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Daily Archives: August 14, 2012
Republican “Rock Star” Paul Ryan
Search Paul Ryan is a “rock star:” Sean Hannity, Fox News programs on 8/11, Stephanie McCrummen – Wash Post, NY Daily News, random idiots on HotAir, the Courier-Journal in KY, CBS affiliate Washington DC, Lake County News-Sun (Chicago), Andrew Biggs – The Hill, Jennifer Rubin (naturally!)… you get the idea.
Related: What has Paul Ryan contributed to the nation in his 13-year public service career?
You’ll want to vote this time.
The American Right and Paul Ryan
“But the American Right seems to have a particular need to inflate their leaders into beacons of courage, self-sufficiency and virtue, even when their lives are completely devoid of those traits. Paul Ryan is a perfect symbol of America’s political class. He is directly responsible for the large deficits and debt which America has compiled, and now seeks to exploit what he himself helped create in order to deny to others the very benefits that were responsible for almost every opportunity and success he has had in his life, with the burden falling most harshly on those who need those benefits the most to have any remnant of fair opportunity. That’s the crux of the American elite: making massive mistakes and engaging in destructive behavior and then demanding that everyone — except them — bear the brunt of the consequences.” — Glenn Greenwald (via: azspot)
Joan Walsh calls Paul Ryan a Randian poseur:
“Paul Ryan was born into a well-to-do Janesville, Wisc. family, part of the so-called “Irish mafia” that’s run the city’s construction industry since the 19th century. When his lawyer father died young, sadly, the high-school aged Ryan received Social Security survivor benefits. But they didn’t go directly to supporting his family; by his own account, he banked them for college. He went to Miami University of Ohio, paying twice as much tuition as an Ohio resident would have; the in-state University of Wisconsin system (which I attended) apparently wasn’t good enough for Ryan. After his government-subsidized out-of-state education, the pride of Janesville left college and went to work for government, where he’s spent his entire career, first serving Republican legislators and then in his own Congressional seat, with occasional stints at his family-owned construction business when he needed a job (reportedly he also drove an Oscar Mayer Wiener Mobile for a while). Ironically, Ryan came to national attention trying to dismantle the very program that helped him go to the college of his choice, pushing an even more radical version of President Bush’s Social Security privatization plan…”
All I can say is that Ryan’s in your face hypocrisy must make the American Right feel better about their own. Therefore, it should be no surprise that last year Dick Cheney said, “I worship the ground that Paul Ryan walks on.” That sums up all you need to know about the American Right, from one hero (in his own mind) to another…
You might be Mitt Romney’s running mate if…
Juan Cole: you might be Paul Ryan if….
If you claim to be a free marketeer but want to keep $40 billion in tax breaks for Big Oil in the budget, you might be Paul Ryan. When it comes to green energy, the Right says it has to be profitable on its own, but won’t give it a level playing field.
(Not to mention, Ryan and his wife own stakes in four family companies that lease land to the very energy companies that benefit from the tax subsidies in Ryan’s budget plan.)
If you would raise taxes on the middle classes; but your budget would allow your wealthy running mate Mitt Romney to pay almost nothing in taxes, you might be Paul Ryan.
If you are against deficits in an economic downturn and during a Democratic administration, but voted for all the measures that ran up the deficit under Bush and erased Clinton’s budget surplus, you might be Paul Ryan.
Paul Ryan’s history and his family’s history make his entire political career a sham
“[Paul Ryan's] entire life, and the history of his entire family, makes a lie out of everything the man has said in his political career, and a sham out of every policy position he purports to hold. It seems to be there used to be a word for that. What I do know is that, in 20 years, a lot of people in the Beltway who are in my business today are going to look at what they’ve written and said about this faker, and drink themselves into early graves.” — Charles P. Pierce
Charles P. Pierce lays out the ugly facts:
- Born wealthy — has “amassed a fortune of “between three and $7.7 million” without having held a more lucrative job than “Congressman” at any point in his adult life.”
- His family owes their wealth to government highway construction: “The Ryan workload from 1910 until the rural interstate Highway System was completed 60 years later, was mostly Highway construction,” and who said on Saturday morning, alongside the King of Bain,”I’m proud to stand with a man who understands what it takes to foster job creation in our economy, someone who knows from experience, that if you have a small business — you did build that.”
- Bought a mansion which is cared for by a federal agency, the National Park Service, because it’s listed on National Register of Historic Places.
- Mr. Ryan reported two tax-deferred college savings plans, with a combined value of between $150,000 and $300,000. He also reported two investment partnerships worth, in total, between $350,000 and $750,000, mostly containing shares of stock in well-known companies, including Apple, Goodrich, Kraft Foods, Visa and Whole Foods. Both partnerships were formed by Mr. Ryan and other family members to manage assets left by his grandparents and an aunt.
- Mrs. Ryan has reported receiving a trust after her mother died in 2010 that is valued between $1 million and $5 million, according to a letter Mr. Ryan filed with his latest financial disclosure. Mrs. Ryan also has longstanding interests in several mining and oil exploration investments in Oklahoma and Texas managed by her father, Dan Little, a lawyer in Oklahoma whose clients include oil and gas companies. Those investments generated as much as $150,000 in income last year.
- My small addition: The financial disclosure report [Rep. Paul] Ryan filed with Congress [in May] …shows he and his wife, Janna, own stakes in four family companies that lease land in Texas and Oklahoma to the very energy companies that benefit from the tax subsidies in Ryan’s budget plan… Some of these firms would be eligible for portions of the $45 billion in energy tax breaks and subsidies over 10 years protected in the Wisconsin lawmaker’s proposed budget.
- Received Social Security survivor benefits which he banked for college.
- And just look at all the important work he’s actually done as a public servant for 13 years on the taxpayer’s dime…
Just follow the money, any of it, to where Romney-Ryan have already or would like to redistribute it from the bottom to the top for their own personal gain. Less government though. You built that though. The deficit though. Too much spending (on the poors) though. Go tea party.
Billionaire, mega-donor Sheldon Adelson is loading up Paul Ryan’s briefcase tonight in Las Vegas
Buzzfeed reports “As of Tuesday morning, reporters would not be permitted to cover Ryan’s fundraiser with billionaire mega-donor Sheldon Adelson at The Venetian in Las Vegas tonight. The campaign’s agreement with the press is that events not at private residences are to be open to reporters. The campaign has also kept reporters from events where Romney does not deliver formal remarks. Ryan aides would not comment on the change on the record. Ryan held a fundraiser in Denver on Monday that was closed press because it was at a private home. [...] A Romney aide told reporters that the event in Las Vegas is not a fundraiser but a “finance event,” and therefore closed to reporters. The aide would not say what the distinction is between the two, declining to say whether the campaign is collecting checks at the event.”
Just like Mitt and his tax returns, the billionaires who want to buy Romney the White House prefer their privacy when making political investments.
UPDATE: Romney’s campaign announces it raised $7.4 million online in 3 days after announcing Paul Ryan pick – @thehill http://t.co/uv9ZJqUI (via: thepoliticalfreakshow)
Quick donate to Pres. Obama: $5, $10, $15… and Register to vote.
What has Paul Ryan contributed to the nation in his 13-year public service career?
The Atlantic has a rundown of all the bills which Paul Ryan has sponsored and passed in his congressional career. Turns out it’s a short rundown — there are only two:
“Ryan’s first successful piece of legislation was a bill “To designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 1818 Milton Avenue in Janesville, Wisconsin, as the ‘Les Aspin Post Office Building.’” It became a law in 2000. Since then, he has been the sponsor of only one other bill that has become a public law of the United States, according to records kept by the Library of Congress — a measure introduced in 2004 “To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to modify the taxation of arrow components.” (That one’s a bit of a self-interested move on his part, as Ryan is enjoys bow hunting.) That’s it. No other piece of legislation sponsored by Ryan has been able to win the support of both houses of Congress and a president during his 13-and-a-half years in office. [...] in seven different Congresses, in Houses run by Democrats and by Republicans, and under three different presidents, not one of his big ideas has gathered enough support to become law.”
The Atlantic then summarizes “every bill Paul Ryan has co-sponsored that did not fail:”
- Ryan served as co-sponsor on eight bills that successfully provided for the issuance of new commemorative coins. These coins celebrated: American veterans who are disabled for life; the National Infantry Museum and Soldier Center; the Boy Scouts of America Centennial; the San Francisco Old Mint; Jamestown’s 400th Anniversary; Benjamin Franklin; American Bald Eagle recovery; and the American buffalo (which, we can all agree, is a truly majestic animal).
- Ryan has honored Wisconsin as a co-sponsor of efforts that celebrated: the 100th anniversary of the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse; the Wisconsin Badger football team for an outstanding season and 2011 Rose Bowl bid; that Flag Day originated in Ozaukee County, Wis.; and also the renaming of several Veterans Administration and Post Office buildings in the state.
- Speaking of post offices, in addition to sponsoring the renaming of one after Les Aspin, Ryan successfully co-sponsored the renaming of U.S. Post Office branches in Schertz, Tex.; Dixon, Ill.; and Madison, Wis., giving us the Robert M. La Follette, Sr. Post Office Building.
- Ryan has co-sponsored five successful resolutions honoring Ronald Reagan. These measures: established the Ronald Reagan Centennial Commission Act; renamed a post office in Dixon, Ill., the “President Ronald W. Reagan Post Office Building”; authorized the Secretary of the Interior to establish the Ronald Reagan Boyhood Home National Historic Site; recognized the 90th birthday of Ronald Reagan; and provided for “the award of a gold medal on behalf of the Congress to former President Ronald Reagan and his wife Nancy Reagan in recognition of their service to the Nation.”
- Ryan has co-sponsored successful legislation banning animal crush videos. Read more…
As the article says, “Ryan’s legislative record shows him renaming post offices, honoring Ronald Reagan and Wisconsin, approving commemorative coins, and increasing the deficit.” My God. What a rock star. Go tea party.
Your tax dollars at work, ‘Merica.
Lunchtime: Martha’s Vineyard
POTUS and NASA’s Mohawk Guy
You just wait, next mission half of mission control will have crazy hair.
Obama to MSL Team: Martian Microbes and Mohawks
“I just wanted to call to say congratulations to the entire Mars Science Laboratory team and really all of JPL on last Monday’s incredible success,” Obama said during the phone call that was patched into a loudspeaker at mission control in NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.
“I understand that there’s a special ‘Mohawk guy’ working on the mission?” Obama jokingly asked, which was promptly followed by a roar of laughter from JPL.
Later…
barackobama: In which Mohawk Guy loves POTUS back.
Is America still beautiful without Medicare?
…
peterfeld: Paul Ryan’s senior health care plan exposed!
On this day in history: Social Security Act signed into Law, August 14, 1935
August 14, 1935: Social Security Act Signed into Law
On this day in 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act, which was originally designed to provide economic security during the Great Depression.
Funded through a 2% payroll tax, the 1935 Social Security Act offered aid for the unemployed, the elderly, children and various state health and welfare programs.
Today, Social Security remains an important topic in the discourse of health and politics. Read PBS NewsHour’s recent article, “34 Social Security Secrets You Need to Know Now.”
Photo: ”Unemployed insured workers registering for jobs and filing benefit claims at a State employment office,” National Archives and Records Administration.
The Aristocrat / The Granny Starver 2012!
Romney / Fox News lie of the day: Pres. Obama gutting Medicare, Ryan trying to save it
That didn’t take long.
Media Matters for America reports ”Fox is pushing a Romney campaign falsehood that President Obama rather than Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) plans to gut Medicare as we know it.
“Ryan has received strong criticism for his plan to transform Medicare into a voucher system. Trying to deflect the attacks on Ryan’s plan, Fox contributor Angela McGlowan claimed that the Obama’s Affordable Care Act (ACA) cuts hundreds of billions of dollars from Medicare.
“In fact, the savings the ACA makes to the Medicare program would not cause a decline in quality of care under Medicare, and Ryan has proposed identical savings. But Ryan’s plan goes much further, ending Medicare as we know it by transforming it into a voucher plan.”
Robert Reich adds: “Stumping in Florida today, Mitt Romney charged President Obama’s Affordable Care Act will “cut more than $700 billion” out of Medicare.
“What Romney didn’t say was that his running-mate’s budget — approved by House Republicans and by Romney himself — would cut Medicare by the same amount.
“The big difference, though, is the Affordable Care Act achieves these savings by reducing Medicare payments to drug companies, hospitals, and other providers rather than cutting payments to Medicare beneficiaries.
“The Romney-Ryan plan, by contrast, achieves its savings by turning Medicare into a voucher whose value doesn’t keep up with expected increases in healthcare costs — thereby shifting the burden onto Medicare beneficiaries, who will have to pay an average of $6,500 a year more for their Medicare insurance, according the original analysis of the Republican plan by the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office...”
Romney’s pick is less popular than John McCain’s
Are you registered to vote? https://gottaregister.com/
Photos: the President inspecting drought-stricken crops in Iowa
firstfamily: President Obama inspects drought-stricken corn with farmer Roger McIntosh as he visits the McIntosh farm in Missouri Valley, Iowa
Related: I wonder how many drought-stricken farmers still want LESS government in their lives?
