Ayn, Neal and the world around me...

[TupennyConan]

Mississippi, South Carolina, and Alabama.

 

May she rise again.

[Park]

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII'm Trolling. Trolling. Trolling.

 

This thread seems entirely inappropriate as well for me to relate certain cravings, Mcphilosophy.

 

I shall troll on.

 

By the by, I believe Tupenny wished to smite me earlier as I asked your whereabouts.

 

[dover]

Mississippi, South Carolina, and Alabama.

 

May she rise again.

 

 

Now, what do those States have in common and different than say Michigan?

[dover]

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII'm Trolling. Trolling. Trolling.

 

This thread seems entirely inappropriate as well for me to relate certain cravings, Mcphilosophy.

 

I shall troll on.

 

By the by, I believe Tupenny wished to smite me earlier as I asked your whereabouts.

 

 

Trolling allowed, always leave a thought or crumb of inspiration.

[greggy]

Go Vettel!!!!

[greggy]

[dover]

Go Vettel!!!!

 

Newey's car broke!!! It's because he has a girl's name!!

 

 

Vettel, first one home!!!

 

 

 

 

 

[greggy]

[dover]

Weird turns of events.....

 

Last weekend, we did a Lord of the Rings marathon!! As the kids get older, we get to watch better and better movies. Not that I don't love the Tinker Bell, or the Fairy or the other movies we watch with our children, but it is noce to get to more adult ones. The boy loved them, the daughter liked some parts, others she went of to play at times. But a good weekend for sure. After explaining several times what the Ring was, the power, the legend, Gollum, etc, something odd happened.

 

Playing football in the backyard with my son, my wedding ring came off!! It always gets loose in the Winter and this was no exception. During our LOTR weekend, I loose my ring. We could not find it. I looked for about two hours, into dusk. Raked, crawled, sifted and searched. Had a good idea where it was but could not find it.

 

During the week, I aquired a metal detector at work. And on Sunday, I got to try it out and wouldn't you know; I found it!

 

It was in the area I thought it was, just below the surface of the grass.

 

Now, am I Gollum, Sméagol or Sauron?

[dover]

 

Another from the esteemed collection of TeddieMercedes:

 

[dover]

 

C thru H update: 11-14-11

 

 

Challengers of the Unknown

 

.

 

 

 

Conan the Barbarian

 

.

 

 

DC Specials

 

...

 

 

 

Detective Comics

 

 

 

......

 

......

 

......

 

...

 

 

 

the Flash

 

...

 

 

 

Green Lanterns...

 

......

 

...

 

 

 

Hot Stuff

 

 

 

 

House of Mystery

 

......

 

......

 

.

 

 

 

House of Secrets

 

.....

 

 

[scooter99]

Another from the esteemed collection of TeddieMercedes:

 

 

Beautiful book!

[TupennyConan]

Charitas is Ruskin's 4 page 1871 essay on communism. I think you'll find it interesting.

 

Here are some highlights germane to both current events & our fair hobby :

 

Page 1 -- footnote citation to the Paris Commune;

Page 2 -- treatment of private & public art -- "picture" -- collections;

Page 2 -- treatment of "precious books";

Page 3 -- treatment of "failed bankers";

Page 3 -- reference to I & II Kings, Elijah, & Jews as aid in study of contrast between virtue & vice, kings/rich & poor (See also Kipling's Naboth);

Page 4 -- notion of Occult Theft.

 

 

[dover]

 

I got your text, I disagree with your faith in the reader.

 

What I found interesting is that this is the first time, Communism has not been made attractive to me on the Utopian sense. For me, he does such a poor job in explaining that the childish beauty of the concept is not put forth. He fails to even lure the lazy reader into the snare that eventually springs.

 

It is sickening, of course, but in a perverse way; not the typical mob rule mentality of communal gardens and libraries. Perverse in the sense that old school is screaming slavery to your fellow, even before one gets to enjoy the fruits of some one elses labor.

 

Thieves of Europe. Theft of Liberty, theft of private property, degradation of communal bed.

 

Sickening.

[TupennyConan]

Were you my 'reader' & was it my 'faith' that you'd find Charitas interesting?

 

If so then I was correct. You were interested!

 

lol

[dover]

I am not sure what event was better:

 

1 - Talking to TuPenny today as we each drove to work

 

or

 

2 - Finding this gem in my inbox

 

"[T]he States can best govern our home concerns and the general government our foreign ones. I wish, therefore ... never to see all offices transferred to Washington, where, further withdrawn from the eyes of the people, they may more secretly be bought and sold at market." --Thomas Jefferson, letter to Judge William Johnson, 1823

[TupennyConan]

It was a pleasure to discuss greggy with you this morning, Dover.

[greggy]

It was a pleasure to discuss greggy with you this morning, Dover.

[dover]

It was a pleasure to discuss greggy with you this morning, Dover.

 

It was enlightening and now helps me better understand him.

 

I will endeavor to try this new tactic you suggested and will find solace in the other item when he does that thing he does.

 

 

[dover]

 

We must know where we came from so better to understand where we are going.

 

Heritage

 

Income Inequality and the Founding Fathers

 

What did America’s founders say about economic inequality? Rather than unload statistics about the reality of inequality in America today, which we have done on other occasions, this post considers inequality based on the economic principles on which our republic was founded. These principles remind us why economic inequality is not necessarily an injustice, but rather a necessary component of any prosperous society.

 

Property Rights

 

Far from the notion of merely owning physical property, the founders understood property rights to include “natural rights.” In an essay on property rights in 1792, James Madison wrote:

 

He has a property very dear to him in the safety and liberty of his person. He has an equal property in the free use of his faculties and free choice of the objects on which to employ them…Conscience is the most sacred of all property…the exercise of that, being a natural and unalienable right.

 

Property rights, therefore, include utilizing our faculties to acquire property, which precedes the ownership of physical property.

 

Economic Inequality

 

The founders were very aware that protecting the faculties of individuals would lead to inequality. In Federalist 10, Madison said that “From the protection of different and unequal faculties of acquiring property, the possession of different degrees and kinds of property immediately results.” But is this just?

 

Thomas West writes that the first reason the founders understood this to be just is that “property rights benefit all classes equally insofar as they protect the body and mind of every individual from exploitation or enslavement by others.”

 

Secondly, the founders knew that protecting individual faculties likely helps the poor if it enables economic productivity that creates more jobs.

 

Madison articulated that industry and labor left to their own courses will be directed to “those objects which are most productive, and this in a more certain and direct manner than the wisdom of the most enlightened legislature could point out.”

 

Likewise, Alexander Hamilton noted in his Report on Manufactures that individual faculties organically create a division of labor, which “has the effect of augmenting the productive powers of labor, and with them, the total mass of the produce or revenue of a country.”

 

Consider a person who freely uses his own talents to create wealth, like Steve Jobs. The creation of Apple products has led to the employment of tens of thousands of individuals who design, assemble, and manufacture these products; not to mention that each Apple building employs janitors, maintenance workers, landscapers, and others.

 

Government’s Role

 

Also in Federalist 10, Madison stressed that protection of natural rights is the first job of government: “Diversity in the faculties of men, from which the rights of property originate…. The protection of these faculties is the first object of government.” Any violation of these rights was considered morally unjust. Government also has a role in enforcing contracts, and encouraging and defining ownership of property.

 

Throughout the first century of America, government adhered fairly closely to these principles. Even spending on “internal improvements,” or infrastructure projects, was acceptable only if it was in the national—as opposed to the state or local—interest. Aiding the interests of some over others was considered unconstitutional, hence the word “general” in the general welfare clause.

 

That’s why in 1822, President James Monroe vetoed a bill that redistributed wealth to a local interest, contending that government spending was restricted “to purposes of common defence, and of general, national, not local, or state, benefit.” This tradition was followed by Presidents James K. Polk and James Buchanan, in 1847 and 1857, respectively. They each vetoed measures that were not in the general interest. Likewise, in 1893, President Grover Cleveland vetoed a $10,000 bill to help farmers in Texas during a depression, stating: “federal aid in such cases encourages the expectation of paternal care on the part of the government and weakens the sturdiness of our national character.”

 

The Right Focus Regarding Inequality

 

America’s founders certainly believed a minimum safety net was desirable. Nevertheless, they would view the current focus on income-growth disparity as misplaced and poisonous. Prosperity is inseparable from economic inequality; conversely, forced economic equality tends toward destitution. The more government attempts to equalize incomes, the less an economy produces. Who wants to produce when one doesn’t receive the full benefits of his or her labor? Founder James Wilson captured it best: “Who would cultivate the soil, and sow the grain, if he had no peculiar interests in the harvest?” The focus should be encouraging people to utilize their inherent rights, rather than discouraging doing so by focusing on differences in income growth.

 

 

 

 

 

 

What have I always said about the Louisianna Purchase and the Insterstate Highways?