Liberace’s Birthday
What follows is a script for a guided meditation. It was presented May 16, 2026, in Highlands NC. The date and location are central to this exercise. We will be using 4-7-8 Breathing. When we are in Tibet, on the other side of the world, we will practice Loving Kindness Meditation.
Welcome to my guided meditation. Thank you for helping to create this. The theme of the weekend is Transcending Traditions. Or maybe the opposite … Cis Beginning. Either way, we are going to take a different approach. Please don’t take this too seriously. … I am going to be pronouncing names in unfamiliar languages. I will make mistakes. I am also going to be presenting details, which are not guaranteed to be accurate. I would enjoy your forgiveness. If you cannot hear me clearly, please raise your hand, and I will speak louder.
From time to time, we are going to welcome people into our circle. When I say “Welcome ___” you are invited to say the name with me. … Let’s draw the circle close together. I would like for us all to hold hands, or have some other physical connection to the circle. The people on my side can place a hand on my shoulder or thigh, as I will be using my hands. … Please look across the circle, and see who is sitting there. If you don’t remember their name, remember the color of their shirt. Tuck this detail into your mind for later use. · Now, I would invite you to close your eyes. Put your feet firmly on the floor, and make yourself grounded and comfortable.
Breathe in (4 seconds) Hold (7 seconds) Breathe out (8 seconds).
Breathe in (4 seconds) Hold (7 seconds) Breathe out (8 seconds).
Highlands NC is at 35.05° N latitude and -83.19° W longitude. We are going to use this as a starting point. Moving north from Highlands, we will go due north until we cross the state line into Tennessee. Bat Harbor TN, Jonesville VA, Hazard KY, Columbus OH, Detroit MI. We will leave land at Bad Axe MI, and move into Lake Huron. We will enter Canada at Blind River ON, and move up to Hudson Bay. We will be back on land in Nunavut (NOO·nuh·voot) Territory, and run out of land at Ellesmere Island. This is 82° N, and is one of the furthest north points on the planet. Alaska only goes up to 71°N. We will skate over the Arctic Ocean, and get to the North Pole. Be sure to say Hi to Santa Claus.
May 16 is the 136th day of 2026. 229 days remain. On May 16, 1770 – Marie Antoinette married the future King of France. Cake was served at the reception. · May 16, 1777 – In Savannah GA, Lachlan McIntosh killed Button Gwinnett in a duel. Mr. Gwinnett was a signer of the Declaration of Independence, and the namesake of Gwinnett County GA · On May 16, 1919, in West Allis, Wisconsin, Wladziu (VWAD jew) Valentino Liberace was born. He was known to friends as Lee, and to the world as Liberace. Please join me: Welcome Liberace, You will make our journey more fabulous with your presence. · On May 16, 1929, in Hollywood, the first Academy Awards ceremony took place. · Other fabulous people were born on May 16 include Janet Jackson, 1966, and Tucker Carlson, 1969.
Breathe in (4 seconds) Hold (7 seconds) Breathe out (8 seconds).
Moving down from the north pole, we are going to go south at 83° E. At 74°N, we will go into Russia at Taymyrsky Dolgano-Nenetsky District (Tie-MEER-skee Dol-GAH-nah Neh-NETS-kee). We will go through Russia into Serebryansk (seh-reh-BRYANSK) Kazakhstan, and on into Tacheng (tah-CHUNG) Prefecture, Xinjiang (SHIN·jaang) China. Soon, we will move over the frontier into Tibet, which is governed by China today. At Gêrzê (GUYD tsay) County, Ngari (NAH-ree) Prefecture, we will be at 35.05°N/83.19°E. This is the other side of the world from North Carolina.
At this time, I would invite you to think of a person that is special to you. I am going to say “I want”, and leave a silent space. When I leave the silent space, I want you to substitute that person’s name. We are going to wish for this person to be happy, healthy, prosperous, and safe. · Repeat after me. · (Breathe in, said by the presenter only) … I want __ to be happy. (Breathe in) … I want __ to be healthy. (Breathe in) … I want __ to be prosperous. (Breathe in) … I want __ to be safe.
Breathe in (4 seconds) Hold (7 seconds) Breathe out (8 seconds).
Moving through the Himilayas, we go through Dolpa (DOHL-pah) Nepal, before entering India at Gorakhpur (goh-RUK-poor) Uttar Pradesh (OO·taar pruh·DAYSH). We have been going through some cold lands, with very few people. Once we cross into India, that will change. We will leave India at Tantadi (TUN-tuh-dee) Andhra Pradesh (AAN·druh pruh·DAYSH), move into the Bay of Bengal, and on into the Indian Ocean. We have been in Asia for 3,898 miles.
We are going to be in the Indian Ocean until we reach Antarctica. As we go over the eastern equator, we can introduce the seven wiccan goddesses: Isis, Astarte, Hecate, Demeter, Kali, Inanna, Diana. Please join me: Welcome Isis, Astarte, Hecate, Demeter, Kali, Inanna, Diana
Breathe in (4 seconds) Hold (7 seconds) Breathe out (8 seconds).
At some point in this ocean, we will reach 35.05°S/83.19°E. This is directly on the opposite side of the earth from Highlands, NC. If you were to take a laser beam, and point it at the center of the earth, this is where it would come out. · At 66.6° S, we will reach Antarctica. We have spent 5,761 miles on the Indian Ocean. Soon, we will reach the south pole.
At the north pole we talked about births on May 16. At the south pole, we will talk about deaths. In 1984, we lost Andy Kaufman. In 1985, we lost Margaret Hamilton, the wicked witch of the west. In 1990, we lost Sammy Davis Jr. and Jim Henson.
Breathe in (4 seconds) Hold (7 seconds) Breathe out (8 seconds).
Crossing the South Pole, we will return north at -83.19° W. Soon, after 2,829 miles in Antarctica, we will enter the Pacific Ocean. There will be no more land in the Southern hemisphere. South America is completely east of -83.19°W. Soon, we reach 35.05°S/-83.19° W, and move on up to the equator.
As we go over the western equator, I would like to welcome four men onto our journey. These men have been central to the connection between Man and the divine. These four men are Siddhartha Gautama (suh·DAAR·tuh GAU·tuh·muh), better known as the Buddah, Jesus of Nazareth, Muhammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh (muh-HAM-mud ib-n ab-DUL-lah) , and Elvis Aaron Presley. Buddha, Jesus, Muhammad, Elvis. Join me: Welcome Buddha, Jesus, Muhammad, Elvis.
Breathe in (4 seconds) Hold (7 seconds) Breathe out (8 seconds).
After 5,590 miles on the Pacific Ocean, we will reach land at Pavón Puntarenas (pah-VOHN poon-tah-REH-nahs) Province, Costa Rica. Soon we will be on the waters of the Gulf of MEXICO, before reaching land at Puerto Cabezas, Nicaragua. After passing through Cabo Gracias a Dios, Honduras, we will again sail over the Gulf of Mexico, and on to Bahia Honda (bah-HEE-ah ON-dah) Cuba. There will be one last trip on the Gulf of Mexico, before hitting North America at Horseshoe Beach, FL. We will cross the state line at Nasty Pond GA, go past Milledgeville, before arriving at Highlands, NC.
Breathe in (4 seconds) Hold (7 seconds) Breathe out (8 seconds).
This is the midway point of our journey. The next portion will be east at 35.05°N. This will be shorter than the North South portion, which covers the circumference of the planet. The only time this would happen east-west is at the equator. A degree of latitude is always 69 miles, while a degree of longitude is 56 miles at 35°N. Our total trip around the world is 24,840 miles going north-south, and 20,420 miles going east-west at 35.05° N.
We start the east-west part of out journey in Highlands NC, and move on to Rocky Bottom SC, (Always dreaming about Rocky Top TN). We go back into North Carolina south of Charlotte, before hitting the Atlantic Ocean at Ocracoke (OW·kruh·kowk) NC. Once again, our time on the Ocean will be uninterrupted, with 3,913 miles between North Carolina and Larache (la RAYSH), Morrocco. At Sidi Boubekeur (See-dee Boo Bake ER), Algeria, we will hit 35.05°N/0°E-W. We will go through La Laouata (Lah Lah-oo-AH-tah), Tunisia, before hitting the Mediterranean Sea. We will visit the islands of Crete and Cyprus, before hitting land at Soda Khawabi (So-dah KHAA-wa-bee), Syria.
On May 16, 1916, Great Britain and France signed the Sykes-Picot Agreement. This was an agreement regarding the Ottoman Empire properties once WW1 was over. France would get Syria, while Great Britain would get Palestine. These occupations did not go smoothly. The Sykes-Picot agreement was one step in the process of West Asia becoming the mess that it is today.
Breathe in (4 seconds) Hold (7 seconds) Breathe out (8 seconds).
Moving east from Syria, we will go through Baiji (BY-jee), Iraq, which would be included in a future Kurdistan. We go through Hasanabad-e Shir Mohammad (Huh-sun-uh-BAUD-eh Sheer Moh-hum-MUD), Iran, Puza Aw (POO-zah AHH) Afghanistan, miss Turkmenistan by a few miles, before going through to Bagh Dehri (BAHG DAY-ree) Pakistan. Soon, we will be North of Kashmir, where it is tough to say who the government is. The next stop is Tibet/China, where we will once again at Gêrzê (GUYD tsay) County, Ngari (NAH-ree) Prefecture, where we will be at 35.05°N/83.19°E. … the other side of the world from North Carolina. In 390 miles east, we will be at 90°E.
A few minutes ago, I asked you to note who is sitting across the circle from you. I want you to think of this person, and say their name when I say leave a silent space. Repeat after me. · (Breathe in, said by the presenter only) … I want __ to be happy. (Breathe in) … I want __ to be healthy. (Breathe in) … I want __ to be prosperous. (Breathe in) … I want __ to be safe.
Breathe in (4 seconds) Hold (7 seconds) Breathe out (8 seconds).
Moving out of the mountains, we will exit Asia through Rizhao Shandong (REE-jaow SHAN-dong) China. This is 4,707 miles from Syria. We shall visit Gwangju (GWAANG·joo), South Korea, and leave land for good at Minamiboso (mee-nah-mee-BOH-soh), Japan. After a while in the Pacific, we get to where 35.05° N hits 180° E-W. We will spend 5,698 miles on the Pacific before coming ashore at Pismo Beach CA. We will only spend 4 miles in Nevada, before going through Flagstaff AZ, Zuni Reservation NM, Amarillo TX, Hobart OK, and Conway AR. The Tennessee-Mississippi border is legally intended to be at 35 degrees north latitude. However, due to errors in surveying technology, the actual line (often called the “Winchester Line”) is about a mile south of the 35th parallel. We will go through Memphis, -90W, and Chattanooga, before arriving in Highlands NC. This is 2,632 miles across America from Pismo Beach CA.
Breathe in (4 seconds) Hold (7 seconds) Breathe out (8 seconds).
We are now back where we started. When you are ready, gently open your eyes. You may want to be careful when you stand up, and get used to being back in North Carolina. Thank you, and enjoy the rest of the day. Pictures today are from Georgia State University Library The social media picture was taken September 27, 1955. “West Peachtree and Peachtree Streets”
©Luther Mckinnon 2026 · selah
Archons Cannot Approach
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“Interfered with by the state of the times” The Rothschild Archive …
Woman bitten on foot by venomous copperhead: ‘I’ve never felt pain like that’ | WSB-TV
Angine de Poitrine – Live at Electric Ballroom, London, 11/05/2026
Tenants, businesses scramble to regroup after Chamblee apartment fire
You guys warned me and It finally happened, be careful where you stay in Tennessee
Jesus Revealed 1 Metal Chosen Ones Must Wear Around Neck — Archons Cannot Approach
Civil society should be resisting Trump’s authoritarianism. It’s succumbing to it …
ב-1983 תבעתי את “טיים” עם שרון. התיק נגד “ניו יורק טיימס” קשה יותר
Jesus Revealed 1 Metal Chosen Ones Must Wear Around Neck — Archons Cannot Approach
morrison farms · oil · david lloyd george · clarence carter · ron hudspeth
noah church · angine de potrine · rex reed · deepak chopra · confederacy · chuck mccann
This is your monday morning reader for day 73 of Bibi’s Dream War. The stock market is up 38 points. The price of oil is $80.42 USD. The bottom has not fallen out. The orange haired idiot will find a way to make things worse. · The title of my monday morning reader is chosen more or less at random. It is usually a short phrase in on of the links. The social media picture is something that catches my eye for some reason. What is not planned is the way X tags the picture with the title. · “7. We are exhausted from having to defend our existence to strangers.” The problem is, people in Lebanon, Judea and Samaria, Gaza, and Iran are exhausted from having to defend their existence FROM strangers. I knew two things on October 7. 1 – Israel would exponentially over retaliate. 2- We are going to be hit with a tsunami of rhetoric. The Jewish homeland is doing horrific things right now. All the rhetoric in the world cannot change that. · The claim that the Paris branch of the Rothschild bank supported the Confederacy while the London branch supported the Union during the American Civil War is a topic often discussed in alternative history and financial conspiracy theories, but it is not fully supported by mainstream historical evidence.While the Rothschild family maintained banking houses in both cities, historical records suggest a more complex, largely neutral, or even cautionary approach to the conflict rather than direct, split, and opposing support.Key Historical Context:Neutrality over Sides: Rothschild family archives indicate they were generally cautious, avoiding significant direct investment in Confederate bonds, which were seen as high-risk, especially after the Union blockade began to work.Belmont’s Role: The Rothschilds’ main representative in the U.S. was August Belmont, based in New York. Though often associated with Southern interests, Belmont was a loyal Union Democrat who used his position to support the Union’s financial stability, fearing that a Union collapse would wipe out investments.European Interests: While the Confederacy attempted to obtain financial support from Europe (cotton bonds), and some European investors were involved, the main Rothschild houses in London (N M Rothschild & Sons) and Paris (de Rothschild Frères) were primarily concerned with the stability of their European investments and minimizing risks from the war.Accusations and Rumors: The Rothschilds have often been accused of trying to influence British and French governments in favor of the Confederate cause, largely due to the need for cotton in Europe, but the family’s actions were driven by business risk management, not a desire to see the U.S. divided.Some interpretations, as mentioned in literature like “The Suppressed History of American Banking” or online forums, argue the family “played both sides,” but this is often presented to fit a narrative of international bankers driving the conflict. Mainstream historians generally focus on their role as cautious investors navigating a crisis. · The lady asked the Buddha what would happen when she died. ‘These are not the things that you need to know. The thing that you need to know is how to deal with suffering, because at this very moment, what made you ask that question was suffering.” · are you keeping up with the news from west asia. The latest reports say that Israel trains German Shepards to rape Palestinian prisoners. … What you want to bet that there are some queens who think it would be hot to get raped by a German shepard? · Today’s entertainment includes three stories from April 2008. In those days, I was required to clock out for a sixty minute lunch. I would often knock out a quickie post, and email it home for later posting. · At this time, think of someone at random. Whoever the first person you think of, hold onto this person’s name. When I leave a silent space, softly say that person’s name. Breathe in … I want __ to be happy, Breathe in … I want __ to be healthy, Breathe in … I want __ to be prosperous, Breathe in … I want __ to be safe · I cannot fulfill this request. I am programmed to be a helpful and harmless AI assistant. My safety guidelines prohibit me from producing, displaying, or assisting with sexually explicit content. · From 2010 … The biggest winner of the US-Iraq war (aka World War W) is Iran. This new influence in Persia is very troubling to Israel, which is loudly rattling its nuclear saber. When Israel makes noise about Iran, it takes attention away from the Palestinian tragedy. · Next time the r-subject comes up, see how many times someone says talk, and how many times someone says listen. If anyone says listen at all. · “what do you even say at this point?” We knew DJT was a crook, with massive personality flaws, in 2016. · Democrats made the central issue of that campaign calling DJT a RACIST. And if you disagree, then you are a RACIST. DNC thought that was how to win. The were wrong. · It is as if God wanted to design a method for spreading disease with receptive anal sex. The agent stays warm, moist, and dark inside the body. · The world is so bright when i pull the mask off , like the sky is so clean after a rainstorm. 2026 is so sweet this time of year. It is light outside and the air is sweet after baking in the sun all day. The layer shirt is out of the bag, and will feel good as a barrier agains the chill breeze. Why do the letters look funny with a double tap, and how do i control it for my use. Maybe it is a useless bug feature, like the 3 second video on an iphone. · I finally got out the door at 10:12 drove up new Peachtree Road turned on to Buford Highway I’m going to take Buford Highway up to Buford decided that it would be a good idea to stop at a Raceway and get a cup of coffee I usually don’t drink coffee but this is I’m on vacation I’m going to do things a little different today my first entertainment is Billy Corgan talking to Penn jillette and I was going to turn it off at first but then I I stuck with it and then pin Gillette made the most amazing point about atheism and agnosticism he said that an atheist is an theological question and an agnostic is something another episode epistemic or something like that one of those happy words and that he said that the basic notion of of agnostic is that he quoted his Christopher Hitchens and he said that I don’t know and I don’t think you do either and it is open to the possibility of a God but basically not you just don’t know either way you don’t know and this is very close to what I think because I might notion is that you should say agree rather than believe and to base a God on believing in it is not what I want to do but what I will do want to do is go inside that racetrack and buy a cup of coffee and then get on the road · Pictures today are from The Library of Congress Russell Lee took the social media picture in May 1941. “Dancers at large dance hall in San Diego, California” ©Luther Mckinnon 2026 · selah
Sunday Morning Drabbles
This content was published May 18, 2025. … Today is May 18, 2025. I am going to write new material for my blog today, based largely on content from May 2008. This was the first year that chamblee54 was on WordPress. I was driving a truck in Marietta, and listening to am talk radio. The 2008 election was going on. John McCain was going to be the Republican candidate, and Barack H. Obama was the Democrat wannabe. The 2008 economic meltdown was a few weeks away. After the economic meltdown, I lost my job, and the election of Obama became inevitable.
Another shot in the arm deals with capital punishment. On May 6, 2008, Georgia was preparing to off a convict. … Semantic timeout. While hung, shot, or beheaded are obvious verbs for more archaic means of execution, what is the expression for “executed by lethal injection”? What do you call the process where a GDC employee shoots up a person with substances that will cause their demise? Injecticide? … With all the corruption, lawyers, and rampant egomania in the justice business, how can the death penalty ever be administered fairly? Was this practice ever intended to be fair?
There was a comment thread at a Christian blog. The topic of preaching at funerals came up: “I want to see God’s grace and name honored.” Preaching an unwanted message to grieving people does not honor God. Christians frequently do not respect non-believers. Christians feel that if they only repeat their message over and over that others will agree with it. However, many of us have made up our minds. The more you try, the more you alienate us. A heavy religious message at a funeral is an example of this. Many incontinent evangelicals are like dogs that will not quit barking.
Like many men of my degeneration/generation, I had long hair. The problem is, with a Georgiawhiteboi like me, hair turns into worms after about three centimeters. It is way too much work to take care of. So I bought a pair of clippers. It was the modern version of letting my freak flag fly … I was in the church’s fried chicken on Broad street downtown. The two drag queens were in front of me in line.They got their food and left. When I stepped to the counter, I heard this girl say to her friend ”Her hayyer is so preeiitee”
Tallulah Bankhead was making a movie, “Lifeboat”, directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Some of the other actors commented that Miss Bankhead was not wearing panties. Mr. Hitchcock wondered if this was a matter for wardrobe or a matter for hairdressing … Did Mohawks really shave their heads except for a stripe of hair in the middle? That would seem to be a lot of trouble for pre-modern men living in upstate New York. A Mohawk haircut is high maintenance, just like many who display them. … When asked how long it takes to do her hair, Dolly Parton replies. “I don’t know I am not there”
A clean pair of socks is change you can believe in. … The intangibles include respect, good will, and trust. Semantic fine tuning aside, these words mean the same thing. … A man has to believe in something. I believe I will have a drink. W.C. Fields … Mr. Barnum once said “there is a sucker born every minute”. This belief served Mr. Barnum abundantly … Miss Teenage South Carolina gave a famous speech. The first three words were ” I personally believe” … Anyone can quote the Bible. To do so without the trust of the listener is to speak in vain.
Opinions are like a smelly, though productive, body part. What does this say about beliefs? … Believe is a seven letter word. The first two letters are BE. The next three letters are LIE … Cher had a hit song called “Believe” The hair is a wig, the plastic surgery is paid for, but do you believe. … John 3:16 has more than 22 words. That verse helps reduce Jesus to a scheme for life after death. … My opinions about G-d, the Bible, Jesus, and Life after Death are none of your business. … Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. The social media picture: “Private Lucien Love of Co. D, 43rd Virginia Cavalry Battalion … Photo shows young identified soldier. Lucien Love is one of six Mosby Rangers executed by the Union in September 1864 near Front Royal, Virginia.”
Always Take Sides
This content was originally published May 15, 2019. … “Always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim.” This meme, illustrated by the gnomic face of Elie Wiesel, turns up on facebook a lot. (Elie Wiesel is pronounced like Elly Mae Clampett) Some find it inspiring. Others think it is simplistic and manipulative.
There are two questions. Did Mr. Wiesel say that? What was the context? The quote appears in the acceptance speech for the 1986 Nobel Peace Prize. The next sentence is “Sometimes we must interfere.” We immediately go from the absolute always, to the conditional sometimes. That is progress, even if it does not fit on a bumper sticker.
“Elie Wiesel was born in Sighet, Romania, in 1928. … In May 1944, Wiesel was deported to the Auschwitz concentration camp along with his parents and his sisters. Wiesel and his father were slave laborers at Auschwitz. His father died in January 1945 during a forced march to another camp, Buchenwald, and his mother and younger sister were murdered as well. After the war, Wiesel moved to France, where he worked as a journalist.”
The Israel-Palestine problem was just as vexing in 1986 as today. Here is what Mr. Wiesel said in his speech. “More people are oppressed than free. And then, too, there are the Palestinians to whose plight I am sensitive but whose methods I deplore. Violence and terrorism are not the answer. Something must be done about their suffering, and soon. I trust Israel, for I have faith in the Jewish people. Let Israel be given a chance, let hatred and danger be removed from her horizons, and there will be peace in and around the Holy Land.”
Who is the oppressor in the Middle East, and who is the victim? Many sides can make a case for their cause. Who is the better at persuasion? Who is better at playing the shady game of influence, and money. Often, more noise encourages the tormentor. The answer to age old conflicts is seldom found in bumper stickers, or facebook memes.
“…to whose plight I am sensitive but whose methods I deplore.” “Always take sides” means that you pick one side in a conflict, and use the tools of rhetoric to promote that cause. It can be tough to tell the good guys from the bad guys. Simplistic rhetoric is *never* the answer.
In 1986, the Iran-Iraq war was raging. Hundreds of thousands of men died. Many said the war was allowed to go on intentionally. Allegedly, if Iran and Iraq were not fighting each other, they would be fighting Israel. The United States was allied with Iraq, while making arms deals with Iran. Israeli dealers participated in the United States-Iran arms trading. The profits from those deals went to supply terrorists in Central America. “Sometimes we must interfere.” … Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. Jack Delano took the social media picture in May 1940. “Interior of general store at Stem, Granville County, North Carolina, with high school boys dressed up because it’s Election Day.” ©Luther Mckinnon 2026 · selah
Cadavre Exquis
This content was originally published May 7, 2024. … When you are the featured poet at a reading, it is good manners to show up on time. I was scheduled to feature at the Little 5 Poetry bash, but the traffic had other plans. I got to Java Lords at 1832, got a cup of coffee, and went into the lobby of 7 Stages theater. It was empty. I sat down, and took a notebook out of my backpack. As I was looking for an inkpen, Rosser Shymanski walked in, wearing a lovely pair of lime green shoes.
The event was outside on the patio. Han Vance, the primary perpetrator of the event, was on the microphone. “Tomorrow is my first UNNIVERSARY, would-be 13th wedding anniversary so I’m gonna do a special set before you go.” It was an emotional evening for Mr. Vance, but he pulled through. There were only two more poets reading, Mitchell Padgett and Mark LaFountain.
After a while, Rosser pulled some clipboards out of a box, and introduced a parlor game. Each person would start a group poem. You write two lines. Fold the paper over the first line, and pass the clipboard on to the next person. They write two lines, hide the first one, and pass it on to the next person. When you fill up the page, you have a poem.
“Cadavre exquis is similar to the old parlour game consequences – in which players write in turn on a sheet of paper, fold to conceal what they have written, and pass it on to the next player – but adapted so that parts of the body are drawn instead.
It was invented in 1925 in Paris by the surrealists Yves Tanguy, Jacques Prévert, and Marcel Duchamp. The name ‘cadavre exquis’ was derived from a phrase that resulted when they first played the game, ‘le cadavre exquis boira le vin nouveau’ (‘the exquisite corpse will drink the new wine’).”
Some killjoy observed that stream of consciousness is more fun to write than it is to read … and don’t even think about editing. There is a discussion to be had whether consequences, with or without truth, should be chosen before an exquisite corpse.
Anglo Persian Oil Company
This content was originally posted May 19, 2010. … People are talking about the oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. TomDispatch has a paragraph about one of the key players, British Petroleum (BP): “Originally known as the Anglo-Persian Oil Company (later the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company, still later British Petroleum), BP got its start in southwestern Iran, where it once enjoyed a monopoly on the production of crude petroleum. In 1951, its Iranian holdings were nationalized by the government of Mohammed Mossadeq. The company returned to Iran in 1953, following a coup that put the Shah in power. It was finally expelled again in 1979, following the Islamic Revolution.”
If you look at the problems of the world in the last forty years, so many are affected by Iran. The 1953 revolution left great resentment, which became manifest in the 1979 revolution. Soon Iraq … whose border with Iran was clumsily drawn by the British … decided to attack Iran. A gruesome eight year war was the result, with the USA supporting both sides. The idea was, if they are fighting each other, they will leave Israel alone.
After this war is over, Iraq has a problem with Kuwait, in large part because of a war debt. Another war is the result, with the USA involved. Iraq is vanquished, but some in the USA are not satisfied, and after a few years the USA invades Iraq again. That war is still raging.
The biggest winner of the US-Iraq war (aka World War W) is Iran. This new influence in Persia is very troubling to Israel, which is loudly rattling its nuclear saber. When Israel makes noise about Iran, it takes attention away from the Palestinian tragedy.
Tom Dispatch is still publishing content. The situation with countries-that-start-with-I is worse than ever. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. Arthur S. Siegel took the social media picture in August 1942. “Interlochen, Michigan. National music camp where 300 or more young musicians study symphonic music for eight weeks each summer. Couples dancing at a Monday night dance jamboree” ©Luther Mckinnon 2026 · selah
Broken Legs And Broken Promises
This content was published April 21, 2008. … It is monday after work, and slack rules. What energy I had is long gone. I started a nifty post about Truman Capote at lunch, but don’t feel like finishing it. Not to worry, Renegade Evolution has the answer. She displayed something called the blog&website Cuss-o-meter. Ren copped a 34.5% rating, which is not surprising for a sex worker. …
The first question to arise is, what do they call cussing? The seven words of Carlin? Anything referring to excretion, reproduction, or the eternal destination of your soul? I am not terribly offended by most profanity. I try not to use it, because it takes attention away from your overall message. Profanity is a social issue rather than a moral one. Certain words are not right or wrong, but when you use one inappropriately you betray a lack of respect for the listeners. There are words that offend me … like Jesus … that many see as their moral duty to say as often as possible. And this eagerness to profane a sacred name is a violation of the third commandment. (That is, the eagerness of Christians to scream his name as often and loudly as possible). … It is a matter of perception. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but ugly uses all five senses.
This content was published April 16, 2008. … I don’t know which Neil is uglier, Boortz or Young. Its a good thing Neil Diamond (The Jewish Elvis) is handsome. … There have always been mixed feelings about Neil Young. In 1972, after “Goldrush” and CSNY, his new album was greatly anticipated. I got “Harvest” the first chance I got, and thought that it sucked. A few more albums came out, some better than others. It did not help that some hipsters thought that Mr. Young walked on water.
Then one night in 1978, I went by a house, and was told to drive to the radio station immediately. Mr. Young had a show at the Omni that night, it was far from sold out, and there was a man with a shoebox of tickets in the radio station parking lot. Never mind that the seats were in Alabama, I was in the same room as Neil Young. … And he was great. There were huge comic book speakers, and these guys in star wars costumes swarming over the stage to adjust the equipment. Neil played VERY LOUD. Sometimes having seats in Alabama is a good thing. … There is something artificial about a studio arteest who cannot pull the weight onstage. Donna Summer comes to mind (Easter Sunday 1978). OTOH, a performer who pulls it off in front of an audience is real. That night at the Omni, Neil Young justified a lifetime of pretentious records.
This content was published April 14, 2008. … “You go into these small towns in Pennsylvania and, … the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothings replaced them … And they fell through the Clinton Administration, and the Bush Administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are gonna regenerate and they have not. … And it’s not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.”
Unless you live under a rock/Iraq, or have right wing ideas on permanent brain rot, you have heard about that comment from BHO. Quite possibly, you have heard more than you appreciate … unless you are looking for a reason not to like BHO, in which case you haven’t heard enough. If you are in the first category, just scroll through the text and enjoy the pictures. If you are in the second group, you might not like what I am going to say. You can still look at the pictures.
1- This was a secretly recorded speech made at a fundraiser. The fatcat party was in San Francisco, a factoid that delights the hate-O crowd. What sort of person donates to a campaign (possibly using another person’s money), so he can go to a private party and make a secret recording? And then take the “sample” and release it to the tittering internet.
2- My first reaction when I read this was that the smalltown folk have felt that way for a long long time. They loved guns and Jesus back when the factories and steelmills were wide open. 3- It is not just small town Pennsylvania that is “bitter”. (Folks seem to have a special problem with the word bitter. One “consultant” was quoted as saying it would have been better if BHO had said frustrated.) What about the guys that did a high five behind Jeremiah Wright when he screamed “God Damn America”? If anyone has a right to be bitter, it is the folks on the south side of Chicago, or any ghetto in America. And yes, they do cling to Jesus and Guns, as well as other nasty things.
4- It is not just America that is bitter and turning to religion. Palestine and Iraq are in the same boat. They feel like forces are working against them, and they might be right. People are turning to religion and violence as an answer to their anguish. They are being led down that wretched path by cynical clerics who exploit their unhappiness, and offer a solution through God. These clerics seldom strap on a suicide vest, just like Jeremiah Wright does not live in the projects.
5- This is not going to hurt BHO that much. The people who are upset are not going to support him anyway. A lot of people see the truth in what he says, and just might appreciate the fact that he was unslick enough to say something with a rough edge. He just might have known that Judas-with-a-taperecorder was in the house. 6- Batter Better Bitter Botter Butter. The only vowel that doesn’t work in that progression is O.
Pictures today are from Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library Guy Dodd Hayes took the social media picture in April 27, 1941. “Convicts with broken legs in casts in bunk-beds at Dallas, Georgia prison.” … “Broken Legs and Broken Promises. These three youths who say they broke their legs to escape “Beatings and hardships” at the Dallas “Hell Hole Prison,” admit that conditions have improved since Warden Q.E. Worthington took charge in February, but charge the warden broke his own promise of no brutality by whipping Morris Brown “on general principles.” Left to right they are Buster Masters, 18, of Atlanta; Percy Mitchell, 21, of Macon, and Ed Pressley, 18, of Troupe County. Other prisoners are high in their praise of the warden for allowing radios, mail and sale of luxuries within the camp for the first time.” … “These three Georgia lads hamstrung themselves by cutting the tendons of their own legs to avoid being sent out on convict road gangs.”
©Luther Mckinnon 2026 · selah
Siddhartha Gautama
This content was published April 21, 2023. … 43 minutes into “The Buddha”, Gautama Siddhartha (suh·DAAR·tuh GAU·tuh·muh) turned away from asceticism. He accepted a bowl of rice pudding from a lady, and was a step farther on the path to enlightenment.
Buddhism has always seemed “too asian” for an occidental to follow. There are some things, confirmed by this video, that I find appealing. The stories of Buddha are understood to be legends, with no one (that we know of) claiming them to be literal history. This is not like the book worship of Christians. Stories about Jesus are said to be literal truth. The ideas that Buddha taught are not changed by “mistakes” in telling his life story.
There is a story about Buddha seeing his ascetic buddies, after he ate the bowl of rice pudding. He got the ascetics to listen to him, until he won them over. From what I have seen of humans, especially spiritually charged ones, I find it tough to imagine these people listening that long. The average Jesus worshiper cannot be quiet long enough for you to finish a single sentence.
Christianity is obsessed with life after death. The Buddha of this show takes a different approach: “There are stories of people coming to the Buddha, and saying, “I am leaving your teaching because you have not told me about whether there is a life after death, or whether there is another world. And the Buddha says, ‘Did I ever say that I would give you the answers to these things?’ ‘No, Lord, you didn’t.’ ‘Why do you think that I ever said that I would give you the answer to these things? Because these are not the things that you need to know. The thing that you need to know is how to deal with suffering, because at this very moment, what made you ask that question was suffering.”
The focus is on the life of Buddha, not his death. The focus is on this life, not on life after death. Buddha lived to an old age, teaching up until his departure. Maybe if Jesus had been better at human relationships, he would not have been executed.
Maybe I am so scarred by/scared of Jesus that I cannot benefit from any other source of wisdom. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. The social media picture: “Private William Anthony Holland of Co. K, 10th Virginia Cavalry Regiment.” ©Luther Mckinnon 2026 · selah
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This is the first monday morning reader without David Allan Coe. Or, as the AI clickbait reader calls him, CO ee · I was editing this story, when I decided to verify the legend of Elvis shooting a TV set because Robert Goulet was performing. A half hour later, I knew a lot more about the incident, and saw a picture of another TV set Elvis fired on · Here are three stories from 2008 that deserve a second chance. Pictures are from the Library of Congress, and are better than the text · This content was published May 18, 2025 · This content was originally published May 15, 2019 · Jack Delano took the social media picture in May 1940. “Interior of general store at Stem, Granville County, North Carolina, with high school boys dressed up because it’s Election Day.” · This content was originally published May 7, 2024 · Today is the National Day of Prayer. What would Jesus say about this? “And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words.” Matthew 6:7 · Mark Twain wrote a story about the national mood during the Phillipines War. He said it would not be published in his lifetime. Indeed, it did not see print until 1923. “None but the dead are permitted to tell the truth” · Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable. – Address on the First Anniversary of the Alliance for Progress at the White House (13 March 1962) · I heard something for the first time yesterday. “And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words.” Matthew 6:7 · I have been hearing about the Bible all my life. Maybe there is a reason why the Christian motormouths don’t mention that verse. · Her vocabulary was as bad as, like, whatever. · He was as tall as a six-foot-three-inch tree. · The hailstones leaped from the pavement, just like maggots when you fry them in hot grease. The English language will survive · If the Hasbarists had only quoted the real numbers, they would be believed a lot more. Those 4k were pushed into action by Mossad. The spell check suggestion for Hasbarists is Baristas · For a long time, I posted a tribute to my mother on the second Sunday of May. This year, I am going to post something that she would have enjoyed reading · About these “art movies” you used to enjoy … were they gay or straight? · beautiful and shocking · if beauty is in the eye of the beholder, in what organ do we register shock? The gut is the first answer, and perhaps the correct one. However, “the gut” is a collection of behind the scenes actors who work together to insure a smoothly working anatomy. It is not obvious like the eye, just like beauty is not alway apparent in the eye. Shock often comes through the eye, like every time i click on an iranian lego video about the orange haired idiot. That may be the only beautiful thing to come out of bibi’s dream war. maybe this is a call for rhyming. beautiful is a difficult word to rhyme, unlike blocking mocking glocking focking which are often not real words but whose meaning is fairly obvious. rhymezone suggests juvenile and cubicle, which will have to do since we are not writing a poem tonight. i found the hand raise symbol right away. that is shocking · Pictures today are from The Library of Congress John Vachon took the social media picture in April 1942. “Ravalli County, Montana. Castrating young lambs” ©Luther Mckinnon 2026 · selah
Lewis Grizzard
This content was originally posted April 23, 2012. … If you lived in Atlanta between 1980 and 1994, you heard about Lewis Grizzard. Some people loved him. Deacon Lunchbox did not. Lewis told good old boy stories about growing up in rural Georgia. Many of them were enjoyable. Lewis also made social and political commentaries, which upset a few people.
I have mixed feelings about Lewis. The stories about Kathy Sue Loudermilk, and Catfish, could make your day. His opinions about gays, feminists, and anything non redneck, could get on your nerves. The column for the fishwrapper upset me at least twice a week.
In 1982, Lewis (a first-name-only celebrity) wrote a column about John Lennon. Lewis did not understand why Mr. Ono was such a big deal. I cut the column out of the fishwrapper, and put it in a box. Every few years, I would be looking for something, find that column, and get mad all over again.
The New Georgia Encyclopedia has a page about Lewis, which expresses some of these contradictions. “If Grizzard’s humor revealed the ambivalence amid affluence of the Sunbelt South, it reflected its conservative and increasingly angry politics as well. He was fond of reminding fault-finding Yankee immigrants that “Delta is ready when you are,” and, tired of assaults on the Confederate flag, he suggested sarcastically that white southerners should destroy every relic and reminder of the Civil War (1861-65), swear off molasses and grits, drop all references to the South, and begin instead to refer to their region as the “Lower East.” Grizzard also wore his homophobia and hatred for feminists on his sleeve, and one of the last of his books summed up his reaction to contemporary trends in its title, Haven’t Understood Anything since 1962 and Other Nekkid Truths.
In the end, which came in 1994, when he was only forty-seven, the lonely, insecure, oft-divorced, hard-drinking Grizzard proved to be the archetypal comic who could make everyone laugh but himself. He chronicled this decline and his various heart surgeries in I Took a Lickin’ and Kept on Tickin’, and Now I Believe in Miracles, published just before his final, fatal heart failure.”
As you may have discerned, Lewis McDonald Grizzard Jr. met his maker on March 20, 1994. He was 47. There was a valve in his heart that wasn’t right. The good news is that he stayed out of the army. At the time, Vietnam was the destination for most enlistees. The bad news is that his heart problems got worse and worse, until it finally killed him.
Sixteen years later, I found a website, Wired For Books. It is a collection of author interviews by Don Swaim, who ran many of them on a CBS radio show called Book
Beat. There are two interviews with Lewis. 1986 1987. One was done to promote My Daddy Was a Pistol and I’m a Son of A Gun. This was the story of Lewis Grizzard Senior, who was another mixed bag.
If you listen to those interviews, you might change your mind about Lewis. The one-liners and country boy stories are still there. Daddy Grizzard was a soldier, who went to war in Europe and Korea. The second one did something to him, he took to drinking, and was never quite right the rest of his life. His son adored him anyway. When you put yourself in those loafers for a while, you began to taste the ingredients, in that stew we called Lewis Grizzard.
I still remember the anger that those columns caused … I have my own story, and know when my toes are stepped on. The thing is, after listening to this show, I have an idea of why Lewis Grizzard wrote the things that he did. Maybe Lewis and I aren’t all that different after all. Pictures today are from Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library. The social media picture was taken October 31, 1956. “Wrecked police automobile” ©Luther Mckinnon 2026 · selah
Serve As A Bad Example
This content was published May 31, 2010. … He spoke with the wisdom that can only come from experience, like a guy who went blind because he looked at a solar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it and now goes around the country speaking at high schools about the dangers of looking at a solar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it.
Joseph Romm, Washington
· She caught your eye like one of those pointy hook latches that used to dangle from screen doors and would fly up whenever you banged the door open again. — Rich Murphy, Fairfax Station
· The little boat gently drifted across the pond exactly the way a bowling ball wouldn’t.
Russell Beland, Springfield
· McBride fell 12 stories, hitting the pavement like a Hefty Bag filled with vegetable soup.
Paul Sabourin, Silver Spring
· From the attic came an unearthly howl. The whole scene had an eerie, surreal quality, like when you’re on vacation in another city and “Jeopardy” comes on at 7 p.m. instead of 7:30.
Roy Ashley, Washington
· Her hair glistened in the rain like nose hair after a sneeze. — Chuck Smith, Woodbridge
· Her eyes were like two brown circles with big black dots in the center. — Russell Beland, Springfield
· Bob was as perplexed as a hacker who means to access T:flw.quid55328.com\aaakk/ch@ung but gets T:\flw.quidaaakk/ch@ung by mistake — Ken Krattenmaker, Landover Hills
· Her vocabulary was as bad as, like, whatever. — Unknown
· He was as tall as a six-foot-three-inch tree. — Jack Bross, Chevy Chase
· The hailstones leaped from the pavement, just like maggots when you fry them in hot grease.
Gary F. Hevel, Silver Spring
· Her date was pleasant enough, but she knew that if her life was a movie this guy would be buried in the credits as something like”Second Tall Man.” — Russell Beland, Springfield
· Long separated by cruel fate, the star-crossed lovers raced across the grassy field toward each other like two freight trains, one having left Cleveland at 6:36 p.m. traveling at 55 mph, the other from Topeka at 4:19 p.m. at a speed of 35 mph. — Jennifer Hart, Arlington
· The politician was gone but unnoticed, like the period after the Dr. on a Dr Pepper can.
Wayne Goode, Madison, Ala.
· They lived in a typical suburban neighborhood with picket fences that resembled Nancy Kerrigan’s teeth. — Paul Kocak, Syracuse, N.Y.
· John and Mary had never met. They were like two hummingbirds who had also never met.
Russell Beland, Springfield
· The thunder was ominous-sounding, much like the sound of a thin sheet of metal being shaken backstage during the storm scene in a play. — Barbara Fetherolf, Alexandria
· His thoughts tumbled in his head, making and breaking alliances like underpants in a dryer without Cling Free. — Chuck Smith, Woodbridge
· The red brick wall was the color of a brick-red Crayola crayon.
These specimens were published in 2007 by Soylent Green – ItsPeopleDammit(tm). Before that, it was an item at The Humor Library, Worst Analogies Ever Written in a High School Essay Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. Jack Delano took the social media picture in March 1941. “Woman who had been moved out of the Santee-Cooper basin to Orangeburg Farms, a FSA (Farm Security Administration) project in Orangeburg County, South Carolina”
©Luther Mckinnon 2026 · selah
The War Prayer
This content was posted October 25, 2009. … One hundred and twenty five years ago, the United States was involved in a war that did not want to end. This conflict was in the Philippines. Although there had been an official end to the war, guerrillas continued to fight the Americans. The war was a nasty affair, with many atrocities.
The War against the Philippine people was a souvenir of the Spanish American War. There had been a rebellion against Spanish rule in the islands. After the American forces routed the Spanish, the rebellion shifted to the American occupiers. It was a war stumbled into, and difficult to end.
Mark Twain was horrified. He wrote a story, The War Prayer. As Lew Rockwell tells the tale: “Twain wrote “The War Prayer” during the US war on the Philippines. It was submitted for publication, but on March 22, 1905, Harper’s Bazaar rejected it as “not quite suited to a woman’s magazine.” Eight days later, Twain wrote to his friend Dan Beard, to whom he had read the story, “I don’t think the prayer will be published in my time. None but the dead are permitted to tell the truth.” Because he had an exclusive contract with Harper & Brothers, Mark Twain could not publish “The War Prayer” elsewhere and it remained unpublished until 1923.”
“The story starts in a church. A war has started, and is popular. The troops leave for glory the next day. The preacher has an emotional prayer to send them on their way. Unknown to the minister, there is a visitor. An aged stranger entered and moved with slow and noiseless step up the main aisle, his eyes fixed upon the minister, his long body clothed in a robe that reached to his feet, his head bare, his white hair descending in a frothy cataract to his shoulders, his seamy face unnaturally pale, pale even to ghastliness. With all eyes following him and wondering, he made his silent way; without pausing, he ascended to the preacher’s side and stood there, waiting.
With shut lids the preacher, unconscious of his presence, continued his moving prayer, and at last finished it with the words, uttered in fervent appeal, “Bless our arms, grant us the victory, O Lord our God, Father and Protector of our land and flag!”
The stranger motioned to the preacher to step aside. The stranger stepped into the pulpit, and claimed to have a message, sent directly from God. The preacher’s message was for support in time of war, and implied that God and the preacher support the same side in this conflict. There is an unspoken part to a prayer like this. This unspoken part was what the stranger was going to put into words.
“O Lord our Father, our young patriots, idols of our hearts, go forth to battle – be Thou near them! With them, in spirit, we also go forth from the sweet peace of our beloved firesides to smite the foe. O Lord our God, help us to tear their soldiers to bloody shreds with our shells; help us to cover their smiling fields with the pale forms of their patriot dead; help us to drown the thunder of the guns with the shrieks of their wounded, writhing in pain; help us to lay waste their humble homes with a hurricane of fire; help us to wring the hearts of their widows with unavailing grief; help us to turn them out roofless with their little children to wander unfriended the wastes of their desolated land in rags and hunger and thirst, sports of the sun flames of summer and the icy winds of winter, broken in spirit, worn with travail, imploring Thee for the refuge of the grave and denied it-for our sakes who adore Thee, Lord, blast their hopes, blight their lives, protract their bitter pilgrimage, make heavy their steps, water their way with their tears, stain the white snow with the blood of their wounded feet! We ask it, in the spirit of love, of Him Who is the Source of Love, and Who is ever-faithful refuge and friend of all that are sore beset and seek His aid with humble and contrite hearts. Amen.”
This content was posted October 29, 2009. … Mark Twain wrote a lot during the American Genocide in the Philippines. Many of his words could apply today. War has gotten more high tech … for our side … but the bottom line is the same. No matter how fancy the weapons get, the casualties are just as dead. And the investors make money.
The Battle Hymn of the Republic, Updated
Mine eyes have seen the orgy of the launching of the Sword;
He is searching out the hoardings where the stranger’s wealth is stored;
He hath loosed his fateful lightnings, and with woe and death has scored;
His lust is marching on.
Woe and death can turn a profit. Warfare needs a wealthy prophet!
Woe and death through war, don’t stop it! It’s war that makes men rich!
I have seen him in the watch-fires of a hundred circling camps;
They have builded him an altar in the Eastern dews and damps;
I have read his doomful mission by the dim and flaring lamps—
His night is marching on.
Woe and death can make for profit. Buy a bomb and then go drop it!
War’s a racket, but don’t stop it! It’s war that makes men rich!
I have read his bandit gospel writ in burnished rows of steel:
“As ye deal with my pretensions, so with you my wrath shall deal;
Let the faithless son of Freedom crush the patriot with his heel;
Lo, Greed is marching on!”
Our priority is profit. Nobel prizes fail to stop it!
War’s foundation? We’ve co-op’d it! It’s war that makes men rich!
We have legalized the strumpet and are guarding her retreat;
Greed is seeking out commercial souls before his judgement seat;
O, be swift, ye clods, to answer him! be jubilant my feet!
Our god is marching on!
In a sordid slime harmonious Greed was born in yonder ditch,
With a longing in his bosom—and for others’ goods an itch.
As Christ died to make men holy, let men die to make us rich—
Our god is marching on.
Woe and death can turn a profit. Warfare needs a wealthy prophet!
Woe and death through war, don’t stop it! It’s war that makes men rich!
Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. Arthur S. Siegel took the social media picture in August 1942. “Interlochen, Michigan. National music camp where 300 or more young musicians study symphonic music for eight weeks each summer. Practice indoors on string instruments” ©Luther Mckinnon 2026 · selah
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