April Fools

As April 1st rolls around once more, it is apparent that the legions of Fools are growing. On my list for today are people in the news:

1. NOTRE DAME UNIVERSITY. In keeping with the tradition of Universities all across the United States, The country's most renowned Catholic university invited the new President of the United States, Barrack Obama, to speak at their commencement. This is something that this university has done numerous times in it's history, most recently, having Presidents Carter, Reagan, AND George W. Bush address their graduating class. None of these gentlemen, by the way, including the incumbent, are of the Roman Catholic faith.

Now, however, an outcry has arisen from many bishops and alumni of the school about the invitation to President Obama. They feel his invite should be rescinded because he is not firmly entrenched against abortion in ALL cases. Students, of course, feel much differently.

What really bothers me is the continual hypocrisy - not only by the Catholic Church - but by Christians in general in "selecting" which issues they want to support, or deny the existence of. For example, having George W. Bush speak seemed to be okay for Notre Dame, It's alumni, and the Catholic Bishops - even though Bush started the first ever preemptive war waged by the United States; approved torture of our enemies; and waged an assault on the civil liberties of the people of our country. Killing is okay IF the killed are adults and the President says it's a "War on Terror". If women and children happen to be killed, or injured due to an errant bomb or two - well, that's unfortunate. Yet, Obama allowing Roe v. Wade and a woman's choice to be the law of the land is somehow viewed as much, much worse.

For anyone reading this who doesn't already know, I am Catholic. I am also - like President Obama - generally against abortion. However, as with most things, there need to be exceptions to the rules. Certainly, abortion SHOULD NOT be about someone just casting aside an unwanted baby. But, what it should enable woman to do is to vacate a pregnancy that: (a)could cause her bodily harm, or (b) was as a result of rape or incest.

The other thing that rankles me is, for ANY University, it is prestigious to have a President of the United States speak at commencement. One of my children had a former President speak at her graduation, and I was thrilled, as was she. I viewed it as an honor, though I never agreed with the man's political stances.

There is more than one reason that we have a "Separation of Church and State". One is to separate us from fools - on both sides of that fence.

2. METH LABS. So far this year, Tulsa police have found 57 Meth labs within our city boundaries. That is more than the 43 they were able to bust in all of 2008. Apparently, there is a new, cheaper and faster way to produce this drug, which has caused the spur in production of the homemade labs.

Just a couple nights ago, two innocent people died as a result of an uncontrolled fire that sprouted up in these labs. The fires quickly spread from the apartment where this deadly stuff was being "cooked" to the one next door, and two residents were burned over much of their bodies, ending in their untimely death. They just happened to be in the wrong place.

The idiots who were manufacturing the Meth are also in critical condition at a local hospital.

I have to confess that I feel so lucky that I, and my family, have escaped the scourge of drugs. Aside from smoking a few doobies when I was a young man, I didn't experiment with anything else. While I'm pretty sure that my kids have also had their own "experiments", I have taken the "Don't ask, Don't tell" approach.

How we're ever going to stop this attraction to drugs is a mystery to me. Hillary Clinton was right when she acknowledged that part of the problem at the Mexican border was the U.S. and our insatiable need for drugs. Unfortunately, no one knows what to do to put an end to it.

Meth seems to be one of the worst drugs ever. From what I've read and heard, it is addictive quickly, and it is relatively cheap. From the pictures I've seen of it's addicts, the damage it does is awful.

The makers and users are, without a doubt, April Fools.

Old Fart Mike