Straight From The Hart

I have attended church Christmas programs for nigh on to sixty-five years. I”m older than that but wasn’t taken to church until I was in grade school. However, once I started the habit of attending church every week, I never stopped until my health issues became so bad I couldn’t go. Christmas programs were always pretty much the same, because the churches we attended were fairly small congregations. There were no fancy choirs with satiny robes, no magnificent organs, no brass ensembles. But there was always a piano and sometimes a guitar. The program usually started with everybody singing “Joy To The World” and very few singers would have known who Handel was even if they had noticed his name at the top of the music in the hymn book. Throughout the program we would sing “It Came Upon A Midnight Clear” and “O Come Let Us Adore Him” and other favorite carols. “O Little Town of Bethlehem” was usually used as the call to prayer because of the beautiful lyric “O Holy C

My column from today's paper. President Obama’s speech on Sunday night elicited a plethora of responses running the gamut from highly critical to enthusiastic approval. We are a nation in crisis, and Presidents have historically called forth the best from the citizenry in times like these. A crisis is an event that occurs suddenly, heightens tensions, induces stress, and when occuring in a political environment where stakes are high, there may be little time to decide, with decision-makers under intense pressure to perform in an atmosphere of uncertainty. According to U.S. History.org, “The Constitutional power as "Commander in Chief" has evolved into the very important modern role of "crisis manager." In the 20th century, as the United States gained world leadership powers, the President has become a key player in international crises. In the case of war or even regional conflicts, the President must go into "emergency mode" and concentrate on

Years ago Art Linkletter wrote a best selling book entitled “Kids Say The Darndest Things”. I’ve thought about that this week, except that I am tweaking his title for my column this week to read that “Politicians Say The Dumbest Things”. Let’s start at the top of the chain. The president made a statement this week that those men and women who are recruited for ISIS are “disaffected individuals”. Disaffected? The word means someone who is resentful of authority, dissatisfied with their government. When taken in the context of the rest of the president’s speech that day, I see why it is so easy for him to dismiss them. He does not see them as evil butchers of fellow human beings, but just as resentful people who will eventually grow up and settle down and we just need to give them time to sow their wild oats, so to speak. Maybe help them out financially to bolster their self esteem. Speaking to more reporters on Thursday the President said “The idea that somehow (Syrian

Here's a fairly recent one, written just a year ago. I definitely seem to favor the Fall season as a poetry theme when you look through my whole portfolio. The Painter of The Leaves He’s the God of all Creation He’s the maker of the rain His voice resounds like thunder His touch relieves our pain. His strength renews us daily He clothes us with His love The seasons are HIs wardrobe From heaven’s closets above His music created by songbirds The pattern of life He weaves But most of all He's an artist The Painter of the leaves. He chooses HIs colors carefully And from HIs palette retrieves The reds and golds of autumn He’s the Painter of the leaves When October turns into November And the doubter wants to believe It always helps to remember That He’s the Painter of the leaves. And should we ever wander And our spirit starts to grieve When life has lost its color He’s still the Painter of the leaves. Written by Joan Rowden Hart October 31, 2014

Here is a poem I wrote 8 years ago and it turned out to be rather prescient. At the time I was a pastor and wrote this poem for my people. Now I am rarely able even to go to church and I hope others have me on their prayer list. THE CHURCH'S PRAYER LIST I see your name each Sunday on the prayer list; I know your pain seems more than you can bear; I wonder if you know how much we miss you; How very much we wish you could be there. I tuck the Sunday prayer list in my Bible. I check it every day before I pray. It’s hard sometimes to understand God’s workings Especially when things don’t go our way. But He is in control, He never leaves us; He’s promised to sustain us all our days; And as you’ve testified, He keeps His promise And in the midst of pain you sing His praise. So as I pray for you MY faith grows stronger; It’s in God’s plan that we should bring your need Into the throne room of His gracious presence As at His feet we bow and humbly plead. That we woul

My opinion column as published in today's newspaper. CELEBRATE ABORTION? In 1956 pro-abortion activist and feminist Gloria Steinem had an abortion. It was a decision she celebrated at the time and continues to celebrate. On April 19, 2012, T-shirts were on sale at the University of North Carolina Wilmington with a picture of a smiling Steinem wearing a shirt with the words “I had an abortion. Do you really need to inconvenience yourself for the next 18 years?” Several years ago in Humboldt County, California, Planned Parenthood held a 40 day prayer vigil for abortion. They used a prayer guide found on Planned Parenthood.org which encourages pro-abortion supporters to offer prayers of thanks for abortion providers and the “sacred care” they provide. Each day, Planned Parenthood suggested a prayer, for example: “We give thanks for the doctors who provide quality abortion care. We pray for a cloud of gentleness to surround every abortion facility. We pray for all the staff at ab

My column which appeared in today's paper, a day late due to not feeling well Tuesday. KERRY'S FAMILY TREE When Secretary of State John Kerry was photographed in November 2013 in Geneva shaking hands with his Iranian counterpart Mohammed Javed Zarif at the beginning of the Iranian nuclear negotiations only a handful of people in the entire world knew that this was not the first time these two men had met. They were introduced in 2004 by George Soros, a billionaire and political king-maker who has bankrolled many liberal politicians and causes over the years. Soros had invested thousands of dollars in Kerry’s failed presidential bid in 2004, and was looking for a way to recoup at least some of that money by using Kerry to work with Zarif to resolve outstanding issues between the U.S. and Iran in the making since 2003 under the name “Grand Bargain”. At the time he introduced the two men, Zarif was the Ambassador to the United Nations from the Islamic Republic of Iran, and S

If you are a gun owner who receives a Social Security disability check from the U.S. Treasury but you have chosen, for whatever reason, to have someone help you manage your finances, whether you are just forgetful or not good at keeping your checkbook balanced, and have asked for help from a family member or another fiduciary, the Obama administration has a plan in the works to take your guns away from you. The Executive Order is part of the President’s plan to strengthen gun control after the shooting incident at Sandy Hook elementary school in 2012, when twenty school children were massacred by a young man from the community. The plan, which is among 23 executive orders issued by the President to the Department of Justice, could affect millions whose disability payments are handled by others in an effort to bring the Social Security Administration into line with laws that prevent gun sales to felons, drug addicts, illegal immigrants and others. It is consistent with Surgeon G

My column from today's paper. I know I complain sometimes about LDR but that's only because I want it to be good. But aside from that I am such a believer in small town newspapers, I think they are very important.**************** Some people, it is said, are born with a silver spoon in their mouth. That was not me. But I had something better. I was born with a pen in one hand and a newspaper in the other. I cannot remember when I have not loved newspapers. Once I had mastered a few words from “Dick and Jane” in the first grade reading books at the country school in Washington District where I began my education under the able tutelage of Mrs. Ruth Garrett, I knew I had found my calling to become a lifelong reader. I found an old newspaper in the farmhouse where I lived. I don’t remember much about those early days of my life but I remember that newspaper and I”m sure it was the first one I ever saw. It was a rarity in our home, and books were not readily available either.

My column from today's LDR: President Obama admitted this week that he has no strategy for dealing with ISIS. That means he never has had a strategy for dealing with them, he’s just been leading us on. In the meantime, the membership of ISIS continues to grow, crushing everything that gets in their way, whether it be cities or historic monuments or people. The number of fighters in the ranks of ISIS as of this time is all over the place, ranging from the CIA’s estimate of 31,500 to Kurdish president Massoud Barzani’s estimate of 200,000. Obama keeps passing the buck to the Pentagon, but Pentagon spokesmen say they are waiting on the president. And rightly so. I guess it’s my Bible study training from my years as a pastor, but I always go back to the origins of words to get an accurate meaning. “Strategy” in the Greek language means “the art of being a troop leader; the office of general or commander, and refers to a high level plan of achieving one or more goals under conditions

The United States Army’s Special Operation Command (USASOC) will begin a two month multi-state military exercise in several states in the Southwest, including Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, Colorado, and California. The actual number and list of states has changed from time to time. The operation will begin on July 15 and continue through September 15, and will be conducted by members of USASOC and service members from the Green Berets, Navy SEALS, Air Force Special Operation troops, Marines Special Operation troops, and conventional army infantry. Approximately 1200 troops will be participating. The exercise, known as Jade Helm 15, will take place primarily in Texas because it requires large areas of undeveloped land as well as access to towns. Texas also possesses the kind of “unique terrain” in which soldiers operating overseas might find themselves, according to the USASOC. The public can expect nothing much different from their day-to-day activities since much of

Here is my column from LDR today. If you have been watching Fox News this afternoon you will have to admit I am really timely today. THE MINNESOTA CONNECTION Federal officials arrested six men over the weekend and charged them with conspiring to provide material support to a designated terrorist organization. Four of the young men, ranging in age from 19 to 21 were arrested in Minneapolis and two more were detained in San Diego where they had driven to buy fake passports. They had hoped to cross into Mexico and continue to Syria from there. These men were among several dozen Americans who have traveled or tried to travel to Syria to join ISIS in recent months. The Americans arrested so far have been a diverse group, with ages ranging from early teens to late forties, including many women, and have either been converts to Islam or children from Muslim immigrant families. About 100 Americans are being tracked by the FBI because of their travels to Syria. Lauri B Regan, writing in the

Here are some recent news stories you might have missed among all the larger controversies in the news. Last week a small group of students calling themselves the Associated Students of University of California, Irvine, passed a Resolution banning national flags from display on the campus because the flags “serve as symbols of patriotism or weapons for nationalism.” They went on to say the flags “also construct cultural mythologies and narratives that in turn charge nationalistic sentiments” whatever that means. Other ridiculous statements made by those opposed to flying our flag included statements that the American flag has been flown in times of “colonialism and imperialism” and could symbolize American “exceptionalism and superiority”. Well, I should hope so. Our flag was flown by our colonies after winning a war against the imperialism of England. And as for symbolizing American exceptionalism and superiority, that’s exactly why we fly it. We are an exceptional country

Here is my column as it appeared in today"s LDR: In his eulogy for Missouri State Auditor Thomas Schweich on March 3, Senator John Danforth looked out over the large crowd attending the funeral service, which included many politicians, and stated bluntly, “Politics as it now exists must end. We are fed up.” Earlier in the eulogy, Danforth, who had been Schweich’s mentor, blamed the auditors’ death on ”a low point in politics that have gone so hideously wrong”. He was referring to the rumors and innuendos that had been swirling around the halls of the State Capitol Building in Jefferson City for weeks that Schweich was a Jew and therefore could not win a gubernatorial election. Schweich had become very disturbed about what he called a “whispering campaign” to that effect, including an anonymous third-party TV commercial that mocked the Auditor, who had recently announced his candidacy for the office of Governor of Missouri. Schweich died of an apparently self-inflicted gunshot

We were having some problems with our television earlier this week. When I turned it on, I could detect a faint odor. After checking the obvious - wiring, electrical plug-ins, and so on, I conducted a more in-depth investigation because the odor was getting stronger and more offensive every time I turned it on. Then I noticed something really interesting. I was only smelling it when the news came on and it dawned on me that the odor became more obnoxious when Hillary Clinton appeared on my screen. Kind of a fishy smell, you know? So I guess you know by now where I”m coming from. Have you all been keeping up with this story? It’s only the latest in a series of Clinton scandals over the past thirty years, but this one is really big. And no, I’m not talking about the painting of Bill Clinton hanging in the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery in Washington and depicting a shadow of Monica Lewinsky’s famous blue dress on the mantel against which Bill is leaning. But t

Lois Lerner’s long-lost emails turned up this week, about 32,000 of them. The committee investigating her involvement in the IRS scandal had made numerous requests for them and the IRS director had testified under oath that they were irretrievably lost, and could never be found. Even the hard drive had been destroyed. And her Blackberry phone which she used to conduct business was also broken. Strange. But not nearly as strange as how this story began in the first place. It was the closing session of the annual meeting of the American Bar Association’s tax section on May 14, 2013. The meeting room at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Washington, D.C. was filled with lawyers. Lois Lerner, Director of the IRS’ tax-exempt organizations division, had just finished her prepared remarks when she was asked a question from the floor. The questioner was Celia Roady, one of the tax lawyers in attendance. Her question surprised everyone there. She said she had heard there were some concerns

My column this weekend. "More Questions Than Opinions" I usually use this column to express my opinions. This week I have nothing but questions. Why isn’t there more of an outcry and an outspoken sense of anger about what is happening to America? Many of us are outraged but why don’t our neighbors and family members sense the urgency or see the danger approaching? During my years as a pastor, I often used the story of the Titanic as an illustration in sermons and I read every book I could find about that tragedy - a tragedy that should never have happened. Why did the passengers and crew ignore the many warnings on that fateful night of April 15, 1912? Why were the people so complacent in believing that the captain and crew were doing their job and watching out for them? Why were they neglectful about having lifeboats at the ready and crew members trained to use them? Sometimes I feel like I’m standing on the deck of the American Titanic and that we are quickly go

Have you seen the insurance commercial on television where the actor says “Did you know that words can really hurt you?” Then a western “loner” rides off into the sunset leaving his lady at the ranch when suddenly the words “The End” appear on the screen and the “loner” rides into the words which apparently knock him off his horse to the ground. Silly, right? But not nearly as silly as some of the words, phrases and statements we hear uttered on the television screen every day by supposedly sophisticated and educated people. I have collected politicians’ words and phrases for years now. Marie Harf, spokeswoman for the State Department, who is always good for a few laughs, outdid herself this week. When asked how many ISIS terrorists we were killing, she admitted we were killing some but went on to say we can’t “kill ourselves out of this war”. Her solution was to provide jobs for them. She said any 17 year old ISIS warrior would probably be much more interested in st