Saturday
November 12, 2005 |
 Machan's Musings - Welcome to Freer Markets
by Tibor R. Machan
Most of those with whom we do business never were our bosom buddies in the first place. They were strangers all along, and at one time this meant we couldn't do any good for each other at all. But with the thriving of commerce around the world, with the increase of freedom of trade and of capital and labor movement, the source of mutual benefit, and with occasional volatility as well, strangers have become important sources of well-being for most of us. (Read more...)
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 Primacy of Consciousness Redux: A Review of Overman's A Case Against Accident and Self-Organization
by Roger E. Bissell
Dean Overman is the author of yet another attempt to argue that, without some ruling consciousness, there is no logic, no morality, no life, no universe, nothing at all. The antidote? A healthy dose of the metaphysics and logic based on the Primacy of Existence. (Read more...)
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Daily Linz 19 - Friday Miscellany
by Lindsay Perigo
This week's topics: Reason/emotion; The Free Radical 69.
Daily Linz has been less than "daily" this week and last, on account, as explained, of my being immersed in the upcoming Free Radical. I can report that this issue will KASS even more than most! Lead article is an interview with the world's first "Political Correctness Eradicator." What a hopelessly confused weasel-worder he shows himself to be! There's an exclusive article by Casey Fahy, The Silence of Ayn Rand's Critics, guaranteed to cause wailing and gnashing of teeth. ...
(Read more...)
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Thursday
November 10, 2005 |
 They Worship Death
by Marcus Bachler
The sad fact is that fundamentalist religious zealots such as Osama bin Laden, while claiming to practice a religion of peace, will not rest until every last country in the world is an Ayatollah-run dictatorship composed of veiled submissive women, violent bearded men and dead infidels. However, the battle to preserve our “love of life” in the West can and must be won, as it was against Communism and Fascism, by not giving an inch to the anti-life ideology that is shrouded by the terrorists’ political demands. (Read more...)
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Thursday
November 10, 2005 |
Machan's Musings - When Government "Teaches"
by Tibor R. Machan
As someone with a 40-plus-year career in education, I am fully supportive of schooling the young, not only because this gives me a fantastic job but because the young, including my own three children, require a solid education. But a solid education does not come from government and its school administrators. It comes from a free education system, free not of reality—which means costs, controversies and confusions, among other things—but free of government. (Read more...)
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Wednesday
November 9, 2005 |
On the Origins of the Trading Syndrome
by A. Robert Malcom
Among the ancient settlements uncovered by archaeological research, raiding was not the dominant means of interaction; plenty of evidence suggests that instead, bartering took place. Bartering is a form of trading, an exchange of "value for value," and, because of the likelihood of repeated encounters, was done without coercion. (Read more...)
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Wednesday
November 9, 2005 |
Machan's Musings - Every Day a New Study
by Tibor R. Machan
In the university atmosphere, where people can keep jobs the free marketplace may well not support, there will clearly be a lot of make-work. Not only is it an article of faith in most university disciplines that original scholarship and research are marks of excellence; not only do degrees and promotions depend a great deal not on teaching students but on doing this kind of work; but a good portion of the funds for it all can be gotten without having to persuade the funding agents, taxpayers, of the merits of these projects. (Read more...)
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The War with Islam
by Kyrel Zantonavitch
Muslims forever claim the the West in general, and America in particular, is "at war with Islam." Nothing could seem more ludicrous. But is it? (Read more...)
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Machan's Musings - Corporate Self-Flagellation
by Tibor R. Machan
This is one of the most infuriating things I experience on a nearly daily basis: businesses that are sponsoring total disrespect toward business. Any Rand used to call this "the sanction of the victim," suggesting that these are good people who are accepting bad things said about them. But I think they are not always such good people. (Read more...)
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 Questions and Motives
by Luke Setzer
The vice of snooping has its roots in human tribalism. Such unbridled and uncivilized curiosity manifests itself in the form of questions that invade privacy. The best defense against such intrusiveness comes from the unyielding application of the virtue of self-assertiveness and the contextual application of the virtue of honesty. (Read more...)
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Daily Linz 18 - Rod Donald, Green Convertible?
by Lindsay Perigo
There were no false pretences between us, just an appreciation of our commonalities and a lot of humorous banter about our differences. Goodbye, Young Donald! I may be damned to hell for saying it, but I shall miss you. (Read more...)
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The Berkeley Horror Files
by Katherine Brakora
My motivation to re-start my own Horror File is a product of last night’s monthly meeting of the UC Berkeley Graduate Assembly (i.e., student government). Rather than recapping nearly three hours of proceedings, I’ll just relay the two quotes so incredible I actually wrote them down. My blood is still boiling. (Read more...)
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Machan's Musings - No Choice, Only An Echo
by Tibor R. Machan
What should be clear to all these highly educated, well read, sober people on both sides—all of whom have their own particular value-agendas, make no mistake about that—is that adult human beings just do not get better when they are pushed around, however well-meaning are the pushers. (Read more...)
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Should Christian Bale Be Drafted?
by Heidi C. Lange
Involuntary military service? What a way to destroy an economy .... (Read more...)
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 Mystery
by Marty Lewinter
Loving a person and loving nature are both reflections of our sense of life. The thrill of a winter night sky and of a rendezvous with a lover have much in common. This poem was written with this in mind. (Read more...)
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Understanding Is and Ought - A Personal View
by Michael Stuart Kelly
Shorthand "mental tags" are extremely useful for moral principles. But the danger in their constant use is that they make the mind turn off on a cognitive level. They provide an immediate emotional reaction—usually moral denunciation, but sometimes, moral praise. The "What is it?" has become so integrated into the "What should I do?" that it is no longer asked or even thought about. (Read more...)
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Machan's Musings - The Futility of Nonstop Relief
by Tibor R. Machan
No one can accept the idea of trying to fill a bottomless hole—that people in the poorer parts of the world will forever need to be taken care of, that they simply will never cope on their own. And this is quite rational—if someone requires emergency support, to be helped back on his or her feet, after which a productive life will be resumed, helping makes sense. But if help simply goes to be consumed, after which more help is required, on and on and on, this is intolerable. (Read more...)
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Was Ayn Rand a Conservative?
by Neil Parille
Ayn Rand, as we know, did not consider herself a conservative. She called herself a “radical for capitalism.” In addition, many of her views were contrary to those of mainstream conservatism. She was an atheist and a fierce critic of religion. At the same time, the occasional references to Rand as a conservative call for explanation. (Read more...)
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Dehydration
by John Paul Sherman
There was a man who pricked his heart / On the thorn of an unfilled need / Who clamped a bandage, crushed the smart / Refused to let it bleed. (Read more...)
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Wednesday
November 2, 2005 |
Robert Nozick's Libertarian Framework for Utopia
by Edward W. Younkins
Nozick’s Anarchy, State and Utopia made libertarianism’s views on the nature and legitimacy of the minimal state respectable in academic circles. Nozick revived the classical liberal tradition with his abstract, clever, and often obscure explanation of how a minimal state might arise legitimately in the form of an all-inclusive, rights-respecting protection agency. He was instrumental in creating the intellectual and philosophical foundation that has allowed the creation and flourishing of today’s numerous libertarian organizations. (Read more...)
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Wednesday
November 2, 2005 |
Machan's Musings - Empty Environmentalism?
by Tibor R. Machan
In the community where I live, environmentalists are hard at work to put a stop to all developments, meaning, all efforts to increase the available housing and other human amenities for people wanting to live there. Orange County, CA, is a highly prized area, so it’s no wonder people want to live there, and those with land find a demand to fill for homes and other amenities—developments, as they have been dubbed, probably because the designation tends to remove from it the human element and suggests raw greed. (Read more...)
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Fighting the Crab Bucket Mentality
by Matthew Graybosch
If the United States is plagued by the Crab Bucket Mentality, you can be damned sure that syndicated advice columnists are doing nothing to help. You can be just as sure that I am going to call them to account for their irresponsible advice. (Read more...)
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Night Where
by John Paul Sherman
My hands broke free / Stripping away the thin silk of alarms / As I tasted the full bite of passionate dew ... (Read more...)
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 My Journey to Atheism
by Eric J. Tower
When I chose to live my life as an atheist I did so not because I wanted to be different, but because I lived through the real dangers of theistic life both psychologically and physically. Theistic belief hindered my growth as an individual. When I finally chose to shrug these chains I found I was able to live my life freely. No longer impeded by unearned guilt or baseless faith, I was finally able to grow as an individual. (Read more...)
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Machan's Musings - Welcome Trouble in Washington
by Tibor R. Machan
With things falling apart in and near the White House, I am hard put to be upset. Indeed, I find it a relief. After all, it confirms my long held view that making politics such a vital part of our lives is a very big mistake. (Read more...)
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