I like to read historical fiction because it not only entertains but I learn at the same time. This book, The Winds Of Fortune is set in 1882 in a place called Fayette, in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Fayette was, and still is, a real place. Only now it's a ghost town and a Michigan State Park. The town was found in 1864 to turn raw iron ore from the rich Michigan mining fields into pig-iron before it was shipped "down-lake" to a steel mill to be made into steel. The story is woven arou...

After I've rearranged the furniture, I like nothing better than to sit in each chair, one by one, and admire the view from there. This is when I can see if the arrangement of candles on the coffee table is just right or needs more, or less, balance. I can admire the way the afternoon sun slants through that window to bathe my white figurine of Athena (garage sale, old Avon bottle, 50 cents last week) in light. This is an exercise best done on an afternoon when you've skipped work; the su...

That immigration of non-Europeans to the United States should be strictly limited and only English used in schools and government. That the intrustion of government into private life in the bedroom should be banned. (Isn't it already?) That any law that takes away a woman's full control of her body and reproduction functions is wrong and is essentially an intrustion of religions beliefs into public life and therefore unconstitutional. I define life as consciousness outside the womb. ...

The U.S.Constitution, Acticle I, Section 5,gave congress the power to make its own rules of how it will operate. “Each House shall be the Judge of the Elections, Returns and Qualifications ofits own Members, and a Majority of each shall constitute a Quorum to doBusiness; but a smaller number may adjourn from day to day, and may beauthorized to compel the Attendance of absent Members, in such Manner, andunder such Penalties as each House may provide.Each House may determine the Rules of its ...

You can start writing, or thinking, about one thing and end up on an entiirely different topic. Sometimes I just need a place where I can be honest about what I think. Sometimes if I write it down, I realize I don't really think that way, but needed to express some anger or something before I could really see what I thought. For instance, I can't understand how people can worship a diety who is obviously a mean-spirited, egotisical, bigoted personality. What kind of mind could believe in a...