This is a personal perspective of the years between 1980 and 2000. This post is not meant to provide you with a high-level view of the world during this period. Instead, it is from the viewpoint of the 34-year-old to … Continue reading Into The Looking Glass – 1980 – 2000
When I found this post from 5 years ago this week, it grabbed my attention even more than it did then. Symmetry just seems to slow my frantic mind down. It gives me peace in these hectic days. So, here it is again… Continue reading Looking Back 5 Years – Symmetry
As will be the ongoing practice here, I am looking back five years to the week and comparing what I wrote then to what I see and feel now. Here is the current edition: What is surprising about this post is how these two in intolerances have merged! The politics of our current times has gotten down right hideous and at least one version of Christianity has followed it into the gutter. I never would have predicted that some who call themselves Christians could totally ignore practically all the teachings of Jesus when to justify their political stands. It seems … Continue reading Looking Back Sunday – Politics & Religion
Being over the hill is probably the most often used phrase for getting older. When you turn forty, at least for my generation, you were considered over the hill. My hero Will Rogers certainly was an inventive guy. The way he looked at life such as the words above is what inspires me. I have never really thought about it much, but I never did get the feeling that I was on top the hill. My life has just been happening day-to-day. Uphill-downhill seemed more like potholes in life. When I finally reached retirement, or should I say when it reached … Continue reading Over The Hill…
Something that has always been unfathomable to me is the U.S. unconditional support of the state of Israel. Why do we continue to throw billions of dollars of our borrowed resources into that country year after year when in reality they almost never heed any of our advice. A two State solution with the Palestinians is the most obvious workable solution to this decades going Middle East stuff and that seems to be something that Israel, or at least their current leader is adamantly against. Because of our billions of dollars of annual support Israel is by far the superpower in the … Continue reading Why Unconditional Support??
Just outside of Lexington Kentucky is my favorite historical village called “Pleasant Hill Shaker Village”. I simply can’t get enough of that place. Whenever I start feeling tension for whatever reason I think of escaping there for a few days. I think I have been there about a half a dozen times now but have really lost count. Staying in the actual rooms where Shakers lived is a fantastic feeling. I almost sense their presence there. Shaker Hill brings out my creative juices. I have probably taken 500 pictures there but every time I go I find another undiscovered place … Continue reading Pleasant Hill — Revisited (again_
For those of you who haven’t visited here much I will state up front that while I am very much a social progressive but I am also a fiscal conservative. I too think as indicated in this editorial cartoon by Jack Ohman “where did the Republican party go?” They once were the party of small government and keeping expenses under control. During those days I voted Republican about as often as I voted Democrat. But those days now seem to be a distant memory. The new GOP seems to be made up of screamers who want infinite military budgets so that can go … Continue reading The New GOP…
“They want Peace, but they want a Gun to help get it with.” – Will Rogers, 9 February 1930 Yeah Will, nothing has changed much in this area since your day. About the only thing different is that we have MUCH bigger guns now. It goes back to the old quote “If all you have is a hammer everything looks like a nail”. I love this country but I simply can’t begin to understand its obsession with guns….. Continue reading Wanting a Gun….
It has been a while since I have visited this site (click on the picture to go there). Of course if you have spent any time on this blog you know that I frequently say that we just spend too much money on our military. Forty times more than any other country on earth and more than the rest of the world combined! That comes to a whopping $1,200,000.00 per minute 24/7. My friends at AFSC are being very meager in their wishes of only one minute for peace. If we really are serious about deficit reduction, and I think … Continue reading One Minute For Peace…..
Israel on Wednesday announced new construction in east Jerusalem – an area the Palestinians demand for their future state – just hours after it freed a group of Palestinian prisoners as part of a deal to set peace talks in motion. The building is seen as an attempt by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to make up for the prisoner release, for which he has been sharply criticized at home. The prisoners were jailed for deadly attacks on Israelis. Interior Ministry spokeswoman Lital Apter said Wednesday that four projects are being promoted, including 1,500 housing units in Ramat Shlomo in east … Continue reading Stifling Possible Peace Talks…
What would happen if we spent as much money on seeking peace as we did going to war? I suspect the cartoon would be much different. It would be a fleet of Maseratis on the Autobahn instead of what you see above. I don’t know if peace would actually happen even with this reversal but wouldn’t it be interesting to find out? Maybe we could say “if you don’t kill any of your neighbors outside your borders this year we will give you $80 billion” Even with that we would come out ahead….. Continue reading Peace Talks…
“[War] won’t stop till there is as much brains and scientific study put to aid peace as there is to promote war.” – Will Rogers, 1 June 1929 Of course these words were spoken not long after World War I which was inaptly titled the “war to end all wars”. Of course it didn’t accomplish that noble task. President Wilson tried his best to put together the United Nations to insure no more world wars but like these times there was just too much Republican bravado going on to prevent that from happening. I wonder what the world would be like … Continue reading The War To End All Wars….
[War] won’t stop till there is as much brains and scientific study put to aid peace as there is to promote war. – May 31, 1928 Will Rogers Here we are one world war and dozens of other wars later and still we can’t understand what Will was saying almost one hundred years ago. Except for a brief period during the Clinton years we have been in constant wars throughout my sixty-some years on this earth. Our soldiers are getting way beyond weary as evidenced by the recent massacre in Afghanistan by a four tour American soldier. Our national debt … Continue reading War and Peace….
Source: Three Queries on Peace – QuakerQuaker. The author of the post above is David Madden. Please click the source above to see the entire post. There are not many words in the source post (I will likely exceed his word count in just talking about it) but they do inspire me. As is obvious from the link David is a Quaker and this article is based on Quaker thought and values. There are three points of peace brought up in the post. I will briefly mention the first two and then will have some personal thoughts on the last … Continue reading Peace Requires Strength and Conviction….
Who is wise and understanding among you? Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. Such “wisdom” does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice. But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. … Continue reading Wisdom… Two Varieties..
I see where the Republicans in the House have only managed to eliminate half the “earmarks” in the current budget. I guess some things are just too sacred. Most of the remaining “pork” is associated with military projects. If the Republicans are serious about reducing the deficits, and I hope they are, they must come to understand: The U.S. represents 4% of the world’s population The U.S. spends almost 60% of the total world’s expenses on military things The U.S. spends an average of 40 times more for our military than any other country in the world If the U.S. … Continue reading Deficit Fighters
Many if not most Christian evangelical denominations insist that they are the only ones who 100% understand the nature of God. They each believe everyone else is wrong to one degree or another. There sometimes seems to be more arguing with fellow Christians among themselves than there is any sharing of the Word with those outside their current brand of beliefs. In that regard it is nice to see at least one Christian organization that is not out to prove everyone else is wrong. click the following link to see an article by a Quaker author about being peacemakers. http://www.friendsjournal.org/personal-peacemaking … Continue reading You are WRONG!!!
We spend 40 time more per citizen on our military than any other nation and hundreds of times more than most other nations. How can we say we are devoted to peace with this gross disparity?? Something just doesn’t seem right here? Where are all the peacemakers? Title quote from American Friends Service Committee http://www.afsc.org Continue reading If we are a nation devoted to peace, why are so many of our resources devoted to war and militarism?
If Only we in the U.S. spent even a minuscule amount of what we spend for our wars to promote peace… I want to direct you to a website promoting peace instead of war. OneMinuteForPeace.org from the American Friends Service Committee. As the site states in the previous year the United States has spent over $1 trillion of military spending. That comes out to almost $2,000,000 every minute! It is sad to say but we spend more on our military than the rest of the world combined and many many times more to fund our wars than we do to promote peace. The … Continue reading One Minute for Peace…..
I recently read an article that proudly made the point that the U.S. military is the largest minority employer in the country. It went on to argue that if our military complex were proportioned like the rest of the world there would be many more people without jobs. The United States which makes up four percent of the world’s population maintains over 60% of the worlds military complex! Another way of saying this is that each U.S. taxpayer pays more taxes for military expenses than thirty people in just about any other country in the world. Is it any … Continue reading War is not the answer for ANY question….
RJ's Corner 