Thought Excercise

I note with interest that Ayn Rand wanted Farrah Fawcett to play the part of Dagny Taggart in the TV version of Atlas Shrugged. (h/t: Ry)

Now, I suspect that a TV version of Atlas Shrugged would stink on ice. A movie version probably wouldn't be better; likely it would turn out like the difference between the book and movie of Starship Troopers.

That said (and here's the thought excercise)... who would YOU cast in the major roles, should Atlas Shrugged be put to film?

My first thoughts are:
Nathan Fillion or Will Smith as Hank Rearden
Gary Oldman as James Taggart (probably iffy)
Jon Voight or Fred Thompson as John Galt (iffy)
John Goodman as Ragnar Danneskjöld
Johnny Depp as Francisco d'Anconia
Lena Heady as Dagny Taggart (this is definately a firm maybe)

Looking back, after editing that list, I may have even gotten the actor-vs-character ages somewhere in the ballpark.

As for the rest of the cast, I have no idea. I'm not a casting guy, after all.

Who would YOU cast for various parts, if it were up to you?

Bow down to your new Deity

The Editor of Newsweek Magazine claims Obama is God.

Yes, he really said that; I heard that clip several times today on the radio.

Obama also, apparently, has talked more about Jesus than President Bush ever did. (Sorry, I didn't catch the source for that).

So, I called the radio station, and said, "Well of course. Don't all parents love to talk about their kids?"

Jon-David Wells gave me a rimshot for that one.

Away for a while

Not that this will seriously disrupt my normal posting rate, but I'll be on hiatus from blogging for about a week. Any communications will be read and responded to after that.

Sotomayor - BIG NO.

"A wise, hispanic woman should make better decisions than a white man, because he hasn't lived that life"

"The Court of Appeals is where policy is made"

Those are from memory, so don't consider them actual quotes, but that's what Sotomayor has said in the past.

She's a racist, sexist bigot, and thinks Justices should be activists and set policy rather than apply the rule of law. That makes her a no-go in my book, and I'll be telling John Cornyn and Kay Bailey Hutchison exactly that, and for those reasons.

Cross-posted as a comment at Rivrdog's place.

Memorial Day

I spent too much time, and too many beers, collecting what I want to write for Memorial Day.

The best I have to say is this - when I raised the flag at the shop (aka Dad's Garage), Alex put his feet together, and put his hand on his chest while I hoisted the flag. He's not quite two years old, but he stood to attention for the flag.

Some shit just makes me angry.

Joe's quote of the day, while I agree with it, points out a problem in the current gun debate.

Badasses DO NOT NEED GUNS. Hand-to-hand, fist-to-jaw, if I'm trying to protect my wife and son, I'd probably do around 50%.

Hand-to-hand, fist-to-jaw, Lisa might do 10%. Alex would do 0% - casualty or hostage.

Muzzle-to-home intruder, I'd probably do better than 95%; Lisa would probably do better than 90%. Alex would probably be safe under those circumstances.

We're winning the debate, but we need to keep the pressure on. Keep asking the question (thanks to Joe), "Can you demonstrate one time or place, throughout all history, where the average person was made safer by restricting access to handheld weapons?"

That's a correct quote, copied from his site. But it's the Question To Ask, or as Joe calls it, "Just One Question".

Keep asking it, keep pushing. We're winning, for now, don't let up.

Well, I'll try to help.

Joe says gunbloggers are having an impact.

I certainly met several, in the past few weeks, who have a lot to say.

I'm not a big dog on this porch - but I'll throw my few ounces in anyway. Every little bit helps, I guess?

Fair warning - don't try to take any of my rights guaranteed by the Bill of Rights. If you want to try, bring a lunch - you're gonna be here all day, and then some.

And that's about as polite as I'm going to be on this topic.