Ffolkes,

“I’m late, I’m late, for a very important date.”  Whenever I get up late, I feel like the White Rabbit; rushed, and panicked, and filled with a sense of impending doom. Now that I’m not required to get up for anything that isn’t on MY agenda, the reasons for arising early are even less compelling, but, the feeling persists. Which goes to show just how little humans have evolved over the centuries, in terms of not only understanding ourselves, and how our minds work, but, also in terms of how little we’ve learned to control our feelings, which continue to prompt us into actions which are not always in our own best interests…..

In short, we are still subject to attacks of stupidity, and react in ways that are harmful to ourselves, and to everything around us. Sometimes I really wonder where we got the idea we are the pinnacle of evolution; more often we seem to be suited to the pits, rather than the peaks of existence. Hell, just watch the news, any day, and you’ll see what I’m talking about. The human panorama is a variegated canvas, on which we paint our inner visions, attempting to make reality look like what we see in our heads…. The picture we’ve created is very colorful, and complex, and certainly is a work of art, though I’m not fool enough to try to say much about the picture, at least not of a critical nature. Too much of it came from my own brush…..

Sad to say, the picture also has no great resemblance to what is real; it’s a dark caricature of what exists in the real world, because our own dark natures tend to influence the strokes, much more, I’m afraid, than any parts of us that live in the light. Most people react to the world with fear and loathing, and will generally fall right in behind anyone who seems to know what they are saying or doing. When these folks are promised that they are special, reassured that they will be protected from the bad-evils, and, otherwise made to believe they will be provided with all they desire, if only they will give up their own independence of spirit, they can’t seem to wait to turn over their fate to the one who made the promises, no matter how unlikely the promises are to have any resemblance to reality….

So, what do we end up with? Well, look around ffolkes…. We’ve got a government that can lay no claim to anything that has to do with honesty, integrity, or truth; virtually everything they say is a lie, or at minimum, altered pieces of the truth, designed to keep us in fear, so that they can continue to steal, and cheat, and maximize their own profit. Special interests, with no desire or ambition for equality among men, work in Congress to make sure their own interests are kept paramount, while anything that will actually help the common man is buried, or made to seem unattractive. Corporations, with the laws completely on their side against the common man, don’t even bother anymore to hide their machinations, as the laws favor their chicanery over anything an individual might benefit from….

Well, I did it again, didn’t I? I got up and started ranting about those assholes in Washington, and went off on tangential parades through the side corridors in my mind. I guess it isn’t TOO incoherent; I did have coffee to smooth the way, coffee I didn’t have to make, cowboy-style, as I’ve had to do the last two days. But, the ramble didn’t do any harm I suppose; I don’t see any blood, and don’t hear anyone screaming in frustration. Of course, anyone injured may already be unconscious, so I guess that’s not a clue…. I don’t much care anyway; I’m enjoying my position as a retiree, so far, and as long as I’m not asked to participate in any of the asininity that goes on out in the BBR these days, I’m a happy guy…. It’s probably a little selfish, but, I’m enjoying the fruits of my life of labor, so back off!….  😀

Just kidding… I’m just so happy I’ve once again spewed out a legal, if somewhat dry and incomprehensible intro section; nearly a thousand words, all meaning diddly-squat in a cosmic sense, and, most likely, even less in terms of reality. But, hey, that’s the blog world for ya….. Everyone’s got their own little way to get things started…. Such as it is, this is mine….

Shall we Pearl?

“Eternity is the infinite existence of every moment of time. If we conceive time as a line, then this line will be crossed at every point by the lines of eternity. Every point of the line of time will be a line in eternity. The line of time will be a plane of eternity. Eternity has one dimension more than time.” — Gurdjieff (1873-1949)

And don’t you forget it!…..
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Though I like to think of myself as someone who is not overly critical, I do have the common human tendency to play favorites in that respect; I pick and choose what I complain about according to my own whims, just like everyone else…. Needless to say, the BRC, and the flawed human nature that created the opportunity for reality to fall prey to those with that mind-set, have been, and will always be, my favorite target for that urge to criticize…. We all want change, but, what changes? Details are critical in this case, and this isn’t the place to go over them, in any case….

Instead, I’ve put together another old-school pearl to voice my complaint/lamentation…. This one isn’t particularly obtuse in nature; I tried to be forthright in choosing what went in…. I think I hit it pretty well….

“History records no more gallant struggle than that of humanity against the truth.” — Smart Bee

“A man is the sum of his ancestors; to reform him you must begin with a dead ape and work downward through a million graves.” — Ambrose Bierce

“I’ve seen, I SAY, I’ve seen better heads on a mug of beer” — Senator Claghorn

“…just when I had you wriggling in the crushing grip of reason, too…” — Calvin & Hobbes

“The Constitution is not a technicality.” — Smart Bee

“Human beings were invented by water as a device for transporting itself from one place to another.” — Tom Robbins

“Hence these tears.” — Terence (185-159 BC) — Act i, Sc. 1, 99, (126.)
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Yesterday’s poems were proof positive of my assertion that Ogden Nash is a genius…. Here’s more proof… And, gosh, look! It’s the same theme as the rest of today’s Pearl, so far!…. What a coincidence!….

 

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Below this short diatribe, you will find two links, to articles I read in the past couple of days online. Both have to do with politics, though with differing central issues being addressed. The first is an article discussing the recent revelations regarding the clandestine data mining of the public’s information via email and phone records; the second is a more general discussion regarding the patterns of communication being observed in today’s political scene, as well as the implications of those patterns on other areas of human endeavor…..

http://www.sfgate.com/news/politics/article/Report-NSA-spying-broke-privacy-rules-many-times-4737184.php

In this article, I get the sense that the author is surprised, both by the number of times the rules were ignored, and by the total disregard for the rule of law showed by the NSA and other agencies, a disregard not merely implied, but proven, by the acts themselves. In response, the agencies themselves act surprised, that the public would even comment on their actions, or impugn their motivation, and, thus, their integrity. “Huffy” is the word I’d use to describe the reactions by the heads of the NSA and FBI, as if they had every right to completely ignore the Constitution in their pursuit of shadowy terrors….

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/16/opinion/krugman-moment-of-truthiness.html?exprod=myyahoo&_r=0

This article is even scarier, to me, in its implications. The author discusses, and presents a clear picture of, the degree of lying and miscommunication that characterizes almost all the communications coming from the BRC to the public. No matter who the elected official is, they lie, or they adjust the truth, to suit their own purposes, no matter how egregious the lie, or how massive the adjustment, and then completely ignore anyone who challenges their version, shouting the lie over and over until people begin to believe it, despite all the evidence staring them in the face that it is untrue…. He gives recent examples of this concept, and makes a compelling argument that, in the state it now exists, our government is useless as a tool for the people, and is under the complete control of the corporate interests, supported by the conservatives and fundamentalists who are so easily inflamed and controlled…. There are ably aided in this by the very people responsible for monitoring their adherence to the truth, the media…

Ah, hell, it’s all so damn depressing, when you bother to stop and think about this stuff…. None of what anyone does, or is doing, will make a big difference in the ultimate outcome, not when the 1% has such airtight control of over 99% of the resources and power. It makes me want to go out, buy a gun, barricade the doors, and wait for the collapse of civilization that is sure to come…. Instead, I’ll put together another old-school pearl, to help me get out the anger and frustration in a small way, that might not make any difference, other than in how I feel…. which is, I guess, all we can really expect to be able to control in this world…..

“The outward freedom that we shall attain will only be in exact proportion to the inward freedom to which we may have grown at a given moment. And if this is a correct view of freedom, our chief energy must be concentrated on achieving reform from within.” — Gandhi

“Hurting yourself is not sinful — just stupid.” — Robert Heinlein

“Society highly values its normal man. It educates children to lose themselves and to become absurd, and thus be normal. Normal men have killed perhaps 100,000,000 of their fellow normal men in the last fifty years.” — R. D. Laing

“Fallacies do not cease to be fallacies because they become fashions.” — G. K. Chesterton, ILN, 4/19/30

“A society of sheep must in time beget a government of wolves.” — Bertrand de Jouvenel
(Bertrand de Jouvenel  Interesting guy…. the link is to the wikipedia article on him…)

“Do not confuse ‘duty’ with what other people expect of you; they are utterly different. Duty is a debt you owe to yourself to fulfill obligations you have assumed voluntarily. Paying that debt can entail anything from years of patient work to instant willingness to die. Difficult it may be, but the reward is self-respect.” — Lazarus Long

“Uh-oh!!  I’m having TOO MUCH FUN!!” — Zippy the Pinhead
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I’m uncomfortably aware that Zippy’s outrageous take on things gets used a lot here as the closing thought in pearls that are less than randomly chosen…. It’s uncomfortable because I suspect it says something about me, and the way my head works, and what it says is that I’m certifiably insane…. Oh well…. I can live with that…. Let’s see what happened here….

Well, I’m suitably impressed…. That came out better than I’d hoped, or expected…. Yay, team…. Ouch, damn! Now my arm hurts from that pat on the back…. Since I have now devolved into slapstick humor, it would be best if I stop…. now…. See ya…..

Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you;  Blessed Be, dearest  Carole… and everyone else, too…

When I works, I works hard.
When I sits, I sits loose.
When I thinks, I falls asleep.

Which is Why….