Chamblee54

There is a nifty webcam up now. It shows the progress of a high rise going up now at 12th and Peachtree in midtown. The location of the camera itself is not certain, with the speculation centering on 999 Peachtree, two blocks south on Tenth Street.
A glance at the image reveals a curve in the road, between the two glass boxes under construction. Atlanta does not have wide, straight boulevards extending to the horizon. It is said that Atlanta did not build roads, but paved the cow paths.
People of a certain age will remember this area as the strip. The tenth street district was a neighborhood shopping area, up until the mid sixties. At some point, the old businesses started to move out and the hippies moved in. For a while, it was a festive party. Soon enough reality returned, and the area went into a crime filled decline.
The 999 complex is the neighborhood story in a nutshell. Before 1985, it was a block of small businesses. There was a hardware store, with the peace symbol set in tiles in the sidewalk. On Juniper Street stood the Langdon Court Apartments. They were named for PG’s great uncle Langdon Quin. Ru Paul used to stay there. He would sit out on a balcony, and wave to the traffic going by.
Across the street was a chinese restaurant, the House of Eng. A staircase on the side led to the Suzy Wong Lounge. Behind the building was an apartment building. It was one of the residences of Margaret Mitchell, while she wrote “Gone With The Wind”. She called it “the dump”, which was fairly accurate.
PG went to the House of Eng for lunch one day in 1985. He noticed that he was the only customer in the house, at 12:30 pm on a weekday. After finishing his lunch, PG knew why.
At some point, it was decided to build a high rise there. Heery was one of the equity partners, along with a law firm and an ad agency. The building was designed by Heery (duh).The ad agency folded before the building opened, followed within a couple of years by the law firm. Heery was sold to a British company. PG does not know who owns the building now.
Thank you Atlanta Time Machine for many of the photographs in this feature.
UPDATE: This is a repost . The camera is still operating, even though the exterior of the building looks finished. There is now a frame in the bottom part of the screen. This might be a clue to the location of the camera. This location seems to be the same today as it was a year ago.

The perpetrator of a facility called Peekinthewall has left a couple of comments at this waste of pixels chamblee54. As it happens, PITW has a feature about the english language, which had a link to this feature about homophones. Homophones are not how Ellen DeGeneres listens to her ipod. They are words that sound alike, but have different meanings.
The problem with the linked list is a fondness for cusswords. In the interest of promoting good grammar, with fewer dirty words, here is a list of homophones. There is a note about financial double meanings, for any capitalist dropping by. Pictures are from The Library of Congress.

Affect/Effect Affect is a verb, effect is a noun. The effects of your medication affect your ability to drive safely.
Bare/Bear Bare means exposed. A bear is an animal, or a Chicago football player. The verb means to “bear with” or endure. By using improper grammar, you are laying bare your ignorance. I cannot bear this sloppy grammar any longer.
Capital/Capitol This one is a doozie. The two words have lots of meanings, and you just have to know which one is which. The A capitals include capital punishment, capital letters, and financial capital. The state capitol is spelled with an O. Remember, the state capitol has a rOtunda, which is round. It also has rotund people hanging out there.
Complement/Compliment Brandy Ryan complements me because she is everything I’m not. I compliment Brandy Ryan on her transcendent beauty incessantly. Remember, when you say “I think you look nice”, you are putting I into compliment.
Discreet/Discrete People fall into two discrete groups. There are those with no shame, and those who are discreet about their activities.
Dual/Duel Dual refers to two of something, like a dual use. A duel involves two people, two pistols, and one of the people typically dies. Alexander Hamilton had a dual career, before he died in a duel.
It’s/Its Usually, when a word has an apostrophe and s, it means possession. This is an exception. It’s is short for it is. Its is the possessive form. This makes no sense, but is how languages work.
Loose/Lose The extra o makes a word that is loose as a goose. With only one o, you are going to lose the game. Tighten up…if you play loose you are going to lose. Ellen is going to lose her loose change.
Principal/Principle This is another head scratcher. The boss at your school is the principal, who is your pal. Ditto the man in the corner office, who is a principal of the firm, and may or may not be your pal. If you invest money in this firm, then the money you draw interest on is the principal, again with an a. This is a guiding principle (with an e) of investment… you should never touch the principal, but use the interest.
Then/Than By making mistakes, you show that most fourth graders have better grammar than you. If you can’t write properly, then don’t write at all.
Their/There/They’re The grand daddy of trouble, a profusion of confusion. You should know this, but then why you are reading? Their is possessive, there is a location, they’re is a contraction of they are. They’re going to take their ice cream and go there with it.
To/Too/Two/Tutu I’m going to smite thee. I am laughing at you, too. It takes two to tango. Don’t mess with my tutu.
Verses/Versus Songs have verses, which is a noun. Versus is a preposition, and it implies a conflict between two opposing parties. Verses are sung in harmony, while versus implies competition.
Your/You’re This is another possession and contraction quagmire. Your is a possessive word.You’re is a contraction of you and are. It’s your language, and you’re going to speak it properly. If you don’t, you’re going to sound like an idiot, if you don’t learn how to speak your own language.

“We are asking Americans to think about that because how do you ask a man to be the last man to die in Vietnam? How do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake?..”
John Kerry said that in 1971. In 2004, he tried to take on that chore. George W. Bush, who spent Vietnam in the reserves, beat Nam Vet Kerry in the election. W kept the war in Babylon going four more years, and dumped it on his successor.
BHO brought the POTUS parade to town yesterday. In a speech downtown, he said the last US combat troops will be leaving Iraq at the end of August. BHO did not comment on Mr. Kerry’s question.
Juan Cole sums things up: “The US did not ‘win’ the Iraq War. It simply outlasted it. It was strong enough to remain, during the Sunni guerrilla war and the Sunni-Shiite Civil War, until the Iraqis exhausted themselves with fighting. But the massive violence provoked by the US occupation so weakened the Bush administration that it was forced to accept a withdrawal timetable dictated by the Iraqi parliament, in part at the insistence of deputies loyal to Muqtada al-Sadr and others connected to Iran.”
Pictures for this bit of cheer are from ” The Special Collections and Archives,Georgia State University Library” .

MusingsonIraq has a story about the history of WMD in Iraq. This was an often cited reason for the invasion. It was later revealed that WMD was an excuse rather than the reason for the war.
The story is fascinating. Iraq lived in a bad neighborhood, and started to develop chemical weapons in the 1960s. Saddam Insane took over in 1979, and invaded Iran a year later. An eight year bloodbath was the result, leading to the wars of 1991 and 2003.
It should be noted here that this was while Iran was holding Americans hostage. There was a great deal of ill will in America towards Iran at this time. Iraq was seen as the ally of the USA during this was, and the initial invasion may have been encouraged by the USA.
Chemical weapons (CW) were a key part of the war against the larger Iranian army. CW was used against the “human wave” attacks, that sent hundreds of thousands of Iranian youths to paradise. When Kurds did not support the war effort to Saddam’s satisfaction, CW was used on them.
The question is often raised, Who sold chemicals to Iraq? . UN investigators are reluctant to name sources. A company in Singapore was a major supplier, as were a variety of European companies. At least two American firms ( both now defunct) …Alcolac International of Maryland and the Al Haddad trading company of Tennessee…sold CW supplies to Iraq. Remember, up until the invasion of Kuwait in 1990, Iraq was an ally of The United States. ( Actually, the Iran contra affair also happened. In this business, Israel served as the middleman for American weapon sales to Iran. This is highly ironic, considering the eagerness of some in Israel to nuke Iran recently.)
In 1990, Iraq invaded Kuwait, and became the enemy of the United States. This invasion was partially a result of the enormous debt that Iraq incurred as a result of the war with Iran. This war debt led to a scaling back of the WMD program, which now included biological weapons.
In 1991, the US led coalition drove Iraq out of Kuwait. Many of the factories and warehouses of the WMD program were destroyed in American bombing raids. After Iraq was driven out of Kuwait, many felt the US army should push into Baghdad and evict Mr. Hussein. Stories have emerged that Saudi Arabia did not want a Shiite state on it’s border, and preferred to take their chances with Saddam. In Baghdad, the belief was that the reason the American army did not advance to evict Saddam was the presence of chemical weapons. Mr. Hussein thought this was the second time that CW had saved him, the first being the war against the larger Iranian army.
After the 91 war, the heat was on Saddam about chemical weapons. He secretly destroyed most of the remaining WMD. However, he was still afraid of Iran, and wanted Tehran to think that he had WMD. The cat and mouse game continued throughout the nineties .
After 911, the American war machine had the excuse it needed. Whether concerns over WMD would have led to war is a question that will never be answered. It is an old saying, that if you live by the sword, you will die by the sword. Saddam Hussein was convinced that having WMD had saved him on two occasions. The appearance of having WMD was a factor in his downfall.

Millard Fillmore’s Bathtub brought a bit of Internet nonsense to our attention recently. It seems that someone posted a picture of BHO with lighter skin ( the Micheal Jackson effect) and a really bad haircut. The caption read “Do You Like Him Any Better Now? No?? Then You’re Not A Racist.”
There was a comment to this episode, which was the part posted by MFB. There was a series of 14 statements, that all started with “you didn’t get mad when”. Each of the 14 was something that happened in the last few years. The end was when you DID get mad because of health care reform.
PG sees himself as a thinking independent. He has been seeing things that anger him for a long time. After a while, he sees that nothing is going to change because of his anger…the powers that be are going to do what their bosses pay them to do. He also sees that some people are manipulated by others who exploit this unfairness, and stir up anger. Often these people do not have the best of motives.
In broad brushstroke polemic, there is also the question of who “you” is. It is possible to imagine a person who this list describes. It is also possible that there are people who were angry about things on that list, but who are resigned to the fate of living in a flawed society.
In the spirit of independent thought, lets take a look at this list. The original list will be in blue. The Chamblee54 commentary will be in green.
You didn’t get mad when the Supreme Court stopped a legal recount and appointed a President. No, but we didn’t know how bad W would be. Al Gore was not an inspiring alternative. With the electoral college, people in Red Georgia don’t get a vote in Presidential elections anyway.
You didn’t get mad when Cheney allowed Energy company officials to dictate energy policy. This happened behind closed doors. Most did not know it was happening until too late. We have known since 1973 that we need to end our dependence on oil, and the carbon industry has kept us addicted, using a combination of PR, lobbying, and outright thuggery.
You didn’t get mad when a covert CIA operative got outed. In the late seventies, a few CIA operatives were exposed. ( Out as a verb was a few years in the future.) At the time, the Repubs were furious. This latest episode of CIA agent trashing was convenient to the powers that be. Since the CIA is an instrument of oppression, incompetently executed, this bit of  nonsense does not generate anger.
You didn’t get mad when the Patriot Act got passed. A few people were upset at this. They were also upset at the citizen rights that were lost during the War on Drugs except alcohol.
You didn’t get mad when we illegally invaded a country that posed no threat to us. A lot of people were angry about the war in Babylon. They were ignored.
You didn’t get mad when we spent over 600 billion(and counting) on said illegal war. A lot of people were angry about the war in Babylon. They were ignored.
You didn’t get mad when over 10 billion dollars just disappeared in Iraq. Just 10 billion?
You didn’t get mad when you saw the Abu Grahib photos. This was not surprising. PG’s reaction was amazement that our own soldiers were putting out pictures like that.
You didn’t get mad when you found out we were torturing people. A lot of people were mad. Not everyone believes the ticking time bomb scenario. When you torture people you get a lot of bad information. But, people want to show how bad they are.
You didn’t get mad when the government was illegally wiretapping Americans. Which war are we talking about? This went on during Vietnam, and the war on drugs.
You didn’t get mad when we didn’t catch Bin Laden. Catching Bin Laden wouldn’t stop the anger that drives the insurgencies in Babylon. Also, if we caught Bin Laden, there would be no need to maintain this profitable war machine.
You didn’t get mad when you saw the horrible conditions at Walter Reed. Yes we were. But what good would it do? The war machine does not care.
You didn’t get mad when we let a major US city drown. This is the item that will draw the lengthiest response. As for Katrina, the government was incompetent.
The issue here is Atlanta, which has the opposite problem of New Orleans. Over the last forty years, there has been a development binge here. And none of the developers have any clue where the water is going to come from.
Atlanta gets its water from the Chattahoochee River. The river is an overgrown trout stream, whose water must be shared with Alabama and Florida. ( There is a nuclear power plant on the river in Alabama, which is the largest user of water on this river. ) The developers have gone crazy, bought politicians, and built a metro area of five million people on the smallest watershed in Georgia.
In 2007 there was a drought. The fishwrapper was printing charts every day, showing how many days of water we had left until Lake Lanier ran dry. Finally, the rain came, and disaster averted. One day, we may not be so lucky. The development has slowed, but that is a function of the overall economy rather than ethical concern about supplying their communities with water.
There is a personal angle, which may explain some of the muted anger over these other issues. PG worked for many years printing building plans. He profited from this rape of the land. When you work for the emperor’s taylor, you admire his fashion sense.
You didn’t get mad when the deficit hit the trillion dollar mark. During the Reagan years, the overall national debt went over a trillion dollars for the first time. A few nay sayers complained, but many were just happy to have a job.
You finally got mad when.. when… wait for it… when the government decided that people in America deserved the right to see a doctor if they are sick. Yes, illegal wars, lies, corruption, torture, stealing your tax dollars to make the rich richer, are all ok with you but helping other Americans… well f*ck that. That about right? You know it is. Health care reform could have been a lot better. A public option insurance company would have lower premiums than the private companies. If the repubs had cooperated with BHO on this issue, instead of fighting him every step of the way, we would have a much better plan.

The fun lovers at obsidian wings had a special edition yesterday. All of the commenters (regular and constipated) were invited to introduce themselves. PG did not see this until late in the afternoon, when fifty people were already on record. He started to read the intros, and kept a running list of points to mention for himself.
It is tough to put something like this together. There is so much you could mention. Many people are mongrels, both in the family/ethnic sense and the intellectual sense. The labels used to describe groups of people become ridiculous when you get to an individual who thinks.
In keeping with point 7 on the list below, here is the introduction for Chamblee54. In an ironic twist, I received a sharply worded letter from Obsidian Wings. They do not approve of commenters inserting links into comments. The comment was posted, in an all black font, with the links taken out.
1- I was directed here by Andrew Sullivan. Whatever his flaws, his staff reads a lot of stuff, and will point you in some good directions.
2- I write my own blog… https://chamblee54.wordpress.com. This blog is usually written in third person, and does not use the word “I”. Chamblee54 features multi colored fonts, and lots of pictures. The pictures often have nothing to do with the text.
The slogan is “pretty pictures and ugly opinions.” The slogan used to be a quote by Hunter S. Thompson, “When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro“. I used this for a while until someone pointed out that I was misspelling weird. Talk about nit picky…I was quoting Hunter S. Thompson about weird! However , I learned my lesson…you can’t have weird without we.
3-I come to ObWi looking for ideas to write about. I always give credit. ObWi has lots of links.
4- Chamblee54 is a pseudonym, which is different from anonymous. I was born in 1954, and live just outside Chamblee, GA. This is off Peachtree Road 2 miles outside the Atlanta city limits. If you look at the pictures on my bio page, you get more clues to my “real” name. If you see me on facebook, you see this drivers license identity.
5- I am a native Georgian. My mother grew up in Atlanta, my father was from North Carolina. Both families have been in the United States long enough to lose all claim to ethnic identity. I am Caucasian, single, college educated, and looking for a job.
6- I started Chamblee54 in 2005. It was on blogspot at first, then something happened, and I could not access google. By this time I was posting lots of photo shopped pictures, and writing in fonts other than black. In February of 2008 I moved to WordPress, which is a superior product to blogspot/google. I toy with the idea of getting my own domain, but am too slack to make much progress in that direction.
7- I recycle material shamelessly. This will probably be a post, and maybe a page later. I haven’t decided what pictures to put up with it, but it will have nothing to do with me.
8- One of my hobbies is photo editing, using an open source program called GIMP.(Thank you Scent) I have three main sources…my own photographs, “The Special Collections and Archives,Georgia State University Library” and The Library of Congress. If I live to be 100, and work full time at photo doobering, I could not exhaust these resources. (This is an ongoing process, with changes all the time. I just added the word “The” to the link for the GSU archives.)
9- Politically, I am skeptical of all moving lips. My religion is none of your business. The Wars in Babylon and Stan land are total disasters. These Wars are part of a triple whammy…the other parts are the banking meltdown, and the deepwater horizon…from which America may never fully recover.
10- I am a retired drunk. I decided in 1988 that it was the easiest way to live. That just might be the reason I am alive today. I detoxed from reefer in 2005, and don’t miss it that. I resent the laws against the benign weed. The war on drugs, except alcohol, is one of the core problems with America today. As for pills and powders, I never did develop a taste for them. This is due as much to social retardation, and cheapness, as virtue, but it has the same effect.
11- It was once said that if a man is not liberal when he is twenty, he does not have a heart. If he is not conservative by forty, then he does not have a brain. That was said a while back, before the meanings of the L and C words got to be so distorted. Maybe I don’t have a brain or a heart, but I do have a gut. When a skinny man gains weight in mid life, that is where the pounds go.
Photo Notes The first two are, from left to right, Helen LaFlaur (my aunt), Mattie Vance Moffat (my grandmother), and Jean Dunaway McKinnon (my mother). These pictures were taken in the back yard of our house on Wimberly Road, probably by Chuck LaFlaur. What Gran said is not known. The third picture is Jean Mckinnon. The last picture is Luther McKinnon, Sr. and Jr. Other pictures are from The Library of Congress

This story was found in a box of papers. There is a reason people throw things away. It is about a “prospect party”, at a “social club for tall people”. Phlash wrote this “Tall Tale” at the office. One of his co-workers asked Phlash why she wasn’t in the story. “Because you are not tall enough.”
Phlash goes to the Prospect Party by Phlash Goober
Phlash was facing another evening reading about rich people, who have affairs and commit murder. Since the Prospect Party was nearby, Phlash decided to go.
When he found the place, the first thing he noticed was the food. There were lots of soft drinks, and hollowed out watermelons filled with chunks of fruit. The obligatory spinach dip was there, as were pigs in blankets, and chips and dip. Phlash had already eaten dinner, but that seldom stops him.
Phlash was getting a touch bored, until he started talking to a prospect . “H” and Phlash have a mutual friend, and this gave them an excuse to chatter. “H” had just gotten back from Clemson, South Carolina, where there are orange tiger paws painted in the roadway. Did her car got scratched?
Phlash went outside, and decided the music was too loud for conversation. He went back inside and saw his friend “Lawrence”. They discussed pictures of horses and non-synchronistic coincidence.
Phlash stepped outside again. The music made his glasses rattle in their frames. He went back inside and saw the former Miss Tall International®, “Queen of Siam”. She had sponsored a movie night the evening before and the movie had been a beautiful romance.
Phlash forgot the title of the movie (probably because he didn’t go), but saw his onetime camping friend “Pro-A”, who liked to talk. Phlash was getting reckless by this time, and a talking person, no matter how enthusiastic, is preferable to “Play that funky music white boy” at migraine level.
So Phlash took the plunge. “Have you read any good books lately, Pro-A?” As fate would have it, “Pro-A” had just finished a tome about Catherine the Great, a Russian Czarina, that Phlash was blissfully ignorant about. Still, he was a good sport, and listened for a few minutes, until someone interrupted this foodside chat with news about the new sneaker for Lesbians, the Dyke-EE.
At this point, Phlash went into the kitchen to refill his cup with Mountain Dew. He came upon a conversation about Indian Food, vegetarianism, flatulence, and Bean-o. Phlash agrees with the concept of Bean-o, but wonders what people will do for after dinner amusement. Meanwhile, the music outside was turned down a notch, after houseplants complained about the noise.
All this time, the hot tub had been bubbling away, inviting all the tallfolk into the waters. Finally,” Z Z” and” Australia” braved the comments of jealous dry people and got in the tub. Phlash followed, just in time for a stimulating conversation about ugly bridesmaid dresses. At this point, Phlash got dressed, grabbed one last handful of pretzels, and went home.
After publication, the party hostess was offended by this article.

There is a feature at mother jones this morning about the carbon dioxide crisis. It seems to be getting worse, in spite of the jokes about Al Gore.
The subject for discussion today is phytoplankton. They are a tiny lifeform in the ocean, which is eaten by bigger lifeforms, until the big fish chomp down on the little fish. In other words, this is the bottom of the food chain. If the bottom of the food chain goes away, then the top goes with it.
Some scientists say this is happening now, while we call Al Gore a hypocrite for living in a big house. As the water temperatures in the ocean increase, the phytoplankton are not as plentiful as before. The phytoplankton process CO2, and produce Oxygen, in a manner similar to the trees on dry land.
The oceans are absorbing a great deal of the excess CO2 that is dumped in the atmosphere. If the phytoplankton die out, they will process much less CO2, which will lead to more CO2 in the atmosphere, leading to higher temperatures and less phytoplankton. This is what is known as a tipping point. The urobourous eats its tail, and gets bigger and bigger.
There are reports that the CO2 absorbed by the oceans is affecting the PH levels of the water. The mother jones feature did not address this issue. PG is not a scientist, and can only understand so much. How these altered PH levels work with the higher temperatures is rocket science to him. Mixing in a few billion gallons of crude oil further muddies the waters. All PG knows is that the results will probably not be good for the earth.
HT to obsidian wings for the story in mother jones. Pictures are from The Library of Congress.

Anne Rice made three statements on her Facebook page in the past 36 hours. She made a highly public statement about her religious opinions.
For those who care, and I understand if you don’t: Today I quit being a Christian. I’m out. I remain committed to Christ as always but not to being “Christian” or to being part of Christianity. It’s simply impossible for me to “belong” to this quarrelsome, hostile, disputatious, and deservedly infamous group. For ten …years, I’ve tried. I’ve failed. I’m an outsider. My conscience will allow nothing else.wed 07-29-1:36 pm
As I said below, I quit being a Christian. I’m out. In the name of Christ, I refuse to be anti-gay. I refuse to be anti-feminist. I refuse to be anti-artificial birth control. I refuse to be anti-Democrat. I refuse to be anti-secular humanism. I refuse to be anti-science. I refuse to be anti-life. In the name of …Christ, I quit Christianity and being Christian. Amen. 07-29-1:41 pm
My faith in Christ is central to my life. My conversion from a pessimistic atheist lost in a world I didn’t understand, to an optimistic believer in a universe created and sustained by a loving God is crucial to me. But following Christ does not mean following His followers. Christ is infinitely more important than C…hristianity and always will be, no matter what Christianity is, has been, or might become. 07-29-5:30 pm
1- Who cares? A part of Jesus worship that is disgusting is the assumption that anyone else cares whether or not you are a true believer. This co exists with the idea that the you are entitled to know about the beliefs of other people. There are people who think that their beliefs are their business. Just because you are a famous writer, that knows the value of publicity, does not mean your opinions about G-d are more valuable than mine.
2- Does Ms. Rice have a new book coming out soon? She does have a talent for publicity and marketing. The woods are full of talented authors. It takes work to hone this talent into marketable product. She then persuaded a publisher to take a chance selling her product, and got the public to buy truckloads of her books. This does not make her opinions about G-d more valuable than mine.
3- Jesus has mutated over time into the poster boy of this obscene religion. Maybe the real Jesus is anti gay, pro war, anti Muslim, and anti thought. Maybe 2000 years ago the living person named Jesus had these highfalutin ideas about love thy neighbor. At least that is what the Bible says, and that is an untrustworthy book. For all we know, the original Jesus was just as hateful then as his worshipers are today.
The way to know Jesus is through his believers. The putrid spectacle of modern Jesus worship is what the spirit of Jesus has morphed into. To say that you are pro Christ and Anti Christian is double talk, like hate the sin/love the sinner. Why not dispute the belief, and be kind to the believer?
PG does not know what led Anne Rice to this impasse. And he does not care. Anne Rice is a talented writer, that is enjoyed by millions of people. The only book by her that PG read was “Interview with the vampire”. He got 150 pages into it, and found it very powerful. It was taking him places he did not want to go. PG did not finish the book.
Jesus has not been kind to PG. His worshipers have heaped abuse on PG. After a while, it does not make sense to find excuses for Jesus. If Jesus truly pays the price for the sins of his believers, then he should take the blame for this loud, hateful flock. And Anne Rice should quit talking about Jesus, and get back to writing books.
Pictures for today’s feature are from The Library of Congress.

Jamendo is a terrific source for free music. There are now 37,302 albums available for legal downloads. They also have a listening window, so you can listen to something before you copy it.
When you download something from Jamendo, you get a read me text file. This file is in English, Français, Italiano, Español, Deutsch, Polski and Русский.
In the never ending struggle to find text to go between the pictures, this file is presented today. Pictures for today’s adventure are from the The Library of Congress. 70 images from this source are presented in a lovely format by the Denver Post. HT to dangerousminds commenter Dow Kimbrall for the video.
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The fourth diva on the cd is Janis Joplin. Unlike the first three, she used her birth name as a stage name. Janis Lyn Joplin was born January 19, 1943, in Port Arthur, Texas.
Janis was a legend. As the singer for Big Brother and the Holding Company, she became an overnight superstar in 1967. She soon left Big Brother, and had ups and downs as a solo performer. As most of you know, she was fond of Southern Comfort and heroin. She passed away October 4, 1970.
Marian Evelyn Faithfull was born 29 December 1946, in London. Unlike the first four divas in this series, she is still alive, and doing rather well. This is not for lack of trying, as she has had her adventures with hard drugs. She also dated Mick Jagger.
After some wild times, including being busted while wearing only a fur rug, Ms. Faithfull went into a decline. She made a comeback in 1979 with “Broken English”. She continues to perform.
Dorothy Ashby is the third performer we will discuss today. She is not as well known as the first five, and is not known for her singing. She played harp.
Dorothy Jeanne Thompson was born August 6, 1932 in Detroit, Michigan. She married John Ashby, who played drums in her band. She died April 13, 1986.
Youtube does not seem to have any videos of Mrs. Ashby performing. We will have to use an still picture video to include her. On the cd, she performs “Theme from Valley of the Dolls”. As a bonus, we include a scene from the movie. It shows a catfight between characters, said to be based on Ethel Merman and Judy Garland.

Foreign Policy.com and The Fund for Peace have released Failed State Index 2010. For people who like to go over charts of numbers, it is an early Christmas present.
The Index rates countries on 12 indicators, giving a 1-10 score on each, with 1 the best and 10 the worst. The numbers are added up, and the countries ranked according to the score. In this system, the higher the score, the worse your nation is functioning.
The 10 categories in this contest are demographic pressures, refugees/displaced, legacy of vengeance, chronic human flight, uneven economic development, economic decline, crime and delegitimization of the state, deterioration of public services, lack of rule of law/human rights abuses, standing of the security forces, factionalized elites, and outside intervention.
In the chart, the country with the most points is number 1, the grand prize winner, the most dysfunctional country on earth. The blue ribbon this year goes to Somalia.
If you look at a map, and can find Somalia, without the help of Miss Teenage South Carolina, you will see why this is a cause for concern. Somalia is in the far west bulge of Africa, and all of the oil from the middle east goes by her. This is by definition a strategic location. US military action does not seem to improve the situation, and may make things worse.
The rest of the top eleven failed states is: 2 Chad, 3 Sudan, 4 Zimbabwe, 5 D.R. Congo, 6 Afghanistan, 7 Iraq, 8 Central African Republic, 9 Guinea, 10 Pakistan, and 11 Haiti. Haiti is the only Western Hemisphere country in the top eleven, and is generally regarded as a hellhole ( and that was before the earthquake.). The idea that there are 10 countries in worse shape is horrific.
Featured in this football team from hell are three countries the United States is killing people in. This would be 6 Afghanistan, 7 Iraq, and 10 Pakistan. The 2010 index is the sixth annual report.
This means there is not an index from before the “global war on terror” to compare Babylon to. In other words, we don’t know if Operation Iraqi Freedom made Iraq more or less stable.
There are 178 countries rated in the stability beauty contest. The most stable regime on earth is Norway, which was conquered in 1940. Those depressing movies by Ingmar Bergman must not hurt too much. The USA checks in at 159, between Germany and France. You might ask Belgium (164) about being between those two countries.
If you have a lot of free time, here are the Complete rankings . HT goes to musingsoniraq , who feels like Iraq is not being treated fairly.