In his Christmas homily, Pope Benedict XVI urged the people of the world to remember the exploited. He then spoke of children; here, I shall mention a few other exploited groups of people in hopes of reminding myself (and any readers) to reflect -- not only upon these groups' existence or their mistreatment, but upon my role in perpetrating, ( Read more... )

Which instrument from an orchestra would you be?

Harvard's fortnightly journal of conservative thought published four of the controversial Danish newspaper cartoons... along with them, they printed a brief editorial and two anti-Semitic cartoons from Middle Eastern newspapers.

A .GIF image of the page on which said editorial appeared may be found here.

I read this evening of the death of John Spencer, whom I knew chiefly from his work on The West Wing; Mr. Spencer won an Emmy Award in 2002 for his West Wing portrayal of Leo McGarry. His untimely death, which came four days before his 59th birthday, brings to a close Mr. Spencer's celebrated stage, television and film career. He will be missed ( Read more... )

Behold! the latest moronic letter to the Greenville News' editor of opinions. 'Tis a shame s/he didn't edit this out of print.... (By the way, Bob Nestor is a recurring local voice of right-wing irrationality... I can't say whether he writes his own letters or merely forwards the work of others.)

Katrina was tool of God's judgmentNew Orleans' ( Read more... )

from Jackola.net ( Read more... )

Carmen Burns, host of NPR's Powerpoint broadcasts, stated tonight that recent Family Research Council telecasts contained the following assertion: Questions from senators about a judicial nominee's personal beliefs about abortion or women's rights constitute an unconstitutional religious test for confirmation ( Read more... )

Had the pleasure of working with the band last picture show at this year's Dragon*Con in Atlanta... Matt Robinson and John Mullaney were (understandably!) a bit nervous at the prospect of performing for a live and via-CCTV audience of over 10,000, but apparently found some solace during their sound check and pre-show.  They were a pleasure to work ( Read more... )