CATHY YOUNG ON ASSAULT BEHIND BARS: …Hulin’s mother, Linda Bruntmeyer, says that her own complaint to the warden was brushed aside with a matter-of-fact statement that rapes in prison happen and her son needed to grow up. In an email exchange, I asked Fleisher whether enough was being done to address the prison rape problem and what further steps could be taken. His reply: “Correctional administrators are serious about all aspects of prison administration and management.” This optimistic assessment is... Read more

Mind you, I can hardly blame them;These are probably the worst pies in Blogwatch… Hit & Run: Good, basic post on drug prohibition, alcohol prohibition, and trade-offs. Virginia Postrel: “…I guess that makes Tom Simon and me kidney sluts, since we didn’t even charge. Having gone through the process, I can in fact imagine that selling a kidney would be for many people, especially the young and healthy, a far more desirable option than, say, giving up a home and... Read more

Baby Blogwatch feels the best…Disputed Mutability watches Peterson Toscano‘s “Doin’ Time at the Homo No Mo’ Halfway House.” Holy Heroes!!–I will be contributing, at some point, to this Christian comics blog. (I will be playing the Villain.) The American Scene guys and Jane Galt (Megan McArdle) are blogging at Andrew Sullivan’s site, hooray! Megan is also profiled here. I promise I will post your emails re woman-as-icon soon. Sorry…. Read more

It’s coming up roses,every blog you watch, red roses… Daniel Mitsui: The broken spears of the sea; and an introduction to the artist. The cartoon killed from Killed Cartoons: …Even “Killed Cartoons” faced its own bout of censorship. An editorial cartoon by Doug Marlette, entitled “What Would Mohammed Drive?” and featuring an Arab man driving a van packed with a nuclear warhead, was removed from the book by the publisher for what Wallis calls “fear of fatwa.” surprise, surprise (via... Read more

The arrow tells the target:Be my light.The target answers the arrow:Love me.–Aleksander Wat; whole poem here Read more

WHEN I SEE YOU, A THOUSAND EYES TURNING BLUE: Cacciaguida asks: Is “the woman-as-icon moment” the same as “the across-a-crowded-room thing”? Ha, good catch! He’s referring to one of my problems with the “Goblet of Fire” movie. But yeah, I think it is different. Let me try to marshal theology to defend my aesthetic preferences! The first, most obvious difference is that in the woman-as-icon moments, the seeker usually doesn’t attain the lady. The aching absence and sense of persistent... Read more

THE POLITICS OF DANCING: ALL ALONE AT THE ’64 WORLD’S FAIR. It’s been a while since we’ve done this thing, where I hijack pop music for my own nefarious agenda. Previous examples include: The Cramps, “Eyeball in My Martini”; Cat Power, “Say”; Queen, “Princes of the Universe”; and They Might Be Giants, “Where Your Eyes Don’t Go.” Here we have TMBG again, with “Ana Ng.” This song seems like a direct translation of the story of the round people. And... Read more

Ana Ng and I are getting old, and we still haven’t watchedin the blog of each other’s majestic presence… Daniel Mitsui: Oh wow. St. Michael, looking kind of intergalactic. MCNS/Irish Elk: Dismas, who is (predictably!) one of my favorite saints: …Newsman MacMurphy’s fortunes advanced. Finally he became the News’s business manager. Every March 25 his St. Dismas piece crept a little nearer the front page. And on that day MacMurphy would write again the homely praises of his favorite saint:... Read more

NEW BLOG!: “Alias Clio,” from someone who’s written in to this site before. “[B]ooks, history, God, and Catholicism.” Hie thee thither. Read more

KITCHEN ADVENTURES: FEAST!: This is what I’ve been eating to celebrate Easter. Ridiculously, it includes none of the food I gave up for Lent (meat and artichoke hearts); but it is much fancier and pricier than my usual fare, and definitely more so than the very simple food I ate during Lent. And yes, I know that actually you’re supposed to give the money you save during Lent as alms, rather than using it to buy Camembert. I will do... Read more