Making Friends
Display of a link in this forum does not indicate approval of content ~ Making friends with “cunt” ~ my rejected vignette on writing assessment and social justice for College English ~ I see a lot of *facebook friends* are checking in at Cannon Ball, ND. This is supposed to confuse the authorities. At this time, Snopes says “research in progress.” My gut feeling is that the Sheriff in Morton County is going to catch on very quickly to this. I suspect it is not having any effect by this time. ~ The Andy Griffith Show ~ Neal Boortz ~ Pharoah Sanders ~ Thomas Jefferson to William Hamilton, 22 April 1800 ~ Big O ~ STUDS TERKEL WITH DOROTHY PARKER/BOB NEWHART – CHICAGO 1959/1960 ~ DP “I can’t call myself a critic. Honestly. I can only put down what I think and pray there isn’t a libel suit.” ST A good poet can be a good short story writer, but unless he is a poet he cannot be a short story writer DP “I’m not a poet, you know, I just write verse” “The beat boys aren’t saying anything except look at us aren’t we great” “I don’t think the beat generation is much worth worrying about. Very soon, in the very near future, they will be as forgotten as mah jongg.” “I wish the beat boys would go some place else, I don’t know where. If I didn’t have hope as might as well be dead.” ST did she really say all those things that she was quoted as saying DP … no, no, and it was a curse on me, it was simply awful the things that were attributed to me. I wouldn’t have minded if they had been good. I was, in effect, the shaggy dog of my time, all the stories ~ Tommy Said ~ Dorothy Parker ~ Our Generation Needs to Stop Being Offended by Everything and Learn How to Take a Joke ~ Blogalicious ~ Are My Attitudes About Race Any Of Your Business? ~ Woody Allen: his 40 best one-liners ~ A Big Bach Download: All of Bach’s Organ Works for Free ~ read this later ~ Louise ~ Why Does MTV Decoded Hate White People?!? ~ why your server hates you- black people ~ Throwback: When Justin Vivian Bond Met John Cameron Mitchell ~ Playing Dead ~ Hunter S. Thompson ~ In An Election Defined By Race, How Do We Define Race? ~ Report: Aides block Trump from Twitter ~ Tayveon Thomas ~ Cedric Clark ~ Deadliest weekend in Chicago this year: 17 killed, 42 more wounded ~ What about “pardon the pun”? Will we be pardoning the Trump someday? ~ i never considered a difference of opinion ~ Maybe the snake should have bitten Eve ~ @nihilist_arbys Last night, several lifelong Cubs fans died during the game, missing the culmination of their pointless existences by mere seconds Eat Arbys ~ #Blogalicious8 is three miles, $349-$998, and a gender reassignment away I don’t think I will attend ~ alice jacobs, pro life commiitte, dedicated to saving unborn babies, called. are you pro life, pro choice, or in between? in between ~ I understand, thank you for your time ~that is more fun than eniltleb regork ~ I live, and vote, in Georgia. Our electoral votes will probably go for Mr. Trump. My individual vote is meaningless. ~ Come sit back, relax, Sound like something you’d like? Hit me up. ~ The US Senate, and US House of Representatives, are hopeless. There are state constitutional amendments to consider, and a couple of local races. Besides, I just like the ritual of voting. My polling place is the cafetorium of the grammar school I attended. I have held my nose there many times. ~ maybe that is ill eagle He looks like a sick bird ~ @thedeadauthor So Slavoj Žižek supports Trump. And I thought the only things he had in common with Melania were that he’s from Slovenia and a plagiarist. @SlavojTweezek I am not a “plagiarist”; When you write as much as I do you are bound to reproduce others’ words by chance – like monkeys typing Shakespeare ~ photographs today are from The Library of Congress. These nineteen thirty eight photographs were taken in California by Dorthea Lange ~ selah 
The “Desiderata” Story
There was a poem , of unknown origin, found in a Baltimore church in 1692. It was revived by a Lawyer, who lived in Terre Haute, IN. He liked to read it his friends, and his lips were moving. The attorney , Max Ehrmann, copyrighted this poem in 1927. Another persistent rumor has it that the manuscript was in an ambulance Mr. Ehrmann was following. How the accident victim came to possess this document is a mystery.
Mr. Ehrmann ( the poet laureate of Terre Haute ) wrote in his diary “I should like, if I could, to leave a humble gift — a bit of chaste prose that had caught up some noble moods”. The poem is “Desiderata”, and is a favorite of gift shops the world over.
In 1956, Rev. Frederick Kates became the rector of Old St. Paul’s Church in Baltimore, MD. He had found a copy of “Desiderata”, without the copyright notice. He printed a handout for his congregation on church stationary. At the top of the page was the notation “Old St. Paul’s Church, Baltimore A.C. 1692”. As the sixties devolved, the poem became famous.
“Desiderata” was the text of a recording made by Les Crane, who found the poem on a poster. He thought the text was in the public domain, when in fact it is copyrighted. Mr. Crane was taken to court, and forced to pay the owners of the copyright . The matter has been in court on other occasions. It seems that Mr. Ehrmann used “Desiderata” in a Christmas greeting, without citing the copyright. Later,during World War II, Ehrmann allowed a friend – Army psychiatrist Dr. Merrill Moore – to hand out more than 1,000 copies of the poem to his soldier-patients, without the copyright.
PG admits to confusion on this issue. Don’t copyrights expire, get renewed, and then expire again? If a work was written in 1927, doesn’t it go into the public domain 83 years later. The wikipedia article about copyrights is long and confusing. Remember, we are dealing with a legal concep,t as it relates to a poem, written by a lawyer.
A site called fleurdelis says the matter depends on your point of view and place of residence. ( Shcredo says flatly that “Desiderata” is public domain. The link is no longer available. The url advises “Beware your Beliefs – They could bring Great Happiness”) (Robinsweb tells of being forced to remove “Desiderata” from her site because of a complaint by the copyright owner.) If you want to be inspired, click on the videos embedded in this post.
In 1972, the National Lampoon produced a new translation, Deteriorata. This is a repost. Pictures are from The Library of Congress. These are Union Soldiers, from the War Between the States.
Are My Attitudes About Race Any Of Your Business?
PG was living his life when see saw something on facebook: “And another thing: if you are going to claim NOT to be racist, I feel like you should familiarize yourself with some contemporary writings and definitions of racism, not just what Mirriam Webster says.” The first reaction was to ignore this. If you reply to a comment about racism on facebook, you are asking for trouble. Life is too short to be wasting time on such unpleasantness.
But the thought engine had been kickstarted, and continued to idle in the background. When PG pulled into the Kroger parking lot, the idea hit full force. Maybe whether you are, or are not, a racist, is no one else’s business.
Some people say that a PWOC is not affected by racism. If this is the case, then why should the racial attitudes of a PWOC affect another PWOC? If a person treats you fairly, do you really need to know this person’s attitudes about race?
The fbf ex-fbf does not say what the context of this claim is. Did anyone ask you whether or not you were a racist? If not, are you assuming that they are interested? Maybe someone assumed the listener was interested. Maybe the proper response to look bored, and say TMI.
PG was filling out a profile once, and was using some questioned borrowed from another blog profile. One of the questions was, are you a racist? “It depends on who is doing the judging”.
The comment mentioned “contemporary writings and definitions of racism”. Who are the people who set themselves up as arbiters about what we should think about race? What are the qualifications? Who asked them what they thought? How do we know that these people are dependable?.
Maybe the answer is to show compassion and kindness to your neighbor, and don’t judge them about their racial attitudes. If you are proud of your racial attitudes, please refrain from boasting. Not everyone is interested. This is a repost. Pictures are from The Library of Congress.
Dorothy Parker and Thomas Jefferson
BigO is a site with mp3 downloads. Most of them are concerts. PG found one exception. It was a 1960 interview, STUDS TERKEL WITH DOROTHY PARKER/BOB NEWHART – CHICAGO 1959/1960. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress.
Dorothy Parker is somewhat of a legend. There were the funny sayings, a few poems and stories, and her life. Mrs. Parker was well known as a witty person during the twenties. She drank, a lot, and talked often of suicide. It was surprising to find a 1960 interview.
In fact, Dorothy Parker died in 1967, at the age of 73. By 1960, she was in decline, living at the Manhattan’s Volney Hotel. “Edmund Wilson … paid occasional painful visits to her at the Volney. (“She lives with a small and nervous bad-smelling poodle bitch, drinks a lot, and does not care to go out.”) … She was still revered, a legend, but she had also become a pathetic relic. Yes, “you might as well live,” but for what? And on what? Not only was she running out of old friends, she was running out of money, though uncashed checks, some quite large, were strewn around her apartment (along with the empty bottles), not helping with unpaid bills.”
There were some zesty quotes in the interview with Mr. Terkel. “I can’t call myself a critic. Honestly. I can only put down what I think and pray there isn’t a libel suit.” “I’m not a poet, you know, I just write verse” “The beat boys aren’t saying anything except look at us aren’t we great … I don’t think the beat generation is much worth worrying about. Very soon, in the very near future, they will be as forgotten as mah jongg.”
Towards the end of the interview, Mr. Terkel said “i know some people would want me to ask, did she really say all those things that she was quoted as saying” “… no, no, and it was a curse on me, it was simply awful the things that were attributed to me. I wouldn’t have minded if they had been good. I was, in effect, the shaggy dog of my time.”
Another quote magnet for the meme generation is Thomas Jefferson. PG saw yet another inspiring quote on facebook today. Mr. Google was consulted. It turns out the quote is real.
Thomas Jefferson to William Hamilton, 22 April 1800 is the source. Vice President Jefferson was going to be elected President later that year. It is not known what effect that had on the quote in the meme. “I never considered a difference of opinion in politics, in religion, in philosophy, as cause for withdrawing from a friend.” It is not known whether a twenty first century Jefferson would unfriends anyone who says anything unappealing.
A Stupid Video About Racism
A facebook friend introduced a video by saying “If you’re not actively working to dismantle systemic racism, you’re not doing enough.” “Actively working” can take different forms. Sometimes, what you do to fight systemic racism is call out a bird brain video.
The full title of this digital dramaturgy is Racism is alive and well in the gay community. “Need proof? Look no further than the hot f@#$ing mess of an election year we’re having. Donald J. Trump’s horrifying scourge has made outright racism ok in the gay community, and it’s up to us to stop it.”
“Gay men have pride parades … because trans women of color fought for our rights in the sixties…. they didn’t risk their lives so some … could fuck it up in 2016” Whenever you discuss gay rights, you are obligated to remember the drag queens who fought at Stonewall. We get it. That does not excuse the countless fashion tragedies that have followed. At least *talking head* Gabe Gonzalez got this out of the way before 13 seconds had *passed*.
In the next sentence, Mr. Gonzalez used the word “clearly.” It seems to be a rule that all discussions of racism must include a mention of the year, and the word “clearly.” The full sentence is “Nothing illustrates that racism is alive and well in the gay community than this election season.” That takes the heat off the Midtown Bar that posted a dress code stating “No hoodies,” “No sagging pants,” “No bandanas/dew rags,” “No oversized chains or medallions.”
“Don’t believe me? Ask the gays. For Trump. Like a rich zaddy on Fire Island, the Alt-Right has penetrated the hearts of some impressionable young men. Overgrown twinks with a penchant for harassing successful black comedians, or purchasing followers on Twitter, have become the fresh new face of the same reliable racism of yesteryear.” The “successful black comedian”… is she successful at comedy, or being black?… is probably Leslie Jones. A lot of people think last summers twitter spat was a publicity stunt for Ghostbusters. The spell check suggestion for Ghostbusters is Ghostwriters.
At 41 seconds, we see Milo Yiannopoulos saying “Black Lives Matter doesn’t really care about black people…” Mr. Yiannopoulos (the overgrown twink above) is an idiot attention whore, who calls Donald Trump “Daddy.” The person paying attention to Milo Hairdo is Gabe Overgrown Moustache, who devotes 24 seconds of this video to debunking the claim about BLM. (FWIW, Mr. Yiannopoulos makes a lot of noise about his fondness for black men. Is this fetishization, anti racism, or a tasteless publicity gimmick? Those who care can think about it, and decide.) (The spell check suggestions for fetishization are fertilization, and anesthetization)
The next subject is fuckmedaddy profiles. Some specify the color of the sought after buddy. We see a facsimile grindr discussion, where someone says that not wanting to fuck someone, of a certain category, is RACISM. This is news to noted racism shouter Francesca Ramsey, who says “RACISM RACIAL PREJUDICE PLUS STRUCTURAL OPPRESSION AND POWER THAT NEGATIVELY IMPACTS A GROUP.” The use of all caps is optional.
FWIW, there are many whites who want only blacks, and blacks who want only whites, and many other combinations and pervertations. Online hookups are just one aspect of modern social life. Maybe it is easier to point fingers at grindr, than to worry having an equal chance to live in a decent neighborhood. Most genuine manifestations of “systemic racism” are overlooked in this video. And just how did Donald J. Trump cause this?
“We can’t claim to be for equality if we show up for marriage, and not black lives. We can’t march with pride if we can’t remember Marsha or Sylvia. It won’t “get better” for queer youth of color until we identify and dismantle the ways we’ve normalized racism. (GG starts to shout.) So step it up gay boys! 2016’s been a hot f*ckin’ mess. But that doesn’t mean that you have to be.”
“Donald J. Trump’s horrifying scourge has made outright racism ok in the gay community” The video was about Milo Yiannopoulos. and picky grindr users. Did Mr. Trump cause people to say “no fats no femmes no asians”? These issues have been with us for a while. They will continue when Mr. Trump starts another reality TV show. What is he going to grab with those short little fingers anyway?
The sad part is that America does have racial problems. Economic and educational opportunity is a problem for many people. Police brutality, and the school to prison pipeline, is cause for concern. Murder is out of control. In 2015, white people saw 23.6 murders per million. For black people, there were 164.6 murders per million.
Many thought the election of a mixed race President would help America’s chronic race problem. It didn’t, and might have made it worse. This slack blogger has no clue as to how to fix America’s race problem. He does not claim to. The problem is attention craving morons like Gabe Gonzalez,. He thinks a garbage video like this one will help eliminate racism. It won’t.
Nor will pointing fingers, and screaming racist, help solve America’s race problem. Maybe the answer is to worry about yourself. The “white savior complex” frequently does more harm than good. Physician heal thyself. Pictures are from The Library of Congress.
Privilege
PG had heard the phrase “white privilege” a few times, and decided to ask Mr.Google about it. The top choice was White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack “This article is now considered a ‘classic’ by anti-racist educators.” It is four pages long, which might not break the attention span.
A document like this is almost impossible to read with an open mind. You are a member of a group, such as a white male like PG. There are a lot of things here which PG agrees with, a few his disagrees with, and a few that are dependent on the reader’s point of view. The sentence that PG felt obliged to copy was ” I was taught to think that racism could end if white individuals changed their attitudes”. It is as if the attitudes of black people did not matter.
There are more headshakers in this article. In a list of privileges white folks take for granted, number 18 was ” I can be pretty sure that if I ask to talk to “the person in charge,” I will be facing a person of my race.”. That might have true once, but is not today.
Getting back to White Privilege (and ignoring the White Privilege Conference results), there are lots of people thinking about this subject. The University of Dayton contributes Defining “White Privilege”. In the text, the author mentions starting a site, Whiteprivilege.com. This site is currently under construction. It does give you the opportunity to buy “Privilege Car Insurance”.
A feature, What is white privilege?, compares every person with pale skin to the Palin family. “White privilege is when you can get pregnant at seventeen like Bristol Palin and everyone is quick to insist that your life and that of your family is a personal matter, and that no one has a right to judge you or your parents, because “every family has challenges,” even as black and Latino families with similar “challenges” are regularly typified as irresponsible, pathological and arbiters of social decay.” This runs counter to line 21 of the Invisible Knapsack list, ” I am never asked to speak for all the people of my racial group. “
PG went looking for answers, and got more questions. He does not deny that being caucasian has advantages in our society. These advantages do not mean that one should lay down quietly and let black people get their revenge. We are all G-d’s children. You should be proud of who you are, without taking advantage of your neighbor.
After publishing a feature about white privilege , PG thought it would be fair to look into black privilege. When you visit Mr. Google, some of his suggestions are black privilege checklist, black privilege furniture, and black privilege fact or fiction. The top result is a feature in American Thinker. “Personally, I have never had a moment of white guilt in my life. Now this is a significant statement given that I am Jewish and from New York. I feel guilty about pretty much everything!”.
NPR has an audio file called Black Male Privilege? . It is downright fascinating.
Prof. LEWIS: I think youve unfortunately identified one of the central issues of black male privilege. So often, black men are used to being under attacked that when it comes to being accountable for the actions we may have, we quickly say, well, I couldnt possibly be doing anything wrong. Look at all the ways in which Im oppressed. Look at all the ways in which Im at the bottom of the barrel. What that does is rob us of an opportunity to actually build stronger community and it robs black men of a chance to actually take hold of the actions that they have so that we can empower the community.
MARTIN: What reaction do you get when you talk to people about this?
Prof. LEWIS: Among black women, in particular, I get a lot of amens and saying, thank for actually exposing this. Among black men, one of the most common ones I get is, well, this seems ridiculous. Its an oxymoron. How could black men be privileged? Its like jumbo shrimp. It doesnt add up. … And they say, you know, what did my black male privilege get me? Im unemployed. … : Initially, my first exposure was actually around the Million Man March. I felt that I was transformed by the Million Man March, and I thought it was one of the most powerful events ever. And I was having a conversation in class with a professor, Dr. Beverly Guy Sheftall, and she said that she couldnt support the Million Man March because it was very patriarchal and it put black men at the center. And I said, well, it doesnt always have to patriarchal. You dont always have to put black men at the center. And if she said, isnt it an amazing privilege to tell someone else what they dont have to take seriously? And that paused me for a moment. And I said, wow. What is it in my past that makes me say I can define what someone else would think of as important? (Here are more thoughts on this subject by Dr. L’Heureux Dumi Lewis )
Times are tough in the US of A. To an unemployed white person it is easy to say, what good has this privilege done me? And isn’t it a form of privilege to label anything you don’t like about someone as being due to privilege? Has privilege become a catch22 for anything you don’t like about a person?
This feature is not a complete recap of the google results for black privilege. There were a couple of white racist sites that are best ignored. Two wrongs do not make a right. This is a double repost. Pictures are from The Library of Congress. This is written like H. P. Lovecraft.
Write In Candidates
A Note on Write-In Candidates is a helpful feature on the innertubes today. Apparently, there is a list of seventeen people who can be written in for POTUS. None of these people are likely to win.
Here are the swinging seventeen: The all caps shouting is courtesy of the Secretary of State. CHERUNDA FOX, CLAIRE ELISABETH ELLIOTT, DARRELL CASTLE, DAVID C. BYRNE, EVAN MCMULLIN, JILL STEIN, LAURENCE KOTLIKOFF, LOREN COLLINS, MARC URBACH, MICHAEL L. SMITH, MIKE MATUREN, RICKY MUHAMMAD, ROBERT BUCHANAN, SANDRA WILSON, SCOTT CUBBLER, STEPHEN L ALLEN, THOMAS HOEFLING.
“You do not have to include anything other than the write-in candidate’s name. Their running mate’s name is also not required. Interestingly enough, you don’t have to accurately spell the name of your candidate for it to count. However, if you do not spell the name correctly, the decision on whether or not to accept your ballot lays at the feet of county election officials. “Evan McMuffin” may or may not be accepted. If you’re filling out an absentee ballot, make sure to write clearly and legibly in the write-in line provided! Handwritten write-ins may be the greatest area for discretion on behalf of the local election officials.”
Other candidates on the list include: DISTRICT ATTORNEY EASTERN, ZENA E. MCCLAIN, COUNTY COMMISSION CHAIR, DILLARD, CORONER, FELISA ROBENALT, JUDGE OF THE PROBATE COURT, HARVEY, SHERIFF, MIKE SLEDGE, TAX COMMISSIONER, ANTIQUA WALKER. At the bottom of the list, is the write in candidate for OHOOPEE RIVER SOIL AND WATER CONSERVATION DISTRIST SUPERVISOR, MICHAEL HAYES.
SHERIFF, in Fannin County, has a candidate, DAVID PROFFITT, MCCAYSVILLE GA. He will not have to deal with the “Hicks Babies,” “… newborns who were illegally sold into black market adoptions by Dr. Thomas Jugarthy Hicks between 1950 and 1965, according to county birth records. … Hicks was considered a cornerstone in the mining community of McCaysville, Georgia, where he served as the town doctor. But he was known for performing abortions, which were illegal at the time. But for a select few, Hicks took special care, arranging for them to stay at a hotel down the street and convincing them to carry their babies to term. Hicks would tell the women he would find adoptive parents for their children. In other reported cases, he lied to the birth mothers, telling them their newborn baby had died. Hicks would then secretly sell the newborn for $800 to $1,000 each and included a forged birth certificate with the adoptive parents’ names on it. At least 49 of the babies were sold to parents in the Akron, Ohio area. Hicks surrendered his medical license in 1964 for performing an illegal abortion. He died in 1972 at age 83, having never been held accountable for these black market babies.” (Criminal Podcast has a story about the Hicks Babies.)
For many years, it was a tradition to write in Willie B, the gorilla at Zoo Atlanta. Willie B, who left the cage February 2, 2000, is the namesake of former Atlanta Mayor William Berry Hartsfield. The former mayor, who never met a camera he did not like, is the co-namesake of Hartsfield Latoya Jackson Intergalactic Spaceport and Nail Emporium.
Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. The pictures before the text: Co. – , 3d Connecticut Infantry, Camp Douglass, near Washington, D.C. The pictures below the text: Co. D, 1st Rhode Island Volunteers, Camp Sprague, 1861. HT to GeorgiaPol.com
RIP Jack Chick
Jack Thomas Chick is someone you know, but have never heard of. He created the gospel tract. Go to his site, and you can read his story. Born in California in 1924, he seemed an unlikely candidate for religious superstardom. After a turn in the Army, he became a Jesus Worshiper. In 1948 he married Lola Lynn Riddle, who he describes as being ” instrumental in his salvation”. He hit on the idea for the palm sized comic book for Jesus, and an artform was formed.
The tracts are the result of a rather narrow view of Jesus. The King James Bible is the perfect word of G-d. The tracts have a last page, with instructions on how to be “saved”. Anyone who disagrees is going to go to hell. Many of the tracts tell a story. A kid trusts a drug dealer, only to be disappointed. The Titanic is going to the bottom of the sea, and what will happen to the passengers. A man is about to commit suicide, and Jesus comes to the rescue.
Mr. Chick has a special distaste for the Catholic Church. He had an associate named Alberto Rivera. Mr. Rivera claimed to be an ex bishop of the church, who had been privy to some unsavory secrets. Many of his tracts proclaim conspiracy theories about the Church. Other targets of his scorn include Mormons, Muslims, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and anyone @ChickPub does not consider “saved.”
Jack Chick is his real name. Any drag queen using that name is probably not the same person. He is reclusive, is rarely photographed and does not give interviews. He drew his early tracts, until he hired a man named Fred Carter in 1972. Mr. Carter is a much, much better artist than Mr. Chick. An advanced search of the Chick website does not show a mention of Mr. Carter.
Mr. Chick has sold hundreds of millions of his tracts, translated into over 100 languages. The tracts sell for sixteen cents each, or a 25 pack for $4.00. This is one cent a tract more than in 2008. Arguably he has sold more copies than any author working today.
This feature was originally posted in 2008. Through the miracle of spare time, aka the devil’s workshop, more information will be added today. A photograph has emerged, that reportedly is the image of Mr. Chick. HT to Dangerous Minds.
Jack Chick is still alive. This obituary is a hoax. movie about him has been released, God’s Cartoonist:The Comic Crusade of Jack Chick. (Here is the trailer.) His website has been updated, with a trendy emphasis on Islam.
Bible tracks have kept up with the times. You can buy an android application with ten popular titles. “Here are 10 more tracts to take with you to view on your phone! … Everyone is talking about Global Warming. Show them this popular title and get a REAL discussion going! With over 800 million Chick tracts in print, they are used by Christians all over the world to fulfill the Great Commission (Mark 16:15-16). Make sure your friends don’t miss out on eternity!”
The internet has had mischief makers poking fun at Mr. Chick. Someone named Psycho Dave put up the Jack T. Chck parody archive in 2000. It inspired an exchange of lawyer letters. More recently, Topless Robot supplied us with The 10 Most Awesomely Insane Jack Chick Mini-Comics.
Not everyone is impressed. Many people who consider themselves Christian disagree with the POV presented in the Chick Tracts. Here are a few Amazon reviews of Chick Tract Assortment.
RACIST, CULTURALLY INSENSITIVE, EXTREME November 3, 2011 “virtuous10” (somerset, NJ) There may be around 10 out of the 100 that were acceptable, but the vast majority of the others were so off the wall it was crazy. If they weren’t weird they were racist and culturally insensitive. To name a few, theres a black man in jail named Leroy who is super sexual and angry, you have Native Americsns drunk, white missionaries who came back from Africa pale faced after there were attacked so often by “those poeple”, you have the catholic church being called evil and the vatican trying to control the world, you have an angry Arab muslim man saying we’re taking over America like we did England, a tract which consisted of scene after scene of a little girl being brutally beaten by a man then left to live on the street….I mean on and on.
Maybe these are popular because you still have pockets of the country that are not diverse, and where churches that don’t believe in interracial marriage abound. Maybe these awful stereotypes or extreme messages are not a big deal there. However I live in the Northeast (and the 21st century) and I dont find this acceptable. I don’t understand how this organization can believe offended people will be open to the gospel. The pure gospel message is unicversal and powerful enough and filled with love to change the heart of any person from any culture. Why add all of this mess? Do a search for “chick tracts offensive”. So many non believers are using this to show Christians are crazy. Thank God I spent only 30 dollars. They will not receive another red cent from me. And AMAZON NEEDS 0 STARS!!! This would be the perfect candidate.
Hate for the Lord August 4, 2011 Matthew Sanborn “Monsterfashion” (Arkham, MA)
Nothing really says religious intolerance like a good Jack T. Chick tract. Molesting your daughter, killing for money, robbing, rape and torture can all be forgiven by God if you simply check “yes” you belive in Jesus at the end of one of these amazing comics. But be warned, if you are Catholic, Musilum, Jewish, gay, play role playing games, have relgious tolerance, read Harry Potter, have any money, or are a Protestant who reads anything but the King James Bible, then there’s a myriad of demons just waiting to throw you in the pit. Well worth the money for the sheer hilarity as you won’t belive anyone, even the insane, could possibly take this stuff seriously. The only problem is that Chick will get some cash from you. But if you want to see religious bigotry and misguided hatered at its best, look no further than here.
spread the good news! July 5, 2011 Provident Savings “bible man” (spring valley,ny usa)
I personally would like to thank Jack Chick for his wonderful work in ministry,by providing the resource the christians to help spread the good news to the lost.The package arrived on time.I highly recommend this seller!
This repost was written like Raymond Chandler. Pictures are from The Library of Congress. Jack T. Chick ” died peacefully in his sleep on Sunday evening, according to a Facebook posting Monday by Chick Publications, based in Rancho Cucamonga, California.” The facebook posting is no longer available. The penultimate tweet from @ChickPub reads “@ChickPub Dear ones in Christ, Is your tummy upset over our political circus? Are you fearful about the way everything is…”
Tom Paine
There is a meme floating through the innertubes. “To argue with a person who has renounced the use of reason is like administering medicine to the dead.” Thomas Paine English-American political activist, writer and revolutionary. A drawing of Mr. Paine lurks to the left of the text.
The quote is from the first paragraph of a pamphlet written by Mr. Paine, The American Crisis: LANCASTER, March 21, 1778, TO GENERAL SIR WILLIAM HOWE. It was part five of a series, The American Crisis. The tract was intended to inspire the war effort against the British. The full sentence: “To argue with a man who has renounced the use and authority of reason, and whose philosophy consists in holding humanity in contempt, is like administering medicine to the dead, or endeavoring to convert an atheist by scripture.”
Four Principles of Quotation was written in 2002, before the rise of meme culture. The salient principle for today is number four, “Only quote from works that you have read.” The tract by Mr. Paine is 6956 words of revolutionary era purple prose. Today’s facebook expressionist does not want to go to that much trouble.
The American Crisis V has some interesting passages. It would be considered politically incorrect today. The British labelled is “the encourager of Indian cruelties,” and accused of “the unchangeable name of meanness.”… “The particular act of meanness which I allude to in this description, is forgery. You, sir, have abetted and patronized the forging and uttering counterfeit continental bills. … shows an inbred wretchedness of heart made up between the venomous malignity of a serpent and the spiteful imbecility of an inferior reptile.”
The text is directed at General William Howe. The war was not going well for the British… “They resemble the labors of a puppy pursuing his tail; the end is still at the same distance, and all the turnings round must be done over again.” General Howe resigned April 4, 1778, fifteen days after The American Crisis V was written. The purple prose might have been a factor.
“Your master’s speech at the opening of Parliament, is like a soliloquy on ill luck. It shows him to be coming a little to his reason, for sense of pain is the first symptom of recovery, in profound stupefaction…. who is daily decaying into the grave with constitutional rottenness. There is not in the compass of language a sufficiency of words to express the baseness of your king, his ministry and his army. They have refined upon villany till it wants a name. To the fiercer vices of former ages they have added the dregs and scummings of the most finished rascality, and are so completely sunk in serpentine deceit, that there is not left among them one generous enemy. … She is the only power who could practise the prodigal barbarity of tying men to mouths of loaded cannon and blowing them away. … If there is a sin superior to every other, it is that of wilful and offensive war. … We leave it to England and Indians to boast of these honors; …”
Mr. Paine has a good reputation today. This was not unversal during the revolution. “In 1777, Congress named Paine secretary to the Committee for Foreign Affairs. The following year, however, Paine accused a member of the Continental Congress of trying to profit personally from French aid given to the United States. In revealing the scandal, Paine quoted from secret documents that he had accessed through his position at Foreign Affairs. Also around this time, in his pamphlets, Paine alluded to secret negotiations with France that were not fit for public consumption. These missteps eventually led to Paine’s expulsion from the committee in 1779.”
After the war, Mr. Paine went back to England. He soon got involved in the French Revolution, and was imprisoned. He continued to write, and get in trouble. Mr. Paine was invited back to the United States by Thomas Jefferson. He “died in June 1809, and to drive home the point of his tarnished image, the New York Citizen printed the following line in Paine’s obituary: “He had lived long, did some good and much harm.” Pictures today are from The Library of Congress.
National Liberal Teachers Union
PG was minding his business when the phone rang. It was Nima, from VR Research, with a telephone survey. PG gave consent, and the procedure began.
How likely are you to vote in the upcoming election? Will you vote in person on election day, in person through early voting, or an absentee ballot? Do you have a favorable, or unfavorable, opinion of Governor Nathan Deal, and his wife, Sandra Deal? This was a curious question, since Georgia is not voting on a Governor this year. Nathan Deal will not be running in 2018. Sandra Deal has not announced her candidacy.
Do you have a favorable, or unfavorable, opinion of an “opportunity school district”? Are you a democrat, or a republican? For whom will you vote for President of the United States? Next, the interviewer said, again, for whom will you vote for President? He then read the names of the Georgia candidates for US Senate. Apparently, Nima was not aware of this mistake.
The next section of questions was about the constitutional amendments. The only one discussed was Amendment One. This gives the state the right to take over schools, if they are not performing. It soon became obvious that Nima was paid by supporters of Amendment One.
Why are you voting against Amendment One, or, as Nima sometimes put it, question one? Do you agree, or disagree, with this statement: Students in failing schools are at greater risk of going to prison? (This is a paraphrase.)
One of the agree/disagree statements was a doozy. It began with the phrase “National liberal teachers union.” This may have been a misreading of the script. A google search reveals no organization called “National liberal teachers union.”
PG was ready to get on with his life. Nima said there were a just a few more questions. Do you describe yourself as evangelical, or born again christian? The convcersation ended with Nima saying “thank you sir, and G-d bless.” “Leave her out of this.” Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. The photographer was Dorothea Lange.
Ben And Jerry Social Justice Warfare
Uncle Hotep recently made a video, Ben & Jerry’s support for #BlackLivesMatter – Uncle Hotep chimes in. It seems like the fudge ice cream packers have a new flavor, Empower Mint™.
PG heard that, and remembered something he heard in church. The youth minister was preaching. America was in rebellion. Did you know that there is a car now, and one of the colors is anti establish mint? PG quit going to church soon after this.
As people familiar with AAVE (African American Vernacular English) know, white people, and black people, have different ways of pronouncing words. Take harassment. A white person might say huh RAS ment. A black person might say ha ras MINT. Arguably, naming a ice cream flavor Empower Mint™ is making fun of the way black people talk.
Ben and Jerry recently went on the social justice warpath. There was a tweet, and a website post, 7 Ways We Know Systemic Racism Is Real. Quotes were cited, statistics were regurgitated, and B&J boldly stated that america is not post racial. The frozen dessert consumer is encouraged to watch a video, take an implicit bias test, and talk to your kooky uncle.
The makers of Empower Mint™ are famously located in Vermont. According to the census bureau, the estimated population of Vermont is 626,042. This population is White 94.8%, Black 1.3%, Native American 0.4%, Asian 1.6%, mixed 1.9%.
Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. Pictures were taken in Daytona Beach, FL, many at Bethune-Cookman College. These pictures were taken in February, 1943, by Gordon Parks.
Frank Zappa Says
Recently, the world of flaky internet quotes has discovered Frank Zappa. The “sexually incontinent rock innovator” died December 4, 1993. (His wife Gail passed away October 7, 2025.) Recently, some alleged quotes have hit the ether. Some people need to get out more. This is a repost.
This item was recently featured in chamblee54. @SlavojTweezek “”Communism doesn’t work,” Frank Zappa said, “because people like to own stuff.” Idiot. What do people’s likes have to do with communism?” This quote is plausible. Frank Zappa was a capitalist. He liked owning stuff, especially his own music. It should be easy to find a source. However, the best google can come up with is a compilation, “Quotes of Zappa,” in W. C. Privy’s Original Bathroom Companion.”
This morning, facebook had a meme. It had a picture of FZ, with the quote “Politics is the entertainment division of the military-industrial complex.” In the time that it takes to say Camarillo Brillo, Mr. Google turned up a reddit commentary.
“While the quote is frequently listed as, ““Government is the entertainment division of the military-industrial complex,” I could find no primary source. It appears to contradict the actual quote from a 1987 interview with Keyboard magazine where he is decidedly pro-government but anti-bullshit politics.” (FZ did say “art in the service of politics usually makes for boring art.” Why do people make up quotes for memes, when the real thing is better?)
Speculating what a dead man would say is a tricky business. FZ was known for strong opinions, and a finely tuned BS detector. (That is bovine excrement, not Bernie Sanders.) FZ died while the internet was just getting started, and years before some of today’s permutations and perversions. It is easy to imagine FZ making rude comments about people misquoting dead guitar heroes.
Speaking of politics and cynical guitar cadavers, the current poster boi for trendy privilege is Bernie Sanders. If you “feel the Bern,” you might want to skip over the rest of this post, and look at the pictures. (These pictures are from The Library of Congress.) While BS is arguably less evil than Hitlery, he still leaves a great deal to be desired. BS is making extravagant promises that he will be totally unable to keep. BS is taking the concept of telling people what they want to hear to new depths. Yes, this is part of what FZ meant when saying rude things about politicians.
Today, PG saw a fundraising appeal for BS. Against his better judgment, PG made the comment “Bernie $anders.” The fun started almost immediately.
This campaign is for monthly recurring contributions. And Luther, campaigning requires money. The alternative to grassroots support is a country run by wealthy interests. Which would you prefer? ~ I realize that campaigning for political office requires money. My comment was a bit of recreational $nark. B$ can take a joke. … “The alternative to grassroots support is a country run by wealthy interests.” I am not sure about that comparison. Hitlery can make more in one corporate blowjob than BS can in a month of grass roots support. BHO did not get a billion dollars for his reelection from five dollar contributions. While the concept of grassroots support is uplifting, the sordid reality is that we live in a bribe-ocracy. ~ Your cynicism is less than accurate and certainly less than appealing. ~ Luther, just don’t vote and stay out of discussions about voting. OK?
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