Wesley J. Smith

So, a Dutch priest has refused to conduct the funeral of a person who died by euthanasia.  His choice, right?  No.  An uproar has ensued. From the story:A priest in the parish of Liempde in North Brabant refused to conduct the funeral of a man who had chosen euthanasia, news agency . . . . Continue Reading »

Bioethicist Joel Marks comments on his loss of religious belief and how it led to his eschewing the very concept of “right” and “wrong.  It is an interesting read for me because it seems his “anti epiphany” flowed directly both from his rejection of God, but more . . . . Continue Reading »

Last week, Secondhand Smokette and I had a very nice vacation in Eastern Wyoming and Western South Dakota.  Quite wonderful.  Not as spectacular as our usual haunt in the Tetons, but far less crowded.  Here are a few photos I took.Total kitsch in Deadwood, SD, where Wild Bill Hickok . . . . Continue Reading »

We generally provide the best health care in the world in the USA.  Our primary failing is opening access to insurance for the working middle class whose employers don’t provide it, and to people with preexisting conditions that don’t qualify for Medicaid or Medicare (which, like . . . . Continue Reading »

Scientists have discovered the process of ALS, aka, Lou Gehrig’s disease or motor neurone disease.  All ALS has now been linked to a problem with a specific protein.  Now a new field of research can begin to find treatments to help the affected protein function properly.  From . . . . Continue Reading »

China’s infamous one child policy has resulted in female infanticide, forced abortion, sex selection abortion, forced sterilization, and eugenics—resulting in a terrible and potentially destabilizing imbalance between males and females.  But that tyranny is apparently A-OK with our . . . . Continue Reading »

Great apes are magnificent animals.  They are intelligent.  They are closest to us genetically.  But they are not us.I bring this up because a professor (of course!) named John C. Matani undercut a perfectly righteous call for us to work  harder to protect the world’s . . . . Continue Reading »

The NYT certainly has been writing about our emerging brave new world of industrial procreative manufacture and quality control lately. Today’s installment discusses how a new blood test of the mom can detect gender at 7 weeks—without ultrasound that can bond a mother to her gestating . . . . Continue Reading »

Over the years I have had people send me stories on aborted fetuses being consumed in China as a delicacy or a medicine. I haven’t gone with it because I wasn’t clear on the credibility,and because the idea seemed too revolting and sensationalistic. I’m still very uncertain, but . . . . Continue Reading »

An attempt to create a right to medical and non medical assisted suicide–in reality, all assisted suicides are non medical regardless of a doctor’s participation–has been thrown out of court. . . . . Continue Reading »