Nathaniel Branden Answers

Nathaniel Branden answers a question of two of my post Of Any Given Age. The idea of efficacy, self-esteem and pleasure are timeless. While the tools and stage of where we live change, these truths hold true. Thank you to Chuck Jines for the education. This is true Objectivism. This essay was written 46 years ago. No wonder Ayn Rand had such respect for him at one time.





Thank you for reading this blog.

Of Any Given Age

As the old saw goes, if there is any constant, it is change. So it goes with another year gone by and it becomes self-evident that I have more years behind me than in front of me. So what has changed?

That realization reports a transition from the ignorance of youth, where like an heir to a seemingly endless fortune spends wildly, to the place of knowing, possibly wisdom, where the account is more singularly defined and whose limits are not only have become clearer, but known.

Reflecting on the age I have lived so far, and we all live in an age, a common age for people born at a particular time and those experiences mark a greater transition of society as well as with ourselves, I see that things have changed quite a bit. Not as much for me as for my paternal grandfather, who was born before the advent of the automobile yet lived to see men go to the moon, even if he didn't believe it. In my age, I was born before the age of the Internet, personal computer, cell phone, iPods, GPS, satellite radio/TV, cable TV and widespread use of the microwave oven.

In spite of all the advancements, it seems that while it has freed us to do more, we seem to think less. Some might posit that we are now free to think about more important things instead of using our mental capacities for controlling processes that are now self-evident. I have to wonder. A lot of the technology today has lead a lot of people to be believers in FM or F@#$ing Magic. It is the black box, the mystery that somehow performs a task and somehow we are better off not knowing how it happens. From my perspective, may be this dulls critical thought.

Take automobiles and motorcycles. They still use the internal combustion engine, but ask kid today how it works and you are as likely to get a blank stare as a plausible explanation. I bet though the kid will know how to buy a computer programmer to get more horsepower out of it even if he or she isn't sure exactly why or how it works. Astounding. Suck, squish, bang, blow, the 4 cycles of a 4 stroke motor. Fuel, compression and spark must exist for such a device to work. Today, add a fourth: The computer. In a new vehicle, it manages almost everything. Even in it's simplest form, the computer controls the amount of fuel that get burned by an engine. It does this by measuring multiple variables in the engine and combustion process such as oxygen content in exhaust gases, coolant temperatures, atmospheric pressure, internal vacuum pressures in the intake manifold, measuring the mass of air taken in by the engine by measuring the change in resistance in a wire by shunting current through the wire as air passes over it, RPM, and throttle position, to name a few. Given all these inputs, matrices in memory are consulted by a computer and for the given parameters, the fuel injectors are pulsed at a specific frequency as to create the proper fuel/air mixture. This is constantly being adjusted by the computer to match any operating conditions. In other words, it's FM to most people.

When I was a kid, I learned how a carburetor worked (Venturi Principle), spark (induction coil), and the effects of timing, both static and cam have on compression. These principles hold true today in a sense, but the black box makes in unimportant even to the Friday night drag race impresario. If there is a problem with the car, just use you cell phone to call the mechanic. Oops, I mean automotive technician. With the advent of electric power vehicles, it's only going to get worse, be less fun and less challenging.

On the other hand, they were the bad old days too. Cars did not stop well, steer well, got poor fuel mileage and if you wanted to have a lot of power, you needed to do a lot of modifications to the engine or use a bigger one. Cars also did not stay in proper state of tune for as long as they do now and engines certainly did not last as long on average either. You had to know how stuff worked, even to the uninitiated, as a matter of functionality and I am sure it was an improvement from the previous generation of automobiles.

In spite of the advances in engineering and FM, I have to say there are times I miss the bad old days at times when I am troubleshooting one of my cars or trying to modify something on them or my motorcycle. A lot of the technology today requires special equipment and doesn't tolerate tampering so much. Take my BMW motorcycle. You have to buy a special computer tool just to reset the service reminder that blinks on the computer display on the dash. Either that or take it to the dealer. Talk about discouraging the shade tree mechanic. I mean motorcycle technician. The entry fee for that is a cool $299 for your own computer scanner. It's really just a interface adapter that has the proprietary connector on one side and USB on the other. The software is what does the work. Forget about getting the tool BMW uses, it's not for sale. BMW stands for Bring Money Wilhelm. All I can say is the cheapest thing on a BMW motorcycle is the rider.

So where does this this bring us? Back to the beginning I guess. Change is constant and we are defined by not only our age, but the age in which we live. As this year draws to a close I realize how fast time has flown, how little I have accomplished and how little time I really have left. Steve Jobs said "I want to put a ding in the universe." I used to feel that way and sometimes I still do. Sometimes though, I would rather just kick back with a highball glass of 18 year old Macallan, an Arturo Fuente Churchill Natural and just be content that everything is going to be alright, no matter what. Is that silly?

Thank you for reading this blog.

This was also published at My Motorrad and What's Under the hood.

Don't Ask Do Tell

This week's Libertarian Politics Live covered Don't Ask Don't Tell and specifically dealt with the question of should gays serve openly in the military. The Guests were Bob Marshall and Rick Sincere, but the biggest shocker was Eric Dondero, the founder and owner of LPL, going off about the subject, possibly in a way you would not have imagined, but more on that later.

I suggest that you listen to the show in its entirety from the link above, but I will give you the really short version. Bob Marshall was the christian conservative using a priori reasoning to basically justify his position of being against gays in the military without having to say it was based on conservative christian values. Bob Sincere was on the other end of the spectrum, saying gays should be able to serve openly, that they already serve with distinction and nothing will change if they do serve openly. Eric served  as the hysterical white male that thinks the military will be turned into effete latte sipping cacasotti if gays are allowed to openly serve, because all the real men will leave.

The point is moot now that the congress has acted and passed legislation allowing gays to serve openly. That said, I will give you my points as I couldn't get a word in edgewise during the show.

Prior to the new law, the federal government prohibited discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, genetic information, or age. Further, denying employment opportunities to a person because of marriage to, or association with, an individual of a particular race, religion, national origin, or an individual with a disability is also prohibited. Title VII also prohibits discrimination because of participation in schools or places of worship associated with a particular racial, ethnic, or religious group.

So, in effect, the military was in their right not to let gays serve openly or at all, regardless of the political backlash. That said, Mr Marshall and Dondero had weak cases.

Mr Marshall's case revolved around the increased cost of healthcare for the military if gays served openly. It also revolved around the premise that if they are allowed, most of the straight military will not re-enlist. I would think it's specious to assume that the military's healthcare costs will increase because gays serve openly. What I think he assumes is that if they serve openly, they will have sex and if they do not serve openly, they will not. The implication is that if gays have sex, they will get HIV, which leads to AIDS. May be part of his thinking process is that the repeal of DADT will somehow cause a population explosion  of gays in the military. I guess we'll see if he is right on that one, but I would tell him that gays in the military are having sex, whether or not DADT exists and the risks of contracting HIV are equally there if they serve openly or not.

As far as straights not re-enlisting, well, that also remains to be seen. As someone from the largest city in America, I have had to work and go to school with people of all stripes, colors, orientations and background. As long as the situation is focused on the work at hand, it never mattered and it never did. I don't care what someone's sexual orientation is, what race they are, where they were born, what language they speak, how old they are or whatever, I will treat them with the same basic respect. Judge the content of someone's character...Anyway, it's a big world out there and if someone won't serve with someone that is openly gay, then may be good riddance. I bet the position will be filled with someone that is superior anyway.

As to Eric's argument, his was based on his own experiences in the Navy in the 1980's. He regaled, with incredible emotion and vitriole, his experiences aboard ship with gay shipmates. The case in particular was about a gay shipmate that came back drunk from leave and proceded to give oral sex to another shipmate whilst he was asleep. The sailor awakened to this and according to Eric, charges were never brought up, as the Navy was PC even back then. Eric further asserted that he could not ogle female sailors in the shower, so why do they have to allow gays as he would feel uncomfortable and what would his wife think.

Well, if a gay male sailor is ogling another sailor and making advances, it is harassment and should be dealt with accordingly. It doesn't matter what the combinations of sexual orientation are. Equal rights demand equal responsibilities and those that cross the line should be held accountable, always. If they aren't, having DADT doesn't solve the problem. It'll happen anyway and I will say, that Eric knew this sailor was gay before his illicit act, so he can't plead that ignorance or abstinence would have improved the situation. It happened. I would also add that to hear Eric go off, the thought crossed my mind if Eric was in fact the sailor that got the blow job. Did he finish Eric? :) Me thinks the blogger protests too much. I would also wonder how Eric's wife feels about him bragging on the same show that he's screw any woman or may be it was any good looking one. Between that and his insistence that the military was for men to be manly and virile, I have to again, wonder what his deal is. The military is our defense as well as the strong arm of our foreign policy. The military trains to break shit, blow things up and kill people. They also can provide logistical and support services, like they did in Haiti. If that defines what a man is, I guess so. I think Eric's definition of what a soldier is, is a little two dimensional. The military today is a volunteer one and a professional one. They are the best of the best, gay or not, and they do their jobs well. Being gay should be the least of their problems. Also, women serve in the military. Are all of them manly and virile too?

The heart of the problem for me is to preemptively tell someone that they will be punished or sanctioned before a bad behavior is committed. It presumes guilt, that if they serve openly, they will do behaviors that are unlawful, yet not adjudicatable in Eric and Bob's mind. If that is their worry, then pursue justice on a case by case basis when people do cross the line. The question,  should gays serve openly or not is specious. Do straight people have a litmus test? None of it should matter. What I will tell Rick Sincere is although I find Bob and Eric's arguments specious and a priori, I also do not believe in special privileges or special rights. My point is that it doesn't matter, it shouldn't matter. No agendas, no superior rights for anyone. The trick is, is that good enough for both sides of the issue? The problem with groups, tribes and mobs, is that they always want to be right, they want a leg up and to have the upper hand. Like Rand, I don't particularly like the mob at all and often it uses it's coercive force on individuals in spite of the facts, in spite of the truth, in spite of what's rational, in order to preserve or achieve power. Rand said "The smallest minority on earth is the individual. Those who deny individual rights cannot claim to be defenders of minorities." Of course I must add that Rand also thought homosexuality is a mental disorder, but that is another story. I also expect to get challenged as some would say there is wisdom in the mob. Well, which one? Who chooses? Coercive forces are just that, not reason. Jefferson said that "rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others." This is the true test of what is right, decent and good, not an antediluvian mob. 

Thank you for reading this blog.

Andre Traversa Presents Libertarian Politics Live Special Guest Ken Cuccinelli

Ken Cuccinelli is tonight's guest on Libertarian Politics Live. he will discuss his court victory over Obamacare.

The show is from 8:00PM-9:00PM CST and Mr Cuccinelli will be on at 8:15PM.

Second Guest hopeful is Lori Giganto who will be discussing he latest article on Sarah Palin at Red State.

Call in tot he show at 646-915-9887 or stream live here.

Thank you for reading this blog and thank you for listening to the show.

The Fed, Big Sis, and Wikileaks: What should we be afraid of?

Much sturm and drang has been circulating about Julian Assange and the Wikileaks fiasco. The ersatz lover-boy whose latest crime is using a leaky condom has become public enemy number one for the conservative crowd and the messiah for the anarchists and left wing loonies. What or where is the truth?

According to Wikipedia,  Julian Assange is an Australian journalist,^[5][6][7] publisher,^[8][9] and Internet activist. He is best known as the spokesperson and editor in chief for WikiLeaks, a whistleblower website. Before working with the website, he was a computer programmer.^[10] He has lived in several countries, and has made occasional public appearances to speak about freedom of the press, censorship, and investigative journalism.

Ok. He likes to expose or uncover information that would otherwise not be known to the rest of the world. This information included over one quarter of a million diplomatic cables, over half of which were unclassified, 40% confidential and 6% are secret. It would seem to even a casual observer of the events that unfolded that the umbrage directed at Mr Assange has more to do with the message than with the act itself. The information released is very embarrassing to the United States, to the State Department, Barack Obama and his administration and ultimately America itself. The real problem is that the king was not only shown to be naked, but to have a small and almost non-existent dick. So where's the beef? More later.

So in the recent news cycle, all is abuzz and aflame with the life and times of Julian Assange. In the mean time we still have problems here at home and this distraction of the day with Assange is just that. A distraction. It's a straw man meant to pull our attention away from more important things. Like the TSA. We were all abuzz with the TSA, the groping, locking people in glass cages for hours, and then nothing. If anyone has been awake at all, they would have noticed that the Obama administration has eroded our personal freedoms in ways the left wing media would love to blame on George W. Bush. We have all our data and voice streams monitored, we are X-Rayed in airports, groped, fondled, and otherwise mistreated with efforts to compromise our dignity. We have a government that tracks all of our financial transactions and through all of this, not a peep. Not much. What I hear is "if I am not doing anything wrong, I have nothing to fear" or If it keeps us safe from terrorists, it's ok with me".

Such fecklessness is the sign of Farm Animals®. We've become so conditioned to trust government because it has become the hand that feeds some of us. Like the wine, beer drinking, cheese and brat eating surrender monkeys of Europe, we will tolerate anything for the promise to keep us safe. In spite of a new covenant in the Declaration of Independence, we have come full circle, embracing the paternal system of feudalism, which we shook off over 200 years ago. Where did we go wrong? A little late for that question, but I can tell you it's been Obama's plan all along. He's a fabian socialist, and his progressive agenda is to move us towards socialism as much as possible before we catch on and hopefully, to him, after it's too late. With the elections of 2010, he's done a lot of damage. Who would have thought even 3 years ago that the government would control what it does today? The intrusion into our lives, and moreover, the control. Like the frog in the pot, the water is warmed slowly until it's too late.

So here we are, how many days and weeks into the Assange conspiracy and we still believe in the straw men created by the press and the government. They expect us to cower, to follow like supplicants or worse like lemmings, to follow whatever tune the pied piper plays. We will find no greater security is hanging Mr. Assange and/or closing wikileaks too. We will find no more security in trying to democratize Afghanistan or for that matter any place else. In fact, ask yourself the question, does the information that has been leaked make you any less free? Does it take away your life, liberty or property? Does endanger you personally?

Where I do part ways with Assange is releasing information that would expose individuals to death or mayhem if their names were revealed. Outside of that, this information has been a revelation to how truly incompetent our President is and who our real enemies are. For his part, Mr Assange is the recipient of the 2010 Sam Adams Award. Samuel Adams, in my opinion, was the father of the American Revolution. He embodied the true revolutionary spirit of this country and he had determination not to be a subject of any monarch, but I digress...

As a country, we have a choice to make. We can chose to be led around by our noses and pricks like some peasant fool that believes in fairytales and magic shows, or we can wake up and see things for what they are. We need to focus on our freedoms, liberties and also economic stability at home if we expect to be a good example to the rest of the world of what a country should be like. We had been at one time, but we've lost our way. No amount of blood spilled in Afghanistan or Iraq will fix that or change it. In fact it's slowly dragging us down and the cost of which has not been fully realized by us as a nation, we will pay for it, at least some of us will.

If Iraq and Afghanistan were about Al Qaeda and Bin Laden, this could have been settled long ago. While it has been said: do not attribute to malice what can be explained through stupidity, sometime I wonder. And if you think I say this from a position of being a dove or antiwar person, you are mostly wrong. No sane human being wants war. Fighting all the time is unproductive, it kills the best and brightest, and it wears a society down. That said, when one does fight, do it quickly, with finality, and go home. We have not done that. We could have.

And lastly, The Fed. If anyone saw Mr Bernanke on 60 Minutes last Sunday, you really should have asked one question, well, at least one: Where does that 600 Billion dollars that you want to by treasuries with come from? Of course the reporter didn't ask it and the answer is, print it. The Fed and Obama and out ideas and at the end of the road. They will either have to white nuckle over the progressive cliff or force themselves to look at reality and realize that FDR-like proposals and thinking will not get us out of this recession. It didn't work then and it won't work now. Again, the side show in the rest of the world is obscuring what lies before us. The Tea Party was born of our discontent, but like a attention span addled child, will they forget why they came to the table? I hope not.

The circus that has presented itself in the last couple years and couple months is indicative of Team Geppetto. As we see our liberties and our money slip away, so will our lives, at least the quality thereof. As the US slips in the world, from number one to number two, we will find ourselves in a place not of our liking, but of our choosing. As much as we are hoodwinked, we also have a choice in it and as much as I think the latest news cycle with Wikileaks is a distraction from our real problems, in a way, Mr. Assange has also brought to fore a lot of the genesis for our current problems and laid bare the man behind the curtain. I don't hold him up as some example of propriety or heroism as some might and I also do not excoriate him as some treasonous monster that must be destroyed. All I say is thank you for some clarity in a world that is so full of shit. Thank you Mr. Assange, wherever you are.

And thank you for reading this blog.

Obama Administration To Push For National Mandatory Helmet Law

From the Libertarian Republican:

Freedom to wear a helmet or not

From Eric Dondero at LR:

The White House and the Transportation Safety Administration has a full ban on riding a motorcycle without a helmet on its legislative agenda for 2011.

From KLTV - Tyler, TX:

TYLER, TX (KLTV)- Motorcycle riders across the country may soon be forced to wear a helmet if a proposed federal law passes. Right now, in Texas, anyone over the age of 21 is exempt from wearing a helmet. But that may change if the National Transportation Safety Board gets their way.

The NTSB says motorcycles make up only three percent of vehicles on the road, but 13 percent of all fatal crashes.

One rider interviewed by KLTV suggested that requiring helmets could be a safety hazard. Continuing:

For 35 years, Bubba Parker has hit the highway with nothing but a bandana on his head. That's how he likes to ride.

"I'm out in the wide open kind of like your old cowboy days they had the big gray horses and we got these old iron horses and it's just the freedom of it," said Parker.

And the freedom to wear a helmet, or not. Soon, bikers may not have that choice. Parker says confining his head to a helmet kills his biking experience.

"For me, I like to be able to hear what my motor is doing," said Parker. "I can judge my speed. I can listen to what's going on around me, and with a helmet I just feel like I'm all caged up."

Thank you for reading this blog.

Opt Out: The Private Sector Steps In

In an interesting turn of events, one airport has decided to opt out of TSA screening. Orlando's Sanford Airport has decided to go private:

"All of our due diligence shows it's the way to go," said Larry Dale, the director of the Sanford Airport Authority. "You're going to get better service at a better price and more accountability and better customer service."

You have to wonder why, and it doesn't take long to figure out. Disney is in Orlando and with the backlash against the TSA and flying in general because of the TSA, Disney must see lost revenue looming from this. In a bad economy, losing business is not an option.

The lesson from this is that capitalism and common sense solve a lot of problems. Some may say this is solely for perception, but perception is everything when it comes to public relations and sales. So far a political solution doesn't seem possible until the new congress comes in January. Until then, expect the incoming crown to create a plan that hopefully fixes this. My hope is that our next congress is a GSD congress. Get Shit Done, and I don't mean in the style of what we have lived through in the last 2-3 years. The democrats have lived and acted at their peril and have netted the results. The good or bad thing depending on which side of the toilet bowl you pee is that they have doubled down in nominating Pelosi the minority leader. I am digressing a bit, but we are seeing a populace standing up and saying they have had enough of the Nanny state and they aren't going to take it anymore. Rebellion can be a good thing. It keeps the assholes in our lives in check.

Thank you for reading this blog.

Where is the ACLU?

The ACLU made such a stink in Arizona about police asking people for their ID, albeit with reasonable cause, but where is the hue and cry about the TSA infringing our rights with their unreasonable searches? No where to be found, that's where. It is sad to see so many americans sit idly by, in ignorance, condoning such tactics as necessary for safe travel. Who has one? It's the same failed logic of gun control. The government is penalizing people and not the criminals. We suffer while the enemy plans. At this point my fellow americans will accept anything. What next, a cavity search? DNA collection and testing? swearing an oath of allegiance? It'll never end in the authoritarian's eye when it comes to being drunk with power in it's never ending journey in their control of people.

Saying this is for safety is bullshit. Look at the Israelis. Do they put their people through this? No. Do they get hijacked or have their planes flown into buildings? No. Instead of taking a page out their books, we take pages from Adolph, Joseph and Mao. The ACLU is complicit in this by their silence and shows how hypocritical they are and one sided. I am sure if a republican was president, we'd see a different ACLU, instead, we see a group that takes sides based on political persuasion. Such political calculations only serves to show how feckless they are. They take the same tack with gun rights.

So, how many nuns, 90 year old grandmothers and blond haired, blue eyed 5 year olds have to be subjected to this non-sense before anyone will do anything about it? I wish we had an organization that helped protect natural rights. Where is Ron Kuby when you need him?

Thank you for reading this blog.

Diplomats, Politicians and other Assholes

What follows is not a commentary on the photo on the left in particular, although it exemplifies, to some degree what I am discussing here, but it is rather a general commentary about the invertebrates and supplicants of our society.

Diplomats, Politicians and other Assholes. What I am taking about here are people that have a special skill in life, to a varying degree, which in one case is to serve others, in the other, to serve themselves.

Take diplomats for example. This people represent their home country and it's usually a good idea that these people put on a good face. The job can be as basic as a foreign service officer or as high profile as the Secretary of State. Or you can find them in the workplace as well.

In some instances servile, in others cordial negotiations, always politie. Some would say invertebrate as they will bend over backwards to kiss someone's ass. Diplomats aren't alone in this talent though, Politicians have similar traits as well.

Generally speaking, diplomats don't have enough narcissism to make it as politicians. I would also add they probably have a true heart to serve people, although it is still for their own satisfaction. Politicians on the other hand serve themselves. If they tell you otherwise, don't believe it. Anyone that believes they are the one you should send to such and such an office because they are the best to do it has an abnormal amount of narcissism and shouldn't be trusted. So it goes with many leaders, managers and of course, other assholes.

While politicians have a special skill in not breaking their back when bending over backwards trying to kiss someone's ass (or their own, another endearing trate of the politician), they also have other endearing qualities. Like getting out of the way of responsibility. When was the last time a politicians fessed up on the first go? When was the last time a politician laid it on the line at the peril of their office/position/job? It's as rare as hens teeth I tell you. The politicians main motive is to maintain their status quo first. How they do this is by any means necessary and as I said, what separates them from the diplomat is who they truly serve.

The most remarkable trait a politician has is not only the ability to circumvent responsibility, but to let the blame fall to someone else. Like dog shit that falls from the sky, politicians have the large teflon umbrella and make sure that someone is standing near the edge. To work for these assholes, you might as well be a food taster for Fidel Castro. The best part is they are in every demographic and facet of society and the workplace. Pathological narcissism knows no bounds.

So, on this day in the middle of November, when the days grow shorter and colder, remember one thing:
Keep your distance from these people, lest you be shat upon. The taste of dog shit hasn't improved in the last 48 plus years, trust me.

Thank you for reading this blog.

Ausgeführt wie kein anderes Motorrad in der Welt

The new bike. A BMW R1200RT. Tun Sie mögen es?

Thank you for reading this blog.

Remembrance Day

Up until a couple years ago, there were three British WW I veterans left out of millions. Today marks the 92th anniversary of the signing of the treaty that ended WW I at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of 1918.

In Flanders Fields the poppies blow

Between the crosses row on row,

That mark our place; and in the sky

The larks, still bravely singing, fly

Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago

We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,

Loved and were loved, and now we lie

In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:

To you from failing hands we throw

The torch; be yours to hold it high.

If ye break faith with us who die

We shall not sleep, though poppies grow

In Flanders fields.

Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae who penned "In Flanders fields":

Thank you for reading this blog. 

Andre Traversa Presents Libertarian Politics Live: Special Guests Mike Lee and Steve King

Libertarian Politics Live presents special guests Mike Lee, the newly elected senator from Utah and Steve King, congressman from the 5th district in Iowa.

Andre will be discussing the proposed balanced budget amendment with Mike Lee.

Hosts Andre Traversa, Eric Dondero and Jim Lagnese

The show starts at 8pm CST Tuesday, November 9.

You can stream here or call in at 646-915-9887.

Thank you for listening to the show.

Happy Guy Fawkes Day

The only man to enter Parliament with honest intentions. Where is our Guy Fawkes?

Thank you for reading this blog.

Libertarian Politics Live Election Night Coverage

Libertarian Politics Live will have election night coverage with hosts Andre Traversa, Eric Dondero and Jim Lagnese. Tomorrow night we will make history with an unprecedented and overwhelming Tea Party/GOP victory. Be part of the action and call in at 1-646-915-9887.  All The Right Guy Show readers and fellow right bloggers are encouraged to call in as the lines will be open and we want to hear from you.

Thank you for reading this blog and listening to the show.

Meetings, Fairytales, Cheerleading and a Total Waste of Time

Have you ever gone to a meeting at work where it was an exercise in self-congratulatory mutual masturbation? Have you ever been to a family gathering where it's an incestuous version of speed dating where people talk about themselves in an effort to convince themselves they have a life? Or have you been in any kind of encounter where only positive thoughts are allowed? No negative waves, because it's more comfortable with our heads in the sand or is it up our asses?

All of this is really group narcissism. It's a tribe trying to reinforce not only why it should exist but why it's better than any other tribe. Think of it as an exercise in group-think conditioning.

You might belong to a family as above where when people gather, the exercise is to talk about oneself and how successful he or she is. Lots of families are like this. Generally though, there's an elephant in the room. May be uncle Ernie is a molester, may be half or more of the family are afflicted with alcoholism, or may be dad likes to smack people around. Doesn't matter. There's a narrative to paste over the dog shit like the vinyl façade of that cheap woodgrain plastic film on a 1972 Chevrolet Kingswood Estate Wagon. The fairytale in this particular case is that we're all successful, therefore we're all alright.

This doesn't end at home though. With the same pooper scooper, we bring the same piece of dog shit from home into work or other organizations like church, synagogue or some other social endeavors like sports (lets not forget political parties too. Let's not leave them out of this fun.). So goes the perpetuation of the fairytale. Lots of fairytales. No one wants to be on the losing team. Come on in for the big win. Got your pom-poms?

This time the elephant isn't in the living room, but in all sorts of places. While uncle Ernie's penchant for little people isn't the problem, other things things can be like nepotism, cronyism, harassment, perfidy, parsimony, back stabbing, and all sorts of cultural penury. Some people like to call this politics. What's the narrative? What's the fairytale? What's the self-talk that no matter what the bullshit, the outside world is faced with a smile of confidence that we are all ok? It takes really strong leadership to keep the dog shit float moving. What most successful leaders have is a good case of narcissism. Even Jesus was a narcissist. Wouldn't you call someone a narcissist if they said they were the son of god? What do Jesus, Obama, Steve Jobs and Reagan have in common (and a bunch of others, go to the link below.)? All have the same basic Myers Briggs personality type, ENFJ. Basically, the charismatic bullshit artist. I am getting away from my narrative here a bit, but you need someone really good with a shovel to keep the dog shit merry go round turning. They turn that white and purple polka dot elephant into a loving little Chihuahua. They may make it disappear altogether.

Of course all of their hard work will go down the tubes if it weren't for the cheerleaders. Another term for them are groupies. Gotta love Steve Deace for that one. The cheerleaders make the fairytales, the narratives possible. Without their hard work and supplicance, none of it would be possible. Remember, every tribe has a leader, and every leader has their henchmen. Just the way it is.

Groupies of course are much more dangerous than any narcissistic leader. These are the same assholes that make everything that is bad happen. Behind every despot is a peon looking for affirmation, approbation and validation. Beware of these creeps, they will ruin your day if not your life.

So where's the poop? There's plenty of poop to go around, as anyone who has lived long enough on this planet can attest, and it's usually handed out in disproportionate servings. Your serving size is inversely proportional to your status. Not only that, but the job of those above you, particularly those in leadership (remember the narcissists), is to ensure that. In fact, repeatability and reliability of business processes are paramount in any successful business and this extends to other enterprises as well, even back to our fictitious family. Reinforcement of the narrative, the fairytale is how the family will ensure if not reflect success. If not that, then at least be in a comfortable state of denial.

Basically, the poop is everywhere you look. We are human and therefore are capable of great scatological enterprises. It almost goes without saying. The biggest mistake is to bring attention to the narrative, the fairytales, the consequences of the tribe. God forbid you not only find the poop, but point it out. The tribe does not suffer well those who fall outside the ring of believers. This is because not only must the stink of the poop not be found, it must be worshipped as well. That's right, worship the poop. Those that create the poop must be continually comfortable in their scatological enterprise. If you do point out the poop, you will be burned at the stake.

So where does this leave us in this particular narrative? Beware of poop, narcissists, groupies, and tribes? Unfortunately, we will always have to beware of these. It's human nature to want to be right, to want to be on the winning team, to want to enforce will. That's not going away anytime soon. What does this mean? One, there's a place where the poop is tolerable for each of us. There's a pile of poop meant just for you. Really. And it won't be so bad. Two, choose your fights well. Getting burned at the stake over something that one,  isn't going to change and two, something that if it did, at what price, isn't worth it. Family, friends and country, in that order. That's what you fall on your sword for. Your family really is the only tribe that matters. Ultimately, work, your favorite sports team and not even a political party matter in the sense of application of tribal bullshit. Does the GOP go to work with me everyday and fix that pile of poop? Do any of the Yankees half to leave work early to pick up my kid from band practice? Will anyone outside of my own family really give a rats ass when I take the dirt nap? No and not really to any of it.

Most shit in life is a total waste of time and fairytales, meetings and cheerleaders are no exception. They serve to enforce the will of the tribe, sometimes through delusion, sometimes through perfidy, sometimes by accident. Most of the time by shear repetition. The object is to see through the dog shit and see it for what it is. It's dog shit. Let the world go its wanton way and do what you can when you should. Don't confuse your loyalties outside your family with family. And to the diversity and why don't we all hold hands and get along crowd, the smallest minority in the universe is the individual. Those who deny individual rights cannot claim to be defenders of minorities. Also, real change doesn't start with the tribe or the village, it always starts with one person who thinks differently. That's what Steve says, anyway.



Thank you for reading this blog.

What Would Anyone Do?

Taking the family out for dinner is always an excursion into frustration at times. Because of predictability, we tend to patronize the same places and even then, the factor of undecidedness rears its ugly head.

The other night, we went to Applebees with the family plus one exchange student from Germany we had been hosting for a few weeks. As the ritual goes, the college student cum ersatz waiter/waitress introduces him/herself and asks what we want to drink to start off. You've been to this drill, so it's nothing new. I order my normal iced tea and procede to peruse the menu.

In my minds eye I notice the throng in various stages of prandial wrangling and say to myself, what should I order? In a fit of autodidactic expulsion, I go off on myself: What would Jesus do? What would Ronnie do? What would Ghandi do? What the fuck will I do?

At this point our garçon du jour returns with drinks and asks around the table what each of us will be ordering. Well, Ronnie, Jesus and Ghandi are dead. They can't help here and two of them wouldn't have a clue as to what to order on the menu or  be inclined to. In this moment of indecision, for something as simple as eating, I came to a conclusion: All of us have to decide for ourselves.

Humans have a rather feckless and lazy habit of relying on others experiences to help them make decisions on how to run their lives, what to do day to day or to help get past a current problem. Some even seem to delve into scriptural steganography in order to find some hidden meaning to life or even what color they should paint their house. Relying on proven experience is a shortcut than can save a lot of pain and trouble. Why pay for the same real estate twice? Right?  On the other hand, it tends to circumvent our own internal rational processes and experiences for a subset of someone else's. It's a template for complacency and manipulation if taken to an extreme. Who cares what Ronnie, Jesus or Ghandi would do. They aren't here, they can't help, and to be honest, they aren't you or I, living in the experience that we are. At some point, we have to make the decision ourselves and that is where the rubber hits the road.

At this point the waiter works his way around the table and it's my turn to put in my order. What will it be? Since having lap band surgery a year ago, I am a little limited to what I can eat and should eat. I avoid the crap with fries, pop, and fried foods. At this point though, I am tired of the sam old, same old. I mean, should I try something different? Shouldn't I strive for change? Should I take the chance and possibly barf, giving the exchange student something to write home about (The lap bad has its own consequences in what you can eat)? Variety is the spice of life, right? At that point,  I circle back to my original thesis, which is to say, What would Ronnie do? What would Jesus do? What would Ghandi do? What will I do? What would anyone do? What is the rational thing to do? What do I feel like doing? It was a fit of analysis paralysis. For me that is deadly. Being a Myers-Briggs ISTP, making quick decisions based on sensory data is a forte. Getting hung up isn't. Usually this happens when there is either too much data or processes. Or I just can't make up my mind. May be I would have been better off asking, What would Clint Eastwood, Charles Bronson, Mel Gibson (God Forbid), George S Patton or Ulysses S Grant would do. At least they are fellow ISTPs and their experiences a closer to mine than Jesus, Ronnie or Ghandi, who had the same types of personality (ENFJ which by the way, is the most conflictual personality with ISTPs). The clock is ticking, WWJD?

I simply ordered what I always do. The Santa Fe Chicken Salad. It always works for me...Next time though, I will try something different. I promise.

Thank you for reading this blog.

Obama, the Culturally Incompetent President

In what only can be construed as an insult, Obama has refused to visit a sikh temple in India because he would be required to cover his head.

In today's world of multi-culturalism and diversity, I find it odd that the person who probably represents it fairly well, has turned out to be a parochial, provincial and narrow minded when it comes to covering his head in the Golden Temple.

As seen to the right, Barry has no issue dressing in the local muslim garb of his homeland. In fact he has covered his head. How odd. If he did it for Kenyans, why not for the Sikhs?

I wouldn't object if I was invited to a Sikh temple. In fact, I find Indian people charming, I love their food (the mint chutney is outstanding), and Sikhs specifically have and interesting religion and culture. Read here from the Wiki:

The origins of Sikhism lie in the teachings of Guru Nanak and his successors. The essence of Sikh teaching is summed up by Nanak in these words: "Realisation of Truth is higher than all else. Higher still is truthful living".^[5] Sikh teaching emphasizes the principle of equality of all humans and rejects discrimination on the basis of caste, creed, and gender. Sikh principles do not attach any importance to asceticism as a means to attain salvation, but stresses on the need of leading life as a householder.

Sikhism is a monotheistic religion.^[6][7] Sikhism is a revealed religion.^[8] In Sikhism, God—termed Vāhigurū—is shapeless, timeless, and sightless: niraṅkār, akāl, and alakh. The beginning of the first composition of Sikh scripture is the figure "1"—signifying the universality of God. It states that God is omnipresent and infinite, and is signified by the term ēk ōaṅkār.^[9] Sikhs believe that before creation, all that existed was God and Its hukam (will or order).^[10] When God willed, the entire cosmos was created. From these beginnings, God nurtured "enticement and attachment" to māyā, or the human perception of reality.^[11]

While a full understanding of God is beyond human beings,^[9] Nanak described God as not wholly unknowable. God is omnipresent (sarav viāpak) in all creation and visible everywhere to the spiritually awakened. Nanak stressed that God must be seen from "the inward eye", or the "heart", of a human being: devotees must meditate to progress towards enlightenment. Guru Nanak Dev emphasized the revelation through meditation, as its rigorous application permits the existence of communication between God and human beings.^[9] God has no gender in Sikhism, (though translations may incorrectly present a male God); indeed Sikhism teaches that God is "Nirankar" [Niran meaning "without" and kar meaning "form", hence "without form"]. In addition, Nanak wrote that there are many worlds on which God has created life.^[12]

Seems more reasonable than Islam, that's for sure, although I don't want to be accused of pitting religions, but their religion seems progressive by even today's standards, particularly with regards to equal rights. You would think that Barry would honor such a religion. I guess not. May be he's not a fan of curry. 


I would remind Barry that India is a capitalist democracy in an area of the world where that is a rare thing and should be supported. In fact, outside of our European allies and Israel, India is a friend, always. We should respect that friendship and honor it. He has done neither. 


Thank you for reading this blog. Namaste. 

Exclusive: Chris Christie to Campaign for Charlie Baker

Newsflash at Libertarian Republican:

Chris Christie is about to announce that he will be campaigning for Massachusetts republican governor  candidate Charlie Baker later this week. Eric Dondero is developing this story so return back later for more news regarding this story.

Developing...

Libertarian Politics Live: Andre Traversa and The Right Guy with Guest Michel Faulkner

Tomorrow, Thursday, October 7, Michel Faulkner will be the special guest on Libertarian Politics Live. Michael is running against Charles Rangel of the 15th Congressional District in Harlem, NY.

Mr Faulkner is running as a republican in a staunchly democrat district, where Rangel won the nomination this year with 51% of the vote in a field of five. What is prescient though is that Rangel has not been endorsed by any of his primary opponents and there is in fact a movement of Democrats for Faulkner. The reason for this is that Rangel is charged with some serious ethics violations and his attitude is one of indifference. This only goes to Mr Faulkner's advantage.

Tune in on Thursday evening at Libertarian Politics Live, where we get to interview an up and coming member of the republican party.

Second guest TBA.

Host Andre Traversa, Co-Host Jim Lagnese, call in at 646-915-9887.

Thank you for reading this blog.