are the words “it has been disclosed“. Like this is news. It reminds me of that moment at the climax of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix when Cornelius Fudge, the Minister of Magic who has lived in steadfast denial of Voldemort’s existence, arrives at the Ministry with his Cabinet moments after the epic battle has destroyed the place and witnesses Voldemort’s disapparation. “He’s back!”, he says, with a stunning command of the obvious. Golly! Radical Muslims are... Read more

If you want a compressed future history of where our civilization will go if the Rubber Hose Right gets its way, here’s a conversation that just happened in my combox with a guy who has the cheek to invoke Chesterton in defense of his cowardly defenses of torture. In the tradition of Himmler, he conflates courage with the willingness to stamp on your conscience till it is numb and do the evil thing: Chestertonrules: Paraphrasing Chesterton: The consequence of being... Read more

Lorna is presently flying from Philly to California and home. That’s the very good news and I thank you all for your prayers. The thing is, she’s in a lot of pain and flying is an arduous trial. So please pray that she’s able to sleep and that the meds reduce the agony during the flight. In other prayer news, a reader writes: Just wanted to drop you a little note to let you know that all is well with... Read more

Latest outrage here. And that was written *before* he made a sneaky deal to sell arms to Our Friends the Saudis. Trillions of dollars in debt and we are still giving corporate welfare to giant arms corporations and supplying rich Muslims with weapons. And suckers still call that “hope and change”. But hey! Bristol Palin is doing great and we are content with our bread and circuses! Read more

Is Beatification for Darth Vader next? (ROME) In a startling change to the Catholic Faith, Pope Benedict XVI announced today that tossing people down elevator shafts could represent a first step in assuming moral responsibility “in the intention of reducing the risk of having your own son electrocuted to death before your very eyes.” The Imperial Mainstream Media Center has taken this as a signal that the Church intends to canonize Darth Vader for his saintly courage in tossing Emperor... Read more

…TSA delivers. I am so looking forward to flying to OK. Read more

here and here: Meanwhile, as the State is, right now, strip-searching and groping little boys and telling you that it is keeping you safe, people who still live somewhere in the cloud cuckoo land of the Ridiculous Hypothetical Scenario are *still* writing me stuff like this: Mark I usually love your posts but I find your moral compass to be a little shaky here. Here’s an extreme hypothetical to get the ball rolling. Your options: 1) The Holocaust 2) Torture... Read more

His basic take: Meh. I reckon he’s right that the films will make more sense if you’ve read the books–and that this is not a sign of good filmmaking.  I was a bit lost for a few moments, but mostly tracked the story, which was largely faithful. The normal back and forth between fan and critic happens in the comboxes, with only a couple of people saying dumb things about how eeeeeeevil and occult the books are and condemning Steve... Read more

Today, my shuffling lackeys and suckups, I think the task before us is obvious: find two more followers and make it a nice round number.  The 500th follower will not have his house targeted for destruction and his family abducted for experimentation and genetic manipulation.  Just my way of saying, “Thanks for your patronage!”That is all! Read more

Nail Clippers of Death! What’s so bad about profiling anyway? Read more