"I saw the Post today, oh boy..."

Actually, it was yesterday. And it was the Washington Post, the Sunday edition. Plus, there were a few bits of news that should pique the interest of anyone who can stand reading my stuff -- not to mention the after-Mass-coffee-klatch crowd at Saint Blog's. But here goes...

To begin with, those of you who are stuck with weenie bishops who couldn't resist the urge to caution against "anti-Semitism" with the release of Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ (and you know who you are, Your Immenseness), we have this from the Outlook section:

"All the talk about how Mel Gibson's movie... would fan the fires of anti-Semitism may be so much hot air. Instead of inciting anger toward Jewish people, the movie may be reducing religious hostilities, a new poll suggests... 'While the film may have an impact elsewhere in the world, so far [the movie] is not producing any significant anti-Jewish backlash' here, said Gary Tobin, president of the Institute for Jewish and Community Research in San Francisco, which commissioned the poll... 'The questions raised about the anti-Jewish images in the movie helped bring the question of the role of Jews in the death of Christ out in the open...'"

Everybody get that? "So much hot air." I didn't say it. The Washington Post said it, so you can take it to the bank. No word yet on the role that dying for our sins may have played. So tell your weenie bishop he can kiss my ring, and stay tuned.

Meanwhile, in the Style section, we have a Reliable Source (Richard Leiby's term of endearment, apparently) alerting us to this observation in the current issue of The Futurist magazine:

"Canadian professor Stephen Bertman... foresees the possibility of marriage between humans and their household pets or even inanimate objects: 'Many an individual has formed an intimate relationship with his or her computer, spending long hours in its close company, often to the exclusion of human contact... Why should not this bond of tactile intimacy be validated by more than an owner's manual?'"

Mark Shea has been too busy globetrotting (last seen in Okinawa defending the Faith while wearing one of several Hawaiian shirts he's already bought from sidewalk venders and holding one of those fruity drinks with an umbrella in it), or he would have seen this coming and warned us.

But for the real issue at stake, look no further than the musings of syndicated columnist David Chartrand, author of A View from the Heartland: Everyday Life in America:

"I am not worried about gay marriage. The only marriages that offend me are those that start with overdone weddings. You know, those all-day affairs that involve a ceremony where the bride and groom exchange vows they've written themselves while a five-piece orchestra plays most of the Bach repertoire... The American wedding has become too much like American politics: lots of rules, interminable speeches and people asking us for money. What we need is wedding reform... [I]t could be worth it, especially if Congress agrees to outlaw the thing I hate most about receptions -- the chicken dance."

Nothing about the macarena. But June is a little over two months away, so brace yourselves.

Closer to home, there's a local story about the 17-year-old football hero from Ballou High School, who was gunned down in the school cafeteria last month. I'm sure he was great for the school's public image, but still...

"Richardson was not a junior but a third-year freshman who had twice failed to earn enough credits to be promoted. School administrators let him play football even though he lacked the minimum grades required to participate in sports. And he remained at Ballou despite a request from anti-gang counselors to transfer him because of his feuding with other students, and despite a police report in which his girlfriend alleged that he had attacked her on school grounds... Ballou officials decided several times not to penalize him for his academic and behavior problems."

It gets worse. But it typifies the displaced role that athletic programs have on American high schools, not to mention the incompetence that has long plagued the public sector of the District. I suppose they think that if Marion Barry were still the mayor, this would all go away. Uh-huh.

(There was another piece in the Style section that warrants a commentary of its own, especially after one of many recent father-son conversations. We'll be back later today on that one.)

But just up the road, the Baltimore Sun reports that a favorite schoolyard pastime is making a comeback. Even as this is being written, organized co-ed kickball leagues are being formed.

And not just in Baltimore...