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Index for this page...(Be aware some links below may have expired.)
All The Following Items Were Posted On July 1, 2005 1. Charles Sanders Peirce (1839-1914) American Pragmaticist Philosopher
Read about Charles Sanders Peirce in The Radical Academy. 2. Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) German Existentialist philosopher
Read about Friedrich Nietzsche in The Radical Academy. 3. William James (1842-1910) American Pragmatist Philosopher
Read about William James in TheRadical Academy. 4. Josiah Royce (1855-1916) American Idealist Philosopher
Read about Josiah Royce in The Radical Academy. 5. Samuel Alexander (1859-1938) Australian-born British Philosopher
Read about Samuel Alexander in The Radical Academy.
1. POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY: Supreme Court Endorses Supreme Federal Government In a shockingly bad decision (Gonzales v. Raich), the Supreme Court has ruled that federal authorities may continue to prosecute sick people who smoke marijuana on doctors' orders -- even if they live in the ten states that have legalized medical marijuana (including our home state of Oregon!). The federal government can do this, the Court said, because of its Constitutional ability to write laws to regulate a state's economic activity involving "interstate commerce'' -- that is, commerce that crosses state borders. Incredibly, even though the case in question dealt with marijuana grown in California and distributed to patients without ever crossing state lines, the court said the "interstate commerce" rule still applies. The decision is a major assault on the notion of a limited federal government and decentralized state power. Beginning in the New Deal era, the federal government has increasingly used its Constitutional authority to regulate "interstate commerce" to justify all sorts of federal powers the Founding Fathers never imagined -- powers that obviously have no connection whatsoever with actual interstate commerce. Such an absurdly broad definition of the Interstate Commerce Clause amounts to nothing less than a rewriting of the Constitution. It means that the federal government is virtually unlimited in its power to interfere in local, state, and personal affairs, and the Ninth and Tenth Amendments of the Bill of Rights -- which define the rights of states and individuals -- are essentially meaningless. Even the conservative, anti-medical marijuana Wall Street Journal realized this: "This was not a good decision for anyone who believes there are Constitutional limits on the federal leviathan." The only member of the Supreme Court who seems to understand this, or who has the courage to say it, is Judge Clarence Thomas, who wrote a brilliant and clear-minded dissent that exposed the "Emperor's New Clothes" looniness of the interstate commerce clause argument. Here are excerpts from Judge Thomas's dissent:
Sources:
(Thanks to James W. Harris of the Advocates for Self-Government and The Liberator Online for bringing the above to our attention. If you would like a free subscription to the Liberator Online, visit: http://www.self-gov.org/liberator/maintain.html) 2. ETHICS & SCIENCE: Stem Cell Research Possibilities for Michael J. Fox and Others Whenever the subject of embryonic stem cell research is debated, Michael J. Fox always seems to emerge as the celebrity spokesperson. That's because the actor is stricken with Parkinson's disease and he and others look to embryonic stem cell research to provide the hope for a cure. Similarly, former NFL football star Boomer Esiason, whose young son has cystic fibrosis, is often front and center as a spokesperson for the controversial research. Most folks want to see scientists expand the borders of knowledge but would like them to do so in a moral manner that respects human dignity in the process. This has created a dilemma: Can Fox, Esiason's son and other individuals actually be cured of dreadful diseases without harming human life? Yes, says Stanford University's Dr. William Hurlbut. In simplest terms, Hurlbut has an idea to take the DNA from skin or toenails and place it into an egg in such a way that the egg can't develop into a human embryo. But it can still produce pluripotent stem cells, the kind that can potentially become any type of cell in the human body. With Hurlbut's design, we would be producing the cells only, not human beings. Everyone could sleep peacefully through the night and even look at themselves in the mirror the next morning. It would take about three to six months of research to find out whether Hurlbut's theories would work. (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) 3. EDUCATION: Homeschoolers Once Again Win Big! This year, homeschooled students have again won academic recognition all out of proportion to their numbers. On May 25, the National Geographic Bee -- a competition involving five million United States students -- was won by 13-year-old homeschooler Nathan Cornelius. Nathan, from Cottonwood, Minnesota, says his interests include photography, piano, and classical guitar, but "I think geography is my favorite subject." On June 2, another young homeschooler, 11-year-old Samir Patel of Colleyville, Texas, tied for second place in the 78th annual Scripps National Spelling Bee. And on April 9-10, two robot-building teams made up of homeschooled students won first and third place in the prestigious international 12th Annual Trinity College Fire Fighting Home Robot Contest. Such success for homeschoolers is hardly unusual. In 2000, for example, homeschoolers took first, second and third place in the Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee. As a recent study by the conservative Heritage Foundation points out:
Congratulations to these homeschool champs! Their success helps publicize the idea that government schools aren't necessary for quality education. And that's a lesson many more people need to learn. Sources:
(Thanks to James W. Harris of the Advocates for Self-Government and The Liberator Online for bringing the above to our attention. If you would like a free subscription to the Liberator Online, visit: http://www.self-gov.org/liberator/maintain.html) 4. ENTERTAINMENT: Conservative Liberty Film Festival Takes Back Hollywood! If you're shocked and dismayed by left-wing Hollywood -- help is on the way! The 2005 Liberty Film Festival, Hollywood's premier event for conservative and libertarian film, will be held this October 21-23, 2005 at the Pacific Design Center in West Hollywood, California. As founders and Co-Directors of the Liberty Film Festival, we're delighted to report that this year's film festival will be even bigger and better than last year's. The festival is currently accepting entries, and plans to screen a selection of the highest-quality conservative and libertarian documentaries, dramas, comedies and shorts at this year's event. The Liberty Film Festival will also host a Producers Series, which will include panels on Film Production, TV Production, Screenwriting, and Film Finance & Distribution. The Festival will also feature a debate on the 1950s blacklist. Festival speakers will include Oscar- and Emmy-nominated producers, directors, writers and actors. And the Festival, in its ongoing homage to classic Hollywood, will host a Tribute to John Wayne and a 100th Birthday Tribute to Ayn Rand. The first Liberty Film Festival drew 3,000 people in October of 2004 and attracted national media attention in such respected publications as NewsMax, the Wall Street Journal, New York Times Magazine, LA Times, Washington Times, Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, Variety, Hollywood Reporter, Weekly Standard, and on Fox News, CNN, MSNBC and NPR. The 2004 Liberty Film Festival showed such outstanding films as Stephen K. Bannon's "In The Face of Evil: Reagan's War in Word and Deed," Lionel Chetwynd's "Celsius 41.11," Larry Elder's "Michael and Me," Evan Maloney's "Brainwashing 101," Roger Aronoff's "Confronting Iraq," Patrick Wright and Elinor Burkett's "Is It True What They Say About Ann?," Brad Maaske and Jano Rosebiani's "WMD," Tim Chey's "Impact: The Passion of the Christ," Salil Singh's "Borrowed Fire," Yisrael Schwarz's "Relentless," and the Protest Warrior's "Operation Eagle Strike." After all, conservatives founded every major Hollywood movie studio and ran the film industry for the first sixty years of its existence - a period that was also Hollywood's most productive and creative. Isn't it time that we as conservatives do something to reclaim our own movie heritage? (Thanks to "Hollywood Confidential" by Jason Apuzzo & Govindini Murty of NewsMax. If you would like a free subscription to "Hollywood Confidential," please visit http://NewsMax.com/email.shtml) 5. MEDIA: Pew Poll - View of Media's Patriotism, Bias & Fairness at New Lows A new poll commissioned by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, which was recently released, found that "attitudes toward the performance of the news media are at or near their low points in Pew trends dating back to the mid-1980s. This is especially the case in opinions regarding the press's patriotism, bias, and fairness." Pew's summary of it findings detailed how "just 42 percent say news organizations generally 'stand up for America'" and 'six-in-ten see news organizations as politically biased, up from 53 percent two years ago. More than seven-in-ten (72 percent) say news organizations tend to favor one side, rather than treat all sides fairly; that is the largest number ever expressing that view." For the June 26 report in full summarizing the poll, as well as for links to more detailed survey information, go to Public More Critical of Press, But Goodwill Persists (Thanks to the Media Research Center for the above information. Check them out at http://www.mediaresearch.org/) "We request that every hen lay 130 to 140 eggs a year. The increase can not be achieved by the bastard hens (non-Aryan) which now populate German farm yards. Slaughter these undesirables and replace them...." Nazi Party News Agency. April 3, 1937.
1. After a chorus of much-justified indignation from even his own fellow Demos, Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin finally offered an apology for his disgusting remarks equating the actions of American soldiers in Guantanamo Bay to Nazis and Stalinist thugs. Shedding what most likely were crocodile tears on the Senate floor this week, Durbin acknowledged that he chose poor words in his condemnation of what he perceived was taking place at the prison in Cuba. "I am sorry if anything I said caused any offense or pain to those who have such bitter memories of the Holocaust," said Durbin. "I am also sorry if anything I said cast a negative light on our fine men and women in the military." What does he mean, "if"? 2. Our favorite "regulatory commissar," FEC commissioner Bradley Smith, has resigned -- and John McCain couldn't be happier. Smith was a stalwart defender of the First Amendment against assaults from the likes of the McCain-Feingold Finance Reform Act, recently saying, "The right to political free speech in America has pretty much reached the end of its tethers." True enough, and we mourn the day Mr. Smith left Washington. 3. The New Orleans Police Department is advancing on the next frontier of "tolerance" by hiring Captain Dennis Muhammad, the security chief for Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, to conduct "sensitivity training" for officers. NOPD Chief Eddie Compass has apparently concluded that a representative from a group that thinks Jews are "bloodsuckers," whites are "blue-eyed devils" and that whites should relocate to Europe for future destruction, is best equipped to teach "sensitivity" to his officers. Even the "Reverend" Je$$e Jack$on and Rep. Cynthia McKinney have condemned Farrakhan's views as too extreme (fearing he might steal their thunder), and Michael Jackson fired Nation of Islam members in his security detail. (If they're too weird for Michael Jackson, you know there's a problem!) Meanwhile, we're thinking Chief Compass has lost all sense of direction. 4. Faith and law have no justifiable connection. In case you're wondering, they are in fact antithetical -- that is, if you're the dean of Cardozo Law School at Yeshiva University (an Orthodox Jewish school). Dean David Rudenstine recently commented, "Faith challenges the underpinnings of legal education. Faith is a willingness to accept belief in things for which we have no evidence, or which runs counter to evidence we have. Faith does not tolerate opposing views, does not acknowledge inconvenient facts. Law schools stand in fundamental opposition to this." Rudenstine must have been sick the day they taught on Blackstone's "law of nature and nature's God" as the foundation for English and American common law. Of the four most quoted sources in the Founders' writings, Blackstone was among them -- the others are Montesquieu, Locke, and the Bible. And without faith, our American Revolution might have set the template for the French Revolution [read: massacre].
Some interesting & provocative articles on other websites: Science in Catholic tradition - Science and religion exhibit an unstable and problematic relationship, but there is hope for collaboration, by Eric Watson: The world witnessed the tragic events surrounding the last days of Theresa Marie Schiavo. One clear fact amid the controversy was that arguments from religion and from science became entwined at the heart of personal, political and legal decisions. Both sides of the bitter dispute invoked moral principles alongside scientific evidence. Both expressed beliefs about the meaning and value of human life - and both drew upon definitions from medical science regarding the nature of consciousness and about the hope for recovery. Thoughts on the Existence of God, by Paul Johnson: Of all the fundamentalist groups at large in the world today, the Darwinians seem to me the most objectionable. They are just as strident and closed to argument as Christian or Muslim fundamentalists, but unlike those two groups the Darwinians enjoy intellectual respectability. Darwinians and their allies dominate the scientific establishments of the West. They rule the campus. Their militant brand of atheism makes them natural allies of the philosophical atheists who control most college philosophy faculties. They dominate the leading scientific magazines and prevent their critics and opponents from getting a hearing, and they secure the best slots on TV. Yet the Darwinian brand of evolution is becoming increasingly vulnerable as the progress of science reveals its weaknesses. One day, perhaps soon, it will collapse in ruins. Film That Shows Evidence of a Creator Called 'Not Scientific', by Josh Montez: Smithsonian recants support of documentary concerning intelligent design. The Smithsonian Institution has withdrawn sponsorship of a film called, "The Privileged Planet -- The Search for Purpose in the Universe." The Discovery Institute, the organization behind the film concerning intelligent design, said when the Smithsonian staff first reviewed the project, they were excited about sponsoring the film and showing it to the public. Based on that, the Discovery Institute put up $16,000 to have the Smithsonian sponsor the film. In turn, the Smithsonian took Discovery through the steps of inviting dignitaries to the showing. The Real Intelligent Designers, By James Pinkerton: The evolution vs. creation debate will never stop. But that endless wrangle is destined to take some new turns. How so? Because the evolution side of the debate, which is to say, the science side, is about to beget some serious creationism of its own -- that is, creations by human scientists. No serious scientist believes the literal Biblical creation account, but many earnest and well-credentialed scientists do believe in Intelligent Design (ID), as a perspective on evolution. And ID, of course, is religiously inspired. The Philosopher and the Ayatollah, By Wesley Yang: "IT IS PERHAPS the first great insurrection against global systems, the form of revolt that is the most modern and most insane." With these words, the French philosopher Michel Foucault hailed the rising tide that would sweep Iran's modernizing despot, Mohammed Reza Pahlavi Shah, out of power in January 1979 and install in his place one of the world's most illiberal regimes, the Shi'ite government headed by Ayatollah Seyyed Ruhollah Khomeini. The high cost of nuances, by Thomas Sowell: The Supreme Court's recent decision saying that the federal government can prosecute those using marijuana for medical purposes, even when state laws permit such use, has been seen by many as an issue of being for or against marijuana. But the real significance of this decision has little to do with marijuana and everything to do with the kind of government that we, our children, and our children's children are going to live under. Is sexual identity malleable?, by Chuck Colson: You see them at night in big cities: men dressed up as women, complete with makeup, jewelry, and high heels. Despite their best efforts, it's not a pretty sight. Nor is the sight of men who take a more drastic step: undergoing so-called sex-reassignment surgery. When these surgeries were first performed at Johns Hopkins University in the early seventies, one psychiatrist -- Paul McHugh -- started asking questions about the wisdom of this. After all, the outcomes were not women, but grotesque caricatures of them. Mind Science Foundation Seeks Answers for Top Question in Science: Einstein once walked these hallways as did the bongo-drum beating physicist Richard Feynman. Both offered theories that turned the scientific doctrine of their time on its head. Next week at the famed California Institute of Technology some of the world's leading researchers in the fields of neuroscience, psychology, neurology, artificial intelligence, philosophy and physics will gather to ponder one of the top questions in modern science -- an enigma that has eluded brilliant minds for centuries: how does consciousness arise in human beings? Cloning Star Talks Bioethics With Archbishop: Korean cloning star Hwang Woo-suk on Wednesday met with Seoul Archbishop Nicholas Cheong Jin-suk for a frank exchange of views on the ethics of Hwang's stem cell research. The two men, who are seen as opposite poles in the debate over the cloning of human embryos for stem cell research, met at Seoul's Myeongdong Cathedral on Wednesday and talked for 40 minutes about ethical issues involving stem cells derived from somatic cell cloning technology and the use of women's egg cells. Hwang was accompanied by his co-researcher Prof. Ahn Kyu-ri of SNU Medical College. Stem-Cell Finesse Too Grotesque, By Kristen Philipkoski: A Stanford bioethicist has gone back to the drawing board to come up with take two of a controversial method to create cells as powerful as embryonic stem cells without creating or destroying embryos. Dr. William Hurlbut's first attempt to find a solution to the ethical quandary of embryonic stem-cell research -- which researchers believe could lead to therapies for devastating diseases, but which faces resistance from people who oppose destroying embryos -- received mixed reviews. The Ethics of Creating Consciousness: Next month, IBM is set to activate the most ambitious simulation of a human brain yet conceived. It's a model they say is accurate down to the molecule. No one claims the "Blue Brain" project will be self-aware. But this project, and others like it, use electrical patterns in a silicon brain to simulate the electrical patterns in the human brain -- patterns which are intimately linked to thought. But if computer programs start generating these patterns -- these electrical "thoughts" -- then what separates us from them? Mechanism behind intelligent design uncovered?, by Kelly Hollowell, J.D., Ph.D.: Few e-mails have ever stopped me as cold as the one I am about to describe. In it, the author, a former university professor who wishes to remain anonymous, claims to know the actual mechanism behind intelligent design. That is the mechanism by which God created the universe, our world and all biological life within it. This is especially intriguing as Darwin's theory of evolution is now hotly contested by arguments of intelligent design. One weakness of ID is its failure to offer a mechanism to counter evolution's bogus explanation of diversity through macro-mutation. As a result, ID has failed in broad view to distinguish itself as a true scientific theory on the origin of life. Judicial Nominations - Round Two, By Henry Mark Holzer: If anyone has lingering doubts about the stakes in the forthcoming fight over vacancies on the Supreme Court of the United States, they should be laid to rest after Thursday's decision in Kelo v. City of New London. According to the Court: "In 2000, the city of New London approved a development plan that . . . was 'projected to create in excess of 1,000 jobs, to increase tax and other revenues, and to revitalize an economically distressed city, including its downtown and waterfront areas.' Excuse me, you're one metre from this bar - And those crisps are illegal: by Mick Hume: I AM NOT making this up, and I have not been smoking mind-altering drugs. The Government seriously wants to plaster public buildings, workplaces, football grounds, pubs and bus stops with no-smoking signs that advertise the number for a "shop-a-smoker" phoneline. Yes, a shop-a-smoker phoneline. A phoneline that you can ring in order to shop somebody to the authorities. For smoking a cigarette. Anybody for a shop-a-small-minded-prig line? Lessons for Religious Education From Cognitive Science of Religion: Recent work in the cognitive sciences provides new neurological/ biological and evolutionary bases for understanding the construction of knowledge (in the form of sets of ideas containing functionally useful inferences) and the capacity for imagination (as the ability to run inferences and generate ideas from information) in the human mind. In recent years, a growing number of scholars are making use of cognitive science to understand and explain religious beliefs and behaviors in terms of these evolved cognitive capacities and structures of mind. Based on a literature review of cognitive studies of religion, this article examines relevant themes from cognitive science studies of religion toward drawing pedagogical lessons for religious education. Stem cell pioneer does a reality check - James Thomson reflects on science and morality, By Alan Boyle: Seven years ago, when James Thomson became the first scientist to isolate and culture human embryonic stem cells, he knew he was stepping into a whirlwind of controversy. He just didn't expect the whirlwind to last this long. In fact, the moral, ethical and political controversy is still revving up -- in Washington, where federal lawmakers are considering a bill to provide more federal support for embryonic stem cell research; and in Madison, Thomson's base of operations, where Wisconsin legislators are considering new limits on stem cell research. The Woodstock of Evolution - The World Summit on Evolution, held in the Galapagos Islands, revealed a science rich in history and tradition, data and theory, as well as controversy and debate, By Michael Shermer: Charles Darwin famously described the origin of species as the "mystery of mysteries," a phrase he cribbed from the astronomer John Herschel, whom Darwin visited in Capetown, South Africa during the five-year round-the-world voyage of the H.M.S. Beagle. The meeting happened a few months after Darwin departed the Galapagos islands, at which point he had not yet solved the "grand mystery," despite the myth that Darwin first understood the mechanism of evolution in this magnificent archipelago. Buddhabot is an Inspirational AI that Advocates Quantum Philosophy to Millions: A 1-year old, Artificial Intelligence (AI) named the Buddhabot is now fielding questions and conversing with people around the world who seek answers to philosophical questions. According to Canadian inventor and futurist, Ron Ingram, "the Buddhabot is a 'human-friendly' benevolent AI created to entertain, evolve and spark a peaceful philosophical revolution."
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