60 Dumb Quotes
This repost was originally published January 08, 2012. At that time, no one could have forseen the prophecy of quote number four. The idea that Donald Trump’s (seldom mentioned) first wife could have said “Fiction writing is great. You can make up almost anything” was marginally noteworthy in 2012. There is a saying, life is bad fiction. President Donald J.Trump is an example.
Smoking kills. If you’re killed, you’ve lost a very important part of your life. – Brooke Shields
If we don’t succeed, we run the risk of failure. – Dan Quayle
So, where’s the Cannes Film Festival being held this year? — Christina Aguilera
Fiction writing is great. You can make up almost anything. – Ivana Trump
I’m convinced the Beatles are partly responsible for the fall of Communism. – Milos Forman .
When I’m a blonde, I can say the world is purple, and they’ll believe me because they weren’t listening to me. – Kylie Bax, Model/Actress.
The internet is a great way to get on the net. – Bob Dole
You guys, line up alphabetically by height. – Bill Peterson, football coach
I get to go to lots of overseas places, like Canada. – Britney Spears
I think war is a dangerous place. – George W. Bush
I owe a lot to my parents, especially my mother and father. – Greg Norman, Golfer
It’s nice, it gives you a feeling of security so that if something breaks we know we can always call a guy over and he’ll bring a drill or something. – Brooke Shields
Rotarians, be patriotic! Learn to shoot yourself. – Gyrator, Chicago Rotary Club journal
These people haven’t seen the last of my face. If I go down, I’m going down standing up.
Chuck Person, NBA Basketball player
I’m so smart now. Everyone’s always like ‘take your top off’. Sorry, NO! They always want to get that money shot. I’m not stupid. – Paris Hilton
I think gay marriage is something that should be between a man and a woman
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Whenever I watch TV and see those poor starving kids all over the world, I can’t help but cry. I mean I’d love to be skinny like that but not with all those flies and death and stuff. – Mariah Carey
Predictions are difficult. Especially about the future. – Yogi Berra
My sister’s expecting a baby, and I don’t know if I’m going to be an uncle or an aunt.
Chuck Nevitt, basketball player
The Holocaust was an obscene period in our nation’s history. I mean in this century’s history. But we all lived in this century. I didn’t live in this century. – Dan Quayle
And now the sequence of events in no particular order. – Dan Rather
Natural gas is hemispheric. I like to call it hemispheric in nature because it is a product that we can find in our neighborhoods. – George W Bush
The doctors X-rayed my head and found nothing. – Dizzy Dean
I was in a no-win situation, so I’m glad that I won rather than lost. – Frank Bruno, Boxer
I have opinions of my own –strong opinions– but I don’t always agree with them. – George Bush
I want to rush for 1,000 or 1,500 yards, whichever comes first. –
George Rogers, NFL RB
I do not like this word “bomb.” It is not a bomb. It is a device that is exploding.
Jacques le Blanc, French ambassador
The word ‘genius’ isn’t applicable in football. A genius is a guy like Norman Einstein. – Joe Theisman
Half this game is ninety percent mental. – Danny Ozark, Philadelphia Phillies manager
Be sure and put some of those neutrons on it.
Mike Smith, Baseball pitcher, ordering a salad at a restaurant.
If I sold all my liabilities, I wouldn’t own anything. My wife’s a liability, my kids are liabilities, and I haven’t sold them. – Ted Turner
They misunderestimated me. – George W Bush
I don’t diet. I just don’t eat as much as I’d like to. – Linda Evangelista, Supermodel
Facts are stupid things. – Ronald Reagan
What a waste it is to lose one’s mind. Or not to have a mind is being very wasteful. How true that is.
Dan Quayle
That’s just the tip of the ice cube. – Neil Hamilton, BBC2
A bachelor’s life is no life for a single man. – Samuel Goldwyn
I may be dumb, but I’m not stupid. – Terry Bradshaw, Former football player/announcer
It isn’t pollution that is hurting the environment, it’s the impurities in our air and water that are doing it. – Dan Quayle
I’ve never had major knee surgery on any other part of my body. –
Winston Bennett, University of Kentucky basketball forward.
The only happy artist is a dead artist, because only then you can’t change. After I die, I’ll probably come back as a paintbrush. – Sylvestor Stallone
Outside of the killings, Washington has one of the lowest crime rates in the country.
Mayor Marion Barry, Washington, DC
We are not ready for an unforeseen event that may or may not occur. – Dan Quayle
Will the highways on the internet become more few? – George W Bush
Traditionally, most of Australia’s imports come from overseas.
Keppel Enderbery, Former Australian cabinet minister
There is certainly more in the future now than back in 1964. – Roger Daltrey
We’re going to turn this team around 360 degrees. – Jason Kidd
I’ve never really wanted to go to Japan. Simply because I don’t like eating fish. And I know that’s very popular out there in Africa. — Britney Spears
Pitching is 80% of the game. The other half is hitting and fielding. – Mickey Rivers, baseball player
I love California, I practically grew up in Phoenix. – Dan Quayle
Put the ‘off’ button on. – George W. Bush
So Carol, you’re a housewife and mother. And have you got any children? -Michael Barrymore
Food is an important part of a balanced diet. – Fran Lebowitz, US writer
We’ve got to pause and ask ourselves: How much clean air do we need? – Lee Iacocca
For NASA, space is still a high priority. – Dan Quayle
He’s a guy who gets up at six o’clock in the morning regardless of what time it is.
Lou Duva, veteran boxing trainer
If it weren’t for electricity we’d all be watching television by candlelight. – George Gobel
If only faces could talk… – Pat Summerall
Every minute was more exciting than the next. – Linda Evans, actress
I’m not anorexic. I’m from Texas. Are there people from Texas that are anorexic? I’ve never heard of one. And that includes me. — Jessica Simpson
DISCLAIMER: The accuracy, legitimacy, and context, of these quotes is not known. They have not been verified. Quotes were originally published by 2Spare , a digital facility that advertises “Endless entertainment to spare”. PG does not know where 2Spare got this content. Even though most of the quotes originated in English, the possibility of translation errors exists. The original title was “60 Dumbest Celebrity Quotes”. The use of the superlative is questionable, as is the celebrity status of Dan Quayle. Pictures for this waste of bandwidth are from The Library of Congress .
Inaugurations
The happy historians at backstory have a timely feature, Four More Years: Presidential Inaugurations in America. There are a few stories.
George Washington was afraid of acting like a king. No one knew just how the office of President would turn out. Honest George stood on a New York balcony, took the oath, and gave a tasteful speech. The wooden teeth worked well.
Probably the most exciting inaugural was in 1876. The country had endured eight years of Ulysses Grant, and was ready to elect a Democrat. The Republicans were good at dirty tricks, and got Rutherford Hayes elected, despite losing the popular vote. The Democrat, Samuel Tilden, had a power base in New York, and was rumored to have an army. The possibility of an armed fight over the election was real. Cooler heads prevailed. Mr. Hayes was allowed to take his ZZ Top beard into the oval office. Four years later James Garfield was sworn in, not knowing what was in store.
In 1865, the country had endured four brutal years of internal war. Abraham Lincoln wanted to start the recovery process. His speech is regarded as the best inaugural speech ever.
Backstory makes a point that few have thought about. They said that Mr. Lincoln was a lousy public speaker. The reason his inaugural speech is famous today is because copies of the text were printed in newspapers. This makes sense, as less than an hundred people probably heard his unamplified, unrecorded, address. This would also account for the popularity of the Gettysburg Address.
Today, it is the medium, rather than the message. We are inundated with clever words, designed to uplift, improve, educate, and motivate. With everyone screaming, no one is heard. It is tough to imagine an inaugural today having the impact of the ones in history.
This repost feature was written like H. P. Lovecraft. The pictures are from The Library of Congress. The images are Union soldiers, from the War Between the States.
Dolly Parton And Paula Deen
Dolly Parton celebrates a birthday today. The internet is a love fest for her, and deservedly so. Miss Parton has given joy to millions, with her singing and acting.
Paula Deen was born on the same day, one year later. While her star did not shine quite as bright as Miss Parton, Mrs. Deen made her contribution to american life. The only problem was a bad boss lawsuit against a company Mrs. Deen invested in. A lawyer got Mrs. Deen to admit, under oath, the she had said the n-word. Paula Deen became a pariah.
Dolly Parton and Paula Deen have a few things in common. Miss Parton is married to Carl Thomas Dean, and her legal name is Mrs. Dean. Both ladies are from the south, the hills of East Tennessee, and the flatland of Albany, Georgia. Both grew up in an era where the n-word was what white people called black people.
What if the story had been different. What if it was a restaurant at Dollywood where the manager was not happy? What if this white woman, who was treated better because she was a white woman, decided to claim racial discrimination in her bad boss lawsuit? (Page 153 of deposition.) What if the disgruntled employee’s lawyer was smarter than Dolly Parton’s lawyer? We might have had tabloids screaming nonstop that Dolly Parton said the n-word.
Pictures are from The Library of Congress, taken at “Annual “Bathing Girl Parade”, Balboa Beach, CA, June 20, 1920.” No one asked these ladies if they ever said the n-word. This is a repost. Other celebrities born on January 19: Robert E. Lee (1807), Edgar Allan Poe (1809), Jean Stapleton (1923), Janis Joplin (1943), and Desi Arnaz Jr.(1953.)
Lost Atlanta
Lost Atlanta is a coffee table book. The content is the buildings, and institutions, that no longer exist. Atlanta has a long love affair with the wrecking ball. General Sherman was a minor player.
PG is a native, and knows a few things about the city. While looking through LA, he began to take notes of things he did not know. The names behind the Ferry Roads is one. Plantation owner James Power established Power’s Ferry in 1835. Hardy Pace established his ferry in the 1850s. The fare was 62 cents for a full wagon, 50 cents for an empty wagon, 12 cents for a man and a horse, and 4 cents per head of cattle. The last ferry to cease operations was the Campbellton Ferry, in south Fulton county. The Campbellton Ferry ceased operations in 1958.
Wheat Street Baptist Church is a prominent Atlanta institution. If you look for Wheat Street on google, all you see is Old Wheat Street. It turns out that Wheat Street was renamed Auburn Avenue. “Originally called Wheat Street, the road was renamed in 1893 at the request of white petitioners who believed Auburn Avenue had a more cosmopolitan sound.”
Bald Hill, aka Leggett’s Hill, was leveled in 1958 to make way for the East Expressway, later known as I-20. On July 22, 1864, the Battle of Atlanta was fought there. After the unpleasantness, Frederick Koch bought farm land on the site. His house was at 382 Moreland Avenue. The house was demolished in 1953. South of I-20, 1400 McPherson Avenue has a monument. Maj. Gen. James B. McPherson was killed at that location.
The outfield wall at Ponce De Leon park was covered with advertising. One sign was for Southern Bread. The picture had a “Southern Colonel”… apparently the only type of officer in the CSA … saying “I’d even go North for Southern Bread.” This ad was also painted on the side of a building on Tenth Street, just off Peachtree. The late Jim Henson produced a tv ad for Southern Bread.
Jacobs Drug Store was a prominent chain at one time. It was founded by Joseph Jacobs. Mr. Jacobs had a store in the Norcross building, on Peachtree Street at Marietta Street. In 1886, the soda fountain mixed John Pemberton’s patent medicine with carbonated soda water. The rest is history.
There are a few notes, which do not justify a paragraph. The Governor’s Mansion was at 250 The Prado, in Ansley Park, until a new GM was built on West Paces Ferry road. The Henry Grady hotel did not have a thirteenth floor, but went from 12 to 14. This did not stop the building from being demolished, to make way for the Peachtree Plaza hotel.
When Laurent DeGive built his grand opera house at Peachtree and Houston (Now JW Dobbs,) people were horrified. The central business district was south of five points. The area north, where the opera house went up, was residential. In 1932, the opera house was renovated, and opened as the Loew’s Grand. In 1939, it hosted the world premiere of “Gone With The Wind.” On the other side of Houston Street was the Paramount Theater, and across Peachtree was the Coca Cola sign. The GP building occupies the site today.
Pictures are from “The Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library”.
The Man Who Would Not Shut Up
Java Monkey Speaks finished with a bit of snark last night. The poet, “Gabriel,” had been sitting next to a loudmouth. Worse, the loudmouth was hitting on a lady. The loudmouth was boasting about how enlightened he was, by talking over poets. The fact that it was a warm evening, and the patio was open, made it worse.
“Gabriel” did not get to hear the performers. He was not pleased, and did what poets do. He wrote about the man who would not shut up.
Performance … on stage, or in the audience … is a tiny percentage of the JMS experience. Most of your time is spent listening to other performers. When one person speaks, the other people listen. Many of the poets are terrific, and if you don’t listen, you miss out. We don’t need to talk more. We need to listen more. This is true for the rest of the world.
One problem is that listening is seen as passive, while speech is active. Our culture values action. Even if you make the situation worse by speaking, many people cannot keep their mouth shut. The patio romeo did not seem to get this. The fact that there is a room next door, designed for conversation, did not seem to occur to this man.
Last summer, PG went to JMS. It was the sunday after Philando Castile, and Alton Sterling, died. PG had a conversation with “Gabriel” after this evening. “One of the other white men felt the same way. He opened his poem by saying that it was not his struggle, and it was not appropriate for him to speak. (Those were not the exact words.) PG spoke to him at intermission. He said to think about this… what if you were a black person, coming to read on a night with much black pain. You looked in the audience, and there were no white people to listen?”
Read your smutty poem is one result of that evening. java monkey speaks black white mix, americas bad week two black men, shot dead by police best thing for , white man to do is be there listen, not your struggle not appropriate, read your smutty poem shut up.
One issue is the limited amount of time available for speakers. JMS has an 11 pm curfew. Towards the end of the evening, performers should go up, read their piece, and sit down. When you are on stage, you are not aware of how long you are up there. PG was a couple of spots before “Gabriel,” and was wondering if he would get to perform. “Gabriel” wrote his poem in anger, after the patio performance. The poem will be better with editing.
At the end of the night, things seemed to work out. PG and “Gabriel” got to speak before 11pm. There will be other times where not everyone will get to speak, because someone else did not know how to listen. (And not just at Java Monkey.) The white savior complex is alive, well, and annoying. It is not known whether the patio dude impressed the lady. Pictures today are from “The Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library”.
Worst Performance Of Your Career
Display of a link in this facility does not indicate approval of content ~ A Dairy Queen owner unleashed a racist tirade against a customer. He no longer has a business. ~ Sorry, Meryl but that hypocritical anti-Trump rant was easily the worst performance of your career (apart from that time you gave a child rapist a standing ovation) ~ A New Understanding of Loyalty: An Interview With Author Sarah Schulman ~ White House Flickr ~ This official White House photograph is being made available only for publication by news organizations and/or for personal use printing by the subject(s) of the photograph. The photograph may not be manipulated in any way and may not be used in commercial or political materials, advertisements, emails, products, promotions that in any way suggests approval or endorsement of the President, the First Family, or the White House. ~ wazoo ~ WaPo Issues Major ‘Editor’s Note’ to Clear up Report Claiming Russians Hacked US Power Grid ~ Shaun King: The Truth About Talcum X ~ I know my own group by defining who’s not in it ~ Michael Tracy ~ The Most Beautiful-Sounding Word in English, According to You, Is . . . ~ If you type ~ THE AUDRE LORDE QUESTIONNAIRE TO ONESELF ~ Coulrophobia Treatment ~ Coulrophobia: Fear of Clowns- Causes, Symptoms and Treatment ~ Overcoming a Fear of Clowns ~ Tom Robbins Was My Spiritual Advisor ~ Classical Rhetoric: An Exordium Exordium Narratio Confirmatio Refutatio Peroratio ~ Cut ~ This Millennial Rant Deserves A Trophy For Being Most Wrong ~ Here’s Looking at You, Kinder ~ Chuck Schumer: Democrats Will Lose Blue-Collar Whites But Gain in the Suburbs At least publicly, Schumer has no worries about his party’s dwindling fortunes among working-class white voters. “For every blue-collar Democrat we lose in western Pennsylvania, we will pick up two moderate Republicans in the suburbs in Philadelphia, and you can repeat that in Ohio and Illinois and Wisconsin.” ~ Chuck Schumer: The Worst Possible Democratic Leader at the Worst Possible Time ~ Andy Warhol Shoots “Screen Tests” of Nico, Bob Dylan & Salvador Dalí ~ Edie Sedgwick Screen Test ~ .Election Ad Aggravates a Racial Divide in Atlanta ~ RACE BAITING LAST MINUTE SCARE AD IN ATLANTA ~ Franklin radio ad linked to bad blood with Morris ~ @realDonaldTrump mention crime infested) rather than falsely complaining about the election results. All talk, talk, talk – no action or results. Sad! ~ @realDonaldTrump Congressman John Lewis should spend more time on fixing and helping his district, which is in horrible shape and falling apart (not to…… ~ Tom Houck and Angelo Fuster ~ why i write ~ @realDonaldTrump Congressman John Lewis should finally focus on the burning and crime infested inner-cities of the U.S. I can use all the help I can get! ~ PT Barnum ~ This e-mail message (including any attachments) is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution or copying of this message (including any attachments) is strictly prohibited. If you have received this message in error, please contact the sender by reply e-mail message and destroy all copies of the original message (including attachments). ~ @tcboyle 1/2 I got Totillla Curtain at a yard sale. When printing paperbacks, apparently they bind pages into sections @tcboyle 2/2 My copy of TC had two section fours, and no section five I had to get it from library to see how it ended ~ I know of a site which gives you five minutes after you post the comment to edit or delete. ~ The spell check suggestions for Streep are Strip Strep Steep Street ~ Is that near the Bang Dong grocery ~ You are the first person I have seen to say ws. ~ If you use foul language, you will be blocked. ~ menu We use cookies to enhance your experience on our website. By continuing to use our website, you are agreeing to our use of cookies. You can change your cookie settings at any time.ContinueFind out more ~ @RobTornoe Unfortunate that CNN booked Rick Santorum on the day they’re forced to defend against allegations they are a “fake news” network. ~ PerezHilton Newsletter Signup Get the juiciest celebrity gossip in your inbox! Email Address* ~ @pooroldkilgore wish I had the sort of confidence really stupid people have ~ don’t be stupid don’t be silly vote for trump instead of hillary ~ KimKierkegaardashian @KimKierkegaard I made my family’s faces into emojis, a horror rooted in paganism ~ @sarahdwire Uber driver this a.m. asked why Senate was up last night trying to get rid of ACA, which he likes, rather than Obamacare, which he doesn’t ~ The correct spelling is coulorphobe. You can’t be a coulorphobe without u. ~ @ChrisCrocker LEAVE CONSPIRACY THEORISTS ALONE!!!!! ~ @nihilist_arbys There’s no god It’s Friday. Enjoy Arbys ~ @RogerCorman Shameless imagination. **DISCLAIMER: Roger Corman does not accept any unsolicited material.** ~ @dark_shark “You must learn to exist with no religion, no country, no allies. You must learn to live alone in silence.” – William S. Burroughs ~ Don’t leave without getting a free proofreading sample! ~ There should be a word for Professional Christians who like to use big theological words that only their fellow PC understand ~ @piersmorgan John Lewis may be a civil rights hero, but that doesn’t entitle him to brand Trump’s presidency illegitimate without being criticised. ~ @WernerTwertzog America needs a library, for interviews and dating, from which one can borrow shallow, vapidly smiling, dead-eyed, conformist personalities. ~ 1. What are the words you do not have yet? [Or, “for what do you not have words, yet?”] 2. What do you need to say? [List as many things as necessary] 3. What are the tyrannies you swallow day by day and attempt to make your own, until you will sicken and die of them, still in silence? [List as many as necessary today. Then write a new list tomorrow. And the day after. ] 4. If we have been socialized to respect fear more than our own need for language, ask yourself: “What’s the worst that could happen to me if I tell this truth?” [So, answer this today. And everyday.] ~ People are posting lists of influential albums from their youth. This list is a work in progress: Jimi Hendrix Band of Gypsies, David Bowie Hunky Dory, Mahavishnu Orchestra The Inner Mounting Flame, Grateful Dead Skull and Roses, The Big Ball Warner Brothers Compilation, Frank Zappa We’re only in it for the money, Flora Purim Stories to Tell, John Martyn Solid Air, David Bowie Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars ~ pictures today are from The Library of Congress. ~ selah
War Letters
In the winter of 2003, it was obvious that America was going to war. Congress had voted approval, the modern version of a declaration of war. The troops. and supplies, were on the borders of Iraq, waiting for the order to go in.
PG felt the need to make a statement. There was no illusion that it would affect the overall decision to invade Iraq. However, PG wanted to go on record as being opposed to the folly to come.
It was a low risk act. In America, we have freedom of expression. This does not mean that the powers that be listen to the people. The only expression that matters is by people who pay the authorities. The people can say anything, but nobody in charge listens.
There were three representatives in Congress to contact. The two Senators were Saxby Chambliss and Zell Miller. The 4th district was represented in the House of Representatives by Denise Majette. She was new to Congress, having defeated Cynthia McKinney in the 2002 election.
The area that PG lives in is gerrymandered into different districts every ten years by the Georgia legislature. This is partly the legacy of the Voting Rights Act, which requires the voting districts in Georgia to be approved by Federal authorities. Today, PG is in the 6th district, represented by Republican Tom Price.
The letters are lost in hard drive crash fog. It started out with the phrase “you were elected to represent me.” Apparently, this left Zell Miller out. He has been appointed to finish the term of Paul Coverdell. Democrat Zell Miller was appointed by Democrat Governor Roy Barnes to complete the term of Republican Paul Coverdell. After this, Zell Miller gave the keynote address at the 2004 Republican Convention. This is what Georgia has come to expect from Zig Zag Zell.
The anti war letter was not great writing. It basically said that the invasion of Iraq was not a good idea. The letter did not address the tax cut. In a bizarre move, Congress approved a tax cut, with an economically ruinous war on the horizon.
The responses to the letter are attached here. Denise Majette gave a thoughtful reply. She did not say “I agree with you” in so many words, but it is clear she is not gung ho about killing Iraqis. Miss Majette said, and PG agrees, that once the war begins, the debate should cease.
Saxby Chambliss sent two replies. Both talked about how well the war was going, and how wonderful it was to be killing people in Iraq. It is a good question whether his staff read the original letter from PG, which opposed the war.
In the 2004 election, Denise Majette ran for the Senate. Zell Miller chose to retire, and his seat was up for grabs. Republican Johnny Isakson won the Senate seat. Cynthia McKinney made a comeback, and won the fourth district House seat.
Saxby Chambliss was re-elected in 2008, and retired in 2014. The conflict in Iraq continues to this day. It is a disaster. The withdrawal of American combat troops did not end the civil war. Currently, Iraq is the scene for combat operations from the Islamic State military force.
The financial burden of the war has been immense. The military depends on contractors for many basic services, at increased cost to the Asian war financiers. The National debt has been increasing by a trillion dollars a year. Revenge for nine eleven, directed at a marginally responsible country, has been horribly expensive. Pictures for today’s entertainment message are from “The Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library”. This is a repost.
John Lewis
John Lewis is the latest target of Donald Trump’s uncontrolled personality disorder. The congressman said something the PEE-OTUS did not like.
@realDonaldTrump Congressman John Lewis should spend more time on fixing and helping his district, which is in horrible shape and falling apart (not to…… @realDonaldTrump mention crime infested) rather than falsely complaining about the election results. All talk, talk, talk – no action or results. Sad! The response came at 8:50 AM – 14 Jan 2017.
The fifth district is based in the city of Atlanta. While there are sketchy neighborhoods, overall the city is booming. Mr. Lewis, one of the heroes of the cival rights movement, has represented this district since 1987. Mr. Lewis is greatly respected in Atlanta.
PG saw John Lewis in action once. The 72 year old Lewis was a participant in the 2012 Gay Pride parade. He did not ride in a limousine. Mr. Lewis walked the sidewalk, shaking as many hands as he could. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress.
Chamblee54 
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