They’re tea’d off at federal spending
Sunday Column Reprise
Note from Dan: While I’m on vacation, I’m treating you to some oldie-but-goodie columns from the past. This one appeared April 5, 2009, and the publicity from it helped launch the Roanoke Tea Party (my fault!). Since then, the local group has gradually morphed into a warmed-over rehash of the John Birch Society, only kookier. Elena DeRosa quickly dropped out and refuses to discuss her reasons for leaving, at least on the record. Sharon Nicely has told me she’s still supportive of their efforts. At their Dec. 6 meeting, the Roanoke Tea Party drew about 250 people, which was a large crowd for their monthly get together, but still less than 1/10th of 1 percent of the Roanoke Valley’s population.
Reduced to barely a trickle in a not-so-distant drought, the slender and shallow Roanoke River is a rotten substitute for Boston Harbor.
Sharon Nicely and Elena DeRosa are well aware of that. Nevertheless, they’re vowing to make do when they host a “Tax Day Tea Party” at River’s Edge Park on April 15.
It’s part of a national grass-roots movement of like events sparked by an off-hand comment from a cable news guy and spurred on by conservative bloggers.
The two women, who had never met in person before Tuesday, wouldn’t strike you as revolutionary icons.
DeRosa, 49, who lives in the Oak Grove area of Southwest Roanoke County, is a 1970s rock ‘n ‘roll-loving mom of two with a Brooklyn accent, frizzy blond hair and a razor wit she sharpens on her local blog. She’s also the owner of a Salem auto repair shop.
Nicely, 52, is an upstate New York native who moved here in her late teens with her truck-driver dad. She lives in the Wasena neighborhood, is a supervisor for Goodwill Industries and has a penchant for animals.
“I have never, ever been political before,” she says emphatically.
What they share is anger and disgust at the federal government’s spend-your-way-out-the-recession mentality.
“I really do not like the way the federal government is spending our money,” DeRosa says.
READ THE REST OF THIS COLUMN HERE.
December 30, 2012 - 6:00 AM
Really? They were “motivated” by Santelli’s “Screw the poor we hate Obama” moment of televised Tourettes? How impressive. Not. I’ve taken to calling CNBC the “Screaming bitter white man station”. The fact that they completely missed calling the crash would (you’d think) minimize their credibility in the eyes of most people, but I guess not. Certainly the UN’s pending take over of the country had distracted them.
It’s especially funny that Sharon N’s job involves working with people that the Tea Party puppet masters would just as soon use as landfill.
if barack understood simple math, people wouldn’t have to meet like this. of course you can’t expect anything decent or good or smart from his mind of marxism that might detour his agenda.
from a dem site: http://www.democratsagainstunagenda21.com/
SOUNDS LIKE SCIENCE FICTION…OR SOME CONSPIRACY THEORY…BUT IT ISN’T.
UN Agenda 21/Sustainable Development is the action plan implemented worldwide to inventory and control all land, all water, all minerals, all plants, all animals, all construction, all means of production, all energy, all education, all information, and all human beings i
n the world. INVENTORY AND CONTROL.
The study linked below shows that 50+% of the accumilated deficit at the federal level is due to 2 factors. These are the Bush tax cuts & the wars in Afghanistan & Iraq. Add to that the cost of the unfunded Medicare Prescription Drug benefit passed by the Republicans. TARP, Fannie/Freddie, the economic downturn, other measures, and prior debt make up the rest.
My question for Ms. Nicely, Ms. DeRosa, pammala and other Tea Party folk is where were you between 2001 & 2008? Why weren’t you out demonstrating about Republican spending & tax policies?
http://www.offthechartsblog.org/what%E2%80%99s-driving-projected-debt/
@4 Ron,
I agree with you that the deficits were a problem during 2001-2008. They were a problem before those years also.
However, we are now several years into running trillion dollar plus deficits. These are projected to continue. Interest rates are at record lows and are intentionally manipulated to stay that way. Even at this low level, the cost to service the national debt is significant.
With the projected continuing deficits and the potential for rising rates with the resulting dramatic increase in the cost to service national debt, well we are definitely on a slippery slope.
No single party or individual deserves all the blame. This has been a team effort to arrive where we find ourselves today. However we cannot and must not continue in the same direction.
Who has the solutions? Unfortunately no one yet. And it isn’t looking good.
Is Sharon Nicely the cram 50 words into 500 “Sharon N”?
4
Ron forgot about the part where obama has spent more than all the previous presidents combined. I guess the leftwing blog he cited doesn’t like to talk about that.
BM,
The Bush tax cuts, if not ended, account for approximately 1/3 of deficit costs going forward. We simply can’t afford them. Significant spending cuts are also required. There are solutions out there. Our political leaders just don’t have the courage to take the necessary steps required.
I believe she is, John W. She has stated on here before that she is from upstate New York.
I also remember Dan writing that Elena quit the Tea Party almost immediately.
Santelli should get life in the electric chair.
JohnW, I’d be scared to think there were two of them.
Why is it remotely fair to claim deficit spending after an economic collapse is the same as deficit spending during a time of war that you were not paying for and tax decreases you did not adjust spending for? They are not remotely on the same level of irresponsible and wrong. Blaming Obama as so many insist on is just ignorant.
If there were no Bush deficits and debt load to contend with, NOTHING Obama has done would even need to be discussed. Staving off economic meltdown and saving too damn big to fail (which should NEVER have happened) are not the same as kicking the can down the road while you pretend to be the good tax fairy and create too damn big to fail.
Congress has managed to screw this nation over for well over a decade and this current “solution”, whatever it is, will be no different. Until we stop pretending this is all about the election of one and realize it is much more about the election of 535, we will not make progress. And until people can be honest enough to put the blame where it belongs, I am not interested in pretending it is Obama that done us wrong. At this point in time, he is the only thing standing between us and getting totally hosed by the GOTP!
Elena’s no dope. When she realized, soon into the whole Roanoke Tea Party saga, that it had been taken over by some nuts and others with 2-digit IQs, she backed away real fast.
“the whole Roanoke Tea Party…had been taken over by some nuts and others with 2-digit IQs”
comment by Dan
Wake up, Dan! Do you realize that a guy in a Roanoke Tea Party shirt was manning the VCDL table at the Salem Gun Show last weekend? Child massacre weapons are all that stand between liberty loving tea party patriots and sustainable development advice!
10.Santelli should get life in the electric chair.
Comment by Art Hill
What a great line! LSHMDROMNose!
I am not interested in pretending it is Obama that done us wrong
Just wondering what Sandi thinks about obama running ads in Mexico telling the folks there how they can get food stamps here. And what does she think about the Food Stamp President opening SNAP up to restaurants like the Golden Corral? Does this sound like the work of an administration that is serious about controlling spending?
Suzie finds it scandalous that her fav restaurant, GC, has decided to accept food stamps. She’s right . They’re on the dole, like many other corps.
They’re on the dole, like many other corps.
LOL. Did Suzie call this or what? Blaming corporations for laws made by the government. Just like Dan blamed Liberty U for government Pell Grant policies. Just like they blamed the banks for Fannie Mae’s relaxed lending standards that caused the economic collapse.
I know libs better than they know themselves. They couldn’t own up to their responsibilities if their lives depended on it.
suzie hasn’t “called” anything lately.
“suzie hasn’t “called” anything lately.”
The guy has definitely lost his edge.
In fact, Art Hill, let’s add another to suzie’s long list of sadly bad calls. Earlier in the football season, our favorite trolling type person indicated that the Broncos were paying and would continue to pay for getting rid of Christian inspirational benchwarmer dude Tim Tebow. Others of us who know sports a whole lot better, assured suzie that Denver was MUCH better off with Peyton Manning.
Now, tell us, suzie, where did Denver finish at the end of the regular season?
Ron, what you have not factored in is the unknown affect on revenue if the Bush cuts had never be inacted. I imagine they had somewhat of a positive influence on the private sector during a time of economic weakness. These factors are tought to quantify, but conversely, you cannot quantify your numbers accurately without assessing these other potential influences.
AC,
And you can call me Ray or you can call me Jay for all we know.
AC,
http://www.offthechartsblog.org/what%E2%80%99s-driving-projected-debt/
The numbers AC, are not mine. They were produced by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. They reflect the real impact of Bush tax cuts on deficits from 2001 through 2111. Numbers forward from that are projections. The cuts themselves, perhaps, would have had no impact, if GWB & the Republican Congressional majority had not also done away with the Pay As You Go Rules. In other words the revenue losses from the tax cuts would have had to have been offset by spending cuts somewhere else in the budget. GWB & his colleagues doubled down by not making any offsetting cuts. Additionally, they put 2 unnecessary (in my view) wars and the Medicare Drug Benefit on the national credit card. Finally, they voted routinely to raise the federal debt limit with little thought. However, hypocritically they now expound endlessly today, and I mean today, how increasing the federal debt limit is akin to treason. As a result, folks like Boehner, McConnell, Ryan, Cantor, et. al. have little if any credibility.
Try to do all you wish with smoke, mirrors, mumbo jumbo or whatever you want to call it AC, it’s just a big stinking pile of you know what.
Comment by Another Chuck — December 31, 2012 @ 2:29 pm
How do you quantify supposition? Specifically, where do you get accurate numbers on “if the Bush tax cuts” had never been enacted? Accuracy of quantification is never contingent on data that is inherently unquantifiable. That’s absurdly paradoxical. How exactly does one factor in an unknown, let alone do it retroactively? If the current hard numbers are required to be modified by what-might-have-beens, where does it stop?
If the Bush tax cuts weren’t enacted…
If equatorial Africa received regular rainfall…
If a frog had wings…
If the people who’ve been in charge of this country for the last thirty years had been doing their freaking jobs and not been worried about lining their buddies’ pockets, everyone in this country would be better off. It’s not a party problem; it’s a greed problem. Greed knows no political affiliation; it’s endemic. The camel is already in the tent.
We’re to blame. We’ve allowed this corruption of our country to occur and we’ve even welcomed it at times. It’s past time to do something about it and they know it. So they play us all. They keep us divided. It’s all about responsibility, but it’s always the other guys’ fault. Lie, distort, twist, deflect… it’s a heinous manipulation of the citizenry.
May 2013 be the year that the collective pop of our heads being pulled from our asses is heard ’round the world. We’ve been asleep at the wheel for far too long. Let’s take our pointing fingers, rest them against our temple and start thinking about how we can clean up this god-awful mess and get EVERYONE back on track. We’re all in this together.