I never know what to think about news stories on big pharmacy and big medicine. On the one hand, I’m open to believing that there is a global Malthusian conspiracy aimed at destroying our health, or that, at least, corporations in our day generally care more about money than they do about ethical uprightness. But […]
Continue reading →Yesterday was Veterans Day, and I have mixed feelings about how it was (or was not) observed. On one hand, you have a large group of Americans who automatically “support the troops” on Veterans Day (often without any real substance to their appreciation) because not to do so is considered unpatriotic, and, to these people, […]
Continue reading →It has become a sort of self-evident truth that America is deeply and irremediably divided into the conservative right and the liberal left. Pretty much everyone believes this, and most people think that gap is widening. But according to an Esquire-NBC survey, America is not as divided as our political partisanship would indicate. In fact, […]
Continue reading →A few weeks ago, in anticipation of the release of the film adaptation of Ender’s Game, I read the book for the first time. I really enjoyed the book, but I had a mixed reaction to the movie. But this wasn’t just a clear cut case of “the-book-is-always-better-than-the-movie”-itus. This movie had a real chance of being […]
Continue reading →On Tuesday, Illinois voted to become the 15th state to legalize homosexual marriage. Michelle and Barack Obama were overjoyed. In a speech, Obama congratulated his home state with some glowing words of praise: Tonight, I applaud the men and women of the Illinois General Assembly, a body in which I was proud to serve, for […]
Continue reading →According to an article in Wired, net neutrality is being threatened by an impending decision by the DC Circuit court, apparently the highest court in the land second only to the Supreme Court. Net neutrality is the doctrine that ISPs like Comcast and AT&T may not play favorites with some sites over others, and that […]
Continue reading →Ebay, the online auction giant, recently posted an apology for some items listed on its site that apparently contradicted its terms of use. Someone on the site was apparently trying to sell items related to the Holocaust. When eBay found out about the items, it removed them and offered a public apology to anyone who […]
Continue reading →Roger Shuler was recently jailed at the tail end of a fairly protracted battle against the Alabama political establishment. The story goes like this: Shuler writes a blog about political stuff. He apparently found out through undisclosed sources that Rob Riley, son of Bob Riley—former Republican governor of Alabama, had an affair. Shuler mentions it […]
Continue reading →It may be tempting for our faithful readers, most of whom label themselves conservatives, to punish the Republican party by voting Democrat this election Tuesday. Certainly, the GOP has lost touch with its ideological roots. But let me recommend something else. First, we need to realize that politics can’t change people. Especially in a representative […]
Continue reading →This is rich. First, Vladimir Putin, a former KGB agent, scolded Obama and America for its interventionist imperialism in Syria. That in itself would have been bad enough. But now, the official (i.e., state-controlled) news agency for China, XinHua, has joined in the chorus of foreign powers who take umbrage at America’s indiscriminate surveillance dragnet. […]
Continue reading →