The
Rational Argumentator
Issue CLXXXIX
March 10 - 14, 2009
Piracy is Not Theft:
Wendy D. Stolyarov
March 10, 2009
This digital poster by Wendy Stolyarov illustrates an often overlooked truth: that tangible property is quite different in nature from "intellectual property." Theft of tangible property deprives the owner of the original, whereas making copies of digital media does not diminish what is available to any existing possessors of the media.
A Long Night in Seville:
Wendy D. Stolyarov
March 11, 2009
This drawing of two dancers by Wendy Stolyarov was created using a Faber-Castell Pitt Artist Pen and water on acrylic-primed canvas panel.
Lady, Seated:
Wendy D. Stolyarov
March 12, 2009
This drawing by Wendy Stolyarov depicts a seated gracefully aging Indian woman.
Canyon Spirit:
Wendy D. Stolyarov
March 13, 2009
This digital painting by Wendy Stolyarov was inspired by the style of Alphonse Mucha and depicts a quasi-mythic figure amid scenery similar to the surroundings of the Palo Duro Canyon in West Texas.
Bust of Gennady Stolyarov II:
Wendy D. Stolyarov
March 14, 2009
This sculpture bust of Mr. Stolyarov was created by Wendy D. Stolyarov and cast in plaster. It is currently located at Mr. Stolyarov's residence.
Ethics
"Human Nature" is Tautological:
G. Stolyarov II
March 10, 2009
What is meant by the term "human nature"? In one sense, it is supremely uninformative. The "nature" of any existent can be defined simply as "that which that existent is." To say that "X is human nature," is simply to say "X is what humans are and/or do." Mr. Stolyarov writes in opposition to the common use of "human nature" to explain exclusively the undesirable actions that some people perform. We ought to lose the defeatism of those who claim that "human nature" will forever sentence us to suffer evil instead of correcting it.
Politics
Imagine:
Ron Paul
March 10, 2009
Imagine for a moment that somewhere in the middle of Texas there was a large foreign military base, say Chinese or Russian. Imagine that thousands of armed foreign troops were constantly patrolling American streets in military vehicles. Imagine they were here under the auspices of “keeping us safe” or “promoting democracy” or “protecting their strategic interests.” Imagine that they operated outside of US law, and that the Constitution did not apply to them. Imagine that every now and then they made mistakes or acted on bad information and accidentally killed or terrorized innocent Americans, including women and children, most of the time with little to no repercussions or consequences. Rep. Ron Paul argues that this is much the same way in which many Iraqis perceive the current American occupation.
Skeptics, Deniers, and World-Class Scientists:
Alan Caruba
March 10, 2009
After spending time at the largest gathering of world class climatologists, meteorologists, physicists, engineers, and economists, among other very brainy folks, Alan Caruba came away with the feeling that the battle remains joined by this hearty group, otherwise derided as skeptics and deniers of global warming. The occasion was the second annual International Conference on Climate Change, sponsored by The Heartland Institute, a Chicago-based free market think tank. The place was New York City and the gathering involved seminars on all aspects of the bogus science put forth by the global warming alarmists. The conclusion should come as no surprise. There simply is no valid science that supports the claim that the Earth has warmed dramatically, is warming dramatically, or is likely to warm dramatically.
Americans to Become Serfs on the King's Estate!:
Tom DeWeese
March 14, 2009
United States Representative Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) has proposed legislation, H.R. 875, which would literally prohibit Americans from raising food for themselves, their families, or even for their animals, without the national government’s permission! Tom DeWeese warns that H.R. 875 makes Americans serfs on their own land! This one bill could wipe the United States, as a free nation, from the face of the Earth.
Saving the Earth?:
Alan Caruba
March 14, 2009
If human beings are responsible for “global warming,” asks Alan Caruba, how did the Earth manage to get through various earlier stages such as the Permian, Triassic, Jurassic, Paleocene, Eocene, Oligocene, Miocene, Pleistocene, and our era, the Holocene which reaches back a mere 10,000 years; a period that matches up with the ending of the last major ice age? Mr. Caruba argues that aside from not littering, there is little humans can do to "save the Earth," particularly because human behavior makes not a dent in the condition of the Earth.
"Rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others. I do not add 'within the limits of the law' because law is often but the tyrant's will, and always so when it violates the rights of the individual."
~ Thomas Jefferson