Georgia Primary
Tomorrow is the primary election in Georgia. On wordpress it is already Tuesday, but they run on G.M.T. and the election is in E.D.T. But then, maybe an election should be conducted on mean time.
I seriously worry about anyone who bases his vote on the word of a slack blogger. But, since you are reading, I will make endorsements. Just as long as the endorsement is not on a promissory note.
And before the clock strikes midnight in the Eastern daylight zone, Let us pay tribute to Sargent Friday on 714!
For U.S. Senate- As GriftDrift says, this nomination is a sacrificial lamb. Saxby Chambliss will probably win in a landslide, even though he deserves a term in jail. Whoever the Demos nominate will get stomped.
Considering this, I recommend Vernon Jones. He is leaving a secure job as the CEO of Dekalb County to run for the Senate. I say lets encourage this fools mission. He can steal from his campaign fund, and go around the state seeking sexual adventures.
For Dekalb County CEO- This race is to replace Vernon Jones. I don’t know much about this race, except that Ann Kimbrough is the Chief of Staff for Mr. Jones.( I used to work in a store where the manager would announce who the phone call was from when paging someone. One person, who was known to play, got a lot of calls from “Miss Jones”).
Burrell Ellis is a county commissioner, and some say he is the best man for the job. However, in the Dekalb Neighbor story about the race, he has this big grin on his face. I think he is up to something. I recommend Steen Miles, the other lady in the race. She looks like an honest person.
For Georgia House District 81- This is a no brainer. Chris Huttman left a comment on my blog yesterday, so of course you should vote for him. His opponent, Cecillia Hailey, sent me a postcard today. She says ” Chris Huttman supports an agenda that is against the traditional family”. What this has to do with support for Education and more intelligent transportation is a mystery to me.
Remember, whoever you vote for, be sure to vote. If you don’t vote, you can’t complain. This is the nation of whiners.
District 81
There are times when the business of being a slack blogger is just too much fun.
Tuesday is the Democratic Primary in Georgia. I confess to not being the most informed voter in the State. I was only aware of the Democratic contest for the district 81 when I got this postcard from Chris Huttman. It had a picture of a pair of handcuffs, with the slogan “This isn’t the type of jewelry people who want to represent us should be wearing” It seems like his opponent, a lady named Cecillia Hailey, has a problem with getting caught.
It is Saturday night, and I don’t have anything better to do than go to politicians websites to see who lies the most. First I go to Mr. Huttman’s facility.
He is a fine looking young man with a great smile. A ’98 graduate of Chamblee High School, Mr. Huttman bought one of the condos that have sprung up behind the antique stores in downtown Chamblee. According to LinkedIn, he worked in I.T. for the State Democratic Party. He had some connection to Cathy Cox, which caused Peach Pundit to be jealous. LinkedIn says he is currently employed as a Media Specialist at LUC media group. LUC is a media buying service specializing in Democratic Politicians. A google search of the LUC site does not show any reference to Mr. Huttman.
A look at his website shows this sentence: “I’m running for the State House as a Democrat to change the culture in the General Assembly that rewards incompetence and continues to focus on partisan bickering at the expense of real solutions to the problems of everyday Georgians. This is from a person whose primary issue seems to be the alleged criminal history of his opponent.
I suppose elections are supposed to be about issues, and Mr. Huttman does mention a few. He discusses education, healthcare, and transportation, and has valid things to say about all of them. Neither he nor Mrs. Hailey discuss Water, which is the most important issue our legislature will ever ignore.
If you type in http://www.cecilliahailey.com/, you see a picture of Mrs. Hailey speaking. She is wearing a T shirt, which seems to be her standard campaign outfit. This site is run by the Chris Huttman campaign to talk about Mrs. Hailey’s problems. If this is true, then it is not a pretty picture.
Out of a spirit of fairness, I decided to go to the website sponsored by Mrs. Hailey. The first line is “Cecillia Hailey is a small business owner and former public, private and University Professor in DeKalb County, the state of Georgia and abroad…She is dedicated, hardworking, compassionate and determined. She speaks conversational Spanish and is currently learning Hebrew. She has been married to Carlton Hailey for 16 years. They have 4 children, 2 dogs, 1 cat and a fish named Herman. Cecillia is now our district candidate for Georgia House District 81” She says she is a member of Congregation Shearith Israel.The issues she is concerned with are education and PDK.
On education, she says some interesting things. Among them ( the spelling is hers): “I am a third generation Educator…I also have 4 aunts that were also renouned Educators…Their expactations were clear.” “We need to build new schools and more schools. For example, Chamblee High School has toxic levels of mold, and rodent infestation. Cross Keys High School has leaks and old sewers.” Is this a comment about Chamblee graduate Huttman? Also, this reporter was a graduate of Cross Keys, and I believe what she says. Back to the candidate. “3. School uniforms should be mandatory to cut down on competition, inappropriate dress and increase student confidence and aid in school retention.””5. More funding needs to be placed in after school activities and athletics. This would help reduce crime rates after school, boredom, encourage higher learning and decrease childhood obesity.” On PDK, she makes more insightful comments “We must all live with the PDK airport. However, since PDK is a private airport, It is not subject to as many rigourous security restrictions and regulations as Hartsfield/Jackson. Because of this, drugs have easy access to arive in our city. Moreover, because security is not a major priority, any terriorist can park their plane at the airport and walk to CDC.” Mrs. Hailey does not discuss the charges of criminal behavior, nor does she discuss the water crisis.
Mr. Huttman and Mrs. Hailey are competing for the Democratic nomination for House Seat number 81. The opponent in the November election will be Jill Chambers, who is a piece of work herself. This may be a good time to vote none of the above.
Is Prayer that Great?
Prayer is not always a good idea.
That is up there with G-d and Motherhood, but somebody has to say it.
Many of my objections are in the phrase, ” Prayer is talking to G-d, and Meditation is Listening.”.
In our culture, we love to talk and don’t have time to listen. Talking is yang, active, power. Listening is ying,receptive, passive, and indicates respect for the person you are paying attention to. This is difficult for many.
Of course, no one ever says ” I am going to meditate for you”. Although maybe you should.
Prayer is used as an aggressive weapon. “I am going to pray for you” is the condescending conclusion of many a religious argument. I have had it shouted at me like a curse.
There is the matter of prayer as entertainment. While this may be cool to those who are on the program, it can be repulsive to others. Once I volunteered to lead the prayer before a dinner. Here is the story, with some more cool pictures.
Now, prayer is not a completely bad thing. One of the cherished memories of my father is the brief, commonsense blessings he would give before meals. In the context of a church service, prayer plays a useful function. Some famous prayers are beautiful poetry. In Islam, the daily prayers are an important part of the observance. Who am I to say it is wrong? ( A note to the Muslim haters…We are all G-d’s children)
When someone is in a bad way, people want to think they can help. Arguably it does not hurt to pray for someone, but it is nothing to boast about.
My problem is when people are proud of their prayers. There are few as prideful as a “humble servant”. While it may mean something to you, not everyone is impressed. And in a religion obsessed with converting others, you should care what man thinks. .
771 Spring Street
I got an email the other night urging me to sign a petition. The intent of the petition was to urge Georgia Tech not to tear down the Crum and Forster building at 771 Spring Street.
I worked for a few years in an adjacent building. During this time, this part of Midtown did a 180 degree turnaround. A big part of this change was the construction of the Tech Square Complex. This was a psychological breakthrough for Tech, to expand the campus on the east side of the Freeway. Some of the petition signers say that Tech intends to expand all the way up to North Avenue.
The current plan is to destroy the building, and replace it with a grassy field. I cannot see Tech letting such costly real estate lie unused. Maybe we are going to have a Presidential Motorcade along Spring Street, and need a grassy knoll. .
Now, the building in question would need serious renovation. It may not be economically feasible to save it. While the exterior is glorious, my visits to the interior recall a dilapidated mess. And this is Atlanta, where Historic Preservation is a dirty word. The patron saint of this town is William Tecumseh Sherman.
A few years ago, there was an apartment building on tenth street that many wanted to save. It was a residence of Margaret Mitchell, who called it “The Dump”.There was an effort to tear it down, and people who wanted it saved. Then, the building caught on fire. There was a police precinct in the building next door. The building burned anyway, and then there was a second fire. Finally, a Museum was built on the site, contrary to the wishes of Margaret Mitchell.
Don’t be surprised if there is a fire at 771 Spring Street.
There is a petition to save the building. I have reviewed the list, and there are lots of duplicates, and thus difficult to tell exactly how many individuals are on it. Famed Tech Alumnus George P. Burdell is number 1879.
It would be a shame to let this building, and block, go. There are brick sidewalks on fourth street, with crab apple trees near Spring Street. In the fall, I would go out back and pick my morning snack. Atlanta is such a homogenized region, with almost no character. If 771 Spring is destroyed, there will be that much less.
Paris 1919
It was Wednesday morning, which meant the Neighbor Newspaper was delivered to the house. After reading the musings on the editorial page, I looked at the front page. The candidates for Dekalb County CEO were on display.
Dekalb CEO is a powerful position. The current big dog, Vernon Jones, is running for the U.S. Senate. I realized as I looked at the smiling faces that I knew almost nothing about the contenders. Choosing a county boss man/lady based on a smile and a hairdo is more common than many imagine.
All five are black, so race is not a factor. The county seems to be going smoothly, although there are things that I do not know. Maybe eeny meeny mienee moe will work.
Next Tuesday is the First Primary election. The first decision is whether to vote Democratic or Republican. In 2006 Ralph Reed needed to retire, so I went Republican. This year, the action seems to be on the Democratic side.
The other race to ponder next Tuesday is the Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate. Vernon Jones is going to try to win a major statewide race as a Black Man. The other candidates include a former TV reporter and assorted party hacks.
I would really like to see Incumbent Saxby Chambliss spend more time with his family. Shortly before the invasion of Iraq, I sent my representatives a letter stating my opposition to the war. I didn’t hear back from Mr. Chambliss for a while. When he did reply, he sent a cheerful letter about the wonderful progress we were making in the war on terror. I wonder if his office even read the letter that I sent. The man does not represent me.
Peroxide Humor
PG was abandoning the periods in his name once and for all. It was just too much trouble, and besides it implied that PG stood for something. After all, the S in Harry S Truman did not stand for anything. Harry S Truman was a fine President who only started one war.
PG knew one thing for sure, he was tired of serious subjects. There is just too much seriousness in the world. Besides, Sears had merged with K Mart, and closed that fabulous outlet store on Buford Hiway.
PG started collecting jokes, and other things that caught his eye. One of them was a blond joke, courtesy of yellowdoggrannie.
A blind man and his guide dog enter a Bar and find their way to a bar stool. After ordering a drink, and sitting there for a while, the blind guy yells to the bartender, “Hey, you wanna hear a blond joke?” The bar immediately becomes absolutely quiet. In a husky, deep voice, the woman next to him says, “Before you tell that joke, you should know something. The bartender is blond, the bouncer is blond and I’m a 6′ tall, 200 lb. blond with a black belt in karate. What’s more, the woman sitting next to me is blond and she’s a weight lifter. The lady to your right is a blond, and she’s a pro wrestler. Think about it seriously, Mister. You still wanna tell that joke?” The blind guy thinks a moment and says, “Nah, not if I’m gonna have to explain it five times.”
The event which put the peroxide in the bottle for this post involved an inactive blog. Now, there are supposedly a hundred million or so blogs in existence. Of those, maybe a hundred are actively posting. The rest go into nogoblogland. One of these inert bandwidth vampires is Jokesandhumoronline. And sure enough, in their farewell post, they had a blond joke.
The Blond Bird Lover
You were the sexy blond woman at the Marina Safeway last night at about 6:30. Well, I guess technically you entered the store at 6:27 and left at 6:48 (I like detective shows). I was the guy in the poultry section who kept lifting the frozen chickens out of the freezer, holding them above my head, screaming ?be free? and then dropping them on the ground. A few weeks ago, I saw a story on Dateline about a boy who had fallen through the ice and been declared dead when his nearly frozen body was pulled from the lake, only to be resuscitated minutes later. You can see where this is going; we know the chickens are frozen, but are they really dead? My role here may seem purely humanitarian, but it?s also practical. Who wants to buy a chicken, take it home and then realize they suddenly have a new pet? Anyway, I could tell by the way you were looking at me that you liked the cut of my jib. If you remember, I asked you your name and you said “I. Carrie Mace.” Cool name. Kind of like the architect, I.M. Pei, I guess. But you left so suddenly, I couldn?t get your number. Coffee?
So Carrie White married a man named Mace. PG hopes they are happy together.
Back when PG was working at Redo Blue, there was a memo from management. It seems that people were writing unhelpful emails on company computers. The thoughtful management issued a list of subjects that were not appropriate for emails from company computers. Along with race, religion, and national origin, employees were not to send emails about hair color.
When PG was a child, his mother told him about a song. The lyrics fascinated PG for years, until he found them online. He also found out that this song sometimes was about Gladys, but usually was about Alice.
Alice, where are you going? “Upstairs to take a bath.”
Alice, with legs like toothpicks and a neck like a gira-a-a-a-afe.
Alice, into the bathtub, pulled out the plug and then.
OH MY Goodness, OH MY SOUL,
there goes Alice down that hole. Alice, where are you going?
Glub, Glub, Glub.
Last but not least, there is this heartwarming tale. This was sent out as an email, and did not mention hair color.
A TRUE SOUTHERN LADY………..A very gentle Southern lady was driving across the Savannah River Bridge in Georgia one day. As she neared the top of the bridge, she noticed a young man fixing to jump. She stopped her car, rolled down the window and said, ‘Please don’t jump, think of your dear mother and father.’ ‘Mom and Dad are both dead; I’m going to jump.’ ‘Well, think of your wife and children.’ ‘I’m not married and I don’t have any kids.’ ‘Well, think of Robert E. Lee.’ ”Who’s Robert E. Lee?” ”Well bless your heart, just go ahead and jump, you dumb ass Yankee..
comment moderation
Ordinarily, I enjoy comments. Except when it starts out “Gay pride? Proud of what…a bottled up inner conflict”
The product didn’t get any better. There were over 4600 words of this nonsense. Comment moderation is a wonderful invention.
I only glanced over the output. There is no point in absorbing that poison for the sake of writing a reply. A few of the paragraph openers, like “Homosexuality is a destructive, suicidal behavior. As a note, pedophilia also has similar origins as homosexuality.” tell the general nature of this type of writing. The fact that the Bible was liberally quoted brings shame to that book. The idea that this book is considered the “Word of G-d” is appalling.
I did a word replacement for “Jesus” and only found one reference to him. It is a very good bet that the author of this work is a Jesus Worshiper There are those who find quotes from Jesus, in the same Bible, where Jesus criticizes this sort of human bashing.
I see Jesus in the words and deeds of his believers. The author of this comment uses stronger rhetoric than most, but his basic ideas about Gay life are not that far from the mainstream. Is this the true Jesus, or the warped product of industrial religion?
There is also the matter of the misuse of technology. This rant was not written from scratch. It was pasted from a database somewhere. There are probably instant rants available for a number of issues. While databases and word processing are great inventions, they have potential for abuse.
On that note, the Bible was one of the first books to be published when the printing press was invented. The concept of a written cannon in one volume is one of the reasons why Jesus Worship has become as popular as it is. This “Word of God” concept is quite different from how many other religions operate. Here again, not all change is progress.
The medium is the message.
Jesse Helms
PG was happily wasting the fourth in his neighborhood chatroom when the word came in about “Jesse”. At first, PG thought they meant a resident of Portland, who used to live here, and was affectionately known as “HO”. Further comments used the name Helms, and PG went to CNN.Com to investigate. There was a black and white picture of Jesse Helms in the corner reserved for portraits of the recently deceased.
PG prefers not to trash talk the current inductees into the afterlife. There are plenty to do that for him, and some do a better job. The passing of Mr. H does bring back memories of a September morning in 1990.
Jesse Helms was scheduled to speak at a conference at the First Baptist Church. The conference was some kind of Protect the Family nonsense. The First Baptist Church was a huge thing with columns on Peachtree Street in Midtown. PG had attended this church as a child.
ACT UP decided to have a greeting for Mr. Helms. PG was working a mile south of the church, and took MARTA to have a look. The rally was a small, festive affair. A stage was set up to one side. Atone point a man with a guitar sang a Van Morrison song, “Domino”.
There was a line of people carrying signs. Many were in costume. A local art college was offended by Mr. Helms, and showed up in force. There was a young man of Asian descent, wearing a t shirt. The shirt had the slogan ” Homo Eroticism Lives in My Soul”
PG did not carry a sign, or wear a costume, other than his everyday workwear. He was content to wander around the crowd, greeting people he knew. A van came down from Short Mountain, and PG visited before going back to work.
Jesse Helms did not show up. The First Baptist Church was sold to a developer and demolished in 1999.
Mr. Key and the prisoner
I read an item at yellowdoggrannie’s place this morning. It was a link to a video about the writing of the Star Spangled Banner. YDG said it made her cry. It set off my BS detector.
I am not a history buff. I do know that the War of 1812 was not the most glorious part of American History.
In 1812, Napoleon was on a rampage, but about to screw it up. He invaded Russia on June 24, just six days after the U.S. Congress gave approval to “Mr. Madison’s War”.
According to St. Wikipedia, the declaration passed by the smallest margin of any war declaration in American History.
The War was caused by several things. The British were “impressing” sailors for duty in their Navy. Among the deserters and British subjects were some Americans.
The British were supporting the Native Americans who were fighting the white man. There was also some talk about Annexing territory in Canada, either to keep or to use as a bargaining chip with the British.
On the East side of the Atlantic, England had a change of government at this time, towards a regime that wanted peace with America. This being the early nineteenth century, word of this development did not make it to America in time to stop the War.
The War went on for a couple of years. It distracted the British from fighting Napoleon, and was a strain on the Young American republic. In the Summer of 1814, negotiations were underway to end the conflict. The British launched a few military campaigns to put pressure on the U.S.A. Washington D.C. was captured and burned. The next move was the capture of Baltimore.
This is where the video begins its tale. Where the video said hundreds of British ships, Wikipedia says 19. An attorney, Francis Scott Key, was negotiating the release of an American POW. He secured his release, but they could not leave until the bombardment of Fort McHenry was complete.
Here is an account of the story:
At Fort McHenry, some 1,000 soldiers under the command of Major George Armistead awaited the British naval bombardment…. The attack began in the evening of September 13, as the British fleet of some nineteen ships began pounding the fort with Congreve rockets (from rocket vessel HMS Erebus) and mortar shells (from bomb vessels HMS Terror, HMS Volcano, HMS Meteor, HMS Devastation, and HMS Aetna). After an initial exchange of fire, the British fleet withdrew to just beyond the range of Fort McHenry’s cannons and continued to bombard the American redoubts for the next 25 hours. Although 1,500 to 1,800 cannonballs were launched at the fort, damage was minimal.
After nightfall, Cochrane ordered a landing to be made by medium boats to the shore just west of the fort, away from the harbor opening on which the fort’s defense was concentrated….Operating in darkness and in foul weather, the diversionary attack failed. On the morning of September 14, the 30 ft (9.1 m) × 42 ft oversized American flag, which had been made a few months before by local flagmaker Mary Pickersgill and her 13 year old daughter, flew over Fort McHenry, and Cochrane and Brooke knew that victory had eluded them
Mr. Key saw the flag the next day. He wrote a poem to the tune of a British drinking song, “To Anacreon in Heaven”. The song was made the National Anthem in 1931, and has been (badly) sung ever since.
On September 24, the Treaty of Ghent ended the conflict. The verdict was “status quo ante bellum”. In other words, nothing was changed by the death of those men.
The word of the treaty did not reach America for a few weeks. The Battle of New Orleans was fought after the end of the War.
The video said the Flag at Fort McHenry was held up through the night by men, many of whom died. This might be true. It is also true that the negotiations were about to yield fruit. It would take a few weeks for word of the Battle of Baltimore to reach Europe, at which point the War was already over. Status Quo Ante Bellum.
Patriotism
Patriotism is one of the games that almost everyone plays. The rules seem to vary.
In 1967, JSM was flying planes in Nam, I was in the eighth grade, and BHO was in the first grade. He was in Hawaii, which might have been where JSM went for R&R if Hanoi did not have other ideas.
America was about to hit a turning point about the Vietnam War. At first people were supportive, albeit without much enthusiasm. Opposition started to arise, and was frequently confused with treason. As the war dragged on, the homefront began to see things differently.
To this reporter, many of the patriots of 1967 were the ones who opposed the war. The conflict in Indochina was to cause many problems for the United States. Eventually, Richard Nixon got a fig leaf treaty that he called Peace with Honor. The early opposition was heard, but not after losing more than fifty eight thousand fine men.
That is the first way to be a patriot…to keep an eye on the government, and speak out in opposition when it is needed.
Another way is to keep the United States strong and healthy. One way to do this is work hard and pay taxes.
Now, the conservative windbags whine loudly about paying taxes. They want to pay for the current war by cutting taxes to make the economy grow. If we had no taxes at all the economy would grow even more.
The war in Babylon was an experiment in war without sacrifice. There was a tax cut when it was apparent we were planning an invasion. The national debt has gone out of control, and the federal reserve bank has cut the interest rates. The result is that the dollar is not worth as much as it once was. The oil market is based on the dollar. Oil is just as valuable as ever. The dollar is not, and it takes more dollars to buy a barrel of oil. This is an important factor in the rise of gas prices.
The way to keep America strong is to follow the three basic rules of the workplace: show up, stay awake, don’t kill anyone
The citizens of the United States are a remarkable group of people. One way to be a patriot is to show respect for these people, and for yourself.
Another way to help America is to quit consuming so much. If we drove smarter, we would not need as much gasoline. We would not be so big if we didn’t eat as much. Maybe you can put a sweater on in the winter instead of turning up the thermostat. We are heading in this direction, but have a way to go.
Much of what you hear and read is not true. The so called conservatives are just as guilty as the so called mainstream media. Think for yourself. The freedom to think is a part of America that you are sometimes discouraged from exercising, but it is important.
This is a dangerous world, and we have a military to keep them away from our borders. We are also involved in a tough war of our own choosing. It is to be hoped that our next President will find an acceptable conclusion to this conflict.
Meanwhile, this is the fourth of july. It is a day to enjoy the good life we have here. America is a fine country. It has given me a good life. While I am not blind to the problems, there is no where else I would rather be.
Today is July 2
By the time this is posted, it will be July 2 in G.M.T. Many things have happened on this day.
In non leap years, July 2 is the middle of the year, with 182 days before and after. In Leap years, it is day 184, which is the second day of the second half.
In 1776, the Continental Congress voted to declare Independence from Great Britain. Many feel that this is the true birthday of the United States. Of course, the tradition is to celebrate on the fourth, and tradition usually wins out over facts.
Taking the freedom theme a step further, in 1839, fifty three rebelling African slaves, led by Joseph Cinque, took over the slave ship Amistad. In 1863, this was the second day of the Battle of Gettysburg. This battle is considered the turning point of the War Between the States.
In 1881, President James Garfield was fatally wounded by Charles Guiteau. The cartoon cat did not have a comment.
In 1934, this was the end of the Night of the Long Knives. Ernst Rohm died this night.
In a reversal from the freedom theme, in 1962 the first Wal Mart opened in Rogers, Arkansas.
In 1964, President Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act.
Most days have famous people born on them. On July 2, 1877, Hermann Hesse entered the earth. In 1932, Wendy’s founder Dave Thomas was born. Richard Petty followed in 1937, Jose Canseco in 1964, and Lindsay Lohan in 1986.
How many dates feature the death of an actor who played a Funeral home employee? Fred Gwynne, who played Herman Munster, left the planet on July 2, 1993. Other performers to exit stage right include Betty Grable (1973), Lee Remick (1991), Jimmy Stewart(1997), and Beverly Sills (2007). Other famous people who didn’t see July third include Nostradamus (1566), Ernest Hemingway (1961) and Vladimir Nabokov (1977).
Many thanks to Wikipedia for the information in this feature.
Chamblee54 
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