Author: Eric Scheie

  • Test

    Does this appear?

  • Still tired of the culture war?

    Crazy as it may sound, I think there might be a way out of the current mess. To put my money where my mouth is, let me say that much as I’ve never liked the man, I will nonetheless vote for Donald Trump if he: pledges to support full legalization of all currently controlled drugs;…

  • Much of what is now on this blog are not my opinions

    I haven’t been here for some time (over ten months ago, in fact), and I just checked in today to see a whole slew of posts with which I disagree. Among many other things, I think QAnon and its various conspiracy theories are a sickening load of crap, and I dislike seeing QAnon or its supporters being promoted here.…

  • Please listen to this guy

  • Thank you, Veterans!

  • Still politically homeless, after all these years

    I was recently reminded (as if I needed any reminding) that libertarians are — and are likely to remain — politically homeless. the United States is for the moment left with two authoritarian populist parties and no political home for classical liberalism at all. Nothing new for me. And (if I may paraphrase a classic) I won’t…

  • “How much does the world need to know about a deadly bear attack?”

    A seemingly legitimate question, which might shed light on a lot of other things. People are morbid and we like to entertain ourselves with gruesome details, so there is no way to stop such reporting, especially in light of the First Amendment and the Internet. What troubles me is the use of the word “need”…

  • Terrorism? Or mere incompetence?

    I don’t blog much these days. Hardly at all. But occasionally (like right now) I just plain feel as if I must use this platform in accordance with the reasons I started it. (That whole “Classical Values” thing — an idea I had nearly two decades ago, the explanation of which would require repeating long-repeated explanations which…

  • Can we agree on something?

    Probably not, at least not all of us. But I am heartened by a unanimous Supreme Court decision reiterating the constitutional prohibition against excessive fines: The U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously Wednesday that the Constitution’s ban on excessive fines applies to punishments imposed by the states as well as by the federal government. The decision,…

  • Happy Saint Valentine’s Day!

    Happy Memories! That was then. This is now.   Just as they took out Al Capone (notorious for the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre), so the feds have now taken out El Chapo. And just as taking out Al Capone proved the war on alcohol was worth fighting, so too does taking out El Chapo prove…

  • Happy Solstice Full Moon Day!

    Time to dance!

  • Losing the greatest

    The following headline is a sad reminder of inexorable, inevitable reality: For first time, Pearl Harbor remembrance takes place without a single USS Arizona survivor present  Along with the recent death of George H.W. Bush, it’s another reminder that we are rapidly losing the last of the World War II generation. My parents’ generation, and all…

  • Republican political cluelessness versus Democrat political savvy

    Where it comes to the war on drugs — especially marijuana — it seems that Republicans just don’t understand. (Read it and, if you’re a Republican, weep.) For the mega-umpteenth time, I think the R’s need to back off from issues involving Americans’ personal freedoms Laura Ingraham (carrying on at Fox as I write this)…

  • Happy Halloween!

  • Freedom of speech bites the dust

    Are we no longer allowed to freely say what we think? Not, apparently, if we know people who might be appointed to the Supreme Court. I feel sorry for Mark Judge. He spoke his mind in a variety of contexts, and it’s looking as if he’s the real reason that the Kavanaugh nomination is in trouble. And while I…

  • Don’t forget!

  • Pregnant pause?

    These days, I don’t follow politics as I perhaps should. Too busy with other stuff. However, earlier today I read something that made me chuckle. In yesterday’s hearing, California Senator Kamala Harris put Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh on the spot by asking him whether there were any laws giving the government power to make…

  • Not blogging much these days…

    I’m sick of three topics: 1) Trump 2) Race 3) Gender Problem is, they are the dominant political/academic/media topics in a country still called the United States of America. So I’m mostly doing ceramics. What choice do I have? Whatever opinions I might have on the above topics are as irrelevant as they are redundant,…

  • Why can’t we have this debate here? (Because Canadians are a bunch of kooks!)

    Canadian politicians are now considering a rational approach to the war on drugs: With months left before Canada becomes the first country in the G7 to fully legalise marijuana, members of the country’s Liberal party, led federally by Justin Trudeau, are calling on their government to go one step further and decriminalise the possession and…

  • Sieg Hogg!

    These days, there’s not much to laugh about, but I thought this was worth a chuckle.   On the other hand, I would hate to have anyone think that I am in any way insulting a “child.” So… how about if we just pretend for the sake of the national political “discussion” that he’s some…