Wingin’ It Wednesday Panel Talks Paul Ryan And Facebook Rights

On this morning's edition of  "Wingin' It Wednesday" panelists Joyce Linde and Warren Caudle stopped by "Mornings With Ken and Bernie" with Mike Stagg joining in over the phone. The panel was eager to  discuss this week's hot button issues.

1. What do you think of Mitt Romney's vice-presidential running-mate Paul Ryan's Budget Plan?

Mike Stagg led off:

As a Democrat I love Ryan's budget plan. It's so outlandish and draconian. More and more tax cuts for the rich, gut medicare, gut medicade. I think that it doesn't stand up to scrutiny, it never did, and we (the Democratic Party) have the good fortune of it being the official budget plan for the republican ticket and I think it's going to be great for us.

 

Joyce Linde countered:

The Tea Party is excited about Ryan being the candidate. We look forward to some the cuts in entitlement. We'll be fiscally responsible and sound. We cannot continue to fund all the entitlements.

Warren Caudle added:

At least Paul Ryan put forth a budget which is congress' constitutionally mandated job to do. He didn't cut anything. And somewhere along the way we need to make a law that says we can't call increases in funding “cuts”. Both sides do it.

The budget is some kind of mystical creature that a bunch of unicorns put together in a basement somewhere in Washington.

At least Paul Ryan has come up with a budget. That's more than the rest of them can say.

2. So much gasoline is being taken out of Venezuela illegally that President Hugo Chavez's socialist government imposed rationing on motorists in one state bordering Colombia last year, and now it's touched off a furor in a second border state by announcing it will ration gasoline there, too.  Do you think this gasoline rationing could signal the beginning of the end for Chavez?

Warren offered:

Anytime you've got government controls on supply and demand you are going to get these kind of lopsided equations.

Hugo's days are numbered, primarily because of cancer, not because of policies, but this is just one more example of bad policy.

Mike added:

Who knows whats going to happen in Venezuela. It's an unstable economy, its an unstable leader, it will be an interesting year to six months here to see if he will survive.

Linde concluded:

His days will be numbered as leader due to health as well as political opponents. Government controls do not work. We can see that in our country. You need to free market.

I think it's time for Venezuela to get with the program and vote for a president that's more honest and fair.

3. A Virginia sheriff's deputy who was fired for "liking" his boss' opponent on Facebook likes his chances in a federal lawsuit claiming his click was constitutionally protected.  Do you think Facebook posts are protected by the First Amendment?

Mike Stagg said:

It's an interesting question. It is speech. We are seeing a whole new line of legal inquiry open up here. This is all new legal territory with people defining their rights and privileges and companies define there's. I think an expression of an opinion on Facebook is the same as an expression on a street corner, so I think it should be protected.

Linde added:

At first glance it looks like it is just First Amendment, but after sleeping on it I'd say these employees used poor judgment and they need to be responsible for what they did.

I can say we had a small business and if one of our employees LIKEd one of our competitors on Facebook we may have very well wanted to unlike them.

Warren concluded:

We do need ground rules for Facebook. It's one things we need to establish down the road. What are you expected to do, how much of this stuff are you expected to let your employers know, people using email at work, we need to set some ground rules for these things.

Now it's your turn to tell us what you think about today's Wingin' It Wednesday topics. Who got it right, who got it wrong, and who was way off? Let us know in the comment section.