While I was in Israel I read Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead, a whopper at seven hundred and fifty two pages and in small print as well, it's no quick read. Ayn Rand is an amazing author and it shows, born Alisa Zinov'yevna Rosenbaum; February second, nineteen hundred and five, she was a Russian-American novelist, philosopher, playwright, and screenwriter. Born and educated in Russia, Rand immigrated legally to the United States in nineteen twenty six. She was a screenwriter in Hollywood, had a play produced on Broadway in thirty five and six, but She first achieved fame in forty three with her novel The Fountainhead, then in fifty seven was followed by her best-selling work, the philosophical novel Atlas Shrugged.
I would also call The Fountainhead a philosophical novel, it has a lot in common with Atlas Shrugged on a philosophical level, though the stories are very different. Fountainhead's story is based in architecture, courtrooms and the media. Howard Rourke is the lead with several other characters rounding off an exquisite cast. Thought compelling sells the description short, as the story throws twist and turns, left and right. Mix in romance as well, heroes, villians this book really has it all. The best description comes from the official Rand website: The story of an innovator—architect Howard Roark—and his battle against the tradition-worshipping establishment. Its theme: “individualism versus collectivism, not in politics, but in man’s soul; the psychological motivations and the basic premises that produce the character of an individualist or a collectivist.” Ayn Rand presented here for the first time her projection of the ideal man. Roark’s independence, self-esteem, and integrity have inspired millions of readers for more than half a century. I am officially an Ayn Rand Fan and will be studying her works in depth.
BTW- If you haven't read The Fountainhead click the first link to buy a copy, then when you are done give it to a friend, or lend it, just make sure to spread the words...
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Sunday, December 12, 2010
New Phone, New Fun, New Trouble
So I got a new cell phone last week that is internet capable and I think ultimately that will prove bad for me, in a couple ways. Yes it's a blackberry and now I know why they are affectionately (or not) called "crackberries". Having this much power at your fingertips is a bad, bad thing.
Yesterday I was on my lunch at work and was watching old episodes of "Beavis and Butthead" on youtube. Now any fan would know that B&B are hilarious and I am a fan. Of course B&B would pale in comparison to the disturbing animated shows on TV today, but in their time B&B were pushing the limits of what was acceptable, even on basic cable. The show was blamed for kids burning down their houses and many other lame examples of bad parenting and even more lame govt uptights. "Family Guy" which is on network tv, would make B&B blush and has drawn criticism from an array of groups, mostly the same bad parents and govt types. Back to my lunch story; halfway through the third episode I realized that my lunch was over and I was in the three minute grace period K-Mart gives us to clock back in. Bad me.
The other thing is Twitter; before when I got my tweets all I could do is read the headline and try to remember to follow the link later in the day. Now I have all the news when I want it and I read a lot on news and most of the time it just makes ma angry. Take (muslim) state rep Keith Ellison (D-Minn) saying “I think that we need to create a real crisis here so that the Republicans will have to answer for denying Americans unemployment benefits on the eve of the Christmas holiday,” Ellison said. “We let them off the hook, in my opinion.” Anyone have any idea on WTF he's talking about? You can see how this would be upsetting to read in the middle of a beautiful day here in California.
One thing I have to point out is a design flaw in the Blackberry, In order to type a number within a text or email you have to hit the "alt" key before each number. How hard would it be to stick an alt lock on there, I mean this is a minor problem, but coming from an old Motorola phone that had an alt lock to this brand new top of the line BBY that doesn't is just plain weird.
UPDATE: A friend told me the trick to the alt lock (alt then shift), thanx Shane!
Yesterday I was on my lunch at work and was watching old episodes of "Beavis and Butthead" on youtube. Now any fan would know that B&B are hilarious and I am a fan. Of course B&B would pale in comparison to the disturbing animated shows on TV today, but in their time B&B were pushing the limits of what was acceptable, even on basic cable. The show was blamed for kids burning down their houses and many other lame examples of bad parenting and even more lame govt uptights. "Family Guy" which is on network tv, would make B&B blush and has drawn criticism from an array of groups, mostly the same bad parents and govt types. Back to my lunch story; halfway through the third episode I realized that my lunch was over and I was in the three minute grace period K-Mart gives us to clock back in. Bad me.
The other thing is Twitter; before when I got my tweets all I could do is read the headline and try to remember to follow the link later in the day. Now I have all the news when I want it and I read a lot on news and most of the time it just makes ma angry. Take (muslim) state rep Keith Ellison (D-Minn) saying “I think that we need to create a real crisis here so that the Republicans will have to answer for denying Americans unemployment benefits on the eve of the Christmas holiday,” Ellison said. “We let them off the hook, in my opinion.” Anyone have any idea on WTF he's talking about? You can see how this would be upsetting to read in the middle of a beautiful day here in California.
One thing I have to point out is a design flaw in the Blackberry, In order to type a number within a text or email you have to hit the "alt" key before each number. How hard would it be to stick an alt lock on there, I mean this is a minor problem, but coming from an old Motorola phone that had an alt lock to this brand new top of the line BBY that doesn't is just plain weird.
UPDATE: A friend told me the trick to the alt lock (alt then shift), thanx Shane!
Monday, December 6, 2010
A Change in Climate
A few years ago I vowed that in five years "global warming" would be a thing of the past, and I am on track to be proved correct. Even now at the UN climate summit in Cancun Mexico (cool and rainy btw), the once great delegation is reduced to suggestions and making no actual decisions. The cost of this monster hoax has got to be in the hundreds of billions and now thank God it looks like it may be fizzling out.
This week Republican Speaker-elect John Boehner (OH) has said he will be dismantling Nancy Pelosi's pet project the "Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming". While the UN climate summit says 2010 will be the second warmest year on record, the actual numbers seem to say different. The planet has been cooling since 1998 and in the last year we have seen some good evidence to back that up like the first snow in Baghdad and China reporting it's coldest winter in one hundred years. In fact all four major global temperature tracking outlets (Hadley, NASA's GISS, UAH, RSS) have released updated data. All show that over the past year, global temperatures have dropped precipitously, no anecdotal evidence needed. The drop has been so precipitous it has wiped out the last hundred years of warming. The total amount of cooling ranges from 0.65C up to 0.75C a staggering drop with makes me wonder if Time magazine needs to bring back it's ice age cover from the seventies.
Even the mighty AlGore is scaling back his "Alliance for Climate Protection" which once held offices in twenty five states is down to seven. Of course they are calling it "a mobile and nimble operation... moving to areas where it’s most effective." That has got to be tough for Algore who in 2008 launched a three hundred million dollar advertising campaign to help pass climate legislation on Capitol Hill. Thanks to the new Congress he can kiss that money goodbye.
One day we will know the full extent of the damage "global warming" has really done... to our wallets. Think back to the early nineties when all this babbling started with the "hole in the o-zone layer" to the evil "chlorofluorocarbons (CFC's)", changing all our Styrofoam, aerosol cans and now light bulbs just to find out it was all a big political power and money grab. I only regret that it took over twenty years for us to come to our senses.
This week Republican Speaker-elect John Boehner (OH) has said he will be dismantling Nancy Pelosi's pet project the "Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming". While the UN climate summit says 2010 will be the second warmest year on record, the actual numbers seem to say different. The planet has been cooling since 1998 and in the last year we have seen some good evidence to back that up like the first snow in Baghdad and China reporting it's coldest winter in one hundred years. In fact all four major global temperature tracking outlets (Hadley, NASA's GISS, UAH, RSS) have released updated data. All show that over the past year, global temperatures have dropped precipitously, no anecdotal evidence needed. The drop has been so precipitous it has wiped out the last hundred years of warming. The total amount of cooling ranges from 0.65C up to 0.75C a staggering drop with makes me wonder if Time magazine needs to bring back it's ice age cover from the seventies.
Even the mighty AlGore is scaling back his "Alliance for Climate Protection" which once held offices in twenty five states is down to seven. Of course they are calling it "a mobile and nimble operation... moving to areas where it’s most effective." That has got to be tough for Algore who in 2008 launched a three hundred million dollar advertising campaign to help pass climate legislation on Capitol Hill. Thanks to the new Congress he can kiss that money goodbye.
One day we will know the full extent of the damage "global warming" has really done... to our wallets. Think back to the early nineties when all this babbling started with the "hole in the o-zone layer" to the evil "chlorofluorocarbons (CFC's)", changing all our Styrofoam, aerosol cans and now light bulbs just to find out it was all a big political power and money grab. I only regret that it took over twenty years for us to come to our senses.
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
2 Things That Are Bugging Me
I'll try to keep this short but no promises. I'm not even sure I will keep it to two things. There is so much in the news today that just really bugs me. Surprisingly enough it's not wikileaks, or the FCC trying to pass net neutrality with out congress or even Obamacare failing before it even starts. GM and taxcuts are the big two bugging me right this moment.
Let's start with the tax thing. Back during the Bush Administration the taxes were lowered and democrats add the deadline as a stipulation for letting the cuts happen in the first place. Jump to today, most of the MSM are touting the "Why do the rich need a tax cut" line. Let's be very clear about this, there are no tax cuts! We are looking at the largest tax increase in American history. Though I have recent;y seen some liberal attacks talking about how the Republicans want to raise your taxes, which is laughable at best. Raising taxes right now would be the worst move for the economy, especially for the "evil rich". While labeling George Soros as evil might fit, most of the so called "rich" are small business owners who currently employ around sixty five percent of the county. Raising their taxes would stall any chance of recovery to the job market and the economy would be doomed to stay in the hole for God knows how long. Though the talking heads in the MSM would want you to believe that at least the unemployment would spur the economy Rush does a good job at squashing that stupidity. Call the House (202)225-3121 and the Senate (202)224-3121 and let your representatives know tax increases are wrong at any level.
The GM fiasco is the other thing really just killing me. I touched on this in a previous post but it deserves a seconfd look, especially since GM is spending money (our money btw) on commercials thanking us for bailing them out.
This is a moment I am glad I have a middle finger. Let me run this out, our money was taken from us without our permission and given to GM in the form of a bailout. GM promptly went bankrupt and we (again without consent) purchased the lion's share of GM's stock, the remainder was given to the UAW as a payoff. Now GM's stock goes on sale and the UAW stands to make a killing. The American tax payer on the other hand is looking at at least a ten billion dollar loss. Not to mention we are selling stock we already own to ourselves. Think about it; We (tax payers) purchased GM, now GM stock is on sale to the public (Us). So we are paying for something we already own. Worse than that the money isn't even going back in our pockets. It's going to the Federal Govt who got us into this mess in the first place. Show me the FORD, we should make a commercial thanking Ford for not taking a bailout.
Let's start with the tax thing. Back during the Bush Administration the taxes were lowered and democrats add the deadline as a stipulation for letting the cuts happen in the first place. Jump to today, most of the MSM are touting the "Why do the rich need a tax cut" line. Let's be very clear about this, there are no tax cuts! We are looking at the largest tax increase in American history. Though I have recent;y seen some liberal attacks talking about how the Republicans want to raise your taxes, which is laughable at best. Raising taxes right now would be the worst move for the economy, especially for the "evil rich". While labeling George Soros as evil might fit, most of the so called "rich" are small business owners who currently employ around sixty five percent of the county. Raising their taxes would stall any chance of recovery to the job market and the economy would be doomed to stay in the hole for God knows how long. Though the talking heads in the MSM would want you to believe that at least the unemployment would spur the economy Rush does a good job at squashing that stupidity. Call the House (202)225-3121 and the Senate (202)224-3121 and let your representatives know tax increases are wrong at any level.
The GM fiasco is the other thing really just killing me. I touched on this in a previous post but it deserves a seconfd look, especially since GM is spending money (our money btw) on commercials thanking us for bailing them out.
This is a moment I am glad I have a middle finger. Let me run this out, our money was taken from us without our permission and given to GM in the form of a bailout. GM promptly went bankrupt and we (again without consent) purchased the lion's share of GM's stock, the remainder was given to the UAW as a payoff. Now GM's stock goes on sale and the UAW stands to make a killing. The American tax payer on the other hand is looking at at least a ten billion dollar loss. Not to mention we are selling stock we already own to ourselves. Think about it; We (tax payers) purchased GM, now GM stock is on sale to the public (Us). So we are paying for something we already own. Worse than that the money isn't even going back in our pockets. It's going to the Federal Govt who got us into this mess in the first place. Show me the FORD, we should make a commercial thanking Ford for not taking a bailout.
Monday, November 29, 2010
I'm Back
Sorry about that little stretch of quiet, I recently started a new job and have been swamped. The holidays are a busy time at K-Mart, yep I'm working at K-Mart. I can't get into details on K-Mart, there is actually a no social networking clause in my job description. Big K aside, I have been following the news and wanted to comment briefly on some of the big and not so big stories.
First off Korea; North Korea attacked a small island belonging to S. Korea disrupting some war games. The MSM is hyping this into another war. Officially the Korean War was never ended so it would be a re-escalation, but beyond that, this is nothing new. The last power shift in NK between Kim Il-Sung and current despot Kim Jong-Il there was the same show of power type deal. Now Kim Jong-Il is passing the dictatorial torch to his son Kim Jong-Un so it is no surprise NK is acting up. They probably want what they aways want when they do something stupid, more food and money from the US. Which we always give.
The Wikileaks classified document dump is another thing in the news big right now. Again we are not learning anything we didn't already know. Iran was funneling weapons to Hezbollah during the recent spat with Israel, duh! Does something need to be done about this? Yes, of course but is it being blow out of proportion probably to cover another story? I think so.
That story would be the "lame duck" congress going back to their failed agenda. Yes Nancy Pelosi is still in charge and right now as I type House Bill S510 (food safety) is being debated and goes for vote tomorrow. This is another power grab by the federal govt. via the FDA. I feel like American food is pretty safe and letting the FDA run wild with regulations and taxes is just going to hurt us where it counts most, our wallets. But there's more, a week after massive protest in California over the rising cost of universities, the "dream act" is getting the big push from democrats and RINO republicans. This will allow deportable illegal aliens to attend college at a highly subsidized rate, the cost of this of course falls on us the US taxpayer. The list could go on, but I promised brevity.
First off Korea; North Korea attacked a small island belonging to S. Korea disrupting some war games. The MSM is hyping this into another war. Officially the Korean War was never ended so it would be a re-escalation, but beyond that, this is nothing new. The last power shift in NK between Kim Il-Sung and current despot Kim Jong-Il there was the same show of power type deal. Now Kim Jong-Il is passing the dictatorial torch to his son Kim Jong-Un so it is no surprise NK is acting up. They probably want what they aways want when they do something stupid, more food and money from the US. Which we always give.
The Wikileaks classified document dump is another thing in the news big right now. Again we are not learning anything we didn't already know. Iran was funneling weapons to Hezbollah during the recent spat with Israel, duh! Does something need to be done about this? Yes, of course but is it being blow out of proportion probably to cover another story? I think so.
That story would be the "lame duck" congress going back to their failed agenda. Yes Nancy Pelosi is still in charge and right now as I type House Bill S510 (food safety) is being debated and goes for vote tomorrow. This is another power grab by the federal govt. via the FDA. I feel like American food is pretty safe and letting the FDA run wild with regulations and taxes is just going to hurt us where it counts most, our wallets. But there's more, a week after massive protest in California over the rising cost of universities, the "dream act" is getting the big push from democrats and RINO republicans. This will allow deportable illegal aliens to attend college at a highly subsidized rate, the cost of this of course falls on us the US taxpayer. The list could go on, but I promised brevity.
Thursday, November 18, 2010
In Defense of Michael Vick
I don't get this whole " should we forgive Vick" question, if he killed your personal dog it then your forgiving him is between you and God. I saw a damaged soul get busted and serve his time. While prison won't change his soul, he is clean in the eyes of the law. If he has had some kind of God finding moment in his life then I am inclined to give him the benefit of the doubt and even clear away the damaged part.
This is America, our place is not to keep grudges, but to believe in God's ability to make us better. There is a reason "In God We Trust" is on our money and our govt buildings, and it's not for God's sake, but ours. Call it a reminder, for our govt to remember it's founding and the reason the United States is the strongest, richest, and the most merciful, charitable country in history, usually those don't go together. The money is a reminder to us the people that God gave us our freedom and will continue to do so as long as remember that. Ultimately this is bigger than Michael Vick, but it applies.
By the way I am neither a Vick fan or an Eagles fan, but who are we to sit in judgement?
Go JETS
This is America, our place is not to keep grudges, but to believe in God's ability to make us better. There is a reason "In God We Trust" is on our money and our govt buildings, and it's not for God's sake, but ours. Call it a reminder, for our govt to remember it's founding and the reason the United States is the strongest, richest, and the most merciful, charitable country in history, usually those don't go together. The money is a reminder to us the people that God gave us our freedom and will continue to do so as long as remember that. Ultimately this is bigger than Michael Vick, but it applies.
By the way I am neither a Vick fan or an Eagles fan, but who are we to sit in judgement?
Go JETS
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Seeing RED
Saw the movie "RED" yesterday, Bruce Willis topped an all star cast including John Malkovich and Helen Mirren. I guess you could describe "RED" as a AARP version of "Expendables", in a good way. The premise was a group of retired CIA operatives who are brought back into the spy game when they are put on a list to be terminated. I'm not gonna give away anymore, you should go see this movie, it was action packed, loads of fun and while the violence was extreme the language was pretty clean (one f-bomb) and no sex or nudity. Safe for your teens, but I'd leave the little ones home.
But this is not a movie review, it's politics people. Back a few post I mentioned how hollywood has been trying to force feminized heroes on us (Scott Pilgrim and the like), "RED" was just more proof that we don't want girly heroes. Bruno is getting close to sixty and he is our go to tough guy. I like "Live Free Die Hard" but the thought that Bruce is signed to do two more is disturbing. Is there really not a MAN under 40 that can be an action star (sorry Michael Cera doesn't count)? We have some prospects, Chris Pine (the new Kirk from "Star Trek") is taking on the role of Jack Ryan handed down from another aging action anchor Harrison Ford.
The feminist movement has destroyed chivalry and ruined true feminism. Not to mention at least two generations of boys. Boys who were drugged by schools when they showed signs of being boys. Dodge ball was deemed unsafe and tag-you're it was halted cause no one should be put on the spot and be called "it". God forbid a boy want a toy gun, what happened to GI Joe? Who is going defend this country if we turn all our boys to girls? Masculine responsibility for the civilization’s survival is replaced by womanish dreams maneuvering for trouble to be wished away. Such peoples no longer know how to defend themselves. They instead argue themselves to impotence.
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