SherryTX

Well, of course they would pass that. How else they could keep a straight face when talking about their policies?

This certainly may not be GOOD news - but it gave me quite a laugh: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29971638/

Sherry, This could all be happening without our understanding in which case we would perhaps be tempted to rely on the false hope of Obama. Fortunately, although we are in a growing minority, we have a better than average understanding of the premises underlying events and government policies. We have Ayn Rand to thank for that. And through her many of us read the book reviews of some of the works of Ludwig von Mises and others in the Austrian school. We have reason and reality on our side and I am sure that each day our torch is passed on to the brightest among the next generation. I attribute this passing of the torch to the efforts of those involved in the many publications and think tanks which did not exist fifty years ago. The list is long and I fear if I began to list them here I would leave out quite a few. I do appreciate some of the works of various foundations and subscribe to a few of their publications. I do let others know about these entities, e.g. www.fee.org, www.fff.org, www.aynrand.org, www.cato.org, www.atlassociety.com, www.mises.org, www.cafehayek.com. Needless to say the one I like to watch the most is the Campaign For Liberty which is primarily educational but also promises to lead to political action in upcoming future elections. www.campaignforliberty.com 30Mar 11PM 131,709 members The efforts of the Young Americans for Liberty should be acknowledged here as well. Where once there were only forty campuses involved now there are over 125 campus chapters, all quite active. www.YALiberty.org I know what you mean by so much distressing news each day. A few short months ago the C4L only numbered about 6000 when I joined last summer. I am impressed that the ranks of torch bearers, readers of the Austrian economists and Atlas have grown by over 125,000 in so little time. gulch It is promising how many more people seem to be paying attention to the craziness and getting interested in doing something about it. Thanks for the reminder!

Thank you for the link! And yes - that IS good news!!! We often buy used copies of Ayn Rand's works to have on hand to give to others. I tried to get my brother to agree to read Anthem or one of her other novels - I told him I would mail him a copy, but he declined. Oh well! I really like your idea of "paying it forward" or giving the book back. Brilliant!

We don't have a dog - 3 ferrets and 1 cat (plus another cat we are "watching" for my son's friend). Though, I tried to get the ferrets used to a harness so I could take them for a walk, but they looked at me with the "hell, no!" expression. Get a dog. --Brant But there is no poop to clean up in Zumba.

Congrats! =)

Hey all. I have decided for the rest of the night to try to stay away from the news online, and not listen to it on the radio. I love news, and like to be informed, but lately it is nothing but BAD news - either Obama doing something else to kill what little left we have of capitalism, or various family murder-suicides in different parts of the country. I am tired of it. I am not suggesting I will throw my head in the sand for long - but I don't know about you, but I NEED A BREAK! More importantly, I would like to know about something that is going RIGHT. Is there anything good you have to share? I don't care if it is national news, local news, or just something personal that you would like to share? One happy thing: I was able to work on prepositions further with the 9 year old today without her getting too upset. She seems to be getting it, and is less annoyed that we need to work on grammar every day. A small step...but will make my life and hers so much easier if she keeps working on her attitude. Anyone else?

Some very good points. I knew a lot of kids in high school that were bored their last year because they took all the classes that were required to graduate and them some, but there wasn't much left. They had to go to get their last year of English for example, but had to fill up the rest of their schedule with at least a few stupid easy classes because (at that time) you were required to go at least half a day. This could be a good option for those kids that were able to get a lot out of the way successfully the first two or three years of school. I agree though - usually the more education the better. However, if the schools are not giving a worthwhile education (ie., my husband and several other students had to actually petition physics, chem II and biology II class at one high school he attended), I say let them get out so they can move on to something better.

The theorem rests on an axiom that not all men are equal. They may be born that way, but they don't stay that way. Who runs a company matters... the bigger the firm, the more it matters. Why do you think that the American automobile makers are in their present situation? The companies are run by professional managers -- the best that money can buy... but not by entrepreneurs. So, after 50 or 75 years... sooner or later... The last gasp was actually the current generation. I am 60. Atlas Shrugged taught a generation to seek personal freedom. The computer revolution came because computering was (and remains) unregulated. Anyone can be a programmer by claiming to be one. There are no government standards for code. No regulators read your documentation to make sure that it conforms to the law. If we had licensing, registration, and government examinations, we would still be punching cards on mainframes. That's where the automobile manufacturers and the bankers are: punching cards on mainframes. It matters who runs the company. I do agree with the fact it does matter who runs the company. After all - Steve Jobs, in my opinion saved Apple when he came back. The stock goes up and down every time their is a report of his health failing further, but then he makes an appearance to calm the fears. However - I guess I don't know of enough key business men that if they shrugged would make the same impact it did in Atlas Shrugged. But I guess the point of the piece was that "shrugging" to stay under a tax bracket is not the same as what John Galt was doing. However - I can tell you something: for a lot of people, I can understand that. I was burned in 2007 - we made $10K more than the year before and paid $4K more in taxes. What the heck? We are no where near the $250K limit they are talking about, of course, but it is amazing that even with 5 kids, a mortgage and careful planning, how seriously we are considering me just taking the rest of the year off because we are so sick of paying so much in taxes. (Of course, we are still doing the math - don't want to cut off the nose to spite the face of course!)

How to pronounce Ayn Rand's first name being A MATTER OF DEBATE? I guess that if one's only exposure to Rand were through the printed page, that might be an understandable error. (Though one can find written documentation of Rand's pronunciation, also.) But for a speaker at an Atlas Shrugged 50th anniversary celebration? Ignorance... Bill P I can excuse people that have only been exposed to it through the written word. Myself, and others I have known wasn't sure - until we were correct by those that knew better. But then again, none of these people acted like they were knowledgeable enough about Ayn Rand's works to go on tv and mispronounce her name hahah. I guess that is why it bothers me. Some research people! Doesn't Michelle Malkin have an intern???

Darrell, The link didn't work for me, but I did find this one, and I think it is referring to the article you read: http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,...1857336,00.html Now, I grew up and went to school in NH, including a few years of college. I would have WELCOMED the idea back then. I was so ready to be done with high school by my junior year, and ended up having 1.5 senior years because I just was burnt out, didn't graduate and got my GED. However, knowing where I was at when I was a junior, I would have definitely chose the early college option. There is a market for high school students at a lot of community colleges. In fact, I had a friend in high school that went to an "early college" for her last year of high school http://www.simons-rock.edu/ The community college my son and husband attend often have high school kids take classes there in the summer and sometimes during the school year while they are still in college. My only concern - will the high schools start focusing on only "teaching to the tests"? We have a huge problem with that here in TX. Kids are required to take TAKS tests, and if they do not do well in some of the grades, they are required to stay back if they fail one or two of the TAKS subjects NO MATTER what their grade is over all or in those courses. It gets very intense starting in 3rd grade, and is intense again in 5th grade, and seems to be the worst in the 10th and 11th grade. If you don't pass the final tests you are not allowed to graduate. These test have caused great distress to the students. My daughter in 5th grade used to agonize over the tests in 3rd grade. She has always done well, and we were able to finally convince her that the test is a formality, and all she had to do was pass; this kid (before this last term) has always had an A average, and has been in the gifted program for a few years now. Yet the tests stressed her out. She doesn't any more. But she also has made several comments how her teacher, especially this year, has not taught everything he had planned because he was so focused on teaching to the test. She doesn't sweat them any more, but I can tell you the teachers sure do! My 9 year old was in third grade earlier this year before we pulled her out for homeschooling. She is also in the gifted program and adores math. However, she was forced to go to tutoring for about two months AFTER school (her and it looked like half the 3rd and 5th graders) because she got a score that was a couple points below what they liked to see - this wasn't even on the math TAKS mock test (oh yes - they do mock tests a few times a year to practice taking the test), but another test that was similar. At first she liked it because she eats math up. However, after a few sessions she hated it because she already knew what they were going over and was bored out of her mind. One last statement on this: My son's robotic club advisor is a teacher; she told me that although she enjoyed working for the school district what disgusted her was that the district was so proud of how many kids graduated and got into college. They focused a lot on making sure kids were successful in getting INTO college. But what she then said was this :they can get them in, but they don't teach them how to be successful in college, and they certainly don't teach them how to lead a successful life if they decide college isn't for them. I could go on and on about how much these types of tests suck the life out of teachers and students...but I have gone on enough about our experience. NH is a wonderful state to live in; I like the idea of being able to pass a test to show competency so you can get out of school earlier. However, I just hope they don't make the same mistake that TX has, or else there is no point - they will be so bogged down in teaching just enough to pass the tests, that the kids won't be ready for college.

I think what a lot of people forget when they talk about "going Galt" is that we live in a very different world than is described in Atlas Shrugged - and different than the world Ayn Rand was living in when she wrote and published it. Ruth - I agree - if people went all Galt, there would be several more people in line to take their place. Especially since we have the internet now, and it is easier to find people for even high niche positions than it would have ever been in the book, or back in Rand's day. (I like to read Malkin's blog from time to time - however, when I was watching Colbert's video "The Rand Illusion" the other night, I noticed she and a few other people that were show kept calling her Ann. Interesting - if you know so much about her philosophy - why the hell cannot you get her name right? That bugged me big time.) Anyway - I do know of people locally that I associate with that wish a group of us could find some island, or country to move to and start up a little Objectivist city/village, whatever. Kinda like the Free State project on steroids. (I commented that if people were serious about it, find a big tract of land, several acres, buy it as a group and sub divide it and sell the lots to all your Objectivist friends and build. But even in that community, it wouldn't be perfect.) I don't fault anyone for "shrugging" if it means taking a bow out of an industry or to stop working for a company if they feel like it is going against their values. However, I also think that is quite absurd to think that it is going to make a huge impact - no where near like in the book. People forget that even though the message of Atlas is so important, the world it takes place in is fiction. What I would like to see is more people doing something about the way things are. I am also confused by someone I meet that say they are an Objectivist, or a fan of Rand and then state that they think voting is useless - or when it is suggested if they want to change things, they should see if it is possible for them to get involved - say at the local level, what have you - but they think again it is useless. Or that it would be a "self sacrifice." Really? It is a sacrifice to see if there is something you can do to improve things for your self? That makes no sense to me. Those people bug me because they bitch the most about things, in my experience. So yes - I bothers me that a lot of the people I see talking about Atlas Shrugged on TV and radio do not fully understand her philosophy and are wrong on so many things. However, the more Ayn Rand's name and the title of her books get out there, well maybe more people will look into it. Edited to add: by the way Ruth, thanks for the link. I haven't been to that site before. I posted the link on my FaceBook profile as well so my local Oist peeps can read it.

Tiger Woods, in my opinion, is the greatest athlete we have seen in years. The man is amazing. I think he doesn't compete against others - for the past several years he has always planned to win, but he is his only real competition. It is amazing. He won today as well. From what I have read and heard about him on the radio and TV, this guy is just so incredibly focused and goal oriented, it is amazing.

We don't have a dog - 3 ferrets and 1 cat (plus another cat we are "watching" for my son's friend). Though, I tried to get the ferrets used to a harness so I could take them for a walk, but they looked at me with the "hell, no!" expression.

Sherry, LOL... You sound like me doing something new... Michael Yep. I took Yoga for a few months about two years ago - it was great! But I decided to try something that is more cardio-ish. I have been working (haphazardly) the past few years on an off to loose some weight and get healthier. I have about 130 pounds to lose and just turned 38, so I have to get things moving so I can keep up with my children and just not be so miserable physically. I purchase a Latin Dance exercise video at Wal-Mart last night. It isn't technically Zumba, but that is okay, because I need something a little slower to learn the basic steps so I can not crash into the wall or another person in class. Plus, my two youngest said they would give it a shot at home with me so that will be fun. I have too much time on my hands right now in many ways (not working and all) so trying to make better use of it.

I prefer Rave. Very vigorous calisthenics. Here is a sample: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8602483019158148765 Ba'al Chatzaf HAHHAHA!!! THAT was hilarious!

Last night I went to my first Zumba class. I didn't do a lot of research before I went. I had originally signed up for a Belly Dancing class. I had read a lot about that being fairly easy to get into regardless of fitness level, and since I have much belly haha, figured it would be a good idea. Unfortunately, my local rec center canceled the class last minute so I had to scramble to find something that would fit in my schedule. So I read the description - basically an exercise class using bits of different Latin forms of dancing, and some times some belly dancing moves. I thought sure, why not - it is about the same price, and signed up yesterday morning. Four words describe how I felt 15 minutes into the class: What. Was. I. Thinking! It is really fast pace - the instructor has all these dance moves and with the exception of a few seconds to grab your water bottle in between some of the songs, is practically non stop for 50 minutes. Most of the participants appeared to be in their 40s and up (a few was probably around my age, late 30s), and while very few were heavy set like me, most were what you would call average - no models here hahah. I was impressed with how many of the older women totally kept up and didn't miss a beat. I kinda wish they video taped the class - because let me tell you Hollywood could not have choreographed a funnier scene about a person that is uncoordinated trying to keep up in a class like this. I don't know how the instructor was able to keep a straight face any time she looked in the mirror at my corner of the room. Anyway, I was pretty sore after, and this morning - ARGH! My knees were bothering me as well as my shoulder. It was probably the most fun I have had in years - though quite humiliating. I am looking forward to it next week. Anyone else try Zumba? What is your experience?

Thanks for the link. I appreciate it!

Have you ever read "Your Money Or Your Life"? I read this back in the 90s and it really opened up a lot of new ideas and things I hadn't previously thought of. I routinely save over 75, often over 90%, at Safeway (owner of Dominick's chaim) and Walgreens without rebating or spending much time per week cutting/printing out coupons. (Not directed at Kat or anyone in particular:) When people say they don't have time to clip coupons that's like saying they don't have time to stop for a quarter or a dollar or a fiver no strings attached if it were being offered up on a silver platter. Oddly, a lot of people miss the point of coupons. They are a form of payment. Once you discover the least time-consuming methods for finding coupons, it can be to your distinct advantage to shift some of your leisure time to acquiring them rather than spending cash. Unless you're clearing enough $/hour to not care how much you spend on groceries, it's much easier and cheaper to find or buy extra coupons than it is to earn enough to pay full retail. Following the line of thinking in "You're Money or Your Life" how many pre-tax hours does it take to pay for $300 worth of groceries w/o coupons or rebates? How many leisure hours did it take to save $121.xx? What if you focused slightly more leisure time on cutting your grocery bill by 75% (or more) without sacrificing convenience, taste, healthfulness or quality? There are hundreds of forums for exchanging info on hot deals, coupons, online discounts etc., not just for groceries but for just about any conceivable consumable. Here are a few high traffic sites that are helpful, friendly and reasonably well-moderated: slickdeals.net hotcouponworld.com fatwallet.com To the above comment re: eCoupons, electronic and internet printable coupons constitute barely 1% of all redeemed drugstore and grocery coupons. Newspaper inserts, store tearpads, on-package coupons and home mailers are still the dominant methods of distribution. lurker thanks for the site - I haven't heard of those and will check them out. I read Money or your life several years ago - great book - I wish they would come out with one that is less focused on giving back haha so it is easier to read know that I am studying Objectivism. However, I still think it is a very valuable book and changed my thinking about money in many ways when I read it. You are right about the coupon thing - I haven't made time lately for doing that as much as I should - and am guilty of not utilizing all the coupons I have found. Though I do often look for things on sale and buy in bulk, I am throwing a bit of money out the window because I have been coupon lazy. The thing for me with coupons though - one of the reasons I am not that great with them is that most coupons I find are for brands or items that I don't ever buy or want to buy. I buy a lot of generic brands, and I don't see coupons for those. As I said, I will check out those three sites you mentioned; many times though, the coupon for a different brand product I normally buy is still more expensive than the brand I usually buy.

My husband grew up in the Arlington area. It is nice down in the Fort Worth side, but I insisted on moving north of Dallas because I needed to be near more Yankees - it was much easier to for me and my then young son to adjust. TX is like a different country! It has been rough - but fortunately, my manager was brutally honest about the situation so I had months to prepare, and we were able to pay down some bills and prepare for cutting back on several things. In fact, hopefully if my former employer doesn't call me back (I worked from home so that would be ideal), or if I don't find something to work nights and weekends (so I can continue to home school my daughter) we will be able to live on my husband's salary by the time my UI benefits run out. It involves a lot of math on my part (oh the part I don't enjoy) and really forcing myself not to evade the reality of the budget haha, but I have to say my husband and I both are in a better place mentally regarding money the past 6 months than we have ever been. I contribute that totally to trying to apply the philosophy. For years we were guilty of personal financial evasion, and so are still undoing the harm we created. But, ti feels good to know that even though our income has been cut down by 30 or 40% that we won't lose the house, the car, or have to sell any of the kids on eBay. =)

Never underestimate the possibility of how much understanding a youngster can get from an interested book, even Animal Farm... I was reading Carl Sandburg's six volume Lincoln bio when 10... 'age level' is actually whatever complexity they can muster, and it varies tremendously, especially if they're interested... you mention having lots of Sci/fi, but while that means Heinlein, does it include James Hogan, Eric Frank Russell, Robert Forward, L. Neil Smith, the early F. Paul Wilson, Barry Longyear [Circus World books], Melinda Snodgrass' Circuit trilogy, Vernor Vinge, Charles Sheffield, and the old classics of Burroughs, Fletcher, Platt, Weinbaum, and Hal Clement... tho male oriented, as most books are, what of Robert Louis Stevenson or even the Sherlock Holmes tales... ever read Inkheart? or the original Nancy Drew series [before they corrupted her in 'modernizing' her].... just a few to mention - many of these are outright libertarian or at least self-reliant and personal responsibility oriented... I don't recognize many of the authors you have listed so thanks. My husband is a die hard Burroughs fan, and we have numerous books by him. We do have some of the older Nancy Drew books as well (I agree - I don't like some of the modern ones.) I enjoyed Stevenson and Holmes growing up as well and we have some works by both authors. Rebecca started to read Animal farm, but set it aside because it was a little too much for her. I told her we could try reading it together, and she is open to that, but right now she decided she would rather wait. I am okay with that. I would rather wait until she is patient enough to absorb it properly instead of her just reading it and not understanding any of it. On a side note - (not sure if I mentioned this already in any posts) we were in HalfPrice books about a week or so ago, and we were looking for a few new books for her and her sisters to read. There was an older couple near us, and the wife piped up and said that we should try Piers Anthony's Xanth series. I didn't realize he wrote books for teens - my husband has read a lot of his books, but I didn't think it would be age appropriate. She stated that the books have a lot of neat plays on words, puns, etc., and kids usually get a kick out of it. I found the first one in the series, and plan on reading it with her in the coming weeks.

Help your daughter to run with her strengths, which you indicate are math and art and cats (Siamese I hope). Developing her intellect is the number one task she has and learning how to be comfortable with her differences from the Neurologically Typical world is what she needs. She is Different and that is the fact. It were well if she regarded her Difference as a gift rather than a problem. If she goes brains first in the world, you don't have to worry too much if she is a mini-Objectivist. Very smart fact obsessed people tend to evolve into some sort of rational egoism. I did it on my own before I even knew Ayn Rand existed. Aspies (those on the Asperger Spectrum) tend to be self absorbed from the git go, so you needn't worry over much about your daughter becoming an Altruist or a Kantian. Aspies tend to drill into facts so they are well connected to external reality, more so than Normals. If your child goes to adulthood knowing that her condition is a blessing more than a problem, she should be alright. You are probably right in home schooling her while she is emotionally vulnerable. At a public school (or even a private school) they will try to bang an odd shape Aspie peg into a trivially symmetric Normal hole. If being an Aspergarian produced a reproductive advantage (it does not) the Aspies would be the next evolutionary step for the human race by way of Darwinian Natural Selection. People like your daughter and I are the Alphas. We have to learn to live with the Betas and still not lose our edge. Go forth and help your daughter do mighty things. She and you are blessed. Ba'al Chatzaf Thanks - I have found that a lot of what you have stated here is true already. While the social aspects can sometimes feel like a curse for her, the other characteristics of being an Aspie definitely seem to be a huge plus for her. We just told her what Asperger's is about 2 weeks ago. We hadn't labeled it before because we wanted to focus on her getting some things situated. She already knew she was different - or unique in her words. It was funny because she was in the room when we explained what it was to our 7 year old, and Rebecca piped up and said (in a humorous way) "don't worry you cannot catch it" hahah. She already accepted she was different than most kids in her school and her siblings long before we ever got a diagnosis. That is a relief to me, because to her it just IS and she doesn't appear to think it makes her less worthy than other kids (which has been a concern for me). She loves all cats by the way, hahah.

It means that a state, if it issues its own money, must issue only gold or silver coin with which to pay its own debts. This put an end to State paper money (and minor coins). Remember that one of the arguments against the Federal Constitution was that the Federal government would assume the State debts from the War. Anti-federalists objected because the power of the purse put too much into the hands of the federal government ... which then sold bonds to pay off the state debts, of course... Finally, thar's gold in them thar hills! -- Georgia has naturally occurring gold, which is why they had a Federal Branch Mint -- but I'm that sure all of you already knew that. I learned from a recent article in Freedom Daily the publication of the Future of Freedom Foundation that the impetus for the creation of a federal govt after the surrender at Yorktown was that many debtors in the new states wanted the states to allow them to repay their loans with paper currency rather than gold and silver (which they had borrowed from their creditors) The creditors agitated for the creation of the Federal Government and the provisions in the Constitution to make nothing other than gold and silver coin legal tender and forbid expost facto laws which changed the content of the original contracts the debtors had signed. Or was it the Bills of Attainder also forbidden. Bet you didn't know that? www.campaignforliberty.com 17Mar 10:30PM 119958. 10:38 119999 gulch I suddenly feel a bit better about having the largely shittier aussie constitution that makes it extremely hard for the Government to change existing contracts. Pity the queen can land whenever she wants a veto anything the Government does. Didn't they do away with states printing their own money after the Civil War? I don't see how any person or entity could be forced to pay with other means besides "legal tender". I don't think it would stand up in court either. Though, I can understand any state wanting to go this way - I think the reality of the situation is that most of the taxes wouldn't get paid. Right now gold is hard to come by. And very very expensive right now.

That's a pleasant memory - the first exposure to those lectures. I am glad that you are having this opportunity now. Bill P The book and the lectures have been very helpful keeping me positive. I was laid off about 2 months ago, and though I am usually a pretty upbeat person, I have to admit for several weeks it really had me down. I am a recruiter, and usually have a good grasp on the job market for my field locally, but things have been really bad due to the economy in general. I realized that I was spending way too much time focusing on the negative things about my situation instead of working on how I could better my life. Listening to the lectures and reading the book both are helping to remind me that I am responsible for my life and own happiness regardless of external situations that can make things difficult. My goal - or you could even say purpose - right now is to focus on the other areas in life I can improve on. There are a lot haha, and I am grateful that Ayn Rand published her novels and essays, and that there are a lot of great people that have written about her philosophy. The most important thing I am finding, especially with his book, is that Branden lays out a way to actually put Objectivism principles in practice to improve one's life. I am not saying other Objectivist authors haven't done that - but his Six Pillars book and Tara Smith's book on Ayn Rand's Ethics are the two I have read so far that show how on a very personal level why it is truly the only philosophy for living on earth. Sometimes I feel like a nerd because I still get excited about what I am learning hahah. I hope my kids as they get older will experience the same "aha!" moments and excited I have had the past few years since my husband and I started studying the philosophy.

Thanks so much for the book suggestions - I haven't heard of either and will look into both of them! We took last week off because my other kids had spring break - the week before went well, but the previous week or so I was down with the flu, so we are both excited about getting back on track this coming week. One thing I need to do is pay my library fines so we can start taking books out again. I am breaking the bank because my family is a bit obessed with books haha, but I think we have the ones we "need" to own and am ready to just start borrowing some. How were the changes in your daughter's stress level after you pulled her out? I have noticed that Rebecca has become much more tolerant of her youngest sister, and just more relaxed in general because she doesn't have to deal with the "drama" of a formal school setting. I like the idea of role playing for social situations. We haven't done a lot of it - well we have had conversations, but not so much role playing. That is a good idea. One thing I have discussed with my husband is focusing on manners with here - well, with all our girls. They are good kids, but I have noticed that sometimes they appear to lack some manners when we are out in public. Things that are not a big deal, but things we need to get them to be a bit better about now. Talking with one's mouth full, not keeping the mouth closed when chewing, haha...things all kids have to learn. I am looking for a manner guide that I can incorporate a little bit with the three younger girls. My oldest daughter is 13 and pretty good with manners for the most part. I was thinking of doing a "Tea Party Wednesday" with the girls after everyone is home from school to work on it. I would like it to be fun with them, but also would like them to learn why manners are important - without going over the top of course. What is your experience in that area? Has role playing helped your daughter?