Chamblee54

Today is the observance of Memorial Day. According the invaluable Wikipedia, this holiday began as Decoration Day. It was intended to honor the soldiers who died in the Union Army during the War Between the States. It was expanded after World War I to honor casualties of any war or military action. As the story unfolds:

The official birthplace of Memorial Day is Boalsburg, Pennsylvania. The village was credited with being the birthplace because it observed the day on May 5, 1866, and each year thereafter, and because it is likely that the friendship of General John Murray, a distinguished citizen of Waterloo, and General John A. Logan, who led the call for the day to be observed each year and helped spread the event nationwide, was a key factor in its growth.
General Logan had been impressed by the way the South honored their dead with a special day and decided the Union needed a similar day.”

In the South, Confederate Memorial Day was observed. The day chosen was April 26. On April 26, 1865, Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston surrendered to Union General William T. Sherman.
Of course, in the intervening years, Memorial Day has become the start of summer, and a time of great merriment. The question arises, does this day honor the Confederate soldiers who did not come home?

Before we get too far along, I should say out loud that slavery was not a good idea. It was terrible for the African Americans. It was backwards economically, and dragged the South into a war which damaged it for many years post bellum.
The War Between the States had several causes, slavery being one of the important ones. Once the Union won the war, this is the cause that the history books mentioned.
Many of the men who fought for the Confederacy did not own slaves. The slaveowners were a dirty bunch. Not only did they brutally enslave the Black people, they got the poor whites to fight in the war.
There is this problem in history of the soldiers who died fighting for the losing side. We do owe our freedoms and way of life to the soldiers who sacrificed in battle. But what to make of these Confederate soldiers who died so their rich neighbors could keep their slaves? They are just as brave as the Union troops, often fighting with less food, weapons and clothing.
The modern side to this dilemma is the Vietnam Vet. Often drafted, sent to fight a war which few wanted, these brave soldiers have been dumped on. While the war did not end well, they are every bit as valiant as those who fought in other conflicts.
When (and if) the current conflicts in Iraq and Afganistan are over, it is hoped that the troops who served there will be treated with honor.

The radio whiners were discussing the oil executives talking to congress about their profits recently. A congressman proposed a special excess profits tax, which upset the whiners. ( It has long been suspected that these radio talkers are on the oil industry payroll)
Your gentle reporter heard this talk, and a light bulb went off in his head. What about a special tax for the contractors in Babylon?
Before we get any further, I should say that I oppose a special tax for war profiteers. While the “Daddy Warbucks” tax would feel good to impose, it probably wouldn’t improve honesty or make the war less expensive. The companies would do some accounting magic, call the assets something else, and get the same return on their investment. In fact, this tax might even make the process more costly.
Money is a weapon in war. The ability to fight depends on the ability to finance. A robust at home economy is needed to pay for a war, and for the interest on the money that is borrowed to pay for it. Arguably, when you steal from the war effort, you are committing treason.
This war has been outsourced like no other. Many of the chores once done by conscripted soldiers are now performed by well paid contractors. Many of these contracts are “cost plus” which means that the contractor gets all of their money back plus a percentage of profit. Their is no incentive to be efficient.
As TomPaine.com reports:
“What followed was a U.S. corporate invasion of Iraq.
While some 150 U.S. companies received contracts for work in Iraq following the invasion, the big reconstruction winners (after Halliburton) were: Parsons Corporation of Pasadena, Calif. ($5.3 billion); Fluor Corporation of Aliso Viejo, Calif. ($3.75 billion); Washington Group International of Boise, Idaho ($3.1 billion); Shaw Group of Baton Rouge, Louisiana ($3 billion); Bechtel Corporation of San Francisco, Calif. ($2.8 billion); Perini Corporation of Framingham, Mass. ($2.5 billion); and Contrack International, Inc. of Arlington, Va. ($2.3 billion).
These seven companies are responsible for virtually all reconstruction in Iraq, including water, electricity, bridges, roads, hospitals and sewers. One reason for their failure was that companies, such as Bechtel, came to Iraq with the hopes of ultimately winning contracts to privatize the services they were hired to rebuild. Because many U.S. contracts guaranteed that all of the companies’ costs would be covered, plus a set rate of profit—known as “cost-plus contracts”—they took their time, built expensive new facilities that showcased their skills and would serve their own needs were they to run the systems one day”

Another take is from a blogger nickleberry-huxtable:
“War is a gift from heaven for these corporations. Their everyday `peace-time’ activity is rampant enough, but the checks and balances on their activity still chafe. War provides a chance to avoid these checks, it releases massive amounts of money and creates a chaos of unaccountability and lack of regulation. In the midst of all this, money can leak away in bundles and be quietly directed towards those who desire it most – the greedy rich.
A warning though: This is not to say that this is the reason we went to the war in the first place, or even that it was a factor in the decision to go to war. Instead it is simply the case that war tends to throw up situations of chaos which can be easily exploited by the wealthy and powerful. When war is prosecuted by people who have a vested interest in maintaining this chaos (as is often the case) this exploitation increases”.
While doing research for this feature, I found an article at commondreams.org, about prostitution in Iraq.

“Another major change has been the reliance of the U.S. military on private contractors, who have now surpassed the number of soldiers in Iraq. … Less attention has been paid to how private contractors are changing the nature of military prostitution. In the best known example, DynCorp employees were caught trafficking women in Bosnia, and some indications suggest that similar acts may be taking place in Iraq.”
Getting back to the radio whiners, their silence on war profiteering is most curious. ( I can think of an exception. Laura Ingraham has said that Brown and Root is losing money feeding the troops in Iraq.)They would much rather lambast domestic critics of the war. The truth is that war profiteering is hurting the war effort. It makes the war much more expensive, and is costing America resources that could be used in the war effort. It hurts morale among our troops, who see the contractors growing rich while the soldiers risk their lives.

Gnarlene Widget had been enjoying the day until her husband Poovis came home. That was when the trouble started.
Did you hear the latest from Barack Obama? He is such a dynamic man.
No, what did he say now?
It was about the dwindling resources of the world. We can’t drive our SUVs…
hold on right there. I don’t feel safe if I don’t have my SUV
you just don’t like that because he is black
I am not a racist. I just like to feel safe when I drive.
The way you drive, you wouldn’t be safe in a Sherman tank.
And who are you to talk? I bet you are seeing Anita McDoosh again.Don’t lie to me Poovis Widget, and you seeing that tramp again?
no dear, I am not. Besides, what Mr. Obama said was important. Americans have been using too many of the world’s resources, and we need to scale back. We cannot eat as much…
DO YOU THINK I AM FAT? WAAAAAAH. He thinks I am fat. I know I am not as skinny as that Anita McDoosh, but you didn’t have to say I was fat.

The radio whiner discussing the piece said the Republicans were going to get whipped this fall because they abandoned their principals. The truth is, they are true to their principals, and people are seeing where it is going.
The Repubs stand for telling the people what they want to hear, and then doing whatever they want in office.
There are two parts of the contract on america that I remember. That is a balanced budget amendment and term limits. Newt Gingrich, who had been in Congress for 18 years when he proposed term limits, led this movement.
The balanced budget amendment is another item that was quietly forgotten when the GOP took over congress. The borrow and spend Elephant heads didn’t want to stop. They even passed a tax cut a few years ago, knowing that we were about to go to war.
That is another principal of the Repubs, warmongering. For years and years they made noise about the Soviet threat, which was very good for the armaments industry here. Once the Soviet Union rotted and died (In large part because of an unwise war in Afghanistan), the right wing was without an enemy. Liberals in the press just are not as much fun.
After 911, the Muslim world was a dream of an enemy. The war in Babylon ensued just as soon as a tax cut was made to pay for it. We now have 160k troops in a conflict eight time zones away…. and a republican party that says it believes in mediumer government. They never said they practice it, just that they believe it.
That is the guiding principal of the Republican party…to believe one thing and do another. They have held fast to this, and the voters are tired.

And now for something completely different.
It has been suggested that I update the “about” page on my blog. This scares me. It is like that dreaded part of a job interview, “tell me about yourself”.
There are quite a few things I could say, and more than a couple that will stay behind these glasses. I got started on the chore yesterday, and started to just list potential categories.
1stats2residence3religion4education5occupation6sex7drugs
8music/culture9pictures10negativeattitude11diet
12overallhealth13politics14authoritarianism15iching
16relationships17bicycles18travels19cars20family21languages
22hair23clothes24shoes

The Liver:
1. Produces 13,000 chemicals per day
2. Is responsible for making components for 55,000 enzyme systems.
3. It weighs 4.4 lbs. or 2.2 kilos.
4. Has the ability to re-generate itself
5. All toxins including those that are inhaled are processed by and through the liver
6. Runs through the Basal Metabolic Rate which is controlled by the Thyroid Gland so in theory, the thyroid gland controls the pace of the liver
7. The liver controls the flow of blood throughout the entire body
8. All Hemorrhoid issues are caused by an overloaded liver
9. All Menstrual problems are directly caused by the liver
10. Does the majority of its work the minute we go to bed (11 pm – 1 am)

Gallbladder:
1. A specially lined organ that is designed to hold bile
2. Bile is manufactured by the liver
3. Bile is considered to be the most corrosive substance in the human body
4. Bile is released each and every time we eat
5. Court physicians during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1542) healed every illness through the gallbladder. They said the gallbladder was “the opening to God”
6. Does the majority of its work between 1 am and 3 pm
7. Is directly responsible for indigestion, heartburn, flatulence and bloated ness

Ileo Cecal Valve:
1. 2 inches to the right of the navel and 2 inches down
2. Doorway between medium intestine and large intestine
3. Susceptible to stress
4. When malfunctioning, it allows toxins from the large intestine to pass backwards into the medium intestine where they are absorbed directly into the bloodstream
5. This causes the Liver to refrain from releasing as much toxins as it normally would
6. And in turn causes the lymphatic system which is bringing toxins to the liver to become sluggish and congested

The above information is from Philip Princetta. Dr. Princetta works within Integrated Healing Arts. For more information write: pprincetta@cox.net

I have been using wordpress for a few months now. I am waiting for the time when a post goes through with no hassles.
Tonight will not be the night.
I didn’t have much to say. I decided to copy a letter from a friend about the liver and gall bladder. There is nothing wrong with sharing knowledge, especially when you believe what is said to be true.
The letter used bullet points. I suspect this at the root of the issue.
I edited the letter, and marked it up with HTML. This is how I get font colors.
When I added it to the dashboard, the font colors did not show up. Also, the pictures were placed in a skewed order.
I tried a different browser, with the same results.
I am going to post this without the bullet points.
When you add text to a window, you should use the window “html” and not the window “visual”.

In 1994 I was working in downtown Atlanta. I represented my company in a customer’s office, and there was often time with nothing to do. At the very least, there was no timeclock and an hour lunch could slip into overtime with few consequences.
There was an issue in the news in 1994, along with some claims made that I simply did not believe. One day, I went to the library, and sat down with the microfilms of the Atlanta Constitution (Covers Dixie Like the Dew) for the Winter of 1956.
One of the fun things about doing research is the things you were not looking for, but see anyway. Elvis Presley made a personal appearance at the Fox Theatre. There was a lot of speculation about whether Dwight Eisenhower would have a different Vice President in the next election. Mr. President had a heart attack the previous year, and many did not want Richard Nixon to be President.
This was 20 years after Mr. Nixon resigned the Presidency in disgrace. You wonder how things might have been different if someone had acted on those concerns.
This was two years after Brown vs. The Board of Education, and many were concerned about school desegregation. A bill was proposed in the legislature that year to make it a felony to advocate integration.
The Governor at the time was Marvin Griffin. Georgia Tech played Pittsburgh in the Sugar Bowl that year, in spite of the fact that Pittsburgh had a black player. The Governor strongly objected, but was overruled, and the game was played without incident.
The State of Georgia changed the state flag that year. The new flag had the state seal on a blue stripe next to the St. Andrews Cross. This cross was the battle flag of the Confederate States of America.
In 1994 many wanted to change that flag. Some said that it was a symbol of slavery and oppression; others said it was a reminder of battlefield valor. A native southerner, I could understand both points of view, and was neutral regarding a change of the flag.
One thing that I did not understand was an argument made for changing the flag. The line in those days…first expressed by Governor Zell Miller and endlessly repeated by the local fishwrapper media, was that the flag had been changed as a protest against desegregation.
I did not believe that for a minute. The legislature in 1956 was not that smart. They were a bunch of white males who were racist, alcoholic crooks. (There were exceptions to this) If someone had suggested a flag change as a stand of defiance against desegregation, they might have thought it a good idea, but I somehow doubt that anyone thought like that.
After all, this was 1956. The sixties, where protest became the new national pastime, were a few years away.
After a few minutes of searching through the department store ads and sports pages, I found what I was looking for.
I found the article announcing the flag change. There was no mention of a protest against desegregation. They announced it as a way of honoring the Confederacy. This is in keeping with the times. Georgia in 1956 was still recovering from the War, and the Cult of Honoring the Confederacy was strong.
The flag was eventually changed under the leadership of Governor Roy Barnes. The new flag was even uglier than the old one, which I did not think was possible. Sonny Perdue defeated Mr. Barnes in his bid for reelection, in no small part because he proposed a referendum on the flag. He forgot his promise as soon as he got into office, but the flag was changed once again.
Time to go back to work.

The first picture in this episode is a family portrait of the Quin family in Washington Georgia. The nine surviving children of Hugh Pharr Quin are sitting for the camera. Mr. Quin had joined the Georgia State Troops of the Army of the Confederacy at the age of 16, and after the war went to Washington to live with his sister. Mr. Quin was in the church choir of the First Methodist Church when he met the organist, Betty Lou DuBose. They were married January 22, 1879.
The original name of Mrs. Quin was Louisa Toombs DuBose. She was the daughter of James Rembert DuBose. His brother in law was Robert Toombs, the Secretary of State of the Confederacy, and a man of whom many stories are told.
In this picture, Mrs. Quin is holding the hand of her second youngest daughter so she will not run away. This is Mattie Vance Quin. She is my grandmother.
After The Great War, Mattie Vance Quin was living in Memphis Tennessee, where she met Arthur Dunaway. Mr. Dunaway was a veteran of the war, and was from Paragould, Arkansas. On July 23, 1922 her first Daughter, Jean, was born. This is my mother.
Mr. Dunaway died in 1930, shortly after the birth of his son Arthur. There were hard times and upheaval after this, with the family settling in Atlanta. There her third child Helen Ann Moffat was born on December 12, 1933. This is my Aunt Helen and my mother’s best friend.

Jean lived for many years with her mother and sister at 939 Piedmont, among other locations. She joined the First Baptist Church and sang in the choir. She got a job with the C&S bank, and was working at the Tenth Street Branch when she met Luther McKinnon. He was a native of Rowland, North Carolina. They were married October 6, 1951.
They moved into the Skyland Apartments, which in those days was out in the country. Mom told a story about Dad taking her home from Choir practice, and going home on the two lane Buford Hiway. There was a man who went to the restaurants to get scraps to feed his pigs, and his truck was always in front of them. This was a serious matter in the summer without air conditioning.
Soon, they moved into a house, and Luther junior was born on May 6, 1954. This is me. Malcolm was born May 10, 1956, which did it for the children. Neither of us had children, so that is where that ends.
The fifties were spent on Wimberly Road, a street of always pregnant women just outside Brookhaven. It was a great place to be a little kid.
In 1960, we moved to Parkridge Drive, to the house where my brother and I stay today. The note payment was $88 a month. Ashford Park School is a short walk away…the lady who sold us the house said ” you slap you kid on the fanny and he is at school”.
In 1962, our family followed the choir director from First Baptist to Briarcliff Baptist, which is where my parents remained.
In 1964, Mom went back to work. She ran the drive in window at Lenox Square for the Trust Company of Georgia until it was time to retire. She became a talk radio fan when RING radio started, and was a friend of her customer Ludlow Porch. She gave dog biscuits to customers with dogs.
During this era of change, Mom taught me that all people were good people, be they black or white. This was rare in the south. She later became disgusted with the War in Vietnam, and liked to quote a man she heard on the radio. “How will we get out of Vietnam?”” By ship and by plane”.
Eventually, it was time to retire. Her and Dad did the requisite traveling, until Dad got sick and passed away February 7,1992. Mom stuck around for a few more years, until her time came December 18, 1998.

Maybe I am not a real man. I once asked for directions.
I don’t think that jokes about asking directions are very funny.
It is a rule that female comedians cannot perform without telling at least one joke about men not asking for directions.
Never mind that when you ask for directions, you are asking for trouble. Many directions from strangers will leave you more lost than you already were.
With GPS systems coming into popularity, the female comedian is an endangered species.That is, unless she marries a Cuban bandleader, cries a lot, and dyes her hair red.
Did the Three Stooges ever ask for directions?
Why did Moses wander in the desert for forty years? He wouldn’t ask for directions.
Mapquest is not a perfect solution. It can steer you into wild goose land just as surely as that toothless man at the gas station.
One I had to take something to a place outside Gainesville. My boss gave me the mapquest directions he had used before, and said that he got lost using them.
I called the lady I would be taking the product to. She gave me directions to the place, and I found it without a problem. ( Sometimes people give good instructions). I mentioned that her directions were good, and she said that they were the same ones she gave my boss.
Mapquest is a good tool, but is not the final word. A map book is your friend, even if it is not perfect. Urban Legend has it that cartographers will insert nonexistent streets into their product as a method of copywriting.
Maybe female comedians can make jokes about that.

Originally this was going to be about May 6. On this day 54 years ago I arrived at Georgia Baptist Hospital. The plan was to go to Wikipedia, list famous people who were born or died on this day, and chronicle some events from this day.
The State of Georgia is ready to add another event to the list.
The U.S. Supreme Court recently ruled that lethal injection was a constitutionally approved method for offing condemned criminals. While the matter was being debated, no executions took place here.
And now Georgia is set to be the first to “process” a convicted man.

Semantic timeout. While hung, shot, or beheaded are obvious verbs for more archaic means of execution, what is the expression for “executed by lethal injection”?
When you discuss the electric chair “fried” or “electrocuted” had obvious meanings. What do you call the process where a Doctor forgets his Hippocratic oath and shoots up a person with substances that will cause his or her demise? Juiced? Injecticide? Upshot?

Back to the business at hand. It is 6:59 as I write this, so the deed will be done soon. Unless Governor Sonny makes a phone call, which I somehow doubt will happen.
I have serious mixed feelings about the death penalty. Plenty of these folks deserve what they are getting, and William Earl Lynd Lynd may well be one of them. On the other hand, how much of a deterrent is executing a man for a crime committed 20 years ago? Most people have forgotten the case…those that were aware of it to begin with.
And with all the corruption, lawyers, and rampant egomania in the justice business, how can the death penalty ever be administered fairly?
I wrote a piece at my old blog on the subject ” Is life sacred”? Here is an excerpt:
Capital Punishment is pretty muddy also. There are some cases where it is appropriate. It is not always used in these cases, and is used at other times when it should not be.
Capital Punishment is strong stuff. It is “Playing G-d”. I simply don’t think our justice system is fair or wise enough to use this strong medicine in a beneficial manner. We would be better off as a society without it.
In case you missed it, here is the last meal…two pepper jack barbecue burgers with crisp onions; two baked potatoes with sour cream, bacon and cheese; one large strawberry milkshake.