Chamblee54

Rebelling Against God

Posted in Georgia History, GSU photo archive, Undogegorized by chamblee54 on June 6, 2025

LBSCB19-064bz

LBSCB19-064bza

LBSCB19-064cz

LBSCB19-064cza


This is a repost from 2014. … Matt Walsh put up a post, We can’t end ‘rape culture’ if we don’t end hook-up culture. (Internet archive does not have a copy.) Now, RC/HUC are dodgy concepts. Just last week, I saw a post about RC, that started “If you are a man, you are part of rape culture.”

OTOH, the “blogger, writer, and professional sayer of truths” has a wide audience. Any trickle down to this slack blog would be appreciated. The BWPST also answers comments, using a psuedonym. He is easily provoked. If you don’t want trolls to start trouble, then you should not answer them. Some people are easily amused.

The fun started when BWPST said “Just like every other problem in the culture, it’s ALL about rebellion against God.” When a Christian talks about God, he usually means something very different from what I think. One of the few things that I believe is God does not write books. I made a comment, and the fun began. Entertainment is not what it used to be.

chamblee54 “Just like every other problem in the culture, it’s ALL about rebellion against God.” The first commandment says to hold no other God before you. This does not mean a book. When you declare a book, compiled by a Catholic committee, to be the word of God, then you are violating this common sense rule. Violating this rule causes problems. Mo, are you Matt? · Mo @ chamblee54 “The first commandment says to hold no other G-d before you. This does not mean a book.”What on EARTH are you talking about? “When you declare a book, compiled by a Catholic committee, to be the word of G-d, then you are violating this common sense rule.” I haven’t declared anything, especially anything regarding Catholicism, as I am not Catholic. Show me where I mentioned anything about Catholicism? Nor did Catholics compile the Word of God. Take your nonsense elsewhere. I have zero time or patience for it. · chamblee54 Mo, are you Matt? · Mo @ chamblee54 “Mo, are you Matt?” How about addressing the POINTS I made to you and the questions I asked? Another troll, capable of nothing but repeating the same nonsense over and over.

chamblee54 Ok, I don’t know where, or if, you said anything about the Roman Catholic Church. My point was about the Bible. The canon of the Christian church was compiled by a group of men. I might be mistaken on this point, but I believe they were Catholics. Whether of not the compilers of the bible were, or were not, Catholic is beside the point I want to make. That point is that the bible is not the word of God. God does not write books. When you confuse a book for God, you violate the first commandment. “How about addressing the POINTS I made to you and the questions I asked?” “Take your nonsense elsewhere. I have zero time or patience for it.” This is a contradiction. · Mo @ chamblee54 “Ok, I don’t know where, or if, you said anything about the Roman Catholic Church.” Okay, then your comment has no point since that’s what’s your crabbing about. Go troll someone else. Do not waste my time.

That is the end of the Matt Walsh/chamblee54 showdown. …We should take a look at the idea of “rebellion against God.” When you assume that a book contains the “word of God,” and use that assumption as a weapon to attack other people, that would seem to be “rebellion against God.” When you believe that a soveriegn deity is interested in your petty quarells, that might be “rebellion against God.” When you spend your time arguing with “trolls,” that might not be “rebellion against God,” but it looks foolish to those who don’t share your beliefs. · Pictures today are from Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library The social media picture was taken September 25, 1968. Union Camp Corporation United Appeal campaign.

LBSCB19-064dz

LBSCB19-064dza

LBSCB19-064ez

LBSCB19-064eza

LBSCB19-064az

POTUS Jokes

Posted in Library of Congress, Undogegorized by chamblee54 on May 30, 2025

8b31525x
8b31533x

8b31523x

8b31524x


After a ADHD WHCD, the Washington Post published The single best joke told by every president, from Obama to Washington. It was easier than finding anything coherent said by Kamala Harris. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. This is a repost.

The pickins are surprisingly slim, especially for the modern era. When everything you do is recorded, something has to be funny. Three recent Republicans show a liberal capacity for humor.
George H.W. Bush, 1989 Gridiron Club: “People say I’m indecisive, but I don’t know about that.”
Richard Nixon, in Ms. magazine, 1971: “Let me make one thing perfectly clear. I wouldn’t want to wake up next to a lady pipefitter.”
Herbert Hoover “Blessed are the young, for they shall inherit the national debt.”

Warren Harding was a dog. … “referring to his penis, which he named Jerry, in a 1915 love letter to his mistress Carrie Fulton Phillips: “Jerry — you recall Jerry, whose cards I once sent you to Europe — came in while I was pondering your notes in glad reflection, and we talked about it.”

You have to go back over a hundred fifty years to get a serious laugh.
Andrew Johnson “Washington, D.C., is twelve square miles bordered by reality.”
Abraham Lincoln “If I were two-faced, would I be wearing this one?”
Franklin Pierce about duties after leaving office: “There’s nothing left. . . but to get drunk.”
Zachary Taylor when suggested that he run: “Stop your nonsense and drink your whiskey!”
John Tyler on his death bed: “Doctor, I am going. Perhaps it is best.”
James Madison on his death bed: “I always talk better lying down.”

I found a quote once about Alexander Hamilton, by John Adams. “His ambition, his restlessness and all his grandiose schemes come, I’m convinced, from a superabundance of secretions, which he couldn’t find enough whores to absorb!” A google search for verification led to a reddit page, Fake Founder Quotes, starring John Adams. Apparently, Mr. Adams said something similar to that in a letter to Dr. Benjamin Rush, sent January 25, 1806. According to this source, the letter was a satire of Jonathan Swift’s Tale of a Tub

George Washington in a 1788 letter congratulating the Marquis de Chastellux on his recent marriage: “Now you are well served for coming to fight in favour of the American Rebels, all the way across the Atlantic Ocean, by catching that terrible Contagion — domestic felicity — which like the small pox or the plague, a man can have only once in his life: because it commonly lasts him (at least with us in America — I don’t know how you manage these matters in France) for his whole life time.”

8b31560x

8b31560xa

8b32307x

8b32310x

The Mess In Iraq

Posted in History, Library of Congress, Undogegorized, War by chamblee54 on May 29, 2025


Content below was previously posted May 17, 2009. … Patrick Charles Eugene Boone will celebrate his 91st birthday June 1 … Pat Boone has had a long, profitable career. He is 75 years old. It might be time for him to retire. Or maybe he can do “cover” versions of gangsta rap. There is an article on WorldNetDaily, signed by Mr. Boone. … If you go to WND, you will get a full-screen popup warning of a computer virus … He makes three suggestions to President BHO. Mr. Boone observes that BHO did not serve in the military. According to wikipedia, neither did Pat Boone.

Content below was previously posted May 17, 2009. … There was a draft when Mr. Boone was 19, and the Korean War had just ended. If he had volunteered at 18, he might have seen some action. The first suggestion regards the pictures of torture. Mr. Boone uses a lot of buzz words, like “liberal media” and “Dan Rather and CBS”. Mr. Boone claims that the torture ended at Abu Ghraib. Documents recently released indicate otherwise. Mr. Boone claims that the corporal punishment his mother gave him was worse than what was done to prisoners at Guantanamo Bay. He also raises the red herring …

Content below was previously posted May 17, 2009. … Suggestion 3 is where Mr. Boone shows signs of dementia. He discusses the reluctance of BHO to publicly participate in the National Day of Prayer. This is compared with a proclamation issued by Abraham Lincoln in 1863. Before he gets to that, he drops this in: “But, scarcely into your presidency, you seem hell-bent to marginalize Christianity and this country’s Judeo-Christian foundation, allowing military chaplains to be harshly disciplined for praying in Jesus’ name and promoting a so-called “fairness doctrine” that is designed to squelch conservative and Christian radio hosts and to equate Holy Scripture with “hate speech.”

Content below was previously posted May 22, 2009. … Nibras Kazimi is a visiting scholar at the Hudson Institute in New York. He writes a blog, Talismangate. It is mostly about Iraq, and the mess it is in. He recently wrote about President Obama. It seems like BHO is going to make a speech to the Muslim world in June. He has chosen Cairo as the site. Mr. Kazimi does not think this is a good choice. The reasoning behind this teaches me a few things.

Content below was previously posted May 22, 2009. … The line in the west is that Cairo is a leading city in the Muslim world. According to Mr. Kazimi, this is not quite the case. The importance of Cairo is largely a product of British propaganda, during the time that Egypt was part of the British Empire. Another black eye for Egypt is the peace treaty with Israel, which was evident during the siege of Gaza last year. To many, Egypt is an ally of Israel. Damascus was suggested as another site for this speech. There are problems. The regime in Syria is brutal …

Content below was previously posted May 22, 2009. … Syria is the sworn enemy of Israel, which would not play well with BHO’s supporters back home. The good news is, Syria has taken in many refugees from the war in Iraq … many more than the United States. Mecca would be a good site for this speech, if BHO was not an infidel. President O is viewed with disdain in the Muslim world, with the escalation of the war in AfPak. Meanwhile, many in America believe BHO is a Muslim.

Content below was previously posted May 22, 2009. … Talismangate is an excellent source of information and confusion. You will read things that are not even hinted in the American corporate media. The English speaking reader will find many of the names difficult to fathom. (Nibras Kazimi is one of the easier ones) Every time I read an Iraqi Blog, I is a bit more confused. America has started something that will be very difficult to finish. … Talismangate is no longer published. Nibras Kazimi currently is known on X as @ImaraWaTijara. … Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. Russell Lee took the social media picture in March 1939. “Two children of family living on relief near Jefferson, Texas. These children did not attend school because of lack of warm clothes and indifference of mother who was sick with pellagra.”

The Nothing Of Jordan Peterson

Posted in GSU photo archive, Undogegorized by chamblee54 on May 28, 2025








Jordan Peterson, if you don’t know him, he doesn’t know himself. So it’s not a big deal. I mean if you ask him, who are you, he’ll tell you what is who, what is are, what is you …” This may be more truth than poetry. Ever since Jordan Bernt Peterson came out of his near death experience with Benzodiazepines, he gets more and more Bidenesque every day.

I had been avoiding the video where JBP sits down with “20 atheists.” I am beyond tired of JBP, and the semantics of the God issue make me want to puke. That was before I saw this x-crete. I got “sucked into” this matter, and might as well get a blog post out of it.

It takes a bit of digging to find the original post. The title on youtube is Jordan Peterson vs 20 Atheists. When I posted that link on x, the title is shown as “1 Christian vs 20 Atheists (ft. Jordan Peterson)” Apparently, after this drama became popular, someone went in for damage control.

JBP is a bullshitter. He sort of makes points, but packages them in layers of semantics, sophistry, obfuscation, and just plain noise. Some people are impressed by this. This problem here is that when you live by the gotcha, you die by the gotcha. JBP just became too clever for his own good, and was hoisted on his own petard. To the millions that are bored by his antics, the downfall of JBP is hilarious. Of course, when you wear a pin stripe suit to talk to baseball hats …

The format of this telenova is for JBP to present a “claim”, and the young atheists run to the interview chair to do battle. Claim #1 “Atheists reject God, but they don’t understand what they’re rejecting” The first fighting atheist is Cade Bradley, aka gayextrad. Cade was studying for the Catholic priesthood, and can sling big words like a pro. … “when we look at the Bible the Bible can’t precisely say anything because there are so many different exegetical and hermeneutic views of this particular book and that everybody has disagreed historically on it seems like even the most benign detail about a book this big and it seems like you can only say that the Bible says something if you first presuppose that it’s univocal.” This was early in the show, before the audience went to sleep.

At 48:46, one atheist is “voted out by the majority”, and @dannyphiltalk moves into the hot chair. Danny is going to be the viral sensation. JBP is defending Claim #3 “Everybody worships something, including atheists, even though they might not know it”.

“How do they regard Mary?” … “Why are you asking me that?” … “Because you’re a Christian?” You say that” … “I haven’t claimed that” … “Oh what is this is this Christians versus atheist” … “I don’t know” … “You don’t know where you are right now” … “Don’t be a smartass” … “I mean either you’re a Christian or you’re not” … “You’re a smart ass” … “Either you’re a Christian or you’re not. Which one is it?” … “I could be either of them but I don’t have to tell you you” … “You don’t have to tell me? I was under the impression I was invited to talk to a Christian. Am I not talking to a Christian?” … “No … “I think everyone should look at the title of the YouTube channel. You’re probably in the wrong YouTube video.” … “You’re really quite something you?” … “but you’re really quite nothing”

If you really are hard up for entertainment, you say see the entire shitshow here. If that isn’t enough, chamblee54 has written about JBP several times. 061318 061718 070318 072719 021220 020224 Pictures today are from Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library The social media picture was taken May 22,1955. “Colonial Stores supermarket at Briarcliff and LaVista”







Carrie Prejean

Posted in Undogegorized by chamblee54 on May 25, 2025


It is another sunday morning. Going to church is too gruesome to contemplate. The lawn does not need mowing. It is 052525, the five digit palindrome day for 2025 … what Uncle Hotep would say is the year of our Lord 2025. I go to facebook to wish people happy 52525, and see a post about how the Golden Dome missile defense system is not going to work, except to make buckets of money for the companies that will develop it. Even if the GD does blow up a nuke in the sky, the radiation …

Content below was previously posted May 6, 2009. … The custom of baptism has reared her ugly head again. The dunk or sprinkle debate will probably never be resolved. The question about whether to baptize infants or converts is a call to battle. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has thrown another possibility into the game…baptism of the dead by proxy. This is one of the things about CJCLDS that causes heads to shake. There are computers in Mormon facilities that track the ancestors of members, and perform a digital baptism by proxy. The idea is that a person cannot go to heaven unless they have been baptized.

Content below was previously posted May 6, 2009. … The obsession with life after death is a nonstop source of amusement. A curious custom is in the news today. It seems like CJCLDS baptized Stanley Ann Dunham, the deceased mother of President Obama. This is despite the fact that Miss Dunham married an African, and had a mixed race son. CJCLDS apparently confirmed that this baptism did take place. … “Baptisms for the dead are just a symbolic gesture that we remember and love the deceased and welcome them into our faith. We understand that they have the same freedom” …

Content below was previously posted May 1, 2009. … Carrie Prejean is Miss California, and was a finalist in the Miss USA pageant. (In 2009, MUP was owned by Donald Trump) Perez Hilton asked her whether the other states should follow the lead of Vermont, and legalize same sex marriage. Miss Cali said marriage was between a man and a woman. Mr. Hilton (aka Mario Lavandeira, Spanish for laundromat) had a hissy fit, and insulted mama dogs. Miss Prejean opened her mouth, and did not shut it. It takes talent to make Perez Hilton look smart, but Carrie Prejean has done it.

Content below was previously posted May 1, 2009. … It turns out Miss Prejean had breast implants. There was a statement by the Co-Executive director of the Miss California Organization, Shanna Moakler. It turns out that the Miss California Organization paid for the breast implants. … There is more about Miss California, Carrie Prejean. It turns out her parents separated when she was very young, possibly before she was born. Does she have the same father as her sister? Mom and Dad spent the next few years in a nasty custody battle. Now Miss Prejean is fighting to defend marriage. What does Miss Prejean thinks she is defending?

@carrieprejeanboller “What an honor of a lifetime to be appointed by the President and serve as a commissioner on the Presidential Commission on Religious Liberty. On this National Day of Prayer seeing the President sign this new Executive Order protecting my Christian faith is truly amazing and historic. Singing praise to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ while in the rose garden with the President on this day is something I will never forget. May we always remember our God-centered foundation as a nation and put God at the forefront of all that we do.” May 2, 2025

Bristol Palin

Posted in Georgia History, Library of Congress, Undogegorized by chamblee54 on May 23, 2025


Content below was originally posted May 26, 2008 … There is this problem of the soldiers who died fighting for the losing side. 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.

Content below was originally posted May 29, 2009 … Fort Campbell had a problem with soldiers committing suicide. The commander of the 101st Airborne Division is a take charge type, Brig. Gen. Stephen J. Townsend. He, in so many words, ordered the soldiers to stop killing themselves. “If you don’t remember anything else I say in the next five or 10 minutes, remember this — suicidal behavior in the 101st on Fort Campbell is bad. It’s bad for soldiers, it’s bad for families, bad for your units, bad for this division and our army and our country and it’s got to stop now. Suicides at Fort Campbell have to stop now.”

Consider the teenage abstinence program. The poster girl is Bristol Palin, the same Bristol who fornicated in her parents house. The same Bristol who had her baby, and broke up with the babydaddy, with numerous hard feelings. Some people find this not real. And who is caring for baby Tripp while Mama Bristol talks up abstinence? … In the past 16 years, Bristol has had many excellent adventures. Today she is a real estate agent, and found a check in the mail. It was a reality check. When he took it to the bank, it was rejected for having insufficient funds.

Content below was originally posted May 21, 2009 … “Victory Day“ is celebrated in Russia on May 9. This is the end of the war with Germany in 1945. The Soviet Union lost over 20 million people in that war. The United States, which fought on two fronts, lost 400 thousand, almost all military. The Soviets lost millions of civilians. World War Two was largely fought on Soviet soil. The Nazis killed, and killed, and killed some more. The only thing to stop them was to kill back, which the Soviets did.
All the countries that participated in World War Two suffered, but none quite like the Soviets.

In Ukraine, the Germans were initially greeted as liberators. Once Ukraine got to know the Germans, they saw the need to resist. The Western Front, started on D Day, forced the Germans to divert troops from the Russian War. The United States gave arms and supplies to the Soviets. However, it was the Soviet people who did the heavy lifting in that war. The allies probably would not have won without them. … I grew up in Georgia (American), roughly one hundred years after the War Between the States. Atlanta was the scene of some heavy fighting.

The impact of having a war fought on your home turf is much greater than fighting across an ocean. I look at the impact a 19th century war had on his home, and can only imagine what impact a much bloodier, more recent war, would have on Russia. After the hot war came the cold war. The Soviet Union was our enemy, and the excuse to maintain a large military. Many of the contributions made by the Soviets in the struggle against Germany have been forgotten. People seem to forget the hundreds of thousands of German civilians killed by American air raids. … Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. Arthur Siegel took the social media picture in August 1942. “Interlochen, Michigan. National music camp where 300 or more young musicians study symphonic music for eight weeks each summer. Girls waiting to catch large rubber ball”

Sunday Morning Drabbles

Posted in Georgia History, Library of Congress, Undogegorized by chamblee54 on May 18, 2025


Today is May 18, 2025. I am going to write new material for my blog today, based largely on content from May 2008. This was the first year that chamblee54 was on WordPress. I was driving a truck in Marietta, and listening to am talk radio. The 2008 election was going on. John McCain was going to be the Republican candidate, and Barack H. Obama was the Democrat wannabe. The 2008 economic meltdown was a few weeks away. After the economic meltdown, I lost my job, and the election of Obama became inevitable. 17 years later, I am assembling this collection of drabbles.

Another shot in the arm deals with capital punishment. On May 6, 2008, Georgia was preparing to off a convict. … 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”? What do you call the process where a GDC employee shoots up a person with substances that will cause their demise?  Injecticide? … With all the corruption, lawyers, and rampant egomania in the justice business, how can the death penalty ever be administered fairly? Was this practice ever intended to be fair?

There was a comment thread at a Christian blog. The topic of preaching at funerals came up: “I want to see God’s grace and name honored.” Preaching an unwanted message to grieving people does not honor God. Christians frequently do not respect non-believers. Christians feel that if they only repeat their message over and over that others will agree with it. However, many of us have made up our minds. The more you try, the more you alienate us. A heavy religious message at a funeral is an example of this. Many incontinent evangelicals are like dogs that will not quit barking.

Like many men of my degeneration/generation, I had long hair. The problem is, with a Georgiawhiteboi like me, hair turns into worms after about three centimeters. It is way too much work to take care of. So I bought a pair of clippers. It was the modern version of letting my freak flag fly … I was in the church’s fried chicken on Broad street downtown. The two drag queens were in front of me in line.They got their food and left. When I stepped to the counter, I heard this girl say to her friend ”Her hayyer is so preeiitee”

Tallulah Bankhead was making a movie, “Lifeboat”, directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Some of the other actors commented that Miss Bankhead was not wearing panties. Mr. Hitchcock wondered if this was a matter for wardrobe or a matter for hairdressing … Did Mohawks really shave their heads except for a stripe of hair in the middle? That would seem to be a lot of trouble for pre-modern men living in upstate New York. A Mohawk haircut is high maintenance, just like many who display them. … When asked how long it takes to do her hair, Dolly Parton replies. “I don’t know I am not there”

A clean pair of socks is change you can believe in. … The intangibles include respect, good will, and trust. Semantic fine tuning aside, these words mean the same thing. … A man has to believe in something. I believe I will have a drink. W.C. Fields … Mr. Barnum once said “there is a sucker born every minute”. This belief served Mr. Barnum abundantly … Miss Teenage South Carolina gave a famous speech. The first three words were ” I personally believe” … Anyone can quote the Bible. To do so without the trust of the listener is to speak in vain.

Opinions are like a smelly, though productive, body part. What does this say about beliefs? … Believe is a seven letter word. The first two letters are BE. The next three letters are LIE …  Cher had a hit song called “Believe” The hair is a wig, the plastic surgery is paid for, but do you believe. … John 3:16 has more than 22 words. That verse helps reduce Jesus to a scheme for life after death. … My opinions about G-d, the Bible, Jesus, and Life after Death are none of your business. … Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. The social media picture: “Private Lucien Love of Co. D, 43rd Virginia Cavalry Battalion … Photo shows young identified soldier. Lucien Love is one of six Mosby Rangers executed by the Union in September 1864 near Front Royal, Virginia.”

Marilyn Truther

Posted in Library of Congress, Undogegorized by chamblee54 on May 17, 2025


Marilyn Monroe was photographed reading Ulysses, the famously difficult book by James Joyce. 63 years later, a man posted the picture on twitter, while promoting a study course on Ulysses. If Marilyn read it, then you can too! I said something uncooperative, and a brief twitter fight broke out. Since the Ulysses dude, and his tweeting buddy, did not give permission, they will not be quoted here. One exception, the titular “Marilyn Truther,” was coined by the study course promoter.

@chamblee54 It was a joke, at one time, to give models a book to pose with. It was considered funny to give them a difficult book like “Ulysses” ~ Who needs to show a citation? I may be wrong. I asked Mr. Google, and found this. ~ According to photographer, she did not read it from start to finish. A more accurate answer is that she read parts of it Story by photographer should not be taken as unchallenged truth, but it is all we have I should have researched this before i spoke. Did you? ~ I had read that about other models. I also read numerous quotes, attributed to Marilyn, that proved to be phony. Photography is a medium open to manipulation, and creation of fantasy. Just because you see a picture, that does not mean it happened. ~ Eve Arnold… a woman … took that picture. How do we know Marilyn told the truth? Maybe Marilyn was just trying to make a good impression on the lady. Would Marilyn have said the same thing if the photographer was a man?

I disputed that Marilyn Monroe had read Ulysses, and will never know for sure either way. I am not the first person to wonder about this. “Richard Brown, a Professor of Modern Literature at the University of Leeds with a special interest in James Joyce, was intrigued by Eve Arnold’s photos of Marilyn. Curious to know if Marilyn was indeed reading Joyce’s novel or if she was merely posing for the photo, Brown wrote Arnold a letter, which she replied on 20 July 1993. Unfortunately, I don’t have Arnold’s complete letter to show you … In any case, the excerpt from Arnold’s letter is interesting as she was telling Brown exactly what he wanted to know”:

We worked on a beach on Long Island. She was visiting Norman Rosten the poet. … I asked her what she was reading when I went to pick her up (I was trying to get an idea of how she spent her time). She said she kept Ulysses in her car and had been reading it for a long time. She said she loved the sound of it and would read it aloud to herself to try to make sense of it — but she found it hard going. She couldn’t read it consecutively. When we stopped at a local playground to photograph she got out the book and started to read while I loaded the film. So, of course, I photographed her. It was always a collaborative effort of photographer and subject where she was concerned — but almost more her input.” “Quoted in Richard Brown, “Marilyn Monroe Reading Ulysses: Goddess or Postcultural Cyborg?”, in R. B. Kershner (Ed), Joyce and Popular Culture, p. 174.”

Monroe is reading the 1934 Random House edition, with the dust jacket removed. This is the edition that was famously set from a pirate version containing numerous errors. This defect notwithstanding, the dust-jacket artwork and typographic design by Ernst Reichl constitute one of the great works in the history of book design.”

What does this say about a screen icon who died in 1962? Maybe she was smarter than your typical dumb blonde. Maybe not. Marilyn had an instinct for the camera, and looking good on the screen brought joy to millions of fans. Is this post mortem resurrection, as an intellectual philosopher, merely another fantasy concocted by well meaning fans? Pictures never lie, and there is a picture of Marilyn, reading Ulysses, with a serious look on her pretty face. Of course it is real! A fantasy involving Norma Jean Baker Marilyn Monroe? How absurd! As long as the merchandise is paid for, and the instagrammers inspired, should we even care?

The cult of Marilyn has shown up on chamblee54 before. “Someone told me that Marilyn Monroe once remarked that she enjoyed reading poetry “because it saves time.” I like this quotation so much that I’ve never dared to confirm it; I’d feel disenchanted to learn it was bogus.” This search for authenticity led to a forum called Data Lounge … “get your fix of gay gossip, news and pointless bitchery.” The “Marilyn: Smart or Stupid” debate rages through 200 comments, reaching a peak at comment 196. “Yes MM said every one of those quotes by herself! … But I’m worried for her, cause She’s my main spirit guide and Saviour and she recently commanded me to share this message! …

In 2014, a facebook notice appeared. It was promoting a blog post by known idiot Matt Walsh. “If you can’t accept me at my worst, then you don’t deserve me at my best.”… “the original quote is from Marilyn Monroe. It’s even more vapid and nauseating when taken in its full context: “I’m selfish, impatient and a little insecure. I make mistakes, I am out of control and at times hard to handle. But if you can’t handle me at my worst, then you sure as hell don’t deserve me at my best.” Out of all the profundities ever uttered, what does it say about our society that THIS is the quote we’ve decided to take to heart?” It is generally accepted that Marilyn did not say that. The top debunker is now a malware distributor, and not available for viewing. Somehow, that seems appropriate.

Pictures today are from the Library of Congress. “Listening to speeches at mass meeting of Works Progress Administration (WPA) workers protesting congressional cut of relief appropriations. San Francisco, California.” Photographer: Dorothea Lange February 1939. This is a repost.

Blonde Stories

Posted in Library of Congress, Undogegorized by chamblee54 on May 14, 2025


The world is in turmoil. People are killing people for no good reason. The government is run by liars and scoundrels. Religion is a dirty word. It is time for blonde stories . Thank you FunnyJokes. Pictures are from The Library of Congress

A married couple was asleep when the phone rang at 2 in the morning. The very blonde wife picked up the phone, listened a moment, and said ‘How should I know, that’s 200 miles from here!’ and hung up. The husband said, ‘Who was that?’ The wife answered, ‘I don’t know, some woman wanting to know if the coast is clear.’

Two blondes are walking down the street. One notices a compact on the sidewalk and leans down to pick it up. She opens it, looks in the mirror and says, ‘Hmm, this person looks familiar.’ The second blonde says, ‘Here, let me see!’ So, the first blonde hands her the compact. The second blonde looks in the mirror and says, ‘You dummy, it’s me!’

A blonde suspects her boyfriend of cheating on her, so she goes out and buys a gun. She goes to his apartment unexpectedly and when she opens the door she finds him in the arms of a redhead. Well, the blonde is really angry. She opens her purse to take out the gun, and as she does so, she is overcome with grief. She takes the gun and puts it to her head. The boyfriend yells, ‘No, honey, don’t do it!’ The blonde replies, ‘Shut up, you’re next!’

A blonde was bragging about her knowledge of state capitals. She proudly says, ‘Go ahead, ask me … I know ‘em all.’  ‘OK, what’s the capital of Wisconsin ?’ The blonde replies, ‘Oh, that’s easy. Its W.’

Q: What did the blonde ask her doctor when he told her she was pregnant? A: ‘Is it mine?’

Bambi, a blonde in her fourth year as a UCLA Freshman, sat in her US Government class. The professor asked Bambi if she knew what Roe vs. Wade was about. Bambi pondered the question; then, finally, said, ‘That was the decision George Washington had to make before he crossed the Delaware.’

Returning home from work, a blonde was shocked to find her house burglarized. She telephoned the police at once and reported the crime. The police dispatcher broadcast the call on the radio, and a K-9 unit, patrolling nearby, was the first to respond. As the K-9 officer approached the house with his dog on a leash, the blonde ran out on the porch, shuddered at the sight of the cop and his dog, then sat down on the steps. Putting her face in her hands, she moaned, ‘I come home to find all my possessions stolen. I call the police for help, and what do they do? They send me a BLIND COP!’

I’m Here To Help

Posted in Undogegorized by chamblee54 on May 4, 2025


Two popular quotes have surprising back stories. One is by President Ronald W. Reagan: “The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: I’m from the government and I’m here to help.” The other is from Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.: “The most stringent protection of free speech would not protect a man in falsely shouting fire in a theatre and causing a panic.”

@HayesBrown “the funny thing about this quote: Reagan said it during a press conference where he was calling for more federal funding to help out struggling farmers” @HayesBrown “Reagan giving that quote was literally him going “okay, yeah, i’m for smaller govt, but until we get my ideas passed, we are gonna spend SO MUCH MONEY helping out farmers” and now it gets trotted out… to argue against federal aid, period”

Some sectors of our farm economy are hurting … Our ultimate goal, of course, is economic independence for agriculture and, through steps like the tax-reform bill, we seek to return farming to real farmers. But until we make that transition, the government must act compassionately and responsibly. … In order to see farmers through these tough times, our administration has committed record amounts of assistance, spending more in this year alone than any previous administration spent during its entire tenure. … The message in all this is very simple: America’s farmers should know that our commitment to helping them is unshakable. As long as I’m in Washington, their concerns are going to be heard and acted upon.”

The rest of the prepared statement features a fun quote. “One other brief point: tomorrow, the Senate will cast a crucial vote. The question is that of assistance to the freedom fighters, who are trying to bring democracy to Nicaragua where a communist regime, a client state of the Soviet Union, has taken over. The question before the Senate is: Will it vote for democracy in Central America and the security of our own borders, or will it vote to passively sit by while the Soviets make permanent their military beachhead on the mainland of North America?”

The press conference took place August 12, 1986, in Chicago IL. On November 3, 1986, “the Lebanese magazine Ash-Shiraa … reported that the United States had been secretly selling arms to Iran … in a bid to secure the release of seven American hostages being held by pro-Iranian groups in Lebanon.” On November 25, 1986, “Attorney General Edwin Meese revealed that, on White House orders, the proceeds of secret arms sales to Iran were illegally diverted to fund the Contras — Nicaraguan rebels waging a guerrilla war to overthrow that country’s elected leftist regime.” The resulting Iran-Contra scandal dominated the Reagan administration for the next few months.

@ggreenwald The pro-censorship cliché “can’t yell fire in a crowded theater” comes from a now-discredited 1919 SupCt case upholding Woodrow Wilson prosecution of socialists under *The Espionage Act* for the “crime” of opposing a US role WW1. Why would you want to attach yourself to that? @ggreenwald The set of cases from which that cliché emerged is one of the most shameful in US Supreme Court history, designed to criminalize dissent. For that reason, it’s embarrassing but revealing when censors invoke it because that’s their real mentality.

SCHENCK v. UNITED STATES was the case. “During World War I, socialists Charles Schenck and Elizabeth Baer distributed leaflets declaring that the draft violated the Thirteenth Amendment prohibition against involuntary servitude. The leaflets urged the public to disobey the draft, but advised only peaceful action. Schenck was charged with conspiracy to violate the Espionage Act of 1917 by attempting to cause insubordination in the military and to obstruct recruitment. Schenck and Baer were convicted of violating this law and appealed …

The Court held that the Espionage Act did not violate the First Amendment and was an appropriate exercise of Congress’ wartime authority. Writing for a unanimous Court, Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes concluded that courts owed greater deference to the government during wartime, even when constitutional rights were at stake. … Holmes reasoned that the widespread dissemination of the leaflets was sufficiently likely to disrupt the conscription process. Famously, he compared the leaflets to falsely shouting “Fire!” in a crowded theatre, which is not permitted under the First Amendment.”

There were a couple of other cases. If you have a lot of free time, you can read about it here. Included is one charming quote: “Famed socialist Eugene V. Debs was sentenced to ten years in prison for a speech that Holmes summarized at length (are there any short socialist speeches?) in support of the basis for Debs’ conviction.”

Pictures, of soldiers in the War Between the States, are from The Library of Congress. The facebook picture is of “Private James B. McCutchan of Co. D, 5th Virginia Infantry Regiment.” On April 2, 2021, Radiolab presented What Up Holmes, about free speech opinions written by Justice Holmes. The show did not mention “falsely shouting fire in a theatre.” This is a repost.

Critical Becky Studies

Posted in Library of Congress, Undogegorized by chamblee54 on May 1, 2025


Becky is a generic insult for *some* white women. If you don’t know what a Becky is, you might not understand the feature below. Chad is the equivalent expression for white men. He is not important enough to be studied critically. This is a repost. Very few of the links in this feature work in 2o25.

It started out with a tweet, about a symposium, Critical Becky Studies: Critical Explorations of Gender, Race, and the Pedagogies of Whiteness. Soon, I was googling CBS. The paywall protected Wall Street Journal had an article on CBS. The seminal article was at City Journal, Racial Resentment As Pedagogy. The CBS flap originated at 2019 AERA Annual Meeting, sponsored by American Educational Research Association.

@chamblee54 @CityJournal @maxeden99 There was no link to this event in your article. I suspect this is a hoax. Please provide a link to the location on the event guide, for “critical becky studies.” The AERA conference guide is a confusing academic labyrinth. After a while, I clicked on the correct link, and found a way to search for whiteness pedagogy.

CBS is real. “In the tradition of speculative fiction, parable, and counterstorytelling within critical race theory, this session aims to problematize the characterization of “Becky,” a term specific to white women who engage whiteness, often in gendered ways. This characterization is relevant to education by critically examining who is Becky and how she is characterized, her positionality in education, and how the hope for diversity, inclusion, equity, and racial justice within the P-20 educational pipeline is impacted by Becky. … tied to the gendered and raced mechanisms of whiteness enacted by Becky. ”

The symposium featured the presentation of several papers. If, after reading this feature, you want to learn more about these papers, you can follow the links.

This Ain’t No “Wizard of Oz,” Becky “The chapter is a parable in the spirit of speculative fiction, about the fictional (mis)adventures of Becky in the land of Ny as she faces obstacles that she can only overcome by grappling with her own whiteness.”

Two Woke Beckys? “Although both Sheila and Erika slip into different whiteness performances during their conversation, including passive aggressiveness and tone policing, white innocence, and white saviority, they check each other and delve into how they each have and are employing whiteness, despite their desires to rid themselves of whiteness, albeit through different means. …”
Love in the Time of Beckyism “… a particular white heterofeminine citizen-subject popularly known as “Becky,” … Despite “progressive” commitments such as equality, and social justice; and sentimental responses to historical atrocities and current social events, these (conditional) protestations made by Becky serve as a hedonistic mechanism for image management that hinges on the exploitation and social death of people of color. …” How can a teacher preparation program work to rethink the episteme and ethos that socializes Beckyism?”

Book Club Becky: White Racial Bonding in the Living Room “Many liberal white women gather monthly for book clubs … This paper reveals the more insidious workings of these spaces, as they are places where white women bond in order to maintain their place in white patriarchy, what Christine Sleeter named white racial bonding. The conversations that take place, the women who are included as “educated,” and the spaces where they meet are laced with white supremacy and surveillance.”

Border Becky “… why white women still invest in whiteness. Using the term “Becky” establishes an academic backing that can be applied and analyzed when researching the pathology of whiteness. … whiteness manifests in classrooms riddled with white women seeking to prove how they are not like other racist white people. Becky in the counterstories demonstrates the character-like roles white women play in a white supremacist folklore.”

It was a busy weekend for whiteness pedagogy. Ekemini Uwan shocked a Christian conference with her remarks about whiteness. “So then when we talk about white identity, then we have to talk about what whiteness is. Well, the reality is that whiteness is rooted in plunder, in theft, in slavery, in enslavement of Africans, genocide of Native Americans, … It’s a power structure, that is what whiteness is, and so that the thing for white women to do is you have to divest from whiteness because what happened was that your ancestors actually made a deliberate choice to rid themselves of their ethnic identity and by doing so they actually stripped Africans in America of their ethnic identity. … Because we have to understand something – whiteness is wicked. It is wicked. It’s rooted in violence, it’s rooted in theft, it’s rooted in plunder, it’s rooted in power, in privilege … ”

Today’s images are from The Library of Congress. Russell Lee took the facebook photograph in August 1940. “Mormon farm family, members of FSA dental cooperative, in dentist’s office. Tremonton, Box Elder County, Utah” We do not know if any of these ladies were named Becky. UPDATE @chamblee54 I found the link. My apologies for doubting you. @maxeden99 No worries. I couldn’t have made it up if I tried :)

Flaunt Of The Sunshine

Posted in Library of Congress, Undogegorized by chamblee54 on April 16, 2025


Fact checking spurious quote by Walt Whitman, using search target “sunshine.” Sunshine appeared six times in “Leaves of Grass” · Flaunt of the sunshine I need not your bask—lie over! · O for the sunshine and motion of waves in a song! · Sunshine, storm, cold, heat, forever withstanding, passing, carrying, · No women looking on nor sunshine to bask in, it did not conclude with applause, · A thick gloom fell through the sunshine and darken’d me, · Sunshine upon the mountains—many a distant strain · To the cities and farms I sing as they spread in the sunshine before me.

Douglas Murray made a snide comment about Darryl Cooper. … Rogan: Have you ever absorbed any of his material, have you ever consumed any of his podcasts or anything like that? Murray: I tried it’s pretty hard to listen to somebody who says “I don’t know what I’m talking about but now I’m going to talk or I don’t know about this or I’m not capable of debating this historian but I’m going to just tell you what I think.” If you listen to a minute of “Fear and Loathing in the New Jerusalem” you will know this is not true.

@Drabblecast If you submitted something to us, we want to let you know that we are behind on our 90 day turn around time. Some things happened behind the scenes (turns out that when your shadow beckons you to follow a hallway that you don’t remember being there, you will get VERY lost). @chamblee54 Your tweet had 53 words/291 characters. This is 47 words short of a drabble. We are in the middle of the story. Drabblecaster followed his shadow into a hallway and got VERY lost. This is a handy metaphor for the United States economy right now.

041225 – 1641 Saturday afternoon I am sitting in the Marta parking lot, waiting for Mac to get to the station. It has been a good afternoon. I was downloading Bob Dylan albums, (one two three four) while listening to “Firing Line with William F. Buckley Jr.: The Hippies.” … Episode 113, September 3, 1968, Guests: Lewis Yablonsky, Ed Sanders, Jack Kerouac.” There was a tasty quote from Mr. Keruoac: “I said there are people who make a a rule of creating chaos so that once the chaos is under way they can then be elected as the people who take care of the chaos” …””I said there are people who make a a rule of creating chaos so that once the chaos is under way they can then be elected as the people who take care of the chaos.”

The fbf sent me this image in a dm. It is a link to a video. The caption read “TRUMP BROUGHT RACISM TO THE POLICE …” This all-caps screed forced me to reply. “Hey. This image rubs me the wrong way. I don’t appreciate Trump-bashing. I don’t like the man, but nonstop trumptrashtalk is part of the reason the idiot is in the White House. I don’t like ALL CAPS talk about racial dysfunction, especially when this shouting is done to spread hatred. While I do not appreciate police excesses, I also realize they have a tough, dirty, necessary job.”

A fbf recently cited Matthew 10:33 to make a point. … 33 But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven. … Fbf did not mention what Jesus said next. (Fbf assumes that Jesus really did say these things.) … 34 Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. 35 For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.

When you post to allpoetry, they require you to comment on two other poems · Obsolescence is the ontological result of hematologist vampire conscience struggle with morphodite baseball · my only regret is that I have but one **** to give for my country · money wise, sex wise, knowledge wise, technology wise” These are all oxymorons · this is what Hunter S Thompson meant when he said “buy the ticket, take the ride” · “And called him **** ” Jesus has the curse of being remembered in a culture that will not spell out what he was called.  … The pictures are from The Library of Congress. John Collier took the photographs in November 1942. Pittsburgh PA (vicinity). Montour no. 4 mine of the Pittsburgh Coal Company. Miner’s wife, who is an Office of Civilian Defense first aid nurse. · selah