I thought I’d refrain from joining in the Automatic GOP Leadership/Talk Radio-Fabricated Mass Panic about Sotomayor until I actually knew a little bit more from people who are, you know, lawyers (and whose judgement I trust). Now that Feddie and Dale Price have weighed in, I’m glad I haven’t wasted my time panicking. “Best of the worst” sounds about right. Pretty much what I expected, but not the monstrous vision of a crazed racist being conjured in some of the... Read more

A reader writes: My friends from college, Brenden and Lisette McNassar just signed up their little boy, Liam, for hospice. Liam is four and a half years old, and has leukemia. He was diagnosed in May 2008, and received a bone marrow transplant in November 2008. He recovered and was able to enjoy a month or so of just being a little boy before his leukemia returned in February. Here’s his CaringBridge Blog. Lisette and Brendan are two of the... Read more

A reader writes: My friends from college, Brenden and Lisette McNassar just signed up their little boy, Liam, for hospice. Liam is four and a half years old, and has leukemia. He was diagnosed in May 2008, and received a bone marrow transplant in November 2008. He recovered and was able to enjoy a month or so of just being a little boy before his leukemia returned in February. Here’s his CaringBridge Blog. Lisette and Brendan are two of the... Read more

and needs to be whipped back into line. Read more

Did an interview this morning and you can find a reasonably accurate (though with some howlers) synopsis of the conversation here. Also, I will be on Teresa Tomeo’s show next Friday, also chatting about Answering Angels and Demons. Read more

Of course, conservatives are (justifiably) jittery that she’s another Lefty who aspires to Robed Masterhood and the judicial cancellation of the whole tedious and inefficient business of democracy by the convenient mechanism of judicial fiat. What’s funny, though, is the abortion zealot wing whose reflexive hatred of anything with a whiff of Catholicism to it fills them with dread that some lingering attachment to all that Abrahamic religion jazz might render her anything less than 110% committed to the sacrament... Read more

…from the culture where consent is the sole criterion of the Good. Read more

A sympathetic reader sends along this scientific analysis of Internet culture: Read more

Yesterday I was chatting with John C. Wright on the phone (we’re trying to figure out a way to meet while I’m in Virginia/DC/Maryland next month). He mentioned, with awe, that he got to receive the Eucharist right next to Gene Wolfe at Balticon this past Sunday. Today, somebody else writes me, asking if I’ve heard of… Gene Wolfe. Clearly, I need to read Gene Wolfe. I’ll check him out when I’m done with the Divine Comedy. Read more

Here’s a news flash: WHAT is the difference between Jesus Christ and Superman? The content of religions and popular tales is often similar, but only religions have martyrs, according to an analysis of behavioural evolution published this week. When religious leaders make costly sacrifices for their beliefs, the argument goes, these acts add credibility to their professions of faith and help their beliefs to spread. If, on the other hand, no one is willing to make a significant sacrifice for... Read more