A picture that ran in the Van Buren, AR newspaper, The Press Argus-Courier circa 1980s.
“Yup…Mayor, it looks like you have Continue reading “Photo-ops Circa 1980s”
A Southern, Jewish Tradition – Revisited
I originally published the article below in 2014, and since it is about to be the first of the year, I thought that it would be a good time to revisit it. One thing that has changed is that instead of Señora doing the cooking on New Year’s Day, it is yours truly. And just for the record my collard greens are to die for… if I say so myself.
I performed this tradition when I was single, but then it consisted of the opening up a can of black-eye peas and a package of frozen turnip greens and Continue reading “A Southern, Jewish Tradition – Revisited”
Spiritual Quotient
I encountered the following article while scanning the news Monday morning, 13 Types of Intelligence (Which Ones Are You?), The fact that they found 13 types of intelligence peaked my curiosity enough to cause me to click the bait. I knew about IQ, Intelligence Quotient, being blessed to be somewhere on the right side of that famous bell curve. I knew about EQ, Emotional Quotient, mainly because one of my former intimate partners once shoved a cassette tape (yeah, that long ago) into my face (well my hands) telling me that I needed to listen to it as I had an EQ…wait for it… of zero.
I am not sure I agree with their thesis that there are so many different types of intelligence. However, of the 13 types of intelligence listed in the article the one that captured my attention the most was, Continue reading “Spiritual Quotient”
What Do You Know About the Constitution?
I recently watched on Wondrium a very interesting and worthwhile pair of courses on the US Constitution taught by Eric Berger, a professor at the University of Nebraska Law School. The two courses were:
I am currently in the process of watching:
While the US Constitution is not that long and is not that hard to read, reading it and understanding it are two distinct things. Both of the first two courses are good, but the second was more interesting to me as Continue reading “What Do You Know About the Constitution?”
Drag Queens in Chesterfield
Looking at the local news online this morning, this story – of course, from the local FOX news outlet – was leading the pack : ‘A Drag Queen Christmas’ show sparks heated protest in Chesterfield.
I thought for a minute that a tornado must have grabbed the whole town I live in, Chesterfield, Missouri, and dumped it in Oklahoma while I slept. But no, we’re still here. I had to remind myself that I live in Missouri and in the particularly onerous 2nd district, the district which has given us such Republican notables as Todd “Legitimate Rape” Akin and Ann “What Climate Change” Wagner.
Since the protesters stated that the drag queens were slapping God Continue reading “Drag Queens in Chesterfield”
Rev. Joe’s Random Thought #6,041
yeah I know you did not ask!
I was messing around on a website and the website wanted me to elected a personal pronoun to continue.
Apparently, “No f**** way!”, is not an acceptable response.
I see myself as more than a little liberal. There is no need to be jamming folks up in boxes of acceptability. If it makes you happy, be happy. I might not want to hang with you, but hey you might not want to hang with me. We’ll just move on and do our own thing. Life and the two of us will be just fine.
However, this whole woke culture, this whole overly political correct police, is about to turn me into a fanatical reactionary, the bunch of namby pambies.
Kudos to Missouri American Water
Friday evening along about 1900 hours a neighbor called my wife reporting that we had a new water fountain in our front yard, but in all likelihood it was not going to make her happy. Sure enough she was right on both accounts. About six or seven feet in from the sidewalk towards our house was an impressive gusher of water. From the volume and force I was reasonably sure it was a water main break of the line that transverses across our front yard, but I had a vague fear it was not, that it might be our service line. I began to have visions of dollar bills flowing out of our bank account quicker than from the hands of a drunken sailor on his first shore leave in six months.
If I had thought a minute longer I would called the water company, but my first impulse was to call Continue reading “Kudos to Missouri American Water”
Rev. Joe’s Random Thought #8,063
yeah I know you did not ask!
Florida famously is the warm, tacky place old folks retire to to await their pie in the sky. They are down there in gator-land, realizing that their golden years are more fool’s gold than Inca ingots. Additionally, their kids seldom come to visit, and when they do it is a fly-by drop in on the way to Disney World.
Wanting to get even for these indignities, they have started sending to the rest of country the most gawd awful politicians imaginable: Ron DeSantis, Rick Scott, Marc Rubio, Matt Gaetz, ad nauseam… literally
Go visit the old folks in Florida. Maybe next time they go to the polls they will not be quite so vengeful.
Just saying.
Purgatory?
My troubles are many, they’re as deep as a well
I can swear there ain’t no heaven but I pray there ain’t no hell
Swear there ain’t no heaven and pray there ain’t no hell,
But I’ll never know by living, only my dying will tell,
Only my dying will tell, yeah, only my dying will tell
And when I die and when I’m gone,
There’ll be one child born and a world to carry on, to carry on
The above snippet of lyrics is from the Blood, Sweat & Tears song, And When I Die, a song that reached number 2 on the charts in 1968.
For many reasons the line, “I can swear there ain’t no heaven but I pray there ain’t no hell” has stuck Continue reading “Purgatory?”
Rev. Joe’s Random Thought #2,638
yeah I know you did not ask!
Anyone who has ever lived with a dog for any period of time will come to know that they are creatures of habit, creatures of routine. Señora feeds Princess Lily in the morning, time dependent on when Señora makes the commitment that this really is a new day and rolls out of the warm, embracing bed. But as soon as she does, The Wee Dog is following her around. Señora is very regular on the next feeding of our proxy child at 1700 hours.
Somehow this punctual pooch protegee knows the time, and about five or so minutes before the appointed hour her hirsute self is parked by her food bowl, her eyes tracking Señora.
I am going to find the miniature Rolex watch that must be buried under the fur on her little doggie wrist, and sell it. Maybe then I can recuperate, in part, all the money spent on food, all the money spent on treats, all money spent on toys, all the money spent on vet bills, that Señora has lavished upon our copacetic canine companion… or not.
And so it goes in our little ménage à chienne.