In March of 1861, 8-year-old George Patten was having a rough go of it in school. The little scamp told classmates he had met the newly elected president of the United States, Abraham Lincoln. Being the son of a journalist, George was immediately accused of making it up.

I was having dinner with a woman several years ago when out of the blue she said, “Don’t tell me I ought to be thankful. I hate it when people do that.” I responded that I wouldn’t dream of such a thing. I could not imagine that it would do any good. It got me to thinking about the difference between gratitude as a moral obligation and gratitude as sheer joy.

I was having dinner with a woman several years ago when out of the blue she said, “Don’t tell me I ought to be thankful. I hate it when people do that.” I responded that I wouldn’t dream of such a thing. I could not imagine that it would do any good. It got me to thinking about the difference between gratitude as a moral obligation and gratitude as sheer joy.

Cars, executions and jobs have been in the news lately. Their relationship in this column is by happenstance. The order in which I chose to discuss them is based on their spelling (alphabetical).

The latest car advertisements, especially the Japanese ones, are touting how far manufacturers have come in converting and improving their hybrid (combined gasoline and electric fueled) models.

For right-wing Republicans, the presidency of George W. Bush began as a dream come true.

My truck may be a time machine.

Whatever you do, don’t tell any shadowy government agencies. I don’t want square-jawed men in suits and sunglasses with tiny wires coming out of their ears whisking us away to an undisclosed location to kick the tires, check under the hood and interrogate me using “persuasive methods” previously awarded the Dick Cheney Seal of Approval.

“Where did you get the time machine, son?”

Since the Fort Hood shooting I have been asking students what they thought about it and why they had those particular thoughts. Were they thinking about it through the filters of their family’s values, the teachings of their religion, personal experiences they had had or the experiences of people they knew? Who and what was influencing them?

Late Saturday night, the House approved a health-care bill by a narrow margin of 220-215. The bill’s passage is considered a political win for President Barack Obama. The bill’s passage is also a win for America’s working- and middle-class individuals and families.

It was a good day at work. I wasn’t eaten by a lion. In 1898, 35 people building the Uganda Railroad across Kenya couldn’t say that because they were indeed eaten by lions, according to scientists who studied the remains of two big cats on display at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago.

I looked out my office window, and there it was in a backyard across the street: a magnificent tree house. It has been built around the trunk of a large, leafy tree, and has a front porch.

What’s going on that at least once a week there’s news of young people beating, sexually abusing or killing their fellow youngsters? Have parents lost control of their children because they tried to make life easier for them? Or is something else going on?

The Walt Disney Co. is offering parents who bought Baby Einstein videos for their youngsters a refund because, as it turns out, moms and dads can’t park Junior’s high chair in front of the flat screen and return an hour later to find him piecing together the great American novel from leftover alphabet soup.

I admit to the guilty pleasure of watching from the sidelines the unfolding Catholic-Anglican situation. The Vatican has sent an invitation to conservative Anglicans (Episcopalians) who don’t approve of women’s ordination, gay rights in any form and liberal political or social ideas to come over to Rome. This includes married Episcopalian priests. I have no dog in this particular fight, but I admit I am curious to see what will happen.

About 175 executives at seven U.S. corporations will receive reduced compensation, according to the Wall Street Journal. Immediately, this sparked complaints that the government is dictating executive pay.

Last week’s column, in which I described in vivid detail the theft of one our newspaper racks, my comically heroic efforts to recover it from behind a grocery store and the debilitating back injury I suffered while loading its remains onto a truck, drew much sympathy from readers.

I wondered why Robert F. McDonnell, who is Roman Catholic and had been educated mostly in Catholic schools, chose Regent University, founded by Pat Robertson, for his degrees in public policy and law. It was an interesting choice not only because it was a departure from his religious tradition and past school choices but because it potentially creates problems for him as he tries to position himself as a centrist when running for governor.

I suggested in a previous column that blacks, particularly the older and religious conservative ones, should endorse equal rights for members of the gay and lesbian community. A number of them took offense when gay and lesbian demonstrators used tactics that blacks used during the civil rights movement. Gay and lesbian marchers sang songs and carried placards with wording that blacks used when demonstrating and demanding equal rights back in the 1960s and ’70s.

After someone stole one of our newspaper racks and left its dented carcass behind a grocery store, I compiled a list of the top 10 reasons not to steal a newspaper rack and leave its dented carcass behind a grocery store in an effort to discourage future crimes of this nature.

Every once in awhile I disagree with some who usually think as I do. Last Friday, I found myself disagreeing with President Barack Obama and with words spoken years ago by newly confirmed and seated U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor.

I’ve got a new plan. And if this were a movie, and you were in the movie and I explained my new plan, you would say, “That’s just crazy enough to work.” Of course, this isn’t a movie and the plan will never work, but that won’t stop me from explaining it to you.

My father claimed that in medical school he was taught, “Half of what we tell you is wrong; we just don’t know which half.”

I have wondered if he acquired that saying in medical school or somewhere else because I have heard it from many sources. If medical schools actually make this assumption, I would applaud their humility and honesty. A lot of doctors probably forget it if indeed they ever heard it in the first place, but at least it is a part of medical lore — which is more than I can say for any branch of the Christian church.

Two megacelebrities recently were dealt a dose of reality. First, world renown director and filmmaker Roman Polanski was arrested on a 32-year-old warrant and then CBS late-night TV host David Letterman announced he was being blackmailed because of past sexual affairs with staff members.

If Obama were white, would they still hate him? Of course they would, the people who oppose his policies.

I’ve written how the election of President Barack Obama caused an uptick in gun ownership and open racism.

It was the first day of autumn — the early evening, actually — when I was called home to investigate a disturbance.

I never saw it coming. We were putting the finishing touches on another edition of the newspaper — yep, we still make ’em — and I could almost feel the warm familial greeting and taste the ice-cold beverage that I was sure awaited me at my aluminum-sided castle.

The student volunteered to be the first one to give her presentation in class. It included telling us a lot about her life. 

She comes from a Latino immigrant family and is the first to go to college. The hopes of a lot of people are riding on her, and she has more than met the challenge.

I’ve discovered during my years of writing columns that if you want a heated debate in our part of the Valley, any of four subjects will bring out opinions. The four subjects are race, the Confederate flag, guns and dogs. If I had to rank them in order of feedback, I’d say race and guns are tied for No. 1, followed by the Rebel flag with dogs placing fourth. A particular week’s news can sway whether race or guns stirs the anger pot the most.

A lot of British men are going to brow bars to get threaded. Yeah, that’s what I thought, too, but it doesn’t mean that at all.

According to a recent story from Reuters news service, more of our cousins across the pond are having their eyebrows professionally groomed — some during men-only “guybrow” nights — using a technique called threading.

The generation gap between my students and me continues to grow although I seldom think about it. Sometimes, however, I am given not very subtle reminders.

Thanks, Mr. Wilson, and boos to Mr. West and Ms. Williams. In the words of comic strip character Dennis of “Dennis The Menace,” I say “Thanks, Mr. Wilson.” I’m not referring to Dennis’ neighbor but Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C. The boos are directed toward tennis star Serena Williams and hip hop singer and producer Kanye West.