'Atlas Shrugged' Author Sees Resurgence

Atlas shrugged is one of my favorite books. And it's being rediscovered by more and more Americans.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/books/04/27/ayn.rand.atlas.shrugged/index.html?iref=mpstoryview

blowin things up!

We went shooting guns a couple of Saturdays back. The white trash event included us, the Phillips, the Petersons, and the Dunlavys. It was heaps fun! We had enough guns to start a small malitia, which we are talking about organizing.

Hoppy Easter

Savanna loves her food.

Freedom and the Book of Mormon

Look whos five months and sitting up!

Winter Health

Spencer here. I love health (probably because I've had such bad health lately) Having poor health the last 3 years has helped me appreciate good health. I love to read and learn about health topics, especially natural health.
I believe God has given us all we need for good health from the earth. Good eating and exercising habits can make us healthy. I also believe that God inspires new man made medicines and I do use them when I have to, but I try to use them as a last resort. In addition to talking about my family and politics I would like to post different health related topics. There will probably be many supplement related post. So here is the first.


Colds and Flu go around so fast and frequently in the winter. Most people will take a vitamin C pill or go straight to the over the counter meds that will just help ease the symptoms. New research is showing that high doses of Vitamin D3 will do more than an annual flu shot to stop colds and flu. Here is a good link to some information to a website dedicated only to vitamin D: http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/ Vitamin D is so important it is the only Vitamin added by law(by law is another post for another day. Stay out of lives huh?) to milk. Why do we get a lot fewer colds and flu in the summer? We get vitamin D from exposure to the sun. But people who live in climates where winter is very dark and live in higher latitudes get less sun exposure, especially in the winter. A person gets about 20,000 IU in about 20 minutes of sunshine. That is about 5,000% more than the USDA recommends we need. But I believe mother nature knows best. Of course moderation in all things. Too much sun exposure can lead to melanoma, a deadly type of skin cancer.

My endocrinologist prescribed a super high dose of 50,000iu a day. The recommended daily intake according to the U.S is 400iu. But most experts on Vitamin D believe it should be 2,000 to 5,000 a day which is 500-1000% daily value. Obviously the recommended daily intake needs to be updated.

Vitamin D Benefits

Vitamin D seems to protect against cancers including breast, colon, kidney, and ovarian cancers. Studies have also linked vitamin D or sun exposure to benefits in overall mortality, prostate cancer, multiple sclerosis, bone health, as well as the occurrence of cardiovascular events in hypertensive patients.

How long do we have?

ALEXANDER FRASER TYTLER, (Lord Woodhouselee) was born in Edinburgh, on the 15th of October, 1747. He has been credited with the following:

"A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government. A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always vote for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse due to loose fiscal policy, which is always followed by a dictatorship."

"The average age of the world's greatest civilizations from the beginning of history, has been about 200 years. During those 200 years, those nations always progressed through the following sequence:
1. from bondage to spiritual faith;
2. from spiritual faith to great courage;
3. from courage to liberty;
4. from liberty to abundance;
5. from abundance to complacency;
6. from complacency to apathy;
7. from apathy to dependence;
8. from dependence back into bondage

So, my friends, if this is true where do you see the United States right not? I would say around 6-7. How fast are we progressing? How long do we have?

Does the State Own Your Kids? Obama thinks it does

Under section 6104 of the GIVE Act, entitled Duties, in subsection B6, the legislation states that a commission will be set up to investigate whether a workable, fair, and reasonable mandatory service requirement for all able young people could be developed, and how such a requirement could be implemented in a manner that would strengthen the social fabric of the Nation and overcome civic challenges.

One may ask, "What’s the big deal about kids doing some good for their community?" There is one very simple answer for this…"What’s the big deal with your kids being OWNED by an omnipotent government?" What a wonderful example of its delights the Germans and their drilled and trained wunderkinder left us? Mandatory involuntary service shall set us all free!

Such are the minds of the Jameses, the Deweys, the Obamas, the Emmanuels. They are unnatural, artificial, fake, deceptive, in a word…lying. That they can state their lies articulately and eloquently does not make them not lies. It does though make them Orwellian unlies.

I am in love with this woman!!

I LOVE Stephanie Sloan, and I don't care who hears!

I first fell in love with Stephanie 5 years ago while working together at TKJ and dating. She is the most beautiful woman in the world! On top of being so sexy, Stephanie is so very kind to everyone.

For the last 4-6 months I have not felt well with my Graves disease. Stephanie has helped me so much. She has been so patient with me.

This last 2 weeks I have been feeling so much better and it feels like I have finally woken up. And these last two weeks I have fallen head over heels in love with Stephanie all over again!!

I love her so much! I feel like we have just met and are dating all over again. WOW! You are one hot mama!!!

I love you Stephanie. I can't wait to see you tonight!

Savanna and her cousin Mikelle were giving each other kisses.

Savanna at 4 months

Our friend

Our wonderful friend Ione Pack passed away February 19th. Ione opend her heart to Stephanie, Savanna, and I. She let us rent part of her home and gave us a place to live for the last year and three months. What a wonderful woman. Even though our ages are far apart, our friendship was very close. Steph and I looked forward to getting home and going down stairs to have talks, get advice and just feel at home and cared for. We moved in to have a place to live and help Ione in her old age. Ione has helped us more than she will ever know.


Ione Elizabeth Andrus Pack
Ione Elizabeth Andrus Pack 1919 ~ 2009 Ione Andrus Pack 89, of Holladay, UT passed away February 19, 2009 surrounded by her loving family. She was born April 12, 1919 to George B. Andrus and Leona Porter Andrus in Holladay, Utah She attended Granite High School and furthered her education at the University of Utah. After graduation she then returned to Granite High School where she taught Home Economics. She married her high school sweetheart, Douglas H. Pack, in 1941 in the Salt Lake L.D.S Temple. They are the parents of three children: James D., Kathryn and Alison. Ione was ever active in the LDS church, serving in a variety of teaching and administrative capacities. She and her husband, Douglas served in the Connecticut, Hartford Mission. She shared her home with family and non family members alike as long as there was a need. Ione loved life, especially with her husband and children. She was a perennial volunteer for church and community throughout her life. She is survived by her three children: James (Kathryn Erickson) Pack of San Diego, California, Kathryn Pack Ariotti (Cole Gleave) of Holladay and Alison (Todd Webb) of Alpine, Utah; 18 grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren with two more on the way; sisters, Lavern Diehl and Irene Witmer. She was preceded in death by her loving husband, Douglas, and sisters Leonora Hill and Mildred Mollerup. She will be lovingly remembered by friends, neighbors and family as a wonderful example of righteous living and service. She will be missed by all who knew her. Funeral services will be held Saturday, February 28, 2009 at the Holladay 18th Ward, 2525 E. Milo Way (4910 S.) at noon. A viewing will be held Friday evening from 6-8 p.m. at the Holladay 18th Ward and Saturday morning 10:30-11:45 a.m. prior to services. Interment Holladay Memorial Park. In memory of Ione donations can be made to the LDS Church Perpetual Education Fund.

What if?????

What if???????

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFcQutO5Lgs&eurl=http://www.campaignforliberty.com/&feature=player_embedded

Happy Valentines Day

I was trying to get a good picture of Savanna but she kept putting either the bear or her fingers in her mouth.

Savanna is three months old!

HOLY COW!!!!

Savanna is thinking about becoming a plumber when she grows up.

Savanna loves to be the big person. She gets really happy to be the one to look down at us. In the mornings before we are ready to get out of bed Spencer will sit her on his chest and she laughs because she knows how big she is.

Spencer was feeding Savanna and I guess he was not doing it fast enough because she took the bottle from him and started to feed herself.

The only path to tomorrow.

As we I listend to President Obama's inagual speech today I noticed that I heard many phrases such as "together we can do this" "Working together" "combined effort" "working for the common good"

Those words sound so nice but remind me of a great artcicle one of my all-time favorite authers Ayn Rand. So please read and think about our current political state (Both Obama and Bush) I will shorten it but you can find the whole thing at:http://fare.tunes.org/liberty/library/toptt.html

The greatest threat to mankind and civilization is the spread of the totalitarian philosophy. Its best ally is not the devotion of its followers but the confusion of its enemies. To fight it, we must understand it.

Totalitarianism is collectivism. Collectivism means the subjugation of the individual to a group — whether to a race, class or state does not matter. Collectivism holds that man must be chained to collective action and collective thought for the sake of what is called ``the common good.´´

Throughout history, no tyrant ever rose to power except on the claim of representing ``the common good.´´ Napoleon ``served the common good´´ of France. Hitler is ``serving the common good´´ of Germany. Horrors which no man would dare consider for his own selfish sake are perpetrated with a clear conscience by ``altruists´´ who justify themselves by-the common good.

No tyrant has ever lasted long by force of arms alone. Men have been enslaved primarily by spiritual weapons. And the greatest of these is the collectivist doctrine that the supremacy of the state over the individual constitutes the common good. No dictator could rise if men held as a sacred faith the conviction that they have inalienable rights of which they cannot be deprived for any cause whatsoever, by any man whatsoever, neither by evildoer nor supposed benefactor.

This is the basic tenet of individualism, as opposed to collectivism. Individualism holds that man is an independent entity with an inalienable right to the pursuit of his own happiness in a society where men deal with one another as equals.

The American system is founded on individualism. If it is to survive, we must understand the principles of individualism and hold them as our standard in any public question, in every issue we face. We must have a positive credo, a clear consistent faith.

We must learn to reject as total evil the conception that the common good is served by the abolition of individual rights. General happiness cannot be created out of general suffering and self-immolation. The only happy society is one of happy individuals. One cannot have a healthy forest made up of rotten trees.

The power of society must always be limited by the basic, inalienable rights of the individual.

The right to the pursuit of happiness means man's right to live for himself, to choose what constitutes his own, private, personal happiness and to work for its achievement. Each individual is the sole and final judge in this choice. A man's happiness cannot be prescribed to him by another man or by any number of other men.

From the beginning of history, two antagonists have stood face to face, two opposite types of men: the Active and the Passive. The Active Man is the producer, the creator, the originator, the individualist. His basic need is independence — in order to think and work. He neither needs nor seeks power over other men — nor can he be made to work under any form of compulsion. Every type of good work — from laying bricks to writing a symphony — is done by the Active Man. Degrees of human ability vary, but the basic principle remains the same: the degree of a man's independence and initiative determines his talent as a worker and his worth as a man.

The Passive Man is found on every level of society, in mansions and in slums, and his identification mark is his dread of independence. He is a parasite who expects to be taken care of by others, who wishes to be given directives, to obey, to submit, to be regulated, to be told. He welcomes collectivism, which eliminates any chance that he might have to think or act on his own initiative.

When a society is based on the needs of the Passive Man it destroys the Active; but when the Active is destroyed, the Passive can no longer be cared for. When a society is based on the needs of the Active Man, he carries the Passive ones along on his energy and raises them as he rises, as the whole society rises. This has been the pattern of all human progress.

Some humanitarians demand a collective state because of their pity for the incompetent or Passive Man. For his sake they wish to harness the Active. But the Active Man cannot function in harness. And once he is destroyed, the destruction of the Passive Man follows automatically. So if pity is the humanitarians' first consideration, then in the name of pity, if nothing else, they should leave the Active Man free to function, in order to help the Passive. There is no other way to help him in the long run.

The history of mankind is the history of the struggle between the Active Man and the Passive, between the individual and the collective. The countries which have produced the happiest men, the highest standards of living and the greatest cultural advances have been the countries where the power of the collective — of the government, of the state — was limited and the individual was given freedom of independent action. As examples: The rise of Rome, with its conception of law based on a citizen's rights, over the collectivist barbarism of its time. The rise of England, with a system of government based on the Magna Carta, over collectivist, totalitarian Spain. The rise of the United States to a degree of achievement unequaled in history — by grace of the individual freedom and independence which our Constitution gave each citizen against the collective.

While men are still pondering upon the causes of the rise and fall of civilizations, every page of history cries to us that there is but one source of progress: Individual Man in independent action. Collectivism is the ancient principle of savagery. A savage's whole existence is ruled by the leaders of his tribe. Civilization is the process of setting man free from men.

We are now facing a choice: to go forward or to go back.

Collectivism is not the ``New Order of Tomorrow.´´ It is the order of a very dark yesterday. But there is a New Order of Tomorrow. It belongs to Individual Man — the only creator of any tomorrows humanity has ever been granted.

Obama Unveils New Grand Plan for the Economy

WASHINGTON – President-Elect Barack Obama called on Congress to quickly pass a new fiscal stimulus package that would provide nearly $100,000 trazillion gaquillion frijillion in an effort to revive the U.S. economy, which some experts believe has entered a recession.

"Every economist I've ever heard of agrees what we need now is significantly more government investment to offset the negative effects of whatever it is that is happening," Obama said at his Monday press conference. "Accordingly, I and my team of advisors have developed a comprehensive plan that will shore up our financial institutions, put jobless Americans back to work, allow everyone in a house to keep it no matter what, rescue any failing bank or business, provide a hot meal to anyone who is hungry, improve the well being of all citizens, and give a puppy or kitten to every child who wants one.

"But Congress must put ideology aside and act now in a bipartisan manner before some other even worse stuff happens," he added, wiggling the fingers on both his hands to indicate "scary."

Details of the plan were presented by Lawrence Summers, Obama's top economic advisor and one of the plan's key architects. Using a colorful chart with squiggly lines, Summers estimated that 845 jiggashillion new jobs would be created in the plan's first year, with another 491 dubbadillion to follow over the next four years.

"Every American will be able to work two, three, four – heck, 10 or 20 jobs if he or she wants to," said Summers. "And the best part is the income taxes generated from all these new jobs will actually pay for the plan."

Obama emphasized that not only will all the new spending not impose any additional burdens on the middle class, the plan actually targets tax cuts toward politically favored constituencies and whomever else it seems most expedient to target.

"The American people have spoken," said Obama. "They demand change, and I promise that I and every one of my former Clinton administration appointees will work hard to deliver that change." He also said something about hope and sacrifice and believing.

Other highlights of the plan include:

$43 nurpillion for job training
$89 bibblydefrillion for community reinvestment
$505 frappakrillion for infrastructure and public works
$732 hominavillion for health care and education
$986 giggitysquillion for Goldman Sachs
Some prominent voices have criticized the plan, however. "It's a good start, but the president-elect doesn't go nearly far enough," Nobel laureate Paul Krugman, Nobel-winning winner of the Nobel Prize in economics wrote today in his New York Times column. "We're talking about the need for another $344 grillion chillion beebopaloobillion, at the very least, to get this economy moving again. Also, tax cuts for anybody: Ick."

Congressional reaction was mixed, as House speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) vowed to pass the stimulus package "even if I have to go around and push the 'yes' button for every member of this chamber myself, and don't think I won't" while some senators cautioned that more debate may be needed.

"A schlopparazillion here, a dreedilyhillion there, and pretty soon we're talking about real money," said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY).

But Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) was optimistic about the bill's passage, noting that the Senate has already adopted legislation increasing the national debt ceiling to $4,000 pigglywigglyjibbityjabbityfrippityfroppitybadaboomillion.

When asked what safeguards would be put in place to ensure that none of the unprecedented $100,000 trazillion gaquillion frijillion was lost to waste, fraud, and abuse, Obama pointed behind the press corps, said "Oh my GOD! LOOK!" then quickly exited the room.

King of Kong

Stephanie and I are trying out netflix this month and have come across an epic movie. It's called King of Kong: a fist full of quarters. Its a documentary about A middle-school science teacher and a hot sauce mogul who vie for the Guinness World Record on the arcade classic, Donkey Kong. These two adult men engaged in a cross-country duel to see who can set the high score and become The King of Kong. It is Awesome and unbelievable because you wont believe that people like this really exist. We LOVED it and are recommending this with 2 thumbs way up.

Fun pictures of Savanna