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Hollywood & Thine

If my right to extend my fist stops at your nose, does Michael Eisner’s right to extend his “spyware” stop at your Personal Video Recorder (PVR)? Usually, but Eisner and his Hollywood chums have rights, too. The video pirate who crashes a pre-theater screening of J-Lo’s latest, with a mini-camcorder to lift a pre-release print for black market production and distribution to your PVR, is a thief — one without the celluloid charm Cary Grant lavished on Grace Kelly, to be sure. Read More ›

Listen to John Drescher

Today, March 15, at 2pm Pacific Time, John Drescher will be a guest speaker on the Internet radio program “Seeking Business Excellence,” with Roland Vogel. Click here to listen on Business America Radio.

The Problem of Evil

As an advocate of the Intelligent Design movement, I’m very often confronted with the following rather pointed criticism: “Well, if the world is designed, then we’ve got to blame the designer for all of the evil in it, don’t we? Backaches and headaches, cancer, cats playing with mice, parasites, floods, Nazis, slavery, starving children—the whole mess would have to be Read More ›

Both Martha and Justice Have Suffered, and Now It Will Get Even Worse

Howard Chapman is an adjunct fellow of Discovery Institute If I had been a member of the Martha Stewart jury, she would not have been convicted. If I were the judge in her case, she would not spend any time in jail. Had I been on the jury, when we went into deliberations, I would have told my fellow jurors Read More ›

Evolution’s Logic of Credulity

1. Orr’s Premature Declaration of Victory

Allen Orr wrote an extended critical review (over 6000 words) of my book No Free Lunch for the Boston Review this summer. The Boston Review subsequently contacted me and asked for a 1000 word response. I wrote a response of that length focusing on what I took to be the fundamental flaw in Orr’s review (and indeed in Darwinian thinking generally, namely, conflating the realistically possible with the merely conceivable). What I didn’t know (though I should have expected it) is that Orr would have the last word and that the Boston Review would give him 1000 words to reply to my response (see the exchange in the current issue).

In his reply Orr takes me to task for not responding to the many particular objections he raised against my work in his original review, suggesting that this was the result of bewilderment on my part and intelligent design running out of steam and not, as was the case, for lack of space. This sort of rule-rigging by Orr and the Boston Review — give the respondent a little space, and then let the original author crow about winning — is to be expected. I actually find it encouraging, taking it as an indication of intelligent design’s progress. Orr’s review and follow-up hardly spell the death-knell for intelligent design or for my work in this area. Sooner or later (and probably sooner) Orr will find himself in a forum on intelligent design where the rules of engagement are not rigged in his favor. I look forward to his performance then.

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Iraq a Year Later

During World War II, when the 1944 presidential election came around, Republican candidates targeted Franklin D. Roosevelt’s competency and motives. They unearthed government procurement scandals and corporate “war profiteering.” Some even hinted that FDR was complicit in the war’s outbreak. But they could not oppose the war they had voted for and the public approved. They whooped up political excitement, Read More ›

Beware of Economic Hubris

President Bush’s economic team can rightfully be proud of their policies that produced the sizzling 8.2 percent real economic growth in the last quarter. But before they get too high on their own accomplishments, they need to look at the history of those who began to feel infallible in their economic policymaking. The Nixon economic team produced strong growth numbers Read More ›

Stem Cell News That Isn’t Fit For Print

MEDIA BIAS is alive and well and busily promoting the brave new world. I personally experienced the phenomenon recently when I participated in an educational symposium in Frankfort, Kentucky (along with Drs. David Prentice and John Hubert). Our purpose was to provide empirical and moral support for pending state legislation that would outlaw human cloning in Kentucky. (Similar laws have Read More ›

Is the Deficit Too Small?

The conventional wisdom is our federal government deficit is too large. However, the empirical evidence suggests the deficit might be too small. When people worry about the size of the deficit, they are not worried about the deficit in a particular year; what they are worried about is the accumulation of debt that needs to be serviced. Some years, most Read More ›

State School Board Set to Change Evolution Lesson Plan

COLUMBUS, Ohio – The president of the state school board says the scientific process matters more than the subject matter in any particular lesson plan. The board was set to vote on last-minute changes Tuesday to lesson plans on evolution to address concerns of scientists lobbying the board over their content, said board president Jennifer Sheets. The board’s standards committee Read More ›