POOR (WHAT'S THAT)

ACTUALLY....... Now, the "Nun's On A Buss" is attacking Romney, and for good reason.  They say he's out of touch (we hear that a lot don't we).  The Nun's have said "that his 47% comment shows that he has no idea how hard it is at the margins of our society."  Sister Simone says "The truth is, there's a shift of money to the top - tax cuts for the wealthy".

The Nun's got off the bus and onto the Staten Island ferry to highlight the GOP's budget impacts on poverty programs in New York City.  Sister Simone, the executive director of 'Network' said "Romney's comments broke my heart because they demonstrated his lack of knowledge about the living conditions of America's poorest citizens".  She followed by saying that "it was shocking to me that a person who says he wants to to be the leader of our nation believes that 47% of our country is basically lazy or dependent or indolent - it broke my heart that he was so out of touch, that he would so not know the truth of folks at the margins of our society that work so hard. He obviously doesn't know that if you work a minimum wage job, if your providing janitorial services, or if your a day laborer, you're still in poverty.  He has no idea!!  Representatives for Romney or Ryan didn't respond to a request for comment. (what a shock)

Before Romney choose Ryan as his running mate he supported the Ryan Budget.  Ryan's budget cuts are mainly from programs that benefit the poor, including food stamps, Medicaid and other assistance programs.  The Nun's invited Romney and Ryan to join them during a stop in Ohio and again in Cincinnati, not to speak, just to listen to folks experiences.  They have yet to get an answer!  They won't get an answer, because neither Romney or Ryan are interested in that they have to say.  They want Romney and Ryan to know the truth of  poor people in the U.S.  The Nun's want the hard working people who are living below the poverty level to have a little money in their pockets.  In my opinion, neither Romney or Ryan could care less about the poor.  They've never lived it and I doubt seriously if either of them have ever seen what the poor have to contend with on a day to day basis, i.e. a modest roof over their heads, hand me down clothing, clipping coupons to feed their families, and perhaps no health care.

Paul Ryan calls himself a good Catholic.  He thinks churches can pick up the tab.  That's ridiculous because the magnitude of the need is so great.  The Sister says "Catholic teaching is based on solidarity.  Ryan doesn't understand that all decisions need to be made with the good in mind".  There are two high-profile bishops who have been sending letters to Congress about the importance of protections for the poor.  Those Bishops have said: 

"RYAN'S  BUDGET  DOESN'T  PASS  THE  MORAL TEST"

DO YOU SUPPORT THIS TYPE OF EDUCATION??

ACTUALLY........ Since this is the time that most children are beginning a new school term, I thought it was appropriate to talk about education.

According to the Huffington Post, 08/28/2012, this is one of the key elements of the Republican Platform.  There is a lot that I could take objection to but, for crying out loud, why would any normal parent want to follow this ridiculous rule.

 "Republicans support consumer choice, including home schooling, local innovations such as single-sex classes, full day school hours and year round schools.  Republicans renew their call for replacing family planning programs for teer education which teaches abstinence until marriage as the responsible and respected standard of behavior."

The name of the education program that Romney named "A Chance for Every Child" is a pro-choice, pro-voucher, pro-states-rights education that just yells privatization of the education system.

Romney is proposing a voucher system that would have parents of the most needy children to shop  for schools, which would probably make an already bad situation worse.  Poor and special education students would choose a school, based on standardized test scores and other data (?) and only then a certain amount of public money, to be determined (they don't give specifics on that) would be allowed to follow the child to school.  Romney disregards how factors outside the classroom can affect the child.  He ignores the fact that many of the poorer children live in poverty and turmoil, come to school hungry, tired or sick with parents who really care little about their child's education.

Romney would eliminate the No Child Left Behind Act, so states would no longer have to meet federal requirement for improving schools.  States would be left to run their own systems, providing the funds were there.  And this is a good one -  he opposes "unnecessary" teacher qualification requirements.  Paul Ryan voted against $10 million in education funding for states to hire qualified teachers and repeatedly voted to cut millions from the Head Start Program.  His budget could cut 200,000 children from that program in 2014 alone.

With regard to higher education - Romney has no specific plans to address student loans.  Ryan's plan would allow student loan rates to double, costing students on average another $1,000.

On college tuition:  Romney's only advice to those struggling to afford college was to "shop around", or "borrow money from your parents".  Ryan told a student "he should work three jobs to pay for college".

On student aid: Romney would "drastically cut federal student aid causing roughly 1 million students to lose their Pell Grants".  The Romney-Ryan budget would cut Pell Grants by an average of $1,000 for 9.6 million students by 2014.

THIS IS ONLY ONE OF THE ISSUES IN THE ROMNEY-RYAN PLATFORM. THINK THIS THIS IS BAD, WAIT UNTIL I EXPLAIN SOME OF THE OTHERS.

RYAN - THE DEFICIT HAWK ????

ACTUALLY......  A long time ago the media decided that Paul Ryan was an honest, reasonable, serious conservative and that his proposals were somewhat worthy even if you don't like him. Well, guess what, he isn't honest and not reasonable.  He may be a conservative, but the majority of the people simply don't like him. He has this super-duper budget he's proposed that will make us think in 10 years we've all risen to a better life.

Mr. Ryan proposes big cuts in tax rates - on top income brackets and corporations. The nonpartisan Tax Policy Center did the math, and the revenue loss from these cuts comes to $4.3 trillion over the next 10 years.

Mr. Ryan also has proposed large cuts in Medicaid.  He wants to turn this program over to the states while reducing funding under the current policy.  (He hasn't given us the plan for the states to fund this project, which they can't unless they receive that funding from another source.) That saves about $800 billion.  He proposes huge cuts in food stamps (another real blow to the poor) saving perhaps another $130 billion in addition to a variety of other cuts including reduced aid to college students.  We're at about $1 trillion with these cuts. He is also including the $716 billion in Medicare savings that are part of Obamacare (he wants to "get rid" of everything else in that act). 

Now, if Paul Ryan's proposals were calculated , we have $4.3 trillion in tax cuts, offset by about $1.7 trillion in spending cuts  -  remember the tax cuts benefit the top 1% and the spending cuts would be taken away from low-income families.  Over all, the deficit would be increased by around two and half trillion dollars.

Here are some examples of his not being reasonable:  He says he will offset the tax cuts by getting rid of enough tax deductions to make up the lost revenue, which deductions - he won't say:  he says he has a secret tax and spending plan which will turn his total plan into deficit reduction - shhh, he won't say. The Ryan plan would end Medicare as we know it, and the nations fiscal future is often equivalent to slashing Medicare and Social Security. The Ryan plan would most assuredly increase, not reduce, the deficit.

He's not a serious conservative, he's a rebel rousing, obnoxious, loud mouth, trouble maker.