Christmas Stories
The day after thanksgiving is the official start of the christmas season. The last few years, PG has been weary of the turf fighting of the Jesus worshipers The jws like to think that they are the only ones entitled to a holiday celebration. It gets nasty.
The truth is, as long as PG remembers, Christmas has been a secular holiday with a religious element. The parties and gift giving are a great way to wind up the year. The so called birth of Jesus really has very little to do with it.
In the early days of christianism, the pagan romans had a major celebration around the winter solstice. This is the longest night, and the end of the annual cycle of birth, death, and revival. The early Jesus worshipers decided to have a comparable celebration. It is uncertain when Jesus was technically born, and many scholars today believe that it was sometime in the spring.
For a long time, PG was able to ignore the religious hoopla, and focus on the joy of the season. In recent years, the Jesus Worshipers have made more of an issue out of the “War on Christmas”. Bill O’Reilly, with his instinct for a divisive issue, has been a ringleader. Where once the secular and religious people could celebrate a happy season together…and, truth be told, many still do… there is a now a conflict. The Jesus worshipers make an exclusive claim to the festivities, and those who don’t agree with them are out of luck. It has become a fighting issue whether to say happy holidays or merry christmas. PG would like to get back to peace on earth, and good will towards men.
CHECK YOUR RECEIPTS BEFORE LEAVING THE CASHIER’S STATION! With all the Christmas shopping soon this is something we MUST do! I bought a bunch of stuff, over $150, & I glanced at my receipt as the cashier was handing me the bags. I saw a cash-back of $40. I told her I didn’t request a cash back and to delete it. She said I’d have to take the $40 because she couldn’t delete it. I told her to call a supervisor. Supervisor came and said I’d have to take it. I said NO! I didn’t want $40 cash advance! If they couldn’t delete it then they would have to delete the whole order. So the supervisor had the cashier delete the whole order and re-scan everything! When I looked at the electronic pad before I signed again, a cash-back of $20 popped up. At that point I told the cashier and she deleted it. The total then came out right. The cashier commented that the Electronic Pad must be defective. Obviously the cashier knew the electronic pad was defective because she NEVER offered me the $40 at the beginning. Can you imagine how many people went through before me and at the end of her shift how much money she pocketed?
Alert everyone. My co-worker went to Walmart last week. She had her items rung up by the cashier. The cashier hurried her along and didn’t give her a receipt. She asked the cashier for a receipt and the cashier was annoyed and gave it to her. My co-worker didn’t look at her receipt until later that night. The receipt had a $20 cash back entry . SHE HAD NOT ASKED FOR CASH BACK!
My co-worker subsequently called Wal-Mart who investigated but could not see the cashier pocket the money. She then called her niece who works for the bank, and her niece told her this: This is new scam going on. The cashier will key in that you asked for cash back and then hand it to her friend who is the next person in line.
CHECK YOUR RECEIPTS RIGHT AWAY WHEN USING CREDIT OR DEBIT CARDS! This is NOT limited to Wal-Mart, although they are the largest retailer so they have the most incidents. Here’s a personal experience: My husband and I were in Wal-Mart North Salisbury and paying with credit card when my husband went to sign the credit card signer he just happen to notice there was a $20 cash back added. He told the cashier that he did not ask nor want cash back and she said that the machine had been messing up and she canceled it. We really didn’t think anything of it until we read this email. I wonder how many “seniors” or busy Moms/Dads have been or will be “stung” by this one? To make matters worse, this scam can be done anywhere, at any retail or wholesale location! Check your receipt BEFORE leaving the cashier’s station!
This is a repost. Pictures are from The Library of Congress.
Shut Up Franklin Graham
PG was researching the previous post, and decided to check up on little Ralphie Reed. His group’s website has a headline video, Franklin Graham: America Has Turned Its Back on God. It does not mention why anyone should care.
Franklin Graham’s claim to fame is his father. Billy Graham is a TV preacher superstar. The elder Graham is still alive, so it is fair to make negative comments. PG walked through the living room countless nights, and saw parents glued to the tube. The Billy Graham crusade was a staple of television. The blow dried superpreacher stood in front of a football stadium full of admirers, telling people how not to go to hell. Sin, salvation, send money. Is that all there is?
If Franklin Graham did not have a superstar father, he would be nobody. Life is not fair, and the opinions of Franklin Graham, and his sister, Anne Graham Lotz, are treated with the reverence Catholics give to the thoughts of the Pope. Franklin Graham has gotten a lot of attention with some rude comments about Muslims. Islam and Christianity use the same G-d.
It was some comments about G-d in the video that annoyed PG. “We’ve turned out back on G-d. We’ve taken G-d out of our schools. We’ve taken G-d out of our government.” Apparently, Franklin Graham and PG have different thoughts about G-d.
G-d is in everything and everybody. If you turn your back on G-d, she will still be looking you in the eye. If you have a room full of children, then G-d is present in that room. This idea of a puny G-d, that you can turn your back on, may be the most offensive thing ever said by the Graham family, Inc.
Pictures are from The Library of Congress. @Franklin_Graham has 0 tweets and 21,213 followers.
Arlo Guthrie And Ralph Reed
PG is a slack writer. This does not mean that he writes about slack (a contradiction), but that he often has an idea for a post, and then never follows through. His desktop is cluttered with files, each containing the start of a post. The concept today is to take a few of these, write a bit about each, through some pictures in, and call it a day.The pictures are from ” The Special Collections and Archives,Georgia State University Library”
The first snipoid is about Ralph Reed . Mr. Reed is a professional Christian, the youthful looking head of publicity groups. At one time he was the big dog at something called the Christian Coalition. He left that to start his own consulting company.
This was the first time Mr. Reed and PG became connected. There is an office space on Presidential Drive, just down the road from the round hotel. PG ran bluelines in this space, until circumstances moved him into a midtown workplace. After the blueprint company moved out, a company called Century Strategies moved into this space. Century Strategies was the consulting firm that Mr. Reed started after leaving the Christian Coalition. While PG does not know whether Mr. Reed actually used this office, it gives him a warm feeling to think that he has shared a commode with this celebrity.
Later, Ralph Reed caused another problem for PG. In 2006, Mr. Reed ran for Lieutenant Governor of Georgia. He lost to Casey Cagle, whose shoelaces become untied. When the Republican Primary was held that year, PG felt obliged to help put an early stop to Mr. Reed’s elected ambitions.
The problem lies in the primary system. In Georgia, you must choose either Democrat or Republican, and in the inevitable runoff vote in the same party. To help Mr. Reed spend more time with his family, PG needed to vote Republican. There was a race on the Democratic side which was important.
Hank Johnson was running against Cynthia McKinney. While PG used to like Miss McKinney, after a while the joke grew old. She needed to retire. While Mr. Johnson won the runoff, PG would have liked to help. The bottom line is, Ralph Reed cost PG his last chance to vote against Cynthia McKinney.
This is a recycled post from two years ago. In the 2012 election, Mr. Reed tried to be a player. After it was over, there were harsh words for WMR. “At the National Press Club the day after the election, Ralph Reed, founder and chairman of the Faith & Freedom Coalition, criticized the Romney campaign and the Republican Party for “underperforming.” “We did our job,” said Reed. “But we can’t do the Republican Party’s job for them, and we can’t do the candidate’s job for him or her.”
The second part of this entertainment is about Arlo Guthrie . Last week was thanksgiving, which is connected to Mr. Guthrie. Unlike the turkey, or tofurkey, Mr. Guthrie has gone on to have a flourishing career. It seems probable that he will not come down with Huntington’s Disease, which claimed his father Woody Guthrie.
The video that goes with this text was the first time PG saw Arlo Guthrie. This was broadcast January 21, 1970. PG was an unhip fifteen year old, who had not heard Alice’s Restaurant, seen the movie, or been to Woodstock. He did see the Johnny Cash show this night, or at least the part where Arlo Guthrie did the motorcycle song.
To quote the digital facility PG is borrowing from: ” Born Arlo Davy Guthrie on July 10, 1947, in New York, NY; son of Woody (a folksinger) and Marjorie Mazia (a dancer; maiden name, Greenblatt) Guthrie; married Jacklyn Hyde, October 9, 1969; children: Abraham, Cathyalicia, Annie Hays, Sarah Lee.” Abraham and Sarah Lee play in Arlo’s touring band.
The Alice’s Restaurant Masacree is a part of Americana now. There are two bits of knowledge, that are as true as anything told to a Persian king. When trying to dispose of some garbage, and finding the city dump closed, Arlo found some litter by the roadside, and made a value judgment…One big pile of garbage is better than two little piles.
The second is about the draft, and the business of choosing people to fight our wars. There is a regulation today that says that Gays and Lesbians are not supposed to be soldiers and sailors. In the tale of the thanksgiving dinner, it was litterbugs. (There was also a draft, and a a different war. Lots of Americans were coming home in boxes.) The bottom line is, Mr. Guthrie is confused about not being considered moral enough to kill people, because he was a litterbug.
A few years into his career, Arlo Guthrie had a hit record called “City of New Orleans”. It was about a train, and said “Good Morning America”. “City of New Orleans” was written by Steve Goodman, who is no longer with us. Mr. Goodman also wrote the perfect country and western song .
PG heard a story about Steve Goodman. “The songwriter is Steve Goodman. He gave a show at the Last Resort in Athens GA, that a friend of PG attended. Mr. Goodman tells a story about performing on a train, during a series of concerts supporting Hubert Humphrey. It seems like Mr. Goodman had to use the restroom on the train. Now, in those days, the trains did not use holding tanks, but just ejected the matter by the tracks as they rode by. Mr. Goodman was told, do not flush the commode while the train is in the station. Mr. Goodman forgot the instructions. Mr. Humphrey said ” I am going to give the people of this country what they deserve”, Mr. Goodman flushed the commode, and sprayed the crowd. PG is not sure if he believes this, but it is a good story.” (A biographer of Mr. Goodman said that it was Edmund Muskie. He also says that David Allen Coe had nothing to do with the last verse of the perfect country and western song.)
As previously noted, this is a repost from two years ago. In that time, the policy against gay people serving in the military has been dismantled. The Ralph Reeds of the world are more upset about the concept of gay marriage, than by gay people killing Muslims. Vietnam is a peaceful country, and is enjoying economic good times. The draft is something old fogies remember. The current fashion is to support war by demanding a tax cut.
Arlo Guthrie continues to make music. His wife of 43 years, Jackie Guthrie, died Oct. 14, 2012. The Lenox Square theater was torn down to make way for a food court many years ago.
Happy Urban Legend
A facebook friend posted a commentary at three am. The entire piece would spoil the rythym of this post, so you can read it here. Authorship was credited to a man named Ben Stein. At some point in the affair, Mr. Stein says “Next confession: I am a Jew”.
Evidently, Mr. Stein was not happy about the “war on Christmas”. Every year, about this time, people huff and puff about the way people greet each other between Thanksgiving and Christmas. The “Merry Christmas” sayers are offended that everyone does not same the same words.
It used to be the holiday season was a time of celebration. If you wanted to go crazy about the christian legends, you could. If you wanted to shop until you drop, you were encouraged. If you wanted to eat, drink, and be merry, that was fine too. In fact, the original meaning of merry was drunk.
PG doesn’t mind people saying Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, or Super Solstice. It depends on what kind of soup you are offering. It should be meant as a friendly greeting, an expression of peace on earth, and good will to men. If saying Merry Christmas means that your way of celebrating is better than mine, that leaves out the good will.
Mr. Stein, whoever he is, is entitled to his opinions. What is fun to watch here is the way people embellish the original commentary. Before long, “Billy Graham’s daughter” is running her PK mouth about what G-d was telling us after Hurricane Katrina. It was very similar to what she said about nine eleven. It has been viralized before, and probably will be again. (spell check suggestions: vitalized, liberalized, visualized, trivialized, federalized) These viral things never seem to go away.
PG made a comment about the FB post, and went out. Soon, there was another comment. “Sometimes it doesn’t matter when something was originally written or who modified it afterward, after all this is not court room testimony. This is especially true if the message has meaning. I guess if you can re-release a statement based on current events, and the statement remains applicable, then the statement is relevant. Wouldn’t we all like to say or write timeless dialog. Thanks for sharing it.”
Pictures are from The Library of Congress. This is written like H. P. Lovecraft.
Selling Christian Singles
This stream of consciousness business is not working. It is not even fun to write, and probably less fun to read. WordPress has a gimmick today, Weekly Writing Challenge: Break the Ice. “This week, find five blogs you’ve never read before, and leave substantive comments on each of them. Many of you have blogrolls of your regular reads and subscribe to blogs you love, which is great. Now step outside that circle, and see if you can broaden it.” Under the post is a row of little pictures, representing bloggers who like this post. This is where this adventure will begin.
The first gravatar to get a hit is a smiley face. This is one step outside the comfort zone. The venue is The Other Category, and the top post, written November 13, is Being a Creator. The post is 1193 words about being a creative person, and how the world usually does not understand.
This is something PG relates to. Whenever PG mentions that he makes faux stained glass pictures, someone will say “do you sell them?” The concept of creating something because you enjoy doing it is lost on many people. The only thing that seems to get across is making money.
There was an interview once with a person who had a novel published. This is something PG cannot conceive of… to go beyond these tacky little 600 word blog droppings, and create a full length story. That is just the first step. You have to send it to publishers, and collect rejection letters. But this person did all of these things, while holding down a full time job. So what do people say to this person of achievement? “Are they going to make a movie of it?”
So PG reads this post, and relates to some of what is being said. The trouble is the use of “I”. First person singular is the shortest and stupidest word in the language. When the focus of the author is herself, there is not much room for a reader.
Thank you for saying these things. People who create are often not understood by the rest of humanity. If there is a criticism, it would be the abundant use of “I.”
One of the people leaving comments at “Creator” was author4u. The blog has a nice appearance, with photographs of a woman mixed in with text. The page is dotted with copyright warnings. PG read a short story in two parts, Angel.
The story is fun to read. The fact that it is preposterous is of no concern. A free lance writer is rude to someone, who turns out to be the owner of the company. The owner gets his revenge by acting out a punish-the-bad-little-girl scene. Fifty shades of maroon.
The next gravatar leads to Christopher De Voss. His tag line promises LIFE, HUMOR, AND ZOMBIES. The top story, written November 16, is The Finals Of The World Championship Uno Competition. Uno is a card game for people who don’t like cards. It is easy to pick up on, and can be fun. The last time PG played was at the home of someone named John Igo. This means that it was at least 24 years ago. There is no need to mention ego, or ogo, and canine resident Hugo was well behaved that night. Mr. Igo, who had a few screws loose, was talking about playing Uno in the army using “combat rules”. Whatever.
“Alright, the cards have been dealt, and a yellow number 5 has been reviled to start the round. Play begins with “The Butcher”, he looks at his hand in total concentration…after many minutes of senseless debate he plays a yellow 8. The crowd claps.” How do you revile a card? Yea, he probably meant reveal, and the spell check let one go by. Or maybe Revile is supposed to be relive, and we have to watch this horrible excuse for a reality show again.
The first commenter at the unofest was tales of a charm city chick. Dog owner and lover. Urbanite-Suburbanite. Music addict. Editor. Explorer. Wine enthusiast (Malbec, please). Orange Crush abuser. Anglophile. People watcher. My dream job? Writer, or a Tom Jones back up singer. Well, not Tom Jones now, but Tom Jones in the early ’70s…so let’s go with the writing thing. The top post was part two of something, and after the Angel experience that is not going to happen.
In fact, it is not going to happen at all with CCC. The only post PG read all the way through was her husband requirements, and how he needs to be tough during the zombie attack. But all is not lost. There is a story about a Another Skype Date, and there is a link to Maggie… and she isn’t a douche bag. The top story at Maggie’s place is about two kids who sneak into the fridge to steal ding dongs. With the recent euthanasia of the Hostess company, this is a timely feature.
There was a tacky party in the back yard once. That morning saw me at the Hostess thrift store, buying twenty four dollars worth of twinkies, ding dongs, and other stuff. As many chemicals as those critters had in them, they are probably still edible today. As were the ding dongs in this picture. Why would anyone keep that stuff in the fridge? Maybe you wanted to get the beer and the snacks in one handful.
This is turning out to be not so much fun. There are only so many aspiring writers with anything of interest to say. The last featured blogger today is I Fkkn Rokk. The top story at his venue is The New World Is Scaring The Shit Out Of Me.
It is good form to read the post before you leave a snarky comment. In this case, the post had a link to a previous post, which was about the something the shrink told the author. This post had an ad from Christian Mingle. The ad read “Jesus Christ is Lord. Christian and single? View photos of local Christian singles on Christian Mingle. Browse for Free>>
It was a lot of trouble learning how to read. It was even more trouble opening my eyes this morning. The only reason I did that was because there was a better chance of hitting the commode that way. If I had gone in the back yard, that would not have been necessary. I know you worked really hard on this post, so I read this before leaving a snarky comment. I followed the link to the story about boundaries. I did not browse the photos of local Christian singles at Christian Mingle.
Pictures are from ” The Special Collections and Archives,Georgia State University Library”.
Twitter Bumper Stickers
Yesterday, Israel killed Ahmed Jabari. The IDF is boasting about the killing. As for the question, who is Ahmed Jabari … that depends on who you ask.
The IDF has put out a graphic about the killing. “Planned multiple terrorist attacks that killed Israeli civilians… Commanded the operation to kidnap Gilad Shalit … Ordered Palestinian terrorists to fire thousands of rockets into Israel” Democracy Now tells a different story.
AMY GOODMAN: Mohammed Omer, I wanted to ask you about a new report in the Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz. The Israeli peace activist Gershon Baskin, who helped mediate between Israel and Hamas in the deal to release Gilad Shalit, told the paper that Hamas military commander Ahmed Jabari was assassinated just hours after he received the draft of a permanent truce agreement with Israel, which included mechanisms for maintaining the ceasefire. What do you know about this?
MOHAMMED OMER: Well, this is accurate. This is what some of the Hamas officials are confirming. Now, I should say that the—there is outrage among the Palestinian political parties, particularly Islamic Jihad and Hamas and even PFLP and the more secular movements. They are angry because they say that al-Jabari is known as a moderate and negotiator, just to remind our people that al-Jabari is the one behind the release of the Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. And al-Jabari was the one who’s actually the contact person during this critical time of the year; when there is bombing and F-16s firing and there is a need for truce, al-Jabari is the person to talk on behalf of the Palestinians. So far, the Egyptians will not be able to reach anybody who is able to talk to the Palestinians and to install real truce. It’s exactly like losing Yasser Arafat, who had a lot of influence on the Palestinians. And now we are losing al-Jabari, who has a lot of influence on the military wings of all the political factions, given the fact that he plays a most important role as a Palestinian leader among the Palestinian factions and in the Palestinian street.
AMY GOODMAN: Mohammed Omer, how did this latest violence get started? The Israeli government says it’s because of Hamas rocket fire out of Gaza.
MOHAMMED OMER: Well, there was a truce, actually. There was a truce. And they also made it—they also made—the Israelis made it possible for the people to believe that there was a truce. Otherwise, someone like al-Jabari would not be moving in Gaza City. That’s out of the question. Most of the Hamas leaders, when there is no truce, they won’t be moving. He was driving with his driver or with his bodyguard, Muhammad al-Hums, in the streets of Gaza City. And I happened to be next to this bomb. There was absolutely quietness. There was no need for worry for anybody in Gaza. It was about two days ago where they were installing truce, and al-Jabari was involved in this. It was just a sudden attack by the Israeli F-16 missiles, which hit al-Jabari and caused all this riot and the retaliation, which is coming from both Hamas and other factions who are firing rockets.
And now for something completely different. At twitter, a trending topic today is #HamasBumperStickers. Tweeters are getting ready for some feel good killing.
@lillivonschtupp #hamasbumperstickers i tried to get to heaven and all i got was this lousy shrapnel
@KevinZ418 #HamasBumperStickers – I Never Shower! I Could Die Any Hour!
@JBucknoff #HamasBumperStickers I’m so proud of my husband. He tied a bomb to our 6 yr old daughter & threw her at & killed an innocent Israeli family.
@theeAuthentic “@EDMLounge: My other car blew up your Honor Student #HamasBumperStickers” this is why twitter is amazing @theryanwalsh
@lgyandell #HamasBumperStickers “We Blow Up More Hospitals than ObamaCare”
@alexbrown17 Not a great sign that so many are more offended by #HamasBumperStickers than they are by the actions of Hamas — a TERRORIST organization.
@azola42 My son the blessed suicide bombers eyes were blue – one blew this way one blew that way. #HamasBumperStickers
@mrgeology #hamasbumperstickers –> I blew up my honor roll student.
@unbiased610 5 yr old potential bride for sale for 2 goats #HamasBumperStickers
@BellaPelosi #HamasBumperStickers C-4 It’s not just for Breakfast anymore.
@suzibasterd Is that C4 in your pants or are you just happy to see me? #HamasBumperStickers
@SCUDHunter76 #HamasBumperStickers I miss my ex. Perhaps I shouldn’t have honor killed her.
@davidjkramer #HamasBumperStickers We voted for Obama! Twice!
@NathanWurtzel #HamasBumperStickers Honk If You’re About to be Taken Out by an Israeli Air to Surface Missile Retweeted 1093 times
@joshingstern #HamasBumperStickers Dynamite $250.00 Knapsack $35.00 Ball bearings dipped in arsenic, exploding in an Israeli kindergarden….priceless
@JustCallMeFrank “What’s The Martyr With You?” #HamasBumperStickers
@Onelifetogive #HamasBumperStickers “Ask Me About My Exploding Grandchildren”
@michellemalkin #HamasBumperStickers is still trending. Hamas supporters are still up in arms==> http://is.gd/yzeiQh
@CaptYonah Gaza Auto Sales: We Blow Away The Competition #HamasBumperStickers
@patrickgaley It’s easier than ever now to identify racists and advocates of child murder on twitter. Just follow #HamasBumperStickers
@TheFunnyRacist #HamasBumperStickers My kid can blow up your kid.
Twitter may be over capacity or experiencing a momentary hiccup. Try again or visit Twitter Status for more information.
Pictures are from The Library of Congress.
Flag Lapel Pin Upside Down
As you may notice, this blog sometimes puts up collections of quotes. There is usually a document on the desktop, which serves as a recycling bin. This document also serves as a writing station for comments. The idea is to write the comment out, include all the salient links, before you enter your tidbit of wisdom. Often, a moment of discretion will occur, and the comment will not be posted. Comments never die, at least at Chamblee54. Today, we will have a collection of recent thoughts, some of which are smarter than others.
A typical night in Brookhaven sees PG editing pictures, while listening to “something”. When literally hundreds of regular podcasts, PG can only follow so many. One favorite is Bloggingheads.tv. The viewer at BHTV allows you to make a video clip. This device was invented by Greg Dingle, and is sometimes known as a Dinglelink. It is not known if this is connected to Dingleberries. This device allows the listener to illustrate a comment, with a quote from the discussion. PG even wrote a poem … Imagine a world without David Corn, ~ in which he had never been born, ~ Bob said without any scorn, ~ without a beard that is shorn.
This blog post is interrupted to listen to radio. Every Friday morning, porcine radio whiner Mike Gallagher has Chris Wallace on the show. Today, Mike is heartbroken over the election, asking if it is appropriate to wear his american flag lapel pin upside down as a sign of distress. When Mr. Wallace talks about problems with Hispanic voters, Mr. Gallagher says the Hispanics need to reach out to the republicans, not the other way around.
Getting back to dinglelinks, there is one that stands out. Last summer, certain Atlanta communities were having a group hissy fit about racism and white privilege. While this was going on, Glenn Loury said that African Americans were an extremely privileged people. PG nearly fell out of his chair.
Here is the rest of the collection. Some are calling the POTUS wannabe Money Boo Boo. ~ The Buford/Clairmont Kroger has perhaps the worst parking lot ITP ~ An unnamed source says that Fox News is going to be renamed Wolf News Network, in honor of the little boy who cried wolf. ~ After one hour and fifty seconds of chatter, there was a kumbayah moment. The contestants today kept saying “read the transcript”. Has BHTV started to provide transcripts? This would certainly benefit lazy bloggers who like to discuss your show. ~ Without any effort at coordination, here are the three loose dinglelinks that remain. tongue for truth ~ stupidity of wmr strategy ~ good person.
1- This show , with Dr. and Mr. Loury, was great fun to listen to. There were a few sound recording shortcomings, and Mr. Loury could have been better photographed. 2- Religion is a highly individual affair. Dr. Loury chose to attend a church, and it makes him feel good. I have had the church experience shoved in my face, and it made me unhappy. 3- Mr. Loury made a very insightful comment about politicians co opting a narrative politicians co opting a narrative to get elected. I don’t know whether all politicians do this, but the vast majority do. Certainly the chameleon ex Governor of Massachusetts is borrowing a different narrative every day. 4- Dr. Loury has some great comments about the “black identity” that BHO has assumed. Yes, this is the experience of the descendents of slavery, which BHO is emphatically not. (Did the ancestors of Ann Dunham own slaves?) 5- Dr. Loury had a long list of things that Jeremiah Wright is not. I cannot make a clip for everything. I found myself saying, though, that he might not be this or that, but that the public personality that I have seen is one of an asshole. You should not force white people to listen to that style of preaching and react with anything other than disgust. 6- No discussion of religion is complete without the baby and the bathwater. 7- If you disagree with the basic beliefs of a religion, you are unlikely to change your mind because they condemn your sexuality.
1- Another thing to consider is that a lot of things get posted, and sometimes some people miss a few. I honestly don’t have a clue what this discussion is about. I am not sure that I want to know. 2- Many of the race oriented discussions get very heated. There is a lot of people typing first, and maybe thinking later. You take a real chance when you comment in one of these discussions. Life is short, and I am not sure I want to spend part of mine being attacked on facebook. 3- There is an element of supremicism in anti racism. There seems to be a bully element, of people whipping up on others because they don’t like their attitudes about race.
The Chris Stevens who was killed was a diplomat. ~ “And so then I told her, I ain’t eat none of that pork or fish or whatever– all I trust is chicken and Jesus!” ~ Is there anyone who doesn’t want to march, but would like to find a spot to sit down and watch the parade? There is going to be a faerie viewing area in front of the Fox Theater during the parade tomorrow. All are welcome to join, especially those that bring snacks. ~ “A mathematician is a blind man in a dark room looking for a black cat, which isn’t there.” – Charles Darwin ~ The phrase I heard was “you throw like a girl”. There is an active/passive duality in throwing and catching. ~ E-Mail Filter effective immediately: Dear friends: In order to avoid repeating the last four years of discussion and anxiety please be aware that we have added another filter to our e-mails: Filter name: OBAMA contains OBAMA begins with OBAMA ends with OBAMA Send to: SPAM
After the knee jerk joke in the first comment, I felt obligated to read your feature. It seems that atheism is more closely related to Jesus Worship Religion than many realize. They are both belief based systems. You replace one set of beliefs with another. You seek validation through the conversion of others. I have my experience with the belief/disbelief cycle. To me, the goal is to live a compassionate life, and block out as much noise as possible. Sometimes my body chemistry looks for a reason to be unhappy, and Jesus is always there to remember. I don’t know what the answer is. I have written about this many times at my blog, chamblee54. I find that often when I write about these issues, I feel more unhappy than before I started. At least I can put some pictures up. The theme of chamblee54 is pretty pictures and ugly opinions. At least expressing these opinions in a written form allows the target to skip over the text. It also allows me to finish my sentence without being interrupted. Perhaps the number one problem with Jesus worshipers is the eagerness to interrupt and say things that please themselves. This is another function of the belief paradigm.
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For the record, the name is pronounced BAH decker.(spell check suggestion:pecker) Just remember Bah Humbug. ~ I made a comment, regarding this comment. A man says, referring to abortion, that all life is precious. “How can you say all life is precious, but make an exception for someone in Iran, because you say the dictator wants a nuclear weapon.” “Wanhope” replied… “All life is precious … except when the life in question is being lived in a nation that does (or seems to) threaten America. It is then still precious, but must go away. ” ~ This was written like David Foster Wallace. Mr. Wallace should not be used as a role model. Pictures are from The Library of Congress.
Christian Privilege
There is a lot of chatter about privilege these days. Where people used to talk about racism, today the buzzword is privilege. Chamblee54 has tried to contribute to the dialog (polylog) with recent posts about black privilege and white privilege. This is a repost.
One day recently, PG was exercising his vehicular privilege. The thought occured to him about another form of privilege. This privilege is stronger than race based privilege. In fact, many of the people, who whine about white privilege, benefit from this privilege. The president of privilege in America is Christian Privilege. (CP)
If you ask Mr. Google about CP, you get 3.6 million results. The first few give us plenty of text for this feature. A report about CP from About.com Agnosticism / Atheism has the traditional list of examples. The last few paragraphs tell more about the story.
A nonconscious ideology is analogous to the water fish swim in: fish don’t think of the water as wet because this environment is all they know — it structures their experience of life itself. Water simply is. Members of privileged groups don’t have to think about their environment because, for them, that environment simply is. They don’t have to be concerned about others’ opinions because it’s safe to assume that most think like them.
Those who don’t benefit from such an environment do have to think about it all the time because they are so susceptible to being harmed by it. For members of less privileged groups, what others think matters a great deal because their opinions and actions control access to the larger benefits of society. Fish don’t have to think about the water; mammals must remain conscious of it at all times lest they drown.
In most of the examples here, we can replace Christian/religion with male/gender or white/race and come up with the same results: examples of how our social, political, and cultural environment reinforce the dominance of one group over others. Male privilege and white privilege are closely related to Christian privilege because they have all been undermined by modernity and have all become part of America’s Culture Wars.
Christians realize that many of the above privileges are in decline. They interpret this as persecution because privilege is all they have ever known. The same is true when men complain about the decline of male privilege and whites complain about the decline of white privilege. The defense of privilege is a defense of dominance and discrimination, but for those who benefit it’s a defense of their traditional way of life. They need to become conscious of their privileges and realize that in a free society, such privileges are inappropriate.
A blog called Shakesville weighs in with On “Real” Christians and Christian Privilege . It tells the story of being asked not to identify Ann Coulter as a Christian. PG totally understands being embarassed by Ms. Coulter. There was a radio show once, with Ann Coulter promoting a book and PG listening. Some famous person was mentioned, and Ms. Coulter started to make jokes about what would happen to this famous person when he died. The line was that when he gets to heaven, he is going to wish he had been a Christian. This assumption that your ideas about life after death are correct, and universally practiced, is one especially vile example of CP.
The feature at Shakesville (which is easier to pronounce than Shakespearessister) is about how many people deflect complaints about bad behavior by saying “He is not really a Christian”. This is unsatisfactory on a number of levels. Many of the “good” Christians support “bad” Christians in their evil work. This excuse is one reason why PG prefers to say Jesus Worshiper to describe the members of this tribe. Shakes addresses this issue: “Frankly, it’s hurtful to me when Christians address what happened to me by saying, “Those aren’t real Christians,” expecting me to salve their discomfort about the baggage of privilege by not disagreeing. People who would never in a million years think to try to console a victim of a hate crime with “All [white/straight/cis/abled] people aren’t like that!” nonetheless responded that way to me when I was targeted and threatened by droves of self-identified Christians.”
Shakes is a good writer. She says things much better than this slack blogger. Maybe we should just let her explain a few things.
Christianity has a 2,000-year history that has seen countless iterations of the religion based on countless interpretation of the text and shaped to fit countless times and spaces and needs in disparate cultures all around the world. Christians have done great things, and not-so-great things—and anyone who makes the personal choice to carry the Christian mantle associates themselves with a history that includes all the good stuff and all the shitty stuff, too. One can’t say, “I only associate with the good Christianity—not the inquisitions and the genocides and the warmongering and the colonialism and the institutional misogyny, homophobia, transphobia, racism, anti-Semitism…”
That’s all part of Christianity’s legacy, too—and it just isn’t intellectually honest to say, “Well, those weren’t real Christians.” Yes, they were. And so are the Christians who do shitty stuff today. They might not be the same kind of Christian as you are, but they are nonetheless Christians.
Christianity, at least (and especially) in America, is a privilege—and, like any privilege, it can be uncomfortable to face the ugly reality of what other members of a privileged class can do to non-privileged folks, even if you don’t do it yourself. I’m white, I’m straight, I’m cisgender: I understand the impulse to distance oneself. But as a white person, I am obliged to acknowledge that the history of white supremacy in America is one of slavery, of lynchings, of segregation, of sundown towns, of internment camps, of genocide, and of all manner of institutionalized racism. I don’t get to say (nor do I want to) that the KKK aren’t “real” white people. They sure as hell are.
That Christianity is a chosen privilege does not mean its members can claim a lower standard of rigorous self-examination. And it doesn’t mean that less privileged Christians, i.e. progressive Christians, can claim a lower standard, either, just because the more privileged Christians marginalize them. Poor whites don’t get to disclaim their white privilege just because they are further marginalized by their lack of wealth.
In fact, chosen privileges demand, if anything, a higher standard of self-examination, because one has a choice whether to participate in the privilege. But so often, the fact that Christianity is a choice is instead used to deny the effects of that privilege altogether—”I’m not one of those Christians; I’m one of the good ones!”
The AP Race Study
The first link was from the Washington Post. The AP story is coming to a media outlet near you. The headline is AP poll: A slight majority of Americans are now expressing negative view of Blacks.
There are so many windows in that glass house. This is a 3-S problem: sampling, semantics, statistics. It is said that people will believe anything you say, if you can trot out a study that agrees with you. This *matter* requires a bit of examination.
AP reports “The explicit racism measures asked respondents whether they agreed or disagreed with a series of statements about Black and Hispanic people. In addition, the surveys asked how well respondents thought certain words, such as “friendly,” ‘’hardworking,” ‘’violent” and “lazy,” described Blacks, whites and Hispanics.
The same respondents were also administered a survey designed to measure implicit racism, in which a photo of a Black, Hispanic or white male flashed on the screen before a neutral image of a Chinese character. The respondents were then asked to rate their feelings toward the Chinese character. Previous research has shown that people transfer their feelings about the photo onto the character, allowing researchers to measure racist feelings even if a respondent does not acknowledge them.”
The AP article has a link to a 34 page report about the study. The “implicit” questions using Chinese characters were not discussed in this report. The first 12 pages are mostly about the November election.
Page 13 has a bizarre bit of data. The 2010 answers will be on the left, followed by a dash, with the 2012 percentage on the right. For Mitt Romney, only 2012 results are available. This is weird, and it calls the overall accuracy of the study into question.
IMG4. Do you happen to know the religion of each of the following people? If you don’t know, you can mark that too. Barack Obama Protestant 26-28, Catholic 4-5, Mormon 0-0, Jewish 0-18, Muslim 17-10, Some other religion 8-2, No religion 2-35, Don’t Know 41-2, Refused/not answered 1-28 Mitt Romney Protestant 2, Catholic 2, Mormon 67, Jewish 0, Muslim 0, Some other religion 1, No religion 0, Don’t Know 26, Refused/not answered 2.
There are two more pages of questions about the election, and then the race questions start. RAC7. How much do you like or dislike each of the following groups? The possible answers are Like a great deal, Like a moderate amount, Like a little, Neither like nor dislike, Dislike a little, Dislike a moderate amount, Dislike a great deal, Refused/Not answered. Whites went first, followed by Blacks and Hispanics. (The term African Americans was not seen by this reporter.)
After some more election questions, we get another race question. RAC8. When it comes to politics, would you say that each of the groups listed below has too much influence, just about the right amount of influence, or to little influence? The question was repeated for, in this order, Whites, Blacks, Elderly people, Wealthy people, Hispanics, and Immigrants.
The next question is RAC11, one of the “explicit” questions. It was asked first about Blacks, then Whites, then Hispanics. How well does each of these words describe most _____? The words were friendly, determined to succeed, law abiding, hard working, intelligent at school, smart at everyday things, good neighbors, dependable, keep up their property, violent, boastful, complaining, lazy, irresponsible.
Lets take a time out, and say a couple of things. This is a long article, and may get your blood pressure upset. If you want to skip the rest of the text, and look at the pictures, that is all right. If you want to see the results for these questions, look at this report. If you have read this far, you might agree with the author that this survey was not exactly fair, and should not be taken very seriously. Take another look at how many people think Barack Obama is a Jew.
RAC12. Please indicate how much you agree or disagree with the following statements. The choices are: Strongly disagree, Somewhat disagree, Neither agree nor disagree, Somewhat agree, Strongly agree, Refused/Not answered. The statements are:
* Irish, Italians, Jewish, and other minorities overcame prejudice and worked their way up.
* Blacks should do the same without special favors
* It’s really a matter of some people just not trying hard enough; if Blacks would only try harder, they could just be as well off as whites
* Generations of slavery have created conditions that make it difficult for Blacks to work their way out of the lower class
* Blacks are demanding too much from the rest of society
* Over the past few years, Blacks have gotten LESS than they deserve
* Most Blacks who receive money from welfare programs could get along without it if they tried
Government officials usually pay less attention to a request or complaint from a Black person than from a white person
* Over the past few years, Blacks have gotten more ECONOMICALLY than they deserve
RAC13. Some people say that Black leaders have been trying to push too fast. Others feel that they haven’t pushed fast enough. What do you think?
RAC14. How much of the racial tension that exists in the United States today do you think ______ are responsible for creating? This was asked first about Blacks, then Whites, then Hispanics.
RAC15. How much discrimination against ______ do you feel there is in the United States today, limiting their chances to get ahead? The possible answers were A lot, Some, Just a little, None at all, Refused/Not answered. This was asked about, in this order, Blacks, Whites, Hispanics, Asians, Men, Women, Evangelical Christians, and Immigrants.
The questions shift back to Barack Obama at this point. BKS1. How similar do you think Barack Obama is to most Black Americans? BTH1. Where was Barack Obama born, as far as you know? On page 29, the demographic information section starts. Special emphasis is given to the religion of the respondent. On page 33, the traditional demographics are covered: age, gender, education, race, census region, and marital status. The respondents were not asked about income.
The poll was taken by GFK. 1,071 adults were interviewed, August 30 – September 11, 2012. The survey was conducted online. “METHODOLOGY The survey was conducted using the web-enabled KnowledgePanel®, a probability-based panel designed to be representative of the U.S. population. Initially, participants are chosen scientifically by a random selection of telephone numbers and residential addresses. Persons in selected households are then invited by telephone or by mail to participate in the web-enabled KnowledgePanel®. For those who agree to participate, but do not already have Internet access, GfK provides at no cost a laptop and ISP connection. People who already have computers and Internet service are permitted to participate using their own equipment. Panelists then receive unique log-in information for accessing surveys online, and then are sent emails throughout each month inviting them to participate in research.”
People have been linking to the WP story on facebook, with a variety of comments. These comments probably say more about the commenter, than it does about race relations in America. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress.
UPDATE Page thirteen of the report has been updated. Apparently, the correct results show that 18% of respondents think BHO is a Muslim, with 0% thinking he is Jewish. HT to xdog.
Send This To All Of Your Friends
The following is chain email. The message has been altered slightly. This reply was not sent out in less than an hour, so the beneficial effects may not kick in on schedule. It is hoped that the voluminous traffic at Chamblee54 will make up the difference. The pictures are from a variety of sources. Many are from an appearance by Sarah Palin in Atlanta. The speech was a rally for Karen Handel, who was running for Governor. Mrs. Handel became notorious later as a bungling executive at the Susan G. Komen Foundation. For the Buckhead rally, Mrs. Handel wore a pink suit.
AN IRISH FRIENDSHIP WISH
May there always be work for your hands to do;
May your purse always hold a coin or two;
May the sun always shine on your windowpane;
May a rainbow be certain to follow each rain;
May the hand of a friend always be near you;
May God fill your heart with gladness to cheer you..
OK, this is what you have to do…Send this to all of your friends! But – you HAVE to send this within 1 hour From when you open it! Now…………..Make A wish!!!!! I hope you made your wish! Now then, if you send to: 1 person — your wish will be granted in 1 year ~ 3 people — 6 months ~ 5 people — 3 months ~ 6 people — 1 month ~ 7 people — 2 weeks ~ 8 people — 1 week ~ 9 people — 5 days ~ 10 people — 3 days ~ 12 people – — 2 days ~ 15 people — 1 day ~ 20 people — 3 hours ~ If you delete this after you read it . You will have 1 year of bad luck! But .. If you send it to 2 of your friends you will automatically have 3 years of good luck!!! )
I had to forward this, my mom swears it works. The day after she sent it, they got an offer on their land on the Swannee river, they haven’t even seen that land since 1987. It came out of the blue. So you know that I’m going to try it. Love Kim ~ Not sure if this had anything to do with it but it was shortly after I sent this out – I got a call to say our bond was approved – against all odds. ~ I don’t know if it works but I won a new fridge full of various cool drinks from Beyer and Beyer last week. ~ I do not know if it works, but I won a microwave yesterday Seems like it Hey !! ~ I hope this works my son could use a really good job!!!!!!! ~ Good luck to everyone! And may all your dreams come true!! ~ This may sound nuts, but my husband got this the other day and sent it off. About 10 minutes later a really good financial windfall happened for his son Sean who he had sent it too as well. One of the people he sent it to was responsible for the windfall. ~ “Do or Do not. There is no try.” Yoda ~ “I would rather live my life as if there is a God and die to find out there isn’t, than live my life as if there isn’t and die to find out there is.” Albert Camus
No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG – http://www.avg.com/ Version: 9.0.930 / Virus Database: 2441.1.1/5296 – Release Date: 09/28/12 04:22:00 This message cannot be displayed because of the way it is formatted. Ask the sender to send it again using a different format or email program. multipart/mixed. This message cannot be displayed because of the way it is formatted. Ask the sender to send it again using a different format or email program. multipart/alternative. This was written like James Joyce.
Mannequin Insurance
A recent chamblee54 post ended with a reference to The Huffington Post. In a moment of weakness, PG called the internet facility Puffington Host. It made a clever title for about an hour, when it occurred to ask Mr. Google what he thought. It seems like other people have thought that Puff Ho is a good title.
The top result at google is usually paid for. Today it is The Puffington Host “The internet rolling paper news blog video cannmunity.” This is a festive website about marijuana. It has a header ad for a hydroponic growing system.
Blogspot has it’s own version of the HP trope. In the best blogspot tradition, there was only one post. “Bare Breasts and Wankery on Sunday is Dead! Long live Bare Breasts and Wankery on a Sunday! P.S. Now that ‘South Sudan’ is officially taken, I need a new nickname for my penis. I originally chose ‘South Sudan’ because of its location on the body and its tragic history.” There were no comments.
This is one idea for a post that ran out of steam early. Perhaps we should include a link from the Daily Bleach, 10 Females Who are Forcing Your Son to Masturbate. Michelle Obama is included, to the envy of Hillary Rodham Clinton. Just to show a lack of media bias, DB reports Did Joe Biden Laugh During The VP Debate to Cover the Sound of Him Farting?
For peachy purple prose, it is tough to top The 5 Most Dangerous Homosexuals in America. The winner if Joe Jervis of JoeMyGod. This is something, considering what is in fourth place.
#4: Any Black Gay Man. … “You will never see a black gay during the day time, as they fair losing ‘street credit’, but be sure when their skin is cloaked by the night skin, their homosexual urges come alive, just like how a werewolf rips itself from the human flesh once the moon’s light shines on it.”
A commenter, Gary Buttchug, added: “I am not gay, and I think just because anyone sucks a few other dudes off, people should not lump them in with the regular homosexuals. I hate it when people do that to me.” OK, so this satire is in bad taste. Maybe it is time to paste in a story from facebook.
A woman brought a very limp duck into a veterinary surgeon’s office. As she laid her pet on the table, the vet pulled out his stethoscope and listened to the bird’s chest. After a moment or two, the vet shook his head and sadly said, “I’m sorry, your duck, Cuddles, has passed away.”The distressed woman wailed, “Are you sure?” “Yes, I am sure. Your duck is dead,” replied the vet..”How can you be so sure?” she protested. “I mean you haven’t done any testing on him or anything. He might just be in a coma or something. “The vet rolled his eyes, turned around and left the room. He returned a few minutes later with a black Labrador Retriever. As the duck’s owner looked on in amazement, the dog stood on his hind legs, put his front paws on the examination table and sniffed the duck from top to bottom. He then looked up at the vet with sad eyes and shook his head. The vet patted the dog on the head and took it out of the room. A few minutes later he returned with a cat. The cat jumped on the table and also delicately sniffed the bird from head to foot. The cat sat back on its haunches, shook its head, meowed softly and strolled out of the room.The vet looked at the woman and said, “I’m sorry, but as I said, this is most definitely, 100% certifiably, a dead duck.” The vet turned to his computer terminal, hit a few keys and produced a bill, which he handed to the woman. The duck’s owner, still in shock, took the bill. “$150!” she cried, “$150 just to tell me my duck is dead!” The vet shrugged, “I’m sorry. If you had just taken my word for it, the bill would have been $20, but with the Lab Report and the Cat Scan, it’s now $150.
Page 43
There is an audio file available called Water Brothers. It is a benefit concert performed by David Crosby, Graham Nash, and Neil Young. After performing “Almost Cut My Hair”, Mr. Crosby starts to talk. “I’m going to sing the most positive song that I’ve written recently For a long time I didn’t write any positive songs, my friends used to puke when they saw me coming.” The song was Page 43.
Look around again It’s the same old circle
You see,it’s got to be It says right here on page 43
That you should grab a hold of it Else you’ll find It’s passed you by
Rainbows all around Can you find the silver and gold?
It’ll make you old The river can be hot or cold
And you should dive right into ‘It Else you’ll find It’s passed you by
Pass it ’round one more time I think I’ll have a swallow of wine
Life is fine Even with the ups and downs
And you should have a sip of it Else you’ll find It’s passed you by
These lyrics are courtesy of Lyrics007. The page is sponsored by McDonald’s Dollar Menu University.
Snopes has a piece about Page 43, sponsored by KIA and Maytag. It seems that some people think the song title refers to a page in the Old Testament. PG thinks it was chosen because it rhymes with “got to be.” There was a spot in the song for those three beats.
To pad out this post a bit, a visit to page 43 of the Old Testament will be made. The Bible used was given to PG by his parents on his birthday in 1962. It was published by The World Publishing Company, 2231 West 110 Street, Cleveland 2, Ohio.
Page 43 is verses 4 through 36 of Genesis 41. “4 And the cows that were ugly and gaunt ate up the seven sleek, fat cows. Then Pharaoh woke up.” The Pharoh had a dream that troubled him. A wise man was consulted, who told of seven years of famine to come. A portion of the crops, from the prosperous years, was to be held in reserve, for the years of famine. “36 This food should be held in reserve for the country, to be used during the seven years of famine that will come upon Egypt, so that the country may not be ruined by the famine.”
There is one part of the song that PG has doubts about. The third part is about drinking. Those gifted with moderation can swim in this river. Others need to get to the shore before they drown. There is a time to enjoy your life, and there is also a time to lay off the jug. If you don’t keep a portion of your good harvest in reserve, life will run over you while it is passing you by.
This was written like Kurt Vonnegut.
Pictures are from “The Special Collections and Archives,Georgia State University Library”.
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