Author: Eric Scheie

As today is Election Day, I thought that as a public service message, I’d remind everyone to vote. I just did, and the only issue of any importance here in Ann Arbor is a proposal for a double digit property tax increase. Ann Arbor already has the highest property taxes in the state, but that’s…

Glenn Reynolds raises the unsettling question of whether there’s a bad driving gene. I have long suspected there’s some explanation along such lines, but it now appears that there’s some scientific evidence for it: People with a particular gene variant performed more than 20 percent worse on a driving test than people without it –…

For entertainment purposes only, I thought I’d juxtapose two radically different opinions on the future of the Democratic Party. From WSJ’s Daniel Henninger in “Why Dems Should Start to Sweat“: …what we are seeing with this massive legislation is that the Democrats in Washington have a bigger problem: Their party is looking so yesterday. In…

As a lot of people are sounding off about Frank Rich’s latest silly column, I thought I’d chime in. I don’t know whether he’s trying to outdo himself in terms of pure buffoonery, but this time, Rich is hell-bent on proving that the conservatives who support Doug Hoffman in the NY-23 race are a bunch…

When is a catfish not a catfish? When it’s farmed in other countries and then sold in the United States, that’s when. I’m very much a fish eater, and because I don’t like to contribute to waste if I don’t have to, I often worry about the overfishing issue. For example, I love big ocean…

Angela Merkel was sworn in as Chancellor recently, and I have to say, I like the ho-hum attitude towards her foreign minister: GERMAN CHANCELLOR Angela Merkel flew to Paris last night for talks with French president Nicolas Sarkozy on who to choose as the new EU president, a month after winning the general election and…

When I discussed the fatal shootout between a radical Imam and the FBI, my biggest concern was with mainstream Muslim support for a violent, murderous advocate of a Sharia state in the United States. It bothers me that such a person could be considered a “respected Imam” and that he sat on the ruling council…

Carving a pumpkin is an annual Halloween ritual I’m too old to stop. Here’s what my jack-o-lantern looked like at sunset: And here’s how it looks now: Enjoy the ghosts! DISCLOSURE: A hypothetical marriage proposal from Donna in the comments below left me feeling deepy flattered, but also a tad guilty, and I’m afraid my…

Juxtaposing two posts by Ann Althouse made me wonder. The war against tobacco is proceeding like a relentless juggernaut — to the point now where law professors are being forced to act as anti-tobacco narcs: They will be armed with small cards that detail the school’s impending ban on smoking or using tobacco products anywhere…

Great news! According to a Princeton University study, if we take greenhouse gas emissions arguments seriously, the implementation of cap-and-trade will have precisely the opposite effect that it’s intended to have. Carbon reduction laws encourage widespread deforestation as trees and other vegetation are harvested to produce energy from biomass to replace oil and gas. The…

While I hadn’t been following the story as much as I perhaps should’ve (I don’t do a good job of keeping up with the tabloids), it seems that Levi Johnston is busily making a full-time, public horse’s ass of himself. If you want the full story of his antics, John Hawkins has a great PJM…

Did someone lie to Newt Gingrich about Dede Scozzafava or whatever her name is? That seems to be an important question to some. Certainly important enough that Glenn Reynolds to felt obligated to offer some perspective about what might be more important: To my mind, it’s more important — as noted in the Lamar Alexander…

A big FBI shootout at a Detroit mosque is the subject of huge headlines Radical mosque leader killed in FBI shootout Feds say goal was Islamic nation in U.S. on the front page of today’s Detroit Free Press. Luqman Ameen Abdullah, Imam of the Masjid Al-Haqq mosque in Detroit, was killed when he fired at…

Commenting on Byron York’s post about how the Democrats outmaneuvered the GOP on ACORN (never mind the endless ongoing scandals), Glenn Reynolds opines that “Republicans are insufficiently relentless.” He’s right, they are, and I think there’s a poorly understood but well-oiled mechanism behind it. When Republicans are relentless, they look like bigots. Think Jesse Helms.…

“I have to die a man or live a coward.” Dr. Ossian Sweet One of the basic principles of justice (and human rights) is the right not to have your house invaded. Call it “a man’s home is his castle” or whatever, but the right to resist invasion is both ancient and inherent in human…

Last night I recommended a book titled The Right To Be Wrong, because I think it’s a good idea for people who disagree to always keep in mind that the right to be wrong is a hallmark of civilization. In the West, civil society generally abhors the opposite approach, which typifies totalitarian or extreme authoritarian…

While I wasn’t tagged * (and I’m glad I wasn’t, for tagging me makes me want to avoid doing whatever I was ordered to do), I can’t resist responding to Glenn Reynolds’ “BOOKS I WOULD RECOMMEND TO THOSE WHO DISAGREE WITH ME” post. Linking Ilya Somin’s post, Glenn points out that it’s a theme of…

The United States Chamber of Commerce is being subjected to unprecedented attack by a variety of forces on the left. Its crime? Refusing to go along with the monstrous cap-and-trade scheme which would destroy what’s left of the economy. Here’s the organization’s position on cap-and-trade, as well as carbon emissions: 2. The Chamber’s position on…

A Wall Street Journal book review (of Delete: The Virtue of Forgetting in the Digital Age) makes an important point about the inherent conflict between digital and human memory: We once could improve ourselves by shedding our pasts. Now the past is always with us. The past is more than merely with us. The past…

At 5:30 a.m. in Springfield, Virginia, a woman was cutting through a stranger’s yard, whereupon (for reasons best known to her), she looked into the window of the house and saw the guy who lived there, making a cup of coffee in the nude. She called the cops, who actually came and arrested him. For…