Category: Rev. Joe Dirt’s Ramblings

The unsolicited, unreasoned, uninformed, unapologetic opinions of Rev. Joe Dirt

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Rev. Joe’s Random Thought #6,139

yeah I know you did not ask!

I’ve been wondering about my fellow citizens for quite some time now.  This “wonderment” stems from so many them adamantly supporting the incompetent monster currently residing in the White House.

This discomfort with my paisanos has increased a couple magnitudes when I read that their response to this health care crisis is to stock up on toilet paper. I personally get enough junk mail every day that would have kept my grandmother happy in her outhouse for a month.

It increased even further when I started reading about lines at gun stores to purchase guns and ammunition. I saw an interview of man complaining about  shelves empty of his favorite ammo.

Sounds like they are scared to death and shitting their britches.

If there was ever a time when we should be rowing together it is now.  This is not the Zombie Apocalypse…no matter what my cousin says!

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Ten Commandments for Politicians – Revisited

Ten Commandments for Politicians

Nearly a dozen years I started working on a ten commands for politicians.  At that time I came up seven, and I had hoped someone would have helped me round the list out.  But I am truly “The Little Known Blogger”.  So now I am revisiting that list, especially in light of the corrupt administration driving this nation into 3rd world status.

  1. First, do ye no harm
  2. The majority rules, not the dollars
  3. Ye live in a glass house, act accordingly
  4. Thou shall avoid in all ways the trough of the lobbyist
  5. If it looks like pork, if it oinks like pork, if it sizzles like pork, vote ye not on it
  6. Remember ye that Squealor was not right, “All animals ARE equal, but some and no animals are more equal than others.” This includes politicians, government officials, politically connected business people, and wealthy donors.
  7. Usufruct – Remember ye that we are but Stewards for those that come after us, as those who came before were Stewards for us.
  8. Take ye responsibility for thine actions,  good or bad. Acknowledge thy mistakes, and better yet, learn from thy mistakes.
  9. Govern ye by facts, not dogma or “gut instincts”.
  10. Be thou a leader for all the people, not just thy party or thy supporters.  There is but one life boat.  We all need to be rowing together.
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Rev. Joe’s Random Thought #5,119

yeah I know you did not ask!

In the middle of a global health crisis, in the middle of a pandemic, we are also having a crisis of leadership…no matter what Fox News and the MAGAs say.

For the most part the leadership in this country at all levels of government are politicians.  A few cities and counties will employ professional managers, but they always report up to a politician.

So  what are the qualifications to become a politician and by default a leader.  Very little.  You have to have an ability to run your mouth, act like you know what the solution is, and perhaps have a little charisma.  I can think of very few other fields of endeavor in our society that require so little of their practitioners.

Then on the other hand I think of the Winston Churchill quote:

‘Many forms of Government have been tried, and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed it has been said that democracy is the worst form of Government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.…’

But I do think we should be electing folks to lead us that can do more than talk, obfuscate, and line their own pockets.  I am not sure how you would implement some sort of basic screening but there must be a way.  High on my list would a sanity test and a test of empathy.

We deserve better.

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If only…

“And the people stayed home. And read books, and listened, and rested, and exercised, and made art, and played games, and learned new ways of being, and were still. And listened more deeply. Some meditated, some prayed, some danced. Some met their shadows.

And the people began to think differently.

“And the people healed. And, in the absence of people living in ignorant, dangerous, mindless, and heartless ways, the earth began to heal.

“And when the danger passed, and the people joined together again, they grieved their losses, and made new choices, and dreamed new images, and created new ways to live and heal the earth fully, as they had been healed.”

~Kitty O’Meara

Who is Kitty O’Meara?

Normally when I use art on my blog I do a Google image search and make sure I grab images that are “free to use and share”.  I took the poem and image off a Facebook posting of a friend who is an artist.  I erroneous made the assumption the art was hers.  I believe the picture is actually the work  of Jessica Boehman.  Here are a couple links for her and her art.  It is a very nice picture, and hopefully Jessica will not be offended by my use of it.

Jessica on Etsy

Jessica Boehman’s blog

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Social Distancing

My daughter, who works for the Oregon Department of Health, admonished my elderly butt to practice social distancing during this coronavirus pandemic.

Taking her words of wisdom directly into my heart, I sat down and ate one of favorite lunches, a sardine and onion sandwich.

Now my wife is mad at my daughter.  Perhaps I should not have tried to kiss my wife so soon after my repast.

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Coronavirus, are we overreacting?

I worked in Information Technology for 30 years.  I was actually on call December 31, 1999.  Remember Y2K?  Lots of folks felt like there had been a tremendous overreaction to this potential problem.  What most people did not see was the 3 years before the change from 1999 to 2000. There was an immense amount of work that went on changing the date routines of uncountable computer programs on mainframe systems.  This is when Indian programmers first started coming to this country in large numbers, to work on the Y2K issue.  The work was done, and there were very few glitches across the computer world. People then had the luxury of making fun of the whole Y2K phenomenon.

What I am trying to figure out is, are we overreacting to the coronavirus pandemic?   The truth is we will not really know until Continue reading “Coronavirus, are we overreacting?”

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Rev. Joe’s Random Thought #8,913

yeah I know you did not ask!

I personally am not feeling safe with the party of science deniers managing a medical/health crisis.

I feel like I am watching a train wreck about to happen in slow motion. The train engineer is stepping on the gas after denying there was another train coming his way on the same track.

I feel like the real national emergency is the Gospodin Trump administration’s ignorance, incompetence  and greed.

We absolutely must vote these bozos out of office.

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Rev. Joe’s Random Thought #8,193

yeah I know you did not ask!

For various reasons of recent personal experiences I have been thinking about wealth inequality again, here and abroad.   I have stated my stance on this several ways, but I have come up with what for me was a new twist.

I really do not resent anyone being extraordinary rich.  What I do resent is the mass of people that are suffering from crushing poverty.

While the first part of the equation will argue with you about it, the two are tied are together.  You cannot have the one without the other.

I’m not sure what the answer is, but what we are doing now here and abroad is not working.   We need to make sure everyone has a piece of pie before we are passing out seconds and… or millionths to selected individuals.

 

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Rev. Joe’s Random Thought #6,467

yeah I know you did not ask!

In the middle of the last century when I was but a wee lad, there was fad of stuffing VW Beetles.  A group of young people, generally of high school or college age, would try to see how many of themselves they could put inside a Volkswagen Beetle.

According to Señor Google and The Guinness World Records site:

“The most people crammed into an old style Volkswagen Beetle is 20 and was achieved by the Asbury University Emancipation Project (USA) at the Lexington Rescue Mission in Lexington, Kentucky, USA, on 9 December 2010. A 1964 Beetle was used for the attempt, which was organised to draw attention to human trafficking.”

Obviously later than the middle of last century, but fads carry on, especially if there are world records to be had.

The reason I was thinking about this is that it appears that Gospodin Trump is trying to recreate this fad in his own unique, grand, sick way.  It strikes me that he is trying to see how many ignorant, dysfunctional and sometimes downright stupid people he can stuff into one White House.  So far he has achieved a far higher number than I ever imagined.

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NYT Daily’s podcast on Coronavirus

The Daily is a 20 to 30 minute podcast from the New York Times on current topics. Today’s episode is on coronavirus, and it is well worth your time. The primary contributor to this episode is Donald G. McNeil Jr. who is a science and health reporter for The New York Times. His explanation of the possible pandemic is excellent.

What scares me is the leadership of this country.  I do not believe they are up to dealing with a pandemic, unless they do the smart thing and get out of the way of the experts. That would be out of character for the Trump administration.

We have a president who truly does not understand basic science, basic economics or basically very much.  We have many senators and representatives that if they have a basic knowledge of science are willing to act ignorant for the sake of campaign contributions. Trump has put Vice President Pence in “charge” of the government’s response.  I would bet a very large sum of money that Mike Pence believes either 1) you can pray away the possible pandemic or 2) a pandemic would be God’s vengeance on a wicked world and well deserved and the righteous have nothing to worry about.

‘Nuff said a link to the story is below:

The Coronavirus Goes Global