Water is like oil in that once it’s been used up, there won’t be any more.  It is not a renewable resource, and only about 1% of it is water that we, or our pets, or our livestock, or wildlife, can  actually drink or ingest in any form. Food production itself depends on the water supply, and a chef without water would be a chef without the means to make a meal.

Since this is the case, I think we could measure people’s moral and intellectual IQs by how they treat this legacy of water. By that standard, a great many of the world’s leaders, and their followers too, are practically brain-dead. But there are geniuses, too. Among these are the Sioux of Standing Rock, North Dakota, who are risking their lives to oppose the oil-spilling, water-polluting, totally inessential industry of fracking. We can demonstrate our own high IQs by standing with them and with groups allied with them, such as Veterans for Peace.

Suppose, for example, that the physician who urges you to take Pill X also owns the company that manufactures Pill X. Or that the kid who wins the local dance competition is related to all the judges. Continue reading “Conflicts of interest” →

There’s no such thing as a self-made man or woman. You’re more likely to encounter an actual unicorn. Continue reading “There’s no such thing” →

All right, men, women, children, oldsters, babies, all of you who are related in any way to American Revolutionary leftist firebrand Patrick Henry (I think it was Patrick Henry)—step, hobble, or crawl over to the side right now and get your IDs taken away and your home ownership canceled. Continue reading “You, you, and you” →