stcynic
Posts by this author
July 13, 2004
Pat Robertson's American Center for Law and Justice is asking the Supreme Court to overrule an appeals court decision in Ohio that removed postings of the Ten Commandments from 4 schools in that state. In a WorldNutDaily article about the appeal, the following quote appears:"It is an undisputable…
July 13, 2004
I know, I know, you probably think that he's either paying me to link to him or I'm some sort of groupie, but the truth is I just think he tends to express the opinions we share on this subject better than I do, so why reinvent the wheel? And if he keeps writing great stuff on constitutional law I'…
July 12, 2004
There's something just plain weird about this commentary by Ilana Mercer in the WorldNutDaily. She is discussing a couple of books, one entitled Ayn Rand, Homosexuality, and Human Liberation by Chris Matthew Sciabarra, and one entitled The Hijacking of a Philosophy: Homosexuals vs. Ayn Rand's…
July 12, 2004
John Scalzi has an interesting post this morning (well, interesting if you're a writer anyway) about the use of punctuation, prompted by a little battle he is having with the copy editor for his new book. It's interesting to me, at least, because I just had a similar conversation with Lynn last…
July 11, 2004
In the latest entry of his ongoing Libertarian Bookworm series, Timothy Sandefur writes about H.L. Mencken, in my opinion the finest essayist in American history and probably my single favorite writer, period. He mentions a new biography of Mencken written by Terry Teachout, which I had not heard…
July 10, 2004
In his continuing exchange with Clayton Cramer, Jon Rowe has written a very interesting post on the timeless and universal nature of the principles found in the Declaration of Independence. As usual, I find myself in almost complete agreement with his views, though I'm probably more apt to oppose…
July 9, 2004
Clayton Cramer says the concept of separation of church and state should be "given a proper (and secular) burial". Jon Rowe has already said much of what I would say in response to it, so I'm only going to comment on one aspect of Cramer's post. I have to give Cramer credit for at least accurately…
July 9, 2004
If you have any interest at all in constitutional law, I strongly recommend that you read Timothy Sandefur's post on demagoguery and the claim that "unelected judges" are "usurping the will of the people". It's one of those essays you read and think, "Damn, I wish I'd written that. He says exactly…
July 9, 2004
With the recent controversy over the Bush administration's courting of churches in the 2004 presidential campaign going on, there was an interesting exchange between Barry Lynn, director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, and Jerry Falwell on CNBC's Capital Report on July 2nd.…
July 8, 2004
The Associated Press reports:A religious fundamentalist was sentenced Thursday to five years in prison for plotting to blow up abortion clinics, churches he disagreed with and gay bars after a judge ruled he is not a terrorist under federal law.
Stephen John Jordi, who was turned in by relatives…
July 8, 2004
Last night we were back to our normal game of 1/2 pot limit holdem, and boy am I glad. But it was a very odd night all the way around. Out of 8 players, only two finished with any money left at all, 6 had busted out completely. Thankfully, I was one of those two, the other being Jeff, who got run…
July 8, 2004
In the comments on a post made some weeks ago, an exchange has begun between myself and William Gibbons, a creationist, concerning the evidence for evolution. There are several issues there that really can't be settled for quite some time, but I want to move the main part of the dispute, the…
July 7, 2004
If you have not checked out the Panda's Thumb, I recommend starting with this post by Ian Musgrave. It is a devestating critique of an article by Discovery Institute fellow Jonathan Witt. Ian is an Australian biochemist and he simply shreds Witt's arguments against the argument from jury-rigged…
July 7, 2004
Thanks to the anonymous person who nominated me for the underblog list. That's a list of blogs that someone thinks should be read more widely, published by an Australian blog. Timothy Sandefur is on the list too, as well he should be. Check out the whole list, you may find some other great pages…
July 6, 2004
Whenever you find something on Worldnutdaily labeled an "exclusive commentary", you can usually be assured that it's exclusive because it's so badly written and poorly reasoned that no one else would publish it. Such is the case with today's commentary by Mychal Massie entitled Morality Doesn't…
July 6, 2004
The poker world is in a state of shock this morning after the unexpected death of Andy Glazer from complications with a blood clot. Andy is widely considered the best poker writer in the world. He wrote a weekly column, Wednesday Night Poker, that focused on both the personalities and the strategy…
July 5, 2004
Coach K has turned down the Lakers' offer to coach in the NBA and decided to stay at Duke University. According to news reports out of LA, not only did they offer him $8 million a year ($2 million more than Phil Jackson made even after winning 3 NBA titles with the Lakers), they also offered him…
July 4, 2004
I've been documenting lately the many lies put out by Rev. Moon's Unification Church, and one of the reasons why I'm so fascinated by this is because the pattern is so similar to what we see from ID advocates - say one thing to the public, a different thing to the "initiated", and then when someone…
July 3, 2004
These are taken from a speech that Moon gave at a graduation for his seminary students in the US in 1993:My enemies are America and Christianity. How am I going to win over those enemies. God's way is to get hit and win. Everybody opposed Father but I do not hate those who opposed me. It is natural…
July 3, 2004
This week's Idiot of the Week is Bruce Walker. It will come as no surprise that I found this cretin through a link from the WorldNutDaily. His article, published in the American Daily, is entitled The Case for America Divorcing Its Haters. In it, Mr. Walker tosses out the old "if you don't love…
July 2, 2004
Ernst Mayr, one of the true giants of science, is now 100 years old and still very active as a teacher and writer. In the latest issue of Science, he has a retrospective on his 80 years of work in evolutionary biology. He was one of the primary architects of the neo-Darwinian synthesis that united…
July 2, 2004
Say it ain't so. Please say it ain't so. Long time readers of this blog know that I am a huge college basketball fan, especially a Duke fan. Have been since I was about 14 years old. Coach K has been at Duke since 1981. In that 23 years, he has taken Duke to 10 final fours and 3 national…
July 1, 2004
From the press conference yesterday, reported by Townhall:"It was the spirit world that said he was the Messiah," said Archbishop George A. Stallings, Jr., pastor of an independent African-American Catholic congregation. Moon, founder of the Unification Church, was merely repeating the message,…
July 1, 2004
The Moonies held a press conference yesterday to clear up what they claim are misconceptions and falsehoods fostered by us evil bloggers about the March 23rd Moon coronation ceremony at the Dirkson senate office building. The press conference featured Michael Jenkins, George Stallings and other…
June 30, 2004
The guys have decided, for the time being at least, to change the format of our weekly game. Instead of a cash game, they want to have a series of single table tournaments for $20 each. They figure we can do 3 a week, that way no one can lose more than $60 and it will attract more people. The…
June 30, 2004
The WorldNutDaily is reporting on a Federal court case involving Palm Beach, Florida, where they allowed a Jewish menorrah to be displayed in a public park, but refused to allow a Christian nativity scene. Both were paid for with private funds. The city was obviously wrong to do so and they have…
June 30, 2004
One of the best sources of information about Rev. Moon and the Unification Church is ex-Moonies - former members of the cult who have escaped and are brave enough to speak out about their experiences. One of those folks, K. Gordon Neufeld, has posted a couple of comments here and I urge all of you…
June 29, 2004
John Gorenfeld was on the radio this morning in Detroit (click here to listen to the show), along with the Rev. George Stallings. For those of you not familiar with Rev. George Stallings, he is a maverick former Catholic priest who quit the priesthood and established his own quasi-Catholic church…
June 29, 2004
Well it took less than a day to find out what any perceptive person knew anyway, that the turnover in power from the US to the interim Iraqi government is purely symbolic, a paper move only. Only the breathtakingly naive would view it as anything other than that, and here's a perfect example of why…
June 29, 2004
Not often do I read something on Southern Appeal with which I agree completely, but William Watkins post on yesterday's decisions is right on the money. My reaction to the decisions, like his, is decidedly mixed, but on the whole I was happy to see that most of the justices were not willing to…