Author Archives: David Hume

Jason Richwine on immigration

Some readers have wondered about the specific policy positions which contributors to this website might hold. In regards to immigration, I am in broad sympathy with Jason Richwine’s recent article in The American. Quality, not quantity. I understand the logic … Continue reading

Posted in culture, data | Tagged | 11 Comments

Women at war

The New York Times has a piece up, G.I. Jane Breaks the Combat Barrier as War Evolves, which details the shift over the past 8 year of women into combat roles. I’ve read and heard about this dynamic for years, … Continue reading

Posted in culture | Tagged , | 20 Comments

Are secular conservatives more libertarian? Yes

There were some comments below to the effect that secular conservatives tend to be more “libertarian” than religious conservatives. Anyone who has moved in libertarian circles knows that atheists & agnostics are well represented; after all, many libertarians are strongly … Continue reading

Posted in data | Tagged | 12 Comments

Regional differences in voting for Barack Obama

I’ve been playing with quantitative data and mapping recently (numbers & maps are two things I’m rather preoccupied with). I was curious as to geographic variation in support for Barack Obama as a function of the % of a county … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | 9 Comments

Convictions matter

Tom Rees reports on data which suggests that people with firmer convictions, atheists and theists, tend to be happier. The methodological issue is that since sample sizes are small for those who are not religious in the United States those … Continue reading

Posted in data | Tagged | 16 Comments

European dreams, a uniquely American pastime

Americans are rather stupid people, as is the norm among humans. This stupidity is manifest in a general lack of knowledge or understanding of the goings on in the rest of the world. And just as dull elementary school age … Continue reading

Posted in culture | Tagged | 43 Comments

Socialized medicine, numbers are of the essence?

I don’t know if there is some context to this Bill O’Reilly assertion that Canadian life expectancy is higher because of fewer people, and so fewer absolute fatalities (e.g., he got turned around on the words?). But it got me … Continue reading

Posted in culture, data | Tagged , , | 11 Comments

Intelligent Design as philosophy

The most recent Bloggingheads.tv features Ronald L. Numbers, author of The Creationists, and Paul Nelson, a Creationist and Intelligent Design advocate. The discussion is civil and well-informed, but as noted by some of the commenters on the Bloggingheads.tv site, it … Continue reading

Posted in culture | Tagged , | 22 Comments

12 questions for John Derbyshire

In The Economist. John is promoting his new book, We Are Doomed: Reclaiming Conservative Pessimism.

Posted in culture | Tagged , , | 65 Comments