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Should "Consent" Be a Defense to Murder?

The proprietor of a Japanese how-to-commit-suicide WEB site has been arrested for murder, apparently for killing a woman who asked to be murdered. From the story: Saito, a 33-year-old electrician in Ichihara, Chiba Prefecture, opened the bulletin board site in June 2006 under a handle name. He . . . . Continue Reading »

Peditrician Spies in Massachusetts

This story is disturbing on several levels. Apparently in Massachusetts, pediatricians are grilling their child patients with questions to invade family privacy. From a column in the Boston Herald, byline Michael Graham:I found this out after my 13-year-old daughter’s annual checkup. Her . . . . Continue Reading »

More on Chimps as "Rational Maximizers"

I blogged earlier today on a UPI report of a study of chimps, which found, according to the story, that chimps “protect their self interest and are unwilling to pay a cost to punish someone they perceive as unfair.” I suggested that what the study seemed to actually demonstrate, based on . . . . Continue Reading »

For Big Biotech It is Never Enough

Oh, the whining. Massachusetts has funded and permitted human SCNT, but it forbids the buying and selling of human eggs for biological research. This has apparently brought research into human cloning to a halt because women aren’t particularly interested in risking their lives, fecundity, and . . . . Continue Reading »

Desperate to Make Chimps Human

As I write my book about the animal rights movement, I have noticed a crescendo of advocacy, er, studies, that seek to make chimps seem more human, the point—sometimes explicitly stated—to destroy human exceptionalism.Along these lines is this “study” that claims chimps make . . . . Continue Reading »

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