Reinhold Niebuhr

Call it synchronicity or whatever, but I have come across the name Reinhold Niebuhr more than once this week, first from the PBS American Experience program on Jimmy Carter (with whom I share the same birthday, BTW) and now today from David Brooks who asked Obama about him in an interview. Yes, Virginia, there is such a thing as a progressive Christian thinker. I'm still learning about him myself. From Wikipedia:

Reinhold Niebuhr
Reinhold Niebuhr Quotations

You have probably come across different versions of his prayer in many circles; I just didn't know until now that it was from him:

The Serenity Prayer (ca. 1942)
This has often been attributted to others, including St. Francis of Assisi but without sources. Though similar prayers may have existed, the work seems to be Niebuhr's. He never copyrighted the prayer and it has been used in many variants.

One of the most famous variants:

God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change,
courage to change the things I can,
and the wisdom to know the difference.

Niebuhr's preferred form as declared by his widow:

God, give us grace to accept with serenity
the things that cannot be changed, courage
to change the things which should be changed,
and the wisdom to distinguish the one from the other.

Full version of the original (c.1942):

God, give us grace to accept with serenity
the things that cannot be changed,
courage to change the things
which should be changed,
and the wisdom to distinguish
the one from the other.

Living one day at a time,
Enjoying one moment at a time,
Accepting hardship as a pathway to peace,
Taking, as Jesus did,
This sinful world as it is,
Not as I would have it,
Trusting that You will make all things right,
If I surrender to Your will,
So that I may be reasonably happy in this life,
And supremely happy with You forever in the next.

Amen.

Fwd: Response to Young's Carter comment

From BRM via googlegroups...

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: "Brian Menard" <brian_men...@hotmail.com>
Date: Jul 30 2008, 5:30 pm
Subject: Response to Young's Carter comment
To: AMoMaI Group

From my end of things, Carter had good reason to be defensive. The
"misery index" that he created to lambaste Ford in '76 had grown to a
double-digit albatross hanging around his own neck by '80. Foreign
affairs were a disaster. And things were a mess at home. Worst of
all, there was DISCO! Can't we blame that on Carter as well? BA, I
won't touch the ABBA thing; I know that wasn't your fault despite an
ethnic affiliation.

BRM

RE: Is Obama Another Jimmy Carter?

Yeah, what should Obama's group work on first: bringing the worst of this current administration to "justice" (we all know at worst it will be vacations in white-collar prisons) or trying to fix an economy stalled in 20th-century thinking (forget pre-9/11 thinking nonsense) while the rest of the developed world catches us and passes us?

The America of the good old days would seize on a chance to show the world how we can lead on wind and solar power innovations, but this administration (and McCain because he doesn't seem to know any better) whines and stomps its feet when it can't just dig bigger holes in the ground and sea whenever it wants to -- like it used to.

I don't mind more research into safer nuclear power (does that mean this administration wants to finally stop picking on France), but it's beyond time to look for more places to drill for oil and dig for coal and oil shale. Wind, water, and solar power will be around a lot longer than anything else and (IMHO) it doesn't look as bad when we try to build things to take advantage of wind, water, and solar power.

MB

---

> From: briada@hotmail.com
> To: misterb_46@hotmail.com; yhkpenguin@yahoo.com; brian_menard@hotmail.com; b.adamson@comcast.net
> CC: yhkpenguin.amomai@blogger.com
> Subject: RE: Is Obama Another Jimmy Carter?
> Date: Tue, 29 Jul 2008 02:16:27 +0000
>
>
> Michael, Wow! "One reason Obama might be the next Carter is because of the mess left behind by the previous president. There's no way it will get fixed in one term. There should be progress in the right direction if Obama wants another term, but Carter faced the same economic issues (inflation, high gas prices, recession) that Bush would be facing if he was running again." I believe that you really pointed-out our worst fears and perhaps our biggest dilemma. We need a liberal democrat with almost dictatorial powers. We need an FDR for our age. We don't need to compromise on the big issues and we don't need another preacher - - like Jimmy Carter, who asked Americans to sacrifice, turn down the heat and drive slower. Instead, we need a president that will investigate and pursue criminal charges against those neo-cons and others that have broken the law. We need a president that will demand new CAFE standards and implement a new energy policy that goes beyond drilling more wells.
>
> The next Democrat has a mess to clean and worse, most Americans probably have no concept of how big, or bad that mess has become.
>
> George "Hoover" Bush and Family have taking the largest creditor nation on earth and transformed it into the largest debtor nation the world has ever seen. Our stock market is down, our dollar is weak, our trade surplus is non-existent. In fact, we have become what we used to make fun of. The classic definition of a third world nation is one that exports raw material and imports finished "value-added" products. Free trade and neo-con economic policies have made the United States weaker and more vulnerable today than at perhaps any other time in recent memory.
>
> BA
>
________________________________
> From: misterb_46@hotmail.com
> To: briada@hotmail.com; yhkpenguin@yahoo.com; brian_menard@hotmail.com; b.adamson@comcast.net
> CC: yhkpenguin.amomai@blogger.com
> Subject: RE: Is Obama Another Jimmy Carter?
> Date: Mon, 28 Jul 2008 18:19:45 -0700
>
> McCain's ads may be sharp, but he himself, is far from it -- other than repeating the same, tired right-wing and neo-con talking points. That's going to be more widely-known later on than it is now.
>
> One reason Obama might be the next Carter is because of the mess left behind by the previous president. There's no way it will get fixed in one term. There should be progress in the right direction if Obama wants another term, but Carter faced the same economic issues (inflation, high gas prices, recession) that Bush would be facing if he was running again.
>
> Obama is OK, in my opinion, staying above the fray until the debates or the convention. Let McCain dig his own political hole by appearing yet again to sell out the very things that made him so popular across the spectrum in 2000.

Is Obama Another Jimmy Carter?

Watching the Sunday morning talk shows was a little more than just disconcerting. Obama appeared on the defensive and brought back memories of Jimmy Carter during the Iran hostage crisis. Obama was unable to steer the conversation, or questions away from neo-con talking points. As a result, Obama like Jimmy Carter, was being manipulated by the media, not manipulating and controlling the medium. For example, he was defending his trip to Europe; defending his decision not to drill offshore; and defending his position against the surge in Iraq - - even to the extent of refusing to admit in hindsight that his position against the surge may have been incorrect. On the other hand, McCAIN appeared strong and on the offense. McCain was not asked any questions about his votes against veterans, or the fact that he voted (with Bush) for the war to begin with. In fact, the corporate-media has spent an inordinate amount of time confronting Obama with right-wing talking points. What's interesting is Obama's sheepish response to them. One wonders if Obama realizes that he and most American are being manipulated by master right-wing propagandist. McCains political ads are clear, sharp and visible. In fact, ads have already appeared to characterize Obama as anti-veteran, and anti-troops. Where are the Obama attack ads? Where is the Democratic response? Obama has a better record on veterans issues than does McCain. McCain voted against the new G.I. bill, for example.

The corporate media is pro-McCAIN. Is Mr. nice guy: Obama going, to define the issues, or let right-wing talking heads define Obama and his political agenda?

Worse, left-wing radio continued the attack against Obama. "Where are the attack ads?" One wonders why Obama has chosen to campaign against McCain in much the same way that he campaigned against Hillary. It's a different show now. Does Obama assume that Americans "get it" and see through the negative advertising, right-wing talking points and spin? He's in a fight for his political life here, and I don't believe he fully comprehends the gravity of his situation. We've got roughly 100 days to get the message out - - and it is not happening.

Brian A.