i’ll take you for that blogwatch stroll

way past properties so secure…

Amptoons: Islamists win elections; When Mormons Attack; Mulan’s sisters suffer in Disney sweatshops. Maybe I’ll post about corporate oversight later; for the moment I’ll just say that transparency (=exposure by human rights orgs and journalists), not law, is the most useful means of protecting Third World workers’ rights, but law is often necessary to make transparency possible. So, go read Ampersand’s post, act on it, and contribute to Disney’s exposure.

Amy Kropp: Patron saints, plus some great prayers.

Body and Soul is back!

Charles Murtaugh: Excellent, thought-provoking post on being “embodied.” The importance and goodness of the physical world generally, and human physicality specifically, is one of my core convictions–a premise not a conclusion of my thinking. Those who know me know I always refer to the Jewish description (which I found in this nifty book) of objects in the world as “words spoken by God.” And so perhaps I’m not the best person to spot any flaws in Murtaugh’s post. I found his reflections on the body’s longing for children to be spot-on. Also agree with him re what “fun” is, and with his capsule review of Frederica Mathewes-Green’s “more teen pregnancy!” article: “a bit over the top, but in places really quite moving.” Minor quibble: The Catholic Church doesn’t believe “that it’s bad to avoid bearing children”–it depends on why you’re avoiding it, as any number of priests, nuns, monks, consecrated virgins, etc. could tell you. Anyway, it’s a terrific post and I’m excited to see how he responds to the “interesting, mostly critical feedback” he’s received.

Mark Shea: Interesting series on “Tales of the Unexplained“–plus a very funny “Tales of the Explained“! And something important enough that it will get a separate post. (Also, since “What about the people who didn’t get a miracle?” is the obvious next question to ask about miraculous tales, here’s my brief take on providence.)

Ninomania: Responds to (friendly) criticism with good, brief discussion of what originalism is and isn’t; plus an equally good quick discussion of the Abortion Non-Discrimination Act.

Telford Work: Really good, meaty discussion of Jesus’s injunction to “hate his father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even himself,” here and here. (I want Professor Work to talk about relating to family members who have not accepted the Gospel, since that seems like a really obvious real-world situation where we have to figure out how to understand and apply Jesus’s words; but hey, it’s his blog. I also note that C.S. Lewis was a master of describing ways in which family ties can keep us from fully loving God; cf. especially The Four Loves, The Great Divorce, and The Screwtape Letters. More generally, Lewis was terrific at showing how we can curdle love into cruelty when we pretend to love another but are actually loving ourselves–something I touch on briefly here, where I say this corruption of love drives the plots of “Vertigo” and Pet Sematary.) And a minor-detail objection to my nominating him for Stand Down. OK then, how about Lynn Gazis-Sax?

Unqualified Offerings: Good round-up post on sniper updates, with much clear thinking as always; and an excellent post dissecting some potential problems with UO’s much-quoted “make us a pack, not a herd” phrasing.

A Volokh Conspirator: Thoughtful post on the Boy Scouts and atheists. I note that there are, unsurprisingly, Catholic scouting groups–the Register did an article on them a month or so ago.

And: Dennis Kucinich sells out on abortion. Most things about abortion make me sad, but political sellouts make me furious. Blecchh.