“This is not about freedom of religion because we all respect the right of anyone to worship according to the dictates of their conscience … but I do think it’s unwise to build a mosque at the site where 3,000 Americans lost their lives as the result of a terrorist attack,” Texas Republican John Cornyn said on the “Fox News Sunday” program.

Mr. Cornyn’s comment is so profoundly dissonant as to make me physically cringe. His matter-of-fact link between “mosque” and “terrorist” is a complete and offensive non-sequitur. Those responsible for the September 11 attacks represent all Muslims no more than the KKK represents all Christians. That we’re even talking about this at a national level is horrifying to me and, in my mind, speaks to the extent to which we’re institutionalizing islamophobia.

“I just think you should have the right to control your own body,” state Rep. Mark L. Cole, who sponsored the Virginia legislation, told The Washington Post in February. “My understanding — I’m not a theologian — but there’s a prophecy in the Bible that says you’ll have to receive a mark, or you can neither buy nor sell things in end times. Some people think these computer chips might be that mark.”

What is it they say about how the only way to predict the future is to invent it?

“I love the lady who kills moose. She’s the strongest man in the Republican Party, Sarah Palin. … If I can get close enough, I’ll give her a kiss,” he said.

When I read stuff like this, I always have to stop and wonder if it’s really me that’s the crazy one.

The software industry has a concept known as “legacy code,” meaning old stuff that is left in software programs, even after they are revised and updated, so that they will still work with older operating systems. The equivalent exists in newspaper stories, which are written to accommodate readers who have just emerged from a coma or a coal mine. Who needs to be told that reforming health care (three words) involves “a sweeping overhaul of the nation’s health care system” (nine words)? Who needs to be reminded that Hillary Clinton tried this in her husband’s administration without success? Anybody who doesn’t know these things already is unlikely to care. (Is, in fact, unlikely to be reading the article.)

All told, this is a pretty subtle article, but this struck me as a really intentional design decision. Should we write newspapers for subscribers with an assumed background or for a general un-informed audience? The “previously, in the Senate” style constant recapping is something we don’t see much in blogs, where writers assume a more engaged and niche audience. Hypertext as a medium is an important component, too - if you need background, it’s easy to find it elsewhere in a blog. But in print, that’s not practical so every article needs to stand more or less on its own.

Also — legacy code as a metaphor? I mean, I love it, but I’m shocked that made it through editing without getting turned into something more broadly accessible.

Even before a Nigerian with Al Qaeda links tried to blow up a Northwest Airlines jet headed to Detroit, travelers could see we had made no progress toward a technologically wondrous Philip K. Dick universe.

Does no one on the NYTimes’ copyedited staff read Science Fiction? I can’t decide if this is a deeply ironic reference to Dick or just an incredibly ill-conceived one. The rest of the editorial reads like a paean to technology providing security, which is hardly Dick’s point. It reads like Ms. Dowd needed a SciFi reference and picked Dick because she knew he’s written about security technology. But Dick is largely a dystopian writer - hardly a useful supporting character in this piece. I don’t particularly agree with them, but David Brin or Vernor Vinge would be much better references in this context.

I would encourage you to pick something, whether it’s health care, education, the environment — you know, there’s four key areas that the corporation has identified as the areas of service,” Yossi Sergant, the N.E.A. communications director, said on the call, according to a recording posted online. He resigned after the call became public.

I’m glad to see someone fall on their sword like this in US politics. It seems like we rarely get apologies and almost never get resignations. Also: I wish people were “sacked” more often here. It’s such an evocative and wonderful word but it seems to only be used in UK media, for some reason. Same goes for Ministries.