I know all you young folks out there who might accidentally come across my blog know very little about the history of prosperity but most of the older folks have recollections of more prosperous times.  I can remember the 1950s where everything seemed to be going well  for many of us. We couldn’t build enough houses or cars to meet our needs.  Instead of our returning vets … Continue reading Prosperity and Taxes…My Recollections

Anxiety is tough, isn’t it? Not just for the people that have it, but for you – the people that stick with them – while they’re going through it. It’s emotionally taxing on both ends, it’s physically demanding at times, and of course mentally demanding most of the time. Plans have to be changed to accommodate the anxiety. Situations have to be avoided at times. … Continue reading 13 Things to Remember If You Love A Person With Anxiety

In a half-dozen nations, tyrants who once ruled by fear and repression have been toppled, unleashing centuries-old sectarian rivalries and bloody struggles for power. Syria’s horrific civil war is spilling into Lebanon and threatening Jordan and Turkey, while Iraq has effectively devolved into three nations — one Shiite, one Sunni, one Kurdish. In the chaos, a particularly malignant form of radical Sunni Islam, the Islamic … Continue reading The grand Shiite-Sunni struggle

They aren’t actually anything new, just a variation on long-standing labor-organizing practices that have come back into prominence. “Micro union” is a recently coined term of art for bargaining units that encompass one category of workers at a business — the cosmetics workers at a Macy’s, for example — instead of the more traditional model of organizing all the workers for the business into one … Continue reading Meet the new workers’ movement that is terrifying the wealthy and the powerful

This is no longer a trend – it is now a lifestyle that is too comfortable, for consumers of all ages, for it to go away anytime soon,” he said. Millennials’ tendency to rent instead of buy is also turning the retail industry upside down. SOURCE: Rebellious millennials are turning into a huge problem for retailers – Yahoo Finance. It appears from the above article that … Continue reading Fashion is Out….

Around the country, special courts are set up for former military members who have been charged with crimes after returning to civilian life, and who may be struggling with PTSD. Judges, lawyers, probation officers and others work together to treat or punish each defendant. Special correspondent Spencer Michels reports on how the new approach can offer troubled veterans a path forward…. JUDGE JEFFREY ROSS: Our goal … Continue reading Special courts…

Peanut allergies are one of the most common forms of food allergy among American children. And the last two decades have seen a dramatic rise in the number of cases. It’s estimated that today 2 percent of all children are allergic to peanuts, four times the number as recently as 1997. And it’s the leading cause of death from food allergies. For parents, of course, … Continue reading Free-Range Kids??

Total U.S. defense spending (in inflation-adjusted dollars) has increased so much over the past decade that it has reached levels not seen since World War II, when the United States had 12 million people under arms and waged wars on three continents. Moreover, the U.S. share of global military expenditures has jumped from about one-third to about one-half in this same period. Some of this … Continue reading About Our Defense Budgets… An Historic Perspective..

My wife is one of those people who if something doesn’t sound logical it must not be true. For example she absolutely refuses to believe in statistics of any form. I on the other hand have a very scientific nature. I am always trying to look at things for different angles. That is a basic difference between us and a very basic difference between many … Continue reading The Age of Disbelief

I know there are many of U.S. citizens who have never known a time when our military spending did not dwarf everything else in our discretionary spending budgets. We just seem to be a nation that wants to be policemen of the world. We want to put our noses into every conflict we can find.  It doesn’t matter that in places like Iraq and Afghanistan … Continue reading Will Our Gushing Military Spending Ever End?

It’s about time we let people take care of the problems in their own backyard. Continue reading It's About Time…

If you pay attention to such things it becomes very apparent that depending on where you live and how much income you have, and when you need it, primary healthcare varies widely across our nation.  The example below is specifically about worker’s compensation but is endemic across the healthcare spectrum. JUDY WOODRUFF: Howard Berkes, why are so many states moving to cut workers’ comp? HOWARD … Continue reading Federalized Healthcare…

Sometimes being creative is simply finding that right combination of things. That was the case with the above picture. At the center is a photo I took of my weeks old Chevy Sonic during our Colorado vacation. When I saw the rock cropping that were almost the same color as my sassy Sonic I had to immediately stop and take a picture of her. It … Continue reading The Right Combinations are Creative…

I am ashamed of the State of my birth and where I have lived most of my life. But, this isn’t the first time. Indiana for most of my life has been a very conservative red State who embarrasses me on a regular basis.  The Republicans now have total power and they are wielding it. The latest “religious freedom” law is just one example. It … Continue reading I Am Ashamed Of My Native State…

Every city seems to have them but the most impressive display of Christmas light art I have ever found is in the Peoria Illinois “Festival of Art”. The creativity found there is awesome!  There are literally hundreds of different mammoth size display. The one shown above is a whale with Jonas’ boat inside.  It is probably 100 feet long.  If you live in the Midwest … Continue reading Christmas Light Art…

In quick succession, the U.K., France, Italy, and Germany all agreed to become founding shareholders of the AIIB, a sign that they are eager to cozy up to Beijing and its $4 trillion in foreign reserves. Once upon a time, “the world was said to bow down before the mighty dollar. These days, even many of America’s closest allies have renminbi signs in their eyes.” … Continue reading And It Begins…A China Power Play….

In the 17th century, the French philosopher René Descartes came up with the “explanation for it all”: I think, therefore I am. Descartes is considered the Father of Modern Day philosophy but being a relative novice in this area I kind of put that label on Plato or Socrates. Philosophy is something that I have always been peripherally interested in but never delved much into.  I … Continue reading I Think, Therefore I Am…

This post is kind of like an April Fools joke on myself. I think all of us have to one degree or another an alter ego.  That is a second self who is distinctively different from who we presently are day-to-day. Many of my personal journal posts are to my alter ego “Joe”.  He is my younger much more timid and less sure self. It took … Continue reading My Alter Ego