Supreme Court

Odd And Interesting Points About Paul Ryan, And The Presidential Election Of 2012

Ronald 4 Comments

There are many odd and interesting points about Vice Presidential nominee Paul Ryan that have been gathered, and here are some of them!

Paul Ryan, like Mitt Romney, is handsome, and they look good together photogenically.

Paul Ryan looks as if he could be one of Mitt Romney’s sons, and actually is only 12 days older than Romney’s oldest son, Tagg!

Paul Ryan has spent his whole adult life in government, with no experience in the private sector.

Paul Ryan was affected by the narrow minded, selfish teachings of Ayn Rand, and he was involved in work with former Congressman Jack Kemp, one of the authors of what became known as Reaganomics, which started tripling the national debt in the 1980s, due to the theory of Supply Side Economics. Now, Ryan wishes to multiply what Reaganomics in the 1980s and Bushonomics in the 2000s brought about, most of the increased national debt, $7 trillion of the total $10.5 trillion debt that existed when George W. Bush left the Presidency in January, 2009!

Paul Ryan’s dad died when he was in high school, and he was supported by the social safety net of Social Security with survivors benefits while in college.

Paul Ryan has lived off the American taxpayer his entire life, and will receive better health care and pension benefits as part of the federal payroll, that he wishes to cut for everyone else in the middle and lower classes!

Paul Ryan alienated Catholic nuns when he came out for cuts in food stamps and other benefits to poor children, and called for privatizing of Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, while wanting greater tax cuts for the top two percent!

Paul Ryan was booed in his own congressional district for the Ryan plan which passed the House of Representatives earlier this year, but with no Democratic support and ten Republicans voting against, as well.

Paul Ryan comes across as articulate, handsome, and charming personally, the latter much more than Mitt Romney, but he also comes across to many as arrogant, nasty, mean spirited, uncaring, hypocritical , uncompromising, and loved by the Tea Party and the right wing media which have declared war on women, senior citizens, the middle class, minorities, and the poor!

Paul Ryan has no foreign policy experience, and being only a Congressman, can be seen as not qualified to be Commander in Chief on Day One!

This is the 5th time in the past half century that a member of the House of Representatives has been selected as a Vice Presidential running mate—William E. Miller of New York with Barry Goldwater in 1964; Geraldine Ferraro of New York with Walter Mondale in 1984; Jack Kemp of New York with Bob Dole in 1996; Dick Cheney of Wyoming with George W. Bush in 2000; and now Paul Ryan of Wisconsin with Mitt Romney in 2012. Notice all four of the earlier choices LOST the election that followed, with the exception of Cheney with Bush, but remember that Al Gore actually won the popular vote in 2000 by 540,000 votes, and the Supreme Court decided the election, intervening for the first time in American history!

And as said in an earlier post, finally, this marks the fourth time in the past 60 years that the Vice Presidential nominee has been more than 20 years younger than the Presidential nominee—Richard Nixon with Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1952; Dan Quayle with George H. W. Bush in 1988; Sarah Palin with John McCain in 2008; and now Paul Ryan with Mitt Romney in 2012.

Additionally, we have no one on either ticket for this upcoming election who is from the Sun Belt states, the growing part of the nation. Instead, we have a Midwesterner and an Easterner on each ticket–Barack Obama and Paul Ryan from the Midwest, and Joe Biden and Mitt Romney from the Northeast!

Also, there is no candidate with military experience on either Presidential ticket, the first time since the 1940s!

And we also have no mainline Protestant on the Republican ticket, a mainstay of the GOP, and instead have a Mormon and a Catholic.

If anything, the only true “Protestant” is Barack Obama, as Joe Biden is Catholic!

More oddities and trivia will probably arise as the campaign develops further!

Chick Fil A And Politics: Not A Good Match!

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The Chick Fil A restaurant chain has managed to get itself involved in a controversy over politics which can only hurt business and alienate customers, by the decision of its management to take a strong public stand against gay marriage, and for traditional marriage.

It is not the job of any corporation to take political stands on controversial issues, as there is no way to avoid alienating many people in the process.

Of course, the management have a right to their view, but to go out of their way to promote their private ideas to the public is totally inappropriate.

What it has led to is a break by Jim Henson’s Muppets as an ally in advertising, and a silly campaign by former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee to show support for Chick Fil A, a way to draw attention to himself, since he seems to crave public attention which has been ignoring him since he decided not to run for President this year.

One even wonders if Huckabee is vying to be Mitt Romney’s Vice Presidential running mate, although, considering his nasty comments about Mitt Romney in 2008, it would be a shot gun marriage!

In any case, corporations may have the right to spend money excessively in political campaigns, due to the infamous Citizens United Case of the Supreme Court in 2010, but they should NOT be taking political stands on divisive matters, that split the country, in so doing!

Regarding Chick Fil A, the author has always admired your chicken, but he is not going to be a customer anymore, until and when they renounce their views, which is not likely. I guess Boston Market is now the place to go, as an alternative, until and when they decide to put their business at risk by a stupid decision to get involved in politics!

The Voter ID Laws: Based On Lies And A Denial Of The Voting Rights Act Of 1965!

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Many states, all controlled by Republican Governors and legislatures, are systematically violating the Voting Rights Act of 1965 in an attempt to fix the Presidential Election of 2012 in favor of GOP candidate Mitt Romney!

After having manipulated the results in the Presidential Election of 2000, with the help of the partisan Republican Supreme Court, now strict photo ID laws are being imposed to cripple the ability of the elderly, the poor, the young, and minorities to vote, knowing full well that these groups would be likely to vote Democratic for Barack Obama!

Claiming that there has been voter fraud in the past, when there are almost no such examples, now the state of Pennsylvania has openly admitted there is NO evidence of such fraud, but still they want to disenfranchise people, a violation of the civil rights laws, and a disgrace to the idea of democracy!

So the Republican Party is saying that the only way they can win is by denying people the right to vote, and also spending inordinate amounts of money to “buy” the election!

What a disgrace for a political party to be stifling the will of the people!

Medicaid Expansion And State Governors: Reaction Based On Party Affiliation!

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The federal government has offered to cover Medicaid expansion for the poor and uninsured in 2014 and after, because otherwise, millions of Americans will have no health care coverage, and that will increase the number of serious illnesses and deaths long term.

But predictably, and sadly, we find most Republican Governors refusing to expand their Medicaid system, including Bob McDonnell of Virginia, Nikki Haley of South Carolina, Rick Scott of Florida, Bobby Jindal of Louisiana, Rick Perry of Texas, Jan Brewer of Arizona, Paul LePage of Maine, and Scott Walker of Wisconsin, among others.

Meanwhile, most Democratic Governors, including Andrew Cuomo of New York, Deval Patrick of Massachusetts, Dan Malloy of Connecticut, Martin O’Malley of Maryland , Jack Markell of Delaware, Mark Dayton Of Minnesota, Pat Quinn Illinois, and Jerry Brown of California, among others, have made it clear they will expand the Medicaid coverage.

The contrast is startling, as GOP Governors, following in tune with the Republican House and Senate minority members, are in lockstep, making it clear they will not support expanded medical coverage, as part of their plan to wipe out ObamaCare, despite the Supreme Court decision last month!

The fact that the federal government would pay most of the costs, an estimated $931 billion through 2022, with the states only having to pay $73 billion, has had no effect on the Republican Governors!

Is Mitt Romney A Pathological Liar?

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Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, the Republican Presidential nominee, is looking worse every day he is on the campaign trail.

Romney is demonstrating to millions of Americans that he has, sadly, what seems like a pathological liar syndrome!

He has “flip flopped” on every issue he has ever taken a stand on, since he first ran for public office in 1994 against Ted Kennedy in Massachusetts, when he said he would be to the left of Kennedy on abortion and gay rights!

He told us “RomneyCare” was good for Massachusetts, but now wishes to obliterate “ObamaCare”, despite the fact that the Supreme Court has upheld it, and it has brought great benefits to millions of Americans, who would now lose those benefits!

Romney has refused to release any tax returns except for 2010, and has delayed submitting his 2011 taxes, even though his father, George Romney, had released 12 years of tax returns back in the 1960s, and EVERY other candidate for the Presidency, including recent GOP nominees John McCain and George W. Bush did so, and even potential running mate Tim Pawlenty, the former Minnesota Governor, did a complete vetting when considered for Vice President with John McCain in 2008!

Romney has sent a large portion of his massive fortune to accounts in the Cayman Islands, Bermuda (rather than the mistake of the author, who had previously said the Bahamas), and Switzerland, and refuses to release any information about those accounts

Romney refuses also to give more details about his years at Bain Capital, about his governorship in Massachusetts, and even denies remembering the bullying of a schoolmate in high school that others remember vividly! And he also thinks that putting a dog on the roof of an automobile for many hours while on a vacation trip is something that a dog, or any pet, would automatically love!

Romney’s body language reveals so much about him, and his failure to look people or the camera directly in the eye, also reveals that he is constantly lying!

Now there are reports, not yet proven, that he and his son Tagg MIGHT have been involved in a Ponzi scheme, which, even if not proved true, cannot surprise anyone who has watched him dart back and forth when answering questions, or making daily changes in his stand on issues!

One has to say: Is this what the Republican Party, the party of Lincoln, TR, and Ike wants as the inheritor of their traditions and beliefs, which made the party a great institution historically?

Is this what the American people deserve–a conniving, open faced liar, who seems not even to know he is lying and covering up, since it seems pathological in nature?

One would have to worry about high level corruption under a Romney Presidency, since the top one percent would have a “field day”, with secretiveness, paranoia, and personal insecurity returning to the White House!

If this sounds like Richard Nixon returning, in many ways it would be, EXCEPT that Nixon, believe it or not, also had real PRINCIPLES mixed in with his faults and shortcomings,while Romney is just a very wealthy guy who wants power for power’s sake and to enrich his friends and his own pockets!

Now some might say, come on, ALL politicians are crooks, are self servers, are liars!

To which the answer is YES, MANY are, although not all! But there are levels of lying, and being self serving, and Mitt Romney is the true champion on the top of the heap in that regard!

America deserves better and can do better than Mitt Romney!

Will Chief Justice John Roberts Be In The Tradition Of John Marshall, Charles Evans Hughes, And Earl Warren? The Question For The Long Term Future

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Chief Justice John Roberts made history in a way that he had to realize would happen, when he broke with the conservative wing of the Court, shocking conservatives and cheering liberals and progressives on the Affordable Care Act, known to its critics as “ObamaCare”.

The question is whether this is a one time aberration, or a beginning of a reconsideration of the philosophy that will govern the future decisions of Chief Justice Roberts.

Has Roberts had an “epiphany”, or did he do this for his own reputation and that of the Court as an institution?

Is Roberts ready to continue to antagonize Associate Justices Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas, and Samuel Alito, two of whom will be likely staying on the Supreme Court for a long period of years, maybe as long as he will?

Does Roberts have a sense of history, and wants to be leagued with other great Chief Justices?

Certainly, seeing the harsh, bitter reaction of many conservative talk show hosts, Republicans and others of the right wing in our politics, might give Roberts pause, and possibly make him reluctant to go against the tide again.

A sign that he will not give in to the attacks would be to push another Citizens United case to be considered by the Court, and this time, to take the proper side for the people of America against the corporations and their power, but who can say that will happen?

In any case, Roberts at least has the potential, if he has the courage and principles to do so, to go down in history as in the tradition of Chief Justices John Marshall (1801-1835), Charles Evans Hughes (1930-1941), and Earl Warren (1953-1969)!

He also has the potential to go down as an “also ran’! It is all up to him, and him alone!

Mitt Romney’s Pandering, And Cynical Appeal To White Supremacists

Ronald 14 Comments

Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, the Republican Presidential nominee, showed his true nature today in a way we had not seen before.

Romney went before the national meeting of The National Association For The Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the original and most prestigious civil rights organization in America, which celebrated its centennial in 2009.

He told the delegates that he was going to work to repeal “ObamaCare”, the Affordable Care Act declared constitutional by the Supreme Court two weeks ago, knowing full well that they would boo loudly at that statement. He seemed to revel in being booed, as it was very obvious that he wished to antagonize that group as part of a ploy to gain white supremacist support.

Romney went into that meeting knowing that many evangelical Christians and conservatives really do not like him, and are suspicious of his Mormon beliefs. So the answer was to show them how unpopular he was among African Americans, so as to make them realize that they have no choice but to support him, as with his Mormon faith,which did not allow blacks in the church before an epiphany by the Church leadership in 1978, he might not be all that bad for them, and certainly better than a mixed race President named Barack Obama.

Romney has demonstrated once again, but more nakedly than before, that he has no scruples, ethics, or morals, and will sell his soul to become President!

He also has made it clear by his pandering and cynicism that he is out to take any possibility of hope of a better life for African Americans and other minorities away from them, as he is simply a very wealthy man who could not care less about the plight of people who are poor or struggling, and not even just minorities, but also whites, who are down and out in the present economic recession!

Mitt Romney may have been born in the Midwest, and served in government in the Northeast, but he has shown that the old Southern strategy pursued regularly in the Republican Party since Richard Nixon’s election in 1968 is still alive and well in 2012, a strategy that appealed to white supremacists and very religious conservative voters who were drawn to the party by Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson, starting in the late 1970s.

If Mitt Romney had any ethics, he would be totally ashamed of himself, but he is not ashamed, and that is ultimately the problem–that he has no conscience, but only a mad obsession with becoming President without any sincerity, and with no principles at all, except self aggrandizement!

The “Two Ricks”: Dangerous To The Less Fortunate People Of Texas And Florida!

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It is really a sad state of affairs when the Republican Governors of the two largest GOP governed states (Texas and Florida) refuse to consider expansion of Medicaid, and also reject willingness to start planning health exchanges to promote development of ObamaCare, now that the Supreme Court has declared it constitutional.

Texas is the second largest state in population, and Florida is fourth, and that means millions of unfortunate Texans and Floridians will be victims of the refusal of the “two Ricks”, Rick Perry and Rick Scott, to accept federal money, and face the facts that citizens will die because of the refusal to provide health care to the needy and disabled of their states.

It is reprehensible and shows no conscience, as both governors play politics, and make ObamaCare seem radical, when the basis of it is RomneyCare, and the Heritage Foundation and Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich endorsed the idea in 1993 as an alternative to so called HillaryCare, the proposal of President Bill Clinton and First Lady Hillary Clinton for a more advanced health care system than ObamaCare is.

ObamaCare is far more limited and, really, conservative in nature, but it is all part of the plan to oppose EVERYTHING promoted by President Barack Obama.

But with the Supreme Court having backed ObamaCare, for these two large state governors, and others, such as Scott Walker of WIsconsin, Paul LePage of Maine, and other GOP governors, to work to undermine it, knowing that it affects the lives of millions of the less fortunate among us, is beyond rational thought!

Tension Between Chief Justice John Roberts And Conservative Justices On Supreme Court Reported: What It Might Mean!

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In an extremely rare inside look at the Supreme Court, which tends to keep secret the interactions of its members, there are strong indications that the decision of Chief Justice John Roberts to side with the liberals on the Court and uphold “ObamaCare” may have caused what might be a permanent rift on the Court between Roberts and Associate Justices Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas, and Samuel Alito.

No one is likely to ever confirm such a rift explicitly, but it will be very interesting to observe the body language of the Court in oral arguments, decision announcement days, and other public meetings where the members of the Court will be together in public places.

One could wish that he or she was a “fly on the wall” figuratively, to see what has really gone on, and will occur, in the future.

The situation could transform the Court IF Roberts continues to side with the liberals, but few expect that to happen. But the old warmth and respect for each other that the Court is famous for in most of its past may be done, nevertheless.

It also makes one wonder, particularly IF Roberts continues the course he is on at the moment, whether it will convince Antonin Scalia to quit the Court, at age 76 and counting, and may be determined by who is elected President in November.

It is hard to imagine Scalia leaving, or even Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy, if Barack Obama is elected to a second term, but if Romney is elected, it is conceivable that both might leave sooner rather than later, if either or both feel uncomfortable working with Roberts in the future.

One can forget about Clarence Thomas or Samuel Alito leaving, however, as neither would plan to leave anytime soon!

No Love Affair Between Mitt Romney And Conservative Leaders! Major Obstacle To Reaching The White House!

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Mitt Romney has a major problem we have long been aware of!

Conservative leadership is NOT in love with the former Massachusetts Governor!

The Wall Street Journal, Fox News Channel, and other conservative media owned by Rupert Murdoch, has major problems with Romney.

So does Bill Kristol of the WEEKLY STANDARD, the major conservative weekly journal of opinion, and the center of neoconservatives, who brought us into the Iraq War under George W. Bush, and still believe in an aggressive, muscular, foreign policy.

Additionally, evangelical Christians have a major problem with Romney being a Mormon, and the Tea Party Movement is not happy about Romney’s promotion of RomneyCare in Massachusetts, and Romney’s fidgeting about the Supreme Court backing of ObamaCare, which is seen as too similar to RomneyCare, although Romney has now repudiated it for the nation!

So Romney already is behind in electoral votes on the Electoral College map of states, and even with loads of money raised by billionaires and political action committees, and the attempt to disfranchise millions of voters in many states, a violation of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, it will be extremely difficult for him to win the White House!