It was a thrilling day when J.K. Rowling surpassed the Queen of England in wealth. But a sadder day was to follow: Ms Rowling is suing the publisher of a geeky librarian who's compiled a Harry Potter encyclopedia. There's little doubt that on his website Steven Vander Ark left some...

This morning I was sitting around minding my own business, bothering nobody, rereading the Constitution of the United States. News of the Middle East was on in the background. I was only half listening but it hit me, how much their mullahs are like our mullahs -- our Christian fundamentalist...

Nobody has the right to deprive simple people of their childish certainties until they've acquired others that are more reasonable.

-- 14 October 1941, Hitler's Secret Conversations 1941-1944, N Cameron, trans.

How, I keep wondering as the 2008 election looms, how did he do it? I can't...

At two this morning I finished The Deathly Hallows. It left a void I needed to fill, but I didn't entirely trust starting the Sorcerer's Stone a third time. So I read old reviews of J.K. Rowling's books. I had missed some, especially one by Harold Bloom (someone I...

Just when I was wondering where my next laugh was coming from, I saw a CBS report that in 1994 the Air Force's laboratory in Dayton asked for $7.5 million to develop a chemical weapon that would turn enemy soldiers into horny homosexuals.

The story momentarily distracted me from my...

A lot of water has gone over the dam, much of it blood tinged since George W. Bush first swore to preserve and protect the Constitution. Given the gravity of other issues, it's baffling why so many people spend any energy thinking about Scooter Libby's pardon. I'm particularly obsessed by...