Wesley J. Smith

It is no secret that the newspaper business is in severe trouble. A big part of the problem is technological: The Internet has destroyed the classified sections, for example, and many younger people no longer read newspapers, causing circulation to decline.But in my view, another huge issue is . . . . Continue Reading »

It is a given that President Obama will dismantle the funding limitations on ESCR imposed by President Bush. Even though Bush’s plan still resulted in about $160 million in human embryonic stem cell NIH funding, “the scientists” complain that it is his fault the field has not . . . . Continue Reading »

Just as during the Kevorkian saga, some have claimed that the “cure” for “suicide tourism”—in which dying and disabled people fly to Switzerland to be made dead—has been legalization of assisted suicide. And just as in Kevorkian’s day, family members and . . . . Continue Reading »

The Rhode Island Developmental Disabilities Council has picked up on my call to defend human exceptionalism. Here’s the link. I am most . . . . Continue Reading »

I have opined that there are three cultural paradigms that threaten to supplant traditional Judeo-Christian/humanistic values as the foundational value system of society; utilitarianism (which we have addressed often here at SHS), hedonism (which we have rarely addressed here), and radical . . . . Continue Reading »

I was contacted recently by Wellsphere and asked permission to have SHS linked to its site as “a top health blogger.” I was very pleased to agree. Wellsphere seems to be a cross between My Space and Beliefnet: There are many blogs on bioethics, medicine, and other matters that might be . . . . Continue Reading »

Jack Kevorkian was the ground breaker in modern times: A man made world famous helping people with disabilities, the terminally ill, and the existentially suffering kill themselves. For that, he now makes $50,000 a speech. In Australia, Philip Nitschke has counseled the suicides of people who were . . . . Continue Reading »

The coalition against assisted suicide is made up of many branches that constitute a rare alliance among people on all sides of the ideological and religious/secular divides that are literally tearing this country and much of Western Civilization apart. Thus, disability rights . . . . Continue Reading »

In my observation, PETA has very little regard for facts, and one might even say, less for truth. I think this is exemplified in a minor contretemps with the office of Governor Sarah Palin—who its leaders hate for obvious reasons. PETA claimed that Palin’s office threatened to sue over a . . . . Continue Reading »

The voices that yell loudest about “choice” tend to be the very ones that most enthusiastically seek to stifle it when they involve decisions about hot button moral issues with which they disagree. The St. Louis Post Dispatch is one such voice. Its editorial page weighed in today against . . . . Continue Reading »