Mountain Views News          Saturday, February 14, 2015

15

OPINION 

Mountain Views-News Saturday, February 14, 2015 

RICH Johnson


Mountain 
Views

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Susan Henderson

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Dean Lee 

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Joan Schmidt

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LaQuetta Shamblee

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John Aveny 

CONTRIBUTORS

CoCo Lasalle

Chris Leclerc

Bob Eklund

Howard Hays

Paul Carpenter

Kim Clymer-Kelley

Christopher Nyerges

Peter Dills 

Dr. Tina Paul

Rich Johnson

Merri Jill Finstrom

Lori Koop

Rev. James Snyder

Tina Paul

Mary Carney

Katie Hopkins

Deanne Davis

Despina Arouzman

Greg Welborn

Renee Quenell

Ben Show

Sean Kayden

Marc Garlett

OUT TO PASTOR 

A Weekly Religion Column by Rev. James Snyder


COINS OF THE REALM

What’s in your wallet? Probably not a lot of coins. Interesting 
to note that the first general circulation of paper money by the 
federal government didn’t happen until 1861. They became 
known as “greenbacks” because of their color. I guess the 
color stuck. Paper money sure came in handy. Imagine having 
only coins when you pulled into the Sears parking lot to buy a 
refrigerator. Now that I think of it I wonder if paper money is 
legal? Under Article I of the U.S. Constitution, Section 8 it says: “…Congress shall 
have the power to coin money…” It says nothing about printing paper money. I’ll 
have to look into that. Another conspiracy with which to deal.

 The earliest coins in the world were probably from the 11th Century BC in 
China. The earliest coins in western history were from Greece around 700 BC. 
The Romans got into coinage early on as well probably beginning around 300 BC. 
At first those of us in the west used hammers and anvils to bang out coins, while 
the Chinese cast their coins. By the way, the study of currency and coins is called 
numismatics. Remember that for the test.

 Anyway, back to the future. There are four primary mints in the country. Can 
you name them? Philadelphia is numero uno. Then the Denver Mint, San Francisco 
and the West Point Mint, named so as it is close some American landmark whose 
name escapes me. Coins have a letter, a mint mark on them identifying them with 
where they were issued. Can you guess what letter coins made in Philadelphia 
bear? If you said “P” you are right. “D” was for Denver, “S” was for San Francisco, 
and “W” was for West Point. As Carl Sagan might have said, “Billions and billions 
of coins are produced every year at these mints”.

 What I found particularly interesting was a list of obsolete US coins. Did you 
know we offered the following at various times in our history?

Half cent (up to 1857)

Steel cent (1943 cause copper was used up in the war)

Two-cent and three-cent piece (up to 1873)

Half dime (up to 1873)

Twenty cent piece (up to 1878)\

Gold dollar (up to 1889)

Quarter eagle ($2.50) (up to 1929)

Three-dollar piece (up to 1889)

Half eagle ($5.00) 

Eagle ($10.00)

Double eagle ($20.00) (up to the 1930s) (2009)

Half-union ($50.00) (1877 and 1915)

 Well, now that we are so much more educated on money, I’m going to go out and 
see if I can find some. Have a good week!

A BOX OF VALENTINE CHOCOLATES 
NEVER MISSES ITS TARGET

I spent a few very profitable hours searching for a special box of Valentine 
chocolates. After all, that special person in my life deserves all the time I can 
spare in choosing the right box of chocolate.

 I’m not sure who came up with the idea of giving your “Sweetheart” a box of chocolates on Valentine’s 
Day, but I would like to shake his hand sometime. Of all the gizmos, doodads and gimmicks in the wide 
world, this one tops them all.

 It took me a long time to uncover this mystery of romance. As a young husband, I thought chocolate 
was simply a piece of candy. Never in my wildest dreams did I ever imagine that one piece of chocolate 
could solve so many problems in life.

 I do not claim to understand it myself. I do not need to know how, in order to use it to my advantage. 
Therefore, when it comes to a box of Valentine chocolates I do not need to know why it works or how it 
works, only that it works.

 Buying a box of chocolate on Valentine’s Day can cover a multitude of sins and trespasses committed 
during the past year. Thus, my investment in a box of chocolate once a year pays rich and creamy 
dividends. It is a small price to pay for a year’s worth of faux pas, mistakes and rolled up socks under 
the bed.

 That infamous day when I met, what later became the Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage, at a church 
altar reciting those words “I do,” was the beginning of my life. Whoever thought that two words, just 
three letters, could make such an impact upon a person’s life?

 Of course, at the time I was too naïve and inexperienced in women-lore to understand that attached 
to those two little words, “I do,” came the dreaded “honey-do-list.” Only a bride, coached by her mother, 
understands the import of the whole scenario.

 Like every husband to be before me, I stood at the altar looking goofy, wearing an insufferable smile 
thinking all was well with the world. Little did I know that when I said, “I do,” it was done. I have 
learned all the phases; do, did, done. And when I said, “I do,” I was done.

 I must admit that the first years were quite a learning experience, especially for me. I do not think 
being a husband is natural. It is something you have learned all by yourself. And, it is nothing that 
fathers and sons talk about. Father passes on to their sons an appreciation for sports, knowing what 
team to root for and an appreciation for good hard work and doing your best.

 The only thing a father can pass on to his son concerning understanding women is this little bit of 
wisdom; “Son, nobody has ever figured out women.” This may be why God created Adam before he 
created Eve.

 In the first few years of our marriage, I made a dreadfully wrong assumption. I assumed that being 
married to me was enough. After all, at the wedding altar we took each other for “better or worse.” She 
fulfilled the “better,” and I, of course, brought up the “worse.” In a marriage, everybody has his or her 
responsibility and that was mine. 

 But in that first year of marriage I did something wrong. I cannot remember what it was now; I 
probably did not know what it was then. That is the way it is with men. They have no idea what is going 
on around them. But something I did, or maybe it was something I did not do, had created a little bit of 
tension.

 It was close to Valentine’s Day and I happened to be shopping at the supermarket when I spied a very 
large red heart shaped box of chocolates. Normally, I would not have given it a second thought because 
it was quite expensive. It certainly was beyond our modest budget at the time. However, something 
came over me that I could not quite explain. In a flash of impulse, I put the box of chocolate in my 
basket, and purchased it.

 It was not quite Valentine’s Day so I hid it and waited for the day to approach.

 Finally, the anticipated moment had come and I presented my wife with the biggest box of chocolate 
she had ever seen up to that time. I do not know what happened, even to this day, but that box of 
chocolate canceled out everything I had done wrong up to that point.

 In fact, she still has that Valentine box that she uses to hold her jewelry. It is a constant reminder to 
me that chocolate has a magical quality to it when it comes to women.

 I have no idea how chocolate solves problems; I just know that it works. Possibly, one bite of that 
chocolate immediately goes to the brain erasing forever, whatever her husband did the preceding 
twelve months. No husband knows how it works, but why fool around with something that does work?

 This is precisely the way forgiveness works. I do not know how it works I just know it works.

 “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all 
unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9).

 God’s forgiveness never misses its mark, either.

 Rev. James L. Snyder is pastor of the Family of God Fellowship, PO Box 831313, Ocala, FL 34483. He 
lives with his wife, Martha, in Silver Springs Shores. Call him at 1-866-552-2543 or e-mail jamessnyder2@
att.net or website www.jamessnyderministries.com.


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LEFT TURN / RIGHT TURN

HOWARD Hays As I See It

GREG Welborn


“It is evil things that we will be fighting against - brute force, bad faith, 
injustice, oppression and persecution—and against them I am certain that 
the right will prevail.”

British P.M. Neville Chamberlain, September 1939

 It’s not the most pressing issue, but since Greg Welborn occasionally 
brings up the name, as he did again in his column last week, it’s time for 
somebody to stick up for Neville Chamberlain. He’s been getting a bum 
rap.

 His name’s become synonymous with “appeasement”, and the “peace for our time” 
pronouncement made following his meeting with Hitler, ceding half of Czechoslovakia, at 
Munich in 1938. A recent biography by British historian David Dutton, however, provides some 
useful context. 

 Britain was in no shape to go to war with Germany over Czechoslovakia (or anything else, for 
that matter) in September 1938. Its army had maybe two divisions, neither prepared for war on 
the continent. The rearming of its navy and air force following WWI had barely begun, while 
Hitler had been doubling and re-doubling the size of his Luftwaffe.

 Prime Minister Chamberlain’s military advisors warned they weren’t ready to go up against 
Hitler right then – but they would be, and could prevail, if they had more time to prepare. 
Britain put the following months to good use – focusing on turning out fighter planes with 
newly-developed radar.

 Aside from a ready military, another thing Chamberlain lacked was willing allies to join 
the fight. The U.S. had its neutrality laws (binding even the president), and Chamberlain had 
doubts about France. As for the British, still smarting from the Great War twenty years earlier 
and familiar with newsreels of the devastation raining down on Spain from the Luftwaffe, they 
wanted no part of it. And Czechoslovakia, after all, was just one of those made-up countries 
from the last war. When Chamberlain returned from Munich proclaiming “peace for our 
time”, Britain cheered.

 When Hitler took Prague in March 1939, Chamberlain doubled the size of their National 
Guard, and the next month oversaw Britain’s first peacetime draft. In September, after 11 months 
of strengthening their military following Munich, Britain went to war against Germany.

 The costs of the Second World War can never be overstated. It’s disturbing to consider, 
however, what course history might have taken had the war begun with the defeat in Central 
Europe of whatever there was of the British military In September 1938.

 Greg brought up Chamberlain in drawing a comparison with what could be President 
Obama’s “legacy”. The comparison may not be that far off. As Nick Baumann wrote in Slate, 
“The maligned British prime minister did what we would want any responsible leader to do.” 
The president’s responsibility is not to respond to whatever Republicans are complaining about 
on Fox News, but to act as a “responsible leader” in protecting our country.

 Under our Constitution, Congress has responsibilities, too - with one of the gravest being to 
declare war. When President Polk announced in 1846 we were at war with Mexico regardless of 
any involvement by Congress, Rep. Abraham Lincoln (R-IL) responded that “Kings had always 
been involving and impoverishing their people in wars . . . This our Convention understood to 
be the most oppressive of all Kingly oppressions; and they resolved to so frame the Constitution 
that no one man should hold the power of bringing this oppression upon us.”

 Agreeing with Rep. Lincoln’s understanding of Congress’ role, President Obama asked for 
its authorization to continue the war against ISIS. While acknowledging its responsibility, the 
Republican Congress made clear that rather than drafting the authorization themselves, the 
president would have to come to them with the specific language. They’d then have something 
new to go and complain about on Fox News.

 The House in particular has responsibility for funding those institutions that keep us safe, 
like the Department of Homeland Security. Its Republican majority, though, is having too 
much fun holding DHS hostage in an attempt to kill President Obama’s actions on immigration 
– building on their own legacy of threatening to shut down the government or ruin our nation’s 
credit rating if they don’t get their way. 

 It’s hard to say what President Obama’s ultimate “legacy” will be in foreign affairs. At 
least, we know it won’t be anything like George W. Bush’s: 175,000 veterans from Iraq and 
Afghanistan who are at least 70% disabled – with 30,000 of those 100% disabled; 6,500 soldiers 
and marines with “severe penetrating brain injuries”; 1,700 with one or more limbs amputated; 
an unprecedentedly massive and barbarous terrorist organization, ISIS, enabled to establish 
itself largely because of the billions in advanced weaponry left behind from the adventures of 
George W. Bush.

 To encapsulate the president’s “legacy”, Greg offers the quote, “leading from behind”. It was 
used by an Obama advisor in an interview with The New Yorker, but originated with Nelson 
Mandela in his book, “Long Walk to Freedom”; describing a leadership concept akin to a 
shepherd remaining in control of his flock while walking behind it.

 It’ll be interesting to see which quotes remain as encapsulations of the Bush legacy; it might 
be “We will, in fact, be greeted as liberators.” (Dick Cheney), or maybe “It could last six days, six 
weeks. I doubt six months.” (Donald Rumsfeld).

 After all that, it would be satisfying enough if the foreign policy legacy of President Obama 
simply amounted to Nick Baumann’s characterization of Neville Chamberlain; that he “did 
what we would want any responsible leader to do.”

 And especially with this Republican Congress, we should be thankful for any indication 
there’s a grown-up in the room.

CALIFORNIA’S TRAIN 

RIDE INTO THE ABYSS

Most of the news coverage these days is on international and 
national events. While there’s some notable legitimacy in that 
focus, there are still very important issues to discuss at the state 
level. Now’s as good a time as any to return to our California 
shores and explore how our state is doing. To hear Governor 
Brown tell the story, we’re doing great. He’s upbeat about the future, taking credit for 
turning deficits into surpluses, and bullish about the benefits to be derived from additional 
massive expenditures into “infrastructure”. Is it real? Have we really turned the corner? Is 
our future really golden? Sadly, no. Despite the most heart-felt belief in the fantasy that all 
is good, California is heading for a disaster.

 According to the Governor himself, his biggest achievement is turning an $18 billion 
budget deficit into a $2 billion budget surplus. It’s true enough that tax receipts are up. The 
combination of economic recovery, the stock market boom and the “temporary” tax hike 
voters approved in 2012 have lifted revenues. So what could be wrong?

 Despite the gush of new revenue, California is still running a real deficit as large as 
the ones that threatened to cripple us in the past. State government practices accounting 
techniques that would put the managers of a private company in jail. These accounting 
practices allow the state to simply ignore the deterioration in public pension plan liabilities 
that should be covered each year. 

 Pensions are nothing but promises to pay retirees in future years. They represent a liability 
the state must meet. Private companies that offer pensions are required to contribute to the 
pension each year to make sure that the liability doesn’t become unfunded – a fancy word 
meaning not enough money to meet the liability.

 A recent Stanford University study determined that California’s unfunded pension 
liabilities for public employees is roughly $300 billion. That’s a huge number, even for a state 
our size, but the more dangerous issue is the fact that this unfunded liability is increasing 
each year by about $17 billion. It’s increasing because the state is not contributing into the 
pension plan each year the money it should contribute. 

 California is simply ignoring the requirement to pay $17 billion. It’s an expense that 
government accounting rules somehow allow the state to skip. Here’s the real math.

Current Budget “Surplus” $2 billion

Less: Pension Expense Being Ignored: -$ 17 billion

Real Budget Deficit $(15) billion

 In the real world where you and I live, if we keep racking up real expenses, we really have 
to pay them; we can’t just ignore them. There’s a host of federal laws which force private 
companies to cover their pension expenses. They can’t ignore them and pretend they don’t 
exist any more than you and I can. But Jerry Brown can, and the press lets him get away 
with the façade.

 Each year, this real deficit adds to our state’s debt. We, our kids, and our grandkids 
will have to pay off this debt. It won’t just go away. The situation becomes worse if the 
“temporary” tax hike voters approved in 2012 is really temporary. If it goes away (that’s the 
meaning of the word temporary), the budget deficit will worsen.

 Why is this important? Why is this more than just an accounting debate? The answer 
is that behind these numbers are real people who will bear the burden; real people who 
will have to pay the debt. Ignoring the people behind these numbers is another one of 
Governor Brown’s massive failures. He has failed to stabilize the state’s revenues. Currently, 
approximately 1% of the people pay 50% of the taxes. No small group like this should be 
responsible for paying this much of the burden. Recent statistics show that these people are 
leaving California, and as they do, the deficits will grow worse; the burden on the rest of us 
will also grow worse. 

 Real people, young people trying to start out, trying to survive, trying to get ahead in 
California, will be hurt. More and more they will not be able to survive or to get ahead. 
The truth is that Governor Brown has presided over the fastest deterioration in our fiscal 
structure in state history.

 The fact that Governor Brown is claiming credit for artificial improvements in the face 
of real deterioration just proves how much of a politician he is. The fact that his response 
to all this is to trumpet an unneeded, overpriced high-speed train to nowhere, which will 
add even more to the deficit, shows how little he really cares about Californians. Polls show 
that he is the most popular politician in the state right now, but polls can be fickle. When 
the charade is over, Californians will realize they’re on a train ride into the fiscal abyss.

 About the author: Gregory J. Welborn is a freelance writer and has spoken to several 
civic and religious organizations on cultural and moral issues. He lives in the Los Angeles 
area with his wife and 3 children and is active in the community. He can be reached at 
gregwelborn2@gma/5l.com.

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