Over at the website, three new posts tied to the news.The day after the second presidential debate, E.J. Dionne tallies Romney's sketchiness:

Under pressure this time, the former Massachusetts governor displayed his least attractive sides. He engaged in pointless on-stage litigation of the debate rules. He repeatedly demonstrated his disrespect for both the president and Candy Crowley, the moderator. And Romney was just plain querulous when anyone dared question him about the gaping holes in his tax and budget plans.Any high school debate coach would tell a student that declaring "believe me because I said so" is not an argument. Yet Romney confused biography with specificity and boasting with answering a straightforward inquiry. "Well of course they add up," Romney insisted of his budget numbers. "I -- I was -- I was someone who ran businesses for 25 years, and balanced the budget. I ran the Olympics and balanced the budget." Romney was saying: Trust me because I'm an important guy who has done important stuff. He gave his listeners no basis on which to verify the trust he demanded.

Read the whole thing here.As a suit challenging the New York City Board of Health's consent rule regarding circumcision ritual is filed, Joseph D. Becker considers whether the regulation imposes any constraints on the free exercise of religion. Read "A Covenant, with Consent" here.And Hilary Mantel, whose writing has appeared in Commonweal, has become only the third writer, and first woman, to win the Man Booker Prize twice, this time for Bring up the Bodies (she also won for Wolf Hall). Read her Summer Books piece from 2001 here.