There are three common bases for moral reasoning that drive me crazy: capacities, rights, and essences. They bug me because they don’t, and can’t, work even though they dominate the popular discourse. They are different in most ways, but I believe their appeal is what they have in common. I will look at each one…
Longtime readers of Nutmegger Daily may be surprised to find out we have a theme song. Even more surprising is it was made by John Legend and Stephen Colbert. It’s flattering. We didn’t know they were fans. We’re quite happy about it, though. Some cynics may object. Sure, the song is called Nutmeg and we’re…
The OJ Simpson trial happened while I was in college. I completely didn’t care except for an annoyance at how inescapable it was. When they were going to announce the verdict, I made a bet with a friend. We wanted to see who could go the longest without learning the outcome of the trial. The…
This is something I’ve wondered for a long time. Why do we have our courts set up as an adversarial system? We have two opposing sides trying to convince 12 random citizens that their preferred trial outcome is right. If the point is to uncover the truth or serve justice or protect the public or…
In my geographical area, and many others, a few things happen every fall: The leaves fall off the trees, we clean them up, the town collects them, and we are told that we’ve done a bad thing. I’m talking about the annual “Leave the Leaves” campaigns run by the Nation Wildlife Federation and The Audubon…
I just got a new CD player (the guy at the store would tell you it’s a 4K HD, Blu-ray, entertainment hub or something, but I got it to play CDs). It’s amazing. Revelatory. I don’t know how I’ve lived so long without one. I know that sounds weird. This isn’t 1988. I know no…
American politics are weird. There is a huge disconnect between the symbolically important elections and the practically important elections. Many voters are suckered in by the symbolism and ignore the practical. In other words, they vote in the elections for the “Big” positions, like President, Senator, and maybe even Governor, but they sit out the…
We are a very wasteful society. I don’t think there’s any question about that. But a lot of the waste we generate is in the interest of health, safety, and cleanliness. When you see any medical provider, they have disposable gloves and masks and all of the tools are sealed in one-time-use plastic. Whenever a…
Climate activists are always talking about renewable sources of energy. Why is that? The danger isn’t running out of fuel. Fossil fuels can last a long, long time. The danger is putting carbon (and other greenhouse gasses) in the air. Are people that afraid of nuclear energy? Should they be?
It’s election season again. Not that it ever really ends, but we’re less than a month away from Election Day. So, the usual decorations (lawn signs, billboards, Op-Eds) are out in full force. I always find it a bit funny that people pay less attention to odd-year elections. They have a bigger impact on our…
