Posted: 08 Sep 2010 10:43 PM PDT

Sept. 9, 2010 |

As a wholesale rethinking of Social Security, Medicare and federal taxes, Paul Ryan's Roadmap has put the Janesville Republican on the political map.

It has won him adulation from conservatives for his long-term assault on federal spending.

It has won him acclaim in the media for serving up richly detailed and politically risky ideas that make many in his own party queasy.

And now it's landing him in the cross-hairs of the midterm elections, as Democrats launch attack ads and fund-raising appeals accusing the GOP of wanting to "privatize" Social Security and "end Medicare as we know it."

"The Roadmap is a dead end," says Maryland Rep. Chris Van Hollen, chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which opened its national fall TV blitz last week with an ad accusing a GOP candidate in northern Wisconsin - Sean Duffy - of wanting to privatize Social Security just because he praised Ryan's Roadmap.

Ryan calls such attacks "juvenile."

"They're just trying to scare the heck out of Grandpa and Grandma," says Ryan, the 1st District congressman who will become budget chairman if his party retakes the House.

It's fair to say that some attacks on the Roadmap - officially called A Roadmap for America's Future - have been overblown.

It's also fair to say that Ryan's plan is controversial for a reason.

"These are an astounding group of major changes in existing policies," says Stan Collender, former Democratic House and Senate budget staffer and author of "The Guide to the Federal Budget."

Ryan's plan is audacious in at least two ways. One is that it tries to tackle with great specificity the government's long-term debt and deficits, a problem that intimidates both parties because it requires doing very painful things, such as raising taxes or cutting Medicare.

In that sense, the Roadmap has taken on symbolic significance - and won a great deal of flattering attention - as a call-to-arms about the nation's finances.

The other reason it's audacious involves the particular solutions that Ryan is offering: deeply conservative remedies that provoke genuine ideological division.

Among them:

• A total makeover of Medicare for people now under the age of 55, replacing a guaranteed benefit with a federal voucher that individuals would use to help purchase private coverage.

• The option of personal investment accounts for younger Americans in place of the traditional Social Security system.

• Reductions in traditional Social Security benefits for many future recipients.

• Tax changes whose direct benefits go overwhelmingly to wealthier Americans, including no taxes on investment income and capital gains and the replacement of the corporate income tax with a tax on consumption.

"The plan identifies all the 'third rails' of politics and makes a beeline for them. It massacres sacred cows in slaughterhouse fashion. The audacity is remarkable," observed a USA Today editorial Monday.

"Many of his proposals are pretty extreme, or certainly more extreme than anything Congress under Democratic or Republican control has considered before," says Collender, a well-known and widely quoted budget expert. "Under those circumstances he should expect, anticipate and be prepared for a tidal wave of criticism on every aspect of it."

Ryan says he is happy to have that debate, but simply wants it to be an "adult conversation" in which his proposals aren't caricatured or demonized. He calls some criticism ad hominem, citing the anti-Roadmap column written by economist Paul Krugman in the New York Times last month that deemed the Roadmap a "fraud." He describes other critiques as legitimate disagreements, like former Obama budget director Peter Orszag's argument that the Roadmap's Medicare vouchers would leave future seniors falling further and further behind the growing cost of health care.

Ryan's defenders include some deficit hawks who don't agree with all his policies but cheer him on for making a run at the country's looming fiscal problem. Even President Obama called the Roadmap a serious proposal.

"Paul Ryan's plan is a very conservative approach to fiscal reform. It would be great if somebody came out and matched it with a very liberal approach, and someone else matched it with a centrist approach, and we could assess the merits and debate the tradeoffs," says Maya MacGuineas, president of the nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. "Instead, the one courageous person is getting shot at from all sides."

Coming out swinging

The Roadmap's critics make no apologies. In fact, they complain that until recently the actual content of Ryan's plan had been overlooked amid the applause for simply having a plan.

"I still find it a bit surprising that this plan, which has what I would think are highly unattractive elements, is getting so much favorable attention," says Paul Van de Water, analyst with the left-leaning Center for Budget and Policy Priorities.

Struggling to retain their congressional majorities, Democrats have opened up new lines of attack this fall against Republicans on Social Security and Medicare, many of them based on the Roadmap.

The Democratic ad accusing Ashland Republican Sean Duffy of wanting to privatize Social Security was based on comments Duffy made about the Roadmap. Duffy calls the Roadmap "a good starting point" but says he opposes privatizing Social Security.

The Roadmap has popped up in races outside Wisconsin, as well. Van Hollen featured it prominently in a recent D.C. news conference, saying the Roadmap would "partially privatize Social Security and end Medicare as we know it."

But as much as Democrats would like to run against the Roadmap, most Republicans have tried to keep their distance. The legislative form of the Roadmap has only 13 GOP sponsors. Party leaders in the House (John Boehner) and Senate (Mitch McConnell) have been treading carefully, lauding Ryan but declining to endorse the Roadmap's components.

Asked at the Brookings Institution earlier this year why more conservatives in office weren't getting behind his plan, Ryan answered: "They're talking to their pollsters and their pollsters are saying, 'Stay away from this. We're going to win an election.' "

Some conservatives complain of GOP timidity.

"I am disappointed that more Republicans don't have their own Roadmap," says Doug Holtz-Eakin, former director of the Congressional Budget Office and economic adviser to Republican John McCain's 2008 presidential campaign.

"I didn't write this with the expectation that my party would embrace it," Ryan told the Journal Sentinel editorial board Wednesday. "It's not my job to represent the party."

Of course, Ryan is no minor figure in the GOP these days. He's serving on the president's deficit commission. He has written a new book with two other leading House Republicans, dubbing themselves the "Young Guns." The Beltway newspaper and website "Politico" recently described him as the "trendy cult hero of the modern GOP."

"He would be the chairman of the budget committee if the Republicans take control of Congress. That would put him in a pivotal position," warns Van Hollen.

"My point was trying to get this debate started," Ryan said. "Here's my idea. Come up with yours."

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Apps as Tour Guides Through New York Museums, Step by Step - New York Times

Posted: 08 Sep 2010 04:31 PM PDT

The next time you're about to visit a museum, do yourself a favor and drop in on your favorite app store first.

Most institutions have not yet created a mobile app, but as a group, museums are headed in that direction. In the last few months, free apps were released by the Museum of Modern Art and the American Museum of Natural History, in New York; the Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust; and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (which also has an Android app).

I recently tested the newest museum apps for New York. While they take distinctly different approaches, they demonstrate the vast potential for technology to help people make the most of a museum visit.

They can also point to a restroom in a hurry.

The Museum of Natural History Explorer, which arrived in July, features a navigation system that, while flawed, helps users find exhibits and museum facilities more easily than with a printed map.

While visiting the museum with my wife and two children, for instance, we knew we couldn't tackle the entire building in a few hours, so we opened the Tours section of the app and chose the Highlights Tour from among the four itineraries listed. (We could have also found specific exhibits in a nicely arranged directory.)

The Highlights Tour includes three options, depending on the number of preferred stops. The real magic of the app begins when it finds the nearest attraction, or plots a course between you and any other exhibit you choose.

Unfortunately, it can be unreliable. In various places in the museum — near the Giant Sequoia exhibit, to name one — the device had a hard time finding me.

A spokesman, Lowell Eschen, said the museum was still working out the kinks in its geolocation technology. But even when the app can't spot you, the map offers step-by-step directions to an exhibit from the last place it saw you, so you can find your way easily enough.

The navigation system also points to dining areas, shops, exits and restrooms.

The app is free, but I would have happily paid for the restroom finder when we were near Lucy, the legendary Australopithecus afarensis, when my children heard the call of nature. Rather than wander in urgent circles seeking a museum worker or restroom sign, I tapped two buttons on the iPhone and it led us toward relief.

For a reality check, later the same day we visited the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which has no dedicated app. Finding restrooms was no problem, since the Met fairly teems with security guards who can guide visitors. But I would have much preferred a more guided, multidimensional experience to the Met's paper map.

Purists will claim that museums are made for getting lost, and that art is not about efficiency. But by 4 p.m., we had hungry children with sore feet, and we had a train to catch. Only the Temple of Dendur remained on our list. Getting lost in the Dutch Masters would not have enriched anyone.

A few days later I made a solo run to the Museum of Modern Art, and found its new iPhone app helpful in the extreme. (The app's lead developer at MoMA, Spencer Kiser, said the museum hoped to release an Android app by the end of year, and a Web site tailored to other mobile devices like BlackBerrys.)

The MoMA app is fine at guiding visitors around the museum, with an adequate floor map and floor-by-floor exhibit listings, but its real sweet spot is its Modern Voices audio tours.

Instead of standing in line for one of the museum's audio devices, or skipping the audio completely and fighting my way past crowds to read the wall descriptions, I pulled out my iPhone.

I stood before Kara Walker's "Gone: An Historical Romance of a Civil War as It Occurred b'tween the Dusky Thighs of One Young Negress and Her Heart," on MoMA's second floor. Thanks to Ms. Walker's description, the experience far surpassed what it would have been with my lazy eye.

The app can also take users on an audio tour of various floors before they even enter the museum, but only about 15 percent of the works have an audio complement, and some of those works cannot be pictured on the app because of copyright limitations. (That was the case with Ms. Walker's work.)

The software includes another appealing feature, in which users can e-mail a snapshot of a particular work, and it will arrive to the recipient with the MoMA brand on the photo. The three photos I sent never arrived, but Mr. Kiser said he had heard no similar complaints.

Aside from museum-specific apps, iPhone users can also get help finding museums and exhibits in New York and Washington with the Museum Guide apps ($3 for New York, free for Washington). The New York Art iPhone app ($1) is a worthy rival.

IPad users can also check out the new Diana Curran app ($5), which is an interactive coffee table book, of sorts, featuring photos taken during Ms. Curran's museum visits.

With the exception of the San Francisco MoMA app, Android users don't have many museum-specific options. They can find nearby museums easily with the free Museum app, which is fast and generally effective, if a bit shallow.

Wolf Mountain Apps, likewise, offers an interactive map with Web links to an institution's Web site, in its free Montreal Museums and Stockholm Museums apps. Androids Future, another developer, presents more in-depth information for cities like Philadelphia and Boston, through its free apps like Museums in Philadelphia.

BlackBerry users can try the Artnear app for similar information. Or, if they happen to be near Gatineau, Quebec, they can download the Canadian Museum of Civilization app, which offers interactive floor maps, a calendar of events and audio tours (also available on Apple devices).

It's about as close as you can get to a combination of the Museum of Natural History and the New York MoMA app. Put another way, BlackBerry owners finally get to test a nearly state-of-the-art app.

They just have to get to Quebec to put it to use.

Quick Calls

Bing fans now have a shortcut on Android phones. The Bing app is free, but so far it's only available on Verizon phones. ... BlackBerry users can reload their Starbucks Card or check their balance while on the road, with the free Starbucks Card Mobile App. The app, which is also available for iPhone and Android devices, will point you to your next cup of java, too. Go to Starbucks.com for the app.

Traditional map best guide for a trip through the past - Orlando Sentinel

Posted: 29 Aug 2010 04:00 PM PDT

During the past 10 months, my husband and I have lost all three of our remaining parents. My mother's funeral was Aug. 17 in the hamlet of Ellenville, N.Y., the town where she was born, grew up and met my father. I hadn't been back to Ellenville since my own childhood, when several times a year my parents and I would drive from our home in Yardley, Pa., to upstate New York to visit my mother's family.

Although most of my memories of those times are foggy, I can clearly recall the pretty countryside. When planning my trip north for the funeral, I made the decision to absorb as much of that beauty as I could.

"You flew into Allentown, Pa.?" my cousin asked. "You could have landed in Newark. It would have been so much closer."

My cousin was right. If I had flown into Newark, I would have had a shorter drive, but I also would have had to navigate through one of the ugliest parts of New Jersey. There would have been lots of traffic, noise, unpleasant odors and unattractive sites.

It might have been a more efficient route, but efficiency was wasn't my goal. I was seeking serenity. I wanted to fly into a smaller, calmer airport. I wanted to drive down quiet country lanes. I was seeking as much peacefulness as possible to buffer what I expected to be a less-than-pleasant occasion, the funeral of a parent.

If it hadn't been for flight delays, things would have worked out as planned. Unfortunately, the plane to Allentown landed several hours late, dashing expectations of daylight driving. Instead, I set off in my economy-priced rental car just as the sun was setting.

I thought I was well prepared. I came with a Google Maps printout of my route and a portable GPS as a backup. Nonetheless, I managed to get confused. Google Maps told me one thing, while my GPS said another. Thanks to a kind storekeeper who gave me an actual map, I finally managed to get on the right road, but by then it was quite late and needed a rest. I pulled into a small motel.

I had heard the term "fleabag motel" before, but until that night, I had never experienced one. For the outrageous sum of $57, I paid for a room inhabited by ankle-biting bugs. Too tired to realize what was happening in the dark, I discovered my predicament when I awoke in the morning.

Within minutes, I packed up my few belongings and was out the door. Despite ankles now covered with itchy welts, the morning drive was exactly what I was after. The countryside was beautiful. Colorful wildflowers lined the roads. Stone houses sat beneath towering trees. The small roads I had purposely selected wove their way through undulating mountains. It couldn't have been prettier.

I got to Ellenville with time to spare. I explored the town, browsing through shops and driving down side roads. The funeral was traditional. I saw relatives I hadn't seen since childhood. We all did our best to breach the years and rekindle old relationships. After a communal meal at a local restaurant, I said my goodbyes and left for Allentown.

This time, I was driving in daylight. I turned off the GPS, threw the Google Map printout on the car floor and relied entirely on a good old-fashioned paper map. My drive was delightful as I made my way through one pretty town after another. Two and a half hours later, my rental car was returned and I was back at the airport.

Funerals are never happy occasions, but I sought to make the best of this one by paying homage to the countryside where my mother grew up. Although not everything went as planned, I considered the trip a success. I reconnected with relatives, relived bits of the past and honored the place where my mother's life began.

My mother used to say, "If you have a mouth, you can't get lost," and she was right. With her advice in mind, I asked for a map and became unconfused. Even in death, a mother's wisdom rings true.

Sherry Boas can be reached at simplyliving@beautifulbamboo.com. Her columns can be found online at OrlandoSentinel.com/lake. Her new book is Rowing Through The Mist: The Everyday Pleasures of Simply Living.

Maps Guides

Thursday, September 9, 2010

“Ryan's on the map, and taking heat - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel” plus 2 more

“Ryan's on the map, and taking heat - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel” plus 2 more

Coming out swinging

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