Wesley J. Smith

Not by assisted suicide.  From the Detroit Free Press story:Known as Dr. Death even before launching his fierce advocacy and practice of assisted suicides, Kevorkian, 83, died at Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak, where he had been hospitalized with kidney and heart problems. His attorney, Mayer . . . . Continue Reading »

Many readers of First Thoughts may be aware that San Francisco voters will be voting in November to criminalize circumcision—no religions exemptions allowed.  Beyond the questions of the propriety of putting such a personal family matter up for a vote, the author of the initiative runs . . . . Continue Reading »

I hate to get back to this issue, but Secondhand Smokette has a post out today in her San Francisco Chronicle “Token Conservative” blog that shows the profound anti Semitism exhibited in some of the anti circumcision advocacy of Matthew Hess, the author of San Francisco’s upcoming . . . . Continue Reading »

Animal rights advocates—and others—went into furious conniptions because Sarah Palin authorized wolves to be shot from helicopters as part of Alaska’s animal management program.  Some ever—erroneously—claimed she did the shooting.  She did not, but left that . . . . Continue Reading »

Legatus magazine asked me to write a column on the stem cell issue, and so I did.  From “Good Ethics Makes for Good Science:”Have you noticed that the stem-cell controversy rarely makes the news these days? There’s a reason: The greatest advances in stem-cell research over the . . . . Continue Reading »

I am really tired of the morality police going after smokers and obese people—all in the name of “health” of course. From the NYT story:Arizona, like many other states, says it is no longer able to finance its Medicaid program adequately. As part of a plan to cut costs, the state . . . . Continue Reading »

Foremost Health Care today stated that none of its insureds would have to wait more than 18 weeks to receive treatment from a specialist referred by their primary care physician. Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi reacting the news in a press release said, “This is what happens when we let greed run . . . . Continue Reading »

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Gallup has a new poll out that measures the public’s beliefs about the moral propriety of certain behaviors.  This is not the same thing, obviously, as to whether such policies should be legal.  The following are the ones relevant to our discussions here: From the Poll:- Doctor . . . . Continue Reading »

Medicare is dying like a tree, slowly from the roots.  As we Baby Boomers get ready to come on line (just three years and less than a month for me), the money is drying up, the status quo unsustainable, the supposed trust fund a fiction.  Representative Ryan has put out a proposal that . . . . Continue Reading »