Articles tagged as

Morality

The Source of Moralilty

This will make for interesting discussion.  Boston College’s Peter Kreeft, professor of philosophy, discusses the source of Morality for Prager U. Only five minutes…it goes by quick. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ApVYpBwXWLk   Hot Air

Dr. Paul Rahe – the real problem that the Republican Party faces is not campaigning, technology, or GOTV

The money lines:

The deepest source of our present discontents is the sexual revolution. Our abandonment of chastity as a norm has had dire political consequences.

Her right to be promiscuous trumps our right to the fruits of our own labor.

From commenter John Walker (a self described “flaming libertarian”):  The libertarian society in which I wish to live (and in which, to large extent I lived prior to 1965), was made up of people who shared a common moral code. Today we may call it “social conservatism”, but then we just called it “proper behaviour”.

Proper behavior may now be long gone.  Dr. Rahe is a professor at Hillsdale College and I would rank him with the likes of Mark Steyn, Victor Davis Hanson, Walter Williams, Thomas Sowell – awe, heck -just go here for the list!  He has penned one of his best (IMHO) called “The Deepest Source of Our Troubles” in which he describes one of the ugliest reasons (from a Conservative’s viewpoint) why our outlook that Obama would lose his re-election bid.  He postulates, and I agree, that the reason we lost was the culture has been changed from underneath what traditional America is – or, perhaps, is.  But he also posits, and I agree, that this change to the culture is not enhancing the sense of Liberty & Freedom which and here are a few snippets (emphasis mine):

One of the reasons that Romney was unable, despite my hopes, to do in 2012 what Reagan did in 1980 is that, in the intervening 32 years a great many of the American citizens who voted for Ronald Reagan had died and been replaced by Americans educated and morally formed in a very different fashion.

Indeed.

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Morality – once again, Establishment Republicans are unmoored as to the reason we fail.

Any person who voted for Barack Obama for the express purpose of having him utilize the US tax and regulatory apparatus to take money away from the rich and give it to them personally, is the moral equivalent of a bank robber. Neither I, nor any other person alive, is entitled to two red cents out of another person’s stash just because we don’t have as much.

 – Repair Man Jack, contributor at Redstate (emphasis mine)

Mike Murphy complains that we Republicans have to get with the program – and get more secular.  Well, this is what happens when morality goes unmoored from absolute values (in the case of the US, Judeo-Christian values) – exactly what Murphy is advocating.  You see, we are bombarded from High Priests of Republican Political Operatives that Republicans are losing because of standing firm on Principles; yet, one of those Principles is “don’t steal”.

Democrats and Progressives have, for decades, pushed to remove religion from the public square under the rubric of “separation of Church and State”.  They have done so at such a pace that it has become a societal meme.  Speak up and you’re labeled as ‘shoving religion down my throat” or “oh, you want a theocracy” or even crazier: “who are you to be judgmental” (as if stealing, murder, adultery, <name your sin> is only a personal choice?  And how dare you challenge my morality?

Thus, anything goes.  What used to be verboten is welcomed.  Some is goodness (black civil rights, for instance); some are definitely not (who ever thought that Govt could force you to buy a good or service simply for being able to breathe).

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A disheartened question from a reader – why?

Skip – why is it union members can go on strike, and then collect unemployment, medicaid, etc. Not only did the union members loose, but so did all their non-union co-workers. I might be tempted to pay a few union leaders a visit – for dinner of course.  Whatever happened to – you work, you … Read more

“What is moral about the free market?”

One of my favorite economists is Dr. Walter E. Williams, Professor of Economics at George Mason University.  He is always able to take the complicated, boil it down, and make it easy to understand.  Given that the whole notion of what capitalism and the free marketplace can do (versus the socialistic turn we seem to … Read more

“Then Sarah Palin tweeted.”

Mini-whine: Well, I was out last nite acquiring another interview and will start processing that video tonite.  And I just completed an audio interview a little bit ago this evening, so I have that to do.  The whine?  Steve beat me to the post I wanted to do on the Bristol Palin post (good on him!) – but I found it via another source:  The Corner and David French, whose wife runs the Patheos website Steve quoted.  David relays a bit of the back story – showing the power of social media as well as the Palin name:

Last week she added a young, single-mother blogger to the site, a person who could reach a wide audience and was experiencing life as a mother in the glare of unusually harsh publicity: Bristol Palin.

As an editor, Nancy often lives in the more mundane world of Internet punditry — posting blogs, correcting typos, monitoring traffic, and managing a group of talented and eclectic writers. But some days are less mundane than others.

Over the weekend, Bristol wrote a post that asked a simple question: “Mr. President, When Should I Expect Your Call?” Noting that President Obama had called Sandra Fluke after Rush Limbaugh’s now-famous insult, Bristol reminds the President that she’s been the target of much worse:

And he quotes what Bristol wrote, replicated in part by Steve’s post (yes, go read his and the actual post).  Then he adds this:

…After Bristol sent the post in, Nancy put it up shortly after midnight on Sunday night.

Nancy tweeted it to her few hundred followers (she and I have a rather pathetic contest for twitter followers; right now I’m barely in the lead with a whopping 776), and Bristol facebooked it. Within hours, it had been shared 8,000 times. Already it was taking off.

And then it exploded (emphasis mine):

Then Sarah Palin tweeted.

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Noteable Quote: Russell Kirk

All Values are not the same, nor all impulses, nor all men.  A Natural gradation teaches men to hold some sentiments dear and others cheap.  Leveling radicalism endeavors to put all emotions and sensations on the same level of mediocrity, and so to erase the moral imagination which sets men apart from beasts. -Russell Kirk … Read more

Again,Elites are trying to get rid of Capitalism – but we can see it is not an economics system problem but a problem of morality

Every year, the Elites of the political, economic, and cultural worlds gather in Davos, Switzerland to talk about global ‘stuff’ – what’s trending, what’s wrong, and their global ways of fixing them what they believe is wrong – for the betterment of us all.  Hate to keep sounding like a broken record but even with the caveat that I will never be as successful as they have been, sometimes things to have to be pointed out.  Here’s what Davos founder Klaus Schwab said:

“We have a general morality gap, we are over-leveraged, we have neglected to invest in the future, we have undermined social coherence, and we are in danger of completely losing the confidence of future generations,” said Klaus Schwab, host and founder of the annual World Economic Forum.

“Solving problems in the context of outdated and crumbling models will only dig us deeper into the hole.

“We are in an era of profound change that urgently requires new ways of thinking instead of more business-as-usual,” the 73-year-old said, adding that “capitalism in its current form, has no place in the world around us.”

I am oft criticized by those that don’t like that I keep things black and white; I rather think that I’m bringing things down to basic principles.  In this case, it’s necessary.

Let’s pull it apart (and who’s this “we” bit, kimosabe?):

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It always comes down to morality, doesn’t it?

A snippet caught my eye over at Powerline (emphasis mine):

So let’s revisit the original for a moment, and note the media propensity for glorifying whatever self-assertion reckless youth decides to throw up at the moment.  Back in 1969, Time magazine chirped that Woodstock

may well rank as one of the significant political and sociological events of the age. . . [T]he revolution it preaches, implicitly or explicitly, is essentially moral; it is the proclamation of a new set of values. . .  With a surprising ease and a cool sense of authority, the children of plenty have voiced an intention to live by a different ethical standard than their parents accepted.  The pleasure principle has been elevated over the Puritan ethic of work.  To do one’s own thing is a greater duty than to be a useful citizen.  Personal freedom in the midst of squalor is more liberating than social conformity with the trappings of wealth.  Now that youth takes abundance for granted, it can afford to reject materialism.

Yet, that "different ethical standard" was never different (there is hardly ever anything new under the sun) nor is it ethical.  What was, at that time, the mantra of "do what feels good as long as it doesn’t hurt anyone else" is nothing more than a thinly veiled gauze of hedonism.  The hippies back in the ’60s, following the "turn on, tune in, and drop out", thought this was the new that would usher in a new society, with Woodstock as the iconic event pointing to the "fact" that this could happen.

Then Altamont happened, showing that reality can really gum up the works of any planned or "scientific" utopian nirvana.

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Doodlings from Occupy NH – 3 – Is only the “little guy” moral? Er, no…

From Occupy NH from someone trying to use the victim card (edited lightly) with respect to the finanicial meltdown and who was "immoral one" (and yes, a trick question was presented):

Everyone was trying to get something for nothing – starting with those who signed the no income documentation/no down payment required mortgages to the very larger banks who got bailed out.

All of it is based on leverage, rent-seeking and moral hazards.

Some lost their homes and ruined their credit rating other made their million dollar bonuses and got bailed out with taxpayer money because they were too big to fail.

Are they morally equivalent in your eyes?

My response was:

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KRISTIN RUGGIERO GOES TO THE SUPREME COURT

“Liars are always ready to take oaths.” —Vittorio Alfieri

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On Wednesday, September 21, The New Hampshire Supreme Court heard from Kristin Ruggiero. Kristin seeks to overturn her convictions arguing that the court should have excluded a photo of her cell phone number, and an intercepted telephone conversation that served as the evidence that brought her to her current demise.

Kristin Ruggiero was sent to Jail in May of 2010, convicted of twelve counts consisting of lying and falsifying physical evidence. Kristin had tried to do what many before her have done and gotten away with: Using the court system to exact a personal vendetta against her ex-husband Jeffrey Ruggiero.

In oral arguments before the Court, Attorney Mark L. Sisti argued that the evidence used to convict Kristin should have been thrown out because it was disqualified under N.H. RSA 570-A:6 because in New Hampshire, her consent was not obtained by the parties in South Carolina to make the intercept.  New Hampshire commonly referred to as a, “two party” state, requires consent of all parties before any recording may be made, while South Carolina does not. Sisti concedes that, while no crime may have been committed by the recording because the interception took place in South Carolina, A New Hampshire resident still has the expectation of privacy under the statute, and the evidence should have been excluded. Sisti essentially argues for an absolute long-arm immunity without consideration to laws of extra-territorial consequence. (Listen to the arguments HERE).

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Britain Is A Riot

This is ranking quite high on the awesome scale. Thanks to Leigh Macneil for posting it on Facebook so I could then pilfer it and share it with you.

545 People Are Responsible For The Mess, But They Unite In A Common Con

“Those who are too smart to engage in politics are punished by being governed by those who are dumber.”~Plato, Ancient Greek Philosopher

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Charley Reese retired July 29, 2001. Who was Charley Reese? He was a columnist, serving 30 of those years at the Orlando Sentinel.  Characterized best by his plainspoken manner and conservative views,  he was with the Sentinel from 1971–2001, serving as  a writer and other such editorial capacities. King Features Syndicate distributed Charley’s column, which published up to three times a week.

 On February 3, 1984 Charley originally published the column below. This column additionally republished as his final column. Rightfully so and despite being 27 years removed from its orignal publish date, it is no less relevant. 

Politicians are the only people in the world who create problems and then campaign against them.

Have you ever wondered, if both the Democrats and the Republicans are against deficits, WHY do we have deficits?

Have you ever wondered, if all the politicians are against inflation and high taxes, WHY do we have inflation and high taxes?

You and I don’t propose a federal budget. The President does.

You and I don’t have the Constitutional authority to vote on appropriations. The House of Representatives does.

You and I don’t write the tax code, Congress does.

You and I don’t set fiscal policy, Congress does.

You and I don’t control monetary policy, the Federal Reserve Bank does.

One hundred senators, 435 congressmen, one President, and nine Supreme Court justices equates to 545 human beings out of the 300 million are directly, legally, morally, and individually responsible for the domestic problems that plague this country.

I excluded the members of the Federal Reserve Board because that problem was created by the Congress. In 1913, Congress delegated its Constitutional duty to provide a sound currency to a federally chartered, but private, central bank.

I excluded all the special interests and lobbyists for a sound reason. They have no legal authority. They have no ability to coerce a senator, a congressman, or a President to do one cotton-picking thing. I don’t care if they offer a politician $1 million dollars in cash. The politician has the power to accept or reject it. No matter what the lobbyist promises, it is the legislator’s responsibility to determine how he votes.

Those 545 human beings spend much of their energy convincing you that what they did is not their fault. They cooperate in this common con regardless of party.

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The Very Partisan Granite State Fair Tax Coalition Part II

GSFTDNC%202.jpgThe Granite State Fair Tax Coalition (GSFTC–Greedy Socialists Frisking TaxPayers Cash) is a partisan non-profit, which for years has insisted it is a non-partisan group advocating an income tax in New Hampshire.  But the GSFTC is non-partisan the way MSNBC is.  They use the dark side equivalent of the Jedi mind trick.  ‘The force can have a strong influence on the weak minded.” And while there is nothing wrong with being a left wing partisan group, started by a social-justice driven religious organization, to advocate for a top down income tax, there is something wrong with acting like this is a non-partisan effort.

Our first look at the partisan make up of the GSFTC (God Says Fleece Taxpayers for Christ) was a rundown of their advisory board.  This revealed a panel of progressive and left wing water-carriers, who provide cover and material support for a specific leftist agenda: a state income tax.   They are democrats and democrat supporters, willing to use class warfare and a faux-morality-cum-guilt complex media campaign, to advocate for that state income tax.  Fish swim, birds fly, democrats spend and so must tax.  To insist they are non-partisan suggests a mental state that is non compos mentis.  Or to be a bit more colloquial; They are just a bunch of typical leftists.

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“The Law of Sacrifice”

Sacrifice – has our society forgotten that word?  Have we as a society forgotten what it truly means? Try this: The Law of Sacrifice So if that is the definition of sacrifice, what is the law of sacrifice? The law of sacrifice says that you cannot get something you want, without giving up something in … Read more

Dangerous Democrats

Obama and the democrats can let Iran build nukes because it is a no-lose situation for them. Inaction is action. If by chance Iran does not nuke up, they will take credit. If it does, and then kills millions, they will blame George Bush, or obstructionist Republicans.

Hey there, young lady, how about saying no?

Here in NH, the Executive Council refused to fund a $1.8 Million contract with Planned Parenthood of Northern New England on a 3-2 vote – Ray Burton and Chris Sunnunu decided to vote to give the money to the abortion providers. Indiana has also voted to follow suit; the complaints are already beginning to pour in: how dare you refuse to make me responsible for myself?  A court battle (seemingly similar to that levied by ACORN when the Feds cut off their funding – they lost) has been filed by PP and the Obama Administration and the sob stories are starting to be put out:

Nicole Robbins, a 31-year-old single mother who has been a Planned Parenthood client for six years, said she had intended to visit a Planned Parenthood clinic in Indianapolis on Tuesday to pick up a 2-month supply of birth control pills. Then, the Medicaid recipient learned that the more than $100,000 in private donations the group had raised since May 10 had dried up.

The Ivy Tech Community College student from Indianapolis who is pursuing a physical therapy degree said she’s not sure how she’ll pay for her birth control.

“There are a lot of people who don’t have jobs, who don’t have income, and Medicaid is their only source of income as far as health insurance,” she said. “I feel like I’m stuck between a rock and a hard place.”

I do not know if she was married or not.  If the former, I do not know if her husband left her or the other way around.  But the point that sticks out quickly is that she believes that others should be responsible for her sexuality, that any consequences from her personal behavior is not hers to bear.  Yes, I’m old school…

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Geithner Can’t Justify Doing That


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I’m not sure which is worse. The fact that Geithner thinks we need to do this at all, or the fact that he seems to believe that what he says is in any way moral or that it will, as Mr. Geithner claims to believe–improve growth. Growth of government and taxes yes, but nothing else grows.

Ask Ray & Kathy…About Incest

Question: If consensual sex (without coercion) between any two adults is a protected right, (gay sex is defended on these grounds) does the state have a right to prohibit sex between adult relatives, regardless of how closely related?

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