Did you hear the story about the couple who were lying asleep in bed when a car crashed into their apartment trapping them underneath? I think this happened a few weeks ago. Anyway, I heard yesterday that the guy who was driving the car intentionally drove it into the apartment thinking it belonged to his ex-girlfriend and her new boyfriend!

Note how the murderer got caught: an unarmed bystander wrote down the license plate of the guy's car as he got away and called the police.

Because it makes sense that cars be visibly registered and licensed, because they can be used for illegal and murderous purposes, and so they can be traced and the owners nabbed if a crime is committed or suspected. Exactly the kind of tough and unavoidable licensing/regitration which the NRA and its enthusiasts oppose for guns. Yet guns in the hands of "angry" or depressed people are worse than cars.

For a very good discussion of the (relatively minor) differences between Frederick Hayek and Ayn Rand, read:

http://myslu.stlawu.edu/~shorwitz/Papers/JARS-Hayek.pdf

which obviously The Economist's reviewer didn't bother doing.

Don't be silly Julio. I'm sure he is sincere. He's sorry he got caught.

Edited by author 11-07-2009 04:11 PM
I read the book by Burns but hadn't heard of the other one so I will check it out, thanks for pointing out the article! The reviewer clearly hasn't read Rand, so I don't understand why they gave him/her the assignment: fo starters, he/she got the scenes of Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead mixed up. Also he obviously does not understand the nature of Rand's disagreements with Hayek, which were oh so minor.

The Atlas Shrugged movie rumor is old. The Ayn Rand estate won't let them make it because they are sure to screw it up, and Hollywood won't make it without free license to screw it up. Perhaps at some point the money to be made will convince some producer to just make the movie to the satisfaction of the estate. But as long as reviewers/producers don't actually READ her novels we won't get very far.

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Meanwhile the shooter in Florida says he is "sorry" now that police caught him. Sorry he killed a father of a seven-month old and wounded others in a surprise all-out attack. It is society who should be sorry for handing him the gun, particularly each and every NRA member/supporter enabler. Very sorry. They should personally apologize to the seven-month old and her mother every day of their lives. 'Cause the gun sure isn't sorry and ain't gonna.

FYI new books reviewed in The Economist (whose reviewers seldom miss):

The life and views of Ayn Rand

Capitalism's martyred hero
Oct 22nd 2009
From The Economist print edition

Most intellectuals don’t have much time for Ayn Rand with her “glare that could wilt a cactus”. But her uncompromising views are still worshipped by many

Ayn Rand and the World She Made. By Anne Heller. Nan A. Talese; 592 pages; $35.

Goddess of the Market: Ayn Rand and the American Right. By Jennifer Burns. Oxford University Press; 384 pages; $27.95 and £16.99.

http://www.economist.com/books/displayStory.cfm?story_id=14698215

The hero is you, and you and you!!!

WHY THEY ARE HEROES:


New York Yankees manager wins good Samaritan title
By Mythili Rao, CNN
November 5, 2009 10:07 p.m. EST
 
New York (CNN) -- It was a busy night for New York Yankees Manager Joe Girardi -- not only did he lead his team to the World Series championship, but on his way home, he also helped the victim of a car accident get out of harm's way.

According to Jason Zillo, spokesman for the Yankees, Girardi was heading home after his team's World Series win and celebration Wednesday night when he spotted a car that had crashed along a busy, curving stretch of highway on the outskirts of New York near the suburb of New Rochelle.

The car was jutting into traffic. Girardi immediately stopped to check on the driver and help her out of the car, Zillo said. "He wanted to make sure that if someone was in the car they were OK," Zillo said. "And then he wanted to help her get away from a dangerous position in the highway."

Zillo said police officers arrived at the scene of the accident moments later.

According to CNN affiliate WABC, the accident happened around 2:25 a.m. on the eastbound lanes of the Cross County Parkway at the Hutchinson River Parkway, when a woman lost control of her car along a long blind curve and crashed into a wall.

Marie Henry, 27, of Stratford, Connecticut, said Girardi sprinted across three lanes of traffic to come to her aid.

"She had no idea who I was," Girardi said in a radio interview Thursday.

A Westchester County police officer who arrived at the scene described Girardi in the good Samaritan role as "totally surreal." "The guy wins the World Series, what does he do? He stops to help," Officer Kathleen Cristiano told local news Web site LoHud.com.

"A lot of people know him as 'Joe Girardi, the manager of the New York Yankees,' but Joe is someone who puts other people first," Zillo said. "The easy thing would have been for him to just drive by. But I think it shows a lot about his character."

Wowow that was some ticker tape parade up Broadway... they say between 2 and 3 million people gathered. Nobody went to work in NYC today, clearly.

1 dead, 5 wounded in Orlando office shooting; suspect in custody

Friday, November 6, 2009; 3:54 PM

A 40-year-old man who was reportedly fired two years ago from an engineering firm apparently returned to that office Friday and shot six people, killing one, according to police and his former employer.

Police said Jason Rodriguez, 40, surrendered to police and was taken into custody at his mother's house outside of Orlando. Rodriguez is a former employee of Reynolds, Smith and Hills Inc., according to a spokesman of the company, which describes itself as "a facilities and infrastructure consulting firm" with clients around the world.

Company chief financial officer Ken Jacobson said that Rodriguez was fired in June 2007 after working as a beginning engineer at the firm for 11 months. Jacobson said his "work product wasn't up to the necessary standards." The job Rodriguez did was "pretty deficient from the start," Jacobson said. But he said the company had not had any contact with Rodriguez since he was let go.

As he was being taken in to the police station, Rodriguez responded to questions shouted from reporters about why he had "done it." He responded that "They left me to rot," but did not say who "they" were. "I'm angry," he said.

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Angry without a gun = loser
Angry with an NRA-sanctioned gun, purchased legally at K-Mart I'm sure, = murderer



oh well, shit happens when we have to preserve our right to shoot at will

On Ft. Hood: the shooter seems to have used his own guns, rather than military-issue weapons. Also, it was the POLICE who came in and restored order and shot the guy:


"Col. John Rossi, an Army spokesman, told reporters that investigators were examining whether Mr. Hasan had registered the two handguns used in the shooting. “He could have just brought it onto the installation,” Colonel Rossi said.

Army officials said that about half of the people injured in the shooting had undergone surgery, and all were in stable condition. In interviews with reporters on Friday, they praised the police officer who shot Major Hasan, Kimberly Munley, saying she and her partner had arrived within three minutes of reports of gunfire and put an end to the rampage.

Clad in a military uniform and firing an automatic pistol and another weapon, Major Hasan, a balding, chubby-faced man with heavy eyebrows, sprayed bullets inside a crowded medical processing center for soldiers returning from or about to be sent overseas, military officials said.

The victims, nearly all military personnel but including two civilians, were cut down in clusters, the officials said.

In the confusion of a day of wild and misleading reports, the major and the officer who shot him were both reported killed in the gun battle, but both reports were erroneous. "

=======================
You would think the military would either a) ensure that no outside weapons are brought in to a restricted facility, or b) be able to shoot the guy dead right away without relying on the police. Problem is: the element of surprise. Nobody is immune to that. That is why weapons and laws need to be designed to counter-balance it.

Ahh, but we will defend the "right" of Mr. Hasan to go and buy lots of weapons and ammo forever and ever... shit happens, so what?

One more piece of news:

"Gold bullion climbed to a record $1,098.50 an ounce today. "

While calling them fascist and intolerant is not too off the mark, my main beef with them is that they are so IGNORANT and IRRATIONAL. Just like the people who vote for them in the primaries.

But we're happy in NYC: Bloomberg won. Now there's a Republican to be proud of... except he changed his registration to Independent last year, and I don't blame him since otherwise he was on the same side as Sarah! But he DID run both as a Republican and as an Independent this year.

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Hey don't get ME involved in self-defeating religious arguments... devout Christians on both teams should deal with such conundrum! Perhaps by having a Bible verse i.d. contest?

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As Gaby says, I'm wrong about guns... or am I? read on:

Shootings at Texas Base Kill at Least 12; Dozens Hurt
November 5, 2009

At least 12 people were killed and 31 wounded Thursday afternoon in a shooting at a military installation in Fort Hood, Texas, according to military spokesmen. Lt. General Bob Cone said in Texas that the two alleged shooters were Army soldiers who opened fire in a “readiness facility.”



Give people guns... and they'll make victims. And note how the element of surprise works even in a "readiness" military facility. Here's a solution: pass a law to make all guns emit a loud noise 30 seconds before they can shoot bullets. That will solve 90% of the mess. Ahhh... but the same people who vote for the IGNORANT and IRRATIONAL candidates mentioned above will prevent such an obviously reasonable law from happening before you can say Southern States. So here we are, full circle!

Salud!

It's been interesting watching the Republican Party fall apart into two factions - the Glen (what's his name) & Sarah show (and their ilk) and moderates.

I sincerely hope the moderates win. Those right wing, intolerant fascist types scare me.

Hey now, I was born and raised Republican. I have always leaned to the right! I could envision a return to my roots, but not with the current state of the party. I have a hard time believing my Dad, who considered himself "to the right of Attila the Hun" would like today's Republican Party. Huckabee? Palin? No thank you very much.

Sue is starting to lean to the right! How refreshing!