Since I've been traveling so much on airplanes recently, I've repeatedly heard instructions on how to use the oxygen masks that drop automatically from the ceiling in case of a decrease in cabin pressure. To get the flow of oxygen started, the attendant says, "Give the plastic tubing a firm tug."

Occasional readers of WORLD might be mystified by some of our page headings and story headlines, and even our faithful subscribers-the most theologically literate, historically knowledgeable, and altogether terrific magazine audience on the planet-may wonder. So here is a brief lexicon that leads into a discussion of the Supreme Court's latest seizure of power.

On memorial day we should remember soldiers from the armed forces and those with the hardest tasks in Christ's armies as well. My thoughts turn to directors of biblically faithful homeless shelters who will assemble in New Jersey on Memorial Day weekend to take part in the annual convention of the International Union of Gospel Missons-and I think of how they can look beneath the surface of men like Ferdinand Banks.

One of my favorite historians is Claude Bowers, an Indiana journalist who was born in 1878 and moonlighted during the 1920s and 1930s by writing evocative books about Jefferson, Jackson, and the Reconstruction period. Mr. Bowers was also a noted political speaker who gave keynote addresses and key nominating speeches at Democratic Party conventions in the 1920s.

Tired of being an onlooker in debates about "the homeless"? Trying to figure out how you can help? Here's an experiment you can do yourself if you live or work in or near an urban area: Why don't you find out whether panhandlers with signs such as "Hungry, need a meal" or "Will work for food" mean what they say?

While the "freemen" tie themselves down in their Montana fort, slaves in other places try to escape. Frequently, a call from a Los Angeles teenage hooker locked into a hotel room comes to the Children of the Night switchboard. Typical message: Her pimp has beaten her and threatens to do worse. She wants out. How can she escape?

California referendum, Texas case, Congressional legislation-affirmative action is being debated among God's children throughout the land once again, with learned discourses on both sides. I'm not a very good "briefer," as they say in Washington, because I tend to throw complications at politicians who want simple answers, but on this issue I can keep it simple.