Thoughts Before The Alarm Sounds

     . . . now it's official. We beat out 923 other towns in the contest sponsored by Budget Travel. So what is it about Lititz that makes it so cool? Wilbur Chocolate – Wilbur Buds are the very best chocolate candy available. Sturgis Pretzels – Hand-made pretzels. Think it's easy to twist a pretzel? Stop by the factory and give it a try. Unique shops – Within a five block area over 70 shops, with products ranging from antiques to unique foods, display not only their wares, but also a “Miracle On 34th Street” attitude. If one doesn't have what you want, the proprietor will suggest a competitor who just might be able to satisfy your request. Outdoor Farmers' Market – From spring through fall over 20 booths display the finest local produce. You can be sure that everything is fresh. 4th of July Celebration – 2012 marked the 195th consecutive celebration of our nation's birth with a parade, daylong performances in beautiful Lititz Springs Park, and a fireworks displ...

An unusual story has appeared in the local newspaper during the last couple of weeks. While not unprecedented, it is unusual, and although it's not fumy, it is difficult to avoid making some macabre jokes. But I'll try. It all started with a Sunday News story on January 27. The family of a man who died the previous month was having a hard time getting his death certificate and ashes from the mortuary. His obit had not appeared, so his mother had it printed at her own expense. The certificate and ashes finally turned up three weeks later. Other similar stories turned up – loss of ashes, obits not printed, Social Security not notified, etc. In one case a family ordered one large urn and four small ones for their loved one's ashes. Finally the large urn arrived, but the small ones remained on backorder. When the family went to pick up the large urn, the funeral director waved a baggy with the remaining ashes at them, and asked if they wanted him to keep them until the oth...

      It seems that predicting the future is a thriving industry. Forecasters of doomsdays, fiscal cliffs, etc. as well as numerous seers who can predict one's love life, financial success, you name it, are a dime a dozen. I wish I had the ability to write one's horoscope; my financial future would be assured. Oh wait, that requires the gift of BS - not ESP.      But I digress. The industry goes back thousands of years; the magi who sought the Christ child were astrologers. (Traditionally there were three of them, but the Bible doesn't mention the actual number.) And that was the start of the segment of “prophets” that I am getting very tired of hearing from: those who predict the complete disintegration of society because we have “kicked God out of our schools.”      Face it, folks, we did not kick God out of our schools . As I understand it, God is everywhere that we are. According to Psalm 139, “. . . if I descend into hel...

     Almost buried in the coverage of the atrocity committed in Newtown, Connecticut, was another story of an act of “rage”: An attack on three elderly Mennonite ladies in nearby Clay, Pennsylvania.      A young man posing as an insurance salesman gained admission to the residence occupied by three sisters who ranged in age from 84 to 90. Once inside, he donned a mask, and assaulted the ladies with a stun gun; he also punched, slapped and kicked them over a two-hour period.      During his rampage he indicated that he had been a Mennonite, although people who knew him said that he never was a member of that faith. He also read from the Bible, and vandalized the one belonging to the ladies.      Finally he spread a variety of household chemicals – bleach, vinegar, pesticides, etc. - throughout the house, and left the ladies tied up. Had it not been for a relative who stopped in four hours later, they might ...

      A recent newspaper story out of San Antonio tells of a 15-year-old student who is fighting her school district's “locator” chip embedded in her student ID badge. According to her, the chip is a “mark of the beast” as described in the Bible's Book of Revelation. This “mark” is a combination of letters and symbols that will be physically and permanently placed on one's forehead or right hand, indicating that the bearer is a follower of “the beast.” There will be severe penalties for refusing the mark and great rewards for getting it. Among other things “. . . no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name."      Within the church itself, the Book of Revelation has had many different interpretations, ranging from a condemnation of the Roman Empire, an allegory of the ongoing fight between good and evil, or a forecast of the “end times.”      Throughout the ages...

There are three dates that stand out in the memories of those of us who were born before 1930: December 7, 1941; November 22, 1963 and September 11, 2001. Most of us can remember exactly where we were and what we were doing when we heard the horrible news of the events that happened on those days. Today is the 71st anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attack. The following reminiscence of my personal experience may not mean anything to my younger readers, but it is important to me. It is a fearful thing to lead this great peaceful people into war, into the most terrible and disastrous of all wars, civilization itself seeming to be in the balance. But the right is more precious than peace, and we shall fight for the things which we have always carried nearest our hearts-for democracy. WOODROW WILSON ****** T he first Sunday in December was warm for the season. Our family had planned for it to be a special day, but little did we know just how specia...

     Thursday's Lancaster Intelligencer Journal headlined a story “Break Bread Together?” about a nearby restaurant, Prudhomme's, which offers a discount to customers who present a “current church bulletin.” A local member of the Freedom From Religion Foundation filed a complaint with the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission, claiming discrimination against non-Christians. The parties received notification of the Commission's ruling during Thanksgiving week.      The ruling stated that discounts must be given to bulletin holders “from any group oriented around the subject of religious faith.” Note that the word “church” has been eliminated. Because atheists are considered by the Federal Courts to have a religious creed, the ruling covers them.      At first reading it seems like a reasonable ruling, and it appears likely that no problems will be encountered in the Lancaster County geographic area. But if it is extended to ...

     I am beginning to think that high schools and colleges have discontinued the teaching of science, particularly to Congresspersons. Especially in the Republican Party, a complete lack of scientific education appears to be a requirement for membership. And it's a damned shame, because the world economy runs on scientific knowledge, and to make vital economic decisions on the basis of superstition or lack of knowledge is like driving a horse and buggy in the Indianapolis 500. Here are a few cases in point:      A perfect example is the recent comment by Representative Todd Akin, the Republican Senate nominee from Missouri. “It seems to me, from what I understand from doctors, that’s really rare,” Rep. Akin said of pregnancies from rape. “If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.”      I presume that “legitimate” rape is the situation in which the victim is physically forced to...

There is no question that schools have changed over the years; some changes are positive, some are negative. Here are a few examples: When I was in second grade, I had a teacher who believed it was her duty to indoctrinate students into Christianity. She offered a Bible to any student who could memorize twenty verses. People who know me today will find it hard to believe that I received a Bible with my twenty verses underlined in red. (I myself find it hard to believe.) I am sure there were no non-Christian families in the Sporting Hill School area, so there were no objections. But can you imagine anything like that happening today? Americans United for Separation of Church and State would be all over the school board, the teacher and anyone else connected with the school district. Parents on both sides of the issue would be upset, and rightly so. Religion is not the territory of the schools. Our technology consisted of pencil, paper and a blackboard. Today ...

I n June, 2010, I was having a problem with my right leg, and the doctor's diagnosis indicated that it was caused by a pinched nerve in my back. Consequently, it was determined that I needed a laminectomy, an operation to remove a small piece of bone in order to relieve the pressure on the nerve. A s far as the operation was concerned, everything went well, but for some reason my bladder stopped operating. It was never determined whether it was due to the procedure or the anesthetic, but in any event I had to learn to use a catheter. The function gradually improved over a three week period, which pretty much coincided with the length of time it took for me to become reasonably adept at performing this rather personal procedure. One does not use a catheter without a lubricant, normally a water-based compound such as K-Y Jelly, so off I went to the pharmacy. To my surprise I discovered that lubrication is only one of the characteristics available in this product. (You must rem...

     One of our biggest military heroes, General David Petraeus, has been caught with his literal pants down! Perhaps I am being naive, but I cannot understand how anyone, particularly a high-ranking government official, can get involved in sexual hanky-panky, and think he can get away with it. What would make Petraeus betray us? (OK, so they can't all be great.)      I am reminded of the story of a little dog who was crossing the railroad tracks when a train came along and cut off his tail. When he turned around to look at it, another train came along and cut off his head. But he was not the first dog to lose his head over a piece of tail. Think of John Kennedy, Bill Clinton and John Edwards.      With cell phones as ubiquitous as potato chips, privacy is a thing of the past in today's society.      But when one is in a position of power or fame, thinking with the wrong head poses an even greater danger. ...

     Now that the election is over we will no longer be inundated by all those political commercials; instead we will be swamped by holiday commercials. But it is also a good opportunity to forge a consensus of we instead of us vs. them . After all, are we not all Americans?      In spite of the fact that we have different opinions on many matters, when I looked out on the morning of November 7, the sun had risen, birds were singing, people were going to work (at least many of them), and the world had not ended overnight.      Later that morning I attended the monthly breakfast of my high school graduating class, what few of us that are still here, and heard statements such as, “There's not much I can do about it,” and “I'm not sure the country can last for the next four years.”      Come on guys, what the hell do you think is going to happen? Is the country going to slide into the sea? Oh, I forgot, the ...

     (1) Large is small. According to the GOP definition, any business, e.g., a partnership or a Limited Liability Company, that passes its net income through to its owners for inclusion on their personal federal income tax returns is a small business. There is no limit to the amount of income such a company can earn! For example, privately owned companies Cargill and Koch Industries each had over $100B in revenues in 2011, yet qualify as small businesses under the GOP's definition!      While agreeing in principle that the tax code needs revision, the Democratic Party would limit the definition of small business to one that has a net income not exceeding $250,000. While that figure may be a bit low, it certainly makes more sense than basing it on how the paperwork is set up.      (2) The estate tax is killing small business. Through 2012, there is no estate tax on estates not exceeding $5M in value. Unless Congress extends...

     Now don't get me wrong – I think good manners are important. I also think they boil down to treating each other with civility, which means respect and politeness. You know, like we treat others who are members of “our” political party.      We all know that we should treat everyone like that, but with those thick-headed members of the “other” party, we are like the child who came home from his first day of kindergarten.      When his mother asked what he learned today, he said, “I learned to say 'yes sir' and 'no sir' and 'yes mam' and 'no mam.'      The mother said, “You did?”      “Yeah,” was his answer.      But after reading an article in this morning's newspaper, I am convinced that good manners can be, shall we say, overdone? The article, Follow these manners to a tea , lists some tips on the “correct” way to drink tea, at least in public.   ...

     Probably the most common “secret” questions by which an online account user's identity is supposed to be verified are:      What is your mother's maiden name?      What was the name of your first elementary school?      Where did you meet your spouse?       And in these days where everything is available on the world wide web, what is secret about them? Anyone with half an ounce of computer knowledge can often get the answers in a few minutes.      Recently I called my bank and asked to submit new answers to my secret questions, and was told that once one has the answers established, they cannot be changed. How can your mother's maiden name be different from what it was when you originally submitted it?      Of course, it isn't different, but that does not mean that one can't change the answer to the question. What difference does it mak...

     A few days ago I posted a blog in which I called one of the presidential candidates a hypocrite, and presented an argument which I thought justified the appellation. A short time letter one of my Facebook friends unfriended me. This is fine – he has as much right to do that as I have to express my opinion.      We do not know each other except through Facebook, but I sincerely hope that if we did, we would display what is becoming a rare faculty these days: disagreeing and yet remaining friends.      The Bible says: “. . . unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” I am not an expert on the kingdom of heaven, but the statement sounds like good advice in the personal relations field. I have seen children fight as if they meant to kill each other, and an hour later they were again best friends.      The choice today seems to be between friendship and ...

     In a September 25th speech at Education Nation, Mitt Romney said: “The largest contributors to the Democratic Party are teachers' unions. And so, if they can elect someone, then that person is supposed to be representing the public vis-a-vis the teachers' union, but actually most of the money came from the teachers' union. It's an extraordinary conflict of interest. That's something I think is a problem and should be addressed.” He added later, “We simply can't have a setting where the teachers' unions are able to contribute tens of millions of dollars to the campaigns of politicians and then those politicians, when elected, stand across from them at the bargaining table.”      Romney has a point – according to Open Secrets, the American Federation of Teachers and the National Education Association contributed about $5.4M to federal candidates, parties and committees during the 2008 election cycle. About 95% of the contributions went to Dem...

According to the non-partisan Tax Policy Center, 93% of the non-taxpaying freeloading Americans earn $50K or less, 5% earn between $50K and $100K, and the remaining 430,000 nonpayers earn more than $100K per year. The last group includes about 4,000 households with annual incomes in excess of $1M. In spite of what Mr. Romney said, I doubt that all of these “government dependent” people are going to vote for Mr. Obama. But lately there have been signs that the group of people which the GOP considers unworthy of consideration is much larger than the 47% group. For example, in honor of the Labor Day holiday, Eric Cantor, the house majority leader, sent out the following Tweet: “Today, we celebrate those who have taken a risk, worked hard, built a business and earned their own success.” This would come as a surprise to Matthew Maguire, who first proposed the holiday in 1882 while serving as the secretary of the Central Labor Union of New York, or Peter J. McGuire of the American...

Let's pretend that you are the sole proprietor of a small business – one that employs 15 or 20 people. Suppose you manufacture two products: shirts and widgets. Both lines are selling very well - your bottom line nets out to about $100K, on which you pay about $15K in income tax after deductions. Now the government, in its relentless pursuit of job creation, lowers your taxes to $13K. How many new employees will you hire with that extra $2,000? (A no-brainer.) Suddenly your sales of shirts drop 50% because your competitors have outsourced their production to India; do you keep all the employees in the shirt production line, or do you lay some of them off? (Another no-brainer.) Your accountant tells you that the government will give you a hefty allowance if you install automated equipment (made in China) that will enable you to compete. In fact, you will need even less employees than you have now! Do you buy the new equipment? (This is almost too simple.) Suddenly a ne...

I have just finished watching Clint Eastwood's speech to the Republican National Convention for the umpteenth time, and since just about everyone else has already sounded off on the matter, I have decided it is now my turn. Although as a liberal I am expected to disagree with everything Clint said, there are a few things with which I agree. For example, I think it would be a good idea to end the adventure in Afghanistan. Our objective was to get Osama bin Laden, and we have done so. As Clint said, we should have consulted the Russians on the problems of stabilizing that country – if we had, we would have left when we got Osama. It is not as if we are fighting for the security of the United States; it is extremely doubtful that the Afghans would attack us if we left. The rest of the world knows the tribal situation in Afghanistan, and is laughing at our stupidity. Clint also mentioned that some of us in Obama's own party are disappointed that the economic problems of ...