CAMPAIGN FINANCE REFORM WOULD MAKE POLITICS NASTY AND FRENCH-LIKE: A friend pointed out that the New York Times, which has campaigned (so to speak) for campaign finance restrictions on its editorial page, apparently doesn’t read its own news reports. How else to explain these lines, from Suzanne Daley’s March 8 report, “A Rough Week on Chirac Campaign Trail”: “Campaigning for office in France is a highly restricted business, with virtually no political advertising allowed. To make up for it, the... Read more

PROVIDENCE: Lisa Beamer, widow of Flight 93 hero Todd, has written on a memorial-foundation web site and in at least one religious pamphlet about her faith in God and her belief that providence put her husband on the plane where he died. Providence? Isn’t that the thing that people thank when good things happen, but politely ignore when bad things happen? You know, the “God made me miss my flight–too bad so many other people didn’t get the divine heads-up!”... Read more

YESTERDAY, WHEN THE WAR BEGAN: I watched the “9/11” documentary last night, and don’t have anything to say about it that other people won’t say more eloquently. But anyone who reads this site should go here right now–some intense, insightful, and necessary reflections on the attacks, by a blogger who fled the WTC after the first plane hit. All of it is good, and each post addresses a very different aspect of the attacks–political, sensory, religious, and more. Here’s InstaPundit... Read more

A GOOD POINT from Ramesh Ponnuru. (Scroll down to “WHICH GAY PRIESTS?”–for some reason I can’t make the links work.) When orthodox Catholics like Rod Dreher use “gay” as a shorthand for “disagrees with Church teaching on homosexual acts,” they unintentionally accept and promote the Andrew Sullivan model of the world that I growl at just two posts down. So go Ramesh. [Edited to reflect that Dreher answered him, and agrees with him, but I can’t make that link work... Read more

“I like to hear you talk.” “Yeah, so do I. Something about the sound of my own voice fascinates me.” –Joan Crawford and Jack Carson, “Mildred Pierce” Read more

CELEBRATE GAY WRATH WEEK: Andrew Sullivan is calling for gay priests to “come out” to their parishioners (scroll down). Presumably he means only priests who disagree with the Church’s teaching on homosexual acts. Those are, after all, the priests most likely to follow his advice. (Though he notes that pretty much none of his gay ordained correspondents actually plan on revealing their orientation.) Similarly, I don’t think this reader was talking about members of Courage when he spoke of courage:... Read more

DEAR ETHICIST: Here’s my dilemma: There’s this columnist. Every Sunday, he answers people’s ethical questions. I don’t know why–I don’t know who appointed him Ethicus Maximus. His responses are often self-righteous, his morality is utilitarian-socialist, and his humor is strained. Yet I can’t stop reading him!!! Does this cognitive dissonance signal an underlying problem in my psyche? Should I be worried? Read more

IN GLORIOUS BLACK AND WHITE: So much movie madness… First, here’s Orrin Judd’s list, with links to various reviews. Then Murtaugh returns to the field (calling me “obsessive,” she noted obsessively), and notes that there’s not much overlap in any of these lists. That raises the interesting question of what the heck it means to call a movie “conservative.” Judd came up with a working definition: “Loosely defined, conservative films would be those which vindicate traditional morality and values, espouse... Read more

GAY TRANSFORMER PORN: And a reminder that bloggers don’t run the world, from Ted Barlow. Read more

“Born to kill! Born to steal! Born to avoid the consequences!” –Opening credit, “Born to Kill” Read more