Speaking at the Tea Parties

Across America, citizens are getting ready for the Tax Day Tea Parties.  Large scale, nationwide demonstrations to show both state and the federal government their displeasure with higher taxes, out of control spending, bailouts and the unbridled growth of government as a whole.

I do a lot with the tea parties in Los Angeles.  I am the host of TCOT Radio, and blog about my weekly show here.  I am also one of the organizers and the host of the original LA Tea Party in February at the Santa Monica Pier.

This tax day, I will be pulling double duty.  First, I will be speaking at the Tea Party in Santa Monica (At the pier, 3pm).  From there, I will be heading to Van Nuys for the big show at 7pm.  I am the emcee, as well as speaking at the event.  You can use this link to find out more information on it.  You can also get information about Tea Parties in your town or city by going to Tax Day Tea Party.com.

Also, there has been a lot of mis-information in the main stream press.  These tea parties are not about political party.  Everyone, anyone, all are welcome (unless your plan is to cause a violent commotion - then just stay home!).  This is about how to best see the country forward, how to best provide for our children and their children by not leaving them a mountain of debt so large that they will spend multiple generations paying it back, how to return to the basics of the constitution, the mandated, limited role of government, and the rights of the people. 

I hope you'll join us.  If you're in Santa Monica or Van Nuys, say hello.

 - Tony

Been Busy...Being Happy

Wow, it's amazing how much time flies when you are busy being happy.  For me, it's been both.  I've been incredibly busy with new projects and renewed energy.  Those projects include:

Neon Chicken - our new iPhone app design studio.  It started as a lark, as something fun to do when you just need to clear your head and get some other creative juices moving.  Then it got really fun, and we started sketching out some really fascinating ideas.  Then, word got out and we have been consulting with others about their iPhone concepts and providing proposals for individuals and companies.  Now, it's just amazing.  I think we may be on to something.

AdGrinder - our online video ad creation toolset.  Once we made the decision to offer the tool not only as a way to build ads for small- and mid-sized companies who want to reach their customers online, but also as a complete turnkey white-label solution, things got interesting quickly.  We have stuck a nerve with content creators - both online and offline.  Even in this awful economy, we are seeing the great opportunities.

TCOT Radio - the official radio show of Top Conservatives On Twitter.  I have enjoyed this a lot.  Every Tuesday at 1pm PST, I have been on the air talking about important issues with great people.  You can catch the show by going to our site here.  Don't forget to subscribe, and get all the past episodes.

Tony Katz.com - my official site.  It used to be that TonyKatz.com was only for my political blogging, as well as having links to my former radio show in Tampa and my first video blog, Talk Show On The Go.  Now, with all the things I post on Twitter, I don't blog as often as I used to.  However, I'll be changing that soon.

Oh, and there is Twitter.  My Twitter feed is now available on this site, and feel free to follow me.  I'll follow back, and help you in anyway I can.  If you don't know about Twitter, or want to learn, email me and I'll be happy to teach you all about it.  I've been doing a lot of that lately.

That's a lot of what I've been up to, and I can't tell you how enjoyable it is.  I look forward to posting more, conversing more, learning more and quite possibly doing more.  What have you been up to?

 - Tony

What Does Your Tweet Cloud Say?

Twitter is a really interesting service. What is more interesting is the cottage industry of applications that have been built around it. It really is amazing, as someone who is not a programmer, that so many unique applications can be spawned off of a service that asks only one question - what are you doing?

The TweetCloud is one of those services. It examines every tweet you have ever uttered on Twitter and gives you, in a tag cloud, your hit list. What is it that you are talking about, what is it that you respond to, who are you having conversations with....all of this revealed with your TweetCloud.

This is my TweetCloud.

Now, being that I do lean towards more political views in my other blogs - tonykatz.com, talkshowonthego.com - it's not surprising that Sen. Obama, Sen. Clinton and Sen. McCain get their fair showing.  What I was most happy to see is that my major Twitter points are more thought provoking.  Know, Love People, Think, Want...followed by Understand, Talking and - my personal favorite combination - Going Great.

Recently, Laura Fitton, better known as Pistachio, posted a link showing the TweetClouds of others.  When I looked at some of them, I got the impression that many people don't use Twitter the way I do - which is a constant conversation out there.  Twitter can easily be your tool for publicity.  However, I can't find the good reason why it should only be a tool for publicity.  To me, for me, the TweetCloud speaks to why I participate on Twitter.

What does it say about you?

Tony

PS - Not on Twitter...try this.  Think of what you have talked about or said to others in the past three days.  Now write it down on a piece of paper.  If you talked about it alot, write it bigger.  Not so much, smaller.  Just let the subjects flow until they don't come easily to you.  Now look at the paper.  Is that an accurate reflection of you and your message?