Wesley J. Smith

An article,  “Watching Whales Watching Us,” the cover story in yesterday’s New York Times Magazine, illustrated how profoundly anthropomorphic writers about the natural world are becoming.  This is the quote that caught my eye: Somehow the more we learn about whales, the . . . . Continue Reading »

Now I have seen everything. Opponents of assisted suicide have vociferously criticized the puff piece biopic being produced by HBO and starring Al Pacino—and who do the media quote in a story about the criticism?  Supporters of assisted suicide, including Derek Humphry!  From the . . . . Continue Reading »

Did it start with Jane Goodall? The enterprising anthropologist didn’t just report her amazingly detailed observations of chimpanzees. She pursued an ideology by giving the chimps internal lives and thoughts in her writing in order to make them seem more human.Now, that approach is all the . . . . Continue Reading »

You just knew “the lawyers” would jump right on the animals-being-allowed-to-sue bandwagon.HT: A comment on a crudely named blog quoting my Weekly Standard piece on plant rights, The “Silent Scream of the Asparagus,” rather than the current article discussing Obama appointee . . . . Continue Reading »

I wrote previously here at SHS of my disgust with the book Larry’s Kidney—which of course wasn’t Larry’s at all, but that of a Chinese political, criminal, or Falun Gong prisoner—who was killed for the lucre that the book’s author, Daniel Asa Rose. paid to obtain . . . . Continue Reading »

Since I am self promotion mode today, I thought I would post this less than two minute promo for the CBC-produced documentary, Lines That Divide. It offers, I think, a good and quick overview of the ESCR . . . . Continue Reading »

As promised, my extended piece on the issue of “animal standing” to sue and its support by Cass Sunstein, rumored to be on the fast track to the U.S. Supreme Court and currently appointed to be “regulations czar” for the Obama Administration—is out in the Weekly . . . . Continue Reading »

As promised last week, my extended piece on Cass Sunstein supporting granting animals “standing” to sue in their own names, is now out in the Weekly Standard.  From the column:Imagine you are a cattle rancher looking for liability insurance. You meet with your broker, who, as . . . . Continue Reading »

Futile Care Theory is bearing down on us now like a...well you pick the cliche`. But it isn’t a joke. If you want treatment, and the bioethics committee of a hospital thinks it is “non beneficial,” your stated desires mean very little.Now the San Diego Medical Association has . . . . Continue Reading »

Ryan Sayre Patrico brings up a controversy here that is beginning to buzz around Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. It concerns a statement she makes in an interview to be published this Sunday in the NYT Magazine , in which she opines that she once thought Roe v Wad e was about stopping the growth . . . . Continue Reading »