What is an American?

A Hardheaded, Opinionated, Compassionate, Collective Minded, Flexible Individualist who HATES to be told what to do, but will always do what needs to be done.




“The difference between school and life? In school, you're taught a lesson and then given a test. In life, you're given a test that teaches you a lesson.” 
~ Tom Bodett





As Far As You Can Go Without A Passport:
The View From The End Of The Road (Paperback)

Possible definition of "hypocrisy"?

"A syndicated conservative talk radio host raging against the so-called mainstream media is like a convicted arsonist filing a class action lawsuit on behalf of the victims of defective smoke detectors." ~ Self

Food for thought?

"Politics has become so expensive that it takes a lot of money even to be defeated." ~ Will Rogers

"I prefer winter and fall, when you feel the bone structure of the landscape - the loneliness of it, the dead feeling of winter. Something waits beneath it, the whole story doesn't show." ~ Andrew Wyeth

40 miles north of Norfolk, Nebraska on U.S. Route 81 (January 2010).

"The purpose of life is a life of purpose."
~ Robert Byrne

Venezia, Italy (Spring 2002)

"I love a dog. He does nothing for political reasons." ~ Will Rogers

JoJo Rimar

Down With Everything?
Read More...

Due to technical difficulties...

The original status update about Hugh Hefner's latest attempt at love & marriage has been cancelled.

"Life attracts life." ~ Paulo Coelho 
The Alchemist (Paperback)
Photo of Lobster Dinner by Peter Rimar in Jakarta, Indonesian (July 2009).

New York Stock Exchange opening new Casino in Las Vegas?

"Wall Street is the only place that people ride to in a Rolls Royce to get advice from those who take the subway." ~ Warren Buffett

Is JPMorgan's Loss a Canary in a Coal Mine?
Read More...

Economics 101?

"A bank is a place where they lend you an umbrella in fair weather and ask for it back when it begins to rain." ~ Robert Frost

Hong Kong S.A.R. (May 2008)

Photo by Peter Rimar

It is what it is?

"If there were only one truth, you couldn't paint a hundred canvases on the same theme." 
~ Pablo Picasso

Mitt Romney saved GM and Chrysler?

Can you say [dih-loo-zhuh-nl]?

"Only in politics do people root for bad news."

~ President Obama

"Words can be deleted, but the facts won't be deleted with them."
~ Ai Weiei



On June 13th, 2009, my wife and I were still living in the Chinese city of Changsha. After lunch, I turned on CCTV to catch up on the latest news. There on my TV screen were the CCTV news anchors discussing Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's election victory with a visiting Iranian Professor and a representative from the Iranian Embassy. A graphic crawl indicated that CCTV had scheduled ALL DAY extended coverage of the Iranian Election.

After about 20 minutes, the TV went black. Roughly two minutes later, a travel documentary started airing. No mention was made about why the station went dark or the sudden, unannounced change in programming. Curious, this blogger logged onto the internet and discovered that Iranians in Tehran were taking to the streets to protest the election results.

Economic sanctions against Iran? What sanctions? One member of the security council will continue doing business with the current Iranian Government (as well as the DPRK).

Chinese activist wants to go to U.S.?
Read More...

...wanderlust...

"The road of life twists and turns and no two directions are ever the same. Yet our lessons come from the journey, not the destination." 
~ Don Williams, Jr.

One Year Later...

“To be persuasive we must be believable; to be believable we must be credible; to be credible we must be truthful.”
~ Edward R. Murrow

Full Speech: Obama on Afghanistan Troop Withdrawal (Transcript)
Read More...

Lord Voldemort apologizes for phone-hacking scandal?

Fifty years from now, historians may reflect back on this period of media history and compare Rupert Murdoch to William Randolph Hearst and Glenn Beck with Father Charles Coughlin.

Beyond the whole Media Matters campaign targeting Beck's advertisers (READ MORE), I believe there's another reason for the show's dramatic rise and fall in daily viewership.

Before Glenn Beck's final farewell from Faux News, this blogger sat down and watched a rerun of his show.

Instead of focusing on the conservative flavor of the show itself, I stepped backed and evaluated how the various visually manufactured elements were formulated to tell a story. Basically, Beck's television program resembled a poorly constructed, G-rated version of "Swimming to Cambodia" (without all the juicy sex, drugs and rock-n-roll). Monologues, as a dramatic element, should contain some deeper level of "self-discovery". What I witnessed was an extended verbal diatribe of rhetorical self-aggrandizing behavior. In a word: BORING.

Yes, despite his political views, at the end of the day, P.T. Beck lost his SOAP BOX because his show was (dramatic pause) BORING.

“When fascism comes to America it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross.” ~ Sinclair Lewis

Here Comes the Sun?

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"If it weren't for the coffee, I'd have no identifiable personality whatsoever." 
~ David Letterman
Late Show Fun Facts (Hardcover)

What's the cure for Brain Farts?

"You Might Be a Redneck if you think the last line to The Star Spangled Banner is Gentlemen, start your engines!" ~ Jeff Foxworthy

"Romney looks a bit too much like the guy in the expensive suit who comes in to announce layoffs." ~ David Horsey

"The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts." 
~ Bertrand Russell


Man Strips Naked At Oregon Airport To Protest TSA?
Read More...

World History 101?

"Numerous politicians have seized absolute power and muzzled the press. Never in history has the press seized absolute power and muzzled the politicians." 
~ David Brinkley

"Without music, life would be a mistake." ~ Friedrich Nietzsche

Peterborough, United Kingdom (March 2012)

Actual screenshot image of the GOP's Delegate Count via the Associated Press posted on Google News on April 17th, 2012:

The original content of the image above was NOT digitally manipulated or altered. Maybe it's a sign?
Click on image to open in a new window.