By BONNIE ERBE, Scripps Howard News Service

Pope Benedict's statement upon arriving in Cameroon was, "AIDS cannot be overcome by the distribution of condoms." This is one of the most horrifically ignorant statements made by a world leader since former President George W. Bush's promise to "smoke 'em out" in reference to terrorist leaders including Osama bin Laden.

I've just returned from a special corner of the world: Canada's Northwest Territories. Yellow Knife, Canada, is a town of some 25,000 people now celebrating its 75th anniversary. It came into being during the Yukon Gold Rush era.

President Obama continues to show his inexperience when discussing the economy in public. Americans need reassurance, not more depressing news from our President. Yet Mr. Obama did it again this week, according to Reuters:

I'm beginning to hear the welcome sounds of an economy starting to rouse itself out of slumber. I'm not saying it's turned around yet, or anything close to that. I'm just sensing and hoping that bottom may have been struck, or that the slide is starting to slow. We may still be months, if not years, away from economic growth. But the speed of the crash seems to be slowing.

I've certainly criticized President Obama enough since he's taken office and even more when he was a presidential candidate. But I don't hesitate to applaud him when he does something right. One of his advisers told a Sunday television talk show the president is now on the precipice of overturning yet another Bush era policy that pushed us back.

I have always thought that one terrific thing about churches is many of them provide counseling for engaged couples before they marry. The point of this premarital counseling is to help couples get ready for the rigors of "til death do us part." Too many Americans marry for the wrong reasons and that is in evidence in our high divorce rate.

The Republican Party's selection of former Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael Steele as party chief is almost as historic as the Democrats' nomination of Barack Obama as the party's presidential candidate (not his election, just his nomination.).

Judith Scott probably never set out to be a First Amendment heroine. But she is as far as I'm concerned. Scott has filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia for what she claims was a retaliatory firing. Her proselytizing boss at the Blacksburg, Va.

Can we get back to normal now? Can we get down to addressing the myriad of problems that plague us? Can our feet touch the ground and our minds grasp reality?

Politico.com this week ran a story with an intriguing headline: In politics, does race trump gender?