Ayn Rand & Objectivism - Everything you need to know

Born in 1792 in Monaco, Aynamal “Ayn” Rand was a divisive figure from her very first day. Born with a twin sister, Rand consumed said twin out-of-utero, leaving little left but rib bones and patches of hair from the twin. This incident was inpirational to Rand, who was often quoted as saying “the weak, like my twin, must be used for food by the strong.”

A gifted student, Rand was a world-class juggler and spent her early days traveling throughout Europe in a circus. It is there, Rand said, that she added to her philosophical leanings. “If you listen to enough clowns, you’ll eventually believe anything,”she once told Maxim Magazine.

An adulteress, Rand went on to college at the University of Hawaii, where she continued to work on her life philosophy. “I realized that if you give a man a fish, he eats for a day. But if you shoot that man in the head, you get to keep the fish and help overall unemployment numbers.”

The middle years of Rand’s life are a confusing morass of information and misinformation. It is said she worked as a carny, hot dog vendor, and actress, notably starring as “Bonzo” in the Ronald Reagan film “Bedtime for Bonzo.” During this film, Rand had a short affair with Reagan, which was logical as Reagan was also an adulterer.

Rand wrote a pair of books, “The Fountainhead” and “Atlas Shrugged.” Sadly, both books were burned en mass and only a few survive today. The reasoning behind the burning of Rand’s books had little to do with its controversial material, but more because they were just so terribly bad that most American intellectuals believed their mere existence could destroy literacy around the globe.

Years later, Rand tried to foist on the word a new philosophy known as “Objectivism.” The key component to Objectivism can be stated thusly: “If someone has an object, kick them in the nuts and take that object. You are now the Objectivist.

The philosophy was met with almost universal hatred and much poo-throwing, with most admitting that even poo-throwing probably didn’t convey the pure fecal matter that had escaped from Rand’s obviously demented mind. Still, Rand did not back down from the criticism. As many objected to the book’s selfish themes, Rand fought back with her next book, simply titled “I Got Mine, You Can Suck It.” The book is extremely popular with people who are already rich and don’t want to feel guilty when they step over dirty bums on their way to work.

Ayn Rand was also a drug addict and homphobe. She despised L. Ron Hubbard because his scam was much more successful than hers. Ayn Rand died in 1982, and we’re all the better for it.

For more information on Rand, please use Google or the public libraries she so hated to research. If you find you still have an interest in Rand, start a small club and talk about her as much as you like. Or just talk to yourself about her, as her ideas make a great deal more sense when no one else is around to laugh at them.

Aside from that, don’t publicly comment about Rand anywhere, or you be be humiliated until you go away. Millions of words have already been wasted on her, and much like Flat-Earthism, Rand has been judged. Her pseudo-philosophical claptrap has long been tossed into the nonsense file of human thought, and the fact that you just learned about it doesn’t make her “philosophy” any less ridiculous.

-WKW

Let’s Blog around

I just noticed something - I forgot to promote any blogs in today’s Morning post. I have to blame my own narcissism on this (if you know me, you quickly learn I’m all me, all the time.)

So, anyway, let’s rectify this, shall we?

Blogs

Balloon Juice: E.D. Kain abandons Conservatism for all the right reasons.

Equalitopia: Being Gay on the set of the Power Rangers was not a pleasant experience.

LitBrit: Lit asks the big question: Do big cats like catnip?

Answer: Yes. Yes they do.

Petulant Rumblings: Some links from a Petulant perspective.

Gary Weiss: Apparently, the SEC is totally cool now with insider trading.

Podcasts

Skeptics Guide to the Universe: Phil Plait joins the rogues for some bad astronomy and more.

The Partially Examined Life: Should Spinoza be technically considered a pantheist or atheist? I’ll expect your reports in the morning.

-WKW

An American Boy

I am kind, giving and strong. I am fair and law-abiding. I am smart and resourceful. I respect others and I do no harm. I follow the words of Jesus Christ. I am an American Boy.

When I am called on to help, you can count on me. I’ll be there, without a care for my own benefit. Because I’ve been taught that to give is divine and that it’s far easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than a rich man to get into heaven. So when others are in need, I answer the call.

My strength is legendary, but it is not my way to abuse it. I only use my strength when absolutely necessary, lest I abuse it. The world is not my playground to take advantage of as I wish, but it is instead the greatest gift bestowed on us all.

I believe in justice for all, not for the few. I believe we live in a complex world which requires increasing levels of understanding. And I find no bliss in ignorance.

I believe in freedom for all.

I believe in liberty.

I believe in peace on Earth.

I believe in the words of Jesus.

These are the things I believe. Because these are the things I was taught, as an American Boy.

-WKW

William K. Wolfrum’s Morning - Dance, Tucker! Dance!

Tucker Carlson’s greatest journalistic achievement.

News/Politics

La Barbie Caught: One of Mexico’s most notorious drug lords has been caught! Also, applications now being accepted for Notorious Mexican Drug Lord. Apply at the FBI.

Hurricane Earl: It’s coming. And it looks pissed.

Scotland Takes the Lead: Now that Scotland has come up with a wind turbine that can supply energy to 1,000 homes, maybe someone else will step up.

Afghanistan Update: Death!

An Independent Iraq: Iraq has announced it is now independent. This means all hell should break loose any minute.

ObamaCare Already Paying Off: Paying off or scammers, at least. It was nice of the media to help everyone get informed on the subject, eh?

Investigating America: Remember when Republicans spent two solid years wasting time and money on investigating every last move Clinton made? And then the U.S. was attacked by al Qaeda and they blame Clinton for being investigated so much? Yeah, we’re going to try that again.

Random Thought

Being as the rest of the U.S. mainstream media refuses to call out Fox News for their false reporting and demagoguery, from here on out, I say we just lump them all in together. Example: Led by Glenn Beck, the Mainstream Media recently held a big rally about Jesus.

Entertainment

Dance, I Say!: The new stars for Dancing with the Stars have been announced. They include: Bristol Palin, Grover from Sesame Street, Mandrake the Magician, Jean Harlow, Erik Estrada, Emo Phillips, Lindsay Lohan and veteran porn star Christy Canyon. Oh, ok, for the real stars click here.

Paris Chews GREAT Gum: Paris Hilton was busted for cocaine possession. Her excuse - she thought it was gum. Cocaine-gum, just another thing that makes the rich better than you.

Palin-Land Defined

In a perfect world, Sarah Palin would be Queen and surrounded by a bunch of gun-toting Jesus Babies.

-WKW

I have a dream

I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.

Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.

But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languished in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. And so we’ve come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.

In a sense we’ve come to our nation’s capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the “unalienable Rights” of “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note, insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked “insufficient funds.”

But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. And so, we’ve come to cash this check, a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice.

We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of Now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God’s children.

It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro’s legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. And those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. And there will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.

But there is something that I must say to my people, who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice: In the process of gaining our rightful place, we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again, we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force.

The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. And they have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom.

We cannot walk alone.

And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead.

We cannot turn back.

There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, “When will you be satisfied?” We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the negro’s basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their self-hood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating: “For Whites Only.” We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until “justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream.”¹

I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. And some of you have come from areas where your quest — quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive. Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed.

Let us not wallow in the valley of despair, I say to you today, my friends.

And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.”

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today!

I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of “interposition” and “nullification” — one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today!

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight; “and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together.”2

This is our hope, and this is the faith that I go back to the South with.

With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith, we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

And this will be the day — this will be the day when all of God’s children will be able to sing with new meaning:

My country ’tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing.

Land where my fathers died, land of the Pilgrim’s pride,

From every mountainside, let freedom ring!

And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true.

And so let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire.

Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York.

Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania.

Let freedom ring from the snow-capped Rockies of Colorado.

Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California.

But not only that:

Let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia.

Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee.

Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi.

From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

And when this happens, when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual:

Free at last! Free at last!

Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!3

William K. Wolfrum’s Morning - Tipping the Cow

Alan Simpson’s opinion of Social Security and those that accept it.

News/Politics

Pakistan Floods: The watery nightmare continues unabated.

NYC Cabbie Stabbed: Make no mistake, this was a text book hate crime. But what set Michael Enright off?

Help Wanted: Need nine people fluent in Ebonics. Apply at DEA.

Blagojevich Retrial: Boxing trainer Gil Clancy enjoyed telling a story about being in the dressing room with a fighter who’d just lost. “Get me him again,”the fighter said. “You just had him,” answered Clancy. The same goes with Blago. They had him, lost him, and now it’s time to move on.

Glenn Beck’s “Dream”: Be afraid. Be very afraid.

Ken Mehlman’s Outage: No surprise, of course, but maybe some of these RNC types could come out while they still have political power.

Tea Party Power: As expected, the Tea Party will be the best thing Dems have going for them this November.

Sports

Tiger Woods’ Ex speaks: Elin Nordegren speaks out for the first time, and comes off as the only likable, real character in the whole mess.

More Football: The NFL wants an 18-game season? I’m ok with that.

Blogs

Crooks & Liars: A new design and some new bloggers for the venerable (by Web standards) blog.

Emptywheel: New Wikileak: CIA Admits US Exports Terror.

The NonProfit Quarterly: Wikileaks is all about exposure. Except when it comes to its own finances.

Swampland: Even Joe Klein is wondering about the truth of “Dems being depressed with Obama.”

Paul Krugman: Every day and in every way, we’ll learn that Krugman has been right all along.

And Finally

Seth MacFarlane is an interesting case. He’ll try and break every rule in the book on his TV shows, but becomes a babbling, uncertain fool when discussing real-world events. Also of interest, the ADL complained about MacFarlane using the term “Nazi.” Five-thousand politicians have compared Obama to Hitler, but MacFarlane gets chastised? Weird.

-WKW

Neo-Elite Ugliness - Sarah & Todd Palin Edition

Via Palingates:

Sarah Palin likes public appearances - provided everything is under control, questions are pre-screened and no potentially critical soul is in sight. Spontaneous, unscripted encounters which are being taped are not her thing, which became painfully obvious when Shannyn Moore recently published “Sarah Palin’s Homer moment”. In Homer, Sarah, Todd and Willow Palin confronted the Alaska teacher Kathleen Gustafson, who put up a huge sign saying “Worst Governor Ever” - and this encounter was taped with a cell phone. This unplanned meeting with Kathleen Gustafson turned out to be a PR-disaster.

Today, we get another unscripted and unfiltered view of Sarah and Todd Palin.

Mean-spirited bullies will always thrive in the U.S. Still, mocking a small business owner and trying to intimidate him is probably a new thing to Valdez. Welcome to big-time politics, Valdez, where the smiles are for TV cameras, not normal citizens.

HT The Political Carnival

-WKW

William K. Wolfrum’s Morning - A Pee-Wee Protest

You just aren’t American if you aren’t protesting something.

News/Politics

More Bad Eggs: Remember, if you’re going to make an omelet, you’re going to have to give a few thousand people salmonella.

CIA Interrogation Tapes: If you want to make sure torture tapes are eliminated, make sure you check under the desk.

They’ve Lost Rubio: When Marco Rubio starts backing away from the Tea Party, you know the end is near.

Doled: How messed up is the Republican Party? Standard-bearer Bob Dole is donating to Charlie Crist.

Mosque Madness: A group of white people protest things they don’t understand.

Drug Testing: The easiest way to test side-effects of drugs? Test them on poor kids in impoverished nations!

Sports

See ya, Lou: I still remember Lou Piniella as a dangerous hitter for a tough Yankees team when the Yanks and Dodgers seemed to meet yearly in the World Series. He’s calling it a career now, and the Hall of Fame should be calling on him in five years time.

American Values: Guy chickens out, allowing a foul ball to hit his girlfriend. Guy then threatens to release nude pictures of her. Girl beats him to the punch.

Blogs

The Pigeon Post: The Lowest Common Denominator.

Doctor Cleveland: Dear Right Wing: Is This War or Not?

Brad Blog: America’s voting machines - now with Pac-Man!

Down With Tyranny: One city’s brave stand against paying taxes - even though it could close the only hospital and turn the place into a ghost town.

Finally

Pee-Wee goes to Sturgis.

If you find yourself needing more Pee-Wee Herman, check him out on Twitter.

-WKW

Anti-Muslim conservatives protest Liberal woman living in Hell’s Kitchen

NEW YORK - Ann Thomson, an 83-year-old widow, was awoken last last night to screams of protests by angry conservatives at her her home on 39th Street, in an area known as Hell’s Kitchen.

The protesters were angry that Thompson, a long-time liberal, had told a friend that she didn’t mind the Islamic Center being built two blocks away from Ground Zero.

Opponents chanted “No mosque, no way!” and carried signs reading, “9-11-01: Never Forget,” as Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the USA” blared over loudspeakers.

Thomson, who has lived in the same apartment for 34 years, said she wasn’t sure what the fuss was all about.

“I read the papers and watch TV. I know that the center is for Sufi Muslims, and they are no friend to al Qaeda,” said Thomson.”

Still, the protesters, led by professional Muslim hater Pam Atlas, said having a liberal live so close to America’s Hallowed Ground was a slap in the face to all freedom loving people.

“I have records that show Thomson voted for Obama,” said Atlas, arms and legs akimbo. “If we are going to allow liberals to live within 50 blocks of the most hallowed ground in America, then we may as well just accept Sharia Law.”

For her part, Thomson seemed unperturbed by the protest.

“I just turned down my hearing aid and went to bed,” said Thomson. I had my gun ready, just in case. Because, you know, liberals are allowed to have guns, too.”

The crowd left Thomson’s building early in the morning, and went to scream at an Italian guy who was selling falafels in a cart near Broadway.

“The food of Satan,” screamed Atlas, hair akimbo.

-WKW

Read the Lyrics! Bruce Springsteen didn’t write “Born in the U.S.A.” to protest Islamic centers

Over at Alan Colmes Liberaland, I was reading about protests near the Islamic Center two blocks away from Ground Zero, when this struck me:

Opponents chanted “No mosque, no way!” and carried signs reading, “9-11-01: Never Forget,” as Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the USA” blared over loudspeakers.

I’m well aware that the more patriotic someone is, the more they’re able to overlook the fact that Springsteen’s hit is not in fact a patriotic homage to America, but instead a song dedicated to the lower middle-class being used as fodder for war and their experiences upon returning.

But it’s really, really silly. Here are the lyrics, and you tell me if Springsteen’s aim was to tell Muslims they couldn’t build a mosque:

Bruce Springsteen - Born in the U.S.A.

Born down in a dead man’s town
The first kick I took was when I hit the ground
You end up like a dog that’s been beat too much
‘Til you spend half your life just covering up

[chorus:]
Born in the U.S.A.
Born in the U.S.A.
Born in the U.S.A.
Born in the U.S.A.

I got in a little hometown jam
And so they put a rifle in my hands
Sent me off to Vietnam
To go and kill the yellow man

[chorus]

Come back home to the refinery
Hiring man says “Son if it was up to me”
I go down to see the V.A. man
He said “Son don’t you understand”

[chorus]

I had a buddy at Khe Sahn
Fighting off the Viet Cong
They’re still there, he’s all gone
He had a little girl in Saigon
I got a picture of him in her arms

Down in the shadow of the penitentiary
Out by the gas fires of the refinery
I’m ten years down the road
Nowhere to run, ain’t got nowhere to go

I’m a long gone Daddy in the U.S.A.
Born in the U.S.A.
I’m a cool rocking Daddy in the U.S.A.
Born in the U.S.A.

Seriously, people, I’m sure some country singer has penned a song that glorifies all things America. But Springsteen didn’t. And you just look like idiots when you try and pretend otherwise.

-WKW

Obama Must Attend Westboro Baptist Church

America faces few problems worse than where and when Barack Obama goes to church. Sure, there are environmental catastrophes to worry about, an economy that shows no interest in bouncing back, wars on God knows how many fronts and unemployment high enough to make Herbert Hoover cringe.

But this is America. And Christ matters.

With 20 percent of Americans believing that Obama is actually a Muslim, it’s time for Obama to turn that tide. He and his family must join the whitest, most conservative Christian Church as possible.

This is why I believe Obama needs to start attending Westboro Baptist Church. Because if there’s one thing you can say about Fred Phelps’ group, it’s that they certainly aren’t Muslim. Crazed, hateful theocrats? Sure. But not Muslims.

Of course, Phelps and his followers have little respect for Obama, being convinced he’s the anti-Christ, and all, but a weekly excursion to Topeka, Kansas should change that. Obama is exceedingly personable and can tithe like few others. He will quickly become a popular figure.

And while some may blanch at Westboro’s “God Hates Fags” motto, Obama should be able to fit right in, not with words but with actions. Obama still believes gays and lesbians should not be allowed to serve in the military, and he also believes that Gays & Lesbians should be able to be fired for the offense of being Gay or Lesbian. At this stage of the game, Obama fits right in with Phelps’ Phreaks.

Mostly, though, church will be a place for Obama to go think. In an impromptu poll taken by the Chronicles, we’ve discovered that 80 percent of churchgoers don’t pay a lick of attention during a mass. By attending Westboro Baptist, Obama can have at least an hour of private time where he can contemplate the nation’s ills, how LeBron James will fit with the Miami Heat, and other important issues.

By attending Westboro Baptist Church, Obama will convince those 20 percent that he is not a Muslim. Sure, he’ll lose the other 80 percent entirely, but he can worry about that later. What matters now is that he just go to a Christian church. Any Christian church. Because only then can he get Politico, NPR, CNN, and other media sources off his back.

Because only by going to a Christian church regularly can Barack Obama include himself in the vast majority of Americans who go to a Christian church because they think they’re supposed to and spend the mass thinking about football.

Because, at the very least, thinking about football in a Christian church is much more politically important than debating whether Obama is Muslim or not.

–WKW

William K. Wolfrum’s Morning - Raptor Jesus Edition

Nowhere in the bible does it say that Jesus isn’t a raptor.

News/Politics

Pakistan: A slow-moving tsunami wrecks havoc, as help is slow to come.

John McCain - Winner: Say what you will about John McCain’s flip-flopping, but it will lead him to six more years in the Senate.

Bad Egg: As millions of eggs are recalled, maybe it’s time to do something about corporate scofflaw Jack DeCoster..

The Gulf is Clean!: Except for that 30-mile plume of oil underwater. But who counts that?

People

Roger Clemens indicted: Roger Clemens never took steroids. That’s his story and he’ll stay with it all the way to the slammer.

Wyclef Jean: No Presidency for you!

Blogs

The New Civil Rights Movement: Peter. LaBarbera. Homophobe.

Talking Points Memo: Sarah Palin would be appalled if a public figure used the N-word. But Dr. Laura’s cool.

Crooks & Liars: The markets have been playing as if everything is just fine with the economy. But it’s not, and they’re starting to notice.

Jesus’ General: Sept. 12 is Burn a Confederate flag day.

-WKW

I am a Conservative

This may come as a shock to many of my most loyal readers, but I am, in fact, a conservative.

Yes, my friends, I am well aware of my reputation as a liberal. But those days are now gone. Because I have had an ideological shift, and now embrace Conservatism. Here are my core beliefs:

• I believe in a woman’s right to choose.
• I believe Don’t Ask Don’t Tell and ENDA must be immediately overturned.
• I believe people with different sexual preferences than I should have all the rights I have.
• I believe in Keynesian economics and the progressive tax.
• I believe the death penalty should be abolished.
• I believe the First Amendment is about government restricting speech, not private people criticizing my ideas.
• I believe if Americans want to build something and they follow the rule of law, they should be allowed to build whatever they wish.
• I believe in amnesty for illegal immigrants currently in the U.S. and an easing of U.S. immigration laws.
• I believe Obama’s stimulus package should have been much bigger.
• I believe Barack Obama is a Blue-Dog Democrat, not a Marxist maniac.
• I believe Barack Obama is a Christian born in Hawaii.
• I believe America needs stronger unions to protect employees.
• I believe “Supply-side Economics” is a Ponzi Scheme.
• I believe in diplomacy
• I believe in a nation of 300 million, with many aging, a strong social safety net is of vital importance.
• I believe Corporations and big business need strong regulations.
• I believe in man-made Climate Change.

I believe all these things and more, and as a Conservative, I will ignore the cackle of rads who fight me. I will battle tooth and nail to be heard in the big tent of conservatism.

Whatever you may think of my beliefs is of no matter to me. I march to my own right-wing drummer. Because if Sarah Palin can say she’s a feminist, then I can proudly state that I’m a Conservative.

–WKW

William K. Wolfrum’s Morning - Nicolas Sarkozy on Line One

Sarah Palin talking with “Nicolas Sarkozy.” We must never forget.

News/Politics

V-Iraq Day: Combat troops are on their way out of Iraq. The war is over! Just ignore the 50,000 troops we left there.

Pakistan: A massive natural disaster may be just the ticket for the the Taliban.

France Says No: As previously reported, there’s no way in Hell France will give Haiti a dime. They stole that money fair and square.

A Muslim Obama: It seems 20 percent of Americans believe President Obama is a Muslim. Must be all those predator drone attacks.

Check Please: It seems like the federal government just can’t buy Alaska’s love.

Freedom of Shriek: Sarah Palin and Dr. Laura make the First Amendment mean whatever they want it to mean.

[Read more]

How’s that Austerity going, Greece?

Shockingly, turning the population upside down and shaking them to collect loose change isn’t working out as well as the EU or Greece hoped. From Der Spiegel:

This dire prognosis comes even despite Athens’ massive efforts to sort out the country’s finances. The government’s draconian austerity measures have managed to reduce the country’s budget deficit by an almost unbelievable 39.7 percent, after previous governments had squandered tax money and falsified statistics for years. The measures have reduced government spending by a total of 10 percent, 4.5 percent more than the EU and International Monetary Fund (IMF) had required.

The problem is that the austerity measures have in the meantime affected every aspect of the country’s economy. Purchasing power is dropping, consumption is taking a nosedive and the number of bankruptcies and unemployed are on the rise. The country’s gross domestic product shrank by 1.5 percent in the second quarter of this year. Tax revenue, desperately needed in order to consolidate the national finances, has dropped off. A mixture of fear, hopelessness and anger is brewing in Greek society. …

The entire country is in the grip of a depression. Everything seems to be going downhill. The spiral is continuing unabated, and there is no clear way out. The worse part, however, is the fact that hardly anyone still hopes that things will improve one day.

Unemployment is at 70 percent in some areas of Greece, says the story. Remember this when you hear U.S. politicians talk about “Austerity.” Because it means austerity for everyone but them and their corporate overlords.

-WKW

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