Rescue Michele Bachmann
PG looked in his spam folder, and was amazed. Someone at Conservative Strikeforce thought a slack blogger was going to give money to Michele Bachmann. It is highly unlikely that PG will be giving money to the woman known affectionately as “Crazy Eyes”. However, some readers of this facility may be inclined to help out the much maligned congresswoman. Spelling was not corrected. Pictures are from The Library of Congress. This was written like James Joyce.
Dear Patriot, Below please find a special message from one of our sponsors, Conservative Strikeforce. They have important information to share with you. Thank you. Please note that the following message reflects the opinion and representations of our sponsor alone, and not necessarily the opinion of Conservative Insider. Michele Bachmann’s race is uncomfortably close. So, last week we decided to launch an emergency effort to save this superstar conservative Congresswoman. Unfortunately, we came up $16,750 short of what we need to raise in order to pay for this rescue effort. Michele desperately needs our help. NOW. Please make an emergency donation of $25, $50, $100, $250 or whatever you can afford to help Conservative Strike Force PAC pay for last minute mailings for Michele Bachmann.
We absolutely must raise this $16,750 today! Michele’s opponent is spending his huge personal fortune on thousands of scandalous attack ads. He’s blasting her day and night. Michele Bachmann is under siege. And, according to the polling, these waves of negative commercials are taking their toll. Michelle Bachmann is in serious trouble. Despite the fact that she’s an incredible campaigner, she could lose. Please make the most generous contribution you possibly can right now. We have to make up for this $16,750 shortfall and get into this fight immediately.
CSF’s mission is to identify and turn out conservative voters and counter the massive left-wing smear operation that’s been unleashed on Michele Bachmann. We need to remind Minnesota voters that Michele led the fight against ObamaCare (spell check suggestion:Macabre,) Obama’s failed stimulus plan and the Administration’s weak foreign policy that is getting Americans killed overseas. The conservative grassroots needs to get behind this pro-freedom superstar right now. Please donate what you can. We need to pay for this first round of calls and mailings right away, and we are already desperately behind schedule. Please, this is urgent. Nancy Pelosi’s Democrats are openly bragging about all the money they are spending to smear our Congressional candidates. And many conservative activists are paying more attention to the Presidential race and the fight for control over the Senate than to what’s happening in the House. I certainly understand that. However, we can’t overlook races like Michele Bachmann’s. This is a clash between a national conservative leader who is despised by the liberal media and a super-wealthy leftist who will say and do anything to grab a seat in Congress. And it’s being waged in a militantly blue state that Barack Obama will win by a huge margin! Additionally, Michele Bachmann is practically fighting this battle all by herself. Very few groups outside of Minnesota are helping her. Michele Bachman is battling all alone, behind enemy lines, and against an opponent with practically unlimited resources and who has no scruples whatsoever.
Frankly, it’s amazing that she isn’t five or ten points behind right now. She is being PUMMELED by the liberals. However, Michele is hanging in there and fighting like crazy. She just needs some help. That’s why Conservative Strike Force PAC must get into this fight. And to do that I need your help. Right now. Please make an online contribution to help Michele Bachmann. I absolutely must raise this $16,750 today. If I can’t raise this money, we can’t help Michele. It’s just that simple. After all Michele Bachman has done for the conservative movement, we can’t leave her behind and simply hope she finds a way to survive this onslaught. We just can’t. She deserves our help. Please donate whatever you can. Thank you. For America, Dennis Whitfield Chairman, Conservative StrikeForce PAC
Paid for by the Conservative Strikeforce PAC. Scott Mackenzie, Treasurer. Not authorized by any candidate or candidates committee. Contributions are not deductable as charitable contributions for federal income tax purposes. Strike Force is a federally registered Political Action Committee created to assist conservatives in their campaigns across the country. We are not raising funds in conjunction with any campaign. All contributions will be used by Strike Force for direct candidate contributions, independent expenditures and Get Out The Vote activities in strict compliance with any and all campaign finance laws. Our mission is to assist conservative candidates who are under assault by the liberal attack machine.
Migrant Mother
It is perhaps the most famous photograph from the depression. . The semi official title is Migrant Mother. The Library of Congress says “Destitute pea pickers in California. Mother of seven children. Age thirty-two. Nipomo, California.” The exact date is unknown, and was either February or March of 1936. The photographer was Dorothea Lange (pronounced dore-THEE-ah lang). The model was Florence Owens Thompson .
Ms. Lange was born Dorothea Margaretta Nutzhorn May 26, 1895 in Hoboken, N.J. When she was seven she had polio, and when she was twelve her father left. Both events affected her deeply. (Lange is her mother’s maiden name, chosen for use after the father left.) She became a photographer, and had a successful studio in San Francisco. By 1936 she was with her second husband, her sons were in boarding school, and she went to work for the Farm Security Administration.
The Farm Security Administration hired a number of photographers to document the lives of Americans between 1934 and 1944. (During part of this time, it was connected to the Office of War Information, and the Resettlement Administration.) Since they were working for the government, the photographers were not entitled to copyright protection. The majority of these pictures are in the public domain, including the famous pictures of Florence Thompson.
This feature started with a google search for the correct way to pronounce Dorothea Lange. (Readers of this blog have seen the fondness for Library of Congress historic pictures. Ms. Lange is one of their stars.) This search led to a teacher’s guide from Yale University. This guide is about Dorothea Lange and the Migrant Mother. It tells the story as well as PG could. Bless his pea picking heart.
The day that Dorothea Lange photographed what would become her most famous photograph, Migrant Mother, has been retold by Lange in numerous sources. She was on her way home from a trip documenting the living and working conditions of the migrants to California. She followed their schedules, getting up at sunup and working until sundown, which made for long, sixteen-hour days. She was tired, and she was ready to see her family.
With about seven hours of driving left ahead of her, she passed a homemade sign that said Pea Pickers’ Camp. She knew that a late frost had ruined the pea crop, and was concerned about the people who might be at the camp. It nagged at her to turn around, to go back and visit the camp, another opportunity to document. About 15 minutes (20 miles) later, Lange did turn around.
Right away she saw the woman who would be the subject of Migrant Mother. Some sources say she took 5 shots, but she really took 6; in any case each shot focuses in on the woman a little more, and the final shot is the one that would become the “timeless and universal symbol of suffering in the face of adversity “ (The Library of Congress only has five of the shots.)
Early the morning after she got home, instead of spending time with her family Lange rushed to develop the photographs and submit them to the FSA and The San Francisco News. She thought that these photographs could help bring attention to the plight of these American migrant farmers. She was right; the story was printed in newspapers around the country, and the federal government immediately sent 20,000 pounds of food…. (The Thompson family had left for Watsonville by the time the food arrived)
The Dust Bowl refugees were of European descent, and were migrating to California because they were displaced from their farmland by drought. Florence Owens Thompson, though from Oklahoma, was a full-blooded Native American, and her family had been displaced from tribal lands by the U.S. government. (By 1930, Native Americans had lost more than 80% of their lands this way).
The day Lange photographed Thompson, she and her family were driving towards Watsonville, hoping to pick lettuce in the Pajaro Valley. The timing chain on their car broke just outside Nipomo, and so they pulled into the pea -pickers camp to fix it. While fixing the chain, the radiator was punctured; Thompson’s two boys (and likely her male companion) (Wikipedia says it was husband Jim Hill) brought the radiator into town to be fixed. While they were gone, Lange arrived…
The choices Lange made in terms of shooting the scene are very telling in light of our discussion about documentary photography. Most strikingly, the woman’s teenaged daughter is purposefully excluded from the photograph. She appears in the first two photographs of the series, but Lange thought that including her would cause the viewer to speculate about how old the mother was when she began having children (Curtis p. 55). At the time, the ideal family contained no more than three children; this woman’s family of seven could have detracted from the matter at hand, and maybe caused people to feel less sympathetic towards her (Curtis p. 52).
In the third shot, all you see is the mother nursing her youngest child. Migrant Mother is often referred to as Migrant Madonna… Lange thought that her subject looked too anxious and uncomfortable with the camera, as Lange seemed to have triggered in her what she called “that self-protective thing” (Curtis p. 57). So, despite being uncomfortable with how unpredictable children were to photograph, to calm the mother she added one of the children back into the frame for the fourth shot. She had the child rest her chin on her mother’s shoulder, which, though somewhat unnatural, served the purpose of anchoring the child still. She was also asked to remove her hat, which would have obscured her facial features. This resulted in a good photograph. Lange “thought she could do better.”
The fifth shot was the same, but from a different angle, which illuminates an empty pie tin, heavily symbolic of the hunger the family was facing. It also highlighted a warm and loving relationship between mother and child, as the child is leaning lovingly on the mother’s shoulder, which is comforting to the child.
For the sixth and final shot, (the one which became famous) Lange brought another child in, but she had both children face away from the camera, so that her shot would not be jeopardized by their unpredictability, and they would serve as a loving frame for the mother. Lange asked the mother to bring her right hand up to her face, and that resulted in exactly what Lange wanted and knew was there (Curtis p. 65). It softened her anxiety about the camera into a mother’s concern for the welfare of her family. The mother was worried about letting her sleeping child slip, so in the original sixth shot you could see her thumb grasped around the pole for support. In her excitement Lange did not see it. She eventually altered the original photonegative because she “did not want a small detail to mar the accomplishment (of overcoming her subject’s defensiveness) (Curtis p. 67).”
In this feature, the second image from the session is missing. The pictures in this feature are as follows. 1- The famous picture, cropped. 2- The first shot from the session. 3- A detail from the first shot. 4- The Migrant Madonna. 5- Child on the shoulder. 6- Child on the shoulder #2. 7. The full length famous picture. 8- A portrait of Dorothea Lange. 9- Another photograph by Ms. Lange, taken on the California-Arizona border in the summer of 1936. 10- The information from the famous picture. 11- The famous picture with the thumb included. This is a repost.
Repost Notes This was on a list of posts that could be repeated. Of course, there are usually improvements to be made. Youtube was searched, and some videos were found. One of them mispronounces Dorothea. A search for the correct pronounciation of that first name was how this post got started in 2010.
Looking at the pictures reveals a glitch in the famous picture. If you look in the part of her hair, you will see a gray stripe. This is a bit of damage to the negative, and is common to old photographs. Ordinarily, PG would paste over a spot like that, but this is a sacred photograph.
The files of the LOC were consulted, and a 115mg original was downloaded. The grey stripe was still in the part, which is where it will stay. The original has the thumb, which was taken out of the famous prints. It is included in this post, along with the information typed into the side.
A look at some of the other pictures taken that day show a grey spot in the part. Maybe it wasn’t a photo glitch. Raising seven children can give any woman a few gray hairs.
Another question is about Florence Thompson, the “Migrant Mother”. It was noted that she was a Native American. PG has decided that the expression “Native American” is the invention of European Import Americans, and is only marginally less offensive than Indian. There are hundreds of tribes in the Americas. A person is a member of a tribal nation. What tribe was Florence Thompson?
Mr. Google points us to this answer. “Thompson, a “full-blooded” Cherokee, was born Florence Leona Christie on September 1, 1903, on the Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma. Her father, Jackson Christie, was an ex-convict who had abandoned the family before her birth. Her mother,Mary Jane Cobb, married Charles Akman, a Choctaw, in 1905, with whom she raised Thompson near Tahlequah OK”
Pictures are from The Library of Congress.
Duane Allman And The Coricidin Bottle
Gregg Allman appeared on Live Talks LA, selling a book, My Cross to Bear. Yes, he was coherent. Mr.Allman says something about going through rehab seventeen times. No one argues disputes that he has had an interesting life.
The chat has a few parts left out. Dicky Betts and Cher are not mentioned. The title of “strangest dude I ever met” goes to Jai Johanny “Jaimoe” Johanson, aka the black guy in the group. Gregg says he used to listen to stuff by Roland Kirk.
The story of Duane Allman learning to play slide guitar is good. Duane was sick. Gregg came to see his brother, who was playing the guitar in a new way. It seems the doctor had given him some pills called Coricidin. You take the pills out of the glass bottle, soak the label off, and you have a guitar slider.
When PG was a kid, his uncle was a representative for the company that sold Coriciden. There were boxes of samples in the house, which all came in the glass bottle. PG had not heard that name for forty eight years. The spell check suggestion is Coincidence.
Not everyone at amazon was impressed by the book. “the book was so damged the binding and jacket were ripped that a did not read the book and will not buy an more nick malick.”
The visual multitasking element for this chat was pictures from The Library of Congress. There are two group shots, broken down into smaller images. One is a graduating class of a nursing school at Georgetown University. The photographer lists the date as between 1905 and 1945.
The other image is a line of people waiting to vote. The well dressed citizens are in Clarenden VA. The date is November 4, 1924. Several carry signs for the democratic presidential candidate, John W. Davis. He was nominated on the 103rd ballot of the democratic convention, and lost to Calvin Coolidge.
District 81 Meet And Greet
PG used a warm Sunday afternoon to walk to a neighbor’s house and meet Scott Holcomb. He is the Democratic candidate for the Georgia House of Representatives, district 81. The districts have been redrawn, with Mr. Holcomb in the same district as the 81st incumbent, Elena Parent. With a new job as Executive Director of Georgia Watch, Ms. Parent decided to leave the legislature. She was the hostess of the meet and greet.
There were only a handful of people at the event. PG got to talk to the candidate right away. Georgia is falling behind the rest of the south because we are not spending enough on education. There are no easy solutions to the water crisis.
After a few minutes with the candidate, PG headed to the snack table. Mr. Holcomb’s chief of staff, Ann Abramowitz, was standing there. Campaign mailers were discussed. It seems as though a company called Rosetta Stone Communications is producing cookie cutter mailers for the bad guys. “Rosetta Stone’s auto-calling programs are the most cost-effective way to reach your voters. The cost is minimal compared to other forms of communication, and the effectiveness is total.”
There was a bit of controversy about a video from Mr. Holcomb’s opponent, involving being able to perform on drug screens. PG took a bottle of water, and asked Mr. Holcomb if he wanted this. Mr. Holcomb eagerly accepted. PG observed that you never knew when you were going get drug tested. Mr. Holcomb then got the joke.
After a few minutes, the crowd went onto the back porch. Ms. Parent introduced the candidate. Supposedly, Mr. Holcomb reads every bill that is introduced before the legislature. No signs of brain damage were evident Sunday.
After the intro, Mr. Holcomb spoke for a few minutes, and took a few questions. Among the points that were raised were: The Republicans would like to get a super majority in the legislature. This will not be good for the state. ~ Private school vouchers are not a very good idea, and probably will not happen. ~ Climate change is probably real. We need to support alternative sources of energy. ~ More attention needs to be paid to ethics in the legislature. ~ The attack video made by the opponent went too far.
Talking About Real Money
We had a post here a few days ago inspired by a list of dumb liberal quotes. In the spirit of fairness, it is time to take a look at the Top 50 Dumbest Conservative Quotes. The credit/blame for introducing chamblee54 to these pages goes to Morgan K Freeberg.
We are going to look at three quotes today. Many of the top 50 are from the likes of Rush Limbaugh and Jerry Falwell, and should not be taken seriously. The three today are from actors in leading roles.
Number 1 on the list is from Richard Nixon. “When the President does it, that means that it’s not illegal.” This was said during a TV interview with David Frost, after he was out of office. A bit of digging found a bit of back story.
“Interviewer David Frost has a difficult time with his subject, former President Richard Nixon, in the day’s early questioning (see April 6, 1977). Frost attempts to recoup with a line of questioning suggested by his adviser James Reston, Jr., one used in the trial of former Nixon aide John Ehrlichman (see January 1, 1975). Were there no limits to what a president can do, even if the president wants to do something plainly illegal? he asks. Could he do anything despite the law? Burglary? Forgery? Even murder? “If the president does it, that means it’s not illegal,” Nixon retorts. … Frost asks if the dividing line between, for example, a police burglary and the murder of an antiwar protester is only the president’s judgment? Nixon agrees, and adds: “There’s nothing specific that the Constitution contemplates in that respect. I haven’t read every word, every jot and every tittle, but I do know this: That it has been, however, argued that as far as a president is concerned, that in war time, a president does have certain extraordinary powers which would make acts that would otherwise be unlawful, lawful if undertaken for the purpose of preserving the nation and the Constitution, which is essential for the rights we’re all talking about.”
The current POTUS is involved in a controversy about whether or not to kill Americans abroad. Perhaps BHO could study the thoughts of his predecessor…If he is the President, then it is legal.
The next quote is from the fun loving Supreme Court Justice, Antonin Scalia. “I even accept for the sake of argument that sexual orgies eliminate social tensions and ought to be encouraged.” In contrast to the other two quotes, the backup on this came up quickly on Google.
In 2004, Mr. Scalia gave a speech at Harvard University . If you get a chance to read the article, you will see that he made a few other choice comments that night.
Mr. Scalia has shown himself to be quotable before. In an opinion in the Troy Davis case, he said “This Court has never held that the Constitution forbids the execution of a convicted defendant who has had a full and fair trial but is later able to convince a habeas court that he is “actually” innocent.”
The last quote is from another POTUS who is no longer with us, Ronald Reagan. “I am not worried about the deficit. It is big enough to take care of itself.” Mr. Reagan was a professional actor, and he knew the value of a good script.
This slogan is another one that Mr. Obama may find handy. It should be noted that it was a big deal when the national debt (the grand total of the deficits) went over a trillion dollars. This was during the first term of Mr. Reagan. Today, under Mr. Obama, the annual deficit is over a trillion dollars. Sooner or later, you are talking about real money.
PG suffered brain damage trying to find out more about the quote from Mr. Reagan. He went through six pages of google. There must be 25 sites which have lists of quotes from Mr. Reagan, and all of them feature this quote.
What was the context? When did he first say it? One site says it was “(during the latter years of his administration)”. Another site says it was “Said often during his presidency, 1981-1989”. Maybe this is an urban legend.
The screed above is a repost. Richard Nixon, Troy Davis, and Ronald Reagan are still dead. The national debt is out of control. The Repub plan is to cut taxes and spend more on the military.
In other news, George McGovern sent in his absentee ballot this morning. The Senator from South Dakota was the first person PG ever voted for in a Presidential race. It was obvious that Tricky Dick was going to win, but the Demoze had to pretend to try. Mr. McGovern made a few mistakes, but at least he was not Hubert Humphrey.
Pictures are from The Library of Congress. This was written like Kurt Vonnegut.
Drag Names
Bessie Mae Mucho, Rue Barb, Helena Handbasket, Ternona Fann, Ida Slapter, Shelieta Buffet, The Lady Whoremoania Aubergine, Lota Peters, Sofonda Peters, Love Cox, Mya diction, Patty O’Furniture, Hedda Lettuce, Sandy Beach, Mystique Dawn, Aneta Mann, Iona Trailer, Anita Pricechek, Anitau Mandahungenkis, India Hoyle, Ida Dunham, Lawancha Cox, Jenny Saykwah. Owhora cherry, Roxanne Gravel, Frothy Martini, Rachel Tension, Liza O’Mission, Angie O’Plasty, Julia Child Chenille, Jackie Kennedy Onasis Chenille, Helen Hiwatta Chenille, and Spike-Muffy Chenille, Jurasica Parks, Cherry Penetrada, Marge Innovera, Ginny Tonic, Roxanne DeBris, Sal Monella, Miss Demeanor, Anita Biggen, Amanda Polk. Anita Goodwin, Helen Bedd, Virginia Hamms, BangBang LaDeshe, Miss Dynel Fall, Wilma Ballsdrop. Duna Kegel, Sharon Needles, Connie Lingas, Tami Pax, Ima Hoer, Margarita Rimma, Gramma Gaudy Baubles, Miss Understood. Miss Ming Vauze, Flotilla Debarge, Hedda Lettuce, Jonni Shampain, Sofonda Cox, Tasha Myfupa, Aroara Thunder, Tequila Mockingbird, Erma Gerd, Sister Teryn McCloseoff, Ida Nevasaynotaya, Trayla Tears, Trey LeTrash, Bertha Nation, Formica Dinette, Estee Lauder Harder Faster, Winnie Baygo, Iona Trailer, Panikka Tack, Mopa de Floorz, Marlene Ditchwitch. Yolanda Goshen, Elza Poppin, Mary Meetanpart, Shirley Yewjest, Magnolia Thunderpussy, Eva D’Struccion, Carlotta Tendant, Sue E. Cidal, Sarah Bellum, Anna Flactic, Shanda Lear, Sarah Tonin, Roxanne Debris, Alotta Fagina, Lolly Gagg, Eartha Moon, Chlamydia Champagne, Fanny Liquor, Betty Duzum, Connie Lingus, Iza Poppin, Dell Lisous, Kitty Litter, Alvina Lavern Greese, Shenita Bath, Unita Bath, Tanya Hyde, Linda Hand, Kaye Sirah, Tara Wrist, Ophelia Paine, Sunny Daye, Helen Waite, Helen Wheels, Helena Handbasket, Helen Highwater, Helen Bedd, Ineeda Mann, Dot Matrix, Belle E. Akin, Pat Bottoms, Lois Carmen Denominator, Clare Voyant, Candice B. Love, Dakota Justice, Ella von Titus, Heidi Ho, Odette Sosumi, Meagan Waves, Paige Turner, Ronnie deMille, Sienna Laprocket ~ ~ Drag names are borrowed from Facebook. Pictures are from ” The Special Collections and Archives,Georgia State University Library” This was written like Vladimir Nabokov.
Mannequin Insurance
A recent chamblee54 post ended with a reference to The Huffington Post. In a moment of weakness, PG called the internet facility Puffington Host. It made a clever title for about an hour, when it occurred to ask Mr. Google what he thought. It seems like other people have thought that Puff Ho is a good title.
The top result at google is usually paid for. Today it is The Puffington Host “The internet rolling paper news blog video cannmunity.” This is a festive website about marijuana. It has a header ad for a hydroponic growing system.
Blogspot has it’s own version of the HP trope. In the best blogspot tradition, there was only one post. “Bare Breasts and Wankery on Sunday is Dead! Long live Bare Breasts and Wankery on a Sunday! P.S. Now that ‘South Sudan’ is officially taken, I need a new nickname for my penis. I originally chose ‘South Sudan’ because of its location on the body and its tragic history.” There were no comments.
This is one idea for a post that ran out of steam early. Perhaps we should include a link from the Daily Bleach, 10 Females Who are Forcing Your Son to Masturbate. Michelle Obama is included, to the envy of Hillary Rodham Clinton. Just to show a lack of media bias, DB reports Did Joe Biden Laugh During The VP Debate to Cover the Sound of Him Farting?
For peachy purple prose, it is tough to top The 5 Most Dangerous Homosexuals in America. The winner if Joe Jervis of JoeMyGod. This is something, considering what is in fourth place.
#4: Any Black Gay Man. … “You will never see a black gay during the day time, as they fair losing ‘street credit’, but be sure when their skin is cloaked by the night skin, their homosexual urges come alive, just like how a werewolf rips itself from the human flesh once the moon’s light shines on it.”
A commenter, Gary Buttchug, added: “I am not gay, and I think just because anyone sucks a few other dudes off, people should not lump them in with the regular homosexuals. I hate it when people do that to me.” OK, so this satire is in bad taste. Maybe it is time to paste in a story from facebook.
A woman brought a very limp duck into a veterinary surgeon’s office. As she laid her pet on the table, the vet pulled out his stethoscope and listened to the bird’s chest. After a moment or two, the vet shook his head and sadly said, “I’m sorry, your duck, Cuddles, has passed away.”The distressed woman wailed, “Are you sure?” “Yes, I am sure. Your duck is dead,” replied the vet..”How can you be so sure?” she protested. “I mean you haven’t done any testing on him or anything. He might just be in a coma or something. “The vet rolled his eyes, turned around and left the room. He returned a few minutes later with a black Labrador Retriever. As the duck’s owner looked on in amazement, the dog stood on his hind legs, put his front paws on the examination table and sniffed the duck from top to bottom. He then looked up at the vet with sad eyes and shook his head. The vet patted the dog on the head and took it out of the room. A few minutes later he returned with a cat. The cat jumped on the table and also delicately sniffed the bird from head to foot. The cat sat back on its haunches, shook its head, meowed softly and strolled out of the room.The vet looked at the woman and said, “I’m sorry, but as I said, this is most definitely, 100% certifiably, a dead duck.” The vet turned to his computer terminal, hit a few keys and produced a bill, which he handed to the woman. The duck’s owner, still in shock, took the bill. “$150!” she cried, “$150 just to tell me my duck is dead!” The vet shrugged, “I’m sorry. If you had just taken my word for it, the bill would have been $20, but with the Lab Report and the Cat Scan, it’s now $150.
Republicans At Large
There comes a time during most elections when PG just wants the darn thing to be over. With Georgia’s electoral votes all but given to WMR, there is nothing to do but listen to toxic rhetoric. Unless you want to give someone money, which is not an option here.
The good news is the 81st district in Georgia’s House of Representatives. The boundary lines have been redrawn, and the incumbent got herself another job. The two men running for this seat are Scott Holcomb, Democrat, and Chris Boedeker, Republican. The latter is pronounced BAH de ker, like bah humbug. The spell check suggestion is bobsledder.
Mr. Boedeker has the same direct mail look as other attack Republicans in DeKalb County. The saying “trust is the issue” is used. Mr. Holcomb is accused of attending the University of Connecticut, being the “general counsel” for a shaky investment firm, opposing charter schools, and helping people use welfare money to buy drugs.
The last charge is featured in a bizarre video. Mr. Holcomb was discussing a bill to require welfare recipients to pass a drug test. He discussed his army experience. The notice to fill the cup would come right after doing number one.
“I’ll also tell you, as someone who went through that – my luck isn’t always the best, and I would always get the call after I had – you know. And so, then I would have to sit there, and drink bottles and bottles of water until I could finally do what I needed to do take the test.”
In the video, the speech is cut off after he says you know. Mr. Holcomb is making a gesture at this point which looks a bit like passing a joint. The voice over asks what the gentleman has been smoking. The video has been withdrawn from Youtube, but is still available at Puffington Host Huffington Post.
Pictures are from “The Special Collections and Archives,Georgia State University Library”.
O Sun Of Real Peace
PG was threatening to listen to a radio interview with Richard Nixon. Tricky Dick was promoting a book, Real Peace. Supposedly, the 107 page tome was self published, then issued as a trade book. It deals with issues of world peace in the nuclear age.
At the eighteen minute mark, Mr. Nixon said something. In Real Peace, the phrases in my opinion, of course, and I believe do not appear. “Its obvious when you state something that you believe it.”
Oh, if only. When a politician’s lips are moving, then whatever comes out of the mouth is suspect. POTUS 37 was a bit closer to the truth later… “every politician should be somewhat of a poet.”
The thrust of the book is to maintain the strength of your armed forces, so that the bad guys will think twice before doing something stupid. The interview was conducted January 20, 1984. At the time, the number one enemy of the United States was the Soviet Union. Both superpowers had nuclear weapons, and neither was foolish enough to use them. In a few years, the Soviet Union would collapse.
“No sane national leader is going to make a decision, I’m going to declare war to gain this territory or gain this advantage.” In 1984, two bloody conflicts were being fought in Central Asia. Both were provoked, to some degree, by the United States. The after effects of these conflicts would have an impact on the USA. These two wars were the Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan, and the Iran-Iraq war. This is not the only time the sanity of Saddam Hussein has been questioned.
While trying to find more information about Mr. Nixon’s book, PG found a link to a poem by Walt Whitman, O Sun of Real Peace. Mr. Whitman was a nurse during the War Between the States, and saw men suffer. Should every poet be somewhat of a politician?
O SUN of real peace! O hastening light!
O free and extatic! O what I here, preparing, warble for!
O the sun of the world will ascend, dazzling, and take his height—
and you too, O my Ideal, will surely ascend!
O so amazing and broad—up there resplendent, darting and burning!
O vision prophetic, stagger’d with weight of light! with pouring glories!
O lips of my soul, already becoming powerless!
O ample and grand Presidentiads! Now the war, the war is over!
New history! new heroes! I project you!
Visions of poets! only you really last! sweep on! sweep on!
O heights too swift and dizzy yet!
O purged and luminous! you threaten me more than I can stand!
(I must not venture—the ground under my feet menaces me—it will not support me:
O future too immense,)—O present, I return, while yet I may, to you.
Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. This is written like H. P. Lovecraft.
Whimsical Nostalgic And Down Home
PG was spending a slack morning. He was editing pictures from the GSU Library. This occupies the fingers and the eyes, which leaves the ears looking for amusement. To satisfy the aural urges, an author interview from Wired For Books was imported. Meanwhile, the brain wonders when the next dose of coffee would arrive.
Wired For Books is a treasure of the digital age. Don Swaim had a radio show for the CBS network. He would interview authors selling a new book. The interview tapes were empeethreed, and put on a website facilitated by Ohio University. PG began at the top of the list, and is working his way through the alphabet. He made it to the M section.
In the interview with Toni Morrison, Mr. Swaim mentioned having a chat with Garrison Keillor. It seems as though Mr. Keillor was not fun to interview. The reflex action for PG was to download the files.
PG has never been on the bus for Garrison Keillor. His formula is a bit too NPR precious for PG. Maybe Mr. Keillor secretly agrees, but continues to do it for the money. “Keillor also talks about his writing. He writes about his radio program mainly as a way to defend himself. Many reporters have described his show, A Prairie Home Companion, as down-home, whimsical and nostalgic, all adjectives that Keillor would never use to describe his own program. He wanted to write what it really was about.”
The radio show was interrupted to write the first four paragraphs of this post. The remaining thirteen minutes did not have many good quotes. Mr. Keillor talked about his Minnesotality, or maybe that is Minestrone. Like people from the rest of the world, Minnesotites come to Georgia.
The next show at Wired for Books is a repeat of the Richard Nixon interview. For those of a certain age, it is a visit to another age. Mr. Nixon has the deep rolling voice, and can drag you under his spell, until you wake up and realize that everything he says is a lie.
While looking for the link to the interview above, a conversation between Mr. Nixon, John D. Ehrlichman, and H. R. Haldeman came up. The tape was made May 13, 1971.
NIXON: … CBS … glorifying homosexuality.
EHRLICHMAN: A panel show?
H. R. HALDEMAN: No, it’s a regular show. It’s on every week. It’s usually just done in the guy’s home. It’s usually just that guy, who’s a hard hat.
NIXON: That’s right; he’s a hard hat.
EHRLICHMAN: He always looks like a slob.
NIXON: Looks like Jackie Gleason.
HALDEMAN: He has this hippie son-in-law, and usually the general trend is to downgrade him and upgrade the son-in-law–make the square hard hat out to be bad. But a few weeks ago, they had one in which the guy, the son-in-law, wrote a letter to you, President Nixon, to raise hell about something. And the guy said, “You will not write that letter from my home!” Then said, “I’m going to write President Nixon,” took off all those sloppy clothes, shaved, and went to his desk and got ready to write his letter to President Nixon. And apparently it was a good episode.
EHRLICHMAN: What’s it called?
NIXON: “Archie’s Guys.” Archie is sitting here with his hippie son-in-law, married to the screwball daughter. The son-in-law apparently goes both ways. This guy. He’s obviously queer–wears an ascot–but not offensively so. Very clever. Uses nice language. Shows pictures of his parents. And so Arch goes down to the bar. Sees his best friend, who used to play professional football. Virile, strong, this and that. Then the fairy comes into the bar. I don’t mind the homosexuality. I understand it. Nevertheless, goddamn, I don’t think you glorify it on public television, homosexuality, even more than you glorify whores. We all know we have weaknesses. But, goddammit, what do you think that does to kids? You know what happened to the Greeks! Homosexuality destroyed them. Sure, Aristotle was a homo. We all know that. So was Socrates.
EHRLICHMAN: But he never had the influence television had.
NIXON: You know what happened to the Romans? The last six Roman emperors were fags. Neither in a public way. You know what happened to the popes? They were layin’ the nuns; that’s been goin’ on for years, centuries. But the Catholic Church went to hell three or four centuries ago. It was homosexual, and it had to be cleaned out. That’s what’s happened to Britain. It happened earlier to France. Let’s look at the strong societies. The Russians. Goddamn, they root ’em out. They don’t let ’em around at all. I don’t know what they do with them. Look at this country. You think the Russians allow dope? Homosexuality, dope, immorality, are the enemies of strong societies. That’s why the Communists and left-wingers are clinging to one another. They’re trying to destroy us. I know Moynihan will disagree with this, Mitchell will, and Garment will. But, goddamn, we have to stand up to this.
EHRLICHMAN: It’s fatal liberality.
NIXON: Huh?
EHRLICHMAN: It’s fatal liberality. And with its use on television, it has such leverage.
NIXON: You know what’s happened [in northern California]?
EHRLICHMAN: San Francisco has just gone clear over.
NIXON: But it’s not just the ratty part of town. The upper class in San Francisco is that way. The Bohemian Grove, which I attend from time to time–it is the most faggy goddamned thing you could ever imagine, with that San Francisco crowd. I can’t shake hands with anybody from San Francisco. … Decorators. They got to do something. But we don’t have to glorify it. You know one of the reasons fashions have made women look so terrible is because the goddamned designers hate women. Designers taking it out on the women. Now they’re trying to get some more sexy things coming on again.
EHRLICHMAN: Hot pants.
NIXON: Jesus Christ.
Pictures are from “The Special Collections and Archives,Georgia State University Library”.
Page 43
There is an audio file available called Water Brothers. It is a benefit concert performed by David Crosby, Graham Nash, and Neil Young. After performing “Almost Cut My Hair”, Mr. Crosby starts to talk. “I’m going to sing the most positive song that I’ve written recently For a long time I didn’t write any positive songs, my friends used to puke when they saw me coming.” The song was Page 43.
Look around again It’s the same old circle
You see,it’s got to be It says right here on page 43
That you should grab a hold of it Else you’ll find It’s passed you by
Rainbows all around Can you find the silver and gold?
It’ll make you old The river can be hot or cold
And you should dive right into ‘It Else you’ll find It’s passed you by
Pass it ’round one more time I think I’ll have a swallow of wine
Life is fine Even with the ups and downs
And you should have a sip of it Else you’ll find It’s passed you by
These lyrics are courtesy of Lyrics007. The page is sponsored by McDonald’s Dollar Menu University.
Snopes has a piece about Page 43, sponsored by KIA and Maytag. It seems that some people think the song title refers to a page in the Old Testament. PG thinks it was chosen because it rhymes with “got to be.” There was a spot in the song for those three beats.
To pad out this post a bit, a visit to page 43 of the Old Testament will be made. The Bible used was given to PG by his parents on his birthday in 1962. It was published by The World Publishing Company, 2231 West 110 Street, Cleveland 2, Ohio.
Page 43 is verses 4 through 36 of Genesis 41. “4 And the cows that were ugly and gaunt ate up the seven sleek, fat cows. Then Pharaoh woke up.” The Pharoh had a dream that troubled him. A wise man was consulted, who told of seven years of famine to come. A portion of the crops, from the prosperous years, was to be held in reserve, for the years of famine. “36 This food should be held in reserve for the country, to be used during the seven years of famine that will come upon Egypt, so that the country may not be ruined by the famine.”
There is one part of the song that PG has doubts about. The third part is about drinking. Those gifted with moderation can swim in this river. Others need to get to the shore before they drown. There is a time to enjoy your life, and there is also a time to lay off the jug. If you don’t keep a portion of your good harvest in reserve, life will run over you while it is passing you by.
This was written like Kurt Vonnegut.
Pictures are from “The Special Collections and Archives,Georgia State University Library”.
Atlanta Pride 2012
The original plan was to just copy the JoeMyG-d pride rant, gussy it up in a tasteful rainbow font, add a few pictures, and call it a day. The pictures are here to stay, and a few quotes from the JMGPR may find their way here. The thing is, the rant was written in 2005, and this is seven and a half years later, and 800 miles south of New York. A lot can happen in that time, and somehow pride keeps changing.
As if PG would know. This was the first parade he saw since 2007, the first time he stood on the sidewalk since 1996, so someone doesn’t know what he is talking about. Not that it ever stops him. He even saw the end of the parade, where the street sweepers followed the last half naked gogoboi. Or was it he last pickup truck, dragging under the weight of a drag queen coven. There were some damn good trucks on Peachtree Street this afternoon.
Gay Pride quit being a protest about the time it dropped the first name. It is a party, a celebration, an ethnic holiday. It is an elderly congressman walking down Peachtree Street working the crowd. It is Coca Cola Delta Home Depot UPS marketing to a community. It is more freebies thrown from trucks than your pockets can hold. If you want to wring your hands about our image, then feel free to do so. As JMG put it:
“Because even if Pride doesn’t change many minds in the outside world, it’s our PARTY, darlings. It’s our Christmas, our New Year’s, our Carnival. It’s the one day of the year that all the crazy contingents of the gay world actually come face to face on the street and blow each other air kisses. And wish each other “Happy Pride!” Saying “Happy Pride!” is really just a shorter, easier way of saying “Congratulations on not being driven completely batshit insane! Way to go for not taking a rifle into a tower and taking out half the town! Well done, being YOURSELF!”
I’m not worried what the outside world thinks about the drag queens, the topless bulldaggers, (spell check suggestion: bulldozer) or the nearly naked leatherfolk. It’s OUR party, bitches. If you think that straight America would finally pull its homokinder to its star-spangled bosom once we put down that glitter gun, then you are seriously deluding yourself. Next year, if one of the Christian camera crews that show up to film our “debauched” celebrations happen to train their cameras on you, stop dancing. And start PRANCING….
A co-worker of mine heard me discussing my Pride plans last weekend and said, “I really don’t understand what it is you are proud about. I mean, you all say that you are born that way, so it’s not like you accomplished anything.” She wasn’t being mean, just genuinely curious, and I think that a lot of gay people probably feel the same way. On this subject, I can only speak for myself.
I’m proud because I’m a middle-aged gay man who has more dead friends than living ones and yet I’m not completely insane. I’ve lived through a personal Holocaust (here we go again) in which my friends and lovers have been mowed down as thoroughly and randomly as the S.S guards moved down the line of Jews. You, dead. You, to the factory. And you, you, you, and you, dead. I am inexplicably alive and I am proud that I keep the memories of my friends alive. I am proud of my people, the ACT-UPers, the Quilt makers, the Larry Kramers, the Harvey Fiersteins. I’m proud that I’m not constantly curled up into a ball on my bed, clutching photo albums and sobbing. And that happens sometimes, believe it.”
There is a gentleman who annually seems to have the best sign of the parade. There was another winner today, as the picture browsers might notice. The creator of these signs has a sharp tongue. PG has been on the business end of this verbal weapon, and does not appreciate the owner. Still, this went on in the late eighties, and the man is still going strong. It is always a happy moment to see a gay man from twenty years ago still alive.
When people want to make trouble in Georgia, they talk about racism. While no one is saying that everything is perfect, this year has a lot more people of color than have been seen before. Everyone seemed to be having a gay ole time together today. While the real world will be here monday, on this sunday people got along together.
A single person can find it tough to get downtown on pride sunday. This year, PG posted on facebook about this, and got an invitation to breakfast. This turned out to be a lovely affair. PG who had to good fortune to arrive after the battle over how to cook the eggs had subsided. The plan was to take the train to town, and meet others at the Fox Theater. At first, this was horrible. A radio station had a loud party in the Georgian Terrace hotel, which mercifully went quiet when the parade started.
There was a sense of wonder listening to Dykes on Bikes. It was so amazing to be there, to be a part of this spectacle, to have survived life this far. The rainbow colored goodies came down Peachtree as far as the eye could see. The marquee of the Fox advertised a production of “The Beauty and the Beast”, and the sidewalks looked like one massive audition.
There was a policeman whose job was to keep people on the sidewalks, so that the parade could go by. When it was over, PG thanked the man for his patience. “Its all I got”.
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