Like pigs waiting in line to get their snouts in the feeding trough come many of the nation’s governors — on the heels of the mayors — asking Washington for bailout money.

Publisher’s Weekly, an industry trade publication for the book publishing industry, is always full of interesting tidbits. Annually, it publishes the number of books sold for each title that sold over 100,000 copies in one year. I am always interested to see how these numbers shape up.

It was that quiet time when the light begins to dim, and the sunset splashes one more banner across the western sky. With a few ounces of wine and twilight to loosen the memories, Dave started talking about his childhood, and Christmas time. He speaks of being a boy in St. Petersburg, Florida, and of parents struggling to hold a family together during the war years.

“Our family’s great! I like my family!”

By far the greatest asset existent here in our Fayette community is simply “the family”... including your family. Of all the assets and resources among us, when one studies and analyzes our demographics and community dynamics, it’s “the family” that rises to the top of both the benefit and priority list. And like any other “greatest asset,” of course, we need and want to protect and improve it. We must.

I usually do a column at the beginning of each year thanking our columnists and contributors who have helped make the Citizen’s religion pages informative and helpful. I will do that next week because I have another mission this week — thanking two considerate people who helped a frightened and upset senior citizen (me) out of what could have been a dangerous situation last month.

Here’s a quiz my daughter Jean passed on to me years ago. I wish I could credit someone for it, but I’ve never known where it came from. It’s at least 20 years old which means that those of us who have lived through the last two decades should come up with lots of 21st century puzzles.

“How fortunate for leaders that men do not think.”

This sickening, but often correct, piece of political wisdom is attributed to Adolph Hitler. But, of course, such words would never have been uttered by the leaders of the American society during its 200-plus-year history. Our revered leaders in whom “We the people” put so much trust could never, would never, regardless their party affiliation, think such things. Or did they?

January brings a new year and another session of the Georgia General Assembly. I wish January would also usher in an era of political integrity.

Now, I’ve been telling y’all for a few years about the importance of eating your black-eyed peas and collard greens on New Year’s Day and how by doing so, you’ll have more money in the coming year.

Answers to your questions about life, religion and the Bible

Pastors get some of the most interesting questions from people they meet and people in their congregations. Here are a few that I’ve gotten in my ministry over the years and via email for this column.

For years now, as Christmas approaches, I have seen buttons and signs proclaiming, “Jesus is the reason of the season.” Recently, I passed by a church and the sign outside admonished passersby to “Keep Christ in Christmas.”

The whole, absolute point of Christmas is to rise above the things we think we can’t do without, endearing and tasty as they seem, like department store jollity and good things to eat.

This is the last newspaper column this year and perhaps the last column from me – ever.

By the time you read this, I will have had shoulder surgery. Even though the doctor said it’s just a routine operation, it’s not his shoulder. He may have done a thousand of them, but for me this is my first one. So, if I’m not here next week, then you know what happened.

With both Barack Obama’s supporters and the media looking forward to the new administration’s policies being similar to President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s policies during the 1930s depression, it may be useful to look at just what those policies were and — more important — what their consequences were.

Americans have been rope-a-doped into believing that global warming is going to destroy our planet.

Scientists who have been skeptical about manmade global warming have been called traitors or handmaidens of big oil.

The run-up to Christmas can be daunting. You and I are celebrating Christmas Eve when you read this. In “real” time, I’m writing last Thursday night in a Wal-Mart parking lot in Gastonia, NC.

“And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed.

Every year, the local kindergartners sing, “He knows if you’ve been bad or good, so be good for goodness sake!” So, what is going to be in some of our stockings this year?

Brandon heaved the massive bottom portion of the now famous amber-colored Christmas tree over his shoulder and came staggering quickly down the stairs, trying to make it down without dropping it.

Several years back, old Kris Kringle gave me an exclusive interview. It was one of many highlights of my career and he was a perfect gentleman — charming, funny, thought-provoking and every bit the legend I expected.

Examples of faith abound at this time of year. There is the faith children put in Santa Claus to bring them stuff that magically no one seems to have paid for. Call it a “bailout” for kids.

When I was a child, Christmas was the best time of the year. And what made it so exciting was that everyone seemed to join in the fun. There was a Santa in every store, songs like “Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer” played on the radio, and people generally acknowledged that the day had special meaning because of the Christ Child — thus the reason for the Christmas season.

Have you heard about the merry Christmas ladies? Five ladies in Niles, Ohio, are spreading the message of Merry Christmas. For the second year in a row, they’ve raised money to rent billboards. Last year, they were able to secure four billboards with the messages that read: “I miss hearing you say Merry Christmas” and “Why Have You Stopped Saying Merry Christmas?” Each was signed Jesus.

“GOP to Detroit: Drop Dead!”

So may have read the headline last week, had not President Bush stepped in to save GM, Ford and Chrysler, which Senate Republicans had just voted to send to the knacker’s yard.

The other morning was a perfect morning, especially for a pastor at a very hectic time of the year.

I awoke early, slipped out of bed, and went to the basement. We have a finished basement that, except for the absence of a kitchen, is somewhat like a small apartment.

There was one teacher at Briarwood High School, home of the Mighty Buccaneers, that was disliked more than any other. That teacher was Mr. Mikers, the math teacher. So when I drew the short straw at registration my senior year and ended up in his class, I knew it wasn’t going to be fun.

Good books are especially good to give as gifts to the proverbial “man who has everything” because he (or she) may not have heard of a new book that fits their interests.

Congress is on a spending binge. With all the calls for bailouts, economic stimulus and other assorted handouts, there is a real risk of inflation in our future.

My parents were grown folks when the Great Depression hit the United States in 1929. In fact, it was during that awful decade that they met, married, and had two children.

In the 11 educational articles I wrote for The Citizen in the weeks preceding the November school SPLOST vote in Fayette County, I pretty much explained how local sales tax is collected in Georgia. I certainly made it clear that the state of Georgia keeps 1 percent of our local sales tax and the merchants get another one-half of 1 percent.