AXIS OF EMAIL: Hoder Derakhshan offers his services to Iraqis, especially those who want to blog in Arabic. This guy is already there, apparently, though I can’t make his blog show up as anything but a series of boxes and random weird (non-Arabic) characters. Looking for Iraqis online? Go here. Some people on the list also have personal webpages. Almost all of these people live outside Iraq, as far as I can tell–unsurprisingly. Meanwhile, among non-Arabic blogs, G. in Baghdad... Read more

ANCIENT JEWISH BLOGS! Two blogs by professors of Jewish Studies: PaleoJudaica, which focuses on “ancient Judaism and its context,” and Mystical-Politics, offering “discussions of Jewish mysticism, especially from the ancient world (biblical, Qumran, Hekhalot, rabbinic, etc.) and of contemporary politics — and of the occasional interactions between them.” Both via Kesher Talk. Read more

TIMELY BLEG: OK, so who really said that the streets of Hell are paved with the skulls of bishops (or some even more colorful variant)? Google is conflicted on this question. Ask me why it’s on my mind. Read more

CHARLES TAYLOR AGREES TO STEP DOWN! Whoa. Let’s see if this really happens before we break out the champagne…. Link via Oxblog I think. Read more

COULD GOD MAKE 1 + 1 = 72? Find out here and then here! Read more

ANNUNCIATION PIX: Matthew McGuire writes: So all the way back to last Wednesday… you wrote an interesting bit about icons in the context of talking about the new book by FMG. You mentioned an annunciation. The no-brainer recoiling Mary annunciation, the classic rendering, is indeed early renaissance – Simone Maritini’s in 1333. The provenance is Sienese – he never painted in Florence**. You can see it at the Uffizi, or you can see a washed-out photo here. Martini was grand,... Read more

OK, MONDAY JUST BEAT ME UP and stole my lunch money. More tomorrow, when, I hope, things will be less crazed. Read more

Bad, bad, Blogwatch Brown Baddest blog in the whole dam’ town, Badder than old King Kong, Meaner than a junkyard dog…. Body and Soul: Big post on various corporations colluding with human rights abuses. Haven’t had time to follow the links yet but expect it will be very much worth my time. Ginger Stampley: Scroll around for lots of immigration stuff, inc. war-on-terror-related. You probably know that already, but if you don’t, check it out. Todd Reitmeyer: Our blogging seminarian... Read more

I’M BACK. Read more

SCHOOL VOUCHERS AND THE MYTH OF NEUTRALITY. My Jewish World Review column for this week–response to what I took to be the main point of Thomas Nephew’s posts about vouchers…. Read more