Chamblee54

Glenn Greenwald was on Democracy Now this morning. (Spell check suggestion: Walgreen)
“If you look back at what the Congress did in the wake of 9/11 when it enacted the authorization to use military force, if you look at that authorization, it’s incredibly narrow, as it turns out. If you go and actually read it, it says the President is authorized to use military force against those who perpetrated the 9/11 attack and those countries who harbored those individuals. That’s it, that’s the only authorized use of military force.”
Pictures by The Library of Congress .

Today’s mondo monday post is a double feature. The first part is a repost. The second part is an email that PG recieved this morning. HT to Uzi. Both deal with the Xmas season, and how far the acorn has fallen from the tree. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress .
The day after thanksgiving is the official start of the christmas season. The last few years, PG has been weary of the turf fighting of the Jesus worshipers The jws like to think that they are the only ones entitled to a holiday celebration. It gets nasty.
The truth is, as long as PG remembers, Christmas has been a secular holiday with a religious element. The parties and gift giving are a great way to wind up the year. The so called birth of Jesus really has very little to do with it.
In the early days of christianism, the pagan romans had a major celebration around the winter solstice. This is the longest night, and the end of the annual cycle of birth, death, and revival. The early Jesus worshipers decided to have a comparable celebration. It is uncertain when Jesus was technically born, and many scholars today believe that it was sometime in the spring.
For a long time, PG was able to ignore the religious hoopla, and focus on the joy of the season. In recent years, the Jesus Worshipers have made more of an issue out of the “War on Christmas”. Bill O’Reilly, with his instinct for a divisive issue, has been a ringleader. Where once the secular and religious people could celebrate a happy season together…and, truth be told, many still do… there is a now a conflict. The Jesus worshipers make an exclusive claim to the festivities, and those who don’t agree with them are out of luck. It has become a fighting issue whether to say happy holidays or merry christmas. PG would like to get back to peace on earth, and good will towards men.


CHECK YOUR RECEIPTS BEFORE LEAVING THE CASHIER’S STATION! With all the Christmas shopping soon this is something we MUST do! I bought a bunch of stuff, over $150, & I glanced at my receipt as the cashier was handing me the bags. I saw a cash-back of $40. I told her I didn’t request a cash back and to delete it. She said I’d have to take the $40 because she couldn’t delete it. I told her to call a supervisor. Supervisor came and said I’d have to take it. I said NO! I didn’t want $40 cash advance! If they couldn’t delete it then they would have to delete the whole order. So the supervisor had the cashier delete the whole order and re-scan everything! When I looked at the electronic pad before I signed again, a cash-back of $20 popped up. At that point I told the cashier and she deleted it. The total then came out right. The cashier commented that the Electronic Pad must be defective. Obviously the cashier knew the electronic pad was defective because she NEVER offered me the $40 at the beginning. Can you imagine how many people went through before me and at the end of her shift how much money she pocketed?
Alert everyone. My co-worker went to Walmart last week. She had her items rung up by the cashier. The cashier hurried her along and didn’t give her a receipt. She asked the cashier for a receipt and the cashier was annoyed and gave it to her. My co-worker didn’t look at her receipt until later that night. The receipt had a $20 cash back entry . SHE HAD NOT ASKED FOR CASH BACK!
My co-worker subsequently called Wal-Mart who investigated but could not see the cashier pocket the money. She then called her niece who works for the bank, and her niece told her this: This is new scam going on. The cashier will key in that you asked for cash back and then hand it to her friend who is the next person in line.
CHECK YOUR RECEIPTS RIGHT AWAY WHEN USING CREDIT OR DEBIT CARDS! This is NOT limited to Wal-Mart, although they are the largest retailer so they have the most incidents. Here’s a personal experience: My husband and I were in Wal-Mart North Salisbury and paying with credit card when my husband went to sign the credit card signer he just happen to notice there was a $20 cash back added. He told the cashier that he did not ask nor want cash back and she said that the machine had been messing up and she canceled it. We really didn’t think anything of it until we read this email. I wonder how many “seniors” or busy Moms/Dads have been or will be “stung” by this one? To make matters worse, this scam can be done anywhere, at any retail or wholesale location! Check your receipt BEFORE leaving the cashier’s station!

The plan was to go hiking in Sweetwater Creek state park. The problem is, the weather radar showed serious rain moving in from Alabama. Last night, the storm had been over the Mississippi River, and now it was in east Alabama. It was just a hop skip and jump from Douglas county. PG called the friend he was going to ride with, and cancelled.
The next move was to go on the roof, and clean the gutters. It turns out a limb fell on the roof, and tore up a roofing shingle. PG walked up to Lowe’s, got the roof glue, and a package of latex gloves. (NEVER apply roof shingle glue without gloves.) A few minutes later, the roof was in better shape. The rain had not arrived, and the storm seemed to stall at the state line. The people who went hiking are having a great time. You make your decisions, and you live with them.
It has been a while since sticker pictures were posted. PG makes faux stained glass pictures. For the colors, he uses sticker paper and tape. The hobby gives him a great deal of satisfaction. Trying to sell the images is a good idea for a later date.

Andrew Sullivan wears flame resistant britches. There is a story at his place about a man who has developed software called truth goggles. It works in conjunction with a service called PolitiFact, and will highlight questionable verbiage.
You’re reading a wrap-up of the Sept. 22 Republican presidential debate when you land on this claim from Rep. Michele Bachmann: “President Obama has the lowest public approval ratings of any president in modern times.” Really? You start googling for evidence. Maybe you scour the blogs or the fact-checking sites. It takes work, all that critical thinking.
That’s why Dan Schultz … is building what he calls truth goggles — not actual magical eyewear, alas, but software that flags suspicious claims in news articles and helps readers determine their truthiness. It’s possible because of a novel arrangement: Schultz struck a deal with fact-checker PolitiFact for access to its private APIs.
If you had the truth goggles installed and came across Bachmann’s debate claim, the suspicious sentence might be highlighted. You would see right away that the congresswoman’s pants were on fire. And you could explore the data to discover that Bachmann, in fact, wears some of the more flammable pants in politics.
The POTUS approval rating is a meaningless statistic. The veracity of PAR is suspect. If a person tells a lie, about a lie, is that double negative the truth?
The only certain truth is that people tell lies. Attempts to scientifically measure truth are highly problematic. Even if truth goggles were installed on every media device, there would be an issue whether to use a liberal or conservative database. Maybe you should to learn how to think.
Pictures from The Library of Congress . Text is profanity free.

This is the annual Helen Philpot Thanksgiving letter. Her grandson did a good job this year. Dear Family, We lost your Grandpa this year and suddenly everyone wants to be together for the holidays. Well isn’t that just the shit. I hope you all learned your lesson. Treasure your family while they are still here – not after they are gone. Life is a series of lessons. Pay attention. Now about Thanksgiving… Your Aunt Trudy thinks that just because Thanksgiving dinner is at her house this year, I am not in charge. Well bless her heart. Here are the rules: 1- This year Cloe’s jello crap is fine by me. Trudy’s gravy is always a little thin for my taste. A little jello might thicken it up a bit. 2- I respect the cook, but 99% of us respect good food even more. I reserve the right to occupy the kitchen and add an extra stick or two of butter to any dish that doesn’t meet with my satisfaction. And for the record, pepper spray belongs in the kitchen not on college campuses. 3- I respect the debate, but I reserve the right to grab a bar of soap if I hear Bill O’Reilly nonsense coming out of your mouth. 4- You can never have enough paprika in the kitchen. 5- Mary and Rhonda, feel free to bring the children and the pets. Harvey hasn’t let Trudy buy new furniture since 1978. No one will notice an extra stain or two. 6- Trudy – if I have told you once, I have told you a hundred times – add the bacon and the grease. Everything tastes better cooked in bacon grease. 7- Jonathan. Your Republicans have made fools enough of themselves already. Don’t add to the idiot parade by claiming you have liked Newt all along. You liked Michele until Perry came along. You liked Perry until he said oops. And you liked Cain until he groped your wife. It’s just a matter of time until Newt steps in it too. For goodness sakes, his shoes still stink from the last time he ran. Like it or not honey, Romney is taking you to the Prom. 8- Nobody does deviled eggs correctly. You have to use vinegar. 9- Nobody does Republican presidential debates correctly. You have to use your brain. 10- Marshall. Your children can’t sing. There I said it and I am not taking it back. 11- Bacon. Trudy, you just have to trust me on this. Bacon. Your Grandpa Harold knew you loved him. Let’s just be thankful we had him as long as we did. Happy Thanksgiving. I mean it. Really.

One night, PG stayed at the Hostel in the Forest.
Before dinner, the guests gathered in a circle.
Everyone said something they were grateful for.
When PG spoke, he said
“I am grateful for the people at this meeting
who keep their comments down to a short sentence or two”.
Pictures from ” The Special Collections and Archives,Georgia State University Library”

PG does not want to bore you with talk about gratitude. This is a repost .
Pictures are from The Library of Congress.

The original plan was to present a tasteful selection of pictures from The Library of Congress , and not to bother with writing any text. Well, guess what. The plans have changed. The pictures are still there, and you still get to pig out tomorrow. If the text is not amusing, you are free to skip over it.
The first part of today’s festivities is a repeat post about turkeys. The good news is that Sarah Palin is a bit less prominent these days. This might not last very long. The bad news is the dominance of the food product industry. If you read this tonight, you can forget it by tomorrow, and indulge in all the factory furnished fowl you want, and ignore your conscience.

Ben Franklin thought the turkey should be america’s national bird. It is identified with Thanksgiving, the holiday in November before Christmas. Mr. Franklin would not recognize the old bird today.
Turkeys have a tough life these days. Raised in factories where the lights are on 24/7, their beaks and claws are routinely broken off early on. For more details, read this piece in the New York Times,or a tasteful blog, WhatWouldJesusEat.
PETA sometimes goes too far, and sometimes violates good taste. The commercial here was rejected by NBC. It uses the cliche of the little girl praying to call attention to the sorry state of the turkey. While annoying and easy to dismiss, the commercial does tell a tale. HT to JoemyG-d.
PG should fess up at this point, and admit that he is a party to these horrors. A full blown carnivore (except for vienna sausages, which are gross), PG has no room to talk about the horrors of industrial meat production. It is Babylon…the government borrows trillions of dollars from the Chinese to pay for a war in Iraq, a book assembled by a Catholic Committee is called “The word of G-d”, and meat producing animals are raised in squalor.
A person, who is sometimes called a turkey, gave a press conference last year. The photo op was in front of a device that mutilates turkeys, and the meat processing continued while she talked.
The PETA video is no longer available for viewing. A visit to Joemyg-d found this comment. “I used to work for a company that produced annual reports. One year, I was sent on this huge cross country trip to art direct a series of shots for a food processing mega-company, and one of the stops involved a turkey farm. Okay, so you have to understand that turkeys are extremely skittish birds. The slightest thing will set them off, so the farmer kept them in a large, basically dark barn just to keep them under some semblance of control. So we go in, and the photographer sets up the lights, which he gradually turned on so the birds (and me, for that matter) could get used to it. Everything’s going fine. We have the farmer in front of his (literally) hundreds of free-range turkeys. The photographer clicks off the shot… and in doing so sets off a flash he forgot he had triggered. Immediate chaos: birds running everywhere.At least a dozen fainted and died right on the spot. Farmer was none too happy. Neither was the agency.”

William S. Burroughs met his maker a while back. The hypocrisy accountants like to point out the moolah corporate amerika is making by picking the bones of his literary carcass. Those companies are mostly owned by Germans now. The profits are being loaned to Greece, at usurious rates that insure their poverty for the next millenia.
There are two Burroughs famous for writing. The other is Edgar Rice Burroughs, who wrote the Tarzan books. A hippie is someone who dresses like Tarzan, wears his hair like Jane, and smells like Cheetah. There is the Burroughs office equipment company, whose success fueled the decadent lifestyle of William Seward.
Maybe The Cheetah is the place to be on this turkey day. In compliance with United States Code, Title 18, Section 2257, all models, actors, actresses and other persons that appear in any visual depiction of actual sexually explicit conduct, simulated sexual content or otherwise, displayed on our Website, were at least eighteen (18) years of age at the time such depictions were created. Records required to be maintained pursuant to United States Code, Title 18, Section 2257, are kept by the custodian of records at:thecheetah.com | Jack Braglia, VP, Operations | Cheetah Lounge | 887 Spring Street, NW | Atlanta, GA 30308.
Back to Willie Burroughs. The comments at his video give lie to the thought that intelligence is transmitted in a linear fashion. Like the humanoid who opined “William S. Burroughs was nearly jailed for obscenity for his words half a century ago. Now you can find his thanksgiving prayer on youtube, framed by Vevo artist Rhianna, pre-empted by a commerical for Ford Trucks. The revolution will be televised to sell Nike sneakers.” And whoever said that the occupation movement is really about consumerism run amok? “wow! buying stuff is almost as fun as creating something, but only requires the cognitive skills of a counting german shepherd.  consumerism IS better than thinking.”
So, maybe this has gone on long enough. Tomorrow is the day for eating too much, watching overpaid steroid fiends bash each other in the gut, and maybe go to the store for the first round of shopping. But don’t forget to remember…”The neo-liberal is about as liberal as Archie Bunker. They are doctrinaire, intolerant of dissent and essentially unable to think outside of the talking points they get at the Daily Pus and Mania Matters. impressionable. gullible and driven by a deep seated hatred of western civilization, nee Christianity. That may be why they identify with Muslims, Castro and every other species of arrogant ideologue and totalitarian. Neo-Liberalism is a dangerous auto-immune disease.” “Your literary style isn’t effective. It is needlessly flowery and pretentious. Bravo.”

Before Halloween became a costume holiday, people used to dress up on Thanksgiving. The custom of “masking” was practiced. It involved children, in costume, going door to door asking for treats.
Boing Boing has a quotable story on the custom. “Thanksgiving Maskers, what the heck’s that, you ask? Before Halloween became the holiday it now is in the United States, children would dress up in masks on the final Thursday in November and go door to door for treats (think: fruit!), or scramble for pennies. The tradition was known as Thanksgiving Masking. An excerpt from a New York Times article has details of the maskers’ hijinks — which included boys and men running around in women’s clothing. Some of them organized into a society known as “Fantastics.”
Not everyone thought masking was a good idea. “Progressive era reformers regarded child begging on Thanksgiving as immoral and thought children who engaged in it should be arrested. Why were parents not able to control their offspring? the New York Times in 1903 wanted to know. (30) The newspaper castigated parents who allowed children to demand treats or money as indecent.(31) The police tried to enforce a ban against begging. In response to complaints from the public, the clergy, school superintendents, and classroom teachers issued warnings. The New York Times in November of 1930 worried that demanding coins could teach children to become professional beggars and blackmailers and that children were annoying the public.(32) Begging, decided the paper, was a “malicious influence on the morals of children of the city. (33) Boys’ clubs and other child welfare agencies organized parades and costume contests as alternative activities. As a result of these efforts, child begging on Thanksgiving finally disappeared by the 1940s.(34) The tradition went back as far as 1780, involving crossdressing men who called themselves the Fantastics and paraded on the holiday. (from High Beam Research .
Pictures are from The Library of Congress .

There is a lot of talk about Iran and the nuclear bomb. As with most political discussions, it is best to not believe everything you hear. People have motives for what they are telling you, and they are not always honorable. The Repub candidates for POTUS put on a show last night, and a Persian nuke was one topic of conversation.
BLITZER: The argument, Speaker Gingrich — and I know you’ve studied this, and I want you to weigh in — on the sanctioning of the Iranian Central Bank, because if you do that, for all practical purposes, it cuts off Iranian oil exports, 4 million barrels a day. The Europeans get a lot of that oil. They think their economy, if the price of gasoline skyrocketed, which it would, would be disastrous. That’s why the pressure is on the U.S. to not impose those sanctions. What say you?
GINGRICH: Well, I say you — the question you just asked is perfect, because the fact is we ought to have a massive all-sources energy program in the United States designed to, once again, create a surplus of energy here, so we could say to the Europeans pretty cheerfully, that all the various sources of oil we have in the United States, we could literally replace the Iranian oil. Now that’s how we won World War II. …
BACHMANN: But I want to go back to something. That’s the fact why is it that we’re talking about Israel having to make a strike against Iran? It’s because Iran has announced they plan to strike Israel. They’ve stated, as recently as August just before President Ahmadinejad came to — to the U.N. General Assembly. He said that he wanted to eradicate Israel from the face of the earth. He has said that if he has a nuclear weapon he will use it to wipe Israel off the face of the earth. He will use it against the United States of America. This isn’t just an idle threat. This is a reality. And that’s why President Obama has — has failed the American people because for two and a half years he gave the Iran the luxury of time. He met with them with no preconditions. It’s the doctrine of appeasement.
If you want to hear people tell you that an Iranian nuclear bomb is imminent, and that a bloody war is needed to stop them, you can go anywhere and find people to tell you that. There are lots of people who say that. There are also many people who disagree. The other day on Democracy Now, Seymour Hersh blasted a recent report that says Iran is working on a bomb. He says there is little new information in this report. “It’s not a scientific study, Amy. It’s a political document. And it’s a political document in which he’s playing our game.”
Apparently, Iran is under intense surveillance these days. According to Hersh, there is little concrete evidence that a bomb is being produced. It is ironic that this attention is focused on Iran today. In the seventies, when Iran had close ties with America, the country was swarming with CIA agents. They were there to spy on the Soviet Union, and ignored the internal affairs of Iran. When the revolution came, and the Shah was kicked out, the USA was allegedly taken by surprise.
The revolution, and the hostage crisis that came later, is a key to understanding the American attitude about an Iranian bomb. We have never gotten adequate revenge for the humiliation of the hostage crisis. Sponsoring Iraq in a bloody war against Iran wasn’t enough. There are elements in our country which have a grudge against Iran, and the Islamic government there. An invasion, and a few million dead Muslims, is what many people want. (One irony of the propaganda is talk of concern about the human rights of the Iranian people. Yes, the current regime treats it’s people badly. However, an invasion of Iran would kill thousands, perhaps millions, of these same people.)
Iran knows that it has enemies. It is in a bad neighborhood. It shares a border with Pakistan, an unstable country with a nuclear bomb. It shares a border with Iraq, which invaded it thirty one years ago, and killed several hundred thousand people. It shares a border with Afghanistan, the source of the world’s heroin, and a bloody war to control the heroin trade. It shares a border with three former Soviet republics, who might have nuclear weapons. It shares a border with former imperial power Turkey. Iran has territories that would be included in a future Kurdistan and Baluchistan. It is a few hundred miles from theological rival Saudi Arabia. It is a short jet ride away from nuclear armed Israel, which cannot say enough bad things about Iran. It is totally understandable that Iran would want to have a nuclear weapon to defend herself.
Israel is one of the leading cheerleaders for a war with Iran. It claims that a nuclear armed Iran is an “existential threat”. During the Iran-Iraq war, there were some shady arms deals going on with the Iranian government. Israel was the middleman on these deals. Perhaps, when there is money to be made, you help your mortal enemy buy weapons.
Israel has a nuclear bomb. It also does not get along with it’s neighbors. The West Bank, and Gaza, are hell holes today. When Israel is screaming about Iran, she can ignore the Palestinians.
Many people recognize the foolishness of an attack on Iran. Some say that cooler heads will prevail, and World War III will be started over some other issue. Others disagree, and want to turn Tehran into a parking lot.

This is a double repost . Two score and eight years ago, America changed. Like 911, we will never know the complete story. Like 911, we soon found ourselves in a hopeless war. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress .
When PG typed in the title of this segment, he was reminded what day this was. This was the day John Kennedy went to the oval office in the sky. The legend is that Marilyn Monroe greeted him. It was forty eight years ago.
The bullets hit Mr.Kennedy at 12:30. He arrived at the hospital at 12:37. He had a faint heartbeat on arrival, but quickly succumbed to his wound.
In Georgia, PG was nine years old. He was in Miss Mckenzie’s fourth grade class. There was going to be an assembly soon, and the class was going to perform. There was a rehearsal in the cafetorium, and some of the kids were acting up. They went back to the class, and PG thought they were going to be chewed out about the misbehavior in the cafetorium. Instead, Miss Mckenzie came into the room, and told the kids that President Kennedy had been shot during a parade in Dallas Texas. She did not say anything about his condition. One kid cheered the news.
School let out at the regular time, and PG walked home. His mother and brother were crying. He was told that the president had died. The cub scouts meeting that afternoon was canceled.
Later that night, a plane arrived in Washington. The tv cameras showed a gruesome looking man walk up to a microphone. He was introduced as President Lyndon Johnson. This may have been the worst moment of that day.

PG woke up, and saw rain and fog. On a day like this in November, there is nothing like a football game. Today the Falcons will play the Giants in New York. Jimmy Hoffa is tailgating.
The Falcons won their first game in New York, in 1966. The Giants were having a bad year. The coach was a man named Allie Sherman, and the crowd in the original Yankee Stadium waved handkerchiefs and sang ” Goodbye Allie”.
At this time 48 years ago, a parade was lining up in Dallas. President Kennedy was shot in that parade. The theories started soon after, and have never been satisfied. Many people had a motive.
Another mystery is the role of J. Edgar Hoover. Many speculate that Mr. Hoover knew of a plan to kill Kennedy.The FBI could have stopped the killing, but allowed it to happen. This would be the case even if Oswald acted alone. It is reasonable to assume that the FBI had Mr. Oswald under surveillance, and knew that he was working in a building on the parade route.

Recently, some party promoters tried to have a get together with a native american theme. Hissy fits were thrown, knickers were twisted , and the party was called off. The party promoters are now trying a socially conscious approach.
The new party theme at Bedlam is fracking awesome. Canucopia with an inclusive celebratory theme. Social activism can change things in our community into reflections of all in the rainbow that is us not just the dominate majority that can no longer by themselves shape the conversation that is queer. Now I encourage everyone that so radically opposed the last Bedlam party to support this one and help feed the hunger challenged in and about our community. Super radical social activism is super fresh and out of sight dope.
Oh my, where to begin? This may be the first time anyone, not employed by a natural gas producer, has referred to fracking as awesome. Is this party going to drill holes and set off explosives in those holes? This will free up natural gas, for easier extraction. The problem comes when you try to drink the ground water later.
“Super radical social activism is super fresh and out of sight dope.” To celebrate social consciousness, you get together, take legal drugs, and wipe out your animal consciousness. That is somebody’s idea of a good time.
The commercialization of activism has a profitable history. As a facebook friend noted: “In my 63 years, I have seen many expressions of the American Civil Rights movement but none have been as successful as OWS when it comes to commercialization. The New York Fashion Industry is building it’s upcoming collections around OWS fashion trends. Five star chefs have been serving up Civil Disobedience Cuisine. Billionaire Rappers and Rock Stars have used Zuccotti Park to promote their new CD’s and now we have Porn video shot at an OWS location. .”
The occupation autuers are Dirty Boy Video. “We at Dirty Boy Video believe in free expression, challenging the status quo, and standing up to inequality and injustice. With all the appalling footage of police brutality, surely our video of two people actually being nice to each other should offend no one! “
When you google the quoted phrase in the paragraph above, the fun really starts. The top result is A PAGE OF QUOTATIONS. I never got any complaints. – Assistant Commandant at Aushwitz, 11/01/1964 … The kind of man who wants the government to adopt and enforce his ideas is always the kind of man whose ideas are idiotic. – H.L. Mencken … My freedom is more important than your good idea. – Bumper Sticker .
Pictures are from ” The Special Collections and Archives,Georgia State University Library”