Reason and Liberty Central

An as for me I will Kill anyone that trys to make ...

2009-11-10T17:58:30.594-05:00

An as for me I will Kill anyone that trys to make me do something I do not wish to do I run my on Life they better bring BODY bags with them because that is the only way I will go If I choose to stay and they better bring more than one because I will take as many of them with me that I possibly can!

Yarbrough is worst then his father ever was his fa...

2009-11-10T17:50:31.832-05:00

Yarbrough is worst then his father ever was his father was a thief and ran away to veniswala but they brought him back the law did and slap him on the wrist and let him off Scott free all of this was in the late 1960s and you cannot find any of it on record know where! the goverment choose to seal all records of this and to cover it up But I remember the head lines in the news back in the 60s.

Hard to speculate with the facts available, but lo...

2009-10-23T11:20:37.708-04:00

Hard to speculate with the facts available, but looking at his relationships Polanski simply likes younger women. And he probably thought he could get away with it. Her mother practically dumped her on his casting couch, so maybe he thought that's the reward for getting her into a magazine. One might think it was in fact a blackmailing scheme, and Polanski refused to pay up. That would explain why the "rape victim" defends him so much. She knows she entrapped him, but can't admit it without her mom and possibly herself going to jail. Polanski sure deserves an award for the sleaziest seduction techniques and maybe a month or two in jail for gross lack of judgment, as the DA originally recommended, but then the judge decided to throw the book at Polanski for publicity reasons, and now he's going to get extradited, tried, and sentenced in the middle of a moral panic about pedophilia.

I started reading your posts from the top down, an...

2009-10-23T01:16:20.616-04:00

I started reading your posts from the top down, and when I read the first one, I was thinking, "But you can't really have an age decided for the statutory rape law. It should be done on an individual basis! Just cause the girl feels sorry for having sex or wants to use it to her advantage, they shouldn't let a man get screwed for it."

And then I read your third post (or should I say, the first of the three you've written on the Polanski case.) :-)

That's it for the legal part. Now, let's talk individual preferences. What possibly could Polanski have wanted from that pre-teen girl on an emotional level? If nothing, then why waste your time wooing someone you don't want anythind to do with? Wouldn't you just get a hooker, use condoms, and call it a day?

I mean, I understand some people's need for a one-night stand, but seriously, is it worth going to jail for?

It seems to me that all the negative vibes this bl...

2009-10-19T20:41:46.757-04:00

It seems to me that all the negative vibes this blowhard (Rush Hudson Limbaugh A.KA. Jeff Christie) has been spewing over these many years has come back to blow back on his face (A classic “Blow Back”). He always tries to give off the airs that he can have anything he wants but as we all witness those with more money and more influence tossed him aside like sack of potatoes and the ultimate insult was that it was done in public (money don’t buy you everything butterball).

Now of course he blames everyone else (Michael J. Fox, Perez Hilton, Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, Obama, Oprah Winfrey, Sonia Sotomayor, Hillary Clinton, Olympia Snowe, ESPN, NFL, the media, basically people of color, the handicapped, women and gays) when of course all you have to do is listen to his show and plainly hear his daily prejudices filled sermons. So NFL, I salute you decision, job well done. And to the whaling cry baby perched on his self made pedestal, quit your whining it was your own fault. He is reaping what he has sowed, KARMA, "palin and simple" like his followers. Don’t we all feel better?

Haha, absolutely! These idiots spend millions of d...

2009-05-11T12:31:00.000-04:00

Haha, absolutely! These idiots spend millions of dollars "honoring" and commemorating dead people and ignore what's going on with living people.

Imagine what could be the point of all the fuss when the only thing they need to do to make things better is do nothing and let people take care of their own mess?

Thanks, glad to be entertaining. How would Charlie...

2009-04-15T19:27:00.000-04:00

Thanks, glad to be entertaining. How would Charlie Chaplin have put it? "A day without rolling on the floor laughing is a lost day."

ROFPMPLMMFAO!Awesome.

2009-04-11T02:02:00.000-04:00

*ROFPMPLMMFAO!*
Awesome.

A truly shocking assertion from a fool who doesn't...

2009-04-11T01:43:00.000-04:00

A truly shocking assertion from a fool who doesn't think kicking chicken-hawks out of the priesthood could resolve his organization's raging pederast problem, but shuffling them around to new venues where they can continue it will.
(removes tongue from cheek)

http://www.johnhanson.net/ John Hanson (1715-1783)...

2009-03-13T15:40:00.000-04:00

http://www.johnhanson.net/ John Hanson (1715-1783) was the first president (1780-1783) of the United States under the Confederation before the Constitution. He was an Oldenburg Moor, a black nobleman, and he, like, Elijah-Baptist-Mehdi, went to heaven in a chariot of fire and never died. He has returned as Obama!

"Does he expect the HR manager at Fannie Mae to go...

2009-02-16T15:32:00.000-05:00

"Does he expect the HR manager at Fannie Mae to go around the whole of US to find an 'American' rather than just go through the applications he receives and decide what's best for him?"

I'm afraid your irony would be lost on him: What you wrote is exactly what he expects employers to do for the sake of their collective. He does expect them to go those thousands of extra miles all around the country to find a member of their tribe for the job.

The best, or rather, worst part is that according to the byline, that clown used to be an immigration inspector. Talk about setting a fox to keep the geese.

And yes, badasses are desperately needed in America, like in all other countries.

Oh, one last observation. This guy sounded awfully...

2009-02-13T08:10:00.000-05:00

Oh, one last observation. This guy sounded awfully similar to a lot of racist jackasses in India.

You know, most Indians try to use cases of "apparent" moral depravity -- alcoholism, teen pregnancy, live-in relationships, etc. -- to point out how screwed up American culture is, and to justify to themselves here why India is a much better place for them to live.

Such people are one of the prime reasons why I want to get away from here.

Wow, either he's one of the dumbest guys to ever g...

2009-02-13T08:05:00.000-05:00

Wow, either he's one of the dumbest guys to ever get promoted to the "Contributing Editor's" position -- in which case, it makes me want to come to America even more; I mean, if he can become a contributing editor, I can bloody become the President or something -- or one hell of an evil son-of-a-bitch around.

What a dumb question: is there seriously no American who could do that job?

Does he expect the HR manager at Fannie Mae to go around the whole of US to find an "American" rather than just go through the applications he receives and decide what's best for him?

Thanks for the link; I think that was one of the f...

2009-01-20T17:28:00.000-05:00

Thanks for the link; I think that was one of the first posts I read back when I first got to your blog.

"Perhaps it is your own need to have someone who never judges you and stays on your side no matter what!"

Yes, that's exactly the point.

Deplorably, while it may no longer be as extreme as in the "Orient," this kind of thing is alive and well in the "West" as well.

The Donald (or as he's called now, Joe Roberts), an intelligent man who ought to know better, not only blogs about it, but also staffs his companies by the same principle as Ali Kerim Bey in "From Russia with Love."

Hey Alex,I think this irrationality is actually a ...

2009-01-20T02:05:00.000-05:00

Hey Alex,

I think this irrationality is actually a product of the "orient." You see, blind loyalty for one's family is a very (very very) strong emotion in almost all eastern cultures. You know, if you study the relationship patterns in India or any other eastern country, you'd actually feel like it's a whole different planet.

I wrote a post about it sometime last year. Check it out when you have the time; here's the link (some more self-promotion ;-)): http://myunsaidthoughts.wordpress.com/2008/04/22/relationships-in-india/

Reminds me of a comic strip I came across the othe...

2009-01-18T14:07:00.000-05:00

Reminds me of a comic strip I came across the other day. (Here not being enough space, I'll append it to the main post.) I would give my seat to old people, or disabled people, or maybe even to pregnant women (see the strip for that), but just women qua women?

hah, nice one! You know we have a stupid concept o...

2009-01-16T02:02:00.000-05:00

hah, nice one! You know we have a stupid concept of reserving seats for women in the bus. A woman can actually ask a man to get up from the seat if it falls under the "women only" category.

Every time I see something like that happening, I think, "do these morons even understand the concept of 'equal rights?'"

Same goes for the concept of reservation for jobs in India. Those seats would be awarded only to those who get classified as "backward class". And here's the bummer: they call it "equal opportunity for employment" :)

Hey, thanks!

2009-01-12T15:48:00.000-05:00

Hey, thanks!

Sounds like you're about as enamored with soon-to-...

2009-01-07T23:48:00.000-05:00

Sounds like you're about as enamored with soon-to-be-ex-Prez. Johnny-Reb as I am, and quite possibly less.
Too freaking bad Pink Floyd broke up, they could probably do those lyrics justice.

Thanks, glad you like it. Alex

2008-12-08T15:33:00.000-05:00

Thanks, glad you like it.

Alex

Very good! Being that I am a bi poly native of ea...

2008-12-08T01:29:00.000-05:00

Very good! Being that I am a bi poly native of east Tennessee (years since relocated to the DC area) it really resonates for me.

"The key weakness in your argument which your clar...

2008-11-25T16:59:00.000-05:00

"The key weakness in your argument which your clarification makes clear, lies in the phrase 'taking control of a resource.' "

I deliberately left that vague, because I was focusing on the people's anti-capitalist double standard. People tend to condemn any private takeover of anything and to applaud any government takeover of anything, in either case no matter what the means used to effect it.

"Do you maintain that public or collective ownership is not possible and therefore does not exist?"

"The correct behavior for an 'industrialist' is to come and negotiate with the people on a fair basis for access to their aquifer."

Land is owned by the one who makes it useful. Just happening to live near a resource means nothing.

If you clear a field or build a house on unowned land, you establish ownership of that lot, and presumably of everything under and above it. Yet water and oil are bitches of a resource, as they're liquid and don't stay under your land.

The people in your example do not own the aquifer. The Ogallala Aquifer, for example, extends under several states, and it would be quite unfair to say that the first farmer or "community" that drills into it owns the whole aquifer. That would be like saying that all America belongs to the heirs of the first Indian that built a teepee on the continent.

Everybody has a right to improve unowned land by building a derrick on it and then tap the underlying aquifer. If that means that the community ends up high and dry one day, too bad — they had no better right to the water and thus cannot justify using force against the competition.

"By the principle or heuristic of 'treat others as you would be treated,' I would not do it to some other town and therefore I feel quite safe in condemning this behavior."

Deplorably, the golden rule doesn't work, as preferences vary. Behavior that one man may condemn might be great fun to another, like, for example, a masochist. If he wants to be tortured, that does not give him the right to treat others as he would want to be treated.

"not that you care of course."

The less you tell me what "we" should do, and the more arguments of your own you give me, the more I care.

"You may take objection to my use of terminology"

No — why?

"but I really don't care."

Good for you.

"What it comes down to is this: Objectivism is a fine start. It is not the end and it is not sufficient for the development of a mature human being. It's a stop along the way perhaps and it is important to pick up and move on after you've gained everything you can from it."

Agreed.

"I applaud your enthusiasm for Reason and Liberty."

Thanks.

* * *

"As you may notice, everybody have their own version of that story, so maybe neither me nor you have all 'facts straight'?"

Maybe. Yet I found it striking that the first source I checked (not that Wikipedia is much of a source) completely exonerated the capitalists.

"Who was the contractor to build that dam, and what was the price?"

If I recall that correctly, that dam was forced on the company by a corrupt local politician.

"The information is one of the resources, which those bad guys took control over."

So maybe a Bechtel employee wrote that Wikipedia article? Maybe. But usually information in the media has a decidedly leftist slant, so I doubt the "bad" guys would get away with it.

"As for the Bolivian water story, it's Oleg who do...

2008-11-25T05:06:00.000-05:00

"As for the Bolivian water story, it's Oleg who doesn't have his facts straight."

As you may notice, everybody have their own version of that story, so maybe neither me nor you have all "facts straight"?

Who was the contractor to build that dam, and what was the price? Maybe it was possible to find a good contractor to build everything needed for a half of it? Or simply there was no choice, because Aguas del Tunari was controlled by Bechtel?

By the way, do you know something about other Bechtel's projects? Like CANOIL, for example? It's just as funny as Sarah Palin's road and bridge to nowhere... Or maybe that was another Bechtel project?

Isn't that you who said "All that capitalists do is take control of resources or goods — of course by violent, fraudulent, or otherwise shady means — and double the price on consumers". I do understand that was a sarcasm, but hey, take a look at the reality, it's all there.

And one more iteration. The information is one of the resources, which those bad guys took control over.

Oleg

First of all, it's quite plain from reading all of...

2008-11-24T19:52:00.000-05:00

First of all, it's quite plain from reading all of her works, that Ayn Rand - like most people - confuses "capitalism" with "free enterprise", the economic system Adam Smith advocated. Were Smith's system ever tried, ANYONE would be free to start a business and prosper, without having to contend with reams of restrictions dictated by the children of those who were successful via government. I believe ALL forms of socialism are evil, including those fabricated to redistribute the wealth labor has earned to those already wealthy, and reward political backers, oil tycoons and bankers at the expense of everyone else.
Steven Smith's assertion of some form of "collective ownership" is just another form of this kind of cronyism: When "everything belongs to everyone" nothing really belongs to anyone, except the tiny minority in power holding guns on the rest of "us".

I stand by my statement. The key weakness in your...

2008-11-24T19:14:00.000-05:00

I stand by my statement. The key weakness in your argument which your clarification makes clear, lies in the phrase "taking control of a resource." It presumes what, exactly? That the people did not control it or did not have a valid claim to it? Who is to adjudicate a dispute? Do you maintain that public or collective ownership is not possible and therefore does not exist? That is quite a different matter from whether it is advisable or not.

We can split hairs on how collective claims may manifest or the nature of such property rights (or claims as they are more accurately called) but there is another simpler and more subtle and probably quite superior way of approaching this ethical problem.

That is simply this: I would not want someone to come to my town and drain all the water in the aquifer we have been using into a hidden tunnel then charge me for access to it. By the principle or heuristic of "treat others as you would be treated," I would not do it to some other town and therefore I feel quite safe in condemning this behavior.

The correct behavior for an "industrialist" is to come and negotiate with the people on a fair basis for access to their aquifer.

Your ethics may take a different view. To the extent your ethics are in accord with Objectivism, then I would say that does not recommend Objectivism to me -- not that you care of course.

I am more than passingly familiar with the shades and varieties, distinctions and squabbles of the objectivists and their little corner of the generally libertarian patch of the ideological universe. You may take objection to my use of terminology but I really don't care.

What it comes down to is this: Objectivism is a fine start. It is not the end and it is not sufficient for the development of a mature human being. It's a stop along the way perhaps and it is important to pick up and move on after you've gained everything you can from it.

I applaud your enthusiasm for Reason and Liberty.

Steven Talcott Smith

Reason and Liberty Central

An as for me I will Kill anyone that trys to make ...

Yarbrough is worst then his father ever was his fa...

Hard to speculate with the facts available, but lo...

I started reading your posts from the top down, an...

It seems to me that all the negative vibes this bl...

Haha, absolutely! These idiots spend millions of d...

Thanks, glad to be entertaining. How would Charlie...

*ROFPMPLMMFAO!*Awesome.

A truly shocking assertion from a fool who doesn't...

http://www.johnhanson.net/ John Hanson (1715-1783)...

"Does he expect the HR manager at Fannie Mae to go...

Oh, one last observation. This guy sounded awfully...

Wow, either he's one of the dumbest guys to ever g...

Thanks for the link; I think that was one of the f...

Hey Alex,I think this irrationality is actually a ...

Reminds me of a comic strip I came across the othe...

hah, nice one! You know we have a stupid concept o...

Hey, thanks!

Sounds like you're about as enamored with soon-to-...

Thanks, glad you like it. Alex

Very good! Being that I am a bi poly native of ea...

"The key weakness in your argument which your clar...

"As for the Bolivian water story, it's Oleg who do...

First of all, it's quite plain from reading all of...

I stand by my statement. The key weakness in your...

ROFPMPLMMFAO!Awesome.