TWE

Light drinking news this morning. Couple of reasons: I took my oldest children to Mall Cop last night (my rating: 5, but better than I though it'd be), with the result that I wasn't able to get a head start on this post last night. I

So I was in charge of dinner Saturday evening. I picked Taco Bell, with a Hot-n_Now (regional fastfood burger franchise) for the non-Mexican eaters. Final damage: 8 hamburgers, 5 small fries, 10 regular tacos, 1 Mexican pizza, 1/2 gallon of milk, 1 liter of Mountain Dew, ten desserts

Affability should be "the framework of human relationships . . .". It is "scarcely noticed, but when it is lacking it is greatly missed. . . . [W]e must take heed of the thousands of opportunities [to practice affability] that each day brings with it." Francis Fernandez

I've never seen it this cold. Unbelievable.

Long-time readers are (painfully) aware that I fall into American idiocy at this time of year. My family and I gather around Fox TV and shrink our collective IQs by 25 or so as we watch American Idol [http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/DN-americanidol_0113gd.ART0.

One theory about the origin of homosexuality holds that it stems from a dysfunctional relationship with one's father. If a boy lacks the natural love of a father, the desideratum surfaces in a warped way later. I ran across the following piece of anecdotal evidence in a recent

I turned on my computer and saw that Fr. Richard John Neuhaus died yesterday [http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/09/us/09neuhaus.html]. Fr. Neuhaus' Naked Public Square was one of the first "adult" books I read as I started to take an interest in politics,

I don't know how I missed this entertainment news item last summer: The New York City Opera commissioned Charles Wuorinen to compose an opera based on Brokeback Mountain . . . The opera is scheduled to premiere in spring 2013, City Opera. [http://www.usatoday.com/life/theater/news/2008-06-08-brokeback-mountain_N.