Category: Progressive

A Temple of Mythology: The Rebel Aces Expansion

imageFor the sheer joy of it, I like to take some time out to relish each new release of X-Wing Miniatures particularly when it involves the Rebels.  My new mediation chamber regarding that game is currently located in my basement which is permanently set-up so that I can play Star Wars: Miniatures any time I want.  I often go to my Star Wars room and sit for hours and hours working out various strategies and mission scenarios because it relaxes my mind.  I enjoy just looking at the models and their complicated paint schemes and browsing through all the cards that make the game so interesting.  For a good part of a year I kept the game packed up in various containers which had to be set up on large tables whenever we wanted to play.  But now, it just stays up and I come and go at will which is refreshing.  The game is interesting enough to use a room for such a thing and it is quickly becoming my favorite place in my house.

The new release from Fantasy Flight Games which I am quite excited for is the Rebel Aces expansion pack which features a custom painted B-wing and an A-wing.  There are a couple of new pilots namely Jake Farrell, Keyan Falander who are interesting, but what is best about Rebel Aces is the A-wing Test Pilot card and the Chardaan Refit which allows for eliminating missile tubes to save some point cost in using an A-wing in a combat listing.  I currently don’t use A-wings very much because of their lack of firepower, but with the two mentioned cards, I may well consider it.  Probably the most interesting part of these new expansions are the missions that come with them.  With Aces it is a mission called “Jump to Subspace” which features a rebel operative who has captured a high-ranking Moff.  This operative and his captive also happen to be adrift within an escape pod headed toward an asteroid field.  As imperial forces close in on the escape pod, the Rebel Alliance races to the rescue, relying upon the agility of its A-wing and resilience of its B-wing.

It’s in those X-wing Miniatures missions that I find so much compelling drama that is every bit as interesting as a novel.  The big difference is that the game requires your input whereas the novel is a passive experience.  So spending time at my gaming table has for me become similar to reading books, only I love the tactical strategy involved—and with every new release from Fantasy Flight Games, new variations come into the game which have to be figured out.  Rebel Aces as talked about in the Team Covenant video above is essentially a way to dust off the A-wing into new use now that the game has matured.

It’s a fun time to be a Star Wars fan, not only do I have the daily ability to now play X-wing Miniatures but coming up on Friday is the new Star Wars: Rebels premier movie on the Disney Channel.  I have  been proclaiming this as a game changer in entertainment media because it will be, just as Fantasy Flight Games has taken the Miniatures game and exploded it into this exciting new game which I can spend endless amounts of time contemplating in the privacy of my basement.  The makers of that new series are essentially guys like myself who played with all those old toys as a kid and are now applying that kind of play to the real world of their adult lives.  Kids watching the new Rebels show will then grow up with an even greater hunger for that kind of thing than I did—which is a positive.

Growing up I had a similar space in the basement of my childhood home and I often spent entire weekends down there playing with Star Wars toys and as I become older—building Star Wars models.  When I hit driving age my parents felt I needed my own room in the basement so they finished it off which meant that my Star Wars set-up had to come down.  They figured that I was big enough and it was time to out-grow that kind of thing as if it were a pacifier for a baby.  But that space meant more to me than they realized and once the Star Wars set-up was destroyed and boxed up I pretty much left home.  I immediately started traveling all over the country on wild adventures because the kind of imagination generation that I had been conducting in my basement no longer filled that void and I had to fill it with something.  It had been my favorite place in the entire world and looking back on it, it was just a bunch of plastic, cloth, cardboard and glue.  But it was a realm of endless imagination for me, and I simply relished it.

The popularity of the X-wing Miniatures game today is likely due to the fact that there are other people who feel that way about those types of things as I do.  I am much happier now that I have a permanent set-up for that type of thinking.  I was up at 3:30 AM on Saturday trying to get my CR-90 through an asteroid field dotted with Imperial mines all while being attacked by hoards of Imperial fighters and I had no idea that it was so late.  The world was doing whatever it was doing outside, but I was happy to be enjoying the drama of strategy.  Of course when I do return to the world from that place of fantastic mediation, I feel fresh to solve real problems so it is an enhancement to my life instead of a distraction.  Some people have model trains in their basements; I have Star Wars—thankfully.

There are many things to feel negative about, but it is good to have a sanctuary where your mind can get away from the pressure and be itself.  For me a space in the basement dedicated to my favorite mythology is the ticket, for others it may be the garage or the kitchen—but regardless of where or what it is, it is good to have one.  For me, with all the exciting Star Wars news coming out constantly, this new expansion called Rebel Aces is more than a pleasure; it is an enhancement to my life.  I’m really looking forward to it which I intend to pick up by the weekend.  I will likely celebrate the upcoming Friday by watching Star Wars: Rebels on Disney, then playing X-wing until the sun comes up—and for me—the world will be just perfect in that little corner of my imagination personified by my personal temple of mythology.

Rich Hoffman

www.OVERMANWARRIOR.com

 

Cabela’s and Bass Pro Shops of West Chester: Thank George Lang and Mark Welch

Capitalism is creativity—the ability of entrepreneurs to bring ideas to market for people to enjoy.  So I often find great enjoyment in regions of the country where capitalism is on grand display and these days the corridor along I-75 just north of Cincinnati, Ohio has all the trappings of one of the finest developments in the world.  I personally enjoy the stores of the Cincinnati Outlets in Monroe, the Comic book/gaming store Nostalgic Ink at the very next exit to the south, and the book stores and restaurants at Union Center Blvd—of which Aladdin’s and Jags are my favorites.  There are of course plenty of government workers in this region that loot off the efforts of entrepreneurs, particularly the local government school, but generally, it is the conservative hands-off government of Butler County that has allowed these developments to emerge so robustly.  But there are few developments which excite me as much as the announcements from West Chester that two giant superstores of outdoor apparel, Bass Pro Shops and Cabela’s are both opening over the next couple of years.  For most communities these types of giant outdoor stores are destination shopping experiences, meaning they are worthy of vacations just to visit one of the stores.  People do purchase plane tickets to visit these types of retail outlets wherever they might luckily be in the nation.  But in West Chester—because of the demographic population which has excellent per capita income, and the type of very pro capitalist government running the show—both giant retailers are dumping significant investments into the area which I will enjoy immensely.

I’m not crazy about the public funding portion of the Liberty Way project, but I am ecstatic about the development and simply cannot wait to see those buildings erected.  I want to attend the movie theater that they are putting there in the worst way.  I simply am excited to see the results.  I was fortunate enough to see the early prints of that development at the beginning phases and have been a fan ever since.  But even better is the 82,000 square foot Cabela’s store which is being built right across from Liberty Center.  That will be one of the most exciting locations of destination shopping in the country—and that includes the Disney World complex off I-4 in south Orlando.  The Voice of America shopping district is already fantastic, but within a few years of this writing, it will be the most exciting place in America to shop and spend suburban leisure time.  The Cabela’s store will just be icing on the cake—a very glorious cake at that!

But…………….that’s not all.  Just down the road to the south is the Streets of West Chester which is at the Union Central Blvd exit.  I spend a lot of time at the Streets.  If you have to take someone to lunch or dinner visiting for business, you simply cannot go wrong at Mitchell’s, Bravo! Cucina Italiana, P.F. Changs, Red Robin or after a late night movie, Steak & Shake which I find myself at a lot more than you’d think.  Barnes and Noble is like a second home to me—especially since Books A Million left Bridgewater Falls just to the west.  I have felt often that the Streets were too small however—and the plan has been for years to expand it to the south in a Phase 2 development.  Well, this is now happening with Bass Pro Shops serving as the anchor located a football throw away from the giant IKEA store located on Allen Road, directly across from the Mercedes Benz dealership.  Can you say it with me?   …………………………aaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. The Plan 2 development will be just the needed ingredient missing from the current Streets location which will make that too a destination shopping experience worthy of an out-of-town visit.  The trustees of West Chester George Lang and Mark Welch along with Bruce Jones have created a climate in West Chester conducive to business investment and the area is just exploding with creativity.  I was not a fan of Judith Boyko when she was working for the former trustee president Catherine Stoker—a vile Democrat who greatly limited the kind of creativity currently going on in West Chester with her big heavy-handed government presence.  Now Boyko under new president George Lang is on board with what makes West Chester special saying, “The development of these two new retail locations represents the largest concentration of boutique-like retail amenities in the West Chester area.  These are the type of retail destinations our diverse and sophisticated residents demand, and we expect both to be very successful footholds in our retail fabric.”  YES…….I agree with Boyko!  Jiminy Christmas—it’s about time that somebody gets it—and in West Chester—they do.  Capitalism is the foundation of America and there just aren’t many places where it’s more alive anywhere than in West Chester and other developments along the I-75 corridor.

But Cabela’s and Bass Pro will be a whole new level of excitement and coolness.  My family used to shop at the Bass Pro Shop at its current location in Forest Park, but the area has been mismanaged by local government and it has killed business investment.  The mall there has died and the retail establishments have fallen into a slumber—the local demographic population just cannot support such capitalist creativity—so business moves to where it can grow.  It cannot be managed the way many trustees attempt—but local government must create a climate of capitalism so to attract investment and thus creativity in diverse product offerings.  This will certainly be on full display at Liberty Center, but the Streets of West Chester will emerge as one of the most fabulous examples of such a thing anywhere in the country. Only Downtown Disney in Orlando may rival it in the years to come as for interesting destination shopping and things to do once you get there.  Bass Pro was already set to move into the area before the Cabela’s announcement, but now that they know a competitor is moving in down the road—they are revamping their original plans from something not just great—but ecstatically stupendous.  They are further revising their plans to include more activity based attractions at their new superstore to have a competitive advantage over Cabela’s.

For capitalism, these are exciting times.  The creativity of entrepreneurs is on full display specifically in West Chester but to a larger extent along a 6 mile span of I-75 stretching from Monroe to I-275.  There are not more exciting things happening anywhere than along that span of highway and capitalism is the reason why.  The key is that local political management has embraced free market capitalism as their guiding light, and this is the result.  Overly managed economies have pushed out these types of investments leaving them to retreat to this capitalist zone which is unique in the country.  When capitalism is allowed to grow it can do wonderful things—and in West Chester—it is.  I can’t wait to shop at Cabela’s and the new Pro Bass Shop at The Streets of West Chester.

Rich Hoffman

www.OVERMANWARRIOR.com

 

A Plane Crash in Liberty Township, Ohio: The pathetic display of the Butler County police

A couple of pilots in a stunt biplane crashed practically into the back yard of one of my children over the weekend killing both aviators in a raging inferno.  I thought most of the people interviewed in the media circus afterward were well-mannered, and even intelligent about the whole issue describing that the plane had been performing stunts and had been engaged in a backward stall never pulling out of the dive that followed.  The plane could have crashed into any of the densely packed homes in the neighborhood behind Wyandot Elementary but somehow the pilot managed to thread a needle flying between two houses before smashing into the ground in a backyard space only clipping away part of a garage.  The pilot had to know that he was going to die at such a speed but had the courage and wherewithal to maintain his cool saving the lives of the people inside.  Given that my kids were in the proximity I’d have every excuse to panic about such a thing—but I never do.  I enjoy those kinds of pilots and love watching them practicing stunts.  I want to see them continue.  If something goes wrong—like it did in this case the pilot did the responsible thing and minimized the damage.  The two pilots ended up burning up beyond recognition but turned a situation that could have been a lot worse into a minimal amount of damage that was pretty easily cleaned up.

However, the display of the police was pathetic.  It looked like every police officer in Butler County was at the scene and they stood around most of the day following the tragedy.  It looked like a beauty pageant of fat-gutted middle-aged men parading around on a catwalk trying to impress the audience with their authority.  The family in the house that was most in danger was eating breakfast and managed to get out of the house after the crash without any help from any authorities.  The fire department showed up within about 5 minutes to put out the fire—which is expected given that Liberty Township has a fire department every couple of miles holding a bunch of public servants always sitting around waiting for something to happen.  In this case they were needed and the danger was averted within 15 minutes of the crash.  But then came the police who showed up on the scene and brought with them a level of panic that was totally uncalled for.

Of course they started putting up blankets so that people surrounding the area couldn’t see the carnage and they quarantined a section of the neighborhood limiting the freedom of the homes not involved in the plane crash.  The entire escapade was entirely self-serving for the police.  It gave them something to do on a Saturday morning in Liberty Township and they seemed to enjoy the heightened drama too much.  Essentially, a plane crashed, the pilot steered away from the danger as best he could.  The fire department put out the fire, and the coroner pronounced the deaths using dental records to identify the victims.  All that was left after was for the FAA to do their investigation and clean up the mess letting the insurance companies cover the damage to the homes so that the residents could get back to their lives.  End of story.  But no, the police had to make the whole scene appear that a new virus had been unleashed upon the earth and that the crash site had become a quarantine zone that aliens might emerge from at any minute.

It was a rather disgusting displaying showing the gross over-employment of police in Butler County.  There were too many at the site leaving the question to be asked—what do they all do when there isn’t a plane crash in the normally quiet community of Liberty Township?  Because at the crash site there wasn’t much to do and they pretty much stood around all day trying to look important.  On a normal Saturday where have all these police been hiding because they certainly aren’t necessary?

The whole crash could have been handled with a handful of government employees, a small investigation team and the coroner.  The rest of the neighborhood could have gotten back to their business of an early weekend morning in the fall within an hour, mowing their grass, cleaning their garages, and living their lives as normal.  The media could have taken their pictures and been done by noon.  Yet the police overdramatized the entire incident making the media even more dramatic standing between photographers and the crash like protective parents securing the serenity of small children not yet ready to see the gross realities of the world.  It was as if we were all small children going to the movies with a panicky parent afraid to let us see images on the screen that were too violent afraid that we’d have bad dreams after.  Their censorship was over dramatized and unnecessary illuminating their useless employment to a great extent.

The crash wasn’t that big of a deal.  Sure people lost their lives, but likely that is the way pilots like that want to leave the world and they did their best with the situation until their last breath.  Likely I have watched the stunts in the sky from that very same pilot many times and enjoyed it—and I’d like to continue to see them from other pilots who often practice flying over Liberty Township using the Butler County Regional Airport as a staging ground.  There is nothing about that crash that would cause me to feel otherwise.  Sometimes bad things happen, but most of the time they don’t—and those times are worth the danger.  But the display of public employees trying to look important at the crash site was grossly evident.  They had the same fake pretension that is seen at fashion shows where 19-year-old girls are dressed up for an evening on the town only to sell cloths to fat, overly stressed women who look nothing like the girls at the show.  The police were only selling an image of security as the danger had already come and gone—but because they had nothing else to do.  They knew the media would flock to the scene, it was a chance for them to look important for the cameras—and that is all they really did.

Rich Hoffman

www.OVERMANWARRIOR.com

 

China’s Jack Ma: The Capitalism of Jags Steakhouse

There were a lot of great points made by Rush Limbaugh recently when he noted that China’s Jack Ma spewed nearly identical Reganomics sentiments regarding the future of his country’s economy as what came out of the American 1980s.  Ma’s company Alibaba was ridiculously successful when it was a public offering on the New York Stock Exchange making the young man the richest man in China.   Now that rich man wants to help other people become rich in his country with a similar pro capitalist message.  Meanwhile, the wealthy in America have allowed themselves to be scorned by the lazy, ignorant and needy into stagnation.  It wasn’t the Hong Kong Stock exchange or the Beijing financial district which made Ma so wealthy—it was the capitalism of America that did it—yet Americans have fallen into a disservice of that economic system through guilt provided by an education system that teaches the opposite of what Jack Ma proclaims.   Listen to that broadcast with Rush Limbaugh below.

There is no other blame than the American education system for the obvious embrace of socialism over capitalism which has led to the current crises.  I realized how bad it was when I became involved in local school levy issues serving as a spokesman for some of the very rich in my school district.  They were very happy to let me go on the news every few days and represent them to the media becoming the target of countless controversies until I decided I wasn’t going to take a lot of back-talk from those parasites who wanted desperately to tarnish my public reputation. Even that assumption was presumptuous in assuming that even I after all that I had said publicly that I would even accept the progressive definition of things in America and cave in to the pressure of a bunch of rabid feminists regarding school taxes and deficient parenting.  Those same supporters quickly went underground hiding from those progressive terrorists even though many of them had a lot more at stake financially than I did.  Yet they didn’t defend themselves, instead they used charities and other social events to cater favor from the political class to leave their capitalist endeavors alone.  I pointed out to them that this was essentially communism—that they didn’t have to yield to the pressure of a bunch of saggy assed despots and that they didn’t owe them their time and attention.  But there was a fear in their eyes that defied reason and it was in those movements that I realized to what extent socialism had taken hold in America.

The guilt about possessing wealth starts in public school.  During those same school levy campaigns the general philosophy of the pro tax advocates was one much more at home in Jack Ma’s home country of communist China than in the United States and several generations of people have now been trained to believe that their wealth creation efforts are bad unless they give more money to schools, charities and the needy.  But what never gets mentioned in those same schools is the reason that people become needy in the first place.  Capitalism is routinely attacked in public education institutions which is as stupid as attacking the nature of a human heart for beating in a chest.  Capitalism is the heartbeat of the American economy and it needs to be defended not avoided.

One of my favorite local restaurants in West Chester is the Jags Steakhouse.  It is one of the most expensive dining experiences in the city of Cincinnati and offers some of the best food around.  Michelle Brown in 2013 was voted with the best chef award and she deserves it.  What she puts on a plate is sheer art and worth the $30 to $50 dollars it costs to eat there.  A typical dinner for two will cost anywhere from $200 dollars per couple to around $1000 depending on what kind of wine is used during dining.  And of all my visits during all times of a day—during lunch, during dinner rush, or even late in the evening after a movie the restaurant is thumping with business.  The dining rooms are divided up nicely allowing customers to space themselves out in relative privacy.  The staff from the front podium, to the valet parking to the floor management is always spot-on attentive.  But it’s not just the food that I love—it’s the honesty.  Inside the Jags restaurant capitalism is embraced without fear and I often think that places like that should be a model the rest of the world copies, not resents.

But outside of the parking lot of that fine establishment comes the utterances of the jealous.  When the word Jags is mentioned to the typical gas station attendant they think of the movers and shakers of society and there is a bit of scorn in their dialogue.   That scorn is the hatred of pure capitalism and the sometimes crony capitalism where business owners take a member of government to dinner at Jags to win them over to their side of an argument to get some regulation approved that otherwise wouldn’t occur.  The capitalist often believes they must do such things to stay in business—and they also believe that they must toe some line of progressive belief to avoid a boycott against their businesses which is a real shame.  The outside of Jags to those who are more socialist in their political beliefs than capitalist looks menacing and uninviting.  Because of the cost of entry, many don’t even attempt to dine there.  But once inside, those who are willing to pay such prices for food are typically capitalists in some regard or another and at least while they are at Jags—are not afraid to flaunt it a bit.  It is that standard that I think I like the best—there is an expectation of excellence the moment you step into the parking lot and I find it refreshing.  That experience is often worth a $500 meal when a similar experience could be had for under $100 in a rival restaurant.  Chef Michelle Brown is worth that extra margin and the management at Jags unapologetically embraces capitalism making it in my opinion to be the finest place to eat in the Midwest including many of the offerings in Chicago.  What puts that restaurant over the top is its embrace of capitalism and trickledown economics—which is now becoming fashionable in communist China of all places by Jack Ma.

Without America Jack Ma would have been just another penniless dreamer, just as every government worker in the United States would be destitute if not for the taxes looted off American enterprise for jobs created to further the grips of bureaucracy.  The people who make those American enterprises in the Midwest can often be found dining at Jags on any given night and are a cut above the rest in the way they think.  It is good to sit around such people who at least during dinner service are not afraid to flaunt their wealth and excess.  At Jags they are not afraid of reporters quoting them with a socialist slant to their articles and can relax a bit and be themselves.  But it shouldn’t take a nice restaurant to bring this out in them, they should possess that honesty at the grocery, at public meetings, and at the gas station because capitalism is a standard everyone else in the world should be measured against.  It is a bar that people should rise up to meet, not to chastise because they are too lazy to reach up to the challenge.

Capitalism is mostly an invention of America and it needs its protectors.  Limbaugh is right; Jack Ma should not be the most vocal defender in the world of trickledown economics.  Government parasites don’t create jobs that actually make wealth; they only make jobs that confiscate the wealth that others make.  The people who routinely eat at Jags actually create the jobs that drive an economy and they should not feel that they must hide in a darkened dining room just to be among their own kind.  It is not their fault that most people want to be slugs—and they should not feel guilty to show their excesses.  Expensive dresses, watches, and cars are signs that a person has been more productive than what they personally consume as people—which means their efforts have a trickledown effect to all sectors of the economic spectrum from the poor and needy to the young and hungry.  Without the efforts of the capitalist, nothing happens.  This is a concept refined in America.  It doesn’t need a Chinese guy to explain it to the world—and it doesn’t require the endorsement of the official communist country of China.  It is they who are late to the party and it’s about time that America defend itself once and for all, and stop hiding in the shadows.  Bring Jags to the world, not the world to Jags.  Chef Michelle Brown is already busy enough.

Rich Hoffman

www.OVERMANWARRIOR.com

 

A Little Slice of Heaven: The Millennium Falcon up close and personal

On more than one occasion I have discussed the Batman film Dark Knight Rises as possessing an ability to change cultural opinions in a very dramatic way. I have said the same about the new Superman: Man of Steel. And of course I have professed on for pages and pages the importance of Star Wars and its dire warnings of institutional corruption and need for individual atonement. So it is not a surprise to see the director of the new Star Wars film having fun with the director of the next Superman/Batman film with careful social media plugs that have been going on for weeks. They know what these films mean to several generations of fans—and they are doing a good job of stoking the fires of mythology further. But J.J. Abrams went to another level when he released his latest video of a full scale Millennium Falcon from the set of the new Star Wars film that combined the Batmobile from Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight Trilogy to it. It was exciting to see as the detail on the movie prop was exceedingly meticulous—which was the point of the video which prompted the following reaction from the online site, Clever Movies:

Star Wars VII director JJ Abrams shows off the new/old Millennium Falcon and reveals a connection to a certain Dark Knight. If you’ve been on the internet in the last few weeks, you’ve probably noticed a slew of pics and videos have surfaced showing off the full scale version of Han Solo’s famous ride, the Millennium Falcon that will be part of next year’s Star Wars Episode VII. Well, it looks like director JJ Abrams has seen them too and decided it was time to show off the ship that “made the Kessel Run in less than twelve parsecs” on his terms. Abrams released a video titled “Hunka Junk” on his official Bad Robot channel that shows a close-up view of the Falcon while the classic Star Wars music plays. But things aren’t exactly as they appear as the music quickly changes we pan around the ship. If you don’t recognize the music, it’s the theme to Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight trilogy and as the camera comes to rest underneath the ship, we see Batman’s Tumbler has now become a fixture of the Falcon.

Now, for those of you wondering why on Earth the Batmobile would be on the Millennium Falcon, it’s all part of a Star Wars/Batman/Superman mashup that Abrams and Batman v Superman director Zack Snyder have been playing throughout production on both films. It all started back in July when Snyder tweeted this image of Henry Cavill dressed as a Sith Lord with the caption “#SuperJedi”. Abrams followed that with a photo of new Star Wars cast member John Boyega dressed as Batman holding a blaster with the caption “#BOYEGAMAN”. Snyder than tweeted out an image of Batman and R2-D2 together in a scene resembling that from A New Hope a few weeks later. Abrams countered with his own droid inspired photo featuring C3PO as The Caped Crusader. Things seemed to die down until Snyder once again tweeted out this photo over the weekend. It features a Stormtrooper being arrested by Gotham’s finest with the new Batmobile in view. The photo was a response to recent rumors that one of the Batmobile’s had went missing from the set. It was that photo that lead to today’s Millennium Falcon reveal. These Star Wars/Batman/Superman mashups are definitely unconventional, but considering both filmmakers are notoriously protective when it comes to set leaks, it’s a fun way to tease fans with details from the films and just gives us all a major nerdgasm.

In the past the Millennium Falcon was built for shots in the original trilogy, but certainly not to the detail that Abrams was showing off. The detail was excessive and was a small example of what fans of the new film can expect from the new Star Wars film. I can’t say how many times I have looked at Millennium Falcon models and wondered about what all the hoses and pipes would possibly do on that ship. I once stood at the actual model of the Falcon at the Smithsonian in Washington D.C. trying to look at all the detail underneath the ship in the very area showed off by Abrams just to see what was connected to what and trying to figure out what everything did. But I never imagined that there would ever be a giant model built of the Falcon to this scale where such detail was committed to the smallest detail. That was what Abrams was showing off, and it was quite enticing. I have watched the video now well over 100 times in just one day and I’m not done. It is excessively exciting.

This is just a sample of things to come. It is a very exciting time indeed.

Rich Hoffman  

www.OVERMANWARRIOR.com

The Socialism of Liz Rogers: Why Mahogany’s failed in Cinncinnati

It was obvious that Liz Rogers was going to fail at Mahogany’s on the Banks when she gave the interview on the radio shown below. She stated that she was guided by faith, not sight and that she was destined to bring an African-American owned restaurant to the plush riverside development in Cincinnati. The city to encourage the endeavor threw a lot of money at her—which was unprecedented, because they wanted the politics of the deal. They wanted the feel good stories, progressive political support, and a success for minority owned businesses. Liz had a nice place in downtown Hamilton that was working, so developers wanted her to expand to a second location. But there was baggage with her from the start, which everyone ignored and the Mahogany’s deal turned out to be a disgrace. In the end the restaurant failed and Liz asked people not to judge her based on what she owed monetarily—but on her love for food. What?????????????????????

Liz Rogers lives in my community and I think is a nice lady. I think her intentions were good. But her business approach belongs in the Twilight Zone, expecting judgment based on her personal desires to cook food, and that she approaches the business with feelings—not thought. In other words her approach to the Banks deal was similar to saying standing before a tall wall, metaphorically, “I have faith that I will be lifted above and beyond that wall.” But the lift never comes leaving her standing in the same spot stuck with ineptitude. The proper approach would be to say, “I will construct a rope and climb over that wall.” That is a plan that can lead to a profitable enterprise. Having faith doesn’t do it. Faith can help you get up in the morning, but it won’t deliver tasks completed.

Now Liz is out of the Banks location and she is looking to make a deal with the city—which should have never been involved in the Rogers endeavor from the start. She is threatening to sue Cincinnati for her failure on the grounds that the types of development city government promised her would take place—which never quite manifested the way they proposed. What is unfathomably naive about her threat is that she actually believes that the fault of her business is the city’s problem. Her location was right next to The Holy Grail and was plugged numerous times on 700 WLW—most of the time in a favorable way regarding her food. She failed to retain the curiosity customers by making them into repeats. Good or bad press she has had loads and loads of free advertising—the name of Mahogany’s has been on every television station, radio station and received plenty of news print. She has had her chances to take a freak show and turn it into a legitimate business opportunity—which is much more opportunity than any other business have had in Cincinnati in years. Just getting the name out for a new enterprise is difficult at best.   If anything, the city gave her a golden opportunity to become gloriously rich—and she failed epically. The city responded to her threat with the following article:

The city of Cincinnati won’t take up Mahogany’s owner Liz Rogers‘ offer not to sue it in exchange for forgiving the balance of a $300,000 loan the city made for her to open the restaurant at the Banks.

“In a letter last week, the city expressed its position on this matter,” said Rocky Merz, a spokesman for City Manager Harry Black. “Due to the potential for litigation, we have nothing further to add. We wish Ms. Rogers all the best in her future endeavors.”

Rogers wrote a letter to the city offering not to sue it over promises she says were broken when she agreed to open a restaurant at the riverfront development, including that there would be a hotel and office workers there. She also proposed that for $12,000 the city would sell her the furniture and restaurant equipment the city’s $300,000 bought. Rogers, who said she would open another restaurant in Cincinnati, gave the city until Thursday to take the deal.

Mahogany’s closed last week after it was evicted by its landlord, NIC Riverbanks One. Rogers has denied allegations made in the eviction letter sent by the landlord.

 

http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2014/09/16/cincinnati-to-mahogany-s-owner-no-deal.html

It is obvious that Liz Rogers is a believer in socialism as she does not attribute her actions to success or failure of her business, but in the promises of government to provide or not provide. She brought with her business venture an obvious lack of embrace in capitalism which scared away her potential customers. She failed because of her philosophic position. She was the one given a gift, nearly a million dollars in opportunity—loads of free advertising and a site across from the Great American Ballpark and one of the hottest developments with residential living right over her head—nearly guaranteed customers if she produced a decent product. But, there was a lot of competition, and she couldn’t hack it—and due to her failure, she sought socialism and racism as the excuse. That is absolutely pathetic.

I didn’t write much about her at this site because part of me felt sorry for her, and I didn’t want to pile it on. I knew from the first time that I heard her speak that she would fail, so it didn’t come as a surprise to me when she did no matter how many opportunities were placed before her feet. But what did surprise me was that she actually believes she has the right to sue Cincinnati because of her failure. That is really astonishing and is a direct symptom of a very broken society that people actually believe such things. Liz Rogers failed because her product wasn’t very good. Her food may have been good, but the experience in dinning in her restaurant as opposed to other places did not have appeal to enough people. That is the whole issue. She was given an opportunity to give Cincinnati visitors at the Banks “soul food” and they rejected it. She may do better in Over-the-Rhine or even Forest Park, but at the Banks—people expect other options and they voted with their wallets. And she went out of business—and because she was not using her sight—she failed to make corrections to her presentation so to keep her customers and make them want to come back. Nobody wants to spend good money in a restaurant where the owner is a victim. They want to brush elbows with success—because it makes them feel good to do so. Instead of Mahogany’s Liz’s customers likely went on down to the Moerlein Brewhouse on the river and conducted their dining experience at that establishment for similar value for the dollar. It was up to Liz to figure out what they were doing and to adjust—but she didn’t. Instead she blamed everyone but herself for a failure that is in her sole possession. If the city government did anything wrong it was that they tried to help her in the first place giving false hope to a person who had not earned a chance that wasn’t theirs to give in the first place.

Rich Hoffman  

www.OVERMANWARRIOR.com

 

The Failure of Religion: Santa Claus, Star Wars, and the Kingdom of Heaven

I have a long history with religion. Where I currently am with the existing forms is that those who believe adherently to some form of religion are like children who believe in Santa Claus. Children need the mythology of Santa Claus to articulate to them the complexity of the Holiday Season while adults should have advanced to an understanding of serenity that is free of such mechanisms. Thus, many weak-minded people need religion to hold their thoughts about the world together in context to the mysteries of the universe. For them, they need to believe that there is still hope for them once they enter death that all the sins of their life can be washed away and that they can sit down with Jesus and share some bread in the Kingdom of Heaven, or hang out with Abraham and practice sacrificing their first-born children to some bearded deity skipping rocks across the solar system. Unfortunately for most of them is that they never learn that the kingdom of Heaven is and will always be all around them—just as Jesus tried to explain to people thousands of years ago. Attending a religion or a church is not a country club pass to the ever-after—but then again to the immature mind, it is equivalent to the need to believe in Santa Claus.

Religion does not take my mind where it needs to go, so I have had to part with it in its current form. That is not to say there is no value—I used to believe in Santa Claus and have many fond memories of my childhood while believing in such a thing. And the same for religion—I have many fond memories. But if you grow mentally, eventually you have to step out of those old shoes into something bigger—more universally encompassing. But what is next once such a thing is done? That is the problem that many find—is it in becoming an atheist or some other variation—or is it something else?

That is where mythology comes into play. Religion is simply a mythology and when it stops working, the facts of observation cannot be ignored so to stay true to the mythological stories. One cannot pretend that Santa lives at the North Pole when they know that it is scientifically impossible. They cannot ignore that impossibility and still serve reality just to continue supporting a mythology of Santa Claus living in such a desolate place. So a new mythology must be invented, such as like what the movie Miracle on 34th Street attempted—to explain that Santa bends space and time to deliver gifts to the world in one night.

Santa Claus represents the spirit of Christmas, but the adult mind knows that the season is about more than just receiving gifts. The relationship to the Holiday Season for society is much more complex, and when the human mind is ready for such a concept, they stop believing in Santa Claus and expand their understanding to encompass the more complex nature of the Holiday. At least in theory—thus the same should occur in regard to religion. However, too many people insist that their membership to a particular religion gives them access to the after-life without having to live up to the judgment of their actual lives. In this regard the drunk can enter Heaven because he accepts Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savor—passing off the responsibility of good conduct in life to a third-party sacrifice. Or for the Islamic radical, they believe they can enter the after-life by killing infidels. The Buddhist believes they can enter the spiritual realm by living life as a play and not falling in love with innate forms–the Hindu much the same only being resurrected as a frog, or a cow which used to be a beloved uncle. For those who step back and look at the situation properly, religion is a pretty stupid concept because the mythology of those religions has shrunk with time and knowledge requiring an expanded mythology to renew the importance of the values which religion is supposed to introduce to society. The failure that most people openly participate is the belief that a particular religion will do the trick—what they miss is the essence of what Jesus tried to convey—that the Kingdom is all around them—all the time—but they do not see it. What people must have are the values to unlock those secrets in the everyday life and understand that nothing really dies—but lives forever as an essence. We are all the light no matter what the religion—we are not the light bulb—the gross matter of the mind and body. The mind in command of the body is the essence of that immortality used like a vehicle to navigate through life.

To understand such a thing properly requires a new mythology which is why I am so excited about Star Wars. It is much more than a science fiction series of books, television shows and movies. It is a new mythology designed to build upon the religions of the past for a new era of thought—and it works. Simon Kinberg knows this and is the executive producer of the new Star Wars: Rebels animated series. George Lucas, as a student of mythology for many years and a key board member of the Joseph Campbell Foundation has personally trained these next generation filmmakers and Rebels is the first real step in that new direction. I have known this was coming for two decades—because of my involvement with the JCF. But now it is here and to understand how much potential impact it will have on world culture read the article below. The essence of the summation is that Santa Claus needs to be updated as a mythology to stay relevant to the modern youth—and there are stories which attempt to do that in modern movies and television shows. But the same needs to happen in religion—which for the fearful and unfocused is a terrifying prospect. For them, Star Wars is about to change their life for the better in ways that they have never thought possible. Religion is needed for the human race, but in the day and age we live in presently—it needs a much bigger shoe. For that—Star Wars offers a size that fits for the potential growth of an inquiring mind that is already living in the Kingdom that Jesus always talked about—and knows it.

And for those who didn’t listen to me when Disney bought Lucasfilm, shame on you. You could have almost doubled your investment dollars in just two years. But guess what—an 82% increase in value is just the tip of a mountain of what’s coming behind Star Wars: Rebels. A lot of people are going to get rich—and they will deserve it. The monetary value directly is connected to the intellectual value and the evidence will come in quickly starting in the fourth quarter of 2014. Now for an important article that offers proof of what I have said about religion and Star Wars.

“Star Wars 7” Is Still a Year Away; Here’s How Disney Is Profiting in the Meantime

A bridge to an old favorite

Next month, the studio debuts Star Wars Rebels on Disney XD with a one-hour movie. Early data suggests fans are nearly as excited for the animated epic as they are the next live-action film. According to a quick search at socialmention.com, social networking users were searching for the terms “Star Wars Rebels” and “Star Wars episode 7” once every 22 seconds. Google’s Trends data shows a similar correlation:

The message? Fans don’t necessarily care what channel or type of media it comes in; they just want more Star Wars. In the case of Rebels, they’ll get a story that looks and sounds like the 1977 version of Star Wars: Episode IV-A New Hope. But don’t take my word for it; listen to the whine of the Tie Fighters in this extended preview:

Star Wars Rebels kicks off with a one-hour movie on Oct. 3. Credit: Disney/Lucasfilm.

What history says about extending the Star Wars franchise
If my experience at San Diego Comic-Con is any indicator, fans will take to Rebels as easily as they did Star Wars: The Clone Wars, another animated epic that debuted with a movie. But in that case, fans had to brave the box office to see Anakin, Obi-Wan, and padawan Ahsoka Tano in a new adventure. Plenty did exactly that.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars took in $68.3 million at the global gate, and earned another $23.8 million in home video sales. Lucasfilm spent an estimated $8.5 million to produce the movie, which opened in August 2008. A spinoff TV show premiered that October and ran for six seasons, the last of which is available exclusively on Netflix.

To this day, the Star Wars: The Clone Wars television show remains one of the most-watched animated series in sci-fi history. More than 1 million have rated the show on Netflix. In 2010, the Guinness World Records named Clone Wars the “highest rated sci-fi animation” on television at the time.

New stories mean new merchandising opportunities

Rebels may never be as popular as Clone Wars; but you know what? Disney investors will profit anyway. Just having the show allows the House of Mouse to greenlight entirely new merchandising lines.

Add-ons like these are why Disney brands are responsible for more than $40 billion in annual retail sales, and why its Consumer Products group — which writes the contracts and cashes the checks — has enjoyed five consecutive fiscal years of expanding operating margins. With new Star Wars gear on the way, a sixth seems likely.
Foolish takeaway

October marks two years since Disney announced its $4 billion bid for Lucasfilm. The stock is up more than 82% since, mostly due to the franchise-establishing success of comic book movies such as Guardians of the Galaxy. How much higher it goes depends on fans’ appetites for properties that exist outside the Marvel Cinematic Universe. None in Disney’s lineup have as much potential as Star Wars.
“I feel the greatest responsibility to Star Wars because I think it’s a religion greater than any other story of the last century,” Rebels Executive Producer Simon Kinberg said in an interview at San Diego Comic-Con. Fair? Blasphemous? I suppose that depends on your point of view. Either way, the pantheon grows when Star Wars Rebels begins airing next month.

http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2014/09/14/star-wars-7-is-still-a-year-away-heres-how-disney.aspx

Rich Hoffman

www.OVERMANWARRIOR.com

 

Steve Almond’s Salon Review of ‘Atlas Shrugged Part III’: Rush Limbaugh’s Dream

Whenever one of these Atlas Shrugged films hits the marketplace or something along the same lines—the hard core left reveals their true beliefs.  Out of all the negative reviews of Atlas Shrugged Part III by progressive types one by the ultra liberal Salon Magazine writer Steve Almond jumped out as exceptional for all the wrong reasons.  Of course, being like a young twenty something child who thinks they rolled over in the morning and knew everything about the world there was to know because somebody told them so—the typical New York liberal believes the rest of the world is driven by the same vagina minded passivity which motivated them—and they actually believe that all counter thoughts to their progressive tripe is “fringe.”  The fly-over states to the west of New York City is a scary place full of dangerous right-wingers who listen to talk radio—not readers of Salon, or the European salivating New York Times.   But on rare occasions they find a way to get their thoughts down in writing for all to see, allowing some measure of their disjointed philosophy to be measured.

Below is a recent article written by Almond as referenced by a Rush Limbaugh dream disguised as a review of Atlas Shrugged Part III.  It is hilarious and before anybody at Salon decides to take it down at any point in the future, I have put it below including the link. I even provided the link to Almonds anti-football book.  (Yes, he is on a campaign against American football as well).  It is hard to believe there are people out there who know so little about the world, yet think they know so much.  So for proof, please read this Salon article in its entirety below.

Here’s what I think happened. I think Rush Limbaugh had a lousy day at the office and drowned his sorrows in bad Mexican food — something along the lines of three El Charrito’s Enchilada Grande packs — and then I think Rush fell asleep on his sofa and had a beautiful dream.

In this dream, all the most powerful and talented Americans finally get fed up with big government and its bureaucratic parasites and follow a hunky guy named John Galt to a gorgeous valley in Colorado, where together they declare themselves on strike against the government. This means they get to live in harmony and throw awesome Caucasian dinner parties and invent miraculous technological devices and pay for everything with shiny gold coins.

And because this is all happening inside Rush Limbaugh’s mind — with its misty yearnings for underage third-world prostitutes and endless Oxycontin — the production values of this particular dream have the quality of an off-brand soap opera.

It’s all pretty awesome. Weaselly government leaders meet in back rooms filled with cigar smoke to plot new ways to steal money from rich people and nationalize industry and force scientists to invent torture devices so as to control the population. Then they swish brandy around in snifters and blow smoke rings.

Meanwhile, back in paradise, this hot babe named Dagny, who runs American’s only remaining train company, crashes her plane and John Galt finds her and carries her back to his pad where he doesn’t have sex with her — not just yet. First, he’s got to introduce her to all his badass friends, like the doctor who examines her with his killer new medical gizmo and says, “It’s amazing what can be accomplished without red tape!” Or the mom who explains that she’s home-schooling her kids because “I wouldn’t put them in an educational system that doesn’t teach them to think.” That’s maybe the coolest thing about this particular utopia: Everyone speaks in Republican National Committee talking points.

Unfortunately, Dagny has to leave paradise before she even gets to have sex with John Galt, because the government has nationalized her train company and is running it into the ground. Bummer. In fact, the entire country is falling to pieces without men like Galt, who is both a brilliant engineer and a professional hair model. But that serves America right because, as Galt explains, “the powerful try to make us feel guilty for our success.” And that is so totally not cool.

Alas, Dagny leaves the valley and heads back to grubby old America and it’s just as poorly lit and effed-up as you’d expect, though she does get to have sex with John Galt (who comes to rescue her), an act of coitus that is performed on her desk. This sort of eases the comedown of living in a reeking dystopia.

Then John Galt gives a big speech on TV during which he asks some tough questions of the American people, who are mostly huddled outside pawn shops staring at televisions through the security bars. “Have you noticed that as everything in your world seems to decline, one thing still grows?” he asks. Everyone kind of nods. “It is the power of your rulers. None of their plans and directives have solved your problems or made your life better. The only result has been the increased control over you at the cost of your freedom.” He goes on to explain how business leaders got tired of being called “greedy exploiters” and decided to follow him. Why? Because they finally “recognized the honor they deserved and rebelled against the guilt you wanted them to feel.”

It’s not exactly “The Gettysburg Address,” but the media response is off the charts. Sean Hannity appears on-screen, looking engorged with gravitas. He loves the speech. Glenn Beck salutes Galt’s moxy. Ron Paul arises from his Cycronic crypt to predict the End Times, which is sort of a reflex at this point. The crowds outside the pawn shops start chanting John Galt’s name. It’s a movement.

Naturally, government thugs capture Galt and drag him to a secret lab where they strip off his shirt and punish him using their special new Torture Machine, which involves a lot of sparks. Galt looks a lot like Jesus Christ, if you can imagine Christ with stubble and chinos. But then Dagny and her pals rescue Galt and all the ubermenschen fly off together to their mountain hideaway where, Rush is pretty sure, they eventually build a PGA-quality golf course and hire Playboy Bunnies to wax your balls.

Except — spoiler alert! — Rush wakes up before this last part can happen. Worse yet, he has diarrhea. The beautiful thing is that even in the midst of his diarrhea, Rush is able to get online and right there in his email in-box is an invitation to the premiere of the new film, “Atlas Shrugged III.”

And now El Rushbo realizes why his dream felt so gosh darned familiar: because it’s the plot of the third and final part of Ayn Rand’s 1957 potboiler, which will debut tomorrow, Sept. 12, mostly in those precincts of the country where citizens still call the Civil War the War of Northern Aggression.

If this were an actual movie review I would, at this point, pretend to give a shit about the film’s quality. But as anyone who sits through “Atlas Shrugged III” will tell you, the filmmakers themselves don’t give a shit about the film’s quality.

Back in 2011, when the first installment came out, most reviewers agreed to regard it as a “major motion picture,” though it was funded not by a studio but by an exercise machine mogul named John Aglialoro. As a piece of art, and a form of entertainment, “Atlas Shrugged I” flopped hard.

But if there’s one thing the conservative movement of this country has proved, it’s that it can move even the most imaginatively inert product. With the ardent promotional support of Fox News and the Tea Party’s corporate arm, the film managed to earn out in video. And thus we got a second “Atlas,” with an all-new cast and even lower production values. This final chapter has an exhausted, obligatory air. It’s like watching the final phases of a botched plastic surgery.

The director — and co-writer — is a man named James Manera, whose previous work includes a documentary about music and an episode of the television show “Nash Bridges,” which he directed in 1996. I think I’ve said enough about the movie.

The larger curiosity here is Ayn Rand herself. It would be easy to write her off as a demented Cold War hack no longer relevant to our cultural and political discourse. But that would be a huge mistake. Because Rand’s slobbering conception of laissez-faire capitalism is not only alive and well, it remains a galvanizing ideological force.

Consider the young darling of conservative circles, former vice-presidential candidate Paul Ryan. Ryan worships Rand. He once gave a speech confessing that he went into public service because of her. He also asked his staffers to read her novels, so they could learn about the free market. During the 2012 campaign, Ryan did a good job of playing down his devotion, because Rand was an atheist.

But her fingerprints are all over his famous Budget Plan. To the “takers” in our society — the aged and the sick — Ryan would provide rationed healthcare. Federal budgets for education, transportation, energy and veteran services would be slashed. The rich, meanwhile, would be handed billions in tax cuts.

The whole idea is to do like John Galt says: obliterate any restraints on personal greed. The Ryan Plan is a document so enthusiastic in its fraudulence, so casual in its cruelty, and so certain of its own virtue that it could only have been dreamed up by a man born into money, educated by Ayn Rand, and given finishing lessons in Congress.

For all the low-budget absurdity of this new movie, the famous speech Rand penned for John Galt back in 1957 still stands as the Rosetta Stone of modern conservatism. This country wasn’t built by men who sought handouts! Sweep aside those parasites of subsidized classrooms! On and on Galt yammers, forever propelled by grievance and self-pity.

His vision of capitalism is a cartoon that plays over and over again on Fox News: no poverty or environmental ruin or lack of equal opportunity. Mercy is a mug’s game in this world, a false impulse. The pursuit of wealth, by contrast, is a form of heroic purity. If only bureaucrats would get out of the way, our intrepid industrialists would beat a path to paradise and leave the moochers to rot. Rand’s mission — now taken up by Ryan and company — is to present capitalism not as an economic philosophy, but an impeccable moral system.

The writer and critic Gore Vidal characterized the philosophy of Ayn Rand as “nearly perfect in its immorality” and a number of critics described “Atlas Shrugged” (the novel) as a narrative driven by hate.

But my take on the book, as well as the movies it spawned, is just the opposite. For all the contempt that Rand (and Galt and Ryan) aim at the government, the predominant emotion they express is one of unbridled self-love. Rand herself was a kind of golem of narcissistic excess, a woman with delusions of grandeur. And she tapped into the crushing insecurity of the wealthy, the manner in which they must constantly remind themselves how much they deserve their privilege.

What animates these people and drives their chintzy propaganda isn’t rage at all, but a kind of annihilating self-hatred.

Rush is going to love “Atlas Shrugged III.”

It’s not just a movie to him. It’s a dream come true.

Steve Almond’s new book, “Against Football” will come out next month.

MORE STEVE ALMOND.

 

http://www.salon.com/2014/09/11/sean_hannity_and_glenn_beck_in_a_bizarre_ayn_rand_fever_dream/

That is just hilarious!  Amazingly short-sighted, ignorant, presumptuous, and impossibly foolish—a piece of work which belongs exclusively to Steve Almond and Salon Magazine.   Please visit their site at the link provided.  They likely need the web traffic, so help them out with some pity for the good laugh.

Rich Hoffman

www.OVERMANWARRIOR.com

 

The Treachery of Mr. Thompson: Thorium’s tenacious enemy

For me, there were several moments in the new film Atlas Shrugged Part III: Who is John Galt which was particularly powerful.  But the most powerful attribute of the film based on the 1957 novel by the same name was the actual electric motor invented by John Galt which runs nearly self-sustaining and provides all the power needed in Galt’s Gulch.  In the film when the police come to arrest Galt and take him to see Mr. Thompson they attempt to break into the room where the magic motor is kept only to discover that there is nothing there.  This was a neat concept as the motor seemed to be hidden from the world through a dimensional fold in space-time continuity which further substantiates the quality of the John Galt figure as an expert in physics.  In the film it was science fiction, but little do many know that such science is actually quite factual.

Several years ago I wrote an article about the technology of Thorium—which has the ability to provide power—extremely clean energy, and cheap to every home in the world.  A revolution in Thorium could give the simple hut in the middle of Africa or Brazil electric power without complicated infrastructure, and costly imports from foreign suppliers.  CLICK HERE TO REVIEW.    By clicking that link, you will see dear reader that the kind of energy shown in Who Is John Galt is not just science fiction, but is entirely rooted in reality.  But as usual, the reason that we do not have such technologies are the same ones provided in the film—the desire for power by characters like Mr. Thompson prevent technology from arriving to the marketplace because it denies the intellectually insecure control over the delivery method.

I have been a student of management methods for most of my life and I know all too well the cause of most misery in the world—its self-inflicted neurosis by the power-hungry to control the many through laws, technology, and other forms of manipulation.  There are many who work for organizations like the Red Cross—who get invited to Washington parties due to their altruistic endeavors overseas who would despise seeing a Thorium reactor powering a village in Africa.  Deep down inside they want African people dependent on charity organizations to bring food and medical supplies to the poor so that they have something beneficial to do with their lives.  They want the death and misery because they believe it will get them into heaven through some distorted grasp of Biblical teaching.  They cannot accept that by giving the people of Africa power that they might care for themselves—therefore not needing the West to care for them at all.  So they deem Thorium technology dangerous and a threat to the earth—so to take the debate off the table.

Another set of characters who do not want Thorium power, or anything like it, are those who work in the dirty energy business—oil and coal.  Although there are great uses for these energy providers today, at some point in the future—we can do better.  Thorium is but one potential source.  However, the energy industry does not want to alter their market plans—their labor unions don’t want the competition, so they lobby politicians to maintain the status quo.   Many publications against fuel sources like Thorium are created through this method—to scare the public into submission of dirty fuel forever—leaving greenie weenie activists plenty of ammunition to utilize against such industries as environmentally hazardous.  So in a stalemate between the environmentalists who believe the printed articles against Thorium and the dirty energy companies making great livings off the old technology—nothing happens.  After all, the goal of the typical progressives is not to advance forward as mankind but to make the developed world more like the undeveloped—to demonize technology until everyone lives in a kind of hut—like the poor Africans.  Watch the following video documentary about Thorium to learn much more.  

Since I wrote that article about Thorium nothing much has happened to advance the technology just as nothing much has happened regarding the Mollar flying car.  The technology is there to cure cancer, to fix bodies through regeneration, to have self-sustaining electrical power, to completely revolutionize the transportation industry—but what is in the way are too many people like Mr. Thompson in Atlas Shrugged Part III.  For those who criticize Atlas Shrugged, if people like John Galt were free to think and act without restriction, world hunger would be eliminated, poverty would be nearly eradicated, disease destroyed, cancer solved and society would advance greatly.  But the trouble is we allow people like Mr. Thompson to stand between us and fate.  We give them power because we fear the responsibility of it.  Mr. Thompson in the film Atlas III was a complete idiot, he does not fear that responsibility, but is addicted to the power it gives him making him an opposite menace.  There are many like him running governments and companies the world over and they are there because we fear what might happen when altruism is stripped from our reasoning.  Society fears not having problems that require charity—because their ideals of religion and good living have been defined by misery—and stupidity.

So it was wonderful to see the science fiction of a world where at least someone has broken through the shroud of foolishness and actually built a perpetual motor that runs off static electricity naturally existing in the world around us—which never ceases to run and does not need government, infrastructure, labor unions, or the Red Cross to operate.  As usual it is groups of people who stand in the way of what human beings can invent for themselves to advance their culture—but through advancement those who currently have power would lose it if they could not adapt to the changing circumstances.  It is those who run those groups who fear losing their power to the self-empowering technology that comes with invention.  It almost always comes down to poor management ability of personal and external resources and the secret desire to control those resources so that options are limited.  Some examples might be the fearful husband who tries to keep his wife lacking a car because he fears she may seek to cheat on him.  It doesn’t occur to him that if he were a better husband, that such temptations might be avoided.  So rather than deal with the effect of the cause, he denies the mechanism for performing the task out of fear of losing control of the wife.  The same might occur when a boss sees in a subordinate ability that might challenge their authority in the future, so they find ways to clip the wings of the subordinate through management tricks so to keep them grounded and under control.  This actually happens every day in virtually every place of business on the face of planet earth.  Or consider the lazy parent who attempts to make their children fearful of everything because they don’t want to get up off the couch to help teach a curious child—so they numb that curiosity with fear so that they can be free in the afternoon to catch Jerry Springer at 5 PM.

Governments run by people like Mr. Thompson have strangled our future through such methods and most accept that reality as a fact because they are beaten and defeated people intellectually crippled at birth by an anemic education system and faulty parents.  But a few, people who went to see Atlas Shrugged Part III and enjoyed it—even with all the flaws of the film technically were able to see the miracle of the John Galt motor and know that the possibility for such a thing is very real—and immensely intriguing.  I think I’m going to see that movie a few more times before it leaves the theater just for the pleasure of seeing such a world alive even in the fantasy of a darkened theater.

Rich Hoffman

www.OVERMANWARRIOR.com

 

The Dot and the Line: A Romance in Lower Mathematics

There comes many times over any given year where I find myself in a situation that in order to explain a basic elementary ideal to someone who requires a vast background education just to grapple with the topic at hand, I have to find some way to show them a proper metaphor to bring them up to speed.  They do not have the foundation understanding to build anything of merit conversation wise–when they ask a question, or series of questions just to understand the answer given to them.  Sadly, modern culture has failed to deliver those foundations to the last couple of generations.  There is a part of me that feels sorry for those people, but not to the extent where I am willing to sacrifice my own happiness to quell their suffering.  The reason is logic and a foundation belief system that is rooted in another time when the world made a lot more sense.  It wasn’t however that long ago, but just long enough for modern society to completely revert to the animal mindset of a scribble.

I feel fortunate to have grown up in a time when one of my favorite cartoons was called The Dot and the Line: A Romance in Lower Mathematics which played continuously on the Looney Tunes half hour afternoon lineup every day after school.  It was my favorite cartoon as a young kid which came out in 1965 and was directed by my favorite animator, Chuck Jones.  I watched his cartoons as a child and read his book as a young man in my twenties and soaked up every word.  That particular cartoon was a masterpiece and a needed lesson for every young male looking for love.  Watch that classic cartoon below before continuing:

That cartoon reflects an interesting period in American history, and such a time is mandated to return.  Because if it doesn’t, there will not be a civilization to behold in any capacity.  The cartoon is about values and the three-way romance between a dot, a line, and a scribble.  In 2014 America, it is the scribbles who rule the world in virtually every aspect of our society.  As a line who has forced himself to bend into many angles, I understand the line in the story very, very well.

The Dot and the Line: A Romance in Lower Mathematics (ISBN 1-58717-066-3) is a book written and illustrated by Norton Juster, first published by Random House in 1963. The story was inspired by Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions, in which the protagonist visits a one-dimensional universe called Lineland, where women are dots and men are lines.

In 1965, famed animator Chuck Jones and the MGM Animation/Visual Arts studio adapted The Dot and the Line into a 10-minute animated short film for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, narrated by Robert Morley with the narration almost verbatim to the book. The Dot and the Line won the 1965 Academy Award for Animated Short Film.[1] It was entered into the Short Film Palme d’Or competition at the 1966 Cannes Film Festival.[2]

The cartoon was released as a special feature on the The Glass Bottom Boat DVD in 2005. The cartoon is also featured on the 2008 release of Warner Brothers Home Entertainment Academy Awards Animation Collection and the 2011 release of the Looney Tunes Platinum Collection: Volume 1 Blu-ray box-set on the third disc as a special feature. In 2005, Robert Xavier Rodriguez made a musical setting of the book for narrator and chamber ensemble with projected images, and in 2011 he made a version for full orchestra.

The story details a straight line who is hopelessly in love with a dot. The dot, finding the line to be stiff, dull, and conventional, turns her affections toward a wild and unkempt squiggle. The line, unable to fall out of love and willing to do whatever it takes to win the dot’s affection, manages to bend himself and form an angle. He works to refine this new ability, creating shapes so complex that he has to label his sides and angles to keep his place.

The dot realizes that she has made a mistake: what she had seen in the squiggle to be freedom and joy was nothing more than chaos and sloth. She leaves with the line, having realized that he has much more to offer, and the punning moral is presented: “To the vector belong the spoils.”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dot_and_the_Line

Clearly the story of the dot and the line is a morality tale about values; the scribble didn’t have much to offer the dot once she realized that the line had advanced himself into a sophisticated dynamic.  To my young mind it took me nearly twenty years to forgive the dot for neglecting the line in the first place running off with the scribble.  I always sympathized with the line and always—always hated the scribble.  Hate actually may not be a strong enough word—but the human language has not yet come up with something stronger—so for now we’ll let it stand.  But as the years moved on and my life experiences filled me with observation I realized that the journey of the dot running toward the scribble is what drove the line to become better.  If such a thing never happened, the line would have remained one-dimensional and un-sensational.

I have learned throughout time that many women behave like the dot in the story.  They are drawn toward the scribbles of existence constantly pursuing a fantasy of reforming them—mothering them into health.  Women are often not interested in a straight line which does not require their love and affection—they are almost biologically drawn toward scribbles by default.  This is a painful realization if you were born to be a line.  However, if competition is embraced, the line can become something more than normal and if he forces himself to the task, can become much more powerful than the scribbles of existence.  The dot is the female goddess who brings out in the clash of males the best between the two through competitions for her affection.  Without that bar of measurement, then scribbles are the default mode of males.  What has happened to our current society is that females have given up hope of ever seeing a refined line and are just giving up and falling for scribbles.  If scribbles rule the world, then the world becomes their image.  Without the refined, well-managed—articulate lines—the world crumbles.

In this romance the dot plays her part in being the vehicle of transformation of the line into something better.  The scribble plays his part as a rival for the line to work against, but the line is most important—because it is he who brings order and morality to the world through his refined action.  Without that understanding, there is no way for any contemporary conversation about value between males and females to take place.  But make no mistake about it—the villain of life itself is the scribble.  The morality of the scribble is not something to be cherished on any level—but despised and beaten utterly.  There is no choice in the matter.  It is the way things have to be.

Rich Hoffman

www.OVERMANWARRIOR.com