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
Somebody get the straight jackets out and call the local Looney bin as there is elderly old man - a stammering simpleton if you will - that wandered onto the stage at the RNC last night. If captured, be careful, he is armed and dangerous, he's high on tea bagger.
Last night, Clint Eastwood, the Academy Award-winning actor, director, and screenwriter, delivered one of the most bizarre political convention speeches in American history.
Speaking without prepared remarks, Eastwood carried on an imaginary conversation with an invisible President Obama seated in a chair next to him on the convention stage. I can't even begin to try to summarize Eastwood's rambling address to a bewildered audience and press corps. Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.), Mitt Romney's vice presidential pick, looked less than pleased with Eastwood's speech. And the Hollywood star's invisible Obama skit quickly spawned its own Twitter feed—@InvisibleObama—and a satirical 2012 presidential bid. As well as#eastwooding.
POTUS Tells Tea Baggers That The Presidential Chair Is Taken
Clint has once again showed us why movie stars should be seen on the big screen and not at political conventions. Clint was quoted as saying:
"We don't need lawyers in the White House" [Speaking on POTUS' law degree], I guess Clint failed to know that Mittens has a law degree from Harvard.
The last time I saw a relative act like this they where diagnosed with dementia, keep an eye on Clint., Maybe that should be the new Eastwood reality TV show, looking for Clint's mind.
If I was a caring man I'd say that Clint's stunt was really sad. I'm pretty sure he can't help himself, but it's behavior like that - that gave rise to the phrase "there's no fool like an old fool."
What's more disturbing, Clint Eastwood losing his mind on stage, or the crowd cheering his every word even though it made no sense - and they had no idea what he was talking about? That's the thing with these mindless troglodytes, I heard a stat on MSNBC that stated that The American Taliban, [US GOP] require little information when picking a candidate to vote for, DUH, no shit Sherlock!
What could make a religious revival mixed with a right wing high school pep rally even better, get a stuttering old man to talk down to an imaginary opponent. The only thing that could have topped this fiasco was to have the old man piss himself because his depends were already saturated.
He reminded me of "Uncle Herman" at the family picnic, drunk off his ass. I just don't understand why the tea baggers didn't get Clint's daughter , Francesca to chainsaw, ax, and burn Ann Romney's 100,00.00 Birkin handbag on stage as a protest to Mrs Obama's wardrobe choices in the past 4 years. At least that would have been entertaining.
The entire convention was a white elitist party, that contained more bullshit - or was full of more shit that Christmas turkey. This convention is why we don' t let friends drive while high on tea bagger. Mr. Eastwood is a prime example of your brain on Republican.
Post Script: Did you all play NFTOS' drinking game during the convention this week? [Where you were to take a shot of liquor every time you saw a minority]. The country was the soberest it's been in 100 years this week.
The white elitist party called the Republican National Convention
In America we have only two choices, and until such time [which I doubt ever happens in our time] that changes we have the Democrats and the society of mental patients [republicnas]. I choose the Democrats.
Fiscal Responsibility: Eddie Munster spoke on this very topic last night, Paul Ryan spoke on how fiscal inept this country is and how fiscal sound he is. Facts for the record:
According to Fox News columnist Sally Kohn, vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan's speech at the Republican National Convention on Wednesday "was an apparent attempt to set the world record for the greatest number of blatant lies and misrepresentations slipped into a single political speech."
"On this measure, while it was Romney who ran the Olympics, Ryan earned the gold," Kohn wrote.
In a surprising move, Fox News joinedCNN, The Huffington Post,the Washington Post's Wonkblog, and ThinkProgress in publishing a fact-check of the Republican vice presidential nominee's speech, finding that the speech was full of lies and misleading assertions.
Kohn, who describes herselfas a "progressive voice on Fox News," wrote in her Thursday column that though Ryan came off as likable during his speech, his misrepresentations and omissions "caused a much larger problem for himself and his running mate."
In her column, Kohn called out four lies in Ryan's speech. She critcized Ryan for blaming President Obama for the shutdown of a General Motors plant in Janesville, Wis., that actually was closed during the Bush administration. She also knocked Ryan for pinning the blame for S&P's downgrade of U.S. debt on Obama, when Republicans in Congress helped precipitate the downgrade by threatening to refuse to raise the debt ceiling.
"The good news is that the Romney-Ryan campaign has likely created dozens of new jobs among the legions of additional fact checkers that media outlets are rushing to hire to sift through the mountain of cow dung that flowed from Ryan’s mouth," Kohn wrote.
At a basic level of humanity, what pisses me off about politicians who lie, especially at a national level, is that the deceptions are degrading. A candidate who knows the truth, but makes a deliberate decision to deceive, is working from the assumption that Americans are suckers.
And last night, Paul Ryan made painfully clear that he thinks we're all profound idiots who'll believe an endless string of lies, so long as they're packaged well and presented with conviction. Jonathan Cohn suggested last night's address may have been the "most dishonest convention speech" ever delivered.
It was a truly breathtaking display of brazen dishonesty. Paul Ryan looked America in the eye and without a hint a shame, lied to our face:
Ryan lied about President Obama's auto-industry rescue, blaming the administration for a plant closing orchestrated by President Bush. Ryan lied about Medicare, falselyaccusing Obama of undermining the system. Ryan lied about the debt downgrade, falsely blaming the president for a downgrade causedby Ryan and congressional Republicans.
Ryan lied about the Simpson-Bowles commission, falsely accusing Obama of walking away from debt reduction, and ignoring the fact that Ryan himself fought to ensure the Simpson-Bowles commission never even released a report. Ryan lied about his plans for the safety net, saying he intends to "protect the weak" when he budget plan intends to gutpublic investments that benefit the poor.
Ryan lied about the debt, saying Obama "has added more debt than any other president before him," when the truth is, that was George W. Bush -- who added over $5 trillion to the debt thanks in large part to congressional votes cast by Paul Ryan.
Ryan lied about the Recovery Act, calling the stimulus "a case of political patronage, corporate welfare, and cronyism at their worst," when reality shows the exact opposite. Ryan lied about small businesses, accusing Obama of raising their taxes, when he actually cut their taxes.
Paul Ryan, the man the media and 'the American Taliban" celebrate as a bold truth-teller, told one lie after another, demonstrating a near-pathological disdain for honesty. His speech presented no substantive ideas, no policy solutions, and no bold positions on any key issue, but it included enough falsehoods to choke a fact-checker -- all because he assumes you're a fool.
Most of the millions of people who watched the speech on television tonight do not read fact-checks or obsessively consume news 15 hours a day, and will never know how much Ryan's case against Obama relied on lies and deception. Ryan's pants are on fire, but all America saw was a barn-burner.
CNN's Wolf Blitzersaidhe counted "seven or eight" claims that "fact checkers will have some opportunities to dispute," but concluded the lies didn't matter because it was "a powerful speech" that gave Republicans what they "were hoping for."
Let that sentence roll around in your brain for a moment, and ponder what it means for our country.
Ryan lied uncontrollably, but that's not terribly important. It undermines our democracy and the basic norms of the American political system, but no one seems to care anymore. Ryan thinks we're idiots, but his cynicism matters less than the electoral implications.
The United States is better than Paul Ryan's dishonesty. It has to be. Our future depends on it.
Facts about Paul "Eddie Munster" Ryan and what he voted for:
Bush Tax Cuts
TARP
Auto bailout
Two unfunded wars
both stimulus 2008/2009
Rx drug program for the elderly
How 'fiscal responsible' is this for the pathological liar named Paul Ryan?
It is now clear that the Romney-Ryan ticket is dead set on running the most extreme, out of touch, outrageous, dishonest, hypocritical and mindless campaign in the history of modern American presidential politics. The campaign itself has said on numerous occasions that "facts" are meaningless and they will ignore them. This is not only absurd, but a dangerous trend for our nation and our democracy. We have Paul Ryan on stage throwing red meat lies to a crowd of the most radical elements of the American Taliban imaginable. Ryan is no budget genius; he is a phony. Ryan endorses tax cuts for the rich, subsidies for Big Oil, and record spending on military contractors with no way to pay for them. At the same time, he wants to end Medicare as we know it and leave tens of millions of Americans without way to pay their bills. This is how we grow the economy? Good luck America with Thurston Howell III and Eddie Munster running your country.
How many blacks and Hispanics where in attendance at the TAB [The American Taliban] convention last night? Not many! I saw more pasty white humans with bad teeth at this convention then in my previous 51 years on terra firma! You would think that oral hygiene and oral health would be top priority to these folks! [Just for reference I am a white male]
What was the theme of the convention last night? "ME", its all about me. John Kaisich, Transvaginal Bob McDonnell, Nikki Haley, Rick "Frothy" Santorum, Scott "Koch Whore" Walker, and Chris " I can't push my lard ass away from the dinner table long enough to lose a gram of weight" Christie, spoke about themselves when the platforms intent was for America to learn about Mitt and his magical underwear.
While the lard ass [Christie] took his anger out on Democrats and POTUS, he failed to tell the convening troglodytes, is that both he and Mittens states run the bottom of the lists in unemployment.
That's the thing with these hypocritical American Taliban's . This group is [GOP=TAB=The American Taliban] is the "Team Not Quite In Last Place."
This lard ass [Chris Christie] touts his brand of conservatism and fiscal responsibility in a marquee speech at the TAB convention yet his own state brings up the rear in unemployment!
During tonight's TAB convention, try NFTOS new drinking game. Safe drinking game: Drink when you see a non-white person in the TAB Convention audience. See why the TAB courts the pasty whites with rotten teeth. Robme/Ryan are so unpopular and out of tune with women, African Americans and Hispanics - Ann Robme's "women" speech was both insulting and condescending, watch for yourself.
"I LOVE YOU WOMEN"
We are surrounded by fallacious ideologues - all this nonsense about Mittens and Ryan leading the country into some sort of golden age of austerity. What utter nonsense and bull shit!
There's no way in hell that Romney / Ryan can win the way they constantly lie about Obama's accomplishments in the wake of constant teapublican opposition in the Congress -- purposely blocking every meaningful piece of legislation (including jobs bills) from Day One.
What's more they claim Obama raided Medicare, which is absurd not only because it's not true (he re-allocated Medicare Advantage funds to the regular Medicare fund where it belongs) but that's actually their plan!
See more disgusting stories from camp American Taliban below:
HBO's "NEWSROOM" slams the tea baggers in it's closing seasonal episode.
"Ideological purity, compromise as weakness, a fundamentalist belief in scriptural literalism, denying science, unmoved by facts, undeterred by new information, a hostile fear of progress, a demonization of education, a need to control women’s bodies, severe xenophobia, tribal mentality, intolerance of dissent and a pathological hatred of the U.S. government."
“They can call themselves the Tea Party. They can call themselves conservatives and they can even call themselves Republicans, though Republicans certainly shouldn’t. But we should call them what they are. The American Taliban.”
That's right readers, the "Tea Party = The American Taliban.
This clip is a very real depiction of this radical group called teabillies, teapublicans, and tea baggers.
Jeff Daniels [Will McAvoy] provides a very witty commentary on our current political system, one that deserves proper attention. This should be mandatory viewership for all American, especially minorities. The American Taliban is putting a choke hold on voters. While this is a fictional show the facts in this six minute clip is overwhelmingly powerful -and why is this you ask? Because these are the facts and they are undisputed!
Tea bagger sites, like the dead Brietbart's are up in arms over the show - which just happens to be spot on point with this lunatic fringe.
This scathing attack on the radical tea is well deserving, their no nonsense bullshit of attacking every corner of our society, [old, young, black, Mexican, the war on women] needs to be exposed, and exposed it is via HBO's Newsroom.
I personally can't wait for next season. Remember readers, a pissed off tea baggers equates to a great day.
Please share this blog and video clip with all your Democratic and tea baggers friends.
Transvaginal Governor Bob McDonnell (R-VA) yesterday claimed the issue of a rape exception to abortion was a “detail” to be left up to states and Congress. On ABC’s This Week, George Stephanopoulos confronted the Governor and Party Platform Chair with the absolutist anti-abortion language in the platform he led the development of. This was his response:
McDonnell’s view of the plight of pregnant rape victims appears to be par for the course in the contemporary GOP. Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) recently referred to rape as simply one “method of conception.” Indeed, this may be because the Vice Presidential candidate and the broader Republican Party have consistently voted to limit access to abortion even for women who are victims of rape and incest.
Moreover, McDonnell’s interpretation of his platform language is misleading. As Stephanapoulous noted, the platform endorsed a Human Life Amendment “to make clear that the 14th Amendment’s protections apply to all unborn children.” As the 14th Amendment requires all persons receive equal protection under the law, the practical effect of the amendment would be to render any law that allowed for any abortion in any case unconstitutional. This includes state-level laws, which means McDonnell’s line that the rape exception would be left to Congress and/or the states is flatly false.
McDonnell may be working hard to minimize the absolutist character of his party platform for a reason – Presidential candidate Mitt Romney supports exceptions for rape and incest, putting him at odds with the longstanding position of the Republican party platform.
“Legitimate rape” is great birth control. So says Todd Akin, and he oughta know. If we are raped we can rest unafraid, ‘Cause we can’t get pregnant if forcibly laid.
Our female bodies are clever that way, We only get pregnant when we say “okay.” Doctors have told him, so it must be so, The stork only comes if we don’t say “No!”
Rape won’t make babies and that is a fact; There’s no global warming; the Earth’s really flat. We heard it on FOX News so it must be true. Well, Mr. Akin, we say “FUCK YOU!”
A whole host of pissed off grannies tunes exist here. Raging Grannies.
Is there anyone within the confines of CONUS that the teapublican
How do you spell "fundamentalist" - G.O.P There are lotsa words that are spelled that way, it's clear to see Such as desperate and corporate and Batshit Crazy Or Nauseating, frustrating, whoopsie-dazy And what's the word for thinking that poor people are lazy? Oh, it's G-O-P
How do you spell "Disconnected" - it's G.O.P Who knew that spelling such scary words could be so easy? I can spell Mischievous, Hubris, Repugnant As easy as a mouse can scare a mighty elephant I can also spell "much worse than the incumbent" with "G-O-P"
Boys and girls just listen to me closely and you'll win that spelling bee Your efforts will be anything but Quixotic
Spelling is so simple if you remember all these words are spelled "GOP" Like dangerous, disingenuous, and unpatriotic
How do you spell "Constipated" it's G.O.P It's funny cause that also just so happens to be how you spell "poopsy" I can spell hypocrite and sanctimonious I'm telling you my spelling's anything but erroneous Oh, that reminds me I can spell "erroneous" G-O-P ~Taylor Ferrara
NFTOS
Editor-In-Chief
Roger West
A new poll conducted by NBC shows that President Obama's favorabilities among African American voters is at an all-time high when contrasted against presumptive GOP nominee, Mitt Romney. The poll finds that out of all African Americans polled, 94% favor President Obama, while 0% plan to vote for Mitt Romney. The other 6% were undecided.
2012 Republican Platform To Advocate Abortion Ban Without Rape Exception
Todd Akin is wrong on his rape stance, but understand that he is not alone in this disgusting radical ideology of legitimate rape.
Teapublican politicians have been falling over themselves to condemn from Rep. Todd Akin, the Teapublican Senate candidate in Missouri, who said Sunday that women who have experienced “legitimate rape” don’t get pregnant because “the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.” The Romney-Ryan campaign called Akin’s comments “insulting, inexcusable and frankly wrong,” in spite of Ryan’s close working relationship with Akin on a number of radical anti-abortion and contraception bills. A Romney spokesperson added that the “Romney-Ryan administration would not oppose abortion in instances of rape.”
But embracing a rape exception for abortion rights would put the campaign at odds with the Teapublican Party’s longstanding platform, the newest iteration of which will be officially unveiled at the Teapublican National Convention in Tampa. In spite of the massive public outcry from the right over Akin’s comments, the official GOP platform committee drafted a provision Monday supporting a “human life amendment” that would outlaw abortion without specifying exemptions for rape or incest. The platform reads:
Faithful to the ‘self-evident’ truths enshrined in the Declaration of Independence, we assert the sanctity of human life and affirm that the unborn child has a fundamental individual right to life which cannot be infringed. We support a human life amendment to the Constitution and endorse legislation to make clear that the Fourteenth Amendment’s protections apply to unborn children.
Heading the committee is Gov. Bob [Transvaginal Bob] McDonnell (R-VA), best known for his “mandatory ultrasound” law requiring any woman getting an abortion to undergo an unnecessary ultrasound. Transvaginal Bob also revealed his regressive position on women’s rights in his college thesis, which slandered working women, contraception, and “fornicators.” It’s no surprise, then, that under his guidance, the Teapublican Party will reaffirm its support for a constitutional amendment that would outlaw abortion and likely many forms of contraception.
In saying they would not oppose a rape exception, Romney and Ryan are both changing their tune. Romney said in 2007 he would be “delighted” to sign a bill banning all abortions, and Ryan has been staunchly anti-abortion in all cases, even attempting to restrict abortion access to victims of “forcible rape” only.
The human life amendment has been a tenet of the Teapublican Party platform since the dawn of the Reagan era in 1980. It has survived for 32 years and nine presidential elections, even after former presidential candidate Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) pushed hard in 2000 for an explicit exception for rape and incest. McCain ceded the language to party officials during his own run in 2008.
The “you-can't-get-pregnant-from-rape falsehood” is apparently something that enough people believe that Planned Parenthood includes it on its pregnancy FAQ page.
The problem with all this is - unlettered republicans, and this is why watching faux news is a no-no, and why higher education is so important.
"First of all, from what I understand from doctors [pregnancy from rape] is really rare... If it's a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down."
Republicans are furious at the extremist running for the Senate in Missouri, but yet are thrilled with the one running for Vice President. Both Ryan and Akin represent the same ideology on rape, incest, and personhood. No surprise here, what is the surprise is the hypocritical oath by these tea baggers. Not okay for Akin but for Paul [Eddie Munster] Ryan all is kosher.
Bryan Fischer of the American Family Association on Monday insisted that Rep. Todd Akin (R-MO) was right to claim women could not become pregnant from “legitimate rape.”
“What Todd Akin is talking about is when you’ve got a real, genuine rape. A case of forcible rape, a case of assault, where a woman has been violated against her will through the use of physical force where it is physically traumatic for her,” Fischer said on his radio program.
“Under those circumstances, the woman’s body — because of the trauma that has been inflicted on her — it may interfere with the normal function processes of her body that lead to conception and pregnancy.”
Fischer said the trauma from rape interfered with normal physiological processes that occur during conception, which “may make it impossible for her, or difficult in that particular circumstance, to conceive a child.
Where in the hell do these idiots morph from? Common sense is knocking at the GOP’s door, and they evidently are not answering.
Senate Candidate and Rep. Todd Akin (R-MO) told a local television station on Sunday that “legitimate rape” rarely produces pregnancy because “the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.” Akin cited conversations with unnamed doctors for the bizarre claim.
Akin sponsored legislation that would redefine rape in federal law to limit funding for abortion providers and has a long track record of uninformed and extreme views about women’s health. He has a consistently radical anti-choice voting record in the House, wants to ban the morning after pill, and has expressed concern that criminalizing marital rape gives women “a legal weapon to beat up on the husband” during a divorce.
Akin’s crusade against women’s access to medical services fits with his broader worldview, which is heavily influenced by a particularly virulent group of fundamentalist thinkers described as “Christian supremacists” by the Anti-Defamation League.
Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO), who is going to face Akin in November, responds:
“The national rape-related pregnancy rate is 5.0% per rape among victims of reproductive age (aged 12 to 45); among adult women an estimated 32,101 pregnancies result from rape each year. “
Akin responds to the controversy, says he “misspoke.” He does not apologize. Full texthere.
The Romney campaign releases a statement: “Governor Romney and Congressman Ryan disagree with Mr. Akin’s statement, and a Romney-Ryan administration would not oppose abortion in instances of rape.”
Often and frequently I hear tea baggers claiming that President Obama has done nothing for the country.
As NFTOS works to help Obama restore the basic values that have made our country great, it’s important to look back over the past three years and realize all that the President has accomplished. From the economy to education, from national security to equal rights, President Obama has kept his promises and delivered real change for American families.
Ended Don't Ask, Don't Tell (DADT) in our military
Stopped defending DOMA in court.
Passed the Hate Crimes bill.
Appointed two pro-choice women to the Supreme Court.
Expanded access to medical care and provided subsidies for people who can't afford it.
Expanded the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP)
Fixed the preexisting conditions travesty [and rescissions] in health insurance.
Invested in clean energy.
Overhauled the credit card industry, making it much more consumer-friendly.
While Dodd-Frank bill was weak in many respects, it was still an extremely worthwhile start at re-regulating the financial sector.
He created a Elizabeth Warren's dream agency: The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
He's done a lot for veterans
He got help for people whose health was injured during the clean-up after the 9/11 attacks.
A more detailed look at what Barack Has done:
1. Passed Health Care Reform: After five presidents over a century failed to create universal health insurance, signed the ...Affordable Care Act (2010). It will cover 32 million uninsured Americans beginning in 2014 and mandates a suite of experimental measures to cut health care cost growth, the number one cause of America’s long-term fiscal problems.
2. Passed the Stimulus: Signed $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act in 2009 to spur economic growth amid greatest recession since the Great Depression. Weeks after stimulus went into effect, unemployment claims began to subside. Twelve months later, the private sector began producing more jobs than it was losing, and it has continued to do so for twenty-three straight months, creating a total of nearly 3.7 million new private-sector jobs.
3. Passed Wall Street Reform: Signed the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (2010) to re-regulate the financial sector after its practices caused the Great Recession. The new law tightens capital requirements on large banks and other financial institutions, requires derivatives to be sold on clearinghouses and exchanges, mandates that large banks provide “living wills” to avoid chaotic bankruptcies, limits their ability to trade with customers’ money for their own profit, and creates the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (now headed by Richard Cordray) to crack down on abusive lending products and companies.
4. Ended the War in Iraq: Ordered all U.S. military forces out of the country. Last troops left on December 18, 2011.
5. Began Drawdown of War in Afghanistan: From a peak of 101,000 troops in June 2011, U.S. forces are now down to 91,000, with 23,000 slated to leave by the end of summer 2012. According to Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, the combat mission there will be over by next year.
6. Eliminated Osama bin laden: In 2011, ordered special forces raid of secret compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, in which the terrorist leader was killed and a trove of al-Qaeda documents was discovered.
7. Turned Around U.S. Auto Industry: In 2009, injected $62 billion in federal money (on top of $13.4 billion in loans from the Bush administration) into ailing GM and Chrysler in return for equity stakes and agreements for massive restructuring. Since bottoming out in 2009, the auto industry has added more than 100,000 jobs. In 2011, the Big Three automakers all gained market share for the first time in two decades. The government expects to lose $16 billion of its investment, less if the price of the GM stock it still owns increases.
8. Recapitalized Banks: In the midst of financial crisis, approved controversial Treasury Department plan to lure private capital into the country’s largest banks via “stress tests” of their balance sheets and a public-private fund to buy their “toxic” assets. Got banks back on their feet at essentially zero cost to the government.
9. Repealed “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”: Ended 1990s-era restriction and formalized new policy allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly in the military for the first time.
10. Toppled Moammar Gaddafi: In March 2011, joined a coalition of European and Arab governments in military action, including air power and naval blockade, against Gaddafi regime to defend Libyan civilians and support rebel troops. Gaddafi’s forty-two-year rule ended when the dictator was overthrown and killed by rebels on October 20, 2011. No American lives were lost.
11. Told Mubarak to Go: On February 1, 2011, publicly called on Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to accept reform or step down, thus weakening the dictator’s position and putting America on the right side of the Arab Spring. Mubarak ended thirty-year rule when overthrown on February 11.
12. Reversed Bush Torture Policies: Two days after taking office, nullified Bush-era rulings that had allowed detainees in U.S. custody to undergo certain “enhanced” interrogation techniques considered inhumane under the Geneva Conventions. Also released the secret Bush legal rulings supporting the use of these techniques.
13. Improved America’s Image Abroad: With new policies, diplomacy, and rhetoric, reversed a sharp decline in world opinion toward the U.S. (and the corresponding loss of “soft power”) during the Bush years. From 2008 to 2011, favorable opinion toward the United States rose in ten of fifteen countries surveyed by the Pew Global Attitudes Project, with an average increase of 26 percent.
14. Kicked Banks Out of Federal Student Loan Program, Expanded Pell Grant Spending: As part of the 2010 health care reform bill, signed measure ending the wasteful decades-old practice of subsidizing banks to provide college loans. Starting July 2010 all students began getting their federal student loans directly from the federal government. Treasury will save $67 billion over ten years, $36 billion of which will go to expanding Pell Grants to lower-income students.
15. Created Race to the Top: With funds from stimulus, started $4.35 billion program of competitive grants to encourage and reward states for education reform.
16. Boosted Fuel Efficiency Standards: Released new fuel efficiency standards in 2011 that will nearly double the fuel economy for cars and trucks by 2025.
17. Coordinated International Response to Financial Crisis: To keep world economy out of recession in 2009 and 2010, helped secure from G-20 nations more than $500 billion for the IMF to provide lines of credit and other support to emerging market countries, which kept them liquid and avoided crises with their currencies.
18. Passed Mini Stimuli: To help families hurt by the recession and spur the economy as stimulus spending declined, signed series of measures (July 22, 2010; December 17, 2010; December 23, 2011) to extend unemployment insurance and cut payroll taxes.
19. Began Asia “Pivot”: In 2011, reoriented American military and diplomatic priorities and focus from the Middle East and Europe to the Asian-Pacific region. Executed multipronged strategy of positively engaging China while reasserting U.S. leadership in the region by increasing American military presence and crafting new commercial, diplomatic, and military alliances with neighboring countries made uncomfortable by recent Chinese behavior.
20. Increased Support for Veterans: With so many soldiers coming home from Iraq and Iran with serious physical and mental health problems, yet facing long waits for services, increased 2010 Department of Veterans Affairs budget by 16 percent and 2011 budget by 10 percent. Also signed new GI bill offering $78 billion in tuition assistance over a decade, and provided multiple tax credits to encourage businesses to hire veterans.
21. Tightened Sanctions on Iran: In effort to deter Iran’s nuclear program, signed Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability, and Divestment Act (2010) to punish firms and individuals who aid Iran’s petroleum sector. In late 2011 and early 2012, coordinated with other major Western powers to impose sanctions aimed at Iran’s banks and with Japan, South Korea, and China to shift their oil purchases away from Iran.
22. Created Conditions to Begin Closing Dirtiest Power Plants: New EPA restrictions on mercury and toxic pollution, issued in December 2011, likely to lead to the closing of between sixty-eight and 231 of the nation’s oldest and dirtiest coal-fired power plants. Estimated cost to utilities: at least $11 billion by 2016. Estimated health benefits: $59 billion to $140 billion. Will also significantly reduce carbon emissions and, with other regulations, comprises what’s been called Obama’s “stealth climate policy.”
23. Passed Credit Card Reforms: Signed the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility, and Disclosure Act (2009), which prohibits credit card companies from raising rates without advance notification, mandates a grace period on interest rate increases, and strictly limits overdraft and other fees.
24. Eliminated Catch-22 in Pay Equality Laws: Signed Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act in 2009, giving women who are paid less than men for the same work the right to sue their employers after they find out about the discrimination, even if that discrimination happened years ago. Under previous law, as interpreted by the Supreme Court in Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., the statute of limitations on such suits ran out 180 days after the alleged discrimination occurred, even if the victims never knew about it.
25. Protected Two Liberal Seats on the U.S. Supreme Court: Nominated and obtained confirmation for Sonia Sotomayor, the first Hispanic and third woman to serve, in 2009; and Elena Kagan, the fourth woman to serve, in 2010. They replaced David Souter and John Paul Stevens, respectively.
26. Improved Food Safety System: In 2011, signed FDA Food Safety Modernization Act, which boosts the Food and Drug Administration’s budget by $1.4 billion and expands its regulatory responsibilities to include increasing number of food inspections, issuing direct food recalls, and reviewing the current food safety practices of countries importing products into America.
27. Achieved New START Treaty: Signed with Russia (2010) and won ratification in Congress (2011) of treaty that limits each country to 1,550 strategic warheads (down from 2,200) and 700 launchers (down from more than 1,400), and reestablished and strengthened a monitoring and transparency program that had lapsed in 2009, through which each country can monitor the other.
28. Expanded National Service: Signed Serve America Act in 2009, which authorized a tripling of the size of AmeriCorps. Program grew 13 percent to 85,000 members across the country by 2012, when new House GOP majority refused to appropriate more funds for further expansion.
29. Expanded Wilderness and Watershed Protection: Signed Omnibus Public Lands Management Act (2009), which designated more than 2 million acres as wilderness, created thousands of miles of recreational and historic trails, and protected more than 1,000 miles of rivers.
30. Gave the FDA Power to Regulate Tobacco: Signed the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act (2009). Nine years in the making and long resisted by the tobacco industry, the law mandates that tobacco manufacturers disclose all ingredients, obtain FDA approval for new tobacco products, and expand the size and prominence of cigarette warning labels, and bans the sale of misleadingly labeled “light” cigarette brands and tobacco sponsorship of entertainment events.
31. Pushed Federal Agencies to Be Green Leaders: Issued executive order in 2009 requiring all federal agencies to make plans to soften their environmental impacts by 2020. Goals include 30 percent reduction in fleet gasoline use, 26 percent boost in water efficiency, and sustainability requirements for 95 percent of all federal contracts. Because federal government is the country’s single biggest purchaser of goods and services, likely to have ripple effects throughout the economy for years to come.
32. Passed Fair Sentencing Act: Signed 2010 legislation that reduces sentencing disparity between crack versus powder cocaine possessionfrom100 to1 to 18 to1.
33. Trimmed and Reoriented Missile Defense: Cut the Reagan-era “Star Wars” missile defense budget, saving $1.4 billion in 2010, and canceled plans to station antiballistic missile systems in Poland and the Czech Republic in favor of sea-based defense plan focused on Iran and North Korea.
34. Began Post-Post-9/11 Military Builddown: After winning agreement from congressional Republicans and Democrats in summer 2011 budget deal to reduce projected defense spending by $450 billion, proposed new DoD budget this year with cuts of that size and a new national defense strategy that would shrink ground forces from 570,000 to 490,000 over the next ten years while increasing programs in intelligence gathering and cyberwarfare.
35. Let Space Shuttle Die and Killed Planned Moon Mission: Allowed the expensive ($1 billion per launch), badly designed, dangerous shuttle program to make its final launch on July 8, 2011. Cut off funding for even more bloated and problem-plagued Bush-era Constellation program to build moon base in favor of support for private-sector low-earth orbit ventures, research on new rocket technologies for long-distance manned flight missions, and unmanned space exploration, including the largest interplanetary rover ever launched, which will investigate Mars’s potential to support life.
36. Invested Heavily in Renewable Technology: As part of the 2009 stimulus, invested $90 billion, more than any previous administration, in research on smart grids, energy efficiency, electric cars, renewable electricity generation, cleaner coal, and biofuels.
37. Crafting Next-Generation School Tests: Devoted $330 million in stimulus money to pay two consortia of states and universities to create competing versions of new K-12 student performance tests based on latest psychometric research. New tests could transform the learning environment in vast majority of public school classrooms beginning in 2014.
38. Cracked Down on Bad For-Profit Colleges: In effort to fight predatory practices of some for-profit colleges, Department of Education issued “gainful employment” regulations in 2011 cutting off commercially focused schools from federal student aid funding if more than 35 percent of former students aren’t paying off their loans and/or if the average former student spends more than 12 percent of his or her total earnings servicing student loans.
39. Improved School Nutrition: In coordination with Michelle Obama, signed Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act in 2010 mandating $4.5 billion spending boost and higher nutritional and health standards for school lunches. New rules based on the law, released in January, double the amount of fruits and vegetables and require only whole grains in food served to students.
40. Expanded Hate Crimes Protections: Signed Hate Crimes Prevention Act (2009), which expands existing hate crime protections to include crimes based on a victim’s sexual orientation, gender, or disability, in addition to race, color, religion, or national origin.
41. Avoided Scandal: As of November 2011, served longer than any president in decades without a scandal, as measured by the appearance of the word “scandal” (or lack thereof) on the front page of the Washington Post.
42. Brokered Agreement for Speedy Compensation to Victims of Gulf Oil Spill: Though lacking statutory power to compel British Petroleum to act, used moral authority of his office to convince oil company to agree in 2010 to a $20 billion fund to compensate victims of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico; $6.5 billion already paid out without lawsuits. By comparison, it took nearly two decades for plaintiffs in the Exxon Valdez Alaska oil spill case to receive $1.3 billion.
43. Created Recovery.gov: Web site run by independent board of inspectors general looking for fraud and abuse in stimulus spending, provides public with detailed information on every contract funded by $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Thanks partly to this transparency, board has uncovered very little fraud, and Web site has become national model: “The stimulus has done more to promote transparency at almost all levels of government than any piece of legislation in recent memory,” reports Governing magazine.
44. Pushed Broadband Coverage: Proposed and obtained in 2011 Federal Communications Commission approval for a shift of $8 billion in subsidies away from landlines and toward broadband Internet for lower-income rural families.
45. Expanded Health Coverage for Children: Signed 2009 Children’s Health Insurance Authorization Act, which allows the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) to cover health care for 4 million more children, paid for by a tax increase on tobacco products.
46. Recognized the Dangers of Carbon Dioxide: In 2009, EPA declared carbon dioxide a pollutant, allowing the agency to regulate its production.
47. Expanded Stem Cell Research: In 2009, eliminated the Bush-era restrictions on embryonic stem cell research, which shows promise in treating spinal injuries, among many other areas.
48. Provided Payment to Wronged Minority Farmers: In 2009, signed Claims Resolution Act, which provided $4.6 billion in funding for a legal settlement with black and Native American farmers who the government cheated out of loans and natural resource royalties in years past.
49. Helped South Sudan Declare Independence: Helped South Sudan Declare Independence: Appointed two envoys to Sudan and personally attended a special UN meeting on the area. Through U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Ambassador Susan Rice, helped negotiate a peaceful split in 2011.
50. Killed the F-22: In 2009, ended further purchases of Lockheed Martin single-seat, twin-engine, fighter aircraft, which cost $358 million apiece. Though the military had 187 built, the plane has never flown a single combat mission. Eliminating it saved $4 billion.
So, the next time the unlettered tea bagger asks you what has Obama accomplished, send them to this blog.
Stop watching Faux News tea baggers - it's making you dumber than a box of rocks.
Voting rights are under attack in this country as state legislatures nationwide are passing voter suppression laws under the pretext of preventing voter fraud and safeguarding election integrity. These voter suppression laws take many forms, and collectively lead to significant burdens for eligible voters trying to exercise their most fundamental constitutional right.
The GOP/tea baggers know the only way they win in November is to cheat, or in this case, suppress the American voters. They use the excuse that fraud is the reason. Yes apparently the tea bagger thinks that the number one crime is to dress as someone else, pose as another and vote. Holy Guadal canal Batman, yes the bone thugs of the world want - instead of running drugs/murder/robbing and stealing, criminals want to vote as me and you or vote for someone whom is dead. Lord knows these thugs producing these fraudulent votes shall garner a bountiful pillage - which shall reduce their desperate cause to support their addictions. We all know how drug dealers will barter a fraudulent vote for an eight ball of coke.
The governing voting group has identified 2,068 alleged cases of voter fraud since the year 2000, a period during which there have been more than 600 million votes cast in presidential elections alone. This body noted an "infinitesimal amount." It also showed a total of 10 cases of in-person voter fraud during that period.
Yes readers, your more likely to be struck by lighting while watching porn in your local Stagg movie theater - than for voter fraud to occur.
The stated rationale behind the tea bagger campaign to require voter ID at the polls is utterly baseless, evidence from a new study confirms.
Tea bagging legislatures are increasingly imposing strict ID requirements for voters, ostensibly to deter in-person voter fraud. But voter fraud in general is rare. And that particular form of voter fraud is "virtually non-existent," according to the extensive public-records search conducted by a nonpartisan investigative news project funded by the Carnegie and Knight foundations. Researchers filed more than 2,000 public-records requests and reviewed nearly 5,000 court documents, official records and media reports to get their information.
I will agree to voter fraud, if the tea baggers will go through their own voter suppression.
This would include the Government of Pakistan [American GOP] having to watch every Tyler Perry made movie, and to have to pass a literacy test to be eligible, and have the right to vote.
In Mississippi, during the years of 1982-1916 these very tests existed. During this period a United States Supreme Courtcase that reviewed provisions of the state constitution that set requirements for voter registration. The Supreme Court did not find discrimination in the state's requirements for voters to pass a literacy test and pay poll taxes, as these were applied to all voters.
In practice, the subjective nature of literacy approval by white registrars worked to drastically decrease and essentially disfranchiseAfrican American voters.
The Court considered the new Mississippi constitution passed in 1890. It upheld disfranchisement clauses which established requirements for literacy tests and poll taxes paid retroactively from one's 21st birthday as prerequisites for voter registration.
Agrandfather clause effectively exempted illiterate whites, but not blacks, from the literacy test by relating qualifications to whether one's grandfather had voted before a certain date. Because the provisions applied to all potential voters, the Court upheld them, although in practice the provisions had discriminatory effects on African Americans.
We all know that the current GOP tea bagger is illiterate in two aspects of American life [Grammar and Spelling, US Constitution]. Force the tea baggers to take a test, make them prove their patriotism, make them show the country that they understand "the founding fathers" ideals and ideology, understand that there is more than two rights that Americans are entitled too. [guns and freedom of speech]
This GOP strategy leaves no doubt to me that these tea baggers plan to influence the outcome of this election [because there would be no other way for these lunatic fringes to win this election in November] - by discouraging Americans from exercising their right to vote. It is a disgusting pattern from this pugnacious party of putrid radicalism - which is to change likely voting behaviors by changing the rules on ones constitutional right, the right to vote!
