Best/Worst News of the Week:

The pages of this nation's newspapers contain a wealth of commentary fodder.

1) The U.S. State Department has a new piece of artwork at its London Embassy. Goody. The sculpture cost $1 million. Wow, but approved by somebody with a five-name title, I guess. The department justified the expense, saying it was a “good use of our limited resources.” Washington-on-the-Deficit minions are all scientific experiments gone terribly wrong: Born and reared with no guts nor brains, and without a basic understanding of rudimentary math.

2) GOP headliners are having a hard time staying the course on immigration and gay and lesbian rights. Their conservative selves tell them they have to
“go Western” and stick to their verbal guns, so to speak. Their political survival training says to win future elections, they must capitulate. Look for many of the name GOPer conservatives to cave. The attraction of staying in power and in the limelight is what keeps some of these critters alive.

3) It was a normal day. A woman went to Home Depot and went to the bathroom. After doing what she went there to do, she got up. Or, tried to. She found herself glued to the toilet seat. Someone glued all the toilet seats in the women’s restroom with Loctite GO2 glue, which boasts of “durability and versatility.” The woman needed a herd of EMTs to unstick her and transport her to an emergency room. Here’s hoping the culprit, when caught, gets a judge that adjudges the person guilt and orders his /her lips to be glued to a toilet seat. That would be a punishment to fit the crime.

4) From this corner of the Opinion Arena, immigration reform must be faced with the attitude of creating a law that welcomes immigrants to this country; it is one of the principle cornerstones of this foundation of this country. That said, special treatment for those who are in the United States illegally should cease. Pay college tuition for illegal immigrants? Allow them most of the rights of full-fledged citizens? Sometimes we let our collective, soft underbelly show to an extraordinary degree and by doing so, we penalize citizens and further abuse taxpayers. Exhibit kindness and understanding and compassion…sure. Giving away the store while embracing on those three values…not a good idea.

5) Nelson Mandela, the living portrait of a societal change merchant, is dead at 95. The world grieves his passing, but, in time, his foibles and human frailties will surface in myriad books and his saintly image will be tarnished. This is not to say he was not a great man, nor that the hardships he endured and the positive changes he fathered in South Africa and the world were not truisms that encompassed his life. For now the world mourns a true leader, an icon for peace and dignity and brotherhood. There will be time for debating his shortcomings. But not now, not yet. Let the world grieve.

6) And, finally, President Obama issued an order Sunday that cuts all federal agencies by 10 percent, slashes the Pentagon budget by 22.25 percent, and shuts down more than 15 military armament programs that Congress has approved but that the Pentagon does not need nor want. (And if you believe that....)