This month marks a time that diets of many of us changes along with the weather. I look at every store what they are pricing their potatoes and squash at and if it is organic and priced favourably I buy. They both keep so well in my garage. The work bench has been cleared in the garage to store my assortment of squashes. Plastic milk cartons are used to store my potatoes and then I cover them with old coffee bean bags made of burlap.
Squash, I have learned that they should have a stem on them, no soft spots and can not touch each other. The author from Oregon, Carol Deppe's book, THE RESILIENT GARDENER - FOOD PRODUCTION AND SELF-RELIANCE IN UNCERTAIN TIMES writes about the skill of gardening but also about nutrient and storing food and eating during the winter. Granted, she is wheat sensitive she relies on potatoes and squash more than some of us but then again she maybe wise like the native Americans were live on this land. Her favourite squash is sweet meat but she covers more than I have ever heard of or seen in stores. From her I have grown to respect the humble vegetable and understand the value of it.
A week ago I saw a display of organic potatoes priced right. It must be my Irish blood but I like potatoes, more in the winter perhaps, but I really feel that this is one vegetable that should be organic or home grown. That great recipe that Irish invented, colcannon, using cabbage and potatoes with cream and butter is over the top good. I modify it some what but still enjoy on a winter's night. Add a slice of squash, I am eating well.
Last week, Dr. Weil on an afternoon show and this is a man that I have read for 20 years. He had his top list of staying health and simple adjustments to make for a longer healthier life. Iodine is a mineral he suggested that many Americans should be made aware of and watch for the signs of needing it. If one is very sensitive to cold, puffy eyes along with a tireness, the lack of Iodine maybe the problem. Consuming more dairy, ocean fish, sea weed or kelp would take care of the shortage in our body. That sardine and cracker lunch our parents had is still a wise idea or the Asian idea of miso soup or a little sea weed in the soup pot takes care of this iodine problem.
Weil went on to say that an all raw diet is not a great idea as some foods are better consumed cooked like tomatoes but other foods are most beneficial if raw like garlic and asparagus. That garlic news, about eating raw is new to me. I throw garlic into my beans, potatoes and just about any pot on the stove. Now I will learn to crush garlic, leave time and air work it's magic and then put it into olive oil and use it on food.
Finally pistachio nuts, a serving of 47, calories of 158 and it gives us 85% of our need of Vitamin C for the day. This is a good low fat nut and we burn calories opening up the nut, doesn't get better than that.
Sunday, November 18, 2012
Monday, November 12, 2012
Flying solo in a developed world
I was having lunch the other day with a couple friends and we were discussing the state of the world and particular the United States. The comment was made that often new items are shipped to developing countries that could be a great help right here for our poor or less fortunate.
Remember those computer that cost about a $100 and are used as a light for the family in rural areas of Africa and Asia, featured on 60 Minutes. The guy was from MIT that design it. That was a few years ago. Then there are water purification kits simple to use and very inexpensive. Right now there are many spots in the U.S. that are having issues with unclean water. Are these items even available for those people?
Yesterday I heard the background story about the insurance whistle blower, Wendell Potter. This man witness a free clinic, Remote Area Medical, in rural Virginia and realized that they have been sending medical supplies overseas to help when in fact this country needs that same help. People have travelled 200 miles, stood in the rain to get treatment outdoors for illnesses because they did not have insurance. Remember, one gentleman recently that said anyone can go to the emergency room and get taken care of in this country. Well, shortly after that event in 2007, Potter resign his position with CIGNA and become a whistle blower. Later on he apologized to Micheal Moore for the industry's attack on him personally and his movie Sicko. I had always wondered why Wendell Potter had a change of mind and heart about his profession. It shows how many people live as they do in third world countries right here among us.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/11/10/warm-up-cook-recharge-a-smart-tool-born-of-hurricane-sandy-aftermath.html This item has come to the public attention because of Sandy and the two weeks without electricity in some areas that is going on right now. With all the weather changes going on in this country we should all prepare like we are flying solo and self sufficient. With this item you can cook, get a little heat and charge up the phone. The interesting comments after this article are worthy of reading.
Remember those computer that cost about a $100 and are used as a light for the family in rural areas of Africa and Asia, featured on 60 Minutes. The guy was from MIT that design it. That was a few years ago. Then there are water purification kits simple to use and very inexpensive. Right now there are many spots in the U.S. that are having issues with unclean water. Are these items even available for those people?
Yesterday I heard the background story about the insurance whistle blower, Wendell Potter. This man witness a free clinic, Remote Area Medical, in rural Virginia and realized that they have been sending medical supplies overseas to help when in fact this country needs that same help. People have travelled 200 miles, stood in the rain to get treatment outdoors for illnesses because they did not have insurance. Remember, one gentleman recently that said anyone can go to the emergency room and get taken care of in this country. Well, shortly after that event in 2007, Potter resign his position with CIGNA and become a whistle blower. Later on he apologized to Micheal Moore for the industry's attack on him personally and his movie Sicko. I had always wondered why Wendell Potter had a change of mind and heart about his profession. It shows how many people live as they do in third world countries right here among us.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/11/10/warm-up-cook-recharge-a-smart-tool-born-of-hurricane-sandy-aftermath.html This item has come to the public attention because of Sandy and the two weeks without electricity in some areas that is going on right now. With all the weather changes going on in this country we should all prepare like we are flying solo and self sufficient. With this item you can cook, get a little heat and charge up the phone. The interesting comments after this article are worthy of reading.
Saturday, November 3, 2012
Book Review
I have recently read a collection of letters and journals entries of Anne Morrow Lindbergh. It is a new publication using materializes from the years of 1947- 1986, basically her age from 40 though 80. The book is titled AGAINST WIND AND TIDE.
I have always found her writing to be thoughtful and well written but this book gives a chance to see how an individual grows and changes over a life time. As a wife, a mother and a writer she explores which demands she focuses on and writes of her successful or failures as the years go by. Anne Lindbergh always though of herself as a creative person and a writer in equal part to the role of wife and mother.
Charlie, her husband, the record now shows had numerous lady friends and fathered seven other children while having two relationships in Germany with two sisters. I read this book and there is not a hint of these events but there is a sense that he is gone more than he is home. I conclude in the end that it is not that he is running from this marriage but it is his nature of restlessness and his need for movement that keeps him from any settled home life. The letters over the years show that Anne becomes more interested in Charles as an editor to her work than a companion to her daily life. In the reality of life, she finds companionship with others and learns to enjoy being alone.
In the course of reading the book there are examples of how to write a thoughtful letter for each of life's tragedies, comforting letters, long letters of encouragement for young people in doubt of their own worth or abilities or going though misfortune. Her journal entries explores her feeling about unwanted pregnancies, endless demands of being famous and how to find that balance. The book ends as she is facing the loneliness of widowhood.
Half way though the book, I read sentences that something made me stop and reread them, then I started to write some down. Some examples are "her efficiency in too many ways tempts her in too many things"... or this one describing a gathering of people "everyone is in a honeymoon stage of excitement over each other" . Another example is "she just seems to have a music box playing in her all the time--very happy". My favorite " I feel I am wading through molasses, I do it so inefficiently and slowly. " This last one, about molasses, is the current period on my life.
After knowing the clear, hard fact about this woman and her marriage, the surface question would be why did she continue to stay married, my conclusion, they had a very deep respect for each other. They shared fame, tragedies and the early experiences of flying together, these formed a bond that carried them for a lifetime. In the end this shows, Anne keep Charles's secret about his terminally ill condition from everyone, as he wanted it. Charles planned out each and every detail about his finial year and days, they spend much of the last year together. He choice to be buried before the world knew of his death. No one explains the pain of being famous better than Ann has in this book.
This collection includes a copy of a speech she delivered at the Cosmopolitan Club, the topic was, ' Tasks at the End of Life'. Anne Lindbergh up in her years, suggested that life is like the game of musical chairs. "Life is full of starts and stops, stumbles and jerks, and suddenly confused by standstills." The speech goes on, how at times in life, we are confident about who we are and then they are times we stand alone. The periods of no movement at all, movement of panic, moments of insight and renew, they are all there, over a life time.
Lindbergh then continues the speech with her place, at that moment, of living alone and being a widow. She closes with the beauty of quoting poetry and reaching for the meaning of what life is about for her. The pure joy of the simplest things has the most meaning to her and she writes it so elegantly that for the rest of us, it is a piece we can reflect on and treasure.
I have always found her writing to be thoughtful and well written but this book gives a chance to see how an individual grows and changes over a life time. As a wife, a mother and a writer she explores which demands she focuses on and writes of her successful or failures as the years go by. Anne Lindbergh always though of herself as a creative person and a writer in equal part to the role of wife and mother.
Charlie, her husband, the record now shows had numerous lady friends and fathered seven other children while having two relationships in Germany with two sisters. I read this book and there is not a hint of these events but there is a sense that he is gone more than he is home. I conclude in the end that it is not that he is running from this marriage but it is his nature of restlessness and his need for movement that keeps him from any settled home life. The letters over the years show that Anne becomes more interested in Charles as an editor to her work than a companion to her daily life. In the reality of life, she finds companionship with others and learns to enjoy being alone.
In the course of reading the book there are examples of how to write a thoughtful letter for each of life's tragedies, comforting letters, long letters of encouragement for young people in doubt of their own worth or abilities or going though misfortune. Her journal entries explores her feeling about unwanted pregnancies, endless demands of being famous and how to find that balance. The book ends as she is facing the loneliness of widowhood.
Half way though the book, I read sentences that something made me stop and reread them, then I started to write some down. Some examples are "her efficiency in too many ways tempts her in too many things"... or this one describing a gathering of people "everyone is in a honeymoon stage of excitement over each other" . Another example is "she just seems to have a music box playing in her all the time--very happy". My favorite " I feel I am wading through molasses, I do it so inefficiently and slowly. " This last one, about molasses, is the current period on my life.
After knowing the clear, hard fact about this woman and her marriage, the surface question would be why did she continue to stay married, my conclusion, they had a very deep respect for each other. They shared fame, tragedies and the early experiences of flying together, these formed a bond that carried them for a lifetime. In the end this shows, Anne keep Charles's secret about his terminally ill condition from everyone, as he wanted it. Charles planned out each and every detail about his finial year and days, they spend much of the last year together. He choice to be buried before the world knew of his death. No one explains the pain of being famous better than Ann has in this book.
This collection includes a copy of a speech she delivered at the Cosmopolitan Club, the topic was, ' Tasks at the End of Life'. Anne Lindbergh up in her years, suggested that life is like the game of musical chairs. "Life is full of starts and stops, stumbles and jerks, and suddenly confused by standstills." The speech goes on, how at times in life, we are confident about who we are and then they are times we stand alone. The periods of no movement at all, movement of panic, moments of insight and renew, they are all there, over a life time.
Lindbergh then continues the speech with her place, at that moment, of living alone and being a widow. She closes with the beauty of quoting poetry and reaching for the meaning of what life is about for her. The pure joy of the simplest things has the most meaning to her and she writes it so elegantly that for the rest of us, it is a piece we can reflect on and treasure.
Friday, October 26, 2012
vote
The political farce has reached the point I could not turn on the
t.v. yesterday. Now I believe the election will not be clean and
decided so the results will be a period of confusion and shouting for
days. This is the last election of the old white male race in this
country and they know it. ...why else so much voter suppression?
GOP has used that tactic for the last three cycles. FL. in 2000 with 60,000 blacks knocked off the voting roles by Jeb Bush,,,the the machines in Ohio in 2004 that were counted in TN. and the computer expert died in a plane crash before the investigation really got under way. Each of those state made the difference in those elections. If the votes was not overwhelming for Obama in '08, he would have not won. There is strong evidence that some of the same things when on but the vote margins were too big to allow the upset to happen.
How is it that one of the candidates of a major party doesn't speak out about this voter suppression.
The Hispanic are fastest growing voting block, hardest working group with the most drive and they will not vote for a GOP this time. The Old Men's Club only see brown skin and don't even care about their interests.
Any woman that votes GOP believes in a man dominated, patriarchal society. This rape/abortion/birth control/ virginal probing/ front is really about control of women and their bodies. If any of these men were grabbed in the street, dragged into an alleyway, thrown to the garbage strewn ground, and multiply sodomized perhaps they would have a clearer idea about what rape really is. They probably would also know HIV for the rest of their lives. God wants this. What kind of head injury do these men have?
If the issue was truly about the value of life then these old white men would financially help young families raise children. There will be the money for head start, healthy food and great education for the poor. They would put the value of a child's life as the most important item on the budget each year aong with help t all families. The pentagon is the top money spender in the budget now. Those old white men are the ones, Jesus spoke about in the bible, the Pharisees.
There is a quiet but solidly growing chatter about taxing religious property now and it going to catch hold because of the loud voice the churches have had politically in this election. Church leaders know about the separation of church and state in this country and they have pushed it to the limit with most people out there. There is a minority of people that believe their morality is more important, superior to others, they don't understand the difference personal morality and legislated law.
GOP has used that tactic for the last three cycles. FL. in 2000 with 60,000 blacks knocked off the voting roles by Jeb Bush,,,the the machines in Ohio in 2004 that were counted in TN. and the computer expert died in a plane crash before the investigation really got under way. Each of those state made the difference in those elections. If the votes was not overwhelming for Obama in '08, he would have not won. There is strong evidence that some of the same things when on but the vote margins were too big to allow the upset to happen.
How is it that one of the candidates of a major party doesn't speak out about this voter suppression.
The Hispanic are fastest growing voting block, hardest working group with the most drive and they will not vote for a GOP this time. The Old Men's Club only see brown skin and don't even care about their interests.
Any woman that votes GOP believes in a man dominated, patriarchal society. This rape/abortion/birth control/ virginal probing/ front is really about control of women and their bodies. If any of these men were grabbed in the street, dragged into an alleyway, thrown to the garbage strewn ground, and multiply sodomized perhaps they would have a clearer idea about what rape really is. They probably would also know HIV for the rest of their lives. God wants this. What kind of head injury do these men have?
If the issue was truly about the value of life then these old white men would financially help young families raise children. There will be the money for head start, healthy food and great education for the poor. They would put the value of a child's life as the most important item on the budget each year aong with help t all families. The pentagon is the top money spender in the budget now. Those old white men are the ones, Jesus spoke about in the bible, the Pharisees.
There is a quiet but solidly growing chatter about taxing religious property now and it going to catch hold because of the loud voice the churches have had politically in this election. Church leaders know about the separation of church and state in this country and they have pushed it to the limit with most people out there. There is a minority of people that believe their morality is more important, superior to others, they don't understand the difference personal morality and legislated law.
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
Election
If the news about Free Port, Ill. and their connection to Bain Capital was not enough bad news last week this is worst. Bush got the Whitehouse twice under a cloud of illegal/questionable means. In today's climate with so many living on credit and under employed - a stolen election this time could be a revolution in the streets.
Romney family buys 2012 voting machines
Tagg Romney, the son of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney,
has purchased electronic voting machines that will be used in the 2012
elections in Ohio, Texas, Oklahoma, Washington and Colorado.
"Late last month, Gerry Bello and Bob Fitrakis at FreePress.org broke the story of the Mitt Romney/Bain Capital investment team involved in H.I.G. Capital which, in July of 2011, completed a "strategic investment" to take over a fair share of the Austin-based e-voting machine company Hart Intercivic," according to independent journalist Brad Friedman.
But Friedman is not the only one to discover the connection between the Romney family, Bain Capital, and ownership of voting machines.
Truth out reports:
"Through a closely held equity fund called Solamere, Mitt Romney and his wife, son and brother are major investors in an investment firm called H.I.G. Capital. H.I.G. in turn holds a majority share and three out of five board members in Hart Intercivic, a company that owns the notoriously faulty electronic voting machines that will count the ballots in swing state Ohio November 7. Hart machines will also be used elsewhere in the United States.
In other words, a candidate for the presidency of the United States, and his brother, wife and son, have a straight-line financial interest in the voting machines that could decide this fall's election. These machines cannot be monitored by the public. But they will help decide who "owns" the White House."
Both The Nation and New York Times confirm the connection between the Romney family, Solamere and the Bain Capital investment in the voting machine company, Hart Intercivic, whose board of directors serve H.I.G. Capital.
"Mitt Romney, his wife Ann Romney, and their son Tagg Romney are also invested in H.I.G. Capital, as is Mitt's brother G. Scott Romney.
The investment comes in part through the privately held family equity firm called Solamere, which bears the name of the posh Utah ski community where the Romney family retreats to slide down the slopes." Truth out added.
There are also political connections between Solamere and the Romney's. "Matt Blunt, the former Missouri governor who backed Mr. Romney in 2008, is a senior adviser to Solamere, as is Mitt Romney’s brother, Scott, a lawyer," according to the New York Times.
Voter ID and voter fraud have been top issues in the 2012 race, as have claims of Republican voter suppression. Mr. Romney's campaign has also been the subject of controversy over misleading ads, false claims, sketchy math on his tax plan, and overall vagueness on women's rights and other hot button issues.
Raising further questions of legitimacy in the Romney campaign is an audio recording recently made public, where Mitt Romney is heard asking independent business owners to apply pressure to their employees to influence their votes. What has also been made public are the emails those employers have sent to their employees with an implied threat that if they don't vote for Romney they may lose their jobs.
What it all says is that Mitt Romney, with the help of his family and Bain Capital connections, is more than willing to try to take the White House through illegitimate and highly unethical, if not specifically illegal means.
With each passing day, the character and campaign methods of Mitt Romney cast an ever-darker shadow over free and fair American elections.
Yet there is an irony in the Romney campaign that cannot be ignored. For all the noise the right-wing has made in questioning the legitimacy of Obama's presidency, there have been so many questionable efforts made to help put Romney in the White House, if he wins, there should be great dispute over whether his election could ever be called genuinely illegitimate.
The nagging question is why, if Mr. Romney truly has the qualities that American voters want in their president, does he have to go to such great and questionable lengths to try to win the election.
Romney family buys 2012 voting machines
"Late last month, Gerry Bello and Bob Fitrakis at FreePress.org broke the story of the Mitt Romney/Bain Capital investment team involved in H.I.G. Capital which, in July of 2011, completed a "strategic investment" to take over a fair share of the Austin-based e-voting machine company Hart Intercivic," according to independent journalist Brad Friedman.
But Friedman is not the only one to discover the connection between the Romney family, Bain Capital, and ownership of voting machines.
Truth out reports:
"Through a closely held equity fund called Solamere, Mitt Romney and his wife, son and brother are major investors in an investment firm called H.I.G. Capital. H.I.G. in turn holds a majority share and three out of five board members in Hart Intercivic, a company that owns the notoriously faulty electronic voting machines that will count the ballots in swing state Ohio November 7. Hart machines will also be used elsewhere in the United States.
In other words, a candidate for the presidency of the United States, and his brother, wife and son, have a straight-line financial interest in the voting machines that could decide this fall's election. These machines cannot be monitored by the public. But they will help decide who "owns" the White House."
Both The Nation and New York Times confirm the connection between the Romney family, Solamere and the Bain Capital investment in the voting machine company, Hart Intercivic, whose board of directors serve H.I.G. Capital.
"Mitt Romney, his wife Ann Romney, and their son Tagg Romney are also invested in H.I.G. Capital, as is Mitt's brother G. Scott Romney.
The investment comes in part through the privately held family equity firm called Solamere, which bears the name of the posh Utah ski community where the Romney family retreats to slide down the slopes." Truth out added.
There are also political connections between Solamere and the Romney's. "Matt Blunt, the former Missouri governor who backed Mr. Romney in 2008, is a senior adviser to Solamere, as is Mitt Romney’s brother, Scott, a lawyer," according to the New York Times.
Voter ID and voter fraud have been top issues in the 2012 race, as have claims of Republican voter suppression. Mr. Romney's campaign has also been the subject of controversy over misleading ads, false claims, sketchy math on his tax plan, and overall vagueness on women's rights and other hot button issues.
Raising further questions of legitimacy in the Romney campaign is an audio recording recently made public, where Mitt Romney is heard asking independent business owners to apply pressure to their employees to influence their votes. What has also been made public are the emails those employers have sent to their employees with an implied threat that if they don't vote for Romney they may lose their jobs.
What it all says is that Mitt Romney, with the help of his family and Bain Capital connections, is more than willing to try to take the White House through illegitimate and highly unethical, if not specifically illegal means.
With each passing day, the character and campaign methods of Mitt Romney cast an ever-darker shadow over free and fair American elections.
Yet there is an irony in the Romney campaign that cannot be ignored. For all the noise the right-wing has made in questioning the legitimacy of Obama's presidency, there have been so many questionable efforts made to help put Romney in the White House, if he wins, there should be great dispute over whether his election could ever be called genuinely illegitimate.
The nagging question is why, if Mr. Romney truly has the qualities that American voters want in their president, does he have to go to such great and questionable lengths to try to win the election.
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
Self destruct
I attended a support group for Caregivers last night. The take away from it was that it is depressing to get old in this country. The structures of our society are not in place to care for seniors unless you have unlimited funds to pay for them. It is assumed that, each person, each family has a private bank to fund what is necessary and those that are not in that situation, should be faceless. The same for the jobless, the returning VETs, the poor that can not afford a higher education or the young that need head start. The key to quality of life in this country based on owning a bank.
For twenty years my GOP friends has commented, "well the science is not sure on global warming". That propaganda of the oil company has been so successful, the lie is a main stream truth in the American conversation. It is stopped the research and development of progressive ways of living our lives on a massive scale. Now our globe has a fever and it probably is going to be sick for decades if not centuries.
Take one part of that picture and focus on our bodies. I am, 77% water, if I remember biology correctly. So everything that is in our oceans, lakes, rivers, ground water can pass though my body. I need that water to live. All those chemicals of Monsanto, DuPont, Jet fuel, the pharmaceuticals, the plastics, all that is in my 77% body water now. Each of us is a water reservor walking around consuming the nearest water. The neighbour using weed and feed, the spray on orchards, the plastic lining that soup can, the chemicals on my clothes to make it fire retarded, the pills the guy down the street takes, they are in my water supply now and in the food I eat.
How does a society fail so badly to protect itself from destruction?
For twenty years my GOP friends has commented, "well the science is not sure on global warming". That propaganda of the oil company has been so successful, the lie is a main stream truth in the American conversation. It is stopped the research and development of progressive ways of living our lives on a massive scale. Now our globe has a fever and it probably is going to be sick for decades if not centuries.
Take one part of that picture and focus on our bodies. I am, 77% water, if I remember biology correctly. So everything that is in our oceans, lakes, rivers, ground water can pass though my body. I need that water to live. All those chemicals of Monsanto, DuPont, Jet fuel, the pharmaceuticals, the plastics, all that is in my 77% body water now. Each of us is a water reservor walking around consuming the nearest water. The neighbour using weed and feed, the spray on orchards, the plastic lining that soup can, the chemicals on my clothes to make it fire retarded, the pills the guy down the street takes, they are in my water supply now and in the food I eat.
How does a society fail so badly to protect itself from destruction?
Wednesday, September 5, 2012
wired Brains
I know that our brains are wired by the time we are 20 or so and we become conservative or liberal in our thinking but just the same I have to post this I found.
Voters need to ask who Ryan represents. It is people who make a million dollars a year or more. Everything he says is intended to produce policy that benefits them, and which hurts working people. Millionaires don’t like having to pay for government-provided infrastructure, or health care for workers, and don’t like having to put up with unions. The rest of us like driving on roads without potholes, over bridges that don’t fall down, and not being bankrupted when we need an operation. Since most Americans would be crazy to vote for policies that only benefit our three million wealthiest, out of 310 million, Ryan tries to appeal to workers with religion (banning abortion). He needs to put together a coalition of millionaires and some religious workers in order to win. But even that wouldn’t be enough. He has to get people on his side who would be hurt by his policies. And that requires that he simply lie to them.
So here are some new lies he just retailed, along with a reiteration of my earlier refutation of points drawn from his stock speeches, which he put right back in his Convention speech.
1. Ryan blamed the US credit rating downgrade on President Obama. But it was caused by the Republican Congress’s threat not to raise the debt ceiling. [3]That is, the fault for the credit rating downgrade from AAA to AA belongs with… Paul Ryan.
2. Ryan continues to claim that President Obama said business owners did not build their own businesses. Obama said that business owners benefit from government infrastructure and programs, which they did not build. No small business owner has built an inter-state highway or bridge, but those are the means whereby their goods get to market. Ryan’s (and the GOP’s) talking point in this regard is a typical Karl Rove Big Lie, and among an informed electorate it ought to discredit them.
3. Ryan depicted Obamacare as virtually a turn to Soviet-style totalitarianism, as incompatible with liberal freedoms for the individual. But the logical conclusion is that Ryan’s running mate, Mitt Romney, turned Massachusetts into a Gulag.
4. Ryan slammed President Obama for not implementing the deficit-cutting measures recommended by the Simpson-Bowles commission. But he himself voted against Simpson-Bowles. [4]
5. Ryan keeps attacking Prsident Obama’s stimulus program now [5]. But in 2002 when then President George W. Bush proposed stimulus spending, Ryan supported it. “What we’re trying to accomplish today with the passage of this third stimulus package is to create jobs and help the unemployed,”Ryan told MSNBC in 2002. Ryan says that the stimulus had not positive effects, while economists say it saved or created millions of jobs and pulled the US out of a near-Depression.
6. Even more embarrassing, in 2010, Ryan asked for $20 million in stimulus money from Obama for companies in his district, then repeatedly denied requesting stimulus funds. [6] He finally admitted he had done so, but continues to slam the stimulus program as a failure (even though the economy pulled out of a Depression as a result of it).
7. Ryan slammed President Obama for the closure of an auto plant [7] that closed in late 2008 under George W. Bush. Ryan’s running mate, Mitt Romney, opposed Obama’s actual auto bailout, which was a great success and returned Detroit to profitability.
8. Paul Ryan charges that Barack Obama has ‘stolen’ $700 billion from medicare for his Obamacare. In fact, these expense reductions do not cut Medicare benefits, and, moreover, Romney and Ryan supported these reductions! [8] The difference is that they would give the savings to the affluent, whereas Obama uses them to cover the presently uninsured.
9. Ryan continues to push his longstanding plans for a steal-from-the-elderly-and-give-to-the-rich medicare plan, which President Obama warned would cost ordinary recipients over $6000 a year extra. Politifact checked and rated Obama’s charge as correct, though they noted [9] that the figures referred to CBO analyses of Ryan’s last plan, not his ‘new’ one, which hasn’t been subjected to similar analysis. Ryan certainly recently put forward a plan that would cost ordinary people that much extra.
10. Ryan neglected to note that under the tax plan he favors, Gov. Mitt Romney would pay less than 1% in annual federal taxes, highlighting Romney’s already low rate compared to ordinary Americans (slightly lower than Ryan’s own!) and putting the spotlight back where Ryan’s appointment was supposed to misdirect it.
Voters need to ask who Ryan represents. It is people who make a million dollars a year or more. Everything he says is intended to produce policy that benefits them, and which hurts working people. Millionaires don’t like having to pay for government-provided infrastructure, or health care for workers, and don’t like having to put up with unions. The rest of us like driving on roads without potholes, over bridges that don’t fall down, and not being bankrupted when we need an operation. Since most Americans would be crazy to vote for policies that only benefit our three million wealthiest, out of 310 million, Ryan tries to appeal to workers with religion (banning abortion). He needs to put together a coalition of millionaires and some religious workers in order to win. But even that wouldn’t be enough. He has to get people on his side who would be hurt by his policies. And that requires that he simply lie to them.
So here are some new lies he just retailed, along with a reiteration of my earlier refutation of points drawn from his stock speeches, which he put right back in his Convention speech.
1. Ryan blamed the US credit rating downgrade on President Obama. But it was caused by the Republican Congress’s threat not to raise the debt ceiling. [3]That is, the fault for the credit rating downgrade from AAA to AA belongs with… Paul Ryan.
2. Ryan continues to claim that President Obama said business owners did not build their own businesses. Obama said that business owners benefit from government infrastructure and programs, which they did not build. No small business owner has built an inter-state highway or bridge, but those are the means whereby their goods get to market. Ryan’s (and the GOP’s) talking point in this regard is a typical Karl Rove Big Lie, and among an informed electorate it ought to discredit them.
3. Ryan depicted Obamacare as virtually a turn to Soviet-style totalitarianism, as incompatible with liberal freedoms for the individual. But the logical conclusion is that Ryan’s running mate, Mitt Romney, turned Massachusetts into a Gulag.
4. Ryan slammed President Obama for not implementing the deficit-cutting measures recommended by the Simpson-Bowles commission. But he himself voted against Simpson-Bowles. [4]
5. Ryan keeps attacking Prsident Obama’s stimulus program now [5]. But in 2002 when then President George W. Bush proposed stimulus spending, Ryan supported it. “What we’re trying to accomplish today with the passage of this third stimulus package is to create jobs and help the unemployed,”Ryan told MSNBC in 2002. Ryan says that the stimulus had not positive effects, while economists say it saved or created millions of jobs and pulled the US out of a near-Depression.
6. Even more embarrassing, in 2010, Ryan asked for $20 million in stimulus money from Obama for companies in his district, then repeatedly denied requesting stimulus funds. [6] He finally admitted he had done so, but continues to slam the stimulus program as a failure (even though the economy pulled out of a Depression as a result of it).
7. Ryan slammed President Obama for the closure of an auto plant [7] that closed in late 2008 under George W. Bush. Ryan’s running mate, Mitt Romney, opposed Obama’s actual auto bailout, which was a great success and returned Detroit to profitability.
8. Paul Ryan charges that Barack Obama has ‘stolen’ $700 billion from medicare for his Obamacare. In fact, these expense reductions do not cut Medicare benefits, and, moreover, Romney and Ryan supported these reductions! [8] The difference is that they would give the savings to the affluent, whereas Obama uses them to cover the presently uninsured.
9. Ryan continues to push his longstanding plans for a steal-from-the-elderly-and-give-to-the-rich medicare plan, which President Obama warned would cost ordinary recipients over $6000 a year extra. Politifact checked and rated Obama’s charge as correct, though they noted [9] that the figures referred to CBO analyses of Ryan’s last plan, not his ‘new’ one, which hasn’t been subjected to similar analysis. Ryan certainly recently put forward a plan that would cost ordinary people that much extra.
10. Ryan neglected to note that under the tax plan he favors, Gov. Mitt Romney would pay less than 1% in annual federal taxes, highlighting Romney’s already low rate compared to ordinary Americans (slightly lower than Ryan’s own!) and putting the spotlight back where Ryan’s appointment was supposed to misdirect it.
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