Slaughterhouse-Five Part Three
Welcome to part three of the Vonnegutian excavation of Slaughterhouse-Five, by Kurt Vonnegut. Parts one and two have already been published. Pictures are from “The Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library”. It is written like J. R. R. Tolkien. This is a repost.
It is a lovely last day of July in Georgia. This chapter will be include chapters three and four. This project is at a lovely interlude. The rythyms and methods have been established. It is still fun to write, without the dreary duty involved in the final chapters. Hopefully it will be fun to read. It is early enough in the day that the window can be left open. Joggers and dog walkers are in the road, accompanied by baby strollers and cell phones. It is a great day in post racial Amerika.
Billy Pilgrim (BP) has been captured by the Germans. It was the tail end of the war, and most of the elite soldiers were pushing up Russian daisies. The Germans who captured BP were teenage boys and toothless old men. Their uniforms were taken off of dead soldiers. This ghoulish bit of recycling was marked by the phrase “so it goes.” It is noted in this text as SIG020.
The commander of the unit, that captured BP, was a corporal. He had been wounded four times, and sent back into action. The corporal wore golden cavalry boots, stolen off a dead Hungarian colonel. SIG021. This theme of stealing footwear from prisoners will be played out soon.
Roland Weary is well equipped. He has a spectacular hunting knife, scarves, boots, and a bullet proof Bible. When he is captured, the Germans take all his pretties away. His combat boots are taken off his feet, and given to one of the teenage boys. The boy had wooden clogs, which were given to Roland Weary. It did not work out well for the captured Amerikan.
While admiring the manly footwear of the colonel, BP hears three shots in the distance. Two Amerikan scouts were killed. SIG022. These scouts had been with BP, and Roland Weary, and had left them. Roland Weary thought thet him, and the scouts, were the Three Musketeers. The scouts thought Roland Weary was an obnoxious jerk. As KV said in another book, some people are just no damn good. Some people say that KV had a negative attitude.
While the Germans were dealing with him, BP began to time travel. He wound up in Ilium NY, 1967, when BP was 44 years old. His apparent date of birth varies throughout the text, which is not a big deal on Tralfamadore. BP, a wealthy optometrist, drives a Cadillac El Dorado Coupe de Ville. It has a bumber sticker that says “Impeach Earl Warren.”
PG was 13 yo in part of 1967, and can remember Earl Warren. The man was Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. This version of SCOTUS handed down decisions about school desegregation, and Miranda rights, that upset conservatives. Before that, Mr. Warren was Governor of California, and the Republican Vice Presidential candidate in 1948. This was an election the Republicans had no business losing, but Harry Truman got the electoral votes. Earl Warren is little remembered today. The fact that PG recognizes the name, and the bumper sticker, makes him feel old in 2015.
BP had a good life in 1967. He drove a Cadillac, and made lots of money. BP went to Lions Club meetings, where the speaker said to bomb North Vietnam back into the stone age. His daughter was about to be married. One problem is the death of a beloved dog, Spot. SIG023.
1967 was much more appealing than the 1944 reality of capture by Germans. BP, however, was an optimist, and eventually an optometrist. It was all about how you see things. BP saw soldiers with piano teeth, and corpses with blue and ivory feet. SIG024. Soon, the captured Amerikans were paraded in front of a movie camera. There was no film in the camera, but the POW did not know that. On the horizon was a puff of smoke. A battle was being fought, and soldiers were dying. SIG025.
Eventually, the POW were loaded into train cars. The cars were marked with orange and black stripes, as a signal to the allied bombers. Later, when Barbara Pilgrim was married, the tents at the reception had orange and black stripes. The reception was in no danger of enemy bombers, even though it was hosted by a time traveling former POW.
While on the train car, BP had to endure a conversation with a geriatric Colonel, whose lungs rattled like greasy paper bags. The Colonel invited everyone to a barbeque in Cody WY. After a while, PG was ushered into a different train car from the Colonel, who outranked him. Soon, word arrived that a man had died in another car. SIG026. The deceased combatant was Wild Bob. SIG027. BP was chatting with a hobo, who said he had seen much worse than this. Little did he know what awaited him. Or maybe he did know. This is the end of chapter three.
At the start of chapter four, we learn that BP’s wife is named Valencia. Her daughter has just been married, before having a reception in an orange and black tent. BP is having trouble sleeping, and goes downstairs. There is a half empty bottle of champagne. Yes, the bottle is half empty, not half full, as if that is an important distinction on Tralfamadore. BP pulls the cork out of the bottle, and there is no fizz. The champagne is dead. SIG028.
Soon, the spaceshop … no mister clumsy typist, it is a space ship, not a space shop. … the spaceship from Tralfamadore lands in the back yard. Trallies do not speak. However, they have a voice synthesizer which imitates earthling sounds. This tactic is employed for comic effect in the movie. While BP is screwing Montana Wildhack, the voice machine asks if they are mating.
Nobody dies during the Tralfamadorian abduction, and there is no occasion for an SIG. This is made up for when BP returns to the POW train. First, the hobo says “You think this is bad? This ain’t bad.” SIG 029. Then, there is a death in the car ahead of BP. Roland Weary succumbs to gangrene, brought about by marching, in wooden clogs. SIG030. Roland Weary blames BP for his death.
This is one of the moments when PG feels a bond with BP, who, it should be remembered, is a fictional character. You meet someone, under bad circumstances, who is an asshole. Something bad happens to the asshole, who follows the asshole tradition of looking for someone to blame his misfortune on. The lucky person is you. It is not always pleasant. This thought may, or may not, be with BP as he finally gets off the POW wagon. BP is the next to last person off the train. The last person off is the dead hobo. SIG031.
When the POW arrive, they are led to a pile of clothing. It was overcoats, taken from other POW, who are now taking the German dirt nap. SIG032. BP gets a civilian coat, with a fur collar. It is way too small for him, and looks like a three cornered hat. SIG033.
BP meets Edgar Derby, who will play an important role in this story. We already know this. KV does not like suspense. Mr. Derby cradled the head of Roland Weary as the asshole left the planet. SIG034. KV cannot resist the temptation to tell us what will happen to Mr. Derby in sixty eight days. SIG035.
By now, BP is naked. This is part of the introduction to POW life. By coincidence, when BP went to Tralfamadore, the first thing they said to do was take off the clothes. BP is being deloused, which is an underrated function in wartime. The clothing of BP goes through a chemical process that kills lice, bacteria, and cooties. SIG036. This is the last SIG in this installment.
Before long, BP time travels back to Tralfamadore. The trallie is explaining a few basic things to BP. At this point we get the most important quote in SF. PG read this in 1978, and never forgot it. PG looked for this quote on the internet, and nobody thought it was important enough to share. It is amazing that this should be so esoteric, as this quote is at the end of chapter four.
“If I hadn’t spent so much time studying Earthlings,’ said the Tralfamadorian, ‘I wouldn’t have any idea what was meant by “free will.” I’ve visited thirty-one inhabited planets in the universe, and I have studied reports on one hundred more. Only on Earth is there any talk of free will.”
On The Road: The End
The On The Road series is sputtering to a halt. PG seems to remember doing the first 2 chapters of part 4. He did not copy the link to the overview. The next step is to review the last 15 days of posting, to see if it turns up. It turns out PG wrote The Bike Wreck in the waiting room of a doc-in-a-box.
The injured shoulder is still a problem. Such is the life of an old fogie. Dean Moriarty/Neal Cassady and Sal Paradise/Jack Kerouac both croaked in their forties. Life fast and leave a pretty corpse. Pictures of merry prankster Neal are not pretty. Even compared to William F. Buckley, Kerouac is not pretty. Maybe the best thing to do is wallow in youtube degenerate research, take notes, and put off writing this book report one more day.
A few slack days passed. Just bite the bullet, start to write something, and maybe the creative juices will kick in. In chapter 3, Dean arrives in Denver. D&S go out looking for kicks, and come home without getting kicked. “Say, Dean gets crazier every year, doesn’t he?” “I had finally found the castle where the great snake of the world was about to rise up.”
In chapter 4 of part 4, the crew starts to go to Mexico. D&S now have a third stooge, Stan, who gets bitten by a critter, and needs to go see a doctor. Soon, they are in the endless travel vortex of Texas. “Texas was undeniable; we burned slowly into Abilene and woke up to look at it. “Imagine living in this town a thousand miles from cities. Whoop, whoop, over there by the tracks, old town Abilene where they shipped the cows and shot it up for gumshoes and drank red-eye. Look out there” yelled Dean out the window with his mouth contorted like W.C.Fields.” At some point, Dean quits talking for a few minutes, then starts back again. Soon, the border came and went.“Behind us lay the whole of America and everything Dean and I had previously known about life, and life on the road. We had finally found the magic land at the end of the road and we never dreamed the extent of the magic.”
“The boys were sleeping, and I was alone in my eternity at the wheel, and the road ran straight as an arrow. Not like driving across Carolina, or Texas, or Arizona, or Illinois; but like driving across the world and into the places where we would finally learn ourselves … These people were unmistakably Indians and were not at all like the Pedros and Panchos of silly civilized American lore — they had high cheekbones, and slanted eyes, and soft ways; they were not fools, they were not clowns; they were great, grave Indians and they were the source of mankind and the fathers of it… For when destruction comes to the world of “history” and the Apocalypse of the Fellahin returns once more as so many times before, people will still stare with the same eyes from the caves of Mexico as well as from the caves of Bali, where it all began and where Adam was suckled and taught to know.”
Before long, the boys were in Gregoria. A guide named Victor appeared. Soon los muchachos tienen marihuana para fumar. The next verse, in this Gregorian chant, was a visit to a whorehouse. “Soon it would be mysterious night in old gone Gregoria. The mambo never let up for a moment, it frenzied on like an endless journey in the jungle. I couldn’t take my eyes off the little dark girl and the way, like a queen, she walked around and was even reduced by the sullen bartender to menial tasks such as bringing us drinks and sweeping the back.”
“I was set upon by a fat and uninteresting girl with a puppy dog, who got sore at me when I took a dislike to the dog because it kept trying to bite me.” Dean had no such troubles. Dean Moriarty, or real life destination Neal Cassady, was a legendary stud. Everybody Knows, Nobody Cares, Or: Neal Cassady’s Penis. When you ask if the Cassady hopalong was cut, or uncut, you are directed to That time Gore Vidal porked Jack Kerouac. To Mr. Vidal’s surprise, Mr. Kerouac was circumcized.
As Allen Ginsberg/Carlo Marx knew, Neal’s goodies were not for ladies only. At one point early in their relationship, Carolyn Cassady/Camille saw more than was customary and reasonable. “What was so wrong with three people who loved each other sharing a bed at the same time? Lu Anne asks in “One and Only” (Heart Beat … shows Carolyn discovering Lu Anne in bed with Neal and Allen Ginsberg.)” Lu Anne Henderson, Marylou in OTR, was Neal’s first wife.
The boys go on to Mexico City, another gone party out of control. Sal gets some kind of tourist bug, and is deathly ill. “I didn’t know who he was anymore, and he knew this, and sympathized, and pulled the blanket over my shoulders.” Dean needs to get back to his wives, and leaves Sal to fend for himself. You knew I was a scorpion when you gave me a ride.
Part five is only a few pages long. Sal gets back to New York eventually. Dean sends him a letter. “I wrote to Dean and told him. He wrote back a huge letter eighteen thousand words long, all about his young years in Denver, and said he was coming to get me an personally select the old truck himslef and drive us home.” This letter was said to inspire Sal’s not-writing-typing style, and may have been plagiarized. “The letter was put up for sale at Christie’s in 2016, but failed to reach the $400,000 minimum. It was offered again in March at Heritage Auctions, where Emory purchased it for $206,250, including buyer’s premium, according to information on the auction house’s website.”
So much for the gasoline soaked adventures of Dean and Sal. The previous installments of this series are available. part one part two part three part four part five part six Pictures for part seven today are from The Library of Congress. This is a repost.
Rules For Writing
PG was recently reading a list of rules for writing. He began to think of a few. A wordpad was opened, and before long 18 suggestions appeared. When you publish a list like this, you are placing a target on your back, with the word hypocrite written above. PG does not claim to take all these suggestions all the time. What follows is a goal to work for, not a script for a situation comedy.
When in doubt, shut up. … A halo is best worn over one ear.
You have two ears and one mouth. Listen twice as much as you talk.
If you want to be forgiven, forgive. If you want to be understood, understand.
There are few situations that cannot be made worse with anger and loud talk.
A douche is a hygiene appliance. The verb form refers to using this device, for cleaning purposes. Neither the noun nor the verb is appropriate for use as an insult.
A sentence has one period, placed at the end. Do not place a period after every word to make a point. You should find another way to show emphasis.
Before you “call out” somebody for “racism”, drape a towel over your mirror.
Not everyone enjoys the sound of your voice as much as you do.
Do not place “ass” between and adjective and the object. “Ass” is a noun that refers to either a donkey or a butt. An adverb is used to modify an adjective, and is placed before the adjective. Using “ass” as a misplaced adverb is improper.
The third commandment says to not use the word G-d “in vain”. The G-word should only be used for worship and respectful discussion. Improper uses include expressing anger, swearing to, selling life insurance, and pledging allegiance to a nationalist symbol.
This is a repost from 2011 and 2020. Pictures are from “The Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library” … PG was reading facebook, minding his own business, when he saw something that made his head explode. It started with a post with the splashy title White Liberals Have White Privilege Too! . There is something about online discussions about white privilege that make well meaning people want to type a lot of words. PG usually avoids such a conversation, as if it were an amway pitch, but made an exception this fateful afternoon.
The seminal article was written in 2007, and mentioned the media controversy of the day. It seemed as though Joe Biden said “I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy … I mean, that’s a storybook, man.” 2011 UPDATE: Mr. Biden is currently the Vice President, serving under the FMAA. 2020 UPDATE: Biden the Elder is currently serving as President of the United States.
There was a link to a bit of archaic html called ” Black People Love Us!, which tells the story of Sally and Johnny… “We are well-liked by Black people so we’re psyched (since lots of Black people don’t like lots of White people)!! We thought it’d be cool to honor our exceptional status with a ROCKIN’ domain name and a killer website!!” The fun starts when a facebook paster quoted a letter to BPLU.
“I swear, if one more white person says that they want to touch my hair, I am gonna puck a f*ckin mousetrap in it so their f*ckin hand gets caught in it. anyways… GET WITH THE PROGRAM! Have any of you ever heard of sarcasm? Irony? Satires? Canterbury Tales? Shakespeare’s “As You Like it” and “Much Ado About Nothing?” If some of you would actually get your heads out of your asses for one second and read a f*cking book or get educated, you will see that this website is NOT trying to break down PEOPLE, but break down BARRIERS and erase STEREOTYPES…With much love for Sally and Johnny… A Black University of Michigan Student with nappy-ass hair”.
The resulting visual ruined the day for PG. BUMS should keep their pants on, and not burden the world with the sight of nappy hair on their posterior. The same thing goes for any asian, latino, caucasian, native american, or zorlack with this problem.
Dietary Pros & Cons
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Buddhist Diet: How It Works and What to Eat Dietary practices Pros & cons
Five-Alarm Fire Caused By Voodoo Sex Ritual Gone Wrong
A lying tongue hateth those that are afflicted by it; and a flattering mouth worketh ruin.
Voices of the X-iled Paperback – August 1, 1994 by Michael Wexler
Girl With Curious Hair by David Foster Wallace: “a permanent migraine”?
David Foster Wallace on What’s Wrong with Postmodernism: A Video Essay
Noahpinion California needs real math education, not gimmicks Armand Domalewski.
International Norms Get Messy On decision to send cluster munitions to Ukraine.
Military briefing: cluster bombs offer Ukraine swifter end to war Ammunition shunned …
Civilian Deaths from Cluster Munitions – Ukrainian Use of Widely Banned Weapon
Don’t join the book burners. Don’t think you are going to conceal faults by concealing …
A BUDDHIST monk teaches you the FIRST 3 BREATHING TECHNIQUES of mindfulness
How to Turn the Sound on Your Phone Off: A Self-Help Guide for Fuckwits
guy sharpe ~ repost ~ brandon keeler ~ stambolian ~ tm
pow ~ alijah ~ repost ~ jimmie dodd ~ the truth
you only live twice ~ citibike ~ repost ~ dfw audio ~ irony
incel ~ bobby carlson ~ tom waits ~ racket news ~ censors
fishwrapper ~ lost pig ~ hp lovecraft ~ 1001 short stories ~ podcasts
habibi bros ~ fellirium ~ andre watts ~ curious ~ whoopi goldberg
tm ~ jarrett ~ jimmie dodd ~ restaurant story ~ duane moody ~ mary s. little
@chamblee54 Is .@kittypurrzog REALLY a Muslim? If she is, then she should provide details on the show. When was she converted? What branch of Islam does she practice? What is the name of the mosque where she attends services? @tracewoodgrains .@jessesingal – If .@kittypurrzog is NOT a Muslim, then she needs to quit saying that she is. This joke was NEVER funny. It is possibly *racist*, or anti-Islamic. – In the context of this particular show, the “as a Muslim” joke is especially tacky. A young man, with an Islamic background, was mercilessly grilled by a lawyer for using the term “raghead” in a comedy routine. For Katie to make her “as a Muslim” joke in this context is wrong. ~ This is a repost from 2011. The link in the story has gone bye bye, but does lead to this: Five-Alarm Fire Caused By Voodoo Sex Ritual Gone Wrong. The comments below are timeless. Fishwrapper comments used to be fun to read. ~ If you take an “intense chocolate” product, you must miss Georgia ~ have i talked to you since monday? I decided to go to that party i spoke of last week, but take marta instead of parking. As i approched the dunwoody station, a man a few seats ahead of me started crouching in the aisle, and looking under a seat. then he took something out of his bag. he was holding a utility knife, WITH THE BLADE EXPOSED. I very quickly got off the train at the next stop, which fortunately was my intended stop. … ty i have ridden the doraville line hundreds of times, and nothing like this ever happened. this was the first time i went on the north springs line … outside of getting on the wrong northbound train, and going to the first station to turn around ~ so i listened to this podcast today. a lady has 2 rings stuck on her fingers. someone says you can go to a fire station and have them cut it off. she goes to a san francisco firehouse, and they cut one ring off, and use industrial strength lube to get the other off. the fireman say that usually when someone comes to them, to remove a stuck object, that the object is stuck on a penis. ~ Will0090: “So tell me more about yourself. Most importantly what you seek on the site” piersgavestonjr: “seeing what ai thinks i will respond to” ~ @chamblee54 .@googlefiber PLEASE quit showing that ad of the Asian lady shopping for fruit. Every time I see a @YouTube video, I see that ad I TOLD YOU, quit showing that ad of the Asian lady shopping for fruit. ~ president Eisenhower made this comment during a commencement address at Dartmouth College, on June 14, 1953. However, the full quote is troubling. “… Don’t be afraid to go in your library and read every book, as long as that document does not offend our own ideas of decency. That should be the only censorship.”Our existence as Gay men is offensive to the “ideas of decency” held by many. ~ In today’s flashback, an outtake from Episode 107, my conversation with D.T. Max, New Yorker staff writer and author of Every Love Story is a Ghost Story: A Life of David Foster Wallace, which was published by Viking in 2012. ~ monday i rode on marta. it was the first time on the red line, after thousands of trips on the gold line. as the train pulled innto dunwoody, a man crouched in the aisle, and took something out of a bag … a utility knife, with the blade exposed … tuesday was another day. i ate at waffle house. the cook, who is a hot young man with a dozen tattoos, talked to me more than the last time i was in there … wednesday was the news that someone i knew had died. while i did not especially appreciate this person, i had no conflicts … on thursday, i had to get some polite leather shoes,. after striking out at target, shoe supply, tj maxx, and burlingtons, i found something i liked at shoe carnival … friday i went to the gym. i tried to meditate in the sauna, but a man played his radio on the external speaker. the other guys agreed that he was an asshole … saturday was the big day for life my mothers best friend died at 104. i was told there would be a visitation at 10, and the service at 11. the plan was to take my brother, who would stay for the service. services make my skin crawl, but i wanted to support the family by going to the visitation. i put my new shoes, and long pants on. i went to the first baptist church. they told me to go in the decision room at the end of a long lobby. i went in the door, and got in line. the line did not move for a half hour. finally, the man came and told us to go to the sanctuary. it struck me as a very baptist thing to have happen … sunday, i told my friend about the incident on marta. he told me what i should have done ~ @LindseyGrahamSC I support and appreciate the Biden Administration sending cluster munitions to Ukraine ~ @seanmdavWhat do you think is the most egregious example of government corruption in your lifetime? – @martyrmade The RussiaGate hoax and related spying scandal. It required so many people and institutions to cooperate in the corruption that no individual bribe or coverup even comes close. And in addition to destroying the credibility of the media, DOJ, FBI, intel community, and more, the Russia collusion lie resulted in half the country transferring their violent hatred of Trump & his supporters onto a nuclear superpower. ~ pictures for this festering midsummer morticia are from The Library of Congress ~ selah
The Nanny State
From patriarchy to snowflake: five keywords you need to know Those naughty naysayers at the BBC had a five part series about trendy words. The fabulous five are Snowflake, The Nanny State, Patriarchy, Safe Space, Sovereignty. We learn that snowflake used to mean someone in Missouri who was opposed to abolition. Words do not always mean the same thing. This is a repost.
The Nanny State was the segment that sent PG scurrying to google. TNS was coined by Iain Macleod, who seems to have been quite the nuisance. Mr. Macleod wrote an article in The Spectator where he gifted us with the phrase. BBC says the article was about having speed limits on British roadways. Unfortunately, the article is behind a strict paywall, and you cannot tell for yourself. The paywall is a capitalist twist on TNS concept.
BBC also referenced an article by George Orwell. This is a splendid piece, where the former Eric Blair complains about what he calls “Pamphletese.” This is the style of writing used by communists in 1944. What does this have to do with TNS? Maybe the state’s nanny is big brother in drag.
The Orwell column is a splendid bit of writing. There is a list of words he would like to see banned: “Achilles’ heel, jackboot, hydra-headed, ride roughshod over, stab in the back, petty-bourgeois, stinking corpse, liquidate, iron heel, blood-stained oppressor, cynical betrayal, lackey, flunkey, mad dog, jackal, hyena, blood-bath.” Many of these are little used today. English cliches have a Darwinist quality, and only the strong survive. Unfortunately, the language is perpetually littered with questionable phrases. Anybody reading can think of a few dozen. These things too shall pass away.
“Yet they and other equally inappropriate words are dug up for pamphleteering purposes. The result is a style of writing that bears the same relation to writing real English as doing a jigsaw puzzle bears to painting a picture. It is just a question of fitting together a number of ready-made pieces. Just talk about hydra-headed jack-boots riding roughshod over blood-stained hyenas, and you are all right. For confirmation of which, see almost any pamphlet issued by the Communist Party—or by any other political party, for that matter.” Pictures today are from The Library of Congress.
Gaza Suffering
This is a repost from 2010. Little significant change has taken place in 13 years. … British prime minister David Cameron is on a visit to Turkey. He made a few comments about Gaza. “Let me also be clear that the situation in Gaza has to change. Humanitarian goods and people must flow in both directions. Gaza cannot and must not be allowed to remain a prison camp.” Israel’s ambassador to Great Britain, Ron Prosor, replied “The people of Gaza are the prisoners of the terrorist organization Hamas. The situation in Gaza is the direct result of Hamas’ rule and priorities.”
As per wikipedia, Hamas was founded in 1987. This was just after the Iran contra affair, when Israel was helping Iran buy weapons. 1987 is 39 years after the creation of the state of Many Arabs living in what became Israel left during this time, and many settled in the Gaza Strip.
The creation of Hamas was 20 years after the six day war, when Israel took control of the Gaza Strip. The Israeli soldiers were not greeted as liberators. What followed was an Israeli occupation of the territory. It was by, most accounts, a brutal affair, with Gaza resistance met by Israeli force.
During this occupation, the prime “terrorist organization” was the P.L.O. They were the object of attacks by Israel, both propaganda and military. They were connected to the party Fatah, which became the primary agent of governance in Palestine. There was an election, and Hamas won.
There are reports that Hamas was secretly founded by Israel, to fight Fatah/PLO. Whether or not this is true, the fact is that Israel maintained a brutal occupation of Gaza. It should be no surprise that a “terrorist organization” would be popular, and win an election over yesterday’s boogieman.
Both sides in this conflict have talking points, and have suffered losses. The commentary above is greatly oversimplified. However, to say the suffering of the Gazans “is the direct result of Hamas” constitutes an obscene piece of propaganda.
Pictures for this feature are from the Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library. HT to Juan Cole , an excellent source for news on the middle east.
The Planned Parenthood Video Part Two
This is a repost from 2015. … Last Wednesday, a sensationalized video was released. Planned Parenthood was said to traffic is baby parts obtained through abortion.
On Thursday, Radiolab released a show, Gray’s Donation. Sarah Gray was pregnant with twins. The sonogram said that one baby would probably die, and that the sick baby was endangering the healthy baby. A decision was made to abort the sick baby. On the day of the procedure, something had changed. The abortion could not be safely performed. Both babies would be carried to term.
Thomas, the sick baby, lived for six days. Callum, the healthy baby, is doing fine. A decision was made to donate organs, from Thomas, to researchers. In the radiolab story, the mother goes to some of the labs, and learns what happened to the organs.
These quotes are from a story, Thomas Gray lived six days, but his life has lasting impact. “The next day, Gray met James Zieske, the institute’s senior scientist, who told her “infant eyes are worth their weight in gold,” because, being so young, they have great regenerative properties. Thomas’ corneas were used in a study that could one day help cure corneal blindness. … the Duke Center for Human Genetics in Durham, N.C., where even though the twins were identical, scientists found epigenetic differences in their cord blood, research that could one day help prevent Thomas’ fatal defect, anencephaly. … the researcher at the University of Pennsylvania who used the donation in her efforts to cure retinoblastoma, the most common form of eye cancer in children. … It is almost impossible to obtain normal retina from a child, The sample from Thomas is extremely precious for us.”
This is a unique case, as are almost all life or death situations. Things are seldom black or white, They are, pardon the pun, shades of gray. There are serious moral dilemmas involved in the use of some tissues for research. Nuance is not often communicated in 140 characters.
This does not stop the internet comment moralizers. “she a ghoul and a shyster dealer of death parts… praying on those mourning to accomplish ridiculous research” “Great story, but there is no way one of the priests should have claimed that it was OK to abort the sick baby in order to save the healthy one or the mother. The example used was completely wrong. … In Gray’s Donation there was absolutely an intention to kill the sick fetus. It would not have been an accident or unintended, and therefore there is no double effect, and is morally indefensible.”
In the Planned Parenthood video, much is made about pricing for the infant parts. Prices range from $30 to $100. In this study, we hear a researcher say “infant eyes are worth their weight in gold.” This might not be the best way to phrase this, since the tiny eyes probably don’t weigh that much. In a competitive free market, such an item would have a much, much higher price than $100.
One of the worst players in muddying the waters is the Catholic Church. A website called Life News has a misleading article, He Only Lived Six Days Outside the Womb, But Baby Thomas is Helping Cure Cancer. It ignores the fact that the mother opted for abortion, but was forced by medical circumstances to carry the twins to term. The post linked here has a header ad for Faith Focused Dating at “CatholicMatch.” Another ad promotes Affordable Biblical Healthcare.
Pictures are from “The Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library”.
The Planned Parenthood Video
This is a repost from 2015. … At some point yesterday, a video was released by The Center for Medical Progress. It showed a secretly recorded luncheon with an official with Planned Parenthood. This official seemed to be discussing the sale of fetal body parts.
PG heard about it on twitter. He checked with Mr. Google. The sites reporting on the video included TOWNHALL, The Daily Caller, Breitbart, and the blaze.
@chamblee54 Has anyone checked with snopes? This sounds far fetched and many reporting on it are not dependable @nickmiller Featured in @WORLD_mag Highly reputable news outlet.
Madworld I believe the ONLY reason abortion is legal in the US is because the biotech/medical/scientific community profits from baby parts. Mad scientists get to experiment baby parts and slip them into drugs/vaccines. Also, the CDC recently officially recommended circumcision, because baby foreskin, like aborted baby parts, is a profitable commodity with various uses–including cosmetics (look up foreskin fibroblast cells). Sadistic perverted sickos. Our govt will allow any sickening procedure if corporations will profit from it. (Comment at the blaze.)
As soon as you could say snopes the internet fact checkers were weighing in on the story. Planned Parenthood issued a press release. While the video may have a grain of truth, it sensationalizes a common medical practice. There is an ongoing ethical discussion about these practices. These issues will not be resolved by tabloid videos.
The best observation might be at Little Green Footballs. “The sentence I put in bold explains the section of the video where they do talk about money, specifically “$30 to $100 per specimen.” This is not a “purchase price” for the specimens — it’s for transportation and other incidental fees. Anyone who thinks human body parts would be sold for the ridiculously low price of $30 to $100 is (not to put too fine a point on it) a gullible idiot.“
Yeah, Obama’s a Communist The “doctor” explains that there is a price range of $30-$100 per specimen. Since the abortion is already paid for, that disparity of pricing no doubt covers differences in quality. So yeah, you get what you pay for. (Comment at The Daily Caller.)
The luncheon in the video took place July 25, 2014. Why was this video released nearly a year later? Is it a coincidence that a nuclear deal with Iran was announced on this day? The video was somehow released, and was all over digital dingbat land within minutes. How this happened might be an interesting story. Pictures for this voyage to the underbelly of the internet are from Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library UPDATE: Part Two.
Miss Beatrice
Miss Beatrice ,the church organist,was in her eighties and had never been married. She was admired for her sweetness and kindness to all. One afternoon the pastor came to call on her and she showed him into her quaint sitting room. She invited him to have a seat while she prepared tea…As he sat facing her old Hammond organ, the young minister noticed a cut glass bowl sitting on top of it.The bowl was filled with water, and in the water floated, of all things, a condom!
When she returned with tea and scones, they began to chat. The pastor tried to stifle his curiosity about the bowl of water and its strange floater, but soon it got the better of him and he could no longer resist. ” Miss Beatrice, I wonder if you would tell me about this?”
“Oh, yes,” she replied, “Isn’t it wonderful? I was walking through the park a few months ago and I found this little package on the ground.The directions said to place it on the organ, keep it wet and that it would prevent the spread of disease.. Do you know, I haven’t had the flu all winter.”
Thank you Ed. Joke emails are a thing of the past. This is a repost from 2011. Pictures are from Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library
Voodoo Sex Ritual
This is a repost from 2011. The link in the story has gone bye bye, but does lead to this: Five-Alarm Fire Caused By Voodoo Sex Ritual Gone Wrong. The comments below are timeless. Fishwrapper comments used to be fun to read.
In it’s never ending struggle to keep the Cox family in business, the fishwrapper reports what is probably the most important story so far in 2011. (The video about the lost pig is a close second). It seems as though two anonymous sinners in New York decided to fool around, after a voodoo ritual. A candle got knocked over, and the building caught on fire. A 62 year old neighbor died in the fire.
The fun starts in the comments. Some readers got the impression that the 62yo was a participant in the candle burning whoopee. Other readers felt obliged to speculate about the eternal soul of the departed lady, while others commented on the pre mortem condition of her lady parts. A good time was had by all. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress
outspoken1…February 25th, 2011 5:17 pm appears to me that she had it coming. People that do the voodoo will burn in hell anyways. She just got a jump start on her eternal life. Happy ever after, Mary
George… 5:20 pm Ummmm … I clarified the story to let everyone know the deceased was not a voodoo ritual participant.
Peachy… 5:49 pm This is sad … evil was all in that room. Ms. Feagin may have stamped her ticket to hell watching this mess.
justineb… 7:12 pm And we know where their Souls End Up, in HELL. So Sad.
ewwwwww… 7:50 pm “It’s better at 62 than ever!! No swell, no tell, and greatful as hell!!!!!!!” Dont forget that it smells, grandma va j j’s must smell so bad
Dawghuff… 7:52 pm You silly Christians can say that’s someone’s soul is hell, a very offensive thing to say, but then your feelings get hurt when someone says how stupid your religion is as well…
Real man, not a baby boy… 8:56 pm ewwwww: you’re a pathetic fool. Hotness increases with age. The great thing about getting older is that you realize that young people don’t know or have squat when it comes to hotness. I’m 50. We laugh at twenty somethings! You don’t even BEGIN to approach hotness until you’re thirty five. Forties is prime time, 50 and beyond is just damn awesome! You can’t know these things, but if you’re lucky enough to find a b*tch that’ll put out for your baby bit, more power to you. And that smell you’re talkin about? It’s called stank, and it’s coming from your own crotch.
ewwwwww… 9:31 pm Real Man, Thanks grandpa, while your banging the golden girls and remembering the good ol’ days. I will continue to bang women in there 20’s. Just because your balls reach your knees doesn’t make you a real man. So get out that AARP card and hit up the early bird special at Golden Coral. Have a great night and dont forget to take your pills in the F container.
Real man, not a baby boy… 9:54 pm LOL! You couldn’t hope to know what it means to be a man. You go ahead and do your little twenty year-olds. You can HAVE them! I’ve had sex with women my whoe like and I can tell you 20 year old chicks are nothing! Real men aren’t intimidated by your bs talk. These ARE the good days boy, and someday you’ll know that you mouth off knowing nothing. HAHAHAHAHA! Stupid little loser boy.
ewwwwww… 10:22 pm Well Im glad you have had sex with women “your whoe like” (lol). Just because you have a weird fettish for swollen up, dried out rasin Vay J J doesn’t make you any more of a man then I am. I am proud to say I have served my country for 5 years. Was able to go to college and provide a nice life for myself. To call me a loser boy and say I dont know what it means to be a man is sad and just wrong. The fact is your old (Really old), and you can only have what you can get. If your game is women with one foot in the grave then tap it son. But I dont care what you say given the option you would choose a 21 year old over a 62 year old any day. If you choose the 62 year old your just a granny chasser and their is nothing wrong with that. But say it with me “ewwwwwwwwwwwww” Its obvious you cant take humor. Since my first post was a play on words. So grease up with Ben-gay and start popping those magic blue pills. Slip on some solid gold and start tapping grandma in the ballon knot.Im not stupid to not know that women hit there prime when they are older but come on we were talking about 62 here. Thats just awful to think about.
Candles suck… 10:35 pm Don’t mix candles with ANYTHING. I’ve been in a fire because of candles. THEY ARE DANGEROUS. DON’T BUY OR USE THEM UNLESS IT’S AN EMERGENCY.
HENRY… February 26th, 2011 9:13 am YOU’D BE SURPRISED WHAT WE OLD FARTS DO BEHIND CLOSED DOORS, WITH OR WITHOUT CANDLES, VOODOO DOCTORS, GOATS OR SHEEP.
grandson… 12:36 pm Poor old woman, living in a one room sleezbag hotel,on Soc.Sec.& food stamps ( probably had a secret one burner hot plate,that Code Enforcement didn’t know about !!) Just try’n to survive.How many people got out & no one helped? No one cared ? Now 65% of you got nothing to do but talk about but your “pissy ass” sex !!! What a pathetic bunch of humans; some strugeling family lost thier Mom-Grandma:: May GOD forgive you ^999^…
XXX On Amsterdam
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What is the meaning of the XXX on Amsterdam’s flag?
Don’t Pine for ‘the Good Old Days’ … lived in a glorious and more pious era than ours? …
Heir to Cox media empire revealed to be communist, anti-cop activist, claims he’s detached …
University of Chicago’s ‘Problem of Whiteness’ class sparks controversy
Vivek Ramaswamy Talks Presidential Run, Leadership, Civic Duty, Affirmative Action
The earliest use of the F-word …a court case dating to the year 1310
Most Solutions To Internet Harassment Would Do More Harm Than Good
Not Gonna Lie This Shocked Me! Paul Harvey Said This About Trump 1987
UK charity group suggests ‘bonus hole’ as a more inclusive term for vagina
UK cancer trust suggests ‘bonus hole’ as term for ‘vagina’
Language to use when supporting trans men and/or non-binary people
sending cluster munitions to Ukraine was ‘difficult decision,’ but ‘they needed them’
“The Secret” to Success? The Psychology of Belief in Manifestation Lucas J. Dixon
don felder ~ walt ~ Neem Karoli Baba ~ bhagavan das ~ bhagavan das
toward freedom ~ fergie chambers ~ mr lavrov ~ repost ~ lenny
beltline ~ cluster bombs ~ cluster munitions ~ biltmore radio ~ Jo’s Cervical Cancer Trust
bonus hole ~ bonus hole ~ phrenologist ~ airbag moments ~ color codes ~ jenin ~ john campbell
rico carty ~ rico carty ~ repost ~ affirmative action ~ johanna hedva ~ fuck
What will it look like after a few years of use? Assuming that it is kept clean … a big if … this particular look might age well. ~ @MrAndyNgo James Chambers, an heir to the Cox Media empire @COXMG & from one of the wealthiest families in Georgia, is revealed to be a communist activist & militant supporter of the #StopCopCity domestic terrorist movement. ~ @jccfergie Fergie Chambers #StopCopCity Our family has maintained full, private control over the company since my great-grandfather bought a paper in Dayton, OH in 1898. We’ve been the wealthiest family in Georgia for a long time, and among the 10-20 most powerful in the US, while maintaining almost total invisibility. ~ I know a man who likes to host sex parties. He is planning to host one soon at the Perimeter Center Marriott. I pointed out to him that this hotel charges $15 to park in the lot. This is his reply: “Understood. My fif is very close to that hotel, and it’s a nice place. That’s why I picked it. There will be other guys who won’t want to pay to park. I always have a ride; I don’t park. Most all decent hotels require payment to park.” ~ @chamblee54 I recommend listening to this conversation. I disagree with @EWErickson on many issues, but recognize a common humanity. Labeling someone a “vile, bellicose Catholic fascist” is a problem ~ “I took a cigarette from an open pack on my husband’s desk. Perhaps I could just hold it for a minute, I thought, pretend that I wanted to smoke and then pretend to change my mind, keep the charade up long enough that Jay (his name was Jay, or maybe J., come to think of it) wouldn’t question my motives for keeping him company.”I was listening to the author read this story. She said “or maybe the initial J” in the spoken version. ~ “A week or so later, I received a call from another former student, John. He wanted to apologize for the way he’d behaved in class years earlier. … “I found God,” he went on, and I heard him unzip something, his hoodie, perhaps, as if God had been under there all along. “I tried to kill myself, and He saved me.” … John had wanted to be wronged back, to be asked to explain himself in a long monologue. Hunting down those he’d wronged (or those he thought he’d wronged) was his last-ditch attempt to not be alone with his shame and regrets, to make it all mean something. No one was asking him for an apology? The steps now gave him an excuse to force one on us, to force us to listen to him again. He was still a bully.” ~ Felipe saw the comment by his fbf, and decided to consider it a writing prompt. One way to approach a prompt is to use the shortest sentence in the group. Of the five paragraphs on display, only one had more than one sentence. The winning sentence was “Monica was a Democrat, anyway.” The long sentence in that paragraph included this ironic phrase: “the deafening explosion caused by a ground to air missile striking the President’s plane over head” “Ground to air missile striking the President’s plane” is a colorful metaphor for the services provided by Monica Lewinsky. And indeed, the “deafening explosion” was “over head.” ~ pictures fromThe Library of Congress ~ selah
2:07 P.M.
PG started to feel the familiar stiffness in his big toe. While it was not painful, it could get worse. PG decided to take the offensive, and get treated before the stiffness turns to pain. This means going to the herbal emporium of Dr. Xu. You go to the office , and sign in. He sees you when he sees you.
When facing quality time in a waiting room, it is best to bring a book. The reading material for PG these days is Skinny Legs and All, by Tom Robbins. PG read SLAA in the early 90’s, when he was working in an office downtown. Like all Robbins stories, a re-do reading will uncover noisy nuggets of knowledge, and forgotten figments of imagination.
While warming up the vehicle, PG saw the word “orchidaceous” on page 197. If something like the o-word gets PG’s attention, his response is to note the page number, and put an inkpen dot on both sides of it. As it so happens, on this day PG was looking at page 198, and saw “then allowed” with a ball point bump on both sides. This was referring to a New York art dealer.
The full sentence was “It was as if Gropius had created her, then allowed Gaudi to add the boobs.” The art-monger in question had an unremarkable face, but a generous mammary allowance. The bosomy business lady was discussing the art of Ellen Cherry Petway. At the same time, a vehicle, crafted by Boomer Petway, was eliciting exclamations of magnifque. The automobile was crafted to look like a giant turkey. It had been delivered to Ellen Cherry Charles as a love offering before the wedding. Now, the sheet metal bird was stealing the thunder of Ellen Cherry, who considers herself to be the artiste. This was not a good development for the recently consummated marriage.
The Petways are soon going to trendy New York parties. Ellen Cherry has this country-girl notion of what an art party should be like, and finds the real thing to be lacking. Boomer has another reaction. “I guess that’s what I like about ’em. … They’re just as petty as everybody else.”
Petty is one of those eye-of-the-beholder concepts. Certainly, the current social justice discourse in America explores new levels of petty every day. The five letters p-e-t-t-y can be retrofitted with all five vowels, with y left to ask why. Patty, petty, pitty, potty, putty. All five work. Even pitty does double duty as an “obsolete spelling of pity,” as well as the stage name of a Brazilian rock and roll lady.
PG stumbled onto the art party comment at 1:24 pm, soon after he got down to some serious waiting. A half hour later, Ellen Cherry tore up an invitation to Boomer’s one man show. The arty paper turned into mutually destructive snowflakes and sparks. Could Tom Robbins have foreseen the contemporary disrespect for snowflakes in 1989, when SLAA was written?
Snowflakes and sparks made their appearance on page 207. At 2:07 pm, PG was consulting with Dr. Xu. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. This is a repost.
Chamblee54 
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