Chamblee54

Mary had a little pig, She kept it fat and plastered;
And when the price of pork went up,
She shot the little bastard…

Hey diddle, diddle, the cat took a piddle,
All over the bedside clock.
The little dog laughed to see such fun.
Then died of electric shock.

Mary had a little lamb. Her father shot it dead.
Now it goes to school with her, Between two chunks of bread…

Jack and Jill went up the hill To have a little fun.
Stupid Jill forgot the pill And now they have a son…

Simple Simon met a pie man going to the fair.
Said Simple Simon to the pie man, ‘What have you got there?’
Said the pie man unto Simon, ‘Pies, you dumb ass’…

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall, Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.
All the kings’ horses, And all the kings’ men.
Had scrambled eggs, For breakfast again…

Georgie Porgy pudding and pie,
Kissed the girls and made them cry.
And when the boys came out to play,
He kissed them too ’cause he was gay.

There was a little girl who had a little curl
Right in the middle of her forehead.
When she was good, she was very, very good.
But when she was bad……..
She got a fur coat, jewels, a waterfront condo, and a sports car.

There is a gentleman in Iran now who is protesting the Islamic regime there by burning Quran . This would not seem to be good for his general health, unless he enjoys getting an aerial view of Tehran from a crane with a rope around his neck.
In Catharsis, Abbas points out that the approved method of disposing of a tattered Quran is to burn it.
This brings to mind the controversies stateside about burning the flag. It is the proper method for disposal of an old flag to respectfully burn it. In both cases the motive behind the fire is key.
Flag burning was popular at Vietnam era protests, and was forgotten for many years. Then, about 1989 or so, a case went to the Supreme Court, and the Supremes ruled that it was legal to burn a flag. An instant controversy ensued, with many patriots raging long and loud about burning flags. This shows how much trouble can be caused when lawyers get involved with something.
(I suspect the same factor is at work in the current firestorm over Gay Marriage. Do people really want this, or are a bunch of lawsuit happy attorneys bringing this down on us?)

There is also the matter of a fast flaming fire, and the slow cooking of the sun. Flags, and Flag stickers, are routinely left out in direct sunlight. The sun will take out those colors quickly, with red going out before blue. (Is that a lesson for Democrats and Republicans?)
A co worker of mine had a sticker on her van in the early nineties. The sticker had a flag, and the slogan “Try burning this one”. She parked the van in direct sunlight.

In the commentaries about Quran, I notice that no one ever says “The Quran”. This is unusual to me, because the holy book of our culture is the Bible. The B word almost never appears without The. But then, THE is the most commonly used word in the English Language.
I am not sure of the Arabic language and how it works. Do they routinely use devices like THE to specify objects?
One thing about use of THE with the Bible. Bible worshipers have this idea that their book is THE word of G-d. Not a book of G-d, or a book about G-d. The word of G-d, the only one. This idea…which is rarely challenged by believers…is ridiculous to this reporter. G-d does not write books…and that applies to Quran as well.

There is a Jesus Worship blog called Pyromaniacs, which is facilitated by Phil Johnson. Chamblee54 is banned from commenting there.
In a recent comment thread, Mr. Johnson made the following statement:

“We don’t delete anyone merely for disagreeing with us, even if they are insulting. The only comments we have ever deleted on a large scale (“dozens of times”) are those that are deliberately profane or smutty.”
In the times that I commented at Pyro, I did not cuss. While I was sometimes disagreeable, deliberately smutty is not my style. I wrote Mr. Johnson to mention this. I then received this message:“Look up the definition of profane, I think you’ll see you often qualified. However I don’t remember deleting any of your posts―certainly you weren’t deleted on any wide scale.”

I had always thought of profane as a precursor of profanity. Upon consultation of a dictionary, I learned that it is also a synonym for secular…that is, something that is not holy. I recalled hearing the phrase the sacred and the profane.
Which leads to the next part of our discussion…were my comments at Pyromaniacs profane?
Here is a list of the times I appeared there. If you have something better to do than look at these, I totally understand. The pictures are always there to look at.
The thread I have chosen to comment on tonight involves preaching at funerals. For many non Jesus Worshipers, a funeral is the closest we get to a church service. To many of us, preaching is offensive. I have heard about Jesus all my life, and made the painful decision that I did not agree with that way of thinking. To force a grieving person who is alienated from Jesus to listen to a pitch for “salvation” is a grotesque act of disrespect. It creates ill will for Jesus and is a violation of 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”
This was the message that I presented in this comment thread. I was the only person to feel this way. At least one other person made the incredible statement that a funeral presentation was the first time a person had heard about Jesus. ( How could anyone in our Jesus mad culture not have heard about Jesus?)
Is the presentation of the Jesus message at a funeral sacred or profane? I know how I feel.
And no, confane is not the opposite of profane. It is a nonsense word.

I recently exchanged emails with someone. He is the Big Dog at a Jesus Worship blog where I am banned from commenting. He invited me to peruse the definition of profane, and said that some of my comments were indeed profane.
Now, a matter like that is a semantic goldmine. It should give me the seed of at least one post, and I was going to tackle it without delay. However, my experience this morning put that post on hold. It will be ok.

A popular Atlanta radio whiner had just had knee reconstruction surgery, and was high on pain pills. One of his golf partners was married to a Republican spokeswoman, and they got onto the Republican plan for America. Fist, we were going to lower taxes and make government smaller (All while borrowing money from China to keep 160k troops in Babylon). Next, we were going to de fund planned parenthood because they promote abortions.
The whiner…a spell check suggestion for his name is abort…went off the medicated edge. Yes, we are going to make government smaller, but use the force of the police state to tell a woman what to do with her womb. This is the reason the Republicans are going to lose so badly. It went on for several highly entertaining minutes, until I reached my destination and had to go inside.

This was in Drugless County, a once rural stretch of neo Alabama off i20. I like to explore, to see places that I have not seen before and probably will not again. It is one thing about this business of making local deliveries that I enjoy.
On the way back to “civilization” I passed Jolly Wally’s Superette, and stopped at a Texaco. The truck runs a lot better when you put gasoline in the tank on a regular basis. There was a bearded man fueling his pickup truck at the next pump.
After I got the receipt, I went inside the gas station to find a men’s room. When you and your water bottle drive long distances, this cannot happen soon enough. Alas, the restroom was out of order.

I went in back of the place, and found a path leading through the weeds. After making my way far back enough to camouflage my activity, I added some fluids to the mix. And it hit me…this is the Georgia that I know and love. Everywhere you look is greenery, most of it weeds. Many of these weeds had serious briars, and must be negotiated with caution. Some of the rest were in May bloom, and the air was full of the perfume. The earth had probably been bulldozed a while back, and these plants were the ones to fight their way into existence. It was as if I was surrounded by G-d.
When I got back to the truck, the bearded man was scratching his lottery ticket.
Sometimes you have to stop and smell the flowers, and appreciate whatever it was that led you to them.

Typically at Six AM the radio goes off, and my day begins. With NPR, you get new age muzak, the list of the foundations that give money , and the headlines. Today, the big story was Jeremiah Wright at the National Press Club. He said that an attack on him was an attack on the black church.
What a way to start the day.
The comment is not as outrageous as it might seem. The shouting and the egomaniac preacher are all too typical of the Jesus Worship Church.
Jesus may never get this mud off his face. Maybe Pontius Pilate can loan him the hand soap.
The radio whiners are having a big time with this today. There is a report that a Hillary supporter at the National Press Club was behind the invitation. The usual comments about Mr. Obama and his relationship with Mr. Wright are being dusted off and re-used. At a time when Mr. Obama should be wrapping up the nomination…with the ham fisted help of the North Carolina Republicans… he is once again in a no win situation.
Later on in the day, Senator BHO denounced Mr. Wright. After the incident with the fund raiser last week, and that business with his grandmother, this is not surprising.
There is no word on whether the Senator stood up for Jesus.   G-d in human form has been reduced to a scheme for life after death, and any exploitation is OK.
The story I linked to about the Obama outrage does have a bit of poetry to it. Below the story line are two ads. “Teeth Whiteners Exposed” and “Lose 30 Pounds-No Diet”. Mr. Obama is seeking to lose a lot more than 30 pounds, all while his teeth whiteners are exposed.
HT to AtlMalcontent for that link.

Freedom of speech and freedom of religion are two of the most basic elements of the Bill of Rights. The combination of the two on roadside message boards was not foreseen by the founding fathers.
There is a little church on Fairground Street in Marietta that I pass by sometimes. Their message these days is “Let Christ fill the void”. The first time I saw that, I was tired and my body chemistry was telling me to be unhappy. It was as if a photo program selected the words and pasted them into my field of view. I am grateful I did not run into anyone.
My first thought was that I don’t have a void, and how dare those Jesus Worshipers assume that I do. My second thought was that I would rather have a void than the pain Jesus has caused me.
So today, I was driving on South Cobb Drive, by the Air Force Base, when an old Buick drove by. With white shoe polish, the words ” Have Jesus John 3:16″ were on the back window. Like injecting a dead virus will inoculate you from a disease, that served to alert me to ignore the Jesus messages for a while. When I went by the “Void” church, It didn’t have any effect on me.

When I got home, I turned on the computer and looked at the sites in my “frequent” folder. Mostly Media had the helpful suggestion for South Carolina to try succession again.
It seems like a church there has a sign that says ” Obama Osama Hmm Are they Brothers?”. Now, Barrack Sr. got around, so this can not be dismissed so quickly.
Senator BHO has a tough time with religion. First the pesky Muslim rumors, then those repulsive snippets from the man who introduced him to Jesus. And now this guy in South Carolina.Maybe he should stick to Bowling.
My father was from Eastern North Carolina, just north of South of the Border. When I was a kid we used to go to the farm. This was in the days before interstate highways and air conditioned cars. South Carolina is the biggest, hottest place on earth.

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It is monday after work, and slack rules. What energy I had is long gone.
I started a nifty post about Truman Capote at lunch, but don’t feel like finishing it.
Not to worry, Renegade Evolution has the answer. She displayed something called the blog&website Cuss-o-meter. Ren copped a 34.5% rating, which is not surprising for a sex worker.
Holy Cow, I got a 0% rating. Dad Gum, by Jingoes.Gee.
The first question to arise is, what do they call cussing? The seven words of Carlin? Anything referring to excretion, reproduction, or the eternal destination of your soul?
The funny thing is, I am not terribly offended by most profanity. I try not to use it, because it takes attention away from your overall message.
Profanity is a social issue rather than a moral one. Certain words are not right or wrong, but when you use one inappropriately you betray a lack of respect for the listeners.
There are words that offend me…like Jesus…that many see as their moral duty to say as often as possible. And this eagerness to profane a sacred name is a violation of the third commandment. ( That is, the eagerness of Jesus Worshipers to scream his name as often and loudly as possible).
It is a matter of perception. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but ugly uses all five senses.

The Georgia Legislature recently ended its annual session. First, make sure your wallet is OK.
Next, lets have a bit of sympathy for the alcohol users of the state. Once again, the lesterslature decided not to allow Retail sale of alcohol on Sunday.
Alcohol is a deadly, addictive drug. It kills people. It breaks up families. It makes people drive horribly.

 But it is legal.

Alcohol users don’t have to buy their stuff from a criminal. Alcohol users will not have their property confiscated if hooch is found in their possession. Alcohol users don’t worry about losing their jobs because of drug testing.

 But it is legal.

Alcohol users are druggies with special privileges. And now they are whining because they cannot go to the Likkasto on Sunday.
Aww, poor baby. Their poison is legal the rest of the time. Let them buy it on Saturday.

Maybe I need to disclose a few things here. I was raised in Dry DeKalb County, in a Southern Baptist household with very little drinking. When I was twenty I developed a taste for beer. Over the next fourteen years I drank my share, and a couple of other people’s share as well. On December 31, 1988, I drank my last beer. Sometimes I think it is the only thing I have gotten right.
There are all sorts of arguments for allowing Sunday Sales of alcohol. Some of them make sense.
As long as the war on drugs is going on, and alcohol is given an exemption, it is tough for this reporter to feel sympathy for legal druggies. They should be happy that their poison is legal, hide the car keys, and quit whining about buying it on Sunday.

There is one church on my morning trip to work, and six on the way back.
In the morning, a new day has dawned, and I am ready to be a part of it. The Nancy Creek Primitive Baptist Church is the only holy facility I pass. One of the oldest churches in DeKalb County, NCPBC is a graceful little building next door to a sheetrock plant.
In the afternoon, I am tired, cranky and ready to be in my safe space at home. One of the issues I think about when my body chemistry tells me I am unhappy is religion.
The first faith facility of the ride home is the Church of the Redeemer. I haven’t decided what denomination they are…with that name, maybe green stamps are a sacrament. They have a stealth cell phone tower in their yard, which looks like a very tall fake Christmas tree. I drove by this thing for over a year before I noticed it.
Down the hill and across Nancy Creek is the soccer fields. In my memory this was a place where horses stayed. Across from this playground is an Independent Conservative Baptist Church.
This place gets on my nerves. They have a message board in front, and I really find it to be too much information. Today it was one of my less favorite quotes from the Bible

…” Jesus said I am the way the truth and the light”.

Some scholars dispute that Jesus ever said that. If he did, it is a powerful reason to stay away. Anyone who would say something like that is a hopeless egomaniac. The second part of this quote…

“no one can come to the father except through me”…

 says that all other religions are wrong, and he is right. Some people find this to be an inspiring quote. I beg to differ.
Going up the hill from Nancy Creek, you pass into DeKalb County and Lynwood Park. This is the oldest Black neighborhood in the county, and is rapidly being gentrified out of existence. There is a storefront “Holiness” Church on Osborne Road, in front of the corner where the drug dealers did business. A bit on down Windsor Parkway is another Church, with a large parking lot and a message board. I have driven by there, feeling tired and depressed, and seen the sign that says Jesus Loves You. But I know in my heart that Jesus Hates Me, and do not appreciate that church saying otherwise.
Soon you take a right, and drive by the back of Oglethorpe University, with its Gothic buildings made of granite. Across from the campus is the Oglethorpe Presbyterian Church.
OPC is the only one of these buildings I ever attended a service in. They sponsored my cub scout troop, and one Sunday a year we all went to the service there. I helped a friend clean up there for a couple of years in my early twenties…get to bed by five, up at 830 to go clean the church. Good times.
Up on Peachtree by the funeral home is the Brookhaven Christian Church. I went to a wedding there once, and they don’t call any unwelcome attention to themselves.