People Make the Difference

WHEN WE MADE the decision to sponsor the Warm The Children (WTC) program 15 years ago, we set a goal to raise between $10,000 and $12,000 and shop for about 150 area children. We worried, What if we spend a lot more than we take in?

CONTROVERSY HAS  raged about the relative quality of venison and beef as gourmet foods.
Some people say that venison is tough, with a strong “wild” taste. Others insist that venison is tender and that its flavor is delicate. About 13 years ago, the University of Wisconsin Foods Research Department conducted a taste test to determine the truth of these conflicting assertions.

Thanksgiving is the time of year when we should all stop and take a long, hard look at what we have been blessed with by being Americans.

Thanksgiving celebrations often take us back to our roots. Not all people are proud of where they come from, especially if it is a small town in the middle of nowhere. Some consider it a blessing.

Following is an old story with a timely message. Over any period of time there are things that go right and things that don’t go right. How we react or respond to those situations makes all the difference. During this holiday season, see if there is something you might be missing.
An elderly Chinese woman had two large pots, each hung on the ends of a pole which she carried across her neck. One of the pots had a crack in it, while the other pot was perfect and always delivered a full portion of water.

IT’S FUNNY how many of our perceptions about things can be based on broad generalizations and misconceptions. I read an article last week based on the findings of a Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania professor who was making a presentation at a Philadelphia conference.
He cited three misconceptions. The first was: Most of what Americans spend their money on is made in China. Fact: Just 2.7% of personal consumption expenditures go to Chinese-made goods and services. 88.5% of U.S. consumer spending is on American-made goods and

What should we learn from the announcement that total U.S. student-loan debt has now exceeded $1 trillion and that debt actually tops outstanding credit-card debt for the first time? Should we be concerned? Should we be re-evaluating the college experience?
Millions of students take four to six years to earn degrees in majors that often do not prepare them for jobs after graduation. Millions of students graduate with student-loan debt that could total $20,000 to $100,000. A married couple might double that amount! When they can’t find work in this tough economy, they will struggle with the debt, and they can’t get relief via bankruptcy.

While going through my files, I found this July 3, 1990, column by Milwaukee Sentinel staff writer Alex Thien. He started by saying it was his annual rage. He wrote 21 years ago:
“There is something terribly wrong with the way things are going at every level of government. Everyone in Washington says we’re not paying enough taxes. The same is true here at home.
“At the same time, we’re also told we aren’t doing our fair share, that we should contribute more to worthy causes. To top it off, we’re urged to buy a new car, a new home or something else equally expensive to keep the economy from collapsing.

ACCORDING TO Pentagon estimates, there have been about 2,000 foreign militants killed by U.S. drone attacks, plus one U.S. citizen. Some people have a problem with that. What do you think?
Did U.S. citizen and al-Qaeda terrorist Anwar al-Awlaki, the New Mexico-born radical Islamist cleric, deserve due process before being assassinated by a U.S. drone missile in the wilds of Yemen while riding in a vehicle on Sept. 30?
A number of liberals have argued that very few U.S. citizens should ever be assassinated by

The bitter political battle in Washington is setting us up for at least 13 more months of contentious partisan gridlock. That will make the 2012 general election very interesting, but not in a good way. Odds are, Americans will become less enchanted with politics.
Groucho Marx once said, “Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies.”
Someone once explained our problem in these words: “When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work, because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the

“LEARNED SCHOLARS still debate the reasons for the decline and fall of the Roman Empire. Learned scholars of the future, looking back on our decline and fall, may simply be baffled as to how we could have been so stupid,” said Thomas Sowell.
Wasteful government spending, trillion-dollar budget deficits and rampant fraud abuses have brought fiscal responsibility back into the national spotlight. Even the most useless programs are passionately supported by the armies of recipients,