EDWIN LOCKE

I want to post a book recommendation. Edwin Locke's book, The Prime Movers: Traits of The Great Wealth Creators, is a great source for individuals who aspire to become successful business leaders. Please take some time and read the book reviews by John Allison (BB&T) and Richard Salsman (InterMarket Forecasting).

Here is an excerpt from Edwin Locke's article, Rational Selfishness and the Great Wealth Creator:

"True egoists take the actions needed to succeed on the job. They look at the facts and use reason, not whim, to make decisions. They think and plan long-range. They learn what is going on and persuade others through two-way communication."

INTERVIEW WITH COX & FORKUM

Dean Esmay has interviewed John Cox and Allen Forkum. I am sure that you will enjoy the interview. If you want to support their work, go to The Intellectual Activist and order a copy of Cox & Forkum's book, Black & White World.

TRADING IN "TERRORISM FUTURES"?

Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency had started a project called "the Policy Analysis Market." [Via Trader Mike and Fredrik Norman.] The idea was to have a futures market on forthcoming events in the Middle East. I think it is a fascinating idea, but I am not so sure that it would work in the way they had planned it. The financial traders are already taking care of the situation and they are predicting the future by acting as hedgers and arbitragers. This kind of project should have been organized by private companies only [via InstaPundit] (e.g., Economist Intelligence Unit), without any involvement by an agency like D.A.R.P.A.

I think that the government should focus the energy and resources on other things. It should be a top priority for Bush & Co. to come up with a firm policy in the Middle East. America should support a real ally as Israel and learn on how to deal with terrorism, instead of "going to bed with" a country like Saudi Arabia.

In the news:
Is a Futures Market on Terror Outlandish?
Betting on Terror: Don't Bet on It.
The Case for Terrorism Futures.
What Peculiar Futures Can You Buy? A guide to online prediction markets.
Futures Shock.

NEW EGO PRODUCTS

I have added some new products to the EGO online store. How about buying a baseball jersey and baseball cap if you are a fan of the game of "rounders" or baseball. Someday I will learn the rules of this version of cricket... The messenger bag will keep your belongings in a safe place during the walk ("Take Me Out to the Ball Game") to the ball game. You could bring out the lunchbox after the game and have a snack.

CASTRO'S BLOODY REVOLUTION (1953 - 2003)

I wonder if these guys got V.I.P. seats during the "celebration" of the revolution.

Go to Dollars & Crosses for more articles on Cuba.

Related: my post, "ELECTION" IN COMMUNIST CUBA.

AT LARGE WITH GERALDO RIVERA @ 10 PM ET

Peter Schwartz, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Ayn Rand Institute, will discuss Foreign Policy and Self-Interest on Geraldo Rivera's program. [Hat tip to Betsy Speicher's CyberNet.]

MAJID HUSAIN MURDERED BY "BAGHDAD BOB"?

From the Mail & Guardian (South Africa) [via the Swedish daily Svenska Dagbladet]: "Swedish police said on Friday they had received information that Iraq's former information minister Mohammed Said as-Sahhaf, dubbed "Comical Ali", was implicated in the unresolved 1985 murder of a defected Iraqi agent in Stockholm."

Related: my post, "BAGHDAD BOB" & "TIKRIT AL-KHATTAB".

UPDATE: DECK OF CARDS

Ace of clubs (#2) - Qusay Saddam Husayn (Hussein) al-Tikriti.
Ace of hearts (#3) - Uday Saddam Husayn (Hussein) al-Tikriti.
Queen of hearts (#11) - Barzan Abd Al-Ghafur Sulayman Majid Al-Tikriti.

Steven Den Beste has a list of strange reactions to the deaths of Qusay and Uday Hussein.


For more cartoons like this, check out John Cox & Allen Forkum's book, Black & White World.

NEW ITEMS ON MY LIST

I have added more books to my wish list at Amazon.com. Hat tip to N.H. for the book recommendation Tesla: Man Out of Time by Margaret Cheney. Hat tip to H.W. for the book recommendation The Medusa Strain by Chris Holmes.

Talking about books, read Donald Luskin's post, Summer Reading.

If you have a book recommendation, please send me an e-mail or comment on this post.


Buy This Art Print At AllPosters.com

BOOKS BY ANDREW BERNSTEIN

Do you want to submit cover art for The Capitalist Manifesto and Objectivism in One Lesson by Andrew Bernstein? Interested artists should contact Holly White for more information.

ENVIRONMENTALISM AND DEATH

I think that environmentalism is one of the most dangerous movements in today's world of ideas. The hatred of man is the main idea of environmentalism. For a tragic example on how the green movement indirectly has caused deaths, read Hannes Hacker's article, Earth Worshippers Cause Death in Space: Environmental Dogma Has Led to the Sacrifice of Fourteen Astronauts on the Space Shuttle. The Twin Towers of the World Trade Center would have been better prepared if they had used asbestos as insulation material.

For more on environmentalism, go to Magnus Kempe's blog, Jinn of Quality and Risk.

Book recommendation: Return of the Primitive: The Anti-Industrial Revolution.

ENVIROS VERSUS TOUR DE FRANCE

Members of the Jos� Bov� fan club tried to stop Tour de France. For more Tour de France information, check out Lance Armstrong's web site. Listen to Kraftwerk's new version of Tour de France. You could send the music clip as a courriel message.

YAHOO & OVERTURE

Yahoo has acquired Overture. Overture purchased AltaVista in February. Is this the "ouverture" to the big "battle" of search engine robots?

TANGLED WEB OF TERRORISM

"Uniblogger" @ Unarmed-Notes commented on my post THE AL-QAEDA NETWORK. If you are a long-time reader of this blog, you know that I am not a huge fan of GWB and that I have criticized him on several occasions. (At the same time and as a parenthesis, I think that the political situation would be worse if Mr. Gore had been in power...) I have also pointed out the Saudi terrorist connection and the power of the Bin Laden family.

Related: Document links Saddam, bin Laden and Robertson Defends Liberia's President. [Via Damian Penny.]

TAIWAN R.O.C.'S WAKE-UP CALL

It is good to see that the Hong Kong Crisis Fuels Anti-[Communist (my emphasis)]China Feeling in Taiwan R.O.C.

Related: my post, SUPPORT TAIWAN R.O.C.

FOLLOW UP: IRAN

I went to Gothenburg city on Saturday and watched a demonstration in "support" of the protests in Iran. The problem was that plenty of the demonstrators were anarchists and communists! One of their slogan was: "international solidarity - working class fight - workers unite." I am glad to read that not every demonstration [via InstaPundit] was coordinated in a fashion � la A.N.S.W.E.R....

"PUBLIC SERVICE" TV

Guess who talked on the topic, "the dream of objectivity," on the Swedish "public service" (i.e. television paid by taxes) TV program, "Utbildningsradion" ("educational radio" in Swedish)? Noam Chomsky! He had the title "media critic". He spewed his b.s. about big media and the so called "propaganda model" for several minutes, without any hard questions from the reporter.

OBJECTIVIST CONFERENCE IN NORWAY

Harald Waage has informed me that the Objectivist campus club at the University of Oslo will arrange a conference in October. Speakers are: Tore Boeckmann, Robert Mayhew, Scott McConnell, and John Ridpath.

HONG KONG

I went on a vacation / business trip to Asia in 1992. I visited Hong Kong, Macao, Taipei in Taiwan R.O.C., and Bangkok in Thailand. I traveled together with a good friend of mine. We visited some manufactures of computer peripherals and electronics, and companies selling tea. It was a good trip and I thought for a short moment on trying to stay in Asia. I admired the work ethics in Asia, especially Hong Kong and Taiwan, but at the same time it was a bit of a culture clash. I heard the word "gweilo" a couple of times... Hong Kong was the country closest to the Western world, due to the influence from the British heritage. I don't think that the British government was forced to "honor" the old treaty and hand over Hong Kong to communist China. You don't make deals with a criminal (read: dictatorship)!

After the trip, I contacted Emily Lau, Legislative Councillor, and asked about her view on Hong Kong's future. Nowadays she is also involved in the Frontier political party. She has been covered in the news lately. Here are some examples:

Hong Kong protesters force China to bend.
China censors CNN broadcast.
Beijing's shadow triggers the jitters.
Hong Kong businessmen prepare to march.

For a historical background, read an interview (dated 03/20/97) with Emily Lau.

For more news on Hong Kong, read the article in the Financial Times, HK agitator for civil rights sees his work bloom. I hope it will be possible to read an English version of Jimmy Lai's newspaper, Apple Daily, sometime in the future.

I want to end this post with a quote from Edward Cline's book, Whisper The Guns:

"Peking valued Hong Kong as a source of hard currency and trade -- as a window on the world of values. But it couldn't have Hong Kong and rule it at the same time; that was an issue and conflict only power-hungry bureaucrats wrestled with. Peking would destroy Hong Kong, and the last enduring jewel of a much vandalized and much apologized-for crown would twinkle out forever.....Or Hong Kong would destroy Peking." [Page 50, "Nothing but solitude."]

UPDATE: DECK OF CARDS

Nine of hearts (#23) - Mizban Khudr al-Hadi.
Seven of spades (#29) - Mahmud Dhiyab al-Ahmad.

Who will be the 35th person to be captured? Is Saddam dead or alive?

Related news: Saddam 'spy' arrested in Chicago.

ISLAMIC FATWA MEETING IN SWEDEN

Members of the European Islamic Council for Fatwa and Research are now gathered in Stockholm's mosque. Rachid Ghannouchi and Yusuf al-Qaradawi were among the participants. The mosque in Stockholm is probably linked to Hassan al-Banna's Muslim Brotherhood movement.

Related: my post, THE PHILOSOPHY OF DEATH.

INDEPENDENCE DAY

I think that President Bush has decided on a great place to celebrate the Independence Day. Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio, is a very fascinating place to visit.

According to a poll by ABC News: "Americans feel an impact of the Constitution, but they are murky on the details." Thomas Sowell gives an explanation why Americans should celebrate the Fourth of July.

Please take a moment and read the following articles:

Put the "Independence" Back in Independence Day�The Forgotten Meaning of America. By Michael Berliner.
July Fourth Celebrates America's and the West's Core Values: Reason, Rights, and Science Are What Made America Great. By Edwin A. Locke.

STRIKE IN / ON IRAN

I wrote in a previous post on Iran that a general strike is planned for July 9. It is definitively the right time to start a military strike on Iran.

Take some time and read the following articles:
Death to Theocracy. By Robert W. Tracinski.
Death to Dictators in Iran. By Ralph R. Reiland.
The War's Critical Battle. By Joseph Kellard.
Iran's Moment. How To Seize It. By Andrew Sullivan.

For more information on what is going on in Iran, check out FrontPage magazine's symposium and Patriots for the Defense of America's campaign - "Support Overthrowing the Iranian Theocracy."

UPDATE 07/08/03: From the Financial Times: "The US backed the protests at first, but Colin Powell, secretary of state, backed off last Wednesday, calling events in Iran a "family fight" in which the US should not intervene." I hope that President Bush is not listening to this nonsense. It is time for the "hawks" to speak up! I hope that somebody in Washington will read Robert W. Tracinski's article, America Must Act Now to Bring Down Iran's Regime.

For more news, check out Winds of Change's "July 9 Carnival of the Liberties" and Iran va Jahan.

Prepare for the Strike! on July 9.


For more cartoons like this, check out John Cox & Allen Forkum's book, Black & White World.

"BAGHDAD BOB" & "TIKRIT AL-KHATTAB"

Saddam's buddies are losing the grip. Iraq's former Information Minister, Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf, a.k.a Baghdad Bob and Comical Ali, is trying to get back in the lime light and fleeing the country at the same time...

The leader of Saddam's Bani al-Nasiri tribe, Abdullah Mahmoud al-Khattab, has been killed. The town of Tikrit is now divided...

SUMMER SALE @ EGO ONLINE STORE

Here is a golden opportunity if you want to support this blog in a monetary way. Go and shop @ EGO online store and enter coupon code "freedom" during checkout. You get $4 off on purchases of $30 or more. This offer expires on July 15. Please tell me if you want me to add a particular product to the store.

TAXING THE RICH

Who is defending the rich individuals in America? The top 400 of taxpayers accounted for more than 1 percent of all the income in the U.S. in 2000. Donald L. Luskin explains if this is an example on how "to keep you poor and stupid."


For more cartoons like this, check out John Cox & Allen Forkum's book, Black & White World.

UPDATE 07/10/03: The IRS 400 by Bruce Bartlett.