I was recently part of a Bible study where the tone – and apparently intention – was quite different. As the leader asked a series of programmed and predictable questions (literally from the back of the book), I noticed that almost everyone seemed to be looking at each other warily as if they were searching for the ‘right’ answer. And they seemed to share the assumption that there was – and should be – only one ‘right’ answer. And, above all, that the ‘right’ answer should be comfortable and familiar and should certainly not challenge any of us in our … Continue reading Those Comfortable Christian Questions…

One of my long time hobbies is to take pictures of barns, that is the old wooden barns of the past. This is a prime example of an elegant one in the Midwest. Continue reading Barns….

I still vividly remember the election season of 2008. It was the year that I for the first time in a long time held out hope for a change in our political system. George Bush’s reign over the country was finally ending but the wars he put us in were still going full bore and still greatly affect us even today. He left the new guy with a total mess in our financial system. The worst mess in fifty years. I had confidence that this new-on-the-scene young guy could give us back our social conscience that George stripped away from us. … Continue reading A Dreamer Or A Fighter…..

America needs more Mark Zuckerbergs, not fewer. How to create them? There is no magic formula, but Henrekson and Sanandaji find the rate of billionaire entrepreneurs correlates positively with nations that have lower taxes, more venture capital investment, and less regulation. High capital gains taxes seem particularly harmful. Worrying about those things would be a good start for Washington. While inequality hasn’t made it harder to get on the success ladder, it does make it more costly to stay stuck at the bottom. A more entrepreneurial U.S. economy generating more high-paying jobs will ensure more people are making that climb … Continue reading Why America needs more billionaires

While I was writing tomorrow’s post I had to get into my NYC trip portfolio. When I saw this picture of the Empire State building I had to include it in my SearchOfAmerica and on this blog as well. I still remember the pictures of all the steelworker who seemed to dance around on those iron beams. It is hard to believe that only five men were killed during its construction. If you ever get to NYC be sure to go to the observation deck for an awesome site of the city. It is very much a part of the … Continue reading The Empire State Building…

It’s an early battle, so it is premature to say who will win in the long run. Apple appears to have created an ingenious and obviously superior mobile payments system. But retailers control their own checkouts — they get to say who pays with what, not Apple. And Wal-Mart, the world’s largest retailer, is backing the retailers’ system via a company it is partnering with called MCX. Apple Pay is an elegant, universal, simple-to-use system that can be used by any retailer. You just touch your finger on the iPhone Touch ID fingerprint scanner, wave your phone near the NFC … Continue reading Wal-Mart Is At War Against Apple…

While I was writing tomorrow’s post I had to get into my NYC trip portfolio. When I saw this picture of the Empire State building I had to include it in my SearchOfAmerica. I still remember the pictures of all the steelworkers who seemed to dance around on those iron beams. It is hard to believe that only five men were killed during its construction. If you ever get to NYC be sure to go to the observation deck for an awesome site of the city. It is very much a part of the heart of America… Continue reading Empire State Building…

I have taken leave of politics. I think little of them and say less. I have given up newspapers in exchange for Tacitus and Thucydides, for Newton and Euclid, and I find myself much happier. Thomas Jefferson in a letter to John Adams January 21,1821 I always get a certain degree of pleasure to find that my recent decisions were tried by my heroes before me. About a year or so ago, maybe longer as time seems to be flying by lately, I decided to take my leave of politics. To me that venue has taken a dark turn that … Continue reading I Find Myself Much Happier…

Without the South, the country could very well be renamed the Democratic States of America. Secession would have numerous policy implications. The deficit would likely shrink, since despite the South’s fondness for anti-government rhetoric and ideology, the region benefits substantially more from federal programs than it pays into the federal treasury. Serious gun control legislation might actually make it through Congress. ObamaCare would probably work better (the South has led the way in refusing to expand Medicaid), but it might also be possible to pass the kind of sweeping reform of the health-care system (single payer) that proved impossible for … Continue reading Imagine: The Democratic States of America

“Apparently Republicans really are either stupid or insane, since they seemed surprised to learn that their rightward lurch into an all-white, anti-everything party of fear was a big loser in the 2012 presidential election. They promised to lick their wounds and think hard about immigration and ‘the Latino vote,’ but that did not prove to be necessary, since they now find themselves in another midterm election with a bunch of spineless purple-state Democrats on the defensive and an electorate of ‘highly motivated’ base voters, meaning the old, the frightened and the deeply Caucasian. Ebola and ISIS are pretty much the … Continue reading Its All About Fear….

Arguing Instead of having a reputation as being peacemakers, promoting reconciliation, and working towards unity, Christians are known for being loud, argumentative, petty, and contentious. Unfortunately, any semblance of Christ’s gospel message of hope, love, and grace is lost within the endless noise, debates, accusations, division, and hatred. Christians need to stop obsessing over being right and having all of the answers and start focusing on following Christ’s example: sacrificially serving, helping, comforting, and loving everyone around us. For Christians, it’s often easier to yell and scream instead of doing the very hard—and humble—work of loving others. Arguing is addictive … Continue reading Six Things I Wish Christians Would Stop Doing

You know the more you read and observe about this Politics thing, you got to admit that each party is worse than the other. – Will Rogers, 31 December 1922 You know Will it took me a lot of years to discover what you did. I finally gave up on both political parties after it was obvious that those yahoos in congress were not going to allow President Obama to accomplish anything beyond ACA. Forget that it would have made us a better nation. Forget that much of it would have solved many of the driving issues of today. They … Continue reading Each Worse Than The Other….

I am again going to talk about the two-sided coin of Christianity. The last time I mentioned it was to relate the idea of faith and works.  That is practicing what we preach or accepting Jesus as the Lord of our daily lives as well as our savior. This time the two-sided coin concept will take on a different topic. When Jesus told us the law of God and all the past prophets boiled down to only two things: to love God and to love each other, he gave us another linked duality for our existence on this earth. The … Continue reading The Two-Sided Coin….

When I glanced out one of the back windows this very crisp morning I was again reminded of the changing season and of the upcoming holidays.  The burning bush and the fir bush juxtapositioned next to each other was a red/green delight. Continue reading The Changing Seasons…