Bob Hertzog's blog

I wonder if it really matters to people whether or not our political leaders communicate in logically valid ways.  Candidates across the political spectrum regularly present us with logically fallacious and specious arguments.  We will debate the issue but seldom do we comment on the validity of the arguments.  I have spent a good part of my life trying to teach university students to argue logically and to recognize specious and fallacious arguments when they occur.

Racism still exists in Indiana. 

Here’s something you don’t see often these days.  An act of real sportsmanship!!!

            We have heard that the reduction in violence in Iraq over the last several months means we are on the road to victory.  We have heard wrong!  In order to gain a temporary respite from the violence that was killing about 100 Americans a month, the Bush administration has put in place a plan that is nothing short of insanity.  Writing in the May/J

A standard ploy in politics today is to search your opponents words, excerpt just the ones that make the speaker look stupid, indecisive, prejudiced or just silly, then repeat those words over and over until they seem to be exactly what the person intended to say.  The strategy even has a name, according to Thomas Cathcart and Daniel Klein.  They call it "Contextomy."  It means taking a person comments out of context and thereby giving them a new (often opposite or derogatory to the speaker) meaning.  In the 2004 presidential campaign, John Ke

I do not think that Hillary Clinton will get the Democratic nomination this year.  As it stands now, the numbers are too much against her.  But, I do think she has the stuff to have made a good president.  She is smart, she is tenacious, she is tough, and she is a fighter.  What more would we want in our president?   

            Throughout this presidential campaign, people have offered criticism of the major candidates based on stereotypes.  Barak Obama has been accused of “playing the race card" (pardon the overworked cliché). Hillary Clinton was called the iron maiden and seen as too cold and calculating.  John McCain’s campaign almost miscarried because he was seen as George Bush’s third term. 

Recently, California courts have ruled that perents may not homeschool their children unless they are certified as teachers or hire someone who is certified.  Some of my Libertarian friends have argued that this is an outrageous interference into parental prerogatives.  At first I agreed, then I thought a bit more about it.