Wesley J. Smith

I posted here about media stories reporting on a planned live-streaming of an assisted suicide—with the intended victim seemingly paid.  It was a hoax.But that’s the thing about good hoaxes, they are of necessity grounded in substantial reality, thereby allowing those taken in to . . . . Continue Reading »

Well, they won’t be “post human” exactly.  More current tortoise.   From theTelegraph story:Jonathan, the tortoise, is believed to be 178-years-old and was about 70 at the time the black and white picture was taken. He was photographed during the Boer War around . . . . Continue Reading »

I am sorry, but there is no excuse in an advanced and educated country like the USA, which has been grappling at great cost in human suffering and financial output with AIDS for three decades: Last year, 50,000 new cases of HIV were reported.  From the NYT story:Despite years of great progress . . . . Continue Reading »

This makes Shylock’s pound of flesh seem like a bargain.  A Scot professor (of course!) has urged that university students burdened by tuition debt be allowed to sell one of their kidneys to pay the bills.  From the story:STUDENTS should be able to sell their kidneys for tens of . . . . Continue Reading »

New Jersey is creating a new end of life commission to recommend public policy around end-of-life care. From the legislation:    3.  The purpose of the advisory council shall be to conduct a thorough and comprehensive study of all issues that it deems appropriate for the . . . . Continue Reading »

To think some people take this guy seriously.  Chris Mooney has a Looney Tunes blog post out today blaming testosterone and the supposed need to dominate others for global warming skepticism among angry white male conservatives.  (Talk about cliched thinking!)It’s a real hoot.  . . . . Continue Reading »

This is an odd lawsuit.  A pro life Democrat, former Congressman Steve Driehaus, was accused by the Susan B. Anthony List in ads (such as the one to the left) of supporting government funding of abortion by voting for Obamacare.  He lost his campaign for reelection and sued SBAL for . . . . Continue Reading »

Sometimes I think some in our society would rewrite the First Amendment to read, “Congress shall make no law...abridging the freedom of speech...or the right of the people peaceably to assemble—-unless you are a pro lifer.” Consider: Peaceful protesters are barred from . . . . Continue Reading »

Obamacare seizes control of health care and centralizes control over benefits and prices into an unaccountable centralized bureaucracy. That turns health care into a source of special interest larding, that will become important to buying the loyalty of the Democratic Party’s many and varied . . . . Continue Reading »

Secondhand Smokette has a terrific column out in today’s San Francisco Chronicle reviewing  the book Unnatural Selection: Choosing Boys Over Girls by Mara Hvistendahl. Hvistendahl, no pro lifer, demonstrates that because of sex selection abortion, there are 160 million fewer women and . . . . Continue Reading »