Okay. This has never happened. Joseph has been asleep for two hours now. A two hour nap. Do you think he'll make a habit of it? Who knows. All I do know is that I just got a heap o'work done - wrote a column, wrote a chunk of a 2002 Advent devotional, answered some e-mail that's been waiting patiently for a week or more....I shouldn't get spoiled, though, should I?

---

Some good reading out there today:

Michael Kelly with a spot-on satire of the negativity crowd at NPR, the BBC and the like.

Christopher Hitchens with a subtlely titled piece: Ha, ha, ha to the Pacifists.

Non-war related: A piece from the Los Angeles Times about the 5 million dollar home purchased by Paul and Jan Crouch, those bizarre people who run the Trinity Broadcast Network - her with the big, fluffly pink hair and him with the suave-o moustache, and both of them with the penchant for cheap-looking furniture painted gold.

Finally (at least for now), here's the lastest contribution to the newest Model of the Church (with apologies to Cardinal Dulles): Church as Extended Monty Python Sketch: Monks get mobile phone habits. Add that to the items from the past about the monastery with the firestation pole instead of stairs and the Shenandoah Valley Catholics aching for a monarchy, and you've definitely got something.