Scroll down at the link for the Pope's address on visiting the main synagogue in Rome.

A Catholic saint died last week, Map Gies. There was another fellow, Edward Schillbeeckx, a theologian from the low countries who wrote some books that may be a continuation along the lines of Albert Schweitzer's Quest of the Historical Jesus.

Following Ilya Somin's discussion of Pat Robertson's comment that the destruction of Haiti had something to do with a past 'pact with the devil.'

Following Taxing the Banks.

Isaiah from today's Mass reading:

Thus says the LORD:
Here is my servant whom I uphold,
my chosen one with whom I am pleased,
upon whom I have put my spirit;
he shall bring forth justice to the nations,
not crying out, not shouting,
not making his voice heard in the street.
a bruised reed he shall not break,
and a smoldering wick he shall not quench,
until he establishes justice on the earth;
the coastlands will wait for his teaching.

This is given in reference to Jesus' baptism. Did John invent that ritual? Eventually that 'a bruised reed he shall not break' did not apply to Jesus if you think of the chasing of the money changers in the temple story. Why would He do that?

Comment on the real estate bubble from Megan McArdle.

Following a revealed commercial art post in Althouse

How to score the MMSE. A rare scoring system would not allow the serial 7's alternative 'spell world backwards.' A 'normal' score is 24 or better. Here is a copy of the test. A Google page on scoring the MMSE is here.