Where is John Galt?

American Thinker

Excerpts:

• Then, as now, reviews from the liberal intelligentsia were, how you say, unfavorable. Gore Vidal described Atlas Shrugged as "nearly perfect in its immorality." The New York Times opined that the book was "written out of hate."
• The reason why no one challenges the basic premise underlying Atlas Shrugged is because no one can. The impact on the modern life if the computer-makers stopped making computers, if every car-manufacturer stopped building cars, if doctors and nurses stopped caring for the sick, and so on is so obvious that it is hard to see how any person seriously could dispute it. 
• What did John Galt convince Atlas Shrugged's fictional businessmen and industrialists to do that their real-life counterparts are not slowly, but inexorably, beginning to do voluntarily, without the need of a John Galt to talk them into it?
• My John Galt would "recruit" the movers and shakers, the innovators and creators, and, authorized by them to speak for them, would give us fair warning today, before the damage is done, while there is still time to change course.

The left told him to shut up and he went Underground.

Whew! Mind-blowing stuff this is.

A bit of Yoda's Star Wars lingo this is.

I found something on Ann Barnhardt that just might send chills down your spine.

The military is "war-gaming" against a possible US Insurrection by the Tea Party.  Yes, you read that right.  The Tea Party.  Someone in Washington has gone bananas, no doubt about it.  A comment here:

I find this article disturbing on so many levels that I have to wonder that there are people in our society paid to sit around and write this nonsense. Not that there aren't domestic threats that may require a military response, but to single out the "Tea Party" and construct such a hysterical scenario prompts me to ask if you two should consider getting real jobs. If you had attended Tea Party meetings you would quickly a couple of important points: First, most Tea Party groups are organised by women who would never condone or countenace insurrection. Second: The avereage age of the Tea Party membership is probably north of sixty, the idea of such people unpacking their shotguns and taking over a town is so ridiculous as to be pythonesque.

More Chick-Fil-A anyone?  Go after the innocent in order to protect the guilty.  That's where the government is today.  War gaming against the Tea Party.  Go order your youngster in the military to shoot at some ladies and old guys.  Un-Freaking-Believable.

Hypocrisy on an epic scale

One of the Democrats favorite claims is that they are for the middle class, which presumes that the Republicans are against the same.  But talk is cheap.  When it comes to analyzing a situation, you need to be like old Sargent Friday on Dragnet--- just the facts ma'am.

So, I collected a few facts:

1. Joel Kotkin: The Great California Exodus : The blue states are punishing and driving out the middle class. Where's all this concern about the middle class in these states?
2. A thoughtful observation on the current political scene  Who votes Democrat?  Who are these people?

A third observation comes from North Dakota, which is a red state.  Where the Democrats and the anti-growth allies have not yet squashed the nascent oil industry there, the economy is booming.  The red states are doing better than the blue, and presumably so are the middle class residents of these states.  But the ones doing well in the blue states are the people who have managed to run things for the benefit of themselves-- not necessarily anybody else who may be in the middle class.

Of all the states, the one political entity (which is not a state) that has the highest GDP is Washington DC.  Nothing is produced in Washington but bureaucracy.  Their salaries and benefits come closer to be amongst the 1% than of the middle class.

Now, what was that again?

FLAMMA - Making fire with IKEA products

via Behind the Black

Making fire is hard work, as this video shows.  It reminded me of the hard work that one would have to do if you didn't have all these materials to work with and you had to do it on your own.  The movie Castaway, with Tom Hanks dramatized this. Hanks' celebration afterward is more entertaining, though.

Rubio Ethics Charges: Where There’s Smoke…There’s No Fire

Dick Morris

• The phone lines around Romney Headquarters are buzzing with worried campaign operatives wondering if Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL), the obvious front runner for vice president, should be dropped
• So I looked into them and called the reporter who’s been covering them. Here’s the story:
• He has been very close to two men who are in a lot of trouble, but there is no evidence that any of it has rubbed off on him.
• The other issues that surround Rubio are also nickel and dime stuff:
• It may be that these brush-fires lead the party honchos to run to the nearest boring white man [emphasis added, oh brother!!!]

Morris was doing pretty well up till the end.  Let's see.  You pick Rubio if you think he's the best choice to win.  That's the game.  Otherwise, you are playing their game, and they'll win.  But that last bit on race just about convinced me that we are already playing their game.  Either way you lose.  But if you have to win the bigger game, and Rubio is in the clear, you take Rubio if you want to win all the marbles.

Next Big Future: See-through-wall surveillance with WiFi

Next Big Future: See-through-wall surveillance with WiFi: Researchers from the University College London were able to design a radar that can reportedly identify frequency changes, thus enabling the...

Everything is a hustle, everything is a game.

That last post where Jay Cost examines the polls in the battleground states shows the status of the election game.

Obama is pouring in a lot of money into these states so that he can claim to be ahead where it really matters, in the electoral college.  But he is falling behind in the national polls.  But Obama is right, the national vote isn't what decides the election.   That reminder occurred in 2000, as you may recall.

The point is that it is a game, and the one who wins will be doing what it takes to win.  Is Romney paying attention to what he needs to be paying attention to?  Or is the national polling making him overconfident?

Most people are focusing in on the economy and jobs.  Obama claims jobs were created this past month and his economic policies are working.  Is there enough of a rebuttal out there to show that Obama is wrong?   I've seen some who are saying that this is just statistical noise.  So, I'll have a look at the numbers myself.

Here's the Household Report for June:

There are 195 thousand fewer people working in the past month, this is progress???

Obama is claiming progress off the establishment survey, which is seasonally adjusted.  Statistical noise.  Obama is trying to win with statistical noise and putting his money in the battleground states.  Plus he's getting a lot of help from the media.  The bottom line is that it is a hustle.  The people are being conned.

You may argue that Romney does it too.  Everybody does it.  But that is not the point here.  The point is that it is a game, and that you are required to play the game.  So, is Romney playing a winning game?

It doesn't matter who "should" win the game.  It matters more if you actually win the game.  Take the OJ Simpson case.  If justice prevailed, he would have been convicted.  In his book, Outrage, Vincent Bugliosi said it was a game, and the prosecution lost that game.  They lost it even when the overwhelming evidence pointed to Simpson's guilt.  So, the objective facts won't matter in "the game".  You have to win it, or justice won't prevail.

This game shouldn't even be a game, just like the Simpson case.  Romney shouldn't even have a contest here based upon performance.  But Obama is still in the game.  Why?  It must be because Romney isn't playing the game as well as he should.  Is Romney serious about winning this game?  Bugliosi didn't think the prosecutors were serious.  Maybe Romney isn't either.