Provenance won’t impress the hungry….

Posted on July 11, 2014 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Shall we Pearl?…..

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Penance, Made Simple

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

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

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

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

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

~~ gigoid ~~

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Y’all take care out there,
and May the Metaphorse be with you;
Blessed Be, dearest Carole, Mark, and Theresa…
and everyone else, too…

When I works, I works hard.
When I sits, I sits loose.
When I thinks, I falls asleep.

Which is Why….

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

gigoid the dubious

Undergoing the dreaded pink belly procedure….

Posted on June 23, 2014 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

In the usual course of human events, fear plays a part all out of proportion to its actual importance; we humans give it far more credence than it deserves, with a tendency to puff it up to twice or more its real size when we encounter it, until it looks just like a cat trying to impress the neighborhood dog by arching its back and tail, with fur standing on end…..

There is even a small degree of it present here each morning, though I try not to let it have its way beyond allowing it to be here at all….. I’ve done all I could for most of my life to banish fear from my presence; I don’t like or appreciate it at all, even though it has an important evolutionary purpose, as motivation when threatened; but, it also has other effects, unwanted effects, that slow us down, confuse us, effects that debilitate, and keep us from reaching our potential as humans….

In re: this blog and fear, it plays the part of keeping me on track with my discipline; my only remaining fear is that of disappointing myself, or those I love, with failures of morality…. In essence, acting in ways that hurt other people by deliberate choice is, to me, despicable, reprehensible, and unacceptable, in myself, or others….. My fear is that I will act this way myself, or, by a lack of courage, fail to act when others do so…. I like to think of that as the only major fear I have any more, (I don’t count dentists…. it’s not my fault….), and it’s one I am certain is necessary, so, it isn’t worth complaining about, as it isn’t going to go away….

I see that I’ve managed to position myself well today, even though this is all being created in a fairly unconscious frame of mind; I’m not even sure if I’m awake, so, I wouldn’t say I’m actually writing this, so much as letting it leak out of my head with only minor regard for organization or coherence. No, this is more of an irrational outburst of semi-automatic paranoia, with a side dish of confusion, all drizzled with a nice, still-sleepy sauce…. Good thing the recipe doesn’t call for whipped anything; there’s no telling how my sub-conscious mind might translate that into reality….

Hell, at this point, reality itself is a bit flaky around the edges…. I’m beset by a number of minor little physical issues that are annoying me no end, but in no way are excuse enough to quit (left wrist, right thumb, both swollen & painful when typing,…. if I detailed any further issues, we’d enter the realm of TMI, so, just trust me, there are others…. I hurt, but not enough to keep me down…. just enough to get me to complain….)….. It’s a good thing the coffee is my own brew, strong enough to melt enamel, or I’d just be lying in bed, whimpering, and you’d be reading a re-blog….

Of course, you still may end up with something from the archives…. it’s terribly late, all things considered, and I’m still stuck here in the intro…. again…. You know, the hell with this…. I’m not going to fool around any more today…. Stand still a moment, while we employ the ever-faithful, ever-effective method #4….

Shall we Pearl?….

“…if the church put in half the time on covetousness that it does on lust, this would be a better world.” — Garrison Keillor, Lake Wobegon Days

You know…. the above line from Mr. Keillor is a mini-rant, all by itself…. think about it…. (If you don’t want to think about it, I certainly can’t MAKE you, but, think about this… I COULD have ranted on it, easily…. so, you owe me thanks for that, any who….)…. Okay, now go on to the next section….

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“People do not believe lies because they have to, but because they want to.” — Malcolm Muggeridge

http://www.sfgate.com/politics/article/House-votes-to-curb-NSA-surveillance-of-Americans-5568755.php

It’s a start…. not much of one, but, a start…. At least the House, though it did so unconsciously, (It seems to be a day for unconscious acts…. that’s the fourth or fifth use of the word/concept already today…. If I were y’all, I’d stay alert….), has provided some solid proof, legal proof at that, of the validity of the revelations revealed by Eric Snowden in 2013, about the illegal spying being carried out by the NSA. What better proof can one ask for than to have Congress take up the gauntlet, acting legislatively to defend against the very activities over which his whistle got blown, in his attempt to let the American people, and the rest of the world, know about the illegal data mining going on every minute of every day?

Now, it is on record, that the American people, by their vocal support of his actions, have influenced their representatives in Congress to tell the NSA to stop their spying on American citizens, thus, in my mind, as well as in the public record, providing ample justification for what Mr. Snowden did when he acted to release the information they (the White House, and the spy organizations….) had no intention of EVER revealing to the public…. In my mind, and in the minds of, I believe, MOST Americans, we owe Eric Snowden a huge debt, for his patriotism, and his integrity in the face of threats to his life by his own government….

That being said, I will let the article speak for itself, and keep the ranting to a minimum today; my own state of mind isn’t trustworthy just now…. Instead, I’ll finish this section with an old-school pearl, with parameters set to shoot at the BRC, and any other connected assholes…. As it turns out, this is a special pearl, with its very essence revealed by its infrastructure…. It has excerpts from the Tao Teh Ching as bookends, which makes for a very solid, very pointed, very wise pearl of virtual wisdom…. Pretty, too, isn’t it?…..

18. Hypocrisy

When the Way is forgotten
Duty and justice appear;
Then knowledge and wisdom are born
Along with hypocrisy.

When harmonious relationships dissolve
Then respect and devotion arise;
When a nation falls to chaos
Then loyalty and patriotism are born.

— Lao Tzu, excerpt from the Tao Teh Ching

“Government is the only known enemy of intelligent life.” — Smart Bee

“Everything has two handles,–one by which it may be borne; another by which it cannot.” — Epictetus (c. 60 AD) — Enchiridion, xliii

Then came the churches,
then came the schools,
then came the lawyers,
then came the rules.

— Mark Knopfler

“A companion of fools shall be destroyed.” — Proverbs 13:20

“The government claims it’s following the will of the people. I didn’t even know we’d died!” — Smart Bee

14. Mystery

Looked at but cannot be seen – it is beneath form;
Listened to but cannot be heard – it is beneath sound;
Held but cannot be touched – it is beneath feeling;
These depthless things evade definition,
And blend into a single mystery.

In its rising there is no light,
In its falling there is no darkness,
A continuous thread beyond description,
Lining what can not occur;
Its form formless,
Its image nothing,
Its name silence;
Follow it, it has no back,
Meet it, it has no face.

Attend the present to deal with the past;
Thus you grasp the continuity of the Way,
Which is its essence.

— Lao Tzu, excerpt from the Tao Teh Ching

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This poem is mine…. all mine. After reading the first couple of lines, that will be more than apparent, and is the sole reason for it being here today…. because I felt like it…. Enjoy!…. Or not, up to you…. but, if you don’t enjoy it, you need a vacation….

Roses for Noses

I have a bozoid personality, of the first degree;
nobody, I mean nobody, knows that better than me.
I often wonder, as the world goes around, and around
how many others have realized just what I’ve found….

I know for a fact, I’m not the only bozoid one;
too many people laughing out there, having fun.
Is their laughter, though, at themselves first?
Or is it some other impulse, like purple liverwurst”….

I’ve always loved to make others laugh and giggle,
since my tender youth, when my ears began to wiggle.
The world is full of humor, but not always easy to find
so laughing at myself I learned never to mind….

We bozos know each other, here, there, and everywhere
there’s no hiding such joy, it just wouldn’t be fair.
We all have one feature, our great bulbous nose,
and there’s no doubt at all, cuz it just grows….

There’s nothing like a good, big mistake, a disaster,
to show us the folly of living life faster and faster.
Nothing in the world can ever take the place,
of seeing in the mirror, a happy, smiling face….

Don’t be shy, just let it all hang out;
we bozos have more fun, there’s no doubt.
Life’s too somber and gray if we let it get on top
if we don’t stay loose, the pain won’t ever stop….

My advice to all of you, out there in the world,
let noses grow round & red, keep hair tightly curled.
Find a way to let your spirit out often to play,
you’ll never once regret any price you pay.

~~ gigoid ~~

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I was going to save this, but, I’m not in the mood to be logical today, or, for that matter, in the mood for much of anything, other than contrary and/or contentious…. No idea why, just grumpy…. Deal with it, that’s all I can say at this point…. This is actually fairly important, in terms of the message, so, I wouldn’t mind if you paid attention, and spread it around when you can…. The message is one that needs to be in the public eye as much as possible….

From 12/2/2012:

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

In his book, “Friday”, Robert Heinlein details a society of humanity’s possible future, one in which corporations have continued to grow beyond the boundaries of mere countries, until their interests become paramount even over that of the state, as observed by Mr. Vidal. We, of the society here on Earth in the early 21st century are witnessing that growth, as I write, and as you read…..

The small enterprise markets still exist, but only on the fringes of the economy, the major portion of which is busy manipulating the population into serving the economic trends that the corporations control, in the essential markets that cover everyone… In other words, the corporations monopolize most of the economy, allowing the fringe markets to exist to provide exotic, alternative toys and entertainments for the working classes.

Mr. Heinlein’s character, a young woman with designer genes, genius IQ, and Heinlein’s innate sardonicism, as part of an assignment, is required to perform a research and analysis of how the corporations affected the political and economic scenes of their society, obliquely referring, of course, to the one we have now. It is a very interesting part of a very good book, and well worth a read, not only for its perspicacity in explaining the piracy we are seeing today, but because Heinlein was a master storyteller, who created fascinating characters in fantastic situations, making it all seem perfectly normal and real.

“The phenomenality of organic, conscious existence should, could have made impossible the sadism, the unending hurt of our ways. The impotent fury, the guilt that master and surpass my identity carry with them the working hypothesis, the ‘working metaphor’, if you will, of ‘original sin’. To this expression, I am unable to attach any reasoned, let alone historical substance. On the pragmatic-narratological plane, stories of some initial crime and inherited culpability are universal fables — uncannily profound and lasting. Nothing more. Yet in the presence of the beaten, raped child, of the horse or mule flogged across its eyes, I am possessed, as by a midnight clarity, by the intuition of the Fall.” — Rudolf Steiner, Errata: An examined life, Phoenix — (a division of Orion Books), London, 1998), p. 169

At first, this quote may not seem to be related to the first. However, it is this “original sin” of which he speaks that is the root cause of the problems with corporations in society. Those humans who reject commonality with the rest of humanity are the villains in this play that passes for modern culture, for they do not accept their debt to the rest of the species, and have determined that they will use whatever means they need to become ascendant over the rest of us. Greed is only the most obvious of the ills that this group has subjected our culture to, with cruelty, dishonesty, and lack of compassion as side attractions. Through the actions of their corporate entities, they work to maintain their power and control of others, all for the sake of their own aggrandizement….

These are the men who run the trade in human trafficking, abducting and abusing children and women, for sex and slavery. These are the men who run the brothels, and the underground casinos, and the money-lending, and the protection rackets, and the drug dealing rings. What many folks don’t realize is that they are also the men who run for political office, or become preachers/priests, and the bankers, and the CEO’s, and other corporate officers, who make their decisions based on self-interest, never on altruism. They seem, and act like, they are the leaders of society, when, in fact, they are the very reason our society is headed for extinction….

Unfortunately, these men (and they are almost ALL men….) will not give up their power and control without a fight. They will not respond to reason, giving up all their wealth and perceived power, to benefit the rest of mankind. They will not suddenly see the light, and give it all back. They will have to be rooted out like weeds, tough, hardy weeds, and destroyed, if we are to have any chance of survival…. It is unfortunate, but no other method will work, and it brings with it the danger of falling into the same kind of behavior by which they operate. But, I can see no other way to solve the issue, since they will not cooperate with the rest of us for the benefit of all….

1. If you keep doing what you are doing, you will keep getting what you are getting.

2. What you settle for is what you end up with.

3. If you think that worrying about a problem is the same thing as solving it, then you must live in some other universe where different laws pertain.

–Smart Bee

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So much for the best laid plans…. I went to bed late, got up late, and may go right back there once this is done…. Damn good thing I’m retired, isn’t it? Well, it’s a good thing for me, anyway….. I hope y’all have a day that suits you…. which is probably a better choice, as it has a better chance than anything more, or less, positive….. None of which means a damn thing, ultimately, but, the thought counts, doesn’t it?….. Well, that’s what they tell us, but, then, when it comes to the truth, they’ve got priors, don’t they? (You KNOW who THEY are, right?….)

See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes…..

Y’all take care out there,
and May the Metaphorse be with you;
Blessed Be, dearest Carole, Mark, and Theresa…
and everyone else, too…

When I works, I works hard.
When I sits, I sits loose.
When I thinks, I falls asleep.

Which is Why….

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

gigoid the dubious

Don’t push that envelope; stick a stamp on & mail it….

Posted on May 22, 2014 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

It took a while, but, I finally figured out a way to defeat the lack of creativity with which I awoke today….. It’s a busy day, with early appointments and lots of activity going on, so it’s not a good day for my head to take a break…. but, it doesn’t care about any of that, and has issued enough evidence to let me know it isn’t going to do any REAL work today…. So, I’m filling in from the archives today, shamelessly, as I found some good stuff, which will work for this Pearl nicely….

I’m so happy with what I’ve found, which is going to keep me from having to strain myself to come up with new material, I’m not even going to blather here in the intro any more than is necessary to get us on down the page a ways, so I can cut and paste the chosen archived material to my heart’s content…..

Some out there might think I’m being lazy, but, given the way I’ve felt for the last week or so, pain-wise, y’all are free to think anything you want; I simply don’t give a rat’s ass, and will do what I want anyway….. I’m not very likable sometimes, I suppose, when I’ve been in pain for several days…. and can’t bring meself to care much at all, at all…. I’m sure you’ll understand, and if not, oh well….

Hmm…. I hope I didn’t drive anyone off with that sort of curmudgeonry; if so, well, so much for honesty, eh? S’alright, I’m good with solitude, as long as I know I have been truthful, and not deliberately cruel…. I mean, I AM an American, and we can be real assholes, given half a chance, right? That is certainly our reputation over much of the rest of the world, a reputation that has been, I’m afraid, well-earned, though not by the average American…. No, our rep around the world is based strictly on what the assholes in our government do in their international relations, which is, mostly, bomb the shit out of little brown people….

Oops! Almost started in on the BRC there, and it won’t be necessary today, and certainly isn’t needed in the intro, much as it may fit in there sometimes…. Today, we’re looking for something a bit more rational, and, by golly, I think we’ve got what we need right here, right now… which is a damn good thing, as my wrists and fingers are beginning to become painful enough to cause some serious difficulties typing…. Thank goodness this is now legal…. even if not what could be called “good”…..

Shall we Pearl? Yes, yes, we shall…..

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

I had intended to put something else here, but, I found this while looking for the one I’d chosen…. It’s equally appropriate, and more on point than the other, so, you get this, instead…. This diatribe was first included in the Pearl posted on 6/16/13:

“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, bulling their way through into becoming law, or even worse, 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 terrible tragedy, in which something over 3000 American lives were lost, in three separate incidents. The videos of those planes hitting the buildings in New York must have been replayed a thousand times before noon, all over the country, until every American who had access to a TV was informed of what had occurred….

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

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

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

In that same period, we lost another 1000 or so soldiers in fighting and bombings, not counting those allies we convinced to support us in our insane paranoia. And, as a side effect, the US Bill of Rights has been effectively eliminated, by Executive Order, disguised as Homeland Security (June, 2013 — Now, the abrogation of those rights are 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 Americans than they had ever been able to kill before, once…. yep, one time. Since that one time, our country has killed over 300,000 civilians in retaliation; you can call it what you like, I call it schoolyard revenge by bullies. It has caused every politician in this country 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 Qaida, or whatever, or from any other splinter faction terrorist group, nor have we ever been in any real danger from any of them. 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.

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

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

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

So be it…. gigoid has spoken….

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

Since today’s material came from past Pearls, here is a poem of mine, one of the last I wrote in 2013…. I hope you enjoy it….

Fine and Good, Good and Fine

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

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

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

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

My road’s been littered with parts o’my heart,
each one colored with trust, which ain’t always smart.
Yet, long as I don’t lose my connection to joy,
I’ll find my own true love, and be a happy boy.

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

‘Nuff said….

~~ gigoid ~~
tongue firmly in cheek….

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

Exactly a month after creating the above rant, in section one, I wrote this, a piece I re-post periodically, to keep things honest….. This was LAST posted on 7/16/2013:

I’m not feeling lazy, but, I AM feeling lazy, so I’m dipping into the past to come up with today’s third section…. It has been some time since I posted this, which I try to do at least once a year, to keep new ffolkes apprised of my history, and provide some background for the stuff I write here…. some of the back story, as it were…. So, here is my philosophy of Life, and some of the rationalizations that prompted its creation….. Though Peruaosophy originally was composed in the 1980’s, this article was posted on the site, GoodBlogs.com, sometime in early 2011, prior to starting this blog on WordPress….

Birds Do It, Bees Do It
So Do I…

In the dim, dark past, when I was, sort of, attending college at UC Berkeley, (1968-70) discussing philosophy was standard in many of the BS sessions in which I participated. In order to not be thought of as someone who was ignorant in the field, I naturally read the classic tomes by such philosophers as Friedrich Nietzsche, Soren Kierkegaard, Aristotle, Plutarch, Plato, Socrates, Epicurus, Solon, and Jung, as well as more modern folks, such as Bucky Fuller, Sartre, and John Lennon (yes, him too…his philosophy tends to lean way to the left…).

One day later on, sometime in the 80’s, I was involved in learning to raise kids, deal with a wife, and in general going quietly crazy trying to balance all the balls one must keep in the air to get by in today’s world. As I sat this particular day, it struck me how long it had been since I stretched my mind. It seemed as if I’d been buried in mundane details forever, and upon examination & reflection I decided I wanted to expand my consciousness, using the flight of imagination to lift me above the everyday cares and woes to which I had fallen prey. And I found, as well, that I had been unconsciously acting according to many of the precepts that I had learned in those halcyon days of my youth.

Encouraged by this revelation, I went one step further, and made the decision to codify my own personal philosophy, to put down in writing those things that I consider to be essential to becoming a well-grounded, well-rounded, productive and contented member of society. The process went more quickly than I had imagined, and I came up with seven basic concepts, all of which I hold to be an integral part of what I believe. Axiom #4 was added later as a necessary part of the whole, overlooked in the initial version, bringing the total number of axioms to eight.

The word I coined to describe this philosophy is Greek; “perua” means “pearl”, and of course, “osophy” is “the study of”. Thus I give you Peruaosophy, the study of pearls of wisdom. Each axiom stands alone, and together they describe fairly well how I approach Life…..

Peruaosophy

The wisdom of pearls…
(The world is my oyster; which way to the pearls?)

Axioms

1) I think I am; that’s close enough.

2) The nature of the Universe is Change. Unpredictable, innovative
transformation of Reality is the Norm. If you have a problem with this, you’re in for a rough ride in Life.

3) Thou art God, you know. Let’s do lunch.

4) Excellence is its own reward.

5) Girls think differently. So do boys. Don’t fight it.

6) Axiom #2 X axiom #5 = And God so loved the world, He said,
“Quit whining!”

7) Do your Duty. Respect Life. Honor the Truth. Share your Love.

8) Go back. Everything you need to know is in the first seven axioms.

~~ gigoid ~~

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

Regardless of how it may seem from your side, this was NOT an easy Pearl to put together…. It’s done though, so, I’m content, if not happy. Enough so I will now post this, and be done with it…. The Big Blue Room is calling…. See ya, ffolkes…..

Y’all take care out there,
and May the Metaphorse be with you;
Blessed Be, dearest Carole, Mark, and Theresa…
and everyone else, too…

When I works, I works hard.
When I sits, I sits loose.
When I thinks, I falls asleep.

Which is Why….

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

gigoid the dubious

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
_____________________________

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
_____________________________

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….
_____________________________

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

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
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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
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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

Fabulous shoes, Matilda…. Going waltzing?

Posted on January 24, 2014 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

It figures, of course, that the first day in ages I arise, having slept well, and, with all sorts of ideas streaming out of my head, I am beset by physical complaints that keep me from sitting in front of the computer for much longer than it takes to boot up (this comp is getting old, so the boot sequence takes a few moments these days…. a lot of software under the old download bridge, each one wanting a bit of the sequence….). Nothing particularly egregiously dangerous, or more than normally painful, but, enough to make me uncomfortable, & unable to sit, or stand, for very long…. Ah well…. lots of breaks forthcoming, but, we’ll get to the end eventually…

Today’s rant is again pointed at the POTUS, and his seemingly endless willingness to lie to the public….. Written yesterday, it revolves around the latest political cartoon from Mark Fiore, social critic extraordinaire, and, most-excellent gadfly of unparalleled wit…..Currently, according to the chatty little emails I get from the White House, Barry is scampering around the West Wing today, with a bunch of writers and staff researchers, putting the State of the Union address into final shape. It will be interesting this year for me, to see just how far off the rails this president has gone….

You may note the lack of a capital letter when referring to the POTUS, as is generally considered correct; it indicates one is respectful of the office, and its occupant…. Fuck that, dudes & dudettes….. In my world, respect has to be earned, and I haven’t seen enough from Obama to warrant any such thing, much less prompt me to hand out any unqualified respect; in fact, he has lost a lot of the respect I did have for him when he was first elected…. He’s spent almost six years now, since first being elevated out of the Senate in 2008, disappointing the American public time after time, by revealing lie after lie after lie, in the process of completely ignoring everything he said to get elected…..

Out of Iraq & Afghanistan? Hmm… well, MOSTLY we are out of Iraq, but, we still have a lot of “police & security trainers” and “training personnel” there; we are still fully engaged in the illegal war in Afghanistan ( …. which is a country, by the way, that has NEVER been successfully conquered, or controlled, in ALL of history, by ANY nation…. Our country is merely the latest to try, since the Russians pulled out of there in the 1990’s, giving up their long-time occupation, as too expensive, in terms of lives, equipment, and money….). We still have foreign nationals, and possibly some of our own citizens (Who knows who is actually in there?…. They aren’t required to tell anyone….), being detained in the Guantanamo detention facility, though he promised to close that in his FIRST election run-up…..

So, don’t tell me to capitalize his title when using it to point at him; he has definitely NOT earned the respect….. I do NOT have any of that to hand out, especially not to someone who lies to me on a regular, ongoing basis…. I don’t give a shit who they are, or who they THINK they are, or how much they believe what they say…. I don’t respect anyone who will deliberately tell a falsehood to achieve their purposes, and justify it in the name of patriotism, when it really more resembles repression…..

Oops, did it again, didn’t I? Ah well, such is life here in ECR; when I’m in ranting mode, nothing will stop me….. I guess we ought to go do something a bit more relevant, or, at least more entertaining than my gripes about the liars in Washington…. So, we will….

Shall we Pearl?….

“All men thirst to confess their crimes more than tired beasts thirst for water; but they naturally object to confessing them while other people, who have also committed the same crimes, sit by and laugh at them.” — G. K. Chesterton, Illustrated London News, 3/14/08
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“A picture is worth a thousand words….” — Universal wisdom, common to every culture on Earth, to my knowledge…. — gigoid

By that yardstick, a video is worth about 25,000 words, or so, depending on the subject matter, and the length….There’s probably an equation…. Any who, a few days ago, after the POTUS gave his speech on the reforms he “intends” to make at the NSA, I wrote a couple of thousand words about my take on his alleged changes….

I should have waited, to let Mr. Fiore do the same, in his own, Pulitzer-winning fashion…. Here is his take on that speech, and on this administration’s biggest failure, to wit: the transparency that was promised in every campaign speech…. but, then, as Mr. F. points out, the Guantanamo detainment facility IS still open, isn’t it? Why, yes, I believe it is….

http://blog.sfgate.com/fiore/2014/01/22/obama-on-the-nsa-translated/

When I wrote the above sectional opening, I hadn’t watched the video; now that I have, once again, the only possible adjectives I can think of as appropriate are in the nature of “excellent”, “brilliant”, or “superlatively perceptive”. I love the last twenty or so seconds of the speech, where Mr. Fiore has the POTUS utter six little power words, his “talking points”, strung together without any connecting words to get in the way of what they want us to think about, the six significant words he wants us to remember…. “democracy, progress, together, change, reform, believe!”….. This brilliant brainwashing technique is then followed by a brilliant statement of the administration’s true intent, when Obama says, “I have welcomed this debate, and this discussion makes us stronger, as a nation… which looks forward to…. imprisoning the person who started this debate in the first place. Thank you, God bless you, and God bless this database.”

Casual, condescending, arrogant, the president’s original speech was a sharp, insulting slap in the face to the American public, not just for the extremely smug disdain portrayed by his demeanor, one of supercilious, superior, omniscience, but, also by his complete refusal to even address any of the public’s real concerns, brushing them off as not important enough to even mention.

This accusation, by the way, is based on the speech, as I heard it, when it happened on Monday, not Mr. Fiore’s absolutely brilliant parody, which was very accurately paraphrased, serving well to clarify the meaning and intent, in contrast to that which was offered up by the POTUS with deliberate vagueness… Fortunately, it was clearly evidenced in his own words, if one is able to examine them objectively, with a critical mind, to see through the screen of words, to the implied meaning.

This assessment doesn’t even include the so-obvious, outrageously bald LIE he told, with a straight face, as a casual, off the cuff remark in the speech somewhere, when he so casually chided us, the American public, for believing they would actually stoop so low as to read our emails…. an event he failed to mention that has already been proven to occur….by their own records….

No, ffolkes, my crap detector went on full alert, as soon as I heard he was going to make the speech…. It then went off consistently at each assertion he made, continuing to go off frequently at double volume, which it is set to do, every time he said, or implied, “trust me”, whether intended literally, or metaphorically, from beginning to end.

My crap detector again went crazy, the next day, when Senator Feinstein, the most powerful legislative member of the Senate Committee on Intelligence, issued her office’s blind, unreasoning support of the POTUS’s message, (the article this came from said the Senator admitted the public was against them on the issue, but dismissed that as not worthy of consideration….).

The article made it clear that the Senator’s views on the matter were being held in the face of continued strong opposition for them by her own constituents…. She KNOWS the people who elected her are against what she is doing, but, she is committed to doing it anyway, claiming “special knowledge” not held by the public, thus completely ignoring the public’s wishes.

Like clockwork, on the following day, Congressman Mike Rogers, the Chair of the House Intelligence Committee, (a definite, registered oxymoron….) issued an out-of-nowhere, never-before-considered, or mentioned, accusation during a press conference…. He strongly suggested that Eric Snowden, the whistleblower who exposed the administration’s outrageous abuse of civil rights, was aided by Soviet intelligence agency spies, making this accusation “ipse dixit”, or, just on his own authority (meaning, he just made it up….)….

“The conservation movement is a breeding ground of Communists and other subversives. We intend to clean them out, even if it means rounding up every bird watcher in the country.” — John Mitchell, Atty. General 1969-1972

(Sorry, couldn’t help it…. I heard this statement when it first hit the news back in the day…. It sure looks like the politicians are still using the same methods of dirty in-fighting to accomplish their paranoid goals…. Making up egregious lies as accusations, labeling average American citizens as enemies, to manipulate public opinion for their own purposes….. it’s all still going on, right here in River City, ffolkes….)

The political strategists who instructed Mikey-boy to make the obviously false accusations tried to make it look as if it had some actual juice to it, by trotting out some obscure, uninvolved CIA agent to give a supportive quote…. This person, brought in, I’m guessing, to show how the intelligence community is behind the administration’s view, was very careful to have the first words out of his mouth be, “Well, there’s no direct evidence of that….”…. But, he then went on to say, “but, it COULD be true….”

Very reassuring, don’t you think? Strong proof…. The idiot politician made the accusation that he had help, “because he did things beyond his technical abilities…”, of which, of course, as we all know, every politician is competent to make a judgment, due to their own technical experti….. wait a minute! They don’t HAVE any such expertise, do they? Aha….

Chairman Rogers, (which title is capitalized ONLY because it starts a sentence…) also, by making his statements, implied that the NSA was hiring, or had hired, employees to program computers, or operate computers, for them, who were NOT trained well enough to understand what they were doing….. otherwise, (according to genius congressman Mikey-boy Rogers…) “he wouldn’t have needed the Soviet, or maybe the South American’s help to get away with it….”

“Or, or,” he didn’t fantasize further, though he could have, “maybe the Chinese were involved…. They let him hang around their airport, didn’t they?….” After making his outrageous, paranoid, completely fabricated accusations to smear the reputation of Mr. Snowden as much as possible, planting false seeds in the fertile gullibility of the public mind, he then bowed out of the limelight, and hasn’t been heard from since….

I expect the strategists in the White House have put, or will, even more pressure on the Justice Department now…. It’s their turn to come up with a way to justify the administration’s anger at Mr. Snowden for pulling their covers, and there will be, sometime in the near future, an opinion expressed by some federal judge or other, about the case, with some elaborately constructed legal reason to continue the legal persecution the administration so desperately wants, and, in truth, needs, in order for them to be able to a) show a victory, of any kind, to shore up their image, and b) shut off the debate, so they can go back to their chosen task, which, by all evidence, is one of complete domination of the world internet, and control over every computer that connects to any network, anywhere in the world….

And, if you don’t believe THAT is their goal, then, ffolkes, you just aren’t paying very close attention, are you?…..

“When you choose the lesser of two evils, always remember that it is still an evil.” — Max Lerner

P.S. I found the following pearl after finishing the rant above…. but, it’s perfect for this rant as an addendum, with this to say about it…. Sometimes, when I’m chastising the president, and his cohorts, for their tendency to lie, I forget about one of their most well-used and practiced maneuvers to get the public to go along with whatever they are saying…. I refer, of course, to what the literary world calls “deus ex machina”, and, to what I call encouraging delusional behavior, to wit: blame it all on God…. If you don’t think it’s true, well, don’t take my word for it; the idea didn’t start with me….

“In truth, there never was any remarkable lawgiver amongst any people who did not resort to divine authority, as otherwise his laws would not have been accepted by the people; for there are many good laws, the importance of which is known to be the sagacious lawgiver, but the reasons for which are not sufficiently evident to enable him to persuade others to submit to them; and therefore do wise men, for the purpose of removing this difficulty, resort to divine authority.” — Niccolo Machiavelli
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The pearl in section three went well, and so did my search for a suitable poem….The poem below by Walt Whitman is an excellent one, well worthy of inclusion here any time. It is, however, somewhat lengthy, so, in the interest of saving electrons, rather than copying the entire piece here, I’ve provided a link to the Bartleby’s copy of the poem, where you’ll find it, complete with annotations and discussion, if you so desire. I’m being a bit lazy today, because this is all the poetry you get, but, hey, it could have been something with less panache, so, buck up….

I Sing The Body Electric

If anything is sacred the human body is sacred.

~~Walt Whitman ~~

http://www.bartleby.com/142/19.html

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It’s probably a mistake, but, I’m going to work here, in section three, before picking a poem…. Most days, I use the poem-search-process to decompress from whatever rant I’ve written in section one, and/or the intro. I don’t care if it is misguided, I don’t quite feel up to poetry today, yet…. it requires a certain affability on my part that I’m currently having a hard time finding in me, due to body parts/systems in revolt….

Fortunately for us all, picking out an old-school pearl isn’t taxing, to either the body, or the psyche, so, I should be able to live through it without any further complaints…. If not, well, just stick you fingers in your ears, screw up your eyes, and go, “nyah, nyah, nyah! THPPPT!” , like I do in such instances…. That should take care of it….

“Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past.” — George Orwell (1903-1950), “1984”, 1948

“There is great beauty in going through life without anxiety or fear. Half our fears are baseless, and the other half discreditable.” — Bovee

“That life is long which answers life’s great end.” — Edward Young (1684-1765) – Night Thoughts, Night v, Line 773

“Never let the future disturb you. You will meet it, if you have to, with the same weapons of reason which today arm you against the present.” — Marcus Aurelius Antoninus

“Glory is fleeting, but obscurity is forever.” — Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821)

“The fight is what’s important. Doing what is good and right is why we’re here. The end is variable and relative. A person can only do what his heart tells him and break away from the terrible things around him. We do what we can … and live with the consequences.” — Marc Zanoni

“Never let your sense of morals prevent you from doing what is right.” — Isaac Asimov — Salvor Hardin, Foundation

It seems my misgivings were premature; this is an excellent pearl, for all its innocent arrogance…. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did putting it together…..
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Well, it has certainly been an adventure this morning…. I think my subject matter has sent a lot of readers packing; my site traffic seems to have dropped off a bit, with only a few regular readers showing up…. either that, or a LOT of people are coming by, DON’T like it, and so leave without any indication they were there…. Nah, I don’t think so….

Any who, no matter who may have been driven away by the somberness and vitriol in the last few Pearls, I’ll just say this…. I gotta write what is in there, lest it rot between my ears, causing me great discomfort, which I duly pass on the world at large…. Better all around for me to just keep typing, and hope for the best….. With that caveat spoken, 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

Subject to random bourgeois scrutiny….

Posted on January 18, 2014 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

Aha! I have found it! Eureka! as they used to say in Greece, a long time ago… No, seriously, I found out why this whole intro thing has been such a struggle…. Here, check this out….

“The point I have been patiently trying to make,” Godwin said impatiently, “is that you expect far too much of a first sentence. Think of it as analogous to a good country breakfast: what we want is something simple, but nourishing to the imagination. Hold the philosophy, hold the adjectives, just give us a plain subject and perhaps a wholesome, nonfattening adverb or two.” — Godwin to Danny Deck, Some Can Whistle

See? It’s all because I’m too complex and twisted with age-related mental afflictions, stemming from a healthy, but possibly delusional sense of adequacy…. However, by choosing to adopt the above concept, my entire problem is thus eliminated, with one swift, clear indication of what is needed to put everything aright. My only regret is that it took me so long to find this….

Ah well, serendipity chooses its own time to manifest, and I guess it’s like family…. we don’t get to pick. I’m just happy I finally have a clue as to how to get myself past this section without all the hullabaloo. I swear I’ve spent more time agonizing over these little pieces than I spend doing much of anything else, let alone something as critical to the success of this venture, such as it is….

Of course, in looking over the requirements as set forth above, this may be more of a challenge to me than I knew…. I mean, I can get fairly pedantic, and pomposity comes pretty naturally, too. Keeping to a simple subject, adverb, verb format might be more than I can do on short notice….. I may have to practice awhile before it starts to go smoothly… but, that’s acceptable, if it will get rid of the daily struggle to figure out what direction to take. I’ve had enough of trying to do it on my lonesome, so, I can only tell y’all I’ll give it my best effort….

Hmm, okay, let’s see what happens here…. Subject, verb, adverb/adjective/pronoun…. simple, simple, simple…

“Politicians are assholes.” Whoa, that’s pretty good! Let’s try it again….

“Preachers are busybodies and thieves.” Wow! What a feeling of power! I’m going for it, ffolkes…

“Pimps are sub-human piles of feces….” Damn, and it just flows out so smoothly!

Okay, so where has this been all my life? How could one know how liberating it is to stick to a simplistic style of speech, to just say what needs to be said, and be done with it?…. It gives what is written a definite panache, and power, to express the thrust of one’s ideas with such clarity and simplicity…. I like it, and we may indeed start to use it, in certain situations where such clarity is called for…. such as in the three above sentences, which would, patently, make excellent beginnings for a rant, of whatever sort one chooses…

Not only that, but, just talking about all of this has gotten us through today’s beginning, with no pauses to speak of, and no fiddling about trying to decide anything…. Pretty cool, I think… We’ll definitely be adopting this idea, at least partially…. I’m all for innovation, if it improves efficiency…. Plus, here ’tis only 30 minutes into this, and I’m already at a point where I can say, without any guilt or angst of any kind….

Shall we Pearl?….

“Pfui. More people saying what they believe would be a great improvement. Because I do I am unfit for common intercourse” — Nero Wolfe, “Blood Will Tell”
_____________________________

Below, you’ll find two articles that should be read before joining the discussion below…. The first is a report summarizing President Obama’s speech yesterday, outlining the administration’s plan to address the spying concerns that the public has, as a result of the leak of information by Eric Snowden. The second article is a group of analytical statements about the speech by several New York Times reporters who listened to it live…. Please read these, for informational purposes only…. Oh, you can do whatever else you like with them, but, it will help our efforts here for you to read them first…

http://www.sfgate.com/business/technology/article/Obama-proposes-new-limits-on-NSA-phone-collections-5151532.php

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/01/17/live-coverage-of-obamas-n-s-a-speech/?_php=true&_type=blogs&exprod=myyahoo&_r=0

There, now don’t you feel safer? Aren’t your fears soothed? The saintly president, in the power of his compassionate wisdom, has decreed that he will try to place some controls on the spying by his watchdog cyber agents, although he makes it clear that they’ve done nothing wrong, or illegal at all…. He will now make it necessary for them to get warrants, supposedly before, though it isn’t made exactly clear, mining telephone or other personal data on our citizens.

They must now get these warrants from a “special” court, whose sole purpose is to give them those warrants, and, which is manned by a group of judges, picked by ONE man, (That one man is the Chief Justice of the Supremes, but, who cares who it is? It’s ONE fucking person!…. One person, deciding for ALL OF US….); these judges, as it turns out, not surprisingly, are all, but for one, dedicated conservative hawks from one political party….

I’m sorry, ffolkes…. I know there are a lot of people out there who admire this president (I used to capitalize that word, but, I am a firm believer that the office, and the honorifics that go with it, must be earned; thus, the formerly capital P…. I haven’t seen any truly Presidential actions yet from him, thought I did have high hopes, going so far as to vote for him, again, in 2012…. That time, as the lesser of two evils, instead of in hope of change, which motivated me in 2008 …..

I saw in his first four years that change wasn’t going to happen, as anything he tried in the way of reform (which were, admittedly, pretty much limited, in truth, to his efforts to reform healthcare…. Otherwise, nothing much has been forthcoming in the way of change…. ), was effectively blocked by the other party, who have the numbers in Congress to do so…. So, I wasn’t TOO hopeful about the second term, anyway, more resigned…..especially after he signed the NDAA in that clandestine fashion….

That act, all by itself, should have acted as a warning to the American people that Obama isn’t anything other than another slick politician, who is in office to achieve HIS agenda, not the people’s….. Believe me, nothing of any significance is going to change on his watch, other than to watch the Bill of Rights slip further and further into memory, as rights we used to have….. There are other signs as well…. His administration has prosecuted more journalists and writers for security leaks than any previous administration, by a factor of 10 times as many…. This from the man who promised to have a “transparent government”….

Now we come to this speech…. From what I can tell, this is it…. This is the best they’re going to offer us (the public)…. They’ll put some minor, ineffectual rules in place to assuage the outcry, rules that will do nothing to change any of what the agencies are doing, as they have already gone light-years beyond any mandate given, and have no intention of stopping until they feel confident of their ability to hack into any computer, any telephone, or any communications device at their whim, to listen in for their “signs of terrorist activity”, and to mine all the information and data they can find, just because they know that knowledge is power….. (Whew, sorry, sometimes, my sentences tend to go beyond one breath….)

In this speech, Obama stated, unequivocally, that the agency “hasn’t been listening in, or reading your emails….”, making it seem as if the very idea were ludicrous, and beneath them…. I want to assure you, ffolkes, that is a bare-faced lie…. The documents already stolen and released prove that simply is NOT true…. He is lying now, he has lied all along, and he’ll continue to lie, just like any politician caught with their hand in a cookie jar, because that’s what they’ve always done, and it’s always worked for them…. They believe it’s going to work again; that’s why they came out with this namby-pamby, not-much-there-at-all, totally superfluous program to put restraints on the NSA’s activities at all…. They had to put out SOME response, so they put out this insult to our intelligence, hoping it would fly…..

I’m afraid I can’t regard this as any sort of rational or reasonable response to what the public is concerned about; it is a complete denial that anything at all was done wrong, and a half-hearted attempt at an insincere promise to do better, when they don’t believe they need to….. The message here is, “Whoa, dudes, what’s the upset? We didn’t do anything wrong, but, hey, since it bothers you, we’ll make some superficial, totally worthless alterations on the surface process, and continue to hide most of what we’re doing where you can’t see it…. Cool, right?” To my mind, what the president voiced in his speech yesterday was even more insulting than that…. I guess I just don’t have the right kind of meanness in me to talk that way with any accuracy of tone…

But, what I said was accurate in detail…. He stated they’ve done no wrong, and that’s a lie, a pretty obvious one….. He also said they would try to put in some controls and restraints…. guess what the odds are that that is a lie as well? I don’t know much about your math skills, but, mine are pretty good, and I’d figure those odds as being extremely high….

Oh, just accept the obvious truth, ffolkes! He lied, he continues to lie, and won’t stop, because he’s good at it, and keeps getting away with it….

All of these assholes whom we have elected to high office are liars; it’s how they got their jobs, and it’s how they keep them. If y’all can’t see that, then I am sorry for you, because you are no more intelligent than an ostrich, sticking its head in the sand to avoid danger….

I’m not asking anyone to do anything other than read the fucking news, and try to see what is written there in the light of reason, not in the light of assumption…. The evidence of the lying is right out there in black and white for anyone with wit to see, so open your eyes, ffolkes, or, just bend over in acquiescence….

Not me, though…. I say fuck ’em, fuck ’em all, hard, deep, and for a long time, in holes where they’re not designed to be fucked….. just like they’ve been doing to me, and the rest of y’all, for my entire life, and yours…..

Today’s rant comes to you courtesy of Barack Obama, and the cast of 544 other asininnies who inhabit the hallowed halls of government, who have finally managed to push me over the edge….. I’ll be back, eventually, with more in this vein…. As a final note, this rant calls for some art…. This one, which I’ve used often, is here as a proclamation, of my intention to never look on and do nothing…. If all I can do is shout and point at the bad guys, then, that’s what I’ll do…. Can you see me pointing toward the halls of democracy?….
_____________________________

It’s one of those days when a poem of my own is called for, to protect the innocent….

Geezer to Congress, with Love

Politicos don’t care much ’bout seniors and their ilk,
except for their money, I thinks;
Though they talk as if they’d cozen them in silk,
what they actually do, it stinks.

“The banks are failing, we can’t allow that!”,
steal from the aged, that’s their plan.
“Their life’s ending, that’s plainly where they’re at,”
lie shamelessly, because they can.

Maybe just once, if we all act together,
it couldn’t miss.
Right on their shoes, no matter the weather,
take careful aim, and piss.

Why the hell not?
It’s worth a shot!

~~ gigoid ~~

_____________________________

Having fulfilled the daily percentage of rantable material produced at ECR, having, moreover, done so with some alacrity, I’m happy to find myself in a position to put together an old-school pearl, sans the pressure that generally goes along with that decision…. For a change, I’ve got time, and an idea or two to guide the process, so, let’s see what we can come up with today, shall we?….

ESOTERIC, adj. Very particularly abstruse and consummately occult. The ancient philosophies were of two kinds, — _exoteric_, those that the philosophers themselves could partly understand, and _esoteric_, those that nobody could understand. It is the latter that have most profoundly affected modern thought and found greatest acceptance in our time. — Ambrose Bierce, “The Devil’s Dictionary”

“The fact is, that civilization requires slaves. The Greeks were quite right there. Unless there are slaves to do the ugly, horrible, uninteresting work, culture, and contemplation become almost impossible. Human slavery is wrong, insecure, and demoralizing. On mechanical slavery, on the slavery of the machine, the future of the world depends.” — Oscar Wilde

“Any body of men who believe in hell will persecute whenever they have the power.” — Joseph M. McCabe (1867-1957)

“It’s said that ‘power corrupts’, but actually it’s more true that power attracts the corruptible. The sane are usually attracted by other things than power. When they do act, they think of it as service, which has limits. The tyrant, though, seeks mastery, for which he is insatiable, implacable. — David Brin, The Postman

“And it should be the law: If you use the word `paradigm’ without knowing what the dictionary says it means, you go to jail. No exceptions.” — David Jones @ Megatest Corporation

“Once you have said that in correlative conjunctions in the subjunctive mood there should be parity between the protasis and the apodosis, you have said about all there is to say on the matter. But you have also, I think, left most of us as confused as before.” — from Bill Bryson’s, Troublesome Words

“Doubt is the beginning, not the end, of wisdom.” — Smart Bee, channeling gigoid

So, it took some turns that didn’t appear to make sense at first, but, as usual, Smart Bee managed to tie it all together with a nice, pretty bow there at the end…. I’ve used the last line many times, and will do so again, I’m sure, since the concept forms one of the pillars of Truth upon which my philosophy of life is based…. So much so, I’m going to Google it, and if nobody else wants it, I’m taking it as mine…. Just so’s you know….
_____________________________

I think, maybe, this whole idea of sleeping well is a good thing…. It sure feels better than trying to do all this without the boon of even the slightest drop of the soothing, restorative waters of Lethe….. In fact, this has gone so well, I may just go reward myself with a nap!…. Regardless of what happens in the future, it will do; I think this one may just cause a reaction, if not any actual damage, out in the BBR…. who knows?…. Moreover, who can say with any degree of accuracy?….. We’ll see, won’t we…. 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: Illegal spying

Provenance won’t impress the hungry….

Don’t push that envelope; stick a stamp on & mail it….

We’ll find some in the bargain basement….

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

Fabulous shoes, Matilda…. Going waltzing?

Subject to random bourgeois scrutiny….

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