By Bryan Hyde If patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel as Samuel Johnson suggested in 1775, one can’t help but wonder what the first refuge might have been. In our day, the answer to that question would most likely consist of what Gilbert Ryle referred to as the bogus or unspecified predicate as a means of silencing dissent. The … [Read more...]
Our New National Hymn: How Great We Art
By Bryan Hyde "Raise their heads on gilded poles! Roast the fatted calf! We need a rousing song--summon Toby Keith!" - from The Onion on the killing of Usay & Quday Hussein by U.S forces in 2003. The past couple of weeks have revealed a great deal about the character of the average American. It's not exactly good news either. When … [Read more...]
That Which We Call A Rose
By David Grant "How many legs does a dog have if you call the tail a leg? Four. Calling a tail a leg, doesn’t make it a leg.” — Abraham Lincoln But political rhetoric would have you believe that it is not a tail but a leg. It’s time to apply the potent laxative of logic to constipated political spin. Your life (freedom) depends on … [Read more...]
Jesuits, Teens, Romance, Statistics and Frontal Lobe Development
By David Grant In 1552, St. Francis Xavier, one of the founders of the Jesuits, sailed to China in an effort to convert souls to Christianity. He never made it to the mainland, but others would soon follow who would have vast impact in China and on world technology exchange. The same efforts were undertaken at about the same time in South … [Read more...]
The Marriage Plot and the End of Men, Part II: New Rules
By Oliver DeMille This is a follow-up article to this article. The Rise of Women In 2010 America saw more women than men in the paid workplace for the first time. In the wake of this major development, business is evolving in several significant ways. For example, columnist Jennifer Braunschweiger has outlined many changes ahead, … [Read more...]
Breaking Free From the Two-Party System, Part 1: The Extent of the Damage
By Kyle Roberts To preserve our freedom, the U.S. legal code must separate political parties from government, and citizens must learn to consider more than the Democratic and Republican parties. Republics throughout history have always been dominated by self-serving parties whose goals are adverse to the rights and combined interests of the … [Read more...]
Seven Spheres of Influence
By Dave Wilson I read in a recent piece by David Brooks that, “Over the past seven months, the number of people who say government is doing too many things better left to business has jumped from 40 percent to 48 percent, according to a Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll.” My first reaction was, “Remember last year when ‘business’ ruined … [Read more...]
The True Mirror of Our Doctrine
The conduct of our lives is the true mirror of our doctrine. – Michel Eyquem de Montaigne Glenn Beck, a nationally-syndicated political talk show host who also has a TV show, recently told his listeners that if their churches mentioned “social justice” or “economic justice” (what he called political “code words” for communism, etc.), his … [Read more...]
Exposing Financial Sacred Cows
The current economy is rife with uncertainty. The danger is that uncertainty creates optimal conditions for financial myths to be created and for existing myths to be reinforced. When people make decisions from fear and scarcity, rather than confidence and abundance, destructive myths gain an even greater stronghold. Myths become “sacred … [Read more...]
Conditioning Us for the Next War
Just this morning I received an e-mail from a friend breathlessly warning of the dangers of impending Sharia law in America. The e-mail contained a series of photos of an Iranian boy whose arm was being crushed beneath a car's tire for the crime of stealing. Why aren't we bombing them already? Wow. I guess everything we've heard … [Read more...]