Tell me that you blogwatch,Sort out this confusion… MyCatholic.com–nifty thing you can use to follow the liturgical calendar, Catholic news, blogs, and much more. The Bible Literacy Project, for which I worked briefly, has released their textbook for a Bible course suitable for public schools. Some comments: “The volume is well done. …I was quite taken with the abundance of supplementary materials included in the text–the artwork (highly variegated and well-chosen), the insets about the Bible in subsequent literature, the... Read more

IF YOU HAVE A SENATOR, now might be a good time to get in touch: Sen. John McCain, decrying new allegations of prisoner abuse in Iraq by U.S. soldiers, on Sunday backed an amendment to force the American military to live up to its international obligations under the Geneva Convention and “not engage in torture” of detainees in Iraq and Afghanistan. McCain (R-Ariz.) was responding to complaints by Army Capt. Ian Fishback and two sergeants, who all served with the... Read more

KATRINA: Times-Picayune says reports of murder and mayhem at Superdome and Convention Center were greatly exaggerated. Excellent news, if true. Via SRD. Prisoners left for days in chest-high water, without food. ETA: Especially in light of the first link, there, I should note that the report about prisoner treatment has been questioned as well. I tend to believe that people will abandon prisoners just about whenever the opportunity presents itself, because it so often happens; but still, I wasn’t there... Read more

MORE SEMINARY STUFF: Dappled Things: “The second problem with this line of thinking is, as Fr Fox again points out, that even though you spend five years in an all-male environment, you end up spending the rest of your life in an environment that surrounds you with vast numbers of females.” Read more

“THE SINS OF THE SEMINARIES”: Amy Welborn talks sense in the NY Times. …A seminary has a dual responsibility. It owes the future priest preparation for a life of sacrifice, unique witness and engagement with other human beings at moments of joy and pain in a society that has no respect for his vocation. But a seminary also owes us, the people in the pews, psychologically mature priests who aren’t engaged in an eternal and ego-driven struggle with their own... Read more

BALKINIZATION has a guest blogger focusing on torture and detainee treatment. You should read this. Read more

If you blogI won’t watchI won’t waste one single day… Angevin2: 10 reasons why a leek is better than a member of the English Nobility, with extra bonus reasons. “12) Nobody insists that Shakespeare’s plays must have been written by leeks.” The Foundation for the Defense of Democracies has a blog! …Via someone I forget. Unqualified Offerings: Exciting news about Finder–an awesome, awesome “anthropological SF” comics series. You should be reading this. More when I finally get a chance to... Read more

GIVE THE PEOPLE WHAT THEY WANT: It’s time for another fabulous installment of Internet Searches I Have Known. These searches brought weary travelers to this blog’s rocky shores. Shouldn’t we try to make the landscape more inviting for these pilgrims? So–a contest! Write me something bizarre and amusing based on any of these search requests. Tell me about the significance of a dead cricket. Summarize an episode of Looney Tunes de Cholos. Write a Smiths song about Hilaire Belloc (or... Read more

NEW FROM iMAPP: NEW RESEARCH ON FAMILY STRUCTURE AND CRIME. Hey look, it’s research I did! Are children raised outside of intact marriages at increased risk for crime and delinquency? iMAPP’s latest policy brief, “Can Married Parents Prevent Crime? Recent Research on Family Structure and Delinquency 2000-2005,” looks at empirical research from the United States published in peer-reviewed journals since 2000. All but three of 23 recent studies found some family structure effect on crime or delinquency. Seven of the... Read more

“THE LONG CONVERSION OF OSCAR WILDE.” Powerful. Totally worth reading even if you already know the outlines of the story. Read more