Ray Harvey

I liked this, particularly the last reason, which comes at around the 5:50 mark: Lesson: always take the Fifth.

This is from the Washington Wire: A labor union representing roofers is reversing course and calling for repeal of the federal health law, citing concerns the law will raise its cost for insuring members. Organized labor was instrumental in getting the Affordable Care Act passed in 2010, but more recently has voiced concerns that the [...]

[The following is a repost:] A reader writes: Dear Sir: Why do rabbits and eggs represent Easter, which also celebrates the resurrection of Christ? – Peter Dear Peter: Easter primarily represents the advent of springtime, just as Christ’s resurrection does. The Old-English word Eastre derives from an Anglo-Saxon Pagan goddess named Eostre, about whom very [...]

The Journal Pulp is offering a $100.00 cash prize for the following: Best first sentence for a novel about a lovely librarian who secretly burns the books she loves because she wants no one else to read them. You got the stuff? Submit your work here: http://journalpulp.com/2013/03/21/best-first-sentence-2/

Whiskey — or whisky, if you prefer — is a distilled spirit that’s usually made from corn, rye, barley, wheat, or, very often, a cross combination of some or all those. Whiskey is almost always aged in wooden casks which almost always consist of charred white oak. The word “whiskey” is an anglicized version of [...]

What’s that, you say? No intelligent person would ever utter that? Well, don’t watch this: (Hat tip Doug Powers via Michelle Malkin) “The time has come, America, to step up and ban these weapons,” Feinstein said. “The other very important part of this bill is to ban large capacity ammunition feeding devices — those that [...]

My name is Kevin. I’m Kevin Mathew Haas. My last name does not rhyme with moss. It does not rhyme with floss. To say so makes me cross. Many regard me as the motherfucking boss. I enjoy a little of the sauce. In fact, my last name — Haas — rhymes with gauze. (This should [...]

The man named Valentinus (which comes from the Latin valens, meaning “powerful, brave, valiant”) was a martyred Christian of ancient Rome, about whom virtually nothing is known. His name does not appear in the earliest redaction of Christian martyrs (354 AD), and it was Pope Gelasius who first included Valentinus — or Saint Valentine, as [...]

Michael Cannon is Cato Institute’s director of health policy studies and an indefatigable crusader against socialized medicine. Recently, he wrote an excellent article concerning the continuing resistance against ObamaCare, the need to maintain that resistance, and the relative success of that resistance so far: Former Romney adviser Avik Roy now advises conservatives “to accept the [...]

George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron, who later changed it to George Gordon Noel, 6th Baron Byron, English poet, towering personality, and leading figure in the Romantic movement, was born January 22, 1788. “A man of genius whose heart is perverted,” William Wordsworth called Lord Bryon. “The most vulgar-minded genius that ever produced a great [...]

James M. Buchanan, economist and Nobel Prize winner, died Wednesday, January 9th, 2013. He was 93. He was also among the most important economists of the 20th century: “A founder and profound contributor to the discipline of public choice, the branch of economics that examines how governments actually make policies. Prior to his work, many [...]

Best mugshot ever? David Bowie is one of my absolute favorite musicians of all-time. Today he turned 66-years-old, and in honor of the occasion, after a full decade of silence, he released a new single called “Where Are We Now?” Happy Birthday, David Bowie!

Syncretism: a term that means the combining or reconciling of opposing practices and principles. It’s most commonly used in a religious or philosophical context, and as with Easter, Christmas too is syncretic in its origins: a pagan celebration whose provenance long predates Christ’s birth but which eventually made its way into the Christian mainstream. As [...]

Are mass shootings becoming more common in the United States? The short answer is No, though you’d never guess it by listening to the mainstream media. Jesse Walker has written a good article on the subject: As the AP pointed out this weekend: [T]hose who study mass shootings say they are not becoming more common. [...]

Man, I ate like a pig for Thanksgiving. This was written by the late Ted Hughes, most famous, I think, for being the husband of Sylvia Plath: The pig lay on a barrow dead. It weighed, they said, as much as three men. Its eyes closed, pink white eyelashes. Its trotters stuck straight out. Such [...]