OUR COLUMNISTS Baseball's Bungling on the Steroid Problem Commentary by Matt Friedeman The biggest outrage this week in sports isn't that the Baltimore Oriole's Rafael Palmeiro had a positive steroid test for Stanozolol, as bad as that is. No, it's that Major League Baseball doesn't really care. Signs of Life Commentary by Jane Jimenez Stanley Miller was certain he had found the first signs of life in his famous 1953 experiment creating amino acids in the lab. So why is the Supreme Court finding it so difficult to identify signs of life in their decisions? Finding Wonderland Commentary by Brad Locke Our sense of wonder is a gift from God that should be tenderly nurtured and closely guarded. Retaining the ability to be amazed is what helps us hold on to truth. Amnesia Commentary by David Sisler What would it be like to wake up and not remember the evil that you had done, the people you had hurt, the sins you had committed? What would you pay for a little selective amnesia? God's Name Is Not to Be Misused Commentary by Mark Creech "Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain." It's the third of God's Ten Commandments and Bill Grantlin, a retired insurance salesman of Raleigh, North Carolina, takes it seriously.

...The revelation that Supreme Court nominee John Roberts was instrumental in a homosexual rights ruling has stunned his supporters. The Romer v. Evans decision, which overturned a Colorado initiative that denied special rights to homosexuals, is considered among the most egregious examples of judicial activism ever. Paul Weyrich of the Free Congress Foundation, who says he is "troubled" by the revelation of Roberts' involvement in that case, recalls that the ruling was "a terrible one because it said that the people of Colorado would have had to be prejudiced against homosexuals in order to vote for that proposition -- [and] I think that is an outrage." Weyrich explains what happens when, as in Roberts' case, an attorney is part of a huge law firm. "When a more senior partner comes and taps you on the shoulder and says, 'I want you to help on this' -- if he doesn't do it, the guy doesn't advance," he says. But the Free Congress chairman says he would have handled the decision differently had he been in Roberts' place. "I would say, 'Sorry, I can't help' -- even if it meant that my career would not advance." Weyrich and other conservatives want Roberts to explain his feelings about the decision. [Bill Fancher]

...The leader of the Knights of Columbus says America has become a place where "abortion rights groups oppose a nominee to the U.S. Supreme Court because he's a faithful Catholic." Supreme Knight Carl Anderson told members of the world's largest Catholic lay organization at their convention in Chicago that John Roberts' nomination should not "be blocked because he refuses in conscience to submit to a pro-abortion litmus test." In a videotaped message, President Bush called for Roberts' confirmation and praised the Knights of Columbus for defending "the principles of faith, country and family." Anderson said the Knights of Columbus also will continue to oppose abortion, same-sex "marriage," and efforts to remove the words "under God" from the Pledge of Allegiance. [AP]

...Some pro-life conservatives are warning that Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist may pay a steep price for his recently announced decision to support embryonic stem-cell research (ESCR). Dr. Janice Crouse of Concerned Women for America's Beverly LaHaye Institute says Senator Frist has dug himself into a hole with this move, which she calls "one of the more ridiculous political actions that I've seen in my lifetime." While Frist called his decision a matter of science, Crouse contends it makes no sense at all. She points out, "There is not a single disease being treated with embryonic stem cells at this point, and adult stem cells do everything that they have said they wanted the embryonic stem cells to do." Meanwhile, liberal pro-abortion Democrats continue to congratulate Senator Frist for his flip-flop, which the pro-family spokeswoman says reveals "everything you need to know about the decision, how dumb it was." She notes that some Washington analysts are speculating that Frist has changed his position on ESCR because he hopes to run for president in the future. However, Crouse notes, "I look at it, and if that's his reasoning, my goodness, what a terrible thing to do, to turn your back on the people who are the core of the Republican Party when you are the leader of the Senate. This just plain does not make any sense politically." [Bill Fancher]

...Recent poll results indicate that a majority of Americans still oppose overturning Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion; however, nearly three-quarters favor restrictions on the procedure, such as requiring parental consent for minors. The Pew Research Center for The People & The Press survey found that, across more than 30 years of controversy, the public's views on abortion have remained remarkably steady: About a third (35 percent) say abortion should be available, but 23 percent want stricter limits on it, and 31 percent favor making it illegal except in cases of rape, incest or to save a woman's life. Only 9% say abortion should never be permitted. But while nearly 59 percent think it would be a good thing to reduce the number of abortions in the U.S., one-third (33 percent) say they do not feel this way. Pew Research Center director Andrew Kohut notes that the abortion issue, which has dominated early debate over Supreme Court nominee John Roberts, is of most interest to the extreme Left and the extreme Right. "But people in the middle have a more complex and ambivalent view," he says. "They support a woman's right to have an abortion, yet they favor many of the reforms. The public has a fairly moderate view, even as the issue is a red flag [in political debates]." The Pew survey also found rising support for stem-cell research among all major religious groups -- with the exception of white evangelical Protestants. About a third of white evangelicals support stem-cell research, compared with 70 percent of mainline Protestants, 61 percent of white Catholics, and large majorities (77 percent) of people who do not attend church. [Jenni Parker]

... Habitat for Humanity International has named a new chief executive officer. The global home-building ministry's International Board of Directors announced yesterday that it has chosen Jonathan T.M. Reckford, a 42-year-old businessman and minister, as its CEO. Rey Ramsey, board chair for Habitat, says the board unanimously selected Reckford because of his excellent track record in leading and redirecting complex organizations and his personal commitment to "heed Christ's call to serve the poor and the forgotten." The newly appointed Habitat official has served for two years as executive pastor of the 4,300-member Christ Presbyterian Church in Edina, Minnesota; and before joining that church community, was president of stores for the Musicland division of Best Buy, senior vice president of corporate planning and communications for Circuit City, and director of strategic planning for Disney Design and Development. Reckford and his wife, Ashley, are longtime supporters of the Georgia-based housing ministry, and he says he is humbled to have this opportunity "to serve alongside the thousands of committed Habitat associates and volunteers to bring hope and dignity, build communities and strive toward our mission to eradicate poverty housing." Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter calls Reckford "a wonderful choice" for Habitat's CEO and says his business background will help the organization navigate the economy, while his pastoral experience "will help him shepherd Habitat's ministry and assure it continues to share and demonstrate Jesus' teachings worldwide." [Jenni Parker]

...An immigration reform organization spokesman doubts U.S. citizens will be fooled by a million-dollar ad campaign designed to sell them on the idea of amnesty for illegal aliens. The White House recently revealed that it is turning to a coalition of special-interest groups to try to convince the American people to support President George W. Bush's "Guest Worker" proposal, which critics say is nothing but an amnesty plan. The coalition is being called Americans for Border and Economic Security and is made up of ethnic and business special-interest groups that are prepared to pay as much as $250,000 each for ad campaigns. However, Rick Oltman of the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) is convinced Americans will see through this group. "Maybe we should call it the Coalition to Destroy the American Middle Class," he says. "Clearly the administration feels that they need to move forward to try to continue the influx of cheap foreign labor for all those business constituents, the ones that helped them win these elections, and they're putting together a coalition to show that they're willing to fight the fight. I think, however, at this stage that the American people aren't going to be convinced by any group." In fact, the FAIR spokesman asserts, "All most Americans have to do today is to look around their communities, look at their schools, look at their county jails, look at their tax bill, and they will know that what is happening in America isn't going to be solved by some coalition or some group ... whose real agenda it is to allow more people to come in here. Most Americans aren't going to be fooled by this." To a vast majority of Americans, Oltman says, immigration reform means enforcing laws against illegal immigration and setting reasonable limits on legal immigration -- not giving amnesty to win Hispanic votes. [Chad Groening]

...The president of the Women's Alliance for a Democratic Iraq says she is alarmed that the proposed Iraqi constitution could impose Islamic law on everyone. Basma Fakri says that could result in forced marriages of girls as young as nine. Fakri was joined at a Washington news conference by Zainab al-Suweij, the woman who heads the American Islamic Congress. Al-Suweij says Iraqis want freedom of religion, freedom of speech and other internationally recognized human rights. She adds that while Islamic law should be one of the sources of Iraq's constitution and legal system, it must not be the only one. [AP]

...A Pennsylvania U.S. representative believes he knows the key to bring on regime change in communist North Korea. Republican Kurt Weldon says he has been approved to take another congressional delegation to the capital of Pyongyang, which would be his third trip to North Korea. Weldon says while it is common knowledge how repressive Kim Jong Il's government is, it would not be advisable for the U.S. to take the dictator out as it did Saddam Hussein in Iraq. "I don't like the regime in China," the congressman says. "They're a terrible violator of human rights -- and yet we have the largest trade imbalance in the world with China. And I don't like the regime in Saudi Arabia that has, I think, a split agenda. The question is not do we want regime change. It's are we going to go in and preemptively attack them when they have a million-man army." Weldon believes there is a better way. On both his past trips to North Korea, the Pennsylvania representative recalls, his delegation went to the Pyongyang Computer Center. "Clearly," he says, "this is a top personal priority for Kim Jong Il, to bring computers into his country. Well, in my own estimation, the moment you open the bottle and let the genie out in the form of information technology, that regime will collapse on its own. It's not going to be able to withstand their people knowing what's on the outside." Thus Weldon says, the objective would be accomplished, but not through the U.S. "putting a hammer up in the air and saying we're going to bludgeon you into doing what we want." [Chad Groening]

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