begins to disperse.
• 1:20 p.m. — More than 50 Green Party supporters, escorted by police, march to the Expo at Burnell Street.
• 1:40 p.m. — Tea Party Express buses exit onto Burnell Street, head east toward Nevada.
When it comes to a beverage of choice, it looks as though the Napa Valley still prefers wine over tea.
On Saturday, roughly 600 people gathered on the sprawling carnival grounds of the Napa Valley Expo for the so-called “super rally” that would kick off the Tea Party Express’ “Reclaiming America” bus tour.
The turnout was a far cry from the 4,000 to 5,000 people that representatives from Tea Party Express’ Sacramento office said they were expecting only days before the Napa rally.
Tea party supporters, who skewed older, were a mostly subdued group, seated picnic-like on lawn chairs and blankets for two hours of music and speeches.
Adding to the event’s dampened atmosphere was that no GOP presidential candidates appeared, despite reports that at least one would be attending. Also, the event was met with vocal protests from several hundred representatives of the Democratic and Green parties and progressive groups.
Despite the modest turnout, the day’s featured speakers and performers offered up high praise for the Napa rally.
“I think it’s going great,” said Howard Kaloogian, chairman of the Our Country Deserves Better political action committee. The committee — which was formed by a pair of former GOP consultants — bankrolls the Tea Party Express project.
Onstage, Kaloogian attempted to fire up the crowd early in the program by tearing into recent actions of Congress. “I have a news flash for Washington politicians,” he said. “You don’t create jobs. The American people create jobs.”
Kaloogian’s offstage comments, however, seemed to acknowledge that turnout fell short of expectations.
“The trick to a good rally is to have a small room,” he said, motioning toward a largely empty carnival lot. “We’ve got a pretty big room here.”
Asked about earlier crowd projections provided to both law enforcement and local media by representatives from the action committee’s Sacramento office, Kaloogian said only, “I don’t know who said that. We didn’t say that.”
As the rally played out inside the Expo’s gates, a crowd of about 200 people gathered on Burnell Street to protest the tea party event.
While the Expo’s powerful sound system ensured that the protesters didn’t drown out those speaking onstage, the demonstrators’ presence hardly went unnoticed.
“Those protesters are desperate. They know we are winning,” said Kaloogian, drawing a brief burst of excitement from an otherwise docile crowd. “They know all they can do is yell and shout, but we can shout louder because we have a message of substance.”
Outside the gates, several protesters noted that many of the tea party’s goals — including scaling back unemployment and improving the nation’s economy — are also shared by the progressive left, but that the two sides favored different methods.
Inside, however, onstage speakers were less delicate in addressing such ideological differences.
“It’s good to bring the ‘makers’ and the ‘takers’ together for a conversation,” said Joe Getty, co-host of the “Armstrong & Getty” radio show.
Some who attended the tea party event noted the smaller-than-expected turnout.
“It’s been good so far. I just wish there were more people that came out,” said John Miller of Sonoma, adding that he had been attending tea party events since 2009.
Only a few feet away, Dina Hanson of Napa — one of a handful of anti–tea party protesters who ventured through the Expo’s gates — had a different take on the tea party crowd.
“It’s quite a bit smaller than I thought it would be, which makes me happy,” she said.
Larry Gullicksen, who came from Concord with his wife, Judy, offered up one explanation for the small size of the Napa rally.
“Well, this is California,” he said, noting that the state is known for its liberal politics.
Regardless of the crowd’s size, almost all of those interviewed during Saturday’s rally expect that the tea party will have a significant effect on the 2012 elections, rejecting the notion that success in the 2010 election was a one-time phenomenon.
“It’s going to be tremendous,” said Judy Gullicksen, who predicted that the GOP would retake both the White House and the Senate next November.
Backstage, Amy Kremer, chair of the Tea Party Express project, said none of the Republican White House hopefuls would be able to defeat President Barack Obama in 2012 without the backing of the tea party.
Without the organization’s support, candidates would be unlikely to even appear on the November ballot, she added.
“I think the tea party is going to decided who the (GOP) nominee is,” Kremer said.
Former Senate candidate Sharron Angle also expected that the tea party would help the GOP pick up enough Senate seats to gain control of the upper house in Washington.
Angle drew national attention last year after tea party support vaulted her to the front of a crowded GOP U.S. senate primary field in Nevada, despite being shunned by Republican leadership. She was ultimately unsuccessful in her bid to unseat Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.
“This is the American mainstream,” Angle said before taking the stage. “We’re here to make an impact on Washington, D.C.”
After roughly two hours of entertainment from various speakers and performers, a pair of Tea Party Express buses packed up and headed toward their next stop in Sparks, Nev.
The tour is scheduled to make 28 more stops before pulling into Tampa, Fla. for the CNN-Tea Party Express candidate debate on Sept. 12.
Before leaving, representatives from the organization said they still felt as though the day’s mission had been accomplished.
“Tea Party Express gives energy to local groups. We help them generate more press and give some excitement to the local movement,” Kaloogian said. “They know they’re not alone.”
2011-08-28 "Conservatives upbeat at 2 Bay Area gatherings" by Joe Garofoli and Carla Marinucci from "San Francisco Chronicle"
[articles.sfgate.com/2011-08-28/bay-area/29937472_1_tea-party-express-andrew-breitbart-conservatives]
They've been dismissed as the inconsequential, angry, funny-hat-wearing political fringe. But conservatives and Tea Party activists at lively celebrations in the Bay Area say they're beginning to be recognized as something else as the 2012 elections loom: a mainstream movement.
With two big gatherings - a California Young Republican Federation convention in San Francisco on Friday and a Tea Party Express gathering in Napa on Saturday - it wasn't so lonely being a conservative in the Democratic bastion of the Bay Area.
"We're not afraid to come to the Bay Area, because the majority of the people in the Bay Area agree with us," said Sal Russo, the Sacramento GOP political consultant and father to the Tea Party Express movement, which kicked off its fifth cross-country bus tour Saturday.
Looking out on a field of hundreds of picnicking Tea Party activists at the Napa Valley Expo - many of them holding signs blasting bloated government, high taxes and skyrocketing debt - Russo said the armies of just regular people represent "the zeitgeist of the times."
The Napa site bloomed with signs, bumper stickers and buttons that reflected discontent with the country's direction: "My shovel is ready: where is my job?," "RU seeing RED yet?" and "Stop socialism."
Shaping presidential race
Once dismissed as "AstroTurf" - a term of derision meant to cast doubt on the grassroots claims of its adherents - the Tea Partiers have proved to be an enduring movement that reshaped Congress in the 2010 elections and already has been a force for both candidates and themes in the 2012 GOP presidential field, Russo said.
The Tea Party Express, for example, will for the first time sponsor a major presidential debate, a Sept. 12 event in Florida to be broadcast on CNN.
"It's not about social issues. It's just about how we don't want to spend more than we actually have," said Joyce Ellis, 57, of Walnut Creek, a former production manager and a member of the East Bay Tea Party Express. She said when she joined the movement, "I thought I'd be the only one. ... I saw I wasn't."
In San Francisco, where more than three times as many voters (30 percent) decline to state a party preference as register as Republicans (9 percent), a statewide convention of 300 California Young Republican Federation members gathered to hear a trio of conservative stars, UC Berkeley law Professor John Yoo, author Ann Coulter and blogger Andrew Breitbart.
With President Obama's approval rating dipping to around 44 percent nationally and a slew of fired-up GOP presidential candidates challenging him, even Bay Area conservatives are feeling a surge of confidence.
But first, as Breitbart said, "They need to meet each other."
"Wherever the liberal beast exists, there's a sense of fear among conservatives that they'll be outed. This is a unique moment for people to say, 'The hell with it.' The country is going to hell in a handbasket, and the progressive, silver-haired, ponytailed politics doesn't work," Breitbart said in an interview.
In both crowds, the mood was ebullient among conservatives.
"The movement is maturing," Amy Kremer, a former flight attendant who is chair of the Tea Party Express, said as she prepared to address the Napa crowd. Hundreds sat in lawn chairs, listening to country singers, rappers and comedians, all with a conservative bent.
Dems protest Tea Partiers
While Democrats have long railed against the Tea Party movement, she said, "we are the biggest threat to the Republican Party, because we want them to be conservative - and we will shine a light on them."
Still, Democrats are not surrendering any ground. On Saturday, dozens of lively protesters showed up in Napa, joined by a giant blow-up "Corporate Rat," chanting "Tax the Rich!" and wielding signs that said "Yes on good wine; no on bad tea!"
And in San Francisco at the Young Republicans gathering, UC Berkeley law Professor Yoo - who wrote legal memos authorizing waterboarding and other harsh interrogation techniques when he worked in the Justice Department of the George W. Bush administration - was the target of two dozen demonstrators calling him a "war criminal."
Inside, Yoo shrugged them off, calling them "my entourage."
"Any Republican that can survive in the Bay Area or Berkeley and even California ... are going to be the few, the proud - but they are going to be the best warriors for the conservative movement," he said.
One Young Republican, 27-year-old Alameda resident Andrea Newman, said she feels "optimistic in a way that I didn't four years ago. It's getting more comfortable to say 'I'm a conservative' in conversation."
"Obama has been great for us - a lot of young Republicans are finding each other," said Matthew Del Carlo, a 34-year-old native San Franciscan who directed the California Young Republican Federation convention in his native city.
Sally Zelikovsky, founder of Bay Area Tea Party Patriots, said she believes that the movement's message is summed up in her best-selling T-shirt: "Hope you like the change."
2011-08-11 "Tea Party Express ready to roll" from "Napa Valley Register"
[napavalleyregister.com/news/local/tea-party-express-ready-to-roll/article_c804319e-c3e5-11e0-b714-001cc4c03286.html#ixzz1UhhiYGBB]
What’s being billed by organizers as a “Tea Party Super Rally” is headed to Napa later this month, and event organizers say a few White House hopefuls have already committed to appear.
The event — a kickoff rally for the nationwide Tea Party Express tour — is set to take place on Aug. 27, and has already generated RSVPs from a few GOP presidential candidates, said Pam Silleman, head of the Napa Tea Party.
Silleman wasn’t willing to reveal which candidates were making plans to attend the rally, saying it was up to the candidates themselves to announce whether they would be attending.
Tea party luminaries such as Michele Bachmann and Herman Cain would likely be among those most willing to commit to the Napa rally, although inquiries to their respective campaigns were not immediately returned.
Calls to Sal Russo, a GOP consultant and co-founder of Tea Party Express, were also not returned Wednesday.
While the names of the candidates will remain a mystery for now, Silleman was willing to report that the logistical aspects of the rally had largely fallen into place.
“It seems like it’s going to be quite a big rally,” she said. “It’ll be something Napa’s never seen before.”
Silleman previously said that attendance at the event could be measured in the tens of thousands.
Not everyone gathering in Napa that Saturday will do so to support the tea party movement. Members of the local Green Party have already announced plans for a counter rally that day.
According to Napa County Green Party spokesman Alex Shantz, the local chapter will be hosting what they are calling a “green tea party” at Veterans Memorial Park to protest the tea party’s presence in Napa.
“The purpose of this rally is to show our opposition to the tea party's far right-wing agenda while affirming positive Green Party values, such as grassroots democracy, social justice, respect for diversity, nonviolence, community-based economics and ecological wisdom,” Shantz said in a statement.
---
Tea party rally
• Aug. 27, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Napa Valley Expo, 575 Third St.
• Busses are scheduled to arrive at 11 a.m. and depart for Reno, Nev. at 1 p.m.
• The event is free and open to the public.
2011-09-16 "Green Tea counter rally was great" by Erica Martenson and Alex Shantz of "Napa Valley Green Party"
[napavalleyregister.com/news/opinion/mailbag/green-tea-counter-rally-was-great/article_3eb2fa40-e0d9-11e0-83c7-001cc4c03286.html]
On Aug. 27, 2011, the Napa County Green Party (NCGP) held a counter rally, a “green tea party,” at Veterans Park in downtown Napa to demonstrate our opposition to the tea party and its far right-wing agenda, and to affirm positive Green Party values. In contrast to the tea party rally, which was being held that day, our counter-rally drew a culturally diverse group of both young people and adults primarily from the local community.
We wish to thank all who participated in the counter-rally and protest. In addition, we wish to thank the Napa Police Department, especially Patrol Captain Steve Potter, for helping in the planning and unfolding of the event to ensure its safety.
The counter rally included NCGP speakers Alex Shantz and Chris Malan, 2010 Green Party gubernatorial candidate Laura Wells, and Green Mayor of Fairfax Larry Bragman. Musical entertainment was provided by solo artists Aria and Metazen, and musical groups The Juliane Band and Digital Martyrs. The Napa Valley Dream Act Coalition, Healthcare for All, Institute for Conservation, Advocacy, Research and Education, Preserving the Integrity of Napa’s Agriculture, Movement for a Democratic Society, Students for a Democratic Society and Rescue Education California also participated, some speaking and all tabling at the event. Other groups that chose to join in were the International Socialist Organization and the Peace and Freedom Party of Contra Costa County.
The Green Party is based upon 10 key values, which guide all of our political positions and activities, and that guided this event. In keeping with the values of community-based economics and personal responsibility, canned food was collected for the Napa Food Bank. The counter rally was a zero-waste event with everything provided being compostable, an expression of ecological wisdom; and, a soapbox was made available to all participants during the protest, which was grassroots democracy in action. The Green Party is not a political party of rhetoric; it is a political party with clearly defined values and one that puts those values into action.
The Green Party, unlike its corporate-controlled Democratic and Republican counterparts, refuses to accept any corporate financing and can, therefore, truly represent the needs of struggling blue and white collar workers and the environment without conflicts. The Green Party seeks to ignite a grassroots movement that will spread from county to county to take back our democracy; those interested in joining us, email napacountygreenparty@gmail.com.
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