Martial law: coming soon to a country near you

From the Washington Times:

President Bush yesterday sought to federalize hurricane-relief efforts, removing governors from the decision-making process. “It wouldn’t be necessary to get a request from the governor or take other action,” White House press secretary Scott McClellan said yesterday. “This would be,” he added, “more of an automatic trigger.”

Mr. McClellan was referring to a new, direct line of authority that would allow the president to place the Pentagon in charge of responding to natural disasters, terrorist attacks and outbreaks of disease.

I wonder how long after this law passes there will be a terrorist attack that sets off the automatic trigger. Six months? Six days? At some point, even the most naive, pro-government American has to seriously consider that perhaps the administration is enacting laws such as these with a specific purpose in mind.

But, of course, who could question the good intentions of George Bush after he said that the philosopher who had influenced him most was “Christ”. Now, it is certainly not for me to judge another man’s heart, but I always harbor a certain amount of skepticism about self-professed Christians who nevertheless seem to avoid the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth like the plague.

On an increasingly tangential note, I also wonder, when Paul repeatedly warns that the Church will be attacked by many enemies within, why Christians spend so little effort contemplating who those treacherous wolves in sheep’s clothing in their own local church might be.