In most states the law prohibits anyone from inheriting anything from those they intentionally kill or assist in committing suicide. Until now.

The “green” Bible is the latest in a long line of study Bibles designed to send the average, unaware, Christian off on a wild goose chase. The Bible is being used to offer Christians only two alternatives, neither of which is the cure for what ails them.
   
In a Sept. 8, 2008, article on the Time Magazine website, an article appeared that started out describing how “green” the Bible is, right down to Jesus having a “green” thumb. It then goes on to explain that the red letter edition has now been replaced by the “Forest Green” edition.

The article cites J. Matthew Sleeth, author of the book Serve God, Save the Planet as a spokesman for “Creation Care,” saying it is, “at the very core of our Christian walk.” That’s funny. I thought that faith in Jesus Christ as one's personal savior was at the very core of the Christian walk.

When Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi appeared on Meet the Press a few weeks ago, she was asked about her consistent approval of abortion. Repeating her frequently stated stand, she insisted that she is “an ardent, practicing Catholic” and then claimed that no one knows when life begins. Moderator Tom Brokaw promptly told her that the Catholic Church holds that “life begins at conception.” Her response to that included her contention that such a position had only been uttered for “maybe 50 years or something like that.” 

Ms. Pelosi needs to know that the very first catechism compiled by the Catholic Church, the Didache issued in 70 A.D., forbade abortion by name. Also Tertullian, one of the earliest Fathers of the Catholic Church, wrote at length about the horror of destroying life in the womb in the year 197. Numerous other individuals throughout the ages, not all of them Catholic, though they surely agreed with the Catholic Church on the matter, have also condemned the practice.

Even though most Catholic leaders don’t use the following argument, a hugely important definition of when life begins came from heaven itself. Any “ardent, practicing Catholic” like Ms. Pelosi surely knows that one of the great feasts Catholics celebrate each year makes note of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Always believed by Catholics from apostolic times, this dogma concerning Mary’s exemption from any sin was formally and infallibly defined by Pope Pius IX on December 8, 1854.  He thereby settled the matter for all questioning Catholics even though some theologians in that period expressed their unhappiness that the Pope had used the unique power of his office to do so.

If Mary was free of the stain of original sin from the moment of her conception, the matter of when life begins can no longer be disputed by “an ardent, practicing Catholic.” Mary’s life surely began at her conception in the womb of Saint Anne, not at a later point when existence outside the womb began. She was free from sin at the very moment of conception. And the Catholic Church indirectly, though positively, thereby rendered its view that conception is when life begins.

Four years later, when some skeptical theologians were still expressing doubt about the Pope’s declaration, the Blessed Mother appeared to Bernardette Soubirous at Lourdes in France. When the 14-year-old girl asked the apparition who she was, Mary responded, “I am the Immaculate Conception.” The many miracles continually occurring at Lourdes have always supplied unquestionable testimony that the Blessed Mother did appear and did cause the miraculous spring to begin flowing. The Church later elevated Bernardette to sainthood.

While the preponderant majority of medical authorities supports the belief that life begins at conception, there’s no need for a Catholic to rely only on them. Life begins at the very instant of conception with the infant growing for nine months (or fewer) before birth and eventual separation from its mother. A Catholic has the infallible statement of a Pope and, even more, a statement from heaven itself that life begins at conception. 

Speaker Pelosi, vice presidential nominee Biden, Massachusetts senators Kennedy and Kerry, and many others in public and private life repeatedly claim to be Catholic and yet tolerate and even promote abortion. They should be told by Catholic prelates that they have separated themselves from the Church. Abortion is the taking of innocent life, an unconscionable crime. A babe in the womb is the most innocent of all human beings. That Catholic prelates do not make the heaven-confirmed point that life begins at conception and do not remind pro-abortionists that they have separated themselves from the Church is a deficiency long needing correction.         
 

Michael Chertoff flew to Houston Wednesday, September 17, to supervise yet another government-sponsored disaster, not Ike, but the resulting massively funded mess, as thousands of people complained about the lack of supplies and supply centers.

If private interests, charitable organizations, and local governments had been allowed to direct the relief efforts in the first place, instead of the gargantuan Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency, that has yet to demonstrate it can manage any emergency relief efforts effectively or efficiently, things would probably be further along in the process to clean up and start over in Houston.

Calling FEMA’s lack of action a “misstep,” Chertoff was planning to meet with local officials about the situation, and to correct the missteps. However, the Mayor of Houston, Bill White, and Harris County Judge Ed Emmett, had already taken things into their own hands by the time he arrived in town.

On Tuesday evening White and Emmett started directing the distribution of millions of pallets of water, food, and ice, along with tarps to protect roofs. By ordering trucks to drive through the night, they had the goods arriving in the city by daybreak on Wednesday morning so distribution could begin. They declined to talk about the specifics of the delay and poor management by FEMA.

Online bloggers from the Houston area tell of fights with FEMA. They insist a FEMA rep sent the refrigerated trucks away from the area and that the Mayor was getting the FEMA rep’s name in order to assist him in seeking “alternative employment.” Other bloggers are seeing to their elderly neighbors, furnishing them with potable water and food, as they should. Others speak of a media blackout on the worst hit areas.

Yet Chertoff still insists there have been no delays in getting people the supplies they need, but the evidence tells a different story. The storm hit on Saturday morning, the supply trucks only rolled into Houston because of White and Emmett, on Wednesday morning, so his figuring might be a little bit off. He was rightfully pinned and intensely questioned by reporters, so much so that he finally refused to give specifics about further supply arrival times.

Chertoff’s tough talk — “not afraid to kick someone in the rear,” — while crude, will achieve nothing. Instead, he should remove himself from the area, the state, and the agency, leaving it to die a mismanaged but final death.