The Tweet Goes On
Part of the fun of a free press is checking in on those you disagree with. When a man posts his twitterfeed on a blog, anyone can see what he thinks. When it is a Jesus worship blog, with a taste for drooling right wing politics, the tweet can’t be beat.
The big story is the movie, and the rioting among the faithful. In a logical world, this would be a problem for BHO. This is not a logical world. Both tweets discuss this matter. And so, here are the twoubbling tweets.
@BibChr Absolutely infuriating: bit.ly/PuARWF. If only it were parody… but these are the lofty watchdogs of liberty. (No offense, dogs)
@Frank_Turk @theanchoress: Anti-Islam Filmmaker Donated Million Dollars To Obama Campaign shar.es/uYtbh via @sharethis”
The first one links to a feature written by Mark Steyn. PG heard him on the radio once. Mr. Steyn said, referring to the war in Iraq, “They have their ribbons and banners ordered for the defeat celebration.” This was before the surge. Part of the surge strategy was for the press to declare victory. When this was said, the talking points included the term defeatocrat.
“If, like me, you’ve been wondering why the US media has all but totally failed to cover the real issues in the Benghazi murders and the embassy seizures, wonder no more. … (JOE SCARBOROUGH:) If Mitt Romney had kept his mouth shut, if he had not acted like a rank amateur, if he had not embarrassed himself–and by the way internally the campaign understands they screwed up, he’s moved on, they know that… But Romney got in the way of the media looking at the president, going, wha-, wha-, what happened here? How did this happen? Now, those questions are going to be asked in the coming weeks. But they weren’t asked in the first 24 hours because Romney was holding this horrific, irresponsible, press conference.”
Sometimes, it is tough to tell who is complaining about what. Since this is a wingnut, it is safe to assume he was whining about the media. That is what they do. When the message does not please you, you whine about the messenger.
The truth is, WMR should have muttered some platitudes about sympathy for the families. Instead, he said that a wretched movie is “American Values”. This did take attention away from questions about why the embassies are not secured better.
This seems to be a pattern with WMR. During the GOP convention, he was supposed to have a national audience for his speech. Instead, Clint Eastwood had a conversation with a empty chair. When you provide a lunatic sideshow, the main news item gets pushed aside.
Tweet number two has a great title: Anti-Islam Filmmaker Donated Million Dollars To Obama Campaign. When you go there, you note that it is Breitbart.tv. You start to hear an auto start video before long. Auto start may be the single most annoying thing on the internet.
When PG went to the link, the first thought was the *person* who created the video. The producer is a bit of a mysterious character, which should be fun for conspiracy fans. However, “Sam Bacile” was not the “Anti Islam Filmmaker”. (Spell check suggestion for Bacile: Bacilli)
“Bill Maher made a comedy/documentary called “Religulous” that’s most famous for mercilessly mocking Christianity. But what people forget is that the last twenty-minutes or so of the film make a damning case against Islam. Bill Maher made a film that mocked Islam. Oh, yes, he did. Bill Maher also contributed $1 million to a pro-Obama super PAC.”
Pictues today are from The Library of Congress.
Nine Eleven Story
This is my 911 story. I repeat it every year at this time. Pictures today are from ” The Special Collections and Archives,Georgia State University Library”.
I was at work, and someone called out that someone had run a plane into the World Trade Center. I didn’t think much of it, until I heard that the second tower had been hit, then the Pentagon, then the towers collapsed, then a plane crashed in Pennsylvania.
I focused on my job most of the day. There was always a lot of melodrama at that facility, and concentrating on my production duties helped to keep me saner. This was roughly the halfway point of my seven year tenure at this place.
One of the other workers was a bully for Jesus. He was a hateful loudmouth. After the extent of the damage became known, he shouted “They are doing this for Allah,” and prayed at his desk. The spectacle of the BFJ praying made me want to puke.
I became alienated from Jesus during these years. Once, I had once been tolerant of Christians and Jesus, as one would be with an eccentric relative. I began to loath the entire affair. I hear of others who found comfort in religion during this difficult time. That option simply was not available for me.
Avatar Of The Modern Age
PG has reread How to choose a guru, by Rick Chapman. The book is a look at spirituality of all sorts, with a special emphasis on Meher Baba.
HTCAG can be a frustrating book. The main focus is on finding a “perfect master”, and the path to enlightenment under his guidance. If one is not inclined to this level of dedication, you can be left feeling inferior. This is similar to the despair people feel when they think they are going to go to hell, because they don’t have the correct ideas about Jesus.
Thie book takes a look at spirit from the perspective of all religions. A central concept is the avatar, the idea of G-d become man. (This was long before the movie with a similar title.) The avatars of recorded history include Zoroaster, Rama, Krishna, Buddha, Jesus, and Mohammed. Some say that Meher Baba is the modern avatar.
Mr. Chapman has a knack for phrasing. There are expressions that PG remembers from reading HTCAG in 1978. They are still there 34 years later.
Creation First, there was G-d. Then, there’s you. Then, there is G-d.
Speculation The average persons speculation about consciousness…has “the stink but not the weight of his turd”
Evangelism An authentic Master will encourage you to let your life itself be his message.
Good Thoughts, Good Words, Good Deeds Don’t be sidetracked by elaborate creeds and doctrines- the truth is as simple as it is profound. From the ancient teachings of Zoraster to today, these three principles have been the heart of the message of every G-d realized Master.
Books “Excellent guides until you find the Way.”–Abu Sa’id
Books Part Two …the scriptures of the past compare to the writings of a present-day Perfect Master just about the way that dust compares to honey.
Satan Worship If you have been toying with the thought that any form of Satan worship can lead you to higher consciousness, sober up by reading the story of Dr. Faustus. There are many paths to enlightenment, but this back alley isn’t one of them.
Sex A real guru never has any form of sexual relations with his followers. If a person posing as a guru tries to seduce you in the physical sense, then you can have no clearer indication that he is a phony, a pathetic and hypocritical collection of unresolved desires.
Truth, Old and New One time the Buddha was approached by a young man who was skeptical about Gautama’s renowned divine status. “Does the Blessed One teach a path that is new and original?” he asked. One of the Buddha’s close disciples, Sariputta, turned his gaze from the Master to the skeptic and replied, “If the Blessed One taught a path that was new and original, He would not be the Blessed One!” “Well said, Sariputta,” smiled the Buddha, “well said.”
Several of these quotes are available in copy/paste form at Meher Baba Information, for which this reporter says thank you. This site says that Rick Chapman is a follower of Meher Baba, and met him in 1966. This relationship is never made explicit in HTCAG. A glowing chapter is devoted to Meher Baba, and this relationship is not surprising. Still, HTCAG might be a bit more upfront if this relationship was clearly spelled out.
Meher Baba was born February 25, 1894 with the name Merwan Sheriar Irani. The name Meher Baba means “compassionate father”. From July 10, 1925 until his death January 31, 1969, he maintained silence, and communicated by gestures that were interpreted by his followers. Meher Baba believed that he was the avatar of our age.
With all of it’s human imperfections, HTCAG is a valuable book. It is easy to read, will expose you to ideas about spirit, and get you to think. When you grow up in a Jesus Worship tradition, one can be aware of a spirit within. At the same time, you get tired of the obsession with life after death. You sense that there is more to G-d than scheming to live after you die. HTCAG shows one path.
This is a repost. It was written like Vladimir Nabokov. Pictures are from The Library of Congress.
Schmoozing My Religion
This is a repost. Pictures are from The Library of Congress.
Abraham at twentytwowords wrote… “When I asked about churches last week, some of you reminded me you’re not Christian.So…Non-Christian readers, what (non)religion are you?” That is 23 words.
PG answered the original post “home churched”. He decided to answer the follow up question. Unlike most of the others to answer, PG wanted to keep this under 22 words.
There is a tradition in the Baptist Church to make a “profession of faith”, usually when the kid is around 10. For various reasons, PG never did this, and was never baptized. PG decided when he was 17 to quit attending. He has been to Briarcliff Baptist one time since then…he worked for Redo Blue, and delivered a set of plans to the church office.
PG went back and forth on the religion issue. In 1979, there was a week in Camp K, a moonie facility. After reading, thinking, and prayer, PG chose to live in harmony with esus worshipers. Jesus was like an eccentric, though lovable, relative.
There were seven hellish years working closely with the Bully for Jesus. By the end of that experience, PG was alienated from Jesus. He wished to never hear the J-name mentioned again. Living in the Jesus happy United States, PG could seldom go 24 hours without having Jesus shoved in his face.
After a another temper tantrum by the BFJ, PG wrote down two sentences. “I am not interested in your opinions about G-d, The Bible, Jesus, or life after death. My opinions about G-d, The Bible, Jesus, or life after death are none of your business.”
There probably is not a religion that PG could fit into without a lot of shoehorning. Atheist is out, because PG suspects that there is a G-d. What form she takes is a matter of dispute. As for belief, PG questions that belief is the proper approach to G-d.
Agnostic sounds like something you would blow out of your nose. Judaism is a party that PG is not invited to. Buddhism makes some good points, but PG is awfully occidental. As for christianism, PG sees Jesus in the words and deeds of his believers. In his seven years at redo blue, PG saw an estimated 1400 hours of loud, hateful ministry. I am not talking to you!
As for the obsession with life after death that infects Jesus worship, PG feels pity and disgust. This is not a good focus for a religious practice, nor does it excuse verbal abuse. PG has ideas about life after death, but this post is waaay over 22 words.
PG decided that this label thing was not going to work. Labels belong on jars, and PG’s hair is a half inch over jarhead level. The best solution was to write a list of beliefs. The good news here is that numbers do not count against the total of 22 words.
1. My beliefs are my business. 2. Practice outweighs belief. 3. G-d probably exists. 4. G-d does not write books. 5. Jesus has nothing to do with Life after death.
This is 25 words. Three words need to go. Line 4 states that G-d does not write books. This implies that G-d does, indeed, exist. Line 3 can be eliminated, and the answer reduced to 22 words.
Copy Someone’s Status Word For Word
PG was suffering a bout of writer’s tackle. He had a post about G-d and the Democratic convention, but that involves both politics and religion. A couple of paragraphs should knock it out. Then the important topic can be addressed.
Here is the Christian Science Monitor. Two cents just won’t buy what it used to.
“For your undecided voter in Nevada, North Carolina, in Florida, in Ohio, in Pennsylvania – those key swing states, yeah, of course G-d matters,” says Davis Houck, a communications professor at Florida State University in Tallahassee. “And that’s why Obama basically said, ‘You better put that back in – we can’t be seen as the party taking G-d out of the platform.’
Are you smarter than an atheist? A religious quiz
Support for Mr. Obama among religious voters was high in several key states in 2008 and could be key again in 2012. “In an election as close as this one will be, we can’t ignore something as central to most Americans as faith,” Democratic political consultant Eric Sapp wrote on Huffington Post in June.”
Just for the sake of comparison, lets look at Exodus 20:7, better known as the Third Commandment. Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy G-d in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.
PG thinks this is about the proper use of a sacred name. Including the G word into a political document, to influence the “undecided voter” in a “key swing state,” is not a proper use for a sacred name.
Now, putting politics and religion in the rear view mirror, where they belong, it is time to talk about facebook. The fundamental facebook deed is posting a “status”. This is a curious word for this act, but that’s what people call it.
PG was staring at the screen, battling sloth and negative attitude, and checked in on facebook. Someone wrote “One day I want to copy someone’s status word for word and see if they notice.” PG pasted it to his wall. A cousin in Connecticut clicked like, A friend commented “How do we know you didn’t just do that?” Another person wrote “One day I want someone to copy my status word for word and see if I notice.” Several people pasted that onto the wall. Good times.
Part of left click land is the option to googlize the phrase you have highlighted. For “One day I want to copy someone’s status word for word and see if they notice,” there are 2.9 million results. The top result was by Know your meme.
“Sometimes I Just Want To Copy Someone Else’s Status, Word For Word, And See If They Notice” is a copypasta that virally spread through Twitter and Facebook in late August 2010. The humorous, self-referential text inspired over 1,500 replicate instances of the identical sentence in less than 12 hours. Due to its self-referential nature (i.e., a tweet on the subject of tweeting), it can be seen as an example of meta-discussion.
The earliest known instance of the copypasta tweet was posted by Twitter user @BtoColorado August 18, 2010. On August 24th, Twitter user @DazWolf retweeted the message. It largely went unnoticed. On August 26th, @tim_waters, from Leeds, UK, retweeted the same message at 10:42 a.m. (EST). (Spell Check suggestion for retweeted: regretted) Water’s tweet brought the copypasta into spotlight in the United Kingdom. The trend continued to spread through Facebook status updates.
At 10:52 a.m. (EST), @elspethjane of New York City tweeted the message to her 3,100 followers, quickly picking up coverage from several internet culture blogs like Huffington Post, Urlesque, and TechCrunch among others. The meme was also cited as an example in the article “What Defines a Meme?” published in May 2011 issue of Smithsonian Magazine.”
If you ask Mr. Google for results on the phrase “copy my status”, the top result is a yahoo forum. The question is How do I cut copy and paste into my status on facebook.? This thread was started by terry v (A Top Contributor is someone who is knowledgeable in a particular category.) “I can not do this”.
There is a facebook community, One day i wanna copy someones status word for word and see if they notice. It is liked sixteen times. The only posting is from a spamspinner … “A few guru marketing friends have released a product teaching people how to make money on Facebook.”
There is a Christian website, People I Want to Punch in the Throat On Wednesday, April 27, 2011, the winner was “People Who Post Annoying Things on Facebook.” Unsubscribing is just as effective as resorting to violence. This person did have an amusing commentary on the putrid concept of reposting popular slogans.
There are a lot of annoying posts on Facebook. Let’s see if I can cover the basics: 1. Anything to do with vomit and/or diarrhea. WTH? Who shares this stuff? Why did you think we needed to know this? At least it’s usually it’s kid-centered – I can handle that a lot better than I can hearing about YOUR diarrhea! “Guess who woke up early from his nap and spread his poo poo all over the wall? Uh oh. Silly, King! I’ll post pictures later! ;)”
3. Challenges to repost stuff. You know those ones. They’re about moms, husbands, brothers, sisters special needs kids, cancer survivors, idiots, etc. My mom is the best mom, blah, blah, blah if you love your mom repost this. My kids are the best kids in the world, blah, blah, blah, repost if you agree.
There’s always that one that says something like “let’s see who reposts this” like it’s some kind of gauntlet they’ve thrown down. Psht! If you know me at all, you’ll know a challenge is the worst way to motivate me. I live to break chain letters and this is just another stupid chain letter.
5. People who announce they’re leaving FB. Have you seen any of these? I’d never seen one until a few weeks ago. Now I’ve seen a couple more. They say something like, Life has become too busy and I can’t keep up with Facebook so I’ve decided to leave. Farewell friends and keep in touch!
I’m not sure what I’m supposed to do with this info. Am I supposed to beg them to stay? “No, Joanne, please don’t leave, I love reading your creepy foreplay posts!” Am I supposed to post less so they have less to read on Facebook and then won’t feel so overwhelmed? And what’s with the “keep in touch?” I keep in touch through Facebook, I don’t even know your phone number and I’m never gonna write you a damn letter – so you’re right, I guess this is farewell!
8. Boring posts. These are some actual posts over the last several weeks: … Before you think I’m all high and mighty and NEVER post anything boring and/or annoying on Facebook, I’ll have you know, 2 of the above posts are mine. I’m just as boring as the next guy.
As you can see, this has been edited. This post is going to be too long as it is. Only posts which annoy or amuse PG were included. Perhaps the worst are the challenges to repost. Yes, cancer is terrible, but reposting a dreary status will not make the metastasizing cease and desist.
When PG finished this post, he decided to go to the grocery store. Friday afternoons there can be intense, and it is best to go before the crowds hit. When he turned onto Clairmont Road, there was a red car dangerously close to his bumper. The Lexus swerved into the left lane to pass, with the white male driver talking on his phone. It quickly cut back in front of PG, then slowed down for a red light. The license plate said Cobb.
The pictures today are from “The Special Collections and Archives,Georgia State University Library”. This was written like Cory Doctorow.
Mollie’s Rant
There is an amazing rant about abortion on bloggingheads.tv. The ranter is Mollie Ziegler Hemingway. Making exasperated faces is the host, Sarah Posner.
The rant that inspired this feature is thirty three minutes into the discussion. Out of a masochistic sense of fairness, PG decided to listen to the entire discussion, before writing this post. He got two minutes and thirteen seconds in before stopping to cop a quote. MZH said that a good way to help connect with someone, is if you see that they care about something very deeply. PG has had the opposite experience. When he is the target of an emotional volcano, it tends to scare and alienate him. It is not what you say, it is the way you say it. This is important to consider when you get to Mollie’s rant.
This is a common feeling among believers. The idea is that the more you show how much you believe something, the more persuasive you are at converting people to that belief. It has been PG’s experience that these evangelizing believers will say things that they agree with, while not addressing the concerns of the listener. The person who is being preached to is often bewildered by the display of rhetoric, and becomes more convinced of previously held opinions. It is not what you say, it is how you say it.
PG is a bloggingheads.tv fan, and occasional commenter. He even got an email, from a producer, asking him not to post “artistic” screen shots of programs. (Here are some of the pictures: one, two, three.) The normal procedure is to listen to the talkers while working on other projects. The problem is when someone makes an amazing comment, and PG feels the need to make a link to it. Multi tasking has it’s limits, and productivity suffers. One such moment was when MZH said it doesn’t matter whether YOU think that’s an abortion drug what matters it’s whether WE think that’s an abortion drug. Apparently, MZH thinks this helps her connect with SP.
Twenty six minutes in, the ladies begin to discuss the idiotic comment by Todd Akin. This is a prelude to the rant to follow. MZH makes a comment that includes the phrase “consistent pro lifers”.
Lets take a minute to consider the phrase “consistent pro lifers”. In the military, a lifer is someone who makes his career in the service. It is not always a compliment. The job of the military is to fight wars, which means they kill people. This is not something that a person who is “pro life” should be supporting.
This is a huge inconsistency for “consistent pro lifers”. Very, very few people are consistently pro life. The four main life issues are war, abortion, capital punishment, and euthanasia. Many of the Christian anti abortion people are enthusiastic supporters of killing Muslim women and children. We are killing them over there, so they won’t come over here and kill us.
The SP-MZH chat was recorded August 28. The night before, the Republican Convention was entertained by a bit of Methodist methhead method acting by Clint Eastwood. The crowd cheered lustily. No one seemed concerned about Mr. Eastwood’s performance as the fetus father in at least two abortions. Is “consistent pro lifer” an oxymoron?
The fun really starts at the thirty three minute mark. MZH has been talking about how being mean to Todd Akin is good for the pro choice cause. She then shifts gears, and starts to talk about BHO. It seems like BHO opposed an anti abortion bill when he was an Illinois state senator. To MZH, this makes BHO a radical baby killer. To MZH, this, position taken as a state senator years ago, makes BHO just as radical as a man who says that rape affects conception.
MZH goes on to whine about the media. This is a sure sign that she cannot make a logical case for her beliefs. When your message fails, you bash the other messenger. All the time, MZH gets more and more worked up. SP shakes her head so much you worry about her earpiece falling out.
At the thirty five thirty five mark, MZH lets out the republican rhetoric rascal that lurks in her consistently pro life soul. When SP tried to calm down MZH, and inject a note of reason into the debate, MZH started to scream about gay marriage. This is how things work. Gay marriage is a great distraction. When reason fails, you start to toss red herrings onto the trail.
After a while, PG began to think that he has had enough fun with this discussion. It is time to wrap up, go outside, and get a life. At this point, MZH says another jaw dropper. Arguing from the extremes is not a really helpful thing.
The ladies did have a moment of agreement to end the discussion. MZH said women are more than their vaginas, and SP said good night Chet. It is tough to hold hands and sing Kum Bah Yah on skype. Pictures today are from “The Special Collections and Archives,Georgia State University Library”.
Dirty Harry Does Dragoncon
As you may know, Clinton Eastwood Jr. gave a speech at the Republican National Convention last night. What you hear about it depends on who you listen to. Some think he was great. The Tampa crowd was highly entertained. Others think it was a joke.
Of all the many twitterwits to comment today, Chris Rock came closest to the truth. @chrisrockoz Clint Eastwood on the phone with Obama now: “It all went according to plan,sir.” The truth is, you have to wonder what people were thinking.
The last night of the convention is supposed to be a showcase for the candidate. You want people talking about the candidate Friday morning. Instead, you have people talking about the “artistic” performance by Dirty Harry.
For a party that claims to be Conservative Christian, it was a strange event. You have to wonder just how smart some of those cheering masses were. Much has been made of the multiple marriages, and illegitimate children, that CE has sponsored. (There is no middle name.) “Eastwood entered a relationship with actress Sondra Locke in 1975. They lived together for fourteen years, despite the fact that Locke remained married (in name only) to her gay husband, Gordon Anderson. Locke had two abortions and a tubal ligation within the first four years of the relationship.”
The first few minutes of the speech were pretty normal. The people making rude comments about his hair were going to vote democratic anyway. At about the 3:28 mark, he started talking to an empty bar stool. We were supposed to pretend that BHO was sitting in that stool.
At the 4:46 mark, it got a little bit weird. Transcript courtesy of Fox News. “I know you were against the war in Iraq, and that’s okay. But you thought the war in Afghanistan was OK. You know, I mean — you thought that was something worth doing. We didn’t check with the Russians to see how did it — they did there for 10 years.”
It is true that BHO has escalated the war in Afghanistan. It is true that BHO has escalated the drone strikes into neutral countries. It is true that BHO is killing women and children, at the funerals of the women and children he killed in yesterday’s roboplane strike. It is also true that George W. Bush started the war in Afghanistan. It is highly unlikely that W asked the Russians for advice before he invaded Afghanistan. Considering the number of heroin addicts in Russia today, it is possible that the Russians would have urged caution.
“But we did it, and it is something to be thought about, and I think that, when we get to maybe — I think you’ve mentioned something about having a target date for bringing everybody home. You gave that target date, and I think Mr. Romney asked the only sensible question, you know, he says, “Why are you giving the date out now? Why don’t you just bring them home tomorrow morning?'”
During his big speech Thursday night, WMR did not mention the war in Afghanistan. A site called 2012 Republican Candidates has this to say about WMR and Afghanistan.
While Gov. Romney believes that the continued presence of U.S. forces in Afghanistan should ultimately be decided by the military’s top brass, he cautions that the country should not be making similar commitments in the future. He also stressed that the bulk of the security obligation must lie with the Afghanis themselves. Gov. Romney indicated in an interview with ABC on July 29, 2012, that while he is supportive of President Barack Obama’s Sept 2014 troops withdrawal deadline, he disagrees with the plan to order 23,000 troops out of Afghanistan by Sept. 30. However, he admits that his position could change depending on the counsel of military commanders, while leaving open the possibility of keeping combat troops in Afghanistan beyond 2014 should conditions change.
The next bit was just a wee bit obscene. CE was talking to the bar stool. “So anyway, we’re going to have — we’re going to have to have a little chat about that. And then, I just wondered, all these promises — I wondered about when the — what do you want me to tell Romney? I can’t tell him to do that. I can’t tell him to do that to himself.”
The crowd roaring it’s approval thinks they are Christian conservatives. They want to improve the moral standards of America. To further this end, they laughed at an elderly actor making a reference to telling someone to f*** himself. There were thousands of children explaining that joke to their parents.
With the spectacle of a tough guy actor performing an absurdist skit on national tv, the jokes write themselves. Twitter nation has responded, it all its 140 character glory.
@ConanOBrien I know what it was like for Clint Eastwood. In my career, I’ve talked to more than a few “empty chairs.”
@WendellPierce Clint Eastwood’s presentation not funny to me today. The image of the empty chair with the President being talked down to was offensive.
@kirstiealley I just saw Clint Eastwood’s speech and I LOVED it!! Funny as hell & on point!!..& I’m a Democrat..US media is SO biased in favor of Dems
@BorowitzReport: A new poll reveals that Romney trails Clint Eastwood’s empty chair.
@Its_Death Clint Eastwood is used to talking to inanimate objects. He’s acted with Kevin Costner.
@NolteNC Hey media – do you think mocking Clint Eastwood will make America hate you less?
@DCdebbiev Lay off of Clint Eastwood, why dontcha! Talkin to an empty chair was how Cheney ruled the White House.
@BarackObama This seat’s taken. http://OFA.BO/c2gbfi , pic.twitter.com/jgGZTb02
@MrWordsWorth RNC brings out Clint Eastwood. DNC makes frantic call to Betty White.
@bobcesca_go Last night an awkward Republican delivered a weird speech filled with bizarre, fantastical remarks. He was preceded by Clint Eastwood.
@jtLOL Clint Eastwood is awesome. Liberals have no sense of humor about themselves, or about Obama. Even the ones who say they’re comedians.
The pictures for this expose were taken at last year’s dragoncon parade. This was the last time PG will ever attend that event. The sidewalks were five times too crowded for comfort. The pictures taken last year, and in 2009, are of the standard fantasy character costumes. They did not change much from 2009 to 2011. If you are a total masochist who likes science fiction costumes. be on Peachtree Street tomorrow morning. When you are done, you can go to black gay pride, the Chik fil A college football party, a NASCAR race, the Dickhater book festival, or a traffic jam. All of those events display a firmer grip on reality than that displayed in Tampa FL thursday night.
Don”t Cry For Me Hyuro
Hyuro is a street artist. She was born in Argentina, and lives now in Valencia, Spain. She painted a mural in Atlanta recently, as part of the Living Walls celebration. (Turn off HD when viewing this video.) All the artists at LW this year were women.
The people living near Hyuro’s mural are not celebrating. They are mad. The painting is of a woman, whose fur skin morphs into a wolf. It was painted on the remains of a GM plant, across the street from the federal prison.
The mural is also across the street from a mosque, and a church. “Tajiddin Muwwakkil, the imam at the neighboring Masjid Al-Quaran (housed in a former restaurant), led the charge against the painting, calling it “pornographic and offensive.” However, the pastor of Antioch Baptist Church, which sits directly across from the mural on McDonough, never made a public statement against it”.
Eventually, the controversy got to be too much for the property owner. The mural is going to be painted over. When PG read that it had already been covered, he made an emergency trip to go photograph the mural.
According to Creative Loafing, the artist may be part of the problem. “When Living Walls submitted its applications about a week before the conference began, the proposal for Hyuro’s wall depicted a series of chairs, not nudes. Love promptly gave it OCA’s stamp of approval. An avid supporter of Living Walls, Love has bluntly called the switcheroo a “misrepresentation.” Monica Campana, Living Walls’ executive director, explains that Hyuro decided to rethink her approach after seeing the wall, which was much smaller than she had anticipated. According to Campana, this frequently happens with Living Walls’ artists, who come from all over the world. The street art conference is often their first interaction with the city, and they look to it to inform the pieces they put up here. Had an accurate sketch been submitted beforehand, or resubmitted once Hyuro had finalized her design, perhaps this conversation would have taken place before the fact. Perhaps we would have avoided some of the hypersexualized rhetoric, shaming, and fearmongering of the female form. Or perhaps we would’ve gotten a bunch of chairs. (No offense to chairs.)”
Pictures are by Chamblee54. This was written like Ursula K. Le Guin.
The Cost Of Hair Care
There was a statement in yesterday’s post . “Black Americans spend more on hair care products than the gross national product of many African countries.” This was tossed out in a careless moment, which is not a good thing to do. Today’s post is an investigation. For purposes of this report, America’s gross national product is the republican party.
Finding out how much African Americans spend on hair care is more google intensive than this slack reporter imagined. Madame Noire has a feature, Black Women Spend Half a Trillion Dollars on Haircare and Weaves! Why? “Black women spend half a trillion dollars to keep our hairstyles tight, our weaves looking good and our “kitchens” tamed. Why do we do this?” The $500 billion figure might include pain and suffering. Target Market News is more conservative, reporting “Personal Care Products and Services – $6.66 billion”.
In the chatter about a Chris Rock movie, Good Hair, the phrase “9 billion dollar hair trade industry” is used. The Magazine Publishers of America report that advertising spending on “Hair Products & Accessories” was $1,242,700 in 2007.
The short answers are “a lot”, and “we don’t know”. It is probably less that $500 Billion. For the purposes of this feature, we will go with a conservative estimate. This would be Target Market News. Since not all “Personal Care Products and Services” are hair related, we will call our number Five Billion. This is probably a conservative figure, but for our purposes it will do.
The second part of the statement was “Black Americans spend more on hair care products than the gross national product of many African countries.” The numbers come from Wikipedia and the International Money Fund. There are sixteen African countries with GNP less than $5 billion. They include: Mauritania, Swaziland, Togo, Eritrea, Lesotho, Burundi, Sierra Leone, Central African Republic, Cape Verde, Djibouti, Liberia, Seychelles, The Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Comoros, and São Tomé and Príncipe. The last seven have a GNP less than the amount spent advertising hair products and accessories for Black Americans.
This was written like H. P. Lovecraft. Pictures are from The Library of Congress.
The Life After Death Post
This post has been in the works for a long time. It is about life after death. This is a big deal to Jesus worshipers. It is fair to say that the entire religion has devolved into a scheme for life after death. Either you agree, and go to heaven, or disagree, and go to hell. PG has thought long and hard about this, and has a few thoughts.
One problem with this concept is human nature. When you have a religion based on broadcasting a message, some of the believers go overboard. Some will let their pride get in the way. They enjoy the power that seems to come with spreading this message. When a person hears this “good news,” shouted by people who are bad news, then it is natural to doubt the message.
A facebook friend supplied this quote “More people have been brought into the church by the kindness of real Christian love than by all the theological arguments in the world, and more people have been driven from the church by the hardness and ugliness of so-called Christianity than by all the doubts in the world. ” The $64 question becomes: Do people who have been repelled from Jesus go to hell?
There is also the matter of people who simply do not agree with the scheme for life after death. Of all the standards to use, why would G-d use the doctrine of one branch, of one religion? Does G-d even exist? Are the billions of people who never even heard of Jesus destined for hell? Many good people ask a lot of good questions. They are not happy with the answers, no matter how much others may believe.
PG was raised in the Southern Baptist tradition. For various reasons, he resisted the pressure put on children to “make a profession of faith”, and be baptised. When he was 17, he quit going to church. In 1979, there was a week in a Moonie camp in California. There have been many books read, a bit of thinking and talking, and a few odd meetings attended. There were 7 years working closely with an abusive professional Jesus worshiper. After a while, PG got tired of worrying about it all, and just wanted to enjoy the time he has on this planet.
Which brings us to today’s post. In no particular order, here is the product.
1- G-d does not write books. The Bible was compiled by the Council of Nicea from a variety of texts. These texts were written in a multitude of languages, and copied by hand. It is possible that the scribes copying them made mistakes. It is possible that errors in translation were made. It is probable that texts were not included in the Bible, for various reasons. The Bible is the product of man’s labor, with possible inspiration by G-d.
The first commandment says Thou shalt have no other gods before me. When you call the Bible the word of G-d, you are, in effect, making a G-d out of a book. When you violate this common sense commandment, you are going to have problems.
2- The first commandment… Thou shalt have no other gods before me. .. does not make an exception for the so called son of G-d.
3- Jesus was killed because he was a trouble maker. His death, and reputed resurrection, have nothing to do with what happens when you die.
4- What happens to people after they die is none of your business. Living people should be concerned with life, and not worry about what will happen when you die.
5- You should have faith in G-d to take care of you when you die. Period. Don’t scream about Jesus. Don’t kill the infidel. Don’t worry about your soul. G-d took care of you before you were born, and she will take care of you after you die.
6- What you say does not become more true the louder you say it. The way you say something is more important than the words you say. It is more important to show kindness to your neighbor, than to scream the so called truth.
7- The decision to end a life is G-d’s job. You are better off when you let her make this call. This applies to war, abortion, captal punishment, and euthanasia, and other forms of humans ending life.
8- G-d should be enjoyed. G-d should bring nourishment to life. G-d should NOT be fought or argued over. The third commandment…Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain. … is another common sense rule that is shamelessly violated by those who claim to be “saved”. When you forget this rule, you cause trouble.
9- When copying some commandments for use in this post, PG found this. 23 Ye shall not make with me gods of silver, neither shall ye make unto you gods of gold. PG has heard about the ten commandments all his life, and yet has never heard this line. It is just 6 verses after the tenth commandment, which is about coveting. The tenth commandment is obsolete in this era of wealthy churches.
10- Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. These men were Union soldiers in the War Between the States. This was written like Daniel Defoe, author of Robinson Crusoe This is a repost.
One Million Moms Versus Skittles
It has been a bad year for Skittles . First, a young man, armed with a package of Skittles, was killed by a neighborhood watch dude. Now, One Million Moms is calling for a boycott.
It seems like there is a commercial that OMM and Catholic Vote don’t like. Arguably, anyone with an I.Q.over room temperature doesn’t like the ad either.
It opens with a young lady making out with someone in a walrus suit. Another young lady comes in the room. The first young lady looks up, and says “This isn’t what it looks like” “Good, because it looks like you’re making out with my boyfriend” “No this isn’t Bobby, he just looks like Bobby.” Somebody has very, very strange taste in boyfriends.
This is where the sales pitch comes in. The young lady is feeding Skittles to the walrus suit. The candy has a new style out, where the color on the outside is different from the flavor on the inside. They get back to smooching, and the logo comes on the screen.
When you see this on youtube, there is a footer ad, and a sidebar ad, for a Christian dating service, Christian Mingle. It is not known if the actor playing the walrus is saved.
Catholic Vote denouces the ad, in no uncertain terms, with a hardhitting expose, No Ragu or Skittles for me — Two horrendous new commercials. “And Skittles? Who would want to taste the Rainbow (interesting logo choice), if it involves kissing animals? Can’t imagine more corporations are going to jump on the bestiality bandwagon…”
The CV comments are fun. Tim I believe commercials are on to get people to buy the product.Talking about how stupid the commercials are.Does not help the marketing firms.when you don`t buy the product. Joshua Mercer So you think readers of CatholicVote will be more willing to buy Ragu and Skittles because of what I wrote? A peculiar allegation.
One Million Moms is a division of American Family Association. It is highly unlikely that there are a million members. Some of the other actions include: Oreo – No Longer Favorite Cookie Send your email letter to Oreo (Kraft Foods) now! Ask that they remain neutral in the culture war versus promoting the homosexual agenda. DC Comics and Marvel Gay Superheroes Please send DC Comics (Warner Bros. Entertainment Company) and Marvel (Disney) an email urging them to change and cancel all plans of homosexual superhero characters immediately. Ask them to do the right thing and reverse their decision to have sexual orientation displayed to readers. Mattel Considering Kardashian Barbie Urge Mattel to reverse their decision to partner with the Kardashian brand by sending them an email now.
HT to Dangerous Minds. Pictures are by The Library of Congress.
Coat Of Many Colors
Someone on facebook said that it is a shame Molly Ivins is not around to comment on the weird goings on. Yes, Ms. Ivins has gone to that BarBQ in the sky, but we still have Margaret and Helen. They are still blogging up a storm, even if it is someone’s grandson that does the writing. The small print they use is evidence that a youngun did it. What old person can read type that small?
PG knows about cntr + +, and decided to visit. There was a dandy post, Two Wrongs Make a Right Wing Republican Ticket. Here are a few quotes, and then we will explain what this has to do with Dolly Parton forty years ago. Lets hope that the wig in that video has been replaced.
HELEN: That Obama even ran as a black man and wouldn’t you know it – he’s still a black man. Romney is a white guy. Which is probably why so many people in the Tea Party are so excited about the Romney/Ryan ticket – neither are black. I’m sorry, Margaret. That was low… even for me. Obama’s color has nothing to do with it. He’s black. So what. In contrast to Obama, Romney is a man of many colors. Nope. He’s just a white guy.
What I meant to say is that Romney is white but he has a coat of many colors. No, that’s not right either. That was Donny Osmond. Margaret, what is that expression about a horse of many colors? You know. The one that means you can’t trust Romney any farther than you can throw him?
I can’t think of the expression right now, but what I am trying to say is that you can’t throw Romney very far. He’s too rooted to his principles and an unwavering commitment to his beliefs. Like the way he was pro-choice and now is not because it would prevent him from being a Republican president. And how he believed that government-controlled healthcare was needed and now it isn’t because it would prevent him from being a Republican president. And how he was proud of his record at Bain Capital but only the good stuff. If anything bad happened it was on a day when he called in sick…
Two faced! That’s what I meant to say. It had nothing to do with the color of his face or his coat at all. And I am not even sure why I was thinking about a horse. … Now I know why I was thinking about a horse. Paul Ryan is a horse’s ass. If you are a woman under the age of 39, you might want to trust me on this one. Never vote for a horse’s ass. I mean it. Really.
MARGARET: If I recall, Helen, you were under the age of 39 for about 59 years. Howard says that the expression about a horse changing its colors is a racing term and you should just stick to what you know. I’m not sure about this Ryan fellow, but Howard sure likes him. Of course, Howard’s a numbers guy too. The last thing I need is another budget in my life. I haven’t had a new coat in 40 years much less a coat of many colors.
When PG saw this, he thought about the song, “Coat of many colors”. The b side was by Porter Wagoner, “Coat of many sequins”. COMC is about a woman who is too poor to buy her little girl a coat at the store, so she makes a quilt. The other kids make fun of her, but little Dolly knows that the coat is really made of love. Mitt Romney never had a coat of many colors.
The song talks about a story in the Bible. PG had heard about the story, but didn’t remember the details. He must have been daydreaming in Sunday School when that story was taught. With the help of google, Genesis 37 appears, as if by magic. Pass the popcorn.
2 These are the generations of Jacob. Joseph, being seventeen years old, was feeding the flock with his brethren; and the lad was with the sons of Bilhah, and with the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives: and Joseph brought unto his father their evil report.
3 Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age: and he made him a coat of many colours.
4 And when his brethren saw that their father loved him more than all his brethren, they hated him, and could not speak peaceably unto him.
Ok, hold on for a minute. Israel had at least two wives. The Biblical definition of marriage must be between a man and two women.
The story gets a bit weird here. Joseph has this dream, where he becomes the boss hog brother. The other brothers decide something needs to be done, that Joseph needs to die. Reuben tries to help Joseph, and has a plan to save him. Joseph is stripped of the coat of many colors, and placed in a pit, with no water. Before Reuben can sneak Joseph out of the pit, a camel caravan comes by. Twenty pieces of silver change hands, and Joseph is sold into slavery. The brothers decide to pull a cover up, and make it look like Joseph was dead. Reuben made another sandwich.
31 And they took Joseph’s coat, and killed a kid of the goats, and dipped the coat in the blood;
32 And they sent the coat of many colours, and they brought it to their father; and said, This have we found: know now whether it be thy son’s coat or no.
33 And he knew it, and said, It is my son’s coat; an evil beast hath devoured him; Joseph is without doubt rent in pieces.
34 And Jacob rent his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his loins, and mourned for his son many days.
35 And all his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him; but he refused to be comforted; and he said, For I will go down into the grave unto my son mourning. Thus his father wept for him.
What a story. Bigamy, slavery, and a dishonored father. Some people call that “The word of G-d”. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. This was written like James Joyce.
Chamblee54 
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