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In her book, Viable Values, Tara Smith splits moral camps into 4 camps: Intuitionism, Contractarianism, Rationalism, and Principled Egoism. Intuitionism and Rationalism are easiest for Objectivists to dispense with, but Contractarianism requires extra thought (before we dispense with it as something inherently immoral). (Read the entire blog entry)

There's no place like home... (Read the entire blog entry)

What lessons can I learn from these experiences to calibrate my skill at characterizing quickly the new people I meet?  While I dislike making harsh snap judgments, I dislike squandering my precious time even more.  So in the interest of getting back to basics, let me point to SuperSelf by Charles Givens. (Read the entire blog entry)

An answer to 'moral equivalence.' (Read the entire blog entry)

Toastmasters Clubs teach members not only to speak, but to listen and to think.  Unfortunately, communication relies on the effectiveness of all three skills in order to succeed.  Perhaps my letter proved too terse or perhaps others read too carelessly, but these two responses made their way into the April 2008 issue of the magazine. (Read the entire blog entry)

I picked the following quotes because of the unique response that they could have on the socialist mindset. It's not just what you say, but how you say it.

I remind my blog readers here that I'm a former zealot-Christian-socialist, and that when I first heard about Rand -- that she promoted selfishness -- I experienced moral revulsion and a deep fear of her (bordering on hate). Even after purchasing the Ayn Rand Lexicon, I avoided the "A" section like the plague (because it contained "abortion" and "atheism").

Using the point that how you say it is about as important as what it is that you have to say, I looked at quotes with a narrow aim. These quotes are meant to appeal to the mind without stirring up the emotional revulsion so common -- perhaps universal -- to the socialist mindset of which I was once a willing victim.

If I had first been approached with these quotes -- instead of being just told to read some Rand -- then my "persuasion" wouldn't have taken the precious months that it did. (Read the entire blog entry)

A chronological list of highly-relevant quotes (Read the entire blog entry)

Because both of my parents came from large families, the memorial service packed the church with my many cousins.  I never really discussed my loss of religious faith with any of them -- or my immediate family for that matter -- after I left home simply because I saw no point to the effort.  However, evidently someone somewhere must have gotten wind of it because of what happened after the service.  As my wife and I packed the display items in the lobby, the husband of one of my cousins -- a man I barely know -- came to me.  I noticed he wore a tie with holy buzzwords such as Jesus, Savior, etc. written all over it. (Read the entire blog entry)

More current events out of the Dark Ages. (Read the entire blog entry)

Take a trip through time. View reasoning or criticisms of centralized power from one epoch and compare and contrast them against those of other epochs. Enjoy integrating them where it's possible to do that without forming a contradiction. Allow history to inform your judgments of the current policies and procedures of current administrations of current governments. Should we do any less than that? (Read the entire blog entry)