Fukushima is or isn't a threat to the Northern Hemisphere, to begin with...

[Brant Gaede]

What a relief you got relief!

--Brant

[BaalChatzaf]

Ba'al,

I don't really want to argue with you about this. I am not surprised that the Chernobyl situation is worsening too. My impression as someone whose understanding of many things including nuclear physics and the dangers of radiation is naturally limited is that whatever products of the earthquake and tsunami damage in Fukushima are finding their way beyond the Japanese territory via the winds and the waves to our shores. I imagine there may as well be radiation in the parts within the vehicles shipped into our markets and in the tuna in the little cans on our supermarket shelves. I shudder at the prospect of our children and grandchildren setting off Geiger counters revealing that they have inhaled or ingested one or more of the long list of radioactive particles or elements of which Helen Caldicott speaks.

It is disconcerting that the establishment chooses to keep the details from the public, no doubt so as not to cause a panic, after all there is precious little one can do to stop the influx.

Look. If Chernobyl didn't radiate us to death neither will Fukishima. The amount of radiation released in 1986 was greater than that released by the A-bomb that zapped Hiroshima.

If you spend more than two days within ten clicks of Chernobyl your rad-badge will turn black. When I said the area is hot, I meant it. The Geiger counter clicks loudly and often in the neighborhood of Chernobyl.

You are worrying needlessly.

Anyone who believed Ron Paul had a chance is likely to believe the sky is falling.

Ba'al Chatzaf

[Selene]

[GALTGULCH8]

"You are worrying needlessly.

Anyone who believed Ron Paul had a chance is likely to believe the sky is falling."

Ba'al,

Look, if I want to worry I think I have a right to do so. Besides, it is probably part of my cultural heritage to do so, if not in my genetic makeup. In any case I have a precious grandson who has an otherwise promising future, if not for the mess being made of this good Earth and this once free country.

The latest wisdom is that Ron Paul is resting up for his run in 2016. Evidently he comes from a family which is endowed with longevity. I expect that he will at least run in the primaries but I hope that wiser heads within the movement will prevail so we will have a more rational alternative who not only is for a free market and limited constitutional government with sound money, but also does not think a fertilized ovum is a person.

I also hope that a way will be found to raise far less revenue than a national consumption tax which Gary Johnson has in mind.

[BaalChatzaf]

The latest wisdom is that Ron Paul is resting up for his run in 2016. Evidently he comes from a family which is endowed with longevity. I expect that he will at least run in the primaries but I hope that wiser heads within the movement will prevail so we will have a more rational alternative who not only is for a free market and limited constitutional government with sound money, but also does not think a fertilized ovum is a person.

Ron Paul will be close to 80 by then and he still won't stand a chance.

The sky is not falling. It already fell.

Ba'al Chatzaf

[GALTGULCH8]

Ba'al,

Are you aware of the movements on the college campuses which have been growing fast if not exponentially? One is entitled Students For Liberty and they have regional conferences all over the country and around the world as well! Another is called Young Americans For Liberty and they also are growing on more campuses.

The Atlas Society has formed an alliance with SFL which will help the students who join to learn the right stuff.

There is even a movement among youngsters too young to vote called "I am tomorrow" www.im2moro.com

So I have no doubt that in a few years their numbers and influence will be impressive as they grow and reach an entire new generation but of course they will influence and enlighten their parents too.

So I would not give up on Ron Paul.

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

"You are worrying needlessly.

Anyone who believed Ron Paul had a chance is likely to believe the sky is falling."

Ba'al,

Look, if I want to worry I think I have a right to do so.

Gulch,

There's a reason I like you as much as I do.

Total refusal to be intimidated, but still polite.

That's as cool as all get out. I mean it.

Michael

[GALTGULCH8]

Michael,

Thank you. I think we are involved in a race against time to enlighten enough of our fellow inhabitants on this fragile planet. We all know that there are evil power lusters in this world and in our own country. It is shocking that so many unfortunate people are stuck having been born in primitive stone age cultures or the like and have to struggle to survive in places like North Korea or Somalia or so many other dictatorships. Freedom is rare and we are fortunate to have lived here which I envision as the last barricade in the defense of liberty.

The picture of our president bowing to so many tyrants is nauseating. He clearly has been indoctrinated in his upbringing by the leftist agenda and whatever passes for the ethical justification of their policies. He is savvy enough to use his rhetorical skills to further his agenda without revealing himself to be the kind of socialist he is. That he has won over so many Americans who see themselves as better off because of his presidency is mind boggling. It reflects in part the failure of the public school system which has not educated their students properly or taught them to think and judge and question, but then again maybe that was their goal.

Ayn Rand clarified that we are alive at a time when competing ideologies are at war and most people are completely unaware of that and are a kind of ballast rather than a warrior in that struggle.

There are so many millions of people here who fall in the category of being unenlightened. The antidote is known and there is a growing number of young people who are aware of it although they are still a vanishingly tiny percentage of the population. I posted on the Daily Paul site today and mentioned your website as one major source of information about Objectivism. Rand used to point out that some concepts in the realm of religion do apply in reality but not in the way meant by the religionists. In that spirit I will say that you are doing God's work in spreading the truth which will surely set mankind free someday in the future.

Thanks again.

[BaalChatzaf]

Ba'al,

Are you aware of the movements on the college campuses which have been growing fast if not exponentially? One is entitled Students For Liberty and they have regional conferences all over the country and around the world as well! Another is called Young Americans For Liberty and they also are growing on more campuses.

The Atlas Society has formed an alliance with SFL which will help the students who join to learn the right stuff.

There is even a movement among youngsters too young to vote called "I am tomorrow" www.im2moro.com

So I have no doubt that in a few years their numbers and influence will be impressive as they grow and reach an entire new generation but of course they will influence and enlighten their parents too.

So I would not give up on Ron Paul.

When it comes to predictions of exponential growth, you have a poor track record. With all due disrespect, I simply cannot take you too seriously.

By the way, are you familiar with the old fable about the boy who cried wolf?

Ba'al Chatzaf

[GALTGULCH8]

"By the way, are you familiar with the old fable about the boy who cried wolf?

Ba'al Chatzaf "

I am sure you are familiar with the aphorism attributed to Edmund Burke that "Evil men only succeed when good men do nothing." Perhaps you agree that there are evil people in this world who hate America for one reason or another and want to see it destroyed.

The West used to worry about the Soviet Union until it fell apart from within because of the mistaken premises upon which it was based, those of socialism. We could have told them it would not work, it has been tried over and over and has never succeeded.

Nazi is short for national socialism which was also based on notions which demanded human sacrifice. Hannah Arendt pointed out that once Hitler eradicated the Jewish people, having already dispensed with the gypsies, the mentally ill and the physically unfit, the process of extermination would have continued using one criterion after another. That threat has been almost abolished except where it exists in small pockets under rocks here and there.

The Chinese managed to destroy a number in the tens of millions who opposed them but has evolved to the point where they have adopted some market processes and temporary recognition of property rights or at least the appearance of that, and they continue to benefit from trade with the West so they are not eager to destroy America yet.

Out of the 1.3 trillion Islamic peoples only a small percentage want to establish Sharia law worldwide. Unfortunately that small number are clerics who indoctrinate their followers and children in Madrasses funded by Saudi Arabia our ally. Iran is led by such clerics with Ahmadinijad as their pawn and puppet. He threatens to destroy Israel and America but I doubt that many of the Iranian people support such goals. The govt there will try to get us to attack them so they can rally their people against us.

I have no crystal ball but doubt the outcome of this election in the US will make much difference. Both will oppose war with Iran but sooner or later will justify it and expect it will happen. I suspect the military industrial complex here will see to it that the wars never end. Its good for their business and retirement plans.

I do think that Gary Johnson would not be as eager to go to war with Iran as Romney or Obama. Perhaps his videos will reach enough people before the election for him to get over 5 % and thereby assure a place in the 2016 election for the LP candidate if he or she would accept matching funds.

[jts]

Ba'al,

Are you aware of the movements on the college campuses which have been growing fast if not exponentially? One is entitled Students For Liberty and they have regional conferences all over the country and around the world as well! Another is called Young Americans For Liberty and they also are growing on more campuses.

The Atlas Society has formed an alliance with SFL which will help the students who join to learn the right stuff.

There is even a movement among youngsters too young to vote called "I am tomorrow" www.im2moro.com

So I have no doubt that in a few years their numbers and influence will be impressive as they grow and reach an entire new generation but of course they will influence and enlighten their parents too.

So I would not give up on Ron Paul.

When it comes to predictions of exponential growth, you have a poor track record. With all due disrespect, I simply cannot take you too seriously.

If instead of Obama vs Romney, if it was Obama vs Romney vs Ron Paul, a 3-way debate instead of a 2-way debate, Ron Paul would kick ass and he would make both of them look like a horse's ass. Ron Paul kicked ass in all the debates he was in, even when he didn't get his share of the time. He would gain votes, not enough to win the election. But the main thing he would achieve would be education of the voters which would be a gain in the long term campaign for freedom. Think of a game of football where you don't straight away score a touchdown but you gain yards.

Politics is not physics. Physics is about predictions. Politics is about making things happen, not predicting. Ron Paul, Gary Johnson, and other free market candidates have zero chance of winning, given current philosophy and trends. But that is not the point. The point is -changing- that. You can't change physics (how the cosmos works) but you can change politics (people's philosophical ideas).

Think action, not prediction. Think what can you do, not what can you passively observe and predict. The future will be the total result of actions and interactions of millions of people, a few (Ayn Rand etc.) with major influence.

[BaalChatzaf]

If instead of Obama vs Romney, if it was Obama vs Romney vs Ron Paul, a 3-way debate instead of a 2-way debate, Ron Paul would kick ass and he would make both of them look like a horse's ass. Ron Paul kicked ass in all the debates he was in, even when he didn't get his share of the time. He would gain votes, not enough to win the election. But the main thing he would achieve would be education of the voters which would be a gain in the long term campaign for freedom. Think of a game of football where you don't straight away score a touchdown but you gain yards.

There is nothing quite as useless and a counterfactual definite. Ron Paul had his chance during the primaries. He failed.

Ba'al Chatzaf

[anthony]

If instead of Obama vs Romney, if it was Obama vs Romney vs Ron Paul, a 3-way debate instead of a 2-way debate, Ron Paul would kick ass and he would make both of them look like a horse's ass. Ron Paul kicked ass in all the debates he was in, even when he didn't get his share of the time. He would gain votes, not enough to win the election. But the main thing he would achieve would be education of the voters which would be a gain in the long term campaign for freedom. Think of a game of football where you don't straight away score a touchdown but you gain yards.

Politics is not physics. Physics is about predictions. Politics is about making things happen, not predicting. Ron Paul, Gary Johnson, and other free market candidates have zero chance of winning, given current philosophy and trends. But that is not the point. The point is -changing- that. You can't change physics (how the cosmos works) but you can change politics (people's philosophical ideas).

Think action, not prediction. Think what can you do, not what can you passively observe and predict. The future will be the total result of actions and interactions of millions of people, a few (Ayn Rand etc.) with major influence.

jts, Serious question. Why do you show so little of your honest thinking?

When you do, you're damn good.

[jts]

If instead of Obama vs Romney, if it was Obama vs Romney vs Ron Paul, a 3-way debate instead of a 2-way debate, Ron Paul would kick ass and he would make both of them look like a horse's ass. Ron Paul kicked ass in all the debates he was in, even when he didn't get his share of the time. He would gain votes, not enough to win the election. But the main thing he would achieve would be education of the voters which would be a gain in the long term campaign for freedom. Think of a game of football where you don't straight away score a touchdown but you gain yards.

There is nothing quite as useless and a counterfactual definite. Ron Paul had his chance during the primaries. He failed.

Ba'al Chatzaf

Ron Paul is retired. So what? He maybe achieved a yard or 2 in the football game. More champions of freedom will arise.

Do you quit with the first bump in the road? If you get thrown by a horse, do you quit riding horses? Did Bobby Fischer quit chess the first time he lost a game of chess? Did you expect the achievement of freedom to be easy? Did you expect freedom to be achieved in one generation?

Perhaps one of the failings of asperger types is they are so focussed on details that they fail to see the bigger picture.

Perhaps another failing of asperger types is they are so focussed on facts (what is) that they fail to see possibilities (what could be done). Like for example before the airplane was invented by the Wright brothers, an asperger type might point out the obvious fact that nobody ever made a flying machine, end of the subject for the asperger type.

[GALTGULCH8]

jts,

I don't think your description of a certain mentality is limited to those with Asperger's syndrome.

[GALTGULCH8]

You will not find this in the main stream news. Listening to Dr. Caldicott is very sobering. I warn you to think twice before you watch this video. She does not pull any punches. She is an Australian physician. Beware.

http://tinyurl.com/czka6nk