Chamblee54

The story below is a repost. Pictures are from The Library of Congress. There is a guest appearance by Gerald Rudolph Ford, and his women. (R.I.P. Betty. She was a merry soul.)
Someone posted a bit of revisionism about a holiday classic Tuesday. As he sees it, “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer” is about racism.
In a bit of yuletime synchronicity, the urban mythbusters at Snopes posted a piece about Rudolph the same day. It seems as though the Rudolph story was originally written for the Montgomery Ward Stores. The idea was to print a Christmas booklet to give to customers. A staff writer named Robert L. May was picked for the job.
Originally, there were concerns about the red nose, and the connection to heavy drinking. At the time, the original meaning of “merry christmas” had been forgotten.( Merry meant intoxicated, and a merry christmas was a drunken one.) The booklet was released anyway, and was a big hit with shoppers.
Mr. May had a brother in law named Johnny Marks, who was musically gifted. Mr. Marks wrote the song, and somehow or another Gene Autry came to sing it. A story ( which PG heard once, but cannot find a source for) had Mr. Autry doing a recording session. The session went very smoothly, and the sides scheduled to be recorded were finished early. There was a half hour of studio time paid for. Someone produced copies of “Rudolph”, gave them to the musicians, and the recording was knocked out. It became a very big hit.
Gene Autry had a radio show, “Gene Autry’s Melody Ranch”. He created the “cowboy code”. Number five gets our attention today. Under this code, the cowboy must:
1. never shoot first, hit a smaller man, or take unfair advantage.
2. never go back on his word, or a trust confided in him.
3. always tell the truth.
4. be gentle with children, the elderly and animals.
5. not advocate or possess racially or religiously intolerant ideas.
6. help people in distress.
7. be a good worker.
8. keep himself clean in thought, speech, action and personal habits.
9. respect women, parents and his nation’s laws.
10. be a patriot.
“Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer” has become a beloved standard, without the troubling religious implications of many holiday songs. It is the second biggest selling record of all. The only song to sell more is “White Christmas”. You just can’t get away from race.

The blogger known as Older Eyes put up a post called Me and the Candidates . There was a test to see which POTUS candidate you most agree with. It seemed like a good excuse for some text to go between the pictures. Pictures are from ” The Special Collections and Archives,Georgia State University Library” .
OE describes the test: “The test offers 11 multiple choice questions with the stated positions of the candidates as answers. There are two questions on the economy, three on national security, one on health care, one on energy policy, one on global warming, one on gay marriage, one on abortion and one on education. If you tend to be a moderate, issues on which you are more liberal tend to go to the president, while issues in which you are conservative tend to be spread over seven Republicans whose opinions are not all that different. Four of my answers aligned with the president’s stated opinions while seven aligned with Republicans, which is about what I’d expect … I’m inclined to be conservative on fiscal and security issues and more liberal on social issues … but because my conservative views aligned with five different Republicans, the quiz said Obama was my man. Hmmm. ”
PG should have taken this test before he ate lunch. The winner, to no one’s surprise, is BHO. Second Place is Michele Bachmann. Third Place is Mitt Romney. PG might have to move to Pago Pago after all. The only issue where PG disagreed with BHO was Mexican immigration.

It is a truism that history is written by the winner of the war. This seems to apply to the naming of the conflict. There was a horrific armed struggle in North America between 1861 and 1865. The usual name is Civil War. To many in the South, it is the War Between The States. In PG’s humble opinion, WBTS is a better name.
In fifth grade, PG had to write an essay about the Battle of Atlanta. The essay was a device for teaching grammar, utilized by the english teacher, Miss MacKenzie. The contest was sponsored by the Daughters of the Confederacy . The expression “Civil War” was not permitted. The proper name for this conflict was War Between the States.
In many ways, this conflict started as soon as the United States became independent from Great Britain. The South was an agrarian society, with slaves to work the fields. The north was becoming an industrial society, with a need for an independent work force. The north wanted high tariffs to protect her industries, while the south wanted to sell it’s cotton to Europe. There were plenty of ways for this conflict to manifest.
Slavery was an important factor. The south wanted to keep “the peculiar institution” intact, while many in the north were horrified. There were numerous compromises over the years, as Congress struggled to keep the Union intact. This ties in with a central dilemma of the american experience … how much power to give to the states, and how much power to give to the federal government.
The phrase civil war is defined as “A war fought between factions of the inhabitants of a single country, or the citizens of a single republic”. By the time the shooting started, the southern states had left the union. They formed a confederacy of independent states, rather than one monolithic union. It was, indeed, a war between the states.
Pictures, of Union soldiers, are from The Library of Congress.

The facebook friend confessed that his “native american name” was crying bone. There was a link supplied, which naturally was connected to a Zuckerberglink (an application inducement, not a town in Belarus). A trip to google city showed an abundance of quiz sites, eagar to advertise product, and fix me up with an injun name.
There are issues of cultural appropriation here. They are summed up by a comment… “I want to see the one where Natives can put their names in and find their white hipster names…” If you google that comment, you will be directed to a post, Baby Teepees are like, totally, in. Some toy manufactorer has the bright idea to make little tipis for backyard use. The comment here was ” All of these are from Design Chic , and there are more on the post, if you need them. So what do you think? Cultural appropriation? Cringe-worthy? Should we just be glad the benevolent design bloggers have deemed us cool for a minute? Should I fly into a uncontrollable rage? NATIVE HULK TEEPEE SMASH!! “
With an acknowledgement that some people will think this is inappropriate, PG is going to see what his native american name is. Blogthings asks two questions, while advertising Extended Stay Hotels. The answer here is Langundo Howahkah, Peaceful One of the Mysterious Voice.
Quizopolis also promotes Extended Stay Hotels. The answer here is Aponivi, where the wind blows down the gap. On a Publix sponsored sidebar, PG gets a Christmas Elf Name: Dingy Candy Lips.
Quizilla asks a few questions. The answer was “Skipping rabbit: You are an honest, likeable person. You can be shy, and keep to yourself at times, but your true happiness shows when you are amongst close friends. You are reserved, but playful and energetic when given the chance.”
Gotoquiz advertises Neutrogena. The name here is “Dog with Tail Between Legs … You seem to let people take advantage of you and it’s hard for you to say no. If you marry then you may very well wear the panties in the family, instead of the pants. You need to become more aggressive in standing up for what you believe. ” Maybe this is what you get when you play with native american culture.
Pictures by The Library of Congress.

Once a week, bloggingheads.tv has a feature called Science Saturday. Some of the best feature John Horgan and George Johnson. They are pals, and say “oh really” a lot. This past week they discussed the business of scientific research, how big money can corrupt the findings. It makes cents sense … when you get government grants to fund your research, it is in your best interests to get the results the government wants. Or, if your employer stands to make billions of dollars from selling a new drug, you want to “prove” that the drug works.
Perhaps it is a semantic issue. People often say prove, when what they should say is indicate. Prove is a murky legalistic concept, full of smoke and mirrors. Indicate is what the numbers on the screen say.
John got mixed up in a controversy about this recently. While discussing this, he quoted an scientific journal to about Why Most Published Research Findings Are False . This caught PG’s ear, and made him put down his photo editing, and make a comment. ( Those pictures from the War between the States have waited 145 years. A few more minutes is not going to hurt.) This comment resulted.
chamblee54 wrote on 12/18/2010 at 02:10 PM Re: Science Saturday: Discovery and Invention (John Horgan & George Johnson) John makes a bold statement .
It seems as if an author, writing behind a paywall , wrote about corruption of the scientific method. At the end, he wrote “Just because an idea is true doesn’t mean it can be proved. And just because an idea can be proved doesn’t mean it’s true. When the experiments are done, we still have to choose what to believe.” ( John says it here. )
In a touch of irony, George begins the discussion by recalling a visit to California, and a report on the medical marijuana scene. Marijuana is a good example of the government deciding the results, and then commissioning a study to “prove” what had already been decided. If your lab depends on Uncle Sugar for funding, then your study is going to show that Reefer makes you turn purple.
When PG was in tenth grade, he had a geometry teacher. She had participated in LSD experiments (and said a shot of whiskey would do more for you.) Basic geometry is dependent on proofs, or a series of statements that show a theorem to be true. (There is a difference between a theory and a hypothesis.) A foundation concept of geometry is the Pythagorean theorem. This teacher said it was possible to disprove the Pythagorean theorem.
A couple of years later, PG grew shoulder length hair, and went to visit his uncle. The relative was known for being to the right of Herbert Hoover, and was not amused by PG’s fashion statement.
The uncle got into the firewater, and would say, over and over, “What are you trying to proooove with your long hair?”
This is a repost. Bloggingheads TV is having money problems, and is converting into a non profit enterprise. The future of Science Saturdays is in doubt. In another surprising development, research shows that tabloids do not always tell the truth.

PG found a post by a blogger called older eyes . ( PG has depended on glasses since third grade. The idea that his eyes might get less efficient is scary.) The story is about a senior citizen, who asks G-d to help him find parking spaces. The author thought this was silly, but decided to try it on the way home. He let a driver onto a busy road, and the stranger pointed out an empty parking spot. The commentary was:
Now, do I routinely charge into busy mall parking lots, ask G-d for help … and get a parking place? No. Do I believe that G-d follows me around, waiting to be a Cosmic Parking Lot Attendant at my behest? No. But I do believe that G-d sometimes aligns events … such as an elderly man in need of a parking place and an exhausted shopper on the way home … to help out. I call that synchronicity. Larry taught me something about the way life … and G-d … work. I don’t always get what I ask for but if I don’t open myself to the possibility of help, I may miss the very synchronicity that G-d sends my way.
PG has seen gnarly religion. He has also seen synchronicity. Carl Jung coined the phrase to describe meaningful coincidences. Mr. Jung also said “Religion is a defense against the experience of G-d.”
The moonies used to teach that G-d is the difference between a human being, and six dollars worth of chemicals. Some say G-d is the whirlwind, that creates a jet engine out of a junkyard. In the process from the big bang to Lady Gaga, there have been many parts of the puzzle that fell into place, as though an unseen hand was guiding them. Is it synchronicity, is it G-d, the sum of the parts, or all of the above? PG does not know.
The page of quotes on synchronicity has more nuggets. When producing the 2011 repost of this feature, an effort was made to create a document that is easier to read. The mind does not like large blocks of text. The original list has been slimmed down, in an effort to get more people to read it.
The intellect has little to do on the road to discovery. There comes a leap in consciousness, call it Intuition or what you will, the solution comes to you and you don’t know how or why. Albert Einstein
Coincidences are spiritual puns. G.K. Chesterton …
Chance favors the prepared mind. Louis Pasteur …
And some quotes by the man himself, Carl G. Jung (1875 – 1961): The connection between cause and effect turns out to be only statistically valid and only relatively true. …
Synchronicity means a ‘meaningful coincidence’ of outer and inner events that are not themselves causally connected. The emphasis lies on the word ‘meaningful’…
Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves…
Nobody, as long as he moves about among the chaotic currents of life, is without trouble…
As far as we can discern, the sole purpose of human existence is to kindle a light in the darkness of mere being…
The meeting of two personalities is like the contact of two chemical substances; if there is any reaction, both are transformed.
It all depends on how we look at things, and not on how they are themselves…
In studying the history of the human mind one is impressed again and again by the fact that the growth of the mind is the widening of the range of consciousness, and that each step forward has been a most painful and laborious achievement. One could almost say that nothing is more hateful to man than to give up even a particle of his unconsciousness. Ask any person who has tried to introduce a new idea, and survived.
All the works of man have their origin in creative fantasy. What right have we then to depreciate imagination?..
There can be no transforming of darkness into light and of apathy into movement without emotion…
I could not say I believe. I know! I have had the experience of being gripped by something that is stronger than myself, something that people call G-d…
The pendulum of the mind alternates between sense and nonsense, not between right and wrong…
A video embedded with this tale is by The Police. PG was in the Omni audience. The show was filmed for television, and the house lights kept up to film crowd shots. To ensure a fuller house, tickets behind the stage were sold for five dollars. PG was not nearly hip enough to cop tickets to a popular band like The Police, but he could show up with five dollars. PG got a great view of the drummer, and saw bits of the Sting spectacle. A lady in the next row was seen reading a newspaper, while the band played “De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da”. (PG went to youtube to find the correct title of the second tune. While there, he found a video of the band on Japanese TV.)
Here is more about that evening… One night in 1983, PG was driving to the Omni to see the Police. He was driving a 1970 Plymouth Satellite, painted gold, just like Dekalb county drove in the early seventies. PG’s friend Bradley was talking about the concept of glacial swiftness. As the car went down Spring Street, near the Varsity, the omnoids noticed a lot of cars on the road, creating a condition of glacial swiftness. It turns out the Georgia Tech had a football game that night, hence the mass of cars, moving with glacial swiftness. PG started to cross North Avenue, when a car decided that red lights were for other people. Since PG started out of traffic lights slowly, this person got by without causing any damage.

In previous posts, PG has borrowed the words … wise and otherwise… of others. One night, the idea light bulb went on. Why not look up quotes about quotes? Many people have bright ideas. It is a few that can express them in a memorable way. It should be noted that not every clever phrase is the truth, or especially profound. In a sound bite culture, the clever phrase gets the attention that the thought deserves There are also misquotes and misunderstandings. Or, the correct quote, with credit given to the wrong person. The title of quote magnet goes to the Oscar Wildes and Mark Twains of history, who really didn’t say all those things. It is also not known how many of those credited with famous quotes actually thought of them, and how many are good listeners and repeaters. ( In the case of politicians, with paid speechwriters, the answer is obvious.) So here we go, with a collection of quotes about quotes. As for the originator, we will trust the source . This is a repost. // After all, all he did was string together a lot of old well-known quotations. — H.L. Mencken on Shakespeare //A half truth is a whole lie. — Yiddish Proverb //A witty saying proves nothing. — Voltaire //Actions speak louder than words.– Theodore Roosevelt // A gram of practice is worth a pound of belief. // Copy from one, it’s plagiarism; copy from two, it’s research.– Wilson Mizner, Unknown , 1876-1933 // Godwin’s Law: As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches one. — Mike Godwin // He can compress the most words into the smallest idea of any man I know. — Abraham Lincoln // There is one thing that is true about newspapers the world over. They print lies. — Bob Geldof, onstage rant, The Capri Ballroom, Atlanta GA, 1979 // He who trains his tongue to quote the learned sages, will be known far and wide as a smart ass. — Howard Kandel // He who would pun would pick a pocket. — Dr. Maturin, Master and Commander And he will go to the punitentiary. // I got so tired of hearing those proverbs when I was a child. Now I use them all the time. Sometimes they are the best way to say what needs to be said. I teach them to my students. I have a collection of proverbs for class discussion and writing assignments. — Marva Collins // I might repeat to myself, slowly and soothingly, a list of quotations beautiful from minds profound; if I can remember any of the damn things. — Dorothy Parker // If a student submits a paper that is good enough to be published, maybe it has. — Dr. Jefferson D. Caskey // You have two ears, and one mouth. You should listen twice, and talk once. // In places, this book is a little over-written because Mr. Blunden is no more able to resist a quotation than some people are to refuse a drink. — George Orwell, on Edmund Blunden // In politics, if you want anything said, ask a man. If you want anything done, ask a woman. — Margaret Thatcher // In the matter of soliloquies we cannot accept Hamlet as an unbiased authority. We merely find in him the possible origin of the belief that talking to oneself is a bad sign. — Max Beerbohm // It is a good thing for an educated man to read books of quotations. — Winston Churchill, Unknown , 1874-1965 // It is better to be quotable than to be honest. — Tom Stoppard, // One should know the difference between wisdom and a clever phrase. // It is not so much the content of what one says as the way in which one says it. However important the thing you say, what’s the good of it if not heard or, being heard, not felt? — Sylvia Ashton-Warner // Light travels faster than sound–isn’t that why some people appear bright until you hear them speak? — Steven Wright // Misquotation is the pride and privilege of the learned — Hesketh Pearson Push push in the bush — Disco Lyrics // Originality is the art of concealing your sources. — Unknown // Quoting: the act of repeating erroneously the words of another. — Ambrose Bierce // Read not to contradict and confute, nor to believe and take for granted, nor to find talk and discourse, but to weigh and consider — Francis Bacon, Of Studies, 1605 // Francis Bacon was never in a movie with Kevin Bacon. // The cleverly expressed opposite of any generally accepted idea is worth a fortune to somebody. — F. Scott Fitzgerald // The cruelest lies are often told in silence. — Adlai Stevenson // The man who doesn’t read has no advantage over the man who can’t read. — Mark Twain //This feature on quotes will not use Oscar Wilde, Will Rogers, or George Bernard Shaw. Using Mr. Twain is the legal minimum for quote magnets The most valuable of all talents is that of never using two words when one will do. — Thomas Jefferson, // Mr. Jefferson was quoted as saying there should be a revolution every thirty years. He was POTUS in 1806, and would not have appreciated a revolution. // There’s a difference between philosophy and a bumper sticker. — Charles Schulz // To generalize is to be an idiot. — William Blake // Truth fears no questions. — Unknown // Whoever said this has never been interviewed by the police. // We cannot learn from one another until we stop shouting at each other; until we speak quietly enough so that our words can be heard as well as our voices. — Richard M. Nixon // Just because someone gets credit for the quote, this does not mean that he actually practiced what he said. //Wise men make proverbs, but fools repeat them. — Samuel Palmer // Names of fools, like monkey faces, are often seen in public places // You ain’t learnin’ nothin’ when you’re talkin’. — Lyndon B. Johnson // You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say will be misquoted, then used against you. — Unknown // Unknown was a very clever person, who spoke many languages. // …one of the great ironies of Western philosophy. Its founding practitioner, Socrates, wrote nothing down–no philosophy, anyway; and his greatest pupil so distrusted writing that he wrote dialogues, a form that mimics the life of the spoken word. — John Churchill, From the Secretary: Inspiring Conversations in The Key Reporter. Vol 67, Number 4. P. 2., Summer 2002

As you may have heard, Christopher Hitchens died Thursday. He was in a medical facility in Houston TX, ill with esophageal cancer. He was 62 years old, and is survived by a wife, and three children.
It is ironic that Mr. Hitchens left our world as the last US troops are leaving Iraq. (Mr. Obama’s lips were moving when he made the speech.) While the writing of Mr. Hitchens was always sharp, sometimes people wondered about his judgement. As a slack blogger wrote in 2005, while discussing a protest of the war in Babylon : “Christopher Hitchens…bless his heart…is a good place to start. He wastes little time in trashing the organizers of the event. He accuses them of supporting Fidel Castro, the soviet invasion of Hungary in 1956, and lots of other nasties. While this may, in a hyper technical way, be true about some of the organizers, these ad hominem attacks ignore the many marchers who simply feel that America is making a ghastly mistake. The thought also occurs to me… is someone paying Mr. Hitchens to shill for the war? Maybe he should get back to trashing beloved celebrities who are recently deceased.”
Christopher Hitchens, and his writing, were well known for two things. One was trashing beloved celebrities, soon after their death. When Mother Teresa checked out, Mr. Hitchens wrote “This profane marriage between tawdry media hype and medieval superstition gave birth to an icon which few have since had the poor taste to question,” In the attached video, Mr. Hitchens expresses himself about the demise of Jerry Falwell. In a pot and kettle moment, Sean Hannity says to Mr. Hitchens, “you are incredibly mean, incredibly selfish, and incredibly thoughtless”.
The other thing Mr. Hitchens is well known for is atheism. Considering the Christian obsession with life after death, the recent rash of comments, speculating about a deathbed conversion, was to be expected. To his credit, Mr. Hitchens stayed true to his beliefs, as the footsteps of the grim reaper got louder and louder.
Hitchens remained steadfast in his criticism of religion even in the face of his grim prognosis. In an August 2010 interview with Jeffrey Goldberg , his colleague at The Atlantic, Hitchens made it known that even if he were to somehow recant his devout atheism on his deathbed, any apparent conversion would be a hollow gesture. “The entity making such a remark might be a raving, terrified person whose cancer has spread to the brain,” he said. “I can’t guarantee that such an entity wouldn’t make such a ridiculous remark. But no one recognizable as myself would ever make such a ridiculous remark.”
PG has written about Mr. Hitchens several times. The pictures are from The Library of Congress. These are Union soldiers from War Between the States. Some of them did not go home, as the American troops, in Iraq, are now doing.

There is a fuss going on now about an article at Forbes magazine, If I Were A Poor Black Kid. The online version has an ad for the Cadillac SRX crossover. PG was reading a facebook discussion of the article, and decided he wanted to read the original. He googled white guy writing about being a poor black kid for freakin’ FORBES, and the fun began.
Or maybe the boring, predictable responses start. Angry Black Lady Chronicles tells of the day when her (white) mother took a day off, from her job as a copy editor, to get young ABL enrolled in a tougher math class. Freethoughblogs chimes in with Forbes’ Gene Marks Needs To Check His Priv. (This piece has advertising for Extended stay hotels.) The last line of this lengthy feature sums up his thoughts… “Or, as in your case, not so smart but privileged.”
If you want to read denunciations of the Forbes article, open your eyes and take a look. You might want to hurry up. because, soon, there will be another article, somewhere, that people don’t like. Maybe you can talk about the War on Christmas. This is an example of Christian Privilege gone awry. It is a safe bet that many poor black kids are Jesus worshipers. Maybe one form of privilege will outweigh another. Maybe people will learn about a grain of salt.
It is ironic that the piece was published in Forbes. Malcolm Forbes was fond of saying that he was loaded with “sheer ability, spelled i-n-h-e-r-i-t-a-n-c-e.” The elder Forbes had a lavish lifestyle, with Elizabeth Taylor as a beard. His son, Steve Forbes, (Malcolm Stevenson Forbes Jr.) was quoted as saying “My father once spent $5 million on a birthday party for himself in Tangiers. Why can’t I spend a few more running for President?”.
Pictures today are from ” The Special Collections and Archives,Georgia State University Library” .

This is based on a post from four years ago. The pictures for today’s post are from ” The Special Collections and Archives,Georgia State University Library”.
DWJ-  time to get ready fo a neighborhood CHRISTMAS gathering, and not a holiday gathering
PG- I think a secular christmas is a good idea…if Jesus worshipers want to talk about their boi, that is cool, if you just want to shop and eat then that is fine too
DWJ- secular – Christmas is an oxymoron -without Christmas there wouldn’t be any of this
PG-yea, but those who are hated by Jesus need to enjoy the holiday as well
DWJ- why? -its not their holiday
PG-the birth of Jesus is nothing for me to celebrate, Jesus hates me…but I still enjoy the holiday
This bit of dialog from yesterday has got me thinking. There is a problem with Christmas. This polarizing of Christmas turns people against each other, and, at the very least does not create peace on earth and good will towards men.
Christmas is a big party, that I am not invited to. I can choose to ignore the religious message, enjoy the festivities, and be done with it. But this attitude gets in the way. You cannot get away from Jesus. When you mix in the hateful attitude of *some* Jesus worshipers towards those who do share their beliefs, you create a toxic Christmas punch. Holiday depression is real.
When I was a kid, I was told if you were going to bring candy to school, you should bring enough for everyone. It is considered rude to eat in front of people, without offering them some. And yet, Jesus Worshipers routinely have a big festive Christmas Celebration in front of all the non believers, and the heathen are expected to ignore it.
This includes those who practice other religions (Including today’s whipping boy, Islam), non believers, and those who simply don’t agree with Christianity. These people are not cool enough to come to the Christmas Party of the Jesus Worshipers. It is not your holiday.
The truth is, Christmas has always been a secular holiday. It is a celebration of the end of the year. People eat, drink, shop, and enjoy the company of their neighbor. If the Jesus worshipers want to talk about Jesus, no one will tell them to stop. It is when they want everything to be about them, that problems arise.

PG saw a link on facebook. Click here, and find out what kind of liberal you are. Once there, you can click again, and find out what kind of conservative you are. PG took these tests in February of 2009. It might be fun to see what the current versions are. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress .
Both tests are courtesy of About.com, a part of The New York Times Company . (In 2009, the tests were on a site selling two books… “How to argue with a conservative”, and it’s obvious counterpart.) The first question, then and now, is a list of bumper stickers. You are asked to choose one. This is a tough question for PG, who does not want the policeman behind him to know what he thinks. The two stickers chosen are “Another Former Fetus for Life” and “May the Fetus You Save Be Gay”. Synchronicity is reality.
Question two is the same for cons, but different for libs. Neither one has an answer that PG likes, so he is stuck with the lesser evil. For a political poll, that is appropriate. Question three is, for libs, “A second civil war has just broken out in America. Who is to blame?” (PG is offended that the phrase “War between the states” was not used.) The answer today was “Sarah Palin—for going rogue and leading a secessionist movement to crown herself as “Queen of Jesusland”. This question is used for number four on the conservative side. The answer chosen was “Barack Obama — for accidentally nuking Texas after misreading his TelePrompter” (Urban renewal special William T. Sherman once said that he owned hell and Texas, he would live in hell and rent out Texas.)
For question six on the lib side, they used the same answers as in 2009. Of course, all the questions are the same, on both sides of the tennis court. The old test only had seven questions, so we may see some creativity in the update. And maybe not. In number ten, the last question of this ordeal, you are asked to choose some americans you would like to chisel onto Mt. Rushmore. (Chiseling a living person onto a cold mountainside sounds very painful.) The liberal PG chose Cesar Chavez, Rosa Parks, Harvey Milk, and Angelina Jolie. The conservative PG chose Revs. James Dobson, Rick Warren, Joel Osteen, and Saint Carrie Prejean.
If you read this much, without skipping ahead to look at the pictures, you must be interested in the results. The liberal PG learns: ” You are a New Left Hipster, also known as a MoveOn.org liberal, a Netroots activist, or a Daily Show fanatic. You believe that if we really want to defend American values, conservative hatriots must be exposed and mocked for every fanatical, puritanical, paranoid, fact-allergic, reality-challenged, obstructionist ideal for which they stand.” On the conservative side, “You are a Flag-Waving Everyman, also known as a patriot. You believe in championing liberty over tyranny, apple pie over sushi, and that God gave us a two-day weekend so we could enjoy football and NASCAR.”

It is December, which means a lot of things. Included is the POTTY award. … Person of the Time year. Some naysayers would tell you that print media is obsolete, and point to the POTTY.
This tradition started in 1927 , during a slow news week. Charles Lindbergh, namesake of a Buckhead road, was the first POTTY. In 1929, Owen D. Young became the first unknown POTTY. In 1930, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was the first non USA resident. In 1936, Wallis Simpson became the first female to win the award, which was initially called Man of the Year.
In 1938, fun loving Adolph Hitler won, followed in 1939 (and 1942) by Joseph Stalin. 1950 saw the first group award, with “the American fighting man” honored. In 1951, Iran’s Mohammed Mossadegh was the man. The CIA disagreed, and helped ease him out of office in 1953. We are still dealing with the effects of that.
The POTUS is almost always a POTTY. Calvin Coolidge and Herbert Hoover were not chosen for this honor. Gerald Ford could not chew gum, and accept the award, at the same time. Other than that, all men elected to the oval office have been the POTTY, usually more than once.
Mercy killing for the POTTY? Maybe after 2006, when the winner was YOU. The years before that had numerous embarrassments. This year is no worse than the 1995 selection of Newt Gingrich, and maybe a bit better than 1993. That year saw The Peacemakers as the POTTY, including Yassir Arafat and Yitzhak Rabin.
The POTTY for 2011 is The Protester. Considering the sanitation issues at some OWS sites, a POTTY might come in handy. One runner up is Kate Middleton, who married Prince William. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress . HT to joemyg-d.