Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Restrained

There are some disturbed people out there.

Recently I attended a meeting where one participant, because he couldn't convince the others to break some promises to third parties, lost his temper and began yelling in the meeting. OK, I can forgive you losing your temper. That's not a big deal at all. I do it all the time, and I hope to be forgiven when I do.

Still, the guy made several of us uncomfortable, and we were even less willing to work with him after that outburst.

NOW, this guy is tossing around threats of lawsuits for slander, and talking about carrying guns around with him wherever he goes. I do not know HOW this escalated to that, but he's devolved into a mass of paranoia and threatening phrases. One person who was there is filing for a restraining order, and encouraging the rest of us to do so as well.

Weird.

But I guess I shouldn't be surprised. The Freedom Movement attracts many different types, and perhaps this is one of the fringe-y guys who held it together long enough to pass unnoticed before. At least now we know what he is, and can move around him.

One thing's clear; know with whom you're getting into bed. The extraction process is often too painful to accomplish easily.

Monday, October 12, 2009

Surreality and Puppetry

This has been the craziest week. Something like "Guess who had the BEST WEEK EVER?" combined with "WTH?" and a little "OMG" thrown in.

Last Thursday I flew to Washington D.C. to attend Americans for Prosperity's 'Defending the American Dream' conference. AFP footed the bill for the flight and hotel, or I'd never have been able to attend. It was two days of breakouts and networking and information and other awesomeness. The best part had to be meeting many Twitter friends and making new ones; there's kind of an unofficial Twitter Activist Fraternity, and I am glad they let me in, especially since my blogging is half-assed these days, what with one thing and another.

The week ended with an overnight to San Antonio to meet up with the organizers from Dallas, San Antonio and Austin for the Tea Party movement. We had a great session, and started some things in motion that will pay off hugely down the road. These are some amazing people, and as they continue working together, be prepared to see some powerful influence coming out of Texas.

But the highlight, the pinnacle, the apex of my week had to be a whirlwind trip to LA. Steven Crowder, PJTV/You Tube video comedy/political studdmuffin, asked me to fly out to do puppetry on a video of his. The speed with which it all happened made my head swim, but you can see the results for yourself. The video is not completely fitting on the blog, and I'm not sure how to make it fit, but you can see it at this link in full:

Steven Crowder: School's for Fools!