Catching up to this via the SoCal Minds blog: Pepperdine law professor Douglas Kmiec, a regular on op-ed pages and elsewhere in the media, was nominated by President Obama to be the ambassador to Malta.

Though he is a conservative Republican, anti-abortion, Catholic and a former appointee of Presidents Reagan and George H.W. Bush, Douglas W. Kmiec endorsed Obama during the Democrat's presidential campaign -- and was denied communion at least once because he did so. He said Obama's views on wages, health care and the cost of the Iraq War appealed to him. Though he disagreed with Obama's pro-choice views, Kmiec said he was impressed that the candidate wanted to discuss the issue more civilly and hoped to reduce abortions by addressing contributing causes, such as poverty.

Kmiec also opposed Proposition 8.

Also at SoCal Minds: More suicides occur in summer than winter, and on Wednesdays rather than Mondays.