Chamblee54

Sarah Palin recently spoke at the NRA convention in Charlotte, NC. She told redneck jokes.
“Some of these animal activists are just…crazy,” she said. “They think we’re killing Bambi’s mother. I love animals, but in Alaska, Bambi’s mother is dinner.”
“You’re a redneck if you’ve ever had dinner on a ping pong table.”
“You’re a redneck if you’ve ever had a custody fight over a hunting dog. Well, Todd and I haven’t, but we’ve got friends who have!”
“You’re a redneck if your honeymoon was a hunting trip. That was us!”
“You’re a redneck if you’ve ever used a fishing license as ID.”
“You’re a redneck if you’ve ever slept in the back of a pickup rather than pay for a hotel.
“You’re a redneck if you’ve ever said to your husband, ‘Honey, move the transmission so I can take a bath.’
“And you’re a redneck if you think the last words of ‘The Star Spangled Banner’ are ‘PLAY BALL!”
“You’re a redneck if your daughter’s babydaddy calls himself a f*****g redneck on facebook.”
Thank you Matt Taibbi and the NY Daily News. Mrs. Palin did not really say all of those things.
Pictures are from The Library of Congress. Ansel Adams took pictures of Japanese Americans, in a World War Two internment camp. The ladies in the bridge game are Aiko Hamaguchi, Chiye Yamanaki, Catherine Yamaguchi, and Kazoko Nagahama.

One big news story this week is the nomination of Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court. SCOTUS is something that PG usually ignores. Yes, it is important, but PG is not a lawyer, and knows little about the arguments. In addition, Georgia is represented in the senate by two notorious republicans, who seldom think about ITP Atlanta. PG has little say so in this matter.
That did not stop a radio preacher from sending PG an email about Miss Kagan. It seems as though the Miss Kagan did not want military recruiters working Harvard Law School. The radio whiner was offended by this.
PG had gotten annoying emails from this clown before. It seems like once, in 2007, PG heard something offensive on the radio show, and wrote an email about it. The address got on the email newsletter list. PG never asked to receive the email newsletter.
PG was in the middle of a frustrating afternoon, involving car care issues, and was in no mood for unwelcome rhetoric. He sent a reply email to the radio preacher. The next time PG checked the email, there was another message from the preacher. Expecting to find a reply to his comments, PG found a second copy of the original email. PG was upset by this point, and sent a strongly worded message to the radio preacher.
When the preacher sent a reply, there was no word on why he sent the original email twice. Instead, he proceeded to insult PG. “Get some logic and thinking skills of your own and then respond to my letter. Do not send me other people’s thinking that is watery and poorly thought through. You have no point. You merely call names and parrot others.”
PG sent a reply. The preacher’s answer was, you can unsubscribe at any time.
There is a good bit of chatter about Miss Kagan at the moment. To paraphrase a bloggingheads diavlog that did discuss the Harvard recruiter affair, this is what the chattering class does. The BH diavlog referred to felt that the business of the recruiters at Harvard was a minor, symbolic affair, that was not a good tool to “Judge” Miss Kagan by. PG agrees, and said as much in one of the emails to the preacher. This is another point the preacher ignored.
Pictures are from The Library of Congress. “The Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii Collection features color photographic surveys of the vast Russian Empire made between ca. 1905 and 1915.” The pictures shown today are digital composites, made from negatives between 1905 and 1915.

It started at Peach Pundit, with an open thread about the “fair tax”. PG felt obligated to make a couple of comments.
“One of the good things about writing a blog is you can express yourself. You can write something longer than a few words. No one will interrupt you…a major problem in vocal conversation. And, once you have expressed yourself, you can move on to something else.
Back when my blog was still on Blogspot, I wrote a piece about the “fair tax” . A certain loudmouth radio entertainer is still flogging this donkey, but some of us have moved on.”
“So much for being consistent. The miracle of advanced search has found another “fair tax”post . This one compares the FT to a Presidential candidate. The candidate is living in the White House.”
To the second comment, Lady Thinker added “Scary isn’t it?”.
OK, reader(s), we have a treat for you today. We are reposting three commentaries about the “fair tax”. To help with the eyestrain, we are publishing pictures from the ” Special Collections and Archives,Georgia State University Library”. The pictures are better focused than most of the chatter about the “fair tax”.
There is an issue these days called the “fair tax”. There are lots of folks in favor of this, and at times I wish I could join the party. However, there are many things to think about.
The Camel Syndrome A camel is a horse made by a committee. This is how laws are made, by committees and general assemblies. The process is often compared to the procedure that converts hog parts into sausage.
The “fair tax” might sound like a good idea at this stage. Congress has not enacted it into law, however. If this were to happen, there would be amendments. There would be a house version and a senate version, which would be cobbled into a single entity. The Frankenstein stitches would be in full view, though probably ignored by the media. At all stages of the journey, the lawmakers will be hearing from those who finance them, with “suggestions” about this new tax scheme. If the “fair tax” ever goes to the President for his signature, you can rest assured that it will be very different from the proposal that Squeal uses to sell books. In fact, it will be as different from the original proposal as Joe Camel is from Secretariat.
The law of unexpected consequences The American economy is a marvel of history. Our economy has given the United States a lifestyle unique in the history of the world.
Now, free market “conservatives” don’t want to tell you this, but the role of the Government in this economy is huge. Many business decisions are guided by the tax implications. Government spending, often with borrowed money, is a driving force behind many industries.
The truth is, we don’t know how the “fair tax”would affect the economy. And we won’t know until it is put into place, at which point it will be too late.
Who do you believe? Neal Boortz, aka Squeal, enthusiastically supports the “fair tax”. An Atlanta based talk show host with a national audience, he co wrote a book about the “fair tax” with republican congressman John Linder.
Squeal has a disclaimer on his web page: ALWAYS REMEMBER Don’t believe anything you read on this web page, or, for that matter, anything you hear on The Neal Boortz Show, unless it is consistent with what you already know to be true, or unless you have taken the time to research the matter to prove its accuracy to your satisfaction. This is known as “doing your homework.”
Squeal is an entertainer, and a cynic. I cannot prove it, but I don’t think Neal Boortz really believes in the “fair tax”. This is the star he has hitched his wagon to, and it has taken him places. You can always get attention by trashing the taxman. But can you provide a good alternative?
There is a blog called Deer Hunting with Jesus , where Joe Bageant shares his view of the world. He compares the world view of the media to a hologram…you can see it, it appears real from a distance, but if you try to slap it your hand keeps on going.
Squeal, much as he may deny it, is a creation of main stream media.(Cox Enterprises is mainstream media.) He is a creation partner of the hologram, and I think he knows this. This smokescreen talk about a “fair tax” is just another game.

The following was originally posted January 7, 2008.
The original concept was for this post to be about either the “fair tax” or Barack Obama. The more I think, the more similarities I see between the two.
I can start with Mr. O. With his rock star looks and charisma, and the fact that he is not Hillary, his train seems unstoppable. It would be a symbolic moment if a dark skinned man were elected President, even if he is not the descendent of slaves. Yes, he has always been opposed to the War in Babylon.
Maybe he is just a photogenic front man, without any substance. The same could be said of Ronald Reagan, and America really didn’t do too badly under him. Just who is pulling the strings on this puppet with star quality?
My main question with the man is how is he going to deal with the military machine. We now have an agreement with the Iraqi Government. This treaty that isn’t a treaty has our troops supporting the Iraqi Government, in exchange for first access to the vast oil riches in Mesopotamia. What is the Junior Senator from Illinois going to do about that?
There is also the matter of this video. Do women really dance out of his mouth?

An Obama Presidency is a great idea, with some serious questions about the implementation. Which brings us to the “fair tax”. (We are awaiting a call from the Umpire whether it is fair or foul, or maybe a sacrifice bunt).
Nobody likes the I.R.S. Calls to do away with it will always find an audience. Maybe the “fair tax” will be enacted, and maybe it will do all that it’s supporters claim.
I suspect the “fair tax” is a good idea, with serious questions about the implementation. And no, I have not read the book.
1- I only have so much time to read, and I prefer to read fiction. OK, some of you say the “fair tax” book is fiction.
2- I don’t trust the men who wrote it. One of them is a radio whiner who says every day, in effect, Don’t believe anything I say unless your own experience goes along with it. The other is a Republican congressman. I suspect that neither of them really believes in the “fair tax”, but know a good gimmick when they see one.
3- I am aware of the power of rhetoric, sophistry, and the clever word processor. (See Mr. Obama above). You can make grand arguments in favor of a lot of things that are not completely true.
I hear a lot about the “fair tax” on the Whiners radio show. It seems like the more I hear, the more I don’t like. Here is an example from today. The concept of the “fair tax” is that a thirty percent sales tax would replace the income tax, and other Federal Taxes. (I know there is more than that, before you start to say, “Read the Book”. For today’s illustration, that nutshell is sufficient)
As our example, lets say that we have a book selling for Ten Dollars. The book was written by a bald headed radio whiner, and says rude things about Liberals. Now, on the surface, with the “fair tax”, the book would cost thirteen dollars, that is, the cost of the book plus the thirty percent tax.
Today’s whine was about embedded taxes. According to the whiner, there are embedded taxes in the ten dollars. These are the corporate taxes paid by the publisher, and other taxes that are passed along to the consumer as part of the ten dollar price. I understand this concept, and realize that this is a big reason why many American goods are not competitive in the marketplace.
But then the whiner said something that I simply don’t believe. He said that once the embedded taxes were removed, the cost of the book would go down. This cost would go down so far that the book would still sell for ten dollars, even with a thirty percent tax markup.
One, who is to say the publisher would not just keep a bit of those taxes in the form of added profits? Are the embedded taxes enough to lower the price so that a thirty percent markup wouldn’t matter? I am not an economist. Maybe the book has answers to this, and maybe they are not just clever words. Chanting “Read the Book” only goes so far.

Ok just one more repost . Promise, at least for today. The title is ” A fair tax for cigarettes”
Carl Hiassen takes timeout from writing novels about weirdos to produce a column for the Miami Herald. It comes out on Sunday, and lately has been every other week. He usually makes more sense than many can handle.
This week the subject is a proposed cigarette tax. Some grinches want a dollar a pack state tax added onto cigarettes. The tax would raise revenue, and hopefully some folks will quit the vile habit.
However, there is opposition. A legislator is looking out for the convenience store owners, who stand to lose a bundle if fewer people buy cancer sticks.
PG has smoked roughly two cigarettes in his life. That is, by his own choice. The second hand smoke adds up. There is also the “it’s legal” sense of entitlement that the tobacconists are well known for. PG has an answer to the matter of how much cigarette tax to assess.
Cigarettes should be taxed so that a pack of cigarettes costs as much as an ounce of marijuana.
Ciggies will still be legal. You will not have to be them from criminals, who will turn you on to “hard drugs”. You will not lose your job if you fail a urine test. Your house cannot be confiscated for possession.The cancer sticks would still be legal, but with a reasonable tax.

What follows below is the result of a writing exercise . If you are a picky reader, you may want to go ahead to the rest of the pictures. These images are from The Library of Congress.
It rained on the day of the picnic. This was of little concern to Arnold, who has a lot of money invested in the food. Rain or shine, the food needs to be eaten. The store might be willing to take the canned goods back. The perishables were going to be bought by the church that hosts the picnic
As if things weren’t sticky enough, the stranger came into town, looking for Arnold. He had done the picnic promotion thing before, in another part of the state, and some people didn’t get paid. This is probably what the stranger is up to, although it might just be Arnold’s legendary way with the ladies.
The girl was waiting on the porch for Arnold, when he got home. When he first heard of the stranger, he thought it was Willis the farmer, who sold him a mess of salad fixins on credit, and had not been paid. Instead, here was a girl on the porch, looking at Arnold with a shy smile.
An evening set over the wilderness, and the bears got hungrier, and more angry with each passing minute. When they saw the rains coming in, they anticipated a picnic ground with no picnickers and lots of food. It had been a long time since Arnold had encountered bears, and he forgot how hungry they could be.
Alongside a mountain stream was a bear family. Daddy Chicago Bear was explaining to his long suffering wife Yogine that the anticipated feast from the rained out picnic might not happen after all. It seems like Arnold had a contract with the church to buy up any unused food from the picnic, and they were loading the haul into a big refrigerator.

Inside the pages of an old book lay the invoice from Willis the farmer. Arnold was using it for a bookmark. He was reading a political novel about Texas, called “Children played behind the Bushes”. The latest chapter sees Jen and Laura trying to strangle Barbara, using her pearls.
As the ship sailed into port, the girl on the porch smiled. Arnold, whatever his shortcomings, was a stud. It was a tanker sailing into the port, not a rubber dinghy.
The housekeeper slowly stirred the tea, and waited for Arnold and the porch girl…she called herself Gnarlene. It was her job to fix dinner, after the picnic was rained out, and the food sold to the helpful, prosperous church.
At the pawn shop on the corner, Willis the Farmer waited, to no avail, for Arnold to come and pay his debts. Willis had to pawn a watch his grandfather gave him to pay the fertilizer bill for his farm, and he was in danger of losing it forever if Arnold did not pay up.
This did not stop Arnold and Gnarlene from tearing off another chunk of hot burrito supreme. If Arnold was concerned about Willis the Farmer, he did not show it. It turns out, Arnold had a plan. That night, Willis the farmer was dinner for Chicago, Yogine, and their four cubs eenie, meanie, miny, and moe.
Meanwhile, back in Texas, W staggered out of his room, trying to remember where the rest of the coke was. He saw his wife and daughter trying to strangle his mother, using her pearls. W took another slug off his bottle and passed out, leaving his elderly mother to defend herself.

Lene Lovich was born Lili-Marlene Premilovich in Detroit, Michigan, March 30, 1949. She moved to England as a teenager, and met Les Chappell. He who played guitar in her band, and was the man in her life.
As an art school student, she started to tie her long hair in plaits to keep it out of the clay while studying sculpture. Her recording debut was as part of an audience, when Chuck Berry recorded “My ding a ling”.
Miss Lovich played in several bands, before winding up on the Stiff label. She put out two albums that became popular in the USA, and did a tour. After a while, she retired from music to raise a family, and has made a slight comeback in recent years.
PG had the privilege of seeing Lene Lovich at the Agora Ballroom, Atlanta GA, in the winter of 1980. The opening act was The Romantics. The show was taped for broadcast on the NBC radio network, and Don Pardo was on hand to introduce the bands.
The Romantics were unknown to the crowd at the Agora that night. They came on stage wearing costumes that looked like the Beatles of 1963. Every song they did was a bit better than the one before, and they got a big round of applause when the set ended.
Don Pardo had quite a career. He was the house announcer on November 22, 1963, and was the voice of NBC when he interrupted a soap opera to announce that John Kennedy had been “cut down with assassin’s bullets”. During his career as a TV announcer, Mr. Pardo could not use profanity. That night at the Agora, he made up for lost time…every other word he said was a cuss word.
Soon, Lene Lovich (spell check suggestion:lovechild) and her band came on stage. She was not the typical sexpot rock chanteuse… A bit chubby, with her long hair tied in plaits. Wearing a long sleeve black dress, probably stolen from a convent, she provided fantasy for only the kinkiest. Les Chappell was there, with his shaved head, to stop any trouble before it started, and play guitar.
The material came mostly from the first two albums on Stiff records. ( At some point in the evening, someone…maybe Lovich, maybe Pardo…said “Be stiff”.) She introduced “Lucky Number” by saying ” We have a song that goes ah oh aih oh”. During an instrumental jam in that song, she cried out “We have an American on keyboards”. The American was Thomas Dolby, who would soon go solo, and have a few hits.
The first encore was ” I think we’re alone now”, which had been a hit for Tommy James and the Shondells (spell check suggestions: shoulders, shovelfuls). Soon the night was over. Pictures for this feature are from the ” Special Collections and Archives,Georgia State University Library”.

The post before this is about Arizona SB1070, a controversial measure dealing with illegal immigration. One of the men quoted is the Sheriff of Pima County, which lies on the border with Mexico.
Pima County is named for the Pima Tribe, whose land was in Arizona and Sonora, Mexico. Their name for the “river people” is Akimel O’odham. According to Wikipedia, “The short name, “Pima” is believed to have come from the phrase pi ‘añi mac or pi mac, meaning “I don’t know,” used repeatedly in their initial meeting with Europeans.”
Many of the Mexicans crossing the border are Native Americans. They did not agree to the Gadsden Purchase , or the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo . In other words, they were here first, and the white man (and his black associates) are the uninvited guests. Maybe the natives should ask the English speakers for their papers.
The second part of this feature is a repost . One of the best known Pimas was Ira Hayes. He was one of the Marines who raised the flag on Iwo Jima.
One of the enduring images of World War II was raising the flag on Iwo Jima. Three of the six men raising the flag died on the island in the next month. A fourth, Ira Hayes, became a casualty after the war.
The story of Ira Hayes is well known, but needs to be told again. A Pima Indian, his people had not been treated well by the conquerors. Nonetheless, when the War against Japan started, men were needed for the struggle, and Ira Hayes joined the Marines.
Iwo Jima was a steppingstone to the main island of Japan. After Iwo Jima and Okinawa were in Yankee hands, preparations could be made for the invasion of the main island. However, the stepping stone islands proved to be incredibly tough to secure. There were more American casualties on Iwo Jima than on D Day.
On the fourth day of the battle, a picture was made of six marines raising the flag on top of Mount Suribachi. A month of sticky, treacherous fighting was ahead for the fighting men. Of 21,000 Japanese soldiers, 20,000 died. Still, the image is inspiring. The photographer fiercely denied having staged it.
The flag was raised on February 23, 1945. Germany was all but defeated. The “explosive lens” for the atom bomb had been successfully tested. Viewed from the standpoint of 1945, it seems inevitable that the costly island hopping needed to continue, to be followed by an invasion of the Japanese mainland. From the view of 2009, one wonders if the fight for Iwo Jima, in retrospect, was really needed. War is fought in the present tense.
Two of the twelve hands holding the flagpole belonged to Ira Hayes. Ira Hayes did not adjust to peacetime well. He became a drunkard. On January 24, 1955, he passed away.
Ira Hayes was a native American. Thousands of African Americans have returned from foreign wars, to be treated poorly. If a man or woman is accused of being gay, the service is forgotten. On this Memorial Day, we should struggle to ensure that all future veterans are treated with respect, all year long.
Thank you Wikipedia,  luxunsghost, and The Library of Congress, for the pictures.

John McCain was a candidate for President. He is the reason Sarah Palin (spell check suggestions: plain, pain, paling) is famous. He is currently involved in a tough campaign for re election in Arizona. (And who was representing Arizona while Mr. McCain was running for President?)
He has an ad on TV, making noise about immigration. It is filmed at the border, and features a law man. What the ad does not say is, the talking sheriff works 115 miles north of the border.
The sheriff of the border county, where the ad was filmed, has a different story to tell. “the Santa Cruz County Sheriff who’s job would be to enforce the law in and around Nogales has been quite critical of Arizona’s race-baiting policies, such as the recently passed SB 1070. “Local law enforcement has a great relationship with the Hispanic community,” said Sheriff Antonio Estrada about the new law. “Something like this is really going to scare these people.” …The Sheriff of neighboring Pima County (which covers a large swath of Arizona’s border with Mexico) was even more blunt. Calling the law “racist,” “disgusting” and “stupid,” Sheriff Clarence Dupnik has gone so far as to say he will order his deputies not to enforce SB 1070 – even though it subjects such law enforcement to liability if they don’t start racial profiling. “
Ht to LittleGreenFootballs.

PG left the job interview, and headed to the dmv. The man said to get a mvr, which is something you want to hear at the end of a job interview.
The Department of Motor Vehicles is a place where you wait. It is not possible to get through in less than an hour. For emergencies like this, PG keeps a book in his vehicle…Tales of Margaritaville by Jimmy Buffet. PG was at a yard sale once, in the hottest part of the summer. TOM was on sale for one dollar, and PG was going to pass, but when he got back to his bike, the creeping heat told him to go back up the driveway and buy that book.
The lady in front of PG in line has a birth certificate from Miami Florida. Why are Miami birth certificates so pretty, when the Fulton county thing PG has is a negative image copy, ugly as sin? Maybe it is compensation for something.
There are two old ladies in line before the lady from Miami. They both have hair dyed some hideous shade of faux blonde. Whatever happened to letting your hair go white, and being proud of living that long?
So PG got his number, and found a plastic chair that seemed clean. For the next forty five minutes, every time a number was announced, he would look up at the lightboxes above the booths. This did not make his number come up any faster, and before long PG realized that every time he had been in a government waiting room, his number got called, if he only waited long enough.
Back to the book, which was a series of short stories, told in easy to read sentences. The first story was about a bartender in Key West, who tried to drown himself in the waist deep water off the shore. He heard the phone ring in his house, and he decided to go back and answer. It was the phone company, calling to say it was cutting off his service for not paying his bill. When that was over, he was so angry, he decided he wanted to live.
The next tale was about a young man who meets his rock and roll star hero, and winds up hanging out with him. The hero tells the young man there are rules for becoming a star. They were ( in paraphrased, copyright dodging form) the bar owner is your enemy, some folks are elbows, and will always be like that, and stay out of police custody. The rockstar is telling stories that get wilder and wilder, like the time he was playing in Montana, the audience was breaking the guinness record for drinking cheap beer, and his bass player and keyboard man are fighting on stage.
Before this story was over, the number was called, and PG got his mvr. How the story turned out will have to wait until the next waiting room. Pictures are from the Library of Congress.

You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed to you.
Millions of people have heard this . It is a part of the process, a message that you are indeed in trouble. It takes less than a minute. Now, some people think that for a “terrorist”, that one minute is too much time.
After the botched bombing in Times Square, there are new calls for someone labeled “terrorist” to lost the basic rights of citizens. It is up to the authorities to decide who gets called the T word. Many so called conservatives, who should know better about the folly of trusting the authorities with our freedom, want to give big brother this ability ( to label anyone a terrorist, and deem them unworthy of having rights).
The sad part is that our President agrees. The administration ” said Sunday it would seek a law allowing investigators to interrogate terrorism suspects without informing them of their rights.” If Mr. Holder knows as much as he claims about the Times Square wannabomber, couldn’t he get a conviction without testimony from the defendant?
This blog doesn’t feel warm and fuzzy about Faisal Shahzad, or anyone else who wants to kill people. He also does not trust law enforcement. They can expand the definition of terrorist at will, to include anyone johnny law has a problem with. That is why we have a constitution, and we make the police prove their case in court. Today it is the wannabomber, tomorrow it may be you or me.
Matt Taibbi (pronounced like the island) has a good quote on the administration, and our liberties. “The only reason we’re even talking about this Miranda issue is because a bunch of morons on talk radio made a big fuss about it, and if our president is going to go sticking his thumbs into the constitution every time he can’t take a few days of getting reamed by a bunch of overpaid media shills whose job it is to hate him no matter what he does, then we’re all in a lot of trouble.”
Pictures are from The Library of Congress.

Bloggingheads likes to have a science podcast on saturday, frequently with these two old men. This week, they were all over the place. The first “write it down” moment was at 39:00, when someone said that people who wear bicycle helmets are more likely to have accidents. This was related to the way that plastic helmets have led to harder hitting in football, with an increase in injuries.
The next high point came at 51:00, with a consideration of “the moral calculus of weeds”. This took up the rest of the hour, with the comment that “you’re lucky those weeds are rooted in the ground and can’t come back after you”. There are pesticide resistant weeds, the air pollution caused by tillers versus chemical controls, and all sorts of spill off issues. The closing comment about weeds not seeking (obvious) revenge reminded PG of the deer hunt balance, with zero hunters shot by a deer.
The text only internet is not to be denied. Obsidianwings supplies this tasteful quote by Sean Hannity: (spell check suggestions:Hannibal, humanity) “Hannity: I’ve actually had an idea — no one listens to little ol’ Sean Hannity. But I’m like — I think the Iraqis, with all their oil resources, need to pay us back for their liberation. Every single solitary penny. “
Aside from the jaw dropping amorality here, there is a practical reason to oppose this. As a commenter says ” I am sure the Kuwaitis will be very happy to relieve Iraq of reparations from 1990, just so the money could be sent to us…not to mention the rest of the international community that was strong armed to reduce or eliminate Saddam era debts.
Aside from whether we deserve Iraqi money, debt would destroy any chance (however slim)of Iraq emerging from a nightmare. We would get neither money nor “victory.”
Mr. Hannity used to work in Atlanta, before he became a Fox superstar. PG stalked him once.
It was during a parade downtown. Veterans Day comes to mind…a weekday parade that does not get a large crowd. Mr. Hannity was riding in a convertible, waving at the crowds. PG began to follow the car, looking at Mr. Hannity with a blank look. Finally, the talent took notice of PG, and said “Are we having fun yet?”
Pictures are from The Library of Congress.

PG recently got a temp job making deliveries, and someone said you need a gps device. After thinking long and hard, and taking notes in different stores, the purchase was made.
You don’t just plug these things in and run. Fortunately, PG had a day before he started to experiment. You learn to listen between the lines. When the device says 400 yard ahead, and you know that it is really 200 feet, you just make the turn where you know you need to go.
The first day of the job started, and PG was in a familiar neighborhood, and found the first stop with a map. Then, he had to decide where to go next, and noticed that the list of stops was in a logical order. The device was plugged in, the next stop punched in ( zipcode, streetname, number …something you learn during experiment day), and the next stop appeared, as if by magic.
The afternoon of the second day, the job was getting a bit easier, and the device was working like a charm. You learn that it will tell you to make a turn twice, and will tell you again before the turn. If you pass a street, and it doesn’t say to turn, then that is not the stop.
PG began to think too much, and realized that there was an element of trust, and “submitting to a higher power” in the device. While you are getting a message, sometimes you have to understand the message. A few minutes later, PG drove through spaghetti junction, and the device got confused. The good news is, PG knew the correct ramp to get on.
About an hour later, the device said to stay on Pleasant Hill and cross Peachtree Industrial. (Atlanta readers will know these are heavy traffic roads). As soon as the crossing was made, the device said to turn around and make a left turn. The honeymoon is over.
The stop of the moment turned out to be a nail salon in a shopping center…at the location where PG was turned around. Instead, PG took a left at the light, and drove a half mile north until the device told him to turn into an apartment complex. The complex had a gate, and PG called the lady on the list. She was Vietnamese. After a few confusing minutes of conversation, PG made another left turn on Peachtree Industrial (without a light), and found the nail salon.
The directions for the next stop were punched into the device. Make another left on Peachtree Industrial, and turn right into the gated complex. Call the lady, and find out that she does not live in a gated complex. Instead, she lives in a complex off a road a mile south. PG turns the device off and finds the complex using the verbal instructions.
The good news is, the device started to perform better after this, but the aura of perfection was in a tangled heap, at the gated complex. The next day, PG had a stop in “de hood”, and the device gave a couple of shaky instructions. Perry Boulevard is no place to get lost, especially on a delivery with no telephone number. The stop was a retirement home, the lady was located on the phone box in the lobby, and all was well in the world.

Part two is a repost . Maybe I am not a real man. I once asked for directions.I don’t think that jokes about asking directions are very funny.
It is a rule that female comedians cannot perform without telling at least one joke about men not asking for directions. Never mind that when you ask for directions, you are asking for trouble. Many directions from strangers will leave you more lost than you already were.
With GPS systems coming into popularity, the female comedian is an endangered species.That is, unless she marries a Cuban bandleader, cries a lot, and dyes her hair red.
Did the Three Stooges ever ask for directions?
Why did Moses wander in the desert for forty years? He wouldn’t ask for directions.
Mapquest is not a perfect solution. It can steer you into wild goose land just as surely as that toothless man at the gas station.
One I had to take something to a place outside Gainesville. My boss gave me the mapquest directions he had used before, and said that he got lost using them.
I called the lady I would be taking the product to. She gave me directions to the place, and I found it without a problem. ( Sometimes people give good instructions). I mentioned that her directions were good, and she said that they were the same ones she gave my boss.
Mapquest is a good tool, but is not the final word. A map book is your friend, even if it is not perfect. Urban Legend has it that cartographers will insert nonexistent streets into their product as a method of copyrighting. Maybe female comedians can make jokes about that.

This is a repost. My newest frequentfolder blog is twentytwowords. He posted a thingie today called
“10 things we don’t mention in worship songs, but that I’m happy God saved me from”

1- Jesus Worship
2- Getting caught driving DUI
3- republican politics
4- pre arthroscopy knee surgery
5- believing the doctor who told me to get spine surgery
6- The Unification Church
7- confusing G-d for my father
8- Living anywhere except Georgia
9- cable television
10-Making complete lists