Video: Paul Ryan gushes over his militant anti-God-activist mentor Ayn Rand

Remember, Ayn Rand was the single most important reason that Paul Ryan went into politics. You could call her his God, except that she didn't believe in God, and was an active critic and opponent of all religion, which is a funny person for a GOP vice presidential candidate to embrace when the Republican party is controlled by the God squad.

Ryan is now trying to convince folks that Rand is kooky and he had nothing to do with her.  Other than that little fact that he admitted publicly that she's the sole reason he went into publics.  The sole reason.  Not his Catholic faith.  But Ayn Rand. The chick whose mission in life was to kill God and replace him with man.

Now imagine had a Democratic done that.

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McKayla is not impressed with Paul Ryan

Best part, she's now making fun of herself here.

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Paul Ryan's hero Ayn Rand: No religion has ever offered anything of constructive value to human life

First, Paul Ryan on Ayn Rand:

NY Mag:

Representative Paul Ryan, also of Wisconsin, requires staffers to read Atlas Shrugged, describes Obama’s economic policies as “something right out of an Ayn Rand novel,” and calls Rand “the reason I got involved in public service.”

More from JS Online:

"The reason I got involved in public service, by and large, if I had to credit one thinker, one person, it would be Ayn Rand," Ryan said at a D.C. gathering four years ago honoring the author of "Atlas Shrugged" and "The Fountainhead."

And now, Ayn Rand on God:

Playboy: Has no religion, in your estimation, ever offered anything of constructive value to human life?

Ayn Rand: Qua religion, no - in the sense of blind belief, belief unsupported by, or contrary to, the facts of reality and the conclusions of reason. Faith, as such, is extremely detrimental to human life: it is the negation of reason. But you must remember that religion is an early form of philosophy, that the first attempts to explain the universe, to give a coherent frame of reference to man's life and a code of moral values, were made by religion, before men graduated or developed enough to have philosophy. And, as philosophies, some religions have very valuable moral points. They may have a good influence or proper principles to inculcate, but in a very contradictory context and, on a very - how should I say it? - dangerous or malevolent base: on the ground of faith. [Playboy interview with Ayn Rand]

Faith is the worst curse of mankind, as the exact antithesis and enemy of thought.

"...if devotion to truth is the hallmark of morality, then there is no greater, nobler, more heroic form of devotion than the act of a man who assumes the responsibility of thinking.... the alleged short-cut to knowledge, which is faith, is only a short-circuit destroying the mind. [Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged]"

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Gaius on the radio at 3pm Eastern today re Climate Change

UPDATE: A complete list of climate series pieces is available here:
The Climate series: a reference post.
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Gaius and Mike Papantonio discuss Gaius's article, "Who is the real enemy leading us to climate catastrophe?" on Ring of Fire radio this weekend.

Time: Saturday at 3:00pm EST, rebroadcast Sunday at 8:00 pm EST.

The program is available in many radio markets, or via podcast.

The program link
Listen-live link
Radio stations link
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Government won’t prosecute Goldman Sachs in fraud probe

I hate when that happens. On Thursday I posted this, secretly hoping I'd be proven ever so wrong:

[I]f Goldman is a proxy for Wall Street money, Obama was seriously bought by the banks in 2008.

The payback — zero banking prosecutions, including for billionaire thief (and Obama fundraiser) Jon Corzine, who will never see a courtroom or handcuffs.

It's the way it works, folks. Obama is employed, a wage-slave, just like you and me. Meet his paymasters.

As I say, I really want to be wrong about this stuff. Who wants to live in a country as corrupt as this one?

Now just one day later, turns out I was ever so right (my emphases and paragraphing; h/t Jordan Banks via Twitter):

The Justice Department said Thursday it won’t prosecute Wall Street firm Goldman Sachs or its employees in a financial fraud probe. In a written statement, the department said it conducted an exhaustive investigation of allegations brought to light by a Senate panel investigating the 2008-2009 financial crisis.

“The department and investigative agencies ultimately concluded that the burden of proof to bring a criminal case could not be met based on the law and facts as they exist at this time,” the department said.

Bottom line — DoJ lets Goldman skate free.

It's at the discretion of the prosecutor whether to prosecute.

Some prosecutors — for example, in cases involving petty (brown-skinned) street crime — need only something approximating the possibility of a conviction, or near enough, so long as they have a single shaky witness from blocks away who might even look credible if cleaned up (or "coached").

Other prosecutors — for example, in cases involving Jon Corzine or others of Our Betters — need no less than a "smoking gun" plus crime scene photos of the perp as the bullet leaves the chamber — without which, they say, they just don't have enough to go to trial (do click, my characterization isn't far off; and yes, that's our hero Pat Fitzgerald talking).

Thus it is with Obama's Justice Dept — which in fine Bush II tradition, is no longer just the nation's Justice Dept.:

Four years ago, employees of New York-based Goldman gave three-fourths of their campaign donations to Democratic candidates and committees, including presidential nominee Barack Obama.

For what it's worth (not much apparently) this is the evidence from the Senate that Obama's DoJ decided wasn't enough (note: Senate panels conduct inquiries under oath):

A Senate subcommittee chaired by Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., in April 2011 found that Goldman marketed four sets of complex mortgage securities to banks and other investors but that the firm failed to tell clients that the securities were very risky.

The Senate panel said Goldman secretly bet against the investors’ positions and deceived the investors about its own positions to shift risk from its balance sheet to theirs. ...

The Justice Department’s decision capped a good day for Goldman as the Securities and Exchange Commission decided not to file charges against the firm over a $1.3 billion subprime mortgage portfolio. ...

Note the hippie-bashing in the sentence following the last one. The source for the Sun-Times article is the AP.

If this isn't fraud, nothing is fraud (so long as the perp is Goldman). And yes a very "good day for Goldman". Are we a banana yet, or just headed that way?

Now me, more directly. The Nixon pardon was ground zero for loss of Rule of Law. First it was one man, president-cum-king, the top guy, who could not be prosecuted. When Nixon said this —

"When the president does it, it's not illegal."

— he had managed through his pardon to make himself correct.

Next, under Bush I, the circle of "unprosecutables" opened to include the cabinet, Weinberger et al. Today it includes any major banker, even known thief (and Obama fundraiser) Jon Corzine.

The circle of protection is still widening. I'd watch the Sheldon Adelson news if I were you. If Adelson can't be prosecuted — not convicted, that's for a jury; just prosecuted — you'll know the umbrella of immunity has opened further.

My sad prediction — Adelson skates, never sees a courtroom. What's the script? The Rs charge "political prosecution" and Holder backs down.

The result? Now no one funding a political campaign above a certain dollar amount can be brought to trial for anything but the personally-murdered recently dead (plus witnesses).

"On a scale from one to America, how free are you?" Not free enough, I suspect.

GP

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GOP thinker David Frum describes perfect attack ad against Ryan

Frum is an interesting character. He's one of the few conservatives pundits who seems to say what he actually believes, rather than just parrotting GOP political spin. He's quite is an interesting, and intelligent (and thus, interesting), guy.

Frum says the Dems' perfect attack ad against Paul Ryan will be a woman saying that Ryan is going to make it much harder for her to get Medicare when she retires:

"You've worked hard all your life. You've paid Medicare taxes for almost 30 years. But under the Republican plan, Medicare won't be there for you. Instead of Medicare as it exists now, under the Republican plan you'll get a voucher that will pay as little as half your Medicare costs when you turn 65—and as little as a quarter in your 80s. And all so that millionaires and billionaires can have a huge tax cut."

Frum ads, "That ad will draw blood and will—as Henry Kissinger used to say—have the additional merit of being true." Read the rest of this post...

Who is Paul Ryan? Romney's VP choice is follower of militant atheist activist.

A quick observation: How important could God be to Paul Ryan if his number one inspiration for going into public life is the works of militant atheist activist Ayn Rand?  Republican leaders always claim that God is their number one inspiration, Jesus their favorite philosopher.  Ryan's is a woman who made it her life mission to kill God and replace Him with man.  Ryan can claim he's Catholic until the cows come home - he's obviously not that religious if his number one reason for being a politician is the philosophies of an avowed atheist activist.
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Mitt Romney has chosen uber-conservative GOP House members Paul Ryan as his vice presidential candidate.

Ryan is most famous recently for his draconian bugget proposal that even fellow Republicans eventually walked away from.

Here is a quick bio on Ryan - what's interesting to me is that he only has a bachelor's degree.  While that's not, in the modern era it's not at all uncommon for presidential candidates to have gone to graduate school as well (though, as the GOP now has disdain for a college education, per Rick Santorum, this likely won't hurt Ryan with the Republican minions).

This also means that Ryan's supposed "expertise" in economics and budgeting comes from undergrad courses in economics.  Milton Friedman he ain't.

The other problem with Ryan's bio is that he has next to zero experience outside of Washington politics.  His only real work experience outside of government (or "consulting" to the family business), is working as a waiter at Tortilla Coast, as a trainer at a gym, and driving the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile.

Ryan's health is also a serious concern. According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

“‘(My father) died of a heartattack at 55, my grandfather died of a heart attack at 57, my great-grandfather died of heart attack at 59, so I’m into the health thing,’ says Ryan." (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel,4/26/09)

Ryan is a big fan of militant atheist right-wing philosopher Ayn Rand:

"The reason I got involved in public service, by and large, if I had to credit one thinker, one person, it would be Ayn Rand," Ryan said during a 2005 event honoring Rand in Washington, D.C., the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported in April 2009.

During the 2005 gathering, Ryan told the audience, "Almost every fight we are involved in here on Capitol Hill ... is a fight that usually comes down to one conflict -- individualism versus collectivism." The event was hosted by The Atlas Society, which prominently features a photo of Rand on its website and describes itself as a group that "promotes open Objectivism: the philosophy of reason, achievement, individualism, and freedom."

Ryan also said during a 2003 interview with the Weekly Standard, "I give out 'Atlas Shrugged' as Christmas presents, and I make all my interns read it. Well ... I try to make my interns read it.” He noted that he "looked into" Rand's work when he was younger, but reiterated that he is a Christian and reads the Bible often.

In 2009, Ryan posted two videos on his Facebook page raving about the importance of Rand's views.

"If 'Atlas Shrugged' author Ayn Rand were alive today, here's the urgent message I think she'd be conveying," Ryan wrote alongside the first video, titled "Ayn Rand's relevance in 2009."

So his favorite philosopher isn't God - but an avowed, militant atheist.  That should go over well with the base.

And here's the bio from an oppo doc.

Name: Paul Davis Ryan
Born: Jan. 29, 1970
Home: Janesville, Wisconsin
Education: BA, Economics/Political Science, Miami University, Ohio, 1992 Janesville Craig High School, 1988
Career: Legislative Director, United States Senator Sam Brownback of Kansas, 1995-1997 Aide, United States Senator Robert Kasten of Wisconsin, 1992Economic Adviser, Speechwriter, Empower America, 1993 - 1995Former Speechwriter, Jack Kemp Vice Presidential CampaignFormer Speechwriter, Office of the Director of National Drug Control Policy Former President, Ryan Incorporated
Elected Office: Representative, United States House of Representative, 1998-present
Organizations: Member, Community Solutions and Initiatives CoalitionCo-Chair, Congressional Sportsmen’s CaucusMember, Ducks UnlimitedMember, Janesville Bowmen, IncorporatedBoard Member, Rock County Junior AchievementMember, Saint John Vianney's Parish Member, Saint Mary’s Parish

More on Ryan:

1. The Ryan budget raises taxes on the middle class - married couples earning between $100,000 to $200,000 a year would see their tax burden raise about $2700 because of eliminated deductions, while households earning more than $1 million a year would save $300,000.

2. Ryan cuts Medicaid by 45%, leaving 19m people without health care.

3. Ryan's budget would add $3.1 trillion to the deficit, more than would be added under current law.

4. Would end Medicare as we know it, moving the eligibility age up to 67 from 65, and putting caps on spending.  If senior don't like it, he'd give them a voucher to go get violated with a private insurance plan that would likely cost them their entire life savings.

5. Wants to privatize Social Security.

6. Supports allowing states to jail women who get, and doctors who perform, abortions. (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 9/26/98)

7. Would outlaw abortion, even for rape and incest (Associated Press, 9/26/98).

8. Ryan voted for the auto bailout, then criticized it (Janesville Gazette, 5/3/10).

9. Ryan voted for the Bush tax cuts, but felt they were too small (States News Service, 5/4/01).

First Read notes some other problems with Ryan:

There are also holes in Ryan’s budget-hawk armor: He voted for some of the biggest drivers of the deficit/debt -- the Bush tax cuts, the Iraq war, and the Medicare prescription-drug benefit, all of which weren’t paid for. Moreover, Ryan voted against the bipartisan Simpson-Bowles recommendations.

Has never held statewide office and has no foreign-policy experience. Both could be liabilities.

And while Romney has criticized Obama for not having private-sector experience, the same is largely true of Ryan: As the New Yorker has written, Ryan briefly worked for his family’s business as a “marketing consultant,” but most of his adult life has been spent as a congressman, congressional aide, or speechwriter/analyst at Jack Kemp’s Empower America think tank.

For your reading pleasure, here's a 290 page opposition research document with much more on Paul Ryan.

Fun fact: Ryan's childhood nickname is "P.D.," which in French means "f*g." Read the rest of this post...

Romney is running for President of the 1 percent

Great new video from MoveOn:

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20 photos that prove Hillary's a badass

These are very cute.

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