Saturday, August 28, 2004

Dennis Prager interviews Sam Harris on his new book...

Follow this link to a transcript of a radio interview between Dennis Prager and Sam Harris, author of the book, The End of Faith. It's good reading...


http://dennisprager.com/samharris.html


Friday, August 27, 2004

New "single issue" Blog added to Blogroll of Fame

I've received permission to add Horror Unheeded to the list of blogs at left. The single issue Mr. Crawford addresses is the war on terror. Read it. It's worth your time.

Also, I'm adding a link for the Israeli Defense Forces. You can send them pizza, burgers and soft drinks. Check out pizzaidf.com !

Monday, August 23, 2004

Science News...

Teleportation goes the distance [BBC]

Physicists have carried out successful teleportation with particles of light over a distance of 600m across the river Danube in Austria.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3576594.stm

Saturday, August 21, 2004

New Items and a Thank you

I've added several new websites that should be of interest to freedom loving individuals. Scroll down my links column until just past Constitution Society. There you will see all the newest links.

Also, I want to thank Nicolas at The Rule of Reason for adding this blog to his Blogroll. I am honored to be included.

Friday, August 20, 2004

Israeli BBQ!!!!

This is just too sweet!!! I love it!


Israel declared psychological war on hunger-striking Palestinian prisoners today, saying it would bbq meat outside their cells to try to break their spirit.

Read more...

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/headline/world/2738725

[Hat tip: Venting Steam]

Thursday, August 19, 2004

The End of Faith

by Sammuel Harris

Here are excerpts from his new book. You can explore more about him and his book at
http://www.samharris.org

"It seems that if our species ever eradicates itself through war, it will not be because it was written in the stars but because it was written in our books; it is what we do with words like "God" and "paradise" and "sin" in the present that will determine our future."

"Tell a devout Christian that his wife is cheating on him, or that frozen yogurt can make you invisible, and he is likely to require as much evidence as anyone else, and to be persuaded only to the extent that you give it. Tell him that the book he keeps by his bed was written by an invisible deity who will punish him with fire for eternity if he fails to accept its every incredible claim about the universe, and he seems to require no evidence whatsoever."

"Our world is fast succumbing to the activities of men and women who would stake the future of our species on beliefs that should not survive an elementary school education. That so many of us are still dying on account of ancient myths is as bewildering as it is horrible, and our own attachement to thse myths, whether moderate or extreme, has kept us silent in the face of developments that could ultimately destroy us. Indeed, religon is as much a living spring of violence today as it was at any time in the past."

You can purchase the book via the link to the left, if you so choose.





Wednesday, August 18, 2004

Self-responsibility

This thought occured to me earlier today. As a backlash against the Leftist surrender of reason to attacks on everything American, today's Conservatives extoll a return to "self-responsibility".
Yet, isn't religion, faith, and every act concerning these two ways of conducting one's life....a total abdication of thought, therefore action, in reality. Evasion on such a complete scale is a total surrender of the responsibility of being (and becoming) a human being [i.e., a rational animal].
To accept one thing, anything, on faith, is to cripple the actual and proper function of one's mind. In short, sense perception, concepts, logic. Ayn Rand said once, "The alleged shortcut to knowledge, which is faith, is only a short-circuit, destroying the mind."
I cannot tell you how many people I hear openly say "I can't wait to die." Now, they don't use these exact words, but they are quite close. Moreso than you'd think. I'm starting to think that each time I hear someone say the usual refrain, "Lord, have mercy on me. Take me away from all this," means, actually means, "I'm ready to die, Lord."
More and more, and especially in the last few years, I'm thinking that religion, religious belief, is slow psychological suicide. Suicide, whether it takes a moment, a day, 30 or 100 years, you are committing yourself to a slow death. To be religious is to cast a pall over your own life and mental functioning.
That's why I'm so glad I was introduced to Ayn Rand's writing's. She said another true gem when she made the statement, "It is philosophy that got us into this mess, it is only philosophy that can get us out." She did not say this outright (at least I don't think so) but I will. It is only Objectivism that can "save" man, and therefore, the world.

Friday, August 13, 2004

New Items

I have added two new items to the Links list at your left. MyMediaList, which shows what I'm currently reading, watching, listening to, and, I'm now an Amazon Associate! [Still working on the Amazon link.]

Thursday, August 12, 2004

The Idiocy of Crowds & of authors who think there's a Collective Intelligence

A collective intelligence which produces more "wisdom" than any individual can.

Here's a succint book review of James Surowiecki's book, "The Wisdom of Crowds", found in Canada's Financial Post. Let's just say, he points out some of the flaws in such "thinking".

http://www.canada.com/national/nationalpost/financialpost/story.html?id=6eec0c70-109f-4291-a27e-3bb3fd6c22af

Monday, August 09, 2004

Illinois

I've just read where Alan Keyes is going to move to Illinois to run for the Senate seat being challenged by that smooth talking con-artist Barack Obama.
Well, does anyone beside me think this will virtually guaranty Obama's "lead-pipe lock" on the Senate seat? Tipping the Senate over to the Dems?
Mr. Keyes is just a Bible thumping, hapless, waste of space. Even if he were somehow to win, he would be utterly useless as a politician. Totally out of his league. An embarrassment.
Nor am I happy about this slick Obama suit. He is just dangerous. Even so, if I lived in Illinois, I would vote for Obama over Keyes 10 times out of ten. Just like they do there in Illinois ;-)

Tuesday, August 03, 2004

Presidential Library...

This post is a response to a NYT article on recommendation's that theologians give, on books for both Presidential candidates. Needless to say, their choices were, and are, dreadful. I will link to the story after I post what I think are basic texts that any honest political candidate should have a thorough knowledge of:

Here's my list. In no way is this complete, but for starters...

1) Philosophy: Who Needs It by Ayn Rand.
2) The Ominous Parallels: The End of Freedom in America by Leonard Peikoff
3) Atheism: The Case Against God by George Smith
4) The Foreign Policy of Self-Interest: A Moral Ideal for America by Peter Schwartz
5) Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal by Ayn Rand
6) Moral Rights and Political Freedom by Tara Smith


This list is not complete, but for any candidate who truly wants America to prosper, he/she must have read, and understood, these 6 books. Perhaps I'll add a few more, as they come to me. I'll check my own library in the den!

Here's the NYTimes link:

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/24/national/24beliefs.html?ex=1092513768&ei=1&en=323d42da30247a79