Washington DC – Resigning His commission Lets finish up this year with the famous picture as described below. It hang in one of the many galleries in DC. Here is what the government website says about it:13 The painting General George Washington Resigning His Commission by John Trumbull is on display in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol. This painting depicts the scene on December 23, … Continue reading The Resignation…
Out With The Old, In With The New May you get a little fruit of the Spirit in 2015 Continue reading Wishing you a Happy New Years….
Indianapolis, IN — The Canal It was a long time coming but my birth city of Indianapolis has finally cleaned up much of the downtown area. My favorite place there is the Indiana Historical Society from which this picture was taken. A little advanced notice that I will be including some info from them in a future expanded “search for America” Continue reading Indy…
This is terrorism’s sick genius. Terrorists invite us — seduce us — to share their Manichaean worldview, to respond to savagery with savagery, to join them in madness. “Make us safe!” Americans demanded. And so our elected leaders launched two wars, saw WMD where there were none, launched surveillance programs with virtually no limits, and embraced “enhanced interrogation.” As justification, the White House and the … Continue reading How we went to the Dark Side…
Cape May, NJ Many of those affluent folks who didn’t spend their summers at Atlantic City spent them at Cape May. There are literally hundreds of Victorian mansions there as evidence. Continue reading The Jersey Shore…
I don’t think I am the only one who notices all those new superheroes TV shows starting to flood the airways. I must admit that I am currently watching a couple of them. Gotham and Flash are now on my regular view list. It is nice to be able to escape reality once in a while. It is also nice that these new shows are … Continue reading About Those Super Heroes…
Nova Scotia, Canada I wanted to show you a picture of an old friend I made on our 2011 visit to our neighbors to the north. For some reason I connected with this old guy. Continue reading An Old Friend..
I’m not sure if religion is the opiate of the masses, but I’m convinced that indifference is the opiate of the privileged. We turn to it when overwhelmed by the discomfort we feel about our complicity in an oppressed person’s reality. To anesthetize ourselves against their reality, we willfully ingest this opiate and use it as a coping mechanism. After years of the westernized church ingesting unhealthy amounts of … Continue reading Against Indifference….
I am going to put my vanity aside here and post a selfie. This was taken in January of 1999 right before we visited the Windows to the World restaurant atop the World Trade Center for the last time. It was taken at Battery Park on a chilly afternoon. This is one of the photos of myself I kind of like. It makes me look like … Continue reading A Selfie…
One of the solutions to those tanking profits? Shrinking menu sizes. “Our intent is to have a cleaner menu board that is easier for customers to absorb,” spokeswoman Lisa McComb said in a statement to The Huffington Post. To do so, McComb said McDonald’s will be “simplifying our current menu.” SOURCE: McDonald’s Set To Phase Out Some Of Your Favorite Items. Wean Yourselves Now.. I know … Continue reading McDonald’s Set To Phase Out Some….
On this particular morning, I was faced with a photo of a food stamp with a note to “those on welfare” who “don’t work” and “milk the system.” The post was calling for “accountability.” I just shook my head in disappointment. While most political comments don’t hit me very hard (we all have a right to our opinion), I have a difficult time with those … Continue reading How It Feels to Be a Kid on Welfare
The 78-year-old screen legend has been bankrupted by a string of poor business decisions…. The 78-year old actor was one of Hollywood’s greatest stars in the 1970s, but a string of poor business decisions have bankrupted him and already forced him to sell several of his homes… SOURCE: Burt Reynolds Is Auctioning His Belongings to Tackle Financial Woes | TIME. Burt Reynolds was not one of … Continue reading It Is Never Enough….
Lancaster County, PA – Amish Country This is a pic of a postcard we bought there. There are many things about the Amish that I admire but their shunning is not one of them.They should not feel so insecure about their faith to have to turn their backs on the sons and daughters who choose to leave it. Much of the land in Lancaster county … Continue reading Being Amish….
Philadelphia public schools are in trouble. Not enough money. Overflowing classrooms. And the unkindest cut of all, more than one-third of its students, 70,000, are in charter schools, which Philadelphia has to pay for, but doesn’t control…. individuals are choosing away from us, simply because they don’t think that our schools are meeting the needs of our children…. So what we want to do is to … Continue reading The Least Common Denominator…. And the Charter Schools….
Fingerlakes Region, NY Before California began to dominate the American wine scene the finger lakes region of New York was the premiere place for that beverage. It is also one of the most picturesque sceneries in the Northeast. This picture was taken in 1999 (I think) at the inn of the Glenora winery. It was the day after the grand opening of the inn. Continue reading Wine Country….
Surprisingly, many people don’t reject Christianity because they’ve given up on God. Instead, they’ve given up on the people and things that represent God. They don’t hate Jesus, they just become tired of not finding Him within Christian culture. As Christians, we sometimes mistakenly try to compensate for God by presenting our faith as easier than it really is. We cover up the ugliness and … Continue reading Christianity is Harder Than We Pretend it is….
Ottawa, Ontario – Public Gardens It think today is the shortest, and therefore the darkest, day of the year so what is more appropriate than a field of daises. The public garden in Ottawa is a beautiful example of peace and tranquility. We visited there in 2011 during our one month vacation with our neighbors to the north…. Continue reading The Darkest Day…
Old time wall signs fascinate me. They are a look back into history. This one was found somewhere in Washington State, I’m just not sure where? Continue reading Wall Signs….
Chicago, IL – The Art Institute of Chicago Art is mainly something that all of us need to be exposed to. Much of it is a look into the soul of the artist. It helps us to know our value beyond any monetary terms. It is the essence of being human. The lions outside the museum are widely known and the art inside is well … Continue reading About Art….
All that lovely wealth isn’t trickling down. The country’s median income hit a high of $56,080 in 1999, went into slow decline, dropped to $53,644 after the 2008 economic meltdown — and five years later, was lower still, at $52,100. Raises remain tiny. Many newly created jobs pay a pittance. For tens of millions of people, the economic recovery is an illusion. The voters are … Continue reading America’s broken promise
Pleasant Hill, KY – Lodge Staircase One aspect of creativity is seeing things that other ignore. Another is to make things for the sake of beauty. We all want to be creative in one aspect or another and in reality we all are but just don’t realize it. It probably took a lot longer to create this unsupported spiral staircase then doing it the conventional … Continue reading Creativity
This was not a banner year for youth voter participation. To be fair, off-year elections never are, but this year’s mere 12 percent participation rate of voters under 30 is about more than midterm ennui. Rather, it’s part of a larger trend of millennial disenchantment with the Washington establishment in both major parties — a trend that is primed to kick into high gear if … Continue reading Bush vs. Clinton in 2032…
Liarsville, AK Liarsville Alaska is unlike any town I have ever visited. It was the base camp for many reporters during the Alaska Gold Rush. They didn’t go into the wilds to seek out stories for their publishers but instead stayed in the camp and made up fictitious stories to send back to the States. We visited there in 2006… Continue reading Liarsville…
The above title seems very American in its character. We Americans, me included, just don’t like others telling us what to do or especially what to think. To some extent we are all rebel rousers in that regard. Some take this to an extreme by there “don’t confuse me with the facts”. We just don’t like being told what to do. Prohibitionist tried to mandate … Continue reading "Who Are You To Tell Me How To Live??"
Smithsonian Institute, Washington DC The plane that Wilber and Orval Wright used to push us into the 20th century is located in the Smithsonian along with many other historical items. This institution is preserving the artifacts that make up the heart of America. If you are even in the area you must brave the horrendous traffic to visit the Smithsonian. Continue reading Wilber and Orval…
U.S. stocks fell sharply on Friday, leaving the benchmark S&P 500 with its worst weekly performance since May 2012, as investors pulled back from the markets in response to oil’s free-fall and more weak data out of China. SOURCE: Oil slump leads Wall Street to worst week in 2-1/2 years – Yahoo Finance. I am by no means an economist who espouses to understand all this … Continue reading Oil slump leads Wall Street to worst week in 2-1/2 years..
Upper Peninsula Michigan The upper peninsula of Michigan doesn’t have many people but it does have a grand entrance via the Mackinac bridge. I have been over it several time. This picture was taken by the outside walls showing as shadows from the fort that used to guard the straight. Continue reading The Bridge…
The coming season is a very important one for my Asian friends. Many travel great distances to be with family. Many also take this season as a time to contemplate their life and its purpose. They ask searching questions of themselves to be sure they are living their life as they want to instead of just letting it happen. Many change jobs and occupations during … Continue reading Contemplating Life….
Alaska It has always seemed strange to me that Alaska became a State. I know we bought it from the Russian some time ago but it just seems so remote to the other States and has very few people. There are only about 700,000 in the State and of those 120,000 are natives. Alaska pays in all a negative State tax, that is they get money … Continue reading Alaska Coast Guard..
People say that professional sports fuel what is worst in us. Our greed, our impatience, our willingness to ruin our bodies for the sake of fame. Our glorification of the worst human impulses, our blindness to the crimes these athletes sometimes commit…. It’s been said that sports are America’s religion and that this idolatry is our downfall. SOURCE: These Royals Make You Believe in God … Continue reading America’s Religion…
Cherokee, NC – Native Americans Most of us know far too little about the original people of our nation. We too quickly brushed them aside to take over their land. We called it “Manifest Destiny”, they called it robbing their land and heritage. The Museum of Cherokee Indian does a good job of helping us remember and even celebrate our native ancestors.. Continue reading The Original Inhabitants…
I can remember the first business trip I took to the NYC area in 1970. We had dinner at the famous Bahrs Restaurant. It was a lavish place that looked out on a bay of the ocean. Being from the Midwest I was astonished by the seafood available on the menu. Of course since then the nation is now filled with franchise fast food restaurants … Continue reading Eating Out…
Kansas prairie, KS The picture above is perhaps the most iconic in my portfolio when I think of Kansas. This part of the country used to be called the “Great American Desert” as there were no trees and only wild grasses grew. But then the McCormick plow was invented to uproot up all that century old sod. Now its known as the wheat basket…. Continue reading Kansas Prairie…
I remember the details of the Vietnam war still today. While my hearing impairment kept me out of it I did lose several good friends to that totally unnecessary war. One thing I remember is the daily body counts from the DOD of Viet Kong killed. It was acknowledged later that these numbers were grossly over counted. It seems that the military establishment thought they could get … Continue reading ISIS has Advanced Surface-to-air Missiles!!
New England – Farmhouse stone buildings such as the one shown here are typical of the buildings in early American history of New England. I think this one as taken in western New York but am not sure. Continue reading Washington Slept Here…
RJ's Corner 