Evolution in Claude Monet's garden
Sunday, August 28, 2005
The Manufactured Debate between ID and Evolution
Intellectual design or ID is the grandchild of the famous watchmaker analogy dreamed up by a clergyman – William Paley in 1802. He wrote that if one came upon a watch in a field one would marvel at the intricate and complex mechanism and that it must have been guided and produced by an intelligent being. Therefore the fact that complex organisms exist is evidence for the existence of God.
But along came Charles Darwin who had studied Paley’s writings yet saw instead that from innumerable random mutations in the DNA that makes up an organism’s genes one mutation may result in the improvement of an organ’s function which would increase its chances for survival. For Darwin evolution largely reflects the combined action of these random mutations and natural selection repeated over billions of years resulting in incremental improvements. These improvements produce organisms that were “exquisitely adapted” to their environments and would look like they were designed. Evolution is not “just one possible explanation of life,” it is THE explanation of life and the foundation of our modern life. Creationism was junk science in the 70’s and in its metamorphosed form of ID it is still junk science.
There is no debate because good science does no debate with bad science. Evolution has been proven over and over again, scientists are now just squabbling over minutiae (such as the reason why the peppered moth evolved dark color). ID will never be proven because no research can be or has been conducted at all due to the fact that it is not science but faith. Faith or mysticism is the unreal, that which must be believed blindly. The true object of ID is to save religion – to save God from the onslaught of science and knowledge. “Mysticism is the acceptance of allegations without evidence or proof, either apart from or against the evidence of one’s senses and one’s reason” (Faith and Force: The Destroyers of the Modern World – Philosophy Who Needs it by Ayn Rand).
Although ID accepts parts of evolution today, they claim that God designed the first atoms or the first cell, depending on who you read. But it is really the last gasps of magic and mysticism from a bygone era. Statistically 1.3 million kids drop out of school between the eighth and twelfth grade and the rest are bored or can barely read or write. Two thirds of students applying to colleges are unprepared to do college level work. To bring ID into the classroom would be a terrible detriment to students who are poorly educated and not prepared intellectually even for this gasping, small dragon of ID. Their minds filled with non-concepts such as egalitarianism, environmentalism, global warming, multiculturalism how can they possibly grasp the complicated concepts that make up evolution and then compare it to a hoax such as ID that comes dressed up as science. ID is a wolf in sheep’s clothing.
Ayn Rand wrote in her article The Age of Mediocrity: “To claim that the mystics’ mythology, or inventions, or superstitions are as valid as scientific theories, and to offer this claim to the unformed minds of children, is a moral crime. But to the extent that a child trusts his teacher, he would be inclined to accept him on faith and to doubt his own mind….”
How can America survive and thrive with citizens that do not have confidence in their ability to think and reason? Each new step forward from discovering new cures for Alzheimers to finding the right set of equations that will propel man to the stars is based on a foundation of scientific reasoning that scientists can have confidence in not faith.
There is no debate, there is no controversy and there is no questioning of the grand theory of evolution among scientists and there has not been debate for decades. Without the underpinning of evolution there would be no modern science. Fields such as Comparative Biology, genetics or immunology simply would not exist. We would have no pharmaceutical companies producing antibiotics for bacterial diseases, vaccines for measles, mumps and polio or drugs to help AIDS sufferers and diabetics. We would not have surgeons performing heart or liver transplants. In sum there would not be any integration of knowledge only descriptions of things; no connections, only disintegrated snippets of data. We would still be in the 19th century wondering in amazement, with Paley, who the designer of that intricate clock was. The question is – in the 21st century, why are we still wondering?
But along came Charles Darwin who had studied Paley’s writings yet saw instead that from innumerable random mutations in the DNA that makes up an organism’s genes one mutation may result in the improvement of an organ’s function which would increase its chances for survival. For Darwin evolution largely reflects the combined action of these random mutations and natural selection repeated over billions of years resulting in incremental improvements. These improvements produce organisms that were “exquisitely adapted” to their environments and would look like they were designed. Evolution is not “just one possible explanation of life,” it is THE explanation of life and the foundation of our modern life. Creationism was junk science in the 70’s and in its metamorphosed form of ID it is still junk science.
There is no debate because good science does no debate with bad science. Evolution has been proven over and over again, scientists are now just squabbling over minutiae (such as the reason why the peppered moth evolved dark color). ID will never be proven because no research can be or has been conducted at all due to the fact that it is not science but faith. Faith or mysticism is the unreal, that which must be believed blindly. The true object of ID is to save religion – to save God from the onslaught of science and knowledge. “Mysticism is the acceptance of allegations without evidence or proof, either apart from or against the evidence of one’s senses and one’s reason” (Faith and Force: The Destroyers of the Modern World – Philosophy Who Needs it by Ayn Rand).
Although ID accepts parts of evolution today, they claim that God designed the first atoms or the first cell, depending on who you read. But it is really the last gasps of magic and mysticism from a bygone era. Statistically 1.3 million kids drop out of school between the eighth and twelfth grade and the rest are bored or can barely read or write. Two thirds of students applying to colleges are unprepared to do college level work. To bring ID into the classroom would be a terrible detriment to students who are poorly educated and not prepared intellectually even for this gasping, small dragon of ID. Their minds filled with non-concepts such as egalitarianism, environmentalism, global warming, multiculturalism how can they possibly grasp the complicated concepts that make up evolution and then compare it to a hoax such as ID that comes dressed up as science. ID is a wolf in sheep’s clothing.
Ayn Rand wrote in her article The Age of Mediocrity: “To claim that the mystics’ mythology, or inventions, or superstitions are as valid as scientific theories, and to offer this claim to the unformed minds of children, is a moral crime. But to the extent that a child trusts his teacher, he would be inclined to accept him on faith and to doubt his own mind….”
How can America survive and thrive with citizens that do not have confidence in their ability to think and reason? Each new step forward from discovering new cures for Alzheimers to finding the right set of equations that will propel man to the stars is based on a foundation of scientific reasoning that scientists can have confidence in not faith.
There is no debate, there is no controversy and there is no questioning of the grand theory of evolution among scientists and there has not been debate for decades. Without the underpinning of evolution there would be no modern science. Fields such as Comparative Biology, genetics or immunology simply would not exist. We would have no pharmaceutical companies producing antibiotics for bacterial diseases, vaccines for measles, mumps and polio or drugs to help AIDS sufferers and diabetics. We would not have surgeons performing heart or liver transplants. In sum there would not be any integration of knowledge only descriptions of things; no connections, only disintegrated snippets of data. We would still be in the 19th century wondering in amazement, with Paley, who the designer of that intricate clock was. The question is – in the 21st century, why are we still wondering?
Saturday, August 27, 2005
The Middle East: The La-La Land of Truth Inversion
“Observe what the absurdly named “peace process” has consisted of. The Palestinian Authority and its Arab neighbors deliberately keep the Palestinians in misery, indoctrinate them with anti-Semitism, and sponsor terrorism against Israel. They then blame Israel’s “occupation” of territories won in a war of self-defense (and crucial for Israel’s security today) for the Palestinian’s misery—and blame the Palestinians’ misery for Palestinian terrorism. The solution, they convince Israel and the West, is more land, loot, and power for the “downtrodden” Palestinians—money which the Palestinian leadership uses to fund more attacks on Israel.” (Israel’s Deadly Appeasement Process Continues (www.capmag.com).
The removal of the Jewish settlements in Gaza and with it any Israeli presence in this territory is a sad reminder of the bizarre times we live in. It took six days for the Israeli army to capture Gaza, the West Bank, Sinai and the Golan Heights during the 1967 Middle East war – a war which by the way was NOT started by Israel. Ironically it took the Israeli army six days to remove residents from 21 settlements in Gaza and four settlements in the West Bank.
Reading the comments from Arab leaders is an interesting exercise in truth inversion. Rafiq Husseini a Palestinian presidential chief of staff stated after the pullout: “This is a momentous and very important point in history for us. But now we want to start building.” They want to start building? Who was stopping them? It certainly was not the Israelis who at every step were willing to live side by side with their Arab neighbors. The stopping was done by the same Palestinian leaders backed by Terrorist organizations who knew that if the Palestinians prospered that would be the death blow to their fantasies of an Islam dominated world.
Mr. Husseini also stated that the Israeli withdrawal was “a very important step toward liberation and freedom and independence”. Liberation? It will be an important step when the Palestinians are liberated from their terrorist masters that have every intention of continuing the present state of Palestinian misery and poverty.
But the greatest inversion of actions and consequences was when the Israeli foreign minister Mr. Meir said: “We disengaged the people from the land in the Gaza Strip and the northern part of the West Bank. Now it is the Palestinians’ turn to disengage themselves from violence and terror.” For every action there is a logical reaction. For every cave-in to irrationality there is only more irrationality. The terrorists have learned in the past that violence and murdering innocent Israelis pays. In August 2005 they learned that patience and continued violence will give them land.
Facing the truth and telling it like it is, is a necessary component to winning anything in life and much more so when a war is being fought. In the 20th century we won WWII because we openly called the Japanese evil and Hitler a monster. Then we took the necessary actions to bring them down. The Islamic terrorists are our 21st century evil. Let us not call what happened in Gaza this month a step toward peace. It is a step toward the self sacrifice of Israel - their doom. True freedom-loving people around the world should be saddened by Israel’s capitulation, the only bulwark of freedom and democracy in a sea of irrationality and evil.
The removal of the Jewish settlements in Gaza and with it any Israeli presence in this territory is a sad reminder of the bizarre times we live in. It took six days for the Israeli army to capture Gaza, the West Bank, Sinai and the Golan Heights during the 1967 Middle East war – a war which by the way was NOT started by Israel. Ironically it took the Israeli army six days to remove residents from 21 settlements in Gaza and four settlements in the West Bank.
Reading the comments from Arab leaders is an interesting exercise in truth inversion. Rafiq Husseini a Palestinian presidential chief of staff stated after the pullout: “This is a momentous and very important point in history for us. But now we want to start building.” They want to start building? Who was stopping them? It certainly was not the Israelis who at every step were willing to live side by side with their Arab neighbors. The stopping was done by the same Palestinian leaders backed by Terrorist organizations who knew that if the Palestinians prospered that would be the death blow to their fantasies of an Islam dominated world.
Mr. Husseini also stated that the Israeli withdrawal was “a very important step toward liberation and freedom and independence”. Liberation? It will be an important step when the Palestinians are liberated from their terrorist masters that have every intention of continuing the present state of Palestinian misery and poverty.
But the greatest inversion of actions and consequences was when the Israeli foreign minister Mr. Meir said: “We disengaged the people from the land in the Gaza Strip and the northern part of the West Bank. Now it is the Palestinians’ turn to disengage themselves from violence and terror.” For every action there is a logical reaction. For every cave-in to irrationality there is only more irrationality. The terrorists have learned in the past that violence and murdering innocent Israelis pays. In August 2005 they learned that patience and continued violence will give them land.
Facing the truth and telling it like it is, is a necessary component to winning anything in life and much more so when a war is being fought. In the 20th century we won WWII because we openly called the Japanese evil and Hitler a monster. Then we took the necessary actions to bring them down. The Islamic terrorists are our 21st century evil. Let us not call what happened in Gaza this month a step toward peace. It is a step toward the self sacrifice of Israel - their doom. True freedom-loving people around the world should be saddened by Israel’s capitulation, the only bulwark of freedom and democracy in a sea of irrationality and evil.
Saturday, August 20, 2005
Going Nuclear – Destroying Middle Eastern Sourced Terrorism
Nuclear power is now being touted as the clean, secure and steady source of energy needed for our Internet age. Finland has just built its fifth plant and the protestors were marching with signs declaring “Greenpeace go home”! Amazing. Forty seven power plants have started up or are under construction since 2000 in Asia alone. China has plans for 100 new power plants and India for eight. Russia is also considering nuclear power.
Things even look positive for the clean energy in the United States as well. President Bush designated Nevada’s Yucca Mountain as a permanent repository for nuclear waste. In addition plans for six new reactors are slowly moving along in Maryland, Louisiana, Mississippi and New York, and Mr. Bush has signed into law an energy bill which includes protection for power companies against regulatory delays for the six US reactors.
With all the terrorism coming from the Middle East one must ask why they haven’t stopped the oil flow to the West. This would certainly be a sure fire way to shut us down. The reason is that oil is their only product. They have no other product, inventions or ideas to offer anyone. The Arabs did not even know what to do with the oil until the western oil-men showed up and found, drilled and shipped it.
So what does all this western money do for the Middle East besides allowing all those Saudi Arabian princes to live the high life? It goes to feeding, clothing and brain-washing their young into becoming terrorists. Get it? If the West were oil independent, at least from the Middle Eastern oil, their revenue for supporting Islamo-nihilism would dry up.
Due to decades of ever escalating Middle Eastern terrorism we are finally waking up to the fact that energy independence is a good thing. These are the logical steps, in order, which might occur were the West to totally rid itself of Arab oil.
1. The West goes nuclear.
2. The infidel cash-flow from the West to the Middle East dries up.
3. Islamo-terrorist training, therefore, cannot get funded.
4. Middle Easterners cannot live off the dole and must start producing and earning a living by becoming entrepreneurs, discoverers, inventors and thinkers (most of all).
5. Terrorism decreases and possibly ceases because people are too busy earning a living.
6. Middle Eastern governments welcome Western ideas and investments.
7. Middle Easterners become less religious, more secular and finally step into the 21st century.
As a famous 20th century philosopher once wrote: “Evil, not value, is an absence and a negation, evil is impotent and has no power but that which we let it extort from us….In any compromise between good and evil, it is only evil that can profit”. (For The New Intellectual by Ayn Rand).
Our dependence on Middle Eastern Oil for the past 90 years has allowed the irrational and evil to prosper. It is time for the good to stop our compromise with evil. Until some new source of energy is discovered by the free West we do this by going Nuclear.
Things even look positive for the clean energy in the United States as well. President Bush designated Nevada’s Yucca Mountain as a permanent repository for nuclear waste. In addition plans for six new reactors are slowly moving along in Maryland, Louisiana, Mississippi and New York, and Mr. Bush has signed into law an energy bill which includes protection for power companies against regulatory delays for the six US reactors.
With all the terrorism coming from the Middle East one must ask why they haven’t stopped the oil flow to the West. This would certainly be a sure fire way to shut us down. The reason is that oil is their only product. They have no other product, inventions or ideas to offer anyone. The Arabs did not even know what to do with the oil until the western oil-men showed up and found, drilled and shipped it.
So what does all this western money do for the Middle East besides allowing all those Saudi Arabian princes to live the high life? It goes to feeding, clothing and brain-washing their young into becoming terrorists. Get it? If the West were oil independent, at least from the Middle Eastern oil, their revenue for supporting Islamo-nihilism would dry up.
Due to decades of ever escalating Middle Eastern terrorism we are finally waking up to the fact that energy independence is a good thing. These are the logical steps, in order, which might occur were the West to totally rid itself of Arab oil.
1. The West goes nuclear.
2. The infidel cash-flow from the West to the Middle East dries up.
3. Islamo-terrorist training, therefore, cannot get funded.
4. Middle Easterners cannot live off the dole and must start producing and earning a living by becoming entrepreneurs, discoverers, inventors and thinkers (most of all).
5. Terrorism decreases and possibly ceases because people are too busy earning a living.
6. Middle Eastern governments welcome Western ideas and investments.
7. Middle Easterners become less religious, more secular and finally step into the 21st century.
As a famous 20th century philosopher once wrote: “Evil, not value, is an absence and a negation, evil is impotent and has no power but that which we let it extort from us….In any compromise between good and evil, it is only evil that can profit”. (For The New Intellectual by Ayn Rand).
Our dependence on Middle Eastern Oil for the past 90 years has allowed the irrational and evil to prosper. It is time for the good to stop our compromise with evil. Until some new source of energy is discovered by the free West we do this by going Nuclear.
Tuesday, August 09, 2005
Moral Self-Confidence - Have We Lost It?
"The man who refuses to judge, who neither agrees nor disagrees, who declares that there are no absolutes and believes that he escapes responsibility, is the man responsible for all the blood that is now spilled in the world. Reality is an absolute, existence is an absolute, a speck of dust is an absolute and so is a human life"... (Ayn Rand in Atlas Shrugged).
Hand wringing and mea culpas abound on this the 60th anniversary of the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Buy why do we cry? We are cozy in our beds at night, with tummy full and a roof that does not leak. We did not cry or hand wring in 1945 as this 21 year old second Lieutenant related: “We learned to our astonishment that we would not be obliged in a few months to rush up the beaches near Tokyo assault-firing while being machine-gunned, mortared, and shelled, and for all the practiced phlegm of our tough facades we broke down and cried with relief and joy. We were going to live.”
“We were going to Live”. Powerful words coming from a boy who knew that the Japaneses were expected to fight to the death. Lives did not mean much by the Japanese moral code of the day as it hadn’t for centuries. Pride and victory were everything for these agressors.
So Fat Man and Little Boy ended the Japanese dreams of conquest by terrorism and death. They surrendered unconditionally – Hirohito was allowed to remain a figurehead emperor. General Douglas Macarthur proceeded to institute democratic reforms and wrote their constitution. He was the boss in Japan and made sure that the people were westernized. The result of Macauthur’s PC, tough guy stance and demands? Prosperity and peace for the Japanese for the past 60 years!
We have this very important lesson reminding us every anniversary, if nothing else, that the good (the West for all you peaceniks) can only triumph over evil (Japan and Germany in 1945) if the good is willing to go all the way – no compromises and mealy mouth begging.
Some people decry the bomb as an evil thing. False! It is a good thing if it keeps America safe. Oh – some will say – the atom bomb kills hundreds of thousands in an instant and more die later of radiation. Yes, true. But is that worse than a million of our 18-25 year olds dying and maimed over five years with bullets and explosives? I don’t see the difference. There is no contest. The two bombs were a good that allowed boys to return home, Japan to prosper and become a member of the community of free nations and eventually for the evil empire, the Soviet Union, to die.
Evil nations exist because they are populated by many evil people or at least many people who hold the wrong ideas. The Japanese are a prime example of a people who wholeheartedly took up the nihilistic cause of expansionism and subjugation at whatever cost.
Wrong ideas lead me to the present. With the Islamo-terrorists, if we do not revisit WWII and relearn those lessons – the main one being that the west possessed moral self-confidence that we somehow lost over the past 60 years - we will be doomed to failure and an atomic bomb will one day and soon - devastate us. Do we deserve to be bombed? I don’t think so.
We must as a nation and individually decide whether we are the good. And if we are the good then we will maybe regain our moral self-confidence. With confidence in our being on the right side we will do the right thing concerning the Islamo-terrorists – annihilate them by doing whatever it takes. If that means dropping a bomb on Iran then so be it.
The following is a quote from Ayn Rand in Galt’s Speech in Atlas Shrugged and reprinted in “For the New Intellectual”.
"There are two sides to every issue: one side is right and the other is wrong, but the middle is always evil. The man who is wrong still retains some respect for truth, if only by accepting the responsibility of choice. But the man in the middle is the knave who blanks out the truth in order to pretend that no choice or values exist".
Right now President Bush and Prime Minister Blair are the men in the middle. They are blanking out the truth that we are fighting rabid religious terrorists and that they mean what they say and aim to get what they want - a paradise of Islamic fundamentalism on earth.
Clouds gather while the West fiddles with evasions and half truths. Just as the Japanese finally understood our moral courage and certainty (not bargains and appeasement), so we should deal with moral courage and certainty with these nihilists for whom death is everything. We are a culture of life and goodness on earth. Our continued existence depends upon our regaining our moral self-confidence and recognizing evil for what it is and wherever it is.
Hand wringing and mea culpas abound on this the 60th anniversary of the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Buy why do we cry? We are cozy in our beds at night, with tummy full and a roof that does not leak. We did not cry or hand wring in 1945 as this 21 year old second Lieutenant related: “We learned to our astonishment that we would not be obliged in a few months to rush up the beaches near Tokyo assault-firing while being machine-gunned, mortared, and shelled, and for all the practiced phlegm of our tough facades we broke down and cried with relief and joy. We were going to live.”
“We were going to Live”. Powerful words coming from a boy who knew that the Japaneses were expected to fight to the death. Lives did not mean much by the Japanese moral code of the day as it hadn’t for centuries. Pride and victory were everything for these agressors.
So Fat Man and Little Boy ended the Japanese dreams of conquest by terrorism and death. They surrendered unconditionally – Hirohito was allowed to remain a figurehead emperor. General Douglas Macarthur proceeded to institute democratic reforms and wrote their constitution. He was the boss in Japan and made sure that the people were westernized. The result of Macauthur’s PC, tough guy stance and demands? Prosperity and peace for the Japanese for the past 60 years!
We have this very important lesson reminding us every anniversary, if nothing else, that the good (the West for all you peaceniks) can only triumph over evil (Japan and Germany in 1945) if the good is willing to go all the way – no compromises and mealy mouth begging.
Some people decry the bomb as an evil thing. False! It is a good thing if it keeps America safe. Oh – some will say – the atom bomb kills hundreds of thousands in an instant and more die later of radiation. Yes, true. But is that worse than a million of our 18-25 year olds dying and maimed over five years with bullets and explosives? I don’t see the difference. There is no contest. The two bombs were a good that allowed boys to return home, Japan to prosper and become a member of the community of free nations and eventually for the evil empire, the Soviet Union, to die.
Evil nations exist because they are populated by many evil people or at least many people who hold the wrong ideas. The Japanese are a prime example of a people who wholeheartedly took up the nihilistic cause of expansionism and subjugation at whatever cost.
Wrong ideas lead me to the present. With the Islamo-terrorists, if we do not revisit WWII and relearn those lessons – the main one being that the west possessed moral self-confidence that we somehow lost over the past 60 years - we will be doomed to failure and an atomic bomb will one day and soon - devastate us. Do we deserve to be bombed? I don’t think so.
We must as a nation and individually decide whether we are the good. And if we are the good then we will maybe regain our moral self-confidence. With confidence in our being on the right side we will do the right thing concerning the Islamo-terrorists – annihilate them by doing whatever it takes. If that means dropping a bomb on Iran then so be it.
The following is a quote from Ayn Rand in Galt’s Speech in Atlas Shrugged and reprinted in “For the New Intellectual”.
"There are two sides to every issue: one side is right and the other is wrong, but the middle is always evil. The man who is wrong still retains some respect for truth, if only by accepting the responsibility of choice. But the man in the middle is the knave who blanks out the truth in order to pretend that no choice or values exist".
Right now President Bush and Prime Minister Blair are the men in the middle. They are blanking out the truth that we are fighting rabid religious terrorists and that they mean what they say and aim to get what they want - a paradise of Islamic fundamentalism on earth.
Clouds gather while the West fiddles with evasions and half truths. Just as the Japanese finally understood our moral courage and certainty (not bargains and appeasement), so we should deal with moral courage and certainty with these nihilists for whom death is everything. We are a culture of life and goodness on earth. Our continued existence depends upon our regaining our moral self-confidence and recognizing evil for what it is and wherever it is.
Saturday, August 06, 2005
Thank you Founding Fathers!
Calling the high court's June 23 ruling "misguided" and a "threat to all property owners," Mr. Riley said, "A property rights revolt is sweeping the nation, and Alabama is leading it." The backlash against the judicial ruling has not received much attention in the national press, although legislative leaders in more than two dozen states have proposed statutes and/or state constitutional amendments to restrict local governments' eminent-domain powers.
It is remarkable that our Supreme Court would vote the way it did in an important a case as Kelo versus New London. This is the now famous case where the local government declared eminent domain on 15 property owner holdouts for the purpose of starting a development plan that would afford the city of New London a new source of tax revenue.
But on second thought it’s not really so remarkable – is it…. The fact is that there is very little understanding of the term “individual rights” and why we have them, in America at least…
I agree with the Objectivist definition of Individual Rights: A right is a moral principle defining and sanctioning a man’s freedom of action in a social context. The basic right of course is a man’s right to his own life.
But if man has a right to his own life then how is he to sustain that life? By permission? That is a slave’s condition of existence. Anybody with eyes can see of course that man sustains his life by owning the product of his effort which we call property. Therefore, without the right to keep that property there can be no life. Think about it. If you cannot be sure that your house is yours or that the food you just purchased is yours, or that the car you drive to work with is yours, then you cannot live. If at any moment the government can decide to seize your property then HOW CAN YOU LIVE?
Just because the majority ruled 5-4 in the Kelo v New London case in favor of the taking of private property does not make it right. Would you like it or agree with your local government to come into your home and declare that they need the ground where your home stands on to put up a business that would produce more taxes? No of course not – you’d say that’s ridiculous.
Ayn Rand, my favorite philosopher stated it quite succinctly:
“Without property rights, no other rights are possible. Since man has to sustain his life by his own effort, the man who has no right to the product of his effort has no means to sustain his life. The man who produces while others dispose of his product, is a slave”.
So I want to thank some very special people who foresaw the abuses of government: Our Founding Fathers – in particular John Adams and Thomas Jefferson for having the wisdom and creativity for designing our three branches of government in such a way that they were independent from each other and each would serve as a control for possible abuses by the other two.
John Adams, our second president seemed adamant when he wrote that “Property is surely a right of mankind as real as liberty…The moment the idea is admitted into society that property is not as sacred as the laws of God, and that there is not a force of law and public justice to protect it, anarchy and tyranny commence.”
It is remarkable that our Supreme Court would vote the way it did in an important a case as Kelo versus New London. This is the now famous case where the local government declared eminent domain on 15 property owner holdouts for the purpose of starting a development plan that would afford the city of New London a new source of tax revenue.
But on second thought it’s not really so remarkable – is it…. The fact is that there is very little understanding of the term “individual rights” and why we have them, in America at least…
I agree with the Objectivist definition of Individual Rights: A right is a moral principle defining and sanctioning a man’s freedom of action in a social context. The basic right of course is a man’s right to his own life.
But if man has a right to his own life then how is he to sustain that life? By permission? That is a slave’s condition of existence. Anybody with eyes can see of course that man sustains his life by owning the product of his effort which we call property. Therefore, without the right to keep that property there can be no life. Think about it. If you cannot be sure that your house is yours or that the food you just purchased is yours, or that the car you drive to work with is yours, then you cannot live. If at any moment the government can decide to seize your property then HOW CAN YOU LIVE?
Just because the majority ruled 5-4 in the Kelo v New London case in favor of the taking of private property does not make it right. Would you like it or agree with your local government to come into your home and declare that they need the ground where your home stands on to put up a business that would produce more taxes? No of course not – you’d say that’s ridiculous.
Ayn Rand, my favorite philosopher stated it quite succinctly:
“Without property rights, no other rights are possible. Since man has to sustain his life by his own effort, the man who has no right to the product of his effort has no means to sustain his life. The man who produces while others dispose of his product, is a slave”.
So I want to thank some very special people who foresaw the abuses of government: Our Founding Fathers – in particular John Adams and Thomas Jefferson for having the wisdom and creativity for designing our three branches of government in such a way that they were independent from each other and each would serve as a control for possible abuses by the other two.
John Adams, our second president seemed adamant when he wrote that “Property is surely a right of mankind as real as liberty…The moment the idea is admitted into society that property is not as sacred as the laws of God, and that there is not a force of law and public justice to protect it, anarchy and tyranny commence.”
Saturday, July 16, 2005
Terrorism Becomes Personal on 7/7
It is one thing to read and hear about the low-life terrorists that are plaguing us today while in the comfort of my home and knowing that no one in my family is affected. It is quite another thing to have the implications of their actions hit you in the face out of the blue.
My eighteen year old son was traveling in Europe with a friend hoping to soak up all that history and art before bounding off for college in September. They were on the last leg of their tour when they boarded the chunnel train from Paris to the Waterloo Station in London on July 7. For some reason I couldn't quite understand, their train was delayed by mechanical problems and they ended up arriving at the London station about one hour after the 4 bombs detonated. Of course we didn't know this state side. We just knew that they were travelling that morning and in fact we had no idea which station they were arriving at in London. We did know, however, that their youth hostel was right in the targeted area in central London.
If you are a parent you can imagine our anguish. Fortunately for us, everything worked out fine. The boys were shook up and insisted on me changing their reservation for an earlier flight home instead of waiting for their scheduled flight on July 12. I didn't think that there would be more bombs. I was sure that by now the scum that did this were either dead, their favorite state of animation, or they were scurrying out of the country.
But more than this I also knew that the English would not let this stop their way of life and told my son over the phone that in one or two days the trains and buses would be running and they could go on with their sightseeing. But at the time he expressed anxiety and said he wanted to return home as soon as I could get them a new flight date. I agreed then seeing as how he was the one in the middle of the situation not me. Sure enough the next day when I informed him that they were coming home on the 9th of July my son said hesitatingly, that they would like to stay because the Londoners were taking back their city and going about their business. The transportation was also back on schedule except of course those stations that were hit.
Anyway I'm writing about all this to prove a point. Western life goes on and by that I mean our values will not be smashed by deranged nuts that insist that reality exists in some heaven and that the western way of life is evil because we care about the good life on earth.
What I would like to ask is did London reap what Madrid sowed? The Madrid bombs scared the Spanish into caving in to the terrorists demands that they withdraw their troops from Iraq. Did this cowardice prove to terrorists worldwide that if they could bring a once proud nation such as Spain to its knees then they may be able to do so to the mighty British? I think so. And for that I will never forgive the Spaniards their cowardice.
The sad thing is that while in Italy my son and his friend found out that most of the young were avowed communists and wanted their troops out of Iraq. But what can you say of a nation that would indict a person for writing and speaking about her uncompromising opinions about terrorists. I'm writing about Oriana Fallaci, the Italian author, journalist and political interviewer, who is one Italian that will not be cowed. So, there are some brave people everywhere who see the dire need to be strong and not give in to thugs.
As I see it, we now have Afganistan and Iraq under control if only somewhat. What about Iran, Syria and Saudi Arabia? These are where these scum are getting their funding and acquiring their weapons and bases for training and hiding.
We do have precedent to look back to. Our new nation was in a similar if not identical situation where the Barbary States of the Ottoman Empire were busily engaged in a slave operation involving piracy and blackmail along the western coast of North Africa. Thomas Jefferson would have nothing to do with caving in to barbarians and sent the Navy instead (that's boats and guns not bread and butter for you peaceniks). Christopher Hitchens in a recent piece in WSJ.com Opinion Journal put it thus:
"Our third president was not in a position to enforce regime change in Algiers or Tripoli, but he was able to insist on regime behavior-modification (and thus to put an end to at least one slave system)."
Although we live in a dreadful politically correct era I'm inclined to like this one PC phrase. Regime behavior-modification is what we are trying to do in the middle east. If we don't there will be no end to bombings in the future. The regimes we must do lots of behavior modification on are: Iran, Syria and Saudi Arabia. So let's pull up our chin, suck in our gut and get on with it.
My eighteen year old son was traveling in Europe with a friend hoping to soak up all that history and art before bounding off for college in September. They were on the last leg of their tour when they boarded the chunnel train from Paris to the Waterloo Station in London on July 7. For some reason I couldn't quite understand, their train was delayed by mechanical problems and they ended up arriving at the London station about one hour after the 4 bombs detonated. Of course we didn't know this state side. We just knew that they were travelling that morning and in fact we had no idea which station they were arriving at in London. We did know, however, that their youth hostel was right in the targeted area in central London.
If you are a parent you can imagine our anguish. Fortunately for us, everything worked out fine. The boys were shook up and insisted on me changing their reservation for an earlier flight home instead of waiting for their scheduled flight on July 12. I didn't think that there would be more bombs. I was sure that by now the scum that did this were either dead, their favorite state of animation, or they were scurrying out of the country.
But more than this I also knew that the English would not let this stop their way of life and told my son over the phone that in one or two days the trains and buses would be running and they could go on with their sightseeing. But at the time he expressed anxiety and said he wanted to return home as soon as I could get them a new flight date. I agreed then seeing as how he was the one in the middle of the situation not me. Sure enough the next day when I informed him that they were coming home on the 9th of July my son said hesitatingly, that they would like to stay because the Londoners were taking back their city and going about their business. The transportation was also back on schedule except of course those stations that were hit.
Anyway I'm writing about all this to prove a point. Western life goes on and by that I mean our values will not be smashed by deranged nuts that insist that reality exists in some heaven and that the western way of life is evil because we care about the good life on earth.
What I would like to ask is did London reap what Madrid sowed? The Madrid bombs scared the Spanish into caving in to the terrorists demands that they withdraw their troops from Iraq. Did this cowardice prove to terrorists worldwide that if they could bring a once proud nation such as Spain to its knees then they may be able to do so to the mighty British? I think so. And for that I will never forgive the Spaniards their cowardice.
The sad thing is that while in Italy my son and his friend found out that most of the young were avowed communists and wanted their troops out of Iraq. But what can you say of a nation that would indict a person for writing and speaking about her uncompromising opinions about terrorists. I'm writing about Oriana Fallaci, the Italian author, journalist and political interviewer, who is one Italian that will not be cowed. So, there are some brave people everywhere who see the dire need to be strong and not give in to thugs.
As I see it, we now have Afganistan and Iraq under control if only somewhat. What about Iran, Syria and Saudi Arabia? These are where these scum are getting their funding and acquiring their weapons and bases for training and hiding.
We do have precedent to look back to. Our new nation was in a similar if not identical situation where the Barbary States of the Ottoman Empire were busily engaged in a slave operation involving piracy and blackmail along the western coast of North Africa. Thomas Jefferson would have nothing to do with caving in to barbarians and sent the Navy instead (that's boats and guns not bread and butter for you peaceniks). Christopher Hitchens in a recent piece in WSJ.com Opinion Journal put it thus:
"Our third president was not in a position to enforce regime change in Algiers or Tripoli, but he was able to insist on regime behavior-modification (and thus to put an end to at least one slave system)."
Although we live in a dreadful politically correct era I'm inclined to like this one PC phrase. Regime behavior-modification is what we are trying to do in the middle east. If we don't there will be no end to bombings in the future. The regimes we must do lots of behavior modification on are: Iran, Syria and Saudi Arabia. So let's pull up our chin, suck in our gut and get on with it.
Thursday, May 26, 2005
Of Knuckleheads and Political Prisoners
“When your children are dying, you don’t worry about what the neighbors think. When the whole future of a race is jeopardized by self-destructive fads, you put public relations on the back burner.”
Anyone who has taught black, white, and Asian students will know that they do not work equally. Studies show it but you don’t need studies. Just go into a university library on a Saturday night and see who is there and who is not there.”
Thomas Sowell in “Bravo for Bill Cosby” (capmag.com)
I love it when the news gives me another example of a principle that I want to figure out for myself. The first example I wrote about was the John Bolton nomination in “The Problem with Bolton” on April 22, 2005. In that piece I claimed that “The truth is such a rare commodity in our political world that when we hear “it” we are stunned into a kind of silent horror as our minds grapple with the unexpected words and try to make sense of them.”
Now I can say that the truth is such a rare commodity among the people as well. Actually there are two examples very much related. The first is Bill Cosby’s indictment of our black youth when he stated: “Everybody knows it’s important to speak English except these knuckleheads.” The second example is his indictment of people who referred to “the incarcerated” as “political prisoners”.
The “knuckleheads” are young blacks who are not taught to value an education. What they value are rap “music”, baggy pants and the “cool attitude”. But then these same knuckleheads and their parents and teachers and community leaders then cry that they are discriminated against when they can’t get into college or find good jobs. This is why Asians outperform even whites in school – they DO value education and their parents are there with a “big stick” if they don’t study. It’s really very simple. Strong parents who keep their kids off the streets and their noses in books produce educated young adults who go on to successful and fulfilling lives.
The online dictionary defines knucklehead as “a stupid person; a blockhead”. So what’s the big uproar about Bill Cosby’s choice of words? If you don’t know math, American History, the beauty of the Sistine Chapel or where Colombia is then maybe you are a knucklehead. Why try to hide the fact that whole generations of kids are being sent into the world with very little knowledge in their heads?
Again, as with John Bolton, you have another person, Bill Cosby, who speaks the truth without obfuscation and certain types get in a tizzy. As the old saying goes - the truth will set you free…and more than that it will perhaps wake you up to the reality confronting you: Blacks, whites or Asians will only achieve poverty if they do not take their education seriously and consequently they just might end up as “political prisoners”.
As the 20th century philosopher and novelist, Ayn Rand wrote:
“Truth is the recognition of reality; reason, man’s only means of knowledge, is his only standard of truth.”
If our knucklehead youths and their parents do not face the truth, what they are not facing is reality…. and reality always wins in the long run.
Anyone who has taught black, white, and Asian students will know that they do not work equally. Studies show it but you don’t need studies. Just go into a university library on a Saturday night and see who is there and who is not there.”
Thomas Sowell in “Bravo for Bill Cosby” (capmag.com)
I love it when the news gives me another example of a principle that I want to figure out for myself. The first example I wrote about was the John Bolton nomination in “The Problem with Bolton” on April 22, 2005. In that piece I claimed that “The truth is such a rare commodity in our political world that when we hear “it” we are stunned into a kind of silent horror as our minds grapple with the unexpected words and try to make sense of them.”
Now I can say that the truth is such a rare commodity among the people as well. Actually there are two examples very much related. The first is Bill Cosby’s indictment of our black youth when he stated: “Everybody knows it’s important to speak English except these knuckleheads.” The second example is his indictment of people who referred to “the incarcerated” as “political prisoners”.
The “knuckleheads” are young blacks who are not taught to value an education. What they value are rap “music”, baggy pants and the “cool attitude”. But then these same knuckleheads and their parents and teachers and community leaders then cry that they are discriminated against when they can’t get into college or find good jobs. This is why Asians outperform even whites in school – they DO value education and their parents are there with a “big stick” if they don’t study. It’s really very simple. Strong parents who keep their kids off the streets and their noses in books produce educated young adults who go on to successful and fulfilling lives.
The online dictionary defines knucklehead as “a stupid person; a blockhead”. So what’s the big uproar about Bill Cosby’s choice of words? If you don’t know math, American History, the beauty of the Sistine Chapel or where Colombia is then maybe you are a knucklehead. Why try to hide the fact that whole generations of kids are being sent into the world with very little knowledge in their heads?
Again, as with John Bolton, you have another person, Bill Cosby, who speaks the truth without obfuscation and certain types get in a tizzy. As the old saying goes - the truth will set you free…and more than that it will perhaps wake you up to the reality confronting you: Blacks, whites or Asians will only achieve poverty if they do not take their education seriously and consequently they just might end up as “political prisoners”.
As the 20th century philosopher and novelist, Ayn Rand wrote:
“Truth is the recognition of reality; reason, man’s only means of knowledge, is his only standard of truth.”
If our knucklehead youths and their parents do not face the truth, what they are not facing is reality…. and reality always wins in the long run.
Monday, May 16, 2005
Mind Corrupters
“The educational foundations of our society are presently being eroded by a rising tide of mediocrity that threatens our very future as a nation and as a people…If an unfriendly foreign power had attempted to impose on America the mediocre educational performance that exists today, we might well have viewed it as an act of war. As it stands, we have allowed this to happen to ourselves.” (National Commission on Excellence in Education, April 1983).
On the occasion of my third son's graduation from a public high school this year, I felt glad that the long 20 years of schooling was finally over. Frankly, I never want to step foot into an American public school again. But I am a patriotic American and I cannot sit quietly by and allow the systematic destruction of the minds of our young to continue without protesting and demanding some rationality in this arena.
Over the years I have read all manner of very negative and disheartening things about our education system. The picture gets worse every year. The nihilists and terrorists of the world are not the only threats to our country and way of life. Our poorly educated youngsters pose an equal danger to our health, security and ability to continue inventing, innovating and discovering.
I recently read the results of the Association of Computing Machinery International Collegiate Programming contest where the University of Illinois tied for 17th place – the lowest ranking in 29 years of competition. China took first place followed by Moscow and St. Petersburg. We have not won that competition since 1997. David Patterson, President of the Association for Computing Machinery and a professor of Computing Science at the University of California at Berkeley said “the US used to dominate these kinds of programming Olympics”. The sentence has the ring of sadness and abandonment -sadness for our future and the abandonment of our young people’s minds.
Used to dominate? What is happening to us? Why are we constantly slipping ever more behind? Let’s make a list. I like lists –they clarify what the problems are and what needs to be done.
1. At a recent international math test American teenagers ranked 24th and scored near the bottom on tests of general problem solving.
2. Most of the Ph.D.’s awarded by American Universities in math and engineering have gone to foreigners. Thomas Sowell (CapMag.com) writes: “We have the finest graduate schools in the world-so fine our own American students have trouble getting admitted in fields that require highly trained minds.”
3. More than 42 million adult Americans are thought to be functionally illiterate.
4. Every day 3000 kids drop out of school.
5. The nations’ high school graduation rate is 69 percent.
6. A 2002 National Assessment of Educational Progress reported that reading achievement of 12th grade students had declined over the previous 5 years. Thirty percent of boys and 20 percent of girls were reading below basic level.
7. The NEA (National Education Association – the largest teacher union) was called a terrorist organization by Education Secretary Paige (he retracted his statement under pressure).
8. Students who select education as their major have the lowest SAT scores of any major. The same holds true for Education majors taking the Graduate Record exams, and the LSAT for admission to law schools. Top-notch teachers are hard to find especially in science and math.
8. Schools no longer teach kids to think and no longer demand excellence. Instead, we have students brains filled with leftist propaganda and fads such as: Environmentalism, multiculturalism, Ebonics, fuzzy math, whole language, bilingual education, calculators in the classroom, revisionist history, denigrating our founding fathers, white man as the cause of everything, and anti-Americanism.
9. Parental ignorance and neglect of their child’s education.
10. The refusal to allow teachers and principals to punish bad behavior.
11. The refusal to recognize in a very public way kids who excel in academics (no problem with the hero-worship, though, of our school athletes).
12. The doling out of A’s and B’s as if they were M & M’s. Giving high grades for very little effort and very little homework is part of the dismal “self esteem” movement now infecting our schools.
It seems to me a crazy situation when we continue doing the same thing year after year and keep getting ever worse results. If we keep buying into the same ideas that have dominated our education system for the past several decades then we will inevitably cause our own downfall and we will have no foreign terrorists to blame. To me it is obvious that education must be taken out of the hands of our government and handed over to the free market. If this is done the following will eventually happen:
Competition among schools.
Gifted students will be placed on a special science and math track early (by 7th or 8th grade as suggested by James Glassman).
Motivated parents will mentor their children and demand diligence at school.
Highly educated teachers will graduate not from schools of education but from the schools of their chosen subject matter.
The NEA will be abolished and teachers will understand that they must perform or they will be fired.
A code of conduct will exist that insists on good behavior in the classroom.
A rigorous school curriculum where an A actually stands for achievement will be in place.
Common sense teaching and honesty in the curriculum will return.
The “self-esteem” movement that has caused so much harm to kids by making them believe that they can have the unearned will give way to hard work and dedication to learning
An uneducated citizenry-one who does not know how to evaluate information and make tough decisions based on reason-is a citizenry that is prepared for nothing more than servility to their emotions and hoodwinking by politicians. While Asian countries are gaining dominance in the arena of the mind will Americans do what it takes to remake their education system so that it can compete in the 21st century? Are we going to be a nation of dolts with unearned high self-esteem or smart, creative and enterprising individuals who have earned their self-esteem based on character and a trained mind?
Abigail Adams recognizing the value of a good education sent her 10 year old son John Quincy to France with his father John Adams. It was a difficult and dangerous journey in those days and everything that could go wrong did on that voyage. Abigail, nevertheless, risked her son’s life for an education as she explains in a letter to John Quincy:
"These are the times in which genius would wish to live. It is not in the still calm of life or the repose of a pacific station that great characters are formed. The habits of a vigorous mind are formed in contending with difficulties. Great necessities call out great virtues. When a mind is raised and animated by scenes that engage the heart, then those qualities which would otherwise lay dormant wake into life and form the character of the hero and the stateman."
Do we, as parents and teachers ever speak to our children in such language? She is taking the subject of education seriously and advising her son that only with a well trained mind and a virtuous character can one cope with difficulties and become a hero. Abigail wants her son to become a man quickly because there is work to do and considers it a matter of survival (Knowing History and Who We Are, David McCullough, Imprimis; Hillsdale College).
The 20th century philosopher and novelist, Ayn Rand, defined self-esteem as “reliance on one’s power to think” (www.aynrand.org). Well, now is the time to think by those who still have the noggins to do so. We must see our schools for what they are: mind corrupters.
On the occasion of my third son's graduation from a public high school this year, I felt glad that the long 20 years of schooling was finally over. Frankly, I never want to step foot into an American public school again. But I am a patriotic American and I cannot sit quietly by and allow the systematic destruction of the minds of our young to continue without protesting and demanding some rationality in this arena.
Over the years I have read all manner of very negative and disheartening things about our education system. The picture gets worse every year. The nihilists and terrorists of the world are not the only threats to our country and way of life. Our poorly educated youngsters pose an equal danger to our health, security and ability to continue inventing, innovating and discovering.
I recently read the results of the Association of Computing Machinery International Collegiate Programming contest where the University of Illinois tied for 17th place – the lowest ranking in 29 years of competition. China took first place followed by Moscow and St. Petersburg. We have not won that competition since 1997. David Patterson, President of the Association for Computing Machinery and a professor of Computing Science at the University of California at Berkeley said “the US used to dominate these kinds of programming Olympics”. The sentence has the ring of sadness and abandonment -sadness for our future and the abandonment of our young people’s minds.
Used to dominate? What is happening to us? Why are we constantly slipping ever more behind? Let’s make a list. I like lists –they clarify what the problems are and what needs to be done.
1. At a recent international math test American teenagers ranked 24th and scored near the bottom on tests of general problem solving.
2. Most of the Ph.D.’s awarded by American Universities in math and engineering have gone to foreigners. Thomas Sowell (CapMag.com) writes: “We have the finest graduate schools in the world-so fine our own American students have trouble getting admitted in fields that require highly trained minds.”
3. More than 42 million adult Americans are thought to be functionally illiterate.
4. Every day 3000 kids drop out of school.
5. The nations’ high school graduation rate is 69 percent.
6. A 2002 National Assessment of Educational Progress reported that reading achievement of 12th grade students had declined over the previous 5 years. Thirty percent of boys and 20 percent of girls were reading below basic level.
7. The NEA (National Education Association – the largest teacher union) was called a terrorist organization by Education Secretary Paige (he retracted his statement under pressure).
8. Students who select education as their major have the lowest SAT scores of any major. The same holds true for Education majors taking the Graduate Record exams, and the LSAT for admission to law schools. Top-notch teachers are hard to find especially in science and math.
8. Schools no longer teach kids to think and no longer demand excellence. Instead, we have students brains filled with leftist propaganda and fads such as: Environmentalism, multiculturalism, Ebonics, fuzzy math, whole language, bilingual education, calculators in the classroom, revisionist history, denigrating our founding fathers, white man as the cause of everything, and anti-Americanism.
9. Parental ignorance and neglect of their child’s education.
10. The refusal to allow teachers and principals to punish bad behavior.
11. The refusal to recognize in a very public way kids who excel in academics (no problem with the hero-worship, though, of our school athletes).
12. The doling out of A’s and B’s as if they were M & M’s. Giving high grades for very little effort and very little homework is part of the dismal “self esteem” movement now infecting our schools.
It seems to me a crazy situation when we continue doing the same thing year after year and keep getting ever worse results. If we keep buying into the same ideas that have dominated our education system for the past several decades then we will inevitably cause our own downfall and we will have no foreign terrorists to blame. To me it is obvious that education must be taken out of the hands of our government and handed over to the free market. If this is done the following will eventually happen:
Competition among schools.
Gifted students will be placed on a special science and math track early (by 7th or 8th grade as suggested by James Glassman).
Motivated parents will mentor their children and demand diligence at school.
Highly educated teachers will graduate not from schools of education but from the schools of their chosen subject matter.
The NEA will be abolished and teachers will understand that they must perform or they will be fired.
A code of conduct will exist that insists on good behavior in the classroom.
A rigorous school curriculum where an A actually stands for achievement will be in place.
Common sense teaching and honesty in the curriculum will return.
The “self-esteem” movement that has caused so much harm to kids by making them believe that they can have the unearned will give way to hard work and dedication to learning
An uneducated citizenry-one who does not know how to evaluate information and make tough decisions based on reason-is a citizenry that is prepared for nothing more than servility to their emotions and hoodwinking by politicians. While Asian countries are gaining dominance in the arena of the mind will Americans do what it takes to remake their education system so that it can compete in the 21st century? Are we going to be a nation of dolts with unearned high self-esteem or smart, creative and enterprising individuals who have earned their self-esteem based on character and a trained mind?
Abigail Adams recognizing the value of a good education sent her 10 year old son John Quincy to France with his father John Adams. It was a difficult and dangerous journey in those days and everything that could go wrong did on that voyage. Abigail, nevertheless, risked her son’s life for an education as she explains in a letter to John Quincy:
"These are the times in which genius would wish to live. It is not in the still calm of life or the repose of a pacific station that great characters are formed. The habits of a vigorous mind are formed in contending with difficulties. Great necessities call out great virtues. When a mind is raised and animated by scenes that engage the heart, then those qualities which would otherwise lay dormant wake into life and form the character of the hero and the stateman."
Do we, as parents and teachers ever speak to our children in such language? She is taking the subject of education seriously and advising her son that only with a well trained mind and a virtuous character can one cope with difficulties and become a hero. Abigail wants her son to become a man quickly because there is work to do and considers it a matter of survival (Knowing History and Who We Are, David McCullough, Imprimis; Hillsdale College).
The 20th century philosopher and novelist, Ayn Rand, defined self-esteem as “reliance on one’s power to think” (www.aynrand.org). Well, now is the time to think by those who still have the noggins to do so. We must see our schools for what they are: mind corrupters.
Saturday, April 30, 2005
Our Security Threat is to the South
The Wall Street Journal (April 29, 2005) has a fascinating article by Mary Anastasia O’Grady called “The ‘Cubanization’ of Latin America”. It seems that John Bolton has for a long time been sounding the alarm bells regarding the Cuban menace to regional stability and US security. But of course how dare this rude outspoken man speak truth which is out of fashion for the politically correct.
O’Grady lays out the facts of the Castro-Chavez connection regarding their goal to expand the communist revolution to other countries in Latin America. Her source is a former Venezuelan military officer who fled his country when he realized what Chavez was doing. Using Venezuelan oil revenues to arm subversive groups they are targeting Bolivia and Ecuador for their nefarious destabilization tactics.
But the cream on the cake that would “break the spine of democracy in the region” is Colombia. By breaking Colombia to their communist will the revolution would go to the international stage which has always been the dream of that gift to mankind – Castro.
It is amazing to me that having this ridiculous and evil man not 60 miles from our shores and knowing the expansionist dreams of this tin pot dictator we have allowed him to carry on as usual for so many decades. And then when another dictator, Chavez, “wins” the elections Bush does nothing! Well, now we can reap the bitter fruit of nonchalance and outright neglect of our neighbors to the south. Why is North Korea more important than what is happening on our doorstep? Granted, we’re spread thin around the world but we must not ignore that huge continent to the south. Let’s treat the pimple before it becomes a boil. And John Bolton may your voice be loud and clear about this nasty pimple.
O’Grady lays out the facts of the Castro-Chavez connection regarding their goal to expand the communist revolution to other countries in Latin America. Her source is a former Venezuelan military officer who fled his country when he realized what Chavez was doing. Using Venezuelan oil revenues to arm subversive groups they are targeting Bolivia and Ecuador for their nefarious destabilization tactics.
But the cream on the cake that would “break the spine of democracy in the region” is Colombia. By breaking Colombia to their communist will the revolution would go to the international stage which has always been the dream of that gift to mankind – Castro.
It is amazing to me that having this ridiculous and evil man not 60 miles from our shores and knowing the expansionist dreams of this tin pot dictator we have allowed him to carry on as usual for so many decades. And then when another dictator, Chavez, “wins” the elections Bush does nothing! Well, now we can reap the bitter fruit of nonchalance and outright neglect of our neighbors to the south. Why is North Korea more important than what is happening on our doorstep? Granted, we’re spread thin around the world but we must not ignore that huge continent to the south. Let’s treat the pimple before it becomes a boil. And John Bolton may your voice be loud and clear about this nasty pimple.
Friday, April 22, 2005
The Problem with Bolton
“If it (United Nations) lost 10 stories, it wouldn’t make a bit of difference.”
“While he (North Korea’s leader) lives like royalty in Pyongyang, he keeps hundreds of thousands of his people locked in prison camps with millions more mired in abject poverty. For many in North Korea, life is a hellish nightmare.”
“I don’t do carrots.”
John Bolton, the President’s nominee to be ambassador to the United States suffers from a rare affliction in our modern times. He speaks the truth and he’s not afraid, timid or remorseful about it. The truth is such a rare commodity in our political world that when we hear “it” we are stunned into a kind of silent horror as our minds grapple with the unexpected sequence of words and try to make sense of them.
John Bolton is out of step with the times and therefore he is bound to draw a lot of negative attention especially from our left leaning press and a lot of our politicians. Mr. Bolton does not try to curry favor or be politically correct or call a spade an ace. He looks out there in the world, sees reality and responds truthfully. But isn’t that what living is about? At every minute of the day a person needs to look at reality, ergo, the truth and make decisions. These decisions can be life threatening. After all what is truth? Truth is the recognition of reality and man recognizes reality by use of his reason. Therefore, what good is it for man to possess reason if he refuses to use it honestly?
The people attacking Mr. Bolton cry shame on him! They would prefer he try to change reality into fantasy and make believe that the UN is an institution that is doing a good job. They prefer the charade that UN members are all equally good and moral ambassadors from freedom loving nations, such as Cuba, Sudan, Iran and North Korea.
Remember the naked emperor who thought he was wearing glorious clothing and his subjects who gasped when a little boy dared reveal the truth according to what his eyes were telling him? That little boy is John Bolton, the emperor is the United Nations and the Emperor’s cheering subjects all who defend the UN as a useful institution. The truth needs to be spoken out loud and John Bolton is the man with cojones to do it.
“While he (North Korea’s leader) lives like royalty in Pyongyang, he keeps hundreds of thousands of his people locked in prison camps with millions more mired in abject poverty. For many in North Korea, life is a hellish nightmare.”
“I don’t do carrots.”
John Bolton, the President’s nominee to be ambassador to the United States suffers from a rare affliction in our modern times. He speaks the truth and he’s not afraid, timid or remorseful about it. The truth is such a rare commodity in our political world that when we hear “it” we are stunned into a kind of silent horror as our minds grapple with the unexpected sequence of words and try to make sense of them.
John Bolton is out of step with the times and therefore he is bound to draw a lot of negative attention especially from our left leaning press and a lot of our politicians. Mr. Bolton does not try to curry favor or be politically correct or call a spade an ace. He looks out there in the world, sees reality and responds truthfully. But isn’t that what living is about? At every minute of the day a person needs to look at reality, ergo, the truth and make decisions. These decisions can be life threatening. After all what is truth? Truth is the recognition of reality and man recognizes reality by use of his reason. Therefore, what good is it for man to possess reason if he refuses to use it honestly?
The people attacking Mr. Bolton cry shame on him! They would prefer he try to change reality into fantasy and make believe that the UN is an institution that is doing a good job. They prefer the charade that UN members are all equally good and moral ambassadors from freedom loving nations, such as Cuba, Sudan, Iran and North Korea.
Remember the naked emperor who thought he was wearing glorious clothing and his subjects who gasped when a little boy dared reveal the truth according to what his eyes were telling him? That little boy is John Bolton, the emperor is the United Nations and the Emperor’s cheering subjects all who defend the UN as a useful institution. The truth needs to be spoken out loud and John Bolton is the man with cojones to do it.
Saturday, April 09, 2005
Is Your Body Yours? Executive Body Snatchers
The Terri Schiavo case is a microcosm of today's America. Within the confines of this single affair there plays out the struggle between the executive and judicial branches of government, the struggle between the religious and the secular, and the struggle between those who know best for others and those who want to be left alone.
The fact that President Bush and Governor Bush tried to intervene in the Terri Schiavo case is very telling as to how the religious rights wants to proceed. Clearly everyone knows that this is a court matter – a dispute between the husband and the parents regarding the existence of Mrs. Schiavo. The religious right, however, has another view. To these people God demands the maintenance of life at all cost – regardless of whether that person is really alive in any sense of the word. But since God does not talk to ordinary people like me I assume that the religious right really wants to have power over a person’s right to decide how to end their life. Look what happened to Dr. Kevorkian in Michigan – he’s still rotting away in a jail for answering the cries of people in agony who wanted help with dying.
The problem with this mentality is that if there is no right to your own body then there is no right to own your life either. A right is a moral concept that defines and sanctions “a man’s freedom of action in a social context” and the one fundamental right is a man’s right to his own life. That does not mean only the part of his life where he is acting to maintain his life it also means the part where he no longer wants to maintain his life.
Human beings have rights because of the nature of our species. Since we have to think every second of the day in order to figure out how to live (versus an animal who acts on instincts) we have to have the right to own our life and our bodies.
So it appears to me that the Schiavo case is a first step for the religious right toward earlier control of our lives. If we cannot control the ending of our lives why should we be able to control when and if we want to make a new life. The religious right believes that a bunch of cells is a human being just because it has the correct configuration of chromosomes. They would willingly condemn a woman to 20 years of hard labor raising a child she does not want. That is the real agenda of these people.
And that my friend is what we have to stand up and fight for: the freedom to determine how each person decides to use her body. This fight of course is a philosophical battle, that is, it is a battle of ideas and the battle lines are drawn: On the one side there is tyranny (the executive body snatchers) on the other side there is freedom. But isn’t that the battle individuals have been fighting for centuries? It’s just in a new form.
The fact that President Bush and Governor Bush tried to intervene in the Terri Schiavo case is very telling as to how the religious rights wants to proceed. Clearly everyone knows that this is a court matter – a dispute between the husband and the parents regarding the existence of Mrs. Schiavo. The religious right, however, has another view. To these people God demands the maintenance of life at all cost – regardless of whether that person is really alive in any sense of the word. But since God does not talk to ordinary people like me I assume that the religious right really wants to have power over a person’s right to decide how to end their life. Look what happened to Dr. Kevorkian in Michigan – he’s still rotting away in a jail for answering the cries of people in agony who wanted help with dying.
The problem with this mentality is that if there is no right to your own body then there is no right to own your life either. A right is a moral concept that defines and sanctions “a man’s freedom of action in a social context” and the one fundamental right is a man’s right to his own life. That does not mean only the part of his life where he is acting to maintain his life it also means the part where he no longer wants to maintain his life.
Human beings have rights because of the nature of our species. Since we have to think every second of the day in order to figure out how to live (versus an animal who acts on instincts) we have to have the right to own our life and our bodies.
So it appears to me that the Schiavo case is a first step for the religious right toward earlier control of our lives. If we cannot control the ending of our lives why should we be able to control when and if we want to make a new life. The religious right believes that a bunch of cells is a human being just because it has the correct configuration of chromosomes. They would willingly condemn a woman to 20 years of hard labor raising a child she does not want. That is the real agenda of these people.
And that my friend is what we have to stand up and fight for: the freedom to determine how each person decides to use her body. This fight of course is a philosophical battle, that is, it is a battle of ideas and the battle lines are drawn: On the one side there is tyranny (the executive body snatchers) on the other side there is freedom. But isn’t that the battle individuals have been fighting for centuries? It’s just in a new form.
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