Chamblee54

Writerspot, in addition to some exercises that PG abuses, a selected author of the month. Today, it is Allen Ginsberg. When going to the inevitable website, PG learned that Peter Orlovsky died May 30, 2010. Mr. Orlovsky was the longtime lover of Mr. Ginsberg. Clearly, it was time to hit the keyboard.
Allen Ginsberg had a part in many new age dramas, with a few musicals and comedies thrown in for good measure. Hippie, beatnik, gay, artist, peace promoter, Buddhist convert…these are a few of the labels. He became famous for being famous, well known to people who never read a word of his poems. Two of the more famous were howl and kaddish.
Howl became scandalous in 1956 when it was busted for obscenity. It is mild by today’s standards, but almost landed Mr. Ginsberg in prison. PG heard about howl in the early nineties, and looked high and low for a copy. He could not find one. Today on the internet, not only is the print widely available, there are recordings of Mr. Ginsberg reading his work.
The original plan was to listen to Mr. Ginsberg read while editing photos. PG was going to listen to the words, and think of something to say while listening to the bard. About the seventeenth time Mr. Ginsberg shouted “Moloch”, the plan began to fall apart.
The next poem was Kaddish. This is about Naomi Ginsberg, the mother of the poet, who evidently had some issues. This was tough for PG to listen to. The other night, PG had a disturbing dream about his own late mother. In this dream, a fearsome shouter came in wearing a black suit, which meant that he intended to do some scary shouting. PG went into another room, where his recently deceased mother was laying on a table.
In the aftermath of his mother’s passing, PG worked closely with an aggressive Jesus worshiper, who enjoyed humiliation for Jesus. This person declared war on PG, when asked to turn his radio down. PG feels like Jesus let him down, and finds it difficult to forgive the so called son of G-d. As he often does, PG focused on the pictures, many of which were of Atlanta in 1956.
1956 was the year of the obscenity trial for howl. This took place on the other side of america, from the Brookhaven where PG was two years old. This was the year when his brother was born, the year when the Georgia legislature voted in a new flag, for whatever reason. The year before, President Eisenhower had a heart attack. Many people wondered if it was a good idea to have Richard Nixon as the vice president.
Finally, PG could stand no more of that voice. The player was turned off, the files stored on an external hard drive, never to be heard again. PG just is not a poetry person. The pictures, edited while listening to Allen Ginsberg in performance, are from the ” Special Collections and Archives,Georgia State University Library”

Tipper and Al Gore have separated after 40 years of marriage. Mr. Gore was Vice President under Bill Clinton, and won the popular vote for President in the 2000 election.
If the Gore’s had moved into the White House, then Tipper would probably continued the unfortunate tradition of celebrity First Lady. As it was, Laura Bush played a low key role. This is one of the few things that PG admires about the Bush regime.
PG saw a personal appearance once by the Gores and Hillary Clinton. It was a rally in Downtown Atlanta during the 1992 election. Tipper Gore said (not an exact quote) that Hillary is just as warm and friendly in person as she is in public.
Pictures are from the ” Special Collections and Archives,Georgia State University Library”

There is a lot of talk now about the flotilla to Gaza, that was attacked by Israel. Here is more.
– A lot of the pro Israel talkers use the terms Hamas and Gaza interchangeably. This is not accurate. The territory and people are Gaza. There is a political party called Hamas, that is currently in control of the territory. Food and construction supplies for the people are not the same as weapons for Hamas.
-Hamas won an election in Gaza. When you have elections, your neighbors might not like who won. Your neighbor might impose an embargo, control access to your territory, or attack you with depleted uranium and white phosphorus.
– This quote catches the eye. “The Israeli (and I am hesitant to say “IDF” here–it lets too many politicians off the hook) media spin machine was ready to go. When you see a detailed multi-page report ready to go within an hour or two of an insanely chaotic military action (of any kind), it is bull shit, plain and clear. Just try reading reports about the Normandy invasion in history books in 2010. Now imagine trying to read the same level of detail, etc. a few hours after the first wave hit the beaches. You get my point. The ‘tragic tale’ was ready to go well before the first commando slid down the rope…”
– This is in the comments of another post. “I mean, so far as I understand it, “Hamas” isn’t a country. So Israel is not “at war” with Hamas. In any case, what’s being blockaded is not “Hamas,” but an area of Gaza. Is Israel at war with Gaza? All of it? Part of it? “You are quite correct. For Israel to legally blockade Hamas, it would have to recognize Gaza as a belligerent, which would be a de facto recognition of its independence and entitle Gaza to the rights of belligerents under the Hague Convention of 1899, including, among other things, the responsibility to treat Palestinian prisoners from Gaza as prisoners of war, which Israel does not do.”
– Here are the weapons found on the boat where the fighting took place. Is this what armed terrorists use when they take on the mighty IDF? BTW, Lawrenceofcyberia is the blog name of the week.
– Is it a coincidence that this happened during the Memorial Day weekend? Many Americans were at the beach, and not watching the news.
This is enough idle chatter for this corner of the internet. If you want to read more about this affair, look anywhere current events are discussed. Keep a grain of salt handy. Pictures for this feature are from The Library of Congress.

These examples of bad writing are not original to this blog.//Pictures are from The Library of Congress. They are primitive photographs known as Daguerreotypes, and were taken between 1844 and 1860. Many of the men were prominent at the time.//The red brick wall was the color of a brick-red Crayola crayon.- Unknown// He spoke with the wisdom that can only come from experience, like a guy who went blind because he looked at a solar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it and now goes around the country speaking at high schools about the dangers of looking at a solar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it. – Joseph Romm, Washington// She caught your eye like one of those pointy hook latches that used to dangle from screen doors and would fly up whenever you banged the door open again.– Rich Murphy, Fairfax Station//The little boat gently drifted across the pond exactly the way a bowling ball wouldn’t.– Russell Beland, Springfield //McBride fell 12 stories, hitting the pavement like a Hefty Bag filled with vegetable soup.– Paul Sabourin, Silver Spring//From the attic came an unearthly howl. The whole scene had an eerie, surreal quality, like when you’re on vacation in another city and “Jeopardy” comes on at 7 p.m. instead of 7:30.– Roy Ashley, Washington//Her hair glistened in the rain like nose hair after a sneeze.– Chuck Smith, Woodbridge//Her eyes were like two brown circles with big black dots in the center.– Russell Beland, Springfield//Bob was as perplexed as a hacker who means to access T:flw.quid55328.com\aaakk/ch@ung but gets T:\flw.quidaaakk/ch@ung by mistake– Ken Krattenmaker, Landover Hills//Her vocabulary was as bad as, like, whatever.– Unknown///He was as tall as a six-foot-three-inch tree.– Jack Bross, Chevy Chase//The hailstones leaped from the pavement, just like maggots when you fry them in hot grease. – Gary F. Hevel, Silver Spring//Her date was pleasant enough, but she knew that if her life was a movie this guy would be buried in the credits as something like”Second Tall Man.”– Russell Beland, Springfield// Long separated by cruel fate, the star-crossed lovers raced across the grassy field toward each other like two freight trains, one having left Cleveland at 6:36 p.m. traveling at 55 mph, the other from Topeka at 4:19 p.m. at a speed of 35 mph.– Jennifer Hart, Arlington//The politician was gone but unnoticed, like the period after the Dr. on a Dr Pepper can.– Wayne Goode, Madison, Ala.//They lived in a typical suburban neighborhood with picket fences that resembled Nancy Kerrigan’s teeth.– Paul Kocak, Syracuse, N.Y.//John and Mary had never met. They were like two hummingbirds who had also never met.– Russell Beland, Springfield//The thunder was ominous-sounding, much like the sound of a thin sheet of metal being shaken backstage during the storm scene in a play.– Barbara Fetherolf, Alexandria //His thoughts tumbled in his head, making and breaking alliances like underpants in a dryer without Cling Free.– Chuck Smith, Woodbridge//

Chamblee54 is normally a profanity free blog. However, for this piece, certain cuss words are essential to the free flow of information. In other words IF YOU DON’T LIKE CUSS WORDS, YOU DO NOT NEED TO READ THE TEXT.
This text is going to be gender insensitive and use the male form throughout. Just remember, when you read he, it also means she and it. Or, she it. If you are from the south, you will enjoy that last comment.
Recently, a radio whiner referred to a study, that said that one third of all people were not qualified to have opinions. This was said before a commercial break, without saying why this percentage should be without opinions. Possible reasons would be lack of education, inability to think critically, or a disturbing tendency to disagree with the person doing the study.
When it comes to opinions about opinions, there are several classic lines. There is the crowd pleaser “opinions are like assholes, everybody’s got theirs”.
This is missing the mark. Opinions have more in common with the shit that comes out of an asshole. Feces is the result of the food that is fed into the digestive system, just like opinions are the result of information (and misinformation) fed into the thought system. And, as doodoo is influenced by the digestive system, opinions are influenced by the attitudes, and thought patterns, of the individual. They both stink.
Another golden oldie is “Four Jews, Five opinions”. The numbers in the formula change from time to time, but that is the basic concept. There is also “You are entitled to your opinion”. This is usually said when you disagree with what you have just heard.
When the Supreme Court issues a ruling on a case, It is called an Opinion. Sometimes, a justice will write a dissenting opinion.
When getting an insurance company to pay for a procedure, you often need to get a second opinion.
Opinions are frequently more valued by the giver than by the receiver. Some opinions are best kept to the owner. You should be wary of someone who feels that his shit does not stink, because he will usually feel the same about his opinions.
Opinions are seldom humble, no matter what the owner of the opinion might say. In fact, the act of holding an opinion is often self aggrandizing, and contrary to humility.
You don’t have to have an opinion about everything. Many things are beyond or control, or do not interest you. Also, you should be wary of those who try to “fire up” your opinions. Often these people do not have the best of motives.
Opinions are seen as a way of asserting ones individuality. Many people have lives of quiet desperation, full of struggle and turmoil. There are many situations where what the individual thinks is simply useless to the powers that be. In times like this, having opinions can restore a sense of self worth to the individual. I am somebody. I have my opinion.

The subject of today’s round table is reality.
The first stop on this bumpy road was kikoshouse. PG saw a feature there about the US Army. It seems that at Fort Campbell, there is a problem with soldiers committing suicide. (Any Jihadist [spell check suggestions:Sadist, Jingoist] reading this can go find their own blow uppers.) The commander of the 101st Airborne Division is a take charge type, Brig. Gen. Stephen J. Townsend. He, in so many words, ordered the soldiers to stop killing themselves. “If you don’t remember anything else I say in the next five or 10 minutes, remember this — suicidal behavior in the 101st on Fort Campbell is bad. It’s bad for soldiers, it’s bad for families, bad for your units, bad for this division and our army and our country and it’s got to stop now. Suicides at Fort Campbell have to stop now.”
At the other end of the life cycle, there is the teenage abstinence program. The poster girl is Bristol Palin. Yes, the same Bristol who fornicated in her parents house. The same Bristol who had her baby, and broke up with the babydaddy, amid numerous hard feelings. Some people find this not real. And who is caring for baby Tripp while Mama Bristol talks up abstinence?
There is a blog called TwentyTwoWords. The idea is to express yourself in under 22 words. Some people obey this rule. The concept today was “Is a blog with comments somehow a truer blog than those that have comments off? Occasionally, I encounter the opinion online that a blog isn’t a real blog if it doesn’t have comments. What do you think?”
The first comment was by Chamblee54. “Not knowing what real means, I consulted Wiktionary. Adjective #7… That is an exemplary or pungent instance of a class or type” 21 words, one number, and the pound sign.
At this point, PG went to the mailbox, and found a check in the mail. It was a reality check. When he took it to the bank, it was rejected for having insufficient funds.
The Memorial Saturday feature is a repost. The pictures are from The Library of Congress.
In the past year, Bristol Palin (spell check suggestions: Pain, Plain) has signed with a speakers bureau, and will make speeches about saying no. TwentyTwo words has abandoned the 22 word limit.

There is talk about missile defenses. As attack rockets get cheaper and more popular, and the nuclear genie creeps further out of the bottle, people want to do something to stop enemy attack rockets. There is a reason they call it rocket science.
One thing to consider is what happens to the warhead, when the propulsion section of the rocket is hit. It seems to PG that the payload would continue to go forward. It might not go as far, or to the intended target, but it is continuing to go. And if it is a nuclear weapon, then it does not have to be especially accurate. A nuke makes a big hole.
The fallout and radiation from a nuclear weapon would not be stopped by a defense missile. A big chunk of the earth would be contaminated by this explosion.
On a vaguely related note, PG answered a poll recently. The question was, what was the first Bob Dylan record you bought, and in what format? The poll was at a site called 22words, which is currently tagged as an “attack site” when you try to pull it up.
The first BD that I got was probably “Blind Boy Grunt”, on vinyl. It was a bootleg, recorded in a New York hotel around 1961. The favorite would be “Blonde on Blonde”, with “Highway 61”, “John Wesley Harding”, “Bringing it all back home” and “another side” not far behind.
I saw him with the band at the omni in 1974, and was not impressed. I won tickets to see him at the house of blues during the 1996 olympics, and could barely hear what he said, the sound was so bad.
I got a book about him at the library a few months ago. I got disgusted after about fifty pages. This story is on my blog .
Mr. Zimmerman has the same birth surname as Ethel Merman. May 24 is also the birthday of Queen Victoria and Patti Labelle. It is the day that Samuel Morse sent the message ” What hath G-d wrought” over the telegraph, starting the age of electric communication.
Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. HT to dangerousminds for the videos. John Waters used to stay at the Cheshire Motor Inn when he came to Atlanta.
Update:The situation at 22 words apparently has been resolved.

Sometimes you make the effort. The stuff at home can wait, and something is going on downtown. You put long pants and shoes on, wash your face, and get in the car. Sometimes it is worth it. Sometimes you would have been better off staying home.
There are arts festivals in town this Memorial Day. Thursday, the uberhipone downtown had a visual art opening and spoken word stage. A magic word…FREE…got PG interested. The space was a mattress factory that PG had delivered foam rubber to 38 years before.
So he drives down Briarcliff, through Little Five Points, past the hundred motorcycles parked outside the Vortex. On down Moreland, and some idiot is riding a pedal bike, without a light, through the tunnel. Finally bikeboi cut across the road, no doubt headed to the shopping center. Gentrification is so much fun.
Finally, the gallery is in sight, and PG realizes he is clueless where to park. He goes up the ramp, and sees two cars backing out of the section on the left side of the lot. He asks one of these cars what is going on, and learns that the lot is full. Suburbanite PG has little taste for art without parking, and decided he needed to go home.
A bit down the road on MLK is an entrance to the expressway, which seemed like a good idea. The normal procedure here… the least bad way to get home…is to get off the freeway at Buford Hiway.This night was an exception.
First, before you get to Lenox Road, there were seven APD cars, blue lights flashing, and one civilian car. This didn’t really affect PG, and considers that maybe it is a good idea to arrest that person.
On the other side of the light, across Peachtree Creek and the city limit, there was another gathering of blue lights. Everyone was stopped, and cars were forming lines. It looked like another accident, or maybe some roadwork.
It was a roadblock. In every lane were policeman, with orange vests over their uniforms. PG was in a line, and more annoyed than worried. He was 21 years retired from alcohol, the insurance was paid up, and the seat belt was buckled.
There was that chilling thought that his freedom was in jeopardy. If the fuzz took a mind to, PG could go to jail and lose his car. Doing nothing wrong has nothing to do with it.
The cop shouted “we have a line open here, come over this way”. PG looked to the side, and moved into this lane. He drove slowly through, expecting to see a Storm Trooper at any minute, reading him his rights. As it happened, no policeman was working that lane. PG just slowly drove through, and was never asked to stop.

Listening to the news shows that came on before the cartoons, PG heard the phrase “President Eisenhower”. As a friends explained to him, G-d made everything, but the President is Eisenhower.
When he was six, PG moved to a new house, and started first grade. There was an election that fall, and someone named Kennedy became President. PG wasn’t old enough to pay attention to the news yet, except when it looked like the Russians were going to kill us all in 1962.
The first news story that PG clearly remembers was the day when his fourth grade teacher, Miss McKenzie, told the class that President Kennedy had been shot. One of the worst moments that weekend was the moment when a plane landed in Washington, and the new President spoke on television. THAT was the new President? Yuck.
Lyndon Johnson was a larger than life figure, and was ultimately hated by millions of Amuricuns. While there was some good done by LBJ, it was overshadowed by the War in Vietnam.When he left office in 1968, the voters had possibly the worst choice ever…Hubert Humphrey or Richard Nixon.
Tricky Dick Nixon is another larger than life figure, with millions of Americans screaming for his impeachment. For some reason, there were others who passionately admired the man.
In 1973, the oil companies tried to say there was an oil shortage. Later that year, Egypt, Syria, and Jordan attacked Israel, and the Arab oil producers cut oil to the USA. After this embargo, OPEC was in charge of the oil supply, and the price of gasoline increased 200%. The era of big money oil was on. What a convenient war.
After the ethical shortcomings of Mr. Nixon became too obnoxious to ignore, Gerald Ford became President. On a policy level, Ford was like all the other Presidents…some things he got right, some things he got wrong. On a personality level…the show business part…Ford excelled. His family provided harmless fodder for the gossipmongers. He was a likable man, a welcome break from the meanness of Richard Nixon and Lyndon Johnson.
When PG was a kid at Ashford Park School, there had never been a President from Georgia. It seemed impossible. When Georgia Governor Jimmy Carter announced he was running, it seemed like another ego tripper running for President. The funny thing is, he won. It still seems a bit unreal, like having the Olympics in Atlanta.
Jimmy was a Democrat, with attack Republicans fighting him every step of the way. This is a problem later Democrats in the Oval Office will have. On the policy level, he did better than many realize. Many of his achievements only bore fruit after he left office. On the show biz front, his down home Georgia routine did not appeal to many Yankees. When he was trounced in 1980, he was beaten by an actor.
PG was worried when Ronald Reagan took office. With America’s nuclear arsenal, and the Soviet Union wheezing it’s threat, many thought that Ronnie would start the war to kill us all. The good news is, this war never happened. Whatever tough talk came out of Washington was not matched by military adventurism abroad.
Reagan was the master of show business. He was an actor, playing the greatest role of his career. It was said that if America had a figure head monarch, Reagan would have been terrific. On the policy front, taxes were cut, and the budget increased. The national debt went over a trillion dollars, which was seen as a horrible moment. (The annual budget deficit is now over a trillion dollars.)
When Mr. Reagan’s two terms were over, George H.W. Bush took over. This was an era where the Democrats could not do anything right on a national level. Bush presided over a war, and brought the troops home when the mission was over. His show business image never really took off, though, and the whiners were not pleased. A computer salesman named Ross Perot decided to run as a third party candidate.
In the winter of 1992, PG had a little job downtown. One day, there was a rally at the CNN center for a little known Presidential candidate. PG went, and said to a friend, If this guy gets elected, you are going to regret not going to see him. At the time, War Winner Bush seemed unbeatable, and PG said that with high sarcasm.
When he got to CNN center, it was obvious that a big money event was unfolding. The place was packed, with school children bussed in to fill all the seats. Finally, the speakers blared “Twist and Shout” at top volume, and Bill Clinton walked on the stage. PG was not especially impressed.
Clinton inspired toxic hatred, but managed to keep the boat floating. He won reelection, with the Republicans seeming to self destruct. The economy was going good, the budget was balanced, and the haters went wild. After a entertaining sex scandal, the Clinton years were over.
A couple of weeks before the 2000 election, PG liked neither candidate, and did not think it made much difference. (With Georgia’s electoral votes certain to go Republican, PG did not have a vote.) He listened to someone talking, who thought that it was important that Gore won. PG remembered that conversation often during the next eight years.
George W. Bush was a disaster. It is possible that 911 was a personal vendetta against the Bush family, and would not have happened if Gore was President. The reaction of Bush to this tragedy was to start two wars that we have not been able to finish.
Finally, we have Barack Obama, the first dark skinned President. He has continued the war happy ways of the Bush regime. BHO will probably be reelected in 2012, and given four more years to wage war. Pictures for this feature are from the The Library of Congress.

BHO seems to be making both right and left wingers mad at him. At one level, this is a sign that he is doing his job. When you go a bit deeper, you begin to wonder.
The one complaint involves Memorial Day. Traditionally, POTUS puts a wreath on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. BHO is going to be elsewhere, and VPOTUS Joe Biden is going to fill in. One putrid blogger is getting upset.
This person claims to speak for our soldiers, and says that “they” do not respect BHO. This may be true for some. However, our military is made of free men and women, who don’t have a unanimous opinion about anything. Add to this the large numbers of African Americans in the service, who possibly share the pride of civilian African Americans in a dark skinned POTUS. One wonders how Mr. Erickson made this call.
It was also noted that Mr. Reagan and Mr. Bush, the elder, played hooky on Memorial Day wreath laying. As the putrid blogger tweets “Diff b/w Reagan and Bush not going to Tomb and Obama? No one questioned their support for soldiers and belief in American Exceptionalism.” No one? Of course, Daddy Bush pulled the troops out of Babylon, after their mission was over, instead of leaving them in a quagmire.
And now for something completely different. It seems like the military is being sent on clandestine missions in countries we are not at war with. The idea is to pave the way for future actions, most notably in Iran. First we help Iran by getting Archenemy Saddam out of power, then we plan a military strike against them.
The New York Times has a piece about this latest development. Apparently the reporting was censored. “The Times, responding to concerns about troop safety raised by an official at United States Central Command, the military headquarters run by General Petraeus (spell check suggestion:Petroleum), withheld details about how troops could be deployed in certain countries.”
HT to Obsidianwings and Andisheh Nouraee (spell check suggestions: Blandish, Outlandish, Entourage, Courage) . Pictures are from The Library of Congress.

This story was originally posted by Gartalker. Pictures are from the ” Special Collections and Archives,Georgia State University Library”
Recently I was asked by a funeral director to play my bagpipes at a graveside service for a homeless man. He had no family or friends, so the service was to be at a pauper’s cemetery in the Kentucky back-country.
As I was not familiar with the backwoods, I got lost; and being a typical man I didn’t stop for directions. I finally arrived an hour late and saw the funeral guy had evidently gone and the hearse was nowhere in sight.There were only the diggers and crew left and they were eating lunch.
I felt badly and apologized to the men for being late. I went to the side of the grave and looked down and the vault lid was already in place. I didn’t know what else to do, so I started to play.
The workers put down their lunches and began to gather around. I played out my heart and soul for this man with no family and friends. I played like I’ve never played before for this homeless man.
And as I played ‘Amazing Grace,’ the workers began to weep. They wept, I wept, and we all wept together. When I finished I packed up my bagpipes and started for my car. Though my head hung low, my heart was full.
As I was opening the door to my car, I heard one of the worker say, “Sweet Mother of Jesus, I never seen nothing like that before and I’ve been putting in septic tanks for twenty years.”

There is a bloggingheads diavlog up now about tea partiers. At about the 38 minute mark, Bob “sex symbol” Wright says “there’s a certain vagueness at the core”. It seems like fiscal responsibility is a buzz word…everyone is for it, but no one agrees how to get it.
Carl Hiassen makes a similar point. His column this week is about some of the things that nasty big government does. Like inspect food, give warnings for hurricanes, and provide material for comedians.
The numbers do not look good. One estimate of the population is 307006550, with a national debt of over $ 12,957,610,742,337. This works out to $42,206.00 per person.
The United States is in two wars at the moment ( that we know of). We have 100k troops in Afghanistan and 95k troops in Iraq. The cost of supporting these troops, in addition to the cost of caring for soldiers wounded in these operations, is immense.
PG has always been suspicious of anyone who says they are a fiscal conservative, and yet supports the wars in Babylon. Having 195k troops deployed eight time zones away=big government.
The reaction of our media is to obsess over whether a nit wit politician in Kentucky would have voted for a bill passed in 1964. This goes beyond arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. This is arguing what color you would have painted them.
Pictures are from The Library of Congress. The elders of the day worried about the young people. Thank you dangerousminds(spell check suggestion:Dangerfield) for the animation. Go take his survey, but only if you buy stuff that will impress his advertisers.