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No anger here, I’m simply calling it as I see it. And really, who has ever gotten into a fist fight over Ayn Rand and with a Blackfeet companion no less? I wonder how many bar brawls are caused every year in this country by people spewing out their opinions concerning Objectivism? As for Obama, I wouldn’t say that he is the same as Bush and Cheney in spite of the fact that Obama has continued nearly all of the Bush/Cheney policies that he claimed to oppose – in spite of the fact that he voted for some of them when he was a Senator! After all, we still have the “Patriot Act”, warrantless wiretaps, extreme renditions, the “Military Commissions” Act, Gitmo, etc. It appears that Obama doesn’t want to give up all of the power that Bush/Cheney grabbed! However, in many ways Obama is far worse than Bush. Most people knew that Bush was a dunce but what is it about Obama that makes people believe that he is so brilliant and impressive? Imagine if Bush had visited Austria and made reference to the non-existent "Austrian language," or if Bush referred to “Cinco de Cuatro” in front of the Mexican ambassador when it was the fourth of May (Cuatro de Mayo), and continued to flub it when he tried again, or made a joke at the expense of the Special Olympics, would anyone have brushed it off as a minor slip? Suppose that Bush had mis-spelled the word “advice” , as Obama did, he would have been hammered for years - just ask Dan Quayle. Imagine if George W. Bush had burned 9,000 gallons of jet fuel to go plant a single tree on “Earth Day”, as Obama did, would you have concluded that he’s a hypocrite? Keep in mind that Obama is the first President to need a teleprompter installed in the press room to be able to get through a press conference. Imagine if George W. Bush had ordered the firing of the CEO of a major corporation, even though he had no constitutional authority to do so, would anyone have approved? Obama has proposed to double the national debt, a debt which had taken more than two centuries to accumulate, in one year! Is this a good thing? Why do people put so much effort into becoming President? My guess is power and, in Obama’s case, narcissism. Keep in mind that Obama gave the Queen of England an iPod containing videos of his speeches – which was embarrassingly narcissistic and tacky. I pretty much get what you guys are all about, especially in light of your reference to Ayn Rand’s “Pyramid of Ability” as “drivel”. I guess that comes from being at the bottom of the pyramid – living off of the “fat of the land” while producing nothing that is of any real value – except for a form of street comedy that appeals to the adolescent mind – insulting the system which produces enough economic surplus on which you survive. While your “Church” attempts to make mockery of sincere Christians, it is nothing more than an exaggerated version of the Church that you wish to mock – complete with extreme self-righteousness, fanaticism, hypocrisy, and an uncontrollable desire to tell others how they should live and what they should think. After all, for a group that opposes materialism and consumption, you guys sure have a lot to sell! It must be nice to be able to afford trips to Europe ! As with organized religion, you have made a fetish out of what you consider “sinful”, and then obsess over it. I am amazed with the people who follow you - their lives must be very meaningless and boring. I simply don’t understand why people would devote so much time and effort to belong to a faux Church while performing for someone else’s fame and profit. Why not join a real Church, especially one that feeds the hungry, clothes the needy, and comforts the sick? Wouldn’t that be more productive than being happy-clappy protestor outside of a Starbucks? Your “Church’s” choice of “demons” is also very interesting. Of all of the evil corporations on this planet, you guys go for Wal-Mart, Starbucks, and Victoria ’s Secret! Really now! These companies are far from perfect, but they are not smelting lead, or making nuclear weapons, or running death squads in the Niger Delta. Please allow me to submit my analysis of this observation. Your “Church” is driven by two of the strongest liberal instincts: the need to feel superior to those they deem “less-enlightened”, and the need to promote “awareness” of a problem rather than working to solve the problem. It really boils down to a “status game”. Your choices of the targets, at which you aim your scorn, are merely “props”. White liberals especially love to use minorities as “props” , such as your Blackfeet Ayn Rand brawl buddy, to demonstrate the degree that they are so superior and enlightened compared to other whites. Some of my best friends are Blackfeet! Wal-Mart is an easy target. You don’t run Wal-Mart or own its stock, so you can feel superior to those blood-sucking corporative exploiters who do. You don’t work at Wal-Mart so you are superior to those low skilled folks with their dead-end jobs. You don’t shop at Wal-Mart, so you can feel superior to those low-income hillbillys who shop there. What would you do if Wal-Mart vanished? Go after Target, K-Mart, or Key Foods? But let’s be honest for a moment. Who hates Wal-Mart the most? Labor Unions! Unions would love to make Wal-Mart a union store – regardless of the opposition from Wal-Mart workers and customers. Why do the Unions want Wal-Mart workers? Unions are also a business; more members bring in more money in the form of dues allowing union bosses to live the high life – helping the “working class” without being a member of it. The same holds for Starbucks. It must be fun to walk around New York and somehow feel superior to someone who is probably better educated and earns way more than you or I and can pay nearly $5 for a cup of coffee. Your “Church” also uses “mom and pop” stores and the decline of “main street” as a “prop”. In most of the U.S. , outside of New York City , “main street” died decades ago, long before Wal-Mart arrived on the scene. Department Stores, 5 and 10s, strip shopping centers, and malls displaced most “mom and pop” stores long ago, just as “big box” stores are currently taking business from malls. It is all about choice, if people did not wish to shop at malls, they could have continued to shop at the down-town department store. The second instinct is even more interesting. Instead of putting on street theater to raise “awareness”, why not think outside of the box and provide an alternative. Why not do what Sam Walton did when he started Wal-Mart? He saw a better way to do business and he brought it into fruition. Wal-Mart it not a charity, but it is probably the must successful anti-poverty program in history, saving the average American family $2000 a year, creating jobs and opportunities in rural towns and in the inner city, and creating jobs for the poor in the developing world. Why don’t you and your ”Church” come up with something better? John Galt