A few days ago a short-notice invitation came to attend a Monday afternoon talk by Canada’s Governor General, David Johnston. His brief bio is here: Gov Gen’l David Johnston001. I RSVP’ed, and at 5 p.m. yesterday about 150 of us spent a most pleasant hour with the Gov. General in a small auditorium within the […]
POSTNOTE, May 13, 2015: Three Links about WWII I find especially interesting: America at War (also referenced below): America at War001; plus two items found at my ancestral North Dakota farm: 1942 War Atlas edited by H. V. Kaltenborn: 1942 War Atlas002; and an anti-America-into-War appeal circa 1940-41 from “left-wing” Democrat Montana Senator Burton K. […]
Today is the 45th Earth Day though, apparently, there are variations. Take some time to notice and support Earth Day efforts in your community. Chances are that something will be going on, at the grass roots, which is where all the effective action seems to take place. As Margaret Mead observed years ago: “Never doubt […]
For a few hours last Friday I reacquainted with about 130 miles of North Dakota’s I-94, between Mandan and Valley City ND. Thanks for the unexpected trip, and the opportunity to reminisce, go to my Uncle Vince. Vincent, who died on February 2, was a long-time member of the Catholic Fraternal organization, the Knights of […]
If you need to know what the blog headline is about, you’re probably not much interested in politics…. The longer headline: “Hillary Clinton announces her candidacy for Presidency of the United States beginning 2017.” This is a long post, mostly my personal political history – “me ‘n Hillary” – from early 2008. If you’re not […]
Mid-week, my spouse, Cathy, read an April 6 commentary on a sneaky change in Federal Pension Protection law which interested and troubled her. At the end of the commentary was an invitation to attend a meeting on Saturday, and so we went over, not knowing what to expect. First, I’d recommend getting to know PensionRights.org, […]
Yesterday my cousin Mary Kay and I traveled to Dubuque to the funeral of Marion Placke. It was a long day: the odometer read 550 miles traveled when I arrived home; and the clock showed 16 hours from the time between when I left and arrived home. But it was an extraordinary day; a very, […]
In today’s Minneapolis Star Tribune I read a most interesting column about Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the noted German Lutheran Theologian and Pastor, who was part of the conspiracy to remove Adolf Hitler during the dark days of the Third Reich. He died by hanging 70 years ago today, April 9, 1945. The first paragraph of the […]
Last nights 60 Minutes had a fascinating profile of Wikipedia, the ever-more respected (ever-less maligned) people’s encyclopedia. You may be able to watch the segment here, though it seems like CBS has constructed hoops now, which one now needs to jump through to watch their programs on-line…. At any rate, it is worth the hoop […]
Today, per usual, I ushered at Basilica of St. Mary at 9:30 Mass. It was a cool sunshiny day in Minneapolis. I took a couple of snapshots. (click to enlarge) Of course, the juxtaposition of the season of Spring and the Christian observance of Easter is intentional. Wikipedia says this about the setting of the […]