Factor analysis--In 2003 the U.S. Supreme Court said that race could be considered in college admission decisions as one factor among many, as long as it is not the
"determining factor." But whenever race is factored in, what else could it be but the determining factor? If the qualifications of a minority candidate are superior (based on some formula involving grades, courses taken, character references and community
service), race obviously has no bearing on the decision and wouldn't even be considered. If the qualifications of a minority candidate are either equal to or inferior to those of a white candidate, to select the minority candidate would be, ipso
facto, to make race the determining factor. The Court's attempt at compromise is built on shaky logical support.
15 yards of racism--Does race play
a role in the assessing of penalties for excessive celebrations after touchdowns are scored in the NFL? A recent study, using hypothetical situations, seems to indicate that it does. "The same pattern of blacks being punished more than whites seems
to hold true in both the NFL and in this experiment, and I would conclude that the results are generalizable to NFL refereees," says Robert Livingston, one of the researchers. The idea is interesting and plausible, but a more valid study would examine
films of all NFL games for the past five years, noting the exact number of penalties assessed for excessive celebration on whites and blacks (caveat: most touchdowns are scored by wide receivers and running backs, most of whom are black), the number
that are assessed to visiting teams in contrast to those assessed to home teams (caveat: another study shows that the "home field advantage" is essentially the break in officials' calls that home teams receive because officials feel pressured by the
fans), and noting the percentage of calls for excessive celebration made by white officials as opposed to those made by black officials (caveat: there are more white officials than black officials). That said, if more penalties are assessed
against blacks than against whites, cultural rather than racial prejudice may be at work. That is, part of the black ethos is to very demonstratively celebrate success (touchdowns, sacks, great catches, etc.). They have to "represent" and are sometimes
scorned by other blacks if they "act white." Many whites (and it is white owners and league executives who control the NFL) find demonstrative celebrations inappropriate, whether demonstrated by whites or blacks. Very likely there is prejudice
in penalty assessment, but the prejudice may be essentially cultural rather than racial in origin. Is that a distinction without a difference? Don't think so.
Katy,
bar the door; Katrina's trying to sneak in--Many opponents of illegal immigration say that we must secure our borders before we can work on developing an immigration policy. But what is the definition of a secure border? How secure is
"secure?" In reality, demanding a secure border first seems to be just a way of prohibiting negotiation. For such opponents, the right time to negotiate is the 12th of Never.
The 12th of Never, redux--Although acknowledging that huge deficits are bad for the American economy and that they should be reduced dramatically, many opponents of going over the "fiscal cliff" say that we should not undertake
such reductions until our economy is strong. But how strong is "strong?" In reality, demanding a strong economy seems to be just a way of prohibiting negotiations. It's like saying that before we can save the economy we must save the economy.
In a similar vein, political leaders of two of the world's largest polluters--China and India--concede that they should undertake measures to reduce their contributions to the problem of global warming but that they must continue with their polluting
ways until they have developed strong economies.
Jethro, the horse is gone; lock the barn door--On the other hand, the best way to combat climate change may be
to adjust infrastructure. In the U.S., for example, we should prepare to minimize the effects of problems to be caused by future hurricanes and floods by building dikes and floodgates, paving streets with more permeable surfaces, fitting subways and
tunnels with waterproof lids, and burying power lines. We should follow the lead of well-adjusted cities like St. Petersburg, Rotterdam, and Amsterdam and get out of harm's way as much as possible by gradually pulling back from our coastlines, restricting
lowland and cliffside building and refusing to federally subsidize rebuilding in coastal areas.
When God closes a door, He opens a window--On the third hand,
although global warming and the melting of the polar ice cap threatens the fishing industry in Greenland, it has opened up new areas there for mining. Waters at the antipodes are becoming more navigable. Soon seniors who have seen everything else
will be touring Antarctica in Viking cruise ships, enriching not only their lives but those of the Viking owners.
PED X-ing--Seattle Seahawk defensive backs Brandon
Browner and Richard Sherman face possible suspensions for using performance-enhancing drugs. Amphetamines, steroids, EPO--all help to increase stamina and shorten recovery times after intense exercise, giving those who use them an unfair playing advantage.
Now that the Tour de France records of cyclist Lance Armstrong and his USPS team have been voided, is it time for American pro sports leagues to adopt a no-tolerance policy for teams as well as for individuals? Presumably, using PEDs enabled Browner
and Sherman to perform at a higher level. If Browner and Sherman are found guilty, then all of the wins achieved by the Seahawks in games in which the two participated are tainted and should be expunged from the record. Wouldn't such a get-tough,
death-penalty policy force teams to take drug use seriously and police their players strictly? Of course, we'd have to cancel the playoffs for a while, because for the first few years of enforcing such a policy, the total number of wins for all teams
in all leagues would be zero.
Pull the pork, but do bring home the bacon--An Arizona Republic editorial called Senator Jeff Flake "the scourge of budgetary
earmarking who has yet to demonstrate an appreciation for the difference between pork-laden spending projects and legitimate economic development that benefits our home state. We hope he comes to see that distinction." In other words, if the ear
is marked for some other state, it's pork; if it's marked for AZ, it's the other white meat, and we intend to fill our plates with it.
Shop till you drop (weight, that
is)--A recent study reveals that the activity of grocery shopping burns 300 calories per hour. Apparently, the more lard you put in your pantry, the less you put on your body.
But no more humble pie for us, thank you--The blood sugar levels of 300 million Americans rose to life-threatening levels when Mitt Romney claimed he found it "very humbling" to see his name on the ballot for President of the United
States and when Baylor women's basketball coach Kim Mulkey called being rated #1 in the pre-season national rankings "a humbling honor." Mitt, Kim, and all of next year's Oscar winners as well: receiving an honor is the very opposite of being humbled.
Stop endangering our health by forcing such false-modesty treacle upon us.
No longer the Hostess with the mostest--Speaking of treacle, at the announcement of
the demise of Hostess Brands, septuagenarian fitness fan Ecurb Snave felt a twinge of nostalgia at the remembrance of sins past. In his mis-spent youth, Ecurb consumed countless gooey Hostess cupcakes, rubbery Hostess Sno-Balls, and mushy Hostess Twinkies,
but loved most of all the Sweetie-Pie, a round, cream-filled devil's food cake for which he addictively and happily paid six cents a pop at the Candy Kitchen, a neighborhood emporium that he visited daily when staying with his grandmother in Seattle in 1944
at age five. Even today he will occasionally pick up at Starbucks a modern, upscale rendition of the treat, his version of "makin' Whoopie."
For better heart health,
exercise once in a while, eat right if it's not too much trouble, but above all get nipped and tucked and apply Propecia twice a day--Cosmetic surgeons recently welcomed the publication of new research suggesting that people who look older (receding
hairlines, baldness, creased ear lobes, wrinkles, bumpy deposits on eyelids) than others in their age cohort have a greater chance of developing heart disease than their younger-looking peers.
Help stamp out tooth decay, except among convicts--Some prison authorities now have a policy forbidding prisoners to obtain dental floss, citing instances when inmates have used it to cut through cell bars or to braid it
into ropes with which to escape over prison walls or strangle enemies. The ADA has asked the ACLU to defend inmates' rights to good dental health because the new prison policy has teeth in it and the inmates' mouths may soon not.
We're all Keynesians now--"Rise in Household Debt May Be Sign of a Strengthening Recovery" proclaimed a recent headline in the AZ Republic, reinforcing the American belief that the
more we spend of what we don't have, the richer we will become.
Kibitzing--One is not really surprised that the editors of the AZ Republic saw
nothing wrong when one of its reporters wrote "We stopped and kibbutzed with the descendants of one of Mesa's pioneer families" (whose ancestors lived in a Mormon kibbutz, no doubt, where they probably learned to kibitz), but when the editors of The New
Yorker, for generations sticklers for the observance of grammatical niceties, allow to stand "But what about Sir Isaac Newton, whom some contend was autistic?" then one fears that the barbarians truly are at the gates.
Joe says it's so--America has mandated that VP Joe Biden consult a dictionary before he misuses another word after he said, of the recent Presidential election result, "It produced a clear sort of mandate
about people coming much closer to our view about how to deal with tax policy."
The medium is the message--More important in the re-election of Barack Obama to
the Presidency than a particular issue like the economy, says Alan Zorfus, president of Motista, a market research firm, was the way voters felt about the two candidates. To voters who were not some combination of white, male, and old, Obama was an Apple
and Romney a Dell. Differently put, Obama was cold but in a warm way, which trumped Romney's being warm but in a cold way.
If it ain't broke...--Arizona
state highway officials are concerned that retiring boomers in AZ will commence to drive less and buy less gas, thus making less tax money available for highway repair. One is compelled to ask: with fewer miles driven, won't there be less need
for repair?
Keep the Sabbath (w)hol(l)y--Supporters of the Sabbath Manifesto are asking everyone to unplug from the media one day a week to clear their minds,
cleanse their souls, and free time for non-media-related socialization. As a modern-day Timothy Leary might say: "Turn off, tune out, drop in."
Doubling down--And
imagine how Leary, were he alive today, would, after ingesting LSD and entering a world of realistic hallucinations, totally trip out upon opening a volume by 2012 Nobel Prize-winning Chinese poet Mo Yan, whose verse has been described as "hallucinatory realism."
Samaritan, schamaritan--Neither rain nor sleet nor death of someone else's body will stay the postman from his appointed rounds, apparently, as a Colorado USPS mail
carrier recently went postal in a new way by ignoring a dead body slumped near the front door of a house to which he was delivering mail.
End the assault on senior women--The
movement to get senior male golfers who are not hitting the ball as far as they once did to play from the women's (now called "forward") tees is commendable. But what about the senior women who are also suffering a power decline? In fairness, if
the senior men invade the women's tees, senior women should be granted new "avant garde" tees 30 yards farther forward.
Seismic shifts--Six Italian
seismologists were recently convicted of manslaughter for their role in the preparation of a risk report on seismic activity in L'Aquila. The report, which was generally regarded as reassuring, was released in 2009 about a week before an earthquake struck,
killing over 300 people. As ancient seers interpreting entrails and 20th century drug manufacturers pushing new pills discovered the hard way, predictions and products should always be accompanied by disclaimers.