Night Two of the Republican Convention 2012

by Ruth A. Sheets

The Republican National Convention is in session again.  My real-time observations are here.

1. Rand Paul is way too emotional, especially since so much of his speech was centered on a basic lie that President Obama said that people didn’t actually build their own businesses.  The man is a bit nutty.

2. I am getting a headache.   I think hearing all the negativity and hatred by the speakers is really getting to me.  I can’t see how this can be uplifting for anyone, even the Republicans who are more attentively listening to it. 

3. John McCain’s speech started out graciously and is nearly the first time someone actually began with reference to Romney and his nomination.  McCain, though quickly moved to the talking point that Obama (implied) is leading from behind.  What nonsense!  Of course, he had to get in the plug for the military folks.  His comment “if we don’t make a change, We will move toward “a future that is dimmer, darker, more dangerous than anything we have seen” is a bit over the top.  More militarism is in the offing.  Then, there’s another set of lies accusing the current administration of leaking secrets.  I had hoped for higher ground for McCain, I can see that will not be happening.  Scare the core supporters.  I don’t know if this is a good strategy.    

4. OMG!  There is an attorney general duet.  It is kind of sad.  They are trying to represent their position opposing Obamacare.  Because they didn’t win the argument in the Supreme Court, they are whining.  “The only reason Obamacare stands is that it is a tax.  This is not why our founding fathers established America.”  They had a set of dueling questions equally ridiculous, but the crowd likes it.  It is so scripted, it is embarrassing.  Two Southern lawyers making such a presentation is offensive since it is the working poor and middle class who will benefit most from Obamacare and neither of them will be in either category.  They don’t even see the silliness of their presentation.  Any listener not in the hall did, though.  NPR followed the duet by interviewing someone who supported Romneycare in Massachusetts., but not Obamacare.  The hypocrisy is actually funny.  It makes no sense, but the delegate doesn’t seem to notice.  NPR folks won’t call him on it.      

5. One speaker, John Thune of SD, said “let it never be said of us that when we were faced by such an economic crisis that we did nothing.”  That is amusing since that is exactly what Republicans have done for the past four years.  That is audacity!

6. I keep hearing that negativity doesn’t work when it comes to ads, but it clearly works at conventions and with some viewers.

7. Ok, Rob Portman from Ohio is now speaking.  He again is playing on the untruth that Obama is against success and that Romney got money “the old fashioned way, he earned it.”  An interesting borrowing of a slogan from a defunct company, Smith-Barney, but certainly not true.  His business practices slanted his deals so that he couldn’t lose.  It was for others to lose.  Isn’t it interesting that we are being lectured to by the budget director for George W. Bush, the one who took a large surplus and turned it into an incredible deficit.  How can he possibly blame Obama?  Another hypocrite in action.

8. Tim Pawlente, another over emotional speaker.  It is just another reiteration of the talking points.  He has another drippy story about his past, growing up among the poor.  How is it so many people who grew up so poor ended up rich in the Republican Party?  I suspect the Government helped him a lot in his rise, but he wants the government off his back.  fascinating!  Now he comes to the candidate, Romney and talks about his wonderful success.  If it is so wonderful, how come so few people actually like him and the rest of the people in the hall have to be convinced that he would be a good president.  Now, Romney is a “great leader”  Hyperbole!  There is no evidence of his personal leadership greatness.  I want to know what He has actually done to make life better for anyone outside his family or faith.

9. Mike Huckabe would not strike anyone as being a Christian minister.  His comments were a mixture of untruths and half truths.  His back-handed comment that President Obama was the only “self professed evangelical in the campaign this year” lets him keep the seed of doubt about Obama’s Christianity germinating among the stupid.  Huckabe claims to be “pro-life” but is really only pro-birth.  Pathetic!

10. Then it was Condaleza Rice’s turn.  I expected a lot from her because she is, after all a college professor and accomplished woman.  Her speech was just another iteration of the same old same old.  More military, more security, more business, less regulation, more success, you get the idea.  Her difficult past was also a small theme, as it fit in with all the others these two evenings.  Then, what was most disturbing from someone who knows foreign policy pretty well, she claimed that Romney knows and understands foreign policy and will be good at it.  She can’t possibly believe what she said.  If she does, she is not someone to be admired for her judgment.

11. Susanna Martinez was next in the parade ofsuper successful people who “made it.”   This making it was presumed to be all on her own.  She was a Democrat according to her, but she saw the light and became a Republican because she couldn’t possibly support welfare and pay for those awful people who just collect government money.  She also loves guns.  You can’t miss that.   

12. Now, it is Paul Ryan’s turn.  He is strident.  He uses that arrogant tone of voice to make himself seem more important and knowledgeable than he actually is.  It works with a lot of people.  He begins with lines about the Obama administration being silent about their record because all they can do is sow fear.  Then he claims that Romney is so decent that he can’t be dragged down by negativity.  He goes for the family card early by introducing his cute wholesome family, including his mom.  Now, his family story, almost as pathetic as the rest of the folks on the docket tonight.  He is so proud that he lives on the same block where he grew up and belongs to the same church.  OK, how does that qualify you for anything? Then, he blames Obama for the closing of the factory in his hometown.  It couldn’t be outsourcing!  You can tell he has practiced his speech so well that he has all the inflections down perfectly.  He claims that Obama had a moment when he got everything he wanted from Congress.  I don’t know when that was and neither does anyone else.  There was one company that was involved with alternative energy and all Ryan can talk about is that they borrowed and lost the money.  The banks and insurance companies lost a lot more than that and well, they have a lot of power, so they don’t count as failures.  What a waste of time.      

13.  He didn’t go there!  He wouldn’t do it!  He did it!  He did the lie that has been given the “pants on fire” rating.  Is that what people want, a vice president who lies and doesn’t mind doing it in front of a huge audience?  Scare the old people about Medicare!  Do it even if you have to lie.  That’s not good!  I know that his plan will not make things better for any senior today or in the future.  If he were as intelligent as he would like everyone to believe, he knows it too.  Maybe, money does blind people to things. 

14. Oh no, he didn’t blame Obama for the down grading of America.  That was a direct result of Republican refusal to negotiate to raise the debt ceiling.  Ryan’s smugness and pretended disbelief are disingenuous.  but Republicans have to march in step these days.

15. OK, he drags out the line that Obama has caused a bigger debt than any other president.  OMG, another pants on fire!  Mr. Ryan forgets that Bush did not count the wars and tax cuts as part of the debt.  Obama chose to be honest and count it all.  Of course, that caused the debt to rise on paper, but it had already risen years before.

16.  Here it comes, the family story of his mom building a business presumably on her own.  You’d think that all those Republicans are so gifted that they could all do it on their own.  Isn’t that nice.  They talk about a mythical plan they have of coming up with 12 million jobs in the next few years and do it with not raising the debt.  He lies!  We are in a recession and that is not going to happen.  He is even more naïve than Obama was when he was running four years ago and less excuse for it.  There it is the word “freedom.”  I knew he had to throw it in somehow.  His hyperbole is now getting out of control.  He accuses Obama of calling his promises his record.  That is really what Romney has done.  His only record is working at Bain Capital and helping out with the Olympics (with government support, of course).  How does either activity prepare him for anything America is facing?  Ryan has even less experience.  He has been in government, that hated government for most of his adult life.  Hmm!

  17.   Here comes another myth, that is the belief that people can still move up from one class to the next.  There is less mobility due to lack of opportunities in business than there has been since the 1890’s and that is not Obama’s fault because as Ryan says, Obama is not a businessman.  I have pretty much gotten to the point where I can’t listen to the garbage any longer.  Besides, “The Daily Show” is about to come on and that show makes more sense than Ryan can ever make.  Oh wait, before I go, he did it again.  He’s on the theme of Obama bashing Romney’s success.  I have not once heard Obama bash Romney’s success, but that is another Republican myth.  Democrats are bashing Romney’s dishonesty, disingenuousness, fabrication of events, the way his wealth is hidden in other countries to avoid taxes, the way Romney changes his views, character, and positions to meet whatever situation he is in.  The call for tax returns is  appropriate.  Why is Romney running?  Maybe it’s just the power and prestige he wants.

First Night Notes

by Ruth A. Sheets

This blog entry will be a bit different.  It contains real-time reflections on the first night of the Republican Convention 2012.  The following are some of my observations.

1. There are a lot of women speakers.  These women don’t have much to say about Romney and why they support him in particular, but they are pretty strident and very negative regarding President Obama, often repeating the lies that are going around.

2. The people interviewed by NPR have very little original to add to the Republican position.  No one challenges anything they have to say and they do ramble on.

3. Nikki Haley of South Carolina bragged about having the most tires manufactured in America, yet the Republicans were opposed to the assistance for the auto industry.  Who needs those tires?  

4. There is a lot of God talk, more of a formulaic mention of God rather than any meaningful inclusion of God in the proceedings.

5. Anne’s breathy emotionalism is a bit much, like a teenager who just has to over emphasize everything.  It is like a not-too-good actress in a not-too-good play.  Her talk about women is a bit disingenuous.  Her little laugh after her saying “I hear your voices.” is a bit much too.

6. Anne Romney’s tribute to mothers is insulting.  Save it for Mother’s Day.

7. The convention’s parade of children of immigrants was lovely to hear, well, not really.  The hypocrisy is overflowing.  Somehow, these descendents of immigrants are opposed to immigrants who come here “illegally.”  None of the speakers mention whether their families came here “legally.”  I wonder . . .

8. Anne Romney’s description of her and Mitt’s first apartment, a basement apartment, was pathetic.  She lies easily, just like her husband.  She claims she knew nothing of his financial situation.  Not possible!  They grew up in the same town.  Her emotional claim that “No one will work harder or care more than Mitt Romney” when he is president is  ridiculous.  She can’t possibly be shocked that Mitt has been “attacked for his positions" (and the way they keep changing).  Unbelievable.  In the next days, we will hear how wonderful her speech was and what a lovely person she is.  Her speech was typical Republican nonsense and she may be a lovely person; it’s hard to tell when you are reading someone else’s words.  Again, the claim that he built what he had all by himself.  Gag!  Her claim that he struggled so hard with his business, big deal!  He certainly made enough money at it.

9. Christie’s self-righteousness was a bit hard to take, but for some reason, a little easier than Anne Romney’s simpering emotionalism.  I am not sure why.

10. Christie talks about how he did so much for New Jersey, but doesn’t mention the desertion of the parts of New Jersey that don’t back him or have economic power, like Camden.

11. Then there’s the teacher union bashing.  Union bashing was one of the themes of the night, of course.

12. What a stupid line “Our ideas are right for America and their ideas have failed America.”  I guess that is about all they can say.  It is so vague that it means nothing.

13. The hypocrisy that Republicans claim to care about older Americans is reflected in their Medicare plans.  The party of fantasy is accusing the Democrats, the party of some reality, of not being realistic.  What a joke.  I expected more from him, but look at the company he keeps. 

14. Again Mr. Christie is making teachers be the fall guys for things that fail.  “They believe in unions, we believe in teachers”  What a batch of bull!   Unfortunately, a lot of the less-thinking among his followers will believe it.  Gag again!

15.  Christie accuses the Democrats of wanting to divide, yet the Republicans have done everything they could over the past 4 years to divide the country.  Amazing!

16. Christie claims that Mitt Romney will “tell the truth."  That is another joke since Romney has done a lot of lying so far.  Christie says Romney will tell us the hard truth.  Maybe he will tell his truth, which of course, will be hard on everyone except the wealthy and Republican powerful.  Everyone else suffers.  I guess that is what makes it a “hard truth.”

17. Of course, Christie must say “It’s now our time” (how soon they forget which party got us into this mess and did everything they could to make sure we didn’t get out of it during the past four years).  He is counting on the short attention spans of most Americans.

Are You a Racist? Take This Quiz and Find Out

by muon

I was told last week that suggestions of racism among Romney supporters is highly offensive. I was told this by someone who was more of an Obama non-supporter than a true Romney supporter. He stomped his foot and shrieked while making his point, so I know he was sincere.

Okay, I agree, generalizing is never a good idea. Thus I invite everyone, no matter whom you support, to take this quiz, add up your score, and see how you do.


A) I believe President Obama was born

1-  in Kenya, and is therefore not a citizen and not qualified to be President.
2-  possibly outside of the US, but he has an American mother, so it doesn't matter (as in the case of George Romney, Mitt's dad, who was born in Mexico, yet no one questioned his citizenship when he ran for president)
3-  in Hawaii, and he should have been believed even before producing 2 birth certificates, but now that he has produced them, get over it.

B) I believe President Obama

1-  is a Muslim, and that's a bad thing.
2-  might be a Muslim, but in a country where we have freedom of religion, what does it matter?
3-  is a Christian, specifically, a member of the United Church of Christ, like more than one million Americans.

C)  I believe

1-  candidates for president should have American-sounding names.
2-  if a candidate has an odd name, it doesn't mean he wouldn't make a good president.
3-  that all Americans have American-sounding names. It's that melting pot thing.

D) I believe Mitt Romney's welfare ads

1-  show that lazy black welfare recipients have been released from their work requirement by Obama, and are taking tax money right out of the pockets of hard-working white people.
2-  not sure what the ads show, but I'm sure not all welfare recipients are black and not all workers are white. Even if they were, shouldn't we help those in need?
3-  are proven lies. Work requirements have not been dropped, only moved to the states, which is what states requested (including Republican governors). The states in turn have to meet a set of federal regulations to keep their right to make their own reforms. Moreover, as of 2011, nearly the same number of white and black families (about 38%) were receiving welfare. The remaining 20-some% went to other minorities.


If you scored

12 -  You're not a racist and are well-informed to boot.
8-11 - You're not a racist; your heart's in the right place. You just need to get your news from reliable sources and don't believe everything you hear. Go to factcheck.org, which checks statements and ads from BOTH sides.
5-7 - Try the reliable sources mentioned above for two weeks and take the quiz again. Put all political ads and right-wing talk shows on "mute."
4 - Sorry, you're a racist. No getting around it. If this offends you, think of how much more you offend me.

Getting to Know Him

by Ruth A. Sheets

Well, the Republican National Convention has arrived. We keep hearing from pundits and commentators that this is Mitt Romney’s chance to let America know who he is.  Interesting!  Mitt Romney has been running for president for nearly five years.  Is it possible that there is something about him we can learn this week that we didn’t know?

I suspect that part of the problem we have in getting to know Romney is that he constantly changes himself to fit whatever situation he is in.  When running for office in Massachusetts, he chose to be moderate, support human rights, believe in universal health care, and respect a woman’s right to choose.  The people of Massachusetts wouldn’t elect anyone with less.

When running for president in 2008, he moved somewhat to the right.  This was a realistic position for him  because the Republican Party had not yet chosen its new compass which only points Right.  He seemed to move away from health care a bit and dropped his stance on women’s right to choose, as well as his open, accepting stance on rights for gay Americans. .

For the 2012 presidential election, he has made the full Right turn along with the party.  Now, he can’t even defend the health care program he helped get through in Mass. because it looks too much like the plan the Democrats passed in 2010.  Not only is he against women’s right to choose, he is decreasing the types of exceptions he would allow for abortions, and stands against most types of contraception, perhaps all (one can’t really tell since his mind changes so often).

Romney is a wealthy, white, conservative, Mormon, former businessman who owned and operated a company that specialized in buying out other companies.  He is not a good speaker.  He can’t tell a joke (as evidenced by his comments about his birth certificate). 

He has had no military service, but is a  war hawk and wants to continue to bloat the defense budget.  He also wants to cut many programs that support disadvantaged citizens as he “attempts” to cut the deficit.

 

Mitt Romney claims to be a family man, having a wife, Anne, and five sons.  He does not do his own shopping (the answers given when asked what he was buying at a store: hardware stuff, groceries).

From his comments to audiences and ads, it is clear that he tells the truth only when he feels he will gain politically from the effort.  (According to some fact checking sites, he avoids the truth  about 10% of the time, something like a tithe).  The web can supply numerous examples of Mr. Romney’s untruths.

When asked to comply with demands for documentation, the same demands he has made of opposing candidates in the past, he refuses.  (He has released only 1 year of tax returns and one estimate of the current year, when he has asked for more from others.)

So, what do we think we will learn from Romney’s Convention persona?  How are they going to make him appear more human?  Come to think of it, he is such a skilled cameleon thus far, I guess they can make him whatever they want him to be and he will be it. 

The sad part for me is that a whole lot of Americans will believe whatever nonsense they are fed about this man and his worthiness to be president.  Even if Romney and his team can’t be honest, moderates and liberals will need to try to keep the truth in front of voters.  Good luck with that.

Think Republicans Won't Raise Your Taxes?

by muon

We've all had the experience of walking into a grocery store and finding that some favorite food is now in a smaller container.  Pounds of coffee are now 13 ounces. Half gallons of ice cream are now 1.5 quarts. Did they lower the price? No. Or, even if they do temporarily, the savings doesn't cover the reduction in size. Per ounce, you're paying more.

Grover Norquist is a lobbyist. In a kind of protection racket designed to keep certain kinds of Republicans in office and weed out anyone who doesn't toe the line, Grover has made elected officials sign a pledge never to raise taxes. It's the main reason nothing has gotten done in the US House the last two years. Republican congresspeople won't fund anything, because, they say, they'd be voting to raise taxes.

The Paul Ryan Budget, in essence, pulls the same kind of a switch certain brands in grocery stores have pulled. He and his GOP cohorts want to reduce the amount of product you get for your money. They say this isn't increasing your taxes. Technically, no, but I guarantee you're going to feel as gypped as you do when you pick up that new tube of Colgate, only to find that it's gone from 6 oz. down to 4.

Grover Norquist has said he wants to shrink government down to the size where it can be drowned in a bathtub. Even if Congress lowers your taxes a bit, you'll still be paying more than the shrunken services will be worth. Like the groceries, you'll be paying more for less. Get used to rutted highways and dangerous bridges, at the same price.

For corporations, sometimes the money they save by giving you less of a product goes to cover the rising costs of doing business. More often though, it gets diverted to increasing profits and executive compensation. According to the Ryan Budget, the extra money from cutting government services, used by the poor and middle classes, will go to the wealthiest people in America, by extending the Bush tax cuts.

Bottom line: you'll be getting less for your tax money. And that, pledge or no, is a tax increase.

THOU SHALT NOT LIE – Unless You’re Mitt Romney and Company

by Ruth A. Sheets

People on the Christian Right want everyone to live their idea of the Christian life.  They cry out that God is not enough in our country and our actions.  They want the Ten Commandments (the Protestant traditional list) on every courthouse in America.  One might think these are people holier than most.

It seems to me that one would be wrong.  What the Christian Right wants is to be comfortable and to feel righteous, or rather self-righteous.  They pick and choose from the Bible what they will espouse.  They select the Commandments they like and discard the rest.  They claim to be followers of Jesus Christ, yet find most of His teachings unacceptable and put into His mouth things He did not preach.

Some examples might help to put this into perspective.  Jesus said nothing about homosexuality even though it was a common practice in the Greek and Roman world, yet the Christian Right is so sure that it is against God’s law, they would condemn people for it.

The 5^th Commandment is “Thou shalt not kill."  It works for them when related to abortion and human fetuses, but not when it comes to war, famine, capital punishment, over accessibility to guns.

“Thou shalt not commit adultery” is not a problem because one can simply ask forgiveness and go on with life.

“Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor,” though, does not even seem to cross their radar.  Their candidate, Mitt Romney, bears false witness on a daily basis, as does his team and PACs, yet the Right does not call him on it.  Why is that?  Lying doesn’t count if it will get you what you want and if it will make America a “more godly place?”

As for Obama’s agreement with the states to make more flexibility in their welfare to work programs--Romney calls this “welfare with no work requirement.”  He knows this is a lie, but who cares?

Mitt said “Nobody ever asked me for my birth certificate 'cause they know where I’m from.”  When called on it, he said he was just using humor.  He knew this was a lie, but oh well.

Romney and Ryan continue to claim that Obamacare will take 716 billion dollars from Medicare recipients.  They know that is not true, but scaring older Americans is worth the lie.

Any true Christians would have trouble with the repeated lying of the Romney campaign, but what can the Right do?  He's all they have. The racism that sits at the core of Christian Right beliefs, and their illusion of having achieved everything in their lives on their own, make it impossible for them to rethink their position.  They have to pretend Romney is everything they want, so to avoid the dissonance, they just don’t hear what they don’t want to hear.  Hypocrisy is better than a Black president for one more term.

The Christian Right can’t help themselves, so the rest of us had better get to the polls  to protect all of us from their fear and deliberate hypocrisy.

Privatization, Why?

by Ruth A. Sheets

Day after day, the media reports on some kind of attempt to privatize a public service.  This includes education, the military and prisons, among other things.

Like so many other plans put out there, primarily by Republicans and other conservatives, there is no evidence that “private” companies or individuals do a better job than public agencies do, but we are being sold on the myth that public workers get too many benefits and private companies will make those who are sucking public resources really work for all that money they get.

In the military, the private contractors are paid as much as twice or three times the amount our military personnel are being paid for doing essentially the same job. Outrageous!  That is not generally true for the other services currently being privatized, however.  It seems the guys who run the private companies make lots of money while everyone else gets what’s left over. 

When workers are employed by taxpayers, they usually receive some kind of medical benefits subsidized by the taxpayers and they are in some kind of retirement plan.  Private companies have no mandate to make such benefits available to their workers, so even when the actual paycheck is equal, workers take a loss because they have to pay their premiums, if they can afford the added cost.  Unemployment will increase because those public workers will be laid off and replaced by “cheaper workers."  That will really help to stabilize a community, right?

There are efforts abroad to privatize Social Security, Medicare, and other Federal and State programs.  I have seen no evidence that using private companies to do what has been done publicly saves anyone anything.  Once the move is made, there is no evaluation to determine whether or not the move made sense.  Then, it is nearly impossible to go back.

To add to this insanity, often, private for-profit groups are given the contracts for the public services.  That means that someone is going to make money off the process, translation, making money off the taxpayers. That merely adds one more layer of folks feeding at the trough.  And, it is not enough to just make the money back that one has expended, one needs to have a profit to pay investors, which of course, taxpayers pay for.

How are so many people so bamboozled by privatization?  Why are we so anxious to give over our common responsibility for our community to folks who have no stake in the value or quality of the services or the people being served.  These private for-profit companies legally suck directly from the government and can pay workers as little as they can get away with.

VFL Seeks VFP

by Ruth A. Sheets

Voter Fraud Law is seeking a Voter Fraud Problem.  The law is specially designed to limit the voting of non-Republicans:  poor, women, minorities, elderly, young people, who do not have approved photo I.D.s.  Unfortunately, there is no evidence of voter fraud, so liberal, left-wing groups are fighting the law, saying it's unnecessary, costly,  and discriminatory. 

If you know of any voter fraud situations in the past 30, 40 or so years, please come forward.  Voting fraud is also acceptable since the purveyors of the law know that Republican legislators and judges don’t know the difference.  When asked, they will refer to misused absentee ballots and padding voter rolls by politicians (a photo I.D. will do nothing for these, but whatever).

It is important that these problems are brought to the front soon, since citizens are complaining about the cost of obtaining I.D.s which might be equated with poll taxes and found illegal, although this is doubtful in today’s political climate.  Anecdotes will also work, particularly if heavily sprinkled with emotion and just the right amount of tears.

When VFP’s are found, send them to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court addressed, “Republican Justices.”

Ryan: Premeditated Crowd Control

by muon

I admit, I'm a huge fan of The Rachel Maddow Show. They present the sources for their reporting, so I trust their facts more. And because they give me the sources, I can go do some of my own online fact-checking. If even half of America checked the news stories they hear for accuracy, what a great informed electorate we'd have.

But today I'm going to take exception to one of Ms. Maddow's reports on Monday night. She was showing a video of Paul Ryan speaking at the Iowa State Fair. There he was, being heckled by a few women who were yelling things such as "Are you going to cut Medicare?" Ms. Maddow stated that Ryan wasn't using to heckling, that he was taken aback and stumbled to recover from the incident.

I disagree. If you listen to his reaction, he said that Iowans and Wisconsinites like himself were similar in that they were polite and respectful. Therefore, he concluded, there women couldn't be from Iowa or Wisconsin.

Translation: "Paul Ryan is one of you. These women are outsiders."

I can't believe that was an off-the-cuff response. I think he planned ahead of time to play this us-against-them card should anyone heckle. Paul Ryan isn't a stupid newbie. He got into Congress, even made a name for himself (albeit a notorious name). I wouldn't be surprised if he'd employed this stump strategy in the past.

Even if he hadn't, he was likely coached by the GOP's master spin doctors before being let loose on the campaign trail. "Divide and Conquer" is, after all, their main battle cry.

Yet none of the Iowans or Wisconsinites I've known would fall for this ploy. If nothing else, they're stubbornly independent. They don't want people telling them what to believe, and sure don't like some stranger saying, "I'm like you. Let me tell you what side we're on."

So, nice try, Mr. Ryan, but you're not like me. I have more in common with those women. I want answers to questions: Are you going to cut Medicare and Social Security? As you going to force your national contraceptive ban down our throats? Are you going to deregulate the fossil fuel industry so they can poison our land?

Oh, and one more question: When do we get to see the last seven years of Romney's tax returns? And, while we at it, yours?

The Clone Team

by Ruth A. Sheets

Well, Mitt has done it.  He chose a running mate who is just like him.  Paul Ryan is “attractive.” (They're saying  he looks like Romney’s own son.  How much more alike can you get?) 

The two of them will try to out compete each other to see who is more conservative and who can slam the middle class most thoroughly.  And, their speech writers will help them to couch this middle class assault in terms that will make many of the less thoughtful and careful voters believe it is a good thing.

I have heard that both men are pretty smart.  It seems that their intelligence is directed toward making them money and fame with as little pain as possible. 

Both men believe they are crusaders for the American way, yet both are so unaware of what ordinary Americans need and want, that their idea of the American way is only addressing the desires of the wealthiest few, those whom they wish to court.

Both Romney and Ryan are PWGs-- Priviledged White Guys--who, of course, completely understand what will work best for women, minorities, disabled persons, the poor, and everyone else in the United States (not).  They become very angry when voters suggest that they are not in touch with anyone outside their sphere.

Paul Ryan had a lawyer father which put him in the upper middle class while Romney started out in the upper class and stayed there.  Both were born on third base and truly believe in their hearts that they actually hit triples.  What is more, they believe they “earned” everything they got.  Anyone who did not attain their heights has simply failed to work hard enough.  Their arrogance and self-righteousness ring out in every speech.

Paul Ryan is only 42 years old, with little experience beyond the budget.  He is seen as some kind of shining star in the Republican Party.  When one looks at the rest of the field, it is not hard to see that Romney’s selection was limited.  Picking a polarizer may arouse the very conservative, the one-issue crew who are so sure of their own righteousness that they will drag themselves to the polls for their new guy, the one who will take care of those freeloading poor folks who are draining the resources of everyone else.  .

In a nation where the first amendment to the Constitution clearly calls for freedom of religion, Ryan has the gall to claim that any law we have is from God.  It makes me wonder what his god is like.  His budget is not an appropriate response to the Christian gospel which calls for us to care for the poor, the widows and orphans, those in prison, the hungry--you get the picture.  Where are those people’s needs in his tax and spending cuts?  Oh, wait, private organizations and companies are supposed to do that caring thing.

Commentators have been remarking that Romney and Ryan are very close to and comfortable with each other.  Of course they are comfortable.  They are just alike.  There is no new learning that has to take place.  There is no real culture divide.  Romney is Mormon and Ryan, conservative Roman Catholic, but their positions on social and “religious” issues are nearly identical.  They both wield fear with great skill despite their claimed deep faith.

So, Mitt chose his clone for the ticket.  The clone has a bit more personality, but is that enough?  I suspect that for a lot of PWGs and their supporters it will be plenty.

Genealogical Inertia: Does It Make You Royalty?

by muon

Paul Ryan: Master of Disguise

The first line of Paul Ryan's bio on his congressional webpage (paid for by your taxes) states "Born and raised in the community of Janesville, Paul Ryan is a fifth-generation Wisconsin native." In fact, everything I've read about him or heard from GOP pundits for the last 24 hours have mentioned the "generation" thing. Well, actually, his Wikipedia page, sourced from Ancestry.com, says he's only 4th generation, but I'm not here to quibble. 4th or 5th, what does it prove about his character except that he was born?

I'm a 2nd and 3rd generation American, and I have to admit, I have nowhere near the strength of character and sheer guts of my original immigrant ancestors. Two of my great-grandmothers came to this country with children in tow, but no man at their side. Imagine leaving your home in the late 19th century, a lone mother with a couple kids, packed into steerage on a slow steamer, for a 2 month voyage with all kinds of strangers, some probably not honorable. Then you arrive, not knowing if someone will meet your ship, or how far you'll have to travel to be reunited with your husband or other family?

Would I have the chutzpah to make that trip? No way. I don't even walk around my neighborhood after dark. The courage of my ancestors boggles my mind. Two generations later, because of the better life those kin made for me, I don't need to be courageous. I've evolved into a marshmallow, whining about things like rush hour traffic.

So what kind of asset is it to be 4th or 5th generation like Paul Ryan? He's pretty far removed from the journey his ancestors made to Wisconsin. I'm not knocking his forebears; they were no doubt as brave as my own ancestors. Yet character is something forged by trial, not inherited like blue eyes. By my own experience, if your family's been in one place longer than other families, it usually means you've had more security and comforts handed down to you.

The Ryans have certainly inherited their share of America's wealth. Not that being rich is a bad thing in itself. But money doesn't bring courage and character. Often the opposite.

I heard this morning that Ryan snuck off for his meeting with Romney "in disguise"--wearing "a T-shirt, blue jeans, sunglasses and a baseball cap." He flew to Hartford and got into a rented SUV. By the next night, he was "eating Applebee's takeout at a nondescript chain hotel..."

So...he was "disguised" as a typical middle-class tourist on summer vacation? (Or, at least, typical until Bush killed the economy in 2008. Now many more people can't take a vacation. They can't afford a plane halfway across the country, and even if they could, they rent economy cars instead of SUVs. They eat off fast food value menus instead of Applebees. They go for cheap mom and pop motels or stay with relatives.)

Yet somehow, we're supposed to be amazed at this trip, as if, for a brief moment, royalty had walked amongst us poor common folk and we missed it. Shucks.

I'm not impressed by Mr. Ryan's claim of being a 5th generation Wisconsonian. Give me an honest immigrant any day over people like Romney and Ryan who act like they think they're born to the throne. We need more courage and character right now than they can muster.

The Spoiled Brats in Congress

by muon

The US House of Representatives went home this week on what they probably think is a well-deserved break--the way a teenager thinks he deserves to go to a party after being closed up in his room doing homework all afternoon. Not that he actually DID his homework. Oh, he had the textbook propped open, or his computer screen showing a website on quantum physics, in case you checked on him, but really, he was texting his buddies and playing games on his phone.

The House was like that this session.

The homework? They were supposed to pass a farm bill, you know so the folks who grow our food can grow our food. The House also failed to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act--completely bipartisan and nothing to argue about, but it didn't get done. They had promised to pass a Trade Bill with Russia and renew the Bush tax cuts. They're due to make spending decisions before the October 1 deadline but haven't scratched the surface. And they absolutely should have passed a bill to head off the financial default of the Postal Service (the equivalent of a term paper due yesterday), but left for their recess without doing that either. They swore, when they headed into the session that jobs were their biggest priority. We're still waiting.

What DID they do?

They passed over 60 bills renaming Post Office and US Courthouse buildings.
They wasted time trying to repeal or defund the Affordable Healthcare Act. How many times? 33? 34? I've lost count.
At least once a month, they introduced new abortion bills, the latest targeting the District of Columbia.
The other day, just before recessing, instead of dealing with all their unfinished and overdo homework, they decided to hold a hearing on a proposed English-only bill which essentially would have denied help to anyone who can't communicate well in English, even if they're, say, calling the IRS to ask questions about filing taxes for work they legally did in the US. (Author's note: I received income from a Japanese company once, and they took out taxes. They sent me instructions in English and didn't expect me to speak Japanese.)

The House also passed 612 resolutions, mostly stuff like "H.Con.Res. 105: Authorizing the use of Emancipation Hall in the Capitol Visitor Center for an event to celebrate the birthday of King Kamehameha." It's amazing to me that the House is in charge of saying what room is used for what. In any corporation, you'd have an admin assistant handle those details.

And let's not forget all the posturing. Every week some congressman got his knickers in a twist about some "hot button" issue. Or at least hot button to them, if not anyone else. Just last Wednesday, Rep. Mike Kelly of Pennsylvania drew a parallel between the AHCA's benefit of free birth control, and the attacks on Pearl Harbor and 9/11. The day, he said, "would live in infamy." Talk about your teenage drama and temper tantrums.

My message to Congress? Grow up.

But they can't hear me. They've gone off to their party for the next month, leaving their work unfinished. And the sad thing is, some of them will be voted back in, when they should be grounded for life. Their constituents are like bad parents, not involved enough in their kids' lives to realize what's going on, thinking their children can do no harm.

Voting A.B.B.

by Ruth A. Sheets

The latest of many many polls has the upcoming presidential election essentially tied.  I find that incredible. Generally, an incumbent is reelected when he does a good job, that is, improves the economy from the time he took office, ends an established war, passes legislation to support the middle class, and takes care of the poor to some extent.

President Obama’s reelection should not even be in question this year since he presided over a country whose stock market rose more than 5,000 points, pushed a health care program which, although not perfect, does increase significantly the number of people who will be covered, and designed a stimulus program that employed a lot of folks to improve our infrastructure.  He also has championed a tax reform that would increase the share the haves will contribute and gives extra money to the middle class who will spend it to help the economy.  He is continuing the war in Afghanistan, but has ended involvement in Iraq.  His support of veterans far exceeds anything by previous presidents.  He wants to get us to the top of the world in energy and innovation.

So how can he be tied with someone who has no clue about the life that more than 99% of the population lives, who is a war hawk with no experience of what such hawkishness will cost, who has no concrete idea of what would build the economy?  Mitt Romney is not even in the same league as President Obama in his ability to empathize with Americans.  He believes that he got where he is only through hard work and his own brilliance (which, of course, he didn’t; it was his family’s wealth that gave him the leg up).

Why would poor folks even consider Mitt Romney? He thinks that the programs in place are sufficient to help the poor, and are even harmful since they promote laziness and a bad work ethic?  Why would women support someone who is in favor of restricting all kinds of rights for women?  Why would small business people support someone who has no sense of how valuable government support of company start-ups is?  Why would any public worker like police, fire fighters, teachers, etc. support someone who, along with his party, blames these workers for being the vampires who are sucking the life out of the economy?

What is it that Romney supporters see in him, a mediocre politician, businessman, and governor? 

I believe it is not so much what they see, but what they do not see.  The antipathy of many Americans toward President Obama is directly related to his racial mixture.  He is self-identified as African-American. 

Some of the Romney supporters tried him four years ago and were expecting miracles.  If one looks at his record, it does not include miracles, but some significant achievements.  President Obama got one chance.  He did not give every American exactly what they wanted, so he is branded a failure.  A minority person gets only one chance and the results must be amazing or, kick him out.

On a smaller playing field, I have experienced this phenomenon.  As a seriously visually-impaired person, I have known since childhood that to be seen as equal with non-disabled persons, I have to be very much better at whatever I am doing.  When I make a mistake, it is not like a non-disabled person’s mistake.  I must fear for my job, position, or reputation.  Asking for help is seen as a significant, sometimes crippling weakness.   Then the double whammy hits.   When I am better at something, the resentment of people around me can be isolating and painful.

Being the first of anything is hard, but in this culture, being black and first is nearly impossible, even for someone as talented as Barack Obama.  If he can’t be painted as incompetent, a fool, or some other stereotype of African-Americans, he is called an elitist.  He gets the double whammy too. 

So, why do so many people support Mitt Romney? People who have no economic or political reason to?  The answer, no matter how inept Romney is, he isn’t black and there are a lot of people who vote A.B.B, Anything But Black.