Tea Kettle Movement: 'Because all its doing is letting off steam'

Columnist Thomas Freidman writes:

The Tea Party that has gotten all the attention, the amorphous, self-generated protest against the growth in government and the deficit, is what I’d actually call the “Tea Kettle movement” — because all it’s doing is letting off steam. 

That is not to say that the energy behind it is not authentic (it clearly is) or that it won’t be electorally impactful (it clearly might be). But affecting elections and affecting America’s future are two different things. Based on all I’ve heard from this movement, it feels to me like it’s all steam and no engine. It has no plan to restore America to greatness. 

The Tea Kettle movement can’t have a positive impact on the country because it has both misdiagnosed America’s main problem and hasn’t even offered a credible solution for the problem it has identified. How can you take a movement seriously that says it wants to cut government spending by billions of dollars but won’t identify the specific defense programs, Social Security, Medicare or other services it’s ready to cut — let alone explain how this will make us more competitive and grow the economy? 

And how can you take seriously a movement that sat largely silent while the Bush administration launched two wars and a new entitlement, Medicare prescription drugs — while cutting taxes — but is now, suddenly, mad as hell about the deficit and won’t take it anymore from President Obama? Say what? Where were you folks for eight years? 

The issues that upset the Tea Kettle movement — debt and bloated government — are actually symptoms of our real problem, not causes. They are symptoms of a country in a state of incremental decline and losing its competitive edge, because our politics has become just another form of sports entertainment, our Congress a forum for legalized bribery and our main lawmaking institutions divided by toxic partisanship to the point of paralysis . . .

(continued) Any Tea Party that says the simple answer is just shrinking government and slashing taxes might be able to tip the midterm elections in its direction. But it can’t tip America in the right direction. There is a Tea Party for that, but it’s still waiting for a leader." 

So what do you guys think about the Tea Party? Are they a force to be reckoned with when it comes to real issues and change, or is this just a temporary 'bitch fest'?

Who shall judge the soldiers?

[War correspondent Michael Ware worked for CNN from 2006 until April of this year, during which time he became known for covering the hellscape of our wars in Iraq and Afghanistan with brutal honesty and a keen analytical sense that often cut against the standard talking points. He's since been struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder and today the Brisbane Times is reporting on an event that might have contributed to that -- an alleged 2007 war crime that CNN refused to air. Kate Dennehy, who reports that Ware is "set to reveal" the details, describes the incident: Mr Ware tells of the alleged incident he says he witnessed and filmed in 2007 when working for US news giant CNN, but claims the network decided the footage was too graphic to go to air.  He alleges that a teenager in a remote Iraqi village run by the militant Islamist group, al-Qaeda was carrying a weapon to protect himself. "(The boy) approached the house we were in and the (US) soldiers who were watching our backs, one of them put a bullet right in the back of his head. Unfortunately it didn't kill him," he tells Australian Story. "We all spent the next 20 minutes listening to his tortured breath as he died. "Ware goes on to describe his mental state during that time, in which he realized that he was "more concerned with the composition" of his photo than he was with intervening in some way. "I indeed had been indifferent as the soldiers around me whose indifference I was attempting to capture," Ware says.]

The Full Story

My question is: Who shall judge the soldiers? You'll probably say I'm sounding anti-American, but can you answer the question? Is it just not 'kosher' to report incidences of war crimes committed by U.S. soldiers? When there are American casualties, news outlets leap on those stories. I guess they do this to encourage pride in all of us, right? Their efforts are shown across the board, but when the tables are turned and the US soldiers are doing the injustices, we won't hear about it unless the Huff covers the story? The stations duck and dodge the coverage of this unless there is no possible way for it to be ignored (i.e. 2003 Abu Ghraib prison torture pictures). Am I the only one that believes the soldiers should be held accountable for their actions? Not only because of those at home they are representing, but at least for their fellow soldiers that we applaud for being the heroes defending our country. Am I the only one that believes stories like these should be told as well? Call me anti-American, but I just want all of the stories to be covered. Its your choice if you want to be a naive American.

 

(Abu-Ghraib)

(marine throws puppy off a cliff. check youtube for the clip)

BS News: Bringing you the latest in nonsense!

I think that we can all agree that the news that is the most convenient for us to obtain, is that of which we go by. If you live in the metro-Atlanta area, you're more likely to pick up an Atlanta Journal Constitution, right? But why do they give us the type of news that they give? Why is it that issues that the fine folks of Atlanta need to know about miss the front page? Since when did the most recent Chuck-E Cheese toy recall or an ATM robbery take precedence over the doings of the government, or global catastrophes? To me it seems like the news tries to withhold the important information as much as they can. At least that's what it looks like, Atlanta. The AJC does you guys dirty. Are you gonna take that from them?

                             

as opposed to 

US, How Dumb Can You Be?

Off theme, but:

Following over-exaggerated 'coverage' of the Mosque story, and that of the Qu'ran burnings, I have one thing to say: America, How Dumb Can You Be?
Many Americans' excuse as to why the construction of a Mosque should be forbidden in the city of Manhattan is that it dishonors the victims of the September 11 World Trade Center attacks.
It is ironic that in the years following the attacks, the United States has spent years, money, and lives to promote 'Peace in the Middle East', but in turn condones religious intolerance on their own home terf. Talk about Hypocrisy! When President Obama spoke on the Mosque controversy, and condemned this type of religious intolerance, he was bashed by the masses, and called a 'Muslim Lover'. Now how the hell does this make sense, America? We can cry that a mosque being built in Manhattan is inconsiderate to us, but if that ignorance continues and actions such as Qu'ran burnings take place, who can say that 9/11 won't happen again? Who's to say it won't happen on a larger scale?
We have to look at what caused the attacks in the first place, right? Instead of pointing fingers, we need to realize that we were attacked because radicals were Pissed at our country. We can deny it all we want, but only the biggest Idiot would say that they did it for no apparent reason. And contrary to popular belief, every follower of Islam isn't a damn terrorist. Since some of us are dumb, let me put what's going on now in the simplest of forms:

Religious Intolerance + Radical Groups= Absolute Terrorism

Is that what we want? As of right now, it seems like that's what we're going for, America. So go ahead and burn Qu'Rans. Discriminate against those of Islamic faith. Tell them that they can't build a place of worship. Burn their mosques. Enjoy discriminating while you can! Just get ready to put on your 3D glasses and enjoy the show, because fire will be lit under our ass once more. This time, it might actually affect you! :)

No More Lohan.

 

Although he does seem agitated, this is what I'd rather hear.

I decided to post this video because of the debate that we were having about whether or not the media is doing the democratic system any justice. Obviously, not all anchors report trash news. Although he is somewhat calling his own news station out because of the story they wanted him to report, this is the type of thing that doesn't make me want to completely turn my back on the media.