text:
The Right to Private Property
The right to private property is the social-political principle that adult human beings may not be prohibited or prevented by anyone from acquiring, holding and trading (with willing parties) valued items not already owned by others. Such a right is, thus, unalienable and, if in fact justified, is supposed to enjoy respect and legal protection in a just human community.
One reason that it must be shown that the social regulative principle of a right to private property is sound and that it ought to be respected and protected in human community life is that it is a vital conceptual or logical implication of the individualist story. If individualism is indeed sound, so is the principle of private property rights. When the right to private property is not respected and not sufficiently protected, then there is something wrong with a community.
Table of Contents
- Why Private Property?
- Individuality and Humanity
- Individualism: True and False
- Individuality and Privacy
- Classical Liberalism, Human Nature & Individuality
- Fluctuating Classes
- The Moral Standing of Private Property Rights
- Individualism and Historicism
- Individualist Alternative to Organicism
- The Appeal of Collectivism
- The Right to Private Property
- No Carte Blanche to Communities
- Property Rights, Individuality and the Moral Life
- No Private Property Rights, No Full Moral Agency
- Moral Individualism
- The Virtue of Prudence
- Prudence and Justice
- Moral Responsibility and Private Property
- Naturalism and Politics
- Commerce and Property
- Moral Standing of Political-Economic Systems
- Morality and Public Affairs
- Law and Common Sense
- Abandon the Divided Self Idea
- End Notes
1. Why Private Property?
The right to private property(1) is the social-political principle that adult human beings may not be prohibited or prevented by anyone from acquiring, holding and trading (with willing parties) valued items not already owned by others. Such a right is, thus, unalienable and, if in fact justified, is supposed to enjoy respect and legal protection in a just human community.
In the development of classical liberalism there emerged in Western political thought a shift of focus as to the prime value in social-political matters, from the group--a tribe, class, state or nation--to the human individual. It started with the effort to gradually transfer power from a few or even one person as the source of collective authority and power to more segments of society involved in exercising such authority and power, leading, eventually, to the sovereignty of the human individual. The way in which power is diffused when individuals are sovereigns rather than groups is through the fact that individuals have only a little and highly diversified power to wield. In consequences, they aren't likely to impose themselves on others by, say, starting a war, even when they disagree very seriously. That, in essence, was the initial motivation for moving toward individualism, which, when implemented via law and public policy, is much more conducive to peace and, as a result, to prosperity than is any form of collectivism. Thus classical liberalism has had some considerable support on practical grounds--its usefulness to attaining various widely sought after objectives.
A major reason, however, that individualism makes better sense than its competitors is that the view that human beings are primarily parts of a social whole is wrong. This last is a false notion. When invoked, arguably it tends to serve as a disguise for certain special or vested privileges of some members of society.(2) Generalizing such special or vested interests, the values or goals pursued in their name, has been a major source of political acrimony throughout human history. It even continues to drive much of contemporary democratic politics.
There is, however, the problem that as far as its ethical presuppositions and implications are concerned, individualism and in consequences also classical liberalism have not fared all that well. These views are constantly being charged with opposition to community life and human fellowship, hedonism, materialism, and so forth. Even though this is wrongheaded, without a solid moral case it is difficult to show that to be true. The reason is that morality is extremely important in human affairs. Most people do not confidently embrace a political stance unless it manages to embrace certain basic moral principles. Pragmatic reasons thus never suffice to establish the soundness of political systems and public policies.
It is part of the point of this essay to show that private property rights accord with certain basic moral principles. These are the indispensability of human agency in any sensible moral framework and the moral virtue of prudence. I will argue that individualism embraces these principles and that the right to private property makes their actual realization possible in human community life.
2. Individuality and Humanity
Human beings have, as one of their distinctive features, a significant element of individuality. Notice, for example, how this comes through in some thought experiments. If a friend dies, it is nonsense to think, "Oh well, I'll just get another friend." You cannot just replace a person with another if you regard him as he really is, most basically, not just as some member of a class of people, such as dentists or auto mechanics. (Even with pets it's difficult to replace them because they become sort of humanized around us.)
On the other hand, with a cow, fly, rock and most other things in the world, replacing them is no problem in one sense because they aren't important individually. They're important in their relationship to other things, whereas in the case of human beings it is everyone's individuality that matters most, especially in those most significant personal or intimate relationships. You fall in love with an individual, not a banker--when you really fall in love, that is. (Some people "fall in love" with a type, true enough, but there's something perverse about that -- it is somewhat sad to hear, "Well, I love him because he's in uniform or has a big car.")
Even apart from such common sense observations there is the clear evidence that whenever we consider human beings, we cannot avoid their volitional conduct, actions they choose to bring about on their own.(3) In intellectual discussions this is evident in the fact that we criticize one another about what we think, holding our adversaries directly or indirectly responsible for alleged misjudgments.(4)
It is a reasonable view, then, that human beings are first and foremost individuals who cause much of what they do. Their actions flow from their thinking and their thinking is the sphere in which they are free, self-determined.(5)
3. Individualism: True and False
Now individualism is associated somewhat uncomfortably with classical liberalism. The reason is that some have overemphasized the element of individuality, making it seem that we are not also members of communities, even of the human race. Such "atomistic" individualism has made it seem that classical liberalism is tied to a misguided social philosophy. An example of it may be found in the oft repeated story, by economists, of Robinson Crusoe. If one models human life on Crusoe's story and his interaction with Friday, it appears that we are born capable of self-sufficient productive conduct and from the start choose whether to associated with others. Yet this idea is patently absurd, considering that all human beings are born helpless and grow up in the company of others on whose support they vitally depend.
Yet it is not true that individualism is necessarily committed to atomism. One can fully admit to the communal aspects of human life while insisting that we are essentially individuals, as well. Such a robust, what I have called "classical" individualism, also stresses the importance of the private realm and insists that all bona fide human communities must adhere to the terms individuals set for themselves.
The crucial individualist ingredient of classical liberal social and political theory stresses not some arid independence or isolation of the individual human being but the fact that everyone can make what in principle can be independent judgments as to the kind of communities suitable to one's membership. Given human nature, the element of choice must be preserved in every suitable human community. This is the source of the classical liberal political principles that demands that the consent of the governed be upheld in public policy as well as personal relations. The criminal nature of murder, assault, kidnapping, rape, robbery, burglary and so forth all make sense in terms of this classical or moderate individualism first found in Aristotle philosophy.(6)
4. Individuality and Privacy
The gist of individualism is, then, that everyone must consent to being used by another. This is because each is important, valuable in his or her own right. And if an individual is important as such, then there is a sphere that constitutes the individual's realm of sovereignty and others ought to respect it, the realm within which one must make effective judgments about one's life. And indeed in classical liberal, political, and legal theory there's a great deal of emphasis on individual rights rather than rights of families or other groups, bearing on this individualist element of the position. The right to private property is, in turn, the most practically relevant of those individual rights.
The term "privacy," then, underlines this emphasis of the importance of individuals. The right to private property is really just an extension, within the framework of a naturalist world view, of the right to one's own life. It is when one('s life) engages with the rest of the world in the unique way one will do so, and when another will do this in his or her unique way, then privacy becomes important.(7) It will then be possible to actualize and to protect who one is and one's manifestation in the world--one's own art, productivity, creativity, innovation and so forth. None of those, as well, may be used by others without the individual's consent to whom they belong.
Socialism and Humanity
Now consider that one of the interesting things about socialism is that in deep-seeded socialist theory there are no individuals. Marx said it directly: "The human essence is the true collectivity of man."(8) He also noted that human beings constitute specie-beings and comprise "an organic whole" in the collectivity we call humanity.(9) What is important about you and me for a consistent, thoroughgoing socialist is that we belong to the human race, somewhat analogously to the way a bee belongs to its hive or an ant to its colony, only in this case the constituent parts are intelligent persons.
This is especially true of international socialism, but National Socialism and even more restrictive, local forms of socialism, emphasize the group as a whole and its plan, telos or destiny. Even communitarians, as vague as their conception of a community comes to (so that one cannot pin them down as socialists because they leave room for some elements of individualism), speak mostly of concerns in behalf of "us" and use the term "we" to designate the primarily valued party when discussing public policy. The individual can then, at times, be sacrificed if some gains are made for the group, collective or community.
5. Classical Liberalism, Human Nature & Individuality
Yet, if we examine human life carefully, we notice clearly that there is something irreducibly, inescapably, individual about everybody. Just think about yourself. How do you insist on being regarded by friends and others close to you? As a student? An American or Rumanian or Hispanic? Or as a woman or basketball player? Is there not in fact something unique that is the you that captures who you are? One's identity isn't racial, ethnic, religious or even professional. It is individual. As John Quincy Adams said in the motion picture Amistad, ask not what someone is but who someone is to come to know the person.
It's in classical liberalism that this is acknowledged more than in any other political philosophy. There's always been a little bit of emphasis on individuality, of course, in various rebellious political movements, but it's very difficult to maintain the supremacy of the tribe or, later, the state if one admits that what is truly important in a human society is the individuals who comprise it, as individuals. Because then one can't reasonably say, "Well, we can do away with that individual or with that group of individuals or their projects so as to benefit some others, including some collective such as the state, community, culture or race."
Indeed, with the recognition and acknowledgment of the supreme value of the individual, the very definition of a "good" or "just" society would have to emphasize the freedom and happiness of individuals.
In fact, a characteristic of the classical liberal political ethos is that one scrutinizes a society for its quality, its goodness, and its justice on the basis of how loyal it is to the mission of securing the rights of individuals to their liberty and pursuit of happiness. This is actually a very prominent movement in the world today. It's not done consistently and purely, but all those human rights organizations that go from country to country to check whether they adhere to tenets of justice are at least rhetorically committed to the examination of whether the countries treat their citizens as individuals with rights. Are their projects respected or are they neglected and treated with callous disregard for the choices of individuals?
This is one of the reasons that in a largely liberal--or, for the sake of avoiding confusion with American liberalism, a libertarian--society membership in a class looses its moral and political significance. In the United States of American, for example there are matters that may make no difference to most people, but when they matter to even just one, it is appreciated. I, for one, once worked as a busboy in Cleveland, Ohio, and noticed that when paid, I could go back to the same restaurant and eat a meal there. There was no frowning and shaking of the head and saying, "Wait a minute, you don't belong here." In much of Europe, in contrast, if you work in a restaurant you don't get to eat there--it is not illegal now but it's certainly gosh.
6. Fluctuating Classes
In a more or less libertarian social-political society the divisions that are based on incidental attributes--one's wealth, color, national origin, ethnicity, race, and so forth--tend to be less significant because one's individual worth trumps all these and classes, at any rate, are always in a flux. Even racial and ethnic, not to mention religious or economic categories tend to shift because there is no widespread and well entrenched legally enforced barriers to either entry to or exit from any of them.
Such categories and the behavior associated with them may still prevail in certain special contexts. For example, a professor will usually attain special respect in the classroom, but when one meets the professor at a restaurant, one will not need to carry over the behavior associated with that classroom status. No "Herr Doktor," as, for example, in much of Germany, in or outside the classroom. In most American schools, however, one says, "Hello Professor," but outside the label isn't usually used.
All this can be a bit disturbing because it can sometimes spill over into disrespect for people who in fact deserve respect. Rampant individualism can corrupt into disrespect for all authority. The corruption can but by no means need be generated by the notion that individuals matter primarily as individuals, not so much as members of classes. It is also evident enough that we are social beings, members of the class of human beings, and there are some matters very important about that, too.
7. The Moral Standing of Private Property Rights
Individualism does, however, underlie the regime of private property rights. But why do we need a separate discussion of the merits of the right to private property? What will such an inquiry yield?
There are at least two answers to that question. One is that when you resist people taking something from you, by taxation, theft or any other means, it is important to know, even if only implicitly, that the resistance is justified. That it is a kind of self-defense, akin to resisting someone assaulting or raping someone else. It is vital to learn that one is in the right and is not doing something merely willful or stubborn or prejudicial, that one is not just being a recalcitrant, antisocial person, when one insists on the integrity of ownership. This is a point widely contested by opponents of classical liberal or libertarian legal orders.
When all things are considered, the most important questions about liberalism and its various tenets is, "Is it true?" "Is classical liberalism or, its purest versions, libertarianism, the way a society ought to be organized?" And, in order to answer that question, one must examine whether its various tenets can withstand challenges, criticisms and so on. Individualism is one of these tenets but the right to private property is the most important practical, public policy element of it.
The second reason we need to examine private property rights is whether system of individual rights, including the right to private property, is a just system? Or is it, as many critics claim, just a figment of some people's imagination?
One of the most prominent and oft-repeated criticisms leveled at classical liberalism, especially by students of various configurations of Marxism--there are about 300 versions now--is that this whole emphasis on individuality is a kind of a historical glitch. It's only a temporary phase in history which had its role but now can be dispensed with.
8. Individualism and Historicism
The Marxists and many others, some who follow them without knowing it, claim that in the 16th century the individual was invented, not merely discovered or his existence politically affirmed, for the sake of sustaining economic productivity. In order to create motivation for wealth-creation, the individual had to be made seem significant. It's a myth, but it's a useful myth. It's like telling someone that she is beautiful when she isn't so that she will do certain things from which certain advantages derive. According to Marxists, there was a period of human history where the belief in the importance of the individual had an objective historical function, not because it's true, but because it contributes to certain crucial elements of capitalism.
There are people who look at history in this way, as if it is the record of the growth of humanity from infancy to full maturity. They then take it that the bourgeois epoch is like the adolescence of an individual. It's a temporary stage and has its usefulness because, typically, adolescents embark upon all sorts of useless ventures--such as getting up at four o'clock to drive some place not because there's something important to do as a sort of exercise to prepare for adulthood. It trains them for the eventual serious challenges of maturity.
When one treats humanity this way, so that it has these various historical stages, individualism can be regarded to be one of those stages. It's a somewhat appealing picture--it fits some images we have of humankind. Ecologists encourage this, as do some moral visionaries who see humanity as a big family or some other kind of collectivity.
Marx explicitly said that the Greek era was the childhood of humanity. He, as I have noted already, and many of those who have been influenced by his thinking believe that humanity is some kind of organism, a being of which individuals are the parts. Humanity goes through stages of organic development, the tribalism its first and communism its final stage. And while the individualist stage in a necessary one, it is certainly not the completed stage of humanity.
9. Individualist Alternative to Organicism
These challenges have to be answered because they are extremely well developed, plausible enough, and with enormous influence in the world intellectual community. It is a little like when one meets a friend and asks them to explain some event such as their recent divorce and they proceed to give you a very well worked out and sincerely held rationalization as to how things happened. Now, in order to cope with one of these rationalizations, one must get to the heart of the actual situation and demonstrate beyond all reasonable doubt that the story is a different one. One must show that one's understanding of what's going on is more rational, coherent, comprehensive, and explains much more than does theirs. Otherwise the deceptive story will be the only viable account making the rounds, despite its conflict with common sense.
Unless liberalism is able to identify a better story than what those who champion the organic view advance, it will be defeated, at least theoretically. And while that isn't always decisive, it certainly has an impact on the confidence with which the position can be supported and implemented.
Indeed, one of the advantages of anti-liberal doctrines is that so many intellectuals are enchanted by them. They create elaborate and smart stories around them, stories that are extremely appealing and intellectually challenging. For one, such a story gives the intellectual a privileged position. Only intellectuals are in the position to grasp such a complex story, after all. Common sense does not support it. (For example, Marx thought only communists could really understand the truth of such a story, the rest of us having been blinded by our class outlook.)
10. The Appeal of Collectivism
The idea, for example, that we are all mere parts of a large human organism, humanity, has very a strong intellectual standing in our time. A great many people make reference to humanity--as when they talk about sacrificing oneself or one's private interests or one's materialistic goals for humanity. And others refer to smaller groups--the community or ethnic group or the race--as the organisms that are of significance.
So it's almost a feature of the mainstream to think of us not as individuals but as parts of some larger whole. "Don't you have something more important to live for than yourself?" "Isn't there something greater than yourself to which your life must be devoted for it to be worthwhile?" Less loosely, some, such as the philosopher Charles Taylor, argue that we all must belong to a group, by dint of our very humanity, our nature as human beings. He tells us that "Theories which assert the primacy of rights are those which take as the fundamental, or at least a fundamental, principle of their political theory the ascription of certain rights to individuals which deny the same status to a principle of belonging or obligation, that is a principle which states our obligation as men to belong to or sustain society, or a society of a certain type, or to obey authority or an authority of a certain type."(10) Never mind that Taylor cannot give us any such theories--John Locke, for example, rested basic human rights on ethics or natural law. What is important in what Taylor says is not only that if you just live to make the most of your life, you're not really living a significant enough life. A significant life must not only fulfill a greater purpose and humanity's purpose is one of the candidates. God's purpose is another candidate. Ecologists have a biological purpose in mind. But a significant life but belong to the effort to pursue this purpose and thus our lives, to be properly significant, may be subordinated, by force, to such purposes.(11)
There's a very prominent tradition of selecting alternative wholes larger than ourselves as the proposed beneficiaries of significant human actions. And this can lead to the whole process of forcing individuals to be used for purposes to which they do not consent. This is the greatest source of coercive thinking in human history. Once it is accepted that human individuals are part of a larger whole they, as members of a partnership or team, have enforceable obligations to the goals of that large whole. They belong to it.
Consider, to appreciate this, how in certain cases we treat such wholes as ourselves. If something happens to one's ear, for example, and yet one prizes one's appearance with an intact ear, then one takes another part of one's body that's not visible and takes part of it so as to replace the ear. The famous Welsh actor, Richard Harris, had his nose destroyed in a fight, so doctors took a part of his hip bone and replaced it, clearly because the nose was more important to an actor than that little part of the hip bone.
Well, if humanity is the larger organism, then maybe a given individual may not be so important a part of it as another. So the less important individual can be sacrificed for the more important one (or the goals of the less important can be sacrificed for those of the more important). One may be an eye and the other just a useless thumb. That picture is widely embraced because of the belief that humanity is some organic whole.
If one recognizes collectivism as a misguided picture of human life, one must carefully and effectively argue in response to these well worked out and often honestly and sincerely meant doctrines. One must demonstrate that it is indeed individuals who count for the most in the human picture. It needs to be proven, some of the widespread opinion to the contrary notwithstanding, that notions such as "individual rights" are universal and not stuck to some limited historical epoch.
11. The Right to Private Property
One reason that it must be shown that the social regulative principle of a right to private property is sound and that it ought to be respected and protected in human community life is that it is a vital conceptual or logical implication of the individualist story. If individualism is indeed sound, so is the principle of private property rights. When the right to private property is not respected and not sufficiently protected, then there is something wrong with a community.
This means that it is not quite fit for human inhabitation, given the individuality of every person and how respect for this is a precondition for his or her flourishing.
There are many different ways in which private property has been supported in the history of political economy. Most prominent has been the claim that there should be legal protection of the right private property because this facilitates productivity--a point that's in agreement with Marx, only universalized beyond a given epoch. Protecting this right helps society get rich--not only in the 16th century but always. Both Adam Smith and John Stuart Mill tended to argue along these lines: It's a good thing to have these rights because if we act in terms of them we will have greater prosperity. Many economists today argue a similar point. Indeed, that is one reason many governments engage in privatization, so as to encourage economic growth.
All of this is vital but it isn't what is most important. What needs to be shown is that the individual has these rights regardless of what's done when simply exercising them. Even if individuals waste away their lives, they have that right. It is theirs to waste away, not someone else's, because they are the important element of society, not some outsider, not some other being such as society, the community, the tribe or the ethnic group. It is this element of liberty, the right to choose how one lives, that is most central to human community life, even if, indeed because, as a matter of one's personal life it is equally important to make the right choice, to choose to do the right thing.
That is exactly why the right to private property is vital. When effectively protected, it secures for human individuals a sphere of personal jurisdiction, the right to acquire and hold the props, as it where, with which to order one's life. Moral virtues such as generosity, kindness, courage, moderation, prudence and the rest are all imperatives the practice of which engage one with the natural world. If one is not in charge of some of that world, at least oneself, one cannot conduct oneself virtuously. So the right to one's life, liberty and property are necessary conditions for a morally significant or meaningful life in human communities.
It needs to be noted here, as a significant aside, that even if we are essentially individuals, this doesn't mean we are not also naturally members of societies. But, as moral agents and as candidates for membership in some human communities or societies, we are morally responsible to take into consideration and never neglect the fact that we must judge those societies as to whether they do adequate justice to our individuality, most generally, and whether they best serve our flourishing.
12. No Carte Blanche to Communities
From this it follows that we must always keep in focus the question of whether we ought to live in a given community. Do we--ought we to--want to support this kind of public policy, this kind of a legal system? What is the standard by which we make that kind of decision when we have the chance? At the most basic level of community concern must lie the issue of what principles should govern human communities. The right to private property is one of those principles.
Very often we don't have a direct practical option to act on the choice we make about basic principles. But at least we can think about them so that when we do get a chance to make a significant decision, then we will know where to stand. We owe it to ourselves, to a life of integrity, not to forget about that issue, ever. That is the highest duty of citizenship!
13. Property Rights, Individuality and the Moral Life
So what does the right to private property do in connection with the essential human element of individuality?
Well, as already suggested, the right to private property secures for one a sphere of sovereignty. See, if we are individuals, required, morally, to lead our lives by our judgements, it is crucial that we control the elements with which our lives are lived. Indeed, it becomes the most crucial thing.
The question, "How ought I to live?" becomes the foremost question to which you then seek an answer. While we aren't moral theoreticians and ethical philosophers and so on, that question still is always near the forefront of our minds. No matter what you do, even reading these lines, the question will arise: "Should I sleep or should I pay attention? Should I consider this point or should I just glide over it?"
All of those are questions having to do with your ethical agency, with one's governance of one's life, with one's sovereignty. One's feeling that one is doing the right thing becomes crucial if one is indeed the master of one's existence.
14. No Private Property Rights, No Full Moral Agency
Now, without the right to private property, without having some props, some elements of reality that are under our jurisdiction, our ethical decisions cannot be effectual. Consider for example, if it turns out to be true that a good human being ought to be generous. Well, if we do not have the right to private property how are we going to be generous? Are we going to be like politicians and bureaucrats and expropriate what belongs to others and give this to the poor and needy? That's not generosity. That's theft.
In short, then, in order to have a effective life of moral virtue, for example the virtue of generosity, we must have the right to property, to hold and then to be free to part with values, on your own terms.
15. Moral Individualism
Although collectivism has some currency, especially among intellectuals and social theorists, so does a particular version of individualism. I have in mind the sort that pertains to moral responsibility.
Few people ever quite let go of the idea that some things they and others do are good and some bad things and that those doing them are responsible. When others judge our lives, or when we reflect upon ours, we say, "I did or didn't do the right thing." Moreover, we can go on to consider what we did with what belongs to us--use it well or badly.
Without our sphere of sovereignty, that's manifest in the actual world where we live our lives, we would not be able to act on most moral principles, especially those that involve allocating resources. Are we stingy? But one has to be stingy with something. If one is a neat person, one has to be neat within some sphere that one keeps orderly. If a slob, one will need something that belongs to one that one isn't taking good care of. If those items don't belong to you, if you always have to ask permission of society or the clan or the tribe of the nation as to what to do with these things, the you are not the effective agents in the disposition of them. And you are then not an effective moral agent either. You cannot take pride in what you achieve, nor feel guilt for your failings. You are basically just a little bit of a cell in this larger organism.
16. The Virtue of Prudence
Prudence is one of the virtues identified in classical Greece. I want now to discuss it in a little more detail than thus far.
First, in the modern era prudence has been demeaned because the task of taking care of oneself and one's own has been deemed to be instinctual ever since Thomas Hobbes argued that we are all driven to preserve ourselves. But Hobbes rested his case on extrapolating the principles of classical mechanistic physics to human life, a move that is not at all justified. Human beings must choose their conduct, including whether they will serve others' or their own well-being. Prudence, as the ancients saw it, is the virtue one needs to take decent care of oneself.
Later Immanuel Kant argued that since prudence is a motivation that is aligned to one's own interest or inclinations, it is not a moral virtue. Only motives that are totally indifferent as to one's own interest or inclinations can have moral significance, even though we can not know whether we are ever so purely motivated.
Neither Hobbes nor Kant had it right. Prudence is a moral virtue, though not the only or highest on. In any case, a prudent person acts, among other ways, economically. Such a person realizes that one must reserve for the future, put resources away for a rainy day. Such a person isn't reckless in the disposition of the resources over which he or she has control.
But now if we have no right to acquire or hold things then we can't be prudent. We then don't have the decision-making authority to allocate resources in accordance with standards of prudence. On the other hand, if we do have this authority, then we can choose to act prudently.
17. Prudence and Justice
If in fact it is a moral virtue to be prudent, but it's politically impossible for one to act on that virtue, then there is a basic conflict between ethics and politics. Then the political sphere is not properly adjusted to the ethical sphere. Then our ethical agency has not been done sufficient justice by the legal system in which we act.
And, indeed, that is one of the things that is so frustrating in societies where one does not have the right to private property. Not only that one is going to be thwarted in one's efforts to acquire life's necessities, but that one cannot act responsibly. Here what happens is a version of the tragedy of commons.
The tragedy of commons is a problem usually associated with managing the environment. The reason is that most spheres where there are environmental problems are public. The atmosphere, oceans, rivers, large forests and so on are spheres wherein no one is individually responsible. To put it another way, everyone is responsible for the management of such spheres but no one has a clear idea what to do about this responsibility because the limits imposed by private property rights are missing.
When you have a distinct or definite sphere of jurisdiction, however complicated it may be--with various layers of responsibility and delegation--then when something is done wrong, it can be traced to the agent or agents who did it. And when things are done right, again it can be traced to the agent or agents whose responsibility it was to do them right. Without the right to private property this is impossible.
This is one of the reasons that no society can completely abolish private property. It is impossible to act in any sort of responsible way without some sphere of personal jurisdiction.
18. Moral Responsibility and Private Property
So the right to private property is the concrete manifestation of the possibility of responsible conduct in a community where there are lots of people who need to know what they ought to do and with what they ought to do it. We are talking about a life lived within the context of the natural world. If our bodies are non-existent and we are just living in an illusionary material world, then these matters are of no significance. There is an assumption underlying the right to private property, and indeed many other elements of classical liberalism or libertarianism, namely, that we have a task to live properly in the midst of a natural environment, a natural world. We are not just living a purely immaterial life. Food needs to be grown and distributed, production has to occur. All sorts of concrete, natural tasks need to be carried out in order to facilitate our human lives.
If this natural life turns out to be either illusionary or insignificant, then some of these things loose their importance. Then politics might indeed be subject to different principles, ones that facilitate different goals, different aims from prosperity, flourishing, or other kinds of earthly success. It's not easy to imagine what that would be. Yet, in a philosophical discussion of these issues, one has to contend with the fact that there are alternative basic ideas that are proposed concerning the basic elements of human living. Liberalism has to stand the test of being compared with these alternative pictures.
19. Naturalism and Politics
The naturalist approach, in the sense we are preparing and forging ways of living within the natural world, is, I am convinced, demonstrably sound. The alternatives tend to be very vaguely and confusedly supported.
There are doctrines in the world that say that all individuality, for example, is a myth. There are Eastern religions that contend that the natural, individual self is an illusion and that in truth, we're all just part of the universal consciousness.
In order to test this, one has to have some criteria by which truth needs to be determined. The naturalist approach rests on the application of criteria that are universally accessible, available to all human beings with their rational faculties intact.
20. Commerce and Property
Private property rights, of course, makes for the institution of commerce. If you trade goods and services, if you sell them, if you produce them, if you hoard them, if you save them, you have to have some level of jurisdiction over them. If I wanted to trade you my watch for your shirt, then it has to be my watch. Or I have to have delegated to me the authority of someone whose watch it is. And it has to be your shirt; otherwise there would be no ability or justification in engaging in this trade. I can't sell you this; this belongs to this hotel. But if it belongs to nobody, then I can't even ask the permission of the hotel whether I can sell it or even give it away. So commerce, as well as charity and generosity presuppose the institution of private property rights. Without that institution, these activities cannot be undertaken smoothly, without confusion.
21. Moral Standing of Political-Economic Systems
One of the questions that arises in the discussion of political philosophy and political economy is whether they have moral standing. When the Left criticizes classical liberals morally because the liberal or libertarian polity makes profit-making possible, what is the answer?
It's not enough to just say, "Well, we just like to make profit." A murderer can just say, "We just like to kill people." That is no justification, clearly.
There are those who argue that a social science such as economics requires nothing from morality--indeed, it is entirely amoral, purely positive or descriptive in its central thrust. But this is a mistake. All human affairs, including economic ones, are permeated with moral issues. In economics, for example, there is the moral (or as Rasmussen and Den Uyl have called it, the meta-normative(12)) element of private property rights.
If one does not own anything, no trade can ensue and all the talk of supply and demand must be abandoned in favor of what collectivists tend to support, a sort of share-and-share alike "economy." But to own something means to be in a distinctively normative relationship with others. They are prohibited from taking what belongs to one. They ought not do so and will be penalized, furthermore, if they do.
So the amoral stance on the market economy is doomed to failure. What is needed is a moral or other normative justification of the institution of private property rights.(13)
To do that we must analyze human nature as it is manifest in the natural world. Will such an analysis support the institutions of freedom and free markets and give them a stronger moral standing in human society than alternative ones possess?
22. Morality and Public Affairs
Now there are some who would dismiss all this because there are cases in human community affairs involving innocent helpless persons, one's who meet with natural disaster and may find themselves without any voluntary help when they need it. And that is certain a possibility, even if not a likelihood in a free society. James Sterba, for example, has been arguing for decades that because such cases are possible, the people who find themselves in them have a right to welfare that the legal order may protect. These positive rights, whereby others are required to work for such persons--or part with goods they have worked for in order to support them--come about because it would not be reasonable, Sterba argues, to demand that such people respect private property rights. It would be more reasonable to expect of them to strive to obtain the goods they need--ones Sterba calls, in a question-begging fashion, surplus wealth. (As if someone is justified in identifying what constitutes surplus--a term from classical Marxism that makes no sense outside the Marxist framework.)
If one recognizes, however, that an individual's life is his or her own and he or she does not belong to anything or anyone outside of memberships to which he or she consents, then even the most dire needs of others does not support any institutional arrangement that fails to recognize individual rights--to life, liberty, and, yes, property (that one comes by without violating the rights of others even if one does not strictly deserve the property for some kind of service rendered or other achievement--for instance, come by because others want to purchase some talent or other attribute one naturally has). Just as it is unjustified to use others as a shield against natural danger, regardless of how little use one may make of them, one may not use others against their will, including wealth they own. One must find ways around this prohibition, as indeed most do when they engage in trade rather than theft in the effort to acquire their own wealth.
It is reasonable to demand this of everyone, even those in dire straits. If, however, in desperate circumstances such people do not honor this prohibition, there can be some measure of forgiveness, even within the purview of the legal authority (as per some cases that have been subject to unusual judicial discretion). But such exceptions, as hard cases in general, make bad general law.
23. Law and Common Sense
Let me go back to where we started. When somebody robs another who resists, the latter has a common sense idea of doing the right thing, that the resistance is not merely some immature, capricious and willful conduct. It is not as if one were simply engaged in feet stomping and crying, "I want it! I want it! I want it!" No, one senses that there is right on one's side, not just an arbitrary wish and desire.
That is one reason it is vital to consider whether the free system can be given justification. What has been said here is by no means a thorough defense of the right to private property, but it does furnish some hints as to how such a defense would have to be presented if the issue ever arises, which is quite often in our world. First, this right, if protected, preserves one's moral agency in this natural world in which community life occurs. Furthermore, it punctuates the fact that striving to prosper is a morally valid goal for human beings. So, the moral virtue of prudence, of taking the requisite actions to care for oneself and one's intimates, supports the right to private property as well.
One thing that respect and protection of private property rights makes possible is the pursuit of wealth. Oddly, however, that is a criticism many offer against the system of free market capitalism that is built on the legal infrastructure of private property rights. They say, as we have already seen Marx do so, that private property rights--if they are protected, maintained, developed as law--encourage a hedonistic, narrowly selfish life, one that is concerned exclusively with acquisition of worldly goods. As he said, "the right of man to property is the ? right of selfishness." Freedom is supposed to make too much self-indulgence, including pleasure, possible.
So another question that arises here turns out to be, "Is pleasure justified?" For even if the right to private property could be used for purposes quite different from obtaining pleasure in life, if pleasure is something loathsome and this right somehow encourages its relentless pursuit, perhaps it is an institution that is much more harmful than benign.
We cannot enter this topic at length but this much should suffice for now. If we are indeed natural beings in this world, one of our important values will be pleasure, the good feelings we experience via our bodies. This is so even if there are higher goods the attainment of which may require giving up some pleasure.
So, now, if wealth brings with it the possibility of pleasure, then wealth itself is a worthy good, provided it is not stolen but created, produced, and that it is not chosen as the highest good if a higher one can also be identified.
24. Abandon the Divided Self Idea
If one has a completely different view of human nature, whereby only the spiritual side of human life is of significance, then one will embrace a different system of values and probably also champion different institutions. We have a powerful tradition in most civilizations whereby there is an uneasiness about facilitating the flourishing of the human body. And that is often what stands, at a most basic level, against the free society!
One reason underlying that stand is the lack of a clear, unambiguous and benign acceptance of our earthly selves. We often think ourselves to be so unique, so extraordinary that we believe we must be partly divine or otherworldly. St. Augustine said it well when he cried out, "How great, my God, is this force of memory, how exceedingly great! It is like a vast and boundless subterranean shrine....Yet this is a faculty of my mind and belongs to my nature; nor can I myself grasp all that I am. Therefore the mind is not large enough to contain itself. But where can that uncontained part of it be?"(14) And he then answered, as have millions of others, that it must be somewhere apart from nature.
Business, too, has a bad reputation because of this, as well as the free market place, because if our natural selves are somehow inferior, than servicing it with the vigor with which people in business do must be misguided. People who pursue profit or material wealth, would then be pursuing trivia. They would be mere hedonists. As the title of one of my articles put it, "Praise Mother Teresa and then Hit the Shopping Malls." In other words, we live a schizophrenic life. We embrace the value of prosperity, economic success, wealth on the one hand but then we deny it on the other.
Yet, if in our lives we embrace our bodies, minds, emotions, sensations and so on, then we suggest by this that a more integrated view of how to live and how to protect our values is right, not one that tears us into warring pieces.
The private property rights system rests, in part, on such an integrated understanding of human life, not the schizophrenic one. It rejects the idea that each human being is divided, a view that much of our literature embraces. It places us squarely on this earth, even though it is by no means hostile to anyone who chooses to look elsewhere for fulfillment, quite the contrary. (Indeed, the right to private property has made religious pursuits extremely fruitful as well as abundant, especially in the United States of America where churches can purchase their own land and welcome parishioners where they will not be disrupted by their foes.
The divided self idea started with Plato, at least with a certain reading of him, where he takes our minds to be divided from our bodies and where the mind is supposed to hold the rest of ourselves in check, rule it firmly. Major writers, especially theologians, have ever since stressed this drama and it is reflected in our society's institutions. Victor Hugo made note of this point:
On the day when Christianity said to man: You are a duality, you are composed of two beings, one perishable, the other immortal, one carnal, the other ethereal, one enchained by appetites, needs, and passions, the other lofted on wings of enthusiasm and reverie, the former bending forever to earth, its mother, the latter soaring always toward heaven, its fatherland--on that day, the drama was created. Is it anything other, in fact, than this contrast on every day, this battle at every moment, between two opposing principles that are ever-present in life and that contend over man from the cradle to the grave?(15)
As a result of this, sadly, we are often apologetic for pursuing a satisfactory, happy life here on earth. And then we find it difficult if not impossible to defend the political regime that most clearly enhances such a life, having to accept it when others maintain that, well, it is a mundane, materialist life that such a regime supports.
All of this must be seriously rethought. Without it the best socioeconomic system human beings have ever identified will fail to flourish.
25. End Notes
1. Randy Barnett prefers the term "the right to several property" in The Structure of Liberty (London: Oxford University Press, 1998). One reason that it is useful, at least in the context of political philosophy and moral theory, to keep with the terminology of "the right to private property" is that this right is tied to an important element of classic liberal social and political thought, namely, individualism.
2. This is what public choice theory, within contemporary political economy, has helped identify. See, however, Harold Kincaid Philosophical Foundations of the Social Sciences: Analyzing Controversies in Social Research (London: Cambridge University Press, 1996), in which the author argues that the individualist stance in modern economics is mistaken and that we ought to deploy a more holistic approach. Kincaid and many other critics of what they dub "liberal individualism" claim that individualism is atomistic. While some may, certainly not all individualist fit this description. Nor is that the only version of individualism that gives rise to liberal politics. A good case in point is John Locke, among the early liberals, and many others such as Ayn Rand, Eric Mack, Douglas B. Rasmussen, Douglas J. Den Uyl, Fred D. Miller, Jr., and the late David L. Norton, in our own age.
3. Exceptions are individuals crucially incapacitated. Political theory and law are not devices for dealing with exceptions, however.
4. I develop much of this throughout Tibor R. Machan, Classical Individualism, The Supreme Importance of Each Human Being (London: Routledge, 1998), especially in Chapter 13. "Individualism and Political Dialogue." Any kind of professional, including scholarly and intellectual, malpractice alleged in the course of political or other disputes implicitly rests responsibility with the interlocutors, blaming or commanding them for what they ought to or ought not to have done or said.
5. For more on this, see Edward Pols, Acts of Our Being (Boston, MA: University of Massachusetts Press, 1982) and Tibor R. Machan, Initiative: Human Agency and Society (Stanford, CA: Hoover Institution Press, 2000).
6. "To [Aristotle] the Individual is the primary reality, and has the first claim to recognition. In his metaphysics individual things are regarded, not as the mere shadows of the idea, but as independent realities; universal conceptions not as independent substances but as the expression for the common peculiarity of a number of individuals. Similarly in his moral philosophy he transfers the ultimate end of human action and social institutions from the State to the individual, and looks for its attainment in his free self-development. The highest aim of the State consists in the happiness of its citizens."6. Eduard Zeller, Aristotle and the Earlier Peripatetics, trans. B. F. C. Costelloe and J. H. Muirhead (London: Oxford University Press, 1897), pp. 224-26. This idea is developed further in Fred D. Miller, Jr., Nature, Justice, and Rights in Aristotle's Politics (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1995). The difference between the atomistic and classical type of individualism is discussed in Tibor R. Machan, Capitalism and Individualism, Reframing the Argument for the Free Society (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1990).
7.A very important beginning had been made on this line of analysis by William of Ockham who regarded property rights as securing "the power of rights reason," that is, a sphere of personal jurisdiction that made reasoning about what one ought to do possible. This was extended more elaborate in John Locke's idea that one has the right to one's person and estate, something that, if protected, makes choice among other persons possible. An even greater advance on the precise identification of the nature of private property had been made in James Sadowsky, "Private Property and Collective Ownership," in Tibor R. Machan, The Libertarian Alternative (Chicago: Nelson Hall, 1974). Karl Marx, too, got it nearly right when he wrote that "the right of man to property is the right to enjoy his possessions and dispose of the same arbitrarily without regard for other men, independently, from society, the right of selfishness." Karl Marx, "On The Jewish Question," in Robert C. Trucker, ed., The Marx-Engels Reader (New York: W. W. Norton, 1978), p. 26. Only, Marx's warped view of human nature prompted him to consider only the most wasteful and pointless way the right to private property might be exercised.
8. Karl Marx, Selected Writings, ed., D. McLellan (London: Oxford University Press, 1977), p. 126.
9. Karl Marx, Grundrisse, trans. D. McLennan (New York: Harper Torchbooks, 1971), p. 39.
10. Charles Taylor, Philosophy and the Human Sciences (London: Cambridge University Press, 1985), p. 188.
11. The concept "belong" can be used to refer to membership as well as to being a part of. Membership in human communities embarking on various purposes can be voluntary but being a part of is something ontologically pregnant ? one is part of something sometimes whether one likes it or not. Taylor seems clearly to mean by "belong" "being part of," so that one can be compelled to adhere to the purpose at hand.
12. Douglas B. Rasmussen and Douglas J. Den Uyl, Liberty and Nature (Chicago, IL: Open Court Publishing Co., Inc., 1990).
13. For more on this, see Tibor R. Machan, "The Normative Basis of Economic Science," Economic Affairs,Vol. 18 (June 1998), pp. 43-46.
14. Augustine, Confessions, Lib. X, chap. 17. 8ff
15. Victor Hugo, La preface de Cromwell, Maurice A. Souriau, ed. (Geneve: Slatkine Reprints, 1973).
Author Information
Tibor Machan
Email: email@example.com
Chapman University


text:
In the criminal justice system, sexually-based offenses are considered especially heinous. In New York City, the dedicated detectives who investigate these vicious felonies are members of an elite squad known as the Special Victims Unit. These are their stories.
|Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
|First Air Date
|Last Air Date
|Crime, Drama
|Production Companies
|Wolf Films, Universal Television, USA Network
|Number of Seasons
|20 Seasons
|Number of Episodes
|455 Episodes
|Plot Keywords
|new york, police, lawyer, police detective, criminal investigation, law and order, sex crime
Kelli GiddishAmanda Rollins
Peter ScanavinoDetective Dominick 'Sonny' Carisi, Jr.
Ice-TFin Tutuola
Mariska HargitayOlivia Benson
Philip WinchesterPeter Stone

subset: commoncrawl


text: Avert Corn-Replant Crisis: Tips for Soil, Residue, More May 3, 2013 12:00 AM Tweet Keep corn root problems and other issues at bay by planting at the best possible time. © Corn College TV TAGS: Marketing, Overseas December 18, 2014 By Nate Birt Top Producer Managing Editor Email As painful a decision as it is, replanting corn can sometimes be a must if farmers want to keep the dollars from pouring out of their pockets. "If we're more than one collar behind a neighboring plant, you're going to lose it," Farm Journal field agronomist Ken Ferrie tells viewers in Episode 2 of Corn College TV Season 3. "So when you're doing your stand counts out here, you have to count them as weeds, not as ears." (Click here to order Corn College TV Education Series on DVD.) To avoid a replant decision, farmers can use row cleaners to manage residue, apply appropriate down pressure and pay attention to soil conditions amid planting. Watch the following video to learn about those issues in detail, plus find out what it will take to keep those kernels hanging on through the end of the growing season: Back to news


text:
We set out to wow our customers in 2000 with an all-new fleet of 162-seat Airbus A320s, offering the most legroom in coach*, satellite TV, comfortable seats and a relaxing environment thanks to a keen eye for design. Along with our overall JetBlue experience, this is what customers say they love most about flying with us. As time passes, we're eager to keep earning our customers' love, which is why over the next four years we're restyling our aircraft with more technology and improved materials for a refreshed look and an even more comfortable ride.
No need to power off after takeoff! We're improving your inflight entertainment experience with a number of technology-forward features.
With Fly-Fi – which includes plenty of custom content on The Hub and the ability to stream your favorite shows on Amazon Video – flying won't interrupt your regularly programmed schedule!
Those screens are so beautiful, you can't help but want to touch them – and soon you can! With our new inflight entertainment system, you can scroll through the video features and watch shows on-demand.
Hundreds of movies at your fingertips.
10" HD-capable screens at every seat – that's almost double the size of our screens today!
With in-seat power and USB outlets, it'll be easy to keep up with all that inflight entertainment.
Slimmer, sleeker seats and an overall refreshed aircraft layout will continue to boast the spacious environment you've come to love.
We're maintaining the most legroom in coach (of any U.S. airline based on average seat pitch) and overall personal space to keep those legs happy.
Because legs aren't the only ones who deserve some space.
Our signature extra-roomy seats are still available on all aircraft.
More room overhead means it's easy to keep calm & carry-on.
Little details make a big difference in how customers interact with and feel in their environment. With customer feedback and a little bit of 'design thinking,' we've introduced a number of features, including:
A vital part in keeping customers feeling refreshed when they land.
Nodding off never felt so good with headrests that slide up, down and wrap around.
Complete with a drink holder, this new pocket is built to help keep things organized.
Originally introduced to our fleet with 162 seats, the A320 offers the widest fuselage of any single-aisle aircraft, wide seats & aisles and large overhead bins.
Denotes Even More Space seat
|Number of aircraft:
|Restyling begins:
|Restyling completes:
|Number of rows
|Even More Space rows:
|Cabin height:
|7' 1"
|3 (One in front, two in rear of cabin)
|123' 3"
|111' 10"
|2,700 nautical miles
The A321 is the newest member in our fleet – it shares many commonalities with our A320, only with a longer fuselage.
Customers flying on our A321 aircraft already experience many of the features of our new interiors, including new seats. In 2016, we will introduce our 200-seat A321 (without the Mint experience) and continue flying our current 159-seat A321 (with the Mint experience).
Denotes Even More Space seat
|With Mint:
|All Core:
|Number of aircraft:
|2016 deliveries:
|Restyling begins:
|Fall 2016
|Restyling completes:
|Winter 2016
|159 (including 16 Mint)
|Number of rows:
|Even More Space rows:
|Cabin height:
|7" 1'
|7" 1'
|4 (One in front, one mid-cabin, two in rear of cabin)
|4 (One in front, three in rear of cabin)
|115' 5" (with sharklets)
|115' 5" (with sharklets)
|Up to 3,200nm/5,950km
|Up to 3,200nm/5,950km
With its unique "double bubble" fuselage, the Embraer 190 (E190) offers customers one of the most spacious interiors of all narrow-body aircraft.
While our E190 fleet is not part of our restyling program, our E190s are configured with 100 comfy leather seats in a two-by-two layout, which means customers have either an aisle or a window seat. Even More® Space seats, offering additional legroom, are also available on the E190. All seats are equipped with our inflight entertainment system, offering 36 channels of DIRECTV and 100+ channels of SiriusXM Radio. We also offer newly released movies on flights longer than two hours.
Fly-Fi is now fleetwide
Denotes Even More Space seat
|Even More Space rows:
|1, 12-14
|Seat configuration:
|25 rows; two-by-two
|Seat pitch:
|32" in the core JetBlue Experience; 39" in Even More Space
|Seat width:
|Cabin height:
|6' 7"
|2 (One in front, one in rear of cabin)
|118' 11"
|94' 3"
|2,100 nautical miles
|Two GE CF34-10E
|Inflight entertainment:
|DirecTV®*, SiriusXM Radio®*, JetBlue Features**
1 Most legroom in coach based on avg. fleet-wide seat pitch of U.S. airlines.
* DIRECTV and SiriusXM Radio™ service is not available on flights outside the contiguous U.S.; however, where applicable, movies from JetBlue Features are offered complimentary on these routes.
** JetBlue Features premium entertainment on flights longer than two hours
Cheers to 10 years!
Celebrating our 100th Airbus 320!
You can't quite scan our jets, but barcode sure makes for one beautiful tailfin. Generated in 2010.
We feel incredibly "connected" to this tailfin, which was created in celebration of the 2014 Fly-Fi launch.
What could be better than a healthy snack in our favorite color? Our blueberries-inspired design popped up in 2009.
Bluemanity is dedicated to our crewmembers, their stories, our core values and our nonstop passion for inspiring humanity.
If you've ever wondered what goes on inside our planes, check out Blueprint! The livery imagines just that with over 50 unique elements hidden inside.
This design was a homerun with our Boston crewmembers and customers. We're the proud official airline of the Boston Red Sox.
We were bubbling with excitement to reveal this design in 2003.
Some of our best inspiration comes from our very own crew — like Building Blocks, created in 2011 by a crewmember in Long Beach, CA.
We crossed our T's and dotted our tailfin in 2000.
We're proud to show our support for the FDNY Foundation with a shiny, red livery adorned with the FDNY shield.
A hidden gem, we found this diamond-studded pattern in 2000.
Highrise pays tribute to New York, with its perpetual desire to grow towards the sky. The city is a beacon and is inspiring whatever your vantage point.
Created in 2005, this tailfin eventually came to inspire the name for the TrueBlue Mosaic program.
We're proud to be New York's Hometown Airline®.
Blue never looked so good in green. We're the proud official airline of the New York Jets.
"Blue Finest" pays tribute to the men and women who serve and protect New York City, and its livery prominently displays the NYPD flag, badge and shield.
We unveiled this Cubist-inspired design alongside the delivery of our first A321 to reflect the many incredible facets of our fleet.
"What's Old Is Blue Again" celebrates an iconic age of air travel with a stylish livery inspired by the 1960s.
Stripes are always in style. We've been wearing them since the very start (2000).
We're mad for plaid! Which is why Tartan is a fitting and timeless design that looks great on any runway.
Veterans Day isn't just once a year; we honor our vets and military every single day – in the sky and on the ground.
Introduced in 2002, you can spot this pattern on both our stylish crewmembers and our jets.


text:
PG- S. Curry
SG- A. Iguodala
G- M. Conley
SF- J. Green
PF- J.Smith
F- Z. Randolph
C- A. Bogut
UT- L. Odom
BN- B. Diaw
BN- D. Milicic
BN- H. Warrick
BN- N. Young
BN- S. Brown
BN- R. Williams (GSW)
BN- J. Crawford
I'm thinking I'll be elite in rebounding, blocking, and steals. I'll be solid in AST, FG%, PTS, 3PM and I'll be poor in FT%, TO. I feel I'm close to elite in AST or 3PM if I added one elite player, like a JR Smith or Aaron Brooks off my bench, or maybe even Andrea Bargnani. If I could be elite in 4 categories, and solid in 3 others I should be able to dominate this league.
Any suggestions, criticism, etc?
Edited by Klewfish, December 14, 2010 - 05:37 PM.


text:
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare (26 April 1564 - 23 April 1616 / Warwickshire)
» Click to list general statistics » OR, select a date :
Sonnet Lii
So am I as the rich, whose blessed key
Can bring him to his sweet up-locked treasure,
The which he will not every hour survey,
For blunting the fine point of seldom pleasure.
read more >>
- Hits: Number of visitors who read the poem on the given date.
- Posts: Number of visitors who posted the poem to a friend (via e-mail) on the given date.
- Dates that have "0" hits may not be shown on the list.
- Dates, poems and poets that have "0" hits may not be shown on the list. Statistics are generated daily.


text:
The rectangular gold case has a hammered surface, embellished with stylized floral sprays of cabochon sapphires and faceted diamonds. The thumbpushes are also made of sapphires, and on the inside of the case there are hinged compartments. The measurements of the case are 3 1/2'' x 2 1/2'' (8.9 x 6.4 cm), and it's price is 18,500 USD. You find it at John Atzbach Antiques!
PS. If you want to be notified every time I put up I new post, you can now follow me by entering your mail address in the field to the right!


text:
Through this manufacturer's Custom Order Upholstery Program, customizing your living room is only a month away. This streamlined custom order process allows you to personalize this item with the perfect upholstery color, texture and type for your home. Each option is tested for durability and affordability, meaning that this item can usually be upgraded to a custom order fabric for less than a couple hundred dollars. An in-house delivery fleet ensures quick drop-off so Custom Order items can often times be in your home in 28 days or less. Visit us at one of our retail locations to check availability, pricing and to see the fabric options in person.
Create a guest room in minutes right in your living room with a sofa fitted with a sleeper mattress. A sleeper mattress allows you to convert your sofa to a bed for your friends or family members to use when staying overnight in your home while saving space when you don't need it. Invite guests to sleep in your home instead of making other arrangements allowing you to make family holidays or reunions with friends more fun.
Comfortable doesn't have to look sloppy. Semi-attached seat back cushions mean that pillows are sewn onto the sofa back giving you the look of loose pillows without the slouch. This eliminates the need for constant rearrangement of pillows and keeps your living room looking great.
The beautiful versatility of the Brantley sleeper sofa will accommodate just about any taste. Its transitional design is highlighted by its 2-cushion design, flared rolled arms, and contrasting throw pillows. To redecorate a whole room, pair it with the Brantley loveseat, chair, and ottoman.
The Brantley Plush Upholstered Queen Size Sleeper Sofa by England at VanDrie Home Furnishings in the Cadillac, Traverse City, Big Rapids, Houghton Lake and Northern Michigan area. Product availability may vary. Contact us for the most current availability on this product.
After a long day away, return home with the comforting elegance of the Brantley Collection. The upholstered stationary design of the chair, ottoman, sofa and love seat feature rolled arms, plush back and seat cushions and exposed wooden tapered legs. A matching storage ottoman and conversation sofa complete this versatile collection. Complete your new living room with the enviable fashion of the Brantley Collection.*Throw pillow is not included with chair.
The Brantley collection is a great option if you are looking for Casual furniture in the Cadillac, Traverse City, Big Rapids, Houghton Lake and Northern Michigan area.
These images are representative of this group as a whole and may differ from this item.
Browse other items in the Brantley collection from VanDrie Home Furnishings in the Cadillac, Traverse City, Big Rapids, Houghton Lake and Northern Michigan area.
This item has been tagged as: Sleeper Sofa, Sleeper Couch, Sofa with a Hide-A-Bed, Queen Sleeper Sofa, Full Size Sleeper Sofa, Sofa Bed, Love Seat Sleeper, Hide-A-Bed, Futon, Futon Sofa Sleepers, Convertible Sofa, Couch with Sleeper, Pull – Out Sofa, Couch That Becomes a Bed, Sofa Beds, Futon That Opens Into A Bed
Nothing on this page may be copied or reproduced without explicit permission.


text:
I'd like to see in the near term a review of the current policy the city has for community notification in R-1 zones where major improvements are planned using the city's easement rights for erecting/construction of wireless transmission facilities. The current process is deeply flawed and puts the homeowner or the homeowners association in an almost a no-win position, as well as in a financial straitjacket before we know what is hitting us.
Signs that are posted become city property, which can't be touched during the 30-day notification period without being a misdemeanor even on homeowners association property. Signs during that period of time become dilapidated, which did happen, and calls that were made three times fell on deaf ears.
After going over the proposed drawings and documents we discovered that the city was in violation of its own ordinance by failing to show a good-faith effort by the applicant Verizon Wireless, as called for in the application. Yet the application was accepted despite being signed off by various department heads who had jurisdiction on this.
Better process is needed on future reviews on community public notifications so that the party at the receiving end has ample time after receiving the notification to prepare their defense, engage consultants, specialists, a law firm, be able to receive on a prompt and timely basis all of the documents that have been submitted.
With the current process, no one is looking out for the quality-of-life concerns of our citizens that are being directly hit and bombarded by these obtrusive 25-foot steel antenna poles as well as the cost to defend our quality of life here in our beautiful neighborhoods. Certainly a much better way must be found in the handling of this process.
Gary Cornell


text:
View and Download Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai's high quality photos from Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai Pictures Gallery Page 1 of 16
Disclaimer: All Logos and Pictures of various Channels, Shows, Artistes, Media Houses, Companies, Brands etc. belong to their respective owners, and are used to merely visually identify the Channels, Shows, Companies, Brands, etc. to the viewer. Incase of any issue please contact the webmaster.
Popular Channels :
Quick Links :


text: Hi All, In the lab I work in, we have an 10 node suse linux cluster. its about 2-3 years old and has started to act really really funky. We are planning to overhaul the whole thing, replacing the hard drive of the world node and installing a newer version of suse 8.0. Does anyone have any tips before I start thrashing it (aside from crossing my fingers?) I am actually more concerned about how I can go about cloning the nodes efficiently...with the least amount of anxiety Any input is welcome :) Thanks, Tintin


text:
The Ten Commandments of Pregnancy
1. The appropriate response to a couple telling you they are having a baby is "Congratulations" with enthusiasm. Any other response makes you a jerk.
2. Through the wonders of science, we now know that babies are made ONLY by the mother and father- not grandparents. Unless the baby is in your uterus, or you are the man that helped put it there, you may not ever use the phrase "my baby"
3. On the same note, unless you made the baby as defined in #2, the pregnancy, birth and the raising of the child are not about you. You do not have input. No one wants to hear your opinion unless they ask for it.
4. The body of a pregnant woman should be treated the same as any other body. You would not randomly touch someone's stomach if they were not pregnant, nor would you inquire into the condition of their uterus, cervix or how they plan to use their breasts. Pregnancy does not remove all traces of privacy from a woman.
5. Likewise, no woman wants to hear comments on her weight- ever. A pregnant woman does not find it flattering that you think she is about to pop, must be having twins, looks swollen or has gained weight in her face. Telling her she looks too small only makes her worry that she is somehow starving her baby. Making such comments invite her to critique your physical appearance and you may not act offended. The only acceptable comment on appearance is "You look fabulous!"
6. Most of us have picked up on the fact that summer is hot. We are hot every summer when we are not pregnant. We don't need you to point out that we will be miserably hot before the baby comes.
7. There is a reason that tickets to Labor & Delivery are not yet sold on Ticketmaster. Childbirth is actually not a public event. It may sound crazy, but some women really do not relish the idea of their mother, mother-in-law or a host of other family members seeing their bare butt or genitals. Also, some people simply feel like the birth of their child is a private and emotional moment to be shared only by the parents.
8. Like everything else in life, unless you receive an invitation, you are not invited. This includes doctor appointments, ultrasounds, labor, delivery, the hospital and the parents' home. You do not decide if you will be there for the birth or if you will move in with the new parents to "help out". If your assistance is desired, rest assured that you will be asked for it.
9. If you are asked to help after the birth, this means you should clean up the house, help with cooking meals, and generally stay out of the way. Holding the baby more than the parents, interfering with breastfeeding and sleeping schedules and making a woman who is still leaking fluid from various locations lift a finger in housework is not helping.
10. The only people entitled to time with the baby are the parents. Whether they choose to have you at the hospital for the birth or ask you to wait 3 weeks to visit, appreciate that you are being given the privilege of seeing their child. Complaining or showing disappointment only encourages the parents to include you less.


text:
Early winter storm knocks out power, stirs up reports of a rare tornado in Pacific Northwest
SEATTLE – An early winter storm dumped a record amount of rain in the Pacific Northwest, knocked out power to thousands and likely churned up a rare tornado Monday that ripped a hole in the roof on an industrial plant near Seattle.
The most dramatic damage was at an industrial park in Frederickson, south of Tacoma. As thunder and lightning flashed, the wind uprooted trees and tore a jagged hole in the roof of the Northwest Door manufacturing plant.
"It looked from the inside like a wave going along. You could actually see the roof flexing," Northwest Door President Jeff Hohman said.
Witnesses reported seeing a tornado in the area at the time, and the Weather Service sent a team to Frederickson to investigate.
Washington may get a tornado or two every year, but they are usually small. One of the largest was an F3 in 1972 in Vancouver that killed six people.
No one was injured in Monday. About 100 employees evacuated and the business closed while inspectors assess a 40-by-40-foot hole in the roof.
The wind also caused damage at a nearby Boeing plant, mostly in the parking lot, spokesman Doug Alder said. The storm blew out the windows of about two dozen cars and knocked down fences, power lines and trees. Some tiles were blown off the Boeing roof. Nobody was injured and there wasn't any damage to airplane parts or equipment.
Several thousand employees work at the Frederickson site, which makes parts and sections for just about every Boeing airplane, including the vertical tails for the 777 and 787.
Parts of the Northwest got more rain in a day or two over the weekend than typically falls in the entire month.
"We basically had conditions well off shore that were very reminiscent of late fall-early winter," said Dana Felton, meteorologist at the National Weather Service office in Seattle.
With Mondays' precipitation still to be added, it's been the wettest September on record in Olympia and the second-wettest in Seattle.
Nearly 8 inches fell in Olympia, topping a 1978 record and swamping the usual 1.7 inches that fall in that time, the National Weather Service said. Sea-Tac Airport's September total of 5.6 inches came second to a 1978 record, while downtown Portland saw 6.2 inches — the most since record-keeping began in 1872.
Puget Sound Energy had about 12,000 customers out of service late Sunday, the Bellevue-based utility reported. Seattle City Light reported it had about 3,200 customers out of service overnight. Portland General Electric had more than 90,000 customers out of power since the storm began.
Tim Fought in Portland contributed to this report.


text: Sijun Forums :: View topic - [CRIT] 3d female body Log in to check your private messages Sijun Forums Forum Index >> Work in Progress View previous topic :: View next topic Author Topic : "[CRIT] 3d female body" JeePeejunior memberMember #Joined: 23 Oct 2000Posts: 22Location: Enschede, The Netherlands Posted: Fri Jan 05, 2001 7:19 am Please give me some comments on this... By the way, does anyone happen to know a good foot tutorial for Maya? Greetz JeePee ------------------ http://www.jpfranssen.com -= "Minds are like parachutes. They only function when they are open." =- Back to top AwetopsymemberMember #Joined: 04 Oct 2000Posts: 3028Location: Kelowna Posted: Fri Jan 05, 2001 10:15 am Hmm we dont get to see the back of the body but It looks to me like the shoulders and the back arent developed enough..... so it makes her look as though shes more pear shaped... unless thats what you were going for..... ------------------ I think Im wearing out my CTRL-'z' http://noelsart.cjb.net Back to top AxlmemberMember #Joined: 11 Mar 2000Posts: 411Location: London, England Posted: Fri Jan 05, 2001 10:36 am It's a little hard to get an accurate view of her from the angle you've rendered but she looks very hippy, try pulling the hips in some it may fix the overall shape of her body. Also her upper arms look alot fatter than the forearms. Did you use any photo reference? Back to top zeebitmemberMember #Joined: 30 Oct 1999Posts: 75Location: cincinnati, OH Posted: Fri Jan 05, 2001 11:37 am woohoo, maya heh post the wireframe yo. seems like certain parts are affecting other parts taht shouldn't affect each other. i can help better if i see the wireframe. -pete Back to top Ben BarkermemberMember #Joined: 15 Sep 2000Posts: 568Location: Cincinnati, Ohier Posted: Fri Jan 05, 2001 11:42 am Also, the seam up the middle, where you mirrored the model, is very visible. When women have medium to big breasts there is a little bridge of skin between the breasts about 1/3rd down the sternum. Use that to break up that big crease. There is no muscle tone in the arms. Add the biceps, anchored in the front of the armpit, and some deltoids on top. Here ( http://www.benbarker.com/sijun/femmuscles01.jpg ) is a picture of a woman's back for your reference. It's sort of big, so I linked it. Back to top natecmemberMember #Joined: 08 Aug 2000Posts: 121Location: encinitas, ca, USA Posted: Fri Jan 05, 2001 6:54 pm You may want to model this with both the arms and legs slightly bent, the wrists look flat and the hands small...lets see some more views and a wireframe... -n Back to top anticzmemberMember #Joined: 08 May 2000Posts: 285Location: San Diego, CA, USA Posted: Sat Jan 06, 2001 12:45 am Here's a female spline model I did a couple years ago but never finished. Just got bored with it I guess. Probably never finish it now cause I hate modeling with splines. Hope you find it useful. ------------------ ======================= Mike B. - Supervising Janitor anticz.com ======================= Back to top JeePeejunior memberMember #Joined: 23 Oct 2000Posts: 22Location: Enschede, The Netherlands Posted: Sat Jan 06, 2001 6:01 am Thnx Folks.... I did not use any real photo reference for this one...I wanted to see what i could do from scratch... I used a book called Human Anatomy for artists...it has all the bone and muscles in it. Its a real good reference. Though the problem is you have to know how to model the muscles and all..guess im still a bit of a novice in these things... this my first poly modeled character though . The seem in the middle isn't closed yet...I just mirrored it to get the look and feel. Ill post a few more ss of the body later (back of the body) Thanx for all the advise... GreetZ JeePee ------------------ http://www.jpfranssen.com -= "Minds are like parachutes. They only function when they are open." =- Back to top Display posts from previous: All Posts1 Day7 Days2 Weeks1 Month3 Months6 Months1 Year Oldest FirstNewest First Sijun Forums Forum Index -> Work in Progress All times are GMT - 8 Hours Page 1 of 1 Jump to: Select a forum Digital Art----------------Digital Art DiscussionWork in ProgressGallery/Finished Work Miscellaneous----------------Random MusingsArchive : Sep99 - Dec00 You cannot post new topics in this forumYou cannot reply to topics in this forumYou cannot edit your posts in this forumYou cannot delete your posts in this forumYou cannot vote in polls in this forum Powered by phpBB © 2005 phpBB Group


text:
The popular Wine Gallery in Corona Del Mar has opened a beautiful second location in Laguna Beach. The large room is centered around a spacious, U-shaped, marble-topped bar that faces the white-tiled, open kitchen featuring a wood-burning oven. The atmosphere is both sophisticated and cozy. The décor is contemporary and warm, with soft lighting emanating from a fascinating ceiling composed of long wooden slats separated by fire-resistant crushed black paper. Facing the street are floor-to-ceiling windows, with pulled-back curtains made of wine corks.
As expected, there is an extensive wine menu with bottles, glasses and flights, but we were there for the food. The Wine Gallery offers a variety of options from cheese and salumi to small plates, pizzas and large plates for you to enjoy with your wine or beer. The very gracious and helpful servers are a cut above the usual and can guide you through the wine list.
Bruschettas come in three flavors: traditional, fig and date, or the daily special. We had one of each. Atop a slice of toasted baguette, the tasty traditional version boasted sweet grape tomatoes, basil, garlic and a healthy drizzle of balsamic reduction. Fig jam, dates and whipped goat cheese also had a balsamic reduction, but there were too many sweet elements and not enough cheese to provide balance. The special of the day was a delicious mélange of mixed mushrooms married to some creamy brie. The advertised truffle oil was undetectable and unnecessary, as is often the case.
From the small-plate menu, we had some of the very best short rib tacos around. The meat was very tender, juicy and nicely seasoned, served in crispy corn tortilla shells. Piquant pickled red onions added crunch, guacamole added creaminess and Fresno chilies added a kick. A light sprinkling of cotija cheese and micro-greens provided the finishing touch.
The butternut squash soup de jour was very rich and creamy, and was topped with a dollop of apple-and-pear chutney and one lonely, soggy, sweet-potato chip. It had a very pleasant flavor but was too rich to finish. The "chutney" tasted more like cooked fruit but went nicely with the soup.
Some of the other small-plate options include seared ahi with Asian slaw and peanut sauce, or spinach salad with apples, red onions, pomegranate seeds and candied pecans.
From the wood-burning oven, we had the fungus pizza, which has no tomato sauce, but the house-made mozzarella and goat cheese made a luscious bed for the same variety of mixed mushrooms that we enjoyed on the bruschetta, along with garlic and a little hint of truffle oil. The dough itself was just all right, lacking distinctive flavor or a bit of char.
The roasted chicken dish consisted of two small airline breasts (boneless breast, with the first wing bone attached), which had been nicely seared and roasted to a juicy finish. They were well-seasoned and accompanied by a light mushroom risotto that was a bit flat and needed salt. A little red wine decorated the plate, along with sautéed cippoline onions that needed a little more time in the pan, as they were quite hard.
The other large plates are steak frites, scallops and shortribs.
There are only two desserts — lemon rosemary cheesecake and baked apple crumble. We chose the latter, which was made with delicious, crispy pink lady apples and seasoned with cinnamon and buttery caramel. We often find that so-called crumble toppings aren't crunchy. They get soggy from the juices of the fruit, which was the case here. However, the house-made vanilla ice cream was a standout. Although it did not have a lot of vanilla flavor, it was incredibly rich, smooth and creamy, almost like frozen whipped cream.
This lovely new venue, with its warm and welcoming atmosphere, extensive wine list and tasty menu options, is destined to become a favorite.
ELLE HARROW and TERRY MARKOWITZ were in the gourmet food and catering business for 20 years. They can be reached for comments or questions at firstname.lastname@example.com.
If You Go
What: Wine Gallery
Where: 1833 South Coast Highway, Laguna Beach
When: 5 to 11 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday
Cheese, salumi and bruscetta: $13 to $23
Small plates: $11 to $16
Pizza: $12 to $15
Large plates: $16 to $30
Desserts: $7 to $8
Glass: $10 to $20
Bottle: $37 to $395
Corkage fee: none
Information: (949) 715-8744 or winegallerylaguna.com


text:
Bonuses at BoDog Sportsbook & Casino - World's #1 Sportsbook
20% Cash Signup Bonus - Open an account today over $20, and we'll
reward you with a 20% cash bonus on your first deposit.
20% Cash Reload Bonus - Use Instant Checks to reload your account with
a deposit of $20 or more and you're eligible for a 10% cash bonus.
20% Referral Bonus - Earn up to $200 for each friend you refer!
Click to Visit BoDog Sportsbook!!
Get free picks from all your favorite cappers Everyday here!
When handicapping NBA action, an astute handicapper must not get too caught up on stats and overall records. While important, you must also keep in mind key NBA handicapping angles like revenge, teams playing on back-to-back nights, teams coming off of exhausting overtime games, the "look-ahead" factor, teams playing the last game of a long road trip, and teams playing for coaches on the hot seat. Handicappers who do their homework will suceed in NBA handicapping. Those who only crunch stats and overlook intangibles will fail.
National Sports Advisors In need of a quality sports handicapping service? Visit world champion handicapper Sonny LaFouchi and the great folks at NSA today, as they have informed us that they have a huge 20* GUARANTEED WINNER going today! NSA is one of the world's most famous and respected sports handicapping services, and can be found online at www.nsawins.com or by calling toll-free 1-866-407-1257!
VegasOddsToday The boys at VegasOddsToday are excited today, as they have huge winners going today for their members. Legendary handicapper Ray "The PlayMaker" Bowden and his staff at VegasOddsToday have pinpointed a huge mistake made by vegas linesmakers today, and they are offering this Huge VIP 500 CLUB Winner for only $25! Visit the one and only VegasOddsToday at www.vegasoddstoday.com or by calling toll-free 1-866-925-9679!
Vegas Sports Insiders In need of EASY WINNERS? Visit VegasSI.com, as they have informed us that they have a huge 20* CONSENSUS PLAY of the DAY going today! VegasSI.com has the BEST PLAYS from USA's 10 BEST HANDICAPPERS everyday online at
www.vegassi.com or by calling toll-free 1-877-876-8769!
MLB Picks and Predictions from SportsAction365.com! Get ALL of your MLB Predictions and MLB odds this MLB Baseball season from SportAction365.com and Frank "BIG MONEY" Santilli! We jam pack our award winning website everyday during the baseball season with Free Baseball Picks, World Series Odds, Sportsbook Bonus info, and premium top-rated winning MLB Picks for our deserving fans and paying clients. Don't forget to bookmark our homepage so you can take advantage of all the winning baseball predictions and information we provide on a daily basis during the hardball season!
Gameday Sports Network At Gameday Network, you will receive sports wagering and money management advice from experienced professional sports bettors that have been members in one of the world's biggest, most successful, and "exclusive" sports betting syndicates of "wiseguy" and "sharp" bettors for over two decades. Today they have a 50* HIGH ROLLER CLUB WINNER that will get the money easily!! Visit www.gamedaynetwork.com or call toll-free 1-866-679-5227 for more info.


text:
Tucker514 needed a new logo design and created a contest on 99designs.
A winner was selected from 165 designs submitted by 40 freelance designers.
Lucena Research
We are a new high tech hedge fund management company. Even so we want our logo to convey a solid, stable, perhaps "old" feeling.
More about us: Unlike old, stodgy companies, we're striving to be open and transparent. We use open source software, and we don't hide our holdings from investors. We're located in Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
The name "Lucena" comes from a chess position in which victory is guaranteed.
It is also related to Lucena Spain, once held by the Moors. It strongly influenced the renaissance.
We have three targets. First and foremost of course would be customers, but we must also convince business partners and future employees that they should work with us.
The logo should convey a trustworthy feeling, perhaps with "bank" overtones, but also high-tech. Although the high-tech aspects should be subdued.
Customers: USA, wealthy, conservative, but with high tech understanding
Business: USA, conservative bankers
Employees: USA, wild computer programmers
One or two colors on a white background.
We would like the main graphical element to be of an object (rook chess piece) or building (castle or fortress) that evokes: ancient, renaissance, money, da Vinci. See attached files for examples.
We're undecided if the initials LR or company name should be integrated into the graphic element, or separately to the side. For now, we're interested/willing to see either approach.
Fonts: We like Georgia, Verdana, Bank Gothic. Fonts you would see on money or in or on old, stable banks.
About the attached files. These are examples of the kinds of design themes we're looking for.
citadel.png: Example logo for a large, famous hedge fund.
soldier-woodcut.jpg: We like this style of woodcut. About the right level of detail. Of course we don't want soldiers.
ship-woodcut.jpg: example style of graphic we'd love to see. It is of a ship though-- not what we want.
Find out how a design contest works or learn more about our logo design services.


text:
Ireland 10-22 Wales, Rugby World Cup, October 8
Warburton thrilled by Welsh performance
ESPNscrum Staff
October 8, 2011
Wales' Jonathan Davies crosses the whitewash © Getty Images
Sam Warburton hailed Wales' progression to the Rugby World Cup semi-finals as a "massive achievement" following their 22-10 quarter-final success over Ireland in Wellington.
Tries from Shane Williams, Mike Phillips and Jonathan Davies, plus a penalty from Leigh Halfpenny and two conversions from Rhys Priestland, helped Warren Gatland's men reach the last four of the global showpiece for the first time since 1987.
Wales stifled Ireland's back-row of Stephen Ferris, Sean O'Brien and Jamie Heaslip and flanker Warburton praised their defensive effort.
He told ITV1: "It was a massive performance, we knew they had a lot of big ball carriers and there was a lot of tackling stopping them on the gain line because they are dangerous, it was a fantastic defensive effort."
Wales were never behind after Williams' 56th try for his country inside the opening few minutes, and Warburton claimed making a quick start had been a focus of their preparations.
"We always say we don't start good enough, and we started perfectly today and it was just what we wanted," he said. "It's easier to be ahead of the game than chasing it. It's a massive achievement and we have worked so hard.
"The team in 1987 did it (reached the last four) and got third place. But we have the semi next week, the boys are thrilled and it's a massive achievement, it's brilliant."
Try scorer Phillips added: "It's an historic win, the boys have been outstanding in the lead up to this game. We have so much respect for the Irish boys and I feel sorry for them. They are great players and outstanding gentlemen but we were superb today."
Ireland responded with a try from Keith Earls and five points from Ronan O'Gara's boot but they were almost always chasing the game and defeat signals the end of the World Cup road for the likes of O'Gara, Paul O'Connell and captain Brian O'Driscoll.
O'Driscoll said: "We got outplayed in the second-half, they scored two good tries, maybe there was some weak defence but we are very disappointed to be going home. It was a great opportunity after winning the group but they proved worthy semi-finalists and good luck to them.
"We needed to deliver a performance similar to against Australia or Italy last week, but we didn't, we knocked on too much ball and when you turn too much ball over against quality of opposition they make you pay and we are the ones left disappointed."
© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
Communication error please reload the page.


text: Sydney - James O'Connor's plan to be part of the Wallabies squad heading to South Africa and Argentina later this month, where he hoped to regain his Test flyhalf spot, are over due to ongoing hamstring problems. O'Connor joined the Wallabies on the Gold Coast in a bid to make the two-week tour, but medical staff decided yesterday it was premature for him to return and unwise for him to travel overseas. He will continue his rehabilitation in Melbourne. Also, the Wallabies will not risk hooker Stephen Moore against Argentina, and have Saia Faingaa as Tatafu Polota-Nau's backup. Meanwhile, a reminder of how long Nathan Sharpe has been part of the Wallabies furniture came on Tuesday when his latest second-row Test partner admitted he first saw him playing while in primary school. Waratahs second-rower Kane Douglas was an unexpected inclusion in the team to play Argentina when he was preferred to the more experienced Rob Simmons. It will be the first time the 23-year-old Douglas, who won the position because, as Wallabies coach Robbie Deans puts it, ''he is our best tighthead lock'', will partner Sharpe, who takes over the captaincy . ''I've been watching him [Sharpe] play since I was a little kid,'' Douglas said on Tuesday, shortly after being told he was to play his first Test. ''So I'm very excited to now be able to play alongside him for the first time. ''I know I was pretty young when I first watched him, and he had hair in those days. Every time I remembered watching the Wallabies as a kid, he was there.'' Douglas's elevation will herald an exodus of friends, relatives and former teammates from his northern NSW home town of Yamba to attend the game. Joining them will be elder brother Luke, who plays in the NRL for the Gold Coast Titans. ''This will feel like a bit of a home game, because quite a few of my mates are coming up for the game, as my home town is only a couple of hours away,'' he said. ''I've got heaps of mates who have also moved up here since finishing school … It's certainly closer to Yamba than Sydney.'' Douglas followed his elder brother in originally playing rugby league and started playing union only when the Yamba Buccaneers first fielded a team in the under-15s. ''I found my body was more suited to rugby, because there are not too many tall league players running around,'' he said. ''But the family remain league orientated. Even when I started playing rugby in Sydney, Dad would say to me: 'What are you doing next year? Do you want to come and play league?'''