Detail of a fifteenth-century depiction of St. James by Blackfriar Lawrence OP (flickr) At the end of the week this weblog, like a romantic intervention by Zorro, will vanish into the misty night leaving behind only the promise, as the signature of his sword proclaims, to remain watchful and to return again heroically when needed.  So too, Santiago Matamoros will one day come again on his winged steed to beat back the awful Mohammedan hordes and to help usher in an age of peace on... Read Full Story

  Photo by Jeremy Brooks (flickr) From my “Terms of Service” page, written sometime before this blog went public: Speaking of guarantees, another appropriate analogy is that this weblog is a lot like western civilization or modern life as we know it.  Just because it’s here today, that’s no guarantee it will be here tomorrow. My sincerest apologies to my many friends, readers, subscribers, fellow bloggers, and “millions of adoring fans.”  I leave the an... Read Full Story

Imperial March - John Williams I am pleased to announce that I have been chosen to provide the music for Obama’s forthcoming inauguration as President of the  United States of America.   After thoughtful consideration, none of Obama’s (or McCain’s) favorite songs made my short list, but I did find the perfect music in the end.  If it was good enough for Luke Skywalker’s dad, it’s good enough for the author of Dreams of My Father. It will be heartwarming to see ... Read Full Story

I was actually disappointed at first when the long-awaited blogburst finally arrived tonight.  Now?  On the Eve of Destruction?  Even I can’t keep my mind on the jihad or the Flight 93 monument just now, and I’m quite literally obsessed.  About the only matter on my mind—and, I’m sure, yours—is Tuesday’s presidential election, and this thing is a lot closer than polls have been showing.  Of course, it shouldn’t be this close, since one c... Read Full Story

   Photo by lintmachine (flickr) One of the last online stories run by The New York Sun before they folded at the end of September concerned reports of an “October surprise” by al-Qaeda and other Islamic terrorists.  To many observers, it stood to reason that we could see a repeat of the 2004 Madrid bombings, which propelled Jose Zapatero and his Socialist Party to power, whereupon his first major act was to withdraw Spanish forces from Iraq.  Digital chatter o... Read Full Story

I haven’t prepared a midweek post because I’ve been expecting the Flight 93 blogburst which, for me at least, is not simply a matter of uploading.  I always prepare a brief but thoughtful introduction, and I thoroughly edit the essay and reformat the photographs, graphics, and animations.  Additionally, I code the blogburst with an array of meta data, optimizing the post for Google keyword, image, and blog searches.  It’s a dirty job. Waiting for the missing ... Read Full Story

John McCain before a painting of Our Lady of Guadalupe (Mexico City) by Luis Acosta I don’t have time to write anything just now, but a picture is worth a thousand words. This one especially. In fact, I could easily rip off a few thousand words about the poignant feelings and sentiments this photo stirs in me, if I had but world enough and time, as Emily Dickinson put it. Anyway, this isn’t a political blog as such, but since I’ve lent much of my attention of late to Barac... Read Full Story

Yes, as you can see from the title of today’s post, I’m still in my animal phase: last time the king of the forest, today the persistent and determined champion of an epic foot race. Posted just a few days ago at Google Video, “Infrastructure” is part four of a provocative film called The Plan To Control America, and I’m beginning to fear it really may be as bad as all that. There are no new revelations or discoveries in the film (not if you’ve been follow... Read Full Story

This video is a couple years old, but I just discovered it, and frankly, had I known this sort of thing was out there I’d have converted to Islam a long time ago.  No, really: I’m convinced.  I know a miracle when I see one, and you can clearly see—I mean, hear—the lion say “Allah” about a zillion times.  And the lion says it with conviction, as might be expected from the king of the forest, who in this case is a detainee at the zoo in Baku.  When ... Read Full Story

It’s been a couple weeks since Alec Rawls has put out a new installment of the ongoing Flight 93 memorial blogburst, and this one consists of entirely fresh material.  It’s truly fascinating to see the development of architect Paul Murdoch’s memorial design, because we can see in it a consistent and obsessive preoccupation with Islamic imagery and culture.  As if the current plan isn’t full of quite enough Islamic imagery and symbolism, it is remarkable to di... Read Full Story