“A LITTLE SMACKY-FACE”: Henley’s on to something in focusing not on torture’s effects on Khalid Sheikh Mohammed–who can say he has not deserved great pain?–but on us, the citizens in whose name the torture would be committed. Raymond Chandler described Philip Marlowe by saying, “Down these mean streets a man must go who is not himself mean.” You can deride that as a piece of sentimentality, but the competing mindsets are just as sentimental in their bitter way: The belief... Read more

I’LL DO ANYTHING, BUT I WON’T DO THAT. UNLESS… CalPundit has a couple questions (and answers) for torture’s proponents: “Is it OK for a doctor to torture prisoners if the end result is a medical therapy that could save thousands? No. “Is it OK to torture a scientist’s family in order to coerce him to work on an invention that could predict earthquakes and save millions? No.” But we don’t have to go to these hypotheticals. We can look at... Read more

ARE THERE ANY INALIENABLE RIGHTS? The underlying problem here, the reason the slope is slippery, is the utilitarian calculus. The rule here is, as Henley said, “By Any Means Necessary“; in order to protect ourselves we’ll recognize no rights held by the terrorists themselves or, further down the slope, those whose well-being they might care about. On this view, they have thrown away all of their rights; they have alienated themselves from the society from which those rights derive. But... Read more

A READER VS. A RABBI AND A CHURCH: Jim Ycotto takes issue with a bunch of stuff I said about “The Virtue of Hate.” I’m trying to curb theological disputation as part of my Lenten discipline (it’s way too easy to a) think that the Faith is only as strong as your own arguments for it, and b) be uncharitable; I’m hoping that by laying off for a season I will temper my worse tendencies, so I can return to... Read more

TV: “Simpsons” last night was hilarious–the funniest the show has been in a long, long time. The Rat has blogged one of the best parts, the parody of the FoxNews “news crawl.” (She also links to this must-read site: real rejected lines from Zagat’s reviews.) “King of the Hill” and “Malcolm in the Middle” were OK, funny but not great; the best part of “MITM” was definitely Willy, the German cousin, tormenting Francis via judicious piano playing. The series premiere... Read more

Never said I was a stool pigeon Never said I was a diplomat Every blogwatch is under suspicion (but you don’t want to hear about that)… Oxblog: How to help Bantus being resettled in the States. Regions of Mind: Two more posts on Catholics, the Pope, and Iraq. The Volokh Conspiracy: What happens to an Iraqi surrender deferred? Fetal consciousness news. Better send a begging letter to the big investigation– Who put these blogwatches on my imagination?… Read more

“But now, when the boat swept under the merchantman’s stern, and officer and oarsmen were noting–some bitterly and others with a grin–the name emblazoned there; just then it was that the new recruit jumped up from the bow where the coxswain had directed him to sit, and waving his hat to his silent shipmates sorrowfully looking over at him from the taffrail, bade the lads a genial good-bye. Then, making a salutation as to the ship herself, ‘And good-bye to... Read more

ONE LAST THING! Via Kathy the Carmelite, a Lenten Wednesday lecture series in McLean, VA, on different forms of Catholic spirituality: The St. John Lenten Lecture Series “Spirituality in the Catholic Church” 7:30 – 8:30 PM in the Parish Hall Telephone: (703) 356-7916 3/12– Sr. Damien Marie Savino, FSE — Franciscan Spirituality 3/19 — Rev. Boniface von Nell, OSB — Benedictine Spirituality 3/26 — Rev. Jack Riley, OCDS — Carmelite Spirituality 4/2 — Rev. Giles Dimock, OP — Dominican Spirituality... Read more

TIRED NOW. Tomorrow (or maybe Sunday): In which I defend Jews; is the Bible obvious?; capsule philosophical reviews of books and movies; torture; my credo. Read more

CONFUSION, HUMILITY, PEACE: I’m about forty pages from the end of Saint Teresa’s Interior Castle now. Some scattered thoughts: At first I was confused about the structure of the mansions, especially the earlier ones. I understood that the progression from mansion to mansion was not direct–there are overlaps, preludes, “flashbacks”–but still couldn’t quite grasp what the saint was saying about the first couple mansions. Kathy the Carmelite sent me an extremely helpful email; I was assuming that the earlier stages... Read more