History News Network | Because the Past is the Present, and the Future too. by Carol V. Hamilton Originally published 1-27-08 Ms. Hamilton has a Ph.D. in English from Berkeley. “The pursuit of happiness” is the most famous phrase in the Declaration of Independence. In an article entitled “The Pursuit of Happiness,” posted at the Huffington Post July 4, 2007, Daniel Brook summed up what most of us learned in school: “The eighteenth-century British political philosopher John Locke wrote that governments are instituted to secure people's rights to ‘life, liberty, and property.’ Familiar as all this sounds, Brook is wrong on three points. The phrase has meant different things to different people. The “pursuit of happiness” has led its own life in popular culture. If Thomas Jefferson did not coin the phrase, who did? In 1770 Dr. What Dr. It seems unlikely that Jefferson plucked “the pursuit of happiness” from the prose of a Tory like Dr. The necessity of pursuing happiness [is] the foundation of liberty. The Greek word for “happiness” is eudaimonia. Moral.
Project Freeman: Peaceful, Lawfull Rebellion Set To Music by 'Litmus A Freeman' (NB: NEW MEDIA ADDED NOV 2011!!!) Principle 8. Life and the Pursuit of Happiness A Principle of The Traditional American Philosophy 8. Life and the Pursuit of Happiness ". . . unalienable Rights, that among these are Life . . . and the pursuit of Happiness." (Declaration of Independence) The Principle 1. Ever Changing Nature of Goals, etc. 2. Definition Emphasizes Self-development, Self-discipline 3. The particular rights to "Life" and to "the pursuit of Happiness," like all of the others among Man's God-given, unalienable rights, are subject to the requirements of the duty factor of Individual Liberty-Responsibility under constitutionally limited government, including especially the observance of due respect for the equal rights of others. Innumerable Things of Limitless Scope 4. The Key: Voluntary Cooperation Based on Spiritual Unity 5. The Practical Application Typical of Americans 6. Coercion Excluded 7. No Sacrifice of Any Right of Any Individual 8. The End Does Not Justify the Means 9. What Is Not Meant 10. The Conclusion 11.
Dr Bruce Scott: Turn your illness into a weapon - mental distress from a socialist perspective Dr Bruce Scott explores the definitions and ideas attached mental health, and offers a socialist perspective THIS short and preliminary article was written as a response to an article that came to my attention that was posted on the CommonSpace website concerning 'mental health' and the fact that it was recently Mental Health Awareness Week. It is laudable that the aforementioned CommonSpace article, many such similar articles, and 'mental health' campaigns show concern for the 'mental health' of our citizens. However, I have serious reservations with the concept of 'mental health' which are routinely overlooked. The biological model of 'mental health' is not watertight and it remains a highly dubious concept. First, the discourse of 'mental health' or 'mental illness' is not all it is cracked up to be. Second, the cognitive imperialistic discourse of 'mental health' (e.g., cognitive behavioural therapy) is misleading and excludes other discourses of conceptualising mental distress.
Vol 4. No. 1 “The Pursuit of Happiness: The Root of America’s Civil Ethic”(WPS Presidential Address, 2005) Dr. Barry E. Etched in the cornerstone of American government are the words taken from what is known as the “Jefferson draft” of the Declaration of Independence. We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness -- That to secure these Rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed, that whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these Ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its Foundation on such Principles, and organizing its Powers in such Form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. It is well known that Jefferson was not the sole author of the Declaration.
David Stojcevski's horrifying death in jail, explained During his 17-day stay in jail, 32-year-old David Stojcevski lost 50 pounds, hallucinated, and experienced seizures and convulsions. It was all caught on a security camera that jailers were supposed to regularly watch. But no one helped — and Stojcevski died. Now, the FBI is investigating the death, according to Detroit News. The horrifying death of Stojcevski in the Macomb County, Michigan, jail — first reported by Local 4 — is drawing national attention as the latest example of horrific neglect and brutality by the criminal justice system. And unlike previous cases, it was all caught on video — making it easy to see exactly what went wrong. But beyond the gruesome images and FBI investigation, Stojcevski's death speaks to a much larger problem in the criminal justice system: In many cases, jails aren't staffed, trained, or resourced to deal with cases like Stojcevski's. Stojcevski clearly suffered over 17 days — and died Local 4 Jails are notoriously overcrowded
The Dangers of Same-Sex 'Marriage' What's Wrong with That? By Regis Nicoll|Published Date: May 26, 2006 Last week a judge struck down an amendment banning same-sex marriage. The ruling turned on a technicality which limits amendments to one topic. While I believe the judge was wrong to overrule the will of the people by the power of the bench, I believe his assessment of popular sentiment is sadly right. Consequently, as the U. Threat, what threat? One of those is Karl Giberson, editor of Science & Theology News and a self-described conservative who values marriage. Giberson is not alone. My friend and Giberson are like others I’ve talked with who can’t understand how gay inclusion would adversely affect heterosexual marriage or the common good. For instance, before leaving the “lifestyle,” one friend of mine became troubled over the morality of his long-term partnership, only to be told by more than one pastor that a committed relationship was a gift from God to be received with thanksgiving, not guilt. First things first
ACTA Treaty Members Map Article “The apt and cheerful conversation of man with woman is the chief and noblest purpose of marriage,” wrote John Milton. “Where loving [conversation] cannot be, there can be left of wedlock nothing but the empty husk of an outside matrimony””dry, shrivelled, and dispensable. Aptness can strain cheerfulness: candid conversations between spouses can be very painful. Cheerfulness can strain aptness: blissful domestic ignorance can be very tempting. An apt and cheerful conversation about marriage must be part of our dialogue today. To be “apt,” our conversation cannot wax nostalgic about a prior golden age of marriage and the family, nor wax myopic about modern ideals of liberty, privacy, and autonomy. To be “cheerful,” our conversation must proceed with the faith that the crisis of modern American marriage and family life can be overcome. What is less well known, and what brings more cheer, is that the Western tradition has faced family crises on this scale before.
Explaining White Privilege to a Broke White Person | Gina Crosley-Corcoran Years ago some feminist on the Internet told me I was “privileged.” “THE F&CK!?!?” I said. I came from the kind of poor that people don’t want to believe still exists in this country. Have you ever spent a frigid northern-Illinois winter without heat or running water? I have. This is actually a much nicer trailer setup than the one I grew up in. So when that feminist told me I had “white privilege,” I told her that my white skin didn’t do shit to prevent me from experiencing poverty. After one reads McIntosh’s powerful essay, it’s impossible to deny that being born with white skin in America affords people certain unearned privileges in life that people of other skin colors simply are not afforded. “I can turn on the television or open to the front page of the paper and see people of my race widely represented.” “When I am told about our national heritage or about ‘civilization,’ I am shown that people of my color made it what it is.” I know now that I am privileged in many ways. 10.
Of the Unity and Indissolubility of Marriage At the General Audience in St Peter's Square on 5 September, attended by more than 20,000 people, Pope John Paul II gave the following address. 1. For some time now preparations have been going on for the next ordinary assembly of the Synod of Bishops, which will take place in Rome in autumn of next year. The theme of the Synod, "The role of the Christian family," concentrates our attention on this community of human and Christian life, which has been fundamental from the beginning. The Lord Jesus used precisely this expression "from the beginning" in the talk about marriage, reported in the Gospels of St. Matthew and St. Clear-cut responses 2. "And Pharisees came up to him and tested him by asking, 'Is it lawful to divorce one's wife for any cause?' Christ did not accept the discussion at the level at which his interlocutors tried to introduce it. From the beginning 3. The eternal law 4. Preparation for the Synod 5.
4 Constructive Ways to Deal with Criticism To live and be part of a community at work, home or school means we are sometimes told truths we may not like to know or hear. We get labeled for our shortcomings and judged on our failures and mistakes. While the temptation to block out the unpleasant feedback is strong, we stunt our personal growth and potential by doing so. It’s terribly hard to be on the receiving end of disapproval and negative appraisals, but if we succeed in building our strengths and managing our weaknesses, the world can become our oyster. Below are four ways to deal with criticism: Take time to cool down, set boundaries, and respond, not react. Disapproving woman photo available from Shutterstock Internet Slang About Internet Slang consists of a number of different ways of speaking, sub-languages, expressions, spelling techniques and idioms that have obtained most of their meaning on the Internet. These different kinds of language can be either known as chatspeak, SMS speak or IM language. Types Intentional Misspellings Intentional misspellings may have stemmed from space restriction on instant messaging and SMS services, including Twitter. Phonetic Translation Coming straight from SMS language, this is a way of replacing entire words or bits of words by their phonetic equivalent embodied into single letters or figures and it is often found in 1337speak. Disemvoweling Disemvoweling is the practice of removing all vowels from a token word and is also found in SMS/IM language. The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dogwould, after being disemvowelled, look like this:Th qck brwn fx jmps vr th lzy dg Leetspeak Letter Repetition Acronyms and Initialisms Idioms Academic Research [researching] Search Interest
The Five Most Earth-Like Exoplanets (So Far) I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve read that the “first Earth-like exoplanet” has been discovered. With nearly 2000 exoplanets found to date, it is no wonder so many of them will resemble our planet in some way. But which exoplanets are similar enough to the Earth that they could actually be habitable? Many of the claims about the habitability of exoplanets are greatly exaggerated. The exoplanet GJ1132b was just announced by the MEarth project, as “arguably the most important planet ever found outside the solar system”. Similarly, Tau Ceti e and Kepler 186f have both been touted as Earth twins, but there are other exoplanets out there that are rather more Earth-like. A good way to estimate how habitable a planet is the Earth Similarity Index (ESI). Here are the five top candidates for an Earth-twin, based on their ESI values. 1. Kepler 438b (ESI=0.88) has the highest ESI of any exoplanet known. 2. 3. Artist’s impression of Kepler as it looks at planets transiting distant stars.