Tag Archives: Aldous Huxley

13 Simple Steps to A Newer, Cleaner Planetary Unit!

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Ffolkes,

May seventeen foul demons from the deepest hells of Mordor make fun of your face! There, take that! I guess THAT will teach you!…. Back, foul fiends, begone with you!….

Huh? Oh, sorry, forgot it was time for that….. Half a second, let me just….. ugh! Okay…. last one dispatched…..Come on in, I was just putting away these old attitudes, and they didn’t want to go. I have new ones ordered up & delivered every few years, just to make sure the ones I have aren’t getting too inflexible, or unable to adapt to changing conditions…. Nowadays, what with the new, forced adaptations we’re going to be going through, it’s a good idea to rotate out the old ones regularly, lest one be caught with one’s spiritual pants down, so to speak… While the new ones are always cool, the service that delivers them doesn’t haul away the old ones, so, that part is up to me, & I thought I’d get a head-start on that this morning, since I was up at four in the AM….

Today, I’ll be creating a different sort of Pearl….. and I’m not even going to tell you how, or even why….. How, you may ask, am I able to show you such a fine example of showmanship, and still keep the inner workings of the process to yourself? You say I can’t ever seem to shut myself up, so how do I expect to do it now? Simple…. Oatmeal, dried into a crust, burnt, and shoved down my nose…. Then, we prop up my stiff carcass at the keyboard, boot up the computer, and hope for the best…. Seems to work pretty well, so far, every time…

Disgusting, yes? I hope so, that’s what I was shooting for…. I wouldn’t even have minded a case or too of spew, as long as y’all remembered to use the bags provided in the seat back in front of you. Oh, jeez, Harry, did you have to use the one with the hole in it? I told that flunky not to recycle them, but, do they listen? Of course not…. Well, sorry, I guess you can use the old towels in the corner there, and, if you need it, there’s some Windex in the cabinet under the bathroom sink…. go ahead and use that, if you think it will help…. Thanks for trying….

Well, now that the excitement is, hopefully, over with for one morning, (I’m not sure I want to encourage this much hilarity again; we’ve used up a pretty fair supply of paper towels, and we’re only done with four paragraphs or so….), WHERE shall we begin?…. Oh, I just have so many things I want to tell you…. I’ve been so busy, thinking, and…. oh, shit…. I’ve been thinking again, but, as usual, I forgot to fire up the backup server, so there’s no extra copy if I forge…… well, shit, again…. If I forget, is what I was saying, when it struck me forcefully that, hey, I already forgot!…. Damn…

Okay, new plan…. First we wobble, then we Pearl…. and since, by the evidence presented above, we’ve wobbled aplenty, we’ll now be going on to the meat of this sandwich, or, whatever may come next in this plane of Reality, such as we find it…. a bit worn, but still willing to play the game…..

Shall we Pearl?….

“These are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of our men and women. Tyranny, like Hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value.” — Thomas Paine
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Yesterday, part of the ranting portion of the program spoke about lawyers…. Serendipitously, one of the old pearls that I went to read, upon the suggestion of the WP suggestion bots, who put their ideas at the bottom of my posts, had a wonderful rant about lawyers, specifically, from way back in November of 2012…. Here ’tis, to finish off my remarks on those oh-so-despised members of our Asininny class…..

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“He who dies a thousand deaths meets the final hour with the calmness of one who approaches a well remembered door.” — Heywood Brown

I almost passed this by when I first read it, then I thought a moment about it, and it occurred to me that it sounds like a defense of cowardice, which is what we usually associate with the phrase “He who dies a thousand deaths”…. Upon further reflection, though, that phrase, though certainly appropriate for describing the state of uncontrolled fear that brings a human to react with cowardice, could also be used to describe some of my own experience in dealing with violence. To generalize that thought, it could be said that a person who faces situations where death is hovering nearby, always a threat to manifest its presence in reality, is also dying a death each time, because their imagination is always aware of that proximity of possibility….

I made the mistake once of counting how many times I faced off with a person who wanted to rip my head off, and would have done so had I not acted to prevent that from becoming reality. Suffice it to say it was entirely too many times, though somewhat less than a thousand (not by much, but less….), and my imagination was stimulated into conjuring visions of possible outcomes that included my own death, each and every time.

Of course, the key to success in such situations is to be able to put aside, or ignore, those visions, in order to keep them from becoming real, and I learned very well to react very quickly in a way that allowed me to control the outcome, rather than random chance or, worse, having the other party assume that control. Fortunately for all involved, I never lost…. at least, not in the sense of becoming physically injured, or dead. (Nobody else that I controlled was ever hurt or killed,  either, a fact I’m pretty proud of…. and mental injuries are another story, entirely….)

The quote above is one that I find to be a comfort to me as I get closer to the time when death will come to make my acquaintance in this lifetime. As a conscious being, I naturally have to believe that my mind, or soul, if you prefer, will not cease to exist; only a change that we do not understand will happen, one which no one has ever successfully explained with any degree of certainty. There is, of course, no evidence to support the belief that we do not merely stop existing, like the flame of a candle, when we die, that we will somehow “wake up” somewhere else, according to our particular set of preferences in such philosophies.

Nothing tangible can be produced, or has ever been produced, that makes such a belief a conclusion; contrarily, there is also no evidence available that it is not true. We each have a strong feeling that our soul is indestructible, like energy of any type, but no incontrovertible proof is available for either side of the issue.

Thus, we can only hold on to our sense of spiritual connection to the universe, that part of us that knows that, like sunlight, or electricity, or heat, our conscious mind is a manifestation of energy, one that, like all the other kinds of energy we perceive, does not cease to exist, ever. It may change forms, or even types (as light can become electricity, or motion become heat….), but it does not leave the universe at all.

To me, and to certain philosophies, the qualities of water are a good example to use as a way of understanding this principle. Water cannot be destroyed. You can, by altering its temperature, cause it to change form, from ice, to water, to steam…. but it cannot be destroyed at all. Our minds, and thoughts, can be thought of as water, ever flexible, ever changeable, yet never ceasing to exist in any way, and retaining within its being all the qualities that make it, and us, what we are…. another unique part of a beautifully complex and wonderful reality….

To me, that is, indeed, a comforting thought….

“If I am I because you are you, and if you are you because I am I, then I am not I, and you are not you” ~~ Hassidic rabbi
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Again, it seems serendipity is guiding my attention…. In searching this morning for a poem a bit off my usual track, I came across this one, from William Blake…. In light of my recent rants on how America is, well, heading for the toilet, and not to enjoy a soothing episode of relief, but, to get flushed…. Perhaps, my imagery isn’t exactly the most elegant for its intended purpose, but, you get the drift….

Any who, I thought it was interesting to see how someone from another country viewed ours, from the vantage point of the past…. Blake was an interesting man, to say the least…. A poet of little renown in his own time, he is now considered one of the most seminal Romantic poets; in addition, he painted, and one contemporary critic was moved to remark of his work in no small way, when he described Blake as, “far and away the greatest artist Britain has ever produced” (Information from Poemhunter.com).

America, A Prophecy

The shadowy Daughter of Urthona stood before red Orc,
When fourteen suns had faintly journey’d o’er his dark abode:
His food she brought in iron baskets, his drink in cups of iron:
Crown’d with a helmet and dark hair the nameless female stood;
A quiver with its burning stores, a bow like that of night,
When pestilence is shot from heaven: no other arms she need!
Invulnerable though naked, save where clouds roll round her loins
Their awful folds in the dark air: silent she stood as night;
For never from her iron tongue could voice or sound arise,
But dumb till that dread day when Orc assay’d his fierce embrace.
‘Dark Virgin,’ said the hairy youth, ‘thy father stern, abhorr’d,
Rivets my tenfold chains while still on high my spirit soars;
Sometimes an Eagle screaming in the sky, sometimes a Lion
Stalking upon the mountains, and sometimes a Whale, I lash
The raging fathomless abyss; anon a Serpent folding
Around the pillars of Urthona, and round thy dark limbs
On the Canadian wilds I fold; feeble my spirit folds,
For chain’d beneath I rend these caverns: when thou bringest food
I howl my joy, and my red eyes seek to behold thy face–
In vain! these clouds roll to and fro, and hide thee from my sight.’

Silent as despairing love, and strong as jealousy,
The hairy shoulders rend the links; free are the wrists of fire;
Round the terrific loins he seiz’d the panting, struggling womb;
It joy’d: she put aside her clouds and smiled her first-born smile,
As when a black cloud shews its lightnings to the silent deep.

Soon as she saw the terrible boy, then burst the virgin cry:

‘I know thee, I have found thee, and I will not let thee go:
Thou art the image of God who dwells in darkness of Africa,
And thou art fall’n to give me life in regions of dark death.
On my American plains I feel the struggling afflictions
Endur’d by roots that writhe their arms into the nether deep.
I see a Serpent in Canada who courts me to his love,
In Mexico an Eagle, and a Lion in Peru;
I see a Whale in the south-sea, drinking my soul away.
O what limb-rending pains I feel! thy fire and my frost
Mingle in howling pains, in furrows by thy lightnings rent.
This is eternal death, and this the torment long foretold.’

~~ William Blake ~~

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Now you see the nefarious genius of my plan…. I’ve created an entire pearl, using primarily work I accomplished over two years ago…. Pretty slick, eh? Now I have time to prepare myself mentally for the important event I have on my plate for a couple hours from now…. What happens at that time will play a big part in determining the physical AND emotional tenor of a lot of the next few months, (or, alternately, it could have little effect at all, which is okay, as long as one particular issue is resolved to my satisfaction….)…. so, I’m looking forward to the challenge of making things come out the way I intend…. SIGH….. Shaping Reality to suit our needs and purposes can be exhausting…. So, here is my third cheat of the day…. but, I think you’ll agree with me that it couldn’t be any better if it was fresh….

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11/16/11
Ffolkes,

Good morrow to you…. let us begin as we mean to go on….

“Writing is easy. All you do is stare at a blank sheet of paper until drops of blood form on your forehead.” — Gene Fowler

This line is included today merely to give y’all an idea of what I go through every morning to produce this…. whatever it is. It is a pretty good description, actually, because when I’m done, I actually feel battered and bloody….. Actually, bloody well-used-up is what it is. Maybe it’s easier for other writers; I don’t know. But for me, to produce something that my standards will allow me to publish for others to read, is much like having a piece of my soul ripped out, taking a a kidney with it.

The funny thing is, though it hurts a lot, I wouldn’t stop doing it, even if I could. The pain of creation, which. after all. requires destruction first, is a worthy payoff for the sense of accomplishment I get when I see one of my pieces online for all to see. Quite a rush actually….

“Most human beings have an almost infinite capacity for taking things for granted.” — Aldous Huxley

This observation, as far as I can tell, is 100% accurate, and because it is, many of the problems society is facing are easily explained, if not easily resolved. For example, when was the last time you gave a thought to what else besides oxygen is in the air that you take into your lungs on the average of 15-20 times per minute.? When you last got a glass of water from the tap, did you stop to think about what was in the water you use to drink, cook with, and bathe in? As Mr. Huxley pointed out, most folks, yourselves included, seldom think about or appreciate such simple necessities, or what might happen if they were no longer available.

What will we do when the air is so full of carbon dioxide that the amount of oxygen in it is decreased below the point where it will sustain life? Will we all have to wear breathing apparatus in order to brave the outside world? What will happen to all the other animals if there isn’t sufficient air? What will you do when the water you drink is no longer safe to consume? We need water as much as we need air; our chemical make-up is 90% water, and not having enough of it to replace what we lose is a sure path to the grave within a matter of days.

There are other issues connected to this subject; the consistent degradation of our planet’s ecosystem has a great many negative effects, small and unnoticeable at first, but growing larger over time until they are added to the list of processes that will eventually lead to extinction of all of this planet’s life forms.  Part of the problem is that it is a slow, insidious process, this degradation, and the deleterious outcomes are not evident until too late to reverse.

You must remember, the Universe doesn’t care, one way or the other, whether we survive or not; the rules are the rules, and fighting against the natural laws of our space-time continuum is a fool’s bet. Like it or not, we, as a species, are going to need to make some serious changes to the way we do things, if we are to survive at all. And we will need to do it starting yesterday….

“A man’s ethical behavior should be based effectually on sympathy, education, and social ties; no religious basis is necessary.  Man would indeed be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hope of reward after death.” — Albert Einstein

I really admire Albert Einstein, and not because he was a great scientist, as well as one of history’s shining examples of men and women who greatly advance human knowledge, purely out of their love of mankind. I also admire that Albert’s wisdom was not restricted to the principles of physics and math; he had a unique way of looking at the world, spiritually, and physically, in a simplistic fashion, and had the ability to share his deep insights into life and the universe, for the benefit of others. He was an eternal optimist, and as the above quote demonstrates, had a firm grip on the concept of living with honor and dignity.

He believed in the inherent goodness of every man, living his life in a way that stands as an example for the rest of us, of how to live well. I cannot wholly agree with what he states above, because I have a much darker view of what human nature is capable of, and less faith in mankind’s willingness to submit to natural law. But what he said does show with clarity where our salvation lies, and in his own inimitable manner, he shares his deeper knowledge with the rest of us in the hope it will inspire others to act honorably….

“To laugh often and love much, to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others, to give of oneself; to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition; to have played and laughed with enthusiasm and sing with exultation; to know even one life has breathed easier: this is to have succeeded.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson

From what I gather in my study of 19th century American writers, a lot of the best were what I would call masters of advanced curmudgeonry. Emerson, Walden, Thoreau,  were all libertarians living in compromise with a democracy, and spent much of their time either complaining about society, or hiding from it in their forest retreats. This is not to say that what they wrote was bad or mistaken in premise, necessarily, but if you read their work with this in mind, it becomes apparent that they didn’t much like other folks, or put much trust in their rationality.

But, as the included quote indicates, being a curmudgeon doesn’t necessarily mean they don’t understand humanity, or what it takes to make life complete. This paragraph from Mr. Emerson demonstrates this perfectly. One cannot argue with conviction that all of these attributes listed, and experiences from a long life, are positively rooted, and make perfect sense. Whether or not we actually have all of these characteristics is unimportant; the list remains valid, even if incomplete. And, it provides anyone with a good map and directions that can be useful to us in our pursuit of happiness….

So much for another day…. Hopefully, you have consumed a fair portion of food for thought, and found it palatable enough. If not, feel free to let me know, and I’ll see if I can come up with something more savory…. in the meantime, y’all take care out there….
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So much for the sanctity of the mind, eh? We’ve put the lie to that one rather well today, haven’t we? If nothing else, I’m pretty sure I felt the foundations of Reality tremble in fear for a few moments, and we can’t hope for any better than that….. See ya…..

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.

Which is Why….

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

gigoid

dozer3

Hey! These are good croissants!….

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Ffolkes,

“Hey, buddy!”
“What?”
“Is the bus coming?”
“Pretty soon, now, I think, ….. it’s breathing pretty hard…”

You figure it out; anyone over 16 should get it, without having to resort to pictures, or dictionaries…. I’m feeling bone-deep lazy, and found a bunch of good stuff yesterday in the archives, so, with some judicious editing, you’re getting a stale, massively punched up, hybrid Pearl, composed of nearly all old stuff, that was good enough to be recycled, because, hey, it’s just that good, okay? Allow me a bit of egotism here, and just read on…. I think you might agree that fresh wouldn’t be any more relevant, or more satisfying….

From May 12, 2012:

“And torture one poor word ten thousand ways.” — John Dryden (1631-1700) — Britannia Rediviva, Line 208

Wow! Have you ever seen a better description of this blog?    🙂    I’ve been torturing words now for over 12 years, at least in a bloggy sense; that’s about how long I’ve been doing these Pearls……

I’ve learned over the years not to hear their screams, or read the petitions, or pay any attention to the ones who try to distract me with their flexibility of meaning; I just strap them into the rack and start hacking away. Sometimes, in the intro, I force them, admittedly with some glee, to assume the shape of a short fantasy; other times I will completely embarrass them by telling them they are haiku, or a poem, when they know for certain I am no poet. I can be pretty cruel to the words in my head….

I figure it’s only fair, considering how they treat me much of the time. I don’t ask much of them, really…. just the morning group of five good pearls I can use to create these missives, and I’d leave them be. But much of the time, such as today, they insist on playing games, hiding, shifting about, presenting only the quotes they know I’ve already used, or massive amounts of Shakespeare, which they KNOW just annoys me….

No, they’re not very nice to me, so I feel no compunction about torturing them to get them to do what I need them to do. If I didn’t, I’d never get anything written. If I didn’t write as much as I do, I’d build up all this incredibly strong angst and tension, and eventually it would have to come out…. at that point, it has been known to be dangerous, especially for anyone in the immediate vicinity of the blast zone….

So, you see, this blog is really a public service in disguise…. No thanks are necessary: since they are my words, I take responsibility for them, and consider it my duty to keep them from harming others (except, of course, when I want them to do so….). I just didn’t want y’all to think I was hiding anything important…. I like to call this my Literary Guantanamo Bay for Wayward Words, where we have the leeway, and the executive authority, to torture those nasty, little, terror-inducing buggers into submission….

Shall we Pearl?…..

“I had a dream which was not all a dream.” — Lord Byron (1788-1824) — Darkness
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There will come a time, one fine day, when I’ll go back through my archives, and pull together all the stuff about which I’ve ranted, to put together into one homogeneous work that I can publish as a book, or perhaps, given the amount of material, two…. who knows? If the world lasts long enough to make something like that worthwhile for me, I’ll no doubt do it, as I’ve always had the dream of being a published author, with a real book, that I wrote, to hold in my hand…. For now, it’s nice to be able to occasionally take a day to work a bit less strenuously to be fresh, practicing instead the skills I’ll need to edit all of what I’ve written…. I’m told that editors can be bitchy that way, so I may as well get all my ducks in a row before I go into any power struggles with one of them….

I intend to take full advantage of this little break today; hopefully, I may even be able to spend some time reading other WP blogs, to at least get to the sites of those friends and loyal Gentle Readers who have been coming by to check out my blog each day…. There aren’t a lot of them, perhaps ten to twenty regular ffolkes who drop by every few days to catch up, but, I appreciate each and every one of them greatly, and prefer to get to THEIR  sites first, before cruising randomly to any of the many sites I follow…. Strange, too, is the fact that I keep getting notified of new followers, but the people are names of bloggers who never hit the Like button, or comment, so I have no idea what they think about all of it, which, I know, is a LOT of material…. I’m just happy they liked it enough to Follow….

Be all that as it may, I get guilty a lot, from not being able to go read other blogs as much as I’d like….. However, the process of getting all this crap out of my head remains my primary purpose, so, that has to be the way it is, with little I can do about changing the way I approach it…. Any who, I’ll get around some today, and hopefully, can do so more in the future…. for now, we’re going to a random old-school style pearl, just so we can say there is SOMETHING fresh in today’s Pearl….. ‘Kay? ‘Kay!…..

“I will not be as those who spend the day in complaining of the head-ache, and the night in drinking the wine that gives the headache.” — Goethe

“The real danger is the gradual erosion of individual liberties through the automation, integration, and interconnection of many small, separate record-keeping systems, each of which alone may seem innocuous, even benevolent, and wholly justifiable.” — U.S. Privacy Protection Study Commission, 1977

“For good men but see death, the wicked taste it.” — Johnson

“History is always written wrong, and so always needs to be rewritten.  …What is interesting is brought forward as if it had been central and efficacious in the march of events, and harmonies are turned into causes.  Kings and generals are endowed with motives appropriate to what the historian values in their actions; plans are imputed to them prophetic of their actual achievements, while the thoughts that really preoccupied them remain buried in absolute oblivion.” — George Santayana, The Life of Reason:  Reason in Science, 1918

“…Or, I may not feel that my belief-system needs to be self-consistent  in a post-Goedelian epoch.” — Dan’l Danehy-Oakes

We think our fathers fools, so wise we grow;
Our wiser sons, no doubt, will think us so.

— Pope

“I wouldn’t recommend sex, drugs or insanity for everyone, but they’ve always worked for me.” — Hunter S. Thompson (b. 1939), journalist

Well, serendipity certainly took a hand in THAT little collection of virtual wisdom, didn’t it? What a wonderful pearl this turned out to be! A little obscure, but, finely tuned to show off all those little twists that make me so happy….. Fret not, if you don’t see the underlying direction this takes, it won’t matter, as none of these will be on the Quiz…. Reading and understanding pearls is not the simplest skill we have to learn in our life; sadly, it’s also one nobody will ever pay you minimum wage for possessing, either….

It is useful, however, when reading the news, as it gives one a deeper understanding of how duplicitous the Asininnies can be, as well as the ability to dismiss nonsense in a trice…. And, if nothing else, it got us through that section without any casualties, so, from our standpoint here at ECR, it’s a win-win….
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This is one of my own poems, written in 2012…. I think all in all, it’s one of my best…. That, perhaps, does not say too much, but, I like it anyway…. I hope you do as well….

“But groundless hope, like unconditional love, is the only kind worth having.” — EFF co-founder John Perry Barlow, “Cynthia Horner’s Eulogy”, Apr. 1994

Unsolicited Gratitude

Fear becomes familiar when reality bodes us ill
pain assumes first position, no matter our will.
Powerless, we founder, no strength to prevail
anguished and afraid, against unwanted Fate we rail.

Still, a grain of hope deep inside, hidden well against need
gives us reason to survive, our starving souls to feed.
Failure of courage burdens time, of being bested,
until our souls, in submission, become foully infested.

Bitter tears wash through us each day, with little care,
no thought, no feeling, no wish, or need to be fair.
Rendered clueless, confusion falls upon us, as prey,
we surrender a piece of our soul, little as we may.

Yet, always, a bright beam of hope is seen from afar,
no matter how dreary, or dark, it may seem where we are.
None knows, nor would consent to tell, it seems
from whence it hails, or why it so brightly gleams.

Saving our sanity, absolving our unwanted fears,
dispelling the myths and lies that come with the years.
Each man has known the precious gift that hope may give
And gives glad thanks, as long as he may live.

~~ gigoid ~~

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Since beginning today, which was, in truth, quite some time ago, (much longer than one would think, for what is mostly cut and paste material…. I guess I’ve been wordier than I knew….), I seem to have lost my way…. Since I wasn’t planning to go anywhere in particular, that’s arguably exactly where I went…. and they’d be correct to say so…. (Huh?)(Oops…. sorry, brain fart….. I only thought I’d written the lead-in to that last line….) (SIGH….)(Picture it….. old, graying, roundish guy at a computer, solemnly banging his forehead on the wall next to the chair…. but, not quite crushing the BIG, RED, NOSE on his face…..) (Here’s the lead…. “Anyone of a reasonable nature might be compelled to mention that seemed a bit abnormal….” then, the next part, ” and they’d be correct, etc….”)

I just looked up, to check that paragraph, and realized that it had gone beyond hope, in spite of what it says in section two’s poetry… Oh, it’s all there, and correctly punctuated, but, it’s just so frigging scattered, in thought, in timing, in juxtaposition, I’d be surprised if anyone who isn’t me could make sense of it…. I’d be wasting the time of both of us if I tried to fix it; the same could be said of just starting over, too… What to do, what to do, oh, me, oh my, indecision hurts…. Ah, fuck it, okay…. Scrap the whole nine yards, says the consensus…. Onward into the final section now, naked and unafraid…. WAIT!…. One more thing….

There’s still quite a ways to go yet, I know, so, I won’t keep y’all long, but, I just wanted to say this…  Never mind, it’ll keep…. here, this is better than anything I could come up with today, anyway, so, please enjoy the following politirant from the past…. which, as always, remains as valid today as when it was first posted, because, hey, the same sharks be swimmin’ in the same pool, see?…. Any who…..Enjoy….

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From 2/13/13: Thus, the election, of which much is spoken herein, would be the Presidential election of November, 2012, Obama vs. Romney…..

The following is a piece that I wrote just before the recent Presidential election, as section 1 of a Pearl I cannot find without more effort than I care to spend right now, even though it is still only 0633…. Tracking it down would mean scrolling through at least a month’s worth of old Pearls, from last year, (2012), and I’m not ready for that today…. However, I’ve re-read it, and consider it worth a second posting, as it covers a lot of things that remain relevant after the election, in spite of the fortunate outcome we saw…. Any who, without further ado, here is a pearl I entitled,

“Considering the Etiquette of Ignorance”….

SIGH…. the only reason I did not write this in 1988 is that I did not see it until today…. it is never a good policy to suffer a fool gladly, so my code of honor demands a response…. This begins the tale, but by no means ends it…. be warned, and be nervous, if not afraid….

“I don’t know that atheists should be considered citizens, nor should they  be considered patriots. This is one nation under God.” — George Bush in Free Inquiry magazine, Fall 1988

Actually, George, the Pledge of Allegiance has no legal standing, in relation to the Constitution of this country, or for that matter, in relation to what our forefathers were thinking when they founded the nation. In fact, what was said here by such an upstanding Constitutional scholarly type, is, in reality, completely contrary to everything that makes a true patriot, or an American citizen.

The part in the pledge, (which no one at all is legally required to take, or state….), that says “under God” was only added in the middle of the twentieth century, by the same Congressional idiots who perpetrated McCarthyism, and the Red Scare, on the American public. It has nothing to do with the Constitution, and in fact, could be construed as a Constitutionally illegal statement, considering the intended separation of church and state that is the backbone of what our forefathers wished us to have as our legacy…. True freedom, not Christian usurpation of freedom…. A person’s religious belief, or lack thereof, is protected by the Constitution, and a patriot is one who supports the Constitution, not a church, or a corporation….

And if his name be George, I ‘ll call him Peter;
For new-made honour doth forget men’s names.

– William Shakespeare (1564-1616), King John — Act i, Sc. 1

This kind of thinking from the Shrub, whichever one it was, Junior or Senior, is the same kind of narrow-minded fundamentalism that the colonists were escaping from in England back in the 16-1700’s when they came to the New World. The churches and corporations, both of which were singled out as dangerous to the republic by Jefferson, Franklin, Paine, Adams, Hamilton, and many of the other founding fathers, have tried to usurp the Constitution ever since it was ratified. Their writings, to each other, and in public venues, were filled with precautionary admonitions about allowing corporations and preachers to have access to, or influence over, members of government.

Ultimately, their fears were justified, as we now are facing just the situations they predicted…. corporations are manipulating our “professional thieves”, otherwise known as politicians, to vote for laws that favor them (Really, now…. “corporations are people?”… I don’t think so….), and the ranks of our leaders are rife with fundamentalists and religious nuts of all varieties.

“Men tend to have the beliefs that suit their passions. Cruel men believe in a cruel God and use their belief to excuse their cruelty.  Only kindly men believe in a kindly God, and they would be kindly in any case.” — Bertrand Russell (1872-1967)

It’s difficult sometimes to tell which ones are more dangerous, or more disgusting: the corporations who buy votes from those who fit the definition of “good politicians” (…. a good politician is one who stays bought….), or the religious demagogues who want to oppress everyone who doesn’t believe the same set of dogmatic constraints as they do. Neither one is particularly hard to spot, but they are protected by their tame dogs in Congress, who will do and say anything to make sure the cash keeps flowing…. right into their pockets.

As may be extrapolated, if one is exceedingly clairvoyant, one may infer from the above that the 2012 Republican  Romney/Ryan ticket disturbs me; I have no problem ranting without end right off the top of my head about the lies and distortions of reality that continuously fall from their lips. As I mentioned in a separate post, a lot of people are catching on to this, as Ryan was roundly booed offstage at the AARP meeting he attended to try to sell their admitted intention to rape Social Security and Medicare (Smart? No. Arrogant? Completely.).

In retrospect, even this negative reception is disturbing to me, as it shows just how little they care, that they are showing themselves to be only interested in lining their own pockets, and the pockets of those who own them, without apparent shame or embarrassment. They aren’t even trying to hide their lies anymore; they just keep repeating them, even after having been shown to be false, believing that if they repeat the lies enough, people will buy them….

“Men are most apt to believe what they least understand.” — Michael de Montaigne (1533-1592) — Essays, Book iii, Chap. xi

Unfortunately, they are right, to a large extent. Millions of people in this country, who have hung on to their prejudices and bigotry with desperation as the minorities have become majorities, are supporting these assholes, merely because they are white. They don’t realize, or seemingly care, that these are the same assholes who will be screwing them over completely as soon as they get sworn in, preferring to trust in the lies, because it soothes their fears of having a black President.

“Beware of the half truth.  You may have gotten hold of the wrong half.” — Smart Bee

This is why I have been repeatedly reiterating that this election is bringing this country to a crossroads. The outcome will show whether we intend, as a nation, to continue to fight all attempts to curtail the freedoms that were bought and paid for by our forefathers, with blood, sweat, and tears, or will become just another religious, corporate-controlled entity, in a nation consisting of slaves and their masters.

I don’t know about y’all, but I’ll be at the polls as soon as they open, and will urge everyone I know to do the same…. vote early, and vote often (just joking….), but vote. We need to send a message to these fools, that there are still patriots and citizens of this country who believe in the vision embraced and established by the men and women who began this noble experiment in self-government….

“Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.” — Aldous Huxley

Back in the future….. As I said above, the election came out okay…. but, the rest of what is said here remains relevant, and always in need of being heard….

Back, again, in the true future…. January 9, 2014, that is…. All I can say is, it’s done…. Really, I’m through here…. Nothing more to say…. As soon as the keyboard lets go of my fingers, I’ll end this section, and all of us can get on with our day…. What the F!…. Okay, who smuggled the handcuffs in past the scanner?….
_____________________________

Okay, so, luckily, I found the key to the cuffs, (well, I beat up the guy who had them…. so, sue me….), and we’re no longer stuck in the last section…. This means, should I accept the mission, we can be done here, at least for the day…. Let me go see if that will fly with the censors…. Well, not too shabby, if I do say so myself, and, I do…. Not too shabby…. See? I said it….. I mean it, too, but, before I do anything to affect that judgment, or change the space-time continuum permanently, I’m getting my sorry ass outta here…. See you tomorrow, if Barry and the NSA leave me alone….   😆

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.

Which is Why….

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

gigoid

dozer3

You always remember the first time….

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Ffolkes,

So much for the best laid plans…. I’d intended to NOT write this morning, but, Vicki wants her first Pearl, so, I have to make one for her today, or, I’ll never hear the end of it….  🙂   Just kidding, of course, but, only a little…. After getting to spend time with her and Carolyn yesterday, I’m happy to oblige…. Besides, y’all should know by now it’s hard to shut me up once I get started….

We met over Carole’s grave at the Templeton Cemetery yesterday, and got to do a lot of catching up to the last 23 years since our last meeting….Actually, much longer in C’s case, as she missed the 20 year reunion that V and I got to in 1988 or so…. It was an embarrassingly large number of years since our last sight of each other at our HS graduation, large enough we won’t mention it…. We talked of Carole, and our lives since then, having a great time reestablishing some of the bond of friendship left from so long ago….

Both of them are now the newest members of the group who receives the email version of the Pearls each day I send them out…. I used to call them the Pearl Drops; now they are the Pearly Gates, which seems more fitting, given our advanced ages…. though I must admit that both of them have borne the weight of the years far better than I; they looked great!….. I don’t know how this will go over, but, hey, that’s never stopped me before, has it?…

Rather than turn them off with an immediate blathering session, I’ll make this intro short, and get into the pearls right away, as I am still on the road, technically… It’s about 0545, I still have 150 or so miles to go to get home, and I can feel the cold hovering, just waiting to suck up my energy…. So, I’m going to create one old-school pearl, pick a poem, and find an old rant to include, to give them an idea of a typical Pearl that goes out… and I’d best get to it, or I won’t have the energy to do any of what I need to do today, like drive home…. Too bad, actually, the internet at this motel is the fastest I’ve ever encountered; they’re running at 144 Mbs download, which is incredibly fast… Got to watch a movie online last night with no skips or buffering problems…

Any who…. Shall we Pearl?….

“Irrationally held truths may be more harmful than reasoned errors.” — Aldous Huxley
____________________________

So, this is an old-school pearl… The parameters I used to pick these delightful morsels of thought were a bit loose, but, in general, they all were to direct our attention to the nature of Man… just to see what is up with that…..

For forms of government let fools contest;
Whate’er is best administer’d is best.
For modes of faith let graceless zealots fight;
His can’t be wrong whose life is in the right.
In faith and hope the world will disagree,
But all mankind’s concern is charity.

— Alexander Pope (1688-1744) — Essay on Man, Epistle iii, Line 303

“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

“It is well to remember, my son, that the entire population of the universe, with one trifling exception, is composed of others.” — John Andrew Holmes

“I give up, what is the meaning of life?” — Smart Bee

“‘Forty-two,’ said Deep Thought, with infinite majesty and calm.” — Douglas Adams (Life, The Universe, and Everything)

“And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music.” — Nietzsche

See? Perfect…. It’s all in the wrist….
____________________________

Normally, I’d spend time finding a good poem, but we’ll go with one of mine, instead….   🙂

Piraeus calls me, silently.

Sizzle, sizzle, crash, bang, boom.
Intellect burning with subsequent doom.
Lingering long over decisive style,
Whistling up chaos all the while.

Such frozen thoughts may shatter,
Should we infer, but, no matter.
Firing blanks is children at play
Blooded sages all gasp in dismay.

Nonsense is good sense at times
Mundane objectives trip lightly in rhymes.
Fallen angels dance on a pin
Until each sinner enters within.

Fast moments with natural rain
Bring ashes, yet still must remain.
Final thoughts clamor for more
Find them only on a far distant shore.

~~ gigoid ~~

____________________________

Not too bad, so far…. I’ll be back in a moment of two, with a rant from an archived Pearl to substitute for the one I DON’T have in me today…. This is from sometime in the middle of 2012….

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Necessity is the plea of every infringement of human freedom.  It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves.” — William Pitt (1759-1806) speech on the India Bill, Nov. 18, 1783

I had not intended to start with a political rant, but this just came up, so here we go…. This is as true today as it was in 1783, perhaps even more so. Since 9/11/01, when those fanatic idiots carried out their insane delusions of grandeur on the world stage, the “necessity” for Homeland Security has been the watchword of the political pundits who unfortunately are in charge of the legislative and executive branches of our government. Bill after bill after bill keeps coming down the pike and bulling their way through into becoming law, or even worse, is created by executive order, without the benefit of review by Congress, useless as that entity may be.

The entire incident that happened that day was blown completely out of proportion by the media. Yes, it was a tragedy, in which something over 3000 American lives were lost, in three separate incidents. The videos of those planes hitting the buildings in New York must have been replayed a thousand times before noon, all over the country, until every American who had access to a TV was informed of what had occurred….

The American media, and the political machinery that manipulates it so effectively, then proceeded to flood every channel with the after effects, making sure that the sorrow and fear of every person they could find willing to speak of it on camera was put on the evening news, and ensuring that no rational, dispassionate examination of the events would ever take place. Before the first day had passed, the national reaction had been whipped to a frenzy, stirring the fears of every paranoid in society, and making it seem as if the entire nation was filled with anger and vengeful righteousness. Though I didn’t join in the paranoia, I could feel it happening all around me, as normally intelligent people became so angry they lost all sense of proportion, or for that matter, all sense of truth.

In the ensuing years, whenever the politicians have wanted to distract the nation from what they were actually doing, all they needed to do was mention the word terrorism, or national security, to immediately put attention off of them, and onto the pitiful  group of fanatical Muslims they blamed for the attacks (completely ignoring all the reasons those same politicians had provided those fanatics with to attack in the first place….). And thus, the Hunt for Osama bin Laden was on!

In this country, as a result of those attacks, approximately 5000 American lives were lost (that figure is larger than the actual number, purposely…. it is near enough to correct to make the point…). At this time, in the quest to find bin Laden in Afghanistan, over 50,000 Afghani civilians have been killed. In Iraq, which we somehow decided to invade, even though they had nothing to do with 9/11, well over 250,000 civilians have died to soothe our national pride. In that same period, we lost another 1000 or so soldiers in fighting and bombings.
And, as a side effect, the US Bill of Rights has been effectively eliminated, by Executive Order, disguised as Homeland Security.

“Hatred is the coward’s revenge for being intimidated” — George Bernard Shaw

So, what is my point here? My point is this…. those pathetic fanatics killed more than they had ever been able to kill, once. Once. Since that one time, our country has killed over 300,000 civilians in retaliation (you call it what you like, I call it schoolyard revenge by bullies), and every politician in this country has wrapped themselves in the flag, not to proclaim their patriotism, but to manipulate the unreasonable fear they created in the public to keep them from realizing the truth of the matter. And that truth is: we are in no real danger from Al Qaida, or from any other splinter faction terrorist group. They may be able to pull of stunts such as that one occasionally, but for the most part, the world has gotten pretty good at either catching them in hiding, or stopping their plots before they actually carry them out. Governments have a LOT more resources than terrorists, no matter how rich they may be personally.

No, the pathetic, desperate people who become terrorists are created by those same political pundits who are reviling them and hunting them down. They are not a real threat to anyone, as they don’t have the wherewithal to perform more than one act of violence at a time; they cannot wage a war, they can only try to act as guerrilla forces, at best. Mostly, they are just sad schemers, planning glorious deaths, that ultimately have no meaning, other than to provide the Western politicos another unreasonable fear to use against the American public, in order to continue their raping and pillaging among their own people.

The entire issue is one that is repugnant to me; I have watched in horror, not as terrorists have been hunted, but as the rights of the American people have been taken away in the name of “security”. Security from what? We don’t need more security from terrorists; those techniques for dealing with it are well-established, and effective, as they employ the very same methods used by the fanatics to achieve their ends. No, we need more security from our own pundits, who have utilized this tragic events for their own benefit, to the everlasting regret of every true patriot….. bloody assholes, every one of them…..

“I have formed a very clear conception of patriotism. I have generally found it thrust into the foreground by some fellow who has something to hide in the background. I have seen a great deal of patriotism; and I have generally found it the last refuge of the scoundrel.” — G. K. Chesterton, The Judgement of Dr. Johnson, Act III
____________________________

Not bad… not bad…. Maybe, if I repeat it long enough, it will become true…. That seems to be the policy that works for political pundits, and quite well, given the gullibility of the average American…. Oops, sorry, forgot, the rant is done…. Any who, I think that’s enough for one day, and hopefully, a fine first Pearl for my friends…. I can’t say right now if there will be a Pearl tomorrow morning; we’ll see how I feel when I get up then…. meantime, 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…

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

gigoid

dozer3

Puzzled by such antics, the puppet smiled….

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Ffolkes,

“Free enterprise ended in the United States a good many years ago. Big oil, big steel, big agriculture avoid the open marketplace. Big corporations fix prices among themselves and drive out the small entrepreneur. In their conglomerate forms, the huge corporations have begun to challenge the legitimacy of the state.” — Gore Vidal

From what we are told by modern pundits and talking heads, terrible things will happen, unless we surround ourselves in the impenetrable armor of patriotic fervor, and dutifully give up the basic human rights our founding fathers secured for us, after expending great amounts of blood, sweat, and tears…. These seemingly concerned political professionals have taken the opportunity, handed to them by the events of 9/11/01, to fan the unreasonable, and, I might add, inappropriate fears of the common man, by reinforcing the ignorance they possess, about the perpetrators, about other cultures, and about their own needs, validating and strengthening their fears, even though those fears have no basis in reality….

“A professional politician is a professionally dishonorable man.  In order to get anywhere near high office he has to make so many compromises and submit to so many humiliations that he becomes indistinguishable from a streetwalker.” — H.L. Mencken

Hmm… I see that I’ve begun my rant for the day, right here in Section 1, Paragraph 1 of today’s Pearl…. For some unknown reason, I jumped right on that particular bandwagon straight out of the gate, with a good strong opening, I might add…. I believe the above statements to be a true assessment of today’s world, and of the BRC’s part in creating the atmosphere of mistrust and hatred between cultures that we see in our society. It doesn’t serve their political interests to have a population that is open-minded, or trusting of others, or that is able to appreciate the diversity now being celebrated in most parts of the world.

“I believe there are more instances of the abridgment of the rights of the people by the gradual & silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations.” — James Madison, Virginia Convention 1788

The leaders of this country prefer a populace that is ignorant of the truth, angry, afraid, and full of hatred. Such people are easily manipulated into believing whatever is told to them, as they are pre-disposed to believe the worst of others, since that is how they view themselves…. A person who is accustomed to cheating, or lying, or otherwise acting immorally to achieve their own ends is not capable of imagining that others are not the same way, so they will cheat and lie from the beginning of any interaction, assuming that everyone does it…. It’s a vicious cycle, one to which an ignorant and untrained mind can easily fall prey; once caught in its grip, its victims find it very difficult to change, as it resists all attempts to educate, or to illuminate, often refusing discussion altogether….

“Banking establishments are more dangerous than standing armies.” — Thomas Jefferson

Sadly, there are a great many people in this country who fall for this kind of crap, and never even KNOW that they are being manipulated…. They just cruise blithely along down the river of Time, allowing themselves to be herded wherever is convenient for the BRC, blundering into unseen obstacles, or hanging on to false assumptions, spending the greater portion of their lives wondering where it all went wrong…. These folks watch Fox News, listen to Sean Hannity, or Rush Limbaugh, or Ann Coulter,  and others of their ilk, shout their hatred and lies at the top of their lungs; they smile vacuously, and  nod their heads wisely, just as if they had a single thought in their excuse for a mind, not a vast, empty plain full of lies and misconceptions…

PATRIOTISM, n.  Combustible rubbish read to the torch of any one ambitious to illuminate his name. In Dr. Johnson’s famous dictionary patriotism is defined as the last resort of a scoundrel.  With all due respect to an enlightened but inferior lexicographer I beg to submit that it is the first. — Ambrose Bierce, “The Devil’s Dictionary”

Okay, I guess I can stop now…. I could, too, if I wished…. Y’all know pretty well by now how I feel about politicians, and preachers of all religions, and police, and lawyers, and judges, and anyone else who participates in the world-wide oppression of the 98%, or 99%, or whatever you wish to call those who allow their slavery to continue…. It’s a sad situation, one that has been in place for most of our history; it is only in modern times, however, that this structure has shown itself to be counter-productive in a species-survival sense.

“History is a tool used by politicians to justify their intentions.” — Ted Koppel

The harsh controls over everyone else that are maintained by the shadowy masters of society are not going to be given up lightly, or at all, without some serious changes in the nature of the other people in the world….. The ruling elite have been holding the reins of this cart for a long time, and aren’t willing to give them up without a struggle, a struggle they have been prepared to win for many thousands of years…. They even practice the necessary violence with constant wars and police actions, all of which indicate their willingness to use violence as a means of behavioral control over others…. The rest of us are NOT as practiced in its use, and we are not going to be able to wrest control from them without it…. Patently, they aren’t about to just hand it over, are they? No, they’re not likely to do that….

So, what’s the answer? Hell, if I knew that, I’d already be the leader of the revolution…. I have an answer, but, most ffolkes don’t want violence as part of their lives, if they can help it, so they aren’t going to accept my answer, as mine involves using violence as needed to eradicate the problem…. Since the Beloved Ruling Class is willing to use it, so am I, but, not everyone is so inclined…. Y’know what, though? They’re on their own, as I’m not going to just lie down and die, just because I’m afraid of the big, bad terrorists…. Mainly, that’s because I’m NOT afraid of them, or of the big, bad assholes who run my own country right now…. If nothing else, I will maintain my own little space of freedom, and hope for the best…. My hopes are not particularly high, but, they do exist….

Okay, I’m done now…. Fuck the assholes in Washington, on both sides of the political aisle in Congress, and every other niche where they’ve insinuated themselves in government…. I’ll take some more shots later, or tomorrow…. for now, I wanna go find some pearls to throw at them….

Shall we Pearl?….

One pill makes you larger, and one pill makes you small,
and the ones that mother gives you don’t do anything at all.
Go ask Alice when she’s ten feet tall.

— Jefferson Airplane
_____________________________

It just may possibly be too early for this, but, I give up…. Not just giving up, but, way up…. so far up, I’m not even going to explain…. Instead, here is a pearl of unknown format, with unknown parameters, and unknown qualities…. the best kind, from where I’m standing…. or, sitting, or hovering, whatever it is I’m doing right now…. I DO so hope you enjoy it….

“There’s a bit of magic in everything, and some loss to even things out.” — Lou Reed, Magic and Loss
(R.I.P. Lou….)

“…I probably shouldn’t point at the word ‘reptiles’ when I say ‘businessmen.'” — Rajeev Pandey

“Any road followed to its end leads precisely nowhere.  Climb the mountain just a little to test it’s a mountain.  From the top of the mountain, you cannot see the mountain.” — Bene Gesserit proverb

“To the uneducated, an A is just three sticks.” — Pooh’s Little Instruction Book, inspired by A. A. Milne

“It is not necessary to change. Survival is not mandatory.” — W. Edwards Deming

“Irrationally held truths may be more harmful than reasoned errors.” — Aldous Huxley

“In the part of this universe that we know there is great injustice, and often the good suffer, and often the wicked prosper, and one hardly knows which of those is the more annoying.” — Bertrand Russell
_____________________________

“All these poems where it is merely the Poem that is in question – a whole poetry with no other substance than itself! What would we say of a prayer whose object was religion?” — E.M. Cioran

Again, I’ll be using one of my own poems, to ensure I’m the only one named, in the likely event of prosecution by local authorities….

I know I’m in the now, if only…..

Oh, there it is again, fiddle faddle;
  Begone, I said, vamoose, skedaddle!
It looked at me as if I were insane:
  Scoffed, it did, filled me with pain.

Where does it come from?
Where does it live?
I’d stick out my thumb,
if I had more to give.

If only, should, would, could it be?
  It went away again, this time free.
It will be back again, this I know;
  or I’m wrong, and it won’t show.

Who cares?
Who hears?
Such goings on wobble the sphere,
I wish it wouldn’t do that here.

I’ve been wrong before…..

~~ gigoid ~~

_____________________________

I will not rant, I will not rant, no matter how strong the desire, or the provocation…. I’ll sublimate, sublimate, sublimate…. with another old-school style pearl, just as if I really knew what the hell I was doing here…..

“Please return the newspapers so others can enjoy the violence as much as you did.” — Sign in Providence sub shop

“Among mortals second thoughts are wisest.” — Euripides

“Since it is Reason which shapes and regulates all other things, it ought not itself to be left in disorder.” — Epictetus (c. 60 AD) — Discourses, Chap. xvii

And taste
The melancholy joy of evils past:
For he who much has suffer’d, much will know.

— Alexander Pope (1688-1744) — The Odyssey of Homer, Book xv, Line 434

“The enemy is anybody who’s going to get you killed, no matter which side he’s on.” — Joseph Heller, Catch22

I really do love it when a plan comes together…. This is a PERFECT five-star pearl, old-school variety….. I hope you enjoyed reading, and cogitating on it as much as I did while putting it together…. Ta ta, then….
_____________________________

“He was born with a gift of laughter and a sense that the world was mad.” — Rafael Sabatini

This first line from “The Scarlet Pimpernel” is, perhaps, my favorite line in literature, because it is both what I try to be, and what I try to emulate in my writing…. at least, that’s what I keep telling myself…. Having done my duty as a grammarian, to the best of my meager ability, I pronounce this Pearl to be finished, and no longer subject to the Miranda Act…. See ya….

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.

Which is Why….

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

gigoid

dozer3

His registered nickname is “Stinky”….

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Ffolkes,

I’m here…. purportedly, I’m awake, but, given my state of confusion, and pain, bless its black little heart, I may be incorrect in that assessment. For some reason, which shall evermore remain unknown, and, possibly, unknowable, I have no idea what the date should be. When I began to write this morning, the date that I put above the first line, here in the program where I compose Pearls, said that today is the eighteenth of the month…. but, the little perpetual calendar I use says it is only the seventeenth. Since my phone and computer both agree with the latter, I’m going with that, but, what happened to the sixteenth, or fifteenth, or wherever I lost count? Somewhere in my brain, there is an entire day wandering around, empty and alone, poor thing, destined to never find its way back into the calendar…. Sad story, eh?….

Well, perhaps not…. Mostly, I imagine, y’all are rolling your eyes in disgust, or at least mild chagrin, at this latest silliness from my desk. Go ahead, it doesn’t bother me; I can’t see you doing it, so I only know from experience that you are. Besides, I probably deserve it, or any other chastisement y’all care to throw at me, for subjecting you to my brand of idiocy first thing in the morning. Hell, I often kick my own ass for just that reason…. It passes the time better than sitting around complaining I have nothing to do….. I had assumed that even nonsensical discussions of the date would serve to fill up the time better than that, but, again, perhaps I was mistaken…. Shall I start over? That might just be a bit too much, even for this blog… After all, I’m already two solid paragraphs into this one, so….

I could always resort to one of the emergency intros, but, it is always such a bust-up when I do that, so I’m reluctant to put y’all through it without a bit more justification. We often have injuries as a natural result of using the emergency programs, and I don’t know how my insurance agent is going to feel about more claims; she already keeps me on speed-dial, along with the ambulance company’s number. Plus, the budget got stretched a bit thin over this last cruise, so I don’t really want to spend the extra money it takes to use one or more of them; the guys who manufacture them are getting to know me, and are trying to raise prices on me. You wouldn’t happen to know of any literary assassins, would you? Perhaps a discount firm?…. Oh, well, it was worth a shot….

Okay, I’ll stop now. I’ve meandered and blathered through damn near four paragraphs, all without saying much of anything, or getting anywhere in particular. It’s a gift…. Nonetheless, it only works for so long, then I, too, get bored with it; I can’t imagine how poorly it must affect my Gentle Readers, though I’ve got a clue, in the lack of people who end up reading it….. One would think it might kill my ego, and stop me from writing more stuff knowing it will just sit up there on the web, lonely and unread, waiting in vain to inspire and uplift…. but, my ego is pretty bullet-proof, mostly impervious to any negative input, so y’all will just have to deal with it, as always…. Hopefully, one or two of y’all will enjoy it, and that will be enough for me…..

Shall we Pearl?….

“I cannot achieve complete humility — although complete humiliation is always within reach.” — Dan Goodman
_____________________________

My pain level today is running a bit high, and I’m not going to be able to sit in this chair for much longer today…. so, y’all get a break from my pontificating, as we will let Smart Bee pick out a couple of pearls for sections one and three, and find a quick, good poem for the second section….. Sometimes easier said than done, but, always quicker than trying to cudgel my consciousness into coherence long enough to spew…. and, for y’all, indubitably a less annoying read, if often more obscure in presentation…. All of which is a long winded way to say, you’re on your own from this point, ffolkes, so, good luck!….. Here is a good one, all about life, and self-reliance in a scary world…..

“I wanted to change the world.  But I have found that the only thing one can be sure of changing is oneself.” — Aldous Huxley

“And of course, No soap, radio.” — traditional non sequitor

“What I am is what I am. Are you what you are, or what?” — Edie Brickell

Men are born crying
And when they’ve cried enough
They die

— Ran

“Everything is simpler than you think and at the same time more complex than you imagine.” — Goethe

“It is a man’s own mind, not his enemy or foe, that lures him to evil ways.” — Buddha

“I don’t want realism, I want magic!” — A Streetcar Named Desire, 1940’s

Ooh, that was cool…. what a great finish!….. Hope you enjoyed this little trip through my head….. Remember, there’s no need to feel bad, I’m always  like this, so, you can go on feeling lucky you aren’t….
_____________________________

Since I’m feeling so out of it, I guess I’d better stick one of my own poems in here, just so nobody else gets dragged through the mud today, if only by association…. Here’s one that even fits the occasion…. as well as I ever can do….

Fine and Good, Good and Fine

A pig in a poke’s got nothing on me,
cuz Ah’m as confused as a man can be.
This ol’ world’s got me spinnin’ around
cussin’ and spittin’, a penny for a pound.

Forty ‘leven times since Ah was a kid, well,
Ah’ve fallen in love, ‘least too close to tell.
Every damn time, it all went to crap,
Forty ‘leven times Ah’ve felt like a sap.

‘Course, each time it happens, Ah forget the last;
why not? Ah’m havin’ such a blast….
Livin’ in each moment, filled with joie de vivre,
’til it’s all gone away again, nothin’ left up mah sleeve.

Don’t want y’all to think Ah’m sad or blue,
life’s full of sorrow, lots for me, and/or you..
T’other side of that coin, we can be glad,
is joyful love, and it ain’t at all bad.

Mah road’s been littered with parts o’my heart,
each one colored with trust, which isn’t always smart.
Yet, long as Ah don’t lose mah connection to joy,
Ah’ll find mah own true love, ‘n be a happy boy.

It’s been some kinda fun, even when Ah’d take a fall,
and doin’ it over makes no sense at all, at all
Day after day, Ah keep on keepin’ on, as it’s said;
Guess Ah’ll keep on doin’ that ’til Ah’m dead.

‘Nuff said….

~~ gigoid, tongue firmly in cheek…. ~~

_____________________________

One of the quotes included below was the first I found today, and I had intended it to form the initial thought for a rant…. however, Smart Bee, and my lower back and hips, had other ideas, so, instead, it has formed a part of this quite pointed little stick in the mind’s eye, speaking of the very subject on which I intended to discourse….. politics as a type of poopadoodle, what else? Here, then, you will find yet another in a long series of indictments of the pundits who make up our BRC, those lovely gobshites, who spend their days lining their pockets, and devising new ways to lie to us…..

“He knows nothing and thinks he knows everything. That points clearly to a political career.” — George Bernard Shaw

“Silence can be the biggest lie of all.  We have a responsibility to speak up; and whenever the occasion calls for it, we have a responsibility to raise bloody hell.” — Herbert Block

“Modern biology has been built upon two great ideas.  The first, a product of the nineteenth century, is that all life descended from elementary, single-celled organisms by means of natural selection.  The second, perfected in the twentieth century, is that organisms are entirely obedient to the laws of physics and chemistry.  No extraneous “vital force” runs the living cell.” — Edward O. Wilson, “Biophilia”

“…it is the privilege of fools to speak the truth without giving offense.” — Erasmus

“As for courage and will – we cannot measure how much of each lies within us, we can only trust there will be sufficient to carry through trials which may lie ahead.” — Andre Norton

That would be quite enough, were this a normal pearl, but, it’s got a responsibility to fulfill, and needs two more to make it right….

“One man’s wickedness may easily become all men’s curse.” — Publius Syrus (42 BC) — Maxim 463

“The wise learn many things from their foes.” — Aristophanes (c. 450-385 B.C.) — The Birds (414 B.C.), line 375

There you have it, wisdom in a box…. I keep telling you, it’s all in the wrist…. Oh, yeah, as a final thought on the matter of the ultimate necessity for politics…

“Never create by law what can be accomplished by morality.” — Charles-Louis Secondat Baron de Montesquieu
_____________________________

Since I was again up late, and have little patience with sitting in my current state of pain, this will be a relatively quick ending, proofing only…. Okay, maybe a bit more than proofing…. all done now, though, and ready to rock and roll…. My calendar is clear for the entire day, nothing at all to accomplish, if’n I don’t want to…. True freedom…. You may now feel jealous, momentarily….  Okay, that’s enough…. see ya….  Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

dozer3

Just fill in the holes, William….

Posted on by
2

Ffolkes,
And then, I woke up….. afraid….. SIGH…..

I had hoped to never find myself in this position again, but, that was apparently wishful thinking, at best. I really don’t enjoy some parts of my PTSD symptoms; actually, I don’t really enjoy ANY of the symptoms I experience in that respect. Tears and emotional lability sometimes, depression others, and in between, just a bunch of anxiety and near panic attacks, for good measure, as it is said…. Who says it, I don’t know, but, you hear it all the time…. None of which is of any particular moment to me just now, as I am sitting here struggling with my emotions, trying to keep them out of my head, so they won’t make me cry (for no apparent reason I can see…..)…. Ah shit, it’s not working…. I’ll be back….

Sorry ’bout that…. I had thought, what with all the money, and cruising, and general gaiety going around, I would be immune from such attacks, but, I guess not…. Fuck, fuck, fuck….. Actually, I know why this is happening, and I’m not happy about the reason. I have an appointment with my doctor to discuss medications, and I am worried that he is going to turn conservative on me, and start getting all weird about my use of drugs that are not what he prescribes, exactly…. Unfortunately, discussing this in a public venue could conceivably have bad results, so I can’t really go into it much…. suffice it to say that my own doctor is the one causing this anxiety in me, and I need to do something about it, today…..

I can see that this is getting a bit sticky, and obscure, so I’m going on into the pearling process now, before I lose all control, of myself, and this Pearl. I hate to do this, but, I’m going to surgically excise any further nonsense in the intro section, and get on with the dive for today, before I seize up and get really weird… It’s been known to happen on such days….. For now, let’s get on with it….. Shall we Pearl?…..
__________________________________

“Will this never-ending series of PLEASURABLE EVENTS never cease?” — Zippy the Pinhead

http://www.sfgate.com/news/texas/article/Damaging-storms-moving-through-east-south-4569342.php

http://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/Quakes-kill-2-in-Taiwan-injure-33-in-Philippines-4569405.php

http://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/UK-politicians-caught-in-lobbying-scandal-4569418.php

http://www.sfgate.com/business/technology/article/Apple-antitrust-suit-over-e-books-set-for-NY-trial-4569709.php

http://www.sfgate.com/crime/article/4-wounded-in-3-Oakland-shootings-4569499.php

“One U.S. lawmaker has been to Bangladesh since the collapse of the Rana Plaza building on April 24, 2013, killing, at last count, 1,129 garment workers. That would be Rep. George Miller, D-Martinez, who returned to the Bay Area Thursday after a week of meetings with government officials, garment factory owners, and survivors of the building’s collapse.

He had harsh words for Gap and Walmart, who have refused to sign a legally binding Bangladesh safety accord. “It’s very clear whether you are Walmart or you’re the Gap, you have to make a decision now whether you want to have blood on your labels. The fact is, they’ve led this race to the bottom over many years and it has led to this dangerous situation in the industry.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The foregoing are all taken from the news in northern California on Sunday, June 2, 2013. I collected them because I was struck by how the batch of them, taken together, is almost surreal in its degree of negativity. 13 dead in storms; 2 dead, 35 injured in quakes; politicians taking money (gasp! what will they do next?); Apple and publishers conspiring to steal money from consumers (another gasp!…); 4 wounded in shootings….. and OVER A THOUSAND garment workers dead, crushed and/or burned up in a building that collapsed, because the builders cheated on the materials, the owners didn’t care, and no safety measures were in place at all. The owners/operators crammed about five times the safe number of people and machines in the facility to grind out more cheap stuff for the big stores to sell. So many people, and so much machinery and materials, the building collapsed.

Garment workers…. That’s a nice, impersonal title, don’t you think? Not bad to describe, and disconnect from, the OVER A THOUSAND human beings who died there, all of them so poor they had to cram into one building with no possible escape, just to earn a starving wage, so fat white folks can make more money off the cheap stuff they’re making…. But, hey, they’re just gooks, right, not even Christians, or white, or anything, so it’s not like it counts, or anything like that, is it?…. Hell, most of ’em were probably women and children anyway, living on welfare…..

“Will it improve my CASH FLOW?” — Zippy the Pinhead

One day’s worth of headlines… I can’t wait to see tomorrow’s leading stories….. Somehow, I don’t think they will provide any of the balance so badly needed, unless, of course, the aliens land, and give us the answers to all the tough questions. The odds on that are slim, at best, so I think I’ll just try to not read them any more…. Of course, then I won’t know just when it all is going to finally collapse, will I? Oh well, I’ll just have to remember to read the comics first, I guess….

“… if the democratic nations fail, their failure must be partly attributed to the faulty strategy of idealists who have too many illusions when they face realists who have too little conscience.” — Reinhold Niebuhr

The world is currently in what Robert Heinlein used to call “The Crazy Years”, merrily going to hell in a handbasket; the above headlines are proof positive that we are a society out of control, with no apparent way back to any sort of sanity. I don’t know at this point if there is any chance to pull ourselves back from the brink of extinction, not with the way things have proceeded thus far. And, to be frank, it would, and will be, our just desserts, for all the lack of understanding and wrongheadedness we have displayed in our sad history….. Ah well, it must be time for a nap……

If of all words of tongue and pen,
The saddest are, `It might have been,’
More sad are these we daily see:
`It is, but hadn’t ought to be.’

— Francis Brett Harte
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Pablo Neruda, the Chilean poet, has been in the news of late; apparently, he didn’t die of prostate cancer, as first reported when he died, but, may have been murdered by a CIA operative on the orders of the dictator of Chile at the time, Augusto Pinochet…. His body has been exhumed, and forensic scientists are examining his remains for poisons, and/or signs of terminal cancer…. Results are pending…. Regardless of all that, he was an exemplary poet, and great philosopher, in my opinion…. Here is one of his works that seemed to speak to my mood today….. It’s a bit grim, but, sometimes, we need grim….

A Song Of Despair

The memory of you emerges from the night around me.
The river mingles its stubborn lament with the sea.

Deserted like the wharves at dawn.
It is the hour of departure, oh deserted one!

Cold flower heads are raining over my heart.
Oh pit of debris, fierce cave of the shipwrecked.

In you the wars and the flights accumulated.
From you the wings of the song birds rose.

You swallowed everything, like distance.
Like the sea, like time. In you everything sank!

It was the happy hour of assault and the kiss.
The hour of the spell that blazed like a lighthouse.

Pilot’s dread, fury of blind driver,
turbulent drunkenness of love, in you everything sank!

In the childhood of mist my soul, winged and wounded.
Lost discoverer, in you everything sank!

You girdled sorrow, you clung to desire,
sadness stunned you, in you everything sank!

I made the wall of shadow draw back,
beyond desire and act, I walked on.

Oh flesh, my own flesh, woman whom I loved and lost,
I summon you in the moist hour, I raise my song to you.

Like a jar you housed infinite tenderness.
and the infinite oblivion shattered you like a jar.

There was the black solitude of the islands,
and there, woman of love, your arms took me in.

There was thirst and hunger, and you were the fruit.
There were grief and ruins, and you were the miracle.

Ah woman, I do not know how you could contain me
in the earth of your soul, in the cross of your arms!

How terrible and brief my desire was to you!
How difficult and drunken, how tensed and avid.

Cemetery of kisses, there is still fire in your tombs,
still the fruited boughs burn, pecked at by birds.

Oh the bitten mouth, oh the kissed limbs,
oh the hungering teeth, oh the entwined bodies.

Oh the mad coupling of hope and force
in which we merged and despaired.

And the tenderness, light as water and as flour.
And the word scarcely begun on the lips.

This was my destiny and in it was my voyage of my longing,
and in it my longing fell, in you everything sank!

Oh pit of debris, everything fell into you,
what sorrow did you not express, in what sorrow are you not drowned!

From billow to billow you still called and sang.
Standing like a sailor in the prow of a vessel.

You still flowered in songs, you still brake the currents.
Oh pit of debris, open and bitter well.

Pale blind diver, luckless slinger,
lost discoverer, in you everything sank!

It is the hour of departure, the hard cold hour
which the night fastens to all the timetables.

The rustling belt of the sea girdles the shore.
Cold stars heave up, black birds migrate.

Deserted like the wharves at dawn.
Only tremulous shadow twists in my hands.

Oh farther than everything. Oh farther than everything.

It is the hour of departure. Oh abandoned one!

~~ Pablo Neruda ~~

__________________________________

I have a lot to do today, and need to get started early to get it all done… so, I’m cheating here, but in a good way. This is a Pearl from November of 2011… Much of it is apparently written around the same subject as discussed in section one of today’s effort, so I’m including it here, to save myself some time, and give y’all a bit of contrasting text to compare…. You can check for me to see if what I wrote then is consistent with what was done today, or if it was better, or worse…. Whatever it was, it’s a bit long, so, here it is, so you can get started…. It’s long, I know, but not bad, so, enjoy….. please….

11/16/11
Ffolkes,
Good morrow to you…..let us begin as we mean to go on…..

“Writing is easy. All you do is stare at a blank sheet of paper until drops of blood form on your forehead.” — Gene Fowler

This line is included today merely to give y’all an idea of what I go through every morning to produce this…..whatever it is. It is a pretty good description, actually, because when I’m done, I actually feel battered and bloody. Bloody well used up is what it is. Maybe it’s easier for other writers; I don’t know. But for me, to produce something that my standards will allow me to publish for others to read, is much like having a piece of my soul ripped out. The funny thing is, though it hurts a lot, I wouldn’t stop doing it, even if I could. The pain of creation, which after all requires destruction first, is a worthy payoff for the sense of accomplishment I get when I see one of my pieces online for all to see. Quite a rush actually…..

“Most human beings have an almost infinite capacity for taking things for granted.” — Aldous Huxley

This observation, as far as I can tell, is 100% accurate, and because it is, many of the problems society is facing are easily explained, if not easily resolved. For example, when was the last time you gave a thought to what else besides oxygen is in the air that you take into your lungs on the average of 15-20 times per minute.? When you last got a glass of water from the tap, did you stop to think about what was in the water you use to drink, cook with, and bathe in? As Mr. Huxley pointed out, most folks, yourselves included, seldom think about or appreciate such simple necessities, or what might happen if they were no longer available.

What will we do when the air is so full of carbon dioxide that the amount of oxygen in it is decreased below the point where it will sustain life? Will we all have to wear breathing apparatus in order to brave the outside world? What will happen to all the other animals if there isn’t sufficient air? What will you do when the water you drink is no longer safe to consume? We need water as much as we need air; our chemical make-up is 90% water, and not having enough of it to replace what we lose is a sure path to the grave within a matter of days.

There are other issues connected to this subject; the consistent degradation of our planet’s ecosystem has a great many negative effects, small and unnoticeable at first, but growing larger over time until they are added to the list of processes that will eventually lead to extinction of all of this planet’s life forms.  Part of the problem is that it is a slow, insidious process, this degradation, and the deleterious outcomes are not evident until too late to reverse.

And remember, the Universe doesn’t care, one way or the other, whether we survive or not; the rules are the rules, and fighting against the natural laws of our space-time continuum is a fool’s bet. Like it or not, we, as a species, are going to need to make some serious changes to the way we do things, if we are to survive at all. And we will need to do it starting yesterday…..

“A man’s ethical behavior should be based effectually on sympathy, education, and social ties; no religious basis is necessary.  Man would indeed be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hope of reward after death.” — Albert Einstein

I really admire Albert Einstein, and not because he was a great scientist, as well as one of history’s shining examples of men and women who greatly advance human knowledge, and do so out of their love of mankind. Albert’s wisdom was not restricted to the principles of physics and math; he had a unique way of looking at the world, and the ability to share their deep insights into life and the universe for the benefit of others. He was an eternal optimist, and as the above quote demonstrates, had a firm grip on the concept of living with honor and dignity.

He believed in the inherent goodness of every man, and lived his life in a way that it stands as an example for the rest of us. I cannot wholly agree with what he states above, because I have a much darker view of what human nature is capable of, and less faith in mankind’s willingness to submit to natural law. But what he said does show with clarity where our salvation lies, and in his own inimitable manner, he shares his deeper knowledge with the rest of us in the hope it will inspire others to act honorably……

“To laugh often and love much, to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others, to give of oneself; to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition; to have played and laughed with enthusiasm and sing with exultation; to know even one life has breathed easier: this is to have succeeded.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson

From what I gather in my study of 19th century American writers, a lot of the best were what I would call masters of advanced curmudgeonry. Emerson, Walden, Thoreau,  were all libertarians living in compromise with a democracy, and spent much of their time either complaining about society, or hiding from it in their forest retreats. This is not to say that what they wrote was bad or mistaken in premise, necessarily, but if you read their work with this in mind, it becomes apparent that they didn’t much like other folks, or put much trust in their rationality.

But, as the included quote indicates, being a curmudgeon doesn’t necessarily mean they don’t understand humanity, or what it takes to make life complete. This paragraph from Mr. Emerson demonstrates this perfectly. One cannot argue with conviction that all of these attributes listed, and experiences from a long life, are positively rooted, and make perfect sense. Whether or not we actually have all of these characteristics is unimportant; the list remains valid even if incomplete. And it provides anyone with a good map and directions that can be useful to us in our pursuit of happiness…..

So much for another day…..Hopefully, you have consumed a fair portion of food for thought, and found it palatable enough. If not, feel free to let me know, and I’ll see if I can come up with something more savory….in the meantime, y’all take care out there….
__________________________________

I can’t say that was entirely painless, but, it’s done, and thus joins the ranks of so many others that have been thrown out there for y’all to peruse, and abuse, if you must…. Once they leave here, I have little control over that, so I’m becoming a fatalist in that respect…. So, we’ll leave this one to its fate, and go on with the day’s business……  Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

dozer3

Isn’t he just the bee’s knees?….

Posted on by
2

Ffolkes,
What we have here, is a failure…. to cogitate. A scary one, too, since I can’t seem to get a handle on how to fire up the ol’ neurons this morning…. Dendrite, schmendrite, send me your nerve impulses…. Nope, not working, and the mojo I found yesterday has rolled into a corner again…. Okay, hang on, I’ll see if one of the fuses went out….  Oh, yeah, I don’t have the upgrade installed yet; I’m still on the old tube and knob wiring, so, no fuses….

Damn! Now I’m going to have to resort to emergency procedure # 4, which I haven’t employed since setting it up…. Since at least three of the stages it passes through on the way to getting my brain functioning are only marginally legal, please stand back, and put on the blindfolds that are conveniently located in your seat’s pocket, on the left side there…. got them? Okay, let ‘er rip, Biff!…. Oooh! That’s impressive!…..

Good morning….. Emergency procedure # 4 was apparently successful, though I will have to rely on you all to supply me with any evidence of that…. From this side of the procedure, there is a degree of amnesia produced, that lasts a few days, then passes away, leaving no scars or memories of the less than pleasant process involved in using #4…. Rather handy, all in all, as it gets things moving, but doesn’t waste any time on congratulations or other extraneous activities, but allows me to get right to work…. Of course, it can take several weeks to get all my memory back, but, hey, I don’t use it all at once anyway…. Some sacrifices must be made to pursue one’s art, you know…

Now that I have once again provided y’all with ample proof of my insanity, or at least enough to make it worth wagering on, I should, no doubt, move on to the main portion of today’s virtual circus. It’s getting more and more chancy here in the intro section, what with the weird hours I’ve been keeping in the mornings…. Again, today, I was up at 0430;  it is now 0522, and all I’ve been able to come up with is this detritus, even WITH coffee on board….. Hence my use of the word ‘scary’ above….. The fertile fields of my mind are becoming a trifle depleted, methinks, which, given my output, shouldn’t be a surprise….

Well, no matter how scary it is, the rest of today’s effort calls to me, so I suppose I’d best start diving. In the interests of full disclosure, shut your eyes…. I had to use my old dive suit today, and the pattern has been known to cause seizures if one gazes at it too long…. Shall we Pearl?…..
__________________________________

“The essence of Christianity is told us in the Garden of Eden history. The fruit that was forbidden was on the tree of knowledge. The subtext is, All the suffering you have is because you wanted to find out what was going on. You could be in the Garden of Eden if you had just keep your fucking mouth shut and hadn’t asked any questions.” — Frank Zappa Playboy Interview, April 1993

Hmm…. Frank’s take on matters are such that I generally find myself in complete agreement with what he says. Here, he has again put his finger on one of the more obvious facets of Christianity, one that defies all logical explanation in lieu of subservient belief, to wit: faith vs. knowledge, and the Christian’s unfortunate tendency to embrace the former, without any appeal to the latter….. To my way of thinking, that is not only foolish, but cowardly….. but, perhaps, that’s just me….

The fruit of the tree of knowledge gives mankind the go-ahead, to use the brain with which we were furnished at birth; the preachers would have us abrogate that use, having us, instead, give over all our power of belief into the hands of the faithful, who, naturally, have only our best interests at heart….. Sure they do…. NOT….. I’m sorry, but, no matter how many times these folks say so, I am not going to accept that they know better than I what is best for me…. Nope, not even if there were twenty Bibles out there, all proclaiming how true they are…. Oh wait, there are twenty of them, aren’t there?…. Oh, well, you know what I meant….

Why do people fall for this? I cannot understand how people, who are normally reasonably intelligent, will, by conscious choice, bury their heads in the sand to buy into this, without ever taking even one moment to examine any of it for truth, or even logical assumption. Is there some kind of mind-control drug in that incense? Maybe in the sacramental wine…. Whatever it is, it turns normally competent, intelligent people into mindless slaves, and does so with their complete agreement and approval….. To my mind, it is one of history’s saddest, most incomprehensible features, when I look at just how easily people fall for such egregious, and so obviously self-serving propaganda, as most of the dogmatic proclamations of the major religions tend to offer up.

“I hope I never get so old I get religious.” — Ingmar Bergman

I am compelled to add, “Me, too!” to this sentiment…. In the recent past, I’ve been taking a lot of shots at religions, and need to make clear that I do not hate Christians, or Buddhists, or Muslims, or the followers of any religion. I think they are being silly, deliberately and evilly so, at worst, or at best, misguided, but I don’t hate, or fear them, as is the case on their part whenever they consider me, or my criticisms of their beliefs. I don’t hold that against them, either, as it is logically consistent for them to do so, given the limitations of their dogmatic position. Since, however, the fervor with which they will often defend their position can reach a rather fevered pitch, I tend to treat many of them like a stinging insect; I move, and speak, slowly and carefully, so as not to frighten them more than they already are….

Ethical and moral behavior is not confined to those who follow the precepts of one religion or another, despite what any of the proponents of those religions will try to tell you.  In fact, if you look closely, the number of folks who are believers have a much higher percentage of failure in that area than do the non-believers, which only makes sense…. The believers all have a sense of entitlement that gives them the idea that the rules of behavior don’t always apply to them, in terms of how they treat people who are not of the same faith, so, to those who are not of their own sect, they don’t bother being truthful, or honest, or ethical, as those people don’t count, in their eyes. People who make their own moral codes tend to follow them, and are much more tolerant of those who do not share their beliefs.

Basic human nature dictates these responses in people, so one can see how dangerous it is to remain ignorant, in the Biblical sense. Those who choose to buy into the myth of the Garden of Eden, giving up all their personal independence of mind for the comfort and safety of dogma, will fail to act according to their own morality much of the time, out of their sense of entitlement, and the belief that all of their sins will be forgiven, merely by the act of confessing them. Only those who consciously choose their moral code have the courage to act it out, it seems, except for those few people who actually try to live according to the morality that is espoused, but seldom embraced, by their less ethical peers.

Having the strength of mind to make one’s own moral code implies the courage to act it out…. This is why I choose to deny the dogma I’ve been exposed to all my life, as being illogical, and, ultimately, immoral…. It makes more sense to me to make my own decisions on such matters, and tell the busybodies who assume they know best for all to go jump in a lake…. Even better, just shut the hell up, and get out of the way, so the rest of us can get something relevant done, without having to put up with all the nonsense from that quarter….

“What is a church? Our honest sexton tells, ‘Tis a tall building, with a tower and bells.” — Crabbe
__________________________________

Sometimes, I just gotta go with a classic…. if only for the patina of age that gives it such a shine…. Even reflected beauty is better than none, yes?….

Bright Star

Bright star, would I were stedfast as thou art–
Not in lone splendour hung aloft the night
And watching, with eternal lids apart,
Like nature’s patient, sleepless Eremite,
The moving waters at their priestlike task
Of pure ablution round earth’s human shores,
Or gazing on the new soft-fallen mask
Of snow upon the mountains and the moors–
No–yet still stedfast, still unchangeable,
Pillow’d upon my fair love’s ripening breast,
To feel for ever its soft fall and swell,
Awake for ever in a sweet unrest,
Still, still to hear her tender-taken breath,
And so live ever–or else swoon to death.

John Keats
__________________________________

The following is a piece that I wrote just before the recent Presidential election, as section 1 of a Pearl I cannot find without more effort than I care to spend right now, even though it is still only 0633…. Tracking it down would mean scrolling through at least a month’s worth of old Pearls, from last year, and I’m not ready for that today…. However, I’ve re-read it, and consider it worth a second posting, as it covers a lot of things that remain relevant after the election, in spite of the fortunate outcome we saw…. Any who, without further ado, here is a pearl I entitled, “Considering the Etiquette of Ignorance”…….

SIGH…. the only reason I did not write this in 1988 is that I did not see it until today….. it is never a good policy to suffer a fool gladly, so my code of honor demands a response…. This begins the tale, but by no means ends it….. be warned, and be nervous, if not afraid…..

“I don’t know that atheists should be considered citizens, nor should they  be considered patriots. This is one nation under God.” — George Bush in Free Inquiry magazine, Fall 1988

Actually, George, the Pledge of Allegiance has no legal standing, in relation to the Constitution of this country, or for that matter, in relation to what our forefathers were thinking when they founded the nation. In fact, what was said here by such an upstanding Constitutional scholarly type, is, in reality, completely contrary to everything that makes a true patriot, or an American citizen.

The part in the pledge, (which no one at all is legally required to take, or state…), that says “under God” was only added in the middle of the twentieth century, by the same Congressional idiots who perpetrated McCarthyism, and the Red Scare, on the American public. It has nothing to do with the Constitution, and in fact, could be construed as a Constitutionally illegal statement, considering the intended separation of church and state that is the backbone of what our forefathers wished us to have as our legacy…. True freedom, not Christian usurpation of freedom….. A person’s religious belief, or lack thereof, is protected by the Constitution, and a patriot is one who supports the Constitution, not a church, or a corporation…..

And if his name be George, I ‘ll call him Peter;
For new-made honour doth forget men’s names.
— William Shakespeare (1564-1616), King John — Act i, Sc. 1

This kind of thinking from the Shrub, whichever one it was, Junior or Senior, is the same kind of narrow-minded fundamentalism that the colonists were escaping from in England back in the 16-1700’s when they came to the New World. The churches and corporations, both of which were singled out as dangerous to the republic by Jefferson, Franklin, Paine, Adams, Hamilton, and many of the other founding fathers, have tried to usurp the Constitution ever since it was ratified. Their writings, to each other, and in public venues, were filled with precautionary admonitions about allowing corporations and preachers to have access to, or influence over, members of government.

Ultimately, their fears were justified, as we now are facing just the situations they predicted….. corporations are manipulating our “professional thieves”, otherwise known as politicians, to vote for laws that favor them (really, “corporations are people?”… I don’t think so…), and the ranks of our leaders are rife with fundamentalists and religious nuts of all varieties.

“Men tend to have the beliefs that suit their passions. Cruel men believe in a cruel God and use their belief to excuse their cruelty.  Only kindly men believe in a kindly God, and they would be kindly in any case.” — Bertrand Russell (1872-1967)

It’s difficult sometimes to tell which ones are more dangerous, or more disgusting: the corporations who buy votes from those who fit the definition of “good politicians” (…. a good politician is one who stays bought…..), or the religious demagogues who want to oppress everyone who doesn’t believe the same set of dogmatic constraints as they do. Neither one is particularly hard to spot, but they are protected by their tame dogs in Congress, who will do and say anything to make sure the cash keeps flowing…. right into their pockets.

As may be extrapolated, if one is exceedingly clairvoyant, one may infer from the above that the 2012 Republican  Romney/Ryan ticket disturbs me; I have no problem ranting without end right off the top of my head about the lies and distortions of reality that continuously fall from their lips. As I mentioned in a separate post, a lot of people are catching on to this, as Ryan was roundly booed offstage at the AARP meeting he attended to try to sell their admitted intention to rape Social Security and Medicare (Smart? No. Arrogant? Completely.).

In retrospect, even this negative reception is disturbing to me, as it shows just how little they care, that they are showing themselves to be only interested in lining their own pockets, and the pockets of those who own them, without apparent shame or embarrassment. They aren’t even trying to hide their lies anymore; they just keep repeating them, even after having been shown to be false, believing that if they repeat the lies enough, people will buy them….

“Men are most apt to believe what they least understand.” — Michael de Montaigne (1533-1592) — Essays, Book iii, Chap. xi

Unfortunately, they are right, to a large extent. Millions of people in this country, who have hung on to their prejudices and bigotry with desperation as the minorities have become majorities, are supporting these assholes, merely because they are white. They don’t realize, or seemingly care, that these are the same assholes who will be screwing them over completely as soon as they get sworn in, preferring to trust in the lies, because it soothes their fears of having a black President.

Beware of the half truth.  You may have gotten hold of the wrong half. — Smart Bee

This is why I have been repeatedly reiterating that this election is bringing this country to a crossroads. The outcome will show whether we intend, as a nation, to continue to fight all attempts to curtail the freedoms that were bought and paid for by our forefathers, with blood, sweat, and tears, or will become just another religious, corporate-controlled entity, in a nation consisting of slaves and their masters.

I don’t know about y’all, but I’ll be at the polls as soon as they open, and will urge everyone I know to do the same…. vote early, and vote often (just joking…), but vote. We need to send a message to these fools, that there are still patriots and citizens of this country who believe in the vision embraced and established by the men and women who began this noble experiment in self-government…..

“Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.” — Aldous Huxley

As I said above, the election came out okay…. but, the rest of what is said here remains relevant, and always in need of being heard….
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Well…. Getting up early seems to be working for me, Pearl-wise….. Even though part of this was already written, it all holds together well, and will stand in the future as one of my most complete Pearls, if nothing else…. A bit of nonsense to begin, some pointed sticks thrown around at demagoguery, a bit of classicism in the center, for balance, and a long dissertation haranguing the BRC and PTB, as well as most of the religious institutions in the world…. I’m a happy camper, you betcha….

Not just that, but, it’s DONE!  Yay!….. I think…… Hmm… it’s now 0650…… Now what the hell am I going to do? Ah, perfect!…… I’m going back to bed now, ffolkes, & see if I can fall back asleep…. I’ll be back later to see how many people I’ve managed to offend, or better yet, how many found a good laugh….  Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

gigoid

dozer3

Prior to the arrival of thrills….

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Ffolkes,
Vague. A very descriptive word, though what it describes is anything but precise in nature. It certainly fits my mind this morning, and looks as if it could slide right over into being the word of the day. It would be an easy choice, as no preparation is needed; I’m already there. I’m not sure it’s the kind of word I want to base a whole day on….. then, again, not picking it may annoy Murphy, who no doubt flung it up there into my head himself. It’s just his style……

As well, it’s not as if it is a condition that is unknown around here. I’ve been known to get vague, and stay that way, for days on end, actually. It’s kind of fun, teasing shop workers, confusing bus drivers, and if a chance to annoy a cop comes up, well, I’m all over it. I know, that can be dangerous here in Vallejo, but, I like to live dangerously sometimes, and if one can’t annoy a cop now and again, where is all the fun in life to come from, I ask you? Though not in the realm of CEO’s yet, the police are pretty well-paid these days, and are the obvious target for anyone who has a gripe against society; they have to know that going in. So, don’t get all righteous and prim on me; they’re supposed to be able to take that kind of harassment from the public, and if they can’t, they’ve no business wearing a badge. To my mind, a sense of humor is the single most important tool a police officer can have, and the ONLY one he/she can’t do without….

Now, how did we get from being vague and curmudgeonly to a discussion of societal mores? Sometimes I amaze even myself…. and I have no idea how it happened this time. Hmm…. must have been the mention of the salary of a CEO that set me off. THAT is certainly a subject well worth dissection, and a bit of people bashing. I can’t think of a single category of society that deserves it more than CEO’s, the assholes. Any one of them will do….. I don’t care how stupid and mean a person is, they have to know that NOBODY is worth the kind of money they are being paid…. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY…… I don’t care how much they spout off, and quote figures, or anything else; they aren’t worth that much money, nor is whatever function they perform. It isn’t, period. And nothing can be produced to support that it is, so they may as well just shut it….

I can see from the last paragraph that a rant is coming on, or could be if I were to allow it…. not surprisingly, I guess. The salaries of those corporate assholes is one of my favorite peeves, and it doesn’t surprise me at all to go from 0 to rant in one half-paragraph. Again, I can’t think of a more deserving group of folks about which to rant, but, I’m not even out of the intro yet…. give me a break, will ya? Hah!…. I’ll bet this is all Murphy’s work…. leading me by the nose into a subject that he knows will cause me to blow up like a puffer fish, then standing back and laughing, as I try to write my way back into some semblance of normalcy (not that normal is ever our goal here….).  I’d call Murphy an asshole, too, but, he already knows he is, and delights in it too much….

Weird…. there’s another fine word, and one that fits well at this point. I guess you could say this was a better than average intro section, as it traversed the land between vague and weird, and never once fell into whining, or complaining about Reality, though goodness knows there is always enough of that to provide ample material for those activities. Not doing so is considered a win around here….. Since we’ve won so handily today, it would most likely be best to go for a dive before things start to fall apart…. which can happen in a heartbeat…..  So…. Shall we Pearl?…..
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“Be wiser than other people if you can, but do not tell them so.” — Lord Chesterfield (to his son)

One might think that Lord Chesterfield was being somewhat devious, or ingenious, at least, when he said this to his son. But, I can attest, from personal experience, that he is right in every respect, and for anyone who is smarter than your average bear, necessary knowledge, if one wishes to survive. It is a hard truth, and one that many people will find distasteful, but, it is nonetheless true for all that….. That truth is this: some people in the world are smarter than others. If you are one of them, it is well to not advertise that fact too loudly, or try to assume a lot of prominence for one’s intelligence, for several reasons, the foremost of which is that other people, not as smart, will object, merely on the principle of ‘fairness’, or ‘democracy’…..

I’m not sure about why it is so hard for a lot of folks to understand the concept of ‘average’, but it is clear that it doesn’t seem to register with a lot of people that the very meaning of the word implies that at least half of the people alive are well under that average in intelligence. They HAVE to be, or it would not be the average, now, would it? The hard part for people to understand, I suppose, is that the odds are that THEY themselves are part of that lower half. Someone HAS to be, but, nobody wants to be labeled as “below average”, or to think of themselves that way. For anyone who is at all empathetic to inner turmoil, it is hard to watch, knowing controversy and denial is inevitable, yet wishing it weren’t…..

“Every person is an individual; we all have a set of designer genes.” — Smart Bee

Knowing this, and accepting it, is the key to solving the intelligence issue, if it exists for you. Whether smart or dumb, ugly or pretty, thick or thin, each of us is unique, and therein lies the key to living with serenity. Learning to use our abilities to their maximum, at whatever level they exist, is the only use of knowledge that will lead us to success; concentrating on the differences in life that exist is a time wasting proposition, and will lead only to more trouble and pain. Our salvation lies in our uniqueness, not in how we are the same. The knowledge that there are people smarter than us, and there are those who are less so, is knowledge that should give us hope, rather than take it away, for it implies unlimited opportunity. When there is no limit to the kind of people who exist, then there is no limit to what can be done by them when they interact…. That is common sense, not deep logic…. though it is deeply logical as well….

“The logic of worldly success rests on a fallacy: the strange error that our perfection depends on the thoughts and opinions and applause of other men!
A weird life it is, indeed, to be living always in somebody else’s imagination, as if that were the only place in which one could at last become real!” — Thomas Merton, “Seven Storey Mountain”

Sometimes, it seems as if it would be nice if there weren’t so much diversity of ability in the world; it might make things simpler. But, given human nature, probably not…. We’d still find some way to fuss and fight with each other…. If it isn’t about intelligence, it would be about looks, or money, or ancestors, or any of the other myriad of subjects man finds to fight about…. We are contentious creatures, at best…. and often, I am left, after writing such a treatise as this one, with a feeling much like Friedrich gives us here…. in fact, I’ve felt this way often…..

“It is hard enough to remember my opinions, without also remembering my reasons for them.” — Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900)
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I Do Not Love You Except Because I Love You

I do not love you except because I love you;
I go from loving to not loving you,
From waiting to not waiting for you
My heart moves from cold to fire.

I love you only because it’s you the one I love;
I hate you deeply, and hating you
Bend to you, and the measure of my changing love for you
Is that I do not see you but love you blindly.

Maybe January light will consume
My heart with its cruel
Ray, stealing my key to true calm.

In this part of the story I am the one who
Dies, the only one, and I will die of love because I love you,
Because I love you, Love, in fire and blood.

Pablo Neruda
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“No one can see their reflection in running water. It is only in still water that we can see.” — Taoist Proverb

“Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared.” — Buddha

Monk:   Where can I enter Zen?
Master Gensha:  Can you hear the babbling brook?
Monk:    Yes, I can hear it.
Master Gensha:  Then enter it there.

A bird can fly, but a fly can’t bird. — Tao of Pooh.
(Not as undeep as it seems…. think on it….)

“I wanted to change the world.  But I have found that the only thing one can be sure of changing is oneself.” — Aldous Huxley

Okay, so here is a bass-ackwards pearl, just because…. I started off collecting for a pearl on a point of Eastern philosophy, and how it differs from Western. That changed, into what seemed to be a collection of different ideas from separate philosophies, all of which were connected somehow. But, then it came to the final pearl, and it all fell into place…. What we have here is nothing more, and nothing less, than a complete philosophy of life, in five short lessons. Encompassed within the relatively non-existent confines of these principles, one from each of five different parts of the world, each from a different time in history, and from a different master of thought, is everything that one would need to live a life of complete rationality and peace. Sometimes, I just don’t know how I do it…..    🙂

‘Nuff said…. just meditate on the five truths, and you’ll get where you need to go….. and remember axiom 7 of Peruaosophy…. “Do your Duty. Honor the truth. Respect Life. Share your Love.”…. and all will be well….
__________________________________

Smart Bee was particularly cooperative today…. one of the best things it showed me was a new disclaimer. I am adding it below, because it mirrors my thoughts on this subject perfectly…… enjoy! Just replace the words “All software” with “Whatever gigoid wrote”, and it will all apply perfectly…..

NOTE: “No warranties, either express or implied, are hereby given. All software is supplied as is, without guarantee.  The user assumes all responsibility for damages resulting from the use of these features, including, but not limited to, frustration, disgust, system abends, disk head-crashes, general malfeasance, floods, fires, shark attack, nerve gas, locust infestation, cyclones, hurricanes, tsunamis, local electromagnetic disruptions, hydraulic brake system failure, invasion, hashing collisions, normal wear and tear of friction surfaces, comic radiation, inadvertent destruction of sensitive electronic components, windstorms, the Riders of Nazgul, infuriated chickens, malfunctioning mechanical or electrical sexual devices, premature activation of the
distant early warning system, peasant uprisings, halitosis, artillery bombardment, explosions, cave-ins, and/or frogs falling from the sky.” — Smart Bee

I think that should about cover it….. if not, well, I’m sure you’ll let me know what I’ve forgotten, won’t you?…… Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

gigoid

Dozer

Kowabunga!

These statistical triumphs are fabulous!….

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Ffolkes,
What we have here…. is a failure… to germinate. So sad….. Actually, it’s germinating just fine. Seeds are like that; a bit of dirt, a little water, some sunshine, and voilá, germination! Now, if only there were some seeds germinating in my head, I’d be set for good. Alas, we should be so lucky…..

Sans germinating ideas, this intro section can turn on me at the drop of a simile, and apparently, has already done so. At this point, I have absolutely no idea what is going to come out next…. It could be a BEM (Bug Eyed Monster, to those of you not up on SF slang…). It could be another poem. (No, no, anything but that!….just shoot me now, please…..) It could be a fictional opening to a story. (If any were there to write down….) Or, it could be a series of paragraphs, each just a bit stranger than the last, all leading up to the usual point, where I give up, and we get started…..

I suppose strange is a relative term, and I ought not to consider it as an insult. In fact, given the rest of my life up to this point in time, I should probably consider it as encouragement, or perhaps, justification. For what, I don’t know, but, hey, it’s my party, and I can be ignorant if I want to be, so there…. Okay, now we’ve devolved into childish insults…. it must be time for the throwing up of the hands in disgust…. hold on, I need to step away from the computer to do this….. There, it’s done. I’ve washed my hands of this intro, and shall henceforth consider it as a part of the past, and no longer under my aegis…..

See? I told ya…. it worked out just the way I said it would, and here we are, finally arrived at the point where I look up with all innocence, and say, “Shall we Pearl?”….. you just nod your head, and move on to the next section…. well, go on…. you’d best go now, you’ll be alone if you stay here, and I won’t take responsibility if you get in trouble here on your own….. GO!!!!
___________________________________

If God didn’t make homosexuals, there wouldn’t be any. ~~ Very Smart Bee

Aha! At last! I have found the answer to all those bigoted, so-called Christians, with their strident complaints about gay marriage being a threat to society, and the whole ridiculous skein of unfounded fears rooted in their own ignorance. Just mention the above to them, and watch them turn purple, as they try, over and over, to find some logical way to refute this…. which they can’t.

If they are going to insist on having an omnipotent God, then they can’t be telling him what He should and shouldn’t do, because He’s already done it…. This is a perfectly sound piece of doctrine, which I’m sure any Jesuit would tell you is so obvious, it could be considered dogma. They can’t have it both ways…. either there is a God, and homosexuals are part of the plan he has in place…. or there isn’t, and they need to find a whole new theory of the universe to follow, because this one won’t fly…..

“Do you think God gets stoned?  I think so…look at the Platypus.” — Robin Williams

I think it’s a lot more likely that what Robin says here is true; if there is a God, why wouldn’t he get stoned? Of course, those who have experienced the state of being stoned can make an informed judgment on that issue. Anyone who has never done so really has no right to an opinion, do they?

Aside from the simple, irrefutable fact that they, being mortal, cannot fathom God, or anything about Him/Her, how could they possibly have an opinion on something they’ve never experienced? I ask that question rhetorically, of course; they believe they have the right to sound off on anything they don’t understand, since, as they believe, they are the Lords of Creation…. what a crock!

“Faith means intense, usually confident, belief that is not based on evidence sufficient to command assent from every reasonable person.” — Walter Kaufmann

This pearl comes from the old school… it makes a point that logically becomes the next step in this little piece of satire… the point being this: The folks who spend their time fiddling with religion are pursuing a dream, one that has no basis in reality, according to all the evidence.

This kind of blind faith has a name these days, and that name is “delusional”, defined as holding on to a belief after being presented with absolute proof of its falsehood. Couple this delusional frame of mind with a strong sense of denial, and you have an entire segment of the population that is immune to change…. and we all know what the Universe does to any part of it that refuses to change, don’t we?…..

“I guess the rule is, if something’s too good to be true, then it’s probably too good to be true.” — Marshall, The ATM Machine, Eerie Indiana

And that’s the Truth! So, there! Thpppht! ~~ The little girl in the chair… (Lily Tomlin)
___________________________________

Since the last pearl touched on the old school, I think I’ll make this pearl completely old school…. Here are some pearls that together form an idea, one that is always handy to have in one’s arsenal in the fight to hold our place in reality….. or at least to reluctantly accept it as it is…..

“A man who carries a cat by the tail is getting experience that will always be helpful.  He isn’t likely to grow dim or doubtful.  Chances are, he isn’t likely to carry the cat that way again, either.  But if he wants to, I say let him!” — Mark Twain

Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul
And sings the tune without the words
And never stops at all.

And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.

I’ve heard it in the chillest land
And on the strangest sea,
Yet never in extremity
It asked a crumb of me.

— Emily Dickinson

“Hope cannot be said to exist, nor can it be said not to exist. It is just like the roads across the earth. For actually there were no roads to begin with, but when many people pass one way a road is made.” — Lu Hsun

“We live only to discover beauty. All else is a form of waiting.” — Kahlil Gibran

“America!!  I saw it all!!  Vomiting!  Waving!  JERRY FALWELLING into your void tube of UHF oblivion!!  SAFEWAY of the mind –” — Zippy the Pinhead

Lastly, we turn once again to that philosophical genius, Lily T, to bring us home in style……

“The trouble with the rat race is that even if you win, you’re still a rat.” — Lily Tomlin
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“A little rudeness and disrespect can elevate a meaningless interaction to a battle of wills and add drama to an otherwise dull day.” — Calvin

Ah, politics! Calvin (of Calvin & Hobbes, I believe….) has accurately stated the operating techniques of both parties in this election. I was amazed the other day when the Republican candidates started to harp on how mean and unfair the other side was being. Talk about two kettles calling the pots black!

I also had to laugh when the Democrats got called out for demanding to see the taxes that Romney continues to withhold; he really thinks he is going to get away with not showing them, and doesn’t seem to have a clue as to how much damage it causes his campaign every time he refuses to show them…. I don’t know why, because he reads the polls, and every time he puts it off again, he drops points; it’s a direct correlation, but he doesn’t seem to know, or care….. idiot….

“That men do not learn very much from the lessons of history is the most important of all the lessons of history.” — Aldous Huxley (1894-1963), Collected Essays

Romney and Ryan keep accusing Obama of stealing money from Social Security, when the Congressional Report on the plan shows this to be completely false.  John Sunnunu, governor of something or other, a life-time political hack, got his sails trimmed by a CNN reporter, on air, who kept throwing this falsehood back in his face…. he ended up resorting to name-calling, and continued to try to blame the POTUS for everything. Even when it was pointed out to him that the Ryan Plan and the Romney Plan were the same, and both contained tax cuts for the rich, he tried to say they were different…. another idiot….

“I have been thinking that I would make a proposition to my Republican friends…that if they will stop telling lies about the Democrats, we  will stop telling the truth about them.” — Adlai Stevenson

Or was it Joe Biden who said that? Well, he could have…. What Mr. Stevenson says here is all too true, even today, though he doesn’t quite make it all the way to honesty, as he implies that only the Democrats tell the truth. In fact, BOTH parties are more comfortable telling us lies than they are with the truth; it is fortunate for us that the WWW has provided us with a way to keep the truth at the forefront of any issue, no matter how many times one of the pundits, right or left, tries to convince us that the lies they are telling are truth. For those libertarians to whom truth is more important than personal comfort, the web has been a true gift of the gods…..

“The only sure bulwark of continuing liberty is  a government strong enough to protect the interests of the people, and a people strong enough and well enough informed to maintain its sovereign control over the government.” — Franklin Delano Roosevelt

These are perfect words to bring this to a close…. We, the citizens of this democracy, have the responsibility of making ourselves aware of the truth, and to insist on that truth being acknowledged by the government, whichever party may be incumbent. If we do not take the time to investigate what they tell us, and accept what they say as truth, without checking, then we deserve whatever kind of government we get.

I can’t stress enough that people need to be aware that politicians, of both varieties, DO NOT HAVE OUR BEST INTERESTS AT HEART….. Elected officials only have their own interests at heart; this has been proven over and over, and really isn’t arguable. But, as long as people continue to act as if the pundits care about them, then they will continue to get the shaft…. and deservedly so…..

“TAPPING?  You POLITICIANS!  Don’t you realize that the END of the “Wash Cycle” is a TREASURED MOMENT for most people?!” — Zippy the Pinhead
___________________________________

I was right in the intro…. it kind of got away from me…. But, I think I managed to pull it all together, with only moderate use of duct tape…. It’s going to have to do, because, well, because it will….. Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you….

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

 

gigoid

Dozer

Kowabunga!

Peaches and cream for lunch…..

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Ffolkes,
Twilight razors, filled with ample screams of delighted salmon fillets, turned backward flips in the parlor, while the Doge Imperius strolled through the garden. Abby didn’t want hers, so I put her squiggly first course of lamprey eel down the bodice of the queen. But, that was only the first time. Afterwards, we all went into the big blue room to play charades. It was a good party…..

Sorry ’bout that. Before I sat down to begin, I was reading the Bathroom Reader, about the Bullwer-Lytton Writing Contest. That’s the one held each year to pick the best (worst) opening paragraph of the world’s worst novel, as patterned after the opening of the book “Paul Clifford” by Edward Bullwer-Lytton, which began, “It was a dark and stormy night…..”.  What I wrote above is certainly bad enough, but I think it’s actually TOO bad, even for that contest. Too much surrealism, and more than one run-on sentence….

Surreal isn’t unknown in this venue; I actually depend on it a lot, for contrast. Exploring reality can be somewhat stultifying to the mind, if one isn’t careful, so I take a dose of surreal before I try to deal with it directly. Kind of a prophylactic, eh? I suppose one could call it a literary condom…. that is, if one were so inclined. Me, I’m too classy for that….

Now that we have entered Fantasy Land, I think it would be best to start our morning task. In fact, I think that if we don’t, we could conceivably get stuck here for a long time…. shall we Pearl?…..
___________________________________

“We live in a time when man would rather be envied than esteemed.” — G. Trudeau

One of the characteristics of the English language that I appreciate is adroitly demonstrated here by Mssr. Trudeau (Doonesbury’s creator…). That characteristic is the precision of meaning that can be found by using just the right words. This statement, because of that very precision, becomes extremely insightful, accurately putting its finger on the nature of society, and on the nature of the people who make up that society. This desire to be envied, to be looked up to, to be the object of jealousy, was very aptly labeled by my uncle, Russell Smith, back in the early 1960’s, when he dubbed this state “Me-Firsterism”.  (The title should be delivered with a slightly smug sneer….)

“Egotism is the anesthetic that dulls the pain of stupidity.” — Frank Leahy

Personally, I think the word “selfish” describes the issue just fine.  “Entitlement” is another word that comes to mind, especially if paired with a descriptive adjective that implies that the entitlement is completely undeserved. The word “delusional” comes to mind in that respect….. These people see no conflict in claiming they love America, while also making it clear that they cannot stand Americans.

They love being able to hop down to the market to pick up fresh veggies any time, but would faint if they were asked to go out into the fields to harvest those veggies. At the same time, they want to send all the illegal immigrants home…. these are the same immigrants who harvest the fields for the veggies, at half the rate any American would demand.

“Character is a victory, not a gift.” — Smart Bee

These are the same people who will shout out at the top of their lungs how proud they are of being an American. Whenever I hear that, I am tempted to ask them, “Oh? You’re proud you are American? Tell me, what exactly did you do, to become one? What is it you did that should make you proud of yourself? Oh, your parents were living here when you were born? So, you didn’t do anything to become an American….”  I’ve done this in reality a couple of times, and it’s amazing how angry these folks get when confronted. It’s rather entertaining, actually, to see them turn all those different colors….

This is rigorous.  Well, it’s rigorous in the sense that … All right, it’s not rigorous. — Smart Bee

No, this isn’t a rigorous argument. This issue doesn’t require a rigorous argument; it’s too obvious. Our society is bursting at the seams with people who are both ignorant and arrogant, filled with a sense of entitlement and eliteness that is completely unconnected to anything in reality; there is no real basis for their pride, or for their belief in their own supremacy. But, since they believe they are the “Lords of Creation”, they carry on with their ignorant, destructive patterns of behavior, and, in the process, pull the rest of humanity along with them on their trip to the deeper regions of Hades….

Maybe I can’t stop them. Maybe I can’t turn the tide of historical events toward a safer shore. Maybe I’m shouting into the wind; it seems that way a lot of the time. None of these maybes are enough to keep me from trying, or to keep me from ranting about it. Maybe one of my rants will fall upon the right ears, and inspire someone to act. If not, well, at least I have the opportunity to sling a few darts in the direction of the pundits and the preachers. Or mud…. slinging mud is always fun…. and it’s not like getting muddy would be something with which they are unfamiliar….

“He probably just wants to take over my CELLS and then EXPLODE  inside me like a BARREL of runny CHOPPED LIVER!  Or maybe he’d  like to PSYCHOLOGICALLY TERRORIZE ME until I have no objection to a RIGHT-WING MILITARY TAKEOVER of my apartment!!  I guess I should call AL PACINO!” — Zippy the Pinhead
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Clenched Soul

We have lost even this twilight.
No one saw us this evening hand in hand
while the blue night dropped on the world.

I have seen from my window
the fiesta of sunset in the distant mountain tops.

Sometimes a piece of sun
burned like a coin in my hand.

I remembered you with my soul clenched
in that sadness of mine that you know.

Where were you then?
Who else was there?
Saying what?
Why will the whole of love come on me suddenly
when I am sad and feel you are far away?

The book fell that always closed at twilight
and my blue sweater rolled like a hurt dog at my feet.

Always, always you recede through the evenings
toward the twilight erasing statues.

Pablo Neruda

The images this brings to my inner eye are compelling, if a bit ambiguous. I found it to be a refreshing read, though I really have no clue as to its true meaning; it seemed very personal, like I’d feel embarrassed for the poet if I actually knew what he meant. So, it’s okay that I don’t. If you do follow what he’s saying, or think I’m missing something, please feel free to comment….
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Old school Pearl alert: Below are six quotations, all on the same topic. No adornment is possible, or desirable, other than to say that each one makes sense to me, and all are accurate reflections of reality…..

Blasphemy:  When a religious person dares to think. — Smart Bee

“All great truths begin as blasphemies.” — George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950), “Annajanska”

‘God says in the Bible’ carries as much moral imperative to me as  saying ‘Dr. Seuss says in Green Eggs and Ham.’  Both are interesting books  with some good messages, nothing more. — Smart Bee (I almost claimed this one as my own; it states my view perfectly. Integrity won, but it was a hard fight….)

“Maybe this world is another planet’s hell.” — Aldous Huxley

“In Christianity neither morality nor religion come into contact with reality at any point.” — Friedrich Nietzsche

“Christianity might be a good thing if anyone ever tried it.” — George Bernard Shaw

Editorial note: To be fair, one may place the name of any other religion in the spots where it says “Christianity”. None of the quotation’s meaning will be changed at all…..
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Time drags on, day by day, bringing me closer to…. now. While typing that phrase, it occurred to me that Now is all we really have, and I’m no closer to tomorrow at this moment than I was before, or will be after. All I’ll be is more confused about the implied paradoxes….. Hmm… be careful, please. Don’t think about that last part too long; I think it could turn into an infinite loop, and who knows what might happen…. Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

gigoid

Dozer

Kowabunga!