Whatever shape your world may take in the year 2000 A.D., we can all be fairly sure that it will be one world. Whether through war or through peace, the nations fifty years from now will have learned to enmesh their sovereignties into a single supreme authority. They will have learned to do so because, difficult as it may seem now, no other alternative exists. One world or none at all is the choice…. This trend toward world authority will be contested bitterly for many years, because national sovereignty is something all men cling to. But sooner or later a … Continue reading A 1950s View Of the World In 2000…

“A real self-made man would have to be one who had received no learning or knowledge, or assistance from any person or source.” – Will Rogers, 28 October 1923 I really appreciate your words here Will. There is really no such thing as a self made man.  I have run across so many people who proudly claim to be self made.  There is a definite whiff of arrogance in every one of them. There is even a car guy on cable that has those words tattooed on his fingers.  He proudly says he built his business totally on his own. … Continue reading Self Made…..

Excessive self-criticism tends to backfire, because it leads us to focus on our so-called failures instead of the “small ways that we could have improved,” says psychologist Tamar E. Chansky, PhD, author of Freeing Yourself From Anxiety. And over the long term, studies show, self trash-talk is associated with higher stress levels and even depression. Source:  9 Ways to Silence Your Inner Critic – ABC News. Being down on yourself is just a normal state for some and an occasional state for others. This seems especially true for  certain varieties of Christians who believe that all human beings are just … Continue reading Being Down On Yourself….

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. Continue reading Happy July 4th…

But, virtually every night, I would also feel from those who came, along with that hunger, a very deep cynicism about social change even being possible. And when it came to Washington or Wall Street, the cynicism was overwhelming. Virtually no one trusts either our political system or marketplace to be fair, honest, moral, or even open to doing the right thing. Most Americans seem to believe that the primary institutions of our public life completely lack integrity. And sadly, that cynicism, for many, even extends to their churches or other religious institutions, which they don’t regard as playing an independent leadership role for … Continue reading Hitting the Nail on the Head….

Like other Republicans who have advocated a ‘bigger-tent’ philosophy for their party, US Senator Rand Paul says this doesn’t mean leaving behind strongly held principles Source: Rand Paul: ‘When Republican Party looks like the rest of America, we’ll win’ (+video) – CSMonitor.com. As any Madison Avenue type and he will tell you it is all about marketing. In other words you must show the masses what they want or what you want them to believe; they don’t have a clue themselves. I must admit that if you ignore much of Rand Paul’s libertarian philosophies about shutting down government he says things that … Continue reading Its All About Marketing….

  “You see a Republican moves slowly. They are what we call conservatives. A conservative is a man who has plenty of money and doesn’t see any reason why he shouldn’t always have plenty of money. A Democrat is a fellow who never had any, but doesn’t see any reason why he shouldn’t have some.” – Will Rogers, 26 March 1933 Will certainly had it right about things of politics in his day and it is almost weird that the same hold true eighty years later.  The rich continue to get richer and the poor are almost exponentially increase month … Continue reading Republicans And Democrats – A Definition

You’re so vain I bet you think this song is about you, don’t you?   This quote came from a song by Carly Simon in 1972.  I don’t think of myself as being very vain, but aren’t we all vain to one degree or another?  What is vanity? According to one dictionary I have it is:  characteristic of false pride; having an exaggerated sense of self-importance. All of us take pride in our accomplishments and rightfully so but when that we get carried away with it then it becomes a problem.  An excessive degree of vanity some say is the … Continue reading A Little Vanity Goes A Long Way….

  We are a nation who puts top priority on everything being cheap. No, that doesn’t apply to our military. We throw so much money into our war machines their top priority has to be figuring out how to spend it all. But since there are so many outstretched hands  wanting to relieve us of our hard-paid tax dollars  that even ends up not a big problem. Getting back to the topic at hand. Among our European neighbors we in the U.S. are mostly known for the shabby goods we readily accept.  Don’t get me wrong, we know quality when … Continue reading We Are Just Cheap…

“If we only stopped to realize that it is really, after all, the little things that count, why, we would be a wiser and more contented race.” – Will Rogers, 18 November 1923 I hear your words Will but I have trouble putting them into practice.  I know that life is the little things that happen while we are waiting for something else. I try to sit back and enjoy the “simple” things but somehow that eludes me. I promise to, like you did in the photo to the right, just sit back and rock away some today and to … Continue reading Being Contented…..

The incidence of narcissistic personality disorder is nearly three times as high for people in their 20s as for the generation that’s now 65 or older, according to the National Institutes of Health; 58% more college students scored higher on a narcissism scale in 2009 than in 1982. Millennials got so many participation trophies growing up that a recent study showed that 40% believe they should be promoted every two years, regardless of performance They are fame-obsessed: three times as many middle school girls want to grow up to be a personal assistant to a famous person as want to … Continue reading The Me Generation….

    I don’t know but I kind of think we are just too connected in the country.  “Stop and Smell the Roses” Continue reading Too Connected????

Three years ago, Liu wrote a best-selling book called China Dream: Great Power Thinking and Strategic Positioning of China in the Post-American Age. In his hawkish tome, Liu explained that China needed a strong, martial leader and offered advice for his resurgent nation: “When China is threatened, it has no choice but to use war to protect its right to rise, to break through America’s military containment.”….. A nation that half a century ago counted Albania as one of its few trading partners is now the world’s second largest economy–and could eclipse the U.S. as the biggest within five years. … Continue reading China’s Place in the World….