Second, just because a celebrity, whether from Hollywood or from D.C., passes away, doesn't mean they deserve automatic canonization. Even Mother Teresa's life is still being examined by the very Church that thinks favorably of her. An examination of Mother Teresa's life is still being conducted with the thorough scrutiny required to acknowledge the praiseworthiness of her life. This, even after the esteem, pride, honor and example of authentic Catholic charity she exhibited in her earthly life. We pray for her eternal happiness with God in Heaven. There are hundreds of departed Catholics who lived a virtuous life and yet are still not accounted in the book of Saints. Some never will, even though the apparent exhibition of their lives seemed blameless.
When it comes to celebrities, the media quickly takes and misconstrues pity. The pity we should all have for anyone who's time has expired in this world and are facing their eternal destiny. The media twists true pity for a dead celebrity by immediately celebrating their life as one of heroic virtue and a model of sanctity. Elvis, Michael Jackson, Princess Diana, have all been prematurely swooned over immediately after the news of their deaths. Instead, we should quietly pray for their souls.
On the issue of government health control, we are told that Ted Kennedy was one of its strongest advocates. The Democrats are already starting to exploit his death to advance the Obama administration's policy of government oversight of health care. This is sickening. The tacky Democrats did this before in November of 2002 at the funeral of Paul Wellstone. It turned into a huge Democrat DNC pep rally while the corpse lie in repose. When Trent Lott and Gov. Jesse Ventura attempted to publicly give their condolences, they were booed out of the service by the whipped up crowd. A real classy exhibition from the party of 'tolerance' and 'heart'. It appears the Democrats don't learn from their mistakes and are now contemplating calling the Obama Health Bill the "Ted Kennedy Health Reform Bill". Another dose of tackiness from the loony left.
I'm all for reform. We should all be reforming our own lives each and every day and working to make the world a better place. Our Lord said, "Be perfect like the Heavenly Father is Perfect." He also said, "Woe to those who scandalize the children." He also threw out the money lenders from the temple. There are many things Our Lord did that we should not just latch onto any one thing alone. For example many politicians latch onto only one or two of the 8 Beatitudes. Or latch onto one of Christ's Teachings, but usually never all of His Teachings like His Instituting the Blessed Sacrament (John 6), or His condemnation of divorce (Matt 5:32, Matt 19:7-9), or His Instituting the Church upon the Apostles that would exist from then until the end of time (John 14:26, Matt 16:17 and 28:18), etc.
There are some lines one should not cross to make the world a better place. Euthanasia, child abuse, tyranny, birth control, abortion, rape, pornography, communism, etc. are examples of such lines society should never cross in institutionalizing a contrived 'better place'. Another line one doesn't cross is turning a funeral into a political pep rally or a tool to wage political war.
Another line that is trying to be crossed is socialized medicine. Ted Kennedy once chided government involvement in health care with these words in a March 12, 2003 Senate floor speech:
"I do not believe it is the role of the Senate to interfere with or regulate the kind of medical advice that a doctor can give to a patient."
You would think with such a principled viewpoint Mr. Kennedy would oppose Government Health Care. On the contrary, Mr. Kennedy chose to apply this principle and retract it whenever it suited his career. The above quote was used by Mr. Kennedy when he was opposing the ban on partial birth abortion. The atrocious act where a doctor partially delivers the baby late into a mother's pregnancy, inserts scissors into the baby's skull to insert a vacuum to remove its brains, and systematically, limb by limb, using forceps, to dismember the baby all while it's heart is still beating. Mr. Kennedy in this case was wrong and regardless of how the media tries to present his life, Mr. Kennedy will always be wrong when it came to his selective support of Government intervention on a health bill, yet oppose it when it suits his political advancement.
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