Rev. Joe’s Random Thought #4,955
…yeah I know you did not ask!
I wonder how much and how many times McDonalds has had to SUPERSIZE the uniforms of the employees in their restaurants over the years.
A Scary Polls on Yahoo
I don’t know a lot about James Buchanan, but for my money George W. Bush and Ronald Reagan vie for the worst president of all times.
Reagan was a disaster for the common man, promoting the greed of the already rich and powerful. By ignoring the energy crisis, he has left us decades behind where we need to be in a world where fossils fuels are ruining the environment and oil dependency hampers the economy. His zest for deregulation has been disastrous Continue reading “A Scary Polls on Yahoo”
Class Warfare
“There’s class warfare, all right, but it’s my class, the rich class, that’s making war, and we’re winning.”
– Warren Buffett, Chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway
“The American Dream has been under assault for 30 years,” says former President Bill Clinton.
Dateline 13-Sep-2011 (AP):
The Census Bureau reports the number of Americans in poverty jumped to 15.1 percent in 2010, a 27-year high.
About 46.2 million people, or nearly 1 in 6, were in poverty. That’s up from 43.6 million, or 14.3 percent, in 2009. It was the highest level since 1983.
The number of people lacking health insurance increased to 49.9 million, a new high after revisions were made to 2009 figures. Losses were due mostly to working-age Americans who lost employer-provided insurance in the weak economy.
Squeezed by rising living costs, a record number of Americans — nearly 1 in 2 — have fallen into poverty or are scraping by on earnings that classify them as low income.
The latest census data depict a middle class that’s shrinking as unemployment stays high and the government’s safety net frays. The new numbers follow years of stagnating wages for the middle class that have hurt millions of workers and families.
From Census shows 1 in 2 people are poor or low-income
Rev. Joe’s Random Thoughts # 3,020
…yeah I know you did not ask!
We are born, we live, we die, and then folks pick through our “stuff” buying it for pennies on the dollar.
Jonathan Swift on Money
From Gulliver’s Travelers
Amazing how little things have changed in the 300 years.
…neither could he comprehend what I meant in saying, they did it for hire. Whereupon I was at much pains to describe to him the use of money, the materials it was made of, and the value of the metals; “that when a YAHOO had got a great store of this precious substance, he was able to purchase whatever he had a mind to; the finest clothing, the noblest houses, great tracts of land, the most costly meats and drinks, and have his choice of the most beautiful females. Therefore since money alone was able to perform all these feats, our YAHOOS thought they could never have enough of it to spend, or to save, as they found themselves inclined, from their natural bent either to profusion or avarice; that the rich man enjoyed the fruit of the poor man’s labour, and the latter were a thousand to one in proportion to the former; that the bulk of our people were forced to live miserably, by labouring every day for small wages, to make a few live plentifully.” Continue reading “Jonathan Swift on Money”
Jonathan Swift on Lawyers
From Gulliver’s Travelers
(Apologies to my daughter, the attorney. She does do good work via working with the state DHS)
Amazing how little things have changed in the 300 years.
I assured his honour, “that the law was a science in which I had not much conversed, further than by employing advocates, in vain, upon some injustices that had been done me: however, I would give him all the satisfaction I was able.”
I said, “there was a society of men among us, bred up from their youth in the art of proving, by words multiplied for the purpose, that white is black, and black is white, according as they are paid. To this society all the rest of the people are slaves. For example, if my neighbour has a mind to my cow, he has a lawyer to prove that he ought to have my cow from me. I must then hire another to defend my right, it being against all rules of law that any man should be allowed to speak for himself. Now, in this case, I, who am the right owner, lie under two great disadvantages: first, my lawyer, being practised almost from his cradle in defending falsehood, is quite out of his element when he would be an advocate for justice, which is an unnatural office he always attempts with great awkwardness, if not with ill-will. The second disadvantage is, that my lawyer must proceed with great caution, or else he will be reprimanded by the judges, and abhorred by his Continue reading “Jonathan Swift on Lawyers”
From Whence Came Valentine’s Day
I do believe it may be time to revive the ancient festival of Lupercalia.
From the Wikipedia article:
Lupercalia was a very ancient, possibly pre-Roman] pastoral festival, observed on February 13 through 15 to avert evil spirits and purify the city, releasing health and fertility. Lupercalia subsumed Febura, an earlier-origin spring cleansing ritual held on the same date, which gives the month of February its name.
Plutarch described Lupercalia:
“Lupercalia, of which many write that it was anciently celebrated by shepherds, and has also some connection with the Arcadian Lycaea. At this time many of the noble youths and of the magistrates run up and down through the city naked, for sport and laughter striking those they meet with shaggy thongs. And many women of rank also purposely get in their way, and like children at school present their hands to be struck, believing that the pregnant will thus be helped in delivery, and the barren to pregnancy.”
Read all about here: Lupercalia
The Wikipedia article on Valentine’s Day stated there was no connection between the two…despite many authors making the connection. Pope Gelasius (492 – 496) abolished the festival of Lupercalia . This same Pope established St. Valentine’s Day in 496. Since I really do not have a dog in this fight, I am going with Valentine’s Day stemming from the abolishment of Lupercalia. Besides Garrison Keillor reported it as so.
Bottle of Tequila
He saw me limping down the hallway and asked,”looks like you had a wonderful time, what happened?” When he said that I was instantly back to her bedroom and recalling the events of the previous evening…
We had placed a few pillows behind our backs up against the headboard. The lights were still low. The Coltrane CD had started back around. Man, is he ever timeless. With the warm glow that can only be felt from energy well spent, we were both smoking cigarettes and idly chit chatting about absolutely nothing of consequence. I noticed that we had both pulled our knees toward our chests. The result was two well formed tents, side by side in the sheets. Mine was a good bit taller than hers. My mind flitted back to childhood days when my parents would take me to the circus. I wondered which tent was more interesting. Was it the larger one with the 3 rings of non-stop entertainment, or the smaller one with all the made up freaks and hucksters trying to separate you and your money? Laughing to myself I wondered where the “tunnel of love” was.
It was at that point I slapped myself softly and she looked at me funny.
“Just a weird thought,” I explained.
My vision drifted down to my left arm. I realized that I had left my Rolex knock-off on. It surprised me that she had not complained, Continue reading “Bottle of Tequila”
Herman Melville’s Moby Dick
I will not purport to write a review of Herman Melville’s book, Moby Dick or The Whale. For me to do so would be pretentious beyond measure. What I am attempting to do is proselytize for the book. For some reason I missed reading this American classic until now. Truth is I probably would not have appreciated the book when I was younger.
I do have a confession to make though. I did not read the book, but listened to the audio-book which was a several day affair. I spend so much time driving and at times my job is rote, I have found audio-books a wonderful way to fill the time.
What I knew of the book was the story of the obsessed Ahab and his hunt for the malevolent white whale, Moby Dick. To me the book was a documentary with the story of Ahab’s hunt a vehicle for driving the narration forward and keeping the reader engaged. Don’t misunderstand me, Ahab’s story is wonderful and there is much to be learned therein, but it is only part of the book.
The book is in large part a documentary on the Nantucket whaling industry of the 1800s, The Deadliest Catch of its day. It is also the natural history of the cetaceans as was known in 1850. There is chilling passage in the book Continue reading “Herman Melville’s Moby Dick”