“The contemporary failure of fatherhood is perhaps the subtlest barrier to our understanding of Washington, the greatest source of the distance between us and him.” –Richard Brookhiser, Founding Father: Rediscovering George Washington Read more

COMING ATTRACTIONS: Gotta run today, but tomorrow I will be posting on: what Israel’s origins can tell us about today’s Israel debate; why has homosexuality become a major political issue?; why did I say that aesthetic judgments are non-rational?; and, of course, tomorrow is Poetry Wednesday. Read more

LIBERTARIAN JOURNALISM CONFERENCE: I can’t go to this, but maybe you can. If you can, reply NOW! or forever hold your peace–the relevant email address is at the end of this post. I got this info from cool libertarian artblogger Kelly Torrance: I am pleased to invite you to a networking and career development seminar for young journalists sponsored by the Institute for Humane Studies. The all-expense paid conference will run from Friday, December 6, to Sunday, December 8, 2002,... Read more

She used to be happy She used to be Such a loving blogwatch She used to be… Agenda Bender: Excellent post on my contest and drag and Rand and such. Regions of Mind: Interesting excerpts on Byzantine rule and welcoming your conquerors. (Snippet: “for a number of centuries Christians remained the majority in much of what was nominally Muslim territory.”) Julian Sanchez: Very cool post on “War of the Worlds,” the effect of the Internet and the remote control on... Read more

“AND DON’T FORGET TO DUCK.” Typically helpful column from Glenn Reynolds on how to make yourself more of a pack animal and less of a herd animal. Nothing you probably couldn’t figure out for yourself, but a good reminder of things you can do to be prepared for emergencies, whether of the mugger or the terrorist variety. One feature of contemporary warfare is that many major targets aren’t military or even governmental: The WTC is only one example. For all... Read more

No quote today, since nothing super-quotable has been said in the pages I read since yesterday, and, like I said, I am sick of typing that three-part title. The book is very good though. Read more

DC METRO BLOG MAP. This is neat. Via DCBlows, who was unaccountably nice to me. Bizarro. Anyway, I am proudly upholding the Farragut North blog flag, or something. Read more

RANDOM THOUGHT ABOUT PERSONAL SIN: I was re-reading some recent posts, and ran across the line, “The Church is the place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in.” For various reasons that really stopped me in my tracks and made me thank God for His mercy, and, specifically, for making Saint Peter the rock on which His church was founded–Peter of the three denials. Praise Him. Read more

SPAM SCAM + LEGAL SYSTEM + TEPPER = HILARIOUS. Seriously, click that link, you’ll be glad you did. Read more

FACE-OFF: DO MY CONTEST IDEAS SUCK AS MUCH AS TEPPER’S? So I posted a contest, suggested by Dave Tepper and focused on intrablogosphere gossip. So far, I have received exactly no responses. So I’m going to propose a countercontest. If you a) think my contest is fun, or b) just want to make Tepper feel non-ominous, send entries to [email protected]! You have a couple weeks. Or so. Anyway, the contest is: philosophical drag queen names. Sort of inspired by Glenda... Read more