Cardinal Dolan’s Prayer Closing the Democrat National Convention

 

 

 

Cardinal Dolan also delivered the benediction at the Republican National Convention a week earlier. 

 

Timothy Dolan, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Ne...

Timothy Dolan, Roman Catholic Archbishop of New York 

 

 

 

“With a ‘firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence,’ let us close this convention by praying for this land that we so cherish and love,” Cardinal Dolan began at the Democratic convention, continuing:

 

 

 

Let us Pray.

 

 

 

Almighty God, father of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, revealed to us so powerfully in your Son, Jesus Christ, we thank you for showering your blessings upon this our beloved nation. Bless all here present, and all across this great land, who work hard for the day when a greater portion of your justice, and a more ample measure of your care for the poor and suffering, may prevail in these United States. Help us to see that a society’s greatness is found above all in the respect it shows for the weakest and neediest among us.

 

We beseech you, almighty God to shed your grace on this noble experiment in ordered liberty, which began with the confident assertion of inalienable rights bestowed upon us by you: life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

 

Thus do we praise you for the gift of life. Grant us the courage to defend it, life, without which no other rights are secure. We ask your benediction on those waiting to be born, that they may be welcomed and protected. Strengthen our sick and our elders waiting to see your holy face at life’s end, that they may be accompanied by true compassion and cherished with the dignity due those who are infirm and fragile.

 

We praise and thank you for the gift of liberty. May this land of the free never lack those brave enough to defend our basic freedoms. Renew in all our people a profound respect for religious liberty: the first, most cherished freedom bequeathed upon us at our Founding. May our liberty be in harmony with truth; freedom ordered in goodness and justice. Help us live our freedom in faith, hope, and love. Make us ever-grateful for those who, for over two centuries, have given their lives in freedom’s defense; we commend their noble souls to your eternal care, as even now we beg the protection of your mighty arm upon our men and women in uniform.

 

We praise and thank you for granting us the life and the liberty by which we can pursue happiness. Show us anew that happiness is found only in respecting the laws of nature and of nature’s God. Empower us with your grace so that we might resist the temptation to replace the moral law with idols of our own making, or to remake those institutions you have given us for the nurturing of life and community. May we welcome those who yearn to breathe free and to pursue happiness in this land of freedom, adding their gifts to those whose families have lived here for centuries.

 

We praise and thank you for the American genius of government of the people, by the people and for the people. Oh God of wisdom, justice, and might, we ask your guidance for those who govern us: President Barack Obama, Vice President Joseph Biden, Congress, the Supreme Court, and all those, including Governor Mitt Romney and Congressman Paul Ryan, who seek to serve the common good by seeking public office. Make them all worthy to serve you by serving our country. Help them remember that the only just government is the government that serves its citizens rather than itself. With your grace, may all Americans choose wisely as we consider the future course of public policy.

 

And finally Lord, we beseech your benediction on all of us who depart from here this evening, and on all those, in every land, who yearn to conduct their lives in freedom and justice. We beg you to remember, as we pledge to remember, those who are not free; those who suffer for freedom’s cause; those who are poor, out of work, needy, sick, or alone; those who are persecuted for their religious convictions, those still ravaged by war.

 

And most of all, God Almighty, we thank you for the great gift of our beloved country.

 

For we are indeed “one nation under God,” and “in God we trust.”

 

So dear God, bless America. You who live and reign forever and ever.

 

Amen!

 

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September 9, 2012
Categories: National Politics, Uncategorized . Tags: , , , , , , , . Author: Michael Schuett . Comments: Comments Off on Cardinal Dolan’s Prayer Closing the Democrat National Convention

Mitt Romney RNC Speech COMPLETE: When the World Needs Someone … You Need an American – YouTube

Mitt Romney

Let’s face it, speeches are over rated in the political world. To confirm this assertion all you need do is look at our President. Barack Obama is an exciting and dynamic speech maker. He inspired lots of people in 2008. He’s also proven to be a bad President.

Mitt Romney‘s speech at the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Florida last night was not a stem-winder. But it was good, or at least good enough.

I sincerely hope Democrats and undecided voters will take the time to watch the speech and help yourself better know this very good man.

Thanks for visiting. Comments are welcome.

August 31, 2012
Categories: Business, National Politics, Uncategorized, Washington State . Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Author: Michael Schuett . Comments: 3 Comments

Giving in to Pop Culture. At Back to School Time, I’m Guilty.

On the Phone...again.

It’s back-to-school time. Time to get new clothes for the kids, pencils, binders, paper, and on and on. The way school funding is going we’ll be sending kids to school with their own desks and chairs in years to come. Shhhh…don’t let that idea get out. Some legislator might think its a good idea

My wife finally twisted my arm enough to get a cell phone for my 13-year-old daughter. She received it yesterday and screamed so loud I’m sure the fire department was put on ready alert.

I’m really happy my sweet girl is happy. But I wish I hadn’t been put in position to need to get this phone for her. I blame YOU. YOU, all the parents who bought their adolescents cell phones to play with and talk on and ignore other live human beings and discourteously interrupt live in-person conversations in order to respond to a text or a call. It’s an annoyance I will now have to tolerate.

A Nokia 6280 mobile phone (A1-edition), an UMT...

I never wanted to get my 8th grader a cell phone because she seldom goes anywhere and I didn’t feel she had a need. My thinking is she could have one by the time she was in high school and more frequently away from our home and school than she is now. And since there wasn’t a need I didn’t wish to receive the additional expense on our household budget.

My lovely and thoughtful wife has lobbied for our daughter to have this phone for more than a year. She feels it’s a security issue and makes reaching her easier. I dismissed this argument by correctly pointing out that our still-little girl spends 98% of her time at home or at school. And when at school if she ever needs to reach Mom or Dad she need only borrow the cell phone of any other kid, since they ALL have one. THIS is the argument that my wife used against me. I was repeatedly urged to give in because of the peer pressure exerted on a teen by their contemporaries who all have phones. I was told not having a phone made my daughter an outcast or an odd-ball who would be subject of teasing and that she might be ostracized. When she was in 6th and 7th grade and 12-13 years old I didn’t worry about THAT too much. But I had to admit as she got older my wife’s argument turned my thoughts.

As we all know teens can be cruel. Teasing and bullying have always existed and have always made the teen years tough. I honestly never understood those who referred to the “teen years” as “the best years of your life”. They were the worst years of my life. So insecure; so unsure of the direction of my life. Even if I could magically go back and live those years again with the knowledge I have now I wouldn’t do it.

So my daughter has a cell phone and we have an added, and in large part unnecessary, household expense because society has been sold a bill-of-goods in believing everyone, even kids, need the little hand-held device that dehumanize so many of us. I hope you’re proud of yourself.

OK…truth be told my wife’s final offer that convinced me to get our daughter a phone came down to a trade. She agreed with me to cancel our home land-line phone service in exchange for getting the cell phone. The home phone line is used only by my wife when talking to her Mom, and by my daughter. Now we won’t have the home phone and it’s $60 per month expense. But between my 20-year-old son, wife, 13-year-old, and my home office we still have 5 phone lines coming into our home. I think we’re covered.

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August 29, 2012
Categories: National Politics, Uncategorized, Washington State . Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Author: Michael Schuett . Comments: Comments Off on Giving in to Pop Culture. At Back to School Time, I’m Guilty.

Suspending Disbelief: Obama Administration Proposes Race-Based School Discipline System – YouTube

 

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August 3, 2012
Categories: Business, National Politics, Uncategorized . Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , . Author: Michael Schuett . Comments: Comments Off on Suspending Disbelief: Obama Administration Proposes Race-Based School Discipline System – YouTube

I Remember J.P. Patches

J.P. Patches

I was saddened to hear of the passing of Chris Wedes, the man who made the entire Puget Sound fall in love with a character named J.P. Patches. Chris, or JP if you prefer, passed away at the age of 84 after a long battle with myeloma, a form of blood cancer. But who could argue the man didn’t lead a complete life. If a person’s life is measured by how many lives that person touches, or positively influences, JP Patches measures as a giant.

JP Patches is not listening to Ron Sims

JP Patches is not listening to Ron Sims

Today I feel sorry for the many, many Puget Sound residents who transplanted here after 1981, or those born since who have little idea of the depth of feeling long time residents have for this clown who made so many kids and adults smile on his TV Show, which aired from 1958- 1981 and continued to entertain folks in the 31 years since at community festivals and events. Many, many times in the past 31 years JP’s appeared at Children’s Hospital bringing joy to some deserving kids.

JP Patches statue

JP Patches statue

You’ll probably think me odd but when I think of JP Patches I think of Watergate, and President Richard Nixon. As a nine-year old kid I was introduced to affable Senator Sam Ervin, Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activity. It was the Watergate hearings and it was being televised daily right at the time I would normally be watching JP Patches, Gertrude, Boris S. Wort (the world’s 2nd meanest man) and the rest of the characters at the City Dump. I was so angry…day after day from February 1973 to July of 1973…I would turn on our 19″ Magnavox console TV wanting to see JP, and instead being treat to Ervin and his slow southern drawl. By the time the hearings were done it was Summer, I was sleeping in, and not watching JP or the hearings. I’m sure I watched more JP after that time, but not much. I was growing up, and five months of Watergate TV had got me out of the habit.

But I always loved the man and the character. And I know I am far from being alone. My wife was telling me this morning of a 50-year-old female co-worker who has a tattoo of JP Patches on her right shoulder and drives a car with a license plate that reads ICU2TV. Apparently her husband paid $500 for JP to make a personal appearance at the woman’s 50th birthday party. It must have been one of his last appearances. JP’s official last public appearance was nearly one year ago.

J.P. Patches Action Figure

J.P. Patches Action Figure (Photo credit: Tom Carmony)

I learned for the first time only this morning that JP Patches was first performed by another person at the TV station where the young Chris Wedes worked in Minneapolis, MN. As Wedes tells it the first JP quit suddenly and he was told to take the role or be fired. He followed one of his shows producers across country to the outback that was Seattle in 1958.

It was many years ago while watching the news on KIRO TV that I first saw JP without his makeup. The anchor, for reasons I can’t remember, introduced the “plain-clothes” dressed floor-Director of the newscast Chris Wedes as the one and only JP Patches. When the camera showed the gentle smiling man, I could see where JP got his warmth. That kind of sincere warmth, kindness, and love is as plainly visible as a single cloud in the sky on a sun shiny day.

I could go on and on, but I’ll finish here. I just wanted to get out publicly my memories and my genuine love for a man who gave so much joy to so many.

Thanks for visiting. Comments are welcome.

July 23, 2012
Categories: Uncategorized, Washington State . . Author: Michael Schuett . Comments: Comments Off on I Remember J.P. Patches

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