Post Debate Analysis

I am taking orders for my 2017 Art by Cassiday wall calendars now. If you'd like one, email me at artbycassiday@cox.net. * * * * * * * ** * In the Presidential debate between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, Trump said the fact that he paid no income taxes in certain years we know about, "makes me smart." About an hour later, he denied saying that. Trump said he's very proud of never admitting guilt when he was sued for racial discrimination. Something to be proud of, I guess. I do not want a President who spouts gibberish about nuclear policy. I'm just saying..................For all Donald Trump's ranting about bringing back law and order this and law and order that, I'd like to point out that Law and Order is on like 5 cable channels virtually 24/7..........it's not that hard to find. In an attempt to stem charges of his sexism, Donald Trump today said Chris Christie was too fat to be Vice-President. "Mike Pence is a buff sort of looking guy," Trump said. "Christie is an abominable fat mess." And finally,coming out of the debate, Donald Trump is market testing new talking points which include 1) Hillary has a fat ass and 2) Bill Clinton cheated on her. To me, these don't seem all that effective in appealing to women or on-the-fence voters. I'm just saying.......* * * * * * * * * * Stephen Colbert on police shootings of unarmed black people: No matter how many times we do nothing, it keeps on happening. * * * * * * * * Mike Riley on Nebraska football players kneeling during the national anthem: "Michael (Rose -Ivey) approached me about it. He wanted to talk to the team, so we set a time this morning after one of our walk throughs. I didn’t know anyone else was going to do it. Obviously, this is a choice they have made for personal reasons and that’s the beautiful thing about the United States that they can do that.” That sounds just about right, Coach Riley. Pretty classy. * * * * * * * * * *Anybody notice that Saudi Arabia decided to cut back on oil production on the same day Congress overrode President Obama's veto of a bill to allow US citizens to sue Saudi Arabia re. 9-11-2001........ probably not a coincidence. The Senate majority leader today expressed second thoughts about their override of this bill allowing US citizens to sue Saudi Arabia for the 9-11-2001 attack and blamed President Obama for not adequately explaining to them the problems in a bill Congress passed, the President vetoed, and they overrode. You can't make this stuff up.

On the Move

I am nearly all moved into my new apartment and have begun to restock my bookshelves. I made the mistake early in life of loving to have books all around me. I think it was my Dad who instilled that impulse in me with his extensive religious libraries at home and at his various offices over the years. I love it except when I have to move them. Then not so much. In my next life, I'm collecting butterfly wings.* * * * * * * * * *Among the items I unpacked were my tiger cowrie shell with the Lord's Prayer in raised letters on the surface. A FB friend said the artist likely wrote the prayer with a liquid that blocked an acid wash under the letters and which mildly eroded the remainder of the shell surface. I found some for sale on Ebay and while they're not all that expensive, they are very cool. The cowrie shells are common in the South Pacific. My dad gave that to me many years ago. Another find was a tiny book of some of Alfred Lord Tennyson's poetry which was given by my great grandmother to my grandmother in the early 1900s. Mabel was my grandmother's name and the book was a gift it appears for a birthday. An internet source showed the Valentine and Sons Limited company had an office in Dundee, Scotland. The coat of arms on the cover of the book is from Shropshire, England, though, and my grandmother lived in Wales as a child.

I'm still gradually moving the remainder of my earthly possessions from my sister's house each time I teach out at the Elkhorn campus, but will get classes at Sarpy MCC and the South Omaha campus as they become available. * * * * * * * * * While huddled with my mother in the lower level of the eye doctor complex due to a tornado warning last Thursday, a woman whom I met many years ago who displayed my art in a book store she owned, saw me. She works at the optometry center now. She walked over and said hi to me and remarked that she still has one of my paintings hanging in her house! Always nice to hear that from a patron! * * * * * * * * * Garrison Keillor on Hilary Clinton - "What some people see as a relentless quest for power strikes me as the good habits of a serious Methodist. Be steady. Don’t give up. It’s not about you. Work for the night is coming."

Godspeak

I wrote this piece to read in church last Sunday as part of our First Central Congregational UCC writer's group producing parts of each week's liturgy.........the theme of the day was Words. : * * * * * * * * * * * Contemporary reading. “Godspeak” Bud Cassiday * * * * * * * * * * God speaks in many languages. The Word of God can be heard when children laugh. The Word of God can be heard in whispering leaves, rushing water, and distant thunder. A baby’s cry might be God speaking. A coyote’s howl in the night might be God speaking. A cold winter wind might be God speaking. The music of a busker on the corner playing a saxophone for coins might be God speaking. The raucous noise of an urban Saturday night might be God speaking. A hot summer breeze might be God speaking. Rattling dishes in the cupboard from an earthquake in Oklahoma oil country might be God speaking. The drip, drip, drip of melting glaciers might be God speaking. We should listen to gentle rain, and squawking geese, and honking horns of traffic jams. We should listen to wind and rain and distant thunder and music and poetry and the creative spirits we hear all around us. We should listen to sunny days and dark nights, spring mornings and winter evenings. For if we do not, we may miss those words of God.