RayNewman123

All human "sciences" must begin with axioms, self-evident truths. Including, properly, philosophy. Otherwise you are caught in an endless progression backwards..."What is the proof that the proof you offered is correct? And the proof that that proof is correct?" Ayn Rand quite clearly laid out the axioms. They are ultimately the evidence for everything in Objectivism, and that is one of its beauties.

We know that if man acts against his nature, he has committed an immoral act. We know certain obvious aspects of his nature: capacity to contemplate, conceptualize, choose. He is physically vulnerable to certain diseases, etc. He has free will. He is a composite of mind and body. But many of us, I think, know not much more about it. For example: Prove to me that homosexuality, or benevolence, incestuous love, is or is not in harmony with man's nature.

I was drafted into the US Army and sent to Korea. I asked a sergeant what I was doing there. He said "Fighting for freedom". I said "Do you see a contradiction in my being forced to fight for my freedom. He answered: "No". The nature of man is the same in Norway, Israel, Hackensack. He must be free to live as a human.

Supreme Court justices appointed in the 18th century served an average of 8 years. The Supreme Court justices appointed during the past 40 years, excluding those still serving, served an average of 25 years. If we include those still serving, including 3 appointed in the past 5 years, the average is 18 years...enlarging every day. If we exclude those 3, the average is 23 years, and growing. Poor judges, by rational standards, remaining in key judicial position for longer periods of time, exert greater influence, impact, power, on our lives. I didn't say ALL old people are senile...I said we COULD wind up with some senile people on the Supreme Court...and that is so. Justice is part of philosophy, politics is part of philosophy...you can couch philosophy in any term you want, but it's all the same...we each have one philosophy...and it is either right or wrong. At root, what makes your politics wrong makes your sense of justice wrong. We haven't seen any teenage Presidents either, but the Founders saw fit to set a minimum age...and for Senators and Representatives, too.

Let's stop the argument about taxes...all taxes are acts of force and ought be outlawed. The Founders were wrong in this regard when they gave Congress the power to tax. Arguing over what would be a "fair and equitable" tax is like arguing over how long a lynch rope should be.

Our Constitution needs to be amended. Articles II and III dealing with the appointment of judges to the U. S. Supreme Court. Here's why: 1. The growing belief that the Constitution is a "living document", to be seen not as a statement of enduring principles but as to be interpreted by the sway of changing times, places undue and inappropriate importance on the subjective beliefs and attitudes of individual members of the Court. 2. The appointment of new judges by the President and the consent of Senate members has become a politically-based, rather than a judicially-based, matter. Particularly true when, as now, the President and majority of Senators are of the same political party. 3. The appointment of judges for life was likely meant to keep them independent of political pressures by excluding them from the need to be re-appointed after a period of years. That may have made sense in 1776 when life expectancy was 35 years, but no longer true today with life expectancy is at 75(M)-80(F) years. And the pressure can be avoided by simply setting a specific period for service on the Bench (eg, 6 years, 10 years), with no re-appointments possible. Judges appointed today can be expected to remain on the Court for decades...too great a power to give the President and Senators in a separation-of-powers government. And because of the for-life appointments, we can anticipate having some senile, doddering, dotards sitting as judges making vital decisions. Have some now and they aren't even all that old. 4. No requirements for service on the Supreme Court is required. No minimum age requirement, no educational requirements, no prior experience as a judge required. Odd. Few of us would hire someone who has never repaired one before, to fix that clogged and leaking toilet bowl in our home. But experience as a jurist for a Supreme Court nominee? Nah!

Our Constitution needs to be amended. Articles II and III dealing with the appointment of judges to the U. S. Supreme Court. Here's why: 1. The growing belief that the Constitution is a "living document", to be seen not as a statement of enduring principles but as to be interpreted by the sway of changing times, places undue and inappropriate importance on the subjective beliefs and attitudes of individual members of the Court. 2. The appointment of new judges by the President and the consent of Senate members has become a politically-based, rather than a judicially-based, matter. Particularly true when, as now, the President and majority of Senators are of the same political party. 3. The appointment of judges for life was likely meant to keep them independent of political pressures by excluding them from the need to be re-appointed after a period of years. That may have made sense in 1776 when life expectancy was 35 years, but no longer true today with life expectancy is at 75(M)-80(F) years. And the pressure can be avoided by simply setting a specific period for service on the Bench (eg, 6 years, 10 years), with no re-appointments possible. Judges appointed today can be expected to remain on the Court for decades...too great a power to give the President and Senators in a separation-of-powers government. And because of the for-life appointments, we can anticipate having some senile, doddering, dotards sitting as judges making vital decisions. Have some now and they aren't even all that old. 4. No requirements for service on the Supreme Court is required. No minimum age requirement, no educational requirements, no prior experience as a judge required. Odd. Few of us would hire someone who has never repaired one before, to fix that clogged and leaking toilet bowl in our home. But experience as a jurist for a Supreme Court nominee? Nah!

The comparison to a Doberman is exactly the point. A Doberman is an animal, a dog, not a rational human. Good generals ought be efficient, but not dogs enjoying the kill. It is a spiritual thing which I do not hear in most of the comments. Human life begins as a glorious value. America uniquely recognized that value and gave it the best environment in which to thrive and attain its potential. True, killing evil may be required, but the fact that we need to kill ought never, from my vantage point, be more than brutal necessity. I may have to burn a Rembrandt painting to survive, but I would feel sad to have to do so because I value great painting, as I value life, even if it is not mine.

Yes there is a point to this post. We are in a serious state when killing is an enjoyable human activity...killing may be necessary at times, but never fun and a hoot. That attitude expresses a disdain for human life that denigrates humanity. Gates says Mattis is a "deep thinker" and he is, in the toilet. To imply that America has no one more capable, more noble in spirit, to command our forces, is shameful...and if true, heralds our heading over the abyss.

HA HA HA "If I am ever really in power, the destruction of the Jews will be my first and most important job. As soon as I have power, I shall have gallows after gallows erected, for example, in Munich on the Marienplatz-as many of them as traffic allows. Then the Jews will be hanged one after another, and they will stay hanging until they stink. They will stay hanging as long as hygienically possible. As soon as they are untied, then the next group will follow and that will continue until the last Jew in Munich is exterminated. Exactly the same procedure will be followed in other cities until Germany is cleansed of the last Jew!" Adolf Hitler "Why does the world shed crocodile’s tears over the richly merited fate of a small Jewish minority?" Adolf Hitler "It's a lot of fun to fight. You know, it's a hell of a hoot.... It's fun to shoot some people. I'll be right upfront with you. I like brawling. You go into Afghanistan, you got guys who slap women around for five years because they didn't wear a veil. You know, guys like that ain't got no manhood left anyway. So it's a hell of a lot of fun to shoot them." General Mattis, Obama's pick to head the Central Command of American Forces in Middle East

The defense of individual rights is not properly made by examining the consequences of having versus not having them. We have individual rights because the nature of our species requires them. There is no "better" society if we abandon our rights...because that would no longer allow us to live as humans. When we are all free, the choices we make will likely determine our lives...for better or worse. It is not in anyone's authority to control my choices, and "good" results cannot be predicated on enslaving me...or you...or all of us.

If her belief in God merely affects her belief about what happens after death, then you certainly could have a loving enduring relationship. If it also affects how she lives here on Earth, probably a problem, since her beliefs would undercut any serious intellectual conversations. Could you be happy with that? I couldn't.

Regarding Elena Kazan and Supreme Court nominations, read the need to reform the nomination process in The Unfunny Joke at stampedingherd.blogspot.com.

My mind One of a kind I cannot find Do as we say, my parents did remind Do as we all wish, it has been signed Do as God commands And divines Our lives are intertwined, they opined They must be wined and dined And I resigned Or I left behind So I was benign To those who would my arms bind I surrendered what I mined Smiling under the grind My vision declined My spirit confined My being misaligned With Hell's despair entwined My mind One of a kind I cannot find I...who?

Go to Stampedingherd.blogspot.com, download the Ayn Rand Interview and listen to Miss Rand herself give you the essential principles of her philosophy and then elaborate on them for an hour.