"If Paul Ryan Knew What Poverty Was, He Wouldn't Be Giving This Speech".
luvguins
2012/04/28 04:25:29
Two of my favorite things are irony and Karma. For weeks the right has been whining that asking for contraception coverage was an "attack on religion". How the president has been attacking the very fiber of the Catholic church beliefs by asking private insurance to cover the contracetive needs of all that wish to use it. Well, now it seems the Catholic church has a bigger problem with one of their own, Paul Ryan.
By Stephanie Mencimer,
Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), chairman of the House budget committee, knew some Catholics were spoiling for a fight with him Thursday when he was scheduled to speak at Georgetown University, a Catholic institution. Nearly 90 faculty members and administrators sent him a letter expressing concerns with his recent comments that his proposed budget, which includes massive spending cuts to programs for the poor but not a single tax increase, was inspired by his Catholic faith.
By Stephanie Mencimer,
Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), chairman of the House budget committee, knew some Catholics were spoiling for a fight with him Thursday when he was scheduled to speak at Georgetown University, a Catholic institution. Nearly 90 faculty members and administrators sent him a letter expressing concerns with his recent comments that his proposed budget, which includes massive spending cuts to programs for the poor but not a single tax increase, was inspired by his Catholic faith.
"I am afraid that Chairman Ryan's budget reflects the values of his favorite philosopher Ayn Rand rather than the gospel of Jesus Christ," said Father Thomas Reese, a fellow at the Woodstock Theological Center at Georgetown, in a press release Tuesday. "Survival of the fittest may be okay for Social Darwinists but not for followers of the gospel of compassion and love."
The complaints seemed to resonate with Ryan. On Thursday, he went on record denouncing Ayn Rand, who believed altruism is evil, brushing off his well-documented obsession with her as a teenage romance. Ryan told the National Review's Robert Costa: "I reject her philosophy. It's an atheist philosophy. It reduces human interactions down to mere contracts and it is antithetical to my worldview. If somebody is going to try to paste a person's view on epistemology to me, then give me Thomas Aquinas. Don't give me Ayn Rand."
During his speech, though, Ryan didn't back away from any of his budget proposals, which would dramatically reduce the number of people on food stamps and radically scale back Medicaid, the health care program for the poor. Instead, he championed such proposals as a means to liberate the poor. Calling the budget "hardly draconian," he said:
Our budget builds on the historic welfare reforms of the 1990s—reforms proven to work. We aim to empower state and local governments, communities, and individuals—those closest to the problem. And we aim to promote opportunity and upward mobility by strengthening job training programs, to help those who have fallen on hard times. My mentor, Jack Kemp, used to say, "You can't help America's poor by making America poor."
During the Q&A; session that followed, where Ryan fielded questions submitted by students, he insisted that welfare reform had brought down child poverty rates. The claim is false, especially in Ryan's home state. According to the most recent data, the child poverty rate in Wisconsin jumped 42 percent between 2000 and 2010. The suffering would have been more significant but for the large increases in federal food assistance that Ryan wants to scale back. Welfare reform is more likely a contributing factor to child poverty, not a solution to it, making it a dubious model for for combating poverty "at its roots," as Ryan said he wants to do.
That's why Catholics at Georgetown, the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, and other Catholic organizations were so outraged when Ryan told a Christian TV show earlier this month that his budget was wholly in keeping with Catholic teachings and practically endorsed by the Pope himself, whom Ryan told the students Thursday was down on debt. His speech was protested on Thursday by Catholics who are in the trenches with the people who would suffer from his budget proposal. They were folks who work at soup kitchens, homeless shelters, and other social-service agencies run by Catholic organizations, who see first hand the complexities and needs of the poor.
James Salt, the executive director of Catholics United, which organized one of the protests outside the hall where Ryan was speaking, told gathered reporters that his group was there because "the dignity of the poor should be at the forefront of our minds." Taking a dig at Ryan's attempts to cast his budget as a boon for poor people, Salt noted, "If Paul Ryan knew what poverty was, he wouldn't be giving this speech."
It kind of reminds you of Ryan's problem last year trying to sell Medicare vouchers to his constituents in Wisconsin, doesn't it?
Read More: http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2012/04/rep-paul-r...
Top Opinion
-
(▪‿▪)DoctorWhoGuru(▪‿▪) 2012/04/28 04:51:11
What is Barry's plan ? Where is our money going ? Where has $6 trillion dollars the idiot gone other than to Solyndra and other failed ideas ?
Obviously the liberal tax and spend economics is not working. The results are awful. High unemployment hits again under these failed ideas. The price of gas has more than doubled from the $1.86 a gallon the moron had when he started. How many times are we going to try socialism and watch it fail ? Only an insane person would keep trying something that keeps failing !
At least Ryan is trying to do SOMETHING. I guess some people are content to see their socialist dictator playing round after round of golf while other people are suffering. You get what you vote for. Some of you wanted the European lifestyle now you got it ! We are broke, homeless, and don't have jobs ! It is NEVER good to continually spend more money than we take in. We take in $2.4 Trillion in taxes a year and this idiot is spending $3.8 Trillion of our money every year.
What is Barry's plan ? Where is our money going ? Where has $6 trillion dollars the idiot gone other than to Solyndra and other failed ideas ?
Obviously the liberal tax and spend economics is not working. The results are awful. High unemployment hits again under these failed ideas. The price of gas has more than doubled from the $1.86 a gallon the moron had when he started. How many times are we going to try socialism and watch it fail ? Only an insane person would keep trying something that keeps failing !
At least Ryan is trying to do SOMETHING. I guess some people are content to see their socialist dictator playing round after round of golf while other people are suffering. You get what you vote for. Some of you wanted the European lifestyle now you got it ! We are broke, homeless, and don't have jobs ! It is NEVER good to continually spend more money than we take in. We take in $2.4 Trillion in taxes a year and this idiot is spending $3.8 Trillion of our money every year.
http://www.cnn.com/2012/04/29...
Even CNN understands this better than you. please....explain to us why we do not have a budget. Please explain to us the need to have massive deficits every single year. the Feds take in $2.4 trillion in revenue and they are spending darn close to double that every year. please explain this to us.
Congress has a constitutional responsibility to pass a budget and here we are four years without one. Even CNN understands this. Please elaborate why we don't have a budget. Is this Bush's fault too !
http://www.cnn.com/2012/04/29...
let's take a look at the facts shall we space cadet....let's look at where the "stimulus" money really went to.....
US Taxpayer money going to stimulus packages to "rebuild infrastructures" are going to Chinese companies !
http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/vid...
Government Stimulus bill created few jobs.....and cost taxpayers over $400,000 per job !!!
http://www.cnsnews.com/news/a...
Billions of dollars of Stimulus money was awarded to tax cheats !
http://www.washingtontimes.co...
only 7% of the Stimulus plan went to "infrastructure spending" ! where did this money go ? this president panders to labor unions with our money.......
http://www.humanevents.com/ar...
http://www.heritage.org/Resea...
the true size of our national debt....
http:/...
Congress has a constitutional responsibility to pass a budget and here we are four years without one. Even CNN understands this. Please elaborate why we don't have a budget. Is this Bush's fault too !
http://www.cnn.com/2012/04/29...
let's take a look at the facts shall we space cadet....let's look at where the "stimulus" money really went to.....
US Taxpayer money going to stimulus packages to "rebuild infrastructures" are going to Chinese companies !
http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/vid...
Government Stimulus bill created few jobs.....and cost taxpayers over $400,000 per job !!!
http://www.cnsnews.com/news/a...
Billions of dollars of Stimulus money was awarded to tax cheats !
http://www.washingtontimes.co...
only 7% of the Stimulus plan went to "infrastructure spending" ! where did this money go ? this president panders to labor unions with our money.......
http://www.humanevents.com/ar...
http://www.heritage.org/Resea...
the true size of our national debt....
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/...
don't look now but you are about to bail-out irresponsible homeowners !
http://online.wsj.com/article...
look at the billions our government wastes....
http://www.coburn.senate.gov/...
who says there is no free lunch ? the culture of dependency gets worse and worse...
http://www.americanthinker.co...
Government creates jobs all right.....at welfare offices to service ever greater needs of public assistance !
http://libertynews.com/2012/0...
40 million people are on the Government payroll in some form and owe their pay to the taxpayer !
http://www.nationalreview.com...
Amtrak is a huge boondoggle and losing billions of dollars for the taxpayer....evidence once again of fraud with public money.....
http://dailycaller.com/2012/0...
72,000 stimulus checks sent to dead people ! now that's a way to fund economic growth !
http://www.foxnews.com/politi...
EPA is funneling $2 million of taxpayer money to community activist groups ! What is the charter for the EPA ?
Senator admits that trillions of dollars were spend but "We have nothing to show for it".....
http://www.nationalreview.com...
the 111th Congress will go down in US History as the most expensive irresponsible Congress in US History...
http://www.cnsnews.com/news/a...
http://www.cnsnews.com/news/a...
the first time in US history that our credit rating got downgraded....the dollar is slipping in world markets....the news keeps getting better.....
http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfr...
http://www.washingtonpost.com...
One in two Americans are now in poverty !
http://www.usatoday.com/news/...
http://www.cnsnews.com/news/a...
You are really uninformed. He is going to be recalled by the people in WI in June. You better get up to speed.
http://www.channel3000.com/ne...
While the Republicans congratulate and toast the wealthy and find nothing but praise for the 1%, many like Romney who got that way off the backs of the middle and underclasses. selling off parts of healthy businesses, shipping good paying jobs off shore, you then bitch about those left behind trying to take care of their families. A helluva bunch you are that claim the moral and Christian high ground.
May as well just say "See Paul Ryan". His words and his budget are the definition of hypocrisy. And the Catholic Leadership has called him out on it.
It's pretty clear: one cannot be both a true Catholic - and a supporter of the Ryan Budget.
Ryan's budget drives the deficits smaller year over year, versus an almost exponential increase in Obama promoted budgets.
i don't think that Ryan cuts enough.
he should start everywhere. military. ag subsidies. SS medicare. amputate the useful responsibilities of both DoE and then shutter the rest. the list is endless.
i suspect the Catholics that are whining about Ryan are not the same ones that are complaining about Obama demanding that the church pay for women's reproductive health care.
its not a ringing endorsement, but there it is...