The
Rational Argumentator
Issue CCX
October 3-10, 2009
Sketch I:
Wendy Stolyarov
October 10, 2009
A work of art from the sketchbook of Mrs. Stolyarov.
Sketch II:
Wendy Stolyarov
October 10, 2009
Another work of art from the sketchbook of Mrs. Stolyarov.
Little Red Riding Hood:
Wendy Stolyarov
October 10, 2009
This digital painting by Wendy Stolyarov presents a twist on the traditional story of Little Red Riding Hood.
Coffee Man:
Wendy Stolyarov
October 10, 2009
A sketch by Mrs. Stolyarov of a gentleman with a cup of coffee.
Culture
Commonly Misunderstood Concepts: Education:
G. Stolyarov II
October 3, 2009
Misunderstandings of the term "education" create massive societal problems where none need exist, and at the same time blind many people to genuine, but oft-overlooked problems. Mr. Stolyarov criticizes the common assumption that formal schooling is necessary and sufficient for education.
Politics
Bombs and Bribes:
Ron Paul
October 5, 2009
What if tomorrow morning you woke up to headlines that yet another Chinese drone bombing on US soil killed several dozen ranchers in a rural community while they were sleeping? That a drone aircraft had come across the Canadian border in the middle of the night and carried out the latest of many attacks? What if it was claimed that many of the victims harbored anti-Chinese sentiments, but most of the dead were innocent women and children? And what if the Chinese administration, in an effort to improve its public image in the US, had approved an aid package to send funds to help with American roads and schools and promote Chinese values here? Ron Paul poses this hypothetical situation and argues that American foreign policy inflicts abroad harms that Americans would not stand for at home.
EPA: The Blob That Ate America:
Alan Caruba
October 6, 2009
Alan Caruba writes that no single government agency has grown so big and so fast as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and no single agency threatens constitutionally guaranteed property rights and nationwide economic growth more than the EPA. Mr. Caruba calls the EPA the blob that ate
Free the Clogged-Nose 25!:
Jeffrey Tucker
October 9, 2009
25 people were recently arrested near Auburn, AL, for the heinous crime of purchasing "too much" cold medicine. Jeffrey Tucker writes that this is an outrage, and it is even more disgusting that the local press is glad to play along with it. Here we have a nice illustration of how the police are used in an age of arbitrary law and despotic consumption controls. You become a criminal merely for buying today what was legal yesterday. And then society avoids you. You might be a druggie, and the suspicion alone is enough justification for you to be robbed of all rights and utterly smashed as a human being.
Obama's Era of Responsibility:
David Kelley
October 9, 2009
“What is required of us now,” said President Barack Obama in his inaugural speech, “is a new era of responsibility—a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation, and the world….” Shortly thereafter, he used the same phrase as the title of his 2010 budget, which Congress has passed with minor alterations. In these and other ways, the President has made it clear that responsibility is to be the theme of his administration, playing the same role in recruiting popular support that the theme of “change” did during his election campaign. David Kelley argues that to whatever extent Obama's quest succeeds, it will not only diminish our freedom. His “new era of responsibility” will actually diminish real responsibility.
Videos
Commonly Misunderstood Concepts: Education - Video:
G. Stolyarov II
October 3, 2009
Misunderstandings of the term "education" create massive societal problems where none need exist, and at the same time blind many people to genuine, but oft-overlooked problems. Mr. Stolyarov criticizes the common assumption that formal schooling is necessary and sufficient for education. This video is the companion to the essay of the same name.
"I think opinions should be judged by their influences and effects; and if a man holds none that tend to make him less virtuous or more vicious, it may be concluded that he holds none that are dangerous, which I hope is the case with me."
~ Benjamin Franklin