Rearden_Steel

Well I'll be damned. I would have never guessed.

I would think that it would be difficult being gay in Salt Lake City. I’d imagine it would be like being Jewish in Tehran.

I would assume that most of the Government would receive its revenue from the drawing up and enforcing contracts rather then direct donations. They could also run lotteries and other fund raising ventures. Remember, up until the 20th century their was no federal or state income tax and the government raised its funds mostly through tariffs. (There is a thread from a while back that talks about how a government could function without taxes.) If there was donations in such a society I imagine that they would be in the form of donating money specific items such a new squad cars for the police department ect.. I wouldn’t imagine that politicians would receive their income directly from donations. Keep in mind also that this very scenario happens today anyways. This being an election year your mom should realize that the Politian’s do not run using their own money (in most cases) rather they get from privite donnations that back them. There are also thousands of lobbyist in Washington that try this very tactic. So in short, its been done before, it could be done better today, and the problem obviously already exist anyways. Now go chide your mother for being naïve about the current state of politics….Just kidding!!

I found this article in the WSJ about a ruling from the US Court of Appeals about state Environmental regulations. “The decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit could lead to higher compliance costs and give states, local authorities and environmentalists more data that could be used to prosecute polluters, environmentalists said.” Just wait until Obama is in the White House and he appoints a bunch of radical eviro-Nazis into the EPA.

"NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York and 11 other states are suing federal environmental regulators over greenhouse gas emissions from oil refineries, the New York attorney general's office said on Monday." Apparently these twelve states have way too many jobs not to mention ridiculously cheap gas prices. I wonder why these states don't regulate themselves? I wonder if its because their politicians don't want to take responsibility from the disastrous outcome. I'm sure the safety and well being of polar bears is well worth the economic hit though.

One thing that I don’t think anyone has mentioned here is that Jefferson could not free his slaves. Jefferson lived most of his life in debt due to his time found the country as well as the University of Virginia then his Presidency. I believe it was against the law in those days for someone in debt to give away property (for obvious reasons).

I separated from the Navy about a year and a half ago. I severed on board a Nuclear Aircraft Carrier and have many friends who are Nukes. My advice is if your are really interested in engineering or nuclear physics go to college. Once you out of college you can go into the Navy as an nuke officer and have a better quality of life as well as much better pay. The enlisted nukes (though highly trained) are for the most part are push buttons. Their hours are long and hard and when most of the crew is off in port visit’s the nukes are still kept aboard and don’t receive as much liberty. Your shifts are 14 hour days seven days a week for weeks or even month at a time while at sea. All in all it’s a hard life that’s why their community has one of the highest suicide rate in the military. However the pay and advancement can be rather good and there are also many benefits as well. If you don’t know what you want to do with your life and want see the world the enlisting in the Navy can be a great experience. However if you are interested in physics engineering or any other field you should go to college. Don’t join thinking that you will be working as an engineer. Also keep in mind there are other really great and some would say better rates and communities. I recommend looking at the IT or Information Tech rating which is a really great community as well and CT or Cryptographic Tech and last but certainty not least IS or Intelligence Specialist (my old rate).CT’s and IS’s are called spooks which are an elite class in themselves. Email me if you have any more questions. As a former Petty Officer First Class and coming from a long line of Navy family members (both of my brother are still in) I have a lot of information about ratings and navy life in general. They say join the Navy and see the world!. But they don’t tell you that two thirds of it is water!

Hello Ed and welcome to the form. I couldn’t help but notice that you said that you were in AF intel. I myself was an Intelligence Specialist in the Navy and got out as an E-6. Did you ever serve at a JIC?

I already left a post about this story on the topic about Ditko. However, the New York times seems to have to put their political spin on everything apparently. All the news that fit to print my ass!!

I couldn’t disagree more. Look at the news and the issues of today. Environmentalist are using the global warming scare to create laws to control industry, politicians calling for socialized medical care, even rumblings about nationalizing the oil companies or price-fixing. Not to mention that nearly all of the Universities are teaching socialism as a superior form of government and moral ideal. When the media and politicians are using the word “big” attached to industries as a derogative term you know freedom and capitalism is in trouble. The news and politicians are even screaming about the oil companies “record profits” they had the company executives appear at congress to explain themselves!!! The media and the government thinks that profits for a company is wrong!!??! If this does not turn the socialism warining light on nothing will. Were as prayer in school, abortion and other interest of the right have been placed on the back burner. Look at the news…hell look at the board on OO many of the topics are about socialism creeping in the US culture. A lot of Objectivist (at least it seems to me) have some how missed the transition and continue to work on attacking an out of date enemy. I worry that a lot of Objectivist the ARI included are still tackling issues that have not been relevant since the ‘90s. It seems almost inconceivable to me that Objectivist today would say that socialism today is a non-factor.

Did anyone else see the ESPN article “The Olympics are unreal”? Not only is it hilarious but the best summary of the Chinese attempted to fake the Olympics as well as cut corners and cheat. A must read!!

I might damn a few individuals but certainly not America. Why would I damn what Ayn Rand appropriately called the most moral country on earth?

What are you aiming at?

True, but I will give him credit for this. To hear a politician claim that he does not want to rape and pillage the rich is like hearing a dog bark the alphabet; ultimately not impressive, unless you consider the context.

At least his favorite minister doesn’t go around saying “goddamn America!” Compared to Bush and Obama McCain seems to be the least wacko-religious.

Parts of Hong Kong are Beautiful, but some parts of it are unimaginably poor and ugly. I hate to sound like a damn socialist or commie but the contrast of rich and poor in Hong Kong are very dramatic. A 200 million dollar high-rise one block, dilapidated shack being held up by bamboo the next. Plus, they have major sewage problems and the whole city smell like poo. Don’t get me wrong though, I love Hong Kong.The few of the city from Victoria bay is astonishing. However, I do prefer New York and a few other cities.

10 million dollars for a few wolf bites? I would shop for a better deal.

In his “American Trilogy “ Roth praises FDR and the new deal and views it as a heroic phase of American history.

How does he know the guy is going to die? Is he a doctor as well as a trader? If the man is bleeding from one area so profusely could he not tie a tourniquet over the wound (seeing how he such a medical expert). How would they know the exact minute the market was going to crash? Why can’t he sell his stock over the phone or on the internet. Seeing how the only way you could sell securities in this universe is by showing up at the exchange (no wonder the markets crashing) and selling it in person why would such a brilliant trader live so far from the exchange? Why does the people in your story have such a grasp on the future? These hypothetical’s are pointless because what your really asking is “lets assume for a minute that reality and logic doesn’t exist, then try and solve something logically with a bearing on reality. Of course this is impossible. Such situations have no bearing on reality and are there for useless.

Phillip Roth? You couldn’t mean Phillip “I love the New deal” Roth?

Here is an article that I had found in the New York time that praises the art work of Ditko but denounces his admiration for Ayn Rand. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/17/books/re.../Wolk-t.html?em I think it is the New York times that is perverse. I don’t care for comic books or Ditko’s work myself but I thought some people might be interested.

I stand by my original statement. The original commenter and I were referring to the massive build up of Russian troops on the Russian border in the months prior to the invasion. Hence my Florida example. However if I was referring to the current state as of today you would be correct. ICBM are not technically considered stand off weapons. A standoff weapon is usually a missile fired from a moving platform (like a ship or a jet) that can hit a target well beyond the horizon and have COP or circle of probability that is very small. Their warheads are conventional munitions and not nuclear. The missiles I refer to are small, many are launched from aircraft and will have a COP of like a house or something relatively small. Whereas ICBMs are big, and expensive and have COP of like New York. Not very practical for hitting a tank or a radar station. In the realm of warfare Russia’s only option to effectively fight the US would be the use of ICBMs. Luckily our missile defense have made huge strides in recent years. We can tell by the radiation were the nuke came from. I'm sure the US would have previously declared well before we commited troops that we would consider any nuclear attack as an attack from Russia on the US. Just like the Cuban missile crissis. I doubt Putin would risk all of this for Georgia and its pipeline. Sea power is always a factor for a country as big as Russia. If the US blockaded all of Russia’s ports and destroyed their lines of Communications Russia would be in big trouble. Invading Russian troops would not be very effective if they have no food or fuel. The situation reminds me of when Hitler reoccupied the Rhine land in the 30’s. Nazi Germany had yet to develop much of a military and if the French and British chose to repel the Germens they could have easily done so. But the French and the British were using the policy of appeasement and chose not to. Hitler later said the night of the reoccupation was the longest in his life because he knew if the allies had chose to repel him he would be forced to withdarw and he would be out of power. The only thing Hitler had going for him was his audacity and his faith in the passivity of the French and British. I feel Putin is in the same position. If the US blockaded Russian ports or moved to check Putin power he would be forced to give in. This is a dangerous time if we have learned anything from the last century appeasement of an aggressor only makes the aggressor more aggressive. Putin’s aggression must not go unchecked. Once again I’m going to use one of my favorite Churchill quotes because I feel it is so appropriate to the situation: "When the situation was manageable it was neglected, and now that it is thoroughly out of hand we apply too late the remedies which then might have effected a cure. There is nothing new in the story. It is as old as the sibylline books. It falls into that long, dismal catalogue of the fruitlessness of experience and the confirmed unteachability of mankind. Want of foresight, unwillingness to act when action would be simple and effective, lack of clear thinking, confusion of counsel until the emergency comes, until self-preservation strikes its jarring gong, these are the features which constitute the endless repetition of history." Churchill 1936

What right based on what values. Not to mention that you’re comparing Apples to Oranges or rather Georgia to Tibet. You seem to be assuming all revolutions and civil wars are created equal. I think you assume too much. From what I have been reading Georgia in the last few years has been undergoing privatization with support of the US and the World Bank. Also the new government has made great strides in eliminating corruption and increasing its ties with the US and the EU (which rubbed Putin the wrong way). And Russia...well Russia is Russia the embodiment of corruption with a leader who yearns for another cold war. Whoa there comrade! Supper massive and strong majority be damned. Its individual rights that count. If the “super massive majority” may all want free iPods but that doesn’t make it right. This is a mob mentality you refer to and I feel I must whip out the old adage “what is popular is not always right and what’s right is not always popular”. Not to mention that only 1% of Georgia consider themselves ethnic Russian( refer to the CIA world fact book) and this is only out of a population of four million. If two thousand people in Connecticut want to be part of Russia does Russia have the right to invade the US? Keep in mind also that the people who are making all the trouble are backed by Russia. By your claim any Schmuck with a few donated Russian rubbles can legitimately break away from a country. When I read this I laughed. I’m sure Russia was really shaking in their boots at the thought of a massive Georgian onslaught pouring into their country. This is absurd. It would be like the US stationing massive amounts of troops in Florida in fear of a Jamaican invasion. You seem to be missing the big picture the real issue here is the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline. South Ossetia is a vastly strategic location and the Russians want it. The BTC pipeline is a major oil artery going to the Med from the Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli oil field in the Caspian sea. The US and the EU have been helping to have it built and the Russians have been protesting for years about the western influence in their backyard. If the Russians can control the BTC line they will have a near monopoly in the transfer of oil from the Caspian sea to Europe. To think that the good old Russians out of the goodness of their own hearts are rushing into Georgia because they feel for the “poor people of Ossetia” is extraordinarily naive.

I would go out at 2Am and when they ask me what I'm doing I'd say: "I'm sorry Mr Lincoln say I free" in my best old southern accent.

Russia has no standoff weaponry and their OTH targeting is wanting at best. The US has missiles like the SLAM-ER and the JSOW. Russia has no response to this. All they could do is stand around and wait to be blown up. The Russians also no longer have a navy. The old soviet navy is sitting in ports rusting, no carriers, no nuclear power ships nothing worth mentioning except some diesel subs like the kilo which would be no match for a sea wolf. The Air force is also no longer a factor. The Russians still have the SU27/30 and the MiG-29 but again they lack OTHT and have sad missies, sensors and stealth. Plus very few Russians receive more than 80 hours flight training were as each American must have more than two hundred. Don’t worry about the old stuff the Russian have the US military will do what they do best: placing warheads on foreheads. PS:As for the Nukes why would they seek their own mutual destruction. Putin is an evil SOB but he’s not crazy.