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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, 2005 1. St. Augustine (354-430) Patristic Christian philosopher and theologian
Read about St. Augustine in The Radical Academy. 2. Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) German Existentialist philosopher
Read about Friedrich Nietzsche in The Radical Academy. 3. Oliver Wendell Holmes (1841-1935) American philosopher of Jurisprudence
Read about Oliver Wendell Holmes in The Radical Academy. 4. Karl Marx (1818-1883) Philosopher of Dialectical Materialism
Read about Karl Marx in The Radical Academy. 5. Plato (427-347 B.C) Ancient Greek philosopher
Read about Plato in The Radical Academy. 6. Marcus Aurelius (121-180) Roman Ethical philosopher
Read about Marcus Aurelius in The Radical Academy. 7. Aristotle (384-322 B.C.) Ancient Greek philosopher
Read about Aristotle in The Radical Academy. 8. Benedict Spinoza (1632-1677) Modern Idealist philosopher
Read about Benedict Spinoza in The Radical Academy. 9. Alfred North Whitehead (1861-1947) Recent Neo-Realistic philosopher
Read about Alfred North Whitehead in The Radical Academy.
FOR THE RECORD U.S. "Dangerously Closer to Becoming a Police State In September the Virginia-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit upheld a presidential action that, if allowed to stand, will strip Americans of fundamental civil liberties that date back to the Magna Carta of 1215. The case -- arguably one of the most important in U.S. history -- concerns Jose Padilla, a U.S. citizen. Padilla is a former Chicago gang member who was arrested in May 2002. The government at first claimed he was an al Qaida operative who planned to detonate a radioactive "dirty bomb" in the U.S. Later they suggested instead he was planning to blow up apartment buildings by filling them with natural gas. These vague accusations were never proven, and the government apparently doesn't want to try. The day before he was to be given a court hearing, the federal government dubbed Padilla an "enemy combatant" and spirited him away to a Navy jail in South Carolina. There he has remained imprisoned, without a trial or without even being charged, for more than three years. The Bush administration says such arrests and imprisonments are necessary to protect America from terrorism. This is, as numerous legal observers have noted, an outrageous violation of the most basic principles of American constitutional law, including habeas corpus, due process and the presumption of innocence. In upholding the president's power to do this, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit court has essentially said that the president can, if he so desires, declare a U.S. citizen an "enemy combatant," suspend his right to a trial, strip him of constitutional protections, and imprison him indefinitely. This kind of dictatorial power is utterly alien to the American system of government. As the Asheville, North Carolina Citizen-Times wrote: "If the detention of Jose Padilla is upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court, the United States will have slipped dangerously closer to becoming a police state." Interestingly, the author of the court's decision was Judge J. Michael Luttig, appointed by Bush Sr. and one of the president's leading candidates to replace Justice Sandra Day O'Connor on the Supreme Court. If this wretched decision is upheld, the Constitution has no meaning and no American is safe from government error or government tyranny. As the Asheville Citizen-Times wryly notes: "The administration that is so sure Padilla is a terrorist is the same one that was sure Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction." As Justice Antonin Scalia -- hardly a bleeding heart liberal -- has written: "The very core of liberty secured by our Anglo-Saxon system of separated powers has been freedom from indefinite imprisonment at the will of the Executive." Nor is the "war on terror" any excuse. In 1943, Winston Churchill, in the midst of World War II, put it very well: "The power of the executive to cast a man in prison without formulating any charge known to the law and particularly to deny him the judgment of his peers is in the highest degree odious and is the foundation of all totalitarian government, whether Nazi or Communist." The case will be appealed to the Supreme Court. Padilla is a U.S. citizen. If he is indeed guilty, he deserves to be punished, and severely. But he should either be brought before a judge and charged, or set free. Anything less is an assault on bedrock U.S. liberty, worse than anything al-Qaida has ever done. 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) Al-Qaida Plan: Islamic World in 15 Years Al-Qaida has a master plan to take over the world and turn it into an Islamic state - by the year 2020. Wishful thinking? Not in the minds of the top terrorist lieutenants interviewed by Jordanian journalist Fouad Hussein for a new book - including Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, mastermind of many atrocities in Iraq. The plan, which is revealed for the first time in the Australian publication The Age, has seven phases: Phase 1: The "awakening" in the consciousness of Muslims around the world following the 9/11 attacks, which were aimed at provoking the U.S. into declaring war on the Islamic world and mobilizing Islamic radicals. Phase 2: "Opening eyes," the current period, which should last until 2006. Hussein said the terrorists hope to make the "Western conspiracy" aware of the "Islamic community" as al-Qaida continues to form its secret battalions. Phase 3: "Arising and standing up," which should last until 2010 and bring increasingly frequent attacks against secular Turkey and archenemy Israel. Phase 4: Lasting until 2013, this phase will see the fall of hated Arab regimes, including Saudi Arabia and Jordan. Oil suppliers will be attacked and the U.S. economy will be targeted with cyber terrorism. Phase 5: An Islamic state, or caliphate, can be declared between 2013 and 2016. Phase 6: "Total confrontation," beginning in 2016, will see the Islamic army begin the "fight between the believers and the non-believers" that has been predicted by Osama bin Laden. Phase 7: "Definitive victory." Hussein writes that this phase should be completed by 2020, and that the terrorists believe the caliphate will prove victorious because the rest of the world will be beaten down by an army of "one and a half billion Muslims." 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.) If you are at all interested in education reform in the public schools in the U.S., you may want to read an article which just appeared in the Opinion Journal, an online service of the Wall Street Journal. We can't reprint the article here because of copyright restraints, but here is a brief synopsis and the link so you can read it at the original source. Synopsis: Mr. Kozol pays scant attention to academic achievement. He is against longer school days, summer school for kids who need it, charter schools (and other forms of choice), merit pay and every promising avenue of school reform. He does, as an aside, acknowledge that kids should learn "essential skills," but his main concern is with schools that exude "warmth and playfulness and informality and cheerful camaraderie among the teachers and their children." "The most sacred of the duties of a government [is] to do equal and impartial justice to all its citizens." -- Thomas Jefferson, 1816.
COUNSELING CORNER: SOME THINGS TO THINK ABOUT Is it just me, or does anyone else find it amazing that our government can track a cow born in Canada almost three years ago, right to the stall where she sleeps in the state of Washington. And they tracked her calves to their stalls. But they are unable to locate 11 million illegal aliens wandering around our country. Maybe we should give them all a cow. The real reason that we can't have the Ten Commandments in a Courthouse? You cannot post "Thou Shalt Not Steal," "Thou Shalt Not Commit Adultery" and "Thou Shall Not Lie" in a building full of lawyers, judges and politicians. It creates a hostile work environment! Birds of a feather flock together and crap on your car. If you can't be kind, at least have the decency to be vague. Don't assume malice for what stupidity can explain. A penny saved is a government oversight. The real art of conversation is not only to say the right thing at the right time, but also to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment. The older you get, the tougher it is to lose weight, because by then your body and your fat have gotten to be really good friends. The easiest way to find something lost around the house is to buy a replacement. He who hesitates is probably right. Did you ever notice: The Roman Numerals for forty (40) are " XL." If you can smile when things go wrong, you have someone in mind to blame. The sole purpose of a child's middle name is so he can tell when he's really in trouble. There's always a lot to be thankful for if you take time to look for it. For example, I am sitting here thinking how nice it is that wrinkles don't hurt. Did you ever notice: When you put the 2 words "The" and "IRS" together it spells "Theirs."
A LITTLE OF THIS & A LITTLE OF THAT A Little Wisdom: If you want to make your dreams come true, the first thing you have to do is wake up. A Little Advice: The most pleasant and useful persons are those who leave some of the problems of the universe for God to worry about. A Little Question: Why buy shampoo when real poo is still free? A Little Put-Down: "Say! You haven't stopped talking since we got here! You must have been vaccinated with a phonograph needle!" -- Groucho Marx A Little Proverb: To err is human, to forgive is Not Company Policy. A Little Reflection: Judging from the behavior of some people...not all jackasses have tails. A Little Observation: "The word bipartisan usually means some larger-than-usual deception is being carried out." -- George Carlin A Little Quote: "Courage is almost a contradiction in terms. It means a strong desire to live, taking the form of readiness to die." -- G.K. Chesterton A Little Bumper Sticker: I Brake For No Apparent Reason. A Little Definition: Hangover - The wrath of grapes. A Little Quip: The fellow who never makes a mistake takes his orders from one who does. A Little Slogan: IRS - We've got what it takes to take what you've got. A Little Request: DEAR IRS, Please cancel my subscription. A Little Serious Humor: I no longer need to punish, deceive, or compromise myself. Unless, of course, I want to stay employed!
Some interesting & provocative articles on other websites: Paternity Case Marks Progress for Defrauded Fathers, by Wendy McElroy: On Aug. 31, a small but precedent-setting case was decided in the Superior Court of New Jersey. The plaintiff discovered he was not the biological father of his eldest 'son', now in his 30s. The court affirmed the duped dad's legal right to sue the natural father for the cost of raising the 'child' and removed some limitations imposed by a lower court. FEMA versus Wal-Mart, by Thomas Sowell: Whatever later investigation may turn up about the mistakes of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in New Orleans, it is unlikely to show the shrill charges of "racism" to be anything other than reckless political rhetoric. FEMA has bungled other emergencies where most of the victims were white and in previous administrations. Like many government bureaucracies, FEMA is an equal-opportunity bungler. Low Marx for Poor Memory, by Samuel Gregg, D.Phil. (Oxon.): Karl Marx is the greatest philosopher of all time. Or at least this is what many BBC Radio listeners suggested recently when asked to nominate such a person. To the surprise of some, Marx topped the poll, beating - by wide margins - thinkers ranging from Aristotle to Kant. Marx wrote many things, including admiring words about capitalism which he regarded as a definite advance on previous economic arrangements. The BBC result, however, underlines a strange blindness about Marx persisting within Western societies. War on Terrorism - Why We Are Losing Hearts and Minds, by Keith Lockitch: Unable to defend America intellectually, our leaders are unable to defend her militarily. Our leaders have failed to answer the evil moral ideal of totalitarian Islam with a rational ideal of our own. A Judge for All Seasons - John Roberts's judicial philosophy is a model of appropriate restraint, by Gregory S. McNeal: Who should direct the war on terrorism -- elected officials or a handful of unelected lawyers? The answer should be obvious to most Americans, and it is obvious to Judge John Roberts. In short, Roberts's view is that when it comes to war the political branches -- not the courts -- should call the shots. This deferential judicial philosophy leaves key policy judgments in the hands of the president and Congress -- those who are most accountable for policy decisions. It is also why Roberts is the right choice for chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. We're All Machiavellians, by Frans B.M. De Waal:Given the obvious "will to power" (as Friedrich Nietzsche called it) of the human race, the enormous energy put into its expression, the early emergence of hierarchies among children, and the childlike devastation of grown men who tumble from the top, I'm puzzled by the taboo with which our society surrounds this issue. Most psychology textbooks do not even mention power and dominance, except in relation to abusive relationships. Everyone seems in denial... It's refreshing to work with chimpanzees: They are the honest politicians we all long for. When the political philosopher Thomas Hobbes postulated an insuppressible power drive, he was right on target for both humans and apes. Observing how blatantly chimpanzees jockey for position, one will look in vain for ulterior motives and expedient promises. Clash in Cambridge - Science and religion seem as antagonistic as ever, by John Horgan: In the very first lecture of the Templeton-Cambridge Journalism Fellowship in June, a University of Cambridge biologist assured the 10 journalists in his audience that science and religion have gotten along much better, historically, than is commonly believed. After all, scientific pioneers such as Kepler, Newton, Boyle and even Galileo were all devout Christians; Galileo's run-in with the Church was really a spat between two different versions of Catholicism. The notion that science and religion have always butted heads is "fallacious," declared Denis Alexander, who is, not coincidentally, a Christian. Other lecturers, who included four agnostics, a Jew, a deist and 11 Christians, also saw no unbridgeable chasm between science and their faith. The Backdoor to Military Rule in America, by Jacob G. Hornberger: Without any doubt, the most dangerous threat to the freedom of the American people in our lifetime lies with what might be called the Padilla doctrine, an exercise of such raw military power that, if upheld, will totally transform life in America as we know it. Unfortunately most Americans remain blissfully unaware of the ominous implications of this doctrine. A prophecy fulfilled, by Cal Thomas: It took just 12 days from completion of Israel's withdrawal from Gaza before rockets started raining down on the Western Negev area from the now-unoccupied territory. The attacks late Friday might have occurred sooner had the terrorists not been preoccupied with torching synagogues and destroying flower-growing operations in Gaza that could have been used to produce income for Palestinian residents. Sadly, their hatred of all things Jewish prompted them to act against their self-interest. Genetic Map of Chimps May Show What Makes Us Human: Recently, an international team of scientists said it has prepared a partial genetic map of a chimp. They found that ninety-six percent of the chimp genes are exactly the same as human genes. Scientists say the remaining four percent may help to explain what makes humans different from chimps. They also say knowing the genetic differences may prove useful in medical research. Seeking common ground in science and religion, by Gary Soulsman: Wilmington native Billy Grassie has a recipe for a better world. "Science needs more soul, and religion needs more brains," says Grassie, founder of a Philadelphia institute, Metanexus, devoted to closing the breach between science and religion. In his view, "value-free science is bad, and reason-free religion is bad." Cosmological iconoclasts offer new ideas - From the Big Bang to carbon atoms, mysteries abound, by Keay Davidson: In recent years, our knowledge of the cosmos, its origins and evolution has improved by leaps and bounds. But is our new knowledge as reliable as it appears? Maybe not, if one believes a few doubters. If one judged solely by the newspaper headlines, or by what schoolchildren are taught in science classes, one might think that scientists unanimously agree on the details of the Big Bang theory of cosmic origins; on the reality of a mysterious force called dark energy, which is allegedly driving the universe to expand faster over time; and on the existence of many other things that might, in fact, be mirages -- or, at least, more poorly understood than orthodox researchers acknowledge. Last Rights or Wrongs? - Does the end justify the means when it comes to life issues?, by Katharine Kelly: Conception, life's defining moment, bears with it the seeds portending what for some may be a bitter harvest--as it portends, indeed, the beginning of the end of life as well. When a man and woman share in the awesome creation capabilities freely given to humanity by what more and more people are concluding is indeed, Intelligent Design, (archaically referred to as God) a new human begins a journey through mortal existence toward eternity. While this generation seeks signs and wonders of the Apocalypse, the end of the world for millions comes each day. Marxism, history and the science of perspective, by David North: There is no element of Marxism that has aroused so much opposition as its claim to have placed socialism on a scientific foundation. In one form or another, its critics find this assertion unacceptable, implausible and even impossible. Proceeding from the obvious fact that the laws of socio-economic development which Marxism claims to have uncovered lack the precision and specificity of the laws uncovered by physicists, chemists and mathematicians, the critics assert that Marxism cannot be considered a science. Professional Misconduct, by Professor X: Many readers of Frontpage will be familiar with the case of William Bradford: a Chiricahua Apache long-term army veteran and law professor of outstanding achievements who is being persecuted at Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) Law School because he refused to sign a petition in favor of the phony Indian and anti-American radical Ward Churchill. The subject today is a memo which official IUPUI spokesman Rich Schneider has sent to a columnist at the Indianapolis Star. The Star is the leading newspaper in Indiana, and the memo is an attempt to prevent publication of a column in the newspaper attacking the University's handling of the Bradford case. The columnist sent it to Bradford for comments, which is how I received this document.
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