BEST LINE FROM THIS WEEK’S “SAVAGE LOVE”: “[Ashton Kutcher] is frequently the subject of heavy-breathing stories in teenybopper magazines like Teen People and The New Republic.” Read more

WHICH DAVID BOWIE ARE YOU? Read more

LITTLE BOOKS THAT STARTED OUR BIG WARS: Scores of prominent folk name and briefly cite the books that changed their lives. Good stuff. I got this link from The Rallying Point. Read more

“He’s been fightin’ something inside him, something decent trying to crawl out.” –Jean Peters, “Pickup on South Street” Read more

AND SPEAKING OF SCALIA: I think he’s off-base in his statement that Catholic judges who believe the death penalty is unjust should resign. There’s a lot to say (scroll down on that link) about Catholic teaching on the death penalty. Fortunately for Scalia, it’s a lot more complex than he seems to believe. But that’s not what I want to talk about. I just want to know why he thinks judges who have substantial disagreements with some portion of the... Read more

MESSAGE TO JUDGES: STOP IN THE NAME OF THE LAW: This fine Iain Murray post discusses what England and America (and India) share in our understanding of laws, rights, and constitutional guarantees. The basic point is that culture, not contracts or constitutions, guarantees our rights. A country with a culture that respects the rights of citizens will preserve those rights even without a constitution; a country with a constitution can lose its respect for rights and reinterpret its constitution to... Read more

BUT FIRST… Lee Miller. She was a Surrealist photographer during World War II, and one of the first Americans to see the liberated death camps. Although this site doesn’t include many of her best pictures (like the woman singing in the bombed-out opera house), it does give a flavor of her great artistic talent, moral acuity, and grim sense of humor. Read more

DEEP THOUGHTS IN THE BLOGOSPHERE. Much goodness today. James Lileks has a thoughtful (if conclusion-free) ramble about regulation, the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire, and unions. (My only caveat is that he doesn’t note that unions exploited the actual awfulness of working conditions in order to push their own variations on Communism–exploiting exploitation, I suppose.) Then you get Unqualified Offerings’ praise of Paul Prudhomme, plus an often-overlooked point about capitalism and luxury goods. And finally you get The Edge of England’s Sword,... Read more

“Do you know what Communism is?” “Who cares?” –Federal agent and Richard Widmark, “Pickup on South Street” Read more

DISTURBING SEARCH REQUESTS. Don’t read this where your boss can see. Read more