Detroit Free Press

It was a ghastly trade, flesh and blood for two boxes of bones. Many criticized it. Some could not bear to watch ...

There aren't many things that would make me say of a fellow man, "I want to cut his n---s off." So when Rev. Jesse ...

I took a drive last week to say good-bye to an old friend. I came off the highway, turned down a familiar street and there she was, right in front of me.She did not look good. She was pale and broken down. Even the work she'd had done a few years ago now had decayed. She was spilling out, peeling, her fabrics were torn, and she looked none too steady on her feet. The summer sky was gray and she seemed to have a cloud affixed permanently over her head - along with cranes, tractors and trucks by her sides.

So everyone has a gun.Let's start with that idea. Everyone has a gun. What will this mean? In the minds of some people - those who think last week's Supreme Court decision protecting gun ownership was wonderful - it means if you come after me now, I can take you down. If you try to take what's mine, I can defend myself - by shooting you dead, if need be.If I'm scared, I don't need to be, because I have my gun. If you scare me and I want to scare you back, I can, because I have my gun.

I've been feeling sorry for myself lately. I've had some dark clouds, and all I could see were my own problems. Then, about 10 days ago, I got an e-mail. It was from a couple I know in Grand Rapids, Brian and Kathy. Beautiful people. Energetic. Upbeat. They have two young daughters and were expecting a third any day.The e-mail, I figured, was the birth announcement.I was sort of right.

With all the problems facing this country, the issue of "who sits where" shouldn't rank very high. But last week it did, after two Muslim women were denied seats behind Barack Obama at his rally at Joe Louis Arena, seats that would have placed them in full view of the TV cameras broadcasting his speech.The women were moved away, they said, because they each wore a hijab, the traditional Muslim head scarf. That image, volunteers told them, was politically sensitive for Obama.

Red Wings goalie Chris Osgood was interviewed on "The Mitch Albom Show" on WJR-AM (760) last week. Albom talked ...

NEWS ITEM: American Airlines now will charge $15 to check your first bag. Last week other airlines announced they would do the same.My sweet, old grandfather came down from heaven recently, just in time to join me at the airport. He'd been gone for years, so a plane trip had him excited."Why aren't you wearing a suit and tie?" he asked. "This is an airplane, not a bus."Planes aren't a big deal anymore, Gramps."Pooh. You fly in the sky, it's a big deal."We pulled up to the curb."What, no one to take our luggage?"