WILL YOU BE A LEADER?

I have a new piece published on Open Forum. I am thinking of writing an e-pamphlet on leadership based on the trader principle sometime in the future.

EXTRAORDINARY AMERICAN

Here is an excerpt from Robert Tracinski's article, Joe the Plumber and Ayn the Philosopher: The Road Back for the Right.

This is true of the American common man in general. Even when he is not (yet) successful, he thinks of himself as a potential success, as someone who is ambitious and hardworking and on the road to achievement. For him, self-reliance and success is the norm. The sign-off to Cory Miller's letter says it all; he describes himself as "just an ordinary, extraordinary American, the way most Americans used to be." Success and achievement-which Obama views as some kind of extraordinary luck-is viewed by these men as an ordinary product of hard work and dedication.

Note also that these manual workers-men without college educations-are surprisingly articulate. Now let me be clear: it is not a surprise to me that they are well-spoken. I am not among those snobbish elites who view anyone with a blue-collar job as someone who must have been too dumb to get into college. What is surprising to me is how much better these amateurs tend to be at explaining themselves than the hapless professional politicians. (Jewish World Review, November 5, 2008)

Do you have more examples of extraordinary Americans?

WHERE ARE YOU NOW?

It is time to "mapping" out the results and running the numbers regarding the election.



Please send a notification where you are located now and tips on places to visit. You are welcome to give me suggestions on my future new place to call home...

So, where should I settle down in the future? Please give me tips and suggestions on places to visit on my next USA tour. [Editor's note: I hope I will be able to do some moblogging then..] I think that an optimal state of mind is a combo of a red state ("down-to-earth" and relaxed heartland type, e.g. the Midwest) and blue state (city slicker with an interest of business life pulse, culture and history, e.g. Boston)... (EGO, RED OR BLUE STATE OF MIND, July 17, 2004.)

Related: My post, WHAT KIND OF AMERICAN ENGLISH DO YOU SPEAK?

Talking about maps, I have added a guestbook with a map and photo slideshow feature on my personal ("bulletin board") web site. It is powered by Slide.com. It could be that I start using the Frappr! guest map mash-up again.

CONTRARIAN VIEW ON OPEN FORUM

I have a new post on Open Forum. The piece is titled, Contrarian View Versus Mainstream Opinion, and it is covering business magazine covers as a contrarian indicator for making investing decisions, Alan Greenspan's "shocking" statement and a real defense of speculators on the financial market, and a golden book tip. Please feel free to spread the good word and submit a "yes" vote if you find the post useful. You are of course welcome to write a comment.

OPEN ELECTION THREAD

Are you in a voting dilemma? Check out the election edition at The Rule of Reason. Both presidential candidates are talking against individualism. McCain is putting "country first" and Obama is explicitly attacking selfishness. Here is an excerpt from Alexandra Marks's article, Sacrifice theme returns to US politics. Both McCain and Obama cite the need for selflessness and service.

Not since President John Kennedy urged Americans to “ask not what your country can do for you but what you can do for your country” has the rhetoric of sacrifice sat this well with the public. Concern that the US confronts a huge crisis in the form of a global financial meltdown, plus an untapped desire since 9/11 to help the nation more, makes the public more receptive to the idea that sacrifice can be noble instead of just inconvenient. (The Christian Science Monitor, November 2, 2008.)

I recommend you listen to Dr. Leonard Peikoff's podcasting show of October 20 and his answer to the question regarding the election and watch Marina "Hot For Words" discussing the origins of some political words on the O'Reilly Factor show.



Related: My post, MTV CHOOSE AND LOSE ON MYSPACE.

BLOGS I FOLLOW

I have added a batch of blogs I follow to my Blogger profile page.

• a different kind of biz
• Cox & Forkum
• EGO [Editor's note: Click on "Follow this blog" link in the upper left column (EGO Followers).]
• Gus Van Horn
• Hence the Elizabethan
• John Cox Art
• One Reality [Editor's comment: Stephen Bourque has picked a great title for the followers of his blog, First Handers.]
• Pajamas Media
• Principles in Practice
• Small Business Trends
• The Charlotte Capitalist
• The Crucible & Column
• The Rule of Reason

Here is a quote from Mendel Chuang's post, Follow your favorite blogs:

In addition, you can easily check out what blogs other fans are writing and following - you might even find another blog you’ll want to add to your reading list. And by the way, you can follow any blog, even if it isn't hosted on Blogger or doesn't have the Followers gadget. Just go to your Reading List in your Blogger Dashboard, click the “Add” button, and type in the blog’s URL. And you can even import existing subscriptions from Google Reader. (The Official Google Blog, September 10, 2008.)

EGO SAND DOLLAR TEMPLATE

I have installed a new template called Sand Dollar. [Editor's comment: Will you relate the sand dollar template to a gold dollar coin?]

The dollar sand template was originally created by Jason Sutter and then modified by Charlemagne Stavanger. I downloaded the blogger template from Blogcrowds.

GOLDEN LINE

Could you guess which is my favorite line from the Wall Street movie? The working title of the sequel is Money Never Sleeps. I recommend you to read Jonathan Hoenig's book, Greed Is Good: The Capitalist Guide to Investing.

Will you listen to Yaron Brook's lecture (Capitalism Without Guilt: The Moral Case for Freedom) on October 22? It is a celebration of the launch of the Ayn Rand Center for Individual Rights in Washington, DC?

I will soon take the golden opportunity and send an application for opening an account at GoldMoney. Related: My post, GOLD AND ELECTRONIC PAYMENTS.

EGO TEMPLATE

I have done some changes to the template and moved things around a bit and removed some stuff. The page takes still time to load and I will look into the matter to see how it could load faster. I know that I have some external third party scripts that could cause delays, but I want to keep a few ads that could generate a little money for my blogging and some social media and networking tools. If you think that my blog is too cluttered with stuff, but still want to read it, you could subscribe to EGO RSS feed. I will keep the Sphere feed flare feature so you could check out blogs and sites that are covering the same topics as my posts.

You have about a fortnight in order to decide if you want to give George W. Bush a score card. I think I will retire the Uncle Sam tour poll in the near future. I don't see that a new commander in chief will pay a visit to a new country in the immediate future... Please feel free to give me suggestions on topics for new polls and interactive features on my blog. Do you think it is a good idea to create some kind of survey regarding the election? I recommend you to read Craig Biddle's article, McBama vs. America, and then share your thoughts by writing a comment or linking to an article or blog post that you think is useful to read before the election day.

Have you seen that Cox & Forkum has posted a new cartoon? Here is an excerpt from Allen Forkum's post, Rescue me.

Since stopping editorial cartoons a year ago, John and I have continued creating gag cartoons for my automotive publications. Occasionally one of our gag cartoons will cross over into editorial territory. Such is the case with the cartoon above, which is why I'm posting it here (it's also posted at John's blog). We have no plans to start up again, but it's certainly not for lack of material in the news these days... (CoxAndForkum.com, October 14, 2008.)

Rescue me

[Editor's comment: I don't want to rescued by a bailout or receive a handout, but please feel free to voluntarily give me support for my blogging. You could use PayPal as the tip jar by clicking on the "Donate" button in the support section, or if you want to buy something from my wish list at Amazon.]

TIME TO GO ON STRIKE?

Do you think it is time to go on strike? Have you met characters like Ayn Rand's John Galt lately? [Editor's note: Please write a comment if you have read Ayn Rand's novel, Atlas Shrugged.] Read Dr. Helen Smith's post, Going John Galt. [Via Pajamas Media.] In one way, I am partially on strike, waiting for an invitation to the Galt's Gulch, but I think it is worth fighting for a second renaissance due to the fact that The Ayn Rand Institute is doing a great job on spreading better ideas, giving moral support to businessmen and capitalists, and teaching the New Intellectuals in Ayn Rand's philosophy, Objectivism.