Papal Deathwatch 2005

It is in full swing, and as usual, the media just doesn't get how ghoulish they are acting.

But even as John Paul II battles to recover, Irish bookmakers Paddy Power have begun taking bets on the identity of his successor.

The company has made 70-year-old Cardinal Dionigi Tettamanzi, the Archbishop of Milan, its firm favourite as next leader of the Roman Catholic Church.

Archbishop Tettamanzi, at 5-2, is ahead of 74-year-old Nigerian Cardinal Francis Arinze, 3-1, and 68-year-old Jaime Lucas Ortega y Alamino of Cuba, 11-2.

I Knew He'd Cross Over Sooner or Later

The conversion of University of Texas political theory professor J. Budziszewski to Catholicism isn't a real big surprise to me. When I was still attending the Evangelical law school I eventually graduated from a few years ago, I had the opportunity to sit in on a couple of lectures on natural law that Prof. Budziszewski (pronounced "Bud-ja-zev-skee") had been specially invited to give. While I was listening to him talk, I kept thinking to myself, "This guy can't be an Evangelical."

Fatima, 13 and the Fall of Soviet Communism

Joseph Bottum ties them all together in a nice little tribute to the late Sister Lucia dos Santos.

Blogs for Terri

Please go there for the latest news and what can be done to help save her life.

Seattle or Southern California?

I'm not one for hot weather and actually like occasional rain, but the downpours we've been getting down here lately in So. Cal. are beginning to really really annoy me.