U.S. Presidential Election

I find it amazing that in a nation with over 300 million inhabitants the best candidates for the US Presidency are either Obama or Romney. Both have the same ruthless and unlawful attitude to International Law and devotion to Apartheid.

In fact over the last 50 years the only US presidents I've had any respect for were Kennedy & Carter, both refused to accept Israeli shekel as a valid form of payment, Apart from those two we've had a succession of Tweedledumbs and Tweedledumbers, the Bushes, Clinton made the USA the best democracy in the world which money can buy.

The latest nut job on the scene is a Paul Ryan , a running mate for Romney. Now Ryan is so far off the scale he thinks the UK's National health Service "Interferes with democracy" and should not be copied. This is the potential Vice President of a country where people literally die in the streets because they can't afford health care, the biggest cause of bankruptcy in the USA and Ryan apparently thinks that's democracy.

He's pro-gun, anti-abortion, hates the NHS, hunts deer and catches catfish with his bare hands: The brains behind Presidential candidate Mitt Romney
Keep-fit fanatic Paul Ryan hopes to smarm his way into the US public’s ­affection as Republican candidate Romney’s running mate

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/paul-ryan-profile-the-brains-behind-1266989
Keep-fit fanatic Paul Ryan hopes to smarm his way into the US public’s ­affection as Republican candidate Romney’s running mate

When Paul Ryan left school, his classmates voted him their “biggest brown noser”.

Now the deer-hunting keep-fit fanatic hopes to smarm his way into the US public’s ­affection as Republican presidential ­candidate Mitt Romney’s running mate.

And the would-be vice president intends to do it by reining in public spending and slashing medical benefits for the old and needy.

On the way he’s already ­infuriated Brits by ­criticising the NHS.

Claiming “socialised ­healthcare” jeopardises tax cuts, he said: “The NHS interferes with democracy and the US must beware following Britain’s path.”

When mega-rich Romney announced his choice a week ago, he introduced Ryan as “the next president of the United States”.

The crowd tittered but the gaffe may well prove to be true.

If President Barack Obama is re-elected in November as expected, Ryan should be the Republican front-runner in the 2016 race for the White House.

And unlike Sarah Palin, the Tea Party supporter who helped derail John McCain’s bid four years ago, pundits say Ryan does have a shot at the White House.

The driven political insider is seen as bringing a bit of intellectual backbone to the ticket.

The 42-year-old father-of-three has spent his entire career in politics and is known as a ­ferocious budget axe-wielder.

The Wisconsin ­congressman’s favourite hobby-horse is Medicaid, the government agency that helps pensioners with medical bills.

He wants to slash government spending to reduce the deficit and free up private enterprise.

Yet he conveniently failed to remember that he’d applied for some of President Obama’s government stimulus money.

After denying the ­accusations twice, he admitted “forgetting” that his office had sent letters, some signed by him, to the Energy and Labour departments seeking aid for two Wisconsin firms.

But he has faultless right-wing credentials.

His Irish great, great, great grandfather arrived in the US during the potato famine and worked on the Boston railroads before saving enough to buy a small Wisconsin farm.

As a devout Catholic, Ryan is fiercely pro-life, describing himself as an “ardent, unwavering foe of abortion rights.”

He doesn’t agree with gay rights either – he votes against same-sex marriage and opposed the repeal of the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, which allowed gays who kept quiet to stay in the forces.

He also backs the pro-gun lobby and has argued against tougher background checks for owners.

The obsessive fitness freak has little time for the unhealthy – and is a devout follower of hardcore home work-out system P90X.

The trim 6ft 2in Ryan got into keep-fit when he was 16 and discovered his 47-year-old dad Tobin dead of a heart attack.

He is so well know for it that web spoofers have put his head on “ripped” muscular bodies.

His daily regime takes in cross-country runs, super-strength cardio exercises, pull-ups, push-ups, karate and yoga.

Asked once if he had any vices, he said: “I drink two cups of coffee every morning.”

At weekends in Janesville, Wisconsin he goes on cross-country skis, clambers up mountains and shoots deer and turkey with bows, arrows and rifles.

He spends his downtime in the Colorado Rockies, where he has made 40 ascents up the “Fourteeners”, peaks of over 14,000ft.

He catches catfish with his bare hands and even proposed to tax attorney wife Janna, 43, at his favourite angling spot.

The couple married in 2002 and live in a grand six-bedroom house with their three children, Liza, 10, Charlie, 8, and Sam, 7.

He has 67 cousins, all living within a few minutes walk.

Many work for Ryan Inc, the earth-moving business founded by his Irish great grandfather.

Ryan has never bought a ­Washington bolt-hole. He often sleeps on his office sofa or drives to his sister-in-law’s house in the suburbs to use her spare room.

He is an avid reader of Ayn Rand novels, beloved of American opponents of “big government”.

He says her books inspired him to run for public office.

As a student he did internships at the Senate. He paid his bills working as a waiter at a Mexican restaurant, a fast food salesman and personal trainer to political aides.

He listens to Beethoven and Led Zeppelin as he works out.

Until recently, he was also a fan of Rage Against the Machine. But the left-wing rockers were aghast.

Their guitarist Tom Morello said: “He is the ­embodiment of the machine our music rages against.”
River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian  
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