THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

How sad it is when Democrats who elected Barack Obama must remain in constant campaign mode to convince the president that many of us who helped put him in office do not want him to repeat the mistakes of the past. The recent (and barely avoided) mistakes that I have in mind are the launch of another war in the Middle East and the appointment of Larry Summers to a position of authority that has anything whatsoever to do with managing the economy of the United States.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY - EASIER

 

A bright yellow car would be easier to find when I forget where I've parked in a large parking lot.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY - VICISSITUDES

My Uncle Eddie was a rather unsympathetic character except for his own personal woes, which, according to him, were many.  Whenever anyone complained to him, his stock response was, "That's the vicissitudes of life." What he meant was, "This is about you, and I don't want to hear any more."

Since I've been accused of being overly concerned about correct grammar usage, I do realize that Uncle Eddie's statement is not grammatically correct.  The statement is a quote, an exact quote - I know because I heard the words often.

Perhaps I should have titled the post "Uncle Eddie's Thought For the Day", but the thought is mine, though the words belong to Eddie.  Eddie was a character in more ways than I can count.

UPDATE: Len wanted to know a bit more about Uncle Eddie, the character.

I remember Eddie calling his wife and my aunt, "Evaaa, bring me a glass of water," as he sat in his chair. She would. Eddie was puny and had asthma, but we were never quite sure how sick he was - surely not too sick to get a glass of water. Eva coddled him, and maybe she was right to do so.

Eddie's major claim to fame was that he once played with the New Orleans Pelicans minor league baseball team back in the day before a man had to be a hulk to play baseball.  Also, he proudly carried the name of an old New Orleans French family.

Before she met Eddie, Aunt Eva dated a Baptist gentleman for 20 years, but they never married because Dukey (real name John Blank) would not agree to raise their children Roman Catholic. When it was nearly past time for them to have children, Eva was suddenly swept off her feet by Eddie, and they eloped. Eddie was divorced, and, of course, there could be no church wedding, but suddenly that was not so very important to Eva. We never could figure out what was so attractive about Eddie to cause her to do such a thing.  Perhaps she was intrigued by taking on the old French family name, for there was not a whole lot else about Eddie that the rest of the family considered impressive.  He may have been a bit of a wit, but I can't remember any specific witticisms.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY - DOROTHY DAY

The Gospel takes away our right forever to discriminate between the deserving and the undeserving poor.

---Dorothy Day

Thanks to several Facebook friends.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY FROM PEACE PILGRIM

"But, you see, I love people and I see the good in them," she continued. "And you're apt to reach what you see. The world is like a mirror: If you smile at it, it smiles at you. I love to smile, and so in general, I definitely receive smiles in return."

Listen to and/or read Peace Pilgrim's story.

H/T to Kurt Weisner at The Lead.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY - FROM IT'S MARGARET

You know --anxiety is an idol... as is bitterness... as is self-destruction....

Oh so true and right.

margaret blogs at leave it lay where Jesus flang it.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY FROM TREMÉ

Davina Lambreaux (Edwina Findley), in the Tremé HBO series, asks her brother Delmond (Rob Brown) for help with their father, Albert (Clarke Peters), who wants to stay in his ruined neighborhood in New Orleans three months after Katrina and the federal flood. Delmond, a musician, says he can't help.

DELMOND: I’ve got gigs.

DAVINA: We all got gigs, Delmond. Life is a goddamn gig.

The series is marvelous.  We don't have HBO, so I'm only now watching the beginning episodes on DVD.  More about the series later.  Lots of quotable dialogue...some probably not suitable for my family friendly blog, but we'll see.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

If Hurricane Sandy put Obama over the top, perhaps God is trying to tell Pat Robertson and his ilk that she doesn't hate gays.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY - ETERNAL LIFE

If you are a blogger and do not believe in eternal life, then you must never have hit publish by mistake and had to delete a post. The post remains alive and visible in Google Reader forever and ever. Amen.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

The world would be a fine place, were it not for the people.

(But for me and thee!)

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY - MEISTER ECKHART

Man’s last and highest leave-taking is leaving God for God.

UPDATE:  The thought above in a broader context:

I will put into plain words what St. Paul means by wishing to depart from God. Man’s last and highest leave-taking is leaving God for God. St. Paul left God for God: he left everything he could give or take of God, every concept of God. In leaving these, he left God for God since God remained to him in his essential self, not as a concept of himself, or as an acquired thing, but God in his essential actuality.

From An Introduction to Meister Eckhart

H/T to Windhorse in the comments at Adventus.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Since Lawrence O'Donnell suggested that I stay tuned to The Last Word because Alec Baldwin would appear on his show, I have not watched the news on the tee vee.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY - ABP NICHOLAS OKOH

Archbishop Nicholas Okoh, the leader of 23 million Anglicans in Nigeria, said that while the historic position of the Archbishop of Canterbury would always be respected he should be seen as “one of” many primates.

My goodness!  I agree with  Abp Okoh!

From the Telegraph.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

May we stop calling it the defense budget and start calling it the war budget?

The thought is not original with me, but I forgot where I read it first.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY - JFK, CATHOLIC PRESIDENTS, THE VATICAN.

Whatever success resulted from John F Kennedy's carefully crafted efforts to allay fears about a Roman Catholic president being influenced by the Vatican has now been washed away. I'd be uneasy with either of the two Roman Catholic Republican candidates in the White House, because I fear their policies may be influenced by the Vatican.

NOTE: My thought is not entirely original. I read similar thoughts on more than one site on the internet.

UPDATE: A Facebook friend informs me that the Vatican is ALREADY influencing the White House. Sigh...

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY - WENDELL BERRY

Well, anyhow, I am
not going to die young

From Given - by Wendell Berry.

Since I turned 70 in the latter part of the year before the book was published, the short poem is one of my favorites by Berry, who is high on my list of favorites of writers of contemporary poetry.

TWO THOUGHTS FOR THE DAY

Newt Gingrich: "If I have idols," Newt told the crowd, "it's Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher."

Charles Pierce: On, lads! On to the Falklands! Or, perhaps, to the Oscars. Go get 'em, Meryl!

If you're not reading Charles Pierce at The Politics Blog at Esquire, you're missing a lot, and I mean A LOT. He writes like 20 posts a day, and it's hard to keep up, but certainly worth a try.

UPDATE: Thanks to Lapin for the poster.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY FROM RICK SANTORUM

If you can take one part out, if it's not for the purpose of procreation, that's not one of the reasons you diminish this very special bond between men and women. So why can't you take other parts of it out? It becomes deconstructed to the point where it's simply pleasure.

Rick's on a roll! The statement is from an interview, which is posted on YouTube. The conversation is nearly 45 minutes long. Watch if you care to. I didn't.

How would you like such thoughts thrust upon you for four years?

Read more from Charles Pierce at The Politics Blog at Esquire.

UPDATE: I watched approximately 20 minutes of the video, (It was difficult!) and Rick did, indeed, say the words above.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY - HERMAN CAIN

I confess I'm a bit sorry to say good-bye to Herman Cain as a viable Republican candidate for president. I rather hoped Cain would be Obama's opponent.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Our lives were simple when all we owned fit in our 1961 Ford Falcon.

Picture from LOVEFords.