Doc Thought

** The desire for safety stands against every great and noble enterprise ** Tacitus ** It is both foolish and wicked to teach the average man who is not well off that some wrong or injustice has been done him, and that he should hope for redress elsewhere than in his own industry, honesty, and intelligence ** T. Roosevelt ** Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery ** Winston Churchill ** Americans are so enamored of equality, they would rather be equal in slavery than unequal in freedom ** Alexis de Tocqueville ** The American Republic will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe the public with the public's money ** Ibid ** Liberty has never come from the government. Liberty has always come from the subjects of it. The history of liberty is a history of resistance ** Woodrow Wilson ** Every step we take towards making the State our Caretaker of our lives,

In response to the news that a Rhode Island public school committee has decided not to appeal a court decision to remove a prayer banner from its auditorium: One wonders how the courts do not blush to rule that this somehow qualifies as the establishment of a religion.  Suppose the school hung the equivalent of an atheist religious banner right next to this one, giving more of a sampling of religious calls to self improvement.  It would be hard to argue then that this was not simply a display of several religious statements pertaining to personal improvement.  (And yes, atheism is very much a religion in that it is one of many views about the nature of ultimate reality, not known with certitude, requiring faith, in this case that the very base of our reality is mindless, or non-personal.)  That said, what would such a banner look like?   Maybe they could start the address to mindless matter:  "Dear mindless matter at the bedrock of existence, we speak to you, somewhat in a w

The article below reports the close vote of the Indiana Senate to abolish the fees forced on non-union employees.  An analysis follows. Indiana Senate votes 28-22 for right-to-work bill Published January 23, 2012 | Associated Press Senate has voted to approve the right-to-work bill that has prompted the legislative boycotts by House Democrats. The  Republican -dominated Senate voted 28-22 in favor of the proposal Monday evening. The bill prohibits companies and unions from agreeing to contracts that require workers who aren't union members to pay representation fees. Republican Sen. Carlin Yoder of Middlebury argued the bill not only would help attract business to Indiana but also give workers freedom to decide what to do with their money. Democratic Sen. Vi Simpson of Bloomington questioned whether the law was needed. She says good companies such as  Honda  and  Toyota  have expanded in Indiana in recent years without it. Nine Republicans joined all 13  D

The term 'greed' is commonly tossed out as an explanation for this country's economic woes.  This is broadly understood as the "evil" desire of those in business, especially "big" business, to make a profit.  The following clarifies where this intellectual laziness or intellectual dishonesty leads: Often, the term "greed" is used negatively to refer to a desire to make a profit. This is wrong however, because a profit is the measure of value that has been created by a man-- a value that did not exist before. If a man makes no profit - he planted four potatoes and harvested four potatoes. To seek to produce new value, by thought and effort and time to create a product or provide a service of quality by the most efficient means -- this is the very definition of GOOD. But for this desire, and the (shrinking) freedom that makes it possible, we could not produce and then trade for the ability to feed our family, shelter ourselves, obtain the mater