Here and There . . .

• Secret Agent Man applies a good fisking to what -- in the very loose sense of the term -- is described as the "Christmas Message" of President Bush. Looks like our Commander in Chief just lost his spine to the PC Police.

• Dappled Things on "'Just Try Harder' vs. Christian morality'" (and moral anthropology).

• Also recommmended by Fr. Tucker: Mary, Mother of God, by Fr. William Saunders. Arlington Catholic Herald, Dec. 22, 1994. A brief but informative commentary on the theological issues behind the solemnity of Mary (January 1st).

• Jimmy Akin asks "What Would Frodo Do?" -- presenting a nifty idea for a D&D (Dungeons & Dragons) campaign. I don't think there's another member of St. Blog's parish that boasts more knowledge and familiarity with role-playing gaming. I dabbled a bit in my teens, but was mostly engrossed in the computer-game equivalent. Of course, I can only wonder what fundamentalists must think of Jimmy, given their penchant for denouncing fantasy role-playing games as a training ground for "budding necromancers"!

• Get Religion on "Celebrity Sacraments" (or the latest fad of celebrities: "celebrity-party christenings":
  This may also be a major boon for the Church of England, which needs all the good photo opportunities it can get in these days of global strife over moral theology. After all, Anglican rites give most media stars precisely what they need, which is Catholic visuals with liturgical and doctrinal flexibility that resembles a trip to Starbucks.

• Winds of Change's Joe Katzman on why 2004 was the "Year of the Blog". (Like Joe, I'm presently sick as a dog . . . "[feeling] a lot like some members of the mainstream media in 2004." Heh. By the way, the goal of Winds of Change is to provide "one power-packed briefing of insights, news and trends from the global War on Terror that leaves you stimulated, informed, and occasionally amused" every Monday & Thursday. If you're not tuning in already, check it out.

• Illustrating precisely why 2004 is "The Year of the Blog", here's Powerline fact-checking New York Times' journalist Thomas Friedman and shredding him in the process. (As demonstrated time and time again over the course of the past year, taking the MSM (mainstream media) to task has become common-practice among political bloggers).

• Did you know that Fr. Bryce Sibley A Saintly Salmagundi went rabbit hunting? With hawks? With the Master Falconer of his state? -- Check out this photo of the father with his bird-of-prey!

• Every once in a while, the prolific I. Shawn McElhinney (Rerum Novarum) organizes his blog and provides a list of recent posts conveniently arranged by subject -- a good practice to emulate, if I had the time. Click here for Rerum Novarum's Final Update for 2004.

• Congratulations to The Head Heeb, who has garnered a nomination for the Islamic blogosphere's first annual Brass Crescent Award ("best non-muslim blog") and is likely to be nominated in IsraellyCool's JIB awards.