A Year in Review

The year began with the intention of writing one blog post for every day of the year. Well, that just didn't happen. Today's blog post will be the 323rd of the year. Not bad all things considered. I get to say not bad because it is my blog. I took a look back and this adventure began on December 7, 2011. The total number of blog posts for the three years prior to 2014 was 192. So more posts this year than in the past 2+. What does 2015 hold for this blog? Well it won't be one post every day. I'm going to take a page out of my buddy Mike's blog and shoot for every weekday. So a new post Monday through Friday. I'll give you weekends off and it will give me a chance to explore the news and determine if anything warrants your attention and a bit of ranting from me. Enough of the house cleaning or updating or whatever that was.

I grew up a Chicago Bears football fan. It was a combination of factors. First, that was the game that was on TV back in the days when you only got three in Western Illinois. It was 4 (WHBF), 6 (WOC) and 8 (WQAD) or you went outside to play or read a book. The 1963 Bears won the NFL championship. The "Super Bowl" wouldn't roll around for a few more years and back then no one took the AFL seriously. Dad was a Bears fan and so every Sunday we watched the game while he smoked Pall Mall cigarettes and cursed at the TV. Oh, those were the days. My youth couldn't have been better. 1963 I'm 9 years old and the Bears are champions. 1964 I'm 10 years old and the St. Louis Cardinals win the World Series. Flash forward to this year. Everyone thinks they have a pretty good team during preseason. The Bears had made some trades which seemed to upgrade the defense. The offense had performed very well the year before and having learned the new coach's system better things seemed to lay ahead. The hopeful among Bears fans were predicting a trip to the playoffs and perhaps the Super Bowl. The harsh reality of the season left the Bears with a losing record and overall an embarrassing performance on the field. When you look back there are so many points where you think they may have reached bottom. The point where I knew the season was a complete disaster and a coaching change had to be made was the game against New England. Your team is losing by around 40 points and one of your defensive linemen sacks the opposing quarterback. He celebrates this accomplishment and tears his ACL. I don't care what you do when you are losing by 40 points, there is NOTHING to celebrate. NOTHING. Everyone on that defense. EVERYONE on that team needed to hang their head in shame. Dedicate the rest of the season to not being embarrassed on the field again. They didn't do that. They continued to be beaten easily. I have watched Bears teams that went 1-13 for the season. They were easier to watch than this group. Sure they lost 13 out of 14, but they weren't quitters. They had players with little talent but they played hard. They did their best. This group didn't do that. No leadership. No effort. No pride. It was and will be remembered as a team of no. The coach and general manager have been sent packing. I suspect when it is all done some players and all the assistant coaches will be looking for alternate employment. What will 2015 bring for the Bears? Anything will be better than this year.

Undefeated

Early this morning our dear friend Joyce, wife of Danny, mother of Tom, Jane, Phyllis and Joe died after a brief and courageous battle with cancer. It is reasonable to wonder why the title is undefeated. Because it is true. Cancer may have ravaged Joyce's body but her spirit was never broken. She could look ahead at what was coming and fight with all she had. Things got tough and she never gave in. There was never a "why me" uttered. No looking for someone to complain to or blame. No time for that there was a battle to wage against the disease that would eventually take her life. Complaining doesn't win the fight. Determination does. Joyce fought on her terms. She lived her life her way. She was a wonderful mother who, with Danny, raised four great children. Yesterday was about growing old. One of the unfortunate realities about getting older is learning of the death of old friends. They simply cannot be replaced. We have known Joyce and Danny since the early 1970's. There is no way to count the number of times we have sat around kitchen tables and drank pot after pot of coffee. We talked about everything under the sun. We watched our kids play together. We saw each other grow old. Today, we said goodbye to Joyce. Those who know me understand that I am not a religious man. I don't know what happens to us after we die. If there is a life after this one then I will see Joyce again. If there isn't I still appreciate everything she showed me about how to live. Life can be tough and it was hard at times for Joyce, Dan and their kids. It never has and never will defeat them. Joyce was as strong as they come. It was a privilege to know Joyce, to call her a friend. The best times in life are often spent over a cup of coffee talking about everything or nothing. Just talking. No judgment. No anger. Just conversation and coffee. I'm going to miss that. Thanks Joyce for the memories. Dan, you walk the path alone now but know that in so many ways Joyce will always be with you. In every day you will see things that remind you of her. I hope they bring you comfort. She loved you in every moment of every day.

Aging Gracefully

You spend your life growing old. The changes are most notable when you are young. The move from baby, to toddler, child, teen and then adult are the most rapid. Then it seems like a long period when nothing much happens. You hit your 20's, 30's and 40's and not much changes. Sure if you are a professional athlete things go quicker and you lose a step or two. In that world a step or two is a big deal. Really, for the rest of us, not so much. We can lose lots of steps and no one really notices. Then the 50's roll around and we begin to sag and wrinkle. We notice things like gravity. We used to appreciate the fact it held us to the ground so we didn't float away into outer space. Now, from time to time, it grabs us and pulls us to the ground. We don't pop back up like we did a decade or two ago. Sometimes we stay down there. We try to pretend it is because we are checking things out. Truth is we are trying to determine if everything still functions. Now 60 has reared its ugly head. You listen to folks on TV and they talk about 60 being the new 40. They are lying bastards. Sixty is the new forty? What a complete line of bullshit. Really total bullshit. The sagging and wrinkles of the 50's are taking control now. Hair? Well if you have any left it probably has turned gray or white. You still have hair on your head but now it grows out of your nose and ears. When you go to the barber he has to trim your eyebrows. Since mom reads this there will be no discussion about what happens south of the belt line. Just keep in mind everything down there ages too. Aging isn't something that takes place gracefully. No one sits down to afternoon tea and all of a sudden gracefully morphs into a 60 something. Growing old is more like a slow motion car wreck. You know it is going to hit you. You know it will hurt. The results will be painful and cannot be repaired. No matter what you do it's going to happen. So, what do you do?

Youth is wasted on the young. Spend less time worrying about tomorrow and more time enjoying today. Do you care about what other people think of you? If you do, stop. Rest assured they spend less time thinking about you than you spend worrying about what they think. Take a walk, smell the flowers. Call a friend. See the sights. Love your spouse. Spoil your kids. Do a good deed every chance you get. Make a difference. Some day you will be old, if you are lucky. When you sit down at the end of the day and look back make sure you have done something (anything) that makes you happy. That gives you a feeling of accomplishment.

John said it had been 10 days without a blog post. Today's big accomplishment was getting the computer hooked back up and making it work with the internet connection here on Tybee Island. Once that was done and all the scanners and printer worked it was on to the thermostat. The new system allows it to be controlled from the internet when we are in Illinois. It is now connected to the network here as well. Old men and modern electronics are not a good combination but sometimes old men can figure this new fangled shit out just fine. Was it a big thing? No. However, at this point in life even small victories are extremely satisfying.

Johnnie and Audrey's Beauty Shop

On Wednesday we went down to John and Mandie's house to watch our granddaughters while Mandie had surgery on her arm. Johnnie and Audrey wanted to make a fashion statement with my beard. I let them brush, braid and put in all manner of hair clips for the better part of an hour. Here are the ladies posing with me at times and at times just pictures of their work.

 Audrey and her braid work.

 Johnnie Lynn can't braid so she adds clips and hair ties.

 Nothing quite says manly like having a pink heart hair clip in your beard.

 This one was the result of Audrey making three small braids and then braiding them together.

More of Johnnie's hair clip work. Hope they are both around some day when I get ready for a ride on the motorcycle. They can get me fixed up so my beard isn't blowing up in my eyes.

Why? Just Why?

This morning Pakistani Taliban militants attacked the Army Public School and College in Peshawar, Pakistan killing 132 children and 9 adults. They also wounded 121 students and 3 adults. A spokesperson for the Taliban, Mohammed Khurasani claimed responsibility for the attack saying it was retribution for the military's operations in North Waziristan where the group's fighters are based. He stated: "We targeted their kids so that they could know how it feels when they hit our kids." The response from Malala Yousafzai, the Nobel Peace Prize winner was: "Innocent children in their school have no place in horror such as this. I condemn these atrocious and cowardly acts."

It is hatred and evil beyond my ability to comprehend. I barely understand adults who are willing to kill each other over religion or any other belief system. Is being a Christian, Jew, Muslim, atheist, Republican, Democrat, Socialist, or any other religious or political belief system worth the slaughter of children? What purpose can this possibly serve? In what universe does this means justify any end? Some may wonder why I want to have as little to do with the world as possible. It is things like this. Days like today when I look to the sky above and hope for that giant asteroid. Maybe, once again, the earth needs to be virtually scrubbed free of life. Perhaps the next dominant species will have more sense. Maybe it will not be a plague upon the land like mankind is proving to be. Using up resources, polluting the oceans, seas, rivers and lakes. Destroying other species daily for no real reason.

What will be the end result of today's horror? The Taliban alleged they killed because they were being killed. That drone strikes were killing them and their children. The Prime Minister of Pakistan has promised retribution. The killing today will result in more killing. What will be the response from the other side? Retaliation and more killing. It is, and perhaps always will be, a never ending cycle. It will end when the last two face off in a death match. One will kill the other and then have no idea what to do next. Everyone is dead and there is no one left to hate. The winner can stand among the dead bodies. Maybe then true sorrow will be felt. It will be too late. The damage will be complete. The winner will find no satisfaction only hollow loneliness.

So why? Explain to me why. Why do religions that teach love your neighbor, treat others as you would hope to be treated are so often an excuse for death and cruelty? It isn't just one religion. Don't think this is limited to the Taliban. Read what Christians write in comments on Facebook and news sites that post stories about Muslims. How they should all be killed. That they somehow don't deserve to live. Hate and killing are not the answer.

Why? Just Why?

It Should NEVER Have Happened

Yesterday the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence released the Committee Study of the Central Intelligence Agency's Detention and Interrogation Program. It is being commonly referred to as the CIA Torture Report. I honestly lack the words to express my disappointment in the conduct engaged in by people representing our government. I wanted to title this along the lines that we were better than that. When you read the report it is clear we were not. If there is a difference between the United States, Cuba, Syria, Iran, North Korea, and a few other nations it is this. We have come forward and openly admitted what we have done. We have gone before the world community and acknowledged our violations of treaties and our own laws. The other countries mentioned continue to deny they utilize torture. Simply acknowledging our transgressions is not enough. We must pledge to ourselves first and then to the world community- NEVER AGAIN. We have a moral ideal we did not live up to. We can and we must do better. Make no mistake I understand the context in which this was done. We were attacked by terrorists on September 11, 2001. Over 3,000 of our citizens were murdered. We reacted. We lost sight of what separates us from almost every other country on earth. Our willingness to follow the rule of law even when others don't. Many, even now, are saying they don't care how we got the information. They don't care who we tortured or how. They don't seem to care that a government agency lied to them, to Congress and to the President. We didn't live up to our ideals. We should have and we need to. We cannot expect those who disagree with us and intend us harm to follow the rules of war when we don't. What those who are willing to tolerate and perhaps even encourage the use of torture by the United States Government fail to appreciate is the following. Torture is illegal and considered a war crime. It is banned by the Geneva Conventions, a United Nations Convention against torture ratified with the support of President Ronald Reagan and by Title 18, Part 1, Chapter 113C of the U.S. Code.

The issues go deeper. CIA officials lied about who they had in custody. They lied about what they were doing. They destroyed evidence. They tortured two of their own informants. At least 20% of those held were held wrongfully. The actions were called enhanced interrogation techniques. They were in fact torture. The acts ultimately lead to zero actionable intelligence. The information we received prior to the use of torture proved to be sufficient to capture Osama bin Laden and foil terror plots. Why is that? I don't know how you would react if you were tortured but I can tell you what I would do. I would tell you anything to get you to stop. I would make up anything you wanted to hear. Telling the truth doesn't get torture to stop because they always think you know more. So you just keep talking. Say whatever it takes to get them to stop. The United States Senate has one resident expert on torture. One Senator knows first hand how torture works and the toll it takes on the person being tortured. Senator McCain was tortured as a prisoner of war. He has repeatedly spoke out condemning the use of torture. His fellow senators need to listen to his comments. Set their opinions to the side and listen to someone who know torture on a personal level.

The bottom line for me is simple. We entered into treaties and signed the Geneva Conventions which outlaw torture. It should NEVER be a practice used by any representative of the United States Government. There is never a time or circumstance when the use of torture is appropriate. We weren't better than that, we should have been. We lost sight of our moral compass. We need to reclaim the high moral ground and lead the world correctly not as a torturing bully.

Tumbling Fun

Carol and I left Tybee Island on Saturday morning for several reasons but the number one reason was that our granddaughter Audrey had a tumbling competition in Canton on Sunday. It would be our only opportunity to see her compete while we are in Illinois.

I hope I can do this part of the story the way it deserves to be told. Audrey has often been a very shy young lady. We went to a T-ball game a couple of years ago and she was having a real problem going out in front of the crowd to hit the ball and run the bases. I went out and ran the bases with her to provide some moral support. Her parents have always done the right thing and encouraged her to participate but never in a way that added to her stress. She started T-ball so she had to finish. Good lesson, finish what you start. If she never wants to play ball again that's okay. She tried. Her Mom and Dad told us this year she wanted to be on the traveling tumbling team for All That Dance and More in Mt. Sterling. We were surprised but knew she enjoyed tumbling and was good. Sunday's competition was her second meet. We have pictures and with some explanation they will be shared. In an effort to encourage Audrey's younger sister Johnnie she assisted me by taking some of the pictures. I must also give credit to Audrey's Mom, Mandie who set up the camera so the pictures Johnnie and I took would turn out.

This is Audrey's Dad, our son John, posing for a picture taken by Johnnie.

This is my assistant photographer Johnnie Lynn.

Johnnie Lynn took this picture of Carol and I.

Audrey and her coach right before her tumbling routine.

This is one of her tumbling passes.

This is Audrey and her coach following her tumbling pass. When you have a child participating in an event this is the way you want the coach to encourage the child. I cannot say enough nice things about how the two young ladies who coach this team conduct themselves. They are consistently positive in their interactions with the children. They praise what the kids do right and explain to them the areas they need to work on. It is not done in a critical manner but to encourage them to do the best they can.

Audrey's coach posing for a picture taken by Johnnie.

This is Audrey on the awards dais with her 5th place medal. She was in a tough group of 8 year old girls. Had she been in the second group her score would have put her in 2nd place.

I forgot to rotate this before blogging and I don't want to go back and do so now. This is our granddaughter Audrey with her 5th place medal. We are so proud of her and thrilled with her accomplishments.

Total Confusion

The good news for everyone is that I have no problem telling embarrassing stories about myself. On Saturday we got up at 4:00 a.m. in Georgia, got dressed and started the drive north to Illinois. We got here about 7 p.m. dropped the dog off at the house and headed to Budde's for a beer and a great pizza. Finally hit the bed about 10:30 p.m. Jeremy is staying here and he has 3 dogs. They weren't accustomed to having anyone else in the house so they barked every time we moved during the night. Lily hadn't adjusted to the time change so when 5:00 a.m. rolled around here she was ready to get up. So it was a short night of sleep. We grocery shopped on Sunday morning, went to Audrey's tumbling meet in the afternoon and back to Budde's for a tenderloin and beer in the evening. Finally off to bed about 11:00 p.m. I was just totally exhausted. This is where the story gets stupid, or at least I do.

Sometime around 3:00 a.m. one of Jeremy's dogs comes in our bedroom. I got up and chased him out of the room and closed the door. I thought as long as I was up I would take the opportunity to use the bathroom. I closed the bedroom door and the room is pitch black. I reach to my left feeling for the bathroom door. I can't find the door handle. I open the bedroom door a crack and try to use the little bit of light coming in to locate the door handle. No luck. I reach left again and grab onto a handle and pull. It is a bi-fold door opening. In my head I'm wondering what the hell is going on. We don't have a bi-fold door on our bathroom. I shut the door, feel for the bedroom door in front of me. I reach left again apparently thinking that I will be able to grab a different door handle. When the bi-fold door opens again I determine that I don't know where the bathroom is and I don't have to pee that bad. I go back to bed and lay down trying to figure out where the bathroom is and why I can't find it. The answer was rather simple. On Tybee Island our bathroom is to the left of my side of the bed. In Illinois the bathroom door is straight ahead from the foot of the bed. So the bathroom I was looking for in my sleepy state was about 1,000 miles east of where I was standing. I had been opening the closet door in Illinois. Carol was thankful that I was at least awake enough not to pee in the closet.

Tis The Season

From time to time things happen on Tybee Island that you just have to share. This is an incident that happened at Benny's on Friday night. I wish I could have made this up but it wouldn't be as funny if I had.

Friday night was the annual Christmas bush lighting on Tybee Island. Most places have a Christmas tree. We have a bush. When I heard the folks at Benny's talking about lighting the Christmas bush many inappropriate comments came to mind. Those of you who know me personally are aware of many things I normally would have said. In a show of remarkable restraint I said nothing. For those of you who wonder here is a picture of the bush.

The Christmas bush is worthy of a comment or two. I will begin by saying our bush is classy. Many bushes have crabs. If you look closely our bush has lobsters. Classy!!! Near many (about half) bushes there are balls. Usually just a couple. Our bush has lots of balls. Beach balls actually. Multi colored balls. That's us. Lobsters and colorful balls. But that isn't what this story is about. Here is the real story.

Two of the bartenders were off duty but in the bar having a pre bush lighting adult beverage. Both of the ladies, Wanda and Joann have digital cameras and were going to go down the street to take some pictures of the bush lighting. One of the patrons, we'll call him Mark, because that is his name asked how they were going to get a good picture since it was dark out. In stories you change the names to protect the innocent. Mark didn't get his name changed so figure it out. Wanda told him that it didn't matter because they could use Photoshop to fix any problems with the pictures. It lead to this classic exchange.

Mark: "Do you remember that gal I dated recently?"

Patron 1: "Do you mean the fat one?"

Mark: "No not her."

Wanda: "Was it the one with no teeth?"

Mark: (In a somewhat dejected tone.) "No not that one either."

Patron 2: "Was it the skinny boney one?"

Mark: "Yeah, that's her. She was really thin."

Wanda: "Wasn't she the one who stole your money?"

Mark: (In an even more dejected tone.) "Yeah, that's her. She didn't look anything like her picture on the dating web site. Can you do that with Photoshop?"

Mark, instead of asking about Photoshop directly, has decided to unintentionally drag us through his recent dating history. My initial thought was that he should try a different dating site. The more I thought about it though it occurred to me he has almost hit the redneck dating daily double. If the skinny girl or the fat girl had been toothless he would have doubled his score. In a bit of bad luck, had the skinny gal been toothless since she stole his money she would have scored a rare redneck trifecta. If there is a lesson to be learned here I wonder if it might be this. Don't beat around the Christmas bush when you have a question, just get directly to what you want to know. Additionally, it appears that internet dating is a questionable endeavor.

Once Again into the Fray

I've blogged in the past about gun control. I've received a mixed response. Some support and some criticism. I spent a good deal of today wondering about this post. What did I want to say? What point could I possibly make that would matter? I decided it wasn't important if it mattered to anyone but me. I will once again state tonight we have to do something. The number of guns, gun related deaths, the economic and social damage guns have created must be addressed. I'm tired of the stupid arguments. You know, "if guns are outlawed only outlaws will have guns" and "from my cold, dead hands". Really? That's the best you can do. It seems to me our gutless politicians missed an opportunity after 20 school children were murdered at Sandy Hook. There are, as there are with every disaster, those who deny Sandy Hook even happened. The simple truth is that those people are retarded. Saying that makes me feel like I owe mentally challenged people an apology. The people who deny Sandy Hook are the reason many people should not be allowed to own guns. The problem isn't with American citizens or with our constitution. It is with the folks in Washington, D.C. that we elect to the House and Senate. They are no longer concerned with what needs to be done. They are only concerned with being reelected. Doing something about guns and gun violence would threaten their precious government position. Can't have that. They must keep that job. So, nothing is going to change except me.

Part of what bothered me today was the series of pictures I am posting below. My problem is that there have been so many shootings I can't remember which one cost this father his son. I just remember he was the only one in recent memory that stared into the camera and said it had to stop. No more! As a father I felt his pain. I understood his loss. I could picture myself in his shoes. My mouth saying the words he said. My anguish laid bare in every word. It is a loss I don't think I could bear.

I own guns. Yes, plural. Guns. The more I think about it the more I feel like I'm part of the problem. Would my life be complete if I didn't own a gun? Yes. Do I need one to protect my home and family? Not really. I wouldn't shoot anyone under any circumstance. Do I hunt? Not any more. Do I need a gun? No. So maybe Congress can't solve the problem. Maybe my actions will be nothing more than ill advised symbolism. I don't care. I can't continue to be part of the problem until I start being part of the solution. As for me and my house- we will be gun free. The insanity has to stop and it can't until we start to act.

Because It Feels Good

Why do people do what they do? In the simplest terms because it in some way benefits them. Perhaps it is a jaded view of mankind. In many ways harsh. In every day life in every way people do what they do because in some manner it suits their purpose at the time.

You and another person pull up to stop signs at an intersection at the same time. The law indicates you should yield to the car to your right. The person driving the car to your right waves for you to proceed even though the right of ways is technically theirs. What is the benefit to that person? It was a simple act of kindness and you could reasonably question if they received any benefits at all. In my jaded, harsh universe the benefit is clear. They performed a small act of kindness that realistically
cost them nothing. They get to sit in their car thinking that they are "nice". They get a feeling of satisfaction from their simple act. It, in that small way, was a benefit to them. It happens to each of us a thousand times a day. We act the way we act because it gives us something. We gain something. When we act in our own interest and it hurts someone else we feel bad. Well, at least we should. Those bad feelings are a benefit to us because they make us realize we don't like feeling that way.

There are lots of people out there who worry about doing good and going to heaven when they die. They worry about doing bad things and fear going to hell if they do wrong. It really doesn't matter. It seems to me this quote says it best.

  Isn't really that simple. We feel good when we do good things and we feel bad when we do bad things. Why not choose good? Why waste our time and effort worrying about the things that tend to divide us? We have a common humanity. We have a need to live together somehow in this world. At the end of the day kindness toward each other will do more to heal our differences than all the laws ever written. When we love our fellow man and realize none of us has an exclusive grasp on what is "true and just". None of us can claim to know the path to heaven if there is one. We have this life. We have now. What we do to make things better begins with kindness. If our fellow man is hungry we need to see that he is fed. If he is naked, that he is clothed. If he is sick, that he receives care. It doesn't (or shouldn't) matter if he is Christian, Jew, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, white, black, red, yellow, brown, straight, gay, bisexual, republican, democrat, communist, socialist, or any of hundreds of other ways we separate ourselves into groups. We are, all of us, human. Deserving of the kindness of our fellow man. We need to do better. We can do better.

It starts with me. It starts with you, too. We can make a difference. One small step at a time. When we do good we feel better. When we feel better about ourselves we treat our fellow man better. Then our fellow man feels better and he does good. It is not like ripples in a pond that fade as they move away from the initial action. It is more like a fission reaction. One good act creates two. Two good acts create four. Four good acts create eight. Eight good acts create sixteen. Kindness, love and mercy create a place where more is possible. So, in a good way, go out and act in your own self interest. You can change the world, one kind act at a time.

Happy Man

Sometimes when you go shopping on the internet you find things you weren't looking for. Today I was looking for Tervis water glasses on Amazon. It was an attempt to look for a bargain where there wasn't one. Why in the hell is a plastic water cup almost $20.00? Anyway as you scroll down the page you come across this item.

This is the "Happy Man". You might reasonably wonder as I did what this item has to do with plastic water cups. The second question might be why his equipment seems so out of proportion to his body? Third, what the hell is this thing for? It is the Happy Man Bottle Stopper. Really? Show me more!!!!

Not to be too insensitive but I don't think I want to drink out of that or any other bottle the "Happy Man" has filled with his "stopper". What else do you suppose the inventors of this fabulous product brought to market?

It would be "Sir Perky Wine Corkscrew".

It is products like these that help me remember my slogan.

"When you make something idiot proof, someone, somewhere will develop a better idiot."

Separation

There are many who would argue there is a war on Christmas and that Christians in the United States are being persecuted. Their position on both issues is incorrect.

It is important to go back to the beginning. Not of the Universe or the world but of the United States constitution. The first amendment states the following.

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof'; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

The first amendment passed the House and Senate with almost no debate. This has complicated what the intent of the amendment was. Thomas Jefferson wrote the following in 1802 regarding the first amendment.

"Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between Man & his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legitimate powers of government reach actions only, & not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should "make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof," thus building a wall of separation between Church & State. Adhering to this expression of the supreme will of the nation in behalf of the rights of conscience, I shall see with sincere satisfaction the progress of those sentiments which tend to restore to man all his natural rights, convinced he has no natural right in opposition to his social duties."

The Supreme Court used the words Jefferson wrote to determine that Congress was deprived of all legislative power over religious opinion. It was left free to act only on those religious actions which were in violation of social duties or subversive of good order. Simply put Congress could make a law that human sacrifice was illegal since it was a violation of social duty and subversive to good order. In 1947 Justice Hugo Black writing for the majority in the case of Everson b. Board of Education stated the following.

"The "establishment of religion" clause of the First Amendment means at least this: Neither a state nor the Federal Government can set up a church. Neither can pass laws which aid one religion, aid all religions, or prefer one religion to another... in the words of Jefferson, the [First Amendment] clause against establishment of religion by law was intended to erect a wall of separation between church and State.... That wall must be kept high and impregnable. We could not approve the slightest breach."

In 1984 the city of Pawtucket, Rhode Island argued that it had a right to fund religious Christmas displays using taxpayer money. The five conservative members of the Supreme Court agreed that the First Amendment did not forbid the city from funding religious displays. Chief Justice Warren Burger wrote that the image of Christ in a manger was "a celebration of a public holiday with traditional symbols" and served a "legitimate secular purposes." So the door separating Church and State started to swing open.

In 1989 the city of Pittsburgh place religious displays including a Hanukkah menorah and a nativity scene in the Allegheny County Courthouse. The Supreme Court ruled the nativity scene endorsed Christianity because an angel held a banner which declared "Gloria in Excelsis Deo" (Glory to God in the Highest) The nativity scene was large and near the grand staircase of the courthouse. The menorah didn't unconstitutionally endorse religion because it was outside the courthouse near a Christmas tree and a sign saluting liberty. The menorah was determined by the Court to be a celebration of the winter holiday season which has attained secular status in our society. The message given in this case was that government can allow and even finance religious displays on government property as long as they don't appear to be favoring one religion over another. Most units of government assumed they retained the right to refuse any religious display that strayed to far from what they considered decent. Then another case came along.

Rosenberger v. University of Virginia which dealt with a student who wanted UVA to give him money to print Christian magazines. The state university refused stating its rules forbade it from funding sectarian publications. The Supreme Court's five conservative members ruled the decision by UVA violated the student's free speech rights. When UVA decided to start funding student publications like newspapers and magazines the Court held the University had to fund all publications regardless of the content. It basically states the following. If the state opens a forum for a certain category of expression it doesn't get to choose who can express themselves or how they get to express themselves even if that expression conveys offensive ideas in an odious manner the state cannot censor it.

That brings us full circle to this. The Satanic Temple wants to place a display in the Florida State Capitol building. It started with the state allowing a Christian group to erect a nativity scene that clearly endorses Christianity. Given the decision in Rosenberger now the door is open to all groups. An atheist group hung a banner about the winter solstice celebrating the Bill of Rights and freedom from religion. Another atheist built a Festivus pole made of beer cans and the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster added a small pile of holy noodles in the capitol's hall. The Satanic Temple wants to erect a display featuring an angel falling into a pit of fire but officials turned it down claiming it was grossly offensive. The final nail in the coffin of separation of church and state involves the recent Hobby Lobby decision regarding birth control. The Supreme Court considered claims of Christians who claimed they believed IUDs cause abortions. Science says they do not but the five conservative justices refused to consider the plaintiff's sincerity simply taking it on faith that their protestations were genuine. In so doing the Court may have stripped itself of the ability to question's plaintiff's beliefs unless they want to flagrantly favor Christian plaintiffs.

So there is no war on Christians or on Christmas. The Christian community and the conservative members of the Supreme Court attempted to give preferential treatment to Christian groups and in so doing have opened the door to any group who wants to make a display where a Christian one is allowed. The United States was not created as a "Christian" nation. It was created as a nation where a person's religious beliefs were as Jefferson wrote "a matter which lies solely between Man & his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship". Those religious displays, approved by religious conservatives have opened a door which the founders of this country intended to remain forever closed.

Thanksgiving 2014

We celebrated our first Thanksgiving on Tybee Island. Here are just a few of my thoughts on Thanksgiving in general.

This has become my favorite Thanksgiving tradition. Our granddaughter Johnnie Lynn hanging out with her Uncle Beau after the meal.

Seems like Americans were more generous and forgiving back then.

I think we've all been there.