(For other periods, please go to main index).
⇒ E.28 (2018.12.09) Shopping Carts Against Democracy
Imagine going into a supermarket and being confronted with a limited choice of shopping carts, with the items in them already selected. You don’t get to go to the shelves to return any of the items, or to add other items: the selections made are the only ones available. To make matters worse, all of the shopping carts contain a few items you don’t need or want – but you still must pay for them at the checkout stand. Most people would not be happy with such a supermarket...
⇒ E.27 (2018.07.31) Stealing Is In the Eye Of the Beholder
It all depends on whose ox is being gored. You’d think the Chinese, unable to think for themselves, were sneaking around at night, breaking into laboratories, and stealing the secrets from U.S. researchers and engineers. As might be expected of stories told by our own Ministry for Public Enlightenment and Propaganda, a.k.a. “the media”, the real truth won’t be found in any easy to find place. It’s all a matter of spin. ...
⇒ E.26 (2018.07.12) Right-to-Life Hypocrisy
It’s easy to understand why someone might be opposed to abortions; it’s a lot less easy to understand why most of those opposed, take their own positions. Some base their opposition on religious beliefs. Others oppose abortion on humanistic moral grounds. Others consider their opposition to derive from some practice of non-violence. Most of them are hypocrites. ...
⇒ E.25 (2018.07.04) Which Socialism?
Especially with the recent successes of so-called “socialist” candidates in elections in the U.S., and the increasingly favourable views toward “socialism” indicated by polls, the definition of the term, socialism, needs clarification in each instance where it is used. Concentrated, biased media have long ignored and mis-characterized socialism, and have attempted to bury it, to have it forgotten. Most Americans have no idea what it is, nor do they have knowledge of its history. ...
⇒ E.24 (2018.06.09) Dividing the Loot
Thanks to the efforts of the Occupy Movement, most people now know that the One Percent accumulate about half the income, and control about half the wealth, of society. The rest of us, the Ninety Nine Percent, share the other half. This distribution follows a power law, so that 0.01 percent get about a fourth, and 0.0001 percent have an eighth of the wealth, and so on. But the impact isn’t linearly proportional to the amount. A poor man or woman spends his money to survive, but the wealthy have enough left over to use to gain more wealth and power. ...
Emptiness is one of the most important concepts in Buddhism. Depending on which Buddhist tradition is defining the word, it has different meanings. Ultimately, however, as we will see, they’re all wrong, and they’re all right. The reputation Buddhism has for self-contradiction is perhaps nowhere better illustrated than by these definitions, but, once you grasp this concept – at least on a basic level – it will make sense why this is so. ...
⇒ E.22 (2018.05.17) U.S. vs. Democracy, No. 5: An Incomplete Bill of Rights
First, some background on the Bill of Rights: Most of the main body of the current U.S. Constitution pertains to the organization, operation, and powers of the central government. The new central government defined by this Constitution was among the thirteen founding States (Virginia, New York, and so on), not among the people themselves. However, the various states were concerned about the power of the central government, and would not ratify the Constitution without its clarification by the addition of ten amendments, collectively called the “Bill of Rights”....
⇒ E.20 (2017.08.09) The Evil God of the Christians
In a nearby town is a man who was taught that he can do no wrong. No matter what problems he caused, his own father bailed him out, got him off the hook, bought off the victims, erased the legal record. He...
⇒ E.19 (2017.07.10) U.S. vs. Democracy, No. 4: Petit Juries
In the previous issue, I discussed grand juries, those bodies of the people which, in some democracies, have the authority to decide whether a crime has been committed and who is to be charged. I explained...
⇒ E.18 (2017.05.11) U.S. vs. Democracy, No. 3: Grand Juries
Whenever one group or class acquires or seizes special rights not available to the people generally, we move further from democracy. To a great extent, it is a zero sum game: the increase of one person’s...
⇒ E.17 (2017.05.01) Controlling the Narrative
An important goal of propaganda is to define and to control the narrative, the story which is used to piece together the facts. For example, consider the demolition of the three World Trade Center...
⇒ E.16 (2017.04.24) U.S. vs. Democracy, No. 2: Political Parties
At first, American voting procedures were different. In earlier days, in many if not most places, you’d go to the polls, write your choices on a piece of paper, and put it into the ballot box, or maybe you’d just...
⇒ E.15 (2017.03.04) Sixth Sense
Almost all of us have a sixth sense, but few realize it. We have been taught that it doesn’t exit, or it is evil, or some other negative thing, so we don’t use it and it deteriorates and becomes unusable...
⇒ E.14 (2017.02.11) U.S. vs. Democracy, No. 1: Aristotle Had A Test
What is called the Athenian Democracy began about 2500 years ago, and endured in various forms for around four centuries. Sometimes it was more, sometimes less, democratic. The four hundred, more or less, years...
⇒ E.13 (2017.01.30) Say It Ain't So
Where a parody of ethics still is taught, we learned that it is bullying for the strong to torment the weak, for the powerful to batter the helpless. Bullying! and some would write it into the law!...
⇒ E.12 (2016.11.21) The Million Pages
Jesus said that the lawyers killed the Prophets. By this, he meant that they had corrupted the Prophets' teachings and revelations. The lawyers to which he referred were the Pharisaic lawyers, and their...
⇒ E.11 (2016.11.13) Divine Rights
⇒ E.10 (2015.07.11) A Working Definition of Morality
⇒ E.9 (2015.05.24) Two Masters
⇒ E.8 (2014.12.12) The Invention of the Two Kingdoms
⇒ E.7 (2014.03.02) Behind the Money
⇒ E.6 (2013.10.09) NSA Critics Thinking Inside the Box
⇒ E.5 (2013.09.22) Judicial Eisegesis
⇒ E.4 (2012.01.28) Of Peas and Power Laws
⇒ E.3 (2011.11.18) Democracies and Idiots
⇒ E.2 (2011.09.18) Billions and Trillions of Dollars
⇒ E.1 (2011.09.06) The Jubilee Tax; The Jubilee and Sabbatical Sunsets