I have been thinking about it lately so wanted to post a picture taken from the restaurant on top of the World Trade Center in 1999. It was very strange to look down and see helicopters flying around. The enormity of the buildings that fell is hard to comprehend unless you have actually seen them. Continue reading Looking Back…

Source: Presidential campaign inevitably boosts war with Iran – latimes.com. This should be a very somber topic for all of us but given the Republican presidential candidates it seems to be otherwise. The eagerness to go to war is far too dominant in those folks. One thing I am very disappointed in President Obama is his war stances. They were pretty much the opposite of what he campaigned on. He seems to be just one of the gang now; the change mantra has all but disappeared. Here are some stark words from the source article: The truth is, Americans are not a peace-loving people. … Continue reading Permanently Geared To War…..

Source: Drugmakers have paid $8 billion in fraud fines – USATODAY.com. The nation’s largest drugmakers have paid at least $8 billion in fines for repeatedly defrauding Medicare and Medicaid over the past decade, but they remain in business with the federal government because they are often the sole suppliers of critical products, records show. This is one of those cases where “you can’t live with them can’t live without them”. Drug companies definitely have improved the quality of life for all of us. We should all be thankful that they are around. But greed, that seems almost ingrained in the capitalist … Continue reading An Ode to Capitalism…..

The following is an exerpt from a recent Sojourners.com emailing relative to Franklin Graham who now heads the Billy Graham Ministries. The author of the article is shown at the bottom. When Franklin Graham expressed doubts about President Obama’s Christian faith during an interview on Morning Joe last week, it reminded me of an uncomfortable dinner I had in the late ‘90s. I sat down for a pleasant meal in the home of two great friends — one of them a white evangelical faith leader deeply committed to social justice. Well into the evening’s conversation — when we’d dropped all … Continue reading Black Evangelicals, White Evangelicals, and Franklin Graham’s Repentance

Source:  Cosmic Log – Flaw found in faster-than-light setup. Months after researchers reported that they measured neutrinos traveling faster than light, they’re finding that the incredible result may have been due to a bad connection rather than a violation of Albert Einstein’s special theory of relativity. A while ago I made a post about how scientists today disproved Einstein’s theory of relativity. It was reported that they had been able to measure the speed of a neutrino that was faster than light. According to Albert when things approach the speed of light they end up as pure energy. Well it … Continue reading Albert You Are Safe, For Now…..

via Why Pentagon, facing ‘doomsday’ spending cuts, refuses to plan for them – CSMonitor.com. Pentagon brass say they won’t even brook the possibility that $487 billion in mandated spending cuts – their ‘doomsday’ scenario – will actually come to pass. But if Congress doesn’t blink, say analysts, the Pentagon will be in dire straits. I have always believed that those Pentagon folks are the most arrogant batch of people on God’s Green Earth. As stated above they absolutely refuse to even consider the possibility of cutting their budgets! I’m sure if push comes to shove they will say that a budget … Continue reading Pentagon – a 10% Budget Cut Is Out Of The Question…..

Source:  Life Inc. – Role reversal: Employers say they cant find workers. “Employers are getting pickier and pickier,” Holmes said. “We want the perfect person to walk through the door.”Other experts also are seeing evidence that employers just aren’t working as hard to recruit workers, either because they can’t afford to or they don’t feel like they have to. Employers may not be looking far afield because they cant afford moving expenses. Employees may be less willing to move because of the housing bust. I guess I am just showing my age here but at the beginning of my working … Continue reading Employers say they can’t find workers

This is the second post of five about the book by Philip Gulley entitled If God is Love. Like the first installment last Sunday this one was also pulled from one of my other blogs at RedLetterLiving.net  I made a few minor modifications to the original post. Post from RedLetterLiving March 2009 This is a continuation of my collection of snippets from the book by Philip Gulley entitled If God is Love. The Psalmists boats, “Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord? And do I not loathe those who rise up against you? I hate them with perfect hate. I count them … Continue reading Book Review – If God Is Love (Part 2)

I enjoy cooking with wine and sometimes I even put it in the food I’m cooking.  – Julia Childs I have always enjoyed cooking. After Mom abandoned my brother, Dad, and me I did most of the cooking. That was when I was about 10 years old. Of course at that time I didn’t know about cooking with wine but I did make pretty good biscuits and gravy among other things. Dad was the son of a pig farmer so we ate lots of pork. :) It would be years later before I discovered things like Coq Au Vin. This reminds me … Continue reading I Enjoy Cooking With Wine….

I always try to see the best in people and try not to attack anyone personally but sometimes it seems necessary to do so.  This is one of those times. Rush Limbaugh is in the center of it once again for his outrageous comments. He is indeed a raving lunatic!  But he is also a very rich raving lunatic because of his behavior. That in my mind is a major cause of where we are in the political sphere in this country today. It is reported that Mr. Limbaugh made about $30 million last year from his rantings.  I’m sure all … Continue reading Raving Lunatics…..

Since we seem to be on the verge of yet another long war, this time with Iran,  I thought I would do a short post here from my friends at FCNL. Please tell your senator and congressman that we don’t want to go through another senseless war. War is not the answer. We are the answer. All of us. All of us who are weary of turmoil and conflict… who seek a world free of war and the threat of war… who seek a society with equity and justice for all…who seek a community where every person’s potential may be fulfilled… … Continue reading War is NOT the Answer…

Psst…. I want to let you in on my dirty little secret. Don’t tell any of my Republican friends but sometimes I agree with what they say! I don’t often say it but I will whisper it here. Although I am a social progressive down to my soul I am also a fiscal conservative. I think we should all live within our means and that certainly includes our federal institutions. Source: Federal Workers Face ‘Unprecedented Assault’ in U.S. Budget War – Businessweek. “People who are government servants, public servants, should not be paid more than the taxpayers who are paying for … Continue reading My Dirty Little Secret…

The book review post I want to bring over from my other blog at RedLetterLiving.net  is one that had a profound effect on me during my three year search into current Christian organizations. In fact this book review spanned over five posts. (I haven’t decided yet whether to bring all five here or not). Phillip Gulley was one of my first encounters with the Society of Friends, otherwise know as Quakers. It would definitely spur much more reading about this group of Christians. Here is a slightly edited version of the March 2009 post Today I am going to talk … Continue reading Book Review – If God Is Love…

There ought to be a law against anybody going to Europe till they had seen the things we have in this country. – August 14, 1930  Will Rogers Although Will traveled around the world he was a homeboy at heart. I have been to all fifty State but still haven’t seen  what we have in this country yet. Note in the photo here Will is twirling a lasso while writing for his blog of the day otherwise known as a newspaper column. He certainly was a showman :) Continue reading Made in the USA….

Source: A Genuine Willingness – QuakerQuaker. We long for connections to others. We want to belong to something greater than ourselves. At the same time, we demand autonomy and freedom from constraints imposed by virtue of belonging to a group. These opposing pulls cause stress on both institutions and individuals as we try to meet the requirements of our outer and inner worlds. How do we genuinely balance our need to be self-determining persons and, at the same time, contributing members of society? The answer depends on our definitions. If my interpretation of self-determination is how much I can gain for … Continue reading Connections….

Source: Possible U.S., China trade dispute looms – USATODAY.com. In September, the Department of Energy said that only about 6% of the solar cells and modules sold around the world were made in the U.S., compared with more than 40% in 1995. In the last six years, China’s global market share has ballooned to 54% from 6%. The average price of solar modules has plummeted more than 40% to $1.25 per watt in the past two years. The U.S. prides itself on being the leader of high technology. We depend on it to keep jobs here in the country. So when … Continue reading They Have Learned Their Lessons Well…..

Proposal would keep calendar same every year – USATODAY.com. Each year, Jan. 1 falls on a different day of the week, and the entire following year shifts accordingly. Schools, sports teams, businesses and banks spend many hours and millions of dollars calculating on what day of the week certain dates will fall, to schedule holidays and set interest rates. Yesterday was the day to adjust our calendar to be aligned with the sun. We do that every four years on the 29th of February.  Our current calendar was invented about 1582 and is called the Gregorian calendar. It was named … Continue reading Proposal would keep calendar same every year

Today is a weird day. It only comes once every four years. So, I thought I would put out a totally weird post that I have been holding on to for some time. It starts with a quote from a not-so-well known person. Don’t get consumed by all the negativity in the world. Lighten up once in a while  — January 11,2012  RJ Walters Now I’m not getting a big head here (at least not too much) by quoting myself. I just thought this should be said by someone. It just seems so easy to get totally down with all the negativity … Continue reading Don’t Get Consumed….

Killing someone without government permission is wrong!!  I guess it is just a matter of how you look at things in the world. I ran across the statement above recently and was dumbstruck by it. But after thinking of it a while I realized that from a military and a capital punishment perspective this is how we justify killing the “bad guys”. If the State says its ok to kill then you are justified in doing it! This has to be the primary mentality that allows a military sniper, which by the way is the fastest growing sector of our … Continue reading A Point of Perspective….

‘Star Wars’ universe getting a lot bigger – USATODAY.com. I am a Star Wars junkie, I freely admit it. I find it fascinating to take a peak of a possible future scenario that doesn’t end with us polluting the world beyond livability. I enjoy movies like “Soylent Green” and “Mad Max” but would rather believe we have a rosier future than they portray. Call me a wild-eyed dreamer if you want; I really don’t care. I have recently watched all the Star Wars movies in high def and I usually see an episode of “The Next Generation” or one of … Continue reading ‘Star Wars’ universe getting a lot bigger…

In my three year journey of studying current day Christian organizations I read many books that inspired me. So, in the coming weeks I will be re-blogging some of the posts from my blog at RedLetterLiving.net . I will limit these posts to just things that inspired me in this area. I will NOT be revisiting things that let me down. Here is the first review of a book by Gregory Boyd. He is indeed a profound writer on things pertaining to Christ. <<<Post from August 13, 2009>>>: I just finished the book Letters from a Skeptic by Greg Boyd and I … Continue reading Book Review – Letters from a Skeptic

Most of my life I have prided myself of being aware of what is going on in the world. I often cite the words of Thomas Jefferson who said a democracy depends on an informed electorate.  But, much of my life has also been spent being a contrarian. I am always looking at the majority opinion on things and then looking at opposing views to see if maybe they make more sense.  Sometimes these two philosophies collide; I think that is what happened here. What I am about to say now seems to go against the very grain of my life … Continue reading Head In The Sand….

Source: Young Women Go Back to School Instead of Work – NYTimes.com. “Today young girls are told they can do anything, go into any occupation. But if boys express any interest in traditionally female occupations, they get teased and bullied,” Ms. Coontz said. “Lots of guys are not understanding what’s happening to traditional low-income or middle-income male jobs.” Jobs in the male-dominated manufacturing industry and in other sectors involving manual labor have been, and still are, in structural decline. These careers can also be hard to maintain indefinitely because youthful strength eventually fades. And now many manufacturing workers do not have … Continue reading You Want To Be A What??