Author Archive

The Price Of A Ham Sandwich Has Also Gone Up Like everything else, education costs more, especially in California. The LA Times blogs that students are protesting over increases in the costs of a UC education: A University of California Board of Regents committee today approved a series of controversial increases in student fees that, if... »

Hot Off Hot Air Did a great half hour radio show about my book and rudeness in general yesterday, with Hot Air's Ed Morrissey, who asked great questions, which made for what I think is a very interesting piece. Here's a link to the piece on Hot Air, and here's the show below. (To listen... »

They're Calling It "The Botax" Going in for new boobs and the like? The government is aiming to lift and separate you from your money -- taxing cosmetic surgery in the health care "reform" bill. From law prof William A. Jacobson, blogging at Legal Insurrection: Harry Reid and his Democratic band of friends want to... »

The Mammogram Controversy WaPo overview here. Great science-based take on it from cancer surgeon David Gorski over at Science Based Medicine. An excerpt: First and foremost, what matters is the woman being screened, what she values, and what her tolerance is for paying the price of screening at an earlier age, such as a high risk for... »

Today's Blog Items Coming Soon! Burning candle at both ends and the middle...last night, I went to blog, but was so tired, I felt like somebody'd hit me over the head with a frying pan, and I instead went to bed for a whole eight hours -- for a change. Feel free to discuss whatever you... »

Dump Her, Get Dumped In Prison Lori Pilger, on journalstar.com, tells the story of a man, unwittingly entrapped by a vengeful ex into sex with a girl who turned out to be a minor. Sickeningly, he just got eight to 15 years in prison -- the price of being fooled plus having a past criminal... »

The ME! ME! ME! Generation, Top Down At root of manners is empathy, and at root of empathy is recognizing that there are other people in the world. Because of my book on rudeness, I'm talking about this a lot, and I was struck by a piece by the Boston Globe's Jeff Jacoby on the... »

Black (And Blue) Friday I consider it the most hideous day of the year -- the day when people race to the stores to scream, yell, and shove their way to a few dollars in savings (that is, until the credit card bill comes, at 26 or so percent interest). I talked to Ron, the cool... »

Today's "I See Rude People" Quote A sorta daily feature. This is from Chapter Two of my book, I SEE RUDE PEOPLE: One woman's battle to beat some manners into impolite society: Yes, I'm aware that you have mascara, liquid eyeliner, and five shades of gray eyeshadow to apply. But, see that guy in the... »

Hey, GM, We Aren't Drooling Morons! Lovely. GM is going to use government loans to...pay back government loans! From AP/MSNBC: GM lost $1.2 billion for the third quarter -- far less than the $6 billion it lost in the first three months of the year, before GM was transformed by a stay in bankruptcy protection. The... »

My Health Care Doesn't Need "Reform," Thanks! I got a call yesterday, in the middle of a really crazy day. As you'll read in my book, my friends all know not to call me on my deadline days, so I'm always surprised when my phone rings on a Monday or a Tuesday. Well, this was... »

Seven Salient Facts About Major Hasan Most have already been brought out here (by me or by people commenting here), but the piece at Slate by Hitchens is worth reading. An excerpt from Hitchens' analysis following his list: What about the emphasis on Hasan's supposedly knife-edge mental state? Well, even supposing it to have been... »

Today's "I See Rude People" Quote Here's a little snack from my (soon-to-be-published but now shipping from Amazon!) book, I SEE RUDE PEOPLE: One woman's battle to beat some manners into impolite society: Of course, in recent years, air travel has become like flying below Greyhound -- in the baggage compartment under the bus. There... »

How To Raise A Nation Of Fast-Food Workers Forget "No Child Left Behind." We're apparently trying for "All Children Left Behind." Wendy McElroy writes on ifeminists about how the P.C. approach to education is leading to both innumeracy and illiteracy. For example, children studying the latest version of "new math" are being primed for jobs where... »

Put On Your Red Wig I'm doing one of my volunteer talks at the high school on Wednesday -- "WIT: What It Takes" -- my program to demystify "making it" for "at-risk" kids. This time, though, I'm talking to a tenth grade class in which a number or many of the children read...get this...at a... »

"Two Rudes Don't Make A Polite"? (*Sunday blog item posted directly below this one with a Saturday date...leaving this up today for people who come from the NYT link.) I think that quaint saying above was from Emily Post's granddaughter. She said it to Douglas Quenqua, the New York Times reporter who included me in their... »

Back To The Echo Chamber! Got this comment and another like it on my blog item above about the Times piece on my book: I came here from the New York Times link, but now that I see that you're another of the right-wing nuts that abound lately, I'll take my leave. Posted by: Ev at November... »

Why He Stopped Believing Confessions of a former missionary -- scroll down to read the book, printed on his site. The myth of individual faith As a believer I was reluctant to admit that my decision to follow Christ was anyone's but my own. While studying French in Belgium prior to our mission work in Africa, I... »

Why We Should Start Electing Smart People Because here's the sort of thing dumb people do. From a NYT piece by John Carney: Let's start with the credit card rate freeze. The rising rates charged by issuing banks that inspired Mr. Dodd's legislation are themselves the unintended consequence of an earlier attempt to assist the... »

In Western Culture, You Just Get Grounded But, disobey Mommy and Daddy as a Muslim, and you might end up maimed or dead. Margaret Wente writes in the Glode & Mail of how it works: The young woman, Eman Al Mezel, was 23 when her father lost control of her. She lived at home, and had... »