Books & Culture reviews a new book on Lewis’ mystical side – a word not usually associated with him (via Thunderstruck). We saw The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe last week. I liked it quite a lot, but couldn’t help comparing it to Lord of the Rings, which is more epic in scale and…

Alan Bock writes on how religions might contribute to a “peace culture” by which he means one “in which most people view war as only a last resort and a tragedy if necessity forces us into one.” One of the key components of the “new American militarism,” according to Andrew Bacevich, is precisely the tendency…

Blogging will be light to nonexistent over the next week or so. Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

I’m probably late to this game, but this is pretty darn funny.

From today’s Inquirer (scroll down): Early Christian mystics went out into the desert to deepen their faith. Tom Cruise went to a desert compound in Southern California in the late 1980s and early 1990s to steep himself in the teachings of Scientology, according to a report in the Los Angeles Times. No hair shirt or…

National Review trots out the “But Bill Clinton did it too!” defense (via Tischreden) in the matter of warrant-less domestic spying. Question: since when is Bill Clinton the paragon of judicious uses of executive power for conservatives? UPDATE: Just to be clear – the NR article isn’t claiming that the Clinton administration in fact carried…

The other day I was re-watching It’s a Wonderful Life (a cliche, I know) and was struck by how I never get tired of watching it. Can’t say that about too many movies. It got me thinking about what other movies I can watch again and again. Here’s some I came up with: Star Wars…

THE Soviet dictator Josef Stalin ordered the creation of Planet of the Apes-style warriors by crossing humans with apes, according to recently uncovered secret documents. Moscow archives show that in the mid-1920s Russia’s top animal breeding scientist, Ilya Ivanov, was ordered to turn his skills from horse and animal work to the quest for a…

I love this:Go here for a larger view. And here for some background.

Ivan Eland argues that George W. Bush is the latest in a series of presidents who has done things to merit impeachment. Several recent presidents could have been impeached for selected unconstitutional or illegal actions during their presidencies. But the sitting president, George W. Bush, may win the prize for committing the most impeachable offenses…