Cigarette Taxes And Toy Bears
Stories
Lectionary Tales For The Pulpit
Series IV Cycle C
Come July 1 of every year, new laws go into effect in many states across the country. Legislators, having done their work, have gone home, and all the laws they thought up in committee and on the floor of the chambers became law weeks or months after they've gotten out of town.
So what is written in the law? Some states choose to boost the so-called "sin" taxes. Cigarette taxes, for example, went up by 49 cents in Vermont, 46 cents in Kansas, 40 cents in Indiana, and 31 cents in Ohio. New Jersey, last I heard, was considering a 70-cent bump.
Terrorism is now a state crime in many localities, such as Oklahoma, Iowa, Idaho, and South Dakota. Oklahoma went further and outlawed terrorist hoaxes. Iowa made it illegal to possess anthrax spores.
In Florida, if you're enrolled in a cooking school and under the legal drinking age, you are now allowed to taste modest amounts of wine in class, but after swishing it around in your mouth, you'd better spit it out; if you swallow, you're still in violation of the drinking laws.
But Mississippi gets the honors for the most novel new law. The lawmakers in the legislative halls of Jackson recently declared the teddy bear the state toy.
Frankly, I didn't know there was such a category. I think Mississippi is the only state in the Union to take its toys seriously. But, in this case, there is a good reason.
A hundred years ago, President Theodore Roosevelt visited Mississippi to do some bear hunting. After day one, Roosevelt and his party had failed to scare up a bear. Days two and three went no better. Finally, because they didn't want the President of the United States to go empty-handed, the president was offered a captive bear to kill.
Big Teddy would have none of that foolishness. Later, a political cartoon appeared in the local newspaper applauding Roosevelt's sense of sporting fair play and his humane approach to hunting, and the toy bears quickly became known as teddy bears.
What is written in the law? Much of it is practical, protective, and necessary. But when Jesus asked the same question, the answer he got from a biblically astute young fellow hit it right on target: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your strength and with all your mind, and, love your neighbor as yourself."
Jesus replied: "You got it, and if you do this, only good things can happen."
So what is written in the law? Some states choose to boost the so-called "sin" taxes. Cigarette taxes, for example, went up by 49 cents in Vermont, 46 cents in Kansas, 40 cents in Indiana, and 31 cents in Ohio. New Jersey, last I heard, was considering a 70-cent bump.
Terrorism is now a state crime in many localities, such as Oklahoma, Iowa, Idaho, and South Dakota. Oklahoma went further and outlawed terrorist hoaxes. Iowa made it illegal to possess anthrax spores.
In Florida, if you're enrolled in a cooking school and under the legal drinking age, you are now allowed to taste modest amounts of wine in class, but after swishing it around in your mouth, you'd better spit it out; if you swallow, you're still in violation of the drinking laws.
But Mississippi gets the honors for the most novel new law. The lawmakers in the legislative halls of Jackson recently declared the teddy bear the state toy.
Frankly, I didn't know there was such a category. I think Mississippi is the only state in the Union to take its toys seriously. But, in this case, there is a good reason.
A hundred years ago, President Theodore Roosevelt visited Mississippi to do some bear hunting. After day one, Roosevelt and his party had failed to scare up a bear. Days two and three went no better. Finally, because they didn't want the President of the United States to go empty-handed, the president was offered a captive bear to kill.
Big Teddy would have none of that foolishness. Later, a political cartoon appeared in the local newspaper applauding Roosevelt's sense of sporting fair play and his humane approach to hunting, and the toy bears quickly became known as teddy bears.
What is written in the law? Much of it is practical, protective, and necessary. But when Jesus asked the same question, the answer he got from a biblically astute young fellow hit it right on target: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your strength and with all your mind, and, love your neighbor as yourself."
Jesus replied: "You got it, and if you do this, only good things can happen."
