"One From the Vault" Dept.

The following is a flashback to the archives of this website{1} from November 26, 2005...

Last night, I did not sleep more than an hour (if even that) due to a phone message I received about my friend Chris. We were five months apart in age and back in the days when titles such as "best friend" were used, he was my best friend. And the phone call was to say that Chris died the day before Thanksgiving in a hospital in Arizona. Pardon me if what I am about to write is disjointed...I am working off of virtually no sleep and because of the news from last night, my mind may not be clear. (Certainly my emotions are not stable as I write this.)...

...

I have had in mind for a while to see several people I have not spent much time with in recent years in the coming year (2006). And while I still intend to do that; nonetheless, I am hardly saying something original in noting that we all have those people whom we are close to who for a variety of circumstances we do not see much of over what can be a long stretch of years. Of course when this thought comes to our minds, many of us defend ourselves by saying that we will get back in touch with them "someday." Well, one of the first people on that list (if not the first) was to be my oldest friend Chris. But he died before I could do that and I will be asking myself for a long time when I think of him what I could have done differently...is there anything I could have set aside as truly less important to focus on what truly was more important.

One would think after all the family deaths in recent years that I would have gotten over putting friends and family aside as I did with my oldest friend. I told myself that I would see Chris "next year" aka "someday" and just because it was supposed to be next year does not remove the beam from my eye... [Excerpts from the Rerum Novarum Posting Remembering Chris (circa November 26, 2005)]

I do not have many things in my life I truly wish I had a reset button on but this is one of them. I miss you amigo and pray for you and the repose of your soul often.


Note:

{1} In posting this thread as I have, it necessitates creating a new primary posting tag so with this posting, consider the primary posting tag Vault Flashback to be added to this website for the current and future postings where applicable. [Excerpt from Rerum Novarum (circa October 20, 2017)]

Points to Ponder:
(For Thanksgiving)

“I will give to the Lord the thanks due to his righteousness, and sing praise to the name of the Lord, the Most High.” [Psalms 7:17]

Miscellaneous Musings on Political Squabblings About Sex Abuse Accusers in General:

The following is a Rosetta Stone to all the above political wrangling:

--All claimants are liars and all accused are innocent and we need an impossibly strict burden of proof unless the claimants are against someone we do not like. If the latter is the case, then we pull a 180 whereas claimants are truthful and all accused are guilty and we need not even a reasonable burden of proof but instead, anything on any fringe site however badly sourced is adequate to indict them.

--All news sources we do not like are dismissed as Ferrk Nerrz unless the same source has something we like. If the latter happens, we will pull a 180 and cite the once-reviled source as suddenly reliable and above suspicion while forgetting our previous dismissal wholesale of said source.

--In all things #OurTribeRight and #YourTribeWrong.

Am I missing anything?

This Just In: Mike Pence’s Rule Against Having Private Dinners With Random Women Is Not Christian
"...In public relations you learn, very early, that P = R, that is, Perception = Reality. What you actually do is less important that what you are perceived to be doing.

In this point, both Catholic theology and Federal ethics regulations come into sync. Catholics are told it isn’t sufficient to avoid sin, you must avoid the occasion, i.e. exposure to the possibility, of sin. So if you are an alcoholic it is not sufficient to avoid drink, you need to avoid places where alcohol is served. As 'scandal,' that is behavior that could cause other to do evil, a person in a leadership position has the obligation to avoid situations that could lead to rumors being spread. Federal ethics regs say it isn’t enough to avoid impropriety, you must avoid the appearance of impropriety..."

Obama Concealed Strength of al-Qaeda Before 2012 Election

Public Service Announcement:

For those who do not like President Trump and talk about impeachment, even if somehow it is successful remember: impeachment does not actually remove a president from office. Instead, it is basically an indictment and as I said already, would have to be based on "high crimes and misdemeanors."

To prosecute said indictment against the president, it would involve a trial before the whole Senate which would be presided over by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Then after the trial, if the charges were somehow proven, it would still involve a 2/3rds vote of the Senate to remove the president. That would mean all Democrat and Independent senators as well at least 19 Republican senators would have to vote for removal. And even then, you would simply get Vice President Pence as your new president.

Again, simply hating President Trump or not liking his policies is not sufficient.

This has been another public service announcement...