Puffs

I have at times admitted to watching too much TV, but sometimes it’s the only alternative to doing nothing. It is good entertainment (at times), but it can also be an annoyance, especially the TV commercials.

Years ago I read an article about TV commercials and the intent of the item was that many commercials were aimed at the mind of a nine year old.

That surprised me, but over the years, I tend to believe it. What brought this up was a comment Nancy made recently while we were watching TV one evening. After a commercial she said: “That was so stupid, it was almost funny.”

Enough said . . . there are good things about TV . . . and there are plenty of ‘no so good’ things about TV.

A O

Which came first, the chicken or the egg?

What brought this thought to mind was several weeks ago, I came into the room, or turned around or something and Nancy saw me and said: “Gosh, you’re looking more and more like your brother, Bob, every day.

I thought about that a little and said: “Don’t you mean he is looking more and more like me every day?”

She said: “No, he is older, so you must follow him.”

I’m not sure I agree with her, but if I look like my brother, that can’t be all bad. I only hope I have his wisdom and intelligence as well.

A O

Mr. Biden . . .

Our current president seems bent on running for the position again here in 2024. The reasons for and against this decision would take weeks and months to explain. This week I’d like to take one small part of this puzzle for my thoughts. A lot of this comes from an article in the Hastings Tribune last week written by Mr. Terry Mattingly who contributes a weekly article.

It starts out with the headline: “Biden is an ‘On Eagle’s Wings’ Catholic.”

I don’t know exactly what that means but Mr. Mattingly says that is the hymn that conservative Catholics love to hate and Catholic progressives often wave like a red flag. Seems Mr. Biden recently said “In my church, we’ve taken the 22nd Psalm and turned it into a hymn.”

According to Mattingly, a Father Jan Michael Joncas based this folk Mass hymn on Psalm 91, the Book of Exodus and the Gospel of St. Matthew.

Ever since Biden became president, the White House transcript corrected many errors in Biden’s talks, but missed this biblical detail.

Biden has often expressed his support of abortions in the U. S. and contends he is fully in the Catholic Church.

As long as I’ve known, a Catholic cannot pick and choose what he believes. “Thou shall not kill . . .” being one of the foremost items. (Abortion is the killing of a human beging.)

It seems that in 2020, 13 percent of Biden’s voters were atheists, 10 percent were agnostics and 22 percent were nothing in particular.

That’s 45 percent, and I wonder how many Catholics are in the remaining 55 percent. How many of us voted for him because his moral beliefs were just not known to the election public.

If you take away the examples of Catholic living that Mr. Biden does not seem to believe in, there are plenty of other reasons to question support for him in the coming elections. Take his action in Afghanistan . . . payments to Iran . . . his actions concerning the southern U. S. Border . . . what about the rules and regulations that have hampered oil production in the U. S. ? ? ?

Yes, take time to study just what Biden has done in his three short years as president and make sure he doesn’t have four more years to do more damage.

A O

Finally this week, another note on the national media.

So often our knowledge about national affairs comes from the national media: Newspapers, radio, TV and now what is called social media.”

They have a tough job to do and often do it well, but then again, often they just don’t do it at all.

This last thought comes when we find out that some action of the president is just ignored by the national media. Seems that much of the national media is controlled by liberal organizations or people who just don’t want to inform people of things detrimental to any liberal programs or thoughts. Or they want to promote confusion or negative viewpoints on conservative programs or thoughts.

Last week, another interesting example came to light.

In recent years the issue of “same sex” union has received considerable attention in the national media. A couple of months back statements from the Vatican gave some the impression that the Catholic Church had changed its stance on the practice.

Recently, the Vatican (what is basically their public relation Department) tried to help make the matter clear and easier to understand, and seemed to confuse people more.

Two publications printed articles that said the Pope blessed such unions and one publication said the aim was to bless people, not same-sex unions.

There is a big difference there. The original intent was to let people know sinners are blessed, but not the action that made them sinners.

Confusion and chaos have been around since the time of the Apostles. There are different ways of expressing truths of the Catholic faith. However, any sinful action has never been approved as a ‘good.’

The national media made such a “big deal” out of how they interpreted the original attempt by the Vatican to let people know that sinners can be blessed, but the sin cannot be accepted as a ‘good.’

A lot of information a person needs does not come from the national media. A person has to read, or find, other sources.

The election year rolls on . . .

A O