on the rim

Okay, not Jackson a city, it would be a street.  Today I went to church in a building that I hadn't attended in years.  On Jackson in Gladstone, or KC, whichever.  It was the Platte Woods Ward, of the Platte City Missouri Stake, of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  The occasion was that my grandson, Paul, was participating in his first Primary Program, and I wanted to be there to see it.  Of course my friends who are Latter Day Saints know what all that means, but for those that don't, let me explain.  Primary is where children from 3-11 attend various classes, and learn gospel principles in a format appropriate to their age.  For those old timers in the church we knew it as Jr. Sunday School.  Once a year, the Primary puts together a program for a Sacrament Meeting.  This program includes many songs, scripture quotations, and personal experiences, all blended throughout.  It is very trying for those that have to put ...

Saturday September 22, at the Historic Stone Church in Independence Missouri at 7 pm, the production Ring the Bells of Freedom will be performed.  I have written about it before, but this being the eve, I thought one more time would be appropriate. Of course, we should always be mindful of the Constitution, and the constant threat that it seems to be under.  We sometimes lose track of the "Miracle of Philadelphia" i n 1787.  Clouded over by time, and strife is the beauty of its words, and its promise. It is easy to look back with our view of today and see the flaws of those giants.  It is easy to forget the ease and freedom that we have today was paid for in blood.  In the Revolution, the War of 1812 (the 2nd Revolution) and the Civil War.  More than the United States have been blessed by this document, the world has.  Go on, tell me about Jim Crow, the Klan, and the treatment of the American Indian.  While you are at it, go on about the ...

I wonder how many people know how close the colonies were to breaking apart after the Revolution. The new nation had a tremendous debt after the Revolutionary War, and no way to pay for it.  Why?  The Articles of Confederation required an unanimous agreement to raise taxes for any purpose.  As written over at the Lib, while the former colonies were "United" in having a Congress, had rules under the Articles regarding interstate commerce, and a Treaty with Britain, the new States mostly ignored those rules, and the British, seeing the States united no more were pushing on the frontier, flagrantly violating the treaty. Debts owed by the Continental Congress to foreign powers were going unpaid, as were the payments to the soldiers that had fought the war.  There would be no rescue by the French, and probably no army to repel the British were they to decide to take their colonies back.  And make no mistake, the British were planning it. There was a call for d...