I’ve turned on the Blogger feature that requires commenters to type in a displayed line of characters before submitting their comments. Recently I’ve started getting a lot of comment spam, so hopefully that’ll help stem the tide. Folks should still be able to make anonymous comments if they wish.

An op-ed from Marilyn Golden, a disability rights activist: Today the Assembly Judiciary Committee begins hearings on AB 654, which would legalize assisted suicide in California. There is a widespread public perception that those opposed to legalization are religious conservatives, and the logical position for a liberal is in support. But the coalition that’s formed…

On the Miers nomination: The headline lately is that conservatives are stiffing the president. They’re in uproar over Ms. Miers, in rebellion over spending, critical over cronyism. But the real story continues to be that the president feels so free to stiff conservatives. The White House is not full of stupid people. They knew conservatives…

I think it was Marvin who once said you gotta give ’em positive reinforcement on those rare occasions when they do something right. So, huzzah! and kudos to the Senate for voting 90-9 to approve a rider attached to a military spending bill banning torture. Their measure would ban the use of “cruel, inhuman or…

First Things now has a blog. (via Mark Shea) Though, I have to admit, one of the things I like about First Things is that it takes the longer view on things rather than getting caught up in the ephemera of the moment. Still, this’ll no doubt be worth reading.

Is the church for acceptance and pardon or transformation and costly discipleship? Justification or sanctification? Well, both actually, says John Garvey: While insisting that we must take the cross and transformation seriously, the church should also be a place where those who are weak, who are not ready for the whole of what is demanded,…

Pro-life liberal Melinda Henneberger says social conservatives and pro-lifers have been played for suckers: Among pro-lifers, I have long held the minority view that Bush never had the slightest intention of packing the Supreme Court with justices who would seek to overturn the 1973 decision legalizing abortion. Karl Rove would throw himself in front of…

Fr. Jim Tucker on technology and ethics. Camassia on gender and the church. Kevin Carson on Posse Comitatus. Also, Gutless Pacifist, R.I.P.? Plus Chris at Progressive Protestant is moving on and blog-friend Marvin is going on hiatus (though Ivy Bush co-blogger Jonathan will surely uphold the banner of quality blogging we’ve all come to expect…

In comments below Joshie pointed out that the objectionable aspect of Bill Bennett’s comments was not necessarily that he was advocating a program of African-American genocide, something manifestly untrue (thought that didn’t stop some people from attributing that to him!), but his apparent assumption that African-Americans are, in some sense, more prone to crime than…

Interesting article from Salon on “unschooling,” a radical laissez-faire variant of homeschooling. The author clearly thinks the approach has serious limitations, but finds it to be a refreshing experiment in “dropping out” of the tightly organized and highly competitive environment that a lot of insitutional schooling (public and private) has turned into.