A few links to get things rolling this morning:
- The Church of the ‘Times’: Kenneth Woodward makes a convincing argument that the New York Times is “an institution with the soul of a church,” complete with its own secular magisterium.
- ‘An exercise in moral botox’: Mary Eberstadt eviscerates You Don’t Know Jack, HBO’s paean to Jack Kevorkian.
- Confess in the ‘Paddy Power Sin Bin’: An Irish bookie has donated £10,000 to a Church restoration fund for a new confessional. The pastor at St. Etheldra isn’t concerned that gambling is behind the funds; as he simply put it, “Everyone liked a flutter.”
- An Honest Facebook Political Argument: Hilarious pull-quote to pique your interest and make you click through.
- “Time 100” is that magazine’s annual issue dedicated to their picks for most influential people of the year. The list is about what you’d expect — a mix of the obvious, obscure, and ridiculous. (Under “Leaders,” Sister Carol Keehan made the cut for her support of the health-care reform bill. Influential, maybe — but not everyone would agree that was a good thing.)
Who would be on your list of most influential people of the past year?