The people's voice of reason
The people's voice of reason
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A Month to re-evaluate our society! Family Life ~ Health & Wellness ~ Our Faith ~ Commitments ~ Safety for our children! Teaching children that friendships are not a right and must be earned. The short and long-term consequences of being a bully. Teaching children ways to be a good friend. The importance of forgiveness, and how parents, teachers and guardians can act as role models. "The bully's point of view."...
Thomas Jefferson once wrote, “To compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical.” This simple principle explains why I have fought alongside fellow pro-life colleagues for years to prohibit federal funding from going to organizations that perform abortions, including Planned Parenthood. Not everyone is pro-life like I am, but those who are should not be forced to have their tax dollars fund an org...
Article III, Section I of the Unites States says, “The judicial Power of the United States, shall be vested in one supreme Court, and in such inferior Courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish.” Because the supreme law of the land is vested in the United States Supreme Court, lets look at some cases since 2000. In 2000, in Boy Scouts of America et al. v. Dale, 530 U.S. 640, a five to four vote stated essentially that, “the presence of that person affects in a signi...
Okay, I get it. I really do. The Syrian refugee crisis is a tragedy on a monumental scale. The picture of the dead child on the beach, the long lines, barbed wire fences and all the scenes reminiscent of the worst of WWII movies and documentaries, all work to pull and tear at our collective heart strings. But as with almost any story, there is always more than meets the eye. It is a little difficult writing about this but alas, I feel the need to. Before someone reading this opines that I am a...
I must begin with great delight in wishing the Alabama Gazette a very blessed Sweet Sixteen Anniversary as she remains a courageous “Voice of Reason” in our State. I honored to be a Gazette writer for a third of those years. Again I ask forgiveness from all those who write/tell me they do not agree. I do not write seeking agreement, but to advance thinking as charged by the moniker Loretta assigned my column in 2009. One of many lessons I’ve learned from Jesus’ teachings is those struggl...
This column will focus on the privatization of dispute resolution in arbitration. Congress enacted The Federal Arbitration Act that required arbitration in all matters involving interstate commerce where there was an arbitration agreement many years ago. In the 1980's the United States Supreme Court upheld that legislation. Since that time there has been extensive privatization of a very large amount dispute resolution. With rare exception Court proceedings are public proceedings, but arbitratio...
Many topics will dominate this presidential election cycle, yet nothing stirs emotions on either side quite like the national discussion on immigration. But this issue is hardly a new one as our Founding Fathers were debating it during the early years of our Republic. Our Founders were scholarly and visionary men, and their careful deliberation of the issue of immigration is still relevant today because our national identity remains at state. As much as our Founders embraced the idea of...
It's that time of year when the weather's finally cooled off a little, the leaves are making a mess of the yard, and deer season has started again. On October 15th, the Northern Zone of Alabama began its bow season. And on the 25th, the Southern Zone, including Montgomery County, will start its bow season. As I've mentioned before, there's more than a few changes that have been made for deer season this year. Obviously, we've got the change in starting date between zones. Another big change is...
The top teams in my "Top Forty" started the 2015 season well. Alabama smoked Wisconsin 35-17, Auburn got up 24-0 on Louisville then had to hang on as Bobby Petrino's team came roaring back. Ohio St. dug the hole a little deeper for Frank Beamer's Virginia Tech, 42-24. TCU handled Minnesota on the road 23-17. Georgia did a number on La-Monroe, 51-14. UCLA treated Virginia gingerly, 34-16. USC busted Arkansas St., 55-6 only to lose to Stanford two weeks later 41-31. Baylor started their...
In sports, there are always times when a player can get sidelined by a situation that they can not control, like an injury. There are also times when players get sidelined for reasons beyond sports. That is what happened to star Kansas City Chiefs Safety and former Tennessee star, Eric Berry. His NFL career was almost ended prematurely. After suffering from a high ankle sprain in the 2nd week of the 2014 season, Berry played four more games starting on November 2nd against the New York Jets....
The wolverine is the mascot for the University of Michigan's football team and Michigan's state mammal. Wolverines look something like a mixture of a dog, a skunk, and a bear with short legs, long hair, and elongated snouts. Wolverines also have a distinctive mask of dark fur around their eyes and forehead, and a stripe of blond or ivory fur that runs from each shoulder to the base of the animal's tail. Wolverines are the largest of the weasel family. They are normally 26 to 34 inches from head...
October 7, 2015: In 1986 Richard Shelby was a 50-year-old congressman from Tuscaloosa. He was elected to congress eight years earlier, after two successful four-year terms in the Alabama State Senate. However, Shelby was ready to move up again. He was planning to run for the United States Senate. Shelby had never lost a political race. He was six for six in races to represent his beloved Tuscaloosa and the people of West Alabama. He was a conservative Democrat, who had a stellar conservative...
In my last article, I explained the failures and consequences of welfare programs for the so-called “poor” or “less fortunate” members of society. But there are also various welfare programs, mostly state and local, for the rich corporate giants. They are frequently touted as “economic development” or “economic incentives.” These come in various forms—outright grants, land, site development, roads, tax breaks, and various other freebies. Alabama is no exception. Practically everybody who doe...
Coping with day-to-day stressors such as marriage, kids, work, finances, and life in general, is an important topic to examine. We all go through some type of struggle in our lives. I think the key is to remember that how we respond to those stressors has an impact on what happens next. Most of us tend to focus on what we cannot do and not what we can do. By that I mean, we focus on how horrible the situation is-how we will not be able to get through the problem. We tend to have a negative...
ALL IS NOT WELL IN AMERICA. The enemy is targeting Christianity, and is doing so through attacking political and religious liberty. Pastors and chaplains are threatened, even chaplains at prison systems where they are so badly needed. Crosses are removed as "offensive." Such a thing would have been unthinkable when I was a child. Public schools have not only removed the teaching of the Bible as absolute moral Truth, but are redefining gender, if you can comprehend such a thing. Some are even...
I missed International Bacon Day, which is observed on the Saturday before Labor Day. I don’t remember what I was doing that day, but since it was a Saturday, I was probably eating bacon anyway. So, I won’t miss a time to celebrate eating something again, I downloaded a food celebration calendar. This comes in handy if you don’t know what to fix for a meal. Just look at the calendar and your menu is set. A side note is that everybody and his or hers uncle can declare a day as a Celebrate (Food...
As we prepare to celebrate Christmas 2015, it might serve us well to recall a previous Christmas, one that occurred in 1777, at Valley Forge, Pa. The men who were seeking to break free of the British Crown and form their own--free--nation huddled in the snow there fearing that their Valliant effort might be for naught. The general who was desperately trying to lead our shivering, rag-tag band of patriots to freedom from the tyranny of King George III, George Washington, went on to lead them,...
If you handle the finances of someone who receives benefits from Social Security, or you know someone who may need help managing his or her benefits, you may want to consider applying to be a representative payee. A representative payee is someone who receives Social Security or Supplemental Security Income (SSI) payments on behalf of a person not capable of managing the funds on his or her own. A representative payee makes sure an individual’s basic needs are met by using the money to p...
Hoorah for fall, as it is now upon us. When we think of fall, we visualize strong color. Our garden color scheme can be jazzed up with yellows, golds, purples, and oranges through several plants other than mums. Find purple in lantana, along with yellows and gold. Lantanas do well in the fall and have few requirements besides sun and are drought resistant. Just plant, water in really well, add a tad of fertilizer and watch them take off. Marigolds, both the dwarf and tall size, have a rich...
Animals gather under different and sometimes unusual names. There is the gaggle of geese, or the pride of lions. Many have heard of the herd of elephants or the covey of quail. Not quite so familiar to the reader might be a lounge of lizards or a smack of jellyfish. But what do you call a gathering of Eagles? The Tukabatchee Council of the Boy Scouts of America held its annual Convocation of Eagles Tuesday, September 15th at Trinity Presbyterian Church. The event recognizes those young men who...
Although the election of a new President for this great country is just over a year away, the pushing, shoving, and promoting of candidates is well under way. This fall we will see a number of political debates from candidates in both parties. While few of us find pleasure in the give and take of politics, it is a time of testing to find the ones who will become the candidates from which we select our leader. My real concern in writing this article is that the Christian community does not get...
Bob Harrington, the former "Chaplain of Bourbon Street," preached one night and advertised his sermon title in the local newspaper: "Three Places Where There's No Problem With Racism." This was in the civil rights era and our nation was fixated on this problem. Hundreds came that night to hear Harrington. He touched on his announced theme only in the first paragraph of his sermon: "The three places where there's no problem with racism are heaven, hell, and the heart of a Christian." Then Harring...
Fall. It is a season that reminds us of endings. Once thriving leaves now drop from their branches bursting with color, but dying. Beautiful summer flowers have lost their grandeur. Colder temperatures flow in and bright, long days full of sunshine move out. We are inundated with change. We are regularly reminded of our helplessness to stop the flow of God’s creation. We are caught between summer and winter in the fleeting uniqueness of autumn. Though the season brings its own joy with f...
MCSO Mobile App The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office has launched an app called “MCSO Mobile”. You can install the app on your phone directly from your app store. It is compatible with apple or Android phones. This new innovation will give you “breaking news” as news happens in and around the community. You can also check to see if someone is in the County Jail, has an active warrant, or if someone is a registered sex offender. You get all the latest and greatest news from the Sheriff’s...