Thoughts in a Haystack

There are few opportunities for God to convince me to give up my agnosticism and become a believer. This report by John Baer on the debate/town meeting among the Republican Presidential hopefuls (I'd sooner watch George Bush -- père or fils -- secret sex tapes) that took place last night at St. Anselm College in New Hampshire demonstrates that God has let another chance slip through his fingers.

See, there was this buzzing going on, annoying and puzzling, that finally debate moderator Wolf Blitzer explained was caused by local lightning. Makes sense, I guess. But what brought me home was the fact that it got worse once and only once.

That was when Rudy Giuliani tried to field a question related to a Catholic bishop likening his position on abortion (personally opposed but supports its legality) to Pontius Pilate's position on crucifying Christ.

As Rudy started to answer, the buzzing got so bad it partly blocked out his response. He kinda smiled. John McCain, standing at a podium next to him, jovially stepped away. And a still-smiling Rudy, reacting to the 'lightning,' said, "For someone who went to parochial schools all his life, this is a very frightening thing that's happening right now."

As someone who lived and worked in and about the City of New York during Rudy's reign, let me tell those of you from the rest of the country ... there's a much more frightening possibility involving Rudy Giuliani than that.