Thoughts On A Sunday

Warm weather has returned for a second weekend in a row. We certainly aren't complaining.

There's still plenty of snow cover, meaning there's little we can do in way of yard work. Even if the snow was gone the ground would be soggy, again preventing any kind of yard work. That's fine with me!

It looks like the winter weather is finally fading away, though I have no doubt we'll see at least one or two more snowstorms before we really get into spring weather.

Thoughts of work on the Official Weekend Pundit Lake Winnipesaukee Runabout, aka The Boat, have been making their appearance. BeezleBub and I have been talking about the work we'll need to do starting next month to get The Boat ready to go back in to the water some time in May. That's the true sign that we've had enough of winter.

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Yaron Brook asks “Is [Ayn]Rand Relevant?”

Like Brook, I have to say 'yes'. Reading her Atlas Shrugged gives one the feeling of déja vu. Comparing what Obama and Congress are doing today with the events in Atlas Shrugged, you realize the parallels are damn scary. It's as if they're using the novel as a blueprint for destruction of the US economy.

Rand also noted that only an ethic of rational selfishness can justify the pursuit of profit that is the basis of capitalism -- and that so long as self-interest is tainted by moral suspicion, the profit motive will continue to take the rap for every imaginable (or imagined) social ill and economic disaster. Just look how our present crisis has been attributed to the free market instead of government intervention -- and how proposed solutions inevitably involve yet more government intervention to rein in the pursuit of self-interest.

Rand offered us a way out -- to fight for a morality of rational self-interest, and for capitalism, the system which is its expression. And that is the source of her relevance today.

Indeed.

(H/T Instapundit)

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American Thinker deconstructs the Myth of Relativism and the Cult of Tolerance.

The one thing I've found about those espousing tolerance is that far too often they aren't.

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It appears President Obama will be foregoing yet another presidential tradition, the annual Gridiron Dinner.

Could it be because there won't be any teleprompters available?

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Bruce tells us of an underreported shortage of lead, brass, and copper.

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If you're like me, the thought of continuing your education, formally or informally, has great appeal. But sometimes lack of funds or time prevents you from making the trip to the local institute of higher learning. But fret not, for there are ways to increase your knowledge without the need to twist your schedule around nor take a second or third job to pay for it.

Simply go here to peruse the online courses (all free) from places like MIT, Carnegie-Mellon, Yale, Tufts, UC Berkeley, Notre Dame, and a host of other colleges and universities. There are also a host of other online resources available, too.

While studying using these resources won't gain you a degree, it will expand your knowledge and abilities, something that is always worthwhile.

MIT's courses have been available online for some time, and I've availed myself of them more than once. It was definitely worth the time.

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H.R. 1388, the so-called GIVE Act makes volunteerism mandatory. If it's mandatory then it isn't volunteering, is it? Instead it is involuntary servitude. Much of the bill that I've read sounds more like it's creating something analogous to the Hitler Jugend.

I wonder how long before there will be a push for members of this organization to inform on their friends, neighbors, and family members?

For those of you in New Hampshire, one of the co-sponsors of this legislation is Democrat Carol Shea-Porter (1-NH). She's made no bones about getting government more involved in everyone's lives, even when it comes to what they'll do in their own homes. This merely proves she is the socialist she's always claimed she wasn't.

One of the other co-sponsors is Charles Rangel of New York, the same Democrat that tried to bring back the draft because he thought far too many minorities were bearing the burden of combat in Iraq and Afghanistan. (He was wrong.)

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Instapundit has quite a bit of coverage of the “handful” of Tea Party protests taking place around the country. At last count that handful of protests amounts to at least 35. I wouldn't say 35 is a “handful”.

Glenn also has pictures and comments from the Cincinnati Tea Party. As one commenter wrote, “Great crowd. This is only getting started…. The square was packed - a larger crowd than what Oktoberfest usually draws, even without the promise of cold beer.”

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Rick Moran asks “Is the stimulus bill unconstitutional?”

The fact that it tries to rewrite some state constitutions, allowing state legislators to override a state's governor to accept stimulus funds a governor may have refused because there were too many federal strings attached, may be just what we need to kill it off.

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Who are you going believe when it comes to the failure and misery of socialism, someone who had the misfortune to live under it and survived, or the know-nothing Democrats in Congress and the White House trying to bring that kind of hell to the US?

Considering history has shown socialism is a dismal failure that impoverished and in the end, killed millions directly or through neglect, I'd go with the former rather than the latter.

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Hollywood liberal-turned-conservative Ron Silver has died of cancer. He was 62.

(H/T Ace of Spades)

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And that's the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where the snow and ice is melting, town meetings have taken place, and where the wood piles are getting pretty small.