Author: Eric Scheie

This morning I saw a tantalizing bit of news that does not fit any of the convenient political narratives. If the allegations here are true, then Barack Obama’s birth was illegitimate: Concerns about Obama’s [Barack Obama, Sr.] personal life while he had been studying in the U.S. had been raised previously, according to the INS…

Earlier Glenn linked an article titled “You’re not as kinky as you think” (with the equally reassuring subtitle “Massive Internet study finds that we’re all sexual deviants”) which didn’t so much remind me that I wasn’t as kinky as I thought, so much as it served as a reminder that if we stopped being so…

A Facebook “dislike” button is being called the most wanted product in 2011: Recently Facebook added “Questions” to their impressive list of features for the popular social networking website, today we thought we would look at other features which could be added, it seems to us as though a dislike button is what people really…

Hardly does a day go by in which I am not reminded of the blurring of the distinction between facts (often wistfully known as “the truth”) and opinions. On the rare days I am not reminded, it is only because I haven’t been as attentive to online content as I “should” be. As it often…

I should have been online last night but I wasn’t. I went out and saw a play. And now I’m really, really sorry! Because yesterday was a real milestone (well, sort of…) in the ongoing Birther drama and I missed it until this morning. Barack Obama has apparently released a copy of his so-called “long…

This email was forwarded to me but it was written by Eric Odom, a libertarian Tea Party activist, and I thought I would share it with readers here. It’s long, so I’m putting the text in the extended area, lest people read it and mistake it for one of my posts. As to whether Odom…

The question is on the minds of several commentators, and it is a good one. I think the answer is an obvious “YES.” I don’t think libertarian Republicans should be wringing their hands over this, because not only is it an indication that libertarianism is alive and well in the party, it also means Ron…

In an earlier email exchange with Sarah, I made a shocking conspiracy claim, which I decided to post here in the hope that someone can show me how wrong I am. Noting that a friend had loved him when he was New Mexico GGovernor, Sarah asked me whether I think Gary Johnson has a prayer.…

I like Frank Chu. He’s not only refreshing, but he’s a sort of political warning post. It’s what can happen if you stick to your principles despite what most of us consider reality. In Zombie’s typically humorous coverage of a recent Obama fundraiser in San Francisco, (“Obama Visits the S(lush) F(und) Bay Area”), he said…

The latest black on white attack in a McDonalds has gone bigtime viral, and as it just seethes with Culture War subtexts, I find myself unable to ignore it as I perhaps should. (Alas. Sometimes I think that what Trotsky said* about ignoring war applies to ignoring the Culture War.) Drudge has been linking the…

What is pain, and why is it considered a question of morality in the minds of so many people? To most linear, logical thinkers (and engineering types like my esteemed co-blogger M. Simon) the question will seem ridiculous, as it strikes such people as self-apparent that pain has nothing to do with morality. Pain is…

Back in November, I lamented that this sort of thing would be happening more and more: Federal agents also allege that Transportation Safety Administration Officer Thomas Gordon Jr. of Philadelphia, who routinely searched airline passengers, uploaded explicit pictures of young girls to an Internet site on which he also posted a photograph of himself in…

A long, and quite well-researched piece at leftie Salon.com thoroughly debunks Trig Trutherism for all the left-of-center world to see. Not that this nonsense ever needed debunking in the minds of reasonable, sane, or rational people. The problem is that these theories are more emotion driven than fact driven, and debunking them with rational arguments…

In what is intended as a scary headline, the left wing People for the American Way proclaims that “the Religious Right and the Corporate Right are Joining Forces to Fight Environmental Protection.” I see that as a classic example of coalition politics. In the name of environmental protection, some of the remaining vestiges of freedom…

Earlier I wrote a post about the Michigan State Police searching cell phones with intrusive scanning devices. In a Popular Mechanics piece, Glenn Reynolds warns that “it’s the bigger picture that’s truly worrisome”: The combination of smartphones loaded with data about you and law enforcement devices that can easily extract that information means that a…

Yes, we are being tyrannized by a blundering but very dangerous Obamasaurus Rex who is “flailing around in a world in which he doesn’t fit.” Fortunately, Sarah has documented the habits of this beast in great post at Pajamas Media. Don’t miss “Jurassic President.”  It’s wonderful. We are very proud of Sarah.

For the last couple of days, the fight over Terry Jones (the Koran-burning minister) and his efforts to hold a rally in front of a Dearborn mosque have occupied the front pages of the Detroit Free Press. As a First Amendment literalist, I see this as a simple matter of free speech. Jones has every…

I like to kid around and slough the feeling off with humor in posts like these, but I have a serious (at least, to the extent it is possible for me to ever be really serious) confession to make. I’m feeling so burned out by politics that I am genuinely worried. It is too far…

Yesterday I lamented my plight over what feels like an obligation to blog about the real issues (whatever they are) in the election ahead. Well, today I thought I would steel myself, buckle down, and attempt to come to terms with the truth involving one of the most serious issues in the election. An issue…

What’s goin’ on with that election thing? Let’s see. Trump is accused by the Club for Growth of abusing eminent domain, Sarah Palin defended Trump on the birther issue, Michele Bachmann thinks the birther issue is settled by the state of Hawaii’s certification (which it is legally, even as a new WorldNetDaily book will doubtless…