Ayn Rand. Sociopath.

Now that we have a real live Ayn Rand worshiper running for vice president of the United States, I'm excising this short Rand reading list from the Teaparty entry elsewhere on this blog, in anticipation of more Rand gems to add in the coming months.

What a sad, broken and destructive woman. Our curse that she has infected our political id so inextricably.

for an a good primer on Rand herself and a great listen--play the AUDIO ONLY youtube clip--it's just audio, press play and browse in another window while you listen.

The woman, her life/story and philosophy

• I, me, mine: the unholy trinity to ayn rand « Tomfoolery - (1/23/2011) http://bit.ly/PddnGb
• Slate Book Review: "The Perverse Allure of a Damaged Woman"(Nov 2009
• " thrilling psychological portraits of a horribly damaged woman who deserves the one thing she spent her life raging against: compassion."
• Stranded in New Mexico - AYN RAND: SOCIOPATH, ATHEIST, PHILOSOPHER OF SELFISHNESS (7/1/2012)  http://bit.ly/MRC9t8
• Ayn Rand was fascinated w/ a gruesome serial killer (AlterNet, 1/2011)

Ryanomics = Romneyomics

5 Things Paul Ryan Actually Believes:

1. Really believes in ending Medicare as we know it
2. Really believes in ending Medicaid as we know it
3. Really pushed for privatizing Social Security
4. Really would decimate government funding to the point of failure to perform routine operations
5. Really wants to enact the biggest transfer of wealth in modern US history--from the middle-class and poor to the rich

Read more about these 5 items at the link

David Axis-of-Evil Frum (W's speechwriter) maps Ryan's Plan out for us:

• He's wrong to believe that today's economic problems are caused by fears of tomorrow's debts. Ryan's plan implies a promise that we can create jobs in 2013 by restraining Medicare costs after 2023. That's ideology talking, not economics.
• He's wrong to say that the US faces an imminent debt crisis. Today's big deficits are the consequence, not the cause, of the weak economy.
• He's wrong to treat the Medicare cost problem in isolation from other aspects of the healthcare cost problem. You can't force healthcare costs down generally by dealing with Medicare alone. And if you do deal with Medicare alone, you risk stranding seniors with inadequate resources as healthcare inflation continues to rage.
• He's wrong to bet the house on premium support without any certainty that it will work. We 
• should test whether this idea will deliver as promised. (Calling Jim Manzi, author of the new book about the need for public-policy testing, Uncontrolled!)
• Above all: Paul Ryan is wrong, wrong, wrong to imagine that a society can deal with rising social-insurance costs while entirely exempting Republican-voting age cohorts and without asking for anything from its richest people—in fact while simultaneously delivering those people a huge tax cut.
• Read more: David Frum - What's Right and Wrong in the Ryan Plan - The Daily Beast (8/11/2012) http://bit.ly/Sa3DfV

Top 10 Ways Ryan Budget Hurts the Middle Class

1. It caters to the 1 percent. 
2. It ends Medicare as we know it. 
3. It eliminates the health care safety net. 
4. It increases unemployment. 
5. It threatens our economic competitiveness. 
6. It showers money on Big Oil. 
7. It devastates Social Security. 
8. It shortchanges K–12 education. 
9. It shortchanges higher education. 
10. It ignores the wishes of the American people.

Read more at: Center for American Progress: Top 10 Ways the Ryan Budget Hurts the Middle Class - (3/21/2012)



12 Things You Should Know About Vice Presidential Candidate Paul Ryan
(8/11/2012) http://bit.ly/R06n4x

1. Ryan embraces the extreme philosophy of Ayn Rand. 
2. Ryan wants to raises taxes on the middle class, cut them for millionaires. 
3. Ryan wants to end Medicare, replace it with a voucher system. 
4. Ryan thinks Social Security is a “ponzi scheme.”
5. Ryan’s budget would result in 4.1 million lost jobs in 2 years. 
6. Ryan wants to eliminate Pell Grants for more more than 1 million students.
7. Ryan supports $40 billion in subsides for big oil. 
8. Ryan has ownership stakes in companies that benefit from oil subsidies .
9. Ryan claimed Romneycare has led to “rationing and benefit cuts.”
10. Ryan believes that Romneycare is “not that dissimilar to Obamacare.” 
11. Ryan accused generals of lying about their support for Obama’s military budget. 
12. Ryan co-sponsored a “personhood” amendment, an extreme anti-abortion measure.

Tea Party

I am fascinated by the Tea Party, in micro and macro forms.
(when you have 4 minutes, definitely check this link out: Truth for tea baggers | Under the Mountain Bunker-- a collection of political cartoons, commentary)

Deregulation! Free Markets!

• Gingrich Admits Deregulation Of Wall Street In The '90s Was 'Probably A Mistake' | ThinkProgress  (Nov 2011)

Stateless in Somalia, and Loving It - Yumi Kim - Mises Daily (2/21/2006)

Liberty! Freedom! Limited Government

• "Teapartyers Don't Actually Care About Liberty", Salon, 1/2011
• "The Tea Partyers' fiery hatred of redistribution and resentment of societal "leeches" is certainly real, but it's apparent at this late date that most self-identified Tea Party supporters are libertarians in sound bite form only, and certainly no supporters of "liberty" as broadly defined by Reason magazine and the Cato Institute. The Tea Parties believe "liberty" means "not being governed by Democrats" -- a sentiment most libertarians would probably agree with -- but they don't seem to get the whole "live and let live" part of the deal."

Perceptions/Polls

• CNN Poll: Unfavorable view of tea party on the rise (3/2011)

Enemies from the Chalkboard

• See this post: so. blog.: Enemies from the Chalkboard

Birthers

• "Donald Trump, birther" - David Weigel, Slate (also: "Orthodox" vs. "reform Birtherism"  (3/2011)
• HI lawmakers intro bill to charge $100 for copies of birth certificate (1/28/2011)
• "HI's governor said the birth certificate doesn't exist!" -- No, he did not say that. (1/30/2011)
• MoJo: The Birthers have a Plan..And it May Not Be Crazy (1/30/2011)

The GOP 2012 Pres Campaign+Teaparty

• Mitt Romney will pretend Teaparty doesn't exist (1/2011)

Facts Have a Well-Known Liberal Bias

• Columbia Journal Review fact-checks the fact-checkers (post SOTU 1/2011)

Libertarians, Ayn Randism, The Market, and  Other Inconsistencies

Great listen--just audio, press play and browse in another window while you listen.

Racism in Progress: Rush Limbaugh, post-Tucson, and "The Chinese Threat" 

(1/21/2011)

Tea Party vs. Grand Ol' Party

• See separate posts: Tea Party vs. the Grand Old Party and Keeping Track of the GOP/Teaparty Leadership in 112th Congress 
• GOP Chair of CO quits: "Sick of the crazies" (TPM, 2/7/2011)

Tea Party Welfare Queens

• News Corpse » Palin’s Canceled Reality Show Gets Millions in Gov Subsidies (3/2011) 
• Yasha Levine: Michele Bachmann: Welfare Queen - Truthdig (12/2009) 
• Tea Party Hypocrisy? - ABC News (3/2011)  , at least 23 current members of congress or their families have received government money for their farms -- combining for more than $12 million since 1995

(3/2011, ABC)

Heavy handed, but fun/satisfying: Newsroom: American Taliban
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