Miscellaneous Rambling
Why should the Catholic clergy have all the fun: "One of China's highest-ranking Buddhist monks quit as the head of the country's Buddhist association on Wednesday after facing a government investigation over accusations of sexual misconduct." At least those folks have the doctrine of emptiness and its extreme deviancy Tantric tradition to lean on. You'd be hard pressed to find a parallel thread in Christian thought.
I saw Mission Impossible Tuesday night. Outstanding movie. It moved fast; I never once thought they were simply dragging it out; it had me on the edge of my seat a few times; no political message that I could discern. Just a good old fashioned movie. All my kids who came with me, even Tess, my 13-year-old daughter who doesn't care for action films, loved it.
The rise of Dollar General: "Dollar General is opening stores at the rate of three a day across the US. It moves into places not even Walmart will go, targeting rural towns and damaged inner-city neighbourhoods with basic goods at basic prices ”“ a strategy described by a former chief executive of the chain as 'we went where they ain't.' The chain now has more outlets across the country than McDonald's has restaurants, and its profits have surged past some of the grand old names of American retail."