Tag Archives: Jerry Garcia

Saving pennies for post-apocalyptic discount sales….

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Ffolkes,

Thankfully, the massive outbreak of pain I experienced yesterday is but a memory today…. so far. I’ve become accustomed to having my assessments of this condition undergo rapid changes, almost as if Murphy were involved. Whenever I make the mistake of commenting on its absence, it will rush back to assure me it isn’t gone altogether, but was merely hiding from me, in order to make itself more…. noticeable? Shit, what a crock! I’m not buying that, with or without credit cards….. Besides, it doesn’t matter much what I say or do, it seems to pick its own time and place to attack, always the most inconvenient it can find, of course….

I’m not sure how much y’all have had pain in your life; we all have it to some degree. My own experience with it as a constant companion tells me, it has a number of faces and body types, each of which affects our own in different ways. The “why” of that escapes me, but, since it’s one of those things that we cannot change or affect in any way, it’s useless to worry about it. Suffice it to say the different appearances it may adopt make it possible to at least describe how they may differ, and how they can be dealt with, if at all…

The kind of pain I had yesterday is such that can’t really be affected much, without resorting to drugs that turn me into a zombie…. My doctor tried me on methadone once, which, it turns out, is a pretty powerful drug…. One ten mg. dose, and I would have needed no makeup, or acting ability, in order to play the part of one of the newly-popular undead…. I couldn’t smile, or frown, or formulate any emotional response beyond a simple “oh?”…. I had no connection to my will, and found myself sitting in my chair at work, staring at the monitor, drooling, and wondering if I would ever be able to move again…. There was no pain, but there was also no life, so, I decided that a small amount of pain was preferable to being essentially dead….

Most of the time, my pain recedes into the background; the hydrocodone I take to control it has worked fairly well, so far, at putting up a wall between the pain, and my conscious mind’s awareness of that pain. As long as I can keep from increasing the number of pills I use to get that effect, I am fairly well set to live life relatively normally, if I’m careful not to overdo my physical demands on my body. If I do make that mistake, and “tweak” my back, or hips, then the pain goes to a level that the pills can’t handle, and I have to take an extra dose or two,  get myself prone in order to remove gravity from the equation, and hope that over time, the pain will lessen….

Thus far, it always does grow less, so, as long as that is true, then I can look forward to a fairly normal existence…. Once the pain reaches another level or two higher than it is now, I’ll have to make a decision, as to whether or not to start taking stronger medications, such as the methadone, or oxy-contin, or morphine…. all of which are highly addictive, and ultimately lead to a state that I really don’t want to contemplate as one I may have to enter. Life is tough enough right now, without adding in more complications due to drugs; I already feel like I’m a walking pharmacy when I travel, with the minimum of eight different drugs I am taking each day, at various times…..

Okay, I think I’m done with the bitch-fest for now. The pain has receded to a manageable level, and it promises to be a nice day, weather-wise; what more can an old man ask for from life? Not much, I’ll tell ya, because, more than just that can be hard to pin down; wishing for more is generally a waste of everybody’s time and energy, since the universe pretty much ignores anything we may want, and goes about its business without considering our needs or desires at all. Just as well, I suppose, or we humans might get a sense of entitlement, and think we’re the lords of creation, or something….

Oh, we do? Well, that’s pretty stupid, isn’t it? Oh well, people are strange, of that there is no doubt….. Shall we Pearl?…..

“I can’t think about that.  It doesn’t go with HEDGES in the shape of LITTLE LULU — or ROBOTS making BRICKS…” — Zippy the Pinhead
_____________________________

“A lie would have no sense unless the truth were felt as dangerous.” — Alfred Alder

So, I was going to forgo a rant today, giving my back, and your brains, a bit of a break, but, when I went to peruse the news, I saw the latest discussion of what is happening in the House of Idiots in Washington, D.C., regarding the budget resolutions being discussed, wherein the possibility of a government shutdown is threatened, if the Retardicans and Demobutts can’t come to some kind of compromise.

(What a wonderful dream! No government to worry about… can we get that in writing, please, in perpetua, or whatever the legal term for “forever” is?)

It seems the Retardicans are still upset about Obamacare, and the notion of helping the middle class, as well as the lower classes (gasp!), to obtain medical insurance coverage at a reasonable cost. This idea, of being fair and ethical, seems to have struck them in the wrong place, and they have been whining and complaining ever since it became law, frantically searching for ways to undermine the whole program, with the ultimate goal being to stop it altogether….

The entire issue, of course, is just smoke, to cover up the simple racism that these assholes won’t cop to…. It is STILL stuck in their craw, after over five years, that they somehow allowed a BLACK MAN to get elected to the highest public office. They have looked for, and desperately latched onto, every possible way they could find to block every piece of legislation the White House has espoused, no matter how much such legislation would help the public, ever since Obama was first elected.

The publicly stated goal of the Retardican Party in 2008, right after the election, was to make Obama a one-term President; having failed at that, their new goal became the eradication of ANY laws, or any beneficial reforms, that were accomplished during his administration…. Hence, the campaign against healthcare reform, which, ultimately, is not in their, or the country’s best interests, but, hey, who needs common sense?….

I’m almost too disgusted with the entire bunch of them, Retardicans and Demobutts both, to even continue this rant….The right wing continues to shoot itself, and the public, in the foot with their intransigent inflexibility, and their unreasoning paranoia about the POTUS, while the left side continues to wander around with a vacant expression, letting whatever the administration says or does go without question or review, as if somehow a man who was politician enough to get elected to the Senate, then the Presidency, all of a sudden became the world’s most truthful man…. Sorry, folks, it just doesn’t follow….. such trust in ANYONE who is an elected official in this country is plain silly, and doesn’t show much real common sense….

I see NO ONE in the public venue whom I would trust to make decisions for me, on ANY subject, much less those that can affect my life, and the quality of same…. Sorry, I just don’t see ANYONE who seems to be honestly interested in anything beyond their own agenda, and those agendas have nothing to do with mine, or what I see as beneficial for everyone…. They just don’t…..

I also, unfortunately, don’t have any viable solutions, which is why my rants often are short…. I mean, I do know what would help, and that is for everyone in the world who does have common sense to get together, join forces, and tell the assholes to stop…. But, they have guns, which they are practiced in using to get their way, whereas, most of US aren’t willing to contest matters on that level, so, that probably isn’t ever going to happen…. Not until more of our side are willing to use force to get our way, just as they have always done….

Since I don’t see it happening, we may as well just kiss our asses goodbye, because the eventual outcome of such idiocy is death, and I don’t mean individually, but rather, as a species…. Stupid is as stupid does, as somebody once said, and when I look around the world these days, stupid is pretty much all I see…..

Hell is the place of those who have denied;
They find there what they planted and what dug,
A Lake of Spaces, and a Wood of Nothing,
And wander there and drift, and never cease
Wailing for substance.

— William Butler Yeats, Responsibilities and Other Poems (1916).The Hour-Glass
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I know it is a dream, even a pipe dream, but, if there is any poet in the world I try to emulate, it is T.S. Eliot…. His poetry, to me, is like the music of the spheres, sounding forever through the darkness, bringing beauty, light, and peace, where it is most needed, and little known…..

Sweeney Among The Nightingales

Apeneck Sweeney spreads his knees
Letting his arms hang down to laugh,
The zebra stripes along his jaw
Swelling to maculate giraffe.

The circles of the stormy moon
Slide westward toward the River Plate,
Death and the Raven drift above
And Sweeney guards the horned gate.

Gloomy Orion and the Dog
 Are veiled; and hushed the shrunken seas;
The person in the Spanish cape
Tries to sit on Sweeney’s knees

Slips and pulls the table cloth
Overturns a coffee-cup,
Reorganized upon the floor
She yawns and draws a stocking up;

The silent man in mocha brown
Sprawls at the window-sill and gapes;
The waiter brings in oranges
Bananas figs and hothouse grapes;

The silent vertebrate in brown
Contracts and concentrates, withdraws;
Rachel née Rabinovitch
Tears at the grapes with murderous paws;

She and the lady in the cape
Are suspect, thought to be in league;
Therefore the man with heavy eyes
Declines the gambit, shows fatigue,

Leaves the room and reappears
Outside the window, leaning in,
Branches of wisteria
Circumscribe a golden grin;

The host with someone indistinct
Converses at the door apart,
The nightingales are singing near
The Convent of the Sacred Heart,

And sang within the bloody wood
When Agamemnon cried aloud,
And let their liquid droppings fall
To stain the stiff dishonoured shroud.

~~ T.S. Eliot ~~

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Okay, so, having no clue as to how to finish this one, I’m going with a weird version of old-school…. I’m not even sure whether it’s legally a pearl, but, I DID find it in an oyster bed, so….

:bozotic: /boh-zoh’tik/ or /boh-zo’tik/ adj.  [from the name of a TV clown even more losing than Ronald McDonald] Resembling or having the quality of a bozo; that is, clownish, ludicrously wrong, unintentionally humorous.  Compare {wonky}, {demented}.  Note that the noun `bozo’ occurs in slang, but the mainstream adjectival form would be `bozo-like’ or (in New England) `bozoish’. — from The on-line Hacker Jargon File V423

(While all the above is mostly true, it lacks complete information… In 1966, I, gigoid, first wrote down, in one of my first journals, my Theory of Bozoid Tendencies, a psychological/philosophical treatise that gave some of the thoughts behind the assertions made in the Theory, and which can be seen as a prelude to Peruaosophy, the Philosophy of Pearls, which came to me ten or twelve years later, after more observation of humans, more cogitation about their behaviors, and repeated analysis thereof…..

The theory basically states, “Every human has an innate knowledge of, and ability to, garner the complete attention of other people by the commission of a really stupid (or, “bozoid”) act, in a public venue, and, in fact, tend to CHOOSE to do so on a regular basis.” This, of course, was based on my observations of humanity up to that time, and colored by the odd assortment of literature I had consumed…. but, it works, and has been clinically proven… In addition, the term “bozoid” was more commonly known and used, than were “bozotic”, or “bozoish”,  West of the Mississippi River, especially in Northern California, around UC Berkeley (“Berzerkeley…), since the early 1970’s…..)

(“It irks me when people use the character’s name in a demeaning way.” — Larry Harmon, AKA ‘Bozo the Clown’ — after his stage name was used for political purposes by Bob Dole, 1996)

Okay, it seems this pearl has jumped the tracks, and won’t be coming back toward reality anytime soon, so I’ll have to apply emergency technique number twenty-nine, which simply involves denial of current reality in favor of the one we now will enter, just as if we meant to be here, now….

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

So, I’m bored, but, SB can usually help…. Here is a pearl, whose parameters are…. well, your guess is as good as mine, right? Right…. Don’t worry, they’re all tax-deductible….

“Shall I show you the muscular training of a philosopher? “What muscles are those?”–A will undisappointed; evils avoided; powers daily exercised; careful resolutions; unerring decisions.” — Epictetus (c. 60 AD) — Wherein consists the Essence of Good, — Discourses, Book ii, Chap. viii

“Reality is only as the mind perceives it, where yesterday will never arrive and tomorrow has long since gone.” — Smart Bee

The act of defending any of the cardinal virtues has today all the exhilaration of a vice.” — G. K. Chesterton, A Defense of Humilities, The Defendant, 1901

“In the midst of winter I finally learned that there was in me an invincible summer.” — Albert Camus

“If This Is Hell – Where Are the Lawyers???” — Smart Bee

“Constantly choosing the lesser of two evils is still choosing evil.” — Jerry Garcia (1942-1995), Musician, the Grateful Dead — Rolling Stone magazine, (November 30, 1989)

Dharma: “What is the greatest mystery of all?”
Yudishthira: “That each day, death walks the earth, and we continue to live as though we were immortal.”

— The Bhagavad Gita
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My goodness, but that was an ordeal!…. I had no idea when I got up what an epic effort I’d be making this morning. I’ll be right back, after I see what sort of damage I’ve done…..

Incalculable, in current market conditions…. which proves, at last, I am certifiable. Nonetheless, it’s done, and I’m still upright, so, we’ll call it a win, thus giving denial of reality one more score…. Until next time….

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

dozer3

Some lessons are more painful than others….

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Ffolkes,
As much as I enjoy these morning interludes with the blogging world, there is still a certain degree of fear that goes along with publishing one’s own writing for others to read. One is, after all, exposing the inner self to the world, which, historically, has a habit of treating inner selves rather shabbily, or even cruelly, especially when they are shown for the first time, and often thereafter. It’s perhaps the biggest risk we take by deciding to share our thoughts with the world at large, a risk that is very real, and anyone with less than military grade armor protecting their ego is in serious jeopardy….

My own fear is no match for my ego, though, never has been, so it’s never been an issue for me…. I couldn’t wait to start blogging, as I’ve had stuff to say about life and society for many years, with no outlet for my outrage, or my angst, or my decidedly odd sense of humor. Once I was retired, and discovered that I had all the time I wanted to write, I jumped in without any discernible hesitation, taking to it like a duck takes to water….. but, happily, without the water all over my butt…..  🙂

Then, of course, Murphy came to live with me, as he found his perfect target in my attempted routines, my attempted regular posts, my attempted sleep, and all the other parts of life that he found he could so easily distort and pervert, such that I never know where the next conundrum will surface. I seem to be a fertile field for his machinations, and ever since, oh, a week or so into this time period, since I began blogging, he has made it his life’s work to find a new way to fuck with me, EVERY SINGLE FUCKING DAY!!! If it weren’t such a pain in the ass, I might feel special (cue Gilda Radner’s Church Lady voice for that last word….).

I didn’t mind so much, until the wearisome events surrounding living in poverty began to mount up into a mass that even my well-buried depression couldn’t keep hidden, and my PTSD became a daily issue, with the advent of unpredictable emotional storms, causing me to burst into tears at the slightest stress, or the thought of any stressful concept…… Concepts of a stressful nature….. yeah….

Such as when I found out yesterday that my older brother has been diagnosed with lymphatic cancer, and has decided not to take the treatments that might extend his life, to save his family from financial ruin…. It’s a decision that isn’t surprising; our father made the same one.

But, the butthead might have informed his brother(s) of it, so he(they) didn’t have to find out when he called to wish a happy birthday….. (Actually, I don’t know if he told my “little” brother…. if he did, and he didn’t call me, either of them, I’m afraid we are going to have to exchange a few words…. They may need to be reminded of who they are dealing with, and the proper protocols needed to keep from getting their sorry asses kicked…. I may be old, and getting feeble, but, I am still their brother, and I can still be dangerous when aroused….)

As you might guess, this little revelation has thrown me for a bit of a loop, and I don’t really even know how I feel, other than tearfully sad, fearfully mad, and a hundred other powerful emotions I can’t even name. So tearful, a break is needed, to get rid of some annoying fluid build-up that is common when I cry….. I’ll be back…. Okay, well, that didn’t work out so well….

I’m going to have to resort to more emergency procedures today, in order to get this Pearl done. I don’t know why, exactly, but it seems important to do so today. So, in sections one and three, where there would normally be a rant or two, I’m going old school, because that’s all I can do for now. I’ll do my best to make them potent pearls, even though they won’t be as floridly original, or as clear, I’m sure. At this point, enough emotion is swirling around inside me that a poem may just break out in section two, but, if not, I’ll find something sufficiently compelling in a more classical selection, if I can hold it together that long…..

I’m going to go for a dive now, and see if I can drown a bit of this sorrow in knowledge…. I have hopes, because aphorisms have always been a source of comfort to me in times of need…. So, I’ll stop torturing y’all now, and get on with it…. Shall we Pearl?….

“When you get older you have to be careful about always saying, “Things  aren’t as good as they used to be.” But it’s hard not to.” — Andy Rooney
(I don’t much like Andy Rooney, but even a blind dog can find a bone some days….)

— Bother! said Pooh, on his deathbed.
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I was a bit nervous as to how this might turn out, given my state of mind, or lack thereof, but, Smart Bee seems to be in a compassionate mood, for a software program, anyway, so maybe it will all be okay….. Here are five pearls, each with their own message for the world to consider….. I particularly like the first one, and the last, and they DO help the pearl make its point…. That point’s a bit subtle, even for me, but, it’s there, if you wish to look for it, and it’s not bad….

“If you have an important point to make, don’t try to be subtle or clever. Use a pile driver. Hit the point once. Then come back and hit it again. Then hit it a third time–a tremendous whack.” — Sir Winston Churchill

“A time to be born; a time to die.” — Ecclesiastes 3:2

“Allow your children to face the consequences of their actions.” — Brown

“If you ever feel like you’re on the verge of a nervous breakdown, just follow these simple rules: First, calm down; second, come over and wash my car; third, shine all my shoes.  There, isn’t that better?” — Deep Thoughts, by Jack Handey

“If possible, try to find a way to come downstairs that doesn’t involve going bump, bump, bump, on the back of your head. -” — Pooh in Winnie the Pooh A.A. Milne, English author (1882-1956)

See? As I’ve been known to say previously, it’s all in the wrist….
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What I said above about Smart Bee’s apparent empathy today seems to be accurate…. When considering poetry to fill this space today, after determining there is no poem of my own ready to come out, it showed me an excerpt from a Yeats poem, which prompted me to go find these two gems, both of which fit my mood today, as well as the apparent theme, obviously chosen by Reality…. Enjoy!…

A Friend’s Illness

SICKNESS brought me this
Thought, in that scale of his:
Why should I be dismayed
Though flame had burned the whole
World, as it were a coal,
Now I have seen it weighed
Against a soul?

William Butler Yeats

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

A Dream Of Death

I DREAMED that one had died in a strange place
Near no accustomed hand,
And they had nailed the boards above her face,
The peasants of that land,
Wondering to lay her in that solitude,
And raised above her mound
A cross they had made out of two bits of wood,
And planted cypress round;
And left her to the indifferent stars above
Until I carved these words:
{She was more beautiful than thy first love,}
{But now lies under boards.}

William Butler Yeats
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Here is a seven star pearl for your perusal, as a finish to today’s effortful outpouring of confusion…. Smart Bee was again very cooperative, giving up this group in less than forty clicks, an astounding rate of success, especially given how it has performed already today. One could get the impression that it was AI software, and was reacting with compassion to my pained mental static….. Lest that be untrue, or, in case it is, I’ll not suggest otherwise…

Meantime, here are seven pearls, that just fall together into an attractive shape, no matter which way you jumble them up…. enjoy! Should it be necessary, there are cleaning solutions and tools in the cabinet by the pantry, including items to clean your clothing, in the event of spills or splashes…. We’re big on safety here, but, Life can be dangerous, especially when dealing with ideas…. unpredictable little buggers…. Why, I’ve seen them jump right out of a frying pan, into a fire…. imagine that!….

“What UNIVERSE is this, please??” — Zippy the Pinhead

“Two wrongs are only the beginning.” — Kohn’s Corollary to Murphy’s Law

“To get really high is to forget yourself.  And to forget yourself is to see everything else.  And to see everything else is to become an understanding molecule in evolution, a conscious tool of the universe.  And I think every human being should be a conscious tool of the universe.  That’s why I think it’s important to get high.  I’m not talking about unconscious or zonked out. I’m talking about being fully conscious.” — Jerry Garcia

One ship drives east and the other drives west
With the selfsame winds that blow.
‘Tis the set of the sails and not the gales
Which tells us the way to go.

— Ella Wheeler Wilcox, Winds of Fate

“The only use of a knowledge of the past is to equip us for the present. The present contains all that there is. It is holy ground; for it is the past, and it is the future.” — Alfred North Whitehead

“Those who will not reason, perish in the act.  Those who will not act, perish for that reason.” — W. H. Auden, _Shorts_

Lastly, a perfect find for today…. The counter-curse to the one I received long ago, when the ancient Chinese gentleman said to me, “May you have an interesting life.”….. Now all I have to do is find a competent, relatively cheap, er, inexpensive necromancer to say it to me….

“May you live in uninteresting times.” — Smart Bee
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I can’t speak to how today’s effort has been for y’all, but, it has helped me a lot, to regain enough composure to get the rest of the way through the day. The process of creating a Pearl has always been therapeutic, (a big part of why I started in the first place….), and today has served to solidify that characteristic for me…. My only remaining hope is that I haven’t bored anyone to their own tears, or offended anyone enough to lose them in the process, but, that’s always a gamble in this universe, so….

In looking back over this, I have to say, it came out pretty well, all things considered…. Now comes the tough part…. Reality awaits me, outside the door, and I can’t ignore its call this time…. Ah well, such is life…. it goes on, with or without our approval or cooperation, so I may as well try to enjoy the ride while it lasts, for, as the Scots say, I’ll be a long time dead….  Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

gigoid

dozer3

These brass monkeys were stolen!….

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Ffolkes,
A shooting star flashed across the night sky, carving its bright path, until fading out near the horizon. Heartened by this hopeful sign, four silent figures moved quietly down the hillside, mere shadows moving through the night. With hours yet to first light, the forest through which they padded slept, unaware of the passage of the silent, nearly invisible group. No night birds sang their warning, only deep silence accompanied the group as they moved between the trees. As they reached the edge of the vast savanna which lay east of the forest, the group split, two finding cover on the ground, and two climbing swiftly up two trees overlooking the path leading back into the forest from the plain. They settled down to wait…..

Hmm… I kind of wonder what they are waiting for, or who they intend to ambush. But my curiosity is not so strong as to get me any further into the story, so we’ll just leave the group there, waiting, and go on to more dignified, if not more lucrative, pastimes…. whatever those may be…..

All things considered, it was a close call, but I’ve made it to the end of the month, alive, and that is definitely worth celebrating, given the effort it took to do so without committing mayhem, or biting someone, hard….. I think I’ll treat myself to breakfast, once I’ve tortured the language enough to put together a Pearl… It may or may not turn out well, only time will tell, and yes I rhymed on purpose…. I can’t help it, I’m a sick man….

Shall we Pearl?…..
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“It’s wisdom to recognize necessity, when all other courses have been weighed, though as folly it may appear to those who cling to false hope.” — Elrond

For those who don’t know, Elrond is the leader of the Elves of Rivendell, friend to Gandalf and hobbits, father of the elven beauty who becomes wife and queen of Aragon, King of Middle Earth. His age is unknown, but he remembers clearly the last time the Evil One, Sauron, made his bid for supremacy, thousands of years ago. How then, even if he is so wise, did he know how to best describe the state of American politics today?….. What he says above is what goes through my mind whenever I consider the possibility of Mitt the Twitt somehow being elected to the Presidency, as I make sure my rifle is clean and loaded, and my preparations complete for the upcoming target practice….

It’s kind of amusing actually. I have this image in my head, of how some true Americans might react if he is actually elected….. For example, when the Chief Justice tells the Twitt to put his hand on the Bible on Inauguration Day, 50 gunshots ring out, as the Marine color guards all open fire on the podium, with the first 50 rounds exploding Mitt’s head…. Then, when the confusion really starts, I’ll provide cover fire so the Marines can take off and get to their hiding spots, picked days before…..

I like either that scenario, or the other one, where, after the Marines put him down, the gathered crowd all surround the Marines, and pat them on the back, telling them , “good job.”  Whereupon the Sergeant in charge of the squad salutes and says, “No problem, ma’am, we are sworn to protect the country from all enemies, foreign or domestic”….. The crown applauds, they break up, and the country gets back to the business of reform…. Hey, we all have our fantasies, yes?….

It is unfortunate that these kinds of fantasies are necessary these days, to keep my blood pressure under control. It tends to spike whenever I think about the disastrous results should the Twitt get into the White House…. Of course, he’d probably live in one of his own houses…. the White House would be a a bit of a come-down for him, rich as he is…. No car elevator, or room for a dancing horse…. I suppose the Conservatory could be converted to a stable, and the rose garden could be taken out and turned into pasture….

You know, of course, how they teach those horses to do that dancing they do, right? They smack the horse on their forelegs to teach them to lift them up, then progress to both legs in sequence, producing the dancing motion…. which is actually a reaction to the pain of having a metal bat strike the shin, causing a short shot of agony…. I might pick my foot up, too, right before I planted it forcefully on the trainer’s nose… Nice folks, these Romneys….

Now, in most election years, I might not worry so much about an idiot in the White House. But, two factors have prompted me to keep plugging away at this subject…. One, Mitt Romney has clearly shown that should he be President, the United States would be in serious trouble. Every one of his stated goals is contrary to what I believe is needed, not just for stability in our country, but contrary to what is needed to keep us in the 21st century. Second, there are more racist, ignorant, frightened people in this country, who have been hoodwinked by this man’s lies and manipulations into giving him their support, and on election day, their votes, than I would have thought possible. Millions of them. It’s hard to swallow, I know, but it is true, nonetheless.

This is all a pretty long winded way to remind y’all to register and vote this November. You can bet that Romney’s supporters will be; they need to be notified, in no uncertain terms, that they are a minority in this country, and the rest of us will not sit by and watch this fool destroy all the progress we’ve made in the last twenty-five years…. Hell, for that matter, the last hundred and fifty years, because if he has his way, we all will be following the rules of his religion, in which the rights of women are completely ignored…. Believe it!
___________________________________

A Bronze Head

HERE at right of the entrance this bronze head,
Human, superhuman, a bird’s round eye,
Everything else withered and mummy-dead.
What great tomb-haunter sweeps the distant sky
(Something may linger there though all else die;)
And finds there nothing to make its terror less
{Hysterica passio} of its own emptiness?

No dark tomb-haunter once; her form all full
As though with magnanimity of light,
Yet a most gentle woman; who can tell
Which of her forms has shown her substance right?
Or maybe substance can be composite,
profound McTaggart thought so, and in a breath
A mouthful held the extreme of life and death.

But even at the starting-post, all sleek and new,
I saw the wildness in her and I thought
A vision of terror that it must live through
Had shattered her soul. Propinquity had brought
Imagination to that pitch where it casts out
All that is not itself: I had grown wild
And wandered murmuring everywhere, ‘My child, my
child! ‘

Or else I thought her supernatural;
As though a sterner eye looked through her eye
On this foul world in its decline and fall;
On gangling stocks grown great, great stocks run dry,
Ancestral pearls all pitched into a sty,
Heroic reverie mocked by clown and knave,
And wondered what was left for massacre to save.

William Butler Yeats

After writing the mini-rant above, I was in need of some poetry to smooth my ruffled feathers. What I got was this, which is not soothing, particularly, but is nonetheless perfectly and surprisingly apt…. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did just now….
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“I consider the foundation of the Constitution as laid on this ground: That “all powers not delegated to the United States, by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States or to the people…”  To take a single step beyond the boundaries thus specially drawn around the powers of Congress is to take possession of a boundless field of power, no longer susceptible of any definition.” — Thomas Jefferson to George Washington, 1791

I had intended to write here a sober, reasoned discussion of the above from my second favorite Founding Father (okay, George Mason is my fave….), but decided first to search a bit more to see if I could find something to accompany this, to lighten it up a bit…. this is what I found…..

“History records no more gallant struggle than that of humanity against the truth.” — Smart Bee

Now, while I might suggest that the word “epic” is more apt, ‘gallant” still gives it an adequate emotional index rating. With either word, it rather goes beyond the statement by T. J., into the deeper issue of basic truth. Personally, I don’t understand the issue that most of humanity seems to have regarding the truth…. I’m not afraid of it, even though it is painful more often than not. Unfortunately, much of the rest of mankind seems to not have that sort of reaction to the pain it often brings, and will go to incredible lengths to avoid having to experience that pain, even if it means putting up with another, lesser pain in the process….

You can see, of course, the immediate similarity between those folks who avoid pain, and those folks who vote conservative, or are supporting the accomplished liar, Mitt the Twitt….. Sometimes, many times, in fact, the stuff that is coming out of the mouths of Romney and his supporters is a dead giveaway, one that shows their stark, malignant fear, fear that is rooted in their racism and bigotry. Their worst nightmare came true in 2008, and a BLACK MAN (gasp!) was elected President….

Without ever considering, or even looking at, his record while in office, these ignorant throwbacks will go to ANY lengths to elect ANYONE else, even if that person is actively trying to harm them, as is the case with Romney…. They don’t care, he’s white, so they’ll be more comfortable with him in office…. or so they think…. Should it happen, it will be a rude awakening when he starts his campaign to get the rest of any money they have left, and cheerfully squashes any hope of a better life that they might have retained…..

In reality, this discussion does relate back to Tom’s statement re: the rights of the people vs. the rights of the government. We, the people, have not tried hard enough to maintain the rights we were given, and those rights continue to be eroded. More and more, government is seizing control of various aspects of our lives that formerly were our own issues to deal with. The rights in the Bill of Rights are now amended, and every amendment is another nail in the coffin of freedom….

So, here is the truth, and painful or not, it would be wise to pay attention…. like Jerry Garcia said, “Choosing between two evils is still choosing evil.”  There are no heroes on the ballot. No matter which party is in office, they will continue their assault on the freedoms that Tom says are ours, not theirs. Go with what your reason tells you to do, and don’t be distracted by the lies. Put aside the fear, and the bigotry, and the cowardice. Only one of the two choices is making any effort toward transparency, and you don’t need me to point out which one. Nor would I be so rude as to suggest which you might choose; I just lay out the truth, and you pick….

The truth is Obama lies at times, for expediency, just like any politician. But, he also is genuinely invested in making reforms that will actually help the middle class, and as far as I can tell, has not overly abused his powers (there are anomalous blips on that radar screen, but another time for that….).

Romney lies all the time; time after time after time, it has been documented that he lies just about every time he opens his mouth in the public arena. In addition, he is unapologetic about the lies, and indifferent to any claims of his doing so; he lies again by denying his lies, even when they are laid out in front of him. He has made it abundantly clear that has no interest in making things better for anyone but his own core group of friends, the rich and powerful who occupy Wall Street offices, seats in Congress, and the religious right. The fact is, he is so out there, his own party is starting to get nervous….

These statements are truth. They can all be proven, if necessary, using documentation that is available to anyone in public archives. What you decide to do with that truth is up to you, as it always is…. What will you do with it?…..
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Hmm…. I guess I had some political angst built up in there, & needed to get it out. “Better out than in”, for sure…. Remember, ffolkes, the above is my stuff, and is not intended to mess with anybody else’s stuff…. Remember also what Albert said….

“I never thought that others would take them so much more seriously than I did.” — Albert Einstein, about his theories

I guess that will serve as an adequate disclaimer….. good enough for government work, anyway…. Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

gigoid

Dozer

Kowabunga!

Omelets don’t enjoy public exposure….

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14

Ffolkes,
For the last 5 weeks or so, I have been unable to overcome the WordPress technical glitches that are plaguing my system. I have to perform a workaround to sign in. If I try to access another WP site while logged in, I either get put into an infinite loop that refuses to even load the page, or I get logged off, and can’t sign back in on the other site, because I’m logged in on mine. Being a geeky sort, I’ve figured out how to keep publishing, using three separate techniques to get around the glitch, whatever it is.

Unfortunately, this glitch also means I have been totally unable to access any of the sites of all the people I follow, other than once or twice. I can get there, but I have to log out, find the site using Google, then sign back in to comment, so it is very time-consuming, making it impractical for me, as I just can’t sit that long. Just writing my own blog I have to take breaks every 10-15 minutes, and trying to follow and read the 100+ blogs I want to read is just too much.
    As a result, the traffic on my site has also gone down, because it is true what they tell you in those blog tutorials; the success of any blog depends on the blogger visiting other sites, and maintaining that community contact. Since I can’t get to other sites, the only folks that I can see that come to my site are the ones who either hit the Like button, or comment (all of which I answer….); of the 150 people who signed up to follow my blog, only about 20-30 of them seem to be regulars, as my Likes and comments are still less than double digits (i.e., less than 10).

Now, this in itself is not troublesome for me, as I don’t write just to gather followers. I write for self-therapy, and to create discussion. If it eventually leads to a lot of readers, that would be great, but it’s not what I’m trying for. I’d rather have a smaller number of regular readers who comment, or at least read what I have to say because they like the content.

But it does bother me that I cannot read the blogs I follow. I follow them because I like what the people there write, or post, or create (some are VERY creative….) and I miss the dialogue I usually have with them, as I am in inveterate commenter when I read a blog. I enjoy it when folks comment, as it shows me that I’ve written something that stimulated someone else’s mind; I comment because what they wrote stimulated mine, and I want them to know it….. but now I can’t, and it’s driving me bat-shit crazy.

I’ve hesitated to contact WP about the glitch, as the last time I tried to get help, it took weeks, and was very frustrating; it actually made my PTSD worse, so I’m a little reluctant to go through that again. But now, I’m going to HAVE to ask for help, because the glitch is either spreading, or morphing, or something; I’ve had to use two workarounds just to sign in today. It’s too much, and I have to do something. The annoyance factor has grown to exceed my reluctance, so I’ll contact them today to see if I can get it fixed…..

To all those ffolkes who stop by every day, THANK YOU…. I’m glad you enjoy the Pearls, and you can be assured they will continue. Thanks also to those who stop in at least weekly  (I know of at least 5 who do so, as they “Like” or comment on four or five every time they come by, catching up, as it were…), or even just occasionally. I do appreciate it. Thanks especially to those who comment regularly, or even sporadically; I love to dialogue. And to all those who just stop in occasionally, thank you for that, and I hope what I write continues to draw you back, even if only occasionally.

To all the folks I follow…. please be patient. I’ll work with WP to get this fixed, and will spend a couple of days catching up to all of them, as best I may. I’m just hoping the effort to identify and fix the glitch doesn’t turn into another soap opera…. time will tell, as always…..

Now that I have thoroughly bored all of you to tears, I think it’s time to Pearl. Shall we?…..
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“A generation which ignores history has no past and no future.” —  Robert Heinlein, The Notebooks of Lazarus Long

This statement, I believe, is one that almost any historian would agree with, as it has been said at different times in different words for as long as humanity has had a history. It is a deduction that has been proven time after time since the beginning of civilization; there is no argument against it that hasn’t been answered, so it is generally held to have the weight of a natural law…. This is a frightening thought when applied in relation to modern America…..

“In our society, the Republicans set out to prove that the Democrats can not be trusted to run the government. And the Democrats set out to prove that the Republicans can not be trusted to run our government. The real problem here is that both the Democrats and the Republicans have come up with something which is absolutely true and perfectly correct. This means that the people get to pull some sort of horrible trick on themselves and live with their choice for four years.” — Smart Bee

I wish this had come with attribution, so I’d know who to congratulate for a very succinct, accurate statement of the current State of the Union. Combining the common sense of this statement with the proven accuracy of the first quote, we arrive at the conclusion that our society has not only ignored the past, but no longer cares at all about the future.

Every four years, the folks who make up the beloved ruling class start spouting off about all the stuff they think the sitting administration has done wrong, sending out endless distractions and lies that are designed to keep the public’s attention off what they are really up to. In doing so, they are not only distracting people away from history, but teaching them to ignore it.

“And it shall come to pass that idiots shall roam the earth, and morons shall rule the masses.” — Smart Bee

In this current fiasco leading up to November’s election of a new POTUS, or re-election of the old, the level of distraction and outright lying has reached new heights. The GOP, in its efforts to stop the reforms being instituted by the sitting POTUS, have been gathering money at unprecedented rates, all to finance the political ads that will determine the tenor of the campaign.

The Political Action Groups that support the GOP platform, which were formed to get around the campaign contribution reforms, have generated literally hundreds of millions of dollars to pay for advertisements for Mitt the Twitt (designed to convince the public that he actually does give a shit about the common man) and against Barack Obama (designed to picture him as the spawn of Satan).

SATAN, n.  One of the Creator’s lamentable mistakes, repented in sackcloth and axes.  Being instated as an archangel, Satan made himself multifariously objectionable and was finally expelled from Heaven.  Halfway in his descent he paused, bent his head in thought a moment and at last went back.  “There is one favor that I should like to ask,” said he.   “Name it.”   “Man, I understand, is about to be created.  He will need laws.”  “What, wretch! you his appointed adversary, charged from the dawn of eternity with hatred of his soul — you ask for the right to make his laws?”   “Pardon; what I have to ask is that he be permitted to make them himself.” It was so ordered. — Ambrose Bierce, “The Devil’s Dictionary”

It is a constant amazement to me how people, whom I normally consider to be well-grounded, can fall for the nonsense these political hacks are putting out. Especially those who are supporting the Twitt; it is absolutely astounding to me that ANYONE would believe anything that comes out of his mouth, as he flips from one concept to another, claiming to support, or oppose those concepts according to what he believes the crowd wants to hear. There are too many documented instances of this for them to deny it, so they don’t. They just ignore it, and THE MEDIA LETS THEM DO IT!

I’m really sick of it all; it is distasteful to my persona to hear this much lying, and not have it condemned. Mitt lies, Barack lies, Congress lies, and the rest of their compatriots are all lying as well. And the voting public, who ignores history, goes out and votes, not knowing, or seemingly caring, that there are NO candidates who are not lying.  I am a member of that number, though I do know I’m being lied to. But, if I don’t vote, then I’m throwing in the towel without even throwing a punch, and have no right to complain. I may have to choose between the lesser of two evils, but at least I have a choice.

“Constantly choosing the lesser of two evils is still choosing evil.” — Jerry Garcia (1942-1995), Musician, the Grateful Dead

The whole election scenario is pretty discouraging, for anyone with a modicum of common sense. It’s hard to watch society shoot itself in the foot every four years, and harder still to live with the lack of viable choices. Especially when I know that natural law, i.e., Mother Nature, will eventually assert itself, and our species will join the dodo and the T-Rex on the list of species that just didn’t have what it takes to make it in this universe. SIGH….. it’s too bad. Our species shows such promise, but then turns around and nullifies any progress with paroxysms of mass stupidity…. and then pats itself on the back for good measure.

We’re all idiots……

“Lord, grant me the serenity to accept the things that I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to hide the bodies of those people I had to kill because they pissed me off.” — Smart Bee
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“Some say that my teaching is nonsense. Others call it lofty but impractical. But to those who have looked inside themselves, this nonsense makes perfect sense. And to those who put it into practice, this loftiness has roots that go deep. I have just three things to teach: simplicity, patience, compassion. These three are your greatest treasures. Simple in actions and in thoughts, you return to the source of being. Patient with both friends and enemies, you accord with the way things are. Compassionate toward yourself, you reconcile all beings in the world.” — Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching

My morning rant above got a bit out of hand, and I had a hard time keeping it as short as it is. So, in order to provide some contrast, I will not say much here. This doesn’t need much help anyway; it’s about as clear as it can be. Sure, I could expand on it, give examples, provide an allegorical tale or two, but it wouldn’t improve it. So, I’ll leave it be, and just ask you to roll it around in your head for a while. It will give you all there is to give…. which is more than is apparent, as with any deep truth….. If you wish, you can just tell yourself I’m being compassionate, by not exposing you to further railings from this quarter….
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All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace

I like to think (and
the sooner the better!)
of a cybernetic meadow
where mammals and computers
live together in mutually
programming harmony
like pure water
touching clear sky.

I like to think
(right now please!)
of a cybernetic forest
filled with pines and electronics
where deer stroll peacefully
past computers
as if they were flowers
with spinning blossoms.

I like to think
(it has to be!)
of a cybernetic ecology
where we are free of our labors
and joined back to nature,
returned to our mammal
brothers and sisters,
and all watched over
by machines of loving grace.

Richard Brautigan, 1967

I may have used this a couple months ago, but it is possibly my favorite poem of all time, period, so I’m putting it in again…. I think you can handle it….. It’s one of my personal images of Heaven, or as we agnostics are fond of calling it, Utopia…. Or, as Oscar said….

“A map of the world that has no Utopia is not worth considering.” — Oscar Wilde
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Okay…. I feel pretty lucky. Not yet 0800, and I’ve got this whipped. It’s a bit windy, but it flies. Or it will, as soon as I get it sent out…. Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you….

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

gigoid

Dozer

Kowabunga!