The Sidereal Messenger

C17H21NO4 and C7H8N4O2

2011-03-06T11:52:00.000-05:00

The first formula in this blog post title is for cocaine, which derives from a plant: the coca.

The second formula is for the primary alkaloid of the cocoa plant (or tree), which is the primary ingredient in chocolate.

The government tells us we cannot ingest the first formula. The government gives us permission to ingest the second formula.

The Supreme Court of the United States (let's call them the "high court") is now deliberating seriously about whether some cocaine derivatives have enough C17H21NO4 to actually be illegal for human beings to ingest. I say "human beings" because certain insect larvae absolutely adore C17H21NO4 and ingest it with reckless abandon -- not doubt having unprotected sex and being altogether loopy and excited afterward, causing larvae traffic accidents and unwanted pregnancies.

The high court has no problem with larvae ingesting C17H21NO4, but not rational beings.

That tell you anything about where the high court believes we humans reside in the animal kingdom?

When nothing is something

2011-03-06T09:20:00.000-05:00

The latest hubbub in Washington and the circle-jerk media is over a government shutdown if Republicans and Democrats can't agree on a 2011 budget. We've heard horror stories about welfare recipients not getting their checks, about regulators not getting paid to regulate, about forestry officials lacking funds to do forestry (whatever the hell that is), about highway projects coming to a halt, about stolen cash not making it by the billions to schools, etc.
To which I say, "My god, let's do a shutdown NOW. Hell, let's keep the government shut down!"
I have to say, I'm a bit embarrassed at having not thought of this whole shutdown thing before. Every year, the rat pack (that is, Congress) swarms around this time to figure out the right way to pick at the bones of the American cadaver.
"Who can we steal more from? Who can we give that loot to so that we can get more votes? How many pats on the back can I get for stealing from people in other states for boondoggles in my state?"
So, let's do a permanent shutdown, Americans. Nothing is better than something when criminals are in charge.

They want me BACK

2011-03-06T09:01:00.000-05:00

I filed for bankruptcy last year (2010) after two miserable years of trying to keep my booming real estate business from collapsing when the U.S. government sabotaged the economy with its altruistic housing welfare programs.
In 2009, I'd called all the mortgage companies for my 10 homes and all seven credit card companies for my personal and business credit cards in an attempt to stave off bankruptcy and to readjust the terms of the loan/credit payments, so that I could get the money back to the credit holders eventually.
At the time, the resounding unanimous answer from all of the above was "hit the road, Jack, and don't come back no mo', no mo', no mo'."
Well, they want me BACK.
Within one month of getting all my debt discharged in August 2010, my mailbox was sullied almost daily with entreaties from the same credit card companies. The message was uniformly similar: "Oh, David, you poor boy, you've been through some tough times, haven't you? Goodness gracious. Oh, um, hey! Would you like a new credit card with us now that you're making money again and all your debt is gone? Pretty please, with sugar on top? Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeze?!"
My answer over these last several months, today, tomorrow, and until the day I lie in a pine coffin is, "hit the road, Jack, and don't come back no mo', no mo', no mo'."

Excellent ARI column on Fox News web site

2011-02-03T10:55:00.000-05:00

ARI's Alex Epstein's column on "Why Businessmen Should Say Happy Birthday to Ayn Rand" is on the Fox News web site to celebrate Rand's birthday.

It's a well-written piece explaining the morality of capitalism, so that businessmen can understand the concept and no longer feel guilty about their profound right to make profits.

Go to Paris first to go around the universe

2011-02-03T09:46:00.000-05:00

Livy's friend Ethan (6) concluded today that the universe is 10 feet wide. I asked him to confirm that number and he said he was "confirming" that number and that "yes" the universe is 10 feet wide.

He paused for a moment and then continued: "And since the universe is round, you have to go to Paris first and then go around the universe. ... Maybe you go to China, too. ... No, you have to go to Paris definitely."

"What do you think, Uncle Dave?"

"About what?"

"Do you have to go to Paris or China first?"

"Hmm. Don't know for sure, but I'm thinking you're right about Paris."

"Yep, you have to go to Paris first."

14-year-old unschooler takes tour on dark side

2011-01-26T08:09:00.000-05:00

A 14-year-old unschooler goes to a public high school for one year to see what it's like.

Here's a quote from his poignant account: "I also understood why public school kids act like they do. It's called loss of motivation."

The IRS dressed as Lady Liberty

2011-01-25T10:33:00.000-05:00

As I drive to my part-time job each day in Alpharetta, GA, Lady Liberty waves vigorously to me and other drivers.

She's dressed in that pale green dress, wearing a crown and holding a torch. She stands outside a tax preparer's office hearkening those who've been the victims of tax theft to come inside and review the amount of the theft -- for a price.

We are to pay Lady Liberty's employers our hard-earned money to discover how much liberty was stolen from us during the previous year. Irony, my friends, doesn't often come served so bounteously. The tax preparers, most likely, had some other intent in mind, but each day, as I see the muscular man inside the Lady Liberty costume wave at me, I'm reminded again that the tax preparer is preparing something in my mind far more dangerous than tax theft.

It is revolution.

My Texas and 7 other states defy ObamaCare

2011-01-25T10:23:00.000-05:00

In the spirit of James Madison and Thomas Jefferson, Texas and seven other states are making it illegal for any authority or private entity to execute provisions of ObamaCare inside their borders. Attempting to do so could result in five years in prison.

This is astounding and gratifying news. It is a welcome return to a republic, as our Founders designed it, with the federal government being scolded and warned by states when it attempts to breach the boundaries of the Constitution.

The current Tea Party environment is also a welcome one, in which average Americans are now reading and understanding the Constitution, as well as the thoughts of our Founders concerning the intent of provisions in the Constitution.

I am daily feeling more proud to be an American.

Homeschooling almost as bad as public schooling

2011-01-14T08:15:00.000-05:00

To keep up to date on recent activities by homeschoolers and unschoolers, I'm a member of several lists on the subjects. But the homeschool lists are virtually worthless, outside of a few suggestions on good museums to visit or somesuch. The parents themselves are awash in the "schooling" mentality and have essentially nothing worthy to offer on the parenting of children.

The homeschooler parents continually complain about "problem" kids and "rebel" children. One "respected" homeschooling mom recently penned a long article on how to handle such children (evidently not understanding that ALL children are rebels when their lives are dictated to them).

The article outlined in great detail the manipulation (er, "handling"), giving extensive guidelines under the following titles: "intervention," "distractions," "breaking the procrastination cycle," "bad habits," "the reward in raising a rebel," "recognizing the triggers of rebellion," "making a disciple," etc.

At one point this concentration-camp guard, er "homeschooling mom," gives the following "helpful hint": "When your rebel is young, give your rebel the least amount of choices possible. Making choices can frustrate him and you. You make the choices for him."
This, my friends, is the nadir of parenting, the low point, the abysmal mindset of the schooling mentality, the skeptic of children's hegemony and rationality, the hater of all things good, the lover of ruling instead of rational rules of conduct that we all must abide by.

The very thing that enriches life, choices, is the very thing that this homeschooling "expert" wishes to deprive her children and other children of. She makes clear that homeschooling is different from public schooling only in the identity of the concentration-camp guard: parent or strangers.

If this woman and the other millions of schooling parents around the world would be honest about the "rebellion" and the efficacy of their children, they would see that the real solution is wrapped up in one polysyllabic word: unschooling.

Unschooling is the honoring of freedom and self-determination. It is the honoring of the child's choices in life. It is the recognition that our children are their own sovereigns, that what they make of themselves and their lives is on their lively shoulders.

To find excuses to send one's kid to any school or to homeschool means that you don't truly honor your child and his/her happiness. Whether it is convenience or an immoral conviction doesn't matter.

The only true honoring of another life, their lives, is to let them be free to explore this wondrous world at their leisure and initiative.

Then sit back, my friends, and watch a flower blossom into colors you could never have dreamed of. Watch the blossoming of an individual, not a rebel.

Google's online global science competition

2011-01-14T07:34:00.000-05:00

All that the government is bad, Google is good. And now, Google has created an online global science competition. Check out this creative video that is part of their marketing. Amazing stuff.

Bono's boner over Africa

2011-01-14T07:30:00.000-05:00

For those of you who have watched the lead singer for U2 (Bono) descend from exhilarating front man of rock to the simpering Sally Struthers of African children, you'll love this joke going around on the web.

Bono is at a U2 concert and asks the crowd for some quiet. Slowly, to rapt silence from the audience, he begins clapping his hands and says into the microphone: "Every time I clap my hands a child in Africa dies." A voice from near the front of the audience yells: "Well, stop clapping then!"

A day with my daughter

2011-01-06T21:14:00.000-05:00

A day with my lovely Livy doesn't have to be all play. It can be fun even when we're doing chores or hard work.

Today, we did the wash, made the bed, trimmed our neighbor's crape myrtles, went for a bike ride, fixed her bike twice, ate Chinese food at a restaurant, organized the shelves in our room, cleaned up the closet, brought tea home for her friends Ethan and Tori, talked about all sorts of stuff (including how she now officially knows "100 big words"), cracked jokes ("Daddy, your butt is the whole universe." ... "Oh yeah? Does that mean you are living in my butt?"), got warm gloves for each other, watched some of "Anastasia" together (what a great movie), sifted through mounds of wires to try to find her DS adapter (to no avail, but she took it so well), shared a smidgen of wine, and more.

Livy has grown into such a warm-hearted, hard-working, fun, intelligent, thoughtful, creative person that I love every single moment around her. And she's only seven years old. I can only imagine what kind of craziness and loveliness she'll be in three or seven or ten years.

David Horowitz gets a Muslim hippo to admit backing genocide

2011-01-06T17:10:00.000-05:00

David Horowitz used to be a blazing liberal. Now he's an eloquent neo-conservative -- not always right, but when he's right, he's one of the best at being right. Check out what he gets this Muslim cunt to admit after she insults him during a Q&A at his lecture on the Left Coast.

This unschooled kid went to high school for six weeks and ... WOW.

2010-12-07T08:09:00.000-05:00

An unschooled kid named Zack went to high school to see what he was missing -- and he found a lost generation of do-nothings.

This is an inspirational 10-minute take by an eloquent boy who ended up being a mole. He describes, without knowing it, exactly the morality of productivity. Absolutely amazing. You go, Zack!

What is good art?

2010-10-28T13:36:00.000-04:00

Artwork is to the eye what music is to the ear. It is an instantaneous like or dislike.

It can become more intellectually interesting, by degrees, after thoughtful reflection, but it is that first emotion you feel upon viewing or listening that counts. It is not an analytical moment; it isn't an intellectual moment. It is an emotional moment that is arrived at by who you are and what you've made of yourself throughout your life.

It is your subconscious mind reacting, and in your subconscious is the sum total of what you've thought and how you've acted since birth -- and more importantly, who you've become and what you think about yourself and what you know about the world around you.

All of the above brings your context into each new artwork. If you know about World War II and you see a painting of a man in a Nazi uniform giving a loving kiss to his wife, you cannot love the painting because you know that that uniform represents severe oppression and murder and anyone wearing it cannot possibly love himself, and therefore he cannot love his wife. You don't think of these things consciously in that first millisecond of viewing the painting, but your subconscious mind does make that lightning assessment and downgrades the beauty of the painting -- or even repulses you.

If you see two people hunched over in prayer with serene faces and a Christian cross in the background, your subconscious mind knows there cannot be serenity, but instead turmoil and false serenity. You move on.

If you see a man in a hard hat hard at work on a steel beam of a skyscraper with sweat dripping off his nose and a look of contented intensity on his face on a brilliant summer day, you soak it up like life-giving sustenance.

The mind can sum up true happiness in artwork so quickly and astoundingly that it may take you minutes or hours to figure out what it was that astounded or repulsed your mind. One painting that an art historian showed me and a group of enthusiasts at an Atlanta museum earlier this year didn't sit well with me, even though the man in the artwork appeared to be doing some sort of masterful drafting or something while standing up.

Around the man were his children, a messy floor, and his wife in the corner of the painting watching him. I realized that the wife had an angry look on her face, as if distanced from her husband emotionally and angry at him for something. The clutter affected me like all clutter does. The lighting suggested a bit of somber.

I realized that the man may have found his true calling in his work but that he was not handling the rest of his life well and could not be completely happy. My subconscious mind picked up on all of this instantly. When I realized this, I shook my head in astonishment of the human mind.

Art should make us happy. There is no truly great artwork that does not do so.

There are four main areas that our subconscious mind evaluates in artwork (I'll talk about them in more detail in a later post): Those areas are: content (objects, people, etc.), theme (happy or sad), quality (masterful or something less in painting skill), lighting (effervescent or less).

The art historian I refer to above, an Objectivist, has written a book recently on this subject, and he says that you must "suspend disbelief" when you approach artwork.

No, you must suspend nothing. You must simply look and be yourself. Your subconscious mind will do the rest. You need not delve into history or ruminate upon the content or learn what the artist intended.

You simply look -- and then enjoy or move on.

The gentleman's game

2010-10-28T12:56:00.000-04:00

For more than a century, golf has been referred to rightly as the gentleman's game. It is precise, intellectual, circumspect, humane and soothing, much like classical music. It's one major reason why it's the only sport that'll I'll watch regularly on TV.

That isn't to say it isn't competitive. Just watch Ryder Cup play or the last round of an important tournament. You'll see a vast range of emotions, anxiety, thrill, intensity, conquest, capitulation.

But you will very rarely see outright meanness that you witness in other sports: the yelling at officials in tennis, the in-your-face dancing in football, the endless arguing with umpires and pitching-mound attacks in baseball, the egregious attacks in basketball, the ubiquitous brawling in hockey, etc.

Yes, these others sports are more physical and more "attack" oriented, no doubt raising the testosterone level by degrees. But these other sports seem to attract the "attack" personalities. Which is the chicken and which the egg? These other sports do have a great many men who seem to play for the sake of playing (like golfers) and play with great sportsmanship, not to show off over a downed opponent. But a large percentage of them act badly and don't seem to understand the true meaning of work: to enjoy what you do and to do it the best that you can.

A recent example of a gentleman in the gentleman's game came on Sunday on the PGA Tour at the Las Vegas Open. The 72-hole tournament ended in a 3-way tie. The three men were on the fourth hole of a playoff, when the first golfer on the fourth hole, Jonathan Byrd, struck his ball off the tee. After it landed on the green it rolled into the hole for a hole-in-one, effectively winning the tournament for him before the other two golfers even got a chance to hit their balls off the tee.

Jonathan didn't jump up and down and get in the face of his two opponents. His face brightened and a broad smile shown, and then he moved aside to let his two opponents get their chance to make an unlikely hole-in-one themselves. Here's what Jonathan said after he won the tournament when he was asked why he reacted the way that he did:

"I tried to be respectful of the two other guys (Martin Laird and Cameron Percy). I didn't want to excessively celebrate. I was trying to contain myself, be composed and let them hit. I knew I'd have plenty of time to celebrate and react after that."

That is why I watch golf. A man honors himself and others. He is circumspect spontaneously in the moment, despite feeling jubilation. He wants his competitors to give their best without distractions from him or the crowd reacting to his jubilation.

Like good art, Jonathan Byrd and his golf brethren remind me of the best in me, day in and day out.

He is a gentleman.

Does your octa-nose slobber?

2010-10-28T12:22:00.001-04:00

Kids crack me up.

They have a knack for not only creating entirely different words but also combining different meanings in the same sentence -- just for kicks -- and then collapsing into giggles. A language's vocabulary is the playground of their imagination.

While taking my 7-year-old daughter, Livy, and her nearly 6-year-old friend Ethan and his 3.5-year-old sister, Tori, to TCBY for some yogurt ice cream, the kids in the backseat began interrogating me (with smirks on their faces).

"If your brain freezes when you eat ice cream, dad, can you think?" Livy asks. Before I can answer with some witticism, she quickly answers for me: "You can't think anyway! Ha Ha Ha!" Of course, all of the kids collapsed into laughter as I gave them a menacing look with raised eyebrow in the rear-view mirror, which I train upon the kids to watch them in amusement whenever we go anywhere.

Ethan then asked, "Uncle Dave, does your octa-nose slobber?" At this, I collapsed into laughter right along with the kids. The image was too ridiculous and a great non-sequitur. After things quieted somewhat I shouted, "Are you saying that I have eight noses and that those noses SLOBBER, Ethan? Noses can't SLOBBER!"

"YES THEY CAN!" he and Livy shouted quickly, before again squirming in loud giggles.

Livy and Ethan have created their own monster language, too, often saying something to me (or about me) and pretending to understand each other. They also translate road signs into monster language, so I will not remain an ignorant adult for the rest of my life. If I ask why the monster word for "Stop" has changed overnight, they simply inform me that IT CHANGED OVERNIGHT. Well, of course it did, silly me.

I regularly trade "insults" with Livy and Ethan. The "insults" are their way of practicing generalities, testing the mettle of others, being goofy, playing with the language, connecting with another person. Too many adults, unfortunately, take these playful digs by kids too seriously and don't give back as good as they get.

Among the many insults Livy has for me is her pronouncement that I am fat (I'm thin and muscular). She knows that I know that I'm not fat, so it's a playful jibe. I pronounce quickly that she, instead, is the fat one (she's built exactly like me), and she quickly states, "I'm not fat, you're fat!"

The point to this fatness is not fat, of course; it's a kid's way of saying, "Let's have fun." Since Livy knows that I'm not fat and that I love my body, she knows she might get a round of silliness going by stating the untrue, like when they say that the wind isn't blowing the leaves; the leaves are blowing the wind. They find great folly and joy in the opposite, and it helps solidify the real by toying with it.

It's also a kid's way of testing our mettle. Kids, as you know, do this all the time. How will mommy or daddy or Uncle Bill or Aunt Sally or their friends react? These kinds of regular teasings build up their judgment muscles as they watch how a parent (or any other person) regularly responds to "interrogation." They don't mean it meanly. It's almost instinctive in young kids to constantly test the confidence and will power of those who are close to them.

And you don't have to be witty to get their sympathy. Some of the biggest laughs I've seen in kids is when I simply am stymied by their goofiness and can't think of a thing to say. They love rendering us adults speechless. It's a conquest. As long as you take it well, they love you the more for it. Livy loves it when I get that "I don't know WHAT to say to THAT" look on my face or when I shake my head and say, "That's too goofy for MY universe."

Some parents rebel against this "assault." I find it fascinating and amusing. After all, the ball's in my court, isn't it? I can answer however I feel, and I can have as little or as much fun with it as I want.

I respond according to my mood, usually. Sometimes I'll say that I'll respond to that horrible lie (the "fat" one) after I finish a business email (I have raised eyebrow aimed in her direction, and she knows this means I want to have fun but can't right now). Sometimes I'll say, "Poor Livy girl, I guess it's time we take you to the eye doctor to get some REALLY THICK glasses made for you." "No way, I don't need glasses -- YOU do!" she proclaims, giggling at the thought of big thick glasses.

Sometimes I'll answer the "fat" accusation by stating, "Livy, everyone knows I'm built like Mr. Incredible." She laughs heartily and says, "Mr. Incredible was FAT!" She thinks for a minute that she's "won." Then I say with a wry look, "I'm talking about AFTER he was fat and had all those huge muscles. Look at my muscles. Aren't I as big as Mr. Incredible?!" (flexing pose)

"No!!!!!" she says, and we both collapse into giggles.

How does a clean sink get filled with SO MANY DISHES?

2010-10-25T20:49:00.000-04:00

Mathematics is the common denominator of physics; it is the infinite in concept formation; it is the friend of any detective worth his salt.

But the real mathematics is in parenting. One child in the household becomes 5 or 7 children suddenly with simply one phone call or a shout -- and it happens so swiftly that you think you must've heard your child say, "Beam 'em over, Scotty."

At noon, the number of dirty dishes in the sink are zero sum. By 12:30, dirty dishes are multiplying over the edge of the sink, threatening you if you come close, like some malevolent Chilean mudslide.

When you last turned the corner, the once-empty laundry basket is now Mount Kilimanjaro, with clothing detritus scattered nearby as if Kilimanjaro sneezed and scattered some of its top across the lowlands.

Over the years, you thought that maybe you'd just bought a toy here and a toy there. Then you enter your child's room and discover not only that you must've had Alzheimer's but that the local Toys R Us has relocated to your darling daughter's room.

Your DVD bookshelves and two tall DVD cases used to have such notables as Casablanca, To Kill a Mockingbird, Pride and Prejudice, Shawshank Redemption and Spartacus. Now, when you lean over to take a gander at what you'd like to watch during a quiet evening, you find five editions of SpongeBob Squarepants, seven editions of Scooby Do, 9 editions of Princesses, 4 editions of Little Einsteins, and a hundred or so titles of the various and sundry from the kids section of Best Buy.

Before becoming a parent, the slightest noises in the house could get one's attention. Now Hurricane Katrina could pass through and I'd just smile at her and say, "Ha, you think YOU can make noise! Have you ever heard of CHILDREN?"

My friends who are parents know what I'm talking about. And they probably also know what I mean when I say, "It's crazy, but I love every bit of it."

It's life.

Gang Green thinks murdering "skeptics" is funny

2010-10-25T19:58:00.000-04:00

Ayn Rand correctly called environmentalists "anti-man" because they put nature above humans and human happiness.

This latest video from Gang Green vindicates her -- as if she needed vindicating. A nearly famous guy named David Elmore once said that subjectivists are subhuman and that they are insane because they detach themselves from reality and factual empiricism that makes us truly human with the breadth of human understanding and introspection that ennobles us.

Check out the latest Gang Green atrocity:

The Nobel Prize winner and the terrorist

2010-10-06T12:31:00.000-04:00

One man dedicates his life to scientific research. The other man dedicates his life to religion and retribution.

Every year at this time, the Nobel committee picks its winners in the sciences. And every year at this time, we have our terrorist-du-jour splashed across the pages of the newspaper.

It is a study in contrasts: in free will, in rationality, in happiness, in pride, in accomplishment, in ramifications for the rest of society.

One man magnificently creates with the contentment of the creator.

The other man stews in his irrationality, looking for innocent people to murder and destroy.

One man's mind is riveted upon the facts of reality, getting a constant rush from his daily achievements and learning much from minor setbacks in his experiments.

The other man demands respect for his utter irrationality, demands that others drop to their knees and elbows five times a day to worship the unreal, demands that others join him in negligence and deference to the unseen, demands that others join him in surrender to domination, demands that those who are different be exterminated.

One man goes by the name Konstantin Novoselov. He and the co-winner of the Nobel prize in physics, Andre Geim, did revolutionary work with graphene, forming super-thin sheets of carbon in the form of graphene just one atom in thickness. Graphene is 100 times stronger than steel. The prospects for you and I and business are virtually endless: much faster computer circuitry, much stronger and lighter airplanes, see-through touch screens, far greater flat-screen TVs, more powerful cell phones and solar cells, and much more.

The other man goes by the name Faisal Shahzad. He was sentenced to life in prison yesterday for trying to bomb innocent people in Times Square in NYC. He calls himself a "Muslim soldier," and he laughed at his sentencing, threatening Americans with more from his mystical "brothers" in arms. He demands all of the things I mentioned above for his superstitious brethren.

The two men are a study in the contrast of facts and faith.

And the conclusion of propriety is a clear as the technology and secular revolutions.

One-hour conversation with my 7-year-old about religion

2010-10-06T11:44:00.001-04:00

My Livy girl just can't seem to wrap her mind around the fact that adults (and children) could believe in make-believe. In this case, religion.

One of her little buddies likes to go to church with his mama, and each time, Livy looks at me and raises her eyebrows, as if to say, "Well, OK, but that's just silly."

On Sunday, it happened again, and Livy again asked me, "Why does he get so excited about going to church?" I explained that at church, they have fun stuff for young kids to do, so it's not really as much about the god thing and make-believe mysticism yet.

This led to a long talk with many questions about religion. We discussed morality, personal responsibility, facts, more facts, rationality, free will, independent thinking (even with parents and other adults), handling irrational people, the history of mysticism (going back 30,000 years), the abdication of thought by mystics (religious people), whether religious people think their alleged god would have a penis or vagina or whatever (we laughed at this part very much), and much more.

We ended like we usually do with such conversations, discussing the ramifications of irrationality on rational people, especially politically, with mystics voting for political domination of themselves and the rest of us. Livy now quite comfortably says things like, "People who go to church want the government to steal from us and give that money to other people because church people like for somebody to be in charge of themselves."

How refreshing it is to have a talk with an objective, clear conscience! How fascinating it is to be engaged with a young mind traveling down complex intellectual paths willfully and freely, integrating concepts, forming conclusions easily once facts are digested thoroughly, asking poignant and direct questions and dissecting the answers to ensure that the answers are themselves rational.

If this coming generation is filled with hundreds of thousands of such children as my Livy, as I think it will be, then I have a warning for the mystics and the government:

Your superstition and dominance will be laughed at and eventually exterminated.

And my Livy will have more money in her bank account to maybe buy me a new car. Ha!

The battle of the "makers" and "takers" in America

2010-09-30T12:53:00.001-04:00

John Stossel does some great work in promoting capitalism. He ain't perfect, but his spirit and the spirit of those he interviews inspires me and millions of others.

If you need some inspiration and want to see the battle that's going on between the "makers" and the "takers" in this once-great country, watch his six-part series below from YouTube. You'll be stunned by the brazen remarks of the takers and floored by the wonderful remarks of the makers and their proponents.

Atheists beat mystics on religion quiz

2010-09-29T11:53:00.001-04:00

It will come as little surprise that we atheists obliterate the mystics at their own game.

In a new poll by the Pew Research Center, atheists and agnostics and Jews and Mormons (yuck) smashed the Protestants and Catholics at an understanding of world religions.

And (equally of little surprise) the more educated you are, the more you know about religions.

The reason I say "little surprise," of course, is that if you have talked with any number of Christian mystics, you know that they know bupkis about their own myth book.

They don't know that the four so-called Gospels can't even agree on who was outside Jesus' tomb or where his carcass walked after being dead for three days or who was at his crucifixion or what he said to whom or what he preached on the mount or that there are two entirely differing accounts of Adam and Eve or ...

In the survey, almost half of Christians didn't know the name of the first book of the Bible, only two-thirds knew the names of the four alleged Gospel writers, less than half know that the Dalai Lama is a Buddhist, less than half of Protestants know who Martin Luther is, barely half of Catholics know that they are allegedly literally eating the body and blood of Jesus when they take communion. The list goes on.

You'd think that any human being that commits himself to a fundamental philosophy/viewpoint of the universe and morality would steep himself in the ideas and words of that philosophy, to show at least some respect for the knowledge that is the foundation for his worldview.

No, not Christians. They remain doggedly consistent in their irrationality and remain haughty about their alleged "truth."

I'd have no problem with this if they didn't vote away my individual rights. If we lived in America under a supremely rational constitution, then we rational people could blissfully make fun of Christians without worrying that they will vote away more of our rights, without living with the knowledge that the mystic slaves insist upon us being slaves to their government.

Alas, that day of reckoning for the mystics is coming -- hopefully in my lifetime.

"To Serve and to Protect"

2010-09-29T11:16:00.000-04:00

As a child who'd just learned to read, I looked over at the police car from the back seat of my mom and dad's lime-green Maverick.

The officer inside seemed dignified and imposing. The shiny black-and-white vehicle with its bar of lights atop seemed equally imposing. I'd seen many police shows on TV and had come to hold officers in fearful respect.

Then my eyes moved to a quote on the back quarter panel of the officer's car: "To Serve and to Protect."

It was an epiphany. To serve?! Officers had to serve us?! I never looked at officers the same after that moment. I realized in some youthful understanding that officers were not just our protectors, but also our servants, rightfully speaking -- that they got their right to protect from my parents and eventually from me.

In America, the motto was first used by the Los Angeles Police Department in 1955 after it ran a contest for the best motto for its police to use. It was adopted nationally by PDs soon afterward.

It should be the motto on the walls of Congress and the front door of the White House. It should be touched each day by legislators and the president. It should replace the ugly motto "in god we trust."

Officials are our servants, our protectors of individual rights. We are not the servants of police or government officials. It's high time the American public understands this fully and puts these jackals in their proper place.

When a song evokes different memories than it used to

2010-09-19T11:54:00.000-04:00

Willie Nelson's song "You are always on my mind" used to remind me of a girl I liked a lot in high school. She and I never hooked up, but I thought about her a lot.

Then, after my mom and dad got divorced in 1978, I was visiting my dad in north Texas. Willie's song came on the radio and dad got pensive and a little emotional. He said quietly, "Boy, I love that song."

My dad was not a sentimental fellow, so the moment was poignant. I could see that the song seemed to mean more to him than it did even to me. Ever since that moment, I think of him at that moment instead of the girl I liked a lot.

Funny thing is that it is a love song. Yeah, I guess it is, in a way I hadn't thought of.

When sickness visits, I now raise the white flag

2010-09-18T09:43:00.000-04:00

I've been stupid for 50 years. When I got a serious sickness such as the flu, I would continue to go on runs, work out with weights, do chores, handle business, play with my daughter, etc.

Yeah, I know!

And then I would be sick for a week or two, instead of two or three days, like most people -- which confounded me, since I was in such good physical shape.

Not anymore. I officially surrender. Hi ho, hi ho, it's off to bed I go. Time to purge this irrationality from my life.

I got the flu officially Thursday night and woke up yesterday morning after a green-and-yellow poltergeist had invaded my body during the night and slammed my muscles to the mat for the count. I hacked and sneezed my way through a couple of absolutely necessary phone calls and emails for my business before lunch.

Then, I trudged off to bed -- with a full glass of water, Tylenol antihistamines, cough medicine, a nutritional drink and the entire third season of Veronica Mars on my portable DVD player. Every hour or two, I got up and cleaned my sinuses with warm salt water, and I refilled my water glass. I moaned, chilled, sweat, hacked and sneezed all day. Not a pretty site, that! Not fit for public viewing.

I told myself that I must surrender a day or more of my life, in order to not have to surrender more days, as I've done in the past. It wasn't easy, but I kept my chilly, sweaty ass in bed. I let my body have the full, unabridged rest it has always demanded on such occasions.

I felt like a couch potato, as if time had stood still, as if the whole world were doing something, and I was not.

Around midnight, I suddenly felt a break in the throbbing head, less drainage from the Poltergeist, less rapid beating of the heart. Dry hacking turned to productive hacking -- always a good sign. (TMI?)

This morning I woke up feeling nearly human. I have to remind myself that I must carry through on my promise to take it easy for one more day and not give in to the desire to jog in the beautiful sunshine, which tempts me as I write this.

One more day, and then I can perhaps take down the white flag and get my life back.

Until we meet again, Sickness.

Eloquent video on how kids must be free

2010-09-18T09:13:00.000-04:00

This unschooling video is professionally done, with eloquent and committed parents speaking to the necessity of liberty in childhood.

Army guys break down Jeep and reassemble in less than 4 minutes

2010-09-13T17:37:00.001-04:00

Shows what people can do when they're disciplined and organized.

JEEP

Objectivism: The tool in the mental garage

2010-09-05T16:19:00.000-04:00

I'm not really that interested in philosophy. Thought I was once, but then I found Objectivism, got things figured out, and I realized the reason I was interested in philosophy was I hadn't figured everything out and I HAD to do so.

Now that I'm at a good objective place, I simply use Objectivism as the tool it's meant to be for happy living. It no longer interests me, for the most part, to engage in long conversations about it or, especially, to get into heated arguments about it. Been there, done that. Got things to do. That's what life's about: doing.

Objectivism has become the tool I hardly notice in my garage. Yes, I notice it when I need to, momentarily. I use that mental tool effectively and consciously, but I don't dwell on the tool. I put it down again after usage. I may pick it up (honesty, independence, integrity, discovery) many times in a day, but each time, it's not about the tool. It's about doing something, and the tool helps me get it done.

Those first acolyte years of Objectivist learning were tough, exciting, enervating, exhausting and fulfilling. But I'm sure glad that's over. While I was having to do all that necessary learning, I couldn't be DOING the other things I love so much.

But if I hadn't stopped to do the learning, my "doing" right now would be sorely compromised, and life wouldn't be as joyful and carefree.

Glad to have the tools. Glad they're finally just tools.

The principled life -- It ain't easy for kids OR adults to be oak trees

2010-09-05T15:54:00.000-04:00

As a visiting professor for a semester at a North Carolina college in 1994, I stood before my writing class of 20 students and offered them the following question: "If you could steal $1 million from a business or person and there would be absolutely no way anyone would ever find out and you would definitely never get caught, would you steal the money?"

The classroom erupted, with laughing and high-fiving and jumping out of chairs and hooting and hollering and exclamations of "Hell yeah!" by young men and women alike.

They looked at me as if I were somehow offering them a trick question, as if I were insane to even ask such a question. Of course, you would steal a cool million that someone else had earned if you could get away with it. Why not!?

They are not alone, of course. Probably more than half of Americans would have the same reaction. Most of the other half would say "no" only because their gods tell them not to steal -- but they would really WANT to steal the money; they would have to remind themselves constantly of their commandments to resist the temptation.

The missing link in the above immorality is humanity -- and the singular tool that keeps us humane: rationality.

We humans live in a mental world, unlike the lower animals, and we either remain connected concretely to the outer world or we do not. Our mental lives are only as real as our concepts are real. We are honest only to the degree that we pursue honesty in our concept-formation. We have only as much integrity as we have integrated our concepts correctly according to the real world and to our values. We value our money only as much as we value ourselves (for the above) and our work. We value others' rights to their lives and money only as much as we value ourselves and, therefore, our rights.

When people make of the universe a mystical and unknowable place, and when they disassociate their thoughts from the real, then the only thing left to guide them is momentary and immoral emotions. When they hear that they can get a million dollars of someone else's money, their hearts beat at the thought of all the things the money will buy, instead of morally and principlely thinking: "That person/company earned that money with the sweat of their brow and thoughts connected rationally to the world, and they deserve that money -- not me. I could not live with myself for stealing their time and labor and living from them. Each time I spent the money, it would be a reproach to my own self-esteem and efficacy. I have no interest in taking from them, and I hope they have none in stealing from me."

That last sentence takes an enormous amount of mental work to get to: the building up of concepts of concretes, of self-examination, of morality, of the nature of humans as rational animals, of the ramifications of that, etc. That's why even the most rational of young children find it difficult to act morally all the time. They have a lot of learning to do to get to the utterly principled state of mind that prevents immoral action all the time -- to get to that state where a moral principle is just as hard as an oak tree, and where it must be abided in equal measure all the time.

And that is one of the primary places the rational parent steps in: to guide and inform and help be the watchdog until all those proper concepts and principles are mentally in place. It's an exciting adventure being a parent. It's daunting, yes. But it's thrilling when you know you've got the mental tools and resolution to help -- and you eagerly anticipate the day when your progeny become fully principled and happy individuals.

When they become happy oak trees.

Heteros vs. homos; zeros on "Ground Zero"; ingrates vs. immigrants

2010-08-27T11:33:00.000-04:00

We Americans (that roughly includes newspaper people) could be discussing the extraordinary nuances of mental induction explored in David Harriman's brilliant new book "The Logical Leap," or we could be heaping praise upon the fascinating and riveting movie "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo."

But, alas, Heteros (that roughly includes Glenn Beck and Newt Gingrich and Charles Krauthammer) are obsessed with telling Homos that Homos can't get married cause, by Jesus, it's an institution of God, and God don't like Homos -- or more specifically, the like lying down with the like.

Before catching their breath on Homos, the Christian Godistas vent their viral spleens on the Muslim Godistas' decision to have Muhammad spying from a few blocks away upon Ground Zero. In a uniquely Christian Alzheimer's moment, Beck and Gingrich and Krauthammer forget about that nagging little thing we have in America called private property rights that the Christians use so effectively to avoid taxation of their beloved mystic palaces (aka churches).

The oxygen-starved conservatives aren't done yet. There are just too damned many Hispanics in America having too damned many baby Americans. And many of those Hispanics are drug runners violating the drug laws created by the Conservatives to keep Americans from (ready for another Alzheimer's moment?) putting things in their bodies that they have a right to put in them. All of which is not to mention that Hispanics tend to be, heaven forbid, Catholics, and they tend to vote for the Obama liberal cabal.

The Tea Party cabal seems to be pretty much aligned with the above lunacy, so just when you think the Conservatives/Tea Partiers might be regaining some sanity, they go and show their true mystic/subjective bright colors.

All of which brings me back around to induction (that's that pesky rational method of forming mental conclusions strictly upon the facts of reality). When one sees the clear, effervescent landscape of one's own mind, illuminated by the facts of reality and the concepts relating to it, and then sees Conservatives in full, confident mental meltdown, one is reminded of the Oscar Wilde quote: "Illusion is the first of all pleasures."

Principles first -- Unschooling second

2010-08-24T14:01:00.000-04:00

The headline on this blog post isn't meant to diminish the importance of unschooling. It's meant to establish the fact that I have to have principles in place first before I can determine if unschooling is the proper method for raising my child, Livy. I determined before her birth that unschooling was, indeed, the proper way to raise her.

In working out my principles in the early 1990s, I determined the propriety of Objectivism, the philosophy of Ayn Rand that states four primary things: 1) reality is real and understandable to humans; 2) humans have free will and rational brains that can figure out reality by forming facts; 3) because humans can make mistakes while working with reality, they need a code of ethics (honesty, independence, integrity, etc.) to help guide their minds; 4) because humans are rational and work by a code of ethics, they are the only ones who know how to make themselves happy and are, therefore, entitled to be left alone by other humans and by governments.

Because of the above four true generalizations about humans and reality, I determined that the best way to raise my child was to honor her right to her own life, to not get in the way of her extraordinary fact-finding mission and personal trail to happiness.

I also expect her to respect my rights and others' rights as I respect hers. This means that there are rules such as "you've got to clean up after yourself," "noise levels are limited in a room where some don't want noise," "fix your own food, if I don't want to fix it," "always be honest with me," "do not take others' stuff or violate their right to be left alone," "don't expect others to share or do something for you simply because you wish it," etc. We have been talking with each other about these rules for years now, with me giving explanations many times on why I think they are objective rules of conduct for not only kids, but also for adults.

I don't see unschooling as "unparenting." An objective parent has much to teach and much help to give about the facts of reality and what is right. I see that as my role, with my longterm plans of helping create an individual who will be not only my bloodline writ large in her own way, but be among my best and dearest of friends for life.

That is what she has turned out to be so far, an amazingly independent, thoughtful, caring, insightful individual who knows that in order to be free to run her own life, she must recognize the same for others and their lives.

Livy is a joy.

Breast milk is a wonder, new study reveals

2010-08-23T18:11:00.000-04:00

As my ex-wife Kelly and I learned many years ago, breast milk is the healthiest food for infants and toddlers. We read several studies on the matter before having Livy, and Kelly breast-fed Livy until she was almost 3. Livy is supremely healthy now. She also wasn't vaccinated, and I attribute her great health partially to that as well.

Anyway, a new, in-depth study reveals new information on the wonders of breast milk. Check out the study HERE.

If one of the goals of parenthood is to help create the healthiest child possible, then not utilizing breast milk, it would seem, would be irresponsible and reckless.

The biggest "Ayn Rand" name ever

2010-08-15T15:33:00.000-04:00

After driving more than 12,000 miles around America, one enterprising Ayn Rand fan made the lady's name big enough to read from the moon. Check it out HERE.

Amazing!

"You choose who you want to be" (from movie)

2010-08-14T10:50:00.002-04:00

(No plot spoilers in this movie review)

I have a new mystery/drama in my top 10 list of all time: "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo."

Actually it is in my top 5. Actually, I think it's my favorite movie of all time.

It is riveting, fast-paced, perfectly written drama that is steadfastly about justice and independence, uncompromisingly so in the main character: Lisbeth Salander (played with stunning virtuosity by Noomi Rapace, photo). At one point in the movie, a hard-ass journalist tries to make a few excuses for a murderer/rapist. Lisbeth, who suffered enormities as a child that continue into the present, turns her fierce eyes to him and says about the murderer: "He had the same choices as everyone else. You choose who you want to be. He wasn't a victim. He was an evil motherfucker who hated women."

That scene doesn't end with the stare. Lisbeth continues to quietly but ferociously watch the journalist to see if he will face up to what she said. She wants to see who he has chosen to be! As hard as Lisbeth is, she is played with unsentimental vulnerability in scenes that are breathtaking in their acting and their writing.

The second time I watched the movie (within 10 days), I replayed that scene about five times, and each time, my spine got shivers and my head shook with disbelief at perfection that you will rarely see in modern-day cinema.

If that scene sounds fantastic to you, you will find other scenes that are more powerful graphically.

There are a few, sympathetic anti-capitalist remarks in the movie and a few other tangential problems, but nothing that egregiously takes away from a nearly perfect movie. I have never given a movie a "10" rating, but I would give this one a 9.9 -- even above my beloved "Shawshank Redemption." It has better pacing; it is more visceral in its life-threats; it is more awe-inspiring in its evocation of how the main character handles the life-threats and those who threaten her; and it shows Lisbeth as an ingenious person with the singular focus of a moral predator.

Go see it and let me know what you think.

(I no longer reveal plot lines or key plot scenes on movies, so the moviegoer may go into the movie fresh.)

How I found out I was debt-free

2010-08-12T10:05:00.000-04:00

I filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in February, and on Monday I found out that it was finally successful and that all of my debts had been legally discharged.

Know how I found out?

Several car dealerships sent me letters saying that had special deals for those who'd just gone through bankruptcy and had their debts discharged.

Yep, private businesses beat the government in letting me know my bankruptcy was successful. Imagine that!

Finally, yesterday (Wednesday), the government got around to sending me the official letter.

Well, either way, it's good to know I've finally got a clean slate again after the government murdered my successful real estate business in 2008 and 2009.

If my new company gets going in the next couple of months, as I expect, I may just have to go visit a car dealership nearby and take them up on one of their offers -- and thank them for letting me know that I was out of bankruptcy.

She wants to be an archeologist and a fashion designer

2010-08-12T09:48:00.000-04:00

My Livy girl loves to dig up bones.

And she's meticulous about how she dresses, ensuring that colors match and that the appropriate outfit is worn for the right occasion -- though sometimes she absolutely MUST wear a dress no matter the occasion, she reminds me (see black dress in photo in 98-degree Atlanta heat with her friends Ethan and Tori, me, and visiting dog "Rocko")

At her request, I've bought her several of the online bone-finding kits for dinosaurs. She's spent hours delicately picking through the faux hardened sediment to discover hidden bones and then to assemble them into the form of a T-Rex or sauropod or brontosaurus. She proudly displays the menacing prehistoric reptile each time.

She has a wide range of other interests, including clay-making, soccer, Xbox gaming (Gears of War and Halo), computer games, badminton, tennis, having books read to her, swimming, math, photography (she has an extraordinary eye for detail and shaping photos and loves candid shots), music and dancing (LOVES Lady Gaga and can dance remarkably well, showing her lovely, creative spirit), art drawing, gardening, government (keeps asking me questions about what it is exactly and why it takes our money), anthropology, evolution, tea parties, movies, cartoons and happy preteen shows (she LOVES iCarly), Harry Potter (Kelly reads these books to her all the time), board games like UNO and Sorry and Monopoly.

So I asked Livy the other day what she thinks she might like to do for work and money when she grows up. She said, "Mmm, I don't know, probably an archeologist ... probably a fashion designer ... mmm, probably both."

I can just see her out on archeological digs!

It amazes me that a child that won't even be 7 years old until next month could have such a wide range of interests. It reminds me of how complex the human mind is, how much the world has to offer a child, and how much children can enjoy and choose from when they are free to do so -- free of improper constraints of "no" and "you can't" and "you must" and "that's not right for a girl," etc.

I don't know what my Livy girl will finally choose to do, but whatever it is, I'm sure she'll be dazzling at it, have loads of fun, and look DAMN good while doing it!

Ayn Rand Facebook page hits 100,000 followers

2010-08-10T16:57:00.000-04:00

Ten years ago, it would've been unthinkable to suggest that any kind of Ayn Rand web site or organization could receive 100,000 interested followers, but the Ayn Rand Facebook site has just done that.

This kind of milestone gives me great optimism for the future.

"Thank you, Daddy"

2010-08-08T14:37:00.000-04:00

When some people say "thanks," you can tell they mean it, and vice versa, of course.

One of the wonders of Livy for the last couple of months is her expanding on just "thank you" to "thank you, daddy." And it's in such a sincere voice with a look in the eye of earnestness, like she really feels greatly about what I'm doing for her, even if it's making her coffee the way she likes it (lots of honey and LOTS of heavy cream) in the morning.

It makes me realize what kind of child you can get when you simply let them run their own lives. Their spirits expand. The see things as THEY see them, not as someone tells them they must see them. They run their lives virtually completely and take responsibility for their lives and understand and appreciate the effort it takes to do something -- and for someone doing something for them.

And she loves doing things for me. She likes to make my coffee still. She makes me chocolate milk MY way before bed sometimes. She cleans my car. She puts dishes away. She takes care of my possessions as if they were her possessions and abides by my rules on my stuff as it were her own stuff. She always is extra careful with my expensive phone.

I adore her and the person she has become and greatly anticipate the little lady and woman she will become.

And I hope she always calls me Daddy.

"Bad idea, Livy!"

2010-08-08T14:28:00.000-04:00

For the first time ever, I heard my daughter address herself.

She's playing Xbox's Halo3 right now on the TV. Evidently, things aren't going so well, and I just heard her say, "Bad idea, Livy."

It was one of those parent-shaking-his-head-in-wonder moments. When a child's self-identity advances to where she can objectively see herself and monitor herself, such remonstrations occur.

Yet another turning point in my lovely girl's life. Wow!

Daughter, not even 7 yet, learns about inflation and more

2010-08-07T09:58:00.000-04:00

Livy and I had a full hour of conversation yesterday afternoon on our porch about government and money that started with her asking for the Xbox game "Halo 3" (she's an avid and terrific player of Xbox's "Gears of War").

I told her we might not be able to buy Halo because money was a bit tight. She understands this viscerally because two years ago, we lived in a bigger home, had nicer things and never really had to talk about money being tight.

She asked why money was tight. I said the government stole more than a quarter million dollars from me by regulating and taxing my previous real estate business out of business, as well as interfering with the U.S. economy and ruining it, and by printing too many dollars.

"Printing too many dollars?!" she exclaimed and then paused. "The government can print money? Does it make money?"

Yes, I said, whenever it wants to print more money to give to people besides us, it just makes its printers work longer and make more money. This causes inflation. I told her that milk, which now costs about $3.5 a gallon, used to cost just 10 cents a gallon, and I gave other examples.

She was aghast. "They can't do that, daddy! They can't just print money when they want it!"

I agreed, of course. But what astounded me was how many questions she voluntarily asked and how she drew her own conclusions from simply hearing facts from me. She said such things as, "We are the boss of ourselves; the government can't tell us what to do."

Along the way, she asked "Who is government?" "What is government?" "Why are people so stupid and choose people (politicians) to take our money?" etc.

Several times, she said, "I wish government would crash in a plane." I said, "Me, too, but then another government just like it would come along because people want it."

This completely exasperated her. "Why are adults so stupid?"

Ha, that was question of the hour and took some explaining. I told her that I and my friends that she knows aren't stupid. People like her mom, Kelly, and Julie and Jenn and Brendan and Aquinas and Aaron and many others. Then I explained about the god people and others like them and how it starts with bad parenting and that schooling was connected as well, and that it was caused by not being brave enough to look at facts and live in the real world and think about stuff and put it all together and then feel good about yourself because you do all those things.

I goofed up near the end and called the vast majority of people dumb. She corrected me. "No, daddy, they're stupid."

Touchez, my darling.

"I am all the government, daddy"

2010-08-07T09:35:00.000-04:00

Livy and I have had many conversations about the theft that government enjoys calling "taxation," as well as the proper role of government and how modern America is unlike the free America of 150 years ago -- in terms of laissez-faire, not slavery.

So, with a wink in her eye, she announced yesterday morning with arms sweeping the sky "I am all the government, daddy, and you are my SLAVE!" Giggles.

She meant by "slave" that I was to be a slave to her taxations and whims. I was to do exactly as she said and give her money upon demand. More giggles, then totally serious look in her face (with wry eyes), "No, I'm serious. I'm all the government, really!"

I reminded her that she already got a lot of my money, but she promptly answered that that wasn't nearly enough. I said I might have to move to another country, but she reminded me that "all the government" means "ALL the government."

Alas, I put out my hands and said, "Please put the handcuffs on since I'm to be a slave."

More giggles on both sides.

Unschooling makes it to ABC News

2010-06-06T17:20:00.000-04:00

ABC has again done a story on unschooling, and this time they did a little better job of not expressing extreme skepticism about it. And this time, they interviewed a lady who has great unschooling credentials and handled herself pretty well in front of the cameras.

Watch the video HERE.

Cutting in line

2010-05-16T13:42:00.000-04:00

I saw Nora Jones in concert last night at Cobb Energy Center. She has the voice of an angel -- a very sultry angel. During her performance, I was transfixed. Outside of that ...

... I usually dread such ventures into the public, such as going to the movie theater, because of the callous rudeness one almost always experiences while being around hoi polloi. The vast majority of the 6.7 billion people on the Earth have low self respect and, therefore, proportional disrespect for others and others' rights and space. They all have their own ways of acting out this disrespect.

And so, back to the Nora concert. Before I could even get to the parking garage, some hair-feathered 30-something guy with his trophy girlfriend passes up the long line of traffic waiting to enter the theater parking lot next to the garage. The pathetic fellow picked me, of all people, to break in line in front of, with his girlfriend flashing me her winning, oh-please smile.

As I and other drivers saw barbarian coming, we all closed the distance between each others' bumpers, furious that we'd followed civil rules and that he was brazenly believing he was a notable exception. As he tried to force his sports car into the space in front of me, our bumpers came within a few inches of each other and we stared each other down with me mouthing "fuck you" to him and his pretty trophy.

He shook his head indignantly (Ha!) and backed away from the standoff, but the car behind me relented and let him in. As I stared at him in the review mirror, practically begging him to get out of his car and take a fucking beating that he deserved, his girlfriend shot the finger at me. He didn't get out of the car, and he found a parking space far away from me, even though he had a chance to pull up next to me.

These "special" people are cowards, and they are the reason I attend fewer concerts and movie theaters nowadays. Some of his breed also sat behind me and other nice people in the theater. The lady directly behind me decided to sandpaper her nails during the opening act. The lady next to me and I shot her looks to no avail, and just as I was about to turn around and say something, she evidently finished her 10 finger and stopped.

She and her "special" entourage also chatted through the opening act. I'd decided that if they continued even for one minute during Nora's performance that I'd stand up and shout them down and let it go wherever it might go. They were quiet, and my blood finally cooled about five minutes into lovely Nora's performance.

During the opening act, also, a line of eight people arriving fashionably late stood in front of their seats in the row in front of me trying to figure out whose seats were whose with their mobile phones lighting up the seat numbers. This went on for about three minutes. Meanwhile, I and 7 people next to me could not see the opening act and could not listen to the music because of our fury at the insensitivity.

Who are these people -- these drones who populate our world, believe they have special status, ignore the rights of others, disregard civility, attempt to harass civil people, and blithely interfere with others' joy while intoxicating themselves in their own narcissism?

To quote Doc Holliday, they have a great big hole, right in the middle of 'em. They are not people, not anymore. They are lower animals who've abandoned rationality, abandoned personal responsibility. They are subconsciously furious at themselves for their mental treason, and they reek the havoc that is their inner turmoil upon any who come near, in an attempt to make the lives of their victims as wretched as their own.

Instead of the self-esteem of a well-lived life, they have the vacuum-soul that attempts to mitigate its suffering by imposing suffering on others or attempts to falsely inflate its worth and walk the land like a king who imposes his special treatment upon others, becoming indignant when others don't honor the king as expected.

Some people ask why I spend so much time around my Objectivist friends. The above is my answer. Though most Objectivists haven't quite yet become perfectly moral and cleaned up their psychologies, they are, by and large, very respectful of each others' lives and space. I don't usually have to worry about the lashing out or the presumption of kingship. I can have conversation, have good laughs, have congeniality, have mature relationships, have a mutual respect for life, liberty, civility and friendship.

They don't have a big whole inside.

Here's to my friends!

Around the world in 210 days

2010-05-16T11:48:00.000-04:00

She wasn't in school. She had something more important to do. She was told by people from around the world that she was too young to do it. Governments almost stopped her. Her parents supported her. Many people called her parents irresponsible for letting her do it. She battled 40 foot waves. Her boat capsized seven times and she righted it seven times.

She was alone on the ocean for 210 days. She sang loudly to herself on glassy oceans under starlit skies and fought off torrential storms with an iron will and a little lady's strength.

She sailed around the world in a mere 31-foot craft, crossing the equator, managing the stormy seas of the Strait of Magellan below South America that Magellan himself found tortuous and deadly, cut the waters of South Africa and headed to the Indian Ocean, befriended a seagull she named "Silly" who remained her companion for awhile, and arrived safely back in her native Australia, ebullient and happy and hungry for chocolate cookies as an adoring crowd cheered.

She is 16 years old, the youngest to ever circumnavigate the Earth alone in a boat. But she won't enter the record books because those in charge of such things refuse to recognize age anymore to dissuade ever younger kids from attempting such feats.

The young lady's name is Jessica Watson. She called her boat "Ella's Pink Lady." She does not call herself a hero. She says she just did what she wanted to do, and that it shows you can do what you put your mind to, whether boy or girl.

Please remember the name Jessica Watson the next time someone whines about life being hard and not being able to achieve what one wants, or the next time someone says that kids are not rational or capable of running their own lives and doing phenomenal things.

Congratulations, Jessica, to you and your Pink Lady!

Teenager talks eloquently about having been unschooled!

2010-05-08T11:43:00.000-04:00

If you want to see confidence and eloquence and circumspection and what it's like for a kid who's been unschooled and knows herself and knows how to evaluate herself and the world without constantly saying "like" and stuttering and equivocating, check out this video.

ABC does hatchet job on unschooling

2010-05-05T01:58:00.000-04:00

A few weeks ago, ABC's Good Morning America ridiculed what I and hundreds of thousands of other parents do concerning our children's upbringing: unschooling.

But, as I posted on an unschooler list, at least it means they aren't ignoring us anymore. They've moved on to the second stage of the old adage concerning what opponents do when confronted with a new idea: 1) ignoring 2) belittling 3) arguing over 4) surrendering.

Just two stages to go.

Jesus is coming! Hide the gremlins!

2010-05-04T20:59:00.000-04:00

During my hermetic period (from my mid-20s to mid-30s), in which I probably read a couple thousand books, I read the Bible a couple of times. It's a great book, if you're looking for wholesale slaughter of innocent men, woman and children, or perhaps for rape and pillaging, or for a jobless carpenter who says he's a god's child and will kill a man's children if the man doesn't obey him, or for endless ancestry lineage with lots of weird names, or for the word "virgin" uttered often, or for a dude named Satan (not "satin") who kills only two people in the Bible compared with tens of thousands by his prime opponent, a dude named "God."

Fascinating stuff! zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

The jobless carpenter's name was, as I'm sure you've guessed, "Jesus," whose best parlor trick was turning a loaf of bread into 5,000 (why didn't this guy open up his own bread shop and get RICH?). There's been a lot of talk for a couple of thousand years on when he's going to return. People kinda sorta stopped asking this question when the 2nd millennia passed with nary a sighting nor word from the carpenter, whose bones surely must be turning over and over wondering when the hell all the millions of mystics will a) stop thinking he's a "god" b) stop whispering to him in "prayers" c) stop fucking young children d) stop killing people in his name e) stop pronouncing that the missionary position is the only valid position f) and stop proclaiming that he's about to return to Earth from wherever the hell he went to.

The last of these is especially disconcerting for some of us atheists because the Jesus-God guy is supposed to be omnipresent, so isn't he already here? Can he really leave anywhere when he's everywhere? Is he in my testicles this very moment?!

Oh well, of course I'm being too rational. When hillbillies begin talking about Jesus' return from somewhere to here again for the second time, I get a chuckle. But when the "leading conservative media since 1944" sends me (an online subscriber) an email with the subject line "Is Jesus About to Return," I realize once again that I am an alien who must've been launched in a spacecraft playing Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon and showing Firefly episodes from a remote star system comprising rational people who exiled me here for saying "fuck" too much and for giving love pinches to the asses of beautiful women.

The "leading conservative media" is Human Events, which was Reagan's favorite periodical. Right after I received that troubling email, the doppelganger was complete when Human Events followed up with another email with a subject line that read "The Evidence of Life After Death," which confirmed and solidified my alien status beyond a reasonable doubt.

If you cannot quite empathize with my alien predicament of having two feet firmly planted in reality and two eyes always seeking fun and facts and never wishing for there to be things there ain't, perhaps I can offer you an analogy to help:

Let's say you wake up tomorrow morning and nearly everyone on Planet Earth is calling the color "blue" the color "yellow" and they look at you like you're crazy when you demand that blue is blue. Moreover, each of these people talks blithely to gremlins nearby that you cannot see, and they say that the gremlins are their dead ancestors, who had first morphed into flies, then cockroaches, then rats, then penguins before finally metamorphosing into gremlins with green ears and engorged labia.

You know how I feel yet? I do have friends who know that blue is blue, and I latch onto those friends with abandon. "Please, PLEASE don't every leave me! PLEEEEEEEEASE!" When we get together, we look around and know that we are surrounded by the gremlin crowd, the Jesus crowd. We've seen what they've done in history, the murders, the lynchings, the rapes, the spousal abuse, the bullying, the pogroms, the tortures, the missionary position, the suppression of freedoms because they are not intellectually free, the immense robbery via taxation, the artistic oppressions, Newt Gingrich.

We know that those sitting next to us may think Jesus might have his parachute on and is coming. But if he's not, the mystics will get antsy again and look over at me and my friends and just KNOW that we ain't part of the gremlin crowd. Their eyes will turn to slits.

That's usually our cue to smile and finger our Glocks.

Trailer-trash Shakespeare dude

2010-05-03T00:36:00.000-04:00

A few of my gentle readers don't like it so much when I go on one of my f-word tangents (that would be "fuck," not "faith") or when I say "shit" or "cunt" or whatever the fuck else I like to say occasionally. But, by damn, it's just got to be said that way sometimes. Certain low people, certain low things, certain low occasions demand it!

Besides, I was born a poor black child. Oh ... no, that was Steve Martin. I was born a poor bloody white child. I was born in a trailer. Well, not exactly IN a trailer. My family lived in a tiny trailer in San Diego until I was 4, but I was born at a hospital -- a 10-pound baby in a roomful of tiny girl babies. Maybe that's why I like women so much!

My parents and half my relatives were pretty much trailer trash without a high-school education (a good thing) and pretty damned independent and salty. My dad was a Marine when I was born and we lived near the military base in 29 Palms. He was only in the service for 4 years but didn't stop being a Marine-dad to my brother, Mike, and I until we grew lots of muscles and could kick his ass, around the age of 18. Then he got nice -- as nice as a Marine ever gets.

The f-word for dad was a language staple. He used it as an adjective ("fucking Cowboys!) or a noun ("that Nixon's a slimy fuck") or a verb ("fuck you, you son-of-a-bitch"). I emulated little of what my dad was (except for his fierce independence and honesty), but his colorful language stuck, which makes for sometimes odd bed partners with my, well, learning. I was the odd kid in the family who was into books and ideas and thinking and contemplating and graduating and asking "why" a billion times and shit like that.

None of my "intellectual" friends cussed like a pirate, and when they tried, it just sound silly. ("I think we fucking need the fucking quadratic equation to fucking figure out the fucking slope shit, you know?") In fact, I also hung around with the pot-smokers occasionally in high school and I was pretty damn good at sports, too, so the jocks and the cheerleaders knew me pretty well (though I couldn't give a shit about them, except for Jamie Williams, who was HOT AS HELL and very very nice and sweet -- and, oh yes, she had big boobs that made any conversation with her lovely face virtually impossible).

Some of my gentle readers think I lose readers or compromise my gravitas when I "go trailer." Well, yep to the former but nope to the latter. A good argument is a good argument, and sometimes one simply can't replace a well-placed expletive. You can't do it all the time, but when it comes time to call the Pope a shit-head pedophile-loving fuck, well, you just gotta call him a shit-head pedophile-loving fuck. He is base, so base language is fucking necessary. (Oops, maybe that last expletive was a bit much. Oh well, what the fuck.)

Anyway, I love Shakespeare and can quote the sublime dude endlessly, so I can cuss whenever I like, right?

Fuckin'-A right! (I love to answer my own questions)

Hey nonny nonny!

Does the Pope shit in the woods?

2010-04-30T16:33:00.000-04:00

We former kids who are still pretty much kids used to hear two jokes concerning when a question is asked with the obvious answer being yes: "Does a bear shit in the woods?" and "Is the Pope a Catholic?" When we got bored, we'd mix 'em up a bit: "Does the Pope shit in the woods?" ... To which one of the replies would be, "He does if he's bare."

Yeah, stupid, funny, corny. Hell, it still puts a grin on my face -- especially with the current inerrant Pope and his billion-person herd praying for forgiveness and demanding expiation from the flock. Now, this is too much fun on many counts, so I'm almost (ALMOST) embarrassed to have so much easy comedy to choose from in the hapless smorgasbord.

First off, you've got a Pope who didn't tell cops about some of his priests fucking kids, fucking lots of innocent kids. Then the Pope (who's probably been watching too much American football) adopts the adage "the best defense is a good offense" and tells his mostly innocent flock that they need to pray for the church and even themselves. Note to Pope: "THEY didn't fuck kids or hide priests who fucked kids! YOU did." (end of note)

The Pope owns his own country and has a billion sheep, two things that give politicians and police chiefs hiccups and Alzheimer's. I have approximately 30 readers of my blog every day and do not own my own country (yet) and I love liberty, so I am a prime target for politicians and police chiefs, who would throw me in with the butt-busters in prison if I ever defiled children.

Now, you perceptive readers may have noticed I used the adjective "inerrant" in describing the Pope above. Yes, popes do not make mistakes. They are the direct line between sheep and the guy in the sky with the big cigar and a subscription to the Pedophilia United Broadcasting Incorporation Channel (PUBIC). Popes get direct instructions from the PUBIC lover and, therefore, never makes errors -- at least until modern constitutional republics and the Internet came along. Now, they've admitted to errors during the Holocaust, about their treatment of Galileo of his discoveries, about whether priests can put their penises in young children, and about whether Tim Tebow is in fact Christ risen.

We can only imagine how many tens of millions of children have been subjected to life-altering abuse in dank chambers, musty back rooms and dark forests over the last two thousand years of popery. The mystical rats in robes have ruled their sheep's minds, and therefore their bodies and morality, for centuries and done as they please. It is a shameful era in the history of humankind -- and one that speaks eloquently to what happens to people when they become weak of mind and spirit by not critically challenging the shamans who seek power over them.

And yet watch the crusty curmudgeon conehead and his crucifix enthrall still the hordes who run to him as their saviour's elect. The beady eyes smile knowingly at their credulity. His back bends with the weight of decades of irrationality, carrying the cross of faith -- the f-word that is anathema to all who love life.

One of every 6 human beings adore this white monster, and most of the Supreme Court of the United States of America call him their moral leader. ... Does that give you pause?!

Does the Pope shit in the woods?

Georgia bans texting while driving -- which will kill more people

2010-04-30T15:42:00.000-04:00

You got the usual banal reasons for why the Georgia pudge-balls (i.e. "legislators") decided to bring the fascist state into the sending of letters in your car, which is known in modern circles as "texting." The pudge-balls did it yesterday and the supreme pudge-ball (i.e. "governor Perdue") will use his pen to add it to the history of legislation that does the opposite of what is allegedly designed to do.

It allegedly will save lives, especially teen-agers' lives, because it will allegedly make them stop sending short letters while behind the wheel. Having once been a teen-ager (unlike the pudge-ball Peter Pans, who've always just been elementary school tattle-tales and bullies), you and I know what happens when fascists tell teen-agers they can't do something, right?

Yep, they then REALLY want to do it. The defiant ones, like myself, will do it whenever we want like we have a goddamned right to do. But (and here's where the fatal irony of this bill comes in) the shy ones and the mostly obedient ones will begin texting in their laps instead of by the steering wheel to avoid detection.

What this will mean, of course, is that thousands of eyes that used to be at least partially on the road via peripheral vision will now be downcast and blind to avoid a fine. Result? More crashes. More deaths. More laws on people not even carrying cell phones in their car that are turned on. The pudge-balls will use the new deaths as vindication for their fascist legislation's importance and insist on jack-booting to the next fascist step of legislation.

Moreover, the police will not know whether a teenager is texting or punching numbers for a phone call. As one critic explained, this law is virtually unenforceable until AFTER an accident or another law is being broken simultaneously. But then, fascist laws aren't meant to be enforced; they are meant to intimidate and remind individuals of who exactly is in charge.

And, by the way, it ain't YOU!

Out of pocket trying to get rich

2010-04-30T15:26:00.000-04:00

For more than three weeks I've been working on nailing down a potentially lucrative deal for ownership and executive employment with a company that has amazing chemical patents and is breaking into the marketplace. We're working out final details this weekend, hopefully to the benefit of all parties. My friend Chris is joining me in this endeavor, and we've worked tirelessly with proposals, due diligence and hard negotiations, so we're pretty warn out but exhilirated at the potential, which I'll talk more on if we get things worked out as planned.

All of the above has meant I've had virtually no time for anything other than basic life stuff -- and though I love to blog and express my opinions (ahem), that ain't one of the primary life-stuff thingies. But today, as we wait for the company to get back with us on the final details, I'm going to blog and blog and blog a little more. Hope you enjoy.

The superstitious mind and individual rights

2010-04-11T14:41:00.000-04:00

Priests refer to their parishioners as "my flock."

Rightly so. They are sheep -- to be herded, to be fed mysticism, to be intellectually and morally slaughtered.

The flock must bend to religion's make-believe metaphysics, to religion's insistence on epistemological retreat (faith), to religion's demands of immorality, to religion's self-sacrificing politics.

Religion is the ideal training camp for fascism, socialism, communism, liberalism, conservatism, progressivism, despotism -- any political "ism" that demands self-sacrifice and obedience. The sheep believe they rebel, but even when the sheep enjoy their tea parties, they demand sacrifice from fellow sheep via taxation, regulation, subsidies, welfare. Sure, these sheep say they want less authority and less obedience, but they simply ask for smaller knives at the throats of their fellow citizens. They can't help it. They are sheep.

The non-religious are sheep, too, though they like to think they are rebels and hippies and anti-establishment and trend-setters and intellectual. They are better sheep than the religious sheep. They lambast "greed" and wealth on par with Jesus, unlike their conservative brethren, who ignore the hypocrisy.

The god of the non-religious is Immanuel Kant, who proclaimed that duty is what rightly drives human beings and that we are born with "categorical imperatives" in our mind that guide duty and "good will." In other words, we ain't in control; we should obey some intrinsic things in our minds, and we should sacrifice ourselves and happiness to others and duties to others. (Kant was the King of circular reasoning)

There have been many Kant disciples through the last two centuries, but it is ultimately Kant that the atheistic sheep worship -- ironically, because Kant himself was a theist, whose main purpose was to give alleged vindication of a god's presence and authority over morality: god is necessary for the "ideal of the supreme good."

And so we have the superstitious left and right in this country, who've abandoned their minds to their gods of the heavens and universities. The sheep have surrendered their rationality for obedience and irrational doctrines and concomitant self-sacrifice. They have disdain for themselves and, therefore, for all individuals. Their self-loathing projects itself up the rest of us, insisting that we be punished physically for their intellectual misery.

They cannot believe that individuals have efficacy, the ability to understand reality and the ability to be independently happy. They cannot believe that individuals must be left alone. Individuals must be commanded, and individuals must obey. They must serve. They must, ironically, try to make others happy but not themselves.

And, so, they cannot understand individual rights. They cannot understand rights. They do not want rights and they insist that others do not have them either. We are all sheep, after all -- unworthy of rights, waiting for our next commands, waiting to be rightfully slaughtered. Bound sheep do not like unbound sheep.

As long as the vast majority of humanity allows superstition to grip it by the throat and cut off oxygen to the brain, we will not have individual rights. We cannot even discuss it seriously until great gobs of individuals take ideas and themselves and reality seriously. We will continue to live in the Dark Ages as our "modern" brethren and sisters flock to their particular brand of mysticism.

I sometimes wish I could live 300 years hence, when Objectivism has won and young children's mouths gape open as they hear of a time in the 21st century when people, even adults, actually BELIEVED IN GODS!

At least the very thought of such a time and such children makes me smile. And I've seen that gaping mouth on the face of my own lovely daughter. And, oh, how I smile!

236,315 of us (so far) heading to Washington in 10 days

2010-04-05T19:05:00.000-04:00

There's a whole passel of us liberty lovers heading to D.C. on April 15. We'd love to have you come with us. We're calling it an "online revolt," because that's how we're getting the word out. Check out the web site at http://www.onlinetaxrevolt.com/.

By the time the 15th gets here, we'll probably be more than 300,000 strong. There'll be a lot of good speakers. It's officially a tax revolt, but most are probably from the Tea Party set.

It ain't an Ayn Rand rally, not yet. But it's a decent start to letting government know who's boss, so we of the objective strain can gain enough time to win the minds of millions of honest people seeking liberty and personal hegemony.

If you can't come along for the ride and fun, I'll be taking lots of photos and report back afterward.

I've gone around the sun 50 times

2010-04-05T18:45:00.000-04:00

Tomorrow is my 50th birthday, which means I've woken up and met a new day 18,250 times -- a mind-boggling number, really. Where do all those days go? How many thousands of first sips of coffee have I had? How many good books have I read? How many good kisses have I given and received? How many friends have I met, kept and lost?

As a very young child, I remember my gramma's 50th birthday, for some reason. She was old! Yet, now I look at pictures of her when she was 50, and she seems, well, like me, or perhaps a little older since she wasn't in as good a shape.

Movement through life seems to start with measurements in minutes, then hours, then days. As we get older and more forward-planning, they seem to move in weeks, months and years. Gramma would say that she still felt like she was 20 when she was 50. She reminisced about being 20 in the late 1930s, The Depression. As a young child, I couldn't believe or understand that a person who was old felt like she was young.

I understand now. I'm in good health, very good health. My body still responds and feels like it is 20, for the most part, except that it takes a bit longer for soreness to go away and I get a bit stiff if I miss a couple of workouts and stretches. Other than that, I'm stronger than I was 30 years ago, smarter, just as speedy, better organized.

All of my close friends are younger than me, except for my friend Dan, who is five years older. I even have some close friends who are 27, another friend who is 31, another who is 36, another who is 38. People my age seem OLD. They walk slower, their brains are muddled, their midsections are bulbous, they lose their breath easily, they can't wait to retire (I'll never do it). They don't keep up with the latest music, movies, gadgets. They seem to live largely in yesteryear or pine for the easy chair in a decade or so.

It's not just my body that's 20; it's my enthusiasm. I can't wait for today, for tomorrow, for the newest gadget, for a new friend, for a fresh conversation, for that first sip of coffee in the morning, for my next workout, for the next admiring look in the mirror at a body that's the result of decades of commitment, for the next race down the street with my lovely daughter or the next water fight with her and her friends.

The one way that 50 is different from 20 in a major way is my perspective about life, about myself. I'm wiser but not a wiseacre. I don't go around anymore thinking I'm better; I just think I'm good. Life is about living, not comparison. Anxiety has evaporated with the cleansing effect of objectivity, and emotions run pleasantly wild with the knowledge that they are good thing, a very good thing. I'm more fun; people are more fun for me. Life is fun.

When I wake up tomorrow morning, I will have lived 18,250 days. It will the beginning of the next 18,250. I'll take my first sip of coffee and kiss my daughter, Livy.

And perhaps I'll nod at the sun while reading my morning paper and say, "You ready for another 50 times around?"

Take your iPad, Steve Jobs, and put it where sun don't shine

2010-04-03T10:04:00.000-04:00

Apple execs have pissed me off -- and I'm fricking fed up!

First, they've joined some lawsuits against Microsoft on alleged antitrust violations or testified against Microsoft in other immoral lawsuits.

Second, in the last month they've added coding to the iPhone to prevent "jail-breaking," which means that people like me cannot download coding for our phones to get them to do what they already should do, such as having two or more programs up on the phone at one time. That same coding is now on the iPad, which went on sale today in stores, meaning that you can't be checking email and have another browser window open at the same time. This is simply barbaric (so 20th century) and anachronistic that it boggles the mind.

Third, Apple refuses to allow Flash video capability on its iPad, which means that the predominance of videos on the Internet simply can't be played on the iPad.

Fourth, Apple made AT&T its exclusive dealer for the iPhone for three years. This reaped billions of dollars for Apple and forced us consumers to be stuck with the wretched AT&T if we were to have our cherished iPhone.

Fifth, Apple's contract with AT&T allows AT&T to basically charge double for data sending, because you cannot use your iPhone data plan on your iPad. You have to buy another data service. Insane!

Sixth (and this is the most egregious), Apple has used the clout it will inevitably have with the iPad to get book publishers to agree to a new pricing plan for new e-books, increasing the minimum price on e-books to $12.99 from $9.99, which Amazon has amazingly been charging for years. Even Amazon had to buckle to the new competition, which ironically has increased prices instead of decreasing, which usually happens with more competition. The reason for this is that Apple is demanding a bigger profit off the sales (30%). The book publishers will make a tad more, but they like the new price because it's closer to hardback prices, thereby giving e-book readers less incentive to buy the less-profitable e-books. Apple wins; we consumers lose.

So, fuck you, Steve Jobs. And fuck the iPad you rode in on. I'm fed up. You are thankfully free to do as you please with your products, and I'm am miraculously still free to give you the finger and walk away.

Get back to me when you regain your senses, defenestrate pragmatics and put the consumer first.

Florida doctor puts up sign: No Obama supporters

2010-04-03T09:01:00.000-04:00

The fascists in control of 21st century America will soon have another swastika bill to pass, no doubt, since a Florida urologist has put a sign out in front of his office saying, "If you voted for Obama, seek urologic care elsewhere. Changes in your health care begin right now -- not in four years."

For the first time in my life, I wish I needed urology care, so I could go pay this man my money!

Hell, maybe I'll go anyway. "Well, doc, my penis is doing just fine, thank you. Nope, no pain anywhere. Nope, no constricted flow. Just wanted to shake your hand and pay for a doctor's visit. Oh yeah, by the way, LOVE THE SIGN!"

As you might expect, this sign has got the fascists' panties in a knot, so their legal "experts" are discussing whether the doctor, Jack Cassell of Mount Dora, has broken any laws. So far, the fascists haven't found any. But never fear, they'll make some up soon. Or they'll get canny and send in fascist moles for medical treatment. They'll claim that they got run off by the doctor because they are fascists.

The fascist legal "experts" say the doctor is not allowed to turn down a patient. Yep, that's in the books -- or, so say the fascists wonks.

Anyway, chalk one up as a burr under the fascist saddle. May you live long and prosper, Mr. Cassell, so that perhaps you can extend your marketing campaign to the local billboards!

Groundbreaking work by Harry Binswanger

2010-04-03T08:34:00.000-04:00

Top Objectivist Harry Binswanger has created a new groundbreaking audio on methodology concerning the epistemological triumvirate of the objective, subjective and intrinsic, making clear distinctions among them. I think this subject is important because it allows the objective mind to be a better detective in fact gathering and in discerning irrationality in others. I've ordered the audio today from the Ayn Rand Bookstore. The information on it is below. Enjoy.

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Ayn Rand Bookstore

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New product!

THE OBJECTIVE VS. THE INTRINSIC AND THE SUBJECTIVE by Harry Binswanger

www.aynrandbookstore.com/prodinfo.asp?number=CB87M

The dismal state of today's intellectual life stems from the lack of a genuine concept of objectivity, the concept for which Objectivism is named.

The essence of Objectivism is not just a championing of objectivity but also the identification of a radically deepened concept of what objectivity is.

In the first lecture, Dr. Binswanger approaches the concept of objectivity by asking Ayn Rand's key question: What facts of reality give rise to the need for such a concept? The answer involves distinguishing the metaphysical from the man-made and the self-evident from the inferred. Then one must recognize the need for a concept ("objective") that goes beyond the simpler concepts of "logical" and "rational."

This leads to Ayn Rand's major contribution to epistemology: her recognition that the law of identity applies to consciousness--to man's means of cognition. Lecture one identifies three facts about the identity of man's consciousness, and discusses how they give rise to new principles of methodology.

Before Ayn Rand, theorists saw only two alternatives: the intrinsic or the subjective--i.e., revelation vs. whim. Either we are to remain mentally passive, hoping The Truth will flow in (intrinsicism), or we are mentally active--by embracing the emotional, the arbitrary, the socially approved (subjectivism). In short, either we relinquish control of our minds (intrinsicism) or we give up reality (subjectivism).

In the second lecture, Dr. Binswanger applies the trichotomy of intrinsic-subjective-objective to identify three corresponding schools of thought on concepts, essences, the good, virtue, the initiation of force, rights, and economic value, showing how, in each case, only the objective school, developed by Ayn Rand, provides a rational understanding of the issue.

(3 hrs.,6 min., with Q & A)

Audio CD; 4-CD set: $41.95

www.aynrandbookstore.com/prodinfo.asp?number=CB87M

Water filter is amazing

2010-03-31T18:52:00.000-04:00

For those of you who read my post on the Aquasana AQ-4000 water filtration system, I've had it for a month now and LOVE it. I highly recommend it.

And you may have also ready my post on making money on my blog through products I recommend and link to that you click on. So here goes. You can get the Aquasana AQ-4000 from Amazon for the same price I got it for: $99.

Here it is. Enjoy.

The "coercion factor"

2010-03-31T18:41:00.001-04:00

All government legislation initiating force against individuals is coercive. In fact, a bill's moral worth can be measured, so to speak, by its lack or level of coercion. We might call this the "coercion factor." We could even establish a numbers system for how coercive a measure is: on a scale of 0 to 10, with zero being non-coercive to 10 being murderously coercive.

The parameters for the measurement of a bill's coercion might be: 1) Does it force you to do something or prohibit you from doing something 2) Does it take family or property, including money, from you 3) What's the punishment for any violations 4) To what degree are the coercion and punishment 5) What precedent does it set for further coercion

There are hundreds of nuances to this kind of measurement, perhaps leaving most people to say, "Well, my gut says that's probably a '5' on the coercion factor."

For instance, a law could outlaw "hate" speech. That might rate a "2" on the scale, but if the punishment for that speech is the death penalty, then the coercive law must be rated a "10." If the punishment is a small fine, then perhaps it's a "3"; if a big fine, perhaps a "4." Or perhaps any coerciveness on speech automatically rates a "6," especially if a prison term is associated with it. In some countries, opposition political speech is punishable by the death penalty, which would rate those laws a "10."

Seat belt laws in every state in the union require you to spend 5 seconds to strap yourself in before driving or face a fine, usually not very big, but a fine nevertheless. If you obey this coercive legislation, then you may lose a small amount of your precious lifetime strapping yourself in. Perhaps you would always strap yourself in anyway. So, perhaps this law would rate a "1" for its small coercion and small fine.

How about taxes? Governments take anywhere from 30% to 60% of our income each year -- for those of us who work and own property such as cars. The punishment for not paying taxes is at least a significant fine and possibly, if you refuse to pay the fines, imprisonment with people who may rape you or beat you to death. The coercive laws of taxation might then rate a "7" for the degree to which they rob you of your lifetime and threaten you with imprisonment if you do not allow them to rob you of your lifetime.

For an industrious soul, I'll leave the itemization of coercive laws and the measurement of the degree of coercion and punishment in those laws, as well as any precedent set.

But before I leave, I'll address the coercion factor of the takeover of health decisions in the United States of America by the execrable being sneering at us from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington D.C.

The coercive bill on our health probably rates a "7." It will force each of us healthy (or unhealthy) individuals to buy health insurance; it forces every American to give private information to the government; it takes over a huge portion of industry; it penalizes those who do not cooperate with fines; it threatens imprisonment for not paying fines; it sets an ominous precedent for the further erosion of individual rights (I consider this by itself worthy of a "4").

For those of you asking, "OK, David, how did you come up with the '7' without actually quantifying each aspect of your five parameters?" I say to you, "Yes, you're right. Please be my guest. I would love for somebody with the inclination to do so to quantify all of the above. My interest lies in getting the ball rolling."

I would love to hear the "coercion factor" mentioned each time a liberal or conservative makes his case for some new piece of oppressive altruism. I'd like to hear principled individuals discuss the issue of legislation with fundamentals involving individual rights. I think the coercion factor helps do that. Each time a wretched congressman or president brags of wanting to help Haiti or the sick or the underprivileged, I want to hear the rebuttal: "Who are you forcing to pay for your altruism? How much will it cost? What happens if people refuse to go along? What's the coercion factor, you mangy dog?"

Raw deal on raw milk

2010-03-30T20:19:00.000-04:00

A very long article in the Health & Wellness section of today’s edition of the Wall Street Journal did what you might expect on the issue of raw milk: a hatchet job.

The story is HERE, but you may be able to read it only if you are a WSJ subscriber. I’m not sure.

As some of you probably know, there have been some sicknesses recently that have been allegedly linked to raw (unpasteurized) milk. My family has been drinking this amazing stuff for years and never had a problem, and we have not heard of anyone else having a problem with it. The article also rounds up the usual suspects (ahem, “experts”) who say that raw milk doesn’t necessarily have any benefit nutritionally over dead (pasteurized) milk – although these same “experts” later say that you can get some probiotics from yogurt and kefir that are found in raw milk but not dead milk. Go figure.

As many of you know, raw milk (fresh from the cow) has not been heated to the surface temperature of the sun (pasteurized), so it still has its natural enzymes and vitamins, which help with digestion and nutrition. But this is what a guy named John Sheehan, the director of the FDA’s division of plant- and dairy-food safety, had to say about it: “Raw milk is inherently dangerous and should not be consumed by anyone at any time, for any reason.” You gotta wonder what a farm dad or mom in 19th century America would’ve said to Mr. Sheehan had Mr. Sheehan walked into their barn and shouted that lovely piece of ignorance. I can only hope that pitchforks would be included in the parents’ reply.

With the latest media frenzy (don’t these ignorant people have anything better to do?), the fascist authorities of the Centers for Disease Control and the Food and Drug Administration are pushing states to more highly regulate or ban raw milk. Georgia and Wisconsin are actually two states that have bills pending right now to legalize the sale of raw milk, but this latest crap from the media and the fascists may hinder that. We’ll see if the authorities and media can somehow not treat adults like 2-year-olds on this subject, like most others. Doubtful.

Whole Foods recently took all of its raw milk off of its shelves because it feared lawsuits from customers who drank raw milk and then claimed sicknesses from it.

Damned shame.

Making money from you on my blog

2010-03-30T19:37:00.000-04:00

I just set up an Amazon Associates membership on my blog, so when I review a book or recommend a product, you, my readers, can buy the item directly from Amazon from my blog post, if you like. I love Amazon and do most of my online purchases through them.

If you decide to do so, I'll make up to 15% off of your purchase.

You, of course, don't have to worry about my integrity when I recommend something -- unless you see me recommending Al (PudgeFascist) Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth" for anything other than kindling for your fireplace.

Yours in wealth.

Mark Steyn's "health care" in Oh Canada

2010-03-26T22:07:00.003-04:00

The witty and funny Canadian columnist Mark Steyn wrote a wry and revealing column in November 2000 on the decrepit Canadian government health system.

Being an American, I got a visual of what passes for health care in the northern tundra, evoking images of dingy public restrooms, mindless clerks, endless waits, careless dismissals, and devil-may-care attitudes -- not to mention potentially life-threatening delays.

This is back-to-the-future ObamaCare. We simply can't have it. I won't have it.

"I have an uncle who's an avocado"

2010-03-26T21:34:00.002-04:00

While Livy was watching iCarly on TV, one of her favorite shows, one of the characters was making fun of another character and said, "Yeah, you have an uncle who's in al Qaeda."

Livy laughed and turned to her two friends Ethan and Tory and repeated what she heard, "Yeah, you have an uncle who's an avocado."

They all three laughed hilariously.

Ha!

Unschooling, bombs, and taking charge of women

2010-03-25T16:35:00.002-04:00

Uhuh, that subject line hooked ya, didn't it? ;)

I've been an Objectivist now for 18 years and have had thousands of conversations with other Objectivists, from your average Joes to the very top guys and gals. They are the easiest people to talk with because we share a common philosophy, and we agree on the applications of Ayn Rand's seminal philosophy on most every point. (It goes without saying that we all agree fully on the philosophy itself -- and, yeah, I just said it anyway, right?)

But there are three points in which there is wide disagreement: If children must be schooled, whether we should bomb the hell out of all rogue countries right now, and whether men should largely take charge of the sexual experience in the bedroom with women.

The disagreement on these three issues re-emphasizes how difficult it can be to maintain objectivity always and to not bring undigested presumptions into arguments -- presumptions that are themselves complex and often almost invisibly lurking in one's subconscious. Those who are in the wrong on the above subjects often have a more fundamental problem, which precipitates the blindness to false presumptions.

The problem is that some people have not fully digested Objectivism and integrated it fully into their lives, thereby not creating full self-esteem, full cognitive visibility of thoughts, full connection to emotions, and a complete integration of virtue and values.

Here's how I think it plays out in life for those who haven't fully integrated. I'll start with my own error in the 1990s concerning men, women and the bedroom.

I had very long, and sometimes vociferous, conversations with several longtime Objectivists. They said that men naturally "dominate" women in the bedroom, and that was how it should be; men are dominate physically and more naturally aggressive, so that when it came time to get down to it, the man naturally took over, with the woman, of course, letting the man know what she wants and the man occasionally letting the woman do as she pleases with him. But the man rough-houses on occasion, as he is want to do -- and must do. He handles the woman.

These longtime Objectivists explained man's nature, but I looked at myself and didn't see that nature. I had not fully integrated Objectivism yet and was still soft -- ahem. I argued for the intellectual equality of men and women, and I supposed that that must translate to the bedroom. I discounted the physical. I heard other men talk of dominating women in the bedroom, but I was generally disgusted by this and held contempt for both parties who engaged in this rough-housing. At the time, I took some control, admittedly, but I felt guilty for doing so afterward. My psychology wasn't clean or right.

It wasn't until I got my own intellectual house in order that I -- for lack of a better way of putting it -- became a man. A full man. Filled with self-esteem. Comfortable with my more aggressive nature. Comfortable with handling a woman and enjoying watching her enjoy being handled. When I had integrated my virtues and values, pursued the right career, cleaned up my subconscious, and re-formed myself, the handling of women in the bedroom became natural. I couldn't imagine it any other way. I later told the longtime Objectivists that they were right.

The same unclean psychology comes into play with other issues, such as the schooling of children and the bombing of other countries.

With the schooling, many Objectivists (especially longtime ones, ironically) place a very high value on knowledge (as we all do) without considering it in the context of values -- in this case, the values of children. Many Objectivists think that children absolutely must obtain four things from adults early in life: 1) motivation 2) how to think 3) rigid structure 4) particular information.

They are wrong on all counts. Children free of coercion are self-motivated and huge value-pursuers. They are rational beings whose brains automatically put two and two together. They construct their own structures according to their value pursuits. And they decided what particular information they need relating to their value pursuits.

As with my errors in the sex issue, the facts in this issue are there, so why don't many Objectivists I respect see them? I can't accurately psychologize on it, but I can extrapolate that they have issues themselves that make them contemptuous of children's hegemony over their lives. Their self-esteem is somehow getting in the way. Perhaps they wish to have trophy children for display, which would indicate a second-handedness, which would indicate some lack of integrity. Perhaps it's a need to lord over a nearly helpless kid. Who knows? All we can say is that if the facts are out there for one to see, and one has looked long at the issue and still is committing severe errors, then some philosophical and psychological problems still lie unexamined.

As far as bombing outlaw countries (such as Iran, Russia, China, Syria, North Korea, Somalia, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, etc.), many Objectivists have shown a tendency to pull back from the brink, stating that America "can't just go around bombing the hell out of other countries."

Why not? These countries are openly terroristic, export their terrorism, put Americans in danger by their very existence. Even some top Objectivists don't think we should just go around "blasting people to hell."

I think this shows a lack of justice, which should be a hallmark of the full Objectivist mind. Harsh justice for the bad. Effusive complimentary justice for the good. The mind that shies away from full justice is the mind that won't do justice to itself, won't search itself fully, won't completely fix itself and blinks when it knows something is wrong.

And lack of justice on any part indicates a lack of self-esteem.

So, if all us Objectivists were perfectly integrated (completely virtuous and in full pursuit of values), would we disagree properly? Yes. Sometimes the facts of a situation are momentarily too complex (What is the proper marketing strategy in a different culture?) or determining something is a bit intangible (How many years do you put a rapist in prison for?). These conclusions are based on highly complex formulas and information. We can agree to disagree or to keep our minds open for more facts.

But in some cases, we just got to get our minds right -- as the prison warden says in "Cool Hand Luke."

"Render unto Caesar," Conservatives

2010-03-25T15:11:00.004-04:00

Scholars have debated for centuries Jesus's exact meaning in Matthew 22:21, where he says, "Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's."

One set of scholars sees this phrase as Jesus's clever way of avoiding tax authorities by seeming to say that the people must pay taxes, but actually covertly saying to followers, "Caesar deserves nothing, so you must render him nothing." These are the same scholars who praise Bill Clinton for wondering what the definition of "is" is.

The other set of scholars, which is correct, understands that Jesus was specifically being asked about paying taxes when he answered, and was stating clearly that citizens must abide by the Caesarian law and obey Earthly authorities.

The rest of the quote helps make this last point clear. Here's the full quote from Matthew: "Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's, and unto God the things that are God's." He's making clear the full power of the two alleged authorities, and equating their legitimacy. Pay taxes and give God your soul. End of subject.

But all of this misses the actual point, which is: NEVER BE AMBIGUOUS ABOUT MORALITY! No person of integrity leaves anything open to ambiguity, as Jesus was want to do repeatedly. If Caesar was wrongfully in power -- and, of course, he was -- then nobody should render anything to him, and Jesus should have said this clearly and boldly, especially given his alleged belief that this life is simply a base precursor to an alleged other life.

Here's what he should have said: "Hell no, you don't render unto Caesar and you shouldn't render unto any Caesars! Your life is your own. You cannot be forced to do anything by anyone that you have not contracted to do. End of subject. You are a rational being, and all of that Garden of Eden stuff was just God (um, that's me, I guess) having a bad-hair day. Hey, Jedidiah, stop being a Bogart on the wine, will ya?"

Jesus's Caesar quote is one of hundreds of instances of Jesus's foggy immorality that has so captivated Conservatives in America. In fact, the Conservatives love Jesus so much that they ignore his injunctions, usually when liberals, the new Caesars, demand more taxes. When this happens, the Conservatives suddenly pretend that they don't like taxes, especially against rich Conservatives who are ignoring Jesus's injunction to "sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven." (Matthew 19:21)

Virtually everything Jesus said was antithetical to human life on Earth, relegating humans to destitute ground-grubbers pining for an alleged mystical life ever after -- sort of like folks in the Middle ages before smart people started waking up and saying, "Hey, what the hell have we been doing for 1,000 years following that homeless pin-head who deluded the stupid masses? We should be inventing shit and having fun! Besides, he promised he would come back before his generation was over, and he hasn't and I think he's off somewhere with Mary. Damn him! AND WE'RE OUT OF WINE!"

The Conservatives, even Miss Kitty Coulter (who took Jesus away from Mary when Jesus saw Kitty slowly uncross her sexy legs in a TV interview exposing her pretty panties for the Lefties to go stark raving madder.) simply ignore Jesus (bet he doesn't like that very much -- hence the earthquakes of late).

Yes, somehow, in the Conservatives' little uptight pea-heads they continue to twist and butcher a Jesus phrase worse than George Bush Sr. twisted and butchered the English language. Yeah, Jesus was wrong, but he's their god damned savior, isn't he?

So, to finally get to my point, we liberty lovers cannot depend upon Conservatives to go to bat for us against the Leftist Mafia in America. The Conservatives will do what they always do if they get power again: Say two Hail Marys and "no new taxes" and then RAISE TAXES.

Excuse me, Kitty, would you mind uncrossing your legs one more time -- pretty please?!

Fascinating video on hydrogen-powered vehicles

2010-03-25T14:59:00.002-04:00

Take a ride with a genius inventor who has discovered how to mix hydrogen with virtually anything combustible to power vehicles -- with almost perfectly clean exhaust. He explains it all quite well during the ride.

(You'll have to go to my blog to see this video.)

$1,000 ain't so bad

2010-03-25T14:30:00.002-04:00

I've been working (and working out) with the fitness company Beachbody since June 4 of last year. I've been logging my workouts on my online coach's site since then (more than 140 workouts).

Beachbody holds several prize contests each week for those who have worked out most consistently and logged their workouts online. There are hundreds of thousands of us.

Well, last week, I won $1,000 for my consistent workouts and logging of the workouts.

So, I'm not just getting in better health, but I'm getting PAID to be in better health.

Man, I love that!

The "peace-out" Lefties love their violence

2010-03-25T13:49:00.002-04:00

Look back over the demostrations over the last 100 years -- at Berkeley, at Ohio State, in San Francisco, in Washington D.C., at Republican conventions, at presidential speeches, at environmental gatherings, at conservative speeches, at college speeches by conservatives.

What's a common occurrence?

Violence. Not just shouting down speakers who've been asked to speak by institutions. Not just threats of physical violence against the speakers. Not just demands that governments shut the speakers up.

Violence. The conservative kitty-cat Ann Coulter (meow!) became the latest victim of these red-faced club-wielding low-brows in Canada. 2,000 of the peace-out thugs swarmed an auditorium where Kitty Coulter was to speak; they rioted, set off a fire alarm, threw tables, blocked entrances and shrilly screamed like tantrum-throwing little girls.

They should, of course, know better than to mess with the Kitty, who blistered their panty-lined bottoms with scathing humor (see link above). One particular person received his justice de stylo from Kitty. His name is Francois A. Houle (French for Frank. A Hole, Kitty explained), the provost at Ottawa University, where Kitty was to speak.

Mr. Houle subtly incited the riotors by threatening Kitty with prison if she incited "hatred." And then Mr. Houle didn't show up at any of Kitty's three planned speeches in Canada. Kitty's response: "(To add insult to injury, Francois didn't even plan to attend my speech because Tuesday is his bikini wax night.)"

The peace-out ninnies will not enjoy Miss Kitty's delicious humor. They're too busy hating -- hating freedom lovers for not surrendering to the Lefties' demands for handouts for "free" education or free food or free medicine or free housing or free panties.

They are, as Ayn Rand put it, subjectivists who have rendered themselves incapable of self-control and happiness and, therefore, succumbed to the only thing they understand: violence against others who will not put up with their irrationality and wish to speak out against it.

They act like beasts, but are much worse. They are what only bad humans can be: malevolent. Lower animals have no choice but to commit violence. They don't do it because they're mad; they do it because it's their nature. But human violence is entirely man-made. It is an acknowledgement of existential failure in the world. It is a tantrum against the world. It is a malevolence against the world.

And it is a hallmark of the Leftist movement here in America and around the world.

Watch out, Lefties. The Kitty's on the loose.

Put the pope in prison

2010-03-25T13:22:00.002-04:00

Unless you're a liberal in a constant state of secluded ejaculation over the recent takeover of American citizens' health, you've seen the scores of stories about how the Roman Catholic church's hierarchy has for decades (actually centuries) been covering up the rape and abuse of little Catholic boys and girls by its clergy all across the world.

Bishops, arch-bishops and cardinals have been "quietly" handling the abuse "in-house" to prevent scandal and to protect the church's reputation, ahem. The crack in the dam began in the 1990s with one man's brave public exposure of the abuse he suffered at the hands of one pernicious clergyman, who raped the boy consistently for years. (One Milwaukee reverend is accused of sexually abusing 200 deaf boys.) Since then, hundreds (or perhaps thousands) of others have come out of the Catholic closet to attest to the same tawdry acts by people they were supposed to trust.

In nearly every case, the Catholic hierarchy covered up, simply relocating the pedophiles or demoting them or quietly asking them to leave the church. This is criminal behavior and must be treated as such.

In the last few days, new information printed in The New York Times shows that the current pope himself, Joseph Ratzinger, was in charge of oversight operations for these types of sordid acts. In fact, he did not report the Milwaukee reverend to police, instead letting the egregious abuse slip quietly into the mystic night.

If a corporation were to be as dismissive and secretive about such abuse within its ranks, worldwide outrage would be deafening. Police, the FBI and governments everywhere would be dedicating immense resources to uncover the complicity. Denunciations would be pervasive. Computer files, documents and other evidence would be confiscated for prosecution.

Yet we hear very little from governments (themselves horribly corrupt). We hear no demands that the pope now turn himself over to police. We hear no threats to apprehend the pope and his robed minions across the globe.

The Vatican considers itself a sovereign nation -- and so did Iraq. But look what we did to Saddam Hussein, who wasn't even abusing our little boys. The United States must immediately send armed forces to apprehend the pope, try him in a court of law and, if convicted, put the execrable son-of-a-bitch in prison with the worst elements of American society.

Do it now -- before more young boys and girls suffer under the mystic cloud of medieval acts.

The Compravotantes -- The Vote Buyers

2010-03-24T14:01:00.003-04:00

Ayn Rand wrote a stunning nonfictional piece on the comprachicos (the child buyers) in 1971. The comprachicos were a 17th century nomadic group in Spain that bought children, horribly disfigured them and then used them as circus freaks to make money.

Ayn used the comprachicos as a metaphor for the New Left's progressivism and its deforming of young American minds in classrooms with moral relativism, obedience and group conformity, thereby assaulting the cognitive faculties and making zombies of children, thereby softening them up for the acceptance of the tyranny of the altruistic Left. (Ayn made some mistakes in her attacks on "free expression" in children, but that's a conversation for another day.)

The comprachicos have expanded their mind-destruction with environmentalism in recent decades, but there's another hideous branch of these parasites feeding on Americans.

The compravotantes. The vote buyers.

The compravotantes are politicians and their backers of the right and left who court the support of interest groups with the promise of wads of cash stolen from hard-working Americans. The interest groups comprise individuals who are willfully poor, lazy, in bad health, or are of a certain skin color, of a certain sex, of a certain age.

As conduits and receptors for the stolen booty, the politicians and their backers become wealthy demigods with supreme power over individuals, as we see in the upward tilted head and smug smile of Barack Obama or the sullen superciliousness and giddy pugnaciousness of Nancy Pelosi.

The victims of the compravotantes are not just those Americans being openly robbed, but also those receiving the booty, who become addicted to apathy, lethargy, entitlement, anger and regular streams of free cash to continue to not pursue virtue and value. They become ever more psychologically corrupt, ever more the pawns of the compravotantes, ever more demanding of the slavery of their moral betters who wish only to be left alone, and ever more insistent of more power in the hands of the compravotantes.

The compravotantes gladly abide as they buy their souls, helping to create hideous humans who pleasurefully mock those they steal from with condescending looks at grocery stores, with shouts of "racist" or "sexist" or "insensitive" or "selfish" or "rich bastard" or "corporate chieftain" or "not a group player" or "egotist," with demands for even more money for ever more conditions of the "less fortunate."

The compravotantes took their macabre game to a new level on Sunday evening (a day that will live in infamy), as the U.S. House of Representatives (I dare you not to cynically laugh as you speak that name) voted a virtual takeover of humans' health in the United States of America (I dare you not to become anxious in speaking that name).

The compravotantes care not a wit about humans, much less human health. If they did, they would withdraw to chambers, eradicate every piece of Leftist legislation in the last 130 years and then become invisible to the public eye. They care only about power -- coercive power. Or, as Ayn called it, pull.

They court the detritus of America and use it as flesh-pile to smother individuals who dare to live in liberty, to earn their own way, to be happy in their egoism, to pursue their dreams unencumbered. In turn, the flesh-pile of sordid and grotesque psyches trudge to the ballot box with smirks and irrational chips on their shoulders anticipating revenge upon those more "privileged."

And then they are repaid in full for their complicit deceit. With the new legislation outlawing free commerce in one's health, they will get free dialysis, more free prescriptions, free visits to hospitals, free service from health professionals -- while once-free individuals work diligently in a nearby office with a government gun to their temple and an agent demanding, "Work harder! We need more cash!"

The compravotantes are smiling now. They are throwing parties. They laugh into the TV cameras. They shake hands and pat backs. They have won.

Or ... they think they have won. It is a Pyrrhic victory. Being corrupt, they have the disease of the corrupt: the underestimation of the moral, the miscalculation of the certitude and fight of the virtuous. They have won a battle but will lose the war.

They will, in a decade or two or three, be relegated to do the thing they despise the most: work. They will have to work and sweat for a living -- without the rush of powerlust, without the luxury of coerced booty in their wallets and purses, without the sly grin of knowing someone else must work with a gun to his head.

They won't know it immediately, but they will earn back some of their self-esteem. After I and millions of my friends in objectivity imprison the politicians, chase off their malicious minions and establish and ordain individual rights in a new and glorious America, we will be free -- for the first time in history, be free -- and the compravotantes and comprachicos will be deceased.

Lesbian gets last laugh -- and free college

2010-03-20T10:03:00.002-04:00

A high-school girl has ruffled the Christian cuckoos' feathers in northeast Mississippi. She digs chicks, and chicks aren't supposed to dig chicks -- not in THAT way -- in Hicksissippi.

The girl, Constance McMillen, wanted to go to the prom with her mate, and she wanted to wear a tux. Itawamba Agricultural High School pig-heads told her she couldn't bring her sophomore girlfriend to the prom, and then the school's Bible-thumpers circulated a memo commanding that no student could bring someone to the prom of the same sex. The meat-brains also told McMillen she couldn't wear a tux. (Everybody knows that girls in tuxes turn all other girls into Lesbians.)

The ACLU jumped into the frier and the thumpers got scared, so instead of banning McMillen, the thumpers simply cancelled the prom. Yes, cancelled the prom entirely, theoretically ruining a seminal point in all the students' lives because of their bigotry.

Well, no, the pig-heads had other plans. They then floated the idea that some private person could hold the prom, thereby circumventing the laws and the ACLU and allowing the private person to exclude anyone he wishes.

Bye bye, Constance McMillen and her broken-hearted girlfriend, and hello, pig-heads. "I'm going to have to change schools or something," a distraught McMillen said.

If the story ended there, the Commandment-mongers scored a victory.

But it didn't, thanks to Ellen DeGeneres and the web site www.tonic.com. On DeGeneres' show Friday, McMillen received a $30,000 scholarship check. DeGeneres said she's proud of McMillen for challenging the school district's rules.

Oh yes, of course, DeGeneres is also a ... LESBIAN! Ack! Take that, pig-heads. You just got a sweet young girl a free ride through college.

Irony is as sweet as Southern barbecue sauce.

Governments have privileges -- not rights

2010-03-20T09:19:00.002-04:00

Governments acquire their just powers from rational constitutional law and the rational consent of the governed. They are allowed by the people they serve the privilege to protect individual rights. They do not have the right to do anything. They must obey objective law. If they don't, they should be thrown from office and prosecuted, like a common criminal, for the attempt to violate the individual's right to life, liberty, property and the pursuit of unabridged happiness.

I mention the above after having hundreds (or thousands) of conversations with Americans about the proper role of government in our lives and seeing their willful obedience to the subjective authoritarianism of the state, their bashful reticence in criticizing the state openly, their slavish concurrence with the dictates of state, their insistence that the state oppress other individuals and even themselves -- as if the government were an immutable god, a force of incontestable authority.

The reason for this surrender to servitude, of course, comes from people's bad opinion of themselves. Most Americans consider themselves and their fellow Americans "fallen" and incapable of consistent rationality, thereby needing an authority outside themselves to control their "urges" and "selfishness."

The 16th-century philosopher and political analyst Thomas Hobbes is the most famous and earliest proponent of this viewpoint. He believed that without an authoritarian government to suppress "unlimited freedoms," humans would live in a tribal state of nature because they allegedly live lives that are "nasty, brutish and short." He believed the government must be an ominous Leviathan who tempers the alleged mental illness of people. This is precisely the beliefs of most modern Americans and the rest of the world.

Wish such a bad opinion of humans (derived largely from young children's swallowing the skepticism of humans found in all subjectivist creeds, such as religions and leftist households), people believe themselves needful of authoritarian commandments and control in their moral life, thereby capitulating to alleged gods, preachers and "officials" of any kind, including government. They insist upon authoritarian government. They believe it actually necessary to give them comfort to know that someone, something is in control besides their fallen selves.

And so they believe governments actually have unassailable rights to control and dictate the actions of humans. Whereas, if most Americans and the rest of the world were objective, they would understand that humans are not fallen and are completely and utterly capable of running their own moral lives quite effectively and happily, thereby insisting on no interference or coercion by anyone -- including the representatives of government.

Such circumspect and rational humans would have a wonderful sense of life and would understand clearly that any government is constructed solely to allow individuals to pursue their values morally. They would understand that government is a necessary tool for their safety and money, not a bludgeon that interferes with their safety and money.

They would know when they set up their government that they were granting a temporary and tenuous privilege for that protection, and they would give the officials the warning: "You better be good. You better honor individual rights. You better exactly toe the line. You better be objective. If you aren't we'll prosecute you, shackle you and send you to prison. Do you understand?"

The 17th century philosopher and genius John Locke was the first to correctly expound upon the idea of "the consent of the governed." If he were to visit us Americans today, perhaps he might add a word to his phrase. Perhaps he would say "the rational consent of the governed," because today in once-great America, we have consent -- consent to be oppressed.

The seminal and wonderful Mr. Locke may be forgiven for his benevolent belief in the rationality of humans. He was himself quite rational.

We'll know that Americans are getting more rational when we hear them talk about governments abusing their "privileges." I look forward to seeing that signpost.

Let's tar and feather the bastards

2010-03-19T21:25:00.002-04:00

Come join me, my friends, in a march on Washington -- a tax revolt march on the very bastards who were elected by the willfully ignorant masses who seek payoffs for their loyalty.

There are more than 194,000 of us now marching on April 15, with about 5K being added every day. Go HERE to check this great thing out.

I'm bringing the tar and feathers in case one of the cockroaches shows his cockroach head. There'll probably be more than a half-million in the march, which will feature Neal Bortz and many other speakers.

It ain't a perfect march (which would seek imprisonment for all elected officials and the end of taxation), but it's headed in the right direction: no more IRS and flat taxes or a tax on consumption.

Still theft, yes, but it's a hell of a lot better than what we have now.

Kids' answers that cracked me up

2010-03-18T00:02:00.002-04:00

I don't know if all of these are authentic, but they're funny.

____________________________________

TEACHER: Maria, go to the map and find North America.
MARIA: Here it is.
TEACHER: Correct. Now class, who discovered America?
CLASS: Maria.
____________________________________

TEACHER: John, why are you doing your math multiplication on the floor?
JOHN: You told me to do it without using tables.
__________________________________________

TEACHER: Glenn, how do you spell 'crocodile'?
GLENN: K-R-O-K-O-D-I-A-L
TEACHER: No, that's wrong
GLENN: Maybe it is wrong, but you asked me how I spell it.
____________________________________________

TEACHER: Donald, what is the chemical formula for water?
DONALD: H I J K L M N O.
TEACHER: What are you talking about?
DONALD: Yesterday you said it's H to O.
__________________________________

TEACHER: Winnie, name one important thing we have today that we didn't
have ten years ago.
WINNIE: Me!
__________________________________________

TEACHER: Glen, why do you always get so dirty?
GLEN: Well, I'm a lot closer to the ground than you are.
_______________________________________

TEACHER: Millie, give me a sentence starting with 'I.'
MILLIE: I is..
TEACHER: No, Millie, always say, 'I am.'
MILLIE: All right. 'I am the ninth letter of the alphabet.'
________________________________

TEACHER: George Washington not only chopped down his father's cherry
tree, but also admitted it. Now, Louie, do you know why his father
didn't punish him?
LOUIS: Because George still had the axe in his hand....
______________________________________

TEACHER: Now, Simon, tell me frankly, do you say prayers before eating?
SIMON: No sir, I don't have to, my Mom is a good cook.
______________________________

TEACHER: Clyde , your composition on 'My Dog' is exactly the same
as your brother's.. Did you copy his?
CLYDE: No, sir. It's the same dog.
___________________________________

TEACHER: Harold, what do you call a person who keeps on talking when
people are no longer interested?
HAROLD: A teacher.

Paying taxes is "voluntary"

2010-03-17T22:17:00.002-04:00

The leader of the United States Senate is Harry Reid (please pretend that I utter that name as if a viper pouncing upon its prey). He believes that taxation is voluntary. Yes, voluntary. Don't believe me? Watch this fascist moron in the video below say it over and over again. This monster is the Marxist mindset we are up against. It is Atlas Shrugged writ large.

You want scary? I've got scary for you!

2010-03-17T22:07:00.001-04:00

Here is a frightening and excellent video on the Soviet-style Marxism that is the so-called "health care plan" concocted by the Leftist of America. The facts will shock you. It's already gotten 2.5 million hits on YouTube.

The new capitalist whiny-babies and their antitrust mamas

2010-03-10T21:40:00.002-05:00

The legions of anti-capitalist capitalists who run to antitrust officials every time they feel put-upon by big business are growing in this modern era of whiny-babies. The latest is the CEO of TradeComet.com, who's going after Google for allegedly "decimating" his business. Here's his letter to the Wall Street Journal. My reply to that whiny putrescence is below.

___________________________
If you have a business that’s a bit bigger than a competitor’s, you may buy a bigger sign, which more customers can see and thereby give you more business. The smaller business can then try more clever ways to get the word out – such as employees wearing costumes and carrying signs by the street – or the smaller company can just whine about being smaller and “mistreated” and run to government officials for intervention.

If you’re running a highly efficient business, you may lower your prices, thereby getting more customers and perhaps putting other similar businesses out of business. That’s capitalism – good for customers, bad for bad business. The people who lost their business can learn their lesson and more adeptly start over – or they can run whining to government officials.

If a business decides to branch out with its products/services and suddenly finds itself competing with former suppliers, then the business will most likely stop recommending the suppliers to its customers to reduce competition. The suppliers should’ve already known to have spread risk and have many contracts, but if they didn’t, they may suddenly find themselves on the precipice. They can then try to quickly diversify or they can whine and go to government officials for intervention.

In his March 10 letter to the editor, TradeComet CEO Dan Savage makes it clear what kind of company chief he is, by running to government antitrust officials and whining that Google “imposed a penalty” on his site and “decimated” his traffic.

No, what Google did was change its own proprietary property – something it has every right to do if it feels it may give it a competitive advantage. Mr. Savage’s bizarre and incredible presumption is that Google must ensure that his site remains competitive against Google, thereby reducing Google’s business and stock value. It is now a mockery of morality that Mr. Savage is filing a suit against Google to add legal injury to verbal insult.

Mr. Savage and other company chiefs who go running to government officials each time they feel put upon by the Goliaths might wish to watch a sports game that involves a matchup between an overmatched weaker team/individual and a much stronger team/individual. You will see the weaker opponent try even harder, reach a little further, run a little faster, be more creative, think outside the box, plan better, sweat a little more to defeat the larger foe.

And if the weaker opponents loses, you’ll almost always see a face of satisfied exhilaration at the brave attempt – not a whiny person running to the official shouting, “It’s … just … not … fair!” The U.S. antitrust office has become (as officials hoped it would) a bastion for whiny-baby pseudo-capitalists with chips on their shoulders and no moxie to dig deeper and battle it out.

Where’s a young Rockefeller when you need him?

Licensing laws are simply cronyism

2010-03-10T19:14:00.003-05:00

Here's a terrific Atlasphere column from John Stossel on how licensing laws are simply a means for those currently in a profession to lock others out -- ostensively to protect consumers, but really simply to limit competition.

Have you SEEN the crap in your tap water?

2010-03-10T13:03:00.005-05:00

I don't know if you're as anal about microbes and chlorine and other unhealthy stuff that your body has to filter out of the crap we drink and eat as I am.

But if you are, you might want to know about a top-rated water filter that I just purchased online after doing some research into that stuff to find the best product for the best price.

It's the Aquasana AQ-4000. Check out THIS CHART that compares the top brands. It takes out virtually every bad thing from the city tap gunk and leaves in the good minerals. It ends up costing less than 10 cents a gallon (beats the hell out of the $1.20 spring water from the grocery store).

I've been using a Brita brand filter for a year and thought it was pretty good (good smelling and took out chlorine and lead but little else), until I saw it compared with other top brands. The Aquasana is actually cheaper over the long run, much cheaper, and takes out all the crap. It's also topped the critics' sites for the last six years on quality and price ($99).

If you want to save your liver the nasty work and get rid of that awful tap-gunk smell and taste, I highly recommend the Aquasana. Mine will be delivered early next week. Can't wait.

Rights don't obligate you to DO anything

2010-03-09T17:40:00.003-05:00

Ayn Rand once noted that a definition of individual rights can often effectively be put in the negative: to be free from coercion (the initiation of force) by other men (including the men of government).

That means other people must always keep their hands off of you, your money and your property, as long as you do the same. It is a big "don't." Don't interfere with someone else's right to be let alone, to fully govern their own lives and well-being.

Conversely, a right does not obligate you to DO anything. You do not have to be productive, you do not have to be moral, you do not have to help others. You are free to run your life toward happiness or run your life into the ground.

But if you decide upon the latter (or former, for that matter), you cannot demand that others take care of you. They have the same right to "don't": to do nothing for you, to stand by as you self-destruct or fall into abject poverty or poor health. They don't have any obligations to you that they haven't signed in a contract to do for you. Your immorality does not obligate them to surrender their rights to self-determination. They can morally say, "I have a life to live. I care more about me, my friends and my family than I do you. So, good luck and get lost."

Rand gave a perfect definition to rights:

A “right” is a moral principle defining and sanctioning a man’s freedom of action in a social context. There is only one fundamental right (all the others are its consequences or corollaries): a man’s right to his own life. Life is a process of self-sustaining and self-generated action; the right to life means the right to engage in self-sustaining and self-generated action—which means: the freedom to take all the actions required by the nature of a rational being for the support, the furtherance, the fulfillment and the enjoyment of his own life. (Such is the meaning of the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.)

With all of the above in mind, the American welfare state is an immoral travesty. It assumes that individuals have an obligation to DO something for other Americans -- be it for housing, food, medicine, old age, health, etc. -- to surrender their individual rights.

The modern politician and 99% of Americans have bought into this philosophy of altruism -- and its stepson: political altruism -- instead of the philosophy of rational self-interest that recognizes each human's fundamental right to pursue his values for his own happiness and sustenance.

Once the sacrificial philosophy of altruism is embedded in the human mind, that mind then demands that humans sacrifice their self to other selves, that they must surrender their goals for others' goals, that they DO something for others, whether they like it or not. (What irony is it that these altruists think it is OK for us to make others happy but not ourselves?)

This is, fundamentally, the philosophy of skepticism: the belief that humans are not fully rational, not efficacious, not capable of being fully happy by themselves, not nice. Once this belief in the "fallen" human (usually via religion or neo-Marxism) is swallowed and ingrained, the mental house of cards falls, and the landscape of liberty is littered with the wreckage of coercive altruists, who seek some redemption for their mental confusion by pretending to overly care about others. It's the Jesus syndrome. "I've come here to save you." It's the heady "savior" mentality to compensate for their own lost identity.

The fix is singular: Recognize that reality is real (not supernatural). Recognize that humans are rational and capable of understanding reality. Recognize that humans can guide their own lives and develop a rational morality to be that guide. Recognize that governments have only one job to do: to protect rational beings from being interfered with on their free paths to wherever they wish to go.

In other words, the fix is the philosophy of Ayn Rand. You don't have to read and study Rand. You don't have to DO it. But if you don't, I'll never be free of you and your demand that I DO something for you or those you allegedly care about.

Study Rand. Hold your head high. Let's shake hands as happy equals and make a toast to liberty.

You got anger issues? You probably got "IED"

2010-03-09T14:17:00.004-05:00

Just when I thought I'd exhausted the alphabet soup that is alleged disorders of our modern era that I have (see my post yesterday), along comes an article today on "Intermittent Explosive Disorder" (IED) -- not related technically, I presume, to Improvised Explosive Devices, which blow up on the sides of roads and not in your head.

I confess, I have IED. It rears its ugly head every time I see ObaMao, UberMann, Pelosi, Dodd, Barney Frank, George Clooney, Matt Damon, welfare queens and kings, and all other thieves who use the police and voting booths to steal my money.

The first two steps of my 12-step program to end my IED are to establish a constitution protecting individual rights and to imprison all those who stole my money and freedoms for decades.

Voila! No more IED! In fact, I may then have another IED (Intermittent Ecstatic Disorder).

Amazon says "F-you" to Colorado's tax thiefs

2010-03-09T10:00:00.003-05:00

We get so few glorious victories in our love affair with capitalism that when one happens, we get a brief smile and a hardy "Yeah, baby!"

Such is the case with Amazon's decision to drop all of its affiliates in Colorado after the fascist leaders of that state imposed sales-tax regulations on online retailers.

The Colorado fascist-in-chief (aka governor) signed a law last month that requires online retailers to either collect sales tax or share information with the state about all the purchases made by residents, so the state could demand booty (aka taxes) from those residents.

In an email to its Colorado retailers, Amazon called the new laws "burdensome ... and clearly intended to increase the compliance burden to a point where online retailers will be induced to 'voluntarily' collect Colorado sales tax -- a course we won't take."

Of course, we capitalists would enjoy a louder "Yeah, baby!" if Amazon had added, "Colorado has decided to join other fascist government entities in their direct and immoral violations of individual rights, so we will cease and desist operations that allow such transgressions against rational humans and their productive endeavors until the fascist dogs publicly reject such immorality and extinguish the offending laws."

That isn't likely to happen from the fascists. Here's what the Colorado fascist-in-chief, Bill Ritter, had to say about Amazon's move: "Amazon has taken a disappointing -- and completely unjustified -- step. Amazon is simply trying to avoid compliance with Colorado law."

You hear that? That's the sound of a frustrated fascist denied his booty by a company that won't play his jackbooting game.

That's worth another "Yeah, baby!"

I had ADD, BBD, DCD, DBD, IFS, ETS, DFD, IBD

2010-03-08T10:44:00.005-05:00

As a youthful student I had ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder), BBD (Boners for Babes Disorder), DCD (Dreamy Classroom Disorder), DBD (Desperately Bored Disorder), IFS (Incessant Farting Syndrome), ETS (Excessive Talking Syndrome), DFD (Dreaming of Freedom Disorder) and IBD (Itchy Britches Disorder).

The one thing that characterizes all of the above syndromes and "disorders" is that they are NOT diseases. They are the consequence of bad parenting, bad diets and coercive government authoritarian control of the mental content of children via "public education" (well, except for BBS and IFS, ahem).

ADD is not a disease. Children are not born with "attention deficits." Attention deficits are created. They are created by enforced conscription of children into activities or situations that they do not wish to be in, supplanting their own values for others' values.

It is a consequence of being told, "You will sit in that uncomfortable, constricted chair for six hours each day of the week and listen to puke, pabulum and propaganda, whether you like it or not -- do you understand me?!"

It can also be the consequence of horrible eating, mostly way too much sugar and carbs, which turn the body into a hyperactive spasm of uncontrollable urges to MOVE, to MOVE ANYWHERE. I know. I was one of those kids brought up on cereal, lots of cereal, and milk, which my body couldn't digest and thereby turned milk protein into copious amounts of gas, which I embarrassingly exploded upon my nearby victims in every concentration-camp class I was forced to attend. (How many times did I hear from my fellow prisoners, "ELMORE?!!!!!!!!!!!!! God damn, not again!!!!!!!!"). That's not a legacy one can proudly wear. I did, however, save a few calculated explosions for the deans and the principals when sent to their office for discipline for excessive talking because of DBD and DFD.

The excessive sugar gave me IBD. The glacial pace of instruction gave me ETS, and so my report cards contained A's for classwork and lots and lots of bad-conduct capital letters to the side stating ominously: "Excessive Talking." Luckily, the only thing that the dictator, my dad, cared about was the A's. "I don't give a shit whether you talk too much as long as your grades are good."

So I talked. And talked. And talked. And got sent to the principal's office, where I farted. And farted. And farted. Until the noxious cloud precipitated a brief upbraiding and a quick dismissal back to a classroom of smiling friends and a miffed teacher.

I hated school. Let me repeat that. I HATED school. Loved meeting new people and having lots of friends. Hated being told when and what to learn. It was MY life. No it wasn't. Yes it was. No, it wasn't. All I could think of each day was babes (BBD) and looking up the dress of my buxomous 8th-grade World History teacher, who had a lovely tendency to wear VERY short skirts, jump up on her desk at the front of the classroom and slowly cross her legs, causing many male students to go to the nurse's office for strained necks and hurting crotches.

Yeah, OK, that was fun -- looking up Ms. So-and-so's dress at the pink/purple/black/red panties -- but that was one short (too short) class in a history of violence against the human mind and free will. Mostly, public school simply elicited rage from me and many others (mostly boys, it seemed). Whose life was it, anyway?! "I'm not going to use the fucking quadratic equation in my life, you boring sack of pig's testicles!" Thus DFD or another disorder/syndrome set in.

The cronies of coercive education and their conspiratorial counterparts in psychology have developed an acronym alphabet soup to attend to the natural effects of extreme boredom, extreme coercion, extreme diets and extreme devastation of one's own personal interests at a youthful age. These professorial posers would like you to think that all the fucked-up kids have somehow contracted a genetic disease. But the posers have one major problem in their diagnosis: They have ADD.

Their attention deficit is philosophical. They do not attend to the exigencies of philosophical inquiry, thereby causing them to misunderstand cause and effect: When you pummel free will, you get disorder. When you coerce thinking, you get non-thinking. When you combine the two you get alphabet soups of lost generations. Those are inconvenient truths for parasites on the public teat.

End "public schooling" now. Save the children (for once the cliche applies). Let's take the capital letters out of "ADD" and put them back in math -- not "new" math.

Let the kids be free to enjoy their individual rights to self-determination and productive and creative lives -- and their BBD in their teenage years.

Here's looking at you, babes!

We're all immigrants or descendants of immigrants

2010-03-06T18:22:00.003-05:00

The demagogues of both of the corrupt political parties in America have decried "illegal" immigration recently, and most Americans seem to support their demagoguery, for economic or racist reasons.

But our shores and doors used to be wide open, and the best, brightest and hardest-working people of the world poured in -- many of them simply great workers, some of them great working minds.

America, herself, may not exist if not for one man, one immigrant man: Thomas Paine.

Paine came to America from England in the notable year 1775 and became a quick citizen with the help of Benjamin Franklin. Paine had written only one published piece in England before arriving here, but within one year wrote "Common Sense," which ended up selling millions of copies and, most likely, stoking the fires of rebellion more than any other tract in history. He is known, perhaps correctly, in many scholastic circles as "The Father of the American Revolution."

And he was an immigrant -- from the country we went to war with, no less.

There have been other notable and/or great names: Joseph Pulitzer, Albert Einstein, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Irving Berlin, Martina Navratilova, Andrew Grove (founder of Intel), Levi Strauss, Alexander Graham Bell, Bob Hope and, of course, thousands of others.

It is a cliche to say that this country was founded and fueled by immigrants, and it is true. But the fires of anti-immigration have always been hot against virtually every nationality coming to our shores: Irish, Italian, African, Asian, Polish, Mexican, etc.

But I say, let them come. Let them all come except those who openly seek us harm. Open the shores, the doors, the harbors, the ground borders to all who seek liberty, work and happiness.

Let them compete with us already here. Let them bring their creative minds, their calloused hands to the marketplace of people and ideas that is America. This is not our land. It is the land of those who wish to work it, here and abroad. Xenophobia is not our government's job, and it is not an attractive trait for those of us immigrants and descendants here already. We need more good people, more good ideas.

We need another Thomas Paine.

Movie critics want "reality," not creativity

2010-03-06T16:10:00.002-05:00

A renowned critic wrote a Wall Street Journal piece today on how Tarantino didn't abide by history in his "Inglourious Basterds," thereby somehow not giving Jews and the rest of us a significant movie. My letter in response to this trash in the Journal is below.

________________________
Bernard-Henry Levy’s column “Hollywood’s Nazi Revisionism” exhibits a profound misunderstanding of what art is, and therefore does not give justice to director Quentin Tarantino and other filmmakers’ bold attempts to create their own moral canvas.

The philosopher Ayn Rand correctly defined art as “the re-creation of reality according to an artist’s own metaphysics,” which means that art is a sensory exhibit of the character of the artist, including his perception of reality and his perception of what’s right and wrong. Art is *not* about restating the exact facts of reality – a documentary. It is a “re-creation” of reality. Rand called the best art “romantic realism,” which accentuates the “should” of humans and lets the audience revel in heroic characters – not the mundane, the mediocre, the horrid, the malevolent.

And so Tarantino portrayed the “should” by giving justice to Jews (and the rest of us who abhor what the Nazis did). The Jewish heroes of “Inglourious Basterds” get their just revenge upon their putative murderers, and it is deeply satisfying. Hitler is shown horrified at his imminent death by burning (what justice that!) at the hands of a Nazi girl whose family was exterminated in a cellar.

And it is deeply satisfying – in a way that a cowardly suicide in a bunker is not. It is art. It is, thankfully, not the drab, amoral insistence upon historical veracity that plagues modern cinema and, I assume, consoles Mr. Levy.

Early March means ...

2010-03-06T09:45:00.002-05:00

It's March 6, so what's finally right around the corner?!

If you said "spring," I'm deeply disappointed!

Proper answer: The iPad!!!!!

But alas, Apple announced yesterday that it's late March launch of the iPad will be delayed a week. A WEEK!!!!!

Sacre bleu! Tell me it ain't so, Stevie! I'm feeling verklempt!

OK. OK. (deep breaths). So the iPad will be on store shelves April 3, just three days before my 50th birthday. That design will have the Wi-Fi capability but not the 3G, which is the one I want and will not be on store shelves until late April.

The horror! What's an iPad fanatic to do? Guess I'll go for a run. ...

... Is it late April yet?

Fucking-A right, goody-two-shoes!

2010-03-05T21:16:00.003-05:00

Several years ago, some Christian bitch-dick in Texas tried to stampede Texans and the rest of the world into taking the "hell" out of "hello." He got bitch-slapped by practicality. Even his fellow Christians (most of them, anyway) told him to go to hell-o.

He got his fifteen minutes of mockery, and now comes the perennial copycat. This time it's a punk-ass bitch teenager in South Pasadena, CA, who started the No Cussing Club three years ago in middle school.

The disease has been contracted in 20 countries, where similar smug-clubs have begun. "Next year, I want to do a world tour," the punk-ass bitch simpered this week. "Cussing is a hard habit to break, but anyone can do it."

Never ones to let the bandwagon roll by, California lawmakers passed a resolution last week establishing the first week of March as "Cuss Free Week." And the cute little lawmakers are passing around a "cuss jar" for those whose tongues slip.

Aw shucks! Perhaps the lawmakers will grant reprieves for the wealthy Californians regularly raped by the California tax code. Or, better yet, help slim down that $20 billion state deficit by following Tiger Woods around at the annual Torey Pines golf tournament with the cuss jar.

Now, cussing isn't any good if you do it all the time. You gotta be choosy, and the word has to fit the criminal. There are times when only cussing can truly capture the repulsive dregs we encounter in our lives -- from the punk-ass PC bitches above to monster pricks like Al Gore, ObaMa, Ubermann, Pat Robertson and the Clintons.

Fucking-A right!

It's a mad mad mad (Gore) world

2010-03-05T20:04:00.002-05:00

Last Sunday in The New York Times, Al Gore went mad -- again.

Actually, he never stopped being mad, of course, but he got lots of free print space from his Lefty butt-buddies at the NYT to spew his madness again about the CO2 fever our Earth is allegedly suffering from because of naughty, fire-breathing humans.

Of course, he's been refuted even more times than he eats every day, so his most recent tantrum is the minister preaching inside the whorehouse: lots of happy people point and giggle at the frumpy, thrill-kill alien with the plump, sinister eyes.

How could sane people not laugh at a corpulent specter who says things like, "From the standpoint of governance, what is at stake is our ability to use the rule of law as an instrument of human redemption"?

Jesus just rolled over in his grave -- or wherever he's supposed to be. As well he should be rolling over because he's got some serious competition on smoldering Planet Earth from a fat guy with hockey stick and a Hitler complex.

If you, too, are ashamed to count Al Gore among Americans, then you might like to hear from a man who is English but who is an American lion at heart. His name is Lord Monckton. He's been the voice of reason on ClimateGate for years and has had a standing public invitation to Al Gore to engage in an international debate on the subject of alleged global warming.

Gore, of course, has avoided Monckton even more vigorously than facts. Monckton has brought the English around mostly with his passion for reason and has been spreading the word in America, too, for the last year.

Listen to this magnificent man in this PJTV interview. Listen especially to the last six minutes, in which he praises the Tea Party and America herself and Thomas Jefferson and the Constitution of the United States.

Lord Monckton is an American.

Al Gore is a Nazi.

NOT going postal

2010-03-05T10:06:00.002-05:00

The U.S. Post Office is bleeding. Actually, it's hemorrhaging.

It's going to lose $7 billion this year and possibly as much as $238 billion over the next 10 years.

We coerced "customers" will pay for our mail via the front door, as usual, and wheelbarrows full of our "tax" cash will be wheeled in through the back door, as usual, to keep this union-bloated behemoth fed and slogging.

The PO is considering again halting Saturday deliveries, of course, reducing service instead of offering better service, as a private company would have to do. A private postal service would've already been sliced and diced up by its lenders, and competition would've run it out of business, creating a much better service that took into account the information age, the Age of the Internet, which is now biting seriously into the PO's accounts.

I remember having a conversation with a PO delivery guy just five years ago and asking him if the Internet was chopping away at PO income. He said no, but I knew he was either lying or fooling himself. (He actually told me that business was increasing!) I told him that it was and would do so on a grand scale once banks and other companies began automatic drafts and online checking on a bigger scale. He said, "Well, there'll always be a need for us."

Uhuh. The Feds are not helping the PO, of course. The law mandating service to all households and businesses in America at the same stamp price means that the PO can't be selective and charge more for those choosing to live rurally.

The obvious answer (to anyone not a redistributionist Lefty) is to liquidate the pathetic PO, get the government out of the mail-delivery service, and let UPS and FedEx and startups do what they do far better: give good services and products to free Americans.

Same goes for health care and all other redistributionist schemes!

The fork is linked to obesity

2010-03-05T09:31:00.002-05:00

In articles today in newspapers around the country, researches said they may have found the link to obesity: microbes in the gut that "want" food.

They don't say how the microbes get there; in other words, they don't know the chicken and the egg. Do the microbes get there because people eat badly, causing them to develop, or are they there genetically?

Newsflash! I personally discovered the cause of obesity when I was six years old and have finally decided to disclose that cause: the fork.

For some people, their forks inexplicably continue to go toward the mounds of food on their plates and then race back toward their mouths -- over and over and over again.

I made this amazing discovery by watching friends and family at picnics and family gatherings when I was a wee-boy. Some of them seemed to have forks that "wanted" food. One thing I could not explain, however, was that the forks inexplicably stopped wanting food when I used the same forks, which suddenly ceased their round-trips when I picked them up and felt full.

I supposed that the forks may have not liked me as much as the obese family and friends. I also saw that the forks seemed to cause the obese family and friends to not get involved in family sports and activities. These people lounged around, farting and belching, while I and others played and sweat.

And yet, after all our activity, our forks still made fewer round-trips at the lunch table than the forks of our obese relatives and friends.

So, forks cause obesity!

What other explanation could there be: That the obese acquaintances would not control their diets, would not exercise, did not care about their appearance and health, wished to not be nimble and enjoy life as it is supposed to be enjoyed?

Nah!

I'll be forking over my findings soon.

Turn on all of them there lights, partner!!

2010-03-02T20:37:00.002-05:00

March 27 is "Hug a Hippie Day," also known as "Earth Day," so it's as good a time as any to celebrate human achievement and the exploitation of the giant ball of minerals we know as Earth that has, through the inventive mind of humans, given us a standard of living unmatched in history.

Here's a Facebook page that is coordinating "Human Achievement Hour."

So, turn on them there lights, raise the heat in the house, turn on the car's motor, salute a nuclear reactor, bake a dozen chocolate-chip cookies in a hot oven, put the fridge on #1, plug in the humidifiers and dehumidifiers and heat lamps and suntan beds and tread mills and computers and vibrators, start up the lawnmowers and weedwackers and chainsaws and leaf-blowers, set a box of matches aflame, flick your Bics, light a stogie or some illegal form of vegetation, get the fireplace raging, turn on the ceiling fans.

Then get in your bathing suit, grab a bottle of red, open the blinds, and smile broadly at the wonders of mankind as the hippies rant and rage on Planet Earth.

Salut!

Microsoft getting revenge after Google's anti-trust piling on

2010-03-02T20:25:00.002-05:00

The Wall Street Journal printed a long front-page article yesterday on Microsoft's back-door dealing to have lawsuits brought against Google for alleged "anti-trust" violations. In other words, Microsoft is jealous, is beaten, is whining, and is going after Google with the guns of government.

This is wretched, of course, and straight out of "Atlas Shrugged." But Google committed a similar breach of morality against Microsoft just last year when Google piled on in a European Union investigation against Microsoft and its browser. Here's my letter to the WSJ editor on the article.

_______________________
The Monday article on Google and Microsoft sparring over antitrust issues had my full empathy for Google until, halfway through the article, I was reminded by the writers that Google had piled on during the European Union’s immoral crusade against Microsoft’s private property in 2009.

I recollect now that ignominious moment when Google manqué decided to join the wolves attacking a giant simply because the giant had earned its size by privately (not by government fiat) selling products and services that millions of people around the world freely chose to buy, including an attached browser.

This type of hypocrisy is what happens to many of even the best businesses because of anti-trust demagoguery, wherein government officials arbitrarily decide when a company has allegedly gotten too big for its britches, when a company has allegedly become too successful and still presumes (Imagine that!) to set its own terms for sale instead of a demagogue.

The Sherman anti-trust act of 1890 and its wretched progeny have left big business to the immoral whimsy of the concentration camp guard for too long. All anti-trust legislation must be abolished – primarily to honor private property, but also to take away a bludgeon whose only purpose is to make big men submit and to line the pockets of bureaucrats with booty they enjoy calling “fines.”

Ghosts of Independence: Old Ink, Eternal Ideals

2010-03-02T19:54:00.003-05:00

PJTV again strikes gold. This time it's Bill Whittle in a moving paean to our Founders, the Declaration of Independence and Lincoln's eloquence. Though Lincoln was our most eloquent president and sought many noble goals, his means for achieving those goals set our country down a path of tyranny. But nobody of noble mind and spirit can deny his profound and poetic expression of liberty.

Watch "Informant" and then take a good shit

2010-03-02T14:39:00.002-05:00

(some plot spoilers)

Watching a brilliant actor portray pathology would be like watching a top athlete carry a licey bum through 3 miles of a leech-infested swamp.

It is a waste, a moral debacle. It is not art; it is cinema realite, European-style, scrounging up the worst in humans and splattering it upon a screen.

Such is the case with Matt Damon and the wretched "Informant," a movie about a pathological liar who ostensively is informing on the corrupt activity of his bosses but is instead about the maniacal self-delusion of a man who knows not what he does or why he does it -- for attention perhaps, but who knows? He's not the man on the white horse of earlier cinema. He's Quasimodo hurling shitballs from the flying buttresses of Notre Dame. He's incapable of telling the truth, incapable of a moment's sincerity, incapable of immersing himself in the connective tissue of reality and other people.

Damon is riveting and pathetic, a man caught in the abysmal gray fog of personal anonymity, perplexed by his own charade, causing perplexity in the few moral people around him, zipping through an infinitely twisted mental labyrinth of confused motivation and deceit with the purposeless inner dialog of the idiot savant.

Some reviewers of the movie have called Damon's character "bi-polar." No, he is modern, utterly confused with his own self-identity, amoral, narcissistic, entangled far down the jungle path of his own escapism and reeking destruction, confusion and mayhem upon the people who bravely deal with the real world.

As if the plot and drama of "The Informant" weren't abominable enough, we viewers are subjected to the simplistic device of voiceover, or inner dialog, that only a few movies in cinematic history have executed with any good effect (namely "Blade Runner" and a few others). It is "Catcher in the Rye" on steroids.

Here's one such nugget from Damon's character, who spouted 10 or more such meaningless nuggets throughout:

"When polar bears hunt, they crouch down by a hole in the ice and wait for a seal to pop up. They keep one paw over their nose so that they blend in. Cuz’ they’ve got those black noses. They’d blend in perfectly if not for the nose...

So the question is. How do they know their noses are black? From looking at other polar bears? Do they see their reflections in the water? And think, “I’d be invisible if not for that.” That seems like a lot of thinking for a bear."

OK, if you're high, sitting with friends and one of you comes up with this little insight, it's really funny. But the obvious purpose of this *during a movie* about a freight-training pathological liar is to highlight his disease, which, of course, is what this movie is all about (except the writer's own self-conscious Leftist attempt at cleverness). It's the lowest common denominator in art, the modern "empathy" for psychosis, the Leftist Hollywood projection of its inner turmoil and alleged superiority to hoi polloi.

The canvas equivalent of this putrescence is a neon pile of colorful shit. "Yes, yes, isn't it interesting how the purple dung segues easily, mellifluously, into the yellow worms feasting? Brilliant!"

Don't watch "The Informant." If you do, cleanse yourself. Take a good shit and then drink a glass of palette-refreshing wine.

Oh, and by the way, Damon is one of Hollywood's most vocal Leftists.

So FUCK YOU, Damon!

Blog post #410

2010-03-02T14:05:00.002-05:00

I've been blogging regularly now for 25 months -- after an aborted attempt to do so in 2005.

This marks post number 410 in those 25 months, which is more than 16 a month. I'm not a diarist, or at least didn't think of myself as a diarist. I abhorred writing diaries. They depressed me somehow. I think it's the solitude and self-absorption of it -- unlike a blog, where you feel like someone is listening.

A blog is more like a pretend group discussion, and it's much easier and faster to type than write -- and you don't have to worry about dusty storage and lost diaries. You also get feedback on when you're being a numbskull or when you make a good point or are just sharing your emotions. It's interactive and exciting.

And it's learning. My ambition when I started regularly blogging in February of 2008 was to become a better writer, better thinker, better conveyor, more integrated, more in touch with the momentary thought and reflection. I also knew that someday I might take this David brain on the road politically and/or philosophically, which meant having digested better what I knew and who I am.

No, that wouldn't prepare me for all situations and questions perhaps, but, hey, I love spontaneity and a little befuddlement that requires immediate and novel inspection.

Anyway, it's been fun and informative. #410 is behind me. I welcome #820.

My letter to my lost daughter

2010-03-02T13:53:00.002-05:00

I wrote the following greeting to Katie on her wedding page guestbook a few moments ago, in hopes that she contacts me soon. It was an awkward thing to do. How does one announce oneself is such a case without coming across as strange in some way? We'll see how it goes. Hearing her voice on the other end of the phone would be a heart-stopper and tear-jerker.

______________________
Hello Katie and Erik. Congratulations to you both and many fond wishes for a happy new life together!

This is Katie's biological father. I visited with Katie when she was 5 and 6 years old. We roller-skated together, went to the beach, took lots of pictures with my camera (I still have many), played "doll house" and much more. I have many great memories.

Dawn told me to leave and not see Katie again when Katie was 6 because of my non-religious viewpoints. I did so. I sent letters and birthday and Christmas gifts for many years afterward, but I don't know if Katie got those things. I've been trying to find Katie for many years now to just say hello, and I finally came across the wedding announcement in the Post-Standard of Syracuse when I Googled Katie's name yesterday. I enjoyed each of the hundreds of photos of both families. You two look great together.

I don't know if Katie would like to call me or email me. I understand if she would rather not, though I hope she does, just to chat. I'll leave my phone number and email address in case she does. My phone is 404-409-3283 and my email is yandarn@bellsouth.net.

My Facebook page is http://www.facebook.com/#!/profile.php?ref=profile&id=543083544. My blog is at www.beerandmind.blogspot.com.

I live in Roswell, GA, with my daughter Livy, who is 6.5 years old. I'm divorced but have a very nice relationship with my nice ex-wife Kelly. I'm a writer and businessman. I wrote a novel in 1997 and write regularly now. My work is printed in the Wall Street Journal and other papers, as well as my blog. I'm now writing my second novel and some political pamphlets along the line of Thomas Payne's. I'm a Tea Partier. I jog 3 to 4 times a week and love fitness.

Just wanted to give some background on me, so you will know that I'm not some crazed guy trying to too hard to begin a relationship with a daughter who hasn't seen him in 18 years. :)

My best wishes to you both. Take care.
David

ObaMa's collision with reality

2010-03-02T13:00:00.004-05:00

OK, how many of you know the difference between liability insurance and collision insurance for your car?

Uhuh. Uhuh. OK, ALL of you. That's right, you've been having to deal with the facts and facets of reality and existence in the real world for years now and know that liability insurance means your car is not covered if you're in a wreck, but the other car and its occupants are covered if it's your fault.

And you know that with collision insurance, both cars are covered if the wreck is your fault.

Count yourself enlightened and as smarter than our current Marxist-in-Chief, who, like all good Marxists, hasn't a clue as to how the free marketplace of ideas and products and services operates and believes that individuals have a right to the property and money of businesses no matter what happens in their pitiful life-wreck.

Thanks to my friend Dan Puckett (who lives in reality) for bringing the above video to my attention.

Just saw her after 18 years

2010-03-01T16:58:00.005-05:00

After I blogged yesterday about not seeing Katie for 18 years, I again checked Google with her full name, Katie Rose Howard, to see if anything had changed and couldn't believe that her name finally came up after years of checking. She got married.

I can hardly believe it! I'm still in shock. I don't know why her name didn't come up during Google searches before now. She's changed a lot but still looks much the same, except she's dyed her hair "beach" blonde. And she's MARRIED -- has been since August 2008. Wow!!

I'll be doing more searches to see if I can find out where she and her husband, Erik, live. And I'm going to leave a comment on their wedding picture site. We'll see how all this goes.

Here's how the announcement of their marriage read in the Post-Standard of Syracuse, NY:

"Katie Rose Howard and Erik Michael Wiehl were married August 9, 2008, at the Sandbar on Anna Maria Island in Florida. Officiating the beach-side ceremony was the Rev. Paul Herpich, pastor at King of Kings Lutheran Church in Liverpool.

The bride is the daughter of Dawn Howard, of Bradenton, Fla. The groom is the son of Robert and Linda Wiehl, of Tipp City, Ohio.

Matron of honor was Alison Wiehl, sister-in-law of the bride. Bridesmaids were Hannah Crowe, cousin of the bride, and Gina Stover, Bridget Bancs and Erika Jennison, friends of the bride. Best man was Christopher Wiehl, brother of the groom. Groomsmen were Derek Fisher, Christopher Lannie, Jeff Light..."

I haven't seen her in 18 years

2010-02-28T19:26:00.004-05:00

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.