What is there to say? God rest his soul. He was somebody’s son, somebody’s brother, somebody’s father. Despite the tide of phoney media-manufactured grief, I feel about the same sense of connection with his death as I do with the death of some random person in the paper who died. I think there’s something gross about whipping oneself into grief over Celebrity Death. It’s narcissistic if you don’t feel any real connection with the person. He was a singer and... Read more

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Because, as everybody knows, I hate George Bush with a passion and can see no good in him whatsoever, I’m not running this story which shows that his Administration saved 11 million lives in the fight against AIDS. Nor am I noting that it is one of the great unsung achievements of the past decade, studiously ignored by a media that would be falling down in Hosannas of praise to the current Executive if he had done it. You didn’t... Read more

NEW YORK – Hundreds of New York City public school teachers accused of offenses ranging from insubordination to sexual misconduct are being paid their full salaries to sit around all day playing Scrabble, surfing the Internet or just staring at the wall, if that’s what they want to do.* *Because their union contract makes it extremely difficult to fire them, the teachers have been banished by the school system to its “rubber rooms” — off-campus office space where they wait... Read more

…and of much of the GOP today, longing for the day when all those embarrassing prolifers will just leave the country club: “There are times when an abortion is necessary. I know that. When you have a black and a white,” he told an aide, before adding: “Or a rape.” The GOP is more properly described as the “less pro-abortion” party than as the pro-life party. It has a large percentage of the base who are deeply and sincerely pro-life:... Read more

Yesterday, I returned from my sojourn in the East, full of satisfaction over the forging of new links with potentates, poobahs, and principalities in the regions near the Levers of Power, Washington, DC. Having spun my webs of fear and deceit and sped my rise to the summits of Power–Absolute POWER! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAA!–I was happy to return home to the Dark Tower for a pleasant afternoon of brooding and reception of groveling minions. Well, *who* should be in town yesterday but... Read more

If you use Twitter, set your location to Tehran & your time zone to GMT +3.30. Iranian security forces are hunting for bloggers using location/timezone searches. The more people at this location, the more of a logjam it creates for forces trying to shut down Iranians’ access to the internet. Cut & paste & pass it on. Read more

Here’s my latest at Inside Catholic: Blessed are the Pure in Heart And now, I’m outta here till next Monday, as I leave very early for my trek to Maryland/DC/Virginia: June 24 7:00 PM. St. John Neumann parish, Gaithersburg, MD. Topic How I Got This Way.Contact: Eric Sammons. June 25 4:00 PM Pope John Paul II Cultural Center, Washington, DC. Topic: Mary, Mother of the Son. June 25 8:00 PM Holy Trinity Parish, Gainesville, VA. Topic: How the Eucharist Made... Read more

A reader writes: With all the prayer requests, I have to add my own, since I’ve now been out of work for nearly a year. I have 5 little ones, and it’s starting to get a bit depressing. Could you please pray and command, er, ask your 156 Twitter minions to pray for a decent job, sooner rather than later? Father, grant your son work at a living wage through our Lord Jesus Christ. Father Joseph and Mother Mary, obtain... Read more

set off giant discussions! I never know what’s going to trigger explosions. Sometimes, I confess, there are days when I’m feeling a bit mischievous and I will deliberately post something that I know will make (some) people get all het up. Usually I will do so in way which I, at any rate, think is pretty obviously tongue-in-cheek. But there are always irony-impaired readers who will take me seriously and freak out. It’s a cheap form of amusement for the... Read more