Obama supporters shut down Atlanta tea party

A REVOLUTIONARY IDEA - Obama supporters shut down Atlanta tea party
Wait until days before event to object to 'political' nature

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President Obama may restrict his reaction to the nationwide tea party movement whereby tens of thousands of people are objecting to the spending spree on which the U.S. government has embarked under his leadership, but some of his supporters are taking more direct action: using an easement agreement to cancel a July 4th event scheduled on private property in Atlanta.

Jason Lee at the American Thinker blog describes the situation that has developed for the 20,000 people expected to meet in Atlanta on July 4.

There, organizers had been working since March with officials to set up the tea party event in a parking lot of an old Macy's building at Gwinnett Place Mall, owned by Simon Properties Group.

Then only days ago, mall officials objected, giving organizers no opportunity to find a replacement location and no choice but to cancel.

On its website, the Atlanta tea party organization said it was an "objection" from Gwinnett Place Mall that triggered the collapse of its plans.

"It is unfortunate the event had to be canceled," said Julianne Thompson, event co-organizer.

She continued, "The old Macy's building is on private property, and not owned by Simon Malls, however the mall manager asked the property owner and [me] to come in the office on Thursday of this week, and told us Simon does not want political events on its property. They were also concerned about the fact we were using the term 'protest.' Although the event was on private property, the mall was able to assert authority on the matter due to reciprocal property easement agreements."

Event co-chair Debbie Dooley stated, "Our Atlanta Tea Party team tried for the next day and a half to find an alternative location large enough for the event, and with the proper layout for our vendors, children's activities, and fireworks show, but we could not find anything suitable that would have been available on July 4th."

Added Lee, "With just a few days left until the Fourth of July Tea Parties begin, this is very unfortunate timing! One wonders why Simon Property Group waited until now to interfere."

But he also connected the dots for those who really wonder:

1. Gwinnett Place Mall shut down the Atlanta Tea Party.
2. Simon Property Group owns Gwinnett Place Mall.
3. Melvin Simon (a Forbes 400 billionaire) is co-chairman of Simon Property Group, Inc.
4. Melvin Simon has provided large political contributions to Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Al Franken, John Edwards, the DNC and many other Democrats and Democrat organizations.
5. Melvin Simon was a major contributor to Barack Obama's inaugural committee and has given at least $1 million to the William J. Clinton foundation.
6. Melvin's wife, Bren, personally donated almost $100,000 to various political candidates, was a fundraiser for Hillary Clinton's presidential bid and contributed to President Obama's inaugural committee.

According to Bob Owens at Pajamas Media, the evidence of the motive also was clear.

"The apparent plot was uncovered when blogger and radio talk show host Andrea Shea King noticed an unusual amount of traffic coming to her site earlier this month," he wrote.

"On June 16, Andrea Shea King e-mailed me, questioning a heavy burst of Sitemeter traffic coming from Simon.com. She included screencaps of the traffic," he wrote.

One screen shot has been embedded, revealing extended visits from Simon.com:

Owens said the computer readouts showed the Simon.com visitors were looking at anywhere from 20-44 pages on King's site and remained there 22-55 minutes.

"Obviously, they were very interested," he wrote.

He said King reached out to him because one of the pages the Simon.com visitors were watching on her site was a March 1 commentary that linked to one of his own – a story about the shortage of certain firearms and ammunition in the U.S.

Among his closing comments there was, "An increasing number of people are openly expressing that the reason they are stocking up on ammunition is that they fear the actions of our federal government. These are people who have never been radicals, most could generally care less about politics, and many have never even dreamed of owning guns until now.

"And while it will no doubt come as a surprise to those who would like to perpetrate the stereotype of gun owners as rural and uneducated — the kind that bitterly cling to their guns and Bibles as someone once scornfully said — anecdotal evidence suggests many new gun owners are minorities, and all social classes are purchasing firearms and ammunition," he said.

"While we seem to have a tea party movement growing nationwide as people voice their dissatisfaction with our power-mad, spending-crazed government by calling on the symbolism of the acts of Patriots in Boston Harbor more than two hundred years ago, I suspect those protests are hiding a deeper resentment and fears about the competency and goals of our federal leaders."

After the first round of tea party events, on Tax Day April 15, Obama displayed indifference toward those concerned about spending, as shown in this YouTube video:

He referenced "folks waving tea bags around" and said, "Let's not play games and pretend the reason is because of the Recovery Act (federal spending plan)."

Kim Priestap at the Wizbangblog wasn't convinced that he was as aloof as he tried to appear.

"When you watch the video, pay close attention to the tension in his face and the tone of his voice when he talks about the tea party protesters and 'certain news channels.' This massive tea party protest really got in his craw. Don't believe it when others say he didn't know about the protests. He knew. And he didn't like it one bit," Priestap wrote.

On a blog forum page, a participant wrote: "It is again a very scary example of the lengths the left will go to silence the voices that don't agree with the people in power. Be very afraid of your government. I wouldn't be surprised if it comes to light that the owners are personal friends of someONE."

At FaultlineUSA, Jim Simpson wrote, "Please urge everyone you know to participate in this boycott. Please contact Simon Properties to express your outrage and urge those of your friends who care about freedom to do the same. Following is the contact information for Gwinnett Place Mall and a form letter you can use in whole or in part if you wish."

Les Morris, a spokesman for Gwinnett Place, released the following statement to WND about the plans for adjacent private property:

"Gwinnett Place Mall is not public property, but is privately owned. In order to preserve the shopping experience for all guests, it is our standing policy not to permit political protests or rallies on mall property. To clarify the timing of our decision, mall management was not notified of the event or contacted for approval on event plans until just last week."

Posted: June 26, 2009
12:00 am Eastern
© 2009 WorldNetDaily

WND readers have been sending information on upcoming tea parties. Tea Party Patriots lists events by state on its website. Most of more than 400 following protests are planned by national organizer Amy Kremer and her Tea Party Patriots team. Or go to World Net Daily for full listings.

Source: Fox Nation

Posted: Knowledge Creates Power