Back Again

It's been nuts since my return from The Estados Unitos de Mexico - I will start posting in earnest tomorrow. Until then, this copy of John Hinderaker's post on powerline:

I had been scheduled to appear on CNN's "Reliable Sources" with Howard Kurtz Sunday morning to talk about the Schiavo "talking points memo" and press coverage thereof, but I've been bumped by the Pope's apparently impending demise.
Well, it's hard to argue with CNN's priorities. People who missed the 1980s, for whatever reason, may not realize what an important figure the Pope has been in the secular as well as the religious world. As a champion of Polish and, more broadly, Eastern European freedom, he was one of the most important adversaries of the Soviet Empire. They knew it, too; many seem to have forgotten that the Russians once tried to assassinate him. With the death of Pope John Paul II, only Margaret Thatcher will remain of the great triumvirate that brought Communism to its knees.