stcynic
Posts by this author
February 22, 2005
In thinking about the exchange below with Sandefur, it occured to me that there is a great example going on right now of how the press interacts with the two major parties - the new budget. In this case, both parties are trying to sell the same line, that the President's proposed budget contains "…
February 22, 2005
Am I the only one who finds this whole Gannon/Guckert situation hilarious? I can't imagine I am. I mean, on how many levels could one person and one situation be simultaneously ridiculous? Let's count them.
Gannon/Guckert himself. How pathetic is this guy? First of all, the gay escort personal ads…
February 21, 2005
Ace Pryhill has an amusing post about the recent Simpson's episode where Marge's sister marries her lesbian lover and Homer gets ordained over the internet so he can perform gay marriages. My favorite part is this wonderful quote from the endlessly ridiculous L. Brent Bozell:
L. Brent Bozell,…
February 21, 2005
A couple of recent happenings concerning evolution disclaimer stickers in science textbooks. In the Cobb County case, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals has asked the two sides in that dispute to meet with a mediator to see if they can reach a settlement in the case rather than having to have a full…
February 21, 2005
Sanders has a scathing post on Alan Keyes throwing his daughter out of the house and cutting off all contact with her:
People say that blue staters and Democrats need to learn to talk the language of morality. Fine. Keyes' daughter has done one of the noblest and most moral human things possible…
February 21, 2005
Jon Rowe has another excellent post fisking the commonly heard argument that the Ten Commandments are the basis of the US legal system. This in light of the impending oral arguments in the McCreary case by the Supreme Court on the question of a Ten Commandments display in McCreary County, Kentucky…
February 21, 2005
In today's Boston Globe, Cathy Young writes about Thomas Woods. In it, she makes many of the same arguments Eric Muller has been making and even references him directly.
February 21, 2005
I'm still reading this stuff, and it's just unreal. It's like I've overturned a rock and all these southern nationalist whackos are streaming out. How about this story about a book called Southern Slavery, As It Was, written by League of the South board member Steve Wilkins:
Students at one of the…
February 20, 2005
In perusing Eric Muller's recent entries on the subject, I continue to be amazed by how these people think. Absolutely baffled. Muller reports in this post about a conversation on a radio show that Woods appeared on. That conversation went like this:
Caller: Mr. Woods, I'm in total agreement with…
February 20, 2005
At a time when they should be celebrating a victory in court, as I am as well, the Christian group that had all charges against them dropped in court is now griping about wording in the judge's decision. And naturally, the Worldnutdaily is leading the way:
While applauding Judge Pamela Dembe's…
February 19, 2005
Eric Muller has a really interesting article on his blog about Thomas Woods' new book Politically Incorrect Guide to American History, and his many other writings. This book is getting an enormous amount of attention in the media, especially on the right, with Woods making appearances on Hannity…
February 18, 2005
Lawrence Summers has finally provided a full transcript of the remarks he made that caused so much controversy, not to mention physical illness, at Harvard last month. I haven't had time to read them over entirely yet, but at least now people have the full remarks to respond to.
February 18, 2005
On rare occasions, we are on the same side. I am happy to announce that a judge in Philadelphia has dismissed the charges against a group of Christians who were arrested after preaching on the sidewalks during a gay pride event there last fall. The charges were clearly a violation of the first…
February 18, 2005
Jason Kuznicki reports on a recent meeting of the Inner Ethical Council in this absolutely brilliant bit of writing at Positive Liberty. I only find it mildly disconcerting that despite the fact that I have long claimed the mantle of cynic, I found myself agreeing mostly with the Epicurean avatar…
February 18, 2005
Gary Hurd, an archaeologist and former Curator of Anthropology at the Orange County Museum of Natural History, has posted at the Panda's Thumb a more thorough fisking of Scott Foust's lunacy than the one I did. Nice work, Gary.
February 18, 2005
Several commenters here have said that in examining the practical effects of abstinence-only sex ed, I am missing the point that the religious right isn't really interested in decreasing teen pregnancy or STDs. Wesley Elsberry sent me this perfect example of that from the ARN message boards. When…
February 18, 2005
Our new troll, mynym, has been a busy little beaver, leaving no fewer than 16 comments in under 2 hours. Looks like he is trying really hard to make his prediction of getting banned a self-fulfilling prophecy by being a major league pain in the ass. His M.O. isn't hard to discern; it appears to be…
February 17, 2005
No, that's not a pyramid setup of the sort done at cheerleading camps or Iraqi prisons. One of the good things about blogs is the ability for response and counter response. In this case, Barry Lynn wrote an op-ed piece about ID; Darrick Dean wrote a critique of Lynn's article; and Jason Rosenhouse…
February 17, 2005
Bobby Maddex, senior editor of Crux magazine, has posted a response to my article (posted here and at Panda's Thumb) pointing out several false claims in a couple of blog entries associated with Crux, one by him and one by John Coleman. John Coleman responded both rationally and graciously in a…
February 16, 2005
Someone using the name "mynym" has left a couple of comments in reply to this post comparing the arguments against gay marriage with the arguments against interracial marriage. Since my response will likely be very long, I thought I'd move it up to its own post. It's an odd set of comments,…
February 16, 2005
The Two Percent Company has a wonderful rant comparing the relative lunacy of Alabama and Virginia. As they point out, Alabama has long held the title as the state with the looniest legislation, but Virginia is trying hard to take their title from them with some recent stupidity that I've mentioned…
February 16, 2005
Nicholas Kristof has a column about the Bush administration's focus on abstinence-only sex education that says the same things I've been saying for months:
For that reason, almost all sex-ed classes in America already encourage abstinence. But abstinence-only education isn't primarily about…
February 16, 2005
I haven't written anything about the Ward Churchill situation, but I'd like to point to a post that I think nails it pretty well. Brian Leiter has summed up my thoughts pretty well in this post where he defends the man's academic freedom. From what I've seen, Churchill is an arrogant and mediocre…
February 16, 2005
Colbert King wrote a fascinating column in the Washington Post the other day about the history of laws against interracial marriage, or miscegenation. He points out that the appeal to natural law, longstanding tradition and religious tenets, so often heard as arguments against gay marriage, were…
February 16, 2005
On the 16th anniversary of the Ayatollah Khomeini's fatwa, calling for the death of author Salman Rushdie, the Iranian government has publicly stated that the death penalty remains in force:
"Muslims have never accepted insults against their sacred values," the guards said two days before the…
February 15, 2005
A few weeks ago, Christopher Hitchens delivered a lecture on the subject of Thomas Paine, the "unacknowledged founding father" who was "the greatest Englishman and the greatest American", as he put it. It is well worth reading. There is no more fascinating man than Thomas Paine, in my view. He was…
February 15, 2005
Scott Foust, a german literature student at the University of Cincinatti, is the winner of February's Robert O'Brien Trophy (formerly known as the Idiot of the Month award) for this breathtakingly ignorant article in the newspaper of that university. In it, Foust takes the commonly heard, and…
February 15, 2005
Paul Shanley, the defrocked Boston priest convicted of raping and molesting a 6 year old boy in his parish, has been sentenced to 12-15 years in prison. At 74, it is likely a death sentence for all practical purposes. But here's what bothers me about the whole priest sex scandal issue. Why are…
February 15, 2005
Barbara Forrest has written a review of the book Darwinism, Design and Public Education, written by John Angus Campbell and Stephen Meyer of the Discovery Institute. Predictably, the DI Media Complaints Division (otherwise known as the DI Blog) is howling in outrage. Just as predictably, their…
February 14, 2005
Maya Keyes has finally been disowned by her father, the uber-right Alan Keyes. According to Maya, not only have they thrown her out of the house and refused to pay for her tuition at Brown University, they've also stopped speaking to her. She'll be able to stay with friends, and the Point…