I HAVEN’T BEEN BLOGGING ABOUT THE WAR because I haven’t got anything to say that isn’t being said better elsewhere. I suggest Oxblog (pro-) and Unqualified Offerings + Body and Soul (anti-). I find more to agree with at Oxblog these days than at the other two, but that’s precisely why I need to read UO and B&S;. Read more

Cottleston Cottleston Cottleston Pie, Why does a blogwatch? I don’t know why. Ask me a riddle and I reply Cottleston Cottleston Cottleston Pie. Cacciaguida: Possibly big Tridentine Mass news (I get lost in the Trid. Mass, but, uh, it all sounds really nice…); and a review of Norman Cantor’s Inventing the Middle Ages, which Cacciaguida convinced me to add to my obsessive reading lists. I think I get to Cantor in, oh, about 2007. Cronaca: Museum looting “climbdown” begins? That... Read more

“Philosophers are prejudiced against appearance, change, pain, death, the corporeal, the senses, fate and bondage, the aimless.” —Will to Power This sentence struck me because in my relativist phase I had a prejudice for a lot of these things (esp. “appearance, change, the aimless,” I think, not that I would have used those words), and much of my freshman year involved re-assessing and rejecting that prejudice. This also, of course, coincided with my realization that philosophy is not just stupid... Read more

ONE AND A HALF DAYS BEHIND ON WORK. Blah. I’m posting this to shame myself–I felt lousy today and fell further behind. Grrr. Tomorrow (Wed.): 1) work, 2) non-growling, substantive posts! Read more

POME: Jim Henley’s poem on Wallace Stevens reminded me of the awesome song “Mercy Street” by, uh, Peter Gabriel–no, wait, don’t go!– Looking down on empty streets, all she can see Are the dreams all made solid Are the dreams all made real All of the buildings, all of those cars Were once just a dream In somebody’s head She pictures the broken glass, she pictures the steam She pictures a soul With no leak at the seam… Read more

CRONACA has two good posts on Iraqi museum-looting: here (debunking the “only 29 items missing” thing) and here. Read more

FOR ANY PALM BEACH READERS: Your diocese is holding a Rachel’s Vineyard training retreat (PDF) July 11-13. “A wealth of information about how best to understand and help with the anguish that can be experienced after abortion will be shared by presenters Kevin and Theresa Burke, and others.” More info at the link. In other Rachel’s Vineyard news: A private e-group, Oaktrees, has been started for people who went on Rachel’s Vineyard retreats and want a safe place to talk.... Read more

FULL DISCLOSURE: In re the gambling post, below, I should note that someone still owes me a handle of Jack Daniels for a bet we made in, I think, Fall 1999. I guess no one should listen to me talk about morality now. Or something. Read more

ADDICTION AND RITUAL: On Saturday, as part of my volunteer job, I was reading parts of a book on Christian counseling for women, and came across some really good stuff about the nature of addiction. It spoke to my experience, what I’ve seen; other people may find this idea less helpful, but for me it really explained a lot. The idea was that addictions are often attended by a cluster of rituals–you go to a particular place, perform particular actions... Read more

GENE ON THE AIR: Gene Vilensky, of Yale Free Press fame, will be speaking to a Russian radio station (in English) tonight here between 11 PM and midnight EST. Click “listen.” Gene writes, “The radio station is a classic rock station that does some political commentary in the evenings. I will be talking about the war, libertarianism, what Russia stands to benefit from a truly market economy, differences in attitude in Russia and America, growing up as an immigrant in... Read more