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  • Disappearances

    Atlas Shrugged – Day 007 – pp. 64-73

    And Chapter IV — The Immovable Movers

    Dagny returns from a trip to United Locomotive Works in Jersey.  She had gone to see the president about why they were unable to deliver the locomotives Taggart had ordered.

    As is seemingly the norm, the president is bathing himself in self-absolution.

    Upon returning she finds Eddie who tells her that McNamara (the contractor who was to finish the Rio Norte line) has quit.  Retired.  Quit. Left the business.  Walked out on a fortune worth of pending contracts.

    Looks like time for a little conflict build-up.

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  • The Doers vs. The Blame Avoiders

    Atlas Shrugged – Day 006 – pp. 54-63

    Dagny has been against participating in this project from Day 1.  At the time, however she was still a low ranking employee so she was SOL as far as her opinion went.

    She revisits a Board meeting in her mind where Jim speaks at length about giving the Mexican people “a chance” and the duty they as the privileged class bear to extend that opportunity.

    The board sunk $30 mil into the line.

    Dagny thinks of quitting but tells herself that Taggart Trans. will need her now more than ever.

    So while Jim is sinking a boatload of money (roughly $275 million of 2010 dollars) Ellis Wyatt is shipping loads of oil out of Colorado making the Phoenix-Durango line rich.

    When the VP of Operations resigned, Dagny forces herself into the position against Jim’s protests.

    Back to the present.

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  • The Bitchy Whiney “Ain’t My Fault” Bitches

    Atlas Shrugged – Day 005 – pp. 44-53

    Quite a cast we’ve assembled so far. Two sets of balls in the bunch and one of them belongs to a woman.

    Chapter III – The Top and the Bottom … (interesting title)

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  • Hank Rearden (and his whole screwed up family) – pt 2

    Atlas Shrugged – Day 004 – pp. 33-43

    We’ve got company.

    His wife Lillian, his mother, his brother Phillip and an acquaintance Paul Larkin.

    Henry’s late for (missed actually) dinner which apparently he promised he’d be home for.  Time to dive into his head as we contrast him with the other (undoubted) losers in the room.

    He has a great desire to tell the story behind his being late; that they’ve just poured the first heat of Rearden Metal but finds himself unable to do it, feeling as if he’d be making an excuse.  Instead he acquiesces and apologizes.

    Requisite ball busting ensues.

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  • Hank Rearden – part 1

    Atlas Shrugged – Day 003 – pp. 23-32

    Anyway, Dagny closes the deal on Jim who accepts the decision with a running theme thus far…

    “Well” she asked
    “Are you taking responsibility for it?”
    “I am”

    The indisputable force and order she brings to the company is evidenced by how  Rand describes Eddie Willers feelings when she’s around…

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  • Meet Dagny Taggart (and John Galt)

    Atlas Shrugged – Day 002 – pp. 13-22
    Well we haven’t met one of the most famous opening lines in literature yet.

    I mean with Ishmael you knew who you were talking to right off the bat…  But let’s press on.

    A-HA!

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  • Eddie, Jim and the Rio-Norte Line!

    Atlas Shrugged – Day 001 – pp. 2-12

    Ayn Rand is a libertarian prophetess along the lines of George Orwell.  You know what gives a prophet the ability to see into the future?  It’s nothing divine, nothing mystical.
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  • Atlas Blogged

    Today, I am setting out upon a mighty quest.

    One that few have dared set out upon. One that fewer still have completed.

    Attempted by both great and lesser men, it has raised lesser men to greatness simply by it’s completion.  (And by that I mean anyone who’s done it’s a better man than me sister….)

    I have attempted it before myself.  And each time I have failed.

    But this time I am determined.

    This time I will begin at the beginning and not stop until my trek is complete, until my journey is at its finish.
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  • Counterinsurgency sounds much cooler than…

    …Military-Industrial Complex…

  • The Conspiracy of Debunking Conspiracies

    I suppose everything is relative.  I can’t be absolutely sure.  But I believe there is a conspiracy against us conspiracy theorists brewing.

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