Jennifer Granholm’s response to Mitt Romney’s birther remark is a doozy

Jennifer Granholm’s response to Mitt Romney’s birther remark is a doozy

Has Paul Ryan Got Bad Teeth

Funny, I have not seen one photo of Paul Ryan where he is smilling or laughing showing his teeth.  Just an interesting observation.   

Why Romney didn't serve

Mitt Romney's Response when asked why he did not serve in the military during Vietnam.

“That’s a good question, young man, and I would be happy to answer it. The Vietnam War came at a time in my life when I had other plans. I knew in my heart of hearts that I would one day serve my nation. That I would one day hold an office that would help not only our nation, but also the world. So I did what I could to make sure that I would be around to serve my nation, as well as serving God by teaching very important religious principles to a broader audience overseas. My father did not want me serving, and he convinced me that yes, I was too important to go to Vietnam. I had a greater purpose in life. I wasn’t neglecting my nation, but rather preparing myself for a future of service.”

As a person who served during that period I find this remark highly arrogant and offensive.

Navy Retirement Ceremony

Watching a young sailor retiring from the Navy after 20 years of service. This kid didn't join until 10 years after I retired. Really brings it home.

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$718 billion Medicare Cut

The Obama administration uses this money to help Medicare beneificiaries pay for prescription drugs and enable more seniors to get preventative care like cancer screenings. Romney/Ryan uses this money to cover the loss in federal revenue from tax cuts they want to give the rich. Sent from Richard's iPhone
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I'm Living on Your Dollar

Ok, I have a confession to make.  I am living entirely on your tax dollars.  Does that piss you off?

Yes, I am living in Key West on my boat taking pics of sunsets every night on you.  I get my SS check and my military retirement check every month without fail.  I have my medicare and my tricare which pays 100% of my medical.  That's right no co-pays. I love my medicare and SS and I hope it is there for my children when they get my age.  My concern is that it will not be.  There are two philosophies being presented in this upcoming election.

With Obama it will remain much the same.  There may be some adjustments such as raising the FICA limit or deleting it all together.  That would mean everyone would pay on all their wages. Currently people who make over $106,800 do not pay FICA for anything over that.  So someone making say $1,000,000 per year would exceed that after the first month of the year and would not have to pay more. If you make less than that all your income is subject to FICA.  Another option is provide a need test so very wealthy people may not draw SS or Medicare even though they paid into it.  It must be noted that many wealthy people (like Romney) do not pay very much into FICA as their income is mostly derived from interest in dividends and they currently pay a much lower tax rate.  Another option is to raise the age for Medicare and SS.  Currently you cannot draw Medicare until you are 65 and full SS until 67.  You can still draw a reduce amount at 62.  Currently the out of pocket for Medicare is about $100 per month and it is taken out of your SS payment. Those who do not have Tricare, which is most of you would pay an additional out of pocket of 20% of the allowed amount the doctor can charge you.  Some people elect to purchase an additional insurance policy to cover that.

Now with the Romney/Ryan plan as much as I can determine from the confusion of whether it is a Romney or Ryan plan is as follows.  Anyone born after 1958 would get the option when they turned 65 of accepting a voucher worth a certain amount, as yet undetermined but would be based on the lowest amount of an average of costs for the current 80% coverage.  If this covered their medical for the year that's ok.  If you got cancer and had chemo you might be in trouble.  You could also opt for staying with the current Medicare plan.  The problem with this is that if all the healthy people go with the voucher plan it puts all the unhealthy ones in the classic plan and it goes broke.  The other problem as I see it is that with the voucher system all your FICA deductions goes into the market.  If the market does well, good deal, if not they you are SOoL.  Of course this is all speculation.  There is no guarantees in the Romney Ryan plan but once they start changing things lookout.

Social Security as we know it has been around since 1935.  My grandmother got a meager check each month which kept her out of poverty and she used to slip me a dollar when her check came in and I loved it.  Medicare has been around since 1965 and there are a lot of us on it that thank it is great.  I personally think Obamacare should have been made Medicare for All but the insurance lobby was just too great.

Well you know where I stand.  What I have is good and there is absolutely no reason to change it. There are certainly some tweaks that can be made based on income levels, number of people drawing it, etc.  But believe me it is a good deal and if you are under 55 and you have been paying into FICA for 30-40 years you should not be deprived of what you have earned.  Please don't trust promises being made by people who are super wealthy and are trying get into office.  Believe me that do not have your best interest in mind.

Ayn Rand and The Fountainhead, the Movie

I had not read Ayn Rand in the past but since the selection of Paul Ryan, a devout follower of Rand’s, I figured it was time to see for myself a little of her work.  Initially I was going to read the novel but found that the library held a copy of the 1949 movie, starring Gary Cooper and Patricia Neal, on DVD format.  Sometimes movies don’t follow the book but since Ayn Rand also wrote the screen play, I figured it to be pretty accurate. 

Many of the comments I have read have been critical of Ryan as a follower of Rand’s “Individualism” as portrayed in the novel and some of her other work, ie. “Atlas Shrugged”.  Somehow this Individualism was taken by the modern Republican Party and or Tea Party to espouse less Government and more emphasis on the individual accomplishments of people.  Words and phrases that come to mind as I watched the movie were the mob, the masses, compromise is bad, don’t give in to mediocrity, standing up for your principles against all odds.  Used in the context of the movie or the book, these are all great ideals.  The hero Roark never waivers in his commitment to ensure that his architectural designs are used exactly as he laid them out.  He will never accept any changes to his designs and would not work and would deny the love of his life rather than succumb to any changes that might be more acceptable to less radical thoughts or more acceptable to the masses.  

As noted, these are great ideals but in my opinion, even great ideals taken to extreme can be bad.  For instance, if all writers and authors refused to allow any editing of their work, I doubt there would be very much written in major journals, magazines and a lot less novels written.  Unless you can write, print, market, distribute and collect all by yourself, you are pretty dependent upon an editor and work of a publishing company.  I dare say trying to do all that yourself would really limit your ability to write.  These entities then have a share in the risk and the rewards of getting your work published.  Along with that risk comes the right to edit your work.  If you don’t like it you just don’t get published, hence the need to negotiate and to compromise if you are going to get anything done. 

Actually I thought the movie and the ideals presented in it were applicable to Progressive people as well as Conservatives.  Towards the end the hero Roark made a presentation to a jury in defense against the charge that he destroyed a building that was built with changes to his design.  He said throughout history great things have been accomplished by people with vision and that this vision cannot be compromised to the lesser thoughts of the masses.  Not sure if I really got this exactly right but in general that is what I took from it.  Overall, in spite of the flat style of the 40’s movie dialog it was an ok entertainment for the evening and gave me a better understanding of the philosophy of Ayn Rand and Paul Ryan.  

Key West Sunset August 15, 2012

Great Cloud distribution

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Paul Ryan & John Birch Society

As a kid I recall seeing huge signs on the hi way (yes I'm am old fart) calling for the impeachment of Earl Warren. The signs were sponsored by the John Birch Society. I really thought that organization had faded away, but alas, now I find out that not only has it not faded away but it has embedded itself deeply in GOP politics. Interestingly one if the 12 founding members was the elder Koch founder also of Koch Industries. Also of note is the fact that the JBS is headquartered in Wisconsin. http://www.jbs.org/news/congressman-ryan-as-vice-president

Paul Ryan's Inspirational Guru, Ayn Rand

Paul Ryan, Ayn Rand Fan, Brings Writer's Philosophy To the Presidential Stage

"“What are your masses but mud to be ground underfoot, fuel to be burned for those who deserve it? What is the people but millions of puny, shrivelled, helpless souls that have no thoughts of their own, no dreams of their own, no will of their own, who eat and sleep and chew helplessly the words others put into their mildewed brains?…I know no worse injustice than justice for all.” – Ayn Rand, first edition of the semi-autobiographical novel, We The Living"

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Forwarding Tweet by @carrieinco

"Obamacare? It's true: I do care" wp.me/pUgO9-lSF via @TheObamaDiary Read it online: http://twitter.com/carrieinco/status/235161535712993280 Sent via TweetDeck (http://tweetdeck.com)

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Forwarding Tweet by @ginsengity

Been payin Medicare tax since I was 16- now Romney wants 2 give me a FUCKING COUPON in exchange, while HE PAYS NO FEDERAL INCOME TAXES #p2 Read it online: http://twitter.com/ginsengity/status/235161392699822081 Sent via TweetDeck (http://tweetdeck.com)

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Bain Capital and the Georgetown, SC steel plant. How the Residents Still Love Romney or Hate Obama.

This comes from a friend's post on Facebook that lives in Georgetown, SC. Unfortunately I can't paste the comments in but they they were all in support of Romney. http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5glPz-4Rf98G7zuRdHA5taYgSaQq...

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Paul Ryan & Ayn Rand's Objectivism

I kept hearing Ayn Rand associated with Paul Ryan so I did some research. It seems she was a Russian American philosopher that espoused a philosophy of life called Objectivism. It seems Paul Ryan is a big proponent of this philosophy, so much so he makes all his staffers read it.  Here is a synopsis of the concept as comes from Wikipedia. 

"Objectivism is a philosophy created by Russian-American philosopher and novelist Ayn Rand (1905–1982). Objectivism's central tenets are that reality exists independent of consciousness, that human beings have direct contact with reality through sense perception, that one can attain objective knowledge from perception through the process of conceptformation and inductive logic, that the proper moral purpose of one's life is the pursuit of one's own happiness (or rational self-interest), that the onlysocial system consistent with this morality is full respect for individual rights embodied in laissez faire capitalism, and that the role of art in human life is to transform humans' metaphysical ideas by selective reproduction of reality into a physical form—a work of art—that one can comprehend and to which one can respond emotionally."

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What Ann should say to Mitt after he Disses her on Refalca

"It's a big exciting experience for my husband. I have to tell you, this is Mitt's vocation. I'm not even sure which day the election goes on. He'll get a chance to participate, I will not be voting in the event. I hope he does well."

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