Is the so called "Tea Party" really in favor of supporting the nation or is it PERSONAL?

For starters, in my opinion, most of the Tea party supporters are a bunch of hypocrites. I Zernike's article it explicitly states that most of the Tea Party supporters are and I quote " fairly or very well off." The article also states that the supporters are just puppets of the Republican party who are puppets for private interest organizations who finance their campaigns. All of the sources including Zernike have the same definition of the Tea Party in common; An American political movement that hosts marches and protests in favor of less federal government control, and lower taxes. What I found interesting however in Zernikes article is that it claims that most of the Tea Party supporters are white conservatives. On the other hand, the Tea Party website declines this statement and they indicate that their followers are diverse which I find hard to believe. At the end of Zernike's article, she states that the Tea Party was not created solely because Obama took office and his actions ever since, but because " The Tea Party went ot he heart of conflicts that had bedeviled Americans for over two hundred years and reflected anxities that Americans had been expressing for generations. So according to Zernike, the Tea Party idea was basically a time bomb that exploded on Obama. The tea party supporters hope to minimize government control and get their voices heard by government. According to the Tea Party website, the way they work is basically based off of "peaceful protest" which in my opinion is so untrue because I don't see how comparing Hitler to Obama is peaceful protest. I was listening to the radio early this morning and people were protesting and actually threatening President Obama with Murder. I quote " he is a Kenyan Muslim and should either go back to kenya or we'll shop off his legs." Honestly, when things go that far, I don't see how that is peaceful IN ANYWAY POSSIBLE. Unfortunately, the Tea party holds a great power; a power of voice. When they get their anger out and make false statements to the public, it angers people. The way things are going so far, it seems like the tea party is in charge because they are gaining followers exponentially. Finally, the second half of my title is "or is it personal." In my opinion, White, conservatives cannot stand the fact that the President of the United States is African American; even before Obama took office, people were trying their best to eliminate him from the running; first they came up with that "he's a Muslim" crap, then the Pastor, etc. That is just my opinion, I know it sounds crazy, but it's my opinion.

Primary Source: http://www.theteaparty.net/

Secondary Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tea_Party_movement

Secondary Source: Zernike article

Secondary Source: K-Talk 100.3

Jared Loughner, a genius or a psychopath?

In my opinion, Jared Loughner cannot simply be described as a psychopath. Loughner may have been mentally unstable, but that isn't the whole story. After reading/watching all the websites (including our blog post), I found that people judged Loughner too quick; most simply state that Loughner is mentally ill. Being mentally unstable is of course without a doubt accurate, but Loughner's personality extends far beyond mental instability. In my opinion and like a colleague already posted, Loughner was a very intelligent man who knew exactly what he was doing. This story is similar to a film I saw in the past called (unthinkable). The film circulated around a terrorist who committed a crime but wanted to get caught by the government. As I read, Loughner did not resist arrest one bit. Also, it seemed like he was happy for getting caught! Many stories in the past show similar incidents with psychopaths going on a shooting spree, but end up shooting themselves; in Loughner's situation, that wasn't the case. While I was reading about Loughner, I came across a very interesting story about his life; Loughner, the man who went on a shooting spree actually volunteered at an animal shelter. To me, this seems kind of odd, but it made sense when I read that a doctor analyzed Loughner and found out that he was a schizophrenic. It seems to me that Loughner wants attention; he's a high school dropout, he was kicked out of college, he was rejected from the military, he lost his friends/girlfriends, etc. I know this might seem unreasonable, but as they say in science, its just a hypothesis. Like I said before, Jared Loughner seems to most solely mentally ill, but in my opinion, he is more than just that. He has a complex personality that might take a while to decipher. Loughner went through a lot of challenges in his life, and he may have wanted to take his anger out on someone. I also think the college and people who surrounded him should have realized that he is unstable and should have referred him to see a psychiatrist immediately before things got out of hand like they have. I guess it is too late for that now. This should definitely be a wake up call for people to keep an eye on others who might seem mentally ill.