When Roger West first launched the progressive political blog "News From The Other Side" in May 2010, he could hardly have predicted the impact that his venture would have on the media and political debate. As the New Media emerged as a counterbalance to established media sources, Roger wrote his copious blogs about national politics, the tea party movement, mid-term elections, and the failings of the radical right to the vanguard of the New Media movement. Roger West's efforts as a leading blogger have tremendous reach. NFTOS has led the effort to bring accountability to mainstream media sources such as FOX NEWS, Breitbart's "Big Journalism.
Roger's breadth of experience, engaging style, and cultivation of loyal readership - over 92 million visitors - give him unique insight into the past, present, and future of the New Media and political rhetoric that exists in our society today.
What we are against:
Radical Right Wing Agendas
Incompetent Establishment
Donald J. Trump
Corporate Malfeasence
We are for:
Global and Econmoic Security
Social and Economic Justice
Media Accountability
THE RESISTANCE
It certainly isn’t the radical republican teas, as John Boehner’s district suffers from e. coli outbreak as house republicans try to gut food safety.
Despite yet another outbreak of food-borne illness — this time stemming from listeria infected cantaloupes — congressional Republicans are still trying to cut back on the nation’s food safety regulations. The tainted melons have caused 16 deaths so far, making this the deadliest outbreak in more than a decade, and it comes just a month after salmonella-tainted turkey forced food-giant Cargill into the third-largest food recall on record.
Lost in the well-deserved focus on the listeria outbreak is the fact that another giant food-producer, Tyson Fresh Meats, was forced this week torecall more than 130,000 pounds of ground beef due to E. Coli contamination. And this particular breakdown in food safety should earn the attention of the man leading the GOP in its slash-and-burn approach to the budget, Speaker John Boehner (R-OH), as four children in his districtwere sickened by the meat:
The recall of 65 tons of ground beef that might be contaminated with E. coli has hit close to home for House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio.
The meat, recalled today by Tyson Fresh Meats, was shipped to 16 states…WCPO, ABC’s affiliate in Cincinnati, reported today, “four children became ill after eating the meat with their family in Butler County, Ohio, in the second week of September.” “A 9-year-old child was hospitalized for about 10 days with severe diarrhea,” the station reported.
It’s been pointed out time and time again, one in six Americans is sickened by food-borne illness each year, and more than 3,000 die. The annual cost to the country of food-borne illnesses is $152 billion, according to Georgetown University’s Produce Safety Project. However, the GOP has not only refused to fund the implementation of a landmark food safety law passed last year, but has said that the current rules on the books are too onerous, because the food industry “self-polices.” But as the current slew of recalls shows, that it clearly not the case.
The last time prominent Republicans took the stage at the Ronald Reagan Library in California, the crowd at a GOP debate came under fire for cheering at the mention of Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s execution record. Republican debate crowds have since booed a gay soldier and cheered at the thought of letting a sick man die instead of providing him with health care.
The other night, the focus of the presidential race again turned to the Reagan Library for a speech given by New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R). Again, the crowd proved its indifference to those in dire straits, cheering when Christie mentioned Reagan laying off thousands of American workers:
CHRISTIE: In August 1981, the air traffic controllers, in violation of their contracts, went on strike. President Reagan ordered them back to work, making clear that those who refused would be fired. In the end, thousands refused, and thousands were fired.
The fact that Republicans would cheer laying off anyone at a time when unemployment is at 9 percent and the economy is reeling may seem out-of-touch, but the party has repeatedly made it clear that it sees a fundamental difference between workers in the public and private sectors. The GOP’s insistence on steep budget cuts has forced more than 500,000 workers to lose their jobs at the local, state, and federal levels.
To presidential candidate Mitt Romney (R), those workers aren’t part of the “real economy,” and he’s promised to layoff even more. And now, the GOP is threatening to enact massive cuts to the U.S. Postal Service, a move that would put even more people out of work.
The facts belie the Republican argument that reducing public sector employment will spur growth. According to the Brookings Institution, 19 of the 20 metropolitan areas that have had the strongest economic recovery since the recession have added government jobs, while 13 of the 20 worst suffered significant public sector losses. Despite overwhelming evidence against their position, conservatives continue to ignore the fact that their small government ideology is impeding the nation’s economic recovery.
This disturbing trend of choke and puke politics continues.
NFTOS
Bachmann says she imagines a new Cuban missile crisis, worries Hezbollah is giving Castro missiles.
GOP presidential contender Rep. Michele Bachmann (MN) has a history of flubbing basic foreign policy facts, like when she claimed that Americans still live in fear of the Soviet Union. She made another whopper yesterday when she claimed that Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shiite Muslim political and military organization, is equipping communist Cuba with missiles. It would be “foolish” to normalize trade relations with Cuba, Bachmann told a crowd in Iowa, because Hezbollah could soon have “missile sites” there:
BACHMANN: Why would you normalize trading with a country that sponsors terror? There’s reports that have come out that Cuba has been working with another terrorist organization called Hezbollah. And Hezbollah is potentially looking at wanting to be part of missile sites in Iran and, of course, when you’re 90 miles offshore from Florida, you don’t want to entertain the prospect of hosting bases or sites where Hezbollah could have training camps or perhaps have missile sites or weapons sites in Cuba. This would be foolish.
To date there is absolutely no evidence to support her claim, which seems to be based on spurious reports in an Italian publication that did not even mention missiles.
Paranoid NRA chief says: Obama leaving gun owners alone is ‘Conspiracy’ to take away guns.
Paranoid and baseless accusations that Democrats are trying to destroy the Second Amendment is nothing new for Wayne LaPierre, the executive vice president of the National Rifle Association. This is the man who, after the January Tuscon shooting claimed six lives, rejected President Obama’s offer to come to the White House for a closed door meeting to discuss solutions to gun violence in America.
“Why should I or the N.R.A. go sit down with a group of people that have spent a lifetime trying to destroy the Second Amendment in the United States?” he asked. LaPierre conveniently ignores the fact Obama is a supporter of the Second Amendment who, much to the chagrin of his liberal base, has actuallyexpanded gun rights.
But as Crooks and Liarspoints out, you just can’t please some people. Last week at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Florida, LaPierre took his paranoia about the president to new heights, claiming that the fact that Obama has not pursued gun control actually proves he’s orchestrated a “massive conspiracy” to take away guns:
LAPIERRE: They’ll say gun owners — they’ll say they left them alone…In public, the president will remind us that he’s put off calls from his party to renew the old Clinton ban, that he hasn’t pushed for new gun control laws…The president will offer the Second Amendment lip service and hit the campaign trail saying he’s actually been good for the Second Amendment. But it’s a big fat stinking lie!…It’s all part of a massive Obama conspiracy to deceive voters and hide his true intentions to destroy the Second Amendment in our country…Before the president was even sworn into office, they met and they hatched a conspiracy of public deception to try to guarantee his re-election in 2012.
LaPierre’s iron-clad logic is that Obama’s failure to take any action against gun owners in his first term means he is conspiring to launch an all-out assault on their rights in his second term. Equally ridiculous is LaPierre’s suggestion that he somehow has secret knowledge that the president “makes fun of gun-owners” when he’s in private or had a conspiratorial meeting with advisers before he took office where he plotted the Second Amendment’s downfall.
“Our freedom is at risk at this election like never before,” LaPierre claimed at the beginning of his speech, using the same fear-mongering the NRA hasdepended on since Obama took office to enhance their own membership and financial contributions.
It’s unclear, however, why anyone should believe the NRA’s paranoia. By LaPierre’s logic, Obama also has a secret plan to launch a manned mission to Uranus, convert the nation to Pastafarianism, and wipe out the pink flamingo. After all, Obama has done exactly as much to accomplish these three goals as he has done to undermine gun owners’ rights.
Herman Cain to house GOP: Fund FEMA now, find offsets ‘later’ — ‘stop playing with peoples’ tragedies’.
Despite making promises not to do so, House Republicans are holding disaster relief funding hostage, demanding the money be offset by spending cuts elsewhere so as to not increase the deficit, even though this has never been done in the past. House Republicans finally passed a bill to fund FEMA and the rest of the government last week, but only days after the Senate passed their own version without offsets and after House conservatives killed an earlier version with slightly fewer spending cuts.
But speaking yesterday on CNN, GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain said Congress should fund FEMA now and worry about the offsets later, drawing a sharp line against lawmakers using the funds as a “political football” while people are suffering:
CAIN: I would make sure that FEMA got the money it needed, and if I had to go find the offsets later, go find it later. Stop playing with peoples’ tragedies — these are real people we’re talking about.
HOST: So you’re saying, right now we should just fund FEMA and forget about the offsetting spending cuts, and maybe later, if we find them, then go back and get the deal done that way.
CAIN: Yes. … We’re going to have a gentleman’s agreement that we will find the offsets, rather than finding the offsets right in the middle of it and making it a political football.
Asked about Sen. Mark Warner’s (D-VA) comments yesterday that the Tea Party faction in the House is to blame for the hold up, Cain said the conservative lawmakers need to pick their battles better. “I would not make this a battleground, Cain said. “This is one that I would basically try to, you know, fall on my sword for — go ahead and do what’s right for the people.”
Cain added that Congress “should put politics aside” and fund FEMA because “people should not have to suffer because of the political bickering.” Congress returns to work today to try again, with FEMA money running out soon and funding for the rest of the government ending Friday.
Former President Bill Clinton blasted the “non-fact-based political debate” surrounding the Republican primary race and Tea Party economic policies which advocate for limited government services and low taxation by saying:
‘There Is Not A Single Solitary Example’ Of A Country That Has Succeeded With A Tea Party Philosophy."
Clinton, who met with a small group of bloggers on the sidelines of the Clinton Global Initiative’s annual meeting in New York City today, responded to a question from ThinkProgress about Texas Gov., and GOP presidential frontrunner, Rick Perry’s position that Social Security is unconstitutional, and about the Tea Party’s anti-social spending sentiment more generally. Clinton blamed the “continuing dominance of non-fact based political debate,” saying:
You can stand up and say anything and nobody rings a bell if the facts are wrong. There’s no bell ringing. It’s crazy, we’re living in a time when it’s more important than ever to know things. And not just to know facts but to put them in a coherent. sensible pattern. And we live in a time, if you just want to talk about the economy, where the model that works for economic growth and prosperity is cooperation. But the model that works in politics is conflict.
Clinton went on to challenge the emerging GOP consensus that government size and spending require dramatic cuts, observing that the most prosperous parts of the U.S. “look nothing like the anti-government ideal of the Tea Party crowd”:
You know, there’s not a single solitary example on the planet, not one, of a country that is succesful because the economy has triumphed over the government and choked it off and driven the tax rates to zero, driven the regulations to nonexistent and abolished all government programs, except for defense, so people in my income group never have to pay a nickel to see a cow jump over the moon. There is no example of a successful country that looks like that.
While blasting the Tea Party’s economic policies, Clinton also acknowledged that the media plays an increasingly dangerous role in fanning the flames of partisan rancor.
When Clinton left office he left our country with a 236.2 billion dollar surplus. How soon the radical teas forget.
Clinton's surplus bookmarked by republican negative surplus
These are the facts and they are undisputed!
The execution of Troy Davis in Georgia has sparked worldwide protests as far away as London and Rome, with people demanding his life be spared because there is “too much doubt” regarding his conviction. Well as we know now that didn't happen.
Six retired Georgia corrections officials — including the director who oversaw executions for the state — sent a letter to Georgia corrections officials and Gov. Nathan Deal (R) asking them to urge the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles to reconsider their Tuesday decision to deny Davis clemency, and, if that fails, to “allow any personnel so inclined to opt-out of activities related” to Davis’ execution. The officers’ statement centered on the “awful lifelong repercussions” that result from participating in executions, particularly those who maintain their innocence until their death. From the statement:
We write to you today with the overwhelming concern that an innocent person could be executed in Georgia tonight. We know the legal process has exhausted itself in the case of Troy Anthony Davis, and yet, doubt about his guilt remains. This very fact will have an irreversible and damaging impact on your staff. Living with the nightmares is something that we know from experience.
Former President Jimmy Carter said “this tragedy will spur us as a nation toward the total rejection of capital punishment.” He added, “If one of our fellow citizens can be executed with so much doubt surrounding his guilt, then the death penalty system in our country is unjust and outdated.”
This story has me angry as hell. America, a country that profoundly and emphatically expects the world to adhere to human rights throughout the world and yet allows state sponsored murder of an individual who's case has more holes in it than Swiss cheese!
To often the case in America we allow the tail to wag the dog and allow emotions to drive our laws!
Seven of the nine prosecution eyewitnesses have recanted all or part of their testimony, with many citing pressure from the police to make false statements. An exception is Sylvester "Redd" Coles, who made the initial report of Davis’s guilt, and is regarded by the defense as the chief suspect. New witnesses have sworn affidavits that Coles confessed the crime to them. An array of figures called for a stay of execution, including death-penalty supporters Senator Bob Barr and former FBI director William S. Sessions.
One female witness took her family into hiding after Coles told her he would kill her if she dropped the dime on him with regards to his confession of killing the "off duty" officer.
Affidavits Recanting Earlier False Testimonies or Statements on Davis:
Kevin McQueen:
"The truth is that Troy never confessed to me or talked to me about the shooting of the police officer. I made up the confession from information I had heard on TV and from other inmates....I need to set the record straight." Monty Holmes:
"I told them I didn't know anything about who shot the officer, but they kept questioning me....I was scared (so) I told them what they wanted to hear....I signed a statement saying that Troy told me that he shot the cop."
Jeffrey Sapp:
"I got tired of them harassing me, and they made it clear that the only way they would leave me alone is if I told them what they wanted to hear. I told them that Troy told me he did it, but it wasn't true. Troy never said that or anything like it."
Darrell DD Collins:
"After a couple of hours of the detectives yelling at me and threatening me, I finally broke down and told them what they wanted to hear....It is time that I told the truth. I am not proud for lying at Troy's trial, but the police had me so messed up that I felt that's all I could do or else I would go to jail."
Michael Cooper:
"I have had a chance to review a statement which I supposedly gave to police officers on June 25, 1991. I remember that they asked a lot of questions and typed up a statement which they told me to sign. I did not read the statement before I signed. In fact, I have not seen it before today....What is written in that statement is a lie."
Moreover, Davis is Black. Officer McPhail was white and a cop. Georgia's law enforcement establishment wanted revenge. As a result, anyone poor and Black is vulnerable anywhere in America. It's the cross they bear for their race, ethnicity, and economic status in a nation long known for racism, as virulent now as ever.
I leave you with this thought on our "great judicial system":
A once shinning star in the eyes of many while stomping the grounds of the frozen tundra committed a most heinous of crimes. Orenthal James Simpson decapitated two human beings, one being the mother of his children. Much evidence (DNA) was attributed to Simpson and the crime. Simpsons DNA (RFLP Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism analysis) was done from a blood drop found on the driveway that was large enough to be tested on through the procedure and found this to be a 1in 170 million match of Simpson's. (Meaning it could only be OJ's blood) and yet this monster walked free.
To date not one piece or shred of evidence (DNA) was ever linked to Troy Davis, other than the testimony which was recanted - yet Davis was murdered because a police department, State, and family had to have some poor black mans ass to make them feel vindicated for their loss, all the while the facts where stacking up that there is a huge probability that Mr. Davis was wrongly convicted.
Today, America is the only Western country still enforcing capital punishment. Moreover, since 1990, 30 nations abolished it, and among 74 still executing, four are the main abusers - America, China, Vietnam and Iran. It's long past time for us review what's becoming no longer tolerable. If capital punishment is to exist in America it must be adjusted to reflect our times and certainly not the times of the stone age.
If we are to continue to have State sponsored murder, lets at least ensure that DNA matches the crime and lets not continue to judge capital murder cases on eyewitness accounts - for God knows humans often and error frequently, especially when being threatened and coerced by police .
Capital punishment can be barbaric, unjust, and unacceptable for any number of reasons in modern societies. No wonder Amnesty International (AI) calls it "the ultimate denial of human rights. It is often premeditated and cold-blooded killing of a human being by the state. This cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment is done in the name of justice." So if we are going to demand State supported murder, lets make sure we have got the right guy or gal before doing so!
The lesson that I learned from this is that the South is no better today than it was during slavery...If your poor and black in the South and your within 500 miles of a capital offense your chances are high you'll be accused of this crime, and what a travesty!
I say to all whom dropped the ball in this case - what a sad "State" of affairs and shame on you!
Rick Perry’s foreign policy is based on a directive from God.
Yesterday, Gov. Rick Perry (R-TX) held a news conference in New York City where he attacked President Obama’s Middle East policies and called upon the United States to be more stridently supportive of the actions of the Israeli government.
At one point, a reporter asked Perry how he views the Israeli-Palestinian conflict through the lens of his Christian faith. Perry replied by saying that as a “Christian,” he has a “clear directive to support Israel”:
PERRY: As a Christian I have a clear directive to support Israel, from my perspective its pretty easy both as an American and a Christian. I am going to stand with Israel.
In 2009, Perry struck a similar tone talking with the Weekly Standard. “My faith requires me to support Israel,” he said. One has to wonder what other foreign policy initiatives Perry feels he is directed to take from the Bible.
NFTOS leaves you with this famous Lewis Sinclair quote: “When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying the cross”.
Three years after the financial crash, GOP candidates revive desire to privatize Social Security.
Since jumping in the race, GOP presidential front runner Gov. Rick Perry’s (TX) radical views on Social Security have garnered the most attention. And for good reason, as Perry lands far to the right of even his most right-wing opponents in calling the entitlement program a unconstitutional “Ponzi scheme.” A fan of secession, Perry even suggested letting individual states “secede” from Social Security altogether.
But Perry’s extremism is taking focus away from the fact that most of the top contenders also embrace a radical idea: Social Security privatization. As the AP reports, most of the top Republicans running are reviving President George W. Bush’s unpopular plan to create private investment accounts for young workers — believing that “workers could get a better return from investing in publicly traded securities.” Indeed, the idea of risking retirement funds in the stock market — three years after the financial crash on Wall Street — is finding a champion in almost ever Republican candidate:
MITT ROMNEY: The former Massachusetts governor has a well-worn record of advocating to privatize Social Security. In 2007, when Romney was also running for president, he pushed for the creation of Social Security personal accounts three separate times. When a town hall attendee told him such a plan was “privatization,” Romney replied, “you call it privatization. I call it a private account.” Heenshrined this position in his 2010 book No Apology, stating “individual retirement accounts would encourage more Americans to invest in the private sector that powers our economy.”
MICHELE BACHMANN: In an interview last year, the Minnesota congresswoman insisted young workers “need to have some options in their life, so that going forward they can have ownership for their own Social Security, their own retirement, something they can pass on to the beneficiary of their choice.” When asked in 2008 how Republicans could promote privatization without frightening seniors, she responded, “I believe that we should ensure that those currently receiving Social Security should continue to do so in its current form, but also give a new generation of workers the right to invest some of their money into accounts of their own.” In 2006, she pledged to vote for “regulated individual retirement accounts.”
RON PAUL: During last week’s presidential debate, Rep. Paul (TX) drew applause for stating, “What I would like to do is to allow all the young people to get out of Social Security and go on their own!” He told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer last year that he’d support “turning this money over and give the individual money like an investment retirement fund that they manage.”
RICK SANTORUM: After writing an op-ed calling to “establish personal retirement accounts” in 2005, the former Pennsylvania senator actually launched his 2012 presidential campaign by reminding everyone that he supports these President George W. Bush-style private accounts. He hedged last month on calling for the immediate creation of accounts, but only because having to additionally pay for Social Security benefits while financing such accounts “is to me just something that we can’t do right now.” “I’d love to be able to do it,” he added.
HERMAN CAIN: In the Tea Party debate last week, the pizza mogul declared, “I support a personal retirement system option in order to phase [out] the current system. We know that this works.”
NEWT GINGRICH: Last year, the former House Speaker endorsed House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan’s (R-WI) plan to create personal accounts. He believed such a plan would “triple the earnings” for future retirees. He has touted such a plan since 2007.
A Social Security policy that ties retirement funds to the volatility of the stock market is nothing short of foolhardy. Three years ago, if Bush had succeeded in creating private accounts, an American worker would have lost $26,000 on the market. ThinkProgress’ Travis Waldron notes, millions of Americans who did have a private account like a 401(k) lost nearly everything in the crisis, and Social Security is the only source of retirement funds they have left. The volatility of market behavior in large industrialized economies like ours “illustrates the real potential for decades-long declines that could erode the value of a private retirement account invested in stocks.”
There are better, safer ways to ensure that Social Security is solvent for the next 75 years. But as long as Republican candidates refuse to learn very recent lessons from the past few years, they will cleave to policies that endanger the golden years of millions of Americans.
Bachmann claims Wall Street reform is ‘killing the banking industry’ as banks post record profits.
Three years ago this week, the financial crisis began in earnestwith the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers and the $85 billion bailout of mega-insurer American International Group. However, during Monday night’s GOP presidential primary debate, the candidates proved that they have no interest in learning the lessons of that crisis, as they called for the repeal of the Dodd-Frank financial reform law in order to “free up” Wall Street.
Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) bragged that night about being the lead author of the Dodd-Frank repeal legislation. And during a campaign stop in southern California yesterday, Bachmann explained her rationale:
And not only repealing Obamacare, also repealing Dodd-Frank, which is killing the banking industry. I’ve got the bill to repeal both of them.
Some banks would be surprised to learn that they are on the verge of death, as they keep on reporting record profits. Newt Gingrich claimed that the banking industry was being killed by Dodd-Frank, “‘bank profits rose substantially‘ in the first quarter of the year, with banks showing the biggest profits since before the recession. Things were sunny in the second quarter as well”
Profits at JPMorgan Chase, the nation’s second largest bank, were up 13 percent.
Sixth-largest Morgan Stanley’s profits were up an impressive 17 percent.
JP Morgan Chase, in fact, is posting record profits. But three years after Wall Street caused the financial crisis, and with banks back to reaping profits, Bachmann and the GOP feel that its financial reform that merits doing away with.
Democrats to create side show Donner Party to equal radical Tea Bag Party!
While these clips are hilarious, these are the facts -of late radical republican presidential hopefuls make for great fodder and if we can't laugh at the radical teas while schooling them - well life would be dull?
Earlier this week we brought you a disgusting story about the radical tea bags and their lack of compassion for those without insurance. Well, yesterday this story came to light in a tragic story of Kent Snyder, the campaign manager for Rep. Ron Paul’s (R-TX) 2008 presidential bid, who died at 49 from pneumonia because he lacked health insurance. Snyder convinced Paul to run that year, but his story is getting renewed attention this year in light of Paul’s exchange with moderator Wolf Blitzer at CNN’s debate Monday night in which he was asked what should be done with a hypothetical comatose 30-year-old man who lacked insurance. Some members of the audience yelled “yes!” he should be left to die.
Now, CNN reports that Snyder lacked insurance because he had a pre-existing medical condition, which “made it impossible for him to find coverage.” Watch the segment from the Situation Room:
There are an estimated 50 to 129 million Americans who, like Snyder, have medical conditions that lead to higher health insurance costs or an inability to find coverage at any price. Solving this problem is one of the core goals of President Obama’s Affordable Care Act.
By 2014, the law will forbid insurers from charging sick patients more or rejecting them out of hand, something that is only possible when coupled with the individual health insurance mandate conservatives despise. But even before 2014, Snyder could potentially have been eligible for a federal high-risk insurance pool for people with pre-existing conditions, which was established last year.
People like Snyder, who cannot find affordable insurance, are exactly who the law is intended to help. Perhaps Paul — who has said “Obamacare” is “monstrous” and “bad for your health” — will soften his opposition to the law, given that it potentially could have saved his friend’s life.
We will reiterate a quote from NFTOS Editor-in Chief Roger West “How sad it is that the radical tea bags are so "pro life" when it comes to abortion and how "anti life" they are after the baby is actually born,”
Keep voting republican readers; maybe someday we will learn….then again.
GOP Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett proposes rigging the Electoral College for republicans.
Electoral College Map
President Obama won Pennsylvania by more than 10 percentage points in 2008, and Democrats have won the state in every single presidential election for the last two decades. In a close election, it is difficult to draw an electoral map that sends a Democrat to the White House without that Democrat winning all of Pennsylvania’s 20 electoral votes. So the state’s GOP Gov. Tom Corbett has a simple plan — give away nearly half of the state’s electoral vote to the Republican presidential candidate for free:
Let’s be clear readers, the Electoral College is a terrible idea. It has, onthreeoccasions, allowed the loser of the national popular vote to enter the White House. It forces presidential candidates to pander to swing states and ignore the needs of the vast majority of the nation. Without the Electoral College, Bush v. Gore would never have happened and former President-elect Al Gore would have succeeded Bill Clinton. If the entire nation were to adopt Corbett’s plan of doling out electoral votes by congressional district, it would eliminate many of the problems caused by our current system.
Gov. Tom Corbett and state Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi are proposing that the state divide up its Electoral College votes according to which candidates carried each Congressional district, plus two votes for the statewide winner. The system is used by Maine — which, despite the system, has never actually split its four electoral votes — and by Nebraska, which gave one of its five votes to Barack Obama in 2008.
Had this proposed system been in place in 2008, when Obama won the state by a ten-point margin, he in fact would have only taken 11 out of the state’s 21 electoral votes at the time — due to a combination of past Republican-led redistricting efforts to maximize their district strength, and Obama’s votes being especially concentrated within urban areas.
But when a major blue state’s Republican leadership adopts this kind of reform piecemeal, it is nothing less than an attempt to rig the election. One hundred percent of Texas’ electoral votes will still go to the Republican, but that same Republican will be guaranteed a share of Pennsylvania’s historically blue electors under Corbett’s plan.
And Corbett’s electoral giveaway to the GOP is merely the most audacious prong of a nationwide GOP strategy to steal democracy away from the American people. Numerous GOP state legislatures rammed through “voter ID” laws, which disenfranchise thousands of elderly, disabled, and low-income voters. Other states have erected new barriers to voter registration or reduced early voting opportunities — both of which make it more difficult for working class Americans to vote. Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) gutted his state’s public financing system for candidates to pay for a voter disenfranchisement law. A 5-4 Supreme Court decision just declared laws enabling publicly financed candidates to defend themselves against unlimited corporate attack ads unconstitutional.
Because in the GOP’s America, We the People can elect anyone we want, so long as they are a Republican. And the hits just keep on coming!
Rick Perry’s ‘Washington kickoff’ fundraiser hosted by longtime Merck lobbyist.
The truth stretcher Rick Perry
During the CNN (tea bag) Republican debate, Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) was forced to defend his executive order to administer the vaccine Gardasil to young women in his state. Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) in particular said the effort was an example of “crony capitalism,” and that Perry was too cozy with the drug company poised to benefit from the decision. Perry dismissed the comment, stating: “The company was Merck, and it was a $5,000 contribution that I had received from them. I raised about $30 million. And if you’re saying that I can be bought for $5,000, I’m offended.”
Regardless of the debate over administering the vaccine, there is no doubt that Perry grossly misrepresented the influence of Merck in his administration. For one thing, Perry has actually accepted $29,500 from the company’s PAC, and the Republican Governor Association, under Perry’s watch, took in $350,000 from Merck since 2006. Moreover, Mike Toomey, an Austin lobbyist that represented Merck during the Gardasil decision, has promised to raise $55 million to back Perry’s presidential bid using an independent so-called SuperPAC.
The Merck connections don’t end there. A review of fundraising documents reveals that Perry’s big “Washington Kickoff” fundraiser, scheduled for later this month and already billed as his firstsignificant event with K Street lobbyists and Beltway power brokers, is hosted by a longtime Merck lobbyist. Event host Jeff MacKinnon’s firm served as a registered lobbying agent for Merck from 2005 to 2010, and has pulled in approximately $860,000 from Merck in exchange for lobbying Congress on “drug safety” issues. MacKinnon’s firm stopped lobbying for Merck starting this year.
View an invitation to Perry’s K Street fundraiserhere.
MacKinnon is among several top lobbyists hosting the event, which takes place on September 27 at the Willard Hotel in Washington DC. Perry strategists told the National Journal that events like the one with MacKinnon will raise $2 million to $4 million for the campaign by the end of the year.
Another interesting note about Merck’s ties with Perry and his administration relates to third party allies. Merck is a major contributor to powerful Washington third party groups like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce (providing $725,000 in donations last year) and the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America trade group (providing $7,046,747 in 2010 and $12,767,272 in 2009). Perry has appeared at multiple Chamber events over the years, and it is likely these groups will again play an important role in the 2012 election.
Women in Government (WIG), a nonprofit with close ties to Merck that has pushed the Gardasil vaccine in multiple states, has enjoyed a friendly relationship with the Perry administration. Not only did WIG consult with the Perry administration on the Gardasil decision, but Perry’s wife Anita has addressed the group in the past. According to Merck’s disclosures, the company continues to provide funds to WIG.
Crowd At Tea Bag Debate: Society Should Let The Uninsured Die
As Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) responded to a question about how he would help a 30-year-old man without health insurance who needs intensive treatment, the crowd cheered when moderator CNN debate moderator Wolf Blitzer asked if society should let him die.
NFTOS Editor-in-Chief Roger West says “One of the worst things that can befall a person, and apparently the worst crime one can commit, is that of being alone in the world. Isn't it the objective of good government to achieve together what we cannot alone - to look out for each other? How can we call ourselves united, when we are so willing to throw one of our own away so casually? A society marked by zero tolerance in all things, is doomed. And in the end, it would be no more than we deserve.”
West continues saying “Its’ both amazing and disgusting how (tea bags) these people are so "pro life" when it comes to abortion and how "anti life" they are after the baby is actually born, Yet these same folks will fill a football stadium to loudly pray and show how "Christian" they are. More like the Pharisees and hypocrites.”
Seriously readers, this is one of the most disturbing things I've heard in awhile - is this what our great country has come to? This mentality sounds more like Aleister Crawley than conservative Americans.
The New Communist regime = GOP Tea Party- Let them die and die quickly! The most worrisome part of this deal is that one of these radical tools will gain the nod to run for president. Remember readers, irregardless of all other issues, the key factor here is one of these fruits or nuts could potentially have access to nuclear key codes….enough said!
On the eve of 9/11 anniversary, cantor insists on massive cuts to first responders in exchange for emergency disaster aid.
This past weekend, President Obama requested $5.1 billion to provide disaster relief to communities struggling to recover from recent hurricanes, floods, earthquakes and wildfires. The request includes $500 million in emergency funds FEMA needs to continue to operate effectively through the end of September.
House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, whose home state of Virginia was hit by an earthquake and Hurricane Irene, is demanding more partisan spending cuts in exchange for approving the request. From Politico:
But a spokesperson for House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) signaled late Friday that the GOP is likely to insist on offsets for the $500 million in emergency funds Obama requested for 2011…
“The House has passed $1 billion in disaster relief funds that is fully offset, which we will look to move as quickly as possible.”
The funds referenced by Cantor’s spokesperson are contained in the House Department of Homeland Security Appropriations bill, which is adamantly opposed by Senate Democrats. Why? The “offsets” contained in the bill are actually massive cuts to first responders. Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA) explains: In December, Cantor opposed a bipartisan bill “to improve health services and provide financial compensation for 9/11 first responders who were exposed to dangerous toxins and are now sick as a result.” Now, on the eve of the 10th anniversary of 9/11, Cantor is pushing for further cuts to first responders in exchange for disaster relief.
The House bill slashes funding for grants to equip and train first responders by 40 percent. This is on top of the 19 percent cut in FY 2011. The House defense appropriations bill provides $12.8 billion to train and equip troops and police in Afghanistan — yet the House provides only $2 billion for first responders here at home.
Their proposal also slashes the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s operations by 6 percent at a time when the agency has never been busier. Does it really make sense to pay for response and reconstruction costs from past disasters by reducing our capacity to prepare for future disasters?
Cantor and his staff continue toinsist “There will be no delay in meeting the president’s request and providing people the aid they need.” But they have yet to support any such request absent more partisan spending cuts.
Widow alleges Bank Of America called her 48 times a day to remind her of dead husband’s debt.
Deborah Crabtree, of Honolulu, Hawaii tragically lost her husband to cancer on Aug. 3. The bank to which he owed money, Bank of America, didn’t even wait for a day after his death to begin calling Crabtree to remind her that her husband had missed a $3,000 mortgage payment on their home.
Crabtree told Bank of America that she had $5,000 on hand, and that she needed this money to buy food and bury her husband. Convinced that Crabtree should be using this money to pay them, Bank of America repeatedly “robo-called” Crabtree during her husband’s wake, sometimes with only 15 minutes between each call.
Now, Crabtree is suing the bank, alleging that it called her up to 48 times a day, even repeatedly demanding evidence that her husband was dead, and once receiving it, losing it. Crabtree’s complaint cites the emotional distress and mental anguish caused by Bank of America’s behavior.
The local NBC news affiliate covered Crabtree’s case. After reaching out to Bank of America, the station says that it did eventually cease the calls after learning of Mr. Crabtree’s death.
Earlier this month, CNNMoney published a piece on banks and other financial entities seeking debts of the deceased from mourners. It notes that under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, there are prohibitions against “third-party debt collectors…collecting debts at ‘inconvenient times’ and harassing customers.” However, this law only applies to “third-party debt collectors, not the banks ......which are regulated by individual states.”
Texas Gov. Rick Perry emphatically states that Social Security is a “Ponzi Scheme”.
Sometimes campaign spin works to distance a candidate from his controversial past statements. And sometimes the candidate comes back and makes a hash of all the work his staff has done for him.
We could be witnessing the latter scenario when it comes to Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) and one of the nation's most popular government programs. Last week, Perry's campaign spokesperson took to the Wall Street Journal to help back Perry off the less election-friendly sections of his book, Fed Up!. That includes Perry's suggestion that Social Security is an unconstitutional scheme which should be privatized post-haste.
Over this past weekend, Perry walked all that back and fired off some more fiery rhetoric about the perils of the entitlement program that most Americans do not want to see changed.
"It is a Ponzi scheme for these young people," Perry said in Iowa, mimicking his pre-presidential campaign language on the subject of Social Security:
"The idea that they're working and paying into Social Security today, that the current program is going to be there for them, is a lie," Perry added. "It is a monstrous lie on this generation, and we can't do that to them."
Charles Ponzi, an Italian immigrant, started this first such scheme in Boston in 1916. He convinced some people to allow him to invest their money, but he never made any real investments. He just took the money from later investors and gave it to the earlier investors, paying them a handsome profit on what they originally paid in. He then used the early investors as advertisements to get more investors, using their money to pay a profit to previous investors, and so on.
To keep paying a profit to previous investors, Ponzi had to continue to find more and more new investors. Eventually, he couldn't expand the number of new investors fast enough and the system collapsed. Because he never made any real investments, he had no funds to pay back the newer investors. They lost all the money they "invested" with Ponzi.
Ponzi was convicted of fraud and sent to prison for two years. When he came out, he returned to Italy, where he became a top economic adviser to Benito Mussolini.
Quoting NFTOS editor and Chief Roger West…..”Just like Ponzi's plan, The pundits along with the CATO institute (co-founder is Charles Koch) state that Social Security does not make any real investments -- it just takes money from later "investors," or taxpayers, to pay benefits to earlier, now retired, taxpayers. Like Ponzi, Social Security will not be able to recruit new "investors" fast enough to continue paying promised benefits to previous investors. Because each year there are fewer young workers relative to the number of retirees, Social Security will eventually collapse, just like Ponzi's scheme.”
What's more, Perry also said "I haven't backed off anything in my book." Not surprisingly, Democrats jumped all over the quotes. Perry's re-embrace of the Social Security-as-Ponzi scheme thing is likely to endear him further to the tea party types who already support his campaign in big numbers. But polls have shown even the tea party doesn't want to see cuts to Social Security, showing just how dangerous grabbing onto this particular political third rail can be.
So Perry's got a dilemma -- does he stick to his guns on Fed Up!, giving him the sort of "genuine" cred conservative voters crave in a primary candidate? Or does he go the way his staff seems to be suggesting, which frees him from attack-ads-in-a-can like the Ponzi Scheme line? For now it looks like Perry's more interested in staying "real" than becoming more electable.
We leave you with this thought, If George Bush was cancer, and President Obama is chemo, Rick Perry is what it looks like when the cancer returns.
During secret retreat with billionaires, Koch lobbyist admits tea party group ‘designed’ to elect republicans in 2010.
This morning, blogger Brad Friedman, writing in Mother Jones and BradBlog, revealed a set of audio tapes from the last major donor meeting convened by the billionaire Koch brothers. There are a number of startling revelations from the scoop — but the opening remarks from Kevin Gentry, a Koch Industries executive at the firm’s DC lobbying office, blow the cover off the many Tea Party efforts underwritten by the billionaires in the Koch network of donors.
Gentry, who doubles as the official responsible for doling out Koch charitable grants, admits privately what we and others have noted for years: Americans for Prosperity, the front group founded by David Koch, orchestrates Tea Party events simply to elect more Republicans. Gentry said he met with Fred Young, a Wisconsin owner of engine manufacturing plants, at an Americans for Prosperity (AFP) event “designed to help in the Congressional races” during one of their “get out the vote tours”:
KEVIN GENTRY: I’m going to turn it over to a dear friend, Fred Young, for the purposes of an introduction. Fred is a long-time fighter, freedom fighter, in this movement, from Racine, Wisconsin. Former owner of Young Radiator. As part of our efforts last year, in 2010, I was on the road for in Wisconsin, here at one of Americans for Prosperity’s last minute kind of get out the vote tours. And I went to an event in Racine, Wisconsin, and met up with Fred. It was sort of a Tea Party AFP event designed to help in the Congressional races. And Fred was kind enough to lend me a sweatshirt because I wasn’t actually prepared for Racine, Wisconsin in November. So Fred, let’s take it away, please.
Too many in the media ignored the Koch network’s transparently partisan agenda last year. A few outlets, like the Washington Post, took the groupto task for spending $45 million in attack ads against Democrats using an unaccountable, secret money wing of Americans for Prosperity. However, most failed to report on the millions more spent on four different bus tours designed to promote Republicans. These rallies, which required great resources in terms of staff and logistics, were never reported to the Federal Elections Committee as campaign spending, thus evading the few watchdog groups and reporters interested in serious election coverage.
The blog ThinkProgress revealed last year, in documents outlining the June, 2010 donor meeting, billionaires like Paul Singer, Ken Griffin, Rich DeVos, and John Childs are regular attendees of these events, which solicit multi-million donations for an elaborate array of right-wing front groups, from Tea Party organizers like Americans for Prosperity to stealth advertising campaigns like “Public Notice.” Unfortunately, many still report on Tea Party groups like Americans for Prosperity as bonafide grassroots organizations.
Cheney Won’t Take Anything Back, Laughs At War Crimes Accusation.
Former Vice President Dick Cheney, continuing his “heads exploding” book tour, pushed back against criticisms of his book by former Secretary of State Colin Powell that the book contained, “cheap shots that he’s taking at me and other members of the Administration who served to the best of our ability for President Bush.”
Powell’s former chief of staff retired Col. Lawrence Wilkerson offered even more pointed criticisms of Cheney, telling ABC News that, “ (Cheney) was president for all practical purposes for the first term of the Bush administration,” and “fears being tried as a war criminal.”
But last Sunday Cheney appeared in a Fox News interview with Chris Wallace and hit back at his critics from the George W. Bush administration. Read the transcript:
Chris Wallace: When Colin Powell says ‘these are cheap shots and you’re wrong’…
Dick Cheney: Obviously I disagree with him.
Wallace: Anything you’d want to take back?
Cheney: No.
Wallace: Powell’s former chief of staff Lawrence Wilkerson, I don’t know if you know this, has also weighed in. He says you’re worried about being tried as war criminal.
Cheney: Well it’s news to me. I don’t pay a lot of attention to Mr. Wilkerson. I don’t know him. As far as I know I’ve never met the gentleman. I know he speaks out from time to time and that strikes me as a cheap shot.
Holiday Inn Shows Where It’s Political Alliance Is.
Progressive groups organizing a rally at the same Richmond-area hotel where House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) was holding an event Wednesday were abruptly kicked out of the hotel and told by hotel management to remain off of its property during Cantor’s event.
Cantor held an Advisory Council gathering, closed to the media but open to constituents who registered ahead of time, at the Holiday Inn Koger Center in Richmond. A coalition of progressive Virginia organizing groups — Progress Virginia, OurDC, and Virginia Organizing — had booked rooms and a separate ballroom in the hotel to hold a “jobs rally” countering Cantor’s event. According to organizers, the groups planned to invite Cantor to attend their rally after his own event, in the hope that he would listen to their concerns regarding job creation and unemployment.
But just hours before the events were set to begin; the Holiday Inn canceled the groups’ ballroom and room reservations and ordered the groups to remain off of hotel property during Cantor’s meeting. According to organizers, hotel management falsely accused them of smoking in their rooms and used that as justification to cancel their reservations. A representative of Holiday Inn who only agreed speak on the condition of anonymity, however, said the hotel was seeking to avoid confrontation between the progressive groups and those attending the Cantor event. He would not comment on whether the hotel had any communications with Cantor or his staff regarding the progressive groups.
Attempts to reach both Cantor’s office and Holiday Inn’s corporate offices for comment prior to publication were unsuccessful. In an interview with a local news station, Cantor acknowledged that he saw the protesters but said, “I don’t see how that’s productive. … (It was) a very productive event. I’m not quite so sure how that was productive outside.”
After their reservations were canceled, the progressive groups assembled across the street and began marching to the hotel, where they were met by Virginia state police officers and hotel management demanding that they remain off Holiday Inn property. The protesters remained assembled between the Holiday Inn and the street, where they held signs protesting Cantor’s record on job creation and his legislative priorities and chanted that they wanted Cantor to focus on jobs. Multiple protesters told stories of their unemployment over a megaphone as police and hotel management looked on.
The protesters then marched back across the street, out of sight from the hotel, and held a rally similar to the one they had planned inside the hotel, with more stories of unemployment and hardship brought on by the economic recession.
I can assure you that Holiday Inn will never get my service again!
Republican Revolt: Virginia’s GOP Governor splits with Cantor, rejects conditioning disaster aid on budget cuts.
House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA), along with some of his House GOP colleagues, have been saying that disaster aid for the areas affected by Hurricane Irene must be offset by, in Cantor’s words, “savings elsewhere.” Rep. David Schweikert (R-AZ) said yesterday on Bloomberg News that budget cuts must be a prerequisite for disaster aid in order to reassure “the business markets.” Rep. Peter Roskam (R-IL) added that the days when disaster relief could be funded without offsetting budget cuts “are gone.”
However, not everyone in the GOP agrees that disaster funding should play second fiddle to the GOP’s budget-slashing agenda. Gov. Bob McDonnell (R-VA) yesterday broke with Cantor, saying that “I don’t think it’s the time to get into that (deficit) debate“:
Virginia GOP Gov. Bob McDonnell, breaking with Cantor, on Tuesday suggested that deficit-spending concerns should not be a factor as Congress and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) respond to the hurricane.
“My concern is that we help people in need,” McDonnell said during his monthly radio show. “For the FEMA money that’s going to flow, it’s up to them on how they get it. I don’t think it’s the time to get into that [deficit] debate.”
The Hill noted that “before Irene hit, McDonnell had requested emergency help from FEMA in 10 districts, including Cantor’s. All the requests were granted.”
The offsets that Cantor has said would be acceptable to him include cuts to first responders, which prompted Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA) to ask, “Does it really make sense to pay for response and reconstruction costs from past disasters by reducing our capacity to prepare for future disasters?” But Cantor hasn’t always believed that disaster aid should be contingent on budget cuts. In fact, in 2004, he requested federal aid following Tropical Storm Gaston, saying that “the magnitude of the damage suffered by the Richmond area is beyond what the Commonwealth can handle,” without a word about offsetting cuts being necessary.
Eric Cantor certainly takes stupid to another level, and if Virginian’s vote him in when his term is up, may they get everything this tool dishes out.
