Ffolkes,
~~ Plato (427-347 B.C.) ~~
No computer today….
Hajime…. As you see from the picture, I was not allowed to compute yesterday. I managed to do a small bit of surfing, during one of her naps, as indicated by the re-blog I posted yesterday afternoon, but, that was about all I got in. So be it. Since I’m still in somewhat of a mood, we’ll forgo a lengthy intro, in favor of getting right into the mess for today. Given the status of my muse, and our rather touchy relations just now, that’s likely the most productive scenario I can put together, anyway. It’s not the best Pearl ever, but, for what it is, it ain’t bad…. Moreover, I’m going to trust the process implicitly, and just get on with it. Watch this….
Shall we Pearl?….
if I don’t I only roll with the flow of the lie
and make it stronger.”
~~ Sovereign ~~
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Image is a screen shot from You Tube via Google Images
Today’s musical selection is from a group of progressive bluegrass musicians from Ohio. I found their covers of some Grateful Dead tunes in the 2014 Dead Covers Project, and was totally amazed at the music they make together. Guitar, mandolin, bass, violin, all played with superb talent, and voices that blend in excellent harmony. They have fun when they play, and you will, too, when you listen, and watch. Enjoy, ffolkes; follow the link to You Tube, and you’ll find more of their work, well worth hearing….
Blue Moon Soup
Mississippi Half Step
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I’d hoped to have a fresh rant done, but, it’s stalled. Here, to sublimate the urge to vent against the machine, is a pearl from early 2013, speaking of our old friends (not), the Asininnies….
From 3/28/2013:
“In order to become the master, the politician poses as the servant.” — Charles de Gaulle
Charles de Gaulle was a very interesting man, as this aphorism makes clear. It’s not your typical statement from someone so deeply involved in politics as to have been the Dictator/President of France, as he was for so long, but, the quote IS/WAS typical of him, or, at least, of the image he projected, as a maverick in the political world, both inside and outside of France. If I recall my history correctly, (he was alive for much of the first half of my life….), other world leaders didn’t trust him much, which tends to give him more cachet, in my mind…. If the normal run of politico mistrusted him, he’s obviously my kind of guy, as that kind of reaction from a politician generally implies the target subject is an honest man….
With this statement, he pulls the covers of the greater percentage of those in public office. Those eminent officials are constantly spouting off about how they are “public servants” and how their salaries are paid by the taxpayers…. All the while, they are shoveling money from the public treasury into their pockets just as fast as their little hands can move. They make the same noises when they are up for re-election, to further solidify the image they wish to project, as concerned citizens just following their hearts to help the people, when in fact, they are merely petty thieves, with slick tongues and a smooth patter…. no more honest than a street grifter, and no more likely to give a shit about anyone else….
I’m not going to make this a long rant today; this is one subject that is so obvious (to me) that I hesitate to even write about it, as it would be insulting my readers to assume they weren’t aware of this truism. But, I did want to remind y’all that, no matter how honest and sincere a politician may seem, no matter how often they tell you they are just your servant, they are lying, bare-faced and deliberately. This applies to ALL of them, from the top to the bottom of our federal, state, and local governments; the corruption is inherent in the structure of the system, which encourages behaviors that are self-serving, and rewards theft with more access to more money…..
“Conservatives are not necessarily stupid, but most stupid people are conservatives.” — John Stewart Mill (1806-1873)
I don’t think I need to even show any evidence here, as it ample proof of the chicanery prevalent in society is all over the news every day, if one knows where to look, and how to read between the lies….. (not a typo…) The recent events surrounding the budget mess, have reached a stage where it is apparent, even to the citizens who blindly support anything the politicos say, that there is something wrong with this picture, and serve as a perfect example of what I am implying, nay, accusing them of here. The bickering and obstructionism reached levels that showed exactly how little the people mattered, in relation to the money, and who would have the control of it….. It’s a huge mess, and nobody has any acceptable solutions (so they say….)…
So, what do they do?…. Things get stalled long enough for the Supreme Court to take up the constitutionality of the concept of Gay Marriage, a decision that will have a long-term effect on how our country operates on some levels, and certainly engages the emotions of every citizen with any concern over the issue… Quite distracting, in fact, and to me, a bit suspicious in timing, as it takes the public awareness away from what Congress, and the White House, are up to, which, I assure you, is no good…. at least, not for us, or for the people at large….
SIGH… My outrage at the system is so large it keeps me awake at nights, sometimes…. but, it is so large because the system is, in nature, completely amorphous, with no obvious pieces that can be attacked and destroyed…. Add to that the fact that too few people alive are even aware of the need to do so, and it leaves me with little choice but to rant…. So, life goes on without any real changes, and the rich keep getting richer, while the poor keep on keepin’ on, best they can…. Me, I’m gonna go take a nap…..
“The trouble with Congress is every time they make a law, it’s a joke, and every time they make a joke, it’s a law!” — Will Rogers
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A couple weeks ago, a friend sent me a poem, which I included in this section, by a new young poet she found. She searched out a site where he is posting his work, and found another poem to send. It’s good, as is the young poet, who will, I predict, make a mark in the world of literature. I hope you enjoy it, and, use the link to visit his blog site…. Enjoy, ffolkes….
I slept last night
In a cave of shadows and howls
a bear skinned itself
With his razor claws
To reveal a wolf
Eating its pups,
And their eyes burst
Under jaws,
Wet and blind
Red splashed furred skins
Dragged across the damp stone
Followed me like friends
Kept talking to me
I slept last night
the dark man from the cornered place
held a gun against my neck
And shot me down
Emptied my flesh
Felt the drift-away come up on me
Like a song as they played the pipes
Slowly
Drifted into realms
Haemorraging
In the hard dark cave
Where shadows shriek
I wake again
rise in slow
Shunting movements
vertebrae slipping
Tightly into place
Bending me skyward
Tonight I watched dublin
Snuffed out under a heavy haze
Her lights jaded
Night is here again
Goya’s demons gather
reason crumbles
castles of sand
meeting the tide
some wind blows me
some tumbling entity
some words drop out of me
Unbidden and unmade
build a flesh and soul
with pick and spade
And house me again
In this poetry.
~~ Brendan McCormack ~~
http://boneorchardpoetry.blogspot.com/2013/02/brendan-mccormack.html
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Today’s final old-school pearl is rather special, in its own little way. It’s nine stars, each gem lustrous, all apparently unrelated, until, at one point, one realizes they are all, in at least one way, saying much the same thing. You can decide for yourselves just what that may be. It doesn’t matter at all what your conclusion may be; it will be the right one….
“Philosophy, means, first, doubt; and afterwards the consciousness of what knowledge means, the consciousness of uncertainty and of ignorance, the consciousness of limit, shade, degree, possibility. The ordinary man doubts nothing and suspects nothing.” — Henri Frederick Amiel
“It is the quality rather than the quantity that matters.” — Lucius Annaeus Seneca
“In those whom I like, I can find no common denominator; in those whom I love I can: they all make me laugh.” — W. H. Auden
“42. Remember that the best relationship is one where your love for each other is greater than your need for each other.” — Instructions for life
“He who fights with monsters might take care, lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you.” — Friedrich Nietzsche, “Beyond Good and Evil” IV, 146
“The only way to compel men to speak good of us is to do it.” — Voltaire
“The “beast” is a myth we have created, a scapegoat, upon which we project the image of ourselves we are unwilling to acknowledge. When anyone behaves in a peculiarly unpleasant manner we tend to answer that he behaved “like a beast,” when the fact is, of course, that no beast every behaves so iniquitously as men frequently does… The myth of the beast is perpetuated from generation to generation. The result is a perversely distorted view of the nature of other animals, and a profoundly impoverishing failure to understand our true kinship with the rest of animated nature. So-called primitive peoples have never lost this kinship with other animals… Without the benefit of a Darwinian theory of evolution our technologically less advanced peoples in their creation myths and in their conduct toward the animal world exhibit a far deeper understanding of the interrelatedness of all living things than does so-called civilized man.” — Ashley Montagu,_The Humanization of Man_, 1962
“When nothing is sure, everything is possible.” — Margaret Drabble
“A human being is a part of the whole, called by us Universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest–a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole nature in its beauty.” — Albert Einstein
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Well, there you have it, such as it is. To keep faith with the tenor of today’s post, as set in the intro, I’ll forgo any lengthy farewells, in favor of a bit of brevity here at the end of all pearls, for the day, at least. I will, however, make a strong effort to return tomorrow, with a fresh rant, and, who knows, maybe a new poem. In any case, I’ll be back, to quote a very bad actor turned very bad politician. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes; that’s a good bet….
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
The *only* duly authorized Computer Curmudgeon.
PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.
“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch
À bientôt, mon cherí….
gigoid 