Tag Archives: Paul Ryan

New Republican Strategy – Only pay SOME Of our bills

Posted on January 17, 2013 by Terry| Leave a comment

Can this be true?  Can Republicans seriously be considering this “strategy” for dealing with the “difficult problem” of the debt ceiling?

Washington Post – House Republicans New Strategy

The component of the story I’m referring to isn’t the part about passing a very short-term extension to the debt ceiling, delay the inevitable until March instead of February.  The part of the story I’m referring to is this:

But he (Paul Ryan) seemed open to an idea advanced by a number of conservatives in case there is no agreement to raise the limit — he said he believes the White House would have the authority to prioritize spending in case the borrowing limit is not raised.

The “thinking” (I’m being generous) behind the brilliant GOP idea is that they DO force us past the debt ceiling date without an agreement.  Their “thinking” is that the enough tax revenue could flow in to meet SOME of our spending obligations, and that Obama and the Treasury Department could decide what priorities to pay for, and which ones to not pay for. 

Brilliant.  THAT will calm the markets.  THAT will calm Fitch and others who are threatening to downgrade the US credit rating.  Instead of defaulting on ALL our bills, Paul Ryan and other GOP Congressmen (yes, Congress “men”, because I doubt anyone other than lilly-white, GOP men are behind this) are advocating a strategy that allows Obama and the Treasury department to pay for SOME of our bills. 

Paul Ryan, you are a dangerous, dangerous man.  I for one am damned glad Romney chose you as a running mate and your team spectacularly crashed and burned on election day.  It’s not easy for a presidential election loser to come back in subsequent elections, and I can’t imagine what a disaster it would be for the U.S. if a Paul Ryan presidency ever occurred.

But hey, maybe I’m wrong.  Maybe ALL THE ECONOMISTS IN THE WORLD are wrong.  I do take some issue with the writer of the Post article too, in their choice of terminology, calling the debt ceiling a “difficult issue”.  It’s an artificial issue, something that used to be a formality, now being used as an incredibly dangerous political ploy. 

Ideology over country.  Gotta love the GOP.  Shrink the government, even if we have to sink the whole damned economy to do it.

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Why “reality-challenged” Republicans are destined to repeat 2012

Posted on November 12, 2012 by Terry| 1 Comment

Six days after the election, and Republicans are still trying to figure out what went wrong.  From a liberal perspective, it’s simultaneously entertaining, disturbing, and rather pathetic to see Republicans continue to grasp at straws, making up a number of excuses for the election that are so detached from reality that I’m convinced the 2012 election will be repeated many times over, until Republicans join the same world the rest of us are living in.

The  Washington Post ran one such story today, describing bewildered Republican campaign workers and they’re coping (or not coping)with the loss. To far too many clueless Repubs, it’s not just an election loss, it’s practically a sign of the apocalypse, the start of America’s impending doom.  From the Washington Post story, one reaction for losing Colorado was worded as follows:

  • “Colorado? Who the heck lives in Colorado? Do they want drugs, dependence, and indulgence? Don’t they remember what this country is about?”

This seems to be one of the ways that “reality-challenged” Republicans are coping with their election disaster…labeling all Americans who voted for Obama as lazy, corrupt people who want government to take care of them.  The idiot-master himself, Bill O’Reilly, said the people who voted for Obama voted for him simply because they “want stuff”, as if the entire electorate who voted for Obama are welfare recipients who live off all those fine, upstanding, hard-working Republicans.  The same line of thinking has been picked up by a vast array of Republican pundits, politicians, and Republican voters. 

I’m sorry, Republicans, but YOUR PARTY is the one that is completely out of touch with American values.  Americans spoke last Tuesday, and Americans voted for what America is REALLY all about.  Americans voted for EQUALITY, where your treatment under the law isn’t dictated by race, sexual orientation, or religion.   Americans voted for COMPASSION, where access to medical treatment isn’t dictated by the size of your bank account.  Americans voted for FAIRNESS, where the most fortunate and richest of Americans are asked to contribute their fair share to society, and help the less fortunate.  America chose REASON, where science and fact, not ideology or religion, are the basis for how we live and how we govern.  Americans voted for EMPATHY, where those Americans most in need of assistance are supported by their fellow citizens.

The Republican fantasy world they’ve been living in the last 15 years or so?  In the Republican version of America, HATE and INTOLERANCE are used as tools to intimidate and to govern.  For reality-challenged Republicans, America is a place where COOPERATION and COMPROMISE are dirty words, where every American must accept Republican ideology.  For reality-challenged Republicans, GREED is the overarching driving force of how we live and how we govern, where the acquisition of personal wealth is more important than even the world we leave behind for our children.  For reality-challenged Republicans, SELFISHNESS is what drives our behavior, where we would rather let the uninsured or poor die and suffer, rather than lend a helping hand.

Americans spoke on Tuesday, and Americans chose to RESPECT AND HONOR what America stands for.  The very fact that Republicans are bewildered by the election speaks for how very small the Republican party has become.  Given the reaction of Republican pundits, politicians, and voters over the last week, it should be painfully obvious why Republicans have only ONCE won the popular vote for president over the last 20 years.  As a liberal, even a cynical liberal, the election was affirmation that America isn’t lost, that we are headed in the right direction.  As a liberal, the election, the voice of the people, gives me hope.

For Republicans who feel the election is a sign of America’s doom? Your bewilderment, your disillusionment, and your bitterness are proof that the fate of your party in 2012 is bound to be repeated.  Until your party sheds the ideological “leadership” provided from the likes of Ryan, McConnell, O’Reilly, Limbaugh, and Rove, until your party embraces true American ideals, until your party FACES REALITY, 2012 will be a recurring nightmare for Republicans.

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Romney’s “Perfect” VP pick

Posted on August 11, 2012 by Terry| 2 Comments
Mitt Romney

It's amazing how often you watch Romney and see just how damned uncomfortable, how unhappy, he looks. I would be too, if I had sold my soul. The man is a caricature of his former self.

With today’s announcement of Paul Ryan as Mitt Romney’s running mate, Romney has again reminded us what today’s Republican Party stands for.  Following in the footsteps of John McCain, the last, failed Republican candidate, the once moderate, pragmatic Romney has completed his conversion to right-wing wacko.  The pick proves that it is the Rush Limbaugh’s of the world and corporate America who really runs the Republican party, not the everyday American voter.

I respected McCain before the last election.  He was indeed a “maverick”, someone who fought for what he thought was right, regardless of his party’s view on a particular issue.  That all went out the window once he ran for president, and it’s carried over into his bitter, post-election loss political life.  Now, McCain is a shell of of his former self, having been “assimilated” (Borg-style!) into the rest of the conservative, right-wing, wacko component of the Republican party.

It’s amazing how Romney has followed the same path.  Romney has somehow transformed from a moderate governor of a liberal state, from a champion of health care reform, into a sniveling wimp who kowtows to the most radical in the Republican Party.  The Ryan announcement is just verification of the transformation.  The architect of a budget plan so extreme, so completely unrealistic that even huge numbers of Republicans distanced themselves from it as much as they could, was strongly backed by the most radical and conservative people and institutions in th U.S.

And, as usual nowadays for the Republican Party…the radical wing of the party “won”, and got their man as the VP candidate.  I really wonder how men like McCain and Romney can look in the mirror in the morning, knowing how they’ve completely sold their souls for the sake of winning an election.  There’s really no word to describe it other than….pathetic.

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And the Rich get Richer…

Posted on September 19, 2011 by Terry| 2 Comments
U.S. Wealth Gain

Of all wealth gained in the U.S. since 1983, almost 82% went to the richest 5% of Americans, while the poorest people actually lost wealth.

Class warfare.  That’s what John Boehner, Mitch McConnell, Paul Ryan, and pretty much the entire group of GOP presidential candidates have called Obama’s proposal to (gasp!) tax the rich.   As this story points out though, since 1983, the vast majority of America’s growing wealth went to those who didn’t need it.   An astounding 81.7% of all new wealth generated since 1983 went to the richest 5% of Americans.  ONLY the top 40% of Americans by wealth gained wealth over the period, while the bottom 60% of Americans actually lost wealth since 1983. 

I feel like I’m beating a dead horse lately with the topics I’ve been addressing, but given the news lately, the topic keeps rearing its ugly head.   Wealth inequality in the U.S. continues to grow, the rich do indeed keep getting richer and the poor do indeed keep getting poorer.  But in very dark economic times, when “shared sacrifice” is supposedly needed, we can’t ask the richest Americans to pay their fair share?   An attempt to raise taxes on the wealthiest Americans, the ONE group the recession hasn’t seemed to harm, is decried as “class warfare” by the GOP?

Don’t shoot the messenger here, but in some ways, you know who is partially to blame for the growing gap between rich and poor?  The working poor themselves.  WAIT!  Let me explain!!  As I’ve stated before out here, I will NEVER understand the motivations that have somehow led to SO many working class Americans to identify themselves as Republicans.   When over a period of many decades, wealth distribution is continually skewed towards the rich, why would SO many working class Americans relate to a party that wants to reduce or eliminate their right to collectively bargain and form unions?  Why would SO many working class Americans relate to a party that supports a tax structure where, as he himself states, Warren Buffett pays the lowest tax rate of anyone in his office, including his lowest paid secretaries? 

Obama tried to change “politics as usual” in Washington.  He spent much of the last 2 years attempting to compromise with Republicans, only to find that Republicans weren’t the slightest bit interested in compromise.  He agreed to extend the Bush tax cuts without asking for anything in return.  He tried to negotiate with Boehner and the GOP over the debt ceiling debacle, and came off the fiasco of a “negotiation” looking very, very weak.   Thank GOD Obama has started to take the gloves off and play hardball.  As he has found out, you simply can’t change the politics in Washington all by yourself.  You can’t attempt to negotiate with those who are unreasonable, and in trying to do so, he just kept coming away with a bloody nose.

With Obama’s jobs program he recently announced, and now with Obama’s stance on long-term deficit reduction, including his threat to VETO any attempt to reduce social welfare programs if tax increases weren’t included in a debt deal, it appears he’s finally realized that the only way to deal with the Republicans is to beat them at their own game.  Obama has learned to call the GOP’s bluff…now we’ll see if the GOP continues to bank on the American public supporting millionaire tax cuts over a more equitable system.

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Taxing the Rich "Bad Economics"?

Posted on September 18, 2011 by Terry| Leave a comment
Deficit Surplus Graph

A booming economy, and a budget surplus prior to the Bush tax cuts. But Paul Ryan says raising taxes on the rich is "bad economics".

Paul Ryan is (of course) ripping Obama’s plans to raise taxes on the rich.  Ryan says the plan is good politics, but “bad economics”.   One thing I have to admit….Republicans have mastered the ability to control the national political dialogue.  Just 3 years after the recession, Republicans have somehow turned the political discussion away from Wall Street, away from corporate greed, and away from the economic effects of the Bush tax cuts, and focused the entire political debate on the size of government and the supposedly negative impact taxes are having on the economy.

The graph on the top of this NY Times article shows just how much of the deficit is due to the Bush tax cuts.  Simply letting the Bush tax cuts expire at the end of 2012 brings the long-term deficit down to a sustainable level.  How to fix the deficit issue?  LET THE TAX CUTS EXPIRE and the debt issue is largely taken care of.  But yet the Republicans have been able to frame the entire debate on the debt on cutting spending, and have somehow made raising taxes completely off limit.

Clearly the economy did just fine under the tax rates under the Clinton administration.  There was no “uncertainty” or reluctance to hire due to tax rates, as Paul Ryan says will happen if Obama is allowed to raise taxes on the rich.  Poll after poll shows the public as a whole wants a balanced approach to reducing the deficit, including support for raising revenue through higher taxes.  Even a very large majority of Republicans recognize the need to both cut spending and raise taxes.  

What’s very clear…the statement is true that one party’s stance on taxes is “good politics, but bad economics.”  But clearly Ryan and the Republicans should be pointing the finger at themselves, not at Obama and the Democrats.

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Perusin' & Musin'

Posted on August 16, 2011 by Terry| Leave a comment

Perusin' & Musin'Some random thoughts from perusing the headlines…

Malaria Killing Off UK Birds — Malaria in the UK?  It’s not quite the same as malaria directly spreading to humans, but malaria has dramatically increased in birds in the UK in the past 20 years.  Climate change?   Nah, I’m sure it’s just coincidence.

GOP Eyes New 2012 GOP Candidates – Paul Ryan?  Do we really need another unrealistic fiscal wacko in the race?  Do yourself a favor Mr. Ryan and stay out of it.  You embarassed yourself enough with your fantasy of a budget you proposed earlier this year.  As for Palin…She’s just become a pathetic punch-line.  I LOVED how she just happened to show up at the Iowa straw poll, like some pathetic 3rd cousin that shows up at your door that you don’t want anything to do with. 

Enter Rick ‘Dubya” Perry — Love the line “They’re both fluent in ‘Bubba’”.  Perry says he’s different than GW though, since he went to Texas A&M and Bush went to Yale.  One thing they both have in common…they both were lackin’ in them there “book smarts”.  Perry “earned” a 1.9 GPA at A&M.

One Hundred Proofs that the Earth is Not a Globe – The examples given here are from a pamphlet from 1885.  I hope to god that 125 years from now, people will be looking at some of the crap being written today by climate change skeptics, and will be laughing about how ignorant humanity once was.  I hope to god that 125 years from now, people will be looking at some of the crap being written today about evolution by creationist wackos, and will be laughing about how ignorant humanity once was.

Like the Birds and Bees, Reindeer can see UV — No way.  I refuse to believe that Reindeer can see UV light.  If this were true, then visibility for reindeer flying in a snowstorm wouldn’t be as much of an issue, and Rudolph wouldn’t be needed.  NOBODY tells me Rudolph isn’t real…science be damned!

Posted in Birds, Climate Change, Evolution/Creationism, Perusin' & Musin', Politics

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