Feck 'Em I'm Done

 Or should be. 

Had an absolute rodeo of a wedding this weekend. I don't want to know how much the bride's mom and dad spent for this mess not to occur. 

No, not ex-students, but they approached me for the couple to do the wedding. 

The bride became such a bridezilla, the groom came to his senses at the last moment to call it off. I was literally dressed going to the rehearsal when it was called. 

Not the first time this has happened, but after I was sent 3 different wedding vows, how they want 'odd-ball' stuff, well, I was ready to get out of it for my personal sanity. 

In the end, I am glad "they" called it off, but you know, there are a ton of other people involved. 

This is why I am a huge fan of "small" weddings and eloping. You really want to live with someone, well, "forever" as the vows says, all this ancillary stuff is just crap. 

I am close to de-frocking myself after this past weeks rodeo. 

Spend the money on a new house. 

Something is Rotten in the State of Buna

 Hate to paraphrase the Bard this early on of a Friday morning....

Last night on KJAS's Not on the Payroll, we made mention of the lack of employees at the Buna ISD, or the trouble finding workers at Buna, or in general, people staying at the district. 

I know part of it is money, why work there when you can go someplace else for more cash?

I know the gas price might keep native Buna folks stay close to home, but those driving in from other cities, well, they'll start looking in Silsbee or Jasper, or LCM, wherever closer to home.  

People, who can, are retiring from the classroom as quick as they can. 

Then there is group that's just not happy with the present administration....and it's greater than you can imagine. The number of employees who approach me in one way or another unhappy with what is going on in Buna ISD is growing.....And I am so tempted to say something to the former students of mine who now sit on the Board of Trustees. I do have a literal microphone now and could go hard and heavy after the situation. 

But when people who work outside of the classroom want to leave, someone needs to take a look at what is going on. 

I know Buna ISD expected it, and offered a $500 bonus for people leaving to resign by the end of February.  Maybe, it you cared about folks, you'd offer money to stay?

I know schools can't get people to teach anyplace in the State of Texas, and in truth, who would? Hell, I made fun of Beaumont ISD because they can't find instructors, and have been advertising on TV for faculty, and there has been a private school that's been ' flirting" with me to come and teach history, gubmint, economics, and strangely enough, British Literature ( which is pretty much just glorified English History) but let's face it, I like the whole media 'business' I am involved in right now. 

And if it's bad everyplace else, trust me, Buna is going to get hit hard. 

Buna, there needs to be some changes.And it's only going to get worse.

 

Sorry LGBT People....This Is Wrong....

 I don't care if you want to transition from a male to a female....Or a female to a male.....I really don't. Make yourself happy. 

I have former students most recently females who are now living as men. Anyone with half a brain knew this was coming. And they are for the most part more manly then a lot of straight guys I know. 

I know Gov. Abbott is fighting parents who support their children who want to live as the opposite sex. 

Abbott, who is all about parents getting to make decisions abut their children until it involves something there might be some sort of biblical based disagreement. 

And I have mixed emotions. I don't know if 12 year olds need to start transitioning. 18 year old, go for it, but at 12? Puberty is tough on all of us. 

I've taught people who just KNEW they were straight at age 14......I've know students who thought they were gay at age 14.....And later, they found out the opposite. Don't start hormones, or surgery until you are old enough to make a decision. 

Here is my problem. 

Men who have lived all their lives as men, and for whatever reason at age 20-21-22, decide that they want to be girls......And they are involved in sports. And because they are now saying they are girls, they can compete in girl's sports. 

This happened with NCAA swimmer Lia Thomas ( No relation)...They competed for years at the University of Pennsylvania as a man.....and their senior year, they transition to a girl. 

For all practical purposes, they still are a guy, even with hormone treatment. 

The last week, Thomas won the NCAA Women's 500 Meter Freestyle meet. 

How is this fair? ( I tried to be fair in my classes, and got into trouble from those people in Buna who thought their kids should be treated "special" and often I received ramifications. Some of the ramifications I am still bitter about....Sorry Buna, you were worse about this than any other school district I taught in....And most of you know it's the truth....But, I digress.)

It's like the wrestler here in Texas who competed as a girl, never mind they had been taking male hormones for years. Literally, they could take legal steroids to compete. They won the Texas Girl's UIL Wrestling title in their weight class. It was girls fighting a guy. 

I know the state is making people compete in the sex you were born, but in the case of the wrestler, how is that fair? ( The Texas wrestler want to compete in the boy's division, but the UIL said no.)

I have no answers for all of this, the world is changing. And I got no answers. 

I don't know how things like this are fair.

Oh, Those PNG Indians

 So, Port Neches- Groves is thinking they'll be able to be " Purple and White Indians" the rest of eternity. 

I don't know.

Somehow purple and white war bonnets, and calling their school " The Reservation," and having one of their cheers as " Scalp 'em Indians, Scalp 'em." is well, running a little old. 

And I know other cultures scalped including American colonists who paid for Native scalps. Confederate raiders who carried  Union Soldier scalps....Scalping historically was done all over the world long before Europeans came to the Americas, yet, I don't know any team with historical ties using the term " Scalp 'em." It's reserved for Cherokees, a group who traditionally didn't scalp." Cherokee is the group the PNG School associates with their " Indians."

Heck, during World War II, US Marines/Sailors boiled the flesh off the skulls of Japanese soldiers and sent them home to their sweethearts. ( A 1944 Life Magazine had a photo of a Japanese skull with a US Navy's seaman's girlfriend inside the cover....and the Japanese used it as propaganda. " What kind of barbarians do this?" And hell, they were right. How would you feel if some Japanese was using Uncle Bob's skull as an ashtray? )

I don't think the Marine Military Academy in Harlingen, TX has a cheer that says, " Boil those skulls, Boil them!" 

At one point PNGISD was deleting people complaining on their website who thought they should change their mascot name. ( Twitter, Facebook, etc.) Sorry PNGISD, but you're a government entity. You accept tax dollars including state, and Federal monies. That makes it a First Amendment violation. I got a real problem with that. PNGISD finally realized what they were doing and deleted all social media. 

I know there are schools called the " Fighting Irish" and as a pretty good portion Irishman, I don't care. It's mostly people with Irish background involved. Same thing with the "Highlanders" up at Highland Park near Dallas, they were founded mostly by Scots.   The Cherokees don't. They see it as white people making fun of them.  ( Do an Ancestry.com test. find out just how much of what you actually are. I was told for years I had Cherokee in my DNA. I doubted it, so I took the test. Irish, Scottish, with some Welsh and Coonass thrown in for good measure. Just what I expected. Not a speck of Cherokee DNA)

At some point whether you like it or not, PNG will change their name. 

World changes whether you want it or not. 

Let me suggest " Refinery Rats" with a rat wearing a hard-hat carrying a pipe wrench as their mascot? Or the "Fightin' Coonasses" ...No, some people in the Acadian community see the word " Coonass" as racist. ( I don't, but many do. ) 

So what you going to do? Jefferson County is dying anyway. This entire area is. The better educated kids are generally moving to larger cities. ( Not all, but many) 

I'll bet the folks in Nederland are getting a kick out of this....I know this Vidor HS grad is....As much shit as I've taken my entire life about being from Vidor, it's good to see PNG feel some heat.

More Confused Than I Need to Be.....

 So, in the last few days since I wrote the blog on dating in 2022, I had a number of people write me on what it is like to date today. 

Damn.....I'd be single too.

I don't know. I had gone through a horrid patch back in the 1970s and I'd hadn't a date in well, 2 1/2 years. Wasn't even trying. Combo of going to school full time, working 3 jobs, playing on and off on Saturday nights, playing in the Lamar Band, I just had no time.....

As I've said, my present wife apparently couldn't get me to pay attention any other way and asked me out after a Lamar game. 

And she paid. Are you listening girls.....SHE paid.....

I don't know. And I know there's an old fashion ideology in this, but there's too much sex and not enough romance today. 

I really don't think you young people understand romance. 

The idea that your heart jumps a little when you see them. Hell, I am still glad when my wife gets home from work. And we've been together dating and married 44 years. We dating a long while before we got married, hell, even waited until we both finished college. 

But hook-ups, friends with benefits, pulling trains, cheating at a drop of a hat, 150 body counts( all these for men and women) come on, how are you going to find someone who truly loves you? Is it all materialistic and sex now?  

The older I get the more I wonder about stuff and wonder about us.....

$7000?????

 So, a newsman was reporting that someone had lost $7000 at the Redbud playing some sort of a " Game of Chance."

What the feck?

Who carries $7000 with them to a carnival? Or was it on a Visa/Mastercard?

Have you not spoken to you family, especially younger family members about "gaming?" 

I already have trouble with gambling anyway. The house in the end is going to win. Can't you figure that out from size of the casinos in Vegas?

I am sort of amazed at the "Game Rooms" on Hwy 96 between Jasper and Buna as I drive home on Thursday evenings. Some lighted up like a 747 needs to see the driveway in order to land. 

Want to gamble, go to established places....Places where you might actually have some sort of a chance to win...Heck, if you really want to gamble, put your money into a nice blue chip stock. Those companies generally  want you to make money......The casinos in Vegas, don't want you to make money....

If I Knew Who to Fight....I'd Fight 'em.

 And at my age, I'd cheat like hell...Gun, knife, hell, I'd bite and eye gouge.....

This coming Sunday morning, we set our clocks forward......Again......

I wished we'd put it one way or another and leave it the hell alone...

Maybe when the Texas Legislature meets in January of 2023, someone will do something about the time change....and legalize marijuana, and at least make it more medically accessible. 

But, god forbid those bunch of evangelicals in the legislature do anything that makes either any sense, or do something someone might enjoy....

Anyway, you've been told......

I Feel Sorry for You

 Well, some of you mostly young people. 

I was somewhat aware of this "movement" but I am to the age, that certain things, well, I could care less about....Until it starts to show up in my clothing YouTube/ websites that I read/watch.

Rafael, from " Real Men, Real Style" had a video on YouTube this morning about dating in 2022, how hard it is from a guy to get a date, or a long-time girlfriend, or a wife. 

And I know the terms Red-Pill, Blue-Pill, Black-Pill, MGTOW.....I know what they mean, but I really have not cared much about what people, ( Men AND women)  are going through in the dating world. 

And to be honest, I didn't understand about dating in the early 21st century, until my son went to Asia and the dating there was still somewhat like it was in the 1970s....( And trust me, dating has never been easy.)

When I looked at the comments in " Real Men, Real Style" was pretty much amazed at the ground-swell of guys ( and girls) who were done with dating. Most blamed on-line dating apps. 

So many commented that they thought they were exclusive in dating a girl, but she was dating and having sex with another guy. ( That's been around forever, the old Johnny Cash line from the tune " Cocaine Blues" " I thought I was her daddy, but she had 5 more." )( And there's always been guys stringing 3-4-5 girls along.)

I don't know. 

I look and see so many of you who are single and wonder what the world is going on? 

I am wondering if we are in the midst of a total societal change?  

Personally, I've been married 40+ years now, and I wouldn't start over. Hell, if someone held a .45 to my head and told me I had a date, I wouldn't even know where to begin....I probably tell them " Pull the trigger."

P*ssed-Off?

 So, I must apologize for last evening's post about me being pissed-off.

Since I've retired, well, I have become somewhat of a hermit. And really unless a passport is involved, or a radio show, I hate going anyplace.

Today, I have to go someplace with a large group of people, and well, while I am good in these situations, and can "socialize" with the best of them, in the end, the old teacher starts to come out about an hour into the situation, especially when there are children who need their asses beat present. 

I am sort of like Sheldon from the "Big Bang Theory" and a form of OCD comes out about control. 

I literally am dying inside. 

Again, I taught school, for years, and years.....And worse yet, I get really upset when someone tells me to do something I really don't want to do. 

My mother and I both have this problem( Mom taught for almost 40 years) and when we are together in a group for any length of time, we'll clash, but we both understand what's going on and are fine in a little while. 

This doesn't generally happen in one on one situations, it's a group dynamic. 

So pray for me today that I don't lose my mind....

Economics Lesson- March 2,2022

 Okay, let's briefly go over what is going to happen in the economy, and most of it caused by the war in Ukraine. 

Once again, like or not, it is a global economy. And it's only going to get worse. 

The price of oil ( West Texas Crude)  breached $112 for a while this morning. As I write this, oil was at $110. 

The question then becomes this. At what point will Americans stop buying gas, or slow down consumption is an actually better term? 

Most economists say in the $140-160 a barrel range. Once again over $4+ a gallon gas. Probably around $4.60-$4.70? 

You must remember that Russia supplies 12% of the world's oil. There is no embargo in Russian oil, but people are not buying it. Part of it is the oil comes from the Black Sea region of the world and what is also located on the Black Sea? Ukraine. Insurance companies won't insure the ships traveling to that region. 

Then, you've got to remember that the area in the world in the war zone is the " Breadbasket" of Europe. 

That part of the world supplies 25% of the world's wheat.

20% of the world's corn. ( Corn is mostly used to feed livestock)

80% of all sunflower products. 

Heck aluminum is at an all time high. Russia a producer of aluminum.  

Not to mention barley, oats, etc. that comes from that region. 

Once again, this is going to lead to inflationary times not only here, but worldwide.

( And remember transportation costs of everything will increase. Trucks, trains, planes all use a form of oil to transport their goods-)

Buckle-up folks. It's fixin' to get a great deal more expensive

You Want the Sh*t Scared Outta You This Morning?

 Read this article that Putin might actually use his nukes on the West.

https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2022/02/28/world-war-iii-already-there-00012340