Paul Ryan: Lying Ryan

How to tell Paul Ryan is lying - his lips move

Yes, I'm back to Paul Ryan now known as "Lying Ryan."  I was taught when I was a child that when you lie and you're found out, those who know you lose respect for you and will never believe you again.  That's why I've never lied (yes, it is true) in my life.  Oh sure, there are those times when telling the truth is inconvenient and even at times dangerous.  What have I done on those occasions?  Change the subject.  Or ask my own question.  To be sure, always telling the truth has gotten me into trouble...many times.  Some people just don't want to hear the truth.  They would rather be fed lies to reinforce their false beliefs.

To me, lying just wasn't worth having people lose respect for me.  Besides, I would have a terrible time trying to remember my lying story.  The old saying "What a tangled web we weave when we attempt to deceive."  Apparently the Romney campaign has no such compunction.  Paul Ryan came into the Ryan campaign as the good, choir boy Boy Scout.  He's young and attractive (not to me but to some others) and has an "aw shucks" attitude.  That attitude may play well among heartland voters who could swing the election.

The Liar fooling the folks (for a while anyway)

But as this article says "..Ryan lies like a hooker telling her john that she loves him."

Don't be fooled by the baby blues folks, Paul Ryan is like the little kid who knows he can lie through his teeth and those who want to believe his lies will believe anything he says.

I used to think Paul Ryan was attractive and a fairly interesting Republican who had a different set of ideas.  However when Ryan proposed in his first budget plan to eliminate Medicare as we know it by issuing a voucher for medical care, I thought "Is he crazy?"  Now, since I found out he is a millionaire like most of his Republican buddies he and his family will never have to worry about a medical bill.  Oh sure, he dragged his mom along with him at an appearance at a Florida retirement community to prove he wants to "save" Medicare for people like his mom and those old folks in that retirement community who vote and know a liar when they see one.  At least I hope they know a liar when they see one.

Paul "The Liar" Ryan before his makeover haircut 

Don't be fooled by those big baby blue hound dog eyes folks.  Paul Ryan is a liar. He's a perfect match for Mitt Romney who has a gold medal in lying.  God help us if this pair of liars are elected to the highest offices in this land.

For more of Paul Ryan's brazen lies go here.

Mitt Romney, GOP Convention, Skin Cancer, and Hotel Work

Today's visit to my dermatologist

A warning right up front faithful readers, this is NOT a focused posting.  I'm all over the place on this one.

Well folks, I have a lot to say about the final night of the GOP convention last night, especially the DISASTROUS appearance by Clint "The Hollywood Icon" Eastwood.  WHAT WAS THAT ALL ABOUT?  Also more to say about the Mittster.  I don't think he made the sale that he's warm and fuzzy and cares about the Great Unwashed like you and me but then again I am very prejudiced since I don't like plutocrats who take advantage of the country to amass a vast fortune but doesn't feel the obligation to pay his fair share of taxes or even, and this really galls me, have any of his five sons volunteer ONE SECOND of their time in the service of their country (all about defense Mittster) as in joining and serving in one of the branches of our armed forces.  There, that was a horribly long sentence but I told you I had a lot to say. I will say it in my next blog posting.

Methesula..er Clint Eastwood

I don't have enough time this morning because I just got back from my dermatologist.  Yep, I had a couple more chunks of meat taken off of this old frame.  Paying the piper for all those years I laid out on the beach and "maximized my tan", as New Jersey governor Chris Christy so aptly put it last year when he was trying to clear the Jersey beaches of sun worshipers before the hurricane hit.

The cancerous parts of Ron that was removed this morning were below my right ear and on my right clavicle.  Uh huh, the Ronster is slowly disappearing, one chunk at a time.  I'll tell you what hurt this morning, was when my dermatologist stuck the needle in the affected area that were to be removed.  Had to numb the area  up since he was going to slice and dice.  Once the needles were in (which seemed like a LONG TIME),  there was no pain when he got his scalpel out and dug out the offending skin (with my flesh attached of course).  I'm still numb, it will be interesting to see how I feel when the anesthetic wears off.  One thing I know, I have a headache now.

I am so glad I'm not working at the hotel this weekend.  The last four nights in a row I worked.  And of course, this being the end of the summer season and Labor Day weekend this weekend, I got all the call "You have a room this weekend?"  Then when I tell them I do and how much it costs, they go into their bargaining mode "Well, we were ONLY going to sleep there and we didn't want to pay THAT much."  Yeah, uh huh.  The rate is still same.  Remember Lily Tomlin and her character Ernestine the Telephone Operator?  "One ring dingy.  Two ringy dingies, snort!"  Except for fondling my cleavage (which I have very little of), that was me these past four evenings at the hotel.  One after another folks.  Then last night I had to clean a room that the guest forgot and left the "No Service" tag on the door knob.  They call down and say "Is housekeeping still here?"  Yeah, right.  We have housekeeping here 24 hours.  You're talking to housekeeping.  So I go up and the room looks like Hurricane Isaac hit it.  Is it me or do most people when they check into a hotel turn into pigs?  I know when I use a room I always make my bed, put the used towels in the bathroom and the trash in the trash cans.  This rooms had wet towels all over the place, trash on the floor including a cookie or two that was stepped on and sand on the glass topped desk.  SAND?  Oh, was that FROM THE BEACH TOWEL THAT YOU THREW ON THE DESK WHEN YOU FLOPPED IN YOUR ROOM?  I really don't want to go on a riff about SOME hotel guests but I wasn't ready to clean that room last night, ON THE FOURTH FLOOR, while guests were ringing me from the first floor to check in and the phone was ringing from people wanting to know "DO YOU HAVE ANY ROOMS THIS WEEKEND?"  

The new guy started yesterday.  He's retired like me so, hopefully, I won't be getting calls at the last minute to come in because he's having a panic attack (like the previous part-time person) and could I come in AT THE LAST MINUTE and take her shift.  Nope, he's an old, steady guy like me.  We are the dependable ones, us old steady guys.  I know that's not politically correct to say but basically my whole work career has been filling in for women who were either absent, on maternity leave or just didn't show up for work.  Sorry ladies, that's been my experience.  Reality bites.

Right now I'm going to have a little lunch, watch some TV, especially the rehashing of the DISASTROUS appearance my Clint "The Hollywood Icon" Eastwood at last night Repug Convention.

Hey, by the way, is it me or did the Mittster seem especially creepy last night with those low eyebrows and spacey, dead eyes looking right into the camera whilst he was giving his speech from his ever present teleprompter.  Be honest now, do you really want to look at those dead eyes and listen to his ever present lies for the next four years?  Just saying.

Mr. "Warm and Fuzzy" .....yeah, RIGHT! I ain't buying your latest lies Mittster.

181 Pets Escape Hurricane Isaac's Path

Some good news folks!  Unlike Hurricane Katrina, this time the pets weren't left behind to fend for themselves and die.  This time the right thing was done, the pets were saved.  Good news folks in this day of non-ending political campaigning negative ads, GOOD NEWS!

Paul Ryan - Blatant LIAR

Paul Ryan, the Republican Vice Presidential nominee gave his speech last night at the Republican Convention.  Yes, the same Paul Ryan who wants to do eliminate Medicare as we know it by replacing it with a voucher program.  The same Paul Ryan who proposed reducing Medicare benefit payments TO BENEFICIARIES by 716 billion dollars.  The same Paul Ryan who claimed that President Obama is responsible for the closing of the Janesville Wisconsin plant (it was closed under the Bush administration, before President Obama took office)....yes, that Paul Ryan spewed out these lies last night during his Republican Convention speech. Even a columunist for Fox News (Sally Kohn) said Ryan set the world record for the biggest number of blatant  lies in a convention speech.  Of course most of the mainstrem press will ignore or gloss over Ryan's lies because they want access to interview him at a later date. For more of the specifics of Ryan's lies go here.

I didn't watch his whole speech (I didn't have my barf bucket handy) but what I did see and hear (the hate and vitriol) gave me the same chills I got when I watched Pat Buchanan give his hate filled speech at the 1992 Republican Convention in Dallas, Texas.  When I watched that speech by Buchanan, another thin lipped Republican,  I was a registered Republican.  Up until that speech I had been a registered Republican all my life.  But when I heard what he said about gays like me, a chill went down my back when I saw his hateful words cheered with enthusiasm by the all white Republican conventioneers.  The last time I saw such an enthusiastic crowd cheer such hate was when I saw old newsreel films of "good Germans" cheering Adolf Hitler.

I was in shock for a few days thereafter.  When I realized that this political party was not MY political party because I was not welcomed because of my sexual orientation.

Since that moment of awareness in 1992 I have watch the Republican party move from one of honesty and concern for the middle class to one of far right wing, intolerant religious views who had no compunction about using hatred of gays to tip an election in their favor.

These days demonizing gays and using fear of gays to swing elections in their favor are gone as more American voters realize that we gays will not destroy the county.  These days what the shameless Republicans do is lie, lie, and lie.  This is the influence of Mr. Banality of Evil himself, Karl Rove.

So take a look at this baby blue eyed Liar Paul Ryan.  Paul Ryan, he of the werewolf hairline.  He's a liar and if he and the soulless Mitt Romney are elected president be afraid, very afraid.

Meet the Real Mitt Romney

I stole this from David Brooks, of the New York Times.  I'm not a David Brooks fan (too conservative and Republican for me) but he is right on the mark with is evualation of Willard Mitt Romney, Republican candidate for the president of the United States. 

From David Brooks:

The purpose of the Republican convention is to introduce America to the real Mitt Romney. Fortunately, I have spent hours researching this subject. I can provide you with the definitive biography and a unique look into the Byronic soul of the Republican nominee:





Mitt Romney was born on March 12, 1947, in Ohio, Florida, Michigan, Virginia and several other swing states. He emerged, hair first, believing in America, and especially its national parks. He was given the name Mitt, after the Roman god of mutual funds, and launched into the world with the lofty expectation that he would someday become the Arrow shirt man.



Romney was a precocious and gifted child. He uttered his first words (“I like to fire people”) at age 14 months, made his first gaffe at 15 months and purchased his first nursery school at 24 months. The school, highly leveraged, went under, but Romney made 24 million Jujubes on the deal.



Mitt grew up in a modest family. His father had an auto body shop called the American Motors Corporation, and his mother owned a small piece of land, Brazil. He had several boyhood friends, many of whom owned Nascar franchises, and excelled at school, where his fourth-grade project, “Inspiring Actuaries I Have Known,” was widely admired.



The Romneys had a special family tradition. The most cherished member got to spend road trips on the roof of the car. Mitt spent many happy hours up there, applying face lotion to combat windburn.



The teenage years were more turbulent. He was sent to a private school, where he was saddened to find there are people in America who summer where they winter. He developed a lifelong concern for the second homeless, and organized bake sales with proceeds going to the moderately rich.



Some people say he retreated into himself during these years. He had a pet rock, which ran away from home because it was starved of affection. He bought a mood ring, but it remained permanently transparent. His ability to turn wine into water detracted from his popularity at parties.



There was, frankly, a period of wandering. After hearing Lou Reed’s “Walk on the Wild Side,” Romney decided to leave Mormonism and become Amish. He left the Amish faith because of its ban on hair product, and bounced around before settling back in college. There, he majored in music, rendering Mozart’s entire oeuvre in PowerPoint.



His love affair with Ann Davies, the most impressive part of his life, restored his equilibrium. Always respectful, Mitt and Ann decided to elope with their parents. They went on a trip to Israel, where they tried and failed to introduce the concept of reticence. Romney also went on a mission to France. He spent two years knocking on doors, failing to win a single convert. This was a feat he would replicate during his 2008 presidential bid.



After his mission, he attended Harvard, studying business, law, classics and philosophy, though intellectually his first love was always tax avoidance. After Harvard, he took his jawline to Bain Consulting, a firm with very smart people with excessive personal hygiene. While at Bain, he helped rescue many outstanding companies, like Pan Am, Eastern Airlines, Atari and DeLorean.



Romney was extremely detail oriented in his business life. He once canceled a corporate retreat at which Abba had been hired to play, saying he found the band’s music “too angry.”



Romney is also a passionately devoted family man. After streamlining his wife’s pregnancies down to six months each, Mitt helped Ann raise five perfect sons — Bip, Chip, Rip, Skip and Dip — who married identically tanned wives. Some have said that Romney’s lifestyle is overly privileged, pointing to the fact that he has an elevator for his cars in the garage of his San Diego home. This is not entirely fair. Romney owns many homes without garage elevators and the cars have to take the stairs.



After a successful stint at Bain, Romney was lured away to run the Winter Olympics, the second most Caucasian institution on earth, after the G.O.P. He then decided to run for governor of Massachusetts. His campaign slogan, “Vote Romney: More Impressive Than You’ll Ever Be,” was not a hit, but Romney won the race anyway on an environmental platform, promising to make the state safe for steeplechase.



After his governorship, Romney suffered through a midlife crisis, during which he became a social conservative. This prepared the way for his presidential run. He barely won the 2012 Republican primaries after a grueling nine-month campaign, running unopposed. At the convention, where his Secret Service nickname is Mannequin, Romney will talk about his real-life record: successful business leader, superb family man, effective governor, devoted community leader and prudent decision-maker. If elected, he promises to bring all Americans together and make them feel inferior.

Near Death Experience #2

Me (standing far right) and my brothers John and Isaac - 1947

Continuing with my near death experiences (and ignoring the Republican Convention in Tampa, FL), my second brush with the Grim Reaper happened when I was eight years old.

Almost every Sunday my  father would load me and my two younger brothers in the back seat of his Packard and visit "Ed and Mabel" (my aunt and uncle and my father's brother and his wife) for a home cooked Sunday dinner.  Our family lived in a second floor apartment building in Downingtown, Pennsylvania.  My Uncle Ed and Aunt Mabel lived in the country with their five children.  My brothers and I always looked forward to these weekly Sunday visits not only for Aunt Mabel's fried chicken and homemade southern biscuits but for a chance to run free and wild in the country.

Typical Sunday gathering of Tipton Family at "Ed and Mabel's) (I am fourth from right, front row, folded arms) - 1951

One Sunday in 1949, after a day of playing in the country topped off by one of Aunt Mabel's southern cooked fried chicken and biscuits meal (when I was seven years old), my brothers and I got in our seats in the back seat of the family Packard.  My father pulled out of the parking spot across the road from Ed and Mabel's where he always parked his car.  The parking spot was on the curve of the road.  As he pulled out with my Mom in the front seat and us kids in the back seat, another car comes careening around the corner and slams into our Packard, spinning it around 360 degrees!  My brothers and I were flung across the seats (no seat belts back in 1949).  We were shaken up but not injured, probably because we didn't have a chance to brace ourselves and thus suffer broken bones.  I don't remember how much damage was done to my father's Packard but I do know it was extensive.

Me (with my arm on my father's shoulder) and my brothers John and Isaac with the family Packard - 1948

There is a lot I have forgotten about my younger days but I remember being hit by that car as clear as if it had happened yesterday.  The impact was that jarring and the sound.....CRASH!  I wasn't aware of death back then but I knew something almost happened.

Thus, before I was ten years old my second of my nine lives was already used up.

Near Death Experience - #1

Me - 1942 - 9 months old

Each episode of the HBO series opens with a death.  Not just the death but the immediate circumstances leading up to the individual's death.  Except for episode where the old woman died in her sleep and the cancer patient dying in his hospital bed, the other deaths were accidents.  Accidents that happened while those individuals were going about their every day life.

That got me to thinking about my own life (this blog is about ME after all).  Right off the top of my head I can think of at least a dozen times that I missed death by a whisker during my seventy years on this planet.  Yes, I narrowly avoided meeting the Grim Reaper by a whisker quite a few times in my life.

Then I thought "What a great idea for a blog post, write about those near misses when I almost bought the farm."  Then I thought, "That would be an awfully long blog post" so what I decided instead was to write of each one individually.  Sprinkle them throughout my regular blog postings.  This will accomplish two things, the posting will contribute to my Life Story (my autobiography which I still haven't even started) and my near death experiences could be of interest to some of my regular followers.

So here goes folks.  I'll begin my tale the way "Six Feet Under" does:  with my name, and dates of birth and (almost) death:

Ronald Walter Tipton

1941 - 1942  

This is my story as my Mother told it to me because (of course) I don't remember a thing about it.

From an interview with my Mom September 15, 2007

Place:  Compass, PA, an old Inn that my parents rented a few rooms.  The old inn is now a museum. Below is the way it looks now.

Time:   Spring 1942

"Compass, PA is where you fell off the roof.  You climbed out the second floor window, rolled down the roof covering the front porch and hit the ground.  I was in the kitchen on the first floor and saw you 'going by' and dropping to the ground. I heard you crying.

I didn't have a phone in the house.  I ran across the street to the neighbors.  They had a cow and I used to buy milk from them.  They called the doctor to come and check you out.  He said that you would have to go to the hospital.  The doctor said 'his insides stopped working a bit", but they started them up again at the hospital.

You didn't have to stay overnight in the hospital.  The people at the hospital said you were all right and sent you home."

Me and my Mom - 1942 - already used up one of my nine lives

 Thus, I already used up one of my nine lives and I wasn't even a year old yet!  Stay tuned, the next seventy years provided many more brushes with the Grim Reaper.

GOP Convention

GOP Convention: Chris Mathews tees off on Reince Priebus - Tim Mak - POLITICO.com

I won't be watching the Republican Convention this week.  I don't have the appetite to watch the likes of the odious Reince Preibus, Chairman of the Republican National Committee spew the Republican lies and distortions of President Obama's policies.  It's a good thing I'm working all four nights at the hotel this week so I won't be tempted to watch the sewer of lies that are sure to take center stage at the Republican convention in Tampa.

Two white men deciding what is good for women

The Republicans will trot out their new poster boy, Paul What's-his-name from Wisconsin.  Sure, Ryan ("What's-his-name") has a boyish cuteness.  But listen to him.  This is the man who has proposed to end Medicare as we know it.  This is the man who wants to propose privatizing Social Security and turning over the Social Security trust fund to the crooks on Wall Street.  You all know how that will turn out.  More rich people.  This is the man who, along with the ignoramus Todd Akin, co-sponsored a bill to redefine rape as "forceable rape."  This is the man who wants to repeal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" and make gays and lesbians second class citizens.  Yep, this is Paul Ryan, Republican vice presidential candidate.  Don't be fooled by the looks folks.  Neither Ryan or Romney are good for America.

Check out Chris Matthews confrontation with the odious Reince Preibus over Romney's "joke" about President Obama's birth.

Swiss Steak

Ron's Swiss Steak

My all-time favorite recipe is Swiss Steak.  It is a recipe that I learned from my Mother when I was a teenager. Over the years I have tweaked and adjusted it to fit my specific tastes.  This is the one recipe where I don't use measures.  I have made many versions of Swiss Steak over the years from cookbooks but my homemade recipe is still my favorite.  Perhaps because it brings back memories of my dear Mother.

I find this the perfect summertime recipe because fresh tomatoes and green peppers are readily available at your local veggie and fruit stands.  I usually ask for the bruised tomatoes because they're juicier and sweeter and I can cut out the bruised parts.

My recipe is below.  I will give you the approximate measures but feel free to add more or less to your specific taste requirements.

Ron's Swiss Steak

2 lbs. round steak or lean beef stew meat cut into small cubes
5 large ripe tomatoes 
1 large green pepper
1 large onion
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
flour
salt 
pepper

• Cut the round steak into small cubes (if you're not using already cut beef stew meat)
• Mix about a cup of flour with a two teaspoons salt and pepper
• Coat the cubes of beef with this flour mixture
• On a wood cutting board, pound each cube of flour coated beef with a metal mallet until flat
• Heat oil in electric skillet
• Place flour coated beef cubes, a few at a time into hot oil.  Brown on each side, gradually placing the remaining coated beef cubes into the pan.
• After all beef cubes are browned, drain off any excess fat, if any.
• Lower the heat in the electric skillet to Simmer.
• Slice the onion and green pepper.  Place on top of the browned beef cubes.
• Place all on top of the browned beef cubes.
• Slice the tomatoes, skin and all into bite sized wedges.  Cut out the bruised parts. Place on top of the onions and green peppers to smother the flavor into the beef.
• Cover all and simmer for about 1 hour or until the liquid starts to evaporate
• Serve with freshly made mashed potatoes.
• Delicious!

Note:  With the left overs, I place them in Seal-A-Meal bags and freeze them while still hot.  These Seal-A-Meal Swiss Steak bags are a great way to have a delicious, home cooked meal during the week without all the fuss.  Enjoy!