What is Wrong with You?

 I see an article in which the cases of child rape are up 72% since the pandemic started. 

And a large number of people raping these kids are family members( No shock there)

Bored, kids are home from school due to Covid, often staying with family members while Mom and Dad work.....And they are staying with Aunt Naive and Uncle Nasty. 

Uncle Nasty gets a few Natty Lights in him and that 12 year old niece starting to develop secondary sexual characteristics is all of a sudden "prey." 

You know it makes you wonder just how much of the family sexual abuse is going on and we never learn about it? 

In the movie "Twin Peaks" Harry Dean Stanton makes the remark " It's busier around here than 'Uncle Discount Day' at the local Whorehouse." 

It seriously makes you wonder how many Nasty-ass Sumofabitches would play " slap and tickle" with family members if they could "get away with it?"

You know, it reminds me of two stories I was somewhat in the middle of when I was teaching in the Houston area. 

The first one involved the father screwing his cheerleader daughter. Got her pregnant, and she took an overdose. Took her days to finally pass. It was the quietest I have ever heard a high school. Literally quiet for 2 weeks. 

The dad of course eventually went to prison. 

The second story involved a brother and sister playing " Hide the weenie. "

The boy was a high school senior, the girl was in 8th grade. And it was the girl who initiated the sex. 

They were caught, and the entire family left the area. No charges were filed. 

These people were not "White trash." They were "upstanding" members of the community. Well to do financially.

In the brother/ sister incest, the boy and girl were both in the " in crowds" at their respective schools. The boy's girlfriend might have been the cutest, sweetest girl in the junior class......But for some reason, they wound up playing out some sort of porn site fantasy. ( And apparently, it wasn't a one or two time deal. they waited until their parents left for work in the summer so they could "practice" as they called it. Apparently the brother used condoms.  )

It makes you wonder, just how much of this shit goes on and we don't know about it...It's swept under the rug.

Why? How Come? I Do Not know.....

 -The older I get, the more glad I only have 10-20 years to go on earth. I don't think I could live through the next 50.

-Where are we going to get people to be police? Heck who is going to want to teach school? 

- Heck, we can't get young people to do anything that involves getting dirty for a living anymore....Or very few. ( I need to tell the story of my friend trying to hire  college students)

- Have you tried to buy lumber recently? I had a little for fun project, went to the lumber yard, saw the lumber prices and decided I could live without the project. 

- If you haven't noticed, the price of houses in this state is going up......In some cases, doubled in the last 2 years.....Except of course in SE Texas. Then again, who in their right mind would want to live in hurricane alley?

- I wonder how long before we wake up and realize some other nation is "Number 1" We're too busy fighting ourselves and bitching and complaining instead working to do something about it.

- Do we really need 3 hour bra infomercials? 

- And I just saw an ad on TV for a " new" birth control. It was using the same ingredients the " Soiled Doves" used in the brothels in the Old West. And had a 15% failure rate. 

-  Do you wonder how many people in this country are just miserable? 

-  I saw where they were going to require teachers and professors in Florida to allow students to tape lectures. I can see that becoming a game of " gotcha." 

- I don't know, in a bad mood today....

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Special " Bonus"

 So, I have given up with American sports. Too much politics. Both sides. And they wonder why the TV ratings are down. 

Anyway, I have started to watch Japanese baseball. Pretty good ball, no politics....and according to the rules the teams can have a couple of Americans on the team. 

The couple of games I watched the American announcer was talking about a " Special Bonus" the American players were trying to get. 

Not a clue what the special bonus was? 

63 year old me was thinking the following. 

A bag full of cash? A bigger apartment? A new Lexus? 

Then and I could not help it, 15 year old me, and adolescent guys appear from time to time, came out....Again, remember ladies, when you marry, you will have to raise your husband. Sorry, just the way it is...

Anyway, 15 year old me made an ugly appearance and said maybe the " Special Bonus" is............................All the 21 year old Japanese girls you can stand. 

Sorry, we try, but sometimes teenage me just " shows up." 

You Just Don't Give a Damn About Anyone But yourself...Do You?

 So, I read a story coming out of South Florida( Goofier it is, the more likely it will be in Florida)....

It seems a man who had a 16,000 square foot mansion had put the mansion up for sale. And a prospective buyer toured the place several times, including taking photos. 

The house was on the market for $5.7 million dollars. 

The prospective buyer ( henceforth known as the groom) asked the owner if he could use the grounds of the mansion( It had several acres of land) for he and his fiancee's wedding. 

The owner told the groom, " No." 

The bride and groom go ahead and send out invitations to their wedding at the mansion.( They call the mansion " Their Dream Home" in the invitation, like they own it.)

On the day of the wedding, the owner of the house find people, including guests, caterers, and a jazz band banging on the gate to be let in. 

The "guests" refuse to leave and the homeowner has to call the police. 

The groom tells the police that he thought " The owner did not live in the house." ( He didn't, he was staying in a guest house on the grounds.) And that " God told him the wedding was going to take place there." 

I was surprised at the number of people in comments on the story, who thought that the owner should have let them use the grounds for the wedding.... ( The wedding including the reception was to take place from 3:30PM until 2:30AM)

What is wrong with people? Why are we so self-entitled now? 

Satan is Good, Satan is Your Pal!

 So, I got to looking at classes you now have to take at Lamar University in order to earn a B.A. in History.

Most of the classes are the same, still have to do a Historical Research class.( I took it from Peter Isaac back in the day) Still have to do World Civilization Surveys. 

But now you have to complete a junior-level US History class covering America from the Gilded Age until 1945. Why that particular period of time, I do not know?

And I look to see what courses are offered at the senior level.

- American Revolution and Early National Era. This class has been taught at Lamar forever. I know when I was there Marion Holt was the instructor.  She taught that class 35 years. I liked Marion, she was very laid back and relaxed. Good teacher. She would buy chili for Canterbury Club when St. Mark's was having the chili sale fund raiser. There was chili in the Canterbury Club for a week afterwards.

- Samurai and Ninjas. I looked up the course and the description was poor.  Not sure if it was discussing the dynasties during that time period? Or the 5% of the Japanese population who were Samurai and Ninjas. 

Finally I was stunned when I saw this class. 

-Witchcraft and the Occult in Early Modern Europe. 

I can just see that on a transcript of some want to be history teacher in East Texas. I can just see the 2A or 3A school board when they see that included, a Witchcraft History course on a transcript of some history teacher's teaching application . 

Now I can see the class as graduate class......But how many high school lessons in reality are you going to get out of the Witchcraft Class? 

Hell, how many lessons are you going to get out of a Samurai class? You'd be better off offering a Modern China 1912-Present or an Imperial China 221 BC to 1912 AD class.  

I don't know. Undergraduate history classes are supposed to help teachers prepare to teach.....And I don't see two of the 3 classes helping much....If at all....( And I wonder who is now teaching Texas History now that Mr. Taucer's buddy, has retired?)

You Need to Help Your Parents....Grandparents

 So, I made a quick trip to M-Ville. Had to get a prescription, some chicken broth at the dollar store, and picked up a couple of half price 'Happy Hour' Dr. Peppers at DQ for Deb and I. 

You got to do something about grandma.....Or hell, maybe your mom. 

They got to learn how to use a debit card or a credit card....Hell, even cash is better than this.....

They are still using technology,well checks were first used in India before the birth of Christ, but the check as we understand it today is the same technology pioneered by the Bank of England in the early 1700s. ( It was the Bank of Scotland who started putting personalized names on checks in the early 1800s.)

I got behind two grandmas today at the 'stores' and both wrote checks. 

I cannot remember the last time I wrote a check. 

It took forever for them to write those damn checks. And one, bless her heart, had to write her check twice. And after she got her receipt, while we were all waiting recorded her check in the checkbook. And neither of these women were much older than me. I swear it was 15 minutes waiting on these two women. One person in line behind me gave up, put his stuff back and left. ( And one of the ladies' checks was for $9.07.)

Come on, would it kill you to learn how to use a debit card or a credit card? Or hell, using cash is faster. 

Come on, even my 90 year old mom uses modern technology. 

Help grandma out.

Gov. McConaughey?

 So, in a bit of a shocker of a poll, yesterday's Dallas Morning News/UT-Tyler's Poll show that Matthew McConaughey has a 12 point led on the sitting Gov. Abbott in the 2022 election poll. 

And McConaughey hasn't even announced that he is running for Texas Governor. 

Ah, the " Cult of Personality." 

Elected Reagan in the 60s, Schwarzenegger in recent times to the governor's mansion. 

Heck, we don't even know what issues McConaughey stands for......Is he a Democrat? A Republican? An Independent? 

If he runs as a Democrat he might put that saying that Texas is starting to "Purple" to the test. In the last Presidential election both major political party candidates got 7million plus votes in this state....It's closer than you think people. 

Don't say it can't happen. Texas is no longer a rural state, it is urbanizing fast. Especially on that I-35 Corridor from San Antonio to Dallas-Fort Worth. 

And as I said that " Cult of Personality" is a strong influence in elections......

All right, all right, all right....  

We shall see......

 

The Book- " The 'N' Word" at Buna?

 I have heard from a couple of ex-students upset about the reference to the book " The 'N' Word." It talks about how, and who can use the term. 

I don't know what is going on. It seems that the controversy started from John Steinbeck's book " Of Mice and Men."  And in the book, the "N" word is used. The book and I am going from memory was published in  1937. ( Yes, that's my final jeopardy answer) ( And the "N" word is used often to discuss one of the characters in the book.)

"Huckleberry Finn" Mark Twain's book has the "N" word in it, but if you read it in context, it is a slap at racist Whites. 

I am not a fan of Steinbeck, just a personal choice......Hell, if I was teaching American Lit in HS, I'd really stir up controversy and make you read Kurt Vonnegut's " Breakfast of Champions." In the middle of the book is a drawing of an asshole. 

At this point in time I don't know who should get upset anymore. 

I use the two terms " Coonass" and "Mick" to describe the fact I have Cajun and Irish ancestry. 

Should I get upset if you call me a Coonass? ( I know some people think it shouldn't be used.)

Should I get upset if you call me a Mick? ( In Boston unless you're a Mick, they do.)

I don't know what is going on. I wonder if as Shakespeare said....  This is "much ado about nothing?"

I Don't Understand Anymore

 If there is anyone who appreciates being " different" well, it's me. Hell, most of my family  think I am " Not Quite Right."

The British would call it " Eccentric." 

But the older I get the more I don't understand society....Or people. 

I read the British Newspapers every morning along with the American ones and all over the British press is the fact that Elon Musk's girlfriend has gotten a new tattoo covering her back in " White Ink." 

I take a look, and it looks like someone has beat the hell out of her with a whip. 

She calls it " Alien Scars."( Illegal Alien or from Jupiter?)

Here is a link to the photo. https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2021/04/13/08/41635376-9464889-Inked_The_Canadian_musician_first_revealed_her_new_back_tattoo_o-a-2_1618298849474.jpg

I don't give a good damn if you got ink.  ( I really don't.)

But sometimes you got to be wondering just how weird we are going to get in this country. Maybe she and Musk are into beating the hell out of each other. Just a permanent version of their BDSM. 

I don't know anymore....

What the Cornbread F*ck, We Hit Bottom and Become White Trash at the Compound-

 So, I have subscribed to Peacock at the Compound. Mainly to watch English Football( soccer) here at the Compound. ( Ever the Anglophile)

Cuppa tea, a spot of milk and Tottenham Spurs ball club. Just be disappointed....Like watching the Cowboys or Texans. 

This morning, I see that Peacock has add WWE "Rasslin" to their lineup including last night's  "Wrestlemania." 

So, this AM with my cuppa of Barry's Gold Tea I watch " Rasslin'." 

 Worst mess I have ever watched.....Didn't know the rasslers. Didn't know the story line going on. I knew I was done when about 25 rabbits, or people dressed at rabbits went into the ring to support some rapper who is call " Bad Bunny" "Sick Bunny" " Shit Bunny." I don't know, I do not care. Don't correct me, I may delete you.  It was horrid at best.

I had not watched rasslin' since I don't know, Wahoo McDaniel and Gorgeous George were  Rasslin'. 

If anything it has gotten worse. 

I do not see me watching " Part II" of Wrestlemania tonight on Peacock.

 

 

You Knew This Sh*t was Coming-

 So today, Mr. Biden has come up with executive orders of firearms. 

I wonder if he knows how little this will actually do? 

I am a gun owner. I own assault type weapons. 

I wonder if he really understands the only people who will follow the law are people who care little about the law anyway? 

They are going after people who are honest gun owners. 

I know people are all upset about the so called " Ghost Guns." Guns that don't have any sort of numbers/ That are put together by an owner themselves. You know, the damn government doesn't need to know if you own a gun or not. Seriously. I worked most of my life for government entities and they were the least people I trusted. 

If the government could somehow guarantee my safety, I may understand gun control, but they can't. 

I was afraid there would be a ban of the importation of firearms and ammo.  Heck, the only interesting firearms made today are made overseas. ( I am sorry a 1911 is boring, made before WW1, it is old technology)

I wonder where this will end?

Come to Their Senses

 Apparently, several people " Came to their senses" in the last 24 hours. 

In the last 24 hours I have had 3 wedding I was scheduled to be the officiate cancelled. 

One late yesterday, they were getting married in October, they cancelled. ( I look for them to marry later)

Two, one through an email, one through a Facebook cancellation, both June weddings cancelled overnight. 

I am hoping the bride came to their senses and decided " I don't need this." I am guessing the bride is figuring " I am already raising a child, I don't need another one to raise( the husband)...."

Anyway, I am open the first and last Saturday in June. I don't know, if I don't hear anything I may go to the Farm and stay up there the month of June. ( Or not, NE Texas get hotter than 9 yards of 'you know what' in the June. Even with a new Central Air system in the house.

Manned Up

 I know the mortuaries no longer do this for insurance reasons.....

But what ever happened to "Sitting up with the dead." 

I know I manned up and sat up with all my grandparents when other cousins would not. And I have dozens of cousins on both sides.

In the 70s, I say up with my grandfather ( Maternal, my paternal died before I was alive.) my Grandmothers both maternal and paternal. And I know I had dozens, literally, dozens of cousins on both side who would not do for fear, the grandparent would sit up.  

I do not know, even as a child I had no fear of dead people. I seriously considered at one time going to the Mortuary school McNeese State had in the 1970s. ( Perry, my brother did too)

But in the 1970s, when my grandparents died I was the first the volunteer to ( sit up with the dead.)  

It is a tradition that went back millennium, before embalming when people were not sure people were dead. 

Those of you reading this do not understand how spooky a funeral home is at 2AM. And generally, the person with you sitting up was " not quite right." 

It makes you wonder, what they thought of me? 

This is for my older readers.....Have you ever " Sat up with the dead?"

 

Come On...Really?

 So, the latest unhappiness revolves around having a " Vaccine Passport." 

The Vaccine Passport shows you have been vaccinated for the Covid virus. 

Already some state governors are keeping businesses from requiring  customers and others from being required to show a passport in order to enter the business. 

Why not? For years businesses have had no shoes, no shirts, no entry signs. 

For years students have been required to get a list of vaccinations in order to attend school. 

Heck, for me to be hired by the Buna ISD I had to show a negative TB test. ( Dayton ISD had "misplaced" mine and I had to get a second one at the Port Arthur City Health Clinic before I could go to work in Buna ISD. Port Arthur charged me "nothing" because I was a school teacher.)

Heck a 100 years ago, I had to sign a notarized affidavit that " I was not now, nor have I ever been a member of the Communist Party."( It was required of all teachers. I assume they no longer have to do this?)

I wonder how these passports will work? 

I know there will be passports developed for travel as you know most nations will require them for travel. I am assuming the US will require them for people traveling into the US. 

Heck to drive a car we need-  

A state issued license,
 Passing a written test and an on-the-road test,
 Proof of insurance,
 Use of seat belts,
 Working windshield wipers,
 Headlights

Heck, we inspect restaurants. 

Why can't businesses require that people are not sick? Or at least an attempt to prove they are not sick? 

 

Damn You to Hell Matt Witt

 I have got to go back to the doctor and get my meds changed. 

Last night I dreamed Matt Witt was in my front yard, singing and dancing around my flagpole.....

Nekkid. 

I yelled at him to " Put some clothes on" and he just laughed....And said, " I'm Dean Martin."

I shot him in the "pills" with a BB gun. 

Last thing I remember in the dream was he was hollering and running down the KCS train track.....Still nekkid.  

I got to get a new prescription.

 

Less Than 50%

 For the first time since they started keeping records on this, less than 50% of American belong to any church. The percentage is like 47%. 

I am not shocked. I am an ordained minister. Am an alumni of a theological seminary. I grew up in a time in which I went to church Sunday Morning, Sunday Night, Wednesday Night, heck whenever the doors were open, I was at church.....To the point, I think I was in Europe the last time I was in church. 

I no longer associate myself or actually am a member of any church. 

Why should I? I get nothing out of it when I go. The sermons are boring. The music is pop music dressed up with the words now saying " Jesus" instead of talking about romantic love gained or lost. 

The people in the pews have nothing in common with me. They speak English( barely) and I've been to England( the UK) 3 times in the last 6 years. ( We plan to go to England in 2022.) 

The church cares more about telling you what to think and what you can't do, rather than get you thinking. 

Churches are so caught up in politics it makes you wonder. One group has become an arm of the Republican Party. And telling you what to do.....Another group is ' Woke ' and want to make you feel bad because you are a white male. 

One religious side supported the GOP so long they don't know how to condemn their own, such as the congressman out of Florida who is alleged to have been having sex with 17 year old girls. Paid for women to travel, bought elaborate gifts, gave them cash...And showing nudes of women who they slept with to other members on the floor of the US House of Representatives. 

The lowest group with church membership are the millennials.  

My child is a millennial. He hates the church and all it stands for. Not God, not Jesus, the church. Why should he like them? Church members have done nothing but question everything he's done throughout his life. Including question why he " Couldn't get a white wife?"

The church has no one to blame but themselves. The entertainment factor. The money factor. The fact they want laws that effect other people, because they don't want other people to do whatever. ( drink, gamble, etc.)

There is no missionary spirit. They really don't want someone different or a little strange to sit on the same pew as they do. 

And in truth, who wants to spend an hour on Sunday with a bunch of Karens.

There's No Place Like Home....There's No Place Like Home.....

 Deb and I spent the last two day Tuesday-Wednesday in Houston. It was her turn for doctor's appointments. I guess we are of that age. 

We had enough points that we could get a hotel room for free, so we stayed Tues-Weds night at the Hyatt Regency downtown Houston. 

Yes Sir, Jed Clampett and Granny come to town. 

The Hyatt Regency has 900+ rooms, and is 30 stories ( We were on the 23rd story) and I think occupancy was at <10%.  Nice hotel, but downtown Houston was dead. Literally due to Covid, no one was working or staying downtown. 

We had a hard time finding a restaurant that was open, and for lunch was lucky to find a Wimpy Burger open. ( Good burger, next to the Hyatt.) 

Due to the traffic alone, I could not live in Houston. And I understand road rage. We got horns blown at us for well, we are not sure what we did. All I know is one time I had my hand on a 9mm with hollow points ready to shoot our way out of the situation. 

The doctor situation was no better. As a visitor( care giver as I was referred to at one place) I often had to wait in a "visitor jail" complete with a jailer, who regulated when I got in and out of my holding cell. This of course is due to Covid. 

On the way home after we found a Tex-Mex place in LaPorte. ( Gringos on Underwood near San Jacinto Monument. Pretty good Tex-Mex. We always travel down Hwy 225 to avoid I-10 in Houston and Baytown.) We are just amazed at how much the Barber's Hill area is grown with suburban sprawl. I made the remark as we saw the " Houses Starting at $350,000" being built, "It won't be long before they will be building subdivisions in Anahuac."....Sure enough on Hwy 61 which leads to Anahuac off I-10, I see signs for new homes being built in a new subdivision in Anahuac ISD. Houston is headed this way. 

The trip reminded me that I was so glad to teach in rural parts of the state most of my career. 

And here is the sad part, we're going to have to travel back for more tests. We do have more points for a room. Maybe we can find an affiliated hotel not downtown to stay.