Human Life

THE DAY begins with me identifying with the Geckle brothers. This is not a hopeful sign. Their property was invaded in Glyndon, and so was mine in the city of Baltimore, but the Geckles will spend the rest of their lives wondering if protecting material goods is worth the loss of a human life. Last month, there was a shooting at the Geckle brothers' concrete plant. Last week, a Baltimore County grand jury said: So what? So, this: We have one man dead and two more shot, and this should count for something.

It is one thing to talk about "fairness" when it comes to allowing gays and lesbians to marry; it is quite another to claim biblical authority for such relationships. President Barack Obama cited the "Golden Rule" about treating others as you would like to be treated, but in doing so he ignored the totality of Scripture and the Lord himself, who alone gets to set the rules for human behavior. The president says he is a "practicing Christian. " It is difficult to be one while simultaneously holding a low view of the Bible, which his position on several social issues might suggest.

While many people think of governments in terms of wasteful bureaucracies and windbag politicians, recent events have reminded us that they are also places where life-and-death decisions are made. Yet wars and executions are only the most obvious manifestations of the lethal and life-giving powers of government. Winter shelters for the homeless, treatment facilities for drug addicts, access to health care and the procedures at detention facilities are other recent, but less obvious, issues for our national and local governments that have had life-and-death consequences.

Sexual union between a man and woman is the only reason the human race has survived. If the supreme intelligence that created us had made one sex, or if marriage had only been between members of the same sex, none of us would be here now. Men and women are not the same. Each has a unique role in the creation of life. Traditional and same- sex marriage are not the same either. The former is the framework in which human life has continued to survive for thousands of years. It is the only setting in which life can be created and preserved according to the plan of the author of life.

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas (AP) -- A proposed change in the charter of this heavily Roman Catholic city to declare that "human life begins at conception" was headed for defeat last night.The "Human Family Amendment" was strongly backed by abortion opponents who placed the referendum on the ballot through a petition drive. For more than a year, abortion battles have consumed this Gulf Coast city of nearly 300,000. The city's name is Latin for "body of Christ."The proposal had the active support of Roman Catholic Bishop Rene Gracida, who has excommunicated two abortion clinic employees and a doctor who performs abortions.

It is one thing to talk about "fairness" when it comes to allowing gays and lesbians to marry; it is quite another to claim biblical authority for such relationships. President Barack Obama cited the "Golden Rule" about treating others as you would like to be treated, but in doing so he ignored the totality of Scripture and the Lord himself, who alone gets to set the rules for human behavior. The president says he is a "practicing Christian. " It is difficult to be one while simultaneously holding a low view of the Bible, which his position on several social issues might suggest.

A carefully planned pleasure garden marries fantasy to reality. It attempts to enhance both nature and the quality of human life.This year, signs of a new sophistication, a tender, extraordinary approach to aesthetics, have appeared in the finest of private landscapes in Maryland. This approach uses new design techniques to capture vista, and thus elevates the simple private garden to something remarkable.

WHILE NO threat to the longevity secret of the biblical Methuselah, scientists think they've found a possible key to doubling the span of human life. It is found in the genes of the well-studied fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, whose average life is 37 days. By mutating a single fly gene, which is also found in humans, University of Connecticut Health Center scientists doubled the fly's life span. What's more, the researchers say, the older flies led active adult lives, continuing to court and reproduce.

As my classmates and I celebrated at the Naval Academy following President Obama's confirmation of Osama bin Laden's death, I could not help but think of the moment in the Wizard of Oz when Dorothy's house crushes the Wicked Witch of the East. The Munchkins' enthusiasm of her demise was equal to our own in Annapolis on that cool Sunday night. Of course, the Wicked Witch of the West halts the festivities in dramatic fashion, promising to avenge the death of her sister. Will a parallel to the end of that scene begin a new battle in the Global War on Terror?

NEW YORK -- When George Delury, a resident of Manhattan's Upper West Side, helped his ailing wife ingest a fatal dose of poison last summer and then earnestly publicized the fact, the local and national press issued a collective sigh of sympathy for the courageous husband.Mr. Delury was roundly portrayed as a distraught spouse doing the will of his beloved wife, whose multiple sclerosis had rendered her both increasingly dependent on her spouse and often seriously depressed.The attempt to legalize ''assisted suicide,'' or euthanasia, is quickly becoming one of the defining causes of our times, support for the idea cutting wide swaths across the political landscape, from the bunkers of the liberal left to the bastions of the libertarian right.

We should expect a horrific human toll from any exchange of hostilities between Iran and Israel ("Nuclear saber-rattling," Jan. 6). Steps toward avoiding that, such as your editorial call for an intricate U.S.-Tehran agreement, are morally well-intentioned. But it wouldn't disturb our rest if these were Buddhist monks developing nuclear power for Nepal. Why not? Because common sense says their benign intentions are trustworthy and they respect human life. The Tehran mullahs have rebuffed (to say the least)

Sunday marks the 48th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.'s historic "I have a dream" speech, delivered on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, and if not for Hurricane Irene, the day would have seen another mass gathering on the National Mall and another round of speeches, this time a gathering to honor his enduring legacy. Whenever the official dedication of the King memorial takes place - organizers think sometime this fall - the speeches by members of the King family, President Barack Obama and leaders from across the country will draw deserved national attention on the character and accomplishments of one of the great figures of 20th century America.

As my classmates and I celebrated at the Naval Academy following President Obama's confirmation of Osama bin Laden's death, I could not help but think of the moment in the Wizard of Oz when Dorothy's house crushes the Wicked Witch of the East. The Munchkins' enthusiasm of her demise was equal to our own in Annapolis on that cool Sunday night. Of course, the Wicked Witch of the West halts the festivities in dramatic fashion, promising to avenge the death of her sister. Will a parallel to the end of that scene begin a new battle in the Global War on Terror?

In this country, women have a legal right to abortion but possess no legal right to federal dollars to pay for them. Polls suggest this restriction is supported by the majority of Americans. Throughout Ms. Reimer's entire column ("Anti-abortion or anti-woman's health?" April 11), she expresses outrage and suspicions that a "handful of ideologues in Congress" a "handful of ideologues in Congress" and a "small group who gather at the Planned Parenthood clinic praying and reading the Bible" are motivated less by "the fetus' right to life, than my right to live a life unencumbered by the religious beliefs of someone else.

What Dan Rodricks doesn't understand ("The right's obsession with abortion," March 10) is that abortion is as much a moral issue as slavery was in the Civil War and civil rights were in Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s time. Once again, the dignity and worth of every human life is at stake and that is worth fighting for and defending in every possible way. Dan says jobs, jobs, jobs, that is what politician should fight for. To have a job you first have to have the right to live.

Once again, an out-of-towner has been cut down in their prime in Baltimore's crime wave. A student learning to be a physician. There will be mayoral, police and community outrage, but nothing will be done because the courts have our hands tied. These two vermin should have been in prison, yet they walked free to prey on someone again. How can a city get so upset over a 2-cent bottle tax, but do nothing about human life? I live in the suburbs and would not come downtown for any reason whatsoever.

Once Governor Schaefer declared his position on abortion, Republican candidate William S. Shepard lost no time in re-emphasizing his own position on the nettlesome subject -- a position that significantly differs from Schaefer's.Shepard considers himself "pro-life" because he believes that abortions should be allowed only when the life of the mother is endangered, when the pregnancy resulted from incest or rape, and in cases where the fetus shows signs of gross deformity.That is essentially the position which President Bush holds, and we respect the position as a conscientious belief.

Once again, an out-of-towner has been cut down in their prime in Baltimore's crime wave. A student learning to be a physician. There will be mayoral, police and community outrage, but nothing will be done because the courts have our hands tied. These two vermin should have been in prison, yet they walked free to prey on someone again. How can a city get so upset over a 2-cent bottle tax, but do nothing about human life? I live in the suburbs and would not come downtown for any reason whatsoever.

While many people think of governments in terms of wasteful bureaucracies and windbag politicians, recent events have reminded us that they are also places where life-and-death decisions are made. Yet wars and executions are only the most obvious manifestations of the lethal and life-giving powers of government. Winter shelters for the homeless, treatment facilities for drug addicts, access to health care and the procedures at detention facilities are other recent, but less obvious, issues for our national and local governments that have had life-and-death consequences.

The recent visit of Cardinal William H. Keeler to condemned murderer Wesley Eugene Baker has served to instigate a revealing episode in the debate on the execution of Mr. Baker and the discussion about capital punishment generally. The crux of this debate is an unfortunate and unnecessary dichotomy between justice and mercy that affects our moral and cultural vision as a people. When Cardinal Keeler called for the commutation of Mr. Baker's death sentence in the name of mercy and human life, he correctly affirmed a fundamental truth of the church's vision of human life, as revealed by the Gospel.