erik

Why not contact Terry Goodkinds webmaster and do a link exchange. If he is an Objectivist he shouldn't mind.

When I was a kid I read a lot and would go through bookshelves and read random books that looked interesting. One time I came across AS, read a few pages and went on to the next one. I think I was about 13 or so at the time. When I was 20 I got kicked out of the Air Force ( long story ) and was out of work for a few months. I came across Atlas Shrugged again and started to read it. I didn't finish it until a few years later. I used to read 5 books at a time and rotate them out. Finally when I finished it I went out and bought "The Fountainhead" and "Capitalism:The Unkown Ideal". After I finished those I discovered Capitalism.org and frequented the forum there. I wish I had been exposed in school like some of you others, didn't hear a peep in school and went to quite a few different public schools.

It seems to me that someone could buy the rights to the movie, start a public company, and sell stocks to Objectivists to raise the money to do the movie. Do it as an Indie Film. I would invest in it if it was legit.

Nicotene is so addictive that very long term heavy smokers seem to be unable to quit even knowing the health risks. Addiction is a strange beast and the addict seems to be able justify just about anything to feed the craving.

No human, even Ayn Rand can experience everything in one lifetime or learn all there is to know. She never had children nor did she write about them. Do Objectivists not reproduce? No, we just apply the proper view of reality, Objectivism, the best we can to raising children. If she had had children, then maybe she would have been able to give some helpful advice I'm sure.

This is an interesting debate. Things would far different if the USA had not entered WWII. That is about all I can say. There are too many variables involved to do anything other than create works of fiction.

Tennessee has no state income tax but they keep trying to push one through every year. The last time as a "compromise" they raised the sales tax to 9.25 % and that incluedes everything from groceries to clothes. The Feds just passed law where you can take a deduction all the sales tax you pay which helps. The air quality is really low here and of course there are a lot of rednecks. Other than that its an ok place to live.

I was under the impression that a big part of the unemployment problem in Germany is the wacky labor laws. You basically can't fire people for any reason without having to pay them anyway so to avoid firing people they just don't hire people. Here in the USA you can fire/hire much more easily unless you are union but union membership is very, very low. Just a thought.

This is a really strange thread. Physical attractiveness has a lot to do with environment and the chemical/physical makeup of the human body. Sight, Smell, Sound, are all a part of reality and have to be takeninto account. If someone is physically georgeous and has shares all your values but smells awful to you the smell has a huge part to do with physical atrractiveness. Your brain can't tell your nose that smell is not bad any more than water is not wet. If it smells bad to you then it smells bad.

Didn't Hillary write a book called, "It takes a Village". Maybe Oprah will be her VP.

Hasn't Japan had 0% interest rates for years with no effect?

Oprah made her money peddling altruism. Not only is that not worthy of our respect, but its worthy of our loathing. Thus she should be on the list. I might compare her to Gail Wynand in The Fountainhead. Any disagreements?

It seems there are more mis-representations than not to me. Or downright slaps in the face. We get no respect.

An embargo of China would only be possible with a fully mobilized war effort. Even then it would be tough to catch everything. Are we going to blow up a French ship bring ing supplies to the Chinese? Probably not. Can we blow the crap out of it once its off the boat. You bet. China is already an oil starved country. Mobilizing for a war and conducting a war would run them dry. Especially since we would blow the crap out of all of the known oil reserves in the 1st week. So that is why I'm saying it would be over in 3 weeks.

This is what would happen to China if they invaded Taiwan. Their military capacity would be zero within 3 weeks. Taiwan would be retaken. The US would buy its cheap crap from somewhere else. Its not going to happen. They can dream up all the EMP/computer virus weapons they want but the end result will be the same. In order to be successful they would have to invade Taiwan, Japan, India, Western Russia, and knock out the US Navy all at once so no-one could retaliate quickly. Then they would have to nuke the USA before we nuked them and we all know how those scenarios work. No one wins those. I think its more likely a less hard-line govt will come into place and they will be content with being a somewhat mixed economy.

Another Subaru owner here. I had a Silver 2002 WRX but when the baby was born decided to trade it for a 2005 Outback ( non turbo ). The Turbo Version only got 23 mpg hwy which is what I get in the city with mine AND I can use 87 gas. The Turbo models want 93 and its hard to get good mileage because its so easy to go fast. I really miss my WRX though and will get another one eventually. Another reason I traded is my wife can't drive a stick and that makes long trips difficult since she can't help drive. This new one is an automatic which is not as fun! It has pretty good pickup too and the seats are more comfortable.

I'm really into Stargate, both of them. I will try out Firefly because of so many recommendations. Its cool that SCI FI channel is picking up cancelled shows and breathing new life into them. As the the new BG I tried to like it but really could not get into it. The effects are great but the writing is bad. Too much face sucking and not enough substance. It reminds me of a soap opera in space.

Rush Limbaugh - because he is a "Christian" Conservative, has lots of listeners, and ever since the last election has given religion and Christian values all the credit for the win. He is anti-mind and has a lot of reach.

Burgess, I'm glad you are healthier. It does seem diets are as varied as individuals. Imagine trying to raise a growing baby that cannot stomach non-animal proteins but can eat meat. Hopefully he will grow out of it but who knows. Cole, I think you trying too hard to defend your position. I could go down point by point and say stuff like humans have canines, they do have claws but keep them trimmed etc. but it seems like your mind is made up. Since humans DO eat meat, you have to convince there is a good reason not to. So far I am not convinced.

Humans are hunters. We are built to hunt biologically. We have eaten meat for a very long time as a species. The body digests it. I think from these facts its clear that meat is on the menu. If you don't want to eat it, don't, I really don't care. Now rocks are not on the menu. They don't digest. I don't think you could survive long eating rocks. While we can gather rocks up and make fences out of them they don't taste very good ( to me ). So I would gather from this that we are not built to eat rocks.

What about eggs and milk? The animal is not killed in this case but vegetarians seem to have problems with this too. What about fish? Also, who said a vegetarian diet is cheaper than a balanced diet? To get all you need in a vegetable diet runs more because the vegetables don't stay with you as long and you need to eat more of it to stay full. Not to mention all the extra toilet paper you need from crapping so much. You also have to go to specialty places to get everything you need as most grocery stores don't carry it. Now you are sacrificing time, money, etc. to follow a diet which may or may not be better for your health. Especially if you are allergic to soy, grains, nuts etc which my son is and he can't get his protein without meat. In reality, meat is on the menu and has been for humans for millions of years. Anyone want to grill?

Ahh yes the Sparrowhawk series is historical fiction. The story that takes place is fictional but the time period is factual.

Those are good explanations. You do have to suspend disbelief for a lot of the stuff in ST.

I posted a reply earlier but it was trash-canned. LOL. Anyway the reason why there is no money/greed is the replicator technology. Stuff just materializes out of thin air. Well as we all know you cannot get something from nothing. Even if the stuff is reconstructed from other items you still need to mine and transport the raw materials. You need an economy and therefore money. Its not a very well thought out aspect of Star Trek and its been brought up before. I notice in Enterprise that they don't have Replicator Technology yet but I stopped watching it, maybe they came up with an explanation. TNG was the worst show for promoting bad ideas and bad science IMO. I still enjoyed the show when I was younger though.

I'm pretty sure its a Federation of planets. So its kind of like the US gov't. True the Star Trek stuff focuses on the military which has always been Autocratic by nature but its the science or I should say pseudo-science that makes it communist sounding.