Blog watcher, blog watcher, oh,We’re gonna kill this pretty thing… The Agitator: More on informant abuse. The Reason Foundation: “Do you want to be a fortune teller in Maryland? Your future better include a license from the state. How about being a hair braider in Mississippi? You’ll need 300 to 1,500 hours of training and government permission. Want to sell flowers in Louisiana? Only licensed florists can do that. And almost every state requires certification if you want to move... Read more

My name is Mary Katherine Blackwood. I am eighteen years old, and I live with my sister Constance. I have often thought that with any luck at all I could have been born a werewolf, because the two middle fingers on both my hands are the same length, but I have had to be content with what I had. I dislike washing myself, and dogs, and noise. I like my sister Constance, and Richard Plantagenet, and Amanita phalloides, the death-cup... Read more

What effect is this relationship having on my community relationships? If my needs are being met in my friendship, I will be more loving toward others and more tolerant of them. On the other hand, if I am merely seeking ego gratification, I will find others boring. I will resent spending time on community projects and refuse to listen to my community as a whole or to specific individuals. If I am in a position of authority, this is a... Read more

…It is pursuing a mirage to look for “spiritual” love as if it did not involve the same feelings as any other human love. Said Teresa of Avila about celibates, “Do you think that such souls will love less? No, I tell you they will love their friends more, with more affections, and a greater passion.” Teresa was in an excellent position to recognize both healthy and unhealthy friendships. She spent the first twenty years of her religious life giving... Read more

MORE SHAKESPEARE: If you loved the BBC recording, you should check out the Naxos version of The Tempest with McKellen as Prospero. And not just for McKellen, the whole cast is great. And, yes, Ariel is a man. —Man Who Is Thursday Read more

The issue is not loneliness, which is a universal human experience; nor is it solitude, which the praying celibate has presumably found to be a positive dimension of life.–Fr Bernard R. Bonnot, “Stages in a Celibate’s Life,” Human Development v. 16 no. 3 (Fall 1995) A Jesuit friend very kindly sent me a packet of articles from the “Catholic seminary trade publications,” on various aspects of celibacy and homosexuality. This particular line struck me not so much because of its... Read more

SHAKE IT LIKE A MILKSHAKE, AND DO THE BEST YOU CAN: (…Yeah, don’t even, it could’ve been much worse.) So I listened to this very fantastic Royal Shakespeare Company CD set. These are some exceptionally scattered notes: 1. If you think you need this thing, you probably do. 2. On the other hand, you’ll get much, much more out of the segments you already have memorized; the segments are way too short, and of course out of context; and, in... Read more

OOH OOH, THEY’RE OBSESSED WITH JEWS!: Because they’re watching Jews! Michael Rubin notes: Amidst the dozens of university presidents declaring their opposition to the academic boycott of Israeli professors and universities, the absence of Yale president Richard Levin and Duke president Richard Brodhead is curious (Harvard president Drew Gilpin Faust sent a separate letter). Levin has, throughout his tenure, been more of a fundraiser than a leader and may feel supporting such principles may put Yale in a difficult position... Read more

Hey hey, Cripple Creek Blogwatch,Going through the overhanging trees… The Agitator: Another battlefield conversion in the Drug War. (More here.) Balkinization: Which you should read. (Yeah, I’m cheating–I need to read this stuff too, for work, but am putting it off. So this is a link from all of me, to all of you.) Claw of the Conciliator:We are here to save your life:The fool, the drunk, the child, and his wife.more Intentional Disciples: Ways of prayer. (Via… maybe Disputations?)... Read more

I was lying in the gutter, I was covered up with beer,Pretzels in my blogwatch, I thought the end was near–Alias Clio: Sloth. Paleo-Future: This is the kind of Paleo-Future post I live for. And Jamaican paleofuturist food. Warren Peace discovers the absolute awesomeness of Jaime Hernandez… and the dark(er) side of Gilbert. It’s so much fun to read someone’s first reactions to my absolute favorite comics. Can’t wait to see what he makes of Chester Square or Poison River.... Read more