Last week, a judge ordered the removal of a 49-year-old banner in a gymnasium at Cranston West High School in Rhode Island.

Recently, when a U.S. aircraft carrier passed through the Strait of Hormuz, an Iranian top commander “stated that Iran’s submarines are able to ambush and hit enemy vessels specially US Aircraft carriers from the seabed throughout the Persian Gulf.”  This could be done using its Russian-made, sonar-evading, diesel-electric submarines.  A Major General followed up by threatening, “We are not in the habit of repeating the warning and we warn only once” (TheBlaze.com, January 18, 2012).  Now with oil sanctions imposed on Iran, a U.S.

Throughout 2011, the average rainfall in Texas was just under 15 inches (37.5 cm).  It was also the second warmest year on record.  News reports stated, “The prolonged Texas drought is to blame for devastating agriculture and livestock losses, estimated in the billions of dollars.  The historic drought has killed as many as half a billion trees, not including those that died in wildfires that scorched some 4 million acres in 2011” (Reuters, January 7, 2012).

Those of us whose lifespan goes back to the Great Depression can still recall the image of grown men selling pencils on street corners. The common attitude saw life as a day-to-day struggle for existence. The United States had stalled in its tracks, and President Franklin D. Roosevelt had a monumental job on his hands seeking to stir up a nation to get out and try. What a contrast from today’s economic difficulties, which seem to bring out a totally different attitude: “You owe me!” and “It’s my right!”

Archaeologists continue to discover more evidence that corroborates clear statements in the Bible.  Israeli archaeologists, excavating near Jerusalem’s Western Wall, recently unearthed what they believe to be a 2,000-year-old clay seal.