Recently in Foundations Category

This deservedly popular blog mgmt software and I are still working out our relationship. So far, entries are not date stamped with the date of publication, but one chosen because of its significance to the subject. The key follows.

 

Subject	Date	Reason
Foundations	September 24, 2008	This Home Page.
ACLU Go there	August 18, 1920	The 19th Amendment is ratified. [1]         [2]           [3]
Arms: The 2nd Amendment Go there	April 19, 1775	When General Thomas Gage, under orders by King George III, attempted to disarm the colonists, we replied with "the shot heard round the world" and thus began our revolution. [1]         [2]           [3]
Christianity Go there	October 31, 1517	Martin Luther nailed a challenge to debate -his famous 95 theses- on the church door in Wittenberg setting off The Reformation. [1]         [2]           [3]
Governmental Reform Go there	December 19, 1998	President Clinton impeached. [1]         [2]           [3]
The Homosexual Agenda Go there	November 27, 1978	The Death of Harvey Milk. [1]         [2]           [3]
Islam         Go there	October 10, 732	Charles 'The Hammer" Martel's forces won the Battle of Tours. Gibbon and other traditional historians credit his victory with saving Christian Europe from Muslim domination. [1]         [2]           [3]
Letters from the Father Go there	October 30, 1909	Possible date of Twain's Letters from the Earth. [1]         [2]           [3]
Our Legal System Go there	February 2, 1790	Our Supreme Court convened for the 1st time. [1]         [2]           [3]
Political Rhetoric Go there	November 19, 1863	The Gettysburg Address. [1]         [2]           [3]
Pure Reason: Mathematics Go there	January 14, 1978	After demonstrating that some truths cannot be proved, the illustrious mathematician Kurt Gödel passed on. [1]         [2]           [3]
Reproductive Control Go there	January 22, 1973	Roe v. Wade decided. [1]         [2]           [3]
Reviews Go there	September 18, 2006	The God Delusion is published. [1]         [2]           [3]
Spirituality Go there	December 25, 4	Possible date of Christ's birth, in BC. [1]         [2]           [3]
Workings	January 1, 1	Earliest date available from this blog software.

I would implement a 50 year plan to end the use of combustibles for energy:

1)     3 years: Cancel all combustion based generating plant projects that haven't broken ground

2)     5 years: Require all new construction to include as many free-fueled energy devices and/or eco-helpful environments on the roof as practical

3)     20 years: All oil fueled generating plants would be dismantled

4)     30 years: All fossil fuel generating plants would be dismantled

5)     50 years: Fossil fuels would no longer be used for transportation

6)     Possible exceptions: Air and Space travel; military and emergency; waste reclamation

 

Make it a criminal offense for members of the media to come in physical contact with their subjects or the subject's escorts.  This would include:

·         Being propelled into contact by another would not be allowed as a defense

·         The subject initiating contact would not be allowed as a defense unless the subject actually chased the member of the media

·         Mandatory jail time for 2nd and subsequent offenses

·         Escalating fines for both the contactor and their employer

 

At my own expense, commission:

·         The development of an inexpensive consumer device that lets me control the magnitude of the difference in volume between the quietest to the loudest in any audio stream

·         The present day equivalent of a Statue of Liberty gift for France honoring the creation of the EU

 

Correct the Educational System by:

1st.        A return to a catechism oriented classical curricula

2nd.       Require any school experiencing an unacceptable level of violence to implement a comprehensive surveillance system

3rd.        All students will be subject to searches of their persons and effects at the reasonable discretion of the teachers (law enforcement searches will still require a warrant).

4th.        If a student creates a serious problem, and strenuous efforts to correct the problem fail, place the student in a problem student class

5th.        Require much more from the brightest students

6th.        End the strict association of age with grade; all students would advance a grade only after demonstrating mastery of the current grade's material

7th.        Resurrect the Primary and Secondary education systems by guaranteeing that only those who have mastered the curricula receive diplomas

8th.        Require everyone to complete a year in the military followed a few months later by a year in an approved militarily structured organization by their 29th birthday

9th.        All college applicants would have to pass a comprehensive entry test before enrolling in their first course

 

Apply the 4th Amendment to current technology:

v  Medical Information:

a.       Within 5 years, create a national medical database containing everyone's entire medical history and all the data generated by providers and funders and other stake holders. 

b.       All the information in the database will be under the sole ownership of the patient and classified as a Federal Secret; access granted by permission only, and only as far as necessary to provide the proper care. 

c.       Unless authorized by the patient, possession and/or use of this information will be a criminal offense.  Insurance companies and employers and recruiters, and their agents, are specifically prohibited from accessing this information

v  Personal Information:

a.       All the information and data generated by a person's personal activity are the sole and exclusive property of that person (with an exceedingly long and specific list of exceptions). 

b.       Except for extreme situations and parents testing minors, all drug tests are prohibited and possession of recreational drugs will be decriminalized.

 

Let our children be children:

         I.            Return responsibility for and authority over our children to their parents.  This especially includes medical, health and reproductive activities; religious beliefs and values; associations; education, corporal punishment, etc...

       II.            Return the voting age and majority age to 21; active military stays 18

     III.            Require DNA verification of parenthood for all children born to minors. The parents of the father and mother are responsible for children born to minors until the mother's and father's majority

    IV.            Allow minors to marry only with their parent's permission

      V.            Bring back the curfew

 

Make sure we all speak the same language: Require all commercial, political and legal communications to be in English (with a long list of exceptions)

 

 

Quotes:

 

"MAGPIE, n. A bird whose thievish disposition suggested to someone that it might be taught to talk. "  Ambrose Bierce (1842 - 1914), The Devil's Dictionary:

 

"One's mind, once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dimensions." Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.

 

Fun Facts to Know and Share:

 

The term "basket case" originated after WWI to refer to a wounded soldier who has lost both arms and both legs to amputation, and had to be carried around in a basket.

 

Bumper stickers that caught my eye:

 

"I've read about the evils of alcohol, so I gave up reading."

 

"To err is human; to blame it on somebody else shows management potential."

"The unexamined life is not worth living" Socrates

 

George Washington

·         A slender acquaintance with the world must convince every man that actions, not words, are the true criterion of the attachment of friends.

·         Arbitrary power is most easily established on the ruins of liberty abused to licentiousness.

·         As Mankind becomes more liberal, they will be more apt to allow that all those who conduct themselves as worthy members of the community are equally entitled to the protections of civil government. I hope ever to see America among the foremost nations of justice and liberality.

·         Associate yourself with men of good quality if you esteem your own reputation. It is better be alone than in bad company.

·         Bad seed is a robbery of the worst kind: for your pocket-book not only suffers by it, but your preparations are lost and a season passes away unimproved.

·         Be courteous to all, but intimate with few, and let those few be well tried before you give them your confidence.

·         Discipline is the soul of an army. It makes small numbers formidable; procures success to the weak, and esteem to all.

·         Few men have virtue to withstand the highest bidder. ***

·         Friendship is a plant of slow growth and must undergo and withstand the shocks of adversity before it is entitled to the appellation.

·         Government is not reason; it is not eloquent; it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master.

·         Happiness and moral duty are inseparably connected.

·         How soon we forget history... Government is not reason. Government is not eloquence. It is force. And, like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master.

·         I have no other view than to promote the public good, and am unambitious of honors not founded in the approbation of my Country.

·         I hope I shall possess firmness and virtue enough to maintain what I consider the most enviable of all titles, the character of an honest man.

·         I know of no pursuit in which more real and important services can be rendered to any country than by improving its agriculture, its breed of useful animals, and other branches of a husbandman's cares.

·         I walk on untrodden ground. There is scarcely any part of my conduct which may not hereafter be drawn into precedent.

·         If the freedom of speech is taken away then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter.

·         If we desire to avoid insult, we must be able to repel it; if we desire to secure peace, one of the most powerful instruments of our rising prosperity, it must be known, that we are at all times ready for War.

·         It is far better to be alone, than to be in bad company.

·         It is our true policy to steer clear of entangling alliances with any portion of the foreign world.

·         It is the child of avarice, the brother of iniquity, and the father of mischief. (what is?)

·         It may be laid down as a primary position, and the basis of our system, that every Citizen who enjoys the protection of a Free Government, owes not only a proportion of his property, but even of his personal services to the defense of it.

·         It will be found an unjust and unwise jealousy to deprive a man of his natural liberty upon the supposition he may abuse it.

·         Labor to keep alive in your breast that little spark of celestial fire, called conscience.

·         Lenience will operate with greater force, in some instances than rigor. It is therefore my first wish to have all of my conduct distinguished by it.

·         Let us raise a standard to which the wise and honest can repair; the rest is in the hands of God.

·         Let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle. ***

·         Let your Discourse with Men of Business be Short and Comprehensive.

·         Let your heart feel for the afflictions and distress of everyone, and let your hand give in proportion to your purse.

·         Liberty, when it begins to take root, is a plant of rapid growth.

·         Mankind, when left to themselves, are unfit for their own government.

·         My first wish is to see this plague of mankind, war, banished from the earth.

·         My manner of living is plain and I do not mean to be put out of it. A glass of wine and a bit of mutton are always ready.

·         My mother was the most beautiful woman I ever saw. All I am I owe to my mother. I attribute all my success in life to the moral, intellectual and physical education I received from her.

·         My observation is that whenever one person is found adequate to the discharge of a duty... it is worse executed by two persons, and scarcely done at all if three or more are employed therein.

·         Observe good faith and justice toward all nations. Cultivate peace and harmony with all.

·         Over grown military establishments are under any form of government inauspicious to liberty, and are to be regarded as particularly hostile to republican liberty.

·         The constitution vests the power of declaring war in Congress; therefore no offensive expedition of importance can be undertaken until after they shall have deliberated upon the subject and authorized such a measure.

·         The foolish and wicked practice of profane cursing and swearing is a vice so mean and low that every person of sense and character detests and despises it.

·         The marvel of all history is the patience with which men and women submit to burdens unnecessarily laid upon them by their governments.

·         The time is near at hand which must determine whether Americans are to be free men or slaves.

·         The tumultuous populace of large cities are ever to be dreaded. Their indiscriminate violence prostrates for the time all public authority, and its consequences are sometimes extensive and terrible.

·         The very atmosphere of firearms anywhere and everywhere restrains evil interference - they deserve a place of honor with all that's good.

·         To be prepared for war is one of the most effective means of preserving peace.

·         True friendship is a plant of slow growth, and must undergo and withstand the shocks of adversity, before it is entitled to the appellation.

·         War - An act of violence whose object is to constrain the enemy, to accomplish our will.

·         We should not look back unless it is to derive useful lessons from past errors, and for the purpose of profiting by dearly bought experience.

·         When firearms go, all goes. We need them every hour.

·         When we assumed the Soldier, we did not lay aside the Citizen.

·         Worry is the interest paid by those who borrow trouble.

 

Abigail Adams

& Learning is not attained by chance. It must be sought for with ardor and attended to with diligence.

 

Douglas Adams

[  Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so. ***

 

George Matthew Adams

¤  In this life we get only those things for which we hunt, for which we strive, and for which we are willing to sacrifice.

 

Henry Adams

·         Simplicity is the most deceitful mistress that ever betrayed man.