. . . the book and Leonard Peikoff's lectures and theories on the subject did not exist in Ayn Rand's lifetime and are not Objectivism, and ARI is controlled by an independent board of directors, not the founder seeking support for his own subsequent work.

I would prefer to see a serious discussion of the actual philosophical and historical issues in this application rather than another feud with appeals to who understands Objectivism better, vague threats that "someone will go", speculations of what Ayn Rand "would have said", and appeals to "intellectual status".

These rituals remind us of the principles that we hold in common, and Islam’s role in advancing justice, progress, tolerance, and the dignity of all human beings.

Ramadan is a celebration of a faith known for great diversity and racial equality. And here in the United States, Ramadan is a reminder that Islam has always been part of America and that American Muslims have made extraordinary contributions to our country.

For Obama, it’s all about religious freedom. Apparently now the principle of religious freedom now gives religious groups an absolute right to build anything anywhere. Expect Shinto revivalists to build a shrine to the kamikazes at Pearl Harbor any day now, and self-proclaimed Christian Ku Klux Klansmen to build a chapel honoring the Confederate dead at the site of the murder of Martin Luther King. It’s religious freedom! It’s the American way!

Obama brought more goodies for Muslims in the U.S. and around the world in his Ramadan message this year. In it, he claimed that during Ramadan Muslims “provide support to others to advance opportunity and prosperity for people everywhere.”

Oh, really?

When have past Ramadans ever resulted in any advancement of “opportunity and prosperity for people everywhere,” Mr. President? In reality, it’s against Islamic law to give zakat, the almsgiving that is one of the pillars of Islam and is required of every Muslim, to non-Muslims.

---------------------

It would be kind of him to explain how the Koran’s designation of non-Muslims as “the most vile of created beings” (98:6) advances human dignity, much less tolerance or justice. The Koran’s command that Muslims must fight against Jews and Christians until they pay a religion-based poll tax, jizya, “with willing submission and feel themselves subdued” (9:29) likewise militates against the idea of universal human dignity that Obama professes to have discovered in Islam.

“And here in the United States,” Obama continued, “Ramadan is a reminder that Islam has always been part of America and that American Muslims have made extraordinary contributions to our country.”

Islam has always been a part of America? Really? Will Obama provide us with a list of the Muslim Founding Fathers, the Muslim heroes of the American Revolution, the names of the Muslims killed fighting in the Civil War, World War I, and World War II—surely the President will have no trouble coming up with all that, will he? And he could also throw in a list of those “extraordinary contributions” that Muslims have made to our country. Aside from being the impetus for some extraordinary innovations in airport security, I can’t think of any. But I sure Barack Obama must be way ahead of me.

As a side note, it's ironic that Sondheim has said that he doesn't like operatic voices to sing his music, yet he studied with Nadia Boulanger (Bernstein's teacher in composition, as well), and writes all of his scores with a strict adherence to classic Italian nomenclature, with lines and phrasing demanding considerable virtuousity, even in the more conversational works. I think his prejudice is the result of singers who sing with a manufactured, overly-covered technique and a commensurate vocal and artistic stylistic insensitivity and grandiose, overstated, detached delivery. There is no reason it can't be sung well by a classical singer if they pay attention to the words first and sing with a natural and unforced technique.

Of Eternal Love

Dark, how dark it is in the forest and field!
Night has fallen; the world now is silent.
Nowhere a light and nowhere smoke.
Yes, now even the lark is silent.

From yonder village there comes the young lad,
Taking his beloved home.
He leads her past the willow bushes,
Talking so much, and of so many things:

"If you suffer shame and if you grieve,
If you suffer disgrace before others because of me,
Then our love shall be ended ever so fast
As fast as we once came together;
It shall go with the rain and go with the wind,
As fast as we once came together."

Then says the maiden, the maiden says:
"Our love shall never end!
Steel is firm and iron is firm,
Yet our love is firmer still.

Iron and steel can be recast by the smith
But who would transform our love?
Iron and steel can melt;
Our love, our love will have to last forever!"

Translation by Leonard Lehrman

“The master in the art of living makes little distinction between his work and his play, his labor and his leisure, his mind and his body, his information and his recreation, his love and his religion. He hardly knows which is which. He simply pursues his vision of excellence at whatever he does, leaving others to decide whether he is working or playing. To him he's always doing both.”

COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. -- A 13-year-old girl knuckleball pitcher who has thrown two perfect games against Little League boys teams was honored Monday by the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.

"There are no words to describe how happy I was when I found out they wanted to put my jersey in the Baseball Hall of Fame," said Baker, the subject of an ESPN E:60 feature story last month.

Wer reitet so spät durch Nacht und Wind?
Es ist der Vater mit seinem Kind;
Er hat den Knaben wohl in dem Arm,
Er faßt ihn sicher, er hält ihn warm.

Who rides, so late, through night and wind?
It is the father with his child.
He has the boy well in his arm
He holds him safely, he keeps him warm.

"Mein Sohn, was birgst du so bang dein Gesicht?" —
"Siehst, Vater, du den Erlkönig nicht?
Den Erlenkönig mit Kron und Schweif?" —
"Mein Sohn, es ist ein Nebelstreif."

"My son, why do you hide your face so anxiously?"
"Father, do you not see the Erl king?
The Erl king with crown and tail?"
"My son, it's a wisp of fog."

"Du liebes Kind, komm, geh mit mir!
Gar schöne Spiele spiel' ich mit dir;
Manch' bunte Blumen sind an dem Strand,
Meine Mutter hat manch gülden Gewand." —

"You lovely child, come, go with me!
Many a beautiful game I'll play with you;
Many colourful flowers are on the shore,
My mother has many golden robes."

"Mein Vater, mein Vater, und hörest du nicht,
Was Erlenkönig mir leise verspricht?" —
"Sei ruhig, bleibe ruhig, mein Kind;
In dürren Blättern säuselt der Wind." —

"My father, my father, and don't you hear
What Erl king is quietly promising me?"
"Be calm, stay calm, my child;
The wind is rustling through withered leaves."

"Willst, feiner Knabe, du mit mir gehen?
Meine Töchter sollen dich warten schön;
Meine Töchter führen den nächtlichen Reihn,
Und wiegen und tanzen und singen dich ein." —

"Do you want to come with me, dear boy?
My daughters shall wait on you fine;
My daughters will lead the nightly dance,
And rock and dance and sing you to sleep."

"Mein Vater, mein Vater, und siehst du nicht dort
Erlkönigs Töchter am düstern Ort?" —
"Mein Sohn, mein Sohn, ich seh es genau:
Es scheinen die alten Weiden so grau. —"

"My father, my father, and don't you see there
Erl king's daughters in the gloomy place?"
"My son, my son, I see it clearly:
The old willows they shimmer so grey."

"Ich liebe dich, mich reizt deine schöne Gestalt;
Und bist du nicht willig, so brauch ich Gewalt." —
"Mein Vater, mein Vater, jetzt faßt er mich an!
Erlkönig hat mir ein Leids getan!" —

"I love you, your beautiful form entices me;
And if you're not willing, I shall use force."
"My father, my father, he's grabbing me now!
Erl king has done me some harm!"

Dem Vater grauset's, er reitet geschwind,
Er hält in Armen das ächzende Kind,
Erreicht den Hof mit Müh' und Not;
In seinen Armen das Kind war tot.

The father shudders; he swiftly rides on,
He holds the moaning child in his arms,
is hardly able to reach his farm;
In his arms, the child was dead.

There is no question there is a concerted effort to make this a political issue by some. And I join those who have called for looking into how is this opposition to the mosque being funded," she said. "How is this being ginned up that here we are talking about Treasure Island, something we've been working on for decades, something of great interest to our community as we go forward to an election about the future of our country and two of the first three questions are about a zoning issue in New York City.

Right now all around this country there are groups with harmless-sounding names like Americans for Prosperity, who are running millions of dollars of ads against Democratic candidates all across the country. And they don't have to say who exactly the Americans for Prosperity are. You don't know if it’s a foreign-controlled corporation. You don't know if it’s a big oil company, or a big bank. You don't know if it’s a insurance company that wants to see some of the provisions in health reform repealed because it’s good for their bottom line, even if it’s not good for the American people.

One man drove 12,238 miles and across 30 states in the U.S. to scrawl a message that could only be viewed using Google Earth. His big shoutout: "Read Ayn Rand."

[GPS artist] Nick Newcomen did a road trip over 30 days that covered stretches from the Pacific to the Atlantic Ocean. First, he identified on a map the route he would need to drive to spell out the message. He put a GPS device in his car to trace the route he would follow. Then, he hit the road.

Faced with three separate lawsuits the State of Wisconsin has backed-down from enforcing an incredibly-broad new campaign finance regulation. If the regulation had been enforced, then conceivably millions of people across the Wisconsin would have had to register with the government for merely mentioning candidates for office.

-----------
Under Wisconsin’s campaign finance statutes (pdf) a group or individual must register with the state if they receive contributions or make “disbursements” of over $25 in a calendar year. “Disbursements” is further defined as spending on a “communication” for a “political purpose.” There are some minor exceptions to what constitutes a “disbursement” but it includes spending money on “correspondence” that is reproduced by a machine. Heard of email? Yes, your spending on your computer, your smart phone, or your service plan, that enables you to send emails, or set up a webpage (every heard of Facebook? Twitter?) that are for a “political purpose” would qualify.

--------------
How many of you have ever sent an email or posted on Facebook or to a blog how you feel about a politician? If within 60 days of a general election or 30 days of a primary you would have to register with the state, establish a separate account at a bank, report all expenditures you make, including within 24 hours if less than 15 days prior to an election, and, among other things, place a disclaimer on all of your communications identifying yourself. If you made an anonymous post to a blog through a computer and service plan that you pay for you would be violating the law.

1. Conflict is superficial. > Benevolent-Universe Premise. > "If you want to be loved, love and be lovable." Benjamin Franklin

2. Anything that has an effect on you, can be understood. > Law of Causality, and the nature of the Scientific Method. > And that means understood through Objective principles.

"It will be difficult enough to avoid disaster on planet Earth in the next hundred years, let alone the next thousand, or million. The human race shouldn't have all its eggs in one basket, or on one planet. Let's hope we can avoid dropping the basket until we have spread the load."

If that doesn't drive us off, University of Sussex astrophysicist Dr. Robert Smith said global warming may reach a point "where all of Earth's water will simply evaporate." He said life will disappear on Earth long before the 7.6 billion years some say the aging sun will expand and destroy Earth.

CNet news said that Hawking has concerns about how humans "are eating up finite resources" and has claimed man's genetic code "carries selfish and aggressive instincts" that have helped humanity survive in the past.

Hawking suggests that if man can avoid disaster for the next two centuries "our species should be safe as we spread into space."

humans should be cautious in trying to contact other alien life forms because there is no way to know if they will be friendly.

it may not be that easy to escape. He wrote about how humans have continued to move from one place to another as they settle in an area, use all the resources, pollute the area and move on.

He said now that man has technology that can destroy the environment faster, we are running out of space to live in.

"The planet will be fine and heal; it is man who will vanish," he wrote. "... If we develop the technology for space travel, we will do the same to that environment, until we learn not to. Man will become extinct due to his greed."

Judge Joseph Charles, in denying the restraining order to the woman after her divorce, ruled that her ex-husband felt he had behaved according to his Muslim beliefs -- and that he did not have "criminal desire to or intent to sexually assault" his wife.

ARI is hiring a Chief Operating Officer which will allow Dr. Brook to more fully focus on the efforts for which he is uniquely qualified including extensive travel, media and speaking engagements.

I have an imported Mercedes-Benz CLK55 AMG that has nothing added to it and can do 0-60 in about 4.7 seconds all within comfort. In other words, I love my import.

In a far-off land, inaccessible to your steps,
there is a castle by the name of Montsalvat;
a light-filled temple stands within it,
more beautiful than anything on earth;
therein is a vessel of wonderous blessing
that is watched over as a sacred relic:
that the purest of men might guard it,
it was brought down by a host of angels;
every year a dove descends from Heaven
to fortify its wonderous power:
it is called the Grail, and the purest, most blessed faith
is imparted through it to the Brotherhood of Knights.
Whosoever is chosen to serve the Grail
is armed by it with heavenly power;
the darts of evil prove powerless against him,
once he has seen it, the shadow of death flees him.
Even he who is sent by it to a distant land,
appointed as a champion of virtue,
will not be robbed of its holy power,
provided that he, as its knight, remains unrecognised there.
For so wondrous is the blessing of the Grail
that when it is revealed it shuns the eye of the uninitiated;
thus no man should doubt the knight,
for if he is recognised, he must leave you.
Hear how I reward the forbidden question!
I was sent to you by the Grail:
my father Parzival wears its crown,
I its knight - am called Lohengrin.

There's a time factor. He might have been lazy for 15 years and exercising for 15 weeks.

"Except For Ending Slavery, Fascism, Nazism and Communism, WAR has Never Solved Anything."

" U.S. Marines - Certified Counselors to the 72 Virgins Dating Club."

" U.S. Air Force - Travel Agents To Allah"

"Stop Global Whining"

"When In Doubt, Empty The Magazine"

Naval Corollary: Dead Men Don't Testify.

"The Marine Corps - When It Absolutely, Positively Has To Be Destroyed Overnight"

"Death Smiles At Everyone - Marines Smile Back"

"Marine Sniper - You can run, but you'll just die tired!"

"What Do I Feel When I Kill A Terrorist? A Little Recoil"

"Marines - Providing Enemies of America an Opportunity To Die For their Country Since 1775"

"Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Anyone Who Threatens It"

"Happiness Is A Belt-Fed Weapon"

"It's God's Job to Forgive Bin Laden - It's Our Job To Arrange The Meeting"

"Artillery Brings Dignity to What Would Otherwise Be Just A Vulgar Brawl"

"One Shot, Twelve Kills - U.S. Naval Gun Fire Support"

"My Kid Fought In Iraq So Your Kid Can Party In College"

"Machine Gunners - Accuracy By Volume"

"A Dead Enemy Is A Peaceful Enemy - Blessed Be The Peacemakers"

"If You Can Read This, Thank A Teacher.. If You Can Read It In English, Thank A Veteran"

"Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they made a difference in the world. But the U.S. Marines don't have that problem." ...Ronald Reagan

If one wants to turn matters around and to win the philosophical war, it is necessary to know your enemy. That's the problem with our current government: they don't know why the Moslem acts the way he does. The Moslem is winning the world as a result. It is necessary to know why the opponent takes actions.

The couple of comments posted over the past two days about how the Muslims are overrunning Europe are ABSURD.....

Considering how difficult it may be to determine what the facts of reality are and what principles are relevant to them in complex, derivative issues in politics, the right conclusions are far from self-evident. Thus, disagreements in the area are common. An example would be Dagny and Galt's disagreement about the nature of the looters and how to deal with them in Atlas Shrugged. That being the case, I would be darned careful about labeling someone "immoral" in such a context, especially a fellow Objectivist.

[...]
This does not answer Paul's quesiton, but I would appreciate if you would do so.

Allure points out that Mendes isn’t lacking for intellect: she name drops photographer William Eggleston and author Ayn Rand in the interview, calling “The Fountainhead” one of her favorite books.

But I see -- here -- that the opinion that we should consider ourselves to be in a state open warfare against Muslims in America is not fiction.

But I see -- here -- that the opinion that we should consider ourselves to be in a state open warfare against Muslims in America is not fiction.

[...]
My opinion is that grants are a form of arbitrary altruistic gifts, and, if the arbitrary is a form of force, via the mechanisms of economic favoritism, regulations, and coercive taxation, grants are a device used by Facism to interest and control the citizenry.
[...]
Inventor

...Any investors?

Has anyone who so vocally opposes the mosque in NYC actually read the Koran? So many wrong ideas are being expressed in the discussions regarding the mosque, terrorism, and Islam that Objectivism may not have a chance of being pursuasive in the marketplace for ideas. Many motives given for terrorists or Muslims are simply unsubstantiated by the true Koran. For example, Islam is not a cogregation-based religion; rather, Islam is based only on the Holy Koran. Nor are any other writings more sacred to Islam or more important than the Koran.

No one has come forth with an approval of my suggestion posted on HPO that the USA should found a private university in Iraq. That could be named for its purpose, for example, "University of Reason, Individual Rights, and Free Trade", or UR [name TBD]. Perhaps a chain franchise could be set up to create branch universities in all the countries that the USA occupies, in free countries around the world, in NYC, and in Earth orbit.

Indeed, where is the free-enterprise and Objectivist solution to the university idea? To that end, I have a theme idea or design concept for the architectural design of the university complex. There is a nice piece of land in Lower Manhattan that could be a location for the university, and that may be for sale. I'll develop and refine the architectural and interior design, and my affiliate engineers would complete the detail design work and construction. Does anyone care to offer a curriculum? Are there any teachers and philosophers who would wish to help start the project? ARC? Universities make a lot of money these days, and that would be a superlative long range investment. Any takers? Lets start now.

I am not disputing the ruthlessness or goals of war, I'm disputing whether or not there is some sort of violent Islamic rebellion or revolt going on that could possibly justify these lifeboat, gun to your head measures. Evidence of the peaceful Muslims are the millions of Muslims living in America with the vast, vast majority not attacking anyone or committing any crimes. I don't think we should discard history, nor do I think we should discard the Constitution and rule of law. I'm just not telepathic enough to know the intentions of millions of people as if they are some sort of hive mind. I can only go by the objective evidence of what they do, which for the majority, is nothing criminal that is apparent or I'd imagine they'd be getting arrested in droves.

Wrong? What moral differences require war in the absence of action besides simply killing for the sake of killing? You and someone else disagree about morality irreversibly so you have to shoot them? American citizens have rights. Simply lumping all American Muslims into some vague criminal conspiracy for constructing buildings and congregating is not a legal argument, it's collectivizing guilt and ignoring the thousands of if not millions of law abiding muslims. The Constitution does not allow a declaration of war against its citizens to violate their constitutionally protected rights...one of which is the free exercise of religion. If a mosque is an inherently criminal facility because certainly some if not many muslims use it for terrorism, etc. then a Catholic church is a inherently criminal facility for the molestation of minors. Less of a threat, but a threat nonetheless.

Additionally, certainly the government should take preemptive action if they have substantial evidence a person or people are planning to violate rights using force. There may be substantial evidence in the case of this mosque in NYC, and if so then I am fine with prohibiting it but we should also arrest the guy behind it then or at the very least deport him. But if you think there is substantial evidence that all muslims and all mosques are planning to use force I'd say nothing presented indicates so. And passages in the Koran commanding violence does not substantial evidence make.

This condition is not met. America is officially at peace with Iran, Saudi Arabia, and other financial supporters of radical Islam[/b].

South Korea deploys robot capable of killing intruders along border with North

South Korea has deployed sentry robots capable of detecting and killing intruders along the heavily-fortified border with North Korea, officials said on Tuesday.

Two robots with surveillance, tracking, firing and voice recognition systems were integrated into a single unit, a defence ministry spokesman said.

The 400 million won (£220,000) unit was installed last month at a guard post in the central section of the Demilitarised Zone which bisects the peninsula, Yonhap news agency said.

It quoted an unidentified military official as saying the ministry would deploy sentry robots along the world's last Cold War frontier if the test was successful.

The robot uses heat and motion detectors to sense possible threats, and alerts command centres, Yonhap said.
If the command centre operator cannot identify possible intruders through the robot's audio or video communications system, the operator can order it to fire its gun or 40mm automatic grenade launcher.

South Korea is also developing highly sophisticated combat robots armed with weapons and sensors that could complement human soldiers on battlefields.

It has a largely conscripted military of 655,000 against Pyongyang's 1.2 million-strong force, but a falling birth rate means Seoul will struggle in the future to maintain troop numbers.

Only the overt commission of a crime should be illegal, and the way to combat crimes committed under the influence of alcohol is to be more diligent about the crimes themselves, not to outlaw the alcohol. And this would have the further beneficial effect of reducing crimes not committed under the influence of alcohol.

Of course pointing out logical fallacies is constructive. Ignoring them would lead to some pretty pointless conversations.

You're aggressively and purposefully rejecting logic. Which is why I have no intention of ever engaging you in conversation, on any issue.

That is still illogical. It's a reification, Islam is an abstract (a belief system), it cannot be said to be "actively supporting" something. The correct way to phrase what I believe you mean is to say this: "The vast majority of terrorists in the world today are actively supported by religious leaders who subscribe to Islam. "

From the above factual, logical statement, it follows that those religious leaders (which actively support terrorists) are criminals. It does not also follow that Islam is criminal. That is why you need to use Islam as a concrete, so that you can indict it as criminal, even though the belief system itself cannot actually effect the real world in any way (since it is an abstraction, not a physical entity).

That is as clear as I can make it why saying "Islam is actively supporting terrorism", or "Islam is trying to impose its ideas by force" (as Capitalism Forever put it on page 3 or 4), is fallacious. If you disagree, please address my explanation as to why it is fallacious, and tell me why exactly you think my understanding of what reification is, is wrong.

I disagree that that's an accurate characterization of Objectivism.

Right. That's what the argument from intimidation is.

It is a method of bypassing logic by means of psychological pressure . . . [It] consists of threatening to impeach an opponent’s character by means of his argument, thus impeaching the argument without debate. Example: “Only the immoral can fail to see that Candidate X’s argument is false.” . . . The falsehood of his argument is asserted arbitrarily and offered as proof of his immorality.

I have to insist that calling men "sheep" is indeed a metaphor, and that using it as an argument is indeed fallacious. What you just wrote in answer to that exact statement does nothing to dispute it. I am curious as to why you disagree, so again, if any of my specific points I made, concerning your arguments, are wrong, please explain why in terms of Logic.

Until you are willing to embrace Logic as the method by which rational men must debate and settle their disagreements, I do not wish to debate the actual issue of Islam with you. I will settle for simply rejecting your arguments, and presenting mine instead, in a way that is as logical as I can make it.

That sentence switches subjects in mid stream for some reason. You start out with the Muslims who committed 9/11 (the members who..) and end up with about a billion people who have done nothing, as your subject. Surely you see the folly in that attempt at logic.


Appeal to consequences. It is the most commonly used logical fallacy, by those who argue against rights.

Equivocation on the word "metaphysical".(metaphysical in the sense "metaphysical survival" simply means "concrete, part of the actual, immediate reality" it does not mean "belonging to Metaphysics"). In Objectivism, the concept of one's right to life most certainly does not belong to the field of Metaphysics, it belongs to Politics. The claim that, according to Objectivism, when life and death matters are involved, the political principle of individual rights no longer applies, is false.

The people inverting the hierarchy of concepts in this thread are those claiming that war (a means of implementing and defending rights) somehow supersedes political principles.

Argument from intimidation.


Your posts (including this metaphor "sheep" used to argue for the denial of people's rights) are a treason to Reason.

What is also interesting with respect to Miss Norman's performance of this last of Mahler's five Rückert Lieder is that the song provided a superb tie-in, both in terms of mood and theme -- to the other major work on that evening's program -- the Prelude and "Liebestod" from Wagner's Tristan und Isolde. The "Liebestod" had been for many years one of Miss Norman's signature operatic pieces (although she did not perform the role of Isolde on stage), but on that evening in 1989 Miss Norman surpassed herself: her performance of that aria that night remains for me the single finest performance of that music I have heard to date whether recorded or live. In addition to Miss Norman's glorious vocalization, her ability to have maintained her focus on the essential mood of Mahler's Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen through the playing of the Prelude and then to have begun the "Liebestod" as the continuation of and expansion upon the essential idea of that song (absolutely correct dramatically!) was breathtaking. She was fully "in the Zone" that night! It also marked some of the all-too-frequently-bland Zubin Mehta's finest work with the New York Philharmonic.

I think a clip of that performance of the Prelude and Liebestod fits beautifully in this post in terms both of the thematic relationship with the originally featured Mahler song and as a testament to the particular expressive qualities of Miss Norman's singing. So . . . here is the entire sequence from the same 1989 concert. Because of the unfortunate "breaks" between each of the three segments, I've organized it as a Playlist for continuous play.

NOTE: the sound is a bit off in these clips. This may require some adjustment of your speakers and/or headphones.

I've read through the salient parts of these sources and I still don't see any way for the government to combat the spread of Islam in America with objective law other than criminalizing Islam, which obviously conflicts with the First Amendment.

By the same logic, you could argue that we should not advocate that the government should "violate the rights" of convicted thieves and murderers by throwing them into jail because the same government might just as easily throw us into jail.

We should advocate arresting and charging him for his ties to terror groups (if they exist), or treating him as an enemy combatant and suspending his habeas corpus rights (if he is an immediate threat to the welfare of the United States). We certainly shouldn't advocate any restrictions on his rights, outside the established framework of our laws and Constitution.

Abkhazian President Sergei Bagapsh earlier on Wednesday took strong objection to Clinton's comments and instructed parliament and public organizations to respond to her allegations. Bagapsh stressed that Russian troops "did not occupy Abkhazia - they are present here on the basis of an interstate treaty, ensuring the security and stability of the region."

Abkhazian Foreign Minister Maksim Gvindzhia said his "U.S. colleagues" did not want to recognize reality.

"It is outrageous...to call a state an 'occupied' territory even though that state is governed by a popularly elected president and parliament and where all government and civil society institutions are functional," he said.

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said in a recent interview that his "foremost" mission as the head of America's space exploration agency is to improve relations with the Muslim world.

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said in a recent interview that his "foremost" mission as the head of America's space exploration agency is to improve relations with the Muslim world.

Do you have a list of mosques that have disassociated themselves from the movement - the movement that wants to put an end to our way of life? If you do, then I will change my mind in those instances, assuming they are committed to telling infidels the truth.

Venezuela's government has seized control of 11 oil rigs owned by U.S. driller Helmerich & Payne, which shut them down because the state oil company was behind on payments.

Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez announced that Venezuela would nationalize the Tulsa, Oklahoma-based company's rigs. He said in a statement Wednesday that Helmerich & Payne had rejected government demands to resume drilling operations for more than a year.

Helmerich & Payne announced in January 2009 that it was stopping operations on two of its drilling rigs, because Venezuela's state-run oil company, PDVSA, owed the company close to $100 million. It said it would shut down the rest of its rigs by the end of July as contracts expired unless PDVSA began to make good on its debts.

The company said Thursday that PDVSA's debt was $43 million as of June 14.

Referring to Helmerich & Payne, Ramirez said: "There's a group of drill owners who have refused to discuss service prices and have preferred to have this equipment put away for a year."

President and CEO Hans Helmerich said in a statement on Thursday the company's position has remained clear: "We simply wanted to be paid for work already performed."

"We stated repeatedly we wanted to return to work, just not for free," he said. "We are surprised by yesterday's announcement only because we have been in ongoing efforts in a good faith attempt to accommodate a win-win resolution, including a willingness to sell rigs."

The company has worked in Venezuela for 52 years, Helmerich added.

U.S. State Department spokesman Mark Toner said he hopes Helmerich & Payne is compensated and suggested the takeover and other recent nationalizations are scaring off private investment in Venezuela.

"We would just call on them, if they did make such a move, to compensate the owners of those wells," Toner said. "This is the latest in such an instance where international investors, their investments are being nationalized by the government of Venezuela. It doesn't speak or bode well for the investment climate there."

Helmerich & Payne is not the only oil services company to have complained about a delay in payments. Dallas-based

Ensco International Inc. said last year that it had suspended oil drilling operations off Venezuela's Caribbean coast because Venezuela owed it $35 million — prompting PDVSA to take over the company's operations.

The government of President Hugo Chavez has nationalized dozens of privately owned companies in recent years as the socialist leader seeks to expand the state's role in the economy. Government critics and many business owners argue the takeovers violate private property rights.

Helmerich & Payne Inc. is primarily a contract drilling company. As of June 8, the company's existing fleet included 214 U.S. land rigs, 39 international land rigs and nine offshore platform rigs.

At the moment I'm working on a site called 'www.illegalheroes.org'. In a few days, when it goes up, it should contain, as my first content contribution, a blacklist of such illegal-bashing agitating radio hosts in a few days. It will be based on the radio talk show hosts industry trade magazine's list of the top 250 radio hosts.

Rush Limbaugh (one of the leading immigrant bashing agitators) and Mark Levin will be definitely on that list, with specific first hand sources, quotes and dates.

For the record (and for whomever has the capacity to appreciate this) Michelle Malkin is, in fact, a very brave woman, and one of my personal favorite journalists. This is the woman who, after having her home address published by Leftist freaks on the internet, has had to move herself and her family twice to escape death threats and other creepiness. She puts her life on the line to expose corruption in America and to promote a rational alternative of a smaller, rights respecting government.

I've never understood why so many Ayn Rand fans or supposed Objectivists smear her, but I find it disgusting.