Pennsylvanian in exile

Tolerance in the land of The Religion of Peace^TM

Those crazy Muslims in Saudi Arabia arrested 40 people for practicing Christianity.

On April 23, 2005, Saudi newspapers reported that 40 Pakistanis were arrested by the Saudi religious police in a Riyadh apartment for conducting Christian religious activity. The following are excerpts from the reports:

The Saudi daily Al-Jazirah reported that 40 men, women, and children with Pakistani citizenship were arrested on April 21, 2005 after performing Christian religious rites in an apartment in the Thaharat Al-Badi'a neighborhood in western Riyadh. The arrest was part of a sweeping police operation by the Riyadh District Police, at the order of Riyadh Governor Prince Salman bin Abd Al-'Aziz.

The paper reported that the operation came after Saudi religious police - known as the Authority for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice - followed and collected information on the activity of the 40, who listened to a proselytizing lecture by a Pakistani minister.

The paper also noted that during the police operation, which lasted nearly 10 hours, a cross and a large number of proselytizing books and cassettes were found [in the apartment]. The detainees themselves stated that they had come to listen to lectures by the minister. One of the detainees was a Muslim Pakistani, who acknowledged that he had been influenced by the Christian ideology.

The Saudi daily Al-Riyadh said that the detainees had set up a church in the apartment, equipped with crosses, pictures, and statues. Likewise, it was said that during their religious activity, one of them was found praying, as the others present repeated their words, and one of the women arrested was listing the people's confessions and distributing writs of absolution. The Al-Riyadh report included a photo of the detainees and of a large cross and the group which was arrested.

A Saudi religious police source explained the reason for the arrest: "These people tried to spread the poison and their beliefs to others, by means of distributing pamphlets and [missionary] publications." He said that all the detainees "had been transferred to the relevant bodies for investigation."

Anyone up for another Crusade?

Sick story from PA: drugs make you do stupid things

This story leaves me speechless:

Defendants charged with having sex with an animal

Charges against two Titusville women were waived Thursday to a formal hearing Friday, May 27 in Crawford County criminal court in Meadville.

Heidi McIntyre and Tina Smith, who were represented by Erie defense attorney Tim Lucas, faced a preliminary hearing before Titusville Area District Magesterial Judge Amy Nicols on one count of having sexual intercourse with an animal.

According to a criminal complaint, the women were assisted by Douglas R. Peterson of Titusville on or about Oct. 4, 2004, with having sexual intercourse with a dog ? a male mastiff ? at Peterson?s residence. Peterson faces the same charge.

Nicols placed McIntyre and Smith each on a $5,000 non-secured bond. They also were ordered to report to the Titusville Police Department for fingerprinting.

Nicols said if McIntyre and Smith go to trial it would take place during the September term of court.

Peterson, who was arraigned earlier this week before Nicols, also was arrested by Titusville police in connection with the manufacturing of methamphetamine.

?Unfortunately myself and one of the (clandestine) lab guys were there first to view (the incident with the defendants having sexual intercourse with the dog),? said Titusville police officer Tim Dilley, in reference to the search warrant. ?(The lab technician) viewed it through a camcorder and said ?you gotta see this,? at which time we seized the tape.?

The charge is a second degree misdemeanor, punishable by a maximum of two years in jail and a $5,000 fine.

?A lot of times tapes are used to make a record of (the) manufacture of meth,? Dilley said. During the search of Peterson?s residence, Dilley said, three tapes were seized but only one had any value as far as criminal activity.

Dilley said the series of events leading up to Peterson?s arrest ? and subsequently the charges against McIntyre and Smith ? stemmed from an ongoing investigation about Peterson?s manufacture of meth through evidence and informants who provided information leading up to the point of where Peterson and the two women now face the charge of sex with the animal.

Dilley said to his knowledge ? and that of the Titusville Police Department ? is that only one previous case involved beastiality. That case, he said, took place a number of years ago and involved a juvenile defendant and was handled through juvenile court. He said he doesn?t recall if the defendant was ever charged with the crime.

?The attorney general?s office does a fantastic job of allowing us do our job,? Dilley said of the compilation of evidence against Peterson and the discovery of the videotape.

Dilley was not able to make an assumption as to whether the criminal activity discovered on the tape had any correlation to the involvement with methamphetamine.

Fighting the coarsening of culture

I applaud any efforts to clean up our culture, especially now that I have a child of my own. This interesting column from the WSJ tells of African Americans wanting to clean up rap.

Violence and vulgarity are hardly unique to rap. The mainstream is full of gore and borderline porn. But these tendencies are undiluted in rap, which is why many young African-Americans and Latinos who grew up embracing hip hop as a grassroots, multimedia art form now deplore rap as a cynical "neominstrelsy" being mass-marketed not just nationally but globally. This global twist is new. A decade ago, critics worried that "gangsta" rap was portraying African-Americans as drug dealers, killers, "bitches" and "ho's." Today the worry is international. Essence magazine recently launched an online debate about the image of black women in rap, and according to former editor Diane Weathers, that debate now includes Africans. "They are disgusted by what their African-American brothers and sisters are doing in entertainment," she says. "They wonder if we've lost our minds."

Significantly, these new protests come not as attacks from the outside but as self-examination from within. "Nobody is happy in hip hop anymore," comments Alison Duke, a Canadian filmmaker whose scathing documentary, "Booty Nation," was screened earlier this month at a conference at the Center for Race, Politics, and Culture at the University of Chicago. "We've allowed the system of slavery to come back into our communities."

If things are that bad, then perhaps these insider critics should be seeking allies in the larger society. Millions of Americans are fed up with the calculated coarseness that now passes for "edginess" in the entertainment industry, and many (not all) might be willing to join forces with hip-hop fans. Such a broad-based, genuinely diverse movement might actually have an impact. But don't expect it anytime soon--there are three major obstacles in the way.

The first two obstacles are to be expected:

The first obstacle is the shameless manipulativeness of the rap industry. Present at the Sharpton event were several community activists, such as writer Kevin Powell and youth organizer Erica Ford, who implied strongly that the gunplay outside Hot 97 (in which no one was seriously hurt) was a publicity stunt designed to pump the "street cred" of two rappers, 50 Cent and the Game (both on Interscope Records).

If true, this is a damning accusation. But amazingly, none of the industry representatives on the panel bothered to deny it. Instead, two smooth black executives, Ron Gilliard of Interscope and Kelly G of BET, reassured the crowd that they were "here to listen." Then two "gangsta"-attired moguls, Dave Mays and Ray Benzino of Source magazine, picked a "beef" with E-Bro from Hot 97, thereby reducing the meeting to the verbal equivalent of a sidewalk shoot-out.

Watching this happen was like watching an SUV collide with a bicycle: The big machine (the rap industry) kept rolling, while the little one (the community) got crushed. The industry's primary audience is not black: Between 70% and 80% of all rap CDs are sold to whites. Yet because rap draws its talent and mystique from poor black communities, the executives present seemed to regard sessions like this as nothing more than the cost of doing business.

Mr. Sharpton is a latecomer to this protest, according to Davey D, an Oakland-based DJ and well-known hip-hop commentator. But Mr. Sharpton is welcome, Davey D adds, as long as he aims at the right target: "Instead of calling the radio station and complaining about the artist, we need to ask who's in charge? Who's provoking violence and letting DJs use the 'N' word?"

According to Davey D, some of the younger activists have been reaching out to potential allies in the media, education and social work. But here we encounter the second obstacle to a larger movement: Mr. Sharpton's in-your-face style of politics may attract attention, but it rarely attracts supporters beyond his own narrow following.

The third obstacle is mind blowing:

The third obstacle is academic feminism. At the University of Chicago conference, "Feminism and Hip Hop," the focus was on "crunk," the Atlanta-based style of rap that casts black men as pimps and black women as strippers and "ho's." Some speakers--notably Ms. Bailey from Spelman and Joan Morgan from Essence--used the language of morality when describing how crunk degrades women. But when the academic feminists weighed in, moral revulsion got bracketed as naive, and we groundlings were instructed to view "Tip Drill" as part of a "hegemonic intertextuality" in which "the structures of racism, patriarchy, heterosexism and advanced consumer capitalism" are "embedded" or "inscribed" (I forget which).
This sort of thing may sustain graduate students through long Chicago winters, but it is not going to advance the anticrunk cause. For one thing, academic feminism rejects something most people hold dear, the traditional family. As one earnest graduate student put it, the late Tupac Shakur was a true artist because his lyrics "cut against the grain of the normative family," an institution she clearly regarded as the root of all patriarchal evil.

Scholars so smart they are stupid; I guess calling a woman a ho is liberating to them, while a woman being treated with respect by a loving husband is being oppressed by a patriarchal society.

Useless statement from useless churches

The mainline churches in the US: ECUSA, UMC, PCUSA and the other usual suspects decided that Bush's budget is unjust.

In response to the FY 2006 Budget Conference Report to be considered by Congress and as a follow-up to a March 8, 2005 press conference calling the President's FY '06 Budget "unjust," five mainline denominational leaders issued the following statement:

On March 8 we, as leaders of the Episcopal Church USA, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Presbyterian Church (USA), United Church of Christ, and United Methodist Church General Board of Church and Society, issued a joint statement questioning the priorities of President Bush's 2006 Federal Budget. We remembered the Gospel story of Lazarus and the rich man* and noted that the 2006 budget had much for the rich man but little for Lazarus. It was our hope that Congress would take action on behalf of "Lazarus." Sadly, all indications are that has not been the case. Therefore, today we call upon Congress to reject this budget and go back to the drawing board.

We believe our federal budget is a moral document and should reflect our historic national commitment for those in our own country who suffer from hunger, lack of education, jobs, housing, and medical care, as well as concern for our global community. There are good programs that can help solve all of these problems. We know -- we have seen them at work and we our doing our part with our own programs. But we cannot do it alone. Government must be a partner in providing opportunities for our fellow women and men to pursue their God-given gifts. We commend those who attempted to improve the FY '06 budget by adding funds for Medicaid, education, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria, and international family planning. We regret that the speed with which this document is being brought to the floor does not allow time for the careful examination such a document requires.

As we view the FY '06 Federal Budget through our lens of faith this budget, on balance, continues to ask our nation's working poor to pay the cost of a prosperity in which they may never share. We believe this budget remains unjust. It does not adequately address the more than 36 million Americans living below the poverty line, 45 million without health insurance, or the 13 million hungry children. Worldwide, it neither provides sufficient development assistance nor adequately addresses the global AIDS pandemic. Therefore, we ask Congress to reject this budget and begin anew.

We conclude today, as we did March 8, by asking that together we "pledge ourselves to creating a nation in which economic policies are infused with the spirit of the man who began his public ministry almost 2,000 years ago by proclaiming that God had anointed him 'to bring good news to the poor.' "

Signed by:

The Most Reverend Frank T. Griswold
Presiding Bishop and Primate of the Episcopal Church, USA

The Right Reverend Mark Hanson
Presiding Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in American

The Reverend Dr. Clifton Kirkpatrick
Stated Clerk of the General Assembly, Presbyterian Church, (U.S.A.)

The Reverend John H. Thomas
General Minister and President, United Church of Christ

Mr. James Winkler
General Secretary, General Board of Church and Society, United Methodist Church

Yawn....their attendance is dwindling and they are nagging the Congress about liberal pet projects. Go away.

Off Duty cop rescues girl from perv

An off duty cop's quick actions put away a pedophile.

An off-duty cop rescued a 13 year old girl who was being dragged into a Queens park by a paroled child sex offender yesterday, police said.
While searching for the pervert, who was later busted as he tried to lure more kids into the park - cops approached two boys on a park bench, who told them the same man had sexually assaulted them, cops said.

Officer Daniel DeViccaro, 31, a five-year NYPD veteran assigned to the 115th Precinct, was driving along Poppenhusen Avenue near 119th Street in College Point about 4 p.m., just after the girl was grabbed by Timothy Felton, authorities said.

DeViccaro saw the suspect pull the girl, who was kicking and screaming for help, into Herman A. MacNeil Park on the East River.

DeViccaro jumped out of his car and ran to the girl, while calling for back-up on his cellphone.

Felton fled into the woods while the officer aided the teen, cops said.

Officers immediately flooded the park and DeViccaro provided them with a description.

While they were searching for Felton, who lives nearby, cops talked to two boys, 11 and 13, who said they had been attacked in a restroom in the same park on Monday, police said.

When officers found Felton on 119th Street, DeViccaro, the girl and both boys immediately identified him, authorities said.

Cops said Felton would approach kids and claim to be a camp counsellor.

"DeViccaro's alert actions prevented an egregious attack and exemplified police work at is finest," Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said.

Charges against Felton, 31, of 131st Street in College Point, were pending. Police sources said he has an extensive rap sheet.

He was paroled three months ago after serving a 13-year sentence for sexually assaulting a minor and robbery, the sources said.

Doing the math shows this garbage was 18 when he went away the first time, and 13 years in prison did nothing to cure him. Once again we have an example of how sex offenders are not curable, they must be locked away for our safety.

Call a spade a spade: Britain's descent into anti-Semitism

Caroline Glick in the JPost tells it like it is.

Recent events in Britain have forced me to recall this miserable little episode. Last Friday, on the eve of Pessah, Britain's Association of University Teachers passed a resolution calling for the boycott of Bar-Ilan and Haifa universities, promising that Hebrew University would be next.

THIS DECISION is an act of pure anti-Semitism. Israel is being singled out from all the countries in the world. There is no call to boycott Palestinian universities, which celebrate terrorist massacres, indoctrinate students to jihad and are used as recruiting grounds for terrorist organizations. There is no call to boycott Saudi Arabian universities, where gender apartheid and religious persecution are the explicit and rigidly followed norms. And of course, no one would think of boycotting Chinese universities for China's occupation of Tibet. Only the Jewish state and its research universities are unacceptable.

Yet, in spite of these politicians' pandering to Britain's large and increasingly extremist Muslim minority, they were physically assaulted by members of that very group. Indeed, over the past week, there have been repeated reports of Islamic extremists storming campaign meetings and denouncing democracy, calling any Muslim who participates in the elections an infidel. British security forces are on high alert for terrorist attacks in the country ahead of next month's elections.

Mainly due to Britain's relationship with the US, Israelis have a tendency to view it as an ally. But the situation on the ground in Britain must force us to reconsider this friendly view. Today Britain manifests the symptoms of a suicidal society. Its elites have been taken over by far-left bigots who, while purporting to care for the downtrodden, work to perpetuate a situation where the Arab world is wholly controlled by brutes who call for the destruction not only of Israel, but of Britain itself.

Anti-Semitism, which has become pervasive among Britain's aristocracy and the chattering classes in the media, culture and academia, is a sign of Britain's steep and steady slide into nihilistic self-destruction. Their animus toward Israel and toward Jews who refuse to denounce the Jewish state has nothing to do with Israel and everything to do with them. They are fully aware of the threats posed by the international jihad; but rather than fight it they have tried to appease it by at once denying its danger, obsessively embracing Palestinian terrorists and calling for Israel's destruction. They do this even as the jihadis in their own country make it clear that they are unappeasable.

There is nothing Israel can do to stem Britain's decline. All we can do is keep our distance from that self-destructive society which, like a dying lion, can still do us great harm if we let it get close to us.

How one state deals with sex offenders

Colorado has the best approach other than my idea of just frying them:

Colorado was one of the first states to develop a collaborative statewide approach to managing sex offenders. Its "guiding principles" are blunt.

1. Sexual offending is a behavioral disorder that cannot be "cured."

2. Sex offenders are dangerous.

3. Community safety is paramount.

4. Assessment and evaluation of sex offenders is an ongoing process. Progress in treatment and level of risk are not constant over time.

5. Assignment to community supervision is a privilege, and sex offenders must be completely accountable for their behaviors.

6. Sex offenders must waive confidentiality for evaluation, treatment, supervision, and case management purposes.

7. Victims have a right to safety and self-determination.

8. When a child is sexually abused within the family, the child's individual need for safety, protection, developmental growth and psychological well-being outweighs any parental or family interests.

9. A continuum of sex offender management and treatment options should be available in each community in the state.

10. Standards and guidelines for assessment, evaluation, treatment and behavioral monitoring of sex offenders will be most effective if the entirety of the criminal justice and social services systems, not just sex offender treatment providers, apply the same principles and work together.

11. The management of sex offenders requires a coordinated team response.

12. Sex offender assessment, evaluation, treatment and behavioral monitoring should be nondiscriminatory and humane, and bound by the rules of ethics and law.

13. Successful treatment and management of sex offenders is enhanced by the positive cooperation of family, friends, employers and members of the community who have influence in sex offenders' lives.

do you really have to ask?

Of COURSE this next story happened in a trailer park.

A brother and sister were arrested on felony incest charges after the man's wife called sheriff's deputies, who allegedly caught the siblings having sex.

Ronald Stewart Howze, 44, of Trafford, and Lori Ann Rotton, 41, of Smyrna, Ga., were arrested around midnight on April 7, said Jefferson County sheriff's spokesman Randy Christian. They remain jailed Wednesday with bond set at $50,000 each.

If convicted, Howze and Rotton could each be sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Authorities said Howze's wife believed her husband and his sister were having sex so she called deputies. The wife let the officer into their trailer home, and the deputy saw the siblings having sex in a bedroom, Christian said.

The officer had to twice tell the couple to stop, and the officer's report quoted the man as saying "I guess I'm going to jail" after they finally complied, according to Christian.

Both brother and sister had been drinking, and Rotton was initially taken to a hospital because she appeared so intoxicated, Christian said.

The man told the officer he wanted to "go out crazy" after being diagnosed with cancer, The Birmingham News reported Wednesday.

Tommy McFarland, an attorney representing Howze, said his client told him he could not remember what happened. Howze said he suffers from seizures and asked to see a psychiatrist, according to McFarland.

Rotton is set to make her first court appearance Thursday.

Gee, I'm all broken up

Seems Vladimir Putin wishes the Soviet Union hadn't broken up

Russian President Vladimir Putin told the nation Monday that the collapse of the Soviet empire "was the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the century" and had fostered separatist movements inside Russia.

In his annual state of the nation address to parliament and the country's top political leaders, Putin said the Soviet collapse was "a genuine tragedy" for Russians.

"First and foremost it is worth acknowledging that the demise of the Soviet Union was the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the century," Putin said. "As for the Russian people, it became a genuine tragedy. Tens of millions of our fellow citizens and countrymen found themselves beyond the fringes of Russian territory.

Huh? I think Hitler trying to take over Europe was the biggest "geopolitical catatastrophe", or perhaps the Middle East. I'm pretty happy the USSR went AWOL.

One more reason to be thankful for Benedict XVI

The UCC shows that Benedict XVI is right about moral relativism, as it debates approving gay marriage.

The United Church of Christ (search), a denomination known for its progressive stand on social issues, will consider opposing resolutions on same-sex marriage at its biennial meeting in July, a church official said Friday.

"We take our democratic form of church governance seriously," said the Rev. J. Bennett Guess, spokesman for the Cleveland-based UCC. "This will ensure some heated conversation for our church when we meet in Atlanta."

This is the first time the same-sex marriage (search) issue will be debated at the church's General Synod meeting. The United Church of Christ has a membership of 1.3 million.

The General Synod considers resolutions, but it does not create policy for its nearly 6,000 congregations: UCC churches are autonomous. The UCC's meeting, involving about 3,000 people, is set for July 1-5 in Atlanta.

Guess said that if the delegates support a resolution approving same-sex marriage, it would be the first time a large Christian denomination has done so.

The Rev. John H. Thomas, the UCC's general minister and president, declined comment on the issue.

The UCC's General Synod (search) previously has affirmed the ordination of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people and holy unions for non-married couples.

Last year, the UCC caused a stir when it created a television advertising campaign that featured a gay couple, among others, being excluded from a church. CBS and NBC rejected the 30-second ads.

The Rev. Libby Tigner said the UCC's Southern California-Nevada Conference proposed the same-gender marriage resolution based on legal and religious grounds.

"We believe that all people are created equal in the eyes of God and should be treated equal by our governmental bodies," said Tigner, an associate minister in Long Beach, Calif., at First Congregational United Church of Christ.

Another faction favors affirmation of a one-man, one-woman marriage resolution.

Eight geographically diverse UCC congregations have offered a resolution calling on the church to "embrace the scriptural definition of marriage." The Rev. Brett W. Becker, pastor of St. Paul UCC in Cibolo, Texas, who wrote the resolution, said he believes the UCC should stand for traditional marriage.

A third resolution proposed for the meeting calls for prayer and study on the issue.

The United Church of Christ was formed in 1957 with the union of the Congregational Christian Churches in America and the Evangelical and Reformed Church.

One less pervert in the world

SOme citizens in Ocala FL, concerned about the high profile murders of two girls in FL by convicted sex offenders, wanted to make sure that everyone knew a convicted pedophile was in their midst. The perv couldn't handle the attention.

OCALA - A 38-year-old convicted sex offender, in despair over signs posted in his neighborhood calling him a "child rapist," apparently committed suicide Thursday.

Clovis Ivan Claxton was found dead by his father at 6:30 a.m. Thursday, a flier beside his body. An autopsy is scheduled to be performed today to see if he died of an overdose. He had earlier threatened to take too many pills.

Clovis Claxton called the Sheriff's Office hoping to learn who had put up the sign. He told a lieutenant that he felt "extremely scared and feels that people in the neighborhood are now out to possibly hurt him."

He also threatened suicide saying that "after seeing these fliers, he just wanted to end it all."

Claxton was involuntarily committed and taken to The Centers mental health hospital on Tuesday. He was released Wednesday. Less than 24 hours later, he was dead.

The Marion County Sheriff's Office is investigating.

The incident comes on the heels of a county commissioner's comments this week that he would like to see the sheriff post signs in neighborhoods to warn of sex offenders in the community, an idea that the sheriff rejected.

"I think this is a clear example of an unintended consequence which can occur when we go beyond what we call police protocol when handling sex offenders," Sheriff Ed Dean said.

"What we want to guard against is creating a stigma in a neighborhood of innocent people who happen to own a home or rent a home where a sex offender lives. . . . I don't think we need to stigmatize a neighborhood with signs. It creates violence," he said.

Sex offenses against children have stunned Floridians recently. Jessica Lunsford, 9, of Homosassa and Sarah Lunde, 13, of Hillsborough County were alledgedly killed at the hands of sexual offenders.

County Commissioner Randy Harris, who proposed the idea of having the sheriff post signs in neighborhoods, says people have a right to know who their neighbors are.

"I don't blame his death to the signs . . . That (death) doesn't deter me from the proposal to do the best job of informing people in their neighborhoods," he said. "This unfortunate death has in no way removed my efforts."

Commissioner Harris said he believes that sex offenders need to take responsibility for their actions.

"If parents, brothers or sisters feel victimized it is not the fault of the general public but of the family member who committed the crime," he said. "The responsibility came when the family member committed the crime."

A Pope for grown ups

Peggy Noonan has a great column about Benedict XVI. She ends it with a flourish:

The choosing of Benedict XVI, a man who is serious, deep and brave, is a gift. He has many enemies. They imagine themselves courageous and oppressed. What they are is agitated, aggressive, and well-connected.

They want to make sure his papacy begins with a battle. They want to make sure no one gets a chance to love him. Which is too bad because even his foes admit he is thoughtful, eager for dialogue, sensitive, honest.

They want to make sure that when he speaks and writes, the people of the world won't come running.

What to do to help? See his enemies for what they are, and see him for what he is. Read him--he is a writer, a natural communicator of and thinker upon challenging ideas. Listen to him. Consult your internal compass as you listen, and see if it isn't pointing true north.

Look at what he said at the beginning of the papal conclave: It is our special responsibility at this time to be mature, to believe as adults believe. "Being an 'adult' means having a faith which does not follow the waves of today's fashions or the latest novelties." Being an adult is loving what is true and standing with it.

This isn't radical, or archconservative. And the speaker isn't an enforcer, a cop or a rottweiler. He's a Catholic. Which one would think is a good thing to have as leader of the Catholic Church

More liberal outrage over the new Pope

Upset liberals can be so stupid, like Richard Cohen whining about the Benedict XVI.

Being a non-Catholic nowadays is a bit like being a non-American most of the time. Important, maybe even historic, decisions are being made and you are totally locked out. America chooses a president who gets a bee in his bonnet about Iraq, and a hunk of the world goes to war. The cardinals of the church choose a pope and maybe an even bigger hunk of the world is affected -- everything from population control to AIDS. The import is clear: We -- that's all of us -- have a new pope.

That new pope is Benedict XVI, the former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger of Germany. It almost goes without saying that he is not my cup of tea. He is stolidly conservative in his theology and no different from the previous pope in his opposition to the ordination of women or married men. As for gays, he clearly considers them to be an abomination. These, though, are matters that concern Catholics and their church and are no business of mine. So, too, Benedict's conviction that Catholicism is the one true belief. I would expect nothing less from the pope.

But in other areas -- particularly population control and the worldwide fight against AIDS -- what the pope does, how the Vatican rules, affects us all. We can fully expect that the new pope will not depart one iota from John Paul II's fervent opposition to anything other than the most rudimentary forms of birth control -- abstinence in one form or another -- including, of course, opposition to the use of condoms as a method of preventing the spread of the HIV virus. Here is where we all have a stake.

This emphasis on condoms is sometimes derided as "latex theology." But condoms happen to be the cheapest and most effective way of preventing the spread of the HIV virus. This is particularly meaningful in the world's poorer regions, where there are often no medical facilities to speak of. In sub-Saharan Africa -- home to 10 percent of the world's population but 60 percent of the people infected with HIV -- some 25 million children and adults currently have AIDS. That's not about latex, it's about death.

Have to argue here, Richard, abstinence is the cheapest - it's FREE - and most effective of preventing the spread of AIDS. But why let facts get in the way of a good story. He goes on to whine about the liberal Protestant churches:

But the task ultimately has to fall to Catholic dissidents. True, there are fewer than there used to be -- Cardinal Ratzinger saw to that -- and they have to be respectful of the new pope. But they, like their brethren in the liberal Protestant churches, have to be more forceful in their opposition and their challenge to authority. In the United States these churches have been downright wimpish when compared with the more politically robust ones to their right. The liberal to moderate Christian churches in America, once in the forefront of the civil rights and other progressive movements, have muted their voices and faded as a political and social force. They are missed.

Conservative churches are not "more politically robust" they just have a message that is attractive to people and draw more people. More people believe Elvis is alive than go to Episcopal churches on Sundays. If a church doesn't challenge you to be a better person, why give up a good tee time or a warm bed to go? People want to hear a truth that is not open for debate, not some zeitgeist that goes with the wind.

Happy Earth Day

ok, one day early but I couldn't resist

Benedict 16 and the 60's

Others tried, but Jonah Goldberg did the best job of describing the effect the sixties had on our new Pope.

That said, there's still a good lesson for the American right and left to draw from Ratzinger's election. One of the most interesting aspects of his story is that he was, by all accounts, a liberal until the year 1968. But during student riots at Tübingen University, where he was teaching, he looked into the soul of the New Left and saw a deep void. "For so many years," he said in an interview years ago, "the 1968 revolution and the terror created ? in the name of Marxist ideas ? a radical attack on human freedom and dignity, a deep threat to all that is human."

Again, Americans tend to think of 1968 as a uniquely American upheaval during a uniquely American decade of unrest. Bobby Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr., and all that. But the reality is a bit different. The 1960s saw student uprisings not only in America but in France, Britain, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Germany, Senegal, Argentina, Indonesia, and Mexico. Obviously, each had its own unique flavor, but there was also something in the global water in the 1960s. What it was, exactly, is still hotly debated today. But the violence of '68ers surely had something to do with the comfort and guilt that comes from being the prosperous offspring of the World War II generation.

Not everyone in the so-called New Left was physically violent, and by no means was every young person alive then a member of the New Left, but almost everyone in the so-called "generation of '68" was intellectually violent ? to tradition, to old-fashioned notions of decency, to truth, etc. And a great many of them refused to draw principled distinctions between rhetorical violence and the real thing.

In America, students took over schools like Cornell University with rifles and threatened to kill professors they considered to be "reactionary." Many older liberals had minds so open, their brains fell out. Others recognized the threat posed by the new barbarians and almost instantaneously became "conservatives" or ? shudder ? neoconservatives because they chose to stand firm in support of American liberal institutions ? institutions that, in the new climate, were defined as right wing and oppressive. Clinton Rossiter, the decent, humane liberal scholar of American politics, tried to reconcile these competing forces, and his failure made suicide all the more attractive as an option.

Cardinal Ratzinger is a veteran of similar struggles. Whether you think Pope Benedict represents a move toward steadying the civilizational pendulum or a major counter-swing depends on your own spot on the ideological spectrum.

I'm not the only that hates Katie Couric

MSN.com does the Seven Deadly sins of Television, guilty pleasure shows that are entertaining, either intentionally or in the watching-a-train-wreck kind of way. Here is what they say about the Today show and Katie Couric:

So when did "Today" become the "Katie (It's All About Me) Couric Show"? The spotlight hogging is now a show unto itself as poor schmoes Matt Lauer and Ann Curry try to get a word in edgewise, or grab a corner of Couric's reflected glory. Is anyone surprised that Couric reportedly has a higher negative "Q rating" than even Dan Rather? It's made morning-show watching mandatory again.

YES!!!

Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger is the new Pope, Pope Benedict the 16th. God Bless.

March Madness, Catholic Style

here are some NCAA-inspired brackets for the new Pontiff, funny stuff:

Democrat Hypocrisy, or when a supermajority is a bad thing

So a supermajority to confirm federal judges is good, but a supermajority to raise taxes is bad, at least in Washington state.

House Democrats yesterday cleared the way for tax increases by passing a bill that would let lawmakers raise taxes with a majority vote instead of the two-thirds vote now required.

Senate Bill 6078 would suspend part of Initiative 601, the spending-limit measure Washington voters approved in 1993, and make it possible for Democratic majorities in the state House and Senate to raise taxes without Republicans going along. It passed 50-43, with four Democrats siding with Republicans and voting against it.

The bill fell one vote short on its initial vote in the House but passed on reconsideration after Rep. Dawn Morrell, D-Puyallup, said she had mistakenly voted "no" the first time.

The measure, which also would make several changes to the state's spending limit, was amended in the House and now returns to the Senate. Senate Democratic leaders have indicated they will accept the House version.

Democrats argue the bill would improve I-601 and is needed to pass a "responsible" budget. "It's the responsibility of the majority to govern," said Rep. Jim McIntire, D-Seattle.

Republicans say the move is not needed and essentially would gut the initiative. "This is the most fiscally irresponsible bill," said Rep. Gary Alexander, R-Olympia.

They could at least TRY to not look like total hypocrites.

Mesmerizing

I find this mesmerizing

PA native stops homicide bomber attack

A Marine from Altoona makes the whole state proud.

From his tower lookout post on the Iraqi-Syrian border, Marine Lance Cpl. Joshua Butler last week helped stop two suicide car bombers who were on a mission to kill hundreds of Marines here and strike a symbolic victory for the insurgency.

The daylight attack on this remote U.S. military base fits a pattern of recent insurgent attacks on U.S. military strongholds. On Saturday, a mortar attack at Camp Ramadi killed three servicemembers, and there was a coordinated assault two weeks ago on the U.S.-run Abu Ghraib prison on the outskirts of Baghdad.

U.S. forces have repelled each attack, inflicting large losses on the insurgents while incurring few casualties. The base commander at Camp Gannon, a former Iraqi customs and immigration post at the edge of one of its most dangerous cities, credits Butler with preventing massive deaths here.

"Butler ? that day, that Marine ? that's the critical error the insurgents made," Capt. Frank Diorio says. "They thought they could keep the Marines' heads down. But he gets back up."

Butler, 21 and an Altoona, Pa., native, fired through the windshield of the first suicide bomber as he rammed a white dump truck through a barrier of abandoned vehicles the Marines had improvised. Barreling toward the camp's wall, the truck veered off at the last moment under volleys of Butler's gunfire.

"I shot 20 or 30 rounds before he detonated," he says.

Knocked down by that blast, with bricks and sandbags collapsing on top of him, Butler struggled to his feet only to hear a large diesel engine roar amid the clatter of gunfire. It was a red fire engine, carrying a second suicide bomber and passenger. Butler says both were wearing black turbans and robes, often worn by religious martyrs.

Amid the chaos of that first bomb blast, supported by gunfire from an estimated 30 dismounted insurgents, the fire engine passed largely undetected on a small road that leads from town directly past the camp wall, according a Marine report.

"I couldn't see him at first because of the smoke. It was extremely thick from the first explosion," Butler says. When the fire engine cleared the smoke, it was much closer than the dump truck had been.

As the driver accelerated past the "Welcome to Iraq" sign inside the camp's perimeter, Butler says he fired 100 rounds into the vehicle. The Marines later discovered the vehicle was equipped with 3-inch, blast-proof glass and the passengers were wearing Kevlar vests under their robes.

Pfc. Charles Young, 21, also of Altoona, Pa., hit the fire engine with a grenade launcher, slowing its progress and giving Butler time to recover. Without breaching the camp wall, the driver detonated the fire engine, sending debris flying up to 400 yards and knocking Marines from their bunks several hundred yards away. Butler, less than 50 yards away, again was knocked down by the blast, which partially destroyed the tower in which he was perched. After he crawled for cover, a third suicide bomber detonated outside the camp. That blast caused no damage or injuries. Sporadic fighting continued for several hours.

Meanwhile, Cpl. Anthony Fink of Columbus, Ohio, 21, fired a grenade launcher that the Marine unit says killed 11 insurgents. The Marines' "React Squad" swiftly deployed against the remaining insurgents.

"We were able to get the momentum back," Diorio says. He also says that Husaybah townspeople later reported 21 insurgents dead and 15 wounded. No Marines were seriously hurt.

No 72 virgins for you, scumbags!

A bad sign

From the Chicago Trib comes a story of some pedophiles adopting a highway.

As Illinois politicians wheedle for an income tax increase to help grow the government payroll, a reader of this column, Scott Broehl, wrote me a letter.

His was a fascinating story about how government works, or doesn't.

It involves the Illinois Adopt A Highway program, one of the million--or is that 10 million?--government programs. This involves a road in Arlington Heights and a group that should be barred from adopting anything, even a chunk of asphalt.

"I couldn't believe it," Broehl, a retired homicide detective, told me Wednesday. "All these politicians are grandstanding. They grandstand on everything. But then this happens.

"So the other day I'm out there on Golf Road and I see the Adopt A Highway sign. It's a state sign. And I see the name of the group that adopted the highway. They let these people adopt highways? It's sick. So I took a photograph and sent it to you."

Until we started asking questions about the Adopt A Highway program, this is how it worked: You applied to the Illinois Department of Transportation, it gave you a stretch of highway to clean up as a highway volunteer and provided plastic litter bags for cleanup and safety vests.

In exchange, the adopters received recognition in the form of a state highway sign, planted right there on their adopted 2-mile chunk of highway, for all drivers to see. There were more than 10,200 individuals in about 1,700 various groups having adopted around 3,400 miles of highway.

"That's all changed now. We're suspending the program and we're going to have to study this," said Tim Martin, the director of IDOT. "I can't believe it either. I'm sick about it. I can tell you I lost my cool. I have a temper. And I don't think the governor will be pleased, either."

Here's what was on the sign photographed by Scott Broehl.

First, there was the IDOT logo, and "ADOPT A HIGHWAY" in big letters. Then the name of a fellow named Kevin. I'm withholding the last name because we couldn't reach him. Given what the organization under his name stands for, I think you'll understand.

The name of the organization that adopted the highway was also in big letters. Here it is.

"NAMBLA INC."

Then it said, "KEEP ILLINOIS CLEAN."

Seeing the NAMBLA name up there irritated Broehl. He served on police departments in the northwest suburbs until he left to become a homicide detective in Atlanta. Cops know what it stands for.

NAMBLA stands for the North American Man-Boy Love Association. According to news articles and the group's Web site, it advocates changing those old-fashioned laws about sex with minors, including very young kids. It advocates pedophilia.

The only time pedophiles should be cleaning highways is when they are accompanied by prison guards and wearing leg-irons and bright orange uniforms. Pedophiles should never be released from prison. They can't be rehabilitated. There's something inside them beyond repair.

But there they were on the highway--NAMBLA and KEEP ILLINOIS CLEAN.

"Our politicians all jumped to get publicity on that registered sex-offender law," Broehl said, "even if the list includes some kid who was 17 and had sex with his 15-year-old girlfriend after school, he's a sex offender. The politicians were all over it. But NAMBLA gets to adopt a highway. Fantastic."

A call to IDOT had the usual effect, involving suspicion, paranoia and general agita. There's a reason for that. Some of the IDOT guys know me from their City Hall days, when they worked for Anthony Pucillo, the boss of the city's Department of Transportation.

Department officials said that Martin erupted with much anger and yelling in a meeting on Wednesday, in which he ordered the sign removed, and for it never to be put up again upon severe penalty, which may include a left hook to the head, but definitely would include firing.

At an IDOT meeting, Martin said, one official told him that legally, NAMBLA might have the right to the sign, given a recent court case in Missouri in which the Ku Klux Klan retained its name on a similar adopt-a-highway sign on 1st Amendment grounds.

Martin called the official a lunatic and demanded a full review of the program. He also spoke in French to make himself perfectly clear.

"I've heard about the KKK in Missouri, but let me tell you, we won't have NAMBLA signs on Illinois highways," Martin told me. "They can sue. But there won't be any NAMBLA signs."

An amazing soldier

This is a great story of a very brave man killing very bad men.

A Russian immigrant turned Israeli policeman has won the Jewish state's second-highest military honor.

Known only by his initial, Y., the commander of the Border Police undercover unit called Yasam was awarded the Ribbon of Valor on Tuesday for a string of deadly counterterrorist missions in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Yasam is the Hebrew acronym for Police Reconnaissance Unit.

"I just did my job as best I knew how," Y., a 30-year-old father of two, told Ma'ariv before the awards ceremony. "I wasn't expecting a decoration." Yasam usually seeks out recruits among Sephardi Jews who can pass for Palestinians and handle the rough world of covert operations.

It might seem an odd home for Y., the piano-playing son of Muscovite academics who immigrated to Israel when he was 16. But he now has two dozen confirmed "kills" of terrorist fugitives to his name.

Y. described Yasam as his Zionist calling. "Even in the worst of times, we always knew Israel was the place for us," he said. "The same went for the military. Even back in Russia, we would hear about the Israeli military. For me, it was a personal challenge to serve in it."

"The Holocaust is very deeply ingrained in me. With time, I understood how terrible it was, and understood that we, the Jews, must know how to protect ourselves without asking questions or permission."

Drafted into the Border Police, Y. performed so well that the commanders asked him to become an officer despite his faulty Hebrew. Then came the outbreak of Palestinian violence in 2000, and Y. found Arabic to be just as useful.

According to comrades, he is first to volunteer for the most dangerous missions in the grim alleyways of the refugee camps favored as hideouts by Palestinian gunmen. "There is something wrong with his fear instinct. It does not exist," one said.

A slender 1.68 meters tall, Y. does not stick out in a crowd. He made up for his pale complexion by growing an Islamist-style beard.

He describes undercover work as a matter of attitude.

"When you see Yasam men in the field, you know they're not regular soldiers. They're at home out there. Regular soldiers go around taking cover behind walls, ducking all the time. Our guys hang out in the village as if they were their own," he said.

But Y.'s tactics also involve improvisation, which can mean the difference between dying in the field and making it home.
In one case cited by the Military Honors Commission, Y. and a comrade accepted a mission in the Tulkarm refugee camp that other units had turned down, complaining about the narrow lanes. Y. got around the problem by designing a motorized vehicle that could handle the camp's confined spaces.

Once inside Tulkarm, Y. and his comrade found their target. When he resisted arrest, they shot him dead, waking up all the other gunmen in the camp.

So Y. decided to use the commotion to their benefit, driving out at full speed and shouting "Army! Army!" in Arabic. The Palestinian locals, thinking the two undercover cops were gunmen on the run from Israeli special forces, made way, letting them escape.

Stupid Activist Judges...Again

The FDA, which has jurisdiction over FOOD and DRUGS, wisely decided to ban the stimulant ephedra, which was causing deaths. So what happens? A judge in Utah, acting to benefit a UTAH company, overturns the FDA's ruling. What the hell does she know about drugs?

A federal judge Thursday struck down the FDA ban on ephedra, the once-popular weight-loss aid that was yanked from the market after it was linked to dozens of deaths ? including that of Baltimore Orioles pitching prospect Steve Bechler.

The judge ruled in favor of a Utah company that challenged the Food and Drug Administration?s ban. Utah-based Nutraceutical claimed in its lawsuit that ephedra ?has been safely consumed? for hundreds of years.

Supplements that included ephedra have been widely used for weight loss and bodybuilding, but have been linked to 155 deaths. The FDA ordered the substance off the market in April 2004.

Judge Tena Campbell?s ruling sends the matter back to the FDA ?for further rulemaking consistent with the court?s opinion? and keeps the agency from enforcement action against the companies.

Ephedra, the herbal form of the stimulant ephedrine, was used as a weight-loss supplement by millions of Americans. Reports of links to illness and sudden death resulted in a heated debate over its safety and led to the government ban on products containing ephedra. Ephedra, which is also known by its Chinese name, ma huang, has been used as a medicinal herb for thousands of years in India and China to treat asthma, bronchitis and coughs. In recent years, it was widely promoted in the United States as an appetite suppressant and weight-loss aid in over-the-counter products, such as Xenadrine. An estimated 12 million Americans used the supplement in 1999, according to researchers.

A variety of studies have linked ephedra to cardiovascular problems, including high blood pressure, palpitations and heart attacks. Strokes, seizures, psychosis, insomnia and heatstroke have also been reported. The supplement has been conclusively linked to cases of healthy adults suddenly falling ill or even dying after taking it.

Way to go judge, put the profits of some company in your home state (love to see your financial records) over the lives of Americans. The alleged experts at the FDA, and the Canadian government, ruled ephedra is dangerous. But your law school training makes you better trained to judge on the merits of drugs?

Peggy Noonan on picking the next Pope

A good piece from Peggy Noonan on what might be going through the minds of some of the cardinals.

You are a cardinal of the Holy Roman Catholic and Apostolic Church, a modern man, and for the past seven days, in private conversations in Rome with cardinals you trust, you've been admitting what you would never say in public.

You were shocked at the outpouring for John Paul II. You were shocked at the four million who came to Rome, at the line that stretched across the Tiber, at the tears.

You had no idea.

Not that you didn't have real affection for the old man. He was probably a saint. All that suffering, dragging his broken body into each day the past five years. That's a long time on the cross.

But you thought he was yesterday's news. Everyone had already said goodbye to him at those big audiences in the Paul VI hall. And let's face it, the church under John Paul was slammed every day as conservative, ossified, reactionary.

Here's another strange thing. In the polls on churchgoing and belief it's always Catholics on the street in Europe and America who say they want change and reform. They'd been saying it for years! And yet it was Catholics on the street from Europe and America--real nobodies, not to be impolite but just regular Catholics--who engulfed Rome to weep and yell Santo, Santo!

You sit and think: We have to consider what the crowds signified, what the outpouring meant. Maybe God was telling us something.
You try to walk through the data. Everyone says John Paul was popular because he was a rock star. He had a special appeal to the young. People loved him because he was so vibrant and dynamic.

Then you think--or rather that part of your mind that habitually questions your main themes on any given day tells you--Wait, the guy could barely walk, he couldn't even move his face. He looked like, God forgive me, the Hunchback or something. He was writing encyclicals and telling people what seems to be good is not good, and what seems to be old is true. That doesn't sound like a rock star.

You think: The fact is, John Paul was not an expression of his times, he existed in opposition to the times. He defended church doctrine and moral teaching because he thought they were true! He wouldn't abandon the truth. In the Catholic colleges of America they didn't see the truth he spoke as true. They thought it was archaic. Catholics in colleges and newsrooms, on campuses and on TV, are always going on and on about the world needs contraception, we need married priests, we need women priests. Now it's the right to die.

Then you think: But it wasn't them in the streets. It was regular Catholics in the streets! That's who was waiting 20 hours in the line that crossed the Tiber. It was the faithful and college kids and mom and pop from Toledo. It was the universal church.

And then it dawns on you: Maybe--maybe . . . Maybe people, being imperfect and human, live whatever lives they live but deep in their hearts--way down deep and much more than they know--they actually notice when somebody stands for truth. And they actually honor it. Maybe that's why in all the big modern democracies they'd burst into tears when John Paul came by, when he was visiting America and France and Germany. Maybe they knew they were not necessarily living right themselves but they were grateful--they were grateful on behalf of civilization!--that there was a man like him among us. They recognized him and honored him in their hearts. And then word came that he's dead and suddenly their hearts told their heads: Get on the train and go honor him. Because he adorned us. Because he was right. And we can't lose this from civilization, this beacon in the darkness.

Another advertisement for private schools

This story is awful especially the (non) response of the administration:

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- A 16-year-old disabled girl was punched and forced to engage in videotaped sexual acts with several boys in a high school auditorium as dozens of students watched, according to witnesses.

Authorities are investigating and no charges have been filed in the alleged attack last month at Mifflin High School. Four boys suspected of involvement were sent home and have not returned to class.

Also, the principal, Regina Crenshaw, was suspended and will be fired for not calling police, school officials said. And three assistant principals were suspended and will be reassigned to other schools. Crenshaw had no comment Tuesday.

The girl was forced to perform oral sex on at least two boys, according to statements from school officials, obtained by The Columbus Dispatch. Part of the alleged assault was videotaped by a student who had a camera for a school project.

School officials found the girl bleeding from the mouth. An assistant principal cautioned the girl's father against calling 911 to avoid media attention, the statements said. The girl's father called police.

Her father said the girl is developmentally disabled. A special education teacher said the teen has a severe speech impediment.

Nice tribute to Archbishop Iakovos

From today's NY Post editorial page:

He had nowhere near the number of followers of Pope John Paul II, but Archbishop Iakovos, retired primate of the Greek Orthodox Church in North and South America, who died this week at 93, was also a significant religious figure.
Under his 37 years of leadership ? which ended with his retirement in 1996 following disagreements with the church's ecumenical patriarch, Bartholomew I ? Greek Orthodoxy assumed an accepted place among the nation's major mainstream spiritual movements.

That was due primarily to Iakovos' efforts. The Greek-born archbishop, who presided over a church made up largely of immigrants like himself, pressed his followers to look to their adopted land, not the old country, for leadership.

He involved himself in the ecumenical movement ? he was the first Orthodox archbishop in nearly four centuries to confer with a pope ? and in local political struggles, such as the civil-rights movement. In 1980, President Jimmy Carter awarded him a much-deserved Medal of Freedom.

His life and struggle, Iakovos once said, were devoted to "maintain[ing] the faith and culture." That he most certainly did.

And the Greek Orthodox church has much for which to thank him.

Pretty Please!

Oh would this infuriate the revisionists:

Support for German Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger appears to be building ahead of the conclave to select a new pope, Italian newspapers reported Tuesday.

Corriere della Sera, citing anonymous sources, said at least 40 cardinals have voiced some backing for the conservative Ratzinger during daily meetings before the conclave opens Monday with an expected 115 cardinals.

Another newspaper, La Repubblica, put the number of possible Ratzinger backers at 50, without identifying a source for the estimate.

The reports could be independently verified. The cardinals have agreed not to talk to the media until after the conclave, the Vatican said. The pre-conclave meetings are held in private.

But the suggestions of mounting support the Vatican-based Ratzinger would still be shy of the votes needed: a two-thirds majority, or 77 votes.

Oh would that infuriate some libs at my parish, which would be half the fun.

Religion of Peace Update

No really, Islam is truly a religion of peace. Quit rolling your eyes:

Hamas has begun operating a "vice and virtue commando" in the Gaza Strip to safeguard Islamic values, Palestinian security officials and residents told The Jerusalem Post.

The new force, called the Anti-Corruption Unit, is believed to be behind the gruesome murder over the weekend of Yusra al-Azzami, a 22-year-old university student from the northern Gaza Strip.

Her "crime" was that she was seen in public with her fiance.

Although "honor killings" are not a new phenomenon in Palestinian society, the perpetrators were almost always relatives of the victims. But this is the first time that one of the Palestinian groups has openly acted against a woman suspected of "immoral behavior."

Hamas's "morality" patrolmen first spotted the young couple strolling along the beach in Gaza City, together with Azzami's younger sister. After enjoying the spectacular sunset over the sea, they got into the future husband's car and started driving towards Azzami's home.

According to eyewitness accounts, five masked gunmen who were in another car gave chase, opening fire at Azzami, who was sitting in the front seat next to her fiance. She died instantly.

The fiance and sister were later brutally beaten and moderately injured by the attackers.

The incident took place at a busy intersection in Gaza City.

What happened immediately afterwards left many passersby traumatized.

The assailants dragged the young woman's body out of the car, pouncing upon it mercilessly with clubs and iron bars.

The Palestinian Authority police, who have since arrested two suspects, confirmed that the attack was carried out by Hamas vigilantes who have been waging a campaign of intimidation against people exhibiting un-Islamic behavior.

The police officer said the identities of the other three accomplices were known and efforts were being made to apprehend them. "They all belong to a Hamas unit that claims it wants to enforce Islamic values in the Gaza Strip," he said. "We hope Hamas will help us track down the murderers and bring them to trial."

However, Azzami's family and political activists accused Hamas of harboring the murderers and called on the Islamic movement to hand them over to the police. A statement signed by various political groups, including the ruling Fatah faction, condemned the murder and urged Hamas to disown the culprits.

"We are demanding a public apology from Hamas for this heinous crime against an innocent woman," said a cousin of the victim. "We have also appealed to the Palestinian leadership to impose the death penalty against the murderers. We are living in a jungle and this has to end."

Another Christian leader called home

This won't get anywhere near the press it should, but former Greek Orthodox Archbishop Iakovos died yesterday. His accomplishments are impressive.

The enthronement of Archbishop Iakovos on April 1,1959 at Holy Trinity Cathedral in New York City ushered in a new era for Greek Orthodoxy in America.

Deeply respected by all religious leaders in the United States when he retired at the age of 85 on July 29,1996, Archbishop Iakovos offered 37 years of service which were distinguished by his leadership in furthering religious unity, revitalizing Christian worship and championing human and civil rights.

Known throughout the world as a dynamic participant in the contemporary ecumenical movement for Christian Unity, Archbishop Iakovos served for nine years as president of the World Council of Churches, established dialogues with Roman Catholics, Anglicans, Lutherans, Southern Baptists and Black Church leaders and initiated Orthodox Dialogue with Judaism. In a successful effort to promote closer ties among Orthodox jurisdictions, he founded the Standing conference of Canonical Orthodox Bishops in the Americas (SCOBA) in 1960.

"Ecumenism," His Eminence said, "is the hope for international understanding, for humanitarian allegiance, for true peace based on justice and dignity, and for God?s continued presence and involvement in modern history."

A champion of civil and human rights, he had the courage to walk hand in hand with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in Selma, AL, a historic moment for America which was captured on the cover of LIFE Magazine on March 26, 1965. He vigorously supported the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights legislation exclaiming when the first bill was passed,

"Glory to the Most High! May this mark the beginning of a new age for all humankind, an era when the Word of God charts and guides our lives".

In the international arena he spoke out forcefully against the violation of human rights and religious freedom and, in 1974, initiated a massive campaign to assist Greek Cypriot refugees following the invasion of Cyprus by Turkish armed forces. He opposed the war in Vietnam, while supporting the right of Israelis for peace and secure boundaries, as well as the rights of the Palestinians for a just and humane resolution of their claims.

Friend to nine presidents, and religious and political leaders worldwide, Archbishop Iakovos was the recipient of honorary degrees from some 40 colleges and universities, he was cited in 1979 by both Houses of Congress and paid official tribute in the Congressional Record.

He was the recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Nation?s highest civilian honor, bestowed by President Jimmy Carter on June 9,1980. In 1986 he was awarded the Ellis Island Medal of Honor and was cited by the Academy of Athens, the National Conference of Christians and Jews and the Appeal of Conscience, among others.

A United States citizen since 1950, Archbishop Iakovos was an admirable role model for American Greek Orthodox Christians, thoroughly committed to the vital democracy of his adopted country without forfeiting the ageless values of Greek culture or abandoning Greek Orthodoxy?s spiritual and ecclesiastical roots in the Church of Constantinople. Commenting on Orthodoxy in America, he said:

"Our Church, without ceasing to be ethnically rooted in Greece and religiously in the Ecumenical Patriarchate, must believe that America is the place where God intended it to grow?and that it has an obligation, without compromising in matters of faith, to adapt itself to the existing conditions."

Godspeed your Holiness.

Washington: making Florida look competent

No more jokes about Florida's inability to hold elections, not when you have fraud and incompetence like this in Washington.

Washington state has supplanted Florida as the leading example of the need for election reform. The Evergreen State's voting system is so sloppy that you can't tell where incompetence ends and actual fraud might begin. Three Washington counties just discovered 110 uncounted absentee ballots--including 93 from Seattle's King County--in a governor's race that occurred more than five months ago and was decided by only 129 votes. Officials in Seattle's King County admit they may find yet more ballots before a court hearing next month on whether a new election should be called. Last Friday, they reported finding a 111th ballot.

The infamous 2004 governor's race was finally decided seven weeks after the election, after King County officials found new unsecured ballots on nine separate occasions during two statewide recounts. After the new ballots were counted, Democrat Christine Gregoire won a 129-vote victory out of some three million ballots cast. Even as she was sworn in last January, King County election supervisor Dean Logan admitted it had been "a messy process."

He wasn't kidding. During the two recounts, Mr. Logan's office discovered 566 "erroneously rejected" absentee ballots, plus another 150 uncounted ones that turned up in a warehouse. Evidence surfaced that dead people had "exercised their right to vote"; documentation was presented that 900 felons in King County alone had illegally voted and that military ballots were sent out too late to be counted. A total of 700 provisional ballots had been fed into voting machines before officials had determined their validity. In the four previous November elections, King County workers had never mishandled more than nine provisional ballots in a single election.

Rabbi Heir's tribute to the Pope

I am on the email list for the Simon Weisenthal Center, and I received this nice email:

With the passing of Pope John Paul II, we have lost the strongest advocate for reconciliation for the Jewish people in the history of the Vatican. This Pope was determined to embark on a new course and leave that shameful period behind. From the very beginning of his papacy, when he first visited his native Poland, there were hints that this Pope was going to break with tradition and not follow the centuries-old script with respect to the Jews.

On his 1979 visit to Auschwitz, when he approached the inscriptions bearing the names of the countries whose citizens had been murdered there, he said, "I kneel before all the inscriptions bearing the memory of the victims in their languages. In particular, I pause before the inscription in Hebrew. This inscription awakens the memory of the people whose sons and daughters were intended for total extermination. It is not permissible for anyone to pass by this inscription with indifference."

The first time I met the Pope was in 1983 when I led a Wiesenthal Center mission to Eastern Europe. There, at a private audience at the Vatican, I expressed my concerns about antisemitism and said, "We come here today hoping to hear from you, the beloved spiritual leader of 700 million Christians, a clear and unequivocal message to all that this scourge in all its manifestations violates the basic creed to which all men of faith must aspire."

Obviously, John Paul II understood that very well, but it is important to place in proper context the considerable obstacles that he had to overcome.

During the height of the Holocaust, when millions of Jews were being gassed, the Vatican found the time to write letters opposing the creation of a Jewish State. On May 4, 1943, Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Magaloni, informed the British government of the Vatican's opposition to a Jewish homeland in Palestine. One day later, the Vatican was informed that of the four million Jews residing in pre-war Poland, only about 100,000 were still alive. Six weeks later, on June 22, 1943, the Vatican's apostolic delegate, Archbishop Cicognani wrote to then U.S. Secretary of State, Cordell Hull, again detailing its opposition to a Jewish homeland in Palestine and warning him that Catholics the world over would be aroused and saying, in part: "It is true that at one time Palestine was inhabited by the Hebrew race, but there is no axiom in history to substantiate the necessity of a people returning to a country they left nineteen centuries before...If a Hebrew home is desired, it would not be too difficult to find a more fitting territory than Palestine." To imagine then that 62 years later a Polish Pope would have redefined Vatican thinking regarding the Jewish people is astounding.

Twenty years after our first meeting, on December 3, 2003, together with a small delegation of Center trustees, I returned to the Vatican for another private audience, this time to present the Pope with the Wiesenthal Center's highest honor, our Humanitarian Award. On that occasion, I recapped his remarkable accomplishments, "As a youngster, you played goalie on the Jewish soccer team in Wadowice...in 1937, concerned about the safety of Ginka Beer, a Jewish student on her way to Palestine, you personally escorted her to the railroad station...in 1963, you were one of the major supporters of Nostra Aetate, the historic Vatican document which rejected the collective responsibility of the Jewish people for the crucifixion...in 1986, you were the first Pope to ever visit a synagogue...the first to recognize the State of Israel...the first to issue a document that seeks forgiveness for members of the Church for wrongdoing committed against the Jewish people throughout history and to apologize for Catholics who failed to help Jews during the Nazi period...the first to visit a concentration camp and to institute an official observance of Yom Hashoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day at the Vatican."

I did not always agree with the Pope, especially when he nominated Pius XII for sainthood or when he met with then Austrian President Kurt Waldheim. But one thing is clear - in the two thousand year history of the papacy, no previous occupant of the throne of St. Peter has had such an interest in seeking reconciliation with the Jewish people.

With his passing, the world has lost a great moral leader and a righteous man and the Jewish people have lost its staunchest advocate in the history of the Church.

A wonderful story about the Pope

This is from his days as a seminarian and tells of his kindness to a starving Jewish girl looking for her parents.

Here is a family story of Pope John Paul II, an intimate tale of his humanity.

During the summer of 1942, two women in Krakow, Poland, were denounced as Jews, taken to the city's prison, held there for a few months and then sent to the Belzec extermination camp, where, in October, they were killed in primitive Nazi gas chambers by carbon monoxide from diesel engines.

Their names were Frimeta Gelband and Salomea Zierer; they were sisters. As it happens, Frimeta was my wife's grandmother. Salomea, known as "Salla," had two daughters, one of whom survived the war and one of whom did not.

The elder of these daughters was Edith Zierer. In January 1945, at 13, she emerged from a Nazi labor camp in Czestochowa, Poland, a waif on the verge of death. Separated from her family, unaware that her mother had been killed by the Germans, she could scarcely walk.

But walk she did, to a train station, where she climbed onto a coal wagon. The train moved slowly, the wind cut through her. When the cold became too much to bear, she got off the train at a village called Jendzejuw. In a corner of the station, she sat. Nobody looked at her, a girl in the striped and numbered uniform of a prisoner, late in a terrible war. Unable to move, Edith waited.

Death was approaching, but a young man approached first, "very good looking," as she recalled, and vigorous. He wore a long robe and appeared to the girl to be a priest. "Why are you here?" he asked. "What are you doing?"

Edith said she was trying to get to Krakow to find her parents.

The man disappeared. He came back with a cup of tea. Edith drank. He said he could help her get to Krakow. Again, the mysterious benefactor went away, returning with bread and cheese.

They talked about the advancing Soviet army. Edith said she believed her parents and younger sister, Judith, were alive.

"Try to stand," the man said. Edith tried - and failed. The man carried her to another village, where he put her in the cattle car of a train bound for Krakow. Another family was there. The man got in beside Edith, covered her with his cloak, and set about making a small fire.

His name, he told Edith, was Karol Wojtyla.

Although she took him for a priest, he was still a seminarian who would not be ordained until the following year. Another 33 years would pass before he would become Pope John Paul II and embark on a papacy that would help break the religion of communism and so transform the world.

I do not know what moved this young seminarian to save the life of a lost Jewish girl. I do know that his was an act of humanity made as the two great dehumanizing forces of the 20th century, the twin totalitarianisms of fascism and communism, bore down on his nation, Poland.

Here were two people alone in a ravaged land, a 24-year-old Catholic and a 13-year-old Jew. The future pope had already lost his family - mother, father and brother. Edith, although she did not know it yet, had already lost her mother at Belzec, her father at Majdanek, and her little sister at Auschwitz. They could not have been more alone.

We are alone. All of us. The great opiates of the 20th century - communist and fascist ideology - promised to subsume the individual into the collective glory of a beckoning utopia, but they delivered only new and more terrible forms of suffering.

In his early, and very personal, observation and absorption of this suffering lie the roots of the late pope's core belief: the inalienable value and sanctity of each human life.

A nice Ecumenical Moment

As I posted earlier, one of our neighboring churches, the Family Church, sent our parish a floral arrangement in honor of Pope John Paul II. I thought that was a very nice gesture, and sent them an email saying so. I received this very nice response:

Hi Duane,
Thank you for your kind note. The people of The Family Church stand with you and all the Roman Catholics worldwide in your time of great loss. Pope John Paul II made a positive impression on most of the world. I am reminded of how the Apostle Paul spoke in II Corinthians of being ?the fragrance of Christ?. In the case of Pope John Paul, the fragrance lingers, and it is a beautiful fragrance. We will continue as a congregation to lift up prayers for our RC brothers and sisters worldwide as you celebrate his life and mourn his passing. Have a blessed week.

In His Love,
Pastor Max Wilkins

Peggy Noonan with a great piece on the Holy Father

Peggy Noonan tells of the profound impact of John Paul II's visit to Poland. Excerpt:

Two months before the pope's arrival, the Polish communist apparatus took steps to restrain the enthusiasm of the people. They sent a secret directive to schoolteachers explaining how they should understand and explain the pope's visit. "The pope is our enemy," it said. "Due to his uncommon skills and great sense of humor he is dangerous, because he charms everyone, especially journalists. Besides, he goes for cheap gestures in his relations with the crowd, for instance, puts on a highlander's hat, shakes all hands, kisses children. . . . It is modeled on American presidential campaigns. . . Because of the activation of the Church in Poland our activities designed to atheize the youth not only cannot diminish but must intensely develop. . . In this respect all means are allowed and we cannot afford any sentiments." The government also issued instructions to Polish media to censor and limit the pope's comments and appearances.

On June 2, 1979, the pope arrived in Poland. What followed will never be forgotten by those who witnessed it.

He knelt and kissed the ground, the dull gray tarmac of the airport outside Warsaw. The silent churches of Poland at that moment began to ring their bells. The pope traveled by motorcade from the airport to the Old City of Warsaw.

The government had feared hundreds or thousands or even tens of thousands would line the streets and highways.

By the end of the day, with the people lining the streets and highways plus the people massed outside Warsaw and then inside it--all of them cheering and throwing flowers and applauding and singing--more than a million had come.

In Victory Square in the Old City the pope gave a mass. Communist officials watched from the windows of nearby hotels. The pope gave what papal biographer George Weigel called the greatest sermon of John Paul's life.

Why, the pope asked, had God lifted a Pole to the papacy? Perhaps it was because of how Poland had suffered for centuries, and through the 20th century had become "the land of a particularly responsible witness" to God. The people of Poland, he suggested, had been chosen for a great role, to understand, humbly but surely, that they were the repository of a special "witness of His cross and His resurrection." He asked then if the people of Poland accepted the obligations of such a role in history.
The crowd responded with thunder.

"We want God!" they shouted, together. "We want God!"

What a moment in modern history: We want God. From the mouths of modern men and women living in a modern atheistic dictatorship.

The pope was speaking on the Vigil of Pentecost, that moment in the New Testament when the Holy Spirit came down to Christ's apostles, who had been hiding in fear after his crucifixion, filling them with courage and joy. John Paul picked up this theme. What was the greatest of the works of God? Man. Who redeemed man? Christ. Therefore, he declared, "Christ cannot be kept out of the history of man in any part of the globe, at any longitude or latitude. . . . The exclusion of Christ from the history of man is an act against man! Without Christ it is impossible to understand the history of Poland." Those who oppose Christ, he said, still live within the Christian context of history.

Christ, the pope declared, was not only the past of Poland--he was "the future . . . our Polish future."

The massed crowd thundered its response. "We want God!" it roared.

Finally something GOOD in Florida

I love this new law:

Florida's legislature has approved a bill that would give residents the right to open fire against anyone they perceive as a threat in public, instead of having to try to avoid a conflict as under prevailing law.

Outraged opponents say the law will encourage Floridians to open fire first and ask questions later, fostering a sort of statewide Wild West shootout mentality. Supporters argue that criminals will think twice if they believe they are likely to be promptly shot when they assault someone.

Republican Governor Jeb Bush, who has said he plans to sign the bill, says it is "a good, commonsense, anti-crime issue."

Current state law allows residents to "shoot to kill if their property, such as their home or car, is invaded by an unknown assailant."

But it also states that if a resident is confronted or threatened in a public place, he or she must first try to avoid the confrontation or flee before taking any violent step in self defense against an assailant.

The bill, supported by the influential National Rifle Association, was approved by both houses of the Republican-run legislature on Tuesday.

Douglas MacArthur and the war on terrorism

I was checking out Brainyquote.com for some quotes and came upon some quotes by MacArthur. I found two very relevant to our War on Terrorism.

I am concerned for the security of our great Nation; not so much because of any threat from without, but because of the insidious forces working from within.
- Douglas MacArthur

It is fatal to enter any war without the will to win it.
- Douglas MacArthur

Terri's Mass and the useless Bishop

Terri Chiavo's funeral mass was yesterday. I have to comment on the uselessness of her supposed bishop, Bishop Robert Lynch.

Bishop Robert Lynch of the Diocese of St. Petersburg declined to take a stand against removing Terri Schiavo's feeding tube but offered words of comfort.

"At this time, now that Terri has gone to meet our Lord, I continue to hope and pray that all of Terri's family members may seek and find healing and peace from God," Lynch said in a statement.

A little late to the party, Bish. You are a successor to the apostles, start acting like it. One of your flock was STARVED TO DEATH while you did NOTHING. Thank God I am far enough north in Florida to have a good bishop, unlike you. You should be ashamed of yourself.

Wall Street Journal's tribute to the Holy Father

I thought this was very good.

When the white smoke curled up from the Sistine Chapel on that October evening back in 1978, it signaled that a new Pope had been chosen. His name was Karol Wojtyla. He came, as he said, from a distant land, and as he looked upon the faithful who had gathered on St. Peter's Square he offered words that would sum up his pastoral mission: "Be not afraid."

Pope John Paul II died today. In the post-Berlin Wall world this man did so much to shape, it's difficult to recall the much different circumstances that obtained when he assumed the chair of St. Peter. Former Italian prime minister Aldo Moro had been kidnapped and executed by terrorists. In Iran bloody protests were brewing that would within months pull down the Shah and usher in the ayatollahs. In the Soviet Union the dissident Anatoly Shcharansky (now the Israeli Natan Sharansky) was dispatched to the gulag, while Afghanistan had already endured the leftist coup that would, in short order, lead to a full-fledged Soviet invasion.

Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher were still in the future, and so was a workers' strike called by an unknown Pole named Lech Walesa. Everywhere one looked, the truth of the Brezhnev Doctrine seemed brutally self-evident: Once Communist, always Communist. Oh, yes: The Catholic Church which this first Slavic pope found himself bequeathed was thought by many to be hopelessly irrelevant to the crises of modern times.

The bishop from Krakow knew all this--better than his critics. For this was a man eminently comfortable with modernity--even while he refused to accept modernity's most shallow assumptions. Just as he offered his first public words as pope in Italian to make himself understood by those below his balcony, he held that ultimate truths about man and his relationship with his Creator are never outdated, however much they require constant expression in new languages and new circumstances. As he never ceased to declare, Communism's core failure was not economic. It was anthropological, stemming from its false understanding of human nature. Karol Wojtyla did not learn this from textbooks. He was old enough to recall how the twin totalitarianisms of our age--fascism and communism--were each once lauded by intellectuals as the inevitable destination and promise of the future. In Poland he tasted them both, yet he remained unintimidated. This experience would shape his entire papacy, a testament to his conviction that moral truth has its own legions.

And so he set that splendid Polish jaw against all the prevailing winds and . . . well, we know the rest of the story. Ironically, better than even some of his allies, the Communists themselves grasped the threat posed by a man whose only power was to expose the moral hollowness at the core of their claim. When the leader of Communist Poland tried to explain to the leader of the Communist U.S.S.R. that, as a fellow Pole, he knew how best to handle this new pope, Leonid Brezhnev responded prophetically. If the church weren't dealt with, Brezhnev retorted, "sooner or later it would gag in our throats, it would suffocate us." It did.

From today's vantage, even that victory has quickly receded into history. In the years since the Berlin Wall was pulled down, the new take on the Bishop of Rome was to try to distinguish between two popes: The liberal Cold Warrior who took on totalitarianism and the social scold who would replace it with a Christian authoritarianism of his own.

We had our own disagreements with this pope, notably over America's efforts in Iraq in two wars. But even in disagreement we have always understood that this pope was no schizophrenic. It is possible, as many who otherwise admire him do, to disagree with Pope John Paul's teachings on marriage and homosexuality, on abortion, and so on. But it is impossible to understand him without conceding the coherency of his argument: that the attempt to liberate oneself from one's nature is the road to enslavement, not freedom.





In progressive circles in the West, religion in general and Christianity in particular tend to find themselves caricatured as a series of Thou Shalt Nots, particularly when they touch on human sexuality. But it is no coincidence that George Weigel entitled his biography of John Paul "Witness to Hope." For billions of people around the world--non-Catholics included--that's exactly what he was. Perhaps this explains why China, where only a tiny fraction of its people are Catholic, remained to the very end fearful of allowing a visit from this frail, physically suffering man, fearing what he might inspire.

We don't expect the secularalists who dominate our intelligentsia ever to understand how a man rooted in orthodox Christianity could ever reconcile himself with modernity, much less establish himself on the vanguard of world history. But many years ago, when the same question was put to France's Cardinal Lustiger by a reporter, he gave the answer. "You're confusing a modern man with an American liberal," the cardinal replied. It was a confusion that Pope John Paul II, may he rest in peace, never made.

Two Great Men

Kindness from a neighboring church

Our parish is in an area where there are several other churches in the same area. Yesterday at Mass, we learned that the beautiful bouquet by the altar was sent to us by The Family Church, a non denominational church just down the road, in honor of the pope. I thought that was a very nice gesture.

NY Post's obituary

The Lead Editorial

With the passing yesterday of Pope John Paul II, one of the most consequential pa pacies in the history comes quietly to a close.

A freedom fighter, playwright and best-selling author, this pope ? the first ever from Poland and the first non-Italian Bishop of Rome in 455 years ? provided the moral and spiritual leadership that hastened the demise of the Iron Curtain, liberated his native Eastern Europe and stood as a beacon of hope for millions around the globe.

Together with two other visionary world leaders ? President Ronald Reagan and British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher ? John Paul pushed hard the message that communism could be defeated through popular resistance.

And so it was.

Thus John Paul provided the most effective rejoinder to the contemptuous sneer from the founder of totalitarian communism, Joseph Stalin: "How many divisions does the pope have?"

None, of course.

But John Paul had a weapon more powerful than the Red Army: moral example.

This was a pope unique among 20th century leaders: A man who had experienced firsthand the era's twin totalitarian evils ? Nazism and communism ? and spent his life resisting both.

Teenager Karol Wojtyla first faced oppression when Hitler's troops invaded his homeland in 1939; the young man joined a Christian resistance group, going on to study for the priesthood in a clandestine seminary.

As a young cleric, he inspired others in Communist-dominated Poland to join the Catholic Church.

In ensuing years, he used his pulpit to challenge the Communist authorities on the church's rights in Poland.

Those only familiar with this pope as he has appeared in recent years ? physically weakened by age and disease ? may be surprised by his youth and vigor at the time of his election.

At 58, he'd spent a lifetime in strenuous physical activity; he regularly skied and hiked the mountains of Europe.

Replacing a predecessor and namesake who died a brief 34 days into his term, John Paul's selection gave the Vatican a dynamic and energetic leader who would take Catholicism into the 21st century.

He became the most traveled pope ever ? visiting more than 100 countries and personally addressing hundreds of millions of people.

On his first trip as pope to New York ? as cardinal, he'd cele brated Mass in Brooklyn ? he hailed "the special character of this metropolis."

Shortly after his 1979 return to his homeland, the democratic trade union Solidarity was formed; it quickly took root as a political opposition with 10 million members.

When strongman Wojciech Jaruzelski tried to crush the growing movement by imposing martial law, John Paul worked to ensure its survival.

Returning to Poland in 1981, he encouraged the dissidents, making a pilgrimage to the grave of murdered pro-Solidarity priest Jerzy Popieluszko and urging the nation's priests to emulate his heroism.

He challenged the world to "call good and evil by name."

Ultimately, Jaruzelski had to give way. That was followed by the fall of the Berlin Wall and, one by one, the collapse of Europe's Stalinist outposts.

Well before then, Moscow recog nized the threat he posed, label ing him an architect of "subversive activities."

In May 1981, a Turk assassin with ties to Soviet intelligence shot John Paul in St. Peter's Square.

He survived ? barely ? convinced that God was protecting him and had a special purpose for his life that had not yet been fulfilled. (Typically, he offered a prayer of forgiveness for his assailant.)

John Paul's moral clarity ? another trait he shared with Reagan and Thatcher ? generated controversy.

He rejected the urgings of many modern Catholics ? cleric and laity alike, particularly those in the American church ? to liberalize doctrine on issues such as abortion and gay rights.

This pope did not waver on these points, but he held the respect of critics precisely because it was clear not only where stood ? but why he stood there.

His moral integrity showed also as he sought to overcome the two-millennia divide between his church and Judaism. In a historic gesture of reconciliation, he became the first pontiff to visit a synagogue, deploring the persecution of Jews through the centuries "by anyone" ? and then said, "I repeat, by anyone."

Then he prayed at Auschwitz; then, under his leadership, the Vatican recognized the state of Israel.

The only blotch on his tenure would be the sexual-abuse scandals that rocked the American church in recent years.

While the abuse ? decades long in many cases ? may not have begun on John Paul's watch, inarguably the Vatican should have taken a stronger hand earlier in confronting it.

Perhaps its failure to do so can be attributed to the pope's declining health. Regardless, the scandals ? and the church's response to them ? are an embarrassment that stains the institution and the reputation of the man who presided over it for more than a quarter-century.

But, this simply shows that even an institution such as the church is ultimately run by human beings.

Thus, on this day, it is not simply the passing of the longest papacy in nearly a century that is celebrated, but one of history's most revolutionary.

John Paul's unique combination ? personal warmth and gentleness, together with resolute strength and resolve ? was integral to the downfall of a barbaric government that threatened the existence of civilization.

His philosophy of calling evil by its name has continued application in the post-Soviet world, particularly at a moment when religious inspiration sweeps the world from continent to continent.

Whereas some religions display their fervor in anger and violence, John Paul II stood as a spiritual leader who challenged his flock to stay true to the moral path, yet comforted and inspired a world with a compassionate smile.

'I hope they hear me," John Paul said of the millions in Eastern Europe during his first papal trip to Poland.

They did, and ? for nearly 27 years ? so did the rest of the world.

Requiescat in pace, John Paul II.

The Holy Father

Resquiat in Pace

I just found out the Holy Father has passed. I was only 8 when he became Pope, wasn't Catholic or any kind of Christian at that time With my lifelong interest in history I thought the whole conclave, with the white smoke, was interesting. I later became interested in Catholicism, the faith of my father's family, eventually converting after attending other churches. Rest in Peace and Godspeed.

The Holy Father and Polish Americans

From the Pittsburgh P-G:

In Polish Hill, Toni Dobies cried inside the Immaculate Heart of Mary Church, the only one she's ever attended. Her grandfather helped build the church at the turn of the 20th century and her grandchildren now attend.

"It's the end of an era," said Dobies, 56. "He was literally the conscience of the world."

At one point early yesterday afternoon, when the pope was mistakenly reported to have died, the Rev. Joseph Swierczynski ordered the church bells to be rung 26 times to mark each year of the Pope's reign. As the final peal's echo faded, Swierczynski learned that John Paul II was still alive. He said the bells would be rung again when the pope dies.

He busied himself setting up a painting of the pope on an easel for parishioners expected for last night's Novena to the Divine Mercy, which is based on the writings of a young Polish nun, Faustina Kowalska, about a revelation from Christ.

Swierczynski said when the pope was a cardinal in the 1970s, he corrected the theological mistranslation of the nun's diary that had led to the devotion's disuse. This Polish Hill congregation was the first parish in the U.S. to reintroduce the Novena after the ban was lifted.

The pope beatified Kowalska and ultimately canonized her in 2000.

More than 80 people attended last night's service, where Father Bonaventure Stefun, of the Capuchin friary on 36th Street, asked congregants to offer prayers for "the Holy Father in his final hours on earth."

"Lord hear our prayer," they responded.

During the service, a few followed along in the Polish-English paperback prayer book "Pan Z Wami," kept in the racks behind each pew.

The church, still decked with purple and white easter garlands, echoed with the strains of the organ and the choir singing "Alleluia! Alleluia! Let the holy anthem rise!" from the balcony above. With the exception of a few children who had come with their parents, the rows cleared for the sacrament of the eucharist.

Viviana Altieri, 34, of Mt. Lebanon, dressed in black blouse and skirt for the Novena. The Rome-native said she changed her outfit and ditched her plans to attend a wine tasting on the North Side yesterday evening when she heard the pope was near death. She wanted to be connected with others who felt a special connection with him.

Altieri, who runs an Italian cultural organization in Pittsburgh, said she saw the pope at a private chapel in his summer residence, Castel Gandolfo, when she was 12 or 13. She remembered crying through most of the service because she was so moved.

Her father was also an attending cardiologist to the pope last summer. She last saw the pope on a visit to St. Peter's in Rome in December.

Another visiting congregant, Peggy Kalinowski, of Swisshelm Park, was married in this church and her children attended the school run by it. She felt particularly attached to Pope John Paul II. "He was such a strong figure. He wasn't afraid to speak out if he thought he wasn't going to be agreed with," she said. "He did so much good and he came from nowhere."

Dobies, who remembers the pope's 1969 visit to Pittsburgh and Polish Hill when he was still a cardinal, said he brought respect to Polish people.

"When he became Pope, the Polish jokes stopped," she said. "The Polish were someone to reckon with.

"Right now, I have a hole in my heart. He was our Polish pope."

A nice tribute

From The NY Post's lead editorial:

Yesterday, the world turned to John Paul.

How appropriate.

For Pope John Paul II's ministry was global; he traveled to the far corners of the planet ? more than any other pontiff in history ? spreading a message of peace, love and a profound respect for human dignity.

Yesterday afternoon, as those close to him were summoned to his bedside, tens of thousands prayed silently in St. Peter's Square for a peaceful outcome to a profoundly influential life's journey.

And the pontiff's well-being was the object of the prayers of millions around the globe ? and not just from the planet's one-billion-plus Catholics.

As White House spokesman Scott McClellan said, "The outpouring of love and concern from so many . . . is a testimony to his greatness."

That's an understatement.

He traveled for a purpose, using his pulpit to promote spirituality and freedom across the globe ? in the former Communist-held countries of Eastern Europe as well as South America and Africa, where the church is seeing some of its strongest growth.

He visited America five times ? and New York twice, with memorable masses held at Yankee Stadium and Madison Square Garden.

In a world seeming filled with an anything-goes sensibility, the faithful responded to John Paul's clearly defined message: There is right, there is wrong ? and choices must be made.

New reports last week revealed that recently released documents confirm that the 1981 assassination attempt by Turk Mehmet Ali Agca was ordered by the Soviet KGB in concert with Bulgarian and East German intelligence agencies.

Given that the pope survived and both the Soviet Union and "East" Germany were on history's scrapheap within 10 years, the leaders of those dictatorships were right to be afraid.

But for hundreds of millions of all faiths, John Paul did not elicit fear. Indeed, he offered love, respect and admiration ? and they responded in kind.

Yesterday, thankful for his example, they just prayed.

The Holy Father

Why Terri Schiavo deserved therapy, not a tortuous death

I know this family, I used to see this woman, and to think she has made this amount of recovery is remarkable. That is why the President said we must err on the side of life:

Long before the plight of Terri Schiavo?s family became part of everyday news and conversation, a Titusville couple struggled with the court system to regain visitation rights to their daughter and provide for her care.

Margaret and Doug Logan of Spruce Street are the parents of Ginny, who was injured in a one-vehicle accident in 1982 near Warren, Ohio. Ginny, 28 at the time, was a passenger in the front seat of a pickup truck operated by her then husband, Clifford Stern.

?She hit the windshield and door jamb and received severe head trauma, but no other injuries,? said her sister, Jane Logan.

Immediately after the accident, the family was contacted and rushed to their daughter?s side. Emergency surgery was performed the night of the accident to remove damaged brain tissue and relieve pressure.

?Her husband was in another hospital across town at that time, so we could see her,? Margaret Logan said during an interview at Beverly Healthcare Titusville.

Shortly thereafter, however, that all would change.

?We were denied the right to see her and get any information about her. Two court sessions later, we were granted the right to visit,? she said.

Even after the courts granted the Logans visitation rights, it was still difficult to see her. By the time the court order was handed down months later, Ginny had been released to nursing home care and was still classified as being in a coma.

?He moved her around a lot to avoid us,? Logan said as she reached for her daughter?s hand.

Finally in June 1983, the Logans were granted custody. Their daughter still was unable to make sounds or swallow food and was transferred to the now defunct Lake Erie Institute for Rehabilitation (LEIR).

?They were very helpful there. ? They said it doesn?t matter what you do as long as you do something,? said Logan, a former English teacher at Union City High School.

Ginny, who is divorced from her husband, came home to Titusville in December 1983 and has been cared for daily by her parents for the past 22 years.

Some of that care has been provided in their home and some provided at area nursing facilities. During her teaching days, Margaret Logan tried to place Ginny in outside care when available and then take her home for the summers, when she would be home full time. That plan was not always viable and many, many times, Ginny was at home while her mother continued to do her job.

?I?d get up at 4 a.m. to get her taken care of. Sometimes we had help for her or what I called a lady-sitter,? said Logan, a woman of small stature and a large heart.

Doug Logan was working a 3-to-11 shift at the time and was home with his daughter for part of the day. Daughter Jane was in graduate school for clinical psychology at the time of the accident and received advice from one of her professors.

?Her professor recommended that someone read to Ginny every day. I began with Ashes in the Wind. ? Now we?re reading The Notebook,? said Margaret Logan who has read to Ginny every day for 23 years.

In addition to being a teacher, Margaret Logan is a certified lab and X-ray technician. She holds a certificate of advanced study from Harvard in learning environments. She credits this education with being a good background for Ginny?s care, but many of her life experiences prepared her for the task.

?My son Doug was tortured in the service and became a severe epileptic for the last seven years of his life ? that was my apprentice for Ginny. It intensified my confidence in what I could and could not do,? she said.

?I have a handicapped brother and that also helped me, I think,? she added.

A perpetual student of all things for Ginny, Logan has gleaned suggestions wherever she could find them.

?I?ve taken her everywhere I thought she could get help,? she said.

Until five years ago, Ginny required a feeding tube for her nutrition.

?I took her for a one-shot deal in Atlanta to be evaluated. There I got the idea to use an iced-tea spoon to feed her. Before that I used a syringe,? she said.

After 15 years of facial massage, tongue exercises and patient feeding from her mother, Ginny was able to eat soft food.

?I asked her one day if she would like oatmeal and she nodded yes. Several years later, her feeding tube was removed,? Logan said.

?I was doing so well with the feeding and for two days in a row, I fed her. Then the doctor agreed to eliminate the tube. This was a long, long process,? she added.

Ginny has participated in YMCA swimming and therapeutic riding at VARHA. Skills are learned slowly and progress is measured not in days or weeks, but years.

?I used to take her to the Y for what I called generic water therapy. One year she learned stroking, one year she learned kicking and the third year, she put them together,? Logan said.

Before her accident, Ginny received a degree in physical education at Slippery Rock, and loves to swim, according to her mother.

The Logan family has been touched by the plight of the Schiavo family in Florida.

?I?m so moved by that. I tried in 2003 and again this year to contact them. I know how they feel. You never plan to have this,? Margaret Logan said.

Now 84 years old, Margaret is no longer able to care for Ginny at home since breaking her hip in January 2004. She is, however, still providing day-to-day activities and an occasional field trip. Ginny?s father is 87.

?She was home for Easter and comes most weekends. I am here (Beverly Healthcare) every day for about two and half-hours. They don?t mind me. I help some of the others too, then I go home and take a nap,? Logan said.

She continues her daily reading ritual, along with singing and playing cards. The duo gave a lovely rendition of ?You are My Sunshine? during their interview.

A non-stop whirlwind, Margaret Logan is humble about the amazing feat she has accomplished in getting her daughter to the point of eating and talking.

?I think it?s worthwhile. It?s what every person would do for their own child,? she said holding back tears.

Ginny is taken to many community events by her parents. Very capable of communicating her wishes, she was excited when asked if she would like to attend an upcoming function.

When queried on whether she believed she was lucky, Ginny replied, ?I really am.?

Ginny?s son, Dion, is also a regular visitor with his wife and four children.