I just returned from a trip to northern Wisconsin. The picture above is from a large orchard adjacent to Lake Winnebago (shown in the background). We were there for a wedding but managed to get some touring in. Like so many others the apple orchard is suffering from the worst conditions in 30 years. The majority of their crop was lost. Continue reading Lake Winnebago…
via Romney ridicules Obama on ‘change’ remark – Political Hotsheet – CBS News. President Obama: “I think that I’ve learned some lessons over the last four years, and the most important lesson I’ve learned is that you can’t change Washington from the inside, you can only change it from the outside,” Obama said. “That’s how I got elected, and that’s how the big accomplishments like health care got done – [it] was because we mobilized the American people to speak out. That’s how we were able to cut taxes for middle-class families.” Mr. Romney’s attack: “Well, we are going to give … Continue reading Mr. Romney Doesn’t Seem To Have a Clue….
via Romney Reframes Donor Remarks to Refocus on Economic Issues – Businessweek. Massachusetts Republican Senator Scott Brown, who is running for re-election in a close race against Democrat Elizabeth Warren, a former Harvard University professor, told The Hill newspaper: “That’s not the way I view the world. As someone who grew up in tough circumstances, I know that being on public assistance is not a spot that anyone wants to be in.” While Romney said he was talking about people who don’t pay income taxes, his comments about Americans who feel “entitled” to government help prompted some Republicans to say that … Continue reading There You Go Again….
Jesus meant for us to look forward in the world to accomplish the tasks he gave us. If you read the red letters for what they are and not necessarily what others think about them then you will know that he didn’t intend for us to always be looking backwards to what he did for us. He gave each one of us who call ourselves his followers a mission to love each other, to help bring God’s kingdom to earth as it is in heaven, and to take care of the “least of these”. Those should be our primary tasks … Continue reading Stumbling Forward….
Many of us Christians never seem to give up our childhood views of just who God is. We think of him as that white bearded guy up in heaven. True, we do add some things to this vision as we get older we see him as that guy who spends his day saying “You go to heaven; you go to hell”. We often view Jesus in the same childhood comprehension. Jesus is that long-haired, brown-bearded guy who sits around all day playing with sheep and always has children gathered around him. When we grow in wisdom of him and finally … Continue reading That Bearded Guy Up There…..
Source: Mitt Romney video fact check: Is 47 percent of US ‘dependent’ on government? – CSMonitor.com. That is one of the questions that has been raised after Mother Jones magazine on Tuesday released a video of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney speaking to donors at a $50,000-a-plate fundraiser May 17. “There are 47 percent who are with him [President Obama], who are dependent upon government, who believe they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you name it,” Mr. Romney says … Continue reading I Guess I Am One Of Them…. Or Maybe Two Of Them….
Why is it that Germany seems to be just about the only country in the world who is not struggling with a disappearing middle class? They are doing well in that regard because they are the most unionized country in the world and their increased wages drives their demand. How do they manage to keep their wages high in light of the pennies-on-the-dollar labor found elsewhere? They do it by government regulations prohibiting companies from exporting jobs. Of course this is something that the “free traders” among us say is impossible but it seems Germany didn’t know it was impossible … Continue reading About Germany….
Here is a quote from a letter I recently received from my friends at American Friends Service Committee (AFSC.org) Who wins when our country goes to war? Defense contractors! Who profits from the highest imprisonment rate in the world! For-profit prison corporations! Who benefits by cutting agencies charged with mine safety and the protection of workers rights? Mining companies! Each year a handful of corporations pour millions and millions of dollars into lobbyists and campaign contributions. Why? To push for legislation and procurements that increase their profits. Who benefits? Certainly not the average taxpayer! When the quest for bigger earnings … Continue reading Who Wins???
I got the above plaque from a Facebook friend’s page and it struck me as being filled with wisdom. I don’t know who wrote it but it is certainly worth making note of. If any of us just lived by these rules we would find a level of happiness we might not otherwise realize. Free your heart from hatred — The old saying that hatred consumes you I’m sure is true but I don’t think that I have ever really hated anyone. But it seems that during the current election cycle hate, or at least extreme anger, is abundant. So … Continue reading Rules to Live By….
Here is a picture to celebrate summer’s end. Continue reading Summer’s End
Since Hank convinced me to get off my butt and get involved in this coming Presidential election I will occasionally be bringing up what I call “A grossly blatant political ad”. I promise I won’t become a raving lunatic and start calling everyone horrible names. I will be more civilized than that. These ads will be tongue-in-cheek and one-sided so you have been forewarned. To my conservative friends, don’t take them too seriously and flame me. I likely won’t respond to your usual long parroted litany of reasons why I am wrong so don’t bother to send them. They would … Continue reading Romney’s America….
My regular viewers you know that I have recently had some discussions with a commentor on this blog named “Hank”. Of course since the Internet is a virtual gathering place I really don’t know for sure if Hank is a male or female but for the sake of this and maybe future posts I will call him “he”. Now Hank made several comments to posts about the political conventions. On each comment I got to know Hank a little better than before. In Hank’s last post ( which is his last comment by my choice not his) he gave me … Continue reading Putting a Face on the Tea Party….
Yesterday I got the below email from Sojourners with responses from both presidential candidates on how they will address the problem of poverty in America. Given that our current study is “our responsibilities to the poor” it came at a very appropriate time. I am tempted to make some remarks about the two approaches but will refrain from doing so in this post. Click on any of the indicated spots in the email to see the videos (they are even closed captioned for those of us who are deaf). <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Dear R.J., What happened today was unprecedented. Christian leaders from … Continue reading Maybe…. Just Maybe….
This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth. — 1 John 3:16 – 28 I am going to start off this series about the followers of Jesus responsibilities to the poor with one of … Continue reading The Love of God….
I pride myself in frequently looking outside my box in this world. Yes, my life’s experiences pretty much, like everyone else, defines who I am but we must also try to look at things from a different perspective on a regular basis. That brings up the topic of this post. The typical voter and that certainly includes me seems to want to elect a person for president who we think could be a “best buddy”. That seems to be the primary reason that Mr. Reagan was twice elected and it certainly was one of the critical factors that got Mr. … Continue reading Maybe We Vote For President For The Wrong Reasons….
I am again an Apple computer guy so when I saw recently that Apple had won a court case against Samsung on their using things that Apple has patents on the thought of for the title above came quickly to mind. Many Christians seem to think that they have exclusive rights to who God is and what we are to believe about him. I believe I can say with some certainty that no one has exclusive patent rights on God. When I was a Catholic in my early years the nuns and priests that taught me about God insisted that … Continue reading Christians Don’t Have Exclusive Rights on God…
We in the U.S. know that one of the primary foundations of our democracy is freedom of speech. That is being able to say something different from our leaders and not suffer serious consequences. In my opinion this is what has allowed our country to remain so strong over the centuries. Many times criticisms lead to change and though we might not realize it at that time that is good for us. It makes us better; it makes us stronger. Without freedom of speech I doubt our country we even exist today. Anyone who has studied church history at all … Continue reading The Church Is Not a Democracy….
Just a quick aside to make sure you see the Dave Granlund cartoon above. It needs no explanation! Continue reading Looking Back… Way Back…
via Fact-checkers find exaggerations in Obama, Biden conventions speeches | Fox News. President Obama and Vice President Biden made statements in their convention speeches about unemployment, Medicare and other issues that fact-checkers say appear inaccurate or at least misleading. Among the questionable remarks were Biden’s argument that “after the worst job loss since the Great Depression we created 4.5 million private sector jobs in the past 29 months” … The Associated Press and others point out that statement is misleading because it counts jobs from the recession’s lowest point to where employment began to grow again – excluding jobs lost earlier in … Continue reading Fact-checkers find exaggerations in Obama, Biden conventions speeches
This is a cross post from one of my other blogs at RJ’s Corner. I thought it appropriate for RLL also. It is terrible to think what the churches do to men. But if one imagines oneself in the position of the men who constitute the Church, we see they could not act differently. The churches are placed in a dilemma: the Sermon on the Mount or the Nicene Creed–the one excludes the other. If a man sincerely believes in the Sermon on the Mount, the Nicene Creed must inevitably lose all meaning and significance for him, and the Church … Continue reading God Is Not Dead But the Church Is On Life Support…
It is terrible to think what the churches do to men. But if one imagines oneself in the position of the men who constitute the Church, we see they could not act differently. The churches are placed in a dilemma: the Sermon on the Mount or the Nicene Creed–the one excludes the other. If a man sincerely believes in the Sermon on the Mount, the Nicene Creed must inevitably lose all meaning and significance for him, and the Church and its representatives together with it. If a man believes in the Nicene Creed, that is, in the Church, that is, … Continue reading Inspiring Radical Thinking……
In recent days I have been getting frustrated by the progress I have made into the parallel studies of the Roman empire and the Christian church. It is not that I am not learning things it is just that it is taking longer than I originally anticipated. My wife claims that I always underestimate these sort of things and maybe I do :) I certainly like to blog on Red Letter Living as it keeps me centered on what is important in life. Having to put off posting here because I am not ready to do it intelligently is frustrating … Continue reading A New Direction…. Again….
One more barn for Photo Saturday before I move to another subject. This one was taken somewhere in July in Kansas I think. Continue reading Another Barn…
Source: Jobs are coming back fastest in services sector – USATODAY.com. Service businesses are leading an uneven jobs recovery that has pushed sectors such as warehouse club retailers back to their pre-recession employment… The starkest difference: More than 70% of jobs lost in service industries have returned three years after the recession’s end, while only 15% of jobs lost in manufacturing, construction and other industries that produce goods have come back. The analysis is based on Labor Department data from January 2008 — when total U.S. employment peaked — through last month Is it a surprise to anyone that 85% of the manufacturing jobs have … Continue reading Jobs are coming back fastest in services sector….
This being close to Labor Day I have been thinking about unions. The traditional labor unions that were so strong in the 1950s through 1970s took a pretty serious hit in Wisconsin not long ago. Was it a death blow? I don’t know? The writing might be on the wall for them as a whole in the years to come. Now don’t get me wrong, I am very much in favor of worker’s rights and collective bargaining. But, like so many things in this world labor unions just got carried away with the power they possessed during those years. When that happened common sense, like always, went out the window. It seemed like when unions became so powerful their main goal was to make life difficult for the employers rather of representing the interests of the workers and also doing what was good for the company. It became just too adversarial. Continue reading “How about “virtual” unions…..”
Teachers just can’t seem to get any respect in our society. Why is that? I think one of the main reasons is the length of their work year. With all the vacations and holidays they end up working less than half a year. What other job gets a twenty week vacation the first year in? I know the blame for that does not rest entirely with teachers. I imagine many would prefer to work longer, for more pay of course (although per hour they are probably some of the best paid people around) :). Another possible reason teachers can’t get … Continue reading Teacher Don’t Get Respect…..
Time Period: 573BC I am about three weeks into my study of the parallels between Christian church history and the history of the Roman empire. I was hoping to find a “people’s history” of Rome for a source but have been unsuccessful in that regard. I now have about five sources of info but there really is little documented evidence of how the common man lived during this time. There are a few accounts from Roman soldiers but they are pretty much limited to their time in the military. Here is what Simon Baker in his book Ancient Rome: The Rise … Continue reading The Beginnings…..
We may spend our whole life climbing the ladder of success, only to find when we get to the top that our ladder is leaning against the wrong wall. — Thomas Merton, the American monk I just finished reading a book called Falling Upward: A Spirituality for the Two Halves of Life by Richard Rohr. This quote was found in that book. Richard Rohr is a Franciscan monk who believes that we have two distinct parts of our lives. After this quote he goes on to say: The task of the first half of life is to create a proper container for … Continue reading What Makes Me Significant?….
This Photo Saturday picture is perhaps one of my favorite barn pictures (I have about 500 of them). It was taken somewhere around Moab Utah in July. Continue reading Utah Barn…
Source: Catholic Leaders to Rep. Paul Ryan: Stop Distorting Church Teaching to Justify Immoral Budget | Faith in Public Life. “If Rep. Ryan thinks a budget that takes food and healthcare away from millions of vulnerable people upholds Catholic values, then he also probably believes Jesus was a Tea Partier who lectured the poor to stop being so lazy and work harder,” said John Gehring, Catholic Outreach Coordinator at Faith in Public Life. “This budget turns centuries of Catholic social teaching on its head. These Catholic leaders and many Catholics in the pews are tired of faith being misused to … Continue reading Catholic Leaders And The Ryan Budget….
Source: Ayn Rand Railed Against Government Benefits, But Grabbed Social Security and Medicare When She Needed Them | Alternet. Ayn Rand was not only a schlock novelist, she was also the progenitor of a sweeping “moral philosophy” that justifies the privilege of the wealthy and demonizes not only the slothful, undeserving poor but the lackluster middle-classes as well. Her books provided wide-ranging parables of “parasites,” “looters” and “moochers” using the levers of government to steal the fruits of her heroes’ labor. In the real world, however, Rand herself received Social Security payments and Medicare benefits under the name of Ann O’Connor (her … Continue reading Ayn Rand – Mr. Ryans Hero….
Source: Michael J. Fox’s new TV comedy is headed to NBC – The Clicker. NBC has ordered 22 episodes of the untitled single-camera comedy that will star Fox as a husband and father of three from New York City dealing with … Continue reading Putting a Face On It…..
This is another aside post that is somewhat linked to the previous one. In that post I discussed how I replied to some fellow Christians Facebook comments about how it was not the government’s job to take care of the poor. These Christians admitted, but it seems not many of them do, that it is the church’s job to do that. I then went on to agree with them fully. I’m sure they were surprised with my agreement. But I then went on to say since the church presently only takes care of about three percent of the need the … Continue reading Nudges….
I got into a discussion on FaceBook recently about Church/State responsibilities. This one started out on a good friend of mine’s page where he stated: As a pastor I try to steer clear of citing personal preferences when it comes to politics. …. Having said that, I am certainly happy that a man of great integrity and moral character, Paul Ryan from Wisconsin, is a part of the conversation. Of course this brought on some other friends who stated it is absolutely necessary for pastors to point out God’s standards in guiding his flock in making the proper choices among … Continue reading Whose Responsibility???
It looks like it is going to take a few weeks before I can adequately start my parallel study of the Roman Empire and the beginnings of the Christian Church. I want to at least know enough about the Roman Empire that I can make some worthy analogies. So, in the mean time I am going to be doing some “Asides”. These are posts that have nothing particularly to do with the study but instead are things that just pop into my head. Below is a post I am also doing tomorrow on my “RJ’s Corner blog about a FaceBook … Continue reading Aside — About Responsibilities…..
I am going to shake off my vanity and put a picture of me for this Saturday’s photo. When we lived in New Jersey I developed a definite taste for oysters on the half shell. But I don’t usually get them unless I am close to the source. This picture was taken this Spring in Baltimore Maryland which is close to the source :) They were tasty indeed and the local beer was great in washing them down (as if they really need washing down). Continue reading Oysters…..
Source: Post office nears historic default on $5B payment – The Denver Post. Government agencies have a well-earned reputation of moving slowly in response to changes. I think the Post Office is a prime example of that. Here are some words from the source article indicating that molasses movement. FedEx and UPS and the Internet seem to be making the Postal Service obsolete.” Banks are promoting electronic payments, citing in part the growing uncertainty of postal mail. The federal government will stop mailing paper checks starting next year for millions of people who receive Social Security and other benefits, paying via direct … Continue reading Post office nears historic default on $5B payment – The Denver Post
Source: Gallup: No immediate bounce for Romney after Ryan VP pick – Political Hotsheet – CBS News. I am just not following all this presidential stuff like I used to but that doesn’t mean I don’t have an opinion once in a while and this is one of those whiles. It seems strange to me that the VP pick in the GOP is from the conservative base of the party. Usually you pick a candidate that will bring in some additional votes. The Republican party certainly needs that as they seem to alienate more and more people daily. But on second … Continue reading No immediate bounce…
source: 15 technologies of today we’ll still be using in 2030 – Gadgetbox on NBCNews.com. This is a very interesting article about what the author thinks will still be around in 18 years. It is kind of risky making these types of predictions but since money is not on the line there isn’t much to be lost by the author. For the most part I agree with him but there are some items that I don’t think will make the cut. But like the author, I remember going to the World’s Fair of 1960 and believing as they showed there … Continue reading 15 technologies we’ll still be using in 2030…
I see that the outlying political super pacs otherwise known as the ultra-rich-radical-right are now hitting on Obama because it looks like the government might lose up to $40 billion in the bailout of General Motors. They claim that it is typical of him to throw away all our tax dollars. But I look at the other side of the coin. We have lost more than $150 billion in revenues with the tax give-aways of the Bush administration. The main logic behind those tax breaks was that if we tax the “job creators” less they will have more money to … Continue reading The Job Creators and the Bailout…
I know in the introduction to this study I said I would not be following a timeline but instead be giving you a mosaic. But after thinking about it for a while now I have decided to do the timeline approach. In addition to a time line I have decided to try to interweave it with the history of the Roman Empire. I know this is a very ambitious undertaking and right now I just don’t know how successful I will be but I am never one to shrink from a challenge. Two things make me change direction here. One … Continue reading A Change of Heart…..
Study: Sea rise faster on East Coast than rest of globe – USATODAY.com. From Cape Hatteras, N.C., to just north of Boston, sea levels are rising much faster than they are around the globe, putting one of the world’s most costly coasts in danger of flooding, government researchers report. U.S. Geological Survey scientists call the 600-mile swath a “hot spot” for climbing sea levels caused by global warming. Along the region, the Atlantic Ocean is rising at an annual rate three times to four times faster than the global average since 1990, according to the study published Sunday in the journal Nature Climate Change. … Continue reading Sea rise faster on East Coast than rest of globe – USATODAY.com
I took this picture somewhere in Kansas. I think this is the mother of all silos I have ever seen. Lots of corn…. Continue reading Gainery….
I was a small business owner for six years after I retired from the big business corporate world. But being a sole proprietor with no employees I really don’t have a good view of just what small businesses are really about. The Republican political leaders say small businesses are the growth engine of our country and we shouldn’t tax them by taking away the Bush tax cuts for those making over $250,000 annually.
How many of the so-called small businesses were like mine just a guy in a shop building things for customers? How many hire more than a handful of employees? I decided to look into this.
Here is a link to a bunch of numbers in this area: http://www.census.gov/econ/smallbus.html
There are approximately 29 million business in this countryThis will be the beginning of I don’t know how many posts on the early leaders of the church. By early I mean after the Apostles but before Constantine (350 AD). Again I want to state very clearly up front that I am not a theologian or someone who is very learned in this area. I am just an ordinary guy who has questions about these sort of things. I am doing this study to try to learn how we got to where we are as a church today. In the beginning diversity was a celebrated part of the church … Continue reading The Early Leaders – A Study Approach…
