NEW:
Why Should We Trust the Scientists?
Why should
we give more credence to the conclusion of 97% of thousands of
climate scientists, than we give to Sen. Inhof’s snowball or the
Heartland Institute’s sophistries? And why should we believe
evolution rather than Genesis? Isn’t evolution "just a theory"?
Why shouldn’t we regard science a "just another dogma? That is
the guiding question of this essay.
REPRISE:
On the Morality of Science. The content
of science is value free. But as an activity,
science is steeped in evaluation, for the methodology that
yields these "value-free" statements, requires a discipline and
a commitment that to merits the name of "morality." Thus the
advancement of science is characterized by behavior that can
only be described as "virtuous," and the corruption of science
as moral weakness.
James Comey Visits his Shrink.
James Comey is an emotional wreck as he tries to
deal with the political snakepit that is the FBI these days: a
pro-Trump faction engaged with a more moderate faction in a war
of pre-election leaks. Come needs help. In his psychiatrist, the
Bureau director finally has somebody he can vent to.
REPRISE:
Germany In 1933: The Easy Slide Into Fascism
This essay, written when
the CheneyBush administration was running roughshod over the
Constitution, is still relevant today as our homegrown
neo-fascists have entered the political mainstream. Trump
makes George W. seem like a genteel moderate. The parallels
to the rise of fascism in 1930 Europe, of course, are not
exact, but seem eerily familiar.(First posted June 9, 2003)
