Saying of the Week......

“The loveliest faces are to be seen by moonlight, when one sees half with the eye and half with the fancy” Persian proverb

Caring vs. Uncaring

Caring vs. uncaring-Walter E. Williams
Posted: May 10, 20061:00 a.m. Eastern
© 2006 Creators Syndicate, Inc.
George Orwell admonished, "Sometimes the first duty of intelligent men is the restatement of the obvious." That's what I want to do – talk about the obvious, starting with the question: What human motivation leads to the most wonderful things getting done?
How about the charity and selflessness we've seen from people like Mother Teresa? What about the ceaseless and laudable work of organizations like the Red Cross, Habitat for Humanity and Salvation Army? What about the charitable donations of rich Americans, to use the silly phrase, who've given something back?
While the actions of these people and their organizations are laudable, results motivated by charity and selflessness pale in comparison to other motives behind getting good things done. Let's look at it.
In December 1999, Stephen Moore and Julian L. Simon wrote an article titled "The Greatest Century That Ever Was," published by the Washington, D.C.-based Cato Institute. In it they report: Over the course of the 20th century, life expectancy increased by 30 years; annual deaths from major killer diseases such as tuberculosis, polio, typhoid, whooping cough and pneumonia fell from 700 to fewer than 50 per 100,000 of the population; agricultural workers fell from 41 to 2.5 percent of the workforce; household auto ownership rose from one to 91 percent; household electrification rose from 8 to 99 percent; controlling for inflation, household assets rose from $6 trillion to $41 trillion between 1945 and 1998. These are but a few of the wonderful things that have occurred during the 20th century.
Returning to my initial question: What human motivation accounts for the accomplishment of these and many other wonderful things? The answer should be obvious. It was not accomplished by people's concern for others, but by people's concern for themselves. In other words, it's people seeking more for themselves that has produced a better life for all Americans.
Take a minor example. I think it's wonderful that Idaho potato farmers get up early in the morning to toil in the fields, which results in Walter Williams in Pennsylvania enjoying potatoes. Does anyone think they make that sacrifice because they care about me? They might hate me, but they make sure that I enjoy potatoes because they care about and want more things for themselves.
What about all those people who've invented and marketed machines that do everything from diagnosing illnesses to controlling air flight? Were they basically motivated by a concern for others, or were they mostly concerned with their own well-being?
One of the wonderful things about free markets is that the path to greater wealth comes not from looting, plundering and enslaving one's fellow man, as it has throughout most of human history, but by serving and pleasing him. Many of the wonderful achievements of the 20th century were the result of the pursuit of profits. Unfortunately, demagoguery has led to profits becoming a dirty word. Nonprofit is seen as more righteous, particularly when people pompously stand before us and declare, "We're a nonprofit organization."
Profit is cast in a poor light because people don't understand the role of profits. Profit is a payment to entrepreneurs just as wages are payments to labor, interest to capital and rent to land. In order to earn profits in free markets, entrepreneurs must identify and satisfy human wants in a way that economizes on society's scarce resources.
Here's a little test. Which entities produce greater consumer satisfaction: for-profit enterprises such as supermarkets, computer makers and clothing stores, or nonprofit entities such as public schools, post offices and motor vehicle departments? I'm guessing you'll answer the former. Their survival depends on pleasing ordinary people, as opposed to the latter, whose survival is not so strictly tied to pleasing people.
Don't get me wrong. I'm not arguing that self-interest and the free-market system produce perfect outcomes, but they're the closest we'll come to perfection here on Earth.
Dr. Walter E. Williams is the John M. Olin Distinguished Professor of Economics at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va.


Right on! For some reason ( most probably economic ignorance) a majority of people seem to think making a profit is a "dirty word". As Dr. Williams points out, who is more interested in keeping you happy, someone who wants to make money from you, or somone motivated for 'altruistic reasons'? I think his illustration makes it perfectly clear , and one trip to the Dept. of Motor Vehicles, (or any other government agency) is enough to make you WISH they had a profit motivation in their 'business'. I have said many times that if Walmart was run like the Dept. of Motor Vehicles they'd have gone out of business long ago. But this idea of enlightened self interest being at the heart of most of our success seems not to be being taught any more. Instead of so much of the "touchy-feely mush" or 'blame America first' that passes for education today, society would be better served by some plain old fashioned economics lessons. And throw in a little of that old fashioned ' readin', writin', and 'rithmetic' and we 'd be even better off.

Week 16 Rate the Class

If I understand this assignment correctly, we are to rate the class, good or bad, whatever we actually think.
Hmmm. Ok.......

Overall, I liked the class. I particularly liked the blogging format. I had not realized that I would enjoy blogging as much as I do. I would not have liked the more traditional 'print" form of journalism nearly so much. I think blogging plays more to my interests than regular journalism would have.

I would have a suggestion though. It might work better, and keep people from sliding behind, if assignments were given out on a particular day, and always due the next week by a particular day. Some online courses follow that format, and it makes it easier to keep track of assignments, eg, my new writing asssignments come out on Tues morning, and they are always due before 11:59 pm on the following Monday. If it isn't done by then, there is a consequence to suffer. Plus that way I always know exactly how many days until the next assignment is due without having to check. Another thing that might be worthy of consideration, in my online courses we MUST read and comment on our classmate's work. Each week. It is an incentive to finish my work in a timely mannner, because I know my classmates will be checking it out. And it is interesting to see how other people may approach an assignment very differently from the way I did.

Other than that, I liked the course. Thanks for all your work trying to turn us into aspiring journalists. : )

Bye, and good luck to all of us!

Week 16- Utica OD Post

http://www.uticaod.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060502/NEWS/605020324/1001/news

Assembly Cancels Session in Solidarity with Immigrants

Two dozen of our illustrious state lawmakers, as if they don't already work very little ( they work fewer days but are paid much more than most other state legislators) have walked out of the state legislature "in support of the immigrant's rights demonstrations" across the country.

What? What are these Democrats thinking? What 'immigrant rights'?

Frankly, it is outrageous that lawMAKERS would be supporting lawBREAKERS!! This whole "immigrant rights" issue is a just smokescreen. It would be as if there were 12 million people who had broken any other particular law complaining that they were being labelled criminals and wanting special "rights". These ILLEGAL immigrants are CRIMINALS, and should be dealt with as such. What part of 'breaking the law makes you a criminal 'don't they understand?

Week 16-Personal Opinion Post

http://www.newsday.com/news/health/ny-adcova4724682may01,0,6387957.story?coll=ny-health-print

Is your kid indigo?Proponents of the theory say creative, hard-to-manage kids are more highly evolved than the rest of us. Critics doubt it.

I'll give you the information "in a nutshell":


"According to parents who believe, however, up to 90 percent of children younger than 10 may be indigo, sharing the characteristics of not only being more spiritual and intuitive than their forebears, but also more creative and free-thinking. According to Carroll and Tober, indigos have a strong sense of self and are often impulsive, refusing to play by society's rules - a situation that often results in being mislabeled as having ADD or ADHD, attention deficit hyperactive disorder.The common link among all indigo children, advocates say - part and parcel of the New Age belief that society is evolving toward a better, brighter future - is that they've come to push humanity toward greater authenticity and world peace by challenging adults' rules and the usual societal conventions. "

All you really need to know is that according to this article, these are the traits that "indigo children" are believed to exhibit.

1. They come into the world with a feeling of royalty (and often act like it).
2. They have a feeling of "deserving to be here," and are surprised when others don't share that
.3. Self-worth is not a big issue. They often tell parents "who they are."
4. They have difficulty with absolute authority.
5. They will simply not do certain things; for example, waiting in line is difficult for them.
6. They get frustrated with systems that are ritual-oriented and don't require creative thought.
7. They often see better ways of doing things, both at home and in school, which makes them seem like "system busters."
8. They seem antisocial unless they are with their own kind. If there are no others of like consciousness around them, they turn inward, feeling like no other human understands them. School is often extremely difficult for them socially.
9. They will not respond to "guilt" discipline ("Wait till your father gets home.").
10. They are not shy in letting you know what they need.


We've all met these children. We just didn't know they were called "Indigo Children". Most of us just knew them as BRATS.

These are the same smarmy, "wise" kids we've all either had in a class with us or had to sit next to at some public place. They usually are "bouncing off the walls" while their parents sit there with an adoring expression watching their child go crazy as everyone else in the room wonders what kind of a nutcase lets their child act like this. They've been everywhere, done everything, and know everything under the sun. They think they really are the center of the universe and seem to be totally astonished and genuinely hurt to discover that no one other than their parents and themself think that they are anything particularly special.
The parents of these children all seem to have one thing in common, they either can't, or won't, control their children. By asserting their child is "special" and that the usual rules of behaviour don't apply to them, they can justify their abdication of parental authority. There may indeed be some sort of "social evolution" happening with them, but it is "evolving " downwards, not upwards.