Force over Football

Dennis, over at his blog, posts about the horror of discovering how the government "pointed a gun" at the NFL to get the Patriots game to be broadcast over more than one channel.
Follow the link:

http://dennislifeisgood.blogspot.com/2007/12/force-over-football.html

The Golden Compass

Since it's just after midnight while I'm writing this-- yesterday, we went to see The Golden Compass at the movie theater.

It was fantastic. Like other Objectivist bloggers, I usually agree with Scott Holleran @ BoxOfficeMojo, but here, he's way off base. I found the film to be superbly well crafted-overall-with my only--minor--complaint being that some of the dialog seemed a bit choppy to me. But, that's only because I loved the books so much, which I wrote about almost three years ago here:

http://secularfoxhole.blogspot.com/2004/12/author-author.html

This film has just the right pace, is visually stimulating, and the casting is brilliant. Plus, the added feature of having one of my favorite singer's, Kate Bush, on the soundtrack, makes this one of my instant favorites.

If you haven't yet seen this film, GO. Buy the books, you will be pleased. Now, having said that, Pullman is no Objectivist, but he is a serious thinker, grappling with meaningful issues.

I do hope the other two books will now be made into films, to finish the trilogy.

Dr Peikoff's latest Podcast

Dr. Peikoff has posted his third, and latest podcast at his website.

Update

I've added back to my blogroll, Gideon's Armchair Intellectual blog, along with Clemson's Capitalism Resources page, that he pointed out.
Also, take a look at the recommendations from my Amazon page, with a gracious hat tip to Noodle Food for showing me the way on that addition.

Views of Life [Joke]

******WARNING******* Some foul words involved.

Ponder upon these views of life...

Taoism: Shit Happens.

Confucianism: Confucius say,"Shit Happens."

Buddhism: If shit happens, it isn't really shit.

Zen: What is the sound of shit happening?

Hinduism: This shit has happened before.

Islam: If shit happens, it is the will of Allah.

Protestantism: Let shit happen to someone else.

Catholicism: If shit happens, you deserve it.

Judaism: Why does shit always happen to us?

Agnosticism: What is this shit?

Atheism: I don't believe this shit!

News Flash!

Perusing Dr. Peikoff's site, it appears he will start podcasting in September!

Here's the announcement:

http://www.peikoff.com

Book Update

Well, this is kind of an "on the spot" posting. Actually, I was thinking about a post that gus van horn linked to about the Leftist Goon Squad practice of "re-shelving" books in bookstores [ a practice both unethical and time-wasting] when I caught a link of his to an old post of mine about what books I'd read in 2004.

So, I thought I'd bestow upon my readers a partial list of the books I've read so far this year, and recommend you check them out.

"The Messenger" by Daniel Silva [perhaps the best of the Gabriel Allon series, so far]
"The Exiles Trilogy" by Ben Bova [an SF oldie but a goodie]
"The Daughter of Time" by Josephine Tey [recommended]
"To Live Forever" by Jack Vance [My all-time favorite SF writer]
"The Sign of the Book" by John Dunning [5th, I think, in the Cliff Janeway series]
The "Sparrowhawk" series by Edward Cline [Wonderful. Highly recommended]

There aren't that many more, as I've been unemployed since February and sadly, still looking for work. I hope to land something soon, however.

Military Religous Freedom Foundation added to Blogroll

I am adding an organization fighting the "evangelicalization" of the military to my blogroll.
Here is a YouTube presentation of why they now exist.

http://www.militaryreligiousfreedom.org/with-god-on-our-side-movie.html

Check them out.

[As an aside, some are now calling the city of Colorado Springs the "Protestant Vatican". And, on a sad note, this organization seems to oppose the all-voluntary armed forces. They believe that this "evangelicalization" started taking place when the military ended the draft.]

Upcoming on CNN: God's Warriors

Later this month, CNN will have a six-hour special [2hrs x 3 nights] on the rise of Jewish, Christian, and Islamic "warriors".
Here's an excerpt from the press release on the shows:

For this documentary, Amanpour reports that during the last 30 years, each faith has exploded into a powerful political force, comprised of followers – “God’s warriors” – who share a deep dissatisfaction with modern society, and a fierce determination to place God and religion back into daily life and to the seats of power. Their political and cultural struggles to save the world from what they view as secular materialism, greed and sexual corruption have caused anger, division and fear.

The first showing is next Tuesday, August 21 at 9PM EST.

http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2007/gods.warriors/

Join the Signers

While touring the US Government official website, I came upon a link where you can download copies of our Charters of Freedom, at the National Archives. Scroll through and you can also sign your name to the Declaration [!] and print that copy.

Here's the link:

http://www.archives.gov/national-archives-experience/charters/declaration.html#more

Birthday Bash

Yesterday was my birthday. We had a fun filled day traveling to southern Connecticut's Mohegan Sun casino to watch the WNBA's Connecticut Sun defeat Seattle 76-58. Looked to be about six or seven thousand folks in attendance. Not bad.
I then hit the slots and won $186 on a nickel machine. Nice. Took that money and ran, unlike most who would just sit there and lose it back again.
I had ordered Harry Potter's last book months ago and last night/this morning at midnight was the official release date, so the wife and I decided on the way home from the casino to go see the costumes and such. One young boy was dressed so good as Harry, it's a shame the movie's were already cast! Others just showed up in there drab and filthy "regular" clothing but with pink hair or blackend this and that. Very little imagination, IMO.
Border's at Westfarms Mall was packed with about 1,000 people in the store when we got there just after midnight this morning. At about 1:45am, book in hand, we were on our way home.
So, with a wallet stuffed full of cash, here I sit, typing to my blog. :-)

Religion vs. Free Speech

Craig Biddle, editor of The Objective Standard, has made his excellent editorial on this subject, available to all. Here is the link:

http://www.theobjectivestandard.com/issues/2006-summer/religion-vs-free-speech.asp

NBA Finals

No doubt San Antonio is the better team, but I was hoping Cleveland at least would show up. So far, it looks like a sweep for the Spurs, but we'll see. Tim Duncan is probably the best player in the world, IMHO. The Cavs, hopefully, are learning a lot and will be around in the playoffs for a few years. Let's see how they play with their own fans and court in Cleveland.

I think it's "funny-scary" too

Noodle Food owner Diana has this link to the Top 100 List of Crazy Quotes from Fundamentalists. #7 left me hysterical, but yes, funny-scary is appropriate...

http://www.dianahsieh.com/blog/2007/05/how-i-learned-to-stop-worrying-and.html

Tongue in Cheek ?

Check out "Sinner's Guide to the Evangelical Right".



http://www.evangelicalright.com/

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25th Anniversary?

If memory serves, it was 1982 when Leonard Peikoff's great philosophy of history work, "The Ominous Parallels: The End of Freedom in America" was published. If so, that makes 2007 the 25th anniversary of that great work.
I hope ARI does something to celebrate that. In fact, I may write to them about it.

SinoDefense.com: Exposing the Military Power of China

I stumbled upon this website while browsing Amazon, of all places. The web "master" of this site looks like -- at first blush -- to have a keen grip on what China is doing to become a world superpower. Perhaps the only superpower............
At best, the opinions on this site are a mixture, but worth giving a look.
Here's one headline story that caught my eye:

Russian Helicopter Manufacturer Eyes Chinese Market

I've added it to my blog roll. Check out some books recommended.

In China's Shadow: The Crisis of American Entrepreneurship by Reed Hundt

Taiwan: The Threatened Democracy by Bruce Herchensohn

Lewis talk rescheduled @ GMU for April

Quoting Craig Biddle @ The Objective Standard:



To the credit of George Mason University's administration, the school

has decided not to submit to the "will of Allah" or to "his" followers

on earth.



The talk, "No Substitute for Victory: The Defeat of Islamic Totalitarianism" one of the most important speeches a university student could possibly hear, has been set up for April 24, 2007 at 7:30pm.



Here's a PDF of the flyer:



https://www.theobjectivestandard.com/blog/_files/2007-04-24-flyer.pdf

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The Lives of Others

saw the director of this Oscar winning foreign film on Charlie Rose, before the Oscars, and knew immediately this is one film worth getting a.s.a.p.

Here's Scott Holleran's review at Box Office Mojo:



http://www.boxofficemojo.com/reviews/?id=2263 />

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2007 Marks the 50th Anniversary of Atlas Shrugged

...and right off the bat we have a christian critique of the novel! Ha. I'll be starting my LTE to the Monitor very soon.

[Hat tip: Noodle Food]



http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0306/p09s01-coop.html?page=1

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