“Paul Ryan has never offered anything of value or consequence to the laid-off workers of Janesville ... until Labor Day, 2011.As he marched with other politicians in the Janesville Labor Day parade, the congressman was confronted by Wisconsin workers who were struggling with high unemployment and bleak prospects. A man was videotaped asking what his representative planned to do to aid Ryan's unemployed constituents. "So what should I have to work for to get a job?" the man asked. "Should I have to work the same wages as in China? Should I have to work for $1 an hour?" Ryan tried to brush his questioner off. But when the man persisted, saying, "C'mon, we're all here to have a good time." When he was reminded that it was Labor Day, which would seem to be an appropriate time to discuss unemployment and the condition of workers, Ryan finally offered something: "Would you like some candy?" Ryan asked. "Would you like a Packer-Badger schedule?”
—Paul Ryan’s Labor Day Promise to American Workers: Candy and a Sports Schedule | The Nation
Allstar Weekend in Janesville, Wisconsin.
I’m way too lazy to type up a whole report of everything that went down because it was a reallllllly long day. But for the most part it was a good day! We woke up at 4AM and traveled from Chicago to Janesville, getting there shortly after 7AM in hopes of securing a good spot for the show that night. Uinfortunately there was no organized line and no one knew where we were supposed to stand, so we literally just sat around in the grandstands/walked around the fair until they started letting us fill the grass area at 5PM.
Around two o’clock, Allstar arrived and I met Eric Nicolau, who is currently playing lead guitar in place of Nathan, and I also met Cameron. Eric is such a sweetheart, I can’t even get over how nice he is. Or how attractive….cough. But you can tell he really appreciates the love he’s getting from the fans. Cam is Cam, and as usual he was adorable and cheerful. I would have stayed around to catch Mikey and/or Zach but I didn’t feel like putting up with the heat and I wanted to save my energy for later when the show started. I had met them plenty of times before anyway, so I’d rather have someone else stand against the barricade and meet them who hasn’t yet.
We ended up getting front row after a chaotic and dangerous stampede towards the stage once they dropped the ropes entering the lawn area. Stupid on security’s part. A few girls did end up getting hurt due to this lack of organization. Greyson Chance went on first. He was adorable and his fans were so excited to see him. They were little so my friends and I were kind enough to kneel during his set allowing them to see over us.
Allstar Weekend was phenomenal! They played a pretty dang good set. Probably one of my favorites. Yet I always have fun at their shows so it doesn’t even matter. After the show, we attended their meet and greet and I’m pretty pleased with how the picture turned out! It wasn’t even that rushed, I had a chance to hug each of them and let them know I’d be seeing them later in August. It was pretty chill. We chatted with Dillon afterwards as well. This ended up being way longer than I intended it to be and there’s probably plenty of details I missed, but when you’re at a show for 15 hours, it’s almost impossible to keep the story short!
Paul Ryan Misleads With GM Plant Closure Tale
huffingtonpost.comTAMPA, Fla. — In his prime-time speech at the Republican National Convention on Wednesday evening, vice presidential hopeful Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) illustrated economic failure under President Barack Obama with an anecdote about a factory that closed before Obama took office.
Ryan said, “Right there at that plant, candidate Obama said, ‘I believe that if our government is there to support you … this plant will be here for another hundred years.’ That’s what he said in 2008.”
“Well, as it turned out, that plant didn’t last another year,” Ryan continued. “It is locked up and empty to this day. And that’s how it is in so many towns today, where the recovery that was promised is nowhere in sight.”It’s an attack Ryan has used before, and one that the Detroit News has called inaccurate: “In fact, Obama made no such promise and the plant halted production in December 2008, when President George W. Bush was in office,” Detroit News reporter David Sherpardson wrote earlier this month. “Obama did speak at the plant in February 2008, and suggested that a government partnership with automakers could keep the plant open, but made no promises as Ryan suggested.”
Senior Obama campaign adviser David Axelrod pounced on the claim in a tweet: “Again, Ryan blames Obama for a GM plant that closed under Bush. But then, they did say they wouldn’t “let fact checkers get in the way.”
UPDATE: 8/30 — For more on the closure process, which was announced in mid-2008, see the local Gazette Xtra. More than 2,000 Janesville GM workers were laid off immediately; another 57 stayed on until April 2009 as production wound down.
h/t: Huffington Post
