About Those Polls

Polls used to be statistically scientific studies of trends and thoughts. Today not so much.  Due to technological changes and just plain laziness polls just don’t have the validity they once had. 1. Over time, the percentage of Americans who say they would participate in polls has declined significantly, from nearly one out of three in 1997 to one in 10 in 2016, according to Pew. 2. Half of American households don’t even have landlines. The younger you are, the less likely you are to have ever used a telephone with a cord attached to it.Again, pollsters try to correct … Continue reading About Those Polls

Time Is Running Out…

   Time is running out for all of us. Everyday our life is getting closer to the end. For some of us our time left on this earth is very short and for others it is comparably longer. It is not the amount of time we have left that is important but what we do with it. We can lay back and worry about dying  and fear others who might take our life away from us or we can accept that our time is running out as inevitable and just live life the best we can. The choice is ours. Too … Continue reading Time Is Running Out…

Bent’s Old Fort…

  On this 5Star Wednesday I want to celebrate Bent’s old Fort in southern Colorado. It is one of those mystical places where I almost feel the people that were there a hundred  and fifty years ago.  One of the things that make it special is that it was not a military fort but a commercial trading post. They say it was the source of the TV mini-series “Centennial”that I much admired years ago. 5Star Wednesdays is about one picture or one thought so I will leave you here with my favorite picture of the place. Continue reading Bent’s Old Fort…

I Might Be More British Than American…

When I came across this post in Instagram from my friends at BBC America I had a flashing thought that I may be more British than American.  I’m pretty sure my distant ancestors came from the Great British Empire a few hundred years ago so maybe it is in my blood.   I love looking at things from a philosophical angle and I devour almost everything on BBC America. We just seem to think the same way. With two hundred and fifty years of history to look back on I kind of think we may have messed up by going our … Continue reading I Might Be More British Than American…

South Union Shaker Village..

  I have visited and posted about Pleasant Hill Shaker Village many times here on RJsCorner but never about it’s sister village at South Union.  Unfortunately it did not have the fortunate fate of Pleasant Hill so most of the buildings and even the graveyard was destroyed.  But there is enough there to appreciate its unique beauty. This post will concentrate on some of the rural farm artifacts found in just one of the buildings but in another post soon I will discuss its history and current status. click on any picture above to see a larger slideshow view Continue reading South Union Shaker Village..

How to end voter suppression once and for all

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

Suppressing The Vote…

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…

Corvette Museum – Bowling Green

  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

“Anybody But Hillary”…

“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”…

Wisconsin Cows…

  Sometimes 5star images including the one below come from overlooked places. When we do our annual visit to northern Wisconsin to see the in-laws my brother-in-law takes us on a leisurely trip into the hinterland. On one of those recent trips we came across a herd of dairy cows and stopped to say hello. Since Wisconsin is known as the “Dairy State” this scene is somewhat common.  I enjoyed our “up close and personal” visit to my dairy producing friends and I kind of think this picture is well deserved of its 5star Status Continue reading Wisconsin Cows…

Something Soothing…

  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…

The Stone Ceiling of Religions

There are a lot of things about today’s religious establishments that hinder their outreach to the 21st century population. The glass, or maybe stone ceiling is one of them. Faith leaders grappling with women’s inclusion in religious leadership roles are in danger of the same pitfall. By focusing exclusively on “what is traditional” for their religion rather than asking the crucial question: “What change is necessary for religion to thrive?” they risk alienating 50 per cent of their flock. They also deprive the entire community of the talent, skills and enthusiasm that women would otherwise contribute.Insisting that men continue to … Continue reading The Stone Ceiling of Religions

In the Name of Jesus, Stop Executions

I am thoroughly pro-life in all its forms.  Yes, abortion kills a living being but so does war and executions. Pro-life means believing in the sanctity of life before and after birth. Jesus made that pretty clear in his teachings and I intend to follow him in that and most all other regards. Some folks will argue that the death penalty is necessary for the most heinous crimes, the “worst of the worst.” But it is increasingly clear that when it comes to executions in America, we are not killing the worst of the worst. We are killing the poorest of … Continue reading In the Name of Jesus, Stop Executions