Just one man's view

Plenty of bike riders have locked their frame to a railing or post only to come back and find their wheels have been removed and stolen. This guy solved that problem!

I have the answer!! The question was, do you, should you kiss the Pope's ring? Thanks to NPR for stepping up with the answer:
What to Do If You Meet the Pontiff
Scroll down that page to the box under the brief article.
Some of those rules sure feel like a return to the monarchies of 18th century Europe.

Fifty years ago males vastly outnumbered females in U.S. colleges and universities. Twenty five years ago the numbers were close to even. Now, 58% of all college students are females and they estimate that by the end of this decade the rate will be 60%. I read an article about that shift and the author said that in an effort to reverse the trend, more and more colleges are putting qualified women on a waiting list while less qualified males are admitted. The author suggested that strategy was bad for everyone involved. It is unfair to the women who can't get in and it rewards mediocrity in men. She went on to say that it's likely that the increasing academic success of women is due, at least in part, to the years of unfair treatment they received from college admissions departments. It forced females to fight harder and, as a result, excel.
It struck me that if the article discussed college admissions from the perspective of race instead of gender the author would be drummed out of journalism before week's end.
I'm not taking a position one way or another on either issue, just noting what seems to be a skewed approach to two fairly equivalent matters.

I was out in the northeast valley running an errand for church and decided to have lunch at Taco Bell before heading home. It was 12:30, I was hungry, and I haven't had even bad Mexican food in a long time.
They're running a promo right now: "Win $50 to fill up your tank!"
I'm guessing the ad firm that came up with that did so a year ago. I put $50 in Stealth Reliabity yesterday and got it just above the half mark.

Speaking of gas prices, CNN.com is carrying a headline that says crude oil surpassed $115 bbl for the first time today. USAToday.com carries a headline that says that after hitting $115 bbl crude prices dropped on news of lower consumption. Should we draw any conclusions from those equally accurate but very different headlines? Is somebody's perspective (or agenda) rather critical?

I think I see a subtle shift in the coverage of the police action on the Texas compound of the Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints. The news segments seem to have moved to stories about the agonizing mothers of the children now in state custody. It's hard not to be moved by mothers in this situation. But I find I have very little sympathy for them.
I realize that in a way these women are victims of something akin to brainwashing by a misogynistic sect. But they are women who allowed their sons, some as young as 14, to be driven away by the men of the community to reduce competition for the girls. And they are mothers who allowed adult males to take their pubescent daughters as "wives" and rape them. Now these mothers are defending their sect and its beliefs. If it sounds cruel, so be it, but regardless of their tearful appeals, these are not fit mothers. They may be sincere, but they are sincerely wrong and a danger to their own children, wittingly or otherwise.
These children are certainly traumatized by all of this. But this present trauma pales in comparison to what would have been their fate had the authorities not intervened.
I hope the courts do what is, IMHO, necessary for the greater good in this situation, the welfare of these children.

I like people. One of the best parts of being a pastor is making new friends who are also family in Christ. Even if they do use Macs.