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The audio version of Atlas Shrugged may be more palatable than the book version.
To me, Rand makes serious errors in logic whenever she presents her philosophy. In presenting her Objectivist Epistemology she laboriously discusses "A=A" and appears to make a good case. Like a mathematician she meticulously discusses her Axioms and then builds upon them using proofs. Unlike a mathematician she seems to get tired after proving -1 * -1 = 1 and then jumps to string theory with no further explanation. She makes huge leaps in logic based on "A=A". It is like someone proving almost whatever they want based on a clverly disguised division by zero or like a magician who defies physics by the slight of hand or an engineer who extrapolates to conclusions far beyond the precision of their measurements or calculations. In short, her science is pseudoscience.
In Shrugged, Gault begins as an engineer at a factory where he invents the perpetual motion machine which produces massive energy from nothing. The evil owners don't want to properly recognize him and so he destroys the engine. The story does not address any contractual relationship between the owners and Gault, but normally when you work for a company you forfeit all of your inventions to that company as part of your salary. By him destroying the invention he is violating his contract. Of course throughout the book Gault, Rearden and others are all super-heroes who pull inventions out of every orifice without any help from anything. Rearden invents rearden-metal, which installed as railroad tracks and used on a high speed line without any testing, as if a gift from the Gods.
I have only seen the movie version of Fountainhead (with Gary Cooper) In it Roark destroys an entire complex of buildings which he is the secret architect of because the developers have the audacity to modify. Rand makes the case that Roark, the inventor, is the true owner of the work. He is acquitted of all wrong doing in court. As in Shrugged, Rand completely ignores long established criminal and civil law as well as normal contractual conditions. Roark has no contractual claim since none was never signed, nor was any consideration paid.
Her supporters insist that the books are not meant to be taken literally, that you have to look for deeper meaning. To me, if you are presenting an "Objective" philosophy, you shouldn't have to make your case based on such flawed arguments. When you have to read so much into the story which is not there you can come up with almost any interpretation that you want. Like Limbaugh, who dodges any valid criticism by saying that "he was only kidding" or that his show is entertainment not news, he can revise the meaning of his words depending upon the audience or the time of day.
No more war! No more military sanctions. It is time (loooong over due) that the U.S. stops policing the world, spending $$$ trillions $$$ on uneccesary AND illegal wars. Even if more than 1/10th of the one percent proffited from war...For the past two decades the U.S. government has maintained a belligerent foreign policy; this certainly underminds what our best abilities are. As well, these expensive and illegal wars have diminish our expectations for true peace, equality, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Don't get me wrong I am very aware that a few scondrels with ill intentions exist (some are our own elected officals), However we MUST NOT abbandon our own people, domestic issues, and social challenges. Don't forget Osama Bin laden vowed to destroy the U.S. through economic distruction and social breakdown. He rallied support through a shared grevence against the U.S. for occupying, policing and meddleing in the political affairs of the Middle East. It is up to us (We the People) to reel our Gov. back in and spend those trillions restoring and improving our own rich tapistry. Lets become a truely great leader(finally) by setting an example of how we resolve our economic, foreign, domestic, and social issues through peaceful and practical measures.
Well, they, the drum-bangers, can go to war with Iran if they raise an entirely new army via the draft of their ranks, in which all current military is exempt and they offer up THEIR children for service and they foot the ENTIRE bill, including rebuilding. That should be the deal. The monied and powerful want to invade another country for oil, they should make the entire sacrifice and should take the entire blame and wrath when innocent Iranians are killed in the crossfire. Why should the commoners pay, in lives and treasure, for the monied's selfish gains?
Winter Soldier.
Anyone interested in what really goes on in war should rent the "Winter Soldier" DVD.
Soldiers are conditioned to demonize "the other" and kill them. War atrocities are the norm.
The problems are created by your cultural beliefs ,and beliefs create behaviors and cause them to be endlessly repeated.If you want the world to change we need to start with what is causing all the unnecessary suffering and conflict,s and that is a spiritual problem our spiritual arrogance has caused and is causing our greatest sorrow to our species ,will we acknowledge this truth.
We have the blind leading the blind causing the same problems to surface century upon century and for millenia.lets transcend our mixed up beliefs and heal our MINDS as evolving civilizations this is key to humanity,s wonderful future.
You know what one mirror said to the other mirror? Its all done with people.
namaste .....WE ARE ALL ONE
Okay, if I'm totally frank: Anybody who eats meat is a monster. So what? I have to live with monsters, that's reality!
Politically I have given up on:
(1) Green Enery Issues
(2) War and Peace Issues
Why? Because I've seen the average American is a monster. They're selfish, they want their comfort, they're not ready to give up anything, and they don't care much for the environment.
Directly after 9/11: who in America felt like not going to war? It's simply not true that President Obama is a war-loving leader of a peace-loving people. Most of those who talk about peace now are LIARS. You're figuring sounds at least darn childish.
The truth is, many in the world out there think we Americans generally are evil -- not just our President, the Democrats or Republicans, but also you and I.
I say, most humans are selfish ignorants anyway. If you want to better this world: don't buy meat and don't eat meat. This is an easy way to do your little good deed against the killing and murdering in the world. Just do that. Normally I don't try to convert people to vegetarians, but you just annoyed me too much. You can't get into Afghanistan because you like the idea and then suddenly wanna get out because you don't like it anymore. Global politics cannot be driven by childish petulance. Global decisions are made on much longer terms than national decisions. Any President is NOT free to change all this as you would like it.
The way you reason is: "Okay, I tried to get out of the parking space.... first touched the car in front of me, than behind -- I guess I'll blow the whole car up."
Whistleblowers or Leakers? More Gobbledegook double talk by Big Brother that is an attempt to scare Whistleblowers everywhere.
"The fact remains that the Obama Administration is engaged in an unprecedented war against whistleblowers and the 1st Amendment and using the Espionage Act (a World War I era statute designed to go after spies and not whistleblowers), as a bludgeon to target, investigate, prosecute and indict those revealing government war crimes, abuses of power, illegalities and wrongdoing - both within and without the government."
"Going after whistleblowers sends the most chilling of messages by the government - we will hammer you and hammer you good if you speak up or out against us, even when we violate the Constitution - whether it's illegal electronic surveillance or torture or other crimes and wrongdoing we want to conceal behind the fig leaf of classification, while subverting and sabotaging the Constitution in the name of national security."
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/03/12/1073513/-Government-s-War-Again...
http://whistleblower.org/blog/42-2012/1826-former-doj-spokesman-defends-...
And although it is the "Obama administration" doing this....just how much is Obama really behind it all? Again, I believe that the President, no matter who he/she is, is just the facade of a covert government that is extremely fascist.
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On Obama's Attorney General Holder's recent support of the Administrations new policies on assassinating anyone they want including Americans, even if they are in America: From Salon's Glen Greenwald's article:
"What’s so striking is how identical Obama officials and their defenders sound when compared to the right-wing legal theorists who justified Bush’s most controversial programs. Even the core justifying slogans are the same: we are at War; the Battlefield is everywhere; Presidents have the right to spy on, detain and kill combatants without court permission; the Executive Branch is the sole organ for war and no courts can interfere in the President’s decisions, etc. I spent years writing about and refuting those legal theories and they are identical to what we hear now. Just consider how similar the two factions sound to one another."
http://www.salon.com/2012/03/06/attorney_general_holder_defends_executio...
But the question I have is...is it Obama or is Obama basically the figurehead that has to go along with the dictates of those who control both Republican and Democrats? Does it really matter who is President if the President is just the smoke-and-mirrors facade...just an ornamental diversion? Or is Obama really the insidious driving force behind the horrible and terrifying death-knell of Democracy, personal liberty and freedom in America. I suspect it is the former.
I agree with a lot of what Oldcrone says...Obama has been a total failure as a true representative of the people who voted for him. But, I think there are lots of things that many people don't know about, or will accept about our true criminal-run system...especially since the assassination of JFK. But I also agree with a lot of what Clarissa Smith says and her concerns. We just can't have another Republican in office. No matter how ticked off we are about the Democrats...it is imperative that we keep the Republicans out.
Even those currently in power who have wanted, or tried, to steer America down a truly democratic system know that it is not going to happen without a massive destruction of the current power elite system that manipulates and controls through, largely, covert means. And if they can't do it by covert means, they will resort to overt means...as in the case of JFK and others. Anyone who has been listening to the Black Op Radio show knows what I mean.
Many of our politicians know that if they don't play their master's game and try to change things that, without massive support from citizens who question the very fabric of authority, and are willing to massively revolt, they will go down one way or another. The old "carpet of gold, or a carpet of bombs" (or at least a couple of bullets) reality.
JFK went down, and so did many others who tried to challenge the monied and corrupt powers. The Republican party is largely the vanguard of supporting these criminals. And the Democrats, if not greedily and actively complicit themselves, are spineless worms who won't put up a fight. But then again....they know that those who control what Americans think will continue to use them as useful idiots and pawns in their own subjugation and eventual demise. They cannot fight, successfully, against such powers when the people keep believing in the "official" propaganda.
Although approval of our government, overall ...Republicans and Democrats.....are at an all time low...some where in the teens.... they still are convinced that rather than it being a sinister and criminal entity...it is just a clumsy and obtuse, fumbling, error-prone entity. Like 911...people are more willing to believe that the attacks happened because of some communications errors and interagency walls of egos and rivalry. They are prone to believe in some evil terrorists who happen to be Muslim...rather than a sinister traitorous force that holds the bible in one hand and lambasts all heathens with the other.
It really won't matter who is elected President because they will continue to be merely window dressing...a facade of an illusion of democracy. Obama may really want to do the right things....I don't know...but whether he was indoctrinated and warned by the real ruling powers to play the game they want him to play...or he would meet the same fate as JFK...or if Obama is a most willing beguiler and opportunist of the people who voted for him...just don't know. But re-electing Obama will not change the game that the ruling elite is demanding.
But, I may yet vote for Obama because I hate Republicans and want them to suffer for their epitome of greed and disgust. The system is rigged for either a Republican or a Democrat...unfortunately...and as much as I'd like to see a Green...any party far to the left as we can get...elected...I don't think they have a chance. I believe that those who are concerned that if we abandon the Democrat party, the Republicans could win it. That I'd really hate to see!
Even though I believe that Obama is not much different from the Republicans...he is still hated by those who I hate the most. Real change will only come when the American people can somehow amass and take back the country...and that won't come through the polls because the election system is corrupt. But let's get Obama re-elected...just to tick off those snot-nosed Republicans. Who knows, Obama may just change course and represent the people who voted for him. But I'm not going to hold my breath.
The unhinged minds that committed this senseless atrocity are a bitter reminder of the senselessness of occupation and war for profit. I find it equally disturbing that ONLY 60% believe the war is not worth fighting. No false virtue can conceal the inhumanity and cruelty innocent civilians suffer in order that a few more war billionaires are created. These same 1%ers will do their damndest to get us into Iran despite the crippling maddness of it all. Didn't the Romans among others already prove that endless war ends empire?
Yes, we need national investment in cleaning our environment and modernizing our infrastucture. We could easily do this by ending the failed war on drugs and disbanding the DEA so that cannabis can be again grown freely all around the world. Cannabis is more than just the psychoactive herb called marijuana or MMJ, it is also the uniquely valuable commodity crop known as industrial hemp.
Every part of the hemp plant is usefull. Hemp is four times more efficient in converting solar energy into usable biomass energy than any other commercially viable crop. An acre of hemp can produce up to 10 tons of dry hemp biomass in as little as 100 days. Hemp can be grown year round in most areas across America. A ton of dry hemp biomass can produce 100 gallons of ethanol/methanol using modern enzyme conversion. Another 15 gallons a ton of hemp seed oil can be produced that is not only an excellent source of nutritious foods, it is also an excellent biodiesel. Mixing some of the hemp seed oil with the ethanol/methanol and then reforming/refining the mixture with natural gas could produce a gasoline like product with comparable energy in small local factories near the hemp fields all across our nation. Instead of sending the hundreds of billions of our dollars to the oil cartels every year we could be circulating those billions in our new greener and less centralized domestic economy.
Hemp can be grown on marginal soils and it's very drought resistant but it is also an excellent rotation crop. Growing hemp on played out or marginal soils leaves the soil more furtile after harvest than it was before. Hemp is naturally pest resistant and because it is grown very close together it effectively abates weed growth as well. About 15% of our farmlands are left baren to grow weeds and allowing the soil to blow away in the wind every year for various reasons. Why not allow American farmers to grow hemp as a normal rotation crop on lands normally left bare? A perfect rotation crop that requires less water and no chemical pesticides or fertilizers like other commodity crops while pulling nutrients from deep in the soil so they become available for the next crop.
At least 25,000 products can be made better, stronger, more durable and less expensive from hemp. A real renaissance in the American manufacturing sector will begin with the end of the prohibition of cannabis. Hundreds of new business opportunities will grow along side the hemp fields producing millions of permenent living wage green manufacturing jobs producing the fuels, paper, course and fine cloth, cordage and rope, paper products, building materials, biodegradable plastics, strong lite weight composits, and a whole range of nutritious food products that can be made from the hemp plant and seeds. Even the long strong tap root can be used to make an effective topical analgesic cream. Cannabis is truly a wonderful plant.
For more information about hemp and medical marijuana visit my website http://www.rmforbes.net
Doesn't the current set of circumstances make the upcoming (2012) national election look the best it's ever been in recent history, for one the less conventional political parties, winning the presidential office? Don't get me wrong; I'm not implying that I don't believe our current president as being a good-willed and intelligent individual. Though no doubt a quick learner, he still seems a bit inexperienced in dealing with the corruption in Congress. (Unless perhaps, he's being compelled, in some illegitimate fashion, into catering to the insanely wealthy.)
I agree.But this government knew it all along.
stecoop01, I also want to say, Obama already said today he won't allow this trooper to be tried in Afghan. Of course he said that, we don't prosecute OUR war criminals. But I feel so strongly, this trooper was serving his fourth tour of duty, three in Iraq and this one in Afghan. He also suffered TBI from a roll over accident. But Obama's army sent him on another tour. These troops are as much a victim as the innocents he murdered.
"When the President does it, it's not illegal" I NEVER believed a Democrat would prove it. Never.
Clarissa, we agree on a lot more than we disagree on. But I have to say, Obama is doing things that horrify me, and I cannot, try as I do, get past his public position, that he has the right to assassinate any US citizen anytime, anywhere and any way he sees fit without a shred of due process. How does that seperate him from a Don in the Mafia? Tell me what the difference is? The Mafia Don is protecting his interests, right? That is what Obama told us he was doing. That Democrats are accepting this simply horrifies me. By ignoring his base, which Obama has done form the git-go, he has put this nation in jeopardy of losing the next election to the very right. And the Dems won't have Al Gore to blame for this one. I think it's going to turn out badly for those of us who believe in the rule of law.
Release the dogs of war?!? Dude, they're already out there; they've formed a roving wild pack, looking for a battlefield to attack the peace loving creatures. The only way to stop these dogs is to hunt them down and blow their brains out.
As for the American soldier who shot and killed all those innocent people...he should be turned over to the Afghan "authorities" and subjected to whatever form of "justice" they choose to mete out.
We need to abandon the middle east...their problems are just too complex for any outsider to solve. They need to solve their problems themselves or self-destruct.
Remember, Bill Clinton's Sec. of State admitted on national news, that the death of half a million Iraqi children under the age of five had died as a result of Bill Clintons's draconian measures, she paused and said "yes, we think it was worth it". So tell me why I should vote Democrat again? Look what this Dem. president has taken us now. He spoke today and said he won't change his plan for Afghanistan. Two more years at least. Why? I am NOT a rightie, I am so far left it's painful for those around me. Try again. I won't vote to support this broken system. I'll vote whichever third party, which seems to be the Justice Party at this point, no more support to the national Dem. party, they no longer, at any level, represent my progressive views.
No it's not Morton, but sadly I think you are right. But I feel so strongly, we have to hold the Democrats responsible for their participation in this war-mongering position we find ourselves in. It is not helpful for Thom to speak for three hours every day and not acknowledge the Democrats' participation in the destruction of the Middle East. Hillary Clinton is a Democrat isn't she? She's called "The Angel of Death" in the Middle East. THAT is not the Democratic Party I was a part of. We have to stop the war-mongering, and I don't care who is doing it. The dead children don't care whether it's a Republican drone or a Democrat drone. They are still dead aren't they? This administration will not stop the warring, this president is, in fact, taking us into the continent of Africa. Who would have thought?
Do not attack Iran. The Bush Doctrine is to attack a nation before that nation attacks us so the battlefield is over there instead of over here does not work. If George W. Bush had not attacked Iraq they never would have attacked us. We were attacked by citizens of Saudi Arabia on September 11, 2001. This was not a war of one nation against another. This was a criminal action by rouges. George W. Bush thought it was the beginning of a new Crusades. George W. Bush is an idiot. There are dipolmatic solutions to our problems with Iran, there is no need for a "pre-emptive" war with Iran. GWB said this war was to prevent a war. Does that make any more sense today? The United States has the most powerful army, navy, and air force in the world. We are going bankrupt by spending countless billions of dollars into things that explode and kill people while destroying homes, businesses, and infrastructure. It gets to be that if all you have is a hammer than everything looks like a nail. Who are our great diplomats? Where are Americans such as Ralph Bunche? We can do much better than to engage in warfare with our neighbors on the planet.
If only we really could learn through the worlds history. My big concern is even though we should take our lessons from Afghanistan and, apply them to a potentially even more volatile situation which could be Iran, we will not. Afghanistan itself has offered enough historical evidence of what awaits an invading force (the British and the Russian). Yet the lessons were not learned and appreciated. Why should this be any different, especially as the strategic evidence has not been as clearly played out here in the past?
Just a thought, not necessarily a good one.
When liberals get war weary they vote for Democrats to redeploy to another war.
Who was it that manically voted for Obama to redeploy from Iraq to Afghanistan?
The corporate party's (D) dedicated liberals voted for that.
Now, being so weary with their war's failure in Afghanistan, the (D) dedicated are readying themselves to sheeple flock to the polls to "smart voter" vote for Democrats to redeploy the targeting of remote control weaponry from Afghanistan to Iran.
Who was it that voted for the people of Iraq to be collectively punished throughout the 8 years of Clinton's siege (between the Bushs') that softened up Iraq for its invasion and occupation, during which Clinton's Field Marshall (Madeleine Albright) so transparently and publicly stated that it would be "worth it" for Clinton's economic sanctions (and his carpet bombing of Iraq's infrastructure) to cause the deaths of a half million Iraqi children, if that would be what it took to take down one insubordinate sand thug (Saddam Hussein), for his having suggested that oil could be traded for a currency other than the U.S. Dollar?
The corporate party's (D) dedicated liberals voted for that.
Who was it that voted for the Goldman Sachs' controlled POTUS, Bill Clinton, whose economic advisors were malevolently engineering the removal of the firewall between banking and finance over here, while Clinton's "State Department" team was malevolently manufacturing a war, over there in the Balkans, to provide a new function for NATO forces that (after the fall of the Soviet Union) no longer had a function — with Clinton's new function for NATO being its redeployment from being a purely defensive force to becoming a bankster dominated coalition's expeditionary force in serial resource wars of aggression?
The corporate party's (D) dedicated liberals voted for that.
The "progressives" are the liberals who keep voting for the corporate party's Democrats so they can keep protesting against what they keep voting for.
Jill Stein for President:
http://www.jillstein.org
That's wonderful! You can actually watch how you chaos guys babble us into a GOP regime -- including invasion of Iran, which will finally crush us. Just you guys' stupid "All Or Nothing at All" mentality.
Excellent article Mr Savory,
In addition to the methane created in the manufacture of Hydrogen, the by product of hydrogen engines and hydrogen fuel cells is water vapor. So two of the three "green house" gases are by products of hydrogen use. For those who don't know, the three hydrogen gases are Methane, CO2 and Water Vapor. Plus you are right on about the manufacture of liquid nitrogen and liquid hydrogen. They, (and other atmospheric gases, including Oxygen) are created by the electrical hungry process called air separation. None of the "green" energy alternatives, i.e. solar and wind are capable of producing the tremendous amounts of electricy needed to produce these products.
"People who hate Obama are either crazy, selfishly interested themselves, or just evil."
Really? Who hates Obama? Anyone who criticizes his actions?Questions his new found power to kill his own people with no due process? YOU think THOSE people are crazy,selfish or evil?
I can no longer support one corporate government. THAT is what we have. And I don't consider myself crazy, selfish or evil. How wonderful to feel so superior to those who don't think like you do.
(2) "Free world" is elsewhere, but not in the U.S. -- we are owned by corporations. We gotta rid ourselves off that fatal corporatoricy, after that we might be free.
(3) Murderers can be killed anywhere, in America, or abroad. If you just threaten people with a weapon, you can be shot by a cop. What's new about that? Insane chicken-fuss, what you're making here.
(4) Obama is the best man we have and way better than any other we can get. People who hate Obama are either crazy, selfishly interested themselves, or just evil.
Hydrogen caveats:
Thom is correct in that hydrogen is not an energy source. There are many other facets of implementing hydrogen generation, storage and use as a way of shifting our economies away from the cadavers of plankton that we're currently fighting over.
Commercial production of hydrogen has been through steam reforming, which is a highly polluting process by itself that extracts hydrogen from fossil fuels, methane being the most common. Electrolysis and chemical processes may also be used, with their own idiosyncrasies and resultant byproducts.
Hydrogen is a cryogen that requires storage either in high pressure tubes (which are subject to hydrogen embrittlement as time goes by), or as a liquid in dewars that require constant attention and refrigeration to about 21 Kelvin (-424 F). Refrigeration ain't free - it is a very energy intensive process that also requires huge amounts of liquid nitrogen (which also requires huge amounts of energy and specialized equipment to generate), and all of the associated process equipment (piping, filters, purifiers, compressors, vacuum pumps, etc.) is quite expensive and requires very stringent safety procedures that are best handled by non-profit and highly regulated industry.
The crude equipment and procedures currently used by the petroleum industry are not adequate.for a direct switch over to hydrogen.