John Stossel on Hannity: Why Hollywood Was Against the "Atlas Shrugged" Film

[ClayTrainor]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pgh96DhU7Yc

[Sola_Fide]

Wow. Hannity promoting Ayn Rand. I feel like I've left planet earth.

[heavenlyboy34]

Hannity's ignorance is on display here, lolz. It should come as no surprise to anyone familiar with Eastern european literature that there is a long established tradition of anti-statist literature (though not "officially" sanctioned till the fall of the Soviet empire) that depicts the crushing nature of omni-present regimes. As I understand her (I haven't read much Rand stuff yet), she's well in the tradition of Zamyatin, Solzhenitsyn, Tolstoy, Bulgakov, etc. /end rant

[heavenlyboy34]

Wow. Hannity promoting Ayn Rand. I feel like I've left planet earth.

It is rather strange. I suspect he just read a synopsis of "Atlas" and didn't do any real research into her work.

[heavenlyboy34]

double post, sorry.

[gls]

Wow. Hannity promoting Ayn Rand. I feel like I've left planet earth.

I'm amazed he actually alluded to the FDA's heartless practice of denying experimental drugs to terminal patients.

It is nice to see some of these right wing talking heads coming around, even though it's almost definitely just rooted in partisanship rather than in any sort of real limited government ideology.

[t0rnado]

Hannity just read the SparkNotes summary of Atlas Shrugged before his show.

[Sola_Fide]

I'm amazed he actually alluded to the FDA's heartless practice of denying experimental drugs to terminal patients.

Yes. That was pretty shocking coming out of Hannity's mouth.

[0zzy]

Sorry, but, the movie is going to, not at all be good. :[

[Captain Shays]

Don't be fooled. Many of us will NEVER forget how Hannity treated THE most honorable statesman in our government. We know in our hearts that he's really a big government tool and rarely if ever mentions the three hand in hand in hand issues that he and his bosses will NEVER touch intimately. The Federal Reserve, the Military industrial complex/foreign policy and the mainstream media. They can "talk" about reducing government, individual liberty, the Constitution, taxes and liberal policies all day long and they may even convince a lot of people who as Stossel said "don't have time" to "work" or look into things any deeper than watching Fox, listening to Hannity and Rush and Beck and remembering what they were "taught" in school. Government school.

[Justinjj1]

Sorry, but, the movie is going to, not at all be good. :[

I read every page of the book, but my god it was a chore to read.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_j56IiLqZ9U&feature=related

[Melissa]

I read every page of the book, but my god it was a chore to read.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_j56IiLqZ9U&feature=related

Well that is bad to hear as I just bought the book lol

[whoisjohngalt]

What is this book/movie about? Is it any good?

[bwlibertyman]

Melissa, I wouldn't worry about it. It is a thousand pages. You don't have to read it all in one sitting though. It's a great book. I couldn't put it down. I think everyone on this forum should read it. It's very educational and entertaining.

[Melissa]

Melissa, I wouldn't worry about it. It is a thousand pages. You don't have to read it all in one sitting though. It's a great book. I couldn't put it down. I think everyone on this forum should read it. It's very educational and entertaining.

Good to know thanks I am a book reader over tv and since the movie was coming out wanted to read it first

[Elwar]

Hannity proclaimed himself a libertarian after Obama was elected, he touts Atlas Shrugged as a great movie. Yet whenever he speaks of presidential candidates that will be running this year on his radio show he conveniently forgets Ron Paul or Gary Johnson.

His stripes are the same.

[Brett85]

I'm amazed he actually alluded to the FDA's heartless practice of denying experimental drugs to terminal patients.

It is nice to see some of these right wing talking heads coming around, even though it's almost definitely just rooted in partisanship rather than in any sort of real limited government ideology.

Hannity supports limited government in certain areas. Unfortunately, he just doesn't realize that his foreign policy views contradict a limited government ideology.

[osan]

Don't be fooled. Many of us will NEVER forget how Hannity treated THE most honorable statesman in our government. We know in our hearts that he's really a big government tool and rarely if ever mentions the three hand in hand in hand issues that he and his bosses will NEVER touch intimately. The Federal Reserve, the Military industrial complex/foreign policy and the mainstream media. They can "talk" about reducing government, individual liberty, the Constitution, taxes and liberal policies all day long and they may even convince a lot of people who as Stossel said "don't have time" to "work" or look into things any deeper than watching Fox, listening to Hannity and Rush and Beck and remembering what they were "taught" in school. Government school.

So true. Yesterday I had that dickhead on in the car while going to pick up some hay for the livestock. He was going on about how a government "shutdown" was no threat in the short term because "vital services" would not be impacted... then listed "social security check" as one of those. He is most clearly a giant government advocate, all this lip of decreasing it notwithstanding. Do NOT trust him... or any of them.

[Brett85]

So true. Yesterday I had that dickhead on in the car while going to pick up some hay for the livestock. He was going on about how a government "shutdown" was no threat in the short term because "vital services" would not be impacted... then listed "social security check" as one of those. He is most clearly a giant government advocate, all this lip of decreasing it notwithstanding. Do NOT trust him... or any of them.

I don't think Social Security should've been created in the first place, but people have now paid into the sytem their entire lives, and they deserve to get their own money back from the government. Giving people their own money back is something that the government has to do.

[osan]

I read every page of the book, but my god it was a chore to read.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_j56IiLqZ9U&feature=related


Agreed. The story was good, IMO. The core liberty message excellent. The style is tedious and she simply talks WAY too much. But IMO one should take what wheat from it they can and ignore the chaff.

The biggest error Rand makes in her work is the presumption of rationality on the part of people. In today's cultural context this is an assumption that cannot be validly made. In a different setting, one where the imbeciles are not bailed out when they do stupid things, I suspect her assumption would come significantly closer to broad legitimacy. But in this welfare/entitlement/coddle-the-idiots culture, the only thing that can reasonably be counted upon is for the average person to behave non-rationally - even stupidly, much of the time. Were this not so, our market bubbles would not inflate as they do.

[osan]

I don't think Social Security should've been created in the first place, but people have now paid into the sytem their entire lives, and they deserve to get their own money back from the government. Giving people their own money back is something that the government has to do.

That may be so, but I do NOT consider it an essential service. It is a shell game - major Ponzi.

[osan]

What is this book/movie about? Is it any good?

Cute.

[specsaregood]

I don't think Social Security should've been created in the first place, but people have now paid into the sytem their entire lives, and they deserve to get their own money back from the government. Giving people their own money back is something that the government has to do.

So once they get paid back the entire sum they paid in (plus a fair interest rate) we can cut them off?

[Brett85]

So once they get paid back the entire sum they paid in (plus a fair interest rate) we can cut them off?

That's what I would support. I think we should just give a one time refund check to every person who's paid into the system, and then abolish the program.

[virgil47]

So once they get paid back the entire sum they paid in (plus a fair interest rate) we can cut them off?

Do you advocate allowing injured or the sick dying on the doorsteps of hospitals because they can't afford medical care? If not then what ponzi scheme do you think should support the care of these folks? Perhaps health insurance? Oh but that too of course is a ponzi scheme as it keeps paying even after your monetary input has been used up. This B.S. about ponzi schemes is just that! ANY system that you pay into with the hopes of getting a pay out is a ponzi scheme. This includes any and all retirement systems other than stuffing your money under your mattress.

[specsaregood]

Do you advocate allowing injured or the sick dying on the doorsteps of hospitals because they can't afford medical care?
Do you support me losing my home and my children starving because I can't afford to pay the taxes to pay for the sick and dying folk that can't afford medical care? Or because the tax money eats up the income I would otherwise use to pay for my own health insurance?

[IBleedNavyAndOrange]

Awesome awesome book. Hard to stay with in some spots, but mostly one you can't put down. Fransisco gives a timeless speech on money. Hank gives an awesome speech but I wont give away the context.

The book sold half a million copies in a year... 50 years after it was first published!

[Fredom101]

How can Hannity pose as this anti-state small government conservative when he was cheerleading all the gov't expansion during the Bush era? How can anyone take Hannity seriously? All he does now is point out how bad Obama is, as if we had this lovely paradise with Bush!

[brenden.b]

Good to know thanks I am a book reader over tv and since the movie was coming out wanted to read it first

I'm right there with you, Melissa. I just started reading the book and, so far, I am enjoying it. I am planning on having Part 1 done before the movie comes out. I'm hoping that the movie will actually come out somewhere near me. I'd like to give it a fair chance.

[cindy25]

until the progressive era churches provided schools, colleges, orphan homes, old age homes, hospitals, cemetery , insurance, and would do so again as govt gave up these again.

[virgil47]

Do you support me losing my home and my children starving because I can't afford to pay the taxes to pay for the sick and dying folk that can't afford medical care? Or because the tax money eats up the income I would otherwise use to pay for my own health insurance?

I support your right to get off your butt and go to work! If you are paying taxes then it would seem you have many available ponzi schemes to choose from in order to keep your home and your family fed. Maybe you'd rather just go down to the hospital and stand on someones neck!

[Danke]

Do you support me losing my home and my children starving because I can't afford to pay the taxes to pay for the sick and dying folk that can't afford medical care? Or because the tax money eats up the income I would otherwise use to pay for my own health insurance?

Well obviously you are living beyond your means or else should be on some sort of government program already. :p

[Elwar]

I don't think Social Security should've been created in the first place, but people have now paid into the sytem their entire lives, and they deserve to get their own money back from the government. Giving people their own money back is something that the government has to do.

I've paid income tax, sales tax and property tax my whole life...when do I get that back?

[specsaregood]

I support your right to get off your butt and go to work! If you are paying taxes then it would seem you have many available ponzi schemes to choose from in order to keep your home and your family fed. Maybe you'd rather just go down to the hospital and stand on someones neck!

Ah, so the only way to survive in America is to be on the dole. And we should just keep on redistributing the wealth until nobody can survive without the govt ponzi schemes. Gotcha, perhaps you are on the wrong site.

[RonPaulRocksMyWorld]

I would gladly give up any money I have had stolen from me via Social Insecurity as long as I never have to pay another dime into the system. But then I'm young and don't expect to ever get any back... :eek:

[BuddyRey]

Hannity's ignorance is on display here, lolz. It should come as no surprise to anyone familiar with Eastern european literature that there is a long established tradition of anti-statist literature (though not "officially" sanctioned till the fall of the Soviet empire) that depicts the crushing nature of omni-present regimes. As I understand her (I haven't read much Rand stuff yet), she's well in the tradition of Zamyatin, Solzhenitsyn, Tolstoy, Bulgakov, etc. /end rant

Would Pasternak fit on that list as well? Ron Paul said that reading Dr. Zhivago had a huge impact on him as a young'un.

[virgil47]

Ah, so the only way to survive in America is to be on the dole. And we should just keep on redistributing the wealth until nobody can survive without the govt ponzi schemes. Gotcha, perhaps you are on the wrong site.

You have a choice either get with the ponzi schemes or take care of yourself and yours. The second option means never asking or expecting help no matter how dire your circumstances become. If you opt for number two you have just opted out of society as a group of people cooperating for thier own good. Go somewhere and live in a cave. You simply cannot have it both ways.

[Carehn]

Well that is bad to hear as I just bought the book lol

Best book i ever read. loved it. The philosophy or philosophical parts of the book may be boring to some but i ate it up. Some people just read this book at the wrong time in life.

[Carehn]

I don't think Social Security should've been created in the first place, but people have now paid into the sytem their entire lives, and they deserve to get their own money back from the government. Giving people their own money back is something that the government has to do.

yes they did pay in. they also allowed the government to spend it on pet projects most of them wanted. Im sorry for all those who thought they could plan there retirement upon my future labor years before i was ever born. Looks as if they miscalculated. A lot of taxpayers are going to find their retirement fund underwater. I don't like it any more then you but there is no food left in the pantry. Its gone, we ate it all. Some may have been promised more but the time to plan ahead is over now.

at this point they would not be getting there money back, they would be getting my money. You don't expect me to pay for their bad investment do you?

[Sola_Fide]

You have a choice either get with the ponzi schemes or take care of yourself and yours. The second option means never asking or expecting help no matter how dire your circumstances become. If you opt for number two you have just opted out of society as a group of people cooperating for thier own good. Go somewhere and live in a cave. You simply cannot have it both ways.

Huh?

Since when do I have the choice to opt out of these social programs? Do you understand that this government forcibly steals my income to pay into insolvent ponzi schemes that I will never see a return on?

[freshjiva]

I'm amazed he actually alluded to the FDA's heartless practice of denying experimental drugs to terminal patients.

It is nice to see some of these right wing talking heads coming around, even though it's almost definitely just rooted in partisanship rather than in any sort of real limited government ideology.

+1. You nailed it right there. So long as Obama is in the WH, the Republicans will sound like the Founding Fathers when it comes to the Constitution and liberty.

It's just like how Olbermann and the Dems sounded when Bush was in office. Once their man gets in, however, the roles are reversed.

This country is just a nation of sheep, and buys into these games every damn time.

[crazyfacedjenkins]

I'm amazed he actually alluded to the FDA's heartless practice of denying experimental drugs to terminal patients.

It is nice to see some of these right wing talking heads coming around, even though it's almost definitely just rooted in partisanship rather than in any sort of real limited government ideology.

This is the same hannity that wants to shove people in prison for smoking marijuana. Hannity is a bipolar kook.

[osan]

Awesome awesome book. Hard to stay with in some spots, but mostly one you can't put down. Fransisco gives a timeless speech on money.


His best quote: "What's a burning city compared to tearing the lid off of Hell and letting men see it?"

[osan]

I've paid income tax, sales tax and property tax my whole life...when do I get that back?

BWAAAAAAAAA HA HA HA HA HA HA HAAAAAA....

That's a good one. You're too much... you should be doing stand-up.

[cthulhufan]

Agreed. The story was good, IMO. The core liberty message excellent. The style is tedious and she simply talks WAY too much. But IMO one should take what wheat from it they can and ignore the chaff.


Agreed.

[Sentient Void]

Agreed.

Agreed.

Echo chambers FTW!

[anaconda]

Don't be fooled. Many of us will NEVER forget how Hannity treated THE most honorable statesman in our government. We know in our hearts that he's really a big government tool and rarely if ever mentions the three hand in hand in hand issues that he and his bosses will NEVER touch intimately. The Federal Reserve, the Military industrial complex/foreign policy and the mainstream media. They can "talk" about reducing government, individual liberty, the Constitution, taxes and liberal policies all day long and they may even convince a lot of people who as Stossel said "don't have time" to "work" or look into things any deeper than watching Fox, listening to Hannity and Rush and Beck and remembering what they were "taught" in school. Government school.

^this. I hope RP makes Hannity payback forever. We all should. He will stab us in the back at the first opportunity.

[libertarian4321]

I haven't read "Atlas Shrugged."

For years, I've heard "you're a libertarian, how come you've never read Rand?"

Well, I'm finally giving it a shot.

About 40% through "The Fountainhead" and "Shrugged" is next.

Can't say I'm looking forward to it, though, if "fountainhead" is any indication of how Shrugged will go.

I don't think I've ever read a book with less believable and more poorly developed characters than "The Fountainhead." It's just not a well written novel.

[osan]

I haven't read "Atlas Shrugged."

For years, I've heard "you're a libertarian, how come you've never read Rand?"

Well, I'm finally giving it a shot.

About 40% through "The Fountainhead" and "Shrugged" is next.

Can't say I'm looking forward to it, though, if "fountainhead" is any indication of how Shrugged will go.

I don't think I've ever read a book with less believable and more poorly developed characters than "The Fountainhead." It's just not a well written novel.

Cowboy up and tough it out. Forget the stories and concentrate on the messages. Then you can say you've read them and join the club. :)

[Justinjj1]

+1. You nailed it right there. So long as Obama is in the WH, the Republicans will sound like the Founding Fathers when it comes to the Constitution and liberty.

It's just like how Olbermann and the Dems sounded when Bush was in office. Once their man gets in, however, the roles are reversed.

This country is just a nation of sheep, and buys into these games every damn time.



It's pretty sad that a lot of people on here are drinking the Republican cool-aid.

[osan]

You have a choice either get with the ponzi schemes or take care of yourself and yours.

I/we do? How do I "opt out" of SS? Of income tax? Last I checked, there were men with guns and other forms of brute force most willing to bring me to harm up to and including killing me if I refuse to pay into these schemes. If this has changed - if we are now able to opt out, please and by all means let us know so we may do so ASAP.


The second option means never asking or expecting help no matter how dire your circumstances become.

If you are trying to scare us, I suspect you are engaging in catastrophic FAIL. I must also take it you refer only to "government" and not friends and family where "asking or expecting help" is concerned. If not, then I would be most interested in your basis for asserting that we are not allowed to ask them for aid in times of trouble.


If you opt for number two you have just opted out of society as a group of people cooperating for thier own good.

Really? That is quite a sweeping statement. So much so, methinks onus rests squarely upon you to demonstrate this conclusively, lest we otherwise dismiss you as non-credible.


Go somewhere and live in a cave.

This is the sort of hubris that precipitates rather strong responses from those who take exception to the authority that such statements presume to arrogate. Who, precisely, do you think you are in relation to the rest of us to command anyone to go "live in a cave" when we do not pass your socialist/statist muster?

Your credibility and integrity now circle the drain in my eyes. Perhaps you would care to clarify this ill-considered diatribe?

[scottditzen]

I saw the trailer last week.

It looked pretty awful imho...maybe they can rework it into something more coherent while hiding the low budget feel of it.

Unfortunately, I don't have high hopes for this one.