Author: Eric Scheie

Yesterday I saw that the local Hollywood Video I pass on my regular running route is selling its entire inventory because it will be closing. It is part of a struggling chain which has filed for bankruptcy: NEW YORK – Movie Gallery Inc., owner of the Hollywood Video movie rental chain, has filed for Chapter…

Via an email from a friend, I learned about a disgusting new form of rudeness which irritated me so much that I thought it merited a blog post. Apparently (and I hope this is not a trend) car dealers are using a new technology to trigger obnoxious horn-honking in vehicles owned by people behind on…

One of my quirks is that I don’t like being lied to or manipulated, especially by people whose job is to simply gather the news and report facts. So I found myself more than a little annoyed by the manipulative nature of a USA Today story which attempts to promote a meme I wish had…

More than once I have been treated to the spectacle of seeing welfare mothers in supermarket check-out lanes, carts full of grape soda and all sorts of cheesy, puffy processed junk foods, like potato chips, pork rinds, etc. I don’t know whether such stuff still qualifies legally as “food,” but many times I found myself…

Dick Armey predicts (via Memeorandum) that the current round of Democratic shenanigans will succeed at forcing Obamacare through. “They’ll probably force this through,” he said. “But you can’t discount the number of people who can be moved by a ruthless and powerful political leader or group of political leaders.” The FreedomWorks chairman also had harsh…

Sean Kinsell’s reaction to the Coffee Parties was to embrace with ridicule the language of the oppressor: I think I’d rather be tea-bagging. While no one denies that “teabagging” is meant as an insult, isn’t it also a tacit acknowledgment of a larger issue, that the Tea Partiers have balls?

Via Ghost of a Flea, I found an entertaining (and certainly educational) video titled “Coffee Party Group Therapy Session”: After the therapy session, they got together and made cool signs and stuff. I haven’t seen the signs, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they enjoy ridiculing as “teabaggers” the people they lamely imitate. Now, while…

A lot of people on the left complain about “economic injustice.” Usually, this involves the fact that some people have more money than others, the assumption being that the Haves got whatever they have at the expense of the Have-Nots. The idea is that income differences are inherently “unfair” or “inequitable” and that they should…

Putting words in the mouths of respected figures is as old a practice as man. The reasons vary; sometimes the idea is to knock the venerated figure off his pedestal, while other times the idea is to invoke what he purportedly “said” as an argument to authority in support of one premise or another. Sometimes,…

Earlier I read about a group of young men with Muslim names — Mohammad Habibzada, Shafiq Hashemi and Sayed Bassam — who went from their hometown of Hayward, California to San Francisco, California for the express purpose of shooting gays with a BB gun, which they already confessed to doing: Three Hayward men are scheduled…

Like clockwork, every time I might think of taking a little time to do, you know, things unrelated to blogging, a new emergency arises. Until a few moments ago, I had absolutely no idea that “they” were about to burn the Reichstag, and that because M. Simon was discussing drugs, that makes this blog “unreal.”…

One of my pet peeves is that in many jurisdictions, police officers have become little more than revenue agents. Tax collectors, if you will. Here’s a typical rant: You go 75 (which nearly everyone does, and which you have to do to keep up with traffic), and you’re vulnerable, because sooner or later, some damnable…

Yes, the above has become a cliche. But because the cliche reflects a narrative that many people are not buying, it’s become a bitterly sarcastic cliche. I think that when a narrative becomes a sarcastic cliche, it’s worth taking a closer look at the narrative. For many years I lived in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. I…

Dr. Helen has reviewed Amy Alkon’s book I See Rude People: One woman’s battle to beat some manners into impolite society, and she also interviewed the author for PJTV. In one of her posts about the book (which I bought), Dr. Helen asked what I thought was an excellent (but not easy) question: If someone…

From Ed Driscoll, here’s the Quote Of The Day from Nancy Pelosi on why the health care bill should be passed: “We have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it, away from the fog of the controversy.” I always knew Nancy Pelosi was wacky, but I didn’t know…

Nick Gillespie’s post about the Pennsylvania crackdown on unlicensed allegedly “unregistered” beers makes me glad I left the state: More than a dozen armed State Police officers conducted simultaneous raids last week on three popular Philadelphia bars known for their wide beer selections. The cops confiscated hundreds of bottles of expensive ales and lagers, now…

Dan Rather’s remark that Barack Obama couldn’t sell watermelons has drawn a lot of attention and ridicule, and Ann Althouse is inclined to give Rather a pass, but with a caveat: So I’ll give Dan Rather a pass. But if we give Dan Rather a pass for the accidental appearance of racism, will anyone who…

NOTE: This post was written by M. Simon (who is having computer problems), and posted by Eric. The natural order of things is for the rich to steal from the poor. Any other order is unnatural. So how do you maintain an unnatural system where the poor have a chance? The only way is that…

Sharing photos of the bizarre Barcelona blizzard, Barcepundit’s José Guardia speculates that Al Gore must be in town. Snow in mid-March is of course extremely unusual because Barcelona has a mild Mediterranean climate. Telegraph reports forecasts of snowfalls of up to 20 inches, school closures, and 200,000 clients without electricity. So where is Al Gore?…

Carl Cannon thinks Barack Obama will win reelection in 2012 for a variety of reasons, one of which involves the dynamics of Congress. He compares the situation to that of Reagan and Clinton: …Incumbency is supposed to be a disadvantage in the current political environment, but that perception is worth a closer look. It’s certainly…