Thursday, December 29, 2011

Lesson 55 from The Hard Knocks School of Life

Evil breeds hate. Then hatred breeds violence.

Hatred sets men one against another. The father of evil (if you believe the Bible) is Satan; the one thing Satan wants more than anything else is for men to hate one another. The fact that men hating one another breeds violence and causes men to destroy one another means that we do Satan’s work for him.

Perhaps you do not believe in Satan or in objective evil. If you insist on disbelieving in Satan that is fine; but not believing that we can define evil as one man stirring hatred for another for any reason seems to be lacking in understanding. For if we hate one another we can never have peace.

© 2011 Vic Jones

Wednesday, December 07, 2011

Lesson 54 from The Hard Knocks School of Life

Let not him who is houseless pull down the house of another; but let him labor diligently and build one for himself, thus by example assuring that his own shall be safe from violence when built. Abraham Lincoln

Let us paraphrase this for the modern era: Let not the poor man steal (whether with his own hand or by government action) from the rich but rather let him learn to become rich and build his own wealth thereby assuring that his wealth will be safe from the greed of other men.

Greed is without a doubt at the heart of wishing to have what you desire without work. But greed always leads to everyone having less goods and less security.

© 2011 Vic Jones

Tuesday, November 08, 2011

Lesson 53 from The Hard Knocks School of Life

Human nature is universal, people are individual.

Self interest is a matter of human nature. In every society no matter how it is organized people will generally seek their own interests over everyone else. This is one of the generalities of human nature.

People are individual (this is also a generality of human nature) in that everyone will express some form of individuality even in the most conformist culture. Also even though everyone can be expected to seek his own interest it is never wise to expect that any one person will seek his own interest even when it may seem that he has an obvious interest.

© 2011 Vic Jones

Wednesday, November 02, 2011

Lesson 52 from The Hard Knocks School of Life



Today’s lesson is a quote from Ayn Rand the author of Atlas Shrugged. “One of the methods used by statists to destroy capitalism consists in establishing controls that tie a given industry hand and foot, making it unable to solve its problems, then declaring that freedom has failed and stronger controls are necessary.” —Ayn Rand, 1975

My first question on seeing this quote is: What is a Statist? A Statist is a person who invests the state (government) with the ability to answer all of life’s questions and needs. A person who believes this way is worshiping a false god of course but since the state has become their god you cannot do much to persuade them away from investing all of their effort into it.

In the modern era it is wise for us to remember that the statist will do his (her) best to destroy anyone who even begins to shake their faith.

© 2011 Vic Jones

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Lesson 51 from The Hard Knocks School of Life

Self interest is not evil. Taking away people's incentive to win is evil!

Self interest is often conflated to be greed which is then seen as evil. I find no difficulty in identifying greed as evil. What I do find difficult is to separate honest and reasonable self interest that is survival oriented for both the individual and society from greed which is not survival oriented.

Perhaps the best way to define greed is as a hunger that cannot be sated and that grows greater the more it is fed. In extreme cases this sort of hunger destroys not only the individual but the society of which he is a part.

Taking away a person’s incentive to win  is evil because this is an abrogation of his self interest which as I noted above is good not only for himself but for everyone around him.

© 2011 Vic Jones

Sunday, October 23, 2011

Lesson 50 from The Hard Knocks School of Life

Jealousy and greed are interrelated; if I am jealous of my neighbor's car I am actually practicing covetousness which is a form of greed. If I am jealous of my wife or husband it is because I think of them as possessions rather than as people.

Some people think that self-interest is the same as greed I do not think that self-interest is the same as greed nor is it (self-interest) evil. Yet because it puts your welfare above other people’s welfare it is easy to mistake self-interest as greed.

Greed (and I’ll define it more in a later lesson) is insisting that you should be the only person to have possessions. It (greed) is not wanting more possessions than you currently have unless by having more things you seek to deny possessions to your neighbor.

© 2011 Vic Jones

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Lesson 49 from The Hard Knocks School of Life

If you can't enforce the law then it is nothing more than empty words.
I suppose that the easy thing to say about this statement is that it should need no further explanation. It seems (at least to me) to be complete without adding to it. That does not mean that there are not other principles that cannot be obtained from it nor that there are not questions that must be asked if this principle is true. The first of those questions is this: When has the law become so complex that it is impossible to know or enforce?

© 2011 Vic Jones


Saturday, October 08, 2011

Lesson 48 from The Hard Knocks School of Life

The purpose of religion is the moral education of a society.
Some people may ask if moral education is necessary. Others may insist that we are unable to truly define what is moral. Whether or not a person believes that moral education is necessary children are consistently being morally educated. They may be receiving the message that if they want something that if they can take it that is a reasonable behavior or they may be receiving the message that they must respect other people in both their persons and their property.

I think though that one of the worst things I’m seeing today is the advancement of the idea that it is moral for a crowd to do things that it would be immoral for a person to do. This is a very dangerous idea. In fact a quick look at the French revolution will give a person chills when the behavior of the ‘masses’ is examined.

© 2011 Vic Jones

Thursday, September 29, 2011

Lesson 47 from The Hard Knocks School of Life

You have heard the teaching that if your neighbor slaps your cheek you should offer him the other one. Some people have interpreted to mean that you should accept violence without recourse. This is untrue. If your neighbor balls up his fist and punches your nose you are well advised to return the favor immediately.
You say to me that returning violence for violence just escalates violence. I say that the appearance of weakness encourages violence. Most times it is possible to accept an insult (though to some people even accepting an insult can will be viewed as weakness) without injury; however when insult escalates to assault it is generally no longer wise to accept it.

© 2011 Vic Jones

Monday, September 26, 2011

Lesson 46 from The Hard Knocks School of Life

There is no time when you are not making a choice. You may choose to stay where you are or you may chose to move from where you are. The most important thing to remember is that in either case you're making a choice.
Being able to understand this principle can help you to recognize when you have made a choice. This is because many times we fail to recognize that attempting to not make a choice is impossible because the only time you are not making a choice is when you are dead.

© 2011 Vic Jones
 

Saturday, September 24, 2011

Lesson 45 from The Hard Knocks School of Life

The only way that everyone can (or will) have the same amount of goods and services is if no one has any goods or services.
Of course even in the most aggressively socialistic or communistic countries it is evident that not everyone has the same things or the same services rendered to them. For example consider North Korea. Most of the population of North Korea lives in abject poverty while the ruler of the country (an absolute dictator) lives in luxury that would embarrass anyone with a sense of morality. The same can be seen in Cuba where the Castro brothers have lived in luxury while their people starved. Thus when anyone puts forth the idea that fairness consists of everyone having the same amount of goods and services it is well to ask whether he is willing to divest himself of his goods so that he can live up to his rhetoric.
© 2011 Vic Jones

Friday, September 23, 2011

Lesson 44 from The Hard Knocks School of Life

Lies are like acid corroding or corrupting any society that permits them to permeate its fabric.
What more needs to be said about this? Yet there seem to be some people who would rather hear a pleasant sounding lie for the moment than to hear an unpleasant truth. A pleasant lie for example is that when everyone has the same amount of stuff that society is fair. This is a most childish belief that leads at the very least to mass misery. We may have equal value to God but we do not have equal talents and it is certain that we have not all applied our talents with equal vigor to gaining stuff. Therefore it is actually unfair to assume that everyone having the same stuff is fairness!

© 2011 Vic Jones

Thursday, September 22, 2011

Lesson 43 from The Hard Knocks School of Life

The truth must be defended; that includes debunking lies whenever you hear them!

It may seem oxymoronic that allowing a lie to stand can cause much evil but since lies are one of the basic units of evil every person who aspires to goodness must work continually to expose any lies they discover. Thus anyone who says that the truth can stand without being defended is expressing at the very least moral incompetence. However it is my contention such a person is very likely is asking that whatever lies he has told not be exposed.

© 2011 Vic Jones

Monday, August 29, 2011

Lesson 42 from The Hard Knocks School of Life

If you are doing something and you are not getting the results you expected don’t continue doing what you are doing. Stop and examine what is happening and rethink your strategy, you may need to change what you are doing.
Another way of stating this is that to do the same thing the same way and expect a different result is insanity. There is little doubt that failure should lead to reexamination of what a person is doing. Therefore anything that prevents people from reexamining their behavior in the face of failure is doing them a grave disservice.

© 2011 Vic Jones

Thursday, August 25, 2011

Lesson 41 from The Hard Knocks School of Life

If you seek peace through weakness you will have peace; you will also most likely be a slave! It may seem to be a contradiction that you will live a more peaceful life if you are willing to work and fight for what you have than if when threatened with violence you give whatever is demanded by the person or group issuing the threat but it is true.
Another way to express this is that bullies only pick on those they perceive as weak.

© 2011 Vic Jones


Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Lesson 40 from The Hard Knocks School of Life

If you don’t stand for something you will fall for anything. This may seem to be an over simplistic statement but as with a great many bits of wisdom the fact of its shortness and simplicity is what gives it great impact.
For example how many people believe a great many ideas without ever learning to think about those ideas. Atheists don’t believe in any god but are unwilling to look at the universe and see the necessity that such a being exists. They claim the fact that there are many different beliefs as to what a god would represent this means that there must be no real god or even anything that is objectively true though every society minimally condemns murder.

© 2011 Vic Jones

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Lesson 39 from The Hard Knocks School of Life

Emotion rules reason. This is why tyrants appeal to people’s emotion. Lust lures people to death, fear drives them into the cages, and anger can turn them into an unthinking mass willing to commit any atrocity.
This is one of the statements that leads me to believe that less is more. I honestly don’t know what I could add to this statement to intensify it or convince anyone who is unwilling to accept its bold simplicity.

Altogether too often there is living proof that emotion has ruled reason when a riot breaks out or when a group of people decide to attack someone they see as threatening. Yet we do not teach our children to use reason rather than emotion. I wonder why?

© 2011 Vic Jones

Monday, April 18, 2011

6000000 tax payers?

P. Obama has defined rich as making more than 250,000 dollars. So with that in mind I did a little research and found that about 2% of people filing income tax paperwork made over this amount. Therefore if (and trust me this is not true) every person filed an income tax return the number of persons making more than 250,000 dollars in the USA would be around 6,000,000 (this assumes 300,000,000 population). But a great number of people file jointly (I didn’t look up this statistic) and a certain number of people are exempt from filing as well as a certain number who will not file for other reasons.
Therefore we must ask a serious question: what sort of person would in essence destroy (because the end result of taxation is destruction) a resource like people who are ambitious enough to make an income that is higher than others?

Some have suggested that P. Obama is incompetent. I think this is untrue, he has said he will fundamentally transform the USA. All of his activities seem to be trending in that direction with no fumbles at all. So no I do not think he is incompetent. Anything he does that is destructive to the USA is deliberate.

© 2011 Vic Jones

Lesson 38 from The Hard Knocks School of Life

No tool is good or evil. Things are morally neutral, the uses they are put to may be good or evil but the uses do not define the tools.
It may be difficult for some people to understand that things are morally neutral although I cannot understand why anyone would find this concept difficult. After all things (except animals [and I’ll discuss that in another place]) are only moved by people. People are aware of what is (or should be aware) evil. That is the deliberate destruction of other people.

© 2011 Vic Jones

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Go Fly a Kite

Take some time,
To enjoy your life,
Do somethin’,
Just ’cause it’s fun,
Sure you can’t live for fun,
But to try to eliminate it is just as bad,
Balance is the key,
To a life that is well lived,
Have some fun,
Work hard,
Love your family,
And work to love your neighbor,
For this can bring peace to the world,
Don’t expect your neighbor to love you,
For all you may do,
He may remain your enemy,
Still love is what Jesus calls us to.

© 2011 Vic Jones

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Income Problems or Spending Problems

I’ve heard several senators express the idea that the USA has an income problem. IE we have made commitments ([by senators] to spend money that we didn’t have [to buy votes]) that we cannot fail to meet. However I am quite old enough to recall the peanut man JECIII and remember that he too had a problem of encroaching inflation… the current administration has learned to cook the books and not report inflation (although anyone who has visited the grocery store or a gas station lately knows better) or worse yet stagflation (this is where normal investments such as houses go down in value while the necessities of life increase in price) which is happening. I would say that my personal misery index meter is beginning to show yellow and for a lot of people it is showing red! However this does not address the issue of whether or not the USA has an income problem it just indicates that we have a priority problem. The government has printed money to try to cover some of its obligations and this money has in essence driven up the price of survival.
So supposing we actually had an income problem (which we do not) the next question would be how should this problem be addressed? Many senators insist that taxes must be raised to increase the income of the USA yet in all of the world I know of no enterprise (including government) that can increase its prices and actually increase its income. In fact the most one of the most successful (profitable or highest income) businesses in the world is Wal-mart www.walmart.com/ and their motto is lower prices always.

Therefore the only reason to raise taxes that I can see is for the government to either punish activity that it believes is bad or reward activity that the powers that be regard as good.

© 2011 Vic Jones

Saturday, March 26, 2011

Addiction is Insanity

I’ve been looking at addiction from the inside for many years. And while it would be possible to make the excuse that my addiction is fairly harmless I would be less than truthful in saying that it has caused me no harm nor pain.
One of my addictions is playing solitaire on the computer. Another is reading anything and everything with a concentration on fiction. Both of these are activities that I will do even when I could be doing something else (like writing) that has the potential to increase my income. I will also do them rather than go out to meet people. Even though that too has the potential to increase my income or open opportunities for me to share my writing with an even larger audience.

Thus I can see that even the mildest of addictions has many negative impacts on my life, yet I will not stop doing the things that I’m addicted to! This is insanity.

© 2011 Vic Jones

Monday, March 21, 2011

Lesson 37 from The Hard Knocks School of Life

Money is simply the tool by which goods and services are exchanged. But if this tool were to disappear civilization would grind to a halt causing the death of great numbers of people by starvation.
Since money is the god of a great number of people I’ve spent quite a bit of time trying to define what it is. The fact that it is a tool that enables people to trade a variety of goods without resorting to barter is one of the chief definitions of money. What money is made of is to some degree irrelevant as paper is as plentiful as sand in a lot of ways. It is our faith that someone else will accept that piece of paper in trade for goods or services that enables us to use paper as money.

Other wise we would be forced to go back to gold, silver or absolute trade (IE farmer Joe trades one bullock for one porker or the like) which would definitely limit the variety of goods that could be traded as well as limiting the distance they could be traded over.

© 2011 Vic Jones

Saturday, March 19, 2011

Wondering

Wondering


What shall I say?

What shall I do?

What I’ve done in the past cannot be changed,

Am I brave enough to change the future?

To make the choice,

To pay the price,

To do the work,

To change myself,

And thus the world,

I know if I don’t,

The world will not change,

Because I’m the only one I can move,

To make any change,

Oh I tremble at the cost,

Howl at the pain,

Rattle the chains with which I so gladly bound myself,

Yet what is my other choice?

More pain for others?

Blaming them, not my actions for the messes that I make?

No longer will I do such.

No each day I choose to endure,

Because otherwise I’d be a coward,

And cowardice is not a legacy I’ll leave to anyone.

© 2011 Vic Jones

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Lesson 36 from The Hard Knocks School of Life

All men are of equal moral value. But all men do not have equal talents. They definitely do not have equal abilities either. Therefore to expect all men to have or acquire the same amount of goods is foolish.
I will also add that not all men will apply themselves to the development of their skills with as much vigor as other men and that also makes a difference in the amount of goods a man can or will acquire. Life is not fair. In other words no matter how much we want it to be so, different people behave differently. If you don’t believe this consider identical twins. Even between two people so nearly alike, there is a difference in temperament and interests.

© 2011 Vic Jones

Wednesday, March 09, 2011

Budget Woes


P. Obama and his cronies in the senate have sent a budget to the people demanding that they be permitted to spend 20% more this year than they did last year. Then when the house which represents the people tells him that he can only spend 10% more than last year he throws a fit like a two year old denied a candy bar. I truly think both he and congress need a reality check. Let me explain a true budget cut. I have had a 20% reduction in actual income, not in projected income. This is a budget cut; not what P. Obama and Harry Reid are complaining about. Reality would demand that the government not spend more than 10% of the GDP and that they cease from taking money from those who earn it to give to those who refuse to work.

© 2011 Vic Jones

Saturday, March 05, 2011

Liberty or slavery

Defunding Obama care is about liberty therefore I strongly support the effort to defund it one address for people involved in this effort is here: http://getlibertynow.org/alg/defundpetition2.aspx?pid=l1j I hope any of my readers will understand that you cannot demand something (whether goods or services) for free and maintian a free society.
(c) 2011 Vic Jones

Lesson 35 from The Hard Knocks School of Life

Some people will try to tell you that making a profit is evil; this is not true. What is evil is trying to take a man’s labor without compensating him. Taking labor or goods without compensation is what people who say making a profit is evil are trying to do.
In some ways this lesson is a reiteration of lesson 34. But it is well to remember that those who would steal by making you ashamed of making a profit will use most any method of beating you down so that they don’t get their heads handed to them when they break the laws of God about theft.

© 2011 Vic Jones

Tuesday, March 01, 2011

Further Thoughts on Education

I’ve continued to listen to P. Obama talk about education and say that we cannot afford to not invest in education. I think that today’s column by Chuck Norris gives lie to everything that the president says about education. I suggest that you go here http://townhall.com/columnists/chucknorris/2011/03/01/stalin-style_us_public_education/page/full/ and read what Chuck Norris has to say. If we cannot pay the best teachers according to their achievements and rid ourselves of the bad teachers and pay the mediocre ones as they deserve according to their accomplishments then we have no real hope of educating our children to compete in the world. And if we spend money without hope of some return then we might as well set fire to it or pour it down a rat hole.
© 2011 Vic Jones

Monday, February 28, 2011

Students treated like prisoners in LA

Is Los Angeles taking the lead in treating children like prisoners? The reason I ask this is that I’m listening to a radio show Dennis Prager at http://www.krla870.com/ on the internet and they are reporting that in LA the schools want to fit their students with GPS devices to enforce attendance. My first reaction to this is that this is a horrid extension of government. First schools should be places children are enthusiastic about going. If they are not places where children want to go then there is something desperately wrong and there must be a change made in what is being done in schools so far as the instruction program.
© 2011 Vic Jones

Monday, February 21, 2011

Lesson 34 from The Hard Knocks School of Life

‘Social justice’ is the shibboleth used by those who envy achievers especially those achievers who have become rich. When someone says that they want ‘social justice’ they are looking for ways to hide their own envy and greed.
Justice is done when each person is able to direct his life as he wishes so long as he is not harming someone else. It is not justice at all to look at another person’s goods (or body) and say that if you can convince the government to give it to you that such is your right!

© 2011 Vic Jones

Thursday, February 17, 2011

Unusual Weather

It has been snowing all day where I live. Right now there is about three inches of accumulation on the steps leading to my apartment.  To understand how unusual that is you must understand that I have neighbors with an orange tree from which they usually get oranges.

Rain at this time of year would not be unusual nor would warm weather in the mid sixties (degrees Fahrenheit) but snow? This will be a record I'm sure.

(c) 2011 Vic Jones

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Lesson 33 from The Hard Knocks School of Life

Persistence is more important in the scheme of life than inspiration or brilliance.
This is one of the hardest lessons of life to learn. It therefore bears much repetition. In simple parlance practice (persistence) makes perfect. Thus the writer or artist who works at his craft every day is better than the brilliant genius who waits for inspiration to hit.

This also applies to other areas. The man who has many skills but who does not go out every day to find a job (or refuses to take a job) will not usually be as successful as the man who works every day.

© 2011 Vic Jones

Monday, February 14, 2011

Current events 2/14/11

There is no such thing as state capitalism. Capitalism that is true capitalism relies on the broadest number of people having access to the ability to gain and create capital. State control is the opposite of this idea. Therefore there can be no such thing as state capitalism. Whenever the government enters a market it is like the largest business in the world seeking to establish a monopoly. And it is well known that monopolies create inferior products and service. After all if you only have one choice for the product or service why does its provider have any incentive to provide superior products or services?
© 2011 Vic Jones

Tuesday, February 08, 2011

Lesson 32 from The Hard Knocks School of Life

A greedy man wants to be the only one making a profit.
Making a profit is not evil; indeed it (making a profit) is necessary to continued living. There are those who would say otherwise of course; but most of them can actually be counted as among the greedy. They want to be able to take the profit from those who invest their time and ingenuity to gain goods or make new ideas a reality.

It seems to me that often the most greedy person is the one who tries to convince the doers of society that their profits on their efforts are evil.

© 2011 Vic Jones

Wednesday, February 02, 2011

Struggling

I’m still struggling with the concept that there is anything that is necessary and at the same time evil. My conclusion is yes there is and the best example I can come up with is still a government or government generically.
I’m sure you are asking how this can be possible. In order to understand that government is evil and yet necessary you have to accept the position that mankind is evil. That in general and generically we all tend toward doing things that are evil. Once you accept that and accept that government (which is made up of people) is evil as well but necessary to curtail the tendency of people to be evil then you can begin to accept that government is a necessary evil.

© 2011 Vic Jones

Sunday, January 30, 2011

Lesson 31 from The Hard Knocks School of Life

Government is a necessary evil; therefore it behooves men who wish to be free to make sure that government stays as small and as weak as possible. T. Jefferson
I’m not sure if this is an actual quote or a paraphrase of Thomas Jefferson, but I am sure that it correctly reflects his sentiments with regard to government. Government is necessary to maintain civil order but the larger the government gets the less responsive it is to the needs of the people.

Indeed for a government to be ‘good’ it must be small, transparent, and essentially dependent on the people in order to carry out its legitimate functions of keeping the peace and guarding the borders.

I’m also fairly certain that all of the founding fathers of the USA would be aghast at giant corporations like GM, Google, GE, et al.

© 2011 Vic Jones

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Lesson 30 from The Hard Knocks School of Life


Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely. -- Lord Acton.

I’ve been trying to come up with something to add to this and all I can think to say is that it means that the government is no more trust worthy than is Reynolds Tobacco, or Google, or Microsoft for that matter. Each of these organizations has worked to acquire money which translates into power. What is especially worry some though is when a large corporation like Walmart starts cooperating with the government…

© 2011 Vic Jones.

Sunday, January 23, 2011

Author Interview

Vic Jones, the author of The Wordwright’s blog at Author Nation http://www.authornation.com/Thewordwright/    and Aethernotes_polyblog was interviewed by Lorelei Bell for http://loreleismuse-lorelei.blogspot.com/ about his life as an author and his upcoming book Castlebound.

Thursday, January 20, 2011

The Viper

The Viper


A foolish young miss,

Nurtured a venomous viper,

At her breast,

When one day it did bite,

She exclaimed before she expired,

Why have you treated me so,

Did I not tenderly nourish you,

And protect you,

Indeed did I not hide you in my bosom,

All that is true said the viper,

But to my nature I too must be true,

And away he did slither,

To entice another foolish miss or mister!

© 2011 Vic Jones

Lesson 29 from: The Hard Knocks School of Life


The good man knows that all men are capable of evil and guards himself against evil in his thinking. The evil man doesn’t believe in evil and therefore lays himself open to commit all sorts of evil.

Who have been the monsters of the last century? Stalin, Hitler, Mao, Pol Pot, et al; I’m sure most people would agree on these men. What is the common thread that connects them all?

Is it not that they were all convinced that they were morally superior to all other people. Or that they rejected current common morality and definitions of evil?

All I know is this if I hear that a person believes he can define morality or evil without an outside guide I fear their rise to power.

© 2011 Vic Jones



Tuesday, January 18, 2011

What is happening

I said some time ago that I would post my poetry here but I am finding that very difficult to do since some of it is formatted in ways that this particular site seems to not support.

However if one of you who reads this can give me some clues to what I've done wrong to cause this site to remove the formatting from items I paste to it I would be greatly obliged.
Vic
1-18-2011

Friday, January 14, 2011

Lesson 28 from The Hard Knocks School of Life

There is a difference between expecting to make a profit on your product or labor and being greedy.
I would define being greedy as trying to keep anyone else from entering into competition with you.

It seems to me that many people who are complaining about others making undue profits are those who have inherited their wealth or who have been taught that money rather than greed is at the root of evil.

No one can or should try to define what is an appropriate profit or income. That type of behavior is what leads to tyranny.

© 2011 Vic Jones

Sunday, January 09, 2011

Lesson 27 from The Hard Knocks School of Life

In order to tell a believable lie the first thing you have to do is convince yourself that the lie is true.
Lying to ourselves is one of the worst habits that humanity has. It is this propensity that enables truly huge lies to be believed. The fact that we accept small lies (even demand them at times) leads us to be vulnerable to big lies.

This is the principle that Josef Goebbels recognized when he said that if you tell a lie often enough and loud enough (I’m paraphrasing) that people will eventually believe it.

The question I think we ought to ask today is this: What sorts of loud lies are we believing because we refuse to believe that someone would be so bold as to say such things if they weren’t true?

© 2011 Vic Jones

Thursday, January 06, 2011

Lesson 26 from The Hard Knocks School of Life

If good people don’t fight for what is right and good, evil people win!

What more needs to be said about this issue?

I suppose a great deal since there are some people (I think they are evil…) who say that you cannot really know what is right or good. Therefore it behooves us to consider what our definition of right and good is. When you are certain you know what is good then do not let others change your mind. When you do something look at the result, if other people are actually helped or improved by it there is a good probability that you are doing good. Conversely if people are being harmed and not improving because of what you are doing then you are doing wrong and to my mind possibly doing evil.

© 2011 Vic Jones

Tuesday, January 04, 2011

Lesson 25 from The Hard Knocks School of Life

If someone says he wants to punish the rich because they are greedy you should ask what that person has to gain in the transaction they propose. You also should ask yourself if the person proposing to punish the rich is actually greedy…
People who are earning high incomes are called rich by our current government yet they may or may not have actually accumulated much wealth. Conversely many people who have much wealth (either inherited or accumulated) often have low incomes (or at least low earned incomes) because they have most of their assets stored in government preferred investments whether they be municipal bonds or T-bills or some project the government wants accomplished.

High income earners are the achievers of society and punishing (or taxing them) is like making fun of nerds in school.

© 2011 Vic Jones

Monday, January 03, 2011

Over committed

I'm doing my best to maintian two blogs and write three books. Well actually I have two underway now (not counting any stalled projects) and one in the first edit stage of the game.

So as I haven't been posting much here I imagine you all know which project is sucking hind teat the most.

With that said I do hope to be able to post at least once a week to this blog.

Vic

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