Chamblee54

The Strip

Posted in Georgia History by chamblee54 on August 12, 2012






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There is a nifty webcam up now. It shows the progress of a high rise going up now at 12th and Peachtree in midtown. The location of the camera itself is not certain, with the speculation centering on 999 Peachtree, two blocks south on Tenth Street.

A glance at the image reveals a curve in the road, between the two glass boxes under construction. Atlanta does not have wide, straight boulevards extending to the horizon. It is said that Atlanta did not build roads, but paved the cow paths.

People of a certain age will remember this area as the strip. The tenth street district was a neighborhood shopping area, up until the mid sixties. At some point, the old businesses started to move out and the hippies moved in. For a while, it was a festive party. Soon enough reality returned, and the area went into a crime filled decline.

The 999 complex is the neighborhood story in a nutshell. Before 1985, it was a block of small businesses. There was a hardware store, with the peace symbol set in tiles in the sidewalk. On Juniper Street stood the Langdon Court Apartments. They were named for PG’s great uncle Langdon Quin. Ru Paul used to stay there. He would sit out on a balcony, and wave to the traffic going by.

Across the street was a chinese restaurant, the House of Eng. A staircase on the side led to the Suzy Wong Lounge. Behind the building was an apartment building. It was one of the residences of Margaret Mitchell, while she wrote “Gone With The Wind”. She called it “the dump”, which was fairly accurate.

PG went to the House of Eng for lunch one day in 1985. He noticed that he was the only customer in the house, at 12:30 pm on a weekday. After finishing his lunch, PG knew why.

At some point, it was decided to build a high rise there. Heery was one of the equity partners, along with a law firm and an ad agency. The building was designed by Heery (duh).The ad agency folded before the building opened, followed within a couple of years by the law firm. Heery was sold to a British company. PG does not know who owns 999 Peachtree now.

This is a repost . The building, at 12th and Peachtree, is finished. Pictures today are from “The Special Collections and Archives,Georgia State University Library” This is written like Margaret Mitchell.





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RU> Romney Ryan?

Posted in Undogegorized by chamblee54 on August 11, 2012







Alphabet conscious voters were intrigued by the selection of Paul Ryan as the Republican Vice Presidential candidate. With Mitt Romney as the POTUS preference, this ticket gives us two candidates with names starting with R. The fact they are Republicans is a bonus. The question today, has this ever happened before? According to wikipedia, this is the third time.

In 1856, John Breckinridge ran for Vice President, serving under James Buchanan. They won. When the War Between the States broke out, Mr. Breckinridge served in the Ist Kentucky Brigade. This unit supported the Confederacy, even though Kentucky remained in the Union. This led to charges of treason. After the war, Breckenridge CO changed the spelling of its name.

In 1952, Adlai Stevenson Jr. chose John Sparkman to be his running mate. They were seriously defeated in November. With one winner and one loser, any people looking for a prediction for November should look for other omens.

The wikipedia page for the Democrats goes back to 1828. The Whig party was popular in the pre war 19th century, but they did not have any same letter tickets.

There were rumors of Mitt Romney running as a third party candidate, if he did not get the GOP nomination. One possiblity was to call this the Wig Party.

Pictures are from The Library of Congress.





Kindness

Posted in Religion by chamblee54 on August 11, 2012










There is a bit of a debate going on about whether, or not, Jesus said to “Love your enemy”. There are some who profess to believe this, and proceed to practice the opposite. There are others who claim to love their enemies, but you have to understand what they mean by it. It can be very confusing.

PG went to a source for documentation. Oh, the blessed conjunction of copy paste with public domain. When PG entered enemy (singular) in the search engine, 100 verses came up. When the request was made plural (enemies), 237 entries popped up. The last mention of enemies in the bible is…
Revelation 11:12 “Then they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, “Come up here!” And they went up to heaven in a cloud, and their enemies watched them” Loving your enemies does not include bringing them to heaven with you.
As for Jboi, he was quoted as saying
Matthew 5:44 “But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you”.
There is a scholarly debate about what Jesus did or did not say. The words available to modern man have been copied by hand, edited, translated, and interpreted. PG does not know Greek from Geek, and cannot tell Aramaic from Alabama. Like anyone else, PG can only read and listen, and think for himself.

In a sense it does not matter what Jesus “really” said. The cult of Jesus Worship is going to believe what it wants. More important, it is going to practice what it wants. As far as the difference between what Jesus “really” said and what his believers say and do…they can explain.

What follows is a humble suggestion. Maybe the translators and scribes got it wrong. Maybe Jesus did not say to love your enemy. Maybe what Jesus said was to show kindness. This is a practice thing, rather than a belief thing.

It is not as much fun to be nice to someone, as it is to scream about life after death. Kindness does not need to be justified by a quote from a magic book. You just need to do it.

Pictures are from ” The Special Collections and Archives,Georgia State University Library”. The text of this message is a repost. This was written in the style of H. P. Lovecraft.









Does Mitt Romney Wear A Wig?

Posted in Undogegorized by chamblee54 on August 10, 2012







Tweeter activist Rob Delaney made a couple of comments recently about presumptive Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney. @robdelaney “Are you ready, my silken warrior ?” – Mitt Romney to his hair before a speech ~ ~ @robdelaney @MittRomney If you won’t release your tax returns, at least tell us what conditioner you use!! #sheen #lustre #body.

The greatest asset WMR may have in his run for the White House may be his hair. There have been exceptions. In the runup to the Iowa Caucuses, WMR was photographed with a few strands in disarray. Perhaps it is no coincidence that well groomed Rick Santorum won in Iowa.

Hair has been a factor in national elections since Dwight Eisenhower took his bald Republican head back to the golf course. John Kennedy and Bill Clinton gave an advantage to the Democrats in this issue. Republicans idolize the prematurely orange Ronald Reagan. In recent years. George W. Bush outgroomed Al Gore and John Kerry. It will be interesting to see how the current trans racial hair conflict will play out in November.

It is only *natural* for some naysayers to wonder if that always perfect hair is real. WMR even said, on the David Letterman show, “It’s a hairpiece”. When yahoo answers posed the question Does Mitt Romney wear a wig?, Politically Moderate Troll answered “Yes, its called a toupee, he admitted it on Letterman.”

Most of the google results to the wig question turn out to be about Donald Trump. There was one story, Rick Perry Reveals That He Has Documented Proof That Mitt Romney Wears A Toupee. Just because the site is called “The Spoof” does not mean that this story is any less truthy.

Rick Perry spoke backstage with Pico de Gallo and informed him that he was giving him an exclusive. He told him that he has documented proof that Mitt Romney’s hair is not really his own. De Gallo asked, “You mean that…” “Yes, that’s right my friend.” Perry interrupted him, “Mitt Romney wears a hairpiece, a toupee.” De Gallo asked him how he knew this to be a fact.

Governor Perry told him that he had personally interviewed six (6) of the 17 illegal aliens who installed Romney’s pool and all six of them signed a notarized document stating that they had seen Mitt Romney sitting in the kitchen of his Boston mansion chowing down on a peanut butter and clam sandwich and that he was completely bald. De Gallo asked Perry for the names of the six illegal aliens. The Texas governor replied that he could not reveal their names but that the six were currently sitting in a jail in Laredo awaiting extradition back to Mexico.

Pictures today are from “The Special Collections and Archives,Georgia State University Library”. Most of these pictures were taken during a sanitation workers strike in 1970. The photographer is Tom Coffin.






Mannequin Depression

Posted in Book Reports by chamblee54 on August 9, 2012










Don’t call on me tonight, I’m quivering from fright
For tomorrow I will have…Rectal Anesthesia

Though this may sound Astonishing.
I have a little pricky sting,
And I’m suffering from my Rectal Anesthesia.

No never will I have to cry,
From my suppository’s sigh.
For it rids me of this Rectal Anesthesia.

Please quit, turn out the light!
I have to use a baby wipe
To clear up this …Rectal Anesthesia.

I can’t digest lactic juice
It makes me always have to poop
Because of my Rectal Anesthesia.

I must go off to surgery of defecation,
And soon to my obituary classification.
Don’t laugh when you read of my deadly ……Rectal Anesthesia.

Originally posted on August 8, 2012 by clotildajamcracker







Are You a Liberal?

Posted in Uncategorized by chamblee54 on August 9, 2012








Radio whiner Dennis Prager has a new hobby, a website called Prager University. There are a few youtube courses, which everyone passes. PU has one other test, Are You a Liberal? PG is always wondering which label is right correct for him. He decided to take this test.
The test is 21 statements, that you agree or disagree with. The way it is set up, liberals agree with the statements. I don’t know, more information please, or other choices are not available. It is black or white, agree or disagree. Here are the statements.

1 Because of past and present racism in America, standards for admission to public universities, and governmental institutions such as fire departments, should be lowered for people of color.
2 Bilingual education for children of immigrants, rather than immersion in English,
is good for them and good for America.
3 Marriage should be redefined from male-female to any two people.
4 Colleges should not allow ROTC programs,
and the military should not be recruiting on college campuses.
5 Assuming equally loving and competent adults, adoption agencies should not favor a husband and wife over two men or two women.
6 In the Israeli–Palestinian dispute, either both parties are equally at fault or Israel is more at fault.
7 The United Nations is a force for good in the world, and therefore America should not engage in international behavior opposed by the United Nations.
8 No abortions can be labeled immoral.
9 Cities should ban smoking everywhere – i.e., outdoors as well as indoors — except in one’s own home.
10 High schools should make condoms available to students and teach them how to use them.
11 Racism and poverty – more than, for example, a lack of fathers and a crisis of values — are the primary causes of violent crime in black America.
12 No speaker should be permitted to say “God bless you,”
to students at a public high school assembly or graduation ceremony.
13 No culture is morally superior to any other.
14 There are more similarities – moral and otherwise – than differences between fundamentalist Christians and fundamentalist Muslims.
15 The earth is rapidly warming. The consequences are dire. And man, not nature, is mostly responsible.
16 Since World War II, America has made war in foreign countries such as Korea, Vietnam, Kuwait, and Iraq primarily out of economic and imperialist concerns.
17 “Merry Christmas” should be replaced with “Happy Holidays,” and “Christmas Party” should be replaced by “Holiday Party” because “Merry Christmas” and “Christmas Party” offend non-Christians.
18 If a male employee decides to wear women’s clothing at work, his employer has no right ask him not to, and if the employer fires the man, the employer should be heavily fined.
19 Most Tea Party members, and most conservative opposition to President Obama,
are animated by racism.
20 No identification should be demanded of anyone who comes to vote at a voting place.
21 Capital punishment should be abolished,
meaning that no one found guilty of murder should be put to death.

PG looked at the list, and saw that while he might agree with some of these issues, the way the question was worded forced him to disagree. The semantics can obscure the genuine discussion.
There are some issues that PG simply has a conservative outlook. This is a problem with tagging people with labels. Several of the statements addressed more than one issue. Sometimes, you can agree with part of the statement, and disagree with another part. PG has long felt that liberal and conservative are meaningless phrases, meant to divide and confuse.
Another problem is the divide between what people believe, and what they do. Lets take driving. Is a conservative driver one who obeys the speed limits, and watches out for others? How many people are proud of their conservative ideology, but are flaming liberals behind the wheel? This is a matter with immediate life or death consequences, but is seldom discussed. PG has always wondered why safe driving is not considered a moral issue.

The answer for PG was You may not be a Conservative yet, but you’re not a liberal.
Pictures are from The Library of Congress.







The Imperfect Church

Posted in Religion by chamblee54 on August 8, 2012







There was a link on facebook to a tasteful story last week. The incident took place last September. The first page of google does not report, with one exception, what has happened in the last year. As some people say, G-d is in the details. This is one story where it may be the devil in the details.
First, here is a TV station report on the initial incident. The link has a video report, including an interview with the pastor’s son.

A gay Gibson County couple said they were assaulted when they tried to attend church services at the Grace Fellowship Church in Fruitland last Wednesday. “I went over to take the keys out of the ignition and all the sudden I hear someone say ‘sick’em,'” said Gibson County resident, Jerry Pittman Jr. Pittman said the attacked was prompted by the pastor of the church, Jerry Pittman, his father.
“My uncle and two other deacons came over to the car per my dad’s request. My uncle smash me in the door as the other deacon knocked my boyfriend back so he couldn’t help me, punching him in his face and his chest. The other deacon came and hit me through my car window in my back,” said Pittman. He said bystanders did not offer assistance. He said the deacon yelled derogatory homosexual slurs, even after officers arrived. He said the officers never intervened to stop the deacons from yelling the slurs. Pittman said neither he nor Lee were allowed to press charges while at the church.
“If I was on the scene I would not have allowed that. The deputy should not have allowed it if he did,” said Gibson County Sheriff Chuck Arnold. “I haven’t talk to him but that would be out of character for my deputy to say unless they were causing a problem themselves.”
Friday, the couple filed assault charges against Deacons Billy Sims and Eugene McCoy. Pittman pressed additional charges against his father and Deacon Patrick Flatt. Pastor Pittman’s attorney contacted ABC 7 Eyewitness News by phone and said she had no comment and demanded we not contact the pastor. All parties are due in court October 4.

At first glance, that looks pretty gnarly. When you read the comments, the waters start to get muddy.

I’m openly gay and from this area. I received the following info from pro-gay confidants in the area.
There’s a lot more to this story than it appears in this story. The son and bf had been attending the church for 2 yrs without incident. Things got ugly between father and son when the son reported to his stepmother than his father was cheating on her. Divorce proceedings ensued (significant that, in the event the church folded, the church property reverted to the father’s name and would be part of the divorce) and the son still showed up for services on the morning in question. It couldn’t be proven that the father yelled ‘sick em’, but it became clear that, when the elders approached the son/bf to tell them to leave, the son lashed out first. Unfortunately for him this makes it self-defense in the eyes of the law and he killed his own case. Regardless, it’s also pretty clear that the elders used seriously un-Christian words – fag etc – against them in this incident, so shame on them. Can only speculate about the son’s motivation for showing up where he knew he was no longer welcome, but it’s not likely his main purpose was to worship.
This church and its founder/members are notoriously low class people. In the words of my mother when we discussed this, “What do you expect from trash?”

The story does not end there. WBBJ has another report, Gibson County Pastor Charged With Stealing. It seems as though the estranged wife of Mr. Pittman heard he was stealing from her employer. He was arrested on the charges. Chamblee54 does not know what happened to either case.
Pictures today are from “The Special Collections and Archives,Georgia State University Library”.







The Perfect Church

Posted in Religion by chamblee54 on August 8, 2012









This time in 2008, The Perfect Church was hit by lightning. PG thought it would be fun to check out how they were doing four years later.

The Perfect Church still has a website. When you log in, you are greeted with an auto start music player, with no way to turn it off. The history of the church does not mention the lightning strike. The Perfect Church is on McDaniel Street in SW Atlanta, a few blocks away from the  location of the Jack city video.

Some feel that it is not appropriate for a church of people to call themselves perfect. There are numerous Bible verses to support this, as well as common sense observations. No less an authority than Dear Abby says
“A church is a hospital for sinners, not a museum for saints.”
A visit to the clinic of Dr. Google has a few observations. A young man took a group from his church to paint a lady’s house. On the way to the site, the passed The Perfect Church.
“I saw this as a teaching moment and told my young adults that the label was only true on a day like that day…when the parking lot was empty!” One quote in the lesson that follows is quotable: “WHAT IF instead of exhausting our finances on church ski trips we wore holes in our pants on church knee trips?”
In Avondale Estates, across town from Jack City, you will find A Perfect Wedding Chapel. They have an auto start video, which is embedded above. The site says
“A wedding ceremony only requires two people.” The gender of the participants was not specified.
Ed Stetzer has a picture of Perfect Alternative Baptist Church. Here is his commentary:
“It you are tired of your stale and carnal church, it appears there is a perfect alternative– though if it were really perfect, why did they use commas on the date? It appears they are such a personal alternative that they need a chain link fence to keep the people out. If that is not enough for you, it turns out that there is actually a Perfect Church — and it’s in Atlanta, of course.”
Perfect Alternative Baptist Church. is in Bayou La Batre AL. The auto start music player features Kirk Franklin. PG suspects a lot of buildings in that neighborhood have chain link fences.

A comment at the Ed Stetzer site mentions that The Perfect Church, in Atlanta, is supported by The Beautiful Restaurant. There is no auto start music player.
“The Beautiful Restaurant was founded in 1979. “Beautiful” came from the scripture “Acts 3:2.” The concept of the Restaurant was and still is, founded on religious principles giving love, consideration and concern for the customers, as well as the preparation of the food. The Beautiful Restaurant has been featured in many magazines, publications and films. The lastest being “The Rise of The Southern Biscuit” released in the summer of 2005, and shown on the PBS television channel.”
Pictures are from The Library of Congress. This was written like Dan Brown.








The Lady, Or The Tiger?

Posted in Uncategorized by chamblee54 on August 7, 2012





In the very olden time there lived a semi-barbaric king, whose ideas, though somewhat polished and sharpened by the progressiveness of distant Latin neighbors, were still large, florid, and untrammeled, as became the half of him which was barbaric. He was a man of exuberant fancy, and, withal, of an authority so irresistible that, at his will, he turned his varied fancies into facts. He was greatly given to self-communing, and, when he and himself agreed upon anything, the thing was done. When every member of his domestic and political systems moved smoothly in its appointed course, his nature was bland and genial; but, whenever there was a little hitch, and some of his orbs got out of their orbits, he was blander and more genial still, for nothing pleased him so much as to make the crooked straight and crush down uneven places.

Among the borrowed notions by which his barbarism had become semified was that of the public arena, in which, by exhibitions of manly and beastly valor, the minds of his subjects were refined and cultured.

But even here the exuberant and barbaric fancy asserted itself. The arena of the king was built, not to give the people an opportunity of hearing the rhapsodies of dying gladiators, nor to enable them to view the inevitable conclusion of a conflict between religious opinions and hungry jaws, but for purposes far better adapted to widen and develop the mental energies of the people. This vast amphitheater, with its encircling galleries, its mysterious vaults, and its unseen passages, was an agent of poetic justice, in which crime was punished, or virtue rewarded, by the decrees of an impartial and incorruptible chance.

When a subject was accused of a crime of sufficient importance to interest the king, public notice was given that on an appointed day the fate of the accused person would be decided in the king’s arena, a structure which well deserved its name, for, although its form and plan were borrowed from afar, its purpose emanated solely from the brain of this man, who, every barleycorn a king, knew no tradition to which he owed more allegiance than pleased his fancy, and who ingrafted on every adopted form of human thought and action the rich growth of his barbaric idealism.

When all the people had assembled in the galleries, and the king, surrounded by his court, sat high up on his throne of royal state on one side of the arena, he gave a signal, a door beneath him opened, and the accused subject stepped out into the amphitheater. Directly opposite him, on the other side of the inclosed space, were two doors, exactly alike and side by side. It was the duty and the privilege of the person on trial to walk directly to these doors and open one of them. He could open either door he pleased; he was subject to no guidance or influence but that of the aforementioned impartial and incorruptible chance. If he opened the one, there came out of it a hungry tiger, the fiercest and most cruel that could be procured, which immediately sprang upon him and tore him to pieces as a punishment for his guilt. The moment that the case of the criminal was thus decided, doleful iron bells were clanged, great wails went up from the hired mourners posted on the outer rim of the arena, and the vast audience, with bowed heads and downcast hearts, wended slowly their homeward way, mourning greatly that one so young and fair, or so old and respected, should have merited so dire a fate.

But, if the accused person opened the other door, there came forth from it a lady, the most suitable to his years and station that his majesty could select among his fair subjects, and to this lady he was immediately married, as a reward of his innocence. It mattered not that he might already possess a wife and family, or that his affections might be engaged upon an object of his own selection; the king allowed no such subordinate arrangements to interfere with his great scheme of retribution and reward. The exercises, as in the other instance, took place immediately, and in the arena. Another door opened beneath the king, and a priest, followed by a band of choristers, and dancing maidens blowing joyous airs on golden horns and treading an epithalamic measure, advanced to where the pair stood, side by side, and the wedding was promptly and cheerily solemnized. Then the gay brass bells rang forth their merry peals, the people shouted glad hurrahs, and the innocent man, preceded by children strewing flowers on his path, led his bride to his home.

This was the king’s semi-barbaric method of administering justice. Its perfect fairness is obvious. The criminal could not know out of which door would come the lady; he opened either he pleased, without having the slightest idea whether, in the next instant, he was to be devoured or married. On some occasions the tiger came out of one door, and on some out of the other. The decisions of this tribunal were not only fair, they were positively determinate: the accused person was instantly punished if he found himself guilty, and, if innocent, he was rewarded on the spot, whether he liked it or not. There was no escape from the judgments of the king’s arena.

The institution was a very popular one. When the people gathered together on one of the great trial days, they never knew whether they were to witness a bloody slaughter or a hilarious wedding. This element of uncertainty lent an interest to the occasion which it could not otherwise have attained. Thus, the masses were entertained and pleased, and the thinking part of the community could bring no charge of unfairness against this plan, for did not the accused person have the whole matter in his own hands?

This semi-barbaric king had a daughter as blooming as his most florid fancies, and with a soul as fervent and imperious as his own. As is usual in such cases, she was the apple of his eye, and was loved by him above all humanity. Among his courtiers was a young man of that fineness of blood and lowness of station common to the conventional heroes of romance who love royal maidens. This royal maiden was well satisfied with her lover, for he was handsome and brave to a degree unsurpassed in all this kingdom, and she loved him with an ardor that had enough of barbarism in it to make it exceedingly warm and strong. This love affair moved on happily for many months, until one day the king happened to discover its existence. He did not hesitate nor waver in regard to his duty in the premises. The youth was immediately cast into prison, and a day was appointed for his trial in the king’s arena. This, of course, was an especially important occasion, and his majesty, as well as all the people, was greatly interested in the workings and development of this trial. Never before had such a case occurred; never before had a subject dared to love the daughter of the king. In after years such things became commonplace enough, but then they were in no slight degree novel and startling.

The tiger-cages of the kingdom were searched for the most savage and relentless beasts, from which the fiercest monster might be selected for the arena; and the ranks of maiden youth and beauty throughout the land were carefully surveyed by competent judges in order that the young man might have a fitting bride in case fate did not determine for him a different destiny. Of course, everybody knew that the deed with which the accused was charged had been done. He had loved the princess, and neither he, she, nor any one else, thought of denying the fact; but the king would not think of allowing any fact of this kind to interfere with the workings of the tribunal, in which he took such great delight and satisfaction. No matter how the affair turned out, the youth would be disposed of, and the king would take an aesthetic pleasure in watching the course of events, which would determine whether or not the young man had done wrong in allowing himself to love the princess.

The appointed day arrived. From far and near the people gathered, and thronged the great galleries of the arena, and crowds, unable to gain admittance, massed themselves against its outside walls. The king and his court were in their places, opposite the twin doors, those fateful portals, so terrible in their similarity.All was ready. The signal was given. A door beneath the royal party opened, and the lover of the princess walked into the arena. Tall, beautiful, fair, his appearance was greeted with a low hum of admiration and anxiety. Half the audience had not known so grand a youth had lived among them. No wonder the princess loved him! What a terrible thing for him to be there!

As the youth advanced into the arena he turned, as the custom was, to bow to the king, but he did not think at all of that royal personage. His eyes were fixed upon the princess, who sat to the right of her father. Had it not been for the moiety of barbarism in her nature it is probable that lady would not have been there, but her intense and fervid soul would not allow her to be absent on an occasion in which she was so terribly interested. From the moment that the decree had gone forth that her lover should decide his fate in the king’s arena, she had thought of nothing, night or day, but this great event and the various subjects connected with it. Possessed of more power, influence, and force of character than any one who had ever before been interested in such a case, she had done what no other person had done,—she had possessed herself of the secret of the doors. She knew in which of the two rooms, that lay behind those doors, stood the cage of the tiger, with its open front, and in which waited the lady. Through these thick doors, heavily curtained with skins on the inside, it was impossible that any noise or suggestion should come from within to the person who should approach to raise the latch of one of them. But gold, and the power of a woman’s will, had brought the secret to the princess.





And not only did she know in which room stood the lady ready to emerge, all blushing and radiant, should her door be opened, but she knew who the lady was. It was one of the fairest and loveliest of the damsels of the court who had been selected as the reward of the accused youth, should he be proved innocent of the crime of aspiring to one so far above him; and the princess hated her. Often had she seen, or imagined that she had seen, this fair creature throwing glances of admiration upon the person of her lover, and sometimes she thought these glances were perceived, and even returned. Now and then she had seen them talking together; it was but for a moment or two, but much can be said in a brief space; it may have been on most unimportant topics, but how could she know that? The girl was lovely, but she had dared to raise her eyes to the loved one of the princess; and, with all the intensity of the savage blood transmitted to her through long lines of wholly barbaric ancestors, she hated the woman who blushed and trembled behind that silent door.

When her lover turned and looked at her, and his eye met hers as she sat there, paler and whiter than any one in the vast ocean of anxious faces about her, he saw, by that power of quick perception which is given to those whose souls are one, that she knew behind which door crouched the tiger, and behind which stood the lady. He had expected her to know it. He understood her nature, and his soul was assured that she would never rest until she had made plain to herself this thing, hidden to all other lookers-on, even to the king. The only hope for the youth in which there was any element of certainty was based upon the success of the princess in discovering this mystery; and the moment he looked upon her, he saw she had succeeded, as in his soul he knew she would succeed.

Then it was that his quick and anxious glance asked the question: “Which?” It was as plain to her as if he shouted it from where he stood. There was not an instant to be lost. The question was asked in a flash; it must be answered in another.

Her right arm lay on the cushioned parapet before her. She raised her hand, and made a slight, quick movement toward the right. No one but her lover saw her. Every eye was fixed on the man in the arena.

He turned, and with a firm and rapid step he walked across the empty space. Every heart stopped beating, every breath was held, every eye was fixed immovably upon that man. Without the slightest hesitation, he went to the door on the right, and opened it.

Now, the point of the story is this: Did the tiger come out of that door, or did the lady? The more we reflect upon this question, the harder it is to answer. It involves a study of the human heart which leads us through devious mazes of passion, out of which it is difficult to find our way. Think of it, fair reader, not as if the decision of the question depended upon yourself, but upon that hot-blooded, semi-barbaric princess, her soul at a white heat beneath the combined fires of despair and jealousy. She had lost him, but who should have him?

How often, in her waking hours and in her dreams, had she started in wild horror, and covered her face with her hands as she thought of her lover opening the door on the other side of which waited the cruel fangs of the tiger!

But how much oftener had she seen him at the other door! How in her grievous reveries had she gnashed her teeth, and torn her hair, when she saw his start of rapturous delight as he opened the door of the lady! How her soul had burned in agony when she had seen him rush to meet that woman, with her flushing cheek and sparkling eye of triumph; when she had seen him lead her forth, his whole frame kindled with the joy of recovered life; when she had heard the glad shouts from the multitude, and the wild ringing of the happy bells; when she had seen the priest, with his joyous followers, advance to the couple, and make them man and wife before her very eyes; and when she had seen them walk away together upon their path of flowers, followed by the tremendous shouts of the hilarious multitude, in which her one despairing shriek was lost and drowned!

Would it not be better for him to die at once, and go to wait for her in the blessed regions of semi-barbaric futurity?And yet, that awful tiger, those shrieks, that blood!
Her decision had been indicated in an instant, but it had been made after days and nights of anguished deliberation. She had known she would be asked, she had decided what she would answer, and, without the slightest hesitation, she had moved her hand to the right.
The question of her decision is one not to be lightly considered, and it is not for me to presume to set myself up as the one person able to answer it. And so I leave it with all of you: Which came out of the opened door,—the lady, or the tiger?

The Lady, Or The Tiger? by Frank R. Stockton
The text today is from Project Gutenberg. This is a repost.




Heathen Hunt

Posted in Race, Religion by chamblee54 on August 6, 2012






PG looked out the window, and saw two men wearing neckties. They were walking up the driveway. PG put a shirt on, and arrived at the front door at the same time as the knock.

The African American stood closer to the door. He had a pamphlet in his hand. He said he was talking to the people in the neighborhood, and he had a question. Where can you go to find truth?

PG looked at the man, and did not smile. I don’t mean to be rude, but when I see you walking back down that driveway, that will be truth. Good bye.

The large man had a nervous laugh. He left without protest. The two men walked away, followed by a large African American woman wearing a long dress.

This is wrong on so many levels. Religion is a highly personal matter. At the very least, you should not go knocking on doors, pushing your opinions about a sensitive matter on strangers. The heathen hunter knew nothing about PG. He did not know, and probably did not care, about the festering wounds he was pouring salt in.

It is not possible to live in the United States without hearing about Jesus, and the scheme for life after death. PG has heard about “salvation” thousands of times, and has made the painful decision not to agree. This heathen hunter thinks that he will be so special. He thinks that hearing this obnoxious message for the ten thousand and first time will make be different. Jesus should give this man the gift of humility, and respect for his neighbor.

The jist of the post below is the need for trust and respect. If the person who you are preaching to does not trust you, then you are speaking in vain. Period, end of story. For this stranger to show up uninvited, and assume that he is trusted, is a gesture of disrespect.

There is also the race of the messenger to consider. PG is a Georgia white person, and has been around black people all his life. His attitudes about race have been criticized by anti black racists, anti white racists, and anti racism racists. PG tries to treat people with fairness and kindness. He also keeps an eye on his back. It does not make PG feel less violated to have a black man deliver an offensive message to his front door.

The person who taught PG the most about Jesus is the Bully for Jesus at Redo Blue. For seven years, PG worked across the room from this man. There were dozens of temper tantrums, hundreds of missed pickups, and thousands of hours, on company time, devoted to conducting a ministry. After a while, PG wished nothing more than to never hear the word Jesus again. It is highly relevant to today’s discussion to note that the Bully for Jesus is African American.






The third commandment says to not use the name of G-d “in vain”. There is a post from August of 2008 that deals with this issue. It will be repeated as part two of this post. Ironically, PG was reviewing posts from August when the heathen hunters appeared. The idea was to find posts, and pictures, that could be repeated when PG was too lazy to write anything new. Religion has long been a source of unhappiness for PG, and there is a lot of material.

In his unpaid role as resident non Jesus Worshiper, PG left the following comment at Twenty Two Words yesterday. ” I sometimes feel that I am the only non believer that comments here. You might consider that not everyone is impressed by your religion. Many shortcomings…selfishness, meanness, lack of respect for others … can be found in thoughtless, inappropriate preaching. Just because you are doing it for Jesus does not make it any less offensive. It also reflects poorly on Jesus”

To which another reader replied: “@Chamblee: You’re right, preachers can taint their own message. Can you expand on what you mean by thoughtless, inappropriate preaching?” Oh my. This is going to take more than twenty two words. Twenty two volumes might not cover it all.

There are two quotes that help. One is from a motivational speaker: “You need to sell yourself first, your company second, and your product third.” The second is the third commandment: “Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy G-d in Vain…”

Anyone can read to you from the Bible. Not everyone that does this has worthy motives. Some are crooks and thieves. For a person to preach to another, there needs to be TRUST. If you do not trust the person who is preaching to you, then that person is speaking in vain.

Trust has a brother named RESPECT. When you preach to a person who does not care for your message, you are showing disrespect to that person. When you preach without mutual respect you are speaking in vain. The third commandment is more than G-d’s last name.

This is not just the person you are talking to. It is everyone who comes in contact with your message. This is not just the words you speak, but your actions, the chrome fish on your car, the catchy phrase on your t shirt, and the Bible you make a show of carrying around.

We are all G-d’s children. When you disrespect the children of G-d, you disrespect G-d. And when you preach without trust and respect, you bring shame to Jesus.

Pictures today are from “The Special Collections and Archives,Georgia State University Library”.
This was written like David Foster Wallace.





Hiroshima 67 Years Later

Posted in Undogegorized by chamblee54 on August 6, 2012

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At 8:15 am, August 6, 1945, Hiroshima got nuked. It was the start of a new era. Since Japan is 13 hours ahead of Georgia, and standard time was used, the literal anniversary is 8:15 pm, August 5.

Tsutomu Yamaguchi was working in Hiroshima when the bomb hit. He survived, and found a train to take hime to his home town, Nagasaki.

The device dropped on Hiroshima, the Little Boy, had an estimated force of 13 kilotons of Trinitrotoluene, or TNT. A kiloton of TNT is roughly a cube whose sides are ten meters. This device is fairly tiny compared to many of the warheads developed since. Many of the modern appliances are measured in megatons, or millions of tons of TNT. The Soviet Union had a bomb with a capacity of 50 megatons, or 4,000 times the size of the Little Boy.

The largest weapon tested by The United States is the Castle Bravo. This device destroyed Bikini Atoll in the Pacific. The two piece swimsuit was named for this island. The Castle Bravo device had a yield of 15 megatons of TNT. This is roughly 1,000 times the power of the Little Boy.

The decision to drop the bomb has long been controversial. There are a lot of factors and gray areas, and the issue does not lend itself to sound bite solutions. The conventional wisdom is that Japan surrendered because of the nuclear attack. This meant the war was shortened by at least a year, there was no invasion of Japan, and many lives were saved. PG is scared by the moral calculus involved in a decision like this….do 100,000 civilian deaths prevent the deaths of 500,000 soldiers? PG suspects that even G-d herself would lose sleep over that one.

There is also evidence that the bomb was not needed. Japan was whipped in August 1945. The air raids were conducted in daylight with little resistance. A debate was going on in the Japanese government on whether to continue the fight.

An event happened the day between Hiroshima, and Nagasaki, which influenced the Japanese decision to surrender. The Soviet Union had agreed to help the United States with the war against Japan. On August 8, The Soviet Union invaded Japanese occupied Manchuria. There are indications that Japan knew the fight was hopeless at this point, and would rather surrender to The United States than The Soviet Union. This is one of the gray areas that never seems to be mentioned.

The United States wanted the war to end quickly for obvious reasons, and a few subtle ones. America did not want to share the spoils of Japanese war with The Soviet Union. There were already tensions between the two allies, and the cold war was not far off. Many felt The United States used the Little Boy as a warning to The Soviet Union.

When you get your moral software out, you might want to figure in the effect of opening the nuclear Pandora’s box. Would the nuclear bomb have been developed by other countries if America had not led the way? The science is not that complicated…after all, America hit paydirt with the Manhattan Project fairly quickly. Nonetheless, there is karma involved in using a terrible new device on a civilian population. The United States started the wind of the arms race, and has yet to feel the whirlwind.

This is a repost. The pictures are from The Library of Congress. Ansel Adams took pictures of Japanese Americans, in a World War Two internment camp. The ladies in the bridge game are Aiko Hamaguchi, Chiye Yamanaki, Catherine Yamaguchi, and Kazoko Nagahama. According to I Write Like, this post was written like David Foster Wallace.




Fashion Statement

Posted in Uncategorized by chamblee54 on August 5, 2012









Rules of Conduct 1 Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language. PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK. 2 Don’t Threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated. 3 Be Truthful. Don’t knowingly lie about anyone or anything. 4 Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism that is degrading to another person. 5 Be Proactive. Use the ‘Report’ link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts. 6 Share with Us. We’d love to hear eyewitness accounts, the history behind an article. ~ (fb) ~ Jimmy Crack Corn was written in the style of James Joyce. ~ When a Republican sees someone else grooving on the thing she loves, her reaction is to say “how can I make money off this?” When a grammar nazi sees a post like this, she makes all the nouns and verbs singular. ~ hit b on advance search on this machine, and the choices are brookhaven, bob dylan, and bleeding lambs ~ The Get Religion article does not give any quotes from the radio interview that upset Miss Piggy so. Mr. Cathy said ” “I think we are inviting G-d’s judgment on our nation when we shake our fist at Him and say, ‘We know better than you as to what constitutes a marriage,’ I pray G-d’s mercy on our generation that has such a prideful, arrogant attitude to think that we have the audacity to define what marriage is about.” ~ I might settle for using less twenty dollar modifiers. What if I choose to use fewer big words? ~ Here is a heteronormative video. ~ Childers you are an embarrassment to any credible political effort – Please do yourself a favor, study the ramifications of a cranio-rectal inversion before posting ever again, you blithering doofus. ~ “I drank to drown my sorrows, but the damned things learned how to swim.” ― Frida Kahlo (fb) ~ “I paint myself because I am so often alone and because I am the subject I know best.” ― Frida Kahlo (fb) ~ When you told me you were disappointed that I didn’t grant your request, I felt empathy for you. It can be tough not getting what we want. But I don’t do anything I don’t want to do, so my hope for you is that you either find an offer that appeals to me, or you realize you are capable of tolerating your frustration. (fb) ~ This is a serious, if somewhat flippant, depiction of something I think is important. When people who knew me from when I was younger find out I’m an atheist, they ask, “what happened?” as if surely some horrible or traumatic thing must have occurred for me to stop believing in god. No. What happened was that I learned. I read. I thought. I grew up. I have no ill will or dislike of those I know or met through the church, some of whom I think are spectacular and wonderful people. (fb) ~ I will never post a self-congratulatory post stating how many followers I have. I will not state that I’m creating another blog specifically for personal info/self-pics of me and that it is “members-only”/requires a password. I will never confuse people noticing posting/re-posting various shit onto the internet for fame when it is really only self-indulgence. Most importantly, I will not mistake almost total strangers “unliking”/”unfollowing” me for any kind of personal attack when it simply means they aren’t interested in what I’m posting. Repost this if you’re bored enough to. (fb) ~ Randomness is a proposed disconnect between existing conditions and results, which in my entire life I don’t feel I’ve encountered…. everything that happens is a direct result of circumstances preceding it, even if the complexity is beyond human grasp. (I’m bored) (fb) ~ I don’t know about you, but I definitely have an inner troll. Of course, while poking people with sticks and seeing their reactions can be fun, doing it in front of hundreds or thousands of people (some of whom I might actually want to relate with) doesn’t do much for my reputation. That’s why I prefer to reserve my sadistic streak for private consensual encounters. (fb) ~ “My wake-up call came when someone told me last year (paraphrasing), “many people in the queer communities of color in Atlanta don’t come to MondoHomo bc they don’t feel like it’s a safe and welcoming space.” Good Grief. Some people are never going to feel like “it is a safe and welcoming space.” How far do you want to go, to accomodate people who are going to reject you anyway? At what point do you stop throwing your own community under the bus, to try to attract this hostile community? In the next sentence you say something about white privilege. Is this constant claiming to be the victim POC privilege? ~ This is the Rush Center on DeKalb Ave. Anyone going to Rush Center KS will be disappointed. ~ CFA was moving slowly and carefully into northern cities. I suspect they had no plans to go into Boston. The mayor was doing a bit of low risk grandstanding. Also, who wants to bet the the Henson company wasn’t happy with their arrangement(i.e. not making enough money) , and was looking for a way out. ~ There is a concept called felony murder. If you commit a felony, and a person dies as a result, then you are guilty of murder. A man in georgia was executed for this last year. While making tacky comments is not a felony (good thing too, or we would all be guilty) It is arguable that Mr. Cathy’s mouth running caused a PR nightmare for the company, whose PR vice president then has a heart attack. ~ I thought agnostic was something you blew out of your nose. ~ Freedom from the desire for an answer is essential to the understanding of a problem. ~ Jiddu Krishnamurti (fb) ~ I was privy to the secret griefs of wild, unknown men. — F. Scott Fitzgerald (fb) ~ If you wear a leopard coat in a black and white picture, that’s all the audience will look at. — Shelley Winters (fb) ~ After you turn 50, every 15 minutes it’s breakfast! — Kitty Carlyle Hart (fb) ~ That is what fresh ground means. ~ Test Results Sickness Quotient: 75% Your “Sickness Quotient” of 75% indicates therapy may be useful. Detailed Diagnosis Interpersonal Insights You are utterly incapable of meaningful relationships, which is probably a good thing since you’re a horrible bore under the best of conditions. You have difficulty concentrating or keeping on task, probably because you’re an idiot with a short attention-span. Job Performance & Attitude You aspire to becoming the CEO of a large, powerful company. This is unlikely since you rarely leave your parent’s basement. You have little empathy for anyone more successful at work than you, which is pretty much everyone. Personality Insight Your personal motto is “Dance like nobody’s watching.” That’ just stupid. Get a better motto. ~ The constant assertion of belief is an indication of fear. ~Jiddu Krishnamurti (fb) ~ Well, I’m an asshole. I bet I’ll repost this 5 times in the next 8 days. Some lame suburban asshole who admits being a “Christian” was up in arms about stop being mean to Christians, to which I retorted: ” OK–this is cute, like any comment thread. It should (by now, because it’s preached from every single pulpit worth a god damn, and every Sunday) go without saying that Jesus thinks your version of Christianity. Sucks. You are very bad at being his follower. You are a hypocrite (just like the Pharisees that followed him around), you are lousy at giving away everything you own (entry fee), you perpetually blame the poor for their condition (which doesn’t happen in the Gospels, at all, even once), you want to punish sexual deviants (like the lovely assholes he invited to cast the first stone), and (just a guess!) you eat shellfish and/or meat and cheese together in the same meal. YOU ARE A LOUSY FUCKING CHRISTIAN. YOU SUCK AT YOUR RELIGION. GIVE UP. While you’re at it, leave my atheist ass out of it. It’s really the least you can do. In Jesus’ name.” (fb) ~ I’m making some changes in my life. You may not understand or agree, but I hope you will respect that I’m trying to do what *I* need. I’m stepping away from politics, arguing, and trying to save the world. I’m going to do what gives *me* happiness – laughing and playing with friends and taking care of my personal responsibilities. I still appreciate everyone I’ve connected with and the things we fought for, but I know myself and I recognize this is what I need. Happy Friday! (fb) ~ I like cows. So for years students would give me those calendars and I would accept but never use the coupons. I think I am going to try to make a collage with them so at the very least they become queer art created by a queer artist. I don’t like cows because of the reasons you think. My love is for steak, shakes and my awesome leather jacket. And don’t give me that cruelty to animals shit because I know if a cow could he would eat my ass and wear my skin because I am delicious. I have testimonials…just saying (fb) ~ “The Christians with heart are painfully silent..” You shouldn’t talk with your mouth full. (fb) ~ 1-When the SCOTUS ruled that “Lethal Injection” was constitutional, they were ruling on a three drug cocktail. Is it permissible for the states to decide that one drug is good enough? 2- Why was this change announced on the day before a scheduled execution? 3- If we are going to be a society of laws, then the authorities must obey the laws as well. 4- Is anyone else troubled by the spectacle of the Department of Corrections killing a prisoner with a deliberate overdose of a barbituate? 5- The manufactorer of phenobarbital is opposed to the use of their product for executions. Where does the GDC get their supply? Is this a legitimate source? If an ordinary person gets a substance like pentobarbital from a less than reputable source, then this ordinary person is in severe trouble. See point 3. 6- The conduct of the State of Georgia in this case is an indication that they are not capable of administering the death penalty in a fair and just manner. 7- The motto of the state is wisdom, justice, and moderation. Killing a prisoner with a deliberate drug overdose is neither wise, just, nor moderate. Especially not moderate. ~ 1 – Twenty years ago, I worked in the Healey Building. CFA had a store in the flatiron building. It was in an old bank office, and the vault was a dining room. 2 – CFA is overpriced. If someone else pays for it, I might eat there. ~ Breakfast at the Waffle House on Cheshire Bridge Road this morning. The crowd: White families, gay jocks (Pride Run and Timberfell Lodge T-shirts), young African-American men and women; three line cooks turning out about a plate a minute; the waitresses efficient and smiling; the manager and I agreeing that this is how Atlanta should always be, and that Chick-fil-A is not representative of those of us working for equality. (fb) ~ “The way to develop self-confidence is to do the thing you fear and get a record of successful experiences behind you. Destiny is not a matter of chance, it is a matter of choice; it is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved.” ~ it has been a long, long chemo day and it is time to bed down for the night. I am grateful for family, friends who are chosen family, medical technology that will help keep me alive to enjoy it all a little longer, complications enough in the process so I don’t trade humility for hubris, and for my sobriety, without which none of it would be possible. God is merciful. Blessed Be. ~ William Jennings Bryan (fb) ~ To the guy who tried to mug me in downtown savannah night before last date ~ That is not a fashion statement I would make.~ Another comparison is the treatment of Jesus and Mohammed. Christians routinely present grossout pictures of Jesus on the cross. Muslims are forbidden to present images of Mohammed. ~ The Brookhaven Ballot Committee/ Brookhaven Yes thing bothers me. It makes me wonder if I want this crowd to run a new city. Thank you for your thoughtful attention to this matter. ~ I like Chick-fil-A’s food. I think Mr. Cathy has a right to his ignorant opinion. And I think people have a right to eat elsewhere – but I’m not sure what the point is, because for every cocksucker that gets angry about his opinion, there is at least one bigot that likes him more, so from a dollars perspective, I don’t think we faggots can win this one. On the other hand, we could strike and stop sucking closeted homophobes’ dicks. That’ll teach em. (fb) ~ “Turning a chicken sandwich into Public Gay Enemy Number One makes LGBT people look superficial, vindictive and juvenile — everything that we as a community have worked hard to overcome.” Maybe that is why the press is giving this so much attention. It takes attention away from Sally Ride’s surviving partner. ~ James Dickey said that Sylvia Plath was the Judy Garland of american poets. Or maybe it was Anne Sexton. ~ can you go glitter bomb gay pride and leave the big decisions to the adults? ~ You will not be punished for your anger, you will be punished by your anger. ~ Gautama Siddhartha ~ Your email address and IP address has been logged and your incoming access permanently blocked to this recipient. You are an asshole. ~ At least with CFA and WM we have a choice. The gummit chooses to go to war, and doesn’t ask what we think. If you don’t pay the tax to support the war machine, your money is seized. ~ I am happy to know Miles Davis through his music, and not his reputed personality ~ Just as treasures are uncovered from the earth, so virtue appears from good deeds, and wisdom appears from a pure and peaceful mind. To walk safely through the maze of human life, one needs the light of wisdom and the guidance of virtue. – Gautama Siddhartha ~ Pictures are from “The Special Collections and Archives,Georgia State University Library” ~ Selah