A man of conscience speaking out or the continuation of the deplorable celebrity-ization of our politics? I report, you decide.

The editors of the New Pantagruel have published a roundtable on tomorrow’s election. It’s interesting how many were Nader voters in 2000. This may be reflective of TNP’s brand of orthodox Christian, anti-consumerist, anti-modern “conservatism.” (Dare we say green conservatism?)

To complement Jim Henley’s case for Kerry, “Jane Galt” makes the thinking libertarian’s case for Bush here.

Another article today at TCS opens with this paragraph: Two of America’s most important Brits — Andrew Sullivan and Christopher Hitchens — have endorsed John Kerry for President. Their endorsements are important because both support an aggressive pursuit of the war on terrorism, an issue where Senator Kerry’s commitment is suspect. Their endorsements are also…

Around 100,000 Iraqis have been killed in violence since the US-led coalition forces invaded the country in March 2003, said a report published Friday in British medicine journal The Lancet. More than half of those who died were women and children killed in air strikes, American public health experts said in the latest issue of…

A very interesting piece from Religion News Service on Republican efforts to get the Amish to the polls, largely based on appeals to conservative stances on abortion and gay marriage: The Amish, as well as their spiritual cousins the Hutterites and Old Order Mennonites, have long resisted political involvement as a way to “not be…

This coming Sunday is Reformation Day – the anniversary of Martin Luther’s posting of his 95 theses to the cathedral door in Wittenberg. This event is generally held to mark the start of the Reformation. (So, kill two birds with one stone by sending your kids trick-or-treating dressed as Luther and Calvin.) I’m not sure…

Eve Tushnet has a very good post on her election ambivalence. Best line: “So, some scattered thoughts, in an attempt to at least gesture toward the reasons why, if I were registered to vote, I would vote for (growl) Bush–the man who puts the ‘W’ in ‘WTF?!’”

After taking that presidential selector quiz yesterday, I was a bit puzzled. It seemed strange that I, who have long considered myself a conservative of some stripe or another (with a brief sojourn among the libertarians), would find the Green Party candidate at the top of my list (with admittedly a large area of disagreement)!…

Eric Weiner: So, might mandatory voting work in the United States? It’s a tempting quick fix to our low levels of voter turnout. Also, imagine our political parties freed from the burden of having to energize their base. Candidates could focus on converting voters, rather than trying to get them to the polls. As for…