“Too many people spend money they earned..to buy things they don’t want..to impress people that they don’t like.” ― Will Rogers Continue reading To Impress People…..

“No nation ever had two better friends than we have. You know who they are. They are the Atlantic and the Pacific oceans.” – Will Rogers, 9 April 1933 You know Will you are on to something here.  I know you were around when all the saber-rattling was going on in Europe in the early 1930s. I know you had at least a preliminary taste of what Hitler would bring onto that region but you missed out on the second war to end all wars. We tried to stay out of that one but our now Japanese friends insisted on … Continue reading No Better Friends…

On 15 August 1935, Will Rogers and Wiley Post were on their way from Fairbanks, Alaska, to Barrow, Alaska, when they encountered some heavy fog. Post knew they were near Barrow, but due to the conditions, was having difficulty spotting any landmarks. After spotting a small native camp near Walakpa Lagoon, Wiley Post landed the plane to ask for directions to Barrow. After Will and Wiley got out and stretched their legs, Clair Okpeaha, one of the natives, directed them towards Barrow. Upon take off from lagoon, the plane began a steep accent, and banked sharply to the right. At … Continue reading Here’s To You Will…

“Plans get you into things but you got to work your way out.” – Will Rogers, 25 June 1931 Be careful you might just get what you plan for. I seem to have to learn that lesson over and over again through my life. I am a planner to my soul. When I was six years old you could often find me out on the dewy grass on a summer night staring at the stars and wondering/planning what my future would look like.  And for the next sixty years I have continued to the same thing. In my very early … Continue reading Planning…

When some nation wants us to help ’em out they use the same old “gag”, that we should exert our “Moral Leadership” and, like a yap, we believe it, when as a matter of truth, no nation wants any other nation exerting a “Moral leadership” over ’em even if they had one.  — Will Rogers Will it amazes me how eighty plus years ago you can tell us so much that we think is somehow new today. Moral leadership, yeah that is a good one.  I remember President Bush using those words over and over again to get us into … Continue reading “Moral Leadership”…

  Nobody wants to be called Common People, especially common people.” – Will Rogers, 21 June 1925 Let’s face it, no one likes to think that they are common. We all like to see ourselves as different from everyone else. As teenagers we spend an inordinate amount to time to make ourselves different. So much so that teenagers all end up being pretty common. :) About the worst insult you can give anyone is to call them common.  Many of us refuse to believe in statistical analysis that can show in advance what we think or who we will vote … Continue reading Common People….

  “This country is a thousand times bigger than any two men in it, or any two parties in it.” – Will Rogers, 2 November 1932 I seem to often get ground down by the politics of the day. Especially with all the gridlock and bickering that is always there. Thanks Will for reminding me that the country is a thousand times bigger than all those ornery folks in Washington or the two parties that now occupy space there. Outside the Washington beltway and several State houses there is still a lot of good going on in this country and … Continue reading Bigger Than….

“There is nothing that sets a nation back as far in civilization as prosperity.” – Will Rogers, 2 April 1933 Yeah Will, prosperity does seem to bring out the animal in many of us. Just look at the Robber Barons of the early 20th century for evidence of that.  Heck, you don’t even have to look that far back, just look at the 1%ers now who will do just about anything to maintain their wealth.  Prosperity brings out the best in a few but the worst in others. Continue reading Prosperity…

“…elections are a good deal like marriages, there is just no accounting for anyone’s taste.” – Will Rogers, 10 May 1926 You got that right Will. Of course when you made this quote Calvin Coolidge was president Hoover was just around the corner to replace him. I guess you were a pretty good predictor of the future.  I had the very same thoughts in November 2004 when Mr. Bush was given a second term.  I couldn’t understand the taste of the electorate that year. Continue reading No Accounting For Taste…

  “It takes a long time to find out how wrong you are sometimes.” – Will Rogers, 8 August 1933 I’m not sure why what Will declares here is true but I think it has something to do with our stubbornness. Once we get locked into a particular idea it is just so hard to admit that we might have been wrong to start with.  I know  it took the radical stands of Ronald Reagan for me to finally admit that I belonged to the wrong political party if I belonged to any party at all. ;) I know everyone … Continue reading It Takes A Long Time…

  “This is a great country. You never know where our heroes will come from.” – Will Rogers, 7 June 1933 One of the great things about this country is that anyone who is fortunately enough to have just the right circumstances come about can be a hero for future generations.  Many have sports heroes who they admire for their ability to do a particular thing like putting a ball into a hole, hitting it with a stick, throwing it to a teammate. I can’t say that any of those qualities make someone a hero to me. But to each … Continue reading You Never Know….

When we start out trying to make everybody have Moral elections, why, it just dont look like we going to have Marines enough to go round.” – Will Rogers, 26 May 1928 After Mr. Bush discovered that there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq he turned on a dime to say that he invaded Iraq so that the people would have moral elections.  It looks like that argument is older than I thought as here is Will’s quote from eighty-five years ago saying the same thing.  We didn’t have enough Marines this time around either. He ended up … Continue reading Moral Elections……

Betrayed by friendship is not a bad memorial to leave. – 16 June 1931   Will Rogers Will, I had to think about this one to understand what you were talking about. I think it means that is it better to have friends even if some end up betraying you than it is to have no friends at all.  That’s kind of deep but knowing you as I do I suspect that is your point. It kind of like the one about “its better to have love and lost than not to have loved at all”. Yeah, some friendships can result … Continue reading Betrayed by Friendship….

Somebody is always telling us in the papers how to prevent war. There is only one way in the World to prevent war, and that is, FOR EVERY NATION TO TEND TO ITS OWN BUSINESS. – June 28, 1925  Will Rogers Will I know you are right about this but it seems that eighty years later our country still can’t seem to understand your words of wisdom. We still want to get into every nation’s business as if it were our own.  There are those in the Senate, particularly Mr. McCain and that bunch, who have not seen a war … Continue reading Tend To Our Own Business….