An Oklahoma City man named Daniel Knight Hayden, 52, posted threats against the government on Twitter under the name CitizenQuasar including the suggestion that he would kill police if they approached his home. The FBI has arrested him around April 15 in response to the threats, including a final tweet describing himself as “locked and loaded” and ready to “see what happens.”

As a tea party, what happened in Lafayette Square across from the White House yesterday was a washout.

There were no buttered scones, none of those dainty cucumber sandwiches and, as it happens, not a spot of tea. Organizers of the conservative protest were told at the last minute that they didn't have a permit to dump a million tea bags in the square, as they had planned.

Instead, they served up a rather noxious brew.

Organizers said the tea party was a grassroots operation made up of average Minnesotans who linked up through the Internet and a few web sites.

But before the event, a spokeswoman for a liberal advocacy group charged that the rally was an "AstroTurf" event, that is, a fake grassroots affair, that was organized by "big corporations or lobbyists for big corporations." Denise Cardinal, executive director of the Alliance for a Better Minnesota, said that while she expected grassroots conservative activists to attend the rally, "the whole synthesis of this event comes from D.C.-based lobbyists."

Although many in the crowd of around 2,000 in St. Paul said the event was the beginning of a more vocal anti-tax groundswell, detractors dismissed the gathering as little more than a rehash of resentments fanned by talk radio and TV pundits.
[...]
After Barb Davis White, a former congressional candidate spoke, a woman came up to her and gushed: "I pray for you and Michele Bachmann," a Republican congresswoman from Minnesota.

But tax day brought out defenders of taxes as well. At a noon news conference at the Capitol, one group, the Alliance For A Better Minnesota, announced an "It's Patriotic to Pay Fair Taxes" campaign. The purpose: to remind taxpayers of roads and teachers funded by their taxes.

pretty uneventful @ the la/south bay teabagging party today in los angeles. it was quite cold @ dockweiller beach, and i'd estimate about 500-600 people were there by the time i gave up and left to go have lunch in some place warm.

the speaker was surprisingly not crazy, and the signage was also not too much off the deep end. the worst i saw was calling obama a fascist.

tammy bruce also showed up to speak, but i left in the middle of her rant.

all in all i would say these teabaggers were actually pretty sane. tho i don't agree w/their point of view, i will fight to the death for their right to peacefully assemble and express it.

Critics have raised journalistic questions about Fox's coverage leading up to today's tea parties. But have other networks just closed their eyes to what's happening across the country?

As conservatives coalesce in nationwide protests against rising taxes, government spending and what they call the "bailout mentality" of President Barack Obama's Administration, the ship appears to have sprung a leak.

Do you appreciate safe neighborhoods?

How about public education, parks and recreation services, and road maintenance?

Well then, sign our “Thank You” card to taxes!

Too often we forget that the taxes we pay go toward our roads and buses, breakthrough research at our colleges and universities, our parks, our police and firefighters, and our teachers.

You’ll have to forgive me if I’m not terribly sympathetic of those who are protesting that their taxes are too high. 98 percent of Americans are receiving a tax cut under the Obama administration, and the top 2 percent — those who can afford to take time off of work for protests like this — are calling a return to the Clinton tax rates “socialism.”j

ThinkProgress reported last week that corporate lobbyists are helping to orchestrate the anti-Obama tea party protests. These lobbying-run front groups, along with promotion help from Fox News, are organizing the tea parties by calling right-wing activists and asking them to organize. They are also coordinating conference calls among activists, writing press releases, providing sign ideas, building websites supporting the protests, and distributing talking points so that the protesters can stay on message.