On Oct. 23 this year, at 6 a.m. Eastern time, the vast majority of America was sleeping snugly in warm, dry beds. But in Jacksonville, N.C., a group of 120 or so people gathered in misting rain to pay homage to deceased men who had been their sons, fathers, brothers, husbands, comrades-in-arms, relatives or friends.

November has finally arrived and many in Fayette County are scratching their heads wondering who to vote for in the upcoming election.

In my hometown there is a monument that stands strong and proud in the center of the lovely town square. It is a soldier who, somewhere long back in time, folks took to calling “Ol’ Joe.”

Just in time for Halloween comes House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel — henceforth known as Count Rangula — with a bill that would suck more blood from the American taxpayers.

The temperature lodged in the 90s and dropped only about 10 degrees after dark.

Humidity was for all intents and purposes nonexistent.

The upcoming Thanksgiving season prompts me to stop and count my blessings, and many of my blessings are not so much possessions as they are people who have touched my life in a special way. I was reflecting this week about attending Ruth Hinchey’s funeral back in July, and about the impact she and her husband Roy had on my life.

Am I imagining it or is television becoming even more family unfriendly? For years now, primetime television fare has offered a steady diet of comedies that depend on sexual innuendo and situations for laughs, crime dramas that make the world seem like it’s filled with sadistic predators and perverts, often within our own homes, and cable “news” programs that spend as much time dissecting the bizarre antics of this week’s celebrity bad girl (or boy) as they do covering real news.

Are we in a recession?

Half of Americans think so, at least according to the new CNN opinion poll. The poll helpfully described the recession as “marked by a significant decline in economic activity.” But what the CNN article describing the poll doesn’t tell is that our economy is nowhere near a recession.

New York Times columnist John Tierney recently offered a materialist version of “intelligent design”: All of us are actually characters in a computer simulation devised by some technologically advanced future civilization.

‘Tis the season. It seems it’s the best of times and the worst of time every couple of years leading up to the time when residents are called on to go to the polls and cast their votes in local elections. Residents casting their votes ensures the continuation of the representative democracy that forms the method of governance adopted by this nation more than 200 years ago. Unfortunately, the majority of citizens rarely ever bother casting a vote. For their part, and being largely forthright and honest, most candidates vying for votes usually get their names, faces and messages to voters through a variety of conventional methods.

WASHINGTON — Rep. Rahm Emanuel, the House Democratic Caucus chairman, dissented from Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s support of a resolution condemning the 92-year-old Armenian genocide that has proved to be the big blunder of her tenure.

MANCHESTER, N.H. — Every presidential nominee in choosing his (or her) vice presidential running mate follows either micro-politics or macro-politics.

It’s not as it was with President Nixon. The thought of Nixon is impossible except under the shadow of Watergate, which would have meant impeachment and probable conviction.

In an era where serious news of war and terrorism is punctuated by leading ministers and senators unraveled by homosexual urges, a study of gays seeking to be straight should captivate those curious about the mysteries of sexual orientation.

In early August, members of the Witherspoon Society, a “progressive” religious advocacy group affiliated with the Presbyterian Church USA, attended the “Ghost Ranch Week of Peace” in rural New Mexico.

In early August, members of the Witherspoon Society, a “progressive” religious advocacy group affiliated with the Presbyterian Church USA, attended the “Ghost Ranch Week of Peace” in rural New Mexico.

As Professor Robert Schmuhl reminds us, since 1952, seven of the 14 presidential elections have been won by sitting presidents or by the incumbent vice president (George H.W. Bush), and in the other seven, the winners included: a former general (Dwight Eisenhower), a former vice president (Richard Nixon), two former governors (Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan), two sitting governors (Bill Clinton and George W. Bush) and only one sitting senator (John F. Kennedy).

Living in 21st-century America is about — so I gather, from living there — leaving behind the awful memories of exploitative acts perpetrated by the old white male ruling caste and, from here on, incorporating into our lives and loves ... Barack Obama? Hillary Clinton? Barney Frank?

One stares in dumb amazement at the war front because, incredibly, front-page news in the past few days has had to do with what did or did not happen almost a hundred years ago. More exactly, what should what happened a hundred years ago be called?

New York Times columnist John Tierney recently offered a materialist version of “intelligent design”: All of us are actually characters in a computer simulation devised by some technologically advanced future civilization.

Are we in a recession?

Half of Americans think so, at least according to the new CNN opinion poll. The poll helpfully described the recession as “marked by a significant decline in economic activity.” But what the CNN article describing the poll doesn’t tell is that our economy is nowhere near a recession.

Am I imagining it or is television becoming even more family unfriendly? For years now, primetime television fare has offered a steady diet of comedies that depend on sexual innuendo and situations for laughs, crime dramas that make the world seem like it’s filled with sadistic predators and perverts, often within our own homes, and cable “news” programs that spend as much time dissecting the bizarre antics of this week’s celebrity bad girl (or boy) as they do covering real news.

Reese Witherspoon can’t be pleased with the performance of her new movie “Rendition.” It is a colossal bomb and will disappear as quickly as one of the movie’s characters, courtesy of the evil CIA, of course.

This weekend the growing, dynamic city of Jacksonville, Fla., will host what is crudely called “The World’s Largest Cocktail Party.”

WASHINGTON — National anti-abortion leaders Wednesday put finishing touches on a letter to be sent to all members of Congress urging suspension of more than $300 million in federal funding of Planned Parenthood until a massive criminal case brought in Kansas against the abortion rights organization is settled. That launches an attack against the nation’s largest purveyor of “reproductive health care” — including abortions.

I had fully intended to give you a nice column filled with goodies from the Pike County Courthouse on the family of Beverly Byrom of Pike County. Beverly was the older brother of James Byram whose family was featured in a series of columns several months ago. Beverly lived and died in Pike but many of his descendants lived in the area served by Bethel United Methodist Church on Luther Bailey Road in Coweta. Last week, I had answered a message on the Rootsweb message board from Heather Byrom Hannah who was inquiring about the Byram book and said she was related to the Coweta Byrams. I had not studied the Pike County Byrams and really wanted the opportunity to do so. I could still connect this family to mine through the other Byrams and then through the Tidwells.

I read an article this week in “Sharing the Practice,” the journal of the Academy of Parish Clergy, of which I am a member. The title of the article was “Driving on Empty.” It hit home.