The jokes continue as they have for days now on the Letterman and Leno shows about the diaper wearing astronaut charged with attempted murder. A brutal attack in a board room business meeting has left four people dead in Philadelphia. In Utah an 18 year old man gunned down shoppers in a mall before being shot to death by police.



Mother Nature threw in her bizarre twist to the news of the week by drumming up a tornado that swept through New Orleans creating death and havoc in a city still reeling from the effects of hurricane Katrina.

I have considered apologizing just for reiterating these stories which somewhat assures me that I haven't become totally de-sensitized by the news reports that grow freakier by the day.

Just when I thought I would let it all ride, hold my silence and try to get a handle on my own disbelief I got an e-mail report about the latest session of the House Judiciary Committee. It was so absurd that I Googled it on the news feature to check it against a few other sources.

The headline read ?The House Judiciary Committee Protects Roosters, not Pregnant Minors.? The story is that the Judiciary Committee has agreed to strengthen the penalties for anyone found transporting roosters across the state lines to enter them into cockfights.

In the same session the Committee refused to vote on an amendment put forth by James Sensenbrenner (R-WI) that would make it a crime to transport a minor across a state line to side step the laws previously passed in the Senate that require a parental notification for any kind of abortion for a minor.

It seems that roosters have taken precedence over the welfare of minors, the authority of parents and the well being of unborn children. Chickens or children is that the question? Sadly it is and it seems that the chickens won this round.

Cockfighting is taken seriously by some people and is considered part of their culture. In Louisiana a Tulane University law professor is representing the operators and breeders of the fighting roosters for the United Gamefowl Breeders Association. The case will be based on the idea that the recently passed legislation regarding cock fighting is aimed at the Cajun and Hispanic community which sees the fights as an integral part of their culture. Professor John R. Kramer intends to argue that the laws are discriminatory and would be an affront to the culture of the two ethnic groups.

I have always been amazed by that verse of scripture that says God knows when a single sparrow dies even in the most remote area of the world. Mt 10:29 Because this is true we need not doubt that God is aware of the misuse and the pain even of two common roosters forced to battle each other for someone's entertainment and possible gain.

It is far more amazing to think that God would put the welfare of roosters before the good of the crowning glory of his creation, mankind. But the House Judiciary Committee is not God and that leaves only one question. Are they human?

Naivet? and over expectation alone would suppose that the legislative process of a democracy could produce morality. But no one can escape the fact that more and more legislation will be needed to combat the effects of immorality. It has always been one of the saddest truths that laws are often passed after the fact, that is after some great crime or injustice has been committed. Sadness gives way to grief when it becomes a matter of whether they will even bother to vote on it.

Jesus told the Apostle Peter that he would deny him three times before the cock crowed. Mt. 26:34 In America it may be that we deny everything that is right and decent before the cock crows for the last time.