Author: Eric Scheie

Now that another psycho has flipped out and killed a bunch of people, there is a predictable groundswell of emotion with people blaming everything they can think of — from guns, to society itself, to video games, to a failure to have made the child victims pray — everything and the kitchen sink with the…

Think that’s the punishment for people convicted of first degree murder? Think again. In modern America, it has become a routine punishment for people convicted of certain victimless crimes. And judges have no discretion over whether to impose it, like this federal judge in Florida: TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Stephanie George and Judge Roger Vinson had…

Warning. This is one of those posts which has left me more confused after I finished it than I was when I started it, so please be warned. I simply cannot follow the logic of either the gun control activists or the thought processes of those who get to decide who gets to be a victim…

A lot of the focus on yesterday’s union thuggery involves the attack on Steven Crowder and the AFP tent. But I just saw this disturbing headline: ‘Union Thugs’ Destroy Hot Dog Stand of Alleged Romney Supporter During Protest and Taunt Him With Racial Slurs. Going after a man who operates a hot dog cart is about…

This AP report on the passage of Michigan’s right-to-work law reads like a union activist screed lambasting Republicans for tampering with venerated laws of nature: LANSING, Mich. – For generations, Michigan was the ultimate labor stronghold – a state built by factory workers for whom a high school diploma and a union card were the…

The government can mint two platinum coins, declare they are worth $1 trillion each, deposit them at the Fed, and then move the money directly into Treasury accounts. Don’t laugh! Economists are actually endorsing this harebrained idea: …the U.S. Mint would produce (say) a pair of trillion-dollar platinum coins. The president orders the coins to…

It really is. Nothing like setting up the mike in front of Phil Lesh’s speakers. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABCBE5N3Tio “Brother Esau” had a haunting quality when the Dead first started playing it, and it still does. I think the lyrics are good in their own right. However, they are typically subject to interpretation. (As typically as the long…

I grew up liking the American idea of the melting pot. At least in theory, people of all kinds of races, religions and backgrounds could come here and become assimilated Americans. Obviously, it didn’t work out for everyone, and institutionalized racial segregation and bigotry was an appalling example. But I always thought the theory —…

It’s December 7, the 71st anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor, and I’m glad to see it is being remembered. Recent events have caused me to worry that this country has still not learned the lessons of World War II, or 9/11. It’s hard to believe Pearl Harbor was that long ago, as the…

Anti-pit bull bigotry both irritates and intrigues me. As a longtime pit bull owner, it pisses me off, and that’s not merely because I am biased. I actually worry. Once bigotry reaches the hysteria stage, it can have a way of invading the lives of people who try to ignore it. There are a number of…

Reason’s Ron Bailey has an article I found fascinating: Study Shows Smart Liberals, Conservatives, and Libertarians Are Easiest to Fool We reason to persuade, not to find truth. The above problem has long vexed me. ….both liberals and conservatives displayed ideological bias when assessing the validity of the cognitive reflection test. When climate change skeptics…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLi0ppwOOwI (They don’t write songs like that anymore.)

I’m all for celebrating Christmas, and I would be disappointed if the White House didn’t have a Christmas tree, but do they need 54 trees? Amazing how a reelection can reshape an incumbent’s thinking about many things. Now safely ensconced in the White House for 49 more months, the Obamas have decorated the place with…

Earlier I was asked what I thought would be a quick and easy question to settle. Does the term “single mom” include divorced moms? I had always assumed that single moms were mothers who had kids but never married. At least, that would seem to be the narrative implied by the term in common usage.…

Speaking of sustainability, I just learned that Drake’s Bay Oyster Company — fourth generation family business I patronized when I lived in California — has been shut down by the federal government. Even media liberal types are upset, because after all, not only was the place a cherished institution, but the politically correct company has…

Speaking of Ambrose Bierce, in Politico today, NRO’s Rich Lowry looks at the rise of Egypt’s latest new dictator, Mohamed Morsi: The great, acerbic 19th-century satirist Ambrose Bierce defined a revolution as “an abrupt change in the form of misgovernment.” He would understand events in Egypt since the fall of Hosni Mubarak very well. In the signature…

Ambrose Bierce may have been writing many years ago, but I think that when he defined “conservative,” he was onto something — especially the difference between liberals and conservatives. Conservative, n: A statesman who is enamored of existing evils, as distinguished from the Liberal who wishes to replace them with others. And if you liked…

As various polls and election results demonstrate, some issues are losers for Republicans. M. Simon emailed me a link to an issue which I have discussed before, and which I think may be the biggest loser of them all: the so-called “personhood” issue. Some of the less pragmatic people in the Right to Life movement…

Charles Murray asks why Asians are not Republicans. After all, as a group they tend to be the following: conspicuously entrepreneurial, industrious, family-oriented, and self-reliant. If you’re looking for a natural Republican constituency, Asians should define “natural.” Murray thinks that the Republicans have been successfully stereotyped as not just social conservatives, but as hard core…

While I was in Rockford, I stayed in a motel where it seemed to me that some of the guests were selling or using drugs. According to current laws, what that means is that greedy law enforcement officials could simply seize the motel from its owners. Such things happen all the time, and Reason has…