The big oil companies and their backers in congress insist that we must open up everything to drilling and give them billions of dollars a year to help them search for new oil. They say if we will open up all public land to oil production we can become less dependent on foreign oil. But what they don’t say is that, as far as the oil companies are concerned that doesn’t mean that the price at the pump will go down even a penny.  The above cartoon does a lot to explain why that is the case. The Republicans like … Continue reading The Price of Oil….

I want to say out front that I am very impressed with Omaha. It seems like the quint-essential city to me. It is probably the cleanest city we have visited during our twenty-six years of April road trips. Today, at least so far, we have browsed through the Old Market area and spent several hours at the Durham Museum. Here are some pictures  of that. The Old Market is perhaps twenty to thirty square blocks of very well restored buildings that contain restaurants and shops. Even though it was pretty chilly it was a very pleasant day of browsing through … Continue reading On The Road – Omaha/Durnam Museum (Day 4)

We didn’t have much of a drive today; just across the river to Omaha and then north to our first sightseeing venture. But we did make some new friends today while visiting the Wildlife Safari Preserve. My wife being a super animal lover that she is insisted this be our first stop. We are now settled down in the Magnolia Hotel for a quick nap and then it is on to our first visit to the Old Market District just four blocks down the road.  The hotel is somewhat unique; it is a completely renovated 1930 hotel that is done in the … Continue reading On The Road – Omaha (Day 3)

It seems that the favorite hobby right now is to complain about gas prices and particularly to blame the high prices on President Obama :) We all like to remember the good old days when gasoline was much cheaper. When I first started driving gasoline was $0.28 per gallon! But what if I told you that you can get gas even now for $1.75 per gallon? Well that is not exactly true but the result is the same thing. There is a rather simple way to accomplish this feat and that is to dump your SUV or pickup and get … Continue reading $1.75 Gasoline Just Down the Road….

I recently watched an interview of a Christian clergyman of twenty years.  He was having doubts about his faith.  All of us have doubts and one time or another. Even Mother Teresa was troubled by them. Having doubts is not too unusual but this particular minister’s doubts were leading him to make the leap back to an agnostic or even worse. This is sad but it is not really the purpose of this post. During the interview the pastor noted something  I think he called the clubhouse effect. This is basically where religious beliefs take a back burner to maintaining … Continue reading The Clubhouse Effect…..

Here we are at the end of day one; well at least the traveling end of it.  We are in Quincy Illinois which is right on the Illinois/Missouri border. Today was mainly a travel day but we did take the majority of in on State roads instead of InterStates. Going the entire width of Illinois, which is about 225 miles, on local roads brought to mind an article I read on the Internet this morning. source:  Tiny towns go up for sale – USATODAY.com. This is an article about a small town that is up for sale but could just … Continue reading On The Road – Quincy Illinois

Source: http://www.aarp.org/money/investing/info-01-2012/war-on-savers.html I see the Federal Reserve has again announced that they will maintain a near 0% interest rate through at least mid 2013.  That might be good for the young couples who are looking to buy a foreclosed home but it is killing us seniors. I have had this topic on my blog list for quite some time now and the recent article in the February/March AARP magazine entitled The War on Savers  by Carla Fried brought it to the top of the list.  Here are some of the words from the article: “This country was built on hard work and savings … Continue reading These Low Interest Rates….

Source:  Maine GOP Sen. Snowe’s retirement makes way for Democrats – USATODAY.com. “I do not realistically expect the partisanship of recent years in the Senate to change over the short term,” she said, adding that she would seek opportunities outside of the Senate to encourage civility in government. “It is time for change in the way we govern,” she said. It truly saddens me to see our politics move to the extreme edges. Moderates in either party just are not welcomed now. The same goes for voting your conscience. If they don’t vote how their political leaders instruct them then … Continue reading Pragmatists and the Democratic Process….

The title of this post may at first glance seem unChristian but I don’t believe it to be so.  To convince you of that I will repeat it here but with an ending. Don’t spend you life studying God’s word but instead spend your life putting his words into action as he intended. In other words God’s messages are not meant to be just contemplated but instead we are meant to do what He says. There are several Christian denominations who seem to base their Christianity on “letting the Lord’s grace flow over them”. They see that as their life’s … Continue reading Don’t Spend Your Life Studying God’s Word….