Author Archives: Heather Mac Donald

A counterweight to pessimism?

Posted on November 17, 2009 by Heather Mac Donald

I of course hearken to my esteemed SR colleague’s bracing call to gloom.  But how could one not feel just a little bit joyful at yet another sign of the grass-roots knowledge explosion that the internet has fostered?  an army … Continue reading →

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Terror-mongering in Illinois

Posted on November 16, 2009 by Heather Mac Donald

The Republicans are once again fear-mongering regarding the transfer of Gitmo detainees to maximum security federal prisons on the mainland: Several Illinois lawmakers say the Chicago area would become a terrorist target if Guantanamo Bay detainees are moved to a … Continue reading →

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Real-World Morality

Posted on November 16, 2009 by Heather Mac Donald

Secular Right’s readers have been raising the hoary “without God, no morality” topos again: The problem with creating a notion of “secular authority” is that you run into . . .  the “great sez who?” Eventually, without a belief in … Continue reading →

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Holder’s schizophrenic tribunal decision

Posted on November 15, 2009 by Heather Mac Donald

The Bush administration never managed to shake the specious implication that military tribunals represented some unprecedented Bushian invention designed to evade justice, rather than longstanding historical practice.   I don’t understand why it failed so miserably on that count.  Yet the … Continue reading →

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We’re not going to catch up

Posted on November 8, 2009 by Heather Mac Donald

A recent item on New York City’s public radio station announced an award program for local science teachers.  Featured was a teacher who had his students keep journals “reflecting on their scientific thinking,” ” in the tradition of Leonardo.”

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Civilizing the young

Posted on November 8, 2009 by Heather Mac Donald

Many Americans who are indifferent to faith will confess they find themselves challenged as they try to raise good and decent children without the religious confidence their parents had. writes William McGurn, for whose sagacity I have the utmost respect.  … Continue reading →

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Torture porn

Posted on November 7, 2009 by Heather Mac Donald

Liberal and left-wing critics of Bush’s “war on terror” have brandished the word “torture” to refer to every stressful interrogation practice that soldiers in Afghanistan and Guantanamo desperately and clumsily evolved in their effort to gather intelligence on presumed terror … Continue reading →

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Infant mortality, here and elsewhere

Posted on November 7, 2009 by Heather Mac Donald

If you’re a baby, you’ve got a greater chance of surviving into your toddler years if you’re born in godless Europe and other less zealous Western and Asian nations than in religious America.   Premature births, often brought on by drinking, … Continue reading →

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War on terror: environmentalist chapter

Posted on November 7, 2009 by Heather Mac Donald

During the Bush years, the Democrats aggressively played terror porn one-upmanship.  They grandstanded over the Dubai ports deal and demanded that all U.S.-bound cargo containers be screened for nuclear weapons (a grossly unnecessary measure) and that the chemical industry be … Continue reading →

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Fort Hood and the Islamist threat

Posted on November 6, 2009 by Heather Mac Donald

The Fort Hood shootings are a horrific tragedy, one for which all Americans mourn.  Even if the right’s assumption that Nidal Malik Hasan was primarily motivated by Islamist ideology proves correct, however, it’s going to take a lot more such … Continue reading →

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