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PETA: Tax Meat!

I cannot stomach PETA’s ideology—views symbolized by the disgusting comic book aimed at kids depicted here—but I sit in awe at its leaders’ propaganda and advocacy skills. They never miss a chance to get their message out. Now, they urge that meat be taxed to reduce global . . . . Continue Reading »

How to Eliminate the Death Penalty

Whatever else may be said about New Jersey and Gov. Jon Corzine, they should both be given credit for not only abolishing the death penalty but for doing so in the correct manner—through legislative action and not judicial or executive fiat. This small victory for the pro-life movement is also . . . . Continue Reading »

The Hospitalist Movement is Here to Stay

Once, when patients were hospitalized, their own doctors would follow and coordinate the care provided by whatever specialist was needed. But economics, the desire to reduce the length of hospital stays, and the unique challenges of providing hospitalized care led to the development of the . . . . Continue Reading »

To Everything There Is a Season

Christmas is a festive time—but lest we grow too festive, the Archbishop of Canterbury has taken the opportunity to remind us that many of the elements in the traditional Nativity story are mythical. Indeed, “Dr Williams concluded that Jesus was probably not born in December at all. He . . . . Continue Reading »

Crowe Says No to Slots

The Cinderella Man, Russell Crowe, has persuaded the board members of his rugby club to remove its 160 slot machines from the premises. “Family friendly” is how he wants it. And what Maximus Decimus Meridias wants . . . “We are not moralising here, we just believe that low-income . . . . Continue Reading »

Re: Eggs on Ice

Re: women freezing eggs or couples genetically designing babies, I agree that both will happen in the future, but I’m not sure how common either will be. In discussing Dworkin’s article about the former yesterday, I subtly added to Dworkin’s analysis an assumption that such . . . . Continue Reading »

Technology and Its Discontents

Fortune magazine has issued its annual list of the year’s top goofs from big technology companies. Google manages to make multiple appearances on the list, but my prediction for the frontrunner, Diebold’s several disasters with voting machines, came in only second. The winner was the . . . . Continue Reading »

Time’s Man of the Year: 1456

“Why We Chose Vlad” ? Fought for and won independence from Ottomans ? Championed republican values by eliminating entrenched aristocrat interest groups ? Youngest man ever to be awarded Order of the Dragon ? Although known for torturing and mutilating small animals, no history of dog . . . . Continue Reading »

We Need a Smart Candidate

Can you vote for a 1960s-model James Bond knock-off for president? If so, would you believe Steve Carell as Agent 86 in 2008? If there’s one thing our country needs right now is reliable intelligence. But then again, John Rambo has such solid foreign-policy experience. As opposed to Iron Man . . . . Continue Reading »

Re: Eggs on Ice

Rob is on to something when he says we’ll soon be living in a world where women will “have some of their eggs harvested and frozen in their twenties, spend a couple of decades building a career, and then use the eggs to become pregnant in their forties or fifties.” And . . . . Continue Reading »

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