Well.........

I was shocked.....I wasn't shocked. ( It was the best of times, it was the worst of times......Sounds like the present situation today)

My wife got her DNA test.....finally.

I may as well spit in the test tube and sent it in.

Mostly English, Welsh, Northwest European. No actual "German" showed up, but the NW Europeans, well, they have cross borders over there so much in the last 2000 years that is why England, Wales, NW Europe is all mixed together and a part of Germany is in the map on Ancestry.

About a quarter Scottish-Irish.

And a "just for fun" a few percentage of Norwegian.

So close to mine....

I checked to see if somehow we were distant cousins. ( I wonder how often that occurs? )

We are not. 

I did look at her relative matches and unlike mine, Bob the Coonass, and Hebert( A-Bear) the Crawfish Eater did not appear. ( Once again, I do have an equal craving for oatmeal as I do for rice and gravy)

So, a whole lotta whiteness going on here at the compound.

No, No, No, We Don't Need to Do This Neither

If I can go into my East Texas-isms.

I often write on well, damn near anything in the blog, including theology and religion. ( I got one coming down the pike.)

It seems there is a big push to offer Bible classes on campuses at public schools. And the present administration twittered yesterday his approval. Say one thing, the present administration knows how to play to his base.

If I was still in the "business" I know good and well I wouldn't want to teach the class, and they will be looking at transcripts and going, " Look at this on Thomas' transcripts. He has all these Bible classes."

I wouldn't do it.

Fire me.

Talking about a nightmare.

At some point you are going to interject some point or view or theology that is along some denominational line that not everyone believes.

I can just see parents coming to the school to raise cane.

What if a kid in class asks about literal interpretation of the Bible? And they ask about say the Book of Jonah being a story, not an actual person?

Or the 4 interpretations of the Book of Revelation.

What will you do with the Song of Solomon? 

And which of the hundreds of interpretations do you use?

Look, I grew up Baptist, we couldn't decide the color of the carpet in the sanctuary. How do you expect the 4000 Christian denominations in America to decide what is taught in a Bible Class in Buna, TX?

And do you really want someone in Austin to decide what the curriculum should be? Because in the end, that's what will happen.  

No we don't need to be teaching Bible or Koran or any other religious writings as a course at public school.

These are for parents or religious institutions ( I.e. the church, divinity schools, Sunday School) to teach.

I am serious, the Founding Fathers knew what they were doing when they said " Separation of Church and State."

In truth, when we do a better job in the 4 major courses, we can worry about another elective. 

To H*ll With It

I think we are joining the legion. I think we are going there. I think it is time.

I think we are about to cut the cord....and send back our Satellite Directv receivers.  I can't see paying for what we are getting. I got Showtime for a year and while I like a couple of shows on it. ( The Circus and Homeland, the rest is geared for people much younger than me. Shameless? White trash. Ray Donovan? Boston Irish white trash. All they need is a bunch of scum from Vidor to round out their shows. And even Homeland was so bad this last year I barely could watch it. )

We have Roku. And I went ahead and subscribed to Hulu( We already have Netflix and Amazon prime).....( I don't know, Mick and/or Donald might talk me into getting Britbox or Acorn TV...)

I no longer care about sports. Oh I watch English Soccer, and it isn't worth me keeping a sat dish just to watch Tottenheim. ( I can't remember the last baseball or basketball game I have watched)

I will miss a couple of news programs. But I'll stream one of the free ones on Roku. Hell, I am switching now between the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and the Brexit debate in the Commons on Roku now. 

I need a couple of suggestion on an antenna. I am not crawling on the house to install one, I need an indoor one. 

So.....

I got some ugly messages from folks on my New York abortion blog. Once again, I don't know too many readers of the blog who live in New York...It's their call. Do some research, the people who are having late term abortions are not having them for contraceptive reasons. It is not like the People's Republic where to control population money is either promised or threaded to with hold it you have another child.

And some of you think that somehow I support abortion.....I do not. 

My concern is this.

There is such a concern about kids who are unborn, as the kids once they are here.

I have seen kids live literal "Hell on earth lives."

I have had students whose father used them as , well, no other word, but, "sex toys." And mom was okay with it because the dad was leaving them alone.

We don't learn of this until the girl gets pregnant. And even then, they blame a "phantom"  boy friend.

Sometimes the mom leaves or in one case I know of, the mother was killed in a car wreck and 6 months after her death, the dad goes to the 12 year old daughter to "comfort him."

I had a cheerleader get pregnant by her father and take an overdose of pills.  She was brain dead for several weeks before the parents pulled the plug. After her death the halls of the school were quiet for weeks. It was eerie. I have never heard a school's halls ever that quiet.

Lucky me, I got to sit in for the next six months while a group of her friends when through intensive counseling from 3 psychologists and a psychiatrist...a suggestion, never take pastoral counseling in divinity school.

When the six months was over. I told one of the psychologists, that I may need to come and talk to her. ( Dr Miller, never forget her) and she told me, she had already been visiting a psychologist. It was the worst sessions she had been in and she'd been practicing 20 years.

In another district, I had two brother who had convinced their 7th grade sister that they having sex was "normal." And apparently, the lot of them were "into it." The boys had enough sense to wear condoms and mom and dad didn't have clue what was going on when it was discovered.   And these are not what you would call "white trash" people. the oldest brother wound up in Rice on an academic scholarship. ( Dad was an engineer) ( I can't remember how the incest was discovered?) I taught both the boys.

Most of you have heard my story of the student who was dying of AIDs and my job was to be a confidant and keep her from screwing every guy in the school. ( I'm not up to telling it this morning, perhaps another day)

There are things that go on behind closed doors of families, well, you don't want to know...

Some of you bitch to high heaven because people have Lone Star cards. Most of you because you see a Latino and just assume they are an illegal. Could be because you don't care if their kids go hungry because, well, "they're g*d damn Meskins." " They have to be illegal"

There are more Anglos in this country on some sort of food stamp program than any other group.

Look, there are more people who are desperate for some sort of food help than you know, a lot need to put their kids on free and reduced meals, but they won't because, well, they are afraid of what someone in the community might think or say. Meantime, their kids are often eat crap or don't eat.

I can't tell you how many lunches I've bought for kids and it always starts, " Mr. Thomas, can you loan me $2 or $3 dollars?" Knowing good and well I will never see that "loan" back. I know I had a kid I fed every day in Buna.

I told my wife a few years ago if I had some of that money back, we could fly to Europe First Class....

But taking care of kids, you know, it goes beyond you donating food, money during the holidays. And worrying about them goes way beyond the womb.

I don't want any comments today. I have drug up some old wounds I don't really care to dwell on....

So...I See This

I see this on my Facebook feed and do not think the person who posted this knows this is not an American breakfast. In reality, this a Full English Breakfast...actually a variant upon it. ( I am not sure, it could be a Full Scottish or a Full Irish.

Now the photo is a TON more food than what you normally would receive in a "proper" breakfast as it would be called in the British isles.

Yes, they serve Heinz Baked Beans.

Yes, they serve grilled mushrooms.

Yes, they serve grill tomatoes.

The black disks at the bottom of the plate are "Black Pudding" which is pork blood mixed with pork fat, and oatmeal, then fried and served. ( It is quite good)

The white disks at the top of the plate are " White Pudding" which is pork fat, pork liver mixed with oatmeal, then fried and served. ( You don't see it in England, it is served in Ireland, Scotland, and the Canadian Maritime. I will fight you for white pudding. It is that good....there is a type of white pudding in SW England, but it is different. )

The objects at the edges that look like potatoes appear to be Potato Tatties. A type of potato scone. It also could be a type of boxty( potato pancake.)

The meat that looks like ham, is in reality bacon....and bacon is cooked this way there. Fried for 5 seconds on one side, flipped over and cooked 5 seconds on the other. It is quite floppy.

The sausage is just that, link sausage.( Also called a banger) It is cooked to death.

The toast at the top is served with generally black current jam, or orange marmalade. The black current tastes like  a blueberry/blackberry cross....on an occasion, there will be strawberry jam. 

This is what I normally eat when in the UK/Ireland. It lasts all day long. You are generally so full you won't eat until supper.

Now, if you are not a fan of this, in Scotland, and Northern Ireland, they also serve porridge. ( oatmeal) It is cooked in milk and served with honey.....or in Northern Ireland, a splash of Irish Whisky. ( Bushmills)

I now wish I was in the UK for breakfast.

Perhaps

For those of us who look at the world a little "differently." This might be the greatest love poem ever written.

In honor of Robert Burn's Day in Scotland. It's a love poem in which an older woman tells her love for her aging love.

( In Scotland a Jo is a sweetheart.)

John Anderson, My Jo
John Anderson, my jo, John,
When we were first acquent;
Your locks were like the raven,
Your bonie brow was brent;
But now your brow is beld, John,
Your locks are like the snaw;
But blessings on your frosty pow,
John Anderson, my jo.
John Anderson, my jo, John,
We clamb the hill thegither;
And mony a cantie day, John,
We’ve had wi’ ane anither:
Now we maun totter down, John,
And hand in hand we’ll go,
And sleep thegither at the foot,
John Anderson, my jo.

Okay Buna People

Okay Buna people this one is for you. And it isn't for everyone in South Jasper County.

And it certainly isn't for you Baptists or Pentecostals or you non-drinkers, ( I won't tell on you if you slip off down to Smoochie's Ice House for a cold one...)

Those of you who have checked Brookshire Brothers beer cooler.

I plan to make a run to Buna tomorrow to buy a six-pack. Just feel like I need to do so. I pushed the sale so much I would be a hypocrite if I didn't take advantage.

The trouble is, I can't drink that crap that calls itself "Beer." And in reality it is some sort of Monkey Piss. Or some sort of Bug Juice.

Sadly, that's pretty much most domestic brews. I think Europe and Canada has ruined me. Having a couple of dunkels in Nuremberg, on tap brews on the Western Coast of Ireland makes you go, " Why can't we do this in America?"

So, if they have Guinness, or Smithwicks, or Harp, or Newcastle Ale, or Bass Pale Ale, Jarl Ale, .....or even an IPA in stock, let me know.

None of this donkey pee light, or snail snot ultra.....

If you are of a denomination/faith that teaches, preaches abstinence, you can always send me a PM rather than comment on FB.