Dennis Edwall

Adam: <<Beck is a religious libertarian and is much less prone to impose his views through government repression. I agree with that, but he is not your typical religious advocate. To justify rights using religion is not only wrong, it sends the wrong message to millions who cannot understand where the limits of religion ought to be. In the recorded history of man, how friendly has religion been of liberty, aside from the birth of the U.S.? Not very. I think Beck should keep his religious beliefs separate from his support of liberty.

From an email I just got from Matt Kibbe at FreedomWorks re: Beck: Beck concluded: "This is His country. These are His rights. If we don't line ourselves up with Him, He'll find a bunch of people who will. And it's time to get ourselves in line with Him. And expect miracles, because God's freedom, God's rights, He's not done with man being free. He's not done. If we fail here, if we drop the ball here, where, as Ronald Reagan said, will the rest of the world run? They have no place to run, so you and I have no choice but to stand for the freedom of God that God endowed us all with. Thank you and see you tomorrow!" Scary stuff.

I agree. I think his last few books have fallen in quality, but as for the others, as I was reading them, I felt the exhilaration of enjoying fiction never before since reading Rand's.

Hawking: Aliens ‘No Longer Interested’ in Invading Earth Planet Already ‘Pre-destroyed,’ Scientist Says LONDON (The Borowitz Report) – Reversing his recent position on the dangers of an extraterrestrial invasion, eminent theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking said today that the planet is in no such peril anymore because aliens are “no longer interested” in invading Earth. “Assuming that aliens have been monitoring Earth for the past month in preparation for an invasion, they’ve probably figured out it’s no longer worth the trip,” Dr. Hawking said. Speaking at a conference of the International Society of Eminent Theoretical Physicists, Dr. Hawking added, “Most extraterrestrials would want to come to Earth to destroy it, and let’s face it, this planet has been pretty much pre-destroyed.” Even if aliens planned to travel to Earth to warn humans against destroying their own planet, Dr. Hawking said, “If they showed up now and took a look around they’d be like, ‘Oops, too late.’” The physicist said that the rocket fuel aliens would have to expend to launch an Earth invasion was significant, “and you don’t spend that kind of money to invade a shithole.” In recognition of his role in deterring an alien invasion, Queen Elizabeth II of England today knighted Tony Hayward, the CEO of oil giant BP. In remarks to reporters after the knighting ceremony at Buckingham Palace, Sir Tony said he would be working tirelessly this week to study the impact of the Gulf oil spill on the beaches of the South of France.

My link Try again, sorry.

http://www.theonion.com/video/mexico-builds-border-wall-to-keep-out-us-assholes,14349/ Trying the link again.

http://www.theonion.com/video/mexico-builds-border-wall-to-keep-out-us-assholes,14349/ Citizens across Mexico hope that the new Asshole Wall will stem the tide of assholes that visit from the US each year to aggressively drink, vomit.

Roger, I wish you all the best in your coming retirement. Folks, I know Roger very well, and he will continue to be exceedingly intellectually active! This is simply a career change for him! Dennis

I don't get it either.

Worked for me.

Yes, thanks. I was not aware of your link.

The following is from a financial guy I follow. Is anyone surprised? ♦Friday the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) announced 162,000 jobs were created in March. The administration was quick to point out that this was the largest increase in three years. I found some more information on the BLS methodology. ♦48,000 were temporary census workers. Without census workers, we added 114,000 jobs in March. The BLS made a +81,000 birth/death adjustment. This is complicated, but intended to adjust for business closures and openings. Now we are down to 33,000 actual jobs created in March. But wait, there is more. The BLS adjusts for weather, and the weather was bad in March, so the BLS added 100,000 jobs to the ‘created jobs’ column because people couldn’t get to interviews that they might have been hired at, if they could have made it! I am not kidding. ♦Without adjustments the U.S. economy lost 67,000 jobs in March! So much for government statistics! Be careful who you put your trust in. Dennis

Thanks for mentioning this movie, as I was unaware of it. I also highly recommend Separate Tables, another movie (with David Niven) of a Rattigan play.

I had no trouble changing mine recently.

<<There is a problem when large numbers of citizens cannot afford healthcare Two reasons: 1. Because they don't pay directly for their own care, someone else does, whether gov't or insurance. When that happens, the resource is not used efficiently. 2. If most everyone expects medical care in their final month or so of life that costs tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars (just to delay the inevitable a bit longer as though somehow death might be cheated), then hey, guess what, those costs will ultimately need to be borne by each of us. That makes lifetime medical costs very expensive. There needs to be more realistic assessment of when and when not more medical care is justified, especially as long as there is a complete socialization of costs, whether by insurance or gov't. You get these problems when there is no responsibility.

We are still learning, and some people are slow to learn. Progress would be faster and what works and doesn't work more definitive if there was more competition between ideas, but the government wants to impose uniform policy. Why do you suppose that it took so long for a flush toilet to be invented that did not use much water but actually worked well? The need has to be strong enough. The need for greater efficiency in health care will become apparent (to some people at least) because the inefficiency can no longer be tolerated from an economic standpoint.

Jeff and Adam, I'm impressed and inspired. However, I wonder how many of those people voted for McCain. Probably the majority, which makes them still part of the problem. Who do you think they will vote for in 2012? My guess is the Obama-lite Republican who happens to be running.

Adam, Glad that what Levin was saying made sense to you; it went over my head, but then again, I only listen to him when I am exercising in the garage, so I'm not always paying full attention. I have also heard him speak disparagingly of libertarians. Yes, I read Liberty and Tyranny. I thought Donway's review was overly harsh; after all, the book was for mass consumption. However, I enjoyed Beck's latest book Common Sense more.

"Rand and her ideas have been mentioned on Rush, Beck, Levin and other "conservative" shows than all the years..." Which reminds me about something that Mark Levin said on his radio show Wednesday. He was rambling on, as he often does, then said, "What is responsible for the most deaths: Marxism or smoking?" [Rambles a bit more without answering the question] Then: Who is responsible for the most deaths: Karl Marx or Ayn Rand?" [Followed by more rambling without answering the question, then break to commercials] I couldn't believe it. He can be such a jerk. See the review of Liberty and Tyranny in The New Individualist that just arrived in my mailbox yesterday.

http://seekingalpha.com/article/158507-bernanke-being-rewarded-for-failure?source=yahoo The first sentence of the article: "Ayn Rand wrote, "when you see corruption being rewarded and honesty becoming a self-sacrifice - you may know that your society is doomed."

Brant: "I think she has some kind of monument in Missoula, MT. " I don't know about Missoula, but I do know about Helena: I was just there two weeks ago, and happened to tour the Capitol building there. In it is a full-size statue of Jeanette Rankin prominently displayed.

Gulch - well said. But it leaves me wondering how Paul and C4L will succeed whereas the Libertarian Party has not. Yes, forming a splinter group from the Republican Party is easier than a new party, but most within the Republican Party are not Paul-types.

Time 10 pm Eastern and Pacific.