THE CHILDREN’S SCHOLARSHIP FUND. Read more

VOUCHERS: Rob Dakin writes, “Do you know who vouchers will end up benefitting? Not rural people such as my neighbors here in the foothills of Appalachia, who have no alternative schools to send their kids to, voucher or no voucher. No. The majority of the people who would benefit from a voucher system would be folks on the edge of the upper middle class, living in relatively affluent areas where private schools with high standards have already been established, and... Read more

“CAD” IS TOO NICE: So the software firm e*ECAD placed this charming billboard in Silicon Valley. Despite a torrent of angry emails, e*ECAD has yet to apologize or take the ad down. Here’s a relevent email address: [email protected] I am sure you will show them the support they deserve. Here’s a list of their business partners, some of whom are apparently very unhappy with the ad. Best lines from angry emails: “Being someone’s girlfriend does not make me an object.... Read more

“In every encounter, God asks: ‘Adam, where are you? Where do you stand? How is it with you?’ To answer this question, a person must be willing, lucid, transparent. Once someone has left behind the habitual prayers of childhood and has entered into the personal encounter, there is no way back. He must live in the light of God and expose and entrust himself to the light ever more unconditionally.” –Adrienne von Speyr “Every moment of our human life is... Read more

“These words of mine made [Baccio] Bandinello burst with fury; he turned on me, and cried: ‘And you, what have you got to say against my work?’ ‘I will tell you if you have the patience to hear me out.’ ‘Go along then,’ he replied. The Duke and his attendants prepared themselves to listen. I began and opened my oration thus: ‘You must know that it pains me to point out the faults of your statue [of Hercules and Cacus];... Read more

“This is KTTV Studios in Hollywood to Mount Wilson. We are being attacked by the Slime People. They have us walled in the city. If you have any information about this wall, please contact us immediately.” “If anybody’s listening, this is no joke. I’m a Marine. I was fighting the Slime People and was knocked out. I guess they thought I was dead and left me there. The Slime People made a fog, and the fog turned to a wall.... Read more

EXCELLENT MEMOIR-ESSAY on Martin Luther King, Jr., from the most recent First Things. Here are two excerpts, but you should definitely read the whole thing: “In my movement days, I would, when feeling mischievous, observe that I was not and never had been a socialist. This would predictably meet with startled incredulity, and the discussion would inevitably turn to what is meant by socialism. I would usually end up by saying something like this: “If by socialism, you mean reforms... Read more

SMOTHERED BY MARSHMALLOWS: Ted Barlow is playing host to a discussion of who trashes the opposition in more disgusting terms–the left or the right? The discussion highlights all the problems I have with this kind of debate: 1) Confirmation bias–if you’re a lefty you notice when someone on the right says something nasty, and gloss over it when someone on the left says something similar; and vice versa for us righties. 2) “Those idiot weasel lying slime-sucking Republicans are always... Read more

A HOMETOWN AND A DATELINE: So people are fussin’ again over DC vs. NYC. I used to get really defensive about this stuff; I hope, and think, that I’ve chilled out on it. Here are some scattered thoughts on this perpetual argument (which seems popular only in the media and music worlds, but whatever, journalists are people too, I think). 1) Obviously, New York City is objectively better. I mean, duh. Anything DC has, New York has more of it... Read more

“THE DAY AFTER SADDAM“: Very interesting Washington Post article profiling five Iraqis who are hoping to rebuild their country once Saddam Hussein is gone. Read more