Author: Rev. Joe Dirt

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Rush – The Belt Buckle

I’m not a big fan of the Canadian rock band Rush, but they do have one thing that I really like.  It is their Rush belt buckles.  The reason is obvious, my last name is Rush and since I wear a lot of cowboy boots it is a fun thing to do.

I’m in the doctor’s office the other day, and the nurse is doing all the pre-doctor-comes-blowing-in things that nurses do when she comments, “I just love your belt buckle.”  I had on the one with big red letters, R U S H.  I was also supine on the examination table at the time, so the buckle was very obvious.

The nurse being somewhat younger than this seasoned citizen, I had to explain to her that it was from the website of the Canadian rock band of the same name.  Since my last name is Rush I found them a necessary item for my vaguely cowboyish/country attire that I occasionally sport.

She then commented that her 14 year old son was really into to the rock band Queen.

I replied, “I don’t think that would be a good belt buckle for your son.”

She was still laughing when she left the room.

And just in case you want one of Rush’s belt buckles: https://rushbackstage.com/dept/belt-buckles?cp=102112_102214_102530

 

 

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Paul H. Carr inducted into the Oklahoma Military Hall of Fame

My uncle, Paul H. Carr, is a man of legend in my mother’s family.  He was one of 9 surviving children, 8 of whom were girls, with my mother as the youngest.  I don’t know the exact date, but my grandparents divorced, something very unusual for that period of time.  This left my grandmother to raise the last part of the brood by herself.  She did whatever was necessary to keep all fed, housed and clothed. While doing that, she was famous for helping those in need who were not part of her family. It was just who she was.   In many ways my grandmother, aka Mama Carr, is also a family legend.  Proof of this was the summers at Mama Carr’s house where “The Sisters” would faithfully return with their own broods to stay for various lengths of time. I remember that there always seemed to be a gang of cousins there.  I believe “The Sisters” truly revered my grandmother.

Paul H. Carr came of age, and by this I mean he graduated high school, right in the middle of War World II.  He was an only son, he was a farm boy, it would have been easy for him to have gotten a deferment and stay out of the war.  Like so many of his generation he chose not to.  He chose country and patriotism   above all other considerations.  I’m not quite sure why Continue reading “Paul H. Carr inducted into the Oklahoma Military Hall of Fame”

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Donald eres un pendejo

So I have been taking Spanish lessons via Italki using Skye for a while now. The other evening I was working with a young man from Guatemala.  The subject of the dysfunctional man now pretending to be POTUS came up.  He was telling me there is a very popular t-shirt in his country (and as it turns out through out the Latino world) that reads “Donald eres un pendejo“.

Just in case you are not up on your Mexican obscenities, pendejo is asshole.

Plus I would assume it is disrespectful to use the personal you when addressing a man of the supposed stature of Gospodin Trump.

Apparently the whole world, except redneck America, hates Donald Trump…go figure.

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You gotta go with your strength

One of my coworkers is a gentleman of 50 something years. He has a glass eye.

Wednesday of course, was Halloween, and they had a Trunk-or-Treat event in our office. The building had a costume event so there were more than a few souls not in business casual.

Where you get such things is beyond me, but my coworker had replaced his “dress” glass eye with a gag one. For all the world, it look like his eyeball was enucleating in a projectile fashion so that there was about 2 inches of “goo” projecting from his eye socket. To complete the ensemble he had fake blood on his white shirt. He was such a happy camper as folks would look at him, become aghast, then start twittering nervously.

My favorite definition of sanity is, “knowing how to go insane safely.” Bingo.

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Word of the Day – Horologist

  • Noun:  Horologist
    1.  a person skilled in the practice or theory of horology (the study and measurement of time; the art of making clocks and watches)
    2. a maker of clocks or watches
  • Synonyms:
    1. watchmaker
    2. clockmaker
    3. horologer
    4. timekeeper
  • Usage:
    1. Witness on the stand to Prosecuting Attorney, “Yes I am a horologist, but the correct pronunciation of my profession is ho·rol·o·gist, not whore·rol·o·gist.”
  • Encountered:
    1. In dinner conversation with an horologist

To see more Words of the Day, visit this link: Words of the Day

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Out of the Mouth of Babes

Every year one of neighbor has an outdoor Halloween party for the adults, a pot luck affair.  The neighbors sit up a fire pit, cook a big dish of this or that, and provide the area.  Of course, we all bring candy and mug the Trick-or-Treaters as they come by trying to get rid of our candy. No one wants to have to take the sweets home.  Resistance is futile when it comes to chocolate.

Normally, Robin is the one in the gang of adults passing out candy to the kids as they come by.  She off doing something else and gave the bowl of goodies to me to dispense to the young revelers.

I was doing so when one of them asked me, “What are you supposed to be?”

Now I had come from work and pretty much went straight to the festivities.  I had on cowboy boots, cords and a regular shirt.  I had added a newsboy hat and fleece jacket before we went as it was just wee bit cool and we were to be outside. My hair is a little on the long side.

Not knowing what to answer, I told the truth, “tall and ugly, ugly and tall…”

And that seem to satisfy the young inquisitioner.

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How do you know political season is upon us?

  1. The mute button becomes the most important button on your remote
  2. For this 5 or 6 week period every 2 years, it is the only time either party even acts like they care about social issues that most Americans worry about every day.
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Rush: Revolution, Madness, and Benjamin Rush, the Visionary Doctor Who Became a Founding Father by Stephen Fried

I’ve been fascinated by Benjamin Rush ever since as a grade schooler, I realized that there was a signature on the Declaration of Independence with the same last name as mine, Rush.   Rush is not the commonest of last names. Of course, I fantasized that he might be a direct ancestor or other relation. At that time there had not been a lot of genealogy done on my family.  Since then I have discovered that we are related, not closely, but related.  We are 3rd cousins 6 generations removed. We share a common ancestor, Capt. John “Old Trooper” Rush.  What is interesting about John Rush is that he was a captain in Oliver Cromwell’s army.  If you remember your English history, Cromwell briefly established a republic in Great Britain in the 1650s.   Capt. Rush later immigrated to the Pennsylvania colony.

There are several reasons that Benjamin Rush has been assigned to the second tier of founding fathers.  Continue reading “Rush: Revolution, Madness, and Benjamin Rush, the Visionary Doctor Who Became a Founding Father by Stephen Fried”

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Help Support The Carr Exhibit with Amazon Smile

Paul Henry Carr was my mother’s brother who fought and lost his life in WW II.  While losing his life he performed heroically.  He received several honors posthumously, included having a missile frigate name after him.  After 30 years of service the ship has be decommissioned,  but the memory lives on in our family.

This November 3rd, 2018, Paul Henry Carr is to be inducted into the Oklahoma Military Hall of Fame.  The family is looking on this as a huge honor, as it is.

The family commissioned an exhibit that is at Checotah, Oklahoma. Checoath is more or less the ancestral pueblo. There is an ongoing effort to complete the funding.

You can help support The Carr exhibit by doing what you do anyway…buying on Amazon.com .  “How?”, you ask,  By following some extraordinary simple steps.

  1.  Login to smile.amazon.com and go to “Your Account”
  2. Set charity to: “Paul Henry Carr Memorial Foundation”
  3. To support charity, always shop at smile.amazon.com
  4. Shop until you drop…

Cheryl Smallwood-Roberts designed the exhibit honoring Paul Henry Carr in Checotah, OK. The Carr exhibit, installed by Crain Displays, is located Continue reading “Help Support The Carr Exhibit with Amazon Smile”

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Food for Thought from Robert Reich

From Robert Reich:

We’re now in the America’s second Gilded Age.

Last week it was reported that in 2017 the average CEO of the 350 largest firms in the U.S. received $18.9 million in compensation. That’s a 17.6 percent increase over 2016.

At the same time, the typical worker’s compensation remained flat, rising merely 0.3 percent.

The first Gilded Age fueled a progressive era that tamed and regulated its excesses, beginning in 1901.