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Tea Party protesters rally at LG Chem battery plant groundbreaking in Holland

Published: Thursday, July 15, 2010, 2:53 PM     Updated: Thursday, July 15, 2010, 6:55 PM
Tea party1Brenda Battle Jordan, of Flint, waits for Obama's motorcade to pass in Holland Thursday afternoon. Jordan joined the Tea Party rally at the intersection of 48th Avenue and Waverly Road because she said she was concerned with government spending. "It has to stop." View photo gallery

HOLLAND -- Genesee County Tea Party member Brenda Battle Jordan drove in from Flint to protest government giveaways of taxpayer money at Thursday's groundbreaking of the new $303 million LG Chem lithium ion battery plant, attended by President Barack Obama.

"The government has to get control of spending and start balancing the budget. Michigan is hurting for jobs, but the giveaway of our tax dollars on projects that may not ever occur or produce jobs has got to stop," Jordan said.

She and about 150 other tea party protesters from across the state took up position along the president's motorcade route during his visit to the Holland plant site, which is expected to create about 400 local jobs.

Tea party members took advantage of Obama's visit to vent on a wide range of issues, from whether he was born in America to fear of the loss of individual freedoms.

"I feel the president is destroying the freedom and liberty of our nation using tax money to support green jobs that are unproven and using chemicals that can destroy the environment," said Newaygo resident Andrea Blackford, who came with her family to protest.

Holland Township resident Jim Napier was there to demand the president prove he was born in the United States, part of a "Birther" conspiracy movement that believes Obama was born in Kenya.

And Michael Wiley of Flushing showed up to promote his invention to clean up the BP oil disaster in the Gulf.

"I would like the government to give me and my Michigan company money like they're giving out to this South Korean firm to get my business going. I can create 142,000 jobs in Michigan, not just a handful," said Wiley, an inventor and owner of Global Invention Solutions & Services.

Protest organizer Jim Chiodo of the Holland-Zeeland Patriots Tea Party said his group's concern was with the state and federal governments picking companies to be "winners and losers" by which firms they fund.

"We're happy for Holland getting this plant, but are not happy to know some other viable businesses get nothing.

"Taxpayer money shouldn't be given to any business. They should make it or break it in the free market system," Chiodo said.

E-mail the author of this story: localnews@grpress.com

Related topics: Obama in Holland

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umustbnutz July 15, 2010 at 3:11PM

News flash for Mr. Napier: the birther issue has been resolved. Get over it! How did you manage to wiggle out of your straightjacket?

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3gunmack July 17, 2010 at 3:00PM

Was it? I hadn't heard. Can you provide a link to the story?

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American Patriot July 17, 2010 at 8:19PM

Are you serious? Tell me that your statement is supposed to be taken as humor or satire. That short form Certification of Live Birth that was supplied to George Soros financed websites is not the long-form birth certificate - the short form CofLB doesn't prove much conclusively. There certainly are a lot a legitimate questions regarding Mr. Obama's birth. Quite frankly, I could care less if he was born on the moon - I feel the birth question will lead nowhere, so I think it's more important just to point out how this President is bankrupting our nation, seems to be anti-free market, surrounds himself with radicals that have expressed anti-American views, and has spent over a million dollars to hide his records from grade school through college. What is it that is so important that Mr. Obama needs to spend over a million dollars to conceal???

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bigbazoo July 15, 2010 at 3:20PM

Yeah, dat Obamer feller best stop handing our money out to dose battery fellars. If they got xtra money, den dey should give it to da banks. dem banks do good tings fer us.

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AtlasMad July 17, 2010 at 12:54PM

Dat der group scars me, de reed der Constitution an' wanna foller 'it.

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zitizenkane July 15, 2010 at 3:25PM

PS The birther movement is part and parcel of the Tea Party. I know the GR Press is a little slow sometimes to pick up on the obvious.

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American Patriot July 17, 2010 at 8:25PM

You have got to be kidding. Let's see some - any - evidence to back up this statement. Tea Party members are for the most part concerned about just what the term TEA means for this movement - Taxed Enough Already. This current administration is stomping the Constitution into the dust in an attempt to spend the country into bankruptcy and create the crisis necessary to justify the government takeover of anything they can. Your post may have been an attempt at humor - if so disregard my reply.

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fred76 July 15, 2010 at 3:37PM

Were the anti-war protestors ever refered to as "Anti-Bush and anti-goverment"? No, but activists opposed to doling out money to bankers, automakers, battery makers etc. are simply "anti-government" according to the liberal media. I also like honing in on one odd-duck in the crowd. I'll bet there were just as many, if not more, folks at the anti-war rallies who thought 9/11 was an inside job as there are "birthers" at Tea Party events.

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rockfordmom July 15, 2010 at 3:54PM

When you erect billboards that picture our President next Stalin and Hitler, one can reasonably assume you are "anti-Obama" and at the very least "anti-THIS-government".

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American Patriot July 17, 2010 at 8:29PM

Such a funny bunch out there! You were probably part of the liberal Bush-bashers that often showed up with those cute signs of George Bush compared to Hitler. Sad bunch you are...

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rockfordmom July 15, 2010 at 3:48PM

IMAGINE THAT! Our new president was able to get foreign corporations to invest HERE and employ hundreds (will soon be thousands) of Michiganders in just a few short months of his tenure. This will inject millions of dollars into West Michigan's economy. YES WE REALLY CAN! Boy, this is a far cry from our last president who scared away foreign investors and caused the greatest economic downturn in the past 70-ish years. Obama's not afraid to invest in AMERICA--rather than, um, "American Interests" (read: Global Corps with offshore accounts who have no interest in hiring Americans). Proud to be an American!!!! P.S. Teabaggers are the lunatic fringe.

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American Patriot July 17, 2010 at 8:36PM

Mom, I hope against hope that you are right. But somehow I'll bet you aren't right. The only thing Mr. Obama and his minions (or maybe more correctly the people that actually direct him like George Soros) have invested in is outrageous growth of federal government, labor unions, and the downfall of capitalism. Sad.

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Verity July 15, 2010 at 3:56PM

Soon we'll Need more foreign workers to man these facilities and they will Need homes and schools and so will their relatives and families,as we all know American workers won't work many jobs and of course the Fed can't say NO to people they owe a trillion bucks to.America is in a downward spiral of currently building it's own demise, and the Asians have thrown us a life preserver-made of lead.

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Kevin Rahe July 15, 2010 at 3:57PM

"Teabaggers are the lunatic fringe."

Yes, they are, especially when contrasted with the Tea Partiers, who represent the mainstream of traditional American ideals.

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rockfordmom July 15, 2010 at 4:17PM

Please, please, please study your history. Take a college course perhaps. Learn about fascism, learn about socialism, learn about communism. Then compare those ideologies to the actions of our current President. Perhaps you could even write your own essay in which you compare and contrast Obama administration with Stalin, Hitler, Castro, Mao, etc. (use only peer-reviewed sources, please). I am positive that you don't have a leg to stand on. If anything, Obama is too conservative and too pro-capitalism (he hands out huge tax breaks to corporations, he's expanded gun laws so that now you can bear arms in National Parks, appointed pro-lifers to reproductive rights panels, had homophobic Rick Warren speak at his inauguration, etc. etc.!)

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