Prometheus1

The podcast episodes 1 thru 5 disappeared (without explanation) some time ago on www.piekoff.com I think it was right after the site was redesigned. I don't know if they were lost or not. The typed Q&A also stopped showing up on the site some time ago. I should contact the site webmaster and ask if they were lost and offer it to them first. I'll go do that and get back to you after I get an answer. David McBride

FYI, I have on my hard drive copies of all the podcasts done by Dr. Peikoff. I see that you are missing the first five. If you have an email address I would be happy to send them to you. I also have copies of the the typed Q&A before Dr. Peikoff made the switch to podcasts in MS Office 2003 word files. I could convert it to rtf or txt. David McBride

I just purchased the book from Laissez Faire Books and have finished reading the first chapter. My first initial impression is that Branden's book/lectures has more examples to illustrate his points, but he doesn't always stick to the same words for key points, he does a lot of circling around to get to his point. Peikoff's OPAR is more precise and careful with key terms and definitions, he is much more rigorous in his thinking and writing. Warning: Watch out for Barbara Branden's snotty intro essay at the beginning of the book. Nobody gets to add whatever they want to Ayn Rand's magnificent philosophy and still call it objectivism. David McBride

That is an interesting thought. The Conspiracy Theory provides a psychological coping mechanism to deal with the constant panic eating away at their consciousness. Any thoughts on how to deal with those individuals. I would like to know because I bump into a few when I go to the Tea Party Meetings. David McBride

Going to the tea party rally's, displaying signs and handing out flyers is great activism and does not entail a lot of time or expense. Every Objectivist should be doing that. But for the more adventurous and ambitious much more could be done. In my area I helped start a Tea Party group that meets weekly. Every one is considered an equal and can contribute at any level they wish. People attend for awhile and stop, and others start attending. The group spends at least half of the total time on education, reading books & discussing them. They wanted to first learn more about the Constitution. Since I've been studying Objectivism since 1991 and I've acquired a large library of good books from Second Renaissance, I was able to sell them on reading “A Familiar Exposition of the Constitution of the United States” by Joseph Story. Over the last past two months, I've listen to the discussions and selected areas of interest that I have a book that addresses that subject and I've given 6 five minute book reports so far. A large number write down the title and authors after-wards. They are starved for good ideas. I've found a couple of Atlas Shrugged fans, their copies are battered and marked up with lots of underlines. Some things to remember. 1) They are not Objectivists, make allowances and give them time (remember when you first learned about Objectivism, what sold you on the ideas). 2) Let the books sell the ideas. 3) Set up and run a free Google blog for the group (you can filter out most of the weird stuff when you run it, you can sprinkle in articles from Objectivist blogs, but you will have to run some of the so – so ideas to keep the kiddies happy). 4) There are petitions on specific issues you can join or start (our group jumped on the Statewide petition to allow for recall elections in our state, and down the road we are talking about a Sovereignty amendment with some teeth). 5) The group tracts local, state & national politicians (who to vote against and who to vote for). 6) Have fun doing it. Finally, remember Ayn Rand's advise, “reach out to the better minds among them”. David McBride

I have finished reading this article http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/Supreme_Cou...ory?id=10770402 and I have a question about the proper resolution to this conflict. The conflict should be resolved by property rights (the owner would decide who to let on their property or not). So this is another example of how public property works to destroy our other rights? I am assuming that cemetaries are public property. David McBride

I would like to correct some of what I wrote earlier. The Cordoba House project is 2 1/2 blocks away, not 1 1/2. Muslims have been worshipping there since they purchased the building July 2009. For an article covering the history of the building see http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/09/nyregion...mp;pagewanted=1 Plans have been announced by a second group to build a smaller mosque even closer, but they do not have a location yet. There is a group that has formed to protest the Cordoba House, they plan a rally on June 6, their website is http://sioaonline.com/ David McBride

I would like to throw out some facts that I have learned about this story. The mosque in question has been there for some time. They have purchased the rest of the building and are planning to renovate the whole building and make it taller. The location is one block down and a half of a block around the corner. I personally am opposed to all religions. Christianity is just as odious as Islam. David McBride

That scarf is the same style that Arafat wore. Can I draw the inference that all muslims that wear that scarf has the same mentality, bearing in mind that muslims are allowed to deceive non-muslims? David McBride

I think conspiracy theories function the same way that religion does. People that believe in conpiracy theories simply take it on faith. What they get from it is a sense that they are special because they have secret information/knowledge nobody else has. David McBride

You should try some of the so called "Freestyle / German Style Games", you can find detailed reviews on each game at http://www.funagain.com/control/main Gobs of games that you don't see in stores.

Let's not forget that back then (40's - 50's) commericials were all over the place making claims "4 out of 5 doctors recommend brand x". I can remember a friend at college in 1977 that told me his doctor recommended that he start smoking in order to lose weight.