tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-80578363116049622312024-02-19T07:10:32.374-08:00Ethics BobBobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14255815357265808770noreply@blogger.comBlogger115125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8057836311604962231.post-81090366653991677432010-08-11T09:41:00.000-07:002010-08-11T09:41:16.016-07:00Check out EthicsBob.comI've moved over to WordPress. Follow me at EthicsBob.com.Bobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14255815357265808770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8057836311604962231.post-38759304548669459002010-02-13T07:51:00.000-08:002010-02-13T07:52:01.734-08:00The guards who watched the beating in Seattle should be fired...and their defenders<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh40gstiaKxZ3CPe533DJciHSHA6EjkIs5VjWayszccT8d4fhcOJOxOOveZ5oIkHeofFKte2qhhbGUwRxo4V04p1-BCLQSrboRW8i3bUjttcS-sp2fWLiEPsrHLBnlSXyVVoNovyhTu3oQS/s1600-h/Seattle+beating.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh40gstiaKxZ3CPe533DJciHSHA6EjkIs5VjWayszccT8d4fhcOJOxOOveZ5oIkHeofFKte2qhhbGUwRxo4V04p1-BCLQSrboRW8i3bUjttcS-sp2fWLiEPsrHLBnlSXyVVoNovyhTu3oQS/s200/Seattle+beating.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">Television news this week showed video of a girl in Seattle being brutally kicked and beaten by other girls while three security guards stood by and made calls on their cell phones—apparently calling for help. No move to help the victim. The outrage was compounded by unnamed officials who defended the guards’ (non-) conduct as proper.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">Jack Marshall in his ethicsalarms.com blog has an <a href="file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Bob/Desktop/Behaving%20without%20humanity%20ought%20to%20be%20a%20firing%20offense.%20The%20guards,%20as%20well%20as%20the%20EMTs,%20should%20have%20been%20fired.%20So%20should%20the%20%E2%80%9Cofficials%E2%80%9D%20who%20defended%20their%20conduct.">excellent analysis</a> of the guards’ behavior, likening it to the Nuremberg defense (“just following orders”).<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors got it right in 2007 when they ordered closure of the Martin Luther King Jr.-Harbor Hospital. The hospital had been the venue for a series of egregious mistreatments of patients, but when a woman was left writhing on the floor of the emergency room for 45 minutes before dying of a perforated bowel, that was the last straw.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">Behaving without humanity, even under orders, ought to be a firing offense. The guards should have been fired. So should the “officials” who defended their conduct. Just like the bystanders and their higher-ups at MLK-Harbor Hospital were.<o:p></o:p></span></div>Bobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14255815357265808770noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8057836311604962231.post-69451781429191170482010-02-11T16:41:00.000-08:002010-02-11T16:42:01.228-08:00The unethical federal budget<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxmlnISUqJao7vGke2Zscn4hoI_Ci_uQTHe5_HeVmF8hOCg3mHPPlEeQPP0rD0Azj33noaus0vUC3LvEmJTdTw-Qh_ImaFusx6v7rn3MB_I71z6DP5o9KUQzkC3xw6QKUqirkOMkwYcbRP/s1600-h/Budget.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="143" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxmlnISUqJao7vGke2Zscn4hoI_Ci_uQTHe5_HeVmF8hOCg3mHPPlEeQPP0rD0Azj33noaus0vUC3LvEmJTdTw-Qh_ImaFusx6v7rn3MB_I71z6DP5o9KUQzkC3xw6QKUqirkOMkwYcbRP/s200/Budget.gif" width="200" /></a></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">Is it ethical to make a commitment that you know you can’t keep? Heck, no! Some employers used to promise retirement benefits that they didn’t set aside money for. The government decided to outlaw such unethical behavior: now the law requires employers who promise retirement benefits to set aside funds to pay when the benefits come due.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">Sadly the government isn’t about to do what it’s required employers to do. The government has promised Americans that they’ll be covered by Social Security and by Medicare, and—if they’re poor—by Medicaid. The costs of these “entitlement” programs are growing steadily as:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 1.0in; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">1.<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia;">the baby boomers are just starting to come under Social Security and Medicare. (The first boomers, born in 1946, become 65 next year, then an avalanche in the next ten years.)<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 1.0in; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">2.<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia;">life expectancy is increasing—babies born this year have a 50-50 chance of living to 100<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 1.0in; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">3.<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia;">medical care gets more expensive as people grow older, and<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 1.0in; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">4.<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia;">medical science is developing ever-more-expensive treatments.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">All in all, this “perfect storm” will either bankrupt the country or force America to break its promises to the elderly.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">So what are our politicians doing to fix this problem? Some are calling for budget cuts, knowing that the entitlement programs are not cut-able under present law. Others are calling for reform, knowing that reform can’t come close to solving the funding problem. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Every one</i> of our legislators knows about the problem. But it’s not being addressed. This is profoundly unethical behavior: they agreed to do the people’s work if they were sent to Washington, and having won election they are sloughing off the problem to our grandchildren.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">Whose fault is it and what can be done? I’ll address this in coming blogs.<o:p></o:p></span></div>Bobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14255815357265808770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8057836311604962231.post-2188129167349261722010-02-08T22:21:00.000-08:002010-02-08T22:21:39.170-08:00Palin was the best part of the Tea Party convention, the audience the worst<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH4yKGe4UqNN8kH4MMQdFyMXt0aZhW5JaMb27pRx5assUiYDzr5GdbTwFXFIi2Q_AdgviTyH3loxhG3z_701cH2dRbDXC7Csh7jwr7dP5dk7UtfmGZTbQ4l0TIv_ZlOOB5uUcif1Xe8kYa/s1600-h/Palin+tea+party+convention.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="130" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH4yKGe4UqNN8kH4MMQdFyMXt0aZhW5JaMb27pRx5assUiYDzr5GdbTwFXFIi2Q_AdgviTyH3loxhG3z_701cH2dRbDXC7Csh7jwr7dP5dk7UtfmGZTbQ4l0TIv_ZlOOB5uUcif1Xe8kYa/s200/Palin+tea+party+convention.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia;"></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">Sarah Palin gave a rousing speech at the Tea Party convention, raking and mocking President Obama with zingers like "How's that hope-y, change-y stuff workin' out for ya?" The crowd enthused, having paid $350 to hear the speech live, and the left’s commentators tut-tutted over Palin’s writing notes on her hand to help her remember her key points. All in good fun.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">But there was a truly ugly side of the convention. Tea Partiers can no longer pass off the birthers as a tiny group of nuts that aren’t representative of true Tea Partiers. Not after the crowd’s wild enthusiasm for Tom Tancredo’s keynote speech. Ex-congressman Tancredo (R-CO) explained that “Barack Hussein Obama” was only elected because "we do not have a civics, literacy test before people can vote." [Wild cheers]<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">"People who could not even spell the word 'vote' or say it in English put a committed socialist ideologue in the White House." [More wild cheers]<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">I’m not sure who he was referring to. Perhaps it was Latinos and African-Americans who couldn’t have voted had there been a literacy test—like in the good old days when blacks were turned away from polls all over the South, no matter how literate they were, because the point of the tests was to turn them away.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">I’m pretty sure, however, what the crowd was cheering. It was that Obama voters were <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">others</i>, a different species, not even entitled to be part of the American system. The crowd responded to hate speech with cheers. <o:p></o:p></span></div></span>Bobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14255815357265808770noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8057836311604962231.post-35127846102364883242010-02-05T23:44:00.000-08:002010-02-05T23:44:48.620-08:00Why not breed Trojan quarterbacks?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiT2IiqW0WbUuwBk5HYHAf0D5SY1qiRE-i2xWgbAAJ73a-KzaeRV0-B1qnGnDH49raxOgg5MqYrBpbjMT9_7xOJBO9FYqLDbB0cZfEHi-65e-A3opdd9_R6pi2g7zHjcarcSDq57rEh7vNk/s1600-h/David-Sills-IA_20100205190531_0_0.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiT2IiqW0WbUuwBk5HYHAf0D5SY1qiRE-i2xWgbAAJ73a-KzaeRV0-B1qnGnDH49raxOgg5MqYrBpbjMT9_7xOJBO9FYqLDbB0cZfEHi-65e-A3opdd9_R6pi2g7zHjcarcSDq57rEh7vNk/s200/David-Sills-IA_20100205190531_0_0.JPG" width="133" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">A top quarterback can be the difference between a good college team and a championship one. Lane Kiffen, USC’s new football coach, has a good one in Matt Barkley, freshman leader of last year’s team who could grow into a superstar if he stays in school and resists the temptation to leave school early for the megabucks of the NFL.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">But Kiffen isn’t standing pat. Barkley may quarterback the Trojans through the 2012 season, but after that? Don’t worry, Trojan fans. Kiffen has a plan for 2015, in the person of 13-year old David Sills of Bear, Delaware. “David’s always wanted to go to USC,” says his proud dad.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">But why stop at 13-year olds? With the advances in genetics it should soon be possible to breed quarterbacks. Of course they won’t be ready to lead the Trojans into battle for, umm, 18 years and nine months. Maybe the USC medical school could research cloning. Kiffen could have his choice of a copy of Peyton Manning or Drew Brees, depending on who does best in Sunday’s Super Bowl.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">Oh, but cloning humans is unethical. Better to recruit more 13-year olds. Then a nine-year old to replace Sills in 2019.<o:p></o:p></span></div>Bobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14255815357265808770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8057836311604962231.post-28049941018191447542010-02-03T22:42:00.000-08:002010-02-03T22:42:20.971-08:00Teachers and Democrats put kids second<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglGqOdodA0R7KbZRtWSb1QvZnaEITGqJMfdTEn5k9HlPG4ScAbWWEFDkiD0Yw1lTjJeI6Z3cmFiAr4ZN2FDwr-TYkhzb79ooFH1VwlImxteQsIn3ker6sxcUzjo48JuipXlP9ZmfqCiiOg/s1600-h/LIBRARIES_RCB32.standalone.prod_affiliate.4+(1).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglGqOdodA0R7KbZRtWSb1QvZnaEITGqJMfdTEn5k9HlPG4ScAbWWEFDkiD0Yw1lTjJeI6Z3cmFiAr4ZN2FDwr-TYkhzb79ooFH1VwlImxteQsIn3ker6sxcUzjo48JuipXlP9ZmfqCiiOg/s200/LIBRARIES_RCB32.standalone.prod_affiliate.4+(1).JPG" width="200" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">Wouldn’t it be nice if teachers put their students’ interests first? Tragically, from coast to coast they have more pressing things to worry about. In New York the teachers union got the legislature to prevent the state from applying for $700 million in federal funds for the Obama administration’s new program, “Race to the Top,” a school reform that emphasizes school choice and teacher accountability. And in California, when the San Jose school district had to lay off librarians for lack of money, they boxed the books and locked the library doors. No parents were allowed to volunteer so that the kids could use the library books. No sir, state law—enacted to please the librarians union—prohibits anyone but a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">real </i>librarian from handing out library books.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">Our teachers are failing our kids. Too many of them are more interested in their paychecks and their comfort than in their charges. Oh, not all of them—there are still lots of wonderful and dedicated teachers, but too many have ceded their profession and their integrity to unions that work with their political flunkies (aka Democrats) in a “race to the bottom.” Well-off families are fleeing to private schools. The poor kids are left behind and out of luck.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">But all teachers get a paycheck. Their ethical obligation is to do their best to further their students’ interest—especially those students who need them the most. Sadly, not nearly enough of them meet that obligation. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">If only teachers were ethical. If only… School boards and teachers should consider adopting—and taking seriously—the code of ethics of the <span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Association of American Educators. It says that t</span>he professional educator:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.5in; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; tab-stops: list 1.5in; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Courier New";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">o<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia;">strives to create a learning environment that nurtures to fulfillment the potential of all students<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.5in; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; tab-stops: list 1.5in; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Courier New";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">o<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia;">acts with conscientious effort to exemplify the highest ethical standards, and<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.5in; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; tab-stops: list 1.5in; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Courier New";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">o<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia;">accepts that every child has a right to an uninterrupted education free from strikes or any other work stoppage tactics.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">That’ll be the day!<o:p></o:p></span></div>Bobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14255815357265808770noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8057836311604962231.post-66005292340642846492010-02-01T23:39:00.000-08:002010-02-01T23:55:42.503-08:00Entertainment and ethics: see Amreeka<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRnkCeMRqHXpneypvbqvpdnqH78P0ww5Scr0H3xmxRb0N3XoyzW4ipe06-qL99QfAmZ5444tUfQ0YZ7qIi8JvgiMqZ2YzY-F8vHa_fuBAlCTeCClzWEW5NpEDqYkClW8bZpWfmbJCV372C/s1600-h/Amreeka.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRnkCeMRqHXpneypvbqvpdnqH78P0ww5Scr0H3xmxRb0N3XoyzW4ipe06-qL99QfAmZ5444tUfQ0YZ7qIi8JvgiMqZ2YzY-F8vHa_fuBAlCTeCClzWEW5NpEDqYkClW8bZpWfmbJCV372C/s200/Amreeka.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">You can learn ethics from the movies. <i>To Kill a Mockingbird</i> is about speaking truth to power. <i>The Magnificent Seven</i> is about keeping your commitments. And now <i>Amreeka.</i><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">The engrossing film—not at all preachy—is about treating people as “the other.” Nisreen Faour is award-nominated as Muna, the West Bank Christian Arab who is treated as <i>other </i> by the Israelis, then emigrates with her teen age son to join her sister in Illinois just after the Iraq war begins, and is treated there too as <i>other</i>. Philosophers have written about the concept of “otherness,” where people of a different background or faith are deemed to be <i>other</i>—that is, not equivalent to the “self,” and therefore inferior, or even less than human.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">The basis of all ethics is the Golden Rule, and that rule is smashed by treating people as <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">other.</i> Amreeka entertains, inspires, and teaches us. See it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>Bobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14255815357265808770noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8057836311604962231.post-34905622100431344232010-01-30T22:41:00.000-08:002010-01-30T22:41:45.180-08:00Obama makes nice, MSNBC makes not nice, Boehner follows suit<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieSfeMwTpX_8AhaIOM9sqvGWRsqgcuE_An79j4HIDX1vIG-PPdht0WvJrLhnA6-tCJa7Em5SlrBLvrfrmcTPv6Yp0wGxXp_pUt4qA8gfYKaQVeJ74iFdbsQ-iQ0Cl_4E_4YJhS2PFbGmLg/s1600-h/OlbermannMaddowMatthews.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieSfeMwTpX_8AhaIOM9sqvGWRsqgcuE_An79j4HIDX1vIG-PPdht0WvJrLhnA6-tCJa7Em5SlrBLvrfrmcTPv6Yp0wGxXp_pUt4qA8gfYKaQVeJ74iFdbsQ-iQ0Cl_4E_4YJhS2PFbGmLg/s200/OlbermannMaddowMatthews.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">The President’s session with the House Republicans might have been the first step toward more civil political discourse and toward working together on the problems facing the American people. <u>Might</u>, but not if some have their say.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">Many in the media paint all political activity as sport, with winners and losers. For example, Friday night MSNBC’s brain trust—Chris Matthews, Keith Olbermann, and Rachel Maddow—rushed to crown Obama the winner, the Republicans (of course) the losers. And—just to rub it in—pointed out that the Republicans had been outsmarted into letting America see the President’s triumph.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">Then on Saturday, after generally constructive comments by Republicans who attended, the office of House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) put out a release headed, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">"Rhetoric versus reality: President Obama repeats discredited talking points during dialogue with House GOP."</i> <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">Once again, people on both sides of the political divide rush to keep anyone from bridging the divide for the benefit of the American people. Shame on MSNBC, and shame on John Boehner.<o:p></o:p></span></div>Bobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14255815357265808770noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8057836311604962231.post-79336051842637557692010-01-29T22:58:00.000-08:002010-01-29T22:58:55.054-08:00Clap your hands if you believe.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLqdJ9Zf2CIOjLHBLx5VselJzxhaY7xO4Rm09xVXuvLHh8nbDDdEQTH5y32MmKUZKRcxI8eIPiHwBajOkebt25lOvgKteb9d7T5iFGKzP8dhZlVWRSL1TFcknpDQw0-LsHfVig6-dkH_2V/s1600-h/Pence-Obama.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLqdJ9Zf2CIOjLHBLx5VselJzxhaY7xO4Rm09xVXuvLHh8nbDDdEQTH5y32MmKUZKRcxI8eIPiHwBajOkebt25lOvgKteb9d7T5iFGKzP8dhZlVWRSL1TFcknpDQw0-LsHfVig6-dkH_2V/s200/Pence-Obama.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. Maybe the single step was the invitation of Congressman Mike Pence (R-IN), chairman of the Republican Conference , to President Obama to address the Republican retreat in Baltimore today. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The President spoke for twenty minutes, then took questions for an hour.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">He ended his introductory remarks this way: ”<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">We've gotten caught up in the political game in a way that's just not healthy. It's dividing our country in ways that are preventing us from meeting the challenges of the 21st century. I'm hopeful that the conversation we have today can help reverse that</i>.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">The session was—as diplomats describe difficult negotiations—frank. Even combative. But both sides—the President and the 140 Republican congressmen—appeared to listen. There was real conversation going on. The President wrapped up the session with this:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">“And so the question is, at what point can we have a serious conversation about Medicare and its long-term liability, or a serious question about -- a serious conversation about Social Security, or a serious conversation about budget and debt in which we're not simply trying to position ourselves politically. That's what I'm committed to doing. We won't agree all the time in getting it done, but I'm committed to doing it.”</span></i><span style="font-family: Georgia;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">The ideal of Niebuhr—the political fight waged with good temper and integrity—seems a little closer today than it was yesterday. Clap your hands if you believe.<o:p></o:p></span></div>Bobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14255815357265808770noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8057836311604962231.post-16549187001052951332010-01-28T00:16:00.000-08:002010-01-28T00:16:42.823-08:00Tebow or not Tebow<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;"><br />
</span><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhw7Av9yIXTI1RUW2G0EgsqmQfmEL29PEQeBjEtP040sPdF7unPgqePVG96h6Qc7sm4GOmKV3A0K8zCKpXL1z-5Q2ExjriuYuLyDnpIjuVIsHiSJMeNipF7THJ3IICxgXsVqwSYnkpSFe0P/s1600-h/Tebow-with-Parents-W.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhw7Av9yIXTI1RUW2G0EgsqmQfmEL29PEQeBjEtP040sPdF7unPgqePVG96h6Qc7sm4GOmKV3A0K8zCKpXL1z-5Q2ExjriuYuLyDnpIjuVIsHiSJMeNipF7THJ3IICxgXsVqwSYnkpSFe0P/s200/Tebow-with-Parents-W.jpg" width="194" /></a><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">There’s a controversy about CBS’s decision to broadcast a pro-life commercial at the Super Bowl. It’s Tim Tebow, the Florida football star, and his mother, who was advised to have an abortion when she was pregnant with Tim. Several pro-choice organizations have called on CBS to reverse itself and not run the commercial.</span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">Jack Marshall, in his <a href="http://ethicsalarms.com/2010/01/27/super-sunday-ethics-tim-tebows-pro-life-superbowl-ad/comment-page-1/#comment-947">Ethics Alarms blog</a> analyzes the ethics of the opposing sides’ arguments. His article clarifies the arguments for me. It's worth reading.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div>Bobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14255815357265808770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8057836311604962231.post-13112947059328560742010-01-25T23:02:00.000-08:002010-01-25T23:02:32.613-08:00The New York Times's unethical "Ethicist"<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFO21EZOhhjIHaVpnA3RzOSxiLbrJF6tyaNk5PG1T1Ap5LvoHo1jWyJCckTkZXw2RkdtTYvjOUqo8MTZuQuf963kupkFGGbeMgbYOOE61IhoND98pXjNy_E2BFW1ksNIUe52zyRtqr6QnZ/s1600-h/ethicist" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFO21EZOhhjIHaVpnA3RzOSxiLbrJF6tyaNk5PG1T1Ap5LvoHo1jWyJCckTkZXw2RkdtTYvjOUqo8MTZuQuf963kupkFGGbeMgbYOOE61IhoND98pXjNy_E2BFW1ksNIUe52zyRtqr6QnZ/s200/ethicist" width="200" /></a><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;"> The New York Times</span></i><span style="font-family: Georgia;"> is as good a place as any to get your news, and better than most. But don’t get your ethics advice there—not from Randy Cohen, who writes in the Sunday <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Times</i> magazine as “The Ethicist.” Cohen has been advising lying and dishonesty when such behavior brings a benefit to the liar or dissembler.</span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">Our debt is to Jack Marshall, who blows the whistle on Cohen’s egregious advice. You can read Jack’s devastating analysis on his <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Ethics Alarms</i> blog.</span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">(</span><a href="http://ethicsalarms.com/2010/01/25/the-ethicist-strikes-out-again/#more-834">http://ethicsalarms.com/2010/01/25/the-ethicist-strikes-out-again/#more-834</a>)<span style="font-family: Georgia;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;"><br />
</span><br />
</div>Bobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14255815357265808770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8057836311604962231.post-58175648791716982602010-01-25T10:00:00.000-08:002010-01-25T10:00:54.223-08:00Education priorities: California right, Virginia wrong<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLGLf9iLsxlKg0m5O3zRj6ccAlAMPi4JOcFao-ykkaZx0pjqk9mme6KETB7HoEoPK0R8DtNH0gr7_yaIRrGZwDOLmOJ7pEU78qkZYdW_0p5ueX-JBBNwiQcfh72J-pju_SBeCJnZ2PE53h/s1600-h/Berkeley+stadium_aerial" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="112" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLGLf9iLsxlKg0m5O3zRj6ccAlAMPi4JOcFao-ykkaZx0pjqk9mme6KETB7HoEoPK0R8DtNH0gr7_yaIRrGZwDOLmOJ7pEU78qkZYdW_0p5ueX-JBBNwiQcfh72J-pju_SBeCJnZ2PE53h/s200/Berkeley+stadium_aerial" width="200" /></a><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia;">Too bad about budding athletes in Fairfax County, Virginia, and throughout the Washington, D.C. area. The Washington Post reports today that schools there are cutting funding for various sports programs. Where are their priorities?<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia;">We Californians know what school is for. The University of California is raising tuition by 32 percent this year to cover budget shortfalls, but we’re not letting it harm UC’s sports programs: just this week the UC Board of Regents approved a $321-million renovation of Memorial Stadium, where the Golden Bears football team plays. And this on the heels of UCLA’s $185-million upgrade of Pauley Pavillon, home of Bruin basketball.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia;">The university explains that no state money (well, hardly any) will go to these projects—they’ll be funded mainly from Bruin and Bear sports fans.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia;">It goes to show: California sports fans are more dedicated than California education fans—even at the University of California.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div>Bobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14255815357265808770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8057836311604962231.post-9544991948033333982010-01-23T20:26:00.000-08:002010-01-23T20:26:38.078-08:00A Reinhold Niebuhr award for Jon Stewart<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1_wf4YLljuPtaqx1bLNJmPqnqC1kvZ1RemV8j7PqqzzGv_gUCOEzYCA2LAQGzFMxbZHiekkM7mxY7U1ExJwJK58fBuEt1bc40_vb6EXJ8wLB9j8Q9CmeM5cKyap9obKgopH1M-Ihy1r1w/s1600-h/Jon+Stewart+as+keith2" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="137" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1_wf4YLljuPtaqx1bLNJmPqnqC1kvZ1RemV8j7PqqzzGv_gUCOEzYCA2LAQGzFMxbZHiekkM7mxY7U1ExJwJK58fBuEt1bc40_vb6EXJ8wLB9j8Q9CmeM5cKyap9obKgopH1M-Ihy1r1w/s200/Jon+Stewart+as+keith2" width="200" /></a><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">Jon Stewart gets a (mythical) Reinhold Niebuhr award* for bringing good temper and integrity into the political fight.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">The highest level of political ethics is to call out members of one’s own party. We expect to see Republicans calling out leftish commentators like Keith Olbermann, just as we expect to see Democrats criticizing Bill O”Reilly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And to see Bill-O and Keith ranting out each other. Ho hum, no surprise there, and no contribution to the integrity of the political fight.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">But when liberal Jon Stewart calls out liberal Keith Olbermann, that’s BIG, and surprising, and a contribution.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">Our civic society is being ripped by the bitter antagonism between left and right, the worst since the bad old days of Senator Joe McCarthy, red hunts, and leftish defenses of Soviet spies. It’s made worse by the ease of getting all one’s news from a kind of “Daily Me,” an assortment of media that reflect only one’s own bias.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">Stewart’s fair and balanced skewering of fellow-liberal Olbermann is in the highest traditions of Niebuhr’s goal of a healthy society. And funny as all get-out. Watch it at </span><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/01/22/jon-stewart-takes-on-keit_n_433179.html">http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/01/22/jon-stewart-takes-on-keit_n_433179.html</a><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">______ <o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">Christian theologian Reinhold Niebuhr wrote, ‘The temper of and integrity with which the political fight is waged is more important for the health of our society than the outcome of any issue or campaign.”<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div></span></span>Bobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14255815357265808770noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8057836311604962231.post-26658681982829347702010-01-22T23:36:00.000-08:002010-01-22T23:38:05.265-08:00That darned Constitution…that darned Supreme Court<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKaTqVsCva-sFWVy4cMYVGMaOFskqq4Sjmk3JmGfNsiqBfkPgS-M4oNdTWciN3sbEYhFuWwOo_f9Yv3fnfZNRg0okZJ_EsseCAVnjC6xswj8aL1slUqDIibiYtMeq7IZIAi8v3UtVxdpWU/s1600-h/Money+and+flag" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="193" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKaTqVsCva-sFWVy4cMYVGMaOFskqq4Sjmk3JmGfNsiqBfkPgS-M4oNdTWciN3sbEYhFuWwOo_f9Yv3fnfZNRg0okZJ_EsseCAVnjC6xswj8aL1slUqDIibiYtMeq7IZIAi8v3UtVxdpWU/s200/Money+and+flag" width="200" /></a><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia;">The United States Supreme Court ruled Thursday that the federal government may not ban political spending by corporations or unions in candidate elections. The Court’s 5-4 majority opinion cited the First Amendment to the Constitution, which says,<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia;">“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”</span></i><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia;">Darn the Constitution. Darn the Court. Everybody knows that this decision will wipe out restrictions on corporations spending huge sums to elect candidates who will do their bidding. The New York Times says so. So does the Washington Post. An ethical justice would have decided the opposite way, a decision that would have produced the greatest good for the greatest number of people. Moreover, that decision would have de<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">creased </i>the influence of money in politics, whereas the Court’s decision will surely <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">increase</i> it.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia;">But hold on: what really does ethics require of the Supreme Court? The justices take the same oath as all federal officers: “<i>I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same.”</i><o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia;">The McCain-Feingold Act and other federal restrictions on political spending serve, I’m certain, an important public purpose: they make our politics a little more ethical. But they pretty obviously violate the First Amendment. Federal officers have an ethical duty to hold to their oath of office and overturn them, as they now have done. If we are to restrict corporations political spending we need a Constitutional amendment to do it.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div>Bobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14255815357265808770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8057836311604962231.post-19829217274896163872010-01-21T13:18:00.001-08:002010-01-21T13:31:56.396-08:00A REAL governing party wouldn’t need 60 votes<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmkJEH8YeikOX1D-TyKlFpzk0YDslZQlHBNYErZjW0WOGu7Ym4xKyplp-2kAMJLI9eUvd2D49K_HxjqPVK7eCfBhiNyvdHEOqpRD-y4MgjGNZFPYTwapKFYBmVhyphenhyphen-B7iIAy6jde3k33XWU/s1600-h/filibuster.htm" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmkJEH8YeikOX1D-TyKlFpzk0YDslZQlHBNYErZjW0WOGu7Ym4xKyplp-2kAMJLI9eUvd2D49K_HxjqPVK7eCfBhiNyvdHEOqpRD-y4MgjGNZFPYTwapKFYBmVhyphenhyphen-B7iIAy6jde3k33XWU/s200/filibuster.htm" /></a><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">The Democrats were elected to govern, but they’re not governing.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">In the 1950s and early 1960s, civil rights legislation was doomed by Southern Democrats’ filibusters. Strom Thurmond held the Senate floor for over 24 hours straight, filibustering against the Civil Rights Act of 1957, which eventually passed. But filibusters and cloture motions—the vote to close debate—were rare: never more than seven motions filed in any two-year session until 1971. But now it’s received wisdom that it takes 60 votes to pass any bill in the Senate.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">Pity the poor Democrats. They’ve had 60 Senators in their caucus. If they got all sixty into the Senate chamber—including poor 92-year old Bobby Byrd slouching in his wheelchair—they could get a matter like health care brought to a vote. But with Tuesday’s Massachusetts election they’re down to 59.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">And there’s a lot of anger in the country. Tea partiers are angry that Obama is seizing the economy to socialize it. Progressives and independents in Massachusetts—far larger in number—just demonstrated their anger that the Dems, with a huge majority in both houses—256-178 in the House and now 59-41 in the Senate, aren’t getting things done.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">The Dems need to make Americans angry at the Republicans, not at them. Back in the bad old days of Senators Bilbo and Thurmond, southerners <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">actually</i> filibustered: they read telephone books, the Bible, the comic pages, etc. Their pro-segregation constituents loved them for it, but most Americans hated what they were doing and turned against them.<br />
By contrast, today's Dems quietly accept that 60 votes are needed in the Senate. The Reps don't have to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">actually</i> filibuster, reading telephone books on national television.. If they did they’d become laughing stocks:, the public's anger would turn on them for denying democracy, instead of turning against the Dems for incompetence.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">Time for the Dems to get serious. Or else, paraphrasing Lincoln’s plea to General McClellan, “If they’re not planning to use the majority, the Republicans would like to take it back.”<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div>Bobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14255815357265808770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8057836311604962231.post-47605345311699091402010-01-16T23:04:00.000-08:002010-01-16T23:04:01.959-08:00Strip-search 18-28-year-old Muslim men? Unethical and dangerously ineffective<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3POyJOR4ZUaWazbnM_nQslRUS0Sl15Xql2-l_rMkQvG0lyp62kxfZ7_LiTTm6zpXN6NFYgnvZzkacqy2REY04i7P_i4qvknh2VPRxqCO-rO_ef1q5JyEadnyF_mOjB3LFRt87qH_SdwII/s1600-h/McInerny" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3POyJOR4ZUaWazbnM_nQslRUS0Sl15Xql2-l_rMkQvG0lyp62kxfZ7_LiTTm6zpXN6NFYgnvZzkacqy2REY04i7P_i4qvknh2VPRxqCO-rO_ef1q5JyEadnyF_mOjB3LFRt87qH_SdwII/s200/McInerny" /></a><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;"><o:p> "If you are an 18-28-year-old Muslim man then you should be strip searched. And if we don't do that there's a very high probability we're going to lose an airliner." So said retired Air Force Lieutenant General Tom McInerney to Fox newscaster Julie Banderas.</o:p></span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">Most Americans, and <u>all</u> constitutional lawyers, would consider such religious discrimination to be wrong: unethical and probably illegal. But perhaps it’s okay to do unethical things to save 300 lives, as General McInerny recommends. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">Hmmm, if you were Al Qaeda and planning an attack against an American airliner could you possibly counter this policy of strip-searching 18-28-year-old Muslim males? Let me count the ways:<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">1) Send a non-Muslim<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">2) Send somebody who looks like a non-Muslim<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">3) Send a 35-yr old Muslim, like the double agent who killed seven CIA agents in Afghanistan.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">4) Send a woman<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">Get the idea? Profiling is a good thing for law enforcement people to do. It lets them concentrate their efforts on people who <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">behave</i> suspiciously. Like maybe several recent short trips to Yemen. Or buying a one-way ticket and having no baggage. Or a thousand other things.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">But profiling on the basis of religion? That’s the worst of both worlds: it is unethical <u>and</u> ineffective, and as a bonus, would give millions of peaceful and friendly Muslims good reason to hate us. We should reject this advice as dangerously wrong-headed.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div>Bobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14255815357265808770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8057836311604962231.post-22910088215693660852010-01-15T00:15:00.000-08:002010-01-15T00:17:08.605-08:00Pat Robertson, Rush Limbaugh, reach new depths of hatefulness<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzoX709jIatvP4WsKyBuCgO1MWNBCC2b-akTBN02s0KwQV-q1Prf_TDMJmLFqbMx3U43Q9kMaxFaCnSpAR06yqLfg9MKIll5B6nkI77LW2niz1l3-I1OuoW8-HaLCo7x7onUzsHQDmAMt2/s1600-h/Limbaugh+Robertson" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzoX709jIatvP4WsKyBuCgO1MWNBCC2b-akTBN02s0KwQV-q1Prf_TDMJmLFqbMx3U43Q9kMaxFaCnSpAR06yqLfg9MKIll5B6nkI77LW2niz1l3-I1OuoW8-HaLCo7x7onUzsHQDmAMt2/s200/Limbaugh+Robertson" /></a><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">The television is full of heartbreaking pictures of unspeakable, unwatchable human tragedy. Relief starts to arrive from all over the world, but especially from America: soldiers from the 82d Airborne Division, the super carrier Carl Vinson, C-130 cargo aircraft by the dozens, the Navy’s only hospital ship. President Obama announces that America will not forsake Haiti.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">But two Americans, both heroes to millions, utter unimaginably vile language that makes one doubt their humanity.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">Rush Limbaugh says the earthquake is “made to order” for the Administration, which will “use this to </span><span style="color: black;">burnish their, shall we say, credibility with the black community.” He went on to discourage anyone from giving to the Red Cross for Haitian relief, saying that the President’s appeal would only lead to collecting names to solicit later for campaign contributions. “</span><span style="font-family: Georgia;">Besides, we've already donated to Haiti. It's called the U.S. income tax.”<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">Pat Robertson, founder of the Christian Broadcasting Network and host of <i>The 700 Club</i>, a Christian TV program syndicated throughout the U.S. and Canada, matched Limbaugh in his hate: “A long time ago in Haiti…they were under the heel of the French, and they got together and swore a pact with the devil. They said ‘We will serve you if you’ll get us free from the French.’ Ever since they have been cursed by one thing after another.”<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div>Bobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14255815357265808770noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8057836311604962231.post-84700244264979024102010-01-11T16:19:00.000-08:002010-01-11T16:19:20.625-08:00Phony hysteria over Senator Reid saying "Negro"<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigMKp94AR0ZjNH2eFUcHm9uXzJ0gFfM17-BJCKs2iXDWT79S9ShsopUv2yYnE55vVD8o-GsR5g2UexSygRI2ctC3xqxWlxSM5CJmXGfe-HLVzeqq4VRgs8fob1VfIH4NHDwi4hgEVyJ2HC/s1600-h/Obama+Reid" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigMKp94AR0ZjNH2eFUcHm9uXzJ0gFfM17-BJCKs2iXDWT79S9ShsopUv2yYnE55vVD8o-GsR5g2UexSygRI2ctC3xqxWlxSM5CJmXGfe-HLVzeqq4VRgs8fob1VfIH4NHDwi4hgEVyJ2HC/s200/Obama+Reid" /></a><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">Many Republicans are calling for Democrats to ditch Harry Reid as Senate majority leader. RNC chairman Michael Steele and Senators John Cornyn (R-TX) and Jon Kyl (R-AZ) equate Reid’s recent use of the word “Negro” with former Republican Majority Leader Trent Lott’s saying that America would have been better off had arch-segregationist Strom Thurmond been elected President on his racist ticket in 1948.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">The hypocrisy is breathtaking. Even chutzpah doesn’t begin to cover equating the behavior of Senator Reid, with his solid record of advancing the cause of civil rights, and who encouraged Obama to run for President, with that of ex-Senator Lott, who longed for the good old days of segregation.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">I was brought up to say “Negro.” Or colored person. Somewhere in the last 40 years those terms went out of polite usage, to be replaced, usually, by African-American (although the NAACP is still working for the advancement of colored people).<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">Harry Reid didn’t get the memo. In 2008 he decided early to support Barack Obama’s Presidential run. He was quoted in “Game Change,” the new tell-all book about the campaign, as advocating Obama’s running, and explaining that America was ready to elect “a light-skinned” African American “with no Negro dialect unless he wanted to have one.”<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">Reid is guilty—for the gazillionth time—of speaking awkwardly, and he apologized to Obama and everyone else he could think of. But to equate his awkward language expressing inter-racial fairness with Lott’s nostalgia for a racist America is deeply unethical.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div>Bobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14255815357265808770noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8057836311604962231.post-59045979329861134662010-01-10T09:06:00.000-08:002010-01-10T09:06:03.626-08:00“Change we can believe in” would be on C-SPAN<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8eKhtDVuOPw1YvvmD27WWyvEVxOS-z-u0U3qHGdbufs5VnHgIBlmaZM3DX2K9G52aKqmr0BW8qQMj2AvgxmdCoJTbHOao32qNvrgfBfsNzxMUEPbBV5PXX8F5dqQYVQuN4PgErzUFodpa/s1600-h/obama+cspan.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8eKhtDVuOPw1YvvmD27WWyvEVxOS-z-u0U3qHGdbufs5VnHgIBlmaZM3DX2K9G52aKqmr0BW8qQMj2AvgxmdCoJTbHOao32qNvrgfBfsNzxMUEPbBV5PXX8F5dqQYVQuN4PgErzUFodpa/s200/obama+cspan.JPG" /></a><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13.5pt;">Keep my commitments. That’s high on my list of unenforceables. Sometimes it’s easy, sometimes it’s hard. Candidate Obama made this commitment about health care reform: <o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13.5pt;">"I'm going to have all the negotiations around a big table. We'll have doctors and nurses and hospital administrators. Insurance companies, drug companies -- they'll get a seat at the table, they just won't be able to buy every chair. But what we will do is, we'll have the negotiations televised on C-SPAN, so that people can see who is making arguments on behalf of their constituents, and who are making arguments on behalf of the drug companies or the insurance companies. And so, that approach, I think is what is going to allow people to stay involved in this process."<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13.5pt;">It would have been hard for the President to put the closed-door negotiations in the House and Senate on C-SPAN; after all, that’s the prerogative of those two houses. But the negotiations about a final bill?? They’re being held <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">at </i>the White House. It’s Obama’s house. It would be very easy for him to invite C-SPAN in.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13.5pt;">So why hasn’t he done it? Looks like an ethics violation to me. And over the issue that’s gripped the political scene for the past eleven months. This isn’t change we can believe in.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div>Bobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14255815357265808770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8057836311604962231.post-50751477921531312142010-01-08T23:25:00.000-08:002010-01-08T23:25:34.602-08:00A Reinhold Niebuhr award for Bob Barr (ex-R-GA)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjbcfp2yv_ppRrqzQo3C5R9j7W-pzk6OjkofTuTFb_1x2jy48nBh_OvVcayVQl7gnRnT7d69YDCyI24CVZE8KbIJWSxXAn3xNSqz8nIoLHwGU85VSsgvXfcvKoVbHuVSwPJKCU8D7uyvuo/s1600-h/Bob+Barr" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjbcfp2yv_ppRrqzQo3C5R9j7W-pzk6OjkofTuTFb_1x2jy48nBh_OvVcayVQl7gnRnT7d69YDCyI24CVZE8KbIJWSxXAn3xNSqz8nIoLHwGU85VSsgvXfcvKoVbHuVSwPJKCU8D7uyvuo/s200/Bob+Barr" /></a><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">The President’s praiseworthy statement on strengthening intelligence was met by ridicule from the usual suspects: Cheney, Limbaugh, Beck, Bachmann. No news there. But some better news: most Republicans kept quiet, perhaps honoring President Bush’s statement in the early days of the new administration, “He deserves my silence.” And some, including Tom Ridge and John Negroponte, praised Obama.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">But the best news comes from conservative ex-congressman Bob Barr (R-GA), who called the Republican sniping at <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>President Obama for his handling of the aftermath of the Christmas underpants bombing “asinine” and “irresponsible.” His indictment of the right is on the Atlanta Journal Constitution website at <a href="http://bit.ly/BarrCriticism">http://bit.ly/BarrCriticism</a><o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">The highest level of political ethics is to call out members of one’s own party. Bob Barr gets this month’s (mythical) Reinhold Niebuhr award for bringing good temper and integrity into the political fight.*<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">______ <o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">* Christian theologian Reinhold Niebuhr wrote, ‘The temper of and integrity with which the political fight is waged is more important for the health of our society than the outcome of any issue or campaign.’ <o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div>Bobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14255815357265808770noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8057836311604962231.post-54785417514487824962010-01-07T15:11:00.000-08:002010-01-07T15:26:54.980-08:00Self-terror: update from the President<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia;"></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhp-AvpGb0gw-LfjK7B9-tG4w9zhhAmVfALQHv2i6BNfJQVIqFrqw292pKsqUsDcHNpzwSpoUnUs2ZKuNDa-eEB4aOYrzV8ZNBEAmsIxPfGg5h1HZKFxRPVyF4kvZ9nfpxnkax1PKQsYCVp/s1600-h/Obama+7Ja10" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhp-AvpGb0gw-LfjK7B9-tG4w9zhhAmVfALQHv2i6BNfJQVIqFrqw292pKsqUsDcHNpzwSpoUnUs2ZKuNDa-eEB4aOYrzV8ZNBEAmsIxPfGg5h1HZKFxRPVyF4kvZ9nfpxnkax1PKQsYCVp/s200/Obama+7Ja10" /></a><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">I </span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">wrote this morning about self-terrorism: <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the exaggeration and amplification of the threat from real terrorists that spreads <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">more </i>terror<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">.</i> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia;">Today the President, in his remarks on strengthening intelligence and aviation security, addressed the issue of self-terror with these words:<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia;">“Here at home, we will strengthen our defenses, but we will not succumb to a siege mentality that sacrifices the open society and liberties and values that we cherish as Americans, because great and proud nations don’t hunker down and hide behind walls of suspicion and mistrust. That is exactly what our adversaries want, and so long as I am President, we will never hand them that victory. <u>We</u> will define the character of our country, not some band of small men intent on killing innocent men, women, wnd children.”<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div></span><br />
</div>Bobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14255815357265808770noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8057836311604962231.post-77996692656464645762010-01-07T11:26:00.000-08:002010-01-07T11:26:01.226-08:00What kind of people are we cheering for, anyway?<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiupVwyEHzHUaW6uL_fu87cG9iYXMAkGd1sZpQamjFHyqQ1ceszOAJzYtd7-g-b9C53JBFbWHmVzb5DSgrcxfDC1PVJ9m0jCul3lQEvJtANiVcREtSb22lPV324W0O-qkz2S8tBwtjL3xax/s1600-h/Arenas" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; display: inline !important; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiupVwyEHzHUaW6uL_fu87cG9iYXMAkGd1sZpQamjFHyqQ1ceszOAJzYtd7-g-b9C53JBFbWHmVzb5DSgrcxfDC1PVJ9m0jCul3lQEvJtANiVcREtSb22lPV324W0O-qkz2S8tBwtjL3xax/s200/Arenas" /></a><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">The Washington Wizards are a pretty sorry basketball team—11 wins, 22 losses so far this season—but their one bright spot has been all-star Gilbert Arenas, in the second year of a six-year, $111 MILLION contract to play for the Wizards. But not after last night, when Arenas was suspended indefinitely by David Stern commissioner of the NBA.</span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">Before Christmas Arenas had brought several handguns to the Wizards’ locker room, and on December 21 he had brandished one at a teammate, who in response, according to anonymous reports from players who were there, pointed his loaded handgun at Arenas in a spat over a gambling debt.</span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">When the incident came to light Arenas apologized, saying it was all in fun, but recognizing that “there’s no such thing as joking around” where guns are concerned. Not for a week or two, anyway. Last night as the players were being introduced, Arenas pointed his hands, mimicking handguns, at his teammates and went pop pop pop.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">Stern immediately suspended Arenas, saying “His ongoing conduct has led me to conclude that he is not currently fit to take the court in an NBA game.” Stern is just right. To be fit to play big time sports a player ought to be somebody we’ll cheer for—at least some of us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sport can be ennobling, and some of its best are to be admired and cheered.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">But it’s demeaning to cheer for players who lie, cheat, or commit crimes. Hooray for David Stern for taking this (belated) step. Let’s hope it encourages other sports commissioners and coaches to insist on behavior that we can cheer for without feeling ashamed.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">Meanwhile I’m <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><u>only</u></i> going to cheer for people who don’t make me feel ashamed.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div>Bobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14255815357265808770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8057836311604962231.post-54728923223194866182010-01-07T00:38:00.000-08:002010-01-07T00:38:52.980-08:00American self-terrorists<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpIUHzoco3AVY9CgwnssZv5go40jlPcT6O4BIZmoyotmxqi0vHtUrulvF2fRVY_FV_8CMupZcCl5RJHBU8Gg9FV6FD8fBAMf5eFVq9QUdmEBiAvrRGjAaFskxkVQLUrXo7BiTEMLid0OPQ/s1600-h/mutallab" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpIUHzoco3AVY9CgwnssZv5go40jlPcT6O4BIZmoyotmxqi0vHtUrulvF2fRVY_FV_8CMupZcCl5RJHBU8Gg9FV6FD8fBAMf5eFVq9QUdmEBiAvrRGjAaFskxkVQLUrXo7BiTEMLid0OPQ/s200/mutallab" /></a><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">“Dramatic violence choreographed to create an atmosphere of fear and alarm, which causes people to exaggerate the threat.” That’s the definition of terrorism coined by Brian Jenkins, one of America’s foremost experts on the subject. Jenkins goes on to define another term, one we should become more familiar with: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">self-terrorism.</i><o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">He writes that government officials, journalists, networks, talking heads, and believers in doom “all collaborate in creating a fission of fear.” They are <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">self-</i>terrorists. They terrorize us and themselves, like children telling horror stories after the lights go out<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">There ARE terrorists out there, and our government and allies of all faiths and many nations are searching it out and fighting it. So what are we to make of politicians who blast the President for avoiding the words “terrorism” and “war”?<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">Dick Cheney says the President’s pretending we’re not at war. Congressman Peter King (R-NY) says the one most important thing could do now is “to use the word <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">terrorism </i>more often.” Pete Hoekstra (R-MI), Virginia Fox (R-NC), Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC), Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele, and others are all piling on in enthusiastic agreement. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">They are amplifying the efforts of Al Qaeda and its collaborators to spread terror. They are <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">self-terrorists. </i>They are helping the enemies of civilization. They need to be repudiated.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div>Bobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14255815357265808770noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8057836311604962231.post-35748994814396627772010-01-05T00:05:00.000-08:002010-01-05T00:05:57.791-08:00Dick Cheney: liar, liar, pants on fire<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlQiWvnXYY1ew1awwsuLS3G41AUwAEceqJX8NpxW2OiIR-Unmb6ER_5rPUPfTGZ4TarN2IphBXaQ8M4y9-oOY9L_U9CLsjUalGbdnwBqTFHe_mlFOPv0SPr_rUBGCaugbR6VN8ajPdZISX/s1600-h/dick-cheney.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlQiWvnXYY1ew1awwsuLS3G41AUwAEceqJX8NpxW2OiIR-Unmb6ER_5rPUPfTGZ4TarN2IphBXaQ8M4y9-oOY9L_U9CLsjUalGbdnwBqTFHe_mlFOPv0SPr_rUBGCaugbR6VN8ajPdZISX/s200/dick-cheney.jpg" /></a><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Dick Cheney has repeatedly accused President Obama of making America less safe by “</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia;">trying to pretend we are not at war," Cheney recently went on: "He seems to think if he has a low-key response to an attempt to blow up an airliner and kill hundreds of people, we won’t be at war. He seems to think if he gives terrorists the rights of Americans, lets them lawyer up and reads them their Miranda rights, we won’t be at war. He seems to think if we bring the mastermind of Sept. 11 to New York, give him a lawyer and trial in civilian court, we won’t be at war.</span>”<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia;">Our favorite fact-checking blog, PolitiFact√com, has just published </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia;">a review of Obama's statements of the past year that makes it clear he has repeatedly said—starting with his inaugural address right through to his West Point speech last month—that the United States is at war against terrorist organizations.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia;">PolitiFact usually rules statements half true, mostly false, or false. Only the most outrageous falsehoods do they rate “Pants on fire.” And now Cheney’s statements have earned this most ignominious label. Well deserved, Cheney!<span class="apple-style-span"><o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
</div>Bobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14255815357265808770noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8057836311604962231.post-52830812066987966672010-01-02T23:29:00.000-08:002010-01-02T23:29:44.080-08:00Virtue rewarded: Texas Tech 41-Michigan State 31<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: 0px;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_ySAACMXBpqQBVZfiMkTGT1OOPhgsn5Ccjz8XR3G0n7BsPrVDYY4BUFoEgmLblXDYbTl5E73IvToE46t344lE8slLxl2GI-MJPLydp6dLsaHWv-JoSFufPULWtNBds5JNKHA9-DQT7-In/s1600-h/Texas+Tech-Mich+State" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; display: inline !important; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_ySAACMXBpqQBVZfiMkTGT1OOPhgsn5Ccjz8XR3G0n7BsPrVDYY4BUFoEgmLblXDYbTl5E73IvToE46t344lE8slLxl2GI-MJPLydp6dLsaHWv-JoSFufPULWtNBds5JNKHA9-DQT7-In/s200/Texas+Tech-Mich+State" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia;"> Nice to see the Texas Tech Red Raiders come out on top tonight, 41-31 over the Spartans of Michigan State. Texas Tech risked losing a bowl game and perhaps a recruiting class when they fired coach Mike Leach for mistreating a player who had suffered a concussion in practice. For a big time football power like Tech, that was a strong statement for ethical behavior.</span><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">Coach Leach gave interviews to the New York Times and the Associated Press in which he denied ordering the injured player, Adam James, to be locked up in a dark place, but his account was refuted by trainer Steve Pincock, who signed an affidavit attesting that Coach Leach had directed him “to lock his [obscenity] in a place so dark that [series of obscenities].<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">So—unless there’s a massive conspiracy to frame Leach, it appears that he is guilty of lying, in addition to abusing an injured player. Hooray for Tech in acting boldly and ethically to fire him, even on the eve of a bowl game.But save a tear for Spartan coach Mark Dantonio, who suspended twelve players and fired two more for a campus brawl in December. Like the Tech authorities, he placed decent behavior above winning.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div>Bobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14255815357265808770noreply@blogger.com0