Tea in Boston Harbor

[Steve James]

And if so, what clountry will fill the void?

I don't think there'll be a void. I do think that the center will disappear as we know it.
I agree that the partisan nature of the politics is ending. Thought I'm not sure that people will focus more on actual issues. More or less, I don't think that calling oneself a Dem or Repub will be meaningful in terms of how one votes. Of course, there probably are people who will vote for "anybody" in their party. That's too bad.

[Interloper]

In the end, it's not the particular party to which the candidate belongs; it's which candidate the constituency feels will do the best for them.

You've touched on the truth. I'm a "hereditary Democrat," but am not a liberal -- really am a moderate who votes her conscience. In this instance, big government and open-handed spending did not look like the wisest option to me, any more than G.W.Bush's borrowing and debt-increasing habits were a wise choice during his administration. I prefer to see a more balanced adminstration in D.C. where no one party can dominate. So, with a Democrat in the Oval Office, I'd want to see a few more Republican voices in the Senate and Congress rather than a sea of Democrats. Vice versa when we have a Republican president.

This election was a hard one for me, because while on the one hand I do want to see poor- and middle class people have access to affordable health care, I am also alarmed at the trillion-dollar debt the U.S. has amassed, with no viable solutions for how to pay it off except to quit spending so much and live "within our means" as a nation.

[Michael]

I'm not looking to pick a fight regarding the causes of the economic meltdown, there is plenty of blame to go around on that front. I will highlight two things done by the previous administration that were unprecedented in US history that definitely weakened the economy and especially contribured to the federal deficit.

Just a general FYI going back to October 2008. The first TARP vote failed and Paulson physically collapsed, had to be carried out of the room, and so on. Obama was instrumental in passing TARP during the second vote. He was the heir apparent at that point in the Presidential race having received 4x as much money from Wall Street as McCain. Obama persuaded the black caucus to change their votes, I remember in particular one black Dem from Maryland, think his name is Cummings, who later regretted it. Also, Pelosi publicly credited Obama with getting TARP passed, the clip is available on youtube and in the documentary film The Obama Deception, a movie that despite the title, looks past partisan politics and the false left/right & liberal/conservative paradigm.

My parting thought, politics have become far too partisan, and concerned more with maintianing power than actual governing.

Getting caught up in the so-called two-party system is a trap. It's lose-lose when every election you attempt to vote out the Democrat scoundrel in favor of a Republican hooligan, and nothin of substance the voters want goes their way because both Dem and Pub candidates receive massive contributions from the same transnational corporate donors, who as companies, have no soul, no loyalty, and for the most part pay no taxes from their off-shore havens. The solution to this was demonstrated with Ron Paul in 2008, whether you like him or not, as his contributions came from individual donors, usually under $100 apiece, so he was beholden to no one and had a broad support base with no centralization of power that can be corrupted. This can work for any sincere candidate!

I have to admit though, I'm wondering if this is the begining of the end of America as the super-power world leader.

And if so, what clountry will fill the void?

China?

China is the future social model as described in detail by the leaders of the aforementioned transnational corporations. No human rights or limitations on government power. No private property. No labor protections. No progress. No honesty or accountability in the money or banking systems. Just an uneducated mass of cheap labor in the factories making up 85% of the population, 15% with a university "education" (actually just Pavlovian behavioral conditioning and ideological indoctrination), and 2% of the population as an elite class of uber-managers with critical thinking skills who are completely invested in the system and use their intellect only for the purpose of maintaining power. Now where have I heard all this before?

But no, China will not fill the void. A singular world government comprised of 3 blocs of nations: EU, American Union, and Asian Union. That is the stated plan, whether or not it will all come to fruition is unknown, but most of it is in place now.

[nianfong]

http://slacktivist.typepad.com/slacktiv ... rewed.html

[Walter Joyce]

http://slacktivist.typepad.com/slacktivist/2010/01/stop-demanding-that-you-get-screwed.html

Good stuff.

[Bob]

Hey, when is Glenn Beck going to start the march on Wall Street? How about him and Bill, along with Fox, starting some rallies up there on Wall Street?

Nawh, let's go to the Tea Party Convention:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/26/us/po ... f=politics

January 26, 2010
Tea Party Disputes Take Toll on Convention
By KATE ZERNIKE
A Tea Party convention billed as the coming together of the grass-roots groups that began sprouting up around the country a year ago is unraveling as sponsors and participants pull out to protest its expense and express concerns about “profiteering.”

The convention’s difficulties highlight the fractiousness of the Tea Party groups, and the considerable suspicions among their members of anything that suggests the establishment.

The convention, to be held in Nashville in early February, made a splash by attracting big-name politicians. (Former Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska is scheduled to deliver the keynote speech.) But some groups have criticized the cost — $549 per ticket and a $9.95 fee, plus hotel and airfare — as out of reach for the average tea partier. And they have balked at Ms. Palin’s speaking fee, which news reports have put at $100,000, a figure that organizers will not confirm or deny.

Tea Party events exploded last winter, as increasingly large gatherings protested the federal stimulus bill, government bailouts and proposed health care legislation. While they vary by name, specific tenets and relative embrace of anarchy, such groups tend to unite around fiscal conservatism and a belief that the federal government — whether led by Republicans or Democrats — has overstepped its constitutional powers.

Tea Party Nation, the convention organizer, started as a social networking site for the groups last year, a kind of Facebook for conservatives to “form bonds, network and make plans for action.” But its founders, former sponsors and participants are now trading accusations.

Philip Glass, the national director of the National Precinct Alliance, announced late Sunday that “amid growing controversy” around the convention, his organization would no longer participate. His group seeks to take over the Republican Party from the bottom by filling the ranks of local and state parties with grass-roots conservatives, and Mr. Glass had been scheduled to lead workshops on its strategy.

“We are very concerned about the appearance of T.P.N. profiteering and exploitation of the grass-roots movement,” he said in a statement. “We were under the impression that T.P.N. was a nonprofit organization like N.P.A., interested only in uniting and educating Tea Party activists on how to make a real difference in the political arena.”

Mr. Glass said he was also concerned about the role in the convention of groups like Tea Party Express, which has held rallies across the country through two bus tours, and FreedomWorks, a Tea Party umbrella. He called them “Republican National Committee-related groups,” and added, “At best, it creates the appearance of an R.N.C. hijacking; at worst, it is one.”

Erick Erickson, the editor of the influential conservative blog RedState.com, wrote this month that something seemed “scammy” about the convention. And the American Liberty Alliance withdrew as a sponsor after its members expressed concerns about the convention’s finances being channeled through private bank accounts and its organizer being “for profit.”

“When we look at the $500 price tag for the event and the fact that many of the original leaders in the group left over similar issues, it’s hard for us not to assume the worst,” Eric Odom, the executive director of the American Liberty Alliance and an organizer of the tax day rallies last April, wrote on the group’s Web site.

Sherry Phillips, who founded and runs Tea Party Nation with her husband, Judson, said Monday that it is not a nonprofit group.

Ms. Phillips said the American Liberty Alliance was “a for-profit company that takes donations.” The National Precinct Alliance, she said, demanded compensation of around $3,000. “Our budget on this convention is very tight and we could not afford them,” she wrote in an e-mail message.

She declined to comment on Ms. Palin’s speaking fee.

“If there is any profit,” Ms. Phillips said, “the money will go toward furthering the cause of conservatism.”

Mr. Glass denied that his group had requested money and said convention organizers had asked his group to pay $2,200 to speak.

As for FreedomWorks, it is not a convention sponsor. Tea Party leaders in training sessions at the group’s headquarters on Monday said their members, for the most part, could not afford the convention or were not interested.

An earlier version of this article erroneously said that Sherry Phillips called the Tea Party a "nonprofit" group.

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:

Correction: January 27, 2010
An article on Tuesday about concerns on the part of some Tea Party groups around the country over the cost of a Tea Party convention scheduled for early next month in Nashville paraphrased incorrectly from an e-mail message from Sherry Phillips, a founder of the convention organizer, Tea Party Nation. Ms. Phillips wrote that Tea Party Nation “is not a nonprofit.” She did not say it is a nonprofit group.

New York Times
______________________________________________________________________________

Same old, same old! LOL How the Republican Party co-opted the Tea Party. LOL

[Chris Fleming]

^^This sort of thing is the main stream media attempting to thwart the natural reaction of the American people and the independent media. This is what's called "controlled opposition". The media is owned and run by corporations who benefit from their bought government. What else could we expect?

[nianfong]

was that a joke? that sounded like a collection of all the catch phrases used by the neo-cons.

[Dmitri]

The last thing cash-strapped people need during these hard economic times, is someone telling us we need to pay more taxes to fund programs that, at best, will provide only peripheral service and benefits to them.

Which is of course why the majority of them voted for such a cash-strapped president. They didn't know, did they. Poor naive well-intentioned masses got duped again...

If we let go of the labels democrat and republican, liberal and conservative, and start looking at the issues and proposed solutions in a more pragmatic and less ideological way maybe we can turn things around.

That's what I've been screaming about so intensely before the 2008 presidential elections, donating to Ron Paul's campaign, etc. Ended up voting default libertarian (because Ron Paul wasn't on the ballot), and the LP candidate got... brace yourself... 0.4% of the national vote. Zero point fucking four percent. Forgive my French. That should tell us where the people of this country really stand...

Thinking-inside-the-box mentality is sticking around for good; 99% of the people will continue to vote like robots for one or the other, guided by the media.

[Chanchu]

Right- don't forget the Republican's fracked up massive EPIC FAIL..

That's how Obama and the Neo Com's got in then swung the country to the left- and continue trying to swing the country to the far radical left, surprise! after they lost the Kennedy seat they are blowing smoke trying to give the impression they are centralists- nobody buys that B.S.

http://wcbstv.com/politics/barack.obama ... 50735.html

Stay the course! more gov'nt take overs, more taxes, Washington needs to control health care! Don't cave in to the radical far right wing!

November is coming......

[qiphlow]

the only thing washington is doing to control health care is ensuring that the insurance companies will have complete and total control over america's healthcare system.

[Darth Rock&Roll]

Tea Party = GOP sore loser.

That's pretty much how the rest of the world views you teabaggers. lol

It's much funnier when we get to see the inbreds all protesting with their signs that butcher the english language.

glenn beck and his crew are douchebags. that's all they are. they know it. They are there to provoke and get ratings through that provocation. It's not news, it's inflammatory bullshit that gets redacted daily for incorrect statements.

but by all means go dump tea in the harbour to protest king George's taxation without representation.

how are you not being represented? oh yeah, it's the same line of thinking that the neo cons threw at everyone else for near a decade.

democracy in that style is a dictatorship of the majority. Thanks for fucking up the concept of democracy! And thanks for the screwy messed up ideas about what history is or the constitution or the bill of rights.

I think most tea baggers are sorely in need of remedial schooling for the most part.

Braying idiots is too kind.

[BaguaBoxer]

Tea Party = GOP sore loser.

That's pretty much how the rest of the world views you teabaggers. lol

It's much funnier when we get to see the inbreds all protesting with their signs that butcher the english language.

glenn beck and his crew are douchebags. that's all they are. they know it. They are there to provoke and get ratings through that provocation. It's not news, it's inflammatory bullshit that gets redacted daily for incorrect statements.

but by all means go dump tea in the harbour to protest king George's taxation without representation.

how are you not being represented? oh yeah, it's the same line of thinking that the neo cons threw at everyone else for near a decade.

democracy in that style is a dictatorship of the majority. Thanks for fucking up the concept of democracy! And thanks for the screwy messed up ideas about what history is or the constitution or the bill of rights.

I think most tea baggers are sorely in need of remedial schooling for the most part.

Braying idiots is too kind.

Hmmm...I can see you have a genuine interest in teabagging....

A trait you picked up from your mom no doubt...

[chud]

[Darth Rock&Roll]

Tea Party = GOP sore loser.

That's pretty much how the rest of the world views you teabaggers. lol

It's much funnier when we get to see the inbreds all protesting with their signs that butcher the english language.

glenn beck and his crew are douchebags. that's all they are. they know it. They are there to provoke and get ratings through that provocation. It's not news, it's inflammatory bullshit that gets redacted daily for incorrect statements.

but by all means go dump tea in the harbour to protest king George's taxation without representation.

how are you not being represented? oh yeah, it's the same line of thinking that the neo cons threw at everyone else for near a decade.

democracy in that style is a dictatorship of the majority. Thanks for fucking up the concept of democracy! And thanks for the screwy messed up ideas about what history is or the constitution or the bill of rights.

I think most tea baggers are sorely in need of remedial schooling for the most part.

Braying idiots is too kind.

Hmmm...I can see you have a genuine interest in teabagging....

A trait you picked up from your mom no doubt...

lol, yeah because moms everywhere teabag.

also it's important that teabaggers and other ill educated dis info spreaders read this:

Food for thought...
Posted By Annie Lowrey Tuesday, December 29, 2009 - 5:35 PM Share

On this day in 1999...

Lou Dobbs was a respected, middle-of-the-road journalist.

The prospect of achieving Middle East peace seemed imminent.

Beltway pundits believed Al Gore and George W. Bush were centrists who would govern similarly.

You could meet your loved ones at their arrival gate.

There were more than 2 million Christians living in Iraq.

Osama bin Laden was living with his family in a compound in Kandahar.

China's GDP was $1.4 trillion, half of Germany's.

Israel still had troops in Lebanon.

Nobody had ever heard of Somali pirates.

Something called Inktomi was the world's largest search engine.

Everybody was clamoring for the new file-sharing program Napster.

We worried Y2K would bring the global banking infrastructure to its knees.

Illinois State Senator Barack Obama campaigned for a spot in the House of Representatives.

First Lady Hillary Clinton campaigned for a spot in the Senate.

Wasilla, Alaska, Mayor Sarah Palin considered running for state-wide office.

India had fewer than a billion citizens.

Strongman Slobodan Milosevic still ruled in Yugoslavia.

The human genome had not yet been mapped.

The Concorde flew between Paris and New York.

Alan Greenspan was widely heralded as the world's greatest financial thinker.

Boris Yeltsin was preparing to step down and make way for the young pragmatist Vladimir Putin.

The Dow Jones closed at 11,484.

The United States had a record federal budget surplus.