Joseph Bottum is the former editor of First Things.

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JB: 7.14.06 It surely means something that…

It surely means something that we live in an age containing the greatest ukulele player ever born, but I’m not sure just what it means. His name is Jake Shimabukuro , a twenty-nine-year-old from Hawaii, and he can make a four-string ukulele do everything but sit up and beg¯and the . . . . Continue Reading »

14 Jul 2006

JB: 7.13.06 He had a name like a James Bond…

He had a name like a James Bond villain¯ Money , Dr. Money ¯and he lived his life as though he were one of those villains, as well: With the mad conviction that he had come like Prometheus to deliver fire, with the crazed confidence that his genius raised him above the quotidian norms of . . . . Continue Reading »

13 Jul 2006

JB: 6.05.06 The Los Angeles…

The Los Angeles Times this week published its latest poll on 2008 presidential candidates , and the results looked bad for Mitt Romney: "Thirty-seven percent of those questioned said they would not vote for a Mormon presidential candidate." Except, perhaps, that the connection between . . . . Continue Reading »

5 Jul 2006

JB: 3.07.06 For some authors…

For some authors, it’s always personal¯history and the human condition combining to be about, mostly, them. James Carroll, for instance. Perhaps it’s a kind of paranoia: In Constantine’s Sword , Carroll seemed to think that the whole history of Christianity was a conspiracy . . . . Continue Reading »

3 Jul 2006

JB: 6.27.06 OK, so this weekend…

OK, so this weekend my wife and I indulged a guilty pleasure and rented The Shoes of the Fisherman to watch. You remember the 1968 film? The indefatigable Anthony Quinn¯Hollywood’s favorite generic ethnic actor in those days¯plays an Eastern European priest elected pope. Laurence . . . . Continue Reading »

27 Jun 2006

JB: 6.21.06 A friend emails thoughts…

A friend emails thoughts on the recent firing of a transportation commissioner in Maryland for remarks about homosexuality: Back in 2004, Rocco Buttiglione was nominated to be the commissioner of justice on the newly formed European Commission, the executive branch of the European Union. A . . . . Continue Reading »

21 Jun 2006

JB: 6.20.06 Cynthia Gorney takes to…

Cynthia Gorney takes to the pages of the New Yorker to report on abortion in South Dakota. The article itself is not available online, but the New Yorker is promoting the article by posting on its website an interview with the author¯and, in its way, the interview is more revealing than the . . . . Continue Reading »

20 Jun 2006

JB: 6.14.06 On the left-wing Daily Kos website…

On the left-wing Daily Kos website , a commentator named CheChe writes: I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a look of misery and dejection on the face of my daughter as I just did a moment ago. She just couldn’t understand why the President would be going to Iraq when so many things . . . . Continue Reading »

14 Jun 2006

JB: 5.6.06 At first glance…

At first glance Melanie Phillips’ Londonistan , seems a little off-putting. The prose is shrill, the point repetitive and relentless, the outrage so ceaseless that it quickly grows tiresome and, worse, unbelievable. Yes, you find yourself saying, the British let Muslim culture in England . . . . Continue Reading »

6 Jun 2006

JB: 5.29.06 Auschwitz is always…

Auschwitz is always a harsh lesson¯a slap, a rebuke, an indictment. This is a proof of what humans can do. This is a monument to what humans can be. There is no one who is not guilty, there is no one who is not shamed, there is no one who is not shown a mirror by that vile camp the Nazis built . . . . Continue Reading »

5 Jun 2006