Co-Blogger DSL alerted me to a new book out by Michael Specter on Denialism. It is reviewed in the NYT Sunday Book Review by Sanghavi here. The review is pretty harsh with Specter coming off as an ex-believer in some pseudo-science who has swayed too far in the other direction. It did get me thinking, [...]
Archive for the ‘Ethics’ Category
Deniers, Skeptics and ?
Posted in Culture, Ethics, Nation, Politics, Public, Steve S., Technology, tagged Deniers, Skeptics on November 28, 2009 | 2 Comments »
Lobbyists Losing Jobs Too
Posted in Commerce, Culture, Ethics, Nation, Politics, Public, Steve S., tagged expertise, government, Lobbyists on November 27, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Via Outside the Beltway, Dan Eggen at the Washington Post has nice article out on how lobbyists are losing jobs. Key quotes…..
Hundreds, if not thousands, of lobbyists are likely to be ejected from federal advisory panels as part of a little-noticed initiative by the Obama administration to curb K Street’s influence in [...]
It’s NOT About Equal Protection
Posted in Community, Ethics, Family, Gods, Law, Lifestyle, Self, Sex, Siarlys Jenkins, tagged marriage, Family, religion, Media on November 23, 2009 | 9 Comments »
If my state’s legislature ever considered a statute to license same sex couples as marriages, I really wouldn’t stir myself to either advocate for it or to stop it. But, as a disciple of James Madison’s arguments for the federal constitution, I am concerned with the integrity of the courts as guardians of our liberties. The arguments against Ms. Goodridge were as badly reasoned as those submitted to the court on her behalf, perhaps worse, which is one reason the decision fell out as it did. It was not a paragon of sound and rational judicial reasoning, nor of clear principles by which government can be restrained from infringing on the liberties of a free people.
The Case Against the Drug Culture
Posted in Culture, Ethics, Lifestyle, Mind, Scott Lahti, tagged philosophy, MANAS, drug culture, Henry Anderson, humanism, KPFA on November 22, 2009 | 5 Comments »
Reprinted from MANAS*, November 16, 1966
*For more on this enchanted periodical, see “Free – the Resurgence 250, and MANAS he might be and could be“, Alexandria, and our review at Amazon.com of The Manas Reader.
[This article is adapted from a radio commentary by Henry Anderson, delivered over KPFA, Berkeley, June 17 and 18, 1966. Copyright, 1966, [...]
Predictive Power of the Punditry
Posted in Commerce, Ethics, Media, Nation, Public, Science, Steve S., tagged experts, predicting, punditry on November 21, 2009 | 5 Comments »
Jonah Lehrer at The Frontal Cortex has an interesting bit up on expertise. The parts I found most interesting were on punditry and mutual fund managers. Key quotes……
Look, for instance, at mutual fund managers. They take absurdly huge fees from our retirement savings, but the vast majority of mutual funds [...]
The Mandated Health Insurance Outrage
Posted in Ethics, Health Care, Health Care Proposals, Nation, Politics, Scott Lahti, War, tagged health insurance, mandatory health insurance, Sheldon Richman on November 20, 2009 | 2 Comments »
The Goal Is Freedom: The Mandated Health Insurance Outrage
How can they make us buy coverage?
By Sheldon Richman • Posted November 20, 2009 [tip: The American Conservative]
With the introduction of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s 2,074-page health insurance nationalization bill, we can be thankful for one thing at least. It will most likely be the [...]
A Health-Insurance Criminal Pleads His Case
Posted in Ethics, Health Care, Health Care Proposals, Law, Nation, Politics, Scott Lahti, War, tagged health insurance, civil disobedience, mandatory health insurance, James L. Payne on November 20, 2009 | 3 Comments »
A Health-Insurance Criminal Pleads His Case
Why I Will Ignore the Mandate
By James L. Payne • Posted November 16, 2009
If mandatory health insurance goes through, it will turn me into a criminal. I don’t have health insurance. I don’t want it. And I will refuse to buy it even though I can afford it.* Before [...]
The Party of Fiscal Responsibility
Posted in Commerce, Community, Culture, Ethics, Health Care, Nation, Politics, Public, Steve S., tagged change, fiscal responsibility on November 20, 2009 | 1 Comment »
Bruce Bartlett, Reagan’s former adviser, continues to write good stuff on true fiscal responsibility. Key quotes….
Recall the situation in 2003. The Bush administration was already projecting the largest deficit in American history–$475 billion in fiscal year 2004, according to the July 2003 mid-session budget review. But a big election was [...]
Gay Pride, God, and Civil Discourse
Posted in Community, Culture, Ethics, Law, Nation, Politics, Siarlys Jenkins, tagged civility, conservatism, Family, marriage, religion, voting on November 20, 2009 | 10 Comments »
In the past year or so, there have been referenda in both Maine and California on whether to expand the civil-law definition of marriage. The proposed change would have provided for licensing of same-sex couples. Those disappointed by the outcome have raised loud and outraged voices. Of course we were already familiar with the loud [...]
American Values: The Antidote for Islamism?
Posted in Community, Culture, Ethics, Nation, Politics, Steve S., War, World on November 19, 2009 | 2 Comments »
Johann Hari has a great piece up that I hope everyone has seen by now in The Independent on ex-Islamists. Key quotes…..
To my surprise, the ex-jihadis said their rage about Western foreign policy – which was real, and burning – emerged only after their identity crises, and as a result of it. [...]
The Boob Exception
Posted in Community, Culture, Ethics, Health Care Proposals, Law, Media, Nation, Nature, Politics, Science, Sport, Steve S. on November 19, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
The proposed Senate Health Reform bill will place a tax upon cosmetic surgery. If I am an accurate judge of the character of our Congress critters, I fully expect a boob job exception to be added before the final bill is passed.
Solving the Elderly Problem in Health Care
Posted in Community, Ethics, Health Care Proposals, Nation, Politics, Public, Steve S., tagged single health system, Universal care on November 18, 2009 | 3 Comments »
Any discussion of cutting costs in health care must address Medicare. Any attempts to discuss Medicare provokes the demagogues on both sides to incite the elderly against whatever plan is being proposed. It is 100% predictable. It has also been 100% effective. The elderly vote. Because of this they have political [...]
What’s So Bad About Doing Good?
Posted in Culture, Ethics, Gods, Lifestyle, Self on November 18, 2009 | 2 Comments »
Or, for that matter, about feeling good? Or even doing good in order to feel good? These questions, of course, are directed at the authors and devotees of “Stuff White People Like.” Admittedly, I’ve only read bits and pieces of SWPL itself, mostly as quoted in other people’s blogs. But SWPL [...]
Fishbowl Saints
Posted in Arts, Commerce, Culture, Ethics, Humor, Lifestyle, Scott Lahti, Self, tagged Christian Lander, Stuff White People Like on November 15, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
From a Sunday Times (UK) profile of Christian Lander, creator of the popular social-satire site Stuff White People* Like:
*Affluent, upper-middle-class, “independent”, guilt-ridden, ethically exhibitonist left-liberal White People
Body Shop, Burt’s Bees, Innocent smoothies; these are WP [White People] companies that all started out ethical and then sort of became distracted by turning rather a neat profit. [...]
Magical Thinking About Afghanistan
Posted in Ethics, Nation, Public, Steve S., War, tagged adversity in Afghanistan, Forgetting Karzai on November 14, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
I greatly enjoyed Bing West’s book, The Strongest Tribe. In it, he went through the course of the Iraq war. He attributes, by my interpretation, our success as a result of the Sunni change of heart coupled with the change to COIN plus the common grunt. It was the day to [...]
How Do You Stop a Prosecutor From Overcharging?
Posted in Education, Ethics, Law on November 13, 2009 | 9 Comments »
It’s an old joke, of course. But not as old as the stereotyping of the relationship between police, and prosecutors, and what Hammett, Spillane, and in a somewhat milder vein, Gardner, used to portray as the intrepid but slightly disreputable private investigator or criminal defense attorney. Avid crime novel reader though I am, [...]
Banker’s Prayer
Posted in Commerce, Community, Ethics, Humor, Public, Steve S., tagged Goldman on November 12, 2009 | 3 Comments »
Via Ritholtz. He calls it the Lloyd’s prayer.
THE LLOYD’s Prayer
Our Chairman,
Who Art At Goldman,
Blankfein Be Thy Name.
The Rally’s Come. God’s Work Be Done
On Earth As There’s No Fear Of Correction.
Give Us This Day Our Daily Gains,
And Bankrupt Our Competitors
As You Taught Lehman and Bear Their Lessons.
And Bring Us Not Under Indictment.
For Thine Is The Treasury,
The [...]
Aiding Terrorism
Posted in Community, Culture, Ethics, Nation, Politics, Public, Steve S., War, World, tagged Asymmetrical war, Overreacting on November 10, 2009 | 1 Comment »
I have held off writing about the Fort Hood incident as I do not see that much is gained by speculation. I would prefer to discuss causes and prevention after we know all the facts. However, Marc Lynch has a piece up at Foreign Policy that is too good to pass up. [...]
Wrong About Torture
Posted in Ethics, Nation, Politics, Public, Steve S., War, World, tagged Amateur hour, arrogance, inexperienced on November 8, 2009 | 1 Comment »
One of the aspects of the torture program that really bothered me was the amateurs they hired to consult and advise about torture. The lack of any experience with interrogation by the psychologists they hired was well documented in Jane Mayer’s book, The Dark Side and here, by Ackerman. I had [...]
Bigotry and Low Expectations
Posted in Culture, Education, Ethics, Family, Law, Lifestyle, Sex on November 6, 2009 | 31 Comments »
No, this isn’t about the “soft bigotry of low expectations,” I just did that to catch the eye. There is no heat in my office, my hands are cold, and the only way to keep myself typing is to start with something eye-grabbing. This is actually about the state of Maine (with which [...]
Modesty and the male-female dynamic
Posted in Arts, Commerce, Culture, Ethics, Franklin Evans, Lifestyle, Man, Sex, Woman, tagged cosmetics, modesty, fashion, sexual attraction, sexual signals on November 5, 2009 | 4 Comments »
I thought to put a little punning in the subject line, but this is such a basic and important topic that I went (perhaps too far) toward the scholarly tone. Dear reader, I am not a scientist… but I have read and do read, and I have a substantial advantage over many of my gender: [...]
Hate Crimes, Special Victims and the Rest of Us
Posted in Culture, Ethics, Law on October 28, 2009 | 3 Comments »
The new Defense Appropriations Bill either has been or is about to be signed into law, with an amendment that places people under federal protection from those who object to their sexual orientation. I’m certainly in favor of whatever it takes to prevent atrocities like the murder of Matthew Shephard. But I’m getting [...]
