Off The Editor’s Desk – 9-30-2015

It was a week of big news nationally as our Governor, Scott Walker, withdrew from the Presidential race; Congressman John Boehner resigned as Speaker of the House. But the big new of last week was the visit to the United States by Pope Francis.

 The Pope’s interactions with children as he bends over and kisses the youngsters has become some of the most memorable moments of his six-day visit to the United States.

I watched many news accounts of the Pope’s visit to the United States and viewed with interest how he was drawn to the many people that lined the streets to see him. My eyes became teary as I watched him stopping, leave his vehicle, and walk to the crowd to kiss the forehead and bless a young boy who was confined to a wheelchair. The boy’s mother was so emotionally overcome with the Pope’s blessing of her son that she could hardly speak.

The couple and their three children were interviewed later on FOX News and what a heartwarming event for them to have the blessing of the Pope. Their son, Michael Keating, suffers from Cerebral Palsy.

What a mistake I have made by not trying to attend events where famous people are making an appearance. I missed seeing candidate Bill Clinton following his nomination for president (1992), as he traveled through western Wisconsin and then President George W. Bush stopping at Cady Cheese as he traveled along Highway 29, campaigning for re-election.

I did see his father George H. W. Bush campaigning from the rear of a rail car in Chippewa Falls. I have had the pleasure of seeing the Mona Lisa, when she was on display in Washington D.C., King Tut in Chicago, Barry Goldwater in Minneapolis and Dolly Parton in concert at the U of M.

And, I could have taken a few days off and traveled to one of the places that the Pope was visiting, just to stand on the road side and watch him pass by. What an experience that would have been.

The cartoon that we are publishing this week is about Global Warming. Many people, the Pope included, believe that we are in an earth warming cycle. And, it is because of human activity. I think, if we are actually in that cycle, it is due to nature. Over the many millions of years that the earth has been around, it has seen cycles that have warming trends, and then cooling.

I wonder what the feeling would have been if people had been around many centuries ago when the big ice sheet that covered most of northern Wisconsin began to melt and disappear. Would they have blamed that on cooking venison over a campfire by their teepee? Earth temperature cycles. Can you remember the last time the temperature here in Wisconsin went to the 100-degree mark. It has been some time. I watched Channel 13 weather the other night and was informed that we had two days this summer when the temperature made it into the 90s. And, that’s that!

Thanks for reading!       ~Carlton