The Fall Of P4
PG always suspected David Petraeus of being a media creation. He did have a talent for dealing with the press. With at least one “embedded” reporter, this caused him problems.
The news of his resignation is a gold mine for conspiracy fans. Usually, the press announcement of an affair comes before the resignation. The feeling here is that few would have cared about the Golden General going “All In”. Lets take a look at a few things.
Kessler: FBI Investigation Led to Petraeus Resignation. It seems as though Paula Broadwell, the gf, was improperly accessing some emails intended for Gen. Petraeus. Why was the FBI investigating the CIA? Is there some intergovernmental conflict here? Was the FBI trying to make BHO look bad? Is there so little crime in America that the FBI has time to investigate the CIA?
As for the President, he is starting his second term. Presidents who win reelection to an eight year tenure ALWAYS have problems in the second term. This goes back to Abraham Lincoln, whose second term problems were fatal.
Lets get back to the CIA. It is well known that the agency was heavily involved in the Benghazi unpleasantness. “The Wall Street Journal cites several anonymous officials who go after Petraeus hard. The CIA, operating out of an “annex” near the 13-acre consular compound, dwarfed the regular diplomatic presence in Benghazi, with the mission of hunting down ex-dictator Moammar Gadhafi’s unsecured rockets and missiles. That apparently led to an expectation at the State Department that the CIA would secure the compound in the event of a disaster, which never congealed into a formal arrangement. … And while the Journal piece doesn’t mention it, there’s a possible policy element to the discrepancy between the State Department and CIA. The CIA had 10 people to protect its annex in Benghazi, but the State Department relied on a previously obscure British firm, Blue Mountain, to guard the entire compound. Blue Mountain paid its Libyan guards $4 an hour. It’s speculative, but the State Department’s expectation that the CIA would be “the cavalry” in an assault … might have contributed to State’s relatively lax security posture at the consulate. “
The wired feature has more on the inflated reputation of David Petraeus. “Petraeus is not used to being under the bus. His record commanding the surge in Iraq has given him a tremendous reputation, within official Washington and beyond. Politicians and the press tend to downplay his missteps, such as his less-than-impressive record training Iraqi security forces and the stalemate that persists in Afghanistan despite Petraeus’ year in command.”
The Iraq “surge” was a key element in the legend of David Petraeus. Part of the surge strategy was happy talk in the US media about how we were now winning the war. It was like the old Vietnam joke … lets declare victory and go home. Only in Iraq, it was semi-official strategy. While talking about this miraculous victory, the credit went to the media saavy David Petraeus. Eventually, it fed on itself.
One of the reporters “embedded” with Gen. Petraeus overseas was Paula Broadwell. She went on to write a Glowing Book, All In: The Education of General David Petraeus. “Afforded extensive access by General Petraeus, his mentors, his subordinates, and his longtime friends, Broadwell embedded with the general, his headquarters staff, and his soldiers on the front lines of fighting and at the strategic command in Afghanistan to chronicle the experiences of this American general as they were brought to bear in the terrible crucible of war.” At some point, she became his gf. You can’t make this stuff up.
One question is why the attack on Benghazi took place? It is well known that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hates BHO, and wanted WMR to win. Could Bibi have connections in the terror underground? Was the attack on Benghazi intended to make BHO look bad? For that matter, what about the attack on an American drone by Iran? Could Bibi have influenced a rogue officer in Iran to fire on that aircraft, trying to create an October surprise? It is not Israel’s fault that the repubs were too inept to make use of such election time dynamite. Or that the people had heard so much nonsense from Fox news that they assumed the Benghazi talk was more of the same.
Pictures are from The Library of Congress. Spell check suggestion for Petraeus:Perpetrates.
Flag Lapel Pin Upside Down
As you may notice, this blog sometimes puts up collections of quotes. There is usually a document on the desktop, which serves as a recycling bin. This document also serves as a writing station for comments. The idea is to write the comment out, include all the salient links, before you enter your tidbit of wisdom. Often, a moment of discretion will occur, and the comment will not be posted. Comments never die, at least at Chamblee54. Today, we will have a collection of recent thoughts, some of which are smarter than others.
A typical night in Brookhaven sees PG editing pictures, while listening to “something”. When literally hundreds of regular podcasts, PG can only follow so many. One favorite is Bloggingheads.tv. The viewer at BHTV allows you to make a video clip. This device was invented by Greg Dingle, and is sometimes known as a Dinglelink. It is not known if this is connected to Dingleberries. This device allows the listener to illustrate a comment, with a quote from the discussion. PG even wrote a poem … Imagine a world without David Corn, ~ in which he had never been born, ~ Bob said without any scorn, ~ without a beard that is shorn.
This blog post is interrupted to listen to radio. Every Friday morning, porcine radio whiner Mike Gallagher has Chris Wallace on the show. Today, Mike is heartbroken over the election, asking if it is appropriate to wear his american flag lapel pin upside down as a sign of distress. When Mr. Wallace talks about problems with Hispanic voters, Mr. Gallagher says the Hispanics need to reach out to the republicans, not the other way around.
Getting back to dinglelinks, there is one that stands out. Last summer, certain Atlanta communities were having a group hissy fit about racism and white privilege. While this was going on, Glenn Loury said that African Americans were an extremely privileged people. PG nearly fell out of his chair.
Here is the rest of the collection. Some are calling the POTUS wannabe Money Boo Boo. ~ The Buford/Clairmont Kroger has perhaps the worst parking lot ITP ~ An unnamed source says that Fox News is going to be renamed Wolf News Network, in honor of the little boy who cried wolf. ~ After one hour and fifty seconds of chatter, there was a kumbayah moment. The contestants today kept saying “read the transcript”. Has BHTV started to provide transcripts? This would certainly benefit lazy bloggers who like to discuss your show. ~ Without any effort at coordination, here are the three loose dinglelinks that remain. tongue for truth ~ stupidity of wmr strategy ~ good person.
1- This show , with Dr. and Mr. Loury, was great fun to listen to. There were a few sound recording shortcomings, and Mr. Loury could have been better photographed. 2- Religion is a highly individual affair. Dr. Loury chose to attend a church, and it makes him feel good. I have had the church experience shoved in my face, and it made me unhappy. 3- Mr. Loury made a very insightful comment about politicians co opting a narrative politicians co opting a narrative to get elected. I don’t know whether all politicians do this, but the vast majority do. Certainly the chameleon ex Governor of Massachusetts is borrowing a different narrative every day. 4- Dr. Loury has some great comments about the “black identity” that BHO has assumed. Yes, this is the experience of the descendents of slavery, which BHO is emphatically not. (Did the ancestors of Ann Dunham own slaves?) 5- Dr. Loury had a long list of things that Jeremiah Wright is not. I cannot make a clip for everything. I found myself saying, though, that he might not be this or that, but that the public personality that I have seen is one of an asshole. You should not force white people to listen to that style of preaching and react with anything other than disgust. 6- No discussion of religion is complete without the baby and the bathwater. 7- If you disagree with the basic beliefs of a religion, you are unlikely to change your mind because they condemn your sexuality.
1- Another thing to consider is that a lot of things get posted, and sometimes some people miss a few. I honestly don’t have a clue what this discussion is about. I am not sure that I want to know. 2- Many of the race oriented discussions get very heated. There is a lot of people typing first, and maybe thinking later. You take a real chance when you comment in one of these discussions. Life is short, and I am not sure I want to spend part of mine being attacked on facebook. 3- There is an element of supremicism in anti racism. There seems to be a bully element, of people whipping up on others because they don’t like their attitudes about race.
The Chris Stevens who was killed was a diplomat. ~ “And so then I told her, I ain’t eat none of that pork or fish or whatever– all I trust is chicken and Jesus!” ~ Is there anyone who doesn’t want to march, but would like to find a spot to sit down and watch the parade? There is going to be a faerie viewing area in front of the Fox Theater during the parade tomorrow. All are welcome to join, especially those that bring snacks. ~ “A mathematician is a blind man in a dark room looking for a black cat, which isn’t there.” – Charles Darwin ~ The phrase I heard was “you throw like a girl”. There is an active/passive duality in throwing and catching. ~ E-Mail Filter effective immediately: Dear friends: In order to avoid repeating the last four years of discussion and anxiety please be aware that we have added another filter to our e-mails: Filter name: OBAMA contains OBAMA begins with OBAMA ends with OBAMA Send to: SPAM
After the knee jerk joke in the first comment, I felt obligated to read your feature. It seems that atheism is more closely related to Jesus Worship Religion than many realize. They are both belief based systems. You replace one set of beliefs with another. You seek validation through the conversion of others. I have my experience with the belief/disbelief cycle. To me, the goal is to live a compassionate life, and block out as much noise as possible. Sometimes my body chemistry looks for a reason to be unhappy, and Jesus is always there to remember. I don’t know what the answer is. I have written about this many times at my blog, chamblee54. I find that often when I write about these issues, I feel more unhappy than before I started. At least I can put some pictures up. The theme of chamblee54 is pretty pictures and ugly opinions. At least expressing these opinions in a written form allows the target to skip over the text. It also allows me to finish my sentence without being interrupted. Perhaps the number one problem with Jesus worshipers is the eagerness to interrupt and say things that please themselves. This is another function of the belief paradigm.
To whom it may concern, You are hereby notified that you are strictly prohibited from disclosing, copying, distributing, disseminating, or taking any other action against me with regard to this profile and the contents herein, including, but not limited to my photos, and/or the comments made about my photos or any other “picture” art posted on my profile. The foregoing prohibitions also apply to your employee, agent, student or any personnel under your direction or control. The contents of this profile are private and legally privileged and confidential information, and the violation of my personal privacy is punishable by law. UCC 1-103 1-308 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED WITHOUT PREJUDICE!
For the record, the name is pronounced BAH decker.(spell check suggestion:pecker) Just remember Bah Humbug. ~ I made a comment, regarding this comment. A man says, referring to abortion, that all life is precious. “How can you say all life is precious, but make an exception for someone in Iran, because you say the dictator wants a nuclear weapon.” “Wanhope” replied… “All life is precious … except when the life in question is being lived in a nation that does (or seems to) threaten America. It is then still precious, but must go away. ” ~ This was written like David Foster Wallace. Mr. Wallace should not be used as a role model. Pictures are from The Library of Congress.
Wolf News Network
There were two discussions recently on BloggingheadsTV which say a great deal about why the recent election turned out the way it did. The first was October 29, with Robert Wright and Ann Althouse. The second was November 2, with Robert Farley and Matthew Duss.
The original headline (the verbatim version is lost) to the Farley-Duss chat was “Why are conservatives hating on Nate Silver”? When a statistician calls the election for BHO, and the repubs scream about the messenger, that tells the observant listener that BHO is going to win.
One of the subjects discussed by Farley-Duss is Benghazi. There was an incident at the US embassy there, and four Americans died. It seems that the Wall Street Journal had a report (behind a paywall) saying that the C.I.A. had been responsible for the security. Apparently, there was confusion, and mistakes were made. However, to try to turn this into an election issue was not appropriate.
The attack on the embassy was a major theme for Ann Althouse. One eye opener was when she said that only Fox news was covering the story. When PG heard that, his first instinct was to consider it a lie. For the last five years, no anti BHO story has been too far fetched for Fox. Maybe the network should be renamed Wolf, featuring the little boy crying.
The talk about Benghazi went on for nearly ten minutes. Ms. Althouse asked how the two SEALS managed to kill sixty attackers. This is a nifty bit of rhetoric. You make a questionable claim, assume it is true, and ask how it happened. As it turns out, there is more than a little bit of confusion about what happened at the embassy.
After a while, Ms. Althouse compared the embassy attack to Watergate. This seems like a stretch, just like so much of the drivel to come out about BHO from Wolf news.
Christian Privilege
There is a lot of chatter about privilege these days. Where people used to talk about racism, today the buzzword is privilege. Chamblee54 has tried to contribute to the dialog (polylog) with recent posts about black privilege and white privilege. This is a repost.
One day recently, PG was exercising his vehicular privilege. The thought occured to him about another form of privilege. This privilege is stronger than race based privilege. In fact, many of the people, who whine about white privilege, benefit from this privilege. The president of privilege in America is Christian Privilege. (CP)
If you ask Mr. Google about CP, you get 3.6 million results. The first few give us plenty of text for this feature. A report about CP from About.com Agnosticism / Atheism has the traditional list of examples. The last few paragraphs tell more about the story.
A nonconscious ideology is analogous to the water fish swim in: fish don’t think of the water as wet because this environment is all they know — it structures their experience of life itself. Water simply is. Members of privileged groups don’t have to think about their environment because, for them, that environment simply is. They don’t have to be concerned about others’ opinions because it’s safe to assume that most think like them.
Those who don’t benefit from such an environment do have to think about it all the time because they are so susceptible to being harmed by it. For members of less privileged groups, what others think matters a great deal because their opinions and actions control access to the larger benefits of society. Fish don’t have to think about the water; mammals must remain conscious of it at all times lest they drown.
In most of the examples here, we can replace Christian/religion with male/gender or white/race and come up with the same results: examples of how our social, political, and cultural environment reinforce the dominance of one group over others. Male privilege and white privilege are closely related to Christian privilege because they have all been undermined by modernity and have all become part of America’s Culture Wars.
Christians realize that many of the above privileges are in decline. They interpret this as persecution because privilege is all they have ever known. The same is true when men complain about the decline of male privilege and whites complain about the decline of white privilege. The defense of privilege is a defense of dominance and discrimination, but for those who benefit it’s a defense of their traditional way of life. They need to become conscious of their privileges and realize that in a free society, such privileges are inappropriate.
A blog called Shakesville weighs in with On “Real” Christians and Christian Privilege . It tells the story of being asked not to identify Ann Coulter as a Christian. PG totally understands being embarassed by Ms. Coulter. There was a radio show once, with Ann Coulter promoting a book and PG listening. Some famous person was mentioned, and Ms. Coulter started to make jokes about what would happen to this famous person when he died. The line was that when he gets to heaven, he is going to wish he had been a Christian. This assumption that your ideas about life after death are correct, and universally practiced, is one especially vile example of CP.
The feature at Shakesville (which is easier to pronounce than Shakespearessister) is about how many people deflect complaints about bad behavior by saying “He is not really a Christian”. This is unsatisfactory on a number of levels. Many of the “good” Christians support “bad” Christians in their evil work. This excuse is one reason why PG prefers to say Jesus Worshiper to describe the members of this tribe. Shakes addresses this issue: “Frankly, it’s hurtful to me when Christians address what happened to me by saying, “Those aren’t real Christians,” expecting me to salve their discomfort about the baggage of privilege by not disagreeing. People who would never in a million years think to try to console a victim of a hate crime with “All [white/straight/cis/abled] people aren’t like that!” nonetheless responded that way to me when I was targeted and threatened by droves of self-identified Christians.”
Shakes is a good writer. She says things much better than this slack blogger. Maybe we should just let her explain a few things.
Christianity has a 2,000-year history that has seen countless iterations of the religion based on countless interpretation of the text and shaped to fit countless times and spaces and needs in disparate cultures all around the world. Christians have done great things, and not-so-great things—and anyone who makes the personal choice to carry the Christian mantle associates themselves with a history that includes all the good stuff and all the shitty stuff, too. One can’t say, “I only associate with the good Christianity—not the inquisitions and the genocides and the warmongering and the colonialism and the institutional misogyny, homophobia, transphobia, racism, anti-Semitism…”
That’s all part of Christianity’s legacy, too—and it just isn’t intellectually honest to say, “Well, those weren’t real Christians.” Yes, they were. And so are the Christians who do shitty stuff today. They might not be the same kind of Christian as you are, but they are nonetheless Christians.
Christianity, at least (and especially) in America, is a privilege—and, like any privilege, it can be uncomfortable to face the ugly reality of what other members of a privileged class can do to non-privileged folks, even if you don’t do it yourself. I’m white, I’m straight, I’m cisgender: I understand the impulse to distance oneself. But as a white person, I am obliged to acknowledge that the history of white supremacy in America is one of slavery, of lynchings, of segregation, of sundown towns, of internment camps, of genocide, and of all manner of institutionalized racism. I don’t get to say (nor do I want to) that the KKK aren’t “real” white people. They sure as hell are.
That Christianity is a chosen privilege does not mean its members can claim a lower standard of rigorous self-examination. And it doesn’t mean that less privileged Christians, i.e. progressive Christians, can claim a lower standard, either, just because the more privileged Christians marginalize them. Poor whites don’t get to disclaim their white privilege just because they are further marginalized by their lack of wealth.
In fact, chosen privileges demand, if anything, a higher standard of self-examination, because one has a choice whether to participate in the privilege. But so often, the fact that Christianity is a choice is instead used to deny the effects of that privilege altogether—”I’m not one of those Christians; I’m one of the good ones!”
Stage Names
SheLia Twatt ~ Anne Tissipation ~ Sharon Sharalike ~ Bertha DaBlues ~ Dee Boner ~ Sue Nahmi
Amanda Hugankiss ~ Amanda Shagg ~ Davida Loca ~ Unita Muzzle ~ Cincy DeFlesh ~ Kay Keenitet
Lucy Lastic ~ Phyllis Steen ~ Shelita Hamm ~ Dale Neverknow ~ Natalie Attired ~ Gladys Overnow
Dora Jarr ~ Eileen Dover ~ Emma Roydz ~ Helen Wait ~ Helen Wheels ~ Jenny Tull ~ Anita Dump
Ophelia Balls ~ Mysha Long ~ Eileen Dover ~ Fannie O’Rear ~ Sue E. Generis ~ Ida Nevernoedit
Tara Newassle ~ Ester Diefor ~ Maude Lynn ~ Lois Steam ~ Viola Fuss ~ Fay Tality ~ Eda Bagel
Lilly Pad ~ Magnolia Blossom ~ Rhoda Dendron ~ Jacklyn Hyde ~ Amanda Ryder ~ Kay O. Pectate
Anna Palumbo ~ Ivy Drip ~ Frieda Gogh ~ Vera Lee Isay ~ Hope Anna Prayer ~ Huda Thunkit
Marge Inavera ~ Polly Glott ~ Clare Voyant ~ Wanda Lattary ~ Tara Bull ~ Billie Rubin
Nevah Hoidovit ~ Ima B. Leaver ~ Miss Konstrude ~ Miss Ann Thrope ~Miss DaMeaner ~ Misty Meaner
Holly Ween ~ Jillian Dollars ~ Sue Veneer ~ Robin Cradles ~ Jenny Taylia ~ Colleen Allcars
Farrah Moans ~ Pandora Spocks ~ Candace B. Real ~ Lois Commondenominator ~ Marsha Dimes
Lilly Screams ~ Tulita Pepsi ~ Erasmus B Dragon ~ Ivana Uranus ~ Lovee Uranus ~ Anita Uranus
Irma Gedden ~ Eileen Wright ~ Lisa Carr ~ Bella Aiche ~ Anna Conda ~ Tessie Tura ~ Rose Above
Constance Sweat ~ Freida Katz ~ Anita Amanda Luv ~ Imelda Ledder ~ Cindy Ledder ~ Ouida Peeples
Gia Dunno ~ Jenny Saykwah ~ Cienda Light ~ Aida Biggun ~ Barbara Seville ~ Mary Jo Figaro
Pita Ann deWuff ~ Polly Morfuss ~ Karen Fernaught ~ Leticia Papers ~ Hedda Lettis ~ Nana Yabiz
Jean Poole ~ Ginger Snapp ~ Queen Obnoxia the III ~ Helen DaBed ~ Ms. Sitona Mai Feze
Summer Clearance ~ This was written like Stephen King
Pictures are from “The Special Collections and Archives,Georgia State University Library”.
Inspiration Is For Amateurs
PG was listening to an interview with a fiction writer. Someone said “Inspiration is for amateurs.” PG has always been more impressed by action than beliefs, and this phrase made sense. If nothing else, this is a good excuse to post some more pictures from The Library of Congress.
The phrase is from a painter named Chuck Close. His output is expensive, and widely enjoyed. A spinal injury left him paralyzed, but did not stop him from producing. Here is the full quote about inspiration:
“The advice I like to give young artists, or really anybody who’ll listen to me, is not to wait around for inspiration. Inspiration is for amateurs; the rest of us just show up and get to work. If you wait around for the clouds to part and a bolt of lightning to strike you in the brain, you are not going to make an awful lot of work. All the best ideas come out of the process; they come out of the work itself. Things occur to you. If you’re sitting around trying to dream up a great art idea, you can sit there a long time before anything happens. But if you just get to work, something will occur to you and something else will occur to you and something else that you reject will push you in another direction. Inspiration is absolutely unnecessary and somehow deceptive. You feel like you need this great idea before you can get down to work, and I find that’s almost never the case.”
A man once made pottery. It was said that the man only worked with passion, and that if he didn’t feel this passion he did not work. When PG heard that, his thought was that if PG worked that way, he would never finish anything. Most of the sticker pictures take a while to finish. PG always gets tired of the picture before it is through. The idea is to go to the studio, start to do stuff, and before long the enthusiasm will return. Any image requires a certain amount of time with the belly pressed against the work table, or the digital equivalent.
The formula for writing is ass plus chair. A teacher once said to not stare at the blank page, waiting for a bolt of lightening. Start to write something, and the ideas will start to sputter out of the pipeline.
It is not enough to have a bright idea. You have to work the problems out. Sometimes, you spend more time finding out what does not work, than what does. You have to do it wrong before you can do it right. Genius is ninety nine percent perspiration and one percent inspiration. If any cliches have been overlooked, please add them to the comments.
One thing that is helpful is to be focused. The internet can be a problem. When you should be thinking about your product, it is very tempting to see the latest on Facebook. The same can be said for twitter. Even when praising a bit of anti-inspiration.
@tom_peters “Inspiration is for amateurs.” Success is hard work.
@Doctor_V @tom_peters Inspiration/motivational books are my fav way to procrastinate.
@mkarun99 @tom_peters very true. Thanks for sharing one of the life-changing tweets
Here are a few more thoughts from Mr. Close. I’ve always thought that problem solving is highly overrated and that problem creation is far more interesting. ~ “What difference does it make whether you’re looking at a photograph or looking at a still life in front of you? You still have to look.” ~ It doesn’t upset artists to find out that artists used lenses or mirrors or other aids, but it certainly does upset the art historians. ~ It’s always a pleasure to talk about someone else’s work. ~ You know, the way art history is taught, often there’s nothing that tells you why the painting is great. The description of a lousy painting and the description of a great painting will very much sound the same.
This was written like H. P. Lovecraft.
The “Desiderata” Story
There was a poem , of unknown origin, found in a Baltimore church in 1692. It was revived by a Lawyer, who lived in Terre Haute, IN. He liked to read it his friends, and his lips were moving. The attorney, Max Ehrmann copyrighted this poem in 1927. Another persistent rumor has it that the manuscript was in an ambulance Mr. Ehrmann was following. How the accident victim came to possess this document is a mystery.
Mr. Ehrmann,(the poet laureate of Terre Haute, ) wrote in his diary “I should like, if I could, to leave a humble gift — a bit of chaste prose that had caught up some noble moods”. The poem is “Desiderata,” and is a favorite of gift shops the world over.
In 1956, Rev. Frederick Kates became the rector of Old St. Paul’s Church in Baltimore, MD. He had found a copy of “Desiderata”, without the copyright notice. He printed a handout for his congregation on church stationary. At the top of the page was the notation “Old St. Paul’s Church, Baltimore A.C. 1692”. As the sixties devolved, the poem became famous.
“Desiderata” was the text of a recording made by Les Crane, who found the poem on a poster. He thought the text was in the public domain, when in fact it is copyrighted. Mr. Crane was taken to court, and forced to pay the owners of the copyright. The matter has been in court on other occasions. It seems that Mr. Ehrmann used “Desiderata” in a Christmas greeting, without citing the copyright. Later,during World War II, Ehrmann allowed a friend – Army psychiatrist Dr. Merrill Moore – to hand out more than 1,000 copies of the poem to his soldier-patients, without the copyright.
PG admits to confusion on this issue. Don’t copyrights expire, get renewed, and then expire again? If a work was written in 1927, doesn’t it go into the public domain 83 years later. The wikipedia article about copyrights is long and confusing. Remember, we are dealing with a legal concept as it relates to a poem written by a lawyer.
A site called fleurdelis says the matter depends on your point of view and place of residence. ( Shcredo says flatly that “Desiderata” is public domain.) (Robinsweb tells of being forced to remove “Desiderata” from her site because of a complaint by the copyright owner.) If you want to be inspired, click on the videos embedded in this post.
In 1972, the National Lampoon produced a new translation, Deteriorata.
Desiderata belongs to a category that might be called commodity wisdom. It sounds good, and may inspire some people. To others, the D-poem is a lot of nonsense. PG typed the words “Desiderata skeptic” into google, and saw what came up.
There is a forum, The skeptics guide to the universe. On March 17, 2012, mwilley contributed “Skeptical Desiderata.” It begins “Go skeptically amidst the lies and the guile, and take comfort in whatever rationality there may be. As far as possible, without being an asshole, question established orthodoxies and fatuous argument.” As a fortune cookie said, “Few things are as bad as enthusiastic ignorance.” A few spots down is the text of “Deteriorata.”
There is the possibility that desiderata is plural. Maybe the famous text should be desideratum.
One result is a copy resistant google book, Beyond “Justification”: Dimensions of Epistemic Evaluation By William P. Alston “Part II Ultimate Questions: The Epistemology of Epistemology” i. The Demand for a Final Settlement ii. The Inevitability of a Regress iii. Attempts to Avoid the Regress: Doxastic Practices iv. Epistemic Circularity v. The Pervasiveness of Epistemic Circularity.”
One of the results was profiles, that mention desiderata, at OK Cupid.
kahmiel 25 / F / Bi / Single Denton, Texas
This is my life philosophy:Max Ehrmann Desiderata Go placidly amid the noise and haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence.
Ebonheart 24 / M / Straight / Seeing Someone Birmingham, Alabama
My real name is Desi, as in the poem Desiderata as it were, i try to live according to the guidelines this poem sets because i believe that it is the best way to live peacefully.
Anhkah 45 / F / Straight / Single Murphy, North Carolina
There is no life guide better than the Desiderata .
GLilyDances 46 / F / Bi / Single Virginia Beach, Virginia
“- Friedrich Nietzsche My Woo Jack from cresal :Desiderata
filosof 32 / F / Straight / Married Krasnoyarsk, Russia
“— Sparkling gems of wisdom that I live by, from Desiderata, by Max Ehrmann .
SC_PrinceOfTide 53 / M / Straight / Single Columbia, South Carolina
And if you’re that special someone who also knows the words to DESIDERATA, we’re Kindred Spirits!
B_cubed 27 / M / Gay / Seeing Someone Chicago, Illinois
Like poetry but dont read it much; Desiderata and A certain slant of light = the favs.
nightbirdflying 28 / F / Straight / Single Tucson, Arizona
I believe in the poem Desiderata even if I can’t abide by all it’s suggestions.
Andrinara 25 / F / Bi / Seeing Someone Chicago, Illinois
I like getting tattoos and have many, the most recent being a few stanzas of Desiderata down my ribs.
oriondreamdance 58 / M / Straight / Available Ladson, South Carolina
If you believe that Heinlein was a visionary, Desiderata is your bible, or Richard Bach’s Illusions spoke to your soul.
Part one of this feature is a repost. Pictures are from The Library of Congress. These are Union Soldiers from the War Between the States. They were not concerned with Epistemic Circularity. This was written like Ursula K. Le Guin.
Letter To Seventy Eight Year Old PG
There was a suggestion at WordPress to write a letter to yourself as a fourteen year old, and another letter to yourself in twenty years. PG thought this was a cool idea. If the trackback went up on the WordPress site, then it might generate some traffic for this blog. It might even get the attention of Freshly Pressed , which has never featured Chamblee54.
It is like General Halftrack and the Pentagon. The Daily Post did not post a link to friday’s letter. The traffic went below one hundred hits on saturday. Now it is sunday, the clocks are set back an hour, and it is trying to rain. The letter to a seventy eight year old PG is a good idea, so here it goes. Once again, it is in first person. Pictures are from The Library of Congress
Ok, so you are twenty years older. Or maybe you are not. The three main older people in this life were Mom, Dad, and Gran. They all died when they were seventy five, except for Mom, who made it to seventy six. Seventy eight might be pushing things a bit, considering the way things sometimes feel at fifty eight. The idea is to write this letter, and not worry about whether the destination will have an internet connection.
This is the sunday before the Presidential election, aka the day when a dictatorship doesn’t sound so bad. People in Georgia have their votes stolen from them by the electoral college, so we don’t have to choose between a war criminal and a liar. Or is this choice between a liar and a war criminal wannabe?
There is a saying about holding your nose when you vote. The neighborhood precinct is the cafetorium of a school. Unless you are blocking the memory, you might recall going to classes in that building. Tuesday will not be the first time I have held my nose in that cafetorium.
This is the first year of the City of Brookhaven. I find myself choosing people on the basis of personalities, rather than issues. When it comes to the so called issues, the candidates seem to say the same things. This is true for the State House race, which is the other choice I will have. The repub is just plain gross. Mr. Bahhumbug has a bright future if he doesn’t get caught again.
There is no telling what the election choices will be in 2032. Assuming that the electoral college continues to facilitate the two party duopoly, you probably won’t have much of a choice. The takeover by the moneylenders should be complete by that point.
Since we are doing this in twenty year cycles, lets look back to some other elections. The first time I got to vote was 1972. Tricky Dick was a thief, and a war criminal, but George McGovern was a dummy. The problem for Tricky Dick was the second term syndrome. Most Presidents who are reelected for a second full term have horrible problems. While Mr. Nixon’s second term was not as bad as those of Abraham Lincoln or William McKinley, he did have his problems.
In 1992, it looked like Daddy Bush was sailing to victory. He won a war, and the Democratic candidate was Slick Willie Clinton. (From Tricky Dick to Slick Willie, Bebe Rebozo to Monica Lewinsky.) Ross Perot threw a monkey wrench in the electoral works by running as a third party candidate. This is a feature of the duopoly… when one party wins the Presidency too many times, something strange happens.
It happened in 1912, when Theodore Roosevelt ran as a third party candidate, and Woodrow Wilson got elected. Within a year, the Federal Reserve Bank was set up. After the re-election of Mr. Wilson, we got mixed up in World War One. There is nothing good to say about the elections of 1932 and 1952.
There is one more election that should be discussed here, even though it is not part of the twenty year cycle. I was listening to a chat before the 2000 election. One person thought it was important to vote for Al Gore. This had been a dull election. George W. Bush was sort of an unknown quality, while Al Gore was not a terribly inspiring figure.
That is not how things turned out. W was allowed to serve, after Mr. Gore won the popular vote. Seven months after the inauguration, 911 kick started the twenty first century. The response of W was to start two self destructive wars. With the help of the demoze, there was a tax cut before the start of the second war. The economy may never recover.
So, it is good form to write a last paragraph to these things. It is an act of optimism to assume you will be here in twenty years. Living in the WMD age, the idea of thermonuclear catastrophe has always been present. The possibility of man making the planet unlivable is also very real. Maybe a dependable source of non destructive energy will be found in the next twenty years, to go with a dependable source of water for Atlanta. The future has always been dim, but somehow it continues to happen.
Esoteric and Pedantic
The following feature presentation is a repost. Pictures are from ” The Special Collections and Archives,Georgia State University Library”
Obviously,there is something to be said for wanting to speak up, but not having anything to say. To prove that, I am going to talk about a word…esoteric. According to Wiktionary , esoteric is :”1. Having to do with concepts that are highly theoretical and without obvious practical application.//2. Understood only by a chosen few or an inner circle.//3. Confidential; private.”
The “E word” plays a role in a story from 10th grade English. We were discussing a story, “The Rocking Horse Winner”, by D.H. Lawrence. The story was, well, boring and obscure, just like most of what I have seen by Mr. Lawrence.
The summer after 10th grade I worked in a movie theater. The ushers wore ghastly yellow uniforms, and saw the movies over and over. When I started, the Lenox Square 2 theater was showing “Women in Love”, based on a novel my D.H. Lawrence. Glenda Jackson copped an oscar for her portrayal of Gudrun Brangwen, and young Larry Kramer was one of the screenwriters. It did not improve my opinion of D.H. Lawrence. If the censors had not touched “Lady Chatterly’s Lover” D.H. Lawrence would be forgotten today.
Back to 10th grade english. We were discussing this wretched story, and a girl raised her hand. Why would any author would write something so esoteric. The teacher had never heard of this word before, and was amazed to hear it.
The Lenox Square 2 theater was a long, slender thing with a small screen. This was in 1970, when the concept of the multiplex had not evolved yet. LS2 was under a grocery store, and when the automatic door openers performed their duty, you could hear the motors in the theater below. The movies the rest of the summer were Fellini Satyricon, The Christine Jorgenson Story, and The Landlord.
Back to esoteric…or did I ever go away? Before you can understand esoteric, you must plumb the depths of pedantic …”1. Like a pedant, overly concerned with formal rules and trivial points of learning.// 2. Being showy of one’s knowledge, often in a boring manner.//3. Often used to describe a person who emphasizes his/her knowledge through the use of vocabulary; ostentatious in one’s learning.//4. Being finicky or picky with language.” Pedantic is an adjective that describes itself.
Letter To Fourteen Year Old PG
WordPress has this feature, the Daily Post. The idea is to get people to post more to their blog. PG already puts up material almost every day, but is generally open to new ideas. Today, the “daily prompt” is “Write a letter to your 14-year-old self.” It doesn’t say what part of your fifteenth year this should be, so PG is going for the weekend before the Presidential election. Yes, Forty Four years ago PG was fourteen. This will be written in first person.
Hey. It was suggested that I write a letter to myself when I was fourteen. The idea was to get people to write more. The thing is, I am already writing all the time. I post something to my “blog” every day. This can be suggestion number one… you don’t have to be part of a group effort to achieve something. Sometimes, you can do very well on your own. For a socially retarded person like me/you, that is not always an option.
December 31, 1988, was my last day as a beer drinker. Growing up in a teetotaling Baptist household, I never learned how to drink in good taste. When I did pick up the habit, I drank more than I should. After a while, I decided it was time to quit. I did it on my own, without going to AA. I never made a promise not to drink, I just did. That may be the one thing I have gotten right in my life. If I had not quit drinking when I did, there is a good chance I would not be here today.
I mentioned writing a blog. This is a one man operation, putting up stories and pictures in a magazine format. People look at it on machines that run through phone lines. There is more to it than that, but you will see this in about thirty years.
The 1968 Presidential election is on tuesday. This was between Hubert Humphrey, Richard Nixon, and George Wallace. People said it was the worst choice they could remember. You will hear that phrase every four years, and it is always the truth. It is more truth than either candidate says. Every four years, the choices get worse. This year, the incumbent President was half white, half African, and that the Republican challenger is a Mormon. Neither one is very impressive.
There was a state senator running for Governor two years ago named Jimmy Carter. You voted for him in the seventh grade straw poll. Well, smiling Jimmy was elected Governor in 1970. When his four years was over, he ran for President, and won.
You are in ninth grade now, and it is a bit better than eighth. Cross Keys is a stinky, dangerous place. They closed down Lynwood Park High before you were in the eighth grade, and the first year was wild. This is the first time you have to deal with Black people, but it will not be the last. Sometimes you get along with them, and sometimes you don’t. It is a part of life.
Puberty has not kicked in yet, and you are wondering if it ever will. Eventually, your body will grow some hair, but not nearly as much as most other men. After a while, you will learn to enjoy your body.
It is difficult to make and keep friends. It was true in 1968, and it is true forty four years later. After a while, you get used to being by yourself, but do wish you could have more close relationships. Well, it is better than having no friends at all, and there are people in that boat.
There is a war going on, and you think it is going to go on until you are old enough to fight. The good news is that the troops will come home from Vietnam in 1973. President Nixon dragged the war out as long as he could, and finally made a deal with the communists.
Advice from an old person is usually ignored by the young, so I will not even try. Even with all the disappointments, it is good to be alive in 2012. There were a few close calls. I somehow wonder how, and why, I made it this far. Some would not be happy with this life, and there are days when I am not. This is the only choice. There is speculation about other lives, but this is the only one to be certain of. Even though it might not be what some would want, this is a good life.
One more thing about living and dying before we go. You are still going to church. That lasts a couple of more years, and then you have the rest of your life. Don’t worry about the stuff they teach at church about life after death. It isn’t the truth. People will use religion as another reason to hate you. Deal with it as best you can. Just try to make yourself happier, don’t hurt anyone unless you have to, and things will be either all right, or not all right.
Pictures are from “The Special Collections and Archives,Georgia State University Library”.
Horse Hight Pig Tight Bull Strong
There was a link at Peach Pundit yesterday, Lee Anderson Website Issue Quiz! It is supposed to be off the website of Lee Anderson, who is running for Congress in the redneck triangle. PG couldn’t find it, but is confident that it is somewhere.
The quiz has four questions. There is a saying, and the idea is to find a current issue to go with the phrase. This ought to be a good excuse to spin out some text to go between the pictures. These images are from The Library of Congress. The answers are below the questions, and looking ahead is considered cheating. Anyone cheating on a meaningless internet quiz has got problems.
Question 1. There is an old saying, “G-d gives every bird a worm, but he doesn’t throw it in the nest.”
Tax Policy ~ Abortion ~ Wildlife Management ~ Job Creators ~ I’ve never heard anyone say this.
This is sort of a strange quote. Rumors of a pundit named Jerome Old turn out to not be true. If you ask Mr. Google, he says it is a Swedish folk saying, or that P.D. James said it. There is also a quote by Ogden Nash. “I am a conscientious man, when I throw rocks at seabirds I leave no tern unstoned.” If marijuana regulation were on the Georgia ballot, then this might be germane.
That site says the Question 1 phrase is a “Swedish Saying”. It has a quote by Anonymous: “Test-tube babies shouldn’t throw stones.” There is a quote from Brink Lindsey: “But in the terrible, simplifying clarity of war, it is apparent who is on one side and who is on the other. In the struggle between civilization and barbarism, those who throw rocks through McDonald’s and those who ram airplanes into buildings are expending their destructive energies in a common cause.”
Question 2. On the farm, keeping what you want in and what you don’t want out is important. Your fences need to be horse-high, pig-tight and bull-strong in order to do their job.
Birth Control ~ Wildlife Management ~ Illegal Immigration ~ Job Creators ~ Illegal Aliens are essentially livestock, no wait, the aliens are to like vermin or something, so our citizens are the livestock, and they shouldn’t be able to leave. Right? No?
Did someone say horse high? They might be talking about Latawnya, the Naughty Horse, Learns to Say “No” to Drugs. “This is the tale of three African American horses (Latawnya, Latoya and Daisy), who leave the stable and get drugs from four white horses (Connie, Chrystal, Jackie and Angie). It is a timely and poignant tale that will leave you laughing, crying, and making scary noises. It starkly and accurately presents the real dangers horses in black neighborhoods face from Caucasian equine drug pushers; when one of the horses died of a drug overdose, this reviewer wept openly. This is a lesson all children, foals, calves, chicks and cubs must learn before it is too late. A classic of our time. “
Question 3.Mark Twain once said that politicians are like diapers: they must be changed often and for the same reason. [Hint, he goes on to say: “In my view, 8-12 years is enough for anyone, and I will work to make term limits in Congress a reality.”]
Birth Control ~ Term Limits ~ Tax Policy ~ Diapers should probably be changed more often than politicians ~ We should vote out Barrow in Four Years?
Term limits is one of those things. When the Contract on America was foisted upon the Clintonized landscape of America, term limits was part of the deal. The fact that Newt Gingrich had been in Congress for sixteen years was not considered important.
Question 4. A teacher once told me that as long as the federal government is involved in education, it will always be mediocre for the same reason that in large kitchens, the cooking is usually bad.
Immigration Policy ~ Tax Policy ~ Federal Education Policy ~ Support of the Federal Cafeteria Awareness Act ~ Lee Anderson hates restaurants.
This does not indicate what subject the teacher taught. If he/she was a science teacher, this might be worth listening to. If he/she was a math teacher, then this doesn’t add up. If he/she taught English as a Second Language, then most Chinese restaurants have small kitchens.
1. Either Tax Policy or Job Creators would be correct. Lee Anderson thinks there is too much regulation and that’s like weeds in a garden. He then trumpets his rating from the National Federation of Independent Businesses, which endorsed John Barrow, so maybe he got a higher rating?
2. Illegal Immigration. Great line here: “Somehow the greatest country on earth, who put a man on the moon, can’t build a fence along the border with Mexico?”
3. Term Limits. And Mark Twain didn’t say this.
4. This is part of what appears to be a long diatribe about Emeril Legasse not accepting American culture, but if you said Federal Education Policy, I suppose you can count it as correct. But seriously, what is so bad about restaurants? Are they not job creators? If you eat at home, aren’t you costing American jobs?
Are My Attitudes About Race Any Of Your Business?
PG was living his life when see saw something on facebook: “And another thing: if you are going to claim NOT to be racist, I feel like you should familiarize yourself with some contemporary writings and definitions of racism, not just what Mirriam Webster says.” The first reaction was to ignore this. If you reply to a comment about racism on facebook, you are asking for trouble. Life is too short to be wasting time on such unpleasantness.
But the thought engine had been kickstarted, and continued to idle in the background. When PG pulled into the Kroger parking lot, the idea hit full force. Maybe whether you are, or are not, a racist, is no one else’s business.
Some people say that a PWOC is not affected by racism. If this is the case, then why should the racial attitudes of a PWOC affect another PWOC? If a person treats you fairly, do you really need to know this person’s attitudes about race?
The fbf does not say what the context of this claim is. Did anyone ask you whether or not you were a racist? If not, are you assuming that they are interested? Maybe someone assumed the listener was interested. Is the proper response to look bored, and say TMI?
PG was filling out a profile once, and was using some questioned borrowed from another blog profile. One of the questions was, are you a racist? “It depends on who is doing the judging”.
The comment mentioned “contemporary writings and definitions of racism”. Who are the people who set themselves up as arbiters about what we should think about race? What are the qualifications? Who asked them what they thought? How do we know that these people are dependable?.
Maybe the answer is to show compassion and kindness to your neighbor, and don’t judge them about their racial attitudes. If you are proud of your racial attitudes, please refrain from boasting. Not everyone is interested in what you think about race. Pictures are from The Library of Congress.
Chamblee54 
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