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the pope fascinates me. i always thought that he lived his life with great dignity and courage. i know that often he is worshipped as many of the "saints" are. this is not a knock or discussion of catholic theology, just a comment on a person who passed away today. i believe the pope was a believer. i believe mother teresa was a believer. i believe there are many people who are catholics that are believers and many baptists who aren't. the bible says they will know you by your love. now i don't know the pope, but if you watch him, you can see his compassion and love for people. now i may be taken in easily, but i'm not a cynic. so i pray Godspeed to Karol Wojtyla.

now the true drama begins as the cardinals pick a new pope. looking for white smoke from the sistine chapel. and they lock em up til they make a decision. you wonder how they make the decision. is it political? is it spiritual? do they really pray about it, or do they already have their minds made up? i mean in the history of the church, they don't really have a good track record on some of this stuff.

does anyone remember when the last pope died. i was 7, living in amarillo, and i remember this huge casket on tv and all of these statues of the disciples. i remember asking my dad how big that church was, and he said it was bigger than a whole city, and i'm thinking, "bigger than amarillo, WOW?" i think i remember the last pope only lived a few years after he became pope, and he was really fat.

i'm also saddened by terri schaivo's death this week. tom delay made comments about the legislature trying to pass laws limiting judges power, but anything they pass, the courts will just declare it unconstitutional. the courts are out of control.

in other news the texas legislature can't pull an education funding plan that works out of their butts, but they can vote themselves a pay raise. way to go austin. you guys have your priorities right. i'm glad we can trust you to make the best decisions for the schoolchildren of texas. after all teachers know nothing about how schools should run. i'm glad you trust us with kids.

everyone have a great day
chuck