Richard Vatz

Gubernatorial debate went a little bit Moore

Gubernatorial debate went a little bit Moore

In evaluating political debates, which I have done in classes and public as a professor of rhetoric for over four decades, it is reasonably expected that one reveal his biases: I am a Howard Baker conservative, and I have had some interaction with some of the...

The Sun apologizes for its past but not its present

The Sun apologizes for its past but not its present

On Sunday, the Baltimore Sun wrote what they called “an apology,” but which is better described as what my field of rhetoric calls an “apologia.” Rhetorical scholars B. L. Ware and Wil A. Linkugel  wrote the article of record on apologetic discourse about 50 years ago...

Competency to stand trial and the mother who killed her children

Competency to stand trial and the mother who killed her children

“Competency to stand trial,” hundreds of years old in Anglo-Saxon criminal justice, is considered fundamental as a concept, but is unwieldy in practice.  Everyone agrees that if a person truly does not understand the charges faced and literally cannot help his counsel in defense, there is a basic unfairness inherent in the process.