Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Throw the bums out!
Here's a terrific 9-minute video commentary from Bill Will at PajamaTV on paying off all 535 "felons" in congress to do absolutely nothing for the rest of their tenure. He's got some other really good tidbits, as well as a quick itemization of the felons who are currently under investigation. Mind-blowing.
Half-mile-high skyscrapers and liberty
I wrote the following letter to the Wall Street Journal on why America is in decline and how to change it to become a beacon to the world once again. It's a response to a columnist who wrote that America has become lazy and isn't hungry anymore to be the best.
___________________________
Zachary Karabell is right that the Chinese economy may surpass the U.S. economy by 2030, but he is stunningly wrong that the reasons are that America doesn’t have an economic rival, that the U.S. is lumbering, that it needs to retool its economy, that it has gotten lazy as the dominant nation for nearly a century.
There is only one reason the U.S. is losing ground to China: ideas. Specifically, “progressive” ideas that have mandated government redistributive altruism (all forms of “welfare”), confiscation of corporate and individual income, regulation of corporate life, abandonment of the gold standard, Fed takeover of the monetary system, pro-union legislation hobbling corporate competitiveness, and disastrous tariffs. America was the fastest growing economy in the world in the 19th century because it had very little to none of the above – not because it was “hungry.”
If it were not for all of the above government grand larceny since the Sherman Anti-Trust Act of 1890, America could easily have five times its current standard of living; it could easily have scores of half-mile-high skyscrapers adorning major-city skylines; it could easily have a GDP five to ten times what it now has and be growing at a rate that would make China’s growth look positively lethargic.
If Mr. Karabell needs proof that Americans are still highly competitive (not “lumbering”), he need look no further than the least regulated industry: technology. In this field, where unions are loathed and where government has thus far been bafflingly complacent, our best and brightest outshine the world. The same could be true (and once was true) in all other fields if the government got out of the way and performed the only function it has a moral right to perform: protect individual rights, which includes the right to start up and run a corporation without a single peremptory piece of legislation dictating standards and without any single piece of taxation.
If this happens (with the death of progressivism), stand back and watch the once-greatest economic engine in the world return to and surpass its glory – and become a guiding light for those of integrity in the world and seeking a symbol of freedom and prosperity.
___________________________
Zachary Karabell is right that the Chinese economy may surpass the U.S. economy by 2030, but he is stunningly wrong that the reasons are that America doesn’t have an economic rival, that the U.S. is lumbering, that it needs to retool its economy, that it has gotten lazy as the dominant nation for nearly a century.
There is only one reason the U.S. is losing ground to China: ideas. Specifically, “progressive” ideas that have mandated government redistributive altruism (all forms of “welfare”), confiscation of corporate and individual income, regulation of corporate life, abandonment of the gold standard, Fed takeover of the monetary system, pro-union legislation hobbling corporate competitiveness, and disastrous tariffs. America was the fastest growing economy in the world in the 19th century because it had very little to none of the above – not because it was “hungry.”
If it were not for all of the above government grand larceny since the Sherman Anti-Trust Act of 1890, America could easily have five times its current standard of living; it could easily have scores of half-mile-high skyscrapers adorning major-city skylines; it could easily have a GDP five to ten times what it now has and be growing at a rate that would make China’s growth look positively lethargic.
If Mr. Karabell needs proof that Americans are still highly competitive (not “lumbering”), he need look no further than the least regulated industry: technology. In this field, where unions are loathed and where government has thus far been bafflingly complacent, our best and brightest outshine the world. The same could be true (and once was true) in all other fields if the government got out of the way and performed the only function it has a moral right to perform: protect individual rights, which includes the right to start up and run a corporation without a single peremptory piece of legislation dictating standards and without any single piece of taxation.
If this happens (with the death of progressivism), stand back and watch the once-greatest economic engine in the world return to and surpass its glory – and become a guiding light for those of integrity in the world and seeking a symbol of freedom and prosperity.
Monday, October 12, 2009
Obama's Nobel didn't come from Onion.com
I wrote the following letter to the Wall Street Journal today on the farcical Nobel Peace Prize for Obama Dead Eyes (hey, that rhymes!).
__________________
When I first read an email on President Obama’s winning of the Nobel Peace Prize, I thought it originated from the satirical Onion.com.
Alas, I was naïve and suffering from short-term memory lapse, for the pacifist-prize committee has shown its inclinations for satire many times before with prizes going to the likes of Jimmy Carter, Yasser Arafat, Mikhail Gorbachev, Mother Teresa, Le Duc Tho and (the piece de resistance) Al Gore.
The peace prize is, and always has been, a content-less, subjective, murky and unprincipled award. It should be supplanted with a Nobel Liberty Prize, for you cannot have peaceful nations without liberty and laws girding individual rights. A liberty prize could be easily defined and, therefore, circumscribed by objective definition and evaluation – as are the science prizes, for the most part. The liberty-prize committee could have as its standard the original U.S. Constitution and decide which person or group does the most to bring their country’s laws the farthest toward such a constitution’s ideals.
Over the last century, a liberty prize would have been immensely more meaningful and a true barometer for worldwide freedom (or “peace,” if you like) with such winners as Ronald Reagan, Aung San Suu Kyi (one of the very few principled winners of a Nobel), Milton Friedman, Ayn Rand, Margaret Thatcher and Charles Krauthammer. Such a prize would take the onion breathe out of the award and stop making it a symbol of liberty-quislings with political gamesmanship as their ephemeral guide.
__________________
When I first read an email on President Obama’s winning of the Nobel Peace Prize, I thought it originated from the satirical Onion.com.
Alas, I was naïve and suffering from short-term memory lapse, for the pacifist-prize committee has shown its inclinations for satire many times before with prizes going to the likes of Jimmy Carter, Yasser Arafat, Mikhail Gorbachev, Mother Teresa, Le Duc Tho and (the piece de resistance) Al Gore.
The peace prize is, and always has been, a content-less, subjective, murky and unprincipled award. It should be supplanted with a Nobel Liberty Prize, for you cannot have peaceful nations without liberty and laws girding individual rights. A liberty prize could be easily defined and, therefore, circumscribed by objective definition and evaluation – as are the science prizes, for the most part. The liberty-prize committee could have as its standard the original U.S. Constitution and decide which person or group does the most to bring their country’s laws the farthest toward such a constitution’s ideals.
Over the last century, a liberty prize would have been immensely more meaningful and a true barometer for worldwide freedom (or “peace,” if you like) with such winners as Ronald Reagan, Aung San Suu Kyi (one of the very few principled winners of a Nobel), Milton Friedman, Ayn Rand, Margaret Thatcher and Charles Krauthammer. Such a prize would take the onion breathe out of the award and stop making it a symbol of liberty-quislings with political gamesmanship as their ephemeral guide.
Sunday, October 04, 2009
Ha! Iranian madman-in-chief Ahmadinejad is Jewish
The irony is simply too delicious. Check out this article from Newsmax.
The sky is dry! The sky is dry!
Remember for two years here in Georgia when everyone was screaming that global warming had caused the sky to dry up and the reservoirs to get to "dangerous levels"? Even the American socialists jumped into the fray on their web site making allusions to global warming and the southeastern "drought." (it is a humorous piece, though not intended to be, blaming the "profit motive" as well for the lack of water)
And remember that rational folks like moi were saying that it had nothing to do with global warming (and, as side note, you could hardly call 42 inches of rain, instead of 54, a "drought").
Well, some actually OBJECTIVE scientists from Columbia University studied tree rings in our area of the country, did computer modeling, studied data from weather instruments, and concluded that (drum roll, please) "this drought was pretty normal and pretty typical by standards of what has happened in the region over the century."
Gosh, who'd a thunk? The scientists also said that similar patterns have occurred over the last century and can be expected again.
Now, I hope you're sitting down, because I can hardly believe what came next. The scientists said that climate models suggest that the Southeast will actually probably be wetter in a warming world!!!!!!!!!!! (sorry, my finger got stuck)
Now, it just so happens that that last statement concurs with the data and conclusions of Australian climatologist Ian Plimer, who stated in his anti-global-warming book "Heaven and Earth" the same thing about the whole world getting wetter when the Earth is warmer -- consistently over millions of years.
Hey, these little objective victories don't come along often (and their getting printed in a fascist newspaper come along even more rarely), so please excuse my enthusiasm.
So, altogether now: CO2! CO2! CO2! CO2! ...
And remember that rational folks like moi were saying that it had nothing to do with global warming (and, as side note, you could hardly call 42 inches of rain, instead of 54, a "drought").
Well, some actually OBJECTIVE scientists from Columbia University studied tree rings in our area of the country, did computer modeling, studied data from weather instruments, and concluded that (drum roll, please) "this drought was pretty normal and pretty typical by standards of what has happened in the region over the century."
Gosh, who'd a thunk? The scientists also said that similar patterns have occurred over the last century and can be expected again.
Now, I hope you're sitting down, because I can hardly believe what came next. The scientists said that climate models suggest that the Southeast will actually probably be wetter in a warming world!!!!!!!!!!! (sorry, my finger got stuck)
Now, it just so happens that that last statement concurs with the data and conclusions of Australian climatologist Ian Plimer, who stated in his anti-global-warming book "Heaven and Earth" the same thing about the whole world getting wetter when the Earth is warmer -- consistently over millions of years.
Hey, these little objective victories don't come along often (and their getting printed in a fascist newspaper come along even more rarely), so please excuse my enthusiasm.
So, altogether now: CO2! CO2! CO2! CO2! ...
Fascist U.S. regime bans clove cigarettes
Good thing my ex doesn't smoke clove cigarettes anymore. She'd be pissed. The FDA (fascist druggie assholes) last week banned "flavored cigarettes" because, they said, they are targeted at children and allegedly get the children hooked. So, no more flavors of chocolate, clove, vanilla, etc. for teenagers -- or adults.
Agents for the fascists immediately began entering private tobacco shops and other "public" businesses and began interrogating them as to their products. In one tobacco shop in Mobile, AL, the agents told the owner that the ban included cigarillos like Black & Mild, and that the owner must cease all illicit selling of said product.
To call this latest intrusion part of the "nanny" state is simply too nice, too much of a euphemism. We must being calling all private intrusions (welfare, taxes, eminent domain, regulations, bans, etc.) what they really are: fascism.
When will you, my dear readers, have had enough of this? When will we rise up against this Orwellian autocracy?
Soon, I hope. Soon.
Agents for the fascists immediately began entering private tobacco shops and other "public" businesses and began interrogating them as to their products. In one tobacco shop in Mobile, AL, the agents told the owner that the ban included cigarillos like Black & Mild, and that the owner must cease all illicit selling of said product.
To call this latest intrusion part of the "nanny" state is simply too nice, too much of a euphemism. We must being calling all private intrusions (welfare, taxes, eminent domain, regulations, bans, etc.) what they really are: fascism.
When will you, my dear readers, have had enough of this? When will we rise up against this Orwellian autocracy?
Soon, I hope. Soon.
Politicians are thieves, but are they murderers?
I get few raised eyebrows when I say that politicians are thieves, taking from the productive and giving to, well, everyone else.
But when I call them murderers, I sometimes (often) get "what?"
Leaving aside just plain first-handed murder like Teddy Kennedy's killing of Mary Jo Kopechne, politicians kill with legislation (by proxy): Here are some examples:
1) The creation of the FDA (Food and Drug Administration). It regularly restricts chemicals and/or treatments that are allegedly "not tested," keeping vital medicine and medical actions from those near death. A recent example of this was the rejection by the FDA of Yondelis, an ovarian cancer drug created by Centocor. The Wall Street Journal reported on Sept. 24 that in this case, politics was behind the rejection. How many women will be murdered by this political action is unknown. Worse, most drugs must go through years or decades of FDA tests before being "approved" for sale while thousands are dying and could benefit from the drug. It should be up to those dying people whether they are willing to chance death to save their lives. Instead, these individuals must live at the mercy of autocrats.
2) Drug laws. There is no argument anywhere that thousands of police and tens of thousands of citizens in the U.S. have been killed directly or indirectly by the banning of "hard" drugs. Each one of these cases is murder by proxy (by politician), and the politicians should be tried in a court of law because of it.
3) Welfare legislation. Since these laws began being passed by the wretched FDR administration 75 years ago, millions of people began receiving handouts and relegated themselves to wards of the state, creating ghettos where violent crime escalated and tens of thousands of innocent people have been murdered (again, by political proxy).
4) Second-handed war-making. The U.S. has the capability to wage wars from afar without ever putting a soldier in harm's way on the ground, and yet our politicians (fearing world opinion) refuse to use our most powerful weapons to wipe out regimes from Vietnam to Iraq to Pakistan to Afghanistan to Iran to Panama to Somalia to North Korea (in the 1950s). These are war crimes of the first degree by our politicians, and they should be tried in a court of law for killing tens of thousands of our precious military men and women. Second-handed politics (instead of independent unilateralism) is also responsible for 9/11 and many other atrocities that have been committed against Americans.
Besides all of the above, the grand larceny by politicians for the last 100 years has effectively created a government that is a provocateur of suicide, by vanquishing independence and wiping out hard-earned wealth, fostering a state of psychological inefficacy amongst producers and causing many of them to jump from windows or put guns to their heads in their plight. These suicide victims are obviously responsible for their own lives and often act irrationally, but many of them would be alive today if it were not for political grand theft.
We can save trillions of dollars in productivity, foster independence and save hundreds of thousands of American lives by creating an airtight Constitution that relegates the U.S. government to its one and only moral task: protecting Americans from coercion. It's time to put an end to political murder by proxy.
But when I call them murderers, I sometimes (often) get "what?"
Leaving aside just plain first-handed murder like Teddy Kennedy's killing of Mary Jo Kopechne, politicians kill with legislation (by proxy): Here are some examples:
1) The creation of the FDA (Food and Drug Administration). It regularly restricts chemicals and/or treatments that are allegedly "not tested," keeping vital medicine and medical actions from those near death. A recent example of this was the rejection by the FDA of Yondelis, an ovarian cancer drug created by Centocor. The Wall Street Journal reported on Sept. 24 that in this case, politics was behind the rejection. How many women will be murdered by this political action is unknown. Worse, most drugs must go through years or decades of FDA tests before being "approved" for sale while thousands are dying and could benefit from the drug. It should be up to those dying people whether they are willing to chance death to save their lives. Instead, these individuals must live at the mercy of autocrats.
2) Drug laws. There is no argument anywhere that thousands of police and tens of thousands of citizens in the U.S. have been killed directly or indirectly by the banning of "hard" drugs. Each one of these cases is murder by proxy (by politician), and the politicians should be tried in a court of law because of it.
3) Welfare legislation. Since these laws began being passed by the wretched FDR administration 75 years ago, millions of people began receiving handouts and relegated themselves to wards of the state, creating ghettos where violent crime escalated and tens of thousands of innocent people have been murdered (again, by political proxy).
4) Second-handed war-making. The U.S. has the capability to wage wars from afar without ever putting a soldier in harm's way on the ground, and yet our politicians (fearing world opinion) refuse to use our most powerful weapons to wipe out regimes from Vietnam to Iraq to Pakistan to Afghanistan to Iran to Panama to Somalia to North Korea (in the 1950s). These are war crimes of the first degree by our politicians, and they should be tried in a court of law for killing tens of thousands of our precious military men and women. Second-handed politics (instead of independent unilateralism) is also responsible for 9/11 and many other atrocities that have been committed against Americans.
Besides all of the above, the grand larceny by politicians for the last 100 years has effectively created a government that is a provocateur of suicide, by vanquishing independence and wiping out hard-earned wealth, fostering a state of psychological inefficacy amongst producers and causing many of them to jump from windows or put guns to their heads in their plight. These suicide victims are obviously responsible for their own lives and often act irrationally, but many of them would be alive today if it were not for political grand theft.
We can save trillions of dollars in productivity, foster independence and save hundreds of thousands of American lives by creating an airtight Constitution that relegates the U.S. government to its one and only moral task: protecting Americans from coercion. It's time to put an end to political murder by proxy.
Friday, October 02, 2009
I've decided to run for president
OK, I'll need all of you to deny you've ever known me or to state very confidently that I am a devout Christian who seeks world peace and a Green World and for everybody to just get along. ... I guess I'll have to delete this blog, too, and all of the thousands of online posts I've made that have pissed off scores of people and made it sound like I wasn't a Christian and didn't want world peace. I'll probably need to consult a politician or ACORN worker of union member on how to lie convincingly. And I'll definitely have to ditch the only pair of shoes I wear: sandals. And ...
Oh hell, fuhgetaboutit. I'll just be me. So, here's my platform, in order of executive decisions.
1) Jail Obama Dead Eyes and Congress for sedition and grand larceny -- and ask the judge to defer sentence on the only one still standing after they all have been sent to a giant swine farm and forced to smother each other in shit until only one survives. That one survivor will have done such a national service that he may go free -- after he/she showers.
2) Nuke the military/industrial/administrative complexes of Iran, Syria, North Korea, China, Russia, Somalia, Saudi Arabia and a few others. Drop leaflets in aforesaid countries letting any surviving evildoers know that more nukes are coming if they don't form a liberty constitution and abide by it. Before nuking, I will propose that our military's special forces capture each head of state and drop him/her onto the African savanna within a quarter-mile of a pack of raving mad hyenas. Favorite presidential word: "unilateral."
3) Abolish the welfare state (too many things to list); abolish all taxes; eliminate all regulations and tariffs. Shut down all "public schools." End all handouts for anything. (Send letter to all welfare queens saying that they can contact Michelle Obama Dead Eyes for sympathy if they no longer feel proud of their country.) Bring back the Gold Standard. Abolish all coercive laws such as minimum wage. Burn all Social Security numbers and every bit of private information on all free Americans. Create an online list of all the "fishy" comments made by Hollywoodites et al and ensure that the National Rifle Association is informed of the list.
4) Sell off all "national parks" and all property, roads and buildings "belonging" to the government (except for courts) and use the money for a kick-ass Cabo San Lucas vacation. Oops, sorry. Use the money to pay back Americans who have been robbed their entire working lives.
5) Supplant the Christmas holiday with Mary Jo Kopechne Day, as a reminder of what politicians used to be (thieves and murderers) and what government will be in the future (protector of liberty).
6) Shut down the Post Office, Amtrak and all other government-run boondoggles -- and load their 19th century computers (and personnel) onto a big-ass plane and drop them on Madonna's house while she's giving a party for her Red celebs.
7) Personally drive a bulldozer through the FDR monument on the Washington Mall (twice).
8) Redo the Constitution and make it clear that each citizen has a right to be free from coercion AND NOTHING ELSE. Add a provision stating that states cannot pass coercive legislation either. Add a provision stating that if you're too goddamned fat to fit into one seat on an airplane, then the airline can charge you for two seats -- and you sure as hell had better not whine about it!
9) Add a redundancy to the Constitution saying that you have a right to own a gun, and if anyone tries to pass legislation saying you don't, you can shoot him in both knees.
10) Decriminalize drugs. Free the drug "criminals." Partayyyyyyyyy!
11) Tell oil companies, "Go ahead, dudes. Drill. Drill, baby drill. Drill till you can't drill no more!"
12) Tell Hollywood commies that if they don't like it, they can fricking "Johnny Depp" -- move to France.
13) Tell Nancy Pelosi that she is now a jobless, painted scarecrow, but that she at least has a brush (unlike Rosalyn Carter), and she'll have to smother 535 other schemers in a giant swine pit to get to use the brush (after the shower).
14) Ask the courts to indict Michelle Obama Dead Eyes as an accessory (no, not THAT kind of accessory) to socialism. Ask the judge to go lenient on her if she gets that "I'm finally proud of my country" unctuous grin off her bug-eyed face.
15) Tell unions, "You're on your own, Mo-Fos." Bwahahahahah! Pension this!!
16) Tell big business: "No more lobbying, no more regulations and no more government oversight. So, you're on your own, and you can be successful and thrive or you can crash by your own incompetence -- but you can't blame government anymore and you can't turn in your competitors for alleged "monopoly" practices anymore. Stop whining and start working like it's a free country again. Good luck."
Oh hell, fuhgetaboutit. I'll just be me. So, here's my platform, in order of executive decisions.
1) Jail Obama Dead Eyes and Congress for sedition and grand larceny -- and ask the judge to defer sentence on the only one still standing after they all have been sent to a giant swine farm and forced to smother each other in shit until only one survives. That one survivor will have done such a national service that he may go free -- after he/she showers.
2) Nuke the military/industrial/administrative complexes of Iran, Syria, North Korea, China, Russia, Somalia, Saudi Arabia and a few others. Drop leaflets in aforesaid countries letting any surviving evildoers know that more nukes are coming if they don't form a liberty constitution and abide by it. Before nuking, I will propose that our military's special forces capture each head of state and drop him/her onto the African savanna within a quarter-mile of a pack of raving mad hyenas. Favorite presidential word: "unilateral."
3) Abolish the welfare state (too many things to list); abolish all taxes; eliminate all regulations and tariffs. Shut down all "public schools." End all handouts for anything. (Send letter to all welfare queens saying that they can contact Michelle Obama Dead Eyes for sympathy if they no longer feel proud of their country.) Bring back the Gold Standard. Abolish all coercive laws such as minimum wage. Burn all Social Security numbers and every bit of private information on all free Americans. Create an online list of all the "fishy" comments made by Hollywoodites et al and ensure that the National Rifle Association is informed of the list.
4) Sell off all "national parks" and all property, roads and buildings "belonging" to the government (except for courts) and use the money for a kick-ass Cabo San Lucas vacation. Oops, sorry. Use the money to pay back Americans who have been robbed their entire working lives.
5) Supplant the Christmas holiday with Mary Jo Kopechne Day, as a reminder of what politicians used to be (thieves and murderers) and what government will be in the future (protector of liberty).
6) Shut down the Post Office, Amtrak and all other government-run boondoggles -- and load their 19th century computers (and personnel) onto a big-ass plane and drop them on Madonna's house while she's giving a party for her Red celebs.
7) Personally drive a bulldozer through the FDR monument on the Washington Mall (twice).
8) Redo the Constitution and make it clear that each citizen has a right to be free from coercion AND NOTHING ELSE. Add a provision stating that states cannot pass coercive legislation either. Add a provision stating that if you're too goddamned fat to fit into one seat on an airplane, then the airline can charge you for two seats -- and you sure as hell had better not whine about it!
9) Add a redundancy to the Constitution saying that you have a right to own a gun, and if anyone tries to pass legislation saying you don't, you can shoot him in both knees.
10) Decriminalize drugs. Free the drug "criminals." Partayyyyyyyyy!
11) Tell oil companies, "Go ahead, dudes. Drill. Drill, baby drill. Drill till you can't drill no more!"
12) Tell Hollywood commies that if they don't like it, they can fricking "Johnny Depp" -- move to France.
13) Tell Nancy Pelosi that she is now a jobless, painted scarecrow, but that she at least has a brush (unlike Rosalyn Carter), and she'll have to smother 535 other schemers in a giant swine pit to get to use the brush (after the shower).
14) Ask the courts to indict Michelle Obama Dead Eyes as an accessory (no, not THAT kind of accessory) to socialism. Ask the judge to go lenient on her if she gets that "I'm finally proud of my country" unctuous grin off her bug-eyed face.
15) Tell unions, "You're on your own, Mo-Fos." Bwahahahahah! Pension this!!
16) Tell big business: "No more lobbying, no more regulations and no more government oversight. So, you're on your own, and you can be successful and thrive or you can crash by your own incompetence -- but you can't blame government anymore and you can't turn in your competitors for alleged "monopoly" practices anymore. Stop whining and start working like it's a free country again. Good luck."
Former Prez Jimmy Carter DENIES racist comments
Yes, you read that headline correctly. Even though Jim Dandy was videotaped saying that the "negative environment" that we have today against Obama Dead Eyes is caused by racism, he says (on videotape again) that he actually didn't say that. If you've ever been around congenital liars, you'll be familiar with this bobble-headed hoodwink and his bullying pusillanimity with the interviewer.
Newsmax has put the two videos on one web page for you HERE. Watch the bottom one first all the way through (less than 2 minutes), including balls-sucking Bryan Matthews' quote of Jimmy Boy at the end. And then watch Cawtah's top video, which came later; he looks the interviewer directly in the eye and simply lies and insists (twice) that she read the transcript from the first interview. Like a good socialist girl, she backs off and even wishes the demi-Hitler a happy birthday.
This, my friends, is the face of evil. I live in the same city (Atlanta) as this eternal scoundrel, this malevolent mush-mouth, and they have named a boulevard after him, which is clogged most of the time. You can also see in the second video how his very-strange and perennially disheveled spouse (does her religion ban brushes?!) believes you and I should be paying for other people's health care.
I often wish there were a heaven and a hell based upon rational justice. If so, these two altruistic deadbeats would be cleaning the shit off of swine's testicles with their forked tongues until the universe collapses upon itself some billions of years down the road.
Newsmax has put the two videos on one web page for you HERE. Watch the bottom one first all the way through (less than 2 minutes), including balls-sucking Bryan Matthews' quote of Jimmy Boy at the end. And then watch Cawtah's top video, which came later; he looks the interviewer directly in the eye and simply lies and insists (twice) that she read the transcript from the first interview. Like a good socialist girl, she backs off and even wishes the demi-Hitler a happy birthday.
This, my friends, is the face of evil. I live in the same city (Atlanta) as this eternal scoundrel, this malevolent mush-mouth, and they have named a boulevard after him, which is clogged most of the time. You can also see in the second video how his very-strange and perennially disheveled spouse (does her religion ban brushes?!) believes you and I should be paying for other people's health care.
I often wish there were a heaven and a hell based upon rational justice. If so, these two altruistic deadbeats would be cleaning the shit off of swine's testicles with their forked tongues until the universe collapses upon itself some billions of years down the road.
"We the Living" -- a new DVD
Ayn Rand's first novel, "We the Living," is perhaps her best-written novel (except for the ending) because it is more viscerally real and the dialog is seldom didactic. It is intensely personal, and the characters ring true -- something that often doesn't occur in her other three novels.
As many of you know, the Italians made an illicit and unauthorized movie version of "We the Living" in the 1940s (actually two separate movies). When Ayn Rand eventually saw the films, she loved them -- even more than the version of The Fountainhead. And for good reason. The Italian movies were excellent -- even after Italian censors injected propaganda messages into them.
Now the Ayn Rand Institute's bookstore is selling a DVD version of the two restored films: "Noi Vivi" and "Addio Kira." Ayn Rand herself did almost all the aesthetic and philosophical editing of the two films. I purchased the DVD recently and saw the final product. Please read no further if don't wish to know plot-spoilers in areas that I find intriguing.
I'll start from the end of the DVD because it caught me quite off-guard. As many of you know, Ayn ended her novel with Kira dying after being shot in the back by a Soviet border guard on Kira's hopeful journey out of Soviet Russia. And, as many of you know, Ayn defended this anti-romantic ending as necessary to show what happens to brave souls in totalitarian states. The realistic ending has also been defended by almost every Objectivist I've ever met for largely the same reason. I have argued for 20 years that it is an immoral end because it is not romantic -- i.e. it doesn't show how a brave soul SHOULD live and should be happy. It is not romantic art, and Ayn should've eventually chastised herself for this early mistake in her artistic life.
So, the DVD's ending? It ends on a romantic note, not showing or even suggesting that Kira will die. It simply shows her as she begins her perilous journey to safety and freedom. Then the credits role. It is an exhilarating finale -- as much as one can be after sitting through 2.5 hours of unrelenting squalor, dour miens and duplicitous characters. I find it interesting that nowhere could I learn from ARI who made this final decision on a romantic ending: Ayn or someone else.
The only bright spot in the movie is Kira, played by the magnificent and effervescent Alida Valli. Her lines are sometimes tersely Rand-esque, but her delivery is always perfect, and her lovely open face is the personification of self-esteem, liberty, individualism, determination and empathy. She IS the movie.
As with the book (and, I think, with Ayn's life), the strong female character (Kira) is drawn not to principles primarily but to "the face" in her romantic partners. (Rand said once that "We the Living" was as close to an autobiography that she would ever produce, and I think it includes the depiction of a strong woman's pursuit of "the look" in a man.) But the man behind the face in "We the Living," Leo, is a bit of an empty vessel and a cad, and you cannot help but wonder more than half the time what Kira is doing with such a self-indulgent, narcissistic man. Kira is portrayed as resolutely knowing what she wants and who she is, so the relationship makes no sense.
However, the communist Andre is, ironically, much more palatable to the reader, and Kira is drawn to him, too. This is the most intriguing aspect of both the book and the DVD. Andre seems to have a good soul and have sold it to live -- as a communist, nevertheless.
The best part of the "We the Living" DVD package is the separate DVD titled "We the Living - A Lost Treasure Discovered." It is a fascinating tale of how this movie (2 movies) even got made in Mussolini's fascist Italy and how it then almost never made it out after Mussolini's minions ordered all copies of the film burned immediately. A great detective story. It also has the original ending from the Italian movies.
I have only read "We the Living" once and I will see this movie just once. It is too depressing. If I wish to see Alida Valli again, I will watch "The Third Man" or one of the hundred other movies she made during her brilliant career.
As many of you know, the Italians made an illicit and unauthorized movie version of "We the Living" in the 1940s (actually two separate movies). When Ayn Rand eventually saw the films, she loved them -- even more than the version of The Fountainhead. And for good reason. The Italian movies were excellent -- even after Italian censors injected propaganda messages into them.
Now the Ayn Rand Institute's bookstore is selling a DVD version of the two restored films: "Noi Vivi" and "Addio Kira." Ayn Rand herself did almost all the aesthetic and philosophical editing of the two films. I purchased the DVD recently and saw the final product. Please read no further if don't wish to know plot-spoilers in areas that I find intriguing.
I'll start from the end of the DVD because it caught me quite off-guard. As many of you know, Ayn ended her novel with Kira dying after being shot in the back by a Soviet border guard on Kira's hopeful journey out of Soviet Russia. And, as many of you know, Ayn defended this anti-romantic ending as necessary to show what happens to brave souls in totalitarian states. The realistic ending has also been defended by almost every Objectivist I've ever met for largely the same reason. I have argued for 20 years that it is an immoral end because it is not romantic -- i.e. it doesn't show how a brave soul SHOULD live and should be happy. It is not romantic art, and Ayn should've eventually chastised herself for this early mistake in her artistic life.
So, the DVD's ending? It ends on a romantic note, not showing or even suggesting that Kira will die. It simply shows her as she begins her perilous journey to safety and freedom. Then the credits role. It is an exhilarating finale -- as much as one can be after sitting through 2.5 hours of unrelenting squalor, dour miens and duplicitous characters. I find it interesting that nowhere could I learn from ARI who made this final decision on a romantic ending: Ayn or someone else.
The only bright spot in the movie is Kira, played by the magnificent and effervescent Alida Valli. Her lines are sometimes tersely Rand-esque, but her delivery is always perfect, and her lovely open face is the personification of self-esteem, liberty, individualism, determination and empathy. She IS the movie.
As with the book (and, I think, with Ayn's life), the strong female character (Kira) is drawn not to principles primarily but to "the face" in her romantic partners. (Rand said once that "We the Living" was as close to an autobiography that she would ever produce, and I think it includes the depiction of a strong woman's pursuit of "the look" in a man.) But the man behind the face in "We the Living," Leo, is a bit of an empty vessel and a cad, and you cannot help but wonder more than half the time what Kira is doing with such a self-indulgent, narcissistic man. Kira is portrayed as resolutely knowing what she wants and who she is, so the relationship makes no sense.
However, the communist Andre is, ironically, much more palatable to the reader, and Kira is drawn to him, too. This is the most intriguing aspect of both the book and the DVD. Andre seems to have a good soul and have sold it to live -- as a communist, nevertheless.
The best part of the "We the Living" DVD package is the separate DVD titled "We the Living - A Lost Treasure Discovered." It is a fascinating tale of how this movie (2 movies) even got made in Mussolini's fascist Italy and how it then almost never made it out after Mussolini's minions ordered all copies of the film burned immediately. A great detective story. It also has the original ending from the Italian movies.
I have only read "We the Living" once and I will see this movie just once. It is too depressing. If I wish to see Alida Valli again, I will watch "The Third Man" or one of the hundred other movies she made during her brilliant career.
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