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OPINION
Mountain View News Saturday, May 11, 2019
OUT TO PASTOR
A Weekly Religion Column by Rev. James Snyder
MOUNTAIN
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AND THEN IT WAS FRIDAY
Like many people, I try planning
and arranging my week
so I can accomplish as much
as possible.
For example, the Gracious
Mistress of the Parsonage on
Monday morning hands me her “honey-do-list”
to complete by the end of the week. When she
hands it to me, I smile and underneath that list I
have concealed from her my “to-do-list.”
It is not that I ignore her list… well, maybe I do.
But, I don’t do it on purpose… well, maybe I do.
I have a priority with my “to-do-list” and most
times forget about hers.
Through the years, I have become an expert at
making excuses about why her “honey-do-list”
has not been fully completed by me on time. If
there is an excuse to be found anywhere in the
room, I have it in my pocket.
Most of the time I get away with it. I am not bragging
here, although I lean slightly in that direction.
But I have my own things I need to do for
the week.
If I do not write down my “to-do-list,” I will
never remember what I am supposed to be doing.
I have a good memory, but I am saving it for
when I am older and I will need more memory.
Of course, by that time I will forget everything I
have remembered.
When it comes to memory, my wife beats the
band. She remembers everything that has ever
happened. Even those things that, from my opinion,
never happened.
Quite often, she starts a conversation by saying,
“Do you remember when…”
Then she goes on with a story that for the life of
me I cannot remember. Instead of embarrassing
myself, I go along with it and tell her, “Oh, yes I
remember that.”
It is easier to go along than to cause any kind of
friction. I have no advantage in contradicting any
story that she might be telling. So far, I’ve gotten
away with it, I’m happy to say.
That is, until once when telling a story she said,
“Do you remember the name of that person?”
At the time, I did not know if it was a trick question
to see if I am really paying attention or if she
did not remember. I am going with the former
because of all the years I have known her I cannot
remember anything that she has ever forgotten.
Forgetting at times can be a blessing. If someone
does something against you and hurts your feelings,
the best thing to do is to move ahead and
forget it.
Probably the worst area to forget anything is with
your wife. It is not that I intentionally forget, it is
just that I forget.
I go into a panic when she says, “Do you remember…”
Because I probably have forgotten what
she’s talking about at the time.
Another problem I have is my attention span.
When my wife begins a long story, it is very difficult
for me to pay close attention. By the time
she’s into the middle of her story, I’m thinking of
something on my “to-do-list.”
She can tell me a story 17 times and I’m always
hearing it for the very first time.
After finishing one of her stories, the friends listening,
turned to me and said, “Is that what really
happened?”
What am I to say? As long as they don’t ask me
to verify certain elements of that story, I can go
ahead and say, “Yes, as best as I remember, that’s
how it happened.”
I got in trouble one time. She was telling a story
and in the middle she turned to me and said,
“Honey, would you tell them the rest of the story
for me?”
I cannot remember how I got out of that spot,
but it was the most difficult spot I have ever been
in. If I make something up, will she correct me in
front of all our friends?
I’m not sure about this, but one time she did it
on purpose to catch me. Not wanting to embarrass
her or me in particular, I made up the rest
of the story as best I could. As long as the people
were laughing when I finished was all that really
mattered.
It was Friday morning and my wife looked at me
and said, “It’s Friday. Are you ready to go?”
“Go where?” Not knowing what she was talking
about.
You did look at the “honey-do-list” I gave you on
Monday, didn’t you?
With a little bit of a stutter, I assured her that I
had.
“Then,” she said rather sarcastically, “you know
what we’re doing today?”
I had no idea what she was talking about. Finally,
out of desperation, I did look at the “honey-
do-list.” There in bold letters I could never have
overlooked were these words, “Friday take your
wife out for a special Mother’s Day celebration
dinner.”
I looked at her, then looked at the list and looked
back at her.
“You didn’t look at that list on Monday, did you?”
I could not help but think of what Solomon said.
“Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with
thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor
knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither
thou goest” (Ecclesiastes 9:10).
We had a wonderful lunch that Friday, a lunch I
will remember for a long time.
Dr. James L. Snyder is pastor of the Family of God Fellowship,
and lives with the Gracious Mistress of the
Parsonage in Ocala, FL. Call him at 352-687-4240 or e-
mail jamessnyder2@att.net. The church web site is www.
whatafellowship.com.
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WHY I HOPE TO BECOME
JUST LIKE MY MA
TOM PURCELL
TRUMP’S THREAT TO CONSTITUTION
NOW WORSE THAN NIXON’S
HAIL HAMILTON
I hope to be just like my mother one day.
Now in her eighth decade, my ma has arrived at a
coveted place: Her “filter” is pretty much gone, and
she has no problem telling anyone what’s on her
mind. “Ma, please don’t tell us any more details,”
my five sisters and I beg her, when she shares “way
too much personal information” about her 63 years
of marriage to my father.
“Cowards,” she says with a snort.
My ma’s passion is to teach the youngest members
of her large clan the most important things in life
(family, charity, doing unto others as you would have them do unto you)
and to waste as little time as possible on the least important things (money,
selfishness, giving too much weight to what others think of you). And she
voices these opinions loud and strong.
“Ma, you can’t post that on Facebook,” we tell her, mortified, when she
responds to a post she adamantly disagrees with. “Then unfriend me!” she
says with a defiant laugh.
“Ma, you can’t pressure wash and paint the deck anymore and neither can
Dad!” we plead with her.
“Worry about your own silly deck,” she says, supremely confident she and
my father will get the project done without help, as they’ve done dozens of
times before. “And while you’re up, get me another glass of wine!”
I can’t blame her for thinking as stubbornly as she does. She’s proved
naysayers wrong for most of her adult life.
The oldest of six siblings, she spent her early life caring for her young sisters
and brothers. Her mother relied heavily on my ma to run their home.
At 19, just a year after graduating from high school, my ma got sick - very
sick.
She was engaged to my father when it happened, but he was serving in the
military in faraway Texas. Mortified that she hadn’t been writing him or
accepting his phone calls, he dispatched his mother to make sure she was
OK.
She wasn’t. Rheumatic fever nearly claimed her life. Doctors would tell her
that her heart was damaged by a serious murmur - that she should never
bear children and would be lucky to live into her 40s.
My mother’s response: “To heck with that!”
She had six children and now has 17 grandchildren and nine
great-grandchildren.
When she and my father retired more than 20 years ago, did they downsize
to a smaller home, as sensible people do?
Nope.
They bought a large fixer-upper with a great big living and dining area that
could seat up to 40 people at three or four tables for holiday dinners. Our
extended clan enjoyed many events at that wonderful home.
And now, as spring blossoms, are my mother and father touring retirement
homes, as their more sensible friends are doing? Nope.
They are at the hardware store as I write this column, picking out deck paint
so they can get their home in order before the next family gathering - which,
fittingly, will be on Mother’s Day.
My ma’s unflinching devotion to all things good and true - a strong sense of
family, charity and doing unto others - has been passed on to her extended
clan.
Her spirit certainly lives in my youngest sister, Jennifer, and Jennifer’s three
sons. Last week, my nephew Carson made sure that a shy, autistic classmate
was recognized on his birthday with a proper celebration.
That is the “power of mothers,” the caretakers of empathy, beauty and all of
the most important things in life.
My fearless, filterless mother is driving my sisters and me buggy in so many
ways, if you want to know the truth. I hope to be just like her one day.
Tom Purcell, author of “Misadventures of a 1970’s Childhood,” a humorous
memoir available at amazon.com, is a Pittsburgh Tribune-Review humor
columnist/
How do we judge our current president’s words and deeds when
he says he might not abide by the 2020 election results or when he
openly ignores or says he will refuse any future congressional subpoenas.
What is Congress to do to carry out its constitutionally mandated
duty of oversight of the Executive Branch?
The short answer is it can’t. How are the three co-equal branches—
Legislature, Executive, Judiciary—of the national government to
be able to continue to function as a democratic republic as intended by
the Founding Fathers in the Constitution? Again, the short answer is it
will cease to function as a democratic republic.
Am I the only American who sees the dangerous path down which President Trump is
leading the nation? It is the same path that every other would-be dictator has traveled before.
Take control of the sources mass information or at least be able to influence what’s being communicated
on TV, radio, newspapers, magazines, by religious organizations, on the Internet
and social media, and then everything else will follow:
• Establishing a new or taking over an old political party—legitimately winning election
as a national leader isn’t as important as making sure your followers believe you did and are
willing to violently support your rule.
• With leadership of a nation, of course, comes the beginning of the elimination of your
political opposition and the replacement of an independent judiciary.
• Finally, as the nation’s leader, you control the military as its Commander-in-Chief and
control national police, domestic and foreign intelligence services as Chief Executive.
If this all sounds scary, it’s because it is. President Trump did not win the popular vote in
2016—not by a long shot. Though he did win 304 electoral votes to Clinton’s 227, he lost the
popular vote by 2.9 million votes! Russian interference in the election is no longer debatable.
The redacted Mueller report is clear about that.
So what can we do about a rogue president who refuses to obey the law, openly defies
Congress, and most importantly, abuses his powers as Chief Executive? The U.S. Constitution
only offers two remedies: 1) Vote him or her out of office in the next general election; and 2)
impeachment by the House, and trial, conviction and removal from office by the Senate. But
are these remedies mutually exclusive, or can they be accomplished concurrently?
More importantly, is it wise to allow Trump, and supporters in Congress any of a head
start spreading Attorney General William Barr’s shamelessly twisted false narrative purporting
the President’s “exoneration” in the Mueller report—a conclusion Barr publicly admitted
to the Senate is not based on the facts presented in the Mueller report because, according to
Barr himself, he hadn’t read it.
Earlier this week an extraordinary happened. Monday morning a letter was published
online by Medium. Signed by 400 former DOJ officials (by Wednesday the number was up
to 700!), some of who go back to the Carter and Reagan Administrations, the letter, STATEMENT
BY FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTORS, slammed AG Barr’s conclusion and his
resulting shamelessly twisted false narrative.
They point out that: “Each of us believes that the conduct of President Trump described
in Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report would, in the case of any other person not covered
by the Office of Legal Counsel policy against indicting a sitting President, result in multiple
felony charges for obstruction of justice…
The letter went on to say, ”The Mueller report describes several acts that satisfy all
the elements for an obstruction charge: conduct that obstructed or attempted to obstruct the
truth-finding process, as to which the evidence of corrupt intent and connection to pending
proceeding is overwhelming….”
Speaker Pelosi, follow the lead of these honorable former federal prosecutors. Hold
the President accountable. Establish a House Select Committee to impeach President Trump.
Hold televised public gavel-to-gavel hearings, like the Senate Select Watergate Committee’s
1973 investigation of President Richard Nixon.
Even without the President’s removal from office by the Senate, impeachment hearings
may be the only way finally expose Trump’s many abuses of power and other impeachable
offenses that Mueller was unable to properly investigate because of the restrictive mandate
he had to follow as Special Counsel. More importantly, the exposure of Donald Trump’s misdeeds
as President, along with the almost robotic support of Republicans, may very well be
the best way to help secure a Democratic victory in both the presidential and congressional
elections in 2020.
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