Peanuts—Lucy and Football

Posted on by January 9, 2016

GW RulesYou know in the Peanuts cartoons, Lucy sometimes promises to hold the football upright so that Charlie Brown can kick it a long ways? Then at the last minute, she pulls the football away and Charlie Brown kicks at nothing and lands on his back!

Well, there’s another quirk to that play. In this panel, Lucy herself, tries to kick a football when she’s all alone. She holds the ball up, kicks at it, tumbles over and lands on her back, kinda dizzy. Then at last she looks directly at the football she missed while trying to kick it, and she says to the football: “Don’t look at me like that or I’ll let your air out!” read more

Snoopy and Worries

Posted on by January 8, 2016

I watched the news report about Cologne, Germany, and the women who were accosted (that’s my polite term) by groups of migrant men in the city square. It happened right in front of the Kolner Dom (Which is the Cologne Cathedral—a beautiful large Church building which was used by the Air Force in World War II as a marker of where the planes were!) It’s a gorgeous building in a beautiful city. I’ve been there.

Then, that same morning, I happened to open a book of Peanuts cartoons which I received as a gift from my kids this past Christmas. I turned to this one particular page which had this cartoon: read more

The U. S. Constitution and Judges

Posted on by January 7, 2016

constitutionI have read the U.S. Constitution many times. I have never read anything in it that claims to have any jurisdiction over the civil condition or authority of marriage. And the Constitution does clearly state that what ever is not directly, by the words of that document, given authority to control or decide, is left to the States or to the People.

“The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the People.” (Amendment X, The Constitution of the United States). read more

It’s Global Warming. . .I Mean Climate Change!

Posted on by January 6, 2016

ForgivenessListening to our President today with all the turmoil in the world, telling us how climate change is our most serious problem facing us today, reminds me of a Peanuts cartoon.

In the first frame Lucy is making a face while Linus, with his arms outstretched says: “All right, if you want me to worry about over-population I’ll worry about it!”

In the next frame Linus has a big frowny face and says to Lucy: “Look—I’m worrying . . .see? I’m worrying . . .”

Then Linus looks at Lucy and asks: “How was that?” Lucy looks bewildered. read more

Congress Under the Constitution

Posted on by January 5, 2016

constitutionHere we are thinking about how we will elect our next President and members of Congress of the United States of America. But imagine that first Constitutional Convention where the original Constitution was still being debated and the method of electing the both houses of Congress was under consideration and debate.

There was very heated debate about this process. A constitution of this nature had never been debated, much less created. The members of the Convention did not agree on the method to ascertain who would be the new leaders of the new nation. read more

Communication

Posted on by January 4, 2016

colorful-calendar-2016-template-free-vectorSometimes the message in the Peanuts comic strip is just too close to reality. I guess that’s why it works so well! Here’s one example:

Charlie Brown and Linus are walking together. Linus says: “Your trouble Charlie Brown, is that you live by mottos and trite sayings.”

Then Linus continues: “You really thought that if you gritted your teeth it would help you become a hero. Well, there’s more to life than gritting your teeth. . . .

“Charlie Brown, do you understand what I’m trying to tell you?” read more

John Adams and the Law

Posted on by January 3, 2016

JohnAdamsAs you may recall, John Adams accepted the representation of the British soldiers who were charged in the Boston Massacre. No other colonist lawyer was willing to accept their representation for fear of losing standing with friends and countrymen.

Adams felt it was his duty as a lawyer, and representative of the judicial system to step in where they needed someone to speak for them; to see that justice was done and not miscarried because of the emotions of the Bostonians at the time.

John did not only an admirable job, he succeeded in have most of the soldiers acquitted under the law. During his argument in December, 1770, he said: read more

Founding Fathers and Bad Press

Posted on by January 2, 2016

ThomasJeffersonWith all the politicking going on in the nation today, many think it has actually gotten worse over the years. I’m not sure that’s really the case. When you look at some of the bad press John Adams, Alexander Hamilton, and especially Thomas Jefferson received by the newspapers in their runs for elections, you have to hold your breath.

Most of them tried to make nothing of it—for the most part they ignored it. Thomas Jefferson has an interesting quote regarding what he thought about bad news: read more

Happy New Year—Thanks to Christ

Posted on by January 1, 2016

When it first came out, one of my friends said that I should read Bill O’Reilly’s book “Killing Jesus.” My friend went on to say that he thinks that O’Reilly must have read my book “The Illegal Trial of Christ” since much of what he wrote sounded like what I had explained in my book.

As I read O’Reilly’s book, I knew that the authors had to take an impartial religious stand in their method of writing. I didn’t have to in my book. I explained many of the same things, but I had an unabashed impartiality towards Christ and his life and death. Because of that, my book has a distinctly more religious slant. read more

George Washington and the New Year—or Century

Posted on by December 31, 2015

Landsdowne paintingAfter George had finally left public life and retired to his beloved Mount Vernon, he had a few years of private life. Yes, he was still visited by friends and neighbors on a regular basis, but no more public obligations.

One evening he went out to mark some trees to be cut down. It was during a slight snow-storm. When he came back he was horse and told Martha he was feeling “unwell.” Martha offered to make his some remedy to ease his pain.

He told her: “No. Let it go as it came. You know I never take anything for a cold.” read more