The quotes below are a nice addition to the recent post about voter suppression. The solution given is to add an amendment to our U.S. Constitution to say that everyone over 18 has an inalienable right to vote. This sounds like an ideal solution to me. A Fourth Circuit panel ruled a few months ago that North Carolina’s voter ID law violated the Constitution because it targeted “African-Americans with almost surgical precision…the asserted justifications cannot and do not conceal the state’s true motivation.” More recently, Berman discovered an email from a Wisconsin Republican official refusing to put up an early voting station at … Continue reading How to end voter suppression once and for all

I see where the federal courts have struck down some State’s voting laws as unconstitutional in that they were really about suppressing the vote. To me that is a good thing. But in my mind our entire election process needs to be changed to allow everyone to vote when it is convenient for them.  Why are we stuck to one work day to cast our choices of who will do the people’s business? One of the basic problems with America’s democracy is that we vote at a much lower level than almost any democracy in the world.  Too many of us, … Continue reading Suppressing The Vote…

  On my most recent uRV trip I visited the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green KY.  I am not necessarily a Corvette or even a car fan but I recognize that Corvettes are a significant part of America. They are our answer to all those expensive foreign cars like Porsche and such. One of the things that drew me to this particular place was the story on the Velocity channel about how the main display area collapsed into a giant sink hole a couple of years ago. Of course this event is a major part of story now for them. I worked … Continue reading Corvette Museum – Bowling Green

“Say something often enough and people will believe it.” I’m not sure who originally said the quote above but it is certainly true during the current presidential campaign. But if you step back and look at the facts it often tells you a different story. The below words are from Red Letter Christians by Kathy Vestal. She has managed to address almost all the things in a small number of words that most people criticize Hillary for. (I hate blah, blah, blah..) : Take, for example, Benghazi. Exactly what did Hillary do? What should she have done? It’s hard for most of … Continue reading “Anybody But Hillary”…

  There is just something soothing about seeing people do good words in Jesus’ name.  Given our totally insane political season we all need something soothing. Catholics seem to be especially suited and tuned to doing good works. With that in mind one of the places I visited this year during my uRV trips was St.Meinrad Archabbey in Ferdinand Indiana. It is one of only two archabbeies in the nation. I visited here many years ago but the experience  affected me even more this time. The serenity of the place almost melted away my pent up anxiety caused by our current … Continue reading Something Soothing…

All we seem to hear lately is how the bottom rung of the employment ladder is stuck at dreadfully low conditions. Part of that of course is the low minimum wage level. Historically, mainly due to GOP gridlock, it has not been increased nearly enough to keep up with the times. But it is nice to see that significant gains have taken place in recent years. The 2015 Census data on income and poverty is out — and for the first time since the Great Recession, it’s unambiguously great news. Median household income was up 5.2 percent compared to 2014 … Continue reading Why America’s good fortune won’t last

I love going to events that include re-enactors.  It brings history alive so to speak.  The “Feast of the Hunter’s Moon” was one of this events.  For this pictorial post I want to concentrate on those folks.  This event which is just north of West Lafayette (Purdue) has been going on for about 30 years now.  I’m sure many who are in these pictures have performed in a lot of them. Click on any image to see a larger slide show view Even a number of visitors such as the couple pulling the antique baby carriage  and the two young … Continue reading Ode to the Re-enactors…

I know the picture here on this 5Star post is not clear or particularly focused but it gets its rating from my memories. It was taken by a small Kodak camera in 1969 and is of my friend Don V.  He was the friend that got me interested in  Bob Dylan and things “folk”. I will always thank him for that.  Even in my deafness I still love those songs floating around in my head.  I occasionally bring out my old 33rpm records to just look at them and remember the times. Don got married soon after he graduated from Purdue. … Continue reading Remembering Don V….

  Yesterday I had the pleasure of attending  The Feast of the Hunter’s Moon in Tippecanoe County Indiana.  It is one of the largest re-enactor events in the Midwest. Here are a few pictures to give you an idea of what was there. More on this in a later post: As Usual click on any picture to see a larger slideshow view Continue reading Feast Of The Hunter’s Moon…

  The title of this snippet post might be confusing to some of you but bear with me.  I am not a gambler in almost any form but I have been playing roulette a lot lately. Mail Roulette.. It seems we have a new mail delivery person on our rural route. I’m pretty sure that all of them for the last half dozen years have been contract employees. That is they are not postal workers with life time employment as seems common to most governmental bureaucracies. Our last couple of carriers were less than amazing but this new one takes the … Continue reading Roulette And The USPS…

   When I was hearing I enjoyed the songs of John Denver, especially his 1971 album with “Take Me Home, Country Roads”  about West Virginia. I certainly enjoyed my visit to WV in 2011 and yes it did have a lot of beautiful country roads. Click on any picture to see a larger slideshow view An especially delightful time was at the State Museum in the capital city.  I think it is the best I have ever visited. Continue reading Take Me Home, Country Roads..

  There will be much more later but I wanted to give you a quick pic of my recent three day adventure into central Ohio and particularly the Zoar Village.  If you are into history it is an awesome place. Continue reading Zoar Village, Ohio