Poor Philip Nitschke, so unliked, misunderstood, and unwanted. Here he is on a mission of mercy to permit old people to take Mexican animal euthanasia drugs if they are tired of life and to ensure that troubled teens to have access to the “peaceful” suicide pill in grocery stores. (Yes, . . . . Continue Reading »
Pay close attention to how the story I am about to discuss from the Philadelphia Inquirer was written to give a favorable impression of a suicide.It is about a woman named Rona Zelniker, who killed herself because of a disabling disease. Note that the word “suicide” is never used except . . . . Continue Reading »
I’m spending the morning (and now part of the afternoon) on one of those fancy buses that has an internet connection. Since I didn’t have the foresight to download an episode of Battlestar Galactica, I’ve got nothing better to do than read tomorrow’s New York Times, and to . . . . Continue Reading »
Nothing fascinates me more than an occasional perusing of the local newspaper, the ever reliable and accurate (The) Review , which used to be the East Liverpool Evening Review, the latter appellation a victim of progress. The Review and I have a history that began in the 1950’s . . . . Continue Reading »
Over at the American Spectator, Cato’s Doug Bandow considers the implications of Senator Specter’s decision to become a Democrat. Without exactly welcoming the switch, he suggests that Specter’s departure offers an opportunity to get back to principle: “Absolute purity . . . . Continue Reading »
From time to time I have pointed out the sad yearning so many seem to feel that their lives would not seem so lacking if only they could somehow be extraordinary—without having to actually work to achieve anything special. This desire is often the basis of movies and television shows . . . . Continue Reading »
Pig learns from Zebra that transhumanism is a pipe dream:Secondhand Smokette insists this cartoon is really about me. I disagree!This picture of me on my Blackberry while in Estonia, is irrelevant to her baseless . . . . Continue Reading »
I’ve just finished a draft of a dissertation chapter that dredges up one of Richard Rorty’s few, all-too-few references to Philip Rieff. Rorty liked Rieff’s remark that “Freud democratized genius by giving everyone a creative unconscious.” Harold Bloom, no antagonist . . . . Continue Reading »
Physicians are being pushed steadily into an untenable position. On one hand, they are professionally obligated to render optimal care to each patient based on individual need. On the other hand, they are increasingly being looked to by bureaucrats and bioethicists as serving another role—for . . . . Continue Reading »
In the first of what will be a three-part series of articles, Daniel Patrick Moloney at Public Discourse examines the thinking common to both major political parties: that an important way to reduce poverty is to reduce the number of poor children. This viewpoint was most recently articulated by . . . . Continue Reading »
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