Author, author!!

[Revised 12/31/04]


Some weeks ago, I had posted a couple of writings on my favorite authors and that met with the best response I've had since I started this blog. I am grateful for that, and thanks for the great tips on books and author's I've not heard of or read. Looking forward to starting those soon.

The reason for this post is to add a new author to the list, and borrowing a phrase from the record industry way back in my youth, make him #1 with a bullet.

Philip Pullman is a British author that has written several children's books. Among these is a trilogy for adults, as well as gifted, or highly curious and intelligent children, called:

His Dark Materials

I am going to try to summerize each book, but first, let me say how impressed I am with the author's command of the English language, his vivid storytelling, and his depiction of good and evil.
As a reader of this blog, if you are even remotely interested in philosophy, this trilogy is for you. If you want a glimpse of the heroic and the tragic, of the Unmistakably Good vs. Irredeemably Evil, then go out and get this series immediately.

Here is the title and a brief summary of each book, as best as I can do it...

Book 1: The Golden Compass--
A consciousness in focus. Self-directed. Goal directed.

Book 2: The Subtle Knife--
A is A. Either-or.
Here's a brief paragraph from near the end of book 2--

"There are two great powers," the man said, "and they've been fighting since time began. Every advance in human life, every scrap of knowledge and wisdom and decency we have has been torn by one side from the teeth of the other. Every little increase in human freedom has been fought over ferociously between those who want us to know more and be wiser and stronger, and those who want us to obey and be humble and submit."

Book 3: The Amber Spyglass--
(I am just now starting this third, and final book, so this may be revised later on)
The "Final Battle" between reason and superstition, life and death.


Hope this whets your appetite. These are books I know I'll read over and over again. I can't recommend them highly enough.
As a bonus, New Line Cinema is making this trilogy into movies!!!! Still a year or two off of release, though.
You might try hisdarkmaterials.org or http://www.philip-pullman.com

Best premises!!!

Happy Holidays

I've been absent from posting simply because I've been too busy with the holiday's and getting ready for the new year.
I've got a few stories and ideas for posting in the near future, that are still relevant news, so look for those early next year.

So, "Best Premises" to all my readers and friends for the remainder of 2004, and for all of 2005!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Mental Health vs. Individual Accountability

This article was found using Google's Alert feature. The author makes several salient points on the failure of public education and how they are shifting the blame on anything, and anyone, other than their failed policies and methods, including, sadly, a pharmacutical industry eager to "cash-in" on drugs they'll provide to help cover the fissures in education by blaming the student's themselves and medicating them.
All part of the Theraputic State apparatus now being created at every level of government. Gee, I can hardly wait, but...I've got a headache. Let me take something for it...




http://www.commonvoice.com/article.asp?colid=1792#results

NBA= National Brawl Association

Detroit, a city known world-wide for its grace, charm, and sophistication [insert sarcastic chortle here] was the scene of a terrible, ugly brawl between "professional" athletes and fans the other night. It was truly disgraceful. No doubt a new low has been reached in NBA annals. Here in America, we have teams of multi-millionaire athletes in every sport. Most (but especially the NBA) with the IQ and education level of dry, stale, cowchips---or worse.
What is the cause of this growing trend toward violence in sport here in America? This 'soccer fan' mentality poisoning sport across the board?
The short answer is this: European collectivist ideas are infesting every facet of life in America. Not just sports. These ideas eminate from our universities, which are sewers of intellectual depravity, precisely because European ideas dominate 99.8% of our university programs and faculty.
The schools who actually teach pro-American, pro-reason, pro-individualist, pro-capitalist ideas that are the actual root of this nation can be counted on one hand, as the saying goes. It can't even be counted as a school or schools, but less---the actual count of one rational faculty member compared to his/her counterparts is perhaps 1 in 10,000 or worse. More like one in 100,000.
For at least a century and a half, the idea of America as a secular republic, where each individual is free to live, and rise to the level his abilities can take him, has been willfully buried under a torrent of collectivist verbal diarrhea.
Leading the way are what/who I call The Four Horsemen of the Apocolypse: Plato, Kant, Hegel, Marx. With all the legions of their lesser ilk in tow behind them. It is just astonishing to think that for more than two millennia, freedom and civilization has moved forward on the shoulder's of only two men. Aristotle and Aquinas, and the latter was only half right (!)
Until and unless Aristotle, Aquinas, and yes, Ayn Rand, are put in a place of pre-emminence in our schools and universities, you can expect more violence, more government control of our daily lives, more taxation, more chaos.

2 new Blogs added at left

Friends, I've added two new and interesting Blogs to my links at left. Be sure to give them your atention!
Check out: Tribe of I & The Charlotte Capitalist, especially the latter's "Reason Roundup".

Good stuff!!!!

What would Frank do?

Here's a little ditty on what Mr. Sinatra would do to terrorists....Funny.

http://www.beecy.net/frank/

Election reflection...

Now that it's been a couple of days since the election, the dust has settled and we see the continued disintegration of the Democratic party, and of democrats themselves--I have a co-worker who wrote an angry screed about "King George II" and a bunch of other gobbledegook. He did manage a moment (a spasm?) of clarity when he did say in his diatribe that church and state should be seperate.--

I caught a rerun on CSPAN of the President's news conference. I was so glad to see a relaxed, almost jovial, certainly confident man, stand before us and speak his mind. Here is a piece of beautiful music to my ears...

"No president should ever try to impose religion on our society". Echoing Robert Tracinski at TIA Daily...let's hold him to these words!!!

I truly do love this country!!!!

Yesterday's election

Oh well, I guess I'll jot down a few more thoughts and hopes for the future here. First, a few things I'm not happy about, then I'll try to wrap up positive...

As Professor John Lewis pointed out in 'Opposing Platonic Conservatism: A Matter of Values, I'm now deeply concerned about the future success of Objectivism spreading into the universities. With the re-election of Bush, the philosophy of the neo-conservatives will now take ascendence, perhaps, only perhaps, brushing Ayn Rand aside, once again. I dearly hope I'm wrong about this. However, as she herself stated, reason and reality are on our side, so anyone who fights for the future, lives in it today.

With increasing majorities in both houses and the White House again, there is really, no oppostion to the religious agenda that will be rolled out and rammed through the legislavtive process. We're a 'democracy' remember? Since Bush has pulled off both the popular vote and the Electoral College, it's mob ( majority) rule baby!!!!
Since Democrats are our alleged 'secular' representatives, we are basically without leadership, as Marxism is the secularization of altruism. That is, of religious morality.

I fear that the 'war on terror' will just fade into the background as your everyday common 'police action' and that too many American's will just yawn about it and accept it. After all, Bush has kept another attack from our shores ever since, hasn't he? The conservative press will tout this election as about "moral values of the Heartland" so Bush won't have to use those Executive Orders so much anymore, as he can just send religious legislation down to Congress and have it rubber-stamped.

Here's one positive thing, though...with Bush's re-election, at least we pissed off the French ;-)

Tomorrow's Election

I've decided to toss in my two cents worth of thoughts on tomorrow's Presidential election.

Reading the many Objectivist, or related, editorials both for and against each major candidate, there are things I've just got to get off my chest about what is happening, or going to happen after the election.

I'm afraid of Bush, because he is sincere in his Christian belief. There is no doubt he is allowing religious people more access to the corridors of power than they have never had nor deserved, in our history.
There is only one result when people unite religion with state power, and it is not good. Neither for those who 'voted' for that alliance, nor the rest of us who oppose it, if it befalls us to do so. (Unless of course, we 'win' the argument and persuade American's to remember their secular heritage).

I have said for years, that the battleground for any future culture/society of freedom for the individual lies in applying and spreading Ayn Rand's epistemology as far and wide as each of us are capable of doing, in whatever 'reasoned' manner open to us. That truth will never change, as long as their is one human left of earth.

I am opposed to religious belief for myself because of its faulty mental mechanism of 'faith'. As human being's we are an integrated sum of matter and consciousness. Thought and action. The mind works a certain way, and only in that way. There are no shortcuts to knowledge. No 'mystic insight' to guide our way to a life fulfilled.
I am opposed to the unity of religion and state for the reason that, in a secular state, people who disagree are free to go about their life without interference from others who have differing views. A properly grounded secular state apparatus keeps all its citizens free from coercion. One need only look honestly toward the Middle East to see how theocracies deal with their own kind, let alone dissenter's. ( Remember Bush's father saying that atheists should not be considered citizens of the United States? I do.)
On top of all this danger, we have the twisted, useless philosophy of pragmatism, which dominates our culture today. I loathe a President (whomever that may be) who uses the language of freedom to sell-out those principles for short-sighted gains, which turn out to favor our enemies in the long run and destroy the American concept's of freedom, individualism, and capitalism in our fellow citizen's minds. A man who does this, as far as I'm concerned, is evil. I loathe a President who offers bold language, especially if it is morally correct language, to the world and then proceeds to undermine every aspect of his stance to 'balance competing pressure groups' and to appease our deadliest enemies.

As for The Left, when the Berlin Wall fell, so did all the leftist pet ideas of socialism, welfare-statism, communism. They are out of gas, and out of even remote civility toward anyone who differs from their hallowed, empty Ideal. John Kerry is the epitome of a Zero. Utterly and totally selfless, and, isn't that ugly. I just read a comment about "The Angry Left" and boy, isn't that the truth.
When you abandon reason, then do all in your power to destroy reason, logic dictates that 'anger' may be all you have left. Yet in today's typical fashion, do they blame themselves for their own sellout to the void? No. We won't see that from those empty skulls, not ever. Everything's now a 'conspiracy of the right' or Big Business buying off this or that legislation. Blah Blah Blah Blah.

Yet, I believe it will be easier to show the American people how bankrupt the Left is, by having them in power, than by having committed religious zealots running the show for four more years. We, as dedicated advocates of reason, of Objectivism, have a better chance, both short term and long, if Bush is out of power.

This is why, as disdainful as it is, I'm pulling the Kerry lever tomorrow morning.

How To Separate Church and State in 3 Easy Steps

Posted 10/13/04 on DrHurd.com...

"The Ten Commandments case to be heard by the Supreme Court is easy to solve. Here are a few simple statements of principle:

Religious views expressed on private property? Nobody's business.

Religious views endored on government property? No Way.

The way to minimize if not eliminate these disputes? The more private property, the better.

It's really as easy as that!"

http://www.drhurd.com

Shameless self-promotion

I've updated mymedialist to include links direct to the product so you can purchase these items and I make oodles of cash and never have to go to a job again!!!!

Oh well...

Look it over, you may find something you really like. I'll thank you ahead of time if you make a purchase!

New Author of note

I'm taking a break from reading Fantasy and picked up "Booked to Die" by John Dunning, which I recommend to all who are looking for a new hero. Cliff Janeway is a cop turned Book Seller who is a reality based man of thought and deed. This story also takes place in one of my favorite cities, Denver Colorado.
This is the first book by Dunning I've ever read. In fact I never heard of him until I read a review of this book on another Objectivist's site.
There are remarkably few flaws in this story [although I'm only half-way through it, so the juries still out].
Here's a good passage I like from the book...
I walked through the store and only then did it hit me--what I had taken on, what I'd left behind, how drastically my life had changed in only one month. I took a deep breath. The place smelled of paint fumes and sawdust. It smelled like a new car, though the actual odor was nothing like that. It was real, it was alive, and it was mine. It was sweet and exciting. I had a sense of proprietorship, of direction. I had a lifetime of work ahead of me, and it was very good.

[Hat tip: HarryRoolaart.com]

Columbus Day

I can't let this day go by without thanking Christopher Columbus, who brought with him the greatness, grandeur, nobility and respect for living on earth, that is Western Civilization. With no apology, I salute you sir.

More on Author's

I was thinking earlier today, how dumb I was with my original post on my Favorite Author's, because I did not include P.G. Wodehouse in the mix. Now, I know I have a link for him to the left, but not including him in that brief summary was insulting to his memory and I must apologize.
So, what better segway to add one or two more to the list than to start with apologies to the comic master...

) P. G. Wodehouse.
One must start with 'The Code of the Woosters', that's all there is to it. Failing that, start with any Jeeves and Wooster book you can grab. If you've got any humor in you at all, you'll take to his books immediately.
Failing that, then just go to the VHS or DVD adaptation's of his works, featuring the comic brilliance of Stephen Fry as Jeeves and Hugh Laurie as Bertie Wooster. I cannot think of two more able actors to portray these two characters, than Fry and Laurie. Brilliant. Just brilliant.

) Dan Brown
Brown's written four books. His first, Digital Fortress, was good. You can see his progression as a writer if you read them in order. Next came Deception Point. Then Angels and Demons. My suggestion is to go right to 'Angels and Demons' then 'The DaVinci Code'. These two feature the same main character and 'Code' is being made into a movie.

More to come...

My author recommendations...

I've been very pleased with the response to my author recommendtions. It's nice that I've introduced at least 3 others to Terry Goodkind, and one to Jack Vance. I urge readers of that post to continue to write to me.
Thanks.

Friday

Ever had one of those days? Everything started great today. No worries.

SLAM!!!CRASH. Rest of day sucked bad. Terrible bad.

Tomorrow looks just as bleak.

Sunday? Yep. Same.

Monday could very well be the day of DOOM.

I'm not optimistic.

Hat Tip

Hat Tip to Anger Management for adding this site to his Blog Roll. I do appreciate it.
Thank you.


http://angermanagement.mu.nu

Favorite Authors

Besides Miss Rand, Victor Hugo and Shakespeare, I'd like to jot down a few of my other all-time favorites that I recommend to you, and some of their works...
Here goes, and I'm leaving aside the philosophical problems of each writer. If they have any:

I'll start with a category of science fiction/fantasy
1) Jack Vance.
This man is a brilliant writer. The world(s) he creates in all his works are spellbinding. Totally entertaining and compelling. If you're not familiar with his work, start with To Live Forever and/or The Blue World.
The Demon Prince novels are a must read, in spite of their heavy 'libertarianistic' leaning's. In truth, anything you read by him will make you think, and not dissapoint.

2) Stephen R. Donaldson.
The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant: Lord Foul's Bane (Book 1) Although this first book in the two trilogies is slow going, make your way through it, because the rest of the series is not to be missed. These books feature one of my all-time favorite characters. The giant Saltheart Foamfollower.
It's been recently announced that Donaldson is returning to 'The Land' with four new novels. The first of which will be released in hardback next month.

3) Terry Goodkind
I guess he has to be mentioned, doesn't he!
It looks as though there are 11 books in the 'Sword of Truth' series. I'm currently bogged down in book five, which isn't the author's fault.
Wizard's First Rule is Book 1 in this series and is recommended. Clearly defined good vs. evil is Goodkind's hallmark, in my view. Plus, in his books, the villians are socialist's and collectivist's.
Go to your browser, type in his name and read his homage to Ayn Rand.

--Others--

4) Daniel Silva
Start with The Kill Artist and go from there. Although The English Assassin left a somewhat bitter taste, I'm going to continue to read this author, and have bought the next book in the series featuring Gabriel Allon.

5) Robert Heinlein
Revolt in 2100. Hurry and find this one, as it will probably be out of print soon.

6) Greg Iles
This author writes good stories, except that almost every character is a moral sleezebag. Forget 'Mortal Fear' which was so 'dirty' it made me want to take a shower after finishing it.
'Footprints of God' is standard formula (evil corporation and it's leader) semi-decent, but you've been warned. His book '24 Hours,' became a movie called Trapped. Starring Kevin Bacon and Charlize Theron, and worth viewing just to see her in black bra and panties.

7) Dan Simmons.
This writer isn't afraid to cross genre's . He writes SF, crime stories, haunted, and espionage. The Hyperion series of SF novels are held to be classic's by many critics. I concur. They are brilliant.
Darwin's Blade is an excellent place to begin reading him, however. I'm currently reading his book, 'The Crook Factory' .


So here you have a 'short list' of my favorites, and some of their works. I hope you'll investigate them.

What the "Bush Doctrine" should be...

This is excerpted from Diana Hsieh's Blog, Noodlefood. This is exactly where I stand, but she says it better than I can...


"In essence, the Bush Administration is floundering in its own moral fog. It refuses to identify its basic emeny as militant Islam. It defends Islamic values as morally equal to Western values. It often subordinates military victory to Muslim goodwill. It focuses on the violent methods of some militant Islamists rather than the more dangerous goals of the ideology. In order to avoid the charge of cultural imperialism, the Bush Administration is routinely lapsing into cultural relativism. As a result, America lacks a clear vision and purpose in this conflict--and that undermines our capacity to eliminate the grave threat posed by militant Islam. The corresponding impression of weakness and self-doubt emboldens the militant Islamists' dreams of transforming America into an Islamist theocracy."
" Successfully defending ourselves in this present conflict requires a deep understanding of and appreciation for what is at stake: Western culture. In the face of the cultural imperialism of the militant Islamists, moral relativism is not a viable option. Nor is cultural relativism true, for by any reasonable standard, the essentials of Western culture--values such as individual rights, rule of law, limited government, rationality, this-worldliness, and peaceful trade--are infinitely superior to the authoritarianism, racism, death-worship, and theocracy advocated by militant Islamists."
Well said, Diana. I only wish this could be said/told to our current leadership, and that they would respond positively to it.

Check out her Blog [Scroll down to 9/11 Debate]

http://www.dianahsieh.com/blog

American medicine= 1 Socialized medicine= 0

From Dr. Hurd's Daily Dose of Reason:

"Notice that for his heart surgery, former President Bill Clinton is not going to Canada; nor to Great Britain. These nationalized health care systems are both superior to the United States, according to arguments he and his wife made during his first term of office.

When push comes to shove, advocates of socialized systems always run to the capitalist systems ( or semi-capitalist, in the case of the United States.) This is because while they're wrong, they're not stupid. They believe in socialism, but not for themselves, just for the rest of us."

Find more Daily Doses at: http://www.drhurd.com

A 9/11 Weekend

I had family come visit this past weekend for a four day stay. Our objective was to visit the US Coast Guard Academy, the Nautilus museum and Naval Base. Then go to West Point for a saturday football game. I'm proud to say, we achieved all these objectives.
Words are hard to find to express how impressed I am/was with our young people who are attending both the Coast Guard Academy and West Point. Not only were they polite, but generous as well. It's so refreshing to see young men and women who have what I call, a 'personal integrity' about them.
Except for the horrifying presence of religion, I am so grateful to our military academies, to their instructors, and to the students who attend there. It's very, very gratifying to see your tax monies go to legitimate government functions, such as protecting this great, noble nation.
Touring West Point just has to be one of the highlights of my life. I was so impressed with that Post. It is placed in such beautiful surrounding's, again, words nearly fail me.
Not to mention seeing the cadets in full-dress uniform performing on the grounds, honoring our 9/11 victims, it was inspiring. If I weren't so dang old, I would have signed up right then and there.
If you ever want to afford yourself a taste of 'campus life' then I compel you to visit one of these academies a.s.a.p. You won't regret it. Just type West Point and/or US Coast Guard Academy in your browser and take it from there.

So, to our young and brave men and women who are attending these schools and defending our country, you are saluted.

Another new entry to Blog List

I'm adding NoumenalSelf.com to the list of Blog's you should check out. I admire NS's reasoning abilities, and his posting's on Bush vs. Kerry are thought provoking.

I've been seriously thinking about this election for quite awhile now. I must say I was strolling along mindlessly blissful of voting for Bush for the 'defense of America first' issue, until I was hit on the head with Dr. Peikoff's stance, and Dr. John Lewis's articles at capmag.com, concerning "faith-based" welfare statism, which shook me back to reality in a major way. While it is difficult casting a vote for Kerry, it will become even more difficult voting at all if conservatives (i.e., theocrats) continue to undermine our secular foundations.

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

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 !

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

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.

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]

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.

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.

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.]

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

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 ;-)

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

Barry Goldwater

Hat tip to Egoist.blogspot.com for linking up this, Goldwater's 1964 acceptance speech at the Republican convention. Read this and compare it to our two candidates who'll face of in November, and see the difference for yourself...


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/daily/may98/goldwaterspeech.htm

The Sacking of Troy...

Here's a link to a good Washington Times article that shows how the FDA (!) is trying to stop/slow down the Ambulance Chasing Trial Lawyers (did I say John Edwards, and his ilk).
Read it. It's worth the time. 
Especially the last paragraph. It (the Bill) sailed through the House unopposed and unchallenged. If this is the kind of "Leadership" House Republicans show, then there is no leadership. Oh, wait! It's an election year!
I forgot.

http://www.washtimes.com/op-ed/20040725-093900-3893r.htm

[Hat Tip: TIA Daily]

Who's Minding the Store?

Committee on the Present Danger:

Is dedicated to winning the global war on terrorism.  We are a bipartisan organization from the policy, political, academic, business and professional communities committed to resisting and defeating terrorist organizations, ending collusion between rogue regimes and terrorists, and supporting reform in regions that threaten to export terror.

http://www.fightingterror.org

 
[Hat tip: Frederick Norman]

The Left's Crimes of Silence

Run right on over to Frontpagemag.com to read the above named editorial by Ralph Peters.
 Talk about hitting the proverbial nail right on it's head!!!
POW!

 
  http://www.frontpagemag.com

Hopeful Signs...

Hopeful signs of a Human Future.

  This news story portrays the decline of the 'Protestant majority' in America. It says that the rise of the 'non-religious' has grown at least 5% since the 1990's. Among America's youth, the non-religious has/have  grown even more rapidly.

 Here are some telling stats:

"Since colonial times, the United States has been a Protestant nation.  But perhaps as early as this year, the country will, for the first time, no longer have a Protestant majority," Smith said in a report Tuesday. 

 A steep rise in the number of people who said they have no religion: 14% in 2002, up from 9% in 1992. It's even higher for younger people: Among those born in 1980 or later, 27% said they had no religion. "Each succeeding group is less religious than the preceding," Smith says.

Let's hope, for America's future, and the future of individual freedom, that a large percentage of these 'non-religous' are steeped in the life-affirming philosophy of Objectivism. The philosophy of Ayn Rand.  Let's say 'goodbye and good riddance to religious superstition altogether.   

I can't seem to link to this story. Working on it.

 

Hiatus...

Taking a bit of time from Blogging this past week. Listening to a pathbreaking audio lecture course called, "Reclaiming Egoism and Morality" by Dina Garmong. Available from the Ayn Rand Bookstore [aynrandbookstore.com]
 Highly recommended.
Also, today's my birthday!

The Morality of Life

"In the name of the best within you, do not sacrifice this world to those who are its worst. In the name of the values that keep you alive, do not let your vision of man be distorted by the ugly, the cowardly, the mindless in those who have never achieved his title. Do not lose your knowledge that man's proper estate is an upright posture, an intransigent mind and a step that travels unlimited roads. Do not let your fire go out, spark by irreplaceable spark, in the hopeless swamps of the approximate, the not-quite, the not-yet, the not-at-all. Do not let the hero in your soul perish, in lonely frustration for the life you deserved, but have never been able to reach. Check your road and the nature of your battle. The world you desired can be won, it exists, it is real, it is possible, it's yours. But to win it requires your total dedication and a total break with the world of your past, with the doctrine that man is a sacrificial animal who exists for the pleasure of others. Fight for the value of your person. Fight for the virtue of your pride. Fight for the essence of that which is man: for his sovereign rational mind. Fight with the radiant certainty and the absolute rectitude of knowing that yours is the Morality of Life." Ayn Rand

Happiness

This appalling statement was just uttered to me a little while ago. "Too many people are looking for happiness. The problem is, they are trying to find it in themselves."
The gentleman (?) would have said the following, right after spewing the above quote, that human's can only find happiness in "serving God". Or "true happiness is loving our Lord and savior, Jesus Christ."
Needless to say, I cut the conversation short.
If you pause to think about the above quotes, they are a direct attack on Aristotle and on any human who struggles to be productive, to achieve hard fought values, whatever their scale and worth.
The monumental task we face, right now, and for the rest of our lives, is to stand for egoism's proper place at the center of a human moral code. The purpose of morality is to discover how each human can achieve their values, while living on earth. Not on how to serve others and sacrifice, sacrifice, sacrifice.
I'm reminded of a scene in Ayn Rand's sadly overlooked novel, 'We the Living', where one of the main characters discovers the key to real happiness. " I know that when I ask people if they believe in God, and they say "yes", they don't believe in Life".
Altruist's have had more than two millenia to distort Egoism, and they have done a thourough job of it. As a consequence, an egoist morality is all but unknown today, and morality itself has been destroyed as a tool for humans to use to further their own lives.
Now, more than ever, those who understand the true value of self-interest, must speak out whenever we hear such drivel. By doing so, you will not only assist in stopping the decent into religious tyranny here in America, you will also bolster your own self confidence and automatically add luster to your body armor.
Let's get busy. We have no time to loose.

Kerry + Edwards

If you didn't see this one coming, you've been hiding in a cave for too long. John Edwards was, according to some reports, Kerry's second choice. John McCain being the first. But really, Edwards had to be the one, because of the inexhorable logic of it all.

Kerry has been posing (?) as a lifeless stoic. Looking like the graying, quiet, intellectual. In other words, trying to look "Presidential". Edwards is the youthful, energetic go-getter, picked presumably to energize the Democratic electorate.

I consider Edwards a modern-day Elmer Gantry. That ever-present smile hides a deep seated hatred of all things American. Things that you and I are working on trying to restore on the American scene: reason, individualism, capitalism.[Remember that almost all his stump speeches during the primaries boiled down to economic class warfare.]

Kerry's 'waffling' on the issues ( "I opposed that bill right up to the minute I voted for it."),is designed for him to look like an Intellectual, pondering all sides of an issue, but is really a smokescreen, covering his own fundamental hatred of his country.[Hat tip to Robert Tracinski of The Intellectual Activist for pointing this out, in the March 2004 issue.]

Speaking for myself, both these men are united in their zeal to sell-out America for U.N. control of everything. Turning American working men and women into saps to be drained for the world-wide welfare state.

Hey, we're already being drained for that purpose!

So there you have it. If Bush is re-elected, we'll have a more serious push for the uniting of church & state via 'Faith-Based Initiatives. If it's Kerry, we'll have every half-wit naked savage able to tell us what to do via the UN.

Very unpleasing prospects ahead.

228!

Happy Birthday America!!!

Cheers to the most moral nation in history! Here's to you, good friend, on your 228th birthday. May you live on forever!



[I say "most moral nation" not because of religion, but In Spite of religion's growing interference, in our great secular republic]

Constitution Society.Org

Just found this interersting website. Cursory glance through it makes me want to add it to this site's Blog Roll of Fame. They state that the reason their site's background is Black is to protest the abuses leveled against the Constitution that are still occuring.

Check it out @


http://www.constitution.org/

The Ten Commandments vs. America

Here's a link to an excellent editorial asking the philosophical questions, "What are the ten commandments?" "What is their actual philosophic meaning?"
Go. Read.

http://www.aynrand.org/medialink/tencommandmentsvsamerica.shtml


The premise of this editorial is the incompatability of religion with everyday life, let alone forming a government around the commandments.


[Hat Tip: The Ayn Rand Institute]

Producer Advocate added to Blog list

A former writer for Capitalism Magazine, Mr. Laren has his own Blog.
Check it out if you like the Second Amendment.

Chicago Sun-Times on SpaceShipOne

Here's the linkup to an article on the flight of Burt Rutan's SpaceShipOne. I did not know that there were this many companies vying for the $10 million prize to be the first reusuable private spacecraft.
Way to go ladies and gentlemen!!!


http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-space22.html


[Hat tip: Egoist.blogspot.com]

America vs. Europe in GDP

Germany edges Arkansas in GDP figures...


WSJ article on Sweedish think tanks survey of European GDP vs. American states GDP.
No surprise, really....

http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110005242

Private Space Flight!!

Let's hope there's enough security on hand to prevent any terrorist action...

Way to go Rutan!!!


http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/us_space_tourism

Cynicism hits epidemic proportions...

I admit right off the bat that I have a different outlook on life and events than most people. I generally take a positive, benevolent view on things. Even to a fault. Where I've worked for the last five years, the people I work with are the most cynical, negative....and even foul tempered that I have ever had the misfortune to be around in my life. No matter what I try to point out to people, taking a positive viewpoint or arguing from a pro-America, pro-capitalist, pro-individualist perspective, they simply do not listen. Frankly, they would not change their mind/thought process to save their own lives. (There are one or two exceptions, to this, but that's all.)
Too much mental effort is involved in thinking for yourself these days. I'll just repeat what I've read or heard everyone else say, right or wrong. Who am I to know? Nobody has the answer. (Unless it's "Jesus" of course. He solves everything.)Yeah. Right.
I work at a major American corporation. Virtually none of my coworkers has even a rudimentary knowledge of capitalism or economics. "Everyone's out to rip off the little guy." "Management doesn't give a damn about us. I haven't gotten a raise in years!"
Excuse me. MAYBE it's your attitude toward life and work. Ever think of that?
What? Shut up dude.
This is the prevalent mindset I've faced coming to work every day. For years. There but for the grace of Ayn Rand, (and my own hard mental effort) go I.

Couple of Quotes...

“ In India, as elsewhere in our darkening world, religion is the poison in the blood. Where religion intervenes, mere innocence is no excuse. Yet we go on skating around this issue, speaking of religion in the fashionable language of 'respect.' What is there to respect in any of this, or in any of the crimes now being committed almost daily around the world in religion's dreaded name? ”

Salmon Rushdie [2002]

" I sometimes wish there was a God. I'd hope He would execute His "rapture" so all His people would be called to Him. Then that would leave the world free of illiterate, dogmatic, subhuman scum, who, because of their blind belief, are incapable of living happily on earth, and try to make life impossible for eveyone else. I'd say goodbye and good-riddance to bad company. Oh! If only there was a God!"

Yours Truly [2004]

Dennis Miller

Dennis Miller has an interesting political talk show on CNBC. I've been watching it for weeks now. Nine pm. EST, most weeknights.
Last night however, he deliberately tried to embarrass Michael Newdow, the atheist who brought suit to have the words "under God" removed from the Pledge. It was disgusting to see Miller's underlying philosophy of "majority (i.e. -- mob)rule, dude" mentality and his pathetic baiting tactic of Mr. Newdow to try to get him to admit there was a god.
Disgraceful. I'm not even gonna talk about the hapless twits on our Supreme Court who once again failed to make a ruling on a crucial, philosophical, Constitutional issue.(Insert vomit here.)
I've noticed to, that conservatives are now 'dissing' the word Republican, which if you think about it, is fine, as conservatives are theocrats, and republican's ( at least honest ones) are for limited government and seperation of church/state.

My two cents on Ronald Reagan

In 1980, I was in my mid-twenties and although I was leary of some of Reagan's ideas, and their consequences...Not the ones the "liberals" harp on, but others...I genuinely liked the man because he showed leadership. He reminded Americans of their heritage and assisted in renewing the American "spirit" of Individualism and liberty that was all but destroyed by that witless dolt Carter.
The main thing Reagan did that was negative, and we are suffering from it today, is he reintroduced religion into the 'mainstream' again. He allowed the vermin to crawl out from under their rocks and infect us all with their dogma's and their blind stupidity. At a time when reason is all but forgotten in American culture, religion has stepped into that void and taken over the debate on social issues where they have no business being.
So, while Reagan presided over the collapse of Communism, he unleashed a more virulent form of tyranny over the mind of man by constantly refering to religious beliefs.
Until and unless American's recapture their secular, non-skeptical, heritage, we are doomed to become a theocracy, worse than Iran. This is why Bush's "faith-based initiatives" must be turned back at all costs.
In a way, I wish Bush had the moral confidence Reagan had, because while his speech writers write the correct things most of the time, Bush himself cannot convey the proper intellectual or moral confidence needed to inspire the American people, nor rekindle that fundamental "spirit" of American freedom we so desperately need from our leadership today.

Channel 9

There's a great new website that features Microsoft employees and their ideas about a great many things. Go check it out @:

http://channel9.msdn.com/

[Hat Tip: Monica White...http://Th-Inkwell.blogspot.com]

Business Week articles

Follow the link below to see a series of excellent articles on the emerging "Smart Factory" idea(s) in business.

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/toc/04_18/B38810418qualman.htm

Dig This!: Update...

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=624&e=2&u=/ap/egypt_ancient_university

The above link leads to a recent Yahoo News story about an earlier post I had. Go check it out.

Daily Telegraph: America vs. Europe

The Daily Telegraph offers a good synopsis (by Janet Daley) of the differences between the US and Europe. In short, it shows how we are still animated by a love of liberty and the Europeans collapse into cynicism and depravity.
[Hat Tip: TIA Daily]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2004/05/26/do2602.xml&sSheet=/portal/2004/05/26/ixportal.html

Here's an excerpt...




It's about freedom, not imperium
By Janet Daley
(Filed: 26/05/2004)




Those who opposed the war recite these questions with delighted sanctimoniousness, believing that their simple iteration proves the justice of the original anti-war case. But for those of us who supported (and still support) the American action, these are not rhetorical matters. It is urgently important to understand what followed the collapse of tyranny in Iraq, and why the American strategy seemed to have no plan for dealing with it.

...

Contrary to Left-wing myth, America is not a neo-colonialist country: it has no interest in creating a new imperium. The national temperament is, if not always isolationist, at least chronically inward-looking and self-absorbed.

...
The American belief that freedom is the ultimate human goal - and therefore that all men everywhere must want it - arises from a failure to understand the extent to which America as a nation is unique in its historical and philosophical roots.

There's more. Check it out.

USS Clueless

If you haven't yet heard of this gentleman, Mr. denBeste is quite the writer and his Blog, named above, is a regular stop in my daily web browsing. A man unto himself, his views are cogently expressed. So, if you consider yourself intelligent, and you don't know of his blog, then click on my newest link to the left and hightail it over there!
Once you 'get a feel' for his work, I suggest you tackle his "Best Log Entries" and the "Recommended Reading" section of his website.

UN treaty will cripple America (So What's New?)

United Nations' Law of the Sea Treaty
by Cheryl K. Chumley (May 18, 2004)

Summary: U.S. ratification of the United Nations' Law of the Sea Treaty not only compromises America's sovereign ability to traverse and mine or drill the seas absent U.N. oversight, but also jeopardizes our nation's freedom to access the air and space above these waters.

[See my link to left on UN is Evil]

When former president Ronald Reagan declined to enter America into the United Nations' Law of the Sea Treaty (LOST), it seemed the debate over regulating the world's oceans at the global level had ended, at least for the duration of his leadership.

Under former President Bill Clinton's watch, this treaty was then amended, supposedly to reflect the concerns of many in politics who found aspects of the document threatening to U.S. sovereignty. Defenders of U.S. sovereignty in Congress, such as Sen. Jesse Helms, found these so-called revisions laughable, though, and successfully prevented ratification from occurring, saving America in the process from placing yet another U.N. albatross about her neck.

Fast-forward to February 2004. Sen. Helms is gone and in his place as chair of the Foreign Relations Committee is Sen. Richard Lugar from Indiana. Lugar is responsible for pushing the Law of the Sea Treaty, dormant for years, through his committee with a 19-0 vote and toward the full Senate floor for ratification.

But here's where the Gipper can claim a win: Constituent outcry with the many anti-constitutional provisions of this treaty has escalated to such an extent that a House committee took the unusual step of holding hearings on this proposed U.N. partnership on May 12. What's strange about this occurrence is that the House side of Congress has absolutely no formal voice in deciding whether a treaty achieves U.S. ratification.

The president “shall have power, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, to make treaties, provided two-thirds of the senators present concur,” Article Two, Section Two of the Constitution reads.

H. International Relations Committee Chair Henry Hyde (R-Ill.), in a move that seemed to surprise and frustrate Lugar, nonetheless heard testimony on LOST, in part he said to prepare and educate members in case ratification ensued, since treaty appropriations requests would have to flow through this side of Congress.

Lugar, it seems, is less than pleased with this latest twist to LOST fate.

In a statement submitted as part of the official record for Hyde's hearing, Lugar expressed puzzlement that treaty ratification has been delayed, given the broad support for this measure from the administration, environmentalists, the State Dept., the U.S. Navy and the oil industry, and given that his committee reportedly only received one letter of opposition when LOST was re-introduced for debate this February.

“...Senate consideration of the treaty has been held up for more than two months by vague and unfounded concerns about the Convention's effects,” Lugar wrote. “These concerns have been expressed primarily by those who oppose virtually any multi-lateral agreements. Many of the arguments they have made are patently untrue.”

Untrue, for instance, Lugar alluded, are views of those like Frank Gaffney, president of the Center for Security Policy, who told H. International Relations Committee members that “LOST will have a number of adverse implications for U.S. security interests and the national commonwealth more generally.”

Gaffney wondered publicly, for instance, how America might preserve her economic and military powers after entering into an agreement that regulates activities on 70 percent of the world's surface, the seas, with a global force that usually displays an "ill-conceived hostility" toward our nation. Such hostile nations, Gaffney continued, often "use agreements like LOST as part of a Lilliputian-like strategy to constrain our sovereignty and strength and redistribute the industrial world's wealth – and ours – to undeveloped states."

Untrue to Lugar, too, must be beliefs like those of former Ambassador to the United Nations Jeane Kirkpatrick, who testified previously to the Sen. Armed Services Committee that U.S. ratification of this treaty not only compromises America's sovereign ability to traverse and mine or drill the seas absent U.N. oversight, but also jeopardizes our nation's freedom to access the air and space above these waters.

But poor Lugar. The injustices done this treaty via false witnessing during four separate April and May hearings have raged uncontrollably, he must believe.

Sen. James Inhofe (R-Kan.) questioned an aspect of the treaty that gives participating nations the right to decline vessel searches if those on board claimed their sea travels were related to economic rather than military activity. What that means is the United States cannot board a suspect vessel without first receiving the permission of U.N. authorities, even if our intelligence finds a security threat exists.

Rep. Thomas Tancredo (R-Col.) asked H. International Relations Committee witnesses in support of LOST why, if the United States were already informally abiding the very same protocols and laws of the sea this Law of the Sea Treaty solidifies with binding language – as these two witnesses testified – we even needed to participate in the treaty and risk that opponents' concerns might one day become reality.

And Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas), during this same committee hearing, went one step further. Why, he wondered, does the Unted States suddenly need U.N. regulation over the seas when individual nations have successfully overseen and decided matters in these areas for decades?

Good points all, it might logically follow – except for the pesky matter of those inherent untruths that Lugar claims permeate all such arguments and concerns. Guess all these Gippers floating around lately haven't a clue about such heady matters as the Constitution and sovereignty, individual rights and American freedoms, and best pipe down and not bother the internationalists with these petty concerns.

(Hat Tip: Capitalism Magazine)

New York Jets new stadium

Well, I thought this would be a great addition to Manhatten, but now, seeing that the architect boasts that it'll be "the greenest" design attempt yet, with both solar and wind power, all I can see are cost overruns and delays. I'm afraid that the initial $1.4 Billion(!) estimate will be a dim memory by the time it gets built. We'll see...

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=ap-jets-stadium&prov=ap&type=lgns

Boston Globe Admits to Spreading Lies to undermine America's War effort...

Albeit lamely, the Globe "apologized" for the "sexually explicit" nature of the faked photos, but not the fact that they were falsified to begin with. Here's a critique offered by Dr. Harry Binswanger, along with the perfect illustrations of Cox and Forkum. Don't miss this one...



http://www.capmag.com/article.asp?ID=3703

Money, It's better when you earn it.

This Yahoo! story is self-explanatory in that people, and certainly Americans in particluar, respect money and the fact that earning it is more rewarding, both mentally and materially. This is an excellent "pro-man" story, well worth your time to read it.

[Hat tip: TIA Daily]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=624&ncid=624&e=1&u=/ap/20040513/ap_on_sc/money_for_nothing_1

Cox & Forkum Editorial Cartoons...

Click link on left to go there. Immediately. Check out their last three catoons.
You Must Do This. NOW. Right NOW.

Dig This!

Archelogists find ancient university!

http://www.oaklandtribune.com/Stories/0,1413,82~1865~2137561,00.html

A Polish-Egyptian team has unearthed the site of the fabled University of Alexandria, home of Archimedes, Euclid and a host of other scholars from the era when Alexandria dominated the Mediterranean.

The team has found 13 individual lecture halls, or auditoria, that could have accommodated as many as 5,000 students, according to archeologist Zahi Hawass, president of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities.

Read the whole story!

John Galt's motor?

From Japan.com, we have this story about an inventor who developed a motor with magnets, using almost no electricity?!

http://www.japan.com/technology/index.php

Penn & Teller added to blogroll...

Pro science atheists and confirmed skeptics, here's the link to Penn & Teller's Showtime TV series, "Bulls**t.

The Evidence: American Appeasement

Professor John Lewis of Ashland University has compiled a chronology of terrorist attacks on the West, and America, totalling 50 years of appeasement (!).
Read it and weep for our country's lack of moral confidence...

http://personal.ashland.edu/~jlewis8/Terror%20Chronology.htm

Buy some good stuff!

Friends have started a business. Ideas Matter,LLC. See newest link. Be sure to read their "About Us" section.

Hillary's Secret War

This story is an interview found at David Horowitz's site, Frontpagemag.com. Jamie Glazov is interviewing Richard Poe concerning Poe's new book of the above title, with the subtitle being: The Clinton Conspiracy to Muzzle Internet Journalists.
Remarkably Poe acknowledges how spineless Conseratives were [and still are...[Editor] during the Clinton "impeachment".
Poe also asserts that, since Kerry's campaign is imploding, there is a movement afoot to replace him with Hillary in two months, (July) at their convention. I think this statement is just the author's 'book publicity' and if not groundless, certainly this event will not happen in my view, as I think Bush will be re-elected handily and Hillary will wait her turn for a clean shot at 'the brass ring' in 2008. Kerry is serving his stint as her sacrificial fodder until Bush can't run again.
Here's the link:

http://frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=13292

[Editor's aside...] I have no doubt that many of the things Poe mentions are true, although I'm not a fan of his. It is a shame that there is no moral opposition to the Clinton's now, nor during their time in office. Will there be any when/if Hillary is elected? Sadly, I think not. I hope I'm wrong.

Liberals target Rumsfeld

Curiously, the leftist media focused on attacking Rumsfeld this morning, instead of the "other" lead story of our troops going after Sadr in Najaf. Not surprising, intellectual lightweight Joe Biden (Deleware) calls for the Secretary of Defenses' resignation!
It's truly a shame that our elected "leadership" is so spineless, and, totally lacking in principled discourse.

http://www.washtimes.com/op-ed/20040505-101204-2802r.htm

Newest Links

Although I'm not in 100% agreement with these two gentlemen all the time, they are 'spot on' concerning a great many things. I have added Michael Ledeen and Victor Davis Hanson to the list of links at left.
Enjoy.

Meanwhile, Iran plays a shell game with nulcear capabilities...

Interesting how our major media outlets continue to underplay stories concerning Iran's developement of "the nuclear option."
Does anyone...CAN anyone think about how we can let a Thugocracy obtain/develope weapons that would destroy all of civilization?
Bush is letting his 'pragmatic' tendencies undercut his truer 'gut' reaction to this situation. Thus, we are snatching defeat from the jaws of victory in Iraq, and completely ignoring Iran and the Saudi's who are the epicenter of world unrest.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=535&ncid=535&e=5&u=/ap/20040427/ap_on_re_mi_ea/nuclear_agency_iran_2

Economics and the EU

All the press said was that the creation of the EU was to foster the absence of trade barriers and create a new standard of living for all of Europe. Well, guess again, since the fundamental ideas controlling Europe are Socialist in nature, looks like all they've got to contend with now is a giant welfare-state government apparatus.
Here's some relevant observations from the article:
"Over the past decade, however, that approach was superseded by increasing centralization of economic decision-making in Brussels and top-down harmonization of rules of production, delivery and sale. Those pan-European regulations stifle competition. In effect, harmonization increases the costs of production throughout the EU to levels favored by high-cost producers in Western Europe. That eliminates competition from low-cost producers, such as those in Central and Eastern Europe."

Read the whole thing @: http://www.washtimes.com/commentary/20040503-085948-5723r.htm

Hat tip: TIA Daily

Good News...for the Sudan

A sewerhole of slavery and murder, the Sudan "has been assured" a seat on the United Nations Human Rights commission.
I'm sure you and I can rest easier now.

See my link to left on UN is Evil.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/nm/20040504/wl_nm/un_rights_elections_dc

More new Links...

have been added and will be added. Hope you find them illuminating.

Outsourcing...the real issue is Education.

Here's an excellent article in Business 2.0 pointing out the deficiencies in our public education system, rather than blaming outsourcing.
Notice that almost all politicians assist in the 'cover-up' of teacher unions, to continue crippling the minds of the young, rather than relinquish government control of schooling.
(Hat tip:Businesspundit.com)

http://www.business2.com/b2/web/articles/0,17863,611040,00.html

The Religion of Peace!

Here's an excellent compendium of all One Hundred + verses of "jihad" in the Koran.
Hat tip: LGF (Little Green Footballs)

http://www.angelfire.com/moon/yoelnatan/koranwarpassages.htm

Working on a new post about the destruction of science from both the Liberal and Conservative agenda's. Posted soon...

Another Milestone for The Secular Foxhole

Martin of Egoist.Blogspot.com has added this site to his Blogroll. Once again, I'm honored to be included by such a popular and well-read Blog.
Thank you!

Site Meter

I've added a site meter to track the number of visitors to my Blog.

P.G. Wodehouse

What Ho! This newest link to great humor simply must be added!

Right-O!

Great Quote

"It is useless to attempt to reason a man out of what he was never reasoned into." Jonathan Swift

WSJ officially endorses 'Collective Rights'

The Wall Street Journal paves way for tyranny?
See link
http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110005012

Read it and be scared.

U.N. is Evil

Every once in a while, I have this dream that I am President and I have the United Nations building surrounded with our own troops and, switching on the Bullhorn, I would announce that all inside should "come out with your hands up!, You are under arrest for crimes against America." Now, I don't suffer this dream very often, thankfully, but I do have it. Take a look at the newest link to the left about the UN. There you will find many excellent articles and editorials condemming every action of this disgraceful body. Check it out, and donate if you can.

From David Horowitz:

See frontpagemag.com...

"Rebels in the holy city of Najaf were stockpiling weapons in mosques, shrines and schools, creating a 'potentially explosive situation.'" So reported the NY Times today (Monday). What better self-definition of blasphemy than to have soldiers use these sites for their weapons. But then this is a holy war in the eyes of our enemy. With Allah on their side everything is justifiable even using children as shield. This is evil self-defined.

The United States command in Iraq should declare that mosques, shrines and schools used by Islamic terrorists for weapons of death or other military purposes to be military targets. Then it should systematically raze them to the ground.

[Editor's Note] This last paragraph is what should have been done from day one of this 'war.' Bush is afraid to attack other 'religious' countries or sites because he is a 'Christian'. The internal contradiction is too much for conservatives to handle. They know they can't defend America, unless it's on secular (i.e. Reason) grounds and they can't do that because that would mean they'd have to face the fact that their pathetic faith is groundless, so they continue the charade of 'belief', and America faces ever worsening danger's.

Monument to Atheists in Foxholes...

There is indeed a monument to Freethinkers, who have served to defend our great and noble nation. See link at left for full description, along with several stories about the monument and men who served.
Salute!
[Editor's Note]: I disagree with almost all "Humanists" in that they think there should be no weapons of any kind. As a free man in a country losing its freedom daily (due to irrational leadership) a nation remains free so long as its military is superior to any force or threat, and that military is used to properly CRUSH all enemies. Totally. Convincingly. Without remorse. Swiftly.
Instead of the disgrace you see today in Iraq and elsewhere. We are handing out Bibles and showing 'compassion' instead of murdering those who would slaughter us in the blink of an eye.

New Link: Jihad Watch

Religion vs. America

Here's an exerpt from Leonard Peikoff's essay, "Religion vs. America" from the book, 'The Voice of Reason:Essays in Objectivist Thought'.

“Point for point, the Founding Fathers’ argument for liberty was the exact counterpart of the Puritans’ argument for dictatorship — but in reverse, moving from the opposite starting point to the opposite conclusion. Man, the Founding Fathers said in essence (with a large assist from Locke and others), is the rational being; no authority, human or otherwise, can demand blind obedience from such a being — not in the realm of thought or, therefore, in the realm of action, either. By his very nature, they said, man must be left free to exercise his reason and then to act accordingly, i.e., by the guidance of his best rational judgment. Because this world is of vital importance, they added, the motive of man’s action should be the pursuit of happiness. Because the individual, not a supernatural power, is the creator of wealth, a man should have the right to private property, the right to keep and use or trade his own product. And because man is basically good, they held, there is no need to leash him; there is nothing to fear in setting free a rational animal.
“This, in substance, was the American argument for man’s inalienable rights. It was the argument that reason demands freedom.”

This essay, and the entire book, should be read by every thinking person in America.

Re-establish the Military Draft? NO!

Here's a succint Letter from the Ayn Rand Institute...

Dear Editor:

As Senator Chuck Hagel and others call for the re-establishment of
military conscription, it is worth remembering Ayn Rand's words:

"Of all the statist violations of individual rights in a mixed economy,
the military draft is the worst. It is an abrogation of rights. It
negates man's fundamental right--the right to life--and establishes the
fundamental principle of statism: that a man's life belongs to the state,
and the state may claim it by compelling him to sacrifice it in battle.
Once that principle is accepted, the rest is only a matter of time.

If the state may force a man to risk death or hideous maiming and
crippling, in a war declared at the state's discretion, for a cause he may
neither approve of nor even understand, if his consent is not required
to send him into unspeakable martyrdom--then, in principle, all rights
are negated in that state, and its government is not man's protector any
longer. What else is there left to protect?"

David Holcberg
Ayn Rand Institute

Copyright © 2004 Ayn Rand® Institute

A Milestone for The Secular Foxhole Blog!

Today, my Blog has been added to the blogroll of Cox and Forkum. See their link at left.
I'm truly honored that they included me.
Thank you gentlemen!

Pat Boone=Colossal Dimwit

Pat Boone opened his mouth the other day to reveal a hatred for freedom of thought...(http://www.washingtontimes.com/national/20040420-114829-2076r.htm)
Hat tip: Marginal Revolution

Here are the juicy parts... "I don't think censorship is a bad word, but it has become a bad word because everybody associates it with some kind of restriction on liberty,"
"But we do know that at some point a line that has to be drawn between one man's liberty and another man's license."
Mr. Boone said that if he were in charge of standards, there would be stringent controls on material.
"It must be majority approved ... voluntary ... and self-imposed," he said, clad in a yellow blazer, black slacks, a canary yellow tie and white leather shoes. "Censorship is healthy for any society, and that goes for arts, entertainment, anything. "

Here's even more scary stuff...

A more serious meeting of celebrities was when Mr. Boone was invited to a private screening of Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ."
"After the screening was over, I turned and said, 'Mel, you're an apostle,' " said Mr. Boone, who has appeared in 15 films. "An apostle is one commissioned by God to tell the story and you are telling it more powerfully than it has ever been told or will ever be told, and you are therefore an apostle."
"I consider it the most important film ever made. It is a film that is not only of gigantic proportion but one that changes life, that affects people's eternal destiny."
It is all the more significant, he said, "because Hollywood has an open antipathy toward Christianity itself."
"I knew that early in the game and therefore tried to be [nonconfrontational]," he said. "I know better than to collar people and try to force my views on people."
Such as his former neighbor, Black Sabbath frontman Ozzy Osbourne, who lived next door to the Boones off Sunset Boulevard in Beverly Hills for three years. It was shortly after that the two ended up taking pictures together for Rolling Stone magazine, Mr. Boone said.
"And I found out what he thought of my version of [Mr. Osbourne's hit] 'Crazy Train' when I tuned into his show a few years later," Mr. Boone said. "The Osbournes," MTV's popular reality program that shows a day in the life of the rocker's family, opens with Mr. Boone's rendition of "Crazy Train," a much tamer version than the guitar frenzied original.
Even in covering one of rock's most untamable enigmas, Mr. Boone had succeeded in calming things down.
"[Ozzy] told me he was trying to attract a family audience," he said.


Don't you just love it that Boone says, "I know better than to collar people and to try to force my views on people." (!!!!!!!)
So, we have a 'celebrity' calling for outright censorship of art, media, you name it. Then he says he doesn't want to 'force' his views on anyone!
Only government has the power to use force against it's own citizens, Mr. Boone. So, asking for the government to 'monitor' our 'self-imposed' censorship is asking for the muzzle over individual thought.

Mr. Boone, may you go straight to hell.

The Threat of Bush's Faith-Based America

This is from The Center for the Advancement of Capitalism.
(moraldefense.com)
I couldn't agree more with the writer's assessment.
[Friday, April 23, 2003]



In the war between reason and religion, declared by Islamic fundamentalists, President Bush is firmly on the side of religion. The positions he supports most passionately are those of theocracies: prayer in schools, a national pledge “under God” recited by children, judges who uphold religion in government, laws against abortion, publicly-funded faith-based initiatives, bans on cloning and genetic research, censorship of pornography, and a marriage amendment to the Constitution. If he has not imposed religious censorship, it is not because it is antithetical to his core values. Mr. Bush is energizing the political foundations of an American theocracy.

Nevertheless, there is only one issue in the 2004 election: the war with militant Islam. Here Mr. Bush has also remained true to his principles. He has not acted against a single religious government.

He took down the Taliban because they had aided those who “hijacked a great religion.” He threw down a secular dictator in Iraq and established the terms by which the country can become fundamentalist. Iranian mullahs have been assured that their overthrow is not on our agenda. We have bombed their opponents in Iraq, and negotiated with their Shi’ite stooges who plan to take over Iraq. If they succeed, they will control a second country— bordering on their first, Iran. A greater Islamic state, armed with nuclear bombs, would be a gift from George Bush.

Mr. Bush accepts that people may establish a government based on religious principles; after all, he thinks, that is what we did in America. He uses US troops to preserve the “rights” of foreigners to establish the same religiously-inspired governments that attacked us to begin with.

From the start, Mr. Bush exercised his leadership by declaring the war not against militant Islam, but against “terrorism.” This has obfuscated the nature of our enemies and led us to squander our resources in ways not central to our interests. Had our president named the enemy properly, but then taken no action at all, we would be able to repudiate that inaction and fight the war properly. Now we must repudiate the very aims of the war. It will take extraordinary leadership to reverse this error.

The result is that the source of America’s enemies remains untouched. Iran is building nuclear bombs. Pakistan (a thug who seized power) and Russia (an ex-KGB officer) are called allies. Syria and the Saudis have not been confronted. Afghanistan and nuclear-armed Pakistan remain hideouts for Al Qaeda. We arm Islamic soldiers while our money builds schools in Baghdad. When we leave, those schools will teach radical Islam, and those soldiers will shoot at us.

Further, Mr. Bush is undercutting the very idea of self-defense. He spent over a year asking the UN for permission to invade Iraq, while claiming that no permissions will be sought. He is re-defining “overwhelming force” into a consensual war fought with compassionate regard for “innocents.” Such a conceptual stew leaves people with little guidance as to what offensive retaliation against foreign enemies is.

Meanwhile, Mr. Bush has established a permanent, institutionalized state of siege at home. The war can now be fought against Unabomber-types, without ethnic “profiling.” And, don’t forget: you are permanently at risk; the war will be long; better buy some duct-tape.

This is all a consequence of Mr. Bush’s “faith-based” thinking. He has “faith in markets,” “faith in the American people,” “faith that people want freedom.” He holds such ideas as religious absolutes. He shoots out a strong statement from his subconscious (“we will make no distinction between the terrorists and those who harbor them”), and then watches it dissolve in the face of arguments he cannot answer. The statement becomes an empty utterance, compromised in words and actions, precisely because it was held on faith rather than as a rational, defensible conviction.

More specifically, Mr. Bush’s policies are defined by two elements: religious patriotism, and religious altruism. The first demands that he stand tall against America’s ungodly enemies. The second demands that he spend billions to help the unfortunate. Picture two bombers over Afghanistan: one drops a bomb (precision-guided, to avoid hitting a Mosque), and the next drops peanut butter. The first satisfies the patriot, the second redeems the altruist. This, he thinks, is how God wants him to fight the war.

It is a positive sign that many Americans want a forthright offense against our enemies. But they are confused if they think that Mr. Bush advocates this in fact. I do not wish to abet that confusion.

What about John Kerry, an obnoxious Carter / Kennedy / Clinton wannabe who sees Americans as war criminals? He does not hide his desire to subordinate American defense to a foreign consensus. This leaves less confusion in its wake; no one will mistake him for George C. Patton. Besides, Mr. Kerry will be desperate to be seen as tough on terrorism; he might actually do a better job against America’s real enemies.

Most of all, in the war with fundamentalist militant Islam, Bush is pro-religion, all the way to the core of his soul. Kerry does not share this premise.

If you think that a turn towards a theocracy in America is far-fetched, remember that “The Passion of the Christ” is approaching a half a billion dollars in box-office take, and conservatives have lined up to extol its blood-soaked message.

—John Lewis

The Rule of Reason

Added to links at left.

Barry Goldwater

Although I was too young to vote in 1964, I would surely have voted for this man. One of my favorite quotes from him is (I quote from memory, so this may or may not be verbatim):

"Toleration in the face of tyranny, is no virtue. Extremism in defense of liberty, is no vice."

Thank you Barry Goldwater. Where are you now, when we need you!

American President's

Check out this wonderful website of our President's, at left.

Arabs Hate U.S. "More than Ever"

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=564&e=2&u=/nm/mideast_egypt_usa_dc

This link provides "the usual" story about how it's America, and not the Middle East, who is the 'aggressor,' the bully. (!) And of course, Isreal is thrown in to spice things up! HA.
PUUUUULLLLLEASE!!!!
Here's an idea. Let's cut off the annual $2 billion aid (bribe monies?) we give Egypt, and see how fast Mubarak changes his tune toward us.
Just a thought. Too bad our leadership doesn't have the moral confidence to do it.

Cox and Forkum Editorial Cartoons

These two are just so darn good! See link to the left and judge for yourself!!

Link policy...

There are literally a hundred blogs/websites I want to list on the page to the left, but, realizing this, I must become highly selective and put only relevant sites, consistent with the underlying philosophy of this blog, and its writer.

Blogging

I'm finding that the more I think about blogging and the more I post, the sharper my mental focus is becoming. This is a good thing! What a great tool for human use!
Hat's off to the man/woman/company who thought of this and brought it to market. May they reap their just rewards!!!

Quick Comment

Have you heard Conservatives claim (they say this endlessly) that religion is the foundation of human freedom and prosperity?
If so, then why, when religion ruled the earth, was that period known as "The Dark Ages"?

Just a thought....

Selfishness

I've often wondered why this word has such negative connotations in our society/culture. Yet it is actually what each individual should strive for when given it's proper definition of: Concern for one's own interest. More on this topic coming...

The name of this Blog comes from a reaction to the obvious falsehood generated by religionists, that "there are no atheists in foxholes". An outright Lie, if ever there was one.

This new blog will talk about issues from a secular point of view. That is, from a pro-man--anti-religious stand.