Maverick Philosopher

Footnotes to Plato from the foothills of the Superstition Mountains

Category: Current Affairs

  • The Higher Education Bubble

    Good analysis by Michael Barone. Federal subsidies have caused college costs to skyrocket while quality goes down.  What does all the money buy?  Administrative bloat: Take the California State University system, the second tier in that state's public higher education. Between 1975 and 2008, the number of faculty rose by 3 percent, to 12,019 positions. During…

  • Alan Dershowitz on the Casey Anthony Trial

    Here it is in toto with my comments in blue. "This case [is] about seeking justice for Caylee . . . ." So argued the prosecutor in the Casey Anthony murder case. He was wrong, and the jury understood that. A criminal trial is never about seeking justice for the victim. If it were, there…

  • Global Warming

    Our old friend 'Ockham' is branching out a bit beyond philosophy of language.  He has two posts about global warming, here and here.  I am happy to see him going out on some limbs.  That's what a blog is for. I hope he agrees with a couple of GW posts of mine from aught-nine which lay…

  • The Truth About Greenhouse Gases

    An article by a Princeton University physics professor.

  • Catholic University Returns to Single-Sex Dorms

    A paucity of common sense, a lack of wisdom, a tendency among those in authority to abdicate . . . these are among the characteristics of contemporary liberals.  Common sense would suggest that in a sex-saturated society putting young men and women together in the same dormitory would be an unwise idea, one rather unconducive to the traditional…

  • Dennis Prager on the Weiner Scandal

    Here. UPDATE (16 June):  Weiner to resign.  But why must he resign when others such as Clinton got to stay on? Because Weiner is expendable, as Pat Buchanan points out. UPDATE (17 June): 

  • Peter Berger on Dominique Strauss-Kahn and the ‘Perp Walk’

    Peter Berger, in Symbols of Tyranny in America, writes (emphasis added): The “perp walk”, as far as I know, is a peculiar American institution. The police like to use it especially with high-status defendants, who would be particularly embarrassed by such public exposure. Beyond serving to enhance relations between the police and the press, the…

  • Just Say ‘No’ to Panhandlers

    What do you do when a beggar approaches you on the street? Do you give him money? I've given away food, but as a general rule it is foolish and wrong to give money to bums. Once, in downtown Phoenix, I came out of a rib joint with a box of luscious leftovers. A beggar…

  • Waterboarding Led to Bin Laden Capture

    One question about waterboarding is whether it is torture.  Liberals, who are generally sloppy and inflationary in their use of language, say it is.  These are the same people who think that ID checks at polling places 'disenfranchise' those without identification. (See this contemptibly idiotic NYT editorial.)  But on any responsible use of terms, waterboarding…

  • On Joy at Osama’s Demise: Dennis Prager Responds to Me on the Air

    It's been an interesting morning.  At 10:30 AM I noticed that my traffic was way up for the day.  And then at 11:12 AM I heard Dennis Prager reading on the air the first paragraph of a post of mine from yesterday in which I express my disappointment at Prager for rejoicing over Osama bin Laden's death…

  • It is Good that Osama is Dead, but No Gloating

    I was a bit disappointed with Dennis Prager this morning.  He said he was "certain" that bin Laden is in hell.  No one can be (objectively) certain that there even is a hell, let alone that any particular person has landed there.  (Is Prager so en rapport with the divine nature that he understands the…

  • Are the Republicans Exploiting the Fiscal Crisis for Ideological Ends?

    Many Democrats are arguing that the Republicans are using the current fiscal crisis to further their ideological agenda.  The suggestion is that their stated fiscal concerns hide their real motivations which are ideological. This fiscal vs. ideological distinction is as bogus as John Kerry's war of necessity vs. war of choice distinction.  Obviously no war…

  • The Politically Incorrect Incendiarism of Ann Barnhardt

    I confine my politically incorrect incendiarism to the occasional lighting up of a fine cigar. In some circles that is 'incendiary' enough.   I don't believe in burning books.  If you want to understand National Socialism, you must read, not burn, Mein Kampf.  If you want to understand Islamism, you must read, not burn, the Koran.   Ann Barnhardt,…

  • Is Obama Bush III?

    Those of you who voted for Barack Obama to offset the depradations of the evil Bush II must be gnashing your teeth long about now.  In the main, he's out-Bushing Bush!  It is with a certain amount of Schadenfreude that I contemplate the spectacle of the Bush-bashing boneheads of the Left waxing apoplectic over the…

  • Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) Caught Lying

    Here at 3:40:  The Tea Party "has an ideology to get rid of all government."  That's a blatant lie.  A lie is not the same as a false statement.  Every lie is a false statement, but not every false statement is a lie.  A further condition is necessary: one must make the false statement with…