The Diners

The setting: Inside a room sits a heavy, solid oak dinner table of exquisite quality. Hand carved, its dark wood permeates the room around it with a sense of the extreme accumulation of skill and power that had to be brought to bear to create such a masterpiece. And a masterpiece it is. It's of such uncomparable quality that it rivals the best works of Da Vinci and Mozart.

The table is drapped with a revolutionary-blood red runner. The runner is fringed with twirls of gold. Upon closer inspection, the fringes are dollar signs. The material is so perfectly crafted its hard to tell of what it is made. But one thing is clear to us viewers: it is such a marvel of craftsmanship that its beauty is all consuming. And yet at the same time goes unnoticed, as it so totally meshes with the room that it becomes an extension of it. The runner shimmers in the light of the chandalier, reflecting the brilliance of the room, and for a moment appears to become one with it. But with the slightest turn of the head, it once again forms to a solid representation of the crackling air of creativity and genuis that sparks around the room.

At the one head of the table sits Thomas Jefferson. At the other, Ayn Rand. Six others sit along the sides. These guests are seated three to a side. They are, perhaps, capable of being just as distinguished as our main guests. Though certainly not more so. Given our guests of honor, the identities of these six, your narrator/reporter included, are of no concern.

A lone server stands in the corner. He is tall and thin. Neither is noticeable. His build appears genetic. In reality it is carefully honed to complement his skill at the art of being everywhere he is needed - and not there at all - at the same time. He is at once constantly noticed by the guests, and totally invisible to them. His head angles upward, as if something where the wall and ceiling meet has his intense interest, giving him an air of disinterested detachment from the rest of the room. He knows exactly how much is on each guest's plate and exactly how much water and wine remain in their glasses. He listens intently to the dinner conversation already in progress.

TJ: ... all tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent.

AR Oh, I couldn't agree with you more. Evil requires sanction of the victim.

1 of 6 But doesn't democracy demand, not silence or sanction, but that the majority prevail? That its will be done? That regardless of how a minority feels about, say the intervention into their lives by the expansion of government, , whether through tax or regulation, if the majority desires it, it should be?

TJ All, too, will bear in mind this sacred priciple: that though the will of the majority is in all cases to prevail, that will to be rightful must be reasonable.

AR Reasonable? I'm not sure I fully agree. Individual rights are not subject to a public vote. A majority has no right to vote away the rights of a minority. The political function of rights is precisly to protect minorities from oppression by majorities.

TJ Do not misunderstand. The minority possess their equal rights, which equal law must protect, and to violate would be oppression.

AR Too true. The smallest minority is the individual. Individual rights are the means of subordinating society to moral law.

TJ Since you mention government, it seems on point to note that I know of no safe depository of the ultimate powers of society but the people themselves; and if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise their control with a wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them, but to inform their discretion.

AR Reason is not automatic.

1 of 6 so... Mr. Jefferson, you would educate a populace, not regulate it?

TJ Fix reason firmly in her seat and call to her tribunal every fact, every opinion. Question with boldness even the existance of god. Because if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason than that of blindfolded fear.

AR God... a being whose only definition is that the is beyond man's power to conceive.

TJ Regardless. Enlighten the people generally, Ms. Rand, and tyranny and oppressions of body and mind will vanish like evil spirits at the dawn of day.

AR But is your faith in education enough, Mr. Jefferson? I believe that reason can prevail where given a chance. However, those who deny reason cannot be conquired by it. Do not count on them. Leave them alone.

TJ Educate and inform the whole mass of people... win or lose, they are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty.

1 of 6 This vein of discussion reminds me. I was quite angered to learn recently that it took a Supreme Court case in 2005 to make the government allow beer makers to place alcohol content on their labels, while wine makers have done this for all of memory. The reasoning was that beer makers would race to advertise stronger and stronger brews to the masses. While seemingly good natured, this appears to be demeaning, condesending and oppressive of our liberty. Agreed?

TJ Regulating things as simple as beer? What goes on outside the walls of this room. I own that I am not a friend to a very energetic government. It is always oppressive.

AR Do not ever say that the desire to good by force is a good motive. Neither power-lust nor stupidity are good motives.

TJ Do not become too discouraged. There is both good news and bad from that. It is unfortunate, but experience hath shewn, that even under the best forms of government those entrusted with power have in time and by slow operations perverted it into tyrrany.

AR Every man builds his world in his own image. He has the power to choose, but no power to escape the necessity of choice.

TJ Our greatest happiness does not depend on the condition of life in which chance has placed us, but is always the result of good conscience, good health, occupation, and freedom in all just pursuits.

TJ It behooves every man who values liberty of conscience for himself, to resist invasions of it in the case of others: or their case may, by change of circumstances, become his own.

AR From the smallest necessity to the hightes religious abstractions, from the wheel to the skyscraper, everything we are and everything we have comes from one attriubute of man - the function of his reasoning mind. And how true what you say is, Mr. Jefferson. Acheiving life is not the equilalent of avoiding death.

TJ True. Bodily decay is gloomy in prospect, but of all human contemplations the most abhorrent is body without mind.






Do you want to konw who you are? Don't ask. Act! Action will delineate and define you.
Errors of opinion may be tolerated where reason is left free to combat it.
Experience demands that man is the only animal which devours his own kind, for I can apply no milder term to the general prey of the rich on the poor.
Experience hath shewn, that even under the best forms of government those entrusted with power have, in time, and by slow operations, perverted it into tyranny.
Fix reason firmly in her seat, and call to her tribunal every fact, every opinion. Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason, than thta of blindfolded fear.
Force is the vital principle and immediate parent of despotism.
History, in general, only informs us of what bad government is.
I find that the harder I work, the more luck I seem to have.
I never considered a difference of opinion in politics, in religion, in philosophy, as cause for withdrawing from a friend.
I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of hte people under hthe pretense of taking care of them.
I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than those attending too small a degree of it.
In matters of style, swim wiht the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock.
Money, not morality, is the principle commerce of civilized nations.
One man wiht courage is a majority
Power is not alluring to pure minds.
The God who gave us life, gave us liberty at teh same time.

Ayn RAnd
A creative man is motivated by teh desire to achieve, not by the desire to beat others.
A desire presupposes the possibility of action to achieve it; action presupposes a goal whcih is worth acheiving.
Acheivement of your happiness is th eonly moral purpose of your life, and tha thappiness, not pain or mindless self-indulgence, is the proof of your moral integrity, since it si the proof and ht eresult of your loyalty to the acheivement of your values.
Ask yourself whether the team of heaven and greatness should be waiting for us in our graves - or whether it should be ours here and now on this earth.

God... a being whose only definition is tha the is beyond man's power to conceive.

Happiness is that state of consciouness which proceeds form the achievement one's values.

Money is only a tool. It will take you whereever you wish, but it will not replace you as the driver.
Money is the barometer of a society's virtue.

Run for your life from any man who tells you that money is eveil. That sentence is the leper's bell of an approaching looter.
So you think that money is the root of all evil. Have you ever asked what is the root of all money?
The purpose of morality is to teach you, not to suffer and die, but to enjoy yourself and live.
There are two sides to every issue: One side is right and the other is wrong, but the middle is always evil.
Walth is the product of a man's capacity to think.
When I die, I hope to go to heaven, whatever the hell that is.
When man learns to understand and control his own behavior as well as he is learning to understand and control the behavior of crop plants and domestic animals, he may be jsutified in believing that he has become civilized.

On infected knee

Sometimes, when things are busy and emotional, its tough to post here. Time doesn't always allow it, and sometimes I'm just emotionally drained.

And sometimes its bad luck.

Yesterday, I post about Duke and kinda how we are almost out of the woods. Then today the Veteroo tells me that Duke has a medicine-resistant form of bacteria growing in his knee (of course he does). Only one medicine on their shelves can knock it out. The pills cost $5. Not too bad, I'm thinking. He'll need 11 pills. Ok, that hurts, but all things considered... what is that you say, that's per day? For 2 weeks?

Reread those last few sentences. I edited it twice to make sure it was right and I wasn't confusing anything.

$5 x 11 x 14 = bankruptcy.

Only Duke. He's one of the happiest, most obedient, fun-loving, eager to please dogs you'll ever know, but if something can go wrong with him, it will. I'm convinced that he's from a bad breeder. One of those breeding farms. I'll never buy another dog from the place we got him, and I'll probably never buy another dog period (rescue, yes; purchase, no).

To finish this story: I think the vet took pity on me, because she's writing me a script for human medicine for Duke that is supposed to work according to the charts.

I've read that no blog post is complete without pictures of dogs, so here is Duke during happier times:

On bended knee

So two Mondays ago, Duke had an appointment to see his surgeon because his repaired knee was bothering him. He had begun limping again and really favoring the knee and an X-ray showed advancing arthritis.

So the surgeon took out the titanium staples (which had been pulled out of place) and elastic bands (one of which ripped) he installed last year. The hope being that the foreign bodies were bothering the knee. The knee was now supported by scar tissue so it was fine.

Or at least it was until Duke tore out or overworked the stitched area. That was a fun find: We came down to go to dinner Friday night to find blood on the floor. No problem, quick trip to the vet, one stitch and some liquid skin and its all fixed up.

Till next morning, when I come down to blood soaked fur below the wound. So I schedule an afternoon appointment.

And good thing I did, because by the time I got Duke there, the wound, all 3 or so inches of it, had opened up and no stitches held it closed. You could see into his leg. If you know how much I love my dog, you know it was kind of traumatic. Kind of.

So that's where we've been over the last week or so. The stitches come out early next week, at which time, hopefully, this ordeal will be over.

Hacked to death

As a newspaper editor, I've had occasion to peruse a decent amount of self-published works. I can tell you this: Most of them are self published for a reason.

Now, no less an author than Edgar Allen Poe has taken the self-publishing route. But, with the obvious benefits of hindsight, he was pretty damn good. Admittedly, the publishing biz isn't doing good biz right now. I harbor no ill will to those who self publish, nor do look down upon them. In today's world, they are a bit of a revolutionary, I think.

But getting back to the original point: Most are self-published for a reason. Say what you want about publishing biz problems, and stock subject books with unoriginal, copy cat plotting, but if you read a bit of self-published work, you'll start to see that there plenty of good reasons lots of those books aren't getting through. Writing isn't hard, necessarily; writing well is.

What always struck me about these self-published books is how obviously bad they were. The authors either had an obvious axe to grind and either were just piss-poor at hiding it or didn't care to hide it, or just weren't great writers. And I'm not suggesting they had to be the next Hemingway. The next Hemingsomeguy would have been fine. I've read my fair share of what I would call "mediocre" novels published by publishing houses. Its one of the ironies of the biz that its nearly impossible to get published, and that good authors regularly struggle, while the industry goes on its merry way publishing some very tepid stuff. Works that are instantly forgettable and not especially well written, well plotted or well charactered.

It's the lack of self awareness that worries me. These guys obviously either were so egotistical that they thought publishing would win them accolades, or they just didn't realize that their works didn't even compare to the mediocre stuff out there.

That is my fear: I don't want to spending all this time doing all this work (both of which I have a love-hate relationship with anyway), all while the end product is just so obviously bad. If I can't get published, I can't get published, I just don't want to be so bad its obvious to everyone but me.

PS - I'm not doing Nano, but I'm going to use the month to sketch out and structure "Slide", my next novel, and edit Falsely Accused.

PS - stay tuned for updates all this week!

I can't post much for the moment

I had a post about the story I wrote in my last post, but its going to have to wait. I could tell you what it was about, but that would ruin the fun.

Even if time permitted a real, thought-out post, the emotional toll of everything prevents such. I'm going to need time to sort stuff out and figure out how all the post-worthy events and news come out.

Till, perhaps, tonight, then.