Staying away from the news feeds today. Too much celebration of the Bush years.  I am just not ready for that yet.  Too many young lives lost and too many retirement pensions ruined during those years. Maybe when I am old and senile I can look upon them differently….. Continue reading Too Much Celebration….

I try not to post about the events like the Boston bombing until more of the facts are known but there is one related thing that always bothers me about such events. While I along with most mourn the four lives lost in this tragic event I wonder why we don’t also mourn the 150 or so lives also lost that day and every day to violence around our obsession with guns? I wonder why don’t we also mourn the 3,000 or so lives lost each day to hunger? Were those four lives more precious than the 150 or the … Continue reading Loss of Life….

“The Ryan budget kicks 12 to 13 million people off of nutrition assistance, cuts off pathways to opportunity, slashes job training and education, and makes draconian cuts to Medicare, which serves a majority of the disabled and the elderly,” said Boteach. “That’s how House Republicans have outlined their priorities.” Among those who voted for Ryan’s budget: Rep. Hal Rogers (R-Ky.), the chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, whose district has a roughly 28 percent poverty rate and 38 percent child poverty rate; Rep. Rodney Alexander (R-La.), whose district has a roughly 26 percent poverty rate and 37 percent child poverty … Continue reading Congress Ignores America’s Poverty Crisis

“The gospel is absurd and the life of Jesus is meaningless unless we believe that He lived, died, and rose again with but one purpose in mind: to make brand-new creation. via What it means to be a Christian…. These words come from Rachel Held Evans blog but are the words of Brennan Manning. Until I had read them I was unaware of who he was. He had a very robust life and was a prolific writer for a former Jesuit priest.  He passed on to the Lord recently. Here is an additional inspiring quote from Wikipedia. “The greatest single … Continue reading What it means to be a Christian…

For all men being originally equals, no one by birth could have a right to set up his own family in perpetual preferences to all others forever, and though himself might deserve some decent degree of honors of his contemporaries, yet his descendants might be far too unworthy to inherit them.  – Tom Paine in Common Sense, 1776 I hope we shall crush in its birth the aristocracy of our monied corporations which dare already to challenge our government to a trial by strength, and bid defiance to the laws of our country. —  Thomas Jefferson But, you know, we … Continue reading Aristocracy…

Books and newspaper columns talk of an “insurgency of the rational” and of the “sane, pragmatic majority” taking charge. A political action committee founded by New York’s mayor, Michael Bloomberg, plans to spend millions backing moderates and independents in state and federal elections, with a nicely balanced focus on promoting gun control (angering the right) and school reform (which makes teachers’ unions seethe). The Common Sense Coalition, set up by entrepreneurs and fund managers, wants an online “Army of Moderates” to lobby candidates and elected officials. Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook, is said to be poised to launch a group … Continue reading Power To The Centrists…….

We’ve lost something as a nation when we can no longer look at one another as people, as Americans, and — for people of faith  — as brothers and sisters.  Differing opinions have become worst enemies and political parties have devolved into nothing more than petty games of blame…. It is not about Right and Left — or merely about partisan politics — but rather about the quality of our life together. It’s about moving beyond the political ideologies that have both polarized and paralyzed us, by regaining a moral compass for both our public and personal lives — and … Continue reading Differing Opinions Have Become Worst Enemies……

I know that climate change is yet another scientific discovery that some think is false. So, what else is new? But soon the facts will just be too overwhelming for even these doubter to ignore.  We as a country seem to love to go to the edge of a crisis before acting but this is not possible with global warming. It is not something that is so easily reversible. Going to the edge of destruction will mean years of having to deal with the contamination of our atmosphere. If we wait until all the polar ice caps have melted and … Continue reading Climate Change….

The difference between what is legally owed the federal government and what it actually collects in taxes each year is called the “tax gap,” which the IRS recently estimated reached $385 billion in 2006. Other studies have placed that figure higher — at upwards of $600 billion. So who owes this money and why? The single biggest contributor to the tax gap — accounting for 84% of it — are people who simply under-report their income. This doesn’t usually happen to folks whose employers withholds taxes from their paychecks, as 99% of people in that position end up paying their income … Continue reading Not Paying Their Share…..

  I have ever deemed it fundamental for the United States never to take active part in the quarrels of Europe. Their political interests are entirely distinct from ours. Their mutual jealousies, their balance of power, their complicated alliances, their forms and principles of government, are all foreign toys. They are nations of eternal war.   — Thomas Jefferson  –Letter, 11 June 1823 to President James Monroe Even though the words of above were penned over two hundred years ago I believe they are just as valid today as they were then. The only difference is maybe I would now … Continue reading Nations of Eternal War….

I am bringing up a new category with this post called “We the people”. Of course many of you know that those words are the start of our Constitution. What I have in mind for this category are posts about what polls and such show that the people of this country want as opposed to what is happening in Washington today.  I must admit that I am getting pretty fed up with our dysfunctional federal government. I don’t know if this dysfunction is a planned strategy of one of the political parties or not. At this point I really don’t … Continue reading We The People…

“No man, for any considerable period, can wear one face to himself and another to the multitude, without finally getting bewildered as to which may be the true. — Nathaniel Hawthorne  I got this quote from a young blogger friend. It struck me as poignant as it did him. Being that I am in a different stage of my life I approach the quote in a different way than he did. In order for us to really say what we think we often do it in an anonymous manner. We don’t want to take the risk of possible reprisal for our … Continue reading Wearing a Mask…

No, this post is not about pornography on the internet. Instead it is about all those words we accidentally hit that bring up small screens to get in the way of what we are reading.  I admit that I am one of those guys that uses my computer pointer to keep track of where I am on the page.  I need to do that as my wife is constantly interrupting me with one emergency or another. :) But often times when I move the pointer to just the right space suddenly a another box pops us.  I can’t tell you … Continue reading The Internet Mine Field…

Often in life we think we are in love with something but it turns out that we were really in love with the idea of something. I currently think I am in love with RVing. It sounds like a freedom that I seek. But have I really thought out all the ramifications of being on the road for long periods of time?  Am I in love with RVing or just the idea of RVing? That is the question. Many of us would love to be or do certain things in our lives but once we realize the efforts it would … Continue reading Being In Love With The Idea…

We spent the day touring amish country around our friends home. There is a very large population here in northeast Ohio ( I made a terrible mistake originally here in that I said northwest instead of northeast.  Sorry about that).  Almost every house we came to had clothes out on the line and all in typical amish colors. So that made discovering which farms are amish rather easy.  That and seeing no utility lines going into the houses.  It seems that some of the families are “cheating” though; they have solar panels installed on the roofs. It was a good … Continue reading On The Road Cleveland – Day 7 If It’s Monday It Must Be Wash Day….

Since we have been walking so much the last few days we decided to take it a little easier today. We drove the mile to the center of the city instead of walking. Our fatigue and the fact that it is still in the 30s and 40s here enticed us to take the easy way.  When we got close to the Tower City Center we found a convenient parking garage. I have been reading about a 4th Street complex of restaurants and sites so we decided to head there. It was not as we expected. There were a number of … Continue reading On The Road Cleveland – Day 5 Downtown