Recreational Language
This facility recently printed some commentary on the english language, courtesy of Gartalker Here is part two, not to be confused with number two. Weird is spelled correctly…you can’t have weird without we. Pictures are from the “The Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library”.
If all that wasn’t bad enough may I point out a few other basic flaws in our language that makes no sense to any one other than us
There is no egg in eggplant, nor ham in hamburger; neither apple nor pine in pineapple. English muffins weren’t invented in England or French fries in France. Sweetmeats are candies while sweetbreads, which aren’t sweet, are meat. We take English for granted. But if we explore its paradoxes, we find that quicksand can work slowly, boxing rings are square and a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig.And why is it that writers write but fingers don’t fing, grocers don’t groce and hammers don’t ham? If the plural of tooth is teeth, why isn’t the plural of booth, beeth? You have one goose, 2 geese; so one moose, 2 meese? One index, 2 indices?
Doesn’t it seem crazy that you can make amends but not one amend? If you have a bunch of odds and ends and get rid of all but one of them, what do you call it?
If teachers taught, why didn’t preachers praught? If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat? Why doesn’t ‘Buick’ rhyme with ‘quick’
In what language do people recite at a play and play at a recital? Ship by truck and send cargo by ship? Have noses that run and feet that smell?
How can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same, while a wise man and a wise guy are opposites? You have to marvel at the unique lunacy of a language in which your house can burn up as it burns down, in which you fill in a form by filling it out and in which, an alarm goes off by going on.
English was invented by people, not computers, and it reflects the creativity of the human race, which, of course, is not a race at all.. That is why, when the stars are out, they are visible, but when the lights are out, they are invisible.
Once I was in New England and I stopped at a Taco Bell because I actually wanted to taste something. Any thing that wasn’t boiled and maybe had just a little pepper on it. Any way by the time I had left ever kid in the place was saying, “Order that one more time Mr. We just love how you talk.” One girl asks me how long it took me to learn to talk that way. Yankees, you gotta love them.
In you are reading this, you obviously have too much free time. Here is part one.
All right, I will be the first to say I slaughter the English language. I will also admit my grammar is most likely some of the worse of any blog you might happen across.
Still with that said, allow me to try to defend myself.
English is a stupid language. I mean taking everything into consideration I say that I don’t do too bad.
Below are twenty different examples that I have to put up with everyday in order to entertain you my wonderful readers.
1) The bandage was wound around the wound.
2) The farm was used to produce produce.
3) The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse.
4) We must polish the Polish furniture.
5) He could lead if he would get the lead out.
6) The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert.
7) Since there is no time like the present, he thought it was time to present the present.
8) A bass was painted on the head of the bass drum.
9) When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes.
10) I did not object to the object.
11) The insurance was invalid for the invalid.
12) There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row
13) They were too close to the door to close it.
14) The buck does funny things when the does are present.
15) A seamstress and a sewer fell down into a sewer line..
16) To help with planting, the farmer taught his sow to sow.
17) The wind was too strong to wind the sail.
18) Upon seeing the tear in the painting I shed a tear..
19) I had to subject the subject to a series of tests.
20) How can I intimate this to my most intimate friend? This is a repost.
Eleanor Roosevelt Liberal
This is a repost from 2021. … Eleanor Roosevelt has become the focus of a facebook meme. A flattering portrait illustrates a quote about “liberal.” “Long ago, there was a noble word, liberal, which derives from the word free. Now a strange thing happened to that word. A man named Hitler made it a term of abuse, a matter of suspicion, because those who were not with him were against him, and liberals had no use for Hitler. And then another man named McCarthy cast the same opprobrium on the word … We must cherish and honor the word free or it will cease to apply to us.”
“Did Eleanor Roosevelt Say This About the Word ‘Liberal’?” Apparently, she did. The text appears in Tomorrow Is Now. The book is the last word of Mrs. Roosevelt, who died November 7, 1962. Tomorrow Is Now was published in 1963.
The l-word has had a wild time in the last 58 years. In the sixties, it essentially meant someone who supported civil rights. Liberal came to be a favored insult of many conservatives, a role that continues to this day. As with many english words, liberal continues to evolve. Today a popular phrase is “classical liberal,” which means something to people who say it. It is safe to assume that Mrs. Roosevelt had a different concept of what liberal means, than many people today.
Merriam-Webster has several definitions for liberal, some of which are not related to political ideology. The etymology: “Middle English, from Anglo-French, from Latin liberalis suitable for a freeman, generous, from liber free; perhaps akin to Old English lēodan to grow, Greek eleutheros free.” This compares to the etymology for liberty: “Middle English, from Anglo-French liberté, from Latin libertat-, libertas, from liber free — more at liberal.” As for Mrs. Roosevelt’s claim that liberal is the same as free … she appears to be taking *liberties* in her use of language.
A red flag is dragging Adolph Hitler into the quarrel. Hitler comparisons are an easy gimmick for cheap rhetoric. Mr. Hitler spoke in German. Der Liberale probably has different implications than the American term liberal. A google search for “did Hitler say liberal” did not yield helpful results.
Wikiquotes did have 2 direct quotes of Hitler using the l-word. “… We might have called ourselves the Liberal Party. We chose to call ourselves the National Socialists. … ” Interview with George Sylvester Viereck, 1923 … “The main plank in the National Socialist program is to abolish the liberalistic concept of the individual and the Marxist concept of humanity and to substitute therefore the folk community.” Speech in the German Reichstag (January 30, 1937). Neither of these quotes is the type of Republican rhetoric so familiar to modern Americans.
Citing Joe McCarthy is ironic in 2021 America. Today, one danger to freedom is social justice jihad. An insistence on ideological purity is ever present in the “woke” landscape. Radical anti-racism is plausibly considered to be the new McCarthyism. A “classical liberal” is open to a discussion of ideas, rather that condemning people for having incorrect opinions. One wonders if Eleanor Roosevelt would be considered liberal today.
Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. The men pictured are Confederate soldiers, from The War Between the States.
Date Rape Drug Warning
Police are warning all men who frequent clubs, parties & local pubs to be alert and stay cautious when offered a drink by any woman. Many females use a date-rape-drug on the market called ‘Beer’.
The drug is found in liquid form and is available anywhere. It comes in bottles, cans, from taps, and in large kegs. ‘Beer’ is used by female sexual predators at parties and bars to persuade their male victims to go home and sleep with them.
A woman needs only to get a guy to consume a few units of ‘Beer’ and then simply ask him home for no-strings-attached sex. Men are rendered helpless against this approach. After several applications of ‘Beer’, men will often succumb to the desires to sleep with women to whom they would never normally be attracted. Men often awaken with only hazy memories of exactly what happened to them the night before, often with just a vague feeling that ‘something bad’ occurred.
At other times these unfortunate men are swindled out of their life’s savings, in a familiar scam known as ‘a relationship’. In extreme cases, the female may even be shrewd enough to entrap the unsuspecting male into a longer-term form of servitude and punishment referred to as ‘marriage’. Men are much more susceptible to this scam after ‘Beer’ is administered, and sex is offered by the predatory females. Many men cannot resist the temptation.
If you fall victim to this ‘Beer ‘ scam and the women administering it, there are male support groups where you can discuss the details of your shocking encounter with similarly victimized men. For the support group nearest you, just look up ‘Golf Courses’ in the phone book.
This is a repost. Pictures are from The Library of Congress. Gender modification, for contemporary society, is available by appointment.
Brain Damage
This is a repost from 2019. Eleven months later, covid turned the world on its ear. Sleepy Joe was elected POTUS, despite the worst efforts of President Trump. The economy went into a covid depression, with the national debt increasing by a few trillion dollars. Colin Kaepernick became obsolete. The custom of telling lies is as popular as ever. Winston Churchill is still dead.
The story starts when Sleepy Joe announces yet another attempt to become POTUS. The announcement focused on the tiki torch rave in Virginia, rather than climate change, financial foolishness, police brutality, endless war, or Donald Trump’s latest hair color. The Foxnews fuddy duddies went on email jihad, focusing on what President tiny hands did, or did not say, after the tiki torches were put out. Meanwhile, the national debt went up by a $8,000,000,000.00.
At the bottom of one of the existential emails was a tag line: “A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to put its pants on.” – Winston Churchill. The last time PG heard that chestnut, truth was putting her shoes on. This sounds like a job for google.
Before you can say trending topic, quote investigator has the answer. “In conclusion, there exists a family of expressions contrasting the dissemination of lies and truths, and these adages have been evolving for more than 300 years. … At this time, there is no substantive support for assigning the saying to Mark Twain or Winston Churchill.”
Google is not through creating mischief. NFL’s Colin Kaepernick incorrectly credits Winston Churchill for quote about lies It seems as though knee pad model Colin Kaepernick felt the need to quote Mr. Churchill. This is deep. A tweet, about a false quote, about spreading a lie. Pictures for this deplorable dispatch today are from The Library of Congress. Nobody forced you to read this.
Google It!
This is a repost from 2017. … It is becoming a cliche. Someone makes a claim. Someone else asks for a source, asks what they mean, or challenges the bully in any way. The knee jerk response is to say Google It, frequently accompanied by an insulting comment about not knowing how to do online research. Is this the best way to handle the situation?
If you go to the shrine of the search engine, and submit Google It, the first page of results is connected to the information colossus. On the second page, you get the mandatory Urban Dictionary result: “An answer to a question that you are too lazy to answer.” There is also the inevitable arrogant joke-page: www.justfuckinggoogleit.com.
Should you respond, to requests for information, with those eight magic letters, Google It? As you may have gathered by now, saying GI is both arrogant, and intellectually lazy. It has bully overtones… I am telling you this, and how dare you challenge me? In a academic setting, GI is not a replacement for a footnote. Links are easy to install. You should show where you get your information.
Google is agenda neutral, unless your program includes sponsored search results. In other words, when someone accepts your dare to Google It, they may find out something you do not want them to know. If you want someone to learn what you want them to learn, you can control the process by including a link. If they want to challenge this, and Google It, they are free to do so.
@ShaunKing “7 people were killed by American police…YESTERDAY.” When the going gets tough, the tough Google It. PG decided to investigate. Seven People Killed By Police was the result. None of the SPKBP involved questionable police conduct. When you shoot at police, they are going to shoot back. @ShaunKing probably was trying to stir the pot with his tweet. A bit of research (actually, a couple of hours worth) shoots his agenda down effectively. Pictures for today’s entertainment are from The Library of Congress.
Democrats Go Wild
This is a repost from 2018. The incident described here is the first time I was aware of Stacey Abrams. Many of the playground bully tactics employed by Democrats are seen here. The most recent example is the shameful antics of the #Tennessee3. … Until Thursday, PG had been in blissful denial of the Georgia Governor’s election. Except, that is, for the clown car antics of the republicans. The Democrats had Stacey Abrams, aka black Stacey, opposing Stacey Evans, aka white Stacey. The Republicans are almost certain to win in November, even with a certified idiot like Casey Cagle.
The happy ignorance was interrupted by facebook on thursday. A FBF posted a link to this article, Statement … on the vulgar hit piece against Anoa Changa. The vhp, posted by the notorious white supremacists at WABE, was titled Atlanta Activist Uses Russian-Backed Media To Spread Message. It seems as though a local activist, Anoa Changa, utilized a Russian owned broadcast outlet to spread her message. This was news to PG, as well as people who never listen to Sputnik.
PG did not see what was so horrible about the WABE piece, and was prepared to ignore it. Then he saw something in the article. “Changa helped lead a protest last year at the progressive Netroots Nation convention drowning out the speech of Stacey Evans, a Democratic candidate for governor in Georgia. Changa and the other protesters chanted “trust black women.” Evans is white, while her Democratic primary opponent Stacey Abrams is black. Changa supports Abrams.” A bit of research turned up a video, Protesters Harass Stacey Evans Candidate Gov. Georgia Aug 12, 2017.
This incident was noted on facebook. “Yup, don’t see what the problem is. Was Evans run out of town? Silenced? Is she still in the race?” “I fully support activists of color disrupting any centrist white person running for office. Stop ignoring the fundamental power dynamic in play because of white supremacist patriarchy.” “Good luck winning the election”
Others are grossed out by this type of behavior. Is this what happens to people running for public office? To be shouted down in public forums, and say “this is what democracy looks like.” Maybe smells like is more appropriate. Maybe we are not mature enough to allow the luxury of free speech. Maybe an election campaign is a time to shout down your opponent … and call those who do not applaud your playground bully tactics a racist.
Stacey Abrams And Stacey Evans had a discussion of the incident. Stacey Evans condemned the protest. Stacey Abrams did not. “I do not believe that you silence those who feel they are voiceless, because the minute we do that we are no better than those who tell people they can’t kneel in protest.”
Anoa Changa is far from voiceless. She is not going to be silenced by waiting until someone else is through speaking. To compare this abusive protest, to pro football players and the national anthem, is ridiculous. Stacy Abrams has no business being Governor of Georgia. Pictures are from Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library
Sinister Political Threat
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Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim – learn meaning and message {EA01-L02) بسم الله الرحمان الرحيم
How to pronounce Bismillah hir Rahman-nir-Raheem|Sultan Saying
The RESTRICT Act’s vague and overbroad language is a threat to a free and open internet
‘I Felt Bullied’: Mother of Child Treated at Transgender Center Speaks Out
“there’s a cost to us as a news organization of knowingly broadcasting untrue things”
… disgust-driven moral concerns predict support for restrictions on transgender …
What to know about ‘the Tennessee three’ after two Dems are expelled
Three Democrat state lawmakers join protesters invading Tennessee state capitol
Chaos erupts at Tennessee Capitol over demand for gun safety measures
Mehdi Hasan Dismantles Entire Foundation Of Twitter Files As Matt Taibbi Stumbles To …
“War itself is, of course, a form of madness. It’s hardly a civilized pursuit. It’s amazing …
Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim – learn meaning and message {EA01-L02) بسم الله الرحمان الرحيم
‘I Felt Bullied’: Mother of Child Treated at Transgender Center Speaks Out
@BriannaWu My maiden name is that of a very famous pornographer.
How to List Maiden Names in an Obituary + Examples Updated 6/11/2022
The Real, Sinister Political Threat of Tennessee’s New Anti-Drag Law
Paris voted overwhelmingly Sunday to banish for-hire electric scooters from the streets …
Alvin Bragg’s Dangerous Stunt …the resistance will get what it’s been craving for years …
I want to put @realDonaldTrump in the past, or the pasture, and forget about him
Inquiring Minds Want to Know: The Mystery Photo by Ron Henzel | Apr 6, 2023 |
Covanta Marion garbage incinerator ends partnership with county Tracy Loew
What happens to the remains of aborted babies? Here’s what we know
The end of Kindercore Vinyl: Turmoil and change at local record pressing plant
Matt Taibbi Quits Twitter After Elon Musk Places Restrictions On Substack
Rudely transgressing the boundaries between the elevated and the profane
“there’s a cost to us as a news organization of knowingly broadcasting untrue things”
Emmanuel Macron : « L’autonomie stratégique doit être le combat de l’Europe »
@chamblee54 Maybe it is time to retire the phrase _______ industrial complex.
birth rates ~ danny solis ~ cronkite moment ~ red state ~ Jody Barrett
t3 statement ~ lantern parade ~ grotesque ~ shower seat ~ part one ~ part two
1984 ~ juliana’s hotel ~ catamount ~ fag test ~ eip
paul schrader ~ This is a repost ~ buteco ~ tom chantry ~ Frank Turk
James Brown ~ mlk ~ mlk ~ rodney king ~ hejira
22 words ~ marcus alston ~ sb0003 ~ repost ~ brianna wu
wu ~ brianna wu ~ bismillahi ‘rahman ‘rahim ~ tv ~ #00a000
waste ~ justin pearson ~ tn 3 ~ pusillanimous ~ isherwood
isherwood ~ tn 3 ~ salvation south ~ @DrWmLester68 ~ dr william lester
medhi taibbi ~ msnbc ~ freddie deboer ~ your welcome 253 ~ john campbell ~ david blue
barbiebob lee ~ ross ~ trump ~ brooke shields ~ allah
@EPoe187 Tolerance does not require celebration. If humans want to dress as animals or men as women or adults as children in private, then that is one thing. But once those behaviors become public, then they are subject to legitimate criticism and disapproval. ~ “she is one of the funniest people I’ve ever known. This is a nightmare,” wrote Sister Roma, a member of the drag philanthropy group the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, in a tweet.” ~ @kshahrooz A dark day for America. Trump is a clown, thug & menace. But charging him for a fairly insignificant transgression (with more serious investigations pending) turns the US into a banana republic where politicians hold onto power at any cost lest they be jailed by their successor. ~ @chamblee54 The circumstances of the two comments could not be more different. Dr. King was giving the sermon of his life. There was an enormous crowd, both in person and on TV. His comments were scripted, rehearsed, and delivered with the style he was famous for. Mr. King, by contrast, had just seen the officers who beat him acquitted. Cities from coast to coast were in violent upheaval. Mr. King was speaking to reporters, without benefit of a speech writer. What he said might be more important. ~ @chamblee54 @realDonaldTrump phoned the Governor of GA to try and steal 11k votes. The Fulton County District Atty. is probably going to bring charges. This will be much more difficult now. At the very least, #AlvinBragg should have let Fulton County bring more serious charges first. ~ I got a text, and an email, saying I had a balance. I went to your website, had to change my password, only to find out I could not pay my balance. The link in the email did not work. ~ Matthew 7:20 Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them. ~ @VoteGloriaJ 🚨I want to ask everyone coming tomorrow that if you go in the gallery, please be silent. I think they want you to act out so they can call for you and the press to be removed. We need witnesses to what is taking place in the TN legislature. We need you to be silent witnesses. 1:33 AM · Apr 6, 2023 from Nashville, TN ~ It’s also helpful if you videotape what’s happening on the floor. Folks can be as loud as they like in the rotunda and outside the House floor—but please be quiet in the gallery. Remember, they may try to bait you…don’t take the bait! ~ @HadiNasrallah Good news. Saudi Arabia will end its war on Yemen. Since 2015 the war killed thousands and starved millions of children. There will finally be an end to the brutal suffering of Yemenis thanks to China and its efforts for peace in the region while the west kept fueling the war. ~ This is a repost from 2017. The current US Population is 336,438,002. ~ “many of Trump’s supporters have for years thought that he’s the victim of a series of witch hunts and this prosecution is just the latest in a series of injustices. That is not entirely true. The District Attorney for Fulton County, Georgia, for example, is conducting a serious investigation into Trump’s strong-arming of state officials in 2020 and 2021 to find him votes in the election that he lost. Good luck convincing Republicans and independents that the results of that investigation are legitimate after today.” ~ This is a story from March 30. In all the rhetoric over the “Tennessee Three,” there is very little information about what these legislators actually did. “Three Democratic lawmakers on Thursday led an impromptu rally in the midst of the morning session as hundreds protested against gun violence outside the door three days after a mass shooting at The Covenant School. Chaos erupted around 10:50 a.m. as the House voted on a bill dealing with expansion of the state’s education savings account program when Rep. Justin Jones complained aloud to Speaker Cameron Sexton that his voting machine was turned off. Sexton told Jones he was out of order, then called a five-minute recess. As Republican leaders huddled at Sexton’s dais, Jones of Nashville and Reps. Justin J. Pearson of Memphis and Gloria Johnson of Knoxville went to the podium armed with a megaphone, leading chants such as “Gun control now!” with people in the balcony seating areas.” ~ pictures today are from The Library of Congress ~selah
333,333,333
This is a repost from 2017. The current US Population is 336,438,002. … U.S. and World Population Clock gives an estimate of the population for the United States, and the World. On April 26,2017, at 13:41:31 UTC, an estimated 324,935,042 people lived in the United States (50 states, and District of Columbia.) The World population is 7,386,876,180.
Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) is the time standard used here. UTC is similar to Greenwich Mean Time. “The reference line or starting point, the Prime Meridian, was determined to be the transit circle at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, London.” UTC is four hours ahead of Eastern Daylight Time. The population reading above was at 9:41:31 EDT.
The question for today is: When will the US population hit 333,333,333? Here are some hints: “Components of Population Change: One birth every 8 seconds, One death every 11 seconds, One international migrant (net) every 32 seconds, Net gain of one person every 15 seconds.”
The target population, 333,333,333, is 8,398,291 more than the current population of 324,935,042. Assuming a net gain of 5,760 per day, (one every 15 seconds, 4 per minute, 1440 minutes a day) we will hit the target number in 1458 days. 5,760×1,458=8,398,080, 211 less than the target.
Friday, April 23, 2021 is 1,458 days in the future. 211/4 is 52.75. This gives us a time of 14:34:16 UTC, or 10:34:16 AM EDT. At this time, the population of the United States will be 333,333,333.
Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. Esther Bubley took the pictures in September, 1943. “A Greyhound bus trip from Louisville, Kentucky, to Memphis, Tennessee, and the terminals.”
#Tennessee3
#Tennessee3 has nothing to do with Johnny Cash And The Tennessee Three. One is a trending topic today. NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) “In an extraordinary act of political retaliation, Tennessee Republicans on Thursday expelled two Democratic lawmakers from the state Legislature for their role in a protest calling for more gun control in the aftermath of a deadly school shooting in Nashville. A third Democrat was narrowly spared by a one-vote margin. The split votes drew accusations of racism, with lawmakers ousting Reps. Justin Jones and Justin Pearson, who are both Black, while Rep. Gloria Johnson, who is white, survived the vote on her expulsion. Republican leadership denied that race was a factor, however. … “
You have to go down nine paragraphs to find out what the #Tennessee3 did. “Jones, Pearson and Johnson joined in protesting last week as hundreds of demonstrators packed the Capitol to call for passage of gun-control measures. As the protesters filled galleries, the three approached the front of the House chamber with a bullhorn and participated in a chant.”
In a bit of blogger synchronicity, chamblee54 reposted a story from 2021 about Democratic bad behavior in Georgia. In 2018 and 2021, Democratic legislators were arrested for disturbing the peace inside the state capitol. In both cases, the charges were quickly dropped, and Democrats cheered the bad behavior. One of the arrested legislators, Nikema Williams, was elected to the U.S. Congress. Few people seem to be concerned about the effect of this nonsense on the lawmaking process.
Getting back to the #Tennessee3, you have to dig a bit to find any details about the incident. Finally, this turned up: “Three Democratic lawmakers on Thursday led an impromptu rally in the midst of the morning session as hundreds protested against gun violence outside the door three days after a mass shooting at The Covenant School. Chaos erupted around 10:50 a.m. as the House voted on a bill dealing with expansion of the state’s education savings account program when Rep. Justin Jones complained aloud to Speaker Cameron Sexton that his voting machine was turned off. Sexton told Jones he was out of order, then called a five-minute recess. As Republican leaders huddled at Sexton’s dais, Jones of Nashville and Reps. Justin J. Pearson of Memphis and Gloria Johnson of Knoxville went to the podium armed with a megaphone, leading chants such as “Gun control now!” with people in the balcony seating areas.”
The popular response seems to be praise for the bullhorn-toting lawmakers, along with the traditional cries of racism. Nobody seems to worry that we do not seem to be capable of civil lawmaking. Is this how lawmakers will handle disagreements … cheer on disruptive visitors in the gallery, with a bullhorn? One wonders whether the #Tennessee3 will get bills passed into law, or if they are content to cause “good trouble.”
While doing research for this piece, I found a state website page for Rep. Gloria Johnson. I decided to look for Rep. Pearson and Rep. Jones. The state has already deleted the expelled two from the State House directory. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress
Lewis Grizzard
In the time between 1980 and 1994, if you lived in Atlanta you heard about Lewis Grizzard. Some people loved him. Some did not. He told good old boy stories about growing up in rural Georgia. Many of them were enjoyable. Lewis also made social and political commentaries, which upset a few people. This is a saturday morning repost, with historic pictures from “The Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library”.
PG had mixed feelings about Lewis. The stories about Kathy Sue Loudermilk, and Catfish, could make your day. His opinions about gays, feminists, and anything non redneck, could get on your nerves. His column for the fishwrapper upset PG at least twice a week.
In 1982, Lewis (he reached the level of celebrity where he was known by his first name only) wrote a column about John Lennon. Lewis did not understand why Mr. Ono was such a big deal. PG cut the column out of the fishwrapper, and put it in a box. Every few years, PG would be looking for something, find that column, and get mad all over again.
The New Georgia Encyclopedia has a page about Lewis, which expresses some of these contradictions. “If Grizzard’s humor revealed the ambivalence amid affluence of the Sunbelt South, it reflected its conservative and increasingly angry politics as well. He was fond of reminding fault-finding Yankee immigrants that “Delta is ready when you are,” and, tired of assaults on the Confederate flag, he suggested sarcastically that white southerners should destroy every relic and reminder of the Civil War (1861-65), swear off molasses and grits, drop all references to the South, and begin instead to refer to their region as the “Lower East.” Grizzard also wore his homophobia and hatred for feminists on his sleeve, and one of the last of his books summed up his reaction to contemporary trends in its title, Haven’t Understood Anything since 1962 and Other Nekkid Truths.
In the end, which came in 1994, when he was only forty-seven, the lonely, insecure, oft-divorced, hard-drinking Grizzard proved to be the archetypal comic who could make everyone laugh but himself. He chronicled this decline and his various heart surgeries in I Took a Lickin’ and Kept on Tickin’, and Now I Believe in Miracles, published just before his final, fatal heart failure.”
As you may have discerned, Lewis McDonald Grizzard Jr. met his maker on March 20, 1994. He was 47. There was a valve in his heart that wasn’t right. The good news is that he stayed out of the army. At the time, Vietnam was the destination for most enlistees. The bad news is that his heart problems got worse and worse, until it finally killed him.
Sixteen years later, PG found a website, Wired For Books. It is a collection of author interviews by Don Swaim, who ran many of them on a CBS radio show called Book Beat. There are two interviews with Lewis Grizzard. One was done to promote My Daddy Was a Pistol and I’m a Son of A Gun. This was the story of Lewis Grizzard Senior, who was another mixed bag.
PG found himself listening to this chat, and wondered what he had been missing. The stories, and one liners, came flowing out, like the Chattahoochee going under I 285. Daddy Grizzard was a soldier, who went to war in Europe and Korea. The second one did something to his mind, and he took to drinking. He was never quite right the rest of his life. His son adored him anyway. When you put yourself in those loafers for a while, you began to taste the ingredients, in that stew we called Lewis Grizzard.
PG still remembers the anger that those columns caused … PG has his own story, and knows when his toes are stepped on. The thing is, after listening to this show, PG has an idea of why Lewis Grizzard wrote the things that he did. Maybe PG and Lewis aren’t all that different after all.
Georgia Democrats
This is a repost from 2021. … Georgia Democrats did not do well in the recent controversy over voting access. The over-the-top rhetoric makes it difficult to believe anything they say. “Jim Crow on steroids” takes crying wolf to a new low. Democrat media enablers lost control cheering them on.
Maybe it started August 12, 2017. Candidates for Governor were speaking. When Stacey Evans spoke, audience members started to chant “trust black women.” One of the other candidates, Stacey Abrams, defended the disruption. “I do not believe that you silence those who feel they are voiceless, because the minute we do that we are no better than those who tell people they can’t kneel in protest.”
What happened next is well known. Miss Abrams won the Democratic primary, and almost won the November election. Her number one campaign issue was voter suppression. When Miss Abrams lost the November election, she claimed that the election was stolen. This claim was uncritically accepted, and repeated ad nauseam.
After the election, a rally was held inside the State Capitol. State law clearly forbids disruptive rallies inside the Capitol. (O.C.G.A. 16-11-34.1 (g)) State Representative Nikema Williams decided that the law did not apply to her, and got arrested. Rep. Williams was praised for this arrest, and elected to the US Congress in 2020.
Republicans legislators proposed a law governing voting access. Democrats went into hysterical disruption mode. A rally inside the Capitol was dispersed, but not before Rep. Park Elizabeth Cannon was physically removed by authorities.
A few weeks later, Rep. Cannon succeeded in getting herself arrested. SB 202 passed, and Governor Brian Kemp decided to sign it immediately. Rep. Cannon got into a confrontation with State Troopers outside the Governor’s office, and got herself arrested. This arrest was over a ceremonial bill signing. Rep. Cannon may be the first legislator in history to get arrested at a bill signing.
What does all this say about the Democrats? They do not seem to be interested in the orderly process of running the state. The Democrats think it is proper to engage in juvenile confrontations. The Democrats do not appear to be capable of governing the state, if they should be elected to power. Pictures for this feature are from The Library of Congress.
Dr. King And Mr. King
PG stumbled onto a blog post about a speech. It was delivered August 28, 1963, by Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr. You have probably heard the money quote many times, but how many have heard the entire 881 words. PG had not, and decided to take a look.
The speech is really a sermon. It is delivered with the cadence, and rhetorical flourishes, of the church. Dr. King was a minister. The Church is a huge player in African America. The fact that slaves were introduced to this religion, by their owners, seems to be forgotten.
The term used is Negro. This was the polite word in 1963. The custom of saying Black started in the late sixties, at least partially inspired by James Brown. Negro began to be seen as an insult.
Twelve weeks after Dr. King gave his speech, President John Kennedy was killed. Part of the reaction to this tragedy was the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
The next year saw the Voting Rights Act, and escalation of the war in Vietnam. It seemed that for every step forward, there was a half step back. People lost patience with non violence. America did not implode, but somehow survived. It is now fifty nine years later.
The other day PG stumbled onto a blog post, about a speech given by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. This address was deemed “the singularly most-important speech on race in the history of this country.”
PG admires Dr. King. He is also suspicious of superlatives. There were some comments made by Rodney Glen King III. The comments by Mr King were briefer, and tougher to live up to.
While thinking of things to write about, PG realized that he had never seen the actual quote by Mr. King. When you see this video, you might realize that Mr. King has been misquoted. The popular version has him saying “Can’t we all just get along.” He did not say just.
Mr. King was known to America as Rodney King. His friends called him Glen. His comments, at 7:01, May 1, 1992, went like this: ““People, I just want to say, you know, can we all get along? Can we get along? Can we stop making it, making it horrible for the older people and the kids? . . . Please, we can get along here. We all can get along. I mean, we’re all stuck here for a while. Let’s try to work it out. Let’s try to beat it. Let’s try to beat it.”
The circumstances of the two comments could not be more different. Dr. King was giving the sermon of his life. There was an enormous crowd, both in person and on TV. His comments were scripted, rehearsed, and delivered with the style he was famous for.
Mr. King, by contrast, had just seen the officers who beat him acquitted. Cities from coast to coast were in violent upheaval. Mr. King was speaking to reporters, without benefit of a speech writer. What he said might be more important. This double repost has pictures from The Library of Congress.
Chamblee54 
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