JACK BALKIN BLOGS. I expect this to be fascinating. Right now he’s started with a series on Roe vs. Wade; in the first post he announces a Yale Law conference on “What Roe Should Have Said,” which I hope to attend, and here he compares Roe and Brown v. Board of Education. Read more

JOHN LOTT RESPONDS to concerns about his work. Read more

PHILOSOPHICAL DRAG QUEEN CONTEST RESULTS!!!!: Your task: to come up with a nom de drag for a philosopher or theologian of note. EDITED TO ADD: Brad Gittern wants to know what the prizes are. Close your eyes. You’re lookin’ at ’em. OK, eyes open, back to the contest. I will contribute three: Ella Mental, a pre-Socratic. Gloria Monday, a follower of the “indifference to this world” stance described here; as in, Sic transit Gloria Monday. Genessee Quoi, a negative theologian.... Read more

WHAT IS THE RAT AFRAID OF? Read more

Sheila, watch a, Sheila watch a blog… Living Room: A list of bloggers in the Southern hemisphere. Medpundit: What condoms do, and don’t do, and what the Bush administration is saying about ditto. Via Charles Murtaugh. Rosary Blog: Neat blog devoted to quotations from Church Fathers and other saints. Good stuff. Unqualified Offerings: Begins a series of replies to critics. The first installment defends his claim that US foreign policy should not/can’t rely on nuclear nonproliferation. La la la la... Read more

LAFEW. …but my good lord, ’tis thus: Will you be cured of your infirmity? KING. No. —All’s Well That Ends Well Read more

You just haven’t earned it yet, blogwatch… Marriage Movement: Intriguing study on the “second shift”–how much work do married vs. unmarried men and women do? The answer may surprise you… Relapsed Catholic: Which critically-acclaimed movies will gain in stature and which will ultimately be considered overrated? My view: She’s wrong about Psycho vs. Vertigo, but right about Shadow of a Doubt vs. North by Northwest; so very, very right about 2001; absolutely right to except Grosse Pointe Blank from her... Read more

LOTT MORE: InstaPundit and Clayton Cramer on John Lott; the Cramer link is especially helpful for anyone who’s been following this. Read more

READING, WRITING, AND REDEMPTION: Last month, Unqualified Offerings posted about whether/how the world of The Lord of the Rings is and isn’t Christian. There are many interesting things in his post, but I just want to riff about one of them, which he quoted from Diana Moon: “But in Christianity there is always the flickering possibility of redemption through belief in Christ. In this film, I don’t see such possibilities. And I’m not sure whether this is a perversion of... Read more

INSTAPUNDIT AND HIS READERS on the ways immigration has shaped the American character. One reader: “But I also suspect that the factors that have made America great–lots of hard-headed, independent, courageous, determined, borderline anti-social people from all over the world–may also be among the reasons that it’s a pretty violent place. I guess it’s true that you’ve got to take the bad with the good.” Here are my thoughts on the same question. Read more