Shirley Temple, along with Will Rogers were the mega-stars during the 1930s. They both brought a little bit of comfort to people during the Great Depression. Shirley died this week at the age of 85. She was a star both in her childhood and as an adult. Continue reading Here's To You Shirley…

I have been pretty melancholy for the last few weeks. I’m sure part of this is because of the isolation due to all this miserable weather we have been enduring.  Because of the sub-zero temperatures I have regrettably missed more of my soup kitchen sessions than I have made in the past month. I am beginning to seriously miss all the people I interact with there on a daily basis. The cabin fever is messing with my mind. The title of this post came from an early episode of Grey’s Anatomy that I just watched. As I mentioned before I … Continue reading Finding Our Tribe…

What About The Bible… ? (Chapter 1) I have been spending quite a bit of time lately thinking about the Bible and my experiences with it over the last decade or so. Around 2003 I decided to take up a serious study of theology and in particularly those around the words of Jesus. I naively thought I could get some clear directions for my spiritual life if I just understood why the Bible seems to mean so many different things to so many people. What I have discovered over this period of time awakened me. I did not get the … Continue reading The Thing Is…..

Make no mistake, there are some horrible people in prison, people who delight in the power of causing others suffering. Some are mentally ill. Others have been wounded first and learned that way of life. There is no excuse for violent crimes. I just want you to see their eyes for a moment. I want you to see the pain and the fear. Their eyes don’t change the past for anyone, but they tell us a deeper, more complicated story. They show us that there are some trapped people who can’t find an escape hatch. If they could, they’d use … Continue reading Look Into Their Eyes…

This picture has been on my desktop screen for some time now. I’m dreamin of Spring……. Continue reading Dreaming Of Spring…

Be it therefore enacted by the General Assembly, That no man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship,place of ministry whatsoever…. Thomas Jefferson — An Act For Establishing Religious Freedom — 1786 From my study of Jefferson I think his separation of Church and State was more to keep the Church out of the State’s business than the other way around…. Continue reading Protecting The State…

First, Google cracked the code on Internet search. Then the company used its search platform to build the world’s largest online advertising business. Now, the Silicon Valley icon is turning its attention toward streamlining its business to focus on next-generation hardware and services, particularly in the mobile space. Judging by Google’s latest earnings report, the company’s core business remains robust, as the Cupertino, Calif.-based cash machine posted strong sales and profit growth on Thursday, sending its stock price surging more than 4% in after-hours trading to an all-time high for the second consecutive quarter. SOURCE:  Google Is Making Itself a … Continue reading Google Is Making Itself a Lot Leaner and Meaner..

Here we go again. Round number (I can’t even remember). They say it is snowing at about one inch per hour as I am writing this post and when it is published we are supposed to have up to a foot of snow on the ground! I can’t remember what it feels like to really be warm anymore. My desktop on my computer screen is of a wildflower meadow. It is the only thing that is keeping me sane right now. :) The generator is back on the front porch just in case the predicted ice happens to knock our … Continue reading Here We Go Again…..

We are so used to the things that the Red Cross does, that we sometimes just forget to praise them. But this time, in this flood, they outdid themselves feeding and housing and caring for as many as six hundred thousand. Lord, what a blessing an organization like that is.  I would rather have originated the Red Cross than have written the Constitution of the United States. Will Rogers June 19,1927 Sometimes it is hard to remember that the Red Cross has been around since before Will’s day. If this quote moves you a little bit please consider giving a … Continue reading The Things They Do….

Officials in Georgia are on the defensive, trying to explain why Atlanta was so ill-prepared for a snow storm that gridlocked highway traffic, leaving thousands of students stranded in schools and on buses, bringing out National Guardsmen and state troopers to help with rescue efforts. SOURCE: Who’s to Blame for the Atlanta Storm Chaos? – ABC News. I know that snow and ice are serious things for our neighbors to the south but those of us who live in northern States are rolling our eyes when we see the massive problems caused by 30 degree temps and a couple of … Continue reading A Little Inconvenience….

Similar attacks have targeted Shiite areas in Lebanon in recent months in retaliation for the Shiite Hezbollah fighters’ role in the civil war next door where Assad’s forces are battling chaotic bands of Sunni rebels, including extremists fighters linked to al-Qaida. SOURCE: Car bomb hits Shiite suburb of Beirut, killing 4 – Yahoo News. Sadly, it seems to always be  one religious group battling another when car bombs  go off especially in the Middle East. I am very happy that we in the U.S. have not been drawn into this form of violence. I think a big part of that … Continue reading It Seems To Always Be…

One thing I have gotten much better at in my retirement years is to savor the moment.  If I am enjoying something  I try to take the time to just sit back and thoroughly take in the experience. Some call this “Stop and smell the roses”. Over the years I have always enjoyed the HGTV Dream House that comes out about this time every year. I used to always make sure that I saw that show on TV.  Then about two or maybe three years ago something happened to turn me off on it. That is the time when the … Continue reading Savor The Moment….

At the same time, while many people mindlessly repeat the phrase, “We don’t make anything here anymore,” it’s simply not true. The fact is the United States remains the preeminent manufacturing power in the world, producing about 20 percent of the world’s manufactured goods in the United States, and a lot more outside the country. Though China produces almost as much as the United States does within its borders — also about 20 percent of the world’s goods — there is a big difference between what our two countries make. China is a world power in low-margin electronics assembly, textiles … Continue reading America unleashed…

I know I swore off politics as a whole but that does not mean I can’t weigh in on some of the issues once in a while. ;) The issue I want to discuss is the pragmatism of the president vs. the “Silver bullet Syndrome” of the Republican controlled House.  I must admit that I didn’t watch the “State of the Union” speech but I did see a few of the responses to it on the Internet.  It seems that the president is going to do piece meal what he can’t get the congress to do  in any form. When … Continue reading Pragmatism vs. The Silver Bullet Syndrome…

I was never terribly good at Calculus in college. I managed to get through three semesters of it was a grade of C+ or better but I never really understood its basic foundation. If it is not calculus, the equation above is very calculus like. So, why am I even showing it here? It is called the Drake equation after its creator, Frank Drake. He was one of the founder of the SETI organization. For those of you who don’t know that is the “Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence”. The big question is are we alone in the universe. This equation … Continue reading Before We Destroy Ourselves….

Americans “A forefinger pointed towards the temple and twirled rapidly to indicate craziness.” SOURCE:  Cantonese Sign Language | TIME.com. I am always on the lookout for articles about those with hearing impairments so this one got my attention. For those of you who are not aware every country, and even different parts of the same country have basic differences in what they use to sign a particular word or phrase. But most often the sign comes from some general characteristic about the person or thing.  It is kind of humorous to see that the sign for “Americans” in China is … Continue reading Cantonese Sign Language

The first thing you have to understand about homelessness is that it is a series of losses – because homelessness is a process. Maybe you lost your job. And then you lost your partner and your kids. Then you start to lose your friends, and then your house. You stay with friends, which burns out the friends you have left, and then you end up sleeping in the shelter or in your car. You are now homeless, which means you have difficulty in our society finding a place to use the bathroom. The clothes you wear aren’t the clothes you … Continue reading Being Homeless Is A Process….

Residents waiting for their daily mail who haven’t shoveled out their mailboxes or sidewalks could be waiting for awhile, as postal carriers must have clear and safe access to make deliveries. Letter carriers of the U.S. Postal Service are not to take risks trying to deliver mail, according to local Postmaster Deb Egemo. So, if a mailbox is inaccessible, either on foot or by vehicle, the carrier won’t deliver. To ensure delivery: – -Keep walkways, steps and porches clear of snow and ice that can lead to dangerous falls. – Clear enough snow from curbside boxes to allow mail trucks … Continue reading Neither Rain, Nor Sleet….

“We’ll show the world we are prosperous if we have to go broke to do it.” – Will Rogers, 18 November 1927 This phenomenon seems to be so prevalent in our world today. Everyone wants to live a higher lifestyle even if they can’t really afford it. Continue reading Show The World….

It Forces Human Interaction The common response among many believers is that God commands us “to be a good steward” of our wealth, which is the Christian way of saying “I don’t want to give away any of my time, energy, or resources to people who are just going to flush it away.” Thus, the accumulation of wealth is quickly adapted as a form of spiritual virtue, highly esteemed among American believers and attributed as a sign of God’s favor. But giving directly to the poor forces us to actually interact with humankind, with the people God wants us to … Continue reading Helping The Poor – Reason 5

On December 5th, The Diversity Chronicle posted a blog with the clever title ‘Pope Francis Condemns Racism and declares that “All Religions Are True” At Historic Third Vatican Council’ . People quickly spread the piece via social media, and many—especially Evangelical Christians—attacked the Pope. The fact that the article was a spoof and not true should serve as a reminder to always research and verify sources, but even more alarming was that so many Christians were seemingly waiting for a reason to blast Pope Francis. It was as if people wanted an opportunity to turn on the Pope, and this … Continue reading ‘Evangelicals and Catholicism…

Amazon spokesperson Mary Osako, meanwhile, told Businessweek that “our employees have made it clear that they prefer a direct connection with Amazon.” “This direct connection is the most effective way to understand and respond to the wants and needs of our employees. Amazon’s culture and business model are based on rapid innovation, flexibility and open lines of direct communication between managers and associates.” SOURCE: Amazon Workers Vote Against Forming Union | TIME.com. Lets face it unions today have a pretty bad reputation with many of us. In the past they have tended to make an enemy of the people who … Continue reading A Direct Connection…

ZURICH (Reuters) – Two more Swiss banks said they would work with U.S. officials in a crackdown on wealthy Americans evading taxes through hidden offshore accounts, a trickle that could rise to about one third of the country’s private banks. SOURCE: Two more Swiss banks join U.S. tax deal: Fidelity. It sure would be nice if we could get the rich to somehow pay their fair share of taxes.  Swiss banks prosper because they help them hide money to avoid taxes. As the article says still less than one-third of them have joined this new procedure.  I think those that are … Continue reading To Avoid Taxes…..

“If we can just let other people alone and let them do their own fighting. When you get into trouble 5,000 miles away from home, you’ve got to have been looking for it” – Will Rogers, 9 February 1932 The world is a much smaller place now than it was in 1932 when Will spoke these words. The first multiple channel trans-Atlantic cable would not be laid for almost 25 years and communications satellites where also decades away. 1932 was just the beginning of our addiction to the automobile so it would be again decades before we became dependent on … Continue reading Let Them Do Their Own Fighting….

I have stated often on the blog that I have spent much of my life asking myself “What do I want to do when I grow up?” It just seems that I never really found my own personal unique way to put my mark on the world.  This question popped up yet again while I was sitting on my throne a while ago and suddenly the most obvious answer flooded my senses. I was meant to be an editor!! This calling should have been obvious to me before now. I can’t believe I have lived this long without fully realizing it.   … Continue reading When I Grow Up….