Category: Having My Say

Having My Say4 Comments

Everything is Great Except…..

RJ Walters

Housing is coming back. Banks are lending again. Energy is booming. A prominent Democrat argues that the U.S. economy is finally coming back to life SOURCE: Is the U.S. Economy Coming Back to Life? – TIME. Everything is great again in the USA!  The stock markets are booming. Banks are as profitable as ever and are now lending again. All the economic indicators are rising.  These are joyful words for us liberals and dreaded ones for conservatives during a Democrat administration. Everything is great except for the fact that almost all of this prosperity is flowing into the hands of the … Continue reading Everything is Great Except…..

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Life’s Frustrations…

RJ Walters

I am a big fan of the TV show “Little People, Big World” about the Roloff family. The mother and father and one of the four children are dwarfs. I think I relate to them because I too face a daily handicap. I have watched the show since its origination I don’t know how many years ago. What brings this to mind is the latest episode of the family where they went on vacation in Costa Rica. During their trip Matt, the husband who has some pretty severe physical limitation, struggled to keep up with the family but often times … Continue reading Life’s Frustrations…

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Peace Talks…

RJ Walters

What would happen if we spent as much money on seeking peace as we did going to war?  I suspect the cartoon would be much different. It would be a fleet of Maseratis on the Autobahn instead of what you see above. I don’t know if peace would actually happen even with this reversal but wouldn’t it be interesting to find out? Maybe we could say “if you don’t kill any of your neighbors outside your borders this year we will give you $80 billion” Even with that we would come out ahead….. Continue reading Peace Talks…

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God Knows More Than I Do…….

RJ Walters

Morf Morford considers himself a free-range Christian who is convinced that God expects far more of us than we can ever imagine, but somehow thinks God knows more than we do….. As he’s getting older, he finds himself less tolerant of pettiness and dairy products. SOURCE:  Morf Morford: It’s NOT the economy, stupid | Red Letter Christians. I am going to do a rare cross post here between two of my blogs. I am doing so because I think this post has a spiritual as well as general message. While the referenced source above is about life being more than just … Continue reading God Knows More Than I Do…….

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Wouldn’t That Be Something….

RJ Walters

Pentagon officials say leaving zero troops in Afghanistan after 2014 would not be good strategy, but if Afghanistan doesn’t give US troops legal immunity, it’s the likeliest outcome. SOURCE: Leaving zero troops in Afghanistan? It’s a serious option, Pentagon says. – CSMonitor.com. Wouldn’t that be something. I think it would be a first in my lifetime that we didn’t leave soldiers after the battle is over.  We pay huge amounts of our taxes to keep our young kids in over a hundred countries throughout the world. For some reason we just can’t seem to get out completely when we get out. … Continue reading Wouldn’t That Be Something….

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Voting Districts….

RJ Walters

During the last portion of my corporate life I was an IT guy. IT being information technology. For those of you who might not know what that is we basically, at least in my area, take data and turn it into information. The old saying goes “Drowning in data but starved for information”. If you want to get an idea of what that mean just Google about anything and watch thousands of hit come up. We IT guys took those thousands of hits and with some pretty sophisticated software narrowed it down to a handful. Now that you got an … Continue reading Voting Districts….

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Starry Eyed…

RJ Walters

I know many think of me as one of those starry eyed liberals who doesn’t have any sense of reality. With this post I will probably cement that vision with many of my more conservative friends. But what would happen if we just refused to be enemies with those our leaders dictated us to hate.  What would happen? Let’s look at maybe the worst leader in that regard in the twentieth century. What would have happened it the German people had refused to invade their neighbor in 1938? Would Hitler’s power have been erased? What would have happened if people … Continue reading Starry Eyed…

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Where Is God???

RJ Walters

“as we returned from work, we saw three gallows… The SS [guards] seemed more preoccupied, more worried, than usual. To hang a child in front of thousands of onlookers was not a small matter. The head of the camp read the verdict. All eyes were on the child. He was pale, almost calm, but he was biting his lips as he stood in the shadow of the gallows… ‘Where is merciful God, where is He?’ someone behind me was asking. At the signal, the three chairs were tipped over… Then came the march past the victims. The two men were … Continue reading Where Is God???

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Purpose in Life…..

RJ Walters

Two long years, in which all I did was stare at the endless abyss, not sure if I was meant to jump or not, scared that the jump wouldn’t fix anything. All I needed was an escape, and the abyss wasn’t willing to offer me one. It took me two years to realize that life isn’t really worth living unless you want something. Until you have an impossible dream, an ideal to strive towards. Until you have something to fight for, you simply exist. SOURCE:  Over the edge… « Cristian Mihai. My young Romanian friend Cristian Mihai certainly gives me … Continue reading Purpose in Life…..

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Beijing’s heavy pollution concerns parents

RJ Walters

Beijing’s heavy pollution concerns parents Smog can cut off sunlight to Beijing for days. At the International School of Beijing, parents want routine air quality measurements, and the school has built a $5 million dome to enclose a playground and filter the air. Seth Doane reports. Source: Beijing’s heavy pollution concerns parents – CBS News Video. One of the major prices China is having to pay for their sudden industrial dominance is pollution. Since there is a much bigger priority on economics than there is on environment the big industrial areas of the country are becoming very polluted. I know there … Continue reading Beijing’s heavy pollution concerns parents

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Taking It Back….

RJ Walters

Prince William and Kate Middleton have named the royal heir George Alexander Louis, Kensington Palace announced in a statement today. SOURCE: Kate Middleton and Prince William Name Baby George Alexander Louis – ABC News. So another big royalty event is past.  The future king’s name is George. Being a big U.S. history buff, not so much the royalty stuff, King George has some significance to me. Let’s go back about 250 years ago. At that time another King George was battling with insurgent terrorists in some of his British colonies on the other side of the world. They absolutely refused to … Continue reading Taking It Back….

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U.S. Expansion Poised for Longevity…

RJ Walters

While the cyclical outlook looks bright, the U.S. will be hampered in the longer term by such structural headwinds as an aging population, a plateauing of educational achievement and increased inequality, Gordon said. Source: U.S. Expansion Poised for Longevity – Bloomberg. I have always found it strange that my more conservative friends seem to want to see all Democratic administrations fail in one regard to another. They always say that their Republican heroes did it better than any Democrat ever could.  When they mention this I just love to pull out the statistic that shows if you invest $1000 in only … Continue reading U.S. Expansion Poised for Longevity…

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I Must Be Getting Old…..

RJ Walters

Emmy Awards 2013: Nominations Announced Source:  Emmy Awards 2013: Nominations Announced – ABC News. I won’t bore you folks who swear you never watch television with the long list of Emmy nominations here. If you want to see them click on the source above. The point of this post is that excluding “Dowton Abbey” there were no other shows on this long list that my wife and I watch. Are we out of tune with all those other TV watchers?  Most of the shows on the list I put in the “stupid” category. They are for the most part just … Continue reading I Must Be Getting Old…..

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Too Many Conditions….

RJ Walters

The Bible nowhere qualifies the command to help the widow, the orphan, the oppressed, and the poor. The Bible never says “help the Christian poor” or “help the poor only if they listen to a 30-minute sermon.” God told the Israelites that they are God’s people if they help the poor and bring justice to the oppressed. No qualifiers. No agenda. No strings attached. Just love. Scandalous love. Jesus love. The kind we teach and preach about – the free gift of God, that we do not deserve and cannot earn. Source: Joy Bennett: Time Share Charity and God’s Scandalous Grace … Continue reading Too Many Conditions….