Author: Eric Scheie

Andrew Breitbart. Does anyone remember what he used to say? The reason I’m posing the rhetorical question is that I well remember the man’s outspoken insistence that conservative tent ought to include all of those who share conservative and libertarian beliefs — including gay conservatives. In 2009, he told social conservatives that they cannot write…

The trial in Steubenville, Ohio of high school football players for rape has caught my attention because it raises issues about feminist sexism (a politically incorrect oxymoron) which seem to go largely unexplored. Two male minors, aged 16 and 17, are accused of raping a 16 year old female, who was allegedly too drunk to…

From Cathy Young, some observations occasioned by the 60th anniversary of Stalin’s death: …there also remains, on the left, a lingering belief that Soviet communism was at least motivated by noble goals of social justice. Vestiges of this delusion can be found in left-wing sympathy for Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chavez, who, by startling coincidence, died…

Here’s a headline I am delighted to see: Md. Woman Cited for Driving Too Slowly in Left Lane Good! People who hog the left lane (which is the passing lane) and refuse to get over are not only rude, they are a hazard to everyone on the road, as they cause long lines of angry…

Remember when cross dressing meant something? Not today. It’s hard to care one way or the other. And I don’t mean that to sound the way it sounds. Just whatever.

A funny thing happened at the zoo yesterday. An elephant was playing with his tractor tire, and he got more and more excited. He wheeled the thing around like a pro, and actually pushed it right towards me, whereupon it hit the heavy electrified fence with a giant THWACK! At that point, the elephant’s behavior…

By now most people have heard about the ridiculous incident in which a boy was disciplined for biting into his pop tart in such a way that his teacher thought it resembled a gun:  At Park Elementary school, Josh was enjoying his breakfast pastry when he decided to try and shape it into a mountain.…

Trash, anyone? I don’t especially like it. I’m hardly the world’s most fastidious person, but I find even ordinary litter annoying from an aesthetic point of view, and while I can generally ignore small things like candy wrappers or paper cups, where it comes to real garbage my senses tend to revolt. Seeing kitchen garbage — and…

Bill Quick posted a series of mouth-watering pictures taken at San Francisco’s Mission Rock Cafe. Which made me very hungry — until I scrolled down and saw the next image he posted. “Your one Gun Control chart for the day”   Now I’m hungry for the freedom we lost.

I might not be rejoicing, but unlike certain lefties (criticized here) I am not grieving the death of Hugo Chavez. I hope Venezuela can do better in the future. However, there is one aspect of recent news that I find annoying, and that is the suggestion — by Chavez’s Vice President (and successor) — that…

My dear friend and co-blogger Sarah Hoyt is too modest. In her latest post here at CV, she did not mention her new book A Few Good Men, which Glenn Reynolds praised earlier: OUT TODAY: Sarah Hoyt’s A Few Good Men. With an awesome dedication to yours truly. I got my autographed copy yesterday and was…

Scott Lively — one of the country’s most obnoxious anti-gay bigots* since at least 2003  — has recently invoked bisexuality as an argument which defeats the case for gay marriage. According to Lively, because bisexuals are only capable of having sex with both sexes at the same time (who knew?), and because homosexuality “includes” bisexuality, gay marriage…

CO2 is bad for the environment, right? But what is the environment? What is bad? Does anyone know? While it isn’t a new issue here, I often wonder whether — if we assume anthropogenic CO2 can cause warming — whether that “warming” might go unnoticed if it accompanied a return to a glacial period. A…

What do you call people who engage in massive deforestation and soil poisoning in order to kill beloved trees that are over a century old? Why, “environmentalists,” of course! Embattled San Franciscans have come up with a new name for them, though. “Plant fascists.” * UCSF wants to cut down an unspecified number – possibly…

“I am not a crook.” – Richard Nixon, 1973. “I did not have sexual relations with that woman.” – Bill Clinton, 1998. “I am not a dictator.” – Barack Obama, 2013.   UPDATE: Geez, I guess I wasn’t very original in my choice of quotes. Someone beat me to it on Facebook! =1

I learned an odd little tidbit today. After reading yet another official scolding about the evils of red meat (“saturated fat and cholesterol in beef, pork and lamb are believed to play a role in the risk of coronary heart disease,” etc.), I amused myself researching cholesterol and was startled to find this: Poultry and poultry…

A lot of people complain about how easy it is to become a felon, and a couple of recent incidents hammer this point home. Did you know that in America, you can become a felon by letting go of balloons? A 40-year-old man faces felony charges after releasing a dozen heart-shaped, helium-filled balloons to impress…

The stories Drudge links these days! Sheesh. If you didn’t have a sense of perspective (which I hope most educated Americans have), you might think a few oddball stories are evidence that society is falling apart, or even that your typical American man is a 325 lb transvestite burglar. …in what will surely repulse Dr.…

Lately I’ve been thinking about how we are ruled. A lot of people want to rule us, and many of them use an excuse the notion that ‘we” are not capable of ruling ourselves. While I might be willing to concede that some of us either are not (or at least are doing a piss…

A nice musical arrangement. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LQSlVRdyNs What, you expect me to be watching the Oscars?