Today will be an interesting Pearl, and writing that phrase proves it to me…. The cat, bless her black little heart, decided that both of us needed to be up this morning, so Pat is up, and the process of creating this Pearl has exited the Zone of Silence…. As I wrote the first few words, above, Pat was speaking to me, and I had just decided to start writing, so, I tried to multi-task it…. No dice…. Got typos on the screen, forming a funny, if meaningless set of non-words, and gibberish in my ear, since half the words she said were now on the screen…. The concept of mixing typing, and listening, therefore, may be entered on the list of things NOT to bother with trying to multi-task….

Since my usual routine is smashed into tiny pieces, I’ll just sweep them aside, and get on with the business for which we have gathered here today…. Hmm… that makes it sound like a funeral, doesn’t it? I don’t think I’m quite ready to partake in any first-hand experiences with  funerals, not for a few years, anyway…. I suspect it’s NOT the kind of thing one needs to rehearse, though one would like to think that it would come off gracefully. But, our own performance at such events isn’t required to be anything more than passive participation, so, it’s probably a moot point, and once again, a futile speculation….

We seem to come across those rather frequently around here…. futile speculations, that is…. I suppose they’re a side effect of trying to understand or explain human nature, as we do around here quite often; there WILL tend to be times when it all becomes too personal, or too accurate for comfort, whereupon your’s truly tends to retreat into piffle, or extreme nonsense…. Or, pretended confusion is always a good one, especially now that I can plead soft-headedness due to my age…. “I’m tired, and weak, and old…. won’t you think for me?”….. It would be easy to hide behind that mask, but, fortunately for all of us, my pride and dignity preclude any such dishonorable, manipulative behaviors…. At least, I feel one should not resort to such sleaze without some kind of provocation….

It’s too bad, really, that society continuously provides such provocation, mostly in the form of public acts of egregious ethical status by the BRC, the Priestly Hierarchies, or any of the other various sub-humans who comprise my new favorite group of targets for vituperation, the Asininnies…. One need only open up a newspaper, or read online, to find another reason to take shots at those assholes in power suits… Every day, they provide such a constant parade of ill-considered, downright stupid actions for the papers to report, one can hardly AVOID finding out their latest shenanigans….. Ah well, at least this tendency on their part makes it easy for us alternative writers to find the material we need to make ourselves heard…. they practically dump it in our lap…..

I suppose I’ve meandered around, avoiding any contact with Reality long enough to call this legal; there do seem to be the minimum required number of paragraphs, and there aren’t any new bodies to step around, so, we should be good to go, at least from the standpoint of possible litigation. I’m not sure how the ethical/moral/relevance view will turn out, but, that’s the responsibility of another department, so, I’ll let them do their work, and they can let me do mine, whatever that may be…..

Shall we Pearl?…..

“I do visit reality…  although it’s on a tourist visa.” — Smart Bee
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Apparently, I spent a lot of time the first few days of last year, making sure the Pearls had some good material in them…. Below you’ll find yet another short rant from that period, one I found yesterday, and decided to re-post, just because I don’t believe I could write anything better right now, off the top of my head…. So, in the spirit of giving only the best stuff to my readers, here is another blast from the past…..

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From 1/1/13:

“If the obstacles of bigotry and priestcraft can be surmounted, we may hope that common sense will suffice to do everything else.” — Thomas Jefferson

Oh well, so much for THAT hope! From all I can see in today’s society, what Tommy was afraid of has come to pass. If one takes almost any of the articles in the news that talk about the activities of government, religion, or society at large, it is obvious that bigotry and priestcraft have corrupted every level of those entities, and influence just about every human interaction that we see. Common sense is nowhere present, in any of those same activities under discussion. Of course, he forgot, in this instance, to include the bankers, but perhaps that is where a portion of the bigotry comes in…..

By its precise meaning, bigotry doesn’t include the idea of cheating, lying, and stealing from whomever one encounters; those activities, for a bigot, are only appropriate when done to those outside the personal group, to “foreigners, niggers, and chinks,” or some likely other group they’ve chosen to bless with their ignorant regard…… But, in a sense, bankers can be said to be universally bigoted, for they have no qualms about lying, cheating, or stealing from anyone, in any group, even their own. I guess that would qualify them as Ultimate Bigots…..

“As an ox goeth to the slaughter.” — Old Testament — Proverbs vii, 22; Jeremiah xi, 19

I would imagine this is how the bankers and preachers (either of which is capable of turning into a politician, at the drop of a hint….) view the masses of humanity who do not subscribe to their venality. In this view, they may be at least partially justified, by the apparent willingness of those masses to submit to whatever is done to them. Why should the politicians stop lying, when their lies secure for them the keys to the treasury? Why should the preachers not spread their delusions, when the masses are so willing to accept them, because it saves them the effort of either thinking about morality, or even better, saving them from having to BE moral?….. The bankers, of course, need no excuses to carry on their despicable acts of calumny upon the remainder of society; their sole motivation is based on profit for them, and nothing else concerns them at all…

“I have sworn upon the altar of God, eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man.” — Thomas Jefferson

Back to Tom…. He was a bit over the top sometimes, in the force of his expression, but never, to my mind, in his sincere commitment to Truth, and his sincere love for Mankind. I would like to think I join him in this sentiment, especially today, when we are so besieged  by attempts to tyrannize our minds by our own beloved ruling classes. The war against immorality continues unabated, and too many folks in the world have withdrawn from the battle, accepting the lies and delusions that are foisted upon them.

It is important, in my opinion, that the rest of us, who can see the depredations assaulting the common man every day, keep on shouting from the rooftops to the rest of our compatriots, if only to save our own sanity….. and, before the strain of the conflict brings us to our knees, and we enter Zippy’s domain, doomed to extinction…..

“I just forgot my whole philosophy of life!!!” — Zippy the Pinhead
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After finishing a pearl with quotes from Zippy, I find it a good idea to return balance to the Force….  Nothing works better for that than a bit of Emily…..

“It is not the function of our Government to keep the citizen from falling into error; it is the function of the citizen to keep the Government from falling into error.” — Robert H. Jackson (1892-1954), U.S. Judge

It took long enough, but, what I have been expecting to happen has actually come true…. The media, deeply in debt to Eric Snowden for the new life he breathed into their existence, has finally stepped forward to exert itself on his behalf…. The two major papers, The New York Times, and the Guardian, in the UK, who originally printed his revelations, are finally coming out publicly with editorials, strongly calling for clemency for him…. Here are two of the reports, one from Yahoo, one from SFGATE, the Chronicle news outlet online…. Together, the two articles give a good picture of the history, and the current state of the situation with Mr. Snowden, currently living in exile in the USSR….

http://news.yahoo.com/new-york-times–guardian–urge-clemency-for-snowden-153422938.html

http://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/2-newspapers-call-for-clemency-for-Edward-Snowden-5108503.php

What does one say about this? What is appropriate? What is important? Well, to be honest, ALL of it is pretty important, but not for the reasons most would believe, or, for that matter, understand…. That’s not being condescending, (well, maybe a little…),  but, the majority of people who read about all of these issues regarding the spying are only capable of comprehending what they read at a fourth-grade level…. This is a commonly known fact, and is the reason newspapers, magazines, and the internet outlets that disseminate information do so at varying levels of complexity…. Most newspapers are written to a fourth grade level, and magazines usually write to the level of their targeted audiences….

My point here is, these are complex issues, and there are a LOT of lies being bandied about, mostly by one side, but, not necessarily ONLY by them. The ability to comprehend the cloud of information that is spewed out by a lot of readers is NOT up to the task, so, they end up picking out the easiest opinion for them to understand, and going with that, no matter what it might say…. This is how the BRC, the PH, and the SCMs keep control of the masses…. They pitch their story to the level of the people they address, and make it appeal to their most basic desires, (which process chiefly involves saying things that will reduce the level of diffuse anxiety, and the fears about the future that the masses feel…. those being the unrealistic, imaginary fears created by the ruling classes to begin with…..), thus establishing trust and belief on the part of the masses, making them willing to believe any further misinformation that is relayed….

“A man who carrys a cat by the tail is getting experience that will always be helpful.  He isn’t likely to grow dim or doubtful.  Chances are, he isn’t likely to carry the cat that way again, either.  But if he wants to, I say let him!” — Mark Twain

So, anyway, it’s good to see the usual carriers of the administration’s manipulative lying doing a bit of their own fighting back, against the tide of über-control sought by the BRC, et al. As the largest information gathering and reporting companies in their respective countries, these two news outlets have the influence, both in the government, and with the public, to make a significant difference in any issue, and having them publicly come out with this particular expression of interest is not only unprecedented, (to my knowledge…), but extremely welcome….. It’s hard having most of the control over what gets into the media reports under the control of those who are in control of the government and banks; we, the public, NEED the media to work on our side, at least part of the time, or, there is no hope at all of ever making any changes, and, our doom would be sealed ever more tightly…..

“If people were required to know the law rather than to obey it, the government would be overthrown the next day.” — Smart Bee

There, how’s that for a fresh rant? Boot the assholes out, or make them straighten up and fly right, that’s what I say; I don’t much care which, but one of those two things are going to have to happen, if we are to have any chance at all to survive the upcoming events so graciously created for us by those same assholes. If we don’t get them, and their self-serving, selfish, ignorant, EVIL natures, out of their positions of control over the rest of us, they’re going to end up killing us all, and I am not being dramatic…. The evidence is all right out there to be seen, if one isn’t afraid to put the pieces together to form the picture….

It’s an ugly picture, ffolkes, and not much of a future to put our faith in…. Guess what, though? Like it or not, it’s the only future we have, if we don’t change…. and it’s just that simple…..

Folly, thou conquerest, and I must yield!
Against stupidity the very gods
Themselves contend in vain. Exalted reason,
Resplendent daughter of the head divine,
Wise foundress of the system of the world,
Guide of the stars, who are thou then, if thou,
Bound to the tail of folly’s uncurb’d steed,
Must, vainly shrieking, with the drunken crowd,
Eyes open, plunge down headlong in the abyss.

— Johann Christian Friedrich von Schiller, The Maid of Orleans
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Hmm…. As it turns out, it’s practically one long rant, with a bit of ironic humor thrown in (hopefully…. re: the humor part…. I try….)…. Any who, it’s done, it’s not bad, and it’s going to go out just the way it is, because, hey, it is what it is, and that’s all what it is…. 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.