Obama's Surrender of America (Attempted?)

In response to domestic and foreign public opinion in support of the Libyan uprising, Obama, collectivist coordinator-in-chief, has taken the opportunity to send American personnel and treasure in harms way while abrogating responsibility and goals to the international community, the United Nations, and the League of Arab States.

Depending on the goals, the wisdom and legitimacy of going to war may be debatable, but attempting to transfer authority and justification to the international community is an attempt to surrender sovereignty in some measure – to surrender America's right to rational self-interest and its founding cultural values. 

Subjugating America's interests, resources, and policies to some sort of “world government” or “world committee” authority has long been the dream of the domestic and foreign socialist, multiculturalist, moral relativist, nihilist community. 

This attempt by Obama to move America away from sovereignty is likely to be thwarted by negative feedback from the American public seeing American forces under foreign authority. But a good many Americans elected this Bozo; so, the success of future moves is uncertain. The first steps are being taken.

The President's Libya Mission?

Haven't head a clear statement of the "President's Libya Mission?" The news media wonders loudly, failing to realize that as always, so does Obama.

Fundamentally an international socialist, a community organizer with illusions of grandeur, he has no real concept of practical plans and goals. 

Obama is always waiting for others to provide direction and policy details, to find a way to carry out what he fantasizes. On issues of foreign policy he relies on judgments of the “international community.”

From corporate bailouts to health care legislation to immigration issues to foreign wars, Obama follows where he guesses most people and the press want to go: where congressional leaders, the Fed, union thugs, etc. convince him it will be popular to go. Then tries to jump in front to gain the image of a leader. Always delaying decisions and action, especially after guessing wrong, avoiding responsibility.

Thus, we wonder about the “President's Mission,” rather than America's or even congress's mission. It is a mercurial thing, not derived from principle. And another abdication of congressional responsibility.

ARI and the Atlas movie

If you scroll all the way to the bottom of the Ayn Rand Institute’s long home page, you will see a link to a staged video interview with Yaron Brook, with a portion talking about the movie. 
http://arc-tv.com/atlas-shrugged-movie-and-the-ayn-rand-institute/

Essentially, he is distancing ARI from the production and discouraging more than encouraging potential viewers.  This is simply an obligatory nod that a movie has been made, allowing ARI to claim that it has not ignored the fact – though it is trying hard.

Strangely, having seen the movie, Brook acknowledges its faithfulness to Ayn Rand’s novel and ideas, objecting only that the passion of the novel’s characters for their work is not fully captured.  He even admits that no movie version is likely to fully satisfy him, and that Peikoff sold the rights so that a movie would be made to draw more readers to the novel. 

So, we have perhaps the most exciting event in the history of the novel taking place, and ARI’s near silence is sending a message of disapproval.  What is ARI’s motivation? 

Radiation Detected?

Every local has some radiation. Easy to detect. Radiation levels above normal? A crate of bananas will do it. High in potassium40. Radiation levels up 300%? A drive from L.A. to Denver will do it. No deterioration in health.

Phenomenon of the News Media Anchor Personality

Amazingly, those manning the news anchor desks of the major network shows, the dedicated news channels, and the business channels, do not seem able to learn from events, history, or the experts they interview. Thus, they cannot distinguish true experts from political bureaucrats and mediocre academics. As news stories develop over days and weeks, the anchors seldom exhibit any deeper understanding of the issues.

This has long been notable in the reporting on the goals for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and for the economic issues since the stock market crash of 2008. It is particularly evident with Japan's current nuclear plant problems.

Even as they report daily on how nuclear plants are constructed and operate, they continue with impossible scare scenarios of cancer causing clouds spreading over hundreds of miles, underground contamination of the water supply and crops, melt downs dispersing deadly radiation for miles, etc.  Even Chernobyl, which had no containment structure, is known for not resulting in the wide spread cancer deaths and genetic problems that were prognosticated. 

This phenomenon of dysfunctional anchor personalities/intellects extends to all political issues, from the war on drugs to education mandates. It may be argued that they just want to keep the stories lively and excite an audience, but from many repeated questions and comments they make it is clear that their understanding does not improve from day to day.

News media anchors exhibit a palpable absence of thinking.

Japan's Disaster Demonstrates Nuclear Plant Safety

Japan's current nuclear reactor problems show the safety of properly designed nuclear plants. The worst earthquake in one hundred years, a thirty foot tsunami, loss of external power and normal cooling systems, exploding buildings due to hydrogen buildup, and no radiation leak.

Emergency steam released from the reactor core containment buildings contain insignificantly low level radiation, which is dispersed in the winds. We get more radiation from the rocks we live on and the granite buildings we inhabit.

Some dozens of people have been treated for supposed symptoms of radiation poisoning. But there has been no explanation for how they were exposed. Likely imaginary illness? (Even given such illness and possible deaths, nuclear plants save more lives by reducing the death rates involved in providing alternative sources of energy.)

The worse case scenario of a core melt down would simply drop the core into the earth a few feet, depending on the type of rock and dirt, where it continues to cool, can be recovered, and shipped to a nuclear waste site.

Most of the community disruption is due to politically motivated “emergency” responses. Other types of industrial disasters kill far more people: refinery explosions, plane and train crashes, ship sinking, dam breaks, etc. Not to mention all those who die in the alternative coal mining and transportation operations, oil rig explosions, etc.

These same lessons were also taught by the so called Three Mile Island “disaster” – which it wasn't, except for the owners.

Nuclear reactor problems do not equal radiation problems.