TWE

The Wall Street Journal has a decent piece about the new buzz word: "South Park Conservatives." LINK [http://www.opinionjournal.com/la/?id=110006580]. Excerpt: > Yes, he notes, "South Park" is a coarse and offensive TV show. But precisely because it "spares no sensitivity,

We've been reading different reactions to the papal election. The Old Oligarch's is one of the most enjoyable. LINK [http://old-oligarch.blogspot.com/]. Excerpt: > The other sure bet in terms of news coverage: by the time I got home around 11 pm, and started a

It's not often you see masterly understatements and overstatements juxtaposed like this: Understatement: "Ratzinger is not the Pope that we would ideally like," said Joelle Battestini, associate convener of the Australian group Ordination of Catholic Women. Overstatement: Matt Foreman of National Gay and Lesbian Task Force

The Windy City gets religion: "A shape on an underpass wall of the Kennedy Expy. attracted hundreds Monday who wanted to see for themselves if it really looked like Virgin Mary." LINK. [http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-virgin19.html]

"A veteran Oak Forest High School teacher has received a written reprimand for telling students last week they could earn extra credit if they took part in a 'Get Naked Day' in his classroom. The comments were an unfortunate, tongue-in-cheek effort by English teacher Bob Burt to

Slate, which purports to be an unbiased news source, has this front headline today: "Ratz! Cardinal Ratzinger is a great choice for pope--if the church wants to adhere to backward doctrine, alienate more of its followers, and lose more influence in the developing world." The feature article is

Fascinating article about polygamy in Utah and Arizona and the effect of gay marriage on that fundamentalist Mormon institution. LINK. [http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/basham200504180745.asp] Excerpts: > [For over fifty years, due to a disastrous raid on polygamists back in 1953, both Utah and Arizona's tacit

If you're curious about how they're reading the Oxyrhynchus Papyri, it's a technology called "multispectral imaging." It's kind of interesting, but too nerdy for anyone who even pretends to be cool. Anyway, here's the link [http://www.slate.

The pope ought "to be the guarantor of obedience . . . The pope himself cannot even say, I am the Church, or I am the tradition, but he is, on the contrary, under constraint; he incarnates this constraint laid upon the Church. Whenever temptations arise in the Church to do things

Issue XXI Goodness gracious. Whatta day. You ever feel like unseen forces are colluding to keep you from an appointed task? For Eric Scheske, the election of Cardinal Ratzinger was one of the most exciting things he'd witnessed in his life. He wanted nothing else but to watch