Stuff from Friday morning to read

Here are some links to follow:

A story of a man I wish I had gotten to meet. Father Paul's quiet heroism
From Iwo Jima to Long Branch, priest exuded love, courage

BBC adds the word "terrorism" to their vocabulary. Is Reuters next? FYI, Reuters has likewise previously resisted using the word terrorism to describe terrorism.

Charles Krauthammer examines Justice O'Connor's Judicial Philosophy and penchant for deciding cases on social merit rather than Constitutional basis.

Here is the story of Mayor Jason West of New Paltz and his search for affordable housing. No where in the article do they explain that he is an idiot, but he is. Here is his comment about the high price of housing in New Paltz:

"I think it has more to do with the realty industry than it does with weekenders or builders," he said. "I'm sure weekenders would be happy to pay less for their houses, but Realtors speak to people who are selling and convince them that they can (get higher prices). … It's as much the fault of people who sell their houses as people who buy them. Because if you bought a house for $40,000 years ago, you could sell it for $150,000, make a huge profit and still keep it affordable for someone who lives in the community."
If those same homeowners sell for $350,000, "you're making sure that only (wealthy) people can buy those houses."

So people selling there houses should feel guilty because someone offers them more money. What an idiot. Last year when we were first starting to get ready to move we expected to sell our old house for a certain amount. A few months later when we listed it, housing prices in the area had gone up considerably. Is this idiot saying we should have accepted a lot less than we got?

Lastly, there are lots of rumors going around that there will be another Supreme Court vacancy announced today. Chief Justice Rehnquist is rumored to be stepping down. An even more outlandish rumor has Rehnquist and Stevens both stepping down between 10 and 11 AM. Wow, wouldn't that throw the nutty special interest groups into a tizzy? Personally, I think the attacks in London yesterday preclude any major announcement today.