Keith Burgess-Jackson

I leave you this fine evening with a column by Jeff Jacoby.

Robb Nen. (For an explanation of this feature, see here.)

Here is a scene from today’s stage of the Tour de France. Here is tomorrow’s stage. Note the mountaintop finish.

My beloved Detroit Tigers (46-44) came back from a 6-0 deficit this evening to beat the Cleveland Indians, 8-6. Yeehaa!

Addendum: Moments ago, my adopted Texas Rangers (48-44) came up in the bottom of the ninth inning, trailing the division-leading Los Angeles Angels, 4-2. Francisco Rodriguez (“K-Rod”) was on the mound. I would not have wagered a penny that the Rangers would win. They won. Josh Hamilton hit a walk-off home run to give the Rangers a 5-4 victory. The Angels were shocked. The Rangers were ecstatic. I pity those of you who don’t get to watch Josh Hamilton on a day-to-day basis. He is far and away the best player in Major League Baseball. The second-best player is his teammate, Ian Kinsler.

To the Editor:

As a mid-30s, female, tenure-track professor with politically moderate views, I read “On Campus, the ’60s Begin to Fade as Liberal Professors Retire” (front page, July 3) with considerable interest.

The article addresses a generational trend in academia of which I am clearly a part, but about which I had thought very little (perhaps because I am apparently so concentrated on my career). Unfortunately, the article left me pondering an important question that it did not address: beyond the influence of my family and the political climate of the 1980s and 1990s, what accounts for my ideological views (and those of my fellow thirtysomething academics)?

After some thought, I came to what seems to be an entirely appropriate answer: I have benefited from the wisdom and experience of the very generation of professors whom I am now replacing.

Helen J. Knowles
Oswego, N.Y., July 4, 2008
The writer is an assistant professor of political science, State University of New York at Oswego.

Note from KBJ: I don’t get it.

I don’t understand why this man thinks providing for dogs is “wasting” money. Does he think the welfare of dogs is unimportant? Am I wasting my money by buying food for Shelbie? Am I wasting my money by taking her to the veterinarian?

In all political discussions we must assume agreement in ultimate judgments of value, and our hope of converting an opponent must lie in showing him either (1) that his general political theories contradict the ethical principles that we have in common, whilst ours are compatible with them, or (2) that his measures are not likely to lead to the results which we agree would be desirable if they could be reached. The fruitlessness and heat of political discussion spring largely from the confusion of matters of fact with matters of value.

(C. D. Broad, “Lord Hugh Cecil’s ‘Conservatism’,” International Journal of Ethics 23 [July 1913]: 396-418, at 399)

Here.