Month: October 2005

Sean Kinsell offers another example of something in short supply these days — a thoughtful post about same sex marriage, in the context of Maggie Gallagher’s guest blogging at the Volokh Conspiracy. For those who don’t want to read through this very lengthy debate in its entirety, Sean (via Michael Demmons) links to a post…

I’m having a problem with numbers. The war in Iraq is said to be on the verge of being more wrong than it has ever been before, once the number of American dead rises from 1997 to 2000. The latter is said to be a very important number: As milestone nears, adding up war losses…

Since today seems to be the day for me to defend animals against unjust accusations, let me turn my attention to the charge that British squirrels have become drug addicts, and are deliberately ingesting crack cocaine: Drug addicts are known to be hiding small stashes of crack rocks in people’s front lawns late at night.…

Not long ago, I expressed skepticism about giving high school students at two different schools the day off from school because of a fatal automobile accident which claimed the lives of three teenagers. I speculated that some of the kids would just enjoy having the day off, and that some might not have even liked…

Eugene Volokh wrote a thought-provoking post about STDs which stimulated some very interesting discussion in the comments. What seems to be getting most of the attention is Professor Volokh’s remark that glamorization of promiscuous sex has real medical costs: I disagree on many things with many of the foes of the Sexual Revolution; I don’t…

While I didn’t start this blog to defend unpopular animals (whether pit bulls, alligators, or copperheads) I find myself doing it anyway for two reasons. One is because animals cannot defend themselves, and the less popular the animal, the less likely it is to be defended. The other reason is because inaccurate stories about animals…

According to the Philadelphia Inquirer’s Dick Polman, the Republicans are so upset at each other that they’re even resorting to calling each other “homo-lovers”: Gary Bauer, another religious-conservative leader, is attacking Grover Norquist, a prominent tax-cut activist, for his decision last week to share his economic conservatism with an audience of gay Republicans. If you…

Anyone who thinks 85 days for contempt of court is a form of martyrdom should read about H. Beatty Chadwick. Divorces can be long and ugly. But few can rival the one that has left Main Liner H. Beatty Chadwick in jail for a decade. His crime? Contempt of court. Now, the 68-year-old former corporate…

WARNING: ALTHOUGH IT WAS CONTENT-VERIFIED, THIS STORY IS NOT TRUE! John at Locusts and Honey links to a story I missed about so-called “Christian” “looters” destroying adult stores: “If looters can rob electronics stores, then we can tear down satanic businesses,” said Melvin Smith, a minister from Christ Cornerstone Ministries in Tupelo, Miss. His team…

In arguing against same sex marriage, Maggie Gallagher makes a very puzzling statement I am unable to ignore. Here’s a long version of the quote, to keep it in context: But fundamentally marriage is sustained by culture, not biology. Why then is it universal? Because it is the answer to an urgent problem that is…

Ever wondered just what Scientology is? Like a poorly written script, this person did: When asked what she thought of Scientology, Ashley Ferrell, a junior in criminology and sociology said, “What is that? It almost sounds like some sort of religion.” Yes, Virginia–I mean, Ashley–, there is a Xenu. But you’ll have to shell out…

There’s an old saying, De gustibus non est disputandum. (On matters of taste, there can be no dispute.) But this man does not agree. Leon Kass thinks taste should be a matter of dispute, and he’s gone to great lengths to dispute it — in many ways, big and small. A cornerstone of his philosophy…

Just thought I’d serve up a few excerpts from a New York Times book review. Since we’re broadening our interests and all… Leon R. Kass is well known as a philosopher with particular expertise in bioethics…But the public, aware of those credentials, may well be surprised now to find him the author of a hefty…

Breaking into new territory (or is he?), the titanically polymathic brain of Leon Kass has a few modest proposals for the betterment of American matrimony. Reception has been mixed. The AEI, faith based, and evangelical communities are nodding their solemn approval like dashboard bobble dolls. Those of a more secular bent are taking a more…

Jeff Goldstein features an interview with the most exciting personality to come along since Ward Churchill — one Dr. Kamau Kambon, professor of Africana Studies at NC State University and owner of BlackNificent Books and More in Raleigh. Dr. Kambon is getting lots of attention after his remark that white people should be exterminated: And…

Via Dean Esmay, I found a nice little debunktion of the myth that a slowly boiled frog will not try to jump out of the container. The legend is entirely incorrect! The ‘critical thermal maxima’ of many species of frogs have been determined by several investigators. In this procedure, the water in which a frog…

Flirting with suicide (at least evoking suicide imagery) captured the imagination of downtown Philadelphia yesterday: With a federal corruption probe closing in on him, City Councilman Rick Mariano climbed to the base of the William Penn statue atop City Hall yesterday afternoon, and came down after emergency vehicles responded to a possible suicide attempt. But…

And Charles Hill invented it: “ideo-illogical” As Charles said, “If that wasn’t a word, it is now.” Why can’t I think up cool new words like that? (I need to find out what Charles is on, and get me some.)

On the day that Carry Nation began her long saloon-smashing career, no one stopped her. It was June 6, 1899, that Carry Nation felt that she had a divine call to go to Kiowa, in southern Barber County, and smash the saloons there. She secured a great pile of stones, hitched up her buggy and…

Speaking of common sense, I see that the Pennsylvania legislature has joined the bandwagon to prohibit a phenomenon known as “Internet Hunting.” Some history via the last link: Underwood, an estimator for a San Antonio, Texas auto body shop, has invested $10,000 to build a platform for a rifle and camera that can be remotely…