Mistah TBogg, he funny.
Did you see you got a shout-out from Wolcott over at, uh, whereveritwas…Vanity Fair? Anyway, congrats.

FunnyDiva

… and TBogg jumps the Wolcott shark.

I was in his last book, back when I was still writing America’s Worst Mother.

Atlas will be dragging ass…

Which made me think of Pam Atlas. I wonder if she ever read all of that book. Ha! I kid.

I miss America’s Worst Mother. That was great stuff.

And the right-wing people think we’re elitist because we tend to point and laugh when they’re making pronouncements about how they’re “gonna go Galt.”

Anyone who is out of their early twenties and still takes Ayn Rand’s ideas seriously will not have to worry about making more than 250K.

Any of these people really want to ensure that they make less than 250k/year can join the army. Of course that won’t happen because these are the same people who ’support the troops’ but would never actually be a troop.
Which is too bad, because they could volunteer for Iraq or Afghanistan, and get their income for that year tax free, which is what they claim to want. And the influx of people that stupid into theatre would give me lots of mobile bullet stops.

Ayn Rand: If not for her, what would mildly inebriated sophomores sitting around their stinky dorm rooms have to talk about at 2 am if not their fantasies about how they would run the world if only their true potential were recognized?

Atlas Shrugged is much more useful on Camping trips as a near endless supply of toilet paper. Be careful you don’t accidently “re-use” pages as it’s hard to tell if they are fresh with all the shit on the page already.

Funny Randian side story. Had a libertarian friend years ago, while showing me his book collection, pointed out his copy of Atlas Shrugged. He claimed he read it every 3 months. I called bullshit, but he swore he did. Later that evening, I slipped a twenty dollar bill inside the first few pages while he was in the other room. Didn’t visit him for about a year and a half, and while there I checked the book, and sure enough the twenty was still there. I pointed it out to him, and to give him credit, he said “you got me”. To top it off, before I left, I replaced the book on the shelf with a copy of Ellison’s “Invisible Man”. Unfortunately, I haven’t spoken to him a few years to get his take. Maybe he went Galt.

Actually, the only approapriate use for Atlas Shrugs is as toilet paper, but only in a dire emergency situation. The paper is cheap, rough, and scratchy, and the ink runs. What then goes on the paper is of vastly higher quality than what is in the book.

whenever I hear someone praise “Atlas Shrugged” I feel the same amazement that I felt when a (now former) friend raved about Star Trek V (aka Shatner Happens) as being really “deep” because “it made he think about God.” I mean, come-on, who takes Rand seriously after the age of 19 or so, unless they’re emotionally stunted or something???

Seka. Marilyn Chambers. Kaitlyn Ashley. Kristi Myst. Gauge. Dagne Taggart?

Gimme a fucking break.

When even Alan Greenspan is saying, “Oops, maybe Rand is as full of shit as everyone has been saying” you have to admire the dead-enders.

I teach high school, however, and a few years ago we had our share of Randian, self-important asshats. Nowadays the only conservative students remaining tend to drift between Dittoheads and Joe the Plumber in their philosophy. So to be fair to Rand, she is the most persuasive, most seductive writer in the conservative movement. Being absolutely wrong about everything and dragging Western civilization down into a Hobbesian nightmare shouldn’t detract from that.

– ‘Deep Wingnuttery’ for $2,000, Alex.

– Answer: Glenn Reynolds

– Who is John Galt’s bladder?

– Correct! [robust applause]

I’m a little distracted by the thought of MegMac going to the beach; I just can’t see it happening, mostly because that little spark of self-preservation that she likes to think of as enlightened self interest tells her that there might be an itsy-bitsy teeny-weeny problem with the ozone layer that the Almighty Free Market seems to have failed to fix. So she puts on a floppy hat and black underwear in lieu of a swimsuit, sprinkles a little aquarium sand on her flip-flops, pretends that her iBeer is a Corona, and uses that chunky old copy of Atlas Shrugged to prop up a corner of her desk while she writes steamy slashfic about a dusky Hindoo-turned-Catholic governor of a sultry Southern state who has a thing for weedywillowy bloggers with a serious gadget fetish. Typing one-handed, of course; there are some things that you just can’t get away with on a public beach.

I heard Lush Limpbaugh is planning a new book playing off of Ms. Rand’s boat anchor. The working title is “Fatass Drugged.”

Ayn Rand = L. Ron Hubbard for people who don’t lack self-esteem.

You know, from time to time, I amuse myself by imagining what would happen should one of these idiots meet a *real* socialist. Let alone Marxist. Like China Mieville. I’d love to see that. I’d *pay* to see that. I bet you could get a good column out of it and if you think so too, please, be my guest.

MKK-is lazy

Ayn Rand = L. Ron Hubbard for people who don’t lack self-esteem.

Gotta remember that one, lol.

How could you focus on this with McMegan in full 5-post meltdown over whether Dear Peter is astroturfing or teabagging?

Read it at 14 and thought it was imbecilic shite (and really boring) then.

Heh. Of course, Glenn Reynolds would be the correct answer to at least several thousand different questions in the category of “Deep Wingnuttery.”

I wonder if Dr. Mrs. Ole Perfessor is capable of recognizing the signs of arrested emotional development, coupled with a double helping of narcissism and delusions of grandeur, exhibited by those wingnuts threatening to “go Galt.”

I imagine that each wingnut decision to “go Galt” is coupled with an inspiring thought balloon in which millions of people in dozens of cities hold candlelight vigils, begging the Galtishly-disposed wingnut not to deprive mankind of his or her vast and essential skill set. What the rest of us see, however, is a middle-aged version of a spoiled three year old who is constantly threatening to take his toys and go home if he doesn’t get his way (”you’ll see, then you’ll all be sorry,” he keeps repeating as we walk off into the distance).

back in college, i was able to read being and time in its entirety, but i couldn’t make it more than 100 pages into atlas shrugged. around the time dagny decided it’d be hot to be what’s his name’s bitch i decided i just couldn’t take it anymore. how did that shite ever get published in the first place?

OT, but it looks like Conyers got a big win: Sanjay Gupta’s been withdrawn. Oops.

Just read about the pukes coming out against the truth commission. Whatever happened to spending ten million to find out about sexcapades.

When do the Heritage Institute and Cato Institute crowd leave on spaceship B?

are we in favor of the truth commission? South Africa introduced truth commissions to prevent civil war. We theoretically have an intact legal system, and that system doesn’t need to truth commissions to bring its criminals to justice.

True that. IMO there will never be a prosecution for what happened over the last 8 years. It’s just ironic that they had to get to the bottom of what happened with Clinton, and spent a few years running at the mouth about rule of law…. what the hell happened to that. Why doesn’t the MSM ask them about it?

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance is more relevant than Atlas Shrugged. At least I got one good idea from Zen book, when maintaining your motorcycles sit on a stool.

whenever I hear someone praise “Atlas Shrugged” I feel the same amazement that I felt when a (now former) friend raved about Star Trek

bwaahaahaa – me too. although sometimes we referred to them as the kids who couldn’t dance

I’m honestly torn about whether “no prosecutions” or the truth commission is the worse alternative. No prosecutions at all would emphasize impunity, true, but at least we wouldn’t be setting a precedent that war crimes and constitutional treason can be massaged away through what would effectively be a public foregiveness/pardoning process. But on the hand, with the truth commission we might find out more about what happened and how shrub damaged our country.

Speaking of comedy the ever radical NewsHour has on Jim Baker and Lee Hamilton talking about Iraq and Afghanistan. I couldn’t make out everything they were saying, the creaking of the ideas, got in the way.

Baker: The War Powers Act is unconstitutional.

Hamilton: If a President wants to go to war, the Congress can’t stop him. (Apparently in all the years Hamilton was a Congressman he thought impeachment was a variation of inapplement.)

whitewater to lewinsky cost us $39 million

p.s. Mr Starr also a draft dodger: psoriasis

I don’t know if you guys get the same Google Ads as I do, but I suspect all the dicussion of John Galt triggered some Objectivist “trigger” and we were sent a bunch of ads advertising the “Objective Standard: Ayn Rand’s Ideas Applied”

Yeah, like she did that in her own life

Starr (today in oral arguments before the CA supremes): “Rights are ultimately defined by the people.”

I nearly fell out of my chair laughing.

That’s defaming the Coronado Islands. *g*

what is it about young ‘uns nowadays? Back in my day, we had discovered Ayn Rand and moved on by age 16 or 17 at the very latest (a few late bloomers in every group yanno). Reading Ayn Rand in their twenties or in college? Punk kids! And they can get off my lawn with their stained copies of Atlas Shrugged!

sadly, looks like they’re going to uphold those rights as “defined by the people”

SFGATE

disgusting

John Dean? Bwahahahahahaha!

See why I’m afraid to comment at night? IDIOT! H-o-w-a-r-d. Joke over.

I recommend that Tbogg form a Provisional Wing with the sole purpose of rendering the top 20 officials of the former admin. to the Hague. We can get the Citicorp corporate jet cheap, I hear.

The natives are getting restless again and are making muttered threats about about going John Galt

Fine then maybe we should remind voters what McCain and the GOP was saying about the economy before the election.
Maybe we compare McCain and the GOP’s ideas to President Hoover’s after all Laizzez Faire (President Hoover’s economic theory ) is Do Nothing and that is why the GOP is against helping people stay in their homes.
Its why the GOP is against putting people back to work.
Its why some GOPers voted against saving the banks.
Meghan wants to go John Galt fine an exodus of talented bankers, financial advisers, Ponzi schemers, dummies who do not know how many houses they own graduated at the bottom of their class, but were born into money.
Please Meghan leave the economy would go up your class does not make anything real, you make funny numbers. You manage business like Bush manages a war or the economy.
Workers standard of living goes down since the 70’s despite the computer making workers more productive the rich get richer everyone else gets poorer.
I take it you boo during Robin Hood Meghan.

ok.. so the fundie rethugs like Starr say that rights come from the people, if the people agree with ‘em, otherwise they come from the literal constitution (framers’ intent).. which is Starr’s original whole schtick, or they come from the rethug god. I’m really really confused.

What useful skills does your class Meghan have? Are the 2%ers who own most of this country Doctors, Engineers, Welders? do you make things, sell things or just spend things?
Outside of ponzai scheme deals, insider trading etc what would we lose if you left Meghan.
France guillotine all its Nobels then under Napoleon invaded and conquered more of Europe than any Nobel French king including Charlemagne (I think).
Julius Caesar Assassin’s the Roman Senate the Nobel Patrician Class got hunted down by Augustus Caesar’s heir only those who supported Caesar and betrayed their class kept their heads.
Then the Roman Empire lasted how many centuries? Letting some of the Patricians live may be why the Empire fell money can afford vice and vice corrupts by example.

What ever source will serve the cause of the moment. Conservatives have no principle only power.

Before they talk about “going Galt,” they might think about the rest of us “going Caesar’s Column” on them (if you haven’t had the misfortune to read Ignatius Donnelly’s version of “Atlas” (as I did in high school), see ). I actually remember it as a better book than the little bit of the “Fountainhead” that some girl read to me long ago and far away. Never bothered with any Rand on my own.

Why does this “Going Galt” remind me of “The Hitch(h)iker’s Guide to the Galaxy” (or is it ‘Universe”?) when all the telephone disinfectors are put on the first ship going to Earth?

The link didn’t make it. See Wikipedia under “Caesar’s Column”.

there’s a lot to go over in this post:

first off, what’s up with that title, you was gone or something ??? (oh, yeah, we missed you a lot)

second, selling my folks to the rendering plant is tax free ??? (damn, I think I paid a 15% surcharge when I sold the folks to the Turks)

and what’s the deal with these morans ryandians

I fail to see how removing the least intelligent people from the economy will make the economy fail

with these incompetent halfwits hiding out in the hills, the GDP would probably rise just by the removal of wasteful incompetence

george bush is “Going Galt”, and most of the people on the planet are sure that’s a good thing

what do we have to do to make these idiots do it ???

didn’t the randies just pancake the world economy?

i thought ceo worship ended in the 90’s.

Doesn’t Ms McArsole have a little man to tote her books for her?

Oh good grief! “Is the stock market reacting to Obama’s economic measures?” Heavens, what a moronic question!
All right, can we agree on a rule for successors?
When a new Commander-in-Chief takes over, does he or she have a grace period when successful surprise attacks (Yes, I’m talking about 9/11) are not his/her fault?
NO!!!! A C-in-C takes over on Jan 20th, if there’s an attack on the 21st, they are the person in charge, it’s their fault. Besides, they have military subordinates who should be keeping everything functioning smoothly. The C-in-C rarely reaches deeply enough into the chain of command to really effect anything.
If the economy is in crappy shape when a new President takes over, is it their fault? Again, no. The economy was declining when the younger Bush took over from Clinton, it was in REALLY crappy shape when Obama took over from Bush. An economy is like an oil tanker, it’s hard to steer and hard to stop. Please, let’s give the new guy at least a year before we start blaming the economy on him/her. Your mileage may vary depending on how energetically the new President makes economic policy. At the rate he’s going, Obama’s period should probably be shortened to nine or fewer months.
It’s just incredibly stupid to count a month and a half and to draw conclusions. Jesu Christi people, the stimulus bill hasn’t even taken effect yet!!!

Heh. I tried “rap dancing” once. An African-American of my acquaintance leaned over to me and informed me “Gardner, you dance like a white man.” I’ve never attempted it since.

Eh, I’ve never been all that into any of the incarnations of Star Trek. BSG is way cool and Serenity was awesome. Very pleased when I learned our president was a fellow comickal book fan.

Rushbo must be talking it up… My dittohead brother just bought a copy… and he’s closer to his sixtieth birthday than he’d like to be.

…you know that Obama gave Leonard Nimoy the Vulcan salute during the campaign, right?

C’mon, Star Trek haters. Comparing Gene’s children to Rand is pushing it.

As Flannery O’Conner said, re: fiction, Ayn Rand makes Mickey Spillane look like Dostoevsky.

And if you have ever read any Mickey Spillane, you know that that is one devastatingly damning critique…