Thirty years ago, April 19, 1995, Timothy McVeigh parked a Ryder truck in front of the 9-story Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. He and Terry Nichols had spent a year planning an attack to kill as many federal employees as possible. The truck was loaded with 13 barrels filled with two and a half tons of ammonium nitrate fertilizer, half a ton of liquid nitromethane, plus diesel fuel and time-delayed ignition devices.
The blast at 9:02 a.m. destroyed the front third of the federal building and destroyed or damaged over 300 other buildings. The blast shattered glass in businesses and houses up to 12 blocks away. 168 people were killed and 800 injured.
McVeigh was executed in 2001 and Nichols is serving 161 life sentences in federal prison. They were corrupted by their hatred of the federal government to plan and carry out such a horrible mass murder.
Recently, there is some “hatred of the federal government” but it’s only directed at one side. Today, it’s Republicans. Previously, it was Democrats targeted by hatred. Instead of adding “fuel to the flame” we need to tone down the criticism of policies and practices we don’t like.
One way to reduce the intense disagreements would be to talk one-on-one instead of instantly saying, “Change to my way of thinking or I’ll sue.”
Will Rogers joked about lawyers, so I decided to look up some numbers. A hundred years ago we had about 115,000 lawyers, or 0.1% of the US population. Now we have TEN TIMES as many lawyers. As Will wrote in 1931, “Did you read how many thousands, not hundreds, but thousands of students just graduated all over the country in law? Going to take an awful lot of crime to support that bunch.” (DT #1527, June 15, 1931)
A hundred years ago about 30% of our population was farmers. Can you imagine if the farm population had increased the same as lawyers? Instead, the number of farmers has plummeted. Back then a farmer had trouble even finding a lawyer. Today there’s almost one lawyer for every farm. Unfortunately, several of those are shysters trying to make it harder for farmers to farm.
While I’m joking about too many lawyers, Senator Van Hollen of Maryland wants even more lawyers, thousands more. He flew to El Salvador to visit a citizen of El Salvador who had been living in Maryland for years, illegally. The Senator insists that every individual here illegally, even active members of MS-13 and other gangs, must have a hearing in federal court before he can be shipped out, either to his home country or to prison. What does that mean?
If President Trump wants to deport the 10,000,000 that came here in the last few years, each one must appear in court, one at a time. That requires a judge, a federal prosecutor, and a defense attorney (all 3 paid for by our taxes). Times ten million! Now, whether our Constitution requires that extreme measure will be decided by 9 prominent lawyers. Yes, the Supreme Court.
Happy Easter. I know it’s late in the day. For the 80% of us who are Christians, Easter is truly the happiest day of the year. Easter celebrates the day Jesus was resurrected. Once dead, but now He lives.
Historic quotes by Will Rogers:
“I bet any Sunday could be made as popular at church as Easter is if you made ‘em fashion shows too… We will do anything, if you just in some way turn it into a show.” DT #2718, Apr. 22, 1935
“You see that’s one thing about Democrats that make ‘em different from Republicans. This fellow (President) Roosevelt has got the nerve to defy those fellows if he thinks it’s for the good of all.” WA #553, July 30, 1933