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• I like the pictures
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• Funny Because It's True (yet again)
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Halting the Tea Party

Via blogger Shaun Kenney, a story out of Cedar Rapids that sounds a bit Onionish:

An anti-tax group wanted to pitch in real tea like the Bostonian revolutionaries opposed to England’s tea taxes.

Tea, although natural and quite tasty, is considered a pollutant that can’t go into a body of water without a permit, said Mike Wade, a senior environmental specialist at the DNR’s [Department of Natural Resources] Manchester field office.

A few quick thoughts:

1) Tea is not naturally found in the river, and depending on the amount and the flow it could theoretically have an adverse effect. If you were to dump in tons of it, that is. I suspect they weren't planning to dump that much. DNR is not some kind of environmental hero on this case.

2) It's a fantastic credit to Cedar Rapids Tea Party founder Tim Pugh that he actually took the initiative to contact the DNR and ask about it ahead of time. Honestly. That's a responsible leader who is looking to keep his group's members out of legal troubles. Clearly this guy is an earnest political activist, and not a rabble rouser. I wonder if he realizes that the guys at the original Boston Tea Party were, in fact, rabble rousers?

3) The DesMoines Register article really does say that you can't dump tap water into the river because chlorine is a pollutant. Yes, it says that. Go back and read it again.

4) For some reason, I suspect I know who runs the DNR. This guy.