Tomorrow is the “feast” of Saint Nicholas of Myra, the
original Santa Claus. If you say “Saint
Nicholas” in Dutch very fast, it comes out “S’int-nihc-loss,” making “Old Saint
Nick” a bit more understandable as a, er, nickname. Sorry.
In any event, St. Nicholas of Myra is famous for bringing presents to
good little children, and for punching heretics in the mouth.
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| Arius was a bad boy. |
Bishop Arius of Alexandria has the honor of being the only
man in history to make Santa angry enough to get a little physical and
administer an attitude readjustment.
Arius refused to stop speaking nonsense during the Council of Nicea
despite several requests, so instead of just leaving a lump of coal in his
stocking or having Black Peter give him a switching, Santa Claus decked him.
The internet makes it a little easier for people like Arius
to get away with spreading error, but that’s only because most people haven’t
been taught to think, and need Justice University and the Just Third Way. That being the case, we’re doing our best to
get things moving:
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| Wesley Newcomb Hohfeld |
• The ongoing
discussion with the georgists has, by special request, been turned over to
other members of the CESJ Core Group. As a sort of quasi- Justice University program, the discussion is of great value in demonstrating the need for Justice
University, and for teaching more precision in the use of legal terminology,
especially by non-lawyers, who often misuse terms of which even lawyers
increasingly have a less than firm grasp.
The analysis of Wesley Newcomb
Hohfeld (1879-1918) is useful in understanding what goes on in such
seemingly interminable discussions that often settle nothing due to
miscommunication about fundamental concepts and the application of a
faith-based belief system to matters of political economy.
• Work proceeds on a
paper examining the shift in the understanding of what it means for something
to be true. We have, with some
difficulty, traced the intellectual genealogy of the modern descent into pure
moral relativism, and hope to show how to correct matters as well as point out
where they went wrong.
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| Francis, Chief Bridge Builder |
• A tentative date has been set for filming the short video
to kick off the Campaign for Distributive Justice. The goal for 2015 is to raise $250,000 to
fund two major projects and a number of smaller ones, all connected with
establishing and maintaining a Capital Homestead Act in at least one country at
the earliest possible date. The two
major projects are 1) an interfaith/multi-organizational presence at the World
Meeting of Families in Philadelphia in 2015, and 2) a meeting with Pope Francis
to discuss his help in clarifying the understanding of the three principles of
economic justice, possibly with the issuance of an encyclical on the subject. The success of the two major projects will
determine the target goals for 2016 and the level of funding to be sought.
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| "We declare the right of the people of Ireland to the ownership of Ireland" |
• One possible goal
for 2016 might be the enactment of a Capital Homestead Act in the Republic of
Ireland to coincide with the centenary of the Easter Rebellion of 1916, which
began with issuing a proclamation stating that the people of Ireland have a
right to the ownership of Ireland.
• As of this morning, we have had
visitors from 55 different countries and 50 states and provinces in the United
States and Canada to this blog over the past two months. Most visitors are from
the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, India, and Australia. The most
popular postings this past week were “Aristotle on Private Property,” “Two Key
Questions for the Georgists,” “Thomas Hobbes on Private Property,” “The Purpose
of Production,” and “In Your Face.”
Those are the happenings for this week, at least those that
we know about. If you have an
accomplishment that you think should be listed, send us a note about it at
mgreaney [at] cesj [dot] org, and we’ll see that it gets into the next
“issue.” If you have a short (250-400
word) comment on a specific posting, please enter your comments in the blog —
do not send them to us to post for you.
All comments are moderated, so we’ll see it before it goes up.
#30#