"The change we seek has always required great struggle and great sacrifice." - Barack Hussein Obama
"The man who speaks to you of sacrifice, speaks of slaves and masters. And intends to be the master." - Ayn Rand (Via Facebook friend, JW)
One of the free articles available in this month's Objective Standard is well worth a look whether you're for or against the right of a woman to have an abortion. It should give any freedom-loving American some food for though.
"The Assault on Abortion Rights Undermines All Our Liberties"
Here's the opening paragraph:
In recent years, antiabortion activists have stepped up their attacks on a woman’s right to abortion and have achieved a series of victories in their efforts to outlaw the procedure. This increasing assault poses a major threat not only to women’s right to abortion, but, more broadly, to individual rights as such. Rights form a logical unity, and to the extent that any are threatened, all are threatened. The antiabortionists’ war on a woman’s right to her body is ultimately a war on all our rights, including our rights to property, free trade, and freedom of speech. To demonstrate this, we will briefly survey the goals, methods, successes, and rationale of today’s antiabortion movement; we will then turn to the reasons women seek abortions, to the nature of rights and the positive case for a woman’s right to abortion, and finally to the reasons why any restriction on abortion rights necessarily clears the way for violations of other rights.
From their website:
The Chicago Objectivist Society is pleased to announce the presenters and presentations planned for our inaugural Chicago Objectivist convention, which will take place over Labor Day weekend (September 3rd & 4th). If you can join us, please preregister here.
I wish we were able to go, but we already have other travel plans this summer. That being said, I was fortunate enough to go to OCON last summer and SnowCon in January, and these Objectivist conferences are a great way to mingle with other like-minded people, learn new ideas and learn how to apply Rand's philosophy to your daily life. If you aren't able to make it to AtlosCon or OCON, try it make it out to one of these other mini-conferences that are popping up all over the place. It's an exciting time to be an Objectivist! =)
I am so in love with this story I found on Twitter today. It's full of heroic gems such as:
Whereas many Japanese have adopted the nation's unofficial mantra: Shou ga nai, or, more politely, Shikata ga nai, loosely translated as, "What can you do?," "It's beyond our control" or "It's out of my hands," Akaiwa stands out as a virtual live-action hero.
And this:
Not willing to wait until the government or any international organization did, or did not, arrive to rescue his wife of two decades — whom he had met while they were surfing in a local bay — Akaiwa got hold of some scuba gear. He then hit the water, wended his way through the debris and underwater hazards and managed to reach his house, from which he dragged his wife to safety.
And this:
Finally, he adjusts the grip on his bicycle and heads off in search of other trapped survivors.
"Sorry, I have to get going," he says as he navigates around the dead fish, through a puddle and around the corner.
Click here to read the whole, awesome story.
Today is your last chance to register for SnowCon -- or just its keynote FROST Supper Talk on Saturday, March 12th.
At the FROST Supper Talk, you'll learn valuable skills for managing your relationships with friends, family, and co-workers better. (I know that from personal experience... their techniques have even helped me train my dogs better too!)
The FROST talk is by Jenn Casey and Kelly Elmore on "Effective Communication: How Objectivists Can Use Positive Discipline Tools In Their Adult Relationships." Here's the abstract:
In our talk, we will present a set of parenting principles called "Positive Discipline" that is compatible with teaching our children to use the Objectivist virtues while behaving virtuously ourselves. Positive Discipline techniques include respectful communication, problem-solving skills, and limit-setting that is both kind and firm. Positive Discipline techniques do not include reward systems, praise, punishments, behavior modification techniques, emotional manipulation, shaming, or logical consequences.
The focus of the talk will be on the communication and problem-solving tools used in Positive Discipline, tools that are essential not only to parenting but to all healthy relationships, at work, at home, with friends, with romantic partners, and on the phone with the customer service representative at your credit card company. The talk will be dynamic and interactive, and you will walk out with at least one new skill to try the next time you are in a difficult situation with your spouse, your coworker, or your child.
If you're unsure about attending, we recommend that you listen to their podcast about the lecture, available here.
We must give the final head count to the Rio Grande restaurant tomorrow morning, so you must register for either SnowCon or just the FROST talk today, preferably by noon.
Register for FROST here:
http://www.frontrangeobjectivism.com/snowcon/frost.html
Register for SnowCon here:
http://www.frontrangeobjectivism.com/snowcon/registration.html
If you attend the FROST lecture, and you'd like to attend another SnowCon event or two à la carte, just send Diana Hsieh an e-mail.
(Note to students: Thanks to contributions from generous FRO supporters, we can offer deeper student discounts than just the student rate. Please e-mail Diana -- ASAP! -- if you'd like to attend but you can't afford the regular student rate.)
Also, everyone is welcome to join us for Friday night's SnowCon Happy Hour at Landry's. It's free, but you'll be responsible for your own food and drinks. Please RSVP via e-mail to Diana if you plan to attend.
SnowCon and FROST welcome all friendly people with a serious interest in or honest curiosity about Ayn Rand's philosophy, regardless of their level of knowledge.
Please e-mail Diana Hsieh if you have any questions!
This story coming out of the NFL today makes me sick.
…McElroy's brainpower still has the potential to be taken as a negative around the league, as explained by Pro Football Talk's Mike Florio:
That said, scoring too high can be as much of a problem as scoring too low. Football coaches want to command the locker room. Being smarter than the individual players makes that easier. Having a guy in the locker room who may be smarter than every member of the coaching staff can be viewed as a problem — or at a minimum as a threat to the egos of the men who hope to be able when necessary to outsmart the players, especially when trying in some way to manipulate them.
So while McElroy, who was unable to work out due to injury, may be really smart, he perhaps would have been wise to tank a few of the answers.
What kind of sick and distorted society do we live in where people are so stupid and insecure as to be intimidated by someone smarter than they are?! Smart people still need to be managed and still have new things to learn, so why would a coach be intimidated by a player like this?! Then to suggest that the player should've lied on the test to pretend he's dumber than he is takes the story from disgusting to pure evil, as if being dishonest and dumb are some sort of virtues! Ugh!
I embrace those who are smarter than I am, and I try to learn from them. I look up to and respect them and desire to work with them. And if my job is to manage or coach them, well, all the better for me! Hopefully, they'll make my job delightful and easy!
Front Range Objectivism is pleased to announce the full schedule and to open registration for SnowCon -- our March mini-conference. The core of the conference runs from Friday, March 11th to Sunday, March 13th in Denver, but you can also join us for three days of winter play in the beautiful Colorado Rockies beforehand.
You can view the full schedule of lectures and events on the SnowCon web site: http://www.frontrangeobjectivism.com/snowcon/
Or you can watch/listen to my preview of it: http://www.frontrangeobjectivism.com/snowcon/webcast.html
Colorado is a wonderful state to visit, and SnowCon will be good intellectual fun! So please join us!
To attend SnowCon, you must register by noon on Thursday, March 3rd. If you register by noon on Thursday, February 24th, you'll save $20, paying only $140 rather than $160. (That price includes two buffet meals.)
Here are some more details from the SnowCon web page:
The core events of SnowCon will be held in Denver on Saturday and Sunday. Lectures include Dr. Paul Hsieh on the morality of carrying firearms, Dr. Diana Hsieh on moral character, Santiago Valenzuela on immigration, and Joe Collins on America's founding. Saturday night's keynote FROST lecture will feature Jenn Casey and Kelly Elmore on applying the principles of positive discipline to adult relationships.
SnowCon also offers a workshop on activist writing with Ari Armstrong, a discussion and performance of Beethoven by pianist Hannah Krening, a workshop on Atlas Shrugged Reading Groups, a demonstration of Liberty Toastmasters, and more. Other optional events include a tour of Denver microbreweries, a hike in Roxborough Park, a tour of the Denver Museum of Art, and a trip to a local shooting range.
For details, see Denver Activities and Schedule.
In addition, SnowCon attendees can enjoy three relaxed days of skiing, snowboarding, snowshoeing, and other winter activities together in Breckenridge before the weekend in Denver -- from Wednesday to Friday.
For details, see Breckenridge Activities and Schedule.
SnowCon welcomes all friendly people with a serious interest in or honest curiosity about Ayn Rand's philosophy, regardless of their level of knowledge.
Santiago and I will be attending the Breckenridge and Denver conference days and we hope to see you there!
He’s allowed to defend his life and property, but we’re not.
Long time Anti-Gun Advocate State Senator R.C. Soles, 74, shot one of two intruders at his home just outside Tabor City , N.C. about 5 p.m. Sunday, the prosecutor for the politician's home county said.
This is my favorite part of the blog post:
It has prompted some to ask if the Senator believes his life and personal safety is more valuable than yours or mine.
But, this is to be expected from those who believe they can run our lives, raise our kids, and protect our families better than we can.
If you haven’t checked it out already, now is a great time to follow my immigration blog, Mother of Exiles. My husband, Santiago, has been on a roll lately, uncovering and exposing the immigration reform groups FAIR, Center for Immigration Studies and Numbers USA for what they really are, neo-Nazi, white supremacist hate groups! His first two posts of a multi-part series can be found here and here.
When I was a conservative Republican, I used to forward around Numbers USA’s scary videos and emails. I’m so glad that I now know better! Not only have I learned more about individual rights and immigration, but I’ve learned more about who is behind these evil groups trying to stop immigration to the US.
Please take the time to educate yourself on the issues and make sure you’re not parroting the evil, racist trash of these hate groups! We all need to think for ourselves, make up our own minds and understand the nature of individual rights.
I was disgusted today to read this article in the Houston Press Blog about one of the recent Wikileaks:
Another international conflict, another horrific taxpayer-funded sex scandal for DynCorp, the private security contractor tasked with training the Afghan police.
While the company is officially based in the DC area, most of its business is managed on a satellite campus at Alliance Airport north of Fort Worth. And if one of the diplomatic cables from the WikiLeaks archive is to be believed, boy howdy, are their doings in Afghanistan shady.
The Afghanistan cable (dated June 24, 2009) discusses a meeting between Afghan Interior Minister Hanif Atmar and US assistant ambassador Joseph Mussomeli. Prime among Atmar's concerns was a party partially thrown by DynCorp for Afghan police recruits in Kunduz Province.
The party was allegedly a Bacha Bazi. Frontline did a story on Bacha Bazi and you can watch that documentary in its entirety here. Basically, Bacha Bazi is a way for corrupt, powerful, wealthy, nasty, perverted old men in Afghanistan to purchase young boys for sex. The boys are taught how to sing and dance at a young age, they are dressed up (sometimes in women’s clothing and make up) and made to perform at “parties” for adult men, where they are frequently auctioned off for sex, or just purchased outright.
If it’s true that DynCorp participated in that sort of activity as a recruiting method, then the responsible parties should be prosecuted criminally. Furthermore, DynCorp should be made to repay all the taxpayer funding it’s received (plus interest and penalties) and their government contract should be immediately cancelled.
This is not only another waste of taxpayer dollars, but it’s not ensuring our safety in the war on terror and it’s actively funding not only human trafficking but child rape! This is disgusting, people need to be imprisoned and my tax dollars need to stop funding it!
I received the following email from my therapist. I am reposting the message here in its entirety with his permission. Thanks, Dr. Hurd!
PO Box 1554
Rehoboth Beach DE 19971
302-227-2829
ObamaCare: You Get What You Pay For
Contact: Michael J. Hurd, Ph.D.
Phone: 302-227-2829
DATE: November 12, 2010
One of the dirty little secrets of Obama’s health “care” debacle is that Medicare reimbursement rates are set to go down for all health care providers effective December 1. This means that the medical professionals to whom you trust your health, and, indeed, your very life, are having a 20-30 percent pay cut forced upon them in less than a month. Imagine, say, the autoworkers--or the teachers’ unions--having to take such a pay cut. The indignant outrage would be swift and immediate. The simple fact is that doctors, whose training and wisdom often stand between us and pain or death, are more important than autoworkers or even teachers.
Doctor's rates are going down to pay for ObamaCare. ObamaCare seeks to nationalize health care by placing so many restrictions and unfunded mandates on private insurance companies that they will go out of business. Government will then step in to “manage” Medicare for the entire population, rather than only the elderly. The government monopoly on health care will most surely go just about as well as the monopoly on the post office or public education. Medicare, even if kept only for the elderly population, is going bankrupt. The only question is when, not if, Medicare (along with Social Security) will run out of money.
So how is the federal government, who has been busy creating a national deficit stretching into the trillions of dollars, supposed to sustain a program for the entire population that can’t even sustain for the elderly? Obama’s supporters glaze over and mumble, “Well, it's Medicare. It cannot go away. So stop talking about it."
The psychological process required for a catastrophe to mentally "settle in" usually comes in stages. A catastrophe such as the future implosion of entitlement benefits in America will come in stages. The first stage is happening on December 1: The decrease in reimbursement rates for doctors under Medicare. Congress might reverse the fee reductions for another month or so, but then what? The rate cuts in the legislation prove that members of both parties are aware that the government cannot continue to finance Medicare as we know it--even before the mandates imposed by ObamaCare go into full effect when government becomes the primary payer for all medical care.
Perhaps you think doctors make "too much." Specialists working outside the third-party reimbursement system (plastic surgeons, for example) can do fairly well, but general practitioners who accept Medicare do not earn as much as the liberals would like you to think. So, by what formula do you determine the right amount? Do you trust the private marketplace to set the prices by negotiation between individuals and their doctors? Or do you trust politicians in Washington, DC to determine a "one size fits all" price? If you actually believe the latter, remember that "you get what you pay for." If you think doctors, who spent thousands upon thousands for their training, are going to work twice as hard for 30 percent less pay (at least), then you had better think again. Would you? If not, then why would a doctor?
Our only hope for maintaining the quality and availability of competent doctors is the possibility that ObamaCare will be torn apart by the new Congress, or struck down by the Supreme Court before it does too much damage. Of course, this doesn’t change the fact that Medicare, not to mention the entire federal government, is long since bankrupt and wallowing in ever-increasing debt. By pumping money into the financial system, the Federal Reserve is risking the greatest run of hyperinflation since the Weimar Republic of Germany, the failed government that gave rise to Adolf Hitler in the 1930s. And bigger problems are looming. The massive course reversals required of our government, and needed by the entitlement-addicted American people, are much bigger than the Tea Party or anything stated in the recent election campaigns.
Don't just feel sorry for your doctors, who will be paying for our “free” health care. Feel even sorrier for yourself—whether you’re currently a patient, or might need medical care in the future. Our lives will be in the hands of doctors who have been told that they don't matter and that they are employees of the state. Their incentive will no longer be to provide excellent care. Their incentive will be to simply clock in, clock out, go through the motions and retire as soon as the government pension kicks in. Not all that different from many existing government employees.
The solution? Restore the free market, where doctors who work harder will earn more for their skill and dedication. Patients will once again be consumers who choose from competing practitioners for the best care possible. The government must get out of the way, and let people purchase their own health care in the open market--no different than how we buy computers, cars, airplane flights, food and everything else produced and delivered by people who compete for your dollar.
The transition to the free market might be uncomfortable at first. But what's the alternative? If doctors work for the government, then medical care will no longer be a profitable profession. The best and the brightest will no longer be compensated for their efforts. As with anything the government touches, the mediocre will thrive, but the brilliant will not. Innovation (the cornerstone of our medical industry) will end. Oh, yes, medical care "for all" will exist on paper. But it won't be worth the paper it's printed on.
Sincerely,
Michael J. Hurd, Ph.D., psychotherapist/mental health care professional in practice since 1988; author of GROW UP AMERICA! and (the forthcoming) BAD THERAPY GOOD THERAPY: AND HOW TO TELL THE DIFFERENCE, and other titles, PO Box 1554 Rehoboth Beach DE 19971, 302-227-2829,drhurd@drhurd.com, host www.DrHurd.com
If ever there were a story appropriate for the name of this blog, this is it. I’m ranting, raving, furiously mad over this article, NATO Allowed Taliban Official to Kabul: Patraeus:
NATO-led forces facilitated the passage of a senior Taliban commander to Kabul to hold talks with the Afghan government, the commander of U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan said on Friday.
U.S. General David Petraeus, commander of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), said the move was part of U.S. and NATO support for President Hamid Karzai's reconciliation discussions with the Taliban.
Reconciliation discussions with the Taliban?! What the hell is going on?! Shoot them! They’re the enemy!
It’s hard to believe our government could be anymore corrupt, irresponsible or flat-out gawd awful than it is already, but I know it can be. (See USSR, North Korea, Nazi Germany or Venezuela for examples.) >:-(
Maybe you are looking forward to a particular actor’s next movie or a particular novelist’s next book. Perhaps you wish that your favorite singer would have a concert near where you live. Or, someday, you may need treatment from a highly trained surgeon, or your child may need braces from the local orthodontist. Like me, these individuals respond to incentives. (Indeed, some studies report that high-income taxpayers are particularly responsive to taxes.) As they face higher tax rates, their services will be in shorter supply.Read the entire article to find out why.
James Madison writing in Federalist 62 (1788):
In another point of view, great injury results from an unstable government. The want of confidence in the public councils damps every useful undertaking, the success and profit of which may depend on a continuance of existing arrangements.
What prudent merchant will hazard his fortunes in any new branch of commerce when he knows not but that his plans may be rendered unlawful before they can be executed? What farmer or manufacturer will lay himself out for the encouragement given to any particular cultivation or establishment, when he can have no assurance that his preparatory labors and advances will not render him a victim to an inconstant government? In a word, no great improvement or laudable enterprise can go forward which requires the auspices of a steady system of national policy.
The Objective Standard’s Fall Issue is now available and Craig Biddle’s excellent article The Ground Zero Mosque, the Spread of Islam and How America Should Deal with Such Efforts is not only fantastic, but available for free! Here’s an excerpt:
If we want to protect civilized society, we must unwaveringly uphold the principles of civilized society—no matter how justifiably outraged we may become about the irrationalities and injustices perpetrated by our enemies. If, in an effort to stop Muslims from destroying America, we trample individual rights and the rule of law, we will have surrendered the very thing we were supposed to be fighting to protect.
Thanks to the awful Obama administration and the thugs in the congress, our living expenses just went up when we can afford it the least!
First, my husband was laid off last Monday. That in and of itself is not necessarily bad since he disliked that company, was underpaid and under-appreciated, but what’s bad is that we lost our health care. (The fact that health care is tied to our employment is yet another government-caused problem.)
I am eligible for my employer’s plan (for which I must pay half the premiums, or about $180 per month), so I signed up for that to be effective the first of next month when the former policy lapses. Since it would be too expensive to add my husband to my policy, and since he is healthy and young (thankfully), we decided to apply for an HSA which will provide him with insurance coverage should anything too expensive or catastrophic happen.
The insurance agent told me that we should make his policy effective prior to the 1st of next month because that’s when the first phase of Obamacare kicks in and our premium for him will be significantly higher. Even though we have no children and I have my own coverage, my husband’s HSA is being forced to add provisions to his contract for children in order to comply with Obamacare, and that’s not all! There are all kinds of ridiculous terms being added to insurance policies as a result of this awful legislation. His premium is planned to be around $107, if we act now rather than next week.
So we’ve decided to have my husband’s new policy start before his old one expires in an attempt to get cheaper premiums at least for the next year. In case you haven’t kept count, now that my husband is unemployed, our health insurance will now cost $287 more per month, in premiums alone, than it did when he was employed.
In addition, my out of pocket expenses will be higher on my employer’s policy and Santiago’s HSA has a high deductible that we are subject to before the coverage kicks in. Basically, we are getting less coverage for more cost at a time when we need to be saving our money.
Thanks Obama!
Well, they’re at it again. Conservative Christians are trying to give a zygote full legal rights as a person, thus making me a criminal for using birth control, among other horrors. Unfortunately, this type of legislation is not isolated to Colorado and it may be coming to a state near you! Educate yourself and help fight for your rights!
You can read all about it here. http://www.seculargovernment.us/a62.shtml
From this news story about the trapped miners in Chile:
Another man displays what psychiatrists have said is a key trait to keeping the men motivated and optimistic — a sense that they have a role in their own destinies.
I do have a role in my “destiny” by living for my own happiness, living a moral life and making my future what I want it to be.
