2012-01-07T18:54:02-05:00

Let's go back to our hypothetical old man sleeping in the doorway and to our non-hypthetical old man trapped in a submerged pickup truck. (Who is, police report, in stable condition.) This is a free country. Each of us is free to see a stranger trapped or abandoned and to do nothing. We are free to put our own interests ahead of the interests of others. We are free to be selfish. But that selfishness can, ultimately, erode our freedom.... Read more

2012-01-07T18:53:41-05:00

The previous post tells the story of three ordinary people who acted as citizens and neighbors when confronted with a drowning man. Their actions were heroic, yet this is very much a textbook case. This was an ethics professor's hypothetical in real life. (Ethics profs love hypthetical drowning victims almost as much as they love hypothetical Nazis. They even like to confront their students with hypothetical drowning Nazis.) The problem with many of the hypothetical predicaments posed by ethics profs... Read more

2004-04-16T03:47:18-04:00

This is a good story. It's the story of Airman 1st Class Troy Nay, who was driving with his fiancee to pick up their marriage license. They didn't get there. Nay was only recently stationed at the Dover Air Force Base and he's not yet familiar with his way around Delaware. He got turned around yesterday and was driving near Dover's Silver Lake when a pickup truck driven by a 76-year-old man careened off the road and into the frigid... Read more

2004-04-15T15:17:50-04:00

Some thoughts on "tax day." 1. First things first: This is not "tax day." It's income tax day. This is a minor point with major repercussions. Business reporters and politicians use "tax" and "income tax" interchangeably. Thus today is "tax day." Politicians who cut the income tax are "tax cutters." This is partly a matter of convenience — you save two syllables by just saying "tax" when you mean "income tax." It's also a reflection of the economic status of... Read more

2004-04-15T14:19:02-04:00

Whew. I can't find a longer link to this yet, but in the press conference after yesterday's* Sept. 11 commission hearings, Tom Kean hit back hard at Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner's attacks on commissioner Jamie Gorelick. "People ought to stay out of our business," the former New Jersey governor said, after dismissing Sensenbrenner's call for Gorelick's resignation as "silly." (He was responding to a question from someone representing either Sensenbrenner's election campaign or Fox News, it wasn't quite clear.) The background... Read more

2004-04-14T13:19:52-04:00

Teresa Nielsen Hayden tells us what she believes. I believe she's right. Read more

2004-04-14T12:24:51-04:00

Members of both parties praised the president's performance. Clearly, he had "battened down the hatches to prepare for this very methodically," one observer said, which made him very "forthcoming and responsive" on all the issues discussed. A prominent Republican said despite "some pretty detailed questions," the president "was just totally frank — totally frank, totally honest, and forthcoming." "He did very well," said another Republican observer. "He gave us a lot of very helpful insights [and] policy approaches." Yes, former... Read more

2004-04-13T18:27:31-04:00

Here's Tucker Carlson yesterday on CNN: John Kerry hasn't even decided whether we should transfer [sovereignty in Iraq] at all on June 30. In other words, you can't defeat a plan with no plan at all. This seems to be the latest line of defense for the Bush administration's apparent lack of a plan or even a clue about what to do as the situation in Iraq unravels. And, yes, it does seem to be unraveling, as Knight-Ridder's Warren Strobel... Read more

2004-04-13T16:13:43-04:00

"I have to tell you that during that period of time, we were at battle stations." — Condoleezza Rice, March 22, 2004 "And the president of the United States had us at battle stations during this period of time. He expected his Secretary of State to be locking down embassies. He expected his Secretary of Defense to be providing force protection. He expected his F.B.I. director to be tasking his agents and getting people out there. He expected his director... Read more

2004-04-13T15:27:18-04:00

SCENE: The visitor's clubhouse at Shea Stadium. Braves pitching coach Leo Mazzone is talking to his No. 2 starter, Mike Hampton, following the team's 10-6 loss the previous day. "I want to look at some video," Mazzone says. "I think you were shortening your stride and your follow through." Hampton sighs, "I'm not interested in the blame-game. We need to look forward, not backward." "Just look at the video," Mazzone pleads. "You shortened your stride and grooved an 0-2 pitch... Read more

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