Still crazy after all these years

                                                                                     ... Francis' political hot potato? Across the world the headlines are not what Karol Józef Wojtyła would have hoped for on what should have been the celebration of his greatest accomplishment. Wojtyła became Pope John Paul II in 1978 and spent the next 27 years leading the church, moving the Roman Catholics to respect him as a passionate and holy man until his death in 2005. Immediately after his death, his successor, Pope Benedict XVI, previously Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger of Germany, "fast-tracked" his friend and predecessor on the road to sainthood. The general rule is that nothing is done about becoming a saint until five years after the person has passed from the earth. but John Paul II changed that ruled prior to his death based on documents from VatiLeaks. That ceremony of sainthood will occur on Sunday, April 27th in Rome, and it will also include Pope John XXIII, the

                                                                 ...  is justice ever served? This young man led his team to a national championship last year and won the Heisman Trophy that is emblematic of the best college football player in the country.  The New York Times Magazine (URL below) has a long expose about the problems in a rape investigation at Florida State against quarterback Jamais Winston. It is entitled "A star player accused, and a flawed rape investigation." It illustrates that many times, serious allegations against college athletes are often swept into an unopened closet and forgotten, as was done with Penn State Coach Jerry Sandusky for a decade or more.  In college towns, such charges are often not filed so as to not upset the school, the coach, the large number of followers … and justice is often not served in cases like this.  This happened at Pitt-Johnstown in 1988 when two students were convicted of rape for a 1987 assault in a campus

                                                 ... and they are still out there Forty years ago this week, Hank Aaron broke Babe Ruth's career home run record of 714. Aaron went on to finish his career with 755 home runs, a record that held for 33 years until it was eclipsed in 2007 by the (controversial) accomplishment of Barry Bonds, who hit 762. However, Aaron talked this week about a tie that his family had to the KKK while living in Mobile, Alabama. His mother had her children hide under the bed as the KKK marched through town on their way to burn a cross.  When Aaron was pursuing that dream later in his career, he also experienced some discrimination first-hand. Aaron was sent approximately a million letters as he was chasing Ruth's dream. Many of them threatened his life if he continued to chase the record established by a Caucasian man.  The CNN story by Jen Christensen that I link to below points out that Aaron grew up in a South during the 1930s and 4