A very Politically Incorrect song from Sigmund Romberg's operetta, The Desert Song. "I want a kiss, give it to me, you know I must have my way ..."

Beautiful music and singing, all the more remarkable for the fact that all the other soloists and the chorus were added after Mario died. He died in Rome in 1959, a few weeks after this recording, and the tapes were sent to New York and superimposed upon in 1960. I know this will mean nothing to any of you—your loss, your ignorance, your belonging to Private Webster's "ignorant servile scum."

As the Frankenstein Obama Healthcare bill draws nearer to the final round of back room deals and dubious power grabs to obtain the votes it needs to pass, an Associated Press article has this to say:

The New Zealand Human Rights Commission recently released the results of its ‘perceptions of discrimination’ public opinion survey. The commission clowns tell us that when respondents were asked ‘Who do you believe suffers “a great deal” or “some” discrimination?’ Asians topped the list. People on welfare, overweight people, recent immigrants, refugees, Pacific people and Maori, followed the Asians in the discrimination perception stakes.

One of the things I'm doing in Auckland is giving speech coaching to the speech-needy.

[Lifted from Brant Gaede's 'Hey Now' thread. 'Psycho-Prof' is, of course, Robert Campbell.]

I note that Psycho-Prof is one of the speakers at this year's TAS Summer Seminar. He's to hold forth on whether it's Mayhew or Rand answering in Ayn Rand Answers. Although this might be one of the few subjects on which he and I agree, you'd think he'd be over it by now. The tapes of the original undoctored answers are available to all and sundry, after all.

Al Capone–Style Health Care
By Edward Hudgins

March 10, 2010 — The Obama administration wants no one to focus on the process involved in the production and passage of its health care takeover—not that it wants us to focus much on the substance, either. After all, politics always involves some trade-offs and even a little bit of arm-twisting. Like making sausage, it’s not nice to watch but the products can be mighty tasty.

The American System Is Not a Democracy

March 5, 2010

WASHINGTON--Today marks the 66th anniversary of the German Nazi party’s rise to power--not through a bloody coup, but a democratic vote.

The Atlas Society Marks Its 20th Anniversary!

On February 24, 1990, George Walsh and David Kelley stood before a crowded lecture hall in New York City to announce the birth of the Institute for Objectivist Studies, now named The Atlas Society.

On 6 April (Easter Friday) Lindsay Perigo interviewed James Valliant on his Radio Live show which was broadcast throughout NZ. It is now available online and I commend it to your attention.

On another discussion thread, Lindsay Perigo cited an important quotation from Ayn Rand:

I appreciate the opportunity to respond to James Valliant’s thoughtful review of my book.

Since her death in 1982, Ayn Rand’s ideas have enjoyed nothing short of a Renaissance.

http://online.barrons.com/arti...

SOLO-International Op-Ed: Dollars for Despots

Philip Duck
January 20, 2010

Yet another hopeless talkfest kicks off today as officials from the morally bankrupt United Nations meet the wholly corrupt ministers and bureaucrats of 15 Asian and Pacific Island states tagged, ‘Least-developed countries.’ (LDCs)

If like me you haven't yet seen Dark Knight it's just about to screen on Sky Movie Channels 1 & 2.

Indeed, Ms Neelie Kroes, the European Union’s Competition Commissioner could barely contain her cackle in a press conference to announce the decision when she crowed that 'Intel would now have to chan

"The emotion involved in art is not an emotion in the ordinary meaning of the term. It is experienced more as a 'sense' or a 'feel,' but it has two characteristics pertaining to emotions: it is automatically immediate and it has an intense, profoundly personal (yet undefined) value-meaning to the individual experiencing it.

Surprise, surprise.

You can watch the entire thing now - for free - already on Google Video.
Watch it while you can, here is the link below.