Ayn Rand, Welfare Queen

Ayn Rand: I am not a fan. At all.  And I've tried!  Lord knows I've tried.  I've read Atlas Shrugged, The Fountainhead, Anthem, We The Living and two (2) different biographies of her.  See, people base their entire philosophies, lives and (in the case of Alan Greenspan) Federal Reserve policies on her.  I was trying to see what the appeal is.

I failed.


As far as I can tell, she has been providing excuses for sociopathic behavior amongst the socially inept since 1957.  (And no, I'm not saying that all Ayn Rand fans are socially inept sociopaths, but hang with the Objectivists for any length of time and you know EXACTLY who I'm talking about.  They're the crazy right-wing answer to the obnoxiously proselytizing vegan.)


So reading this today?  I LOLed.

Money quote:

However, it was revealed in the recent "Oral History of Ayn Rand" by Scott McConnell (founder of the media department at the Ayn Rand Institute) that in the end Ayn was a vip-dipper as well. An interview with Evva Pryror, a social worker and consultant to Miss Rand's law firm of Ernst, Cane, Gitlin and Winick verified that on Miss Rand's behalf she secured Rand's Social Security and Medicare payments which Ayn received under the name of Ann O'Connor (husband Frank O'Connor).

As Pryor said, "Doctors cost a lot more money than books earn and she could be totally wiped out" without the aid of these two government programs. Ayn took the bail out even though Ayn "despised government interference and felt that people should and could live independently... She didn't feel that an individual should take help."

 I mean, I'd LOVE to pay for the best medical care out of my own pocket like a proper, upstanding citizen, but it's SO EXPENSIVE.

Oh, Ayn.  What would John Galt say?

And the defenders are out in force, I see, in the comments on the article.

Their argument seems to be, "Well the JACKBOOTED THUGS in the MARXIST GOVERNMENT STOLE that money FROM HER WITHOUT HER CONSENT TO USE FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE LOOTERS AND THE MOOCHERS!  She had a RIGHT to take some of it BACK!  And she only GOT $11,000, she MUST have paid more in THE LEGALIZED THEFT THAT IS CALLED INCOME TAXATION over all the years she was in the United States!"

One, she might've only gotten $11k in Social Security payments, but I can damn well guarantee she got more in Medicare.  Lung cancer treatments are and were expensive.  Clearly, she was worried that it would entirely wipe out the fortune she had amassed; is it likely that she had paid out more in taxes than her entire net worth at the time?  Not even in your most fervid John-Bircher nightmares.

Two, if she felt so sure that she was acting in sound principle when she signed up for this, why did she feel the need to use a pseudonym?

GENDER EQUITY EPIC FAIL!

Now, when it comes to Condoleezza Rice, I do not ideologically agree with her, and I think that a lot of the decisions she made in the Bush Administration were wrong.  However, I respect her accomplishments and her intelligence; it cannot be argued that she is a very smart and extremely well-educated lady.  

So when I read this, it was hard not to puke.

She was the NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR AND  THE SECRETARY OF STATE.   COUNTRIES GOT INVADED ON HER SAY-SO.  SHE GUIDED THE HAND THAT HAD THE FINGER ON THE FUCKING BUTTON AND YOU’RE ASKING HER IF SHE WANTS A PRETTY PRINCESS DRESS WHEN SHE GETS MARRIED?

Jesus wept.

Anyone who says that sexism is dead will be hearing from my Second in the morning.

Me vs The Kindle

(First Off:  Dear Girls-Sitting-Next-To-Me-At-The-Coffee-Shop - Just go up and tell the lady behind the counter that she gave you the wrong flavor cheesecake.  You paid good money for it, get what you paid for.  Do NOT sit down at your table (next to me) and bitch loudly for 15 minutes (between bites) about how you cannot abide coffee cheesecake - sorry, let me translate that to teen-speak, "Like OMG, this just SUCKS, yo!"  Also, reflect that if this is the worst thing that has happened to you as of 8:00pm, it's a pretty good day.)

On topic now, the Kindle.

I like to read.  A lot.  It's kind of a compulsion at this point.   I purged like a madwoman before we moved, so now I'm down to nine freestanding seven-foot bookcases, completely full with spillage everywhere.  (And that's not counting the children's books.)  So, when stumped for an anniversary gift (I think I've turned into that relative for whom no one knows what to buy), my husband got me a Kindle.

So up until now,  when discussing the Kindle, I've talked smugly about how I planned on sticking with 19th century technology for my fix, and generally limned in excruciating detail the sensory joys of the printed page; the crisp paper, the heft, the comforting smell, the obviously-loved look of a well-worn tome...

Bugger all that for a lark.

It's great.  It's freaking MAGIC.  I get online, hook up the wires, sort them out and they're ALL THERE.  So I'm sitting out someplace, somebody makes a recommendation, I pull out my phone, find it, order it, and Amazon SENDS IT TO MY KINDLE.  INSTANT GRATIFICATION, BABY!  And if it's out of copyright, you can usually find it for free.  And I can jump between them, which is important because, to quote the Hero of Canton, "Well, I just get excitable as to choice."

I've figured out how to sort them now, so the hard drive space is my only limitation. 

That and actually finding time to read.  :)

Hello, World!

This is an experiment... I am gradually accepting the idea that I might not entirely suck when it comes to writing, so I'm resolving to do more of it.  This may or may not go anywhere; my track record of starting and not finishing projects is legendary. 

So we'll see.