There are two famous tea parties that I can think of.

The first, of course, was in Boston Harbor, where a group of revolutionaries dumped someone else's property into the Boston Harbor to protest the tax on it, the rationale for the protest being "Taxation Without Representation." (Well, actually there's a lot more to it than that, but that's become the popular meme.) Economic terrorism and property destruction at its best! I'm hoping today's protestors aren't calling on that historical precedent, but I could be wrong.

The other famous tea party, and one more closely attuned to today's events is the Mad Hatter's tea party from "Alice in Wonderland." You know the one, where the Mad Hatter (sponsor of the tea party) talks in nonsensical poetry and unanswerable riddles, changes positions at his whim, and fulminates against the Queen or any other imagined slights without bothering to give solutions, evidence, or anything else. He's great at slogans, however.

Perhaps the most appropriate part of the story involves the Mad Hatter asking the riddle: "Why is a raven like a writing desk?" After much discussion, it turns out he doesn't have an answer to his own question. I can't think of a better metaphor for the Right Wing inspired and Fox News promoted astroturf campaign we are seeing played out among the babbling goobers who have only complaint, historical revision, and memory lapse when it comes to the politics of the past eight years.

Love those signs, though.