Chamblee54

Dangerousminds brings the sad news that Pete Quaife, the original bass player for The Kinks , passed away yesterday. He was 66, and had been in dialysis for several years. Maybe it is time for Chamblee54 to do a post about The Kinks.
Battling brothers Ray and Dave Davies are the core of The Kinks. ( The name is pronounced like the american Davis, as though the e did not exist). Ray was the vocalist, writer, and rhythm guitar player. Dave was the lead guitarist, and sparring partner for his brother. The fisticuffs were not restricted to the brothers, and led to the band being barred from performing in the United States between 1965 and 1969.
There were several hits in the early days, most notably “You really got me”. ( This later became a signature tune for Van Halen). The band had numerous adventures, but never became the superstars that other British bands of that era did. Ray Davies developed as a songwriter, with many witty tunes, full of social commentary and britishness.(spell check suggestion:brutishness)
In the seventies The Kinks kept trooping on. They did an album called Preservation Act, which became the basis of a theatrical presentation. The next album was called Soap Opera, with a theater like production. This is where PG got to see The Kinks.

It was sometime in the spring of 1975, at the Atlanta Municipal Auditorium. Elvin Bishop was the opening act. The Kinks had started when PG arrived, buying a $4.00 balcony seat. Alex Cooley was in the box office counting money, and broke open a roll of quarters to give PG change for a five.
The band was playing “Celluloid Heroes” when PG walked into the auditorium. There was no one on the door checking tickets, so PG walked onto the floor and found an empty seat on the 13th row. The next number was “Lola”.
Ray Davies introduced the song by saying ” If you are a man, sing LO. If you are a woman, sing LA. If you are not sure, clap your hands”. The next number was about demon alcohol. There were lights shining on the crowd during this number, as Ray Davies asked if there were any sinners in the audience. The band did several more songs, ending the first half of the evening with “You really got me”. Dave Davies got some spotlight time with a rave up intro to this number.
The second part of the show was a theatrical presentation of “Soap Opera”. The band wore rainbow colored wigs, and stood at the back of the stage while Ray Davies told the tale. “Soap Opera” was about a rock star who traded places with Norman, who lived a boring life. The flat Norman lived in has pictures of ducks on the wall, which drove Ray/Norman to scream “I can’t stand those f*****g ducks”. This led into a rocking ditty called, predictably, “Ducks on the Wall”.
As the show dragged on, Ray/Norman was embarrassed by the mess he was in. “you can’t say that in front of The Kinks, they are my band, and that is my audience.” The audience lights were turned on again, and the band played a medley of hits from 1964.
Finally, the real Norman came back to reclaim his wife, put the ducks back on the wall, and kick out The Kinks. The band gave up on theater before much longer, and were popular for the rest of the concert happy seventies. Ray Davies was the babydaddy for Chrissie Hynde . Eventually, the band quit performing, and continued to cash royalty checks. Pictures today are from the ” Special Collections and Archives,Georgia State University Library”

In 2006, a Jesus worship blog brought Juanita Bynum to PG’s attention. The blogger said “she’s a nice lady with a nice husband who is promoting good social values under the umbrella of Christian living.” Billboards appeared downtown, advertising a  show at the Georgia Dome , “The Thrashing Floor”, starring Ms. Bynum. (spell check suggestions: Benumb, Barnum, Byzantium)
Miss Bynum calls herself a prophet and a psalmist. PG made a comment, about the post above… A prophet is not without honor, except in his own land. What about a psalmist?
The blogger replied “The only people without honor around here are hit-and-run posters,chamblee..”
Chamblee54- I suppose a little self promotion is ok when you are representing someone who said, of himself, ” I am the way the truth and the light”
Of course, the telling detail about Ms. Bynum is her affiliation with Mr. Jakes.( T.D. Jakes) . It seems that, in that crowd, it is ok to give yourself whatever title feels good at the moment.
If that woman is a prophet, then I am Ronald Reagan. Of course, I may be a psalmist myself, and just not know it. That is the point I tried to make in my first post. It seems as though subtlety, brevity, and poetic license are as honorable as prophecy.
In 2007, Miss Bynum got a divorce from her husband, “Bishop” Thomas W. Weeks III. During the divorce process, he beat her up, and was convicted of aggravated assault. Miss Bynum is now selling music cds, candles, bath products, and makeup.
PG went to youtube, and did a search for “Juanita Bynum”. What he saw, and heard, astonished him. There are dozens of videos on youtube today by Miss Bynum. Three are embedded with this post.
Many people are not aware of this Jesus worship subculture. It thrives on anger, shouting, and verbal abuse. The audience appears to enjoy this, and seems to be “blessed”.
PG sees Jesus through those who believe in him. Considering the violence of the crucifixion, and the egomania of Jesus, the hysterical shouting of Juanita Bynum might be what Jesus is all about.
Pictures are from The Library of Congress

This is a repost double feature. It is on the general subject of motivation, inspiration, and manipulation. Such things are like perfume…nice to sniff at, but dangerous to swallow.
Back when I was at redo blue, we traded some printing for a motivational speech.
The speaker was D. J. Harrington. He came on stage with a telephone handset, demonstrating how to answer the telephone. There were a lot of statistics, like you get 50 percent more information when you use your left ear. ( This is a made up example, not a quote. I don’t remember any of his examples) It reminded me of something a teacher said once…: ” The best way to win an argument is to use statistics. The best way to get statistics is to make them up”
On the all important issue of what to say when you answer the squawk box, he suggested “How may I direct your call?” Now, I like to identify the company and myself as briefly as possible, and quit wasting the customer’s time. Mister customer knows why he called. HMIDYC is seven unnecessary syllables that do your customer no good.
As some of you know, I have a sensitive BS detector. This gets in the way of being “motivated”. When confronted with a entertainer motivational speaker, I try to glean one or two worthwhile tidbits. I give D.J.H. credit, he did make one good comment. “You must sell yourself first, your company second, and your product third” There are some idea mongers who feel I owe them my trust. I beg to differ.
Mr. Harrington used to call his dog and pony show “C*** U* F*** T** N*** U*.That phrase is currently a registered trademark of the Mood Disorders Association of Ontario and may be used with permission only.
Redo Blue was a diverse company. I suspect D.J.H. toned down some of the good ole boy touches from his presentation. Towards the end, he described a speech he gave in Oklahoma. “The only Catholics they have ever seen are Ted Kennedy and Mary Jo Kopechne” He proceeded to tell a tasteless story about the Catholic Church. I was almost motivated to walk out.

In an early morning discourse, I said that Martin Niemöller was rolling in his grave looking for the royalties from his poem, “First they came…“. A little research later, I don’t think he ever wrote it down. For those of you with very short memories, here is the work…

When the Nazis came for the communists,
I remained silent;
I was not a communist.

When they locked up the social democrats,
I remained silent;
I was not a social democrat.

When they came for the trade unionists,
I did not speak out;
I was not a trade unionist.

When they came for the Jews,
I remained silent;
I wasn’t a Jew.

When they came for me,
there was no one left to speak out.

-Martin Niemöller

Martin Niemöller was the son of a Lutheran minister. In World War 1, he served on a U boat crew. Harold Marcuse tells this story: “Niemöller was a commander of a German U-boat in World War I. A seminal incident in his moral outlook, as he related in many public speeches later in his life, occurred when he commanded his submarine crew not to rescue the sailors of a boat he torpedoed, but let them drown instead. “
After the war Mr. Niemöller became a Lutheran Minister. He was originally a supporter of Mr. Hitler, but became an opponent. He was imprisoned in Sachsenhausen and Dachau concentration camps from 1937 to 1945.
After the war, he began to speak out. The famous poem was derived from these speeches. It was never written down in typical poet fashion. There are several versions of it from him, and many more as the years rolled by. It has been quoted, updated, and quoted again.
In addition to the four groups mentioned above, the Nazis also came for mentally ill, incurably ill, or people in occupied countries. The legend is that when asked if he included Catholics, Mr. Niemöller said “I never said it. They can take care of themselves.” When the McCarthy fever hit America, he declined to mention Communists.
With regard to the royalties, I could not see that it was ever copyrighted. I do not know who “owns the rights”. Some have even speculated that the poem was not composed by Mr. Niemöller.
Recently, there was a blog post that quoted “First they came…” The post was about gay marriage. With all due respect to the people affected by this, the ability to marry someone of the same gender does not come close to a government killing six million Jews. .
There is the Rebel looking for a cause syndrome. Many people just want to fight about something, and the cause is secondary to the lust for battle. When a poem like this is used to fire up people for a shaky cause, it brings discredit to the poem..
There is the matter of the “Next Hitler” argument. During the run up to the first war against Iraq, Saddam Hussein was routinely called the next Hitler. While this may be a valid argument at times, it is like the boy who cried wolf if used too much. ( This is also known as Godwin’s Law ).
Maybe a general moratorium is needed on the use of “First they Came…”

For those who just look at the pictures, PG is not a Jesus Worshiper. He does like to take silly quizzes, and see what he scores. When a facebook friend reported taking a test, “Are you a hipster christian ?”, PG took the bait.
The test is thirty questions, and multiple choice. While this makes the grading easier, it sometimes asks you to choose the answer that you disagree with the least. When you are dealing with a prideful subculture like Jesus worship, which assumes that you know about certain things, a non worshiper is going to scratch his head a lot.
Question 1 should have been an indication of what was about to happen. 1 Which of the following books would you consider the most spiritually significant?//Sheldon Van Auken, A Severe Mercy//John Piper, Desiring God//Thomas a Kempis, Imitation of Christ//John Eldredge, Wild at Heart//none of the above. PG has read none of those books, and only knows John Piper because his son writes a cool blog. PG would have voted for Piper, except the old man likes to trash homosexuals.
Question 3 was the first time that PG agreed with the answer that he checked. 3 If you are a believer, how would you describe yourself?//Christian//Christ Follower//”Christian, but not in the George W. Bush sense”//Please. Labels are for the over-30 set. PG chose the last answer, even if he is waaaay over 30. Labels belong on jars, not people. Jarheads are the only exception.
Questions 10 and 12 are both yes/no affairs, and PG could answer both  honestly. 10 Be honest: Have you ever gone on a rant about “authenticity,” “narrative,” or “love without strings”?//YES//NO 12 In the past 12 months, have you listened to a sermon by John MacArthur and enjoyed it?//YES//NO. Being banned from commenting at a blog ,owned by a John MacArthur employee, did not affect this.
PG is a recovering Baptist. You think you are over it, then you read things like question 18 and gag. 18 What would Jesus’ favorite beer have been?//Pabst//Chimay Red//Some sort of masculine stout//Jesus doesn’t drink! As it turns out, PG doesn’t have many opinions about the cult of personality surrounding J-boi. Out of sheer redneck pride, PG chose PBR.
Question 19 showed a lack of sensitivity to many people. 19 In the last year, how often have you argued (and significantly disagreed) with your parents about the following: politics, gay marriage, evolution, drinking, or the End Times?//Those topics never come up…because I’ve filed them forever in the “Relationship Ruiner” vault.//Maybe drinking sometimes comes up.//We debate them at every meal. Along with my eternal damnation.//I’m on the same page with my parents on all those issues.//My parents aren’t Christians and we don’t really talk about this stuff. PG’s parents were Christians while they were alive. PG would prefer not to speculate about what they think these days. Given the volatile nature of Jesus worshiper speculation about life after death…
Question 25 is semantic quicksand, but PG essentially agrees with the answer he gave. 25 What should the phrase ‘pro-life’ encompass?//abortion//the death penalty//pacifism//all of the above//a and b only. For the record, PG feels we should keep open the option to wage war, execute criminals, and murder babies. (Many include euthanasia in this group.) We should, however, be very, very careful about doing any of these things, and only use them as a last resort. Unfortunately, when you have the capacity to do any of these things , you make it more likely that you will do them. You build an army, and start looking for ways to use it. You buy poison and a syringe, and some showboat district attorney wants to waste someone. You have an abortion clinic, and a young lady will have the procedure.
Question 27 is mind blowing. 27 What is your preferred Bible translation?//The Message//The American Patriot’s Bible//ESV//NRSV//NIV//The App I downloaded for my iPhone//none of the above. In PG’s lifetime, the beautiful King James Translation has gone from the only game in town to “none of the above.”
Question 28 is another one where the available answers just won’t do. 28 When you heard Ted Haggard had had a gay affair, what did you think?//Of course he did. Everyone who opposes gay marriage is closetly gay. //He was fighting a demon.//Jennifer Knapp should write a song about it.//I felt sad that he was lying but wished he would have stepped down from his role as pastor sooner. PG’s reaction was to read reports from the “acting senior” pastor at the church involved, and think that was a very strange title.
Question 29 was about Christian music, and PG honestly answered “I haven’t listened to any “Christian music” of the last 20 years.” Finally, it was time to hit the score button, and see what the quiz thought about PG
Your Christian Hipster Quotient: 65 / 120
Low CHQ. You probably belong to the purpose-driven, seeker-sensitive, Hawaiian shirt-wearing Christian establishment, even though you are open to some of the “rethinking Christianity” stuff. You seem to like edginess in some measure but become uneasy when your idea of Christian orthodoxy is challenged by some renegade young visionary who claims the virgin birth isn’t necessary.
Not even close. Pictures are from the ” Special Collections and Archives,Georgia State University Library”

There was a message in PG’s inbox from blogger central this morning. There is something going on that needs to be written about, mckrystal or something.
In Georgia, we have these restaurants called Krystal. The signature burger has a beef patty the size of a postage stamp, with a generous helping of dried onions. The legend is that Yankees have something called white castle, which is the northern version of Krystal.
Has McDonalds taken over Krystal? Is the McKrystal the McDonald version of a Krystal burger? The mind boggles, and the stomach turns. Vegans say I mctold you so, while emergency rooms prepare for boom business. The happy Krystal habit has become a happy meal.
Upon further investigation, it turns out that McChrystal (spelled with a c) is a team leader in the War on Terror. He said rude things about French cuisine in, of all places, Rolling Stone Magazine. Since the French are allies in this War on Terror thingie, this is, as Vice President Bite Me might say, a big F*****g deal.
Pictures for this feature are from The Library of Congress.

PG has been on a rules of life bender lately. Recently, the facilitator was Avitable. He left ten rules for life. He had 94 comments, many of whom offered their own RFL. While editing the Avitables, PG began to think. This is usually dangerous, though so far has not been fatal. A running list of profundities was begun.
This list uses male oriented terms. PG realizes that more than half of humanity is female. However, the english language is clumsy. Words like their and people just don’t sound right. For the purposes of this lesson, PG will say he and him. The reader can translate this into more inclusive terminology.

1 A man who says I don’t know is usually telling the truth, unless he is under oath. 2 If you don’t know, ask. 3 Don’t use body parts or hygiene appliances as insults. 4 If you can’t say anything good about someone, say bless his heart.5 Believe half of what you read and nothing that you hear. 6 If you tell the truth, you will always know what you said. 7 A phony apology is usually worse than the misdeed which proceeded it. 8 An after dinner bike ride in summer is a gift. Whatever you are doing can wait until you get back. 9 A man once complained that he had no shoes, until he met a man with no feet. 10 Wisdom fatigue is real. 11 Bumper stickers are asking for trouble. Why should the person behind you in traffic know your innermost thoughts? 12 Sometimes it takes more courage to listen than it does to talk. 13 The more opinions you have, the easier it is to be a hypocrite. 14 If you say something louder, it does not become more true. 15 When compiling lists of wisdom, include things that make you smile, even if you don’t completely agree. 16 You can wish in one hand and poop in the other, and see which hand gets full faster. Whatever choice you make, wash your hands. 17 Keep your voice down if you don’t want someone to hear you. 18 Efficiency is laziness with an attitude. 19 Know the difference between true wisdom and a clever phrase. 20 Don’t believe your own propaganda. 21 Follow the money.
The above feature is a repost. Pictures are from The Library of Congress.

A young man named Jordan Griner was the designated driver friday night. After dropping the last passenger off, he was crossing West Peachtree Street at 17th. A lady was driving north on West Peachtree, ran a red light, and smashed into Mr. Griner. . The lady had a blood alcohol content of .229, well above the legal limit of .08. The lady is in a world of trouble, and the man is dead.
There is a lot of talk about drinking and driving, as there should be. People should not drive when they are intoxicated. As long as alcohol and automobiles are used, this is going to be a problem.
When you enter an intersection, you should look to see who is coming. If you see a car driving too fast, heading in your direction, wait for it to go through. Especially in midtown Atlanta, at 4 am Saturday.
There used to be a yellow brick apartment building at 17th and West Peachtree. This was the residence of Margaret Mitchell (Mrs. John Marsh). One afternoon, Mrs. Marsh met a friend at the Atlanta Woman’s Club, on Peachtree Street. After a few cocktails, Mr. and Mrs. Marsh left the Woman’s Club, intending to go across the street to a movie. Mrs. Marsh stepped in front of a taxi, and into eternity. Tomorrow is another day.
A developer had plans for the triangle of land between West Peachtree, Peachtree, and 17th. He tore down all the apartment buildings on that block, including the one Margaret Mitchell called home. The deal fell through for the developer, and the corner of 17th and West Peachtree is a vacant lot. The developer should have looked to see what was coming.
Pictures are from the ” Special Collections and Archives,Georgia State University Library” .

The following is a repost . It was written this time last year, when the “Green Revolution” was at it’s peak. It the intervening year, a government, based of the use of brute force ( which is to say any government) has used this brute force to shush up the dissidents.
It was on this day that Neda died. She has been the symbol of this revolution. The attached movie tells her story, about the girl who refused to wear a head cloth to high school. Neda was an individual, the type of person that a government fears…unless they can subvert her into their service. When you see this movie, you begin to see those crowds as being full of individuals. Remember that the next time Israel talks about killing these people to enhance her security.
Pictures are from the Library of Congress. They were taken 150 years before the “Green Revolution”.
Something is going on in Iran.
There was an election, and the incumbents had the bad taste to announce the results before the polls had closed. To hear them tell it, the presiding President and fashion icon Mahmoud Ahmedinejad won a landslide. The supporters of Mir Hossein Mousavi do not agree, and have been expressing themselves in the streets. It is getting nasty.
It is very, very tough to tell what is going on there. Andrew Sullivan has been giving this story a lot of space, and it is tough to add it all up. How it is going to play out is anyone’s guess. Chamblee54 is going to throw a few things out, and see if that helps.
1- The genuine power in Iran is a cleric named Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Exactly how much power the President has is a tough call.
2- This is not how elections are supposed to work. In a functional system, the Government has fair elections, and the people go along with the results. It is tough to see a future election working, especially if the dissidents get this one thrown out by their protests. Even if they are right this time, in the future it might be disgruntled opposition that huffs and puffs and gets the results thrown out.
3- Even considering that these people may have less than noble motives, it is still remarkable to see them standing up to their government this way. The Iranian people have had a wild ride. They threw out the Shah, aka the Persian Saddam. They held Americans hostage at the embassy. They were invaded by Iraq, who was supported by the United States. A gruesome eight year war followed, with the United States and Israel cynically selling weapons to Iran.
In the past few years, next door enemy Iraq was conquered. An unfortunate man was elected President of Iran. When he ran for reelection, the people decided it was time for another revolution.
4-Thomas Jefferson wrote in a letter in 1787: “God forbid we should ever be twenty years without such a rebellion…And what country can preserve its liberties, if it’s rulers are not warned from time to time, that this people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms… The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time, with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure.”
Mr. Jefferson was President in 1807, or twenty years after he wrote that letter. It is assumed he did not want a revolution while he was President.
5- Back to the Revolution du Jour. Mir Hossein Mousavi may be less prone to saying outlandish things than Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. This does not mean he is a totally cool person.
“Moussavi served as Iran’s prime minister from 1981 to 1989, during the Iranian Revolution’s formative phase. His closest ally in those days was Khamenei. Moussavi defended the seizure and 444-day imprisonment of the American hostages; he edited a party newspaper that opposed their ’81 release. He helped sponsor Hezbollah. He was instrumental in launching Iran’s chemical weapons program. And his “reformist” coalition is closely allied with conservative economic barons (such as former president Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, scion of a family fortune); these people have domestic financial grievances with Ahmadinejad – as opposed to having any love for America or western democracy.
6- BHO is in a tricky situation. If he ignores the rebels, he is wrong. If he supports the rebels, then the rebels get labeled as puppets. This will be a test to see if BHO has shmartz to go along with stage presence. The Repubs have wasted little time in denouncing him, and undermining support. This is to be expected by the opposition.
7- There probably is a connection between the Iranian revolution and the events next door in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan.
8-With neighbors like Iraq, Israel, and the Stan countries, is it any wonder that some in Iran want the bomb?
9- The people fighting in the streets against their government would die by the thousands if Israel was to nuke Iran.

“What is more important in world history? The Taliban or the collapse of the Soviet empire? Some agitated Muslims or the liberation of Central Europe and the end of the Cold War?”
There is an old saying, what goes around comes around. When you sow the wind, you reap the whirlwind. The toes you step on today are connected to the ass you kiss tomorrow. My karma ran over your dogma. OK, so there is more than one saying. The bottom line is, when your government messes with another country, there is going to be an invoice from the bank of retribution. The balance due is usually much larger than the principal.
In the region of the planet designated Afghanistan, there is no good place to get started. This country had the misfortune to be across the border from the Soviet Union. Thirty one years ago, the commies were the evil empire, that must be destroyed at all costs. These accounts are just now coming due, with interest attached.
The passage below was originally posted in tomdispatch. This is a fine facility , that deserves your readership and $upport.
It should by now be generally accepted that the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan on Christmas Eve 1979 was deliberately provoked by the United States. In his memoir published in 1996, the former CIA director Robert Gates made it clear that the American intelligence services began to aid the mujahidin guerrillas not after the Soviet invasion, but six months before it. In an interview two years later with Le Nouvel Observateur, President Carter’s national security adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski proudly confirmed Gates’ assertion.
Brzezinski: “According to the official version of history, CIA aid to the mujahidin began during 1980, that’s to say, after the Soviet army invaded Afghanistan. But the reality, kept secret until now, is completely different: on 3 July 1979 President Carter signed the first directive for secret aid to the opponents of the pro-Soviet regime in Kabul. And on the same day, I wrote a note to the president in which I explained that in my opinion this aid would lead to a Soviet military intervention.”
Nouvel Observateur asked whether he in any way regretted these actions.
Brzezinski: “Regret what? The secret operation was an excellent idea. It drew the Russians into the Afghan trap and you want me to regret it? On the day that the Soviets officially crossed the border, I wrote to President Carter, saying, in essence: ‘We now have the opportunity of giving to the USSR its Vietnam War.'”
Nouvel Observateur: “And neither do you regret having supported Islamic fundamentalism, which has given arms and advice to future terrorists?”
Brzezinski: “What is more important in world history? The Taliban or the collapse of the Soviet empire? Some agitated Muslims or the liberation of Central Europe and the end of the Cold War?”
On September 11, 2001, the United States was lured into the Afghan trap. Osama Bin Ladin does not regret it. The women and children dying in Pakistan might have a different opinion. Pictures today are from the ” Special Collections and Archives,Georgia State University Library”

When did oil drilling become energy recovery? When did putting people before profits become distorting the market? When did death become negative patient care outcome? When did the poor become economically disadvantaged? When did very low food insecurity replace hunger? When did hiding the truth become lack of transparency? When did denying your own words become “I may have misspoke”? When did truthiness become close enough? When did taxpayers replace citizens? When did mercenaries become security contractors? When did overthrowing a country become regime change? When did a prisoner of war become a detainee? When did torture become pain compliance? When did killing your own soldiers become friendly fire? When did killing civilians become collateral damage? When did massive bombing become shock and awe? When did genocide become ethnic cleansing? When did lies become spin? When did peace become pre-hostility? When did all of the above become acceptable? The questions above are borrowed from Millard Filmore’s Bathtub. The text at the bottom reads: Devona Wyant,June 2010, All rights reserved.The pictures are from The Library of Congress.

Numerous people have noted that June 17 was the night the “plumbers” were caught in the Democratic National Committee offices in the Watergate complex. A look at the wikipedia entry for June 17 reveals a few more surprises.
There was one entry that forced the publication of this post. On June 17 1943, Newt Gingrich and Barry Manilow were born. Other stork passengers on this day include Martin Bormann (1900), John Murtha (1932) Randy Johnson (1944) ( First quarterback for the Atlanta Falcons) Art Bell (1945) George Clinton (1947) and Jello Biafra (1958, birth name Eric Reed Boucher).
No one in the list of people dying on June 17 caught PG’s eye. This is part of the reason why we have too many celebrities. A possible exception is the 1631 demise of Mumtaz Mahal. Her husband, Shah Jahan I, built the Taj Mahal as a memorial.
1775 saw the battle of Bunker Hill on this day. In 1994, O.J. Simpson was arrested for murder, after a chase on the freeway.

It all started in the spam folder. There was a message from a blogger called “aimlow joe”, who wanted to be added to the blogroll at chamblee54. This will expose his blog to thirty new viewers a day, of whom .01% look at the blogroll. Naturally, PG added ALJ to the BR, and looked at the blog for today’s updates.
There is a scary headline, New Bill Gives Obama ‘Kill Switch’ To Shut Down The Internet . When you get to the text of the story, you see a link to the source article. When you click on this link, you see that Prison Planet is facilitated by Alex Jones.
Further down in the Aimlow text, he says that the internet is not shut downable, even by the evil Kenyan. It turns out that the bill to allow this internet regulation was sponsored by Joe Lieberman, which brings us to the gist of this story.
PG has had doubts about the good intentions of Mr. Lieberman for a while now. A few months ago, he spoke at a press conference in Israel, where he said, in effect, don’t listen to the President, the congress is never going to do anything Israel does not like. PG suspects that Israel needs a bit of “tough love” these days, and  Mr. Lieberman is not likely to help.
The scary thing is, Joe Lieberman ran for Vice President in 2000, and received a majority of the popular vote. Because of a technicality, he was not allowed to serve. While it is generally agreed that the Presidency of George W. Bush was a disaster, the concept of Joe Lieberman as Vice President is possibly worse.
The VPOTUS is “one heartbeat away” from the big show. In addition to this, the Vice office is a stepping stone to election to the oval office. If Mr. Lieberman had served as VPOTUS, he would have had four/eight years in the spotlight. It is assumed that he would run for POTUS after Mr. Gore stepped down. The party nomination would be a given. Given the klutzoid nature of the Republican party, Mr. Lieberman would have a good chance at winning. President Lieberman is a horrible, horrible thought, as bad as President Palin…or Obama.
Johnny Carson had a series of jokes about a billboard. Part of one message fell off, and parts of two messages were seen. Once, the top half of the billboard said “George Wallace for President”. The bottom half said, “Wouldn’t you really rather have a Buick?”.
Pictures for this entertainment (with one obvious exception) are from The Library of Congress.