Wesley J. Smith

I just returned from a very rewarding and interesting, if short, trip to Mexico (Mexicali). I spoke to an overflow crowd at a medical school, and was gratified by the response and the clear idealism of the soon-to-be doctors. I appeared on Mexican television where the interviewer asked better . . . . Continue Reading »

The brouhaha between the Prime Minister of the Netherlands and Italy’s Parliamentary Affairs Minister, Carlo Giovanardi, continues to boil. Giovanardi, readers of Secondhand Smoke will recall, recently compared Dutch infant euthanasia to German infant euthanasia during WWII. That got Jan Peter . . . . Continue Reading »

I reviewed a new book on the Eugenics Movement in the current National Review, and gave it a substantial rave. Better For All The World is great history. Sadly, the author understands the problem of the resurgence of eugenics thinking in bioethics and among some futurists, but the answer to this . . . . Continue Reading »

A panel investigating the near dehydration of 12-year-old Haleigh Poutre, the little girl beaten nearly to death and left with serious brain injuries, have concluded that mistakes were made leading to the court ordering her removed from all life support. To say the least. But how can we expect . . . . Continue Reading »

New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof wrote a few years ago when he visited North Korea, that there were no disabled people in the capital, Pyongyang. He was told that they were all being cared for in the country. Kristof, didn’t believe it, writing, “The darker explanation is that . . . . Continue Reading »

This is ugly: The Chinese sell the organs of executed prisoners and find willing buyers in Japan and elsewhere. China is also beginning to move toward accepting euthanasia, and we all know about the human rights impact of their “one child” population control policy. China’s harsh . . . . Continue Reading »

Jerry Vlasik has justified murder in the name of animal liberation before a senate subcommittee. Here,he goes almost as far when interviewed by an animal liberationists publication. Some key quotes:“Killing an animal abuser, who is not an innocent bystander, is morally defensible, and if they . . . . Continue Reading »

Robert P. George and Eric Cohen have written a good piece in today’s NRO about the domestic fallout from the Hwang cloning scandal. Their most important point is that “the scientists” are not merely objective observers as the media (and they) often pretend, but are instead involved . . . . Continue Reading »

I spent a very interesting and enjoyable week in London, speaking, meeting people involved in the issues about which I engage, doing a little BBC and other media, and generally enjoying the town. A few thoughts: The UK is a wonderful country but it seems to be heading down a bad utilitarian road . . . . Continue Reading »

Carlo Giovanardi, an Italian government official, is in hot water for likening the pending legalization of infanticide in the Netherlands to what happened during World War II in Germany, when doctors murdered hundreds of thousands disabled infants and adults. I am not a big fan of raising the Nazi . . . . Continue Reading »