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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

Friday, May 31, 2013

ITS IN THE NUMBERS

GUN HUGGERS 

In less than six months more Americans were killed with guns than soldiers killed during decade-long Iraq War.

The number of gun deaths in the U.S. since the Newtown elementary school massacre has exceeded the total number of U.S. troops killed in the Iraq war.

According to a tally of gun deaths from Slate, the number of people killed since the Dec. 14 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary is now 4,502. The number of U.S. armed forces killed during the Iraq war was 4,488, [numbers updated 12:33 pm] according to the Defense Department.

This comparison of the five months since the tragedy that redefined the debate for further gun control in this country and the nine-year conflict the U.S. has recently ended is now being used by Americans United for Change, a progressive political group. Already, the group has targeted several GOP lawmakers, including Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, to support background checks, among other gun-control measures.



The American Taliban successfully stalled gun-control legislation, arguing that further measures would not prevent gun violence but merely stifle the Second Amendment rights of lawful Americans. But Democratic lawmakers and progressive groups have signaled that they will continue this fight.



RICIN LADEN LETTER SENT TO BLOOMBERG


RELATED:

In a related story; responsible gun hugger runs amuck: A person of interest from Texas [New Boston] is under close scrutiny by the FBI for sending ricin laden letters to President Obama, New York mayor Bloomberg and Bloomberg' anti gun advocacy agency.

In a NFTOS exclusive, we have captured a photo of what appears to be ricin on the letter sent to Bloomberg. [see above photo]

The letter states:
"You will have to kill me and my family before you get my guns," the letter reads. "Anyone wants to come to my house will be shot in the face. The right to bear arms is my constitutional God-given right and I will exercise that right 'til the day I die. What's in this letter is nothing compared to what I've got planned for you."

Spoken like a true Guns Over People [GOP] fanatic! This is the problem with unlettered gun huggers, this is your brain on Texas Governor Rick Perry and Fox News. This is what happens when Americans fail to understand facts.

I refer to the statement issued by this Einstein - that its their "GOD given right" to bear arms. Please, anyone, point to a book, a verse, a quote in the bible where is says gun hugging is a GOD given right.

I make the point, that with unlettered delusional folks like this individual, and you gun nuts have the stones to wonder why I want your guns? If you're sending ricin laden letters to leaders of these great United States, you're the last one I want gun hugging!

Both these stories point to a bigger problem within these United States. There are only 4 million associates of the Not Relative Anymore [NRA] gun huggers society. Certainly with over 340 million Americans, our voice and actions can be bigger than the gun hugger. The bold emphasizing mention in this blog is, "in six months, guns have killed more than the entire Iraq war" [ten years]. C'mon America, we're better than this!



footnote:
Ricin is relatively easy to make with recipes and instructions available online. Experts do caution that people trying to concoct the toxin on their own risk poisoning themselves. It should also be noted at its most dangerous ricin can kill, though it is quite difficult to deliver a dose that intense. The toxin, which comes from castor beans, stops cells from synthesizing proteins so victims can suffer organ failure.



NFTOS
Editor-In-Chief
Roger West 

Thursday, May 30, 2013

WHICH WACKO-BIRD TAKES THE CROWN OF THE TIN FOIL HATS?

WHO SHALL GARNER THE COVETED TIN FOIL HAT OF THE GOP


Who is going to lead the GOP efforts to repeal Obamacare for the 38th time?

If you have not heard; been living under a rock, the queen "wacko-bird" is stepping down from office, and the number one query of America is, who takes the thrown to wear the crown jewel......who gets to wear the coveted grand poobah of tin foil hats?

The American Taliban's inability to grasp basic facts — their inability to recognize that they have a problem with facts... speaks to a broader problem, and now that the thrown is being vacated, who in this band of idiots will be the next fearless leader, the next town fool - to make a mockery of these great United States?

Below we pay homage [via MSNBC's evening line up], to the idiot that is Michele Bachmann. Bachmann's mistakes where often offensive, frequently outrageously callous, and recurrently dangerous. Bachmann is the type of "patriot" this country can do without.

The queen of the tin foil is hat is a prime example of stupid run amuck, a special kind of stupid if you will, "where everything on the internet must be true " kind of stupid.

Out of the lunatics in tin foil hat land, I like Ted Cruz chances best to take the reigns of the wacko birds, because we need another Bachmann - and while many fit the bill of "wacko-bird", Ted Cruz finds it a compliment. This is the kind of douche bag we need dawning the head dunce cap, by means of brilliant deduction, empirical wisdom if you will, Cruz is the guy for the job.

Ted " Brylcream Creem a little dab will do you" Cruz stands out alone to me as the sole heir to the American Taliban thrown, his ignorance is amassed by none, his chutzpah is historical, and his willingness to stand before America and be as clueless as Bachmann - is categorically epic!.

Below are six videos courtesy of MSNBC, which look at the legacy of Bachmann; and
a new successor to the tin foil thrown:


BASHIR ON BACHMANN



Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy




REVERAND SHARPTON ASKS WHO WILL BE KING OR QUEEN OF THE JESTERS COURT



Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy



MADDOW ON BACHMANN



Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy



MATHEWS ON BACHMANN


Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy



WHO WILL WEAR THE GRAND POOBA TINFOIL HAT NOW?



Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy



REVERAND SHARPTON ON BACHMANN


Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy



NFTOS has learned that Michelle Bachmann may be joining forces with Sarah Palin in a "Please pay me not to run for President" Bus Tour.

Andy Borowitz said it best about Bachmann: "When history writes about Michele Bachmann, her entire congressional legacy will only be found in the monologues of comedians."



NFTOS
Editor-In-Chief
Roger West

Wednesday, May 29, 2013

BATSH*T CRAZY CALLS IT A DAY

MICHELE "BATSHIT CRAZY" BACHMANN SET TO LEAVE CONGRESS

Say it isn't so, Batshit crazy is to exit stage right in 2015? That's right readers, early this am, Michele Bachmann makes her first ever productive announcement as a congressperson - she will not be running in 2014 - this morning she uploaded an eight minute video to youtube calling it quits. [Much like her length of service, her good bye video was way too long.]

Bachmann shall be sorely missed here at NFTOS as she has made quite a name for herself - as the bombastic buffoon of the American Taliban, and yes, the average IQ of both the Intelligence committee and House of Representatives will rise exponentially when Michele Bachman is gone.

SAYING ITS OVER




Matt Taibbi once said of Bachmann:
[Michele] Bachmann is a religious zealot whose brain is a raging electrical storm of divine visions and paranoid delusions... Bachmann is exactly the right kind of completely batshit crazy... crazy in the sense that she's living completely inside her own mind, frenetically pacing the hallways of a vast sand castle she's built in there, unable to meaningfully communicate with the human beings on the other side of the moat, who are all presumed to be enemies.

Bachmann leaves behind one of the most politically heated Congressional careers in the organizations history. Her stances on major issues — and the initiatives she has pushed throughout her eight years — have been dangerous, insensitive, moronic, and down right Batshit crazy. Below is a look back at some of Bachmann’s most controversial Batshit moments:


"I don't know how much God has to do to get the attention of the politicians. We've had an earthquake; we've had a hurricane. He said, 'Are you going to start listening to me here?' Listen to the American people because the American people are roaring right now. They know government is on a morbid obesity diet and we've got to rein in the spending." –Rep. Michele Bachmann, suggesting at a presidential campaign event in Florida that the 2011 East Coast earthquake and hurricane was a message from God (Aug. 2011)

"Well what I want them to know is just like, John Wayne was from Waterloo, Iowa. That's the kind of spirit that I have, too" -Rep. Michele Bachmann, getting her John Waynes mixed up during an interview after launching her presidential campaign in Waterloo, Iowa, where she grew up. The beloved movie star John Wayne was born in Winterset, Iowa, three hours away. The John Wayne that Waterloo was home to is John Wayne Gacy, a notorious serial killer. (June 2011)

"I will tell you that I had a mother last night come up to me here in Tampa, Florida, after the debate. She told me that her little daughter took that vaccine, that injection, and she suffered from mental retardation thereafter." –Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN), on the HPV vaccine, Fox News interview, Sept. 12, 2011

"Why should I go and do something like that? But the Lord says, 'Be submissive wives; you are to be submissive to your husbands." -Rep. Michele Bachmann, recalling in a 2006 speech at a Megachurch in Minneapolis that pursuing tax law wasn't her choice, but she did so at the urging of her husband because she was certain God was speaking through him.

"I find it interesting that it was back in the 1970s that the swine flu broke out under another, then under another Democrat president, Jimmy Carter. I'm not blaming this on President Obama, I just think it's an interesting coincidence." -Rep. Michele Bachmann, on the 1976 Swine Flu outbreak that happened when Gerald Ford, a Republican, was president, April 28, 2009

"But we also know that the very founders that wrote those documents worked tirelessly until slavery was no more in the United States. ... I think it is high time that we recognize the contribution of our forbearers who worked tirelessly -- men like John Quincy Adams, who would not rest until slavery was extinguished in the country." -Rep. Michele Bachmann, botching American history while speaking at an Iowan's for Tax Relief event in January 2011. The Founding Fathers did not work to end slavery, and John Quincy Adams was not one of the Founding Fathers.

"Before we get started, let's all say 'Happy Birthday' to Elvis Presley today." -Rep. Michele Bachmann, while campaigning for president in South Carolina on what was actually the anniversary of Elvis's death, Aug. 16, 2011 (Elvis was born on January 8)

"I just take the Bible for what it is, I guess, and recognize that I am not a scientist, not trained to be a scientist. I’m not a deep thinker on all of this. I wish I was. I wish I was more knowledgeable, but I’m not a scientist."

"The President of the United States will be taking a trip over to India that is expected to cost the taxpayers $200 million a day."

"Carbon dioxide is natural, it is not harmful, it is a part of Earth’s lifecycle. And yet we’re being told that we have to reduce this natural substance, reduce the American standard of living, to create an arbitrary reduction in something that is naturally occurring in Earth."

"The big thing we are working on now is the global warming hoax. Its all voodoo, nonsense, hokum, a hoax."

"Lady Liberty and Sarah Palin are lit by the same torch."

"If we look at American history, between 1942 and 1947, the data that was collected by the Census Bureau was handed over to the FBI and other organizations at the request of President Roosevelt, and that’s how the Japanese were rounded up and put into the internment camps. I’m not saying that that’s what the Administration is planning to do, but I am saying that private personal information that was given to the Census Bureau in the 1940s was used against Americans to round them up, in a violation of their constitutional rights, and put the Japanese in internment camps."

BACHMANN CLAIMED ABOLISHING THE MINIMUM WAGE WOULD CREATE JOBS: While testifying in front of the Minnesota Senate in 2005, Bachmann said, “Literally, if we took away the minimum wage — if conceivably it was gone — we could potentially virtually wipe out unemployment completely because we would be able to offer jobs at whatever level.” This isn't remotely true. Even simply reducing the minimum wage would, as Paul Krugman noted, “at best do nothing for employment; more likely it would actually be contractionary.”

BACHMANN LIKENED VISITING IRAQ TO VISITING MALL OF AMERICA: In 2007, Bachmann returned from a junket to Iraq and told her colleagues, “[T]here’s a commonality with the Mall of America, in that it’s on that proportion. There’s marble everywhere.

BACHMANN CALLED FOR A CONGRESSIONAL WITCH HUNT: Pivoting off the news of Barack Obama’s alleged relationship to former Weather Underground member William Ayers, and his former pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Bachmann accused the candidate of having “anti-American views.” She then suggested that Congressional liberals — including Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid — ought to be subject to “an exposé” by the media because of their views. “I think people would love to see like that,” she told a stunned Chris Matthews.

BACHMANN SUGGESTED GAY SINGER SHOULD REPENT AFTER GETTING CANCER: Bachmann saw Melissa Etheridge’s cancer as a teachable moment: “Unfortunately she is now suffering from breast cancer, so keep her in your prayers,” she said in November 2004. “This may be an opportunity for her now to be open to some spiritual things, now that she is suffering with that physical disease. She is a lesbian.”

BACHMANN BOASTED ABOUT BREAKING THE LAW: In advance of the 2010 national Census, Bachmann told The Washington Times that she would break the law by not completing the forms. “I know for my family, the only question we will be answering is how many people are in our home,” she said. “We won’t be answering any information beyond that, because the Constitution doesn’t require any information beyond that.”

BACHMANN CLAIMED THAT GLENN BECK COULD SOLVE THE DEBT CRISIS: During a February trip to South Carolina, Bachmann told a South Carolina audience, “I think if we give Glenn Beck the numbers, he can solve this [the national debt].”

"We will talk a little bit about what has transpired in the last 18 months and would we count what has transpired into turning our country into a nation of slaves."

"This is an earthquake issue. This will change our state forever. Because the immediate consequence, if gay marriage goes through, is that K-12 little children will be forced to learn that homosexuality is normal, natural and perhaps they should try it."

"I don’t know where they’re going to get all this money because we’re running out of rich people in this country."

"There are hundreds and hundreds of scientists, many of them holding Nobel Prizes, who believe in intelligent design."

"Normalization (of gayness) through desensitization. Very effective way to do this with a bunch of second graders, is take a picture of ‘The Lion King’ for instance, and a teacher might say, ‘Do you know that the music for this movie was written by a gay man?’ The message is: I’m better at what I do, because I’m gay."

"I’m very concerned about the international moves they’re making, particularly … moving the United States off the dollar and onto a global currency, like Russia and China are calling for."

"If we took away the minimum wage — if conceivably it was gone — we could potentially virtually wipe out unemployment completely because we would be able to offer jobs at whatever level."

"It is horrific to know that in the African American community, 50 percent of all African American pregnancies in the United States end in abortion, 50 percent. That is a genocide of African Americans of the United States. It should not be. There are Americans all across this country who would love to adopt African American babies, but they can’t because 50 percent of all African American pregnancies today are ending in abortion."

"And what a bizarre time we’re in, when a judge will say to little children that you can’t say the pledge of allegiance, but you must learn that homosexuality is normal and you should try it."

"Unfortunately, the Census data has become very intricate, very personal, a lot of the questions that are asked. I know for my family, the only question we will be answering is how many people are in our home. We won’t be answering any information beyond that, because the Constitution doesn’t require any information beyond that."

"Un-elected bureaucracies will decide what we can and cant get in future health insurance policy. That's why they're called death panels."

"A woman (Terri Schiavo) was healthy. There was brain damage, there was no question. But from a health point of view, she was not terminally ill."

"[Pelosi] is committed to her global warming fanaticism to the point where she has said she has even said she is trying to save the planet. We all know that someone did that 2,000 years ago."

"Not all cultures are equal."

"But we also know that the very founders that wrote those documents worked tirelessly until slavery was no more in the United States."

"Carbon dioxide is portrayed as harmful. But there isn’t even one study that can be produced that shows that carbon dioxide is a harmful gas."

"I want people in Minnesota armed and dangerous on this issue of the energy tax because we need to fight back."

"I wish the American media would take a great look at the views of the people in Congress and find out: Are they pro-America or anti-America?"

"During the last 100 days we have seen an orgy. It would make any local smorgasbord embarrassed … The government spent its wad by April 26."

"(Gay marriage) is probably the biggest issue that will impact our state and our nation in the last, at least, thirty years. I am not understating that."

Bachmann claims that leaving congress is not due to; a potential heated race in Minnesota, a FBI investigation into misappropriated campaign funds, nor her possible violation into congressional ethics violations.

I am not sure who is the supreme benefactor in this deal, the state of Minnesota, or these great Untied States. Let's be clear readers, one less Batshit crazy American Talibaner making decisions about our lives is great news for all, but when a top General of stupid and radical right wing ideology is gone- its time for Congress and American's across this land to be rejoicing!

So much for this right wing nut jobs so-called Titanium spine. While the GOP's collective I.Q. may have just inched up a bit, they still have a long way to go to shed the stupid party mantle. 



NFTOS
Editor-In-Chief
Roger West

Tuesday, May 28, 2013

CLOSED FOR REPAIRS

BOD DOLE SUGGESTS THAT TEA BAGGERS GO ON EXTENDED LEAVE AND FIX THEMSLEVES

Bob Dole scolded the GOP this past weekend saying that the Republican GOD Ronnie: "Reagan wouldn't make it today's GOP".

Former Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole (R-KS) told Fox News Sunday this week that the Senate Republicans are abusing the filibuster and that he doubts he, Richard Nixon, or Ronald Reagan could make it in today’s Republican Party.

Asked his thoughts on the modern GOP, Dole — a former Republican national chairman, the 1976 GOP vice presidential pick, and the 1996 Republican presidential nominee — suggested, to host Chris Wallace, that the party lacks any positive ideas and is no longer a place for even conservative Republicans like himself:

BOB DOLE




Dole, now 89, also took his own party to task for abuse of the Senate’s cloture rules. Wallace noted that “In your first two years as a Senator, there were 7 motions filed — cloture motions to end debate. In the last two years, there were 115 cloture motions,” and asked the five-term Senator whether it is inappropriate that due to minority obstruction it now takes a 60-vote super-majority to pass any legislation or confirm any nominees.

“No doubt about it,” Dole told him, “There are some cases where you could probably justify it, but not many.”




NFTOS
Editor-In-Chief
Roger West

Monday, May 27, 2013

MEMORIAL DAY 2013


To all who the soldiers who have and do - protect these United States.........THANK YOU!


FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH "FAR FROM HOME"





NFTOS
Editor-In-Chief
Roger West

Sunday, May 26, 2013

VRIGINIA, HOW MANY MORE ARE LURKING OUT THERE?

BOB FITZSIMMONDS

Who knew? Who knew just how many radical GOPers resided in the state of Virginia?

Virginia has had its share of lunatics this week oozing from the annuls of the slimy cesspool that is the Virginia GOP. Mark Obenshain, E.W. Jackson [ my personal favorite VA American Talibaner] and now, yet another believer - that pasty white old fashioned neocons - should have the right to be in women's vagina.

American Taliban of Virginia Treasurer Bob FitzSimmonds, a former aide to and “very close friend” of gubernatorial nominee Ken Cuccinelli II (R), told Virginia blogger Ben Tribbett that he is “not a big fan of contraception, frankly.”

FitzSimmonds — who was Cuccinelli’s legislative director during his time in the Virginia Senate, as well as a multiple-time state senate candidate himself — is the former executive director of what is now the Care Net Pregnancy Help Center and the former chair of the Virginia Crisis Pregnancy Center Directors Association. Crisis Pregnancy Centers are faith-based operations that seek to discourage pregnant women from considering abortion. He created an abstinence-only curriculum for area schools called the “Keep It Simple Say NO abstinence program“.

At last weekend’s state party convention, Tribbett asked FitzSimmon whether he supported the distribution of emergency contraception on college campuses. “I’m not a big fan of contraception, frankly,” the Republican Party official explained. “I think there are some issues, we’re giving morning-after pills to 12-year-olds, and pretty soon I guess we’ll hand them out to babies, I don’t know.”





FitzSimmonds also told Tribbett that sex education has caused the spread of sexually transmitted diseases: “I believe that we don’t recognize the causal effect between the type of sex education that we’ve been giving and the spread of STDs. We focus on things like abortion, cause it’s a big pressure thing. I go into schools 15-20 times a year, I run a non-profit that goes into schools and talks to kids about sex. They’re all abortion and HIV. HIV’s kind of hard to catch. Abortion happens if you get pregnant. But we’re on the track for 50 percent of the American people to have Herpes by the time these kids are my age. And that is a profound — not only health but sociological crisis facing this country.”

FitzSimmonds posted on his Facebook page shortly after last November’s election, “When Obama is 90 years old and he dies and goes to Hell, he is going to say ‘This is all Bush’s fault.’”

Ladies of Virginia and the United States, how you can vote for these overreaching Neanderthal-ish thugs is beyond me. Most women that we speak to are amazed at just how far Virginia's version of the American Taliban will go with the probing of women's vagina's. If your not on-board, then should these radical right wing nut jobs gain the offices they seek, then you truly get what you deserve!

Congratulations Bob FitzSimmonds, on memorial day weekend, you become the third Virginian [GOP version] this week - to be today's worst person in the world.



NFTOS
Editor-In-Chief
Roger West

Saturday, May 25, 2013

BSA TO ALLOW GAY SCOUTS

FIRST SCOUT CHIEF EXECUTIVE JAMES E. WEST WITH PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT


I have tried to stay out of this conversation, as the BSA is close and dear to my heart. My families history is long and deeply entrenched in scouting.

I have sat back and watched the American Taliban and their likes destroy, mock, and pillage [verbally] what my family worked so hard to build. I am not sure how my kin-folk would react or vote to gays in scouting, I can only speak for myself. But I can assure you, I'd take a million LBGT over one tea bagger any day of the week and twice on Sunday!

I hearken back to the words of Christ, and a lesson that these so called "Christians" fail to heed:
“Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” – Jesus

This is my major problem with Christianity, Christians are so unlike their Christ!

I have more than my share of hate and discontent for the GOP - and I am not alone as 59% of this country has a bad taste in their mouth when it comes to the American Taliban.

The roughly 1,400 voting members of the Boy Scouts of America’s (BSA) National Council voted 61-38 percent Thursday to end the ban on gay youth participating in the program, but reaffirmed their policy of mandatory discrimination against LGBT leaders and volunteers.

The move — suggested by the national leadership as an attempted compromise — represents a modest step forward, but still comes as a disappointment to the thousands of Eagle Scouts,1.8 million Change.org petition signers, and the 56 percent of Americans who want the BSA to end its anti-LGBT discrimination.

While the policy change will permit openly gay Scouts like Ryan Andresen to receive their Eagle Scout awards, it will still prevent openly lesbian parents like former Cub Scout Den Leader Jen Tyrrell from volunteering with their parent’s Scout units.

BSA President Wayne Perry wrote, in a USA Today op-ed Wednesday, that allowing LGBT leaders “would have conflicted with the majority of our partners, 70% of which are religious organizations, and would have disrupted our ability to deliver Scouting.” But in the same statement, he noted, the organization was “unaware of any major religious chartered organization that believes a youth member simply stating he or she is attracted to the same sex, but not engaging in sexual activity, should make him or her unwelcome in their congregation.”

This admission and the rule change seem to contradict the BSA’s long-standing rationale that “homosexual conduct is inconsistent with the requirements in the Scout Oath that a Scout be morally straight and in the Scout Law that a Scout be clean in word and deed, and that homosexuals do not provide a desirable role model for Scouts.” By finally admitting that being LGBT is not, itself, incompatible with being “morally straight” or “clean,” the justification for excluding adults purely on the basis of their sexual orientation seems to now be reduced to “some religious organizations prefer discrimination.”

The BSA’s Honorary President Barack Obama and former BSA national board member Mitt Romney agreed in their 2012 presidential campaign that the organization should stop discriminating based on sexual orientation — a view shared by corporate CEOs and more than 7,000 Eagle Scouts.



NFTOS
Editor-In-Chief
Roger West

Friday, May 24, 2013

TWEETS FROM A LUNATIC

EARL WALKER JACKSON, AMERICAN TALIBAN LUNATIC FRINGE 

Yes Virginia, something is rotten in your politics.Virginia's GOP primary election opened the door to the lunatic fringe, a fringe so extreme - that women beware.

Just when you though the fruit basket was full, out comes the three amigos, Ken Cuccinelli, Mark Obenshain, and E.W. Jackson.

While the other two are just as off the reservation as Jackson, let's concentrate on NFTOS' "worst person in the world" for this entire week, AKA E.W. Jackson.

Saints be praised, E.W. Jackson is just amazing. Aficionados of the GOP's new move towards abject batshit insanity have found a new poster boy in inexplicable Virginia Lt. Governor nominee E.W. Jackson:

E.W. Jackson is Allen West, but more prone to irrational fury. He's Louie Gohmert, but more incoherent. He's Steve King and Michele Bachmann, but with the hatefulness dialed up to eleven and a half. How the hell is it that the American Taliban just discovered this loon now? One would have thought they'd have shaken every tree in the conservative nut orchard by now, but no, this "Christian" seems to have been specially cloned in a American Taliban lunatic candidate vat.

If you were to put the dregs of conservative Internet comment sections into a pot, boil them down to their essence, then run the resulting product through a sieve to get it to its rawest, most pure form of vitriol, it would probably look something like E.W. Jackson’s Twitter feed.

Through much of President Obama’s first term, Jackson, who was nominated this past weekend as the Republican nominee for Virginia Lieutenant Governor, used his Twitter feed to attack gays, Muslims, Obama, and even Michael Jackson.

Thinkprogess sifted through each of Jackson's 662 tweets, and here are Jackson’s 20 most vitriolic tweets (in no particular order):
Homophobia

"The President has proclaimed June as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Pride Month. Well that just makes me feel ikky all over. Yuk!" 8:34 AM - 3 Jun 2009

"If Bill Clinton was the "first black President," Barack Obama is the "first homosexual President," based on their respective affinities." 10:20 PM - 10 Oct 2009

"By allowing openb homosexuality, liberals have made clear that they are their own gods with their own morality." 11:24 PM - 19 Dec 2010

"This "Christian" Pres. believes homosexuality is right and the Bible is wrong. He thinks he's Pres. of Sodom & Gommorah! Or he'd like to be." 6:46 PM - 10 Oct 2009

"The homosexual movement is a cancer attacking vital organs of faith, family & military - repositories of traditional values." 12:25 PM - 12 Oct 2009

"Harvard endows first Gay, Les, Bisexual Transgendr Professorship. Named for Harvard Scholar who killed himself over Gay lover. What?" 11:50 PM - 3 Jun 2009

"Tony Perkins was disinvited as spkr at Andrews AFB because he opposed Obama promoting open homosexuality in the military. This the Gestapo?" 3:08 PM - 26 Feb 2010

"I am going to be at the Justice Dept. on Monday speaking at a press conference opposing the Hate Crimes Law as anti-Christian bigotry." 6:55 PM - 13 Nov 2009

Islamophobia:
"Did you know that Obama appointed 2 "devout Muslims" to the Homeland Security Department? Email me at stand@standamerica.us I'll forward it." 10:53 AM - 17 Nov 2009

"Frank Gaffney - Washgtn Times - wrote an excellent article on Obama & Islam. "First Muslim President?" Chk it out." 6:27 PM - 13 Jun 2009

Vitriolic attacks on Obama and Democrats:
"I do not believe Obama is the anti-Christ. But "Christians" who follow Obama would probably follow the Anti-Christ. Are they Christians?" 4:52 PM - 27 Sep 2009

"I love America. I love God. I am black. Obama does not love America & does not love God. His being black is not enough!" 11:37 AM - 14 Oct 2009

"Admittedly, for anybody willing to face the truth, Obama's radical anti-American, anti-Christian ideology was apparent." 4:08 PM - 14 Jul 2009

"Are Obama & his admin anti-semitic? They bow & shake hands with every two bit dictator, but feel the need to come down on Israel?" 2:29 PM - 14 Mar 2010

"Scott Brown was sent by voters as the 41st vote against Obamacare. So Obama's Marxist brigade decided "no more Senate votes." Democracy?" 8:06 AM - 21 Mar 2010

"I don't like to name call, but you have to be a disloyal idiot to stand with a foriegn leader who condemning your own country and citizens." 7:39 AM - 21 May 2010

"Obama & comrades are totalitarianists. Their Unholy Alliance will destroy this country if we let them. Uprising in 2010 elections!" 7:36 AM - 20 Dec 2009

"Can we repeal the Demoncrats who are giving us economic, social & military degeneration? No. I guess we just have to cast them out at the ..." 11:11 PM - 19 Dec 2010

Climate denial: 
"Obama was apparently suppressing a report debunking the global warming hysteria. Transparency? Sure! Like an iron curtain." 7:30 PM - 29 Jun 2009

The death of Michael Jackson:
"When you worship a human as if he were God, you always end up with a dead god ala Michael Jackson." 5:35 PM - 27 Jun 2009

The first thing this Einstein should learn is, that every character you type on the internet,every site you visit - is a time stamp of your actions, and are always traceable to the owner.

Let's be clear fellow Virginian's, this "Christian" could be your next Lt. Governor! If you have been reading my blog for awhile, you know my favorite quote: "I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ." Mahatma Gandhi

E.W. Jackson words reflect nothing of our Christ, nor of a true Christian.

The tea baggers have sent a clear concise message when they nominated "the Cooch", E.W. Jackson, and Mark Obenshain - extreme radical 1200 B.C. governing. Extremist come in many forms, hence the name the "American Taliban"- at a time when Virginia is on the cusp of moving this state forward, or moving it back to the 1950's - where jobs, education and transportation should be at the forefront - we get men who take umbrage to boobs on state seals and women's personal parts.

We need men and women who are going to lead with the intent that all Virginian's move forward, not just the radical American Taliban [can't use "pasty whiten men" in this instance]. We need governance where the ideology is aligned with the times, not ideals from centuries long ago.

To the "Cooch", Obenshain, and Jackson, I say thanks but no thanks!


NFTOS
Editor-In-Chief
Roger West

Thursday, May 23, 2013

UNITED STATES "WEATHER WEAPONS"

THIS ACCORDING TO RADICAL GOPers IS A WEAPON CREATED BY THE U.S. GOVERNMENT


Conspiracy theorist radio host Alex Jones explained to his audience today how the government could have been behind the devastating May 20 tornado in Oklahoma.

On the May 21 edition of The Alex Jones Show, a caller asked Jones whether he was planning to cover how government technology may be behind a recent spate of sinkholes. After laying out how insurance companies use weather modification to avoid having to pay ski resorts for lack of snow, Jones said that "of course there's weather weapon stuff going on -- we had floods in Texas like fifteen years ago, killed thirty-something people in one night. Turned out it was the Air Force."

Following a long tangent, Jones returned to the caller's subject. While he explained that "natural tornadoes" do exist and that he's not sure if a government "weather weapon" was involved in the Oklahoma disaster, Jones warned nonetheless that the government "can create and steer groups of tornadoes."

According to Jones, this possibility hinges on whether people spotted helicopters and small aircraft "in and around the clouds, spraying and doing things." He added, "if you saw that, you better bet your bottom dollar they did this, but who knows if they did. You know, that's the thing, we don't know."

INFOWARS




In April, Jones garnered attention for labeling the Boston Marathon bombings a "false flag" event staged by the U.S. government. Over the years, Jones has endorsed a wide array of paranoid conspiracies, including alleging that the U.S. government carried out or was somehow involved in the 9-11 attacks, the Oklahoma City bombing, and recent mass shootings at the Sandy Hook Elementary school and the movie theater in Aurora, Colorado.

Despite his well-publicized career of pushing conspiracies, Jones is regularly validated by media figures and conservative politicians. Jones' biggest ally has been Matt Drudge, whose heavily trafficked Drudge Report website has linked to at least 244 different articles at Jones' Infowars website since April 2011.

In the midst of the controversy over Jones' comments about the Boston bombings, Drudge announced that he had "privately told friends" that 2013 would be the "year of Alex Jones."

Like Dana Loesch et al, Jones is carny, and what worries me is not the bullshit that these radical GOPers spew, but it is the number of Rubes on the Midway who are buying what they are selling!


NFTOS
Editor-In-Chief
Roger West

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

THE COOCH AND HIS HENCHMEN

VIRGINIA'S VERSION OF THE AMERICAN TALIBAN

Ken Cuccinnelli aptly named the "cooch" because he thinks its his business to be in women's vagina's. 

Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli II (R), the Republican nominee for governor, endorsed his newly-nominated running mate, Bishop E.W. Jackson Sr., but refused to say whether he agreed with Jackson’s myriad of controversial comments.

Cuccinelli told a crowd in Abingdon, VA on Monday that he wants Jackson, as Lt. Governor, breaking ties in the currently split Virginia Senate: “I don’t need to know what the subject matter that’s going to tie up 20-20 that the LG can vote on will be. I’m confident that we’re going to get the right vote every single time out of E.W. Jackson. So I’m glad he’s on this ticket, too.”

But in a statement to the Virginia Pilot, Cuccinelli also said he would not answer questions about his new running mate’s views. “We are not defending any of our running mates’ statements now or in the future,” he noted, adding “The people of Virginia need to get comfortable with each candidate individually.”

Given the panic and criticism from some Republicans over Jackson’s surprise victory at Saturday’s Republican Party of Virginia nominating convention, it is unsurprising that Cuccinelli wants to keep his running mate at arm’s length. But their arch-conservative views on key issues seem largely identical:

LGBT Rights

Jackson opposes LGBT equality,claiming, “Homosexuality is a horrible sin, it poisons culture, it destroys families, it destroys societies; it brings the judgment of God unlike very few things that we can think of.”

Cuccinelli opposes LGBT equality,claiming, “When you look at the homosexual agenda, I cannot support something that I believe brings nothing but self-destruction, not only physically but of their soul.”

Planned Parenthood

Jackson has attacked Planned Parenthood, calling it “more lethal to black lives than the KKK ever was.”

Cuccinelli has frequently attacked Planned Parenthood, accusing them of having an “open willingness to participate in human trafficking,” and has suggested the fact that abortion clinics in Virginia are in urban areas with large African American populations is an example of white racism.

Health care

Jackson does not believe Virginia should comply with the Obamacare law, claiming, “Virginia is duty bound to DEFY NOT COMPLY with any federal encroachment on the rights and freedom of our people. Working families across the Commonwealth are disappointed that a Republican led General Assembly decided to COMPLY and NOT DEFY a law that will greatly hurt the economy and health care options affecting all Virginians.”

After Cuccinelli’s failed challenge to Obamacare in federal court, he suggested Virginia might not need to comply with the law: “It’s not like there’s criminal penalties out there — it becomes a power struggle,” he noted, adding, “There have been periods of time when states have just thrown their hands up and said, ‘We’re not going to do this’… It’s still possible, but it’s outside the expected legal structure.

President Obama

Jackson has attacked President Obama for having “Muslim sensibilities,” claiming Obama “sees the world and Israel from a Muslim perspective.” He called Obama an anti-Semite, blaming “his Muslim associations and his long period of mentorship under Jeremiah Wright.”

Cuccinelli dabbled in birtherism in 2010, saying, “Someone is going to have to come forward with nailed down testimony that he was born in place B, wherever that is. You know, the speculation is Kenya. And that doesn’t seem beyond the realm of possibility.” He quickly backed down.


For his part, Jackson sees Cuccinelli as an ideological soul mate. In a March posting on his campaign website, entitled “Ken Cuccinelli Is Right,” he wrote: “As an American and a Virginian whose ancestors were deemed by some to be less than human, I am proud to stand with a man who has the courage to speak to our consciences. As the Republican nominee for Lieutenant Governor, I will be proud to help Ken Cuccinelli bring common sense values and governance to Richmond. If we are elected in November, KEN AND I WILL FIGHT FOR EVERY VIRGINIAN’S RIGHT TO LIFE, LIBERTY AND THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS.”


NFTOS
Editor-In-Chief
Roger West

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

MARK OBENSHAIN, THE VOICE OF IGNORANCE


Obenshain, today's worst person in the world

Make no bones about it readers, the American Taliban is alive and well in Virginia. The amount of radical GOPers trolling our streets are a plethora - and now enters the latest of right wing lunatics to step up and run for office in Virginia, Mark Obenshain.

If a woman in Virginia has a miscarriage without a doctor present, they must report it within 24 hours to the police or risk going to jail for a full year. At least, that’s what would have happened if a bill introduced by Virginia state Sen. Mark Obenshain (R) had become law.

And yet, the Virginia Republican Party wants to make Obenshain into the state’s top prosecutor. This weekend, Virginia Republicans selected Obenshain as their nominee to replace tea party stalwart Ken Cuccinelli (R) as the state’s attorney general.

Under Obenshain’s bill, which was introduced in 2009,

When a fetal death occurs without medical attendance upon the mother at or after the delivery or abortion, the mother or someone acting on her behalf shall, within 24 hours, report the fetal death, location of the remains, and identity of the mother to the local or state police or sheriff’s department of the city or county where the fetal death occurred. No one shall remove, destroy, or otherwise dispose of any remains without the express authorization of law-enforcement officials or the medical examiner. Any person violating the provisions of this subsection shall be guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor.

Under Virginia law, a Class 1 misdemeanor carries a maximum sentence of “confinement in jail for not more than twelve months and a fine of not more than $2,500,” so Obenshain’s bill could lead to a woman who decides to take a day to grieve the loss of a pregnancy she’d hoped to carry to term spending a year of her life in jail for that decision.

Even without Obenshain’s bill, Virginia law already treats many miscarriages as potential crimes. Under existing Virginia law, “[w]hen a fetal death occurs without medical attendance upon the mother at or after the delivery or abortion or when inquiry or investigation by a medical examiner is required, the medical examiner shall investigate the cause of fetal death and shall complete and sign the medical certification portion of the fetal death report within twenty-four hours after being notified of a fetal death.” Obsenshain’s bill, however, would treat many women as if they were criminal suspects at the moment they are confronted with a deep personal tragedy — and imprison them if they would rather deal with that tragedy privately with their family than share the vulnerable moment after a miscarriage with law enforcement.

In a update to the story:
Jared Walczak, a Deputy Campaign Manager with Obenshain for Attorney General, provided a statement explaining his boss’ support for this legislation. The statement is copied below, with an added link to a news story Walczak identified as the “law enforcement issue” prompting the legislation:

At the request of one of his local Commonwealth’s Attorneys, Senator Obenshain carried legislation (SB 962 of 2009) dealing with a specific law enforcement issue. As sometimes happens, the legislation that emerged was far too broad, and would have had ramifications that neither he nor the Commonwealth’s Attorney’s office ever intended. Senator Obenshain is strongly against imposing any added burden for women who suffer a miscarriage, and that was never the intent of the legislation. He explored possible amendments to address the bill’s unintended consequences, and met with representatives of both Planned Parenthood and NARAL Pro-Choice in an attempt to identify a solution. Ultimately, however, he was not satisfied that any amendment could sufficiently narrow the scope of the bill to eliminate these unintended consequences, so he had the bill stricken at his own request.

Obenshain’s bill was indeed “stricken at request of patron” as Walczak states.

Obenshain is just one of many radical GOPers in our land - yet another extremist wanting to over-reach and control a woman's body parts. This path, while a disgusting disturbing one, is the American Taliban we have come to know and love. First ladies, its put an aspirin between your knees for birth control, next it's have your lady parts probed whether you consent or not, always remember ladies that "rape is legitimate", and now, this Einstein wants to step further into business that should remain between both you and your doctor.

Women of Virginia, how and why you could vote for these Neanderthals are beyond me. The hypocrites on the right speak of the preponderance of too much government, when is enough enough? - when do pasty white archaic GOP men keep their ideologies out of a woman's rights? - their right for them to make up their own minds about their own person-hood!

Mark Obensahin, you sir are today's worst person in the world, congratulations Einstein!

Monday, May 20, 2013

VIRGINIA'S VERSION OF THE AMERICAN TALIBAN

E.W. WALKER VIRGINIAN AMERICAN TALIBAN


The Virginia Teapublican Party this weekend nominated for lieutenant governor a minister who has a history of virulent anti-gay statements, accuses the Democratic Party of enslaving African Americans, and criticized President Obama for having “Muslim sensibilities.” The former Senate candidate ,who in 2012 garnered less than 5 percent of the vote in the Republican primary, bested six other candidates during the Virginia GOP convention, and will join conservative Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli on the Virginian American Taliiban ticket. He is the first black candidate the state party has endorsed since 1988.

Here are some of the most alarming facts you need to know about E.W. Jackson [Earl Walker Jackson Senior]:
He has said gays and lesbians are “very sick people, psychologically and emotionally” whose minds are perverted. He has also said homosexuality “poisons culture, it destroys families, it destroys societies”

He called alleged Democratic Party ties to Planned Parenthood “more lethal to black lives than the KKK ever was” and thinks blacks who join the Democratic Party are voluntarily selling themselves into slavery.

He has equated Islam with anti-semitism, and criticized President Obama for having “Muslim sensibilities,”
He led an “Exodus Now!” movement encouraging African Americans to leave the Democratic party because opposition to same-sex marriage and government endorsement of religion means “Democrats are engaged in a concerted effort to do away with all symbols of our Judeo-Christian culture.”

He rallied against hate crimes legislation as a “virulent strain of Anti-Christian bigotry and hatred.”


NFTOS
Editor-In-Chief
Roger West

Sunday, May 19, 2013

SMEARING IN THE RAIN



I guess that Benghazi thing isn't panning out so well for the American Taliban, they don't care about spying on the AP, and the IRS scandal is losing steam. So on to the next one! But ... is there anything more stupid than this? This umbrella thing is nothing but pure unadulterated racism. Not matter how its sliced and diced, how you spin it, it's racism, to the very core.

On the 40th anniversary of the beginning of the Senate impeachment hearings that eventually brought down President Richard Nixon, the right-wing has found yet another “Watergate” to try to pin to Obama. Not the Benghazi attacks, or even the IRS targeting scandal–but it does involve water.

Republicans and right-wing talkers, gleefully embracing every bit of scandalous news they might be able to peg to the president, picked yet another issue to badger President Obama on Thursday.


TEA BAGGER UMBRELLA-GATE


OTHER SMEAR TACTICS OF THE AMERICAN TALIBAN


His umbrella.

Specifically, his decision to have a Marine hold an umbrella for him while he spoke at a press conference alongside Turkish Prime Minister Recep Erdogan Thursday.

Pundits like Sean Hannity and Eric Bolling used the moment as a metaphor to bash the president on Obama again. “ Wouldn't it be nice if he had them covered the way they have him covered?” Bolling asked. Hannity said, “They were protecting him and maybe in this case he should have been protecting them and the people in Libya.

Why paint the president as a gracious host when you can paint him as a lazy elitist instead?


TWITTER RACIST

TWITTER HATE MAP

Where are the Racist, Hateful Tweets Coming From?

"Twitter has the capacity to ignite revolutions and enable small acts of kindness, but there's also a darker side to the micro-blogging network.

Floating Sheep, a group of geography academics, created the "Geography of Hate," which maps racist, homophobic and ablest tweets in the U.S. "

Where are the most hateful, racist, homophobic tweets coming from? A "Geography of Hate" map can tell you, and probably dishearten you in the process. Are people comfortable with making hate public?

If you study the map GOP, states [red] are the ones that contain the most red, which are the most racist and homophobic states we have. Surprised? I am not.


TREASON FOR THE GOP




TEA BAGGER IRS FORMS [A must see, just hilarious]




NFTOS
Editor-In-Chief
Roger West



Saturday, May 18, 2013

TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES



We apologize for the inconvenience, but we are experiencing technical difficulties today.

We will be back tomorrow with a fresh new blog.



NFTOS
STAFF

Friday, May 17, 2013

WHITE HOUSE EMAILS UNDERMINE AMERICAN TALIBAN'S COVER UP CLAIMS



On Wednesday, just days after Congress held hearings claiming that the Obama administration misled the public in the aftermath of the Sep. 11, 2012 attack on an American consulate in Benghazi, Libya, the White House released 100 pages of emails that seem to undermine GOP claims that the White House orchestrated a “cover-up.”

The e-mails between the White House, CIA, State Department, Justice Department, and the FBI were part of an effort to draft unclassified talking points for lawmakers to use during media appearances and formed the basis of U.N. Ambassador’s Susan Rice’s prep for the Sunday morning talk shows. The CIA wrote the first draft of the talking points, before sending it out to the rest of the government. Click the pictures to view larger versions of the emails that debunk the basis many of the Republican’s claims of a conspiracy.

GOP Claim: The Obama administration struck references about Al Qaeda for political reasons.




In the very first of the declassified emails in the set, the CIA is revealed to have willingly struck references to Al Qaeda’s involvement in the attack, a deletion that conservatives have previously slammed as political in nature. A CIA official, responding to an inquiry about whether or not the Agency was sure that Al Qaeda took part in the attack, noted that the initial draft “could be interpreted that way,” suggesting that the document be revised to say that terrorist group took part in the protests instead. The CIA was also under “express instructions” to avoid naming perpetrators so to not to undermine the FBI’s investigation, according to an email from Sept. 14.

GOP Claim: Obama lied about there being a protest in Benghazi to hide that it was a terrorist attack.




The addition of references to “demonstrations,” another email shows, was completed before the document was sent out to the rest of the government, as was that the attack was “spontaneously inspired by the protests at the U.S. Embassy in Cairo.” The fact that no protest actually occurred in Benghazi prior to the attack was used as another data point that the Obama administration was hiding something about its response to the attack. Rather than being political, however, it appears the CIA made the changes to make the talking points more accurate based on what information was currently available, a situation that is often the case when dealing with intelligence.

GOP Claim: The White House directed the intelligence agency to lie about whether Islamic terrorists were involved.




John Brennan, then the White House Advisor on Homeland Security and Counter-terrorism and now the CIA Director, reviewed the talking points as well, but didn't perform the scrubbing many conservatives have suggested the White House enacted. Instead, Brennan left in place a reference to “Islamic extremists” in his suggested edit, undercutting the notion that the administration wanted to hide the nature of the attack. In fact, the White House, according to an email to then-CIA Director “cleared [the document] quickly.” Over the course of the next day, after State and Justice were looped in, the turf war that has been previously reported played out.


GOP Claim: Susan Rice had access to the classified information and lied about it on television.




On Sept. 15, the talking points were finally sent to Congress after multiple edits and provided to Rice to prepare for her Sunday show appearances the next morning. We now know that Saturday evening the intelligence community received new information related to whether or not a demonstration took place, not in time to change the points. Instead, Rice gave the much shortened talking points as provided, setting off the firestorm that eventually ensued.

To date Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) still isn't convinced no cover-up occurred. After telling CNN host Wolf Blitzer, “We’re not accusing anyone of anything sinister,” just one minute later, he implied that the CIA was forced to provide false information. “How did they go from the correct information to the incorrect information, and isn't 100 pages or more a push-back on the CIA effectively telling the CIA, ‘ You've got to change your story?’” Issa asked.

Read all of the emails here.




NFTOS
STAFF WRITER

Thursday, May 16, 2013

THE AMERICAN TALIBAN SEEKS 37th TIME TO REPEAL OBAMACARE




It's time for The American Taliban to stop wasting time investigating Benghazi and get back to wasting time repealing Obamacare.

For the 37th time since 2011, House Republicans will hold a vote to repeal Obamacare on Thursday, bringing the total cost of all of their failed repeal votes to roughly $55 million in taxpayer money, according to one estimate.

Last year, CBS News calculated that the number of hours spent on 33 repeal votes — then roughly 80 hours, or two full work weeks — cost taxpayers an estimated $48 million. Since then, Republicans have held three more votes (another $4.5 million) and will add another $1.5 million with their latest.

At a time when lawmakers have implemented $85 billion in across-the-board cuts on top of $1.5 trillion in spending cuts over the next decade, no dollar can be spared. And the country has serious health-related needs that could use funding. Here are some better health care uses for the more than $50 million these symbolic votes against the Affordable Care Act have wasted:
1. Restore cuts from sequestration to Title X family planning programs and Title V maternal and child health services. The National Women’s Law Center calculates that a 5 percent cut to the budgets of each program will reduce them by $15 million and $32.5 million, respectively. Rather than voting to repeal a bill that expands women’s access to preventative services, the House could use the money to expand them.

2. Double the Department of Justice’s budget for sexual assault services, which has currently been authorized a $50 million budget. The program gives money to states so that they can support rape crisis centers and other nongovernmental organizations that provide direct intervention, core services, and other assistance to the victims of sexual assault. Current funding is inadequate, as some states receive less than $300,000 and many programs lack the resources to meet victims’ needs.

3. Grant a request for $50 million to train 5,000 new mental health professionals as part of a new initiative to expand mental health treatment and prevention services. This proposal came in the wake of the Sandy Hook shooting to address gaps in the mental health system.

4. Help states implement paid leave policies. President Obama included a $50 million State Paid Leave Fund in his 2011 budget to provide start-up support for states that want to enact paid leave for workers. More than 40 percent of workers don’t have access to paid sick leave, heading to work when they or their family members experience an illness, but this funding could help give them a better option.

The current Congress is on track to be the most unproductive since the 1940s, but still has time to hold votes that won’t result in actual legislative change. There are many other priorities lawmakers could focus on instead and better ways to spend taxpayer dollars.



NFTOS
Editor-In-Chief
Roger West