Writes Bill Jones: “My wife just took our 6 year old son to see ‘The Golden Compass’ (largely because the parochial school he attends told us not to). In the movie an aging Derek Jacobi plays a ‘Magisterial Emissary,’ whose job it is to represent the state’s point of view. My boy looked at him and said ‘Mommy, is that the same guy who plays Chris Matthews on Hardball?’ A perfect understanding of the role of the mainstream media.”

Wendy McElroy has profiled a remarkable young woman, Queen Silver, in her book Queen Silver: The Godless Girl. Queen (1910-1998) was a child prodigy who became a leading freethinker, feminist, and Socialist. What I found fascinating was the short segment, “Our Peace Plan,” from