Author: Eric Scheie

On Saturday I went to a Tea Party event in Lansing, Michigan where I spent over three hours. There were vendors walking around hawking Gadsden flags, but at no point did I see any table or vendor selling “STRAIGHT PRIDE” signs, nor did I see anyone wearing a “STRAIGHT PRIDE” T-shirt. A reporter named Todd…

Even though I’ve been over this ground before, there’s a point I made in the last post that deserves emphasis. The fact that it deserves more emphasis annoys the hell out of me, OK? Not just because I am sick to death of repeating myself, but because I think this is such basic stuff that…

To what extent is it reasonable to judge a group of people by the actions of an individual member of that group? I don’t think it’s reasonable at all, but a lot of people — especially activists — seem to do it. And of course when it happens the activists on the other side have…

As it’s Monday, and I got all politicked out over the weekend, I thought I would take a brief break from writing about politics. Perhaps I am being naughty, but earlier I received a very nice email from a reader who was actually inspired by a series of posts about my adventures in rice cooker…

I wouldn’t normally have written a blog post about something as mundane as going to the post office to mail an overnight letter (something that it turned out can no longer be done), but no sooner did I return from my mini-adventure than I saw that the GAO is warning that the Postal Service is…

Yesterday I drove to Lansing, Michigan for the Tea Party Express rally in front of the State Capitol building. While I’m no estimator, it was a good-sized crowd, and I read that there were thousands of people at the earlier rally in Grand Rapids. That may explain why the event started an hour or so…

I’ve been mulling over the rather bizarre (and amazingly tardy) claim by AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka that he “witnessed” the N-word being shouted by Tea Partiers at black congressmen. I share Dan Riehl’s skepticism: It seems curious to me that he made no such claim in a released statement dated March 25th that specially cites…

I’ve been reading about a rash of fires started by arsonists in Flint, Michigan. There have been so so many fires in recent weeks that it’s hard to give an exact count. But what I find especially ominous are local news reports quoting Flint officials as saying the arson was committed for political purposes, apparently…

While I like to be thorough, today is a busy day for me, so I absolutely will not have time to deal with the issues raised here by one of Glenn Reynolds’ readers: Anyhow, was just wondering if you could please mention at some point in the next few months how very pleased you have…

First they said that cows caused global warming. I dutifully repeated their claim until I was blue in the face. But now they’re saying that cows don’t cause global warming after all! Livestock could actually be good for the environment according to a new study that found grazing cows or sheep can cut emissions of…

Remember when taking candy from a baby was a cruel thing to do? When I Googled that phrase from yesteryear, this was the first picture that came up: The photographer of the above aside, what sort of cruel person would take candy from a baby? I remember when that was a stereotype of the evil…

Adding his own insights to yesterday’s post about authoritarianism, Sean Kinsell also defended me against a commenter who put words in my mouth. It is true that I did not say that social shunning was censorship, and sometimes I don’t see why I should feel obligated to say “I didn’t say that!” over and over.…

Last night I took a closer look at the Ipad (the technology itself as well as the marketing phenomenon), and I concluded that there was no particular reason for me to shell out seven or eight hundred dollars to replace my existing laptop with what appears to be a lightweight and verticalized version of a…

Like most libertarians, I don’t like authoritarianism. But defining it is another matter. At the most basic level, I do not like people telling me what to do. Meddlesome, tyrannical, busybody control freaks — whether they’re working for the government or whether they’re private assholes, I just plain don’t like em. I would characterize all…

An economist I am not. But this piece by Glenn Reynolds had my head spinning over the vastness of attempting the impossible: In his “The Use of Knowledge In Society,” Hayek explained that information about supply and demand, scarcity and abundance, wants and needs exists in no single place in any economy. The economy is…

Happy Easter, everyone! I’ve been offline for more than a day, and haven’t had time to blog, but yesterday I saw my old friend Dean Esmay. Among other things, he was installing, tweaking, and playing with the latest version of Ubuntu Linux, and burned an extra CD for me. Dean is pretty excited about Ubuntu,…

I thought I should weigh in on the “Teabonics” project that I learned about from Ann Althouse. It is apparently believed that if enough spelling errors on the protesters’ signs are discovered (or created via photoshopping), that the Tea Party movement will be laughed out of existence. Or else maybe the goal is to shame…

Regarding a plan to shift thousands of U.S. troops from Okinawa to Guam, Congressman Hank Johnson said this: My fear is that the whole island will become so overly populated that it will tip over and capsize. Huh? Is he effing kidding? I’ve been having enough trouble lately trying to figure out what’s humor and…

Yesterday I saw an anonymous piece which appeared in the National Review Online. Titled “Getting Serious About Pornography,” the author claims that: — her husband left her because of porn — pornography is an addictive drug — hearings should be held, and the federal government should get involved. This is not a new topic here,…

Either someone pays me by midnight tonight or the dreadful logo at the top of this blog is coming down. I mean it! Hackers, consider yourselves warned!