In Europe, heading for the Christmas markets on December weekends is very popular, and in larger German cities there are multiple markets for fun. There you can enjoy hearty snacks and warming drinks in a festive atmosphere, and look at a wide variety of merchandise that [...]
The Mayflower, the little ship of the Pilgrims, took over two months to reach New England from Old England. It stayed in the new world over the winter, and departed for England the next year, where disappeared from ships registries, possibly being broken up for lumber and incorporated [...]
Wisdom from China as reported by the AP:
About 14 months ago I wrote on Rev. James Meeks' visit to New Trier High School, including the cute picture above. To me it typifies how Chicago's inner city children start school wide-eyed and serious in both demeanor and dress, and in 12 or 10 [...]
Located deep in the heart of East Germany, before the fall of the Berlin Wall tourists from the West were unable to visit Dresden, the capital of Saxony.
How sweet would it be to return Barack Obama's old seat back to the Republican column? Very. Those of us who well remember what Barack Obama did to claw his way into the US Senate just to use it as a springboard to run for President [...]
Ok, so maybe by now this Obama bowing in Japan has been done to death, but it's worth the comparison with the past once again. Let's face it, plenty of Americans are beyond distressed. It certainly is clear that the Japanese require nothing more than a [...]
Pictured above is the St. Nicholas Church in Leipzig, the physical heart and soul of the citizens movement for freedom in East Germany. Here, Johannes Sebastian Bach spent most of his career overseeing the musical life of the church, playing the organ, and composing [...]
In 1961, following years of East German population loss to West Germany equaling perhaps 20% of its population, a wall was erected through Berlin, Germany, sealing the East from the West. Two years later, US President John F. Kennedy delivered his famous speech in Berlin, saying, [...]
Indian Summer, at last! A wonderful day to wake up early, be lazy, think about when (or if) to go to church, enjoy some football or some last-minute yard work, a great day to be alive! Today also is the International Day of Prayer for [...]
God help us. Nancy Pelosi's healthcare bill has passed the Congress. 
Look at this beautiful method of public transport, as different from a CTA bus as day is from night! I came across the picture during a morning project, while searching for whether I could recycle those pesky CD cases. While I couldn't find an answer (no' [...]
I can't think of any scenario that sums up more fully what has happened to our country than the news of the last day. There was President Obama on TV yukking it up with conference attendees before reflecting on an act of domestic terrorism that' [...]
Tuesday night was a night that celebrated the Democratic Party. Don't fall for that stuff you are hearing from a bunch of teabaggers! The Democrats are stronger than ever! Take it from one who knows, and that would be Nancy Pelosi. When the ballots were counted' [...]
How do you feel this morning? On the radio, the weather is 41 and cloudy, but in my heart it's 70 and sunny! I am feeling much better than of late, thank you, dare I say hopeful? After yesterday's election, I decided that a picture [...]
I still haven't really figured out exactly how the subprime meltdown really happened, even though I knew it had something do do with the Cayman Islands, which are not subject to U.S. tax law or regulation. What I didn't know, was that many of the mortgage [...]
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I am concerned that we won't have so many Trick or Treaters today because it is unseasonably cold here in Wilmette. We will be ready though, in the Halloween trick or treating hours. We bought candy as well as salty snacks to give away. Some children' [...]
Halloween's growth in popularity grew in the USA , according to The Times, was due to large numbers of immigrants who embraced it as a non-religious festival in the 19th century. I thought you might enjoy this old Halloween greeting with a distinct ethnic Scottish' [...]
Conservative Wilmette blogger, Eva Sorock, has been working on her blog, conservativeBrand, for some time, and it has really started to shape up and look good. While I don't think she's quite mastered the hyperlink yet, she mastered political comment long ago. Eva spent years [...]
No. No matter how bored you are today or how cute you think this Halloween costume is, don't even think of doing this to the dog. If you promise you won't get any smart ideas, you can click here for even more reasons why pets [...]
I hope it isn't too late in the season, or maybe it happened already, but I am patiently awaiting the warm days of Indian Summer. Hope it doesn't forget to come! Above, the famous 1907 cartoons of Injun Summer by John [...]
"Falcon is the youngest of three boys who seem to have the kind of escapades few boys do these days." -Anne Gerhart's article about the little boy who was feared had left his Colorado home in a weather balloon.
If you can't beat 'em, join 'em, I always say. For that reason, I would like to announce that today, Wilmette joins the movement to award the Heisman Trophy to Barack Obama. Why not? Since ESPN set up a special webpage to vote for the nominee' [...]
Let me be the first to wish you Happy Columbus Day! Did anyone even wish you a Happy Columbus Day this morning? I didn't think so. No one seems to celebrate Columbus Day anymore. Gone are the days that the holiday gave children dreams of the' [...]
If you are wondering when or if any business gets done at the White House between the President's never ending appearances, seems that they are just a little behind. Four months since Canada said no thanks to taking inmates of famed war-on-terror prison, Guantanamo, the White' [...]
So I suppose there is some truth to that "fat people eating" comment that I heard on TV when Rio beat out Chicago for the Olympics. Here in Chicago, it is believed that food might be a real tonic for health, and the TV commenters [...]
So much for getting away from politics, but this one is hot. Blogger Anne Leary, the Backyard Conservative, has done a post (which has grown to an entire series of posts) on running into Bill Ayers at the airport in DC. There, Ayers asserted [...]
Think I've been obsessed by politics and the economy lately? Me, too, so I took a few days to relax and collect my thoughts. With Chicago losing the 2012 Olympic games to Rio, it was a good time to be out of town. Do you like' [...]
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad isn't the only person in the Mideast to deny the Holocaust and I cannot imagine that even if he admitted the existence of World War II death camps that the facts would bother him much. Palestine is the Mideast's cause and the Jews be' [...]
Do you love this charming little baby rhinoceros? She is only 4 days old and doesn't even have a name yet. She was born at Muenster's Allwetter Zoo, in Germany, on Sunday. Her mom, Emmi, had previously shown very poor parenting skills and was' [...]
Remember pictures such as this? Almost 30 years ago, Lech Wawesa and the Solidarnosc Movement in Poland shook off the shackles of Soviet oppression. As Chicago is the world's second largest Polish city, Chicagoans watched the unfolding Polish democracy movement not only on national but local' [...]
So the black line (now 52%) is the percentage of people who approve of the job that President Obama is doing and the red line (44.4%) is the percentage of people who disapprove of the job President Obama is doing. Even the most senior White House [...]
Generally speaking, when people gather in large numbers in the nation's capital at their own expense in challenging economic times protesting unprecedented growth in the power and size of government, it might be smart to take notice. Yet, with all the good sense shown by Marie' [...]
"Everybody that knew Carl loved Carl, especially me," said Donna Molinaro, in an interview in October, 2001. Mrs. Molinaro is the widow of firefighter Carl Molinaro. He died in New York City in the collapse of One World Trade Center while aiding building evacuation with Ladder [...]
When Michael Grady Jacobs headed off to work in Manhattan from suburban Danbury, Connecticut on September 11, 2001, it was a bright and beautiful morning. Fifty-four years old, at the prime of his career, he had a fine job at Fiduciary Trust International, as Vice-President of [...]
Today I have a tip which is a pretty good one. You know those jobs around the house that you have been meaning to call the repair man for, and dragged your feet? Call now! I have two situations, and the repair people can both come [...]
Today we have something nice to say about the President; his salute is improving! The President has made great progress since our concerns of last February. While he still has a ways to go, I think there is hope!
Parents would undoubtedly be far more trusting of an address by Barack Obama to schoolchildren if one of his most important goals as President--stated early--was NOT to begin to work on his reelection. It has become impossible to tell what is the work of government and [...]
"[O]ne of the reasons Republicans are so against public sector employment is because they hate unions, and the public sector is the most unionized.
Maybe Capitalism isn't dying as fast as I thought, or could it be behind the gay marriage movement? There is a lot to be sold for weddings of all types, including Hubby Hubby ice cream. Could it be all that marital celebration is just an' [...]
How's this for a weed? That's just what it is! I have fallen seriously behind on my weeding and gardening, and maybe that is not so bad! Today I looked out my window and found this lovely flower looking directly at me! While a volunteer plant, [...]
"There is a growing perception of condescension surrounding the selling of the White House's health care plan. Common sense tells us the government cannot simultaneously expand coverage and reduce costs. The government cannot dramatically inflate demand for health care services and eliminate market mechanisms for allocating" [...]
As the West goes increasingly mad, and Scotland (and by extension, all Britain) in particular, we are making an annoucement. Due to current conditions, and the need to preserve our very limited stocks for the duration (which may be indefinately), non-family guests at the Padena [...]
Adonis Bell is an 11 year old fifth-grade student at Gompers elementary school in Chicago. His bravery, along with his ability to pay attention and follow directions saved the lives of seven members of his exended family living on South Wentworth Avenue in Chicago last week, [...]
I'm putting up the flag! Thanks to the hard work of countless bloggers, journalists, and members of government, the flag@whitehouse.gov email address has been closed with the following bounce-back received:
"Our system of government depends not only on how many votes you win, but how broadly distributed those votes are. This prevents one section or faction from railroading another. It is evident in the Electoral College and the House, but above all in the Senate, where" [...]
"The ethical collapse of the left was nowhere more evident than in the near total silence of liberal media and Web sites at the Obama administration's outrageous solicitation to private citizens to report unacceptable "casual conversations" to the White House. If Republicans had done this, there" [...]
In pursuit of whether the Obama health care logo looks like an old Nazi graphic, I found out something interesting. 
I've put up the old 2¢ Newfoundland green fish stamp again, my symbol for the citizen spy network quietly announced on Tuesday at the official White House website. This network will collect private information about private citizens through forwarding "fishy" emails (as well as other' [...]
Do you like the fish? It's a photo of an old 2 cents postage stamp from Newfoundland, Canada which is very valuable. With the White House domestic spying program urging you to forward emails and websites with "fishy information" about the Obama healthcare plan to' [...]
"I don't think anyone has come close to him as being the poet of the youth of America in the postwar period. He was to them what Shakespeare was to the Elizabethan Age." -Ben Stein
This is no joke. The White House is seeking a volunteer citizen spy corps to report to the Obama administration Internet based "disinformation" about "health care reform." In the White House's words: "Scary chain emails and videos are starting to percolate on the internet." Specifically the' [...]
Planning a European vacation? Oops. Better add a tin cup to your packing list just in case you are reduced to begging to pay your hotel bill! The euro is now at $1.4242, as Americans grow poorer by world standards by the day. Think that [...]
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When it comes to last night's White House Beer Summit with Henry Gates, Barack Obama, James Crowley (and Joe Biden) in attendance, I'm with the WCTU spokeswoman. She suggested that lemonade or iced tea would have been a better choice to serve than beer. If you [...]
This one you will never believe. As soon as Mark Kirk announced his run for the Senate, two-time loser for Illinois' 10th Congressional District seat, Dan Seals, announced that he plans to take a third crack at becoming a Congressman for Chicago's northern suburbs. How exciting' [...]
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