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I've always said Ayn Rand had the luxury of writing fiction which allows the writer to control the outcome no matter how plausible. The problem with Rand's followers is they don't seem to understand this.
Just out of curiosity, did Ayn Rand say what she liked about Hickman was his brutal actions, or his "I don't care about other peoples judgements"? There is a difference, between idealizing a trait vs idealizing actions.
Not that I agree with Ayn Rand's point of views, but I'm just considering that as a fiction writer she's essentially an artist, and perhaps it was the common artistic desire to shock, that brought her to find the fascinating story of Hickman alluring. It seems that she was enamored with the idea of not caring a whit about what other thought about her, and probably was sensitive to exactly that. A sort of opposites attract, type of issue. Seems like she preferred to live in fantasy world, a world in which powerful people are morally aligned and not ultimately corrupt.
Also, what about Leon Straus Thom, he's another right wing wack-a-do from the 50's any thoughts on him?
N
The best refutation of Atlas Shrugged ever:
http://www.angryflower.com/atlass.gif
...the Thing that destroyed those wonderful cultures --
and don't believe the lies -- they were wonderful -- no one seems to remember what it was like to wake up in a sacred world -- where your day was guided by your sense of honor, your intuition, your creativity, your participation in the community, and your love and reverence for the world around you -- and DO Not tell me that World didn't exist -- Ask the Elders -- (those we have not yet killed).... What destroyed that World was the curse of Greed under the bloody name of "Colonialism" ...
And now we are being Colonized ourselves, and oh shock, upon shock -- we do not like it.
Is this what it takes for the World to Wake From History???
Go back to our roots -- what is the purpose of standing on this planet?
To Breath. To See. To Love. To Hear. To Sing Your Song without Fear.
Not to be nit-picky Thom, but the first Apple computers had command line operating systems too. I believe it was the Macintosh that was apples first GUI operating system that Apple produced. Apple's first major contribution to the computer world was making viable and popular home PC's.
N
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011/04/21/the-shocking-collapse-of-the-middle-class.aspx
The collapse of the middle class is upon us.
...still regarding People as Producers of wares for Profit ----
Cogs... in the Machine.
This silly man (James Hirsen? -- was that who you just talked to?) says we need this crazy profit motive to induce people to get off their lazy asses and "produce" MORE and more for the Machine and the "men" at the Top. Bu--sh-t.
What motivated real Men to produce art, music, weaving, dance? What motivated real Women to produce language, community festivals and gardens, exquisite lifestyles wherein every member was valued, every member was treasured -- and every member was regarded as being born an artist, a creative being....
We have let others who are under the spell, make the conversation be about Producing money for the top tier -- what nonsense.
I love the United States of Mortal Sin because our country is so transparent where the vast majority of Americans are fascist-Nazis who seek to enslave and impoverish working and true Christian Americans.
Unless America can be America again, the words below will come to fruition. We are asked to be part of a better world through cooperation, sympathy, love, and connection. We are connected to every human being on this planet whether we like it or not.
Here is a major problem that liberals, progressives, socialists, working Americans, and true Christian Americans face in the United States of Mortal Sin.
We can no longer rely on a party and/or a person for the work to be accomplished. Change can only come from the ground up and the work will have to be accomplished by you and me.
Currently, we are a damned nation because we have turned our backs on God and by 2065 the United States of Mortal Sin will die. It is truly over for our fascist-Nazi country.
The above words are my predictions that are presently upon us and our future awaits us in 2065. AMERICANS WILL GET WHAT THEY TRULY DESERVE! Let me ask you a question! What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and still suffer the loss of his soul?
Thom, with respect to your discussion of privacy and Google, I have a story that reveals the hypocrisy of Google. A member of our Unitarian Fellowship works for a non-profit organization concerned with the internet. He often goes to DC for meetings with congressional staff members. In any case, he thought it would be interesting to test the hypothesis that Google didn't see anything wrong with their policly of lack of privacy. He searched the web for everything unsavory about one of their top executives and posted it. The response from Google was extremely interesting. They called his employer and wanted to have him fired. They called a key sponsor of the non-profit and asked them to stop funding the organization. Both the sponsor and the employer told google no.
Thom, if you have any interest in the names of the people and the organization involved, I can dig them up. If you would like the member of our fellowship as a radio guest, I can talk to him. His wife listens to your show all the time.
Spade! A spade is black isn't it? Wonder where this 'gem' came from? Recesses of the unconcious, maybe?
If statements should as this are being made about Obama, it would strenthen the argument a bit if EXAMPLES could be given about what exactly makes him a Bush. And A Republican.
NLRB is turning away from Bush era pro-corporatist agenda. It's about time.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/21/business/21boeing.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha25
When will it start taking on companies moving jobs out of the country?
Thom, the S&P move appears to have been a corporate slap at President Obama. S&P sided with the merchant banks when it rated junk mortgage securities as AAA. They made a pile of money. "No child left behind" was a give away to the educational testing industry, one of the businesses that S&P parent, McGraw-Hill owns. With the stronger financial regulations and the ending of "No Child", MGH could take a major hit on the bottom line. And this would not make their 'bush pioneer' CEO very happy. S&P accounts for about half of MGH revenue but 85% of its profits. They are trying to reestablish their credibility as the premier rating agency. Rating Uncle Sam is a bold move. Interestingly, Fitch and Moodys did not comment on US creditworthiness. Why would anyone believe a S&P rating?
My take on this is that this meltdown is inevitable.
I would also argue that it is necessary, because unless the current social structure collapses I think that the decline into a police state dominated by the billionaires in which we are all effectively enslaved is the only probable alternative. Either way it is not going to be pretty, and the outcome for those clinging to the vain hope of patching up the sinking ship of this civilisation is less likely to be satisfactory than the outcome for those of us who are already preparing for the transition.
I think the end outcome will be better than the status quo- but we have to be prepared and not be attached to our current realtive wealth and success, and be prepared to act in community minded ways, and to resist authoritarianism at any cost.
Have you forgotten what you wrote in "The Prophet's Way" Thom?
Securities dealers, transfer agents and patent attorneys are the reason we have come to this point. They allowed the criminal element and enemies into banking and insurance institutions.
Arms manufacturers and industrial polluters who make us sick now own the hospital and medicine needed to cure us, and control who can pay for treatment. Combined with subtle continual germ warfare, guaranteed acceleration of alcohol and drug addictions, and more guns on the street, many more humans can be weeded out so there is more acreage for those who can afford to enjoy the clean and lovely parts of the planet, and tenement housing in the bottomlands for those who are willing to serve them.
XXXXX
.Moving Supplies The name "Linux" comes from the Linux kernel, originally written in 1991 by Linus Torvalds. The main supporting user space system tools and libraries from the GNU Project (announced in 1983 by Richard Stallman) are the basis for the Free Software Foundation's preferred name GNU/Linux
until the left can be honest, this includes thom, and is prepared to heave obama in the trash, there won't be any thinking. the man is bush, and yet the "left" continues to praise him with feint damns. yes the republicans are psychopaths, and yes also the president capitulates to psychopaths. and when the left refuses to call a spade a spade? what would an enlightened man call that?!
Instead of quoting Hedges here, do YOU have any personal insights?
My own insight - we dug the hole we are in, we can dig ourselves out of it!
Optimism, not pessimisim, is the key. Education another. And critical thinking a must.
To endlessly quote some one else is only being a slave to the other - think for yourself. That is another problem with America - we watch way too much media, passively, and can no longer think for ourselves.
I say you take Hedges and heave in the trash can and think for yourself for once. Who knows, it may be enlightening!
"Life is not only about us. We can never have justice until our neighbor has justice. And we can never recover our freedom until we are willing to sacrifice our comfort for open rebellion. The president has failed us. The Congress has failed us. The courts have failed us. The press has failed us. The universities have failed us. Our process of electoral democracy has failed us. There are no structures or institutions left that have not been contaminated or destroyed by corporations. And this means it is up to us. Civil disobedience, which will entail hardship and suffering, which will be long and difficult, which at its core means self-sacrifice, is the only mechanism left."
-Chris Hedges
http://www.truthdig.com/report/print/blocking_the_gates_to_the_temples_of_finance_20110418/
"When Dante enters the “city of woes” in the Inferno he hears the cries of “those whose lives earned neither honor nor bad fame,” those rejected by Heaven and Hell, those who dedicated their lives solely to the pursuit of happiness. These are all the “good” people, the ones who never made a fuss, who filled their lives with vain and empty pursuits, harmless perhaps, to amuse themselves, who never took a stand for anything, never risked anything, who went along. They never looked hard at their lives, never felt the need, never wanted to look."
"Those who chase the glittering rainbows of the consumer society, who buy into the perverted ideology of consumer culture, become, as Dante knew, moral cowards. They are indoctrinated by our corporate systems of information and remain passive as our legislative, executive and judicial branches of government—tools of the corporate state—strip us of the capacity to resist. Democrat or Republican. Liberal or conservative. It makes no difference now. Barack Obama serves corporate interests as assiduously as did George W. Bush. And to place our faith in any party or established institution as a mechanism for reform is to be entranced by the celluloid shadows on the wall of Plato’s cave."
- Chris Hedges
http://www.truthdig.com/report/print/blocking_the_gates_to_the_temples_of_finance_20110418/
God has nothing to do with it. People Do! We have a LOT more votes than a few thousand rich fascists!
Education. Critical thinking.
And may I add, stop listening to FOX Noise, CNN and all of the rest of corporate own media!
The only only corporate media outlet that makes any sense today is MSNBC. After all, they even criticized their parent Company GE of making Billions while paying no taxes! Any other corporate media do that?
You are correct. Social Security is NOT broke. In fact, it is the MOST secure pension fund there is in the world!
The fear mongers and the corporate fascists want that money to play wall street.
Education. Critical Thinking. You have this, you can fight the wing bats and the fascist ideologues who want to destroy this country.
Education. Critical Thinking. Not platitudes and truisms.
Exactly! see my previous post.
Education. Critical Thinking.
We don't need to declare war on the rich. We need to better educate ourselves as to how we can so easily be led by the nose by the fascist owned media and corporate superrich - the people vote, not the corporate elite!
Solve the problem of critical thinking and you solve the problem of how we can solve our problems.
When you see a people who are so willing to vote against their own self interest, you see a people ripe for the corporate fascist takeover of America.
Education. Critical Thinking. That is the answer.
Maybe you are sniffing a bit too much moondust here? Come on, lets be a bit more creative here - Moonwalker!