“Pope John Paul has performed three exorcisms during his 23-year pontificate, including one as recently as September, one of the Catholic Church’s leading exorcists said on Monday,” Reuters reports. “Father Gabriele Amorth told Italy’s La Stampa newspaper that the Pope had carried out his first exorcism in 1982.” For Roman Catholics, exorcism is the casting out of what is believed to be an evil spirit through prayer and the laying

A lib buddy of mine forwarded me this email — “The Ten Commandments – Republican-style” — which I’m reprinting here, taking care to remove the original emailer’s identity. For the record, I’m not a “Republican” myself (though I’m conservative on certain issues) but such trifles shant prevent me from responding (which I do, in italics, below…). Subject: The Ten Commandments–Republican-Style Date: 2/17/02 3:52 PM Eastern Standard Time From: [xxxxx] Message-id:

The American Prospect’s Nicholas Confessore asks, “Does the White House have a blacklist?” To which I reply, does TAP think the rhetorical questions in its headlines are fooling anybody…?

“Artists, music executives, religious leaders and politicians came out in full force Thursday for the Hip-Hop Action Network’s West Coast summit to address issues and needs facing the community,” a story in The Hollywood Reporter notes. “The mini-summit, held at the Four Seasons hotel in Beverly Hills, is a precursor to the next national summit, set for June. On hand were the event’s organizers, Def Jam Records founder Russell Simmons