⇒ On “sensible centrists” and why I hate them

Out of the long list of logical fallacies (as usual, wikipedia provides a fabulous list that anyone who enjoys debate should take the time to read thoroughly), the two I hate the most are an odd pair. The first, a false dichotomy, occurs when the two choices presented do not accurately reflect all the possible [...]

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⇒ A Paucity of Hope

Perhaps it’s the natural result of living as a liberal in Nebraska, but I have always had very low expectations for politicians. I don’t expect them to represent my views, and I know that when they talk about sharing my values, they don’t mean my values. (For example, I happen to value equality over the [...]

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⇒ To vote and die, but not to drink

Twenty-one is a triangular number, an octagonal number, a Harshad number, a Fibonacci number, and a Motzkin number. It is the name of a movie and numerous songs. And since January 1, 1985, it has been the legal drinking age in Nebraska, and every other state in the union. And the number is back in [...]

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⇒ Short, but to what point?

I like pithy letters to the editor, but a few too many aim for pithy and end up incomprehensible. Here’s an example in the Lincoln paper: This N-word, R-word, Q-word anti-intellectualism is on the borderline of killing the C-word: communication. Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks, unless denied otherwise. Leave freedom [...]

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⇒ At least they know which party controls Congress

Many of the pro-drilling letters over the past few weeks have mentioned the Democratic-controlled Congress, usually in a sentence such as “the Democrat-controlled Congress [has] continually blocked legislation to increase our domestic oil production” (from a letter I discussed earlier). That knowledge puts these letter writers in the slim majority of American adults (53%) who [...]

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⇒ The subtle slip-in

I knew the local commentary in the Grand Island paper was going to be a little wacky from the start. After all, it was titled “‘Keynesian economics’ asserts socialism.” Apparently there has been a back-and-forth argument going on between a couple of the local op-ed writers about Keynesian economics, and this article is one saying [...]

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⇒ Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics

Ah, statistics. I do love it when letters to the editor bring in the graphs to augment their arguments. Forget pictures, a good statistic is worth a thousand words (thus making it 80% of the total value of a letter reaching the usual maximum word count of 250). Today’s example of mucho statistic use comes [...]

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⇒ Fighting the Forces of Fluoridation

Verily, the Nebraska legislature did pass a mandate calling on all towns of 1,000 or more people to add fluoride to their drinking water and lo there was much gnashing of teeth. And so the towns decided to punt the issue to the people themselves, with many, such as Grand Island (the 3rd largest city [...]

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⇒ Tropic Thunder and the “R-word”

I have to admit, I didn’t think the trailers for Tropic Thunder looked all that good, because there is one thing I absolutely detest in movies and that is slap-stick comedy generated by contrived character stupidity. And not just any sort of stupidity, but the kind that happens when a character that is portrayed as [...]

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⇒ The Bible is true because it says it is, duh

The 250 words alloted for a letter to the editor is rarely enough time to cover any issue in depth, but the most futile of these efforts have to be the religious letters aimed at proving the truth of the bible, usually by quoting it. The Omaha World Herald has a fine example today entitled [...]

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