Madder Than a Baptist Finding His Favorite Liquor Store Closed

GUNI really surprised myself as how quickly I went from wandering around REI Christmas shopping to madder than a Baptist finding his favorite liquor store closed.

The REI here is St. Louis is in one of the richest parts of town. The parking lot is full of Beamers, Mercedes and Teslas in addition to the expected Subabrus, Toyotas and Hondas. We were walking towards the front of the store to check out. Robin never noticed him, but there was a young man, perhaps in his late twenties, walking around with a 45 strapped to his waist. He was obviously not store security. He did not look like a plains clothes police office in his Australian outback hat. I had to turn around and walk towards the back of the store as my impulse was to walk up to him and say, “Unless you are carrying a badge, you are one stupid mother f***er.

I do not want to live in a society where people can walk around with lethal weapons strapped to their bodies. I consider concealed carry laws an atrocity beyond words. I have lived 63 years and I can think of only one situation where I might have wanted a gun. Instead I turned around and confronted the man verbally which was enough. It is insane to have to worry about accidentally triggering some mental case with a gun tucked away somewhere on their body. If I verbally abuse you, flip you off, or cut you off in traffic it is more insanity to have to worry about a weapon.

My personal opinion is that anyone that is willing to carry a weapon, openly or otherwise, in a situation where the need for it approaches an infinitesimal small percentage is not sane enough to carry a weapon.

 

Opinion Bombs

I have friends of color. I have a couple black friends with ties to Ferguson. I have white friends. I have friends, who are conservatives and others that are liberals. When I say friends I mean real and/or Facebook. Tobomb-477229_640 all of the above I could substitute the word friend with relatives. I mention this because in my Facebook feeds I get multiple opinions on the Michael Brown and Eric Garner cases. What has struck me most strongly is that there seems to be a strong dichotomy that is tending to break down along lines of color and position on the political spectrum.  People are not so much discussing the situation as throwing opinion bombs at each other.

There was one posting on the Michael Brown case with a lot of reinforcing comments to the posters opinion of Michael Brown being a criminal. What struck me so vividly was the way the posters and commenters saw blacks. They were definitely “others”. They were a group separate from them, and something to be feared. Last time I looked we were all humans and we all bleed red.

I’m not the first to notice this phenomenon, that we do not discuss issues anymore. Continue reading “Opinion Bombs”

Blowing kisses…

This does not happen often, but…

My hair is a little longer than is common today.  My attitude is at my age if you have it, flaunt it.  When I drive Li’Blue with the top down it blows my hair in a way I am sure is very dramatic!  (Insert the smiley face of your choice here)  Add to this mix the fact that some folks believe Miatas (MX5s) to be chick cars.  If they have  not driven one, their opinion would change if they did.  I will admit to making a woman scream more than once when she was in Li’Blue.

I’ll be driving along and feel a vehicle pull up even with me.  I know it is a guy (or guys) thinking it is a blonde female driving the car.  I’ve not done it YET, but I am always tempted to blow them a kiss.  I do turn my half-shaven, mustached face towards them and grin.  That is about the time they goose their vehicle.

Men are such pigs!

 

Strange sight.

I left work a little after 1730. I started to encounter traffic not far from the garage where I park. This is unusual as the garage is the last stop before the road next to the Mississippi River. Usually, what I see are tourists lost, not knowing where to turn.

Then THEY started to appear. First it was a stray pair or two. Then I started to see groups of 3 and 4. The groups began to coalesce into larger groups of a dozen or so. As I turned the corner and drove past the back side of the casino I saw more and more groups. What was scary was that they were walking far more rapidly than I was used to seeing. They were walking with a purpose! And not a one was walking head down, thumbs all akimbo, eyes lost in a micro-world of a smart phone.

As I approached the lights before the Edward Jones Dome the groups swelled to a tsunami. Everywhere I looked it was teeny-boppers with far too few clothes on. Yeah there was the occasional mother, and I did even see one teen boy of questionable gender.

It dawned on me that there must be a concert tonight in the Dome. So I looked it up when I finally arrived at the house. One Direction is playing tonight. To perfectly honest I have no idea who they are. From their website they look like the boy band de jour.

I’m under the opinion that for the most part women/girls dress for other females, except when they are obviously trolling. There must have been several thousand young girls, obviously trolling, with a fantasy that they would attract the attention of whoever their favorite of these boys de jour was.

Strange sight.

TicketMaster… a cynical, jaded company

Manager Peabody Opera House
1400 Market St.
St. Louis, MO 63103

Dear Sir/Madam:

I found out Emmy Lou Harris is coming to the Peabody Opera House.  Both my girlfriend and I were as excited as we are both huge, huge fans of hers.

I started looking into buying tickets and at first blush they did not seem too bad.  Then I realized I would have to buy them from TicketMaster, who in my humble opinion is one of most jaded, cynical companies in America.   I looked into buying them directly from the Peabody Opera House box office, and I discovered this was not an option.  So I bit the bullet and went online to purchase tickets from this evil, evil company.

I chose two $37 seats.  A $3 facility charge per ticket was added, and then a $9.20 convenience charge.  My $37 ticket was now up to $49.2.    Next they wanted to charge me to deliver the tickets to me, including an outrageous charge of $2.50 for me to print them myself????? But they were not done yet.  As I was checking out they added a $4.25 order processing fee.

There were 2 or 3 points in the whole processed I was so angered by the process that I nearly just closed the browser, but I did want to make my girlfriend happy.

Part of the thrill of going to these events is the anticipation.  After the ticket purchase process I have a bad taste in my mouth, and frankly feel violated.  My anticipatory fever has evaporated.

There really should be another option for buying your tickets beyond TicketMaster.  Failing that they should have a face value that includes all these additional charges so purchasers do not feel raped after the process

Sincerely,

———————–

These folks seem to have a monopoly on ticket sales in just all the markets I am aware of.   Why don’t we bust up monopolies like we used to.  Oh I forgot, our politicians are bought and paid for by these folks

You Must Believe Me

After all the allegations of sexual improprieties and an affair Herman Cain’s presidential bid is in a bit of a pickle.  Herman Cain is flying back to Atlanta to have a “face to face” with wife.  The result of the discussion, he said, will help him to the decision to soldier on or call it a day.  For some reason during the meeting I just picture the song, You Must Believe Me, from Curtis Mayfield& The Impressions playing in the background.

You Must Believe Me Lyrics

You must believe me
No matter what the people might say
You must believe me
Darling it just didn’t happen that way
No, no it just didn’t happen that way
Continue reading “You Must Believe Me”

The Raping of America

Now That’s Rich – New York Times op-ed piece by Paul Krugman

From the article:

“We need to pinch pennies these days. Don’t you know we have a budget deficit? For months that has been the word from Republicans and conservative Democrats, who have rejected every suggestion that we do more to avoid deep cuts in public services and help the ailing economy.

But these same politicians are eager to cut checks averaging $3 million Continue reading “The Raping of America”

Best Deal Auto Repair

Best Deal Auto Repair
5260 Elmore Road
Memphis, TN  38134

Dear Gerald,

I have used your services twice now.  I want to tell that I have been well pleased both times, especially so the last time.

As you know, a young woman with less than optimal driving skills damaged the front right portion of my 97 Ford F150 pickup.  Besides the obvious cosmetic damage there was extensive damage to the suspension.  Compounding the damage was the insurance carrier that this woman utilized.  Let us just say, that their business practices were less than optimal and in my opinion, borderline unethical.  Continue reading “Best Deal Auto Repair”

Why high-tech firms bring in foreigners

See link to blog below. But I can answer this question with one word, greed.

And contary to the report’s opinion, they do promote and put H1-B workers into advance position.

And what irratates me to no end, is that most of the recruiting companines for contract programmers seem to have fallen into the hands of folks from India. Add to that the fact they do not pay these workers the prevailing wages like the law dictates, and you have another screwing of the American worker.

Why high-tech firms bring in foreigners — Link removed

 

Would this treaty be signed today?

From the book, Doubt:  A History, by Jennifer Michael Hecht:

As second president of the United States, Adams signed into law the Treaty of Tripoli (1797), which declares that “the government of the United States is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion” and is in no way an enemy to Muslims.  On this basis “it is declared…that no pretext arising from religious opinion shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries.”  Further, “The United States is not a Christian nation any more than it is a Jewish or a Mohammedan nation.”  It was carried unanimously by the Senate.

I just have a hard time believing that a treaty containing such language would be passed at all today, let alone unanimously!

I could even see the Okie delegation storming out in protest.