Back to civilian life…

After 14 months, the 25 nurses of the 803rd were rotated back to the States and Lt. Baer’s next assignment was a war bond drive in the form of an air show throughout the western states.

As the hyperventilating over Barack Obama’s election subsides, along with disbelief this could happen in America, maybe a white conservative man like me can finally say a few things.

The debut of President Barack Obama has left many people skeptical about his willingness to confront those who would ignore his lofty standards or plunder the treasury.

Last week, the General Assembly convened for days 25, 26 and 27 of the legislative session. We are rapidly approaching Day 30, known as “Cross-Over Day” which is the last day that bills originating from the House and Senate can pass out of their respective bodies and be heard by the other body this session. Last week we considered some important measures on the floor and in committee.

I love small-town newspapers. I’m all for hometown journalism that is the core of communities and the heart of their citizens.

In Deuteronomy 18:15-22, God, through Moses, gives God’s word to the people that they will need a new prophet — one like Moses himself, who speaks the words God puts in his mouth. The Israelites wonder, however, how they can tell whether or not a prophet is truly speaking God’s word. God replies, through Moses, that they can tell whether it’s God’s word by whether or not the word spoken comes true.

I was writing a postcard earlier this week to a young lady who is enduring boot camp in the United States Navy at the Great Lakes Naval Training Center in the frigid and wind-swept area near Chicago.

Last Sunday morning at 11 o’clock the first snowflake started to fall. Even though I had been raised better, I wasn’t prepared.

Feeling somewhat uneasy about their carefree lives in war time, the flight attendants listened to a legendary military man:

Traffic infractions are criminal violations. To be convicted of a crime, a person must be found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

Edward R. Murrow, journalistic hero, a man willing to take on the biggest names in government, defending the American public from dishonest dealers, said, “The obscure we see eventually. The completely obvious, it seems, takes longer.”

Last week, the legislature convened for legislative days 22, 23 and 24. With the session now well past the halfway point, the legislature is moving at a rapid pace. The House passed several important bills this week, including the mid-year budget adjustment for 2009 and an important education related measure.

It was an interesting brief I saw in a newspaper industry bulletin the other day. A reporter from one of the South’s largest newspapers won the top prize from the Society of Professional Obituary Writers Awards.

That’s right. It’s not just for AA any more, and never was. Read on.

In fact, The Serenity Prayer, as we know it, was only shortened and adopted by the good people of AA after its original use.

Several weeks ago, the Rev. Mark Anthony, senior pastor of Trinity Fellowship Assembly of God, called and asked if I would be willing to teach a portion of a class for seniors at Trinity Christian School. I would be one of many local pastors who were being invited to teach and share.

When the stock market is receding to the levels of a decade ago, and no one agrees on what to do, the coming of the season of penitence might seem easy enough to overlook. Or, relevant enough to engage every fiber of mind and body and spirit.

There’s been a lot of talk lately about peanuts, most of it concerning salmonella. Being born and raised in this peanut state, I take great offense to it. It’s time to set the record straight – it’s time to fight back! This is war! Those little peanuts can’t defend themselves; it’s up to all of us.

An increasing number of recent letters and emails from readers strike a note, not only of unhappiness with the way things are going in our society, but a note of despair.

Attorney General Eric Holder said the United States is “a nation of cowards” when it comes to race relations.

In one sense, he is absolutely right. Many whites, from university administrators and professors, schoolteachers to employers and public officials accept behavior from black people that they wouldn’t begin to accept from whites.

NOTE: This was the first part of a Fayette Woman Magazine cover story that appeared in September 2003. Miss Essie died Feb.12, 2009, at 90.

I am encouraged to see the people of Fayette County speaking up on a number of issues, voicing their dismay of shady projects like the big box center on Ga. Highway 54 West and the developer-friendly West Fayetteville Bypass, protesting the faulty fiscal judgment of the local City Council and the Board of Education.

To serve and to protect is the acknowledged mission of all the police departments who display it on their police cars. Frankly, it should be the mission of all the branches of government, including the judicial branch. Sadly for us in Georgia, consumer protection is a priority for neither our legislators nor, it seems, our judges.

This past week, the Georgia General Assembly convened its fifth week of session. Last year, I wrote a great deal about my concern over the way the Georgia Department of Transportation conducts its business. I strongly believe that the DOT, as much as any agency of state government, needs to be reformed in a way that ensures Georgia’s taxpayer dollars are being spent efficiently.

Mandatory to my mama’s generation was the ownership of a deep freezer and a sewing machine. These, remember, were people who believed in self-reliance and independence. You grew what you ate, you froze or canned it and you sewed what you wore.

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 have received during my years of ministry and via email for this column.

“Bush Boom Continues” trilled the headline over the Lawrence Kudlow column, as George W. Bush closed out his seventh year in office.

The Associated Press reported recently that Clifford Cornell has returned from Canada. Cornell, a soldier in the United States Army, fled to Canada in 2005 as his unit was preparing to deploy to Iraq. It is likely that Cornell would still be in Canada except for the fact that Canada was apparently about to deport him. Cornell faces possible charges of “desertion” and imprisonment for his actions.

It’s rare to criticize a politician for being all action and no talk, but that’s one of the big things that’s wrong with Obama’s battle against the economic crisis.

Just for beans, I Googled “free enterprise,” then clicked on “news.” Results: 11,303. Tried the same thing with “private business.” This time: 131,097. Ah, but “news” with “federal government” as the search item: 272,332.

Misplaced, missing, or just lost — they all meant the same thing that fateful night back at 110 Flamingo Street. It was the worst whooping I ever got from my dad.