A NOIR CAROL: “Plenty of guys barge into my office without knocking. This guy was different: he came in without opening the door. I always heard Marley had no guts, and now I believed it–you could see right through him.” Hee! Via Cacciaguida. Read more

EXCELLENT DEAL ON CRISIS MAGAZINE SUBSCRIPTIONS: Ten bucks–66% of cover price–gets you eleven issues–EDITED TO ADD open to the first 500 people to apply. Sweet. Via Relapsed Catholic. And I’m in the June issue, BTW, reviewing Ian Buruma’s Bad Elements: Chinese Rebels from Los Angeles to Beijing. Main Crisis site Read more

“One day, after a really exhausting argument, I told him, Mr. Nahvi [a student], I want to remind you of something: I am not comparing you to Elizabeth Bennet. There is nothing of her in you, to be sure–you are as different as man and mouse. But remember how she is obsessed with Darcy, constantly trying to find fault with him, almost cross-examining every new acquaintance to confirm that he is as bad as she thinks? Remember her relations with... Read more

I caught my blogwatch kissing a replica Oh God–she looked just like me!… Note: For all Blogspot sites, I’ve just directed you to the main page rather than the individual post, since the sites are wigging even more than usual. Oh well, it’s better than learning HTML! Ninomania: Comments on Balkin/Solum boxing match. I have some questions about Solum’s really strong reliance on stare decisis but I’m not sure I can formulate them without further study. Oxblog offers the most... Read more

“[New York], like Daisy, has in it a promise, a mirage that when reached becomes debased and corrupted. The city is the link between Gatsby’s dream [i.e. the fantasy self he seeks to become] and the American dream. The dream is not about money but what he imagines he can become. It is not a comment on America as a materialistic country but as an idealistic one, one that has turned money into a means of retrieving a dream. There... Read more

“MANKIND VERSION 2.0?“: Good column from Charles Murtaugh–corrective to rampant technophobia and technotopianism. Read more

MORE OF ME ON FAITH AND REASON: Response to an Objectivist. I would post my notes from reading Fides et Ratio but they’ve been blogspotted, grrr. EDITED TO ADD: Here they are. Read more

CORROSION OF CONFORMITY: Note to artists and such: If you call your own work “edgy,” that’s a pretty good guarantee that it isn’t. Read more

EXCHANGE ON FAITH AND REASON: Between me and reader Eric Enlow. He’s in bold, I’m in plain text. Sorry it’s so long and my last reply is so disorganized–I think I said some worthwhile stuff but it’s not exactly crisp and tightly-structured. Him: I enjoyed your remarks on God and Reason. But you misquote the First Epistle of Peter in a telling way. Peter admonished us to give an account of the HOPE, not the faith within us. If he... Read more

Me: I’m trying not to engage in much theological dispute/discussion during Lent, in order to discipline myself and help me avoid some of the attendant temptations. Here are a few brief thoughts: a) I knew I should have checked the wording of the passage I quoted! But I am not sure I understand the distinction you are making between doctrine and reason for hope. Surely “don’t despair” is both a doctrine (despair being sinful and all) and based on doctrine... Read more