The Washington Redskins Have Displeased Our Rulers

…oted to offending any particular racial or any other social group. They’re simply a football team. They celebrate achievement, excellence, competition and also fun for millions of fans nationwide. One of the values people implicitly attain from following and rooting for a sports team is a sense of continuity. Granted, players come and go, and in some years the team is victorious while in other years it’s at the bottom. Nevertheless, the continuity… Continue reading

Hush Rap

…y unmotivated to listen to him. Chief Keef, according NewYorkTimes.com on 7-26-15, “has rapped in the past about his gang affiliations, was previously sentenced to home confinement as a juvenile for pointing a gun at a police officer, and later served time in jail for violating his probation in that case.” I understand why some might loathe him. But again: What does this have to do with the right of people to listen to his performance without gove… Continue reading

“Yes Means Yes”: Feminist Sexual Puritanism?

…s celibacy seem appealing. Feminist Amanda Marcotte writing at slate.com [9-29-14] offers this defense of the law: Yes, it would be unreasonable and unenforceable to monitor every sexual encounter and demand students follow a step-by-step process for how to have sex. Luckily, that is not what the bill was proposing and is not what the governor signed. The affirmative consent law only helps clarify how university disciplinary boards should proceed… Continue reading

Ohio Abortion Ban: Involuntary Servitude Applied to Parenthood

…r intimidation. I am impervious to arguments with pictures or videos of out-of-context body parts or blood stains, because pictures and videos are not, in and of themselves, stand-alone substitutes for rational arguments. I am not writing this article right now to persuade anyone who feels abortion is murder to change their minds, because I know that nothing will do that. It’s perfectly fine for people to believe whatever they wish to believe. For Continue reading

Orange is the New Red

…adness. As with so many other social and personal issues, government is the problem — not the solution.     Be sure to “friend” Dr. Hurd on Facebook. Search under “Michael Hurd” (Rehoboth Beach DE). Get up-to-the-minute postings, recommended articles and links, and engage in back-and-forth discussion with Dr. Hurd on topics of interest. Also follow Dr. Hurd on Twitter at @MichaelJHurd1… Continue reading

Gun Rights are Actually Pro-Choice

…in an opinion. “Therefore, the Court finds that the District of Columbia’s complete ban on the carrying of handguns in public is unconstitutional,” he added in his 19-page ruling. The court ordered the city to allow residents to carry handguns outside their homes and to let non-residents carry them as well. [Sources: msn.com, foxnews.com 7/27/14] The basic dispute over gun control is: Do individuals have a right to self-protection, or not? Phrased… Continue reading

Sobering Facts About AA’s Effectiveness

…The prevalence of ideas spread by Alcoholics Anonymous and others that is completely contradicted by basic scientific findings shows how this ideology is not science, but something more like, well, yes … religion. The NESARC study also revealed that these recovered alcoholics don’t, as a rule, abstain completely from alcohol. “Twenty years after the onset of alcohol dependence, three-fourths of individuals are in full recovery,” it notes. “More t… Continue reading

One of America’s Worst Presidents Ever Now Lectures Trump Supporters

…United States and global stability, spending a large portion of his speech complaining about social ills in the country. America has just endured arguably the worst presidency in its history — that of Barack Obama. Barack Obama’s presidency was made possible by you, George. It took a president almost as bad — referring to yourself — to make an Obama presidency of relentless attacks on the American Constitution seem plausible and reasonable to mill… Continue reading

Love, Romance and “The Shock of Recognition”

…a product of ‘fate.’ Or ‘divine guidance,’ ‘karma,’ or other impossible-to-comprehend factors. But how about trying to explain this mystery called love? Why surrender all understanding of it to the mystical, when its complexity merely presents a challenge, not an impossibility? I recently ran across an insightfully written article by Peter Cresswell entitled, ‘Don’t Cry for me Aristotle.’ [see www.rebirthofreason.com] The author was writing about… Continue reading

Hypnosis: Fact or Fantasy? (DE Wave)

…ance at the unconscious level. The patient can be aware of this, or can be completely oblivious that something is happening. Erickson would see if the patient would respond to one or another kind of indirect suggestion, and allow the unconscious mind to actively participate in the therapeutic process. In this way, what seemed like a normal conversation might induce a hypnotic trance, or a therapeutic change in the subject.’ [Hypnotic Realities, 19… Continue reading

Beware of Vacation Syndrome! (DE Wave)

…rest of the year. If they allowed themselves a little more fun in their day-to-day activities, they might not depend so much on their vacation to provide it all. Whatever the causes of their stress, it doesn’t make sense to play it out by endangering themselves and everyone else on the roads of this otherwise peaceful summer playground.   Be sure to “friend” Dr. Hurd on Facebook. Search under “Michael Hurd” (Rehoboth Beach DE). Get up-to-the-minut… Continue reading