Via Digby by way of Nate Silver’s 538: Ryan is even more conservative VP nominee than Dick Cheney.

Ezra Klein breaks down what Paul Ryan is really about:

But the real north star of Ryan’s policy record isn’t deficits or spending, though he often uses those concerns in service of his agenda. It’s radically reforming the way the federal government provides public services, usually by privatizing or devolving those public services away from the federal government.

source: Paul Ryan isn’t a deficit hawk. He’s a conservative reformer.

Spending less, spending later or paying to private enterprise has an additional cost. When it comes to medicare, medicaid, education, infrastructure and defense spending: We can either invest and raise revenue now, or repair later and have to raise more revenue to pay for that repair.

Over to Atrios….

Federal spending is not something Paul Ryan hates at all: Balloon Juice » Blog Archive » Galt’s Gulch, Wisconsin. He just hates federal spending for everyone else.

Paul Ryan loves deficits. Read: Paul Ryan, deficit-cutter? Here are his votes on the Wall Street bailout, Bush tax cuts and Iraq War – Up with Chris Hayes.

It’s rich to see these guys complain about their parties M.O. now that Republican scorched earth tactics have been turned on them:

Senate President Steve Morris (R-Hugoton), who lost his own seat to state Rep. Larry Powell in the primary, confirmed that internal polls showed moderate Republicans in the lead until roughly three weeks ago when a series of conservative groups launched radio and television attack ads on moderates, tying them to President Barack Obama and claiming they supported Obamacare. Seventeen out of 22 moderate Republican Senate candidates were defeated Tuesday, a culmination of a bitter GOP war that has engulfed the state since 2011.

“They tried to tie our folks to President Obama even though we had nothing to do with him,” Morris told HuffPost. “They said we all supported Obamacare and that’s not true. It’s effective. The campaigns we did were positive and informational. The campaigns against us were very nasty. Evidently negative campaigning must work.”

source: Steve Morris, Kansas Senate President, Blames Moderates’ Defeat On Conservative Attack Ads

These so called “moderates” don’t understand, the Koch Brothers, Adelson and others want their people in office, not their party in office. In supporting the Tea Baggers they helped to forge the knives driven into their back by those in the farthest right wing of their party.

In early 2009, just a few months after Planet Money was launched, NPR announced it had secured Ally Bank (formerly GMAC) as the show’s exclusive sponsor. It was an unusual setup for NPR, and unusual (and highly dubious) for anything that called itself journalism, because it meant that a major troubled financial institution was the only source of money for a news program about finance. At the time that the unusual agreement was signed, Planet Money was the only NPR program underwritten by a single exclusive sponsor. The arrangement raised eyebrows and would have been unthinkable before the crisis—but even by post-crisis funding arrangements, Planet Money’s deal with Ally Bank stood out as such an obvious violation of basic journalism standards that even Ad Age, the advertising industry’s trade publication, was taken aback by the “close alignment of message and news program.”

source: Adam Davidson’s Journalistic Corruption: NPR Host Boosts for Wall Street, While Taking Undisclosed Banking Money.

What if central banks had decided to shore up borrowers and not banks…

The radical alternative discussed here last week – QE for the People (or QEP, for short) – would bypass banks completely by distributing newly created money straight to the public. It is not yet on anyone’s agenda, but neither is it any longer dismissed as a joke.

Given the clear political attractions of giving money to citizens, rather than bankers, it may start to gain attention, at which point there will surely be powerful objections to this idea.

source: Suddenly, quantitative easing for the people seems possible | Anatole Kaletsky.

also known as stimulus?

The San Francisco-based appeals court ruled that when Congress wrote the law regulating eavesdropping on Americans and spies, it never waived sovereign immunity in the section prohibiting targeting Americans without warrants. That means Congress did not allow for aggrieved Americans to sue the government, even if their constitutional rights were violated by the United States breaching its own wiretapping laws.

“Under this scheme, Al-Haramain can bring a suit for damages against the United States for use of the collected information, but cannot bring suit against the government for collection of the information itself,” Judge M. Margaret McKeown wrote for the majority. She was joined by Judge Michael Daly Hawkins and Judge Harry Pregerson. ”Although such a structure may seem anomalous and even unfair, the policy judgment is one for Congress, not the courts.”

source: Appeals Court OKs Warrantless Wiretapping | Threat Level | Wired.com.

Did anything improve for Americans under George W. Bush?

And an interesting note from “Obama’s Last Stand”, Glenn Thrush’s new book:

“One factor made the 2012 grind bearable and at times even fun for Obama: he began campaign preparations feeling neutral about Romney, but like the former governor’s GOP opponents in 2008 and 2012, he quickly developed a genuine disdain for the main. That scorn stoked Obama’s competitive fire, got his head in the game, which came as a relief to some Obama aides who had seen his interest flag when he didn’t feel motivated to crush the opposition. […]

“When he talked about Romney, aides picked up a level of anger he never had for Clinton or McCain, even after Sarah Palin was picked as his running mate. ‘There was a baseline of respect for John McCain. The president always thought he was an honorable man and a war hero,’ said a longtime Obama adviser. ‘That doesn’t hold true for Romney. He was no goddamned war hero.’ “

And isn’t that the worst thing about Mitt Romney on the trail: people trust and like him less every day he is out there.

Romney Campaign staffer Rick Gorka wants you to respect the holiness:

CNN: “Governor Romney just a few questions sir, you haven’t taken but three questions on this trip from the press!

Gorka: “Show some respect”

NYT: “We haven’t had another chance to ask a question…”

Gorka: “Kiss my ass. This is a Holy site for the Polish people. Show some respect.”

Gorka also told Politico’s Jonathan Martin to “shove it.” Gorka called reporters later to apologize.

source: Romney Aide Curses At Press in Poland | TPM Livewire.

But still Romney is taking no questions. It seems like amateur hour over there.

Romney can’t quit government run health care:

But then I read in the Washington Post that he made those comments on Monday while talking to fundraisers.

Do you realize what health care spending is as a percentage of the GDP in Israel? 8 percent. You spend 8 percent of GDP on health care. And you’re a pretty healthy nation. We spend 18 percent of our GDP on health care. 10 percentage points more. That gap, that 10 percent cost, let me compare that with the size of our military. Our military budget is 4 percent. Our gap with Israel is 10 points of GDP. We have to find ways, not just to provide health care to more people, but to find ways to finally manage our health care costs.

Mitt’s not wrong. He’s just flabbergastingly off-message. The Post’s Sarah Kliff does the heavy lifting:

Israel regulates its health care system aggressively, requiring all residents to carry insurance and capping revenue for various parts of the country’s health care system. Israel created a national health care system in 1995, largely funded through payroll and general tax revenue. The government provides all citizens with health insurance: They get to pick from one of four competing, nonprofit plans. Those insurance plans have to accept all customers—including people with pre-existing conditions—and provide residents with a broad set of government-mandated benefits.

source: Romney’s Israel healthcare stunner – Salon.com.

So is the argument now that government regulated, mandated, tax funded, single payer healthcare is awesome, we just disagree with this awesome policy being good for Americans?

Not a surprise and not new

Halliburton has previously said it received an anonymous e- mail in December 2010 alleging that current and former employees violated Halliburton’s own business-conduct codes and the FCPA, mainly through its dealings with an Angolan vendor. The e-mail has alleged “conflicts of interest, self-dealing and the failure to act on alleged violations,” Halliburton has said in federal filings.

source: Halliburton Opens Internal Probe on Iraq, Angola Operations – Businessweek.

FCPA is the 1977 law requiring that US companies don’t illegally bribe foreign officials as part of business and that SEC accounting standards are used by foreign firms with US listed securities.

Plutocracy is an ignored problem in emerging economies. The World Bank, IMF and G8 countries have not resolved that any monetary aid is in too many cases simply wealth multipliers for crony politicians who are trading resource wealth and labor for personal enrichment.

This will all result in a fine and business as usual.

The company first disclosed the Angola investigation in October 2011. It said then it self-reported to the DOJ and had ‘met with the DOJ and the SEC to brief them on the status of our investigation and provided them documents.’ The SEC issued the subpoenas after that initial disclosure.

Halliburton is one of the biggest oil and gas services companies in the world. It operates in about 80 countries with nearly 70,000 employees. Revenues last year were $24 billion.

The company’s shares trade on the NYSE under the symbol HAL.

In 2009, Halliburton and its then-subsidiary KBR paid $579 million to resolve criminal and civil FCPA charges. KBR was part of a consortium that paid about $180 million in bribes to Nigerian officials. The consortium won $6 billion in contracts to build LNG facilities on Bonny Island, Nigeria.

source: The FCPA Blog – The FCPA Blog – Halliburton Hit With New SEC Subpoena.

Even though this is a “largest ever” fine, two things remain: the countries where these offenses are taking place use shell “consulting” firms to be able to send money directly to cronies and for companies to get timely access to boundless resources, they will happily pay the SEC fine and these bribes in the order of millions to make billions.

Here is what a gut check has always meant to me, millions of other people and to Merriam-Webster since 1972:

-n. a test or assessment of courage, character, or determination

Here is what CNN’s marketing department wants to make it:

–n.a pause to assess the state, progress or condition of the political news cycle

source: CNN’s Gut Check – CNN Political Ticker – CNN.com Blogs.

Reviewing stock prices and focus grouped, carefully parsed attack lines from the campaigns from candidates at 5 p.m. every day doesn’t have any inherent news value or relate to guts.

It’s not even a pause because “something” has to be written every day at 5pm even though nothing has actually been said of real import. Basically they are trying to create a target for campaigns to dump spin on them daily at 5 p.m. so they can launder it as newsworthy.

So your wife owns a horse that’s in the Olympics. Do you care? Not if your Mitt Romney:

“I have to tell you. This is Ann’s sport. I’m not even sure which day the sport goes on. She will get the chance to see it, I will not be watching the event. I hope her horse does well,” he said.

source: Anglo-Saxon quote overshadows start of Romney tour | Reuters.

See, he should have said it all down homey like:

Listen here Brian Williams: She’s got some animal prancing around, that’s all I know. I tune out when I hear talk about prancing. Then I tell ‘er: ‘Horses are for Ranchin’, Ford Mustangs and Chevy Camaros, not for dancing around London’. Oh yea and “Low taxes for the rich!”

Mitt goes to London and promptly tells them they are f8cking the Olympics up…

The headline of the piece? “If Mitt Romney doesn’t like us, we shouldn’t care.” And remember this is from the Toriest of Tory papers. Moving a bust of Churchill really doesn’t come close. Cameron has already put out a statement rebutting Romney’s public pissing on the Brits’ readiness and eagerness for the Games.

source: How To Royally Piss Off An Ally – The Dish | By Andrew Sullivan – The Daily Beast.

Then he gets taken to school by David Cameron:

The two men are said to have got on well during their talks, despite the barbed rebuke Mr Cameron delivered beforehand when to comment on Mr Romney’s concerns about the capital’s preparedness for the Games.

He point out that the 2012 Olympics were taking place in a busy city rather than “the middle of nowhere” – a remark was widely seen as a reference to the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City, Utah, which Mr Romney was in charge of organising.

And following their talk, Mr Romney appeared to have taken the hint, saying: “I applaud the work of the organising committee in bringing the Olympics right into the heart of London.

source: Olympics: Mitt Romney seeks to play down London 2012 comments – Telegraph.

Smooth move from the Romneybot. But the “Quiet storm” known as Dressage in London doesn’t stop there:

He’s already questioned the preparedness of Britain to host the Olympic Games and today Mitt Romney added to the gaffe-count of his UK visit by appearing to forget Ed Miliband’s name during a press conference.

Following a brief press conference today speculation on social networking site Twitter centered on whether Mr Romney had forgotten the Labour leader’s name.

Replying to the Labour leader in front of the press, Mr Romney said: “Like you, Mr Leader, I look forward to our conversations this morning … and recognise, of course, the unique relationship that exists between our nations, our commitment to common values, our commitment to peace in the world and our desire to see a stronger and growing economy.”

Prior to today’s meetings Romney had also questioned Britain’s readiness to host the Olympic Games.

source: Mr Leader? Did Mitt Romney forget Ed Miliband’s name? – Home News – UK – The Independent.

Then, the Mayor of London cast Romney as the anti-Olympic Mascot or the Grinch of the Rings:

London Mayor Boris Johnson mocked Mitt Romney as the Olympic torch was being lit Thursday, telling a crowd in Hyde Park, “There is a guy called Mitt Romney who wants to know if we are ready. Are we ready?” The crowd of 60,000 yelled “YES!” and a chant of “Boris!” broke out (watch it here). The hashtag #Romneyshambles began trending in the U.K. The Olympics are the one moment when even countries with complicated colonial pasts can safely indulge in a little nationalism, and Romney turned himself into the perfect enemy for Brits to root against by publicly doubting whether British people would unite behind the Games.

It was not just the youth mocking Romney on Twitter. British politicians joined in. “If I were American, I’d vote Republican, but Mitt – #fail #RomneyShambles,” Louise Mensch, Conservative member of Parliament, tweeted. “Conservatives the world over tend to be patriots. Insult my country, and I no longer care if you rep sister party,” she added. Other conservatives cheered Johnson. “James Chapman, the political editor of The Daily Mail — not exactly a liberal publication — compared Romney to Sarah Palinand George W. Bush, and not for their charisma. “Can this get any worse for Romney? Boris is now mocking him in front of 60,000 people in Hyde Park #romneyshambles,” Chapman wrote. In London, the BBC is replaying Johnson’s Romney moment, ABC News reports.

I know when Mittens gets back, he will say that he knows how to fix these gaffes and if he’s President, he won’t be such a fuck up and even if he is, he will never apologize. Oh and tax cuts for the job creators (rich).

He just won’t tell you how he’ll do that.

Samantha Power, journalist and Special Assistant to President Barack Obama and head of the Office of Multilateral Affairs and Human Rights, talks about how Rwandan Genocide defined her perspective:

“But on April 21, a wonderfully honest moment occurred. And that was that an American congresswoman named Patricia Schroeder from Colorado met with a group of journalists. And one of the journalists said to her, what’s up? What’s going on in the U.S. government? Two to 300,000 people have just been exterminated in the last couple of weeks in Rwanda. It’s two weeks into the genocide at that time, but of course, at that time you don’t know how long it’s going to last. and the journalist said, why is there so little response out of Washington? Why no hearings, no denunciations, no people getting arrested in front of the Rwandan embassy or in front of the White House? What’s the deal? and she said — she was so honest — she said, “It’s a great question. All I can tell you is that in my congressional office in Colorado and my office in Washington, we’re getting hundreds and hundreds of calls about the endangered ape and gorilla population in Rwanda, but nobody is calling about the people. The phones aren’t ringing about the people.”

So Greek Triple jumper Voula Papachristou decided to pump out some racist tweets to commemorate the London Olympics and secure a quick trip back home .

At the heart of racism is a xenophobic victim-hood idealizing an imagined ethnically pure idyllic past that has been irrevocably ruined by the even the most slight introductions of diversity that then turn the whole country against the rule of their betters. Papachristou is no exception.

In reality, Greece is still 93% Greek and doesn’t even collect ethnic data to quantify the population of Africans in Greece, but it ain’t that many and they don’t control Greece. Any public health problems in Greece are because of continued failures in Greek management of their public health care system (water, etc. management) and the fact that in the heat of particularly brutal summers and tributaries crowded by higher populations, Greece is probably susceptible to some increased incidences of the mosquito born disease.

That’s right, unlike George W. Bush’s Medicare part D, the ACA aka “Obamacare” aka the care Romney will not speak of shrinks the deficit.