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Index for this page...(Be aware some links below may have expired.)
All The Following Items Were Posted On March 1, 2007 History: Everything in this mutable world of changing things has a history. Its history consists of its factual development in reality. But there is another sense of the word "history" when it is used as the name for a kind of literature. Thus, a person who writes a biography or an autobiography is producing a kind of literature that is written history. In this sense of the word, "history" signifies a type of literature different from empirical science, philosophy, and mathematics. It is in this second sense of the word "history" that one can speak of historical research, of the methods of history, and of historical data. The philosophy of history addresses itself to history as it occurs in reality. It is not concerned with the branch of literature that is called history. Philosophies of history may take opposite points of view about the reality of history, one being that history is cyclical and repeats itself over and over again, the other being that history is progressive and involves nonrepetitive stages. From Adler's Philosophical Dictionary: 125 Key Terms for the Philosopher's Lexicon. Have you a copy of this book in your personal library? Read Max Weismann's review of this book by Clicking Here.
Sören Kierkegaard (1813-1855) "A bright Danish thinker uses Hegel as a springboard for launching a philosophy of 'the individual'; he urges thinkers to recognize that human reality involves feeling as well as thought; a full human existence is important, thinking about existence is less so; thus begins the philosophy known as existentialism." -- Professor James L. Christian. Read about Sören Kierkegaard in The Radical Academy.
Source: Volume 1I of The Wisdom Seekers: Great Philosophers of the Western World, by James L. Christian. If you want an excellent and comprehensive history of philosophy, the two volumes in this set are among the best available. And I'm not just saying that because Professor Christian is a personal friend. I used his introductory textbook in philosophy -- Philosophy: An Introduction to the Art of Wondering -- when I was teaching an introduction to philosophy course many years ago. J.D.
FOR THE RECORD 1. Maine Leads States' Rebellion Against National ID Act In a welcome slap in the face to the federal War On Privacy, Maine has become the first state in America to reject the federal "Real ID Act of 2005." The Maine Senate and House approved almost unanimously a joint resolution saying the body "refuses to implement the Real ID Act" and urging Congress and the President to repeal it. Copies were sent to President Bush, Department of Homeland Security head Michael Chertoff, and other federal officials. Similar measures will shortly be taken up by other states. Grassroots opposition to the Real ID scheme is large and growing. Real ID requires states to turn their driver's licenses into national ID cards that will be part of a 50-state shared database, containing personal information on each driver. The cards would also be computer-readable, allowing government and private scanners to collect the personal information on the cards. As libertarian congressman Ron Paul (R-TX) has said: "This Real ID Act establishes a massive, centrally-coordinated database of highly personal information about American citizens: at a minimum their name, date of birth, place of residence, Social Security number, and physical characteristics. The legislation also grants open-ended authority to the Secretary of Homeland Security to require biometric information on IDs in the future. This means your harmless looking driver's license could contain a retina scan, fingerprints, DNA information, or radio frequency technology." Maine lawmakers object to both the cost of Real ID and the threat to privacy. Senate Majority Leader Libby Mitchell, sponsor of the resolution, said, "The federal government may be willing to burden us with the high costs of a program that will do nothing to make us safer, but it is our job as state legislators to protect the people of Maine from just this sort of dangerous federal mandate. ... I am proud that this state has led the way in taking a stand against Real ID." The Maine Democratic Party noted that, if Real ID becomes law, "The card that was once used to prove an individual was safe to drive will now be used as an 'internal passport' that can be used to track an individual's movement and activities." The ACLU has added that the Real ID "will become tantamount to a license to leave your house," since it will be required virtually everywhere you go. "The end result could be a situation where citizens' movements inside their own country are monitored and recorded through these 'internal passports.'" The federal government has pushed for a national ID card for years, well before the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Previous justifications have included health care, the War on Drugs, and controlling immigration. Any excuse, it seems, will do. Ultimately Real ID must be stopped at the federal level. Hopefully this grassroots, state-by-state opposition can make that happen. Sources: Associated Press; Ron Paul; ACLU; Maine state govt; & The Liberator Online (Advocates for Self-Government). 2. "Titantic" Producer "Tries To Sink Christianity" It seems director James Cameron has done his best Dan Brown imitation and produced a documentary that once again slams the Christian faith. Working together with Canadian-based filmmaker Simcha Jacobovici, Cameron has made a film about an archeological site in the Holy Land that is supposed to contain the body of Jesus. The film, titled "The Burial Cave of Jesus," also throws in the same Dan Brown assertion that Christ was married (albeit to a woman other than Mary Magdalene). As is typical of Hollywood filmmakers these days, Cameron apparently refused to bother with those pesky little things called facts. Bar-Ilan University Professor Amos Kloner, an archeologist who originally worked at the site, has dismissed the claims as "nonsense." "There is no likelihood that Jesus and his relatives had a family tomb," Kloner told the German Press Agency, DPA. "They were a Galilee family with no ties in Jerusalem. The Talpiot tomb belonged to a middle-class family from the first century CE." Source: A Political Look at Hollywood, by James Hirsen (A NewsMax Report). 3. Judge Denies Complete Stay In AT&T Surveillance Case Government and AT&T Cannot Freeze Proceedings During Appeal San Francisco: A federal judge has ruled that the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) can go forward with elements of its class action lawsuit against AT&T for collaborating with the government on illegal spying in ordinary Americans -- despite the government and AT&T's request to freeze proceedings during an appeal. In his ruling, U.S. District Court Judge Vaughn Walker opened the door to beginning the discovery process, allowing EFF to ask "limited and targeted" questions as long as those questions do not overlap with the issues under consideration in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. "The government wanted to put this case in the deep freeze," said EFF Staff Attorney Kurt Opsahl. "Instead, the court has invited us to move forward with some targeted questions. We're glad to accept that invitation, which will allow progress while respecting the government's national security concerns." Judge Walker also refused to implement a blanket stay on the other telecommunications surveillance cases transferred to his court. He ruled that unless the parties stipulate to a stay, then "defendants will answer or otherwise respond to the complaint" by March 29. Earlier yesterday, Judge Walker denied requests from media groups to unseal critical evidence in the AT&T case. "We're disappointed that the court did not choose to unseal all of the documents that include or refer to the evidence presented by Mark Klein and our expert, J. Scott Marcus. The government has already agreed that the evidence is neither classified nor a state secret, and is only being held under seal because of AT&T's weak trade secrecy claims," said Cindy Cohn, EFF's Legal Director. "Given that the privacy of millions of Americans is at stake, we strongly believe that the public would benefit from seeing this evidence for themselves." Judge Walker did grant the media groups' request to intervene, and said he might revisit the unsealing issue at a later date. For Judge Walker's full order: Go to http://www.eff.org/legal/cases/att/stayorder220.pdf. For more on EFF's case against AT&T: Go to http://www.eff.org/legal/cases/att/. Source: Electronic Frontier Foundation. 4. Good News For Caffeine Addicts! Drinking caffeinated beverages on a regular basis may provide significant protection against death from heart disease in the elderly who have normal levels of blood pressure, according to data from a large U.S. health and nutrition study. Drinking caffeinated beverages may induce a "healthy" rise in blood pressure that counteracts the drop in blood pressure that occurs after a meal, a phenomenon that becomes more pronounced as people age, researchers note. Among 6,594 adults participating in the study, 426 died of heart disease during a nine-year period. For subjects 65 years of age or older, the researchers found that greater daily consumption of caffeinated beverages was associated with a lower risk of death from heart disease. This acted in a dose-response fashion -- the higher the caffeine level, the lower the risk, and visa versa. People who consumed four or more servings of caffeinated beverages daily had a 53-percent lower risk of death from heart disease compared with those who consumed less than half a serving daily. Subjects who consumed two to four servings per day had a 32-percent lower risk of dying from heart disease. Caffeinated ground coffee and caffeinated instant coffee, both of which have relatively large amounts of caffeine per serving, were the only specific beverages associated with a statistically significant protective effect, the authors note. This apparent protective effect of caffeinated coffee consumption was not seen in people with severe high blood pressure or those who were younger than 65 years of age. Studies on caffeine and heart disease have yielded conflicting results, note principal investigator Dr. James A. Greenberg and colleagues from Brooklyn College of the City University of New York. "It is possible that the conflict is due to differences between nonelderly and elderly persons," they point out, noting that one study found that drinking coffee increased the risk in younger subjects and that the level of risk decreased with increasing age. As mentioned, caffeine may protect against heart disease death in the elderly by preventing a decline in blood pressure after meals, a phenomenon that becomes increasing more pronounced with age. If confirmed, the current findings could have important ramifications, the authors conclude, given that coffee is widely consumed and heart disease is one of the leading causes of death in the elderly. Source: American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, February 2007, via NewsMax Health Reports. More Money For Failed Drug War Ads: Between 1998 and 2004 the federal government spent over $1.4 billion dollars producing and airing anti-drug ads aimed at teens. A nearly five-year-long, $47 million investigation -- carefully reviewed by the federal Government Accountability Office (GAO) -- found that the program failed to reduce teen drug use. Worse, "greater exposure to the campaign was associated with weaker anti-drug norms and increases in the perceptions that others use marijuana." After seeing the ads, non-marijuana-using teens were actually more likely to try the drug! That's a spectacular failure by any standards. And how does the government reward failure? With more money, of course. President Bush has proposed a huge increase -- a "surge," one is tempted to say -- in funding for the ad program: a 31 percent increase that would raise the budget to $130 million. -- Sources: The Politico; GAO Report; & The Liberator Online (Advocates for Self-Government). Read My Lips: "The Bush administration may be squarely against new taxes, but its proposed fiscal 2008 budget seeks to raise almost $81 billion in new revenue over the next five years by hiking user fees and other charges on taxpayers and businesses. Technically, changes to these fees aren't taxes. But for anyone who must pay them -- everyone from recreational hikers to war veterans -- it's a question of semantics." -- Source: McClatchy Newspapers Washington Bureau. Who Will Watch The Watchmen?: Apparently some Scots don't like highway speed cameras recently installed by their government to monitor drivers. Several such cameras have been vandalized. So frustrated officials are considering a solution: installing cameras to monitor the speed cameras. One can only wonder what the next step will be if those cameras are vandalized... -- Source: BBC News. "The Senate voted 97-0 for an anti-spam bill to stop those annoying things you get on your computer. The senators made it very clear that when you start misleading the American people and start taking their money over false promises, that's our turf, buddy!" -- Jay Leno, host of The Tonight Show on NBC.
COUNSELING CORNER: Some Geriatic Observations . . . You KNOW you are getting old WHEN . . . Your sweetie says, "Let's go upstairs and make love," and you answer, "Pick one; I can't do both!" Your friends compliment you on your new alligator shoes and you're barefoot. A sexy babe catches your fancy and your pacemaker opens the garage door.. Going braless pulls all the wrinkles out of your face. You don't care where your spouse goes, just as long as you don't have to go along. You are cautioned to slow down by the doctor instead of by the police. "Getting a little action" means you don't need to take any fiber today "Getting lucky" means you find your car in the parking lot. An "all nighter" means not getting up to use the bathroom. AND you know that you are really getting old WHEN ... You are not sure these are jokes.
A LITTLE OF THIS & A LITTLE OF THAT A Little Wisdom: It's not what you've got, it's what you use that makes a difference. A Little Advice: To be sure of hitting the target, shoot first, and call whatever you hit the target. A Little Question: If a word in the dictionary were misspelled, how would we know? A Little Put-Down: Are you always so stupid or is today a special occasion? A Little Proverb: It is a fearful thing to love what death can touch. A Little Reflection: It's amazing what a man can accomplish when he's not worried about who will get the credit. A Little Observation: Too bad that all the people who know how to run the country are busy driving taxicabs and cutting hair. A Little Quote: "I will not eat raw oysters. I want my food dead. Not sick -- not wounded -- dead." -- Woody Allen, American humorist, director, actor, author. A Little Definition: Flashlight - A case for holding dead batteries. A Little Admission: "I didn't attend the funeral, but I sent a nice letter saying I approved of it." -- Mark Twain. A Little Quip: People usually get what's coming to them...unless it's been mailed.
Some interesting & provocative articles on other websites: Thank You for Smoking, by Peter Brimelow: The hangperson's noose is unmistakably around the tobacco industry's neck. In Florida and Mississippi, state governments are attempting to force tobacco companies to pay some smoking-related health care costs. In Washington, D.C., the Environmental Protection Agency has claimed that "secondhand smoke" is a significant risk for nonsmokers and the Food & Drug Administration is making noises about regulating nicotine as a drug. ... Beyond its behavioral effects, smoking seems also to offer subtler health rewards to balance against its undisputed risks:... The Redirection - Is the Administration's new policy benefitting our enemies in the war on terrorism?, by Seymour M. Hersh: In the past few months, as the situation in Iraq has deteriorated, the Bush Administration, in both its public diplomacy and its covert operations, has significantly shifted its Middle East strategy. The "redirection," as some inside the White House have called the new strategy, has brought the United States closer to an open confrontation with Iran and, in parts of the region, propelled it into a widening sectarian conflict between Shiite and Sunni Muslims. A Muslim Declaration for Freedom, by Jamie Glazov: Dr. Chesler will be chairing the opening panel in the upcoming Secular Islamic Summit Conference of Muslim and ex-Muslim dissidents. The Conference will be held on March 4th and 5th in St Petersburg, Florida at the Hilton Hotel. The dissidents are planning to issue a Declaration for freedom throughout the Islamic world. The Philosophy of War, by Dale Netherton: To summarize the philosophy of war we need to consider the branches of philosophy and how they apply to war. In the metaphysics of war is the reality of war. It is necessary due to the choices of man which may drift into the irrational desire to rule by force which requires retaliation and defense of rational values. Science and Sophistry, by Alan Burkhart: A few weeks ago, I wrote an article titled "Global Warming, Body Paint and Bicycles" in which I detailed some of the popular myths surrounding the global warming debate, and I pointed out some of the more-ridiculous methods the Left has used to draw attention to its various non-causes. Politics and science - chalk and cheese?: Politicians must decide on many aspects of our lives governed by science, from climate change to medicine to the food we eat. How do they determine the right course of action? Former government chief scientist and Royal Society president, Lord May, examines the crucial but uneasy relationship between politics and science. Debating Pascal's Wager, by Devin James Carpenter: "If you don't find a God by five o'clock this afternoon you must leave the college." Benjamin Browett gave this comic ultimatum to a student who was frustrated by his vain searches to find proof for God's existence. Philosophers and theologians have debated the merits of different proofs and denials of God's existence for ages; from the ancient Greeks to present day philosophers, the amount of philosophical literature on God is massive, and yet consensus concerning his existence is still absent. Former Science Mag Editor Speaks Out Against Global Warming Hysteria, by Noel Sheppard: Nigel Calder is probably not a household name in America, as he used to be the editor of the British science magazine New Scientist, and is more recently an author and BBC screenwriter. With that as pretext, he wrote a column for the Sunday Times in which he absolutely slammed the recent hysteria and junk science surrounding anthropogenic global warming... A big hand for young philosophers,by Anna Smyth: Take a moment, please, to study the image on this page. Hands. Human hands, grossly over-sized in comparison to the man to whom they belong. You are probably not feeling intellectually stimulated. The image most likely hasn't provoked intense analytical thinking, nor sparked fierce familial debate. But for a group of primary school pupils, this image is the childhood equivalent of, for example, David Hume's A Treatise of Human Nature. Welcome to philosophy for four-year-olds. Metaphysics - a 'third stream' of US religion, by David Nartonis: Spiritual systems based on an experience of 'mind' have long had a place in America's religious life. Religion After Freud, by Tony Campolo: Sigmund Freud was the apostle of disbelief. He was the one who made psychoanalysis a part of our culture, and in so doing he kicked out a flying buttress that had been essential for holding up our cathedral of faith. Immanuel Kant - the Enlightener, by Manfred Geier: A small man, a big mind: Immanuel Kant revolutionized philosophy, questioned established authorities and placed reason and freedom at the centre of his thinking. Kant died 200 years ago - his ideas still point to the future.
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