THOUGHTS ON INCENTIVES AND ORGAN DONATION from Virginia Postrel, who recently donated a kidney to a friend. Scroll down on her blog for more on the topic. Read more

“SHOOTING J.R.”: Amy Welborn has a short story in The New Pantagruel, here. I read an earlier version, which was really good, and look forward to getting a chance to read the final edit…. Read more

NO COMMENT: By instinct and training, we journalists are suckers for political dissidents. Their struggles are the ultimate underdog stories, with prison terms or even death as the stakes. Editors reinforce reporters’ instincts by awarding prime display to the act of protest in its many forms. By instinct and training, we journalists are skeptics about religious activists. Their appeals are seen in newsrooms as special pleadings from organized interest groups. Editors reinforce reporters’ instincts to treat religion politely but suspiciously.... Read more

TORTURE FLIGHTS CONTINUE: Despite the Bush administration’s insistence it neither participates nor condones–“in any form”–torture, the CIA continues to fly high-value al-Qaeda and Taliban suspects to interrogation centres which are beyond US jurisdiction–and where torture is routine. Investigations by the European Union and human rights activists like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have done nothing to end the secret flights that weekly cross the globe with their human cargoes destined for torture chambers. What happens on some of the... Read more

PRAYER REQUEST–SANDRA MIESEL’S FAMILY. Read more

SAME-SEX MARRIAGE AND RELIGIOUS LIBERTY: The papers from the conference described in that Weekly Standard piece can be downloaded as PDFs here (link itself is HTML). Anyone concerned with religious-liberty issues should take a hard look at the current and potential conflicts. Read more

ROUND-UP OF JEWISH REACTIONS TO PAPAL VISIT TO AUSCHWITZ. Very powerful stuff from Cdl Lustiger and his brother. Read more

Jenny, Jenny, you’re the girl for me,You don’t blogwatch but you make me so happy… Wayward Catholic: Talks about firefighter series Rescue Me; makes it sound really interesting…. And two links via The Corner: Awesome retro cell phone; and Track the words used in State of the Union speeches! Keep an eye out for “Catholic,” “polygamy” (a search says the word appears in nine SOTUs, though I think it’s only frequent enough to show up on the chart in one),... Read more

INDONESIA RELIEF LINKS. Read more

WHEN IT ALTERATION FINDS: So I wrote up what was, to me, by far the most interesting aspect of the X-Men movie. Spoilerish, but not especially so; if you know the vague outlines of the two main plots, you won’t find anything unexpected. Here. Read more