Ffolkes,
Echoes of emptiness…. That’s all I hear from the caverns of my mind. I’ve been considering THINGS as they are just now here on Exploring Consensual Reality, and have come to realize that what I’m perceiving is a lack of freshness, a lack of any of the flavor of today, of NOW. For the last couple of months, since losing my internet connection, my input from the outside world is limited to my phone, (which I only use as a phone, so it isn’t much), and the hour or two at the most I can hook up to the Net each day, to read the news and look around society….

During the last year’s run up to the election, that was sufficient; every day’s headlines supplied me, and every other loudmouth with a computer on the planet with more material than we could ever use. The week or so after the election had all the analysis from demographics experts, and the shock and awe amongst the still-reeling GOP pundits, who were shocked, shocked, I say, when they found out they had lost so badly. Of course, that’s what happens when you don’t have a clue about reality; it tends to bite….

Now, however, I find myself limited to my self, and my own little issues, and I’m afraid that is not only insufficient a source, but, I’m getting sick of it, as it makes me focus way too much on my own problems. Not that I should ignore them, but displaying them is tacky, and I’ve been doing far too much recently to feel right about it. I need to spend some time on the Net, seeing what is happening out there in the world beyond Northern California, in order to find some stuff about which I can write, or at least rant…. If I don’t rant enough, all that angst could turn inward, and what a mess that would be!

“The greatest genius will not be worth much if he pretends to draw exclusively from his own resources.” — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

For the nonce, though, I’ll have to make do with what I have, which, I would suppose, can be said to be a rather appropriate metaphor for my life right now…. making do with what I have, until I can persuade the world to supply me with more…. Metaphor, and Smart Bee, seems to be all I have, so I’ll take it….. At least it is not exclusively my own resources….

Shall we Pearl?…..

“Do you think there’s a God?”
“Well, SOMEbody’s out to get me!” — Calvin & Hobbes
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“Are we at last brought to such a humiliating and debasing degradation, that we cannot be trusted with arms for our own defense? Where is the difference between having our arms in our own possession and under our own direction, and having them under the management of Congress? If our defense be the _real_ object of having those arms, in whose hands can they be trusted with more propriety, or equal safety to us, as in our own hands?” — Patrick Henry

Here is a subject that is always worth a few words…. I’m a firm believer in the right to bear arms. I do feel that it is probably unnecessary for a private citizen to own, or feel they need, an automatic weapon such as a machine gun, or even an M-16 assault rifle. I can’t think of a lot of everyday situations where one might be called for, but, I wouldn’t want that to be a factor in whether or not I would be allowed to have one, because what Mr. Henry asks above remains valid today….”in whose can they be trusted..  with equal safety… as in our own hands.”

That simple question is one that MUST be answered to even CONSIDER the idea of disallowing citizens the ownership of firearms. It is a certain conclusion, with more than ample evidence, that the police, military, and government agencies and people that I know of, are NOT to be trusted to have the monopoly on guns. Nope, no way will those who seek entitlement and power over others in society ever be trusted fully by the likes of me….

“A strong body makes the mind strong. As to the species of exercises, I advise the gun. While this gives moderate exercise to the body, it gives boldness, enterprise and independence to the mind. Games played with the ball and others of that nature, are too violent for the body and stamp no character on the mind. Let your gun, therefore, be the constant companion of your walks.” — Thomas Jefferson — Encyclopedia of Thomas Jefferson, 318 (Foley, Ed. reissued 1967)

Tom may have gone a bit overboard in his enthusiasm for his personal artillery, but, it does reflect the environment in which he lived, and the culture of the time. In today’s world, of course, physical health needn’t depend on the environment, per se, to provide the exercise our bodies enjoy, and need, to stay healthy and strong. Now we have a fitness center, a faux gym, every third block in major cities, open all night for those insomniacs who want to obsess over their abs. We don’t need to go tramping through the woods with our forty pound musket, trying to spot something appropriate for dinner.

But, even without the need for the exercise involved, if one is going to have a gun, it needs to be used in order to retain its functionality, and one needs to practice occasionally, in order to maintain the skills needed to actually hit whatever at which one is aiming. Society, because of the average person’s fear of guns, and of violence in the whole, has made that more difficult for citizens as time has passed, as those who don’t want to have to deal with violence at all in their lives add the power of the common man’s fears to the effort of the beloved ruling class to take away our guns, which they’ve been trying to do regularly since the inception of this nation.

Our country is still one of the very few in the world where the government actually still has to keep in mind the fact that the citizens are well armed, and able to defend themselves…. Very few governing groups will allow that, and those in power in this country are still trying to get us to give ours up, too. It has been obvious since 1782, when the Constitution and the Bill of Rights came into effect, that those in power would prefer that the populace give up their weapons…. just check Congressional records to see how often a bill is introduced to that effect. To now, all of those attempts have been thwarted, until the latter half of the 20th century, when some limitations were placed on what kinds of weapons would be legal for citizens to own.

But, the effort by the beloved ruling class to disarm the populace continues, and every year I hear talk about new legislation designed to limit the citizen’s access to guns, and place that power monopoly in the hands of the government. I won’t have it, I tell you, and there are a LOT of people in this country who feel the same way…. I have not seen ANYTHING that convinces me at all that the people who run the government are to be trusted with that kind of power. I have seen many, many pieces of evidence to the contrary, especially in the actions of about half of the police forces in the country, who are filled with power hungry sociopaths, who believe they are above the law, and should be allowed to interpret the law to their advantage, and to the advantage of the people who buy them, er…. pay them……

Nope…. none of what I see in society is any evidence of the trustworthiness of the government, and until there is no question of their integrity, (like THAT will ever happen), you won’t be convincing me that they are worthy of my trust…. ESPECIALLY regarding guns…..

“So live that you can look any man in the eye and tell him to go to hell.” —  Smart Bee
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As a matter of course, I don’t usually make dedications, but this one just fits so right…. I have a friend on WP, whose site is dedicated to all things beautiful, and everything she posts meets every standard I know of in justification of that. In short, it is a small island in the huge ocean of the WWW where one can go to find a short respite from all the ugliness of modern life, and the vagaries of the human experience…. so here’s one for Carol Welsh, whose site you can find here:   http://carolwelsh.wordpress.com/

A Thing of Beauty (Endymion)

A thing of beauty is a joy for ever:
Its lovliness increases; it will never
Pass into nothingness; but still will keep
A bower quiet for us, and a sleep
Full of sweet dreams, and health, and quiet breathing.
Therefore, on every morrow, are we wreathing
A flowery band to bind us to the earth,
Spite of despondence, of the inhuman dearth
Of noble natures, of the gloomy days,
Of all the unhealthy and o’er-darkn’d ways
Made for our searching: yes, in spite of all,
Some shape of beauty moves away the pall
From our dark spirits. Such the sun, the moon,
Trees old and young, sprouting a shady boon
For simple sheep; and such are daffodils
With the green world they live in; and clear rills
That for themselves a cooling covert make
‘Gainst the hot season; the mid-forest brake,
Rich with a sprinkling of fair musk-rose blooms:
And such too is the grandeur of the dooms
We have imagined for the mighty dead;
An endless fountain of immortal drink,
Pouring unto us from the heaven’s brink.

John Keats
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I have stuff to do in the real world today, so I’m cheating a bit here…. I love dogs (and cats, and…. well, any animal….), so I’m reprinting a couple of photos with text that send a message to everyone to share about rescue dogs, and the need for people to put aside species chauvinism, and begin to regard animals of all kinds as the same as ourselves, without thinking we are superior, for we are not…. any who, please share these thoughts, and if you can, find an animal you can love…. it will change your life….

I found the pictures on Facebook….. and both give my own feelings on the subject….
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Okay, quick ending here…. stuff to do….. I’ll do better tomorrow, I promise, provided I can figure out how to pay WordPress for my domain renewal before it expires…. Any who….  Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..