Wesley J. Smith

I am being told that the entry about the “Post It” note is badly framed for Internet Explorer users. This is because that program has divided the picture of the note from the headline. To see the picture and text of the post, please scroll down. Thanks, and sorry for any inconvenience. . . . . Continue Reading »

I don’t get into the death penalty here at Secondhand Smoke, but I find this confluence of issues so paradoxical. In the Netherlands, the preferred method of euthanasia is to inject the suicidal person with strong drugs to put them in a deep sleep. Then, a lethal drug is administered that . . . . Continue Reading »

 Concept and artistic credit: Rebecca . . . . Continue Reading »

Early attempts to legalize euthansia in Italy are apparently going to go nowhere under the new ruling party. One of the leaders of the parliament has stated firmly that “Reason forbids us to give to the state the power to decide if and when life must end even if the state is asked to do it by . . . . Continue Reading »

PETA is (I believe) the world’s largest and richest animal rights/liberation organization. They key to PETA’s success has been its clever strategy of suckering people into thinking it is merely a benign “be nice to animals” organization, when in fact, it is radically . . . . Continue Reading »

I just installed (more honestly, my good bud Colin installed) software that lets me track traffic here at SHS. I discovered to my great delight that we have readers from all over the world. In the last two days, not only have people visited from all over the USA, but also from Canada, India, New . . . . Continue Reading »

Contrary to the major international front page splash over Advanced Cell Technology’s embryonic stem cell non breakthrough, this story, which could be a bonafide major advance in solving the ethical dilemma surrounding ESCR, only received minor media coverage. Why? In my view, because it would . . . . Continue Reading »

This is so ironic: The Kansas City Star, the most biased and inaccurate mainstream media outlet reporting today about embryonic stem cells and cloning—even worse than the New York Time and that is saying a lot—has this story seeking to demonstrate that opponents’ ads against . . . . Continue Reading »

Big Biotech is mounting a clever—it should be, considering the tens of millions being spent on its propaganda campaign—strategy to keep research cloning legal. Here’s how the gambit would work: Pour millions of campaign and advocacy dollars into conservative states to induce voters . . . . Continue Reading »

I am reading this month’s Atlantic and an essay Emerson wrote in April 1862 is excerpted. I was struck that Emerson’s perspective, written to applaud Lincoln’s move toward emancipation, remains relevant and germane to the controversies of our own time.“The end of all . . . . Continue Reading »