The following excerpt is from Elaine Flinn’s Oct. 28th column, "On The Bubble", at Murderati. This is one of the many reasons why she is one of my favorite writers…and favorite ladies!

"Anyone remember when we used to ‘dress up’ when we went out to dinner?  And that many restaurants wouldn’t let a guy in without a tie or at least a jacket?  My husband and I had dinner at Morton’s in Portland a couple of months ago, and the two couples next to us were dressed like they were going to a mud wrestling contest.  The men had on torn jeans, dirty sweatshirts-and baseball caps they hadn’t the good manners to remove.  The women were in very low hip-huggers, cropped tops with bursting boobs- and one of them was very pregnant.  They were loud, profane and obnoxious to the waiter.  It was an evening of ‘in your face’ - and it ticked me off no end.  Thank God my husband - a six foot-four ex-Marine - had the sense to tell me to calm down when I wanted to complain.  He told me that at seventy-two (with bad hips and knees from playing semi-pro ball years ago), he thought he could take one of them, but not both, and suggested I zip it up.  It’s not that I’m a stranger to four-letter words.  Those that know me well, will attest to that.  In fact, I know some very interesting combinations I save for special occasions.  But Morton’s ain’t MacDonalds’, okay?  Or, Jimmy Bob’s Barbecue.  So it wasn’t thrilling to spend two hundred bucks for dinner and sit next to low-lifes whose only intention (it appeared) was to act as raunchy as possible and get away with it. "

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You know? One of the benefits of age is not having to ’suffer fools’ quite so often…hopefully. Consequently, I’ve re-titled this post to what I had originally planned to call it. This was the starting point for Dead Messengers, and every now and again, I like to repost it. It isn’t for sentiment that I do this, but because I keep running into people who really should not reproduce.

First you’ll need a table, some chairs, and time.

If you think you don’t have time for this, stop reading now – you’ve already lost your children. Please don’t have any more. You lost the right to put your needs and wants always first the moment you reproduced. Get over it, and get your head on straight. The moment you have a child, you take on the greatest responsibility of your existence, and it goes beyond raising a happy, healthy child. It includes not turning a selfish, greedy, hostile narcissist loose on society.

I will repeat to you what my parents told my brothers, sisters, and myself while we were growing up: “My responsibility is not to make you love me, but to make you better human beings than I am.” If you succeed, love and respect usually go hand in hand with this accomplishment…though sometimes you may not see it right away.
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happy birthday!

…now I can talk to myself while driving, and people assume I’m talking on a cell phone rather than that I’m insane.

I’ve really got to thank those wonderful guys who repeatedly hacked my previous site - it’s heartwarming to know they enjoyed this site so much, that they came here every freakin’ day!

Guys…really…you’re the best!  If I find your url, I’ll be sure to return the favor and send everyone I know to visit your site - all at once.

Anyway.  Now i’m redoing this thing yet again, and so need to re-post all the past columns, observations, yada, yada, yada.  Be patient, please