Rudy's Sins

We love Rudy Giuliani.

He's smart, gutsy, articulate and insightful.

But every now and then Rudy makes us want to say: "What the hell were you thinking?"

On April 19 Rudy accepted the Communion wafer - which Catholics believe has been consecrated into the body of Christ - from a priest standing near Pope Benedict when the pope said Mass for thousands of priests, nuns and others at St. Patrick's Cathedral.

That was wrong.

The New York Post says that "Giuliani, who rarely attends Mass, was asked afterward if he felt uncomfortable taking Communion during the pope's Mass. He said 'no.'"

That was also wrong.

Under Catholic doctrine, Rudy should not have accepted the sacrament because he is twice divorced and remarried a third time without obtaining a church annulment of his second marriage. Also, Rudy supports abortion and as New York's Edward Cardinal Egan has pointed out: "The Catholic Church clearly teaches that abortion is a grave offense against the will of God." Egan says that he and Rudy had a long-standing private agreement that Rudy would not receive communion. On April 19 Rudy broke that agreement. That was wrong.

"I deeply regret that Mr. Giuliani received the Eucharist during the papal visit here in New York," said Cardinal Egan. "I will be seeking a meeting with him to insist that he abide by our understanding."

Confidential to Rudy: Get right with The Cardinal.

Gas Prices: Congress MIA

How can she fix our problems when Pelosi doesn't even know the price of a gallon of gas? SanFranNan is out of touch. While prices soar, the Democrat Congress blocks further exploration and refuses to suspend federal gas taxes to give us some relief!

Most Viewed Op-Ed

My opinion piece in the Philadelphia Daily News focuding on the plight of Philadelphia lawyers attracted attracted more web views than any other opinion piece or letter in the paper on Tuesday. It also proved to be one of the most-emailed pieces.
If you haven't already read my take on the much exagerrated "death" of the Philadelphia lawyer you can read it by clicking here. And of course I invite you to e-mail it to anyone else who might be interested.

Obama Undone

Obama's stuttering, stumbling, rambling today in a series of "ahhhhs.....uuuuhhhs....ya knows.....sooo..." was an extraordinary event - a news conference that looked and felt like a campaign meltdown.

Obama's bumbling of the whole Wright affair and his shifts and turns on this and other matters demonstrate his poor judgment, stubborness and immaturity.

Wright's words and actions have never changed. Not yesterday. Not last year. Not five years ago. Wright has always believed these things; he's always believed in "liberation theology."

So, why has Obama changed his mind about Wright now? Why does he choose to step away now?

Because this is threatening Obama's suddenly shaky campaign, that's why - because Obama finally - finally - realized that Wright is not a political asset.

Though, incredibly, Obama said today he has still not severed ties to Wright's church and Obama never flat out said today" "I was wrong. I was wrong about Rev. Wright. I'm sorry."

This could be it for Obama.

Now, it just may be time to wave "Goodbye!"

FLASH: Not Dead Yet!

The cover of a well-known local magazine recently featured a suited, French-cuffed arm jutting out of coffin.
The corpse's hand is holding a briefcase.
And the cover asks: "Who killed the Philadelphia lawyer?"
We're promised a tale of "greed, mergers, ego." . . .
Read the rest of my op-ed from today's Philadelphia Daily News by clicking here.

Live Report From Reno!

Our friend Chris Cendagorta, Executive Director
of the Washoe County Bar Assoc. in Reno, Nevada has just sent us this report about the seismic develop
ments in "The Biggest Little City In The World:"
When even Drudge is warning us to hunker down, you know it's serious. Feels like we're facing the end of time here - the quake "swarm" is getting pretty entertaining. The 4.7 Friday night tossed us out of bed and knocked off pictures, items off shelves and even dropped one of kayaks that hang up at the top of the garage by a few inches. We have many new hairline cracks around doors and windows. Amazingly, the only thing that broke was the lid to an old sugar bowl. We had an ancient bottle of brandy that we got from my husband's parents' old drugstore. It sat up on the top of the cabinets with other old booze bottles. The first thing I saw in the kitchen was that bottle sitting in a partially open drawer next to the fridge - that drawer opened about 3 inches and caught the brandy!
They settled a little yesterday and I actually caught myself missing the rumble that precedes the shaking. I'm not sure what that says about me. Now, they are warning for something bigger. We had about 10 that we could feel this a.m. between 4:30 a.m. and the time I left for work - a 4.2 that didn't feel that big (I'm a regular on the seismo lab's page now) and several aftershocks. You can hear the quake before it hits; it sounds a little like the school bus that rolls down our street twice a day. I found myself this morning (after the 4:30 quake) just kind of waiting patiently and sort of rolling with it. Must be the yoga kicking in.
We haven't done any of the preparation stuff, but we may have to rethink that. Jugs of water at least. I've got some good friends from our Friends of Mt. Rose enviro group who are geologists, seismologists and Desert Research people. They've indicated to watch for a bigger one.
Here's what a day looks like at the seismo lab:
http://quake.wr.usgs.gov/recenteqs/Maps/120-40_eqs.htm
Reporting from the (moving) ground in Reno,
Chris

More Words From Wright

Today in remarks at the National Press Club in Washington Rev. Jeremiah Wright called Louis Farrakhan "one of the most important voices of the 20th or 21st centuries" and said of Farrakhan: "He is not my enemy." He noted that Farrakhan had called "Zionism - Zionism, not Judaism - a gutter religion 20 years ago" and Wright refused to disassociate himself from those remarks.
The Associated Press has already describe Wright's appearance as "defiant" and noted that Wright said he's told Obama that if he is elected in November and is inaugurated in January, "I'm coming after you." He said that's because his differences are not with the American people, but U.S. policies.
Wright also refused to take back any of the words of his controversial sermons saying "there is no excuse" for the things that the American government has done and declaring that the government of this country "grinds under people" [grinds people under]. Regarding 9/11, he repeated that "if you engage in terrorism you will have terrorism committed against you."
He said America's leaders must "apologize for racism and slavery" and "until that apology comes" he doesn't feel a need to apologize for anything he's said about America.
Of Obama, he said: "He speaks as a politician and does what a politician does and I speak as a pastor and do what a pastor does. . . He did not denounce me. He distanced himself from some of my remarks, like you, having never heard the complete sermon. He had to distance himself - because he's a politician - from what the media was saying I said . . . He [Obama] said I 'didn't offer any words of hope.' How would he know? he never heard the rest of the sermon."
He revealed that just before Obama made his formal announcement of his presidential candidacy last year at the Illinois Statehouse, he [Wright] prayed with the Obamas and their children "downstairs."
He compared America's "troops stationed all over the world" to the age of Roman "imperialism" and talked about "ages of oppression" adding: "Yes, I can compare that because we have troops stationed all over the world. We run the world."
He said that he did not speak up in the immediate aftermath of the controversy surrounding his remarks because he was trying to follow "my mother's advice, which is 'better to be quiet and be thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.'" Wright said "they [the media] were trying to make a fool of me." He said he finally decided to speak up "to defend the tradition of the black church."
In one of the last questions Wright answered (about whether or not he thinks it is God's will for Obama to be President) Wright said that "if God intends for Mr. Obama to be President then no white racist, no candidate and no political pundit will get in the way; for God will do what God wants to do."

Elites To Dems: Don't Fizzle

The elites in the media are beginning to worry about the prospects of their beloved Democrats. They are issuing stern warnings in the hope that the party will get its act together. Listen to Dick Polman in today's Philly Inquirer:
If the Democrats somehow contrive to blow this presidential election, they should be consigned to the dustbin of history - or to a display case at the Smithsonian, where perhaps they can share space with the Whigs.
Seriously, think about it. The economy is tanking, yet their autumn opponent, John McCain is on record saying, "The issue of economics is not something I've understood as well as I should." The Iraq war continues to kill our kids and bleed us to the tune of $3 billion a week, yet McCain, who sometimes confuses the Sunnis with the Shiites, remains its unapologetic cheerleader. Meanwhile, nearly 80 percent of the American people think the country is on the wrong track - a legacy of the current Republican president, who now has the highest disapproval rating (69 percent) in the history of the Gallup poll.
Yet, McCain is deadlocked in the polls with his two Democratic rivals. He is traipsing around the nation on his "Time for Action Tour," blissfully unscathed and husbanding his septuagenarian strengths, while the Obama and Clinton armies burrow ever deeper into their respective trenches, emerging every so often to impale themselves on barbed wire, generally mimicking the bloody stalemate on the western front in World War I . . .

The Original Delight!

Nothing is quite like the original Chick-Fil-A sandwhich. Nothing is quite so perfect, quite so satisfying.
A friend writes of his love for Chick-Fil-A and a recent experience:
I felt like Chick-Fil-A today, I really did. But the Chick-Fil-A across the street from us is still an empty shell advertising "help wanted," so I opted instead for the closer, operational option -- McDonald's.
What is being prominently displayed on the McDonald's menu? The Southern Style Chicken sandwich -- a lone, seasoned chicken patty accompanied only by two pickles peaking ever-so-slightly from the plain, seedless bun. Its model was very immediately apparent, but I had to ask to be sure. The manager replied more directly than I would have expected: "Have you ever had Chick-Fil-A?"
I ordered two.
For research purposes, of course.
While tasty, the sandwiches felt altogether ... hmmm ... off. It's like trying to make your own Beef with Broccoli: the ingredients may all be there ... you may prepare it exactly the same way ... but you'll never match the way your favorite chinese take-out place makes it. It just cannot be replicated.
And in a move that McD's may have seen as an improvement, McDonald's opted for its usual, premium-sandwich paper box. But there's magic in Chick-Fil-A's little foil bag. When taken out, the Chick-Fil-A may look like it has been sat on in a warm, poorly ventilated car for a few hours, but somehow, someway, that bag marinates and strengthens the whole sandwich. The first bite into any Chick-Fil-A sandwich is always almost overpowering ...
While the McD's chicken is a near-perfect rip-off (though the McD's version is more consistently shaped), the bun is noticeably softer. The pickles are sweeter ... too sweet ... and therefore complement the sandwich less. I watched the gentleman in the kitchen prepare my sandwich, and noticed that the placement of the pickles seemed deliberately careless, unlike the truly careless preparation at Chick-Fil-A.
As I finished my chicken sandwich, I felt a little ashamed. A little like I was cheating. I thought about driving to the nearest Chick-Fil-A 20 minutes away and redeeming myself with an original, but I didn't have the stomach for it -- literally and figuratively. There's always dinner, I guess.

Still The Greatest!

The political circus left town earlier this week but The Greatest Show On Earth is still in Philadelphia at the Wachovia Spectrum with final performances on Saturday (4/26) and Sunday (4/27).
If you haven't been to this "Over The Top" edition of Ringling Brothers Barnum & Bailey Circus this year hurry on over for the magic, daring and spectacle of the Big Top. I've just returned and not only do I finally feel like spring is in the air but I'm a kid again. The entire show is delightful: whimsical, engaging, thrilling, and colorful with edge-of-your-set action and old-fashioned laughs.
This touring version of the circus seems a bit more intimate (with its one main ring) than its sister edition which tours simultaneously but with completely different acts. But anyway you look at it the circus provides plenty of value for your entertainment dollar.
There are performances on Saturday at 11, 3 and 7 and then again on Sunday at 1 and 5and tickets can be purchased on site or online.
And, if you miss the circus now, don't fret. You can still see it at the Sovereign Bank Arena in Trenton where it will perform 10 shows from May 10 through the 14th. You can order tickets for the Trenton engagement through comcasttix.com.
BTW: Kudos to our friends Ike Richman, Eric Nemeth and everyone at Comcast Spectacor for doing such a great job of promoting the circus every year.