Warren Buffett and the Pope

Did you catch all the crazy news swirling around this weekend?

I very rarely watch TV.  I go to the gym even less.  Yet there I was this past Sunday, in the gym, on an elliptical machine, watching ABC’s Christiane Amanpour interview Warren Buffett and reading the closed caption transcript. I re-read his quote in the paper today:

“The rich are always going to say that, you know, just give us more money and we’ll go out and spend more and then it will all trickle down to the rest of you. But that has not worked the last 10 years, and I hope the American public is catching on.”

Wow! Pretty amazing. And true. I almost fell off my elliptical.

Bill Gates tried to get a tax passed on the rich in Washington state but failed. The WSJ rather predictably wrote a long piece on why this idea would be crazy. Still, the income gap between the rich and poor in America is at an all-time high. There are tons of data on why this is and where we’re headed if we don’t make some changes.

Here’s something else I never thought I’d read about: The Pope advocating condom use…for male prostitutes.

Sorry, women of the world! It’s okay if you get AIDS or get knocked up.  According to the Pope, it’s the male hookers who need our support!

Still, some of the reform-minded followers of the church have hope.

Sister Christine Schenck of FutureChurch (assuming there will be one at the rate they’re going) said “You can probably take from that example [of male prostitutes] and extend that to other examples. Clearly, there will be many women who will also be prevented from getting HIV if you look at the principle of what he said.”

Don’t hold your breath, Sister.

does this robe make my ass look like a giant condom? (AP photo)