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Index for this page...(Be aware some links below may have expired.)
All The Following Items Were Posted On October 1, 2004 William Ellery Channing (1780-1842), American Transcendentalist philosopher
From Self-Culture. More information about William Ellery Channing in the Academy. Charles Sanders Peirce (1839-1914), American Pramaticist philosopher
From How to Make Our Ideas Clear. More information about Charles Sanders Peirce in the Academy. Josiah Royce (1855-1916), American Idealist philosopher
From Studies of Good and Evil. More information about Josiah Royce in the Academy. You probably missed it in the rush of news last week, but there was actually a report that someone in Pakistan had published in a newspaper an offer of a reward to anyone who killed an American, any American. So an Australian dentist wrote the following to let everyone know what an American is, so they would know when they found one:
Source: An e-mail from one of our friends on the Internet. Silly Stuff!: Los Angeles City Council Bans "Silly String" YOU'LL GET MY SILLY STRING WHEN YOU PRY IT FROM MY COLD DEAD FINGERS! No, we haven't seen that bumper sticker yet. But it may be coming soon. On August 17, the Los Angeles city council voted to outlaw the use of "silly string" on Halloween. Yes, silly string -- that gooey, brightly-colored, string-like aerosol foam that kids, party goers and other celebrants spray on each other. Hey, stop laughing! This is a serious matter. Just ask Councilman Tom LaBonge, sponsor of the ban. "It's not silly at all," he told critics. Indeed, LaBonge says the ban is about serious stuff like stopping violence and protecting the environment. The use of silly string, LaBonge and the anti-string forces say, sometimes starts fights at Halloween parties. "People get a little crazed at the end of the evening, and they shoot the spray into each other's faces," explained a spokeswoman for LaBonge. (Which suggests a second bumper sticker: SILLY STRING DOESN'T START FIGHTS -- PEOPLE DO.) And some environmentalists charge that the stuff isn't biodegradable, and when it drains from (government-owned) streets into the ocean, it harms marine life. LaBonge's fellow commissioners hailed the ban and voted 10-0 in favor. The council now must approve the ordinance one more time for it to become law. Violators will face fines of up to $1,000. Of course, the Halloween ban is only the opening round. As Councilman Bernard Parks told a local TV station: "We have the same problem during the Martin Luther King Jr. parade and a variety of open events that create a major clean-up problem once the event is over. I would like to see if we could expand this." First Halloween, then… every day? First Los Angeles, then... the rest of America? Get those bumper stickers ready. WHEN SILLY STRING IS OUTLAWED, ONLY CRIMINALS AND GOVERNMENT WILL HAVE SILLY STRING. Sources: Reuters at http://www.enn.com/news/2004-08-19/s_26609.asp and NBC4TV at http://www.nbc4.tv/news/3661058/detail.html (Thanks to James W. Harris of the Advocates for Self-Government and The Liberator Online for the above information. If you would like a free subscription to the Liberator Online, visit: http://www.self-gov.org/liberator/maintain.html.) Sillier Stuff: MoveOn Connects the Weather Dots Looks as if wealthy propagandist Michael Moore now views John Kerry as "a lousy candidate." Looks as if he also sees the Democratic Party as "pathetic." Could it be that hearing their titular leader attack their beloved candidate is causing the MoveOn folks to become unhinged? The organization has been pinning the fault for the devastating hurricanes that have hit Florida on - you guessed it - President Bush. MoveOn.org claims that the president is to blame for "making extreme weather stronger." Referencing the recent glut of hurricanes that have been hitting the Sunshine State, in an e-mail to supporters the group rhetorically asks "why such extreme weather" is taking place. The e-mail says that Bush is giving out federal emergency aid in Florida while doing "nothing to reduce global warming." According to MoveOn, Bush is also assisting the oil companies and the big polluters while doing "nothing to stop global warming pollution, which is making extreme weather stronger." The e-mail ends with the phrase, "Best of luck coping with the weather." The Left Coast Report says to MoveOn, "Best of luck coping with the election." (Thanks to The Left Coast Report by James L. Hirsen and the staff of NewsMax for the above information. If you would like a free subscription, please visit http://NewsMax.com/email.shtml) America-bashers, Take Note: One Crime in Ten Committed by Children (But Not in America!) The number of crimes committed by children in Slovakia is alarming - around 10,000 or 10 percent of all reported crimes, says SME daily. Children aged under 15 are responsible for half of these crimes and the nature of the crimes is increasingly violent. Last week, for example, a 54-year-old man was beaten up and robbed of Sk800 by two under-15s in Husina village, Banska Bystrica region. In larger cities, meanwhile, children's gangs are becoming an increasing problem. It is against such a background that the Justice Ministry has proposed lowering the age of criminal responsibility from 15 to 14 years. According to psychologists, parents and schools should bear greater responsibility for the actions of children. Jan Varmus, of the Research Institute of Child Psychology, notes an increase in the gravity of crimes commited by children and rising levels of aggressiveness among children at primary and secondary schools. Source: Slovensko.com - Your Guide to Slovakia Study: European Union (EU) Doesn't Even Compare to Arkansas If the European Union were a member of the U.S. it would be one of the poorest states in America, according to a think tank called Timbro in socialist Sweden. Forbes reports that the study's figures equate European prosperity to "that of economically backward states like Arkansas." Luxembourg is the only country whose per capita GDP ranks higher than that of the U.S. "That France, Italy and Germany have less per capita GDP than all but five of the states of the U.S.A. is probably something that Messrs. Chirac, Shroder and Berlusconi don't wish to know," said the studies authors, Fredrik Bergstrom and Robert Gidehag. Their rankings may be even lower without the decades-long presence of U.S. troops and the billions sent by U.S. taxpayers. Source: Insider Report from NewsMax.com (If you are not an e-mail subscriber, get Insider Report and other breaking news alerts by Clicking Here.) "Where is it written in the Constitution, in what section or clause is it contained, that you may take children from their parents and parents from their children, and compel them to fight the battle in any war in which the folly or the wickedness of government may engage it?" -- Daniel Webster, in a speech before the U.S. House of Representatives in 1814. A Little of This and a Little of That A Little Wisdom: The greatest mistake you can make in life is to be continually fearing you will make one. A Little Advice: The only way to have a friend is to be one. -- Ralph Waldo Emerson. A Little Question: Why buy shampoo when real poo is still free? A Little Put-Down: If you can't be a good example, then you'll just have to be a horrible warning., -- Catherine Aird. A Little Proverb: Wise men learn by other men's mistakes, fools by their own. A Little Reflection: Accept that some days you're the pigeon, and some days you're the statue. A Little Observation: Programming today is a race between software engineers striving to build bigger and better idiot-proof programs, and the Universe trying to produce bigger and better idiots. So far, the Universe is winning. A Little Humor: A group of chess enthusiasts checked into a hotel and stood in the lobby discussing their recent tournament victories. After about an hour, the manager came out of the office and asked them to disperse. He said, "I just can't stand chess nuts boasting in an open foyer." A Little Quote: "Believe me! The secret of reaping the greatest fruitfulness and the greatest enjoyment from life is to live dangerously!" -- Friedrich Nietzsche. A Little Definition: An authority -- someone who knows lots of things you couldn't care less about. A Little One-Liner: Sometimes I wake up grumpy; other times I let her sleep. A Little Quip: You are only young once, but you can stay immature indefinitely. Some interesting & provocative articles on other websites The liberal editorial of the year, By Michael Moriarty: William Thorsell, CEO of the Royal Ontario Museum, after dismissing the Olympics as boring and inferring that its participants are unworthy of history -- one asks oneself where in history Mr. Thorsell would like to find himself -- takes upon the Republican Party of the United States with a worthy enough assessment of its self-image, that of a lion. They shoot children, don't they?, by Dennis Prager: According to The New York Times, when the terrorists took over the Russian elementary school, they shouted "Allahu akbar" ("Allah is the greatest"). Does this surprise you, dear reader? Does it shock you that the people who deliberately attacked a school and then systematically shot and blew up little children did so in the name of Islam? The Origin of the Income Tax, by Adam Young: "The freedoms won by Americans in 1776 were lost in the revolution of 1913," wrote Frank Chodorov. Indeed, a man's home used to be his castle. The income tax, however, gave the government the keys to every door and the sole right to change the locks. Goebbels Rallies the People, by Harry Browne: Almost 65 years ago, the Nazis' rule in Germany was threatened by the Social Democratic party, which opposed Adolf Hitler's foreign policy and even began to oppose Hitler himself. To counter this, Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels addressed a crowd of Germans. With 25 Nazi swastika flags flying behind him, he told an excited, appreciative crowd: The A Priori of Ownership: Kant on Property, by Marcus Verhaegh: Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) is a highly significant resource for classical liberalism and libertarianism. Not only can one rely upon Kant's account of the foundations of morality to derive libertarian principles: Kant's own specifically political philosophy is written very much in a classical liberal vein that opposed paternalist government while emphasizing the centrality of the individual's property rights. Being seen to be green, by Rob Lyons: The notion of the 'ethical consumer' suggests that by changing our purchasing habits, we can effect wider change. But is buying green really about saving the planet and our own health - or just about our personal self-image? Democratic Despotism, by Ilana Mercer: James Madison was not a democrat. He denounced popular rule as "incompatible with personal security or the rights of property." Democracy, he observed, must be confined to a "small spot" (like Athens). Indeed, the Bush administration's deafening demagoguery notwithstanding, democratic majoritarianism is thoroughly un-American. Down With Primitivism - A Thorough Critique of Polanyi, by Murray N. Rothbard: Karl Polanyi's The Great Transformation is a farrago of confusions, absurdities, fallacies, and distorted attacks on the free market. The temptation is to engage in almost a line-by-line critique. I will abjure this to first set out some of the basic philosophic and economic flaws, before going into some of the detailed criticisms. Vaporize Me - Is inhalable alcohol a good idea?, by Amanda Schaffer: Less filling, and looks stupid, too. After years of working in the "leisure oxygen field" marketing oxygen for salons and spas in the U.K., businessman Dominic Simler came up with a novel idea: Why not create a device that would allow users to inhale vaporized alcohol along with oxygen? Against School - How public education cripples our kids, and why, by John Taylor Gatto: I taught for thirty years in some of the worst schools in Manhattan, and in some of the best, and during that time I became an expert in boredom. Boredom was everywhere in my world, and if you asked the kids, as I often did, why they felt so bored, they always gave the same answers:... Liberty's candidate - An interview with Michael Badnarik, by Lady Liberty: On September 11, 2004, Lady Liberty was in attendance at the 2004 National Property Rights Conference where she spoke on Internet Activism. Libertarian candidate for President Michael Badnarik was a featured general session speaker at that same event. Lady Liberty was privileged to have the opportunity to speak with Mr. Badnarik one on one during the conference. Why We Cannot Win, by Al Lorentz: Before I begin, let me state that I am a soldier currently deployed in Iraq, I am not an armchair quarterback. Nor am I some politically idealistic and naïve young soldier, I am an old and seasoned Non-Commissioned Officer with nearly 20 years under my belt. Additionally, I am not just a soldier with a muds-eye view of the war, I am in Civil Affairs and as such, it is my job to be aware of all the events occurring in this country and specifically in my region. Productive Inequality - Is it Fair?, by Walter Williams: Shaquille O'Neal ($32 million), Tiger Woods ($80 million), Oprah Winfrey ($210 million), Barry Bonds ($23 million), Mel Gibson ($210 million) and Lance Armstrong ($19 million) are at or near the top of their professions, and their annual earnings show it. But is it fair? After all, there are many other decent, hard-working basketball and baseball players, movie producers and bicyclists who don't earn anywhere near that kind of income. Why do some people earn higher income compared to others? The Myth of the Tree Shortage, by Charles E. Tomlinson: I have been distracted for the last few years by other matters and have just recently returned to my world of natural resource management to discover that the major happening in at least the last two decades has slipped by without notice. Remember the nineties? The radical environmental movement screaming that the world as we knew it was destined to doom because of the nasty chip mills, the clear cut destruction of the forests, the pollution of our waters caused by cutting trees, and all of the other "chicken little" mantras? "Buckhead" vs. Dan Rather - Internet David slays media Goliath, by Nicholas Stix: I come not to bury Dan Rather, but to praise him. For Rather's journalism career is surely over. When he got snookered by the forged memos peddled by longtime Bush enemy Bill Burkett, a retired Texas Army National Guard lieutenant colonel, and the fraud was exposed by a 'lousy Internet site,' instead of Rather re-investigating the story, he stonewalled, took the offensive, engaged in a "modified, limited hangout" (the September 21 New York Post) and attacked his critics.
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