Mike's Eyes (Spotted By)

Why we seldom get morally principled leaders.

2012-01-17T16:59:00.000-05:00

I posted this at The New Clarion yesterday and am re-posting it here today.

The Friday Jan 6th print edition of the Detroit Free Press carried an oped by Leonard Pitts Jr of the Miami Herald titled "Ron Paul is foolishly consistent in his extremism." He starts it out with this Ralph Waldo Emerson quote: "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of small minds" I'll skip the fact that there may be some debate over the contextual meaning of that quote in some circles and just focus on how Mr. Pitts uses it as received wisdom. I will quote a few passages with my comments in brackets.

"Ralph Waldo Emerson, meet Ronald Ernest Paul. He is the very soul of a foolish consistency. Meaning that he is willing, often to a fault, to follow his ideology to its logical and most extreme conclusions." [Right off the bat, Pitts is using extremism to smear Paul's consistency i.e. integrity. "(T)o a fault" means excessive, too much, but no argument is given as to why extreme consistency or integrity is a fault. Why is a man who is extremely honest faulty?]

"In this, the congressman differs from other GOP contenders for the White House and, for that matter, from most politicians, period. Your average pol might rail against the intrusion of government into the private lives of its citizens, then turn right around and advocate a law regulating what a gay man does in his bedroom--and see no contradiction. [Very true] Paul is too intellectually honest for that." [Mr. Pitts, you're starting to make Paul look really good]

"Intellectual honesty is a good thing, if only because it can lead you to reconsider a faulty premise.(If only? It has no other value?) But in Paul's take on the Civil Rights Act of 1964, he doubles down on the bad premise instead." [Here Pitts confuses government enforced segregation with private prejudice and treats them as equal malfactors which of course they're not. Here the 'bad premise' is private prejudice.]

"In other words, forcing a restaurant to take down a Whites Only sign infringed the rights of the restaurant owner.[Yes, it did] A similar argument was made by segregationists in 1964--and by slave owners in the 1850s." [Not actually. Slavery and the Jim Crow laws were enforced by local and state governments and should have been repealed. Had they been repealed sooner, market forces would have eroded the private prejudices even sooner than history shows.]

"Can government be overlarge, overbearing, overwhelming, overrestrictive, overintrusive? Of course. And where it is those things, it is the right--and duty--of the electorate to pare it back." [Obviously Mr. Pitts doesn't think today's government is any of those things because the Tea Party which he opposes, exists to pare it back. Notice too that he doesn't object to the government being restrictive or intrusive, just overly so. He doesn't understand that he is actually saying don't overchain your slaves but chains are ok. But what would happen if the chains were removed completely?]

"On the other hand,unless you enjoy salmonella in your food and lead in your paint, unless you think it's OK that your doctor has no medical degree and your lawyer no licence, unless you're fine with breathing sooty air and drinking tainted water, and unless you really think a black woman in Mississippi, locked out of public places by threat of violence and force of law, should have been required to wait on market forces to rescue her, you must regard Paul's moral imbecility with a certain awe." [This is a partial rewrite of history. According to Pitts we were walking over bodies in the streets who died from salmonella, lead, tainted water and air and doctors and lawyers who didn't have government permissions to practice until the caring, loving government came along to save us all. Utter nonsense.]

[I have noticed that when statists mentalities are on the brink of achieving or losing their goals, they become more bold in the accuracy with which they identify their true goals and ideals.]

"Heaven help us if the intellectual rigidity he symbolizes is really the only alternative to the intellectual malleability of so many of his colleagues." [Wow! An open admission that intellectual malleability is the ideal, the norm to be achieved and admired. I will only add that Mr. Pitts is to be admired for his cognitive precision in identifying the intellectual status of Paul's Republican colleagues.]

With pundits like Mr. Pitts bombarding the public with ideas like this it is no wonder that the public has no principled leaders. My hope is that there are principled leaders out there taking notes on the election campaigns and deciding whether the public is ready for principled leadership. I think a growing number are. I just don't know how big that number needs to be to turn this country around. Perhaps 2012 will give us a clearer picture.

Objectivist roundup Jan 12 2011

2012-01-14T08:45:00.000-05:00

This issue has posts on things like Inflation, the impact of entitlement programs on debt, Religious conservatism vs Islam, fighting for your life and the truth about Romneycare and a lot more.

Objectivist roundup #234

2012-01-07T14:08:00.000-05:00

This week's Objectivist roundup is at Rational Jenn where you can read posts on things like "Thoughts on Drawing" or the "importance of mathematics" or on "When goals flounder, review your central purpose' and much more from an Objectivist perspective.

Paleo Rodeo #19

2011-12-17T13:48:00.000-05:00

The Paleo Rodeo #19 is up at Modern Paleo where you can discover a coconut egg nog recipe or read a post on what causes anorexia or read as Mark tells how he improved his cholesterol results on a low carb high fat diet or learn how Tim improved his blood glucose control or simply enjoy many tasty recipes.

2011-12-05T10:56:00.003-05:00

Here is a link to some very good articles on the junk science that is global warming. The statists and witch doctor wannabes are meeting in Durbin this week trying to keep the hoax alive.

Objectivist roundup Oct 27th 2011

2011-10-27T18:25:00.003-04:00

This week's Objectivist roundup is at "Parenting is..." Where you can read posts like Ed Cline's on the Occupy Wall Street protests or one that takes a look at a 1960 hospital bill, or in defense of income inequality and much more. Enjoy.

2011-10-08T12:11:00.001-04:00

The Objectivist Roundup #221 is at the blog of John J McVey where you can read posts on topics like naps at preschool, Elizabeth Warren's Assault on Justice, good getting things done habits by John Drake, a post on the importance of primacy of existence premise, why Gideon supports Gary Johnson for president, and much more. Enjoy!

Good Science on meat vs vegies only

2011-09-23T17:07:00.001-04:00

Here is a good fisking of the new documentary "Forks over Knives" by Denise Minger. It's long but worth it.

2011-09-18T09:10:00.002-04:00

Here is an LTE I sent to the Detroit Free Press whcih they haven't printed. They still might but it grows less likely the further away we get from 9/11."In the Freep's Sunday 9/11 edition editorial page editor Stephan Henderson came oh so close to naming the why behind the evil of the 9/11 attacks. I laud Mr. Henderson for identifying it as evil but he is less precise in his identifications of why. Calling such attacks 'madness' or 'lunacy' makes the same mistake as calling Hitler 'insane' or 'crazy.' Hitler was, like the hijackers, acting on a set of principles in which they had total faith. But why faith? Mr. Henderson says "There are some acts that are just unhinged, unmoored from the emotional or intellectual infrastructure that most people use to guide their daily lives." Mr. Henderson, that 'intellectual infrastructure' is called reason. When men abandon reason they have nothing to guide their actions but their feelings. Since feelings are the result of values their empty minds can be filled with any irrational values the life destroying nature of which they will be oblivious.America was born on the benevolent universe premise which holds that man's happiness and values can be achieved in this life and that disaster and suffering are the exception not the rule. A set of irrational principles often leads to the malevolent universe premise which says misery and suffering is the norm and happiness can only be had in the next life. If believed avidly as Jihadists do, then any strong evidence of the benevolent universe premise like America the West and even Isreal will be seen as proof that the malevolent premise is wrong. This will be intolerable. Thus to maintain their irrational illusion, the West, Isreal and the great Satan America must be destroyed. The hatred of the West is not caused by 'madness' but by a set of irrational principles adopted on faith."They do not want to own your fortune, they want you to lose it; they do not want to succeed, they want you to fail; they do not want to live, they want you to die..." Ayn Rand. Return of the Primative"Michael Neibel27335 LawnwoodRoseville Mi. 48066

9/11, a time for activism.

2011-09-12T18:57:00.000-04:00

This was a successful week end as far as pro-capitalist activism goes. I went to a tea party in a northern Detroit suburb on Saturday 9/10/11. There I set up my little table on which I placed about 10 baskets each with copies of essays on free market subjects. I didn't hand out anything really. I just stood there and declared to passersby that ideas matter and to help themselves to some free knowledge and ideas. There were only about 110 people there but that was good enough. They helped themselves to the following:15 copies of the essay Message to Republicans from the Ayn Rand Center of Individual Rights,7 copies of Seperation of State and Economy, (I ran out)24 copies of Unlocking the Jobs Dilemma,12 copies of To Stimulate the Economy, Liberate it.12 copies of Significance of Atlas Shrugged,29 copies of an essay on Pre-existing Conditions, 6 copies of Doctors are not Slaves with an ad for Lucidicus Project on the back,25 copies of Stop Blaming Capitalism for Government failures, (ran out of these too)14 copies called Two Thoughts which included a paragraph from Amy Ridenour on rationed medicine and 4 paras by me on the danger of socialized medicine to patients,13 copies of a Free Books for Teachers flyer I made from the ARI website.16 copies of the Feb 2011 Undercurrent,11 copies of the spring 2010 Undercurrent, (ran out)and finally, 29 copies of the Ayn Rand Sampler.I got the impression that people were looking for more info on the nature of capitalism and how free market ideas would work in an actual free market. All in all I think it was a good day. But since this was the weekend of the 9/11 anniversary I decided one day was not enough. So today Monday 9/12 I took flyers for the Free Books for Teachers program and the Student Essay Contest and placed 10 copies of each at eight public libraries. I got permission from the librarians over a year ago. It's easy, all they want to know is if ARI is a 501C3 educational charity. Later this week I'll be checking my supply of the Undercurrent at two community college campuses. Despite all this, my activism is strictly a part time adventure.

It's Coming True!

2011-08-03T12:14:00.013-04:00

I posted this over at the New Clarion a few minutes ago. Now I post it here.

In Ayn Rand's 1957 classic Atlas Shrugged, one of the bureaucrats, in response to the nation's economic collapse, provides his reasons for Directive No. 10-289.

"The picture now is this, said Wesley Mouch. "The economic condition of the country was better the year before last than it was last year, and last year it was better than it is at present. It's obvious that we would not be able to survive another year of the same progression. Therefore, our sole objective must be to hold the line. To stand still in order to catch our stride. To achieve total stability. Freedom has been given a chance and has failed. Therefore, more stringent controls are necessary. Since men are unable and unwilling to solve their problems voluntarily, they must be forced to do it." He paused,picked up the sheet of paper, then added in a less formal tone of voice, "Hell,what it comes down to is that we can manage to exist as and where we are, but we can't afford to move. So we've got to stand still. We've got to stand still. We've got to make those bastards stand still."
(Page536 in the large edition, 491 in the small paperback)

I was reminded of this quote when I read this article at Digital Trends. (Hat tip to OActivists) The first paragraph:

"The Federal Communications Commission just handed down new regulation designed to protect small, independent networks, and cable providers are getting seriously riled up. The FCC’s “standstill order” states that cable providers can’t pull networks off the air during contract disputes."

This demonstrates how government regulations create the need for more regulations, and what happens when the powers that be cannot properly adjudicate property rights which said regulations work to thwart. This incident should tell Republicans of the need to replace government regulations with market regulations. Sadly, I don't think there are but a few Republicans who even know what market regulations are or how they work. That is why the 2012 election is so important. The events in Atlas Shrugged are materializing faster now than in previous decades.

Objectivist Round up June 23.

2011-06-25T09:33:00.003-04:00

This weeks Objectivist roundup is at "Parenting is..." where you'll find articles on economics, politics, parenting, culture and much more.

Objectivist roundup June 19th.

2011-06-18T09:38:00.003-04:00

This week's Objectivist Roundup is at Noodle Food where you can read articles of the GOP's attempt to combine Jesus and Ayn Rand, parenting, economics and much more. Enjoy!

Paleo Rodeo # 63

2011-06-03T16:41:00.003-04:00

The latest Paleo Rodeo is up at Modern Paleo where you can read about exercise, parenting with paleo, learn new recipes, and much more.

Objectivist Roundup April 28th

2011-04-29T09:49:00.005-04:00

The Objectivist Roundup April 28th is at J. J. Mcvey's site. Great articles on things like induction and the arbitrary. Also posts on reforming health care, integrative abstract reading and much more.

Objectivist Roundup April 21

2011-04-23T09:47:00.003-04:00

This week's Objectivist Roundup is at Reepicheep's Coracle. There are good essays on politics and culture and movie reviews including the Atlas Shrugged movie.

Paleo Rodeo # 057

2011-04-22T15:01:00.003-04:00

This week's Paleo Rodeo is up at Modern Paleo where you can read about some good recipes and articles of fitness, supplements and paleo from a variety of perspectives. I liked toe one on raising HDL.

Paleo Rodeo # 056

2011-04-15T20:21:00.003-04:00

The Paleo Rodeo is now up at Modern Paleo where you can get tips on healthy eating and living.

Paleo Roundup April 8th

2011-04-08T21:30:00.003-04:00

This week's Paleo Rodeo is up at Modern Paleo. There, you can get some good low carb or Paleo recipes plus some good posts on things like snacks, cheap eats, magnesium, protein bars and much more.

Paleo Roundup April 1st.

2011-04-01T17:41:00.004-04:00

The paleo rodeo is now up at Modern Paleo. You can find info on supplements, recipes, exercise, and much more. Enjoy.

March 24 Objectivist roundup

2011-03-26T17:06:00.003-04:00

The March 24th Objectivist Roundup is at Rational Jenn. There are a few good essays on rational parenting, on economics, a paleo recipe and much more. Enjoy!!

March 10th Objectivist Roundup

2011-03-10T17:54:00.003-05:00

The March 10th Objectivist Roundup is at The Little things where you can read great articles such as Dr. Paul Hsieh's 'socialized medicine, theory and practice' and Alex Hrin's post of solar energy, is it a path to prosperity? Plus many others. Enjoy!

Objectivist Roundup March 3rd

2011-03-06T17:12:00.003-05:00

This week's Objectivist Roundup is at Reepicheep's Coracle where you can read great post on parentin, economics, politics, and even some good recipes.

Feb 10th Objectivist Roundup

2011-02-11T12:24:00.006-05:00

The Feb 10th Objectivist Roundup is at Erosophia where you can read posts on retirement plans by David c. Lewis at The Revolution in Retirement Planning, and John Drake posts at Try Reason on being conscious of your actions in all contexts including with your children.

Objectivist Roundup Feb 3rd 2011

2011-02-04T07:43:00.005-05:00

This week's Objectivist Roundup is at Rant from the Rock. It's where you can read an inflation primer by C.W. or The Perils of a Siege Mentality by Ed Cline and much more.

Objectivist Roundup Jan 27th. 2011

2011-01-27T18:23:00.004-05:00

This week's Objectivist Roundup is at Three Ring Binder where you can read articles such as Rachel Miner's recommendation of two new sites that deal with autistic learning. Then Zip reports on the Canadian Farce of Rights and Freedoms Pt1 and Pt2 plus much more. Enjoy!!

Woe is Michigan

2011-01-23T13:05:00.044-05:00

I published this post at The New Clarion a few days ago. I repost it here to let my readers know why I don't think Gov. Rick Snyder will have the solutions to Michigan's problems.

After reading news articles on Michigan's new Republican Governor Rick Snyder's State of the State address I'm disappointed. He ran on a platform of making the state government smaller, more efficient and called for a return to free market principles. But it looks to me like Mr. Snyder is not going to be the solution to Michigan's woeful economic problems.

His slogan "reinvent Michigan" is one telltale sign. Michigan doesn't need to be 'reinvented.' It needs to be freed from the job killing regulations and taxes that have chased businesses out of the state.

Another telltale sign is his decision to go with a government owned second bridge--Detroit River International Crossing, DRIC--over the Detroit river connecting Detroit to Windsor Canada. I had hoped Snyder would have at least opened up the bidding to private enterprise, especially since Matty Marroun, the owner of the Ambassador Bridge from Detroit to Windsor has offered to build the second bridge and pay for it himself. (Yes, the Ambassador is the only privately owned international bridge in the nation)

Snyder, a businessman and former CEO of Gateway, knows that private enterprise is much more efficient than government sponsored enterprises yet he chose the public option anyway. Why? He was lured by the promise of federal Transportation Dept. loot. From a 1/21/11 Detroit News article by Tom Greenwood:

"Snyder, a businessman-turned politician, told The Detroit News that it was the "old accountant" in him that made him ask the federal government whether a $550 million loan from Canada to cover Michigan's share of the roads for the bridge project could be used to leverage matching federal dollars for other roadwork in Michigan.
"That's part of the value-added we brought to the table," Snyder said."

Unfortunately, for several years, the Michigan toll receipts will be handed over to Canada to repay the loan.

This is pure pragmatism on the part of Gov. Snyder. Pragmatism of course is a range of the moment expediency sans concern for long range consequences i.e. unprincipled. It is this kind of thinking that brought Michigan's economy to ruin in the first place.

Now, Snyder want's to replace the oppressive Michigan Business Tax--credited with chasing many small businesses out of the state--with a 6% tax on corporate profits. This despite the fact that he knows wealth creation and therefore a rising standard of living come from only one place--profits. So it seems then that he wants to sacrifice the profits of big business to small business. Neither this nor the public bridge option are free market principles. Then again, pragmatists disdain principles.

All is not lost yet though. Gov. Snyder does want to repeal the item pricing law that forces retailers to price mark every item they sell. In another News article by Jaclyn Trop we learn:

"The law mostly affects retailers that sell many different items, such as grocers and hardware stores, costing them more than $2 billion annually in labor and materials, according to a report by the Anderson Economic Group that Snyder cited"

It is on things like this that the new governor needs to be concentrating. Reduce crippling regulations and he wouldn't need to replace the Michigan Business Tax. He could just repeal it.

But that is just one of the regulations Snyder considers 'needless' implying that others are needed. He does not understand that all government regulations are 'needless.' I know this was just Mr. Snyder's first major speech and I shouldn't be too pessimistic yet. But it's hard to be optimistic when I see business groups applauding his speech. Back to the Greenwood article:

"Business leaders 'thrilled'
Members of the Detroit Regional Chamber also applauded the governor's endorsement.
"We were thrilled that the governor said he was all in for the DRIC," Detroit Regional Chamber chief executive Sandy Baruah said. "I love the fact that he found a very inventive way to tie the interests of the DRIC to every legislator in the state of Michigan by tying those transportation dollars to the DRIC project. I thought that was brilliant. I think it will be the key that gets the DRIC done."

The editor of the Detroit News also hailed the Governor's pragmatism in a 1/23/11 editorial in which editor Nolan Finley says:

"Rick Snyder's first substantive speech as governor left a lot of folks scratching their heads, trying to figure out which political slot he fits into.
The answer is, he doesn't.
He's not a politician. He's a businessman. If that wasn't clear during the gubernatorial campaign, it should be now that Snyder's opening State of the State address is out of the way.
It will be pragmatism rather than partisan ideology that guides his administration."

And:

"That was best demonstrated during the speech by his embrace of the Detroit River International Crossing. Conservatives chafe at government involvement in building a new bridge, since a private investor claims to be willing to build one with his own money.
But for Snyder, it was just a big real estate deal, and one he feels he got the best of by convincing the Obama administration to permit the leveraging of a $550 million loan from Canada to repair Michigan's highways.
He wasn't about to let a debate over the free market system get in the way of a windfall."(MY emphasis)

To be fair the editorial did go on to extol Snyder's pledge for accountability for all money spent and to get rid of growth inhibiting regulations. All nice sounding words until one reads this:

"Likewise, liberals will find unexpected opportunities to applaud the governor, as they did his view that the state must nurture education from the womb through adulthood, and that government has a stake in the waistlines of its citizens."

AARRRG!! Michigan is joining California in committing economic and educational suicide with the blessings of media and business.

When I look at Michigan and the new governor I feel like that adult who has explained to an adolescent that doing X will result in failure and misery for him but who still insists on doing x anyway suffering the adult to a future of having to watch the calamity unfold. Sigh.

Maybe some of the newer State Republicans will guide him in a better direction. Not holding my breath though.

Objectivist Roundup Jan 20th. 2011

2011-01-22T14:42:00.004-05:00

This week's Objectivist roundup is at Reepicheep's Coracle. You can read posts on such subjects as

The scarecrow of violent Language by Ed Cline
or
Robert Sarrionandia's views on the value of debating.
and
Ritter's "New Energy Economy" Based on old fallacies by Ari Armstrong

Enjoy!

Jan 14 Objectivist Roundup

2011-01-14T09:18:00.003-05:00

The Jan 14th Objectivist roundup is at Jenn Casey's site here.
Many great essays this time on subjects like the spread of mysticism or the Road to Hell at the New Clarion and more. Enjoy!

Objectivist Roundup New Year Edition

2010-12-31T08:51:00.004-05:00

The newest Objectivist Roundup is at Uncommon Sense which includes essays on raising children, the hierarchy of knowledge, developing habits, abortion, immigration, sacred cows and much more. Enjoy!

Objectivist Roundup Dec 24th. 2010

2010-12-24T14:58:00.004-05:00

This week's Objectivist Roundup is at Mother of Exiles. Great reads all.

2010-12-10T10:53:00.004-05:00

The latest Objectivist round up is at Reepicheep's Coracle here. enjoy reading objective posts on politics, culture and a variety of subjects from an Objectivist perspective.

Thanksgiving is over, or is it?

2010-11-26T10:42:00.004-05:00

Over at my blog at the Detroit Free Press, Mike's Michigan Musings, I posted about Thanksgiving day being over but giving thanks should not be and some of the things I'm thankful for.

Objectivist Roundup Nov 18th.

2010-11-19T17:32:00.004-05:00

This week's Objectivist roundup is at the Secular Foxhole and is full of great posts. Enjoy.

Dems Offer No Hope for Michigan

2010-10-04T09:36:00.005-04:00

The election is tomorrow and so far the Democrats are staying with their anti-business philosophy. About three weeks or so ago I received in the mail campaign promotion material from the Michigan Democratic state central committee. It was headlined "The main street agenda" and featured the pictures of candidates Virg Bernero for Governor, Brenda Lawrence for Lieut. gov, Jocelyn Benson for sec of state and David Leyton for Atty gen. The bottom of the flyer contained a partial picture of New York stock exchange overlaid with the words "not a Wall Street CEO."

I'm disappointed to see the Democrats continuing to cash in on the false notion that the people on Wall Street are the enemies of the people on main street. This ad represents all that is wrong with Michigan (and national) politics. Readers are presumably supposed to be relieved that these Democrats are anti-wall street. It is blatantly anti-business in tone. And yet it is only businesses that can create productive jobs. Government cannot create jobs. All government has to offer is force and the threat of it. And for decades government has used this power to chase businesses out of Michigan.

It's time to get government out of the way and let business do what it does best: create prosperity.

Local blog activism

2010-09-26T11:20:00.005-04:00

The Detroit Free Press has allowed my to have a blog at their online paper. I haven't been very active but now I intend to get busy. It is here.I hope to get more readers with increased blogging.

Fire Levin, Time for Real Change

2010-09-19T11:11:00.004-04:00

Pursuant to my last post below, Mr Don Volaric has added a new site "Fire Levin" which I recommend. Mr Levin has been in office way too long. He has overseen the destruction of the national as well as the Michigan economies, the near total destruction of the auto industry and the banking industry.

When looking at a problem, real or imagined, instead of asking "what tax or regulation can be repealed to help this problem?" Sander Levin has chosen to issue more dictates (regulations) then sit back and wait for obedience. This is not the practice of those defending freedom. Mr. Levin, like so many of the lifer politicians today, can no longer think outside the box. They know they have placed burden after burden on the backs of business chasing most of them out of the state. But rather than checking their premises, examining the principles on which their policies are based, they continue with business as usual placing even more burdens on business hoping against hope that businesses will find a way to stick around and continue to create jobs.

It's time for change and for this election Don Volaric represents that change.

Political Activism in Michigan

2010-09-07T08:08:00.003-04:00

I have decided to get active in local politics for the first time in decades. I'm backing republican Don Volaric for the seat of Sander Levin in the US House district 12 here in Michigan. so here is a little promo for those of you who may live in this district.
*********************************************8

"How much would you PAY to get rid of a Levin??

Don Volaric, candidate for U.S. Congress in the 12th District, had almost 4,000 more votes than the incumbent, Sander Levin, in the primary for Macomb County! That hasn't been done before and it is a great sign of what is to come this November.

How much would you DO to get rid of a Levin??

The Volaric campaign needs your HELP to defeat Sander Levin this November. We are looking for volunteers to do door to door with our literature, phone calls, help with office work, etc. Signs will be available soon! We have window stickers available now.

How much would you PAY to get rid of a Levin??

Sander Levin is FOR Amnesty, FOR Obama Care, FOR Big Government, FOR Higher Taxes, FOR Cap and Trade, all while he is selling our children's and grandchildren's futures down the drain, while taking our seniors to the woodshed with his Medicare deception and lies.

Vote for the real citizen's representative, Don Volaric, not the status quo. Go to www.VolaricForCongress.com to donate and volunteer today.

70 days and counting... Remember in November!"
************************************************8

I decided to back him because he was one of the few Republicans to explicitly use the phrase 'individual rights' in his speeches. And also because I want Sander Levin out.

Political link

2010-09-01T09:30:00.006-04:00

Here is a good effort that may be worth joining at least in a political context: There is no doubt that America needs a reorientation.

Little Thinkers

2010-08-20T12:02:00.002-04:00

I sometimes marvel at the sharp memories and ideas four and five year olds have. I was at a restaurant with wife and 5 year old grand daughter Taylor and her mom. I had arrived first and had ordered before the others since I had to leave first. Taylor and I both like eggs and sausages. She would reach over to my plate and swipe a sausage piece and I would pretend not to notice saying "There must be a mouse in here swiping my sausages" and she would laugh. When her food came she said to me "Grandpa, you can't take my food" and I said "Why not?" to which she replied "Because you're on a diet, remember?" sigh. They're right about that female memory thing.

A few days later she was at our house pretending to be talking to a friend on the phone. She wrote down her imaginary friend's number on a paper. She wrote 9 numbers. Observing this Grandma said "Most phones have 7 numbers." She thought for a few seconds and said "Well my friend has a bigger phone."

Rational literature in elementary school.

2010-05-30T09:45:00.003-04:00

From the VanDamme academy is this 5 min video on what rational literature for the very young should look like.

Notice: OLists for Better Living Info

2010-05-28T05:31:00.006-04:00

Because I am a lurker (reader) on most of these lists below and have started commenting on the OGardeners list, I want to recommend these lists to my readers via this announcement by Diana Hsieh:

Hi, I'm Diana Hsieh (http://www.DianaHsieh.com). I'm an Objectivist and a recent Ph.D in philosophy.

I oversee an independent network of e-mail lists for friendly discussion and information-sharing among advocates of Ayn Rand's philosophy of Objectivism. They are the "OLists" : http://www.OList.com

The common goal of the OLists is to serve the real-life values and interests common to subscribers -- such as activism, blogging, parenting, health, productivity, firearms, gardening, and academia. These lists have been active, informative, and useful to their hundreds of subscribers; they've helped connect Objectivists with values in common. In case you've not heard of them, I invite you to see whether they might foster your values too.

Please note that these lists are not free-for-all discussion lists. Each list has a clear purpose, as well as definite membership criteria. Also, some lists are limited to Objectivists, while others welcome non-Objectivist lurkers. Please check the list's purpose and membership criteria before you request a subscription.

Without further ado, the OList e-mail lists are...

OActivists: http://www.OList.com/oactivists

OActivists is an e-mail list for Objectivists committed to fostering positive cultural and political change. Its purpose is to encourage and assist effective advocacy of Objectivist ideas in non-Objectivist forums by facilitating communication between Objectivist activists. Membership is limited to Objectivist activists. It is managed by Tammy Perkins.

OBloggers: http://www.OList.com/obloggers

OBloggers is an e-mail list for Objectivist bloggers. Its purpose is to facilitate communication about matters of mutual interest, such as upcoming events, blogworthy links, posts of interest, blog promotion, and best blogging practices. Membership is limited to Objectivist bloggers. It is managed by Kate Gerber of CareerMama ( http://www.careermama.com ).

OGrownups: http://www.OList.com/ogrownups

OGrownups is an informal e-mail list for for Objectivists and others interested in raising and educating children well. Its basic purpose is to facilitate discussion amongst Objectivists about child development, discipline techniques, education methods, parenting resources, and more. Non-Objectivist lurkers are welcome. It is managed by Jenn Casey of Rational Jenn ( http://rationaljenn.blogspot.com ).

OEvolve: http://www.OList.com/oevolve

OEvolve is an informal e-mail list for Objectivists and others interested in the proper application of evolutionary principles to diet, fitness, and health. Its basic purpose is to facilitate discussion and information-sharing amongst Objectivists about the practical sciences of cooking, nutrition, fitness, health, and more. Non-Objectivist lurkers are welcome. It is managed by Monica Hughes of Ancestral Generation ( http://ancestralgeneration.com ).

OProducers: http://www.OList.com/oproducers

OProducers is an e-mail list for Objectivists and others committed to improving their habits of productivity in their careers, projects, and other pursuits. Its purpose is to facilitate discussion and information-sharing amongst Objectivists about practical methods for better management of time, projects, money, people, and other resources. Non-Objectivist lurkers are welcome. It is managed by Tod of Optimal Living ( http://blog.bytod.com ).

OShooters: http://www.OList.com/oshooters

OShooters is an e-mail list for Objectivists and others enthused about firearms and committed to gun rights. Its basic purpose is to facilitate discussion and information-sharing amongst Objectivists about firearm models, shooting techniques, gun ranges, gun laws, and the like. Non-Objectivist lurkers are welcome. It is managed by Santiago Valenzuela.

OGardeners: http://www.OList.com/ogardeners

OGardeners is an informal e-mail list for Objectivists and others interested in gardening and landscaping. Its purpose is to facilitate discussion and information-sharing amongst Objectivists about the cultivation of flowers, vegetables, shrubs, and trees. Non-Objectivist lurkers are welcome. It is managed by Kelly Elmore of Reepicheep's Coracle ( http://reepicheepscoracle.blogspot.com ).

OAcademics: http://www.OList.com/oacademics

OAcademics is an e-mail list for Objectivist academics to discuss teaching, research, coursework, dissertations, job prospects, publication, and all other aspects of life in (or after) academia. Membership is limited to Objectivist academics. It is managed by Diana Hsieh of NoodleFood ( http://blog.dianahsieh.com ).

If you have any questions or comments about the OLists, please feel free to e-mail me at diana@dianahsieh.com.

-- DMH

Diana Hsieh (Ph.D, Philosophy, CU Boulder)
E-mail: diana@dianahsieh.com
NoodleFood: http://www.dianahsieh.com/blog
NoodleCast: http://www.dianahsieh.com/cast
ModernPaleo: http://www.ModernPaleo.com/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/DianaHsieh

--
OGardeners @ OList.com --
List Address: ogardeners@olist.com (or ogardeners@googlegroups.com)
Public Web Site: http://www.olist.com/ogardeners
Private Group: http://groups.google.com/group/ogardeners/
Web Archives: http://groups.google.com/group/ogardeners/topics
Edit Membership: http://groups.google.com/group/ogardeners/subscribe

Proper Philosophy of Education

2010-05-24T16:07:00.007-04:00

If you haven't subscribed to Lisa VanDamme's U-tube videos I urge you to do so now. It's free. This one is about her favorite story at the VanDamme Acadamy. You can subscribe here. One of my favorites is "Why WE Take Tests" which explains the importance of testing.

This is the kind of pedagogy that most American public schools desperately need especially in the wasteland that is the DPS Detroit Public Schools.

Tax Day Tea Party Sterling Heights Michigan

2010-04-18T11:45:00.014-04:00

Sorry about being a day late with this but here are pics of the Tea Party I went to in Sterling Heights on Thursday 4/15. There were about 400 to 500 people there including several dozen union and government people on the other side of the street carrying pre-made signs saying SOS for Save Our Services. Evidently they don't like the idea of smaller government. Click on any image for larger view.

2010-04-16T20:07:00.010-04:00

I went to a few Tea Parties this past week. The first was Sunday 4/11/10 at the Clinton Twp Civic Center. It was sponsored by MEDEFCO (Metro Detroit Freedom Coalition) and featured a stop by the Tea Party Express folks. Two bus loads of speakers and entertainers pulled up.

There was about 3000 people there according to one local newspaper. A sampling of the people by me revealed Republican, Democrat and lots of independent voters present. The singing was quite good and all the speakers mentioned the need for smaller government and less taxes and less regulations. I'll post on the other Party tomorrow.

Urgent Action Required.

2010-03-16T18:31:00.002-04:00

With his permission I'm reprinting this post by Dr. Paul Hsieh and I recommend everyone contact your House Rep. and urge them to vote no on the health bill now before the House.

This upcoming week will be *the* critical week in the health care
fight. Speaker Pelosi is expected to start the process for the House
to hold its final vote to approve the Senate Bill. The vote will
probably take place at the end of this upcoming week.

Right now, they are probably still a few votes shy of the majority
they need:

"Dem House vote-counter lacks health care votes now"
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100314/ap_on_bi_ge/us_health_overhaul

"Can Nancy Pelosi Get the Votes?"
Michael Barone, Wall Street Journal, 3/11/2010
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703701004575113292688090292.html

Hence, this is an *extremely* risky move by the Democrats.
Normally, a Speaker wouldn't plan on voting on such major
legislation unless he or she was sure of having enough votes.

But the Democrats are also (correctly) concluding that time is not
on their side. They have made the calculation that if they push for
it now, then maybe then can squeeze out the last few votes via a
combination of threats and bribes. For example, they have
"sweetened" the deal for the wavering moderates by promising
billions of dollars of new student loan subsidies:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100314/ap_on_bi_ge/us_health_overhaul

On the other hand they recognize that if they wait much longer,
then when these wavering Congressmen go back home for the
Easter recess, they will get an earful from their constituents who are
strongly opposed to the bill, and they'll lose even more support:

http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/health-care-end-game-begins-monday

Hence, from the Democrats' perspective, it's now or never.

From our perspective, this means three things:

1) We are winning. We have a chance to defeat this terrible bill.

In particular, do not get discouraged when you read the inevitable
news stories about how the Democrats are "close to getting the
votes" or how Pelosi is "confident she'll have the votes". She has
to exude an aura of public confidence, otherwise her coalition will
quickly unravel.

Polls repeatedly show Americans opposed to ObamaCare:

"Why Obama Can't Move the Health-Care Numbers"
Rasmussen and Schoen, Wall Street Journal, 3/9/2010
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704784904575111993559174212.html

Similarly, head counts of House Democrats also show that they
don't quite have enough votes yet:

"Scrambling for votes, Democrats face uphill climb to pass
healthcare reform"
The Hill, 3/13/2010
http://thehill.com/homenews/house/86577-scrambling-for-votes-dems-face-uphill-climb-to-pass-health-reform

"The Hill's 'Whip Count' on ObamaCare -- as of 3/13/2010"
http://hotair.com/greenroom/archives/2010/03/13/the-hills-whip-count-on-obamacare-as-of-today/

If they had the votes, they'd have already passed it by now.

2) We have to keep the pressure up. The Democrats are pulling out
all stops to find some way to get this through now, before the
critical Easter recess.

At this point in time, the single most important thing you can do is
tell your Congressman to vote "NO" on this bill:

http://www.usa.gov/Contact/Elected.shtml

This is especially important if your Congressman is one of the
undecided or swing votes on this "Code Red" list:

http://www.nrcc.org/CodeRed/targets/
http://www.teapartypatriots.org/BlogPostView.aspx?id=84e5b956-bfe9-4024-9fd3-aaf17cc00012

But even if your Congressman is a firm "Yes", it's still important to
let them know. If even the liberal Democrats from "safe" seats
consistently hear that their constituents are against it, it will give the
wavering moderates more political cover to vote "No". They can
tell their Pelosi, "Even *your* constituents hate this thing -- there's
no way I can support it".

*** Our counter-pressure is our best weapon against the pressure
that the statists will exert on these wavering Congressmen. ***

Your letter doesn't have to long or eloquent. It just has to convey
certainty, passion, and moral conviction. Something short and
simple like:

"Please vote NO on this terrible health care plan! If you vote yes,
you will destroy the ability of me and my family to receive good
health care in the future. This is personal! If you vote yes, we will
never forgive you for hurting our lives and trampling on our basic
freedoms."

(You may wish to adapt that to suit your own style and values.)

Feel free to use all contact methods - phone, fax, and e-mail. And
please feel free to contact them multiple times over the upcoming
week. In this context, repetition is a virtue!

And of course, if your Congressman is a probable or firm "No",
then thank him or her for his position. They also need our moral
support.

3) If you have friends or family in other parts of the country, tell
them to do the same thing and contact *their* Congressmen:

http://www.usa.gov/Contact/Elected.shtml

If you need intellectual ammunition for them, one of my personal
favorites is from the AFCM website:

"Fifty Fallacies About Health Care" by Richard Ralston
http://afcm.org/fallacies.html

Jared Rhoads' Lucidicus Project also has a good set of OpEds:
http://lucidicus.org/editorials/archive.php

And of course, FIRM has its archive of articles/OpEds:
http://westandfirm.org/articles.html

I personally think that the most important thing we can do in the
next few days will be to directly contact our Congressmen and have
friends/family do the same. LTE's and OpEds will still be
important, but not as much as before. (That said, I'm stilll going to
continue writing and/or disseminating some of my earlier writings
to people I know around the country.)

This is the endgame, folks. Most political observers regard the
health care bill as a 50-50 "toss-up" or "too close to call". It really
could go either way. What happens this week will set the course of
this great country (for good or for ill) for decades to come.

Your voice could be the critical difference in swaying the right one
or two minds. If you value your lives and your freedom, the time
to speak up is *now*!

(Anyone is welcome to forward or repost this e-mail to any
appropriate recipients or venues.)

-- Paul
--------------------
Paul Hsieh, MD

A Grandpa's Notes on Discipline

2010-02-13T15:16:00.008-05:00

As a grandpa who does a lot of babysitting--I have 5 grand kids under the age of 4 1/2 with another on the way--I believe in the theory of positive discipline. Info on this can be had at the sites of Rational Jenn and The Little Things.

But I want to focus on one aspect of discipline: talking to young children when they are behaving badly. I've seen adults yell at their kids saying things like "You're being bad" or You're a bad boy/girl" and "What's wrong with you?" and so on. I am afraid though that a steady diet of words like that might cause the kids to conclude that there is something innately wrong with them over which they have no control. I don't want to take that chance.

Now I like to use different words and phrases. When they are being defiant or otherwise misbehaving, I tell them they are making bad decisions or bad choices and I try to follow that up with reasons why that they will understand. I think this reinforces in their mind the fact of free will while informing that not all choices will be good for them.

Of course it's a law of nature that kids forget fast, so constant repetition is needed. So is lots of patience. This is because their desire to use their free will can be almost irresistible. That can lead to conflicts.

Of course the flip side of this coin is commenting on when they do good. I like to see them get their happiness from the achievement of things without me saying anything. But young kids often want to share a new accomplishment with their adults so when I comment I say things like "Good job" or "Well done" or "Good thinking" and so on. I try to avoid "You're so smart" or 'You're really good" etc.

Positive Discipline has more to say on these subjects so be sure to visit the above links.

January 2010 VDA Newsletter

2010-01-22T20:38:00.010-05:00

Once again and because education is so important here is the latest newsletter from the VanDamme Academy.

Pedagogically Correct Volume 4, Issue 2
January 22, 2010

"Pedagogy": The art and science of teaching.
:: Calling All LifeLong Learners: Learn Science the VanDamme Academy Way!
:: Recommend Pedagogically Correct to five friends, get Lisa VanDamme's e-book, "Reclaiming Education," for free!
:: Announcement: Pedagogically Correct Blog

Follow this link for the latest VanDamme Academy Newsletter, which features the following article entitled "What Did You Learn Today" (Written by Kyle Steele-ME)

I was sitting on the floor, fixing a desk, when one of my students and her mother came into the room. They were unaware of my presence as the mother helped her daughter gather her homework. Looking at the board, she said, "Nothing is written down for math. What did you do in math today?" Her daughter's response was, "Well... basically, we drew a mountain and that's about it."

If her summary of the day's events hadn't been so comical, I would have been mortified by her answer. Was this all she remembered from my complicated lecture on long division? Though I was tempted to hide myself further under the desk, I stood up and probed my student's memory further. With the right questions, she was able to tell me that the mountain was a metaphor for the steps involved in learning long division and that we'd spent most of the class discussing quotients and remainders.

Her mother was satisfied with this but I was not. My student, quite understandably, remembered the most unusual and silly part of the class and not the lesson. While I'm happy that my students have vivid memories of the metaphor, it is useless unless they recall the metaphor's meaning! I was concerned that this might be the typical kind of answer parents received to that age-old, important question, "What did you do in school today?"

At the end of the next day's lesson, I decided to ask that question myself. "If I were your father and I asked you what you did in class today, what would you say?" The response I got was interesting. Most children could give a vague answer, but not as specific as I would have liked. They could tell me we did long division problems, but it would have been more accurate to say we did problems with a four-digit dividend. I helped them to form this more precise answer.

This exercise, naming what we've learned at the end of each class, has become a routine part of the class and the kids love it. Each of them is eager to come up with the most precise answer. They strive to capture the finest detail that separates today's lesson from previous lessons. I love it, not because it prepares my students to be questioned by their parents, but because my students are refining their own understanding.

It's very easy for a student to let the activities of the day become a blur. Even the best students in the best classes can go through the routine of the day without taking a moment to reflect. But by taking a few minutes each class to discuss what we've learned and give a name to the work we've done, the knowledge they've gained is no longer a blur, but a firmly held concept. It becomes a hard piece of knowledge with clear edges.

Furthermore, this exercise helps the motivation of my students. Naming what we do helps them to remember that each day holds a new lesson. It is very satisfying to look back on a class and say, "We've accomplished this." One of the things that sets VanDamme Academy's curriculum apart from others is that we want our students to hold their knowledge conceptually; knowledge that can be put into words and has a clear connection to reality. It is a goal we pursue doggedly. Naming each lesson is one more way we achieve that goal.

Calling All LifeLong Learners: Learn Science the VanDamme Academy Way!
Now Anyone Can Understand The Fundamental Principles of Science Better than Most Scientists
"Fundamen tals of Physical Science: A Historical, Inductive Approach"
By David Harriman, Historian and Philosopher of Physics

Learn all about it at our brand new website.

Here's what other Pedagogically Correct Readers are Saying:

"I am currently a Ph.D. candidate in physics, and I was amazed at how much I learned from David Harriman's course. This course stands head and shoulders above any other course or textbook I have encountered."

"It's perfect for someone relatively new to physics like myself; it's perfect for even advanced people who want a deeper historical perspective than is usually taught...I found Mr. Harriman's physics course to be an exciting walk through the fascinating world of physics."

"I think this type of course is needed for everyone, as in my experience, it's so far above the courses I've had throughout my life as far as the actual transmittal of knowledge is concerned...In short, this course has made science and math much more intelligible for me, and was completely worth the time and cost - I highly recommend it."

I was a physics major when I entered college, yet I can easily say that my actual understanding of physics is much greater as a result of this course than I can credit to any other class I've taken.

www.vandammescience.com

With this course you will:
* Finally understand the world around you, the world of science and technology, in a way you never thought possible. (No, you don't have to be a math wiz.)
* Learn the thinking methods of the greatest minds in history.
* Understand what all those physics equations and formulas you once memorized really mean.
* Be inspired by scientists' amazing 2500-year quest to unlock the mysteries of the physical world.
* And have a great time in the process!

All thanks to a one-of-a-kind science teaching methodology available in no other course or textbook.

www.vandammescience.com

Recommend Pedagogically Correct to five friends, get Lisa VanDamme's e-book, "Reclaiming Education," for free!
Lisa VanDamme's educational career began when a group of parents, disillusioned with standard public and private schools, hired her to educate their children. In 1998, she chronicled her successes homeschooling and explained the methods that made them possible in a lecture, "Reclaiming Education." The audience, fascinated by her insights about education, and inspired by the stories she told, gave her a standing ovation. In 1999, she made "Reclaiming Education" available in written form, to the delight of thousands of readers. Since 1999, the essay version of "Reclaiming Education" has been unavailable. Until now.

For the first time in almost 8 years, we will make this remarkable work available. And we are giving it away for FREE as an e-book to those who help us grow Pedagogically Correct by recommending it to their friends. Just send enter the email addresses of at least five friends who might appreciate an invitation to receive PC--along with a brief personal note, or our standard note below. We will not add anyone to our email database without their permission.

Click here to refer five friends and get your copy of "Reclaiming Education."

Announcement: Pedagogically Correct Blog
www.pedagogicallycorrect.com
Check out our 'blog, which will contain much (but not all) of the material we sent out in our newsletters. Spread the word!

VanDamme Academy encourages you to forward our newsletter to your friends or post it on your website or blog. If this newsletter has been forwarded to you, you can sign up to receive Pedagogically Correct for free, at www.vandammeacademy. com.

Happy Learning!

VanDamme Academy--Experience the Power of a Real Education

VanDamme Academy
email: custserv@vandammeacademy.com
phone: 949-510-4861
web:http://www.vandammeacademy.com

Where'd I put that?

2009-12-31T11:49:00.002-05:00

Yes, I can relate to this video.

Happy New Year!

2009-12-30T09:00:00.000-05:00

A happy and prosperous New Year to all my readers!

Merry Christmas

2009-12-22T16:29:00.001-05:00

Merry Christmas to all my readers.

Sand Animation

2009-12-02T12:06:00.005-05:00

This is a video of an incredibly talented Ukranian girl at sand animation. I've heard of this art form but never observed it till now. She's tells a story with her animation.

Support Anthem Foundation

2009-11-22T14:42:00.003-05:00

According to this Detroit News article Chase is giving away $5 million to your favorite local 501(c)3 charities. ARI is not listed but the Anthem Foundation is so I signed up and voted for Anthem. The drive ends in 19 days but you can vote once every day. I think this could be a good opportunity for some positive activism. I posted a notice of this on my facebook page.

Update 11/28/09: The Ayn Rand Institute is on Chase's list so you can vote once for the Anthem foundation and once for ARI. The above is in error in that you can't vote every day for the same charity. Round 1 will be over Dec. 11th. Round 2 voting will begin Jan 15th and end Jan 22nd. It's important to join Facebook if you haven't already and vote for these two charities. The ARI has a program called "Free Books for Teachers" which is well worth the effort of joining Facebook and voting.

Pedagogically Correct Newsletter Oct 2009

2009-10-14T21:24:00.006-04:00

Here is another edition of Pedagogically Correct because education is so important.

"Pedagogy": The art and science of teaching.
:: Calling All LifeLong Learners: Learn Science the VanDamme Academy Way!
:: Recommend Pedagogically Correct to five friends, get Lisa VanDamme's e-book, "Reclaiming Education," for free!
:: Announcement: Pedagogically Correct Blog

Follow this link for the latest VanDamme Academy Newsletter, which features the following article entitled "VanDamme Academy Presents: Music Appreciation"

Two years ago, Mr. Travers introduced art appreciation into the VanDamme Academy curriculum. Like the name suggests, the purpose of this course was neither to teach students the history of art nor to train them in the production of art. Rather, his goal was to help them learn to deeply, sincerely enjoy or appreciate art.

Toward that end, Mr. Travers teaches students how to look at a painting or sculpture. He demonstrates to them that looking is not automatic-it is actually an active-minded, methodical, purposeful process. Students learn to do a "reading" of a work of art: noticing and cataloguing all the details, making connections and generalizations about what they observe, comparing and contrasting their observations with other, similar pieces, arriving at a basic theme of the work, and finally, connecting that theme to their own lives.

This process integrates perfectly with the VanDamme Academy literature curriculum, for which the process of analysis is much the same. And indeed, Mr. Travers often makes a point of finding artworks that reflect the values and characters presented in the novels students are reading for literature.

This year, Mr. Travers has introduced music appreciation into the junior high curriculum.

In music appreciation, students listen to a short composition with a definite emotional tone and are asked to describe the scene that plays through their mind in connection with the music. I witnessed one of these classes, and the results were remarkable. First, though the scenes they recounted varied greatly from student to student, the commonalities were fascinating to note. Second, the students' writing was delightfully uninhibited-this assignment really allowed them to be creative free spirits. Lastly, I was moved by the variety of ways in which their performance on the assignment reflected their education overall: the compositions were articulate and eloquent, they often related to great scenes from history or literature, and they showed a capacity for a deep and meaningful connection to art. Listening to Mr. Travers read the students' work aloud while the music played, I was moved to tears.

Here are some samples of the students' writing about Samuel Barber's "Adagio for Strings." I recommend that you listen first, and then read.

"A wave comes onto the shore, bringing a man to his home town. He is dead. Memories flash of his life as the procession leads him to his grave: his wedding, his first born son, his captaincy. Nothing is banal any more."

"An army has just defeated their enemy. However, their greatest hero has fallen. It is raining, and everyone is crying, especially the hero's family. The hero had hugged his family right before he was shot. It is pitch black except for one light that is shining on the hero."

"Trees are swaying in the forest as the flowers are slowly blooming. They twirl at the sun's powerful heat. One day, they suddenly shrivel up. Kids are staring down at their once beautiful flowers, depressed and heartbroken. The trees begin to shrivel. The pinecones open up to let new seeds be planted."

"I see a boy walking up to a large building in New York for the first time and he can't believe its size. He is amazed and his mouth is ajar. He goes into it, and he is riding up in the glass elevator. He has reached the top; he looks at the view and yells happily off into the city. He is overwhelmed. He feels like a small sand in the desert."

Calling All LifeLong Learners: Learn Science the VanDamme Academy Way!
Now Anyone Can Understand The Fundamental Principles of Science Better than Most Scientists
"Fundamen tals of Physical Science: A Historical, Inductive Approach"
By David Harriman, Historian and Philosopher of Physics

Learn all about it at our brand new website.

Here's what other Pedagogically Correct Readers are Saying:

"I am currently a Ph.D. candidate in physics, and I was amazed at how much I learned from David Harriman's course. This course stands head and shoulders above any other course or textbook I have encountered."

"It's perfect for someone relatively new to physics like myself; it's perfect for even advanced people who want a deeper historical perspective than is usually taught...I found Mr. Harriman's physics course to be an exciting walk through the fascinating world of physics."

"I think this type of course is needed for everyone, as in my experience, it's so far above the courses I've had throughout my life as far as the actual transmittal of knowledge is concerned...In short, this course has made science and math much more intelligible for me, and was completely worth the time and cost - I highly recommend it."

I was a physics major when I entered college, yet I can easily say that my actual understanding of physics is much greater as a result of this course than I can credit to any other class I've taken.

www.vandammescience.com

With this course you will:
* Finally understand the world around you, the world of science and technology, in a way you never thought possible. (No, you don't have to be a math wiz.)
* Learn the thinking methods of the greatest minds in history.
* Understand what all those physics equations and formulas you once memorized really mean.
* Be inspired by scientists' amazing 2500-year quest to unlock the mysteries of the physical world.
* And have a great time in the process!

All thanks to a one-of-a-kind science teaching methodology available in no other course or textbook.

www.vandammescience.com

Recommend Pedagogically Correct to five friends, get Lisa VanDamme's e-book, "Reclaiming Education," for free!
Lisa VanDamme's educational career began when a group of parents, disillusioned with standard public and private schools, hired her to educate their children. In 1998, she chronicled her successes homeschooling and explained the methods that made them possible in a lecture, "Reclaiming Education." The audience, fascinated by her insights about education, and inspired by the stories she told, gave her a standing ovation. In 1999, she made "Reclaiming Education" available in written form, to the delight of thousands of readers. Since 1999, the essay version of "Reclaiming Education" has been unavailable. Until now.

For the first time in almost 8 years, we will make this remarkable work available. And we are giving it away for FREE as an e-book to those who help us grow Pedagogically Correct by recommending it to their friends. Just send enter the email addresses of at least five friends who might appreciate an invitation to receive PC--along with a brief personal note, or our standard note below. We will not add anyone to our email database without their permission.

Click here to refer five friends and get your copy of "Reclaiming Education."

Announcement: Pedagogically Correct Blog
www.pedagogicallycorrect.com
Check out our 'blog, which will contain much (but not all) of the material we sent out in our newsletters. Spread the word!

VanDamme Academy encourages you to forward our newsletter to your friends or post it on your website or blog. If this newsletter has been forwarded to you, you can sign up to receive Pedagogically Correct for free, at www.vandammeacademy. com.

Happy Learning!

VanDamme Academy--Experience the Power of a Real Education

VanDamme Academy
email: custserv@vandammeacademy.com
phone: 949-510-4861
web: http://www.vandammeacademy.com

Post Follow Up

2009-10-09T13:35:00.014-04:00

Pursuant to my last post, here are the details: for quite awhile my house's interior in the kitchen, dinette, living room and hallway had white ceiling, walls and trim. Boring! Now I have a flat white ceiling, beige walls and pure white trim. I must say I really like it. So does the wife.

My sister came to see me and the kids, and their kids, then went to see another brother in S. Carolina. She hadn't seen us in 21 years. Plans are being made to do it again next year. I really loved reconnecting with her. She was the only girl out of the seven of us kids. Yeah, she was spoiled, just a little. It's been raining here in Detroit all day. I guess the clouds are crying because my sister went back to California.

On Sept. 21st, I became a grandpa again. Introducing Allison Rose Neibel:

.

.

Doctor says she's in good health and her older sister Payton, 18 months, seems to be taking it quite well wanting to give lots of kisses.

Back to Blogging

2009-10-08T21:04:00.006-04:00

It's been a busy two months what with trying to paint the inside of the house with the ceiling one color, the walls another color and the trim still another. Plus my sister whom I haven't seen in 20 years came for a 6 day visit, a most happy time for me, and I became a grandpa for the fifth time. Her name is Allison Rose.

More on the above soon.

Good News

2009-09-08T17:24:00.007-04:00

I see via HBL that an Objectivist organization-Ayn Rand in India-is taking roots in that nation. Right now there are discussion/study groups in three cities, Pune, Mumbai and Delhi. For more information click here.

The spread of Objectivist ideas can't happen fast enough. The Hitler and Stalin wannabes are rising to the top of the political spectrum everywhere and are taking notes on what the current crop of statists are getting and not getting away with. So the spread of rational ideas in India, however modest, is a very good thing.

On the Other Hand...

2009-09-04T13:05:00.005-04:00

I was once told by an acquaintance that a man should always try to be the best in his field. Since I partially disagree with this, since a man should be the best he can be within the context of his ability and education, I decided to challenge his point with a little satirical devil's advocacy. I responded with "Oh no! Don't you know that it's always the second mouse that gets the cheese?"

Anyway, in that light hearted vein I recommend this piece at Live Oaks.

(It certainly shows how ugly spectator sports--and by implication ordinary life--would be.)

Attention Students

2009-08-26T08:18:00.008-04:00

If you're a student and would like to know more about Ayn Rand's philosophy of Objectivism, but there is no Objectivist club on your campus, please be informed that there will soon be a virtual Objectivist club in which you can participate. I recieved this email from Keith Schacht today and reprint it below.
************************************

I helped start the Objectivist Club Network (OCN), an organization dedicated to helping all Objectivist Campus Clubs. OCN is not affiliated with the Ayn Rand Institute, although we support them and regularly communicate with them to ensure our respective organizations are not duplicating efforts.

Recently we've expanded our efforts to solve a new problem: there are students interested in joining an Objectivist club where no club exists. Some of these students start their own club, but others don't have time to start a club or do not find enough participants on campus to form a club.

We've created the Virtual Objectivist Club (VOC) for these students -- a phone-based discussion group dedicated to the study of Objectivism. Meetings will be weekly, beginning this September, each moderated by an experienced Objectivist. The group is open to any current students who would like to learn more about Objectivism.

My request: Please help spread the word to any students you know who may be interested in learning more about Objectivism. The deadline for applying to the VOC is August 31st. Students can learn more and apply at: http://www.oclubs.org/voc

Please let me know if you have any questions and we greatly appreciate you sharing this with others!

Keith & the OCN Team

If the link above doesn't work try here.

I Went to a Tea Party

2009-08-23T13:22:00.011-04:00

(To the tune of Rick Nelson's Garden Party)

>I went to another tea party,
>to protest the health care bill,
>to mix with people of like mind and to,
>share in a little good will.

>There were signs saying no to coercion,
>and leave my doctor alone,
>There's no reason for government to be,
>barging into my home.

>Well it's, all wrong now.
>But it's, going to be OK,
>people are beginning to realize that,
>freedom is the way.

>There's Waxman, Reid and Pelosi,
>Obama and Emmanual too,
>they tell us they're going to save the world but they,
>haven't got a clue.

>There are people in academia,
>in the House and Senate of course,
>for us they say they know what's best and will
>get it with physical force.

>Well it's, all wrong now,
>but it's, going to be OK,
>people are beginning to realize that,
>freedom needs to stay.

The scene of this party was outside US Congressman Sander Levin's office here in Roseville, Mi on Saturday 8/23. I estimate about 75 to 85 people were there holding signs protesting Obama's health care plan. Again I was pleasantly surprised at how many people said they read Ayn Rand's books especially Atlas Shrugged. Lots of motorists beeped their horns is support.

The people were mostly blue collar workers and some elderly. Almost all of them were worried about how many 'life years' they'd be allotted once Obama care was enacted.

(Update Aug 28th, edited and added to the above lyrics and corrected a typo.)
(Update Sept 3rd. corrected another typo)

The Value of Null Findings

2009-08-18T06:44:00.008-04:00

Over at The New Clarion two days ago I posted on the fact that when statistical studies result in a null finding they are rarely published and how misguided this practice really is. I reprint that post below.

The Value of Null Findings

"Sandy Szwarc at JunkfoodScience has an in-depth look at a health science topic. Although it's titled "The Myth About Unhealthy Belly Fat" the article's theme is, 'the importance of null findings', and properly laments the fact that the media seldom reports them. This is very true and also very important. That's because:

"Null findings enable true scientists to know they’re looking in the wrong direction and that it’s time to go back to the drawing board and develop a different hypothesis. They also enable us to stop needlessly worrying about something that doesn’t matter."

Also, many if not most studies that purport to show a health problem actually turn out to be false and these revelations are often not published as well.

Just as knowing that something is a threat to health and life is important, so is knowing when something is not a significant threat, especially when alleged professionals are telling us it is a threat. However, we also know that the media often prefers hype and sensationalism vs boring news about non-threats. So the media has a built in bias that is heavily weighted in favor of fear-hype while a study showing that last month's health scare is actually false will tend not to get printed. This will mislead thousands if not millions of people. As the saying goes 'you can't unring an alarm bell.'

But this situation has other consequences. It creates a fearful citizenry eager to donate their money to NGOs (Non Governmental Organizations, mostly non-profit foundations) who promise to do research (more statistical studies) to find ways to protect them from all the alleged hazards of a modern, technological society.

It sometimes works like this: NGOs fund studies that try to determine what is bad for us. When a study is completed a press release is announced. The media picks up the release and reports the findings which are usually that X (say, fast foods) is bad for us. Politicians then stand on the floor of their chambers, news reports and studies in hand, announcing that congress must address this threat to public health by passing legislation more heavily regulating the use of X. They then stand before us proclaiming how good they are at protecting us from all the harmful Xs out there and therefore we should reelect them. That is what we see.

What we don't readily see is that the funding NGO has been getting large donations from companies that produce products Y and Z (say, treadmills and diet books). Also mostly out of view is the donations by companies Y and Z to the politicians' reelection campaigns. And even further out of sight is the fact that no one looked at the study, not the reporter, the editor nor the politician, to see if the study had any statistical significance or was a null finding being passed off as having significance. This last happens often.

We have to educate ourselves to what is valid science and what is pseudo science because the press isn't doing it. Pseudo science isn't just coming from NGOs either. Government agencies fund lots of it. I recommend reading the entire article and visiting JunkfoodScience often. Her blogroll is a good source for others who actually read these so called scientific studies and then examines them for our benefit."

Health care has become so politicized that one literally has to fact check every alleged harm for oneself. The problem is that grant money is not earned money. It is handed out to applicants on the basis of the applicant's desire to see if there is a problem regarding food X's effect on say, disease Y. The granting agencies are virtually buying problems the government can try to fix with more regulations over you and me. Are we to believe that the applicant's supply of grant money will continue if they produced studies showing 'no problem here' i.e. a null finding?

The solution is to remove government encouragement from the market place especially from education and science. Government control of education is the open door to government control of everything else.

Another Activist Day

2009-08-13T21:52:00.014-04:00

My congressman Sander Levin D-Mi. held a town hall meeting today at which I arrived late. He had finished his speech and was meeting people one on one. The line was long and I really didn't want to speak to him anyway so I went outside and passed out some literature. I handed out about 30 copies of the essay "It's a Matter of Justice" with the essay "The Significance of Atlas Shrugged" on the back side. I gave out 4 copies of the Ayn Rand Sampler and about 30 copies of a short note I wrote myself with a quote from Amy Ridenhour, with her permission, which is posted below.

Again I was surprised at how many people had read Atlas Shrugged and liked it. There were a few others outside carrying signs saying in essence No to Hr 3200. Here is the other note I handed out.

Two Thoughts

1) Why a public health care system does not work:
To meet budget targets, governments reduce payments to providers and to buy equipment. This reduces the supply of people willing to provide health care services (doctors, nurses, medical staff and support) and the supply of equipment (hospital beds, diagnostic tools, etc.). Shortages develop, and those who are sick or injured, suffer.

They find themselves with health care coverage, but without health care.

By Amy Ridenhour, director National Center for Public Policy Research

2)Dear Fellow Citizen:

I don't want to go under the knife of a doctor who resents my congressman, my senator, my president, telling him, his nurses and his technicians how much money they are permitted to make, how many hours they must work, and how to care for me. Even more troubling is the thought that I may have to go under the knife of a doctor and staff who DON'T resent it.

When there is a transaction between a doctor and a patient a certain cost will be mutually agreed upon. But when a third party, government, interjects itself it too must collect a paycheck and will raise the cost of the transaction for everyone. Remove the third party, government, and the costs will come down.

The proper job of government is to protect our rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. We have made the mistake of allowing the government to provide our happiness, our daily bread. Trouble is, because the government has a legal monopoly on the use of force, it is the government who gets to define and enforce what shall be our happiness and daily bread. I don't want that.

Our country is on the verge of perishing from an orgy of government enforced altruism. There is of course, nothing wrong with individuals helping those in need if one is able. Americans have always been generous to those trying to help themselves. But when the government decides it wants to provide for everyone's needs, it usurps the entire field of morality for itself creating a society where only government officials are considered moral and the citizens are considered immoral, or at best amoral, in need of forceful guidance by their moral leaders. All dictatorships are created by this mindset. Right now our Congress is infected with too many of this mindset. We citizens need to start weeding them out in the next few elections. We can do this by letting our politicians know, if they want our vote, to embrace the concept of individual rights which includes the rights of doctors and patients to make their own decisions.

Citizen Michael Neibel
*************************************************

I just finished listening to a podcast of Alex Epstein and Richard Salsman on Business Talk Radio. Mr. Epstein defended oil companies and Mr. Salsman defended capitalism. They did quite well. You can listen to the podcast here. Click on Aug 13 hour #2. Mr. Epstein's interview starts at about 7:35 into the show and Mr. Salsman's at about 41 min in. Enjoy.

Tea Party Observations pt. 2

2009-07-06T13:52:00.006-04:00

As I thought about my post on the tea party of the 4th., I realized I didn't write down all my observations. So here are a few more with some added pictures. It can safely be said that everyone there was willing to participate in some kind of activism however modest. I consider that a very good sign. But there were some who wanted a more agressive activism. One wanted recall campaigns to be started to oust those in office. A few others called for more petitions to be circulated to stop the government spending and intrusion into our lives.

Quite a few people expressed frustration in not being able to do more than just protest at parties like this one. That's when I gave them a copy of two press releases from ARC on the sales of Atlas Shrugged. One release reported that most large bookstores will have floor-displays of Atlas after the 4th. The other release notified that the sales of Atlas have tripled in the first 4 months of 09. My intent was to say or imply 'This is where a lot of people are looking for answers, you should too.' It became obvious to me that a tea party is no place for education or debating. But it can be a good place for guidance toward a certain path. Before people can see the truth, they must be encouraged to look at it. Now a few more pictures.

Observations on My First Tea Party

2009-07-05T16:00:00.011-04:00

I attended my first tea party Saturday July 4th. It was quite small, I'd say the crowd fluctuated between 110 and 140 people for the 2 hours I was there. There were no speakers. Just people talking to each other and holding signs of slogans at road side for passing drivers. A lot of passing cars beeped their horns in support.

What surprised me most was how many of these people were familiar with Rand's writings. One man said he read all her books. A lady said she was reading Atlas for the second time. Another said, from memory, "I've read a lot of her stuff. Sometimes she's over the top but other than that she's right on the money." Another said she would pick up a copy of Atlas on the way home. I only encountered a few people who never heard of Rand or Objectivism. They have now.

I liked walking around and talking to people. It's like taking a sense of life inventory. I passed out 65 copies of the essay "Message to Republicans" from the Ayn Rand Center for Individual Rights." Another Objectivist was passing out some too. When people asked me what is this about? I responded that it's an essay on what the Republicans are doing wrong and what they need to do right. Boy, that struck a few nerves. Several said the Party is trying too hard to look like Democrats. 3 others said the Party's biggest mistake was nominating John McCain for president. "He's not a conservative and he shouldn't even be a Republican" said one. All in all the crowd seemed to be mostly conservatives. Many were also religious but it seemed that their political concerns were on the front burner while the religious ones on the back burner. I only saw 4 anti-abortion signs.

Most attendants were against the current level of government spending, taxation and the growth of controls. But when I asked what were they for, I got a mixture of approximations: smaller, limited government, less spending, fewer controls and more personal freedoms. I thought to myself, this tea party movement needs guidance on how to more explicitly be for something. I think the next time I go to one of these I'll have an essay titled 'Limited Government is Limited to What?' Of course it will be about limiting the government to employing only retaliatory force which means forbidding it to use initiatory force and how the protection of individual rights requires this distinction to be explicit legally.

It was an interesting experience. There are a few photos below.

Happy 4th of July

2009-07-03T15:36:00.004-04:00

I wish all of you a happy 4th of July. I will be attending a tea party in St. Clair Shores tomorrow for about 2 hours then going to my granddaughter's birthday party. She will be 4 on the 4th. Of course she's all excited about it and can't wait. To me, it's beautiful to see the excitement and exuberance she shows while visions of presents and cake dominate her mind. And to think, I am indebted to the Founders who made this possible.

Happy 4th all!
Mike

Lively Imagination

2009-06-28T12:33:00.005-04:00

Any parent or grand parent knows that little kids can say the darnedest things. They want so bad to talk like adults and sound grown up. This past Friday my oldest granddaughter, she'll be 4 on July 4th., came into the computer room by me and said "Grandpa, I have to listen to that music every morning". She was talking about her dad's cell phone music which just went off in the living room and on which he uses the alarm function in the morning. "Every morning it plays that music over and over and it gives me a headache. I need some chocolate covered raisins to clear my mind."

I know you're not supposed to laugh when a child is trying to be serious but I couldn't help it.

(Yes, I keep some of those raisins to treat myself now and then.)

Captain Grandpa

2009-06-15T10:51:00.011-04:00

Once when I was babysitting my youngest granddaughter Payton, I saw a spider crawling on the ceiling right above her bassinet. So I wrote in the log--my kids keep a log of their baby's first few years of life--that Captain Grandpa summoned his super powers and vanquished the intruder. Corny I know, but then my son and daughter in-law decided to get me a baseball cap with the words 'Captain Grandpa' sown on the front and which I now proudly wear.

But I do like the idea of keeping a log for each child in which all the care givers can post all their observations. Things like "You began to crawl today" or "You took your first steps this morning" and so on. Because these logs will be read by the child at a much later age, I decided to add observations from my objectivist perspective. For example when my oldest granddaughter, Taylor, began to speak words, I wrote in essence, "Your conceptual mind is waking up now. You are now integrating percepts into concepts, something no other animal can do." I then wrote a short explanation of the difference between the two.

When Payton, pulled her self up to a standing position for the very first time, she turned around and looked at mom and dad with the biggest, wide eyed smile as if to say 'look what I just did!" I took that opportunity to write in her log "That is what life is all about, achieving one goal after another. Life is not an arduous, joyless journey towards the achievement of some goal which when achieved only then can one be happy. Oh no! The real happiness is in the journey, the enjoyment of each success for its own sake, one after another, no matter how great or small, as part of the journey."

One may wonder why I'm going to such trouble with my grand kids. Well, first, they are my grand kids and I'm very selfish about their well being. Second, if we lived in a completely civilized society with an objective (private) educational system which had a rational curriculum, I wouldn't have to worry about their intellectual development so much. But we don't live in such a society. So I have to be Captain Grandpa in more than just physical ways. I have to fly to their aid in intellectual ways as well. When each one first enters school, I intend to check out the curriculum and talk to the teachers personally. I want to know what parts of the curriculum are rational and what irrational and need to be countered. My own kids know I'll be doing this and seem to be happy about it.

Another of the things I'm doing is putting together a small box for each child with a copy of Atlas Shrugged, The Fountainhead, Virtue of Selfishness and Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal inside. I will give the boxes to them when I think they are ready for them or if I'm not around then, on their 18th birthday.

But the biggest reason I'm doing all this is because, as mentioned above, I'm selfish. I really enjoy it.

Experimenting

2009-06-04T12:03:00.005-04:00

As you can probably see, I'm experimenting with adsense. I'm told I'll have to wait about 48 hours for relevant ads to appear. This may be one of those lessons where one learns what not to do. We'll see.

Pedagogically Correct Newsletter May 22 2009

2009-05-23T08:56:00.009-04:00

Because education is so important, here is the latest edition of the VanDamme Academy Newsletter.

Pedagogically Correct Volume 3, Issue 6
May 22, 2009

"Pedagogy": The art and science of teaching.
:: Calling All LifeLong Learners: Learn Science the VanDamme Academy Way!
:: Recommend Pedagogically Correct to five friends, get Lisa VanDamme's e-book, "Reclaiming Education," for free!
:: Announcement: Pedagogically Correct Blog

Tell Me Everything You Know

I have invented a new educational game. I call it "Tell Me Everything You Know."

Here is how the game works in my grammar class: I write a sentence on the board, set a time limit, and then have the students write down every grammatical fact they can name about the sentence. When the time is up, I go around the room, asking each student to volunteer one of his observations. If someone else in the class has written the same thing, both must cross it off their lists. If no one else has made the same observation, that student gets a point. Victory goes to the student with the most points.

For example, yesterday I wrote, "When it is Taco Tuesday, we go to the park that is down the street to eat tacos."

Their observations ranged from the simple …

"Tuesday" is a proper noun.

"The" is an article.

The sentence is declarative.

The sentence ends with a period.

to the more esoteric …

"To eat tacos" is an infinitive phrase used as an adverb modifying "go."

"When" is a subordinating conjunction linking the adverb clause to the word it modifies.

"Tacos" is the direct object of the infinitive.

"Park" is the antecedent of the relative pronoun "that," which introduces the adjective clause "that is down the street."

At the conclusion of the allotted time, my 7th and 8th grade students had as many as forty to fifty things to say about the grammar of the sentence.
This game works equally well in other classes. Mr. Black and Mr. Steele have played it in their math classes. With one 3rd-grade level math group, Mr. Steele wrote on the board, "362 ÷ 3," and said, "Tell me everything you know."

These 7- and 8-year olds made comments that ranged from …

The divisor is 3.

The dividend is 362.

The quotient is 120 with a remainder of 2.

to such acute observations as …

The 3 in 362 is in the hundreds' place and stands for 300.

362 is a 3-digit number and an even number.

The divisor, 3, can be subtracted from the dividend, 362, 120 times. (Connecting division to repeated subtraction.)

This game both cashes in on and reinforces the VanDamme Method. All the teachers in all the VDA classes stress conceptual understanding of the material. We work hard to ensure that the students are not taking a rote, thoughtless, pattern-seeking approach to their work, but rather that they fully grasp and can fully explain the concepts they are learning. So when they look at a problem like "362 ÷ 3," we want them to possess a depth of understanding that allows them not just to solve the problem but to thoroughly explain the problem and its solution.
Playing this game also serves as excellent review and reinforcement. It helps the students to probe their own understanding, to dig through their subconscious minds and retrieve all they have learned about a given subject. They listen carefully to others' answers and in doing so are reminded of aspects of the subject they may have forgotten or not readily retrieved. They revisit and focus on aspects of a subject they know but may not have recently brought into conscious awareness.

In my experience, because the students are well prepared for the rigors of this game, because it is a fruitful review, and because it is benevolently competitive—they love it. Students share their insights eagerly and are delighted when others cleverly dig up obscure facts that hadn't occurred to them.

I had to boast about having invented the game because I have to confess to having lost the game. Though I am the self-proclaimed grammar guru, I was bested by 11-year-old Melissa McWilliams. Well, as Leonardo Da Vinci said, "Pity the student who does not surpass his master."

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I was a physics major when I entered college, yet I can easily say that my actual understanding of physics is much greater as a result of this course than I can credit to any other class I've taken.

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Recommend Pedagogically Correct to five friends, get Lisa VanDamme's e-book, "Reclaiming Education," for free!
Lisa VanDamme's educational career began when a group of parents, disillusioned with standard public and private schools, hired her to educate their children. In 1998, she chronicled her successes homeschooling and explained the methods that made them possible in a lecture, "Reclaiming Education." The audience, fascinated by her insights about education, and inspired by the stories she told, gave her a standing ovation. In 1999, she made "Reclaiming Education" available in written form, to the delight of thousands of readers. Since 1999, the essay version of "Reclaiming Education" has been unavailable. Until now.

For the first time in almost 8 years, we will make this remarkable work available. And we are giving it away for FREE as an e-book to those who help us grow Pedagogically Correct by recommending it to their friends. Just send enter the email addresses of at least five friends who might appreciate an invitation to receive PC--along with a brief personal note, or our standard note below. We will not add anyone to our email database without their permission.

Click here to refer five friends and get your copy of "Reclaiming Education."

Announcement: Pedagogically Correct Blog
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Check out our 'blog, which will contain much (but not all) of the material we sent out in our newsletters. Spread the word!

VanDamme Academy encourages you to forward our newsletter to your friends or post it on your website or blog. If this newsletter has been forwarded to you, you can sign up to receive Pedagogically Correct for free, at www.vandammeacademy. com.

Happy Learning!

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Objectivism's Benefit to Me #5

2009-04-17T10:35:00.012-04:00

Another one of the many things I had to relearn was the idea of certainty. I had bought into the notion that certainty was not possible, that our knowledge can only be probable, never certain. It never occurred to me to ask if something doesn't exist, like certainty, how can you have degrees (probability) of it? Of course you can't. So certainty must exist but how? How can one tell when one can claim certainty?

In studying the philosophy of Objectivism, I learned that existence exists and that it is governed by the laws of identity and causality. The law of identity, A is A, things are what they are, means that all things have a specific nature and will behave according to that nature and that this nature represents the context in which it exists. What I understand from this then is that reality itself is contextual.

Since reality is contextual, this in turn means that our knowledge of reality, to be true, that is, to correspond to reality, must also be contextual.

"Concepts are not and cannot be formed in a vacuum; they are formed in a context; the process of conceptualization consists of observing the differences and similarities of the existents within the field of one’s awareness (and organizing them into concepts accordingly). From a child’s grasp of the simplest concept integrating a group of perceptually given concretes, to a scientist’s grasp of the most complex abstractions integrating long conceptual chains—all conceptualization is a contextual process; the context is the entire field of a mind’s awareness or knowledge at any level of its cognitive development." (Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology p.55)

This understanding has helped me to see that out of context statements cannot be trusted as knowledge. For example, 'All swans are white' is an out of context proposition and is refuted with the discovery of a colored swan. But the statement 'All swans known to me (within my field of awareness) are white' is contextual and is not refuted with the discovery of a colored swan. In this case the context of my knowledge has expanded to include colored swans. This new expanded knowledge does not contradict or refute my former knowledge that 'All swans known to me are white.' Expansion of previous knowledge is not a contradiction of it.

In terms of certainty then, it was proper for me to be certain of both of my propositions since they both met the requirement of contextuality. Context however, is not the only requirement for certainty. Just as in the categories of 'possible' and 'probable' knowledge, there must be some evidence in support of the proposition, so it is with certainty. but with certainty, all the available evidence must be in support of the proposition. There can be no contrary evidence. If there is some contrary evidence then certainty cannot be claimed.

There is the argument that as long as it's possible to be wrong one cannot claim certainty. But Objectivism has helped me to understand that this is the argument from infallibility and is false. The possibility of error is not evidence of it. Such an argument is just another example of the arbitrary which, per post #4, is always meaningless and is to be dismissed out of hand.

So, this then is something I can add to my always allow list, at least for consideration, 'propositions that are contextual' and the fifth way that Objectivism has benefited me.

March VDA Newsletter

2009-04-03T06:35:00.018-04:00

Because education is so important, here is the latest newsletter from the VanDamme Academy. After reading it I strongly urge readers to click on the words 'Follow this link' for more interesting articles.

"Pedagogy": The art and science of teaching.
:: Calling All LifeLong Learners: Learn Science the VanDamme Academy Way!
:: Recommend Pedagogically Correct to five friends, get Lisa VanDamme's e-book, "Reclaiming Education," for free!
:: Announcement: Pedagogically Correct Blog

Follow this link for the latest VanDamme Academy Newsletter, which features the following article entitled "Does My Child Know Grammar Better Than Me?"

I would say that a debate is raging in our culture over whether or not we need to preserve the formal rules of grammar, but the sad truth is that there are too few defenders of grammar for a debate to rage. I am lonely in my fervency. Nevertheless, a few recent books and articles have brought the dispute between grammar snobs and grammar slobs to the fore.

Pundit of punctuation Lynne Truss tried to rally readers to her "zero tolerance approach to punctuation" with her bestseller Eats, Shoots, and Leaves. Alas, Birmingham, England didn't heed the call. In January, the city council abolished apostrophes from street signs, inviting criticism from pro-grammar organizations like the "Apostrophe Protection Society," and from our own students at VanDamme Academy, who condemned the decision in a paper written for Mrs. Battaglia's (or "Mrs. Battaglias," if we follow the Birmingham precedent) writing class. "If children grow up there, they will learn not to put apostrophes in possessive words," said 8-year-old Greta. "Usually kids learn from their surroundings."

This debate has also been given center stage unwittingly by President Obama. Obama, widely praised as a consummate intellectual, has been criticized by advocates of grammar for committing such common blunders as the inversion of "me" and "I."

In a February New York Times op-ed, Patricia T. O'Conner and Stewart Kellerman echoed the sentiments of many Americans when they defended President Obama against the "grammar junkies," claiming that the rules for pronouns are 19th-century creations that have no necessity in reality.

Really?

To illustrate my answer, I brought the following example into my Room 4 grammar class. Rather than the innocuous, "President Bush graciously invited Michelle and I," what if President Obama had said, "Michelle likes President Bush better than I." Is this a mere difference of opinion about the former President, or a scandal? The ambiguity is resolved with a universal understanding of the rules of grammar.

"Michelle likes him better than I," as my grammar students can tell you, contains an elliptical adverb clause with "I" as the subject, and means, "Michelle likes him better than I like him." On the other hand, "Michelle likes him better than me," contains an elliptical clause with "me" as the direct object, and means, "Michelle likes him better than she likes me."

So, if you whose children are gaining a thorough mastery of the rules of grammar have ever asked yourselves, "Does my child know grammar better than me?" the answer is no, he should know you better. And by the time he graduates, he will know better than to ask the question like that.

Calling All LifeLong Learners: Learn Science the VanDamme Academy Way!
Now Anyone Can Understand The Fundamental Principles of Science Better than Most Scientists
"Fundamen tals of Physical Science: A Historical, Inductive Approach"
By David Harriman, Historian and Philosopher of Physics

Learn all about it at our brand new website.

Here's what other Pedagogically Correct Readers are Saying:

"I am currently a Ph.D. candidate in physics, and I was amazed at how much I learned from David Harriman's course. This course stands head and shoulders above any other course or textbook I have encountered."

"It's perfect for someone relatively new to physics like myself; it's perfect for even advanced people who want a deeper historical perspective than is usually taught...I found Mr. Harriman's physics course to be an exciting walk through the fascinating world of physics."

"I think this type of course is needed for everyone, as in my experience, it's so far above the courses I've had throughout my life as far as the actual transmittal of knowledge is concerned...In short, this course has made science and math much more intelligible for me, and was completely worth the time and cost - I highly recommend it."

I was a physics major when I entered college, yet I can easily say that my actual understanding of physics is much greater as a result of this course than I can credit to any other class I've taken.

www.vandammescience.com

With this course you will:
* Finally understand the world around you, the world of science and technology, in a way you never thought possible. (No, you don't have to be a math wiz.)
* Learn the thinking methods of the greatest minds in history.
* Understand what all those physics equations and formulas you once memorized really mean.
* Be inspired by scientists' amazing 2500-year quest to unlock the mysteries of the physical world.
* And have a great time in the process!

All thanks to a one-of-a-kind science teaching methodology available in no other course or textbook.

www.vandammescience.com

Recommend Pedagogically Correct to five friends, get Lisa VanDamme's e-book, "Reclaiming Education," for free!
Lisa VanDamme's educational career began when a group of parents, disillusioned with standard public and private schools, hired her to educate their children. In 1998, she chronicled her successes homeschooling and explained the methods that made them possible in a lecture, "Reclaiming Education." The audience, fascinated by her insights about education, and inspired by the stories she told, gave her a standing ovation. In 1999, she made "Reclaiming Education" available in written form, to the delight of thousands of readers. Since 1999, the essay version of "Reclaiming Education" has been unavailable. Until now.

For the first time in almost 8 years, we will make this remarkable work available. And we are giving it away for FREE as an e-book to those who help us grow Pedagogically Correct by recommending it to their friends. Just send enter the email addresses of at least five friends who might appreciate an invitation to receive PC--along with a brief personal note, or our standard note below. We will not add anyone to our email database without their permission.

Click here to refer five friends and get your copy of "Reclaiming Education."

Announcement: Pedagogically Correct Blog
www.pedagogicallycorrect.com
Check out our 'blog, which will contain much (but not all) of the material we sent out in our newsletters. Spread the word!

VanDamme Academy
email: custserv@vandammeacademy.com
phone: 949-581-1881
web: http://www.vandammeacademy.com

Spotted By Mike's Eyes Mar 27th

2009-03-27T18:21:00.016-04:00

A while ago I sent an email to my Michigan Senators Debbie Stabenow and Carl Levin urging them not to support the stimulus bill. Yesterday, 3/26, I got an email reply from Sen Stabenow extolling the virtues of the bill and how much good it will accomplish. In response to that I sent her another email stating:

Dear Senator Stabenow:

Thanks for responding to my letter about the stimulus bill. It is good that you wish to create jobs here in America, but unless you are a businessperson you cannot create any productive jobs, that is, wealth creating jobs, unless that is, you fight to get government rights violating regulations and taxes out of the way. The only jobs that can be created by government are non-productive make work jobs which consume wealth not produce it.

You correctly talked about changing from the failed economic policies of the past. But ever since the New Deal the economic policies that have been failing are policies of government regulation of the market. Government interference in the market are the policies of the past. You are not trying to change any of them. Instead you are advocating more of the same but on a massively destructive scale.

The government regulated policies of the past have failed because they are based on false premises the biggest of which is the notion that consumption is what drives an economy. It is production that creates wealth and jobs. The cause of production is not money but freedom. Freedom from what? To put it bluntly, freedom from you, that is, freedom from anyone who seeks to use initiatory force against the producers.

If you really want to create prosperity, get the the government out of the way of the producers of wealth by pushing for a discovery of laissez-faire capitalism in Washington and, there-in, a ruthless loyalty to inalienable individual rights.

Respectfully,

Michael Neibel

Today I received another copy of the same email I got yesterday. A form letter. Sigh.
*********************************

Speaking of letters,the Detroit News of Friday 3/27/09 carried in its letters to the editor section an LTE by Richard Ralston, Executive Editor Americans for Free Choice in Medicine which said in part:

"It is easy for the government to spend health care money on other things. This has been notoriously done by many states that spend most of the money from tobacco taxes and settlements on anything except anti-smoking programs and health care for smokers. We should all be skeptical of big tax increases proposed by the president to establish a "reserve" for health care."

Pols are probably already licking their chops at the thought of another 'fund' they can raid to buy votes.
*********************************

Also in the same editorial section is a commentary by Deroy Murdock of Scripps Howard News Service titled "Treasury leader undermines U.S. currency". The paragraph I focused on:

"While addressing a jam-packed meeting of the Council on Foreign Relations, Geithner answered Standard Chartered Bank's Doug Smith, who wanted the secretary's thoughts on "the Chinese government proposal about a global currency." People's Bank of China governor Zhao Xiaochuan would shift Earth's reserve currency from the dollar to "Special Drawing Rights," combining the dollar, Britain's pound, Japan's yen and the euro. Call it the international "globo.""

Hmmm, I wonder how that would sound. "I'm down to my last globo." or "Do you have change for a globo?" or "It all boils down to globos and cents." Nahh, it just doesn't have any ring to it.

Update; changed typo in title, was May should be Mar.

Objectivism's Benefit to Me #4

2009-03-26T20:17:00.002-04:00

So far, Objectivism has helped me to do away with the unknowable, beliefs and faith in my thinking. Little did I know that this was just the tip of the iceberg; that I had much more to learn about what is knowledge and what isn't. (I'm still learning.)

About knowledge Rand wrote "'Knowledge' is 'a grasp of a fact(s) of reality, reached either by perceptual observation or by a process of reason based on perceptual observation.'" (From the Lexicon) So knowledge then must be based on observation either directly or indirectly. If a claim to knowledge isn't based on some observational evidence, it is not knowledge. Such claims can be some form of revelation, intuition, instinct, feelings or some kind of automatic knowing. All of these can be subsumed I think under the concept of arbitrary which means made up or not grounded in observational evidence.

Objectivism holds that the arbitrary is always meaningless.

"Let me elaborate this point. An arbitrary claim has no cognitive status whatever. According to Objectivism, such a claim is not to be regarded as true or as false. If it is arbitrary, it is entitled to no epistemological assessment at all; it is simply to be dismissed as though it hadn’t come up . . . . The truth is established by reference to a body of evidence and within a context; the false is pronounced false because it contradicts the evidence. The arbitrary, however, has no relation to evidence, facts, or context. It is the human equivalent of [noises produced by] a parrot . . . sounds without any tie to reality, without content or significance."(Again from the Lexicon)

So now I liken what I allow into my store of knowledge to the 'always allow or block' function on my computer. I can 'always block' or 'always allow' other computers access to mine. Thus, under 'always block' from my knowledge are listed
>the unknowable
>believing (instead of knowing)
>faith (instead of confidence)
>the arbitrary

Under the 'always allow' is listed
>any cognition which has some corresponding evidence in reality.

Needless to say the above still leaves much to be added or updated to these lists. For example, I think the Logical Fallacies should be added to the always block list after one becomes adept at spotting them. As mentioned at the beginning, this is just a brief mention of how Objectivism has helped clear my thinking regarding what should be considered true and what false. For a more in-depth, technical study I recommend Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology (ITOE) and Objectivism: the Philosophy of Ayn Rand (OPAR).

The next post will be about how Objectivism taught me that knowledge can be certain provided it is contextual.

Objectivism's Benefit to Me #3

2009-03-01T19:29:00.009-05:00

Related to the issue of believing vs knowing is the issue of faith vs confidence. The confusion between these two is actually a corollary of believing vs knowing. If one decides something to be true without evidence, one is believing. If one decides something to be true because evidence supports it, one is knowing.

This understanding seems precisely clear to me and that's the way I like it. Nevertheless, I see mass confusion between faith vs confidence all the time. I've been told things like "I have faith in my religion just as you have faith in your philosophy" at which time I usually interject something on the order of "No, I have confidence, not faith, in my philosophy because it is derived from the facts of reality." That's when I usually state explicitly the precise meaning of faith and confidence and then urge the listener not to confuse the two concepts because they have different meanings.

In my last post I said that I have been purging beliefs from my world view. Of necessity then, the use of faith as a means of knowledge must also be purged.

What this means for me is that I stop using words like believe and faith. This hasn't been easy in the sense that old bad habits can be hard to break. I still find myself wanting to say things like "I believe the Detroit Tigers will do better this year because of the off season trades they made" or "I believe President Obama's stimulus package will fail because it is based on false economic principles". In both cases I should have used words like 'I estimate', 'I judge', 'I predict' or 'I know.' I just have to get into the habit of using these and other words instead of belief and faith.

Objectivism benefit #3 then is that with beliefs and faith gone, I'm left with a knowable universe and the confidence that my mind is capable of knowing any part of it I desire to know. And that will be the focus of the next post in this series: what I have learned about knowledge from Objectivism. Still, knowing where I'm starting from, my relationship to existence; that an other-world deity isn't going to turn my computer into a frog or a demon any moment now, does provide a mental comfort zone.

Objectivism's Benefit for Me #2

2009-02-21T14:07:00.006-05:00

In my last post I indicated that my new world view contained no more unknowables. So, it probably should have occurred to me that since I no longer had to deal with a partially unknowable universe, I no longer needed the mental process of believing things to be true on faith, I could now enjoy the comfort of knowing something to be true or false based on at least some evidence.

But this did not occur to me. As I continued to study Objectivism I learned that I had adopted from the culture around me certain conceptual confusions. Two of these stood as barriers to my clear understanding of this knowable world: the difference between knowing vs believing and faith vs confidence.

For now, I'll just focus on knowing vs believing even though a precise understanding of faith vs confidence is also involved.

To know something to be true in a knowable reality, there must be at least some evidence for it in that reality. For example, I see the table, touch the table, put my glass on the table. The table exists. I don't believe the table exists. I know it does. To know something then requires evidence. Believing on faith does not require evidence.

Yet despite this clear identification, I still hear people using the terms interchangeably as if they meant the same thing. For example, 'I know the planets revolve around the sun', 'I believe the planets revolve around the sun.' But this shouldn't be so. Words have meanings. Objectivism holds that reality is very precise. This means then that our knowledge of reality, to be true, that is, correspond to reality, must therefore also be precise. So if I'm dealing with a precisely knowable reality, it makes no sense to adopt a method of thinking that includes believing on faith. To do so would be to ignore reality. Ignoring reality for any organism is suicidal.

So I have spent the better part of recent years identifying then purging beliefs from my world view. I now try to deal only with knowledge that can be placed in file folders labeled 'possible', 'probable' or 'certain' all of which require evidence.

Objectivism benefit #2 then is a mental process of reason devoted to knowing reality. Let me add that it's been my experience that the more one uses one's mind to understand reality, the better at it one becomes and that provides its own comfort zone known as self confidence. Thoughts on that in the next post.

Some Benefits of Objectivism for Me

2009-02-15T12:57:00.001-05:00

I have decided to occasionally post on how the philosophy of Objectivism by Ayn Rand has improved my life and provided a certain peace of mind. This is not meant to be an in-depth analysis of philosophic principles, but only a brief mention of how some of them have helped me personally.

Perhaps the biggest thing it did was give me a complete, wholly integrated view of existence and my place in it as a human being. Everyone needs an overall view of reality. For most people, including me, this was provided by religion. But for me, religion left too many things that didn't make sense.

One of these was the idea of the unknowable, that which cannot be known. Now I had been raised Catholic and attended a catholic school. Some of the teachings were that god, heaven, hell and things in between were unknowable to us in this world. These and other teachings had to be accepted on faith. We would learn or understand them only when we left this world.

Objectivism taught me that while there is much in the universe that is unknown, there is nothing that is unknowable. The idea that all of existence is knowable and man's mind is capable of understanding any part of it, appealed to me. It made sense. It offered me a world view that was a sensible whole, a frame of reference against which I could clearly see my relationship to it.

Religion offered a world view that had too many unknowables. It was a frame of reference against which I could not clearly know my place in it. How can a person identify relationships between himself and things that are unknowable, i.e. can't be identified? Obviously one can't. To me its like a house with holes in it, but holes that cannot be patched, but which one can understand the why of this only when one steps out of the house and no longer needs it. This I rejected after I learned of Objectivism.

For me, there is a peace of mind that comes with knowing my place in reality rather than having to believe in one on faith. In fact this will be the subject of my next post: the difference between knowing something to be true and believing something on faith and why the former is much more satisfying.

So, benefit #1: no more unknowables.

Updating the Update

2009-02-10T21:03:00.007-05:00

I know I just did a blogroll update on the 31st of Jan but no sooner than I posted it I learned of a new site called 'simply capitalism' which I recommend.

I'm also adding another science site 'Climate Audit' hosted by Steve McIntyre. Mr. McIntyre gained fame when he and Ross McKitrick exposed the nonsense that was the 'hockey stick' that the IPCC used to show unprecedented warming. This site is for those who like the nitty gritty of climate science.

Update Feb 11th 09:
I'm have trbl keeping up with new blogs. I just learned that the Ayn Rand Center now has its own blog "Voices for Reason" and it should have postings from an Objectivist perspective every day.

Objectivist Psychology

2009-01-25T16:39:00.013-05:00

While visiting other sites I noticed a few questions about Objectivist psychology. So I thought I would draw my readers attention to three sites that are on my blogroll.

First is Dr. Michael J. Hurd Ph.D. who now post his Daily Dose of Reason for all to read.

Second is Dr. Ellen Kenner Ph.D. who has her own radio show titled "The Rational Basis of Happiness". You can listen to some of her past shows via pod casts or even listen in on a live one. Her show is carried on 44 stations in North America and 2 in Canada.

Third is Fire Fly Sun hosted by Dr. Scott J. Adams Ph.D. This is an interesting and large site to explore. You'll also see contributions by both the above Dr. Hurd and Dr. Kenner as well as others.

Soon I'll be updating my blogroll again and will add 'psychology' to their names on the roll so future visitors will know what kind of doctors they are.

Pedagogically Correct Newsletter, January 13, 2009

2009-01-13T19:41:00.020-05:00

In keeping with the fact that education is of critical importance today, here is another newsletter from Pedagogically Correct.

Pedagogically Correct Volume 3, Issue 4
January 13, 2009

"Pedagogy": The art and science of teaching.
:: Calling All LifeLong Learners: Learn Science the VanDamme Academy Way!
:: Recommend Pedagogically Correct to five friends, get Lisa VanDamme's e-book, "Reclaiming Education," for free!
:: Announcement: Pedagogically Correct Blog

The following is an interview with Evan Storms, a VanDamme Academy graduate currently in the process of applying to college. Perhaps my favorite part of the interview was his answer to my request for the interview itself: "Considering what I gained from your school, I would write a doctoral thesis for you if you needed it; but I can settle for the interview."

When did you attend VanDamme Academy?

I attended VanDamme Academy for two-and-a-half years from 2003 to 2005, from sixth to eighth grade.

Where had you gone to school prior to that, and how did your experience there differ from your time at VDA?

Before VanDamme Academy, I attended a reputedly exceptional public elementary school in Laguna Hills. My education there differed from my experience at VanDamme fundamentally. Where VanDamme offered a logically-structured, ordered curriculum, my elementary education consisted of unconnected lessons seemingly chosen at random; science would cover volcanoes one week, and the anatomy of a frog the next.

Where do you attend high school, and what have been the strengths and weaknesses of your experience there?

I attend Fairmont Preparatory Academy in Anaheim. Academically, the school is, to the best of my knowledge, the strongest in the area. Fairmont offers a wide range of AP and otherwise advanced courses, generally taught by knowledgeable teachers who present their material clearly and logically.

Moreover, the school allows considerable academic freedom; it has, for example, allowed me to create my own independent study philosophy course, and has created two new math classes so that I can continue to advance. The number of intellectually ambitious students at the school, however, is small. And despite the strengths of the higher level courses, the curriculum in general emphasizes memorization over understanding, with the widespread use of multiple-choice testing and the heavy reliance on textbooks.

What have been some of your most important achievements since your time at VanDamme Academy?

Since attending VanDamme Academy, I have excelled in every facet of my academics: I have earned nearly perfect grades, taken and earned fives on eight AP exams, and been recognized as a national merit scholarship finalist.

Where have you applied to college, and why?

Though I applied to many schools, I am only sincerely interested in attending two: Duke and Stanford University. Both schools offer strong general academic programs, so that, whichever course of study I ultimately choose, I will be able to study under a first-class department.

How do you think your experience at VanDamme Academy shaped you?

At VanDamme Academy, I gained the foundations of an independent mind. I learned that ideas have consequences, are important, and are worth pursuing. I learned to think logically, to allow myself no half-formed knowledge or superficial understanding. I learned to appreciate great literature, to analyze facts scientifically, to write with clarity. And I learned that the sublime is possible to the man who thinks.

Calling All LifeLong Learners: Learn Science the VanDamme Academy Way!
Now Anyone Can Understand The Fundamental Principles of Science Better than Most Scientists
"Fundamen tals of Physical Science: A Historical, Inductive Approach"
By David Harriman, Historian and Philosopher of Physics

Learn all about it at our brand new website.

Here's what other Pedagogically Correct Readers are Saying:

"I am currently a Ph.D. candidate in physics, and I was amazed at how much I learned from David Harriman's course. This course stands head and shoulders above any other course or textbook I have encountered."

"It's perfect for someone relatively new to physics like myself; it's perfect for even advanced people who want a deeper historical perspective than is usually taught...I found Mr. Harriman's physics course to be an exciting walk through the fascinating world of physics."

"I think this type of course is needed for everyone, as in my experience, it's so far above the courses I've had throughout my life as far as the actual transmittal of knowledge is concerned...In short, this course has made science and math much more intelligible for me, and was completely worth the time and cost - I highly recommend it."

I was a physics major when I entered college, yet I can easily say that my actual understanding of physics is much greater as a result of this course than I can credit to any other class I've taken.

www.vandammescience.com

With this course you will:
* Finally understand the world around you, the world of science and technology, in a way you never thought possible. (No, you don't have to be a math wiz.)
* Learn the thinking methods of the greatest minds in history.
* Understand what all those physics equations and formulas you once memorized really mean.
* Be inspired by scientists' amazing 2500-year quest to unlock the mysteries of the physical world.
* And have a great time in the process!

All thanks to a one-of-a-kind science teaching methodology available in no other course or textbook.

www.vandammescience.com

Recommend Pedagogically Correct to five friends, get Lisa VanDamme's e-book, "Reclaiming Education," for free!
Lisa VanDamme's educational career began when a group of parents, disillusioned with standard public and private schools, hired her to educate their children. In 1998, she chronicled her successes homeschooling and explained the methods that made them possible in a lecture, "Reclaiming Education." The audience, fascinated by her insights about education, and inspired by the stories she told, gave her a standing ovation. In 1999, she made "Reclaiming Education" available in written form, to the delight of thousands of readers. Since 1999, the essay version of "Reclaiming Education" has been unavailable. Until now.

For the first time in almost 8 years, we will make this remarkable work available. And we are giving it away for FREE as an e-book to those who help us grow Pedagogically Correct by recommending it to their friends. Just send enter the email addresses of at least five friends who might appreciate an invitation to receive PC--along with a brief personal note, or our standard note below. We will not add anyone to our email database without their permission.

Click here to refer five friends and get your copy of "Reclaiming Education."

Announcement: Pedagogically Correct Blog
www.pedagogicallycorrect.com
Check out our 'blog, which will contain much (but not all) of the material we sent out in our newsletters. Spread the word!

VanDamme Academy encourages you to forward our newsletter to your friends or post it on your website or blog. If this newsletter has been forwarded to you, you can sign up to receive Pedagogically Correct for free, at www.vandammeacademy. com.

Happy Learning!

VanDamme Academy--Experience the Power of a Real Education

VanDamme Academy
email: custserv@vandammeacademy.com
phone: 949-581-1881
web: http://www.vandammeacademy.com

Looking Ahead

2009-01-01T10:37:00.006-05:00

This new year I have decided to make two resolutions. One is to increase efforts to lose more weight, about 25 pounds and the other is to increase promotion of Objectivism with an uptic in my activism. While those are things I'd like to do in 09, over at The New Clarion I have posted on some headlines I'd also like to see this new year.

And a Happy New Year!

2008-12-31T12:24:00.002-05:00

Hope your new year is more prosperous and happy, and that 09 brings us all more freedom instead of less.

Merry Christmas

2008-12-24T17:44:00.002-05:00

Merry Christmas to all my readers. You make blogging worth it when you visit here.

Mike N

Sign of Things to Come?

2008-12-17T21:14:00.004-05:00

Fred: I'm tired of standing in line all the time.

Sally: What this time, the unemployment line?

Fred: No

Sally: Job application line?

Fred: No.

Sally: What then?

Fred: The line to buy a newspaper!

Expanding

2008-12-14T21:55:00.005-05:00

I have been honored to have been accepted as a contributor at The New Clarion with Bill Brown, Myrhaf and Dismuke for whom I have very high respect. My posts on political topics will be posted there. I will still maintain this blog for non-political subjects.

Government Interference and Encouragement

2008-12-10T22:37:00.002-05:00

Speaking about governmental encouragement of the arts, novelist/philosopher Ayn Rand (link below) identified the principle that: "Governmental encouragement does not order men to believe that the false is true, it merely make them indifferent to the issue of truth or falsehood." This principle is equally true regarding other forms of governmental encouragement. But the truth of the above principle has never been so glaringly obvious as in the current mortgage crises which involves both government interference and encouragement. Government encouragement is usually in the form of government financing of various initiatives.

Governmental interference and encouragement in this fiasco is plentiful and widespread. It starts with the Federal Reserve bank which is a political animal created by the government in 1913. It would not exist in a free market. The Fed under former chairman Alan Greenspan held interest rates ridiculously low earlier this decade. That policy was continued by current chair Ben Bernanke. At his website economist George Reisman (link below) writes: "For the three years 2001-2004, the Federal Reserve drove the Federal Funds Rate below 2 percent and from July of 2003 to June of 2004, drove it even further down, to approximately 1 percent." This created an atmosphere of easy money and credit in the market place. Easy money here means money can be had at less than market rates would provide. It encourages a certain amount of recklessness in financing.

Add to that the government's implicit policy--ever since the bailout of the S&Ls--of bailing out companies that are deemed 'to big to fail' and you have even more encouragement to recklessness in financing. The Fed was seen as the lender of last resort and the congressional policy was seen as a corporate safety net.

But these encouragements weren't the only ones. There is Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac created by government to buy up risky mortgages and pool them with good ones and resell them for even more money that would be used to make more risky loans. The justification was to provide "affordable housing" to those who couldn't afford it. There is the Community Reinvestment Act which provided a rating agency by which mortgage companies would have to get a good rating in order to expand or merge. To get a good rating they had to have a certain number of risky mortgages. Again, these lesser encouragements contributed to and magnified the meltdown.

The pushers of 'affordable housing' were clever about their interference in the marketplace. They cited documents showing that a small percentage of people just under the economic threshold below which private banks would not lend are in fact able to pay off loans therefore the government must help this under served part of society with cheap loans. Of course none of this was needed. As Thomas Sowell pointed out, there are always some people in the poverty or working poor category who are there only temporarily through job loss or injury or just entering the job market at a low wage. These people don't stay there for long and don't need the government trying to saddle them with debt just because Congressmen and Senators want to feel good about themselves.

If no financial recklessness or greed existed in the market place, these governmental encouragements would--and did--create it.

When Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are cleaned up they need to be shut down. The Community Reinvestment Act should be repealed and the Fed can be eventually shut down as we return to a gold standard We do not need a central bank. A great deal of the encouragement is on the state and local level. I did a google search for 'affordable housing initiative' and got 339,000 results.

The solution is not more governmental encouragement but an end to it: a discovery of laissez-faire capitalism.

Sources:
1. Rand quote from essay "Establishing of an Establishment" in her book "Philosophy: Who Needs It."

2. George Reisman's Blog on Economics, Politics, Society, and Culture. "Essay on The Myth that Laissez Faire Is Responsible for Our Financial Crisis"

Last Blogroll Update for 2008

2008-12-07T12:33:00.048-05:00

As most already know, Myhraf has a new site called The New Clarion at which he teams up with Bill Brown for some very rational posts. I've added it to my blogroll.

I'm also adding "Wealth Is Not the Problem" where Beth posts on the similarities between now and the Great Depression.

The Ayn Rand Center for Individual Rights (ARC) is the site of the new Washington D.C. office of ARI. They have videos and lectures available for those who want to know more about individual rights. They are advocating individual rights in the one place where they are violated the most and least understood, Washington D.C.

Next is Ms. Think hosted by Paula Hall who also posts sometimes at NoodleFood. Her latest post is about:

A group called the National Community Reinvestiment Coalition (NCRC) has filed a complaint with the the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development, claiming that the ratings agencies Moody's and Standard & Poor's facilitated the subprime mortgage meltdown -- to the disadvantage of minorities. As stated by succinctly by Overlawyered: NCRC's claim is that "you rated our constituents as too creditworthy."

Why don't they sue Fannie and Freddie and the Community Reinvestment Act who really did rate people as too creditworthy? Blame everybody except yourself is what they're doing.

Another addition is The Sidereal Messenger where David posts a review of the 'epic' movie Australia. Dave suggests you save your money.

Still another is the site of Dr. Andrew Bernstein who has written an introductory book on Objectivism for those new to it or just curious. (Friendly plug--Dr. Bernstein's site is managed by Robert Nasir who is also on my blogroll--just in case you're thinking about improving yours.)

Next is Robbservations where Robb examines a long article by Roger Cohen who looks favorably on Castro's Cuba.

Lastly for now will be George Reisman's blog on economics and culture. His last post looks at a NYTimes article on the appointment of Larry Summers to Obama's cabinet.

Pathetic Congressional Hearings

2008-12-05T19:30:00.006-05:00

While I was babysitting my 7mo. old grand daughter, I happened to catch the beginning of the Congressional hearings of the big 3 auto co. CEOs. UAW chief Ron Gettlefinger was in the same panel. What I saw was really sad, no, sickening. Three titans of industry groveling before an inquisition of people who were clearly their moral inferiors.

These men were begging for permission to continue to exist and then apologising for not having done the impossible--to make cars with super gas mileage, using alternative fuels, no emissions, affordable to the poor, and that everyone wants to buy.

What was really pathetic was how many of the Representatives insisted that they have to be careful with taxpayers' money. What a bunch of two-faced hypocrites. These are the same humans who a few weeks ago were tripping over themselves to give Henry Paulson $700 billion as soon as he cried wolf! But loaning $34 billion requires several weeks of intense interrogation examining every feather in the pillow. As if they really cared!

That $700 billion wasn't to bail out Wall Street. It was to bail out Congress. To bail out their own hides while blaming greed. And the American people are swallowing it whole. These hearings are just the icing on the cake that was the biggest congressional power grab and money grab ever.

In a way, I don't feel sorry for those CEOs. They deserve this treatment for not defending their rights or capitalism or free enterprise.

If you want, CSPAN is reshowing the hearings at 8 PM EST Tonight. They're about 6 hours long. No doubt, Cspan will repeat them later also. Take some Bufferin before watching.

Obama Seeks Power Sharing

2008-12-03T08:49:00.027-05:00

The Detroit News of Tuesday Dec. 2nd carries a news analysis titled "Obama chooses 'strong.'" The subtitle is "Selection of Clinton, Gates, Jones for security team show his deference to pragmatism over ideology." So pragmatism equals strong. Strong what? No answer given but I can tell you that his picks are all strongly committed to abiding by any consensus that may arise. Why? Because it allows each of them to share power and this is what each one 'strongly' desires. The photo accompanying the article testifies to this fact at least for Hillary.

The first paragraph further reinforces this theme:

"The selection of experienced centrists -- Hillary Rodham Clinton, Robert Gates and James L. Jones -- to head President-elect Barack Obama's national security team points to the possibility that, on Iraq, the incoming commander-in-chief may take a more measured path to ending American military involvement than he described during the presidential campaign."

A 'centrist' is one who walks the middle of the road on everything; who takes a spoonful of poison with every spoonful of food and who is willing to compromise on every savage's claim that America is evil and needs to be reshaped into the savage's notion of ideal and most of all, that every American value is something that can and should be negotiated away for some temporary, range of the moment satisfaction.

Surrounding himself with 'experienced centrists' makes Obama's choices 'strong'? These 'strong' choices means there is no chance any of them will support extreme positions like individual rights, freedom, justice, equality under the law, earning one's way through life, letting people chose what's in their self-interest etc.. And what is "...a more measured path..."? Measured according to what standard? Compared to Bush's or the leftists who think Obama will pull the troops out right away? No. It's more measured than his campaign rhetoric which was only said to evoke emotions of approval. It worked nicely.

Obama likely will rely on Jones, who spent 40 years in the Marine Corps but has never served in the executive branch of government, to lay the groundwork by melding the views of Clinton and Gates.

What does 'melding the views" mean? How does one meld the views of "strong personalities and strong opinions" of Clinton and Gates? Can 'strong views' even be melded? These words are just meaningless nonsense meant to convey not ideas but feelings. One feeling is 'there, there now, daddy is here and everything is gonna be ok because daddy is doing everything right and he will take care of you.'

It's obvious that James Jones's job is to make sure that everyone shares in the administration of power and gets the appropriate prestige. Our government will be run by committee like baking an apple pie by committee. One person will decide what kind of apples to use, another how many to use, still another what temp to cook it at and still another how long to cook it while others will decide whether to cut in in 6 pieces or 8, and so on. And when it turns out to taste horrible, they'll all scream "It's not my fault!" That's what we have to look forward to.

The underlying theme of the article is that Obama will be getting the benefit of the best expertise possible and all will be well. Unfortunately, most of those people don't have a clue as to how to fix things except by more government intervention. It's going to be interesting to see how this power sharing works out in reality.

Advocating for Objectivism

2008-11-30T14:24:00.031-05:00

There has been some good posts recently on the web and HBL discussing what objectivists should do to help spread Objectivism. It goes without saying that donating to ARI and its Free Books for Teachers program would be an excellent place to start. Also, at the ARI site click on the 'Support ARI' tab then the 'contribute' tab for more ways to contribute or click on the 'campaigns' tab for things to support.

There are other activist efforts to support as well. There is FIRM (Freedom and Individual Rights in Medicine) and AFCM (Americans for Free Choice in Medicine) both of which could use help. The activities of these are sometimes updated at NoodleFood.

Writing to one's political representatives and LTEs to papers and mags helps as well. What with the Dems controlling Washington now I think it is vital that Objectivists concretize everything. If the powers that be utter a desired principle, then letter writers need to give concrete examples of what that principle will look like in the future. And if these same powers advocate a certain concrete activity, then writers need to identify the principle on which it is based, then concretize even more examples into the future. Projecting examples into the future is critical for I am convinced that anyone who can even partially think in principles will see events unfolding before them and be able to say something like "Hmm, they said it would look like this."

I know from experience that writing LTEs to papers shooting down what seems like an endless stream of awful ideas can get to be depressing. But to really feel good about oneself I recommend getting behind something good and giving a push. For example, put together $59 and give a gift subscription to the Objective Standard to your local public library or community college library. Or get behind some Objectivist newsletter like the Undercurrent and drop off some copies at your local college. Because education is so important, whenever Lisa VanDamme sends out her newsletter Pedagogically Correct, I post it in its entirety on my site and leave it there for a minimum of 24 hr. but usually 3 days. Know of an Objectivist radio show? Fire off an email to the Director of Programming at a talk radio station in your area extolling the virtues of that show and how it would be a great addition to your community's talk radio. Even when it comes to LTEs, sometimes, when I see a rational op-ed I'll send a short LTE to the effect "Kudos to professor Smith. His op-ed on inflation was spot on. We need more intellectuals like him." Giving the good a push re-charges one's batteries to keep on fighting the good fight.

I have been a little remiss on some of the suggestions above. So, I have decided that my 2009 New Year's Resolution will be to double my efforts at getting behind the good and giving a push.

Thanksgiving Note

2008-11-26T12:53:00.011-05:00

Brian Phillips at Live Oaks has an appropriate post for thanksgiving about the pilgrims and their discovery that self-interest is the way to survive. It's amazing that people see that and still think selfishness is evil. People learn nothing.

At Capitalism Magazine Craig Biddle says "don't say grace, say justice".

Blogging will resume probably this weekend. Meanwhile, the rest of today I'll be trying to make my abode look presentable for a house full of company for dinner tomorrow.

Happy Thanksgiving to all.

Global Warming Fear Mongering

2008-11-24T16:40:00.006-05:00

The Sunday 11/16/08 Detroit Free Press had a global warming article by Scott Canon of McClatchy Newspapers that is pure fear mongering based on nothing but conjecture. The title proudly announces the article's speculative nature "Violence could mount as Earth's temperature rises."

The arbitrary assertions run wild in this piece. First we are told that:

"The Earth's fast-changing climate has a range of serious thinkers -- from military brass to geographers to diplomats -- predicting a spate of armed conflicts driven by the weather."

Of course these 'serious thinkers' have concluded that:

"Shifting temperatures lead to shifting populations, they say, and that throws together groups with long-standing rivalries and thrusts them into competition for food and water.

"It's not hard to imagine violent outbursts," said Julianne Smith of the Center for Strategic and International Studies."

This sounds like something out of a junior high school class. No evidence is provided for any of this, it's just asserted. I can imagine things too. I can imagine that just uttering the word green causes the storm clouds to part, the sun to shine through, birdies to sing and bunnies to play. And it would have as much relevance to reality as Ms. Smith's, none. Just reading this article could spark 'violent outbursts' from rational people.

Evidently Ms. Smith authored one of 4 major studies trying to predict the future:

"Each report predicted starkly similar problems: gunfire over land and natural resources as once-bountiful soil turns to desert and coastlines slip below the sea. They also expect violent storms to unsettle weak governments and set up dispirited radicals in revolt."

Yes! We must fear those touchy, dispirited radicals who will be set off by bad weather which, of course, will be all our fault.

The article continues with more arbitrary assertions and even leans on the notion that:

"...[T]he scientific consensus is that the industrial revolution increased global-warming gases that set off an unprecedented rate of climate change."

'Scientific consensus' is an oxymoron. 'Consensus' is a political concept. It is used in science only when there is no evidence for something and only opinions and conjecture are available. Michael Crichton got it right when he said:

"I want to pause here and talk about this notion of consensus, and the rise of what has been called consensus science. I regard consensus science as an extremely pernicious development that ought to be stopped cold in its tracks. Historically, the claim of consensus has been the first refuge of scoundrels; it is a way to avoid debate by claiming that the matter is already settled. Whenever you hear the consensus of scientists agrees on something or other, reach for your wallet, because you're being had." (From his 2003 speech "Aliens Cause Global Warming")

To see more on how unscientific the concept 'scientific consensus' is see here.

The article goes on to make some more predictions starting with some possible good ones:

Growing seasons could lengthen. Frozen seas could thaw to make way for convenient shipping routes. Previously inaccessible spots could be ripe to gush oil. [notice the derogatory word gush--ME]

Meanwhile, wetlands could dry up. Rivers could disappear. Scientists already think that hurricanes, blizzards and droughts are more frequent and more severe. Rising sea levels could send tens of millions of people scurrying for higher ground.

No evidence, not even historical references, are given for these predictions. It is pure imagination. But to bolster their fantasy they rounded up some military generals and got their consensus:

"The former commanders concluded that war would be more likely, that the U.S. military needed to plan for the new threats, and that the United States had to reduce its carbon emissions."

I think it's safe to say that no one familiar with objectivism, or even semi rational, would take this article seriously. So who was it written for? Who would take it seriously? I think it is aimed at the ordinary Joe and Mary citizen; those 4 or so generations that have gone through our 'progressive education' system and have been taught not to respect authority but to submit to it. Or to be more precise, to respect authority is to submit to it. "Don't judge" or "Are you a scientist? No? Then how dare you question the experts", are just two hammers dropped on kid's minds.

Progressive education is all about socialization which means going along with any consensus. As the kids grow up, consensus becomes a signal word designed to evoke a response of submission or at least acquiescence. I have heard adults say things like "Who am I to know?" and "I'm just an ordinary person" and so on. Their ability to think and learn has been destroyed because their desire to learn has been destroyed.

What's depressing is that both of my Michigan US Senators, Carl Levin and Debbie Stabenow, have bought in to the 'GW will lead to disaster and is all man's fault' nonsense hook, line and sinker. Despite my Senators' support for global warming, I do think this article is evidence that the alarmists are starting to get desperate and resorting to pure scare mongering and never mind any evidence. Earlier this year I emailed them both urging them to start distancing themselves from the AGW mantra. So far neither has.

(footnote: I was saddened that Mr. Crichton passed away on Nov 4th. He was not of course an objectivist but like the scientists on my blogroll, had a strong reverence for facts and liked to stick to them. He'll be missed.)

Some Sunday Reading

2008-11-23T12:40:00.016-05:00

Andrew Medworth has a link to an ARC essay 'Stop Blaming Capitalism For Government Failures' by Yaron Brook and Don Watkins. The reason I'm linking this way is because at the bottom of this short post Andrew has a link to an Oct post of his which looks at the moral roots of the crisis as well as a crash course of sorts on economics. He links to a book called Economics For Real People by Gene Callahan which is online in PDF. It is written for the layman. I downloaded it for future reading. I highly recommend both posts.

K.M. at Applying Philosophy to Life has a post on Worldviews and the World.

Only those who have consistent principles can provide the standards by which any particular issue is to be judged. Those who have consistent principles set the terms of the debate. The pragmatists do the shouting and think they have won.

So true. We can see this happening today as government and media scream that greed and selfishness are at fault for the meltdown, but not government interference.

Morgan Freeberg makes a good point, Food is Death. Yes it's about Palin's turkey shoot and weak liberal stomachs. As he points out, the media crew would never permit such scene with Obama or any democrat. The media takes care of their gods.

Obama's GW Plans Examined, Cullen culled?

2008-11-22T10:09:00.016-05:00

I know this is a few days old but Lubos Motl at The Reference Frame has a post in which he fisks Obama's recent speech on what his administration will do about global warming. If I had only read the transcript and not saw the video, I would have swore these were Al Gore's words.

From that post's comments I found this new (to me) site called SBVOR in which he informs that Heidi Cullen's show "Forcast Earth" has been cut by The Weather Channel. See there is still some good news out there. It's unclear if Heidi is staying on perhaps in some other capacity. I hope not. I might take to watching TWC again. I was disappointed though that Cheryl Lempke was also let go. I think she was there from day one. If you wanted 'just the facts maam' she was it. I'm only speculating but perhaps she and others that were let go objected to TWC's increased hype and over-dramatizing of weather events like violent storms and such. We'll probably never know.

End The Fed Rallies

2008-11-21T20:30:00.010-05:00

It's Friday night 11/21/08 and while surfing the net I found this site Free Advice by Bob Murphy. He links to a site called End The Fed which is holding rallies in Houston and other cities around the nation on Saturday. It looks like a libertarian effort to me but their list of endorsers features a mixture like Bush hater Cindy Sheehan, someone from the constitution party and someone from the green party and others. While I don't think getting rid of the Fed can be done without getting rid of Keynesian Economics, I think this particular effort might at least expose some people to the idea that the Fed may not be needed.

On the other hand, I think the press will ignore it. Detroit is one of the 38 cities where rallies are scheduled. So I'll be scanning the two dailies for any mention or coverage. Not holding my breath though.

More Mass Preventive Medicine Urged

2008-11-18T14:46:00.003-05:00

The Monday Nov. 10th. Detroit News carried an AP article titled "Cholesterol drugs lower heart attack risks." It is an example of mass preventive medicine in action. On June 1st I posted on this idea of mass preventive medicine quoting in part from Gary Taubes book Good Calories:Bad Calories:

"This strategy [collective medicine-ME] is credited to the British epidemiologist Geoffrey Rose, a longtime veteran of the dietary-fat controversy. "The mass approach is inherently the only ultimate answer to the problem of mass disease," Rose explained in 1981.

"But, however much it may offer to the community as a whole, it
offers little to each participating individual. When mass
diphtheria immunization was introduced in Britain 40 years ago,
even then roughly 600 children had to be immunized in order that
one life be saved--599 'wasted' immunizations for the one that was
effective....This is the kind of ratio that one has to accept in
mass preventive medicine. A measure applied to many will actually
benefit few." (Rose quote)

When it came to dietary fat and heart disease, according to Rose's calculation, only one man in every fifty might expect to avoid a heart attack by virtue of avoiding saturated fat for his entire adult life: "Forty-nine out of fifty would eat differently everyday for forty years and perhaps get nothing from it." (pp66,67) (End of Taubes quote.)

So we see that 49 people will be sacrificed for the alleged benefit of one. That is collectivism.

Now back to this Detroit News article. It says:

"However, some doctors urged caution. Crestor gave clear benefit in the study, but so few heart attacks and deaths occurred among these low-risk people that treating everyone like them in the United States could cost up to $9 billion a year -- "a difficult sell," one expert said.

About 120 people would have to take Crestor for two years to prevent a single heart attack, stroke or death, said Stanford University cardiologist Dr. Mark Hlatky."

So the government gets to start the use of force against 120 people for the alleged benefit of one. 119 people will be forced to take a drug which will do them no good, for the benefit of one mathematical artifact called a probability.

But notice the reasons given for opposing this policy; it's too expensive, about $9 billion yr. and we could be using the money for other forms of preventive care. Nothing is mentioned about how each one of those 120 people are to have their individual rights violated when doctors will be forced to put everyone on these cholesterol lowering statins. It is the sacrifice of all to all, not to achieve any real goal but as a permanent way of medicinal practice. Whether it actually prevents any illness is immaterial, it's the good intentions that count. It's also an example of children--who have never been taught that the good can not be achieved with the initiatory use of force--who are now grown up to be doctors and other professionals who see no reason not to lobby for using that force.

Readers of ME know that the collectivist mind doesn't see individuals like you and me. We don't count. They only see the collective whole as mentioned in the above link. They want to treat it without having to treat actual individuals.

For more information of collective medicine check out the web site of FIRM and their blog.

And to get an idea of the extent of questionable medical science today, I recommend JunkfoodScience by Sandy Szwarc.

Mike's Eyes (Spotted By)

Why we seldom get morally principled leaders.

Objectivist roundup Jan 12 2011

Objectivist roundup #234

Paleo Rodeo #19

Objectivist roundup Oct 27th 2011

Good Science on meat vs vegies only

9/11, a time for activism.

It's Coming True!

Objectivist Round up June 23.

Objectivist roundup June 19th.

Paleo Rodeo # 63

Objectivist Roundup April 28th

Objectivist Roundup April 21

Paleo Rodeo # 057

Paleo Rodeo # 056

Paleo Roundup April 8th

Paleo Roundup April 1st.

March 24 Objectivist roundup

March 10th Objectivist Roundup

Objectivist Roundup March 3rd

Feb 10th Objectivist Roundup

Objectivist Roundup Feb 3rd 2011

Objectivist Roundup Jan 27th. 2011

Woe is Michigan

Objectivist Roundup Jan 20th. 2011

Jan 14 Objectivist Roundup

Objectivist Roundup New Year Edition

Objectivist Roundup Dec 24th. 2010

Thanksgiving is over, or is it?

Objectivist Roundup Nov 18th.

Dems Offer No Hope for Michigan

Local blog activism

Fire Levin, Time for Real Change

Political Activism in Michigan

Political link

Little Thinkers

Rational literature in elementary school.

Notice: OLists for Better Living Info

Proper Philosophy of Education

Tax Day Tea Party Sterling Heights Michigan

Blogroll Update Mar. 2010

Urgent Action Required.

A Grandpa's Notes on Discipline

January 2010 VDA Newsletter

Where'd I put that?

Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas

Sand Animation

Support Anthem Foundation

Pedagogically Correct Newsletter Oct 2009

Post Follow Up

Back to Blogging

Good News

Blogroll additions Sept. 09

On the Other Hand...

Attention Students

I Went to a Tea Party

The Value of Null Findings

Another Activist Day

Tea Party Observations pt. 2

Observations on My First Tea Party

Happy 4th of July

Lively Imagination

Captain Grandpa

Experimenting

Pedagogically Correct Newsletter May 22 2009

Blogroll Addition May of 09

Objectivism's Benefit to Me #5

March VDA Newsletter

Spotted By Mike's Eyes Mar 27th

Objectivism's Benefit to Me #4

Blogroll Additions March 09

Objectivism's Benefit to Me #3

Objectivism's Benefit for Me #2

Some Benefits of Objectivism for Me

Updating the Update

Blogroll Additions Jan 09

Objectivist Psychology

Pedagogically Correct Newsletter, January 13, 2009