How does a new religion get started? Islam fourteen hundred years ago? Christianity two thousand years ago? Judaism twenty-four hundred years ago? The Romans and Jupiter twenty-five hundred years ago? The Greeks and Zeus three thousand years ago? The Egyptians and thousands of gods four thousand years ago? Gentle Reader, these are just my guesses; you are, of course, free to make your own estimates or consult Google as you see fit. However, my actual concern is the religion of presidential politics as practiced currently on cable TV in America. And I know when these new beliefs began. With FOX News, the new Defender of the Conservative Faith arrived when Donald Trump came down that golden … [Read More...] about Believe It Or Not
Gavel Gamut
Recent Articles
Labor Day
My father’s father was killed in an accident when my dad was nine years old. My father had to quit school in his third-grade year to help his mother support the family. He went to work in an independent coal mine running water to the older workers. The mine was unregulated by state or federal law. The shaft was supported with tree limbs for beams and the coal produced was high sulfur. The dust he breathed helped lead to his death from cancer when he was fifty-eight. He left the mine which closed when the shaft collapsed upon some of the miners. Dad was out of the mine on a water run at the time the supporting tree limbs gave way. It was not just coal dust that contributed to his health … [Read More...] about Labor Day
Hell Hath No Fury!
Abigail Adams (1744-1818) was the wife of our second president, John Adams, and the mother of our sixth, John Quincy Adams. She wielded great influence over both but could not secure for women the right to vote. Her effort in the cause of female rights is exemplified by the following excerpt from one of her numerous letters to John while he was deeply involved in the Continental Congress: “- I long to hear that you have declared an independency [from Great Britain] - and by the way in the new Code of Laws [The Declaration of Independence and new Articles of the Confederation] which I suppose it will be necessary for you to make I desire you would Remember the Ladies, and be more generous … [Read More...] about Hell Hath No Fury!
The Crusade Charade
The Crusades were the outgrowth of many factors but they are generally categorized as a series of wars between European Christians and Middle Eastern Muslims occurring from 1096 to 1291 AD involving competing claims over the Holy Land, especially Jerusalem. The catalyst for the first Crusade was a call to Christians made by Pope Urban II at the Council of Clermont in France in November 1095. Urban declared that God had willed Christians to oust Muslims from the sacred sites. Urban promised remission of sins for any Christian who died in this vital service of Christ. Thousands of English, French, German, Italian, Spanish and others “took up the cross.” Later in the New World, priests, … [Read More...] about The Crusade Charade
The Foundation
I received my early secular schooling from the public schools in Pawhuska, Osage County, Oklahoma. My religious education was received from my family and the preachers and Sunday School teachers at the First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Pawhuska. There was a great deal of osmotic transfer in both directions, but my church never seeped into issues of government and my schools never wandered into matters of faith. My favorite Sunday School teacher was Violet Willis who, as a child, had been taken from her Osage tribal home and indoctrinated into Christianity at the government school at Chilocco. My favorite high school American History teacher was Mike Burton who never let … [Read More...] about The Foundation
Change the Court
On July 29, 2024, President Biden proposed that justices of the United States Supreme Court serve a maximum of eighteen years instead of “during good behavior” as Article III of the Constitution provides. On June 18, 2024 CNN Commentator Fareed Zakaria made a similar proposal. Biden and Zakaria are liberals who are upset with the Supreme Court’s current conservative majority. In the turbulent 1950’s and 1960’s the Supreme Court was led by a liberal majority headed by Chief Justice Earl Warren. Much of America was so upset by the Court’s decisions on civil rights there were billboards on our nation’s highways calling for Warren’s impeachment. It is not unusual for cases before the Supreme … [Read More...] about Change the Court
When Pigs Die, Hopefully
The nine-banded armadillos, the species we now have in Oklahoma, began to migrate across the Rio Grande from Mexico into Texas in the mid-1800’s. They then began to waddle on north with the first documented sighting in southern Oklahoma being in 1936. I had never seen an armadillo until the late 1960’s and then only rarely as road kill, sometimes with a Coors beer can propped up in its dead paws. Armadillos are generally about 2 ½ feet long and weigh about 12 pounds. They look like an elongated pig that is covered with scaly armor. Each adult female can produce one egg that separates into 4 young. Their front feet have 4 claws, their back feet have 5 claws and they reportedly taste like … [Read More...] about When Pigs Die, Hopefully
Existential Threats
An existential risk, in general, is one that could cause the collapse of human civilization, such as nuclear war. An existential risk to democracy is one that could bring about the collapse of individual liberty, such as fascism. This is the theme of The New Republic magazine cover that morphs Donald Trump’s face into Hitler’s. It is, also, the theme of numerous politicians and cable news commentators who have called Trump an existential threat to our American democracy and called for him to be stopped at all costs. Twenty-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks gave up his own life to try. In like manner, many politicians and cable news commentators have asserted Joe Biden is corrupt in his … [Read More...] about Existential Threats
Independence Day Jeopardy
John Adams, our second president, and Thomas Jefferson, our third president, were great friends who became estranged for years but reconciled before they both died on July 4, 1826. Each was an attorney who championed individual liberty and civil rights. Adams believed the date of America’s birth was July 2, 1776, the date the Continental Congress voted for independence. Jefferson thought our birthday was July 4, 1776, the date the Declaration of Independence was signed. Both Founding Fathers declared we should celebrate our founding with special activities. Jefferson was the first president to host a July 4 commemoration at the White House. Jefferson wrote about Independence Day, “For … [Read More...] about Independence Day Jeopardy
The Debate
Last Thursday the world had the opportunity to catch a 90-minute glimpse of our nation’s two likely presidential candidates. As 51 million others, I thought it my citizen’s duty to tune in, although Peg and I considered getting a couple of chores done around JPeg Osage Ranch instead. We should have done the chores. When it comes to politics I tend to concentrate on my own personal experiences and pay less attention to the behavior of other candidates. For example, my first political campaign involvement was on behalf of my boss who was the Vanderburgh County, Indiana Prosecuting Attorney. The year was 1972 and I was an appointed, part-time deputy prosecuting attorney. I was married, had a … [Read More...] about The Debate
Whose Birthday Is It?
As I write this column the Weather App on my cell phone says the actual temperature is 98 degrees Fahrenheit with a heat index making it feel like 108 degrees. There is no breeze but that’s okay. If there were, it would simply baste our skin as though we were a slow crusting brisket. I ask you, Gentle Reader, “Why July Fourth?” Does not each of the twelve months have a Fourth? For example, the merry month of May or the crisp, invigorating month of October each has a perfectly good Fourth. And neither has a heat index of 108 degrees! Were our Founding Fathers so fond of their wool frock coats they were impervious to July’s guarantee of a reprise of Joan of Arc’s demise? What was Thomas … [Read More...] about Whose Birthday Is It?
Books
Unanimous for Murder
Live on Amazon.com and Kindle eBooks!
Unanimous for Murder picks up where JUDGE LYNCH! left off. A gripping story of small town murder and judicial shenanigans on the western frontier when the western frontier was east of the Mississippi.
Echoes of Our Ancestors: The Secret Game
Jim’s new novel tells the exciting story of a long hidden but important football game that occurred between representatives of Haskell Indian Institute (now the Haskell Indian Nations University) and professionals from the then Kansas City Cowboys in 1924 at a secret location on the Osage Indian Nation near Pawhuska, Oklahoma - where Jim was born.
JUDGE LYNCH!
“Judge Lynch Holds Court!” That was the banner headline in a Posey County, Indiana newspaper after seven African American men were murdered by a white mob during October, 1878.
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Gavel Gamut Greetings from JPeg Ranch
“Gavel Gamut Greetings" is an anthology of topical and historical selections mainly about regional events and personalities that have appeared in my weekly newspaper column, Gavel Gamut.
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