ginny

ginny1964@hotmail.com

Cathy, Michael doesn't care whether you contact James. James wants a private email because no way is he talking in public. Just sayin'

Jimmy Carter on Juy 15, 1979. As for reward, I'm not interested in prestige and fame. I like Godiva chocolate and pretty jewelry.

Unfortunately, this call for dictatorship is not unique. I remember my Dad and some soldier buddies calling for George Wallace to be elected president. They went on to say that yes, he was a bigoted powerhungry jerk. BUT - it was precisely a powerhungry jerk (according to them) who could solve the hippy/liberal problem in the country because Wallace was the only politician not afraid to assume power and USE DEADLY FORCE. After the problem was solved, they claimed, someone would surely assassinate him and a normal person could get elected. Not making this up. Oh, by the way, I understand that the majority of Germans voted for Hitler is an interim solution to economic problems. Once the problems were solved through force, they assumed he'd disappear. And, by the way, while Roosevelt wasn't called a dictator, didn't the chaos of the depression permit him to take unheard of powers? Lesson for wanna-be dictators: create chaos, and people will fall at your feet.

Phil, if you can find a CD of Friml's operetta, Vagabond King with Lanza in the lead, get it. It's the most fantastic thing ever. Based on a french legend, vagabond and thief Villon becomes King For A Day when Louis XI gets fed up. The songs are heartbreaking, the fighting song when Villon a king stirs up the soldiers against the hated Burgondians will double your heart rate, the love song Only A Rose will make you cry, as you will when prostitute Villette (sp) sings Love For Sale. As for The Drinking Song - funny as hell. The whole operetta is filled with the best songs ever. Try it. But it has to be Lanza. No other singer has done Villon justice.

Rich, I'm sorry about the little one's condition. That's a heartbreaker. Just remember, a doting grandpa and some occasional cake is something she'll never get enough of. (Me, I'd rather have the cake!) BTW, sounds like your girls are real winners. Right on!

All the best, Rich, forever. Do I take it from the little cutie at your side you've become a dad as well as a husband? (Although she seems more interested in the cake than you!!!) That's cool! Ginny

If your only answer is sarcasm, you are to be pitied. I am aware of the function of brakets. Your brakets were meant to define, in your words, my word "serviceman." I will not have you, of all low life, define, my terms.

Ginny writes: "Let Iran or Iraq or Afganistan have a public beheading, it makes news for a day, then is pretty much forgotten. Let some misguided AMERICAN serviceman [i.e., some young man who willingly took a job as a thug in the pay of the criminal gang calling itself the federal "government" of the United States] get maybe overly tough with some prisoner, we have TV specials, newspaper double in size in an effort to bring the news, books are being written and every member of the media is totally and honestly outraged at the evil that is America." Jeff, don't EVER put words in my mouth. I have never nor will I ever call an American soldier a thug. It was American soldiers who liberated and saved the country I was born in. Our men and women are dying and you call them thugs!! How dare you.

Barbara, it's the same with the United States. Let Iran or Iraq or Afganistan have a public beheading, it makes news for a day, then is pretty much forgotten. Let some misguided AMERICAN serviceman get maybe overly tough with some prisoner, we have TV specials, newspaper double in size in an effort to bring the news, books are being written and every member of the media is totally and honestly outraged at the evil that is America.

I have to add - any Fred Astaire movie. Astaire's lighthearted twinkle and easy mannerism speaks of someone ever so comfortable in his own skin and in this world. Not many actors are able to portray that. I think Fred A. really was incapable of feeling down for any period of time. And the man could dance like a dream.

That's why I consider him a giant, Phil. I'll never forget Professor Tedesco and all that I owe him. He was one of a kind. Oh - and the man inadvertently guided me and changed my entire political thinking with one sentence. Out of the blue one day, he said, "Isn't is strange that the phrase, 'ask not what your country can do for you, but ask what you can do for your country' should be so emphatically socialistist." Well, he knocked me for a loop with that one. For one thing, I was raised by a Bostonian father who worshipped the Kennedys. In addition, I was raised in Germany, where Germans to this day idolize Kennedy for his "Ich Bin ein Berliner" speech. I was raised to geneflect at the very mention of the Kennedy name. To me, Kennedy was merely a synonyn for "god." So, here was Tedesco saying Kennedy was a Socialist, which was something I hated more than the devil himself. My head exploded. Talk about having to check your premises. Paul Tedesco forced me to do so. God bless that man.

I had one college prof who stands out as a giant in my mind. I had him for three semesters in American History, an interesting enough subject. I suppose I learned some of it from Professor Tedesco. What I most remember about his classes has nothing to do with history. We had him 8:30 a.m. on Saturdays, which means a sleepy, fuzzy-headed, coffee-swilling group of students. Dr. Tedesco had a funny rule. The beginning of each class was to be spend on ANY and WHATEVER subject anyone wanted. Anyone not like the cafeteria coffee? Speak up! Had a rough time getting the trolley to class? Tell us! Don't like those new highrises being built? Now's your chance! Something interesting happened. The students loved it because they thought they were getting out of learning. Except Professor Pedesco had this peculiar habit of bring every subject back to is roots. Don't like the trolley system? He'd talked about the growth of urban transportation system, who was responsible and who benefited. Don't like the cafeteria food? He'd talk about food production, farms, food distribution and nutrition. No matter what, you were forced to learn and think deeply about a subject in Professor Tedesco's class. And students did, because they weren't even aware they were learning!! They thought they were goofing off. Now that's a good technique. Yes, I assume a teacher needs to know the subject, and I suppose I learned American history (got an A). What I do know is that I learned to THINK!

1. Were most philosophy professors Kantians in 1933? 2. Isn't it likely that the current philosophical scene in Germany is worse than in 1933 if viewed in terms of Kantians vs. post-modernists? Yet things aren't as bad as in '33. The strikes me as a problem for Peikoff's theory. Although this doesn't disprove Peikoff's theory, is it just a coincidence that he is a philosopher and also thinks philosophers are the most influential group of people. Wasn't it a poet who said that poets were the "unknown regulators of mankind" or something like that? Von Mises thought that the embrace of socialism was largely for economic reasons. Etc. -Neil Neil you are spot-on. As some on this forum may remember, my mother grew up in the Weimar era. When (only once) I asked her about Hitler, all she talked about was the jobs he provided and the much-needed food he delivered. Philosophy had nothing to do with it. It wasn't even studied in schools, where physical prowess was the main thing. Reading was actually actively discouraged. Filing the stomach took the place of learning.

George, I truly hate arguing, so I'll take that step back again. I agree with what you say, but we're looking at the situation totally differently. Let's agree to disagree. BTW, when it comes to committing horrific crimes, unless there are extenuating circumstances, I'll happily conform to basic societal norms and not harm others. Oh, I don't mean to keep digging at you, but just one thing. What institutions exactly made it so hard for Hickman to function that he had to become angry and bitter enough to ... well, we've covered that.

"Show that humanity is petty. That it's small. That it's dumb, with the heavy, hopeless stupidity of a man born feeble-minded, who does not understand, because he cannot understand, because he hasn't the capacity to understand; like a man born blind, who cannot see, because he has no organ for seeing. Show that the world is monstrously hypocritical. That humanity has no convictions of any kind. That it does not know how to believe anything. That it has never believed consistently and does not know how to be true to any idea or ideal. That all the "high" words of the world are a monstrous lie. That nobody believes in anything "high" and nobody wants to believe. That one cannot believe one thing and do another, for such a belief isn't worth a nickel. And that's what humanity is doing." George, this seems pretty clear to me. Her opinion of mankind stunk. By the way, if this is humanity, how on earth account for all the good in life? I see good every day. I don't think she saw it all all. "Nobody believes in any high." Except of course, she. I'll accept that as a young woman, she wasn't in an overly optimistic state. You are probably right about that. But she never really adopted a benevolent attitude. I, like many here, heard her answer questions. Her opinion that a lot of innocent questioners weren't "worth a nickel" was very clear. (How do I know they were probably innocent? Because I was one of them.) If you're saying that her reason for being interested in Hickman is because he was anti-social - as I've pointed out before, so is every convict serving time. So is every child molester and killer walking the planet. If that attitude a source of pride? And I hate to ask - do those who are diligently defending her here think she was excluding them when she described humanity?

Just when I was backing off, I'm backing in. Thanks, Ba'al, I have not read this. Okay, so it's brainstorming, but if this even hints at her view of humanity, it's sick. Here's this woman who spent her life saying that we should enjoy life, but her opinion of people on this planet is that they are pretty much sick. Brainstorming or not, there is a psychosis at work here. I think her unhappy younger years messed her up. This just spews of hathred. Does she really she think she and a few chosen ones are the exception to her view of people? Didn't ... oh, I don't know ... Hitler have such thoughts? I'm not calling her a nazi, but marsicistically psychotic, yes. Okay, George, can you see any logical cause for such utter malevolence? Apparently, she didn't consider herself a part of mankind. Ginny

George, you make sense. The malovence could very easily have been a carry-over from Russia. I'm willing to back off a bit here. Ginny

Rand came to this country for a better life. She found it in spades, first with the help of relatives, then by being offered jobs almost immediately upon her arrival in Hollywood. Thanks to Americans, she had food, shelter and work, things not easily obtainable in Russia. She claimed America was the land for her. And yet, within just a few years of her arrival, she seems to have a lot of contempt for this country's inhabitants. Her opinion of the very average, honest, middle-class member of her new society is that his or her sins are worse than that of a horrid killer. Come on! Something is wrong with her thinking.

Well, I said I was guessing. Had no idea you were an Aussie. Okay, so you embraced Islam. Can't imagine why, but let's accept it. What puzzles me then, since you were raised under circumstances where women are treated equally (and strut the beatches in bikinis) how you can at some point accept their obedient status to their husband? As for the whole stoning thing - nope, I can't even go there. Actually, if you don't mind telling us (if I've missed it, I apologize) what would compel you to make such a major conversion? Was it just reading Malcom X? Seems like a big step. If my questions are personal enough to be rude, just ignore. But you seem willing enough to share. ginny

Yeah, I've been curious about that. No one's asked him where he lived and what he was before that. I'm tempted, but he'd probably consider it rude. His English is so good I've wondered if he's not from here. If that's the case, and if he abandoned America for Islam, then we part ways. That I just can't buy into. Ginny

Robert, Adonis was undoubtedly raised (I'm guessing here) in an anti-American atmosphere and amidst a lot of Muslim propaganda. The fact that he's willing to "talk" at all is admirable. He has definite ideas and presents them mostly in a polite manner. I disagree with some of his ideas (his ready acceptance of stoning gives my chills). My best guess is that he's a proud Muslim who'd like to see his world get a lot better. I can live with that. I hope his world gets a lot better, too. Ginny

Speaking as someone for whom English is not a first (or even second) language, Weltanschauung is pretty much an everyday word. I think it's been fairly well integrated into the English language. Time to expand the old vocabulary. Whatever my opinion of Xray and Adonis (love that name; adore the coutour beret), I find their command of the English language totally amazing. Ginny

James, I agree with you, although I'm one of those who is appalled at the incident. I don't think her entire life needs or should be judged on some thinking stemming from your younger days. (Hell, when I was stupid and in college and taking my first phychology class and was taught how all of a person's behavior stems from bad times during infancy, I went around for a few weeks declaring that Charles Manson's entire problem was poor toilet training. Oh god ...) I do believe some objectivist can overthink a situaion - just how many words and pages have been devoted to the origin of her name, and who is lying about what, when it was probably nothing but a misunderstanding along the way. I also, however, think there's another reason some people are making a big deal: Rand spend her life judging harshly and putting down many people - friends and audience members. She demanded perfect thinking at all times, or else the non-thinker was damned to fiery hell. (The difference between error in judgment and moral wrong seems pretty subject to me. She made those split-second decision during Q&A's when the speaker had only uttered a few words.) She repeatedly talked about how rationally she lived her life since childhood. So now some people are comig down on her. I think it's understandable, and I suspect it has to do with a lot more than the Hickman disaster. People who've listen to her talk about her perfection and the evils of others are pointing fingers. Maybe they can't be blamed. Or maybe they should have gotten better toilet training, I don't know. Ginny

Hardly, Brant. You have no idea what kind of a person I am and you couldn't guess. If it irks you that I won't make excuses for warped thinking, so be it.