Faith and evidence
Can a Roman Catholic strictly adherent to the policies of the Vatican be trusted to safely uphold Constitutional principles on the Supreme Court? In the case of court nominee John Roberts, commentator Christopher Hitchens can't be sure. Roberts reportedly told Sen. Richard Durbin in a private meeting that he might recuse himself from a court case in which church doctrine was at odds.Why should this question be asked only of Catholic nominees? Says Hitchens, "Well, that's easy. The Roman Catholic Church claims the right to legislate on morals for all its members and excommunicate them if they don't conform. The church is also a foreign state, which has diplomatic relations with Washington... The newly installed Pope Benedict XVI has ruled that Catholic politicians who endorse the right to abortion should be denied sacraments."
Under our system, of course, the government derives its power, not from an omnipotent, but from the consent of the governed. Even Ret. Judge Robert Bork, a lunatic constructionist, admitted as much this morning on C-Span. Roberts better tighten up his answer to the question of his working faith before his hearing.
Here's the Hitchens link.
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Everyone's talking about the timing of Rafael Palmeiro's steroid suspension. Did he really test positive during Spring Training within days of testifying before Congress? How long have Major League Baseball, Palmeiro, and the Baltimore Orioles known about the test results? Did they delay the public disclosure until after Raffy had rapped career hit #3000? (Now we know why the Orioles were so desperate to trade for Phil Nevin and Mike Lowell.) But I also want to take time to shout-out to Barry Bonds. Under the radar Monday, Bonds publicly packed it in for the year. What exquisite timing. Remember how Bonds couldn't testify in March because he was rehabbing? That rehab program's going to wind up being over a year long.
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I've changed my mind since yesterday. If President Bush believes Palmeiro's story, then I don't.
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Italian authorities have broken up a global steroid ring that supplied the performance-enhancing drugs to U.S. soldiers serving in Iraq. I predict that this steroid scandal will go unmentioned in President Bush's next State of the Union address.
posted by CM @ 8:22 PM
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