Dallas Morning News scoop: “A prominent candidate to succeed Pope John Paul II recently sheltered a priest who is an admitted child molester and now an international fugitive, The Dallas Morning News has learned….” And it gets worse.

9:50 am: Barry Minkow — one of the smartest swindlers in decades — is putting on quite a show as pastor of a church in San Diego. Matthew Heller, writing for The L.A. Times, offers up a classic example of the “lost-then-found… maybe” genre.

9:49 am: Muslims of Russia unite! You have nothing to lose but a bad public image. Islam Online reports that four top Russian Muslim groups are getting together to launch gentle jihad and spread the influence and good reputation of Russia’s 23 million Muslims.