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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
Showing posts with label tea bags. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tea bags. Show all posts

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

The Herman Cain Train

Cain’s latest allegations sound like ‘Leave it to … let’s not say Beaver’ says Comedy Central's Stephen Colbert.

Colbert begging 999 to stay in race

Stephen Colbert has long been a staunch supporter of Herman Cain, and he’s not giving up on the former pizza CEO and one-time Republican presidential frontrunner over a paltry 13-year affair. But Colbert is worried we could lose him, after Cain said Tuesday he is “reassessing” his candidacy.

“Herman, don’t you leave this election-lovers pizza half baked,” Colbert said Tuesday. “There’s no reason for you to leave. A 13-year affair just proves you can carry on a stable relationship. Two, counting your marriage!”
And this affair, unlike the earlier allegations, was apparently consensual. “I’d say things are looking up,” Colbert said. “Compared to all that reaching-for-the-lady-parts-like-a-dachshund-going-after-a-ball-under-the-couch, these new allegations sound like leave it to … let’s not say beaver.”

Plus, Colbert added, if the allegations prove true, Cain’s only one extra-marital affair puts him well behind Newt Gingrich.




Teapublicans and affairs seem to go hand in hand of late. Its apparent [with polls having Mr. 999 (Cain) handing the baton to Eye of Newt whom is now holding the top rung as leading teapublican ] radical teas accept infidelity and groping with open arms and they treat it like its a leading quality for the seat in the oval office.

The once Former House Speaker Eye of Newt Gingrich was having extramarital affairs even as he led the charge against President Clinton over the Monica Lewinsky affair. I have always said that teapublicans are the most hypocritical beings on the planet, and its never been more evident than with Mr. 999 and the eye of Newt. Extramarital affairs have dogged Gingrich for years as a result of two messy divorces, but even this is not enough to cause consternation amongst teapublicans.

When the Atlanta businesswoman came forward in an interview broadcast Monday to say she had a 13-year affair with Herman Cain, the latest in a string of women to make allegations of improper conduct by the presidential candidate, teapublicans seemed unfazed.

To prove her assertions, the woman, Ginger White, told Fox News in Atlanta that she had records of 61 phone calls or text messages to or from a number starting with the area code 678 that she said was Mr. Cain’s number.

She said that she met Mr. Cain in the late 1990s in Louisville, Ky., and that they often stayed together at the Ritz-Carlton in Buckhead, Ga. She added that the physical affair ended eight months ago.

Mr. Cain denied the woman’s assertions during an interview on CNN Monday afternoon, in which he first publicized word of Ms. White’s charges.

                 “I want to give you a heads up and everyone a heads up,” he told Wolf Blitzer.

                  “Here we go again,” he said of the allegations. “I didn’t do anything wrong.”

On its Web site Monday afternoon, Fox 5 Atlanta identified the woman as Ms. White.

“It was pretty simple,” Ms. White told the station. “It wasn’t complicated. I was aware that he was married. And I was also aware I was involved in a very inappropriate situation, relationship.”
Fox said that it texted the number Ms. White gave them and that Herman Cain returned the call. Fox said Mr. Cain said he “knew Ginger White” and and that she had his number because he was “trying to help her financially.”

In the CNN interview, Mr. Cain said the latest allegations would not cause him to leave the presidential race. He said the woman was an acquaintance.

Ms. White is the fifth woman to come forward with allegations of improper conduct by Mr. Cain.

When will teapublicans have moral fiber? Its like the owl in the Tootsie Roll Pops advertisement trying to get to the center of that tootsie roll tootsie pop......"The world may never know"!


NFTOS

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Ohioans Send Stern Message To Radical Republican Tea Baggers.

Ohioans kick the “Koch habit”!

Ohioans overwhelmingly voted to repeal their Governors union busting bill. Not even millionaire tea baggers “the Koch brothers” could buy the slam dunk choke and puke politics of the beloved Governor's bill.  



Ohio Democrats, who got absolutely creamed in the 2010 elections, have now won a major victory over Republican Gov. John Kasich — massively winning a referendum to repeal Kasich’s anti-public employee union law.

With 100% of precincts reporting — which includes a significant chunk of the total ballots, due to early-votes being counted quickly — the bill known as SB 5 is losing by a margin of 61%-39%.  
Pre-election polling showed the No campaign winning by over 20 points — and it seemed possible at time of writing that the final margin might even surpass this.




Talking Points Memo has documented that SB 5 had become a political poster child for Democrats pushing against Republicans, following the 2010 GOP wave, with the Dems and labor unions mobilizing while at the same time Kasich’s popularity tanked in the polls.

This follows a near-miss by the Dems and labor in Wisconsin, where they attempted to recall their way a majority in the state Senate after Gov. Scott Walker passed similar legislation. However, they were also hampered by the fact that the only recall-eligible districts were ones where the incumbent had won their terms in 2008, even during that year’s Democratic wave. They ultimately picked up two seats, just short of the magic number of three seats.





However, the Dems there are still not finished — and the upcoming effort to recall Walker, and to take another try at state Senate recalls in newly recall-eligible seats, could be the new battle going into 2012.

In Ohio, the law was passed earlier this year by Kasich and the Republican legislature. However, it never actually went into effect, as the citizen-initiated referendum process — spearheaded by the Dems and the unions — put the law on hold pending the referendum.  

Triggering a repeal referendum required organizers to collect signatures equal to just six percent of the total votes in the last gubernatorial election, with additional requirements that they be sufficiently spread out around the state, with at least three percent of the gubernatorial vote across at least half the counties in the state. That meant the threshold was 231,150 signatures — but organizers fired their opening political salvo by collecting four times as many, thus creating a greater base for the actual campaign.

Ohio is one of many states where Republicans took over state government in 2010, and proceeded to pass comprehensive legislation to strip away collective bargaining rights for public employee unions. But unlike the high-profile cases of Wisconsin and Michigan, Democrats were able to use the state referendum process to put the law directly on the ballot — thus setting up a top-tier political battle in this major swing state, and a possible resurgence by the state Democratic Party.

This vote certainly puts radical republicans on notice that this type of choke and puke politics will not be acceptable.  
The vote has national implications, emboldening Democrats for Obama’s re-election bid next year after defeats in 2010 and discouraging Republicans in other states from trying to curb public-sector unions, said Paul Beck, a political-science professor at Ohio State University in Columbus.


NFTOS

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Tea Bagger Class 101

Don’t attempt to take a courthouse hostage and conduct citizen’s arrest.


Birther Oathkeeper convicted in attempted courthouse takeover.


Darren Huff Fails Tea bag 101


Georgia birther and Oathkeeper Darren Huff was convicted Tuesday of attempting to take over a Tennessee courthouse and conduct citizen’s arrests on officials.
 
After a week-long trial, a jury convicted Huff of knowingly carrying a firearm in interstate commerce with the intent to use it in a civil disorder, but acquitted him of using a firearm in relation to another felony, CBS News reports.

The decision came after the jury announced last night that it was hung.

Huff will be sentenced in February. He faces up to five years in prison.
In his trial last week, Huff teared up on the stand when he said: “my government has called me a potential domestic terrorist.”

“It’s hard to get employment when you’re under federal indictment,” Huff also said. “I refuse to be intimidated. All I can do is still have a voice.”

As the story goes:

Huff’s troubles began in April 2010, when Walter Francis Fitzpatrick was arrested in Madisonville, Tennessee for attempting to conduct a citizens’ arrest on Monroe County Grand Jury Foreman Gary Pettway. “I’m charging you with official misconduct,” Fitzpatrick told Pettway. “I’m placing you under arrest. You must now come with me.” Fitzpatrick was charged with inciting a riot, disrupting an official public meeting, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest.

Beforehand, Fitzpatrick, who is a leader of the birther and Patriot group American Grand Jury, had written up 24 citizens’ arrest warrants for officials at the federal, state and local levels, calling them “domestic enemies” and describing President Obama as an “illegal alien, infiltrator and impostor.” His grievance with Pettway, it seems, was that Pettway would not agree to convene a grand jury to investigate the AGC’s belief that Obama is not a natural-born citizen.

Fitzpatrick’s allies called for supporters to storm the courthouse and conduct their own citizens’ arrests in retaliation for Fitzpatrick’s arrest, and Huff — carrying a Colt .45 and an AK-47 — responded to the request.

Huff, a former U.S. Naval officer from Georgia and a member of the OathKeepers, made his way to the courthouse on April 20, 2010, the day Fitzpatrick was supposed to stand trial.  

Huff told the troopers that he was not planning in resorting to violence unless provoked, but he was ready to die for his rights and what he believed in, according to court documents. He was arrested a few days after, and was eventually indicted knowingly “carrying a firearm in interstate commerce with the intent to use it in a civil disorder” and “using a firearm in relation to another felony,” according to the AP.

The menatality of those whom dawn the "Don't tread on me" flag. Gen Gadsden would be appalled!



NFTOS

Friday, October 21, 2011

Radical Teas Will Ask For Anything To Ensure Obama Doesn't Get Second Term

Radical Tea Bags urges small businesses ‘Not To Hire A Single Person’ to hurt Obama.



Congressional Republicans have acted shocked and offended at Democrats’ suggestions that they are intentionally sabotaging the economy to try to win back the White House in 2012. Republicans have refused to pass President Obama’s jobs plan — which experts estimate will create at least 1.9 million jobs — and proposed an alternative plan that Moody’s says “will likely push the economy back into recession.”

Now influential Tea Party leaders are throwing caution to the wind and openly lobbying business owners to stop hiring in order to hurt Obama politically. This week, Right Wing Watch picked up on a message Tea Party Nation sent to their members from conservative activist Melissa Brookstone.

In a rambling letter titled “Call For A Strike of American Small Businesses Against The Movement for Global Socialism,” Brookstone urges businesses “not hire a single person” to protest “this new dictator”:


Resolved that: The current administration and Democrat majority in the Senate, in conjunction with Progressive socialists from all around the country, especially those from Hollywood and the left leaning news media (Indeed, most of the news media.) have worked in unison to advance an anti-business, an anti-free market, and an anti-capitalist (anti-individual rights and property ownership) agenda.

I, an American small business owner, part of the class that produces the vast majority of real, wealth producing jobs in this country, hereby resolve that I will not hire a single person until this war against business and my country is stopped.


Brookstone cites Democrats’ support of the Occupy Wall Street movement as proof that Obama, media elites, and the like are “against business, private property ownership and capitalism.” Although she fails to explain how a freeze on hiring would send a bold pro-business message, given that such a boycott would further damage the economy and exacerbate high national unemployment.

But these Tea Partiers are only too happy to put politics ahead of the well-being of 14 million unemployed Americans, not to mention the businesses who are looking for qualified workers.



NFTOS

Sunday, October 2, 2011

Friday, September 23, 2011

Tea Society With Their Choke And Puke Governing Has Never Been Successful........EVER!

Former President Bill Clinton blasted the “non-fact-based political debate” surrounding the Republican primary race and Tea Party economic policies which advocate for limited government services and low taxation by saying:

‘There Is Not A Single Solitary Example’ Of A Country That Has Succeeded With A Tea Party Philosophy."
Clinton, who met with a small group of bloggers on the sidelines of the Clinton Global Initiative’s annual meeting in New York City today, responded to a question from ThinkProgress about Texas Gov., and GOP presidential frontrunner, Rick Perry’s position that Social Security is unconstitutional, and about the Tea Party’s anti-social spending sentiment more generally. Clinton blamed the “continuing dominance of non-fact based political debate,” saying:


You can stand up and say anything and nobody rings a bell if the facts are wrong. There’s no bell ringing. It’s crazy, we’re living in a time when it’s more important than ever to know things. And not just to know facts but to put them in a coherent. sensible pattern. And we live in a time, if you just want to talk about the economy, where the model that works for economic growth and prosperity is cooperation. But the model that works in politics is conflict.
Clinton went on to challenge the emerging GOP consensus that government size and spending require dramatic cuts, observing that the most prosperous parts of the U.S. “look nothing like the anti-government ideal of the Tea Party crowd”:
You know, there’s not a single solitary example on the planet, not one, of a country that is succesful because the economy has triumphed over the government and choked it off and driven the tax rates to zero, driven the regulations to nonexistent and abolished all government programs, except for defense, so people in my income group never have to pay a nickel to see a cow jump over the moon. There is no example of a successful country that looks like that.
While blasting the Tea Party’s economic policies, Clinton also acknowledged that the media plays an increasingly dangerous role in fanning the flames of partisan rancor.

When Clinton left office he left our country with a 236.2 billion dollar surplus. How soon the radical teas forget.


Clinton's surplus bookmarked by republican negative surplus
These are the facts and they are undisputed!



NFTOS

Saturday, September 17, 2011

A -Typical Republican

Caution Adult Language and Adult Content!

Republicans in a bubble



Democrats to create side show Donner Party to equal radical Tea Bag Party!




While these clips are hilarious, these are the facts -of late radical republican presidential hopefuls make for great fodder and if we can't laugh at the radical teas while schooling them - well life would be dull?


Enjoy your weekend readers!



NFTOS

Thursday, September 15, 2011

Let’s Rig The Electoral College

GOP Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett proposes rigging the Electoral College for republicans.


Electoral College Map

President Obama won Pennsylvania by more than 10 percentage points in 2008, and Democrats have won the state in every single presidential election for the last two decades. In a close election, it is difficult to draw an electoral map that sends a Democrat to the White House without that Democrat winning all of Pennsylvania’s 20 electoral votes. So the state’s GOP Gov. Tom Corbett has a simple plan — give away nearly half of the state’s electoral vote to the Republican presidential candidate for free:

Let’s be clear readers, the Electoral College is a terrible idea. It has, on three occasions, allowed the loser of the national popular vote to enter the White House. It forces presidential candidates to pander to swing states and ignore the needs of the vast majority of the nation. Without the Electoral College, Bush v. Gore would never have happened and former President-elect Al Gore would have succeeded Bill Clinton. If the entire nation were to adopt Corbett’s plan of doling out electoral votes by congressional district, it would eliminate many of the problems caused by our current system.
Gov. Tom Corbett and state Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi are proposing that the state divide up its Electoral College votes according to which candidates carried each Congressional district, plus two votes for the statewide winner. The system is used by Maine — which, despite the system, has never actually split its four electoral votes — and by Nebraska, which gave one of its five votes to Barack Obama in 2008.

Had this proposed system been in place in 2008, when Obama won the state by a ten-point margin, he in fact would have only taken 11 out of the state’s 21 electoral votes at the time — due to a combination of past Republican-led redistricting efforts to maximize their district strength, and Obama’s votes being especially concentrated within urban areas.


But when a major blue state’s Republican leadership adopts this kind of reform piecemeal, it is nothing less than an attempt to rig the election. One hundred percent of Texas’ electoral votes will still go to the Republican, but that same Republican will be guaranteed a share of Pennsylvania’s historically blue electors under Corbett’s plan.

And Corbett’s electoral giveaway to the GOP is merely the most audacious prong of a nationwide GOP strategy to steal democracy away from the American people. Numerous GOP state legislatures rammed through “voter ID” laws, which disenfranchise thousands of elderly, disabled, and low-income voters. Other states have erected new barriers to voter registration or reduced early voting opportunities — both of which make it more difficult for working class Americans to vote. Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) gutted his state’s public financing system for candidates to pay for a voter disenfranchisement law. A 5-4 Supreme Court decision just declared laws enabling publicly financed candidates to defend themselves against unlimited corporate attack ads unconstitutional.

Because in the GOP’s America, We the People can elect anyone we want, so long as they are a Republican. And the hits just keep on coming!



NFTOS

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Disgusting, Despicable, Irresponsible and Unacceptable!

Crowd At Tea Bag Debate: Society Should Let The Uninsured Die

As Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) responded to a question about how he would help a 30-year-old man without health insurance who needs intensive treatment, the crowd cheered when moderator CNN debate moderator Wolf Blitzer asked if society should let him die.

NFTOS Editor-in-Chief Roger West says “One of the worst things that can befall a person, and apparently the worst crime one can commit, is that of being alone in the world. Isn't it the objective of good government to achieve together what we cannot alone - to look out for each other? How can we call ourselves united, when we are so willing to throw one of our own away so casually? A society marked by zero tolerance in all things, is doomed. And in the end, it would be no more than we deserve.”


West continues saying “Its’ both amazing and disgusting how (tea bags) these people are so "pro life" when it comes to abortion and how "anti life" they are after the baby is actually born, Yet these same folks will fill a football stadium to loudly pray and show how "Christian" they are. More like the Pharisees and hypocrites.”


Seriously readers, this is one of the most disturbing things I've heard in awhile - is this what our great country has come to? This mentality sounds more like Aleister Crawley than conservative Americans.

The New Communist regime = GOP Tea Party- Let them die and die quickly! The most worrisome part of this deal is that one of these radical tools will gain the nod to run for president. Remember readers, irregardless of all other issues, the key factor here is one of these fruits or nuts could potentially have access to nuclear key codes….enough said!



NFTOS

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Surprise, Surprise, Surprise




During secret retreat with billionaires, Koch lobbyist admits tea party group ‘designed’ to elect republicans in 2010.

This morning, blogger Brad Friedman, writing in Mother Jones and BradBlog, revealed a set of audio tapes from the last major donor meeting convened by the billionaire Koch brothers. There are a number of startling revelations from the scoop — but the opening remarks from Kevin Gentry, a Koch Industries executive at the firm’s DC lobbying office, blow the cover off the many Tea Party efforts underwritten by the billionaires in the Koch network of donors.

Gentry, who doubles as the official responsible for doling out Koch charitable grants, admits privately what we and others have noted for years: Americans for Prosperity, the front group founded by David Koch, orchestrates Tea Party events simply to elect more Republicans. Gentry said he met with Fred Young, a Wisconsin owner of engine manufacturing plants, at an Americans for Prosperity (AFP) event “designed to help in the Congressional races” during one of their “get out the vote tours”:
KEVIN GENTRY: I’m going to turn it over to a dear friend, Fred Young, for the purposes of an introduction. Fred is a long-time fighter, freedom fighter, in this movement, from Racine, Wisconsin. Former owner of Young Radiator. As part of our efforts last year, in 2010, I was on the road for in Wisconsin, here at one of Americans for Prosperity’s last minute kind of get out the vote tours. And I went to an event in Racine, Wisconsin, and met up with Fred. It was sort of a Tea Party AFP event designed to help in the Congressional races. And Fred was kind enough to lend me a sweatshirt because I wasn’t actually prepared for Racine, Wisconsin in November. So Fred, let’s take it away, please.
Too many in the media ignored the Koch network’s transparently partisan agenda last year. A few outlets, like the Washington Post, took the group to task for spending $45 million in attack ads against Democrats using an unaccountable, secret money wing of Americans for Prosperity. However, most failed to report on the millions more spent on four different bus tours designed to promote Republicans. These rallies, which required great resources in terms of staff and logistics, were never reported to the Federal Elections Committee as campaign spending, thus evading the few watchdog groups and reporters interested in serious election coverage.

The blog ThinkProgress revealed last year, in documents outlining the June, 2010 donor meeting, billionaires like Paul Singer, Ken Griffin, Rich DeVos, and John Childs are regular attendees of these events, which solicit multi-million donations for an elaborate array of right-wing front groups, from Tea Party organizers like Americans for Prosperity to stealth advertising campaigns like “Public Notice.” Unfortunately, many still report on Tea Party groups like Americans for Prosperity as bonafide grassroots organizations.


NFTOS

Thursday, August 25, 2011

Radical Tea Invokes Its Ignorance Once Again

Tea Partier Tells Rep. Lujan, Life-Long American, To ‘Get Out Of Politics And Make Room For An American’.

The Tea Bag Party continues to claim that racism, ethnocentrism, and xenophobia are not driving forces in its movement, but the actions of its members continue to belie those claims. Many of the movement’s causes have targeted Latinos — advocating for harsh immigration laws, referring to them as “anchor babies” and “welfare queens,” urging followers to attack Latinos, and fighting to rewrite the 14th amendment to remove its guarantee of birthright citizenship.

Tuesday in New Mexico, the strains of racism and ethnocentrism that exist in the Tea Party movement emerged again. As Rep. Ben Ray Lujan (D-NM) prepared to tour a nonprofit organization in Farmington, he was met by a dozen Tea Party protesters, one of whom asserted that Lujan was not an American. The Farmington Daily Times reports:
Darrel Clark of Farmington said he came for “a chance to see the elusive representative.”
“He needs to get out of politics and make room for an American,” Clark said.
Luján is a lifelong New Mexican. Clark later explained that he meant an “American patriot.”
Though Clark did not elaborate on what he meant by “American patriot,” it’s not hard to understand his implication.  
Lujan, however, was born in Santa Fe, has lived in the U.S. all his life, and is the son of a public school administrator and the speaker of New Mexico’s state House of Representatives. According to the Daily Times, Lujan took the protests and their insults “in stride.” “It’s important that we get out to visit our constituency,” Luján said. “We think that’s important, and we’ll continue to do that.”

With the teas being so hell bent on the founding fathers, we at NFTOS believe this quote suits our situation best – “The USGS has determined that the epicenter of the Virginia earthquake was in a graveyard just outside of DC. The cause appears to be all of our Founding Fathers rolling over in their graves.” Keep up the great work radical teas!


NFTOS

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

I Love Me Some U.S. Constitution…. That Is Until It Doesn’t Fit My Radical Ideology

Study shows: Tea partiers are deeply in love with a constitution they want to gut.


U.S. Constitution


A study led by a team of UNC-Chapel Hill and Vanderbilt professors examining what “cultural dispositions” unite the Tea Party reaching some interesting conclusions about the political movement’s relationship with the Constitution. They simultaneously revere the idea of the Constitution and hate much of what it actually says:

In our follow-up poll, 84% of those positive towards the TPM [Tea Party members] said the Constitution should be interpreted “as the Founders intended,” compared to only 34% of other respondents. Other respondents were also three times more likely not to have an opinion on the issue, highlighting the salience of the question for TPM supporters. Support for Constitutional principles is not absolute. TPM supporters were twice as likely than others to favor a constitutional amendment banning flag burning; many also support efforts to overturn citizenship as defined by the Fourteenth Amendment. The Constitution – and Tea Party more generally – take on heightened symbolic value and come to represent a ‘way of life’ or a “world view” rather than a specific set of laws or policy positions.

Sadly, the study actually paints a much more reasonable picture of the Tea Party than the reality suggests. Amending the Constitution to literally write your own policy preferences into the document is very rarely a good idea, but it is also an entirely legitimate way of bringing about constitutional change. The Tea Party, however, seems more interested in simply asserting repeatedly and loudly that the Constitution already imposes their preferred policy outcomes on the country — and in ignoring any evidence to the contrary.

In the past two years, we’ve seen Tea Party elected officials claim that everything from Social Security, to Medicare, to Pell Grants and federal student loans, to federal disaster relief, to the minimum wage, to child labor laws, to the ban on whites-only lunch counters all violate the Constitution. In other words, it’s clear that the Tea Party has little interest in following the actual Constitution — they just think the rest of the nation is gullible enough to believe that it says whatever the Tea Party wants it to say.



NFTOS

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

The Gamesmanship Of The Radical Teas

GOP Judiciary Committee Chairman Admits He’s Using Anti-Immigrant Hearings To ‘Embarrass The President’

Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX) originally promised that he would use his chairmanship of the House Judiciary Committee to focus on jobs. But the Texas conservative is so up in arms about the Obama administration’s recent decision not to automatically deport nonviolent undocumented immigrants that he is now committed to holding hearings on the subject.

Smith recently admitted to right-wing radio host Joe Pagliarulo that his goal in holding these hearings is nothing more than to “embarrass the president.” His nakedly partisan purpose has less to do with policy than trying to make the administration look bad “to get the American people on our side”:
SMITH: We can conduct hearings, oversight hearings, we can pull in administration officials, make them testify under oath, find out what’s going on, try to, frankly, embarrass the President and push back and get the American people on our side to push back against the administration. Secondly, the Appropriations Committee can defund any of these efforts, but unfortunately, on the appropriations level, you can only defund it one year at a time, so that’s not a long-term solution.


Smith then told Pagliarulo that the only long-term solution to ensure harsher treatment of undocumented immigrants is to elect a new president in 2012.


NFTOS

Monday, August 8, 2011

The Proof Is In The Pudding



Reuters reports: “The United States lost its top-notch AAA credit rating from Standard & Poor’s on Friday, in a dramatic reversal of fortune for the world’s largest economy.” The new rating is AA+.

In explaining their decision Standard & Poor’s cites both the decision by Republicans in Congress to turn the debt ceiling into a political football and the Republicans intransigence on tax increases. Some excerpts from the release:
The political brinksmanship of recent months highlights what we see as America’s governance and policymaking becoming less stable, less effective, and less predictable than what we previously believed. The statutory debt ceiling and the threat of default have become political bargaining chips in the debate over fiscal policy.

It appears that for now, new revenues have dropped down on the menu of policy options.

The act contains no measures to raise taxes or otherwise enhance revenues, though the committee could recommend them.

Compared with previous projections, our revised base case scenario now assumes that the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts, due to expire by the end of 2012, remain in place. We have changed our assumption on this because the majority of Republicans in Congress continue to resist any measure that would raise revenues, a position we believe Congress reinforced by passing the act.
Standard & Poors indicates that they could improve their rating for the U.S. if “the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts for high earners lapse from 2013 onwards, as the Administration is advocating.”

UPDATE: http://news.yahoo.com/white-house-adviser-blames-tea-party-downgrade-155220470.html
NFTOS

Friday, August 5, 2011

Tea Party Hobbits

A refresher course on what the teas are really all about.




























Enjoy your weekend readers, and thank you for your continued support to our blog. We are almost at 9 million readers in a little over a year. We never envisioned this when we created NFTOS. This following truly proves the progressive movement is strong.

Roger A. West
Editor-in-Chief
NFTOS

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

What The Debt Ceiling Will Really Cost Us

Debt Ceiling Deal Will Cost 1.8 Million Jobs In 2012

The Economic Policy Institute, a top nonpartisan think tank, estimates that the deal struck this weekend to raise the nation’s debt limit will end up costing the economy 1.8 million jobs by 2012. Today the Senate is expected to approve the package passed yesterday by the House and send it to President Obama. But while the unemployment rate remains above 9 percent, the deal does nothing to address chronic joblessness.

The agreement would reduce spending by at least $1 trillion over 10 years, but even the near-term cuts could shrink already sluggish GDP growth by 0.3% in 2012. According to EPI, the plan “not only erodes funding for public investments and safety-net spending, but also misses an important opportunity to address the lack of jobs.” In particular, the immediate spending cuts and the “failure to continue two key supports to the economy (the payroll tax holiday and emergency unemployment benefits for the long term unemployed) could lead to roughly 1.8 million fewer jobs in 2012.”





Top economists and CEO’s have also weighed in against the deal and said that GOP concessions to the Tea Party will cost our economy dearly. Pimco CEO Mohamed El-Erian warned that the deal will lead to less growth, more unemployment, and more inequality. Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman called the plan “a disaster” and “an abject surrender” that will “depress the economy even further.”

The Center for American Progress’s Michael Ettlinger and Michael Linden argue that while the deal “goes straight in the wrong direction,” Congress can redeem itself by using the so-called “super committee” mandated by the bill to focus on job creation. The committee, made up of six Republicans and six Democrats, is tasked with finding an additional $1.5 trillion of deficit reduction over the next 10 years, and must report a plan by Thanksgiving.

Linden and Ettlinger write, “It’s especially important for the committee to produce a plan that creates jobs and spurs growth because the committee’s proposals will come on top of a set of already-dramatic spending cuts that will have adverse economic consequences.”



NFTOS

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Republican Motto

"NEVER MISS AN OPPORTUNITY TO EXPLOIT A CRISIS TO PUNISH THE POOR AND MIDDLE CLASS".





I guess this about says it all. I've been asked of late what did I learn most about this debt ceiling crisis. I've learned to never vote republican!

Here is a great read on why we are in this ugly scenerio. While the radical teas will be in denial, this clearly paints the picture of why America is in the state of chaos it is in.



NFTOS

Monday, August 1, 2011

United States Gets World Grand Distinction

As ‘Irresponsible,’ ‘Worst Kind Of Absurd Theatrics,’ U.S. Politicians A ‘Laughing Stock'.

The rhetoric over raising the debt ceiling had become increasingly harsh as Democratic and Republican congressional leaders trade barbs back and forth. But as the U.S. inches closer to defaulting on its debts for the first time in history, criticism of Congress is starting to come from beyond our own borders. From France and Germany to China and India, countries around the world are angry that American politicians play with the possibility of a U.S. default like a yo-yo with little regard for the international economic system that depends on American solvency.


Radical Tea Bags

Despite China’s traditional preference of staying out of the domestic affairs of other nations, senior Chinese officials’ frustrations are growing louder and louder. Stephen Roach, the non-executive chairman of Morgan Staley Asia, said senior Chinese officials told him the debt ceiling debate in the U.S. is “truly shocking.” “We understand the politics,” a Chinese official said, “but your government’s continued recklessness is astonishing.” And newspapers around the world are voicing discontent with Congress’s handling of the debt ceiling:

The German mass-circulation Bild: “What America is currently exhibiting is the worst kind of absurd theatrics and the whole world is being held hostage… Most importantly, the Republicans have turned a dispute over a technicality into a religious war, which no longer has any relation to a reasonable dispute between the elected government and the opposition.”

French newspaper Le Monde:”The American politicians supposed to lead the most powerful nation in the world are becoming a laughing stock.”

Chinese state-owned newspaper Xinhua: “Given the United States’ status as the world’s largest economy and the issuer of the dominant international reserve currency, such political brinksmanship in Washington is dangerously irresponsible.”

Conservative German Die Welt: “There are few signs of self-doubt or self-awareness in the U.S. The Tea Party movement sees the other side as their enemy. Negotiations with the Democrats, whether it’s about appointing a judge or the insolvency of the United States, are only successful if the enemy is defeated. Compromise, they feel, is a sign of weakness and cowardice.”
The founding documents of many nations around the world take their inspiration from and quote the U.S. Declaration of Independence and Constitution. But now, foreigners don’t seem to be too inspired watching the intransigent wing of one political party that controls one house of one branch of the federal government hold the entire U.S. hostage. American soft power has taken a self-inflicted hit as a result of the debt ceiling debate.

Even though Congress seems to have managed a deal and they should be able to deliver a bill to President Obama’s desk today raising the debt ceiling before default, but the damage to our international standing has already been done. Other nations won’t forget how some members of Congress were so careless to allow the international economy fall into another financial disaster in order to score a few political points.

David Frum says his Republican Party should focus on the economy and jobs, but it's so pessimistic and panic-stricken that it's willing to sacrifice America's well-being for a point.



NFTOS

Thursday, July 28, 2011

Boehner Can't Seal The Deal

BREAKING NEWS:

Majority whip: "House will not vote tonight on Speaker John Boehner's latest proposal to raise debt ceiling, and cut spending."

House Republicans called off a vote late Thursday night on Speaker John Boehner's plan to raise the nation's debt ceiling while enacting sweeping cuts in government spending, but the possibility remained that the measure could come up on Friday.

The delay in voting on the proposal revealed a deep rift within the GOP that could undermine the party's latest attempt to avoid an unprecedented national default and stave off potential economic catastrophe.

Boehner was unable to muster sufficient support from his own caucus to guarantee his proposal would pass in the face of expected unified Democratic opposition.

Whether Boehner can push the measure through remains an open question. Tea party-backed conservatives staged a virtual revolt against the bill over the past two days, complaining that it doesn't do enough to shrink the size of government and stem the tide of Washington's red ink

Mr. Boehner can't control his radical banshees, so no vote tonight. Mr. President invoke your exec power and slam the 14th amendment down their throat. The rubber just doesnt meet the road for Johnny, and his party is in complete disarray! 

The majority leader can't pass a bill with his own party, what does this say? Radical teas whom never ever held office before now hold the world at bay, and time is ticking toward economic disaster. Have we learned our lesson yet about voting republican? We have a obligation to our debt readers, whether you like it or not its reality.

We here at NFTOS hear the thunder of the 14th amendment walking the halls of justice or at least the halls of the White House -  how aprapo is this, as republcians always invoke a amendment or two in their daily screed....not sure they ever heard this one before, as its hard for them to count pass that second amendment.





NFTOS

Radical Teas Are Willing To Crash World Money Systems

Boehner: ‘A Lot’ of republicans want to force default, create ‘Enough Chaos’ to pass balanced budget amendment.

House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) said yesterday that some members of his own caucus who are refusing to agree to a compromise debt ceiling deal are hoping to unleash “chaos” and thus force the White House and Senate Democrats to make bigger concessions than they’re already offering. As many as 40 House Republicans, especially Tea Party members and freshmen, have demanded nothing short of changing the Constitution to include a balanced budget amendment before they would vote to raise debt ceiling, even though that has zero chance before the U.S. faces potential default on Aug. 2.

Speaking on conservative radio host Laura Ingraham’s show this morning, Boehner agreed that failing to raise the limit before the deadline would be devastating, and said the “chaos” plan won’t work when asked by Ingraham what’s motivating the recalcitrant Republicans:
BOEHNER: Well, first they want more. And my goodness, I want more too. And secondly, a lot of them believe that if we get past August the second and we have enough chaos, we could force the Senate and the White House to accept a balanced budget amendment. I’m not sure that that — I don’t think that that strategy works. Because I think the closer we get to August the second, frankly, the less leverage we have vis a vis our colleagues in the Senate and the White House.

Listen here:


Boehner offers only political calculus for why this Tea Party plan wouldn’t work. He completely ignores the devastating effect a downgrade in U.S. debt and potential default would have on the American people and the global economy, who happen to be innocent bystanders to this high-stakes hostage negotiation.

Many on the left have been arguing all along that some Republicans are more interested in extorting concessions than addressing the debt issue, and are willing to blow up the economy if they don’t get their way — it’s refreshing, if troubling, to see that their leader agrees.


NFTOS