Author: RJ Walters

I am an Independent thinking, highly functional person who is deaf and has some unique views and challenges in life. Like all of us, I am a person who is composed of all my life experiences and that is what I write about here.
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Don’t Confuse Me With Facts….

RJ Walters

Over all, it (a poll) showed that Republicans who are considering making presidential bids will have to woo a party that largely identifies with the Tea Party movement…. …more than half of Republican voters said they considered themselves Tea Party supporters — and has questions about President Obama’s origin of birth. A plurality of Republican voters, 47 percent, said they believed Mr. Obama, who was born in Hawaii, was born in another country; 22 percent said they did not know where he was born, and 32 percent said they believed he was born in the United States. (See link below for whole … Continue reading Don’t Confuse Me With Facts….

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Taking Ownership of Others Actions….

RJ Walters

We Christians seem to like to take ownership of others actions.  If a missionary is killed in South American we say that proves that we are suffering and dying for Jesus Christ. Somehow or another that death gets attached to our individual selves as if we were the ones who died. We just can’t live vicariously through other. We are each responsible for our own actions. The only exception to that is Christ being a redeeming sacrifice for all of us before God that is memorialized today.  As I have mentioned in the past I don’t really understand that idea but Jesus … Continue reading Taking Ownership of Others Actions….

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Luray Caverns – Virginia 2011

RJ Walters

One of our first stops in Virginia during our recent vacation was at Luray Caverns. I must admit that being deaf I have a fear of caves. If the lights went out I would totally panic for lack of sensory perception. It was neat but I don’t really care to see any more caves.  That is me on the left. The dark area in the middle bottom of the picture is my wife’s thumb :) Continue reading Luray Caverns – Virginia 2011

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Earth As A Proving Ground???

RJ Walters

Why did God go to all the trouble to create the universe? By any standards that was a massive undertaking. I am one who believes in the day age interpretation of the Bible.  In the last century or so God has given us the scientific understanding to know that the creation of the universe took millions if not billions of years to complete. Why did he go through all that trouble? One explanation for God creating the universe and an infinitely small corner of it called the Earth was that he intends it to be a proving ground for what … Continue reading Earth As A Proving Ground???

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The Thing About Maryland….

RJ Walters

This post is a continuation on reports of our recent vacation through West Virginia, Maryland, Virginia, and Tennessee. As mentioned a few posts ago Maryland was generally not quite what I expected after reading the book “A Journey Through Hallowed Ground” by David Edwin Lillard. The book centered around a trip down US 15 from Gettysburg to Monticello. From the book’s description I was prepared to see a number of small towns  gushing with history along this Maryland route.By just looking at a larger area map I should have been prepared for what we encountered but I guess the dreamer in my just wanted … Continue reading The Thing About Maryland….

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Some "Great" Ideas From My Governor….

RJ Walters

While the governor of Indiana, where I currently reside, is not a Tea Partier he does seem to think along the same line. First of all we were told when he first came into office that the reason that more businesses did not move to Indiana was because they thought we were backwards.  The reason for us being backwards, at least according to him,was that we did not change our clocks two times a year as most other States do.  We quit doing that about twenty-five years ago. It just didn’t make much sense for us ordinary Hoosiers to be … Continue reading Some "Great" Ideas From My Governor….

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Helping “The Least of These”…

RJ Walters

I spend a lot of time on this blog trying to convince you that Jesus intended us to help each other out. Especially those less fortunate than us. I have mentioned that I volunteer to do the cooking a couple of days a week at a soup kitchen. That is one way that I attempt to do what Jesus says. But I don’t think I have ever tried to give you any advice on other ways you can help with the homeless and financially challenged. I will attempt to fill that void, at least a little bit, via this post. … Continue reading Helping “The Least of These”…

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One Last Thought about WV

RJ Walters

I couldn’t leave our trip to West Virginia without mentioned on very interesting thing. The State of West Virgina was formed as a result of the Civil War. Considering that Richmond Virginia was the heart of the Confederacy it is surprising that the good folk in the northwestern of that state chose to remain loyal to the Union.  Part of that probably had to do with not many people up there could afford a slave, even if they wanted one, which most evidently didn’t. They were rewarded for their loyalty by becoming a separate State from those who chose otherwise. We didn’t … Continue reading One Last Thought about WV

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Sundays???

RJ Walters

Sundays continue to be a strange time for me. Up until last November I could always be found in a church pew on Sunday morning. At that time I was told by my church of eight years that my views of God no longer aligned with what their denomination expected of members. Instead of going through an inquisition I choose to separate my self from them. But I must admit that the very restricted and almost solo message of that congregation became somewhat numbing. You can only say “Christ did it all so nothing is expected of us” so many … Continue reading Sundays???

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At State Level, G.O.P. Seeks Big Environmental Cutbacks – NYTimes.com

RJ Walters

Ok here is what is making the news today.  See the full article via the link at the bottom of this post. It seems that some of these Tea Party electees think that not only is healthcare for the poor optional but so is clean air to breath and water to drink for all of us.  They have declared that many of these environmental issues are just too much of a nuisance for our poor business corporations who seem to be struggling to make more than a $billion in profits each month. So the rest of us will just have … Continue reading At State Level, G.O.P. Seeks Big Environmental Cutbacks – NYTimes.com

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West Virginia… Country Home….

RJ Walters

When we were visiting West Virginia the John Denver song kept creeping into my mind. It is indeed a unique State. Both in its landscape and how it was formed.  The picture above was from the State museum showing what the town looked like in the 1950’s. For those who did not live through that era this was probably a somewhat foreign picture. But I can remember my first visit to a drugstore soda fountain. It was a most enjoyable experience. Continue reading West Virginia… Country Home….

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The Words We Choose….

RJ Walters

It is strange how we choose different words from the Bible to latch on to.  Yvonne and I just returned from a two-week vacation through West Virginia, Maryland, and Virginia.  We visited some historical sites there and some mentioned the Appalachian Baptist who made the foundation of their faith handling poisonous snakes.  They centered their religious experiences on the Bible verse that goes “and they shall take up snakes and they will not be harmed” (or something like that).  The stories told of some who were bitten dozens of times and lived to tell about it. But there were also … Continue reading The Words We Choose….

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We Are Back….

RJ Walters

We made it back from our “Journey Through Hallowed Ground” yesterday. As was the case with Dickens there were some joyful times and there were some disappointing times. :) I will spend a couple of posts here describing parts of our visit. Being a U.S. history buff this trip had a lot of meaning for me. Our first stop was in Charleston West Virginia where we, as usual, toured the capital building. We got there on a Saturday and went to enter the building and to our surprise we found no guards or inspection stations.  I think this was the first time … Continue reading We Are Back….

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About Those Deficits….

RJ Walters

There is a lot of talk about the federal government deficits these days. Yes, we need to get that under control. One of the ways to do that is to reign in our obnoxious military spending. We spend many many times more per citizen on our military complex than any other country in the world. As a matter of fact we spend more than the rest of the world combined!!  If we reduced our spending to only ten times more per citizen than any other country we could cut more than $3 trillion dollars in ten years.  Yes, I am … Continue reading About Those Deficits….

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Me, Me, Me…..

RJ Walters

I have been trying to study up on this new political group who call themselves the Tea Party.  They seem to be against almost everything. But one thing they are obviously not against is “Me”.  They talk about themselves an awfully lot. Almost every sentence that comes out of their mouths seems to start with “I want” or “I demand” or “my money”. They seem to be a very self-centered group. Maybe they are trying to put a new definition in the dictionary for the word narcissism. Continue reading “Me, Me, Me…..”

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The Rich Get Richer….

RJ Walters

At a time most employees can barely remember their last substantial raise, median CEO pay jumped 27% in 2010 as the executives’ compensation started working its way back to prerecession levels, a USA TODAY analysis of data from GovernanceMetrics International found. Workers in private industry, meanwhile, saw their compensation grow just 2.1% in the 12 months ended December 2010, says the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Source: http://www.usatoday.com/money/companies/management/2011-03-31-ceo-pay-2010.htm Ok, what is going on here?  I thought maybe the big shots learned their lesson from the financial meltdown but I guess not. They are still giving themselves ten times the raise that … Continue reading The Rich Get Richer….

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Should this be harder? – Thoughts from a Convinced Quaker

RJ Walters

At the bottom of this post is a link to a heartfelt post by a convinced Quaker. A convinced Quaker is one who has come from outside the sect. In this person’s case it evidently was from Catholicism. This post struck me deeply as I saw myself in much of Laura’s writing. For those not going to the original post here are a couple of quotes that I want to comment on: “Hard” was life before I learned about Quakerism. “Hard” was wondering how to handle a violent situation in a compassionate manner and thinking I was the only person in the … Continue reading Should this be harder? – Thoughts from a Convinced Quaker

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A Little More As I Grow Older….

RJ Walters

I speak truth, not so much as I would, but as much as I dare; and I dare a little more as I grow older. (Catherine Drinker Bowen) I got the above quote from a fellow blogger a few months ago. I don’t remember exactly who is was but the quote hit me head on. As I grow older I seem to dare and say some things that I would not have said earlier in life. When we are younger we think we speak the truth but we always hold off some things as we don’t want others to know … Continue reading A Little More As I Grow Older….