The Return

Review: Things that Matter: Three Decades of Passions, Pastimes and Politics Charles Krauthammer Crown Forum 2015 I just checked and this book has over 5000 reviews posted on an online retailer’s site.   He’s doing something right.   Combine that with some very healthy sales figures and now he’s doing it right and saying things that do matter.    The edition that I read has added some content that focuses on President Obama.   What I would like to see from that is the author revisiting these in say ten years or so as to determine if he still holds the same opinions.   My guess is he would, but just for conversation maybe not.   He would have to speak for himself and generally does.   His introduction shows that his current political position was not the only one he has held.   I discovered that though he generally espouses a conservative view, he does hold some that are much more liberal.      Krauthammer...

Review: Seven Revolutions: How Christianity Changed the World and Can Change It Again Mike Aquilina and James L. Papandrea Image 2015 Decided to give this one a try, despite the title, and discovered a good read in the process.   The authors make the case for some rather dramatic societal changes during the early AD (CE, for those that prefer that) centuries; changes that prompted new ideas related to human dignity, family values, community relations, work, death and even politics that have been directly related to Christian practices and teachings.   The changes in perspectives still have influence today and most of us reading this enjoy the benefits of those changes whether we realize it or not.   Things were not always are they are now.   That should not be news, but it was something I found myself having to remember again and again when I read this book.      That’s the gist of what is discussed in this book, and the authors have...

Might have a new look. Check it out after I'm done here. If it worked it was really easy to do. Like easy. Most of us do, I guess. Tired of all the BP bashing, ranting, dodging yet? I am quite sure I am. What is all that posturing about. Will it fix anything? Bring back those that were killed on the rig? Restore the Gulf to its pre-spill condition? Nope. The question is whether the folks in power and those in the know will do anything that really matters to fix both the spill and whatever caused it to happen in the first place. And will any of them look for better methods to clean up when it happens again. Yeah, it'll happen again. No sets of rules or pieces of equipment are fail proof. And accidents will still occur. And since no one seems ready to give up oil and petroleum products, like plastics, we really need to get serious about this. I think so anyway. And now. Remember everyone laughing at a movie line that said something like, "Greed is good."...

It's late and I should be snoozing right now, but I'm not. Think I'm sitting up waiting for the snow to start or something equally as important. Weird. Do this every so often. So what is there to talk about. Toyota? Nah. Too much ink and air on that one already. The Summit? Possibilities there but it hasn't happened yet. Sort of a non story at this point in time except that it's still supposed to happen. No one has back out yet. I'm with the pundits in thinking it's a show. One that isn't going to flatter anyone by the time it's over. One good thing coming from this gridlock in Washington is that the electorate is more attentive to the proceedings. Or it seems so to me. That is a change in attitude. The question is will that translate to anything in November. Or, will all this have blown over by then? It's been my observation that the public generally forgets within about sixty days or less. Some other shiny object grabs our att...