"You'll pretty much say anything to stay alive because you expect people will understand these aren't your words."

The hostage point of view. We can't ask for more. We can imagine a bolder hero who would do more. But we should speak no ill of the per...

" This whole incident was instigated by the inappropriate touching and stopping of me, a female black congresswoman."

Said Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney , who may be criminally charged for slapping the police officer who blocked her entry into the Capitol w...

Fear and hope among the Afghan apostates.

Abdul Rahman, the Afghan Christian who faced the death penalty for converting from Islam, now lives in exile in Italy. But what of the hundr...

Terri Schiavo died a year ago.

How is the press marking the anniversary? Some are running with the "living wills" theme. Others are revisiting the husband and...

Thinking about your muscles makes you stronger.

Really. The team wired their subjects up to weight machines which monitored levels of electrical activity in their biceps and asked them to ...

"It's not like grabbing your crotch, not that bad an obscenity."

But it's an obscenity , says Vito, from "The Sopranos" (Joseph Gannascoli), about that notorious hand gesture of the American ...

The Democrats announced their national security plan the other day.

Did you notice? Me neither. Are the media to blame for our inattention to this ?

"AI" fashions, critiqued.

Robin Givhan -- the WaPo's fashion analyst -- takes on "American Idol." She doesn't like the sexing up of the women: Dres...

Ranking the law schools.

Paul Caron has figured out which law schools have moved up and which have fallen in the new U.S. News ranking. (Wisconsin stayed the same.)...

"This is the first time that anyone has shown that the brain grows differently in extremely intelligent children."

Okay, all you narcissistic parents: Time to run out and get a brain image done on your little genius. And all you IQ doubters: Time to fret ...

Massachusetts is not exporting gay marriage.

If gay marriage isn't legal in their home state, a gay couple can't get married in Massachusetts, says the Massachusetts Supreme Jud...

Scientifically testing the power of prayer.

It failed! Whoops! While many studies have suggested that praying for oneself may reduce stress, research into praying for others who may n...

"I've lived in my face."

Says Ali MacGraw , who's 67 and comfortable with a face like "a road map." An excellent road map: There, now. It's nice to...

A late morning fixation.

"40-year-old men and women who look, talk, act, and dress like people who are 22 years old."

New York Magazine discovers a non-new nonproblem -- and pads the story to death . Could you name any more bands or items of clothing in one...

"The growing interest in making Scalia newsworthy reflects a change in the political fortunes of liberal causes and of the Democrat Party. "

Ronald A. Cass decries "Stalking Scalia." (If that phrase is making you picture Scalia lumbering along after you, please clear tha...

Prius/Pious.

Is driving your hybrid car causing you to talk with your eyes closed? The new "South Park" episode -- "Smug Alert" -- ha...

Brian Wilson's "new lease on life came with a deed restriction."

And now that landlord is dead: Eugene Landy, the psychotherapist who was variously called a savior and a snake oil salesman for his unorthod...

The murderer's memorabilia.

He wants it back. And he's suing his former lawyer, Hugo R. Harmatz, to get it: [David] Berkowitz is serving six sentences of 25 years ...

"I was never hurt, ever hit... I was kept in a safe place and treated very well."

Says Jill Carroll , complimenting her kidnappers, after her release. ADDED: Let me be clear that I'm not slamming Carroll. She was givin...

If you had to accept gay marriage or gays in the military...

Which would you pick? (A question aimed, obviously, at readers who are opposed to both.) Explain your reasons. ADDED: Feel free to comment i...

"American Idol" -- results.

ADDED: If you're looking for the newest results show, click on the banner at the top -- Althouse -- and then scroll down to the most rec...

Go ahead and choose C-section!

There's no reason to discourage women from giving birth by Caesarean section, says the National Institute of Health. As the number of C...

"I am, by the way, an American jurist."

Wrote Justice Scalia, chiding the Boston Herald for referring to him as an "Italian jurist." It's all part of today's b...

The "boiled babies" remark.

So Berlusconi insulted Mao? Find something more substantial to get mad about -- even if you are celebrating the "Year of Italy." ...

"The 'War on Christmas' has morphed into a 'War on Christians.'"

Presumably, these "War on Christians" people have some valid complaints, so why are they adopting a label that is so offputting ...

The new U.S. News law school rankings are out.

So what's going on at your school over these things ? Wailing and gnashing of teeth? Jubilation? Smug boredom? Sighs of relief? A small ...

"American Idol" -- the final 10.

Without a pause to explain the theme and, apparently, no guest star, they just spring Lisa Tucker on us. She sings a big Kelly Clarkson hit...

The amazing comments thread.

Have you noticed that this post from last Thursday has over 350 comments and that people with strongly opposed views on the hot topic of ga...

The argument in Hamdan.

SCOTUSblog describes today's oral argument in the Hamdan case: For the most part, the session was subdued and understated, especially g...

Flipflopping on celery.

The Smoking Gun has some documents showing the John Kerry's demands when staying at hotels when he was campaigning for President. On th...

"He was eventually diagnosed with A.D.W., or Attention-Deficit What; then A.D.H.S.T., or Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Stop That..."

"... and, after that, A.D.P.O.Y.P., or Attention-Deficit Put On Your Pants. Finally, I realized that Billy is a Dandelion Child, a term...

Finding the crack...

... in Northern Wisconsin.

Watching real polygamists watch fictional polygamists.

The NYT watches some real polygamists watching HBO's fictional polygamists on "Big Love": "This is a glimpse of a family...

The politics of old signage.

The historic preservation of large industrial neon signs is a political battlefield. Consider that big Wonder Bread sign in Seattle: The Sa...

"The Apprentice."

Was it a little dull tonight without Brent to kick around? Another make-a-commercial task. I'm tired of that. And for a cruise ship! Ugh...

"Everybody used to refer to me as the 20th hijacker and it was a bit of fun."

Zacharias Moussaoui explains why he signed the confession. Now, he only admits to knowing that the 9/11 attacks would take place. But he re...

"Go to the far corners of the Earth... they don't really know what Mount Vernon or Monticello or Hearst Castle are, but they know what Graceland is."

Graceland, Graceland mark .

Hamdan and the arcana of jurisdiction stripping.

Linda Greenhouse writes about the Hamdan case, to be argued in the Supreme Court Tuesday: In the face of a measure that Congress passed an...

"The Sopranos."

There's an excellent Television Without Pity forum on last night's new episode of "The Sopranos." (Spoiler alert.) Everyo...

Audible Althouse #42.

Here . A mere 26 minutes. Topics: the movie "Open Water," whether one ought to do physically adventurous things, marriage (a physi...

The blogginess of blogs.

Isn't a blog just writing? Is there some style of writing needed to make a blog good? A propos of the Clooney-HuffPo affair, NYT writer...

"To strip marriage of its antiquated ideals and romantic tinsel and find ways to make it truly contemporary."

Remember "Open Marriage," that 1972 self-help-ish book? Well, let's reminisce about it, on the occasion of the death of one of...

"Yardlong, spaghetti-thin worms erupted from the legs or feet — or even eye sockets — of victims."

The horrendous, ancient disease called Guinea worm: [The worms] forc[ed] their way out by exuding acid under the skin until it bubbled and ...

"What sociologists call the 'cool-pose culture' of young black men was simply too gratifying to give up."

Harvard sociology professor Orlando Patterson writes a powerful op-ed : Several years ago, one of my students went back to her high school t...

"A lack of information and a lot of legal gaps."

So says an anonymous official "closely involved with the case," giving the reason for dismissing the case against the Abdul Rahma...

"Open Water."

I avoided this film when it was in the theaters. I avoid most films, so my avoidance means little. But I suppose I lacked the confidence th...

"You know, I wouldn't put it past him... He's a pretty sneaky guy."

"Might Mr. Dylan alter his set lists just to mess with the pool?"

"The Quran is very clear and the words of our prophet are very clear. There can only be one outcome: death."

So said cleric Khoja Ahmad Sediqi , a member of the Supreme Court in Afghanistan, speaking about the case against Abdul Rahman, who converte...

What do parents say to kids who announce that they want to become teachers?

Here 's a piece in The Chronicle of Higher Education (via A&L Daily ): In focus-group interviews that I conducted, candidates enroll...

Should we sneer at arranged marriages?

Masuda Sultan, despite being divorced from an arranged marriage, defends the tradition in her book, "My War at Home": "It...

Bob Newhart tells a 9/11 joke.

You can joke about 9/11 , can't you? You just have to find the right way to do it: Reading recently about the Zacarias Moussaoui trial, ...

"How predictable sociology is."

Jeremy complains. [W]ithout looking at anything else, I flipped ahead to the last page of the comment because I knew what would be there, an...

"He thought the man had an 'attitude,' then noticed the driver had no arms."

The news from New Zealand: Senior Constable Brent Gray approached the driver's window, saw a foot on the dashboard and noticed the seat ...

Don't plagiarize.

What shortcuts are you taking now, that you might live to regret ?

"You see all these pockmarks in his cheeks and he looks like an entirely different person -- and you go, 'Wow, is that Brad Pitt?'"

HDTV looks so good , it makes mere mortals look bad. Actually, the HD camera makes the picture so sharp, it's not just clearer than old-...

"Window cleaner Ira Clemons put down his squeegee in the lobby of a city mall and stroked his goatee...."

Guess the topic of the MSM news article that begins its third paragraph thusly? It's: Do people want President Bush impeached? The goat...

"It is the dirtiest little secret in higher education..."

That's a quote from one of the letters responding to that article about discriminating agains women in college admissions that we were...

"Unless something radical and imaginative is done Squirrel Nutkin and his friends are going to be toast."

Said Lord Inglewood.

A 250-year-old tortoise...

... has died. The animal was older than the United States. It doesn't seem that there now exists any animal in the world who is anywher...

"In an environment where people are disgusted with politics in general, who represents clean and change?"

"Women." So says Representative Rahm Emanuel of Illinois, the chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. He'...

What do we think of political pressure on independent courts and the applicability of international norms...

... in the context of a case like this ?

Distinguishing gay marriage and polygamy -- part 2.

We were just talking at great length on this topic, but William Saletan has a new piece in Slate, so let's do it again. As you may rem...

"There's blogs."

Says Bush.

Beards.

They're back! [Vice magazine's ad director John] Martin's idea of a style symbol, seriously, is Ulysses S. Grant, whose beard he...

"Had she been a male applicant, there would have been little, if any, hesitation to admit."

The dean of admissions at Kenyon College, Jennifer Delahunty Britz, writes a NYT op-ed blatantly admitting to a policy of discriminating aga...

"Reveal[ing] the strains behind the surface placidity and collegiality of the young Roberts court."

The first dissenting opinion written by Chief Justice John Roberts provides an occasion for Linda Greenhouse to portray the mood of the Cou...

"South Park" -- "The Return of Chef!"

So? That ended awfully abruptly! Were you satisfied? Isaac Hayes is, I think, honored , and the hatred is directed at the organization that ...

"American Idol" -- the results.

Well, I was surprised. I thought sure Lisa would go, but if not Lisa, then Bucky. Yet it was Kevin Corvais who came out on the bottom. I can...

When terrorists deter terrorism.

BBC reports: The Basque separatist group Eta has declared a permanent ceasefire. Eta is blamed for killing more than 800 people in its four-...

Maybe you can amnesia-fake your way into a more glamorous lifestyle.

Doug Bruce, the subject of the documentary "Unknown White Male," claims to have complete amnesia, but how do we know he's not ...

European-style regulation and the dangerous pipe organ.

The NYT reports: The new [European Union] directive, to come into force in July, limits the proportion of hazardous substances like lead, me...

"American Idol" -- the final 11.

"She has no range," says Barry Manilow about Mandisa. He means that she can sing well throughout her large range. Apparently, he u...

"I was born in America and I love my country."

That's nice, but should you have your own reality show, when the only reason for any interest in you is that you are Osama bin Laden...

Googling in the billions.

Which words, searched in Google, yield over a billion hits? " Blog " is one. What has more? " Internet ." What word has ...

"O’Reilly has become baroque, and 'The O’Reilly Factor' is complex affair, dense with self-references...."

So says Nicholas Lemann , quite strangely. I don't watch O'Reilly, though I used to, so I can't say for sure. I do watch "T...

"A preference for talk shows and soaps 'is a marker of something suspicious.'"

According to Dr. Joshua Fogel of Brooklyn College of the City University of New York: He said it's not possible to tell whether the pro...