algernonsidney

Ted only calls someone a journalist if they agree with him 100%. Anyone who disagrees with him is a terrorist. Even though Ted has admitted elsewhere that he has actually been a victim of pig brutality, he still loves the pigs when they are beating up on people who disagree with him.

Mark, We can go on and on about facts regarding the long sordid history of American imperialism. We both know the facts. We also know that apologists for imperialism generally ignore all facts, except for the few that support imperialist ideas. As Ricky Fitts said in American Beauty: "Never underestimate the power of denial." Just as the alcoholic derives an emotional benefit from drinking, the advocate of imperialism also derives some type of benefit from believing in American imperialism. Championing the empire gives him some kind of comfort. It makes him feel good. He gets a "fix" from it, and that fix is extremely important to him. Can you reason with an alcoholic? Hell, no. Can you reason with an imperialist? I've been trying for years. It's a lost cause. For imperialists, there is an emotional payoff in believing in their delusions. The only thing we can do is help them find an emotional payoff from something else. They will never accept the facts.

That's fine. It's just that I have heard other people make those kind of comments about people they have never met.

Is that based on personal contact? I've never met him. I've known way too many activists who are "personally obnoxious." Quite a few called themselves "Objectivists."

I didn't mind their article on Browne all that much. They seemed to have adopted a vendetta against Ron Paul--not sure what has motivated this one, unless they are looking for acceptance by the establishment. And Raimondo's comments have definitely swayed me against it as well. I'm actually hearing from some long-time subscribers that they have already given up on it as well. I will give a little cash cash to antiwar.com instead.

When my next renewal comes, I will be ending my subscription to REASON magazine. I have subscribed since 1994. I don't seem to have much time to read the magazine itself anymore, but do check out the web site now and then. Even though I haven't read it that much, I still felt that I should support it with a subscription. The "final straw" was this piece of garbage on the web site: http://www.reason.com/news/show/128200.html It's an article defending the drinking age of 21. The author even hints at increasing it. Some people tell me it's been going downhill since Marty Zupan left the magazine.

Back in early 2005, I decided to take some acting classes here in Austin. Austin has a small scene compared to LA, of course. But quite a few movies get made here, and quite a few entertainers live here. I took a class from a guy named Van Brooks and had an absolutely wonderful time. I had never done anything like it back in school. In February 2005, I took a weekend workshop simply called The Mastery. Van told us that the workshop had been created by his mentor Dan Fauci. Dan leads the workshop in LA and has mentored other Mastery leaders around the world. It takes a special person to lead the workshop. I've done lots of "success", "self-help", "growth workshops," etc. The Mastery is the only such workshop that I recommend with enthusiasm. It is the only one which holds you accountable for creating your own victories. You truly get out of the workshop what you put into it. I got to meet Dan Fauci at the follow-up workshop here in Austin in October 2006. It's called Leadership and has a lot of the same power as the Mastery. You have to do the Mastery to do Leadership. During that weekend, Dan told me that he appears in the softball game photo in The Passion of Ayn Rand. I then realized that Ayn Rand's influence is definitely there. I did the Mastery again this last weekend. It was another great weekend with more great memories. Dan Fauci says: “Most people are naturally creative and are somehow aware that they’ve cut off this unique part of themselves. The purpose of the Mastery is to discover that you create your own creativity. At each moment you have the choice of turning it on or off. Making the creative alternative available is the goal of everything we do at The Actors Institute.” Here is a web site with sites and dates: http://www.themasteryworkshops.com/ Here is another web site with testimonials from people like Ted Danson: http://www.thefaucimastery.com/index.html