I pride myself in frequently looking outside my box in this world. Yes, my life’s experiences pretty much, like everyone else, defines who I am but we must also try to look at things from a different perspective on a regular basis. That brings up the topic of this post. The typical voter and that certainly includes me seems to want to elect a person for president who we think could be a “best buddy”. That seems to be the primary reason that Mr. Reagan was twice elected and it certainly was one of the critical factors that got Mr. … Continue reading Maybe We Vote For President For The Wrong Reasons….

Just a quick aside to make sure you see the Dave Granlund cartoon above. It needs no explanation! Continue reading Looking Back… Way Back…

via Fact-checkers find exaggerations in Obama, Biden conventions speeches | Fox News. President Obama and Vice President Biden made statements in their convention speeches about unemployment, Medicare and other issues that fact-checkers say appear inaccurate or at least misleading. Among the questionable remarks were Biden’s argument that “after the worst job loss since the Great Depression we created 4.5 million private sector jobs in the past 29 months” … The Associated Press and others point out that statement is misleading because it counts jobs from the recession’s lowest point  to where employment began to grow again – excluding jobs lost earlier in … Continue reading Fact-checkers find exaggerations in Obama, Biden conventions speeches

It is terrible to think what the churches do to men. But if one imagines oneself in the position of the men who constitute the Church, we see they could not act differently. The churches are placed in a dilemma: the Sermon on the Mount or the Nicene Creed–the one excludes the other. If a man sincerely believes in the Sermon on the Mount, the Nicene Creed must inevitably lose all meaning and significance for him, and the Church and its representatives together with it. If a man believes in the Nicene Creed, that is, in the Church, that is, … Continue reading Inspiring Radical Thinking……

One more barn for Photo Saturday before I move to another subject. This one was taken somewhere in July in Kansas I think. Continue reading Another Barn…

Source:  Jobs are coming back fastest in services sector – USATODAY.com. Service businesses are leading an uneven jobs recovery that has pushed sectors such as warehouse club retailers back to their pre-recession employment… The starkest difference: More than 70% of jobs lost in service industries have returned three years after the recession’s end, while only 15% of jobs lost in manufacturing, construction and other industries that produce goods have come back. The analysis is based on Labor Department data from January 2008 — when total U.S. employment peaked — through last month Is it a surprise to anyone that 85% of the manufacturing jobs have … Continue reading Jobs are coming back fastest in services sector….

This being close to Labor Day I have been thinking about unions. The traditional labor unions that were so strong in the 1950s through 1970s took a pretty serious hit in Wisconsin not long ago. Was it a death blow? I don’t know? The writing might be on the wall for them as a whole in the years to come.  Now don’t get me wrong, I am very much in favor of worker’s rights and collective bargaining. But, like so many things in this world labor unions just got carried away with the power they possessed during those years. When that happened common sense, like always, went out the window.  It seemed like when unions became so powerful their main goal was to make life difficult for the employers rather of representing the interests of the workers and also doing what was good for the company. It became just too adversarial. Continue reading “How about “virtual” unions…..”

Teachers just can’t seem to get any respect in our society. Why is that?  I think one of the main reasons is the length of their work year. With all the vacations and holidays they end up working less than half a year. What other job gets a twenty week vacation the first year in?  I know the blame for that does not rest entirely with teachers. I imagine many would prefer to work longer, for more pay of course (although per hour they are probably some of the best paid people around)  :). Another possible reason teachers can’t get … Continue reading Teacher Don’t Get Respect…..

We may spend our whole life climbing the ladder of success, only to find when we get to the top that our ladder is leaning against the wrong wall. — Thomas Merton, the American monk I just finished reading a book called Falling Upward: A Spirituality for the Two Halves of Life  by Richard Rohr. This quote was found in that book. Richard Rohr is a Franciscan monk who believes that we have two distinct parts of our lives.  After this quote he goes on to say: The task of the first half of life is to create a proper container for … Continue reading What Makes Me Significant?….

This Photo Saturday picture is perhaps one of my favorite barn pictures (I have about 500 of them).  It was taken somewhere around Moab Utah in July. Continue reading Utah Barn…