PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer
By John Grogan
Inquirer Columnist
Dear Lord,
It's me, back once again, to offer my post-Thanksgiving prayer of gratitude.
As a newspaper columnist, I depend on a steady parade of clowns and curmudgeons, buffoons and bullies, prevaricators and panderers, lechers and leeches, to keep the material flowing.
And, believe me, 2005 has been one nonstop turkey shoot. As I say often, "I couldn't make this stuff up."
So as I pause today to eat one final microwaved dish of Thanksgiving leftovers, let me bow my head to offer my deep and heartfelt appreciation for all the plump, wide-eyed turkeys you sent my way. Oh, where to begin?
Why not with State Rep. Daylin Leach, the Upper Merion Democrat who thought it would be the height of hilarity to crack jokes on his Web site about middle-aged men preying on minor girls for sex. Fish in a barrel, Lord; fish in a barrel.
Thank you for Robert Baldwin, the self-employed engineer from Blue Bell arrested after a Philly-bound flight on which he allegedly harassed a black couple sitting in front of him in first class, muttering racial epithets and kicking their seats.
Thank you for Cardinal Justin Rigali, the only American cardinal to celebrate Mass in Rome with disgraced former Boston Cardinal Bernard Law, a central figure in the clergy sex cover-up.
Slay the messenger
Thank you for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia's lawyers slamming District Attorney Lynne M. Abraham as anti-Catholic for doing her job.