creed of reason 
Battlezone Democracy
When Financial Markets and Political Leaders duke it out like Gojira and King Gidora, no wonder Democracy looks like Tokyo in a monster movie.
Der diskrete Charme des Totalitären
“Extremism is so easy. You’ve got your position, and that’s it. It doesn’t take much thought. And when you go far enough to the right, you meet the same idiots coming around from the left.” —Clint Eastwood
Verschwörungstheorien sind das Opium des Volkes (It’s Systemic, Stupid!)
Unsere globalen Misere ist ebenso systemisch bedingt wie unsere sich vierjährlich offenbarende Unfähigkeit, sie im verfügbaren demokratischen Prozeß zu lösen.
A Pound of Flash
Luckily, no civilized government we know of would be stupid enough to ever go and try such a thing!
Wait, Does Anyone Really Think Milton Friedman Would Approve of This Utter Wreckage?
If we don’t wake up from the pipe dreams of ”Rational Expectations” and “Efficient Markets,” we can all kiss our collective ass goodbye.
The Arab Spring, the Israeli Summer, and the Fall of the Western World
What’s been happening in London over the last few days, and has been or will be happening in other places, I’m sure the reasons are too much care, too much education, and not enough security cameras.
Pigs and the Human Condition (Plus, Pigs Are Cute)
Attributes like “poisonous,” “filthy,” or “wallowing in urine and excrement” sound suspiciously familiar.
First They Came for the Comics, Now They Come for the Games
Steve Pope is still determined to become the Fredric Wertham of our time.
Sam Harris in Berkeley: Can Science Determine Human Values?
Sam Harris’s terrific presentation in Berkeley about how science is the best tool we have at our disposal to alleviate human suffering and advance well-being.
Free Will(y)
If there’s no “free will,” are humans “just” input-output machines? Not at all: the secret is complexity.
On Gay Marriage: Maggie Gallagher Meets St. Peter
And people always ask me why I’m pro-Second Amendment.
George Carlin on Customs
“Just when these American citizens needed their rights the most, their government sucked ’em away. And rights aren’t rights if someone can take them away. They’re privileges, that’s all we’ve ever had in this country, is a bill of temporary privileges.”
A Letter From Mark Twain: An Update on Quack, Bad Advertising Copy, and Writer’s Wrath
Mark Twain in response to a sales letter-cum-advertisement for a “patent medicine” to cure meningitis, diphtheria, and other ailments.
Homeopathy and the Central Powers of Quack
For many people, it’s not that they don’t know what homeopathy really is. Rather, they don’t want to know—without being fully aware of it—for powerful reasons.
George Carlin on Religion
“I say ‘this guy,’ because I firmly believe, looking at these results, that if there is a God, it has to be a man. No woman could ever fuck things up like this.”
Stephen Fry at the Intelligence Squared Debate
“The only people who are obsessed with food are anorexics and the morbidly obese. And that, in erotic terms, is the Catholic church in a nutshell.”
Yes, Virginia, Religion Is Child Abuse
Indeed there is a hell, and children’s minds are where they built it. A recent video clip from Thunderf00t and a lengthy excerpt from James Joyce.
Lewis Black on Creationism: The Devil’s Handiwork
“There are people who believe that dinosaurs and men lived together. There are museums that children go to, in which they built dioramas to show them this.”
Logophobia
Logorama, Bibendum, William Gibson: a quotation from my doctoral thesis on iconic brands, politics, and the common roots of democracy and modes of production.