APRIL 3, 2005 --

Chris Matthews, host of the "Hardball" cable tv program, made some hardball-sounding comments on the Imus radio program March 31.

He thought that the father of Terri Schiavo seemed, in meeting with the media,"to be having a good time."

This unfortunate remark was, LPR thinks, made more unfortunate in that it was said not long before Terri Schiavo died, age 41, after being denied nourishment for two weeks.

And perhaps in defense of the court rulings denying nourishment for Terri Schiavo, Mr. Matthews also remarked that courts are not "humanitarian" bodies.

This observation is perhaps at odds with something LPR saw, two days later, in the Book of Isaiah.

April 2nd, the world mourned the passing of Pope John Paul II -- one television news reporter suggested he might become known as Pope John Paul II the Good.

A TV clip of this good man speaking in Washington, D.C., in 1979, showed the Pope emphasizing "the full richness of... humanity" beyond materialism.

LPR later found a statement by the Pope encouraging a humanitarian view of business.

The Pope died while LPR was attending a memorial service for Larry Godwin, in Torrington, Connecticut. Larry died March 25, age 64.

Born in North Carolina (and a fan of the University of North Carolina), trained as a pharmacist, he was a senior car salesman at Capuano Buiick-Cadillac in Torrington for many years.