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Ron Rosenbaum misunderstands atheism

June 29th, 2010

Journalist Ron Rosenbaum castigates atheists as believers in a religion of science. I argue that he's wrong.

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Is global warming cynicism “denial”?

June 12th, 2010

Global warming cynics reject the science supporting climate change. Does that make them "deniers"? I explore the mechanics of denial to answer the question.

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Facebook: slaying the privacy bogeyman

January 16th, 2010

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has sparked privacy concerns with recent comments. I explain why we have little to fear.

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Recent Entries

California Dreamin’ 2010, Prologue

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Tomorrow, the evening of Friday the 20th of August, I shall leave behind the sweltering swamp that our nation’s capital becomes in summer, to venture into the temperate land of beauty we call California, where I will meet my grandparents for a two week vacation. I spent a week there for Cato University at the [...]

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Losing my religion

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Many people can’t imagine life without God. But I have soundly rejected the concept. In honor of Christmas, here’s why.

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Rebutting “The blood-stained century of evolution”

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The theory of evolution is not responsible for Nazi bloodshed.

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Say goodbye to political privacy

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Say goodbye to political privacy

The Huffington Post has put up a feature it calls “Fundrace,” which allows users to search by address, city, name, occupation, or employer to find out who has made campaign donations of $200 or more, of which federal law requires public disclosure. On a whim, I did a vanity search for my name, even though [...]

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Neuropsychology illuminates roots of human ethics

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Neuropsychology illuminates roots of human ethics

David Hume said humans, in observing pain, experience that pain, too. Therefore, we want to alleviate the pain of other people, to ameliorate the suffering it causes within us. This empathy for our fellow humans constitutes the basis for treating them decently.
Hume’s best friend Adam Smith, in his 1759 work The Theory of Moral Sentiments, [...]

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Does Scandal Matter?

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Given the results of the 2006 elections, one could wonder whether scandals actually matter for electoral outcomes. Senator Conrad Burns of Montana, who used a subcommittee chairmanship to fulfill the requests of Jack Abramoff in exchange for cash,1 did lose his seat, but only by such a slim margin several days of vote counting were [...]

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Chafee for Senate

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Chafee for Senate

An R next to a politician’s name might as well be a scarlet letter in 2006.
Voters have tired of Republican President George W. Bush for his ignorance of reality in Iraq and abuses of power at home. And Americans have soured on Republican custodians of Congress for lining their pockets with lobbyists’ bribes and concealing [...]

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Democrats, beware

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In the upcoming elections, Democrats have the strongest chance of seizing control of the House of Representatives since 1994. Perhaps they will take the Senate as well.
Republicans, after all, have left the door open for Democrats: They have pushed an unpopular war in Iraq. They have tainted themselves with the stench of Jack Abramoff. They [...]

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