Ffolkes,
The weather is behaving oddly….but that is to be expected, as humanity has so far declined to stop pumping CO2 into the air, and the average temperature of the planet continues to rise. It won’t end until we are all dead…..and that, my friends, is a fact, not an assumption, not a theory, but a proven fact. Deal with it…

So here hath been dawning another blue day:
Think, wilt thou let it slip useless away?
Out of eternity this new day is born;
Into eternity at night ’twill return.
— Carlyle (1795-1881)

When I first read this I was struck by how perfectly it communicates the passage of Time, human productivity and motivation for same, and the Beauty of the entire process. It is a perfect piece to read to help us know why we go out and start a day’s work, and an equally good way to end the day, with a reminder to appreciate what has been. And as such, it enters the realm of R.G.P. (Really Good Poetry), and finds a niche of honor in my collection of Virtual Wisdom. It is perhaps a perfect example of the power of the written word, when it takes the form of poetry. An hour-long lecture exploring the subjects mentioned above could be composed with little effort, a lecture that would explain what the poet what trying to say. And THAT highlights the power, as the information passed in the hour-long statement is merely a paraphrasing of the poem. The hour’s information was packed into four short lines, and grew more beautiful with being shrunk to the given size. Wonderful indeed are the hidden talents of the human mind. It’s really our only hope, and a slender one at that……..

Fanatic: Someone who, having lost sight of his goal, redoubles his efforts.

This is obviously not the definition as given in Webster’s, but is just as accurate a description as the one that appears therein. And in today’s political arena, it serves a useful purpose, which is, of course, using it to help identify these overly zealous individuals among the current crop of candidates for the presidency. From my point of view, at least five of the seven Republicans campaigning for the highest political prize of all can be classified as fanatics, and the other two are so far out of it, their next steps will probably qualify them to join the others in the fanatics category. Every time one of them makes a statement, it sounds like a plot from a really bad daytime soap opera has gotten mixed in with their speech notes. Or even more fascinating, they will shoot from the hip, make some outlandish statement that comes from deep in their personal quirk files, showing the true depth of their racism, or prejudice, or their deliberate ignorance. Watching them spend the next two weeks backing off from those statements provides me with a great deal of entertainment, and hopefully gives the voting populace a clear picture of the danger of having one of them take the controls of so much power.

It’s amazing really, how these folks can parade their ignorance in front of the public eye, and actually, I take hope from the fact that they do so, as it shows their true natures, and how unsuitable those natures are for the position they seek. But, I also know my hope is tenuous at best. All it takes for me to groan again at the foolishness of the American voting populace, and remember that we have already elected one actor to the job, and we are still trying to overcome the financial mess he left us in. As a matter of fact, in looking back over my lifetime, what I see is one President after another coming into office, spending the first part of their term deciding what needs the most reform, making plans to start the changes, then having to fight intense pressure from the supposedly “loyal opposition” to stop any change. The party that lost the last election, whether right or left, spends its time bringing up BS about the President, accusing him of chicanery, and generally throwing up any kind of distraction they can come up with, no mater how silly or vicious, to keep anything constructive from taking place. Then they can point out how little the President has accomplished. I am becoming thoroughly disgusted, and increasingly angry at our belove ruling class. I have suggested previously that it is time for the Second American Revolution, and I am completely serious. The country I live in today bears no resemblance to the one envisioned by our founding fathers (and mothers); I am so incensed that I am seriously considering buying a gun, something I had resolved not to do in my life, as I’ve always felt the best way to get shot at was to carry a gun. But, I can see a day coming when I will need it, in order to defend the few rights I have left…..what do y’all think?

If all is not lost, then where is it?

I can only wish that I knew……not enough people are outraged at what is happening today. I’ve read a book every day since I was ten years old. I’ve watched people and society for that same amount of time, and I am afraid. I am afraid that we have waited too long. We, and by that I mean Humankind, have not made the internal changes necessary to insure our survival. Our greed for power over others, and our sense of entitlement regarding the planet’s resources, is leading us down a sure path to extinction. The pumping of chemicals and poison toxins into the water, air, and land that we live in and on, continues to take place, in spite of massive evidence that we are killing ourselves (and a lot of other forms of life). The recent 99% protests going on are just the beginning of uprisings from the public; the 1% is killing us all, and they don’t think that it applies to them. I don’t care how rich you are, when the percentage level of oxygen in the air (16% ideally), falls below 12%, you will certainly die. And they just don’t seem to care……deliberate ignorance. What they also don’t know is that the results achieved by their intransigence are completely unavoidable; there’s nowhere else to go. Once this environment is kaput, that will be the end of, and there is no appeal. Kinda makes it hard sometimes to keep up a good front……I guess we’ll just have to see how it goes……and hope for good luck, because that’s all that will save us at this point……

Well, was that enough gloom and doom for ya? In some ways I hate to write this kind of article, because I know it’s a waste of effort. Our beloved ruling class, all 1% of them, will have their way, unless we take the ability to do so away from them. 5000 years of human history shows not a single instance of that ever happening, so the odds are against us, at least in that sense. Meanwhile, all we can do is take care of the ones we love, and smile, smile, smile…… Y’all take care out there…..

Sometimes I sits and thinks,
and sometimes
I just sits.

gigoid

Kowabunga!