My ethics class final project is to select a contemporary ethical dilemma and discuss how a specific philosopher would resolve the dilemma.  Students are encouraged to select their own dilemma AND philosopher but I get final say and will give assistance in the selection.

For  some students I have assignedFrederick Douglass.  Those students have all been STUNNEDby his writting and wondered why they hadn't learned about him sooner - being finally enlightened by an aging Conservative White guy.

And then there's this:  Why have the good people of Rochester, N.Y., failed to tar and feather school superintendent Bolgen Vargas as a prelude to running him out of town on a rail?

Mr. Vargas is fortunate enough to have in his charge one Jada Williams, a 13-year-old eighth grader who voluntarily took on some difficult extra work: reading Frederick Douglass’s Narrative of the Life and writing an essay on the subject. Frederick Douglass is dangerous reading, truly radical stuff. Miss Williams, like most of the students in her dysfunctional school, is black. Most of the people being paid to go through the motions of teaching them are white. Coming across the famous passage in which Douglass quotes the slavemaster Auld, Miss Williams was startled by the words: “If you teach that nigger (speaking of myself) how to read, there will be no keeping him. It will forever unfit him to be a slave. He would at once become unmanageable, and of no value to his master.” The situation seemed to her familiar, and her essay was a blistering indictment of the failures of the largely white faculty of her school: “When I find myself sitting in a crowded classroom where no real instruction is taking place I can say history does repeat itself.”

Read the whole thing.

CARBON HYPOCRISY: “What is the carbon footprint of the 340-ton rock transported on a 196-wheel vehicle on an 11-day journey to an art museum in L.A.? And why doesn’t The New York Times, celebrating the project on its website front page, question the environmentalism of this project?”

FEMA Denies Kasich’s Disaster Declaration Request. “The Federal Emergency Management Agency has denied Gov. John Kasich’s request for federal assistance in Clermont County after last week’s tornadoes. . . . More than 70 percent of Moscow was destroyed by Friday’s storms. Franklin Township also suffered heavy damage. The storms killed three people in Clermont County.”

related, somehow ... 

Three cheers for racism and segregation!

Interesting evening in the offing tomorrow.  My regular poker game has been limping a bit and is looking for some decent fresh meat.  We WERE going to have to cancel the Sunday night game this week, but I suggested "The Boy" might be available. 

Keep in mind that I TAUGHT him the game.  And from time to time he's been able to supplement his income when he's found a fishable pond.  I'll give him the rundown on our tablemates.  Should make for an interesting evening.

Think of that subject on which you are MOST informed.  It might be that thing you studied in college.  It might be a lifelong hobby.  But whatever it is - you KNOW it - inside and out.

Now imagine having a conversation with someone who has had limited contact with that to that subject.  Eaxample?  You're a computer geek/video game player/designer.  You've FORGOTTEN more about video games than most people know (and you haven't forgotten much.)  And you have to have a conversation on video games with someone who opens with "I played Mario Kart once."

That's my next  eight months.

instead of OUR money!

In June 1986, Dr. James Hansen made a prediction to a newspaper reporter in Oxnard, CA of  a 2 degree temperature rise by 2006. This was two years before, almost to the day before he and Senator Tim Wirth duped a bunch of Washington legislators with stagecraft on a hot June day by turning off the a/c in the hearing room while complaining about global warming and urging the need for “immediate action” (translation: cash).

Like Dr. Hansen’s 20 year sea level prediction, it hasn’t come true.

instead of OUR money!

In June 1986, Dr. James Hansen made a prediction to a newspaper reporter in Oxnard, CA of  a 2 degree temperature rise by 2006. This was two years before, almost to the day before he and Senator Tim Wirth duped a bunch of Washington legislators with stagecraft on a hot June day by turning off the a/c in the hearing room while complaining about global warming and urging the need for “immediate action” (translation: cash).

Like Dr. Hansen’s 20 year sea level prediction, it hasn’t come true.

At the top of today’s Impromptus, Jay Nordlinger mentions something President Obama said in an interview with Bill Simmons, the sportswriter: “I am very proud of the fact I do not cheat when I’m playing golf.” I then tell a story about Bobby Jones.

In the 1925 U.S. Open, he called a penalty stroke on himself -- which may well have cost him the tournament. He wound up losing by a shot. Afterward, he was praised for his honesty and sportsmanship. He would have none of it, retorting, “Sooner praise a man for not robbing a bank.”

This reminded a reader of a Chris Rock routine. Paraphrased, the comedian says, “Back in the neighborhood, guys are always bragging, ‘I’ve never been to prison.’ Well, you’re not supposed to go to prison! They say, ‘I take care of my kids.’ Well, you’re supposed to take care of your kids!”

If you're not sure what this post is about you need to get out from under that rock a bit more.

Insurance:   the equitable transfer of the risk of a loss, from one entity to another, in exchange for payment.

Medicine: a substance, especially in the form of a liquid or a pill, which is a treatment for illness or injury.

Birth control does NOT involve a "risk of loss" nor is it a medicine.  It reduces the functionality of the human reproductive system - it does NOT treat an illness or injury.  It CAUSES an anjury.

C'mon kids.  Words mean things.

From The Fifth Down

As successful as the N.F.L. has been in marketing the Super Bowl, it has come at a cost: a deeper connection to its history. Just because they call it the Super Bowl doesn’t make it any more super than a regular old N.F.L. championship. Jim Brown never played in a Super Bowl. Does anyone want to argue that he’s less super?

The arguement usually starts wit a Steelers fan bashing the Ohio franchises (or a Bengals fan bashing the Browns)  The Steelers fans want to say the Browns titls don't count "because there were fewer teams."  Really?  So most of the STEELERS rings don't count because the Texans didn't exist?

IMHO in many ways it was TOUGHER to win "back then."   There are currently 32 "starting" QB's in the NFL.  When the Browns won their last title there were only 14 teams.  That means that some of the QB's STARTING today would've been THIRD STRINGERS back then.  Imgine NOT getting to face MAtt Cassel, Blaine Gabbert or Jay Cutler but instead having to play actual NFL caliber QB's.

Just sayin'.