Keith Burgess-Jackson

Is it forced sex? Coerced sex? Unconsented-to sex? Unwanted sex? See here. I have argued (in “A Theory of Rape”) that rape should be conceived as coerced sex.

This column by Paul Krugman* is funny. He asks: “What is it about Mr. Gore that drives right-wingers insane?” I’ve been asking the same question about George W. Bush and left-wingers. Come to think of it, Paul, you’re one of those left-wingers. Do explain it to us. You might also explain how you are going to induce China to go green. Are you familiar with the prisoner’s dilemma, Paul? You might read up on it. If we go green while China doesn’t, we’re suckers.

* “Op-Ed columnist Paul Krugman has the disturbing habit of shaping, slicing and selectively citing numbers in a fashion that pleases his acolytes but leaves him open to substantive assaults” (Daniel Okrent, “13 Things I Meant to Write About but Never Did,” The New York Times, 22 May 2005).

In watching on television the series of baseball games between the Boston Red Sox and the Cleveland Indians, I notice that baseball players often spit. Why? I have never seen hockey players spit on the ice in the way that baseball players befoul the field they play on. Does spitting confer some advantage for players? Are modern ballparks particularly dusty? Hypothesis: This spitting is simply a matter of tradition and habit, picked up in the late-1800s days of spittoons. See here, which reports that James Joyce considered ‘cuspidor’ the most beautiful word in the English language.

Question: Do professional baseball players spit in Japan?

Homework: If you’re feeling anal, count the number of spits that go out over the airwaves during the course of a baseball game on TV. Before the game starts, predict how many spits you will see. The closest guesser wins.

Mark Spahn @ Why am I thinking of the governor of New York?

Note from KBJ: Don’t mess with the game, Mark. Just leave it alone. In fact, that’s what the players, coaches, and managers are saying by spitting. They’re saying, “If you mess with this grand game, I will surely spit on you.” By the way, Boston manager Terry Francona spits exactly 1,437 times per game.

Being a Marxist by conviction, I am—as far as my philosophical opinions are concerned—a member of the Marxist school of philosophy. What does this mean?

This means that since I believe the fundamental principles of Marxist philosophy to be correct (i.e., in my opinion, the best out of all those which are offered by the current schools of philosophy), I try to apply them in my philosophical research, and I try to convince others that those principles are the right ones. This results from my realizing the importance of adopting a definite philosophical standpoint for man’s theoretical and practical activities, and hence from my concept of a philosopher’s moral responsibility to advocate those views which he deems right. Thus, as I see it, I am a philosopher engaged and inspired by the party spirit—in the sense of being a member of a definite school, a definite party in philosophy. This is, of course, not to be confused with membership in any political party, for these may coincide, but they need not. And they are certainly not identical.

(Adam Schaff, “What Philosophers Do,” chap. 11 in The Owl of Minerva: Philosophers on Philosophy, ed. Charles J. Bontempo and S. Jack Odell [New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1975], 179-89, at 187)

Hillary Clinton is playing the sex card. Once again: If it’s permissible to vote for Hillary because she’s a woman, then it’s permissible to vote against her because she’s a woman.

Here.

To the Editor:

I am a practicing dentist of 32 years. Yes, I understand the problems that many Americans have in obtaining dental care in this country. But I also understand that tooth decay is a diet-related disease and is by and large preventable.

Our population needs to be better educated about the foods that promote dental decay. Manufactured, novelty foods, found mainly in the middle aisles of our supermarkets, whose main ingredients are refined carbohydrates are the culprits. These include cereals, pretzels, cookies, crackers, chips and candies, to mention a few.

Perhaps these packages should be labeled with warnings about the tooth-decay potential of its contents. In this way, people can make more informed choices and take more responsibility for their own diseases. Only then can we hope to alleviate the burdens that our health care system faces.

Debra Weinstein
Island Park, N.Y., Oct. 11, 2007

Note from KBJ: Taking responsibility? What’s that?

Here.