This is kind of a companion piece for this morning. There are just too many of us who almost blindly follow the “talking heads” of their choice. “If Fox News says it, it has to be true.” Â Independent thought is critical to making a democracy function and we seem to be losing that in giant chunks lately. Thanks Paul for this vital message…. Continue reading Making Up My Mind…
Many Christians are wary of participating in social justice because of a deep-rooted fear of being labeled âliberal,â âprogressive,â or âsecular.â They donât want to be associated with âsecularâ movements, and are uncomfortable delving into issues that go beyond their cultural comfort zones. But the Bible tells us that Jesus cared deeply about the social causes around him…. Â Christians do a disservice to the gospel … Continue reading Social Justice Is a Christian Tradition â Not a Liberal Agenda
For decades, members of the news media have struggled to determine whether a gruesome photograph or video crosses the line from newsworthy to something so disturbing that it is potentially harmful. Source: Virginia shooting proves Americans arenât numb to tragedy â we just have a higher tolerance for it – Yahoo News Sadly we seem to get a weekly dose of tragedy of gun violence … Continue reading Virginia shooting proves Americans arenât numb to tragedy..
Thanks Dan for reminding us what is really tragic. Continue reading The Rich Get Richer… Or….
Like so much around today the rural mills are fast becoming a thing of the past. I guess at the corporate farm level they take their grain directly to their corporate supplies. Â I found this mill about 40 miles east of Amarillo Texas this spring. Continue reading Mills of Bygone Days…
I recently made a ten-hour walking tour of the college I graduated from. I had briefly driven around campus a few time before but never got out of the car.  It was fifty years ago this month that I had my first exposure to Purdue University in West Lafayette Indiana.  Needless to say that a LOT has changed since that time both to me and the campus … Continue reading You Can’t Go Home Again…
There is a bush that we planted fifteen years ago that gives us twice annual beauty. Â I don’t know what kind it is, that is my wife’s thing, but I do appreciate it very much. It continues to thrive even though it took a pickax to plant it in the very rocky soil… Continue reading White Innocence..
Apple Inc. customers waiting for the company to revolutionize live television as it did for music and phone service will have to keep waiting, at least until next year. Source:Â Apple to delay live TV service to 2016 – Yahoo Finance. It is amazing how so few companies can change our culture so dramatically. Â Apple is certainly one of them. Â They revolutionized the music business so … Continue reading Apple Live TV ….
He nailed the insane reason we still need to talk about climate change Yes, 99.9% of the scientific literature shows that climate change is real and worsened by the things we do every day, like driving cars and burning fossil fuels. Yet political representatives who continue to deny that very real science continue to serve on government science committees. In September of last year, Stewart nailed Representative Larry Bucshon (R-Indiana) … Continue reading I Am A Jon Stewart Fan… After The Fact…
The pictures shown in the slideshow are from the grounds of the Museum of Indian & Art Culture in Santa Fe New Mexico. It is a fantastic place to visit. Santa Fe is quickly become my favorite city on Native-America culture and history. It is a very interesting fact that the Pueblo Nation which is in this area is the only nation to not have … Continue reading Museum of Indian & Art Culture – Santa Fe NM
An interesting way to look at  our country.  It helps you understand how all those very small conservative States have so much power over the majority of us in the U.S. congress. Continue reading States By Population..
Last week, Jeb Bush told an audience in California, “It is strength, and will, and clarity of purpose that make all the difference.” This is the Tinker Bell school of foreign policy that has spread over most of the Republican presidential field. Clap if you believe in a stable Middle East where Syria is rid of ISIS, Al Nusra, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, and any … Continue reading Like a Death Wish… I Can Only Hope….
Abraham Lincoln is one of my favorite presidents. His library in Springfield Illinois is and impressive place. Â The pictures here are life-like figures from his cabinet. Most of these guys thought he was just a yokel who could be easily controlled. They later found out just how wrong they were. Continue reading Lincoln Museum – Springfield IL
Its been a while since I used my painter app on one of my photos. The app has many different style options but I kind of like this one.. Continue reading The Great Rocky Mountains..
Only 20 percent of Americans believe there will be enough money left when itâs time for them to retire. To fix the problem, some people believe Social Security should allow means testing, where benefits are based on a personâs income. Others think the tax should be raised, the retirement age should be raised or the benefits should be cut down. Though thereâs disagreement over how, … Continue reading Fear # 4 – Social Security Will Disappear
Even junkyards look fantastic with the mountains in the background. Welcome to La Fruto…. Continue reading Even Junkyards…
SEATTLE â Microsoft said on Wednesday that it would offer new parents an additional eight weeks of paid time off from their jobs at the company, in a significant boost to its parental leave benefits. Microsoftâs changes to its policy came a day after Netflix, the online video service, said it would allow new mothers and fathers who are employees to take as much paid … Continue reading The Disparity of Benefits… And a Possible Solution…
This is the first post in a new category called “My Best of the Best List”. Over my life I have always been an avid read. I’m sure I have read thousands of books on many different topic. I have also traveled to all fifty States and to Canada and Mexico mainly with history in mind. So, with this post I am starting my … Continue reading Being a Radical… The Best of the Best…
But the chief said he ultimately decided Millerâs mistakes required his firing. While he said he had âserious concernsâ about Millerâs use of deadly force, Johnson said it would be up to a grand jury to decide whether Millerâs actions were criminal. Source:Â Police Chief Fires Officer Who Shot and Killed Unarmed Texas Football Player | TIME. I’m not going to talk much about the story … Continue reading Use of Deadly Force….
One thing that spreads across the U.S. landscape are distressed rural buildings. Â Now that corporations pretty much have taken over the old small farm buildings have been abandoned. I have more than 800 photos to help document them before they are all gone. Continue reading Distressed…
It’s amazing how our pets can so easily forgive and forget. Â If only we humans could learn that lesson from them. Â While I was talking to my wife recently, Dexter our cat proceeded to attack my right foot. He does this on occasion but this time it was annoying and I kicked him off. He took off like a rocket then stopped to give me … Continue reading Forgive and Forget…
WENDY THOMAS RUSSELL: Â I did a survey of 1,000 nonreligious parents to find out exactly that. And the top reason cited was, people werenât sure how to talk about religion without indoctrinating their kids into what they believed themselves. That was a hard line. The other one was interacting with religious family members and keeping the peace in families. When youâre raising a child who … Continue reading Indoctrination and God…
Our minds are just too filled with things that don’t matter much. All that stuff is stifling creativity. Continue reading Clean Out a Corner of Your Mind..
A little over a hundred years ago the world was in a paradigm shift away from farming to manufacturing. This was a very disruptive thing for many who were living during those times. Cars were replacing the horse and buggy which had been the primary mode of transportation for more than a century. Automation of farm implements resulted in much less labor needed to produce the same goods. … Continue reading Unskilled Labor..
This is kind of an eerie picture but in reality it was once a thing of great beauty. As the cycle of life typically goes it was once a beautiful flower in my wife’s garden Continue reading Ten Headed Monster???
But since Piotrowski describes property taxes as “unethical, unchristian-like” and a form of “financial slavery,” he decided to make a statement. “Since I’m being forced to pay for something against my own will, I’m paying in pennies,” he told The Philadelphia Inquirer. SOURCE: This man collected 50,000 pennies to make a statement about paying his property taxes – Yahoo Finance. I don’t know about you but these … Continue reading Something For Nothing…
Found this tattooed horse in downtown Louisville a few years ago. It was around Kentucky Derby time. Continue reading Tattooed Horse
Seeing all the blue jays hoarding the feeder just now got me to thinking about life. It doesn’t take much to get me to thinking these days. đ We feed over half a ton of sunflower seed annually in our backyard feeders. There is a big variety of birds that come and go. Cardinals are one of my favorites probably because of their bright color. … Continue reading The Blue Jays of Life…
What could be more creative than a shadow box of eggs. Â I found this on at the Des Moines History Museum a few years ago. Continue reading Eggs…
Cord-cutting headaches for pay TV have now progressed beyond just a dull, throbbing pain. Cable, satellite and telco TV companies suffered their worst-ever quarterly subscriber declines for the three months ended June 30, collectively shedding more than half a million accounts â an accelerating erosion thatâs put new pressure on operators and media companies exposed in the pay-TV biz. Source: Cord-Cutting Gets Ugly: U.S. Pay-TV Sector Drops 566,000 Customers in Q2. Later … Continue reading Cord-Cutting Gets Ugly: U.S. Pay-TV Sector Drops 566,000 Customers in Q2
New Mexico continues to fascinate me. Â It is so different from where I have lived the rest of my life. Â These pics were primarily taken in northern New Mexico (Santa Fe and north) and southern Colorado. I am convinced that I will live there some day… Continue reading Mountains… Colorado, New Mexico
(CENTENNIAL, Colo.)âColorado theater shooter James Holmes will be sentenced to life in prison without parole after a jury failed to agree Friday on whether he should get the death penalty for his murderous attack on a packed movie premiere. Source:Â Jury Sentences Aurora Movie Theater Shooter to Life in Prison | TIME. The Colorado theatre incident seems like a long ago memory now that so many … Continue reading Cruel and Unusual….
One of the things I complain about the most is having no help in choosing a career/direction for my life.  I went to a very small rural school and even though I was assigned the agriculture teacher as my counselor he was actually anything but.  I think every one of those he “guided” was told to be a farmer. He simply didn’t take that responsibility seriously. … Continue reading Ode to the Farm House..
Some customers, consumer advocates and the telephone-workers union accuse the phone companies of not repairing copper networks that they want to shut down. The new rules would prohibit companies from retiring a copper network through neglect. If it wants to abandon copper, it would need to tell customers. SOURCE:Â You still use a landline? FCC voting on new phone rules – Yahoo News. This was a … Continue reading You still use a landline? FCC voting on new phone rules
First off I hope you are enjoying the new and expanded view from RJ’s Corner. Its kind of more a neighborhood now than just a corner but that’s the way it is. Â Its fun to be able to put all my posts in one place. Let me know how you like the new format and anything that would make it better. I have been doing … Continue reading My Take On The World
RJ's Corner 