A BULLETIN FROM THE HEART OF (AFRICAN) DARKNESS: The Economist reports on the election in Zimbabwe which--surprise!--retained Mugabe in full power and condemns his nation to continuing hunger, disease and despair.

THE MAN WHO MAY BE THE NEXT PRESIDENT OF FRANCE...has some interesting (and rather un-French) ideas about renewing the presence of religion (including Islam!) in national life. This excellent review/essay in response to Sarkozy's recent book was published a few days ago in the Hoover Institution's Policy Review.

NOW, ABOUT THE NEO-CONSERVATIVES...let's get a few things straight. That very purpose animated two recent books and this valuable review of them as recently posted by the Claremont Institute.

IS THERE LIFE AFTER CITY HALL? You bet there is for Rudy Giuliani--with or without Bernie Kerick--so long as his agent continues to book the right speeches, including the charities that pay well. And then, there's always the presidential prospect. This informative, to say the least, article appeared recently in the New York Observer.

"CHICAGO AIN'T READY FOR REFORM"...said a famous local (and quite corrupt) alderman many years ago. For those elsewhere who think that the second Mayor Daley has eliminated the corruption tax, this story about a central figure in our most recent scandal will as instructive as the career of John "Quarters" Boyle is...er..amusing.

"LIVE-BIRTH ABORTION" AND GEORGE W. BUSH: Hadley Arkes, writing in the Catholic journal, First Things, won't let the President off on his still unfulfilled promise to take real action on this and yet other pressing issues that crowd the "family affairs" agenda.

THE MACHINE THAT BUILDS A HOUSE...is apparently on the way. Discover magazine visits the man whose machine may (or may not) someday replace not only builders but architects. Hmmmmmm.

WAY DOWN DEEP MATH MAY HAVE NO BASIS...and, according to the common misunderstanding of Godelian analysis, the same may be true of all other structures of thought. Follow that? If not, read on in the appended and biographically-focused article concerning one of the great fathers of modern doubt.

IS THE MLA CONVENTION WORSE THAN THE APA CONVENTION? That's the Modern Language Association and the American Psychological Association. The proprietor has been to a few of the former and many of the latter--and this amusingly embittered account of an MLA visit only confirms our long-established resolve nevermore to attend either.

ACADEMIC FREEDOM AND IDIOCY: Should the former necessarily protect the latter? The author of this cry of outrage from The American Spectator takes the Ward Churchill case as one that tests (and exceeds) the limits of the conventional rationale for professorial tenure.

WILL THE LAST OBOIST TO LEAVE PLEASE TURN OFF THE LIGHTS? Classical music seems to be in decline in the United States. How has this happened--if, indeed, it has? Terry Teachout addresses the question in this review of a recent book that does the same.

A LITTLE STAY IN PRISON FOR ILL-SPOKEN BROADCASTERS? Congressman Sensenbrenner and some of his colleagues are firing a few shots across the bow of the cable and satellite industry. Somebody tell Howard that there may be no hiding place.

WHAT'S HAPPENED TO COUNTRY MUSIC? Actually, and despite it often being rather over-orchestrated and over-stated much of it is still quite good. As witness such selections from 2004 as "Its Five O'Clock Somewhere, "Walking in Memphis," "There Goes My Life" and the eternal Dolly Parton singing "These Old Bones."