February 7, 2018

Phil Beaver seeks to collaborate on the-objective-truth, which can only be discovered. The comment box below invites readers to write.

"Civic" refers to citizens who collaborate for responsible freedom more than for the city.

A personal paraphrase of the June 21, 1788 preamble:  We the civic citizens of nine of the thirteen United States commit-to and trust-in the purpose and goals stated herein --- integrity, justice, collaboration, defense, prosperity, liberty, and perpetuity --- and to cultivate limited services to us by the USA. I am willing to collaborate with other citizens on this paraphrase, yet may settle on and would always preserve the original text.   

Our Views (theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/opinion/our_views/article_bceac392-0ab3-11e8-8a1d-0792a8c7d8b4.html)

Thank you, The Advocate people, for this vital reminder not to risk exposing other people to flu and other viruses, especially during Mardi Gras. 

  

Today’s thought, G.E. Dean (Mark 7:6-9 CJB), The Advocate, February 7, 2018, 7B.

" Yeshua answered them, “Yesha‘yahu was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites — as it is written, ‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far away from me. Their worship of me is useless, because they teach man-made rules as if they were doctrines.’ “You depart from God’s command and hold onto human tradition. Indeed,” he said to them, “you have made a fine art of departing from God’s command in order to keep your tradition!”

Dean, omitting all but V.6, says, “Does this describe you? Are you happy with your answer?”

I trust and am committed to the-objective-truth, which does not respond to doctrine, tradition, or any other human opinion, such as mine.

Letters

Embryo cartoon (Stewart, Liuzz, Hauler, and Rodi) (theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/opinion/letters/article_b259c4d4-0b5b-11e8-816c-f3c7a3b159cb.html, theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/opinion/letters/article_4f8f8fc0-0b5e-11e8-bb7f-b35cdfc8dab7.html, theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/opinion/letters/article_8312a47e-0b5c-11e8-90b8-37f6325c2fff.html and theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/opinion/letters/article_67aa7b70-0b5d-11e8-aa9e-07dffc68904d.html)

While The Advocate creates “rights” out of offenses by illegal parents I encourage consideration of risks to ova waiting to be conceived.

  

I congratulate Glenn McCoy’s extension of the idea “Americans are dreamers, too,” by Stephen Miller and Rob Porter, lead writers for President Trump’s speech on January 30, 2018; cnn.com/2018/01/30/politics/americans-are-dreamers-too/index.html. McCoy invoked our visions of either a potential person who is waiting to be born and will not be abused or neglected after gestation and delivery---or an embryo not already afflicted, whether naturally or artificially. Society hopes for the best life for each human but fosters human abuses.

  

I support women and oppose Legislators who ignore the Hippocratic oath, “First, do no harm.” It is the pregnant woman’s responsibility to terminate her pregnancy when she decides termination is necessary.

  

I urge a civic culture, which coaches children to develop authenticity according to their gender. Authentic females care for their live ova, and authentic males would not threaten a woman and her viable ova. Some adults practice abortion for fun, abusing ova. (Creative phrase by MWW.)

I commend McCoy or another cartoonist to depict an ovum waiting to be conceived and risking termination by error-correcting biology (corrective physics), or by medical care to protect a person doomed for early death, or by the mother’s decision to terminate her pregnancy for protective reasons only she understands, or by early neglect and abuse. In a religious perspective, God gave the pregnant woman the responsibility to decide whether to remain pregnant or not and Legislators who would deny her privacy are despots against what God did. (That is my opinion: I do not know the-objective-truth.)

By considering natural abortion from the perspective of the viable ovum, many erroneous opinions may be righted: the pope’s opinion that life begins at conception when implantation so often fails; the Legislator’s opinion that he or she should overcall the pregnant woman’s responsibilities in placental reproduction processes; the idea that a woman who does not care for her viable ova is humanly moral; the idea that a man who does not care about the woman and her live ovum is authentic; that idea that a society that does not teach and coach its children can collaborate for a civic culture; the idea that legislative abuse of pregnant women is the right way to control abortion for fun.

As individuals, in thoughts, speech, and actions: First, do no harm.

To Matthew White:
 

Your "and yet," supports my goals.

One of my principle goals is to end civil freedom of religion: religion is none of government’s business. Religion is a private pursuit for adult humans. The legal imposition of freedom of religion is an act of tyranny. Humans have the duty to think, and non-participation in religion is moral when the religion causes harm.

See my 8/7/1999 essay on revising the First Amendment to protect thought at promotethepreamble.blogspot.com/2014/06/lets-revise-first-amendment.html.

Discrimination (Auten) (theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/opinion/letters/article_36292766-0b5f-11e8-b5fb-57c7502ec4c5.html)

  

I think Auten, in “no discrimination,” captured the point of Emily Kelly’s story. Friends and family may continue to enjoy friendships with families who suffer psychological difficulties. Genuine friendship is wonderful.

Columns

Chronic traumatic encephalopathy (Emily Kelly) (nytimes.com/2018/02/02/opinion/sunday/nfl-cte-brain-damage.html)

I wish everyone read this plea for understanding.

There’s a social tendency to take a dismissive attitude, like, “There but for the grace of God go I.” Families who are dealing with psychological problems need candid inclusion rather than defensive isolation.

Imposing religion on prisoners (Mark Holden and Brooke Rollins) (theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/opinion/article_6dc3548e-0aac-11e8-ad7e-437b97094453.html)

For decades the State of Louisiana imposed on prisoners the faith-based dominance of Burl Cain supported by the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary; nobts.edu/gatekeeper/news/2015/nobts-angola-prison-celebrates-20-years-of-changing-lives-with-new-facility.html.

  

Now we have the infamous LFF’s Gene Mills getting involved more heavily. Religion is a private pursuit for adults and a civic culture does not impose religion on anyone, especially captives.

  

To educate prisoners in civic morality or human morality or justice, the Great Books Reading and Discussion Program (www.greatbooks.org/) is a public option. It opens minds for living, leaving hopes for the afterdeath as a personal interest.

More Dardenne mendacity (Dan Fagan) (theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/opinion/article_59efa568-0b63-11e8-96d9-13152dd42d48.html)

“Dardenne told the committee he would not use the word "cut" in describing how they dealt with the state budget the first two years of the Edwards administration.

Dardenne also admitted to me the funding for some of the cuts has been restored. Meaning Dardenne and Edwards want us to believe cuts are still cuts even though they are no longer cuts.”

Dardenne comes off as cunning in a foolish way: He expects people to overlook his word craft that supports privations in integrity.

I am glad Fagan can attest to Edwards admitting to inaccuracy, but that is not enough. Edwards may need to admit lies to his mirror in preparation to face the people.

I hope Hewitt becomes more assertive.

Part of the problem (Lanny Keller) (theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/opinion/lanny_keller/article_d510a49c-0ac6-11e8-9652-bb3159360b7e.html)

Plainly, Gov. Edwards is the wound inflictor, and Mr. K wants more gorging.

  

Mr. K went too far with “Drivers ought to curse . . .”

I’m not wealthy, and I write often to say: No more taxes until there is better control of spending.

Moreover, Mr. K expressed his own privation in “Edwards' freshman-year vote . . . but he has had the integrity.” Read Dan Fagan’s column to get a view of Edwards’ honesty:  He can’t touch integrity.

Mr. K slights his own, but that is typical for The Advocate.

“Democratic coalition” (E. J. Dionne) (washingtonpost.com/opinions/joe-kennedy-and-fall-river-values/2018/01/31/25ad8a6a-06cf-11e8-8777-2a059f168dd2_story.html?utm_term=.86b3bcfae5ac)

I appreciate Dionne’s candid report: “. . . African Americans, Latinos and women are in the ascendancy in the Democratic coalition. Its members differ sharply over whether they should even try to bring home white working people . . .”

And “I could never worship the free market because I respected too many people it regularly left stranded.” Also, the word choice “worship” is expressive.

I agree with the Kennedy quote only on my terms:  “We are all worthy, we are all equal, and we all count.” I can agree with this interpretation: every human has the inalienable authority to utilize the energy of his her lifetime.

  

News

AMO or OFA? (Martha Waggoner) (abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/campaign-poor-holds-1st-national-action-52827837)

   

Has the PPC heard the saw “you can’t go back to before?” The Revs. William Barber and Liz Theoharis sponsor a “season of direct action and civil disobedience” for May 13-June 21. The civil rights acts have passed, and for the past five decades blacks could have been collaborating for a civic culture rather than using AMO for check cashing. Is OFA involved now?

Leslie Boyd perceives “a national narrative that not only blames the poor for the poverty but uses religion to do so. Too many people believe that "if you were a good person, Jesus would bless you.”

“U.S. Census figures show that the poverty rate among blacks was 22 percent in 2016, while it was almost 9 percent among whites. But in sheer numbers, almost 17.5 million white people are classified as living in poverty, compared to 8.7 million blacks. The U.S. poverty rate was almost 13 percent in 2016.”

Discipline (John Rosemond) (winonadailynews.com/lifestyles/relationships-and-special-occasions/john-rosemond-no-guns-are-not-the-problem/article_6c80d87f-24d5-55d3-bb5b-0922fd30655b.html)

   

“. . . the problem is what I term emotional entitlement syndrome — the narcissistic belief that certain feelings are all the excuse one requires to justify anti-social and/or self-destructive behavior. To widespread emotional entitlement one can add the effects of encouraging high self-esteem (which is associated, we now know, with low respect for the rights and property of others) and the demonization of shame, the primary purpose of conscience.”

“. . . therapy is no substitute for firm discipline.”

  

Other forums

quora.com/unanswered/Why-is-there-a-need-for-a-man-to-philosophize

Sometimes a human perceives action is necessary when the consequences are not predictable, so reasonable speculation must be exercised.

The noble work of humankind is to discover actual reality, understand the discoveries, and make best use of the knowledge. What is known seems intractable by any individual or any group, yet what is unknown seems even more extensive.

Each newborn is uninformed and engages in developing knowledge.  Each human individual faces both personal unknowns and what humankind has not discovered. Personal ignorance may be lessened by the noble work of considering, comprehending, and understanding.

  

The unfolding of actual reality is dynamic, even though the-objective-truth exists and may be immutable. Both conditions are possible with, under differing conditions, conversion of potential energy into space-time and mass.

We know from E=mC² that potential energy can become mass in space-time, which can reconvert to energy. Conditions change as the universe unfolds. For example, during the moment after the big bang, temperatures were very high and only plasma chemistry was underway. As temperatures cooled, inorganic chemistry emerged, first at relatively high temperature then at reducing temperatures. Next, organic chemistry emerged, on earth, in a low oxygen environment and later with higher oxygen content, as today. During all these processes, it seems likely that the laws of actual reality or the laws of physics have been immutable. But the perception may not correspond to the-objective-truth. I do not know, but maybe someone does.

All this is to say that the individuals faces both personal unknowns and actual reality that is unknown. When it is the latter, and the individual perceives action is necessary, reason based on the best possible use of what has been discovered is required. In other words, the individual must philosophize. In other words, he or she must speculate using his or her best faculties.

A couple examples might help. Recently, someone alarmed Hawaii of an incoming missile. I have not researched the story, but can imagine the person who sounded the alarm perceived cause.

Second, Bush II invaded Iraq using fabricated information. He speculated that ending the illegal energy trades by United Nations member countries justified mendacity. Mendacity is always discovered as the universe unfolds. (Perhaps that is an affirmation of the immutability of physics.)

In another example, before then, I kept defenses for my home and family in one place. Sometimes, I wake up and inspect the home and property. That night, I discovered the back door unlocked and ajar. I imagined an intruder between me and both my loved ones and my defenses. I froze and deliberated. I decided that if I encountered an intruder I would serenely, sincerely ask, “How may I help you?” Fortunately, no one was there. I philosophized that defense tools scattered about the house is a better plan, and that’s the way it now is.

One may philosophize that it is best not to think negative thoughts. However, actual reality dictates concern and preparation. Yet it seems to me a human is well served by the philosophy: in every thought, word, and action, first do no harm.

Often the human individual perceives he or she must act without sufficient information:  He or she has no choice but to wisely speculate.

facebook.com/groups/qayyum110/permalink/2062452144035528/?comment_id=2062778547336221&reply_comment_id=2063860587228017&notif_id=1518029411360652&notif_t=group_comment_mention&ref=notif

Civil morality can be more insufficient than social morality unless it conforms to civic morality. In other words, both civil morality and social morality are inferior to civic morality. 

Civic morality offers private liberty to all who accept it. Civic morality provides statutory justice, whereas civil legality is often unjust. In civic morality, only dissidents are threatened by statutory justice, and then only when harm they caused is discovered. 

Dissidents observe statutory justice and are motivated to reform. Unjust laws are as plain to dissidents as to the tyrants who imposed the injustice.

Societies and associations that try to impose 300 year-old ideas onto 2018 civic morality are wasting their time. It is personally precious time, because it is their lives they are spending. 

It is better to observe the past but collaborate with people who are living today for mutual, comprehensive safety and security; in other words, a civic culture. 

In a civic culture, every no-harm religious or spiritual belief flourishes. Discussion of Hobbes, Rousseau, and the myriad of other thinkers can be carried on without demands, impositions, or lessening civic morality.

Those wonderful thinkers just did not have the benefit of the discoveries humankind has accomplished in 300 years.

Thank you, Mr. Zaman, for collaborating.

Phil Beaver does not “know” the actual-reality. He trusts and is committed to the-objective-truth which can only be discovered. He is agent for A Civic People of the United States, a Louisiana, education non-profit corporation. See online at promotethepreamble.blogspot.com.