This morning I wrote that Glenn Reynolds was making claims about the President's Council on Bioethics that, to put it politely, didn't correspond with the facts. I pointed this out to Reynolds and he responded, also politely, that the errors weren't factual, just a "different assessment.” (Since my claim was that his 'assessment” wasn't based on actual facts I thought my point was still valid.)
Nevertheless, I didn't think anything of it…until I saw that he had added more posts on the topic. The first update was from Virginia Postrel who concurred with his view. The next update was another contra-Council piece by Ron Bailey.
Later in the day he wrote another post on the ban of federal funding for stem cell research. Then, to cap it off, he added yet another critical link by Volokh conspirator Jacob Levy.
I think Reynolds is a smart guy and I've admired him for as long as I've been blogging. But I'm rather surprised that he doesn't mention any criticism of his position.
It could be, of course, that he just doesn't like me or my blog. Fair enough. But Sara Butler and Dan Moore have also pointed out his unfair ad hominem attack on Leon Kass. No doubt there are others.
Obviously, I don't expect him to answer every third rate blogger that sends him an email. But I've never noticed him take such a one-sided perspective on such a divisive issue. Am I wrong in expecting him to address his critics?
1
If Leon Kass is the same guy that I am thinking of then he is the President's advisor who made the kind of philosophical arguments like "increasing the life expectancy of the human race will decrease the quality of life." Basically, he argued that we'll be happier if we die young enough to leave beautiful corpses.
The truth is that the federal government has no power to either fund stem cell research nor prohibit others from doing so. It also has no power to impose a ban on any form of cloning, except perhaps to create a clone army which would fall under federal military powers.
I support a ban on funding, for no other reason than I think that the tax payers' money should only subsidize economic activity that is directly related to federal operations like fighter craft research. Again, it's a libertarian thing. Many social conservatives go hog wild with the treasury like a drunken Marxist when the cause is "right."
posted on 03.01.2004 8:49 PM2
Also unfair are the attacks on Peter Lawler--a thoroughly brilliant guy. As a Berry College student, I just had to defend him.
posted on 03.01.2004 9:09 PM3
Joe,
Perhaps you shouldn't have your membership in the Alliance of Free Blogs displayed so openly on your site, eh?
(I keed, I keed)
posted on 03.01.2004 9:38 PM4
Kass writes, "The finitude of human life is a blessing for every individual whether he knows it or not."
That is taken from your citing a Reason article on Kass. So much for your "misunderstood philosopher." Excuse the hell out of me Kass, but I would love for my family and I to live a few hundred years. I like new things, I like to see where we are going.
I think it is troubling that we have this kind of knuckle-dragging neo-con on such an important position. Properly extending the human life expectancy would have a stablizing effect on our society. It would make us value our freedoms more and think of the longterm more. It would ultimately make America more Goldwater-esque conservative in the long run.
Luddites like Kass, like lobbyists, should be shot if they get within 500 miles of D.C. (And for the sarcasm-immune, I'm being facetious).
posted on 03.01.2004 11:06 PM5
You gotta be kidding. I reckon you know when a blogger is getting pretentious- when being instasnubbed bothers him. Get over it! It happens! Heres little old me being snubbed by the evangelical outpost! I am sure I used to at least have a 'Reciprocity' link. I sure as heck have 'The Evangelical Outpost' on my blogroll. Snubbed by the outpost- what does that make me an evangelical outcaste?
Perhaps it was because I said I thought the Army was more evangelical thatn the outpost? Maybe he just doesnt like my blog. Or more likely he just forgot and deleted me by mistake.....
posted on 03.03.2004 4:33 PM6
Adrian,
***You gotta be kidding. I reckon you know when a blogger is getting pretentious- when being instasnubbed bothers him. Get over it! It happens! ***
What bothers me is not that Reynolds has snubbed me but that he has written almost a dozen posts making false claims about Leon Kass. I think that Reynolds is being dishonest by not addressing his critics.
***Heres little old me being snubbed by the evangelical outpost! I am sure I used to at least have a 'Reciprocity' link. I sure as heck have 'The Evangelical Outpost' on my blogroll. Snubbed by the outpost- what does that make me an evangelical outcaste?***
You've always been on there. The links are listed alphabetically so you are under "W" for "Warnock."
***Perhaps it was because I said I thought the Army was more evangelical thatn the outpost? ***
What?! You think Army is more "evangelical" than me? No way. I'm an evangelicals evangelical.
-joe
posted on 03.03.2004 4:51 PM7
EMAIL: ogcmf@sexmuch.com
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DATE: 05/03/2004 09:02:47 AM
Cultivated people foster what is good in others, not what is bad. Petty people do the opposite.
8
EMAIL: ygqvo@sexmuch.com
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DATE: 06/30/2004 11:22:33 AM
Assassination is the extreme form of censorship.