Charlatan - Thy Name Is Paul Ryan . . .

Even the most creative minds in the entertainment industry can't make shit like this up:

Ayn Rand, Hypocrite?Legendary opponent of “welfare state” received Social Security and probably MedicareBy Patia Stephens

Critics of Social Security and Medicare frequently invoke the words and ideals of author and philosopher Ayn Rand, one of the fiercest critics of federal insurance programs. But a little-known fact is that Ayn Rand herself collected Social Security. She may also have received Medicare benefits.

An interview recently surfaced that was conducted in 1998 by the Ayn Rand Institute with a social worker who says she helped Rand and her husband, Frank O’Connor, sign up for Social Security and Medicare in 1974.

Federal records obtained through a Freedom of Information act request confirm the Social Security benefits. A similar FOI request was unable to either prove or disprove the Medicare claim.

Between December 1974 and her death in March 1982, Rand collected a total of $11,002 in monthly Social Security payments. O’Connor received $2,943 between December 1974 and his death in November 1979.

According to a spokesman in the Baltimore headquarters of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Rand and O’Connor were eligible for both Part A, which provides hospital coverage, and Part B, medical. The spokesman said their eligibility for Part B means they did apply for Medicare; however, he said he was not authorized to release any documentation and referred the request to the CMS New York regional office. That office said they could not locate any records related to Rand and O’Connor.

The couple registered for benefits shortly after Rand, a two-pack-a-day smoker, had surgery for lung cancer in the summer of 1974. Medicare had been enacted nine years earlier in the Social Security Act of 1965 to provide health insurance to those age 65 and older.

http://www.patiastephens.com/2010/12/05/ayn-rand-received-social-security-medicare/


Am I the only one who sees supreme irony that zombie-eyed granny starver Paul Ryan's political hero is a long-dead, libertarian novelist -- best known for her philosophy that centered on the idea that selfishness is a “virtue,” concern for the welfare of others (altruism) is “evil,” was an atheist who condemned Christianity for advocating compassion for the poor, and viewed the feminist movement as “phony” -- ended up dying nearly destitute, living with her husband, who both at the time of her death had been collecting and living on Social Security and Medicare benefits for several years?

[sound of cricket's chirping . . . .]

Yeah.  That's what I thought.


----TFG