01.12.10
Posted in Culture, Philosophy, Politics, war at 12:43 am by madcap
Conor Friedersdorf responds to Jonah Goldberg’s continuing attempts to frame the debate over water-boarding as a debate over semantics: Talking Over Torture | The American Scene
Goldberg is absolutely wrong to argue that there are no good responses to the ticking time bomb scenario. Perhaps he means that he chooses to pretend like nobody is making them. This makes sense, since the neocon crowd is quite adept at plugging their ears and yelling their mantras (not to mention running their own cable news networks) in order to drown out any opposing viewpoints. In fact, Friedersdorf’s analysis, as well as the comments of Mike Farmer’s above, provide two excellent responses to the ticking time bomb scenario.
I humbly offer a third Read the rest of this entry »
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09.06.09
Posted in Philosophy, Politics, Quotes at 9:37 pm by madcap
“No man is an island, and rules made for imaginary islands ignore the fragile ecology of the actual archipelago.”
Adam Gopnik, The Return of the Native, The New Yorker, Sept. 7, 2009
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05.01.09
Posted in Philosophy, Science at 11:33 pm by madcap
Don’t get me wrong, MDs are sure smart and successful and all, but it just seems like whenever there’s a crazy idea being touted by someone with an impressive degree, it’s a physician.
Don’t quit your day job, Dr. Lanza.
The Biocentric Universe Theory: Life Creates Time, Space, and the Cosmos Itself
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04.29.09
Posted in Culture, Philosophy, Religion, Science, atheism at 2:07 am by madcap
Over at DiscoverMagazine.com, Chris Mooney takes issue with this blog post by Jerry Coyne on what Coyne calls “accomodationism” of religion in stances by the National Academy of Science and the National Center for Science Education, two leading scientific organizations in the US.
I have to side with Coyne on this one. If anyone’s attack is unfair, it is Mooney’s…
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03.16.09
Posted in As Seen On TV, Current Events, Economics, Philosophy, Politics, Rants at 10:00 pm by madcap
I am with what anecdotally seems to be the majority of people, who thought the Daily Show interview of Jim Cramer conducted by Jon Stewart was brilliant, even while painful to watch.
Jim Cramer had the misfortune of representing all of CNBC, indeed all of the financial news networks (which is what now, 3?). On the other hand, Cramer sort of brought this upon himself, with the over-the-top advertising for him that CNBC provided (e.g. the much harped-upon “In Cramer We Trust”), and the media blitz that Cramer himself engaged upon after the initial salvos were fired that, while featuring him, didn’t focus solely on him.
Stewart’s message though, similar to the withering one he delivered to the (2nd generation of) CNN’s Crossfire, is that these media institutions are woefully mis-serving their audiences. Most of what the financial networks provide is not news- it is commentary. What news they do deliver is already known amongst most traders and professionals, and so useless for any short-term financial decisions, on which the networks unfortunately prey.
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