Save some of that tripe for later….

Posted on April 12, 2014 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

If I ever get to the point of sleeping all night on a regular basis, not only will I have overcome years of light but persistent insomnia, (and the pain that brought it into being…..) but, I will have, by then, figured out how to deal with having a schedule that is written, at least partially, in stone, that is to say, a solid, consistent routine, upon which I could depend to be the same each day….. My gosh, I just realized, if that ever happened, it could lead to all sorts of stuff that I haven’t ever been able to accomplish, such as an intro section that wrote itself….

I don’t have a clue as to what that might mean to me, in terms of change, or the need to adjust my mental status to conform to reality (I know, that is what happens all the time, but, I’m talking long-term, permanent adjustments, that take longer to develop, and put in place, as well as to change, if it ever becomes necessary….). If I did, that would probably give me an idea of how to cope, or what direction the changes might take; since I don’t, we’ll just have to fake it, again…..

We all have to fake it to a degree; we weren’t issued manuals at birth, so we have to feel our way through life much of the time, like groping through a dark room with hard furniture in random places, desperately craving the flesh of shins, to soothe its savage hunger. (Why is it, when we have to do stuff like that, we have to do it in the pitch dark? Is there a law of reality or something that says we have to add the terror of darkness to whatever nonsensical issue brought us into that room in the first place? It’s almost like being caught in a horror movie, with no place to go but up the stairs where all the strange noises are coming from….)

I’m pretty sure that’s not the best place for me to go, either in my head, or here, on the screen, for you to share…. Besides, I wouldn’t want to be like that dumb jock that grabs a baseball bat, then goes up the stairs to face off the bloodthirsty psycho with a machete, or the ravening horror from another dimension that will eat us all, without first at least TRYING to use the phone to call for a little backup….

Hell, if it was me, I’d spend more than just a couple minutes trying to see if there was a shotgun, or a reasonable facsimile, lying around…. I’d feel a lot better facing off a machete with that, than with a bat, no matter how much extra reach it gives me…. A 12-gauge over/under would give me all the reach I’d need…. A Glock 9mm semi-auto pistol has some pretty good stopping power, too. (Side note: is it a movie law that any house with a monster coming is not allowed to have a shotgun in it? They never do, even though the number of households in this country that have a gun in them is fairly large…. I guess they’re more concerned with drama than believability…. It IS television, or movies, you know, and is NOT real, as much as we tend to think it is…..)

I’m wandering now, aren’t I? I can feel it slipping away from me….. which means it’s time for good old #4 again….. Hold on…

Shall we Pearl?….

“Since everything in life is but an experience perfect in being what it is, having nothing to do with good or bad, acceptance or rejection, one may well burst out in laughter.” — Long Chen Pa

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Below you will find several links, to articles that report on the latest developments in the ongoing saga of espionage and chicanery being played out on the world stage involving the NSA, and the extent of the spying and lying in which they have engaged, for what is turning out to be longer than anyone had realized, or, for that matter, authorized…..

The first article is from the Guardian, the UK news outlet that first published the revelations of the NSA spy program, leaked to them by Eric Snowden, the former contractor who worked for the agency before “spilling the beans”…. It is a compendium of the entire issue, from the beginning, right up to the latest of the articles, the second in the list, which reports on the issues brought up in Mr. Snowden’s recent testimony to the European Union assembly…

The third is from the Electronic Frontier Foundation, an organization that works to maintain the freedom of expression, and security of private communications over the world wide web, by bring suit in court against companies and government agencies who try to place limits on web traffic, and online with the spread of information useful to all those who use the web…. I’ll make a comment or two when you have read some of the material, and feel up to speed…. Oh, come on, you KNEW that was coming…. If nothing else, by reading these, you’ll be completely up to speed on this issue, which will stand you in good stead in your next BS session….

http://www.theguardian.com/world/the-nsa-files?INTCMP=mic_232382

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/apr/08/edwards-snowden-us-government-spied-human-rights-workers

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2014/04/why-web-needs-perfect-forward-secrecy

You know, ffolkes, I’m going to change things a bit here…. I would usually pull some excerpts from these articles, & use them as springboards for discussion of the issues, but, today, I don’t seem to be in touch with the angst needed to work up enough outrage….

In short, I don’t feel like ranting today, as much as I hate to let the chance to point out more instances of BRC shenanigans go by, without taking at least a few token shots at them, just to see them jump and dance…. In fact, I’m going to replace the intended rant for today with another old-school group of quotes, letting Smart Bee take all the shots he can fit into a five-star pearl….

“I don’t HAVE to think, I KNOW!” — The official motto of the House Republicans

“I’m just here for moral support. Ignore the gun.” — Mission Statement: National Security Agency

“Americans have different ways of saying things. They say `elevator’, we say `lift’…they say `President’, we say `stupid psychopathic git’….” — Alexi Sayle

“There’s only one way to kill a rat…” — Robert A. Heinlein

“One final paragraph of advice: Do not burn yourselves out. Be as I am – a reluctant enthusiast… a part time crusader, a half-hearted fanatic. Save the other half of yourselves and your lives for pleasure and adventure. It is not enough to fight for the land; it is even more important to enjoy it. While you can. While it’s still here. So get out there and hunt and fish and mess around with your friends, ramble out yonder and explore the forests, encounter the grizz, climb the mountains, bag the peaks, run the rivers, breathe deep of that yet sweet and lurid air, sit quietly for a while and contemplate the precious stillness, that lovely, mysterious and awesome space. Enjoy yourselves, keep you brain in you head and your head firmly attached to the body, the body active and alive, and I promise you this much: I promise you this one sweet victory over our enemies, over those desk bound people with their hearts in a safety deposit box and their eyes hypnotized by desk calculators. I promise you this: You will outlive the bastards.” — Edward Abbey

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Here are two haiku of mine, found while cruising through some old Pearls, from 2012, when haiku was the only kind of poetry I was writing, pretty much… At that time, midway through the year, I had yet to break my long fast for writing poems; that came later that year…. but, I like both of these, so, here they are again, now in the form they need to be in, rather than the informal format in which I found them…. I hope you enjoy them…

Fulfilling Gravidity

Writing for the few
with words of power and grace
often brings such pain.

~~ gigoid ~~

Morning Pearls

Such mornings as these
chase away my dreams of light.
I won’t cry again.

~~ gigoid ~~

As a bonus for those who have gotten this far today, here is another poem, but not mine…. this one is better than any I’VE ever done….

The cricket sang,
And set the sun,
And workmen finished, one by one,
Their seam the day upon.

The low grass loaded with the dew,
The twilight stood as strangers do
With hat in hand, polite and new,
To stay as if, or go.

A vastness, as a neighbor, came,–
A wisdom without face or name,
A peace, as hemispheres at home,–
And so the night became.

~~ Emily Dickinson ~~

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Here is a pretty decent rant from the same section of the archives where I found the haiku, sometime in June of 2012…. As noted, I’m not in a terrific place for ranting today, so this will suffice nicely to round out this Pearl…. Balance is always a good thing….

——————————————-

The non permanent appearance of happiness and distress, and their disappearance in due course, are like the appearance and disappearance of summer and winter seasons. — Bhagavad Gita

I don’t know about you, but, I think, if someone were to sit down to write a one sentence summary of Ecclesiastes, this would be very like what they came up with. Coming as it does from the Bhagavad Gita, written prior to Ecclesiastes by several centuries, I doubt the author(s) had that in mind as a goal. It’s funny to me (ironic-funny) how often that is the case. I’ve read the religious books from several different religions, and they seem to have all been written by the same guy….

This idea led me to more research, so I spent some years trying to track down the authors responsible for all the books, and what I found is amazing…. The religious books of ALL religions on Earth WERE written by the SAME GUY. I don’t know his name, but his writing style, and the content of what was written, are the same in all of the tomes I searched. This datum is somewhat disconcerting, as it implies a conspiracy…. logic says that if all were written by the same guy, there is a reason. That reason is probably NOT in the best interests of the average person; it more likely has to do with whatever the author’s goals are….

Now, I have previously written here on religions, relating how they attempt to control the populace, to make them amenable to more control by their political counterparts. It seems now that this concept is even more sinister than I had imagined. The beloved ruling class, and the priestly hierarchies, don’t want us to know that they are controlling us. Their purpose is simple; they want us, essentially, to be their slaves….. T

The BRC and the preachers all want the average man to work all his life, without ever realizing they are working for someone else’s benefit. The pattern is clear enough throughout history that examples are not necessary at this time, but rest assured, our beloved ruling class, with the support of the religions, is manipulating events for THEIR advantage, not ours, and has been doing so for thousands of years…..

“All you need in this life is ignorance and confidence, and then success is sure.” — Mark Twain (1835-1910)

Let me make something clear. There are people on this planet who are not selfish. There are people who don’t wish to control others, or to manipulate others for their own benefit. There are folks who are just plain good; their spirits are free, and clean. The problem is, they are few, and far between, and not a single one of them cares a whit about controlling others. Thus, though they are likely not as affected by the manipulations of the ruling class, they are not going to be roused to action without just cause, which the ruling class will not allow to occur, if they can help it.

The number of people who are part of the beloved ruling class is very small, compared to the mass of mankind. From what I can see, that number is probably about the same as the number of people who really understand what is going on, and object to it. Let’s say that number is about 5% (probably lower, but we’ll just use this for now….) So, that makes 5% beloved ruling class, manipulating society for their own benefit, 5% ffolkes who actually see the manipulations, and 90% clueless sheep. Well, not sheep I guess, because some of them can be pretty violent. But, clueless, for sure…. This breakdown, while not exact, represents an accurate picture of society’s makeup since the dawn of civilization….

If ignorance is bliss, why aren’t there more happy people? — Smart Bee

So, to bring this back around to where we started, the 5% of mankind that are actually running things have no investment in changing; they want things just the way they are, as they have been for 10,000 years. The other 5% aren’t enough to make the changes happen without the cooperation of the 90%, which the beloved ruling class will work to deny with all their resources. So, I have a new tactic which could help. See, we gotta find that guy…… What guy? Please, pay attention…. the guy who wrote all the books for the religions.

Once we find that guy, we either brainwash him, or recruit him through reason, into a re-write. The re-write could be artificially aged, and then found in some cave in the Himalayas, or in the fertile crescent. The altered text would be designed to negate, or nullify, all of the lies that the other books have perpetrated on society. Once the 90% is enlightened, I think the resulting anger at the beloved rulers and preachers will set matters aright in no time. What do you think?…. Hey, it could work!….

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I’m going to meet an old friend for breakfast today, so I’ll bring this to a screeching halt at this point, and try to get on with the day…. Hopefully, this Pearl will live up to its name…. and, if not, there’s always tomorrow…. See y’all then, 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

Four coconut-periwinkle macaroon omelets, please, to go….

Posted on March 28, 2014 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

Save for the hour, I’d be happy to be up and writing; that’s on the one hand….. On the other hand, given the hour, I’m happy to be retired, without the need to get going to get ready for work (when you see those 4 letters arranged into that word, imagine it spoken aloud with Maynard G. Kreb’s pronunciation, sort of a high-pitched squeaking, with a heavy note of fear, and a querulous, wavering tone…. WUURK?!….). In fact, I’m up at what seems to be my new normal time, between 0330 and 0400, in time to beat the coffee, but, not the cat….

Not that I’d actually BEAT the wee thing; she’s annoying, but I’m not a species chauvinist, and would never allow myself to treat an animal like I would a human…. they deserve far better than that…. To a human, I can justify almost ANY sort of cruelty or antagonism, as they are, at least, my peers, and whatever I can do to them, they can do to me (if they dare….)…. With animals, that does not hold true; to abuse ANY animal, in my mind, is about as low on the morality scale as one can go….

My own moments of regret over immoral behavior, and, the time spent flogging myself in the lower levels of my personal hell, all have their origin in those few times in my life when I’ve forgotten that, and have been inadvertently cruel to an animal…. Whatever I’ve done to any human has already been returned to me, tenfold, so I don’t fret at all about whatever happens with them…. Animals, by nature, do not have the same sort of cruelty in them, so it isn’t cricket to put the onus of our own nature on them; nothing they’ve ever done deserves that kind of dark, evil response…

Hmm…. How the hell did I end up there? That has to be one of the oddest little mind-trips I’ve ever taken, all the more so for having done it right out here in the relative open, where anyone & everyone can witness the strange manner in which my mind “does its thing”…. so to speak. I haven’t the foggiest why I felt compelled to take that little journey into the dark side of Man’s nature, but, it must have had something to do with the cat…. She’s gotten used to me being up early, & now feels entitled to my company when SHE wants to get up…. Hence, early morning mischief, to get my attention….

Ah well, being up early seems to work better for me, anyway…. and the wee furry beast has at least stopped trying to wake up milady Pat, so that’s a good thing, I suppose….. Now, if only there were some way to sync the hours that Pat and I sleep, maybe we could spend a bit of time together, while actually awake and aware, rather than being on the same schedule as two people working opposite shifts to save on babysitting, like when we were young, raising kids….

Ah well, one can’t have everything, I suppose…. I complain about our BRC’s false sense of entitlement so often, I feel as if I should keep from exhibiting it in my own life, as far as possible…. I take what reality gives me, and try to be happy with that…. It also gives me the chance to practice the wisdom of Lao Tzu, as related in yesterday’s Pearl, who reminds us…. “He who knows that enough is enough will always have enough.”

Shall we Pearl?…..

“OK, so you’ve got a Ph.D. Now, don’t touch anything.” — Smart Bee
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Back in the early days of this thought experiment gone rogue, which WordPress, and the forces of peer pressure insist I call a blog, the Pearls of Virtual Wisdom were shaped differently…. Originally, back in the time before the word “blog” existed, in the original email format, Pearls consisted of a short, hopefully powerful intro, followed by three to five pearls, which comprised the majority of the material under consideration.

By the time the Daily Pearl was posted on 3/12/2012, it had grown to include five sections, each of which began with a single pearl, followed by my thoughts, which, in that period, constituted the larval stage of the politirants and religirants you see in today’s version of P’sOVW…. Here are two entries from that date, one of each…. (Minor changes made to reflect the passage of time, blended “so’s you’d never know’t”…. I hope….)

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From 3/12/2012:

“I don’t make jokes. I just watch the government and report the facts.” — Will Rogers

I was going to use this as a springboard for another rant on our beloved ruling class….. But, the more I thought about it, the longer it percolated in my brain, the sadder I grew….

I used to feel a lot of love for my country, if for nothing else, because of the dream of liberty and human empowerment that our system of government was envisioned, and intended, to create, and maintain. The founding fathers had a vision, of a country where every man and woman had the same opportunities, to live their lives as they chose, as every other person, without censure, and without the fear of being persecuted for their beliefs, no matter how different they were from everyone else’s.

A dream of a place where children could grow up without the fear of hunger, or abuse, or death from the skies. A place where a man, or a woman, was respected for just being human, without having to prove their worth to some ignorant asshole who is afraid of any color skin but their own.

Instead, we live in a society whose diverse segments have an extreme, and sadly justified, mistrust of each other, where the rich and powerful, instead of uplifting their fellow man, use their influence and wealth to divide and discriminate, always with the intention of keeping the less fortunate in a powerless state, too downtrodden to even hope for better.

We live in a society that ignores its elderly, and abuses its children; a society where people are starving amidst mountains of food. We have a produced a culture that glorifies war, and sees peaceful coexistence as weakness; a culture where it is a crime for a man to kill another for honor, but is praised for being part of an army of professional killers.

This country has reached the sad point in its history where the twin concepts of honor and duty have been supplanted as the basis of our national character, replaced by the glaring presence of avarice, false entitlement, and expediency.

Yes, I am saddened by Will’s joke, because it cuts far too close to reality, and home…..

From today, 3/28/2014:

“They scream into my ears,
But what they say will only make me deaf.”

— Claus Larsen
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

“It’s hard to be religious when certain people are never incinerated by bolts of lightning.” — Calvin, Bill Watterson’s Calvin & Hobbes

Jimmy Swaggert, and the other 5 or 6 televangelists who regularly get caught literally with their pants down come immediately to mind for a list of potential recipients of divine extermination intervention…….

Newt Gingrich, along with a large number of his cohorts in Congress, obviously, for congenital lying, and excessive sliminess….

Rick Santorum, because I can’t imagine an entity as smart as God is reputed to be to let this ….. person…. (I believe using the word “person” is being kind, but, we’ll give the benefit of doubt for the time being, for expedience… See, even I fall prey to that failure of ethics…), well, I don’t think He will let him speak in his Name for long, not without exacting some price….. (I’ve heard that divine price-tag can be a bit heavy….)….

Twitt Romney, that elitist asshole…..

…. and, finally, as Yul Brynner stated so beautifully in his only attempt to sing on film: “Et cetera, et cetera, et cetera…..” to which I would add, “and a cast of thousands, ad nauseam infinitum…..”

I suppose it also says something less than admirable about the media to note that much, or even MOST of the crap to which we are exposed, by the members of the (supposed) fifth column, consists, in the main, of reports on the activities of the LEAST admirable examples of our species, who, unfortunately, are the ones who make for salable news…. These newsworthy individuals provide the material that will pay for the advertising costs, so the shadowy corporate masters are satisfied that we will hear about the latest, greatest new products, each of which fills some previously unknown manufactured need.

The most lucrative subject matter, the stories that sell the most papers, or which comprise the material for the most successful TV shows is, as it turns out, an endless variety of dramatic fantasies, describing in minute, intimate detail, all of the stupidest, most egregious examples of the (verifiably…) insane antics of a (seemingly) limitless number of the WORST of humanity….

Loud, perverted, fanatic religious zealots (aka. preachers….), unprosecuted criminals wearing power suits and ties, (aka, politicians….), and a parade of sports and entertainment figures with an average IQ of 77 (actors, actresses, ball players, and police/military myrmidons)…. These are the current examples of “famous celebrities” we are supposed to fawn over, to use as our idols, for emulation…. at least, if we are to believe what we see on the TV (total vacuum)….

I often feel a sense of despair after reading the news…. fortunately, I have WordPress to alleviate any dangerous build-up of bile….. but, all too often, it sure makes me wish for a few well-placed bolts of lightning to provide some comic relief, at least…..

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From today, 3/28/2014:

“Of all the animals, the boy is the most unmanageable.” — Plato (428-348? B.C.)

Well, that was certainly confusing, eh? Maybe, just maybe, evolution is a good thing…. ya think?….
_____________________________

Today’s poetry section is the last to be completed before finishing; I don’t know if that means anything, or not, nor do I particularly care, at this point…. I’m getting tired…. I’ve written fresh, I’ve ranted a bit, I’ve edited a lot, and I’ve tried to maintain an even keel, all of which can be exhausting, given my standards for myself….

Since so much of this post comes from my tortured mind, I’m thinking I should include a poem of my own, and in fact, will do so, twice, if only to save the energy of looking on the web for someone else’s work…. First, a haiku about poetry, which I wrote on 3/12/2012, finding it only yesterday… followed by another by yours truly, from whenever…. sometime last year, I think….

POETRY

Flashing, bright words create
inevitable images;
truth consumes.

~~ gigoid ~~

Here is a poem from last year, with many of the same protagonists under discussion as in the rants below, and above…. Enjoy….

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 ~~

_____________________________

WARNING: Fresh rant ahead…..

Say first, of God above or man below,
What can we reason but from what we know?

— Alexander Pope (1688-1744) — Essay on Man, Epistle i, Line 17

At this point, I am still unsure whether or not I have a rant in me this morning…. However, I read these two articles yesterday, whereupon I set them aside to form the basis for discussion today….. so I guess I’ll discuss them…. The first is another fine treatise from the pen of Jon Carroll, on the responsibility and failure of the mainstream media in today’s complex world, written by a card-carrying, professional member of that media, written with excellent insight, and brave honesty…. not unusual for Jon, who has a long-standing habit of doing just that in his semi-daily column…. Please read this, then we’ll go on….

http://www.sfgate.com/entertainment/carroll/article/What-is-the-legacy-of-legacy-media-5352083.php

The next article gives a perfect example of the problem related above, as the media perfectly parrots some(any)thing told to one of them by the administration…. Read this one, too, please, and we’ll go on with our examination of the issues involved….

http://www.sfgate.com/news/politics/article/Obama-End-collection-of-Americans-phone-records-5353850.php

You may recall two or three days ago, when I made some predictions following another announcement by the White House, regarding, in general, the public outrage over Eric Snowden’s revelations of the ILLEGAL and UNWELCOME actions of the NSA, wherein it was proven, by their own documentation, they had been spying on the American people, right along with their spying on the rest of the world….

Barry got the picture, that folks were more than just a little pissed off about what they’d been caught doing, so he decided to do the dance, the “diddling the truth dance”, to distract the public from the real issues, thereby setting the stage to remove this subject from the public eye….. as is their common technique for dealing with unwanted publicity….

Keep that in mind, ffolkes, in looking at ANY of the statements from the pundits…. Their purpose, in whatever they say, is to soothe the outrage, and get the subject off the table…. They have absolutely no interest in, nor any intention of actually ceasing their illegal acts, but, they don’t want the public watching them over the shoulder, as they continue to illegally gather information that is none of their fucking business, ostensibly as part of their insane, paranoid efforts to remove the threat of terrorism…. which, one can see with the most cursory examination, is not an issue subject to dismissal quite so simply….

In their chaotic bumbling around in fear, they are willing to forgo any and all morality in the name of security…. Nor is it their ONLY purpose in collecting all the information they can on private citizens…. In today’s world, control of information is control of perception, and they’re well aware of this….

This attempt to remove terrorism from possibility is, of course, at best a silly notion, without any real chance of happening in today’s world; it merely provides further strong evidence of their own insanity…. Acting as they do, aggressively and antagonistically, as a way to achieve security is, not even arguably, but, most certainly, completely counter-productive for that purpose….. Actually, if looked at logically, such behavior is far less secure than learning to live with one’s neighbors without arguing…. But, in order to be able to follow THAT path, they would first have to give up their false sense of entitlement, their bigotry, and their fear of the “other”, defined as anyone different than themselves, by THEIR definition….

As I said yesterday, I hate being right about this kind of stuff…. but, I am right, so, that’s the way it is…. (If you disagree, feel free to join in the discussion… I’d LOVE to hear the justifications anyone might have for this type of insanity….) The administration has, thus far, come out with exactly what I expected, and what I’ve predicted they would do, by publicly shuffling the responsibility off to Congress, knowing that will waste tons of time, while Congress postures, spews BS, produces paper, and generally blunders about like a blind bull, without ever coming to any conclusive decisions…. This has the long term effect of sending the entire issue to the back halls, and back burners, to be forgotten, because this Congress cannot agree on bathroom breaks, much less any cogent legislation….

Any more bets? Boy, if they keep this up, and I can keep finding suckers to take my odds, I could get rich, well before any legislation on this is ever passed, and certainly before the White House condescends to act at all…. It’s almost too easy…. but, I suppose, that’s what all of our beloved leaders say, every day, when they see how easy it is to lie to the public…. It’s important, in today’s world, to remember the following piece of REAL wisdom….

“Cheese food is not cheese.” — Mom’s Hint #052
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Well…. contrary to popular belief, and despite all evidence to the contrary, I’m speechless…. I’ve been up, and typing, almost continuously since arising, with only the breaks needed to keep from getting into a worse-case pain configuration….

(Side note: A pain configuration is my own term for a postural setting for my body… When I can manage to find a position, sitting, standing, or lying down, that is reasonably comfortable…. defined as “the least painful” position…. I try to remember it for future use, and to stay in it for as long as I can…. Then, of course, I have to move, and find another setting…. with a new postural configuration, and new time limits to explore…. SIGH…. It’s a silly way to have to live, but, it’s better than the alternative…)

Now that I’ve come this far, only to fall right back into an intimate TMI episode, I’ve probably bored you senseless, enough so…. Shit, you can’t even bring this into focus, can you…. WHOA!!!…. Wait, I’ll catch them with the auto-hammock…. Whew!…. Okay, that was close…. I’m glad it worked…

C’mon, wake up…. There you are….. Okay, breathe, in, out, in, out….

Alright now? Sorry, I’ll try to keep it moving along enough keep you from seizing up again…… Well, no, I won’t, because, hey, we’re done here, aren’t we?…. Yep, I’m sure of it…. So, see ya…. Y’all look a bit pale, you might want to get some water, and lie down for a while when you get home…. Ta then…..

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

We’ll find some in the bargain basement….

Posted on March 12, 2014 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

Hello there… When I lay down last night to sleep, at 8:00 PM, or thereabouts, I had little idea I’d be up now, at 2:00 AM, asking myself why I ever thought I liked cats, or where I put the damn squirt bottle, so I could soak its evil little ass with sulfuric acid… or, with just the water in the bottle. The acid will have to wait until I catch it, preferably by the throat….

At approximately 1:45 AM, I was awakened by some hard-to-identify, weird scratching noises, coming from somewhere in the bedroom…. Investigation found the cat, underneath the laundry basket, digging at the carpet, just for fun, I guess…. I chased her out of the room, & decided to just get up, as I was now fully awake, thanks to the middle of the night search routine…..

This is fucking early, ffolkes, even for me…. I’ve been sitting here staring at this mostly empty screen now for a good twenty-five minutes, with nothing but static running through my mind….. Great….

Now I’m stuck awake, without the boon of being able to write, or even thinking about writing, to help pass the time until the rest of the hemisphere gets going…. I’m smart enough to remember that the ffolkes on the other side of the world are already up…. as well as, obviously, too stupid to outwit a four-pound feline with a brain the size of a walnut….

I swear, though, this IS the cat from Hell you hear about so often….. She seems to have a direct line to Murphy’s office, where she gets advice on timing her acts of instigation to perfection…. I’ve never seen one better, as she seems to get us when we are least expecting it, every time….

She has her morning wake up routine down to a science, knowing she can get me up anytime at all, as long as it is AFTER my lady has gone to bed, so it will wake her up, too…. For some reason, the cat likes BOTH of us to be awake whenever she is, even if it is the middle of the night…. Neurotic little asshole…

Ah well, at least she’s stopped her old trick, of “accidentally” clawing one’s toes at night while stretching….. I declare, I really don’t miss that particular habit she used to display…. Waking up from sleep to excruciating pain in one’s toe is not what I’d call conducive to a restful night, and she used to get one or the other of us a couple times a week, before apparently giving it up….

I guess she must have gotten tired of flying out of the bedroom, as opposed to walking out under her own power…. I can be a bit irritable when awakened like that, and show a strong tendency to throw whatever comes to hand….. hard…. I know its cruel, but, hey, at that time of night, whatever comes to hand is gone before my mind registers what it might be…. living or inanimate, doesn’t matter at that point…. it’s going to fly….

Well, since there doesn’t seem to be much else to do at this time of the day, and, I’ve apparently blathered about nothing much for long enough to fulfill the local requirements for such documented insanity (too bad I can’t get a discount for how early I had to start….), I may as well get a head start on the dive for the day…. Of course, I won’t be diving right off, as today’s first section is set aside for a new-format pearl, but, I’ll get wet a bit later, for section three’s old-school pearl…. Whatever, right?….

Shall we Pearl?….

“Yow! We’re going to a new disco!” — Zippy the Pinhead
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So, today, we’re going to use the newest format for a pearl of virtual wisdom…. This is the one where I show you a link, to an article that, to me, demonstrates one (or more) facets of how bad, weird, strange, and/or screwed up the world has become, (or, as in one case today, how good things CAN be, if well-written), followed by a comment or two from yours truly, to highlight whatever point has been dug from the article’s subject matter for discussion…. Easy, right?….. Well, I like it, so let’s give it a whirl, okay?…..

Our first article is a discussion that shows, once again, just how low the butt heads in the cyber-security sector of our government will stoop to protect their asses from prosecution…. and just how far they’ll go to spy on whomever they can…. regardless of WHO it might be…

http://www.sfgate.com/nation/article/S-F-judge-blocks-destruction-of-NSA-phone-records-5305045.php

I’m encouraged by this decision; it’s one of the first that indicates there might just be hope of putting a stop to their machinations, at least in this particular arena…. It’s getting harder for them to hide what they’re up to, thanks to our über-patriot, Eric Snowden, may he be forever blessed for his sacrifice…. In case you couldn’t tell, I’m just a little pissed off at the administration and the PTB** for their harassment of this man, and hope he is able to find some peace…. I also hope that, someday, he will be able to return home, to the hero’s welcome he deserves….

** To be clear, the “administration and the PTB”, along with their myrmidons, the NSA and other cyber-security agencies that steal data, or acquire and use the data gathered…. are the “their”, and the “they” of whom I speak above, (“their machinations” “to hide what they’re up to”), who are illegally spying, or manipulating data, or making false statements to attempt to deny or cover up their guilt….

http://www.sfgate.com/news/us/article/Former-Christie-aides-to-judge-Quash-subpoenas-5305649.php

When I saw this, my first, immediate reaction to hearing these assholes say they don’t want to have to ‘fess up to what they’ve done was, “Oh, those POOR babies! They’re being SO persecuted…. and all they did was a) commit felonious activities while in a position of authority, for the purposes of political punishment, and b) act like the guiltiest bloody assholes they could when caught, attempting to cover up the incident, instead of just admitting to their foolishness…” As might be surmised, I’m not terribly sympathetic to their pain, as they are getting exactly what they deserve….

I can only hope that the shit they flung around in their mad attempts to hide their guilt gets all over that major asshole, Chris Christie’s, shoes and coattails, and is dirty enough that he will be forced to drop the insane idea that he is an appropriate candidate for a major office…. I don’t think the rest of this country is quite ready for a New Jerseyite in the White House…. That particular state has always had its own strange methods of political action, which is, quite simply, too frigging crazy for the mainstream….

Think about it…. it would be like “Goodfellas” in lock step with a Tea Party Congress…. Brrr…. the very thought makes me shudder….

http://www.sfgate.com/entertainment/carroll/article/Continents-roam-people-come-and-go-5304865.php

As usual, Jon Carroll applies his particularly acute vision and his very personal, companionable writing style to say a lot of the same stuff I’ve been ranting about over the last few months…. and says it more engagingly, and much more clearly than I…. I’m not ashamed to say he’s better at this than I am; I’m a realist, and I’ve always appreciated his intelligence, and his very balanced outlook on reality….. A good piece, well worth a read….

http://www.sfgate.com/books/article/Feinstein-blasts-CIA-over-torture-probe-documents-5307500.php

I’m not sure how to take this article…. Dianne the Gargantuan has been one of the most vocal supporters of this administration’s policies on the subject of illegal surveillance, even going so far as to throw her support behind the potUS, making a number of supportive statements as part of the program (pogrom?) of persecution against Mr. Snowden….

Now, however, it seems the table has been turned, and she, along with her oh-so-powerful committee members on the Combined House and Senate Intelligence Committee have been the targets of the outrageous spying being done, this time by the CIA, in conjunction with the NSA, the FBI, and all the other federal agencies who have a hand in the “War on Terrorism”…. They’ve been messing around with trying to hide documents that prove their complicity in torture during numerous interrogations, which occurred, naturally, under the Shrubs….

Now that this sacrosanct committee has suffered at the hands of these out-of-control dogs-off-their-leash, who aren’t afraid to steal from, and manipulate, whomever they see as an enemy, she’s all a-flutter, and very angry that this agency, an arm of our own government, has been spying on, and manipulating data at the expense of their own governing members!! Me, I wonder why she is so surprised, even if I understand why she is so mad…. Welcome to the club, Di-Fi…..

http://www.sfgate.com/crime/article/San-Jose-police-officer-charged-with-rape-5306907.php

I really don’t think I need to comment much on this…. It’s pretty clear that this is just one more example of how the police forces in this country attract the most aggressive, angry individuals, with the accompanying sense of undeserved entitlement, to work for them, refusing to consider that their recruiting tactics, and their own lack of ethical discipline, are the very reasons they continue to have these kinds of incidents take place….

It is my firm opinion that the job of police officer, military officer, fireman, or any other type of public service job that has people put into positions of authority over the public, should ONLY be filled by people who have passed certain psychological tests, to weed out those people who will, if given a chance, take advantage of their position….

I believe this should be the case now, and should have been the case for a at least 50 years, since our knowledge of psychology advanced to the point of being able to test for these attributes in people….. If we tested applicants for these kinds of public service jobs for the possibility of aggressive patterns of behavior, it might just prevent some of the problems that NOT testing has created, to the point now where over half the police on the ground are what I would term as, if not insane, neurotic as hell, with issues of low self-esteem, aggressiveness as their first response to crisis, and a lack of ethical discipline….. As a point of evidence, I would submit this question…. When was the last time you saw a police car use a turn signal correctly?…. Think about that for a minute, and you’ll begin to understand whereof I speak….

I found myself having to stop gathering more articles, as I could have kept collecting them all day…. Then, we’d NEVER get out of this section…. As it is, I’ve taken it upon myself to end this here, with just the following as a closing thought for today….

“Fighting for peace is like screwing for virginity.” — George Carlin
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I decided I wanted to put in a poem of my own today, one from further in the past than most of what you’ve seen lately…. I found these two, from a couple of years ago, and couldn’t make up my mind…. so, being the egotistical fool I am, you get them both…. I hope you enjoy them….

Dreaming, I wait….

In the most patient moments of rationality
kindness flows smoothly in a special milieu,
fallow thoughts speed first from equality
to give no anxious fever, anger to eschew.

Indignant mothers and step-sons in-law
shall fade simply from brilliant to grey,
intoning ritual dogma, fresh, avid, and raw,
falling, falling, in massive pastoral disarray.

Safety lives not, save brightly in ignorant bliss,
it follows us all, silent and infinitely frail,
foremost too often, soft as a virgin kiss,
alive, always eager, willing, and pale.

Intimate knowledge finds only the bold few
with courage and virtue to gift, unbidden.
No solemn royal version may pass in review,
true love for man, never to remain unhidden.

Sweet feathers of Emily’s hope uplift,
calm, drowsy episodes bursting with light,
With final glad cries we set ourselves adrift,
swimming in the oceans of natural delight.

When sorrow is banished, in ages yet to come,
roots solidly anchored, cold and remote,
Ample supplies of kindness sit silent and dumb,
and the old stranger shrugs on his faded coat.

Dreaming, then, I wait with shadows in the night
aspiring to inspire, a message from the muse’s heart
Never forgotten images, framed in color bright,
tempt me only, grieving, steeped in serenity’s arcane art….

~~ gigoid ~~

Random Visions/Coloring Between the Lines of Grief

Everywhere is dark, and shining,
with points in dissonant pain.
Sharp, senses dull past divining,
tears burn, a torrential rain.

Escape! Flee within to cower,
find an unconscious cave.
Call on Morpheus’ power
deny reality’s beckoning wave.

Light breaks, drawing the inner eye,
leading to the slippery slope.
Risk is critical, we may only sigh,
yet welcome, for bringing hope.

Sanity seems far out of reach
Insanity’s a stronger friend.
Decisions made will merely teach
our way toward Death to wend.

Lost, while still on familiar ground,
the future yet undesigned.
Making way on paths unfound,
to Now, as yet undefined.

~~ gigoid ~~

_____________________________

Now comes the fun part, for me…. I’ve written rant-like material, and poemed, so now it’s time for an old-school pearl, to loosen up the old mental muscles, for those among us who enjoy keeping those muscles in the same kind of condition that any world-class athlete enjoys…. To keep any muscle conditioned it takes regular, consistently challenging exercise, that pushes the muscle to its limits before slacking off, preferably for just a bit longer each time, to increase stamina… The mind, though not composed of the same kind of tissue, nevertheless responds to the same sort of challenges; they are simply of a different nature than those that work the muscles attached to our skeletons….

I only wish I could still use those other muscles, the big ones on my body, to stay in the physical shape I was in until my mid-forties, when my injuries began the progressive decline I’ve seen, in my strength, and stamina. Now, sadly, my mind is in much better shape than the rest of me, though I’m still pretty tough…. I just have no stamina, and trying to use my strength and/or skills as if I were younger, stronger, and still limber is more expensive than it is worth, in terms of the pain that comes after such use. As I’m fond of saying, I can still do anything I used to do, but now I pay a much higher price to do so…. So, mostly, I don’t do so…. Now, I’m more likely to say, “I spend my time avoiding pain…”….

I’m uncertain as to how this devolved into a short intimate discussion of my frailties, but, since it did, we’ll just have to ignore it the best we can, and go on to bigger and better things, if that is still possible…. I think if I can just shut myself up for a minute, I can jump in the water before any further incidents of sharing TMI can occur….. Like, right now… Just for the record, no known parameters were used in the collection or inclusion of any of the following pearls…. They’re all fresh from the oyster, just as Mother Nature intended them to be…

“Too many have dispensed with generosity in order to practice charity.” — Albert Camus (1913-1960)

“Cato requested old men not to add the disgrace of wickedness to old age, which was accompanied with many other evils.” — Plutarch (46-120 AD) — Roman Apophthegms, Cato the Elder

“He is the best of men who dislikes power.” — Mohammed

And wine can of their wits the wise beguile,
Make the sage frolic, and the serious smile.

— Alexander Pope (1688-1744) — The Odyssey of Homer, Book xiv, Line 520

“These are the days when men of all social disciplines and all political faiths seek the comfortable and the accepted; when the man of controversy is looked upon as a disturbing influence; when originality is taken to be a mark of instability; and when, in minor modification of the scriptural parable, the bland lead the bland.” — John Kenneth Galbraith (1908 – )

“The art of government consist in taking as much money as possible from one class of citizens and giving it to another.” — Voltaire

“We have only two things to worry about: That things will never get back to normal, and that they already have.” — Smart Bee

Well, in today’s case, parameters might have been a good idea…. But, since this one is done, and it’s fairly decent, all in all, I think we’ll let it fly…. I mean, they can’t all be immediately obvious, or for that matter, indelibly relevant…. All they have to do is make you think, and NOT make you feel bad about anything that doesn’t deserve it…. Which, I suppose is what Life is all about, yes?…. Hey, I’ll take whatever metaphor that presents itself, and turn it right into an assertion of consensual reality…. it’s what we do here….
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Okay…. I’ve stretched this process until it screamed…. I’ve taken breaks… (in fact, I’m taking one now…. I’ll bet you didn’t even notice…)…. I’ve perused the news, I’ve searched SB for the best pearls I could find. I’ve pre-edited & pre-proofed, which means there will be, without doubt numerous errors in syntax and/or typos which will drive me batty when I find them after I’ve posted this… I’ve racked my brain to find something new, and funny, or compelling to write, which was obviously unsuccessful in the extreme…. I’ve subjected myself to reading a number of my own poems, along with several of Emily’s, and Keats’, before settling on subjecting y’all to a two-fer of my own…

All of that, and it is now 5:09 AM…. The wind here in Northern California is currently blowing at a good semi-typhoon speed, swinging our plant and wind-chime all over where they hang on the porch…. The cat continues to seek out whatever mischief she can find, and I am desperately wishing I could fall back asleep…. Alas, that isn’t to be, at least, not for a while yet…. I may as well post this, and get a bite to eat…. Then, having completed all the tasks involved in my day, I can begin another, while everyone else is up, too…. SIGH…. See ya 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

We could try one of those ornamental dwarfs….

Posted on March 11, 2014 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

In numerous past editions of the Pearls of Virtual Wisdom, of the Daily variety, you will have noted that I refer often to our old pal, Murphy, the iconic force of nature, whose effect on reality and humanity has been thoroughly, if reluctantly, recorded on innumerable occasions, by those he has favored with his kind attention.

I, of course, am one of those favored souls, sadly, and have repeatedly offered my own take on this….. this….. this ENTITY (for lack of a more descriptive epithet….), after his efforts have screwed me over, one way or another…. I am, naturally, not his ONLY target, merely one of his favorites….

This morning, however, I’ve been presented with an idea that refutes his entire existence, with a pretty persuasive argument as evidence….. It’s logical, and tautological, and doesn’t seem to have any flaws in its reasoning…. I cannot say for certain who made this observation; I found it in Smart Bee without attribution…. which is odd, as I can’t believe anyone in their right mind would object to taking credit for this…. It could conceivably make their reputation, in one short statement that would, in time, become universally known, having to do, as it does, with something that touches the lives of EVERYONE…. That statement is:

“If Murphy’s Law were true, whenever you tried to take a breath, all the air would be on the other side of the room.” — Smart Bee

Now, isn’t that a heartening thought? Doesn’t that just make you feel like there is hope for the future? No? Oh….. Well, it does all of that, and more, for me…. I don’t know if I have suffered more than others from the machinations he has performed throughout my life to get my goat…. I just know that he could start a fucking goat farm, with a huge herd of goats, just from how many times he’s fucked with me…. I’m sure everyone else has their own tales of woe that he caused in their lives, so, a statement like this provides me with a bit of hope that….. Wait a minute!….

Damn!….. I just realized, this CAN’T be a true statement….. It doesn’t take into account the physical laws that govern our universe, regarding the behavior of gases in a gravity field…. No matter how much influence over reality Murphy has, he can’t create vacuums whenever he wants, just to fuck with people…. If the physical laws, such as this one, are subject to that sort of mishandling by the off-shoot forces of nature, nothing could be counted on to be the same from one minute to the next, a state of affairs which, I’m sure, even Murphy wouldn’t enjoy….

Oh well, it was, for a moment there, about to be a more beautiful universe, but, once again, Reality, and that asshole Murphy, find us completely at their mercy, with no real, effective way to either avoid the ministrations of such forces on nature, or to contemplate any breaks from his assholishness…. a word I just made up which perfectly describes not only Murphy, but the state of mind, or of personality, if you will, of many of our beloved ruling class…. In fact, it may as well just get added to those adjectives that best describe human nature…. Assholishness…..yep, that’s us, ffolkes, for sure….

On that note, shall we Pearl?….

“Few people have the imagination for reality.” — Goethe
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Originally this morning, in this section, you would have found a very long rant (double the normal, as it is part fresh, and part archive material…. Sorry, it got away from me…. Talking about the NSA will do that to me…. ), which, had I left it here, would probably have eliminated a significant number of my readers, causing them, possibly, to NOT want to finish today’s effort, due to the extreme length….

In order to better emulate our Beloved Ruling Class, I’m cheating…. I moved the rant to the last section, where, if you insist, you may skip over it to the concluding remarks, after consuming this old-school pearl (What ELSE would be going here?….)….. See? I can be nice….. Here is a pearl of pearls, with no parameters at all, just whimsy…..

“You don’t learn anything the second time you’re kicked by a mule.” — Smart Bee

“Always do sober what you said you’d do drunk. That will teach you to keep your mouth shut.” — Ernest Hemingway

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

“There are two ways of teaching people: You can teach them how to think, or you can teach them what to think. Socrates taught people how to think, Jesus taught people what to think…. and look what happened to them.” — Smart Bee

“Cheshire-Puss,” she began, “would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?”
“That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,” said the Cat.
“I don’t care much where–” said Alice.
“Then it doesn’t much matter which way you go,” said the Cat.
“–so long as I get SOMEWHERE,” Alice added as an explanation.
“Oh, you’re quite sure to do that,” said the Cat, “if you only walk long enough.”

— Lewis Carroll, “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland”

“I do not take a single newspaper, nor read one a month, and I feel myself infinitely the happier for it.” — Thomas Jefferson

“Great spirits have always found violent opposition from mediocrities. The latter cannot understand it when a man does not thoughtlessly submit to hereditary prejudices but honestly and courageously uses his intelligence.” — Albert Einstein

Hmm…. Even my whimsy is becoming eclectic in my old age…. I kind of like it, don’t you?…..
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This particular poem is not what I first intended to include…. I DID go looking for a poem by Yeats; there are days, such as today, when no one else will do…. This, however, wasn’t what I was looking for…. It is, however, one that appeals to me, in such a way that I don’t wish to examine my reasons for that reaction…. Whatever the reason, here ’tis, such as it is…. I like it, and, that’s all that matters, in the final analysis….. I hope it suits your fancy, as well….. Hmm… Come to think of it, I’ll bet it was the title that drew me….

Another Song Of A Fool

This great purple butterfly,
In the prison of my hands,
Has a learning in his eye
Not a poor fool understands.

Once he lived a schoolmaster
With a stark, denying look;
A string of scholars went in fear
Of his great birch and his great book.

Like the clangour of a bell,
Sweet and harsh, harsh and sweet.
That is how he learnt so well
To take the roses for his meat.

~~ William Butler Yeats ~~

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“There is a very real and critical danger that unrestrained public discussion of cryptologic matters will seriously damage the ability of this government to conduct signals intelligence and the ability of this government to carry out its mission of protecting national security information from hostile exploitation.” — Admiral Bobby Ray Inman (then Director of the NSA) — in a public speech in March 1979

You know, what I found almost as disturbing about this as the words he stated, which, obviously, are completely and diametrically opposed to any sort of democratic society that has a Bill of Rights…. (In any such society, “unrestrained public discussion”, of ANY subject, is never out of place, no matter what sort of ridiculous, paranoid reasoning one might apply to convince anyone else…. Thus, it becomes clear, what is wrong with this statement is the fact that ANY part of our government’s leading officials, elected or, as in this case, hired as a career professional soldier, would have the asininity to make such a statement….)

But, to return to my original statement, what disturbed me almost as much as that, is the date the statement was made…. I hadn’t realized the NSA had been around as long as it had, to have had its head making speeches in 1979…. 1979? Oh, right…. Let’s see, that was when Reagan was president, right? Let me check…. Nope, that was right after Nixon, so it had to be Gerald Ford…. So, let’s see when the NSA came into being, shall we? Hang on….

Okay, wow…. the agency first began during WWI, first established sometime around 1917, but was strengthened in purpose in 1947 with the passage of the National Security Act, which can now be seen as one of the first examples of the BRC hiding information from the public…. and the logical forerunner for the National Defense Authorization Act of 2011….

How many of y’all were aware that the NSA started its clandestine work in 1917? How many of y’all were taught in school about the National Security Act of 1947, passed after WWII to ensure the funding and continued existence of the government’s primary spy agency (the official euphemism for that is “encrypted signals intelligence gathering”), in its first centralized form…. Paranoia strikes deep, does it not?….

I know I wasn’t taught in school about the NSA…. A lot of the spying and clandestine war stories from WWII were discouraged, at least, outside Hollywood, where the government had its own spies in place, to let them know if the movies coming out were propaganda from their opponents, intended to school the public in matters they didn’t want public, or, if they were propaganda from our own side (called, of course, by another euphemism, to wit: “educational information”, or, sometimes, even more euphemistically, “public service announcements”…),….. or if they were entertainment, or just plain fiction, and thus, not seen as harmful to their secret existence….

As I recall from growing up at the time, (I was born in 1950….) Congress and much of the Hollywood community were at odds for most of the 1950’s, and into the 60’s, with the government winning the most important battles, behind the scenes…. Hence, the media support for the Vietnam War, etc., that continued unabated until the Internet came along, at which point, the NSA turned their expertise to gaining control of that new communication tool…. The fight for that control is still raging, currently the score is even, thanks to people like Eric Snowden…. but, it is far from over….(Insert dramatic epithet here, please…)

So, it seems, if the agency’s own historical documents are accurate, ( http://www.nsa.gov/about/_files/cryptologic_heritage/publications/misc/origins_of_nsa.pdf ) our government has been lying to us for even longer than I had realized…. I probably should have guessed it; I grew up during the 1950’s, and I can tell you for sure, this country, at that time, was very paranoid….

This public paranoia was a direct result of the way the BRC of the time portrayed “Commies”, as being the Anti-Christ, or, at minimum, evil incarnate, keeping the public in a constant state of paranoid fear, of having an “H-bomb” dropped on their home city, by the godless communist regimes that were out to take away their freedoms….

Even though I was a kid, I heard the talk on TV, and in the news the adults all talked about (also, remember “current events” in school?…. It has always been a good way for the PTB to disseminate propaganda to the innocent school children….who have little defense against what they’re told at that age….

Of course, I had a different reaction than most kids, as my crap detector went off almost constantly during the fifties and sixties, whenever I heard about anything having to do with public affairs, as reported in the news, on TV, radio, magazines, and talk…. By the time the sixties came, my faith in anyone in public office was shattered forever when JFK was assassinated ( The responsibility for which is a subject for another time…. As flawed as he was, Jack Kennedy was the last, best hope we had for any kind of rational public discourse in this country….), then reinforced by all I heard re: the Free Speech movement in the early 1960’s

Now we come to the present day, when our BRC continues its policy of trusting NO ONE, not even its own citizenry….. Now, however, they have increased their power, not only, but primarily, in the form of a vastly expanded NSA, to the point where they are capable of monitoring EVERY aspect of the public’s daily affairs, including phone calls and private mail of all types….

What? You don’t believe they’ve been reading your snail-mail, as well as your E-mail?…… Boy, are YOU naive…. What is the name of the major snail mail operator in this country? Yep, the USPS….. And, where are the phone numbers for all their offices listed? Yep, right there under US Government in the phone books…. They may have gone private in one sense, but they are still the government’s lackey agency, not anyone else’s….. They (the police and government agencies…) have had access to our mail for a long time, ffolkes, and even will admit it, in the right circumstances….

Any time they wish, the laws are already in place for them to intercept ANY of your formerly private forms of communication…. The only way left we have to be totally private is to hand a personal letter, written by hand, in a close room swept for cameras and recorders, then handing it to someone we trust to personally carry it to its intended recipient, whom we also must trust to destroy the letter when read, and return any replies via the same method…. As far as I can see, that is the only way, now, that we can trust it to a completely private communique….

Thus, we can see that today, having ensured that they are able to access any and all data about those citizens, even though the greatest majority of them have ever broken any laws, they have become far more than merely an agency that protects us, in terms of how much control over our communications they possess, or how few restraints have been placed on them in their quest to control it ALL. No type of restraint matters to these profoundly paranoid assholes; they won’t be satisfied until they are able to monitor and control EVERYTHING they can, up to, and including, the most mundane and inane activities of our daily lives…..

I’m already tired of ranting today, probably because this is a subject that I’ve ranted about a lot, and partly just because I’m tired of ranting to little purpose…. This one was stimulated by the above quote, and the following link, which I read yesterday…. It’s an encouraging story in one way, in that it appears that the general run of public attitudes is running in favor of what Eric Snowden did for this country when he blew the whistle on the NSA last year…. It was, however, discouraging in another way, as it delineates a part of the applicable “whistleblower’s law” that seemingly classifies his act as one not covered by the law’s intent… a certain miscarriage of justice, if true….

Ffolkes, I’m going to say it right out…. What this man, Eric Snowden, did for the world, and the American people, cannot ever be repaid…. His was, in spite of any criticisms made, an act of supreme courage, and one of very sincere patriotism for his country…. Anyone at all who cannot see that is, in my mind, a fool, and an enemy of this country….

This would include, it seems, every one of the BRC who is currently entrenched in the halls of government, but, I’m not surprised about that much…. They, after all, are the ones he exposed as liars, charlatans, and thieves….. a fact they are NOT happy about, and are unlikely to give up their animosity toward the one honest man who pulled their covers….

Here then, is the latest word from the man who will, I’m sure, some day, be considered as one of the most heroic and important figures of the last 1000 years of history…. No shit, ffolkes, no shit at all….

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/edward-snowden-defends-nsa-surveillance-leaks-at-sxsw-20140310?utm_source=dailynewsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter

“HEY CONGRESS! What ever happened to the Constitution?” — Smart Bee

My built-up quantity of angst and outrage is so large right now, I want to continue ranting…. an event which, I am positive, would completely drive away anyone remaining…. Instead, I’ll sublimate, with an older rant, that might go a ways toward explaining at least part of what is wrong with the picture we are being painted in Washington D.C. , and, on the canvas that is the world at large…..

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From 4/28/13:

“The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather in a lack of will.” — Vince Lombardi

I have spoken previously on this subject, of human will, and will no doubt do so again, as I believe it to be one of the key elements of finding the Truth in Life. It takes practice to be able to use it to full potential, practice that many people never take time for, to their regret. Without it, Life can be extremely difficult, as it will toss us about just like a small boat in a big storm at sea. But, when it is honed to a sharp edge, and tempered to a great strength, it can become one of our most powerful tools.

It can help to bring peace and serenity into our lives, if used with intelligence, guided by strong ethical intent. I mention the latter because it is equally important to the proper use of the will; it is an unfortunate truth that the will can also be used to pursue results that are NOT beneficial for everyone, but only for the one who uses it without ethical direction, i.e. to benefit themselves, only.

“One sits down first, one thinks afterwards.” — Smart Bee

A long time ago, I found out something about society, and those who are ostensibly in charge of running it, that has had a distinct influence on my thinking. I discovered that what I heard in school, from books, did not match what I observed in society, and that the people who were in the positions of authority were, for the most part, not telling the whole truth, or, often, telling bare-faced lies.

This had a profound effect on me, because I had always been inspired by the idea of a democracy, a system, and a society, where the people decided among themselves what was best for all; their consensual collective will was to be carried out by the individuals elected to office…. At least, I’m pretty certain that is what our founding fathers envisioned when they cut loose from the monarchical rule of England….

Unfortunately, soon after beginning this experimental Utopia, the bankers and merchant classes began their campaign to pervert the system, buying control of key officials to make laws that favored them. At the same time, the preachers started their campaign to make sure the government was composed of men and/or women who were under their control, ethically and morally, using the time-honored tools of divine entitlement and guilt so that their interests could be monitored and controlled.

Today, well over 90% of all elected officials in this country are of one major religion, and the lobbyists who represent the money-lenders and corporate entities are more influential in making laws than the electorates who elect those officials. The campaigns to control the government of this country have been quite effective, especially since nobody even notices most of the time, or says anything about it….

“To see the light at the end of the tunnel, you first have to be in a tunnel, then the correct tunnel and last, facing in the right direction…. What the heck are we doing in a tunnel anyway?” — Larry G. Smith

This is a pretty good description of modern society, I think. What the heck are we doing here, on the brink of extinction? The BRC, the 1%, whatever you choose to call them, have brought us to this dead-end tunnel, with no light at the end, because it is our own end we see. They, those in control, don’t choose to believe in the damage they have wrought to the environment, nor in the terminal nature of that damage, so, nothing is being done to counteract the suicidal policies our species continues to follow.

All the responsibility for this state may be laid at the feet of the ones I call Asininnies, the corporate assholes, the professional politicians, the lawyers, the police, the priests and preachers, and all who support their efforts, knowingly or not…. These are the people who have turned their will to the selfish pursuit of their own desires, with no thought to either the effect on others, or the potential danger of doing so. They don’t care, and the rest of us, because of our own lack of will, to work together in defending ourselves against them, are going to pay the price right along with them, unless we wake up to the danger, NOW….

I could rant about this all day, and have seemingly done so in the past…. but, I’ve made my point for today, and rather than bore you to death with more logical, but time-consuming evidence or argument, (note: more than I already have done….), I’ll leave it at that…. Well, almost…..

We are all in danger of species extinction, this is a FACT, not a supposition. We have the means to save ourselves, IF we can find it within ourselves to rise up and throw out the people who are causing the problem. They are NOT going to stop themselves; if we want to live, we, the people, will have to MAKE them do it, or we will all die. It’s that simple, and that urgent…. If it doesn’t happen in this next decade, it will be far too late, because the ice is already melting, ffolkes, and it isn’t going to stop or slow down… It will only get faster with time….

gigoid has spoken…..

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

Ah, how unjust to Nature and himself
Is thoughtless, thankless, inconsistent man!

— Edward Young (1684-1765) – Night Thoughts, Night ii, Line 112

This one got away from me, but, it’s all valid stuff, and needs to be said…. If not by me, then, who? The worst part of it is, practically no one who really NEEDS to hear this kind of information will ever see this, and that’s just too bad…. SIGH…. Ah well, life goes on, until it doesn’t….
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Once again, I have gone to great lengths in my thus-far apparently futile attempt to save humanity from its own folly…. (I only use the qualifiers because, hey, we ARE still here…. I just don’t see how that can last….) SIGH…. At least, today, I put the rant LAST in line, which may have given my Gentle Readers enough advance notice to skip over much of the rant, much of which they have, no doubt, heard previously…. We can, and do, hope so…. See ya tomorrow, ffolkes…. I suppose it wouldn’t be out of place to wish ourselves luck in meeting that appointment….

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

Measuring infinitesimal increments may take a while….

Posted on March 8, 2014 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

I’m tired….. in my head…. I’m tired of writing, tired of sitting, tired of not being able to do enough to keep my mind from chewing on itself. I have a mind that requires rather a lot of stimulation, to feel as if it is being utilized in a way that maximizes its qualities, which are extensive, to be sure, although never as much so as could be wished…. In other words, I’m smart enough to have a strong need to keep busy, but, not so smart as to have all the answers I’d like to have…. Just smart enough to know how much there is still to learn, is the way I like to think of it….

My tiredness is, I think, a result of having written this blog each morning, with only a few minor failures, every single day for almost three years…. In that time, I’ve made some changes to the structure, and tweaked it until I pretty much have it how I like it….. and, according to the WP stat bots, I keep getting new followers…. Just yesterday, two new names showed up as new followers of our blog here at ECR, one of which is an old blogging friend, who just now followed, after almost 3 years of visiting the site, and leaving an occasional ‘Like’….. So, I know that there are at least a few ffolkes who read it every day…. Out of the 375 ffolkes who have hit the button to follow, at least a few MUST come by each day, right?….

In addition, I send the Daily Pearl out via my own email to 47 others who have been receiving them now for over a dozen years…. When I worked for the State, it was sent out each day for about six years to almost 400 employees at NSH, all of whom were addicted to receiving them in their morning email, to start their day….. Conceivably, I could still send them to those people…. but, it annoys their IT folks, as 400 emails sent in a group tends to burn up a lot of bandwidth, causing a spike in their traffic, and the possibility of a network slow-down…. Of course, I figure that’s their own damn fault for not spending enough on infrastructure to handle the traffic, but, hey, they’re friends, so I don’t fuss with them….

All in all, I’ve been writing A LOT for the last couple of years, since retiring…. which, in the ultimate sense, is a good thing…. But, I’m tired of the frustration of constantly feeling as if what I have to say is extremely important for mankind at large to be aware of, but, never having that message heard by anyone who NEEDS to hear it….

If we are to have any real chance at surviving the upcoming events in the environmental arena, all of which are a result of our own foolish asininity, (speaking from the viewpoint of one who knows quite well what NEEDS to be done, but, has no clue as to how to get people to get off their asses to do it….) well, if we ARE to survive, we’ll need to first admit the need to do so…

As you are well aware, if you’ve been here previously, I write a lot of such “gadfly” rants, exhorting the public to wake up, to pay attention to what the corporate assholes, political assholes, and religious assholes have been up to, because what they’ve gone and done is going to kill all of us if we don’t put a stop to it, NOW….

It needed to be done yesterday, and, it certainly won’t help to do it tomorrow; tomorrow, (metaphorically) we’ll be DEAD (literally).

We, as a species, need to get off our collective asses and kick the stupid, selfish, ignorant bullies, who are busily killing us all, straight into the ocean, where their sorry, no-doubt bitter-tasting carcases can at least provide the sea life with some little bit of extra protein…. which would comprise the FIRST useful, unselfish act of their lives….

These rants are generally justified with evidence, or, if nothing else, a link to where such evidence may be found; I try not to make assertions without some sort of proof, as I’m unwilling to base them merely on articles of faith…. a habit of writing and communicating which, I may point out, is more than you’ll ever get from a political pundit, a preacher, or some corporate asshole….

THEY will all expect you to believe whatever comes out of their mouths, without ANY sort of proof, other than their version of the Bible, or, hilariously enough, their “word” as to it’s veracity…. We’ve all heard a pundit on TV, saying “Trust me!”, with the obvious sub-text of, “I’d never lie to you!”…. which, of course, is the first lie….

My rants, however, in spite of the number of followers who evidently stop by only now and then, are not getting into the mainstream consciousness of society, which is where the need for them is strongest…. The message I’m putting out is one that isn’t going to help much unless it is seen or heard by a very large number of people, who would then, hopefully, use the information and stimulus contained therein to form the nucleus of a movement, that eventually would lead to the eradication of the centuries-long oppression of mankind by the slave masters, and our eventual survival on this beautiful planet….

Or, the message will be lost, as are, thus far, ALL the other common sense messages that might be of help to us, buried in the cacophony of noise that is always roaring in the background of TV, radio, and the internet, never to be of any help, or aid us to survive beyond the next hundred years or so that are left to us….. all because of the insane blindness of those who have usurped human culture for their own purposes….

I’d rather there was a greater chance for us to survive, but, there’s not a lot I can do about it…. People are gonna do what they WANT to do…… That seldom means anything intelligent…. and, sadly, that’s just the way it is….

Shall we Pearl?…. We may as well, we’ve got nothing better to do…..

“Every human being on this earth is born with a tragedy,and it isn’t original sin. He’s born with the tragedy that he has to grow up. A lot of people don’t have the courage to do it.” — Helen Hayes
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Obviously, the intro section this morning fulfills any ranting requirements that may be in place, anywhere…. So, that means I can go bananas in this section…. Well, maybe not fruit, but, perhaps, a rutabaga, or other vegetable would do?….. As you can see, my bozo wants to come out to play, and, it’s best all around if I don’t get in the way of that…. So, I’ll give that side of me the reins, and we’ll see what SB can do for us today, in the way of a group of pearls to start us off in the proper direction to get us where we need to go….. where it will, hopefully, come to a halt….

“Quemadmoeum gladius neminem occidit, occidentis telum est.” [A sword is never a killer, it is a tool in the killers hands.] — Lucius Annaeus Seneca “the younger” ca. 4 BC – 65 AD

“A student brings something to discuss, saying, “I don’t know whether this is really good, or whether I should throw it in the wastebasket.” The assumption is that one or the other choice is the right move. No. Almost everything we say or think or do — or write — comes in that spacious human area bounded by something this side of the sublime and something above the unforgivable.” — William Stafford

“Actions lie louder than words.” — Carolyn Wells

“I never understood why God decided to endow the military man with His big brain when bone and marrow are all that he needs to execute his purpose.” — A. Einstein – Ideas and Opinions

“I’m sorry, Dave. I’m afraid I can’t do that.” — HAL 9000

“Do you think there’s a God?” “Well, SOMEbody’s out to get me!” — Calvin & Hobbes

All nature is but art, unknown to thee;
All chance, direction, which thou canst not see;
All discord, harmony not understood;
All partial evil, universal good;
And spite of pride, in erring reason’s spite,
One truth is clear, Whatever is, is right.

— Alexander Pope (1688-1744) — Essay on Man, Epistle i, Line 289

Well, it’s a tough one, I’ll admit, but, those are always the best kind, you see, because, hey, challenge?….. Believe it or not, it IS a good one…. just a trifle abstruse…. In fact, upon reflection, it’s a lot like that word, abstruse….
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In truth, I suppose, the translator of this poem is the one who deserves a lot of the credit for the power, and the clarity, of the images and language that make this so compelling a poem…. Whomever is responsible, it is one of my all time favorite poems, and I include it today, again, with great pleasure….

Shui Tiao Ko Tou

Will a moon so bright ever arise again?
Drink a cupful of wine and ask of the sky.
I don’t know where the palace gate of heaven is,
Or even the year in which tonight slips by.
I want to return riding the whirl-wind! But I
Feel afraid that this heaven of jasper and jade
Lets in the cold, its palaces rear so high.
I shall get up and dance with my own shadow.
From life endured among men how far a cry!

Round the red pavilion
Slanting through the lattices
Onto every wakeful eye,
Moon, why should you bear a grudge, O why
Insist in time of separation so th fill the sky?
Men know joy and sorrow, parting and reunion;
The moon lacks luster, brightly shines; is all, is less.
Perfection was never easily come by.
Though miles apart, could men but live for ever
Dreaming they shared this moonlight endlessly!

~~ Su Tung-p’o ~~

_____________________________

This was already an old rant last time I posted it, in June of 2013…. and, since I spent all of my fresh angst in the intro section today, this will have to suffice, to fulfill any other legal standards that may apply…. I think it will do, just fine, as it remains as valid today as the day I first wrote it….

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

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

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

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

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

In the ensuing months and years, whenever the politicians have wanted to distract the nation from what they were actually doing, all they needed to do was mention the words “terrorism”, or “national security”, to immediately pull the attention off of them, pointing it firmly at the pitiful group of fanatical Muslims they blamed for the attacks (completely ignoring all the valid reasons those same politicians had provided those fanatics in the first place, reasons specifically designed to stimulate an attack….). Thus, the Hunt for Osama bin Laden was on! (“We’ll get him, by God”… We did, of course…)

In this country, as a result of those attacks, approximately 5000 American lives were lost (that figure is larger, by quite a lot, than the actual number, purposely…. it is near enough to correct to make the point…). At this time, in the quest to find Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan, over 50,000 Afghan civilians have been killed. In Iraq, which we somehow decided to invade, even though they had nothing to do with 9/11, well over 250,000 civilians have died to soothe our national pride.

(Note from 2014; the number of casualties in both arenas has, naturally, grown on all sides, with the greatest number of deaths, by far, having been suffered by the Afghan and Iraqi civilian populations, just as the number of our American casualties remains, by many thousands of deaths, the smallest of any of the participants…. This amounts to, literally, millions of Afghan and Iraqi deaths, and fewer than 10,000 Americans…. go look at them yourself if you don’t accept my figures….)

In that same period, WE lost another 1000 or so soldiers in fighting and bombings. And, as a side effect, the US Bill of Rights has been effectively eliminated, by Executive Order, disguised as Homeland Security (June, 2013 — Now authorized by what is so laughingly called the National Defense Authorization Act of 2012…. signed by President Obama on New Year’s Eve of 2011, while everyone was partying, not paying any attention to their so-called “rights”…..)

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

So, what is my point here? My point is this…. those pathetic fanatics killed more, of people THEY considered to be the enemy, than they had ever been able to kill, one time….. ONCE….. Since that one time, our country has killed more than 300,000 civilians in retaliation (amendment from 2014: make that >1 million…).

You can call it what you like, I call it nothing more than schoolyard revenge by bullies. The events of that day provided every politician in this country the opportunity to wrap themselves in the flag, not to proclaim their patriotism, but to manipulate the unreasonable fear they created in the public to keep them from realizing the truth of the matter.

That truth is this: we are in no real danger from Al Qaeda, or from any other splinter faction terrorist group, nor have we ever been in any real danger. We never really WERE in MUCH danger….

Oh, sure, they may be able to pull off stunts such as this one occasionally, but for the most part, the world has gotten pretty good at either catching them in hiding, or stopping their plots before they actually carry them out. Governments have a LOT more resources than terrorists, no matter how rich they may be personally. Most times, their piteous efforts kill a handful of people, and destroy a building or two, and that is the extent of it….

No, the pathetic, desperate people who become terrorists, in direct concatenation of intent, action, and responsibility, are actually created by those same political pundits, who, after bombing their villages, killing their families, and destroying their homes, are now reviling them as monsters, using all their bloated resources in hunting them down.

The terrorists I see in the news are not a real threat to anyone; they don’t have the wherewithal to perform more than one act of violence at a time; they cannot wage a war, they can only try to act as guerrilla forces, at best. Mostly, they are just sad schemers, planning glorious (in THEIR twisted minds….) deaths, that ultimately have no meaning, other than to provide the Western politicos another unreasonable fear to use against the American public, in order to continue the raping and pillaging among their own people.

The entire issue is one that is repugnant to me; I have watched in horror, not as terrorists have been hunted, but as the rights of the American people have been taken away in the name of “security”. Security from what? We don’t need more security from terrorists; the techniques for dealing with it are well-established, and effective, as they employ the very same methods used by the fanatics to achieve their ends, and many more not available to them, because of the depth of their resources, and their lack of morality. (Note from 2014: See, Eric Snowden, NSA, “US Cyber-Security Forces”, etc….) No, we need more security from our own pundits, who have utilized these tragic events for their own benefit, to the everlasting regret of every true patriot….. Bloody fucking assholes, every one of them…..

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

So be it…. gigoid has spoken….

3/8/2014: This rant has been updated and edited to conform with the most current version of Reality, including, but not limited to parenthetical comments, and actual textual edits to improve the flow of thoughts… I also have to say, with this one, I hit the nail right on the fucking head, so, I can say, without any doubt whatsoever…

So be it…. gigoid has spoken, again….
_____________________________

I’d suppose it’s a function of having done this repeatedly for a relatively long time, but, gosh, Wilbur, I think I’m getting the hang of this…. Even if not, it feels as if I am, so, I’ll take comfort in axiom #1, to wit: “I think I am. That’s close enough.”….. See ya tomorrow, ffolkes, if YOU’RE lucky….

Just kidding….. 🙂

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

Eighteen of one, a dozen & a half of another….

Posted on March 4, 2014 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

Having spoken previously about the power of routine, it only makes sense for me to relate, as further evidence of the importance of such routines in our lives, how difficult it can be once a favored, or at minimum, comfortable routine has been broken.

In the past month or two, I’ve begun to sleep better, in the sense that I’m sleeping without being half-awake for half the night, and spending more time in good, solid sleep, from not waking up so often. Since beginning to use cannabinoids to help me get to sleep, and to stay there, I’ve had more, better sleep than in the prior twelve years or more…. Hell, sometimes, it seems like twenty or thirty years….

Come to think of it, it has been about twenty years or so since I hurt my back the last time…. I had forgotten that…. I had also blocked awareness of the four years it took to get my back pain to a level where I could return to work, and how it never really got any better after reaching the point the courts call “permanent and stationary”. I’d forgotten the grinding, wrenching pain in my hips and lower back, that I got when I would walk….

Most of all, I’ve blocked out how much the pain drove me crazy with its unrelenting nature…. There were NO breaks at all from the pain, for a while…. It was full out ON, for days, and weeks, and months at a time, before it got better, and calmed down enough to start some healing…

The routines I had built up, up to a couple months ago seemed to work as well as anything, but, I was getting very fatigued, from not sleeping well over a course of years…. The two years I spent waiting for my SS, living in near-poverty, was particularly hard in terms of sleeping, as my PTSD, and my pain, were my only companions for a long time…. It didn’t make me any fonder of either of them, but, I learned to endure the nights without sleeping, and the days without end…. These Pearls, of course, kept me sane, for the most part, though, some might question HOW sane I was, much of the time….

As I said, though, that’s all done now…. I’m still trying different cannabis products to see how they work with the others, and what they’ll help to deal with, but, all in all, I’m happy with the results, because I feel a whole lot more rested, and whole…. It’s amazing what a bit of good sleep can do….

But, as I said above, now my routines are all screwed up, by this new long-term sleeping I must work into my schedule each day, about which, previously, I didn’t have to think… Of late, I’ve gotten in the habit of falling out around dark (about 5-6 PM at this time of year…), arising around 3 or 4 AM, ready to go; it’s been great in terms of how I feel, when sleeping, AND when I wake up….

But, it’s getting kind of lonely, as my lady is on a completely different schedule; she stays up watching TV until about 2, then sleeps until about 9 or 10 AM…. We’re about seven or eight hours off each other’s schedule, so, we miss each other during about sixteen hours of the day…. Fortunately, the time we’re both awake does overlap a ways, so, it’s not all bad, just not as much interaction as I’d like, if you see what I mean….

Well, that’s about all of the chatty, intimate personal bullshite I’ve got on tap for this morning…. I actually didn’t mean to get so far into the subject as I did, but you know me, when I get rambling…. I can’t seem to shut it off sometimes…. Regardless, it got us to this point, all without any hesitation, and without any of the usual buildup of angst over what to write…. No ranting, either, which is good, as there’s a good one below…. On that note…

Shall we Pearl?…..

“Behold the fool saith, “Put not all thine eggs in the one basket” — which is but a manner of saying, “Scatter your money and your attention”; but the wise man saith, “Put all your eggs in the one basket and — watch that basket!” — Mark Twain (1835-1910)
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“Whenever you hear a man speak of his love for his country, it is a sure sign he expects to be paid for it.” — H. L. Mencken

Does anyone else remember what Tom Jefferson had to say about “professional politicians”, and “bankers”, as being the most dangerous threats to a democracy? I remember the tone of it, and the meaning of what he expressed, in a number of letters to others of his contemporaries, even if even if I don’t remember the exact wording in the letters…..

Believe me, every single one of the people who inhabit the halls of the White House, the Congressional House and Senate, and the Federal Court system would have been very lucky if Tom had only called them by their true name, that of TRAITOR….. As I recall from my reading about Tom, he was a bit of a hothead, by reputation, and he might have decided to start shooting before speaking, if I read him right…. and, I couldn’t agree more with the sentiment that might have prompted him to start firing away….

It’s funny, (ha ha AND weird, both types…) how the mind plays tricks on itself, even going so far as to use one’s own memories in manipulating to have its way…. however obscure that way may be….

Yesterday, in the rant in section three, (I think…. that’s how unsure I am of my own memory right now; memories as close as yesterday are currently suspect, due to the very issue under discussion IN THIS SENTENCE, thus, demonstrating once again how slippery our hold on Reality is, just all the damn time….), I mentioned the rant from the day before, in which, I was supposed to have spoken about the NSA, and its shenanigans….

That, of course, was either mistaken belief on my part, or just laziness in thinking about what actually was written, as I was writing something else for that post at the time…. I know, it’s all very confusing, and maybe even moot, but, I have to explain this, or I’ll go crazy…

Crazy, as you know, is always a risk around here…. Anyway…. The rant to which I referred as being about the NSA, (as yesterday’s rant from the archives actually happened to be), was NOT about that, specifically, though that agency WAS mentioned…. No, that rant was about the Shrubs, and the events of 9/11/01 considered as a conspiracy to misdirect the public attention away from election results of the previous two elections, in which certain disputed voting irregularities “fixed” the election in favor of the Republican ticket….

A conspiracy, I will add, whose very existence, due to the very professional, comprehensive planning, and execution, by the elder Shrub’s minions, in eliminating and/or explaining away any evidence of such a conspiracy, is completely unknown to the majority of the American public…. That’s how good they are at this…

My intent in saying the above, long and complicated as it turned out to be, was to be honest, with y’all, and with myself…. and to keep things straight….

There are two different issues at hand in my rants from the last week or so, (Two, at the very least…. most likely more, if truth be told…), with the only connection being the fact that both issues are a result of previously clandestine, illegal, selfish, paranoid actions by the same set of shadowy corporate slave masters, and their political minions….

Thanks to the actions of a single patriotic citizen with a conscience, (E. Snowden), SOME of their actions are now a matter of public record, a fact which they are desperately working to remove from the public’s awareness….

Right now, they’re using the stone wall technique…. They aren’t making comments on any part of the issues, and they won’t address any questions they’re given by journalists on the subject. They’ve planted the seeds they wished to plant, with their lies about intended reforms to the NDAA regulations, and about Eric Snowden’s incompetence, and possible (fabricated) ties to Russian spies….

“All men can be led to believe the lie they want to believe.” — Italo Bombolini

Since that last outrageous, ‘ipse dixit’ proclamation from the House Intelligence Committee’s lead Republican, (….. Wow, talk about an oxymoron!…), about the infamous, totally made-up Soviet spies who “tricked” Eric Snowden into hacking those files, the White House, and every other public mouthpiece in DC, has been giving their best impression of an uncooked clam about the entire issue….. They don’t want to confuse the issue by introducing too many other ideas, especially if they might be found to be true….

They’re letting the lies they told sit and percolate, so it is the last discussion in the public mind; that way, when they come back to re-address the same issue again, those minds, of the mundanes among us, will have already been primed with the previous lies….. Hence, their next round of fabrications can not only be even more outrageous, but, in their minds, will have the additional advantage of being more easily believed by those parts of the public that bought into their previous (false) statements…. ‘Tis an unfortunate truth that it will probably work….

“These activities have their own rules and methods of concealment which seek to mislead and obscure.” — Dwight D. Eisenhower (1960)

Even if only a few people buy into their lies and machinations, they’re content…. They know that, because of human nature, the people who DO fall for that line of crap are generally the loudest, most stridently vocal of their supporters, those who have a strong investment in believing what they’re told by the talking heads on TV, primarily so they don’t appear to be so FUCKING STUPID to the rest of us….

Sorry…. didn’t mean to shout. I just get so frustrated, thinking about the lack of intelligence it takes to NOT be able to see how often these people are lying to us. This rant sort of evolved, all by itself. on Monday morning, as I sat reading the original line from Mr. Mencken, who happens to be one of the most prolific social philosophers of the twentieth century….

Mencken had a sharp eye, a nimble mind, and he wasn’t afraid to call a spade a spade, which, in the end, gets more done than calling it what it isn’t…. His honesty, and his willingness to “call ’em as he saw ’em” is why he was relatively unpopular with, and feared by, the governing elite of his era…. Too many sharp barbs and exposed truths for their taste….

I just wish I could figure out how to convince all the Numbnoids to use their minds, for something more than just carrying their bladders around from toilet, to table, to toilet…. Oh well, I’ll keep at it, and maybe, someday, one of the tabloids, or one of the mainstream papers, or even, GASP!, maybe a major player, like PEOPLE magazine, will pick up one of my rants, it will go viral, and the world will be saved from the all-too-frequently ignored effects of practicing ignorance, and the crushing soulless presence of Evil in our society’s most powerful denizens, who take advantage of that ignorance among the masses to maintain their own supremacy….

Or, maybe not…. Either way, I’ll keep on pointing out what I see, even if it doesn’t get very far…. Better out than in, I always say….

“Lord, defend me from my friends; I can account for my enemies.” — D’Hericault
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Since today’s post features a fresh rant, (…. In the unlikely, but possible, event that you skipped down to here, wishing to avoid the big pile of nasty-looking, hard-to-pronounce words above, the rant is in the previous section…. )….I’ll include one of my own poems, so there’s nobody else to blame for whatever happens today…. Enjoy!….

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Written 11/1/13:

Time, and again….

Life, and/or love, will seldom fit
into any box we keep for them to sit.
Loose and limber, without any reason,
always somewhat out of season.

Surprise, surprise, they seem to say,
we can’t help it, it’s just our way.
If only you would learn, instead of know,
maybe you’d find yourself with one to show.

Deal, just the way it is, now and here,
follow the path, on the other side of fear.
Finding the future isn’t all blood, sweat, and pain,
far, far more than mere joy we stand to gain.

The sages all say not to try, just do,
sounds as simple as putting on a shoe.
I’d say we could really go places,
if we could but learn, to tie up the laces….

~~ gigoid ~~

_____________________________

Oh boy! Now I get to have some fun…. Though ranting is its own sort of reward, fun is better. I’m going to go to Smart Bee, cap in hand, and respectfully beg to be given a group of the finest pearls that are there to be found, hoping the humility will throw it off enough for me to get what I need…. which, in this case, is a group of pearls with just one parameter…. fun…. Let’s see what we can find, shall we?….

“Every man is wise when attacked by a mad dog; fewer when pursued by a mad woman; only the wisest survive when attacked by a mad notion.” — Robertson Davies

“I hope they never find out that lightning has a lot of vitamins in it, because do you hide from it or not?” — Deep Thoughts, by Jack Handey

“Never die while doing something stupid. That will be what people remember about you.” — Smart Bee

“Plumbing is one of the easier of do-it-yourself activities, requiring only a few simple tools and a willingness to stick your arm into a clogged toilet. In fact, you can solve many home plumbing problems, such as annoying faucet drip, merely by turning up the radio. But before we get into specific techniques, let’s look at how plumbing works….. A plumbing system is very much like your electrical system, except that instead of electricity, it has water, and instead of wires, it has pipes, and instead of radios and waffle irons, it has faucets and toilets. So the truth is that your plumbing systems is nothing at all like your electrical system, which is good, because electricity can kill you.” — Dave Barry, The Taming of the Screw

“By the time you’re eighty years old you’ve learned everything. You only have to remember it.” — George Burns (1896-1996)

“I hope something GOOD came in the mail today so I have a REASON to live!!” — Zippy the Pinhead

“Every normal man must be tempted, at times, to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats.” — H. L. Mencken

Well, ffolkes, there you have it…. I had fun, even if nobody else did… especially when I consider the last line, and how often I feel just like that….
_____________________________

Oops…. slight tactical error here…. or, maybe a flaw in the strategy being employed…. Either way, here ’tis, just 0515, (that’s in the AM…) and I’m pretty much done with this Pearl…. NOW what am I going to do? Ah well, I’m sure I can find SOME sort of trouble to cause, or perhaps, some time I can carve out to search for an imperialist running dog lackey, whom I can capture and torment for a while…. Now, THAT sounds like fun!…. 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

Historical examples of perversity are rife among the ruling classes…..

Posted on March 3, 2014 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

I think I broke my brain…. without it, it’s hard to tell…. It’s that, or I’ve managed somehow to get switched with somebody else’s brain, and it doesn’t get my commands…. Most likely, though, it’s just doing one of its imitations of the Windows operating system, which can freeze up at any time, without warning, only to sit there, blankly staring at you out of a blue screen, undoubtedly getting a big kick out of watching you tear out what remaining hair you have…. Well, that’s the way it feels, anyway…. If only I could find my chutzpah, I’d be fine….

Without it, I have a hard time convincing myself that anyone out there wants to hear what I have to say…..Then, I remember that I don’t really care if anyone reads it, as long as it gets this shit out of my head before it explodes in there, or ferments to the point of rottenness….. I still have moments in my life when sanity is far, far away; at those moments, it all seems rather silly to try to get people to listen to what is most likely the most sensible crap they hear, just so they can save their sorry asses from their own stupidity. Most of the folks who are causing all the trouble are folks I’d rather didn’t survive any cataclysm that is coming, so I often wonder why I try….

Then, I remember I’m supposed to be compassionate to all creatures, even the dull and ignorant…. Okay, I can live with that….

But, I’m sorry, ffolkes, but there are a number of people in the world, a small, but important list, on which are listed those people for whom I am NEVER going to feel any compassion…. Pimps, rapists, murderers, pedophiles, and all the other proven enemies of society are on that list….. and, I’m NOT talking about convicted criminals….. Most of the others on the list will never face prosecution for their crimes…

You’ll note, if you please, the phrase, “other enemies of society”…. You see, to me, this group includes ALL politicians, ALL preachers, priests, imams, sadhus, and all the other varieties of holy-rollers, 98% of the lawyers, 90% of the police, at least half the military, and most importantly, ALL of those whom I would label as shadowy corporate slave masters, the small group of mega-rich assholes who control 99% of all the money and resources on the planet….

Okay, except for them, I’ll feel compassion for all…. The folks on my list of those who would be ‘persona non grata’ in the New World order would see nothing from me but the back of me hand…. As I’ve said before, they’ve been fucking with the rest of us for millennia, so, I say, fuck them, hard, dirty, and as often as you can…. They’ll still never get anywhere near enough payback for what they’ve done, even if we tortured them for years….

Okay, I’ve ranted already, and I had no intention of doing so in the intro today…. I guess my sense of outrage is on full alert, what with all this BS going on in the Ukraine, with all the corporate assholes arguing over who’s going to exploit the Ukrainians…. Will it be the East, the West, or are they going to just fuck themselves over like little marionettes? The last choice seems as likely as any of the others, as I don’t see very many factions there who are any more acceptable than any of the others…. It’s all just an argument, as I noted, about who will get the franchise to fuck them over….

Before I get started again, on this new outbreak of insanity on the other side of the world, I’d better get on with the rest of today’s Pearl…. It isn’t going to write itself, I suppose…. I am a little bit prepared, as I have some archived material ready to put in, but, it still takes some time to edit, buff, polish, and update for current news, in the case of a rant about a specific issue like gun control…. Any who, let’s get on with it….

Shall we Pearl?…..

“Instead of all of this energy and effort directed at the war to end drugs, how about a little attention to drugs which will end war?” — Albert Hofmann
_____________________________

In the early days of this blog, the format of the Daily Pearls was somewhat different than it is now…. There was an intro section, followed by five more sections, each with a single pearl, and a discussion of that pearl…. Some were short, some longer, but, it worked for what I was doing at the time, still developing the chops I needed to get this stuff out of my head before it rots….

Later, when I began writing longer discussions, and began ranting more often, I switched over to the current format, as the Pearls were getting way too long…. They’re still growing in length, but that is now a factor of my skills having advanced to the point where I’m faster, and get stuff out more efficiently, if not with more style….

I found this pearl, which I think will give you a good idea of how they looked back then…. It’s a decent little blurb, and I’m kind of proud of it, as part of my learning process….

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

From 2/29/2012:

“Waiting is.” — Robert A. Heinlein, ‘Stranger in a Strange Land’

Taken by itself, in this format, without the supportive structure of the book from which it was taken, this seems a bit obtuse, too inscrutable. But when one adds in the philosophical background from which this statement springs, a direction is given to the path one’s thoughts must take to find and absorb the meaning, and the lesson, that these two words hold.

Even without the book’s help, using the phrase as a focus of meditation is very soothing, almost healing. It may be the shortest koan known to man; I can’t think of any I’ve seen that are simpler or deeper than this. And using it is so simple! Merely close the eyes, relax, and say the words, inflecting them as a question, and follow the march of your thoughts and images as they lead you further inward, toward the center, where balance lives….

(Note from the future: In retrospect, I find that a slightly better meditation technique is to say the words silently, in the mind, and changing the inflection in an alternating fashion, as a question, then as an answer, then again in query, and so on…. This technique is also useful in leading to a place of great serenity and inner peace…. I can personally testify as to the truth of that….)
_____________________________

While cruising the archives, where I found the above, I also came across the following, from April of 2013, written during the National Poetry Writing Challenge…. Enjoy!….

Haiku VIII

Softly steals the night,
everywhere is darkness,
but for in the heart.

~~ gigoid ~~

I know I’m in the now, if only…..

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

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

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

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

I’ve been wrong before…..

~~ gigoid ~~

_____________________________

Yesterday’s Pearl had a fresh rant, talking about the NSA, and the illegal spying by the US government, brought to light by Eric Snowden, the whistle blower who formerly worked at the NSA….

The rant was stimulated because a book on the subject was published, entitled “The Snowden Files”, written by one Luke Harding, a journalist who works for the Guardian, a tabloid newspaper in the UK, the publication in which the spying revelations were first revealed to the public….

Late last year, I wrote another rant on that same subject, regarding an article that came out at the time I wrote it…. It’s still quite valid, and in light of the new book, bears repeating, if only to keep the material fresh in people’s minds, where it belongs….

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From 10/31/13:

Well, I waited until now to begin ranting, which is probably a good thing. Perhaps this will be a bit more effective as a call to action than in the usual position, or wherever it’s been of late that has kept it from at least making me feel a bit better for having ranted…. What a mouthful! And so on topic, too! Gotta love us amateurs, eh?….

At any rate, I found this article yesterday, buried back a few pages, probably because everyone is so tired of hearing of yet ANOTHER outrageous instance of the NSA breaking the law, by once again going far beyond the scope of their legal mandate, in the ever-widening quest by our own government to become the true Evil Empire…. I know, that’s some pretty high-powered language to use to in discussing an agency of our own government, but, as always, I believe in calling a spade a damn shovel, not an indigenous individual digging device, type 2…. and you may as well get used to it….

These assholes over at the NSA have gone completely bonkers; they assumed that because they got practically all they wanted in the way of legal coverage by the administration, they may as well just go ahead and do whatever else they wanted, believing that the people who set them loose on the trail of ostensible terrorists would protect them from any critical attention and/or interference by something as mundane as the law, or the will of the people….. and, for a long time, they were justified in that belief…. But, now that their clandestine activities are being brought to light by that national hero, Eric Snowden, the rats are deserting their ship, and leaving them to their fate without any real support….

Talk around Washington is that the President is going to, belatedly, stop spying on the leaders of our allies, and will move to put limits on what the agencies are allowed to access in the data that is generated by the general public. This is a complete reversal, and I can only hope it is in response to the pressure put on them by the public’s obvious displeasure, and not as a temporary measure to appease while they figure out a diversion in some other area of the public venue, where they can cause some problem that will draw our attention away from this issue, allowing them to continue their illegal, but, in their eyes, oh so necessary theft of the people’s identities….

(Note from the future: As it appears now, the purported restrictions the potUS was supposedly putting in place were merely a sop to the outrage. The restrictions, as such, don’t restrict much at all, and, as of now, five or so months later, they’re still covering it up, and nothing has been actually DONE about putting any restrictions on the NSA’s spying…. It was all just a charade, put out so the public believes that something will actually happen, when in reality, they’re going to stonewall it for as long as they possibly can….)

http://www.sfgate.com/business/technology/article/Report-NSA-broke-into-Yahoo-Google-data-centers-4939585.php

In the article, the most significant part of what is there, to my way of thinking, is that the companies involved say they had no idea they were being compromised, even though their own security measures are considered to be nearly impenetrable… Well, they SAY they had no idea; one must remember they ARE a corporation, and, thus, are very familiar with telling the public what they wish to hear….

However, it appears that the American and British spies went in, got their data, and left, without ever notifying Google, or Yahoo, of what they were taking, though such activities are still illegal, according to the laws in place…. (Not to mention rude…. The spying mandate they have doesn’t extend to what they stole, theoretically…. Of course, they can say they didn’t KNOW that, but, then, lying is their entire purpose, and the single most critical part of their entire modus vivendi, is it not?…. Even in the Art of War, Sun Tzu acknowledged the importance of the spy in warfare, calling them the most powerful of all types of warriors…

Of course it is, just as lying and cheating come naturally to anyone in a nationally elected office; it’s part of their job description these days, even if it is written in invisible ink….. Since Google, and Yahoo, and the other agencies that were hacked, are all corporations, and have pretty much the same characteristics as shown by the BRC pundits, (i.e., a tendency to lie at the drop of a cliche…), it’s a bit hard to tell who is more guilty here…. Most likely, they’re ALL lying, to each other, as well as to us….

Is it Google and/or Yahoo, who are gathering all sorts of data about its users without their knowledge or permission (I don’t regard those passive advertisements that one can “control” what data is gathered by adjusting their “preferences” as real permission…. they take whatever data they want, and tell you about it later, if at all….)….? Or, is it the government spy agencies, who are stealing that same stolen data from the corporations, that fit the bill as the villain?

It should make for an interesting contest, to see how this fake argument plays out….. I mean, I can’t really believe that the BRC, who is controlled and supported by the corporations (go ahead, disprove that!….), will continue to try to take data from those corporations without their knowledge. It’s more likely they are playing out this faux-dispute in the public venue in order to confuse the public about who is on their side in this issue…

It seems to be working, as always, as the public is pretty much ignoring these latest revelations, and looking around for almost anything to take their minds elsewhere for a while… I’m almost interested, in a resigned, doubtful sort of way, to see just what they come up with next to draw the public’s attention off this issue…. Probably more to do with the recent roll-out of health care reform laws, which seems to be a hot button for a lot of people….

For me, all of it is dross and spittle…. I believe, absolutely, that if there is an official statement made by anyone in the government printed in the news, it needs to be examined in the light of what it is NOT saying, to ascertain about what it is lying, or what it is trying to hide by distraction, not merely for what it says….

Their motivation in making ANY public statement is manipulation of public attitudes; they’re not trying to make anything better. They lie, they leave stuff out, they point us in all kinds of useless directions, but they almost NEVER tell us what is actually going on, unless we’ve already caught them at it… In those cases, we see all sorts of backing and filling, as they come up with all sorts of “plausible deniability” in order to convince the public that their lies are really the truth…

What a crock! If it wasn’t so damn sad and depressing, it would be amusing…. SIGH… Enough is enough…. Stay alert, ffolkes, because they’re lying to you every day, and doing all they can to improve THEIR lot in life, not yours…. Let them know you’re on to them, at every opportunity…. If nothing else, it will make them nervous, which they deserve….

“You can fool all of the people some of the time; you can fool some of the people all of the time; and that should be sufficient for most purposes.” — Smart Bee, quoting from the true bible, used by both politicians and preachers…..

“The ideal robot, after all, is simply a properly processed human being.” — Edward Abbey
_____________________________

Well… it seems that I’ve cheated my way to a complete Pearl…. The only fresh material today is in the intro section, a few introductory remarks for each section, and some commentary that was inserted at various points in the material; all of the rest is from the archives…. Strangely enough, it all is also quite valid and up-to-date, in terms of how it relates to current events….

Sadly, this has an obvious and unfortunate implication…. It is clear, from a standpoint of considering the ethical and/or moral evolution in people at large, which is a sea-change desperately needed to be made to our inner spirit, made necessary for us to survive in this universe by our own selfish actions…. well, ffolkes, it’s pretty obvious nothing much is changing over time….

We, as a culture, are still pursuing the same ignorant modes of behavior and interaction that will eventually kill us all…. a behavior which, as has been proven throughout history, is the sign of a dying culture, one which spends enormous amounts of negative energy to maintain the status quo, rather than embracing the change that is natural to the flow of Reality….

Okay, so there’s a mini-rant for you, right there at the end, where you can easily step past it to get to the door leading out, and away from this nonsense…. You may as well, because we’re done, and I’m outta here…. 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

Ah…. I see…. It’s the masticating jelly ….

Posted on March 2, 2014 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

A powerful vortex begins to form in the open space in the air above the machine, outlined by crossing beams of laser-light, spinning swiftly, a maelstrom of flashing colors and shadows, assaulting the eyes with vibrating images sans identifiable form, nearly mesmerizing in their intensity. As the vortex spins, it begins to grow larger, until the edges push against walls of the machine, straining to break free of the light beams holding it at the size and shape to which it had grown, an oblong spheroid, about 6 feet long, by four feet wide through the middle…. A strong sense of Evil permeates the air of the room, seemingly emanating from the spinning shape, which is pulsing like a beating heart as it madly turns….. Doctor Mephistopheles looks over at me, grinning widely…. “Well,”, he says with satisfaction, “there’s your Doomsday Weapon, as requested.”…..

I’m not sure what prompted such an opening today…. I mean, it’s obvious, to me, what it is about, and what internal issues stimulated the mental images that bled out of my head…. I enjoy making up fictional beginnings for Pearls, as I like to think of myself as a writer of diverse skills, one of which is descriptive prose, that describes a physical scene, or an interaction between people… Of course, that opinion is most likely just a factor of my own gullibility, leading me to believe what isn’t remotely true….

No worries, mates, we all have our own set of delusions about Reality, which we use at our discretion to keep ourselves amused, and all of us tend to make those delusions a bit grandiose, given half a chance…. I may be smarter than the average bear, but, that doesn’t deter me from being a Bozo…. not at all…. Just look at my nose!….

That being said, and acknowledged, it may explain WHY the first paragraph came to be, but completely ignores HOW….. which is also okay, because, quite frankly, Scarlett, I don’t give a damn…. Y’all know by now this section is where I experiment with any number of techniques for introducing the rest of these Pearls, so whatever happens here is pretty much okay, since it’s all going to be ignored later, and nobody is being charged for any of it, in spite of the (almost) negligible costs involved…. I reconciled myself to that long ago, with no resentment at all, realizing from the start that a certain amount of sacrifice would be necessary….

Now, at this point, y’all are most likely wondering just WHAT THE HELL IS HE BABBLING ABOUT NOW? Hell, your guess is as good as mine…. I’ve slipped into a trance-like state, typing away madly, words going onto the screen, but, I really don’t have a clue as to any of what they’re saying, or where it might take us if it continues much longer…. it could be just about anywhere….

As I type, most of my mind is thinking about breakfast, or perhaps, a morning worship session at the throne; it’s all a blur, when observed from a third-party viewpoint. I suppose I could use one of the emergency methods again, as this seems to have burst its buttons, and no longer bears any resemblance to anything remotely appropriate for ANY style of literature….. Hell, at this point, a poem probably couldn’t save this….

Whoa, Nellie! What the hell was that? I think, ffolkes, I’ve completely lost all control, as well as my bearings. (That’s the loud, chalkboard-scraping, nerve-bending, strident noise you hear, like metal scraping on metal…..) Now I KNOW we’re going to have to go with an emergency ending for this…. In fact, I’m breaking out #4 right now…. Stand back, please….

Shall we Pearl?…..

“Everywhere I look I see NEGATIVITY and ASPHALT…” — Zippy the Pinhead
_____________________________

“Feeling good about government is like looking on the bright side of any catastrophe. When you quit looking on the bright side, the catastrophe is still there.” — P. J. O’Rourke, Parliament of Whores (1991)

Of late, I’ve been using a lot of old material, from my archives…. I’ve ranted so much in the last two and a half years I feel as if I’m repeating myself, too often. This is frustrating, to some degree, because I really do want things to change, and my rants are intended to cause enough of a disturbance that people notice, and read what I have to say, thus, hopefully on my part, making some kind of difference in what is to come…. That is the intent, anyway…. Today, then, I give you the following freshly composed rant, about a rather old subject involving conspiracies at the highest levels of society, that were covered up as part of the circus of fear that accompanied the events of 9/11/01…..

Eric Snowden performed an act that will someday go down in history as one of two figures, depending on who gets to write the books…. Either he was a traitor of the first water, or his actions were an example of what patriotism REALLY means…. To my way of looking at the evidence, he obviously deserves to be included in the latter category, and I believe that will HAVE to be the eventual outcome, given the FACT that what he revealed is all the TRUTH…. and the TRUTH will always make itself known, one way or another…. It may or may not affect Reality, not enough to stimulate any changes, but, it will always be made clear…. even if I have to tell it myself….

That, of course, is my opinion, one not shared by those in the Beloved Ruling Class, who are bearing the brunt of the outrage over the information he revealed about our government’s illegal, immoral, and unethical spying on its own people, as well as on the rest of the world. He caused them no end of discombobulation and embarrassment, pulling the covers they had used to hide their activities for ten years, since the clandestine attack on 9/11/01, an event the BRC used to further its ends faster, and further, than it had ever before been able to accomplish….

In one short day, in the acts of a few hours time, the shadowy corporate slave masters forged the most valuable tool for control over others they’d ever had…. A massive outbreak of unreasoning fear, outrage and anger, felt by the entire nation, fresh and strong, all accomplished with a few thousand dollars, and the manipulation of some idiotic, fanatic, pathetic Jihadists, whose own set of delusions made them easy prey for those who wished to take advantage of the events that transpired that day…..

What? What’s that you ask? Where did I get the idea that 9/11 was a conspiracy? Oh, honey, I knew that was true the day it happened…. You mean you can’t see that? I clued into that the first time I saw that airplane hit the tower….

You can’t see how easily the whole scenario fell into place? Did anyone ever go look for the money? Who paid for the assholes who carried out the attacks? Who gave them the idea to attack the West using our own airplane in the first place? Who maintains a world-wide aura of anger and hatred against themselves, for the aggressive bombing, and ubiquitous meddling in the affairs of whomever we wish to oppress?

And, most suspiciously, why were the Saudis (whose rulers just HAPPENED to be in Washington DC, visiting their old friend, GWB Sr, the original shrub, who just HAPPENS to be an ex-CIA director….), able to get advance information on the attacks, such that they were advised to leave the country just prior to them?

A lot of other little discrepancies in the stories that emerged that day made it clear to me the whole set of terrorist acts had been planned, and probably paid for, by someone with an interest in diverting the public’s attention away from what was happening at the time on the political stage….

I do know the attacks came at what had to be the absolute most advantageous time to save the sorry ass of GWB Jr., whose butt was about to be put in a tight sling, for having cheated in a national election, stealing it through the egregious use of clandestine poll shenanigans, that caused a vital swing state to vote in the (idiotic) electoral college for Bush, when a vote for Gore would have swung the election the other way (remember the “broken” voting machines in Ohio?… No? Well, I do….).

In the days and weeks just prior to the attacks on 9/11, the office of the US Attorney General had announced it would be investigating the claims of election fixing on the part of the Bush camp, seeking to find out if they had manipulated the voting process to win the state in Ohio, and others…. This came with the intimation that, depending on the results of that investigation, the same would possibly be applied to examine the results of the previous election, in 2000, when voting irregularities in Florida gave the state’s electoral votes to the Bush campaign, as did the shenanigans in Ohio in 2004…. It was clear to me, at the time, that the Republican Party was in deep shit….

But, then came the attacks, and plans for any and all such investigations were lost in the flaring outrage that enveloped the entire country, the aftereffects of which are still being felt today, thanks to our egregiously selfish ruling class, and their shadowy masters behind the scenes…. This country has, in the past thirteen short years, lost the protection of more of the Bill of Rights than it had in the previous two hundred years, thanks to the events of that day, and I, for one, am not terribly happy about that…. In fact, I’ve gone beyond unhappy, through a bit upset, and on into downright pissed off….

…..and I don’t intend to stop feeling pissed off, until I start to see some of the people responsible start falling into the holes in the ground we’ve prepared for them, as they get picked off, one by one, by the soldiers of the upcoming revolution…. This world is ripe for revolution, ffolkes, anyone with half a brain can see that…. The gap between the rich and the poor is getting wider all the time…. when it gets to a certain point, the lines of human connection that keep society from bursting at the seams will be stretched beyond their strength, and they will break….

At that point, CHANGE will occur, whether we, (that means you, or I…. ), or the shadowy corporate slave masters and their myrmidons, wish it to do so, or not…. After all, the actual, true definition of the word “revolution” IS “change”….

I haven’t read the book listed below yet, (the link leads to a review), though I intend to do so….. Meanwhile, from looking at the review, this tome about Eric Snowden, one of the first to come out since his revelations became public, seems to present a fair-minded, equable view of the events leading up to the exposure of the illegal spying, as well as an accurate, even-handed look at the events since then. I intend to read it, if only to get some more details of what Mr. Snowden accomplished….

http://www.sfgate.com/books/article/The-Snowden-Files-by-Luke-Harding-5278264.php

I recommend y’all check it out, and think seriously about the stuff I’ve related in the above rant, about the Shrubs, (and their allies, all super-rich, arrogant, selfish, entitled assholes much like himself, and his idiot offspring….) and their chicanery….

I regard the senior Shrub as, perhaps, the single most egregiously dangerous, patently EVIL man alive, due to his background in dirty tricks (ex-CIA director), his proven complete lack of any kind of moral compass, and his painfully obvious absolute disregard for the rights of ANYONE else in the world…. but, that’s just me…. Nonetheless, I believe him to be personally responsible for most of the attacks on the Bill or Rights in the last 40 years…. In my less than humble opinion, he deserves every bit of disrespect and vituperation I can fling his way….

“There never was a bad man that had ability for good service.” — Edmund Burke (1729-1797) — Reflections on the Revolution in France, — Speech in opening the Impeachment of Warren Hastings, Third Day, — Vol. x, p. 54

Oh, by the way….. I may as well get this out of the way now….

Hi there, illegal spying drones of the NSA…. which means, hi to the CIA, FBI and anyone else you’re sharing my metadata with…. Hail, thou foul denizens of some basement in DC, somewhere in the depths of the US Cybersecurity complex, at an unknown location! Welcome to my blog! Enjoy the atmosphere, and feel free to record anything you want…. as if you weren’t already doing so….

😆
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First posted in June, 2012, & again in November, 2013, as presented both times:

“We don’t read and write poetry because it’s cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion. And medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for. To quote from Whitman, ‘O me! O life!… of the questions of these recurring; of the endless trains of the faithless–of cities filled with the foolish; what good amid these, O me, O life? Answer. That you are here – that life exists, and identity; that the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse.’ That the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse. What will your verse be?” — John Keating, Dead Poet’s Society

Early Observations

Until I knew there was more,
I wanted to know God.
They said he was a nice guy,
and would let me live forever.

All I had to do, they said,
was live my life for Him,
always living by scripture
cleaving only to his Way.

But, everyone I saw in church,
acted different at home.
Living wild, cussin’ and fussin’,
nobody lived like they said.

Still, I tried to be like Jesus,
he was sort of cool.
He never hurt nobody
and walked on the right path.

‘Course they killed him for that,
they couldn’t stand his example.
Turned him into a martyr,
hid his real words among their own.

Then I found the Buddha,
and met Lao Tzu at the gate.
They saw things real different,
showed me how to see straight.

Right thought, and right action
replace blind obedience and faith.
Reality becomes manageable,
fear retreats, the universe expands.

Brother John said it pretty well,
“Imagine there’s no heaven,
it’s easy if you try.”
Sounds like he knew why.

Day to day, life is grand,
we walk in eternal beauty.
Open your eyes and hearts,
find yourself already immortal.

~~ gigoid ~~

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Having found that somewhat belated (belated in the sense that it’s way to late to do much about all of it now….) rant in my head this morning, I suppose it means this section will need to become an old-school pearl, for the balance such a charmingly structured pile of virtual wisdom provides, to a Pearl that might otherwise become wobbly (can’t have that!….)…..

Since all of what we do here at ECR is designed to support the universe in its quest to refrain from any such wobbles, I have no problem with going old-school…. In fact, it’s always one of my favorite activities to dispel the mild, but bothersome after-rant depression that can occur in some cases….

So, let’s take our fate firmly in hand, and go see what Smart Bee has for us today….

“Everything flows and nothing abides; everything gives way and nothing stays fixed.” — Heraclitus

“I found one day in school a boy of medium size ill-treating a smaller boy. I expostulated, but he replied: ‘The bigs hit me, so I hit the babies; that’s fair.’ In these words he epitomized the history of the human race. — Bertrand Russell, Education and the Social Order

“You take your life in your own hands, and what happens? A terrible thing: no one to blame.” — Erica Jong

“Civilization, like an airplane in flight, survives only as it keeps going forward.” — Edward Abbey

“I have often wondered how it is that every man loves himself more than all the rest of men, but yet sets less value on his own opinions of himself than on the opinions of others.” — Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

“Remember what Simonides said,–that he never repented that he had held his tongue, but often that he had spoken.” — Plutarch (46-120 AD) — Rules for the Preservation of Health, 7

“You offend Shai-Hulud by sheathing your crysknife without having drawn blood.” — Fremen proverb (from Dune, by Frank Herbert)

Ffolkes…. I gotta tell ya…. Sometimes, I just don’t know how these pearls will come out; other times, I’m confident of whatever may come. This pearl came together in a way that tells me it is special, so, pay close attention to the point that surfaces in your mind after absorbing the final line, while still holding there the jumble of thoughts from the previous six pearls…. I think what you find floating up into your consciousness is an idea, a concept, if you will, that you may find both stimulating, and enlightening, if not actually a revelation…. Of course, it may not happen at all, whereupon, you’ll find yourself in a quandary, bemusedly wondering where you went wrong….

No worries, young paduans, this one won’t be on the Quiz…. It may, however, be on your next reality check; tell them you got it here, and they’ll give you a discount…
_____________________________

Well…. Hmm…. I hope y’all had your restraining belts fastened…. that one was quite a ride…. I’d decided yesterday to make this one completely original, in terms of the actual material under discussion, and managed to do that, only having to go to the archives for an original poem…. So, today’s effort, though not perfectly fresh, is all original, so, I’m happy with it, no matter how it came out…. which, having gone over it a number of times trying to proof it, seems pretty okay to me…. So be it…. gigoid has spoken. 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

Save that elbow grease for the widow Jones; she uses it for baking…..

Posted on February 21, 2014 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

If today’s post gets done at all, ’twill be a miracle of some proportion…. The cat slept late, my back and hips are killing me, Time wobbled, while Space stood and watched…and I haven’t the slightest clue, about anything…. It has taken me 26 miserable minutes to dress, (sans shoes, or brushing of hair, as I didn’t want to bend over, or move around quite so much yet, until the topical pain killer I spread on my lower back takes effect) (it’s quick, good stuff…. new from the MJ Pharmacy I go to….)…. I then booted up, poured a cup of coffee laced with some Elixir of Indica, and proceeded to write a TERRIBLE title for today’s Pearl, which will no doubt go through several incarnations before I settle on one sufficiently weird to pass my filters…..

Finally, when I sit down to try to write this, duty calls me to the throne for the morning worship session….. SIGH…. Nobody bothered to tell me to gird my grid for a big one today, but it looks as if the full set of hip, shoulder, and neck restraints should be fastened before we set out, for sure…. I think, maybe, we’ll even issue helmets today….

Just in case I forget to tell you later, today’s Pearl will be….. what? Shit…. I completely spaced on what I intended to write there, & I have the feeling it was important…. Damn this fog in my head! I can’t seem to pull a coherent thought out of my ass, much less my head…. If this keeps up, we’re going to have to resort to one of our emergency tools to get us out of this morass of mindlessness, that seems to have formed in front of me this morning, necessitating either complete retreat, or a long detour to find ANY rational thought, one that could conceivably be used to create a Pearl….

This new hazard on our trail, in spite of its extreme effect on my mind, will NOT be allowed to affect the Pearl itself, other than the absolute mess it has made of this intro thus far. I swear this upon the name of my father, and y’all KNOW what that means…. Now, there is NOTHING in this world will keep me from completing my duty in this….

NOTHING, caps obviously deliberate, for emphasis. There is no force on this planet that could cause me to swerve from a duty I’ve chosen to assume; the man who taught me about duty wouldn’t have it any other way, thus, my choice is the same, and by evoking his name, I seal the deal so there is no backing out. If I say I’ll do it, then, it will be done; the only possible reason for it not to be done would be my own death. Nothing else is a valid reason to abrogate duty.

That being said, it’s probably best to go immediately into Emergency Closing #4, which is the quickest way out of this conundrum, and on into today’s offering…. Sometimes, with #4, I don’t even have the time to finish whatever it is I’m in the middle of typ…..

Shall we Pearl?….

“Everything has been thought of before, but the problem is to think of it again.” — Johann von Goethe
_____________________________

Johann is right in his assertion; in fact, he’s one of our favorites, simply because he consistently sees the world clearly, and describes it, as he did this time, as he sees it, with elegance, charm, and wit….. Plus, this idea COULD be considered as bearing a very strong resemblance to what we do here in ECR, when we create the pearls that stimulate the Gentle Readers to think, to cogitate, to exercise the muscles of the mind, until they’re strong enough to stand up to Reality, and laugh in its face…. Well, maybe not the last part….. Reality doesn’t like to be laughed at, unless it’s funny…. Any whom, before my lack of coherency causes a complete loss of speech from frustration, let’s go for a dive, and see what Smart Bee has for us today….

“Insanity is fun if you do it right.” — Smart Bee (All I can say is, “Whee!”….)

“A brute kills for pleasure. A fool kills from hate.” — Lazarus Long

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

“Believe nothing merely because you have been told it… Do not believe what your teacher tells you merely out of respect for the teacher. But whatsoever, after due examination and analysis, you find to be kind, conducive to the good, the benefit, the welfare of all beings — that doctrine believe and cling to, and take it as your guide.” — Buddha

“Truth is always exciting. Speak it, then. Life is boring without it.” — Pearl S. Buck

“We have art that we do not die of the truth.” — Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900)

He not busy being born
Is busy dying.

— Bob Dylan

Now, there are those who would say this is somewhat esoteric, as well as exotically eclectic, if they were ever given the chance….they’d be correct in that, too…. S’okay, we’re used to it around here…. In fact, all it really does is give us an appetite for a poem…. Shall we move on to section two? Good…. After you….
_____________________________

I’ve been using the poems I’ve been getting in the email lately, because some are classics, and others were from authors I’d never before used, or seen, for that matter…. Today, we’ll go with a classic, because, in the state my mind is in today, I NEED a classic, to help me find some sort of balance, or even just a moment or two of grace and elegance, to set me back on the right path to a more sane, satisfying day….. A lot to expect from a poem, eh?…. Ah well, I’ve always been more optimistic than was good for me…. I particularly enjoy this one, for its whimsical use of his sister’s name to furnish the first letter of each line…. now THAT is talent…. with discipline….

Acrostic : Georgiana Augusta Keats

Give me your patience, sister, while I frame
Exact in capitals your golden name;
Or sue the fair Apollo and he will
Rouse from his heavy slumber and instill
Great love in me for thee and Poesy.
Imagine not that greatest mastery
And kingdom over all the Realms of verse,
Nears more to heaven in aught, than when we nurse
And surety give to love and Brotherhood.

Anthropophagi in Othello’s mood;
Ulysses storm’d and his enchanted belt
Glow with the Muse, but they are never felt
Unbosom’d so and so eternal made,
Such tender incense in their laurel shade
To all the regent sisters of the Nine
As this poor offering to you, sister mine.

Kind sister! aye, this third name says you are;
Enchanted has it been the Lord knows where;
And may it taste to you like good old wine,
Take you to real happiness and give
Sons, daughters and a home like honied hive.

~~ John Keats ~~

_____________________________

Below this paragraph, you will find a rant…. I wrote it about a month ago, when the article it discusses first hit the news…. I happened to have a reason to go over it again, and saw that, not only is it a good rant, it is on a subject that shouldn’t be dismissed, or ignored, or put on a back burner, just because the people involved aren’t actively talking about it…. In fact, that is all the more reason to keep it in the public eye, as it is information they don’t WANT us to be thinking about, or paying any attention to whatsoever….

This administration has proven, by its very silence, which it has maintained ever since these statements were released by the head manipulator and his lackeys (The potUS, the senator, and the congressman, Barry, Di, and Mikey-boy…., the last being a Republican,Tea Party idiot, er, goon, er, stooge, who is on record as believing global warming to be a matter of debate… In this instance, he is playing a natural straight man to the president’s (almost) comically untruthful outburst, adding his own fabrications in support of his colleague’s blindly obedient lies…), because, hey, they’d rather the public just forget all about this issue….

Hence, we are subjected to this series of charades in front of the press, which is them doing their best to make that happen, followed by complete and utter silence on the subject….. It’s an old technique, long in use by spies to weaken foreign governments…. All it takes is to make outrageous statements, no matter how egregiously false, then shut up entirely, leaving the public only the memory of the lies to chew on, until they begin to believe the planted seeds….

One of the interpretations of the material in the ancient book by Sun Tzu, The Art of War, includes this concept as a viable and much used strategy in war, giving numerous historical examples wherein it was employed successfully…. Think about that for a moment, about what it implies about how the people we elect view us, and about the depths to which they’re willing to sink, in their quest to keep us under their control….

So, to piss them off, and keep my own angst fresh, I’m going to keep throwing this up in their faces, once a month or so, just to keep my hand in…. In the process, hopefully, I can ensure sure my other Readers are made aware, if they’re not already clued in, of how egregiously they are being manipulated by the BRC and their minions….

From January 21, 2014:

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

If you would please read this article, the arguments that follow will make a lot more sense; if you don’t, it may take you a bit longer to figure out the gist of it…. 😉 Plus, you’ll know, for sure, I’m not making this stuff up, just so I have something to write about….

http://news.yahoo.com/snowden-help-from-russians-193641893.html

In the time of Pythagoras that proverbial phrase “Ipse dixit” — Diogenes Laertius (c. 200 AD) — Pythagoras, xxv

Ipse Dixit. [Latin, “He himself said it.”] An unsupported statement whose veracity rests solely on the authority of the individual who makes it.

And so it begins….. All of a sudden, many months AFTER the fact, several high-ranking officials from the administration all come out with the same story-line, IMPLYING that Eric Snowden was influenced and/or helped by Russian spies to do what he did…. This statement by Mikey-boy Rogers, U.S. House Intelligence Committee Chairman, R-Mich., Senator Feinstein’s cohort (she’s his counterpart in the Senate, who put out her office’s lies about this issue yesterday….), is the newest step in the ongoing attempt by the administration to paint Mr. Snowden’s actions with the brush of treason, when, in fact, they KNOW he is not a traitor, but, rather, a patriotic American, caught in the web of intrigue THEY created with their clandestine, illegal activities….

As soon as I saw this headline today, my highly-trained, delicately-honed, automatic political crap detector SCREAMED at me….. “LIES, LIES, MADE UP LIES!!”, it said, without much doubt implied (accuracy factor of the detection meter said it was 99.9% likely to be lies…. which makes it pretty certain, as I’ve programmed it to never say that it is completely sure; it defaults to that number when it is…)….. This is SO obviously a campaign to smear Snowden, it positively REEKS! They are introducing doubt of his character into the dialogue, which, come to think of it, is only a monologue, because, hey, he’s not here to defend himself, is he?

This, of course, is typical political posturing, reminiscent of any other campaign, such as an election run, when they need to direct the public’s attention toward certain areas, away from others, so they can control the conversation…. In his speech, Obama admitted to responding to a public dialogue called for by the leak of information, while never admitting any wrongdoing for having committed the spying initially. Yet, this conversation, this debate, has only shown them to be more secretive than we knew, and they are pulling out all the stops to stop any further investigation into, or outcry about what is REALLY going on…. Naturally, since they are politicians, they will approach this as a campaign to be won; the first step in any campaign is to decrease the viability, the believability of the opposition…. Hence, unproved, unfounded, and untrue accusations, out of nowhere, to try to demonize Eric Snowden….

They say first, it’s beyond his abilities to have done this…. Well, hell, even the most thick-headed fool can see this is a total fabrication…. If this is true, would it mean that the NSA made a habit of hiring programmers that couldn’t understand what they were being tasked to do? Doesn’t make any sense to me…. This man was part of the program, a programmer, and KNOWS how to read data, as well as write the programs that would do so…. Hell, I’m only a high powered user, and I understand what is being done, and what WAS done…. This statement is an obvious lie, an attempt to demean Snowden, so he looks more like a villain, or, at best, the dupe of master spies….

The second thing to note about this claim, is that it is introduced by a politician, who obviously is NOT capable of judging what a programmer is capable of doing with a computer…. Mikey-boy probably has to ask his admin how to use his smart-phone, which is, arguably, smarter than he is, technically speaking… Yet, this idiot, in his power suit and tie, makes this claim unequivocally, thereby implying that one of the most competent programmers alive (look who hired him to begin with!….) isn’t capable of doing something he was trained to do, but, had to be helped by a foreign power…. A pretty far-fetched stretch, to my way of looking at it….

The one professional spy they quoted, from the CIA, it should be noted, said, in his statement, right off, so he couldn’t be accused later of any prevarications…. “I don’t have any particular evidence”, but, then goes on to agree with the outrageous claims made by a politician, one with NO FUCKING CLUE about the glaringly obvious untruth of what he proposes, or, indeed, of how much truth any of what he said might have contain…. Rogers’ job, which he performed perfectly, was, simply, to put in the minds of the public a single idea, one small but important lie, that Snowden was made to do what he did, by coercion, by trickery, or by duplicity; they don’t say which, nor do they have to…. They merely imply, without directly accusing, so that the lies they intend to bring out later, as seeds for further doubt, will find fertile soil in the simple minds of the public….

None of the truth, or any actual connection to reality of the claims he was making concerned him; he was strictly a talking head, on a major TV show; his mission was to plant in the public awareness the idea that Eric Snowden didn’t act alone, and that the very act of his doing what he did, regardless of ANY evidence to the contrary, should be viewed as proof of his having had help from another country…. The fact that this isn’t remotely true was not an issue; the message was delivered, and supported by the other actors in the play…. Throw in the claim about him being technically unable to do what he did, and you’ve got some juice to keep the story going, even though all of it is a complete fabrication….

Ffolkes, if you can’t see that this is true, that you were deliberately lied to, and manipulated in an attempt to make you think what the government wants you to think, well, I guess I should just use THEIR justification and tell you…. You, too, are an idiot, and the fact is, if you believe any of what this man says about this subject, that, in itself, can be considered as PROOF of your idiocy….. incontrovertible, undeniable PROOF. (After all, that’s the same method of proof they’re offering for THEIR assertions…..) If the timing, and the words themselves, don’t make your crap-detector go off like it was on fire, then I’m afraid there isn’t much hope for you in the real world….

These statements were merely the latest tactic to be applied by the White House political strategists, all without having to bring out their big gun, the president, with his down-home, I’m-so-sincere, boyish face, and, the now-famous, good-ol-boy, aw-shucks grin, both of which are political tools of great value to him, but only if not over-used….. Right now, they’ve got a few of the sidekicks out in the limelight, after his speech over the weekend, making up stuff and carrying on with all the talking points and deliberate manipulations, all orchestrated in Mr. Snowden’s absence….. one I hope he continues to maintain, as it is the ONLY hope he has of surviving the future (….Ironically enough, in a case of Life imitating Life, this is a problem ALL OF US are going to have in the very near future…. that of running out of any hope of surviving the future, when the very air we breathe will be toxic to us….)

After seeing this story, and taking into account the other stories in response to the president’s speech about the nonexistent changes he claims he wants to make to the NSA mission (I mean, look closely at what he said…. He isn’t changing ANYTHING of any significance…..), I think it would be safe to predict that in the next few days and weeks, we will hear more fabrications and implications, with or without any actual evidence, about Mr. Snowden, as the administration continues to distract and defuse, hoping that if they stall long enough, something else will come up to take the public’s awareness from their spying, and put it back in the closet, or sweep it under the rug, where they keep all the other stuff they don’t want us to see or know, about what they are REALLY doing behind our backs….

(Note from February…. I personally think they’re hoping for another idiot to steal a gun and shoot up a mall, or a school somewhere, which always takes all the public’s attention and focuses it on their unreasonable fears for a couple of weeks….But, then, I’m pretty convinced of their complete lack of any human compassion, anyway, so, my concerns reflect my belief in their human nature, and their lack of any sort of virtue that would make them tell the truth, or espouse an agenda that benefits anyone but themselves….)

You can bet on that, ffolkes, for sure…. They’re not going to stop lying, just because they’ve been caught at it…. They’ll only get more bold with it…. It’s the way they’re built, they can’t, and won’t, help it…. There’s no profit in it for them to give up, is there? And, profit is what they are all about, when it comes down to the bottom line…. Profit for their self-interests, which are, to them, more important than the whole rest of the human race…..

As Lily Tomlin’s character, Edith Ann, used to say, when she was done making her brilliantly simple observations of people’s foibles…., “And that’s the Truth! THPPPPT!”

“Plausibility is the morality of fiction.” — Edith Mirrilees

Monthly update: The administration’s silence on the NSA spying issues continues to this date…. I’ve seen only one article in the past month on the subject, and it was merely a rehash of this information, with no real new developments reported…. They’re letting it go as long as they can without bringing any of it up themselves, so as to give the public, which has a notoriously SHORT attention span, a chance to forget all about it….. Naturally, the media is allowing this to continue without comment…. Good luck on having that stay the same, dudes…. Not if I have anything to say about it…..

😉

I’ll be here, and I’ll be reprinting this, or a fresher version, either in a month, or, before that, if and/or when new statements are forthcoming from the potUS, or one of his myrmidons….. (Unless, of course, they decide to stop me…. That would be the ONLY reason I wouldn’t be posting a month from now…. in which case, you’d no doubt read about all the dead feds in the news, if they can count that high…. I don’t intend to go, shall we say, quietly? We shall say it..
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Well, I cheated, I guess, but, if you were here at the beginning, you’ll understand why, and be in perfect agreement that it was the right thing to do, at least for today….. If you weren’t here for the beginning, you certainly aren’t here at the end, so who the hell am I talking to? Hell, I don’t know, nor do I care at this point….. It’s done, again, and I’ve got no more excuses to keep from finishing the process now…. So, see ya…. I love you all…..

(No, I don’t know why that came out just then, but, it’s true…. and I just realized it is the underlying reason I rant about politics and global warming….That may sound pompous, but, hey, y’know what? So I am, pompous, that is, and it’s as true as the first statement, so, we’ll let it all stay….)

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

I’d like to be made fully cognizant, please….

Posted on January 30, 2014 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“After all,” he said, with a small, sardonic smile, “it’s only a matter of time.”

“Of course it is,” she replied, smiling back in her sultry way, “but, whose time will tell the tale?”

Have you ever seen one of those big old, shuffling bears, with a red vest, and a silly top hat, that rides around on a unicycle, playing a squeeze box? No? Neither have I…. But, that’s probably alright, because I HAVE seen one of the other kind of bears, the kind that shits in the woods whenever the Pope’s existence gets confused with his own… Playground games have more solid effect on Reality than you knew, you know…. No soap, radio!…..

Now that we have established the proper tone for this morning’s episode of fun and frolic, otherwise known as pearling for dollars, not that we ever see any….. at least, not for this…. But, I do like to start with some nice, thick, obscure nonsense; it just gives something special to enhance the tenor of whatever comes out of my head, sort of like adding streusel to schnitzel. Plus, it makes for a better, more healthful start to the day, as all of what we’ve been so fortunate to offer up thus far has been organic in nature….

Yep, nothing but pure, 100%, government certified organic materials were used to construct the pearls you’ll see today…. It’s our newest product line, brought in to try to corner a piece of the vegan market, though the reason “why” escapes me completely. It has something to do with the diversification program the top management wants to put us through, to try to bring the bottom line up from 0, to some number that resides outside the negative realms where it typically stays…. I keep telling them, nobody will buy it, especially not here, but, hey, they’re committed to it…. probably, one of them married a vegan, and can’t get any at home unless he does this…

Now that we’ve prevaricated shamelessly (Silly readers, there’s no top management here at ECR…. there’s just ME!!….), I wonder what other kind of mischief I can get into before getting to the meat today…. I’m feeling a bit whimsical, as well as feeling like I want to bite someone (not sure as to WHY on that one…. just woke up with a stick in my ass, and SOMEBODY’s got to pay for that, right?….), or maybe dance a few steps of the Assholio on somebody’s head…. You know, the Assholio, those classic mambo-like moves guaranteed to take the skin off anyone… All I know is SOMEBODY is going to get an earful, before the day is done….

Shall we Pearl?…..

And through the spaces of the dark
Midnight shakes the memory
As a madman shakes a dead geranium

— T.S. Eliot
_____________________________

“Gentlemen, listen to me slowly.” — Samuel Goldwyn

On first attempt this morning to fill in this section, I wrote what is now residing in section three…. My intended material, presumably located somewhere in the semi-intelligent haze of thoughts that hovers around in my head at all times, which concerned the recent SOU by our beloved POTUS, apparently got lost in the shuffle….

In truth, it’s just as well, because, from what I could gather on first impression, the State of the Union he described in his speech had very little to do with the actual Reality of that State, or, for that matter, that Union, since he managed to leave out some rather important issues altogether, concentrating only on what he wants people to focus on….

This technique is common among prestidigitators, showing a shiny, squirmy object, in one hand, with some kind of feathers, metaphoric, or real, (real is good, they never fail to pull in the eye….), that draws the attention, while the other hand is hiding the actual important issues, perhaps even off stage, never referring to them, so as to not plant any unwanted ideas….

Now, I have yet to peruse the content of the entire speech, but, I’ve seen a couple of articles that touched on his high points, and there were … are a couple of what I think should be called glaring omissions…. For example…. no, can’t do it… I’d better go research the speech fully before I pick at a specific…. Be back in a bit….

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/obamas-2014-state-of-the-union-address-full-text/

Well…. That was educational, to be sure…. Yes, I just read the text of the whole speech; you can, too, using the link just above…. go ahead, I’ll wait….

In the speech, there were, as I mentioned, a couple of important issues that received only minimal mention, in passing…. (I know, I said they were omitted… I was wrong, they were merely minimized, and hidden in plain sight….). There was only one paragraph on gun control, wherein he promises to “try” to “stop more tragedies”, with one quick reference to Sandy Hook (gotta get those talking points in!… Shootings at elementary schools always bring out the tearful emotions, which is the intention…. such emotions are much more easily manipulated….).

This is an issue that has gripped the public attention all year, but, isn’t worth mentioning, except in passing…. Instead, the POTUS will deal with this “on his own”, through the use of the concept of the “Executive Order”, to limit assault weapon accessibility, along with other issues on his agenda, in which he is being blocked by Congress, or the Constitution….

There is also only one short, vague paragraph mentioning the issue of spying, prefaced, of course, by mentioning the illegal war in Afghanistan, reassuring us the number of troops there is decreasing, (We’re all gone from Iraq, he says….. Sure, sure we are….)…. while simultaneously fanning the embers of fear, by then stating “For while our relationship with Afghanistan will change, one thing will not: our resolve that terrorists do not launch attacks against our country……The fact is, that danger remains. ”

“In regard to disagreeable and formidable things, prudence does not consist in evasion, or in flight, but in courage. He who wishes to walk in the most peaceful parts of life with any serenity must screw himself up to resolution. Let him front the object of his worst apprehension, and his stoutness will commonly make his fear groundless” — Ralph Waldo Emerson, _Essays_, Prudence

This, of course, is the justification for the following complete wash on the clandestine spying issue that has been in the forefront of the news all year; he makes a passing, one-sentence statement on that…. ( The pertinent statement is in bold, and italicized….) ….”That’s why I’ve imposed prudent limits on the use of drones – for we will not be safer if people abroad believe we strike within their countries without regard for the consequence. That’s why, working with this Congress, I will reform our surveillance programs – because the vital work of our intelligence community depends on public confidence, here and abroad, that the privacy of ordinary people is not being violated.”

That’s it…. That’s the sum total of what he had to say about the single most reported and discussed issue in the public arena in the entire year of 2013…. ONE sentence. Oh, the drones, too… They are another seriously disturbing factor in the clandestine activities they AREN’T talking about…. but, they’re nowhere near as critical for the public as the spying that continues to take place, in spite of the “welcome public debate” created by the actions that exposed the chicanery by the administration….

Oh, also, was that a crushing silence I heard on the subject of Eric Snowden, probably the most important character, definitely the most important of the last year in America, to enter the stage in the morality play that is our government? Why, yes, yes it was a crushing silence…. Maybe the president was still in shock; perhaps due to learning that Mr. Snowden had received his first nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize yesterday?…. That must be it….

His statements on climate change and global warming, while pointed in the right direction, still show no better willingness to face the true issues involved, as he said nothing that would disturb the bottom line of the corporate masters listening closely…. The entire speech, as far as I could see, had a very imbalanced viewpoint of Reality, much different, obviously, from a politician’s point of view than it is for the general public at large, and for me specifically…. His viewpoint paints a much rosier picture, of the past, the present, and the future, than the one I see, all without really making a single promise, or offering up a single detailed plan of action.

I guess I should have expected as much, seeing as this POTUS is one who is adept at painting pictures with words…. Unfortunately, the pictures he paints really don’t reflect Reality…. They’re very romanticized, vague, idealized, and lacking in clarity….. which, I believe, is a deliberate technique, designed to soothe the eyes and minds of the public at whom it is directed, distracting them from the harshness of the Reality that they can see whenever they look away from his pretty pictures…. Can’t have the natives getting too restless, now, can we?….

I think, given the evidence of this speech, along with some of the other issues that I’ve seen the POTUS take up, this is a far more dangerous individual than I had imagined, not because he is promoting reform, but, because he is using that pose, of being a reform politician, to cover up his much more egregiously oppressive policies, such as in the areas of intelligence, and executive power….. He has expanded the power of the office of the Presidency to an extent heretofore unseen, writing Executive Order after Executive Order, at times when Congress is out of session, or just to circumvent their blockage of what he is trying to accomplish….

This administration has brought suit against more journalists, for publishing leaked material, than any previous administration, by a factor of 10; they have aggressively and ruthlessly pursued any and all attempts by the media to obtain his vaunted, and non-existent “transparency”, which he so glibly promised in his first campaign for the office…

There are times I don’t blame him for some of it, because of all the actual, real reforms he, and every other president in the last 60 years, has tried to get past a divided Congress, and had blocked by their intransigent ignorance, and partisanship…. Except, that’s not how the Constitution says it is supposed to work….

He is writing LAWS, which is an act reserved for Congress…. He has issued orders on gun control that, according to the Second Amendment, he has no right to issue, for they restrict the public’s access to weapons of certain types altogether…. Not, I will admit, that they’re weapons they NEED, but, the Second Amendment doesn’t allow for any distinctions as to type or quantity of guns; change part of that, and it all changes, of that there can be no doubt…..

So, yes, I guess you could say that, once again, I’m disappointed in this POTUS’s assessment of Consensual Reality, or, at least, of his stated assessment, as well as in his lack of transparency, and willingness to lie to the public…. Oh, yes, ffolkes, lying by omission is still lying; just because he didn’t say anything about an issue, doesn’t mean he isn’t DOING anything illegal in that area… it just means he doesn’t want us to know about it…. You can be sure of that…. He’s already proven that transparency is just a word to him, one he is very glib and confident in using, but, one he has no intention of ever actually providing to the public….

In looking at the entire speech as a whole, what I see is a long, manipulative set of words and phrases designed to get the public, and his cronies, thinking about just those issues he wants to address, without giving any real information on any of it, beyond the necessary key phrases that identify his talking points.

He uses a lot of examples of what he calls typical Americans from the middle classes to illustrate his points, shamelessly using emotional stimuli to direct the people to the attitudes he desires to create in support of his agenda. In truth, he’s an adept, efficient speaker, never confusing the issues with facts, preferring to use insinuation and/or vague references to factoids….Sadly, none of what he said had any solid connection to what is actually real….. Ah well, I’m forced to admit, I wasn’t expecting to see anything better, and, I didn’t….

“Never be angry when a fool acts like a fool. It’s better when fools identify themselves…it removes so much uncertainty.” — Lord Peace
_____________________________

Once again, I’m putting in one of my own poems, to maintain the level of personal responsibility that must be assumed for whatever one may call this entire mess…. So be it…

Unheralded Sagacity…

To many, who will not see beyond their nose
the world becomes a dangerous place,
a bullet in every gun, a thorn with every rose,
no magic comes to save us, reality leaves no trace.

Minds closed, wrapped tight in manufactured fears,
men become clay, easily molded into complacent form.
No chains needed, held in thrall for years,
lies become gospel, when dishonesty is the norm.

Shed the chains you wear in durance, in kind;
Oh, ye of little faith, and much doubt
Strength is found in an unfettered mind,
Cry “freedom” with a great shout.

No help from any gods can hinder so much
as our own lack of confidence;
finding the light within, knowing it as such
confirms us, becoming consequence.

Illumination…..

~~ gigoid ~~

_____________________________

“We’re not into science fiction because it’s _good literature_, we’re into it because it’s _weird_. Follow your weird, ladies and gentlemen. Forget trying to pass for normal. Follow your geekdom. Embrace your nerditude. In the immortal words of Lafcadio Hearn, a geek of incredible obscurity whose work is still in print after a hundred years, “woo the muse of the odd”.” — Bruce Sterling, addressing a convention of SF writers

A few days ago, I experienced an epiphany regarding the solutions we need to find to the issues of global warming and climate change…. This statement is one that, though not exactly what I’m talking about, is in the right ballpark…. Finding answers to what is happening in the real world has been part of what science fiction writers have done, peripherally, for many years, in the sense that the stories they write explore the concepts involved in ways that demonstrate the questions, and can, hopefully, point the way to finding the answers we now need…

There have been many, many stories…. full length novels, novellas, short stories… all written over the last two hundred years or so, that talk about the most critical issue we now face, to wit: the climate changes produced by our insane pollution of the atmosphere. There has also been a lot of speculation and talk among the people who do the writing, and those who write about them, all discussing possible scenarios for possible futures….. Somewhere among all that talk and discussion, there MUST be an idea that we can use to turn the tide that we have so foolishly turned against us…..

In other words, in a metaphorical sense, we need to go out into the realms of fantasy and imagination, to find the elves, so we can benefit from the wisdom of their counsel…. Even though I already know what they will tell us…. The elves always give the same counsel…. we will need to find a Hero, who can step forward to assume the Quest to save mankind from the folly of his own greed and ambition…. Metaphorically, this is absolutely correct…. what it will translate to in real terms is yet to be seen, but, something needs to be done to find an answer, and soon, for the time we have to accomplish anything that will work is growing smaller rapidly….

“There is something inside all of us that yearns not for reason but for mystery… not for penetrating clear thought but for the whisperings of the irrational… not for science but for wizardry disguised as science.. not for rationally founded influence but for magic.” — Karl Jaspers

In the meantime, rather than ranting at you to get out there and try to find an elf, who can then lead us to his where his people have gone, far over the Western Sea,…. I’ll put together an old-school pearl, with some good advice and/or some snarky comments about the assholes who got us to this point in the first place….

“For me, all I can do is spit in the eye of my fears by living each day with as much passion and commitment as possible to what truly counts, such as love and justice. To give the into the fear and hopelessness would be to declare defeat, something I am not ready to do while there is still the will to struggle.” — Lawrence Paradis

“You shouldn’t think about *how* we’re doing this. You should ask yourself, ‘why?'” — Penn Jillette

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

“I like living. I have sometimes been wildly, despairingly, acutely miserable, racked with sorrow, but through it all I still know quite certainly that just to be alive is a grand thing.” — Agatha Christie

“A little folly is desirable in him that will not be guilty of stupidity.” — Michael de Montaigne (1533-1592) — Book iii, Chap. ix

“Education is an admirable thing, but it is well to remember from time to time that nothing that is worth knowing can be taught.” — Oscar Wilde (1856-1900)

“Must not all things at the last be swallowed up in death?” — Plato

See? There is a perfect example of why I seldom make precognitive assumptions about a particular pearl, especially BEFORE it is constructed…. This is a grand pearl, but, no snarky comments to be seen…. ‘S’okay, it doesn’t need them….
_____________________________

All things considered, this didn’t turn out so badly as I had feared…. As I said above, so be it…. 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

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: Eric Snowden

Save some of that tripe for later….

Four coconut-periwinkle macaroon omelets, please, to go….

We’ll find some in the bargain basement….

We could try one of those ornamental dwarfs….

Measuring infinitesimal increments may take a while….

Eighteen of one, a dozen & a half of another….

Historical examples of perversity are rife among the ruling classes…..

Ah…. I see…. It’s the masticating jelly ….

Save that elbow grease for the widow Jones; she uses it for baking…..

I’d like to be made fully cognizant, please….

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