THE MIDDLE EAST THEN AND NOW, a blogwatch-type thing. The Rat gives us a hilarious story from the Arabian Nights. And NoWarBlog (aka Stand Down–what’s up with the URL vs. title thing? “The blog is called ‘NoWarBlog,’ but the name of the blog is called ‘A-Sittin’ on a Gate’…”) provides interesting commentary on the Turkish elections. Especially if you read the comments as well as the posts. Here and here. And via various NWB links, this LA Times op-ed. What,... Read more

APROPOS OF THE POST BELOW, Which Founding Father Are You? I’m John Adams. The description is painfully apt. (Except, some would say, for the part about being “right more often than not.”) Link via The Agitator. Read more

REDS AND RHETORIC: A while back, a historian family member mused aloud about why socialism never caught on big in America. This historian has a nose-to-the-ground, materialist bent or preference; I don’t. My tendency is to swing too hard the other way. Most historical situations are overdetermined, with any number of valid explanations, and when in doubt I tend to reach for the more philosophical/literary explanation. (I’m sure you’re shocked.) So I suggested (at least I think I suggested; if... Read more

“Why is it so important that you want to contact the governments of our Earth?” “Because of death. Because all of you of Earth are idiots!” “Now, you just hold on, buster!” –Tom Keene, Dudley Manlove (as Eros the Alien), and Gregory Walcott, “Plan 9 From Outer Space” Read more

LIKE A LITTLE CHILD: John Da Fiesole of Disputations is collecting donations for a parish in Kazakhstan that is caring for fifty abandoned children. I’m going to quote almost all of his post (everything below is from his site), so you can see just how amazing this project is. The following note, lightly edited, is from Connie Woods, the wife of a U.S. diplomat stationed in Almaty, Kazakhstan, through June 2003: When Pope John Paul II visited Kazakhstan in September... Read more

DIVINE MADNESS. Father Tucker on the “November of charity.” Great stuff. Disputations has a wealth of goodness as well, including: the dramatic rosary; Dominicans and reading people you disagree with; scriptural rosary; and Stations of the Cross rosary, with a neat quickie on one way Marian devotion not only strengthens, but can itself be devotion to Jesus Christ. And something that will get its own post. Read more

ELECTION MADNESS. First, enter Kaus’s contest (scroll down to the end of the “Pick Your Florida” post). It sounds like it could be much more fun than real life. Second, Shamed found this amazing depository of campaign ads from 19-199. Click and feel the burn. Favorites include the content-free one where everyone’s singing “I like Ike, you like Ike, everybody likes Ike”–I mean, this is my exact worst stereotype of the Fifties, and it’s real!–and the response one with the... Read more

“It would be less repugnant to be strangled by a thousand serpents than to have to endure your smile.” –Lisa Foster to villain, “The Blade Master” Read more

ORIGINS OF HALLOWEEN… not what you might expect. Here are readers’ letters in response, with some interesting speculations about how turnip lanterns became pumpkin jack-o’-lanterns. Read more

LIGHT UP THE LAMPS! ‘TIS CLOSE OF DAY!: So I dragged myself to church on All Saints’ Day, tired and inattentive. Fidgeted through the Mass, trying but failing to remind myself of the reality of “the Mass as Heaven on earth” that I had recently discovered via Scott Hahn’s Lamb’s Supper. Annoyed by peppy, chatty, way-too-casual priest. Annoyed by myself! Feeling like a big waste of time. And then we sang the closing hymn, “Sing With All the Saints in... Read more