Keith Burgess-Jackson, J.D., Ph.D.

Here.

Here.

My advice to Paul Ryan is to get right with Donald.

Hello, Dad . . . I’m in Jail (1992).

To the Editor:

I am sick and tired of naysayers like David Brooks who are not sufficiently inspired, uplifted or moved by Hillary Clinton. She is being held to a totally different standard than that applied to any other candidate—in this or any other presidential contest. If she articulates specific policies or proposals, she is a “policy wonk.” If she has the inner strength to admit mistakes (unlike her opponent), she is untrustworthy.

The woman has a wealth of experience, sound judgment, international respect and an incredible work ethic. She has articulated a vision of a more fair, just and inclusive society, and has given the specifics of how to achieve it.

David Brooks and his holier-than-thou ilk are not only unfair in their assessment of her, but they also act as if they are unaware of the consequences of this dismissive, condescending portrayal, which is to actively encourage those who will either sit this election out or vote for a third-party candidate.

HARRIETT GALVIN

New York

Note from KBJ: Hillary Clinton is the most corrupt person ever to run for president.

There’s the Rub (1974).

General epistemological skepticism about the reliability of interpersonal comparisons of welfare cannot be warranted. It cannot be that we are never warranted in making interpersonal comparisons of welfare. If magnitudes of welfare exist and we sometimes make confident judgments about these magnitudes, then there is no reason to deny that we can sometimes make reliable judgments of this sort. Depending on what things have intrinsic or extrinsic value, we will have a variety of means by which to measure value directly or indirectly. According to OU [Objective Utilitarianism], liberty has great extrinsic value, and liberty can presumably be measured directly by the absence of legal, physical, and perhaps psychological restraints. Pleasure and pain can be measured by a variety of indices (e.g., introspective reports and nonlinguistic behavior). Basic well-being can be measured by a variety of nutritional, medical, and psychological criteria. Respect for persons can be measured (in a way that relies on moral theory, of course) by a variety of social, psychological, and economic indices. Many questions about the appropriate methods of measurement, of course, can be best addressed only after one has fully articulated the components and conditions of human welfare. There is no reason, however, to claim that we cannot now make some highly accurate comparisons of the welfare of different individuals or groups.

(David O. Brink, Moral Realism and the Foundations of Ethics, Cambridge Studies in Philosophy, ed. Sydney Shoemaker [Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989], 255)

Tomorrow's upsets:

• Texas over Oklahoma
• Arkansas over Alabama
• Oregon over Washington
• Florida State over Miami
• Arizona over Utah

As you were.

Addendum: I was one for five. Only Florida State won.

The Texas Rangers are down, two games to none, to the Toronto Blue Jays. More support for the adage that good pitching beats good hitting.