In the World

TLC has a new reality show about American Muslims, set in Dearborn, Michigan. American Muslim Aman Ali has a spirited response.

The young man in this video should be a source of some small pride for Penn State right now.

A good point from James Fearon: A while back, Jon Hunstman talked to David Weigel about his serious love for Captain Beefheart, a recording artist about five clicks too polarizingly odd for most presidential candidates (of either party) to admit to ever having even heard.

Here are some things I read recently but didn't get around to blogging about.

The Catholic bishops' media-relations director: "While the general population has debated whether it's nurture or nature that leads to a homosexual inclination, the church has not posed any theory in that regard."

Here are some thing I read recently but didn't get around to blogging about.

In a Century article published this week, Benjamin Dueholm explains why politicians of Michele Bachmann's ilk do well in the swing states of the upper Midwest. He starts with the fact that Bachmann and Garrison Keillor are from the same small Minnesota town.

This video started making the rounds last week, presenting a clever idea for communicating with the big banks at their expense.

Now that I'm posting on a solo blog again, I'm going to start including the occasional link-roundup post separately from the "new today" digests of Century content.

Jay Smooth’s video blog is always good; last week’s was especially good.

I'm a big fan of The Conversation, the New York Times online feature in which Gail Collins and David Brooks have a casual chat. I think the appeal is supposed to be that the two are reasonable, amicable and witty columnists who clearly like each other a lot. That's all nice, but what I enjoy is the palpable pleasure the hilarious Collins takes in needling the less intentionally hilarious Brooks.

Last week, Faith in Public Life asked Rick Santorum if he agrees with the Catholic teaching that public policy should include a "preferential option for the poor." He appeared to be unfamiliar with the concept.

This year's Sundance festival featured several films offering unflattering portrayals of evangelical Christianity. Alison Willmore raises a good question about independent cinema.

Today the Supreme Court is set to hear arguments for Hosanna-Tabor v EEOC, a major case about church exemptions to employment laws. Wendy Kaminer offers a helpful introduction.

It's been a while since pals Tavis Smiley and Cornel West took up the task of challenging President Obama from his left flank. The talk-show host and the philosopher have taken some heat for their criticism of the president, notably from political scientist Melissa Harris-Perry.