Selfishness is Not a Good Value

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Sunday March 16, 2014 · 12:08 PM PDT

2014/03/16 · 12:08

I've been repeating three sentences to my two sons since they were old enough to understand English. By now I hope they're sick of hearing them, because that means I've done my job. It's my fervent hope that someday, including that time after I'm gone, they'll still be telling their own kids, "This is what I learned from your grandpa, and I hope you learn it too." Those three sentences are: (1) Always take responsibility for your own actions; (2) Be intellectually curious about absolutely everything; and (3) The world does not owe you a good time.
What I see now is a huge chunk of American society that has adopted the exact opposite of those three principles. Specifically, their attitude can be summed up as: (1) When caught having done something wrong, blame everyone else; (2) Trust the Christian Bible and reject the results of scientific inquiry; and (3) Complain that your rights are being violated anytime someone criticizes you.

Dragonminder

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Tuesday January 26, 2010 · 10:20 AM PST

2010/01/26 · 10:20

I urge everyone - male and female - to pick up the February 2010 issue of Maxim (the one with Amanda Bynes on the cover). Not for the soft-core cheesecake photos, not for the pictorial on one of Tiger's mistresses, not even for the hilarious story about British funnyman Steve Coogan. No, the reason why every American must read the February 2010 issue of Maxim is for one brief article called Welcome to Cybergate, by Simon Worrall.

Dragonminder

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Thursday April 23, 2009 · 11:04 AM PDT

2009/04/23 · 11:04

You will find no greater defender of the Bill of Rights than your humble scribe. Having said that, I am repeatedly struck by how many people are ignorant of what "freedom of speech" as defined in the First Amendment to the Constitution really means.

Dragonminder

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Wednesday July 30, 2008 · 4:30 PM PDT

2008/07/30 · 16:30

When is "opinion" really just near-delusional denial of the facts? In this age of "gotcha" journalism, have "facts" become evanescent things that can support both sides at once, like photons passing through a diffraction grating?

Dragonminder

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Sunday September 02, 2007 · 10:16 AM PDT

2007/09/02 · 10:16

What I found when I went to Paris was much less than I had been led to believe...and so much more.

Dragonminder

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Friday August 03, 2007 · 8:57 PM PDT

2007/08/03 · 20:57

Language can be used to communicate -- to convey meaning -- or to obfuscate, and thereby obscure meaning. The Republicans currently occupying the White House, and the mindless drones who follow them, are particularly adept at the latter: using language to obscure meaning.

Dragonminder

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Monday May 28, 2007 · 10:01 AM PDT

2007/05/28 · 10:01

In today's Memorial Day edition of Newsday, columnist Raymond J. Keating accuses the Democrats who voted against the emergency war appropriations bill once benchmarks were removed of "surrendering to terrorists" and "abandoning the troops." Here is the link to his column:

Raymond J Keating: Dems wrong in not backing troops

My open rebuttal to Mr. Keating appears below.

Dragonminder

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Monday April 23, 2007 · 6:18 PM PDT

2007/04/23 · 18:18

In the past I have taken to task within the confines of my own blog one Bruce Tinsley (and one is more than enough, thank you very much). Tinsley, you see, is the "cartoonist" who is responsible for that piece of journalist excrement known as "Mallard Fillmore." (Note that I use the term "cartoonist" with apologies to the many fine cartoonists who truly deserve the title; Tinsley does not.) "Fillmore" has almost always been offensive and in poor taste, while managing, unlike other taste-free offerings such as the "Borat" movie, to be not the least bit amusing. Now, however, Tinsley has strayed so far over the line as to be an affront to free speech itself.

Dragonminder

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Saturday April 14, 2007 · 9:24 PM PDT

2007/04/14 · 21:24

You know who we ought to listen to more? Thomas Jefferson. Oh, sure, he's sometimes called the "author of our democracy" because he wrote the Declaration of Independence, and his face is on the nickel and on the two dollar bill that no one uses, and he has that beautiful memorial by the tidal basin in Washington that no one visits because they're all jammed into the Lincoln Memorial. But let's face it: no one's really listening to ol' Tom Jefferson much anymore. If they were, they would have to face up to the fact that Jefferson is likely spinning in his grave over the mess that Americans in general, and the Bush Republicans in particular, have made of his vision.

RSS

Selfishness is Not a Good Value

A Reason to Read 'Maxim'

"Free speech" doesn't mean it won't cost you - get it?

Just the facts, Ma'am? Or, is denial a river in Egypt?

An American in Paris says, "Je T'aime"

On Language and Rational Thought

An open rebuttal to columnist Raymond J Keating

Tinsley's Fillmore is a Foul-Minded Fowl

Come Back, Tom Jefferson, We Really Need You