Paul Ryan Vs. Lunch

Whenever I hear the name Paul Ryan, I vomit a little. He's a smug ideologue who spews out stuff like this:

Paul Ryan Says Free School Lunches Give Kids ‘An Empty Soul’

Let's back up. Paul Ryan was a kid who was able to attend college due to Social Security survivor benefits. You would think that would endear him to programs that form a social safety net... but no. He has basically declared war on any kind of government assistance to anyone whose net worth is under a few million.

Here's my message to him:

.@PRyan says that free school lunch programs give kids "a full stomach — and an empty soul". Mr. Ryan... YOU are the soulless monster here.
— SJW Randy (@kaffehammer) April 27, 2015

Harsh? I don't think so. He demonstrates a basic lack of empathy for the most vulnerable members of our society: children living in poverty. Our empathy is what makes us human, Mr. Ryan. Your willingness to put your crosshairs on hungry children is nothing less than monstrous.

If you were really concerned about fiscal responsibility, which you claim to be, you might consider something different in regards to school nutrition programs. The Dallas Independent School District found that it would save them money to offer all children free lunches, regardless of income. The overhead for billing for student meals, when eliminated, actually frees up the program to do what it was intended to do... feed kids. Research has demonstrated that hungry kids cannot learn as effectively, and nutritional services are necessary to invest in the education of our next generation.

While offering free lunches to all isn't nearly as ideologically tasty to an Ayn Rand-worshipping sociopath, it's what we need to do to put our schools on the right track.

I encourage you to visit Mr. Ryan on Twitter at @PRyan to share your thoughts on the matter!

Welcome to Tweeting With Assholes!

Hello, and Welcome!

This is the inaugural post of Tweeting With Assholes, a blog dedicated to fostering participatory democratic action through direct interaction with those in positions of power. In a nutshell, I speak truth to power... with attitude. And I encourage you to do the same. You have the power to change the world through dialogue.

Social media has given us unparalleled access to publicly engage people. Rare is the elected official or brand who doesn't have a Facebook page or a Twitter account; cultural relevance practically demands it these days. It offers a fast, free way to engage with constituents and allies, it allows presentation of a persona and it gives a platform to share timely snippets of info and opinions.

And it is also a very public target in a very public game of Whack-A-Mole.

A person or brand's "public face" is important. If it wasn't, they wouldn't hire people to manage these accounts and the public relations business wouldn't exist.

What you can expect from me is a record of my dialogues. I will share my Tweets, as well as the context needed to figure out what the heck I'm trying to say. I'll also provide contact info where necessary, links to relevant articles, and some commentary. In the spirit of full disclosure, I'll note that I am a proud and unapologetic liberal, living somewhere to the left of the Democratic party.

An example? Here goes. Take Ted Cruz, for instance. Here's what he has to say... and my retort:

.@tedcruz Only a sociopath would be so gleeful about millions of people losing basic healthcare. People will die of preventable illnesses.
— SJW Randy (@kaffehammer) April 22, 2015

And some context:

Dying from Lack of Insurance

I'm just providing a link this time, but expect actual commentary in future posts.


So... some ground rules. They're for me, but  hope you will follow these as well. Here they are:

1. No threats. Threats are not dialogue. They have no place in reasonable discussion.

2. No private info, aka "doxxing". I will gladly provide public contact info for people I engage with, including office numbers. But people's home lives are their home lives.

3. No racism, homophobia, transphobia, misogyny, poor-shaming. These are tools of the enemy, and they themselves are my enemies. I will call them out.

4. Honesty. This speaks for itself.

5. No partisanship. I don't belong to a political party. Yes, I'm a liberal... but do not assume that means Democrat. You will see people on both sides of the political divide engaged.

Who I Am

I'm just a guy who cares about stuff. I'm a father, husband, gamer and activist. My name is Randy, and I live in Oregon in the beautiful Pacific Northwest. That's me.

Ready for this? Good! I'll leave you with a quote:

“The earth is not dying, it is being killed, and those who are killing it have names and addresses.”

-Utah Phillips


Randy
@kaffehammer