Month: March 2005

I haven’t especially wanted to discuss the Terri Schiavo case because I am so sick to death of the way it’s been politicized. The moral conservatives have claimed it as their own, which is rather unfortunate, because there shouldn’t be anything political about these things — any more than there should be anything political about…

The Philadelphia Inquirer (and probably most other dailies, as this is an AP story) has finally gotten around to reporting the details of the gun stolen by accused Atlanta killer Brian Nichols: Authorities say that while Nichols was in the Fulton County Courthouse Feb. 11 for his rape retrial, he attacked a deputy and retrieved…

How come a Lisbon fashion designer gets to make women look like this? (Photo via Drudge.) It may sound paranoid, but I see a double standard at work here. It strikes me that if Americans dressed a woman like that and put her to work guarding prisoners (either here or in places like Guantanamo), there’d…

We were drunk with happiness in those early years. Everybody was, especially the young people. These were the first years of the Rediscovery of Man, when the Instrumentality dug deep in the treasury, reconstructing the old cultures, the old languages, and even the old troubles. The nightmare of perfection had taken our forefathers to the…

My apologies for being so torturously late in weighing in on this one. (I should be particularly ashamed considering the poll on the right — “What ancient form of execution would you LEAST prefer?”) Hope my squeamishness isn’t showing! We’ll have to put an end to that. Anyway, as the Romans knew (and as Glenn…

I wrote a long post a few days ago because my sixth sense warned me of an impending coverup. “News blackout” is a better expression, but whatever the expression, it appears my sixth was corrrect: there’s been no MSM follow-up of the Atlanta courthouse murder hostage ordeal. Not in my local paper at least —…

A few days ago I mentioned a new book, “More Than Human“, by Ramez Naam. I still haven’t read it, but as luck would have it, sample chapters are available online. You might also want to check out his blog. Over at “The Longevity Meme” Reason has posted a heartening exploration (by Mr. Naam) of…

And I hate definitions! (Especially when they’re definitions without a whole hell of a lot of differences……) When is an ad hominem attack not an ad hominem attack? According to many, when it masquerades as an attack on the argument, that’s when. For example, when an (apparently and unabashedly) Stalinist Ethnic Studies professor attacked David…

Larry Magid’s piece on EULAs was a real eye opener: I have a deal for you. In exchange for a free piece of software that helps you keep track of your passwords and other log on information, I’m going to install other programs on your PC that will track your web surfing and display advertising…

While I might not pass the requisite litmus test for being a True Geek, I know cool stuff when I see it, and I’m utterly intrigued by this development in file sharing technology: Most file-sharing programs aren’t the most upstanding citizens of the computing world. Yes, the entertainment industry hates them for the way they’re…

Has the abortion issue become the dividing line in American politics? If so, where is the line to be drawn, and who gets to draw it? The 2008 election is already lining up around abortion. Hillary Clinton has gone out of her way to stake out a moderate, centrist position which contradicts the fervency of…

Via Drudge I see that doctors in the UK authorized and performed a third trimester abortion because of a cleft lip and palate. Really, who wants to be burdened with an imperfect child in this modern age? The Cleft Lip and Palate Association is understandably concerned.

Speaking of open letters and tiresome arguments, Philadelphia Mayor John Street wants to do something about what he calls the city’s problem with “gun violence,” but he’s not advocating getting tough with the criminal users of guns. Rather, he’s written an open letter to Governor Rendell asking for help with a moratorium on the issuance…

And now for a particularly excellent treat — the 130th Carnival of the Vanities. Hosted at Bird’s Eye View (known to some of you might know as the Radical Centrist), the quality of Bird’s editing is matched only by the quality of the posts. A lot of thought, humor, and just plain work went into…

Perhaps someone out there knows more than I do about spam. Because, for the life of me I cannot figure out what earthly interest anyone (even a degenerated spammer) would have in spam that not only offers nothing for sale, but isn’t even readable. Pure gobbledygook, like this: IP Address: 128.131.36.156 Title: e3c0b66724b3d272c Weblog: e3c0b66724b3d272c…

In a local story now receiving national attention, New Jersey’s Secretary of State upset young high school students by yelling at them and apparently calling them racists. TRENTON, N.J. — A state Cabinet official whose fiery Black History Month speech apparently was too in-your-face for some listeners, issued a statement of regret Tuesday. Secretary of…

I see that Daniel Moore has taken a non-swipe at Glenn Reynolds. En passant as it were, en route to these articles. Hmm… Glenn Reynolds manages to mention Leon Kass without some ad hominem, sophomoric attack attached to Mr. Kass’s name. Is he turning over a new leaf? I hear that Reynolds hasn?t eaten any…

Stephen Schwartz does not seem to much care for Justin Raimondo: ….Referring to the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, he wrote, ?one needn?t refer to fiction when the relevant facts are so readily available.? (In other words, the Protocols may be fake, but they tell the truth.) According to Raimondo, ?Today, the word ?fascist?…

Now in the spring, at the time when kings go out to war . . . — 2 Samuel 11-1 This damned winter is holding on with a vengeance, and doesn’t want to let go. The last days of winter are usually much colder than the first days of winter. We speak of summer “fading”…

In his inimitable way, Jeff Jarvis takes issue with the notion that white is bad: OK, OK. I’m white. Very white. Pale white. Pasty white. Wonder-Bread white. Gray-haired, white-bearded white. Never-in-the-sun white. Just white. That picture up in the corner is color-corrected to give me the appearance of a healthy tone. It’s a Photoshop lie.…