If you don’t read Catez at AllThings2All regularly, you should. Today she has two excellent and moving posts. One is a Report from the Chinese Underground, and the other is called Living Water, a story about the Friday night ministry to street people that Catez works with. Catez lives in New Zealand, and her passion for the Lord Jesus Christ and His work shines through all her posts.

We’re interested in France here at Semicolon since Eldest Daughter is planning to spend nine months of her life there soon. So here’s an article in Foreign Policy about a new kind of French politician, one who likes the United States and free markets. His name is Sarkozy, and even more shocking, he’s the son of immigrants. Link via Michelle Malkin.

On Betsy’s Page I found a link to this article in the London TImes Online entitled “Give Africa a Private Schooling.” In the article, James Toole, professor of education policy at Newcastle University, says:

We tested 3,000 children in maths and English, from government and private schools, controlled for background family variables, and found that the children in the unregistered private schools, so despised by the government, achieved 14 percentage points higher in maths and 20 percentage points higher in English than children in government schools. Teachers in the government schools were paid at least four times more than those in the unregistered schools. The private schools were far more effective for a fraction of the cost.

What does this sort of research say about parent-directed education?

Dawn Eden at The Dawn Patrol is doing a several-part series about her faith journey and about her conversion to Catholicism. She’s got the first two parts up and promises more soon. Since she grew up Jewish in Galveston, Texas, I’m interested to see how she got from there to New York and Catholicism.

In the Agora has background information on Judge Emilio Garza who may be the one nominated to replace Justice Sandra Day O’Connor who announced her retirement today. I think Judge Garza sounds OK, and I’m praying that whoever President Bush appoints, he’ll get it right. The next few Supreme Court nominations will determine the direction of this country for many years to come.

The guys at In the Agora also wrote a post about Darfur last week and linked to information about the National Weekend of Prayer and Reflection for Darfur, July 15th, 16th, 17th. I plan to continue praying about the actrocious situation in Darfur and to especially pray and talk to others at my church on that particular weekend. Jim atStones Cry Out writes about Darfur and other forgotten crises.

David Gergen praises Teach for America. Link via Joanne Jacobs.

Southern Appeal says there’s still a chance tha Alberto Gonzales could be appointed to the Supreme Court. Please, no.

Jared at Thinklings liked Batman Begins. My teenage urchins are going to see it this weekend sometime. I think I’ll pass. Oh, by the way, it’s really OK that I’m not even part of the landscape at Thinklings, much less the Inner Sanctum. Those guys still write a good blog. They just don’t know everything there is to know about the blogamundi.
Whereas I do.

Battle of the Books–a Slate article about the problem with YA “problem novels.” Link via Kevin at Collected Miscellany.

Andy Crouch writes about “Visualicy.” the ability to read and create visual images. If this is really a skill, I am a-visual.

Debra at As I See It Now has a lovely outlook on housework in Housework Philosophy 101.

Rebecca Writes is linking to Top 100 Lists during the month of June. Check out the children’s book list or the list of Top 100 Wonders of the World (Not one of these wonders is in Texas. Well, now that I think about it the Rio Grande isn’t much to look at, and Big Bend consists of a bunch of rocks. What about Johnson Space Center–man-made, but definitely a wonder.)

At Evangelical Outpost,, Joe Carter apologizes–for everything.

Eduardo blogs from Asuncion, Paraguay at The Grey Shadow. He tells the story of The Boombox Incident to illustrate how many evangelical Christians have turned ugliness and poor quality into a virtue. In other words, if it’s branded “Christian,” it must be better and more virtuous than anything “secular.”

Carla writes about financial reality in a post I could almost have written myself. Sometimes it’s a struggle to see how to divide the pie so that everything gets the right amount of financial attention.

Best discussion of the week at Amy Loves Books. Amy blogs passionately about public schools, at-risk children, and the church’s responsibility.

“We are afraid of poor people. Poverty is like a visible symptom of what is often considered a lack of morality. It’s okay to build a house for Habitat on the weekend, or volunteer at a soup kitchen, but when it comes to actually living among them, we get nervous. Without a doubt, don’t want our children exposed. I realize that those are strong statements, but I confess that I have been guilty of these exact thoughts and worries. I’ve thought things and made assumptions about people who struggle in poverty that I am ashamed to even put into words.”

I found a link to this series at Evangelical Outpost. It’s called Fifty Witing Tools by Roy Peter Clark. I tend to write on the fly because of the time constraints and interruptions involved in being the mother of eight urchins. However, I plan to use these “writing tools” too improve my writing style as I have the time and attention span to do so.

At Collected Miscellany the guys are hosting a Short Story Contest and discussing whether or not books can be dangerous. Sorry, folks, I don’t keep dogs, and I don’t write about them.

According to at Mere Comments, Mars Hill Audio recently did an interview with children’s literature expert Patricia Owen. Here’s her list of favorite Newbery Award winners.

MMV celebrates Bloomsday. No, I’ve never read Joyce. I had to have a guide (college friend) to begin to appreciate T.S. Eliot, and I’m sure Joyce would be more than I could fathom at this point in my life. Let’s just say there are a lot of books that I’ve not yet read that rate much higher on my list than Ulysses.

Cindy Swanson interviews Schindler family attorney David Gibbs III

Christian Carnival LXXIV is at DaddyPundit this week..

Via the Carnival, David from All Kinds of Time talks about food:

. . . a Christian should consider it no small thing to be quick to offer the gift of food. It is a simple, easy, and clear way that we can show Christ to the world, and the doors that we open to sharing spiritual food with the truly starving are essentially endless, when we have garnered favor by first offering the real thing. Let us endeavor to be gracious hosts and good cooks

And, with that, I go to help Engineer Husband put a brisket in the oven to share with our fellow campers at this weekend’s camping trip. Yes, this hothouse plant is venturing into the great outdoors. I’ll tell you how it went when I get back.

Faithfully serving God each day in the “mundane” things of life, with contentment, is one of the most world-changing things we can do. Carmon at Buried Treasure

I hate it when my eyes close when I’m reading at night, before my brain is ready to stop. Carmon at Buried Treasure

“Tony Blair is a lazy thinker when it comes to certain ethical questions. … A lot of things would have to change in his modus operandi and in his way of thinking and working before he could be a Catholic.” quoting Roman Catholic priest Timothy Russ wha was discussing the possibility that Tony Blair might convert to Catholicism–from Christianity Today’s blog.

Sudan and the AIDS conflict are the kind of social justice issues that Evangelicals understand–they may not see why God might care about fair taxes–but when they hear about sick people or mass murders, they respond. Bob Smietana at god-of-small-things Thank the Lord we evangelicals (I do include myself) respond to something.

In this age of “schools gone wild” with rampant philosophies and ideologies, I would dare to propose that now more than ever, kids need to be indoctrinated by their parents so they can ward off the lies they are taught in the classroom and beyond. Nykola

Things that are nuisances on the subway:
Rats, panhandlers, people who have not bathed recently
Things that are not nuisances on the subway:
Poison gas, biological agents, suicide bombers
I hope that clears things up. Resplendent Mango

. . . pray for wisdom, trust that God has given it to you, and make your decision! Joe Missionary Yes! I believe that this is the Godly way to make decisions. I forget this simple “procedure” sometimes, butI do believe that’s all we have to do. Trust God to guide us even when we don’t know how He’s doing it.

Finally, I found this great post by Jared at Thinklings, entitled Between You and Me, an Invitation.

Thanks for sharing, everybody.