Author: Eric Scheie

At the last minute on what we consider to be our Christmas Eve, I got a Christmas tree from Home Depot. I paid only ten dollars, as there were only three trees left, and it was a pathetically scrawny tree. I wasn’t sure that I hadn’t been ripped off entirely, but I considered myself lucky…

Via Ann Althouse, I learned that CNN is all atwitter over Sarah Palin’s retweet of Tammy Bruce’s pro-gay twitter:  Normally, it’s what Sarah Palin tweets that makes news. This time it’s what she has re-tweeted. The former Alaska governor Monday relayed a comment from gay conservative pundit Tammy Bruce, who was expressing her criticism over…

While I like to think that my light bulbs and what I do with them are my own business, as we know, the government does not. So I was delighted to see Glenn’s link to a new rebellion against the ban on incandescent lights in the form of a hot new loophole: Skirting EU law:…

The Myth of American Religious Freedom, which Glenn linked earlier, looks like a great book: In this new and compelling examination of American religious history, Sehat argues that this country did not extend freedom of religion to all, but until recently was controlled by a Protestant Christian establishment that sought to impose its will in…

This morning I read a piece in the Journal about how videogames are changing the economy. Even the entertainment and media businesses will be transformed. That is certainly true. I see it in the way things are advertised, and even in the way people drive. Some younger drivers seem to think they’re in a game…

In my ongoing attempt to understand the consequences of plunking down hundreds of dollars for a new monitor (which, I am told, would allow me to use a higher resolution than my current 800×600 without having to wear glasses), I have gotten myself more confused than ever. What I do not want to do is…

In a post which touches on a basic difference between the sexes, Dr. Helen notes an irony: “Pretty sad when something all teen males fantasize about happening to them is considered a crime.” This is a typical response to a story linked by Drudge about a mother and daughter who both abused the same teen…

So far it seems the same as it did ten minutes ago, which is probably good! I hope this year is a good one for everybody. Thank you all.   MORE: And since everyone is celebrating, here’s a blast from the past! Grateful Dead New Years Eve 12-31-85

Via Victor Davis Hanson and Jonah Goldberg (who both do a good job of defending what I would call basic sanity), I found myself drawn to a trainwreck of a piece in the Washington Post by a man named Colman McCarthy. A former Post columnist, he “directs the Center for Teaching Peace in Washington and…

Every once in a while, I see something that’s music to my ears, and a post Glenn linked — “SoCons” and “Ficons”: It Is Time To Come Together — was one of those times.  What I do want to discuss is the why behind some of the distrust that exists out there between the two groups…

For many, many years, I have enjoyed my screen resolution the way it is, which is 800 by 600. I’m one of those people who can get by without reading glasses, but if I change the settings to the next highest level (1024 x 768), reading text (I’m using a Dell 17 19″ LCD monitor)…

I was busy at the time (it was the night before Christmas, so I was probably overcome by Seasonal Altruistic Disorder), but Glenn linked a post from Bill Quick which discussed the dominant political paradigm in this country: …the operating theory of political success has essentially been one of bribery. The idea is that one…

Does what a majority of ordinary people think matter to the tiny minority of privileged folks who rule without being elected? I realize that sounds like a rhetorical question, but in theory, we are living in a country with a constitutional government run by elected officials with specifically limited powers, so it always pisses me…

I am not kidding. Go take a look. Should I issue a retraction of what I said? I’ll have to think about it, because this is no laughing matter. It’s a grave issue.  

Speaking of what should be taught to children, earlier I saw a quote from that landmark Supreme Court which (depending on your view of these things) either ordered the government to stay out of religion or ordered religion to stay out of the government. There is a difference, right? In a letter (pdf file) to…

Darleen Click left a very thoughtful comment to a previous post which I didn’t want to forget, because it reminded me once again of the absurdity inherent in classifying human beings according to their sexual tastes. let me through another variable in here – what is considered “acceptable” behavior in society will have a great…

Not a creature was stirring, except for my mouse…. I realize that the night before Christmas is no time for kidding around, but seeing this headline was really too much: Joe Biden disagrees with Pat Robertson on Pot “I still believe it’s a gateway drug. I’ve spent a lot of my life as chairman of…

I need to do a better job of keeping up with local news. Until today I did not realize that local activists are fighting for slower speed limits in Ann Arbor. One of them is a public school teacher who makes a fascinating comparison between driving and ritual human sacrifice: Jeff Gaynor, a teacher at…

Hmmmm…. Whether the night before Christmas is the right time or not, I have just finished devouring — with great relish — a book that Glenn Reynolds recommended not long ago: After You Shoot: Your gun’s hot. The perp’s not. Now what? It’s a real head trip of a book, especially if you’re one of…

Last night I drove a half an hour west of Ann Arbor and back, and this morning I drove half an hour east and back. People are in a hurry, and many of them seem stressed. Bad drivers stand out more than ever. Michigan’s biggest problem is that it has set two different highway speed…