The pope’s still on a slope as I’m writing this, so it may seem a wee bit premature to some folks, but somebody’s gotta say it.

Now’s the prime time to elect an African pope.

What the Hell, in serious consideration, perhaps having a figurehead of that level from Africa would finally draw some serious international attention, media and otherwise, to the AIDS menace still decimating the continent.

But who the fuck am I kidding. They’re just going to elect another Italian, and shit’s going to be the same as it ever was from the time before John Paul II was elected. This should thrill Dubya and his cronies to no end, since the papacy will slide on back over to the right again; not that it was all that liberal beforehand.

I can understand the charismatic quality that made Karol Wojtyla, the man, so admired by millions. Having survived Nazi occupation and its accompanying atrocities; standing up to the commies in Poland; and that seemingly superhuman resilience that survived getting run over, and later shot, then later disease. But as Pope John Paul II, I saw nothing in the guy but a capitalist stooge who kept the Catholic party line of homophobia, misogyny and sexual intolerance intact. So fuck him.