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Mary Clare Hummer (Bauer)

The cut & paste BS just keeps flowing. After hating on the President since he won in 2020 (and NEVER admitting he won), now you somehow find the audacity to worry about his stepping down. Better wipe your mouth. I can see the Kool-aid dripping off your lips. (Relax. I said that with a smile on my face, a gutteral laugh and a glad-hand slap on my knee. You've already told us what that means!!)

David Mitchell

I'm a "news Junkie'".  

Lately, I almost wish I weren't.

I have been one since I was a kid. My dad would come home from his office downtown in the Beggs building, or on Wednesday evening, the OSU clinic - (or not at all when there was something going on with one of his patients in the ER).

While we waited for dinner, Dad would sit in the ugly yellow naughahyde chair in the living room and pour over the "Dispatch". As a young kid, he would let me crawl upon his knee and he would share what he was reading out loud with me. Then he'd ask me questions about what he had read. 

Then, along comes a televised Democratic convention (1952 - I believe?) and there were these two guys - a handsome young senator from Massachusetts, and a guy from Tennesee with a funny name - Estes Keyflinger-dinger or something like that (Kiefauver). 

They called it a "floor fight". These two guys seem to be goin' at each other like two boxers in a ring.

We survived that.

A few years after comes this white haired guy with black rimmed glasses from Arizona who mentioned something about "extremism". And then he and some rich guy from New York went at it like there was no tomorrow.

And we survived that.

Soon after, the news was full of film (not videos - yet) of "Negros" getting shot at by police, and busses burning, and churches burning (with little Black girls inside), and all kinds of horrid things.

But we were White, and grew up in the "North".

So we survived that.

Then there were more killings - right in front of us - on TV!  

And we survived.

Meanwhile, there were a number of distractions away from our American news - like Russian tanks in Budapest, riots in South Africa, a wall in East Berlin, " the troubles" in Northern Ireland, and even the Vatican, where they gathered more bishops in one old cathedral than you could shake a stick at. And they named some little chubby guy from Venice, "John XXIII". (there had been 22 of them named John before him).

Then soon after we were the news. We were chasing some guys in black pajamas around all over some rice paddies. While our buddies back home were carrying angry signs in the streets.

And the killing went on.

Again we survived.

A few days ago, I was about to post a question about how crazy the news was lately. What strange times we were living through lately. And could we survive this?

But I think I know the answer.

I think Tim's mother's advice sounded pretty good rifght about now.

(Yes, these are strange times - and I suspect we will survive them)

Mary Margaret Clark (Schultheis)

Prayer for Peace

Almighty and Eternal Father, God of wisdom and mercy, Whose power exceeds all force of arms

and Whose protection is the strong defense of all who trust in Thee,

enlighten and direct, we beseech Thee,

those who bear the heavy responsibility of government throughout the world in these days of stress and trial.

Grant them the strength to stand firm for what is right and the skill to dispel the fears that foment discord; inspire them to be mindful of the horrors of war for victor and vanquished alike,

to seek conciliation in truth and patience, to see in every person a brother or sister, that the people of all nations may, in our day, enjoy the blessings of a just and lasting peace.

Conscious of our own unworthiness, we implore Thy mercy on a sinful world in the name of Thy Divine Son, the Prince of Peace,

and through the intercession of His Blessed Mother and all the saints.

Queen of All Saints, pray for us Queen of the Holy Rosary, pray for us Queen of Peace, pray for us

Amen.

Imprimatur: Clarence G. Issenmann Bishop of Cols. 1957-196

If anyone has been on this forum this morning, you will note that I have since thought better of a link that I posted & decided that this prayer, that we used to say after Sunday Mass at IC in the late 50's /early 60's, was a more fitting response to our current disagreements. 

Mary Clare Hummer (Bauer)

It's so tough to know when to hand over the keys. As my Dad moved through his 80's, we all were aware that he was definitely slowing down. Oh, he still went to Mass every morning and fought with the dandelions out in the yard, and worked the daily crossword & cryptoquote. But it became a more measured step, a more demanding concentrated effort, not as neat, not as complete. So we began wondering.  Is it time?  Is he ready to admit it?  Who should tell him?  How do we say it?  You see, for those who never had to face that time in their parents' lives, the decision isn't one made overnight. They have been large and in charge for practically all the time they remember.  Your intervention comes in stages. First the benefit of the doubt--bad day? meds? sleep?  Wait a few weeks, months. Let's see how it goes. Then you offer a little extra support, maybe even cover for them here and there, take over the burden of some of life's day-to-day chores. Bring in some expert opinion. Donna's Dad, Steve Kelley, was their insurance agent and he helped point out some practical issues for them.  The time came for dreaded arguments in the face of his resistance. But at some point the miscues and missteps and mishaps added up to the undeniable evidence he needed and finally accepted. He turned over the keys in his 86th year.  He made the decision with his dignity and our respect intact. He missed being able to drive the rest of his life but he knew it was the best decision for all.  

David Mitchell

Clare,

Your post reminds me of my own father, who woke up on a Thanksgiving morning with a stroke. My mother had passed away before him so he was living alone and sill driving himself. He was 81 and stil pracing medicine fulll time (then in Worthington). Like your own father, he also struggled with having to give up his car. I realized it was his last form of independence. He had to go into an assisted living facility and di so grudginly.

I just had a taste of this while sitting out 11 weeks in rehab facility and then another 3 months at home before I could get a car. (and a TV I could not figure out how to work - also depressing.

Like our parents (and Joe and Donald) we ourselves are now knocking on the door of dependent care. 

p.s. Dad held several contractual medical care responsibilities beyond his own private practice - one of which was a once a week visit to the girls reformatory up near Marysville. He was their allegist. The State of Ohio would not allow him to terminate his contarct for a few more months  - honest to God! So I had to drive him up to the reformatory one night every week for about a month or two. His stroke cost him his sense of directions and his short term memory, but not most of his other cognitave functions. His logic was clear and accurate. He woudl sit there with his patients and go over their "history" and make perfectly accurate advice (with a medical assistant sitting near).  He even wrote prescriptions.

He was perfectly cognitive and as logical as anyone, but a few hours later, on the way home, he had no idea where we had been or where we were headed.  

John Jackson

Clare and Dave, thanks for your posts – very touching and all the more relevant since, by my calculation, the Class of 66 is a decade or less away from the ages of your parents when the interventions had to happen. 

MM, I saw your earlier post and planned to jump all over you about it.  But when you substituted the prayer I reconsidered, knowing that, surely and verily, the right hand of the Lord would reach down and smite me powerfully.

John Maxwell

Michael McLeod

If anybody deserve a smoting it's you, Jack.

Michael McLeod

If you step back from it the issue here is pride.

Our own - most obviously indicated by Mary Margaret's decision to set hers aside in favor of a prayer - and that of the bigshots on both sides that we're debating about.

I've got a sizeable share of it given my attachment to looking good on the page, as they say in the trade -- showing off in print for half a century now.

Pride is always involved. It's just more obvious as a player in the current scenario.

I'd have to think even his supporters would admit that trump is one prideful, uber-boasting sob.

Pride certainly had to to with Biden's attachment to power. 

That's what has struck me about this election all along, way before today. The whole thing is like - what did they call those old-fashioned dramas, going way back to the middle ages, that were corny as hell but contained a lesson?

I couldn't remember it! I had to look it up. Finally figured it out. They called it a morality play. 

Anyway that was a way cool thing that you did, mm.

James Hamilton, M. D.

MM,

Thank you for that prayer. It is certainly relevant to both our country and internationally. 🙏 

Jim

John Jackson

Jack, if we're wordsmithing, is "smitten" at all relevant here?

For no particular reason, here’s one of my favorite bluegrass tracks.  It’s from the Transatlantic Sessions (which I’ve mentioned before), an Irish/Scottish public TV series that highlights the links between Appalachian/bluegrass, Scottish and Irish music. The singer is Dan Tyminski (the Man of Constant Sorrow in “O Brother, Where Art Thou”). The first minute is slow and twangy (featuring Jerry Douglas’s dobro) but then it picks up and finishes with a great Irish/Scottish fiddle break.  But don’t ask me to explain the lyrics…

John Jackson

I’m assuming the above post gives me at least as much hillbilly cred as J. D. Vance.

Michael McLeod

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-Bh2SE-g5A

check out the native american casting.

and they don't make theme songs like they used to.

Michael McLeod

I knew this but seeing it spelled out still shocking

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/24/opinion/trump-lies-charts-data.html

David Mitchell

Jack,

I may not be able to convince you of a smiling God, but I can just picture Him after he made you and I - thowing his head back and roaring laughter.

----------------

And Mike,

Wher would our generation be wihtout Zorro?   Or for that matter Walt Disney?

David Mitchell

Mike, you say Smoting?

I say Smiting.

Let's call the whole thing off.

Timothy Lavelle

Ahhhhh, Home sweet home.

The place you really want to be when you realize you have been walking around with your zipper down all day.

David Mitchell

How aobut that moment when you are picking up a passneger at the airport, and you're in a hurry, and you need to run into the men's room, and you stand there realizing you are wearing your under shorts backward?

Is this an old age problem?

David Mitchell

* *  I just posed a coment on the "User Forum" and noticed a last ine from another post weeks ago that has nothing to do with the main posting iself 

It read "I was making a joke". 

please ignore that  - I can't figure out to remove it.

Michael McLeod

is it just me or is this getting tedious?

This is an actual headline.

I mean where's the mystery in this? why are we still talking about it?

what else could it have been that hit him? killer doo-doo from a constipated bird?

Mary Margaret Clark (Schultheis)

Mike, we are still talking about this because the state run media will not let go of the fact that this was an attempted assasination of their most hated politician. 

True or False

President Joe Biden tasked Kamala Harris with "stemming the flow of migration at the southern border" in March of 2021. 

Kamala Harris backed and encouraged donaions to the Minnesota Freedom Fund during the BLM riots of 2020 which provided bail to free looters, arsonists and violent criminals

Timothy Lavelle

If you, or anyone, believe that first sentence written by Mary Margaret, you should seriously think about backing up, looking around for someone you really trust, to discuss your world view with. 

While paranoia doesn't mean they aren't out to get you...as the old JOKE about rampant paranoia comically suggests...if you believe that CBS, NBC, ABC as corporations with packs of competing journalists would give in to state influence or directive in a capitalistic country, you haven't just drunk the tea, you made the tea, filled the pitcher, drained that thing dry. 

It's just a news story that people who love and hate your guy seem interested in. We seem to love this crap. 

David Mitchell

Today's news of the unique arrest of two top family leaders of the Sinaloa cartel in Texas brings to mind an intersting issue. I am of the belief that one of the major factors in our southern border crisis is largely due to the simple fact that the poor poeple of Mexico are desperate to escape the vicious bullying they face from those cartels.  

I acknowledge that there are other factors for some of the migrants, but I beleive that is the primary casue. You may have all seen news film of the well-equipped armys of the cartels. I have been loosely tracking a few headlines about this factor in the crisis. 

Those guns are coming from Ameircan gun gun shops!  

Why are we allowing this nighmare to exist?  Why are we the source of the nastiest part of the problem? Why are we supplying teh Cartels with the very thing that keeps them in power?

They use "Shills" to purchase the guns in shops from Texas and Arizona to Wisocnsin and Minnesota.

I have seen photos of trucks full of machne guns (even some  .50 caliber)  driving accross the border back into Mexico - with no questions asked.

Why on earth is this not even a part of the conversation? 

(p.s. I am just lately seeing TV ads (CBS, I think) about a show featuring the crisis in Haiti, where the vast majority of the powerful gangs are being supplied with Ameican guns.         Again, why?) 

David Mitchell

Wow! When I wrote that post, I had not yet learned the fascinating detail about how the arrest in Texas today was set up. It was Joaquin Guzman Lopez, the financial brains of the Cartel and son of the captured leader  (El Chapo himself), who wanted to turn himself in, and lured the other guy - Ismael Zambada  - a co-founder of the cartel - into going with him, supposedly to check out an abandoned Mexican airstrip.

I bet we will hear more on this bizarre story.  

Michael McLeod

Tim!!! She's right!!!! At first I didn't believe it but then I realize how it all worked out and how they managed to cover it up!

When the deep state hit paid for by the dems that was scheduled for that trump rally didn't go down as planned, they knew they had to cover their tracks -- so they nabbed that poor innocent kid, put a bullet in his head, stuck a gun in his hand, and tossed him up on that warehouse roof!!!!

Meanwhile the REAL shooter, probably a retired CIA hit man, just melted into the crowd.

Boy is HE ever getting a ribbing from his buddies these days.