Alright Fine, We’ll Talk About the Tea Parties

I didn’t want to give these idiots any relevancy, but since the nutjobs are sprouting up all over the place, I guess I’ll take some time to respond, however inane their arguments are.

Ok so I think the best way to do this is to just rattle off some facts (and some opinions) in list format for ease of reading:

Here’s are 10 questions for all you people at these so-called T.E.A. (Taxed Enough Already…cute isn’t it?) Parties ranting and raving about wasteful spending and deficits–

1. Why all of a sudden are  you upset about paying taxes?
2. Why all of a sudden are you upset about government spending?
3. Why all of a sudden are you upset about the bailout and the stimulus package?
4. Where have you been over the past eight years?
5. Where have you been while GWB and his Republican administration racked up the largest deficit in our country’s history?
6. Where were you when GWB and his administration would not include Iraq in the normal budget and would only pay for it with “emergency spending money” so he could hide the billions that were being funneled to private contractors (aka his friends) over in the Gulf to rebuild and secure a nation that we had just irresponsibly attacked for no good reason?
7. Where were  you when GWB passed the first stimulus package?
8. Where were you when Ronald Reagan tripled the national debt (i.e. more than equaled the entire debt burden produced by the previous 200 years of American history?
9. Where were you when GWB doubled it after Clinton eliminated it?
10. Where were you when Reagan (because of his insane cut taxes/raise spending economics) was forced to raise taxes TWICE to avert a fiscal catastrophe?!

I don’t mind if  you are worried about government spending. I will respect your views as much as their are LOGICAL and VIABLE with facts, history, and reality. But you Republicans and Libertarians and Fox News nuts at these tea parties don’t have facts, history, or reality on your side.

You protest when there is a Democrat in the Oval Office and a Democratic Congress. But you’re silent when there is a Republican President and/or Congress. You are currently a party that is living in a heaping pile of lies, revisionist history, and alternate reality.

You’re not protesting spending. You have rallied behind deficit spending for the past 30 years. You are protesting the fact that you lost the election in embarassing form. You are protesting because you are sore losers and you’re not willing to allow the “other side” even 100 days to try to right this enormous ship that has been diverted off track by your leaders.

Rather than taking to the streets to allegedly protest wasteful spending (by, ironically, wastefully spending on millions of tea bags), why don’t you all take some time to READ FACTS and LEARN HISTORY and deal with REALITY. Just for a change. Just to see where it leads you. You might upset your other ignorant, fire-breathing friends and family members, but you might just feel a little better inside yourselves.

Israel: Shelling of U.N. complex ‘a grave mistake’

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned an attack on a U.N. relief agency’s compound in Gaza City Thursday, which he and other U.N. officials say was committed by Israeli forces.

“[Israeli] Defense Minister Barak said to me it was a grave mistake and he took it very seriously,” Ban said at a news conference in Tel Aviv with Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni.

But Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev said the matter is still under investigation. When asked about Ban’s comment, Regev said Defense Minister Ehud Barak actually told the U.N. chief that “if it was Israel’s fire, it was a grave mistake.”

Regev said it was “not clear whose shells, whose fire hit the U.N. facility.”

“It could have been ours, it could have been Hamas’,” Regev said. “This is being investigated.” Watch Regev respond to accusation »

Israeli forces moved into Gaza City overnight. During the clash with Hamas fighters, the U.N. Relief and Works Agency headquarters complex — located in a densely populated neighborhood — was hit repeatedly by shrapnel and artillery.

The burning compound emitted a massive pillar of billowing black smoke. Clashes around the compound in Gaza City made it impossible to extinguish the fires, UNRWA Director John Ging said. Watch as fire blazes at U.N. compound »

An artillery shell struck one building wounded three workers, and the compound’s warehouse and workshop were burning out of control within an hour and a half, he said.

“We warned the Israelis hour by hour through the night of the vulnerabilities here as the shells came closer and closer and shrapnel was coming into the compound on a regular occasion,” Ging said. “Nonetheless, we have now been subjected to these direct hits.”

Ging identified the source of the fires as white phosphorus shells, whose use is restricted under international law.

“It looks like phosphorus, it smells like phosphorus and it’s burning like phosphorus,” Ging said. “That’s why I’m calling it phosphorus.”

The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the allegation. But the U.S.-based group Human Rights Watch has accused Israel of using white phosphorus shells in Gaza during its campaign against Hamas, the Palestinian militant group that has ruled Gaza since 2007.

Human Rights Watch said that although the use of white phosphorus to obscure military movements is legal, the substance can burn civilians and start fires in the densely populated territory. Watch as civilians suffer most »

The Israel Defense Forces initially denied using the ordnance. But by Monday, Israeli officials said only that any shells fired in Gaza “are in accordance with international law.”

Regev said Hamas is also armed with phosphorus shells and has fired them at Israelis.

“Phosphorus shells were shot by Hamas from Gaza into Israel,” Regev said Thursday. “That was documented yesterday.”

More than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed and nearly 5,000 wounded since the conflict began, Palestinian officials said Wednesday. Israel said 10 of its soldiers and three civilians have been killed and more than 100 soldiers have been wounded.

Following the last two days of bombardment, the private relief agency CARE announced it was canceling its distribution of food and medical aid to the territory during Thursday’s fighting as well. Read an aid worker’s diary

UNRWA spokesman Christopher Gunness said the agency had urged both Israel and Hamas, which has been firing rockets into southern Israel, to heed the “conscience of the world” and comply with a U.N. resolution that calls for a cease-fire.

But he added, “I’m standing looking over the town of Beit Hanoun, and with every dull thud and every plume of smoke that comes out of there, it’s sad to say that the parties on the ground are not listening.”

Source

Coming up this week.

-Wednesday Kayla from The Bad Girls Club on Oxygen calls in

-Thursday Frangela will be in-studio to share there thoughts on the economy, Bush, Obama and celeb gossip… Oh and to talk about “He’s just not that into you”

-Friday Matt has your over/unders for this weekend in sports

-Karus will be breaking down the Hollyweird scene

And of course, Tim and Cassie got you covered on ALL the news to help you talk around the water cooler… to who ever is there!

Racism today

Jan. 5, 2009—

It was 6:30 a.m. on a Friday in downtown Linden, N.J., when two Hispanic day laborers were struggling with their English as they tried to order a coffee and a sandwich at a deli.

But rather than getting served, they got a string of insults hurled at them from the clerk behind the counter. Their broken-English request for food was met with a barrage of racist remarks, including, “Get back in your pickup truck with the rest of your family.”

This scene wasn’t real. It was all part of a “What Would You Do?” experiment designed to find out what action, if any, bystanders would take after watching the men’s exchange with the clerk.

Watch the story on “What Would You Do?” Tuesday at 10 p.m. ET

Seth Perlman, the manager of All Aboard Bagel and Deli, agreed to ABC News’ using his business to test people’s reactions to bigotry. The racist cashier standing next to him was an actor hired by ABC News, as were his victims.

Here in this working-class neighborhood 15 miles west of New York City, people have a reputation for tolerance. But, sometimes, the reactions were far less open-minded than one would expect.

In the face of blatant discrimination, many people seemed immobilized, some too stunned to react. After being turned away by the cashier, one of the day laborers asked a nearby customer for help. She suggested that he try another store down the street. Many other customers had a similar reaction, quietly walking away after being solicited to help.

Although some customers seemed indifferent, others were quite willing to let everyone know exactly how they felt.

Upon hearing the cashier’s racist attacks on the day laborers, customer Darick Maxis, a black man, seemed to take the side of the clerk.

“If you want me to make you leave, I’ll make you leave,” he told the Hispanics. “So leave. That’s all I gotta say. Leave!”

When ABC News’ John Quinones approached the scene and let him know the exchange was a television experiment, Maxis continued his rant.

“You know what I think?” he asked. “I think they’re taking our jobs because we ain’t got no jobs.”

But, later, Maxis said that he regretted what he’d said and was simply caught up in the heat of the moment.

‘I Don’t Speak Mexican’

It is a complicated situation for some. There are an estimated 117,600 day laborers in the United States.

One of those workers is Mario Rodriguez. He wakes up at 5 a.m. seven days a week and walks two miles to a spot on the side of the road in Freehold, N.J., where he and 30 to 40 other HIspanic men hope they’ll get picked up for a day of work.

Rodriguez, who speaks little English and said he has felt the sting of discrimination, watched as the deli customers reacted to the racist cashier. The lack of empathy for the Hispanic actors brought Rodriguez to tears.

“There are some places that don’t want us there,” Rodriguez told ABC News. “When we go into a diner, sometimes they won’t even sell us a sandwich.”

Wanting to see if women got reactions equally as strong as their male counterparts, “What Would You Do?” sent two Hispanic women into the deli to buy coffee and a bagel the next day.

As with the Hispanic actors, one customer at the deli agreed with the clerk, telling the women to speak English or go to Taco Bell before saying, “Can’t help you. I don’t speak Mexican.”

But not everyone shared the cashier’s sentiments and allowed his prejudice to go unchecked. Many were outraged.

“How do you know they’re here illegally?” customer John Barnicoat, who is white, asked.

Others grew so angry that they left the store in tears and vowed never to return. One customer was so shocked by the clerk’s behavior that he became determined to set him straight.

“If you can’t deal with this country and how we accept other people, you don’t belong working here,” he told the clerk.

For some, the cashier’s comments struck a personal chord.

Joanne Murphy, like many Americans, comes from a family of immigrants. So when Murphy, who is Irish-American, heard the cashier refuse the Hispanic women service by saying they weren’t Americans, her response was passionate.

“Neither are my parents,” Murphy said, shouting.

Merlange Rene, who is Dominican and Haitian, said she has experienced similar prejudice, even being told to go back to her own country.

“I have family that can’t speak English,” she told the cashier. “They’re not here illegally.”

Respect for Everyone

For others, the scene in the deli violated the idea of treating every human being with respect.

“Give them what they want,” Walter Orenczak said, after hearing the cashier accuse the day laborers of taking American jobs away. He is white.

“They are human beings and they want to eat something,” he said. “And you know what? Nobody wants to do their jobs.”

El Salvador native Sonia Contreras said the treatment of the people had nothing to do with where they were from.

“God sent them to Earth like you and me, and they have rights to be in this world,” she told the cashier. “Leave the laws to the people who make the laws.”

Over the course of the “What Would You Do?” experiment, 88 people came into the store. Of those, 49 didn’t get involved at all and nine sided with the cashier. Thirty customers came to the defense of the day laborers.

The scene at the deli came at a time when Americans are very sensitive about losing their jobs and immigrants are concerned for their safety.

Last month, two Ecuadorian men were viciously beaten walking home from a bar in Brooklyn, N.Y. One died days later, after being taken off life support.

And in November, Ecuadorian immigrant Marcello Lucero was stabbed to death on New York’s Long Island by a group of teenagers who allegedly set out that night to kill a Hispanic person. Seven teens were charged in Lucero’s death.

Source

An Open Letter to John McCain and Sarah Palin

Dear Senator McCain and Governor Palin,

Time and again in America, people of all races and backgrounds have overcome division and fear, and come together to uplift the country and create a more equal and just society. It’s part of what makes this country great.

With an African-American nominee running on a major party ticket and a woman on the Republican ticket for the first time in history, this campaign has seen Americans–men and women of all races–inspired to continue that great tradition, coming together to bridge the gaps that history has set between us in service of our national progress.

But let us be clear: while we have made great strides in this country when it comes to racial equality, we are not finished. Now, more than ever, we need leadership that understands that we live in complex times where too many are quick to judge another by the complexion of their skin or the sound of their name.

In the last few weeks, Senator McCain and Governor Palin, rhetoric at your campaign events has taken an increasingly dangerous tone that seems to ignore the precarious state of our progress when it comes to race and ethnicity.

Supporters at your rallies and other events have used hateful language and called for violence against Sen. Obama yelling “kill him!” “off with his head!” and “bomb Obama.”

For the most part, you have stood by in silence. In addition, you have also repeatedly made statements that somehow connect Senator Obama with terrorism. Your surrogates have emphasized his middle name. This is problematic and dangerous, and we believe helps create the conditions that have given rise to these incidents of violent rhetoric from some of your supporters.

Today, we’re standing together as Americans of all political persuasions to express our deep concern that the decisions of your campaign are contributing to a dangerous atmosphere of paranoia, division, and hate that, as we have already seen, has the potential to seriously harm our country and its progress.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.”

In these trying times, candidates seeking the highest offices in the land must call on the best in each of us, and call off the worst.

We urge you to join people of conscience from all races and backgrounds to reject the politics of division and fear, and come together to uplift the country and create a more equal and just society.

3 Questions Scheiffer Should Ask McCain

1. “Senator McCain, you used to say that the main thing you were looking for in a running mate was the ability to take over as president, if necessary, on Day One. Given how many people there are in government that clearly meet that criterion, how do you justify picking someone who so many of the most intelligent and respected members of your own party believe clearly does not? Your campaign slogan is Country First, sir. Can you tell the American people exactly how you were putting Country First when you chose a congenitally dishonest, proudly ignorant, cold-blooded demagogue with no presidential qualifications whatsoever to sit just one of your 72-year-old cancer-ridden heartbeats away from running the country in these spectacularly perilous times of almost unprecedented economic and international crises?”
2. “Senator McCain, your campaign has spent the last ten days impugning your opponent’s character. We’ve seen Sarah Palin doing it, we’ve seen your wife Cindy doing it, and we’ve even seen you doing it yourself. Well, there he is right across the table from you. Is there anything you want to say to Senator Obama about Bill Ayers or Reverend Wright or Tony Rezko? Because it would be nice if he could respond to these allegations and insinuations and put this utter bullshit behind us so you could spend the next twenty days explaining to the American people why they should vote for you instead of scaring them about why they shouldn’t vote for him.”
3. “Senator McCain, your campaign rallies lately have become forums for foaming-at-the-mouth cretins who are so certain that your opponent is a terrorist that some have actually shouted out, “Kill him!” and “Off with his head!” Given the nation’s history of intolerance against those perceived to be somehow different – be it by virtue of sexual orientation, religion, or race – can you tell the American people how you’re putting Country First by fanning the fires of hatred and why they shouldn’t hold you and your rabid running mate personally responsible if those fires explode into violence?”