A View from the Right Science, POLITICS, & Religion

Part 8: Validity and Clarity “Most of the arguments to which I am party fall somewhat short of being impressive, owing to the fact that neither I nor my opponent knows what we are talking about.”  — Robert Benchley, American columnist & actor Hey, folks! Ready for another lesson in logic? Of course, you are!! […]

“Solid female characters, not just superheroes, are essential for the Arab world at this time of unprecedented violence against women.”  — Joumana Merhej, creator of female Muslim superhero “Malaak” (quoted by Salon editor/writer Prachi Gupta) A Facebook friend of mine posted an article announcing Marvel Comics’ new “Muslim Girl Superhero”, which will debut in January […]

“Statecraft is soulcraft.”  — Aristotle I usually read during my “lunch hour”. Whether working at a job or taking care of stuff at home (or just hangin’ out), that’s a time I usually set aside to get through at least a few pages in one of the books I have in progress. Lately, I’ve been […]

“But examine everything carefully, hold fast to that which is good; abstain from every form of evil.”  — I Thessalonians 5:21 (NASB) I’m not really into Halloween. Haven’t been for years. Sure, in my early years, I did the whole trick-or-treating thing. I remember, when I was around 5 or 6, I went out dressed […]

Originally, I was going to use this in Sunday’s installment of my “Informal Logic 101” series. But, I opted not to, ‘cuz it wasn’t quite what I was looking for. It is still worth commenting on, though, so… An example of a bad argument can be found in a recent editorial in Connecticut’s New Haven […]

Part 7: Causes and Comparisons “Correlation does not equal causation.”  — many people, including me (‘cuz it makes me sound smart) We’re baaaaaaack, and we have a lot of ground to cover, so let’s get started! Clear thinking & reasoning require at least a basic understanding of causal relationships. Unfortunately, it’s also easy to make […]

It’s controversial holiday time, again. Yaaayyy!!! Columbus Day is celebrated as a U.S. federal holiday (since 1936) in honor of the intrepid explorer Christopher Columbus’ initial landing in the Bahamas and, therefore, the Americas. The facts that Columbus was a) not the first non-native to “find” the New World (ask Leif Erickson) and that b) […]

I have another excerpt from Dr. Ben Carson’s book America the Beautiful to share today. As an African-American man who grew up in the Civil Rights Era and struggled to become a respected professional in his field, Carson has had a front-row seat to both racial bigotry in America and to the great strides made […]

I’m not the first to try something like this, so some of these may sound a little familiar. Others, not so much. I limited myself to ten for the obvious biblical parallel, but obviously more could be devised. Hope you like it! The 10 Liberal/Progressive Commandments 1. Do not have any other gods before… Nah, […]

“There are two ways of being happy: We must either diminish our wants or augment our means — either may do — the result is the same and it is for each man to decide for himself and to do that which happens to be easier.”  — Benjamin Franklin Tonight’s post is just a quickie […]