Archives for July 2004

Time to make another entry to my “Very Short Blogroll” on the left-side column. I’m honored to introduce Keith Burgess-Jackson, JD, PhD. He’s a licensed attorney in both Michigan and Arizona, and currently a Professor of Philosophy at the University of Texas. I’ve been reading his blog, on and off, for a few months and I find his depth on the general subject matter of philosophy, politics, and ethics to be noteworthy. He comes up with some very compelling and thought-provoking ideas.

He’s a former liberal and socialist himself, and so speaks with some authority on what he considers wrong-headed with respect to liberal ideology. He’s also far more polite, charitable and patient in characterizing his philosophical opponents than am I.

To wit, read here his post on liberal entitlement. Here’s an excerpt.

Liberals think that the means to world peace is negotiation (conciliation, compromise). No conservative opposes world peace. But not all conflicts are resolvable through negotiation, for that requires rational, self-interested agents. Our enemies today—radical Muslims—are irrational, at least by Western standards. They value destruction of their enemies more than their own lives or the lives of their loved ones. How do you negotiate with someone who is suicidal? How do you negotiate with someone who wants your death more than anything else? You have no leverage. The only way to deal with implacable, irrational enemies is through force. Conservatives, to their credit, understand this. Liberals do not.

In complete betrayal of the title to this post, this article gives a much more civil assessment of John Edward’s “career” as a blood-sucking parasite than I ever could.

(link via AnalPhilosopher)

Well, I’m behind. I should be posting about the other guy, but first things first. I was going to write a summary of Edward’s speech; then I realized that someone already wrote the Legend of Robin Hood—you know—the “virtue” of stealing from the rich to give to the poor. That will suffice.

I will say that it must be ironic to all but zombies to listen to a speech themed on “Two Americas” (class envy and warfare, for those in need of a clue) and have it conclude by excoriating his opponent for engaging in divisive politics.

Anyway, I caught wind of this gem, all facts easily verifiable, and it just so clearly illustrates the deep dishonesty and hypocrisy of the man. Is he the only one? No, certainly not; he’s just the one in my sights right now. But I also doubt there’s anyone more hypocritical. Some excerpts:

Turns out the senior Tarheel senator is a double beneficiary of alleged drug-company misdemeanors. On the campaign trail he gets to bray about the injustice of it all, and back home he collects the dividends of “price gouging” and adds them to his considerable net worth.

Edwards has been a fairly substantial shareholder (tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars in combined drug stocks at various times) in Bristol-Myers Squibb, Merck, Johnson & Johnson, Eli Lilly, Pfizer and Novartis, a rogues’ gallery of lifesaving medicine makers, federal filings show.
…

Meet well-known oilman John R. Edwards. The senator has owned stock in Chevron Texaco, Exxon Mobil and Schlumberger.
…

Wait, Bill Miller is in the senator’s portfolio. Edwards had more than $100,000 in Miller’s renowned Legg Mason Value Trust at the end of last year, holding pieces of stocks such as Citigroup, Tyco and one of the health insurers Edwards excoriates, UnitedHealth Group.

Edwards, who voted to authorize President Bush to invade Iraq, also bought shares in defense corporations Lockheed Martin and United Technologies the week before the war began. Lockheed Martin makes Patriot missiles, among other hardware, and United Technologies makes Black Hawk helicopters.

The senator has also held stock and bond investments in DaimlerChrysler. You know DaimlerChrysler. Presidential candidate John Edwards shined a spotlight on the company earlier this year:

How DaimlerChrysler decided to shift frame production of its Dodge Ram truck to Mexico. How that forced its Milwaukee supplier, Tower Automotive, to move work to Mexico, too. How 500 Milwaukee jobs will disappear by the middle of next year as a result.

While it’s true that at least part of the time his assets were in a blind trust and he did not know or control the precise trades, he certainly could have specified classes of investments that he didn’t want—or hell—he could have set up a blind trust with Peter Camejo’s brokerage that invests only in “socially responsible” companies, whatever the hell that means. He could have invested in plain ‘ol real estate, or any number of other sorts of investments. But he didn’t. He knew his funds would be invested in the same companies he was going to go out and excoriate, and he knew he’d be laughing all the way to the bank.

Let me be perfectly clear. While I wholly condemn the way he “earned” his money in the first place, which is nothing more than an unjust tax on all of you via higher prices for goods, services, and insurance in order to pay the tens of millions of dollars in settlements and judgments that went into John Edward’s pockets, I’ve no problem with a guy investing money, per se, and earning a good return on it. Conflict of interest? Only to ignoramuses who see the economy as a zero-sum game. Public policy that honestly and justly benefits a company or industry is one of the very few things on a very short list of things that politicians sometimes get right, and typically, simply involves getting out of the way of the company or industry.

So, go ahead and invest with pride, Mr. Edwards. Just shut your lying, divisive, hypocritical trap about it.

Just stop using the word “democratic” in an improper and loaded manner already.

Next time someone says “democratic party,” ask them which one they mean, the Democrat Party or the Republican Party. When they talk about the “democratic convention,” inquire as to whether they are talking about the one being put on by the Democrats or the one to be put on by the Republicans.

Listen, I’m no big fan of democracy. It’s just the tyranny of the majority over the minority rather than other forms of tyranny. Even still, words mean things, so use them properly.

Out.

Well, this is what you get when you’re a blowhard with no sound foundation. O’Reilly, sometimes entertaining as host of Fox News’ The O’Reilly Factor, is shallow in terms of political philosophy. And that came out in spades during last night’s interview with Michael Moore. He deserved to be embarrassed as he should be after that performance. Bill: when someone confronts you with a moral argument, the thing to do is examine the moral being appealed to and deal with that. You don’t counter it with an even stupider moral argument.

I saw only the last bit of the interview last night, but it was enough to see that O’Reilly was ill equipped. It was jaw dropping (close quotes):

Moore: So, Bill, would you send your neighbor’s children to secure Fallujah?

O’Reilly: No, I’d send myself instead.

Here is Moore making a fallacious moral argument, but a “good sounding” one to people inept at thinking in principles, but who think they can nonetheless.

1. They aren’t Bill’s “children” to send.

2. We don’t enlist the service of children in the U.S. armed forces. Those who enlist or accept a commission do so of their own volition (which, incidentally, I did myself from 1982 – 1992).

3. Those who volunteer to serve don’t get to second guess every operation and decide whether they wish to participate, or should participate, or not. This is a “metaphysical” aspect of military service; it’s the nature of the thing. You’re supposed to consider this before you sign up.

But, on the surface, Moore’s argument sure sounds good, doesn’t it? Sounds nice and “individualist” and all. Why should we sacrifice the good life of anyone for the sake of Fallujah and its miserable ilk? Unfortunately, it ignores the moral principle of an individual’s freedom to do as he pleases with his life, such as join the military. Moreover, it presumes to substitute any particular individual’s value hierarchy with that of Michael Moore’s. Finally, it fails to abstract the larger ideal represented by liberating Fallujah.

And how does O’Reilly respond? He resorts to the tired old rhetoric of self-sacrifice, designed to make everyone just go all weak at the knees in awe. ‘Oh, Bill would give his life in place of his neighbor’s child.’ Well, maybe he would and maybe he wouldn’t—and his virtue could be debated. Either way, it doesn’t answer the question.

Now, I’m not the only one out there capable of reasoning through this sort of issue. Here are a couple of others I dug up:

Michele at A Small Victory (via Beck)

John Derbyshire, who gives an historical-philosophical perspective that’s dead on. It includes gems like this:

The Left has never departed in any significant way from Leninist collectivism. Human beings are not autonomous spiritual beings, possessed of free will. They are mechanical units who need to be directed, governed, shoveled around like so many truckloads of concrete, socially engineered. Or they are “children,” to be scolded and directed and constantly supervised.

Here, I essentially called Teresa Heinz Kerry, the candidate for First Lady, a whore. Look: she marries into money and when she finally inherits it, promptly goes about spending it in ways her Republican Senator husband John Heinz would not have approved*, and I don’t mean closets full of shoes and clothes. She’s giving it away to charities that espouse beliefs radically contrary to those of the one who left her the money. That’s just trampling on his grave, as far as I’m concerned. And if that’s not bad enough, she marries yet another Senator, but this time one who is the absolute farthest to the left of any Senator in office and now proceeds to use her inherited wealth, and the influence it buys, to go even farther against what her late husband would have wished for, making a mockery of him in front of the whole country.

I think it’s disgusting. I know nothing about John Heinz, only that his memory and reputation are irrevocably besmirched.

Kim du Toit has a different take that showcases his South African heritage and is far more amusing than mine.

* (He should have been more careful setting up the trusts.)

When married to Republican Senator John Heinz, heir to the Heinz fortune which she inherited, I believe that Teresa Heinz was speaking from her heart when she called Democrat politics “putrid” and Ted Kennedy a “perfect bastard.” But let’s get beyond the whoring. She’s not the first, nor will she be the last woman to spread her legs for the sake of power. To wit, Hillary spoke last evening.

I’m actually sitting here watching her speech as I write this. She’s no dummy. That’s clear. She’s thoughtful. But that’s just it. She just spoke her bit about Galileo, Cassini, and Hubble, and other such things. Did anyone notice the silence and blank stares in the audience? I’ll leave it to readers to gather just why that is.

And what was that bit about the Peace Corps, for Christ’s sake—while we have troops in conflict overseas?

I thought that in view of how tough I normally am on the politicians, and it’s opening day of the Democrat Party Convention, I’d post the top ten reasons the Democrats give for ousting Bush. See how many you agree with.

1. Bush is destroying workers rights and outsourcing jobs instead of protecting the right to organize and creating new jobs rebuilding schools, bridges, roads and hospitals.

2. Bush is privatizing Medicare, Social Security and public education with phony reforms instead of enacting health care for all, protecting retirement funds and full funding for public education through college.

3. Bush is bankrupting the Federal Government with giant tax cuts for the very rich and super-funds to the military instead of securing the budget for human needs by taxing the rich and spending on human needs.

4. Bush is rolling back civil rights gains instead of enforcing and expanding affirmative action to end racism in all areas of life.

5. Bush is curtailing women’s rights and choice by undermining Roe v. Wade instead of upholding the right to choice and ending the gender wage gap.

6. Bush is abusing immigrant workers in low-wage jobs instead of providing a clear path to citizenship and equal rights.

7. Bush is exploiting and ruining the environment by protecting corporate polluters instead of conserving our natural resources for the public good.

8. Bush’s war in Iraq is a disaster for our security and economy. He is pushing for more preemptive wars and for first strike nuclear military policy instead of negotiations and cooperation utilizing the UN.

9. Bush is denying civil liberties and free speech in the name of fighting terrorism instead of repealing the USA Patriot Act and helping cities, towns and states fund firefighters and police.

10. Bush discriminates against Gays and Lesbians with a Constitutional Amendment instead of expanding civil rights and liberties for all.

So, if you’re a Democrat, do you find yourself in 100% agreement, or nearly so? Well, then, you’re in good company. The Communists agree with you too. So, please forgive me. I lied. The above are actually from the Communist Party USA (CPUSA) and not the Democrat Party. But I repeat myself.

(link via Kim du Toit and Johnny Knuckles)

My wife, Beatrice, and I are down here in Moreno Valley, CA, near Riverside visiting with her parents. A couple of years ago, I finally talked them into getting DSL (for not totally unselfish reasons). But; they love it. Yesterday, in another act not completely unselfish, I installed a wireless router. Now I can sit in their nice backyard and stay connected with the office VPN. I told them that there’s now one less excuse for any of their workaholic kids and grandkids not to visit. Just have them bring their wireless enabled notebook computers and they’ll be all set.

So, we’re getting ready to go out to a movie last night and while waiting to go, I pop in and read this tidbit from Greg Swann. “Shit!” Now I just know that when non-libertarians read this, they’re going to think I’m advocating some new set of laws to enable those with concealed carry permits to carry a gun wherever they please. Anyone who’s a consistent advocate of freedom over politics and “sound public policy” can see that the NRA is stupid and foolish to engage in the kind demagoguery that the leftist, alphabet soup “advocacy groups” engage in; AARP, NAACP, NOW, ACLU come handily to mind. You don’t advance the cause for the freedom to posses or carry firearms by forcing those who don’t value that freedom to associate with you—which, after it’s all said and done, is just another rip-off in an exhausting list of thefts from your “friends” on the left and the right.

I often forget that nobody thinks in terms of principles anymore. I find that whenever I advocate some particular value or other (such as being armed) people take it to mean that my values should trump theirs at times and places where they’re calling the shots; like, on their own property. Conversely, when I decry some abomination like young teenagers with cell phones glued to their ears 24/7, it’s taken to mean that I want some new law to “protect children” from what I perceive as parental neglect or shortsightedness.

I have a lot of opinions, and let me tell you straight up—I loath what the word “opinion” has become in common usage. To what extent you or anyone else should have the moral authority to dictate my values is no matter of opinion. Disputes in matters of general principles are not matters of opinion. Someone is right, and someone else is wrong. It is just that simple. But we’ve become completely upside-down. Fundamental principles denoting right and wrong—moral and immoral—are now matters of opinion; while simple value preferences—smart or stupid—require some codification in the law. Principle has been tossed out in favor of degree. Advocate anything; steal anything; convict and imprison anyone on any pretense—just don’t do anything to a degree that might be construed “extreme.”

All that said; let me clarify my position in the matter. The moral principle is freedom and derives from a simple recognition of the nature of human beings. We’re free for the simple reason that our nature dictates it. We’re not pack animals, submitting to the will of the alpha male like apes and dogs (though too often, we act as though we are). Accordingly, morality dictates that the business owner in question (via the authority he has placed in management) has every right to fire the good man because he does not wish to associate with him. The “gun thing” is completely superfluous to the situation.

Read that again: “the ‘gun thing’ is completely superfluous to the situation.” Do you grasp that—I mean—really grasp it? It means absolutely nothing—which means—we could just as well be talking about a business owner who fired (or didn’t hire) someone because they’re black; because they’re white; because they’re Mexican; because they’re Jewish; because they’re Christian; because they’re atheist—because they’re fat, ugly, a man, a woman, a homosexual, a heterosexual—because they’re unwilling to walk around the office nude; are willing to walk around the office nude—won’t sleep with the boss; want to sleep with the boss. We could go on.

This is all just the general moral principle of freedom applied to association. Not even 1 in 100 people believe in freedom of association as a principle; thus, by simple implication, not 1 in 100 people believe in freedom as a principle. Wait, not 1 in 1,000, rather.

Those who make any distinction whatsoever between a man’s home and his business are one of two kinds of creatures: a public-policy wonk or politician who knows what kind of power is in the offing for making such a distinction with no essential difference; or, one who does not think or act in terms of principles. Neither believes in freedom.

Others are advised to watch their backs when dealing with either kind.

Does everyone grasp what an accomplishment this is? Can anyone think of any other modern, world-class sporting event where a team or individual has prevailed not only six times, but six times consecutively?

Amazing!