Monday Morning Steps to the Supreme Court

I didn’t sleep very well last night. Been up since one this morning. I had some weird dreams.  I remember this one dream. I was in the Army  in WWII.  I saw combat in three different battles. I was fighting  in this one battle for Manila. It was pretty rough. I was an officer. I came across this Black platoon. I was impressed with them because they were excellent soldiers fought very brave. Later on there was some kind of racial incident. There was a riot of black soldiers in Manila because of conditions in a hospital. I was at some kind of club and some woman spoke up against black people. I made a speech at the club defending black soldiers. Later on in the 60s during the Civil Rights movement I supported them. I was on marches and demonstrations. I helped  to integrate a lunch counter. I remember sitting with former veterans  At first they wouldn’t accept me but I gave a speech on their behalf. This one black vet asked me to sit with him and we had coffee together.

I ended up having a fairly good day yesterday. I was able to escape from my problems and issues by reading. I am currently reading this one book The Steps to the Supreme Court: A Guided The American Legal System by Peter Irons. It is a very interesting book. The author takes us on a tour of the legal system and describes the process step by step. He writes about two cases one criminal and the other civil. In the criminal case he was writing about this one man from a small town in Tennessee named Paul Gregory House. He was convicted of murder in the first degree and sentence to death.  He appealed his case. The appeals went through the sate and federal courts. It reached the Supreme Court in House v Bell. The Court ruled in his favor and he was granted a new trial House was originally tried in 1986 He spent over twenty two years on death row over a crime he may not have committed.

Next the author talked about two civil cases that ended up in the Supreme Court. They were over displays of the Ten Commandments such as county courthouses. This one case happened in a small town Whitley City in McCreary County in Kentucky.Whitley City is not really a city but a very small town.  The author talks about the demographics of this town. Most of the people are old timers who can trace their ancestry back to the early settlers. They are mostly are Baptists very religious and very Republican. This is important because one of the judges, Jimmie Greene put up a display of the Ten Commandments in front of the county court house.

The Kentucky chapter of the ACLU became aware of this and sent Greene a letter. The Ten Commandments must be removed.the letter said. It was in violation of the Constitution. I they cited the first amendment about Congress shall pass no laws establishing a religions or sponsoring a religion.. I don’t remember exactly I want to read over this part. I have a lousy memory

I am really enjoying this book. I wish I could remember more of what I read.i have a lousy memory but I love books and reading. I have a lot of problems. Reading helps me escape from those problems. Books have always been my best friends and drug of choice. Woke up feeling very down yesterday. I wrote a very long private entry and then started reading. I  spent most of the day reading and playing chess. AT the end of the day I felt a lot better.

My Caregiver came yesterday. She did her usual  job of cleaning my apartment.She fixed an early supper.I had pancakes. After she finished her work we talked for a while.I told her about my former fiance calling last Friday. I don’t want to go into details in a public entry.

After she left I played some games on the computer.Then I got back to my book. i read until about 8 and then went to bed. I didn’t sleep very well and was up by one.

I always try to remember the good things in my life and end the entry on a positive note. I do have a lot of good things such as :

1.  I have roof over my head
2.  I have money for meds
3.  I have food to eat and clothes to wear
4.  I am in fairly good physical health
5.  I have phone, Internet and cable tv
6. I have a lot of books to read.
7.  I have a great therapist and case manager thanks to Healthways
8.  I have a great Caregiver
9.  I have an SSI and Social Security check

Life is pretty good.