Home of the "Little Known Blogger"
The unsolicited, unreasoned, uninformed, unapologetic opinions of Rev. Joe Dirt
A friend sent me the following link: Scalia: Women Don’t Have Constitutional Protection Against Discrimination
The gist of the article is this. The 14th Amendment, specifically the Equal Protection clause, requires the states to provide equal protection to all people within its jurisdiction. Scalia is arguing that the Constitution and this amendment does not prohibit the passage of laws discriminating based on gender or sexual orientation. Continue reading “A New God Given Document”
A couple interesting articles about “Curmudgeons”.
Dr. Judith Rich: Confessions of a Closet Curmudgeon in The Huffington Post
Dr. Judith Rich: How to Love a Curmudgeon in The Huffington Post
I was in Lowe’s the other day. The fact that it was Lowe’s is only incidental. It could have been any of the many big box store chains that dot Generica.
They provided to me a pretty clear snapshot of the some issues that are troubling me about American business. It all seems to boil down to corporations being willing to sell out this country because they are more concerned about the quarterly profit statement and executive pay than anything else.
My first observation is that Spanish is nearly as prominent in the store as English. The lettering was not quite as big as the English, but it was only a small percentage less so. Continue reading “I Want to Buy American”
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I am still trying to figure out how I feel about all the illegal immigrants in this country and the various action plans floating around to deal with them. My gut reaction is not kind, but I know there is much more to the picture than what my knee-jerk emotions are telling me. I do know that many legal immigrants that I have spoken to resent the illegal immigrants that have not jumped through all the hoops they have, yet seem to be able to stay in this country unbothered.
Towards the end of clarifying my thought process I thought I would gather up some of the arguments, favoring and oppositional.
We have a tendency due to our dysfunctional political system to not act, to drift, to let the status quo rock on. This should not be the case with immigration reform as the current system is full of abuse, personal and systematic. Continue reading “Illegal Immigration – Pros and Cons”
Winner-Take-All Politics by Hacker & Pierson available at Amazon.com
The book is subtitled: How Washington Made the Rich Richer – And Turned Its Back on the Middle Class
This book needs another review like a hole in the head. Typing the full title into Google resulted in close to 30,000 hits. But hey, why not!
First and foremost, while I found the book deeply troubling and depressing, it is an important book to read if you want to really understand what is happening in Washington currently. This book really did not tell me anything that I did not intuitively already know from decades of watching the American political scene. It did reaffirm and document my intuition. Continue reading “Winner-Take-All Politics”
First Cause Argument:
Something caused the Universe to exist and this cause must be God.
Arguments Against:
There is so much I could say. What scares me is that Fox News is the most popular cable “news” source. What scares me even more is that those folks that watch Fox News seem to accept it lock, stock and barrel. Plus they absolutely are clueless as to why someone would not. I do not think it a coincidence that NASCAR fans are by and by, big consumers of Fox News. There seems to a major dearth of critical thinking and self examination in this country. I have no idea if it is a new phenomenon, but it feels like the extent to which it is happening does seem to have reached new bounds.
I’m not sure what their overarching goal is a Fox News, but it is not the long run good of this country or the majority of its citizens. The country that Fox News and its bought and paid for political candidates envision is not a country I want to live in. I doubt it is a country Thomas Jefferson would want to live in.
Below is a link to a commentary on the study. Obviously from their headline they are a little harsher than I might be. When I read the study the impression I get is that we are all sadly misinformed or captive to our belief systems. My personal opinion is that for democracy to work really well, the voters should be informed and involved. We really have neither. And there are more than a few sources intent on spreading misinformation aka propaganda.
Study Confirms That Fox News Makes You Stupid
The full study from World Public Opinion.org
Yes I did a cut and paste operation bringing in these links from an article in the New York Times by Nicholas Kristof: The Gifts of Hope. Mr. Kristof is an advocate journalist. His whole professional career is devoted to reporting on issues like these, especially issues involving females. If there is a man that can smoke out small worthy charities, I am betting on him.
Here is another of his editorials. It details some charities that has gone astray: When Donations Go Astray
If you are looking for alternative giving this year, consider these.
Panzi Hospital (panzifoundation.org) treats victims of sexual violence in eastern Congo, rape capital of the world.
Camfed (camfed.org), short for the Campaign for Female Education, sends girls to school in Africa and provides a broad support system for them. Continue reading “Worthy Small Charities”
I have this new theory about musicians like Ellis Paul, Kevin Welch, Jimmie LaFave, Pete Morton, etc.
There are tons more. I just mention these folks because they are on my mind from seeing them concert recently or listening to their CDs.
These folks never make it super big like say a Garth Brooks or a Reba McIntyre. I would think having that much success and fame would be as much a burden as blessing. I’m sure the money and adulation are wonderful. But then you have everyone wanting a piece of you, wanting something from you. I personally would find it a huge pain to walk down the street and have folks continually coming up to me, snapping pictures etc. But then I value my privacy.
Musicians in the first category have a relative degree of success. They can make a living doing what they love to do. From having talked to a few of them, I know it is love for most of them. They get to enjoy the company of liked minded individuals. They get to travel as much or as little as they want in the support of their craft. At least the ones I have seen have mostly been in small often intimate venues with interaction between the musicians and the audience. Most of the musicians really seem to enjoy this. Of course, this is from the outside looking in, but they seem to be milking the most out of essential nature of life. Many that write their own lyrics seem have an amazing insight into the human condition, the human emotional state, a certain degree of wisdom beyond the norm.
My theory is this: They are old souls. This is probably their last go round in the physical plane. They are on a farewell tours of sorts. I really cannot think of many better ways to do such a tour.
Heck of a theory for an old agnostic.