Reflections of An Uncommon Common Man

John Locke I want to respond to Scott Broden's rambling letter on how swearing oaths under God is a sin and his distorted view of the 1st Amendment. One can make a valid biblical argument against swearing oaths but I believe that whether we swear to an oath of office or pledge allegiance to the flag is not a deal breaker in ones Christian faith. Having the proper understanding of God's plan of salvation or not is the deal breaker in my view. Everything else is working out our own salvation. In John Locke's 2nd Treatise of Government he teaches us that each citizen must give either his direct or tacit consent to whatever form of government that they decide to live under. The Founding Fathers and the citizens that were alive at the time of the Constitution gave their direct consent. Succeeding generations that were not alive at the founding have given their tacit consent. Swearing oaths of office for politicians and all others who say the Pledge of Allegiance are just two...

Grave of Maria Anna Shicklgruber Alois Hitler Alois Hitler / Father of Adolph Hitler   Anna Maria Shicklgruber was an Austrian woman that was born in 1795 and died in 1847. In 1837 when she was 42 Maria gave birth to an illegitimate son named Alois. It is believed by historians that Alois father was Johann Georg Hiedler but that can't be proven. Johann married Anna when she was 47. Johann did not give Alois his last name Hiedler so he went by his mothers last name of Shicklgruber. After Maria died in 1847 Johann disappeared until June 6, 1876 when he reappeared to testify before a notary that Alois real name was Alois Hitler. Johann had changed his name from Hiedler to Hitler and he was 84 years old. He gave Alois his last name so Alois could claim part of an inheritance from an uncle or this is one of several stories on how Alois changed his name to Hitler. Alois would eventually marry Klara Polzl who was his third wife and half niece. He had to have special permi...

  Occasionally I will hear a PSA on radio about bullying and by the time it is finished I am usually pretty annoyed. I can't remember exactly how it goes but it runs something like this. It uses the voices of various male and female children. Today I learned a lot in school. I learned that I am fat, I am ugly, that I smell, that I am disgusting etcetera, etcetera. Then the commercial ends with a child saying the only thing I didn't learn in school today is why no one helps. I always want to tell the kids in this commercial to quit your whining, buy a helmet and suck it up buttercup. I learned this lesson the hard way, no one can end bullying but you. Not your parents, your teachers, or the school principal. You have to learn how to stand up to a bully on your own. When you get a job and work in the real world is your boss going to be able to protect you from a co-worker who is a bully? What if your boss is a bully?   I grew up a spoiled and sheltered child. My mother tau...

  Today is Martin Luther King day and yes King is one of my heroes. King should be a hero to everyone, whether you are on the left or right. Many white people, especially those who lived when King was alive believe that he was just a troublemaker or an agitator. What I try to explain to these people, whenever I come across them, is that he was exactly the opposite of that. There were plenty of real troublemakers out there. H. Rap Brown and Stokely Carmichael, just to name a few who really were agitators and they literally wanted to burn this country down. They were competing with King for the hearts and minds of black people. King was preaching a strategy of change based on the philosophies of Jesus, Thoreau and Ghandi. I can testify to the fact that change was needed having grown up in the South. Black's lived like second class citizens. The irony is that there are real agitators out there today like Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, and many others that will not acknowledge the rea...

    Margaret Sanger was born on September 14, 1879 in Corning New York. She founded Planned Parenthood in October 1916. That organization performs more abortions in this country today than any other abortion service. She was arrested for promoting birth control after founding Planned Parenthood, which was illegal then and spent 30 days in jail. Sanger began travelling all over the country promoting birth control and she supported the Supreme Court decision Buck vs. Bell which allowed the states to forcibly sterilize people considered unfit without their consent or knowledge. This American Supreme Court decision would serve as the defense for Nazi war criminals at Nuremberg. They were doctors applying Sangers methods and many were found not guilty using this defense. In 1939 she began what was called " the Negro Project." using black leaders such as W.E.B. DuBois, Mary McCleod and Adam Clayton Powell. This was a plan to have black doctors perform sterilizations on black...

  For me Christmastime was magical growing up in Nashville during the 1950's and early 1960's. There were no malls and the vast majority of Christmas shopping was done downtown. Downtown Nashville was a madhouse with thousands of shoppers walking the streets. I loved the sights, smells and sounds of Christmas. Church Street was the epicenter of activity as well as 4th and 5th Avenue. There were stores like Castner-Knott, Harvey's, W.T. Grant's, Cain-Sloan, Woolworth's, Kress 5&10. I loved the Christmas lights and Nashville was aglow with them. The movie "A Christmas Story" reminds me of what Christmas was like in Nashville. As in the movie the Christmas parade was held at night. The route was from west to east down Church Street. My father's drugstore was at 17th and Charlotte. Our favorite place to watch the parade was in front of what was then Taystee Bread Co. at 17th and Church. My favorite department store was Harvey's. We looked f...

My Five Greatest Presidents In American History 1. George Washington 2. Abraham Lincoln 3. Franklin Roosevelt 4. Harry Truman 5. Ronald Reagan George Washington GEORGE WASHINGTON   Occasionally I read where historians, or some other know it all, ranks their greatest presidents or their worst. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion and you are entitled to mine. I say, I say, that's a joke son. It always amazes me how some historians will rank Lincoln as first in the greatest category or somewhere near the top but leave Washington out altogether. Even worse is when I see Bill Clinton ranked as one of our greatest. This usually happens when the average person is asked to rank the presidents that they think are the greatest in popular opinion polls. I can respect someone if they think that Lincoln was greater than Washington but Lincoln or Washington or Washington or Lincoln should always be in the top two spots. Washington in my opinion, is in the number one spot f...