White Folks Showing Up

The Newspaper and on line website, National Catholic Reporter, is commonly known in traditional Catholic circles as National Catholic Distorter because of the editorial staff's less than orthodox views on Catholic teachings.

An example of one such view can be found in a recent article, "Showing Up: A white person's guide to racial justice". One of the tags for this article is Buddhist meditation.

The writer of the article, Mary Ann McGivern tells us of Jardana Peacock, who believes part of the solution for racial justice is the Practice of Showing Up. Ms. Peacock describes this practice as a combination of Buddhism and Yoga which includes sitting, bringing the mind back to attention, or even "doing the dishes mindfully".

McGivern says working through the exercises on the website is only isn’t [sic] a huge investment of time or energy. I've looked over the site, and I can't seem to locate these exercises. Perhaps I need the decoder ring.

Maybe McGivern and Peacock are over thinking the problem. Seems to me, the solution to racial injustice might be simply treating everyone the way you like to be treated. I'm hardly the first to suggest that.

Hillary Supporter Gives Good Reason to Vote Trump.

First, a disclaimer.

I've found that with nearly every Internet discussion of the 2016 POTUS election, I must immediately let it be known that I do not support either Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton for the office. I will not, under any circumstances, cast a vote for Clinton or Trump.

Now that I've gotten that out of the way, I can get on with the subject of this post. More and more, I'm finding Liberal, Progressive or otherwise Left-leaning Christians telling me that, in spite of the fact that Hillary Clinton is not their first choice for POTUS - some even positively dislike her - they prefer her over Trump because a vote for Trump will end life as we know it on this planet and they will do anything to stop this devil incarnate.

One such Progressive Christian is Benjamin L. Corey who posted on his "Official blog of Benjamin L. Corey" a piece, entitled No, A Hillary Presidency Won’t Be The End of America. I'm not sure why Mr.Corey feels the need for an "official" blog. Are there a slew of "unofficial" Benjamin L. Corey blogs taking over the Internet?

I digress.

In the above linked to post, Mr. Corey argues that one reason to support Hillary is her unrelentingly ambition, which will further her drive for accomplishment and rare place in American history. Actually, that doesn't do it for me. As someone who disagrees with many of Clinton's policies, the last thing I want to see is her unrelentingly ambition to further her agenda.

Mr. Corey goes on to say that "Trump himself has no desire to govern, and that his VP would be the most powerful VP in all of history". As one who finds Trump otherwise repulsive, the idea that he may sit back and let a Vice President Mike Pence run the show, while he preens, is an attractive thought.

Mr. Corey might have hit on the only reason any thinking person could cast a vote for the Donald.

John Hinckley Jr. to be freed after 35 years

John Hinckley Jr., who attempted to President Ronald Reagan in March, 1981, is scheduled to be released from a Federally operated psychiatric hospital and needless to say, quite a few people are upset with U.S. District Judge Paul L. Friedman decision to release the 61 year old Hinckley.

Comments left on the Washington Post website include:

"A terrible decision.
When someone shoots a President, no matter how privileged one's background, there should not be a return to society.
Reagan's would-be assassin, Hinkley, being released - a person who paralyzed James Brady (a brave man who fought an admirable fight against gun madness, but nevertheless lost his crusade to the sickness that is the NRA), a person who also shot the Secret Service agent who sacrificed his body to prevent Reagan from taking another hit?
This is wrong.
Thank goodness that New York State has been keeping John Lennon's horrible murderer from returning to society".

and:

"If there's any bloodthirsty, marginally-insane terrorist out there, representing any half-assed crackpot group, and you need a little practice targeting a totally expendable American piece of crap, why not pay John Hinckley a visit? If the guy has to do volunteer work anyway, running down the street with a bull's eye on his back would seem to be right down his alley".

Folks on Facebook were equally upset.

"This man tried to kill the President of theUnited States and he gets out of jail. We are becoming a nation of complete assholes".

" 'Insane' that is a good word to describe this. Shot Prez Reagan, paralyzed Bradey, tried to shoot others! He should rot in jail till death!"

"He should have gotten the death penalty!"

However..........

Ronald Reagan was far and away my favorite POTUS. There'll never be another like him. But, I happen to agree with the President Reagan's son Michael Reagan, who believes the time has come to release Hinckley. Michael Reagan said the former president didn't believe in holding onto feelings of anger, "My father not only could say the Lord's Prayer, but lived the Lord's Prayer because of his forgiveness of John Hinckley".

The younger Reagan also said, "As my father taught me, if you want to live with anger all of your life, you're gonna be very unhappy. You've gotta learn to forgive and get on with your life and go forward, instead of looking back and being angry all the time."

According to Michael Reagan, President Reagan wanted to visit Hinckley and tell him in person that he forgave him, but doctors would not allow it.

Paul Simon Can't Save this Election

I'm hardly the first person to compare the 2016 election for POTUS to the 1968 slugfest. Racial tensions, violent demonstrations through out the country and, not one, but two Nixonian candidates. The Baby Boomers, who were coming of age politically in 1968, and who haven't elected one of their own since 2004, appear to be on the receiving end of political Karma this election cycle.

With the election of Barack Obama, many believed that George W. Bush and Bill Clinton would be the last Baby Boomers to serve as POTUS. Sadly, with Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump, Gary Johnson and Jill Stein in the race, it looks like the boomers will get at least one more shot.

We here in Philippines are 12 hours ahead of the Eastern Time zone in the U.S.. This morning, I had plans to watch a live, Major League Baseball game on television. When my only option for that turned out to be the Kansas City Royals versus the Los Angeles Angels, I decided to  waste  spend my time instead watching some of the Democrat convention coverage.

Changing the TV, I was just in time to see my least favorite politician - Al Franken - and my 2nd least favorite comedian (after Al Franken), Sarah Silverman try to convince Bernie Sanders supporters to fall in line behind Hillary.

I actually stuck around to see if Silverman would get booed for her betrayal to the Bern man.

Before leaving the stage, Silverman and Franken introduced singer/songwriter Paul Simon, who sang "A Bridge Over Troubled Water" in what some might call an attempt to bring about unity within the Democrat Party.

In 1968, I was a huge fan of Paul Simon and his partner, Art Garfunkel. In 1968, a political endorsement from Paul Simon would have impressed me and could have actually swayed my decision (had I been able to vote in 1968). Today, Paul Simon could never convince me to vote for anyone, not even for old time's sake.

Naturally, RollingStone.com and Breitbart.com have contrary views on Simon's performance. RollingStone said Simon's singing was "spirited" while Breitbart said a "Hoarse Paul Simon Croaks Out 'Bridge Over Troubled Water.' ". As much as I hate writing this, I have to agree with Breitbart.

Simon's singing was pitiful. Simon was never a strong singer, but it was always pleasant enough. Not now. I was embarrassed for the soon to be 75 year old. I was also embarrassed for the hand holding, side to side swaying Democrats in attendance.

Can the up and coming, young Bernie Sanders Democrats relate to Paul Simon? In 1968, Frank Sinatra was twenty years younger that Paul Simon is today. I can't imagine anyone in 1968 expecting to win over young voters with Frank Sinatra.

I really don't enjoy knocking Paul Simon. He was, at one time, one of my musical heroes. I wish, however, he would stay away from political endorsements and for the sake of our memories, retire from singing.

Madre de Agua Video

In my post on Madre de Aqua, I wrote that one of my goals - now that I've discovered the uses of Trichanthera gigantea  in feeding swine - was to learn how to propagate the shrub.

Thanks to the Youtube video of this young lady, I now know how to do that.