In case you don’t recognize the person on the currency, it’s former Secretary of the Treasury Salmon P. Chase, who was responsible for designing the bill and later became part of the Supreme Court.
Chase National Bank was named in his honor. The bank later became Chase Manhattan Bank, which is now known as JPMorgan Chase.
MentalFloss.com has a nice write-up about it.
Chief U.S. District Judge Richard Cebull on Wednesday admitted to sending a racially charged email about President Barack Obama from his courthouse chambers.
Cebull, of Billings, was nominated by former President George W. Bush and received his commission in 2001 and has served as chief judge for the District of Montana since 2008.
The subject line of the email, which Cebull sent from his official courthouse email address on Feb. 20 at 3:42 p.m., reads: “A MOM’S MEMORY.”
The forwarded text reads as follow:
“Normally I don’t send or forward a lot of these, but even by my standards, it was a bit touching. I want all of my friends to feel what I felt when I read this. Hope it touches your heart like it did mine.
“A little boy said to his mother; ‘Mommy, how come I’m black and you’re white?'” the email joke reads. “His mother replied, ‘Don’t even go there Barack! From what I can remember about that party, you’re lucky you don’t bark!'”
Cebull admitted Wednesday to sending the email to seven recipients, including his personal email address.
The judge acknowledged that the content of the email was racist, but said he does not consider himself racist. He said the email was intended to be a private communication.
A few weeks ago in a Bag of Randomness I mentioned that I’m reluctant to cheer on a Christian athlete just because he or she is a Christian, that it might have something to do with jumping on a bandwagon, but I thought there was something more to it. After reading my pastor’s post on celebrity Christians, I he helped me understand why I’m uncomfortable cheering on an athlete just because he or she is also a follower of Christ.
Read his whole post here, but below is an except:
Back then I began to be troubled by the growing practice of American evangelicalism of prancing new converts front and center, in essence, using them as pawns in celebrity testimonies. Indeed it was great to see a Hollywood star, an entertainment superstar, or an All Pro athlete bear witness to Christ’s redemption story. Yet all too often is this repeat story of falling from grace. Hear me! I bear little judgment against the fallen, I’m growing increasingly troubled by the American evangelical church parading babes in Christ to primary platforms of witness, if not teaching. It may make pack the sanctuary, it may inspire the Body of Christ, but it is a questionable practice, one the scriptures themselves seem to caution against for the well-being of the church, and above all to avoid harming the young in Christ.
Deep in grief, Barbara Johnson stood first in the line for Communion at her mother’s funeral Saturday morning. But the priest in front of her immediately made it clear that she would not receive the sacramental bread and wine.
Johnson, an art-studio owner from the District, had come to St. John Neumann Catholic Church in Gaithersburg with her lesbian partner. The Rev. Marcel Guarnizo had learned of their relationship just before the service.
“He put his hand over the body of Christ and looked at me and said, ‘I can’t give you Communion because you live with a woman, and in the eyes of the church, that is a sin,’ ” she recalled Tuesday.
She reacted with stunned silence. Her anger and outrage have now led her and members of her family to demand that Guarnizo be removed from his ministry.
Family members said the priest left the altar while Johnson, 51, was delivering a eulogy and did not attend the burial or find another priest to be there.
……..
Late Tuesday, Johnson received a letter of apology from the Rev. Barry Knestout, one of the archdiocese’s highest-ranking administrators, who said the lack of “kindness” she and her family received “is a cause of great concern and personal regret to me.”
“I am sorry that what should have been a celebration of your mother’s life, in light of her faith in Jesus Christ, was overshadowed by a lack of pastoral sensitivity,” Knestout wrote. “I hope that healing and reconciliation with the Church might be possible for you and any others who were affected by this experience. In the meantime, I will offer Mass for the happy repose of your mother’s soul. May God bring you and your family comfort in your grief and hope in the Resurrection.”