Monday digest

- On Saturday night, I went to a Hallowe'en party. The music was pretty good, but it got me to thinking about some of the songs that I wish would be banned, for once and for all, from being played at (but not limited to) any of the following: weddings, stag and does, or parties of any occasion, for that matter. These are some that come to mind, and please feel free to add your own in the comments section:

* Grease Lightning
* Paradise By the Dashboard Light
* Brown Eyed Girl
* Love Shack

In my view, any so-called DJ who fires up these tracks needs to be forbidden by law from ever touching the controls of an amplifier ever again.

There. I just had to get that off my chest. I feel better now.

- Love him or hate him, you have to respect this man.

- Great article here about how raising the minimum wage just screws the unemployed.

- Two more very good contextual pieces about the veil debate, here and here.

- The New York Times' ombsudman, Byron Calame, has admitted a number of mistakes in the paper's coverage of the wiretapping program from June of this year. Among the errors: the program is, well, legal; personal information was not misused; and appropriate oversight indeed exists. What's troubling is that Calame still doesn't recognize that national security was potentially compromised by publication of the program. This refusal to limit one's own journalistic freedoms for the greater good in times of war is just flat out wrong. However, we can take heart in that Calame asks his adoring fans to forgive him, as his heart was in the right place, defending the world from the tyranny of ... BUSSSSHHHHHHHHHHHH.