Truth, Justice, and ... Equivocation?

Yesterday an online acquaintance took a look at the long-standing controversy over the tactics of Live Action, the pro-life group has been described (both positively and pejoratively!) as "Liars for Jesus."

Belated, But ...

May you have as lovely an evening as I've had a day.

"The Help Women Want"

So I am now *cough cough* an Associate Editor for a very prestigious (wait, wait; we will be!) web magazine for which I have previously written and which you should all take a look at now and again.  Behold, my first post for the Editor's Blog.

"The Help Women Want"

Todd Akin's recent comments, and the Romney-Ryan campaign’s decision to come out against restricting abortions under certain circumstances, took me mentally to a place I do not like to go very often.  Politics has a way of doing that.  If you are reading this, and you haven’t read Altcatholicah’s current top story, “Tragedy Compounded,” I urge you to go read it.  The author speaks with much authority on the matter than I could.

Andy About the Law

There's a little known Andy Griffith Show episode that deals with Opie's school days.  Little known, because the show actually never made it onto the air—the program's producers judged that it contained a thinly-veiled anti-McCarthyite message, and chose not to run it.  Most collections of the show don't include it even as an "extra" because its tone is so different from most of the regular episodes'.  That's a shame, because it's a truly fascinating parable.

Having a Problem?

So it seems that I (and Fr. Z) were perhaps a bit harsh to the thugs of the internet world, by which he means primarily spammers and hackers but under which heading I include those fools whose comments mark them as being clearly not of good will.  The poor fellows probably can't help themselves: they were all latch-key kids growing up, and most of them, at the ripe old age of thirty-seven, still are.

Thugs and Trolls

Most of you know I have a Thing about bad manners on the internet—"bad manners" being a catch-all phrase that includes anything profane, vulgar, tasteless, illogical, irrational, uncharitable, precipitous, or just plain badly thought out.  Those of you who share this Thing (and that is all of you, oui, mon frères?) will be glad to know that the inimitable Fr. Z has a litany especially for the purpose of converting the villains who indulge in such Bad Behavior.

I Don't Play Favorites

... when it comes to Mozart's piano concertos.  'Cause really, I don't have the technique for it.  I can't even get #9 under my belt.

Please Don't Hate the Pretty People

Monday morning one of my coworkers complained about Ryan being good-looking—not in an envious way, but in frustration with the average voter.  He asserted that (for example) Chris Christie, whose political persona combines all the girth, charm, and gall of Nero Wolfe, could never be picked as a VP: he just isn't attractive enough.  Of course, underdog rooters like my coworker and I might consider this a good thing; but the point stands.

"For American Women"

Andrea Mitchell thinks Ryan is not a pick for us.

I Wonder Which Policies?

FBI probing shooting of guard at Family Research Council HQ

Our Tainted Nature's Solitary Boast

~Wordsworth.

Grossly Irresponsible

This post was going to be a love letter to Paul Ryan.  Now, it's going to be a strongly worded rebuke to fellow Catholics who can't seem to do even a wee bit of research.

The Missketeers at Home

Last night was quite amazing.  It began virtuously, with attempts to copyedit, attend lectures in support of intellectual friends, and the like, and ended with a veritable bacchanal of conversation.

I Won't Grow Up

When I was younger, shorter, and more flexible than I am today, I thought I could be a ballerina when I grew up.

Please, Please Let This Be an Urban Legend

Thus the friend of the human race pleads with fate.

It's a Great Day

~Ramona Quimby.

What great day?  Why, the Feast of the Transfiguration, in case you didn't know!  (S'OK, per usual I did not either, until noon Mass.)

Expect Nothing

... sayeth Juster's Weatherman, "and then the unexpected never happens."

This would be an excellent bit of advice, except for the fact that it is impossible to expect nothing, just as it is impossible not to think of an aqua elephant. In practice, therefore, the sentence translates into a recommendation of low expectations, which I abominate.

When Virtue Pays III: Pearl Hunting

I hope you all enjoyed the professor on Wednesday.  Harold Hill is an instructive example of a rather curious phenomenon—call it the anti-Shtcherbatsky, the hypocrite who, due to circumstances outside of his control but relating directly to his practice of hypocrisy, ends up a good man.  (Another example of the same phenomenon, I would argue, is Shakespeare’s Prince Hal—but that is another story.)

"The Glory Goes Up to God"

~Gabby Douglas.

The Tell-Tale Signs of Corruption

Last week I read about Dan Patch.  Which reminded me ... the last several MWMs have been decidedly classical.  Nothing wrong with that, of course, but it also doesn't hurt to shake things up a bit.  Dan Patch comes in at 1:50.  (Pardon the advertisement.)