* I've linked to it before, but 'tis the season: Bl. Ramon Llull's discussions of election systems. Llull's writings on elections were only rediscovered relatively recently; it turns out he had already recognized a few things in election theory that weren't rediscovered until Condorcet and later. Here's a paper arguing that Llull elections are strongly resistant to major kinds of electoral control (a fairly high standard of election system quality).
* At "Rebecca Writes," Rebecca has an excellent Reformation Day post, It Was All About the Gospel.
* An audio interview with Anne Rice on her Catholicism (mp3).
* The Antichrist and Aristotle's Tomb at "The Smithy"
* I had come across this excellent parody of Britney Spears several years ago on TV, but just came across it again.
* In nearby Bastrop County (Texas), the 109-year-old daughter of a slave recently mailed in her vote for Obama.
