Truth, Justice, and the American Way

In response to a comment by a friend who pointed out that the Bible expressly forbids usury, (as do all major world religions) I wrote a paragraph for Wikipedia presenting an argument in defense of usury.:

The primary argument given in defense of usury is that charging
interest is essential to guiding the investment process, which
cannot be [...]

The ongoing debate over the fate of Terri Schiavo is a revealing example of the differences between a secular and a religious world view. Those who advocate that Terry be kept alive and those supporting her right to die have two very different conceptions of the soul. The difference is crucial because differences [...]

The following comes from a recent philosophy assignment. My task was to “discuss the meaning of each of the following five concepts: bad, wicked, evil, vicious, and immoral in the context of negative moral judgment.”

In the course of living in society, it is necessary to interact with many different individuals, each with a different [...]

Dear god(s),

Grant me courage and eloquence to

boldly speak the truth when I know it;

honesty to keep my mouth shut when I dont,

the wisdom to know the difference,

and the determination and integrity to discover the facts.

-Me

While browsing Amazon recently, a book titled The Purpose Driven Life caught my eye. The name interested me because a sense of purpose is indeed crucially important for human beings. Without a sense of purpose, and of values to act towards and achieve, life would indeed be useless and meaningless. With my [...]

Check out this MSNBC profile on Intellectual Ventures, a company created by Microsoft alumni Nathan Myhrvold with a bold new business plan: create a marketplace for intellectual property. Rather than produce any material good, the company does nothing but buy up patents and lease them to the highest bidder.

This development is significant [...]

Its an open secret that government bureaucracies in the United States hire minority racial groups significantly over their proportion in the general population. According to the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM), the EEOC overhired blacks by 623%, the U.S. Dept. of Education overhired by 462% and HUD overhired by 430%. Other federal [...]

The U.S. Air Force recently published a “Teleportation Physics Report,” which among other things, calls for $7.5 million to conduct psychic teleportation experiments. An Air Force Research Lab spokesman justified the report by stating “If we don’t turn over stones, we don’t know if we have missed something.”

What kind of philosophic corruption makes such [...]

During my lengthy and extremely boring graduation ceremony last year, I passed the time by snickering at the thesis topics of the liberal arts majors. The topics I saw were typical of the BS that passes for research in the humanities these days: critical (Marxist) theory, obsession with sex, and ethnic (anti-Western) studies. [...]

To follow up on my original post, here is my version of the 20 greatest figures in American history. I selected the candidates according to their virtues as Americans – and to do that, I had to derive the essence of Americanism. I selected three characteristics: love of freedom, individual rights, and the creation of [...]

If you missed Dr. Andrew Bernsteins talk Global Capitalism: The Solution to World Oppression and Poverty, you can find an mp3 recording at Keenans site.

Do you like the random quotes you see on my website? Would you like to add my random quote generator to your site? You can do so in a number of ways:
As a JavaScript include (easiest method):
Paste the following text into your html:
As XML: Use this URL:
http://rationalmind.net/random.php?format=xml

< ?php

I’m very pleased to announce an online chat that I have organized with ObjectivismOnline.NET, the Ayn Rand Institute and the #AynRand IRC channel.

On Friday, April 23rd at 5:30 PM (Pacific) Drs. Yaron Brook and Onkar Ghate will be guests of Objectivism Online for a one hour moderated public chat. The purpose of the chat [...]

FYI:
The Ayn Rand Institute’s Objectivist Academic Center (OAC) is now accepting applications to its undergraduate program for the fall. The April 26 deadline is quickly approaching. So, if you are interested in applying go to www.aynrand.org/academic and complete the online application form.

The OAC’s program is a systematic course of study designed to give aspiring intellectuals [...]

CAIRO, Egypt—Hanan Nsour, a veiled, 21-year-old Muslim in Jordan, came out of “The Passion of the Christ” in tears and pronounced her verdict: Mel Gibson’s crucifixion epic “unmasked the Jews’ lies and I hope that everybody, everywhere, turns against the Jews.”
The Quran, though, says Jesus’s crucifixion never happened.

Such are the contradictions that are welling up [...]

A great story from Radley Balko @ Fox News: “Greed Makes the World Go ‘Round.”

Chinas Communist authorities recently shut down shut down a sex museum and sentenced several people to life for organizing an orgy. The Communist Party quips: “Sex Still a Dirty Word in China.” (More here and here.) While underground porn and prostitution is widespread and tolerated in Chinas large urban areas, any attempt [...]

VodkaPundit: “Ive always joked that Jews who dont stay Jews end up as either communists or Objectivists.”
How true. I have two compounding explanations for this: (a) For historical and cultural reasons, Jews are more educated and intellectual than the average citizen, so they are more included towards participating in two the dominant philosophical [...]

The Drexel U. philosophy club’s campaign against Objectivism is just getting started. Check out this masterpiece of modern philosophy:
Being objective is thinking purely in terms of yes or no, in pure Boolean logic. We have found out that this type of thinking cannot be applied to most real world circumstances. Thats why we are [...]

I was browsing Google News today, and came across this editorial. The best part:
I feel obligated to point out the fundamental flaws in the Objectivist Club as a forum for discussing ideas…. The Objectivist Clubs constitution states that its mission is “to study, discuss and debate, using reason, the content, validity and application of [...]