Author ArchivesJohn

Unbelievable. The reaction to this story today about US Vice President Dick Cheney accidentally shooting a member of his group while hunting is nothing short of bizarre. The story goes like this: Cheney is out with a bunch of fellow hunters on the ranch of his friends the Armstrongs in ...

Let me join the chorus of sensible voices out there in the blogosphere and reiterate my disdain of the actions of Muslims around the world right now. As many within the Islam religion are still violently protesting the publishing of cartoons depicting the prophet Mohammed in a Danish newspaper, there ...

In addition to some regular hate mail, I’ve received an email in response to a recent article (January 31st, “Why defend the right to own or carry a gun?”). In that article, I made the claim that concealed weapons permit holders are responsible in part for reduced crime rates in ...

I received my concealed weapons permit yesterday from the Arizona Department of Public Safety. In the United States, concealed weapons permits allow ordinary citizens to carry a handgun in public areas, concealed from view. To many people who don’t live in areas where such a practice is normal – like ...

Sunday Sequence team- Your web poll is not an accurate portrayal of what most people think. The question was, “Is the assassination of terrorists by government agents ever legitimate?” And, as of today, your website visitors think that it isn’t, by 74% to 26%. Bizarre. And it doesn’t demonstrate that ...

I’d rather have started 2006 with a humdinger of a post, attacking some leftist lunatic, or lecturing conservatism on how wrong it is. But politics is just plain dull at the moment, and other current events are decidedly unworthy of Voice of Reason comment, or of podcasting. So let me ...

Throughout the ages, leaders and organisations have formed creeds at pivotal times in history which set out what they believe. They are statements which derive from some kind of principal, which usually don’t attempt to make any justification for those beliefs, but which set out clearly their positions on the ...

Hell has frozen over. Today my hometown, Belfast, Northern Ireland, the last major stronghold of fundamentalist evangelicals in the United Kingdom, became the stage for the first legal civil unions of homosexual couples in the UK. What a wonderful juxtaposition between liberal and conservative thought. And what a great discussion. ...

What a bunch of whiners! Starbucks printing a Christian quote on this month’s coffee cup in its cafés seemed to really irritate some people featured on your program last week. It “bothered” them because, according to one, the quote is part of the “discourse of the religious Right.” It seems ...

John Kerry, US presidential candidate in 2004: ‘It’s long overdue time to raise the minimum wage.’ ‘Raise the minimum wage and training fund to help the poor.’ ‘Desperate need to build more affordable housing.’ ‘Expand EITC as anti-poverty measure.’ ‘Voted YES on welfare block grants.’ ‘Voted NO on allowing state ...

Several months ago, when I wrote to the BBC Sunday Sequence program to refute the claim that SUVs have any significant impact on the climate, presenter William Crawley (who is an old friend) joked that I didn’t specify what kind of vehicle I drive myself. The implication was that the ...

For environmental wackoists, Sir Jonathon Porritt could be either a traitor or a visionary. He is an aforementioned environmental wackoist himself, having been a ‘Friend of the Earth’ and a Green Party figurehead, and current advisor to the Blair government. To these groups of wackoists, what Porritt believes is wildly ...

1) I have come to the conclusion that, for most people, some parts of liberty will always be more appealing than others. Say we broadly divide liberty in two parts: the personal/social portion (dealing with who we should be allowed to have sex with, which substances we can put in ...

Not all of the effects of leftist influence are bad. I know this is a stretch for some of you, particularly conservative or libertarian readers out there, but bear with me. One of the such effects I’m enjoying right now is the change taking place within the food industry. The ...

‘Lord of War’ is an exposé of worldwide gunrunning. It stars Nicholas Cage. Frankly, I was expecting a strong agenda here – and I don’t think lefties were in short supply during the concept stage. But in fact, ‘Lord of War’ is a sharp, intriguing look at the life of ...

I have had several exchanges recently with people who are sometimes confused by the oft-used political labels; labels like ‘left’, ‘right’, ‘liberal’, ‘conservative’, ‘libertarian’. It is easy to lament labels in general and simply redefine the terms to make them more logical. But language is a dynamic, fluid concept with ...

I live a few minutes from the Colorado River along the California/Arizona border. To the casual observer, the beautiful turquoise water is a haven of activity in the desert: speedboats, barbecues, deckchairs, bikinis and floating restaurants. I spent many days this summer playing and relaxing on boats, jetskis and other ...

For the benefit of American readers and as a healthy, timely reminder to my fellow Brits who can quite easily become used to the idea: the TV licence fee is a communist mechanism which provides the BBC a unique, privileged source of income from television-owning households in the United Kingdom ...

The latest trend among environmental wackoists (a technical term meaning “One given to wackoism”) is to propagate and discuss the idea that global warming may now be “irreversible”. We’ve gone too far. We’ve damaged, plundered, raped, mutilated and butchered this fragile planet more than it can take. We’ve sprayed one ...

Some reports of Blair taking the opportunity of the Clinton Global Initiative to say with “brutal honesty”: “My thinking has changed in the past three or four years,” on Kyoto, and: “No country is going to cut its growth,” and once Kyoto runs its limit: “They’re not going to start ...