Benjamin J. Dueholm

On Sunday night I went to hear Dan Savage speak about the It Gets Better Project. The last time I saw him was 2003, if memory serves, in front of a crowd of perhaps a hundred. At one point Savage took a break from promoting his new book Skipping Toward Gomorrah to refer his audience to the now-famous New Republic cover story "The Liberal Case for War" (against Iraq). It was a good talk, funny and engaging, and it made a striking contrast with his Sunday appearance.

Redistributing wealth is what all public budgets do. The question is whether a given type of redistribution promotes justice and decency.

Michele Bachmann's frontrunner moment may be past. But she has shown how the Republicans can win in the restless small towns of the swing-state Midwest.

I recently encountered a praying mantis perched on top of a structural pillar at a playground. Naturally, I thought of St. Simeon Stylites.

For better or for worse, the sex columnist provides real-time exegesis of the seventh commandment.