Will Roberts Weekly Telegram - Father Themi & Ebola & John Rose -Barney Google & Snuffy Smith

Father Themi & Ebola:
“Our nation is at war with a vicious enemy.” (E.B. Koroma, President of Sierra Leone, December 12, 2014).
Except for going to church services the population of Sierra Leone was instructed to stay home during the Christmas and New Year holidays. We are currently in a semi-lockdown mode for the Festive Season and beyond; no restaurants, no sporting events, no public celebrations, no wedding receptions and no street celebrations. All shops must close on weekdays by 6.00 PM, by noon on Saturdays and no trading is allowed on Sundays. Church services are restricted - they may be held during the day and only up to 5.00 PM. New Year Church services were forbidden. The army and patrol volunteers are still out in force to ensure that these decrees are followed. Violators face the full weight of the law. Add to this list of prohibitions attendance at any form of school – primary, secondary or university.
Why? Are we experiencing some sort of state sponsored anti-Christian campaign? No. Then why these draconian measures during the Holy Festive Season and indeed indefinitely until further notice? The simple yet tragic answer is that this nation is at war again.
Just as ten times before in the last twenty years this nation is at war again through Christmas, New Year, Epiphany and beyond. But this time there are no AK 47s or bullets killing innocent people. This time there are no rebel forces invading cities, towns and villages amputating arms and legs indiscriminately. This time the enemy asks no questions, takes no prisoners and is totally indiscriminate in its killing spree – babies, toddlers, teenagers, adults and the aged are all living under the shadow of imminent death.
This is a time without pity.
This time the enemy is silent, invisible and deadly.
This time there can be no truce or treaties.
This time the enemy is not the Revolutionary United Front amputating limbs.
This time the enemy is an incurable microscopic virus producing a vicious and deadly haemorrhagic fever.
This is a time of constant siren wailing ambulances striking macabre fears.
This time the enemy is called Ebola.
GO TO WILLSAYS.COM to read the rest.
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John Rose of Barney Google and Snuffy Smith.
BIO:
Barney Google and Snuffy Smith is one of the longest-running comic strips in history. Created by Billy DeBeck in 1919, it first appeared in the sports section of the Chicago Herald and Examiner as Take Barney Google, F’rinstance. It starred the cigar-smoking, sports-loving, poker-playing, girl-chasing ne’er-do-well Barney Google. By October of that year, the strip was distributed by King Features to newspapers all across the country.
In 1934, Barney Google met Snuffy Smith, a hillbilly who soon eclipsed him in popularity. Not long after this meeting, the strip became known as Barney Google and Snuffy Smith. In 1942, the comic strip was inherited by DeBeck’s long-time assistant, Fred Lasswell, who continued to draw the strip until his death in March 2001. Lasswell, a master of the sight gag, really developed the hillbilly characters of Hootin’ Holler. John Rose, who inked the strip for Lasswell, has been carrying on the bodacious tradition of being the strip’s cartoonist since 2001.
This tremendously popular feature boasts clients in 21 countries and 11 languages. It has added several phrases to the American vernacular, including “sweet mama,” “horsefeathers,” “heebie-jeebies” and “hotsie-totsie.” It has been the inspiration for a hit song, “Barney Google (With Your Goo-Goo-Googly Eyes)” and is one of a few historical comic strips to be honored on a special set of U.S. postage stamps.
Read more at: http://snuffysmithcomics.com