has issues with “Agora”. So do I. Read more

Sean Dailey writes: Mark, thought you’d want to know: I just finished Mike Flynn’s The January Dancer. Oh my freaking good golly, Mark, it is stunning. I am at an utter loss for words. I didn’t think anything could top Eifelheim for emotional impact, but TJD does. On to Up Jim River! Could be something to bring with me in our upcoming Shea Fambly Memorial Day Hiatus at our Hidden Island Redoubt. Speaking of which, as I get ready to... Read more

Sean Dailey writes: Mark, thought you’d want to know: I just finished Mike Flynn’s The January Dancer. Oh my freaking good golly, Mark, it is stunning. I am at an utter loss for words. I didn’t think anything could top Eifelheim for emotional impact, but TJD does. On to Up Jim River! Could be something to bring with me in our upcoming Shea Fambly Memorial Day Hiatus at our Hidden Island Redoubt. Speaking of which, as I get ready to... Read more

In a truly touching moment of reconciliation between the eternally baffled Rubber Hose Right and the Pelvically Obsessed Left we get Cathleen Kaveny, former member of the Obama Campaign’s National Catholic Advisory Committee, penning an essay that is titled–I kid you not–“What is ‘Abortion,’ Anyway?” It’s in response to the excommunication of the nun in Arizona. It’s soooooooo baffling! My head is just *spinning*! Who can even know how to define all these incredibly mysterious terms like “torture” and “abortion”?... Read more

James Carroll’s cry for free play of groin mind again goes unheeded by a rigid hierarchy full of secrecy and coverups… Oh wait! It’s an Episcopalian school that punished the victim. Not usefully Catholic? Never mind. It *did* happen during the pontificate Benedict XVI. Why didn’t he act to stop it? What did he know and when did he know it? Isn’t he guilty of creating a *climate* of abuse that spread even to Episcopalian school teachers? Is there no... Read more

I’ve got two essays to write today. Also, this evening I will (WESTERN WASHINGTON ALERT!) be speaking at Holy Family parish in Kirkland on Mary, Mother of the Son. Hope to see you there! Don’t miss it if you can! Ciao till tomorrow! Read more

Buyer’s Remorse. If the Thing That Used to be Conservatism was smart, it would find a way to make common cause with them against the Son of Man. But there is not much indication of political smarts in the leadership of the Thing That Used to be Conservatism. Read more

he comes of good stock and the odious Dick Cheney endorsed his opponent. So I figure it’s a net gain that he’s doing well. Read more

…as Fleming. When I was a kid, the State used language that assumed the citizen was a human being worthy of respect. “Buckle up for safety.” “Keep America Beautiful”. Now the State uses a bullying, contemptuous tone appropriate for a bureaucrat who assumes “the Masses” are so much concrete to be shoveled around, so many cattle to be prodded, so many sheep to be startled in this or that direction by technicians whose job is to do crowd control. “Click... Read more

A reader writes: Could you please ask your readers to pray for baby Elijah? He is four months old, was badly beaten by his biological “mother” to the point of going blind, and has a shattered femur, fractured skull, a damaged brain, and more. He was under seven pounds a couple of weeks ago, so he is badly malnourished. He has had trouble keeping his temperature and sodium where they should be. He is on a feeding tube, and most... Read more