The Incredulous Pithcanthrope

In my opinion, the presence in the armed forces of persons who demonstrate a propensity or intent to engage in homosexual acts would very likely create an unacceptable risk to those high standards of morale, good order and discipline, and effective unit cohesion and effectiveness. I’m opposed to this change, and I look forward to a very spirited debate on this issue….

That’s Saxby Chambliss, Georgia’s old-school homophobic lawmaker.  It’s a ridicuolous quoute when you think about it.  It makes absolutely no sense whatsoever, especially if you consider what he said just before it:

Today we know we have gay and lesbian soldiers serving. They’ve served in the past. They’re going to serve in the future, and they’re going to serve in a very valiant way.

So, just what is he trying to say?  He’s in favor of keeping the “Don’t ask/Don’t tell” policy, so, for Chambliss, if one is gay and doesn’t declare that he or she is, they serve their country in “a valiant way,” and therefore don’t have a “propensity or intent to engage in homosexual acts?”   Conversely, if you say “I am gay,” all of a sudden you are likely to “demonstrate” the same in front of your fellow soldiers?  Logically speaking, it’s all fucked up.  It’s a giant WTF?

Then again, what else could we expect from such a person as Chambliss?  Oh yeah, he also has a problem with ”body art.”  The more Chambliss speaks, the more he makes himself sound like the biggest idiot in the world.

You see, Chambliss represents a large cohort of our population (especially in The South) that just doesn’t know how to deal with the mere existence of gay people.  In fact, Chambliss and his ilk just hate gay people.  He hates gay people more than most servicemen do.  You can’t tell The IP that most soldiers don’t know who is or isn’t gay because of don’t ask don’t tell.  And how about all those fine, heterosexual pillars of moral virtue that come home after a tour of duty only to abuse their wives when they get back?  Or of the thousands of female victims of sexual assualt in the military?   

It’s quite clear that the most problematic sexual orientation in terms of immorality relates to heterosexual men and women.  That Chambliss is just grandstanding (quite incoherently) for his good ol’ boy constituency is beyond obvious.  How about our famous Lyndie England?  Not only did she proudly pose while torturing prisoners, she ”demonstrated” her “propensity” for engaging in heterosexual acts by becoming  pregnant.  Then the dude that impregnated her dumped her for another female soldier.  Talk about morality.  The more you think about it, there would be more unit cohesion (and more fun!) if our armed forces were entirely gay!

Two thumbs up for heterosexuality!  Lyndie and her boyfriend created their own form of “body art” by using bodies of prisoners to form a living sculpture.  Nice.

That’s a rainbow military helmet from WWI.  That was before rainbow colors became those of the gay community.  No doubt, however, there were plenty of gays wearing them without irony.  I bet Chambliss would want gays in military to wear such helmets today so others will know of their propensity to engage in homosexual acts.

OK enough of this depressing discourse.  It’s Carnaval in Brasil and The IP is going to put on a cool Paul Mauriat LP and try to forget about Saxby Chambliss and his never-ending crusade to make Georgia look one of the stupidest states in the Union. 

A special shout-out to Solange Braga who is on her way to Sao Luis to enjoy Carnaval!

In 1996-97, The IP worked in Chicago as an archival assistant for one of the “Baby Bells” that resulted from the Government-mandated break-up of AT&T. Using the same regional organization that AT&T had already established for its own operation, the Baby Bell in Chicago consisted of five former AT&T state-based phone companies:  Ohio Bell, Wisconsin Bell, Michigan Bell, Illinois Bell, and Indiana Bell.The IP had the honor of processing the photo collection of Ohio Bell, and whenever there was an original negative and several prints, his boss let The IP keep one of the latter.  The result was a sizable Ohio Bell print catalog owned and operated by yours truly.

Below are some images from Ohio Bell’s “Holiday” category.  They feature both “real” Ohio Bell employees and some subjects in professional studio shots (usually out of Cleveland) associated with TV shows or images for Ohio Bell’s employee magazine, Insight.  Click on the images to see a larger version.  Enjoy:

A Female Ohio Bell Employee Sits Beside a Very Modern, Metalic Christmas Tree 1958

A Group of Women From Cleveland's Engineering Department Ready Gifts and Foodstuffs For Needy Clevelanders 1958

Billing Department Employees Pose Before Their Metalic Tree and Gifts for the Needy 1959

Cute Kids Pose With a Wreath In This Shot For Ohio Bell's Employee Magazine, Insight 1961

Women From an Ohio Bell Business Office Put The Finishing Touches on Their Christmas Tree 1961

An Only Child From an Ohio Suburb Dreams of Sugar Plums in This Studio Shot For Insight 1963

An Ohio Dad Chooses an Odd Time to Lecture His Kids About The Birds and Bees in This Still From a TV Movie 1963

This Out-Take From an AT&T Movie Clearly Shows A Child Actor Tiring From This Christmas Charade; What Looks To Be Father Knows Best and Doris Day Look On 1965

It Seems The Directors For This AT&T Movie Experimented With Different Scenarios For "On The Housetops." 1965

The Newly Formed EEOC Had Their First Successful Discrimination Case With AT&T, Resulting in The Company Hiring More Blacks and "Ethnic" Types 1972 The Three Happy Folks Above Are Acutal Ohio Bell Employees Out of Cleveland

 

 

Soon it becomes a side-to-side battle as the ‘74 Matador and ‘72 Bel Air straddle the yellow center line on the road that runs next to the railroad track. This is just before The Great Car Trick of Episode #7 of Season 3. Everything looks believable right before the bad guy in the sleazy purple nylon jacket decides to force David and Old 43 to slide off their relatively straight trajectory. As soon as the next establishing shot is made of that dramatic move, however, we are shocked to see that Bixby has magically transformed Old 43 into a 1965 Dodge Coronet right before our eyes!

   

 

Lou Ferrigno & Frank Orsatti

Butt because they were designed and manufactured for non-residential applications, they can be hard to find on the yard sale circuit. The IP saw his new Gunlocke from his car as he was driving by a yard sale; after obsessing about them on the Intar Webs and turning over chairs in libraries and office waiting rooms to check the label (they are always well-marked) he can identify them from a long distance away.

OK.  It’s actually three separate names: HATZIDAKIS, THEODORAKIS, XARHAKOS. But wouldn’t that be great if it were a real last name:

HATZIDAKISTHEODORAKISXARHAKOS

Or how about mixing the letters around a bit:

DORARHAKOSTZIDAKISRAKISXARHISI

Either way, it’s still all Greek to The IP. That’s because he encountered an Olympian-sized pile of Greek records last week that must have come in to the Goodwill earlier that day.  Do your thriting on the weekdays after work. The early bird gets the Loukomades!

The IP was not a big aficionado of Greek music, but he figured he oughta have at least a few Greek LPs in his collection just in case the Papadoyannis guys come over for some ouzo and conversation.

And The IP couldn’t pass up this bouzouki LP featuring Harry Lemonopoulos and Eva Styl:

Something about that bouzouki just leaning there against that fluted Greek column. It’s even autographed on the back by the singer! And after listening to Lemonopoulos wail on his bouzouki , The IP has to say he is the Jimmy Hendrixopoulos of the Greek Isles. That guy has fast fingers! WTF!

Lemonopoulos was both bouzouki player and composer, and based on some initial Intar Webs research, he was one of the best in each of those categories.

30 seconds of Googling scored the below Lemonopoulos YouTubes. It’s from a Greek movie and features Lemonopoulos playing himself as lead bouzouki player accompanying a handsome woman singer in an Athens club. It’s worth a watch.

That’s Lemonopoulos in the middle. WATCH CLIP

And if you want to see a “young gun” playing a Lemonopoulos tune on his bouzouki, check out THIS GUY.

Yasou!!