The Only Country That Respects Human Rights
Democracy Now is reporting on the confirmation hearings of John Brennan as Director of the Central Intelligence Agency. He is replacing David Petraeus, who resigned after a bimbo problem. Some say the real aim of the Petraeus scandal was to get Mr. Brennan into the Director’s job.
During the Global War on Terror, the United States used a method called extraordinary rendition. This is where suspects are taken to another country, where they are assumed to be tortured. Mr. Brennan was involved in this practice during the administration of George W. Bush. The quote that follows is from a PBS interview in 2005.
MARGARET WARNER: Why would you not … keep him in the United States’ custody? Is it because we want another country to do the dirty work?
JOHN BRENNAN: No, I don’t think that’s it at all. Also, I think it’s rather arrogant to think that we’re the only country that respects human rights I think that we have a lot of assurances from these countries that we hand over terrorists to that they will in fact respect human rights. And there are different ways to gain those assurances. But also, let’s say an individual goes to Egypt, because they’re an Egyptian citizen. And Egyptians then have a longer history in terms of dealing with them, and they have family members and others that they can bring in, in fact, to be part of the whole interrogation process.
Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon is leading the opposition to Mr. Brennan. “Every American has the right to know when their government believes it’s allowed to kill them. I don’t think that, as one person said, that is too much to ask.”
You can’t make this stuff up. Pictures are from The Library of Congress.
Bong Picture
A football player from Chamblee GA took a trip to Oregon.
@DavinBellamy17 Oregon trip going better than I thought 12:46 AM – 3 Feb 13
He posed for an embarrassing picture. The internet never forgets.
Christian comments: “The UGA chapter of the KKK is not gonna like this.”
The Nine Horse
The storm was moving in, so there would be no bicycle riding today. There was a Charles Bukowski file to listen to. A collection called “70 minutes in hell” played, and a few pictures from The Library of Congress were converted. This is not going to be an afternoon to make sense. Making sense is overrated.
The pictures were Union soldiers from the War Between the States. The idea was to kill Confederates, or die trying. That is another thing which makes no sense at all. We don’t know what it was about 150 years ago. It might have made sense then.
When the decision to write this feature was made, the first thought was to find a link to Mr. Bukowski. (Spell check suggestion: Buckskin) The thing would be easy enough to find, but a certain attitude crept into the picture. If a person wants to find the file, then Mr. Google can work for them just as easily as it can work for this slack blogger.
Poetry comes into the room like water, pouring though the mouth of a river flows into the Gulf of Mexico. When a cup of water moves from fresh water into salt, no one cares where it comes from. All that a body of water knows is that it is one cup larger.
These files are fun to listen to, without the cigarettes and beer spills. When you are tired of listening, you click on the spot and the noise goes away. Mr. Bukowski was talented, and prolific. If you keep the quantity up, the quality takes care of itself. The problem is, for every Charles Bukowski, there are a million useless urinal feeders.
Mr. Bukowski was at the racetrack, and took an emergency bowel movement. Before it was too late, he saw his wallet in the bowl, floating on top of the waste product. The billfold was extracted from the zip file. Mr. Bukowski took a ten dollar bill out, and bet it on the nine horse.
Was Warren Harding A Bad President?
It is a cliche of history classes that Warren Harding was one of the worst men to occupy the oval office. (Richard Nixon was the POTUS the last time PG studied history. This cliche does not consider the last forty years.) PG is a fair minded person, who is always looking for something to write about. The question for Mr. Google was “was warren harding a terrible president?”. Answers dot com has a generous helping of biographical sketches.
Warren Gamaliel Harding was born Nov. 2, 1865, Caledonia OH, and died Aug. 2, 1923, San Francisco CA. (His birthplace is also cited as Blooming Grove OH, and Corsica OH.) He published a newspaper, got into politics, and was elected to the US Senate. In 1920, he was a compromise candidate, on the tenth ballot of the Republican convention. He clobbered James Cox, (His family firm, Cox Enterprises, owns Channel 2 and the fishwrapper.) and became President March 4, 1921.
The United States was in an economic downturn in 1921. The War in Europe ended in 1918, and a postwar depression was on. The last two years of the Wilson administration had been chaotic, with the President suffering a debilitating stroke. In a few years, the roaring twenties were on, and America was prosperous for a few years.
Mr. Harding was reputed to be a womanizer, gambler, and heavy drinker. He was not an activist President, but allowed his cronies to do what they wanted to do. This proved to be his downfall. “I have no trouble with my enemies. I can take care of my enemies all right. But my damn friends. They’re the ones that keep me walking the floor nights!”
There was a major scandal involving oil reserves. It centered around a place in Wyoming called Teapot Dome. The details of this affair mostly came to light after the death of President Harding. Albert B. Fall, the secretary of the interior, was convicted of a felony for his role in the affair… the first cabinet officer to become a felon while in office.
Mr. Harding went on a trip to the west, to make speeches and deals. He was the first President to go to Alaska. While in Alaska, he read some documents about the crooked dealings of his friends. In a few days, he was in San Francisco. He had been in ill health during the trip.
“On Thursday, the President’s health appeared to be improving, so his doctors went to dinner. Harding’s pulse was normal and his lung infection had subsided. Unexpectedly, during the evening, Harding shuddered and died suddenly in the middle of conversation with his wife in the hotel’s presidential suite, at 7:35 pm on August 2, 1923. Dr. Sawyer (a homeopath, and friend of the Harding family), opined that Harding had succumbed to a stroke, but doctors there disagreed. … After some discussion, the doctors issued a release indicating the cause of death to be “some brain evolvement, probably an apoplexy”. Mrs. Harding refused to allow an autopsy. In retrospect, scholars speculate that Harding had shown physical signs of cardiac insufficiency with congestive heart failure in the preceding weeks. Naval medical consultants who examined the president in San Francisco concluded he had suffered a heart attack. “
The sudden and mysterious death of a President, with reports of a scandal surfacing, is fertile ground for conspiracy theorists. Mr. Harding did appear to be in poor health, so this may have been a natural occurrence. The truth will never be completely known.
One aspect of the Harding administration that is not well known is his attitude about race. In the years after World War I, America was engulfed in race hatred. The Ku Klux Klan had a revival. “In a speech on October 26, 1921, given in segregated Birmingham, Alabama Harding advocated civil rights for African Americans; the first President to openly advocate black political, educational, and economic equality during the 20th century.” Mr. Harding supported an anti lynching bill, which a Democratic filibuster kept from passing.
Jimmysnax brings the Internet tradition of snarky commentary to the legacy of Warren Harding. Apparently, former newspaperman Harding could not write his way out of a paper bag. (In 1923, radio was a novelty. The printed word was the primary means of communication.)
Run your eyes over one of the best known examples of his waterboarding of the English tongue: “I would like the government to do all it can to mitigate, then, in understanding, in mutuality of interest, in concern for the common good, our tasks will be solved.”
Here’s what H. L. Mencken said about Harding’s speech writing and speech making: “He writes the worst English that I have ever encountered. It reminds me of a string of wet sponges; it reminds me of tattered washing on the line; it reminds me of stale bean soup, of college yells, of dogs barking idiotically through endless nights. It is so bad that a sort of grandeur creeps into it. It drags itself out of the dark abysm of pish, and crawls insanely up the topmost pinnacle of posh. It is rumble and bumble. It is flap and doodle. It is balder and dash.” The 20’s were a wonderful time for language!
Or as E.E. Cummings put it, announcing Harding’s death: “The only man, woman or child who wrote a simple declarative sentence with seven grammatical errors is dead.”
Pictures are from The Library of Congress. This repost is written like Kurt Vonnegut.
Global Belly Laugh Day
The previous post is about the morbid custom of putting death notices in newspapers. Part of the festivities was noting famous fatalities that occurred on January 24. It is a diverse crew. “Grim reaper recruits on January 24 include Caligula (41). Ira Hayes (1955), Winston Churchill (1965), William Griffith “Bill” Wilson (1971), L. Ron Hubbard (1986), Ted Bundy (1989), Chris Penn (2006).”
Ira Hayes was born into an Arizona tribe, Akimel O’odham. In World War II, he joined the Marines, and was included in the famous picture taken on Iwo Jima. After the war, Ira Hayes became a drunk.
Winston Churchill was the British Prime Minister during that same conflict. He is considered a hero, even if his most famous speech was made by an actor. Mr. Churchill was also fond of alcohol. “Madam, you are ugly” “Sir, you are drunk” “Yes, but in the morning I will be sober.”
Bill Wilson was the original of Anonymous Alcoholic. He has a lot of friends.
The synchronicity between Caligula, L. Ron Hubbard, and Ted Bundy is a bit more subtle. Caligula was a historic figure, and anything said about him is subject to dispute. He might have really been a warm, fuzzy kind of guy. L. Ron Hubbard was the founder of Scientology, and Ted Bundy was a serial killer. Chris Penn is the brother of Sean, and his character in Reservoir Dogs fired a lot of shots.
January 24 is a lot of things. It is the birthday of Oral Roberts (1919) and Neil Diamond (1941). January 24 is also Global Belly Laugh Day. On January 24 at 1:24 p.m. (local time) smile, throw your arms in the air and laugh out loud.
The Book
Irving Stone was promoting Depths of Glory,
a book about Camille Pissarro.
Mr. Stone said:
“The book is the great creation of man. It is greater than cement, the wheel, or running water.”
He died four years later.
Pictures: “The Georgia State University Library”.
She Said He Said
1. THINGY
Female……Any part under a car’s hood.
Male……..The strap fastener on a woman’s bra.
2. VULNERABLE
Female…..Fully opening up one’s self emotionally to another.
Male…….Playing football without a cup.
3. COMMUNICATION
Female..The open sharing of thoughts and feelings with one’s partner.
Male….Leaving a note before taking off on a fishing trip with the boys.
4. COMMITMENT
Female…….A desire to get married and raise a family.
Male………Trying not to hit on other women while out with this one.
5. ENTERTAINMENT
Female……A good movie, concert, play or book.
Male……..Anything that can be done while drinking beer.
6. FLATULENCE
Female……An Embarrassing byproduct of indigestion.
Male……..A source of entertainment, self-expression, male bonding.
7. MAKING LOVE
Female……The greatest expression of intimacy a couple can achieve.
Male……..Call it whatever you want just as long as we do it.
8. REMOTE CONTROL
Female…..A device for changing from one TV channel to another.
Male…….A device for scanning through all 375 channels every 5 minutes.
9. THIS IS A repost. Text is from Funny Jokes.
Pictures are from “The Special Collections and Archives,Georgia State University Library”.
Serif
This feature is about the serif. That is the thingie at the ends of a letter. The serif keeps the T from falling over. The serif recirculates the essence of the s. The serif increases the vowelness of a,i, and u. O and e and in the word vowel, and need no further glory. Little i is so puny it gets a tittle on top.
Some say the serif is old fashioned, and will be sent packing in the future. Maybe this is the case. One typophile tells of Roman stonecarvers being guided by painted on letters. The end of the stroke was bigger than the beginning, so the carver made the bottom of the letters bigger.
A graphic designer, with the nickname Helvetica, told PG something about serifs. Studies show that serifs guide the eye through text, and make it easier to read. One gentleman reviewed studies, both pro and con, and decided that sans serif is just as readable as serif.
A Dog Story
A band, Pearls Before Swine , put out an album called “These things too”. The title track told the story of a Persian king, who wanted a saying for all occasions. His advisers had a conference, invited experts, ate, drank, and thought. The phrase they came up with was “these things too shall pass away”.
Today, Persia is known as Iran. It is rich in oil, but has a troubled recent history. Instead of a king, they have a fashion challenged President, who says things that allegedly threaten Israel. (PG does not speak Farsi, and must depend on translators. There are differing opinions as to what the man said.)
You might ask, what does this have to do with a bunch of dogs, in Piedmont Park, on an overcast December afternoon? Perhaps it relates to the dog who, when asked to pose, thought you wanted to smell his butt. That is how dogs greet each other. Why should that man, pointing that little orange box at me, be any different?
A sunday in December means NFL football to millions of people. The Falcons were in Houston this day, and lost. This is another thing that is always true… somebody has to lose. The football angle could be what the wisemen meant. They just didn’t say what would happen to that pass. There are three things that can happen when you pass, and only one of them is good, at least for the offense.
Today is a repost. This is a Wednesday. The 2012 Falcons are 11-1, in the regular season. Whether they will turn into postseason pumpkins remains to be seen.
It took 85 minutes to get from Smyrna to Brookhaven tonight. Whoever said “these things too shall pass away” did not travel on I-285.
A person walked through a door, ahead of Dorothy Parker. The first one through said “Age before beauty.” Mrs. Parker replied “Pearls Before Swine.”
Shut Up Franklin Graham
PG was researching the previous post, and decided to check up on little Ralphie Reed. His group’s website has a headline video, Franklin Graham: America Has Turned Its Back on God. It does not mention why anyone should care.
Franklin Graham’s claim to fame is his father. Billy Graham is a TV preacher superstar. The elder Graham is still alive, so it is fair to make negative comments. PG walked through the living room countless nights, and saw parents glued to the tube. The Billy Graham crusade was a staple of television. The blow dried superpreacher stood in front of a football stadium full of admirers, telling people how not to go to hell. Sin, salvation, send money. Is that all there is?
If Franklin Graham did not have a superstar father, he would be nobody. Life is not fair, and the opinions of Franklin Graham, and his sister, Anne Graham Lotz, are treated with the reverence Catholics give to the thoughts of the Pope. Franklin Graham has gotten a lot of attention with some rude comments about Muslims. Islam and Christianity use the same G-d.
It was some comments about G-d in the video that annoyed PG. “We’ve turned out back on G-d. We’ve taken G-d out of our schools. We’ve taken G-d out of our government.” Apparently, Franklin Graham and PG have different thoughts about G-d.
G-d is in everything and everybody. If you turn your back on G-d, she will still be looking you in the eye. If you have a room full of children, then G-d is present in that room. This idea of a puny G-d, that you can turn your back on, may be the most offensive thing ever said by the Graham family, Inc.
Pictures are from The Library of Congress. @Franklin_Graham has 0 tweets and 21,213 followers.
From Bad To Hearst
There is a delightful rantette, No Twinkies please, we’re dying. It is from a San Francisco web page, affiliated with a Hearst newspaper. PG wonders if Pattie read it. There is a person who can appreciate when things did not look too good.
The feature starts out: “Surely you must see. Surely you must understand. Don’t you know rockets are falling all over Gaza and Israel? Do you not read that more than 100 people have died already in brutal and insidious fighting that’s been going on since God was knee-high to a bogus misconception? Jesus Christ, quit whining about Twinkies already. Stop anonymous commenting about your little pet peeve social issue tech glitch culture itch fashion bitch. You do not have it so bad. You have never, comparatively speaking and with the proper sort of lens in place, had it so bad.”
The feature should be read in full. It will not take that much time, if you focus on it and don’t take any facebook breaks. A commenter notes “You may have caught me off guard and wasted two minutes of my life with this crap but the joke is on you as it took what, an hour of yours to write this?”
Another commenter is nicknamed lurch 394. PG always felt a kinship to the harpsichord playing butler. “I could not help but notice that powers that be (PTB) has the same initials as Phineas Taylor Barnum. One is born every minute, indeed.” P.T Barnum was sort of a contemporary to W.R. Hearst. Neither thought the public was very bright.
Getting back to the twinkie column, there does seem to be a lack of appreciation for how good things are. This is partially human nature. Part of it is the Darwinistic nature of Capitalism. If you were happy with the widget you had, there would be no need to build an ultrawidget. If you were happy with the POTUS, there would be no need to spend billions of dollars trying to replace him. Some of that money does trickle down to working people, although it is hard to tell sometime.
As for twinkies, this is textbook economics. If Hostess cannot make a profit on their junk food, then they go out of business. It doesn’t matter if it is greedy bosses, nitwit moneylenders, or a clumsy union that did Hostess in. It is probably a combination of all those factors. When you factor in the fact that people are starting to read the label on the box, and wonder what those chemicals do to them, you might wonder why dingdongs lasted as long as they did.
Maybe PG could add a personal note of gratitude. This is being written in the backyard. The laptop has wireless access to the rest of the world. The table was thrown away by someone else, but works just fine. The water is in a plastic cup, washed and reused countless times. PG has made it to 58 years old, despite misadventures that should have killed him long ago. Ditto the mister adventures. His body stills works without crippling pain, most of the time. The snack is steamed collard stems. No one has tried to save PG today. Life is good. It will be better when the neighbor is finished leafblowing his yard.
The pictures today were taken at Oakland Cemetery. Being buried in a cool place is not a good substitute for being alive. As for the dogs, they do not want to be human.
The Electoral College Is Broken
The electoral college method of electing the President is broken, and needs to be fixed. This problem has been around since the constitution was written. It hurt America badly in 2000, when the man who won the popular vote was denied the Presidency on a technicality.
There have been few calls for electoral reform since the 2000 election, even from the Democrats who were robbed. It is almost as if the two parties don’t really compete, but pretend to fight each other, knowing that soon it will be the other guys turn to rule. The thieves who run our political system are used to playing the electoral college game, and would have to have an honest election if the race was decided by popular vote.
In Georgia, it is known that the Republicans will get the states votes. If you vote for a democrat, your vote in Georgia won’t make a difference in Ohio. The electoral college system takes the Presidential vote away from Georgia citizens.
The reform of this system does not have to be complicated. The constitution calls for the voters to select electors, who will vote on the President. The winner-take-all plan is a perversion of the original plan. The customs can be changed just as easily, probably without a constitutional amendment.
Here is a plan. Elect one elector for each congressional district. Give each state two electors based on the statewide vote. There will be districts where one party always wins, and that is regretable. There will probably be fewer people disenfranchised this way that under the present system of state by state, winner takes all.
Pictures tonight are from ” The Special Collections and Archives,Georgia State University Library”
Chamblee54 
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