Tea Party Refuses to Moderate Rhetoric, Incites Tucson Victim Into Threatening to Murder Them

Eric Fuller, a victim of last Saturday's possibly Tea Party inspired massacre that killed six and wounded 13 others is now himself the latest victim of Tea Party incitement. Just one week after the monstrous attack that may or may not have been politically motivated, Mr. Fuller was driven into threatening to kill Tea Party spokesman Trent Humphries, who had just made some inflammatory comments of his own.

This is how far people are being pushed by the Tea Party, and it looks like Fuller's crime, for which he has now been arrested, is standing up to merely say "I've had enough". And also, "I'm going to kill you".

When will this Tea Party madness end? Did they not hear the President's clarion call for everyone to moderate the rhetoric and start thriving together?

"This is just another disturbing example of how the Tea Party and conservatives in general are pushing people in this country over the edge," explained a Democrat strategist. "Some right wingers have forcefully argued all week that the Tea Party's pattern of dangerous, violent rhetoric had absolutely nothing to do with last week's shootings. Fine, but how are they going to explain this one away? This man was clearly inspired by the Tea Party. In fact, he specifically mentioned one of their leaders!"

The bottom line is, if it wasn't for the Tea Party, the victim Mr. Fuller would have been guilty of absolutely no crime at all. You cannot get in trouble for making threats against something that doesn't exist. Solutions to societal ills are rarely simple, but this one is abundantly clear. No Tea Party, no threats. No Tea Party, no violence. No Tea Party, no problem. It doesn't take an Einstein to figure out the answer.

TMI Poll: Dangerous Rhetoric! What Do We Do Now?

As dangerous political rhetoric has now brought the country to a violent overflowing boil, it is time to start revisiting the question over what speech is still acceptable and what speech goes too far. But before we talk about that, we need to first talk about what can be done to bring the perpetrators of heated rhetoric to justice before they speak or write even more of it in the future.

We polled 7,000 Independent readers to gauge their observations on this divisive issue, and for the first time ever, allowed votes for more than one choice. Thank you for voting!

TMI Exclusive Photo Collection: Behind the Numbers of The Tea Party Restore America Rally

Members of the much maligned "Tea Party" gathered on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial on Saturday at the "Restore America Rally", hosted by much maligned talk show host, Glenn Beck. While estimates of the much maligned crowd vary widely, TMI has obtained exclusive photos to help with much maligned crowd estimation. When this photo from Saturday is enlarged, we believe this will be an unbelievably useful tool for obtaining an accurate headcount.

Happy counting!


In addition to the eminently useful photo view (above), we have constructed an "artist's rendering" of the entire crowd based on critically accurate eyewitness reports of TMI staff who also attended the rally. Here it is:


Better luck next year, teabaggers!

Soda Parties In Full Swing

The Soda Party, America's civilized answer to the Tea Parties, has gotten underway this weekend with an amazing rally across the country. Billed as the "bubbly" version of widespread grassroots government protest that wants to institute change, it is far more liberal and sane than its tiny, yet shameful and violent, right-wing extremist counterpart.

We came to an outdoor rally in San Francisco that was filled with thousands upon thousands of people to find out what it's all about.

One thing you notice about the Soda Partiers right away is that even though they want reform in government, there's no signs, there's no screaming, and there's a real calm draped across all of them. The first Soda Partier we interviewed was Jim, who was sitting at a table playing checkers by himself.

"Checkers is all about strategy," he said, "I'm red". He had collected most of the black pieces, and that empty chair across from him obviously represented the Tea Party in all their infamous hardly existent glory.

Another Soda Partier we found was walking through the Rally area with a suit on while typing on his Blackberry. His brisk walk indicated that he was an allegory for the Soda Party itself. He was going somewhere, had it all together, and was communicating his searing distrust for Republicans in government silently, like a creeping ninja.

A third member we interviewed was coming out of a nearby mall. We asked her about her distressing feelings toward the government. "Yeah, they totally didn't have anything I wanted." On her list of civic Soda Party demands for out-of-touch conservatives in Washington D.C. was shoes, clothes, and a DVD for her boyfriend that she couldn't remember the name of.

It's refreshing to be at a place with so many like-minded yet diverse and colorful individuals, all coming together in the name of a single cause. The Soda Party, on its first weekend, is already amazingly humongous, and it's growing. A dense, foggy crowd of voters such as this one surely cannot be ignored.

Was the Alabama Professor a Tea Partier?

Amy Bishop has been accused of killing three colleagues with a gun. And now a "photo" has surfaced here at The Mega Independent which brings up troubling new questions. Below is her mug shot, and beneath that, a "photo" that may depict her at a so-called "Tea Party" gathering in Washington DC.

Now, we at the Mega Independent cannot be positive as to what date the "photo" is from, or if there was a Tea Party going on that day, or even if the "photo" may have been doctored slightly, with the sign added hastily for mega effect, and our "artists" too lazy to even come up with a decent daytime shot of the Capitol Building as a backdrop.

But just the fact that we're floating the whole idea of Amy Bishop being a Tea Partier without any real proof or checking our facts, and even by brazenly manufacturing things whole cloth when possible, does bring up some troubling new questions about the Tea Parties, doesn't it?

Our headline is troubling. The questions are troubling. The word "troubling" is troubling. The whole thing is very troubling. Watch out for tea partiers.