August 11, 2012

What about Paul Ryan's wife and kids?



First, I love all the Wisconsin football clothes. Only the daughter isn't wearing a football shirt. I can see that's a Packers sweatshirt that Janna Ryan, the wife, has on. We've got 10 electoral votes here in Wisconsin, you know. And people love football. (Are Americans more excited about the campaign season or the football season? I say the football season, in part because campaigning never goes away, so there's no season anymore to look forward to — other than to look forward to its ending.)

So, here's a lovely, wholesome family. Janna, looks a bit like Ann Romney to me, but the 2 women are distinctly different:
Janna Little, the future Mrs. Paul Ryan, was a Washington tax attorney living in Arlington, Va., when she met him. The Oklahoma native graduated from Wellesley College and George Washington University Law School.
Despite some Googling, I can't figure out if she still works or if she became a full-time homemaker.

Speaking of Googling, CNN can't bother to do the most basic Googling. I just heard it say that Ryan is from a "small town" in Wisconsin. Janesville isn't a small town! It's a small city, with a population over 60,000. It takes 2 seconds to discover that. If you don't bother to get the little, easy things right, why should we ever trust you? Of course, we don't. Speaking of small... CNN ratings are way down.

449 comments:

1 – 200 of 449   Newer›   Newest»
shiloh said...

And (4) years ago Althouse's lemmings were all giddy about mama grizzly ... and then the campaign began.

Fen said...

It takes 2 seconds to discover that. If you don't bother to get the little, easy things right, why should we ever trust you? Of course, we don't. Speaking of small... CNN ratings are way down.

"If you discovered your stock broker had lied to you about Enron, would you still use him? And yet people still rely on information brokers like CNN and the NYTs".

Fen said...

Shiloh, your Mom called and said no more wifi till you take out the trash and clean up the basement.

Peter Hoh said...

"If you discovered your stock broker had lied to you about Enron, would you still use him?

If you discovered that your fiscal hawk voted for Medicare, Part D, would you still trust him?

Mogget said...

Very nice. I think that this is now going to be a bit of fun, rather than just a heavy slog to November.

Anonymous said...

Gorgeous family, my daughter got to meet him at a function at the Governor's residence, she said he was very handsome indeed.

Chris said...

"So here's a lovely, wholesome family". You just nailed the exact thing the Left are going to go after in an attempt to crucify him. Is there anything they despise more?

The Crack Emcee said...

Well, lookee there:

A regular family that's identifiably normal.

How'd they get in there? There must be some mistake.

Did you Google them for beliefs and such? No weird clothing arrangements to separate them from the rest of us? Do they howl at the moon when the sun goes down? Worship the words of Bozo? Answer to a cabal of numbskulls with their hair on fire? Anything?

And to think such people existed when this process began.

I know, I know - it just wasn't enough,...

Dante said...

Jeez Ann, look what you've done putting the win into Wisconsin, by actually documenting what was going on when the Walker showdown. You will go down in History as Wisconsin becomes the pivot point for the country's restoration.

Freeman Hunt said...

That sweet family should go hide in a cave until November seventh.

Dante said...

Crack,

I think the hope is that Ryan will eventually run things. I know the Clintons had great hope for Hillary.

Anyway, I'm wondering if the Veep pick changes your mental calculus regarding Romney as president, as it will definitely setup Ryan for future power, at a minimum providing familiarity to the public.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Instead of debating ideas with Ryan, the left will do whatever they can to destroy him and his sweet family. Let the dumpster diving begin! Maybe some sick obsessive freak can move in next door?

Hide in a cave, indeed.

lemondog said...

Shifty eyes....did he pay his taxes?...I can tell that he didn't pay his taxes.

No dog? Where's the dog? Tied to a rooftop I'm sure.

And his family is all white! What's with that?!

There's gotta be plenty of dirt..... he is Republican after all!

Big Mike said...

Those shirts may help the Romney-Ryan ticket carry Wisconsin, but do you realize how many votes they're losing in Chicago, Minneapolis, Detroit, St. Louis, ...

Not to mention Ann Arbor, Champaign, IL, Columbus, West Lafayette, ...

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

So, does that mean Romney has "given up" on minorities?

Watch for that spin.. in 4 3 2.

Is this a signal that Romney is not going to, you know, do race politics?

If this is what it means.. I'm glad.

LYNNDH said...

Ann, a rap on your knuckles. A stay at home Mom with 3 young kids is not working????? Your Dem roots are showing.

JAL said...

Good for Wisconsin.

Somewhere I saw the point that Ryan would better serve Ronmey's administration by staying in the House managing the money on that side ... but ...

I have a feeling Ryan's role as VP is going to be different than attending funerals and yapping like Joe Biden.

Could there be a bigger difference in the job holders than these two???? A Big * Difference.

{Insert Biden Obamabcare quote here.}

Big Mike said...

BTW, did anyone notice how the Republicans get the hot wives and wholesome families?

dreams said...

I'm excited about the pick, he'll be able to help Romney make the case for balancing our budget and making the case for the free market. Plus, he doesn't have a hot temper so the Dems attacks will not work.

A JFK like young attractive family is another plus.

Roger J. said...

Hey shilo--thought you were leaving--so tell me dude--how about mr obama's military record--that was in response to your asinine chickenhawk reference--got a factoid? Nope Obama was doing coke lines and smoking dope.

But do enlighten me when you find something out.

ya betcha

Comanche Voter said...

I understand the left is all over Paul Ryan for his "lack of private business experience". Sheesh, what private business experience did Obama and Biden have?

And besides, you get critical private business experience being the driver on an Oscar Meyer Wienermobile. See if Biden can top that.

garage mahal said...

but do you realize how many votes they're losing in Chicago, Minneapolis, Detroit, St. Louis, ...

And Florida.

SENIORS: Would you like Gravy Lovers catfood, or the hairball lite?

Freeman Hunt said...

If one's spouse runs for national office, a good strategy might be to go work in a mission somewhere that has no television and no English speakers for the duration of the campaign.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Drudge has a great photo of Ryan and Romney up. Ryan is a nice looking man. hubba.

Freeman Hunt said...

Maybe Obama's relative in the hut would welcome a paying boarder.

Birches said...

This morning is the first time I've actually felt like donating to Romney's campaign. Only Rand Paul would have made me more happy. My spouse and I discussed last night that Obama's going to go all "Paul Ryan wants to kill old people." I don't think it will work. Old people hate Obama more than they've hated anyone.

lemondog said...

... he'll be able to help Romney make the case for balancing our budget...

Geeez, ya mean talk about ISSUES?!!

What about the dirt?

Whats his religion? Is he a Buddhist? Oh boy, may be another **salivating** Mormon?

Freeman Hunt said...

And an upper class kid will have no cooler memory than the time he lived in a hut.

Sorun said...

...she said he was very handsome indeed.

Another reason Ryan was picked. You're not going to reel in independent women with a guy that looks like Newt Gingrich. Just sayin...

The Crack Emcee said...

Dante,

Crack,

I think the hope is that Ryan will eventually run things. I know the Clintons had great hope for Hillary.


Ryan *should* keep things in check, at least. I like him - not enough to get all excited, but glad to finally see an adult in the room. (He's not a Boomer!)

Anyway, I'm wondering if the Veep pick changes your mental calculus regarding Romney as president, as it will definitely setup Ryan for future power, at a minimum providing familiarity to the public.

Nope - Romney is a non-startter for me. I will not go along with anything that validates Mormonism in this country - that's my issue.

But I won't deny Paul Ryan is a step in the right direction.

See, I don't think I've been asking for much - despite what my critics claim - I just want a dose of reality to be inserted into our public life, and Paul Ryan or no Paul Ryan, having (a still un-vetted) Romney in charge continues to leave us open to whatever Mystic Mayhem™ he's a part of and carries with him.

This changes nothing.

But it's better. There's no denying it's better,...

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

"SENIORS: Would you like Gravy Lovers catfood, or the hairball lite?"... or would you like Paul Ryan to shove you and your wheelchair over a cliff?

The debate begins!

Anonymous said...

Garage, I see the possibility of the resurgence of the Gray Panthers.

Seeing Red said...

Via RCP:

Andrea Mitchell loses her voice while reacting to the Paul Ryan speech: "This is a base election. This is not a pick for suburban moms, this is not a pick for women."


So says the woman who's married to the guy who thinks no one should earn more than a 6% return.

Seeing Red said...

--If you discovered that your fiscal hawk voted for Medicare, Part D, would you still trust him?--


Didn't Medicare Part D actually cost less than the estimates?

JAL said...

Hey Garage -- I can tell you have not watched the Ryan response to Wasserman-Schultz's lying claim that the Ryan / Republican budget would terrible harm her poor senior constituents and nursing home seniors.

IT IS THE OBAMACARE PLAN THAT WILL PUT THEM IN AN EARLY GRAVE.

But then, maybe that's how you want to reduce the deficit.

Idiot.

Seeing Red said...

--Garage, I see the possibility of the resurgence of the Gray Panthers.---


YUP Boomer selfishness, robbing their grandkids so they can be snowbirds.

dreams said...

I noticed his Broad shoulders for the first time, he is actually more well built than Romney. Brawn and Brains with this ticket.

bandmeeting said...

What of his wife and kids? That's a question you didn't have to ask. The Obama campaign is soon going to inform us how many times in the last year his son didn't make his bed and the lefty blogoshpere will paint one of them as being a homo, like with Alito's kid.

The wife is either neglectful if she works or some idiot that stays home and bakes cookies. Can't be anything in between.

JAL said...

Think Garage's check will be smaller this month?

Seeing Red said...

And the bamster just whined cos Meeshell didn't pull in her 300K a year and actually had to work FOR NOTHING as First Lady.

garage mahal said...

I can tell you have not watched the Ryan response to Wasserman-Schultz's lying claim that the Ryan / Republican budget would terrible harm her poor senior constituents and nursing home seniors.

What is Ryan going to do, tell the truth? It's VoucherCare, plain and simple. Have fun explaining that to seniors.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Andrea Mitchell. LOL. What a hack.

Peter Hoh said...

BTW, did anyone notice how the Republicans get the hot wives and wholesome families?

Gingrich, McCain, and Giuliani ring a bell?

Seeing Red said...

The contrast between Ryan & Biden

Talk about passing the torch.


---What is Ryan going to do, tell the truth? It's VoucherCare, plain and simple. Have fun explaining that to seniors.---


Come up with a cheap plan that doesn't include coverage for younger things but keep the toupees and viagra and it might be a winner.

Peter said...

I Googled to see if Janna Ryan was shaved, but didn't find anything.

Unknown said...

If you discovered that your fiscal hawk voted for Medicare, Part D, would you still trust him?

and if you discovered the people who make this kind of statement had been caterwauling nonstop about grannies having to take cat Lipitor prior to Medicare Part D, would you listen to them?

YoungHegelian said...

Between the Romneys & the Ryans it sure seems like white folks are having a whole lotta kids! Are bigger families coming back into fashion?

I know this may be just a blue state urban thing, (DC suburbs in my case) but around here people stare if you've got 3 kids in the grocery store. Just the other day at the lunch deli, folks commented on the two moms as they walked out with 6 kids between them, all boys under 6.

Much different than my southern boyhood, where the Protestants stopped at 4 kids, but the Catholics thought 8 was a safe limit. Our family of two kids was the smallest we knew of.

dreams said...

Obama's children are off limits but that rule doesn't apply to Republicans.

Seeing Red said...

Well, if anyone said that to me, I'd snark back, "Well, someone has to pay for your selfishness and social security."

JAL said...

"What about Paul Ryan's wife and kids?"

How about we leave them alone?

Now *there's* a thought.

She and they aren't running for anything.

Let's see how the MSM behaves.

And then kill them with their lack of couth.

Andrea Mitchell thinks he lost the women? I bet not. I'll bet you a ton of not.

chickelit said...

Speaking of small... CNN ratings are way down.

The audacious thing is that they don't seem to care either.

Seeing Red said...

Actually, Allie, your grey panther line gets me thinking. A lot of Tea Partiers are in their 50s younger boomers and they could go against the 60s boomers who some of us are sick of and let our elders finally have it. They are the loudmouths, we're the quiet ones, but there are more of us than them.

Ohhh, popcorn.

Original Mike said...

"Plus, he doesn't have a hot temper so the Dems attacks will not work."

That is a plus. It amazes me how well he puts up with the shit Dems throw at him. Perhaps he feels to his core what's at stake.

The Crack Emcee said...

Hey Freeman,

Will you please say something about how Ryan looks:

"Handsome"

"Hubba"

"I noticed his Broad shoulders for the first time, he is actually more well built than Romney."

Come on - I need to know you're a girl,...

Freeman Hunt said...

I know this may be just a blue state urban thing, (DC suburbs in my case) but around here people stare if you've got 3 kids in the grocery store. Just the other day at the lunch deli, folks commented on the two moms as they walked out with 6 kids between them, all boys under 6.

No, not just a blue state thing. I get comments at the store all the time. (Nice comments.)

Seeing Red said...

They can't Trig that family.

I really don't think the voters will stand for going against the kids, they're too young.

Curious George said...

"garage mahal said...
What is Ryan going to do, tell the truth? It's VoucherCare, plain and simple. Have fun explaining that to seniors."

Ryan's plan, if enacted, would have zero effect on seniors. It would zero effect on people 55 and older.

Now, are you ignorant or a liar?

Freeman Hunt said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
JAL said...

So GM, you are saying Obamacare doesn't have an unelected panel of 15 bureaucrats re-writing the rules cutting coverage on the present seniors healthcare and the Ryan plan which does not strip seniors now, but institutes changes for the future seniors and offering more options -- is a lie?

Show us, dude.

You sound like Obama whining that quoting his own words is a lie.

Of course saying it doesn't make it so. But Paul Ryan has a way better track record than both BHO and JBFDB put together.

Thank God for the world wide web.

Rusty said...

garage mahal said...
I can tell you have not watched the Ryan response to Wasserman-Schultz's lying claim that the Ryan / Republican budget would terrible harm her poor senior constituents and nursing home seniors.

What is Ryan going to do, tell the truth? It's VoucherCare, plain and simple. Have fun explaining that to seniors.



Don't worry garage most of em aren't as dumb as you are.
If you want I'll stick around and explain it to you. Maybe we can get Palladin to work it up in the form of a cartoon so it will be easier for you and Allie to understand.

Sorun said...

They can't Trig that family.

Letterman will come up with some creepy jokes.

Freeman Hunt said...

Come on - I need to know you're a girl,...

Heh.

Original Mike said...

"SENIORS: Would you like Gravy Lovers catfood, or the hairball lite?"

Fortunately, Ryan is articulate enough to parry this lie. His (along with Democrat Ron Wyden) plan leaves Medicare alone for anyone 55 and older.

The Crack Emcee said...

Women swooning over physical appearances, and the loons, once again - and as always - attacking whatever lame thing Garage says, in mass.

Are you guys sure you understand what's led to our political/economic problems?

I really don't think you do,...

Original Mike said...

@CG: He's a liar.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Clearly the debate will be framed by lefties as "Ryan wants to take away all your free stuff and kill grandma".
The reality is that Ryan wants to attempt to get back to economic solvency. It will be difficult to bypass the left's political sacred cows and buzzwords. The old blue-model ideas are deeply entrenched and any new idea put forth will upset the status quo and be met with a bully force. Please just shut up and let the left grow government and bust the debt. We can't live without the government tit.
& All those Obama promises to cut the debt in half? Expired and forgotten.

Dante said...

Crack,

See, I don't think I've been asking for much - despite what my critics claim - I just want a dose of reality to be inserted into our public life, and Paul Ryan or no Paul Ryan, having (a still un-vetted) Romney in charge continues to leave us open to whatever Mystic Mayhem™ he's a part of and carries with him.

My wife and I have been having some structural issues with our marriage. Her view is "If only X were different", as if by changing single symptoms, the problem will get fixed.

What in fact is required is getting at the causes, but it's really hard to get there.

I am no Romney lover, not because he is Mormon, but because I don't think he is the right guy to get at the real causes. He seems to be a follow the rules process guy.

But Ryan, he might be. He seems to have the energy, understanding and creativity, and ability to describe what's wrong in a way people can understand. So perhaps Ryan can actually fix some causes, given time.

Ryan in fact gives me hope for change. Given how bad things are, isn't that good enough? Given that Obama IS making decisions and causing changes that case long, inter-generational shadows, that seem to be failing hugely in Europe, shouldn't the smart person try to stop that from happening? [Note, I was convinced at one time things weren't bad enough, and that Americans needed more Obama to understand it, but looking at Greece, it seems to be a one-way street.]

So I don't care if Romney is from some "cult," wears magic underwear, or a little hat, sits down and prays every night to a God that doesn't exist before bed. You've made your point Mormonism is a cult, but you haven't explained how Romney is going to embed that cult into our culture (which I think will be rejected by almost all Americans), or make changes to federal policy in a way that will damage the country for generations.

That's a big claim you make, yet you seem to take it for granted. It's certainly not obvious to me how he would do this. So a little bit of help understanding this would be greatly appreciated.

Freeman Hunt said...

Bit frightening to think about how much expertise and how many great ideas have been lost due to television. The makers of history included all sorts of plain and homely people in their ranks. No longer. The ideas of the plain and the homely are largely excluded from popular discourse.

Dante said...

Women swooning over physical appearances

I noticed the same thing. Hey, if that's what it takes to get the women vote, all we need is good looking smart guys who want to actually fix things. That can't be too hard, can it?

KLDAVIS said...

Great photo, but there actually is a serious faux-pas, noticeable by any true Wisconsin football fan. One of the kids is wearing a #4 Packers sweater. Not cool, very not cool.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Crack - I can swoon if I want to. There's something sexy about a smart man who happens to have a nice smile.
and - piss off.
You mormon hating bigot.

Colonel Angus said...

What is Ryan going to do, tell the truth? It's VoucherCare, plain and simple. Have fun explaining that to seniors.

The truth is simple math. There isn't enough money. If the senior response is 'screw you I want mine' have fun explaining that to the rest of the electorate who have to pick up the tab.

bgates said...

Janna Little, the future Mrs. Paul Ryan....[An] Oklahoma native

Will January mark the first time a Native American gets to live in the Vice President's residence?

Brian Brown said...

The Romney campaign has raised $1.2 million in last four hours.

gerry said...

Despite some Googling, I can't figure out if she still works or if she became a full-time homemaker.

Ah, the lazy life of the homemaker,
where you have no work!

Alex said...

Ryan won't save Romney. Mitten's goose is cooked between the tax returns, Bain, the Britain/Israel fiasco, Soptic and who knows what else? Ryan just threw away his future.

Michael K said...

" shiloh said...

And (4) years ago Althouse's lemmings were all giddy about mama grizzly ... and then the campaign began."

And you wonder I think you a fool.

Alex said...

Well we know how much the left hates Paul Ryan, remember when they had the health care summit in 2009? Ryan was the first one to put Obama in his place, and Chicago politicians never forget a diss. Expect Ryan to get the full Alinsky treatment.

Dante said...

Expect Ryan to get the full Alinsky treatment.

Bring it on. Ryan is smart, and will make the correct chess move to counter.

To make it work, the press would have to give up a lot of its waning capital with its American readers.

Dust Bunny Queen said...

glad to finally see an adult in the room. (He's not a Boomer!)

Thank GOD and I say that as an authentic boomer.

In addition to refocusing the campaign on actual economic issues: the state of the economy, size of the deficit, unsustainable entitlements... The pick of Ryan allows Romney to be able to branch out into more policy issues such as energy independence (drill baby drill) and foreign policy.

Ryan can be the economic financial wonk: the CFO and Romney can be the CEO.

They STILL need to court the Tea Party. I think a good strategy would be to name some potential cabinet picks and include some prominent Tea Party people in that hypothetical.

gerry said...

Crack wrote Women swooning over physical appearances, and the loons, once again - and as always - attacking whatever lame thing Garage says, in mass.

I suppose you meant en masse?

I know, it's tough trying to seem literate.

Or, were you striving to be bigoted about Catholics?

Chris said...

Ryan is a TOTAL hottie. Sue me, Crack.

bagoh20 said...

Ryan polls 52/39 among seniors. The strongest favorable of anybody on the short list, and the same is true with independents. A smart and bold choice.

The other guy chose Biden. Could there be any other reason other than to make a weak man look strong by comparison? Damn, that is lame. Palin took it to Biden in the debates after just a few weeks on the national stage. Biden had been debating the issues for over 3 decades.

This is gonna be embarrassing. The RNC should hire him some extra protection, and he should not turn his back on the DNC.

Ipso Fatso said...

Something tells me that Andrew Sullivan is desperately trying to prove that Paul Ryan is actually Trig Palin's father.

JAL said...

Soptic? Romney's goose is cooked because of SOPTIC?

What are you smoking Alex?

Soptic is a liar. His wife HAD HER OWN INSURANCE when he lost his job. She lost *her own insurance* when she took disability -- which appretnly did not offer her cinsurance coverage? (My client on disability had Medicaid, now has some form of Medicare Advantage?)

Tell us all, and the rest of the internet news sources which you seem to be ingmoring, why is *that* Romney's fault?

Have you not been reading the internet in recent days?

And it was worse than that -- husband Soptic didn't bother to cover her when he could.

Shheesh -- and you vote?

JohnJ said...

“They can't Trig that family.”

Yes they can…and they will.

My guess is that Romney genuinely wants a policy debate, but he’s not gonna get it. So, the campaign likely will involve a sincere effort by R&R to have an adult discussion with the voters, while every conceivable slander and distraction is hurled at them.

Hard to predict how that turns out.

bagoh20 said...

The Tea Party Decade.

Alex said...

JAL - it's about the "truth of the narrative". Do you not remember 2004 or the power of the MSM on swing voters? All Obama needs are 2-3 more Soptics to wrap up this election.

Alex said...

Will the swing voters get utterly disgusted by an MSM that's full-on attack mode with this beautiful family and punish Obama in November?

garage mahal said...

@ppppolls: Last year we found Florida voters opposed Ryan plan by 16 points, North Carolina voters opposed it by 23

Sheridan said...

Freeman Hunt said: Bit frightening to think about how much expertise and how many great ideas have been lost due to television (et al)...

Couldn't agree more. Lincoln couldn't get on television today. Big ears and nose, homely as heck, a high-pitched voice and a southern Indiana drawl, a strange way of gesticulating when speaking in public. But one of the best human beings to have ever lived. To think that someone like that could today be summarily "dismissed" by someone like Andrea Mitchell.

Seeing Red said...

Let's hear it for the Underwear Gnomes!

The episode satirizes the common complaint against large corporations lacking scruples and driving seemingly wholesome smaller independent companies out of business. Paul Cantor, a literary critic and economic theorist, who has taught college courses revolving around the "Gnomes" episode, has described it as "the most fully developed defense of capitalism" ever produced by the show.[3] Cantor said the episode challenges the stereotype that small businesses are public servants who truly care about their customers by portraying local business owner Mr. Tweek as greedier and having fewer scruples than that of the corporation he is challenging; Tweek knowingly takes advantage of American distrust for big businesses and nostalgia for simpler times in his fight to maintain his bottom line.[4][5] At the end of the episode, Kyle and Stan conclude big corporations are good due to the services they provide people, and uphold the notion that the businesses providing the best product deserve to succeed in the marketplace and grow to become larger.[2] However, in portraying the Harbucks business plan as seducing the youth of the town with high-caffeine and high-sugar "kid-dycinno" drinks, Harbucks is also portrayed as lacking scruples in its corporate expansionist agenda.[4]


The gnome characters and their underpants collection represent the ordinary business activity of capitalism that takes place on a regular basis in front of everyone, but is seldom noticed by society. Cantor has said the fact that the gnomes themselves do not understand their own business plan or why they steal the underwear could represent the idea that businessmen themselves often lack the economic knowledge needed to explain their activity and profits to the public.[6] Pop culture scholars Carl Rhodes and Robert Westwood said the gnomes, by forgoing Mr. Tweek's notions of high-mindedness and openly acknowledging their quest of profits, engage in a "pure, 'libertarian' capitalism - one in which profit is the only animus and in which if that is the end, any means are justified."[4]

wiki'd.

bagoh20 said...

Last year some people still thought Obama knew what he was doing.

Seeing Red said...

FLA doesn't have state income tax

More free stuff for seniors!

Seeing Red said...

Last year?

gerry said...

JAL, Alex tends to be very sarcastic, prophesying Garage commentary.

See Alex's post at 11:56.

Alex confused me for a while. Then he got entertaining.

Especially when Garage-baiting.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

The Tea Party Decade.

So that explains our low growth and high unemployment...

bagoh20 said...

I am damn glad I'm not an Obama supporter. Nothing looks more foolish right now, and you have the terrible gut knowledge that whether he wins or looses, you will be looking worse and worse from here on out, especially if he wins.

Solution: wise up, get on the side of fixing what everyone knows is broken, and do the right thing. There is only virtue in that.

Colonel Angus said...

@ppppolls: Last year we found Florida voters opposed Ryan plan by 16 points, North Carolina voters opposed it by 23

Naturally when the prospect that your entitlement checks may be reduced, people will oppose such a proposal. The strategy is to reach out to the rest of the electorate and let them know that the checks they receive from working will be reduced further to pay for those who aren't.

The Democrat Party spent the last 50 years creating a constituency dependent on taxpayer money. If independence and self reliance ever becomes fashionable again, Democrats might have to start thinking about putting the country before elections.

bagoh20 said...

"The Tea Party Decade.

So that explains our low growth and high unemployment..."


Exactly, Legend, but I think you got cause and effect backwards, unless you think the Tea Party has been running things.

Alex said...

gerry - don't you know I'm considered a troll on this blog by the cognoscenti?

Dust Bunny Queen said...

So that explains our low growth and high unemployment...

No, actually. That explains the Tea Party.

That and bailing out mortgages for people who should never have been given a loan. Using taxpayer money to back fill Union pensions while 20 thousands of non union workers were butt fucked out of their pensions. Spending money we don't have on pipe dreams of wind power and bean farts as renewable energy. Shoving money hand over fist to corrupt cronies in failed businesses.

DEBT DEBT DEBT that we will never be able to get out from under. To much government. To many rules regulations stifling every thing we do and intruding into parts of our lives where the government has no business being.

Overspending, handing out freebies and money and entitlements to people who will never be productive citizens. People who are a drag and a burden on society......And did I mention the DEBT.

Those are the concerns of the Tea Party. Not abortion. Not a fabricated war on women.

Smaller government
Fiscal sanity
Personal responsibility
Adherence to the Constitution

I think that Ryan pretty much embodies those goals.

William said...

Disturbing to think that such an innocent looking family could be involved in such satanic practices. The authorities should dig up the basements of the last five homes this family has lived at. Is it just a coincidence that so many residents of the nursing homes in the vicinity of the Ryan home have gone missing? If Ryan has nothing to hide, he won't mind having his basement dug up.

bagoh20 said...

What is the Obama/Biden plan to fix this mess? I saw the stimulus piggy bank in the dumpster, broken and empty.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

So Bag O', too, is also reluctant to credit the Teavangelical Tea Party with their important legislative role in the House. I mean someone's got to take credit for keeping unemployment stalled at 8.3%, right?

Obviously it would have been higher, and the situation would have been worse, if they hadn't been blocking the president's horrible legislation, amiright, Mr. Bag'O?

Alex said...

DBQ - but Paul Krugman said that our obsession about debt is killing our economy. That we only need to tax the rich and print more money and we'll get full employment in no time. Just spend baby spend.

The Crack Emcee said...

Dante,

I don't care if Romney is from some "cult," wears magic underwear, or a little hat, sits down and prays every night to a God that doesn't exist before bed.

That's called being a "shruggie." You know something is "off," let's say, but until it reaches your door you could care less (forget the kids, or the country, or whatever, it's all about your narcissism - an issue we haven't started to address as a negative driving our demise, when such blind narcissism's a major reason we're in the situation we're in).

You've made your point Mormonism is a cult, but you haven't explained how Romney is going to embed that cult into our culture (which I think will be rejected by almost all Americans), or make changes to federal policy in a way that will damage the country for generations.

Legitimizing cults is an evil act in itself. Jim Jones had the backing of almost every major California politician before he killed all those people. So did the Your Black Muslim Bakery cult, as they went on their decades-long rampage.

It's like we care about about slavery - oh, we care so much - except when it comes to mental slavery. That we're all good with.

Sure, we can get into vicious and unnecessary arguments over what they "believe" - that constantly distract us from dealing with real issues and allow people who make sense (yes, like me) to get attacked by crazed and delusional mobs just as often - but what the hell? It's not you, right, Shruggie?

That's the key to attaining a well-run society - NOT telling the nutjobs to cut it out, and confronting their nonsense, whenever it surfaces, so as not allowing it to flourish - but making sure little Timmy grows up wondering when Jesus will return to Missouri and which planet he'll get when he dies without encountering any critical thought on the subject.

Yeah, as Jon Lovitz says, that's the ticket!

That's a big claim you make, yet you seem to take it for granted. It's certainly not obvious to me how he would do this. So a little bit of help understanding this would be greatly appreciated.

Right after selling "The Secret" to America, Oprah Winfrey still had enough credibility to escort Barack Obama right into the White House - with the backing of such "thinkers" as Ann Althouse and Colin Powell. Now you - desperately - want to change the effects of that. But you don't see the danger of repeating that process, with an even more aggressive cult behind the candidate?

BTW - Mormonism is already embedded into our culture, as they own and run Utah in an under-handed fashion, and I never said Romney "would make changes to federal policy in a way that will damage the country for generations," except for being schooled in ruling in an under-handed fashion.

The only reason he isn't called on that is because you guys don't want to call him on it - a change in behavior that's a negative development, from his candidacy as a cultist, in itself.

For four years, I've joined you guys in going off about Obama's church, money, college transcripts, friends and associates. But now - for your special cult guy - it's all off-limits.

But you don't see a problem?

Look in a mirror:

It should quickly become pretty evident.

Just as it's evident to me that we're going to have a problem as a result of it.

Being a shruggie is no protection from cultism.

It feeds on it - watch.

lemondog said...

Last year some people still thought Obama knew what he was doing.


Still the situation after 3 years, 7 months, and 10 days in office.

dreams said...

If Paul Ryan's wife works outside the home then she works in or near Janesville Wisconsin because Ryan said he still lives in Janesville and goes home every weekend.

dreams said...

He sleeps in his office during the week.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

Overspending, handing out freebies and money and entitlements to people who will never be productive citizens. People who are a drag and a burden on society......And did I mention the DEBT.

It's important that we have people as unsatisfied with they are as DBQ to remind us of the inferiority complex that drives conservatism.

Anyway, don't take it from me... She's actually implying, in that quote of hers, that 8.3% unemployment is a GOOD thing! It reflects how unproductive 4% of our workforce has been all this time.

HOORAY for UNEMPLOYMENT, says the Queen of Dust Bunnies. They were a bunch of lazy, good-for-nothing entitlement grabbers... in no way as important to our economy as SHE is!

Talk about a trickle-down sense of privilege at play there.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

Spending money we don't have on pipe dreams of wind power and bean farts as renewable energy.

I await the day when Queen rails against those hand-outs being given to oil industries.

It won't happen.

She's just in favor of wasting the MOST money on the companies and people that NEED the LEAST.

Apparently this is a mathematically sound argument, in her strange mind.

Synova said...

"And (4) years ago Althouse's lemmings were all giddy about mama grizzly ... and then the campaign began."

And the misogynistic lies and attacks started. The hatred poured out. Stupid people still think those lies are true even though not a single one was. The hatred for "snowbillies" who wear disrespectful earrings to view a disaster, for mothers who don't sacrifice their life to pay for not aborting a handicapped child, for women who step off the liberal "daddy take care of me" plantation... it defied any reason at all. Because I didn't make up the earring part.

And in the end we still like mama grizzly.

The haters crow that they won because they destroyed her and the next person who gets out of line, the next woman who gets out of line, will know what to expect.

Who knows... maybe Romney asked someone who was a minority or a woman and they all said Hell NO. And I wonder if you know that Shiloh, since the very first thing out of your keyboard, the first comment on this thread was about mamma grizzly.

But what I can't understand is why you'd feel good about it.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

We need to make sure that people who are choosing to use less of their incredibly disposable income get the most of their money back. This ensures less economic activity, keeping demand low, and IS GOOD FOR EVERYONE!!!

A lower tide sinks ALL ships!

bagoh20 said...

" I mean someone's got to take credit for keeping unemployment stalled at 8.3%, right?"

Everyone knows it's Bush's fault until 2013. In November, we vote on whether it will still be his fault or will it suddenly become a problem for grown ups to solve.

I hired 40 people last year, but I would have hired twice that many if this clown was not in charge. I'll take risks, but I'm not crazy. Like a million other entrepreneurs, I'm waiting for a government that doesn't see me as the enemy.

I'm Full of Soup said...

In domestic policy, I'd frame the VP contest as Baby Boomer Fossil Moron Biden's 40 years in DC where he supported & still supports a status quo of humongous over-spending vs. a Young Gun who seeks solutions to that status quo.

IOW it is no contest.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

DBQ - but Paul Krugman said that our obsession about debt is killing our economy. That we only need to tax the rich and print more money and we'll get full employment in no time. Just spend baby spend.

And Alex, thinks that LOW DEMAND is a great way to keep economies going.

In Bizarro land.

Alex said...

In bizarro land, Ritmo thinks you can drive your debt level to infinite proportions.

Alex said...

You see intellectual pygmies like Krugman, Ritmo don't understand why demand is low right now. So it's much simpler for them to throw money at driving up demand for existing goods and services. All that does is shuffle the deck around, it doesn't create real wealth. But those pygmies don't understand the wealth creation process.

I'll leave bagoh to explain it.

The Crack Emcee said...

Freeman Hunt,

The makers of history included all sorts of plain and homely people in their ranks. No longer. The ideas of the plain and the homely are largely excluded from popular discourse.

And don't forget the serious, non-smiling, curmudgeonly types that AprilApple has no interest in. (No Winston Churchill's for her!) No, politics are all about six-pack abs so vaginas can drain into the street. (I know, I know - yes, I had to go there - it's a left-over tic from Eve Ensler,....)

No, politics isn't about ideas, or even what works, but what ideas work a woman's loins the most.

And now I'm outta here - I've been called a "mormon hating bigot" again - so I'm crushed. I can't go on. My life is over.

Oh wait - no it isn't - BECAUSE I GET MY OWN PLANET FILLED WITH APRILAPPLES TO SERVE ME WHEN IT'S OVER!

Isn't Mormonism great?

Hey - AprilApple - I'm headed off to Alpha Centuri now. You follow behind me, in your best lingerie, you hear?

I'm looking forward to showing you what "belief" gets you - in the end (snicker)....

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

Everyone knows it's Bush's fault until 2013.

Nah. After 2010 it was the Tea Party, whom you'd conveniently like to pretend don't exist in our government. THEY ARE ONLY A CULTURAL FORCE and EXERCISE NO POLITICAL POWER.

Or something.

In November, we vote on whether it will still be his fault or will it suddenly become a problem for grown ups to solve.

"Grown-ups" who apparently are mistaken in believing that government only has two branches.

I hired 40 people last year, but I would have hired twice that many if this clown was not in charge.

No, you would have hired twice as many if demand and growth had doubled.

That can't happen if you think that consumer demand only comes from the top.

I'll take risks, but I'm not crazy. Like a million other entrepreneurs, I'm waiting for a government that doesn't see me as the enemy.

Stop paying them to keep wages/benefits low and their standard of living competitive with with China's (instead of with Germany's) and they won't.

Alex said...

Ritmo still using Huey Long language for our modern economy.

Writ Small said...

The ideas of the plain and the homely are largely excluded from popular discourse.

It's true the plain don't get the number one spot too often, but Karl Rove didn't get his ideas out there?

My biggest concern with Ryan is the debates, which is where I expect the race to be ultimately decided. He's a smart and serious man, but I've actually been disappointed in a number of his radio interviews. He often struggles to simplify issues so a non-expert can easily follow. Sure, it enhances his intellectual reputation, but the top of the ticket already has issues relating to the common man.

Colonel Angus said...

It's important to understand Democrat thinking because you need to translate that handouts means the government let's you keep more of your earnings.

shiloh said...

House passes Ryan plan.

Special election in heavily conservative NY-26.

Dem Kathy Hochul outspent 2 to 1.

Hochul Wins!

Ryan picked as Willard's v-p.

How did Hochul get soooo damn lucky?

>

I yield back the balance of my time to Roger J. :)

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

All that does is shuffle the deck around, it doesn't create real wealth.

Much like a housing bubble driven by private bond-rating agencies like Moody's convincing us that toxic assets were good business.

This was all set in motion in the late 90s. It was an effort to crash the economy (and nearly everyone with it) while getting ahead while you could. Some people like it that way, and you are duped into following them.

If debt mattered to you you wouldn't vote for the party whose track record is to increase it more than the other.

The Crack Emcee said...

gerry,

I suppose you meant en masse?

I know, it's tough trying to seem literate.

Or, were you striving to be bigoted about Catholics?


Those are the folks who follow the old guy in the silly hat and dress, right? I don't know. Maybe he can tell me how to deal with SpellCheck, since you don't seem to even have a clue it exists,...

Chris Wren,

Ryan is a TOTAL hottie. Sue me, Crack.

I KNOW - I have a pillow between my legs as I type this, I'm so excited! And have you seen his WIFE?!? YOWZA!

My vote rests entirely on if I get a chance to hit that behind Ryan's back,...

gerry said...

BTW - Mormonism is already embedded into our culture, as they own and run Utah in an under-handed fashion

Any citations? What bull.

Forbes magazine rated Utah as the best state in which to live in 2009.

This year, a Gallup survey has given Utah very high marks.

In 2011, Money maqgazine put five cities in Utah in the top 100 best places to live.

People are happy, employed, and productive in Utah. Is that what bugs you, Crack, that some people are happy?

JohnJ said...

“If Ryan has nothing to hide, he won't mind having his basement dug up.”

Hilarious!

…but just wait if you think the parody is outlandish.

harrogate said...

The selection of Ryan reminds me there is a lot to fear from a GOP victory. I am afraid of the idea of a Romney/Ryan administration.

garage mahal said...

It's important to understand Democrat thinking because you need to translate that handouts means the government let's you keep more of your earnings.

Handout = paying money into a system your whole life promising your return. Instead, you're told that you'll receive a coupon that doesn't begin to cover your expenses.

Hammond X. Gritzkofe said...

Nice family. But does he have a drug addict half-sibling living in a slum in Africa? The press wants to know.

Hammond X. Gritzkofe said...

Nice family. But does he have a drug addict half-sibling living in a slum in Africa? The press wants to know.

Dante said...

Crack,

Being a shruggie is no protection from cultism.

Interesting points. But I still fail to see how this is an argument against the one way road Obama wants to put us on, binding future generations to his perfect "Morality" and solutions that have proof points by existence that they fail.

I agree, Romney isn't the right guy. I don't have enough insight into Mormonism to see how it is as bad as Jones. And frankly, I like the idea of getting a planet of babes as an incentive to join the group as opposed to the Catholic/Baptist approach that "If you don't believe in Jesus Christ, you are going to burn in hell for eternity."

So I suppose you can call me a "Shruggie," maybe I am, but turning ones back on the generation enslaving Obama is attempting pales in comparison to free choice to believe in magic underwear, little hats, or belief in a planet of babes after death. It seems to me you are having a problem living in a grey world, and not being able to see how much darker the future will be based on your inaction.

In other words, I would rather live with people making free choices to believe in planets with babes instead of being forced with a gun to bow down to Obama's morality. But, it's a free country, still, and people are free to make bad calculations based on strongly held principles (or beliefs). Based on what's going on in Chicago, you may not be able to say what you think, but at least hopefully you will be able to think it.

Colonel Angus said...

It was an effort to crash the economy (and nearly everyone with it) while getting ahead while you could. Some people like it that way, and you are duped into following them.

Sounds remarkably like our current raft of entitlement and welfare spending.

I honestly cannot fathom why so many want to emulate the European welfare state while we watch them teeter on the brink of disintegration.

Paul said...

The Tea Party is dead! The Tea Party is why we have 8.5% unemployment and unending economic anemia!

Looking into the mind of a lefty is always amusing. It is a Sisyphean task to try and mold the contours of the real world to fit into their convoluted fantasy reality.

I'd pity them if they weren't such a force for evil.

bagoh20 said...

"No, you would have hired twice as many if demand and growth had doubled.

That can't happen if you think that consumer demand only comes from the top. "


Apparently, you have no idea how this works. Economic vitality is all about confidence and trust, and those with the capital to put people to work have neither with this current government. We don't wait for things to happen, we make them happen, unless the risk is too high, which it currently is. You have no idea how much vitality is waiting in the wings for the first signs that the hyenas are leaving the field.

Obama and his friends could never convince that money to loosen up no matter what they said. We know who he is now.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Crack. I love Winston Churchill.
+ he was hot and sexy. But please - keep pissing in the wind. I'll be happy to be your boogieman. maybe I can siphon off some of your weird.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

I honestly cannot fathom why so many want to emulate the European welfare state while we watch them teeter on the brink of disintegration.

If disintegration helps you perceive that the welfare states of France, Germany and Scandinavia are doing much better than the rest of the supposedly agglomerated countries, then so be it. I approve.

As I would approve of our disintegrating our country of this silly confederacy of red states who take the most from the federal government while complaining the most about hand-outs. Just give it back, then - if you hate it so much. Christ.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Yes, normal small business, small government, tax paying Americans are to blame for the Democrat's Stimulus package.

Colonel Angus said...

Handout = paying money into a system your whole life promising your return.

Yes. They're also called Ponzi schemes. See, you weren't paying into your own account, you are paying for the folks who are already receiving a check. You have to count on a few generations behind you to foot the bill for your check.

If you can't understand basic mathematics and conclude that there isn't enough money in the US economy to pay for the entitlements that were 'promised', I'm not sure what else can convince you. I assume you don't believe in Santa Claus anymore so perhaps that parallel might help.

Dante said...

Garage:

Handout = paying money into a system your whole life promising your return. Instead, you're told that you'll receive a coupon that doesn't begin to cover your expenses.

Oh, you've been following Social Security. I hear it's been coming up in the news that many will get less back on the real dollar than they put in. It's about time the press reported on this.

I did a calculation using Social Security's own numbers for inflation, and a single man who put in $108K in 2010, born in 1960, retiring in 2027, and dying ten years later will get back less than 50 cents on the real dollar.

I thought you were a knee jerk leftist? I thought they loved social security. Would you fix the problem in the way Bush wanted to, by letting people pay into their own accounts?

Brian Brown said...

garage mahal said...


Handout = paying money into a system your whole life promising your return. Instead, you're told that you'll receive a coupon that doesn't begin to cover your expenses.


Hysterical.

Now Medicare is all of a sudden a medical savings account you "paid into your whole life"!!

Who knew?!

Idiot.

Brian Brown said...

garage mahal said...
What is Ryan going to do, tell the truth? It's VoucherCare, plain and simple. Have fun explaining that to seniors.


Note:

Ryan has pointed out to me that no Republican has carried his district for president since Ronald Reagan in 1984. “I have held hundreds of town-hall meetings in my district explaining why we have to take bold reform steps, and I’ve found treating people like adults works,” he told me.

Don't worry wittle garagie, we know that you are a silly, little infantile who thinks all voters are just like you.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

Name a specific policy or I will conclude you're bluffing, politicking and emoting Bag'O. You put things in terms that make me wonder if you believe you've been visited by men from the government in black suits and sunglasses who carried devices designed to erase your memory once they were done with you.

Everything is about confidence and trust. The problem is that we've left the credit markets on an unregulated libertarian hair-trigger and refused to adopt a borrowing and lending scheme that reflects real trust.

We also told your lower-wage employees that they should be lucky to have the standard of living available in a communist totalitarian autocracy and even less say in their easily bribed government - assuming we hire them in the first place. And that's wonderful, right!?

But the problem is, they buy stuff, too.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

"You know what will end Medicaid as we know it? Medicaid as we know it."

-Iowahawk

Alex said...

Ritmo - you're disgusting showing such disrespect to a real business owner providing real American jobs.

sakredkow said...

I can't stand it that Democrats and Obama supporters feel free to express their opinions either.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Paul Ryan quotes that will make lefty heads go splode.

"Some politicians are more worried about the next election than the next generation."

"We look at one another's success with pride, not resentment."

"We promise equal opportunity, not equal outcomes."

Brian Brown said...

Romney just said that he wants to put parents and children ahead of the teachers unions and the crowd went nuts.

Steve Austin said...

Re Seniors voting for Ryan. One topic that has not been brought up is how this crappy economy is killing seniors.

With growth at zero, interest rates are at zero. That means zero return for millions of seniors who saved money for retirement. Instead of earning 3 to 7 percent on CDs, bonds, etc, they are now earning next to nothing.

This situation is now starting to take a toll and will shortly be a major crisis. Unless someone can jump start the economy, get growth and thus demand for capital allowing rates to rise.

Ryan and Romney need to talk about how bad Obama has been for seniors and savers. It is a hidden issue that is a game changer among the retirement crowd.

harrogate said...

Alex, you're funny.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

phx - There's opinion and then there's Ritmo's incoherent gibberish.

The Crack Emcee said...

gerry,

Any citations [for the under-handed fashion remark]? What bull.

Sure, I've posted countless ones. But it makes no difference - you guys are into the cult thing - so I won't bother again.

Forbes magazine rated Utah as the best state in which to live in 2009.

This year, a Gallup survey has given Utah very high marks.

In 2011, Money maqgazine put five cities in Utah in the top 100 best places to live.

People are happy, employed, and productive in Utah. Is that what bugs you, Crack, that some people are happy?


Like one thing has to do with the other. How stupid are you? You can be corrupt and still make money, you moron - that's the foundation for almost all crime.

Here - Romney has a supplement business. Supplements, unless you have a specific need, are worthless and have proven (in some cases) to be harmful.

So how does Romney get away with peddling a worthless and harmful product? He got his fellow cultist, Orrin Hatch, to pass the out-right criminal DSHEA law.

I ask you, how much integrity can you stand?

But - hey - HE'S MAKING MONEY, RIGHT BOZO?

Yeah, and the American people are the victims of this fraud perpetrated by the very person you want to put in charge.

Shit, you might as well elect Oprah,...

garage mahal said...

"You know what will end Medicaid as we know it? Medicaid as we know it."

So let's destroy it, and replace it with a coupon from one of those AdPaks you see in the mail. That's Freedom dear voter!

harrogate said...

Concrete Jungle = Freedom.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

The fact that the Teacher's Union is one of the most politically corrupt and money wasting deals on the planet, it's good to know the crowd went nuts. It's time to end the democrat's sacred cow money laundering scheme.

harrogate said...

One thing that really empowers the teacher's union: the draconian child labor laws. Let's get rid of those. if your child can't afford to go to school, let them go to work (job creators will make sure they kids are safe at their jobs), save money, and then go to school when they save enough to go.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

Ritmo - you're disgusting showing such disrespect...

You're funny, Alex. You think it's all about dick-kissing and privilege because you think that Bag O' is afraid of a real debate with real facts. I don't think he is. I respect the person, not the position that you bestow, and I think decent people appreciate that more. I think more of him than to conclude that he is as much of a wussy when it comes to real debates as you are.

Anyway, our goal is the same. He knows that I want good businesses, as well as the overall economy, to do well. He knows that I am open to listening to any points he has that I may have missed as he has been open to others.

If anything, you should learn all that from him. Because heavens knows you will never make as much as he has. But you'd like to fantasize that you could or, failing that, worship him for it.

And that's not the same thing as respect.

edutcher said...

One thing Oop better factor into her calculations about Gray Panthers, it was the Conservatives of the Baby Boomers that made the Reagan Revolution.

They're seniors now and there isn't a monolithic elder Boomer voting bloc.

The Reaganauts and the Vietnam vets will go for the Romster. The campus commandos, well, we know where they can go.

Synova said...

Kids can't get jobs.

Not even those old enough not to be restricted by labor rules that aren't keeping them from dangerous factory jobs, but from operating a bread slicer in a deli.

The lack of work experience for a whole generation is a destructive, horrible thing.

But lets pretend that not working is good for them. That teaching them how good it feels to do something that isn't a chore, that really needs to be done in the real world, enough that someone will pay you for it, has no social value.

Lets get them through all of their formative years in enforced leisure so their expectations are set and they get over the desperate times when they want to prove their independence and become comfortable with being dependent.

Because getting your arm pulled off by heavy manufacturing machinery on the factory floor is the only alternative and obviously what the mean conservatives prefer to happen.

Chip S. said...

Which of these regulatory agencies are the ones that have "left the credit markets on an unregulated libertarian hair-trigger," Ritmo?

SEC?
CFTC?
CFPB?
FDIC?
FSLIC?
Comptroller of the Currency?
Office of Thrift Supervision?
Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation?

Just wondering.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Geez. You could go swimming in strawmen, the red herrings are so thick in here.

A very general concept of a voucher is to let someone who can pay, pay. The person who needs assistance can then shop around and is not forced into a one-size fits all decision. Competition is re-infused into the decision/marketplace and prices lower as a result. Win/win. What's going on now and for decades has been fail/fail. You want more of that? Why?
Shall we attempt to spend tax payer dollars more wisely?
or are you lefties so entrenched in your bad faith you just cannot let go of bad math and failed ideas?

Michael K said...

" Blogger garage mahal said...

"You know what will end Medicaid as we know it? Medicaid as we know it."

So let's destroy it, and replace it with a coupon from one of those AdPaks you see in the mail. That's Freedom dear voter!

"

Have you ever heard the term non sequitur ?

WE don't have to destroy it. Why does the left have such antipathy to math ? Too difficult ?

Chip S. said...

Why does the left have such antipathy to math ?

Cognitive dissonance.

edutcher said...

shiloh said...

And (4) years ago Althouse's lemmings were all giddy about mama grizzly ... and then the campaign began.

And the only thing that saved Choom and Halo Joe was the market crash - McCain was ahead by 5.

Now, will it be he who lives by the crash (especially since he did so much to make it happen), gets voted out by the crash?

harrogate said...

Synova,

I didn't say anything about arms being pulled off. The rest of your post illustrates the great value of repealing child labor laws, better than even I could do. I wa so blinded by the importance of mitigating the iron rule of teachers in the US, that I forgot to sufficiently praise the work values that kids will extra extra absorb. So thanks for that.

Freedom!

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

That was the argument at the outset of the administration and I don't trust that they've been given enough teeth given the compromises necessary to the Teat Party. If they're complaining about Dodd-Frank, I'm pretty sure it didn't go far enough.

Nowadays the problem has been benefits, mostly. A full percentage point higher in unemployment is what we're suffering through because of slashed federal and state budgets. Applaud it all you want; this does not stimulate demand. Families bankrupted by inadequate insurance, unemployment and other costs don't stimulate demand, either.

Please feel free to point to any Republican/Teat party policy that would stimulate demand.

I have not once heard a single Republican acknowledge that low demand keeps economic activity low, unemployment high and the deficit ever larger. Despite the fact that these truisms are Economics 101.

And that's what leads me to conclude that they're full of it and just trying to protect their benefactors. Not the economy. Not the country. NOT the reality of the situation. Their contributors.

I gave up on them long ago. Why shouldn't I?

The Crack Emcee said...

People are happy, employed, and productive in Utah. Is that what bugs you, Crack, that some people are happy?

No, what bugs me is I just had a friend visit and he immediately noticed that, no matter where we went - from city to Utah city - the businesses never changed. McDonald's, Del Taco, Burger King - it's all low-paying franchises and it's the same wherever you go. There also wasn't much in the way of scenery, unless you escape the Salt Lake area entirely. And, of course, you also have to leave the state to get a real beer. A real drag when friends arrive.

Utah's not a bad place to live, but don't believe the hype.

Revenant said...

Cute kids.

harrogate said...

We will probably need to do away with all truancy relate laws as well, of course, not only for practical reasons, but more to the point, in order to maximize the glorious freedom.

Colonel Angus said...

I don't know about state budgets but did you say slashed federal budget? Last time I looked we are spending well over one trillion more than we were when Obama took office.

Dante said...

Here - Romney has a supplement business. Supplements, unless you have a specific need, are worthless and have proven (in some cases) to be harmful.

Totally agree that almost ALL supplements are worthless. It turns out one of the dangerous ones actually had psycho-active properties, but unfortunately one of these was contaminated and caused some deaths.

I have this disagreement with my wife, that all the money she spends on this crap is a waste of money. But there is no convincing her. Not by discussing the scientific studies, nothing. Maybe I should divorce her.

David R. Graham said...

"Garage, I see the possibility of the resurgence of the Gray Panthers."

"Actually, Allie, your grey panther line gets me thinking. A lot of Tea Partiers are in their 50s younger boomers and they could go against the 60s boomers who some of us are sick of and let our elders finally have it. They are the loudmouths, we're the quiet ones, but there are more of us than them."

Seeing Red sees the truth there. I, like another self-confessed here, am an over 60 boomer.

Gray Panther resurgence? The hell you say. They control the country, through position and wealth! Surge to what?

They caused the mess we see and hate. They took the country down by their selfishness. They put in every divisive program you can name. They made the entitlement society, for themselves, and threw crumbs for beggars to cover their tracks. The Gray Panthers did, their whole life is an abomination the nation pays for and continues paying off.

You want a White Devil? It's the Gray Panthers, the over 60 female boomers of today. Ayers is an effect. Dohrn is the cause. That's who raised youngers like Barry and Michelle: mothers without love.

The inner point of this cultural/moral/religious exercise is to pry their fetid hands off the levers of power and influence so their children and grandchildren - most of whom never experienced a mother's love because their mothers, of my older boomer generation, are hard, selfish bitches - some of whom managed to reach adult maturity despite their mothers, can learn, create and manage the nation's affairs.

Paul Ryan and I assume his wife - her Alma Mater matters hugely to the press and leadership cadre - are superb workers for that task. Given a go by a family of my generation who *did* raise their children in a mother's love.

A mother's love is all that really matters in this life. The picture suggests the Ryans' children are experiencing that. Good.

The Crack Emcee said...

I've got a friend who just got out of the hospital for renal failure (kidney problems). When he started to drastically lose weight because of it, his job drug tested him - another common Utah thing - and they discovered he'd smoked pot.

He said he did it to gain an appetite while suffering through the diarrhea, and he'd do it again in a heartbeat, because the doctors said it saved him the few days he needed before they could help him.

His job and bosses - all Mormon - fired him anyway, even though his hitting a joint, under any circumstances, has no bearing on what he did for a living what-so-ever.

Because they're so "nice," don't you know.

He's worked there for over 5 years, BTW.

So now he's almost better, but unemployed, and still with a wife and kids to feed.

Oh yeah - Mormon Country - it's a fucking paradise!

exhelodrvr1 said...

The country needs him, but I feel sorry for his wife and children.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

I don't know about state budgets but did you say slashed federal budget? Last time I looked we are spending well over one trillion more than we were when Obama took office.

Not on public-sector employment. Which is what makes this recession/recovery unusual: It's the first one where Republicans said that we should increase the unemployment of public-sector workers to offset spending. Before they always prevented attacks public-sector employment from getting in the way of recovery.

Sooner or later you'll see.

Ross said...

@The Crack Emcee

So Mormons get their own planet full of babes? I appear to have joined the wrong LDS Church. Where's the one that promises beautiful women?

But seriously, I don't understand your hatred. You should meet some Mormons before slandering them.

The Crack Emcee said...

Dante,

Totally agree that almost ALL supplements are worthless. It turns out one of the dangerous ones actually had psycho-active properties, but unfortunately one of these was contaminated and caused some deaths.

So what does that say about Mr. Good-For-The-Economy? It says to me he's a sleaze,...

I have this disagreement with my wife, that all the money she spends on this crap is a waste of money. But there is no convincing her. Not by discussing the scientific studies, nothing. Maybe I should divorce her.

That's a bit drastic, though she is suffering from cultish behavior ("there is no convincing her. Not by discussing the scientific studies, nothing"). She needs help, that's for sure, but in a country where this phenomena isn't addressed seriously by many, it's doubtful she'll ever get it. Sorry to say, it's more likely she'll leave you over it. She's got a peer group - reason and common sense don't.

The cultist divorcing the reasonable spouse is the trend,....

Synova said...

Harrogate, do you really not understand how important it is for kids to work?

I have four teenagers. FOUR.

Not being able to build a work history for later applications is a bar to the workplace that follows you into adulthood. The unemployment rate for young people is outrageous, and maybe you want to pretend it's not a problem.

And maybe you want to couple teacher unions to child labor laws, and you're welcome to it, as if they are the same thing, but no one has to take you seriously.

Other than experience and something to put on an application to show that someone else thought you valuable enough to pay, working gives kids and young people self-respect and confidence that nothing else can possibly give them.

And even in a good economy the labor laws punish kids by requiring things like getting permission from school... thus persons who aren't brilliant scholars are prohibited from gaining important skills or experience with success to balance out their bad experiences trying to succeed at school.

In essence for teenagers, if life is good for you, the labor laws to "protect" you make life even better. If life sucks, then the laws to "protect" you make life suck even more.

And the people responsible are proud of that and make up fantasies about how working is bad for you anyway, so it's good they saved you from it.

Dante said...

Oh yeah - Mormon Country - it's a fucking paradise!

I would frankly have assumed better of you, Crack. You can't take a single data point, and extrapolate to millions of people and expect people to take you credibly.d

However, I do have to ask "Was the drug prescribed?" How did he come to smoke the pot? Was it what he had it before hand, felt bad, and continued smoking pot as he had before? If not, what in his mind allowed him to make the medical decision that pot smoking was the right answer? Is he a doctor? My grandmother, I'm told, used to give enemas when her kids were sick, though that is precisely the wrong thing to do.

Perhaps the company has a zero tolerance for drugs, which is a reasonable thing to have, especially if it's stated as the company policy. It seem likely to me that was the company policy, that you friend knew it, and that he smoked pot anyway. He got busted, and he was fired.

Frankly, you sound like a whining liberal. "My pothead friend got fired for smoking pot, and he accepted a job that didn't allow it, and got fired." Boo hoo.

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Dante said...

So what does that say about Mr. Good-For-The-Economy? It says to me he's a sleaze,...

Yeah, don't like it much. Especially the screwed up federal decision to change the rules to make it legal to sell "supplements" that do not cure "disease." That leaves a huge door open for this crap. And frankly, I'm tired of women telling me to buy stupid pills because it will increase my penis length. Mine works fine, thank you very much.

Anonymous said...

David R. Graham said,

"That's who raised youngers like Barry and Michelle: mothers without love.

The inner point of this cultural/moral/religious exercise is to pry their fetid hands off the levers of power and influence so their children and grandchildren - most of whom never experienced a mother's love because their mothers, of my older boomer generation, are hard, selfish bitches - some of whom managed to reach adult maturity despite their mothers, can learn, create and manage the nation's affairs."

8/11/12 1:45 PM

Make outlandish presumptions much? How the hell do you know if Michelle's mother didn't love her? Or even Obama's? Boomer women are hard selfish bitches? Hate your own mother, do you? Or wife if you are a boomer yourself. Such generalizations are simply stupid.

The Crack Emcee said...

Ross,

So Mormons get their own planet full of babes? I appear to have joined the wrong LDS Church. Where's the one that promises beautiful women?

It depends - each one only lets out the doctrine they find appropriate.

But seriously, I don't understand your hatred. You should meet some Mormons before slandering them.

And you shouldn't live your life on making foolish assumptions you can't back up. Oh wait - you're a cult apologist - you can't help it:

I'm writing you from my home in Salt Lake City, Utah. I work for a Mormon company. One of my best friends here served with me in the Navy - he was born LDS and our friendship has lasted over 30 years. I have many other Mormon friends as well, and know their beliefs - and where they stray from them - better than they do (as it seems I know them better than you.)

To call criticism "hatred" already reveals you aren't willing to allow for a level-playing field, but instead, want to stack the deck in your own favor. This is but one thing I dislike about the Mormon "faith" - how it allows those within it to think playing dirty is fair, because they want to position themselves as persecuted instead of merely admitting they've always been wrong.

Your leader was a convicted con man, and you are con artists to anyone unaware of the particulars and peculiarities of the condescending belief system he left behind for you to exploit others with.

"The world's fastest growing religion"? Yeah, because you enroll the dead against their wishes or knowledge. Where's the integrity in that? The whole thing, from top-to-bottom, is a scam. Or are we to understand, out of the blue, a bunch of folks think Jesus IS GOING TO SHOW UP IN MISSOURI?

Please.

Sorry, but that's the truth. You're no different than Scientologists. Just as gullible. Just as deceitful. Just as in need of cult deprogramming.

Nothing hateful about it,...

The Crack Emcee said...

Dante,

I would frankly have assumed better of you, Crack. You can't take a single data point, and extrapolate to millions of people and expect people to take you credibly.

Is this the official Make-An-Assumption-And-Run-With-It Day? Can I be allowed to talk without you (or anyone else) deciding I'm reading your mind for what you want from me - or I'm trying to make the point you (again) assume?

I was just talking about life on the ground, away from the bullshit headlines of "the best place on earth," because - you may have noticed this yourself - we're not big on printing articles about what's wrong with anyplace.

However, I do have to ask "Was the drug prescribed?" How did he come to smoke the pot? Was it what he had it before hand, felt bad, and continued smoking pot as he had before? If not, what in his mind allowed him to make the medical decision that pot smoking was the right answer? Is he a doctor? My grandmother, I'm told, used to give enemas when her kids were sick, though that is precisely the wrong thing to do.

I repeat: his doctor thought is the right thing to do. Pot makes you hungry. He needed to eat. Use your head.

Perhaps the company has a zero tolerance for drugs, which is a reasonable thing to have, especially if it's stated as the company policy. It seem likely to me that was the company policy, that you friend knew it, and that he smoked pot anyway. He got busted, and he was fired.

He didn't "get busted" - he lost weight because he was sick. They pried into his private life under pressure. Oh - wait - it's a cult. YOU HAVE NO PRIVATE LIFE.

Frankly, you sound like a whining liberal. "My pothead friend got fired for smoking pot, and he accepted a job that didn't allow it, and got fired." Boo hoo.

"My pothead friend"? Another assumption.

You should see someone about that, as it's a form of delusional thinking,...

Dante said...

Crack,

Yeah, because you enroll the dead against their wishes or knowledge. Where's the integrity in that?

You care about this? Why? Or do you dislike the claim of "Fastest growing religion"?

Gahrie said...

I have a suggestion for the Romney/Ryan campaign slogan:


There is no worse tyranny than to force a man to pay for what he does not want merely because you think it would be good for him. - Robert Heinlein

wildswan said...

David R Graham said:
You want a White Devil? It's the Gray Panthers, the over 60 female boomers of today.

Hey, hey , hey, quit stereotyping. Over sixties aren't one monolithic group. Lots of them are grandparents with a deep interest in preserving America for their grandchildren. Lots are in the Tea Party

garage said:
SENIORS: Would you like Gravy Lovers catfood, or the hairball lite?

See, it's like a trend, it's thinking that "seniors" are a group of morons easily panicked by rumors. Older people know they have the vote and they know you have to pay your way and they have seen the long term results of not using one's common sense. I believe that if Romney/Ryan says that we as a country are in debt and must act now to avoid worse trouble that that is a line that older people will understand quite well. Younger people think something will turn up, that they can just say "whatever" or "dude" or hurl some insult and the problem will go away and not come back. Older people have seen the problem come back years later and much worse.

Dante said...

I repeat: his doctor thought is the right thing to do. Pot makes you hungry. He needed to eat. Use your head.

His doctor thought it was the right thing to do AFTER THE FACT.

Did the doctor prescribe it? No. Is it illegal? Yes. Did your friend join a company that "pries into ones life, knowingly" Yes. It's freedom, baby.

I have a hard time with the third hand account, too. And why could your friend get pot if he couldn't see a doctor?

The Crack Emcee said...

Dante,

Crack,

Yeah, because you enroll the dead against their wishes or knowledge. Where's the integrity in that?

You care about [enrolling the dead against their wishes]? Why? Or do you dislike the claim of "Fastest growing religion"?


Why'd the Jews care so much about it? Why did the Mormons say they'd stop it but, instead, merely draw a curtain around the practice? I keep asking you:

Where's the integrity?

See, you - as a shruggie - don't care about the truth. You can live in a web of lies, until they affect you, and then you'll scream bloody murder, even though you turned away from everyone else who was already crying.

And if you don't care about the truth from Romney's "religion," then why fight Obama? He's merely lying, too. Come on - nobody has to tell the truth, right? If it doesn't matter if the Mormons lie, it surely doesn't matter if the Left does.

Ahhh, hypocrisy. It's such a beautiful thing,...

The Crack Emcee said...

Dante,

His doctor thought it was the right thing to do AFTER THE FACT.

Yeah, because dying would've really put a crimp in things.

Did the doctor prescribe it? No. Is it illegal? Yes. Did your friend join a company that "pries into ones life, knowingly" Yes. It's freedom, baby.

There's no freedom in a policy that says, if you get sick, we will force you to pee in a cup and face whatever we decide to do to you. If he had fucked-up at work, but drank a 12 pack the night before just to party, his job would be secure. But, instead, he was trying to save his life - and by extension - his ability to keep coming to work while gravely ill.

Mormonism is supposed to be this compassionate religion, no?

I have a hard time with the third hand account, too. And why could your friend get pot if he couldn't see a doctor?

He has a concerned daughter and limited options.

What's wrong with you?

Dust Bunny Queen said...

That means zero return for millions of seniors who saved money for retirement. Instead of earning 3 to 7 percent on CDs, bonds, etc, they are now earning next to nothing.

AND for those who were prudent and bought into high grade muni bonds years ago, are now finding out that as these municipalities start to go bankrupt because they lied to the regulators and have made unsustainable pension promises...they [the bond holders] are going to be fucked just like the GM bond holders.

There is a distinct chance that the muni bonds which would be in first place will be subordinated to the Unions. In other words....tuff shit if we borrowed your money, you can't get it back.

Don't expect a lot of interest in buying municipal bonds now or in the future.

Revenant said...

Is this the official Make-An-Assumption-And-Run-With-It Day?

Yes. Fuck, man, buy a calendar.

The Crack Emcee said...

Revenant,

Is this the official Make-An-Assumption-And-Run-With-It Day?

Yes. Fuck, man, buy a calendar.

Best laugh I've had all day. Good one.

traditionalguy said...

I've known several people who once lived in Janesville, Wisconsin. They all loved the place. That's unusual. There must be a lot of fun going on there.

yashu said...

Ryan polls 52/39 among seniors. The strongest favorable of anybody on the short list, and the same is true with independents.

And women too.

bagoh20 is correct. For those predicting that Ryan will alienate seniors, Rasmussen poll results from July may surprise you.

And NB the update to that post, re the results of a Gallup/USA Today poll from 2011:

A new Gallup/USA Today poll contains a counterintuitive finding: the age group most receptive to House Budget Chair Paul Ryan‘s plan to deal with the budget – seniors.

The poll finds 48 percent of seniors (those 65 and over) support Ryan’s plan over President Obama‘s plan, while 42 percent back the president.

That’s the highest total among the age groups tested – a 47 percent plurality between the ages of 50 and 64 backed Ryan, and a 45 percent plurality of those between 30-49 backed Ryan. But young voters overwhelmingly sided with Obama by a 23-point margin, 53 to 30 percent.

Roger J. said...

Shilo: still waiting for your disquisition on Mr Obama's and Mr Biden's service--you, sir, were the one who laid the chickenhawk skunk on the table with respect to Mr's Romney and Ryan, and now cannot point to the POTUS and VPOTUS's service. Seems to me the ball is in your court. This is not exactly Bravo Zulu for you.

Anchors aweigh.

Anonymous said...

7 out of 10 people identifying themselves as Tea Party like Medicare

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
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