One, you lock the target;
Two, you bait the line;

Three, you slowly watch the blog,
And four, you catch the man…

GetReligion quotes Cardinal Arinze kicking ass: “The answer is clear. If a person says I am in favour of killing unborn babies whether they be four thousand or five thousand, I have been in favour of killing them. I will be in favour of killing them tomorrow and next week and next year. So, unborn babies, too bad for you. I am in favour that you should be killed, then the person turn around and [says] I want to receive Holy Communion. Do you need any Cardinal from the Vatican to answer that?“

Honestly. The cardinal’s exasperation really comes through here. If the Church is accurately describing abortion, “personally opposed” is craven. This isn’t rocket science; from the Didache to the dole age, there really isn’t a lot of wiggle room, and trying to create wiggle room can’t help but look disingenuous. [This post edited slightly, but point is the same.]

Hit & Run: Rising expectations.

Locks and Keys: Personal account of mental illness. Liked the list of Things I’ve Learned, though I disagree that anger is always, or even typically, rooted in fear. Anyway, this is a really interesting site. Via Camassia, who has moved–for good? I’m not sure.

Unqualified Offerings: Interrogation reality show. Like him, I’m intrigued; but I really don’t know what this show could possibly tell us about actual existing interrogation practices. I mean, people volunteer for sex all the time, and that tells you less than nothing about rape. (This is what I have thought every time some shmo brings up how his frat initiation was “lots worse than Abu Ghraib” or what-freakin’-ever, and I’m surprised, really, that more people don’t point out the problem: You volunteered, you knew you could get out of it because you lived under a legal regime in which “getting out of it” would be supported, and the people who messed with you didn’t think you were terrorist scum… so I think it’s not really a good analogy, sugarplum.) Anyway, I liked this line: “But then our torture apologists will say anything. There’s an irony there somewhere, now that I think about it.”

Relapsed Catholic: Toronto Right-Wing Movie Night report. “Attempts to bribe your way into the next one will be met with success if they are particularly clever or appealing.”

The Outbreak: Sean Collins is (mostly-)music-blogging!!!! …Via Johnny Bacardi.

I love the world, and if I have to sue for custody, I will sue for custody: As a follow-up to all the ’80s music posts, I’d like to know if other people agree with me that They Might Be Giants follows an intriguingly ’80s-top-40-like strategy of smuggling in lyrics of disappointment and alienation under cover of fun, hooky, geeky music. TMBG tends to move geeky types toward reconciliation with the disappointing world, I think, whereas most ’80s music doesn’t get as far as reconciliation. Your comments encouraged. More on TMBG in a moment.