Some more of my thoughts on the Tea Party, on (socialist) Maine Public Radio.

Tipping says the tea partiers are distracting the public's attention away from real acts of conscience -- such as opposition to proposed insurance rate increases.

"Right now, the Anthem rate hike hearing is happening also today," he says. "That's one that's going to affect thousands of people across the state, they could have their insurance premiums raised by 15 percent. And they're standing up against Anthem, this corporate insurance giant. That's an actual populist event and movement, and because people aren't dressed up like Sam Adams, they're not getting the same kind of attention."

Pete Harring of Maine Refounders acknowledges that there was a person dressed up in colonial attire at the Augusta rally. But he says the man in the three-corner hat was actually supposed to be Jacob Broom, one of the original signers of the Constitution --- not Sam Adams.