The Writer's Life 6/14 - Humor

In her op-ed piece in today’s NY Post Peggy Noonan assesses Pope Francis’ first two years in office. She finds him a mystery, but there are two tasty nuggets inside the article that make it more than worthwhile. He recently made an off the cuff gaffe that sent a lot of flack his way. He quipped that faithful adherence to the church teachings on birth control doesn’t sanction breeding “like rabbits.” One woman wrote him a letter, stating: “I have many children and want you to know I wasn’t the rabbit -- it was my husband.” He roared. The other instance involves the Church’s support of climate change measures. A Cardinal said: “The Church got it wrong with Galileo and doesn’t want to get it wrong again.” I don’t know if the Church is on the correct side of the issue, but it’s nice to see two of its leaders have a keen sense of humor.

Also funny is NYC Mayor Bill deBlasio's panic about the expiration of rent regulation laws, claiming it may put thousands if not hundreds of thousands on the street. While he is living rent free in Gracie Mansion, he is renting his four-bedroom house in Park Slope for nearly $5000 per month. His defenders say it is the market rate or a bit less. Many landlords are denied the privilege of charging the market rate for their units. Why isn't Red Billy? Perhaps "fairness" applies only to others.

And this from AP, edited by yours truly: "An Austrian brothel is offering a summer special — free sex, the owner's way of protesting a tax squeeze. 'Effective immediately: Free Entrance! Free Drinks! Free Sex!' its website announces. Hermann Mueller says he will pay the women working for him to make up for the money they would normally earn. Prostitution is legal and regulated in Austria. Mueller, who runs other brothels in Germany and Austria, says he is pushing back against the unfair tax levy of nearly 4 million euros (over $5 million) the past decade."

The floating book shop was a joke today. My thanks to author Bill Brown who, when he noticed that members of Monty Python were among the commentators in a compilation of early British lit, purchased it. That was the only sale of the session. At least the weather was beautiful.

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