GDG- Chilli in DC

[CWMHTours at aol.com]

Well I have certainly been taken to the woodshed-
 
Response:
 
1.  Abraham Lincoln.  I will spell it that way in  the future.  My last 
name is MacNeill and no one spells it right.   Doesn't bother me.
 
2.  I would like to see some specific instances.  I  didn't know that if 
someone refutes my stand on a topic that I was obligated to  change my view to 
that of the refutation.  I am in here both to learn and  be entertained.  
Hopefully I can make a contribution or two.
 
    I don't make up my views on things out  of whole cloth.  Been 
interested in history all my long life.  Have  done tours from Williamsburg up to 
Gettysburg out to Cumberland.  I think I  actually have learned a little bit.
 
    My question to you is what is wrong  with holding a particular view 
even if it is refuted?  Maybe I am stupid  and obtuse and need more 
information.  Maybe I was not convinced by the  refutation.
 
    And so what if I am refuted?   We're not all in lockstep here.
 
     I actually do change my opinion on  occasion when new facts justify it.
 
3.  Did you spend a year working for Tourmobile in  Arlington Cemetery?  
No...  But I did...  Maybe I know something  you don't.  Maybe I saw it over 
and over, and until the recent demise of  Tourmobile, have still seen it.
 
4.  Bill Cosby.    Are you really  making an issue out of this?  Hard to 
believe.
 
    To give you some background, for most  of my 40 years in DC whenever 
Bill Cosby comes to the White House or Kennedy  Center he always talks on the 
TV news and newspapers about going to Ben's Chili  Bowl on U St.  Concierges 
(Who must not have gone there.) tell tourists  Bill Cosby recommends Ben's 
Chili Bowl.  You don't hear people talk about  Ben's without mentioning Bill 
Cosby and when people hear about Bill coming to  town they start talking 
about Ben's.  The 2 are inseparable in this  town.
 
    And it is lousy chili.  It's like  ketchup with a little ground beef 
thrown in.  You could probly get better  chili at any other restaurant on U 
St.  Or out of a can.
 
    And I know where the good stuff  is.
 
    The Bill Cosby was a reference for  people familiar with DC and have 
heard about him and Ben's.  John Grim has  probly heard about Bill Cosby and 
Ben's.
 
    I can't believe you are making an  issue of this.
 
    The Hard Times Chili Cafes are a local  chain  full of funky ambience.  
nothing fancy.  Most of them have  juke boxes with great music on them.  
Chuck Berry, Rolling Stones, blues,  and country/western.  I have been going 
to them since the 70s.
 
    So what is your problem with Patsy  Cline and Willie Nelson?  If you 
don't like their music then play something  else on the juke box.
 
    But I never get to hear much Patsy  Cline and Willie Nelson and I like 
playing them on the jukebox while eating  Terlingua chili and cornbread.  I 
was in Alexandria 2 weeks ago doing  that.
 
I look forward to going back again.
 
Your  Most Obedient Servant,
Peter  

 
In a message dated 1/4/2012 1:59:53 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,  
joadx1 at netscape.net writes:

Esteemed  GDG Member Contributes:
While intended as a light-hearted reply to a  light-hearted attempt to 
lower the temperature on this conversation, this  message is indicative of a 
certain subtext in your posts to this group.   Since you may actually not be 
aware of that subtext, I'll give you some  hints.

First, in this message you write "Damn that Bill Cosby," while  insisting 
that "You can't beat Patsy Cline and Willie  Nelson when chili  grease is 
dribbling down your chin."

Now, the former phrase is intended  jocularly and literally, but taken in a 
larger context it sends a message that  you may not intend.  Here is that 
context:

1.  You insist  upon misspelling Abraham Lincoln's name, even though Ms. 
Margaret Blough (who  is not only a senior member and director of this 
discussion group but is also  about as good an expert as there is on the 
Constitutional history relevant to  the Civil War) has asked you, politely, twice, to 
stop doing that because it  is disrespectful.  It is disrespectful.  Why do 
you continue doing  that?

2. You attribute language and motivations to Abraham Lincoln that  other 
senior members and experts on this site (like Mr. Al Mackey) have  
definitively refuted.

3.  You insist that you personally know what  is most "important" about 
Arlington Cemetery.  That insistence is  consistently voiced as a protest of 
what you call the disproportionate  attention to black Americans by the NPS.  
As a number of thoughtful and  well-informed messages to this list have 
explained, given over a century of  not only ignoring the slave-related part of 
the American story but also of  persecuting the freed slaves and their 
descendants, the NPS, at the behest of  the elected leaders of this country, has 
been trying to redress the  balance.  Your protest of this is part of a 
pattern.

Within such a  context your Bill Cosby/Patsy Cline-Willie Nelson quips 
assume a certain  resonance, a resonance that is clearly apparent to a number of 
the  contributors to this discussion.









To:  gettysburg <gettysburg at arthes.com>
Sent: Wed, Jan 4, 2012 10:33  am
Subject: Re: GDG- Chilli in DC


Esteemed GDG Member  Contributes:
Ben's?

Ha ha!

You like Ben's?

I think it  is lousy and excessively over-rated.  It is  more of a 
condiment  
than real chili.

I'd go to Ben's for a chili half-smoke  tho.

I don't understand the attention Ben's gets.  Damn that   Bill Cosby!

What about the Hard Times Cafe?   That's pretty  damn  good.  The Terlingua 
any time.  I'll eat the veggie  too.  Last  time I was there some guy came 
in 
and bot up a whole  mess of corn bread.   All their juke boxes are good.  
You  can't beat Patsy Cline and Willie  Nelson when chili grease is 
dribbling  
down your chin.

Any time-  we'll go find John Grim  too.

;-)  !!!
Your  Most Obedient  Servant,
Peter

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