A school district in Massachusetts is reportedly instituting an “honor roll for effort.” In other words, students who are seen as trying hard get on the honor roll even if their performance is mediocre or they fail. For a school … Continue reading
“Cutting spending” — whether in a household or a government — implies value judgments and priorities. Value judgments and priorities imply ideas about what is and is not appropriate for spending. Those who say “we have to cut spending” without … Continue reading
Investor’s Business Daily, The Wall Street Journal and other publications are reporting that businesses are still making profits — perhaps in the trillions, collectively. The problem is, they’re afraid to spend. This includes spending on hiring. Their hope is that … Continue reading
Self-esteem refers to how you feel about yourself. Self-respect refers to how you treat yourself. Many talk a good game about self-esteem. Fewer actually put into practice the ideas that: “life is worthwhile, therefore I am worthwhile and my life … Continue reading
“We are fast approaching the stage of the ultimate inversion: the stage where the government is free to do anything it pleases, while the citizens may act only by permission; which is the stage of the darkest periods of human … Continue reading
Shame is like static or interference in a radio, computer or television transmission. It serves no purpose. It gets in the way. Shame is not responsibility. Responsibility is adherence to reality and the willingness to hold in mind all the … Continue reading
The malevolent universe idea is the notion that life is by its nature difficult, hard and impossible. This attitude is caused by many factors, some of them personal and starting in childhood — for example, an all-pervasive sense that the … Continue reading
Q: Is there a way to harmonize conscious thoughts and emotions that conflict? A: It’s a process or habit developed over time. You identify a response that you know is irrational or mistaken, but it’s still emotionally present. You decide … Continue reading
In a dictatorship, the dictator appoints his own special police force or military unit to “protect” his interests as a dictator. It’s noteworthy that Obama has done the same with the government bureaucracy. He is appointing his own army of … Continue reading
The new head of Medicare — appointed by Obama without so much as a Congressional hearing — has been a proponent of rationing and holds up the British model of socialized medicine as both the moral and practical model for America … Continue reading
It’s important to be rational. But what exactly does “rational” mean? A lot of well-intentioned people who mean to be rational don’t understand that the term refers to a method more than anything else. In other words, “rational” does not … Continue reading
The Life Savers (a true story by DrHurd.com fan Tim Scharff, reprinted here with permission) In the early 1960s, when I was a little kid about five years old, my mother used to give me a nickel each week as … Continue reading