After spending tons of money in London and Paris, we have arrived in beautiful Hasselt, Belgium using the most efficient and comfortable rail system. Paris to Brussels and then Brussels to Hasselt. Just picked up our rental car and checked into the Holiday Inn on Kattegatstraat. It's sunny and warm today and we'll be hitting the town for some shopping and dining. Tomorrow we drive to Genk and visit the two places where I lived as a young boy. I'm charging my camera battery as I hope to bring back some updated photos of the old homestead.
Met vriendelijke groeten,
Roman
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Monday, June 15, 2009
Crossing the pond.
Life's been very hectic lately and about to get even more livelier the next few weeks. It's time to surrender to that restless travel bug.
Leaving for London via Reykjavik 6/16(anything to save a few bucks). Will stay in Soho for a few days (where else?). A cruise down the Thames and Stonehenge are a must. Then its a train ride through the Chunnel to Paris. After taking in some of the sights, sounds and tastes there will be a train ride to Brussels and another to Hasselt and then to my old stomping grounds in Waterschei and Gelieren by rental car. As this is where I spent my tender early years, this is the highlight of the trip. If it's not too far to drive, Amsterdam looks appealing for a day trip. Then a short flight from Brussels to Copenhagen for the remaining time. Going to need to change some dollars for some UK currency (Pounds), lots of Euros and some Kronen. A common currency? Not yet!
Will fly back on 6/29 via Reykjavik.
Plan to have mucho pics for a travel log on this site.
Leaving for London via Reykjavik 6/16(anything to save a few bucks). Will stay in Soho for a few days (where else?). A cruise down the Thames and Stonehenge are a must. Then its a train ride through the Chunnel to Paris. After taking in some of the sights, sounds and tastes there will be a train ride to Brussels and another to Hasselt and then to my old stomping grounds in Waterschei and Gelieren by rental car. As this is where I spent my tender early years, this is the highlight of the trip. If it's not too far to drive, Amsterdam looks appealing for a day trip. Then a short flight from Brussels to Copenhagen for the remaining time. Going to need to change some dollars for some UK currency (Pounds), lots of Euros and some Kronen. A common currency? Not yet!
Will fly back on 6/29 via Reykjavik.
Plan to have mucho pics for a travel log on this site.
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
The 5000 Year Leap
Just finished another great book and recommend it highly.
Have you ever wondered why the USA is the most successful nation in the world? Why do different folks (like me) from around the globe abandon their ancestral homes to come and live here? It's because of our Constitution! It is, by far, the most advanced and thoughtful political and societal document ever devised. This book explains the Founders' thoughts and reflections on the most important features of this document in 28 easy to understand principles.
Washington, Jefferson, Madison, John and Samuel Adams and Lincoln are the Presidents prominently featured along with a varied supporting cast which include Cicero, John Locke and Adam Smith amongst many others. I guarantee that any reader will see the political and economic events that confront us today in a totally different light.
Friday, April 03, 2009
Conservatism's CliffsNotes.
Roman highly recommends Mark Levin's new book. I was sold after reading only the first few pages.
Picked it up at the local book store after enduring some taunting (but playful)remarks from the two girls at the cash register. They looked out the window after I left...probably to see if I had a gun-rack on my rear window. I'm used to it. This type of behavior is fairly common here in Massachusetts which, along with the United Socialist Republic of Vermont, aspire to join the EU as soon as they're able. Only kidding!
Remember, only by hearing BOTH SIDES can one truly understand.
OK, time to get off the soapbox.
Sunday, March 01, 2009
Coming home to roost!
I don't want to be the wacky guy walking around with the "THE END IS NEAR SO REPENT" sign. Yet I can't refrain from stating an obvious fact. Lately I've noticed, as I'm sure have many others, that sweeping lifestyle changes are taking place just about everywhere around us. Our fundamental core values are evolving at an alarming rate and not for the better. It's starting to have consequences that are very troubling, indeed. Signs of this change are showing up all around us and on a daily basis. There has been a virtual epidemic of so-called successful individuals that achieved positions of trust only to betray that trust for personal aggrandisement and hedonistic goals.
Yes I know that, to some extent, it has always been so but lately this phenomenon seems to have grown exponentially. No area of society has been spared. As our hard-earned savings dwindle and politicians and journalists keep telling us that everything is fine or will be fine, we cannot help thinking that it is not and never again will be. Our hearts are turning to steel and we no longer trust anyone. We have and continue to be betrayed by politicians, CEO's, financial brokers, religious leaders, professors, journalists and yes, even the local contractor who we call to fix our house or supply services.
It used to be that hard work, honesty and sacrifice were honored as virtuous ideals. On the other hand, traits like indifference, laziness, narcissism, greed, dishonesty and their resulting degradation and blight on society was considered to be shameful and thus to be avoided at all cost.
Unfortunately, not anymore.
Betrayal of the public trust has become ubiquitous and most of us are already de-sensitized to it.
Outrage when experienced on a daily basis loses its very meaning.
Many of us might point the whole blame at society's gradual abandonment of religious foundations but that's not at all the whole story. We know that secularism has been on the rise for centuries. I suspect it's more to do with today's postmodern progressive liberal ideals and a sense of moral relativism which has stealthily gained inroads into our culture. I recall a time when most responsible adults identified virtues like integrity, honesty, respect and sacrifice as extremely necessary and fundamental for good citizenship. In a general sense, the perception was that these core basic values and character traits would naturally and logically result in a happier lifestyle for their offspring. A foremost and essential instructing goal, "job one"..so to speak, for most parents was to devote the time and instill these virtues into their offspring during their formative years. Alas, it all started to unravel back in the late sixties and early seventies. In order to maintain a middle income or better lifestyle it became customary and in many cases, necessary, for both parents to be gainfully employed. The time-trusted and fundamental responsibility of child-rearing was either put on the back burner or leased out to others for the most part. Even now, many parents actually believe that our schools and child-care "professionals" have somehow fully assumed the responsibility of guiding children onto the path of good citizenship and virtuous ideals. It appears that the failure to maintain a majority of caring and responsible adults has reached and surpassed a critical mass of societal instability and no one seems to care.
Are our chickens coming home to roost?
The signs are all around us.
Yes I know that, to some extent, it has always been so but lately this phenomenon seems to have grown exponentially. No area of society has been spared. As our hard-earned savings dwindle and politicians and journalists keep telling us that everything is fine or will be fine, we cannot help thinking that it is not and never again will be. Our hearts are turning to steel and we no longer trust anyone. We have and continue to be betrayed by politicians, CEO's, financial brokers, religious leaders, professors, journalists and yes, even the local contractor who we call to fix our house or supply services.
It used to be that hard work, honesty and sacrifice were honored as virtuous ideals. On the other hand, traits like indifference, laziness, narcissism, greed, dishonesty and their resulting degradation and blight on society was considered to be shameful and thus to be avoided at all cost.
Unfortunately, not anymore.
Betrayal of the public trust has become ubiquitous and most of us are already de-sensitized to it.
Outrage when experienced on a daily basis loses its very meaning.
Many of us might point the whole blame at society's gradual abandonment of religious foundations but that's not at all the whole story. We know that secularism has been on the rise for centuries. I suspect it's more to do with today's postmodern progressive liberal ideals and a sense of moral relativism which has stealthily gained inroads into our culture. I recall a time when most responsible adults identified virtues like integrity, honesty, respect and sacrifice as extremely necessary and fundamental for good citizenship. In a general sense, the perception was that these core basic values and character traits would naturally and logically result in a happier lifestyle for their offspring. A foremost and essential instructing goal, "job one"..so to speak, for most parents was to devote the time and instill these virtues into their offspring during their formative years. Alas, it all started to unravel back in the late sixties and early seventies. In order to maintain a middle income or better lifestyle it became customary and in many cases, necessary, for both parents to be gainfully employed. The time-trusted and fundamental responsibility of child-rearing was either put on the back burner or leased out to others for the most part. Even now, many parents actually believe that our schools and child-care "professionals" have somehow fully assumed the responsibility of guiding children onto the path of good citizenship and virtuous ideals. It appears that the failure to maintain a majority of caring and responsible adults has reached and surpassed a critical mass of societal instability and no one seems to care.
Are our chickens coming home to roost?
The signs are all around us.
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Gitmo slated to close.
The Gitmo prisoners never had it so good. All the visitors (without an axe to grind) reported seeing prisoners treated like kings.
Three meals a day.
The meals consistent with their religious restrictions.
A Qur'an and prayer rug for each upon request.
Clean sheets and towels every day.
Restrictions on the guards to keep quiet during the six prayer periods.
Footsteps imprinted on the hallway floors for the Marines to keep them from disturbing the prisoners.
Daily periods of exercise in the balmy air of a tropical Caribean paradise.
The only thing missing is the virgins.
This fiction of Gitmo being a "stain on the virtue of America" is a disgraceful exaggeration intended for gullible intellectual posers and left wing bloggers who actually believed the fake media narrative and repeated hysterics. One can easily predict that once Gitmo is closed they will just find another excuse to hate the USA. The Bush Hate Syndrome is just another emanation of the same hystrionics.
The vitriolic stance by the press against the victims of terrorism and our efforts to insure against future attacks are both inexplicable and puzzling on many levels. Constant excuses for the perpetrators are proferred in order to stay in lock-step with the PC narrative indoctrination so prevalent in Journalism 101 throughout academia.
Sadly, victims are too quickly forgotten. The lessons of history once again are thought to be way too outdated and out of place with today’s progressive modernism.
This is just another example of moral and ethical relativism running wild. The only ray of hope is that it is a means to an end which must ultimately seal the fate of its adherents.
Side note: I know that some insecure individuals have needed to hate somebody and Bush is an easy scapegoat. Bush bashing at this juncture is like kicking a dead horse, it’s futile, vindictive and unbecoming even of far left liberal progressives.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Welcome #44
Best wishes to our new commander in chief, Barack H. Obama, new President of these United States.
The inaugural speech was a pleasant surprise. The ideals expressed were much closer to mine than I expected. If the goals stated are serious and genuine, it is certain that support will follow from all decent Americans who believe in justice and equality.
Ideals such as personal responsibility, efforts to rejuvenate our economy by prudent action and accepting as real the global terrorist threat are speaking directly to the majority of thoughtfully aware citizens. Also by acknowledging "God" several times, the increasing trend of moral relativism which is so destructive to our social fiber, is finally being addressed. Not that the poison of relativism is secular in nature but as a social foundation, religion has served as an excellent antidote. Promoting this awareness is a step in the right direction.
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