I realized, at one point, while going over yesterday’s post, that my diatribe in the intro section, regarding some theoretical might-have-beens for one of our former POTUS’s, may conceivably have sounded as if I were disparaging, by stereotyping, “those kind of guys”, when I was speaking of GWB Jr, aka, Shrub, Jr….. That would be an erroneous conclusion, completely against the grain of my actual beliefs, and totally in opposition to the point I was making about the shrub’s latency…

    In that respect, I meant only to suggest that HE, Mr. Shrub, Jr., would have been much better off had he been allowed to explore that, shall we say, more ethically and/or morally evolved side of his personality…. which, sadly, also does not mention how much better off we all would have been, had that series of unlikely events have taken place…. I wanted to make that perfectly clear, as I MUCH  prefer the politics and personalities I find in the gay community over those I find in the Republican Party, as a rule…. Actually, I’d say it’s more like a natural law than a rule, as I’ve yet to meet a Republican I liked very much, and I generally enjoy ALL the gay and/or transgender ffolkes I meet…. though I’m sure they produce their share of assholes, too… We all take our turn at that….

    I started this apologia yesterday, at the point in time when I realized what I had done, so it has usurped my usual beginning routine…. which fits right in with the rest of the day’s events thus far…. I arose at almost 6 AM, the latest hour I’ve arisen in the course of many blue moons, and a good indicator that my new medication regime for sleeping is effective. I’m getting a handle on the amount of medication (cannabis….) I need to consume, as well as getting to understand how long prior to the time I want to go out for the night I need to consume it, so for the past five nights, I’ve gone to bed at a relatively normal hour, and gotten up eight to nine hours later, refreshed and reasonably recharged….. It’s a real treat, believe me, after many years of interrupted sleeping…. I do wake up a bit confused, though, as my mind doesn’t understand why I was asleep so long….

    All of the routines I’m now developing are new, so it may take some time to regularize them; bear with me until then, if you will, and give me some slack…. more than you’ve already given me over time, as you’ve watched me go through all the contortions that my particular brand of madness makes me display so ardently….. I know it can be difficult to see a human being going through some of this, but, just toughen up, ffolkes, it’s all in a good cause, as  long as the subscription papers got signed for the turning over of all the profits to the charity funds I picked…. Of course, that’s assuming we can ever show a profit, an event unlikely to happen in this lifetime, as I’m making no effort to do so…. So there….

    Not sure why the irritability is there, but, hey, I’ve been in stranger moods, and still gotten a Pearl done…. It’s probably just some left over confusion from waking up, a natural response to new routines, and a natural flip, to turn over the confusion to the curmudgeon in me, and let it out as grumpiness…. Every body needs to practice their skills, eh?…. Even if the only thing we’re going to do is go for a dive, in familiar waters…..

    Shall we Pearl?…. Below you will find a quote, one of my all-time favorites, but, sadly, one I have always attributed incorrectly, to the wrong author…. I had always thought this came from Mahatma Gandhi, in one of his gentle moments of sardonicism…. but, I was wrong, so, I offer it here with the correct author given credit….

“Christianity might be a good thing if anyone ever tried it.” — George Bernard Shaw
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    I’m not up to a rant today, ffolkes, even though I see by the news that the idiots are loose out there, even on a Sunday…. But, they’re talking about the budget, and the economy, and NOTHING is more upsetting to me than that…. They all talk just as if there were something they could do that would have some effect on the economy, when it is perfectly clear to even the most thick-headed that there is not a damn thing to be done… ANYTHING they do is the wrong thing, and it is something they will never understand, as it is beyond their capability….. So, rather than stand around and point out the obvious bleeding from the head wounds they give each other, pounding on a wall that won’t move, I’ll put together an old-school style pearl, to show the same derisive qualities, but with a bit of panache, and, hopefully, humor…. Let’s see if SB will cooperate today….

“The long habit of living indisposeth us for dying.” — Sir Thomas Browne

“Life is Not Fair!  Not today, Not tomorrow, Not ever!  Get used to it!” — Smart Bee

“Doctors are the same as lawyers; the only difference is that lawyers merely rob you, whereas doctors rob you and kill you too.” — Anton Chekhov

“Difficulties are things that show what men are.” — Epictetus (c. 60 AD) — Discourses, Book i, Chap. xxiv

“It is a terrible thing for a man to find out suddenly that all his life he has been speaking nothing but the truth.” — Oscar Wilde

“He who is unable to live in society, or who has no need because he is sufficient for himself, must be either a beast or a god.” — Aristotle

Between those who use their neighbors, and those who use a cane.
Between those in constant power, and those in constant pain.
Between those who run to evil, and those who cannot run.
Tell me which ones are the cripples, and which ones touch the sun.

 — Ceili’s Muse “What you do with what you’ve got”
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    I know a poet is special when what they’ve written speaks to me as if I were standing next to them, watching them as they wrote the poem…. All of this man’s poems do that for me…. He is very, very real, and powerful, especially when he reveals the vulnerability we all feel sometimes…..

    When I began to put this section together, my intent was a bit more dignified than the end result might indicate….. But, I have no regrets at all over this one, as it happened to turn out to be rather a good little pearly mini-rant, with some fairly nice shots taken, and some good advice delivered…. If nothing else, it gives us all a chance to think about just how much it’s going to cost me to get the psychiatric help I need…. until we remember, it’s all free, if you’re already insane!…..

    No, really, ffolkes, this one actually IS a good pearl, with all the right stuff to take someone in the right frame of mind right over into patriotic fervor, or possibly, an outbreak of common sense, or even random compassion…. One never knows with these pearls, you know, they can be pretty unpredictable in their effect on some ffolkes…. and even more so on other folks….

“It is not the fact of liberty but the way in which liberty is exercised that ultimately determines whether liberty itself survives…  When liberty is taken away by force it can be restored by force.  When it is relinquished voluntarily by default it can never be recovered.” — Dorothy Thompson, American journalist, author (1894-1961)

“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

“A promise must never be broken.” — Alexander Hamilton

“And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are of the gift of God?” — Thomas Jefferson,  “Notes on Virginia”

“A right is not what someone gives you; it’s what no one can take from you.” — Ramsey Clark

“All the big corporations depreciate their possessions, and you can, too, provided you use them for business purposes.  For example, if you subscribe to the Wall Street Journal, a business-related newspaper, you can deduct the cost of your house, because, in the words of U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice Warren Burger in a landmark 1979 tax decision: “Where else are you going to read the paper?  Outside?  What if it rains?” — Dave Barry, “Sweating Out Taxes”

“America … just a nation of two hundred million used car salesman with all the money we need to buy guns and no qualms about killing anybody else in the world who tries to make us uncomfortable.” — Hunter S. Thompson, “Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail”
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    There are mornings when I’m uncertain whether or not I really should be doing this…. Then, I read it, and it’s all okay again…. Let’s see if that works today….. Well, I won’t take the high road, and insist that this is all well-intentioned, and should therefore be pardoned…. Nor will I take the low road, and say it is so poor and lacking in content it should be ignored…. for in truth, it is neither one of those, but, almost a proper Pearl, in almost every sense… I’m not certain how it came out that way, but, I’ll take it…. and see you tomorrow, considering myself fortunate to be able to run away without guilt, “an have harmed none”…..

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

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