Double Standard or Not?

I know in Richmond the Tea Party is asking for there money back 10 grand.

Quote :

Tea Party groups across the nation are accusing local and state governments of a double standard – charging them fees to hold rallies in public parks, while allowing Occupy protesters to set up camp for free.

“I find it extremely frustrating and upsetting,” said Colleen Owens, a spokesperson for the Richmond Tea Party. “It is definitely a slap in the face.”

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Owens is demanding a refund of about $10,000 from the city of Richmond, claiming her group was charged for rallies at Kanawha Plaza but the Occupy protesters have not been charged.

“We’ve had to pay for the police, the sanitation, we had to pay for emergency personnel, and we event had to buy a $1 million liability policy,” Owens told Fox News.

She said it was unfair that the protesters have been allowed to essentially break the law by setting up camp in the city park.

“We’re trying to show this is unfair and biased treatment by the mayor and the city council,” she said. “Either force the occupiers to follow the law that’s on the books or evict them.”

And what if the city doesn’t administer the law equally?

“If they are not going to apply the law equally, then they should refund our money,” she said. “They’ve been camped out there for almost two weeks and they have not paid one dime. They are not being held accountable to follow the law, yet we were expected to follow the law.”

Similar accusations have been made by other tea party organizations across the nation – including Atlanta, Winston-Salem, NC, and Nashville.

Judson Phillips, of the Tea Party Nation, told Fox News that he’s been getting e-mail from conservatives across the country wondering why they were charged by the government to hold rallies.

“Tea Party groups were given a bit of harassment as they tried to secure permits to hold rallies and yet when these Occupy groups come in – even though they don’t have permits, they’re allowed to do whatever they want,” he said.

Phillips said his group failed to comply with one regulation and were told they could not hold a rally at Legislative Plaza in Nashville.

“I was specifically told by one bureaucrat that if we showed up, they would have the Highway Patrol arrest us,” he said. “We could not do our event there, but Occupy Nashville has been camping out on Legislative Plaza for three weeks.”

And according to a spokesperson for the Tennessee Dept. of General Services, Occupy Nashville has been allowed to camp without securing a permit.

Central office manager Yolanda Bowers told Fox News that as of today Occupy Nashville would be required to by a $65 rental fee and show proof of a $1 million insurance policy.

“You are required to gain a permit,” she said. “They did not get a permit.”

But Bowers said as of today, Occupy Nashville has been given an ultimatum – apply for a permit or leave the plaza.

Owens said she believes Richmond city leaders are showing favoritism toward the Occupy protesters.

“The mayor said he was reluctant to throw the occupiers out of Richmond because he was a child of the Civil Rights protest and that he respects them for what they are doing,” she said. “When we applied for our permit, they didn’t tell us ‘Oh, don’t worry about it, we’re children of the 60s, we don’t believe in charging for protests.’ No. They took our checks and forced us to jump through the hoops.”

Wendy Caswell, with the Louisville Tea Party told WHAS that Occupy Louisville protesters were allowed to get a permit to camp in Jefferson Park until Dec. 31st.

According to a spokesperson for the mayor, the Occupy group had to pay a $25 fee.

However, the tea party group had to pay $75 for a one day permit to use the same park. They were also required to purchase insurance, hire security and medical personnel.

“Why isn’t the same standard (applied) to the Occupy Louisville movement,” Caswell asked radio host Mandy Connell.

Link please.

madskillz wrote:

Link please.

http://radio.foxnews.com/toddstarnes/daily-dispatch/cities-treating-ows-better-than-tea-party.html

Oh I like this. I hope we start taking them to court for refunds because of a double standard and throw some racism in there for good measure. Love to see the tables turned on these people.

Sorry, but when a "news" story doesn't make sense I have to point that out.

There is no evidence anything like this has happened. Read carefully. This information came from "Tea Party organizations". NOT from the news organization that posted the story. In fact its posted in a section listed News And Commentary.

Here's how I read it. The idea that there is some vast conspiracy against the tea party and for the occupy group is the kind of allegation that requires more than "people are emailing us" documentation.

Secondly the idea tha this conspiracy exends to both Democratic and Republican elected officials in the cities listed also doesn't make sense. Do you really see D's and R's getting together much less doing so to advance occupy and screw the tea party?

So, before anyone believes anything in this bullshit story, try thinking for yourself for a moment.

madskillz wrote:

Sorry, but when a "news" story doesn't make sense I have to point that out.

There is no evidence anything like this has happened. Read carefully. This information came from "Tea Party organizations". NOT from the news organization that posted the story. In fact its posted in a section listed News And Commentary.

Here's how I read it. The idea that there is some vast conspiracy against the tea party and for the occupy group is the kind of allegation that requires more than "people are emailing us" documentation.

Secondly the idea tha this conspiracy exends to both Democratic and Republican elected officials in the cities listed also doesn't make sense. Do you really see D's and R's getting together much less doing so to advance occupy and screw the tea party?

So, before anyone believes anything in this bullshit story, try thinking for yourself for a moment.

I listen to WRVA out of Richmond every morning. This is a big issue in Richmond. Here are some more links.


http://www.wreg.com/news/wtvr-richmond-tea-party-wants-refund-after-seeing-occupy-richmond-protesters-camp-out-for-free-20111026,0,6234748.story?track=rss

http://www.teapartyinsider.com/Blogs/Tea-Party-News/October-2011/Tea-Party-Asks-City-for-a-Refund

http://www.5newsonline.com/wtvr-richmond-tea-party-wants-refund-after-seeing-occupy-richmond-protesters-camp-out-for-free-20111026,0,6024784.story

Of course its a double standard. But don't expect the government to do anything about it. After all, the OWS crowd favors more government, and the TP crowd favors less.

Not exactly rocket science to figure out where government people are going to be on this.

Pissedoffvulcan wrote:

madskillz wrote:

Sorry, but when a "news" story doesn't make sense I have to point that out.

There is no evidence anything like this has happened. Read carefully. This information came from "Tea Party organizations". NOT from the news organization that posted the story. In fact its posted in a section listed News And Commentary.

Here's how I read it. The idea that there is some vast conspiracy against the tea party and for the occupy group is the kind of allegation that requires more than "people are emailing us" documentation.

Secondly the idea tha this conspiracy exends to both Democratic and Republican elected officials in the cities listed also doesn't make sense. Do you really see D's and R's getting together much less doing so to advance occupy and screw the tea party?

So, before anyone believes anything in this bullshit story, try thinking for yourself for a moment.

I listen to WRVA out of Richmond every morning. This is a big issue in Richmond. Here are some more links.


http://www.wreg.com/news/wtvr-richmond-tea-party-wants-refund-after-seeing-occupy-richmond-protesters-camp-out-for-free-20111026,0,6234748.story?track=rss

http://www.teapartyinsider.com/Blogs/Tea-Party-News/October-2011/Tea-Party-Asks-City-for-a-Refund

http://www.5newsonline.com/wtvr-richmond-tea-party-wants-refund-after-seeing-occupy-richmond-protesters-camp-out-for-free-20111026,0,6024784.story

Ok. Once again you have to read carefully. Notice in the stories from the two television stations there is no mention of it happening anywhere else but in Richmond, Va. Also notice that there is no actual evidence that this happened. The news story is reporting a claim by the Tea Party. In fact, no one has yet seen an invoice or any other kind of proof. Also notice the two news stories are actually the exact same story.

Now, is it possible that some local official is out to screw the Tea Party? Sure.
However, until the actual facts are known I am witholding judgement. Remember at this point we have ONE person making a claim with no evidence. I can think of dozens of reasons that would make sense that would make the claim invalid. Did the Tea Party request the same type of demonstration permit? Did the law change between demonstrations?

I kinda suspected we might see stories designed to polarize the differences between the Tea Party and Occupy a few months ago. After all, both groups share an anti Wall Street philosphy that the big money in this country is afraid will get together.

They made the 10k payment that is a fact. The city has never came out and said they didn't. The story is true in Richmond. No one to date in the Richmond government has disputed this.

Pissedoffvulcan wrote:

They made the 10k payment that is a fact. The city has never came out and said they didn't. The story is true in Richmond. No one to date in the Richmond government has disputed this.

Your claim the made the 10k payment is fact doesn't have any evidence to support it. So its not a fact. That the city has not denied it doesn't mean anything. Which employee of the city is responsible for denying a claim made to the news media without any proof. In fact the story says the Tea Party hasn't yet complained about and hasn't sent the invoice to the city. So, the city has no actual claim to deny.

So far, we have seen that there is no evidence it occured anywhere. We have some claims made by the tea party. In fact, the claims it happened elsewhere rely on some caller to a radio show.

Sigh. No wonder we can't have any kind of real political discussions in this country. Apparently anyone can claim something without proof and half the people will just believe it and turn it into a story.

Oh, btw, did you notice the story about the 16 dollar muffins the government allegedly bought for a conference? Well, now that has been completely debunked and the agency that made the claim has apologized for the error.

Let me go one step further and show how I look at these kinds of stories whether their from my side of the political spectrum or the other.

Here are the quotes from the story and how I judge them:

The Richmond Tea Party is asking the city of Richmond for its money back.
Not really. The story says they are planning to, not that they have done so.

In April, the Richmond Tea Party held a Tax Day Rally in Kanawha Plaza. They say before they could use the city venue they were charged nearly $10,000 and had to comply with a series of usage forms and procedures.
Once again, its a Tea Party claim they were charged nearly 10000 dollars. Could very well be true, I am waiting for them to actually produce the receipt. As to complying with a series of usage forms and procedures, ok. Yet, they have not even made the claim that Occupy did not to do the exact same thing.

They say they're not happy to hear that Occupy Richmond protesters get to stay in Kanawha Plaza - for free.
Wow. They say the heard. Sigh. Talk about hearsay. Even as hearsay this fails since they don't say who they heard it from.

And they’re not having to pay for the park, they’re not getting permits, they’re not paying for police, they’re not paying for port-o-potties, they’re not paying for emergency personnel," Owens says.
Same as above. They say they "heard"

“It’s not fair, the City of Richmond’s picking and choosing whose First Amendment rights trump someone else’s First Amendment rights and we thought--well that’s fine--then they can refund our money," she says.
If the city actually did that then they wrong and I would be the first to say so, and will if evidence to support this surfaces. But as shown above there is no actual evidence and in fact the whole story is based on someone saying the "heard" it from someone they never even mention.

Funny, but it has been over 10 days and I haven't heard anything about the supposed bill the tea party was going to present.

Could it have been an outright lie by the tea party?

Well that does not matter now because the protestors are gone.