WHAT A RENDEZVOUS!

This was Rendezvous VI.  Starting in Vegas in early 2007, and after Sarasota, Colorado Springs, Boston, and Carefree, Arizona, many folks said while they were great, this one in Williamsburg was the best.

As one Rendezvous veteran, "Dr. Roseanne," posted on the TTP Forum:

"I can’t even say enough good things about this Rendezvous. It was phenomenal. I actually wish it could have been longer as there was so much to learn…. The speakers are so available and approachable and knowledgeable!

[TTP-ers] are the most wonderful, rational, freedom-loving people… They are ‘the salt of the earth.’ I am happily sleep-deprived from staying up and visiting with some of them.   I already miss my TTP friends! Can’t wait for San Antonio! Hope you will all plan to be there!"

The good doctor put her finger on why these Rendezvous are such a memorably enjoyable experience – it’s because of the TTPers themselves.  We all enjoy each other’s company so much.  About half the attendees were first-timers, and they were overjoyed to be welcomed into a rational, freedom-loving, salt-of-the-earth community.

I, too, can hardly wait for San Antonio next January.

So – what went on last weekend?  Here are some highlights.

TTP’s Dr. Joel Wade started things off with three simple practices we all can do to have happier lives and relationships.

First is to think of (at least) three good things that happened to you at the end of each day. 

Second is "bids and turning" – when someone like your child or spouse makes a bid for your attention, physically turn toward them and acknowledge their request kindly.  You don’t have to comply with the request.  Yet the immediate response of physically turning towards them makes a huge difference to the relationship, as they don’t feel ignored.

Third is an active positive response to good news.  When someone like your child or spouse comes to you with good news, respond positively – "Wow, that’s great!" – and then ask questions and be supportive, get them to talk about it and actively listen.  The and then is the key -without it, a positive response is not much better than a negative one.

Dr. Fred Singer, atmospheric physicist and professor emeritus of environmental science at the University of Virginia, gave a charmingly informative talk on the fraud of man-made global warming.

With a wealth of data and research displayed in clear charts, he explained how carbon dioxide increase never precedes a warming period on earth going back millions of years – it is an effect, not a cause of warming.

Further, most plants evolved during periods when carbon dioxide levels were much higher than now – and of course, CO2 is necessary for photosynthesis.  The earth’s atmosphere is today, relative to the past, in carbon dioxide deficit – to properly thrive, plant life on earth requires more carbon dioxide than there is now, not less.

The Democrats’ Cap & Trade bill is thus a complete fascist fraud, sponsored by people who want government subsidies for fraudulent "green" businesses or research grants.  Thank heavens the Chinese and Indians want no part of any such scheme – and are pumping lots of CO2 into the air.

Alex Alexiev, former senior national security analyst for the RAND Corporation, provided a number of insights regarding the geopolitics of energy. 

The world is going in one direction, towards producing more energy in order to become more prosperous, while America is going in the opposite direction, producing less energy in order to become less prosperous.

The clearest example regards nuclear energy.  Europe is becoming one vast nuclear power plant construction site, while our government in cahoots with greenie lawyers puts up every possible obstacle to prevent the safest and most efficient type of energy production extant.  Nuclear power plants are being built all over the world – except here.

It’s yet another example of what Obama Democrats and Radical Moslems have in common – both really do want to take us back to the Dark Ages.

The most positive development regarding energy, economically and politically, is the technological availability of "unconventional gas" – gigantic reservoirs of natural gas trapped in structures that with previous technology could not be accessed.

These reservoirs are being tapped into now all over the world – thus natural gas prices are dropping while oil prices are rising.  This is happening even in the US, despite all efforts of Obama’s Interior Secretary Ken Salazar to block it. 

Unconventional gas is having a major impact on Russia and its largest company, Gazprom.  Putin’s hope of making Europe hostage to Russian gas is now gone.  Da svidanya.

TTP’s Jack Kelly described a fundamental difference between Democrat and Republican voters:  Democrats elect politicians to steal on their behalf, Republicans elect politicians whom they hope will stop or slow down the stealing.

Thus, Democrats don’t care if their politicians are as corrupt as they are.  As long as they get their government goodies, so what if the politicians have their hands in the same cookie jar.  Republicans on the other hand, are outraged at corruption, because they know the theft is ultimately from them.

And thus, corrupt politicians is not the problem we have so much as corrupt voters.

"Marco The Wizard" Gilligan clued us in on three software programs that can easily and significantly add to our computer security and privacy:  Spybot, C-Cleaner, and Cryptohippie.

The inventor and owner-manager of Cryptohippie is, it turns out, a TTPer – "prosberg" on the Forum.  He was able to give everyone a tutorial on how Cryptohippie really works.

TTPer Carl Sutherland briefed us on his research on dual citizenship, focusing on such countries as Ireland, Panama, Dominica and others.  His first advice though is – move to Texas!  Hopefully, we can persuade him to write a TTP article summarizing his research.

Lt. Col. (ret) Paul Behrends, strategic consultant for Blackwater (and personal advisor to Blackwater president Erik Prince), gave us an insight into the moral inversion of Washington, where the good becomes bad and the bad becomes good.

Receiving a standing ovation was Dr. Dave Janda, MD, for his presentation on the hideous anti-human fraud of ObamaCare.  There is no possible way to substantially increase the number of people getting medical care without a concomitant increase in the number of physicians, nurses, and other heath care providers – "it’s like giving everyone bus passes and then having only two buses" – unless you drastically ration health care.

Dr. Dave predicted that a very substantial fraction of doctors in America would quit practicing medicine should ObamaCare pass – Dr. Atlas shrugs!  And sure enough, this week (9/15), an IBD/TIPP poll determined that up to 45% of US doctors would quit medicine under ObamaCare.

As Jack Kelly wrote earlier today (9/17), Dr. Dave explained how Sarah Palin’s Death Panels Already Exist.  ObamaCare consists of two parts.  The "Health Care Reform" bill now in Congress is just the second part.  The first part has already been passed into law, snuck into the Stimulus Bill last February.

Dr. Dave has a solution – and you’ll learn about it in TTP next week.

Did I manage to say anything?  Well, I did get in a few words.  Thanks to the Google Earth wizardry of Dan Barak, I was able to talk about any place in the world as Dan zoomed in on it. 

The borders of Afghanistan?  Dan could lock in on the glaciers of the Wakhan Valley.  The capital of Iraqi Kurdistan, Irbil?  Suddenly we were looking right down on the Citadel in the city center, the oldest continuously inhabited city on earth.  When I mentioned that the US military base on Diego Garcia island in the Indian Ocean has an airstrip long enough for B-52s – we quickly were looking at a row of them tied down on ramp.

It was so much fun.  We hope to have a recording of it posted soon – but you’ll have to imagine Dan’s magic.

The whole weekend was fun.  We just enjoyed being with each other – learning from the speakers, visiting Yorktown and Colonial Williamsburg, over drinks and dinner.  If you weren’t there, you’ll have to imagine the magic – and promise yourself to be at the Remember The Alamo Rendezvous this January.

One closing thought we discussed at the event’s end was this.  It is no doubt true that our country faces an internal danger greater than any since the Civil War.  We’ve all heard that the Chinese symbol for "danger" is the same as for "opportunity."  The lesson to learn then is:  the greater the danger, the greater the opportunity.

It is because the threat of Zero is so grave that we now have the opportunity to do to  Democrat liberal fascism what was done to the Soviet Union.  Da svidanya.

Examples of such opportunities arose this very week, and we’ll discuss them in tomorrow’s HFR.

In the meantime, I have so many people to thank.  TTP general manager Miko, without whom all the Rendezvous just wouldn’t happen (or TTP run right), my wife Rebel who conducted several discussion groups, all our wonderful speakers, Dan Barak, and Mitch Tyree who helped Miko on location.

I’m so thankful for all those who try to never miss a Rendezvous.  It felt so good to see TTPers like Lance Martin, Sheldon Schake, Don Parker, Joel Berman, Mark Aras, Russ Weinzimmer, Van Kotts, Dave & Bev Malek, Gary Lux, Dr. Roseanne, my long time buddies Ken Glass and Bill Russell, TTP’s lovable official gadfly Julius Wroblewski, and of course, the Dynamic Blonde Duo, sisters Maureen Bowen and Eileen Corcoran.

And thanks, too, to all you first-timers!

It is such a honor and privilege for me to write for the TTP Family.  Thanks to you all.  And I sure hope to see you all in San Antonio!

Ps:  The dates aren’t final, but tentatively they are Friday, January 22 to Sunday, January 24.