theDrahos

Review of Mike Lee, Our Lost Constitution: The Willful Subversion of America’s Founding Document (Sentinel, 2015), x + 244 pgs., hardcover. One might get the impression from reading Senator Mike Lee’s new book that he and his fellow Republicans in Congress who talk about the Constitution actually believe in following it. And the same could be said for the conservatives who endorse the book on the back of its dust jacket: Glenn Beck, Mark Levin, Edwin Meese, and Larry Arnn. This doesn’t mean that Lee has not written a good book. He has, or at least the first part of … Continue reading →

The huge, genetically engineered dinosaur which goes on a man-eating rampage in Jurassic World, this summer’s blockbuster movie, owes her very existence to a smaller but equally scary beast, casually — almost affectionately — nicknamed Bruce by the men who created it. This was the rogue Great White shark in Jaws, the film which premiered 40 years ago this week — and in doing so, launched the modern trend for action-packed summer mega-movies. The symmetry of the two openings is irresistible. Jurassic World, which arrived in cinemas here last Friday, has Steven Spielberg, 68, as executive producer. He was just … Continue reading →

“It is perfectly possible for a man to be out of prison and yet not free—to be under no physical constraint and yet be a psychological captive, compelled to think, feel and act as the representatives of the national state, or of some private interest within the nation wants him to think, feel and act. . . . To him the walls of his prison are invisible and he believes himself to be free.”—Aldous Huxley, A Brave New World Revisited “Free worlders” is prison slang for those who are not incarcerated behind prison walls.  Supposedly, those fortunate souls live in … Continue reading →

Nebraska’s legislature recently made headlines when it ended the state’s death penalty. Many found it odd that a conservatives-dominated legislature would support ending capital punishment, since conservative politicians have traditionally supported the death penalty. However, an increasing number of conservatives are realizing that the death penalty is inconsistent with both fiscal and social conservatism. These conservatives are joining with libertarians and liberals in a growing anti-death penalty coalition. It is hard to find a more wasteful and inefficient government program than the death penalty. New Hampshire recently spent over $4 million dollars prosecuting just two death penalty cases, while Jasper County in … Continue reading →

Look, I am no seismologist. But I cannot agree with the people of the Malaysian province who claim that a recent fatal tremor was nothing short of divine retribution. The tribal folk in the neighbourhood of Mount Kinabalu say that local deities – the aki – took violent exception to a group of streaking European tourists, and in particular a young British woman who loosened her girdle and shook her naked breasts at the mountain. They say that the spirits quivered in corresponding outrage. They say that the great earth mother was so outraged that she uncorseted herself and wobbled the … Continue reading →

By Stuart CooperCampaign Manager, Fluoride Action Network (FAN) Just when you thought the evidence against fluoridation couldn’t get any more damning, several new studies and reviews have been published so far in just the past five months that ought to condemn fluoridation to the history books once and for all. The video above features a brief overview by Dr. Paul Connett, director of the Fluoride Action Network (FAN),  about the health risks of water fluoridation you may have not been aware of. Water Fluoridation Linked to Higher Prevalence of ADHD A new study links water fluoridation to attention deficit hyperactivity … Continue reading →