Ffolkes,

“Loyalty to petrified opinion never yet broke a chain or freed a human soul.”

~~ Mark Twain ~~

~~ Inscription beneath his bust in the Hall of Fame ~~

St. Somebody’s Cathedral, Cobh, Ireland

Hajime…. I almost didn’t do this. The decision to go ahead & make the effort was a difficult one, as I am, again, rather short on material in my head that would be considered adequately erudite enough to warrant posting. Not to say that’s stopped me before; it’s just getting more onerous to make the decision, as the search for new material slams against the wall of angst in my soul. In and of itself, this is not a new conundrum; it is, however, new enough to cause ripples in the generally smooth path into which this process has evolved. It would be nice if Life didn’t bury us in irony, some day….

There would be little purpose to trying to explain the angst; half the time, or more, I haven’t a clue as to where it came from, anyway. I just consider it a leftover gift from the PTSD which continues to haunt my existence, & try to get through it without any new mental scars. Hey, it’s a pain, but, it my pain, and it works for me. Who knows? Perhaps, one of these fine days, (should any of that sort appear….), I’ll get over the 11½ years of damn near daily doses of violence; if not, well, it’s not as bad as it could be, I guess. How that might be isn’t something upon which it is wise, or happy, to dwell…

Ah, well, such is life, eh? We all have our little problems, and, like Plato observed, if everyone brought their troubles together, & laid them in a pile, most folks, after viewing the pile, would be happy to take their own, and go on their way. So be it. I guess I’ll put together a Pearl, to soothe the savage breast; this time of day, it always seems to be the right thing to do. I won’t even use a Tardis Toy, since I’ve blathered quite enough to get us to where we need to be…. We’ve got some decent material today, since I out-sourced today’s rant section by inviting a guest writer; there’s also one of my poems, which I happen to think isn’t bad. The old-school always takes care of itself so, I guess that means we can get on with this now…. Let’s do it….

Shall we Pearl?….

“In nature there are neither rewards nor punishments – there are consequences.”

~~ Robert Ingersoll ~~

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I’m late, again. As is standard for ECR in such instances. we’ll be going with a selection of classical music, compiled by some random You Tube subscriber. Also as usual, the one I picked had the most eye-grabbing picture…. Simple, yet effective….. Enjoy!….

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Classical Music

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https://youtu.be/2kkbqSXV2o4

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Today’s rant is from a guest writer. Dean Baker is a poet, musician, and friend. In my opinion, he is perhaps the finest poet writing today, in terms of his depth of insight, his classical knowledge base, and, his straightforward, honest, often almost brutal clarity of vision when viewing society at large. Here is one of his rants, from the book whose cover you see below. I’ve included links at the end of the piece, where you can explore more of his work, and, most importantly, buy his books….. Enjoy, ffolkes; this one is a powerful indictment of humanity, and it’s crimes against itself…..

The Stupid

What’s in your diaper? asked as a parody of the American Express commercial to one of the small children nearby might be paraphrased for adults as What do you fear?

Some might answer: guns, Liberals, Conservatives, gays, blacks, Asians, wimmin, old farts, kids, goobers, the Government, the media, etc etc. Endless corollary examples of what is at its source unprincipled, and even unknowing at times, though not often; and what amounts to; The Stupid.

And of course The Stupid chimes in with, ‘Yeh reeeetards!’ You know, those easy response, fast solution, ain’t it simple for the rude and obscene (you remember those designations?) bellowing boneheads. Doesn’t mean there isn’t something to be said for native instinct – though of course I don’t mean ‘native.’ Let’s not go all retrograde here.

Obviously the idea of individualism will always be true, yet so will its abuse by those in power: you can do it. Never mind that we muddy the waters, allow the bankers to screw the economy and thousands of lives so situations become unsupportable since there you can be not stupid and still get boned by circumstances.

But then you’re put in a position of thinking, ‘Hey, by putting the emphasis on individual responsibility while simultaneously allowing wild government and corporate excess, what’s being said socially is: F. You. We don’t care. We got the power and the money. And guess who gave it to us? You.’

Now that’s Stupid.

All of which speaks to the fact of poor public education, enshrined deceit by governments and corporations engendering a fabric of willful stupidity in daily lives for those without power and money, thus without a voice. And those who are truly The Stupid express themselves in imitation of those in power: loud, pushy and overbearing.

Maybe it goes like this. You have a problem. It requires acknowledged and described details presented to authorities who are capable of contriving to bring a solution to the forefront of what you’re dealing with.

But dealing with it through the authorities makes for more problems. And your life doesn’t stand still like a bureaucracy does – and the bureaucraps don’t care because as long as you have a problem, they have a job.

But let’s not imagine a nation of so many smart people it’s been impossible after hundreds of years to arrive at a working solution for the convoluted daily strife of enshrined pettiness and zealous self-interest.

That would change everything, and we can’t have that – just the debates, the philosophies about why and why not.

You can see it could all be altered, the process begun anyway. But too many of the Very Important Stupid won’t have that – and more of the Want To Be Important Stupid will disrupt them. And on the micro scale the Already Important Stupid will do everything they can to prevent others whom they consider Stupid, or else, smart… to even have a voice.

So in this land of the free and the brave, plus other democracies extant, there seems to be a constancy only in the degenerating standards.
What standards? The free-floating retard soup which includes everyone. Each has a place. Only, there aren’t any places when the reasons for uniqueness are given rather than earned. Sort of like some crying baby that shits itself and figures in brilliance when the Stupid comes to clean it up. (Stupid because it’s cleaning crap, not because it’s loving, thoughtful, thinking ahead with diapers on hand, etc)

The Stupid makes no effort except demands of others. The Stupid resorts to violence, in words and tactics.

The Stupid sees no need to be reasonable and glories in its status as Victim. Or, sheep.

The Stupid is beyond intelligence, the reach of morals, the applied understanding of long range all-inclusive plans for a greater economy, country, and people.

The Stupid creates its own enemies and downfall through its unacknowledged methods of deceit, and denial.

As a fine psychologist – Otto Rank – replied one time, when asked, ‘What is beyond Psychology?’, “Stupidity.”

©Dean J. Baker

From Dean’s blog, at: https://tormentingthemonkey.wordpress.com/2016/06/28/the-stupid

Find Dean’s books at: https://deanjbaker.wordpress.com/awards/all-print-books-links/

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Retrospective, defined in folly….

Yesterday
I wrote a poem.

It bled out of my head,
like I’d been struck with
an axe,
right through the artery,
in the neck,
spraying blood around
everywhere,
like a pulsing garden hose….

It hurt, at first,
then came the feeling,

of quick relief,
of timeless beauty,
of pain avenged,
of lust aroused,

of outrage aflame,
of deep compassion,

of endless empathy,
of truest love….

Now it’s gone, cast away
like pearls before twine.

(Grin…)

You thought
I was going to call you
a pig,
didn’t you?

Hah!

Well, you’re not.
You’re a person.

I know, because
you’re reading this poem…
if that’s what it is.
I think it is,
so,
maybe it is.

Or, maybe,
it will be,
someday, when it
grows up,
and learns to rhyme.
Whew…
Just in time…..

That’s all.
Reality often sucks wind,
y’know?

S’okay, though….
It keeps us busy,
and out of some of the
mischief,
so much part
of our
nature.

We all can do
only what we
do.

Or, don’t.

Two sides, one coin.

~~ gigoid ~~

8/31/2014

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Naked Pearls

Randomness

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“EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED!”

~~ Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy (Page 7,023) ~~

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“Everyone is weird. Some of us are just proud of it.”

~~ gigoid, the dubious ~~

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“Do I dare disturb the universe?”

~~ T. S. Eliot ~~

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“Sacred cows make the best hamburger.”

~~ Mark Twain ~~

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“I’d rather learn from one bird how to sing
than to teach ten thousand stars how not to dance.”

~~ ee cummings ~~

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And you may ask yourself
“Am I right? … Am I wrong?”
And you may say to yourself
“MY GOD! … WHAT HAVE I DONE?”

~~ The Talking Heads ~~

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“So as this only point among the rest remaineth sure and certain,
namely, that nothing is certain. . .”

~~ Pliny The Elder ~~

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This is one for the books, I think. It will be essential, today, to trust the process, so much so, I’m not going to go back & see what I’ve done. I’ll post it, and go back later, when I’ve reached some kind of equilibrium, which should prevent me from shooting myself with my non-existent gun. On that rather surreal note, I’ll also bid thee adieu for today, as I don’t believe I can do any further damage. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes; don’t know exactly why, but, we’ll be here, nonetheless….

Y’all take care out there,
and May the Metaphorse be with you;
Blessed Be, dearest Carole, Mark,Theresa, & Richy
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….

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

gigoid, the dubious

The *only* duly authorized Computer Curmudgeon.

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch

À bientôt, mon cherí….