You probably can’t tell by looking, but, in this space, earlier today, three complete fictional beginnings to a story were composed, then edited to the point of deletion, each one being rather LESS acceptable than the one before…. I can’t recall ever coming up with so much CRAP so early in the day, unless of course, we count that time in Phoenix, of which, the binding documents of non-disclosure I signed then preclude any mention…. That’s okay by me, I wouldn’t want stuff like that to ever be associated with my name, if I can help it….

Unfortunately for TODAY’s Pearl, that leaves me here, too deep in to back out, but with not a damn thing to go here….. at least, nothing I’d allow past my inner censor. Hell, at this point, it’s all I can do to blink both eyes in unison; I’m that discombobulated this morning…. My eyes are giving me fits, trying to focus; my thumb aches like crazy, telling me it’s time to stop ignoring it, & go see the Doc about it…..

I just hate thinking of the probable treatment, a shot of cortisone…. it works great, but, I’m not real sanguine about using steroids, for anything, even the stuff for which it is commonly prescribed…. Just because we’ve used something for a while doesn’t mean they know what the long term effects are…. the medical profession has too many priors in that respect for me to ever trust them completely…. Remember the time they x-rayed some guy in the ER, & found he had a surgical tool, a pair of forceps, to be exact, still inside his abdomen, left there by a forgetful surgeon a few weeks previously?…. I do….

But, that’s all just avoiding the issue, which is the lack of stimulation/inspiration I’m experiencing today, that is keeping this intro in “Inanity Mode”, with long, wandering discussions of not very much, stretched, padded, and stuffed full of useless verbiage, all designed to take us just a little further down the page, until we find ourselves in an area where we can stop a moment, catch our breath, look around, and make the self-serving,  but appropriate decision to bring this section to a close, having reached a point where such a decision becomes practicable….

Why, look! We’ve reached just such a point now! How about that, ffolkes? I even fooled myself today, into thinking this might work…. which it did, I’ll point out…. Here we are, five full paragraphs in, and we’re ready to cut loose with whatever is to take place today…. It’s always a surprise to me, and should be for y’all, as well…. Hope springs eternal…. as does my chutzpah…. though, to be honest, it doesn’t really spring, so much as creep, but, hey, it SOUNDS good, right?

Shall we Pearl?…. I think it would be for the best if we did….

In lazy apathy let stoics boast
Their virtue fix’d: ‘t is fix’d as in a frost;
Contracted all, retiring to the breast;
But strength of mind is exercise, not rest.

— Alexander Pope (1688-1744) — Essay on Man, Epistle ii, Line 101

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I’m in a lot of pain this morning…. but, I also decided not to complain about it; instead we have the above nonsense, while here, in section one, I’ll go with an older rant, on a subject that never goes out of style…. not here, anyway….

From 9/19/2012, I offer the following pearl, for your viewing enjoyment:

A while back, I wrote a comment regarding another a post on another blog, concerning the proposal made in that blog of writing some new amendments to the Constitution. Most of the suggested amendments made good sense, as they would remove many of the entitlements that Congress has awarded itself over the years. However, there was one suggested change with which I wholeheartedly disagree…. This is the response to that suggestion… The address of the original blog is included, in case you want to read it first…..  To wit:

In Response to a Proposed 35th Amendment

From the blog site at:

http://lennemi.wordpress.com/2012/04/05/a-proposal-for-a-new-bill-of-rights/#comment-234

After reading the above blog, I posted the following comment:

Sir, or madam,

Excellent post, well reasoned and presented…. I have a few comments, if I may….

It has long been a delusion in human society that morality can be enforced, or induced at all, by legislation. This is an idea, as proven time and time again throughout thousands of years of human history, that is doomed to fail, every time it is attempted. That is not speculation, or guesswork. Look it up…..

Therefore, it is my suggestion that you forget #35, in favor of the Second Amendment already in place in the Bill of Rights; this concept is based on a false assumption, and making a flat statement of what (YOU believe) my rights are, or should be, is not acceptable to me as a citizen of this republic, or as a human being responsible for my own actions. Bearing arms is not a privilege, nor will I, and most likely at least 150 million, or more, other people in this country, accept that idea for a moment, a fact that should be obvious to any one with practical understanding of reality.

I do not, nor will I ever believe that Federal, State, or Local jurisdiction have either the right, or the authority to say differently, and I doubt seriously that there are very many in this country who do believe that. I reject utterly the statement that they, or you, or anyone else, has the right to decide for me what I will or will not own, or keep, or use in my defense. After guns, free speech would be the next to go….any bets?

That, my friend, is a fact of life, and of human nature. We only have those rights we can defend…. and this is merely another doomed attempt to legislate morality into human nature. Violence exists. Period. Get used to it, because you are not going to remove it from people’s core nature, or from reality, any more than attempting to remove guns will stop crime, or killing, or the tendency toward violence that is part of the nature of Man. Better to understand the impulse, and work toward educating people in how to cope with that part of themselves constructively, rather than destructively…..

The rest of your amendments are perfectly in alignment with what I believe is needed to improve the conditions of inequality and elitism so prevalent in today’s society, and would receive my full support.

If anyone, or anyone’s brother, or anyone else, tries to take away the Second Amendment rights I now have, well, I can only say, good luck with that….. and bring lots of well-armed, battle-tested friends…you’ll need them….

Oh, and I’d keep in mind…. those folks, like the police in Sanford, Florida, who were complicit in covering up the murder there,  aren’t going to disarm themselves, now are they?…. How far will you trust them to behave with honor, and respect for YOUR rights? Get real…..and I don’t mean that disrespectfully, but in hope that you will open your eyes to what is plainly there to see….

Note from 2014:

“Those who really deserve praise are the people who, while human enough to enjoy power, nevertheless pay more attention to justice than they are compelled to do by their situation.” — Thucydides

Now, if only there were ANYONE left in our society who fit this description, we might be able to hold on to some hope…..

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I don’t know how, but, I seem to have tweaked my lower back in my sleep last night; it’s giving me fits this morning…. But, I think I’ve got enough in me to finish this off, as long as I go old-school here in section three…. which I shall proceed to do…. Enjoy! This is all the fresh stuff you’ll get today….

“How much pain have cost us the evils which have never happened.” — Thomas Jefferson, “Writings” Vol. XVI

“No amount of ability is of the slightest avail without honor.” — Andrew Carnegie

“Everywhere the human soul stands between a hemisphere of light and another of darkness; on the confines of two everlasting hostile empires, Necessity and Freewill.” — Carlyle (1795-1881)

“Authority has every reason to fear the skeptic, for authority can rarely survive in the face of doubt.” — Robert Lindner

“Abuse of words has been the great instrument of sophistry and chicanery, of party, faction, and division of society.” — John Adams (1735-1826)

“There is no easy way from the earth to the stars.” — Seneca

“For him who has conquered the mind, the mind is the best of friends; but for one who has failed to do so, his mind will be the greatest enemy.” — Bhagavad Gita (c. B.C. 400)

I love it when a plan comes together…..

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Today’s Pearl has been brought to you by the word “stubborn”, and the number 13, which has always been my favorite of all the prime numbers…. and, no, I don’t know what that means about me, nor do I care….. This is done, and for now, that’s all I do care about, as I’m about to go obliviate my consciousness with large quantities of drugs…. See y’all tomorrow, one way or another….