Coming Clean On The Borderline
7/29/2006
The Son Might Be A Republican, But Dad's Still A Bill Clinton Democrat
Father Of Minnesota Sen. Norm Coleman Cited For Lewd, Disorderly Conduct
(AP) Police cited the father of U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman, Norm Coleman Sr., on Tuesday for lewd and disorderly conduct for allegedly engaging in a sex act in a car outside a pizzeria.
According to a police report, the elder Coleman, 81, was having sex with 38-year-old Patrizia Marie Schrag, who was also cited for lewd and disorderly conduct. The St. Paul Pioneer Press first reported the citation. A police spokesman didn't immediately return a call from The Associated Press.
Coleman raised his son in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, and now lives in Minnesota.
"I love my father dearly," Sen. Coleman said in a statement Wednesday. "I will never let him go on a weekend fishing trip with Rush Limbaugh again. He clearly has some issues that need to be dealt with and I encourage him to seek the necessary help -- just don't get help from the girls who hanging around the corners on East Seventh street."
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PSSSTT: I didn't know that 81 year olds could still eat pizza...
Ayn Rand Institute Endorses War Profiteering
Oil Companies Should Not Apologize for Their Record Profits
"American oil companies should be proud of the record profits they earn through honest and productive work.
Oil companies are in business to make as big a profit as they are able to--and they have an obligation to their shareholders to do exactly that. A company's right to the pursuit of profit--like an individual's right to the pursuit of happiness--is essential to America's freedom, greatness and prosperity.
Just as there can never be an "excessive" or "obscene" amount of personal happiness, there can never be an "excessive" or "obscene" amount of profits."
David Holcberg
Ayn Rand Institute
(Of course the fact that the profits are because of instability caused by a war started by "big" oil men doesn't factor inanywhere.)
7/28/2006
2006 Big Ten Football Predictions
Big Ten football is just around the bend. Here's one pronostigator's predictions for the the 2006 season. We'll know by the end of November, but I sure there's another Big Ten season filled with surprises ahead.
Real Football.
7/27/2006
Armchair Patriots are "Making a Difference?"
The "feel good" patriots are popping their heads out of the foxholes over
at OTBL. It's time for them to revive their fake patriotism with a new publicity
campaign; Wear Red Buttons on your Red school board meeting pants on fridays. I'm feeling more patriotic already just visualizing all that red. Sort of like like the US map lighting up with Red State voting on elections day. What a Rush!!
Somehow I get the feeling that this is the extent of the Patriotism of our OTBL Patriot Parrots. Put on a little red, pick up a button, get a ribbon for the car and put some flags on the website. There, now they feel better because they really helped the troops.
If you are someone who thinks that wearing you little red buttons and waving
the flag may not really be doing anything to really help the troops, why not
consider visiting The VFW Unmet Needs Program Website and do some real good.
For example:
Wounded Soldier is Surprised by “Fabulous” Christmas Present
December 15, 2004
Mount Horeb, WI
Outside of Baghdad on September 12, 2004, a suicide bomber detonated an explosive near the convoy carrying National Guard Lieutenant Chris Justice. He sustained massive injuries to one of his arms and had to be flown to Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington DC for extensive skin grafts.
His wife, Tina, and their two children flew from Wisconsin to the hospital to be by his side. Although a huge boost to Justice’s morale, it was an expense the family could ill afford. The wounded soldier would have had it no other way. “I figured I had the rest of my life to make up this financial burden,” he remarked. “How I was going to do it, I had no idea.”
While searching avenues for financial assistance, he learned of Unmet Needs and applied. He had seen so many of his comrades in the hospital who were much worse off and resigned himself to having his application denied.
Not only was the application accepted, Dave Behrend, the Unmet Needs administrator for Wisconsin, personally delivered a check for $2,500 shortly before the holidays.
“It’s a fabulous Christmas present,” Justice said, elated. “This has helped take some of the financial burden from the debt that my family and I accrued from this deployment. Unmet Needs has helped a lot.”
I wonder how many red buttons you have to wear to match this?
In case you may be wondering, I first heard about "Unmet Needs" on Air America Radio.
"Objectivity" In Reporting
Uganda: New Conflict in the Media Business
Objectivists will argue that you don't know for a fact the person killing, raping, and abducting people in northern Uganda. Good journalists, objectivists insist, should report facts, not their value judgement
Traditionally, the role of a journalist in a conflict situation has been that of a disinterested conduit of information.
Journalists have idealised that role with the title - Objectivity.
...Good journalists, objectivists insist, should report facts, not their value judgement. In pursuit of objectivity, therefore, a journalist should report Kony's denial as forcefully as the accusations against him.
Read more@ All Africa.com
Is It OK To Be Selfish?
Why must we be ethical? Why may we not — or why ought we not, as Ayn Rand and others would argue — be selfish? What is so significant about human beings?
The belief in the human soul is perhaps the most enduring remnant of traditional religion. Even those who have rejected religion entirely, or never practiced it to begin with, still hold the indefensible, illogical belief that there is something intrinsic, inalienable and essential about the individual human soul — that spark that makes each of us special.
If you think about it closely, however, this belief is nonsensical. Everything you are, each decision you make and every thought in your mind, each has its own causes and conditions, from genetics to what you ate for breakfast this morning. The causes are uncountably manifold, and impossible to know, but of course they exist. Western religion and our own experience may suggest that there is a "ghost in the machine," a soul lurking within the passages of the cerebral cortex, but neither faith nor intuition is fact. We are, in Carl Sagan's memorable phrase, "starstuff" — nothing less, but also nothing more.
Read more@Forward!
7/26/2006
Meet The Ayn Rands Of Political Cartoons
Interview with the Political Cartoonist Team of John Cox and Allen Forkum
Q: Your political cartooning seems to have begun primarily at The Intellectual Activist, and you say your cartoons are "inspired by" Objectivism, which is what Ayn Rand called her philosophy. To what extent would you consider yourselves to be Objectivists?
FORKUM: I'm an Objectivist.
Read the interview in Capitalist Magazine.
It's A War! Libertarians v. Conservatives
The right renews its '01 debate
The sibling rivalry between libertarians and conservatives added another chapter last week in a debate sponsored by America's Future Foundation. Jonah Goldberg of National Review and Nick Gillespie of Reason magazine renewed a five-year-old debate that had since become somewhat legendary. The 2001 debate pitted Mr. Goldberg against former Reason magazine columnist Mike Lynch over whether libertarians should be considered part of the conservative right. AFF decided to revisit the topic as part of its 10th anniversary celebration, with Mr. Goldberg again defending the conservative movement, and Mr. Gillespie speaking for the libertarian cause at the Heritage Foundation July 18.
The Washington Times
What's In Your Boss's Wallet?
SEC: Exec pay must be easier to see
Companies would have to report bottom line compensation
Washington — Companies would have to provide more details of their executives' pay and perks under a plan being adopted by federal regulators. And amid a widening scandal over suspect timing of stock option grants to company officials, the Securities and Exchange Commission also is writing new rules on disclosure of the dating of options.
The planed regulations amount to the biggest changes governing disclosure of executive compensation since 1992. For the first time, public companies will be required to furnish tables in annual filings showing the total yearly compensation for their chief executive officers, chief financial officers and the next three highest-paid executives.
The plan is designed to enhance corporate transparency and address an issue that has angered company shareholders and the public. In expanding probes, at least 60 public companies have disclosed that their options practices are being investigated by the SEC or the Justice Department or both, and the SEC itself says it has at least 80 companies under scrutiny.
Earn less while you Read more!
Progressive Heroes: Booker T. Washington
While rummaging through the books in a Good Will store some 25 years ago, I picked up a paperback titled "Three Negro Classics." The book contains: Up From Slavery by Booker T. Washington; The Souls of Black Folks by W.E.B. DuBois; The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man by James Weldon Johnson. All the writings are among some of the most moving, insightful and inspiring that I've every read. However, Up From Slavery is one of the most inspiring stories I've read and reread in my life.
For decades, Booker T. Washington (1856-1915) was the major African-American spokesman in the eyes of white America. Born a slave in Virginia, Washington was educated at Hampton Institute, Norfolk, Virginia. He began to work at the Tuskegee Institute in 1881 and built it into a center of learning and industrial and agricultural training.
If I was in charge of high school education in the world, I would make EVERY student read Up From Slavery. It would provide them with an important role model who climb from the bottom of life's barrel to do very great things.
"Think about it: We went into slavery pagans; we came out Christians. We went into slavery pieces of property; we came out American citizens. We went into slavery with chains clanking about our wrists; we came out with the American ballot in our hands... Notwithstanding the cruelty and moral wrong of slavery, we are in a stronger and more hopeful condition, materially, intellectually, morally, and religiously, than is true of an equal number of black people in any other portion of the globe." ... from Up From Slavery
If you're not familiar with the story of Booker T. Washington, check out these links:
Link#1 and
7/25/2006
Opposing Perspectives on "Global Warming"
Polar Ice Caps will be melted by 2008. We're all going to Hell!
Prepare for the coming Ice Age, crack open an
Ice Cold Blogger Lager!
Muy Caliente
This satellite im shows the Arctic sea ice spread on September 21, 2005, when it dropped to the lowest extent yet recorded. The yellow outline indicates where the concentration of ice was as of September 21, 1979.
Photo: AFP
Full Article
OK, that's the arctic, not for the Antartic.
Antarctic Ice Sheet Is Melting Rapidly
New Study Warns Of Rising Sea Levels
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, March 3, 2006; Page A01
The Antarctic ice sheet is losing as much as 36 cubic miles of ice a year in a trend that scientists link to global warming, according to a new paper that provides the first evidence that the sheet's total mass is shrinking significantly.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/02/AR2006030201712.html
7/24/2006
Hey www.ontheborderline.net! Where Did This Post Go?
We received an e-mail today from one of our alert readers about a Jack Bauer post done on OTBL this afternoon that has since disappear.
The post concerned action taken this afternoon when the NR school board met to discuss coach Adam Swanda's contract that was suddenly moved to executive session at Bill Brennan Jr.'s request last Monday night. The board room was filled with Hockey Associatioin parents, students and other concerned citizens.
Board members Greg Gartner, Chris Skoglund, and Lester Jones asked Mr. Brennan to publicly explain why he chose to move the contract to closed session. Board president Judy Remington cut off the discussion, by saying that "any board member has the right to request the discussion of a personnel matter in a closed meeting."
The vote for the contract was taken- and was 7-0. Gartner and Skoglund continued to ask why the contract was moved to begin with. They asked Mr. Brennan directly why he said "when I got the board packet, I saw something about Mr. Swanda's contract that I had concerns about."
Gartner put him on the spot and asked specifically 'what?" -- the only reference to Swanda in the board packet was his name and the fact that his contract was up for routine renewal. When it appeared there wouldn't be an answer given in open session-Gartner suggested they take a few minutes to meet in closed session, because he "for one wanted to know why this had happened in the first place."
The closed session discussion included Mr. Swanda and lasted until close to 5:15pm (give or take). Jack Bauer posted at 4:42pm that Gartner apparently lost his 'script' for the meeting when he asked for an executive session about Swanda's contract AFTER the vote had been taken.
Our reader said this is interesting because the only individual in the room that could identify as being a Bill Brennan supporter was one of the women mentioned in the investigation of Brennan concerning a meeting he had at a local coffee house. The Jack Bauer post has since been removed. Connection? Significant? We don't know -- but it doesn't do much to dissuade those who believe this small group is responsible for the malicious drivel posted on OTBL by local slander monger Jack Bauer.
As always, we thank our readers for helping following the actions and distractions in our local community. If you see news that might be useful to use, e-mail us at atbl1@yahoo.com.
Below is the copy of the post removed by OTBL:
Australia: Neocons face Right rebellion
Traditional Republicans are joining the battle for the soul of conservatism
by Andrew Sullivan
ONE moment last week epitomised the current quandary of American neoconservatism.
During the latest bout of conflict in the Middle East, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki issued the following statement: "The Israeli attacks and air strikes are completely destroying Lebanon's infrastructure. I condemn these aggressions and call on the Arab League foreign ministers' meeting in Cairo to take quick action ... We call on the world to take quick stands to stop the Israeli aggression."
So, suddenly, the neoconservatives found themselves in the position of having fought a war to construct a democratic polity in Iraq ... only for that polity to join Iran and Syria in condemning democratic Israel. The circle closed, and the irony was airtight.
The Australian News.
7/23/2006
What's REALLY Wrong With Objectivism?
by Chris Wolf
" The power of moral judgment is enormous. The power to pronounce someone as an evil evader is the greatest power of all. By making such power available, subject only to whim, with no objective facts or principles to restrain it, Ayn Rand has unleashed a reign of intellectual terrorism. She has transformed many honest, well-meaning individuals into unjust dogmatic moralizers."
Take this as an example: http://www.ontheborderline.net/?p=3585
Libertarian Lynch Mob In Colorado
LONGMONT — Two prominent members of the Boulder County Libertarian Party say they were slighted by the organization they helped build after the party’s state leaders forced them to defend their beliefs in a closed trial earlier this month.
In the end, a jury of Libertarians from around the state ruled former Boulder County commissioner candidate Paul Tiger may no longer run for any state office as a Libertarian, saying he intimidated people by carrying a permitted handgun.
Read more!
Finally A Reason For OTBL Bloggers To Move To North Carolina!
Duke professor plans for-profit college with classic curriculum
According to papers filed with the North Carolina Secretary of State's office in March 2005, The College of Rational Education "shall be exclusively operated as to provide a reality-based, rationally grounded education, by applying Objectivism, the philosophy of Ayn Rand, to all of the Corporation's activities and undertakings."
Read more!
"It is axiomatic concepts that identify the precondition of knowledge: the distinction between existence and consciousness, between reality and the awareness of reality, between the object and the subject of cognition. Axiomatic concepts are the foundation of objectivity."
Ayn Rand
"Gawd, I hope that school ain't in a dry county..."
Tommy Hillbilly
Ayn Rand Institute Writer Opposes Iraq War
"Soldiers are not sacrificial objects; they are full-fledged Americans with the same moral right as the rest of us to the pursuit of their own goals, their own dreams, their own happiness. Rational soldiers enjoy much of the work of military service, take pride in their ability to do it superlatively, and gain profound satisfaction in protecting the freedom of every American, including their own freedom...
Shamefully, America has repeatedly failed to meet this obligation. It has repeatedly placed soldiers in harm's way when no threat to America existed--e.g., to quell tribal conflicts in Somalia, Bosnia, and Kosovo. America entered World War I, in which 115,000 soldiers died, with no clear self-defense purpose but rather on the vague, self-sacrificial grounds that "The world must be made safe for democracy." America's involvement in Vietnam, in which 56,000 Americans died in a fiasco that American officials openly declared a "no-win" war, was justified primarily in the name of service to the South Vietnamese. And the current war in Iraq--which could have had a valid purpose as a first step in ousting the terrorist-sponsoring, anti-American regimes of the Middle East--is responsible for thousands of unnecessary American deaths in pursuit of the sacrificial goal of "civilizing" Iraq by enabling Iraqis to select any government they wish, no matter how anti-American."
By Alex Epstein
Read more of What We Owe Our Soldiers
.
In Canada...
It's Ayn Rand Hot Air V. Global Warming 
Bush, who believes in fictional end-of-the-world scenarios found in the pages of the Bible, believes global warming is just hot air and his government has used methods straight from the Soviet manual of scientific censorship to suppress the truth.
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Contrary to what Bush (and Conservatives under Prime Minister Stephen Harper) want you to believe, the scientific community agrees unanimously that humans are the singular cause of global warming.
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Canada, thankfully, signed the Kyoto Agreement. But Conservative Environment Minister Rona Ambrose, a fan of Ayn Rand who hated environmentalists during her life time, now says Canada won’t meet those targets because they are too high.
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The anti-global warming lobby (read: big oil) frames the issue as a debate between the economy and the environment. But that is inaccurate. It threatens the ecosystem that supplies our human economy with the resources we need the most: fertile soil, clean air and water.
Read more@ Penticton Western News.
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