Sunday, February 28, 2010
I haven't seen her in 18 years
My best friends know that I have two daughters, not one. Besides my dear Livy who lives with me, I've got a daughter by a relationship from a woman in Houston in the middle 1980s.
I found out about that daughter, Katie Rose, over a steak dinner when Katie was a couple of weeks old. I didn't know that her mother, Dawn, had been pregnant because we'd broken up after just a couple of months together and I had moved back to Dallas, TX, to finish college.
Dawn left Katie with me for a couple of months soon afterward as I finished my studies. Dawn went back to Houston to get her life together a bit. I and my family became close to Katie. Dawn wanted to marry me, and I did not want to marry her. So, she took Katie back to Houston and said I'd never see her again.
I was dirt poor at the time and got a dirt-poor-man's cheap attorney to try to get some kind of custody. Dawn's family had money and got a good attorney. They fought me with delays for more than 4 years before I could finally get to court against them. Meanwhile, Dawn told Katie that her father was dead.
While the case was being tried in court, the judge took grocery orders from her daughter over the phone at the bench. My attorney was worth every penny I paid him, so I took over the speaking at the hearing and told him to sit quietly. The "judge" gave me only 2 days of visitation each month and told me to pay child support, which I could not afford but paid.
Dawn refused to allow me access to Katie but gladly cashed my checks. I moved to Houston from Dallas to be close to Katie, but Dawn continued to refuse me access, knowing that I didn't have the money to take her back to court to obey a court order. I lived with my best friend in Houston while trying to see Katie. My best friend had become depressed over the previous year from various things and killed himself. I found him. He had used a shotgun.
I moved back to Dallas to finish my last semesters at college and try to save money to take Dawn back to court. She sensed that I was not going to give up, so she moved to Bradenton, Florida, to be near her parents and be farther from me. My step-father worked for American Airlines and allowed me to use and pay for his $40 passes to fly to Florida once a month for my visitation, which was supposed to comprise my getting Katie for an entire weekend.
Dawn finally relented and "allowed" me to have Katie during the day on one weekend's Saturday and Sunday each month.
And so Katie and I saw each other. She was, obviously, shy at first and tentative. My first weekends with her were spent at Dawn's because Katie didn't feel comfortable with me away from their home. We played "doll house" many times and other games. After a few months, she was ready to roll out and do other things. We went roller-skating, played on the beach, took lots of photos (she loved the camera), ate lots of food, talked a lot. I let her drive my car in church parking lots, one thing she thrilled over when we met.
And so we got close, though she never called me dad. I was David. We had a year and a half together. Then one day after we drove in the church parking lot, we sat in the car laughing. She was 6.5 years old. She then asked me the question that led to my not seeing her for 18 years.
"David, where do you go to church."
"Well, I don't go to church."
"Why don't you go to church."
"It's not really my thing."
"Why not?" (kids don't settle for equivocations, eh?)
"Well, I've got a different idea about all that than most people."
"I don't understand."
"Well, some people believe in god and some people don't."
"Do you believe in god?" (she was nonchalant)
"No, I don't."
(long pause) "Why not?"
"I just don't think there is one, Katie."
"Oh, OK." (still nonchalant)
Then we talked about a lot of stuff and moved on. When I took her back to her mom's, she happily hopped out of the car and said goodbye. I waited until she was in the house safely. Before I left the driveway, I reached for something on the floorboard. When I arose to back out of the driveway, I saw Dawn running from the house toward me with her face swollen beet red and furious.
She came to my window and let loose: "Don't you EVER tell my child that there isn't a god! Jesus Christ is EVERYTHING to her! Everything! Do you understand?! ... You will NEVER EVER see her again! Ever!"
Dawn ran back in the house. I sat there for a moment taking it in, wondering what I would do, knowing I had no leverage and no money and knowing I had just been confronted by a madwoman who was the mother of a little girl I was becoming extremely fond of -- and who looked exactly like a girl version of me.
I drove home slowly, sadly and quietly. I had just gotten married to Daniela a few months previous. She and I were starting our own lives together. We'd planned to have children (we didn't and got divorced five years later). Before I made up my mind on what to do concerning Katie, I wanted to talk with her. I called almost daily and hung up the phone if Dawn answered.
Finally, one day Katie answered. When I told her it was me, she said nonchalantly, "Mamma, it's David" and put down the phone for Dawn to pick up. I hung up and realized any attempt to have a relationship with Katie would mean years more of court battles that I again would most likely lose. I realized that I would be getting the lamb's share of time with Katie, thereby having little influence and little satisfaction. I realized that I had not won Katie far enough over to my cause, despite our fun times together.
So I made a decision to walk away. For three years, I wrote long letters to her that were never answered. I sent gifts to her for her birthday and Christmas. I've kept copies of all of my letters to hopefully show her one day. I plan to try to find her again soon and hope that she was not entirely brainwashed by a midwestern family with "family values." I hope she has some of my spirit, my independence, my benevolence, my curiosity and candor about life. I think she may. She sure did when she and I hit it off with our teasing and fun and play and talk.
In the photo above, Katie was 5 years old. Tomorrow, March 1, she turns 25.
I miss her.
Senator calls for investigation of Al Gore -- finally!
Check out this PJTV interview with Sen. Inhofe of Oklahoma. He's been denouncing so-called anthropocentric global warming for years, and finally people are listening since the United Nations, Al Gore and other scoundrels have proved to be falsifiers, liars and demagogues on the issue.
Hang the fat bastard up by his wretched toes in Antarctica after sentencing!
Hang the fat bastard up by his wretched toes in Antarctica after sentencing!
I fell for the slimy bastard's trick
I usually have a good nose for frauds, but one recently caught me off-guard concerning my Paypal account. I clicked on the link before I'd really thought about what they were saying. Luckily, I'd been smart enough to have the excellent anti-virus software AVG on my computer, and it warned me that the site could not be trusted.
I breathed a sigh of relief and thanked those tech wizards at AVG for possibly saving my computer AND my Paypal account from being emptied. The thing that I should've noticed (and usually check) was that the originating email address was cleverly named "automailer928702385738@ppl.com" (instead of ...paypal.com) and the subject line was even more clever, stating "personalpaypalaccout26835@paypal.com," which of course caught my eye instead of the originating email address.
I wish we had an objective government that would go after these attempted fraudsters instead of the people putting drugs into their own bodies.
Here's the slimy bastard's email:
_____________________
Dear PayPal customer,
We recently reviewed your account, and suspect that your personal account may have been accessed from an unauthorized computer. This may be due to changes in your IP address or location. Protecting the security of your account and of the PayPal network is our primary concern.
We are asking you to immediately login and update your personal account information , and check you account profile to make sure no changes have been made.
Please click the following link, to verify your account activity:
http://www.paypal.com/Secure-Account-Update/Verify-Identity-Sequence/step01.php
We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause, and appreciate your assistance in helping us maintaining the integrity of the entire PayPal system. Please login as soon as possible.
Thank you,
PayPal Security Advisor.
I breathed a sigh of relief and thanked those tech wizards at AVG for possibly saving my computer AND my Paypal account from being emptied. The thing that I should've noticed (and usually check) was that the originating email address was cleverly named "automailer928702385738@ppl.com" (instead of ...paypal.com) and the subject line was even more clever, stating "personalpaypalaccout26835@paypal.com," which of course caught my eye instead of the originating email address.
I wish we had an objective government that would go after these attempted fraudsters instead of the people putting drugs into their own bodies.
Here's the slimy bastard's email:
_____________________
Dear PayPal customer,
We recently reviewed your account, and suspect that your personal account may have been accessed from an unauthorized computer. This may be due to changes in your IP address or location. Protecting the security of your account and of the PayPal network is our primary concern.
We are asking you to immediately login and update your personal account information , and check you account profile to make sure no changes have been made.
Please click the following link, to verify your account activity:
http://www.paypal.com/Secure-Account-Update/Verify-Identity-Sequence/step01.php
We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause, and appreciate your assistance in helping us maintaining the integrity of the entire PayPal system. Please login as soon as possible.
Thank you,
PayPal Security Advisor.
My daughter, the revolutionary "nutcase"
My ex-wife Kelly sent me THIS LINK, in which our daughter, Livy, and two of her friends (and Kelly) were shown in a picture as an example of the "nutcases" in the world espousing Ayn Rand's ideas and not giving a shit about the "downtrodden."
When you go to the link, scroll down to the 8th picture. Livy is holding the pink sign that reads "Ayn Rand Was Right," and her two friends Morgan and Ryan are to her left. Kelly is standing at right.
I must say that I'm now jealous that my lovely daughter has exploded upon the scene of the revolution as an example of evil BEFORE I did.
God, I'm a proud father!!
When you go to the link, scroll down to the 8th picture. Livy is holding the pink sign that reads "Ayn Rand Was Right," and her two friends Morgan and Ryan are to her left. Kelly is standing at right.
I must say that I'm now jealous that my lovely daughter has exploded upon the scene of the revolution as an example of evil BEFORE I did.
God, I'm a proud father!!
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Proud to be Beachbody independent coach
One of the network-marketing companies I work with has become the 6th-ranked such company in the United States, and I'm proud to be a part of their success.
It's name is Beachbody, and HERE is the ranking.
Beachbody's two top sellers are Tony Horton's P90X and Shawn T's Insanity workouts. These are phenomenal products that I use to keep myself in top condition. And as an independent coach, I make money off the sale of these products and off of the independent coaches I bring to the company as well.
Multi-level marketing is the wave of future selling. That isn't just me talking; it's also Warren Buffett, Robert Kiyosaki and Donald Trump, among other very wealthy and savvy businessmen. It's a way to work with others and earn dividends off of them because you have brought them to the table of the business. What an ingenious method for doing business.
Bring it!!!
It's name is Beachbody, and HERE is the ranking.
Beachbody's two top sellers are Tony Horton's P90X and Shawn T's Insanity workouts. These are phenomenal products that I use to keep myself in top condition. And as an independent coach, I make money off the sale of these products and off of the independent coaches I bring to the company as well.
Multi-level marketing is the wave of future selling. That isn't just me talking; it's also Warren Buffett, Robert Kiyosaki and Donald Trump, among other very wealthy and savvy businessmen. It's a way to work with others and earn dividends off of them because you have brought them to the table of the business. What an ingenious method for doing business.
Bring it!!!
Cause and effect: Quakes and U.S. robbery
An earthquake of unimaginable force struck Chile early this morning (8.8 on Richter scale) -- and the first thing I thought about right after my jaw dropped was "How much will my government steal from me for the 'poor people in Chile'?"
(It's like seeing the fat welfare queen chowing down on ice cream and knowing that your hard-earned money is paying for the ice cream and her dialysis afterward.)
The quake is another instance in which honest empathy of those hit by death and destruction is pre-empted by worry over the coercive cause and effect the disaster sets in motion like a shockwave. Who could've imagined 3,000 years ago that a quake many thousands of miles away from home would somehow turn one's own government against his liberty and wealth?
Enter coercive altruism and the nightmare that is now the American government. Worldwide tragedy now gives our American presidents the opportunity to play Jesus and Caesar at once.
My heart still goes out to the people in Chile. Few modern buildings, even, could withstand that type of natural destruction. The horrible irony of our century-long coercive altruism is that had it not existed and had Americans had the liberty they had in the 19th century, the amount of money Americans would be sending to friends and family in Chile from America would be 10 times what will be sent now.
That's a tragedy of even greater magnitude that we liberty-lovers plan to address and fix in the next 20 years.
(It's like seeing the fat welfare queen chowing down on ice cream and knowing that your hard-earned money is paying for the ice cream and her dialysis afterward.)
The quake is another instance in which honest empathy of those hit by death and destruction is pre-empted by worry over the coercive cause and effect the disaster sets in motion like a shockwave. Who could've imagined 3,000 years ago that a quake many thousands of miles away from home would somehow turn one's own government against his liberty and wealth?
Enter coercive altruism and the nightmare that is now the American government. Worldwide tragedy now gives our American presidents the opportunity to play Jesus and Caesar at once.
My heart still goes out to the people in Chile. Few modern buildings, even, could withstand that type of natural destruction. The horrible irony of our century-long coercive altruism is that had it not existed and had Americans had the liberty they had in the 19th century, the amount of money Americans would be sending to friends and family in Chile from America would be 10 times what will be sent now.
That's a tragedy of even greater magnitude that we liberty-lovers plan to address and fix in the next 20 years.
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
"Jocks" in high school become cops
During their 6 years in high school, the jocks spent all their time with "cool" people and went out of their way to get others out of their way so they wouldn't have to rub shoulders with the grungy, the poor, the potheads, the huddled masses -- the UNcool.
And then the jocks become cops, and who do they spend all of their time talking to and arresting?
The grungy, the poor, the potheads and the huddled masses.
Tell me there ain't cosmic justice!!
The TV program "Cops" is low-brow. I love it. I used to catch it from time to time. And even though my brain kept telling my finger to hit the "channel" button on the remote control, the finger would go low-brow and not budge.
You'd see these huge former-linebackers towering over some poor wretch with glazed eyes in a beat-up car. The cop's got a stony look on his face and you almost expect him to shout, "I'm going to squash you like the puny, little, pothead, loser ant that your are and always will be!"
And the poor wretch in the car is, like, "Uhuh, NOW the bastard has to talk to me! Let's see how long I can get him to wait while I try to find my registration."
And then the jocks become cops, and who do they spend all of their time talking to and arresting?
The grungy, the poor, the potheads and the huddled masses.
Tell me there ain't cosmic justice!!
The TV program "Cops" is low-brow. I love it. I used to catch it from time to time. And even though my brain kept telling my finger to hit the "channel" button on the remote control, the finger would go low-brow and not budge.
You'd see these huge former-linebackers towering over some poor wretch with glazed eyes in a beat-up car. The cop's got a stony look on his face and you almost expect him to shout, "I'm going to squash you like the puny, little, pothead, loser ant that your are and always will be!"
And the poor wretch in the car is, like, "Uhuh, NOW the bastard has to talk to me! Let's see how long I can get him to wait while I try to find my registration."
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Smaller brains, bigger feet, blue eyes
I was having a discussion with a friend a couple of months ago about evolution and said that I didn't think the human body would evolve much because there are no longer any pockets of humanity in which giant spurts in evolution usually occur.
A wonderful article in today's Wall Street Journal confirms this, but it also surprised me on how the human body has evolved over the last 10,000 years. Here are some of the startling facts:
* Our brains have shrunk 10% over the last 5,000 years (I thought it had just been the species known as "liberal" and "Sarah Palin")
* Blue eyes were unknown until about 10,000 years ago, when a mutation occurred in the Baltic. More than 500,000 million people have them now, and their benefit is unclear to scientists.
* Scientists don't know when humans lost their ape hair (though the hair in Keith Ubermann's teeth has been proven to be from ObaMa's pubic region).
* The dark African skin began to disappear from homo sapiens who left Africa about 50,000 years ago. The lighter skin allows for more Vitamin D in altitudes with less direct sunlight.
* Protruding brow ridges receded about 3,000 years ago (and are now found only on Ubermann, who uses extensive MSNBC cosmetic cash accounts to disguise them)
* The gene to tolerate lactose arose in Europe about 7,000 years ago and spread rapidly because it allowed another food source. It is now found in 90% of people with European ancestry.
* The coccyx at the bottom of the spine used to be a tail, as we know, but it causes many disc problems in humans.
* 80% of Asians have dry earwax, whose benefit is unknown to scientists.
* 20% of humans can wiggle their ears, a vestige of primate ear moving to better hear sounds around them. Hey, Julie, my friend, can't you move your ears, you pretty ape chick?! (Boy, am I going to get killed for that one!)
* The gene for coarse hair is spreading through Asia, for unknown reasons.
* Our goose bumps are vestigial. On ape bodies they occurred to raise hair in cold or fear conditions.
* The appendix are vestigial and once housed good bacteria for digestion, but modern humans didn't need that bacteria anymore.
* In just the past 100 years, the size of men's and women's feet have increased by four shoe sizes (geeky scientists obviously don't know that you NEVER tell a woman she's got big feet)
* The human skull has gotten rounder and thinner in the last 10,000 years; we no longer needed it much to protect us from caveman clubs.
* Human jaws have shrunk faster than teeth in the last 20,000 years, making for overcrowding.
Oh, I almost forgot to mention that the WSJ story also mentions that 44% of Americans in a Gallup Poll last year said that a god made us in our present form in the last 10,000 years. (that percentage also conforms with the percentage of people who like the species known as Sarah Palin)
No doubt that that 44% will not decrease with the release of this latest information. Maybe it's those damned smaller brains.
A wonderful article in today's Wall Street Journal confirms this, but it also surprised me on how the human body has evolved over the last 10,000 years. Here are some of the startling facts:
* Our brains have shrunk 10% over the last 5,000 years (I thought it had just been the species known as "liberal" and "Sarah Palin")
* Blue eyes were unknown until about 10,000 years ago, when a mutation occurred in the Baltic. More than 500,000 million people have them now, and their benefit is unclear to scientists.
* Scientists don't know when humans lost their ape hair (though the hair in Keith Ubermann's teeth has been proven to be from ObaMa's pubic region).
* The dark African skin began to disappear from homo sapiens who left Africa about 50,000 years ago. The lighter skin allows for more Vitamin D in altitudes with less direct sunlight.
* Protruding brow ridges receded about 3,000 years ago (and are now found only on Ubermann, who uses extensive MSNBC cosmetic cash accounts to disguise them)
* The gene to tolerate lactose arose in Europe about 7,000 years ago and spread rapidly because it allowed another food source. It is now found in 90% of people with European ancestry.
* The coccyx at the bottom of the spine used to be a tail, as we know, but it causes many disc problems in humans.
* 80% of Asians have dry earwax, whose benefit is unknown to scientists.
* 20% of humans can wiggle their ears, a vestige of primate ear moving to better hear sounds around them. Hey, Julie, my friend, can't you move your ears, you pretty ape chick?! (Boy, am I going to get killed for that one!)
* The gene for coarse hair is spreading through Asia, for unknown reasons.
* Our goose bumps are vestigial. On ape bodies they occurred to raise hair in cold or fear conditions.
* The appendix are vestigial and once housed good bacteria for digestion, but modern humans didn't need that bacteria anymore.
* In just the past 100 years, the size of men's and women's feet have increased by four shoe sizes (geeky scientists obviously don't know that you NEVER tell a woman she's got big feet)
* The human skull has gotten rounder and thinner in the last 10,000 years; we no longer needed it much to protect us from caveman clubs.
* Human jaws have shrunk faster than teeth in the last 20,000 years, making for overcrowding.
Oh, I almost forgot to mention that the WSJ story also mentions that 44% of Americans in a Gallup Poll last year said that a god made us in our present form in the last 10,000 years. (that percentage also conforms with the percentage of people who like the species known as Sarah Palin)
No doubt that that 44% will not decrease with the release of this latest information. Maybe it's those damned smaller brains.
In praise of crashing plane into IRS in Texas
Joe Stack is a hero.
After being pilloried, bankrupted, robbed, hounded and probed by an outlaw institution that goes by the acronym IRS, Mr. Stack took his own life and the life of an IRS collaborator in a fiery plane crash last Thursday.
Yesterday, his daughter called him a hero for his ideas but not for going through with his ideas by killing one or more of his robbers. She is mistaken. The man that Mr. Stack killed willingly worked for an outlaw crime syndicate.
Mr. Stack was on the vanguard of a revolution against an outlaw government in the United States -- one that no longer honors individual rights to life, property and free movement.
America has become Third World, in which elections are simply a mockery of "constitutionalism." We no longer have a liberty constitution. We have a Thugocracy elected into despotic power by its graft-taking minions. One of the primary means that our Thugocracy uses to perpetuate itself is immoral taxation, with its right-hand collection thug: the IRS.
As I wrote yesterday, our government is no different now than a mafia. Would any of you have had a problem with Mr. Stack's violent action had he been getting bullied, robbed and hounded by an all-powerful and menacing mafia? Would you have had a problem with one of the mafia's thugs getting killed in the plane crash?
If not, then decide for yourself if our America has become a mafia. If yes, then you must hold Stack up as a hero. Ayn Rand once said that as long as the media is free, then perhaps revolution isn't necessary, perhaps we still have enough liberty. But our media have become the government mafia's consiliere, its abettor. It no longer protects us. It, in fact, seeks special privileges while advocating the oppression of other businesses and individual rights.
Remember Barry Goldwater's aphorism: "Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice and ... moderation in the pursuit of liberty is no virtue."
Mr. Stack was an extremist for liberty.
He wasn't a lunatic. I'm not a lunatic.
And we aren't moderates either. I have no plans to do as Mr. Stack did -- yet. I will attempt persuasion of my fellow Americans for the time-being. But if the fascism accelerates, I will have no choice but to take up arms. You will, too.
Our Founding Fathers fought and killed because of taxation without representation. America now has immoral taxation with immoral representation.
May Mr. Stack rest in peace.
After being pilloried, bankrupted, robbed, hounded and probed by an outlaw institution that goes by the acronym IRS, Mr. Stack took his own life and the life of an IRS collaborator in a fiery plane crash last Thursday.
Yesterday, his daughter called him a hero for his ideas but not for going through with his ideas by killing one or more of his robbers. She is mistaken. The man that Mr. Stack killed willingly worked for an outlaw crime syndicate.
Mr. Stack was on the vanguard of a revolution against an outlaw government in the United States -- one that no longer honors individual rights to life, property and free movement.
America has become Third World, in which elections are simply a mockery of "constitutionalism." We no longer have a liberty constitution. We have a Thugocracy elected into despotic power by its graft-taking minions. One of the primary means that our Thugocracy uses to perpetuate itself is immoral taxation, with its right-hand collection thug: the IRS.
As I wrote yesterday, our government is no different now than a mafia. Would any of you have had a problem with Mr. Stack's violent action had he been getting bullied, robbed and hounded by an all-powerful and menacing mafia? Would you have had a problem with one of the mafia's thugs getting killed in the plane crash?
If not, then decide for yourself if our America has become a mafia. If yes, then you must hold Stack up as a hero. Ayn Rand once said that as long as the media is free, then perhaps revolution isn't necessary, perhaps we still have enough liberty. But our media have become the government mafia's consiliere, its abettor. It no longer protects us. It, in fact, seeks special privileges while advocating the oppression of other businesses and individual rights.
Remember Barry Goldwater's aphorism: "Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice and ... moderation in the pursuit of liberty is no virtue."
Mr. Stack was an extremist for liberty.
He wasn't a lunatic. I'm not a lunatic.
And we aren't moderates either. I have no plans to do as Mr. Stack did -- yet. I will attempt persuasion of my fellow Americans for the time-being. But if the fascism accelerates, I will have no choice but to take up arms. You will, too.
Our Founding Fathers fought and killed because of taxation without representation. America now has immoral taxation with immoral representation.
May Mr. Stack rest in peace.
Journalistic "neutrality" and the American Titanic
I need not hold court on how the Left has co-opted 90% of the media outlets in America. But you gotta giggle when sniffs like Keith Ubermann and other Lefties complain that Fox News is not objective. Yeah, OK, and neither are you sniffs.
Let's take a look at what a truly objective media would look like.
"Objective" means not only looking at the facts of reality (objects), it also means looking at those facts with a mind that has already formed an objective apparatus, a rational apparatus -- a mind that has already cleansed itself of irrationality, of non-objectivity, of false presumptions, of undigested beliefs. It means the development of a mind that is always focused on reality, understands the efficacy of the human mind, has integrated how rational ethics guide our lives, and knows that in the realm of politics humans must be completely free of coercion (the initiation of force) and that governments have one duty and one duty only: to protect individual rights to life, limb and property.
So, an objective media would comprise such rational individuals whose only proper mantra can be to rationally protect and/or inform and/or entertain.
That means not just regurgitating what is happening in the world (the alleged media neutrality to news); it means rationally dissecting what is happening and then couching their stories in the form of protection, information and entertainment.
For instance, on the Iraqi war, the media would inform us as to what George Bush was doing in his irrational pursuit of a red herring (Hussein) and objectively evaluating what a rational president *should* be doing: protecting American citizens here and abroad from coercion. The media could bring its formidable powers to play to pressure Bush into making the right decisions: such as wiping out the rogue regimes around the world with American air weaponry, thereby saving the lives of thousands of American soldiers.
For instance, on government, the media should be informing us of the fascist charades to bilk Americans of their money and hegemony: health care "reform," pollution regulation, free prescriptions for the elderly, "Social Security," "welfare," "Medicaid," national-park ownership, all regulations, all government ownership of land, eminent domain violations, all licensing for activities, drug laws, tax breaks for churches and others, taxation, etc. The media should be relentlessly pounding the government daily on these issues.
For instance, on altruism, the media should blast any and all attempts at self-sacrifice and promote rational egoism. It should shame those who attempt to aggrandize themselves via "selfless" attempts to help others (Haiti, soup kitchens, homeless shelters, Third World relief programs, Katrina "victims," ghetto construction, etc.) If you read the obituary section of most newspapers, the deceased person highlighted most often "gave back" or "was selfless in the community." Tripe.
For instance, on business, the media should staunchly promote unmitigated capitalism, which honors private property. It should hound those who promote any form of socialism, fascism, communism, political altruism, redistributionism. The media should hold foremost in their minds the defense of private property and individualism, and therefore the ownership of private businesses. It should laud businessmen for their ethical desire to create and make money; it should hold these men and women up as ideals, as heroes. Steve Jobs of Apple should be a god. The media should devote their obituary pieces to these great people.
For instance, on art, the media should laud romantic realism, the "ought" in human endeavor, the glory of humankind -- not abstract psychosis, gutter "music," macabre cinema, cynical expression, dour endings, noire "atmosphere." It should be on the lookout always for those things of beauty that remind all of us happy humans what life is and can be. It should excoriate 95% of what Hollywood, the music industry and modern authors defecate onto the American landscape. It should uphold complexity and subtlety in the pursuit of high-minded expression.
Instead of the above, we have a canny Left that attempts to conceal its philosophical agenda beneath the veneer of "neutrality" or, more laughably, "objectivity" while it curries favor with the despots. It prints "neutral" stories daily on the encroachments against liberty and individual rights, as if the media were blithely reshuffling chairs on the Titanic.
The media need to become extremists for the cause of individual rights. That is their rightly place in American history. Let's remind the media of Barry Goldwater's aphorism:
"Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice and ... moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue."
Indeed. And neutrality as the American Titanic heads for the socialist iceberg is no virtue.
Let's take a look at what a truly objective media would look like.
"Objective" means not only looking at the facts of reality (objects), it also means looking at those facts with a mind that has already formed an objective apparatus, a rational apparatus -- a mind that has already cleansed itself of irrationality, of non-objectivity, of false presumptions, of undigested beliefs. It means the development of a mind that is always focused on reality, understands the efficacy of the human mind, has integrated how rational ethics guide our lives, and knows that in the realm of politics humans must be completely free of coercion (the initiation of force) and that governments have one duty and one duty only: to protect individual rights to life, limb and property.
So, an objective media would comprise such rational individuals whose only proper mantra can be to rationally protect and/or inform and/or entertain.
That means not just regurgitating what is happening in the world (the alleged media neutrality to news); it means rationally dissecting what is happening and then couching their stories in the form of protection, information and entertainment.
For instance, on the Iraqi war, the media would inform us as to what George Bush was doing in his irrational pursuit of a red herring (Hussein) and objectively evaluating what a rational president *should* be doing: protecting American citizens here and abroad from coercion. The media could bring its formidable powers to play to pressure Bush into making the right decisions: such as wiping out the rogue regimes around the world with American air weaponry, thereby saving the lives of thousands of American soldiers.
For instance, on government, the media should be informing us of the fascist charades to bilk Americans of their money and hegemony: health care "reform," pollution regulation, free prescriptions for the elderly, "Social Security," "welfare," "Medicaid," national-park ownership, all regulations, all government ownership of land, eminent domain violations, all licensing for activities, drug laws, tax breaks for churches and others, taxation, etc. The media should be relentlessly pounding the government daily on these issues.
For instance, on altruism, the media should blast any and all attempts at self-sacrifice and promote rational egoism. It should shame those who attempt to aggrandize themselves via "selfless" attempts to help others (Haiti, soup kitchens, homeless shelters, Third World relief programs, Katrina "victims," ghetto construction, etc.) If you read the obituary section of most newspapers, the deceased person highlighted most often "gave back" or "was selfless in the community." Tripe.
For instance, on business, the media should staunchly promote unmitigated capitalism, which honors private property. It should hound those who promote any form of socialism, fascism, communism, political altruism, redistributionism. The media should hold foremost in their minds the defense of private property and individualism, and therefore the ownership of private businesses. It should laud businessmen for their ethical desire to create and make money; it should hold these men and women up as ideals, as heroes. Steve Jobs of Apple should be a god. The media should devote their obituary pieces to these great people.
For instance, on art, the media should laud romantic realism, the "ought" in human endeavor, the glory of humankind -- not abstract psychosis, gutter "music," macabre cinema, cynical expression, dour endings, noire "atmosphere." It should be on the lookout always for those things of beauty that remind all of us happy humans what life is and can be. It should excoriate 95% of what Hollywood, the music industry and modern authors defecate onto the American landscape. It should uphold complexity and subtlety in the pursuit of high-minded expression.
Instead of the above, we have a canny Left that attempts to conceal its philosophical agenda beneath the veneer of "neutrality" or, more laughably, "objectivity" while it curries favor with the despots. It prints "neutral" stories daily on the encroachments against liberty and individual rights, as if the media were blithely reshuffling chairs on the Titanic.
The media need to become extremists for the cause of individual rights. That is their rightly place in American history. Let's remind the media of Barry Goldwater's aphorism:
"Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice and ... moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue."
Indeed. And neutrality as the American Titanic heads for the socialist iceberg is no virtue.
"Global warming" and private property
Walter Williams has written another good piece on global warming.
But, like all such columns, it misses the fundamental problem with alleged global warming politics: the failure to honor private property.
Individuals and corporations (owned by individuals) have a right to operate their properties as they please. If another person or corporation believes that the operation of that property is causing harm to the other's property, then they can file a claim in a judicial court against the the allegedly offending company.
With alleged global warming, this would mean filing a suit against companies that expel CO2 (or whatever "pollutant"). In court, it would be up to the plaintiff to make a case that (A) global warming is real and caused by humans, (B) that that warming is significantly harming the plaintiff's property and (C) that the defendant is contributing a substantial-enough portion of the pollutants to be held accountable.
It would, of course, be virtually impossible to bring such claims. They could not be proven, and that is one reason that the Left attempts to circumvent the courts with legislation based upon decrees by politicians and corrupt scientists -- to enact their fascist philosophies by fiat.
Take us back to fundamentals, Mr. Williams. Let's start the conversation there.
But, like all such columns, it misses the fundamental problem with alleged global warming politics: the failure to honor private property.
Individuals and corporations (owned by individuals) have a right to operate their properties as they please. If another person or corporation believes that the operation of that property is causing harm to the other's property, then they can file a claim in a judicial court against the the allegedly offending company.
With alleged global warming, this would mean filing a suit against companies that expel CO2 (or whatever "pollutant"). In court, it would be up to the plaintiff to make a case that (A) global warming is real and caused by humans, (B) that that warming is significantly harming the plaintiff's property and (C) that the defendant is contributing a substantial-enough portion of the pollutants to be held accountable.
It would, of course, be virtually impossible to bring such claims. They could not be proven, and that is one reason that the Left attempts to circumvent the courts with legislation based upon decrees by politicians and corrupt scientists -- to enact their fascist philosophies by fiat.
Take us back to fundamentals, Mr. Williams. Let's start the conversation there.
Sunday, February 21, 2010
If it was the "mafia," would you fight?
"A rose by any other name is still a rose."
The mafia by any other name is still the mafia.
If mafia took 50% of your money at the point of a gun and the mafia had the police force and military on its side, would you fight?
If that were all it did, you might hesitate. But what if it also told you that you can or cannot (with or without its permission) drive your car, get important medicine, fly on airplanes, take down your mailbox, fish, hunt, buy a gun, take down trees in "your" yard, make changes to "your" house, obtain milk straight from the cow, bury your loved ones in "your" yard, grow marijuana, kill yourself, buy liquor on Sundays, be naked in "your" yard, have sex in your car, put signs in "your" yard, drive a boat, take $6,000 in cash from your bank account, buy racy music or videos, go to a foreign country, drive fast, start your own business, hire whichever workers you desire, pay your workers what you and they agree on, text while driving, etc.?
What if the mafia demanded that you be branded with a number -- a 9-digit number -- so that it could track you now and your past movements anytime it wished?
Would you fight the mafia? Be honest. Would you fight the mafia if it took half your money and monitored or forbade all of the above in your daily life?
Yes, if you've got any cajones (pardon me, ladies), you would fight!
Government in America is now the mafia. It doesn't get its power from La Cosa Nostra. It gets its power from gullible and/or corrupt citizens, who demand that it commit these transgressions against you by fiat every day of your life.
So, how do you fight?
First, prepare your mind -- the body will follow. Read Ayn Rand. Read all of Ayn Rand. Integrate her ideas. Become a rational force of nature. Acquire a brilliant, clear mind that demands liberty, that joins me and others in our demands for liberty. Do it now. The sooner you become rational, the sooner you, I, our friends, and all our brothers and sisters in liberty are free in our pursuit of happiness.
Let's bury this wretched mafia once and for all -- and let's party on their graves!
The mafia by any other name is still the mafia.
If mafia took 50% of your money at the point of a gun and the mafia had the police force and military on its side, would you fight?
If that were all it did, you might hesitate. But what if it also told you that you can or cannot (with or without its permission) drive your car, get important medicine, fly on airplanes, take down your mailbox, fish, hunt, buy a gun, take down trees in "your" yard, make changes to "your" house, obtain milk straight from the cow, bury your loved ones in "your" yard, grow marijuana, kill yourself, buy liquor on Sundays, be naked in "your" yard, have sex in your car, put signs in "your" yard, drive a boat, take $6,000 in cash from your bank account, buy racy music or videos, go to a foreign country, drive fast, start your own business, hire whichever workers you desire, pay your workers what you and they agree on, text while driving, etc.?
What if the mafia demanded that you be branded with a number -- a 9-digit number -- so that it could track you now and your past movements anytime it wished?
Would you fight the mafia? Be honest. Would you fight the mafia if it took half your money and monitored or forbade all of the above in your daily life?
Yes, if you've got any cajones (pardon me, ladies), you would fight!
Government in America is now the mafia. It doesn't get its power from La Cosa Nostra. It gets its power from gullible and/or corrupt citizens, who demand that it commit these transgressions against you by fiat every day of your life.
So, how do you fight?
First, prepare your mind -- the body will follow. Read Ayn Rand. Read all of Ayn Rand. Integrate her ideas. Become a rational force of nature. Acquire a brilliant, clear mind that demands liberty, that joins me and others in our demands for liberty. Do it now. The sooner you become rational, the sooner you, I, our friends, and all our brothers and sisters in liberty are free in our pursuit of happiness.
Let's bury this wretched mafia once and for all -- and let's party on their graves!
Saturday, February 20, 2010
The voodoo lady next door -- and our "modern" world
The elderly English (actually Irish) lady next door is in her dark basement room sticking pins in one of her dolls that looks like me and chanting somesuch incantations directed eastward at my abode. I can't prove it, but every once in a while I get an "ouchy" in some part of my body that I can't explain.
She and I and her husband used to be friends over glasses of a high-dollar Bahamas liqueur; that's when she told me she did it (the voodoo-doll thing) to everyone who pissed her off in her life -- and now she's pissed off at me (long story involving my daughter evidently petting her cat too hard or something and me telling the old witch that she was, um, an old witch after she banned my daughter from her yard forever or until the British get their colonies back).
And on an unschooler list I'm on, a lady said yesterday that she believes in reincarnation and that her children *knew* they were being born before they were born but that the lady wasn't ready for a while and the children knew they would have to wait until she was ready. (I'm not making this up. Hell, I COULDN'T!)
And last week, as I blogged before, some old high-school friend wanted me to join a 600,000-strong Facebook group that beats their children and is proud of it because it evidently keeps kids from going rotten.
And Tiger Woods yesterday said he needed a relapse into Buddhism to "control" his desires.
And Pat Robertson ... NO, NO, NO, forget it. He makes the voodoo lady look like Aristotle.
And more and more sports nutties are pointing heavenward after they make a good play. Where the hell is The Vigilante God of Reason's serrated thunderbolt to lop off the faith-fingers when they are pointing skyward?!
And ObaMa and his coteries of media talking heads smugly smile as they talk of robbing me and millions of other innocents of our money. "Thank you. Can I have another!"
And the Vietnam Vet across the street from me regales me on the "nobility" of the working man, as compared to the business man, and demands that the business MAN be made a spectacle of and his cash stripped from his business to feed 50,000 people around the world starving. "I don't give a shit about those 50,000 people, and the 'noble' working man votes to have my money stolen from me," I tell the Vet. "What?!" he says with lunatic-fringe eyes and a lurch forward to within inches of my face. Soon, he's stomping home in exasperation.
And the Republicans pretend they are true Tea Partiers and try to steal the show and then put their vunder-chick Sarah on the podium and she melts the GOP believers with talk of God and the sanctity of life and all the usual faith-drivel we've come to loathe and fear as rational citizens seeking distance from the faith-based Zombies.
And then you turn around more often in America and see women cloaked in black from head to toe with beady eyes leering out, and rednecks standing defiantly next to their Ten Commandments at the courthouse, and the usually sensible Sean Hannity going on a God rant, and some pencil-necked half-brain dropping to his knees five times a day and aiming his head roughly at Mecca and his ass at the rest of us.
What the HELL is a rational man to do? How the HELL are we ever to have a free country, from basement to podium, from livingroom to shopping mall, when the lunatics are on the grass making daisy chains while America burns?
There's been an insanity loose in the world from the dawn of mankind -- a separation from reality, a tendency toward the subjective world of the wishful, an inclination to laud emotions devoid of sensibility, a powerful drive to control the outside world via an inner world of sanctimonious delusion, a devout pursuit of the shrouding void, a determination to avoid this world at all costs to pretend that something might be better or that there is allegedly more (Who would WANT more than this wondrous, complex, intoxicating world?!)
If we modern humans make it past this Time of Insanity (as we can only with the work of Ayn Rand), our rational ancestors will have no trouble lumping us in with the Dark Ages torture chambers, the voodoo dolls of 18th century Africa and the Caribbean (and my neighbor's basement), the pagan incense of the Roman era and the sun and animal worship of early man.
Most of our minds are little different, incapable of pellucid thought, incredulous at requests for rationality, befuddled by demands of decency and justice, meandering in a self-inflicted daze, worshipping idols and gods spontaneously and seeking death or exclusion for those standing proudly, firmly and happily on terra firma, looking adoringly at the star-flaked skies and the wonders we have created.
The chasm between the rational man and the irrational man is no different than that between the sane man and the insane man. In fact, they are one in the same.
She and I and her husband used to be friends over glasses of a high-dollar Bahamas liqueur; that's when she told me she did it (the voodoo-doll thing) to everyone who pissed her off in her life -- and now she's pissed off at me (long story involving my daughter evidently petting her cat too hard or something and me telling the old witch that she was, um, an old witch after she banned my daughter from her yard forever or until the British get their colonies back).
And on an unschooler list I'm on, a lady said yesterday that she believes in reincarnation and that her children *knew* they were being born before they were born but that the lady wasn't ready for a while and the children knew they would have to wait until she was ready. (I'm not making this up. Hell, I COULDN'T!)
And last week, as I blogged before, some old high-school friend wanted me to join a 600,000-strong Facebook group that beats their children and is proud of it because it evidently keeps kids from going rotten.
And Tiger Woods yesterday said he needed a relapse into Buddhism to "control" his desires.
And Pat Robertson ... NO, NO, NO, forget it. He makes the voodoo lady look like Aristotle.
And more and more sports nutties are pointing heavenward after they make a good play. Where the hell is The Vigilante God of Reason's serrated thunderbolt to lop off the faith-fingers when they are pointing skyward?!
And ObaMa and his coteries of media talking heads smugly smile as they talk of robbing me and millions of other innocents of our money. "Thank you. Can I have another!"
And the Vietnam Vet across the street from me regales me on the "nobility" of the working man, as compared to the business man, and demands that the business MAN be made a spectacle of and his cash stripped from his business to feed 50,000 people around the world starving. "I don't give a shit about those 50,000 people, and the 'noble' working man votes to have my money stolen from me," I tell the Vet. "What?!" he says with lunatic-fringe eyes and a lurch forward to within inches of my face. Soon, he's stomping home in exasperation.
And the Republicans pretend they are true Tea Partiers and try to steal the show and then put their vunder-chick Sarah on the podium and she melts the GOP believers with talk of God and the sanctity of life and all the usual faith-drivel we've come to loathe and fear as rational citizens seeking distance from the faith-based Zombies.
And then you turn around more often in America and see women cloaked in black from head to toe with beady eyes leering out, and rednecks standing defiantly next to their Ten Commandments at the courthouse, and the usually sensible Sean Hannity going on a God rant, and some pencil-necked half-brain dropping to his knees five times a day and aiming his head roughly at Mecca and his ass at the rest of us.
What the HELL is a rational man to do? How the HELL are we ever to have a free country, from basement to podium, from livingroom to shopping mall, when the lunatics are on the grass making daisy chains while America burns?
There's been an insanity loose in the world from the dawn of mankind -- a separation from reality, a tendency toward the subjective world of the wishful, an inclination to laud emotions devoid of sensibility, a powerful drive to control the outside world via an inner world of sanctimonious delusion, a devout pursuit of the shrouding void, a determination to avoid this world at all costs to pretend that something might be better or that there is allegedly more (Who would WANT more than this wondrous, complex, intoxicating world?!)
If we modern humans make it past this Time of Insanity (as we can only with the work of Ayn Rand), our rational ancestors will have no trouble lumping us in with the Dark Ages torture chambers, the voodoo dolls of 18th century Africa and the Caribbean (and my neighbor's basement), the pagan incense of the Roman era and the sun and animal worship of early man.
Most of our minds are little different, incapable of pellucid thought, incredulous at requests for rationality, befuddled by demands of decency and justice, meandering in a self-inflicted daze, worshipping idols and gods spontaneously and seeking death or exclusion for those standing proudly, firmly and happily on terra firma, looking adoringly at the star-flaked skies and the wonders we have created.
The chasm between the rational man and the irrational man is no different than that between the sane man and the insane man. In fact, they are one in the same.
OK, Tiger ... that ... was ... weird!
Domo arigato, Mr. Roboto!
Did ... you ... see ... it? Tiger Woods annexed entire quadrants of outer space (his original home) to insert long empty pauses between normal words, so that the phrase "this is between a husband and his wife" actually took 3.75 millennia to speak and comprised the creation of five new religions.
It was like being transported back 10 years to the early days of corporate robotic answering machines, with their staccato repetition and bizarre intonation on wrong syllables and pieces of sentences. "Please wait, someBOdy will BE with YOU in a moMENT."
Tiger Woods was a man going through the motions during his 14-minute mea culpa to the world in Florida yesterday (which I'd begged him not to do). I kept thinking, "Where the hell is Jeff Dunham?" the ventriloquist. Words kept coming in staccato measure from Tiger's lips, but nobody was home, except some ethereal voice locked deep inside and intoning platitudes fed to it by some diminutive Shrink while the puffy eyes and puffy face moved from side to side (think Pink Floyd's "Us and Them" on those last five words).
Chilling! Sad! Distressing! Disturbing! Surreal!
Many people interviewed worldwide afterward said they felt they didn't get to see HIM, that he should've taken questions from an audience so they could've seen spontaneity, some feeling, some emotions, SOMETHING. You have to wonder at a man who decides he must apologize to the whole freaking world and yet doesn't give the whole freaking world HIMSELF. What's the use? What's the purpose? It's easy to ask forgiveness from those you haven't even done anything to. ... Too easy. It's childish.
We got a hint of the small, screaming boy inside from one particular snippet: "I felt that I'd worked hard my entire life and deserved to enjoy all the temptations around me." Paraphrased: "My father made a slave of me and I just wanted to LIVE!" His father pushed young Tiger nearly every day from the age of 2 to play golf and be the best at golf, with Tiger's own ambitions and desires taking a back seat. The boy never became the man. He became what his father wanted. Cheap psychology? Yeah. And I won't charge a penny for being right.
When people grow up living their lives for others' values and demands, they do not know how to properly find their own and become accountable for their own, thereby becoming promiscuous in value seeking. And they almost always seek some sort of "spiritual security."
Enter Buddhism in Tiger's talk. (This is where the pathetic became pathological.) He'd been practicing his "faith" from childhood but had drifted away (toward a dozen or more women's bedrooms outside of his marital bed). He claimed that Buddhism teaches him "to stop following every impulse and to learn restraint." How's that for patchwork morality. "I'm not going to go down that road or that road or that road even though I WANT to 'cause Buddha says it ain't no good at all and it will piss off my sponsors."
Tiger finished his remote control with, "I ask you to find it in your heart to believe in me again."
Actually, in my heart, I wish Jack Nicklaus were still around. These new-generation man-boys who feel the need for public expiation and tepid emoting are costing me a fortune in vomit bags.
Did ... you ... see ... it? Tiger Woods annexed entire quadrants of outer space (his original home) to insert long empty pauses between normal words, so that the phrase "this is between a husband and his wife" actually took 3.75 millennia to speak and comprised the creation of five new religions.
It was like being transported back 10 years to the early days of corporate robotic answering machines, with their staccato repetition and bizarre intonation on wrong syllables and pieces of sentences. "Please wait, someBOdy will BE with YOU in a moMENT."
Tiger Woods was a man going through the motions during his 14-minute mea culpa to the world in Florida yesterday (which I'd begged him not to do). I kept thinking, "Where the hell is Jeff Dunham?" the ventriloquist. Words kept coming in staccato measure from Tiger's lips, but nobody was home, except some ethereal voice locked deep inside and intoning platitudes fed to it by some diminutive Shrink while the puffy eyes and puffy face moved from side to side (think Pink Floyd's "Us and Them" on those last five words).
Chilling! Sad! Distressing! Disturbing! Surreal!
Many people interviewed worldwide afterward said they felt they didn't get to see HIM, that he should've taken questions from an audience so they could've seen spontaneity, some feeling, some emotions, SOMETHING. You have to wonder at a man who decides he must apologize to the whole freaking world and yet doesn't give the whole freaking world HIMSELF. What's the use? What's the purpose? It's easy to ask forgiveness from those you haven't even done anything to. ... Too easy. It's childish.
We got a hint of the small, screaming boy inside from one particular snippet: "I felt that I'd worked hard my entire life and deserved to enjoy all the temptations around me." Paraphrased: "My father made a slave of me and I just wanted to LIVE!" His father pushed young Tiger nearly every day from the age of 2 to play golf and be the best at golf, with Tiger's own ambitions and desires taking a back seat. The boy never became the man. He became what his father wanted. Cheap psychology? Yeah. And I won't charge a penny for being right.
When people grow up living their lives for others' values and demands, they do not know how to properly find their own and become accountable for their own, thereby becoming promiscuous in value seeking. And they almost always seek some sort of "spiritual security."
Enter Buddhism in Tiger's talk. (This is where the pathetic became pathological.) He'd been practicing his "faith" from childhood but had drifted away (toward a dozen or more women's bedrooms outside of his marital bed). He claimed that Buddhism teaches him "to stop following every impulse and to learn restraint." How's that for patchwork morality. "I'm not going to go down that road or that road or that road even though I WANT to 'cause Buddha says it ain't no good at all and it will piss off my sponsors."
Tiger finished his remote control with, "I ask you to find it in your heart to believe in me again."
Actually, in my heart, I wish Jack Nicklaus were still around. These new-generation man-boys who feel the need for public expiation and tepid emoting are costing me a fortune in vomit bags.
Friday, February 19, 2010
The midnight ride of secession
The ultra-conservative nutcase Patrick Buchanan is a religious thoroughbred of 5-furlong proportions.
But. ... But every once in a while he nails an issue, like in this article on secession.
When our governments become robber barons, when every aspect of our lives is under Big Brother's big, prying eyes, when intrusive laws multiply faster than the lies with which they are proposed, then it is time for the tree of rebellion to be nourished with the blood of revolutionaries.
And there are few words at our disposal more powerful than SECESSION!
But. ... But every once in a while he nails an issue, like in this article on secession.
When our governments become robber barons, when every aspect of our lives is under Big Brother's big, prying eyes, when intrusive laws multiply faster than the lies with which they are proposed, then it is time for the tree of rebellion to be nourished with the blood of revolutionaries.
And there are few words at our disposal more powerful than SECESSION!
"The Impotence of Proofreading"
Having been a copy editor in my journalism days, I found this hilarious and spot-on. And I'm astounded at how this guy kept from getting tongue-tied.
"The Impotence of Proofreading"
(Thanks to my friend Colleen for passing this on to me.)
"The Impotence of Proofreading"
(Thanks to my friend Colleen for passing this on to me.)
I got my monkey toes and I'm on the run!
I bought 'em. Walked right in a bought 'em -- the Vibram 5 Fingers for my feet. Take a look at 'em!
And they're awesome! I've taken two runs in them: first one for little less than a mile and second one today for a little more. You gotta start out easy on the Vibrams because it's a different way of running -- on the balls of your feet with your calves providing most of the work. So after your first run, your calves are feeling it the next day.
I'll never go back to regular running shoes. The Vibrams make me feel like I'm running barefoot and it feels like I've got springs in my legs because of the amazing natural combination of work down by the balls of my feet, my arch, my Achilles and my calves. On the third leg of my run today, I actually sped up. Amazing, that!
If any of you ever want company to monkey-run with you, just call and give me a grunt!
See you at the trails!
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Don't mess with the Zohai
Wanna get high?
Don't wanna go to jail?
Dude, you gotta get the Zohai!!!
Yep, there's a new substance out there -- well, kinda new -- that is not marijuana but mimics the drug's effect on the brain. The Chinese, of course, created it -- and it's LEGAL in the U.S.
It goes by three names: Spice, Genie and Zohai. It's a mixture of herbs and spices that is sprayed with a synthetic compound chemical similar to THC, the psychoactive ingredient in Mary Jane.
There's not much data yet on the toxic effect in humans, but I'm sure there'll plenty of experimentation -- outside the scientific establishment -- very soon.
But please, my dear readers, remember the No. 1 rule with such drugs ...
... Don't be a Bogart!!!
Don't wanna go to jail?
Dude, you gotta get the Zohai!!!
Yep, there's a new substance out there -- well, kinda new -- that is not marijuana but mimics the drug's effect on the brain. The Chinese, of course, created it -- and it's LEGAL in the U.S.
It goes by three names: Spice, Genie and Zohai. It's a mixture of herbs and spices that is sprayed with a synthetic compound chemical similar to THC, the psychoactive ingredient in Mary Jane.
There's not much data yet on the toxic effect in humans, but I'm sure there'll plenty of experimentation -- outside the scientific establishment -- very soon.
But please, my dear readers, remember the No. 1 rule with such drugs ...
... Don't be a Bogart!!!
Tiger talk -- or NOT
Tiger Woods plans to spill tomorrow to the press during the first major golf tournament of the year, The Accenture in Arizona.
He'll look sufficiently contrite -- or NOT. He'll sputter the necessary cliches about fidelity -- or NOT. He'll intone about how he's let a lot of people down -- or NOT. He'll get teary-eyed -- or NOT.
You know what I wish he'd do?
Nothing!
Just play golf and ignore the press. He doesn't owe them or his audience one goddamned thing. Yeah, he's a schmuck, but the only ones he owes an apology to are the people and companies he made commitments to: his wife and the corporate sponsors who's contracts he violated.
For once -- oh please, just once!! -- it would be great to see a schmuck celebrity who's getting his shit together simply walk past the cameras, microphones and bigger schmucks behind them ...
... and then go do what he has to do. In this instance, it's playing golf ...
... with a smile on his face because he knows he's getting his life, his morality, his values, his honor back together -- which I hope is the case for Tiger, as I wish it to be the case for all humans seeking righteousness, purpose and self-esteem.
Play ball ...
... and starve the vultures.
He'll look sufficiently contrite -- or NOT. He'll sputter the necessary cliches about fidelity -- or NOT. He'll intone about how he's let a lot of people down -- or NOT. He'll get teary-eyed -- or NOT.
You know what I wish he'd do?
Nothing!
Just play golf and ignore the press. He doesn't owe them or his audience one goddamned thing. Yeah, he's a schmuck, but the only ones he owes an apology to are the people and companies he made commitments to: his wife and the corporate sponsors who's contracts he violated.
For once -- oh please, just once!! -- it would be great to see a schmuck celebrity who's getting his shit together simply walk past the cameras, microphones and bigger schmucks behind them ...
... and then go do what he has to do. In this instance, it's playing golf ...
... with a smile on his face because he knows he's getting his life, his morality, his values, his honor back together -- which I hope is the case for Tiger, as I wish it to be the case for all humans seeking righteousness, purpose and self-esteem.
Play ball ...
... and starve the vultures.
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Uh, I'm, uh, the, uh, president, uh
I love Sonja from PJTV. What a witty, gorgeous babeliciousness her lovely self is. Here's her latest on our Teleprompter Prez.
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
The carcinoma that is Fulton County, GA
Are you sitting down? ... Good.
A politician here in Georgia is making sense. Yes, I know, but it's true. The speaker pro tem of the House wishes to lop off the top of the 80-mile-long carcinoma on the Georgia map known as Fulton County, where I reside, and create a new county out of the top 20 miles or so -- where nice, polite, middle-class people live.
Fulton is a gerrymandering nightmare of a county that includes the filthy, crime-riddled, racist-mongering, money-pilfering, ignorance-touting, ghetto-talking, homeless-loitering, grits-addled, union-malaised city of Hotlanta (precious).
Atlanta, er, Hotlanta (in middle Fulton) has been sucking the hard-earned cash out of the northern burbs for 70 years, ever since it woofed down what used to be an independent county in my territory.
As you can imagine, the parasites (Democrats) in Hotlanta are spewing chitlins and collard greens over the pro tem's proposal, calling it, yes, racist and classist and unfair and selfish and lots of other adjectives from the Jesse Jackson playbook on bilking the crackers.
But, despite Hotlanta's being clogged with Democrats, the rest of Georgia is staunchly Republican, so the state House is run by the Repubs, who may have enough votes to starve the urban monster and force a separation with its sugar daddy.
If that happens, it'll come to a vote up here in the hinters.
I may just have to register for the first time since 1984.
A politician here in Georgia is making sense. Yes, I know, but it's true. The speaker pro tem of the House wishes to lop off the top of the 80-mile-long carcinoma on the Georgia map known as Fulton County, where I reside, and create a new county out of the top 20 miles or so -- where nice, polite, middle-class people live.
Fulton is a gerrymandering nightmare of a county that includes the filthy, crime-riddled, racist-mongering, money-pilfering, ignorance-touting, ghetto-talking, homeless-loitering, grits-addled, union-malaised city of Hotlanta (precious).
Atlanta, er, Hotlanta (in middle Fulton) has been sucking the hard-earned cash out of the northern burbs for 70 years, ever since it woofed down what used to be an independent county in my territory.
As you can imagine, the parasites (Democrats) in Hotlanta are spewing chitlins and collard greens over the pro tem's proposal, calling it, yes, racist and classist and unfair and selfish and lots of other adjectives from the Jesse Jackson playbook on bilking the crackers.
But, despite Hotlanta's being clogged with Democrats, the rest of Georgia is staunchly Republican, so the state House is run by the Repubs, who may have enough votes to starve the urban monster and force a separation with its sugar daddy.
If that happens, it'll come to a vote up here in the hinters.
I may just have to register for the first time since 1984.
Chill in the air on "global warming"
If you live on a mainland in the Northern Hemisphere, you are most likely cold as you read this. North America, Europe and Asia have seen one of the coldest winters on record. People who have never seen snow in their lifetime are seeing it now, and places that get snow are seeing double or triple the usual amounts. We've already had snow here in North Georgia four times this year (usually get one or two here), and it has come down in inches, not just little dustings, as in the past. We're building snowmen and asking the gods for real global warming.
And today, yet another article on the evil machinations of the global-warming scrum was published by Newsmax (the major media don't bother with such facts). This time, the story explains how data has been falsified via phony temperature gauges around the world.
The intrepid shenanigan-istas like Pudge Gore tried to push through their legislation to saddle American businesses with punitive taxes because of their alleged warming before the truth came out. But they lost the race, as ObaMa lost his race to get health-care socialized before the facts came out and before Americans woke up to his Hitlerian subterfuge.
If this current "global warming" keeps up, I may have to move to Cuba, kill off the regime, free the people and suck lots of cuba libres.
I HATE cold!
And today, yet another article on the evil machinations of the global-warming scrum was published by Newsmax (the major media don't bother with such facts). This time, the story explains how data has been falsified via phony temperature gauges around the world.
The intrepid shenanigan-istas like Pudge Gore tried to push through their legislation to saddle American businesses with punitive taxes because of their alleged warming before the truth came out. But they lost the race, as ObaMa lost his race to get health-care socialized before the facts came out and before Americans woke up to his Hitlerian subterfuge.
If this current "global warming" keeps up, I may have to move to Cuba, kill off the regime, free the people and suck lots of cuba libres.
I HATE cold!
Mr. David Goes to Washington
I'm planning on going to D.C. on Theft Day -- April 15 -- to join hopefully millions of others in a giant tax protest. Won't you please join me for a fun ride up and lots of similar-minded folks to commiserate with while there? I plan on seeing a few sites while there, too.
Here's a notice I just got from Ken Hoagland, the guy who wrote "The Fair Tax Solution."
______________________
Dear Friends,
This week I go to Washington, D.C. to attend the CPAC Convention--an annual gathering of conservative leaders and grassroots activists. I have two big tasks--each with their own challenges and hopes.
First, I'll be on a number of shows broadcast from there about something very special that we'll be launching on Thursday. It's under wraps until then so please don't share this e-mail, but I wanted you to get the first peek.
On Thursday, on Neal Boortz's show and at CPAC we'll be announcing our On-Line Tax Revolt March on Washington. That's right -- online. It's a fantastic new tech that will allow everyone to come to Washington, D.C. and add their voice to a live tax revolt protest.
Here's how it works: You go to www.OnlineTaxRevolt.com (it's not "live" until Thursday) from your own home or office and pick an avatar -- a graphical representation of yourself. Every day, from wherever you live, your avatar will be shown in a growing crowd moving toward Washington, D.C.
We all arrive April 15th and join a massive live protest rally there. Both our avatars and a huge crowd will be nationally webcast in what could be the most powerful tax protest since Boston Harbor.
Michael Reagan, Neal Boortz, Joe the Plumber, myself and others will be leading our march on Washington. Patriots across the country will be invited to join in whether they have embraced the FairTax or not.
We all know, after all, that the tax system is broken and fuels huge debt, dishonesty with the public and the hobbling of our economy. We all have that in common.
Now we need to wake up Washington and correct the destructive habits of the political class. This is how we do it and add millions of voices who would otherwise not be able to travel to the national capitol on April 15th.
This will be huge. I'm looking forward to seeing you in the march. Watch Hannity tomorrow night and you may hear Joe (The Plumber) Wurzelbacher talking about it early. You are the only people in the country, however, who have the details so far.
And then there's the new book...
The other thing I wanted to share with you is that I preview my new book, "The FairTax Solution," Thursday at CPAC in a book signing. Many of you will be getting a signed copy, too, of course, as soon as we get them in and I sign them.
May I share with you my mixture of elation that it is finally out and trepidation at being the target of every naysayer and venomously critical pundit in Washington? Goes with the turf, I guess; count on me giving as good I get but I'm "suiting up" for rough play.
Keep tuned because this is becoming the Year of the FairTax.
Yours sincerely,
Ken
Here's a notice I just got from Ken Hoagland, the guy who wrote "The Fair Tax Solution."
______________________
Dear Friends,
This week I go to Washington, D.C. to attend the CPAC Convention--an annual gathering of conservative leaders and grassroots activists. I have two big tasks--each with their own challenges and hopes.
First, I'll be on a number of shows broadcast from there about something very special that we'll be launching on Thursday. It's under wraps until then so please don't share this e-mail, but I wanted you to get the first peek.
On Thursday, on Neal Boortz's show and at CPAC we'll be announcing our On-Line Tax Revolt March on Washington. That's right -- online. It's a fantastic new tech that will allow everyone to come to Washington, D.C. and add their voice to a live tax revolt protest.
Here's how it works: You go to www.OnlineTaxRevolt.com (it's not "live" until Thursday) from your own home or office and pick an avatar -- a graphical representation of yourself. Every day, from wherever you live, your avatar will be shown in a growing crowd moving toward Washington, D.C.
We all arrive April 15th and join a massive live protest rally there. Both our avatars and a huge crowd will be nationally webcast in what could be the most powerful tax protest since Boston Harbor.
Michael Reagan, Neal Boortz, Joe the Plumber, myself and others will be leading our march on Washington. Patriots across the country will be invited to join in whether they have embraced the FairTax or not.
We all know, after all, that the tax system is broken and fuels huge debt, dishonesty with the public and the hobbling of our economy. We all have that in common.
Now we need to wake up Washington and correct the destructive habits of the political class. This is how we do it and add millions of voices who would otherwise not be able to travel to the national capitol on April 15th.
This will be huge. I'm looking forward to seeing you in the march. Watch Hannity tomorrow night and you may hear Joe (The Plumber) Wurzelbacher talking about it early. You are the only people in the country, however, who have the details so far.
And then there's the new book...
The other thing I wanted to share with you is that I preview my new book, "The FairTax Solution," Thursday at CPAC in a book signing. Many of you will be getting a signed copy, too, of course, as soon as we get them in and I sign them.
May I share with you my mixture of elation that it is finally out and trepidation at being the target of every naysayer and venomously critical pundit in Washington? Goes with the turf, I guess; count on me giving as good I get but I'm "suiting up" for rough play.
Keep tuned because this is becoming the Year of the FairTax.
Yours sincerely,
Ken
"You can't marry your SISTER!"
My daughter, Livy, and her best friend, Ethan, had a conversation in her play room that I overheard from the living room yesterday. Ethan has a little sister name Tory. Here's the conversation:
Livy: "Hey, Ethan, are you going to marry somebody when you get older?"
Ethan: "Yeah."
Livy: "Who are you going to marry?"
Ethan: "I don't know."
Livy: "Well, who are you going to marry?"
Ethan: "I'm going to marry Tory."
Livy: "You can't marry your SISTER! It's against the law. The government won't let you marry your sister."
Ethan: "Oh."
Livy: "So who are you going to marry?"
Ethan: "I don't know."
Livy: "Well, who are you going to marry?!"
Ethan: "I'm going to marry my mama."
Livy: "Yeah, it's OK to marry your mama. It's not against the law."
Livy: "Hey, Ethan, are you going to marry somebody when you get older?"
Ethan: "Yeah."
Livy: "Who are you going to marry?"
Ethan: "I don't know."
Livy: "Well, who are you going to marry?"
Ethan: "I'm going to marry Tory."
Livy: "You can't marry your SISTER! It's against the law. The government won't let you marry your sister."
Ethan: "Oh."
Livy: "So who are you going to marry?"
Ethan: "I don't know."
Livy: "Well, who are you going to marry?!"
Ethan: "I'm going to marry my mama."
Livy: "Yeah, it's OK to marry your mama. It's not against the law."
Whoopin' their ass!
As I've said before, I've got some friends on Facebook that are old high-school buddies and acquaintances from times past, and every once in a while I get invited to some seriously crazy shit.
So today it was an invitation by a high-school woman friend to a popular Facebook site called "My parents didn't put me in time-out -- they whooped my ass!" The site has more than 600,000 members -- no doubt, most of them Christians, who salivate over "spare the rod, spoil the child" -- no doubt as recompense for having already sold their souls to mysticism and getting beat up psychologically for it.
Anyway, as y'all know I'm an unschooler and I'd rather cut off my toes than once strike my child. It has never even entered my head to strike her -- or anyone else, for that matter, except for Keith Olbermann and the soccer mom going 45 in a 55-mph zone while chatting away on her cell phone.
So, when I become president of these here United States and institute a rational constitution with rational laws, I'll grab my popcorn and watch a night of public beatings of parents who "whoop the ass" of their children. It'll bring out the redneck in me, as I'm sure I'll be screaming with delight, "That's right, keep on whoopin' their ass!"
So today it was an invitation by a high-school woman friend to a popular Facebook site called "My parents didn't put me in time-out -- they whooped my ass!" The site has more than 600,000 members -- no doubt, most of them Christians, who salivate over "spare the rod, spoil the child" -- no doubt as recompense for having already sold their souls to mysticism and getting beat up psychologically for it.
Anyway, as y'all know I'm an unschooler and I'd rather cut off my toes than once strike my child. It has never even entered my head to strike her -- or anyone else, for that matter, except for Keith Olbermann and the soccer mom going 45 in a 55-mph zone while chatting away on her cell phone.
So, when I become president of these here United States and institute a rational constitution with rational laws, I'll grab my popcorn and watch a night of public beatings of parents who "whoop the ass" of their children. It'll bring out the redneck in me, as I'm sure I'll be screaming with delight, "That's right, keep on whoopin' their ass!"
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Monday, February 15, 2010
Running bare
I just spent a week at a water park in Ohio with Livy and had a great time. While there, Livy and I sprinted down quarter-mile-long corridors in our bare feet on the way to water slides and other water activities. I really enjoyed running bare and could actually run faster than with shoes. It also felt natural, caused no soreness and reminded me of when I did it all the time when I was a kid.
And then, we got back from the water park last weekend and I found a message from a Facebook friend who referred to a recent great article on running without shoes. It talks about the mechanics of our human bodies and how it's good to hit the pavement with the heel first when walking and that it's much better on the body to hit the pavement with the balls of one's feet first when running, causing one-third less impact on the skeleton.
It made perfect sense and actually mirrored my own experience at the water park. Pretty mind-blowing. I'm going to buy some Vibram 5 Fingers, a thin latex shoe with individual toes that mimics barefoot running. I'll use the Vibrams on pavement and go without them completely on grass and sand. I can't wait to buy them and try out this "new" way of running. It will take a couple of weeks or so to build up the calf muscles and Achilles tendons for the new stress, but the rest of my body will thank me, I think, for it.
See you at the river trails. I'll be the guy everyone's pointing at.
And then, we got back from the water park last weekend and I found a message from a Facebook friend who referred to a recent great article on running without shoes. It talks about the mechanics of our human bodies and how it's good to hit the pavement with the heel first when walking and that it's much better on the body to hit the pavement with the balls of one's feet first when running, causing one-third less impact on the skeleton.
It made perfect sense and actually mirrored my own experience at the water park. Pretty mind-blowing. I'm going to buy some Vibram 5 Fingers, a thin latex shoe with individual toes that mimics barefoot running. I'll use the Vibrams on pavement and go without them completely on grass and sand. I can't wait to buy them and try out this "new" way of running. It will take a couple of weeks or so to build up the calf muscles and Achilles tendons for the new stress, but the rest of my body will thank me, I think, for it.
See you at the river trails. I'll be the guy everyone's pointing at.
Sunday, February 14, 2010
She'll only love me for two more months
When I pull up my main Facebook page, I usually get an ad to the right saying that "This woman is looking for a 49-year-old."
"Hey, I'm 49! Over here! See me! Yeah, baby!!"
Wow! I mean, who could know that being 49 would attract youngish, big-busted, beautiful, smiling women? Hell, if I'd known 49 was such a magic age, I might've been 49 about 10 years ago!! Heck, I might be 49 for another 10 years at this rate!
But, alas, I won't be 49 much longer -- April 6, to be exact -- and some other lucky wretch will be getting this bodacious beauty wanting HIM.
Or, maybe she'll want 50-year-olds in a couple of months and 51-year-olds in 14 months. The ads make me chuckle. After talking with many guys through the years, I know that some of them fall for this advertising gimmick. They're the guys who go to tittie bars and think the naked woman smiling at them near the silver pole actually DOES think he's the greatest thing since sliced bread. He usually leaves the tittie bar with a smile and an empty wallet.
Guess I'll let him have the girl in the ad, too. And if he doesn't like that one, he'll get a new one in a couple of months.
"Hey, I'm 49! Over here! See me! Yeah, baby!!"
Wow! I mean, who could know that being 49 would attract youngish, big-busted, beautiful, smiling women? Hell, if I'd known 49 was such a magic age, I might've been 49 about 10 years ago!! Heck, I might be 49 for another 10 years at this rate!
But, alas, I won't be 49 much longer -- April 6, to be exact -- and some other lucky wretch will be getting this bodacious beauty wanting HIM.
Or, maybe she'll want 50-year-olds in a couple of months and 51-year-olds in 14 months. The ads make me chuckle. After talking with many guys through the years, I know that some of them fall for this advertising gimmick. They're the guys who go to tittie bars and think the naked woman smiling at them near the silver pole actually DOES think he's the greatest thing since sliced bread. He usually leaves the tittie bar with a smile and an empty wallet.
Guess I'll let him have the girl in the ad, too. And if he doesn't like that one, he'll get a new one in a couple of months.
Friday, February 12, 2010
Gore crying "uncle" in his "igloo"?
Albert Gore is finally getting the respect he's due -- that is, zero. And some recent rounds of disrespect are coming, from all places, the halls of Congress. Gore's pathetic gerrymandering of facts on alleged global warming is finally eliciting chuckles and cackles from Congressmen. Check out the following hilarities:
Sen. Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma said THIS two days ago after the record blizzards that struck D.C.
And Sen. Jim DeMint of S.C. tweeting THIS little side-grabber.
The only thing unfortunate about Albert Gore is that history will forget him, as it does most charlatans, such as ObaMa, Jimmy Carter, the Bushes, etc. For Gore to get his full justice, he should be entombed with a glass facade (a la Lenin), so that the children of the future may spit and giggle at him.
Alas, just the thought of Albert Gore ducking inside an igloo in the Capital with a frightened peek outside at all the rational people does make my day!
Sen. Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma said THIS two days ago after the record blizzards that struck D.C.
And Sen. Jim DeMint of S.C. tweeting THIS little side-grabber.
The only thing unfortunate about Albert Gore is that history will forget him, as it does most charlatans, such as ObaMa, Jimmy Carter, the Bushes, etc. For Gore to get his full justice, he should be entombed with a glass facade (a la Lenin), so that the children of the future may spit and giggle at him.
Alas, just the thought of Albert Gore ducking inside an igloo in the Capital with a frightened peek outside at all the rational people does make my day!
Thursday, February 11, 2010
"Don't know much about his-tor-y ..."
That's a lie. I know a lot about history, a lot about literature, a lot about music, a fair amount about poetry, a lot about politics.
And, so what? Well, so they mean a lot to me; they enrich my soul, give me perspective that I bring to my life and my writing. I value them highly, can't imagine living without the knowledge of them.
So, they must be a high value to everybody to enrich their lives and souls, right?
Nope. I apologize for such an obviously rhetorical question, but most people (many Objectivists adamantly included) just don't seem to get this point. They don't understand that there are objective values for every human on Earth that they must value highly to be happy (career, health, friendship, romance, leisure) and there are "optional" values that are chosen according to one's nature and one's chosen life-path.
History, literature, music, poetry and politics are NOT objective values; they are assuredly optional and rightly chosen in toto or partially by many of us. Therefore, being optional values, they cannot be forced upon us as objective values as adults or as children. Most arguments for "schooling" revolve around information that adults allege children must have and must have at a certain point in their lives -- as if Shakespeare or Livy's Histories will certainly enrich the lives of would-be seamstresses or car mechanics.
These arguments are not about information; they are about control (of children). They are projections of values, and they reveal a skepticism about children's abilities to discover their objective and optional values independently.
None of the above is not to say that a boy who decides to be a car or airplane mechanic at an early age won't seek to know Shakespeare's works or the Gallic campaigns of Caesar. But that boy (or girl) may go through his entire life seeking only a greater understanding of a particular mechanics, of his favorite sport, of wood carving, of fly fishing, of youth-league baseball, of sewing -- and never once give a thought to history, literature, classical music, poetry or politics.
And if he's being objective, he'll be quite happy.
And, so what? Well, so they mean a lot to me; they enrich my soul, give me perspective that I bring to my life and my writing. I value them highly, can't imagine living without the knowledge of them.
So, they must be a high value to everybody to enrich their lives and souls, right?
Nope. I apologize for such an obviously rhetorical question, but most people (many Objectivists adamantly included) just don't seem to get this point. They don't understand that there are objective values for every human on Earth that they must value highly to be happy (career, health, friendship, romance, leisure) and there are "optional" values that are chosen according to one's nature and one's chosen life-path.
History, literature, music, poetry and politics are NOT objective values; they are assuredly optional and rightly chosen in toto or partially by many of us. Therefore, being optional values, they cannot be forced upon us as objective values as adults or as children. Most arguments for "schooling" revolve around information that adults allege children must have and must have at a certain point in their lives -- as if Shakespeare or Livy's Histories will certainly enrich the lives of would-be seamstresses or car mechanics.
These arguments are not about information; they are about control (of children). They are projections of values, and they reveal a skepticism about children's abilities to discover their objective and optional values independently.
None of the above is not to say that a boy who decides to be a car or airplane mechanic at an early age won't seek to know Shakespeare's works or the Gallic campaigns of Caesar. But that boy (or girl) may go through his entire life seeking only a greater understanding of a particular mechanics, of his favorite sport, of wood carving, of fly fishing, of youth-league baseball, of sewing -- and never once give a thought to history, literature, classical music, poetry or politics.
And if he's being objective, he'll be quite happy.
The ObaMa Marx-a-lot
Whenever listening to or watching ObaMa during his campaign to take over America and his attempt now to do so, one gets a sense of not just Obamageddon for America, but also of some monstrous poser, some virulently anti-American Mao-ist or pure Marxist.
Well, that "sense," as it turns out, is right on the money. Check out this fascinating article on Newsmax by a college colleague of ObaMa's who used to go to Marxist meetings with the poser but who is now a conservative since coming mostly to his senses.
Who is this Manchurian Candidate? Who is this guy who infiltrated America and performed a bloodless coup? What does it say of Americans that they not only allowed him to do so, but actually asked him to do so?
Many Americans are coming to their senses as they come to know the Manchurian, the Marxist, the monstrosity. For them to not lose their senses again, they must gain the knowledge of Objectivism, of Ayn Rand's ideas -- or the Manchurian will return in different guise -- and maybe next time, Americans won't come to their senses quickly enough.
Well, that "sense," as it turns out, is right on the money. Check out this fascinating article on Newsmax by a college colleague of ObaMa's who used to go to Marxist meetings with the poser but who is now a conservative since coming mostly to his senses.
Who is this Manchurian Candidate? Who is this guy who infiltrated America and performed a bloodless coup? What does it say of Americans that they not only allowed him to do so, but actually asked him to do so?
Many Americans are coming to their senses as they come to know the Manchurian, the Marxist, the monstrosity. For them to not lose their senses again, they must gain the knowledge of Objectivism, of Ayn Rand's ideas -- or the Manchurian will return in different guise -- and maybe next time, Americans won't come to their senses quickly enough.
Saturday, February 06, 2010
The loss of Livy's beloved shark and manta ray
There comes a time in a child's life in which her possessions become friends -- more than friends. Her clothes, her toys, the furniture, a house, daddy's car become part of her existence, part of her comfort, part of her love for the world. Losing those possessions can hurt, even be devastating sometimes.
My daughter, Livy, became very attached to our previous coffee maker (she started making my coffee for me in the morning from the time she was 3. She loved the sound of the coffee grinder, pouring the water, watching the coffee come out. She would yell, "Daddy, your coffee is almost finished!" I would almost be in tears at my love for her and the joy she got out of it.) She's 6.5 years old now and still enjoys making the coffee for me (and her) and especially enjoys doing it if she wakes up before me.
Then one day a year ago the coffee-maker broke. She cried and kept on crying and said, "Daddy, don't throw Mr. Coffee away. I want to keep Mr. Coffee for the rest of my life." So Mr. Coffee is still in the garage. I asked Livy one day about two weeks ago if it was time to throw Mr. Coffee away and she started crying again. (We parents ask such stupid questions sometimes!) Mr. Coffee is still safely ensconced in the garage in plain sight -- and my lips are SEALED.
But something more tragic than Mr. Coffee happened a couple of months ago and Livy still talks about it every night when we go to bed. Her little girl friend Tory (2.5 years old) decided one day to flush "shark" (a plastic shark that Livy bathed with) down the toilet. Livy was utterly devastated, inconsolable. Livy always talked with "shark" and his friends "manta ray" and "Mr. Boat" and "big shark" and others when she took a bath.
Tory, of course, didn't understand what she did. She was just doing an experiment, as 2-year-olds do. While Livy was still crying 15 minutes later, she leapt from my arms, ran into the bathroom, grabbed "manta ray" from the bathtub and flushed him down the toilet. "I don't want "sharkie" to be lonely," she cried desperately. When she did this, I began to cry with her. Few things in my life have touched me more.
In the first week after the tragedy, Livy asked me a dozen times why Tory did it. She understood what I was saying each time, but she couldn't get her head around the idea that something so important to her would not be so important to someone else and be seen in the same way (as a love, not as an experiment).
For another month, she asked if "sharkie" and "manta ray" would be OK and where they were. Each time she teared up. Then, a week ago, she said she wanted to save "sharkie" and "manta ray" and asked if I could do something. I told her that they were probably happy together in the Chattahoochie River but that we couldn't really do anything to get them back. She, of course, cried.
"Can't you send divers to go get them, daddy?"
I tried to explain how big the Chattahoochie was and how hard it would be to even find a real shark in it. That explanation didn't wash.
"I want "sharkie" and "manta ray" back, daddy."
"OK, baby," I said. "When I make lots more money, I'll pay for some divers to look in the Chattahoochie River."
"Will they find them?" she asked.
"I don't know," I said, "but it'll be kinda tough. But they'll try real hard."
I never lie to Liv, so when I get enough money, I'll pay a diver to look for "sharkie" and "manta ray." Meanwhile, Livy is happier knowing that we'll give it a try and that their safe return is at least possible.
If we don't find her friends on that day, she will deal with it like the death of a loved one, as she had done before when they were flushed and like she did with Mr. Coffee.
I remember when my beloved cat Scooter died when I was young, and Livy's loss brought that back to me. It is a time in early life when we deal with permanent loss. It's part of being human, part of growing up, part of life -- it shows how strong our bonds to this lovely world are. And crying is the only thing to do.
My daughter, Livy, became very attached to our previous coffee maker (she started making my coffee for me in the morning from the time she was 3. She loved the sound of the coffee grinder, pouring the water, watching the coffee come out. She would yell, "Daddy, your coffee is almost finished!" I would almost be in tears at my love for her and the joy she got out of it.) She's 6.5 years old now and still enjoys making the coffee for me (and her) and especially enjoys doing it if she wakes up before me.
Then one day a year ago the coffee-maker broke. She cried and kept on crying and said, "Daddy, don't throw Mr. Coffee away. I want to keep Mr. Coffee for the rest of my life." So Mr. Coffee is still in the garage. I asked Livy one day about two weeks ago if it was time to throw Mr. Coffee away and she started crying again. (We parents ask such stupid questions sometimes!) Mr. Coffee is still safely ensconced in the garage in plain sight -- and my lips are SEALED.
But something more tragic than Mr. Coffee happened a couple of months ago and Livy still talks about it every night when we go to bed. Her little girl friend Tory (2.5 years old) decided one day to flush "shark" (a plastic shark that Livy bathed with) down the toilet. Livy was utterly devastated, inconsolable. Livy always talked with "shark" and his friends "manta ray" and "Mr. Boat" and "big shark" and others when she took a bath.
Tory, of course, didn't understand what she did. She was just doing an experiment, as 2-year-olds do. While Livy was still crying 15 minutes later, she leapt from my arms, ran into the bathroom, grabbed "manta ray" from the bathtub and flushed him down the toilet. "I don't want "sharkie" to be lonely," she cried desperately. When she did this, I began to cry with her. Few things in my life have touched me more.
In the first week after the tragedy, Livy asked me a dozen times why Tory did it. She understood what I was saying each time, but she couldn't get her head around the idea that something so important to her would not be so important to someone else and be seen in the same way (as a love, not as an experiment).
For another month, she asked if "sharkie" and "manta ray" would be OK and where they were. Each time she teared up. Then, a week ago, she said she wanted to save "sharkie" and "manta ray" and asked if I could do something. I told her that they were probably happy together in the Chattahoochie River but that we couldn't really do anything to get them back. She, of course, cried.
"Can't you send divers to go get them, daddy?"
I tried to explain how big the Chattahoochie was and how hard it would be to even find a real shark in it. That explanation didn't wash.
"I want "sharkie" and "manta ray" back, daddy."
"OK, baby," I said. "When I make lots more money, I'll pay for some divers to look in the Chattahoochie River."
"Will they find them?" she asked.
"I don't know," I said, "but it'll be kinda tough. But they'll try real hard."
I never lie to Liv, so when I get enough money, I'll pay a diver to look for "sharkie" and "manta ray." Meanwhile, Livy is happier knowing that we'll give it a try and that their safe return is at least possible.
If we don't find her friends on that day, she will deal with it like the death of a loved one, as she had done before when they were flushed and like she did with Mr. Coffee.
I remember when my beloved cat Scooter died when I was young, and Livy's loss brought that back to me. It is a time in early life when we deal with permanent loss. It's part of being human, part of growing up, part of life -- it shows how strong our bonds to this lovely world are. And crying is the only thing to do.
Place ad and watch the freaks come out
For my travel business (www.tviexpress.com/delmore) I often place ads in places such as craigslist. When I do, I get bombarded with people not interested in purchasing part of my business, but who are instead interested in selling me something, usually bizarre and often a scam. Most of these people can't speak English even close to properly, as is the case with the response (below) that I got from a craigslist ad. The web address that this person gives is not even valid. Freakish!
_____________________
Hi,
I seen your ad about One Week Hotel Stay $175 in the services section but more importantly than me needing your service...
You need to be able to act and be ready!
As with hurricane Katrina and the people of Haiti who werent prepared nature strikes without warning and though you're doing the best you can providing for your family dont look over the little things that can play a big part in case something like that happens to us.
I am also from Worldwide and know that God gives us signs to protect us i want you to look at this one, it is only 1 dollar.
That dollar could mean the difference of being prepared incase something else is destined for us.
I know that your One Week Hotel Stay $175 keeps you pretty busy but don't let it keep you so busy that you do not even bother to look at what you could have!
For every kit that is bought a portion is donated to help the people of Haiti.
Thank you for reading this and i pray you and yours are blessed many times over.
Thanks!
Get Your Disaster Kit
_____________________
Hi,
I seen your ad about One Week Hotel Stay $175 in the services section but more importantly than me needing your service...
You need to be able to act and be ready!
As with hurricane Katrina and the people of Haiti who werent prepared nature strikes without warning and though you're doing the best you can providing for your family dont look over the little things that can play a big part in case something like that happens to us.
I am also from Worldwide and know that God gives us signs to protect us i want you to look at this one, it is only 1 dollar.
That dollar could mean the difference of being prepared incase something else is destined for us.
I know that your One Week Hotel Stay $175 keeps you pretty busy but don't let it keep you so busy that you do not even bother to look at what you could have!
For every kit that is bought a portion is donated to help the people of Haiti.
Thank you for reading this and i pray you and yours are blessed many times over.
Thanks!
Get Your Disaster Kit
Friday, February 05, 2010
Beer in baby bottles in Britain
"99 plastic bottles of beer on the wall ... 99 plastic bottles of beer ..."
They'll have to start singing the drunk's song that way in Britain soon, since the government officially announced that British pubs are to begin using plastic pint mugs to lower the costs of government health care -- of course.
Evidently, more than 87,000 binge-drinking Britons are sliced up badly by their drunken mates each year when they fight with glass mugs, costing billions in health care for the nanny state. So, soon Britons will be saying, "Hey mate, pass me another frozen plastic pint, will ya?!"
The British guvment is also trying to find ways to curb the notorious binge drinking of their cavern comrades. May I suggest putting plastic nipples on the plastic pint mugs?
"Hey mate, pass me another baby bottle, will ya?!"
They'll have to start singing the drunk's song that way in Britain soon, since the government officially announced that British pubs are to begin using plastic pint mugs to lower the costs of government health care -- of course.
Evidently, more than 87,000 binge-drinking Britons are sliced up badly by their drunken mates each year when they fight with glass mugs, costing billions in health care for the nanny state. So, soon Britons will be saying, "Hey mate, pass me another frozen plastic pint, will ya?!"
The British guvment is also trying to find ways to curb the notorious binge drinking of their cavern comrades. May I suggest putting plastic nipples on the plastic pint mugs?
"Hey mate, pass me another baby bottle, will ya?!"
Thursday, February 04, 2010
Hey, ObaMa! You talk too much!
Check out this funny song-and-dance video on PJTV that features Pat Boone, of all people.
Funny stuff.
Funny stuff.
If I hear "Help Haiti" one more time ...!
I don't send money to third-world countries where tragedy inevitably strikes any more than I send money to Wal-Mart shoppers living in trailer parks struck by the tornadoes that inevitably strike in Oklahoma and Kansas.
No, I'm not happy those people died, but why the hell would I send money to people who purposely put themselves in harm's way and then get smacked hard for doing so? If they don't care about their lives, why the hell should I?
Yeah, the people in Haiti don't care. If they did, they would rise up against their government, demand liberty and capitalism, reap the benefits of that freedom and money, and then build earthquake/hurricane-proof dwellings. Instead, they are content to dig around in trash heaps, rob from others, and sleep in dwellings that are simply makeshift coffins.
Instead of money, how about somebody send Haitians a copy of the original Constitution of the United States -- and a copy of Atlas Shrugged? And if our military HAS to be over there, how about they imprison all those parents who failed to change the system and thereby relegated their children to an awful death?
It's one thing to be careless with your own life, but to also put your child in a shanty in one of the most dangerous geographic spots on Earth is actionable by justice.
How well do you think that idea will go over in "world opinion"?
Uhuh.
No, I'm not happy those people died, but why the hell would I send money to people who purposely put themselves in harm's way and then get smacked hard for doing so? If they don't care about their lives, why the hell should I?
Yeah, the people in Haiti don't care. If they did, they would rise up against their government, demand liberty and capitalism, reap the benefits of that freedom and money, and then build earthquake/hurricane-proof dwellings. Instead, they are content to dig around in trash heaps, rob from others, and sleep in dwellings that are simply makeshift coffins.
Instead of money, how about somebody send Haitians a copy of the original Constitution of the United States -- and a copy of Atlas Shrugged? And if our military HAS to be over there, how about they imprison all those parents who failed to change the system and thereby relegated their children to an awful death?
It's one thing to be careless with your own life, but to also put your child in a shanty in one of the most dangerous geographic spots on Earth is actionable by justice.
How well do you think that idea will go over in "world opinion"?
Uhuh.
What do you think of your child?
Unschooling is the science of parenting -- the rational science of parenting. It recognizes that children have volition, rationality and hegemony (personal ownership) and proceeds from that premise with an explicit, integrated approach to laissez-faire child-rearing. (the "laissez-faire" pertains to not "motivating" or "directing" the child)
It is not supposed to be related to the science of skepticism -- the belief that humans (including children, of course) are inherently irrational and incapable of always engaging their volition (free will) with full rationality and integrity in the pursuit of rational values.
Ninety-nine percent of humans fall into the latter category -- even a large percentage of Objectivists, unfortunately. The ramifications for child-rearing (and children) are monumental because even the tiniest irrationality plays itself out in our relationships, especially in the manipulation of others.
Happiness is the result of a full-time rational approach to reality, an understanding that humans are rational and volitional, the knowledge that an explicit construct of rational ethics is obligatory, and the full integration of the above in the full-time pursuit of rational values.
When one does everything in the preceding paragraph (including cleaning out one's subconscious of errant notions and paradigms), the added result is full self-esteem -- and the respect for one's own hegemony, as well as the hegemony of others in our lives.
It is the lack of self-esteem that is the bugaboo of mankind, precipitating intrusive government, "working for the weekend," the obsession with the downtrodden, injustice in relationships and sloppy and/or oppressive child-rearing. The reason for this is that the person with low self-esteem has a poor opinion of himself, feels a bit (or a lot) out of control, subconsciously or consciously thinks humans inefficacious (incapable of effective thought and action all the time), and projects his own hobbled mental state upon others (skepticism). He insists, then, upon pushing himself upon others because he, himself, wishes to be pushed around (though he may not know this consciously). He seeks a "superiority" over people, especially the most vulnerable: children -- to assuage a guilty conscience and make him feel momentarily in control.
From my experience, almost all unschooling parents do this to some degree. They *have* to because they think they can't help themselves; they are ruled by their low self-esteem. And so you see the following in many ostensively unschooling parents:
1) Using guilt and poor-little-old-me as control: "Can't you, just once, clean up after yourself?" (indicates tendency to browbeat and bemoan instead of handle)
2) Insisting upon being "nonjudgmental": "We don't judge other people. Everybody's got their right to live how they want." (indicates a dramatic skepticism in human ability to make rational judgments and to live by rational absolutes)
3) Directing the child's endeavors, such as getting very young children to learn their ABCs and then showing off the child's abilities to others. (indicates a skepticism in the child's own motivational ability and value-seeking on the child's own timescale; often this is the "trophy child" mindset, attempting to vicariously show one's own greatness by second-handedly exhibiting a precocious child)
4) Refusing to insist upon objective rules of conduct: This is especially bad in the general relativistic unschooling sphere because the parents, again, have a skepticism of human efficacy and absolutes, so that "laissez-faire" doesn't just apply to "motivation" but to anything and everything.
5) Over-protectiveness of child. This is usually the unschooler who is skeptical of the "intent" of children, buying into the "fallen human" syndrome of Christianity and other skeptical cults. This plays out in not allowing children to venture out into the boundaries of safe play or experiment, such as constantly telling children to "be careful" or "watch out" or "don't go too far" or "you might fall down" or "you have to wear clothes around the house," etc.
The result of these five categories and others is a rebellious, and possibly even explosive, child, who won't listen when you are actually being rational. You've already cried "Wolf!" too many times and harmed the objective trust a child must develop for the child to be attentive to suggestions and declarations.
All of the above said, unschooling parents generally raise children with much more honor of volition, thereby making any mistakes the parents make subject to the child's generally untrampled free will and judgment. "Schooling" parents (including most Objectivist parents) have set upon a path of volitional destruction, with a major dichotomy between virtue and values, refusing to see that children deserve the same respect in the realm of values pursuits as adults do.
In each case, the way we treat reality and ourselves, determines what we think of ourselves and our self-esteem. And what we think of ourselves says what we'll think of our children and how to raise them.
What do you think of yourself?
What do you think of your child?
It is not supposed to be related to the science of skepticism -- the belief that humans (including children, of course) are inherently irrational and incapable of always engaging their volition (free will) with full rationality and integrity in the pursuit of rational values.
Ninety-nine percent of humans fall into the latter category -- even a large percentage of Objectivists, unfortunately. The ramifications for child-rearing (and children) are monumental because even the tiniest irrationality plays itself out in our relationships, especially in the manipulation of others.
Happiness is the result of a full-time rational approach to reality, an understanding that humans are rational and volitional, the knowledge that an explicit construct of rational ethics is obligatory, and the full integration of the above in the full-time pursuit of rational values.
When one does everything in the preceding paragraph (including cleaning out one's subconscious of errant notions and paradigms), the added result is full self-esteem -- and the respect for one's own hegemony, as well as the hegemony of others in our lives.
It is the lack of self-esteem that is the bugaboo of mankind, precipitating intrusive government, "working for the weekend," the obsession with the downtrodden, injustice in relationships and sloppy and/or oppressive child-rearing. The reason for this is that the person with low self-esteem has a poor opinion of himself, feels a bit (or a lot) out of control, subconsciously or consciously thinks humans inefficacious (incapable of effective thought and action all the time), and projects his own hobbled mental state upon others (skepticism). He insists, then, upon pushing himself upon others because he, himself, wishes to be pushed around (though he may not know this consciously). He seeks a "superiority" over people, especially the most vulnerable: children -- to assuage a guilty conscience and make him feel momentarily in control.
From my experience, almost all unschooling parents do this to some degree. They *have* to because they think they can't help themselves; they are ruled by their low self-esteem. And so you see the following in many ostensively unschooling parents:
1) Using guilt and poor-little-old-me as control: "Can't you, just once, clean up after yourself?" (indicates tendency to browbeat and bemoan instead of handle)
2) Insisting upon being "nonjudgmental": "We don't judge other people. Everybody's got their right to live how they want." (indicates a dramatic skepticism in human ability to make rational judgments and to live by rational absolutes)
3) Directing the child's endeavors, such as getting very young children to learn their ABCs and then showing off the child's abilities to others. (indicates a skepticism in the child's own motivational ability and value-seeking on the child's own timescale; often this is the "trophy child" mindset, attempting to vicariously show one's own greatness by second-handedly exhibiting a precocious child)
4) Refusing to insist upon objective rules of conduct: This is especially bad in the general relativistic unschooling sphere because the parents, again, have a skepticism of human efficacy and absolutes, so that "laissez-faire" doesn't just apply to "motivation" but to anything and everything.
5) Over-protectiveness of child. This is usually the unschooler who is skeptical of the "intent" of children, buying into the "fallen human" syndrome of Christianity and other skeptical cults. This plays out in not allowing children to venture out into the boundaries of safe play or experiment, such as constantly telling children to "be careful" or "watch out" or "don't go too far" or "you might fall down" or "you have to wear clothes around the house," etc.
The result of these five categories and others is a rebellious, and possibly even explosive, child, who won't listen when you are actually being rational. You've already cried "Wolf!" too many times and harmed the objective trust a child must develop for the child to be attentive to suggestions and declarations.
All of the above said, unschooling parents generally raise children with much more honor of volition, thereby making any mistakes the parents make subject to the child's generally untrampled free will and judgment. "Schooling" parents (including most Objectivist parents) have set upon a path of volitional destruction, with a major dichotomy between virtue and values, refusing to see that children deserve the same respect in the realm of values pursuits as adults do.
In each case, the way we treat reality and ourselves, determines what we think of ourselves and our self-esteem. And what we think of ourselves says what we'll think of our children and how to raise them.
What do you think of yourself?
What do you think of your child?
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