text:
The proper purpose of government, wrote Thomas Jefferson, is to "guarantee to everyone the free exercise of his industry and the fruits acquired by it."1 The government "shall restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government."2
In accordance with this view of the purpose of government, the founders established a republic in which the government was constitutionally limited to the protection of individual rights—the rights to life, liberty, property, and the pursuit of happiness. In this new republic, men were free to think, to produce, and to trade in accordance with their own best judgment; thus, they were free to thrive in accordance with their intelligence, their ability, their initiative. The result was astounding.
Nineteenth-century America was a land of unparalleled innovation and prosperity—and further political achievement. In addition to countless inventions that sprang up—including the steamboat, the cotton gin, vulcanized rubber, the telephone, the incandescent light, the electric power plant, the skyscraper, and the safety elevator—and in addition to the vital industries that arose or were revolutionized—such as the railroad, oil, and steel industries—19th-century America witnessed the end of slavery, which was recognized as a violation of the basic principle of the land.
Between the end of the Civil War and the turn of the century, America came as close to being a fully rights-respecting society as any country has ever come. Men were essentially free to live their own lives, by their own judgment, for their own sake.
Unfortunately, although the Land of Liberty was a great success, it would not and could not last.
The founders established America on the principle of individual rights, but neither they nor the thinkers who followed them identified the deeper philosophic foundation on which this principle depends, namely, the morality of egoism—the idea that being moral consists in pursuing the values on which one's life and happiness depend. In the absence of this foundation, Americans have embraced philosophical ideas that are contrary to individual rights.
Over the past century, Americans have increasingly accepted the morality of altruism—the notion that being moral consists in self-sacrificially serving others—and they have increasingly applied this morality to the realm of politics. Consequently, our government is no longer committed to "restrain men from injuring one another [and] leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement." Rather, our government regularly—and increasingly—"take[s] from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned" and redistributes that bread to those who have not earned it.
Consider just a few of the countless altruistically motivated, wealth-redistributing laws and institutions that have been enacted or established over the past hundred years: The Federal Reserve violates the rights of Americans by (among other things) printing fiat money—thus debasing citizens' savings—in order to finance welfare programs, bail out failed banks, "rescue" bankrupt car companies, and the like. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) violates the rights of taxpayers by forcing them to insure the bank deposits of strangers. Social Security violates the rights of younger Americans by forcing them to fund the retirements of older Americans. The National Labor Relations Act (aka the Wagner Act) violates the rights of automakers (and other businessmen) by forcing them to "contract" with labor unions on terms that are detrimental to their businesses. Medicare and Medicaid violate the rights of taxpaying Americans by forcing them to fund the health care of the aged and the (allegedly) destitute. The Community Reinvestment Act violates the rights of bankers by forcing them to provide loans to people whom they regard as too risky for business. The Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) violates the rights of taxpayers by forcing them to purchase bad debt from failing financial institutions. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) violates the rights of Americans by expanding the extent to which they are forced to fund welfare programs, unemployment benefits, government-run education, and the health care of others. Of course, federal, state, and municipal governments violate Americans' rights in thousands of other ways as well, but the foregoing indicates the enormity of the problem.
The explicit "justification" for all such rights-violating laws and institutions—the principle behind all of them—is altruism: the notion that we have a moral duty to serve others, whether "the poor" or "the public interest" or "society" or "the common good." As Theodore Roosevelt put it, the government must "regulate the use of wealth in the public interest" and "regulate the terms and conditions of labor, which is the chief element of wealth, directly in the interest of the common good";3 or as Franklin D. Roosevelt put it, the government must seek "the greater good of the greater number of Americans";4 or as John F. Kennedy put it, the individual must "weigh his rights and comforts against his obligations to the common good";5 or as Bill Clinton put it, the individual must "give something back" on behalf of "the common good";6 or as George W. Bush put it, we must "seek a common good beyond our comfort"; or as Barack Obama puts it, we must heed the "call to sacrifice" and uphold our "core ethical and moral obligation" to "look out for one another" and to "be unified in service to a greater good."7
A government animated by this principle will increasingly force citizens to serve the so-called "common good"—and with each political success, the government will get bolder and more aggressive in its enforcement of this principle. This is why the U.S. government has graduated over decades from the mere redistribution of wealth via taxation and inflation . . . to the establishment of wealth-redistributing institutions and hubs such as Social Security, Medicare, and TARP . . . to the outright nationalization of businesses, such as American International Group (AIG), General Motors (GM), and Citigroup . . . and to the nullification of private contracts that stand in its way (e.g., employment contracts in the case of AIG bonuses, investment contracts in the case of Chrysler's senior-secured creditors).
Under such expanding government control, explains an article in the New York Times:
Businesses and private property . . . become not an instrument of private "egoism" but "functions of the people." They remain private wherever and so long as they fulfill their "functions." Wherever and whenever they fall down, the State steps in and either forces them to fulfill the functions or takes them over entirely.8
That description of what we have witnessed recently, however, was not written recently; it was written in 1938. Nor was the author describing conditions in the United States; he was describing conditions in Germany under the then-burgeoning National Socialist Party.
The basic economic principle of National Socialism—which was a mixture of socialism and fascism—is that the government must control all property. Under socialism, the government openly claims ownership of all property; under fascism, the government grants nominal ownership to individuals and businesses but retains control of all property; and under a hybrid of these statist systems, the government does some of each. "I will now explain my social programme," said Adolf Hitler in 1931. "That programme demands the nationalisation of all public companies, in other words, socialisation or what is known here as socialism."
It does not mean that all these concerns must necessarily be socialised, merely that they can be socialised if they transgress against the interests of the nation. So long as they do not do that, it would, of course, be criminal to upset the economy. . . . I want everyone to keep what he has earned subject to the principle that the good of the community takes priority over that of the individual. But the State should retain control; every owner should feel himself to be an agent of the State; it is his duty not to misuse his possessions to the detriment of the State or the interests of his fellow-countrymen. That is the overriding point. The [State] will always retain the right to control property owners. . . . For us the supreme law of the constitution is: whatever serves the vital interests of the nation is legal.9
The parallels between National Socialism and American politics today are a consequence of the identical morality underlying each. "The common interests before self-interest," insisted Hitler.10
This state of mind, which subordinates the interests of the ego to the conservation of the community, is really the first premise for every truly human culture. . . . The basic attitude from which such activity arises, we call—to distinguish it from egoism and selfishness—idealism. By this we understand only the individual's capacity to make sacrifices for the community, for his fellow men.11
The call to sacrifice is not unique to National Socialism; it is part and parcel of every statist regime in history: Benito Mussolini urged Italians to embrace "a life in which the individual, through the denial of himself, through the sacrifice of his own private interests . . . realizes that completely spiritual existence in which his value as a man lies."12 Under fascism, explained Mussolini's minister of justice, the State is
an organism distinct from the citizens who at any given time compose it, and has its own life and its ends higher than those of individuals, to which those of individuals must be subordinated. . . . For Fascism, society is the end, individuals the means, and its whole life consists in using individuals as instruments for its social ends.13
Under communism or socialism, said Karl Marx, the principle is: "From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs."14 And under the burgeoning American hybrid of socialism and fascism, the principle is, as Obama puts it, that Americans must heed the "call to sacrifice"; we "need to think in terms of 'thou' and not just 'I'";15 we must "reaffirm that fundamental belief—I am my brother's keeper, I am my sister's keeper—that makes us one people, and one nation."16
The correlation between the morality of sacrifice and the violation of rights is no accident. It is a causal relationship. To see why, we must zero in on the little-understood essence of altruism.
Altruism is not about moral obligation as such; it is about a specific kind of moral obligation. Altruism does not call for a person to serve others if he has made an agreement or a commitment to do so—as in the case of a doctor who contracts to provide a patient with medical care in exchange for payment, or an employer who contracts to pay an employee in exchange for his work. Such obligations are chosen obligations, obligations stemming from mutually beneficial agreements, agreements in which both parties gain a life-serving value. Altruism is not about chosen obligations. It is about "unchosen" obligations or "duties."
As the altruist philosopher John Rawls explains, whereas regular obligations "arise as a result of our voluntary acts," duties "apply to us without regard to our voluntary acts." We have a duty "to help another, whether or not we have committed ourselves to [doing so]. It is no defense or excuse to say that we have made no promise . . . to come to another's aid."17
A "duty" is non-optional; it is something you must do regardless of what you want, regardless of what you think is in your interest, regardless of what you would choose to do if you had a choice in the matter. In the words of the foremost advocate of this idea, the German philosopher Immanuel Kant, "duty is a necessitation to an unwillingly adopted end," and its "specific mark" is "the renunciation of all interest."18
Altruism is the morality of "unchosen" obligations—obligations you must honor regardless of your values, desires, interests. This fact points to why altruism not only calls for self-sacrifice but also necessitates the initiation of physical force. British philosopher John Stuart Mill explains:
It is a part of the notion of duty in every one of its forms that a person may rightfully be compelled to fulfill it. Duty is a thing which may be exacted from a person, as one exacts a debt. Unless we think that it may be exacted from him, we do not call it his duty. . . . There are other things, on the contrary, which we wish that people should do, which we like or admire them for doing, perhaps dislike or despise them for not doing, but yet admit that they are not bound to do. . . .19
Observe what this means in regard to the relationship of "duties" and rights. Whereas a "duty" is an (alleged) obligation that one has apart from one's choices or interests and that one "may rightfully be compelled to fulfill," a right is a prerogative to act in accordance with one's choices and interests so long as one does not violate the same rights of others. In other words, "duties" and rights are utterly incompatible. They are mutually exclusive. A person can have one or the other—but not both.
The French philosopher Auguste Comte (who coined the term "altruism") puts this clearly: Because "to live for others" is "for all of us a constant duty" and "the definitive formula of human morality," it follows that "[a]ll honest and sensible men, of whatever party, should agree, by a common consent, to eliminate the doctrine of rights." Altruism, explained Comte, "cannot tolerate the notion of rights, for such notion rests on individualism." On the premise of altruism, "[rights] are as absurd as they are immoral. . . . The whole notion, then, must be completely put away."20
The morality of altruism is incompatible with the principle of rights, and the theoreticians of altruism are clear on this point. In order to "completely put away" the concept of rights in America, however, the pushers of altruism will have to convince Americans to abandon their love of liberty—which is easier said than done.
Historically, Americans have been profoundly attached to liberty. Their country, after all, was founded on the right to liberty. They have even called their country the "Land of Liberty." Putting away this principle will require persuading Americans to accept altruism fully, consistently, as a matter of principle. How do the opponents of rights propose to accomplish this goal? By taking their cue from John Stuart Mill, who explained precisely how to do it. "[T]he direct cultivation of altruism, and the subordination of egoism to it," wrote Mill, "should be one of the chief aims of education, both individual and collective."
Nor can any pains taken be too great, to form the habit, and develop the desire, of being useful to others and to the world . . . independently of reward and of every personal consideration. . . . [E]very person who lives by any useful work, should be habituated to regard himself not as an individual working for his private benefit, but as a public functionary; and his wages, of whatever sort, not as the remuneration or purchase-money of his labour, which should be given freely, but as the provision made by society to enable him to carry it on. . . .21
American intellectuals and politicians have taken Mill's advice. Over the past century, intellectuals have advocated altruism and condemned egoism at every turn. They have sought to habituate Americans to regard themselves not as individuals but as public functionaries. They have tried to sap the American spirit of individualism and to instill the altruistic spirit of collectivism. And they have done so to great effect. The American philosopher John Dewey, for instance, called for "saturating [students] with the spirit of service" and making "each one of our schools an embryonic community life, active with the types of occupations that reflect the life of the larger society."22 To those who contend that schools should instead teach children the facts of history, science, literature, and the like, Dewey replied: "The mere absorbing of facts and truths is so exclusively individual an affair that it tends very naturally to pass into selfishness. There is no obvious social motive for the acquirement of mere learning, there is no clear social gain in success thereat."23
Dewey's philosophy launched the "progressive education" movement, which has dominated American schools and saturated students with the spirit of service for almost a century. Given the wild success of this movement, is it any wonder that so many Americans today accept the propriety of sacrificial service to the community as an unquestionable absolute?
And while Dewey and company have focused on "educating" students for sacrificial service, other intellectuals—led by the American philosopher William James—have focused directly on forcing youth to do their "duty."
James called for "a conscription of the whole youthful population," which he appropriately called a "blood tax."24 Contemporary political theorist Benjamin R. Barber advocates "a national service program, universal and mandatory."25 And sociologist Charles Moskos explains that "[a]ny effective national service program will necessarily require coercion,"26 and he rebuffs those who "de-emphasize the role of the citizen duties in favor of a highly individualistic rights-based ethic."27 We should, he says, "extend the concept of national youth service to include quasi-military civilian services . . . cast in terms of civic duty."28
Such educational and political efforts have given rise to an increasingly pliable citizenry, a steady stream of service-oriented legislation, and the establishment of numerous altruistically motivated institutions, from the Peace Corps, to Volunteers in Service to America (aka AmeriCorps), to Learn and Serve America, to the Corporation for National and Community Service, to the President's Council on Service and Civic Participation, to the recent efforts by Congress and the Obama administration—which, if successful, will eclipse all preceding efforts combined.
The purpose of the $5.7 billion Serve America Act, recently passed by Congress and signed into law by Obama, is "to integrate service into education," to encourage "many more Americans to give a year" of their lives, and to "increase service early in life" because "service early in life will put more and more youth on a path to a lifetime of service."29 One advocate of the law hails it as the "quantum leap in community service that we've all been looking for."30 Another exclaims: "The stars are aligned for national service."31
It seems that they are.
Following the lead of the state of Maryland—which, in 1993, became the first state in America to require community service as a condition of high school graduation—hundreds of school districts across America have established similar policies. And, today, pressure is growing not only for all students to be required to serve, but for everyone in general to be required to serve.
The Congressional Commission on Civic Service Act, a bill introduced on March 11, 2009, reads, in part: "The social fabric of the United States is stronger if individuals in the United States are committed to protecting and serving our Nation by utilizing national service and volunteerism." The goal of this bill is, in part, to "improve the ability of individuals in the United States to serve others"; and, in part, to identify the "issues that deter volunteerism and national service, particularly among young people, and how the identified issues can be overcome." Toward these ends, the bill calls for Congress to consider "[w]hether a workable, fair, and reasonable mandatory service requirement for all able young people could be developed," and "[t]he effect on the Nation, on those who serve, and on the families of those who serve, if all individuals in the United States were expected to perform national service or were required to perform a certain amount of national service."32
Such is the state of the Land of Liberty today: The government is passing and enforcing an ever-increasing number of laws and regulations that violate our rights. It is nationalizing private corporations and nullifying private contracts. It is mandating community service for students and investigating the possibility of mandatory service for everyone. And—as if the foregoing were not enough to cause alarm—the government is now asking Americans to inform on fellow citizens who oppose the government's statist measures.
On August 4, 2009, the following request was posted to the blog of the White House Briefing Room:
There is a lot of disinformation about health insurance reform out there, spanning from control of personal finances to end of life care. These rumors often travel just below the surface via chain emails or through casual conversation. Since we can't keep track of all of them here at the White House, we're asking for your help. If you get an email or see something on the web about health insurance reform that seems fishy, send it to firstname.lastname@example.com
In light of all the evidence above—which barely scratches the surface of the mounting government power over the lives of Americans—the unavoidable conclusion is that the Land of Liberty is slipping down the slope to tyranny. The fundamental cause of this slide—the basic reason it is happening—is the widespread and increasing acceptance of the morality of altruism.
By accepting the morality of altruism, Americans accept the notion that they have a "duty" to serve "the common good"; and by accepting this "duty," they thereby reject the basic principle of America: individual rights. The two are mutually exclusive. It is altruism or America. Indeed, it is altruism vs. America. And altruism is winning.
If Americans want to reverse this trend, they will have to challenge the creed of sacrifice at its root, which will require intellectual independence and substantial courage because the philosophic root of altruism is: religion.
Although attempts have been made to defend altruism on secular grounds (and we will address them shortly), the primary source of the notion that sacrifice is good is the Bible. Both the Old and New Testaments are riddled with calls for sacrifice. In the Old Testament, for example, God (through Moses) says, "I command you to be openhanded toward your brothers and toward the poor and needy in your land";34 and God (through Isaiah) warns, "Woe unto those who . . . turn aside the needy."35 And in the New Testament, Jesus says, "Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you . . . do not demand it back"; "Sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor"; "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."36 The Bible contains scores of commandments demanding the redistribution of wealth and property from those who created it to those who did not.
Perhaps the most illuminating story on this count is that of Ananias and Sapphira. As told in Acts 4–5, a group of believers addressed God: "Grant to Your servants that with all boldness they may speak Your word . . . and that signs and wonders may be done through the name of Your holy Servant Jesus." The believers then proceeded to pray, and when they were through,
the place where they were assembled together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness.
Now the multitude of those who believed were of one heart and one soul; neither did anyone say that any of the things he possessed was his own, but they had all things in common. And with great power the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And great grace was upon them all. Nor was there anyone among them who lacked; for all who were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the proceeds of the things that were sold, and laid them at the apostles' feet; and they distributed to each as anyone had need. . . .
But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession. And he kept back part of the proceeds, his wife also being aware of it, and brought a certain part and laid it at the apostles' feet. But Peter said, "Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back part of the price of the land for yourself? While it remained, was it not your own? And after it was sold, was it not in your own control? Why have you conceived this thing in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God."
Then Ananias, hearing these words, fell down and breathed his last. So great fear came upon all those who heard these things. And the young men arose and wrapped him up, carried him out, and buried him.
Now it was about three hours later when his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. And Peter [said to] her, "Tell me whether you sold the land for so much?" She said, "Yes, for so much."
Then Peter said to her, "How is it that you have agreed together to test the Spirit of the Lord? Look, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out." Then immediately she fell down at his feet and breathed her last. And the young men came in and found her dead, and carrying her out, buried her by her husband. So great fear came upon all the church and upon all who heard these things.37
The moral of this story (and of countless other stories in the Bible) is that we have a divinely ordained "duty"—an "unchosen obligation"—to serve "the common good"; we must sacrifice for our brothers, our neighbors, the "needy," the "poor," the "community." Although Karl Marx famously said "from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs," he did not originate this creed; nor did any of his communist predecessors. This principle is rooted in religion. Its origin is the Bible.
As theologian Nels Ferre explains, according to the Bible, "All property is God's for the common good. It belongs, therefore, first of all to God and then equally to society and the individual. When the individual has what the society needs and can profitably use, it is not his, but belongs to society, by divine right."38 Saint Thomas Aquinas writes that "men should not treat things as exclusively theirs but use them for the good of all, ready to share them with those in need."39 And theologian Charles Lincoln Taylor Jr. explains that biblical "codes of law forbid selfishness. . . . No man is to arrogate to himself that which should contribute to the honor and welfare of his neighbor."40
Given the clearly altruistic-socialistic nature of the Bible, it should come as no surprise that during his presidential campaign Senator Obama made clear that his statist agenda was biblically grounded. He frequently preached that we must "reaffirm that fundamental belief—I am my brother's keeper, I am my sister's keeper." He mocked the religious right for its hypocrisy in advocating both biblical ethics and property rights: "The Christian Coalition determined that its number one legislative priority was tax cuts for the rich. I don't know what Bible they're reading, but it doesn't jibe with my version."41 He made clear that his version of the Bible would accompany him to the White House: "My faith teaches me that I can sit in church and pray all I want, but I won't be fulfilling God's will unless I go out and do the Lord's work."42 He said we should "spread the wealth around" because "it's good for everybody."43 He said, "I can be an instrument of God" and "we can create a Kingdom right here on Earth."44 And, preempting the charge that his plans would breach the wall between church and state, Obama said forthrightly, "Secularists are wrong when they ask believers to leave their religion at the door before entering into the public square"45—"Our values should express themselves not just through our churches or synagogues, temples or mosques; they should express themselves through our government."46
Since Obama has been in office, he has striven to uphold that biblical mandate and to express religious values through our government. Not only has he pushed for a government-run health-care system by reminding Americans of the "core ethical and moral obligation . . . that we look out for one another" and admonishing, "In the wealthiest nation on earth, we are neglecting to live up to that call."47 He has also sought to institutionalize the religious virtue of self-sacrifice under the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships—the purpose of which is, in Obama's own words, to see to it that Americans "give something of ourselves for the benefit of others" and "promote a greater good." "This is not only our call as people of faith, but our duty as citizens of America. . . . For it is only through common struggle and common effort, as brothers and sisters, that we fulfill our highest purpose as beloved children of God."48
As part of this effort, Obama has established a "Faith Advisory Council" consisting of twenty-five religious leaders who "will formulate proposals for achieving the office's policy goals." Jim Wallis, who sits on the Council, explains, "This administration has taken it to a different level in terms of real input from the faith community on policy." Jim Towey, who directed George W. Bush's faith-based office, exclaimed, "We would have gotten killed for doing that."49
Why can the religious left get away with such blatant violations of the separation of church and state while the religious right cannot (yet) do so? The answer is instructive: The primary aspect of religion that the left seeks to blend with government is the aspect of religion that no one—neither religious nor secular, neither right nor left—is willing to challenge: the ethics of altruism, the creed of sacrifice.
Given what the Bible actually says and calls for—given the undeniable fact that religion demands altruism—how can anyone who embraces religion possibly argue against the moral validity of expressing altruism through government? What, according to religion, is more sacred, more important, more binding: the politics of individual rights or the ethics of self-sacrifice; the U.S. Constitution or biblical scripture; the words of James Madison or those of God?
In order to steer America back in the direction of liberty, Americans must challenge the religious call to sacrifice. And to do so, they must understand just how empty the religious argument for sacrifice is.
Why, according to religion, should people sacrifice themselves for others? What reason is there to do so? Unsurprisingly, given that religion is anchored not in reason but in faith, religion provides no reason as to why people should sacrifice. As Rabbi Abraham Heschel explains:
The force that inspires readiness for self-sacrifice, the thoughts that breed humility within and behind the mind, are not identical with the logician's craftsmanship. . . . Nobody can explain rationally why he should sacrifice his life and happiness. . . . The conviction that we must obey [sacrificial] imperatives is not derived from logical arguments. It originates in an intuitive certitude, in a certitude of faith.50
This answer, of course, raises the follow-up question: Why should one accept an idea on faith? What reason is there to do so? To which Heschel answers, "Reason is not the measure of all things, not the all-controlling power in the life of man, not the father of all assertions."51 Thomas Aquinas answers this way: "[One] ought to believe matters of faith, not because of human reasoning, but because of the divine authority." And if one deigns to ask why one should accept divine authority—or why one should accept even the existence of a "divine being"—Aquinas answers, "[I]n order that men might have knowledge of God, free of doubt and uncertainty, it was necessary for divine truths to be delivered to them by way of faith, being told to them, as it were, by God Himself who cannot lie."52
Here, in a nutshell, is the religious argument for why people should sacrifice: God exists and He wants you to sacrifice. Although there is no reason to accept this idea, you should accept it on faith; in so doing, you can be sure that the propriety of sacrifice is true because such an idea accepted on faith is actually delivered by God, who always tells the truth.
That is not a valid argument.
Let us now turn to the "secular" arguments for sacrifice.
Whereas religionists contend that we should sacrifice because God said so, secular advocates of altruism claim to derive the propriety of sacrifice by means of reason. The most celebrated and "rigorous" secular advocate of sacrifice is Immanuel Kant.53
Kant argued that man should sacrifice because nature, by giving man reason and free will, enabled man to act against his own interests. If nature had wanted man to pursue his interests and be happy, said Kant, she would not have given him reason and will; she would have given him only "instinct" through which he would automatically act in a manner that is conducive to his preservation and happiness. But nature gave man reason and will, which enable him to act against his interests; thus, nature must have intended for man to act against his interests. As Kant put it,
[I]n a being that has reason and will, if the proper end of nature were its preservation, its welfare, in a word its happiness, then nature would have hit upon a very bad arrangement in selecting the reason of the creature to carry out this purpose. For all the actions that the creature has to perform for this purpose, and the whole rule of its conduct, would be marked out for it far more accurately by instinct. . . . [If the proper end of nature were man's happiness], Nature would have taken upon itself the choice not only of ends, but also of means and, with wise foresight, would have entrusted them both simply to instinct.54
That is the heart of Kant's allegedly secular argument for the virtue of sacrifice. I say allegedly secular, because Kant's argument is not secular; it entails an implicit appeal to God. The idea here is that "nature" has an intentional goal (i.e., "purpose"), and that nature gave man reason and free will so that he could use these capacities in the way in which nature intended. This is nothing more than a thinly veiled version of the traditional religious claim that God has a grand plan and gave man free will so that he could sacrifice according to God's wishes. Although Kant claims to be making a rational, secular argument for the morality of sacrifice, he actually presents the age-old religious claim that we should sacrifice because God wants us to sacrifice. He merely replaces "God" with "nature" and God's "plan" with nature's "purpose."55
If that implicit appeal to God is not clear enough, Kant makes up for it elsewhere with his explicit appeals not only to God but also to an afterlife in which God rewards man for sacrificing in this life.
Kant was well aware that the morality of sacrifice leads to misery on earth. As he put it, "[T]he moral law [i.e., the requirement of self-sacrifice] as a ground of determination of the will, by thwarting all our inclinations, must produce a feeling which can be called pain."56 He also knew that in order for people willingly to inflict pain upon themselves consistently—as a matter of principle—they need to believe that they will somehow be compensated for their lifetime of suffering. It follows, said Kant, that "it is morally necessary to assume the existence of God" and an afterlife.57 "God and a future life are two postulates which . . . are inseparable from the obligation [to sacrifice]"—because if one upholds the principle of sacrifice in this life, then happiness can be seen as possible only in another life, "under a wise Author and Ruler."
Such a Ruler, together with life in such a world, which we must regard as a future world, reason finds itself constrained to assume; otherwise it would have to regard the moral laws [i.e., imperatives to sacrifice] as empty fragments of the brain, since without this postulate the necessary consequence which it itself connects with these laws could not follow. Hence also everyone regards the moral laws as commands; and this the moral laws could not be if they did not connect . . . suitable consequences with their rules, and thus carry with them promises and threats. But this again they could not do, if they did not reside in a necessary being [i.e., God], as the supreme good, which alone can make such a purposive unity possible.58
This is the traditional religious argument for the self-interested nature of self-sacrifice. "Self-sacrifice will lead to happiness," the argument goes, "not on Earth but in the next life, where God dispenses justice to those who obey the moral imperative to sacrifice." So say the priests—and so said Kant.
As to the fundamental problem facing all such claims—namely, the fact that there is no evidence for the existence of God (let alone divine imperatives)—this, says Kant, is not a problem but a blessing. Lack of evidence for the existence of God does not invalidate the morality of self-sacrifice but rather bolsters it:
Our faith is not scientific knowledge, and thank heaven it is not! For God's wisdom is apparent in the very fact that we do not know that God exists, but should believe that God exists. [If we could] attain . . . scientific knowledge of God's existence, through our experience or in some other way . . . our morality [of sacrifice] would break down. . . . [Our] hope for reward and fear of punishment [i.e., selfish motives] would take the place of moral [i.e., selfless] motives. Man would be virtuous out of [selfish] impulses.59
Although Kant claimed to have proven the propriety of self-sacrifice on secular grounds, he did no such thing. Kant's arguments—along with all those that piggyback his arguments—presuppose and depend on the existence of a supernatural being: a being for whose existence there is no evidence.
Apparently sensing the specious nature of his arguments for sacrifice, Kant put forth another "argument"—this one designed to shame people out of denying the "moral faith" on which all his earlier arguments rest: Anyone who denies this "moral faith," said Kant, "would have to be a scoundrel."60
There you have it. The greatest, most revered "secular" argument ever offered for the propriety of self-sacrifice boils down to this: If you do not accept the creed of sacrifice, you are a scoundrel.
There is no valid argument in support of the notion that people should sacrifice for others—which is why no one has ever offered such an argument. There is no evidence in support of the creed of sacrifice—there is no logic behind altruism—and the professional advocates of this creed are well aware of this fact. It is high time for Americans to discover it.
Altruism is killing America. We who want to save America must repudiate this killer, root and branch. We must understand and explain to others that the acceptance of altruism necessitates the violation of individual rights, which is why Americans are increasingly supporting rights-violating policies, institutions, and politicians. And we must understand and explain to others that the arguments for altruism are baseless, which is why the pushers of altruism must appeal to a supernatural being and attempt to intimidate those who challenge their creed.
On the positive side, we must embrace and advocate a rational, life-sustaining, rights-supporting, and thus pro-America morality: rational egoism—the morality defined and developed by the American philosopher Ayn Rand. According to rational egoism, being moral consists not in sacrificing oneself for others, nor in sacrificing others for oneself, but in pursuing life-serving values and respecting the rights of others to do the same. Because rational egoism holds that each individual morally should pursue his own life serving values, it also holds that each individual should be politically free to do so—as long as he does not interfere with the same freedom of others. (For a detailed presentation of rational egoism, see Ayn Rand's book The Virtue of Selfishness, my book Loving Life: the Morality of Self-Interest and the Facts that Support It, or Tara Smith's book Ayn Rand's Normative Ethics: The Virtuous Egoist.)
If we want to reinstate America as a republic in which the only purpose of government is, as Thomas Jefferson put it, to "guarantee to everyone the free exercise of his industry and the fruits acquired by it," to "restrain men from injuring one another," to "leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and . . . not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned"—then we must reject the creed of sacrifice; we must embrace the morality of self-interest; and we must encourage our fellow Americans to do the same. Nothing less will save the Land of Liberty.


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&Tradition's In Between table is an elegant addition to the wooden furniture collection designed by Sami Kallio. The round In Between table repeats the curved shapes and sloping legs of the In Between chairs. A result of designer Kallio's love for Scandinavian heritage and woodworking, In Between table is made of strong and soulful oak wood with traditional techniques such as wood turning. In Between table also has its modern character created by the light, three-legged design and detachable legs, allowing the table to be transported and stored as flat-pack.
- Manufacturer:
- &Tradition
- Design:
- Sami Kallio
- Height:
- 73 cm
- Diameter:
- 90 cm
- Material:
- Smoked and oiled solid oak
- Weight:
- 20 kg

subset: commoncrawl


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May 07th, 2017
Important news!
Tomorrow is half day hat day! Donate $1 and wear a hat in school.
Friday, April 28th is a half day of school.
The school doors will not open until 8:30. Please make sure your child knows who they will be with when school is dismissed. Changes in the routine can be hard for young children.
Our students looked great for today's career day! It was exciting to see all of the creative ways the children dressed up. I think we had the safest, healthiest class at Willett, with three police officers and two doctors! :)
Next week will be very exciting! From May 1st through May 7th, the Willett PTO is sponsoring our "Blank"-a-Thon fundraiser to earn money for our playground. This is also national Screen-Free Week. It is a great opportunity for families to set aside the electronics, turn off the TV, and get moving! There are several activities in the community to enjoy during the week.
** There will be no homework to allow you more time to participate in the following fun events:
Wednesday, May 3rd: Willett night at Bliss Dairy & meet-up to play at the playground across the street
Friday, May 5th: Willett FREE swim at the Downtown YMCA
Saturday, May 6th: 1:30 until 3:30: Visit the Norton Outdoor Center of the Attleboro YMCA to use the ropes course and play games
Week long activities:
Visit the Painted Turtle in Attleboro
Activities at Capron Park Zoo
Check out the Willett PTO Facebook page for any additional updates about Screen Free Week and the Blank-a-Thon!
***We need boxes of tissues for our classroom please! Thank you! We also really appreciate donations of disinfecting wipes, Expo markers, and glue sticks.
Happy New Year!
Welcome to 2017! I hope that everyone had an enjoyable vacation.
This week, we are revisiting the long u words in Reading Street that we started learning about during our last few days together in December. We are also learning about the three different sounds that the affix -ed makes at the ends of words such as, played, kicked, and counted.
The children pointed out to me that I sent home NEXT week's homework packet by mistake. Just another example of how we all make mistakes! :) I told them to still complete the homework packet and next week, their homework packet will be the one they should have had this week. With this in mind, the story we are working on this week in class is Life In The Forest. In class next week, we will work on Honey Bees.
During math we are learning about place value. At this point in first grade we focus on the ones and tens place. We are using Base-10 block longs and cubes to build numbers and exchange for groups of tens. Your children made place value mats on Tuesday which we used in class and sent home on Wednesday. They should be able to demonstrate their newly learned skills for you at home with numbers up to 50.
When the weather permits, we go outside for recess. Please be sure that your student has a coat, hat, and mittens for recess.
***IMPORTANT REMINDER: Our classroom is "nut safe" which means that students are not permitted to eat nut products for our morning snack in the room. Anything containing nuts, for example, peanut butter cookies or crackers, must be saved for lunch in the cafeteria. This sometimes leaves students without a snack. Please remember this as you and your child are making snack choices each day.
We have had so much illness already this winter. :( Please remind your children about cough and sneeze etiquette and practice coughing and sneezing into their elbows. Also please encourage your children to keep their fingers away from their eyes, noses, and mouths. We spend lots of time blowing noses, washing hands, and cleaning classroom surfaces, but little reminders are always helpful for our little friends. If your child is ill, please use your best judgement about whether or not they can come to school. Our school handbook does provide some guidelines for when students have had fevers or have been vomitting. Let's do all we can to prevent having sick students (and teachers).
December 05th, 2016
It is December already? The time is flying by this year! Each day our "special helper of the day" gets to run calendar time. The students use this time to practice the days of the week, months of the year, and to discuss how many days of school. During this time we also work on developing our number sense. For example, today was our 63rd day of first grade. The children are able to explain that the number 63 is made of 6 "bundles" of 10 and 3 ones. The students are also counting down how many days until our winter vacation. This started this morning when a few students arrived and asked me how many days were left. Of course I could not just tell them! We turned the question into a math problem that they could solve on their own.
We have started our new Reading Street unit which focuses on communities. This week, we will read Who Works Here? This is a nonfiction piece about community helpers. The children are becoming very knowlegable about communities and working together to help our community. Our phonics skill for the week focuses on CVCe words. These are words that have a consonant, vowel, consonant, e pattern, such as like and bike. We have been talking about how these words have a long vowel sound and the first vowel says it's own name, with the help of the e at the end of the word. Your children call that e "King Ed".
We are learning to add details to our writing using our five senses. We have done some exploring with mystery items and the children had to use their senses to figure out what the items were. We have been reading to hear where authors add sensory details to their writing. Soon we will be doing some writing of our own so we can add details that connect to our five senses.
We have been working on measuring during math. We also continue to work on using number lines, number grids, change diagrams, and manipulatives to solve addition and subtraction strategies. Today during math, we also learned about making and using bar graphs to collect and keep track of data. Ask your child what superpowers they could chose to have during this lesson.
We have been talking about being kind to one another and doing things each day to make people happy. We have a "Random acts of Kindness" calendar in our classroom which we will be using each day. Today's random act of kindness is to donate a canned good. Since our class is participating in our school's food drive, this is a great act of kindness. I have included the calendar as a file below so you can talk about it with your children at home.
Updates from Mrs. Dooley
October 29th, 2016
Our students have finished the first Reading Street unit. For the next two weeks we will be learning about different animals and the habitats they live in. This is separate from Reading Street, so you will not see the regular homework packet coming home with your child. Instead, we will just send a 2-sided reading log so your child can keep track of their nightly reading as their homework. There is also a "Book of the Week" activity, which is like a mini-book report for your child to complete as part of the homework. Regular homework will resume on November 13th.
Please remember that Monday, October 31st is a fall spirit day at Willett. Students can choose to wear colors that remind them of fall. I am looking forward to seeing our classroom filled with autumn colors. Please remember that students are not allowed to wear Halloween costumes to school. Please do not send any candy to school with your child for snack or for a treat at lunch.
Our new Elmo, donated through the generosity of friends, family, and anonymous donors through DonorsChoose.org has been a wonderful tool in our classroom. Ask your children about the great ways we have used it for learning and for sharing our work with one another.
We are always grateful when families can donate containers of Lysol wipes to our class. We clean our desks and tables daily to reduce the spread of germs. Hopefully, this will be a healthy school year for all of us.
We also use Expo markers a lot. The skinny ones are the easiest for small hands to grasp. Thank you to anyone who can (or has) donated these to our class.
Parent conferences are on Wednesday and Thursday this week. If you have not confirmed your appointment time, please do so as soon as possible. Please remember that conferences are only 10 minutes each. This is not much time, so I like to suggest that you jot down any questions you may wish to ask so you do not forget. Please be on time. Out of respect for the families meeting with me after you, I really do need to limit conferences to the scheduled time slots. Thank you for your patience and understanding.
Please remember that I am available by email using the staff listings on the Willett School homepage. You can also comment on this site, or contact the school if you need to reach me.
Updates from Room 102
Our students have been working hard in first grade! This week, our Reading Street work included reading The Big Blue Ox, a fantasy story in which an ox is very helpful to Mom and Pop. We have practiced identifying the setting and characters as we read. We have also practiced writing sentences that have a capital letter at the beginning and a period at the end.
Mrs. David and Ms. Bernier have been working with our class every Monday. They read stories and do activities with us that will help the students understand their different feelings. We also work on ways to get along with others.
During math we have been learning lots of strategies for addition, including counting up and down the number line, using a number grid for adding, and using objects to practice adding. Today we played two fisted penny addition. We started with ten pennies and had to take a few pennies in our right hands, and figure out how many pennies were left in our left. The children will continue working on ways to add two numbers together to make ten next week.
**** Tomorrow is a half day of school! Willett's doors open at 8:30. Dismissal is at 12:25.
Tomorrow is also half day hat day. Your child can wear his or her favorite hat by donating $1 to our PTO. It is also Red Sox and Patriots spirit day. Wear your favorite sports shirt! :)
Monday is Columbus Day. We will not have school. We will see you on Tuesday.
Have you checked out the Remind App yet? This is a great way for me to send you quick text updates about our class, and events at school. I encourage you to check out this app and sign up. I also frequently use my classroom website and emails to keep you informed about our school day.
Join Mrs. Dooley on Remind:
Update for 9-12 through 9-16
I am so proud of how well the children are working to learn to routines and expectations of our first grade classroom!
The students have gym tomorrow (Wednesday) and will need to wear sneakers to school, as well as clothes that are comfortable for participating in gym activities.
Please remember that this Friday is a half day. Willett's doors open at 8:30 on half days. Students will be dismissed at 12:30 so teachers can attend professional development sessions. The children will have snack, but not lunch. Please send in a note if your child's dismissal routine will change on the half day.
Have you singed up for the Remind App yet? If not, please check out the information below. This is a great tool that I can use for quick, sometimes last minute updates about our classroom. Do you know other parents from our class? Encourage them to sign up too!
Over the next few weeks I will be introducing the children to using IPads in our classroom. I try to incorporate a variety of types of technology into our learning experiences. If you have access to technology at home, there are a number of great sites you can use. We will use GoNoodle, Epic books for kids, Spelling City, and Tumblebooks, to name just a few. I am working with DonorsChoose.org to try to purchase something called an ELMO for the classroom. This technology will allow me to project student work samples, videos, and even 3-dimensional objects onto a video screen during lessons. Think of it as a highly advanced overhead projector.
Remember to mark your calendars for our Willett Welcome Back Night on September 22nd. We look forward to seeing you!
I am trying out something new this year. I am using an app called Remind to help me send quick notes and reminders to you. Sometimes the teachers like to send a last minute reminder about a special event, like a spirit day at Willett. I encourage you to check out this app and sign up. I also frequently use my classroom website and emails to keep you informed about our school day.
Join Mrs. Dooley on Remind:
August 22nd, 2016
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Revealed Resort Review
All Revealed Reviews by Hawaii Revealed
(800) 819-5053 or (800) 321-4666
One Manele Bay Rd, Lanai
Visit website
UPDATE: This resort re-opened in 2017 but we have yet to revisit it for an updated review. Hope to soon.
This resort is actually on harder-to-pronounce Hulopo'e Bay, has a more Hawaiian feel than sister property "the Lodge" does. At check-in, your credit card is momentarily whisked away to be run through their special NASA-designed hydraulic credit card press, capable of pumping more money out of your credit card than you ever imagined. The resort is very pretty and tropical and the restaurants are good, though pricey. The atmosphere is "relaxed elegance." This resort doesn't feel stuffy or pretentious. The Asian art exhibited is from the owner's private collection, and some of the art is outstanding.
Though not directly on a beach, it is a short walk from their property on their beach path. The pool and its 2 spas are open 24 hours, and during the day you can enjoy an Evian spritz, chilled towels and even get your sunglasses cleaned.
Many amenities at this property are included in your room rate, such as room safes, valet parking, fitness classes, snorkel gear, and personalized mini bar selections. Local calls are a buck.
It is clear that families are welcome here. They have a free kids' program during the day and a teen center with video games, pool table and large HDTV. They will child-proof your room and leave out a welcome snack of milk and cookies on arrival. Cribs are free along with some other gear for your keiki. Adults will be happy here, too, with romantic dinners for two (or up to 6 people) in the ocean hale on the lawn where they also do couple's spa treatments.
There is a shuttle ($48 per person per stay) that will bring you back and forth around town or to the Lodge to enjoy what they have to offer up there. Rooms (576–814 sq. ft.) are $395–$995, suites (900–2,700 sq., ft.) are $1,050–$6,500.
Resort at a Glance
- 236 rooms
- Pool
- 2 spas
- 4 tennis courts
- Free fitness room
- Valet parking
- 24-hour room service
- 3 restaurants
- Shops
- Day spa
- Free hi-speed Internet access in rooms and Wi-Fi in some common areas
- Children's program
- 9 conference rooms
- Free 24-hour business center
- Coffee maker with free coffee daily
- Valet-only laundry
You Might Like What's Close
- Hulopo'e Beach
- Lanai Culture & Heritage Center
- Garden of the Gods
- Polihua Beach


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"Ideally, for me, would be to get the type of sponsor that I could run the full Nationwide (schedule)," he said. "That's what I'd love to do. Then I'm here at the races, here on Sundays, can be a team owner but still get to race."
As a driver, Waltrip is a non-factor. He has four wins in nearly 750 career starts, has furloughed himself on road courses in past seasons and has suggested for years that his days as a full-time driver are coming to an end.
As an owner, Waltrip's business is picking up. His team picked up its first win this season. Martin Truex Jr. will replace Waltrip in 2010 and will keep Waltrip's existing sponsors. Still, with an interest to race and enough personality for 10 current Sprint Cup teams, Waltrip wants to delay shuffleboard and early bird dinners and go the Crash Davis route instead.
"I still want to race really bad, and I never got the chance to run the full Nationwide before in my career," he said. "But it costs a lot of money. I need a sponsor. I gave mine to Martin so now I need to find another one."
No wonder Waltrip is chasing Danica Patrick. If she signs, the sponsorship opportunities could splinter into a full-time ride for Waltrip or his developmental drivers. That said, it's probably a good thing for Waltrip to keep racing. His commercials are funny. His experience will help younger drivers. Just ask Robby Gordon.


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Slipknot Shirt Size S
Shipping calculated at checkout.
*This is a pre-owned product.*
Slipknot shirt from early 2000s
SIZE: Men's S
Our Garment Guarantee
We guarantee all garments🧢👖👕👟 to be in good overall condition with no major rips, stains, holes, tares or stretching unless otherwise noted. Any noticeable damage or wear will be pointed out and mentioned in the description of the item. Colors may vary depending on the settings of your phone or monitor.


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"Gay activists like to bully people into silence through intimidation."
Gay Bullies: Gay activists have a very serious and clear objective and are using Hollywood, the liberal media, along with activist judges to propagate their agenda. Regrettably, they are succeeding in convincing the general public that homosexuality is as normal as baseball and apple pie. For example, many of today's youth believe that homosexuals are simply born that way. Continue reading "Don't Let Gay Activist Bullies Intimidate You"


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Looking On The Bright Side of Weddings
Wear Your Dream Wedding Jewelry and Buy It Now At The Nearest Jewelry Store
Unlike any other celebration that is celebrated annually, a wedding is a chance of a lifetime. Nonetheless when it comes to the woman of the hour; the bride. A wedding for a woman like you is one of the most significant part of your life. Most especially, in a woman's life, her wedding day is should be her most beautiful day of her life. If you want to attain the most beautiful spot in the wedding day like what Aphrodite, you might want to take your preparation seriously.
No matter what everyone wants, as the bride you have the control over the planning of your wedding day. It is your dream wedding that is why everything is built on your desired outcome. There is no doubt that when it comes with the fashion code your wedding day, you only have the control in choosing it. Indeed, is the most significant stage of your life yet the most hard task for you.
How will you make your desire wedding a reality?
Everyone anticipates for the bride so the first step is focusing you as the woman of the hour. It is the way you will look and the dresses and jewelries you will wear that you need prepare being the bride. In this modern times, beautification is never an issue. Your dream make-up and hairstyle is attainable through professional help. However, when it comes to your hair, there's just a lot that you need to do. As the saying says, your hair is your crowning glory. This is why you have to have a bang up hairstyle to match your wedding dress. Have you gotten any vision on how would you want to look on that day? Do you have your own plans with you overall look?
Dazzling jewelries and would be one of the most awaited part in our overall look. Of course, you have to pair your wedding hair style with a bang up jewelry that will make it look more beautiful. You need not to run out of options because there are too many kinds of jewelries for you. If you want the best and most glamorous, you should go to the best jewelry stores. Now, in selecting a jewelry store, you have to be picky. Because this is all about you, find a jewelry store that will help you find the perfect jewelry that will fit you. The best thing to do is read fashion articles online that suggest jewelry stores. It is helpful, because today many jewelry stores are marketing online. The most important part in chosing the jewelry store for you is to have a guarantee that you are making a reliable trade. Buying jewelry from a jewelry store is nevertheless one of the first investment you will have as you entered the marital life.
More information: view publisher site


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Earn an Indiana University Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree that reflects all the academic quality and prestige you expect from an IU program, on an affordable Columbus campus that is close to home.
With our flexible program, you'll earn an MBA in less than 24 months and be prepared for a variety of professional paths that will boost your management career. Meeting just two nights a week, you will earn your IU MBA on a schedule that fits your professional and personal life. It is also one of the most affordable MBA programs within reach.


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By USA Swimming | Friday, June 23, 2017
USA Swimming is saying bye-bye to fast-food and hello to FASTER food by rising up against poor concession stand choices and overhauling how concession stands are run. Promoting healthy options with the new #swimFASTERfood campaign, USA Swimming is teaming up with Chobani® and Milk Life to create awareness and educate USA Swimming's 400,000 members on fueling for better performance.
"Hot dogs, soda, chips, nachos and candy bars are some of the most popular items in swim team concession stands, so we feel there is a better way," said Matt Farrell, USA Swimming Chief Marketing Officer. "We want to 'Take a stand against today's concession stand' to improve how swimmers of all ages prepare for an event. We can show them that eating healthy doesn't have to sacrifice taste, cost or ease of purchase."
The campaign will include amusing short video clips, attention-grabbing taglines that take on today's eating habits in graphics and other digital assets, featuring four-time Olympic gold medalist Matt Grevers, that challenge swimmers and their parents to take action by making smart choices when it comes to nutrition. In addition, a #swimFASTERfood recipe guide will be available in Splash magazine and on www.swimFASTERfood.com.
Watch the #swimFASTERfood video series called "What to Eat at a Meet."
"This is a Swim-tervention! We all know feeling your best is the key to a great swim, so why fill up with typical concessions stand foods that don't make us feel that way? We're here to change that," said Grevers. "So trade in your muffins for medals and join us in the #swimFASTERfood revolution to build champions and make concessions stands more health friendly."
To help parents become advocates for change, the campaign seeks to raise awareness that swim meet concessions contain snacks that aren't fueling young athletes to deliver their best performances.
New research* from the USA Swimming Concessions Survey shows U.S. parents of youth athletes do want healthier options available for purchase at on-site concessions – less than two in five parents agree that concessions help fuel youth athletes to perform their best. The survey also found that:
- Parents are more likely to describe concessions as being unhealthy than healthy. Only 1% of parents say concessions are healthy.
- Unaided, one-fourth (24%) of parents describe concessions in terms of their unhealthiness – whether that's because they're not very nutritious, are "junk food," are sugary or are fattening.
- 79% believe spectators would appreciate having healthier food and beverage options on-site. The top items parents would like to see available for purchase include fresh fruits (whole or sliced), granola/energy bars, string cheese/cheese cubes, nuts or seeds (e.g. almonds, peanuts, pumpkin seeds), fresh vegetables, yogurt and milk/chocolate milk.
- 81% of those who always/frequently purchase concessions agree they personally want to see concessions offer healthier choices.
- More parents bring their own snacks than buy from concessions because bringing their own is cheaper and healthier. 50% of parents who bring food and beverages from home said they do so because it's a healthier option than what's available on-site.
In addition to educating athletes about making smarter nutrition choices at youth sporting events, USA Swimming is making a concerted effort to engage parents, as the survey found that:
- Of the 42% of parents who run or contribute to stocking concessions, 64% are significantly more likely to purchase from concessions than those who rarely or never work concessions (64% vs. 37%).
- When parents are buying from concessions, they're typically getting less-than-healthy options, like hot dogs, soda, chips and nachos, and purchasing these items for themselves or their athlete. Consumers may be buying unhealthy options because this is all that concessions offer.
"While a balanced and nutrient dense diet is essential for all children, it is especially important that swimmers are eating foods to fuel their active bodies and minds while spending long days at meets," said Kelly Jones, Board Certified Sports Dietitian. "USA Swimming is inspiring change at concessions so kids have convenient options to energize them for multiple races that are spread over many hours. Having healthy recovery foods on site also optimizes the swimmer's ability to race or train again the next day. By partnering with food brands that provide the proper balance of nutrients for fuel and recovery, swimmers and their parents may include more nutritious options while away from the pool, too."
Additionally, the campaign will feature user-generated content on social media using the hashtag #swimFASTERfood. The swimming community will be encouraged to show support for the cause by posting healthy recipes or taking a stand against processed, high-calorie concession stand foods on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram Pinterest?.
For more information on the #swimFASTERfood campaign please visit www.swimFASTERfood.com.
*The USA Swimming Concessions Survey was conducted from June 9-10, 2017. Respondents to the survey were selected from Research Now's consumer panel to reflect a distribution of adults 18 years or older across the U.S. census regions. At the time of the survey, participants had to have at least one child aged 5 to 17 years old who actively participates in competitive youth sports. Without knowledge of USA Swimming's sponsorship, 500 respondents completed the survey.


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I make individual pieces informed by the Japanese tea ceremony. These include –
The Chawan/Teabowl (60€) -The Unomi/Teacup(40€) -The Guinomi /Sake Cup(30€ )- The Mizusashi/Water Jar (120 €) – The Chaire/Tea Container (40€)
If you are interested in acquiring a piece of my work contact me through this site and I will send you related images for your consideration.
I can supply the Chawan and Unomi in a very attractive Japanese made paulownia wood presentation box or Chabako. I can also supply a handmade textile cloth or Kobukusa as seen in image below.
"Whisking tea is Zen practice in the truest sense, and a spiritual exercise leading to the clear understanding of our deeper nature."
(Zen in the Art of the Tea Ceremony – H. Hammitzsch )


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Archive for May, 2010
jQuery plugin: tagEditor
Posted by Joost Elfering in development, projects on 2010/05/26
This month I've been working on an existing jQuery plugin called tagEditor. It is a plugin that turns an ordinary text input field into a dynamic tag tokenizer. The idea is that it can be used as a tag input or edit form control. It interacts a lot like the tag editor used here in WordPress or other popular tools that use tags. Tags are separated by a separator (most commonly an enter or ,) and then transformed into a list where the tag can be removed by clicking on it. It is usable together with an auto-complete (the jQuery UI auto-complete works well) to create the perfect user experience.
Together with the plugin's original creator Karl-Johan Sjögren version 1.4 has been developed and released. More details can be found on the jQuery plugin page and on the demo page by Karl-Johan.
Posted by Joost Elfering in conceptual & philosophic on 2010/05/21
In Europe the fight for software patents have always been kept at bay. This week though in Germany one of the European strongholds broke down. A German court declared patents on software legal! Although my country does not deal in this kind of behavior yet it seems to be going that way…
This new found legality of software patents gives an open invitation to everyone who wanted to patent the way basic programming stuff to basic interaction practices. HTC and Apple had a recent clash that was based on those kinds of ideas.
Why do we fight this kind of patenting? Why is it so bad? Or is it!?
Web-forms: a first look
Posted by Joost Elfering in design, development on 2010/05/16
Getting users to fill in a field to give you their information is hard. Even when it is to do something the user would like to have it always seems to be a break-off point in the process. A user want to respond to a blog post but he needs to fill in a name and an email. It is more likely that the user will leave the form and not comment at all then fill in the form. Things like external account integration (facebook login), asynchronous forms (javascript and ajax) and natural forms are a way to solve this. Web-forms are as much a science as they are an art. Nuances can make or break a good web-form so let's give the science of web-forms a better look!


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Solnatex provides independent audit services designed to help enhance the reliability of information prepared by clients for use by investors, creditors, and other stakeholders in accordance with statutory requirements.
Good audits add value beyond the formal financial statements.
In the market place, credible financial statement audits reinforce investor confidence. Within organizations, they add to board and management understanding of the business and the risks it faces.
— Our skilled and experienced audit professionals work with clients and relevant external parties to understand the changing business environment.
— We adopt an audit approach that is based on a proven methodology and reinforced by Solnatax's commitment to professional integrity, independence, and ethical behavior.
— We equip our audit teams with advanced technology to provide a structured, risk-focused workflow.
— We focus on clients' key business risks.
— We support the audit process with extensive experience of applying and interpreting accounting standards.
— We identify industry trends, issues, and insights that may influence the accuracy and completeness of financial statements.
We offer high-level technical capabilities and a client focused culture. Our advice is clear, concise, and relevant.


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How to Get Your Joy Back:$2.99 Kindle
$2.99 Kindle Edition for YOU!
Declare Your Freedom -Live With Joy!
Take Action. Find the career that works for you!
Are you ready for a change?
*Rediscover your joy and plan your new direction with a step-by-step system.
*Find out how your strengths intersect with your best career options.
*Gain more freedom to spend time the way you want.
*Learn how to develop multiple streams of income.
*Explore resources by clicking on the many live internet links directly from the book.
Whether you want to shift gears in your current job, explore a new career, or launch your own business, this guide will show you how to feel energized and motivated to fulfill your life's purpose every day!
$2.99 Kindle Edition for YOU!
About Maria Luchsinger
Maria is a certified life coach, teacher, and author who is dedicated to helping women rediscover their joy through career transformation. Since she has known the freedom and excitement of redesigning her own career, she is excited about inspiring and supporting women to reach their unique potential and meet each day with a zest for life. In addition to 30 years of work experience, mainly in the fields of Business and Education, Maria holds a B.A. in Elementary Education, and M. A. credits in Intercultural Education, Leadership and Curriculum Development. Maria volunteers as the National Literacy Ambassador for a non-profit organization called Xcellence, Inc. by promoting reading out loud and writing across America. She lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband, John. Her interests include reading, photography, playing the piano, and travel, especially to visit her children and grandchildren.


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Award winning Hollywood - style beach home on spectacular Captiva Island
Stay in a Hollywood style beach home on the spectacular sub tropical island of Captiva where you'll find a Florida with memories of a graceful past. Waving palm trees, miles of unspoiled sandy beach and no high rises to spoil spectacular sunsets over the Gulf of Mexico.
Captiva and South Seas Island resort – perfect for families and friends
Captiva Island is a former key lime plantation and protected nature reserve which is often used by filmmakers to portray Hawaii. And with four miles of sandy beach you are guaranteed to see dolphins and manatees around these shores. There are a range of condos and private homes or villas on Captiva which are available to rent both on and off South Seas Island resort, which occupies the last two miles of Captiva. But if you are looking for the ultimate in style and luxury this stunning film director's home in a beachside location within South Seas Island resort is available between $2000 and $4000 a night depending on season.


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Where are the Command and Staff Colleges in the Inner Sphere, and do the Clans have anything like it?
Oh yeah, I just gave a short list from memory but there is many more- just for the movement. Which does not even come close for producing a coordinated Op Plan for initiating a battle- especially if its the mech battalion being the command unit of supporting armor & infantry. Which is also something CGSC would do- teach combined arms since the officers would come to it out of their branch (mech, armor, infantry, VTOLs, PAO . . . ).
The point I'm getting at is in the Regimental system, the Regiment recruits/equips/trains/retains personnel (for their entire careers, normally. No PCSing between regiments!). The notion that a cadet goes to Nagelring or Sun Zhang and then goes to a regiment is inherently Continental. As one of the very few canonical examples consistent with the Regimental model, look at the 3rd Proserpina Hussars and the University of Proserpina. The UofP trained cadets, but only for the Hussars regiments. And later on (post Jihad) we have the example of the 3rd maintaining their own entire Academy (based out of an Overlord DropShip, IIRC) even after the Hussars were disbanded and the regiment was transferred to the Pesht Warlord's District Regulars.


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Newly appointed Sales and Marketing Manager
Ted Hile has joined IPM pumps as the new sales and marketing manager as of 13 February 2017. He holds an MBA from the Pacific Lutheran University and was previously a manager in the manufacturing industry. Ted is also a member of the SAMPE (Society for the Advancement of Materials and Process Engineering). Ted will be a key person in IPM's coordination of new product development and achieving marketing and sales operational objectives.


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Serena and draino
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February 3rd, 2012, 03:08 PM
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Yea after christmas hubby started dialysis so that was crazy with the scheduling.
I goggled cats and drano i got some hits on some other people whose cats licked/walked in dranio. they recommand milk but she won't drink it go figure, keeping an eye on her mouth and paws which i am. that if she isn't vomiting or anything now she is more then likely ok.
God i'm going nuts. I'm suppose to go hang out with friends tonight with hubby but i'm afraid to leave her.
Today is the Tomorrow you worried about Yesterday.
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It's episode 4 in N6oSean's Sims series!
So in the last episode Taylor Swift and Obama weren't getting along too well.
In fact they had a full blown fight!
Well in Episode 4, Sean is doing everything he can to help them patch things up!
Check out the video by whacking play in the link above!
Remember you can subscribe to all of Sean's videos on his N60Sean YouTube channel.
And… listen to Sean every weekday morning from 6.30am on Fun Kids!
Watch all of Sean's Videos
Click to subscribe to Sean's YouTube channel and see all of his video game adventures!


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That's Not a Carrier-Level Routing System, It's a Wireless Stereo
"Cisco wireless music system." To the home entertainment enthusiast those words make about as much sense as "Apple carrier-level routing system." But to Cisco (CSCO) they're perfectly logical, and the beginnings of a new growth business. At the Consumer Electronics Show in January, the company plans to introduce a new line of products, among them a wireless digital stereo system and an Internet video set-top box.
Consumer electronics devices like these seem an odd shift in direction for a company whose core business has long been peddling switches and routers. But for Cisco it's another step toward the end-to-end triple play solution for carrier networks and the digital home it's been yammering on about since acquiring Scientific Atlanta in 2005. Question is, can a company whose name is synonymous with routers and switches expand its brand to include consumer electronics? Certainly, it's no easy task. Said John MacFarlane, CEO of Sonos, the company that developed what's now the gold standard in wireless digital stereo systems, "I don't think that when they hear the name Cisco they think of great products in consumer electronics."
Now, MacFarlane clearly has a horse in this race, but he speaks the truth. Cisco's not a brand one expects to see in, say, Magnolia Audio Video. Which begs the question: Is a connected audio component really the best strategy here? "I can't help but wonder why Cisco is not simply focusing on enabling the connectivity and distribution piece on the network rather than going for the end-point," Jonathan Greene writes over at Atmasphere. "I'd rather have something neutral that provides access to content (and not just music, btw) where I want it–whether that's in my house or pushed out to my mobile device. The limited info on the upcoming Cisco product seems to limit the usefulness to a connected audio component. These typically sit in your stereo rack connected to your home network and stream content through as though it was in your audio player. Sounds a lot like Sonos, AppleTV and quite a few other boxes that have been sold with considerably less success."


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Which Role Did Leonardo DiCaprio Lose Because of His 'Atrocious Voice'
The Oscar-nominated actor reveals he's not so talented in the music department.
Feb. 14, 2014 -- Four-time Oscar nominee Leonardo DiCaprio has no problem getting almost any role he wants.
He's one of the most bankable movie stars in Hollywood and his names carries a lot of weight - except maybe when it comes to films that have a musical angle.
DiCaprio, 39, revealed in a recent interview with Variety that he met a few years back with director and close friend Baz Luhrmann - whom he's worked with on numerous projects - about starring in "Moulin Rogue!"
"To be honest, I'm not really prepared to do a musical, simply because I think I have a pretty atrocious voice," he admitted.
Read: Leonardo DiCaprio and Bradley Cooper Bring Their Moms to Golden Globes
The role for the 2001 blockbuster eventually went to Ewan McGregor, who starred opposite Nicole Kidman.
But DiCaprio still took the meeting with Baz.
"We had a friendly thing where it was me and him and a piano player, and we tried to sing a song together," the actor said. "It didn't go too well. I think it was 'Lean on Me,' and when I hit the high note, [Baz] just turned to me [and said]?'Yes, D, I don't know if this conversation should continue.'"
He put his singing days behind him and it's turned out pretty well for DiCaprio, who is nominated for Best Actor for March 2's 86th Academy Awards.


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Join independent curator and writer Mark Nash and Professor of History of Art and Visual Culture Jennifer González for a conversation about approaches to curatorial practice.
12:15- 1:45 pm, Wedensday, November 29
Digital Arts Research Center (DARC) 206
Attendees are encouraged to bring a brown bag lunch.
Mark Nash is an independent curator and writer, until recently Head of Department Curating Contemporary Art at the Royal College of Art London. He currently teaches at Birkbeck University of London and until recently was Visiting Professor at the Nanyang Technological University Singapore, Centre for Contemporary Art. His most recent exhibition, Things Fall Apart (2016) examines the artistic legacy of formerly socialist countries, previously explored in Re-imagining October at Calvert 22 (2009), (curated with Isaac Julien). Nash has collaborated extensively with Okwui Enwezor on Documenta11, and The Short Century: Independence and Liberation Movements in Africa, 1945–1994 both 2002, and most recently on The Arena project Venice Biennial 2015 including an epic live reading of Karl Marx's Das Kapital. He also collaborated with Ute Meta Bauer on the 3rd Berlin Biennial (2004). Nash has curated several exhibitions focusing on artists' work with the moving image - including his earlier exhibitions Experiments with Truth at the Fabric Workshop and Museum, Philadelphia (2004-5) and One Sixth of the Earth, Ecologies of Image at ZKM, Karlsruhe and MUSAC, Leon (2012-13). Together with Joshua Jiang he has curated The Shadow Never Lies, M21: 21st Century Minsheng Art Museum Shanghai (2016) a major international exhibition focusing on the role of both the digital and analogue 'shadow image' (yingxiang) in contemporary art. Earlier this year he curated Viva L'Italia an exhibition of film and video for Artefiera Bologna focusing on the legacy of the 1970s socialist culture in Bologna.
Jennifer González is Professor in the History of Art and Visual Culture at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and also teaches at the Whitney Museum Independent Study Program, New York. She writes about contemporary art with an emphasis on installation, digital and activist art. She is interested in understanding the strategic use of space (exhibition space, public space, virtual space) by contemporary artists and by cultural institutions such as museums. More specifically, she has focused on the representation of the human body and its relation to discourses of race and gender. Prof.González has published in Frieze, Bomb, Diacritics, Camera Obscura, Open Space and Art Journal. Her first book Subject to Display: Reframing Race in Contemporary Installation Art (MIT Press, 2008) was a finalist for the Charles Rufus Morey Book Award. Her second book, Pepón Osorio, was published by University of Minnesota Press (2013).


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Fried Eggs with Sweet Potato Hash
- 1 Tbs coconut oil, divided
- 1 medium sweet potato or yam, diced into 1/2″ cubes
- 1/2 yellow onion, diced
- 2 nitrite/nitrate free sausages, sliced
- 1 medium bell pepper, diced
- 4 eggs
- freshly ground black pepper
- In a large skillet, heat 2 teaspoons coconut oil over medium heat.
- Add the onions and sweet potatoes, and sauté for 5 minutes.
- Add the sausages and continue to cook until sausages are browned and sweet potatoes are slightly softened.
- Add bell peppers and 1 Tbs of water.
- Cover and cook for 15 minutes or until the potatoes are completely soft, stirring frequently.
- Meanwhile, fried eggs in 1 teaspoon coconut oil.
- Season with freshly ground black pepper and serve over sweet potato hash.


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Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday, but winter is my least favorite season. To keep myself going, each week I'm going to be giving away several interesting books that have come my way over the past months as well as some books I've received over a year ago.
First up, this delightful cookie book:
It's brand new and being released next week!
I've been thinking a lot about creativity and bringing that into my work with students. How does someone take a shape and think of it in new way? This book is about cookies, but I think it's also about taking an ordinary object like a cookie cutter, twisting and turning it, and imagining other possibilities.
Patti Paige is the author and chef behind the cookies and she runs a website called Baked Ideas.
Not only does the book contain the author's exquisitely designed cookies, but she include her seven favorite cookie recipes, which include a whole wheat, vegan, and gluten free recipes.
Definitely a fun addition to your cookbook collection. Comment below by midnight 11/7 to enter in my giveaway. I will chose a name on Saturday 11/8. You Can't Judge a Cookie by Its Cutter is available wherever books are sold on Tuesday November 4th.
I received a copy of this book to review (which is the copy I'm giving away). Regardless, opinions expressed in this review are my own.


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School starts again tomorrow, and I am so not looking forward to trial results.
Last night I dreamt I got a B for Moral.
That's a dream. XD
I finished the Time Traveller's Wife yesterday, and it really is a good book. Very believable. They have ALOT of sex though. @.@ Even the wife character was like, "Is it normal to have so much sex?" LOOOOOL. Weird if you have to ask someone that.
Anyway. I gotta go try to study now. Byee.
Saturday, September 26, 2009
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UCLA Swimming Drowns UC Santa Barbara and Oregon State
Oct. 19, 2001
Santa Barbara, CA - In the opening meet of the 2001-2002 season, the defending Pac-10 champion UCLA Bruins defeated the UC Santa Barbara Gauchos, 170-92, and the Oregon State Beavers, 169-95. UCLA is now 1-0 in Pac-10 competition and 2-0 overall.
The Bruins took first place in 10 of 14 events against the Gauchos. Senior Elvira Fischer, junior Erica Shugart and freshman Malin Svahnstrom each claimed a pair of first place finishes. Fischer won the 100 and 200 breast in 1:04.96 and 2:17.17, respectively. Shugart swept the 50 and 100 free in 23.79 and 53.28, respectively. Svahnstrom, a freshman, claimed a pair of first place finishes in the 200 IM (2:06.07) and the 200 Free (1:52.40). Kristen Lewis also claimed a pair of first place finishes in the 100 and 200 Fly, finishing in 57.12 and 2:04.46, respectively. In the 200 medley relay, the team of LeAnne Cadag, Fischer, Katie Younglove and Carolyn Conrad claimed first in a time of 1:47.93. And, Erin Zehntner took first place in the 500 free in 5:00.84.
UCLA took first place in eight of six events against the Beavers. In addition to Svahnstrom's pair of wins, Lewis placed first in the 100 fly, junior LeAnne Cadag took first in the 100 back (59.00), sophomore Katie Winkelhaus took first in the 200 back (2:06.47) and Shugart placed first in the 50 free. The Bruins also took first in the 200 medley relay (1:47.93) and 400 free relay (3:30.55).
The Bruins will travel to the Southern Methodist University Classic, in Dallas, TX, Nov. 2-3. The first Bruin home meet will be against the University of Illinois at 2:00 pm on Wednesday, January 9, 2002 at Sunset Canyon Recreation Center.
Pac-12 PlaylistTODAY | 7:00pm PTLive
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Vampire Diaries season 7 will return this Friday with episode 19 titled, Somebody That I Used to Know, and fans might get to see "former" best friends – Damon and Bonnie – join hands to fight Rayna. In the past, the two have fought almost every supernatural power to protect their loved ones, and fans would be eager to see them relive their magic once again.
The synopsis of the episode teases Damon's reunion with Bonnie to save the Bennett witch's life from The Armory. Bonnie is currently hiding in a psychiatric ward in Asheville, with Enzo being the only person to protect.
However, this time, the Salvatore vampire will try to mend his ways and not make the mistakes he made earlier by ignoring Bonnie's sacrifices for him.
The synopsis of episode 19 is as follows:
In the previous episode, the elder Salvatore vampire was able to save Stefan by uniting his body and soul. But his efforts of getting on good terms with Alaric and Bonnie did not go well. However, the upcoming episode may bring some positive results for Damon, who is desperate to undo his past deeds.
The Vampire Diaries season 7 airs every Friday at 9pm EST on The CW network. In case you miss the episode click here to watch it live online on the network's official website the next day. The link is available only in the US.


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Welcome to the blog of the multi award winning E-Stim Systems. We work to create the ultimate in electro stimulation pleasure.
Find it all at https://store.e-stim.co.uk and https://www.e-stimsystems.com
Friday, 16 May 2008
Weddings and TriPhase
Been quite busy in the past couple of weeks. I'm getting married to my Darling Caz on 24th May 2008 so everything is all over the place at the moment trying to organise everything. On the E-Stim side of things we have been working on a 'Tri-phase' adaptor for the Series 2. Triphase takes the two outputs of a Series 2 and combines them into 3 contact points. The signals from the Series 2 interact with each other in some quite suprising ways... one of the test team described it all as 'E-Stim gone 3D' (Still trying to work than into a slogan!!!). If you have a Series 2 (and if you haven't why not????) then the cable can be found here
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by Darius
(Norfolk, Virgina)
This is a world filled with dramaWhy do we do these crazy things? it's not right
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Oh man, I have gotten SO behind! I'm so sorry everyone!
Plenty more Altered Avalon has come out – now Season 3 is up to Episode 5 (and you'll find Echo in that one 😀 ):
We have another Jam Pot Studios Marvel Lego Brickfilm out, where I get to play Amanda Waller:
And there's a whole series I missed coming out!
In it I play Maureen, the ship's "doctor." It's a lot of fun. 😀 You can also check out the series on Chicken Dynasty's page itself.
Thanks for your patience, everyone. I assure you I'm working on some more stuff, hopefully at least one of which will come out shortly! I've been doing a lot more Skyrim stuff, and I'm in a mod that's about to drop… so get hyped. 😉


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CEO of AOL, Tim Armstrong, lacks the compassion gene. AOL's financial performance has been suffering since Armstrong joined the company, so he decided to change AOL's 401(k) plan to save money and make it more difficult to receive an employee match. When asked to explain this decision, he had two targets to blame: President Obama (and the Affordable Care Act) and...premature babies:
"We had two AOL-ers that had distressed babies that were born that we paid a million dollars each to make sure those babies were OK in general. And those are the things that add up into our benefits cost..."
|Deanna Fei's daughter, who was born weighing 1 lb, 9 oz.
One of the mothers of these babies, Deanna Fei, came forward to write about the premature birth of her daughter and Tim Armstrong's hurtful comment:
"I take issue with how he reduced my daughter to a 'distressed baby' who cost the company too much money. How he blamed the saving of her life for his decision to scale back employee benefits. How he exposed the most searing experience of our lives, one that my husband and I still struggle to discuss with anyone but each other, for no other purpose than an absurd justification for corporate cost-cutting...
[T]here was nothing high-risk about my pregnancy. I never had a single risk factor for a preterm birth, let alone one as extreme as this one. Until the morning I woke up in labor, every exam indicated that our daughter was perfectly healthy. ... In other words, we experienced exactly the kind of unforeseeable, unpreventable medical crisis that any health plan is supposed to cover. Isn't that the whole point of health insurance?"A lot of medical emergencies can result in astronomical costs, and Fei acknowledges that her daughter's NICU stay did as well. But here are some fascinating numbers:
- The Affordable Care Act will cost AOL $7.1 million.
- AOL lost $33 million because of Armstrong's investments in the news-focused part of the company.
- Medical care for the "distressed babies" cost approximately $1 million each, a typical figure for micropreemies.
- Armstrong made $12 million in 2012.
AOL's business case is completely outdated now, based on subscriber revenue in a world where people can get their email accounts for free. In the five years he's been there, Armstrong has not done anything to change this business model. The company is failing because of his lack of leadership.
Not because of sick babies.


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I don't purport to be an expert on the Scottish housing market. But I did notice an interesting piece of evidence when perusing the latest House Price Index data from ONS published on 18 December last year.
The chart below shows the mix-adjusted housing prices monthly from 2002 for the UK countries relative to the UK. The data are not seasonally adjusted, which should be ok if seasonality is similar across countries in UK.
The chart highlights one or two interesting facts.
First, there is the significant absolute and relative boom and collapse in Northern Ireland house prices. Moreover, the recession in the Northern Ireland housing market appears to be continuing.
Secondly, the position of the Scottish housing market is better. Absolutely and relatively compared to Wales and Northern Ireland; and relative to England.
There is not a lot to shout about here. But if house prices are relevant to the household spending then this is one factor that appears to have been more favourable in Scotland than in the other countries of the UK over the last few years.
The good news appears to run out, though, after July 2011 when there was some subsequent slight deterioration in relative Scottish house prices.
So, I don't expect much of a relative boost to Scottish household demand on this account over the next few months.