Category Archives: Ayn Rand

Ken Loach's bruising neo-realist I, Daniel Blake ponders the way poor-shaming is built into the system. Fifty-nine-year-old widower Daniel (Dave Johns, who looks like an older, sadder Bill Burr) was a carpenter before he had a heart attack that knocked him right off his scaffold. Over the titles, he's interrogated by phone by the British equivalent of workers' comp, being asked personal questions about his health, his continence and his ability to type.

Ultimately, he only has 12 out of the 15 points necessary to get disability.

On to Job Seeker's Allowanceunemployment insurance. The money is contingent on his seeking a desk job in one of England's worst job markets, the former shipbuilding town of Newcastle upon Tyne. Daniel is digitally useless: "With computers, I'm dyslexic." While entering his information the only way it can be accepted, as an online form, Daniel swears at the keyboard: "Cursor! Fucking apt name for it."

He goes through a risible yet mandatory job resume workshop, led by a suit-clad salespersonJohn Sumner, comic as one of those Dwight Schrute types who like to precede every statement with a shouted out "FACT!" Daniel befriends a new neighbor in the same boat, Katie (Hayley Squires). She was kicked out of her soon-to-be-privatized public housing in London, 250 miles away. London councils have been shipping public housing denizens north to cities where the real estate market is less hot.

Katie is a believable kind of single mom, wary of being indebted to anyone, even someone as harmless as Daniel. He eases her mind, watching her children. He shows her a few poor-person tricks: a flower pot and candle turned into a room heater, taped up bubble-wrap insulation for when the heat's turned off because of an unpayable 391 bill.

This neo-documentary film is at its keenest depicting Katie's shame when she goes to a food bank. A helper's "Anything else you want?" is pronounced in a way that means, "You've taken your share already." Katie helplessly rips into a can of foodshe's starving from having skipped meals so her kids could eat. Daniel tries to calm her when she breaks down in tears, reminding her that it's not her fault that she's poor.

In America, we feel it is indeed your fault. And in this valley, there's little patience with people who can't seem to become computer literate: tough for them. Even a movie this lucid might not convince conservatives, and some scenes simplify Daniel and Katie's plight into melodrama. Circumstances propel Katie into some very unpleasant work, and she's caught at it by her new friend. I didn't believe this development for a second. In a funeral scene we're reminded of the nature of the tragedy, as if we hadn't just seen it played out before us.

Blake's north British gentleness makes this rough to watchit's like seeing Wallace from the Aardman cartoons being put through the wringer by cold bureaucrats. But the meekness and kindness and details of conversational British language give you hope. Keenest of all is a moment of triumph, a great laugh when Blake finally rebels against his austerity-minded torturers. He gets some public revenge for all the hours he spent on hold on a pay-as-you-go mobilel phone, listening to stupid fiddling Vivaldi. (Hold music will teach you to loathe "The Four Seasons.") Revelers and passersby cheer Daniel on as, perhaps for the first time in his life, the old man breaks the law.

George Orwell once commented "to see what is in front of your nose requires constant struggle". That struggle is easier, these days. Governmental attacks on the poor are so obvious that even the slickest Ayn Rand bamboozlers in Congress fail to blind their victims.

Seeing what's in front of your nose is one problem. Loach's problem is slightly different: how do you dramatize something that happens every day, so that it'll look, believably, like something that happens every day? Loach's half-century long efforts in his many films about the working class haven't always succeeded, but he's always tried. For the most part, this time he's succeeded beautifully.

I, Daniel Blake Unrated, 100 min. Opens Friday at the Camera cinemas

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Review: 'I, Daniel Blake' - Silicon Valley's Metro

Veteran stage actor and play director Darryl Maximilian Robinson, who received a 2015 / 2016 Elate Season Ticket Holder Award Nomination as Best Actor for his performance as the debonair, but aging, leading man Ernest in Tad Mosel's "Impromptu" as part of the Elate staging of four one-acts entitled "Just 4 Fun," returns to the stage of the Lincoln Stegman Theatre of North Hollywood to play District Attorney Flint, a prosecutor deeply involved in the case of "The People of The State of New York vs. Karen Andre" in The Emmanuel Lutheran Actors Theatre Ensemble - ELATE revival of Russian-American author and playwright Ayn Rand's 1935 classic Broadway courtroom drama "Night Of January 16th."

Mr. Robinson, a Chicago Joseph Jefferson Citation Award Winner as Outstanding Actor In A Principal Role In A Play ( for his performance as Sam Semela in Athol Fugard's "Master Harold...And The Boys" ), and who for 15 years served as The Founder, Artistic Director and Producer of the multiracial, non-Equity professional, classical and contemporary chamber theatre, The Excaliber Shakespeare Company of Chicago, has played numerous roles in courtroom dramas during the course of his 43-season stage career including: The Angry Man in Director / Producer Ray Hayman's 1980 staging of The At Random Players' production of C. B. Gilford's "The Jury Room" presented at Chicago's McCormick Inn; The Professor in Director Jonathan Wilson's 1998 staging of The Pegasus Players' Jeff Citation Award-winning world premiere production of Robert Myers' "The Lynching of Leo Frank" performed at Chicago's O'Rourke Center For The Performing Arts; and The Reverend Sykes in Director Diedra Celeste Miranda's 2011 staging of The Glendale Centre Theatre's five-time Stage Scene L A "Scenie" Award-winning production of playwright Christopher Sergel's adaptation of Harper Lee's "To Kill A Mockingbird." However, Ayn Rand's "Night Of January 16th" marks the first time Mr. Robinson has appeared as a lawyer onstage since he played the role of Sir Thomas More, the condemned Lord Chancellor of England, in Director John Grassilli's 1984 staging of The University Players' revival production of Robert Bolt's "A Man For All Seasons" presented at Benton Hall Theatre of The University of Missouri-St. Louis ( UMSL).

Co-Produced by long-time ELATE Members Norma Burgess and Deb Sadlouskos, Ayn Rand's "Night Of January 16th" reunites Mr. Robinson with his "Impromptu" director Jeff Zimmer. A multiple Emmy Award-nominated television producer ( noted for his work on such programs nas "The Doctors" and "America's Funniest Home Videos" ), Mr. Zimmer will stage Rand's 82-year-old Broadway success "Night" in modern dress attire, and add a few touches to make the piece resemble a slightly more recent "Trial of The Century."

This includes casting several talented actresses in roles traditionally played by males including: Gerrie Wilkowski as Judge Heath; Therese Hawes as the writing expert, Chandler; and Lisa Cicchetti as the medical examiner, Dr. Kirkland. Mr. Robinson's District Attorney Flint prosecutes his case opposite experienced actress and Co-Producer Ms. Burgess as Defense Attorney Stevens, the legal counsel of accused murder suspect Karen Andre. The pivotal role of The Defendant Andre is played by Erin Cote', who earned a 2015 / 2016 Elate Season Ticket Holder Award Nomination as Best Actress for her performance as Jane in Elate playwright Stan Brown's "Ride Share," another of the four one-acts of "Just 4 Fun". MR. Brown, who won two 2015 / 2016 Elate Season Ticket Holder Awards for Best Actor and Best Director ( shared with Mr. Zimmer ) for his work in "Ride Share" as part of "Just 4 Fun," appears in the revival production of "Night," as the multimillionaire and philanthropist, John Graham Whitfield.

Other performers featured in ELATE'S revival of "Night January 16th" include: Rod French as the elderly night watchman, Mr. Hutchins; Judith Miller as the Swedish housekeeper, Magda Svenson; Tom Reilly as the private investigator, Homer Van Fleet; Terry Bratcher as Police Inspector Sweeney, Tim Aberdeen as accountant Siegurd Jungquist, Mr. Zimmer in the blended roles of The Bailiff and The Court Clerk; and ELATE newcomer Lauren Waites as Nancy Lee Faulker, beautiful young widow of murder victim Bjorn Faulkner, and only daughter of John Graham Whitfield. The role of love-smitten gangster Lawrence "Guts" Regan ( a part that revitalized the stage and screen acting career of Hollywood Legend Walter Pidgeon during the original 1935 Broadway production ) will be played in this new revival by Elate audience favorite Tony Cicchetti.

The ELATE revival will be staging Ayn Rand's final, 1968 definitive version of her script, and utilize the device that made it a hit in 1935 on Broadway: At every performance audience members will be asked to participate as Jury Members and, by their verdict, determine one of two endings of the play!

Performances of ELATE's revival of Ayn Rand'S "NIGHT OF JANUARY 16th" will take place Saturday June 3rd at 8pm., Sunday June 4th at 2pm., Saturday June 10th at 8 pm., Sunday June 11th at 4pm., Saturday June 17th at 8pm., and Sunday June 18th at 2pm. All performances are onstage at The Lincoln Stegman Theatre, 6020 Radford Ave., North Hollywood, CA. 91606. For Tickets and Reservations Information as well as to request special "Jury Box" ( premium view ) seats call ELATE at ( 818 ) 509-0882.

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Elate's Revival of Ayn Rand's NIGHT OF JANUARY 16TH Opens 6/3 - Broadway World

Mashable

Surprise, no one wants to be Ted Cruz's Secret Santa Mashable Al Franken's new book Giant of the Senate contains some great stories about the Texas senator who is like if Grandpa Munster started reading Ayn Rand. Turns out he's even despised by his fellow senators. A week or so ago, Franken revealed a ... and more »

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Surprise, no one wants to be Ted Cruz's Secret Santa - Mashable

Kansas City Star

Digital Life: Tech in a nanny state or Ayn Rand wonderland Kansas City Star I want to rent out a room near the Plaza to the occasional traveler. What's it to you? I'm gonna make a few extra bucks giving people rides home from Westport. What do you care? Turns out, it is something to hotel folks if Airbnb cuts into the lodging ...

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Digital Life: Tech in a nanny state or Ayn Rand wonderland - Kansas City Star

The motive for their madness is one-world government. Totalitarianism by any other name whether it is religious or secular is still totalitarianism.

Left-wing liberal leaders do not lack the intelligence to recognize the suicidal policies they are pursuing. They are deliberately facilitating the policies of cultural suicide to create the social chaos necessary to eliminate their nation states and globalize the world under one-world government That is the motive for their madness.

Their seemingly bizarre policies create an atmosphere of such anxiety and cognitive dissonance that people are overwhelmed and paralyzed trying to make sense of the nonsensical policies destroying their cultures. Most people simply cannot absorb the shock of leaders who are deliberately trying to destroy the sovereignty, borders, and national cultures of their own countries - it is madness. Most people have enormous difficulty accepting the fact that their left-wing leaders are purposely lying to them, distorting reality, and manipulating the news to disguise their destructive motives. Rather than face this intolerable truth people often withdraw into unreality and pretend it is not happening - they choose subjective reality to find some relief.

The problem is, of course, that subjective reality is not a safe place. As Ayn Rand famously pointed out, You can deny reality but you cannot deny the consequences of denying reality. The Islamists know they are waging war - they are in objective reality. The Globalists know they are waging war - they are in objective reality. It is the lying Islamic leadership practicing taqiyya and the lying left-wing leadership practicing their secular form of taqiyya who are trying to seduce the West into subjective reality where the citizenry can be exploited. Citizens who reject objective reality and accept the lies of their leaders have entered subjective reality where they can pretend that there is no war but cannot escape the consequences of their pretending. Denying reality is a flawed and losing strategy - it is a childs response to fear. A child hides under the bed when the house is burning - an adult escapes to safety.

Subjective reality is a very dangerous place for fearful citizens to hide because the Islamists and the Globalists are exploiting their fear and humanity by deceiving them with the fiction that the mass immigration of a population with hostile cultural norms will somehow benefit them or that it is their humanitarian duty to accommodate their hostile norms.

We are at a critical time in world history now. The efforts to destroy American dominance launched after WWII have escalated to a tipping point.

Islamists and Leftists have common cause to destroy the West. Islamists seek to impose religious one-world government ruled by sharia law. Globalists seek to impose secular one-world government ruled by themselves. It is time to stop the hand wringing and embrace the fact that the Left is trying to destabilize and overthrow Donald Trumps presidency to create the social chaos required for imposition of Globalisms one-world government. It is also time to stop pretending that Islam is a peaceful religion like any other. Islam is a socio-political expansionist ideology with a religious wing, a military wing, and an educational wing all attempting to overthrow Western governments and replace them with supremacist sharia law. Terrorism is an Islamic tactic of war. Terrorist attacks in New York, London, Brussels, Nice, Syria, Orlando, Paris, Stockholm, Cologne, Malmo, Berlin, Manchester, and on and on and on are inspired and connected by Islamic ideology. There are no lone wolves. Responding to Islamic terrorism with flowers and songs is patently absurd. Responding to Islamic terrorism by pretending it is not driven by Islamic ideology is denying objective reality and making the choice to enter the fiction of subjective reality.

It is time for free people in every free country left on this earth to face facts and accept objective reality. There is a vicious war being fought by Islamists and Globalists with the help of the colluding mainstream media for world dominion that will impose either religious or secular totalitarian rule on the world if they are not defeated. The income equality and social justice promised by Globalists is as fictitious as the 72 virgins promised by Islam to jihadis - it is the candy offered to children by strangers that every adult in Western countries understands is the bait that lures its unsuspecting victims. The West must grow up and reject the candy. The West must reject subjective reality and learn to live in objective reality.

The totalitarian rule of Islamic states is a reality of modern life - there is no ambiguity regarding its strict and savage lifestyle. Every Middle Eastern country with the exception of Israel is bound by sharia law or is struggling for sharia law and its restrictive supremacist strictures.

The income equality and social justice promised by globalists is the big lie of the 21st century that is duping the useful idiots in the Western world. Globalism is not new - it was described unapologetically in chilling detail by Lord Bertrand Russell in his 1952 book The Impact of Science on Society. Far from providing income equality and social justice the one-world government of the New World Order (NWO) is a binary socio-political system of masters and slaves. There are no individual freedoms in one-world government, no middle class, no upward mobility, and no self-determination. The promises of income equality and social justice offered by lying left-wing politicians are no different than the candy offered by strangers to gullible children. Globalism is not the John Lennon song Imagine. Globalism is the sinister and insidious reality of a collectivist society where individuals are treated as children and property of the state. As Hillary Clinton famously said - we need a public who is unaware and compliant. Unaware and compliant are the hallmarks of childhood.

Hillary Clinton is a globalist. Barack Obama is a globalist. The six mega-corporations that own the media are all globalists. George Soros is a globalist. Angela Merkel is a globalist. Emmanuel Macron is a globalist. Theresa May is unsuccessfully trying to be both globalist and nationalist. The Leftist leaders of the European Union are globalists. The entire Globalist community is arrayed against President Donald Trump because he is the single greatest obstacle to one-world government on earth. President Donald Trump and his America first nationalism is the existential threat to one-world government. The Globalist disinformation campaign against him is unparalleled. The Islamists practice taqiyya - lying in the service of Islam. The lying Left practice the equivalent language of deceit - lying in the service of Globalism - in their end justifies the means complete disregard for truthfulness.

Unless people wish to live under the totalitarian governance of Globalisms dystopian one-world rule or under Islams sharia law they had better rid themselves of their lying Leftist leaders and replace them with honest leaders committed to protecting their countrys democracy, sovereignty, borders, individual freedoms, constitutions, and national cultures.

The motive for their madness is one-world government. Totalitarianism by any other name whether it is religious or secular is still totalitarianism.

Linda Goudsmit is a devoted wife, mother, and grandmother. She and her husband owned and operated a girls clothing store in Michigan for 40 years and are now retired on the beach in sunny Florida. Linda graduated from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, earning a B.A. in English literature. Having a lifelong commitment to learning, she is an avid reader and observer of life. She has shared her thoughts, observations, and philosophy of behavior in her book DEAR AMERICA Whos Driving the Bus? Linda is currently working on a childrens book series titled Mimis STRATEGY that offers helpful problem solving techniques encouraging resourcefulness and critical thinking skills for kids.

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MOTIVE FOR MADNESS - Canada Free Press

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From filmmaking to vlogging, Casey Neistat is now sharing another one of his passions: reading.

Thats right, the YouTube personality, filmmaker, vlogger and entrepreneur has started his own book club. In a recent vlog post, Neistat shared his plans of the book club to express the joy that reading brings him. And he wants his fans to share the experience with him. Reading is like leaving the house," he says in the video. "Yes, you can go your whole life without doing it, but youre not really experiencing all life has to offer if you never leave the house.

Related:5 Lessons for Success From YouTube StarCasey Neistat

So whats first on Neistats list? The YouTube star made a rather dark choice, kicking off the club with journalist Nick Biltons American Kingpin. The nonfiction book tells the story of Ross Ulbricht, the man behind Silk Road, a billion-dollar website hosted on the dark web where people could buy and sell drugs, firearms and more.

While his first choice might come as a surprise to some, if you read the book, youll find you might relate to some of Ulbrichts characteristics and the events throughout his journey. In so many ways, the programmers and entrepreneurs Ross met were just like him, a line from the book says. Like Neistat, Ulbricht was an entrepreneur (a criminal, nonetheless) himself -- building a billion-dollar business, taking risks (perhaps too many), pushing boundaries and creating something that people wanted.

Related:10BooksEvery Leader Should Read to Be Successful

Still curious? Check out these three excerpts from American Kingpin about entrepreneurship, inspiration and pushing boundaries.

The CEOs of these other startups were no different from Ross, either. They had all read the same Ayn Rand books. These chief executives shared the same quotes on Facebook as he did: The question isnt who is going to let me; its who is going to stop me.

Ross vehemently disagreed. As long as we dont cross [a] line in our pursuit, DPR wrote to Variety Jones, then we are only doing good.'

Ha, dude, were criminal drug dealers, VJ responded. What line shouldnt we cross?

Murder; theft, cheating, lying; hurting people,' DPR replied, resentful of the question. That line. We are drawing a new line I guess you could say. According to that line, we arent criminals.

Related:ReadingBooksMakes You Smarter, Richer and Surprisingly Healthier

In the current version of the site, it was Rosss world, and he got to decide what went and what didnt. He dictated who got a raise and who didnt. People who worked hard were rewarded, as he has recently done with some focused employees, giving some of them an extra few hundred in Bitcoin when they excelled.

Rose Leadem is an online editorial assistant at Entrepreneur Media Inc.

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Casey Neistat's First Selection for His Book Club May Surprise You - Entrepreneur

Over the years, Uber's CEO has been described as arrogant and a "bro-y alpha-nerd" -- along with plenty of more colorful terms not fit to print here. And that was before Uber's endless string of PR crises kicked off this year.

But Kalanick disagrees with that perception.

"I think there's this general question out there: Is he an a**hole?" Kalanick says in Wild Ride, a book out this week offering an inside look at Uber's rapid rise. "I don't think I'm an a**hole. I'm pretty sure I'm not."

When asked if he cares about the negative public image, Kalanick says, "Yeah, it's not good for Uber, it's not good for me, it's not good for the people that I'm talking to. It's bad for everybody."

The conversation took place in July 2016. A little more than six months later, Kalanick would publicly admit he needs to "grow up" and get "leadership help" after a video surfaced of him arguing with an Uber driver.

The book, by Fortune executive editor Adam Lashinsky, offers a unique window into the background and psyche of the man shaping one of the world's most influential and controversial young technology companies.

Uber is both a startup juggernaut and a media punching bag. Kalanick, more than anyone, deserves credit for both. But contrary to the founding story Uber tells, Kalanick was not actually involved in the company's earliest days.

Garrett Camp, the serial entrepreneur behind StumbleUpon, came up with the idea in mid-2008 after getting "blacklisted" by the two big cab companies in San Francisco. Camp brought on Kalanick and three other friends as advisers. Kalanick took an interest in the idea, but he didn't join the company full time as CEO until 2010.

As an adviser and later the CEO, Kalanick did much to shape the service and the perception of it. For starters, he pushed Camp to move away from the idea of Uber owning cars. Kalanick also drove Uber's vast fundraising machine, which helped it outpace rivals.

Related: Uber's PR crises show no sign of letting up

But it was also Kalanick who brazenly talked up Uber's fights with regulators and "an a**hole named taxi." The aggressive rhetoric only helped create a bad boy image for him and the company.

In the book, Kalanick describes this as "little moments of arrogance where I say something provocative." He appears to see himself as a truth teller, however controversial the truth may be.

At least some of this posturing is said to go back to Kalanick's days of being picked on as a kid.

"I was geeky enough to get bullied. Not like physically beat up really, but just made fun of, ostracized," Kalanick recalls in the book. "That could be where the justice thing comes from."

Some have described Kalanick as a cutthroat libertarian who likely opposes government regulation, in part because he once used the cover of an Ayn Rand book for his Twitter profile image. Here, too, Kalanick feels misunderstood.

"There is this crazy meme on the Internet that I am some kind of Ayn Rand disciple," he says in the book. "A few years ago I read The Fountainhead and put it up as my avatar, not having any idea the political ramification."

If Uber's bad boy image wasn't bad enough, it has been hit with sexual harassment allegations this year. Much of the reporting for Wild Ride predates the allegations and doesn't offer any inside accounts of what happened.

However, Lashinsky does note that Kalanick's tech scene before joining Uber was "unapologetically male." In one old Twitter post, Kalanick brags about a Las Vegas rental he found "named the PIMP HOUSE, equipped with stripper pole AND stage."

The harassment allegations would be enough to rattle any company. But Uber is also facing a criminal probe over a tool it built to help drivers dodge law enforcement and is in the midst of a legal battle with Google's (GOOGL, Tech30) Waymo that could hobble the future of its self-driving car operation.

Related: Uber searching for a COO after crises

Lyft, Uber's chief rival in the U.S., has differentiated itself with a friendlier brand and begun to capitalize on Uber's struggles. It recently raised $600 million in funding and said it experienced a 60% increase in new passenger signups the week after an Uber boycott in January.

If there is a saving grace for Kalanick based on the portrayal in this book, it's his ability to learn on the job, adjust quickly based on feedback -- and ultimately survive.

Kalanick taught himself how to fundraise with his first startup. He managed to get his second startup acquired even though he was the only employee left on staff at one point. And he steered Uber through new competition from Lyft and self-driving cars.

Now at Uber, Kalanick may just need to prove he can disrupt himself.

CNNMoney (New York) First published May 23, 2017: 11:54 AM ET

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Uber's CEO is just so misunderstood - CNNMoney

Southern Charm Savannah? This is how we represent Savannah? How embarrassing.

After the testimony of Sally Yates, the Tweeter in Chief replied saying, Nothing but old news and when will this taxpayer charade end? The educated voters in this country already know when it will end when he resigns or is impeached because the country cannot survive a full term of this lunatic.

After watching Southern Charm Savannah on Bravo, Im grateful my children werent raised with a silver spoon in their mouths!

The only two sure-fire ways to end the Obamacare mess is 1) let anyone keep it that wants to keep it, along with those exorbitant premiums/deductibles and 2) force all of Congress and their families to go onto Obamacare.

Unless you run the risk of being kidnapped, shot or otherwise disappearing, you should not get to call yourself resistance.

Yes, coyotes would take care of the cats, but what do we put out there to take care of people like you?

The health insurance industry is the only one I know where the goal is to do absolutely as little as possible for your customers. If you actually have happy customers, youre doing something wrong.

While the airport is relocating the wood storks, are there any plans for the eagles that are in the area?

Great Tuesday commentary in SMN by Robert Ringer. Health care/impossible dream says what our nation is up against and some helpful advice.

Because of government inefficiency, all high schools should have Ayn Rand plus George Orwells books as part of their curriculum. I had to read Atlas Shrugged and 1984 myself. Remember them today as a warning we should have taken more seriously.

Please can the columns by Robert Ringer. You have plenty of very right-wing columnists and dont need to go full nut job.

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Vox Populi: 'All high schools should have Ayn Rand plus George ... - Savannah Morning News

Ayn Rand Rewrites

The modern world needs a dose of Ayn Rand on a regular basis, and I for one am going to see to it that we get one. (Ayn Rand loves fan fiction.)

"If you want to find Cherry-Tree Lane all you have to do is never make assertions. That is the moral crime peculiar to our enemies. We do not tell we show. We do not claim we prove. It is not your obedience that we seek to win, but your rational conviction. You have seen all the elements of our secret. The conclusion is now yours to draw we can help you to

POLICE CAPTAIN:Monseigneur Bishop we have apprehended this man a known criminal outside your gates with a set of silver candlesticks he claims you gave him what say you?

BISHOP MYRIEL: Yes, he stole them. [to Jean Valjean] You wretched leech, if you wanted silver candlesticks, you should have created them.

All of me How dare you try to take all of me Can't you see I exist wholly, with unbreached self-esteem, without you

My lips are mine How can I lose myself in you? I am still myself My arms are my arms Romantic love is a conscious expression of philosophy

MAL: How come you didn't turn on me, Jayne?

JAYNE: Money wasn't good enough.

MAL: What happens when it is?

JAYNE: When men reduce their virtues to the approximate, then evil acquires the force of an absolute, when loyalty to an unyielding purpose is dropped by the virtuous, its picked up by scoundrels.

"Whatever the Free Market ordains, is full of wisdom. What we ascribe to fortune, happens not without a presiding nature, nor without a connection and intertexture with the things ordered by the Market. From the Market all things flow."

It was terribly cold, like the inside of a train station after all the trains have left for the evening. It was the last night of the year, and in its cold and darkness there walked a poor little girl, bareheaded and with naked feet. Her slim frame was out of scale in relation to a normal human body; its lines were so long, so fragile, so exaggerated that she looked like a stylized drawing

"But we have received a sign, Edith a mysterious sign. A miracle has happened on this farm...in the middle of the web there were the words 'Some Pig'...we have no ordinary pig." "Well," said Mrs. Zuckerman, "it seems to me you're a little off. It seems to me we have no ordinary spider." "Ah, there you have it," said her husband. "The extraordinary spider is acting not out of altruism but out of arecognition

"If the witch understood the true meaning of sacrifice, she might have interpreted the Deep Magic differently, for when a willing victim who has committed no treachery, dies in a traitors stead, the stone table will crack and even death itself will turn backwards." "Oh, how interesting," Lucy said. "What is the true meaning of sacrifice, Aslan?" "It is an artificial anti-concept," Aslan said in his low, golden voice. "It is the ultimate force of

If you give a mouse a cookie, he's going to ask for a glass of milk, because charity encourages helplessness and ingratitude. When you give him the milk, he'll probably ask you for a straw. Altruism does not result in gratefulness; it results in a sense of expectation and entitlement in the receiver. He has been given something for nothing. What have you taught him about the value of his own labor? Nothing. You have

Joe Manganiello is living proof that the reader-response theory is the truest form of literary criticism. Reader-response theorists share two beliefs: 1) that the role of the reader cannot be omitted from our understanding of literature and 2) that readers do not passively consume the meaning presented to them by an objective literary text; rather they actively make the meaning they find in literature" (154). In this way, reader-response theory shares common ground with

The idea sets the detail. An idea, like a man, is alive; its integrity is to serve its own truth, its own single purpose. An idea cannot borrow hunks of its soul piecemeal any more than a man can borrow pieces of his body from another. The idea, and the Club, was mine. To say the four of us worked on it together is a form of truth, in the same way it is true

Previously: Ayn Rand Reviews Children's Movies. Thomas the Tank Engine When I ride on the 20th Century Limited, nobody touches a lever on the control panel but me. To ride a train is to take ingenuity itself as your lover; children should be given books about trains early and often. All trains are important. Thomas the Tank Engine is the most important train that there is, because he believes himself to be so. Other,

Previously in this series: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. "Should it be wizards first, then?" she asked. "We're all human, aren't we? Every human life is worth the same, and worth saving." Harry looked at Kingsley. His mouth opened slightly, then closed. "I will give you the gift of silence in exchange for that," he said at last, turning and reaching for the door. "Let's go."

***

"While you can

Kathleen: I started helping my mother after school here when I was six years old. And I used to watch her. And it wasn't that she was just selling books, it was that she was helping people become whoever it was (that) they were going to turn out to be. Because when you read a book as a child it becomes part of your identity in a way that no other reading in your whole

Previously in this series (yeah, were doingall seven): Ayn RandsHarry Potter and Order of the Phoenix. "Felix Felicis," Professor Slughorn said in hushed tones, holding the amber bottle up to the light. "Liquid luck, they call it. Bottled fortune. Brewed correctly the drinker of this potion will be lucky in all their endeavours, but be warned...excessive consumption is highly toxic and can cause extreme recklessness." Harry knocked over his chair and

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The Toast - Ayn Rand Rewrites

When I was a child, we had a friend of the family we called Uncle George. His real name was George Byrnes. He had been a cop in New York City for some 28 years before retiring to Connecticut with his wife and three daughters.

He never talked about his time as a NYC policeman. But he was the kindest, most Christian man I ever met. When my mother was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, George used to accompany my father to Yale New Haven Hospital where she was receiving treatment. Parking at the hospital was limited at the time, so they parked the car well down the block. New Haven was a rather seedy small city, and there was no shortage of down and out characters on their way to the hospital.

My father, the hard bitten, New England combat veteran, ignored them. Uncle George, on the other hand, went among them handing out whatever money he had on his person. When he ran out, he asked my father to borrow some money. My father, who was a good man but a frugal one, looked at him and said, you know theyll only go out and buy more booze with it. George replied, I wouldnt want to miss the one who needed it.

The United States spends almost 17 percent of her GNP on healthcare, and does not insure everyone in the country. No other country in the world spends anywhere close to that amount.

The following countries provide universal healthcare at a level commensurate with what we would expect if we can afford healthcare here: Austria, Australia, Croatia, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Serbia, Sweden, Switzerland, UK, Canada, New Zealand, and South Africa.

Many other countries provide universal healthcare, but I would not hesitate to receive care in any of the above listed countries.

The UK spent about 10 percent of its GNP on healthcare last year. Life expectancy there was 2.6 years longer than found in the U.S. Infant mortality in the UK was 4.8 per thousand births versus 6.2 for the United States. Cancer survival rates in the U.S. seem slightly better, but more cancers are diagnosed here, including more cancers that would not cause death.

When you get into medical statistics, it gets complicated and esoteric. What really ought to stand out to all of us are a couple of facts.

We pay a LOT more for medical care in this country. Not all of our people can obtain medical care. Many people face economic ruin when they do obtain care. Many of our poor are never afforded the care that the poorest in far poorer countries may obtain.

A couple of weeks ago Mr. Beverly in one of his editorials told us that evangelicals, in opposing government-mandated and -financed healthcare, are not acting in contravention to mandates from the almighty to assist the poor. Such acts he said are individual and should not be compelled through government.

Last week he told us the government simply cannot afford it; that U.S. national debt is already too great.

So Im wondering now which is the reason. Government should not, or government cannot. Because right now somebody is vacuuming up the proceeds from our healthcare expenditures while we overpay and receive in many cases, only average results.

For our efforts, millions of people have to deal with a system that routinely overcharges, and causes many people to wonder how on earth they will afford their treatment, while the poorest among us must seek the most expensive treatment available at emergency rooms.

I challenge evangelicals because I have known true Christians, not because I am one. How can one group of people who are supposedly following in the footsteps of the Christ be so enslaved to a party and a leadership so enslaved to their own personal enrichment? How can people attend church, mutter all the words, and completely miss the point?

I am not as good a man as Uncle George. He would never call people out on their actions and their hypocrisy. He was like an original Christian. By his deeds, by his kindness, by his love for humanity in whatever form he could fashion it he just was.

Modern American evangelicals in their ossified state will undoubtedly continue to meet, to wear their little mission shirts when they seek obfuscation from the poor in Central America, and completely miss the one who needs it here at home, because they have wedded themselves to political thought that is completely callous in its effect. We cant all be Uncle George, but we dont have to be Ayn Rand.

Its our call.

Timothy J. Parker Peachtree City, Ga.

[The editor replies: Mr. Parker asks a fair question: Which is it, compulsory healthcare violates our individual rights, or the government cant afford it? My answer: Both.]

Excerpt from:

Uncle George or Ayn Rand? It's our choice - The Citizen.com