Author: Eric Scheie

As I suspect is the case with many people who get email, I often get multiply forwarded emails making all sorts of claims, with all sorts of emotionally appealing quotes from famous people. By emotionally appealing, I mean saying stuff I like to hear and want to believe. Like the drinking quotes. There is something…

So “explains” the officer who works at the Fairfax Public School, as he threatens to arrest a man for displaying an anti-Obama sign he does not like. From Veeshir, who adds, This stuff is supposed to happen in North Korea, China and Massachussetts, not Virginia. So where’s the ACLU when you need ’em? MORE: Link…

On the road earlier, I was reminded of the tedious, irritating, and downright dangerous nature of some of the people who are Out There In The Real World (where they clearly don’t belong) talking on their cell phones while driving. When this happens, I always remind myself that stupid people almost always provide the justification…

Just saw this incredibly irritating notice at YouTube: We will be phasing out support for your browser soon. Please upgrade to one of these more modern browsers. No really, here it is: I realize that the above is protected by the First Amendment, but I think it’s worse than so called “hate speech,” because I…

Last night, I made the mistake of flipping through the channels on my television. Whatever movie Robert Osborne was showing on TCM had failed to hold my attention, so I scrolled down with the channel button, and stopped on A&E Biography. It was a maudlin, fawning, sentimental puff piece on Ted Kennedy. Ugh! Worse yet,…

In light of M. Simon’s earlier post, I thought a brief word about Glenn Beck would be in order. As Simon points out, “some folks are unhappy with Glenn Beck and want advertisers to boycott his show.” I don’t like Glenn Beck, and I don’t watch the show. While I agree with a lot of…

Here’s how Senator Robert Byrd appeared over a year ago, crying about Ted Kennedy and saying…. something. (It’s so incomprehensible I can’t really make out the details.) While it’s sad for anyone to have be in such a deteriorated mental state, because Byrd is a powerful man with enormous responsibility, it’s also a bit scary.…

It’s happened before, and according to the ephemeris, it’s happening again today. Glenn Reynolds is having a birthday. And what I want to know is why has the White House been so suspiciously silent about this occasion? They’ve had all day now, so the omission has to be deliberate. The White House has gone out…

Such a scenario will be possible in the near future. In light of news reports like this one, some people will be worrying that the “institution of reproduction” is under assault. Others will worry about whether that should that be the government’s business. If you’re willing to pay to utilize such advanced DNA techniques, by…

Yesterday it was the endlessly dying Castro, equating criticism of President Obama with racism. Today its the dead Kennedy, and while it would be disrespectful (and inaccurate) to say he’s demanding a death panel from beyond the grave, his colleagues are clearly using his death for advocacy purposes: ‘Win One for Teddy,’ Say Dems Pushing…

For a number of reasons, I found this post by Katie Granju deeply disturbing. There aren’t too many things more disturbing to contemplate than the horrific Christian/Newsom double torture murder case, and Ms. Granju (a local news reporter who had written about the case since the beginning) does not spare the details. Nor should she.…

A homeless man (who has been arrested 50 times) burst into flame when Ohio police tasered him, and even though it’s in my general area, I only learned about the incident because a British newspaper reported it, and it was then linked by Drudge. I was in the middle of a post on the subject,…

While Bill Richardson visits the country, Cuban dictator emeritus Fidel Castro is echoing the longstanding Democratic talking point that opposition to Barack Obama is racist: HAVANA (Reuters) – President Barack Obama is trying to make positive changes in the United States, but is being fought at every turn by right-wingers who hate him because he…

Samuel R. Delany might very well be a great science fiction writer, but I haven’t read him, because I don’t read science fiction. I don’t know how to say something like that without having some readers think I’m bragging about my ignorance, but it’s a simple statement of fact, and I don’t know how else…

For some reason, I was under the impression that Malaysia was one of those modern, “progressive” Muslim countries, where things like caning people for drinking alcohol did not go on. Wrong! KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia – An Islamic court in Malaysia on Tuesday indefinitely put on hold the caning of a woman found guilty of drinking…

I’ve been given propofol as anesthesia a couple of times, and it’s not something I would ever want to have. Being knocked out and having no memory for chunks of time is not a pleasant experience, and while it certainly is preferable to undergoing a gruesome procedure while conscious, I can’t imagine what would possess…

Watching this video of the execution of an innocent Volvo (which I had to force myself to do) made me feel a combination of emotions. Sadness (yes, I’m not alone there), because even though I’ve never been a Volvo driver (I can remember howling with laughter when I saw George Carlin ridicule them as “safe…

I’m thinking that it might be time for me to weigh in on an important and pressing controversy, The Princes Project: The Richard III Foundation, Inc. is respectfully requesting that the bones in the Tower, that are alleged to be the sons of Edward IV, be subjected to modern scientific examination and the treatment of…

No one wants to be murdered. But it seems to me that there’s something especially degrading about being murdered by a child. Even a feral child, like the 12 year old boy who is charged with robbing and murdering a 24 year old woman: Detroit — Trisha Babcock’s dreams of becoming a nurse were snuffed…

Via Dean Esmay, I found a hilarious post by Ace tearing WorldNetDaily a new one over the latest Birther “revelation.” This time, it seems WND has learned that Barack Obama actually was born in Hawaii, only in 1957 instead of 1961. The evidence? A typo on his MySpace time. Which is, um, his real birth-year…