Month: March 2007

Hootsbuddy’s Place has a look at how doctors prescribe psychoactive drugs. Not a pretty picture. As Hootsbuddy says: This remarkable young woman is changing the way I look at people, medicine and just about everything else. So go read the whole thing. Cross Posted at Power and Control and at The Astute Bloggers

Cynic that I am, I am amazed that a documentary taking issue with the anthropogenic theory of Global Warming managed to find its way onto television, but it has. And on British television at that! I guess we’re a little behind on this side of the ocean, although I’m a bit surprised, because the usual…

Here’s something I hate that happens to me all too often (and probably indicates senility)…. I’ll be in the course of looking for one thing, and I’ll stumble upon something interesting (or inane as the case may be), but because that’s completely unrelated, I’ll forget where I saw it, and then days later something else…

The New York Times has an excellent report on the dead end of the Palestinian fight to destroy Israel. Even victories like expelling all Israelis from Gaza look like defeats. “It was always our choice to be fuel for the struggle,” he said. “But our problem now is that the car burns the youth as…

I don’t know why I’m not more interested in the Alberto Gonzales, um US Attorneys, um story. Maybe I’m a hack. But at least I’m not a heartless hack. I can remember my heart was beating for this Herman’s Hermits classic back in 1965 (when I was only eleven years old): Almost too wholesome for…

A historian in Toronto has criticized “300” for creating the appearance that King Xerxes is homosexual: 300’s Persians are ahistorical monsters and freaks. Xerxes is eight feet tall, clad chiefly in body piercings and garishly made up, but not disfigured. No need – it is strongly implied Xerxes is homosexual which, in the moral universe…

Via Tom Maguire (guest blogging at InstaPundit), my attention was directed to an interesting remark about Fred Thompson reported by Bill Hobbs: The Nashville City Paper interviews a couple of national political pundits who don’t think Fred Thompson has the drive to become president – and notes that some Tennessee Republicans, such as U.S. Reps.…

Sorry, folks. I know that’s a mouthful, but these things just get crazier and crazier — to the point where analysis becomes an exercise in satire. Anyway, this report (purporting to be about a culture war survey by Robert Knight’s outfit), intitially struck me as a plug for the survey, which among other things, has…

Whenever two people I greatly respect disagree with each other, I tend to pay attention. And thus I am unable to ignore the ongoing debate between Dr. Helen and Ann Althouse over the correct definition and usage of the term “sociopath.” As I think both are honestly concerned with what the term means (and neither…

I put up a piece a couple of days ago called Leftism Is where I said: Leftism is the elevation of fear and anger over courage. I note that today I have recieved the most marvelous anonymous comment. … and rightism is… fascism? trampling on everything is sight just because you can? adrenaline-fueled ego trip?…

Readers might remember that a couple of weeks ago, I wrote about the transformation of Philadelphia’s Independence Mall into “Slavery Mall.” Well, today, Robert M. Morris (“a descendant of Robert Morris, who signed the Declaration of Independence and owned the structure known as “President’s House”) has a guest editorial in the Philadelphia Inquirer excoriating the…

In a 2000 lecture dealing with (among other things) the mutation of “virtues” into “values,” Gertrude Himmelfarb asked whether the covering of piano legs by Victorians really involved sexuality: This mutation in the word “virtue” has the effect first of narrowing the meaning of the word, reducing it to a matter of sexuality alone; and…

Here’s Salvador Dali’s version of a Dahlia from a 1972 series: And my photo of a disturbing scene earlier tonight: Outreach, right? Yeah, that’s a form of growth….

I have been pounding the drum for a while about the likely aftermath of leaving Iraq. There are many bad possibilities and some worse ones. So who comes to support my position? The ever reliably left Los angeles Times. Congress should not hinder Bush’s ability to seek the best possible endgame to this very bad…

I’m questioning the timing of two recent events: 1. George Soros buys Halliburton: According to papers filed with the SEC, in the fourth quarter of 2006 Soros purchased nearly 2 million shares of … hold your breath … Halliburton. The Halliburton shares reportedly went for an average purchase price of $31.30 a share. That puts…

Speaking of single issue politics, From Burke to Kirk ponders an interesting question: Would the election of a pro-abortion Republican as President of the U.S. set back the pro-life movement for a generation? I don’t know. He’s talking about Giuliani, and while I’m in no position to know whether the pro-life movement would be set…

Yesterday I took a break from blogging. Well not a break, really, because I had to do other things so I didn’t have time for blogging but before I left I managed to put up some pictures of Coco, who doesn’t think I do enough. Coco is right, of course. From her point of view,…

Yep it is terrible. Gasoline is slated to rise from 34¢ a gallon to 43¢ a gallon in Iran. Iranians are bracing themselves for a fresh round of belt tightening after their government voted to impose petrol rationing coupled with sharp rises in the price of fuel. The rationing system will limit Iranians to 22…

Well, Coco thinks the Global Warming is all about her, so now that the temperature has gone from the teens into the 50s (yesterday it hit a balmy 63 according to my car thermometer, which I’m all but sure was calibrated by scientists), the above question is much on her mind, and she thinks that…

I have been reading so many reviews about “300” (Glenn Reynolds has a roundup; these two both whetted my appetite) that I am beginning to think it was a major mistake sitting here on a Saturday night blogging about it instead of going out and seeing it. Via M. Simon, I especially like classicist Victor…