Measuring Racism
PG hears the word “racist” tossed casually so much, he suspects it has lost it’s meaning. Dictionary definitions are of little use. The meaning of the word depends on who is saying it.
The modest suggestion here is for a seven point scale to measure racism. Zero would be totally colorblind, and six would be metaphysical hate. For the sake of simplicity, this scale, in the beginning, will only apply to white-black relations in the United States.
The model for this is the Kinsey scale. In his books on human sexuality, Dr. Kinsey described a seven point scale. Zero was totally heterosexual, and six was totally homosexual.
PG does not have a clue how to write a test for this scale, or how to score this test. White people see racism differently than black people. White people are affected by racism in different ways than black people. Different cultures view racism in different ways.
How would PG score on this scale? He has black friends and black enemies. Certain parts of black culture are enjoyable, and certain parts make him want to turn the radio off.
PG does not like people that do not like PG. When it is us against them, you need to remember which one you are. How does this register on this racism scale? It depends on who does the judging.
This is a repost. Pictures are from The Library of Congress.
I’m Christian, Butt I’m Not
PG does not keep up with viral videos. He depends on warm-and-fuzzies like Matt Walsh and Mollie Ziegler Hemingway for periodic outrage alerts. The latest target of the screed stoppers is from Buzzfeed Yellow, I’m Christian, But I’m Not. The latest report from YouTube shows 765,694 views. Viral is not as hot as it used to be.
The video shows some well scrubbed younguns. They say things like “I’m Christian but I’m not close-minded … but I am not judgmental … but I don’t place myself on a pedestal.” (Thank you Mollie Ziegler Hemingway for the transcript.)
The next part is the answer to the question “What are you?” The high point of this is where the girl says “I do believe in monogamy before sex but I will give you sex advice if you need it.” The last part is answers to “What do you want people to know about Christianity?” “We shouldn’t be judged on just the people that you see in the media, or just the people that you’ve met in everyday life. every Christian is different, and we deserve a chance to explain ourselves.”
Well, no you don’t. PG has had a horrendous experience with Jesus. The “bad Christians” are often the loudest, and make the deepest impressions. The “bad Christians” are usually supported by the “good Christians.” The sorry behavior is somehow excused by the ideology. After all, Jesus died for your sins, we are going to heaven, and you are going to hell. And we deserve a chance to shove that rhetoric in your face one more time.
If you type in “I’m Christian but I’m not” to Google, and it’s wholly owned subsidiary YouTube, you will see the critics loud and clear. Many have pointed out that ICBIN does not say the name “Jesus.” Others say that Christians are supposed to be hated. The YouTube comments are bizarre, as usual.
Pictures today are from The Library of Congress.
A Brief Reminder
PG received a forwarded chain email. The first line was “I think this is bullshit, do you know any way to confirm?” Here is the text. “On Monday, September 7, 2015 10:37 PM, Gullible Gus wrote: I trust this info is true. Sent from my iPad Begin forwarded message:”
“As a brief reminder for those who forgot or for many that didn’t know. Here is what happened,quietly, on January 1, 2015. Medicare tax went from 1.45% to 2.35%. Top Income tax bracket went from 35% to 39.6%. Top Income payroll tax went from 37.4% to 52.2%. Capital Gains tax went from 15% to 28%. Dividend tax went from 15% to 39.6%. Estate tax went from 0% to 55%. A 3.5% Real Estate transaction tax was added.
Remember this fact: These taxes were all passed solely with Democrat votes, Not a single Republican voted for these new taxes. These taxes were all passed in the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare. If you think that it is important that everyone in the U.S. should know this, the many millions who don’t yet, then pass it on.”
The phrase “These taxes were all passed in the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare.” was pasted into google. Before you could say fox news hairdo, there were 97k results. Snopes rated the email a “mixture” of truth and fiction. The example email used by Snopes, received August 2014, began “Those that think this is the way to improve the economy might as well delete now.”
Politifact rated the email “Pants on Fire.” Factcheck.org titled their version Return of the False Tax Claims. Most of these tax increases were included in the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012. This instrument was passed, with bi-partisan support, by the lame duck Congress after the 2012 elections. So much for “not a single Republican.” Maybe all the Republicans who voted for ATRA were married.
What the message does not mention is whether of not the tax increase was sufficient. The current budget deficit is estimated to be $474 b. This is almost a trillion dollars less than the $1,413 b in 2009. The national debt is estimated to be $18.1 t. A trillion here, a trillion there, and soon you are talking about real money. Saint Ronnie didn’t think big enough.
The email PG received had a post script. “You know, when Senator Isakson was here, why wasn’t Congressman Bishop with him in bi-partisan support for Ft Benning?” An inefficient military is the number one reason for runaway government spending. And yet, in this message decrying taxation, the local congressman is denounced for not bringing home the bacon. If you are going to cut spending, you have to start somewhere. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress.
Hocus Pocus Part One
There was a copy of Hocus Pocus on the shelf. It had been there a while. The fancy, cut out cover was half torn off. The Book Nook stamp, from the old location, said it been a while since it was purchased. The old Book Nook is a McDonalds now. The gentrification of the neighborhood marches on.
PG was not sure if he had read HP. He decided to start, and read until he was either bored, or saw that he had already read HP. It is about half way through now. The only familiar joke is prisoners calling AIDS the pb, or parole board. Since Kurt Vonnegut recycles his jokes, that may be in another book.
KV likes to refer to his other books. There is a text in HP, “The protocol of the elders of Tralfamadore.” At the point of HP where this book report is written (p.159 paperback, p.71 .pdf ) there has been no appearance by Kilgore Trout. The three word mantra, “so it goes,” does not appear. The paperback has 165 pages to go.
HP does not have much of a plot. The central character is Eugene Debs Hartke. Gene was born in 1940, which was fourteen years after the politician Eugene Debs died. PG was born in 1954, or fourteen years after Gene Hartke was born. Of course, PG is writing this book report, so he is probably a legitimate human being, whereas Gene Hartke is almost certainly a fiction.
Gene Hartke is not covered in glory. He stumbles into West Point. During his post academy military service, Mr. Hartke (his military rank is not easily available) goes to Vietnam, and kills a bunch of people. After leaving Saigon in a helicopter, with the American adventure crashing around him, Mr. Hartke gets a job at Tarkington College, in Scipio NY. Any relation to Fran Tarkington is ignored.
The college professor thing works well for a while. Unfortunately, Mr. Hartke enjoys adultery, and people want to get even with him. Mr. Hartke is fired by Tarkington College, and takes a job at a prison nearby. (The prison is called Athena, which sounds like Attica.) After a breakout, Mr. Hartke is accused of being a ring leader, and becomes an inmate. This is where the book stands now.
HP was copyrighted in 1990. (The mandatory New York Times promotional piece, written by Jay McInerney, is dated 09/09/1990.) The firing of Mr. Hartke takes place in 1991, and the book is set in 2001. HP was written during the last days of the cold war, and set at the start of the war on terror. This turn of events was not predicted by KV.
The late eighties were interesting times. There are lots of jokes about that era in HP, some of which will seem mysterious to younger readers. At the time HP was written, Japanese interests were buying large chunks of the world. In HP, they own the prison. Local debts are paid with yen, and fellatio.
The Reagan-with-Alzheimers era was also the time of leveraged buyouts, and hostile takeovers. The concept of buying stock in a company, in hopes of selling out for huge profits in a hostile takeover, was known as arbitrage. In HP, many rich people lost their money by investing in a flimsy company, Microsecond Arbitrage. This probably is not a joke about Microsoft.
As always, KV is up to his clever wordplay, and humanistic outlook. A devious conservative media star “gave him his supercilious, vulpine, patronizing, silky debater’s grin.” The recipient of this grin wanted to carve, on the walls of the Grand Canyon, “WE COULD HAVE SAVED IT, BUT WE WERE TOO DOGGONE CHEAP.” This was during a debate about the environment. When HP was written, there was concern about nuclear winter, and a coming ice age.
There are lots of factoids in HP, many of which check out. Napalm was, indeed, invented by Harvard researchers. Later,a minor character said the battle of the Alamo was about slavery. A google search was ordered. When you type in “the Alamo was abo” the two choices are “the Alamo was about slavery” and “Alamo abortion clinic.” It turns out that Mexico did not like slavery, while Texas did.
At the half way point of Hocus Pocus, it is still entertaining. PG will probably finish it, unless the Chamblee library has something entertaining. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress.
Grizzly Art Enthusiasts
This applies to this video @chescaleigh We live in a society that normalizes oppression of others. So very often the “jokes” you make or things you say are unconsciously hurtful ~ As i read the rent boy story, there are charges of money laundering. This may be a function of the outlaw status that sex work has. Nonetheless, it is tough to say what is really going on here. Prostitution has always attracted a shady crowd, and that might not change even if sex work were to become legal ~ Sted, that is possible. OTOH, alcohol has been legal for 80+ years, and there is still a criminal element in the bar business. I suspect that the cash flow nature of sex work makes it attractive to financial shenanigans. ~ I am not familiar with the government’s case. It could be the opposite. It could be that the reports of money laundering came up, and the prostitution charges are a high profile bonus. Or maybe Rentboys is being made an example, so as to scare other businesses into compliance. ~ candice @VodkaNCandy Mama.. extraordinaire..movie lover..Grizzlies.art enthusiasts..Midtown.anything vintage..crafty..and a lover of cute and pretty things! ~ Privilege should not be tolerated because it is to the advantage of a minority; nor yet because it is to the advantage of a majority. No doctrinaire theories of vested rights or freedom of contract can stand in the way of our cutting out abuses from the body politic. Theodore Roosevelt ~ @rabbijosh As I work on my High Holy Day sermons, the hardest part is embracing @ANNELAMOTT ‘s advice: allow yourself to write shitty 1st drafts.@chamblee54 don’t worry about the pissy response it might get ~ The beats had a strange attitude about black people. They thought they were being cool, but it seems ridiculous now, and probably caused some eye rolling back then. Listen to this chat It is fifteen minutes long, but the bizarre comments about “the n****” come about halfway through. ~ There is talk about subject-subject consciousness. To me, this means a non authoritarian way of looking at things. Just because you express your ideas with more confidence does not mean you are more in line with the truth. What you do is more important than what you say you believe. Nobody is better than anyone else. Now, I see these discussions about race. Some people have ideas, that they express these ideas with great self confidence. If you disagree, you can expect your personal character to be attacked. Could it be that this bullying about racial attitudes is not subject subject consciousness? Maybe these people who try to establish authority over others with their “superior” ideas about race (and trans issues) are playing the authoritarian game. ~ This might be a safe time for comments like that. I think we are out of popcorn. ~ Whatever it’s shortcomings, Syria has always welcomed refugees. People from Armenia, Palestine, Lebanon, and Iraq have come there by the millions. ~ I don’t know is pinning is a good idea. Maybe someone should express these ideas in a word document, that we could put under “files” for future reference. If getting “pinned” sounds like a good time to you … ~ You’ve been blocked by this member ~ Mr. Unknown is a well spoken man. ~ @stereowilliams Trolls blocking you is like an unwanted, uninvited guest storming out of your house and declaring that they’ll never be back. ~ The problem is the dependence on the Jesus worship church as a portal to G-d. When people tire of the corruption and violence of the Christianist church, they often think they have to be without G-d. The truth is that G-d is in your soul whether you want her there or not. To say that a a society, is G-d deficient,when they don’t all agree with your narrow religion, says more about you than it does our society. ~ podcast ~ I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore ~ using spell check on a poem, i found four problems donald sarah palin jesus ~ Sorry, that page doesn’t exist! You can search Twitter using the search box below or return to the homepage. ~ @WernerTwertzog No, Slavoj, I am unconvinced that your stigmata are authentic. @SlavojTweezek ~ be the person #kayne thinks he is ~ @miragonz young, wild and easily upset ~ It is ironic to see that headline, When Did Gays Become the Morality Police?, coming from the PuffHo. They are notorious for not paying writers. ~ And none of those families is Asian? ~ That was entertaining and depressing in equal parts. ~ Androcentrism in Prescriptive Grammar: Singular ‘They’, Sex-Indefinite ‘He’, and ‘He or She’ Here is an academic report on this business of using “they” as a gender neutral pronoun, referring to a single person. All that is available here is the abstract, with an opportunity to buy the paper for $30, or a 24 hour rental at $5.99. The abstract: “This paper demonstrates that prior to the beginning of the prescriptive grammar movement in English, singular ‘they’ was both accepted and widespread. It is argued that the prescriptive grammarians’ attack on singular ‘they’ was socially motivated, and the specific reasons for their attack are discussed. By analogy with socially motivated changes in second person pronouns in a variety of European languages, it is suggested that third person pronoun usage will be affected by the current feminist opposition to sex-indefinite ‘he’ – particularly since the well-established alternative, singular ‘they’, has remained widespread in spoken English throughout the two and a half centuries of its ‘official’ proscription. Finally, the implications of changes in third person singular, sex-indefinite pronouns for several issues of general interest within linguistics are explored.” ~ Rules and restrictions may apply. ~ a prophet is not without honor except in his own mind ~ Our services aren’t available right now We’re working to restore all services as soon as possible. Please check back soon. ~ anagram for consumption: no sin pot cum ~ KimKierkegaardashian retweeted Richard M. Nixon @dick_nixon @KimKierkegaard You are looking very lovely this evening. ~ pictures from The Library of Congress. ~ selah
A Prophet And His Honor
PG was editing pictures, listening to the birds and the lawn mowers, and enjoying himself. He began to think about recent events, both global and local. A phrase came to mind, about a prophet who is not without honor, except in his own land. Wasn’t Jesus supposed to have said that? Before you could say algorithm, there were 1.6 million choices.
The quote is in three of the four gospels. In all of these quotes, Jesus is not received as Lord and savior. It is interesting to see the authors of Matthew, Mark, and Luke agree on this. It is noteworthy that the Council of Nicea decided to include it. Here are the three quotes.
Matthew 13 55 Is not this the carpenter’s son? is not his mother called Mary? and his brethren, James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas? 56 And his sisters, are they not all with us? Whence then hath this man all these things? 57 And they were offended in him. But Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not without honour, save in his own country, and in his own house. 58 And he did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief.
Mark 6 3 Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joses, and of Juda, and Simon? and are not his sisters here with us? And they were offended at him. 4 But Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not without honour, but in his own country, and among his own kin, and in his own house. 5 And he could there do no mighty work, save that he laid his hands upon a few sick folk, and healed them. 6 And he marvelled because of their unbelief…
Luke 4 22 And all bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. And they said, Is not this Joseph’s son? 23 And he said unto them, Ye will surely say unto me this proverb, Physician, heal thyself: whatsoever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in thy country. 24 And he said, Verily I say unto you, No prophet is accepted in his own country.
The historic Jesus, as portrayed in the Bible, is a flawed messenger. He apparently did not have the trust of the people. Jesus did not have a problem with false modesty. John 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
PG heard a motivational speaker once. He said to sell yourself first, your company second, and your product third. If you are going to win someone over, the person needs to trust you. You cannot call yourself a prophet, and expect them to believe you because your message is so wonderful. This is a concept that Jesus might have had a problem with. Many believers today have the same problem.
Jesus is worshiped as a G-d these days. Modern Christians are more interested in his death, than in his life. The worship of Jesus has devolved into a scheme for life after death. Those who decline to participate in this religion can expect to be insulted. It is a curious sales pitch. Pictures are from The Library of Congress. The agencies were Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information.
The King Jimmy Version
The social justice movement is reaching a point where few are converted. Most anti racist talk is preaching to the choir. A lot of people are tired of the conversation. If your goal is to entertain those who agree with you, then preach on. You will get plenty to cheer. If you goal is to influence others, then you might want to talk less, and listen more. ~ Curley Larry and Moe ~ if you put a couple of spaces in socialist, you get so cia list. ~ In response to a complaint we received under the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act, we have removed 4 result(s) from this page. If you wish, you may read the DMCA complaint that caused the removal(s) at ChillingEffects.org. ~ The profanity is tiresome. This is going to be a long election. ~ If you put up a picture, with the link, then the link will go up, but without the headline and picture. ~ The King Jimmy version is a bit livelier. “For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted.” ~ 5 Helpful Answers To Society’s Most Uncomfortable Questions ~ dui ~ #4WordAnnoyances ~ video ~ Voters described presidential candidates with one word — and the results were brutal ~ The White Savior: Benevolent Racism and Bernie Sanders ~ Charges but not motive revealed in killing of child in her Ferguson home ~ The middle three words of believe are lie. ~ 12 was fun to listen to. I usually am working on something, with a podcast going for aural wallpaper, and this was good for that. I like that you take time to work on stuff before sending it out into the world. There is a saying that easy writing makes hard reading, and I don’t like to work on something that I read. I want to author to do my work for me. I am working on a graphic poem right now, and I am frankly tired of the whole thing, but it is not going to finish itself. Sometimes, you have to force yourself to the workspace, and hope that the inspiration will come back. Some people say they only work with passion… if I took that attitude I would never finish a thing. I always get tired of something, but know that I need to finish it. Anyway, thanks for the effort you put into this, and remember that you are left to work on other things when you are through, but to a banana it is a total commitment, and when he is done there is nothing left but the peel. ~ @NightValeRadio Tinder, but with pictures of spiders near you ~ So I listened to 13 immediately after listening to episode 12. I am working on a graphic poem, which means often means working on an image for a few minutes, and then deciding that it doesn’t work for this line. You have to have “faith” that eventually you will find something that you can use. So far it has happened, but I have to work more sometimes. ~ I used to run, and I know all about having a bad day and having your run be the only part that you enjoy. Then I hurt my back, and I never did get back to running. I ride a bike, dance, and walk, and can get to the a similar place through these methods. You have to do what you are capable of doing. ~ I have my own take on motivational thinking. To me, it is not so much capitalism as the belief paradigm… the idea that what you think is more important than what you do. This thought process is a holdover from Christian thinking. I always feel manipulated when I hear people talking motivational talk, and I resent that. ~ There is a man I met on a movie job. He said that he hated movies that manipulate your emotions, like Forest Gump. The man is a former corporate trainer. Maybe he recognizes the tricks he used to pull on his audiences, and does not like having the tables turned. ~ So, I am looking forward to number 14. I am sure you will come up with something. Keep the quantity up, and the quality will take care of itself. ~ Maybe if someone makes a sensational, transparently phony,video about the environment someone will pay attention. ~ I think you might have misunderstood me. I was talking about the Planned Parenthood videos. The dangers of oil drilling are real. ~ OK. I saw the video above, which I might have done before making my comment. There are a lot of issues here, which are not well served by seventy second videos and facebook comments. ~ The damage done to the planet by our addiction to oil is immense. I am complicit in the problem, and do not have a solution. ~ last word #jonathanfranzen said b4 podcast euthanized “maybe” ~ We are the flow, we are the ebb. We are the weavers, we are the web. Hoof and horn, corn and grain, all that dies shall live again. ~ And the bad news is? ~ Pictures for this obnoxious waste of bandwidth are from The Library of Congress. ~ selah
Mystics And Statistics
In a recent survey, 78.7% percent of the respondents agree with the statement “Statistics can be trusted to give an accurate description of the facts”.
Statistics are a part of modern life. Numbers tell us who is expected to win, who is expected to lose, and how many men wear a tie. Statistics are often misleading, or an outright lie. And yet, people believe statistics. (The middle three letters of believe are lie).
Talk about statistics is little better. Mark Twain gets the credit/blame for popularizing the phrase, “lies, damn lies, and statistics”. According to Wikipedia , Mr. Clemens may have been mistaken. “Twain popularized the saying in “Chapters from My Autobiography”, published in the North American Review in 1906. “Figures often beguile me,” he wrote, “particularly when I have the arranging of them myself; in which case the remark attributed to Disraeli would often apply with justice and force: ‘There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.'”…”The term was popularised in the United States by Mark Twain (among others), who attributed it to the 19th Century British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881): “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.” However, the phrase is not found in any of Disraeli’s works and the earliest known appearances were years after his death.”
Mr. Twain was in the twilight of his career, and angry at aggressive militarism. Why would he would give credit/blame for a phrase to a conservative Prime Minister of England, dead twenty five years?
When PG took English101, the teacher was an inspiring lady named Ann Peets. Between stories of Faulkner and comma splices, she contributed this gem. ” The best way to win an argument is to use statistics. The best way to use statistics is to make them up. ”
In 1954, a bestselling book came out, “How to Lie with Statistics .” The premise was that the pros knew the tricks, and the public has a right to self defense. There are numerous examples of the ways that you can lie with numbers just like you lie with words. Calculator lips don’t move.
One word to watch out for is average . The three most popular types are mean, median, and mode. Mean is the one most people think of as average…you add all the figures up, and divide by the number of entries. In median, you line up the entries in numeric value, and choose the entry in the middle. In mode, the number that the most entries identify with is the average. Any one of these three can be called average, and yet none might describe the typical entry.
HT to Millard Fillmore’s Bathtub for attributing the LDL&S quote to Mr. Disraeli. MFB was talking about global warming denial, a cesspool of lies and statistics. Pictures are from The Library of Congress. These pictures were taken by Ansel Adams at a relocation camp for Japanese Amercans during World War II. Pictures of Mark Twain were recently posted. This is a repost.
The Cost Of Football
Football is just around the corner. The teams are busy with the pre season, and soon weekends will be full of hitting and drinking. Perhaps this is a good time to wonder whether football is worth the human cost. Especially now, with a national debate raging about the future of our health care. Football injuries keep hospitals hopping during the autumn.
This is the annual post about the down side of football. There is a helping of hypocrisy here, as PG enjoys watching the hits. Pictures are from The Library of Congress.
Football season is here. While the games are fun to watch, the players are paying the price. Your health insurance premiums just might be affected.
Football is a contact sport. On every play, the linemen block other lineman to keep them from tackling a back. Someone gets hit on every play. Most of these hits are “clean” and cause only bruises. Some are “dirty”, and cause injuries. Even the clean hits can hurt someone.
It is estimated that 187,000 emergency room visits every year are due to football. What if an illegal drug sent 187k to the er annually? There would be a hue and cry to kill the pushers.
Knee injuries are especially prevalent. An estimated 45,000 knee operations are performed each year due to football injuries. Arthroscopy is a wonderful invention.
With all those helmets slamming into each other, head injuries occur. “The researchers found that there is approximately one catastrophic head injury per every 150,000 athletes playing, or 7 catastrophic injuries yearly. There were 0.67 injuries per 100,000 players at the high school level and 0.21 injuries per 100,000 for college level football players.” Often, the coaches get caught up in the do or die spirit of a big game, and don’t get the player the medical attention that he needs. “Football is a very macho sport. Athletes are taught to play through pain,” …“But concussions range in severity and symptoms, so all a player may experience is a headache several hours after impact. High school players need to be educated in these symptoms and encouraged to self report.”
Even cheerleading squads are reporting more injuries, due to botched stunts.
When you see the players in their youthful glory, you don’t think what they will look like after they quit playing. Many players know this, but the lure of today’s glory justifies the pain of tomorrow. The heroes of yesterday often walk with pain today.
Bernie
A facebook friend posted a link, The Top 10 Reasons Why Bernie Sanders Should Win The Nomination. PG is neutral on BS, who is not Hillary. The link was accompanied by an unfortunate graphic. “Bernie Because fuck this shit” The meme was low quality, with “Bernie” breaking up in the white background. The profane slogan was in italics, in a similar font to the Bernie trademark.
When you post a link on facebook, the content provider chooses the headline, and the picture. The fbf said she had no idea that this vulgar message would appear. Indeed, if you look at the post, you do not see this meme. Where did the meme come from?
PG is no prude, and can cuss with the worst of them. However, there is a time and a place. Perhaps the “fuck this shit” message was a reaction to the latest hashtag from #blacklivesmatter, #NotAnally.
The website americannewsx offers few clues. Was this another dirty trick from Hillary, or the Repubs? PG has not read the post, and does not plan to. It is too early in the campaign for that kind of investment. The Georgia primary is six months away. A lot can happen between now and then. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress.
Conservative Liberal Racist
The management of this blog is not responsible for brain damage incurred while reading this post. If you cant take the heat, get out of the kitchen. Those threatened by this discussion, or not interested, are encouraged to skip over the text, and look at the pictures. These images, of Union Soldiers of the War Between the States, are from The Library of Congress. This is a repost.
There is a meme, with the text a conservative is a liberal who has been labeled a racist. A few comments followed publication. Someone was paying attention. Uhm…WTF?! ~ its a long story ~ All three labels are useless and misleading. I try not to let the labels of others describe me, but sometimes it happens. It is a bit of poetic license.
The words liberal and conservative are useless. When he started to make the comment, PG intended to refer to those two expressions. Then he started to type.The realization hit … the word racist was just as obsolete as liberal and conservative, and probably misused more often.
The next day at work, PG began to think. If you saw a mushroom cloud rising over Jimmy Carter Boulevard, that is what you saw. Random thoughts began to emerge.
A- The popularity of con, lib, and rac, derive from America’s blind allegiance to the belief paradigm The general thought is that what you believe is more important than what you do. The dominant religion in America is Jesus Worship, which is based on beliefs rather than practices. While America is not officially a Christian country, their thought processes dominate the way things work here.
B- The belief paradigm filters down to the popularity of silly labels.We have people who claim to be small government conservatives, and who support sending 200k troops to a war eight time zone away. You can treat your black neighbors with kindness and grace, but if you say the wrong things on facebook you are considered a racist. It is a funny system.
C- Conservatives use liberal as an insult. Liberals use racist as an insult.
D- No one is certain what the words conservative, liberal, and racist mean. You should beware of anyone who claims to be certain of what these labels represent.
Old People Running For President
A recent podcast tells the story of Anna Sklepovich. As her 13th birthday approached in 1941, she noticed that hers was the same day, January 30, as President Franklin Roosevelt. The POTUS was 59. The young lady wrote the White House, and became a momentary celebrity.
When PG heard this, he was suprised at how young Mr. Roosevelt was. The 32nd President has always seemed like a tired old man. After dealing with a depression, a war, and a marriage to Eleanor, Mr. Roosevelt wore out and died. He was 63 in 1945.
35 years later, Ronald Reagan ran for President. His age was an issue. In one Saturday Night Live sketch, Mr. Reagan was taking an afternoon nap during a candidates debate. Saint Ronnie was 69 when he was inaugurated, and was walking when he left office 8 years later. His mental state was a matter of speculation during his term in office.
We are currently looking at a group of people who want to be sworn in on January 20, 2017. A lot of these folks are senior citizens. The office of President is strenuous. It might not be a bad idea to elect a vigorous young person into that position. This does not seem likely to happen.
There has been a trend toward younger Presidents lately, especially Democrats. Barack Obama was 47 when he was sworn in. Bill Clinton was 46 at the start of his term. His wife, the perenniel Democratic front runner, will be 24 years older than when her husband was elected. The effect of his philandering on her aging process is not known.
There is a helpful web page, How Old Would President ___ Be? It shows the anticipated age of all the major players, with the exception of Al Gore. (Mr. Gore will be 68 on January 20,2017. He was 52 when he won the popular vote.) The age story of the POTUS wannabes is not pretty.
The youngest announced candidate is Bobby Jindal. Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, and Scott Walker would all be under fifty if, G-d forbid, one of them is elected. The seemingly youthful trio of Chris Christie, Rand Paul, and Rick Santorum will all be under 60 in January 2017.
When you get to Saint Ronnie’s inauguration age, it becomes rather disturbing. Pantsuit aficionado Hillary Clinton will be 69. Hairpiece king Donald Trump will be 70. The other candidate generating a buzz, BLM fav Bernie Sanders, will be 75. If BS gets elected in 2016, and re-elected in 2020, he will be 83 when he leaves office. Is this really what is best for America? Pictures today are from “The Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library”.
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