Author: Eric Scheie

Speaking of believers in nutty deities, in a comment to my post about Pat Robertson’s latest idiotarian remarks, Veeshir pointed out a gem from Danny Glover (which Glenn Reynolds linked last night). Says Glover: “When we see what we did at the climate summit in Copenhagen, this is the response, this is what happens, you…

There is nothing fair about natural disasters, nor is it fair the way some people and some countries are afflicted more severely than others when faced by similar disasters. I agree with what Johnathan Pearce said here: richer countries, with superior building standards and better means of rescuing those in danger, tend to fare better…

As every respected blog with which I’m familiar in the libertarian and conservative blogosphere is criticizing Pat Robertson’s attempt to blame an alleged Haitian pact with the devil (and thus today’s Haitians) for the earthquake, it would hardly seem worthy of another post. Except that I’m feeling devilish enough to play Devil’s Advocate, and in…

Pat Robertson never seems to miss an opportunity to make a horse’s ass of himself, and the latest is his attempt to blame the disastrous Haitian earthquake on a “pact” he says a Haitian made with Satan in 1803, for which God has retaliated: On the Christian Broadcasting Network’s “700 Club” today, after a lengthy…

While I was disturbed to read about Oliver Stone’s attempt to rehabilitate Stalin and Hitler in the eyes of young people (who need to “walk in Stalin’s shoes and Hitler’s shoes to understand their point of view”), considering Oliver Stone’s history it’s not surprising. Still, I can’t help find myself wondering whether Stone and the…

Earlier today, four male Saudi Arabian passengers disrupted a flight from Seattle to Detroit, terrifying the passengers and causing the plane to be stopped short of the gate after it landed, upon which they were taken off without any charges filed: MyFoxDetroit.com – Sources tell Fox 2 that a flight from Amsterdam into Detroit Metropolitan…

Art in the West has a long tradition of never shying away from controversy, and as New York is supposed to be on the cutting edge, the last place you’d expect to see censorship would be in New York’s art museums, right? Wrong. Controversial art may be one thing, but if the controversy involves Islam,…

Yemeni’s top cleric Sheik Abdul-Majid al-Zindani — a man also said to be Osama bin Laden’s spiritual advisor — is not happy with the United States, which he thinks is planning a “foreign occupation” of Yemen: SAN’A, Yemen – Yemen’s most influential Islamic cleric, considered an al-Qaida-linked terrorist by the United States, warned Monday that…

It didn’t take long for the people who want to rule us to say just that. I like Don Surber’s take: Global cooling proves global warming. Professor Mojib Latif, a leading member of the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, told the newspaper: “A significant share of the warming we saw from 1980 to 2000…

While I’m a skeptic about alternative (or naturopathic) medicine, if I hear about a treatment for the more annoying symptoms of the common cold, I’m quite willing to check it out, especially if it’s harmless. And if it works, I spread the word. For example, I have long believed in the value of sage tea…

I finally found a picture of my favorite Communist, Comrade Kaprugina from Doctor Zhivago. When Zhivago returned from the war to discover that the Bolsheviks had taken over his family home and stuffed it with people (50 square meters for a family of five), he was promptly put in his place by Comrade Kaprugina, who,…

I’m pretty zonked out from an awful cold (and from the even awfuller cold meds) right now, so not only am I not up to blogging, I’m afraid that I wouldn’t be making much sense. Of course, I guess if I started spouting inanities, it would be hard to beat Harry Reid, who seems hell…

Remember global warming? Back in the day, because she was gullible enough to believe in it, Coco tried to do something to cool the planet But now that she’s moved to Ann Arbor, I’m afraid Coco has given up on global warming. Instead, she plays in the snow. Here we are on a frozen lake.…

I hate it when I voice paranoid suspicions which turn out to be accurate descriptions of official policy, but I guess I better get used to it. In a post titled “Egalitarianism For Asses” on December 27, I worried that there might be “growing tacit acceptance of an absurd proposition” — that it is better…

Here’s an oldie but a goodie: It’s a PhotoShop from 2006, but I can’t remember who did it. Whatever the context, it seems appropriate now.

Last week, M. Simon emailed me a link to a piece in the East Bay Express about Berkeley High School’s decision to cut science labs. The article confirmed what Simon told me in the email: the reason was that too many white kids were interested in science: The proposal to put the science-lab cuts on…

Leave it to Sean Kinsell to point out gems I might otherwise have missed. In this case, some gay jokes by straight men. Sean has noticed a direct relationship between the quality of the gay jokes and the attractiveness of the straight men who tell them. I found Sean’s observation too important to let pass:…

As a longtime advocate of sexual freedom who grew up in the West, I have a natural tendency to see the world in Western terms, which means that I see sexual freedom in Western terms. I pretty much agree with the IASHS framework of “Basic Sexual Rights” (which Glenn Reynolds aptly described as a “Sexual…

In a comment to my post about the practical problems of constitutional issues, Veeshir stressed the importance of anonymity, We’ve come full circle back to when it was best for your gov’t to not know your name. Our only defense is anonymity. The right to anonymity is an important right, and fortunately, it is constitutionally…

I know I am sounding like a crank, but I hate it when I am asked by strangers to donate money. Not that I am uncharitable, but I prefer to select causes myself, and donate to them whenever I feel like it. I don’t mind being told about worthy causes, nor do I mind it…