I can’t dance and I can’t blog I can’t even try to watch… Stuart Buck: Buck compadre Matt Evans has a powerful post about aborting babies with Down’s Syndrome. Unqualified Offerings: Is “a pack, not a herd” just a cool way of saying “TIPS”?; two good anti-war points, plus Klingons are more efficient than the US government. Amy Welborn: Very good comments-box discussion of what makes a good homily. And: Malaysia, Philippines, and Indonesia protest Australian PM’s “I can be... Read more

WEIRD: I’m listening to Siouxsie and the Banshees’ “Lord’s Prayer.” While I was preparing to enter the Church, and even for some time after I was Confirmed, I relied on my memory of this song to remember how the Our Father actually goes, since she sings big swathes of it. (My memory is very bad; music and rhythm help it a lot.) I don’t think I’ve even listened to it since then. Bizarro. UPDATE: I didn’t say it was a... Read more

IKEA: FURNITURE FOR PEOPLE WHO BERATE THEIR PREGNANT DAUGHTERS! Last night I saw both of IKEA’s uber-creepy new ads. The fighting couple was just irritating, but the one with the pregnant daughter was seriously disturbing. Here, I’ll let IKEA describe it. Ugh. It was like a scene out of that fun NYTM story where the guy talks about how he pressured his daughter to abort. I think I actually gasped when it turned out to be a furniture commercial exploiting... Read more

THIS WEEK’S STYLE INVITATIONAL is just awesome. For those who do not already know, the Style Invitational is a weekly contest in the Washington Post’s Sunday Style section. It’s based on the contests at the back of New York magazine, collected in Maybe He’s Dead; but the Post version is a lot less stuffy. I still miss the Ear No One Reads, and the Invitational is hit-or-miss, but when it’s on it’s hilarious. Here are my favorite excerpts from this... Read more

“As a former officere looking back into Sing Sing’s history, I was struck by lost institutions of the old prison, such as the bands that played as prisoners marched to chow. Early in the twentieth century, inmates who prized special bars sewn onto their uniforms for time served were humiliated when, as punishment, these symbols of accomplishment were removed. During World War II there were wildly successful inmate blood drives–1,106 pints were donated in 1943. These all look like signs... Read more

HONORING THE SON, THROUGH WHOM THE SUN WAS CREATED. Plus thoughts on homilies and a post countering those who try to minimize the awfulness of the abuser-priest scandals. I’m very glad Amy Welborn is back from her Thanksgiving blog-break. Read more

FAITH SEEKING UNDERSTANDING… AND “CAPITALISM”: Silber asks a bunch of questions. I will sketch a response. Apologies for today’s inside-blogball feel–I do think major issues are being worked out here, so even if you have zero interest in Objectivism I think you will find something either helpful or infuriating in today’s Silber-related posts. (Note that I use “Silber” and “Arthur” at random in this post; they’re the same guy. I don’t know why I do this but I don’t have... Read more

O REASON NOT THE NEED!: In an earlier post, I claimed that aesthetic judgments could not be derived from reason: “There are good but non-rational reasons for believing things. (I take ‘irrational’ to mean ‘anti-rational, contrary to reason,’ and ‘non-rational’ to mean ‘not using the processes of syllogistic reasoning but not contrary to such reasoning.’) ‘Non-rational reasons’ may sound like an oxymoron, but let’s take a look at one important example: aesthetic judgments. What process of syllogistic reasoning can lead... Read more

GAY STUFF: When Arthur Silber posted a few items about homosexuality and straight male fears of ditto, he was surprised by the strong response he got in his comments section. For whatever reason, people were really interested in the topic; he got linked more than he expected and he got more commenters than he expected. He asked if I had any thoughts on why homosexuality was such a hot-button issue. And in truth, it’s not an especially obvious question. We’re... Read more

GOOD THICK POST ON KURDS AND TURKS. Read more