Shock And Awe 2008 Edition
This content was published March 18, 2008. … This is turning into a dandy holiday week. Yesterday was Saint Patrick’s Day. Tomorrow is Shock and Awe Day (SAD) … the anniversary of the invasion of Babylon. Today, we had a presidential candidate, standing in front of four U.S. flags, saying that his preacher is a racist nutcase, which is why he wants to be president of our racist nutcase country, which he loves. And this weekend we have a grand slam…Good Friday, Dead Saturday, Easter Sunday and the Spring Equinox. This time, let’s put two boulders in front of the cave.
The best place to focus now is Shock and Awe Day. SAD is the initials. The war is over. We achieved regime change, at least in Babylon. The occupation is what is going on now, and it just might be the death of this country. Yes, there is less sectarian violence now. Al Queda is not as prevalent as it once was. Of course, it is still more active than when Saddam was in power. Turkey has invaded Kurdistan, but just a little bit. Iran has not invaded Babylon, yet. The Saudi regime has not fallen, and they have a lot more money to finance terrorism.
The US economy is in trouble. Maybe we would be in this mess without a few trillion more in debt, and the healthcare bills for thousands of wounded soldiers coming due. Maybe we could build more levees if we weren’t paying the concerned local citizens of Iraq to help us fight Al Queda. We will never know. It should be noted the presidential candidate mentioned above has long stated his opposition to “Operation Iraqi Freedom”. Just what he will do about it, should he get elected, is another good question. … 2026 POV The candidate got elected, and sort-of ended the war in Babylon. Meanwhile, Syria devolved into chaos, and is currently ruled by a “former member” of Al Queda.
This content was published March 19, 2008. … So I was coming in on I-75, and listening to Glenn Beck. He was talking about the economy, and it was not pretty. I don’t believe everything he said, but to hear him tell it, the dollar is about to become a worthless piece of green paper. The world economy is tied to this dollar, and this would make the world economy go into convulsions.
This is shock and awe day (SAD)…the fifth anniversary of the invasion of Babylon. The war ended quickly, but putting humpty dumpty together has proved to be a challenge. One of the effects of this war is vast amounts of capital leaving the country into the desert sands. Much has been lost to corruption, and more is being paid to “concerned local citizens” to fight Al Queda. The latter effort is paying some benefits, and Al Queda is almost down to the level of pre-war Iraq. Getting back to the dollar, and the connection to our economy. One of the more bizarre features of this enterprise is having a tax cut before an expensive government program is going to start. This has created vast budget deficits, and huge interest payments that will continue for a long time.
Now, with the money to armor troops and buy smart bombs, there is a lot less money available for day to day life here. And when there is an emergency here, like a cajun hurricane or a New York broker banker gone bust, the government has to crank up the printing press and make more green paper. And the more this happens, the less the green paper is worth. … Maybe green is not such a great color anymore. Those environmental wackos have totally spoiled it.
So, Mr. Beck was crying about the dollar, while ignoring the effect of the enterprise in Babylon. After all, he is a conservative, who wants both a smaller government and 160k troops stationed eight time zones away. And, if we didn’t go into Babylon, then Al Queda wouldn’t be there for us to fight, and we have to fight them there rather than here. … Meanwhile, I looked up at the traffic. An 18 wheeler decided that the car in front was not driving fast enough. The big truck swerved into the next lane, and missed the little car by a couple of feet. Happy SAD y’all!!
This content was published March 24, 2008. … Please, no betray us jokes this time. That gave the warmongers a good distraction last fall. General David Petraeus spoke to the press recently. He said victory in Babylon would occur when there is: “an Iraq that is at peace with itself, at peace with its neighbors, that has a government that is representative of — and responsive to — its citizenry and is a contributing member of the global community.”
There are a lot of differences between the United States and Iraq. The USA has 160k troops in Iraq. Iraq recently won a major soccer tournament. One has to wonder, though, how the USA does at meeting the standards it sets for Iraq. · “an Iraq that is at peace with itself” Last week, the major news story was an important minority bashing America from the pulpits of it’s churches. It’s just the way it is in the black church, you don’t understand. · “at peace with its neighbors” Despite all the political noise the rightwing can produce, the border with Mexico is wide open. The effects of a poor country on the border of a “wealthy” country do not stop. · “a government that is representative of — and responsive to — its citizenry” This depends on who you talk to. It seems like everyone has a gripe, from the right wing ( social issues, immigration) to the left wing ( the war, the environment, the rich-poor gap, health care). There are plenty in the middle who are tired of the whining, but essentially agree with both sides of the spectrum. · “is a contributing member of the global community” In all fairness, we are contributing to the global community. We contribute carbon emissions to the atmosphere. We contribute interest to the Asians who are financing our debt. We contribute cluster bombs and depleted uranium to Babylon.
One of our presidential hopefuls was quoted recently as saying we might be in Iraq for 100 more years. Somehow, I don’t think the problems in our own country will be solved by then. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. Arthur Rothstein took the social media picture in October 1939. “Winner of masquerade at Halloween party. Hillview cooperative, Osage Farms, Missouri.”
©Luther Mckinnon 2026 · selah
War And Taxes
This post was published March 28, 2008. … One of the radio whiners was talking about taxes today. (That sentence could get a lot of use). There was some kind of economist guest, and the consensus was that lower taxes stimulated the economy. The thought occurred to this reporter … why have taxes at all? If lower taxes would stimulate the economy, then what about no taxes at all? I am no economist, but I suspect this would not work. To begin with, we have to pay the interest of the debt we already have. If we don’t pay this interest, then no one will loan us any more money.
Second, we have the War in Babylon to consider. Our Government tried to pay for this war with a tax cut before the invasion. The budget deficit went to $410b in 2004. The economy was stimulated, though, and there was regime change in Baghdad. Unfortunately, our army was not greeted as liberators. However, the tax cut was greeted as a liberator in certain circles here. (The budget deficit was $1.78t in 2025. The national debt was $7.37t in 2004, and $36.21t in 2025)
It would seem to this slack Georgia Blogger that the issue is not whether or not to have taxes, but how to assess them, and and at what rates. I have written a few times about the “Fair tax”. one two three The FT has the potential to work, but there are wrinkles to iron out. God/Satan is in the details.
Lets get back to the matter of how to set the tax rates. It is a mess. Tax deductions and tax write offs have produced many jobs, and done much good work. The powerhouse economy of the last seventy years has been a product of many factors. Deficit spending, a print happy federal reserve, and baffling tax laws have all played a part. Should we throw the baby out with the bathwater? Maybe we can go back to an emphasis on tariffs to raise money. This would have the dual effect of bringing in money, and protecting the industries that have not gone south of the border. Nevermind that tariffs were a minor cause of the war between the states.
A tax on the rich would bring in revenue, and is a crowd pleaser at election time. However, some of these people are entrepreneurs who create jobs. Besides, they give political contributions, and are protected. Maybe we could tax political contributions, and other forms of prostitution. Legalizing certain controlled substances would add to the tax digest. In short, I don’t have a clue. I am just a slack georgia blogger who doesn’t get campaign contributions.
This post was published March 25, 2008. … The blog battles are on hold. After being banned by a slew of Jesus Worship blogs, I have been mostly out of combat. Except for a skirmish with AtlMalcontent about Amnesty International, the western front has been quiet. … Renegade Evolution recently alerted me to the seven deadly sins test. I left a comment, and her initial reply started “chamblee54 who the f*** are you”. I mentioned I was a recovering Baptist, and Ren said “Baptist…egads”.
The Baptist experience is very different from the Jew experience. I decided a long time ago I didn’t agree with what went on in church, and was no longer a Baptist. My mother converted as a teenager, and recruited my dad a few years later. There is no long family history, no Seders with relatives, almost no ritual … just a noisy fascination with life after death. Jews, on the other hand, have a long history, and many families have been on the program a long, long time. I don’t know if you are really ever an ex Jew, whether or not you are observant. I also am not familiar with Ren’s story…what people mean when they say they are Jewish changes from person to person.
As for Renegade Evolution’s blog … it is well written, and has some great stories. I read a description of a porn movie shoot that was highly entertaining. She is focused on the sex worker point of view, which is her right as a blogger. It is also my right as a reader to get tired of reading about it. I have always found the feminist anti pornography attitude to be a bit mysterious. I imagine this is a function of being a gay man, from a culture which celebrates smut. Yes, that is the sound of one hand clapping…the other hand is busy.
Most gay porn is cooperative, that is, both men are equals and everyone has a squirting good time. I think a certain percentage of str8 movies are not. I have a str8 tape in my collection where this gnarly baldheaded guy says mean things to the woman. I find it tough to believe that guys are turned on by this, but apparently some are. I can see why some women object to this “entertainment”. I am glad that Ren is standing up for the rights of people like her (and that we live in a country that permits this). I also question how much I really want to read about it.
Back to the Seven Deadly Sins. This is a very old fashioned list, perhaps even obsolete. Listening to the well defended Jeremiah Wright, it is clear that Wrath and Pride are on their way to being cardinal virtues. With today’s prosperity gospel, Envy and Greed are no longer in disrepute. From the look of many waistlines in the modern church, Gluttony is a favored pastime. That leaves Sloth and Lust. Good old Lust … it always did have a special place in the hearts of pulpit pounders.
The discussion with Renegade Evolution is lost in the digital dustbin. Ren made her last searchable post January 13, 2013. As for AtlMalcontent, he made an amusing comment in his 2007 rant. “You argue, in essence, that we should say nothing about human rights abuses in Iran because it might create “ill will against the government there.” Good. Ahmadinejad is a religious fanatic with visions of grandeur. I agree it’s unwise to beat the war drums now, but Iran is not benign. Wouldn’t you be at least a little concerned if they acquired nuclear weapons?” Pictures today are from Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library
The social media picture was taken March 16, 1967. “ Chevron Island event ©Luther Mckinnon 2026 · selah
Dan Quayle
This content was originally published February 2, 2022. … “It is part of my existence to be the insect of metaphors” I was listening to a story, while editing photographs from The Library of Congress. I was starting to get bored with the story. I made the conscious decision to turn the story off. This was the last line that I heard before I turned the story off.
I finished a folder of pictures. With the Internet there’s plenty of temptation, and rabbit holes to go down. I found this delightful tweet by Andy Sullivan. It was a link to a a story about how Donald Trump was still trying to steal the election. Here is the first money quote: “Trump was busier attempting to undo the election than he had ever been as president.”
The YouTube video I was listening to was an excerpt from a Dan Carlin show. He was talking about Douglas MacArthur, and the great man theory of history. I have the opinion that history is going to happen the way it happens, and the celebrity gets too much credit. This is the thing about Gen. MacArthur and President Trump. I consider Mr. Trump to be a speedfreak, who, in a combination of luck, and pluck, got himself elected. If he had been moderately competent, and half as evil as the Democrats claim, America would have been in a world of trouble. And now, he is allegedly working harder to reverse an election, than he did when he was in office.
“And though Mike Pence, pressed hard by Trump for the last full measure of devotion, wavered (he phoned Dan Quayle for advice), in the end, he did what he knew was right.” Lord, you can’t make this stuff up. James Danforth Quayle is a major idiot, though probably not a dumb as many suspect. OTOH, Mike Pence … aka “Lester Maddox — without the spine” … is as worthless as people think.
The Bulwark article was written by Mona Charen. The scribe was a speech writer for Nancy Reagan, and was rumored to have been fired from that position. In the early nineties, Ms. Charen had a regular column in the fishwrapper. Once she said, regarding gay marriage, It is not marriage which civilizes people, but women. (Full disclosure: That quote is from memory, not a verified source.)
In 1992, when Ms. Charen had that column, I was working downtown. One afternoon, the Vice-Presidential debate was in Atlanta. I stepped out of the office to buy a bag of Fritos at a neighborhood store. I looked down the street to see the Vice President vehicle going down Forsyth Street. I waved at Dan Quayle. I only used one finger. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. John Vachon took the social media picture in August 1941. “Men in beer parlor at Finnish settlement of Bruce Crossing, Michigan” ©Luther Mckinnon 2025 · selah
Coleman Hughes V. Darryl Cooper
Coleman Cruz Hughes recently did a show attacking Nicholas Joseph Fuentes. While going after NJF, CCH went on the attack against Darryl Cooper. Both NJF and DC are critics of Israel’s dirty wars, which might be the ultimate motivation for these attacks.
NJF is a gnarly piece of work, who is currently getting plenty of bad press. Darryl Cooper is different. I am a fan of the MartyrMade podcast. Earlier this year I did a deep dive into “Fear and Loathing in the New Jerusalem”. The chamblee54 commentary is linked here.
I disagree with DC about many things, including his notorious comment about Winston Churchill. However, I have mad respect for MartyrMade podcast. Does DC make mistakes? Maybe. If you produce 27 hours of content on a subject, you probably will get some things wrong. Especially when you consider that a lot of these matters have two hotly contested sides.
DC made an infamous appearance on the Tucker Carlson show, saying that Winston Churchill was the primary villain of World War II. CCH mentioned it, of course. CCH then quoted a story from Mother Jones, How a Nazi-Obsessed Amateur Historian Went From Obscurity to the Top of Substack. (CCH does not have show notes. Fortunately, google still works when it wants to.)
As it turns out, I recently listened to a MM episode about Mother Jones, the historic figure. “Whose America” is about the coal wars in West Virginia. The show features a picture of Mother Jones with red coals in her eyes. “The magazine Mother Jones is directly named after the legendary labor activist Mary Harris “Mother” Jones, who was a fierce organizer for workers’ rights in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, inspiring the magazine’s focus on progressive causes and investigative journalism.” Sometimes, “progressive causes” include discrediting a podcaster who is critical of Israel.
The MJ story is a hit job, with very few links. This quote sets the tone: “Cooper, for example, wrote “Guten morgen” to a user on X last August, along with a picture of himself holding a coffee mug. It might take a moment to realize the user is a self-identified Nazi, and the mug Cooper holds is sold on a website where you can buy a T-shirt in which a Nazi SS sword plunges through the Star of David.”
Later, MJ ties DC to David Irving, a notorious holocaust denier. In the Carlson interview, DC mentioned that Winston Churchill had financial problems, and was bailed out by Zionist financiers. This information is easily available from other sources. However, DC did mention that he found this information in Irving’s writings. After making this connection … without linking to the source … MJ rants about David Irving for several paragraphs.
There is one quote from MJ about David Irving that is remarkable: “Irving is essentially an ideologue who uses history for his own political purposes; he is not primarily concerned with discovering and interpreting what happened in the past, he is concerned merely to give a selective and tendentious account of it in order to further his own ideological ends in the present.”
If you were to take out “Irving” and put a blank space in its spot, you could describe a substantial percentage of the rhetoric mongers today. It would definitely apply to Coleman Hughes. … Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. Jack Delano took the social media picture in August 1941. “The family of Mr. Dan Sampson. The Sampsons are moving out of the Pine Camp expansion area to a 240 acre dairy farm in South Rutland, New York obtained through the New York Defense Relocation Corps. Near Sterlingville, New York” ©Luther Mckinnon 2025 · selah
Tony Hovater
New York Times reporter Richard Fausset went to smalltown Ohio to meet Tony Hovater. “In 2015, he helped start the Traditionalist Worker Party, one of the extreme right-wing groups that marched in Charlottesville, Va. … The mission is to “fight for the interests of White Americans.’’
Virtual America is not pleased. Twitter screeds by @magi_jay and @bessbell have been widely shared. This facebook comment speaks for many: “The article serves to humanize and normalize him/far-right extremism/Nazism — which was one of Tony Havater’s stated desires/goals re: his present involvement in the white nationalist/Nazi movement. By normalizing them, they are given a seat at the table of political discourse which is absolutely a back-asswards step.”
When you see a tweetstorm like this, the first step is to find the original material. Read the article, not what @ShaunKing says about it. When you read the original, you wonder if it is the same article. The original is full of snide references, and logical fallacies. Maybe what the masses want is a ritual denunciation of the anointed poopyhead. As one online publication put it, “ensure that white supremacists and Nazis are thought of and treated the same way you might treat a roach scurrying across a kitchen counter.” Lets look at some quotes from the NYT article.
“Mr. Hovater’s face is narrow and punctuated with sharply peaked eyebrows, like a pair of air quotes, and he tends to deliver his favorite adjective, “edgy,” with a flat affect and maximum sarcastic intent. It is a sort of implicit running assertion that the edges of acceptable American political discourse — edges set by previous generations, like the one that fought the Nazis — are laughable.”
The previous generations of America are a mixed bag. Yes, they fought the Germans in WW2. They also fought Native Americans, and said “the only good Indian is a dead Indian.” “The edges of acceptable American political discourse” once included Jim Crow laws. American political discourse is an ever-changing work in progress.
“After he attended the Charlottesville rally, in which a white nationalist plowed his car into a group of left-wing protesters, killing one of them, Mr. Hovater wrote that he was proud of the comrades who joined him there: “We made history. Hail victory.” In German, “Hail victory” is “Sieg heil.””
James Alex Fields is accused of killing Heather Meyer with a Dodge Challenger. We don’t know if he was acting on orders, where those orders came from, or if he is a loose cannon, acting on his own. While the march organizers certainly bear some responsibility for that tragedy, we do not know the entire story. In any event, that has nothing to do with the German translation of “Hail Victory.”
I Interviewed a White Nationalist and Fascist. What Was I Left With? was published after the backlash hit. It is a commentary by the author, in which he laments not finding the “rosebud” to this story. There is a revealing quote near the end. “I saw, on his bookshelf, two volumes of Helena Blavatsky’s “The Secret Doctrine,” 19th-century work of esoteric spiritualism whose anti-Semitism influenced Nazi thinking. But even if I had called Mr. Hovater yet again — even if we had discussed Blavatsky at length, the way we did his ideas about the Federal Reserve Bank — I’m not sure it would have answered the question. What makes a man start fires?”
Helena Petrovna Blavatsky (Еле́на Петро́вна Блава́тская) is a 19th century Russian that few people know about. This obscurity allows Mr. Fausset to fill in the blanks with a gratuitous comment about anti-Semitism. This inclusion also assumes that Mr. Hovater has read the books.
The reference to the Federal Reserve Bank is more telling. If you listen to this podcast, you learn that Mr. Hovater is more concerned with economics than white nationalism. You will also learn that many of his ideas are not well thought out. Mr. Hovater, a former drummer in a heavy metal band, is similar to that libertarian in the break room … the one who will not shut up, and go back to work.
Saying Tony Hovater is poorly informed will not satisfy the keyboard warrior. Talking about economics is not as much fun as denouncing the Third Reich … as if the LARP-tikitorch crowd is the same as the Schutzstaffel. SJW twitter does not like subtlety. This is what they want to hear: “Of course, profiles on the people directly harmed by this hate speech and violence would be much more compelling. But that would require whiteness—white maleness, specifically—to be uncentered. And uncentering whiteness is harder than eating just one Lay’s potato chip, apparently.”
This content was originally published in 2017. 112817 113017 Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. Marion Post Wolcott took the social media picture in August 1940. “Natchez, Mississippi” ©Luther Mckinnon 2025 · selah
Erick Erickson Wants Donations
This content was posted July 9, 2015. … @EWErickson Trump’s rise is part of the unintended consequences of the GOP trying to compress the Presidential primary cycle. This message was retweeted. Blue Gal/Fran! Excuse me I gotta go buy more popcorn. (The spell check suggestion for retweeted is regretted.)
Erick Erickson is a piece of work. He is the grand wazoo at Red State, a “conservative” web site. RS gave Chamblee54 a 601 Database redigestation error onetime. This required a visit to the computer shop to get the malicious code off the machine.
Today’s tweet linked to a post at Mr. Erickson’s current blog, Stop Complaining About Donald Trump. If you want to see it, you can follow the link. This post is not going to concern itself with “conservative” commentary about the latest golden boy of the wig party.
The last five words of the post are “think of another “F” word.” Below that, you are encouraged to “Support the work at Erick on the Radio.” You can “Select an Amount” and click “Next.” At this point credit card numbers become involved. Never give a credit card number to someone who has given your computer malicious code. UPDATE: This request is not on the Internet Archive version.
Erick Erickson has a daily radio show on WSB. This is a 50,000 watt clear channel am station. WSB is part of the Cox media team that dominates Atlanta. His show is sponsored by advertising, and is probably a profit center for the Cox bean counters.
Why does Erick Erickson feel the need to ask for donations on the Internet? Is the free market model of talk radio not working for him? Apparently not. … Pictures today are from Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library. The social media picture was taken in 1951. “Peachtree Street and Ellis Street” ©Luther Mckinnon 2025 · selah
Are Conservatives Patriotic?
This content was published November 26, 2008. … JoeMyGod posted a story yesterday where he poo pooed the controversy about BHO’s birth certificate. A site called Free Republic critiqued his story. When FR did so, they listed keywords in the story. The keywords they listed were: antichristian; bigot; birthcertificate; celebratesin; certifigate; conspiracytheory; crackpot; dnctalkingpoints; gaystapotactics; hedonist; homosexualagenda; ifitfeelsgooddohim; larrysinclairslover; lavendermafia; liberalbigot; missingbirthcert; moonbat; obama; religiousintolerance; sodomite; woowoo.
That’s quite a collection. When I went to FreeRepublic to see for myself, the site was down. There is something called a 502 proxy error in the works now. Or maybe the thesaurus at Free Republic went into hyperdrive, and took down the site. … Free Republic is back up now. Maybe this was a coincidence. This post had 64 comments when I looked through. Many of them are wigged out about the word “christianist”. Very few of these people call a student of Buddha a Buddhian.
On a lighter note, it seems like the right wing is not giving up the fight. They seem determined to make as much trouble for BHO as they can. This is consistent with the reception the Clintons got in 1993. … BHO is going to have his hands full when he comes into office. The patriotic thing to do would be to support him, and try to help solve some of the problems he is going to be facing. The right wing seems determined to look for anything they can to fuss about. I question the patriotism of people who would undermine the president like that.
2025 UPDATE: BHO served two full terms as POTUS. BHO was a controversial figure, who did as much good as he did harm. Much of the harm he did is bearing fruit now, particularly in foreign affairs. The dirty war in Syria, the Saudi-Yemeni war, the Maidan revolution are just a few examples. The current POTUS got a lot of attention by questioning the authenticity of BHO’s birth certificate. When it became politically productive to call DJT “racist”, “birtherism” was given as an example.
JoeMyGod is still published several times a day. The site has several popup ads, though not as many as most websites. Most current JMG posts are hyper-critical of DJT. The latest post is Duffy Threatens To Fire Air Traffic Controllers. The most recent JMG post about the tragedy in Gaza is Trump Formally Petitions Israel To Pardon Netanyahu.
Free Republic is still being published. The current site looks very much like it did in 2008, and has almost no popup ads. The latest post is Florida 15-year-old charged with felony after attacking cop car with shovel: ‘Are you kidding me?’ The most recent FR post about the tragedy in Gaza is Israel offers: Hamas terrorists in Rafah tunnels can surrender and be freed. … Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. Russell Lee took the social media picture in November 1937. “Mr. Bertelson, farmer near Antelope, Montana. One of the old-timers and homesteaders.” ©Luther Mckinnon 2025 · selah
Climategate
This content was published November 27, 2009. … By now, many of you have heard about “climategate”. It seems like someone hacked into a computer at an English research institute, and found some emails. A few of the emails have been released. With years of correspondence to go through, only a part of which has been released, there is lots of room for mischief. If the hackers are smart enough to steal those emails, they are also smart enough to fake a few.
I am not a scientist, and all this makes my head spin. There is the suspicion that a lot of the people making noise don’t understand the science, but are making noise to support already held views. There are big money interests who would like to see talk about global warming go away, so they can work without interference. These interests have lots of money to buy off journalists, who then produce prose like this: “AGW (anthropogenic global warming) is about raising taxes; … about a few canny hucksters who’ve leapt on the bandwagon fleecing us rotten with their taxpayer subsidised windfarms and their carbon-trading; about the sour, anti-capitalist impulses of sandal-wearing vegans and lapsed Communists who loathe the idea of freedom and a functioning market economy.”
The discussion has leaped out of the frying pan of science, and into the fire of politics. There is an international conference in Copenhagen soon, and the timing of “climategate” is curious. … Two words stand out in this discussion, believe and prove. I wonder if they are appropriate. AGW is not really a matter of believe or not believe. Since the industrial revolution, man has made an enormous change in the atmosphere. This ecosystem has evolved over billions of years, either by accident or intelligent design. Man has made profound changes in the last two hundred years.
Chamblee54 crunched the numbers last July: “The atmosphere on planet earth is a marvel, quite possibly unique in the universe. It supports a wide range of life forms, from amoebas to Bruno. This blanket of gas evolved over a period of billions of years. Man has possibly changed it more in the last two hundred years than nature did in four billion before that. … Those numbers don’t mean too much like that, so let’s put them into another form. Comparing 200 years to four billion years just takes a calculator. That is like comparing one minute to 38 years. What God created (or nature evolved, or however you explain it), in 38 years, industrial man has nearly ruined in one minute.
Here is the breakdown. Divide 4 billion by 200 and you get 20 million. Divide 20 million by 1440 (the number of minutes in a day) gives us 13888 days. Dividing 13888 days by 365 gives us 38 years. Even if the earth is less than four billion years old, the fact remains that industrial man has destroyed in almost no time what took a long time to create. … The second weasel word in the current blabberfest is prove. There is a difference between prove and indicate. If the emails are genuine, they would indicate that some scientists in England cooked the books on their research. As to the larger issue of what industrial man is doing to planet earth, they prove nothing.
This content was published November 18, 2008. … Yesterday, after exploring east Atlanta, PG and Uzi went to dinner. They alternate between Piccadilly and S&S , and this was a Piccadilly week. PG always thinks of the antique store called Pick a Dilly. That might explain some of the clientele. … Lenny was a friend of Uzi, who had checked out of the hotel a few years ago. Lenny was inclined towards a philosophical viewpoint. He tried to write these nuggets down. One of the problems was that Lenny never did understand the concept of the tab key.
He would type the quote, the source, and any other information into one cell of a database. PG had time on his hands, and offered to try and straighten out the mess. … Now, one problem is Microsoft Works. The database that Lenny used was in works. The only operating system to employ works was Millennium Edition … the Edsel of the Microsoft showroom. When you tried to take something in works, and move it to another system, you were liable to get a screen full of jibberish. (According to spell check, this is properly spelled gibberish)
So, the email arrived. PG tried to open the file using an open office database, and the thing closed immediately. PG thought he heard the computer laughing at him. Next was a bootleg copy of microsoft windows 97 office suite. Funny how suite is pronounced like sweet, but is anything but. The database was not amused, and word showed a screen full of gibberish. … Next, PG tried notepad. This did show some text in between the acres of code. PG copied this into a trusty wordpad file, and started to edit. After a while, there were a few quotes in legible form.
PG then sent this email to Uzi: excellent i haven’t had a family turkey day since i had parents. as for the files, they are not opening smoothly. i might could work around some of the issues, but it might be easier if i had a copy of works when i had my first computer, i used works, and then tried to take the files to my job to use the word based computers there. word computers do not like works (even if it is at work, as in job. this can get confusing)
If you could find a copy of the works database file and send it to me, that might make this project easier I opened one file with notepad, and was able to cull these from the mass of jibberish: The best things and best people rise out of their separateness ; I’m against a homogenized society because I want the cream to rise. Robert Frost · How many a dispute could have been deflated into a single paragraph if the disputants had dared to define their terms. Aristotle · The government of the United States is not in any sense founded upon thty . Clarence Darrow … Is this the sort of thing i can expect to find? a quote, and then a source for the quote? PG … Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. John Vachon took the social media picture in March 1941. “Schoolchildren getting ready to go home. Norfolk, Virginia ©Luther Mckinnon 2025 · selah
Ta-Nehisi Coates Will Not Go Away
This content was published October 8, 2024. … The Message is a new book by Ta-Nehisi Paul Coates. The publishing game requires TPC to promote his book, which he is doing with gusto. It turns out this literary product is critical of Israel. Some things you are not allowed to say out loud.
One noteworthy appearance was on CBS Mornings. Tony Dokoupil gave TPC a rude greeting: “I have to say … the content of that section would not be out of place in the backpack of an extremist.” Later, Mr. Dokoupil inadvertently says something many of Israel’s neighbors might agree with: “Why does any of Israel exist? What a horrific place, committing horrific acts on a daily basis.”
Part of the problem is the high profile TPC has enjoyed as an anti-racist celebrity. Over the last few years, many “woke” people have heaped praise on the man. At the same time, more than a few people were annoyed with TPC. Saagar Enjeti had some strong comments about TPC on Breaking Points recently. What the star-making machine builds up, the star-making machine tears down.
Chamblee54 has written about TPC several times. one two three In a video about the six-letter word, TPC asserts “When you’re white in this country, you’re taught that everything belongs to you. You think you have a right to everything.”
The progressive movement in America has fought against racism, inequality, injustice, etc, for a long time. If you can look past the hypocrisy and vulgar noise, you can see some value in these efforts. Unfortunately, Israel violates many of these values in its dealings with Palestinians. This contradiction is difficult for the left to deal with.
TPC is saying things that make progressives nervous. Israel treats Palestinians horribly. The hypocrisy of the platitude spouting left is on display. Shooting the messenger is always an option.
This content was published October 12, 2024. … Today is October 12, 2024, 371 days after October 7, 2023. This week, the major point of discussion is The Message, (TM) a book by Ta-Nehisi Paul Coates. Why is a book more important than the hostages, the Palestinian/Lebanese suffering, etc, etc? TM bashing is an excellent distraction from the life/death issues here.
There are three quotes in my weekly notes. The concept here is a Saturday morning brain drop, centered around these quotes. If you want to know more, Google is there. Sometimes. Many internet gateways appear to have a pro-Israel bias. Google, for example, has an office in Tel Aviv. “Being in Israel, for lunch the Googlers can choose from three amazing restaurants, for non-kosher, kosher dairy and kosher meat.”
“Why does any of Israel exist? What a horrific place, committing horrific acts on a daily basis.” This out-of-context quote says what many people are feeling now. @tonydokoupil was interrogating TPC, on a book tour visit to CBS Mornings. Author interviews are usually boring events, and get little notice. Mr. Dokoupil, for some reason, decided to make a stink about TM, which was critical of Israel’s conduct in the West Bank.
I don’t know how major publishing works. A book is written. The process of getting from the author to the public takes time. It is not uncommon for something to have been written for a year before the book tour. It is highly probable that TM was written well before 10/7. The Israel portion of TM is about the West Bank, not Gaza. Now, the haters are making an issue about TM not mentioning 10/7. You should never let a good talking point go to waste, even if it is basically irrelevant. TM was not intended as a comprehensive history of the Arab-Israeli conflict.
Full Disclosure. I have not read TM, despite the best efforts of CBS Mornings. What I say here is based on what I have heard. I imagine that many more people will read TM as a result of this media event, and the twitterstorm that followed. If TM had come out, and received polite comments on tv shows, it would be forgotten by now. Hasbara® has given TM truckloads of attention. Of course, when you talk about TM, you don’t talk about the starving human shields children in Gaza, or the murdered human shields children in Lebanon. It is more fun to talk about how TPC is not giving context, about Gaza, when he writes about the suffering human shields population of the West Bank.
“Exactly a year ago, when thousands of Hamas militants crossed Israel’s border … I knew little about Israel and had no opinion about the long running conflict there.” Konstantin Vadimovich Kisin/Константин Вадимович Кисин is a youtuber. He put out a video last week, Why I’m Off the Fence About Israel’s War. The quote above is the first thing he said. I have had many arguments over Israel over the last 45 years. It must be nice to only hear Hasbara® now.
The KVK video is an exercise in logic abuse. He tries to explain apples by talking about bananas. KVK compares 10/7 to a Mexican attack on America’s southern border. Now, if terroristas were planning to storm El Paso … looking for Kinky Friedman’s anal sphinctor … American forces would know all about it, and kill everybody before they got their feet wet. Many people wonder why Israel allowed Hamas to get past their wall, but that is another subject.
”I believe the logic of this is impenetrable.” KVK inserts this bizarre comment, before going on a strawman safari. KVK offers four “justifications” for 10/7, and “debunks” them. You will have to watch the video to see what I mean. Never mind that not everyone uses these arguments. Never mind that they are not intended to “justify” 10/7, but rather to denounce the wholesale slaughter of Palestinians/Lebanese women and children. Never mind that many of the 10/7 casualties were killed by @IDF. The “Hannibal Directive” was not mentioned in any of last week’s noise.
That’s enough for one post. Like TM, this is one man’s perspective, not an context encyclopedia. If you want to hear more, you know where to look. … Big Media (BM) continues to have a symbiotic relationship with TPC. After the recent death of Charles James Kirk, TPC got a lot of attention for a spat with Ezra Klein. … The tragedy in Gaza continues, after a brief ceasefire. … Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. Marion Post Wolcott took the social media picture in November 1939. In the Mississippi Delta. There is an ever-increasing number of Chinese grocerymen and merchants. Leland, Mississippi.” ©Luther Mckinnon 2025 · selah
Free Bacon
This content was published October 23, 2015. … There was a tweet. Perspicacious One @JessSmith_TPC LOLOLOL Can’t make this stuff up @EWErickson President’s Speech Defending Obamacare Nearly Kills Innocent Woman. The medium is something called The Washington Free Beacon. Free Bacon is a typo.
TWFB has some interesting stories. One entertaining example is “Pro-Iranian Regime Journalist Defends Controversial Tweet. Former translator for Ahmadinejad called WSJ editor ‘Iranian House Negro’.” The offending tweeter owns a fashion blog, the house of majd. Rumors that Mr. Ahmadinejad is a model cannot be confirmed.
A more believable story is Netanyahu’s Mission: To Head Off Iran Sanctions Relief. The thought of a deal between Iran and the West is very troubling to Israel. An important distraction to the Palestinian tragedy would be removed by the rehabilitation of Iran. One interesting section of the story mentions 9/11 labor supplier Saudi Arabia. “Saudi Arabia, another key U.S. ally in the Middle East, is also deeply worried about any sign of a deal between Washington and the kingdom’s arch-rival, Iran.” … Free Bacon is the order of the day in the last story we will look at. USDA Celebrates Forcing Kids to Try Kale, Chard, Collard Greens. “The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) extolled a local elementary school in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. for making its students try broccoli gratin, Tuscan kale, and beet hummus, as an example of the department’s efforts to fight obesity.”
This content was published October 8, 2008. … During the debates, John Sidney McCain III has repeatedly touted Nuclear Power as a solution to our energy needs. Perhaps this talk needs a second look. … There is a lot of money involved in Nuclear Energy. The plants are very expensive to build. There is a lot of potential for profit, and opportunities for moneylenders to earn interest. With this much at stake, it is not unreasonable to think that someone is paying JSM to promote Nukes.
With billions of dollars invested, the banks are going to make sure they get a return on their investment. With this much money involved, Big Government is going to get involved. This is also a factor in the safety issue. … Yes, Nuclear Power is safe. However, there is a need for constant oversight. The potential for disaster is immense. The process needs to be heavily regulated. With the companies trying to show a profit, the temptation to cut corners, and bribe the regulators, is going to be there. With global … and potentially domestic … terrorism a fact of life, the nuclear fuel needs to be constantly watched. Again, this is a job for Big Government. Nuclear Power=Big Government
While Nukes are nominally safe if handled properly, the potential for disaster is huge. There are stories of materials so toxic, that a mass the size of a softball could give the world cancer. While the systems can work well, the potential for corruption, corner cutting, and old fashioned human error cannot be forgotten. … Money is not the only scarce commodity required in bulk by Nukes. Water is also required in vast quantities for a Nuclear Power Plant to operate. The energy from a nuclear reaction is converted into electricity by boiling water to power steam turbines.
This is the same steam technology that has been used since the start of the industrial revolution. The nuclear reaction produces vast amounts of heat, which water is used to cool. With water an increasingly scarce commodity, the allocation of vast amounts for a Nuclear Power plant must be questioned. … It should be noted at this point that I am not a scientist. I am just a slacker with internet access. It is also true that coal fired power plants have horrendous environmental issues, and pump millions of tons of CO2 into the atmosphere. I honestly don’t know what the answer is.
I recently spent a week at a community with solar power. There were constant reminders to use the juice sparingly. I tried to recharge my cell phone, and the system was not strong enough to do so. While solar can reduce the dependence on “the grid”, it is not going to completely replace it. We could do well to use less energy. We have gotten spoiled, like the man who wants an emerald green lawn in October. Part of the answer would be to live simply, so that others can simply live. … Pictures today are from Georgia State University Library The social media picture was taken February 22, 1955. Standard Oil service station in Buckhead ©Luther Mckinnon 2025 · selah
Tulsi And Joe
This content was posted October 16, 2022. … @BrandonLBradfor “The larger your platform the more I think you have a moral obligation to the people that listen to you. I give Rogan criticism but he’s just an idiot that’s willing to talk to people, Kanye is a vindictive, desperate, dumbass, and don’t blame this on his mental health.” @chamblee54 “Actually, Joe R**** is an i**** who is willing to listen to people. Twitter questioned my first reply. I censored the two words that were possibly offensive. If listen is offensive, then I am in trouble.”
Joe Rogan Experience continues to be a popular feature, except with #selfrighteoustwitter. This week saw two guests that stood out. On Tuesday, JRE featured Tulsi Gabbard. On Wednesday, the guest was Rick Rubin. I listened to all three hours of the Rubin show.
Rick Rubin is a music producer, and around cool dude. He played a huge role in the rise of hip-hop, from Bronx parties to a worldwide phenomenon. His podcast, Broken Records, utilizes the long interview format, with music stars of all persuasion. Mr. Rubin is also well spoken, with a pleasant voice. Just turn on the microphone, and get out of the way
Tulsi Gabbard is a bit more complicated. Early in the show, Joe repeated an urban legend about teachers putting litter boxes in bathrooms, for students who identify as cats. The tale has been repeatedly discredited. Joe and Tulsi began talking about trans excesses. This is a legitimate subject for discussion, but had a rude tone here. Soon, I turned off the show in anger.
Tulsi was on JRE during the 2020 Presidential campaign. She did not seem to be electable, but made a lot of good points. Her primary issue was the damage done by wars of choice, and the military industrial complex. This is an issue that Democrats and Republicans, aka the Uniparty, seem to agree on. One gets the sense that the “culture war” issues are a distraction, taking attention away from the massive influx of borrowed warbucks.
Soon after this appearance, I went to a get together at Manuel’s Tavern. I mentioned that I liked Tulsi Gabbard, and her anti-war position. A voice at the other end of the table started to angrily shout. Tulsi Gabbard was a Russian asset, and a terrible, terrible person. This seems to be a popular opinion in Democratic circles. Genuine dissent must not be tolerated.
At some point in the conversation, Tulsi got onto the military industrial complex, and the War in Ukraine. Tulsi thinks we are headed for a nuclear conflict. A NYC psa was shown, about instructions for a nuclear disaster. The instructions were like the “duck and cover” drills from second grade. Hiding under your desk was going to protect you from radiation. Today’s non-planning for a potential nuclear war may mean the end of civilization as we know it.
Chamblee54 has written about Joe Rogan. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. Marion Post Wolcott took the social media picture in March 1940. “Hired help resting after day’s work in Upwey horse farm. South Woodstock, Vermont.” ©Luther Mckinnon 2025 · selah
Troy Davis
This content was published August 18, 2009. … The one thing I am sure of in the Troy Davis case is the abundance of material on the internet. This is true of all death penalty cases. When you have celebrities calling for clemency, the data crush gets heavier. Yesterday, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a district court needs to have a hearing on the Troy Davis case. The Supremes were convinced that there is enough evidence to doubt the conviction of Troy Davis for the murder of Mark MacPhail. Justices Scalia and Thomas dissented. …
… The dissenting opinion, written by Justice Scalia, is a doozy. “This court has never held that the Constitution forbids the execution of a convicted defendant who had a full and fair trial but is later able to convince a habeas court that he is ‘actually’ innocent.” It should be noted that I am not a lawyer, and some of the arguments I am reading make my head swim. Some say that Justice Scalia was correct in his opinion. Others think he is crazy. …
The one thing I have not been able to find is a picture of Sylvester “Red” Coles. Mr. Coles is known to have been present at the murder site. Mr. Coles owns a .38 pistol with a chrome finish, similar to the pistol that shot Mr. MacPhail. On the morning after the murder, Mr. Coles and an attorney showed up at the Police Headquarters. Soon, a decision was made that Troy Davis was the killer. The reason I want to see a picture of Sylvester Coles is to know, for sure, if he is black or white. Mr. Coles is described as a “a fearsome neighborhood thug” and a drug dealer. …
… If Troy Davis (black) takes the blame for killing Mark MacPhail (white) and allows Sylvester Coles (?) to go free, is this racism? Perhaps it is sloppy policework, or a bribe from the Coles attorney. While we are talking race, please note that Clarence Thomas concurred with Antonin Scalia in his dissent. … There are some who don’t think the ruling yesterday will change much. The MacPhail family and the Chatham County police are convinced of the guilt of Mr. Davis. This case has been bouncing around the courts for twenty years. Several courts have upheld the original guilty verdict. …
This content was published August 22, 2009. … There is a lot of hot air about health care. It is an intensely personal subject. Almost everyone has a story to tell. Hidden agendas, payoffs, straw men, and misleading rhetoric are the order of the day. I decided to try and make a bit of sense out of the mess, and share what I found. There was a google search, under the phrase “what is the health care proposal?” I found a pdf on the BHO website. It is not known when this pdf was written, or if other plan summaries are available. …
… It is not known how closely this summary corresponds to the bill before congress. I tried to break down the BHO plan summary, with key parts set off in bold type (the ob health plan-c54). … There are three parts to the plan. The summary this is based on did not mention “death panels”, abortion, or illegal aliens. I feel these are red herrings, designed to divert attention away from the plan. The current debate is a huckster’s paradise. … The first part of the plan involves lowering costs. There are three major parts to this. The first part is to modernize and digitize our health records. …
… The second part is better maintenance of chronic disease. This part of the plan calls for health insurance for all Americans. The two big steps here are the elimination of the pre existing conditions issue, and the establishment of the “National Health Insurance Exchange”. This part is in trouble, and may be compromised away. … The third part is an overall reform of the insurance and pharmaceutical industries. This part of the plan is a call for prevention and public health. There are a few big brother like calls for “interventions”. …
… I suspect there is a great deal more to the debate than this pdf, but that it is a place to start. 12 pages can only scratch the surface. The phrase “God is in the details” comes to mind. … Clearly, the system we have is not working for large numbers of people. Employer based insurance requirements are a leading factor in the outplacement of jobs overseas. While I have doubts about what I read today, I do not see the talk radio crowd offering a better solution. … Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. Arthur Rothstein took the social media picture in October 1939. “Unloading shelled corn for ever-normal granary storage. Grundy County, Iowa” · selah ©Luther Mckinnon 2025
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