Chamblee54

The following dialog may or may not have really happened. Photoshop is real. HT to Jay Avans. Photo credit to Shorpy.

All Dogs go to heaven
Only humans go to heaven read the bible
G-d loves all his creations Dogs included
Dogs don’t have souls This is not open for debate
Catholic Dogs go to heaven.
Presbyterian Dogs can talk to their pastor
Converting to Catholicism does not
magically grant your Dog a soul
Free Dog souls with conversion
Dogs are animals there aren’t
any rocks in heaven either
All rocks go to heaven

Every Wednesday morning, a copy of the Dunwoody Neighbor arrives in PG’s driveway. PG has never paid for a copy, and if he did he would be very foolish. The Neighbor Newspapers are ad rags, and serve a need in the community. The news features between the ads are mostly about Dogs and Schools. If you want hard hitting investigative reporting, you can go… well, somewhere.
On the editorial page of the DN is a man named Dick Yarbrough. Mr. Yarbrough was at Bell South for a while, then he had something to do with the Olympics. PG always seeks out his column. Last week, it was about a preacher who prayed for rain at the State Capital. This was during a drought, and the Governor thought praying for rain would be a good photo opportunity. These days, Atlanta gets rained on every day. Mr. Yarbrough thinks it is because of Rev. Prayforrain and his demonstration 19 months ago.
Sometimes though, Mr. Yarbrough makes the cost of the paper worthwhile. It takes a lot of effort to walk down the driveway, pick up the plastic bag, walk uphill to the house, pull the newspaper out of the bag, and find the editorial page. After all that work, PG needs to sit down and rest.
But today, the headline of the weekly Dick Yarbrough made it all worthwhile ” ‘Talkmaster’ Neal Boortz all that — all talk. ” It seems that Mr. Yarbrough was listening to one of Neeyull’s rants about “Government Schools”. Soon after, he had a head spinning discussion about economics with his grandson. The grandson was a product of government schools. A proposal was made for a debate between the Radio Whiner and the Government Educated Grandson. The debate never happened.
This is in character for Neal Boortz. He enthusiastically supports our “War against Islamic Terror”. He was prime draft age during the Vietnam War, and did not find it convenient to participate.

One of the enduring images of World War II was raising the flag on Iwo Jima. Three of the six men raising the flag died on the island in the next month. A fourth, Ira Hayes, became a casualty after the war.
The story of Ira Hayes is well known, but needs to be told again. A Pima Indian, his people had not been treated well by the conquerers. Nonetheless, when the War against Japan started, men were needed for the struggle, and Ira Hayes joined the Marines.
Iwo Jima was a steppingstone to the main island of Japan. After Iwo Jima and Okinawa were in Yankee hands, preparations could be made for the invasion of the main island. However, the stepping stone islands proved to be incredibly tough to secure. There were more American casualties on Iwo Jima than on Normandy Beach on D Day.
On the fourth day of the battle, a picture was made of six marines raising the flag on top of Mount Suribachi. A month of sticky, treacherous fighting was ahead for the fighting men. Of 21,000 Japanese soldiers, 20,000 died. Still, the image is inspiring. The photographer fiercely denied having staged it.
The flag was raised on February 23, 1945. Germany was all but defeated. The “explosive lens” for the atom bomb had been successfully tested. Viewed from the standpoint of 1945, it seems inevitable that the costly island hopping needed to continue, to be followed by an invasion of the Japanese mainland. From the view of 2009, one wonders if the fight for Iwo Jima  was really needed. War is fought in the present tense.
Two of the twelve hands holding the flagpole belonged to Ira Hayes. Ira Hayes did not adjust to peacetime well. He became a drunkard. On January 24, 1955, he passed away.
Ira Hayes was a native American. Thousands of African Americans have returned from foreign wars to be treated poorly. If a man or woman is accused of being gay, the service is forgotten. On this Memorial Day, we should struggle to ensure that all future veterans are treated with respect, all year long.
Thank you Wikipedia for the pictures.

Uzi came by PG’s house about 230 on sunday afternoon. While walking out the door, PG saw a pot of noodles on the stove. It had cooked too long and gotten mushy, but PG caught it before it burned. Life is made of little victories.
The destination was the Dickhater Decatur Arts Festival. The ride down Clairmont was very familiar to PG. This contrasted to Uzi, who hadn’t been there in twenty years. There is an old A&P on North Decatur Road, which is now a mattress store. In one of its lives, it was a concert hall, and PG saw Loudon Wainwright III there. Uzi thinks Loudon Wainwright is depressing.
The Arts Festival was a series of booths, and a couple of performance stages. A children’s stage was in use when PG walked by. The performer lady told the kids to cover their eyes, while she put down her guitar and produced a jews harp. A man with a yarmulke was sitting in an aisle seat beside PG.
The crowd at the fest was a predictable mix. Uzi had been commenting on young men with small children, how they look like they came out of a catalog. There was an example of three of that.
After walking around the courthouse a couple of times, it was time to go eat. The original destination was the Piccadilly on Church Street, but as he pulled into the parking lot, PG noticed a Captain D’s. The Captain D’s on Buford Hiway and Sandy Springs were long gone, and missed. A styrofoam plate of grease and fish was in front of PG before he knew what hit him.

The Boston Globe has a site called “The Big Picture“. It features photographs, printed at high resolution. Today the subject is something called “Victory Day“.
This is celebrated in Russia on May 9. This is the end of the war with Germany in 1945. The Soviet Union lost over 20 million people in that war. The United States, which fought on two fronts, lost 400 thousand, almost all military. The Soviets lost millions of civilians.
World War Two was largely fought on Soviet soil. The Nazis killed, and killed, and killed some more. The only thing to stop them was to kill back, which the Soviets did.
All the countries that participated in World War Two suffered, but none quite like the Soviets. In Ukraine, the Germans were initially greeted as liberators. Once the Ukraine got to know the Germans, they learned they needed to resist.
The Western Front started on D Day forced the Germans to divert troops from the Russian War. The United States gave arms and supplies to the Russians. However, it was the Russian people who did the heavy lifting in that war. The allies probably would not have won without them.
PG grew up in Georgia (American), roughly one hundred years after the War Between the States. Atlanta was the scene of some heavy fighting. The impact of having a war fought on your home turf is much greater than fighting across an ocean. PG looks at the impact a 19th century war had on his home, and can only imagine what impact a much bloodier, more recent war, would have on Russia.
After the hot war came the cold war. The Soviet Union was our enemy, and the excuse to maintain a large military. Many of the contributions made by the Soviets in the struggle against Germany have been forgotten. Indeed, in the comments at the Big Picture, some people are still fighting communism, and bad mouth the excesses of the Soviet Union. These people seem to forget the hundreds of thousands of German civilians killed by American air raids.
For better or worse, the struggle against the Nazis is one of the defining events of the world we live in. Whatever problems exist in today’s America, we cannot help but be better off than if the Nazis had won the war. And, if not for the sacrifices of the Russian people, the Nazis might have won.

PG did a bit of research on a person (Harry Hay), and saw a comment on Wikipedia that Mr. Hay had been a guest on the Joe Pyne Show. This got PG to thinking about Joe Pyne.
The Joe Pyne show was on Atlanta on channel 11, at 11:30 Saturday night. Many guests were unusual characters. Mr. Pyne was rude to his guests, telling them to “gargle with razor blades”, among other things.
Mr. Pyne had a wooden leg. The lower part of his left leg was amputated in 1955 because of cancer. He was a marine in World War 2, and was wounded in the same leg.
Once, Frank Zappa was on the show. Mr. Pyne asked if his long hair made him a girl. Mr. Zappa replied by asking if Mr. Pyne’s wooden leg made him a table. This may be an urban legend.
Georgia Governor Lester Maddox was a guest on the show in 1969. The Governor was offended by Mr. Pyne, and walked off the show. The next guest called himself Culious Jeezer, and claimed to have been alive during the Roman Empire.
PG saw another episode of the JPS. People wearing masks discussed being “swingers”. Mr. Pyne was respectful to them
Joe Pyne was an enthusiastic cigarette smoker. The cameras showed him puffing, which is not done today. ( Has anyone seen a picture of Barack Obama smoking?). He developed lung cancer, and died March 23, 1970. The rumor that he was buried in a pine box is unconfirmed.

Pat Boone has had a long, profitable career. He is 75 years old. It might be time for him to retire. Or maybe he can do “cover” versions of gangsta rap.
There is an article on WorldNetDaily, signed by Mr. Boone. He makes three suggestions to President BHO. Mr. Boone observes that BHO did not serve in the military. According to wikipedia, neither did Pat Boone. There was a draft when Mr. Boone was 19, and the Korean War had just ended. If he had volunteered at 18, he might have seen some action.
The first suggestions regards the pictures of torture. Mr. Boone uses a lot of buzz words, like “liberal media” and “Dan Rather and CBS”. Mr. Boone claims that the torture ended at Abu Ghraib. Documents recently released indicate otherwise.
Mr. Boone claims that the corporal punishment his mother gave him was worse than what was done to prisoners at Guantanamo Bay. He also raises the red herring of 911, and the tactics used against Americans in Iraq. He calls release of the torture pictures “papering your house”.
Suggestion 2 is to “Send the terrorists to the Antarctic”. If you want to know more, follow this link.
Suggestion 3 is where Mr. Boone shows signs of dementia. He discusses the reluctance of BHO to publicly participate in the National Day of Prayer. This is compared with a proclamation issued by Abraham Lincoln in 1863. Before he gets to that, he drops this in: “But, scarcely into your presidency, you seem hell-bent to marginalize Christianity and this country’s Judeo-Christian foundation, allowing military chaplains to be harshly disciplined for praying in Jesus’ name and promoting a so-called “fairness doctrine” that is designed to squelch conservative and Christian radio hosts and to equate Holy Scripture with “hate speech.”
The “Fairness Doctrine” has been a bogeyman to Talk Radio. An old policy that requires radio and TV to present “balanced” views on current issues, the FD was discontinued under President Reagan. The radio whiners have been screaming that BHO, and the Democrats in congress, will bring back the FD.
The only problem is that BHO has expressed his desire to leave the Fairness Doctrine on the shelf. His press secretary issued a statement to this effect during the campaign, and another statement was issued after the inauguration. The US Senate voted 87-11 to oppose the return of the Fairness Doctrine. One wonders where Mr. Boone got the idea that BHO supports the return of the FD, and how this relates to a call for fasting by Abraham Lincoln.
HT to Andrew Sullivan.

One rainy sunday, PG was pondering the difference between squirrels and chipmunks. The two words seem to be interchangeable. Finally, a trip to google turned up a site, with the verbatim question.
“Chipmunks and ground squirrels are very closely related. Both chipmunks and ground squirrels differ from and are smaller than tree squirrels. The major external feature that distinguishes a chipmunk from a squirrel are the stripes on the face across the eyes. Squirrels may have stripes on their back but lack stripes on the face. The bone structure (bacula) of squirrels are different from chipmunks.”
The ads  underneath this answer were from animal removal services. This is not surprising. Squirrels are rats with pretty tails. They are EVERYWHERE. They get between the roof and ceiling and make noise. Sometimes, they die in there, and the stench of decomposing rodent lingers.
Chipmunks, on the other hand, sing a highly annoying Christmas song.
Which brings us to the second part of this sunday afternoon. Last night was the finals of the 2009 Eurovision. The winner was from Norway, although he was born in Belarus. He played fiddle (what do you call lip sync for a fiddle?) and has prominent eyebrows.
Eurovision is apparently a big deal east of the Atlantic. It never has caught on in America.

The second part of blonde friday at chamblee54 is a book report. The volume is “Life with my sister Madonna” by Christopher Ciccione. For unaware in the audience, Christopher is the younger brother of the superstarress. He has worked for Madonna in various capacities, and is currently (that we know) estranged from her.
The book really doesn’t make Madonna look any worse. She is seen as rude, ambitious, selfish, and egotistical. None of which is any surprise, to any but her most adoring fans, and possibly Ingrid Casares. It is not terribly flattering to Christopher, either. The last half of the book alternates between denying a drug problem, and stories of partying with famous people.
The co author is a lady named Wendy Leigh, and the book is fun to read. The copyright is issued to “Christopher Ciccione and Cabochon Diamond Productions, LLC”. One wonders how much Mr. Ciccione actually produced, other than the platinum name.
Some of the celebrity stories are amazing. There is the scene after the funeral of Gianni Versace. Courtney Love is there, and Madonna won’t talk to her, because Madonna thinks Courtney is crazy. Later, Miss Love is talking to Mr. Ciccione, and produces a bag with half an ounce of cocaine. Miss Love says she has never done coke before, could someone please show her how?
There is an episode where Christopher is dancing with Demi Moore, and scandalous pictures are printed. There is something that is not in the book. “We went out and Demi was dancing up on me and humping me from behind. The one part that’s not in the book is that she was lactating at the time and she was squirting breast milk at my lesbian friends… the lawyers didn’t think it was wise for me to print that.”
Mr. Ciccione was a key helper for Madonna in her rise to fame. Later, bit by bit, they became less close. Christopher did not see eye to eye with Guy Ritchie. Madonna became convinced that Christopher had a drug problem, and paid for him to go to rehab. About this time, she got him to a Kabbalah meeting, by less than ethical means. Kabbalah and the therapy were presented in a positive light, and may have been instrumental in getting this book written. That, and the fact that Christopher was broke.

The world is in turmoil. People are killing people for no good reason. The government is run by liars and scoundrels. Religion is a dirty word. It is time for blonde jokes. Thank you FunnyJokes.
A married couple was asleep when the phone rang at 2 in the morning. The very blonde wife picked up the phone, listened a moment, and said ‘How should I know, that’s 200 miles from here!’ and hung up. The husband said, ‘Who was that?’ The wife answered, ‘I don’t know, some woman wanting to know if the coast is clear.’
Two blondes are walking down the street. One notices a compact on the sidewalk and leans down to pick it up. She opens it, looks in the mirror and says, ‘Hmm, this person looks familiar.’ The second blonde says, ‘Here, let me see!’ So, the first blonde hands her the compact. The second blonde looks in the mirror and says, ‘You dummy, it’s me!’
A blonde suspects her boyfriend of cheating on her, so she goes out and buys a gun. She goes to his apartment unexpectedly and when she opens the door she finds him in the arms of a redhead. Well, the blonde is really angry. She opens her purse to take out the gun, and as she does so, she is overcome with grief. She takes the gun and puts it to her head. The boyfriend yells, ‘No, honey, don’t do it!’ The blonde replies, ‘Shut up, you’re next!’
A blonde was bragging about her knowledge of state capitals. She proudly says, ‘Go ahead, ask me … I know ‘em all.’ A friend says, ‘OK, what’s the capital of Wisconsin ?’ The blonde replies, ‘Oh, that’s easy. Its W.’
Q: What did the blonde ask her doctor when he told her she was pregnant? A: ‘Is it mine?’
Bambi, a blonde in her fourth year as a UCLA Freshman, sat in her US Government class. The professor asked Bambi if she knew what Roe vs. Wade was about. Bambi pondered the question; then, finally, said, ‘That was the decision George Washington had to make before he crossed the Delaware.’
Returning home from work, a blonde was shocked to find her house ransacked and burglarized. She telephoned the police at once and reported the crime. The police dispatcher broadcast the call on the radio, and a K-9 unit, patrolling nearby, was the first to respond. As the K-9 officer approached the house with his dog on a leash, the blonde ran out on the porch, shuddered at the sight of the cop and his dog, then sat down on the steps. Putting her face in her hands, she moaned, ‘I come home to find all my possessions stolen. I call the police for help, and what do they do? They send me a BLIND COP!’

There is a quote making the rounds from Jack Murtha. It seems like some of his nephews have been profiting from the family ties. The verbatim is “If I’m corrupt, it’s because I take care of my district,” This appearance of impropriety is a gift to supporters of military adventure in Babylon. Mr. Murtha…a decorated Vietnam Vet…has been a vocal critic of the wars. His apparent ethical issues give war fans a convenient diversion.
This comment brings to mind a former Governor of Georgia, Eugene Talmadge. He was famous for saying, to cheering crowds, “Sure I stole, but I stole for you”. PG suspected an urban legend, and decided to see what Mr. Google had to say.
Eugene Talmadge was Agriculture Commissioner before he was Governor. He had some relatives on the state payroll. There was something funky going on with fertilizer. He bought a bunch of hogs, and sent them to Chicago, where he thought he could make more money. After a while, some people started to ask questions. His answer was “If I stole, it was for farmers like yourselves”. ( This is on page 59 of “The Wild Man from Sugar Creek”.
This was in 1931. The depression hit Georgia hard. The wool hat boys were in a world of fertilizer. Mr. Talmadge set himself up as the champion of the dirt farmers, and the enemy of the lyin’ Atlanta newspapers. In 1932 he was elected Governor. He was re elected three times, but died in 1946, before he could serve again. He was replaced by two Governors.
Mr. Talmadge was elected because of the county unit system. Each of Georgia’s 159 counties got a certain number of votes. Three rural counties were the equivalent of winning Fulton County. Mr. Talmadge boasted that he never won a county with street cars.
Mr. Talmadge’s campaigns were legendary. He would speak at the county courthouse, and plants in the crowd would scream questions, like “what about those lyin Atlanta newspapers?”. One of his favorite lines was “Yeah, it’s true. I stole, but I stole for you, the dirt farmer”.
PG’s aunt went to work at the Trust Company of Georgia in the early fifties. There was a story that the new employees were told. It seems as though Governor Talmadge was in the lobby of the Trust Company, after having a happy lunch. He had to use the restroom, and went to the corner of the lobby to relieve himself.
There is a statue of Gene Talmadge in front of the State Capitol. The plate at the base reads ” I may surprise you, but I shall not deceive you”. It remains to be seen what will be carved underneath a statue of Jack Murtha.