Agreed that Douthat is well to the left of most self-styled conservatives when it comes to economic issues. For example, he supports more generous social programs to help traditional nuclear families. When it comes to reproductive rights, however, Douthat's right at home on the patriarchal fringe. Douthat claims to abhor abortion. If you take him at his word, an abortion is murder. Yet he stops short of backing enhanced access to contraception and sex ed, which he admits would reduce the number of abortions. Why? Because he thinks abortion would first have to be illegal in order to convince people (read: "poor, dumb, slutty women") that unplanned pregnancies are shameful enough to be worth preventing.

The gunman who wiped out his family in a killing spree across southern Alabama kept a "revenge list" of people who had crossed him, authorities said today. Investigators found the notes at the home of Michael McLendon, 28, who shot dead his mother, his grandmother, an uncle, a nephew and a cousin in a rampage that cost 10 lives before he shot himself in the mouth when cornered by police.

Brenda Gardenhire shows off her new home with pride. It looks like an oversized shopping cart covered with a khaki canvas. But to her, it's "wonderful" -- a stepping stone to get her off the streets and get her life back in order."It's like your own home, your own apartment, your own room," she said, showing off the 7-foot-long living space on wheels. "No one else can come in here but me."