“Happiness is the only good, reason the only torch, justice the only worship, humanity the only religion, and love the only priest.” — Robert G. Ingersoll (American lawyer and orator)

Well, color me surprised, and more than a little amazed, that an American lawyer not only said this, but sounds as if he believes it…. Howdy, ffolkes, and don’t fret, this isn’t the beginning of a rant, though it could easily be one…. No, there’s plenty of that coming up later…. No, my comment was merely prompted by seeing the word lawyer in conjunction with the words, justice, humanity, reason, and love…. Typically, those qualities are missing from the list of those shown by lawyers, especially American lawyers…. and don’t try to make me guilty over picking at them again…. If they didn’t DO this stuff, it wouldn’t come back to haunt them….

Maybe I am ranting… what do you think? Is this a direct attack on lawyers at large? Maybe so…. In that case, let me take a short break, to see if I can find a way back to something more resembling an introduction…. Be right back, ffolkes…. time for a pain break anyway….

Hmm…. Okay, so, there isn’t much, ffolkes….. but, in the interests of full disclosure, I didn’t look real hard. I guess I’m just in a ranting mood, so, maybe you should consider donning the Kevlar vests, and the helmets provided for you as part of your entrance fee….. What? No fees are being collected? Again? Damn it all, where the hell’s Luigi? He’s supposed to be taking the admission gate…. Now I’ll have to take the time to find him, & see why he’s been so flaky of late….

In the meantime, perhaps it would be best to just forgo any further attempts at logic or reason…. I don’t think they’ll be of much use at this point…. Instead, we’ll just go on, and do the best we can with what is there to use….. Wish me luck….

Shall we Pearl?…..

“If I had my life to live over again, I’d be a plumber.” — Albert Einstein

Me? I’d have liked to have been a travel writer….. a job that combines my two favorite activities…. Hell, it may yet happen, who knows? Stranger things, as they say, have happened….

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I’ve avoided full out ranting for a while now, having reached a point where I felt I was repeating myself too often, without achieving any of the results that it would be nice to see for all my efforts (such as a world-wide revolution against the corporate masters who have oppressed society for millennia now…. I can dream, can’t I?….). In the last couple of days, I’ve seen a number of articles in various news sites detailing the latest news on several fronts worth ranting about…. Let’s see what’s up, eh?….

Then, of course, there is what has been discovered lately about what the NSA, the CIA, and the oxymoronic intelligence agencies that are part of the US pantheon of spies…. In the case below, in Germany, yet ANOTHER double agent was found to have been perverted by the CIA, this one working in one of the German defense departments…. As a result of this one, the article below shows the latest reaction by the German government….

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/germany/10959549/Germany-asks-CIA-station-chief-in-Berlin-to-leave-country-over-US-spying-row.html

Of course, all the politicians, in both countries, are just salivating, at all the opportunities they will have for political jockeying over these incidents…. The Republicans are happy because it gives them more ammunition against their nightmare, the Black President with Some Integrity, while, on the other side of the aisle, the Democrats are happy because it gives them a chance to get their own names out in the public eye, making statements, and looking concerned…. Neither one actually gives a shit about the issue, but, it’s one they like to see being played out, as it offers so many different ways to distract and obfuscate….

Then, of course, I saw this one…. I’ve been following a bit of this…. It seems that, back in the Thatcher days, the British equivalent to our Congress, their Houses of Parliament, there were a large number of child molesters in office, and they went so far as to use their power, and positions of authority, to further their sick, pedophiliac habits, covering up their crimes with ease, as they had the authority to tell the police to ignore issues, or sweep them under the table…. A member of the House of Commons collected evidence on it, then turned in his report to what should have been the proper authorities, over thirty years ago….

Naturally, that report was “lost” before any action on it’s contents could be formulated, and the whole issue was swept under the bureaucratic table…. Now, this whole episode is coming to light, and the politicians in Westminster are running around like a disturbed nest of ants…. It’s actually quite entertaining, if a bit sick-making, to watch all these psychopathic assholes try to figure out how this will affect them, or, in many cases, trying to decide whether to kill themselves now, or wait until after their trial…. Read it, then join me in a big raspberry to all the sick bastards who are involved, who may now get their just desserts….

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/10959997/Westminster-whistleblower-told-to-back-off-over-paedophiles.html

Sick, sick people, that’s all I can say…. To finish off this bit of random ranting, below you’ll find a list of people who live in the SF Bay Area who are billionaires…. You know, those privileged elite who believe that, because they have all this money, they can pretty much do whatever they wish to do, without any consequences for their actions…. and, they’d pretty much be right about that….

When was the last time you heard about, or read about, some billionaire going to jail, or even to trial, when they have broken the law? That would right about NEVER, right? Hell, these people, when arrested, or even stopped for a traffic violation, never even have those incidents make it to the papers; you never even HEAR about any trouble they have, because it is all taken care of, hushed up and forgotten, before anyone in the public even knows it has taken place…. That is what money can buy, ffolkes, never doubt it…. Take a look at the list, and the amount of money these assholes are hoarding for their own use….

http://www.sfgate.com/business/article/Who-are-the-richest-families-in-the-Bay-Area-5610052.php

545.9 BILLION DOLLARS! What an incredible number, describing 18 families in the Bay Area who have a net worth in the billions of dollars; the smallest number I saw was 1.2 billion, I believe, and the most disgusting, er, largest, was WalMart’s owners, the Waltons, at, get this, 152 billion. That number, by the way, is the kind of number the mind can’t really grasp, but, think of it this way…. This insanely small number of people have as much financial resource at their disposal as all but perhaps ten countries in the world…. The US Dept. of Housing budget, for any particular year, is not very much larger than this amount, I’m guessing, if at all….

Astounding, mind-blowing, and to me, reprehensible, that so few people can be not just allowed, by the system, and society, but actively  encouraged and directed into perversity by the forces of history, with results that reward such behavior…. All to often, the Powers That Be will aid and abet those who successfully hoard that much for themselves, as opposed to more of a moral attitude, which prioritizes such resources into using them to supply what society may have need for…. which, essentially, another way of saying that society, and the victims of such selfishness, is made to pay for the rotten effects of the corruption and indifference to morality shown by those who have hoarded the resources in the first place….

Okay, ffolkes, we’re about done…. Here, to finish this off with a bit of more positive energy, is another fine article from Mark Morford, this time pointing out some obvious bits of information that are generally ignored by critics of the Obama administration…. I mean, he IS a politician, so, as Mark points out, there are still some questionable issues Barry has raised with his spotty conservatism, and terrorist paranoia…. not to mention how he has catered and kowtowed to the financial community…. disgusting….

Nevertheless, in terms of getting things done that will actually HELP the average American, he has done quite well…. Read this, and try to pay attention… I know this is getting long, but, we’re almost done….

http://blog.sfgate.com/morford/2014/07/08/the-best-worst-president-ever/

As usual, Mark has put his finger on a point most people would miss altogether…It’s brilliant, funny, and all-too-accurate to miss…. Go ahead, I’ll wait…. There, now, don’t you feel a bit lighter? No? Okay, well, I tried…. We’re done here, so I’ll leave you with this final word, to try to bring this to its most efficient, effective ending….

“Rare gift! but oh what gift to fools avails!”

— Alexander Pope (1688-1744) — The Odyssey of Homer, Book x, Line 29

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As you probably have guessed by now, this will be another random, harlequin, old-school pearl, because A) it’s fast, B) it’s cheap, and C) it’s what I can do without going off the rails completely…. in other words, I’m using the all-purpose, universal, time-tested American excuse…. Expedience! Enjoy!….

“What you see is from outside yourself, and may come, or not, but is beyond your control.  But your fear is yours, and yours alone, like your voice, or your fingers, or your memory, and therefore yours to control.  If you feel powerless over your fear, you have not yet admitted that it is yours, to do with as you will.” — Marion Zimmer Bradley, “Stormqueen”

“I once asked my history teacher how we were expected to learn anything useful from his subject, when it seemed to me to be nothing but a monotonous and sordid succession of robber baron scumbags devoid of any admirable human qualities. I failed history.” — Sting

“There is nothing so easy but that it becomes difficult when you do it with reluctance.” — Terence (185-159 BC)
— Heautontimoroumenos, Act iv, Sc. 6, 1, (805.)

“We become just by performing just actions, temperate by performing temperate actions, brave by performing brave actions.” — Aristotle

“Until philosophers are kings … cities will never cease from ill, nor the human race.” — Plato (428-348? B.C.)

“Our care should not be to have lived long as to have lived enough.” — Seneca

“I’m pretending I’m pulling in a TROUT!  Am I doing it correctly?” — Zippy the Pinhead

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For a Pearl that felt so choppy while in the process of creation, this didn’t come out too badly at all…. In order to keep from feeling like a complete liar, I’m going to go ahead an post it, without even going over it with a critical eye…. some proofing, and, as far as I am concerned, it’s good to go…. Call me Ishmael, or call me a fool…. just don’t call me late for dinner…. See ya, ffolkes….