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 #8,264

yeah I know you did not ask!

You should so be blessed – well cursed at times actually – with a mind such as mine, making all these weird connections between my rumored neurons. Just be thankful that I do not share all of my random thoughts.

All my experience with Jewish temple services are in Reformed synagogues as that is the branch of Judaism that Señora follows.

In the temple, on the back of each pew are copies of the prayer book and of the Torah.  Many folks at these services speak or have a passing knowledge of Hebrew, but many do not.  For that reason, these books are in Hebrew and English. Typically the Hebrew is in the right column and the English is in the left.  Or the English translation is written just below the Hebrew.

As the principle language is Hebrew, a language read from right to left, as opposed to English which is read from left to right, they start at what English speakers would think of as the back of the book.  Thus the page numbers increase in an order opposite of what we are used to.

We were at a Bat Mitzvah today, and as I followed along in the prayer book I thought, “they should number books in English like this.  That way you would know how many pages you had left to read in the book.”

Or not.

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Oklahoma Senator Calls LGBTQ+ ‘filth’

Oklahoma State Senator Tom Woods was at a forum with other law makers when a woman asked:

“Why does the Legislature have such an obsession with the LGBTQ citizens of Oklahoma and what people do in their personal lives and how they raise their children?”

She then went on to bring up the Nex Benedict case.  This was a non-binary student who died after receiving a beat down from three girls in the school bathroom.  Although, the police are currently stating that Benedict did not die from trauma.

Senator Tom Woods responded by saying:

“We are a Republican state – supermajority – in the House and Senate. I represent a constituency that doesn’t want that filth in Oklahoma… We are a religious state and we are going to fight it to keep that filth out of the state of Oklahoma because we are a Christian state – we are a moral state.”

I have no idea what morality he is practicing, but in my universe his ersatz morality is resolutely immoral. I would apply my immorally moral to this man. If nothing else using such a pejorative as filth to denigrate a whole class of people is immoral. Within the bounds of the Golden Rule, people being who they are, and loving who they love are not immoral acts ~~ Book of David 1:1

Christianity, at its best, is a loving, accepting religion, providing a sense of community to many, ministering to the the poor and needy, giving a sense of purpose in a chaotic and unfathomable universe that is exceedingly arbitrary in its treatment of living things.

By and large, though, that is not what is practiced in this country, especially in the Bible Belt.  To me, it appears that more than a few ostensible Christians in these here Uniteds are having fantasies about renewing the Spanish Inquisition, or at least of setting up a theocracy. Talk about your Sharai law, it would be that, just a different flavor.

One of the few prayers I still say: God save us from the religious.

A couple links about the story:

Report: Oklahoma senator calls LGBTQ+ ‘filth’ when asked about Nex Benedict, gender legislation

Video Shows Nonbinary Teen Nex Benedict Reflecting on Fight Before Their Death

We need to do better.

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Rev. Joe’s Random Thought #6,928

yeah I know you did not ask!

You should so be blessed – well cursed at times actually – with a mind such as mine, making all these weird connections between my rumored neurons. Just be thankful that I do not share all of my random thoughts.

While there is a whole boatload of differences between single man and married men, one  coalesced into verbiage for me today.

Single men, if Aphrodite is smiling on them, help a woman to get undressed.

Married men, by the Decree of Hera, help a woman to get dressed.

“Would you zip up this dress for me dear?”

“Could you fasten my necklace for me?”

Just saying.

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Supreme Court Ethics: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver

I truly have never been more discouraged about this country than I have been in the last few years… this Supreme Court definitely plays into that discouragement.

I would hate to see John Oliver give this awful Supreme Court Justice $1,000,000 a year for life, but he certainly does not need to be on the Supreme Court bench.  Of course Clarence Thomas is 75 years old, statistically he will likely be out of here within 8 or 10 years.  However, at the end of the day, John Oliver has made a bet with himself that Clarence Thomas will not accept his offer.

We should have listened to Anita Hill.

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Cold, Dead Corpse…And You Did Not Call Me On It

I was expecting at least one or two people – JMR aka Dictionary Dude – to call me on a turn of phrase in a recent blog posting: Matrimonial Log – Star Date 5784.045

In this posting I used the following words: “…only to find a cold, dead corpse headed toward rigor mortis laying next to you the next morning.”

A corpse by definition is dead, therefore part of the phrase is redundant, if not repetitious.  But on the other hand, if you do a Google search on the word string “cold dead corpse”, it is everywhere you do not want to be. Essentially it is a very common way of expressing this situation. Ahh… language.

Next thing you know, I will be sharing dad jokes.

Just saying.

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Rev. Joe’s Random Thought #1,935

yeah I know you did not ask!

You should so be blessed – well cursed at times actually – with a mind such as mine, making all these weird connections between my rumored neurons. Just be thankful that I do not share all of my random thoughts.

I was just trying to figure out who is more bipolar.  Religious persons bouncing between seeing the hand of God or the work of the Devil everywhere, or investors in the stock market reading the tea leaves of earning reports.

I tend to ignore the first, but the readers of tea leaves are giving me whiplash.  Their ups and downs make Blanche DuBois look tame.

All together now… STELLA!

Just saying.

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Rev. Joe’s Random Thought #1,022

yeah I know you did not ask!

You should so be blessed – well cursed at times actually – with a mind such as mine, making all these weird connections between my rumored neurons. Just be thankful that I do not share all of my random thoughts.

Here is a thought experiment for you:  I wonder how different the world would be if the original European explorers had carried back to Europe cannabis from Asia instead of tobacco from the New World. Or if both, an early Bob Marley would have invented blunts and spiffs.

I’m thinking the world would be a much more mellow place.

Professor Peabody to your Wayback Machine…

Don’t get too wrapped in the ifs, ands, and buts, it is just a thought experiment. I know there always has been and always will be one group of people willing to take advantage of another group of folks.

But a world grooving to Reggae music is a cool thought.

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Italian Cream Cheese Cake

I could have entitled this article some Betty Sugg stories.

Working for the Government

I worked for the Arkansas Department of Health (ADH) for around six and half years stationed at the local health unit – most folks simply called it the County Health Department – in Crawford County, Arkansas. Crawford County is just across the Arkansas River from Ft. Smith and part of the county shares a border with Oklahoma. I was County Sanitarian, aka Health Inspector, the whole time I was there. Yeah, I inspected restaurants, but the duties of a County Sanitarian are much broader than that.

With the retirement of the other sanitarian, about a year and a half into my stint, I became Administrator of the local health unit. The ADH used a matrix system of management, one supervisor for your professional duties, and a different supervisor for your administrative responsibilities.  Essentially I was the office manager supervising administratively the nursing, clerical, sanitarian staff and other folks who traveled around to the various local health units.

A Co-worker

In an earlier article I made a passing reference to Italian cream cheese cake. This started my musings on a former co-worker, Continue reading “Italian Cream Cheese Cake”

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Rev. Joe’s Random Thought #1,255

yeah I know you did not ask!

You should so be blessed – well cursed at times actually – with a mind such as mine, making all these weird connections between my rumored neurons. Just be thankful that I do not share all of my random thoughts.

I wonder if I am the only one to whom the Terminator movies are looking more and more prescient?

I always have just thought of them a sub-genre of science-fiction that loves dystopian stories.  But it is increasing looking like we have the proverbial striped feline by the tail. IMHO, Science and Technology need to be asking should I rather than can I,  but that is an ages old question.  Just ask Dr. Frankenstein.

Random aside:  Our home Wi-Fi network is named SkyeNet.  There two reasons for this.  The first is obvious.  A reference back to the nefarious SkyNet of the Terminator movies. Since neighbors can see the name of Wi-Fi connections close to them, I wonder if it has any of them stuffing  a doomsday pack.

The second is an inside reference.  When Señora divorced she wanted her last name changed back to her maiden name and for various reasons her middle name changed to Skye. Her lawyer was less than competent, and besides costing her a dump truck load of money to her ex, he failed to change her middle name.  He did remember to get her last name changed. She is using Skye anyway except when legality necessitates otherwise.

And so it goes.

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I Am So Proud To Live In Missouri – Not

The following article from the alternative newspaper, Riverfront Times, popped up in my Google news feed: Missouri Ranks Dead Last in National Survey of LGBTQ+ Equality

I Misunderstood Missouri

I moved to St. Louis after living and working in Mississippi for over three years. While I left some good friends behind I was more than glad to get away from the religious conservatism that dominates politics down there.  My first impression of Missouri was of St. Louis which left me with a hopeful feeling. Then I discovered the rest of Missouri.   While St. Louis is more of a purple with bluish hues, the politics of the rest of the state is a Trumpian dystopia concerned with protecting so called guns rights and waging cultural battles against basic individual rights and freedoms, especially against women and folks with alternate lifestyles. It is deeply red, and, for me, very discouraging to the point of being depressing. Of course, I am an Okie by birth and with Oklahoma’s super hard turn to the far right, I find my native state even more depressing.

Why Would You Care

I really do not care what consenting Continue reading “I Am So Proud To Live In Missouri – Not”