As the father of 2 1/2 year old and soon-to-be 1 year old boys, I know that there are going to be a lot of questions to be answered in the future on a wide range of subjects. Those questions need good answers, because there’s a big thing out there called “reality” and a lot [...]

A good way to explain free trade, quickly and effectively. Created by the Atlas Network.

Scott Adams, author of Dilbert, on politicians. I wonder if we should start requiring in our leaders a background that shows they can deal with complexity. Lawyers and engineers have that training. I assume that doctors and economists have what it takes. Ironically, a degree in political science alone is probably a red flag that [...]

An awesome study turns social conservative thought on families completely on its head: Contrary to what the religious right might say, children raised by lesbian parents are doing just as well as their peers, according to a new report based on a 20-year study to be published in the journal Pediatrics. In fact, they may [...]

Eliot Spitzer says that we should re-read the Gettysburg Address to regain that sense of sacrifice necessary to keep our bloated government doing its holy work. Because nothing makes me more appreciative of the men who laid down their lives for the freedom of others than supporting the very government that’s hard at work taking [...]

There is always danger is using trendlines as an analysis of what things “should” do, because past performance may not entirely reflect future situations. But I thought the below was incredibly striking. My first response was… “WOW! That looks bad!” My second response was “I wonder if the demographics of the baby boomer generation retiring [...]

Most of us have been pulled over and issued a ticket for speeding or other moving violations at least once in our lives. It’s probably also fair to say that in many if not most cases; we don’t even bother to challenge the ticket because the patrolman says that his radar gun reading showed that [...]

Islam, faith, christianity, theocracy, oppression, religion

Collection of quotes today. Some raw milk buffs petitioned the FDA to lift their ban on the substance… Here are some choice bits of their response: “There is no absolute right to consume or feed children any particular food.” [p. 25] “Plaintiffs’ assertion of a ‘fundamental right to their own bodily and physical health, which [...]

The big one making the rounds today is the NYT story on people who’ve simply stopped paying their mortgages, living in their houses for free, waiting on the potential eventual foreclosure machine to spit them out whenever it gets around to it (which isn’t happening quickly). Quite a few folks (TJIC, James Joyner) are weighing [...]

Historically, barbers, have served a somewhat larger purpose than they do today: The barbers of former times were also surgeons and dentists. In addition to haircutting, hairdressing, and shaving, barbers performed surgery, bloodletting and leeching, fire cupping, enemas, and the extraction of teeth. Thus they were called barber surgeons, and they formed their first organization [...]

In a recent column, Nicholas Kristof criticized strongly Ayaan Hirsi Ali, the unbelievably brave Somali intellectual who has dedicated her career to pursuit of an Enlightenment in the Islamic world. Kristof apparently sees Ali as fomenting bigotry towards Muslims, casting aside the very legitimate and pressing criticism of the fastest growing religion that Ali posits.

Via Coyote, after seeing an E-Verify poster that states “If you have the right to work, Don’t let anyone take it away”: This is fairly Orwellian for those of us who believe that all people have the right to work, irrespective of the country they were born in, and this right does not flow from [...]