Distinctly Catholic

The Washington Post has an article this morning about a new law being proposed in France that will crackdown on immigration in that country. It makes for some sadly familiar reading. Or does it?

UPDATE (10/25): The Real Clear Politics Polling average has Boxer leading Fiorina by 2.5 percent, with almost all polls showing a slight lead for Boxer. But, most polls are within the margin of error and the Cook Political Report and RCP both rate the race as a "toss-up." Nate Silver's model at fivethirtyeight.com nonetheless only gives Fiorina a 19% chance of taking the seat based on both the large number of polls conducted in this race and the nearness to election day.
Neither candidate has run a particularly noteworthy ad, nor produced a defining debate moment, and it is difficult to think at this late date any news would affect this race in particular. California is a blue state that, despite being hit hard by the recession, would need more of a reason to vote Republican this year.

The Democrats' strongest card in this year's election is that they are serious about the nation's problems while the GOP is beset by birthers, those concerned about repealing the 17th Amendment, and various other esoteric issues such as self-pleasuring. But, Democratic Congressman Alan Grayson is a walking counter-argument to the proposition that liberals are intellectually serious.

As always, Mark Silk has some highly intelligent remarks about Archbishop Chaput's recent comments about the coverage of religion in the media. He is spot-on about how the media, appropriately, considers hypocrisy an aggravating factor as opposed to a mitigating one, in its coverage of religion. The only other thing about Chaput's address that jumped out at me was the sheer defensiveness of his speech. Coming on the heels of the media's coverage of Pope Benedict's successful trip to the UK, almost all of it favorable, that defensiveness seemed more than a little odd.

I don't know if the producers of "PipeDreams," the radio show dedicated to organ music, were mindful of Pope Benedict's trip to the UK when they chose to highlight the sounds of the organs of Great Britain and Ireland in this week's show. Whatever the motivation, the result is beautiful. There is something about these great English organs that is so satisfying, the sound is so big and full and round, it is like chocolate cake for the ear.