Stick with the potted meats, Bosley….

Posted on October 3, 2014 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

A little learning is a dangerous thing;
Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring:
There shallow draughts intoxicate the brain,
And drinking largely sobers us again.

~~ Alexander Pope ~~

(1688-1744)

— Essay on Criticism, Part ii, Line 15 —

Pretty little house & garden, eh? I thought so, which is why I took the picture; the colors, shapes, and overall effect have a balance that gives it a homey, lived in, comfortable appearance that appeals to me…. I guess, at heart, I’m just a traditional, romantic bozo, with a belief in home, and family. In my life, perhaps the only regret I have is not finding someone who felt strongly enough the same way to join me in making that happen….. I was able to give my children a home for the greater portion of their formative years, but, was not able to make it last, not having any control over my former partner’s wish to be elsewhere….

Such subjects are a bit too maudlin, though, to pursue very far in the intro, or, for that matter, at all; there is far more depressing material to pick from, on a less personal level, that will serve to provide plenty of reason to bemoan our fates, so, I’ll leave this one right here, and just say, “nice house”, & let is go at that…. It’s not as if we don’t have other stuff to talk about, right? Right….

Of course, we aren’t supposed to start on that here in the intro; I always have a hard time with that one, as my need/wish to rant can take control of the keyboard at any moment…. I’m working quite assiduously, in truth, to see that doesn’t happen today, but, most of those efforts are behind the scenes, in my head, where I am frantically blocking certain ideas from coming up into the forefront of my consciousness, or distracting myself from noticing other ideas that could turn on us, thus delaying even further the process of getting this event rolling down the road it needs to travel…

Of course, all of this is mere bullshit anyway, all designed to work our way just a little further down the page, until it looks like enough to fool the monitors, should they look our way. And, if I am not mistaken (I rarely am….trust me on this….), I see a point coming up in just a couple of lines where we can jump off this bandwagon, and get back on the track we need to take, by jumping on that other wagon, fast approaching from the south…. If y’all would just hold on to the edge of your seats for a moment, while I pull this lever….. There…..

Okay, that went well…. So, here we are, at the end of another fine, if a bit idiotic, introductory section, just chock full of nonsense, bullshit, and sheer blather, all for my gentle readers…. Of course, you may want to wash up, before we try to go on…. feel free to use the extra-strength Borax on the lower shelf, if you have any particularly grimy spots…. The rest of us will wait right over there until y’all are done….

Okay, I think we’re good to go, so….

Shall we Pearl?…..

“Reason is not measured by size or height, but by principle.” — Epictetus (c. 60 AD) — Discourses, Book i, Chap. xii

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

“Become what you are.” — Buddha

Yesterday, while perusing the news, (for almost an entire three-quarters-of-an-hour, as it turned out; so much distracting stuff happening in the world, I completely ignored my increasing misery to do this…), I came to the UK Guardian site, to read the US version of their daily publication… My horror, my fear, and my depression mounted, story by story, as I read what has taken place out there in the world at large, just in the last few days….

I can’t honestly say any of it surprised me, nor did it catch me unaware, or bring any amazement; only a deep sadness, to see just how far the degradation of our society, and the world, including the environment we live in, has progressed. The evidence is all right there…. or, here, as I’ve collected a number of links to that evidence, to show y’all exactly whereof I speak, when I say, quite simply, ffolkes, we are all in deep shit….

With no further comment, until after you’ve seen the collected links, I give you, proof positive of imminent Armageddon, or a facsimile thereof that will accomplish the identical result… If you are hesitant to try to read so much, just look at the headlines, containing the key words, at the end of each link; those will give you at least an idea of what we are dealing with…. And, I promise, no more than one comment, under each one, just so I don’t explode….

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/oct/02/nobel-peace-summit-south-africa-dalai-lama-visa

Not much seems to have changed in South Africa, does it?

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/oct/01/argentina-president-claims-us-plot

Whether this poor president has gone bonkers, or not, what would you bet me, (I’m willing to wager SERIOUS money….), if I suggested there IS a document, somewhere at Langley, Virginia’s CIA HQ, in a drawer, a folder, holding a file that has just such a scenario, as described in this story?

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/aug/20/argentina-debt-default-lawyers-court-pay-clause

No comment required; yesterday’s rant, here, on lawyers? Q.E.D.

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2014/oct/02/nypd-inadvertently-killed-unarmed-man-brooklyn-shooting

Oops!

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/oct/01/drones-police-force-crime-uavs-north-dakota

Does anyone need any further proof of police militarization in this, or any other, country?

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/30/police-officer-shot-john-crawford-walmart-lied-victims-mother-says

Gee, there’s a video, showing the officer lied, but, the grand jury doesn’t indict. I wonder if anyone bothered to show it to them, and if so, whether or not it was edited at all….

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/oct/02/pope-francis-angels-believe-guardian-help

Francis makes a nice change from the previous several popes; at least he’s harmlessly balmy, nor avaricious, or ambitious beyond his need to share his misconceptions (I like him, so, I’m trying to be nice…), or walking around with a stick up his ass… I just wish he wouldn’t encourage the more involved elements of his delusional thinking to so many gullible idiots, who unquestioningly take him at is word….

http://www.theguardian.com/money/us-money-blog/2014/oct/01/coca-cola-rivals-promise-changes-health

Gee….. what do YOU think motivates the folks at Coca Cola? Profit, ya think?…. That’d be my guess, and, I’d be willing to lay all I won above on it….

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/oct/01/walrus-alaska-beach-trampled-death

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/oct/01/satellite-images-show-aral-sea-basin-completely-dried

I can only comment on both of these two at once, because they both show how late it is, and how little anyone cares, really…. fucking assholes. Not you, but, you know to whom I refer; the corporate snakes who refuse to give up a penny of profit, even to save their own lives….

On October 2, 2014, despite the relative importance to us all of the subject matter contained in the articles above, the following five stories were the most widely read articles for the day, at least, at the time I copied the list…. None of them, you will note, appear above…. Obviously, the general reading public doesn’t care to think about such depressing matters as the end of the world, or even rogue police forces…. SIGH….

1. Your baby looks like your ex? This research is scarier than Alien

2. Confessions to murder of two British backpackers in Thailand reported

3. Banksy wanted Clacton-on-Sea to confront racism – instead it confronted him

4. Council removes Banksy artwork after complaints of racism

5. Wonga writes off debts for 330,000 customers

You will also please note that I have not ranted, to speak of, (thank you…. no, no, I don’t mind….), and, we are ending today’s discussion with the same thought with which we opened….. In this case, ranting would be superfluous; if you’re not angry, or disturbed, at the very least, by what you read above, then, well, sorry, but, I can’t help you any further, so to speak…. and, I don’t mean that in a condescending fashion, at all…. As for the quote from the Buddha, it fits, & I’ll tell y’all why….

I’ve done my best to make ffolkes, and folks, aware of what is to come, but, like most people, myself included, everyone is so busy trying to just live their lives, with all the handicaps, traps, and obstacles to happiness, peace, or even quiet that the world places in our paths, they cannot spare the energy to even think about most of it, much less have the time, or wherewithal, to do anything more than merely hold their ground, maintaining a slim, tentative hold on sanity, and/or reality, whichever works for them….

All of which is perfectly okay….. I mean, nothing that HAS been done has helped anyway; at this point, I see no possible way to stop the shit-storm to come…. So, we may as well try to make ourselves as comfortable as we can, and fulfill as much of our own destiny as we can, in the time we are allowed…. All you can do is all you can do…

I’ve done about all I can, so, for now, at least, I’ll let it be, with just this reminder, of who is responsible for everything that happens in our lives….. because, as the Buddha implies, but does not say, people ALWAYS do exactly this…. ALL of them/us, the good, the bad, the ugly, they all are what they are, by deliberate choice….

“Become what you are.” — Buddha

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

It may often seem as if I don’t like people much; that would be a false impression, mostly my own fault, due to the way my love for them is expressed…. But, I do love them, (in small numbers, mostly…. more than two or three at once tends to cause me to wish for my solitude again, if it goes on very long…. except with those whom I love the most, i.e. family, and extended family/friends/water brothers….), mostly because of the potential within all of us for creating beauty, arising out of our reaction to the world we perceive around us, which, in turn, is filled with beauty enough to fill all of our senses…

Here, then, is one of those expressions, from a musical genius, Antonio Vivaldi, with his interpretation, in music, of the passage of time on our world….. THIS, and other such expressions, musical, literary, visual, or otherwise, are why I get so damn angry when I think of how it may all disappear from existence, and for what?…. Only those who are causing it may know; the rest of us can only guess, and watch…. with only music such as this to help us balance the scales, and, at least for a time, feel better for having lived….

Vivaldi: The Four Seasons

http://youtu.be/GRxofEmo3HA

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

I’m lazy today, so you end up with one of mine…. deal with it, you’ll feel better once you do….

Random Exposure

If I only knew what I was doing here,
I could give others a clue.
Reality gets stranger every year,
and I’m not sure what I should do.

Singing happy old tunes, in an old, gravely voice,
gives me a lot of pleasure.
I’m only glad I can still make a choice,
to look at life, to take its measure.

Memorable moments keep passing by
gilded, framed in precious emotion.
I never have to ask anyone why,
no need for a stronger potion.

Everything in life is clear, to me
there is no doubt, no misunderstanding.
We’re all good, as you can see,
members of Life, in good standing.

Life can be hard, or it can be great fun;
the right path is there for each of us to take.
That choice is often a difficult one;
pay close attention to the choice you make.

~~ gigoid ~~

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

As often happens with pearls, this one changed, not in the middle, but, at the first ending. That happened to be the quote about Hitler, and, somehow, it just made all of it seem unfinished; consequently, I realized it was supposed to be a nine-star pearl, so, I went back to SB, & found the final two entries to properly finish it off, the way SB apparently thinks it should be…. I thought I had it under control, but, it goes to show this process to be as much a sub-conscious process as it is a conscious one…. Works for me….

“If once a man indulges himself in murder, very soon he comes to think little of robbing; and from robbing he next comes to drinking and Sabbath-breaking, and from that to incivility and procrastination.” — Thomas De Quincey (1785 – 1859)

“It is illegal to take more than three sips of beer at a time while standing.” — real standing law in Texas, United States of America

“Men freely believe that what they wish to desire.” — Gaius Julius Caesar (100-44 B.C.)

“The public weal requires that men should betray and lie and massacre.” — Michael de Montaigne (1533-1592) — Essays, Book iii, Chap. i, Of Profit and Honesty

“If you view your problem closely enough you will recognize yourself as part of the problem.” — Ducharm’s Axiom

“…common human laws and interests and emotions have no validity or significance in the vast cosmos-at-large…” — H. P. Lovecraft

“The fact that Hitler was a political genius unmasks the nature of politics in general as no other can.” — Wilhelm Reich

“If you had to identify, in one word, the reason why the human race has not achieved, and never will achieve, its full potential, that word would be “meetings.” — Smart Bee

“The most virtuous of all men is he that contents himself with being virtuous without seeking to appear so.” — Plato (B.C. 427?-347?)

Hear, hear!…. On that final, positive note, we shall leave this exposition of human nature, and folly, to go finish this Pearl…. Ta, then….

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

Regardless of how it got done, it’s done. I’m still sleepy, somehow, so, I think maybe I’ll go back to bed…. Or, not, as I have some important stuff to get done today…. SIGH…. Life goes on, and on, and on, until it doesn’t, I suppose…. and, then, as the Scots say…”ye might as well live, for ye’ll be a long time dead.”…. or, something like that…. See y’all tomorrow, if I’m lucky….

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, the dubious

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

À bientôt, mon cherí….

Soliciting salsa for the homeless….

Posted on August 12, 2014 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“An Irishman is not drunk

as long as he can hang onto a single blade of grass

and not fall off the face of the earth.”

~~ Irish “wisdom” ~~

One might think I’d lost my mind, if there were not already ample proof of that having happened more than a decade in the past…. Yes, I know the quote is Irish wisdom (such as it is… it’s honest, anyway, right?….), and the statue is a figure study of Robert “Robbie” Burns, a Scot, and damn proud of it…. as the tartan scarf and tam o’shanter demonstrate so clearly. (I wonder, though…. I didn’t check to see if the plaid is the correct one for the Clan Burns, or if it is a statement of some kind, that only another Scotsman would comprehend…. Ah well, one of life’s little mysteries, I suppose….)

Arguably, such an obvious juxtaposition might be considered an error, or the result of ignorance…. Nope, not in this case…. it’s just my little poke at the concept of nationalism, one of the nastiest mental diseases suffered by mankind…. In today’s world, in fact, the disease is threatening, again, to set England and Scotland at odds, with an election coming up soon where the Scots will vote on whether to remain part of Britain’s commonwealth, or go independent, as Northern Ireland did from the rest of the island….

It’s all a social/political/nationalistic mess, complicated by thousands of years of antagonism, periodic outbreaks of violence, and the insistence on maintaining a divisiveness, emphasizing all their cultural differences, rather than seeking to build a community united with a common purpose, comprised of the English, Irish, Scottish, and Welsh, all of whom claim their own little corners of the British Isles….

If countries who basically speak the same language, and have shared cultural characteristics for thousands of years cannot learn to live together peacefully, what chance do those which don’t speak similarly have? Very little, I should think, and made even more doubtful when one considers how the average human being is getting dumber over time….

That little fact is not very well known, but, is none the less true for it…. It is a mathematical certainty, demonstrable by equations which show the process in humans, describing how, every year, with every new birth to one of the BILLIONS of souls crowding this planet, humans are becoming less intelligent, on average…. It is a function of the extremely high number of people, and the effect that has on the average…. I won’t trouble you with the figures now, but, trust me, they exist, and are incontrovertible…

That is part of the problem…. Nationalism is what could be called an “attractive nuisance” (well, I consider it that, even if our BRC doesn’t….) for people…. Throughout history, people have fallen for the foolish lies told by politicians, who have an agenda that doesn’t jibe too closely with what most people want, but know how to make their lies attractive to the ignorant, by playing into their fears, and manipulating their emotions…. with the end result you have large groups of brainwashed people who will fanatically throw themselves into battle to “protect” their lifestyle, without ever really understanding why they would do so….

Ah well…. I see I’ve stumbled again, and began ranting in the intro…. probably a result of being up late, and still a bit groggy…. I’ll quit now, and let this argument pass into history, as one more incidence of the secret to life getting passed over, and tossed away before anyone in the human race even knew they were holding it in their hands….. SIGH…. I love my country, but I sure hate the people who have usurped the control of it, giving it over to the assholes who live only to take advantage of other people, or those who are ignorant enough to be easily controlled by corporate interests… which, these days, is almost anyone with a degree in law, or law enforcement, which is actually what most of the ignorant are attracted to as their vocation….

There I go again, starting up another rant, right in the middle of trying to end one…. Sheesh!…. Oh well, we’re going to have to resort to some pretty drastic measures here, and now, anyway, just to get us out of this intro, where we seem to have become stuck, just as if someone had duct-taped us into our seats…. Hell, maybe they did, when I wasn’t looking…. Oh well, let’s just do this….

Shall we Pearl?…..

“Many things do not happen as they ought. Most things do not happen at all. It is for the conscientious historian to correct these defects.” — Herodotus

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

Since I have already used up my stored-up angst with the rant above, this article no longer seems so important to note…. When I read it, I saw a couple of statements that could have begun the process of creating some outrage in me, but, now, they’re just part of what is obviously a set piece, designed to fill space with information that only serves to obscure the actual issue, which is that ALL of them are lying, and spying, and cheating on their oaths of office… Feinstein, Obama, the CIA, the Supreme’s, Congress, damn near every one of them, save a couple individuals, they are all more concerned with maintaining their own status quo than with anything the public might need, or want.

This faux fight, described here as a bipartisan issue, at the core, is actually all a distraction from what they don’t want the public to realize, which is NOTHING has stopped, NOTHING has changed; the spying that WAS happening is still happening; the torture is a piece of that whole arena of paranoid overcompensation that so delights our leaders, as it provides a constant source of spin for them.

They can talk, and talk, and talk about how they’ll reform the NSA, and shut down Guantanamo Bay, and get us out of all of our illegal wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, and wherever else we are currently dropping bombs… Oh, yeah, Iran, or wherever those ISIS rebels are chasing the Kurds, who we were chasing a few years ago…. Now, of course, since we’re not, but, some of our enemies are, we will be sending them weapons, so they can fight back…. Of course, Putin’s Russian government, with their own set of corrupt, self-serving Asininnies, but with a Russian accent, will be arming the ISIS group, so it will all balance out, right? Sure….

Does any of this make any sense to you? It sure doesn’t make any to me, and I’m pretty smart… Read the article, then go wash up, ffolkes, & we’ll talk shortly about the second headline for today…. Believe me, you will WANT to wash up after wading through so much BS….

http://www.sfgate.com/politics/article/Feinstein-winning-fight-with-CIA-Obama-over-5679304.php?cmpid=hp-hc-nationworld

Next we have an article about the woman who was videotaped while being beaten by a California Highway Patrol officer, on the side of the road, the tape being shot by a passing motorist on their cell phone…. It was a pretty brutal video; this officer really went off on this poor woman, who was, at the time of the attack, homeless, and in the throes of a psychotic episode, brought on by the stress of living on the streets…. The officer, of course, is being protected by the Blue Wall of police solidarity…. It’s a sad situation, one that is, unfortunately, all to representative of the current state of affairs between the police and the public, both here, and around the world….

Again, I won’t rant, but, I do need to say this…. All of this stuff we see every day in the news is symptomatic, of a culture that is dying…. Just about any competent historian can tell you how many of the controversial or shocking things we see each day are merely indications of the stress that daily life puts on each and every one of society’s members, and can be shown to have a direct correlation, and similarity to, historical events that preceded the fall of more than just one civilization…. The signs we see now are indicative of a culture that no longer looks to the future, but is desperately trying to maintain the status quo…. Sorry, but, LIFE, and the UNIVERSE, don’t operate like that, so, we can either change, or die….

Maybe I’m wrong, but, since my track record on such predictions is pretty good, I’d say we, as a species, are in big trouble, ffolkes, and our day of reckoning with Mother Nature is not far away…. Go ahead, read the article, clean up again, (for you WILL feel a bit soiled afterward….), and then come back, for an old-school pearl designed to make us all feel better, by reaching out for some radical silly…. I don’t know about y’all, but, after all such discussions, I always feel better for allowing myself to engage in a bit of silly….

http://www.sfgate.com/news/us/article/APNewsBreak-LA-woman-punched-by-patrolman-speaks-5680552.php

“When attempting to predict and forecast macro-economic moves of economic legislation by a politician, never be misled by what he says; instead — watch what he does.” — Smart Bee

“I place economy among the first and most important virtues, and public debt as the greatest of dangers. To preserve our independence, we must not let our rulers load us with perpetual debt.” — Thomas Jefferson

“History doesn’t repeat itself — historians merely repeat each other.” — First Rule of History

“If a man will begin with certainties, he shall end in doubts; but if he will be content to begin with doubts, he shall end in certainties.” — Francis Bacon

“A lot of people voting for Pat Buchanan say they are doing so to send a message. Apparently that message is, Hey, look at me, I’m an idiot.” — Dennis Miller

“[History] hath triumphed over time, which besides it nothing but eternity hath triumphed over.” — Sir Walter Raleigh (1552-1618) — Historie of the World, Preface

“Don’t look now, but the man in the moon is laughing at you.” — Smart Bee

Hmm…. well, it looks as if, somehow, I confused Smart Bee, because there is more sardonic in there than there is silly…. But, they all seem to fit, sort of, with the theme, so, we’ll let it fly, and get on with the rest of today’s effort, which, thus far, has been going just about as slowly as I can make it go….. SIGH…. This is only to be expected, as I am up late, in pain, and have yet to hear from Murphy…. which means he has something really special planned for me today….

Oh, joy…..

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

Sorry if I seem to go here a lot, but, I need some Emily D…..

Delight becomes pictorial
When viewed through pain,–
More fair, because impossible
That any gain.

The mountain at a given distance
In amber lies;
Approached, the amber flits a little,–
And that’s the skies!

~~ Emily Dickinson ~~

That doesn’t seem to be enough; we’ll have another, if you please…..

______________________

Death sets a thing significant
The eye had hurried by,
Except a perished creature
Entreat us tenderly

To ponder little workmanships
In crayon or in wool,
With “This was last her fingers did,”
Industrious until

The thimble weighed too heavy,
The stitches stopped themselves,
And then ‘t was put among the dust
Upon the closet shelves.

A book I have, a friend gave,
Whose pencil, here and there,
Had notched the place that pleased him,–
At rest his fingers are.

Now, when I read, I read not,
For interrupting tears
Obliterate the etchings
Too costly for repairs.

~~ Emily Dickinson ~~

Ahhh…. that’s better…..

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

As I noted somewhere above, I’m a bit late today, so this last section with be put together as fast as I can do it; this may lead to an unforeseen result, so, be warned…. This pearl may be like no other…. It is essentially parameter-free, as well as, most likely, judgment impaired…. Oh, well, at least I’m not getting paid for any of this….

“I do not distinguish by the eye, but by the mind, which is the proper judge of the man.” — Seneca (8 BC) — On a Happy Life, 2, (L’Estrange’s Abstract, Chap, i.)

“Old men are dangerous; it does not matter to them what is going to happen to the world.” — George Bernard Shaw

“There is a certain majesty in simplicity which is far above all the quaintness of wit.” — Alexander Pope

“I like people better than principles, and I like people with no principles better than anything else in the world.” — Oscar Wilde (1854-1900)

“No matter how hard you throw a dead fish in the water, it still won’t swim.” — Smart Bee

“Fortune is not satisfied with inflicting one calamity.” — Publius Syrus (42 BC) — Maxim 274

“I’ve got an IDEA!! Why don’t I STARE at you so HARD, you forget your SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER!!” — Zippy the Pinhead

I gotta say, that went well….

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

I have done all the damage I can do for now, to this, and to myself…. Don’t make me come out there and do it to you!….. Actually, there’s little danger of that, now, isn’t there? It sounds cool, though, and does have the bonus effect of really throwing a wrench into everyone’s sense of reality…. I’m only glad to be of help….. On that nearly psychotic note, I’m outta here until tomorrow, ffolkes…. 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 the dubious

Turn left at the garden gnome….

Posted on July 27, 2014 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“If the world were merely seductive, that would be easy. If it were merely challenging, that would be no problem. But I arise in the morning torn
between a desire to improve the world, and a desire to enjoy the world. This makes it hard to plan the day.” — E. B. White

All I can say about today’s opening picture, which happens to be from my camera, is, there’s one in every crowd, isn’t there?…. But, then, the one that just HAD to be independent, sleeping apart, (though, you will note, still connected….) from the rest, DID end up in the ONLY little bit of sunlight to be found, didn’t he/she?….. I guess there is something to be said for the independent spirit, after all…. I always did like that George Carlin quote, about the word “team”,. the word “I”, and Mrs. Grundy, which, conveniently, you see just below……

Now, I know what you’re thinking, and it just isn’t so…. Of course, that could be a lie, but, I don’t generally start the day out by lying to my Gentle Readers…. in fact, given my feelings about lies, and the lying liars who tell them, I do try not to engage in it at all…. We all know it isn’t possible to keep from EVER lying; otherwise, there would be millions of dead husbands out there, who forgot themselves when their wife asked them “does this (dress/pants/blouse/expression) make me look fat?”…. Not all of us can remember the ONLY possible safe answer to that question, which is “does this face make me look stupid?”

Okay, now that I’ve done my part to keep the war between the sexes on full alert, and to further the incredibly sexist stereotypes that the war encourages us to hold, we can get on with whatever is going to take place today….. What that may be remains to be seen, though it could be rather new, fresh, and exciting…. We’ve already started off with more Art than normal, but, normalcy isn’t one of our goals, so that’s normal….. and confusing, I’m sure…. Don’t fret, it won’t leave any stains….

Of course, it could leave a few bruises, and/or scars, but, that’s just part of living, right? Now, at this point, I’m betting you are wondering just how I’m going to pull this off. Here we are, well into the intro, with some good Art, and a couple of not-too-shabby jokes, with nothing appropriate to go along with such apparently endless competence….. which is surely an unexpected visitor here at ECR…. Of course, at this point, I’m very aware that most of y’all are VERY, VERY confused, or, if not, VERY, VERY stoned, and don’t care…..

That’s okay, so am I…. stoned and confused, that is…. Well, actually, having only been up for a little less than an hour, I’m not stoned enough, but, that’s an issue with an easy fix…. An issue which, given that I am the owner of this domain, and, thus, do possess the powers of a Time Lord while operating this blog, has been duly fixed…. a roundabout way to say I’ve consumed sufficient cannabinoids to have reached an appropriate level of that tenuous, yet firm cross between silly and profound, which characterizes the state of a mind so enhanced….

In fact, I have been enhanced sufficiently for me to realize we’ve done it again….. The intro has, in its quest to achieve some sort of reasonably attractive format, grown to a point where, even if it should all of a sudden become brilliant and compelling, which, thus far has escaped us, it is of legal size, and shape, to fill the bill, or the william, if you prefer… In other words, we’re outta here!….

Shall we Pearl?…..

“Character is doing the right thing when nobody’s looking. There are too many people who think that the only thing that’s right is to get by, and the only thing that’s wrong is to get caught.” — J. C. Watts

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

I’m not in the mood to rant, though I do feel up to some rude comments…. So, we’ll go with the weird-style pearl, with some links to articles in the news that caught my eye, followed by an old-school pearl, to finish poking at the Asininnies we have unearthed, pursuing their insane personal agendas on the public stage….

http://blog.sfgate.com/crime/2014/07/25/surrounded-by-cops-15-year-old-was-detained-so-search-was-invalid-court-says/

Encouraging, at least minimally, to see a judge acknowledging the aggressive, confrontational tactics of the police in such matters, not to mention having the guts to rule against them, thus placing the onus of responsibility to control such attitudes squarely on their shoulders, where it belongs. The police in this country are very nearly out of control, and only the few cops with actual integrity and the character needed to do society’s third most thankless job, i.e. a character that is founded on the belief in service, protection, and honor…. Not the current attitude of most police officers, which is closer to displaying a pathological need to assert authority, and the need to feel entitled, that the laws do not apply to them….

The last characteristic is the one that bothers me the most, as so many officers I see on the streets are of this ilk…. They cruise around town in their “unit”, speeding, ignoring lane markers and signals, NEVER using a turn-signal, and so obviously profiling in their choices of whom to stop to investigate…. They dress like they are military, they cut their hair as short as they can, to maintain the camaraderie and discipline of the military lifestyle, and even use military insignia and rank designations in their internal command structure…. Not to mention how many police and sheriff’s departments around the country are outfitting and equipping themselves with old military hardware, such as modified tanks, personnel carriers, and automatic weaponry….

Any who, it’s nice to see them suffer a setback in their campaign to eliminate all of our civil rights…. just sayin’, they know their job will be easier, once all of our rights are gone, so, they’ll do all they can to see that happen, ffolkes…. Count on it….

“It is the natural order of things. Nothing can alter it. The strong take, the weak surrender.” — Sepp von Plum

http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/San-Bruno-E-mails-show-cozy-ties-between-state-5647686.php?cmpid=hp-hc-bayarea

Not so encouraging, nor at all surprising to me, this article relates evidence of the corruption existing in the state government, as encouraged and exploited by the corporate lackeys who inhabit the megacorp energy Goliath, Pacific Gas & Electric Co., an amorphous corporate entity that has been ripping off the public at an astonishing rate for over a century, in full lockstep with legislators, governors, and any other elected official with their hand out…. I’m not even going to bother with exploring too deeply into this issue; I have a feeling it would merely distract me from issues I am more inclined to follow…. which saves you some ranting, and me some angst, ultimately, so no complaining….

I will say this however….. from what the article says, the agency that is supposed to oversee, and regulate the public sector utility companies is CLEARLY under the influence of the corporation…. The tone of the emails from both ends are clear in their implications of collusion, and show exactly what the article says is the most dangerous outcome, to wit: the agency and the company are behaving as if they have the same agenda, all in favor of the company, and screw the public…. Now, I would say that this isn’t all that uncommon, nor unexpected…. What is both unexpected, and uncommon, in my view, is the incredibly naive attitudes of the regulators, to think that they are NOT being duped, or exhibiting massive levels of stupidity….

Corruption isn’t just a danger in our government, ffolkes, it’s a reality, and that’s the truth….

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jul/26/former-cia-officials-access-senate-torture-report

“Torture is illegal under US law. CIA officials dispute that water boarding amounted to torture.”

The line directly above this one is an excerpt from the article to which the link provides a path. In my view, it makes a decent summary of the whole issue involved, and, at the same time, amounts to a good statement of WHY the issue is so important…. There are currently two, if not more, viewpoints on the subject of torture that are in conflict, both sides of which are in different segments of the very small group of people who are in control of our government….

To me, the whole issue, in every respect, and with every single controversial point that is raised, is merely evidence of how the people in our government have no connection at all to reality, (not the one I inhabit, anyway…..), nor to anything remotely important to the public over whom they have authority. The agendas that each and every one of the people mentioned in the article have nothing to do with making anything better for the populace; it is all about securing and maintaining their own power base, keeping the public unaware of the truth, and making them afraid of the enemy (whomever that might currently be….)

The issues related in this article are all just smoke, designed to distract the public from the real issue, which is, as Eric Snowden told us, the simple fact that our own government is spying on us, (and, everyone else in the entire world, even their FRIENDS….), lying to us about it, using water boarding and other methods of torture, to go along with the more cowardly methods of warfare (such as bombing the crap out of whomever we wish to subdue….), to pursue their own fearful, insane, illogical agenda of war, based on the fear they continuously try to engender and fan into flames, with their partial truths, hints of controversy, and outright lies, their stock in trade for controlling the emotions, and the minds, (such as they are) of the general public….

That’s probably more than enough for one day…. It’s sure taken long enough…. in fact, it’s long enough we won’t need an entire old-school pearl, but can settle for one good one to finish off the matter…. You can take this one as gospel, ffolkes, and apply it to this treatise, if you wish, to help prove its worth…. See, I’m not making any money for any of this, so I can speak the truth without any fear of influence by anyone else…. which cannot be said of our entire ruling class, for they live by this….

“When money speaks, the truth is most often silent.” — Smart Bee

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

I don’t know yet what poem will go here, but, I’m sure it’ll be good, so, please enjoy…. Ah, well, you get one of mine again, just because they’re already here, so I don’t have to search for them, just pick one…. I’ll try to pick one you haven’t seen in a while…. Okay, got it…. here is one from October of 2012, which may be the first one I wrote after my decades-long hiatus from writing any poetry at all…. It’s not bad, actually, and I hope you enjoy it…

A Seasonal Approach

Absolute stillness grips a frozen field,
anticipating dawn with such patient yield
morning burgeoning in dark winter’s hold
brings promise of tales yet to be told.

Lengthening days of pale sun unto night
slowly tell of time’s subversive flight
bringing such original songs of natural fire
with melodies complex in casual attire.

The months are certain they will always win
it is just the way it has always been.
None may argue, nor yet slow life down
Nor dim the eternal beauty of nature’s gown.

Winter evolves from fall into spring,
sending flocks and hearts ever awing.
Summer follows suit, t’other way ’round
Spring into fall, often without a sound.

Life is meant to be lived, beginning to end
choices abound, and change can be a friend.
Yielding with grace to reality’s compelling ploy
fills our plain existence with clean, honest joy.

~~ gigoid ~~

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

Now we can get back to normal, such as that is around here, with an old-school pearl…. I think I’ll let Smart Bee pick out the parameters today; it’s been a little sticky and edgy about giving me any really good pearls today, so maybe, if I let it have its head for a bit, it will cease hiding the best stuff… It’s worth a shot, anyway…. Let’s pearl, ffolkes….

“Never argue with a Scorpio–even if you win, you lose.” — Smart Bee, with some damn good advice

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

“When a stupid man is doing something he is ashamed of, he always declares that it is his duty.” — George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950), “Caesar and Cleopatra”, Act III

“I find that the further I go back, the better things were, whether they happened or not.” — Mark Twain

“A dead end street is a good place to turn around.” — Naomi Judd

“Reality is a hypothesis.” — Tugwell’s Basic Assumption

“That parrot is definitely deceased.” — Smart Bee

Hmm…. This is, without a doubt, one of the most eclectic, obscure pearls I’ve ever seen, even for Smart Bee. Most times, when a quote from SB brackets the pearl like this, it can be considered fairly solid, and is generally quite clear in its tone, if not its intended target…. This one makes us think right from the start, and then stretches our imagination to the limit with the last line, which is obviously an obscure literary reference to the short story, “Gaudy Night”, a parody of the Dorothy L. Sayers’ series of detective novels and stories involving Lord Peter Wimsey, and, in spite of its obscurity, quite a brilliant metaphorical finish to the pearl…. Really, trust me….

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

I’m not entirely sure of what happened here this morning…. I’ve been at this for nearly three hours, with breaks for pain-reduction activities, but, it doesn’t feel as if I’ve done much…. Then, when I go back to look, I see I’ve gone and gotten completely carried away, with what can be termed another epic Pearl, mostly fresh, with some Art, and the whole nine yards…. I’ll take it, and run, just because I can…. Well, plus, I don’t want to have to start over…. I’ll see y’all tomorrow, ffolkes….

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 the dubious

Songs of hearth and home….

Posted on July 15, 2014 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard
Are sweeter; therefore, ye soft pipes, play on,–
Not to the sensual ear, but, more endear’d,
Pipe to the spirit ditties of no tone.

— John Keats (1795-1821) — Ode on a Grecian Urn

The advent of cell phones with good cameras, along with the release of the above, a Go Pro digital camera, has revolutionized photography, in terms of who can take photos that may become famously known, on the Net, or via the news and magazine route…. The above photograph, taken from some news site, (where it was found along with many others, most of them taken by amateurs, rather than mostly professional photographers, as was the case for most of our history….), is a perfect example of another area that has changed along with the technology, i.e., language…. The new word, “selfie” has entered the language, where everyone now knows exactly what it means, and what is meant to say the above photo is one of an owl, taking a selfie….

To honor that new word, and to acknowledge its speed of acceptance as common, I have just entered it into my Spell Checker, (all three of them) because it didn’t recognize the word…. Now, it’s an officially recognized word, complete with dictionary entry, and an example (above) of how the word, and the process, have already become so ubiquitous, it can be used to anthropomorphize the owl, having it assume the human characteristic of self-aggrandizement, or overweening pride….

Alright, that’s probably enough for one morning…. I’m not accustomed to beginning an examination of language evolution so early in the day….. Hell, I’m not accustomed to much of anything, other than getting up & trying to find something worthwhile in my recalcitrant brain to put on screen…. I like the picture, though, and it meets, and/or exceeds the general standards for both cute, and compelling, so I don’t think I’ll be whining or regretting my decision to go with it today…. Besides, three paragraphs in is a little late to have second thoughts….

Now those thoughts have surfaced, however, I can’t help but wonder….. No, no, no….. I won’t do it….. I won’t go there any more; I promised myself I wouldn’t, and it never does any good, anyway…. I suppose, since I’m not going there, perhaps I should turn my ability to wonder to the task of figuring out what the hell we’re going to do today for pearls….

My brain is in the beginning stages of panic, as I have a dental appointment tomorrow…. As I may have mentioned, dentists and I are still somewhat at odds, in terms of my willingness to submit to the necessity for their assistance with my dentistry needs…. In short, I fucking hate to go to the dentist, and suffer the agonies of pre-appointment jitters for a day or two before each time I go…. I’ve even had to talk myself out of canceling & rescheduling twice, once yesterday, & once already this morning….

But, that’s tomorrow, and today still needs a Pearl…. as will tomorrow. Giving in to the panic now won’t help, so, I’ll find a way to get through this, somehow…. I am going to have to look for some kind of ending for this, first, but, that shouldn’t take too lon….. Oh, look, here we are now…. I figured we must be getting close…. Okay, then, off we go….

Shall we Pearl?…..

“It ain’t so much the things we don’t know that get us in trouble. It’s the things we know that ain’t so.” — Artemus Ward aka Charles Farrar Brown

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

“Conquer your fear and you need fear no more.” — Smart Bee

Having personally tested this aphorism more than seven hundred times, in real-time, real-life episodes of physical violence, I can attest to it’s truth, and it’s applicability to almost every human endeavor…. Once we learn how to handle being afraid, it is useful to us in virtually every aspect of life, improving out basic ability to deal with whatever life has for us, with a clearer mind, and a relatively untroubled heart….

Then, of course, we turn to matter of mind, and culture, and the fear returns, seven-fold….. No matter how personally capable we are of dealing with the fear we all feel when threatened, physically, it doesn’t help when we come to deal with matters of that affect us as members of a society that is bent on self-destruction, and places such dreadful stress on its denizens each day, to deal with all the insanity and absurdly immoral events played out on the world stage, time after time….. For example, here are two articles from yesterday’s UK Guardian (a foreign news site that tends to give us much more pertinent and relevant information on American culture than our own news organizations do…. though these particular articles are concern the British public scenario….), that should give an idea of just how bad things are…. Read these, then I’ll spew….

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jul/14/drip-government-data-retention-investigatory-powers-bill-horrors

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/jul/14/gchq-tools-manipulate-online-information-leak

The UK government, with David the Cameron at its head, is in lockstep with Barry the Obama when it comes to slick, impressive-sounding speech patterns, that SOUND as if they are working hard to help the average joe…. when in fact, they are busily screwing them, spying unreservedly on those self-same joes, invading their privacy, essentially eradicating all of the personal rights given to both our populations by the efforts of our ancestors….. Both the UK and US spy agencies (CIA, GCHQ, NSA, etc….) are sharing information and computer hacking techniques just like twins share facial features, and lying their asses off about how far it has already gone….

Now the UK is trying to pass legislation that will make their spying more legal, in their eyes…. which is actually just playing catch up, with the proposed ~~repression~~, er, legislation merely detailing, and making legal, all the clandestine, illegal collection of information that has been taking place since 2001…. The fact of its illegality is being completely ignored, and you can bet, even if we should manage to get them (politicians) back under control, not a single politician, or spy agency official, will ever be prosecuted, or go to jail for their crimes against society…. Any wagers on that?…. I didn’t think there would be…. It’s a sucker’s bet….

I keep pounding away at this, and the US & UK citizenry continues to bury its collective clueless head in the sand, much to the delight of the BRC and the Asininnies, who are pleased to note, I’m sure, that the populace of this country, and England, are as easily fooled, and as easily led into compliance, as any herd of cows could be…. I’m getting more than just a little frustrated at the sheer STUPIDITY of the American public, and wish, strongly, that there was some way to actually get through to the stupid fools, who actually believe their elected officials have their interests in mind…. Bloody idiots, every one of them….

Bah, humbug! I’m pissed again, because it’s all so fucking stupid, and nothing is going to change…. All I can do is sit here, and watch, as our species continues its headlong rush toward extinction, merrily skipping down the path to perdition without a clue….. Oh well, I suppose my best bet is to put together a short five-star pearl, to soothe my fevered brow…. Here are some thoughts on the subject, from our old friend Smart Bee….

“When you outlaw rights, only outlaws will have rights.” — Smart Bee

“Draft politicians, not human beings.” — antidraft slogan coined by Jeff Daiell, 1979

“In matters of conscience, the law of majority has no place.” — Mohandas K. Gandhi

“All people are born alike — except Republicans and Democrats.” — Groucho Marx (1890-1977)

“Appearances to the mind are of four kinds. Things either are what they appear to be; or they neither are, nor appear to be; or they are, and do not appear to be; or they are not, and yet appear to be. Rightly to aim in all these cases is the wise man’s task.” — Epictetus (c. 60 AD) — Discourses, Book i, Chap. xxvii

This pearl, ffolkes, is deeper, and more accurate than it may appear on first look…. Look at it just right, though, and it pokes a nice hole in the invisibility cloak the BRC thinks they are wearing, when they tell their lies to us….

Onward….

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

Here is a poem of mine that speaks to the above subject….. I wrote this in September of 2012, when the imminent presidential election was on my mind a lot, along with the above material, and it’s implications, should Mitt the Twit have reached office…. It DOES give the only real answer to their chicanery…. A reminder that our only REAL defense is already in our grasp….

Accentuated Lessons

Bold statements of calculated intent
Become common rule of the malcontent.
Avarice assumes such attractive wear
Beguiling deception, illusory and fair.

Grasping and pulling with ghostly hands
Legally proper in all the signatory lands.
Seeking and finding each vulnerable soul
Anguish as payment for exacting the toll.

Wraiths of commerce’s invisible dead guards
Still haunt the dreams left in sad empty yards.
While absentee nobles sit in stiffly elegant splendor
Served by sad-faced detainees in abject surrender.

Escape from reality is illusory at best
Often we falter and fail its daily test.
Only when focused on inner strength
Does peace stay with us for any length.

Peace lies within, always…..

~~ gigoid ~~

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

So, here we are, in section three already…. Today’s Pearl has come together much more smoothly than anticipated, so, after a short break, I’ll put together a worthy old-school pearl, probably a standard seven-star version, with random parameters to keep it fresh and, well, reasonably under our watchful eyes, if not our complete control…. Enjoy, ffolkes!….

“I believe in everything until it’s disproved. So I believe in fairies, the myths, dragons. It all exists, even if it’s in your mind. Who’s to say that dreams and nightmares aren’t as real as the here and now? Reality leaves a lot to the imagination.” — John Lennon

“It is easy for men to talk one thing and think another.” — Publius Syrus (42 BC) — Maxim 322

“All men that are ruined, are ruined on the side of their natural propensities.” — Edmund Burke (1729-1797) — Reflections on the Revolution in France, — Letter i, On a Regicide Peace, Vol. v, p. 286

“[Freedom is] the power to live as you will. Who then lives as he wills?” — Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 B.C.)

“It is in the shelter of each other that people live.” — Irish proverb

“Always do what you are afraid to do.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)

“For here we are not afraid to follow truth wherever it may lead, nor to tolerate error so long as reason is left free to combat it.” — Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) — First Inaugural Address, March 4, 1801

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

I am, as usual, uncertain just how this Pearl came to be; I was there the whole time, observing closely, and still haven’t a clue as to how I got it done, especially in such a timely fashion…. I do, however, know enough not to question it, or worry overmuch about it, as it IS done, and that is the primary characteristic we look for…. Anything else that can be said of it is moot, once that is determined…. As such, I am now legally, and ethically required to say my goodbyes, or just dump you on your proverbial butt as I leave the scene, all dignity destroyed, but, content to be finished for the day…. Gotta go play out in the Big Blue Room for a while today, so, see y’all tomorrow…..

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 the dubious

Provenance won’t impress the hungry….

Posted on July 11, 2014 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“Happiness is the only good, reason the only torch, justice the only worship, humanity the only religion, and love the only priest.” — Robert G. Ingersoll (American lawyer and orator)

Well, color me surprised, and more than a little amazed, that an American lawyer not only said this, but sounds as if he believes it…. Howdy, ffolkes, and don’t fret, this isn’t the beginning of a rant, though it could easily be one…. No, there’s plenty of that coming up later…. No, my comment was merely prompted by seeing the word lawyer in conjunction with the words, justice, humanity, reason, and love…. Typically, those qualities are missing from the list of those shown by lawyers, especially American lawyers…. and don’t try to make me guilty over picking at them again…. If they didn’t DO this stuff, it wouldn’t come back to haunt them….

I guess I’ll have to go look him up in Google, so I can see how he came to be….. It isn’t simple, or easy, I would imagine, to be able to hold on to such a powerful set of ethics and morals, when everything in one’s training, and society itself, is telling one to act in an opposite fashion, i.e. immorally, and unethically….

(Once again, don’t start….. I know ALL of them aren’t that way, but, if there weren’t a reason for them, lawyer jokes wouldn’t be necessary, now, would they?….). I’ll stop with the lawyer digs, and jokes, when ONE person can show me proof that 50% of the lawyers in practice have, all of a sudden, become caring, compassionate human beings…. Simple enough, eh? And, bloody impossible, as there aren’t that many honest lawyers out there….. there just aren’t….

Maybe I am ranting… what do you think? Is this a direct attack on lawyers at large? Maybe so…. In that case, let me take a short break, to see if I can find a way back to something more resembling an introduction…. Be right back, ffolkes…. time for a pain break anyway….

Hmm…. Okay, so, there isn’t much, ffolkes….. but, in the interests of full disclosure, I didn’t look real hard. I guess I’m just in a ranting mood, so, maybe you should consider donning the Kevlar vests, and the helmets provided for you as part of your entrance fee….. What? No fees are being collected? Again? Damn it all, where the hell’s Luigi? He’s supposed to be taking the admission gate…. Now I’ll have to take the time to find him, & see why he’s been so flaky of late….

In the meantime, perhaps it would be best to just forgo any further attempts at logic or reason…. I don’t think they’ll be of much use at this point…. Instead, we’ll just go on, and do the best we can with what is there to use….. Wish me luck….

Shall we Pearl?…..

“If I had my life to live over again, I’d be a plumber.” — Albert Einstein

Me? I’d have liked to have been a travel writer….. a job that combines my two favorite activities…. Hell, it may yet happen, who knows? Stranger things, as they say, have happened….

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

I’ve avoided full out ranting for a while now, having reached a point where I felt I was repeating myself too often, without achieving any of the results that it would be nice to see for all my efforts (such as a world-wide revolution against the corporate masters who have oppressed society for millennia now…. I can dream, can’t I?….). In the last couple of days, I’ve seen a number of articles in various news sites detailing the latest news on several fronts worth ranting about…. Let’s see what’s up, eh?….

http://blog.sfgate.com/techchron/2014/07/09/nsa-spied-on-muslim-americans-including-ex-bay-area-professor-greenwald-alleges/?cmpid=hp-hc-bustech

Only one comment is relevant in response to this: these people are out of control…. By “these people”, I’m referring in general to the NSA, and their cohorts, the CIA, FBI, and whatever other clandestine-oriented criminals masquerading as official entities who have jumped on the “let’s go fight terrorism” bandwagon, which offers them a perfect cover, and excuse, both of which augment and support their private agenda, which is, simply, to control and mislead the public, so they can continue their raping and pillaging of the public treasury, and blame the terrorists……

Then, of course, there is what has been discovered lately about what the NSA, the CIA, and the oxymoronic intelligence agencies that are part of the US pantheon of spies…. In the case below, in Germany, yet ANOTHER double agent was found to have been perverted by the CIA, this one working in one of the German defense departments…. As a result of this one, the article below shows the latest reaction by the German government….

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/germany/10959549/Germany-asks-CIA-station-chief-in-Berlin-to-leave-country-over-US-spying-row.html

Of course, all the politicians, in both countries, are just salivating, at all the opportunities they will have for political jockeying over these incidents…. The Republicans are happy because it gives them more ammunition against their nightmare, the Black President with Some Integrity, while, on the other side of the aisle, the Democrats are happy because it gives them a chance to get their own names out in the public eye, making statements, and looking concerned…. Neither one actually gives a shit about the issue, but, it’s one they like to see being played out, as it offers so many different ways to distract and obfuscate….

Then, of course, I saw this one…. I’ve been following a bit of this…. It seems that, back in the Thatcher days, the British equivalent to our Congress, their Houses of Parliament, there were a large number of child molesters in office, and they went so far as to use their power, and positions of authority, to further their sick, pedophiliac habits, covering up their crimes with ease, as they had the authority to tell the police to ignore issues, or sweep them under the table…. A member of the House of Commons collected evidence on it, then turned in his report to what should have been the proper authorities, over thirty years ago….

Naturally, that report was “lost” before any action on it’s contents could be formulated, and the whole issue was swept under the bureaucratic table…. Now, this whole episode is coming to light, and the politicians in Westminster are running around like a disturbed nest of ants…. It’s actually quite entertaining, if a bit sick-making, to watch all these psychopathic assholes try to figure out how this will affect them, or, in many cases, trying to decide whether to kill themselves now, or wait until after their trial…. Read it, then join me in a big raspberry to all the sick bastards who are involved, who may now get their just desserts….

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/10959997/Westminster-whistleblower-told-to-back-off-over-paedophiles.html

Sick, sick people, that’s all I can say…. To finish off this bit of random ranting, below you’ll find a list of people who live in the SF Bay Area who are billionaires…. You know, those privileged elite who believe that, because they have all this money, they can pretty much do whatever they wish to do, without any consequences for their actions…. and, they’d pretty much be right about that….

When was the last time you heard about, or read about, some billionaire going to jail, or even to trial, when they have broken the law? That would right about NEVER, right? Hell, these people, when arrested, or even stopped for a traffic violation, never even have those incidents make it to the papers; you never even HEAR about any trouble they have, because it is all taken care of, hushed up and forgotten, before anyone in the public even knows it has taken place…. That is what money can buy, ffolkes, never doubt it…. Take a look at the list, and the amount of money these assholes are hoarding for their own use….

http://www.sfgate.com/business/article/Who-are-the-richest-families-in-the-Bay-Area-5610052.php

545.9 BILLION DOLLARS! What an incredible number, describing 18 families in the Bay Area who have a net worth in the billions of dollars; the smallest number I saw was 1.2 billion, I believe, and the most disgusting, er, largest, was WalMart’s owners, the Waltons, at, get this, 152 billion. That number, by the way, is the kind of number the mind can’t really grasp, but, think of it this way…. This insanely small number of people have as much financial resource at their disposal as all but perhaps ten countries in the world…. The US Dept. of Housing budget, for any particular year, is not very much larger than this amount, I’m guessing, if at all….

Astounding, mind-blowing, and to me, reprehensible, that so few people can be not just allowed, by the system, and society, but actively encouraged and directed into perversity by the forces of history, with results that reward such behavior…. All to often, the Powers That Be will aid and abet those who successfully hoard that much for themselves, as opposed to more of a moral attitude, which prioritizes such resources into using them to supply what society may have need for…. which, essentially, another way of saying that society, and the victims of such selfishness, is made to pay for the rotten effects of the corruption and indifference to morality shown by those who have hoarded the resources in the first place….

Okay, ffolkes, we’re about done…. Here, to finish this off with a bit of more positive energy, is another fine article from Mark Morford, this time pointing out some obvious bits of information that are generally ignored by critics of the Obama administration…. I mean, he IS a politician, so, as Mark points out, there are still some questionable issues Barry has raised with his spotty conservatism, and terrorist paranoia…. not to mention how he has catered and kowtowed to the financial community…. disgusting….

Nevertheless, in terms of getting things done that will actually HELP the average American, he has done quite well…. Read this, and try to pay attention… I know this is getting long, but, we’re almost done….

http://blog.sfgate.com/morford/2014/07/08/the-best-worst-president-ever/

As usual, Mark has put his finger on a point most people would miss altogether…It’s brilliant, funny, and all-too-accurate to miss…. Go ahead, I’ll wait…. There, now, don’t you feel a bit lighter? No? Okay, well, I tried…. We’re done here, so I’ll leave you with this final word, to try to bring this to its most efficient, effective ending….

“Rare gift! but oh what gift to fools avails!”

— Alexander Pope (1688-1744) — The Odyssey of Homer, Book x, Line 29

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

I’m using my own poetry again today, simply because the above took so long, I don’t have any more time to go look for something appropriate by someone else…. and Smart Bee is being a bit of a bastard today, in re: giving me quotes I can actually USE…. Any who, to prevent further whining, here is one from the archives…. This one was written, and first posted, in October of 2012….

Penance, Made Simple

After all the dross is sent away
a celebration can begin,
time will face up to space, to stay
willing, to shine from within.

Anger and confusion come in to share
brushing reason aside,
eager to welcome all that is fair,
alert to danger, eyes wide.

Re-gift the wicked with their own pain
stand with the just;
fail to partake of the ill-gotten gain,
living in honor, the only must.

Standing fast in the face of wrong
is its own prize and reward.
Holding on to truth makes us strong,
well worth working toward.

Little is left to chance by fate
our lessons are never free of cost.
Seldom does reality make us wait
only when alone, are we lost.

~~ gigoid ~~

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

As you probably have guessed by now, this will be another random, harlequin, old-school pearl, because A) it’s fast, B) it’s cheap, and C) it’s what I can do without going off the rails completely…. in other words, I’m using the all-purpose, universal, time-tested American excuse…. Expedience! Enjoy!….

“What you see is from outside yourself, and may come, or not, but is beyond your control. But your fear is yours, and yours alone, like your voice, or your fingers, or your memory, and therefore yours to control. If you feel powerless over your fear, you have not yet admitted that it is yours, to do with as you will.” — Marion Zimmer Bradley, “Stormqueen”

“I once asked my history teacher how we were expected to learn anything useful from his subject, when it seemed to me to be nothing but a monotonous and sordid succession of robber baron scumbags devoid of any admirable human qualities. I failed history.” — Sting

“There is nothing so easy but that it becomes difficult when you do it with reluctance.” — Terence (185-159 BC)
— Heautontimoroumenos, Act iv, Sc. 6, 1, (805.)

“We become just by performing just actions, temperate by performing temperate actions, brave by performing brave actions.” — Aristotle

“Until philosophers are kings … cities will never cease from ill, nor the human race.” — Plato (428-348? B.C.)

“Our care should not be to have lived long as to have lived enough.” — Seneca

“I’m pretending I’m pulling in a TROUT! Am I doing it correctly?” — Zippy the Pinhead

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

For a Pearl that felt so choppy while in the process of creation, this didn’t come out too badly at all…. In order to keep from feeling like a complete liar, I’m going to go ahead an post it, without even going over it with a critical eye…. some proofing, and, as far as I am concerned, it’s good to go…. Call me Ishmael, or call me a fool…. just don’t call me late for dinner…. See ya, ffolkes….

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 the dubious

Failing that, we’ll go subterranean….

Posted on May 30, 2014 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

I find myself in a position all too familiar, yet strangely, it doesn’t SEEM to resemble the past I remember closely. That probably sounds as confused as I feel, which, obviously, is considerably befuddled. Of course, befuddlement is also a somewhat common state for me, ever since my teens, when I started to question why what I had always been told about the world, and life, was pretty much all wrong….

I mean, can you BELIEVE this? They told me, when I was just a little kid, that I could trust policemen, that they would never harm me, or hurt anyone…. They told me my money would be safest in a bank, and would earn me the most if I let the bankers invest it for me….They told me that merchants and vendors were honest people, just trying to make a living, not trying to cheat me with shoddy products or hidden charges…They told me that the leaders of our country were honest, forthright men and women, who would never lie to the public (George Washington and the cherry tree are often brought out at that point….)….. And, they told me that God loves people, meaning me, and will make sure I live forever, if I just give enough money at church….

Do I have to give the evidence? Is it necessary for me to show y’all exactly how NONE of those things, that we ALL were told when young, are true…. nor have they been true for most of my life…. The world does NOT match the crap that we were all told, and to think it does, in any fashion, is just feeding into the hands of those who would keep us all in the slave’s collar, if they thought they could get away with it….

You watch, some day soon, wearing a slave’s collar will be described as “the latest fashion”, and people will fall all over themselves to get one in a leopard print…. We all may as well face the facts, ffolkes….. You, and I, and every other fool, whether we buy into the crap that the current leaders of society are putting out, or not, are nothing more than pathetic, economic slaves, and there isn’t a damn thing we can do about it, not any more…. If you don’t believe you are a slave to their form of economics, or that you really have any CHOICE in the matter, well, you are, quite simply, deluded, and all-the-more-perfect fodder for their pillaging….

They’ve got it all tied up, in a nice pretty bow, and nothing we do can cause any real changes to happen, if they don’t want them…. and change is NOT what they want…. Maintaining the status quo is JOB ONE for any politician; how else will the money keep flowing into their pockets?

And what the hell am I doing?….

I’m barely into the intro section, and find myself in a full-on rant…. It all stems from the article I read yesterday, which I’ve included below in section one; not the one about Eric Snowden’s interview, but the response by that prominent fat cat, Dianne Feinstein, which, I note, didn’t come out until well AFTER the interview….

I guess it took some time for Obama, Feinstein, McConnell, and the other players in this drama to confer, and decide who was going to lead off, with whatever lies they’ve prepared to answer Snowden’s latest attempts to communicate with the American people, to try to undermine anything he might say, as being the words of a traitor…. Since DiFi led off the barrage, I imagine today we’ll hear from someone at the NSA (maybe…) or McConnell, or Obama…. all of whom will try to convince the public that Snowden is the liar, not them…. Since there are many of them, and only one of him, they think they have the advantage, and they’re right…. Besides which, they’re all PROFESSIONAL liars, not just your average prevaricators….

I’ll finish this discussion in section one; if I continue here, we may never get there…. Damn it! I had hoped to not have to rant, at all, so I could create one of the new style pearls, with pictures, but, this just HAS to be addressed, or they’ll have the floor with nobody else to speak back, to show how they are the liars….

Shall we Pearl?…..

“It belongs to human nature to hate those you have injured.” — Tacitus (54-119 AD) — Agricola, 42

Ah!….. Well, that explains it…. It’s no wonder the politicians, the preachers, the bankers, et al, hate us all….

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

Here is an article regarding the interview of Eric Snowden on NBC a night or two ago…. In it, Mr. Snowden brings out several points which go a long way to helping understand why the government is so inflexible in going after him, and why they are so determined to prove him wrong… (Hint: in their eyes, it justifies their own illegal activities)…. Read the articles, especially the second one, with the egregiously STUPID remarks by someone I had thought was smarter….. not that I’ve ever trusted her, but, I always thought DiFi was smarter than the average Senator…. Apparently not, if this issue is any indication….

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/six-memorable-quotes-from-edward-snowdens-nbc-interview-20140529?utm_source=dailynewsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter

http://www.sfgate.com/nation/article/Feinstein-Snowden-never-voiced-NSA-concerns-5514604.php

I’ve decided NOT to rant. I’m just going to say these few comments, then I’ll put together an old-school pearl to make my point…. DiFi makes one obvious error in her statements to the public on this matter…. She claims that Snowden didn’t really blow any whistles to the NSA, he just stole the documents, without ever trying to do what they consider the right thing, which is to ask the lying spies to tell the truth…. Such BS….

Any who, she says E. S. never said anything to his supervisors about his concerns….. and how does she know this?…. Well, ffolkes, that’s easy…. because the NSA told her so…. Sure, Dianne, lets believe a bunch of spies when we ask them what they’ve been up to…. This is the same woman who accused the CIA of hacking into her investigation of them; furthermore, she accused them of obstructing the process of investigation, and lying to her and her staff…. Now, she expects us to believe this OTHER group of spies are NOT lying to us, or to her; she wants us to believe they won’t lie when she asks them if he said anything to them…. Is that STUPID, or not? If you said ‘not’, then, I feel for you, living in a world where cotton candy passes for brains….

Oh, plus, she says that the NSA has no documentation that Mr. Snowden ever wrote anything to them to point out any of the reservations he was having…. Well, of COURSE they don’t…. Silly woman… What does she think they’ve been doing ever since his actions were revealed? Looking for things he wrote, to save them? If they looked for any written notes from him, they did so during their interior auditing process, after discovering the leaks, to look for what they needed to delete and/or destroy…. They’ve had over a year since then to clean up anything that might prove his contentions, and I’m positive they didn’t waste a minute of it SAVING his documents…. just the reverse…. They can lie about this without fear of exposure, because they KNOW they’ve already destroyed all he DID write….

Okay, that’s it, end of rant…. But, ffolkes, if any of y’all are buying into this crap the government is spewing about this issue, then, you are living in the land of the blind, and deaf, and more than just dumb…. Here are some aphorisms that may help you to realize how badly the BRC, and the rest of the Asininnies, wants us to believe their lies, and how important it is for them to have our blind trust and obedience…. Without it, they are sunk…. Well, that’s our hope, I suppose…

“Want a taste of religion? Bite a minister!” — Smart Bee

“By trying, we can easily learn to endure adversity — another man’s, I mean.” — Mark Twain

” — Bother! said Pooh, these people are evil.” — NOT Christopher Robin, & NOT A.A. Milne (In fact, your guess is as good as mine…. It SOUNDS very Carlinesque….)

“The First Amendment is often inconvenient. But that is besides the point. Inconvenience does not absolve the government of its obligation to tolerate speech.” — Justice Anthony Kennedy, in 91-155

“Is there a Lemon Law for Presidents too?’ — Smart Bee

“And thou shalt eat it as barley cakes, and thou shalt bake it with dung that cometh out of man, in their sight…Then he [the Lord!] said unto me, Lo, I have given thee cow’s dung for man’s dung, and thou shalt prepare thy bread therewith.” — Ezek. 4:12-15 (KJV)

(Just so you know…. That’s disgusting, in every way….. but, typical of the lessons taught by the Bible….)

Lastly, to round off this strange collection of insults and oddly phrased indictments of the BRC, et al…..

“God is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnibenevolent- it says so right here on the label. If you have a mind capable of believing all three of these divine attributes simultaneously, I have a wonderful bargain for you. No checks, please. Cash, and in small bills.” — Lazarus Long

Some of you may wonder how religious figures and churches got lumped into the group being vilified today…. That’s just me…. In my world, I tend to lump politicians, preachers, police, bankers, and sexual predators all into the same group, of humans who are either evil by choice and nature, or completely misguided fools, victims of the same propaganda under which we all labor in life, but, worse, because they ENJOY being assholes about stuff…. Any who, the last pearl says it all…. anyone who buys into their BS gets EXACTLY what they deserve…..

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

Since I’m in full curmudgeon mode, and have fallen back into my old ways today, here is one of my favorite political poems…. It’s kinda silly, but, it fits my mood….

Geezer to Congress, with Love

Politicos don’t care much ’bout seniors and their ilk,
except for their money, I thinks;
Though they talk as if they’d cozen them in silk,
what they actually do, it stinks.“The banks are failing, we can’t allow that!”,
steal from the aged, that’s their plan.
“Their life’s ending, that’s plainly where they’re at,”
lie shamelessly, because they can.Maybe just once, if we all act together,
it couldn’t miss.
Right on their shoes, no matter the weather,
take careful aim, and piss.Why the hell not?
It’s worth a shot!

~~ gigoid ~~

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

In the very olden days, when I first began to post here on WP, the POVW had a different format. It was simpler, merely an intro, followed by a five- or seven-star pearl, and maybe one closing line….. which is the format you see below…. I’m late, and tired, and want to go start taking pictures for tomorrow’s new-style Pearl; since I intend to use my own pix, I’d best start collecting some appropriate pictures to use…. Any who, all excuses and rationalizations aside, this is a good example of how Pearls used to look every day…. They were a lot shorter then, as you will notice….

From 9/25/2011:

Ffolkes,
It is once again Sunday, and it looks as if we’ll get some rain. And talking about the weather is pretty much a useless pastime, but it’s all I’ve got today. I am, for some reason, exhausted, and I just got up. I believe I know the reason for that, though, and will have to take care of it some day very soon. Meanwhile, I’m going to just give you the Pearls today, and they can stand on their own. I’ll write tomorrow, I promise….

“A good many dramatic situations begin with screaming.” — Barbarella

“Communication is next to impossible with someone who has no doubts.” — Limon

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I —
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

— Robert Frost, The Road Not Taken

“Each has his past shut in him like the leaves of a book known to him by his heart, and his friends can only read the title.” — Virginia Woolf

“Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.” — Smart Bee

“On the other hand, life can be an endless parade of TRANSSEXUAL QUILTING BEES aboard a cruise ship to DISNEYWORLD if only we let it!!” — Zippy the Pinhead

Yes, if only we will let it, life can be what it is…..y’all take care out there….

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

Lest my habit of accepting the blame for all of this be abrogated, I think I’d best just be done with it, and begone from this place…. I DO have a lot to do today…. That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it…. See ya tomorrow, ffolkes…. I’m hoping, anyway….

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.

<big>gigoid the dubious<big>

Alice, in a fit of pique, beheads the Cheshire Cat….

Posted on May 5, 2014 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

Well, hell…. Now what do I do? Here it is, 0430 AM, I’m up, coffee in hand, ready to start trying to figure out if there is anything in my semi-conscious mind that would serve to begin today’s Pearl, & what do I find? This…. This is a completed Pearl, dammit! When I found the material below, and gave in to the urge to rant it stimulated, I didn’t realize that I would be usurping this morning’s time slot, thus effectively giving myself nothing at all to do now, except, possibly, proof/edit this, punching it up where it’s soft, & generally tinkering with it until it screams at me to stop….

But, if I do that, what do I do with this intro, that I so conveniently wrote, AFTER completing all of the stuff you’ll see below, including the poem,and the archived piece?….Though, I see now, I DID leave the closing section undone, so, I guess that’s something…. Big of me, wouldn’t you say?

Well, I would, given that I’m playing a practical joke on myself…. I USED to be pretty good at them, during my university days, but, like many of the skills I picked up at Berkeley, not all of them translated into something useful in later life; practical jokes lose a lot of their luster after having a couple of them turn bad, or, worse, ending up as the butt of one…. Payback’s a bitch, isn’t it?

But, I DO have some pretty good memories of decorating certain fraternity and sorority buildings in Davis, on the night prior to their yearly homecoming, “Picnic Day”, a gently nostalgic, pandering title, designed to pull money from the alumni and the rich parents of students, who came to relive their own wild youth once a year, while pretending NOT to be envious of all the students by which they’re surrounded…. I lived in a cooperative dormitory, so as representatives of the bourgeoisie, the Greek brothers and sisters made perfect targets for a bit of ridicule….

Oh, not to worry, we didn’t do anything terribly terrorist, or frightening; just some minor breaking and entering, leaving notes and posters, complete with appropriate art work, (no graffiti, just tacked up stuff….) to show we’d been there, or running a few jock straps and brassieres out on the clothes lines between the dorms…. highlighting the huge, long, signs stating, in two-foot tall letters, they’d been pranked by UCB’s “Society of the Green Hand” (The Society’s formation is a tale for another time; I believe the statute of limitations runs out in another couple of years on that….) Needless to say, we were lucky not to end up dealing with the local law….

Actually, that was close, because, as we were finishing up with the very last tree’s decor, of colored toilet paper, a campus police car drew up under the tree, shined their light on one of us, up in the tree, & queried, “What’s going on up there?”…. With admirable quick thinking, Jeff, the one in the tree, gave them a huge smile, and just said, “It’s Picnic Day!”…. The cop just shook his head and drove away, while we waited breathlessly for them to get far enough away we could breathe, and burst into nearly hysterical laughter… We then piled in our vehicle, drove back to Berkeley, and spent the day sleeping off the adventure….

Gee…. It looks as if I found a perfect introduction for today’s Pearl, at least in terms of being of regulation size and placement…. How this morning’s retrospective will fit in with what goes on afterward remains to be seen, as it does each and every day I put myself, and y’all, through this somewhat torturous process….

Ah well, it never gets bad enough to actually cause bleeding, unless, of course, some of you aren’t telling me when you leave the cabin, to go bang your forehead against the nearest wall, in reaction to some of the stuff that I say, and/or do…. But, then, that’s a personal problem, isn’t it? So shame on you for trying to make me feel guilty about it…

Wouldn’t work anyway; I gave up guilt, over stuff I say or do, quite some time back, and have never felt better…. On that egocentric note, I think we’ll go now, and find something productive to do with today, since the only thing I have to write this morning is the closing section….

Shall we Pearl?…..

“I have discovered the art of deceiving diplomats. I speak the truth, and they never believe me.” — Conte Camillo Benso di Cavour

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

I found these two articles yesterday, after posting the Pearl…. As you’ll see, they provide the perfect jumping point for what follows…. I suppose that, as always, ‘perfect’ is a question-begging word to use, but, hey, I calls ’em as I sees ’em…. when I can find my glasses….

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/may/03/everyone-is-under-surveillance-now-says-whistleblower-edward-snowden

I had originally intended to have some words regarding this article, as it speaks to some rather important points…. but, then, I saw the following article, and my angst went right through the roof, stimulating the rest…. Now, read this one…. & just include it all together; it’s all of a piece, anyway….

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/apr/18/cia-torture-architect-enhanced-interrogation

Here, then, is an excellent example of the definition of ‘gigo’, (garbage in-garbage out), from the psychologist responsible for the design and codification of many of the torture methods, including “water boarding”, used by the CIA at Guantanamo Bay, and elsewhere around the world….. His comments, which I will examine below, are so egregiously INSANE, I had to read the article in pieces, as I found myself shouting at him, every time he opened his mouth to make one of the reported statements…

I cannot BELIEVE this man was found to be an adequate psychologist, passing his tests and arguing his doctoral thesis, without having at least the basic innate ability to display even an ounce of compassion; I also don’t understand, at all, how he could be considered anything other than the US’s version of the Nazi scientist, the one at Auschwitz, who sent the Jews into the ovens….

Ah, yes, Josef Mengele…. the infamous, iconic mad doctor, the real version, the model for what all the comics use as the ultimate villain so often, whose insanity threatens the entire world, and everyone in it…. I tell you, ffolkes, those people in Washington, D.C. are totally out of control…. I’m not kidding; the current crop of elected officials, as well as the appointees put in place by those (I stared at this point for a long time, and still cannot, for the life of me, think of an expletive that it harsh enough…, so we’ll go with a classic….) assholes, all exhibit every single symptom of the violently insane, who believe their own twisted version of reality is the only real one, who hold on to their paranoid delusions so tightly, nothing, and nobody, can tell them differently….

Hell, I don’t even need, in this case, to resort to my special knowledge and experience, of working with the violently insane as a therapist for over 20 years…. These guys lay it out so clearly, right out in public, there’s no need for me to have to explain…. Their own words convict them whenever they condescend to open their mouths about what they truly believe….

Here, let me show you a couple of examples from the second article listed… The comments in quotes are by the protagonist in this drama, James Mitchell, (Piled High and Deep), Ph.D., formerly of the CIA, the psychologist regarded as the architect of the CIA’s “enhanced interrogation” program…. a description taken straight from the article…. You’ll be able to recognize my comments by the anger and vulgarity the statements produce in me….

“The people on the ground did the best they could with the way they understood the law at the time,” he said. “You can’t ask someone to put their life on the line and think and make a decision without the benefit of hindsight and then eviscerate them in the press 10 years later.”

You can’t? Why not? These people were in no danger; there is no danger, no life on the line, when someone tortures another; only the one being tortured is in danger. And if you do something so obviously WRONG, it doesn’t fucking matter a bit how long it is, you SHOULD be vilified in the press. There is no reason on this Earth why anyone shouldn’t KNOW torturing another human being, for ANY FUCKING REASON AT ALL, is NOT morally defensible. This principle is true even in cases where the ultimate goal is considered good; you’ve no doubt heard the saying, “the end does not justify the means.”

If they didn’t know it was wrong, why didn’t they do it out in the open, where everyone could see what they were doing? Fucking assholes think that their own parafuckingnoia should excuse anything they do….

“Everything you know is wrong.” — The Firesign Theater

“I’m skeptical about the Senate report, because I do not believe that every analyst whose jobs and promotions depended upon it, who were professional intelligence experts, all them lied to protect a program? All of them were wrong? All of these [CIA] directors were wrong? All of the people who were using the intel to go get people were wrong? And 10 years later a Senate staffer was able to put it together and finally there’s clarity? I am just highly skeptical that that’s the truth.”

This one’s easy….and so obvious, I again shouted this at the screen, hoping the asshole would hear me, “Why, yes, you bloody idiot, they CAN, and WERE, all wrong…. and every damn one of them WOULD lie to protect a program, which, in their minds, equals money, or influence….”

Then, of course, I realized I was shouting at my computer, so, I sat, tried to calm down, & began to type, to try to release some of the venom and bile that collected so quickly in the face of such evil insanity…. It started when the assbite used the phrase, “Senate staffer”, with the sneeringly obvious implication that position was only held only by persons of dubious character, and less than average intelligence, when compared to the noble men under his command….

When you start from a premise that is wrong, there is no way to make it come out right; every damn one of those directors started with the idea that whatever they did, right or wrong, shouldn’t be made public knowledge, and that such clandestine prevarication is justified by their goal (which, because it is their goal, they refuse to consider as anything other than right…. perfect “ipse dixit” logic….)

“If you get the first one in the wrong hole, you’ll never get all buttoned up right.” — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

This, of course, is completely contrary to the values upon which our nation was supposedly founded; thus, any acts that indulge in that sort of paranoia, which were made on the basis of that idea, are, from the start, WRONG…. It really is that simple ffolkes, and I don’t understand quite WHY the public doesn’t get that, when listening to these lying, insane fools who pursue their delusional fantasies at the expense of the rest of us….

I reiterate…. “Everything you know is wrong.” — The Firesign Theater

Bloody fucking assholes, every damn one of them…..

“If I had a large amount of money I should found a hospital for those whose grip upon the world is so tenuous that they can be severely offended by words and phrases yet remain all unoffended by the injustice, violence and oppression that howls daily about our ears.” — Stephen Fry

I’d say the good doctor Mitchell would be one of the first admissions…. I’ll leave you to consider the following, which pretty much sums up what I see happening in the world today, just about everywhere I look…..

“It is okay to be ignorant in some areas, but some people abuse the privilege.” — Smart Bee

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

Here is a poignant little poem, from a poet with whom I’m not very familiar… At first, I was going to pass over it, but, it grows as it settles, becoming more than it appears to be at first….. You’ll see what I mean if you give it a chance….

The Dreams of My Heart

The dreams of my heart and my mind pass,
Nothing stays with me long,
But I have had from a child
The deep solace of song;

If that should ever leave me,
Let me find death and stay
With things whose tunes are played out and forgotten
Like the rain of yesterday.

~~ Sara Teasdale ~~

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

Given the theme in section one today, this is a perfect piece from the archives, to finish out the day….

From 7/15/2012:

“I observe that there are two entirely different theories according to which individual men seek to get on in the world. One theory leads a man to pull down everyone around him in order to climb on them to a higher place. The other leads a man to help everybody around him in order that he may go up with them.” — Elihu Root

I’ve also heard it observed that there are only two kinds of people in the world…. Those who make lists about the types of people in the world, and those who are bored to tears by that…..

🙂

Sorry, couldn’t resist, even for such an obviously true aphorism, one that is completely worthy of pearl status…..

I like to think that I act from the latter motivational base, that of working with my peers rather than against them, with my only thought of reward the good feeling that serving others gives me.

One piece of evidence that I’ve been successful at that, can be seen in my own place near the bottom of what most would consider the social scale. If I had been leaving bloody corpses behind me, I think I’d be enjoying a few more physical comforts than I do, and would have bodies buried somewhere that could be used against me, if they were publicized. When one has nothing, there is nothing to steal, is there?

“If you wish a life of trouble, fill your house with treasures.” — ancient Chinese proverb

I think the morality implied by the original pearl above is obvious, and is one that neither side of the issue would argue. But then, those who climb on the bodies of their peers to advance would never admit to such behavior; rationalization is one of mankind’s greatest skills. But, rationalized or not, they DO know that what they do is immoral; they have merely learned the art of lying to themselves as readily as they do to others.

To my way of thinking, it’s sad, as well as stupid, for far too many reasons to list here; relating one will do. It’s sad because these people will never even see any need to change, until it is too late for them to do anything that might help them. And it is stupid, well, just because it is…. No, sorry, just kidding… it is stupid because, a life that is built on lies, is no life at all…..

Joshu asked the teacher Nansen, “What is the True Way?”
Nansen answered, “Every way is the true Way.”
Joshu asked, “Can I study it?”
Nansen answered, “The more you study, the further from the Way.”
Joshu asked, “If I don’t study it, how can I know it?”
Nansen answered, “The Way does not belong to things seen: nor to things unseen. It does not belong to things known: nor to things unknown. Do not seek it, study it, or name it. To find yourself on it, open yourself as wide as the sky.”

I can see the Way, but cannot point to it, and this makes me pessimistic, for it (the Way) is possibly our last hope for redemption as a species, and the people who most need to find it are not even looking. I am optimistic because I see great promise in Man, even if I am not certain that promise will be kept….

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

The aforementioned edit/proof session took only about 30 minutes, which makes this one of the fastest Pearls to ever get completed, unless, of course, you’re going to be a stickler, and count the two or three hours spent yesterday in putting it together…. I, personally, don’t have a stick jammed far enough up my ass to feel like that, so, I’m just going to ignore the entire issue, before I say or do something to completely eradicate any dignity or aplomb I may have previously displayed today…. In other words, I’m outta here, before I get caught…. See ya, ffolkes….

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 the dubious

One of our nuclear clothespins is missing….

Posted on April 10, 2014 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

Don’t tell the monitors, but I think we’re going to have to cut back on the number of virgins we are sacrificing to the gods so they’ll smile upon this blog…. It’s not for any other reason than the fact we are beginning to run into the old Roman firewood conundrum, from back in the days when wood, wind, and water were the only energy sources we had as humans….

Rome, that ancient city, in time grew so large that it became problematic for the Romans to find firewood in the hills above and around the city. After several centuries of population growth, trees became scarce near the city, and the men who worked to gather it, who were called ‘carbonara’, eventually had to make week-long, or longer, forays into the mountains, and further into the countryside, in order to find a source of wood sizable enough to suit their needs.

During these trips, the men would take with them the food and supplies they needed to live for the time they were gone…. As Italians, their foods ran to the simple, but savory, with pasta, bread, and wine as the staples…. all of which travels well, meaning they could take the ingredients with them to use while on the trip…. Dried pasta, dried vegetables (peas, mushrooms, etc.), onions, garlic, pancetta, bread, wine, and cream, for example, in the form of a cow that they herded along the road with them as they went to look for their wood….

Any chefs in the audience may have noted that ingredients listed are those needed to produce the classic Italian dish, Pasta Carbonara, named after the men who kept the fireplaces of ancient Rome supplied with wood during the winter…. I can testify as to its deliciousness, and, in fact, it is my favorite of all the Italian dishes I make, save perhaps Pasta Vongolé, which is made with fresh clams, garlic, white wine, and cream, if desired…. I do both dishes superbly, if I do say so myself….

How does this silly but interesting history relate to this pearl? Well, I’ll tell ya, if you’ll hang on a moment…. Remember what I said about cutting back on our virginal sacrifices? Well, we’re having the same issue finding virgins as the Romans had with their firewood…. It’s taking longer and longer to FIND one that is willing to be sacrificed; last week I had to go all the way to hills above Bakersfield, to harvest one from a junior high school up near Yosemite, which is a good four or five hour drive…. This meant I had to listen to the babble of a 13 year old virgin all the way home, unless I felt like being mean, & sedating him….

Now, I’ll bet y’all are wondering what we do with our virgins after we use them…. which is something you’ll just have to wonder about for a long time, because I have neither the time, the inclination, nor the legal requirement to tell you….. Suffice it to say they are NOT killed, but are placed into an environment where their virginity will not cause them any further harm, and allowed to live out their lives in ignorance of the service they perform for society…. It would only confuse them, and make them less valuable as a trained consumer for the corporate masters..

Okay, I’m done now…. That was quite a mouthful for a relatively poor joke…. If it was a scam, we’d have to call it a long-con, and wait up to a year for the punchline to hit home….. But, since this is a daily blog, we can just call it what it is, which is, of course, nonsense and drivel, fresh from my fevered brain, all for the purpose of filling up space in this section, solely designed to bring us to the point where I can say, without any fear of retribution or heckling beyond the norm….

Shall we Pearl?….

“There is nothing so awkward as courting a woman whilst she is making sausages.” — Laurence Sterne

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

Today’s first section will be a Newsy Pearl, with articles ripped from the world’s news, and comments on those articles by gigoid the dubious at his angst-filled sarcastic best (hopefully…)…. Abondanza!….

First, a public service announcement…. A Swedish cyber-security group has found a flaw in the secure internet protocol that two-thirds of the servers on the Internet use, a flaw which provides a route for hackers to exploit, enabling them to obtain data and information from many different commercial and non-commercial sources on the web…. They also found that this flaw has been present, unknown to any but a few, for over two years, and MAY already have been exploited by hackers to steal millions upon millions of passwords and information about people…. It’s called Heartbleed, and, apparently, there is no way to tell how much data has already been compromised….

The authorities have decided to finally let the public know about this, and suggest that ALL users who use the internet change ALL their passwords, advising all those users to also take other steps to further protect and secure their data…. Nice of them to let us know, eh?…. Any who, pass it on, because we ALL need to pay attention to this one…. They’ve been to the barn, but left the door open…. you may want to close it, as best you can….

http://www.sfgate.com/business/technology/article/Online-security-flaw-exposes-millions-of-passwords-5386933.php

Now we’ll go on to the “Cuban Twitter” issue, that brilliantly programed distraction from Barry’s house, wherein the administration is working like mad to keep us from paying too close attention to what they are NOT doing to reform the NDAA and the NSA’s rabid, out-of-control spying…. While all the hullabaloo about this latest piece of stupidity plays itself out on the public stage, discussing the ins and outs of A PROGRAM THAT NOT ONLY FAILED BUT IS NO LONGER IN PLACE, the NSA quietly continues to mine the metadata on phones and computers all over the world, including right here in the USA…..

Yep, this issue, along with the loud, idiotic feud currently being played out between the Senate and the CIA, is the perfect subject to pull attention away from the NSA, as it gives the media, and their dupes, the general public, something on which to focus their ire, instead of having it focused solely on the Department of Cybersecurity, or whatever it’s called….

You know, that well-known organization that coordinates all of our spying with the NSA, (Homeland Security now includes the NSA, CIA, FBI, and whatever clandestine organizations in other departments, such as the branches of the military, all sharing information to keep their paranoia fresh), in their avowed search for terrorists, which includes their continuing joint abuse of the American people’s personal meta data….

Go ahead, read the following, and I’ll see you on the other side…. The initial comments you will see were written yesterday, prior to writing this, and may repeat certain portions, for effect….. sort of a reverse time warp, you see…..

“Hain’t we got all the fools in town on our side? And hain’t that a big enough majority in any town?” — Mark Twain, Huckleberry Finn

http://www.sfgate.com/news/politics/article/Angry-exchange-on-Capitol-Hill-over-Cuban-Twitter-5387870.php

http://www.sfgate.com/news/politics/article/US-penned-political-satire-in-secret-Cuban-Twitter-5387849.php

Here’s the latest on the Cuban Twitter smoke screen… which is obscuring the other smoke screen, the Saga of DiFi and the CIA, both of which are distracting the public’s attention from what is actually happening NOW…. which is the same old shit/stuff these stories are blathering over, to wit: the out-of-control spying and lying that is going on in Washington, and all over the world, all of which gives me the distinct impression the BRC seems to be is waging a war of attrition against its own citizens.

The techniques of information manipulation, to misdirect the attention of the enemy to where it cannot see the actual events that transpire behind the scenes; the lies told bare-faced, claiming innocence with bloody hands…. Well, you get the picture…. The people who are in charge of our nation, ffolkes, are NOT very nice people, and are waging a war against YOU, ME, and everyone who doesn’t fall in line with their insane view of the world….

If you think I’m judging them harshly, well, you may be correct…. But, guess what? They are supposed to be MY public servants, not the other way around, and I’m not going to act as if they have any right to do any of what they are up to, not as long as that is true….. I don’t buy into the sense of entitlement they assume, and happen to believe that they are not only NOT the best of us, rising to the top like cream in milk, but, in fact, I see them as more like the scum that rises to the top of any polluted stream…. It fits them much better, in terms of both visual aspect, as well as their, shall we say, less than flowery odor….

This whole issue, making a big fuss over something that is over and done, and was a mistake to begin with, is just another way to distract the public, keeping them from thinking about the stuff that Edward Snowden revealed, all of which IS STILL GOING ON.

That is what they don’t want us to know, ffolkes, and they’ll do anything to keep us focused somewhere else, even if that means giving up some poor bureaucrats who were only doing what they were told, serving them up as scapegoats to hide their own actions, allowing the press and public to judge these poor fools, to let Congress crucify THEM for having stupidly done a poor job, at what was never anything but a stupid idea…. If it keeps us from looking at what the NSA is doing, all the better, in their view….

I said above that I see our own government perpetrating what I see as acts of war against the American people; I consider that to be gospel truth…. The Beloved Ruling Class, at least, the one I’VE been watching, has been using Sun Tzu’s Art of War to carry on a campaign of disinformation and manipulation of attitudes for many years now….. If you’ve ever read it, it is very clear how the government’s actions and statements are designed to use the principles outlined therein to confuse and misdirect the public’s minds….

With this latest administration, that campaign has reached new levels of intrusion into people’s lives, stealing from them not only their money, with outrageous tax structures and an economic system designed to steal even more of what they earn, but, has also made serious inroads into eliminating the Bill of Rights, taking away liberty after liberty, all in the name of “Homeland Security”, an oxymoron if I ever heard one… Now, they aren’t even waiting for us to spend the money, but are using our own computers and phones to increase their level of control over our fates….

Bah, humbug…. I’m pissed again, and it’s still early…. I’m going to stop now, and go on to the next section, where I hope the poem I’ll choose will have a calming effect on me…. I am not looking forward to carrying this around all day….. and, I’m sure y’all are as tired of hearing about all this, as I am about having to write about it…. Believe me, I wish there wasn’t so damn much wrong in today’s world…. Maybe if there was a bit less, I’d feel as if I could afford to turn my head toward a subject somewhat less critical, but much more amiable to my spirit….

SIGH…. Such is life, and we have to take it the way it comes…. In doing so, however, it would be wise to remember….. despite any desires or wishes YOU may have, you are at war, ffolkes….. and the enemy lives very close at hand….

I’m gonna go Pearl now….

“Most essential qualification for a politician: The ability to foretell what will happen tomorrow, next month, and next year- and to explain afterward why it did not happen.” — Sir Winston Churchill

“Nothing is more admirable than the fortitude with which millionaires tolerate the disadvantages of their wealth.” — Nero Wolfe, Rex Stout (1866-1975)

“He whose pride oppresses the humble may, perhaps, be humbled, but will never be humble.” — Lavater

“Diplomats are just as essential to starting a war as soldiers are for finishing it … You take diplomacy out of war, and the thing would fall flat in a week.” — Will Rogers

“Firmness in politics is called obstinacy anywhere else.” — Smart Bee

“No man is good enough to govern another man without that other’s consent.” — Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865)

“If you want the present to be different from the past, study the past.” — Spinoza (1632-1677)

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

Maybe it’s just me, but I think this poem is beautiful…. so much so it is one of the best ever written, in my somewhat less than humble opinion….

Part of its charm, for me, comes from the sheer symmetry of the rhyming pattern Wordsworth used… Four lines with alternating ending rhymes, followed by a couplet that also rhymed perfectly…. Twenty-four lines, four stanzas, and a visual aspect as sharp as a photograph, in describing the flowers, and in the way it appears on screen, or paper…. Just look at it…. centered, balanced, complete within itself….

Carrying the pattern through to the ending verse, for me, creates a visual aspect that matches the sheer beauty of the experience he is sharing with the reader…. It assumes an almost mathematically precise symmetry for me, displaying the sheer beauty of nature in all its undisciplined magnificence….. One of my all-time favorite poems, for sure…. and always guaranteed to soothe the spirit…. I defy ANYONE to say they don’t feel better after reading this…..

Daffodils

I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o’er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced; but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
A poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company:
I gazed–and gazed–but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.

~~ William Wordsworth ~~

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

Having completed the obligatory ranting for the day…. (hell, given what I wrote yesterday, I could consider myself done for the week….) I don’t feel compelled to do so any further, and in fact, plan to finish up as quickly as I can, & go take a nap….. As a retired dilettante, I have that right, and I exercise it frequently, to keep it supple…. Moreover, I like it, so, there…..

I think, given the apparent direction my mood is taking, on the evidence of that last sentence, it intends to go somewhere none of us particularly want to go, so, I’m going to go pearling again, with no particular parameters to guide my hand, only a vague sense of nonsense…. whatever THAT might be….

Pluralitas non ponenda est sine necessitate. (Multiplicity is not to be asserted when it is unnecessary.) — William of Occam [Occam’s Razor]

“There is a time for thinking and a time for NOT thinking. And THIS isn’t one of them.” — Paul the Samurai

“A gleekzorp without a tornpee is like a quop without a fertsneet (sort of).” — Smart Bee

“Real glory springs from the silent conquest of ourselves.” — Joseph P. Thompson

“I put aside my copy of “BOWLING WORLD” and think about GUN CONTROL legislation..” — Zippy the Pinhead

“As far as the laws of mathematics refer to reality, they are not certain, and as far as they are certain, they do not refer to reality.” — Albert Einstein

“Trouble rather the tiger in his lair than the sage amongst his books. For to you Kingdoms and their armies are things mighty and enduring, but to him they are but toys of the moment, to be overturned by the flicking of a finger.” — Chinese proverb

Hmm…. an eclectic little group, eh? In looking at the whole pearl, I think I would suggest shuffling them around a bit, to see if a different configuration will shake it down to a point where it’s a bit more transparent, or at least organized into a sequential thought pattern…. Or, not….

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

Having dutifully proofed, edited, and polished, I consider this done…. Moreover, after carefully performing the appropriate calculations, I am convinced there really isn’t any more damage I can do…. That means it would be a good idea to end this now, and get on with the rest of the day….

Oh…. Okay, that means me…. Very well…. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes, provided the BRC hasn’t found me yet….

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 the dubious

Spirit lamps have been provided, and lit from within….

Posted on April 9, 2014 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

‘Tis a fortunate thing for all of us, Time…. Just think of where we’d be without it….. Days such as yesterday would go on forever, and we’d have no way to either stop it, or start again, or anything…. I’ve always liked to think of Time as being our most important gift from the universe…. otherwise, everything would have to happen all at once, and how icky would THAT be? It would get old in a heartbeat, for me, anyway….

Howdy, ffolkes… I’m back, and none too certain about what happened yesterday…. I’m not going to even think about it, as it was miserable there for the first while…. It all got better, as Uncle Sugar, as my friend Jerry D. calls him, sent my monthly stipend, for which I slaved away my youth, scavenging pennies for my old age, dutifully, (though with little choice…) depositing a portion of them into the SS bank, so kindly thought up for us by ol’ FDR, that master slave master with the big heart….. Having thus been forced by society to save my money for my old age, I am now reaping the rewards for that diligence, even if it was not my own, but enforced upon me by society….

None of the above is a complaint…. it only sounds as if it is, because I’m a natural grump, a curmudgeon in training…. It’s perfectly natural for me to sound that way, and, in fact, I can be cited for being nice to the wrong people…. Suffice it to say things got better yesterday as soon as I checked my bank balance online, and could plan the day’s events with that in mind and hand….. I AM a trained consumer, like everyone else, and it’s soothing to my capitalist soul to spend money….

Now, with all that having been said, I COULD go on to the Pearl for today…. but, what fun would that be, as I haven’t tormented the passengers yet, or issued any of the standard warnings, codicils, updates, or weather and terrorism bulletins ? (We’ve found the latter to be a very popular addition to the program…. everybody seems to enjoy hearing the latest warning statements issued by Homeland Insecurity…. they always get the biggest laughs of the program…) Indeed, we have yet to even board the gigoid-mobile, which we cannot do until they bring the damn thing here from the hangar….

I’m going to pretend it’s already here, though, and just get on with it…. I don’t think we can afford to take the time away from our schedule to wait for the vehicle we’d planned to use; they’re already late, and nothing is in sight…. Can’t call to see, as everyone involved is busy moving the plane….. but, that means they’ll be here in time to dive, so, I’m going to issue the face-masks, body armor, and box lunches, so we can board as soon as it shows up…. which means we’ll be on our way shortly…. Whew, good thing, as I don’t think I could fake this much longer…

Shall we Pearl?…..

“And this,” said Caesar, “you know, young man, is more disagreeable for me to say than to do.” — Plutarch (46-120 AD) — Life of Caesar

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

WARNING: The following pearl grew beyond all reasonable boundaries, until I finally had to use a variation of Emergency Method #6 to get quit of it…. I’m putting in a disclaimer so you may skim over it to the poetry section, if you wish…. but, I wish you wouldn’t, as it’s a pretty good rant, all in all….

http://www.sfgate.com/news/politics/article/USAID-chief-to-face-questions-on-Cuban-Twitter-5384467.php

Ominous key phrase: “publicly launched shortly after the 2009 arrest in Cuba of American contractor Alan Gross. He was imprisoned there after traveling repeatedly on a separate, clandestine USAID mission to expand Cuban Internet access, using sensitive technology that only governments use.”

I almost missed this little “tell” from the media lackey who wrote this, shall we say, LESS than unbiased report…. Sensitive technology that only governments use… What was that? That only GOVERNMENTS use? When did a government become NOT a person with a laptop? What does this mean, that “only” governments use some kinds of technology?

Does this imply to you, as it does to me, that there are things they aren’t telling us, in terms of the available technology in certain fields? You mean the government is, GASP! , LYING TO US? They’re keeping advanced technology away from the public? Why, I’m shocked, I tell you, simply shocked…

What the hell ELSE could it mean, ffolkes? Apparently, the government(s)(!!!) have technology the rest of us aren’t allowed to have, if any of this is at all accurate…. and, I’m guessing it is. (!!!) There you go, ffolkes, they’ve let the cat out of the bag, and it is now clawing its way up your leg toward where you keep you wallet, to snag its contents for the corporate masters who assign the tasks for their government myrmidons to carry out…. clandestinely, with the technology they’ve kept hidden from us….

This whole scenario, all this noise about more instances of spying by the government, by the way, is just MORE BS, a big smoke screen being thrown up to distract the public from matters of greater importance, in those areas where the actions of the government require the darkness that is provided by pulling our attention to other matters….. The hullabaloo in this issue goes right along with what is taking place in the article listed just below, which we will now proceed to address….

Nothing much more to say here, except, ffolkes, you’d better keep a sharp eye on your perimeter, and stay aware of whomever is lurking about…. Then, take measures to protect yourselves from your own government, who are among those lurking about, looking for anything they can steal, or get their fingers into…. and, now, we know they’re also trying to hook your kids up to some sort of techno system that will farm your information for anything that will further their cause….

“As you grow older, you’ll find the only things you regret are the things you didn’t do.” — Zachary Scott

I can relate…. I’ve spent many hours of regret for NOT having spent more time randomly shooting politicians, bankers, and/or preachers until I ran out of bullets…. Let’s move on to the next issue that prompted this outburst, which began two or three days ago, & is only now coming to fruition….

Yesterday morning, I felt like crap, without ever finding out why…. It passed, but not before abandoning this series of thoughts, which had been collecting in my head, and on this screen, for several days,, stimulated each time by each new outrageous news article I found, that could be identified as part of the government’s ongoing campaign to fill the heads of the public with useless, misleading information, or something that LOOKS like information, but, is actually just fluff, that will fill up their heads for a cheap price….

Below you will find the link to an article re: the continuing saga of DiFi and the CIA, (sounds like the name of an indie band, or a really bad, way-off-Broadway play…)…. which is followed by some of the key phrases I noted while reading it, with my comments appended where appropriate….. Just to keep y’all busy, some of what I said is in parentheses, and some isn’t….. Even after proofing, I’m uncertain as to which should be which, & it’s too late to go back and figure it out, so just deal, okay? Thanks….

http://www.sfgate.com/news/politics/article/Dems-slam-CIA-ex-boss-over-Feinstein-criticism-5382997.php

Key phrases in the article, taken from each side:

CIA: “We’re safe now, the CIA is here!” — Famous Last Words

(Okay, it’s not really in the article…. but, it fits, so it should be…. which is why I put it there….)

Hayden: “Hayden could not be reached for comment.” (Mr. Hayden is the CURRENT Director of the CIA….)

( This WAS in there…. All I can say is, well, I guess he would’t comment for this article, so they used stuff from another interview from earlier in the week, when he said the stuff that WAS included in today’s brief, such as the following….) (All excerpted portions from the article are in quotation marks….)

(The report…) “may show deep emotional feeling on the part of the senator, but I don’t think it leads you to an objective report.” Regarding Feinstein, he said, “When she gets an idea in her head, she’s very focused” — in much the same manner as current CIA Director John Brennan. Hayden said Feinstein’s report, however, was “designed to discredit the (interrogation) program and those who said this provided useful information.”

(I don’t know about y’all, but, those statements have a distinct tone of “nyah, nyah, nyah”, as might be heard on any third-grade playground….)

From the other side of the aisle, we have the statements on the issue by the Senator, and her supporters…. most of whom are Senate Democrats:

Feinstein: “Feinstein, D-Calif., said in a statement that declassifying the review of CIA’s detention and interrogation program after the Sept. 11 attacks “would ensure nothing like it happens again.” She called Hayden’s reference to her emotions “nonsense.” “The report itself is objective, based on fact, thoroughly footnoted, and I am certain it will stand on its own merits,” Feinstein said.”

(Duh! What the hell else would she say? I don’t think she could say what ACTUALLY was true, such as ,”Oh, they’re right, the report is just another way of making noise, by accusing them of chicanery over here in this issue, so the public won’t look at what the White House is REALLY doing about all this….” That would go over real well over on Pennsylvania Avenue, ya think?…. Probably not….)

But, she had to say SOMETHING, didn’t she? Can’t leave a media hound without a sound byte….. It just isn’t done …. Plus, if she’s telling any truth at all, it IS all footnoted, thoroughly….. or so she asserts, anyway, so that’s something, right? That will scare them, boy,…. we all know how dangerous those footnotes are…. Shoot, the way she said the words, “thoroughly footnoted”, like their mere utterance was some sort of magical proof of truth, just MAKES me HAVE to read them, if ony so I can see what “thoroughly footnoted” means…. to them….

Udall: ” Sen. Mark Udall, a Democrat who serves alongside Feinstein on the Senate Intelligence Committee, called the reference to Feinstein’s emotions a “baseless smear” that Hayden wouldn’t make against a man. ”

Others: “Does this sound like a person or party that respects women?” Reid said. Of Feinstein, he said: “She has been fearless. She has been thorough and fair… She’s being too emotional? I don’t think so.”

Good job, dudes…. Senators Reid and Udall chimed in to show the unity of the Dems in the Senate…. They wanted to be supportive of their colleague, plus, it was an opportunity to slip in one of their Party’s best strategic talking points, dragging down the Republicans about their views on women…. which, by coming to her defense, as if “the little lady” needed it, shows complete disdain for women, while simultaneously highlighting their own misogyny…. Utah must be proud….

Besides, thinking of Dianne Feinstein as a “little lady” is more than just stupid… the woman stands over six feet three in heels, and is built like a left tackle….. I know, I’ve seen her in person, in close proximity…. I’m not tall at 5’8″, but, I’m a wide-body, built like a fire-plug, or a linebacker, and don’t usually feel dwarfed by any woman, no matter how tall, but, she was BIG…. Scary, especially when one remembers she’s married to SF financier Richard Blum, a Chuck Schwab type of guy, who is definitely NOT a huge fella…. He was there, and is only about my own height and weight….

You’ll note, please, that I am confining myself to minor pokes and prods, without becoming overly vituperative…. This is because I am writing this ahead of time, and feeling quite glib right now…. thus, I am taking advantage of my momentary glib facility to get in some good licks from my sardonicism, and its ever-present side-kick, sarcasm…. hopefully, a bit of shameless guilt-tripping is getting through, as well…. But, no real ranting thus far…. I decided, here at the last, to rant no further, since this has grown beyond all reason….

Not only am I not going to subject you to a full-on, pedantic, pompous episode of ranting, at least, not any MORE of it, I’m going to stop my sharpshooting now, and finish off this epic section with a five-star pearl, with the expected parameters…. Enjoy, and I’ll see you in section three….

“He who reforms himself, has done more towards reforming the public, than a crowd of noisy, impotent patriots.” — Lavater

“The streets are safe in Philadelphia, it’s only the people who make them unsafe.” — Frank Rizzo (ex-police chief and mayor of Philadelphia)

(Typical attitude of an elected psychopath….)

“There are some remedies worse than the disease.” — Publius Syrus (42 BC) — Maxim 301

(Yep…. such as any remedy for social ills proposed by a POLITICIAN, who, by nature, has no invested interest in ever solving any social issues, other than for the purposes of their own aggrandizement, thus, only in the interests of self-service….)

UN-AMERICAN, adj. Wicked, intolerable, heathenish. — Ambrose Bierce, “The Devil’s Dictionary”

(Typical…. Just ask any redneck, conservative, or anyone else who calls themselves a “Patriot”, those of the “My country, right or wrong” ilk….)

“Honor is the reward of virtue.” — Cicero (B.C. 106-43)

(Oops! How did THAT get in there…. That won’t go over well with an elected official; like George Carlin pointed out, such words make a lawyer or a politician feel uneasy; they know they take the risk of choking on either word, if they try to apply it to themselves…. Let’s try for another closing pearl, that will say something along the lines we’re seeking here today….)

“The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, but wiser people are so full of doubts.” — Bertrand Russell

That will do nicely…. NOW we can go on, with confidence we’ve kicked the shit out of THIS section today….. Even though it makes me a liar, (count the number of pearls herein…..) I’ll leave you with this final thought, from one of the designers of our modern government, as he comments on the already-suspect behavior of those who inhabited the halls of our government, even back then, in his time, and, speaking with a degree of clairvoyance he never knew, eerily describing the Beloved Ruling Class, as it exists today…..

“I have come to the conclusion that one useless man is called a disgrace, that two are called a law firm, and that three or more become a Congress.” — John Adams, (1735-1826) in 1776

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

WordPress recently began placing suggested related posts at the bottom of our blog pages, referring readers to older, archived posts with similar material for them to peruse… In doing so, yesterday or the day before, I came across the following, from From February 2, 2012…. I like it a lot, so I decided to format it into verses, whereupon it turned into a poem I think I can be very proud to have created…. Well, I like it…. Here then, is the original prose version, followed by the resultant poem….

Written 2/2/12:

But you shall not escape my iambics.

Soft, sinuous patterns of unearthly beauty blithely commune with sinking stars, as pale shadows of former virtue hover near, ever clean, ever tolerant. These unbidden habits are worn with age and care, ready now for dissolution, welcoming gladly the kiss of death’s handmaiden. Unknown to all, the child stands aside, and weeps for the lost days of youth, days that now shall never be, nor yearned for ever after. Only darkness shall lay upon the landscape, cold, hard, and eternal. Such then are the signs and portents as we enter into the unknown future, and they are grave indeed. Uncertainty will be our sole companion, as the search for hope yields no result. The lamentations of the gods shall sound the elegy for Man, who never learned to see the gift that was made, so many echoes ago, in the hopeful past; thus will we pass this plane of existence as we came, baffled and afraid…..

Well, sorry….this was supposed to be a poem, but it just ran away with me there for a few minutes. I’ll have to come back later and look at it with fresh eyes….. Okay, so it’s not bad, as a not-poem goes. I’ve certainly created worse…..I’ll just have to put it out there, and let it fly or not, as it chooses… (I do tend to anthropomorphize fairly often; its a gift…..)
_____________________________

This is how it looks as a poem, complete with brand new title:

Gently Came a Wounded Child

But you shall not escape my iambics.

Unknown to all, the child stands aside,
weeping for the lost days of youth,
days that now shall never be,
nor yearned for ever after.
Only darkness shall lay upon the landscape,
cold, hard, eternal.

Such then are the signs and portents
as we enter into the unknown future,
they are grave indeed.

Uncertainty will be our sole companion,
as the search for hope yields no result.
The lamentations of the gods
shall sound the elegy for Man,
who never learned to see the gift that was made,
so many echoes ago, in the hopeful past;
thus will we pass this plane of existence
as we came, baffled and afraid….

~~ gigoid ~~

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

Well, I’ve made it this far, I may as well finish up…. This will be a standard old-school pearl…. I’ve ranted QUITE enough for one day, above in section one, so you probably knew this was coming… S’okay, I expected the regulars to figure it out, and the newbies, well, they have to take what they get, don’t they? I’m not trying to be smarmy, or anything, I just figure since we’re mostly done here for the day, I could get away with a touch of smarm, if I had to…. Okay, I won’t then…. Be that way….

Instead, I offer, then, for your viewing pleasure, a random, harlequin pearl, with parameters set to describe “a life lived well”…. or, maybe that was, “well, living life”…. Yeah, that was it…

“Don’t blame me–I was raised by humans” — Smart Bee

“A child is a curly, dimpled lunatic.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)

“When I examine myself and my methods of thought, I come to the conclusion that the gift of fantasy has meant more to me than any talent for abstract, positive thinking.” — Albert Einstein

” ‘He deserves death’. ‘Deserves it! I daresay he does. Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them ? Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgment. For even the very wise cannot see all ends.’ ” — J. R. R. Tolkien – The Lord of the Rings

“I prefer to be true to myself, even at the hazard of incurring the ridicule of others, rather than to be false, and to incur my own abhorrence.” — Frederick Douglass

“All of the animals excepting man know that the principal business of life is to enjoy it.” — Samuel Butler (1835-1902)

“Mongo only pawn… in game of life.” — Alex Karras in “Blazing Saddles”

Okay, to end this, here is a statement of reaction to the above that is a perfect example of Art imitating Life imitating Art imitating Life, as perfectly highlighted by the immortal words of George Peppard, when he said, at the end of each episode of The A-Team, “I love it when a plan comes together!”…. Serendipity is a wonderful thing….

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

Go, forget me! why should sorrow
O’er that brow a shadow fling?
Go, forget me, and to-morrow
Brightly smile and sweetly sing!
Smile,–though I shall not be near thee;
Sing,–though I shall never hear thee!

— Charles Wolfe (1791-1823) — Go, forget me!

Actually, it would be rather nice if y’all DIDN’T forget me just yet…. After I’ve gone to my next appointment in the reincarnation cycle, THEN you can forget me…. Of course, my words will still be here, and one or two of them are, if not unforgettable, hopefully, at least, memorable…. On that note, anything other than tootling “ta-ta” would be anticlimactic at best….. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes….

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 the dubious

Twisted versions of classical toilet accessories….

Posted on April 5, 2014 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

I’m thinking the old saw about “Early to bed”, etc., is either a crock, designed purely to force dogmatic prejudices upon unwilling members of religious flocks, back when the preachers were not quite so thoroughly entrenched as the teachers of morality for our species, OR, it’s a typo rooted in being misheard….

I think the actual statement originally went “Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man wealthy and wealthy, but not very wise.” To my way of thinking, this makes a LOT more sense, from a quality of life standpoint….. The other way is just how the preachers and snakeheads WANT you to believe, as it gives THEM the power over you they crave….

You see, they’re the ones who reap the benefit when you get up early, work hard, & go to bed, all without ever trying to use the brain you were given at birth…. These manipulators, the dogma-bearers and the snakeheads who reap the benefit of all your hard work, will tell you anything at all, without any reference to truth or reality, as long as it will get y’all to do what they want, which is to accept their words as truth, & to do as they say, not as they do….

What amazes me the most about this system is that it WORKS AT ALL! How can anyone, anyone with a brain, one that has more than three functioning neurons, allow themselves to believe such bullshit, just because they were told it was true when they were so young they knew no better than to accept what they were told by an elder…

“Children are to be won to follow liberal studies by exhortations and rational motives, and on no account to be forced thereto by whipping.” — Plutarch (46-120 AD) — Of the Training of Children

As long as people allow the corporate snakeheads, so ably assisted by the dogma-dogs, who have been manipulating mankind right along with the money-lenders since we first lived indoors, to fill our heads with bullshit like this, the world will never change, not in any way that will help you and me….. In our world, as it exists today, only the shadowy corporate slave masters ultimately benefit from what happens in the world at large….

I’m not sure what prompted this mini-rant here in the intro, but, it’s all true, so I’m going to not worry about it, and just get on with today’s program, such as it may be…. The above paragraphs MAY be the leftovers from the rant below, much of which was written yesterday afternoon, when I first saw the article in question…. It got me going pretty good, so, this is probably the consequence of the remaining bit of angst from that episode, that drove me to such depths of passion….

So be it…. it’s a good thing, I think, to use our minds first thing upon awakening….. The shock brings us out of sleep mode rapidly, and I’m pretty sure it adds to the clarity of expression that we are seeing. Hope springs eternal….

Regardless of all that, it’s done, and done well enough we can go on without any lingering guilt or resentment for having to contort ourselves unfashionably to create an opening section….. Not bad for an old fart with flat feet, frequent flatulence, & a startlingly bad attitude, all housed in a frail, broken old body, that strangely resembles a Frisbee-toting, card-carrying denizen of the wilds of Berzerkeley, as they looked back in the old days, when hippies roamed free upon the land…. The grey hair down to my waist, thin as it may be, is a dead giveaway, isn’t it?

Shall we Pearl?…..

And here, poor fool, with all my lore
I stand no wiser than before.

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832)

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

“In God We Trust.” I don’t believe it would sound any better if it were true.” — Mark Twain

Boy, it sure wouldn’t, would it? But, you can add that particular phrase (“In God….”, etc.) to all the others coined by the snakeheads, and the BRC, to justify their social interactions, all of which serve THEIR ends, not yours…. Having the populace believe the above makes for a very easily manipulated group of people, all of whom are primed to believe whatever they’re told, by someone on TV wearing a suit with a flag pin, or up in the pulpit….

Now we’re supposed to believe them when they talk to us about spying, and lying, and generally being the assholes they cannot help but be…. ( Hmm, a bit awkwardly phrased, but you get my drift, right?…)

http://www.sfgate.com/news/politics/article/Senate-committee-OKs-release-of-CIA-torture-report-5375716.php

Following this line, in summary of the most critical of the information contained therein, I have copied an excerpt from the above article, a brilliantly obscure statement of compliance (?), kinda sorta, from some guy who works at the CIA. That critical excerpt, taken directly from the above, is this:

“CIA spokesman Dean Boyd said his agency would “carry out the review expeditiously,” but suggested the process may be difficult.”We owe it to the men and women directed to carry out this program to try and ensure that any historical account of it is accurate,” Boyd said….”

That’s right, that’s what he said, right out there in public, where it was recorded by numerous reporters…. This person, this… Boyd person, is the mouthpiece spokesman for the CIA, an agency whose very existence, (its raison d’etre, its excuse for being part of our world at all), is to provide intelligence (in the form of information, a task that does not necessarily require significant levels of IQ in its operatives…. Flexible morality, yes, but, not IQ points….) from outside the borders of the USA, by inhabiting, and exploiting, the world of shadow, the battlefield of covert operations in other countries, using techniques and methods of operation based on illusion, misdirection, misinformation, and lies…. This is common knowledge, and not subject to debate…. look it up in their charter documents….

This Boyd person, and I use the term loosely, by making this statement, obviously expects us to believe that his agency, whose very existence is rooted in lies and the spread of misinformation, is ready, and willing to give us, or anyone else, an ACCURATE picture of what they’ve been up to? I don’t know about y’all, but, I’m insulted….

In fact, I can’t recall at the moment anything more egregiously untrue, or as insulting, since Nixon’s “I am not a crook!” back in the 70’s…. Or, maybe, Shrub, Senior’s “Read my lips… no new taxes.”….. Since the sheer illegitimacy of both of those statements has long been a forgone conclusion, no longer a matter of debate, I’d say it’s a fair assessment to make of this particular little piece of verbal bullshit…

http://www.sfgate.com/news/politics/article/Cuban-Twitter-heads-to-hearings-in-Congress-5375669.php

Then, searching further among the headlines of BS we are supposed to buy into, we come to the LATEST of the clandestine shenanigans our beloved Barry, and his “transparent administration” has been up to in the last few years….

Without bothering to actually TELL anyone, some government lackeys, encouraged by the “Arab Dawn” phenomenon in the Middle East, an event whose roots were nourished by the social networking capabilities of Twitter and Instant Messaging technology, decided to attempt to foment rebellion in Cuba among the youth of that country, by deliberately setting up a social network of their own, using it to not only encourage dissent, but, also, (they like to multi-task…) to gather information about the users in Cuba…

Well, I’m shocked…. just shocked, I tell you…. What a surprise, eh? To think that our Beloved Ruling Class here in America, land of the FREE (~~white Christian minority~~) would stoop to such egregiously deceitful and deliberate influencing of public sentiment to further their own interests, why it just makes me feel so…. slimed…. Which is how the Cubans must have felt when they found out it was all a sham…

Boy, there’s sure nothing like going around the world making new friends and influencing people, right?…. Christ on a crutch, what the fuck were they thinking? Have these assholes become so blinded by their own sense of entitlement they can’t see just how STUPID that is? Apparently not, which is what will come out, I think, in these hearings…. More stupidity, that is….

It’s all a big clusterfuck, just another example of entitlement gone wild and crazy, making the pundits and elected assholes at every level believe they can be as stupidly obvious about their self-serving avarice as they wish, and nobody will ever care, or catch them at it…. which is a concept, given today’s world, that is not only easily seen as more than just a little stupid, it approaches the level of severe mental retardation…. Having spent a lot of time, (3+ years), taking care of people whose average IQ hovered around 4, I can testify that this sort of belief is about the only sort of which they are capable…..

They’re all a bunch of smarmy, self-serving, avaricious assholes…. and THAT, my friends, is me being NICE!….. I merely used a bit of vitriol, with only one questionably unwarranted word of insult…. I COULD have been extremely nasty, turning viciously vulgar, without breaking a sweat, or becoming at all disconcerted…. Yep, I could have said, fuck them all, really hard, right in the ass, (unless, of course, they LIKE that….); then, kick their sorry asses right down to the lowest levels of the hell they so richly deserve…. but, I won’t say that….

gigoid, the dubious, has spoken. So be it….

“…. I’m IMAGINING a sensuous GIRAFFE, CAVORTING in the BACK ROOM of a KOSHER DELI –” — Zippy the Pinhead

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

Today is another day with mostly fresh material…. which means I’ll need to use another of my old poems, to protect the innocent… Here is one I wrote last December; obviously, I had the above rant in mind, or one like it….

Accentuated Lessons

Bold statements of calculated intent
Become common rule of the malcontent.
Avarice assumes such attractive wear
Beguiling deception, illusory and fair.

Grasping and pulling with ghostly hands
Legally proper in all the signatory lands.
Seeking and finding each vulnerable soul
Anguish as payment for exacting the toll.

Wraiths of commerce’s invisible dead guards
Still haunt the dreams left in sad empty yards.
While absentee nobles sit in stiffly elegant splendor
Served by sad-faced detainees in abject surrender.

Escape from reality is illusory at best
Often we falter and fail its daily test.
Only when focused on inner strength
Does peace stay with us for any length.

Peace lies within, always…..

~~ gigoid ~~

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

I’ve ranted, twice, if you want to be picky, and found a poem to fit in with the rest…. Y’all know what that means, don’t you? Yep, it’s time for an old school pearl…. Some might say it’s about damn time, too…. Let’s see if SB can do it all by itself today…. All I’ll do is push the buttons…. Enjoy!

“It also seems to me that the rudest word, the rudest letter are still more benign, more decent than silence. Those who remain silent are almost always lacking in delicacy and courtesy of the heart.” — Friedrich Nietzsche

“People are divided into two groups – the righteous and the unrighteous – and the righteous do the dividing.” — Lord Cohen

“Aren’t you beginning to feel time gaining on you? It’s like a predator. It’s stalking you. You can try to outrun it with doctors, medicines… new technologies. But in the end, time is going to hunt you down – and make the kill.” — Soran, Star Trek, Generations

“A wise man first determines what is within his control; all else is then irrelevant.” — Epictetus

“It was not for nothing that the raven was just now croaking on my left hand.” — Plautus (254-184 BC) — Aulularia, Act iv, Sc. 3, 1, (624.)

“The nobler a man, the harder it is for him to suspect inferiority in others.” — Marcus Tullius Cicero

“He knows not when to be silent who knows not when to speak. — Publius Syrus (42 BC) — Maxim 930

I, having learned to do both, shall now be silent….

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

I’m impressed…. Yes, even I have to admit this one is pretty decent, as well as one of the smoothest ever, in terms of how well it went onto the screen…. I’m not going to tempt our old pal Murphy by trying to continue to write any further, but will use a variation of method #4 to bring this to a screeching halt…. See y’all mañana, ffolkes…..

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 the dubious

gigoid

Ned Moore, aka gigoid, is a 70 year-old, (!!!… When did that happen?….), retired dilettante, who would rather read than eat, most days. His first blog, "gigoid’s folly", has been emailed out to folks he knows for about 18 years now. He still considers it his best defense against angst, and the ever-present specter of sheer insanity..... Due to rigorous curmudgeon training requirements, he has discontinued his Facebook presence, but still indulges in the occasional Twitter session... In essence, he's socialized, but, not overly sociable; all labels and stereotypes are forbidden in his presence... and he doesn't care what anyone thinks about that..... In fact, he doesn't want to talk anymore.... If you feel you MUST contact gigoid, his email address is: alphagigoid@gmail.com You can go read now.... Go on, beat it.... gigoid, the dubious

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gigoid

Exploring Consensual Reality

Tag Archives: CIA

Stick with the potted meats, Bosley….

Soliciting salsa for the homeless….

Turn left at the garden gnome….

Songs of hearth and home….

Provenance won’t impress the hungry….

Failing that, we’ll go subterranean….

Alice, in a fit of pique, beheads the Cheshire Cat….

One of our nuclear clothespins is missing….

Spirit lamps have been provided, and lit from within….

Twisted versions of classical toilet accessories….

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