Are you this dedicated to vote?

My son's wife in the Philippines called this morning stranded in a bus station  trying to get home after visiting an island in order to vote.  She and a cousin waited for hours not sure when (or whether)  the bus would arrive. After a long wait the bus arrived at 2:30 in the morning Philippine time.

Caddo school board tries again

The Caddo Parish School Board will try again; the board has selected Dr. Theodis Lamar Goree  as superintendent at a salary of $200,000 a year, beginning a three-year contract  December 1. Congratulations and best wishes for success to Dr. Goree, but I had hoped that the board would find a candidate with success in a business or profession other than one who has spent his life in teaching and related school service.  Over and over again we have tried to improve our schools and have failed.

We acknowledge that school success depends upon these three -- the student, the teacher, and the parents. A poor job by one and the school fails and the student gets a poor education.  Oh, there is a fourth factor -- the teacher's union. While the other three put the student first, the union cares only for the teacher. For schools to operate successfully, school leaders must battle the unions and continue to put  the student first.

Methodist group reports inspiration in Cuba church services

Members of an evangelistic team that just  returned from Cuba were emotional as they took terns reporting to Chrisrt United Methodist Church their participation in Methodist services in the islands.

The tean distributed aspirin and other medicine and worked to repair a church building.  Christ UMC has sent teams to Appalachia, Indian villages, areas hit by Katrina, and  many others.  Some of those who related experiences they had in Cuba said this differed in  that they were inspired by the church services, where members attending would show their joy by dancing and jumping and shouting.

Methodist churches are growing in numbers and members, they said.

" You may preach like Paul, but you can't sing like Paul

No, it's not a phrase from the bible. I was teasing Joe Hunter, whose first ministerial assignment was to follow Paul Cassells as pastor of White Hall United Methodist Church.  Members of Minden High School's 1943 graduating class met at the home of Polly and Joe Hunter for reminisces and conversation.

That morning we visited the school briefly wher Virginia Foxx presented a enlarged and framed picture of the class. Our class picture was one of 15 which had disappeared from the walls of the school.  According to the picture, 73 were graduated that year.  Only seven were present for the reunion.

We toured a museum, had lunch and visited at the home of the Hunter's.

We must become self-sufficient in energy

Four decades -- forty years. That is how long the United States has had to take action to  insure no one country or combination of countries can deprive us of the energy we require.  The Saudis anger with Obama  and a threat of an oil embargo force us to face this fact -- we are still vulnerable.

I am among many people who have been calling for the United States to become self-sufficient in energy.
Doing this can be accomplished in a very few  years owing to the increased production of natural gas from shale. Standing in the way are Obama and environmental wackos. Despite Obama our production of oil and gas has increased, almost entirely on private lands.

By the way, Saudi Arabia leads the world in oil but ranks third when natural gas in included.  Then who is the world's leader in oil and gas combined?  No, Russia is second; the United States is the world's leader in oil and gas production, but we still import half of what we use.


A total  of 9.8 million jobs are created by the oiil and gas industry, according to the American Petroleum Institute.   Think what a boost to the economy if we doubled our production.  Would this add some five million good jobs?  I think without doubt.

Louisiana ranks third in oil and gas jobs with 412,600, behind Texas with 1,938,000, and California with 793,000.

Jobs continue to vanish

The employment report just released shows 90,609,000 are not in the labor force.  Obama's policies will continue to take away jobs and damage what's left of our economy.  As I have said numerous times, ALL of his policies are wrong.  Now, on top of all that's wrong, Obamacare sweeps in to damage our health care and destroy additional jobs.

The government continues to go its merry way.  The beloved IRS paid out 132 billion dollars in bogus tax credits over the past decade.

More on our class reunion

I have been thinking about our class re-union this coming Friday, wondering whom I will see and whom I will miss. We had at least one re-union after our sixtieth and planned to meet every two years but one of the leaders passed away and our good intentions failed.

Will we try to walk across the field to be introduced as a class?   I don't know.  I remember, I think it was the fiftieth, Ike Kirkikis wanted to name some one in our class who had attained some degree of fame.  Finding that difficult he resorted to naming those who had served in politics.  He had been a member of the Webster police jury;  Joe Hunter and Jake Crisler had served as members of the Minden town council, and I had been a member of the Homer council, and later mayor.

That we are surviving 70 years after graduating from Minden High is enough recognition for anyone.