Think for yourself / Question everything
With this post, I am instituting a new post category called Snippet. This is where I send you a short note about what I have been doing. With this snippet, I wanted to tell you I just added a new gallery over at MyViewOfTheWorld Photo site. I think you just might like it. It is from my 2011 month long trip up the St. Lawrence Seaway. There is some absolutely beautify scenery up there.
There is just something about Maine that makes them different. Maybe it is the fact that there are basically no roads on the northwestern part of the State. Maybe it is the fact that they are really more Canadian than American? I don’t understand how we stole that land from Canada in the first place?
I have been in Maine a couple of time in the past decade or so. The last time was returning home from Nova Scotia and PEI. By the way, I love Prince Edward Island especially the mussels! If it weren’t so cold up there I would consider moving there on a pretty permanent basis. But, I am getting off topic here.
There is something different about Maine that maybe the rest of the country needs to follow and that is that neither Republicans nor Democrats have a majority in their State government or federal representation. They now have a centrist group of independents that control what legislation will pass. Here is a little about that from the Centrist Project.
Casas, who has been active in organizing the centrist coalition in the state says that one of the largest benefits of serving as independent is the ability to work exclusively for the people he represents, instead of working for partisan interests and his constituency.
A small group of independents can have a lot influence by denying both sides a majority. This forces both sides to make compromises to get legislation passed, and prevents either side from imposing their most radical ideas along partisan line votes.
Sources: Independents Shake up Maine State Legislature – Centrist Project
Wouldn’t that be something, to have representatives in government who are only beholden to the people who put them in office! That is a radical concept that needs to become contagious if we are ever again to flourish as a country. No, you can’t make America great again by telling lie after lie after lie. It seems that every piece of legislation that comes up now has 99% of the people of each party voting the same. How can that even be considered representing your constituents?
I know I talk about RedAmerica and BlueAmerica as if the people in those States are much different. But in reality, most States have about a 60% – 40% (or 40 – 60) split between conservatives and progressives, so in some ways each State had both RedAmerica and BlueAmerica within their borders. The exception to that might be the Deep South who has still never forgiven the Democrats for civil rights movement of the 1960s.
Closing out this rambling post, I think Maine has it right when it comes to their politics. I have to spend more time in the State to get to know them better.
With this post, I am going to try to add more on-the-road trip reports here to RJsCorner. I thought this would be a good project for the 2017-18 winter months. The subject of this post is Ft. William in Thunderbay Ontario Canada which is on the north side of Lake Superior. It is in my top five historic sites I have ever visited.
Here is a little background on Ft. William from Wikipedia:
Fort William Historical Park is known as a living history site. Numerous historic buildings have been reconstructed to show the range of the post, and costumed historical interpreters recreate Fort William of the year 1816. Fort William was then not primarily a settlement, but a central transport depot within the now-defunct North West Company’s network of fur trade outposts. Due to its central role, Fort William was much larger, with more facilities than the average fur trade post. Reflecting this, Fort William Historical Park contains 42 reconstructed buildings, a reconstructed Ojibwa village, and a small farm.
Historical interpreters represent the many roles and cultures involved in the fur trade, including Scottish fur traders (people of capital), who often took Native American wives and had their families living with them; French Canadian voyageurs and workers, who also had wives from among the Natives; and native hunters and trappers. The native people in the Fort William area are predominantly Ojibwa and are represented accordingly among the interpreters.
As I have mentioned before I favor fur trading forts as opposed to the military ones. They just seem to more accurately reflect the culture of the times that they represent. The military forts emphasize the battles that took place there.
Fort William is well worth the trip for anyone who wants to understand the cultural heritage of North America and this re-creation is top notch. Here is a rather extensive menagerie of pictures of the fort.
As usual click on any pic to bring up a larger slideshow view.
I love to visit historic sites that have reenactors that is people who play roles of the historic event or site. Fort William in Thunder Bay, Ontario Canada is one of my top ten in that category. Yes Canada is very much in my search for America….
I can’t help myself with this one… it is too funny to resist…
It would be a very tough choice deciding which side of the wall I wanted to reside
One of the things I missed the most about my hiatus from RJ’s Corner is spouting off. It does the heart good to question everything and sometimes put forth a thought or two. I plan on doing that rather frequently in the future here on the new/improved blog so get used to it! 🙂
I hear all the latest rumbling (as in ready to explode in a bout of diarrhea) about how the peace accord worked out with Iran is so worthless. Some seem to think that our only solution to conflicts around the world is war. “Blow the bad guys away” is their mantra. Of course the loudest of these critics are the Republican presidential contenders and those in Congress. I got an idea to turn that around.
How about we send all the kids and grandkids of those folks off as the first line in the battle. Let’s make them put their loved ones lives on the line. I bet if that were a requirement the opposition to trying peace this time would quickly die out. There is nothing like “skin in the game” to change people’s attitudes.
In the same light there are all those senior citizens out there that are so opposed to allowing our citizens to obtain reasonably cost healthcare. How about taking all those folks off Medicare and let them fend for themselves in the cutthroat business pre-ADA. I bring this idea up frequently when I get into it with them and have yet to have any of them accept my proposition.
I’m Back……..
