Ffolkes,
~~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe ~~
Picture Stolen from Linda Vernon
https://lindavernon.wordpress.com/2015/02/02/confessions-of-a-new-age-failure/#comment-24530
Yesterday, I was treated to a perfectly graphic demonstration of how today’s world works, in this modern world of digital communications, through the influence of our old friends, the National Security Agency. Oh, no worries; they aren’t quite convinced yet of the degree of danger I represent, so, they didn’t personally tip their hand. But, the casual disregard for privacy, in communication across then internet especially which the political pundits in this country display all too often was brought to my door in quite graphic fashion…. Allow me to elucidate….
As I was dealing with some stress and a great deal of arthritic pain, with a side dish of Tardive Dyskinesia, (all hail the mighty Kaiser, thank you very much!), by pacing the house and ranting to myself, I heard a knock at the back door…. Not in the best of moods, I went to see who knew where I live, whereupon I found two Vallejo police officers, who wished to know if I was Ned Moore…. Well! Since I hadn’t robbed any banks lately, or otherwise done anything illegal, not even a misdemeanor, I wasn’t real thrilled, to say the least….
I made two mistakes in the initial exchange, but, fortunately, didn’t do something that got me shot at…. I made the mistake of merely responding to their query with, “I’ll be right back”, then turning away to go get my phone, which I’d left in the other room. I also got a pen and paper, in case I needed to make notes. When I got back to the door, they were out of sight. I said, as I approached the door, “What can I do for you gentlemen?” When one of them said, “Mr. Moore, can you please let us see your hands? You made us a little nervous when you walked away. We can’t see you through the screen door, so….” Realizing my mistake, I quickly assured them I had no weapons, and we then proceeded to discuss why they came….
My other mistake was not asking to see their ID; I suppose I had already convinced myself of their official status, by my subconscious perceptions; I’d noted their uniforms, the cop shoes, and the cop eyes…. which, I had to admit, did contain more intelligence than is my usual perception. It turned out, once we’d gotten over the introductions, they were a captain, and a lieutenant in the Vallejo force, who came to ascertain my intentions regarding the City Council…. Here is where the demonstration of the extreme paranoia, and adversarial attitude adopted by those in public office comes into play….
The two officers (officers, indeed, not enlisted ranks…), told me they had read my emails to the city council, and were concerned about my statement of intention to come to the meeting, as I didn’t say exactly what my intentions were by coming…. I suppose what I wrote to the Mayor, and copied to the Council members, was too forceful in the opinions expressed, so one of the recipients forwarded the email to the police, for them to investigate whether I was so upset I was going to come to the meeting & go postal on the council!….
Talk about paranoia! From what I’ve seen in the video tape of the last council meeting, which I downloaded to watch, so I could find out the details of the issue I wrote to them about, it had to be the Mayor, who seems to be the only professional politician on the council, though there IS another lawyer sitting on the council, as well….
Thankfully, the two officers who came to see me, (both were actual gentlemen, to go along with their officer’s bars), only knew their boss had showed it to them. Being more intelligent and honorable than the usual run of police I’ve encountered, they approached it as a fact finding visit, not establishing an immediate adversarial attitude toward me, allowing real communication to occur, without turning it into an incident all of us would have regretted….
Ah well… All’s well that ends well, and now I have another question for the Council, to ask them who sent my email to the police, and why they did so, when I made no threats, nor used any vulgarity…. Having strong opinions is still allowed according to the Constitution; the Homeland Security Act made no mention of it, though it does eliminate just about all the ten basic rights as listed in the Amendments to that document. Fortunately, for me, and for the officers, the two gentlemen who came to see me still believed in the original version, so, we were able to have a meeting of the minds, rather than a conflict….
Happy days! But, of course, today is another day, and I haven’t heard of any great societal changes overnight, so, I don’t think I’ll hold my breath until things get better…. Instead, I’ll end this incredibly long intro section, and get on with today’s post….
Shall we Pearl?
“He declared that he knew nothing, except the fact of his ignorance.” — Diogenes Laertius (c. 200 AD) — Socrates, xvi
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“Everything has two handles,–one by which it may be borne; another by which it cannot.” — Epictetus (c. 60 AD) — Enchiridion, xliii
Okay, ffolkes. In the words of the Firesign Theater, “Gird your grids for a big one.” The following video is, quite simply, brilliant. It is also chock full of real information, well verified, that will do one of three things… 1) It will piss you off no end. 2) It will scare you worse than the thought of Rush Limbaugh throwing kisses at you, wearing a tiger stripe peignoir, or 3) It will piss you off no end. Did I say that already? Oh…. Watch it anyway, it’s not long…. Then, take out the trash, which should be overflowing with all of your previously held misconceptions of reality….
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Marketing to Doctors (HBO)
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“Can’t sleep clowns will eat me… Can’t sleep clowns will eat me… Can’t sleep clowns will eat me… Can’t sleep clowns will eat me… Can’t sleep clowns will eat me…” — Bart Simpson
“Anxiety is a thin stream of fear trickling through the mind. If encouraged, it cuts a channel into which all other thoughts are drained.” — Arthur Somers Roche
Together, these two taglines, one considered a joke, the other a sober observation of reality, give a strong impression of how living in today’s world feels for a great many people. The first demonstrates, in graphic clarity, exactly HOW the second line works, creating unreasonable fear in the human mind. This tendency, for worry to eat away at people’s inner serenity and feeling of security, is well-known to those who have usurped the course of human progress to serve their own ends, to meet the demands of their own ego’s wants and desires, to the exclusion of anyone else’s well-being. This unfortunate facet of human nature provides such sociopathic personalities with the perfect tool to assert mind control over anyone who believes them….
One of the clearest statements of how this principle works in reality was offered at the Nuremberg Trials at the close of WWII, when the German Reich Marshal, Hermann Goering, replied, with unusual candor, as well as apparent disdain, to a question put to him during his trial for war crimes against humanity…. He said, quite calmly, what you see in the picture of him below this line, to wit:
This particular human trait is well known not only to the ruling classes; many modern social critics and philosophers have noted how people can be manipulated by those in power, often pointing out these insane acts of aggression against their own species with humorous observations regarding those who engage in such evil…. Perhaps the most fearless, as well as most brilliantly perceptive of these social critics, the modern day equivalent to Jesters, a once-highly-respected class of Artists, George Carlin, once noted, for example:
In fact, George had quite a few things to say regarding these folks, not always with the restraint shown above… Here are more of his thoughts on modern society, culture, and the people who have so perverted this world….
To my mind, George Carlin was the quintessential patriot, a firm believer in personal responsibility, in himself, and in others, and, most especially in those who are supposed to be the MOST honest and responsible, by virtue of the public trust placed in them. He resisted all of society’s demands to fit into the narrow little jacket these would-be slavers wish us all to wear, always saying what he thought with no fear…. Such as this one:
George noted, and lamented with all of us who bother to think, the pitifully insane, shameful existence of the same evil people I do, those I’ve named Asininnies, a word I coined, to promote the proper mindset with which to view those who would make the world their plaything, at the expense of the entire rest of humanity, without a single dram of concern for the welfare of anyone but themselves. Sometimes, I consider changing the nickname I use, to reflect a bit more closely the true nature of these vermin wearing human skin; “Assholes” would be a very good choice, I think, for they are always passing shit around, which mostly stinks to high heaven…. It’s good to keep things simple….
Fuck ’em. They can’t have MY mind, or my freedom. They MIGHT be able to kill me, but, they’ll never make me submit to their demands to turn myself into a slave, or to believe a single word they have to say…. They have already proven themselves unworthy of respect, or consideration for anything beyond the fact of their pitiful existence, which I shall hope is a short one…. even if I must ensure that to be the case personally….
Enough said….
gigoid has spoken.
So be it….
“Well, here I am in AMERICA.. I LIKE it. I HATE it. I LIKE it. I HATE it. I LIKE it. I HATE it. I LIKE it. I HATE it. I LIKE.. EMOTIONS are SWEEPING over me!!” — Zippy the Pinhead
Oh, going back to Hermann’s little share….
“In the USA, more people die from lightning than terrorism.” — Brenda, the Civil Disobedience Penguin
I hate to harp on this kind of thing, contrary to how it must seem, but, this is, if not absolutely true, much more nearly so than the situation in any other country in the world, especially in those in which the USA has business, or political (one and the same entity, in reality) interests. One good definition of terrorism is the explosion of large bombs unexpectedly on innocent non-combatants. I don’t think it would matter at all to anyone, even if it is for the alleged purpose of “saving American lives overseas, fighting terrorism at its roots, by sharing the benefits of freedom” with the people of that country.
Do you seriously think the people of ANY country, not involved in any of the nonsense being perpetrated by the insane leaders of EITHER country, are NOT terrorized when they see, out of nowhere, dropped from planes so far above they are nearly invisible, thousands of explosions as the natural results of dropping $750 million worth of explosive devices in ONE day? I don’t know about y’all, but, I think I’d be pretty terrorized, myself, freedom or no freedom.
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Oops! Almost forgot a poem. I’m not sure why, but, this one seems appropriate for today… It seems long, but, it really isn’t….
Don’t worry,
it’s not
me
you hear
screaming.
It is
only
my bones,
giving in,
to
cowardly,
pathologically,
repetitive,
fucking,’
complaints
of
past abuse,
and
all the fun
we had.
playing,
hard.
I don’t mind
too much;
I can spend my
TIME
in another space
in my head,
pretending
my bones
don’t
exist….
It
is,
indeed,
a shame
they
always
come
back….
Fuck.
It
hurts.
More proof,
I guess,
either
God isn’t,
or,
He is.
IF
He isn’t?
Oh,
Well….
Ante up.
Deal.
IF
He is?
Then,
I don’t fucking care
who
doesn’t like it,
I say,
He
is
a bully,
a coward,
a hypocrite,
and,
truly,
an enormous asshole.
I suppose,
God
is
what comes,
to,
and
from,
People,
because
they
feel
a need,
for
someone
to
blame,
for
a
Universe
they
cannot
understand
or
accept.
I
will
take the complaints.
After all,
they
are
my bones.
~~ gigoid ~~
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Okay, this is one of the world’s quickest pearls…. I’m up late, thanks to a completely useless routine, which has been shredded to remove any consistency over the last ten weeks of fighting with my body, a direct result of the drastic, radical med reduction forced on me by a large, soulless HMO which shall, for this moment, remain unnamed, lest the sound of its sobriquet stimulate more rage…. These pearls were all chosen because they were the first, best ones I saw…. that’s it…. I hope this works….
“You can’t fight City Hall, but you can punch out the mayor …” — Smart Bee
“Remember, Big Brother is watching you – and Big Brother is paranoid.” — Smart Bee
“A society of sheep must in time beget a government of wolves.” — Bertrand de Jouvenel
“Illegitimacy is something we should talk about in terms of not having it.” — Vice President Dan Quayle, 5/20/92 (reported in Esquire, 8/92)
“Anyone can be great with money. With money, greatness is not a talent but an obligation. The trick is to be great without money.” — Italo Bombolini
“I keep hearing that Jesus Christ is coming, but nobody knows his tour dates.” — Michael Lucas
It don’t cost very much, but it lasts a long while.
Won’t you please tell the man
I didn’t hurt anyone.
No, I’m just trying to have me some fun.
~~ John Prine ~~
Hmm… not bad at all for the literary equivalent to instant coffee…. I’ll take it….
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All things considered, this came out fairly well, I think. Well enough, I’m going to use some restraint, by not dumping any more tricks on y’all. I’ll just say, see y’all tomorrow, ffolkes, provided the Mayor doesn’t have me arrested for public shaming of elected officials, which is probably in the city ordinances by now…. he’s been in office a while…. (That’s a joke, for you dudes at the NSA….) Have fun out there, and remember to, always, Question Authority….. It’s a good idea, as mostly, Authority has no clue…. I was lucky enough to have met two who do…. have a clue, that is. Ta, then….
and May the Metaphorse be with you;
Blessed Be, dearest Carole, Mark,Theresa, & Richy
and everyone else, too…
When I works, I works hard.
When I sits, I sits loose.
When I thinks, I falls asleep.
Which is Why….
Sometimes I sits and thinks,
and sometimes,
I just sits.
gigoid, the dubious
PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.
“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch
À bientôt, mon cherí….
gigoid 