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Index for this page...
All The Following Items Were Posted On June 1, 2007 Custom and Convention: As the word "convention" indicates, what is conventional is in the realm of the voluntary. The institutions that human beings voluntarily institute are the products of nurture, not nature, That which is natural is the same everywhere, but positive laws and customs are conventional. As the Greek sophists said, fire burn here and in Persia, but the laws and customs of the Persians and of the Greeks are different. On many aspects of human conduct the laws enacted and enforced by those who have the authority or power to do so are silent. Where the laws are silent in a community, customs that have existed from time immemorial have the force of law. In the development of the English common law, for example, what is established by ancient customs prevails. 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.
Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) "Henry David Thoreau, astute observer of nature and author of Walden. Thoreau's major discovery, some say, is the recognition that solitude is indispensable to the development of a healthy self." -- Professor James L. Christian. Read about Henry David Thoreau 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. It is an excellent introduction. J.D.
FOR THE RECORD 1. Libertarians Take Note: "A De Facto U.S. Military Dictatorship?" "Making martial law easier." That was the startling title of a recent editorial in America's staid, establishment paper of record, the New York Times. The editorial denounced an almost unknown provision of the Defense Authorization Act, passed in October 2006 -- a provision that, as the Times put it, was "quietly tucked into the enormous defense budget bill at the Bush administration's behest." This provision does nothing less than give the president enormous and unprecedented new power to override local and national law and declare martial law. The provision weakens two very old and very vital restrictions on presidential power. It overrides posse comitatus, the post-Civil War doctrine that bans the military from engaging in law enforcement. It also overrides the Insurrection Act of 1807. That Act, explains the Times, "provides the major exemptions to posse comitatus. It essentially limits a president's use of the military in law enforcement to putting down lawlessness, insurrection and rebellion, where a state is violating federal law or depriving people of constitutional rights." But under the new provisions, notes the Times, "the president may now use military troops as a domestic police force in response to a natural disaster, a disease outbreak, terrorist attack or to any 'other condition.'" Any "other condition." More open-ended wording cannot be imagined. Further, the president can do this without the consent of Congress. The provision states only that Congress must be informed "as soon as practicable." It is impossible to overstate the seriousness of this. As bestselling award-winning libertarian journalist James Bovard notes in American Conservative magazine:
It should also be clear that, once a president has the power to unilaterally declare martial law, we are living in a de facto military dictatorship. That the president has not used that power does not change the fact that, once such power is vested in him, he is a de facto dictator. At the moment such powers are granted, our freedom exists only at the president's pleasure. This is an astonishing shift. As libertarian Justin Raimondo of AntiWar.com notes,
And this assault on American freedom was made with no public debate, no hearings, no announcement. Writes Raimondo:
Indeed, the provision was supported by prominent conservatives and liberals alike. Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), the ranking Democratic member on the Senate Armed Services Committee, co-wrote the provision along with committee chairman Sen. John Warner (R-Va.). Sen. Ted Kennedy endorsed it, as did Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.), then-chairman of the House Armed Services Committee. Bovard again:
Thankfully, some citizens and politicians are fighting back. Senate Bill 513, introduced by Senators Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) and Christopher Bond (R- Missouri), and a House counterpart, H.R. 869, would repeal this stealth attack on American liberty. They are backed unanimously by the governors of all 50 states. But passage is not at all certain. And until they are passed, Americans need to ponder the consequences of living in a de facto military dictatorship. Sources: New York Times editorial; James Bovard; & Justin Raimondo. 2. Pope Denounces 'Authoritarian' Regimes in South America Pope Benedict XVI ended his recent visit to Brazil by warning against "authoritarian forms of government" -- a veiled shot at Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez. Speaking to more than 160 Latin American and Caribbean bishops in Aparecida, Brazil, on May 13, the pontiff declared:
He added that "the Marxist system, where it found its way into government, not only left a sad heritage of economic and ecological destruction, but also a painful destruction of the human spirit." The Miami Herald reported: "Benedict's most political remarks appeared to be aimed at leaders such as Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez and Bolivian President Evo Morales, who have been accused of ruling autocratically." The Pope also appeared to criticize indigenous leaders such as Morales, an Aymara Indian, by criticizing the revival of native religions. The Bolivian leader has threatened to remove Catholic instruction from the nation's schools. Pope Benedict had earlier sparked controversy when he told reporters that legislators who voted in April to legalize abortion in Mexico City deserved to be excommunicated. Brazil is the world's largest Catholic country, with about 125 million members of the church. Source: NewsMax.com Special Reports 3. Nothing's Easy In Washington, DC: A Toilet Paper Tale "Last year the Architect of the Capitol needed to buy paper towels and toilet paper for congressional rest rooms. Sounds simple. Americans stock up on paper products all the time. But in Washington, D.C., nothing's that easy. "Before buying anything, the Architect's office had to describe specifically what it wanted and how the products should be delivered. ... These requirements filled 32 pages. "Of course, paper products matter little in the grand scheme of things. But they're a useful canary in the coal mine of public policy. The trouble they warn of here is that there are, simply, too many federal laws and regulations." Source: "The Paperwork of Paper," by Ed Feulner, Heritage Foundation State Censorship of the Net Is Growing: Out of 41 countries surveyed by the Open Net Initiative, 25 showed evidence of content filtering. Read More. Yahoo!'s Terms of Service Clash With Law Enforcement: Yahoo! UK's anti-anonymity rules mean that police can't run undercover operations. Read More. Farming Without Subsidies: A prosperous farm sector without government subsidies? Sounds too good to be true...sounds like a fairy tale. It's not. Read More. Our Effective Government: [J]ust how effective is the government? According to the Office of Management and Budget, just 17 percent of federal programs are 'effective' while 25 percent are deemed 'not performing.' Read More. 6. Quote Of The Month: Change in Iraq "According to a new State Department report, the number of terrorist attacks in Iraq jumped 91 percent from 2005 to 2006, many of the attacks planned and executed by al-Qaida, and several of those attacks using deadly chlorine gas. That's right, people: Iraq and al-Qaida, working together with weapons of mass destruction... finally Iraq has become the country we thought it was when we invaded." -- Jon Stewart, The Daily Show, May 11-12.
PLEASE NOTE: Some of the information in "For The Record" may have been provided to us by one or more of the following resources: Advocates for Self-Government; NewsMax.com; The Patriot Post; Media Research Center; National Center for Public Policy Research; Foundation for Individual Rights in Education; TownHall.com; Toward Tradition; This is Common Sense; The Sam Adams Alliance; Junk Science; WorldNetDaily. COUNSELING CORNER: Please be patient with those first learning to speak & write English . . . Let's face it - English is a crazy language. There is no egg in eggplant, nor ham in hamburger; neither apple nor pine in pineapple. English muffins weren't invented in England or French fries in France. Sweetmeats are candies while sweetbreads, which aren't sweet, are meat. We take English for granted but if we explore its paradoxes, we find that quicksand can work slowly, boxing rings are square and a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig. And why is it that writers write but fingers don't fing, grocers don't groce and hammers don't ham? If the plural of tooth is teeth, why isn't the plural of booth, beeth? One goose, 2 geese. So one moose, 2 meese? One index, 2 indices? Doesn't it seem crazy that you can make amends but not one amend? If you have a bunch of odds and ends and get rid of all but one of them, what do you call it? If teachers taught, why didn't preachers praught? If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat? Sometimes I think all the English speakers should be committed to an asylum for the verbally insane. In what language do people recite at a play and play at a recital? Ship by truck and send cargo by ship? Have noses that run and feet that smell? How can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same, while a wise man and a wise guy are opposites? You have to marvel at the unique lunacy of a language in which your house can burn up as it burns down, in which you fill in a form by filling it out and in which, an alarm goes off by going on. English was invented by people, not computers, and it reflects the creativity of the human race, which, of course, is not a race at all. That is why, when the stars are out, they are visible, but when the lights are out, they are invisible. Soooo....please be patient with those who are struggling to learn the English language. If you are a native speaker, it's more difficult than you probably think.
A LITTLE OF THIS & A LITTLE OF THAT A Little Wisdom: Great works are performed, not by strength, but by perseverance. A Little Advice: If you must choose between two evils, pick the one you've never tried before! A Little Question: Why are there interstate highways in Hawaii? A Little Put-Down: Sorry, I don't date outside my species. A Little Proverb: Time is the best teacher. Unfortunately, it kills all its students. A Little Reflection: You are only young once, but you can stay immature indefinitely. A Little Observation: Marriage is the triumph of imagination over intelligence. A second marriage is the triumph of hope over experience. A Little Quote: "To laugh often and much, to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children,to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends, to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others, to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition, to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded." -- Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-82), American essayist, philosopher, and poet. A Little Definition: CANNIBAL - Someone who is fed up with people. A Little Admission: I'm like a mosquito in a nudist camp; I know what I should do, but I don't know where to start! A Little Hubris: "My opinions may have changed, but not the fact that I am right."
Some interesting & provocative articles on other websites: Don't Be Fooled by Propaganda, by Charley Reese: There is an ongoing slander campaign against Islam, claiming that it is a religion that promotes violence and hinting that it seeks world conquest. Before you buy the malarkey that is being produced by people with their own agendas or prejudices or who are just plain ignoramuses, follow these few suggestions:... Why Ancient Greeks are Always Nude, by Corey Binns: Male nudes are the norm in Greek art, even though historians have stated that ancient Greeks kept their clothes on for the most part. New research suggests that art might have been imitating life more closely than previously thought. Nudity was a costume used by artists to depict various roles of men, ranging from heroicism and status to defeat. The neocon moment is over, by Paul Mulshine: So-called "neo" conservatism has its roots in a Marxist view of the world. So it is not surprising that the neocons are trying to silence their most prominent conservative critic. That would be Texas Rep. Ron Paul. He outraged the neocons dur ing the Republican presidential debate last week by advocating that the GOP return to the traditional conservative stance of noninterventionism. The Sanctimony of the Atheists, by Joseph Sobran: Consider Christopher Hitchens, author of the new book God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything, whose title is perhaps self-explanatory. Religion poisons everything? Everything? Bach and Mozart? Thomas Aquinas and John Henry Newman? The Strangest Disaster of the 20th Century: Here's the story of how scientists unlocked the secrets of the worst natural disaster in the history of the West African nation of Cameroon… and what they're doing to try and stop it from happening again. Ron Paul rocks Republican bigwigs, by James P. Pinkerton: One assumes that Ron Paul knows he is not going to be the next president of the United States - or even the next Republican nominee. Yet the Texas congressman is campaigning hard, aiming particular ire and fire at Rudy Giuliani. Paul is commonly regarded - by those who have heard of him - as more of a Libertarian than a Republican. The Perils of Parens Patriae, or When the State Becomes Daddy, by William Norman Grigg: For those of us who love and understand individual freedom, it sometimes seems as if the Atlantic just isn't wide enough to impede the collaboration of Anglo-American elites seeking to re-mold the world closer to their hearts' desire. Search for Happiness Scoops Science Prize: A search for the scientific basis for happiness has beaten the tale of the world's most famous tortoise and the history of humans in Britain to be named this year's best science book. Manufacturing belief, by Steve Paulson: The origin of religion is in our heads, explains developmental biologist Lewis Wolpert. First we figured out how to make tools, then created a supernatural being. Who's Kwame Anthony Appiah?: Kwame Anthony Appiah is our postmodern Socrates. He asks what it means to be African and African-American, but his answers immediately raise issues that encompass us all. I've been thinking about why we think about thinking - Don't ask philosophers to talk shop, by Jonathan Wolff: Several philosophers claim to have had the following conversation on long-haul flights: "And what line of work are you in?" "Me? I'm a philosopher." "Oh, really? And what are some of your sayings?" Hearts & Minds, by Jonah Lehrer: Since Plato, scholars have drawn a clear distinction between thinking and feeling. Now science suggests that our emotions are what make thought possible. Are Persons Just an Illusion? - Neuroscience and philosophy clash, by Ronald Bailey: Neuroscientists Martha Farah and Andrea Heberlein, in the January issue of the American Journal of Bioethics, wonder if empirical insights from their discipline can naturalize personhood.
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