Author: Eric Scheie

To show you how behind I am on some of the more earthshaking news events in today’s world, I just got an email from a friend expressing surprise that I hadn’t said anything about an incident I’d never heard of until the email: Eric: I am surprised that you haven’t said anything about PETA’s condemnation…

According to the highly influential best selling author Jared Diamond, the development of agriculture was “The Worst Mistake in the History of the Human Race.” As population densities of hunter-gatherers slowly rose at the end of the ice ages, bands had to choose between feeding more mouths by taking the first steps toward agriculture, or…

That’s a meme that I guess is supposed to be conservative, even if it is liberal. I saw it earlier on a T-shirt opposing gay marriage. OK, I have written countless posts taking issue with the idea of gay marriage. There are many arguments which can be made against it, but the above is not…

In my humble opinion, Mike Castle sucks. As a pro-gun control East Coast Republican, he epitomizes the word “RINO.” And it is my considered opinion that his opponent, Christine O’Donnell, also sucks. But maybe it’s not PC to say that about a woman, so I need to stress that I don’t mean that literally. From…

…to compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves, is sinful and tyrannical… – Thomas Jefferson Jefferson would be rolling in his grave over the crooked, Third-World-style scheme that has been cooked up in Michigan. Day care providers who work out of their own homes and run…

I can’t keep track of the dates of these things or why I am doing them. I don’t even know the meaning of “Google Bomb!” So bombs away! The title is “A Negative Article About Democrats In Key Congressional Races” And you must read them all! Travis Childers Dina Titus Carol Shea-Porter Ann Kuster Harry…

Yesterday, President Barack Obama observed the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks by issuing a call for tolerance. I’m all for tolerance, but I certainly hope he meant to include our “friends” the Saudis. There’s a very under reported news item about a Saudi defector — a diplomat who has asked the United States for asylum.…

M. Simon’s post (as well as an earlier one) reminded me of a fascinating phenomenon, which is the profoundly irrational hatred of drug users by non-users. They often claim not to hate them, but that is belied by the plethora of snarky remarks like this: Do you hate marijuana smokers like I do? I hate…

I just learned that Dean Esmay lost a good friend. Her name was Dianne West, and while I’m sorry to say I never met her (because I heard so many good things about her from Dean), she lived right here in Ann Arbor, and when Dean would come to visit her we would get together.…

While radical Islam has been at war with the United States for decades (at least since the rise of the Ayatollah Khomeini in the 70s), today — September 11, 2010 — is the ninth anniversary of what was the single worst attack. The horrors of that day should never be forgotten, nor should it be…

Well, it’s official. “Science” has weighed in on “the Tea Party”! Nature.com (a site which bills itself as an “international scientific journal”) has turned its “scientific” eyes on the Tea Party movement, which it sees as anti-science. Among the evidence for this, the scientific critics cite alleged “leanings”: The Tea Party’s leanings encompass religious opposition…

The dark humor in a previous post notwithstanding, it isn’t my purpose to be running a conspiracy theory site here. However, I don’t think that questioning the timing is quite the same thing, and I find the timing of a recent series of suspicious Detroit fires at least as suspicious as the fires themselves. The…

If a bill introduced in the state legislature passes, Michigan will become the first state to have roadside drug testing: The legislation would authorize police to administer a roadside saliva test for illegal drug use, just as they do breath tests for alcohol, when they stop a driver suspected of being intoxicated. State Rep. Rick…

The anti-Tea Party left are having a field day over the discovery that a violently anti-gay bigot was heading a Montana Tea Party group. One of the favorite headlines is “Tea Party president jokes about murdering GLBTQ people.” (Right. As if this clown is the president of the Tea Party itself!) Then there’s “Montana Tea…

I’m a bit late to weigh in on the president’s complaint that he’s being talked about like a dog, but Glenn has a nice roundup of posts. The consensus is that the president plagiarized a Hendrix line, and that’s received a lot of attention — including from non-Hendrix-fan John Hinderaker. I like Hendrix, and there…

George Soros is one of those people I absolutely cannot stand. IMO, there is no wicked deed, no sort of foulness, of which I would deem him incapable. Yesterday, I wondered out loud whether someone like him might consider funding the elimination of humanity by mad scientists using killer organisms: …what would stop a rich…

Among many of life’s seemingly minor petty annoyances is the disparate treatment meted out by the City of Ann Arbor’s garbage collection unit. Whether they enforce the rules depends on trashiness of the residents, and their willingness to comply with the rules. Now, you might assume that they would be harder on the trashier and…

Quick question for anyone who understands Facebook better than I do. (Which is probably most people, as it still baffles me.) Earlier when I went to my Facebook homepage, I saw that someone using my name had posted the following phony endorsement — as me! Eric Scheie I thought this survey stuff was BULL** but…

In a piece in the Washington Examiner, Glenn Reynolds looks at a very scary doomsday scenario — mass annihilation of humanity by violent scientific nuts. Glenn notes that so far, radical environmentalists have only committed “regular” acts of terrorism, but worries about scientific nuts crossing the line: Holdren has since distanced himself from these views,…

I was somewhat saddened to read that a 160 year old Michigan tradition has ended — without my ever having seen it. I refer to the Michigan State Fair. Having recently fallen victim to Governor Jennifer Granholm’s budget cuts, it is to be no more: DETROIT – Rabbit breeder Rob Usakowski typically spends the week…