“We were ready to do it” Russian President Vladimir Putin said he considered putting the country’s vast nuclear arsenal on alert to prevent outside agents from stopping the Kremlin’s forced annexation of the Crimea peninsula from Ukraine last year. Putin’s admission was aired during a prerecorded documentary called Homeward Bound, which was broadcast on a state-backed television network Sunday in the run-up to the first … Continue reading Weighing Nuclear Option…
According to the info found near the base of this beauty the redwood forests of California would be pretty much just some stumps if we had left it to the industrialists. Thank heavens people fought that from happening. Woody Guthrie was right that “This land” is from the Red Wood forests to the Gulf Stream waters. Continue reading From The Redwood Forests…
WASHINGTON (AP) — Republicans now in charge of Congress offer their budget blueprint this week with the pledge to balance the nation’s budget within a decade and rein in major programs such as food stamps and Medicare. More pressing for many Republicans, however, is easing automatic budget cuts set to slam the military. SOURCE:GOP to offer budget blueprint with Medicare, food stamp cuts – Yahoo … Continue reading On The Backs Of The Poor….
This is a digital reproduction of a picture I took almost forty years ago. I had a lot of energy in my youth and it took it all to hike up to the 12,000 feet level on top the Rocky Mountains in Colorado to the campsite. It was well worth the trip just to take this picture and include it in my life’s memories. And … Continue reading From My Youth…
I am bringing over a series of posts for my Sunday entries from my now inactive blog over at RedLetterLiving. This is the third of a six-part series from about a year ago about the importance of the Bible in my spiritual life. After a ten-year study I finally understand what millions of other have discovered before me…. It’s about Jesus, not the Bible… How Did The … Continue reading How Did The Bible Get So Filled….
Peoria Illinois is a small city in the Midwest where I spent a long weekend a few Decembers ago. They have a December event called “The Festival of Lights”. It is well worth the visit. Â Â Â Â Continue reading Peoria…
I have lost track of exactly where this house was located but I’m pretty sure it was around Gettysburg PA. According to the mural found at the site as shown here is was the command headquarters for George Washington at some time during the Revolutionary War. So I’m sure Washington did sleep here 🙂 Continue reading Washington Slept Here…
I am gathering some pretty impressive apps for making MyMindsEye pictures. Here is the Rocky Mountains near Ouray Colorado just as I imagined it would look like… Continue reading Ouray Colorado – The Rocky Mountains
Sen. Rand Paul slammed former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush for hypocrisy on marijuana in an interview Wednesday with Yahoo Global News Anchor Katie Couric. Responding to recent revelations that Gov. Bush smoked pot during his teen years at Phillips Academy, Paul pointed out the flaws in Bush’s opposition to medical marijuana in his home state. Sen. Paul, who has hinted about his own wild college … Continue reading And Justice For All – Marijuana…
As the years go by I am convinced that the most abused thing in this world is the name of God. Everyday it seems that there is another person, group, religious sect that take God’s name in vain. The story below is about Jehovah’s Witnesses sect hiding, even from their own congregations, the child abusers among them. Â Here are some of the words from the … Continue reading Child Sex Abuse in the Church, Again….
The Flatiron Building in NYC is one of the most unique buildings around and is very much part of the heart of America. This picture was taken last year while I was sitting on the upper level of a Greylines tour bus on a tour of NYC architecture. It is a nice way to see much without all the walking. 🙂 From Wikipedia: The Flatiron … Continue reading Flatiron Building
I dread to think about how our totally politicized Supreme Court is going to rule on the latest attack on affordable healthcare for almost ten million of us. Â Will they essentially make those folks walk the plank as Steve Sack shows in this editorial cartoon. It is widely known that most of the yahoos on the court vote primarily on their political alignment. The … Continue reading Walking The Plank…
I love taking sixty year old black and white thumb print size photos and restoring to a  much larger larger size.  That is what I did with this one of my wife (right) and her two siblings in the early 1950s.  She was quite a looker even at this young age. Continue reading Antiquity…
Water wheels such as this one found in Waterford Maryland were very much a part of America. They were the power that ignited the industrial revolution and are still around in the form of electrical generation such as the Hoover Dam and Niagara Falls. Of course the water wheel in this picture is no longer functional but I image it was very active in its … Continue reading Water Wheels..
This is a continuation of the post about two distinctive worldveiws so prevalent in our society today. Let me say up front that even with violating my self imposed 500 word limit on posts this will only very lightly touch on the matter of good or evil. Lets pull a couple of quotes from yesterday’s post to concentrate on here. Still, the distinction is real … Continue reading Paul or Plato – Part II…
This is going to be one of those very philosophical posts so fasten your seatbelt. It is this idea of a fundamentally sinful humanity that inspires the harsh, punitive sentences of our criminal justice system — including capital punishment. It also provokes visions of merciless suffering in hell after death. We deserve severe punishment because we are free agents who knowingly choose to do what we … Continue reading Paul or Plato??
Not all things creative are visual. Some are simple unsaid words and thoughts. Like most kids I read Huckleberry Finn at an early age. It was not one of my favorite books, I was more into Steinbeck and London at the time. But when we visited Mark Twain’s home in Hannibal Missouri I discovered that his legacy goes way beyond his most popular books. Â I … Continue reading I Recognize It But…
Originally posted on RedLetterLiving:
What About The Bible… ? (Chapter 2) I know that from all the rhetoric about this topic you are expecting the next word in the title to be “Clear” but actually for me it is “Fuzzy”. I don’t know how many times in my life I have heard the phrase “just study the bible for the answer to your problems. When… Continue reading I Read The Bible And Everything Became….
I must admit that I do quite a bit of my shopping now on Amazon. I go to the mall on maybe a monthly basis but that is more for the exercise than for shopping.  But then again most of the shops in our college town mall are clothing stores and since my total repertoire in that area can be fitted in a two foot space … Continue reading Going Out Of Business Sale….
Living in a rural area of Indiana and surrounded by forests the sight of a turkey is a fairly common event. But recently a young herd (or whatever you call a group of turkeys) wandered across our back property. There were at least fifty of them.  Benjamin Franklin wanted to make the turkey the national bird. In hindsight, it would have been much more appropriate than … Continue reading A herd of Turkeys…
I see in the headlines that a New Jersey Senator is in trouble for passing out favors to his rich friends. The photo above was taken at the Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library a few years ago. President Wilson started out his political career as governor of NJ. It is obvious from this shot that they had similar problems one-hundred years ago. Continue reading What's Old Is New….
In order to assure his victory Netanyahu flatly said there would be no Palestinian State while he was prime minister. Those words just might result in some tough love for US/Israeli relations. Bibi might finally realize that his actions have consequences. The current day Israel was at least partially created by a United Nations General Assembly Resolution 181 back in 1947 which mandated a two state … Continue reading Tough Love… The Consequences Of Your Actions…
I must admit that I love Shonda Rhimes and her creative mind! Grey’s Anatomy is probably my all-time favorite show and since I have been around quite a while that is a lot of shows. She shows us the challenges of life that many of us have never faced.  I captured the quote above from a recent CNN broadcast talking about the Oscars. I have not … Continue reading Containers They Carry Their Brains Around In…
The Palestinian problem is the primary driver for so much of what happens in the Middle East. To see a solution taken off the table by Israel is tragic for all the world.  Give peace a chance….. Continue reading A Sad Day For The Possibility of Peace In The Middle East…
I started thinking about this post after I saw a PBS Special about Gunner Myrdal entitled “American Denial”. Myrdal was a famous Swedish sociologist that in the 1940s was asked by the Carnegie Foundation to study the “negro problem” in the U.S. He had a long and deep admiration of the United States and particularly the American creeds of equal chance, equal opportunity and equal justice. … Continue reading The American Creed..
This Land Is Your Land Song by Woody Guthrie This land is your land This land is my land From California to the New York island From the red wood forest to the Gulf Stream waters This land was made for you and Me As I was walking that ribbon of highway I saw above me that endless skyway I saw below me that golden … Continue reading This Land Is Your Land…
I’m not sure what this piece of equipment is but I think it is a seeder. Whenever I look at these century old things I now marvel at the American ingenuity that it took to create it. Continue reading American Ingenuity…
What the world needs now is love, sweet love It’s the only thing that there’s just too little of What the world needs now is love, sweet love No, not just for some but for everyone I love the song lyrics above. They give me hope that someday, probably in the very distant future the world will turn to love but we got a long … Continue reading What The World Needs Now Is a Lot Less Spite….
I’ve heard it said the best way for Washington to create peace in the Middle East is to stop providing U.N. cover for Israel and eliminate the U.S. money that fuels Israel’s defiant behavior (more than $20.5 billion given just during the Obama administration). In effect, it’s Parenting 101: Make Israel responsible for its actions…. Toward the end of his diatribe to the GOP, Bibi offered up … Continue reading Parenting 101
Remember when George W. Bush sold himself as a “compassionate conservative”? Of course you do. Now, his brother Jeb is using a similar formulation, describing himself as an “inclusive conservative.” The difference may seem trivial at first, but the Bushes are no fools when it comes to winning elections. And this difference tells us something about the changing perception of the parties, as well as … Continue reading Spin, Spin, Spin…
I enjoy most historic sites I have visited around the country but I enjoy the ones with the reenactors the most. Most of these folks do it on a voluntary basis just for the fun of doing it. They, especially those knowledgable on the period, add an order of magnitude of realism the site. These folks were enacting the early 20th century Indiana farm life at O’Bannon … Continue reading Ode To The Reenactors
Today is James Madison’s birthday. I have made it clear here on RJsCorner that he is my favorite political figure in history. He was a short and hard-working  and modest guy. This country would be very different if he had not lived.  Here is a quote of the ten things about him that many probably don’t know.  Click on the source below to see the … Continue reading Happy Birthday James Madison..
I have been blogging for about eight months now over at InSearchOfAmerica. It is quite different from this one in that it is dedicated to looking at all the great things about this country that I have discovered throughout my many years. Over there I talk about what is right about America. I continue to be amazed by how great this country is in so many … Continue reading It's All A Game….
I know jelly fish in the wild is something you don’t want to tangle with but those I encountered in the San Francisco Aquarium were very surreal… Continue reading Surreal..
Originally posted on RedLetterLiving:
What About The Bible… ? (Chapter 1) I have been spending quite a bit of time lately thinking about the Bible and my experiences with it over the last decade or so. Around 2003 I decided to take up a serious study of theology and in particularly those around the words of Jesus. I naively thought I could get some clear… Continue reading The Thing Is…..
Iowa is pretty much known as corn to many of us so I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised to see this very large picture of corn in the State House in Des Moines. Â I am not making fun of Iowa as my home state of Indiana is known for much the same thing. Â In fact Iowa is one of my favorite states and Mount … Continue reading Corn….
RJ's Corner 