Author: Adam Lee

Just what makes people think they have a right to benefit from the natural resources of their country?

I really liked this article on Salon showcasing two-sentence horror stories written by professional authors. Notwithstanding the current popularity of blood-and-guts horror (more of an appeal to disgust than to fear, I’ve always thought), a good horror story is always scariest because of what it implies, not of what it reveals, and this challenge just…

Next Tuesday, voters in Virginia will choose their state’s next governor. After months of hard-fought campaigning, the race is clearly tilting in favor of the Democratic candidate, Terry McAuliffe, and against Republican nominee Ken Cuccinelli. As recently as May, Cuccinelli was ahead in the polls, but the most recent poll shows that McAuliffe has taken…

I read apologetics books every so often just to keep in practice, and this week I’m tackling Timothy Keller’s The Reason for God. So far, I’m supremely unimpressed: it’s mostly just reheated C.S. Lewis leftovers (seriously, his answer to almost every question is a quote of Lewis), spiced with that old apologist standby, blatant dishonesty…

I don’t know a lot about R&B or hip-hop, but I know what I like, and since discovering Janelle Monáe a few weeks ago I’ve been well and truly addicted. In any case, Monáe is almost impossible to pigeonhole. R&B is only the broadest description of her music, which spans a wide variety of styles…

Cold-blooded murder in the name of capitalism is A-OK.

As a born-and-raised New Yorker, I reserve the right to make fun of New Jersey every so often, but this week I have nothing but congratulations for my neighbors in the Garden State: As couples across New Jersey began marrying on Monday after the stroke of midnight, Gov. Chris Christie abandoned his long fight against…

As I previously mentioned, I’m going to be speaking at the upcoming monthly meeting of NYC Atheists on Thursday, October 31. Yes, on Halloween! I’ll be giving my very spooky talk on how it’s possible to be good without gods (well, the idea seems to frighten some people). I’m told you can come in costume…

Since I started reading Atlas Shrugged, I’ve become interested in libertarian theories of how the state should operate. Like many libertarian writers, Rand is full of outrage against the intrusive laws of Big Government, but the book ends when that society collapses. She says very little about the new society that’s going to take its…

State-funded science has never invented anything useful, except space flight, nuclear power, GPS, and the Internet.