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Stephen Colbert Testifies before Congress

God Bless Stephen, he never got out of character and still made his point.

It would be interesting to see what would happen if Americans had to pay a fair cost for their food. If the food was not harvested by exploited illegal immigrants, if our meat supply was done in an ethical manner, if our food supply was truly food and not laboratory products…

Click the link below to watch.

Stephen Colbert’s Testimony before Congress

Here is a link to an article where folks were upset with his testimony.

Steny Hoyer: Stephen Colbert’s Testimony To Congress Was ‘An Embarrassment For Mr. Colbert’

My personal take was it was wonderful.  If you invite a cat in the house and sharpens its claws on the furniture whose fault is it?  He was funny, yet made a lot of good points.  The one at the end was probably one Congress did not want to hear, but is very true.  Stephen was asked to leave the meeting room after his “performance”.   Those sleaze balls in Congress take themselves much, much too seriously.

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Okay, how old am I?

This morning was the morning of my colonoscopy.  No problems, after a year of arm twisting from my Internist I went for the screening procedure.

My girlfriend drove me there and waited with me, and then waited for me.  As I was waiting my turn, for some reason behind my paper I begin to make fart noises.  My girlfriend chided me telling this was not an appropriate place to be doing that.  I cannot think of a better place myself. Continue reading “Okay, how old am I?”

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Rod, Rod…Don’t Leave Me Here

IHOP I went a hoppingI had medical procedure this morning.  My girlfriend drove me there, waited and then drove me home as it would be better for me not to drive post procedure.  Ella es una grande joya.

On the way back she offered to treat me to breakfast as I had not eaten for the 24 hours prior.  I mentioned something about Waffle House.  The pecan waffles there are just killer and you just gotta love that ambiance.  If it was good enough for Roy ‘Tin Cup’ McAvoy, it ought to be good enough for me.

But that is not what we did.  She saw an IHOP on the way there so in we went.  I’ve only eaten at IHOP 2 or 3 times before, and the last time was at least 10 years ago, maybe more. Continue reading “Rod, Rod…Don’t Leave Me Here”

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Another Annoyance of Life in the 21st Century

You are walking through a building and you see someone you know.  You are approaching each other at right angles.   You smile, wave, say hi; invoke some method to acknowledge their presence in the universe.  They responded weakly in the same or similar manner.   

As you pass each other you hear them speaking so you turn and indicate that you did not quite pick up what they just said. 

They turn and look at you in an annoyed manner,  indicating that they are talking on the phone. 

Sorry, I did not see the Bluetooth tucked beneath your hair.

I remember several years ago when these devices first became popular.  I was in the San Antonio airport returning from a job interview.   It was the middle of the week so there were a lot of business travelers.  It seemed that just about half of them had Bluetooth earpieces.  As they walked around talking on these things the little lights were flashing.  What immediately came to mind is from Star Trek: The Next Generation, “We are Borg, you will be assimilated.”

I think we are well on our collective way.

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The Quotable Juanita

My father passed away 5 years ago February 19th. He had a massive stroke back around 1996. He basically cheated death at that time, and my mother always referred to the ensuing years as “their bonus” years. And they were.

Even though he had been in poor health for many years it is still a shock when your partner of 50 plus years dies. My mother was cast adrift in her grief for a considerable period of time. Fortunately, time is frequently the best doctor in these situations, and life does go on.

At some point when she began to feel better and get out and about, she ran into a female acquaintance. Of course, they begin to chat. It would not have been my mother otherwise. This lady begin to tell my mother how good she looked, and how much younger than her years that she appeared. I think there was a comment in there about how fresh and youthful her skin appeared. She then asked my mother who was 70 something at the time, if she had thought about getting remarried.

My mother’s remark back to her was, “It is one thing to grow old with a man; it would be quite another thing to marry an old man.”

Y’all just thought Oscar Wilde had some pithy quotes.

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Sacrifice is for the little people

Paul Krugman’s op-ed piece for Monday, September 20, 2010.  The Angry Rich

This is why I have become so discouraged in our political system.  It may have never been about the majority of the folks in this country, but I feel it is even more skewed towards the elite today.   A quote from the op-ed piece:

“And among the undeniably rich, a belligerent sense of entitlement has taken hold: it’s their money, and they have the right to keep it. “Taxes are what we pay for civilized society,” said Oliver Wendell Holmes — but that was a long time ago.”

It is amazing how many middle class folks agree with this feeling of the very rich that the rich are entitled.  The wealth gap continues to grow in the United States, the people living in poverty is rising, unemployment remains high, our infrastructure continues to crumble, our children’s education is falling behind most of the rest of the industrialized world and deficits continue to grow. 

These folks have no real loyalty beyond their pocket books.  I would be angry, but the energy would be wasted. It saddens and discourages me beyond measure that an elite few control the political agenda of this country. 

What was it Spock said, “The good of the many outweighs the good of the few, or the one.”  Apparently not in America in 2010.

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Random Thought # 762,514

…yeah I know you did not ask!

A while back I was watching Monster’s Ball with a girlfriend.  The scene came on where Billy Bob Thornton is in a motel room with a local “lady” of the evening.  The act was very impersonal with the hooker acting like they were chatting over coffee. It was definitely going to be one of those cases of a mini rate for a mini stay.

The girlfriend asked me if that is how it was.  I replied that I had no idea since I had never engaged professional services for that area of my life.  And I have not.

I have since ruminated on that conversation.  If I ever got to the point where I was so horny that I thought I needed those services, it would probably be over so quickly as to make it not worth the money spent.  Plus the Scottish in me would not allow me to pay for something I could take care of myself. Please don’t tell Christine O’Donnell. She might have to place me on a Wiccan altar and have a midnight sacrifice/picnic. Cream with your coffee, Christine?

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Wheelies at 70 mph

I’m sure it is a huge adrenalin rush.  Since they had on helmets I could not tell their age, but they were probably late teens or early twenties. This age group believes itself essentially invincible. Otherwise how do you explain some of their behaviors? 

We were headed east on I-270 in St. Louis.  The interstate here is 8, maybe 10 lanes across.  It is generally heavily traveled with the traffic moving between 60 and 70 miles per hour.  In the west bound lane were three kids on “crotch rockets”, those motorcycles that are essentially racing bikes made street legal.  As they were passing the other traffic, two of the riders were doing wheelies. 

I have seen this behavior before in Tulsa city traffic.  The stupidity amazed then, and it still amazes me now.

Perhaps they should pass a law.  If you do wheelies on one of these contraptionson on public roads then you are deemed too stupid or too irresponsible to own one. They then impound your machine, sell it, and give the money to a non-profit that works with folks made paraplegic from motorcycle accidents.

Or maybe we should just let genetic selection takes its course and let them opt of the the gene pool.

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IQ Test for Driver’s License

A while ago I riding somewhere with a friend.  Another driver did something totally inane.  My friend began growling angrily about the driver’s intelligence. 

I remarked to him that you did not have to pass an IQ test to get a driver’s license.  If you did there would probably be half the cars on the road  as there are now. 

I thought about what I had said for minute then added that if you had to pass a courtesy test the roads would essentially be empty.  I’m not excluding myself from the last category.  There is something about being behind a steering wheel that seems to turn seeming nice folks into thugs.

Until they institute such test, buckle your seatbelts.