#NationalDayofPrayer
Today is the #NationalDayofPrayer. This is a repost. Pictures are from “The Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library”.
Good Morning G-d. Please give me the slack I need to make it through this busy life. I had a birthday recently, and am getting older. Please give me less pain, both above and below the neck. Thank you for letting me get this far. Thank you for the gift of sobriety, and the memory of inebrience. The gift of moderation would have been appreciated. Help me to overcome body chemistry telling me to be unhappy. If this doesn’t work, help me hide it better.
Please tell the Jesus Worshipers to shut up. They make too much noise. Help me to forgive them. Give Jesus Worshipers a bit more humility. Help Jesus Worshipers to get over their confusion, and quit hating on gay people. Let people know that G-d does not write books. Let men know that A REAL MAN KEEPS CONTROL OF HIS TEMPER. Please tell the proud people praying today that it is better to listen than to talk, and that louder does not mean more true.
Please find a happy medium for Atlanta water. Let us have neither drought nor flood. It would help if the developers would move to North Carolina, and the politicians would grow a conscience.
G-d, please try to get along better with Allah. This is important. Maybe if you and her got along better, then all those religious crazies would hate each other less. Help white people and black people get along better. Please be good to the people who have already lived, and are now deceased. Please understand that I am not in a hurry to join them.
Help Mr. Obama with the mess this country is in. Help Israel get along with her neighbors, and live within her borders. Help the world solve the carbon dioxide problem.
Thank you for the birds that sing. Thank you for dogs, and dog owners who clean up. Thank you for earth, air, fire, and water. Thank you for the people who enjoy this prayer. Help those who are offended to get over it. Namaste, amen, all my relations, Good Bye.
PuffHo Logic
PuffHo recently had a tasteful piece of work titled 12 Powerful Responses To People Who Think The Baltimore Protests Are Unnecessary. If you want to see logical fallacies on display, this is the place to go. The header ad today features Selected Risk Information About JANUVIA.
Before we get started here, it should be noted that the residents of ghetto Baltimore have serious concerns. The Freddie Gray riot did not just happen. The same conditions of poverty, crime, drugs, and aggressive police exist in poor neighborhoods around America. People should not be surprised when this rage bubbles over into violence.
The palvering pundits of American media, both social and anti social, do not help matters with their explainations. There used to be a saying … if you can’t say anything good about someone, don’t say anything at all. This has been amended. The modern version reads if you can’t say anything good about anyone, complain about the media.
The logic party begins with an explaination. “These same people deflect the blame for poor police treatment on black communities rather than addressing the underlying systemic issues disproportionally affecting black lives. In so many words, Freddie Gray is responsible for his own death. Those troubling theories are exactly why the protests are necessary.”
The link is to “The classic Willy Wonka meme.” It shows Gene Wilder, with the words “You’re being treated poorly by police? Have you tried not breaking the law to see if that helps?” According to PuffHo, this is “exactly why the protests are necessary.” Maybe CVS should sue Willa Wonka.
There is another old saying … two wrongs do not make a right. Apparently, this too is obsolete. The fact that crowds of sports fans got out of control somehow justifies the destruction of property over police brutality. Not everyone makes the connection.
There are a few exercises in twitter logic. @MalcolmLondon *Media thoughts on Baltimore* “MLK is probably spinning in his grave right now!” Appropriate response: “…how’d he get into that grave?” chamblee54 The same way Malcolm X did.
@rachelzuckerm White privilege = getting to decide what type of violence is acceptable in our society #BaltimoreUprising
@OhNoSheTwitnt The same people who said “not all men” abuse women and “not all cops” are violent racists are saying “yes all black people” are thugs.
@tallblacknerd Sorry but im not gonna be upset over replaceable property when you don’t care about the irreplaceable lives
@_UrriYall worried about how we “look”. We are laid out in the street dead then handcuffed in cold blood. That’s how we look
Pictures today are from “The Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library”.
Responsible
It was a sunday evening, and there was nothing good to say. Rather than not saying anything at all, PG decided to go into his archive This post is from May of 2007. It is about responsible behavior, and a religion that does not encourage it. This repost might be hypocritical, but no one forced you to read it. Part two is another rerun. It is written in first person. The pictures, from “The Special Collections and Archives,Georgia State University Library”, need text between them.
It all started when a girl went to a back room with a former boyfriend. Her current bf stormed out of the party, and flipped his car when it went off the road. Being a star quarterback did not prevent the fatal consequences. The local radio whiner had a few things to say. Since alcohol was a suspected factor, the question became, “how do we teach teenagers to drink responsibly?”
PG is a retired drunk, and has a few dozen opinions on this issue. His wandering mind settled on a related subject…Jesus. G-d’s love baby is similar to alcohol. Both are legal, both have potential for good and ill, and neither works for PG. The thought occurred “How do we teach Teenagers to Worship Jesus Responsibly?” Now, this may be the first time those two concepts have been paired like that…Jesus and Responsibility…but it should not be the last.
A central concept in the world of Jesus Worship is the avoidance of responsibility…”Jesus paid the price for my sins on the cross”. While you may feel better to think you are forgiven, that does not help the person who was hurt by your actions. If star the quarterback had run into someone, G-d might forgive him, but this does not help with the medical bills.
Today’s seminar is about the Worshiping Responsibly. It is about having respect for your neighbors who do not agree with you, and do not want to hear about your “salvation”. It is about not creating ill will for Jesus with obnoxious behavior in his name. It is about not dragging Jesus into your personal quarrels, using his name in anger to hurt your neighbor. It is about Responsibility. Your actions have consequences, and just because you are doing it for Jesus does not eliminate that reality.
There are two big reasons why PG is not a Jesus Worshiper. The first one is, he simply doesn’t agree with the teachings. The Bible is not the word of G-d, Jesus was killed because he was a troublemaker. The death, and reputed resurrection, of Jesus has nothing to do with what happens to people when they die. If you don’t agree with the dogma regarding life after death, the Jesus worship church has little to offer you. Christianity is more a scheme for life after death than a religion.
The Second reason is the sorry behavior of Jesus Worshipers. This prevents PG from having a cosmetic, social oriented membership in a church. He does not want to pretend to worship a spirit which causes him misery.
Responsibility is not valued in the Jesus Worship community. Respect for non believers is seen as a sign of weakness. And, while not all Jesus Worshipers are fanatics, many admire and support the loudmouths who give their faith a bad name.
When it comes to belief, moderation is not valued. Fanaticism is admired. There is little responsibility taken. It is just the Jesus talking.
Christopher Isherwood once said, in a magazine interview, that the doctrine of a religion is not as important as the person who tells you that doctrine. (If anyone can find this quote on the internet, please leave a comment with a link.) It is a common belief that religions are about beliefs, but many find that it is the person who draws you into the community. A corollary of this is when you have a bad experience with a person who represents a religion. This person can drive you far away from wanting to have any participation in a religion. The idea that G-d would send a person to hell because he knew an offensive Jesus worshiper is tough to believe.
So much for world affairs. It is time to tell a story, with no moral and no redeeming social value.
In 1980, I was staying at a place called the Sea Haven Hostel, affectionately known as Sleaze Haven. This was in Seattle WA, as far as you can get from Atlanta, and still be in the lower 48. I was working through Manpower, and staying in a semi private room for $68 a month.
There was a Christian group that met in the basement on Sunday Night. Now, as some of you may know, I am a recovering baptist, who hasn’t been to church since 1971. However, the lure of a free meal was hard to resist, so I went to a few meetings.
One night, after doing quality control work on the local beer supply, I cheerfully joined in the discussion. This was the night when I realized that the Bible is not the Word of G-d, a concept that has been very handy in dealing with the clumsy efforts of our Jesus-mad culture to convert me.
They seemed to like me, though, and welcomed me back. Maybe it was the southern accent.
One Sunday, after the dinner was finished , it was time to have a prayer to begin the meeting. I raised my hand. Now, Jesus Worshipers enjoy prayer as entertainment. When they bow their heads, you see them stretching and deep breathing, in anticipation of a good, lengthy, message to G-d.
My message was a bit of a disappointment. Instead of a long winded lecture about Jesus and the magic book, I said what was on my mind. Lord, thank you for letting us be here today.
Changing The Flag
This is a recycled post from 2008. It was written in first person. The issue discussed has mostly faded away, except for a few hardcore cranks. Politicians have found new issues to distract voters when they want to make crooked deals, especially when the Governor is a crooked Deal. Pictures are from “The Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library”.
In 1994 I was working in downtown Atlanta. I represented my company in a customer’s office, and there was often time with nothing to do. At the very least, there was no time clock and an hour lunch could slip into overtime with few consequences.
There was an issue in the news in 1994, along with some claims that I did not believe. This issue was whether, or not, to change the state flag. One day, I went to the library, and sat down with the microfilms of the Atlanta Constitution (Covers Dixie Like the Dew) for the Winter of 1956.
One of the fun things about doing research is the things you were not looking for. Elvis Presley made a personal appearance at the Fox Theater. Atlanta Blue opened a facility on West Peachtree Street. There was speculation about whether Dwight Eisenhower would have a different Vice President in the next election. Mr. President had a heart attack in 1955. Many did not want Richard Nixon to be President. 1994 was 20 years after Mr. Nixon resigned the Presidency in disgrace. You wonder how things might have been different if Mr. Eisenhower found a new Vice President.
1956 was two years after Brown vs. The Board of Education, and many were concerned about school desegregation. A bill was proposed in the legislature to make it a felony to advocate integration.
The Governor at the time was Marvin Griffin. Georgia Tech played Pittsburgh in the Sugar Bowl that year, in spite of the fact that Pittsburgh had a black player. The Governor strongly objected, but was overruled. The game was played without incident.
The State of Georgia changed the state flag that year. The new flag had the state seal on a blue stripe next to the St. Andrews Cross, the battle flag of the Confederate States of America.
In 1994 many wanted to change that flag. Some said that it was a symbol of slavery and oppression; others said it was a reminder of battlefield valor. A native southerner, I could appreciate both points of view. I was neutral regarding a change of the flag.
One thing that I did not understand was an argument made for changing the flag. The line in those days…first expressed by Governor Zell Miller and endlessly repeated by the local fishwrapper media … was that the flag had been changed as a protest against desegregation.
I did not believe that for a minute. The legislature in 1956 was not that smart. They were a bunch of white males who were, with a few exceptions, racist, alcoholic crooks. If someone had suggested a flag change as a stand of defiance against desegregation, they might have thought it a good idea, but I somehow doubt that anyone thought like that. This was 1956. The sixties, where protest became the new national pastime, were a few years away.
After a few minutes of searching through the department store ads and sports pages, I found what I was looking for…. the article announcing the flag change. There was no mention of a protest against desegregation. They announced it as a way of honoring the Confederacy. This is in keeping with the times. Georgia in 1956 was still recovering from the War, and the Cult of Honoring the Confederacy was strong. Fergit Hell!
The flag was eventually changed during the administration of Governor Roy Barnes. The new flag was even uglier than the old one, which I did not think was possible. Sonny Perdue defeated Mr. Barnes in his bid for reelection, in no small part because he proposed a referendum on the flag. He forgot this promise as soon as he got into office, but the flag was changed once again.
Google Searches And Black Mortality
PG was trolling twitter one day when an item caught his eye. @Flyswatter There’s a correlation where racist Google searches and high black mortality rates occur. The tweet linked to an article at HuffPo (the long winded sister of PoPo) with the disturbing title The Connection Between Racist Google Searches And Black Mortality Rates.
“A new study shows a chilling correlation between the number of racist Google searches in an area and the long-term mortality rates of the black people living there. … David Chae … an assistant professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at the University of Maryland School of Public Health, determined how racist a geographic area was by how frequently an epithet for African-Americans appeared in area Google searches. Internet searches are a good way of measuring societal attitudes, Chae said, because people don’t self-censor in their own homes. Areas with the most searches for the epithet “n*****” had the highest mortality rates among African-Americans, found the study, which Chae and seven coauthors published in the scientific journal PLOS ONE. “
The article refers to a serious scientific study, Association between an Internet-Based Measure of Area Racism and Black Mortality. Some people with degrees broke the country into 192 Designated Marketing Areas. In the DMA where people performed more Google searches for the “n-word,” Black people were more likely to die.
“In this study, we investigated the utility of a previously developed Internet search-based proxy of area racism as a predictor of Black mortality rates. Area racism was the proportion of Google searches containing the “N-word” in 196 designated market areas (DMAs). Negative binomial regression models were specified taking into account individual age, sex, year of death, and Census region and adjusted to the 2000 US standard population to examine the association between area racism and Black mortality rates, which were derived from death certificates and mid-year population counts collated by the National Center for Health Statistics (2004–2009) DMAs characterized by a one standard deviation greater level of area racism were associated with an 8.2% increase in the all-cause Black mortality rate, equivalent to over 30,000 deaths annually.”
“This previously developed variable was calculated as the proportion of total Internet search queries containing the “N-word” (singular or plural) using Google from 2004–2007. More colloquial forms of the “N-word” (i.e., ending in “-a” or “-as”) were not included given prior analysis of top searches revealing that these versions were used in different contexts compared to searches of the term ending in “-er” or “-ers” … Area racism was standardized so that a one-unit increase in area racism indicates a one standard deviation higher proportion of Google searches containing the “N-word.””
The study was inspired by a New York Times article, How Racist Are We? Ask Google. In this study, areas where people googled the “er” version of the “n-word” were less likely to vote for Barack Obama. “(I did not include searches that included the word “n**ga” because these searches were mostly for rap lyrics.)” LANGUAGE ALERT Use caution when reading this article. It uses the “n-word,” using all six letters without any euphemizing symbols.
The study claims to have been peer reviewed. It does not indicate the race of the people making google searches for the “n-word that ends in er.” This search statistic, which is not broken down on the internet, is the only measure of “racism” that is used. The mortality statistics for mixed race, and non black POC are not mentioned. Media coverage of sporting event riots was not discussed.
Pictures from “The Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library”.
04-30-92
Doug Richards is an Atlanta tv news reporter. He writes a blog, live apartment fire. He was on the scene twenty three years ago. There was a riot downtown. Mr. Richards had a bad night.
PG was working in the Healey building that day. He ran an RMS, or reprographic management service, in an architects office. He had a blueline machine, ran jobs for the customer, and had free time. PG did a lot of exploring, and enjoyed the various events downtown. On April 30, 1992, there was an event he did not enjoy.
The day before, a jury in California issued a verdict. Four policemen were acquitted of wrongdoing in an incident involving Rodney King. The incident had been videotaped, and received widespread attention. The verdict of the jury was not popular. The dissatisfaction spread to Atlanta.
Sometimes, PG thinks he has a guardian angel looking over him. If so, then this thursday afternoon was one of those times. PG went walking out into the gathering storm. He was a block south of the train station at five points, when he saw someone throw a rock into a store front. The sheet metal drapes were rolled down on the outside of the store. PG realized that he was not in a good place, and quickly made his way back to the Healey building.
A group of policeman were lined up in the lobby of the building, wearing flack jackets. One of the police was a white man, who was familiar to workers in the neighborhood. A few weeks before the incident, he had been walking around the neighborhood showing off his newborn baby.
There was very little work done that afternoon in the architect’s office. Someone said not to stand close to the windows, which seemed like a good idea. Fourteen floors below, on Broad Street, the window at Rosa’s Pizza had a brick thrown threw it. There were helicopters hovering over downtown, making an ominous noise.
There was a lot of soul searching about race relations that day. The Olympics were coming to town in four years, and the potential for international disaster was apparent. As it turned out, the disturbance was limited to a few hundred people. It could have been much, much worse. If one percent of the anger in Atlanta had been unleashed that day, instead of .001 percent, the Olympics would have been looking for a new host.
After a while, the people in the office were called into the lobby. The Principal of the firm, the partner in charge of production, walked out to his vehicle with PG and a lady in operations. The principal drove an inconspicuous vehicle, which made PG feel a bit better. PG took his pocketknife, opened the blade, and put it in his back pocket. It probably would not have done him much good.
PG usually took the train downtown. As fate would have it, there was a big project at the main office of redo blue on West Peachtree Street. That is where PG’s vehicle was, in anticipation of working overtime that night. The principal drove PG to this building. PG called his mother, to let her know that he was ok. The Atlanta manager of Redo Blue talked to him, to make sure that he was not hurt.
If PG had not gone back downtown the next day, he might not have ever gone back. He was back at the West Peachtree Street office, and was assured that it was safe to ride the train into town. The Macy’s at 180 Peachtree had plywood nailed over the display windows. A gift shop in the Healey building had a sign in the window, “Black owned business”. Friday May 1, 1992, was a quiet day.
This is a repost. The events of twenty three years ago are mostly forgotten in Atlanta. Pictures are from “The Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library”.
Religion For Lack Of A Better Word
@jonathanchait Right-wing evidentiary standards on anti-Semitism are as insanely low as left-wing evidentiary standards on racism ~ Maybe we need to think about the way we deal with racism. There are some problems with your approach. ~ “It is only through fiction that facts can be made instructive or even intelligible.” — George Bernard Shaw ~ “People think that because a novel’s invented, it isn’t true. Exactly the reverse is the case. Biography and memoirs can never be wholly true, since they cannot include every conceivable circumstance of what happened. The novel can do that.” — Anthony Powell ~“I write fiction and I’m told it’s autobiography, I write autobiography and I’m told it’s fiction, so since I’m so dim and they’re so smart, let them decide what it is or it isn’t.” — Philip Roth ~ That’s got to be the worst sentence I have ever written. Syntactically waterboarded. ~ Except for the shoving by Miss Walmart, the lady was getting the attention she was looking for. It would have been crueler if they ignored her. ~ @strangetinybird If u are trying to make peace w yrself, then u probably need to recognize where u are making war w yrself ~ Just for the sake or argument, how many of those comments were accompanied by video of moving lips? Was there creative editing? The walk was clearly a play for attention. The shoving, and liquid throwing, were not justified, but the rest of the behavior was not really that bad. The woman was trying to provoke, and apparently she got what she was looking for. ~ Why do people get so worked up about racism and gay marriage and ignore trade agreements? ~ KJ @kjmelara I want to have an open dialogue about #AmericanReflexxx Luther Mckinnon @chamblee54 @kjmelara American Reflexxx is phony you never see the moving lips of ppl making the comments KJ @kjmelara @chamblee54 who the fuck is you Luther Mckinnon @chamblee54 @kjmelara are you from Myrtle Beach? KJ @kjmelara @chamblee54 Stay out of my mentions troll. You are blocked from following @kjmelara and viewing @kjmelara’s Tweets. Learn more ~ So glad you survived an event that had nothing to do with you. You are an asshole for marking yourself safe in an earthquake that you were no where close to. Disrespectful and arrogant. ~ Every interaction I’ve had with you has shown you to be a pushy, arrogant, ignorant twat. Thanks for being consistent ~ Hopefully we can hang out in the back yard after dinner. ~ Post successfully updated. Lookin’ good! ~ please relax your binary muscle. You’ll feel better. At least I hope you will. ~ When I count the pages in my #Bible, and divide the total by two, I get one reckoning of the middle. On this page is Psalms 70. Here is a lovely verse. Psalms 70:2 Let them be ashamed and confounded that seek after my soul: let them be turned backward, and put to confusion, that desire my hurt. ~ The Bible talk was off topic. A dance break is more spiritually edible. ~ You might enjoy these pictures. ~ Thank you. Religion, for lack of a better word, is a highly personal affair. It is not always comfortable to talk about. One of my many issues with the Jesus Worship Church is this notion that I should be required to discuss these sensitive matters with people I have not learned to trust. ~ Why am I inside on a beautiful sunday afternoon reading this? ~ God @TheTweetOfGod “I’ll pray for you” is an intellectually dishonest way of saying “Fuck off.” ~ This comment was removed by a moderator because it didn’t abide by our community standards. Replies may also be deleted. For more detail see our FAQs. ~ This post is interrupted by a popup ad for “the EVERYDAY SELF-LOVE COURSE Free yourself from toxic self-talk and give yourself the love you deserve!” ~ pictures from “The Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library”. ~ selah
Caucasian
At the 20:00 mark of the latest Risk show, Kevin Allison tells a story. He used the word caucasian to describe himself. His friend, who knows about such things, said that you can’t call yourself Caucasian.
The word Caucasian is derived from the Caucasus mountains. This is a region in Asia where Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia exist, not always in harmony. The thinking goes that many different types of people live in this region. It is not accurate to describe people of European origin as Caucasian.
According to wikipedia, the three primary races of mankind are Caucasian, Mongoloid and Negroid. Mongoloid refers to the people of East Asian, while the Negroid people originated in sub-saharan Africa. Both Mongoloid and Negroid are considered tacky, with the latter devolving into the dreaded n-word. Maybe it is natural progress to label Caucasian as politically incorrect.
If you google the phrase “is Caucasian,” the search suggestions are a race, white, an ethnicity, racist, a culture, a color, still used. The ever trenchant Urban Dictionary says Causcasian is “A ridiculous way of saying “white person”. Used mostly by Americans.” PG finds this ironic. The first person he knew who used the c-word regularly was a Black Muslim named John Ali.
The UD has a page for something called the Caucasian Donut. “When an exceptionally large white girl finishes oral sex on another exceptionally large white boy and proceeds to collect his jizz and puts it on a pastry of her choice.” It has an ad, with the slogan Join Hillary for America.
So the c-word, in addition to being pretentious, is scientifically dubious. Most people who use it have never heard of the Caucasus mountains. But is it (cue dramatic music) Racist? This post thinks so.
“Caucasian, literally, refers to people native to the Caucasus, but it has become interchangeable with any number of ‘White’ populations, most of wh1om trace their ancestry to Europe. One gets the feeling that the term ‘White’ fell out of favor and was replaced by ‘Caucasian’ much like ‘Black’ was replaced by ‘African-American’. But the roots of such terminology are a bit disturbing; it was postulated that the natives of the Caucasus exhibited the idealized physical appearance so the Caucasus were believed to be the birthplace of mankind. The logic behind this idea — the assumption that Whites exhibit the best physical appearance — is implicitly racist. Additionally, we now know our species first appeared in Africa, so the biology isn’t any good either. The connotations of the term Caucasian along with the geographical absurdity of using that term to describe all Europeans or Whites are the two main reasons we should abandon the term.”
Pictures are from “The Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library”.
Traditional Slavic Feel
The only thing you need to know is cntr + z ~ I’m sick of this country being led on the road to communism and the liberals that are helping take it there due to their immoral beliefs and selfish attitude ~ @Brimshack Calling Hillary Clinton a psycho commie doesn’t do much to tell us about HER mental state. @WiseManPhil ~ @Brimshack If you still need your college teacher to tell you to write in complete sentences, there is something about education that you don’t get. ~ @storybandit We dare you to write a 199-word story using this opening: The lady fluttered her fan. #writingdare @chamblee54 @storybandit An alternate: The lady fluffed her fan. @storybandit @chamblee54 Afraid ppl might take that alternate in a porny direction :P ~ Does habe earphones mean speak earphones? ~ Matt Walsh is an idiot working for Glenn Beck. ~ Altars manly reinstall concurrency antecedents cruelest bracket winces ~ WordXWord celebrates diversity, the creative use of language and the experience of community – using spoken word, poetry and storytelling in celebration of the individual, to bridge differences and connect people.~ @TheKevinAllison It’s so hard to tell true stories when you know the people you talk about might hear them. ~ search engine terms for chamblee54.wordpress.com today: crazy tom petty pics, dorothy kilgallen autopsy photos, depression is my nature, mary jo kopechne ~ Yes, in the early eighties I remember reading that the QWERTY keyboard was actually designed to slow peoples’ fingers down, so the machine wouldn’t jam. And that the DVORAK keyboard was designed for the opposite effect…along with, of course, a traditional Slavic feel ~ A tempestuous prisoner is forced to implicate a noncomforist convict in the theft of classified documents ~ A monopolizing green-skinned alien and a human-plant hybrid fail to escape Earth together before an environmental collapse ~ A sea nymph who can stop time for five seconds borrows a lucky necklace from an eunuch while trying to save a powerful god ~ @pourmecoffee I have a learning disability that causes me to read “An Open Letter To…” as “Stop reading now.” ~ I vote for fabulicity. The spell check suggestion is facility. ~ I posted a graphic poem. I made some changes to a picture. I decided to be adventurous and use the BBB editor to add the updated photo. I added the photo. The BBB editor said “Update made, Lookin’ Great,” or something like that. I looked at the updated post. Instead of the 720×447 size I usually use, the new picture was 300×186. That is in pixels, which I suspect the designer of the BBB editor does not know. Anyway, I went to the hassle of opening the classic editor, and added the updated picture. It was sized 720×447, as G-d intended. I probably will not make any more efforts to post with the BBB editor. ~ Mr. Stanley is also ugly. ~ ” i know where to hide the bodies.” Is that why you grew that beard? ~ We are not checking this account right now, as we are out of the country. Thank you for your patience and understanding. ~ This Dust Was Once the Man ~ @storybandit · We dare you to write a 29-word poem using the following words: scorcher, outlawed, homeschool, outplacement. #writingdare ~ I have written about this guy before. I don’t like racism, but I don’t think this person is going to help matters any. Telling people to speak out against racism sounds good in theory, but there are a few questions to ask. ~ Do you know all the facts? What if the person telling you about a racism incident is lying? Is it racism, or a personal dispute where someone chooses to make race an issue? Is it about institutional oppression, or just someone saying something inappropriate? Will your “calling out” make the situation better? Is it any of your business? ~ Dr. Martin Luther King gave a famous speech. He had a dream that people would be judged by the content of their character, and not the color of their skin. Fifty years later, an obese actor is screaming “see color motherfucker.” This is not progress. ~ So yeah, you don’t have to like racism to be put off my this guy’s act. What is amazing is how many people are impressed by it. ~ pictures from “The Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library”. ~ selah
Race And Obamacare
I have been dealing with the health insurance marketplace recently. The details are none of the internet’s business. The process has involved computerized forms, with a lot of questions.
One of these questions is about race. You are asked which group you belong to. There is a long list of options. I looked for white, which is what I am. Supposedly, answering this question is optional.
Why do they need this information? Isn’t America supposed to be judging people on the content of their character, rather than the color of their skin? If this information is available to the person processing the information, will it affect the way the application is processed?
This could take several forms. You could have a racist white bureaucrat making trouble for black people. You could have a prejudiced black bureaucrat making trouble for white people. The bureaucrat might have an unconscious bias. None of these scenarios are fair.
This is not an affirmative action situation. The color of your skin should not affect your ability to obtain affordable healthcare. It is time for this question to be removed from the application. Pictures today are from “The Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library”.
The Funeral Of Franklin D. Roosevelt
On February 29,1945, a train left a secret platform beneath the Bureau of Engraving and Printing in Washington, DC. The most important car in the train was the Ferdinand Magellan, the private ride of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. The train took “the Boss” to Warm Springs, GA.
On April 12, 1945 (the day before Friday 13), the President was posing for a painting. The artist, Elizabeth Shoumatoff, was a friend of Lucy Mercer Rutherford, who was also in “The Little White House” that afternoon. Mrs. Rutherford was the long time mistress of the President. At roughly 1:00 pm, The President rubbed his brow, and said ” I have a terrific pain in the back of my head”. His head slumped onto his chest, and he died.
What happened in the next few days is the subject of FDR’s Funeral Train. PG found this book at the Chamblee library, and found it enjoyable, and thought provoking. For a story with a well known outcome, there were a lot of subplots, and food for speculation. Pictures for this book report repost are from “The Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library”.
When it became obvious what was happening, the first chore was to get Lucy Rutherford off the premises. She left quickly, along with Ms. Shoumatoff, and an assistant. Somehow, Eleanor Roosevelt learned the Mrs. Rutherford had been with her husband, and was not pleased.
Fred Patterson was called at this Atlanta funeral home, and told to come to Warm Springs to prepare the body for burial. Unfortunately, the cerebral hemorrage had clouded the President’s face beyond repair. This, and the President’s expressed dislike of open coffin funerals, led to a closed coffin at the ceremonies. The closed coffin led to speculation that the President had been dead for some time, and that an impostor had been playing the role of President.
Mr. Patterson brought a copper lined coffin with him, weighing over 600 pounds. The setup of the Ferdinand Magellan made it impossible to bring the coffin onto that car. Another car, the Conneaut, was found to carry the remains to the funeral. A passenger window was removed, and the coffin was passed in through the window. A wooden bier was built for the coffin, and covered with a Marine Corps blanket. The bier was built high enough to enable the coffin to be visable through the window.
When the coffin was about to be placed on the train, it was learned that no one had brought a flag. A flag was borrowed from a flagpole in Warm Springs to put over the coffin.
The Ferdinand Magellan was armor plated, and had bulletproof glass. It weighed 142 tons. An engine powerful enough to carry this car had to be found. When the train was leaving Washington, en route to burial in Hyde Park, NY, three couplings broke, from the strain of this car. Finally, a coupling was made to work, and the train proceeded to Hyde Park.
The part of the journey from Washington to Hyde Park had two trains, with every important official in Washington on board. Among them was the new President, Harry Truman. Truman had been a compromise choice as Vice President, and was not told very much. He was quickly educated, and produced a speech to give to Congress the following Monday.
On this Friday the thirteenth, no one foresaw an early end to the War. While Germany was in bad shape, no one knew how much longer they would hold out. As for Japan, it was assumed that a gruesome land invasion would be needed to end the conflict. Only a select few knew about the atomic bomb, which had still not been tested. Some felt it would not work.
One of the lesser known passengers on the Washington-Hyde Park train was an economics advisor to the President named Laughlin Currie. In addition to his duties for the American government. Mr. Currie was widely believed to be on the payroll of the Soviet Union. He gave regular reports to the KGB. Which leads to one of the questions …did the Soviet Union know about the atom bomb?
The answer may not be knowable. What is known is this. On August 6, the US dropped the atom bomb on Hiroshima. On August 8, the Soviet Union entered the war against Japan, invading Manchuria. On August 9, the US dropped the atom bomb on Nagasaki. This may be a coincidence.
Another point to ponder involves Dr. Howard G. Bruenn, a cardiologist at Bethesda Naval Hospital. Dr. Bruenn had been treating the President, and is given credit for adding a year to the President’s life. The question today is, what if the President had died in 1944? Henry Wallace would have become President, and probably would have been elected to a term of office in the fall elections. (Or maybe not. Mr. Wallace had offended enough people to cause him to be kicked off the ticket.) How this would have played out, especially with regard to the war effort and the Yalta conference, is anybody’s guess. That extra year of life for Mr. Roosevelt may have been a very good thing for the United States.
Dangerous Driving
What follows is a repost from a few years ago. The thoughts are current. Pictures are from “The Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library”.
This is written as the Sunday morning worship hour winds down. In church facilities across America, preachers scream about sin. Very few will consider the sin of dangerous driving. And yet, this is the sin that can change, or end, your life in an instant.
There is a lot of label mongering in public spaces. Liberal, conservative, and racist are three of the most popular. None of these labels deals with driving courtesy. The SJW and the KKK are united in their lack of concern about safe driving. With that in mind, here is the top nine.
1- Find another way to show how bad you are. This is mostly a masculinity thing, but it just might apply to a few ladies. Driving hard and fast is the easy way to prove your toughness. All you do is push the gas pedal. You don’t have to go to the gym, have lots of sex, or go into battle. Just drive fast, and with no concern for your neighbor.
2- Slow down. There is no need to go so fast. When you go somewhere, allow yourself enough time to get there. The faster you drive, the less reaction time you have in an emergency.
3- Stay far enough behind the car ahead of you to stop in an emergency. This will be less stressful for the person in front of you.
4- Pay attention to the road. This is where cell phones, and texting, becomes a problem. You should be focused on the road ahead of you, and not what your phone mate is telling you. Your minutes will be just as good when you get to your destination. Are people really brainless enough to text and drive?
5- The three rules of the workplace apply here…. show up, stay awake, and don’t kill anyone.
6- Keep your car in good condition. The tires and brakes are key items, but also keep the engine running smoothly. Sometimes you need to accelerate.
7- Keep your temper. Driving while angry is a cause of many accidents, especially when combined with alcohol or religion.
8- Use your turn signals.
9- Show concern for the well being of your neighbor. Use common sense.
leave a comment