MORE ON “PATH TO 9/11”: 1. It’s a docudrama, not a documentary, which I didn’t know and which seems seriously lame, especially due to point #2: 2. Apparently there is quite a bit of important falsehood in the portrayal of some Clinton-administration figures, inc. Madeleine Albright and Sandy Berger. Ick. 3. I still think the Dem senators’ letter had troubling overtones of “make the movie nicer to the Clinton administration or we’ll cause difficulties with your broadcast license”; but criticism... Read more

SO YOU WALKED BACK IN THE REVOLVING DOOR, AND DID IT ALL AGAIN: Or, more fun with sin! [EDITED to remove an analogy that was interesting to me, but probably unhelpful in the wider conversation. Also, I need to sleep now, but when I wake up I’ll put in some more links, I think.] OK, Noli Irritare Leones comments on previous posts here. But this post is actually about Anactoria’s replies to my comments here. And please do read her... Read more

NICE BROADCASTING LICENSE YOU’VE GOT HERE. SHAME IF ANYTHING WAS TO HAPPEN TO IT. Democratic Party leaders yell at ABC over “Path to 9/11,” including some stuff that sounded to me like a veiled threat. [edited–man I am sloppy!–to tone down the melodrama. But also to add this: I haven’t seen the documentary. And of course people should vigorously counter anything they think is a distortion. But one odd thing is that the various right-wing sites I frequent have been... Read more

YEAH, BUT IF I DON’T SOUND MY BARBARIC YAWP, WHO WILL?: Ended up re-reading some old articles, and found things I’d still promote. Including but not limited to my piece on prison reform; and “Christianity from the Outside,” a really compelling symposium in which people pose the hard questions, and my best friend is brilliant as usual. (Um. I feel like people won’t read it if I say that. Christopher Hitchens is in it too–? But also many, many Jews?... Read more

WHY on earth do we rush to apply dehumanizing terms like “vegetable” to actual living humans? [title changed and other link deleted–it was this, but I had actually forgotten what was in the article, and it turned out not to have some stuff that I had thought was in there. Sorry…] Read more

SHOPLIFTERS OF THE WORLD UNITE: Wow, every single aspect of this story sounds awful. 1. I’ve expressed before (oh, at length!) my problems with the “ex-gay movement.” (And I do think “ex-gay” as a political cause is different from “ex-gay” as a personal narrative. I agree with the people who suggested that if you’re looking for people who used to consider themselves 100% super extra gay, and now do not, the “ex-gay movement” is the last place you should look.)... Read more

ROCK ME, MACHIAVELLI: Last night I dreamt that I was trying to explain “The Three Waves of Modernity.” With a chalkboard and everything. I NEED A VACATION. Read more

EASE THE MARKET FOR ORGAN DONORS: From the Rocky Mountain News …A 1984 federal law prohibits organ donors from receiving any “valuable consideration” for their life-saving generosity. A live donor can be compensated for medical expenses (which are usually paid by the recipient’s health insurance), travel and lost wages, but nothing more. And if you choose to donate organs at death, your survivors get nothing. The medical establishment has long considered it anathema to allow donors or their survivors to... Read more

FOOT-WASHING SPARKS ATONEMENT DEBATE: “The thorny issue of white atonement for apartheid has been thrown under the South African spotlight after a white former hardline minister washed the feet of a black preacher his forces once tried to kill.” (more) Via Colby Cosh. Read more

MY FAVORITE DESCRIPTION OF KATHY “RELAPSED CATHOLIC” SHAIDLE: “She does all her own stunts.” (um, more Fun With Sin soon, but maybe not tonight.) Read more