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success.Offshore Oil Live Webcast: The Department of the Interior's San Francisco hearings on offshore drilling today has a live Webcast. Find it at the

year.Find Your NPR Name: If I had gone into radio, I would today be known as Hrank

It's a sunny, but blustery April 15th in Humboldt County. Somewhere between 200-300 protesters have gathered in front of the Eureka Courthouse to join in the Nationwide Tax Day Tea Party. Today, the Board of Directors of the Humboldt Taxpayers League has invited people in our community to come out on Tax Day '09 and let elected representatives know that folks are "tired of being used as ... personal Automatic Transaction Machines (ATM)."

The protest is one of hundreds taking place across the nation today. Our Eureka version was quite tame, however, in comparison to reports of people hurling suspiciously packaged tea bags at the White House back in Washington D.C. No, our gathering was a family affair, with the make-up of the crowd leaning more towards retirees than violent young revolutionaries. The elderly crowd gathered on the lawn and sidewalk along 5th St. waving their American flags and homemade signs just demanding some financial security, for goodness sake.

Click through for more story, photos and a video report from Old Glory Radio!

The crowd's enthusiasm was high, and the response from passers-by in vehicles was quite noisy. Every few minutes, the bass of a semi truck's horn reverberated through the group, accompanied by more high-pitched horns of passenger vehicles tooting their support. A round woman with an American flag apron handed out cupcakes, shouting, "We wake up early and bake cupcakes! That's what conservatives do. And we pick up after ourselves and pay for our own stuff too!"

A janky sound system was set up for people to get on the mic and rally the crowd. No one really stepped up though, save for an older fella talking about putting tea bags on his head and another guy giving shout-outs to Roger Rodoni and Thomas Jefferson. The sound system was predominately used to pump out some country music and classic patriotic jams ... Who needs a crowd leader anyway when you've got a bunch of people pissed off about their finances?

Most of the older looking folk were quite riled up about the current state of the economy. Riled up enough to get out here on this street corner and tell the town what's up. Mary Ruth Rheinschild, who traveled down from Crescent City to join today's tea party, declared, "People who think this is ridiculous and that we shouldn't be doing this should pay my taxes." She's bummed about the state of her retirement and the fact her money is still being taken way by those blasted govies.

Melissa O'Hanen, a very pleasant Republican mother of five with a youngster in tow, was there "stand against the nation's deficit." She proudly shared that one of the four teens dressed up in colonial attire standing at the corner is one of her sons. The youths are part of a constitutional law class conducted through their private high school. According to her son, a.k.a. Alexander Hamilton, everyone in the class is a Republican, and they are all bummed about the state of our economy.

Another person in the retirement zone, Judy Billingsly, was pissed because according to her, when it comes to retirement, "you plan on what you see in front of you, and then someone just takes it away." Kathleen Duncan, yet another retiree asked in reference to her and her elderly husband, "Who's gonna give us a job? We're in our 80s."

A young man clad in a "911 Was an Inside Job Shirt" was perusing the patriotic showing. When questioned about his political affiliation, Andrew Thompson said, "I am not a Republican, but I agree with 99% of the signs." Andrew thinks that the blame game is a real drawback in the politically charged war on our devastated economy. In other words, don't blame the liberals for the shitstorm we're in right now. (BTW, he was the only non-Republican I managed to find in the crowd.)

Yes, there were young professionals, little kids and blue collar seeming people to be found amongst the crowd. Copies of the Declaration of Independence, Republic Magazine and John Birch Society handouts were up for grabs. All in all, it was a good turn out for the supposedly lefty leaning Humboldt County.

A video report from Old Glory Radio follows.

New Blow for NCRA: Via Capdiamont: The California Attorney General's office is threatening to block the North Coast Railroad's plan to reopen service on the south end of the line until the authority fully complies with its 1999 agreement to clean up environmental problems the length of the line. The railroad was planning to reopen in Sonoma and Marin counties sometime this

CSU: In The Turlet: This Wall Street Journal article on the California State University system's dismal financial state was the subject of a moments-ago e-mail blast from HSU President Rollin Richmond. He notes: "Obviously, this isn't the kind of attention we hope to get from the national media. But when the Wall Street Journal runs a story on the CSU budget, things are

Leggett.

This morning's Democracy Now! has a very brief segment on the citizens' initiatives passed by Eureka and Arcata last November that ban military recruiters from targeting minors in those cities.

The segment features former Arcata City Councilmember Dave Meserve, who spearheaded the local campaign.

Run for cover, everybody! It's raining gayness!

Following the recent same-sex marriage victories in Iowa and Vermont, a group called the National Organization for Marriage is paying $1.5 million to air an ad (shown below) that flaunts homophobia like its the world's most fabulous feather boa. With a backdrop of ominous gay clouds ejaculating their destructive gay lightning, actors intone the dire weather report (subtext added in brackets):

"There's a [gay] storm gathering."

"The [gay] clouds are dark, and the [gay] winds are strong."

"And I am afraid [of gays]."

Here, just watch it:

Whose idea was it to call this fear-mongering mob "a rainbow coalition"? That's hilarious!

The ad reportedly will run in New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island and California on CNN, the Fox News Channel, and MSNBC. (What, no Weather Channel?) The Human Rights Campaign issued a rebuttal to the implied, er, arguments. And Target has announced plans to start stocking these gay-repellent umbrellas .

Blind Pilot's Bicycle Tours: NPR talks with the indie band about their bicycle tour of Washington, Oregon and California, with special mention of a magical impromptu show in

there.Woodstock West Fest coming to S.F.: You may recall a link posted here last week about plans to commemorate the 40th anniversary of Woodstock with a massive concert in the Willits area. Well, that's off. Instead the plan is for a free concert Sunday, October 25, in Golden Gate Park's Speedway Meadows. Production will be handled by 2b1 Multimedia Inc and the Council of Light in association with Artie Kornfeld, the original producer for “Woodstock 1969.” Does the 2b1 name sound familiar? It's the concert company run by Boots Hughston, who was hired by the Mateel Community Center to replace Carol Bruno as producer for Reggae on the River 2007, a concert that did not happen for reasons we won't go into here. Instead Boots spent the summer of '07 preparing for a free concert in Golden Gate Park marking the 40th anniversary of the Summer of Love. By all accounts that show was a big

The California Fair Politics Practices Commission has fined Doug Bosco, chair of the state Coastal Conservancy, the grand sum $200 for failing to file his his 2007 Statement of Economic Interest in a timely manner.

Bosco represented the North Coast in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1982 to 1990. He is currently a principal partner in NWP, Inc., the private train operator that proposes to reestablish freight service on the public North Coast Railroad Authority line.

The FPPC's ruling, which stands to be affirmed at the commission's April 16 hearing, can be found here.