Category: Rev. Joe Dirt’s Ramblings

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

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Acceptance and Tolerance

A comment to me recently started me thinking about what is the difference between acceptance and tolerance. The comment was this:

“To me homosexuality is not acceptable behavior. Why are Liberals trying to force me to accept this? I feel discriminated against.”

One definition of acceptance is — the action or process of being received as adequate or suitable, typically to be admitted into a group. Another is — favorable reception; approval; favor. Tolerance is defined as — the ability or willingness to tolerate something, in particular the existence of opinions or behavior that one does not necessarily agree with.

Even a cursory glance at the human race gives the impression of great diversity among its members.   This is truly amazing when you consider that if you were to pick two random individuals and sequence their DNA there would be a Continue reading “Acceptance and Tolerance”

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“No Gays Served”

On the Daily Show last night they played a clip from Fox News where they compared the situation in Indiana in regards to the so-called religious freedom act to forcing Jews running a bakery to serve Nazis.

My response to that would be:

First and foremost you are not comparing apples and apples.  Nazism was a political movement that as part of their core philosophy incorporated racism, anti-Semitism and the extermination of all inferior beings (physical deformed, mentally handicap, etc.) as defined by the Nazi party.  Homosexuality is just another common expression of human sexuality.  Any moral repugnance is more an expression of a person’s religion or culture. It is no worse or better than heterosexuality, just not as common.   To say a person is gay, is no different than saying they are black or blonde or Hispanic.  It is simply a characteristic of a person.

While at one level I believe we should be able to do business with only who want to, there are so many areas of life where this is not true now.  We cannot choose on the basis of color, ethnicity, religion or gender who we rent or sale a house to, who we serve in a restaurant, who we hire, who we accept into a school and many more things. What the Indiana law is attempting to do is codify a religious belief to allow discrimination against a specific minority.  One way to marginalize any group is restrict where and what they can do.  I do not find that morally or ethically justifiable.

Really in the long run what is the difference between a sign that reads “Whites Only” or “No Coloreds” and one that reads “No Gays Served”?

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Mrs. Wolowitz

I stopped by REI in St. Louis on the way home today. As is my custom when I go there I took a swing through the men’s clothing to see if there was anything on sale that I Mrs. Wolowitzabsolutely could not live without. There was not.

As I was strolling through the department I noticed a man of medium height, slender build, bald head and fortyish in age. He was trying on Outdoor Research hats, not an uncommon sight in REI. I am few strides past the man when I hear a loud, nasal, female voice with a very pronounced Jewish accent say, “You’re going to Brooklyn, why do you need Gore-Tex?”

Thinking that I would be the one to finally see Howard Wolowitz’s mother I leisurely made a u-turn by a rack of pants. Imagine my disappointment when instead of Mrs. Wolowitz, I see an attractive looking woman who appeared to be about 10 years younger than the man trying on the Gore-Tex hats.

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I like Maude Adams

Maude AdamsMy father had a little ritual that he did almost without fail. Folks would be talking about anything, and someone would say, “I like xyz.” Of course folks being folks someone else would say, “I like abc,” or perhaps, “I like xyz too.” And so it would go around the room. At some point my father would pipe up with, “I like Maude Adams.” He always thought this extremely hilarious, but it did have the effect of causing a lull in the conversation.

I have found myself doing this from time to time, much to the consternation of my bride who has a tendency to reply, “No you don’t.”

I came across a quote the other day from Maude Adams. So I went looking for a picture of her. Turns out she is stage actress who lived from 1872 to 1953. She appeared in numerous Broadway productions. Here is a link to the Wikipedia article on Maude Adams. She was also a very beautiful woman and from that perspective there is much to like about her. Having found that, I began to wonder about the origin of the phrase, “I like Maude Adams.” I found a couple difference references. One was in a 1950 movie, The Happy Years, based on a book by Owen Johnson. I found the following posted on an online movie board: Continue reading “I like Maude Adams”

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Bitch Slapped by Wee Dog

lilyRobin recently added a member to our family, the Wee Dog aka Lily. I’m not a big pet person. Not because I do not like cats and dogs, but I just do not find the work and responsibility associated with them being outweighed by benefits gained. Robin is not of my opinion.

The Wee Dog is a rescue dog and as such came with a set of baggage and benefits. One of the benefits was that she was already house trained. Since we have had her there have only been a few “accidents”, and always late at night. To prevent such re-occurrences Robin shuts the Wee Dog up with us in our bedroom at night. Robin does not seem to mind what would be to me an onerous chore. She is quite willing to get up in the middle of night to let Lily out to do her business.

Now the Wee Dog does not bark to notify us of her need, she licks. She has a dog bed she sleeps in for the most part, but when she needs to go out she jumps up in bed with us. She almost always does so on my side. I theorize that she does this because our bed is high and she is short. On my side she can get a bit of a running start to make the leap. For some reason of late she has started licking on me which does not make sense as I never take her out in the middle of the night. I really do not like a dog licking me, especially when it is to wake me up. After a short period of time she gives up and starts to work on Robin.

She did this routine the other night, but the way the Wee Dog situated herself to attack Robin with her tongue left her tail in my face. The Wee Dog is an enthusiastic being, and she is particularly enthusiastic when she is licking one of her humans. Like all dogs this enthusiasm plays out via her tail which she was wagging vigorously. However, with my face where her tail was, she was bitch slapping me with each and every wag of her tail. That night I did expedite the situation by nudging Robin.

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Rev. Joe’s Random Thought # 9,477

yeah I know you did not ask!

The crow has the largest brain, relative to its body size, of any bird.  Studies show that crows may be almost as intelligent as monkeys.

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Rev. Joe’s Random Thought # 2,465

yeah I know you did not ask!

I understand Ted Cruz. It is not a difficult thing to do. He is a nutcase… certifiably so. What I do not understand are the people of Texas that elected this nutcase to a Senate seat. That is beyond my comprehension

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The Phantom of the Opera at The Fabulous Fox

Phantom_of_the_Opera_Mask_by_EBlackmoreWe saw The Phantom of the Opera presented at The Fabulous Fox Theatre on March 7, 2015. I had long desired to see this Broadway presentation of the classic novel by Gaston Leroux. I had this yearning for a two-fold reason. First, the show has had such good press and reviews over the years I was sure it must be at the pinnacle of theatrical delight. Secondly, having read the book I was curious to see how they were going to adapt it to stage. This curiosity was driven by the beauty and the beast paradigm that the show’s advertising seems to apply to the Opera Ghost and to Christine Daaé. My reading of the book gave me no such impression. While Leroux attempted to bring the reader around to a position of pity for Erik at the end of the book, in my opinion Erik’s misdeeds outweighed the one act of good that he did out of love(?).

The stars of this presentation were Chris Mann as the Phantom of the Opera. Mr. Mann is a graduate of the talent show, NBC’s The Voice. He was Christina Aguilera’s finalist on that show.

Katie Travis played the role of Christine Daaé, and Storm Lineberger was Raoul, Vicomte de Chagny.

To put it bluntly, Continue reading “The Phantom of the Opera at The Fabulous Fox”

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Not your average NPR feed…‘Am I Normal?’ Check Biggest Study Yet Of Penis Size, Among 15,000 Men

I found this story on my NPR feed on Facebook.  It is definitely not what you would expect from them.  They ware actually linking to another site, and here is that link.

‘Am I Normal?’ Check Biggest Study Yet Of Penis Size, Among 15,000 Men

Anything I could add would be superfluous.  But do remember the graph is centimeters. There are 2.54 centimeters to the inch.

penis graph

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Select Shorts podcast – Against All Odds

I am absolutely in love with this show, Select Shorts and generally listen to the podcast every week. Their description of the show is as follows:

“Its story time for adults with PRI’s award-winning series of short fiction read by the stars of stage and screen. Recorded live at Peter Norton Symphony Space in NYC and on tour. A co-production of Symphony Space and WNYC Radio.”

This week’s show was especially good. The first reading by Amy Ryan was of Lauren Groff’s , At the Round Earth’s Imagined Corners, a tale of a sensitive boy growing up in a house full of snakes. Her imagery was as delicious as the story was captivating.

The second reading which starts about 33:30 was intense, and of more than general interest as I spent 3 years in Jackson, MS. I recognized many of the landmarks he referenced. It is a coming of age story in the racist South by writer Kiese Laymon. The essay, How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America, is read by Brandon J. Dirden. I found it very intense, and emotional. It is an essay that lingers as you maul over injustices in our nation.

Against All Odds NPR podcast