Illinois Governor and Manufacturers Group Turn Walker Around

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If other governors did what Scott Walker is doing, we would have to officially change our country's name from the U.S.A. to the D.S.A. (Divided States of America). This time he paid another visit to our neighbor to the south and essentially insulted the host. Walker didn't have to go to Illinois but you'd think if somebody visits your house, they would at least have the dignity to be respectful. Not Walker. So I have to give much credit to Gov. Pat Quinn of Illinois for his polite remarks in response to our partisan clown governor.

JS Online Excerpt:
"They have the worst job record in the whole country, dead last. And we certainly don't want to follow his prescriptions when it comes to economic growth," Quinn said. "He promised 250,000 jobs, and he's way behind. Since the recovery began, our state has created over 130,000 jobs. Our focus is not on any other state. We believe in cooperation with our midwestern neighbors. Every single one of those states we want to have good relationships with. But our focus is on Illinois."

Doug Whitley, president and CEO of the Illinois Chamber of Commerce, said inviting Walker was designed to contrast the approaches taken by governments in Wisconsin and Illinois.

Great! A contrast between policies that resulted in Wisconsin's 12,000 job loss to Illinois 130,000 job gain! Walker said he's moving our state forward.

Chicago Tribune Excerpt:
A thoughtful analysis, however, shows that Illinois is a great place to do business because it is where the business is. This isn't an attack on Wisconsin. While Wisconsin is a great place to vacation, Illinois is where you want to locate your company.

According to a comprehensive state-by-state analysis by the 2012 Competitiveness Redbook, our state has twice the population of the Badger State and our workers earn 12 percent more than their Wisconsin counterparts — that's more consumers with more money to spend.

Our workers are more productive. Wisconsin ranks 46th nationally in worker productivity. We have twice the gross domestic product of Wisconsin and export twice as much. More businesses are started in Illinois and we rank higher in high-tech employment opportunities.

Michael Holewinski is president of Ace Industries and chairman of the Illinois Manufacturers' Association.

As Walker continues to shut down the economic engine of Wisconsin and divide the population, the state will likely lose it people-person friendly image and eventually become as crass and disrespectful as he is. Shame, shame, shame.

Remember Feb. 17, 2011 - The Day Scott Walker Dropped The Bomb On Wisconsin

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Never forget Feb. 17, 2011, a date that will live in infamy in Wisconsin state history. After explicitly promising voters he would negotiate with unions during his campaign run-up to election, that was the day Gov. Scott Walker suddenly reversed on everything during a press conference and officially declared war on Wisconsin.

Walker repeated those remarks during another news conference on Feb. 21, 2011.

"I campaigned on (the proposals in the budget repair bill for Wisconsin) all throughout the election. Anybody who says they are shocked on this has been asleep for the past two years." -- Scott Walker

Just days later, an incriminating conversation surfaced between Walker and a person impersonating Walker campaign contributor and Americans for Prosperity Founder David Koch. In an audiotape released Feb. 23, 2011, Walker compared his union plan to a history-making act and portrayed its surprise introduction on the people of Wisconsin as a "bomb."

As more evidence continues to pile up, it's becoming clear Walker's entire election campaign was one giant continuous lie. The state has yet to recover from the deception and devastation.

Liberation Day is set for June 5, 2012

Video - Before Election Walker Explicitly Promised to Negotiate With Unions

Video - Bait and Switch: Walker Promised in Pre-Election Video to Keep State Aid "Intact"

GAB Recommends Recall: Finds More Than 900,000 Valid Signatures!

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Just going with historical percentages from previous statewide recall efforts, I figured they would strike anywhere from 12 to 25 percent of the nearly one million recall signatures on the petitions leaving about 750,000 at the minimum. But over 900,000 valid! Wow!! This is a testament to the determination, courage and meticulous work of the signature gatherers and United Wisconsin.

Beautiful work.

JS Online Excerpt:
State election administrators have determined there are more than 900,000 valid signatures to recall Gov. Scott Walker and more than 800,000 to recall Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch - well above the minimums needed.

Staff for the Government Accountability Board struck more than 30,000 signatures each for Walker and Kleefisch. That includes more than 4,000 duplicate signatures the board identified for each of them.

Official certification is expected within days.

If They Repeat, "Walker Balanced The Budget" Enough Times, Will His Massive Deficit Magically Go Away?

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How many times have you read newspaper editorials, blog posts, comments and letters to editors from folks claiming Walker balanced the budget? And I like the way they link it into nearly every state issue over and over again and do it with a straight matter-of-fact face. You know they say, "Walker did not raise taxes AND he balanced the budget," or "Walker didn't lay off any public sector workers AND he balanced the budget" or "Walker cut spending in order to balance the budget." It's practically a daily ritual.

A recent Milwaukee Sentinel editorial repeated the "balanced budget" assumption several times to settle a host of other false arguments exactly the same way in defense of Scott Walker's policies.

But. Nooo duuudes. You can say it as many times as you like, but Walker has not balanced the budget.

Wiscnews Excerpt:
So how about the deficit? On Jan. 11, Bob Lang, director of the Legislative Fiscal Bureau, sent a letter to Assemblyman Jon Richards, D-Milwaukee. Lang stated: “In the Budget in Brief that accompanied the Governor’s 2011-2013 budget message, the administration projected that the GAAP deficit for the state will be $2.99 billion in 2011-12 and $3.02 billion in 2012-13.”

Despite cutting 12,500 public sector jobs in 2011 (Look mom! No lay-offs) and kicking thousands of children and seniors off BadgerCare, Walker's own projections show he is running the same structural deficits they crucified Jim Doyle for. He called Doyle a liar for using the cash accounting method to make the budget appear balanced, yet Walker is doing the same thing - but even worse. Say what you will about Doyle, but he did not have to "save" the state from a problem that never existed.

What is it these people aren't getting ...or is it just a matter of media engineering and political convenience? One way to think how conservatives think about Wisconsin's annual budgets is to watch the video below to see how Republican senate candidate, Tommy Thompson, handled a media question about the deficit he handed to Scott McCallum and eventually passed to Jim Doyle.



So why can't everyone be on the same page about this? It's either Thompson, McCallum, Doyle AND Walker are all running structural deficits OR, they all balanced the budget as Wisconsin’s Constitution mandates it. I'd be good with either premise as the official declaration since they all are calculated using the same accounting method. But not the mixing and matching we have now.

So why does the media continue to describe the budgets of previous administrations as deficits while Walker's budget as balanced? Could it be that Walker needed a massive deficit, at least on paper, to give his media-endorsed budget agenda a cause? Could it be that without that great big deception, Walker's entire Act 10 Budget repair bill would have had no purpose for being the solution to a problem that never existed?

I think so.

Wisconsin Republicans Join National Party Bang On Women

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Keep Your Boehner Out Of My Uterus

According to most conservatives, women aren't smart enough to know themselves or their own bodies.

The GOP's war on women is now fully assimilated throughout their party identity. There's really no need to even politicize their bold-faced gender superiority, arrogance and discrimination against women. It is a hallmark of what it always was and always will be to be a true "conservative" yesterday, today and tomorrow. Sometimes I think we shouldn't try to stop them or ask for apologies. On one hand, I think the intolerant Right will wind up dooming themselves to the ash bin of history and ...what's wrong with that?

On the other hand, I don't blame women one bit for standing up and pushing back against an outrage that threatens their right to control their own individualism and destiny. It threatens their rights and if their rights are threatened - it threatens all of us.

~ Rep. Kelda Helen Roys: Facebook
"Earlier today, I shared that I had planned a response to today's upcoming battles in the War on Women here in the WI Assembly. I am pleased to share the first amendment I will be offering. My amendment will seek to add a rectal examination as a requirement for all men seeking a prescription for Viagra or other erectile disfunction drugs. Sure, it is not medically necessary, but if the legislature is going to impose medically superfluous requirements on women, it should do the same for men."

From Paul Ryan to Jim Sensenbrenner to Ron Johnson to Scott Walker to Glenn Grothman to the Fitzgerald Brothers, few state party delegations excel better at poisoning the well of discourse and fomenting divisiveness than the group we have here right now in Wisconsin. I also know there will always be plenty of self-deprecating voters who will continue to vote against their own interests. For many it's a traditional and cultural value handed down from one generation to the next. That's just the way it is.

But believe it or not, we still have modern-day conservative women who not only allow themselves to be treated like a second-hand possession by their male counterparts - they champion the cause. It doesn't make sense. Like when Arizona Republican Debbie Lesko authored a controversial bill that would allow Arizona employers the right to deny health insurance coverage for contraceptives based on religious objections. The bill would essentially give employers the power to request that women being prescribed birth control pills provide proof that they're using it for non-sexual reasons. Because Arizona's an at-will employment state, that means that bosses critical of their female employees' sex lives could fire them as a result.

Unbelievable!

In Wisconsin, we have at least a dozen state legislators to the right of Arizona's Lesko, so I wouldn't put it past any of them to copycat any legislation that is aimed at disempowering women.

But I've got to hand it to our no-nonsense American women, they're not taking any of this lying down. On Tuesday's "Mad as Hell Rally"...

Reality Check Excerpt:
Although the rally may seemingly be coming too late, it is, as Lisa Subeck of NARAL Wisconsin calls it, “just a starting point.” According to Subeck and representatives from Planned Parenthood and other organizations speaking today, the next logical – and imperative step – is to get women out to vote and to get them into office.

Atkinson speaking again to the crowd aptly said, “The great thing about women is we don’t just get angry, we take action.”

If there's one thing I've learned about women and politics, it's most of them that are involved have bigger balls than most men. Look out Republicans. You're about to have your asses handed to you. No pun intended.

In complete Solidarity...ladies

Video: Wisconsin's War On Women

Recall and Reclaim Wisconsin Vids and Links

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Madison WI Recall Walker Rally 1 Year Anniversary



Wisconsin Confidential - Reclaim Wisconsin Massive rally (Story and Photos)

Lost Continents - Madison Labor rally march (Videos and Brief)

Blogging Blue - The epitome of Solidarity (Story with photo link)

DailyKos - Photo Diary

CapTimes - Tens of Thousands Story

WTMJ 4 - News Brief Video

Channel 3000 - SlideShow

JS Online - Photo Album

Video: Invaders, Get Out Of Wisconsin

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About the upcoming Recall Elections In Wisconsin.

"It's not just about the people of Wisconsin - it's about America" -- Tea Party Moonbat

THAT'S America? To have a group of out-of-state ideologues ignore state process and stick their nose in the business of others? Whatever happened to state's rights and the will of the people to prevail? According to the Tea Party, the people's constitutional right to recall public officials sidetracks democracy.

Another way to view this is to put yourself in Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh or Bill O'Reilly's shoes and think what they would say to an outside national union representative sticking their nose in the people's business of another state. They would've painted it up like Pearl Harbor. Wisconsin Democratic Party Spokesman Graeme Zielinki was rightfully fired up during this interview.

Watch it:



Additional:

Democurmudgeon - Recall Meddling Out-of-State Tea Party Dummy told to "Get out of Wisconsin."

Easy Call: Enough Petition Signatures To Trigger Walker's Recall

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Granted, the Government Accountability Office has not yet made the formal announcement making the Recall Election of Scott Walker official, but Walker's recent decision not to challenge the signatures just about puts an end to his base's speculation and rumors about the quality and quantity of petition signatures.

Cognitive Dissidence Excerpt:
First of all, he had three times the amount of time allowed by the law to do what he needed to do.  Secondly, Walker has raised more than $12 million for his recall campaign thanks to the law that waives any limits on donations.  The reason for that waiver is so that he could use it to defend himself by checking and challenging the signatures.  He could have hired 15,000 people - one for every ten sheets turned in - and paid them $100 for the day to check the signatures and still had enough to overdose everyone in the state with his insipid, fact-free commercials.

Easily. He could have bought two more weeks of time two weeks ago by spending a few million dollars if he thought he had a chance to discredit the recall petitions. No way that was going to happen.

Not when there are preliminary numbers like this:

Wisconsin State Journal Excerpt:
Verify the Recall and True the Vote, another petition review group, on Monday released their own analysis of more than 800,000 of the signatures. The groups said their more than 14,000 volunteers from around the country had found some 55,608 ineligible signatures, 228,940 signatures in need of further investigation and 534,685 eligible signatures.

Remember again, these numbers were compiled and posted by outfits out to discredit the petition drive. They had a "no sign" form page for Wisconsin residents to sign in and verify they did not sign the petition, but does anyone really believe they would post a data base and form page for Wisconsin voters to verify those that they claim need further investigation? Not a chance.

As far as I'm concerned, those numbers verify the recall. Thank you tea party patriots! We can conservatively figure that 70 percent of the 228,940 signatures needing further investigation will pass muster. That brings the total eligible to 700,466 signatures and that's with more than 10% of the petitions still not counted. These percentages run true to the historical averages of past recalls. We'll likely see the official number closer to 770,000+ eligible when it's all said and done. Far more than the necessary 540,208 necessary to trigger the recall.

Fact is, Scott Walker did not run out of time. He ran out of hope. But we are dealing with a ruthless cabal of dirty rotten scoundrels in control of state government, so anything can happen.

Additional:

Tea Party "Crazy Brother" charged with nine felonies of forging signatures in possible attempt to discredit recall effort.

BDN Editor Suggests Walker Provoke More Backlash

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There has been some false outrage planted by the local media monopoly, the Janesville Gazette, including an editorial by the Beloit Daily News in defense of a person (Mark Finnegan of Finnegan's RV in South Beloit) who claims he was abused by protesters when he attempted to escort a couple of elderly ladies to a local GOP party function and dinner event last weekend in Beloit.

I was not at the protest so I cannot speak firsthand. But judging from two videos and photos from the intertubes, the protest appeared to be a peaceful event with some theatrical flair (people laying down under a red carpet), bullhorns and vuvuzelas. Oh, and a gold colored commode to help make the rich and powerful feel right at home. It was a fun event. But let's put it this way, anyone attending the dinner and encountering the group outside with noisemakers should expect some noise. In case you didn't know, bullhorns and vuvuzelas tend to be loud.

Finnegan's big complaint from his perspective was that a "boisterous" protester shouted into a bullhorn within earshot while he was escorting a couple of 80-something women into the building. Possibly so. But there have been no photos or videos of this incident taking place as described despite cameras everywhere. On the other hand, I have to question the intentions and judgment of anyone who would subject an elderly senior or a very young child to any direct political protest activity without taking extra precautions. Sorry, but that doesn't wash.

From his writings and the BDN's indefensible editorial, they tried to paint this as a deliberate attack, that because Finnegan "dared show up at this gathering [...] he and his elderly guests were abused." Please, don't flatter yourselves. I can attest to the fact that whatever you perceive "our" cause to be - it's not about you personally. The only reason anyone would write such a stretch of self-importance and reality is to inflict damage on a cause you never could relate with. Let's be honest.

Finnegan also posed a couple questions: "Do you protesters truly believe these actions are still helping your message with the masses? Do you ever think that possibly you have gotten to the point that you are alienating the sympathy of 'center' folk like myself regarding your cause?"

Let's put it this way, the message isn't for the masses to digest. The message is from the masses. The second message here is; if protest action should be purposely designed and carried out to instill, attract or win sympathy, then we are on the wrong side of history.

The editor of the Beloit Daily News takes that theme to the next level when he suggests Scott Walker should take precisely that action by making himself more often available to the anger and angst of Wisconsinites in hopes of provoking some ill will in an effort to gain sympathy for his cause.

That's right. When you have really bad, bad public policy sure to make heads explode, the BDN editor suggests...

BDN Editorial Excerpt:
Backlash is all but assured. If I were advising the governor, I’d put him out there with this crowd early and often. Bad behavior drives votes to the other side.

That's good advice when you're on the wrong side of history and truth and you have nothing else left. You may as well plant some false flags and provocateurs too. That's the republican way. But let's be double clear here. The Governor, Scott Walker, was not the subject of this particular protest. Sell-out congressman Paul Ryan and the 1% were.

But I can't blame them for their confusion. The major story here is that the Koch-supported Republican Party has become such a hated group in Wisconsin that every protest action in the state is no longer only about Scott Walker. It has naturally morphed into a referendum on the arrogant right-wing class-war tax-shifting government-grabbing 1% and the Wall Street politicians they own. Walker of course is also part of that.

So I say yes to the Beloit Daily News editor and his suggestion to Scott Walker. Bring it on.

One Year Later: Loss To Wisconsin Is Breathtaking

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Breathtaking is best word I would use to describe the long list of grievances noted and sourced in this summary compiled by the Wisconsin AFL-CIO.

Here are just a few ...

Loss of the Freedom to Bargain Collectively

Barriers to Voting

Rejection of $810 Million in Federal Rail Funds

Child Labor Exploitation

Re-opening a Corporate Tax Loophole

Extreme Cuts in Funding of Public Schools

Funds Cut to Communities

Recycling Aid Cut

BadgerCare, Medicaid, FamilyCare and Homestead Credit Cuts

Women’s Health Care

Victims Denied Their Day in Court.

Sweeping Authority to Cut Health Benefits

Government for Sale

New Legislative Districts Rigged to Elect Republicans

Governor Grabs Settlement Funds Meant for Homeowners

See the full list here.

Declaration Of Independence Excerpt:
In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Liebert Joins Democratic Primary Field In 44th Assembly District

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Four Democrats are now vying for position to take on Walker rubber stamp and traitor to his district, Joe Knilans. They are: Janesville City Council member Sam Liebert, Janesville School Board member, Deb Kolste, Council member Yuri Rashkin and current member of Janesville's School Board, Kevin Murray.

Wisconsin Act 43 Assembly Redistricting Map.

Yuri Rashkin's State Assembly Facebook here.

Kevin Murray's State Assembly Facebook here.

Deb Kolste's State Assembly Facebook here.

Sam Liebert's Facebook here.

Video: The People's Legislature

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The People's Legislature wants a Walker opponent not beholden to big money.

Cap Times Excerpt:
Democrats beware. Progressives will not settle for the lesser of two evils. Or so claimed the many featured guests -- including one gubernatorial candidate and several likely ones -- who spoke before roughly 200 activists at the "People's Legislature" on Wednesday.
More>>>

Part 1
Speakers include: Ed Garvey, Ruth Conniff, and Mike McCabe



Video: Part 2 here.

Speakers include:
Peter Barca
Doug La Follette
Kathleen Vinehout
Kathleen Falk

Video: Part 3 here.

Speakers Include:
John Nichols
Mahlon Mitchell

Can verifytherecall Hurry It Up And Verify the Recall?

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Quote From The Intertubes:
I can't wait for the stooges at verifytherecall to verify the recall. The best part is they are working for free! Hurry it up and verify those 540,208 signatures, you can do want you want with the rest. We have a new governor to elect and a state to restore. Time is of the essence!

Walker Counting On Outside Money To Bag Recall Election

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Ed Garvey Excerpt:
Prediction by two potential Democratic candidates: "This will be a one-hundred-million-dollar campaign." I am not making this up. If Walker gets $30-40 million from Koch, and the Dems are trying to raise enough to poke the tiger in the eye, Walker wins.

... Let me try again to persuade you to support the Tin Cup society idea. more>>>

That's what this was all really about from the beginning. The Recall Election should be about the grassroots Wisconsin little man and little woman against Scott Walker's Big Money Machine from outside interests, the Koch Brothers, Wall Street, Americans for Prosperity and Texas billionaires. Of course the Democratic candidates will have to raise money, and in a hurry. But if Dems draw on the homegrown dynamics of the one million Wisconsinites who signed petitions and NOT the big money from anywhere, USA like Scott Walker has, the Democrats will win.

Recall Petition Center - LiveCam

Related Reading:

Free Wisconsin - Walker Brings Bail-Out Money To Wisconsin

Over a Million. How Sweet It Is!

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This people-powered recall movement is, per capita, the most successful in our nation’s history.

TPM Excerpt:
As a percentage of the electorate, it also surpasses the 32% that Ohio Democrats collected last year to trigger a referendum against Gov. John Kasich’s similar anti-public employee union bill — and in the previous two gubernatorial recalls in American history, the 23.4% collected against Gov. Gray Davis in California in 2003, and the 31.8& against Gov. Lynn Joseph Frazier in North Dakota in 1921.

We shall overcome.

Cap Times - Texas Billionaires Buy In On Walker

DailyKos - Scott Walker begs New Yorkers to protect him from out-of-state forces

News 8000 - Organizers collect 1 million signatures to recall Walker

Wisconsin State Journal - Fitzgerald Recall easily blows past minimum required

Wisconsin Rising - Documentary Closing In On Pledge Deadline

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Kickstarter Excerpts:
Following Governor Scott Walker’s announcement of his controversial 'Budget Repair Bill,' the people of Wisconsin rose up, occupied their state capitol and took to the streets as rarely seen in American History.

While Wisconsin Rising highlights one state's rejection of a conservative take-over, it is a microcosm of what is at stake in America today, at a time of fiscal crisis and ideologically-driven budgets and social reforms. As we hear from economists, lawyers, labor activists and those most affected by the bill, we learn that Walker’s agenda is not unique.

At a time when millions of families are feeling the crush of debt and joblessness, and while large corporations are seeing record profits, Badger State residents are demonstrating the strength that comes from a shared sense of identity and pride, and that these bonds can shake even the most powerful political machines.

This film will be a testimony to the value of people rising up in the face of injustice and corporate greed. more>>>

Help support Wisconsin Rising - Click here.

What I'd Like To See In Janesville 2012

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Why not?

Video: Wisconsin Lit a Fire Seen Clear Down To The Swamplands In Georgia

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Old Batch Of Youtube Videos On Forward Janesville/Walker Dinner Protest

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Here's a batch of hardly viewed short-length videos from the Forward Janesville Dinner protest event held outside the Holiday Inn way back on March 29th. I found these recently while surfing Youtube and was surprised to see most them have less than 10 views. One is posted below and you can view more on the FJ protest from this videographer here



The owner of this channel has over 400 videos posted, with mostly Janesville-only content. Youtube Augmuse Video Channel

We Have Been Named Time's Person Of the Year!!

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That's right! Time's Person of the Year is The Protester.

Coming in second place was Admiral William McRaven, head of U.S. Special Operations Command and overall commander of the secret U.S. mission that killed al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, followed by Chinese dissident artist Ai Weiwei, whose 81 day secret detention by authorities earlier this year sparked an international outcry.

Coming in fourth believe it or not, was the person most likely to be protested. Paul Ryan!! Although in Wisconsin, Scott Walker has claimed that mantle for the time being.

But Ryan is considered one of the most influential politicians of the year for his ridiculous pseudo-intellectual class war budget that also includes the end of Medicare as we know it, his willingness to kick the can down the road, to destabilize government, drive up the debt, and of course punish the poor in the name of "upward mobility" for not being rich. If you're a member of the One Percent, Paul Ryan is your guy.

Time maintains that the designation is "not an honor" but rather a way to recognize "the most powerful individuals and forces shaping the world." In that case, perhaps Ayn Rand should have been runner-up instead of her loyal subject and worldly messenger Ryan. Ahh well, Paul Ryan ... Ayn Rand. What's the difference?