Author: Rev. Joe Dirt

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Sacrifice is for the little people

Paul Krugman’s op-ed piece for Monday, September 20, 2010.  The Angry Rich

This is why I have become so discouraged in our political system.  It may have never been about the majority of the folks in this country, but I feel it is even more skewed towards the elite today.   A quote from the op-ed piece:

“And among the undeniably rich, a belligerent sense of entitlement has taken hold: it’s their money, and they have the right to keep it. “Taxes are what we pay for civilized society,” said Oliver Wendell Holmes — but that was a long time ago.”

It is amazing how many middle class folks agree with this feeling of the very rich that the rich are entitled.  The wealth gap continues to grow in the United States, the people living in poverty is rising, unemployment remains high, our infrastructure continues to crumble, our children’s education is falling behind most of the rest of the industrialized world and deficits continue to grow. 

These folks have no real loyalty beyond their pocket books.  I would be angry, but the energy would be wasted. It saddens and discourages me beyond measure that an elite few control the political agenda of this country. 

What was it Spock said, “The good of the many outweighs the good of the few, or the one.”  Apparently not in America in 2010.

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Random Thought # 762,514

…yeah I know you did not ask!

A while back I was watching Monster’s Ball with a girlfriend.  The scene came on where Billy Bob Thornton is in a motel room with a local “lady” of the evening.  The act was very impersonal with the hooker acting like they were chatting over coffee. It was definitely going to be one of those cases of a mini rate for a mini stay.

The girlfriend asked me if that is how it was.  I replied that I had no idea since I had never engaged professional services for that area of my life.  And I have not.

I have since ruminated on that conversation.  If I ever got to the point where I was so horny that I thought I needed those services, it would probably be over so quickly as to make it not worth the money spent.  Plus the Scottish in me would not allow me to pay for something I could take care of myself. Please don’t tell Christine O’Donnell. She might have to place me on a Wiccan altar and have a midnight sacrifice/picnic. Cream with your coffee, Christine?

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Wheelies at 70 mph

I’m sure it is a huge adrenalin rush.  Since they had on helmets I could not tell their age, but they were probably late teens or early twenties. This age group believes itself essentially invincible. Otherwise how do you explain some of their behaviors? 

We were headed east on I-270 in St. Louis.  The interstate here is 8, maybe 10 lanes across.  It is generally heavily traveled with the traffic moving between 60 and 70 miles per hour.  In the west bound lane were three kids on “crotch rockets”, those motorcycles that are essentially racing bikes made street legal.  As they were passing the other traffic, two of the riders were doing wheelies. 

I have seen this behavior before in Tulsa city traffic.  The stupidity amazed then, and it still amazes me now.

Perhaps they should pass a law.  If you do wheelies on one of these contraptionson on public roads then you are deemed too stupid or too irresponsible to own one. They then impound your machine, sell it, and give the money to a non-profit that works with folks made paraplegic from motorcycle accidents.

Or maybe we should just let genetic selection takes its course and let them opt of the the gene pool.

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IQ Test for Driver’s License

A while ago I riding somewhere with a friend.  Another driver did something totally inane.  My friend began growling angrily about the driver’s intelligence. 

I remarked to him that you did not have to pass an IQ test to get a driver’s license.  If you did there would probably be half the cars on the road  as there are now. 

I thought about what I had said for minute then added that if you had to pass a courtesy test the roads would essentially be empty.  I’m not excluding myself from the last category.  There is something about being behind a steering wheel that seems to turn seeming nice folks into thugs.

Until they institute such test, buckle your seatbelts.

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Robin, One Hot…

We are all products of time, place and the Darwinian lottery that selects our parents. Robin is no different.  Robin’s parents were not any different.

Robin spent much of youth practicing the piano.  She loves music, but she has talked about how she sometimes longed to be outside with other kids.  Robin has natural athletic ability, but in the 50s and 60s in the St. Louis enclave of Olivette young ladies were not encouraged in this arena.  While her brothers were encouraged to participate in sports she was forgotten.

Robin is short, but very strong physically.  She helped me move a while back, and it was all I could do to keep up with her.  Continue reading “Robin, One Hot…”

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Our Muffins Are Not Crack

Pilot Travel CenterI’m traveling back to St. Louis for the weekend.  I need gas and a bathroom break so I pull into one of the many Pilot truck stop/gas stations on I-55.  I gas up my car and when I am done the receipt pops out of the pump.  I notice on the bottom is a coupon for a $1 coffee, tea, some other drink and I vaguely notice the word muffin.

I had planned on getting coffee anyway so after my bathroom break I get one.  The coupon is going to save me about 40 cents.  As old Ben said, “A penny saved is a penny earned.” Continue reading “Our Muffins Are Not Crack”

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Shrek the Musical

Alright I have a couple confessions up front.  First, I would not have gone to this had not my girlfriend had season tickets to the Broadway performances at the Fabulous Fox Theatre in St. Louis.  She actually tried to sell these particular tickets, and could find no buyers.  She tells me that normally when she sells tickets to these performances they are snapped up. Shrek and Lord Farquaad

My second confession is that I only vaguely knew the story line.  I have seen maybe half of the first Shrek movie.  So if I sound a little redundant on the story line, please forgive an old man. 

Now I have another confession, I really enjoyed this Broadway musical performance of Shrek the Musical.  If I really enjoyed it, my girlfriend’s level of pleasure of this show was in another dimension. 

The Broadway production is first and foremost a first class musical.  It is next a tried and true love story. It starts out as Beauty and the Beast and ends up as Beast and the Beast.  It is also a tale about accepting Continue reading “Shrek the Musical”

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It’s the Journey, Not the Destination

I don’t totally agree with this blog posting from the New York Times, but parts of it make a lot of sense.  Or at least give you something to think about.

I know that I am not athletic.  I know that I am not musical. I do know that I can improve my sports performance in some areas by practice.   I doubt I could ever improve enough to be in even the minor leagues of any sport.  I can just about guarantee you that if I had practiced everyday from childhood to now; I would not be wowing anyone with my musical ability.

I do know that I have gotten much better at writing computer programs and solving the related problems. Continue reading “It’s the Journey, Not the Destination”