Pictures such as this one are but a small, yet consistently convincing piece of the evidence available to the contrary of most people’s opinion of animals, evidence which  inarguably proves, not only do animals experience emotions; moreover, they also think, with a variable degree of imagination, at a level consonant with the needs of the evolutionary niche they inhabit. They also, as we do, have feelings about those thoughts, and show those feelings just as we do, but, with way less less drama, and, no apparent need to be cruel….. Well, maybe a little, in cats, when they play with captured prey…. Mostly, though, animals express only harmonious emotions, in support of each other, and, even tolerance, for other species…. far more than we show them, or each other…

Additionally, by my assertion of their emotional and cognitive functionality, I am implying, no, claiming, they are only as smart as they need to be, without being so smart, it becomes a barrier to the actual development of their nature, to reach the potential that is there, and almost never reached in the members of our own species…. In other words, people are too damn smart for their own good; rather than being an aid to survival, and advancement as a species, their vaunted intelligence often gets in the way of their ultimate success in life, in ways the greatest majority of them do not even understand, and which, from what I observe, very likely will prove their undoing, thus, ultimately preventing them from accomplishing their most critical life task, to wit: survival of the species….

The picture of the affectionate Clydesdales  is one of many I’ve saved, from the weekly feature at the London Daily Telegraph, which they call Animal Pictures of the Week; this particular photo was saved quite a while ago, long enough I don’t remember what week it was, but, it was earlier this year, for sure…. Any who, to finish my thought(s)… Most people think that humans are the apex of the evolutionary ladder, merely because we are self-aware, and have a sense of that self over time… but, this demonstrates that most people just don’t understand the full concept behind evolution…

Unlike how most people tend to view evolution, it isn’t a ladder, unless one thinks of each species having its own ladder, that each member must climb… If one MUST use the tired metaphor of a  ladder, then, I assert each species has its own, and, no matter how high up our species has actually climbed our own ladder, it doesn’t mean we have climbed higher, than any other species on theirs….

In fact, when one considers how well other species have adapted to this planet, how effortlessly they hold their place in the WEB of life, it becomes clear those species….. dogs, cats, cattle, ants, cockroaches, (especially these amazing critters; after 50 million years of thriving, without having to mutate at all, or alter anything about their form or abilities, they should be considered the absolute Masters of survival as a species…. Yeah, I know, creepy little buggers, but, fast, fertile, and tough as hell….), spiders, insects, and  birds and reptiles, all on their own  branches of the web….. well, if one looks at the Big Picture, it is only honest to admit, all of them are, in truth, much more advanced, and more efficient at surviving, than is Homo Bozoidus, (a word I coined, to very accurately give a mental image of the real evolutionary status of humans, in relation to other forms of life on this planet, as well as, perhaps, explaining a part of why we fail, so well, and so often, at becoming ourselves….).

“Give them an opposable thumb, and they think they’re special.” — Smart Bee

You see, the structure of Life more accurately resembles Reality when described by envisioning, not a hierarchy of species, arranged in a pyramid, with humans at the apex, as many people choose to see it…. but, rather, as a complex, beautiful spider’s web, (with no gravity, meaning there is no up and down, no one higher, or lower…. we’re all just in our own space…. with the choice as to whether or not to stay connected to the rest of the web…), a web shaped the same as any web on Earth, but, rotated through three dimensions, to form a sphere as big as the Universe, with each species of life inhabiting its own particular branch or segment (their strand, if you will….) of that web.

Each species has the same task as all the rest, the same inherent purpose, which is create and add our own part of the whole, one that will help to make the entire web stronger, melding the beauty of their weaving with the overall pattern of the entire sphere of life, working in harmony with all the other web dwellers…. Our purpose can not logically be found to be a matter of wasting our time and effort in life,  by trying to take over the center, or steal another’s strand, or to indiscriminately kill the other inhabitants, who are peacefully living alongside us, going about their business in harmony with each other…..

Now, I’m not a religious man, as you know; I do, however, realize, as any educated man, that religions, of all types, use at least a small part of the truth to augment, and help justify the more delusional aspects of their beliefs… Jesus Christ was, in the most basic sense, a compassionate and brilliant socialist reformer, who used the methods he did to try to get the most important messages of his understanding established as part of the culture of his time… and part of his message was indeed, a large piece of the truth…

In today’s world, very, very few people actually LIVE according to the precepts of behavior and understanding that Jesus laid down for his disciples and adherents to follow; of those who are high in the hierarchy of priesthood on this planet, or ever have been, in my experience, it is rare to see one come close to living as Jesus instructed….. One exception to this experience was/is Martin Luther King, Jr….

All in all, I thought he was a pretty wise man, very much like the current Dalai Lama, (and, possibly, the new Pope; don’t really know enough about him, but, he seems sincere thus far, in his intent to live a Christian life…); Reverend King, Jr., though, seems to have a bit of Bible Belt Revival Rapture type of preaching as part of his persona, just for balance to his sobriety…. Any who, Martin Luther made a very cogent, deeply insightful statement that I’ve always liked, because it isn’t particularly locked into a purely Christian view of the universe, but, is pertinent to all of mankind’s diverse cultures… to wit:

“Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or the darkness of destructive selfishness. This is the judgment. Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, “What are you doing for others?”” — Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Now, let’s see if I can come close to meeting my commitment, by heading out to dive for pearls of virtual wisdom, just as if I hadn’t spent the last hour and a half, yesterday, spewing out my usual dross about human nature, and its so obviously flawed beauty….

Shall we Pearl?…..

“Animals can be driven crazy by putting too many in too small a pen. Homo sapiens is the only animal that voluntarily does this to himself.” — Lazarus Long, from Robert A. Heinlein’s — “Time Enough For Love”

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I said I wouldn’t rant…. So, naturally, this article is the very first one I see when I go to read the news yesterday; my crap detectors went off with a vengeance, damn near drowning out the full orchestra currently streaming on the computer; good thing I was done with my coffee, or I’d have had it all over my keyboard…Sheesh…. I WILL TRY make this short, before hitting SB for a pearl of pearls to say what would otherwise be a rant, of major proportion… But, I’ll keep my word, and limit myself to a comment, or two, after the link, then go straight into Smart Bee for a five, or seven-star pearl to make my point(s)…. See, I can be good…. or, at least, live up to my claim of honesty….

http://blog.sfgate.com/bottomline/2014/09/05/the-fed-yes-income-inequality-is-as-bad-you-thought/?cmpid=hp-hc-bustech

What more proof could anyone possibly need? I rant, and rave, and provide evidence, or links to evidence, then, spend copious piles of time, trying to explain how it is being done, right in front of us, and still, not enough people even realize what is happening in the world, because they walk around with their noses, upon which their entire attention is attached like a leech, pointing down at the ground, or up in the air…. anywhere but straight ahead, where they would be forced to pay attention to how they are being screwed around, without any excuse to NOT acknowledge what IDIOTS they are, and always have been…. or, if not, they’re all giving a damn good impression….

Okay, that’s all from me… if I haven’t made it obvious by now, I’m not going to do so at this late date…. Here are the pearls I found, so, please, enjoy, and if you wish, pass the word; maybe it will spread just a little beyond this blog, and a few others I’ve seen…. We need to kick a righteous portion of Asininny Ass, and we need to do it soon…

“A little rudeness and disrespect can elevate a meaningless interaction to a battle of wills and add drama to an otherwise dull day.” — Calvin

“Today the taxing power, rather than chattel slavery, is the instrument by which the parasitic element of the population subsists. And that element, which includes politicians, panics at the slightest reduction in the state’s power to plunder. Once you start liberating taxpayers, even a little tiny bit, nobody knows where it may end.” — Joseph Sobran

“America is a country that can choke on a gnat, or swallow tigers.” — Adlai E. Stevenson

“It’s no exaggeration to say that the undecideds could go one way or another.” — George Bush, US President

“Every child born in America can hope to grow up to enjoy tax loopholes.” — Smart Bee

You may note that the pearls for this section were formatted to the center; this is because, they all are about Asininnies, of one type or another, so, no matter how I placed them in relation to each other, the character of their subject showed through, whereupon they refused to line up so they looked right, ignored instructions, kept up a huge uproar, talking all at once, because they wouldn’t wait for each other to speak; it was a  mess, and the flow of ideas was stunted thereby…. After centering, making sense of what the Asininnies are, or what they say, or do, makes no more actual sense, but, it looks better, and the ideas aren’t slapping each other in the face, or rudely jostling for position….

SIGH…. That’s just like greedy, cruel, stupid people, such as those who end up as Asininnies, especially the rich ones, to make even this sort of process uncomfortable for everyone, because they think they’re better than everyone else…. And, if they weren’t assholes and jerks to begin with, the process of becoming an Asininny will always complete the process…. count on that…. I’ve begun to think USA now stands for United States of Asininity….

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Today’s Pearl was, for the major part, completed yesterday; that may be why it ended up so damn long, as I had time to go back & add stuff as it occurred to me throughout the day… Since it did, though, you’ll need something nourishing to the brain to get through it all…. So, I went for a two-fer of most excellent poems, that are small, but, tasty, & high in protein content. If you know me at all, you’ll know who they’re from….. who else?….

😉

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“Fear is not in the habit of speaking truth.  When perfect sincerity is expected, perfect freedom must be allowed;  nor has anyone who is apt to be angry when he hears the truth, any cause to wonder that he does not hear it.” — Tacitus

http://www.sfgate.com/crime/article/Huge-Urban-Shield-law-enforcement-trade-show-5737076.php

In order to y’all a little compassion, I won’t start ranting on this…. Instead, I’ll let it speak for itself… I’ve put three excerpts from the article below…. The first is a statement of why the protesters present were concerned about the implications of the law and emergency crew ONLY trade show for the public. The second is a very telling comment from one of the attendees, a high ranking police official in SF….. The third, and most telling piece of evidence, is a piece of pertinent information, that, by it’s mere presence, puts the lie to the entire slew of justifications offered by the official rationale, given by the organizers of the show, which just HAPPENS to be the Sheriff’s Department of the county in which Oakland is situated….

Enough… the last line is the whole point…. and, guarantees that, whatever you hear, from the police, the government, or, the media itself, it’s not the truth…. The truth is, the police forces in this country, just like the government, is, and, has been for a long time, under the control and protection of the corporate interests who actually run the show in this planet, determining the laws written, the candidates elected, and the despots maintained, everywhere in the world….

The shadowy slave masters, from their hidden conclaves around the world, completely unknown to the general public, who control 98 to 99% of ALL the resources in the world, WANT the public to be afraid, and they WANT the police, and the armed forces, to be the ONLY ones with guns, or any means of using force to try to keep, or acquire, ANY rights they don’t want the populace to have…. Believe it, ffolkes, because the evidence is all around us, and, in this particular instance, right in our faces….

Again, note the last line, left in the article as an afterthought, yet, indicative of the opinion held by those in power, one all-too-true, that we, the people, are powerless to stop them, or to make them change anything from the way it has been for the last 5000 or more years….

Excerpted quotes:

“The history of the militarization of police is that it leads to oppression of poor and minority people, and that’s what we will see more of if this goes unchecked,” said Ali Issa of the War Resisters League. “Our message is, we don’t want Oakland to be a testing ground for war games.”

“Paul Miyamoto, assistant sheriff in San Francisco, said the chance to drill with hundreds of other agencies is invaluable, and far outweighs any concerns over militarization.”

“The $1 million cost of the four-day event is funded by the federal Department of Homeland Security.”

As to that last excerpt…… Oh, really?….. !!!!!  I believe my point, and my assertions, about being lied to, have just been verified as truth…. I’d add Q.E.D., but, only a few ffolkes would get it…

Hmm… I suppose an “Oops” is in order now; above, I said I’d be compassionate, & not rant….. whereupon, I proceeded to throw that good intention clean out the window, hitting full-on ranting mode within a half-sentence of actually uttering those words…. All I can say is, this is one that really gets me, because of the deliberate nature of the choices made by the asininnies to whom I refer, in order to achieve their own selfish ends, at the expense of everyone else alive…. To me, that is sheer evil, plain and simple…. an idea hard to digest, I am sure…. It isn’t easy to acknowledge one’s own powerlessness in the face of such evil, and the hold it has on our culture, but, it is necessary to face our fears before we can conquer them…

To aid the process of absorption, here is the five-star pearl originally promised, with typically appropriate brackets by Smart Bee, that may, or may not, help the point come across more clearly…. but, it’ll definitely be more fun than ranting, which leaves me washed out and filthy, from the grimy, slimy, smarm-filled vileness of the subject matter, to wit, Asininnies…… I think I’ll go take a shower, & wash up…..

“An optimist — Someone who hasn’t been given all the facts yet.” — Smart Bee

“We expect them [Salvadoran officials] to work toward the elimination of human rights–the elimination of human rights in accordance with the pursuit of Justice.” — Vice President Dan Quayle, 2/3/89 — (reported in The Chicago Tribune, 2/4/89)

VOTE, n.  The instrument and symbol of a freeman’s power to make a fool of himself and a wreck of his country. — Ambrose Bierce, “The Devil’s Dictionary”

“Ah, you know the type.  They like to blame it all on the Jews or the Blacks, ’cause if they couldn’t, they’d have to wake up to the fact that life’s one big, scary, glorious, complex and ultimately unfathomable crapshoot — and the only reason THEY can’t seem to keep up is they’re a bunch of misfits and losers.” — A analysis of Neo-Nazis, from “The Badger” comic

“It takes 17 muscles to smile, 43 muscles to frown and only 3 to raise your middle finger!!!” — Smart Bee

As for the last thought, it only seems right, to me…. One may perform the last, then, the first, and still not be as tired as if they hadn’t, and felt bad for missing their opportunity, thus stimulating the second exercise….. which probably explains where the phrase, “an exercise in futility”, originally came from, from a time when somebody was trying describe their experience attempting to cope with asininnies, and the like….

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Well…. sorry ’bout that, ffolkes…. I seem to have lost all sense of proportion when it comes to my rants…. But, it’s all fresh stuff, and needed to come out, so it didn’t rot where it sat, there in my head…. To be truthful, if it does sit there too long, the resulting stench, and my reaction to that, can, in its own way, be mildly entertaining…. BUT…. and this is a big BUTT, the aftershocks from THAT have been known to cause side effects that, in the past, have contributed significantly to global warming, and, in extreme cases, has been known to put entire regional police forces on red alert status, just from the vibes….

Okay, sorry, had to indulge in some last-minute fantasy…. sure felt good, after all that ranting above…. Hopefully, by tomorrow, I’ll have re-learned a bit of restraint, and will manage to write fewer than 4000+ words…. I suppose we’ll have to see what happens, eh? For the nonce, (I LOVE that word, and phrase!….), I’ll take my leave, & head out into the day, to see what kind of damage I can cause out there to some unsuspecting bureaucrat’s day…. Ta then, ffolkes, I’ll see you mañana, if they don’t catch me before then….