Mikee

Ellen, "I don't really know what to say to those who feel that they found an Ideal which attracts them in Roark. I'd like to understand what it is that appeals to them so much." I haven't read The Fountainhead since Ayn Rand died. But while she was alive I read it perhaps five or six times. Atlas Shrugged only twice. Anthem three or four times. It is not that Roark is an "ideal" but he is the most real character to me. You say he is missing a "dimension", I'm sure you mean that he does not relate to people the way you think he ought to. He does not try to "help" Dominick for instance. ALL of people's difficulty's are self made. There is no helping anyone. I am an engineer. I find reality, nature, the world interesting and very comfortable. Roark is sane. All of the real "problems" of living on this earth have been solved long ago. The remaining problems are human made because people are insane. Engineers are considered "geeks" because they "live in their own world", they think about things no one else cares about. What they're thinking about are the solutions to the REAL problems on this earth. Other people don't want to hear what they have to say because they are not interested in real problems. Even objectivist's spend all of their time bickering over nonsense. Interminal long purposeless arguments about determinism, bitter disputes about Ayn Rand's "moral perfection". All totally pointless.

I can only think that there must have been an analogy to Roark-Keating in Ayn Rand's own life. "Keating the man is pretty annoying to Roark, but Keating's artistic problems are worth solving in their own right." That seems right on the mark to me. "As a portrait of a driven artist, Roark is thoroughly convincing to me. As an example of a perfectly healthy human psyche? Not so much." Mmmm. I don't agree with this. Roark is my favorite Rand character.

ge·sund·heit interj. Used to wish good health to a person who has just sneezed. I suppose you could just say "Stay home with that!"

gesundheit!

Still researching. Here's a scary site: http://www.thecre.com/ This is the "Center for Regulatory Effectiveness" in Washington DC Some of their Topics: "Regulation by Litigation" ("Regulation by Litigation is the use of Federal litigation by private or public parties to achieve policy goals that could not be achieved through the legislative or regulatory processes." "Regulation by Appropriation" ("In Regulation by Appropriation, the CRE addresses administrative controls placed on the rulemaking process throughout the U.S. government over the last decade. These controls have given federal agencies incentive to seek alternative methods of regulation, such as through the appropriations process.") "Regulation by Information" ("Regulation by Information is one of three types of Off-Register Regulation identified by the CRE. In Regulation by Information, the CRE addresses agencies' use of the internet as a powerful new regulatory tool,..") Very brave souls enter here... Mikee

I'm motivated to do a little research on my previous speculations. I've so far found one interesting article here: http://www.leaonline.com/doi/abs/10.1207/S...327825MCS0404_7 This article is actually PRO government but looks like it does a good job of backround of government in media. Gotta go now. More later. Inky, like your picture. Is there going to be a gallery of your stuff? I remember your picture from solohq. Great! You have talent to spare. Runs in the family I hear.

Mike and Kat, I think the situation is even worse. There are many "ads" from this or that organization, presumably "volunteer" or "citizen" based that propagandize for this or that: " stop smoking", "clean environment", "childrens safety" that I believe are funded by tax money. I've also read that even sit-coms are encouraged to "write in" endorsements for this or that government program or politically correct stance in exchange for lighter censorship of their content. Sorry I don't have any "proof" of this but I've read about it somewhere and I wouldn't put it past the "powers that be". Please convince me that this is an "urban legend" and I will sleep better.

Register? You have to register? Isn't "Guest" [the first one] and INKY the same person? And wouldn't that be one of Kat's kittens? [note: location: "down the hall"]. Just figurin' stuff out. Mike E.