The death of Pope John Paul II led many of different faiths and of no faith to acknowledge their debt to the Roman Catholic Church for holding on to absolutes that the rest of us can measure ourselves against.

Everybody‘s looking for the niche to make the difference. Some people think they see the mother lode in the beautiful people, especially the vote of the beautiful women.

There is a bright spot or two for the Spaniards. French toast has become freedom toast on the Air Force One breakfast menu, but the Spanish omelet is still a Spanish omelet.

Dostoevski does not tell you what to think about his legend, but he requires that you think about it. The novelist was a deeply religious man and he always thought many readers missed that point about him.

That’s what Major League Baseball‘s steroid scandal was all about, the hidden harm in competitive sports that sends the wrong message to the young.

Women can break down barriers to opportunity, and men, many of them reluctantly, have learned to relate to women as their equals in thought and action. But except for an eccentric few, women do not want to become warriors.

German businessmen are overwhelmed by the high cost of doing business. Inflexible rules, enforced by a burgeoning bureaucracy, discourage entrepreneurship.

The Academy Awards ceremony is designed to be without irony, but Chris Rock supplied it anyway with filmed movie-theater interviews with black men and women who had never heard of the movies nominated for Best Picture.

Many of the Europeans who want Israel to go away don’t even know why they do. Nearly a third of those interviewed concede they have no idea what the Israeli–Palestinian conflict is all about. It’s enough to know that Israelis are Jews.

Many critics of the Palestinians, especially those in Congress, think the current calm is merely the eye of the storm. That’s why the House of Representatives approved a foreign aid package last week that forbade the direct financial assistance to the Palestinian Authority .

Fast sex, like fast food, is cheap, but it doesn’t nourish the body – or the soul.

It’s not very hip to consider the plight of single women who yearn for something so old-fashioned as men.

HBO has 28 million subscribers, small stuff compared to TBS, which can be seen in 88 million homes.

We all want to look younger, become stronger and healthier and live longer.

Stupidity fuses notoriety and celebrity.

It’s easier to make fun of a first lady than for a first lady to have fun. The scrutiny is ferocious.

Sometimes the ignorant are among the most educated.

You still can’t find Israel on a map of the Middle East in a Palestinian schoolbook.

The lopsided attitudes of college professors pose a serious challenge to learning because students are so susceptible to becoming lopsided sheep.

Great teachers transcend ideology.

Insult is powerful. Insult begets both rage and humor and often at the same time.

If any of the beautiful people plan to vote for the president, they usually keep their secret to themselves.

We’ve become more tolerant because we’re tired of the debate.

Fully 57 percent of American college students are women. Life insurance companies sell more policies to women than to men. As women continue to draw on experience and education, they’re accelerating their numbers in upper management, too.

American high school students trail teenagers from 14 European and Asian countries in reading, math and science. We’re even trailing France.