We Have No Purpose Anymore..

I have to admit up front that for much of my life I just didn’t really know what I wanted to do when I “grew up”. Strangely, it wasn’t until several years into my retirement that I finally put that question to rest. So, I am NOT the poster child for gaining purpose in life, but maybe my shortcomings in this area might be a lesson for others. A fundamental problem with this country and many others around the world is that too many just don’t have any idea what the meaning of our country is supposed to be about? … Continue reading We Have No Purpose Anymore..

Ft. Wayne, Indiana

Ft. Wayne Indiana is an interesting town in the northeast corner of the State.  I go there on an annual basis to pick up my supply of Sechler’s Pickle products. I am simply addicted to their kosher dill green tomatoes. During a visit a few years ago we discovered a local museum that had a large section to do with Prohibition.  That is what I am offering for ISOA Saturday today.  Take the time to read the mural included to see some pretty quirky things about my home State.  I will leave the more historical report for a future post. Continue reading Ft. Wayne, Indiana

I’m Skeptical…

One of my favorite TV shows is about a family called the Rolloffs. The mother and father are dwarfs but only one of their four children is also a dwarf. Molly who is the only daughter used the word “skeptical” quite often even as a little girl. She was skeptical about almost everything. I didn’t use that word much growing up but I too was skeptical about many things I encountered. The show has been going on for about 13 years now so I have watched Molly grow from a young girl to a college graduate soon to be married. … Continue reading I’m Skeptical…

Medicare For All… It Just Makes Sense

Medicare is a system that has been in place for 50+ years. Its approval rating is well above any competition and it keeps the costs of healthcare down. Paperwork which drowns the private sector insurance is very well managed to less than half in Medicare. So, why should we be experimenting with other often radical solutions to our healthcare network in the U.S.?  I will admit that Obamacare was far from perfect. For one thing, it depends on the whim of private for-profit carriers. They say privatizing healthcare will spur competition and therefore reduce costs but that just isn’t happening. … Continue reading Medicare For All… It Just Makes Sense

Three Weeks Post Brain Surgery…

   It is hard to believe that three weeks ago right now I was in a cold sterile operating room with the top of my skull removed to fix a bleeding brain! Long story short, I am doing remarkedly well and anxious to get back to a normal routine. I haven’t suffered any seizures that are somewhat common for brain bleed surgeries and have really not had a lot of pain.  The doctor gave me a prescription for “heroin in a pill” but I have not found it necessary to take any of them as Tylenol has been doing the job … Continue reading Three Weeks Post Brain Surgery…

Week 12 Inside The Loony Bin – Healthcare & The Supreme Court

 This will be my first “official” report looking at the Washington DC loony bin from a drone level view. Here goes: Healthcare – The GOP continues to try to formulate a health care plan that will abolish Obamacare. They have had 7 years to put this together but like usual in the loony bin, they wait until the last minute. It seems they can’t agree within their own party what it should look like. The RadCons don’t want anything, while others don’t want to cause anyone to lose coverage. I guess they are having a vote sometime today and I’m willing to … Continue reading Week 12 Inside The Loony Bin – Healthcare & The Supreme Court

Thinking Outside The Box On Education

  “Thinking outside the box” is a new sub-category within the Crayon Marks category. The term “thinking outside the box” entails a thinking process, which uses an unusual approach to a logical thinking structure. It´s a process which aims to escape relational reasoning,  and rising to another level. There is just too much stuff today where people say “That’s the way we have always done it.” To me, that is just an excuse for being too lazy to try to find something better. One of those areas is in our educational processes. I recently read some articles written one hundred years ago that show we … Continue reading Thinking Outside The Box On Education

Destroying The Work of Past Generations..

My wife is an avid watcher of TV, especially the ‘flipper’ shows where someone buys a house for $20,000 and puts some paint on it and then sells it for $40,000. To me, that very idea is WRONG on so many levels: It Gives People The Wrong Idea — It is kind of like sports in my mind where a kid decides that he will be a professional in basketball/football, you name it. He then spends literally all his waking hours playing that sport to the exclusion of everything else. As a result, he is totally unprepared for life when … Continue reading Destroying The Work of Past Generations..

My Misty Morning Friends

This picture is not a terribly unusual site here at the homestead. We often see young deer come out of the woods behind our house to munch on the front yard. But what was unusual was the very warm February we had when the picture was taken. Now with the Ides of March just past we seem to be returning to something more normal. Didn’t have to use the lawn tractor snow plow at all this year. Continue reading My Misty Morning Friends

Simplicity At RJsCorner

Even before my recent brain injury and resulting surgery, I was contemplating some serious changes here at RJsCorner.  Quite simply I was getting bogged down in the “inside the beltway” insanity that ruled my world. I now realize that was an obsessive reaction to recent national events that were beginning to overwhelm me. A foundational part of my being is that I am an Aspie.  I demand logic and reason in my life and I saw myself losing both. Something had to change and I have been working on that for the last couple of weeks. Yes, even while my … Continue reading Simplicity At RJsCorner

I’m Tired Of Funding The Economic Recovery

    I spent most of my life as a saver, some would have called me a penny pincher. I drove cars to the end of their life while I saw my neighbors buy a new one every three years or so. As a result, I accumulated enough wealth along with a pension from thirty years in the corporate world to not have to worry about my retirement years. That is until things got totally out of kilter. By kilter I mean when interest rates on savings and CDs went to zero almost a decade ago. I now have all this … Continue reading I’m Tired Of Funding The Economic Recovery

America Needs More Congressmen..

 I am feeling better today so I thought I would tackle a “Crayon Marks” post about one of your favorite topics, Congress.. :)  America needs more congressmen. Hundreds and hundreds more congressmen.  I love my friends over at The Week for regularly looking over the sides of our nationalist boxes for new solutions and this is one of them a few weeks ago.  Gerrymandering has skewed the representation of our country so that it is no longer about who gets the majority of votes and that takes power away from the people. It seems without the court skewing the vote will never … Continue reading America Needs More Congressmen..