Author: Eric Scheie

The conventional wisdom is that the ABC hit piece (which I suspect was deliberately leaked to Drudge) featuring a much-hyped interview with Newt Gingrich’s angry ex-wife Marianne is an attempt to derail the man’s candidacy, or even put the coffin’s nail in it. I think it’s just the opposite. ABC is surely savvy enough to…

While the issue hasn’t come up in the presidential debates, and many ordinary citizens don’t know about it, there is broad online opposition to the odious SOPA/PIPA legislation pending before both houses of Congress. I’m glad to see Google’s logo blacked out in protest, and even more delighted to see the Wikipedia shutdown. I have…

What stood out about the debate last night was seeing Romney having to defend what he did when he was at Bain. Gingrich is of course still going after him, and while I already agreed with Glenn’s assessment that the Gingrich attacks are helping Romney, what was remarkable last night was seeing Romney in a…

I just realized that my tape dispenser (which had belonged my parents) is so old and bulbous-looking that it might very well be considered collectible! Alongside the stapler, they both look especially… “vintage.” Even the box of staples (which I use because they are staples) seems vintage, and it has the same Swingline model stapler…

I love peanuts, and peanut butter. However, between .04% and .06% of the humans in this country are allergic to the stuff. (2.3% are allergic to seafood, which I also love.) While I feel sorry for those who suffer from such an allergy, I was a bit puzzled by the angry reaction of parents to…

Gerard Vanderleun gets it. The issue is not Romney, but Obama. HT Glenn. (I can’t believe we are having to debate such obvious stuff.)  

I think it was very nice of Newt (via his “super PAC”) to do this: “This is a story of greed, of playing the system for a quick buck, a group of corporate raiders led by Mitt Romney more ruthless than Wall Street. For tens of thousands of Americans, the suffering began when Mitt Romney…

I’m not sure whether I should let Coco see this ad: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-4bm5NxqPY And if you like the Gingrich ad, you’ll love the way Rachel Maddow has taken it and run with it. I’m also glad I’m not running for president. I say this not as an endorsement of Romney (who does strike me as a…

While it is not central to the point under discussion, I spotted an error in an article in the Daily Mail linked by Glenn Reynolds about an allegedly “racist” portrayal of Michelle Obama as Marie Antoinette. I find the argument that it is racist to PhotoShop the First Lady into a Marie Antoinette portrait ludicrous…

Not only is there nothing new about that observation, it went to the heart of the last election. As most people know, the evil of capitalism resulted in the election of Barack Obama, despite McCain’s attempts at haranguing Wall Street tycoons and the usual Malefactors of Great Wealth. As I keep saying, freedom includes the…

This quote from Frank Luntz provided another reason for me not to want to be saddled with the conservative label: Conservatives should not be defending capitalism. They should be defending economic freedom. And there is a difference. The word capitalism was created by Karl Marx to demonize those people who make a profit. We’ve always…

If there’s one thing I hate, it’s when I agree with Pat Buchanan. And if there’s anything I hate more than that, it’s agreeing with Fidel Castro. Imagine my surprise when I discovered myself agreeing with both of them on the same day, and on the same general issue! Pat Buchanan says that Republican infighting has gotten…

Every Monday morning, I am reminded of how what we might call basic quality of life has declined. There is just something about going out the front door first thing in the morning and being glared at by an angry man who looks like a ex-convict from central casting who believes he is somehow entitled…

Earlier today I visited the McKinley presidential memorial and museum in Canton, Ohio. Here’s a photo I took: William McKinley is one of those under-appreciated presidents who does not fit the molds demanded by modern thinking. He believed in racial equality, strong defense, high tariff, and the gold standard. Shot in the gut by an anarchist, his…

And I am going to be gone for the next couple of days, so I won’t be fully able to discuss it! Oh darn. Anyway, there is some discussion on the Internet (which initially struck me as typical leftist snark) over whether Rick Santorum is constitutionally eligible to be President. Reason? His father was born…

I don’t know how many of my readers will be interested, but plastic surgeons are now regularly repairing ear lobes that have been stretched by plugs. At one point, Oakland resident Coleton Tidwell could fit a golf ball through the hole in his earlobe. Tidwell, now 21, was among those who purposely stretched their earlobes…

Last night M. Simon said he was “taking the test,” and he was talking about a political test. This morning I read about another test which is being used more and more by employers. A urine test. Not for the usual substances they test for, but urine testing for nicotine. The emerging trend is that not…

Well, I’m confused about morality again. A recent email declared that Mitt Romney is “pro-abortion,” and urged people not to vote for him for that reason. OTOH, the nation’s leading abortion rights group NARAL is going after him with both barrels because he is so outspokenly anti-abortion. Romney’s position on abortion, unfiltered by fear-mongering abortion advocates…

This report supplies as stark an example as I have seen that we have a president with absolutely zero respect for the Constitution. President Obama announced today that he was going to take a new step in the expansion of executive authority by recess appointing a head to the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau despite…

This morning I did something I hardly ever do. I Googled “santorum.” The news about his near-victory was at the top, and the neologism which has been plaguing him is now relegated to number two status. The Google (and Bing, Yahoo, etc.) problem is complicated, and it is explained here in more detail than most…