Our guest columnist is a globetrotting businessman who dabbles in politics.

I appreciate the fact that she is on the ground, safe and sound. And I don’t think she knows just how worried some of us were. When you have a fire in an aircraft, there’s no place to go, exactly, there’s no — and you can’t find any oxygen from outside the aircraft to get in the aircraft, because the windows don’t open. I don’t know why they don’t do that. It’s a real problem. So it’s very dangerous. And she was choking and rubbing her eyes. Fortunately, there was enough oxygen for the pilot and copilot to make a safe landing in Denver. But she’s safe and sound.

Mitt Romney pulls in $6 million at Beverly Hills fundraiser [LAT]

Title: “DemoCRIPS and ReBLOODlicans: No More Gangs in Government”

Authors: Jesse Ventura and Dick Russell

Rank: 94

Blurb: “Exposing the ineptitude and gang-like mentalities of both parties, Ventura advocates the replacement of the two-party system with a no-party system based on the ideals of our Founding Fathers.”

Review That Ignores the Entire History of Wingnut Publishing: “It’s never popular to come out and say that things stink.”

Customers Also Bought: “Where Did the Towers Go? Evidence of Directed Free-energy Technology on 9/11”

Footnote: The ideals of our Founding Fathers lasted for exactly two elections.

DemoCRIPS and ReBLOODlicans [Amazon]

Buy or Die [Stinque@Amazon Kickback Link]

So remember when Mitt Romney produced his super secret, 14 year old audio recording of then State Senator Barack Obama announcing that he supported some wealth re-distribution with the aim of giving everyone a “fair shot?” The audio tape pretty much hit the ground with a dull thud. After all, Obama wasn’t really saying anything more radical than that he supported such things as public education, pre-natal care, garbage collection, police and firefighters (all tax funded programs which are, by definition, possible only thanks to income re-distribution).

Well, it turns out that another politician has an old audio tape floating around, and that man is a fella by the name of Paul Ryan. Only this tape is not quite as old. It’s from 2005, and it was delivered to a gathering of Ayn Rand followers. And if you suspect that Ryan’s not quite so hot on income-redistribution you’d be right. Listen in rapt wonder as Ryan explains that Social Security is “a collectivist system, a welfare transfer system” and issues a thinly veiled call for the program’s privatization: Read more »

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKfH_E-NsFQ

[via Political Wire]

“This morning, Gov. and Mrs. Romney filed their 2011 tax return with the IRS. At 3:00pm today, the Romney for President campaign will be posting the 2011 return online… Also posted will be a notarized letter from the Romneys’ tax preparer, PricewaterhouseCoopers, LLP (PWC), giving a summary of tax rates from the Romneys’ tax returns for the 20-year period of 1990-2009.” [Romney for President]

“Paul Ryan drew boos speaking to the AARP by attacking ‘Obamacare’ and pledging to repeal it… Ryan was booed repeatedly as he continued to attack the bill, especially after he said the law ‘turned Medicare into a piggy bank for Obamacare.'” [TPM]

“Stop it. This is hard. You want to try it? Get in the ring. This is hard and, you know, it’s an important thing that we’re doing right now, and it’s an important election, and it is time for all Americans to realize how significant this election is and how lucky we are to have someone with Mitt’s qualifications and experience and know-how to be able to have the opportunity to run this country.” —Ann, the Kinder, Gentler Romney, bitching about GOP backseat drivers. [Radio Iowa]