DEMOCRACY IN DANGER: ‘Don’t assume that democracy can survive this’ — Watch Sen. Chris Murphy slam congressional Republicans for standing by Trump’s frantic attempts to delegitimize the election pic.twitter.com/AoWfN0Ksmd
— NowThis Impact (@nowthisimpact) November 15, 2020
Rev. Joe’s Random Thought #4,439
yeah I know you did not ask!
I’ve been using the disposable fiber face masks like you buy in the first aid section of Wal-Mart for most of the pandemic.
I’ve been wanting to get something a little more stylish so when I was in Wally World the other day, I went looking for the black cloth face masks that are so popular. I found a big display of them made by Hanes at a reasonable price. The box stated “Fits Most”.
When I got home I broke open the box and tried one on. It was much too small for me. I reckon all the people who have been telling me for years that I have a big head were right!
However prominent proboscises are de rigueur on both sides of the family, and my own is a fine example of this family trait. Add to that the fact that my chin usually precedes me into a room… well come to think of it I do have a big head.
Reminds me a bit of the old Jeff Foxworthy joke of the man who had big ears, a big nose, big hands and big feet, he was so ugly he better be packing.
Ba Dum.
Rev. Joe’s Random Thought #234
yeah I know you did not ask!
Just before you cross the Mississippi River on I-255 there is big billboard advertising a Mexican restaurant on the Illinois side. What grabs my attention every time is the huge statement declaring that they have “The freshest margaritas on either side of the river“.
I have never thought of a margarita as being either fresh or stale. Perhaps frozen or on the rocks, salt on the rim or not, made with top shelf tequila as opposed to under the bar instant hangover rotgut, but never as fresh or stale.
I finally decided what a fresh margarita must be is one served by a sassy señorita in a too short skirt. I just may have to check out their beverage claims.
Going, Going, Gone
On Jan. 20, 2017 I put the “Not My President” bumper sticker on my truck. I also put the American flag in the distress configuration on it. For the first few months afterwards I was getting flipped off regularly. Then it more or less stopped. The flipping off restarted the couple months leading up to the election. I got where I did not flip them off in return, but held up my thumb and forefinger about one inch apart to represent my estimation of their manhood. I don’t recall a woman ever giving me the finger.
With Joe Biden set to become the 46th President I feel I can take the bumper stickers off. I feel like I am waking up from one the worst nightmares of my life. A nightmare that has gone on for 4 years. I know we have a couple more months of the Orange Monster, and that he can do much damage in the that time period. But I can see daylight. I can see a time when I might start feeling some pride for my country again.
I cannot express the relief that I felt with the election of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. And at the same time the disappointment I felt in so many of my fellow citizens. In my life time of presidential elections there has never been a clearer choice between good and evil. Yet almost half the country chose to vote for Darth Vader over Yoda. I do not really understand why anyone would have voted for Trump in 2016, but I more or less excused them as buying into to his bull. This time around it is incomprehensible for me. They have had 4 years of watching his incompetence and malevolence, and they did it again. Oh well.
Going, going, and soon to be gone.
Keep well.
My Mossy Address Book
“A rolling stone gathers no moss”
If you were to sum up my life in one phrase the above aphorism might just be it. I spent the first 18 years of my life more or less as a military brat. I literally had 13 changes of schools before I graduated high school. This includes one school that I was in for a single day. I have described the last 30 years of my working life as that of a computer gypsy, moving around to take different jobs in Information Technology. I did have a stable period in between (at least as far as physical location) when I lived in Arkansas and we were getting kids through school.
In such a life people come and go. It is just a fact of life that you get used to. I do not know how many times I have said to someone, “have a good life”, knowing I would never be seeing them again. I have on occasions tried to maintain relationships over time and distance, but this must be two sided and has very seldom worked out.
I have now reached the age where many of my relatives, friends and acquaintances are passing away. This is sincerely a sadness just in itself. If a person truly touches you, they take up residence in some part of your psyche. I have sometimes described this as feeling like I have ghosts running around my soul. At times it has felt a little crowded in there.
And now add an additional sadness due to this technical age. After the fact of someone’s death, sometimes much later, I will come across their information in one of my address books or contact lists. I have such a hard time deleting the information, it feels like deleting the memory of that person. Sometimes the address\contact card will remain in there for years. I just cannot delete it.
On the positive side, it does make you stop for a minute and remember the person when you stumble across it.
Sigh. We march on.
Keep well.
Me gustó mucho esta cita
As someone who has been studying Spanish for a while, I occasionally get frustrated with my language learning journey. As one of my instructors said to me, “you will always speak Spanish with a Gringo accent, but if your pronunciation and grammar are correct, don’t worry about it. The idea is to communicate.” That I can do as long as we are not chatting about the theory of relativity, the philosophy of Descartes or other such esoteric subjects.
In my case that Gringo accent has a strong southern component to it…picture Gomer Pyle speaking Spanish, instead of “Golly, Sargent”, it is, “¡Caramba! Sargento.” I came across this quote that I can really relate to.
“Do you know what a foreign accent is? It’s a sign of bravery.” — Amy Chua
Rev. Joe’s Random Thought #6,761
yeah I know you did not ask!
I don’t know whether to admire women for their forbearance, feel sorry that this is the female burden in life or go WTF… why do they put up with it.
I met 3 friends this weekend south of Memphis for a couple days of golf. One fellow has an RV and he drove it to the campground at Sardis, MS. That is where we stayed for two nights.
Now just to give you some perspective I was the youngest at 68. So picture 4 grumpy old men chilling and sleeping in a fairly tight RV. Now we are only grumpy by spells, but sometimes the adjective used probably needs to be whatever the next level past grumpiness is. I let you decide what that is.
Add to that 4 OLD men marching to the RV bathroom frequently during the night.
Add to that morning sounds that old men make. I am sure any seasoned wife could go on in great detail about those rude noises.
I’ve decided women are either saints or crazy for putting up with us.
The bespectacled Señora Weinhaus just told me that most women know they are marrying men… and jump off that cliff anyway.
Marching to a Theocracy
When the Founding Fathers spoke of Religious Freedom, what they really meant was freedom from religion. They were very adamant about avoiding what was so common in Europe at the time, state sponsored religions. There was a very strong push in the infancy of our country to set up a state church. Fortunately, we more or less escaped that calamity.
I have always thought of the United States as a religiously diverse country. This belief arose because there are so many different protestant religions in this country. The reality is that, according to the Pew Research Center, the United States is around 78% Christian1. This puts us in the middle of the pack as far as religious diversity is concerned.
Some 223 years after our constitution went into effect; Continue reading “Marching to a Theocracy”
Sam Elliot is “a-Biden.”
Rev. Joe’s Random Thought #6,094
yeah I know you did not ask!
People have been telling me for years that I look like Sam Elliot. I even had a complete stranger at a Quick Trip in Tulsa, OK walk up to me to tell me I looked like him. I absolutely do not get it, but I take it as a compliment as I know he is considered ruggedly handsome.
Another trait that Sam and I share in common is a low, deep voice. However, his is a million dollar fine instrument, mine is more in line with a cheap kazoo from an arcade claw machine game. Thinking of the voice similarity, the low, deep part, I begin to wonder about something. The enchanting Señora Weinhaus frequently “tells” me to speak up as she cannot hear my low, deep kazoo of a voice. I wonder if Sam Elliot’s wife tells him same thing???