Tag Archives: Mitt Romney

Even tax codes are tasty with hollandaise….

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Ffolkes,
“With chattering teeth, wheeling eyes, and muscles tensed, as if in anticipation of a blow, he sits before the object of his reasoned fear, aghast at the level to which feverish apprehension rises uncontrollably. Sheer unbridled terror rules over all courage, bringing the morbid, deathly paralysis that comes to all in such straits. Yet, we see his face harden, and fill with purpose; he reaches up to the table, sets his hands upon the magical keys, and begins, despite, or even because, of his fear…..”

And so begins another day here at ECR, where even the panic inspired by the vision of a blank white screen cannot overcome my unyielding dedication, my purposeful, yet idiotic need to blather out all that is in my head each day. No matter how much sleep it costs me, no matter how little money I make from it, and no matter what anyone says, I will have my way, and will have my say…. If nothing else, it is important, to me, to keep my string unbroken, if a bit frayed. Goodness knows why, but, asking the universe to answer any ‘why’ questions is futile, so we shan’t bother with it…

Not everything in this universe needs an explanation, which I find to be a soothing thought, all in all. It certainly helps me out quite often, as I tend to not worry about the stuff I can’t change, and finding explanations for everything I do gets tiresome very quickly….. It is only other people who wish for us to be up front about motivation, and I’m happy to say, I don’t live by their expectations or desires. That may sound a bit callous, but, in fact, it is not, as I certainly afford them the same courtesy as I demand…. Thus, in my view, and in that respect, the scale is balanced.

I find myself wandering a bit far afield this morning, delving into such a rather abstruse and delicate trend of thought, and I’m wondering if I am quite up to handling it with the required alacrity. My savoir faire, as it were, is not always at its strongest in the mornings, and I’m fairly certain that, if I continue in this vein, I’ll hurt myself…. Since I have no intention of taking any chances of missing my embarkation on Saturday next, (and certainly not because of a failure of savoir faire….), we’ll go on to something a bit less dangerous, from a literary, or even physical, standpoint…. Of course, given the material that usually ends up being presented here, even that may be asking a bit much…..

Oh, well, hell…. Shall we Pearl?…..
_____________________________

“Thoughtcrime was not a thing that could be concealed forever. You might dodge successfully for a while, even for years, but sooner or later they were bound to get you.” — George Orwell, 1984

As the story about E. Snowden, the NSA whistleblower, unfolds in the news, I am struck by how the US government is reacting in such a way as to PROVE the accusations that were made, of not merely spying and illegal mining of data from its own citizenry, but of doing so without any oversight, or any legal recourse for its victims.  Even Saint Barack has shed the hooded mantle of secrecy, and is not only admitting that the spying is going on, but is trying to legitimize it in the eyes of the public. At the same time, the legal arm of the government is preparing to bury this young man with a conscience, for blowing the whistle on how far the powers that be have gone, in their quest for absolute control over society.

In the book from which the above was excerpted, 1984, George Orwell painted a vision for us of how things might be, if ever the general public gave up all power to the government…. At the time of its publication, almost all of the things in the book that showed how that worked were not present in real life, except in secret…. However, if one looks at the book now, just about every technological technique used to monitor the populace of the world, is now in play in our world…. Big Brother is now watching us, and if he doesn’t like what we are doing, well, that’s OUR problem, and they will make sure that we are aware of that….

I really want to rant about this today, but, for some reason, my mind is refusing to cooperate… It might have something to do with the fact that this whole scenario makes me almost incoherent with anger…. Anger directed at the government, and at all the lying politicians, and cowardly judges, and  and all of the other assbites who support them, such as the police, the churches, and, sadly, the ignorant and afraid among the citizenry…. I would like to take them all and just shake some sense into them, but, I happen to know they are immune to such treatment, their minds having been indoctrinated into blind obedience before they reached the age of reason…..

“A doctrine insulates the devout not only against the realities around them but also against their own selves. The fanatical believer is not conscious of his envy, malice, pettiness and dishonesty. There is a wall of words between his consciousness and his real self.” — Eric Hoffer

What is most infuriating to me is that the people ALLOW this all to take place…. The politicos put out all their lies and illusions, and the people buy into them, without ever examining any of it for truth, or even relevance…. In the last presidential election, over 48 million people, who otherwise might be considered relatively sane, went out and voted for a man who lied to them consistently for six months.  48 fucking million! That is an incredibly large load of stupid, ffolkes, and makes me afraid all over again….

Fortunately, there were enough other ffolkes who didn’t fall for Mitt the Twitt’s line….  They did, however, fall for the line of a man who is, perhaps, even more dangerous, for he is adept at diverting attention away from what he does in secret, by performing public acts that seem to prove he is aboveboard…. which he is not…. I was, at first, encouraged by the election of a black man as president, hoping it signaled a weather-change in society, but, there doesn’t seem to be much difference, ultimately, in what he has done, as opposed to any other president….

If he was at all different, we would not have had the NDAA signed while the nation’s attention was diverted by a holiday; that happened right after he won the second election in 2012.  If he actually intended to fulfill any of the campaign promises he made, he would have done so by now, but, Guantanamo is still open, people are still being detained and questioned in prison camps overseas, where we cannot observe them, and drones ARE being utilized inside American air space, to spy on our own citizens…. Don’t even bother to try to deny any of that, because the proof is all over the news and the internet…. Moreover, he isn’t denying any of it, as he now knows he cannot be stopped, having fooled everyone into compliance, and secured his position until 2016….

I guess I did end up ranting… anger will do that…. I HATE being lied to, by anyone, but, I hate it the most when I am lied to by elected officials. I don’t know why I hate it so much, except that it has been going on for my entire life, and it is a direct contradiction to the way it is supposed to be. We are, theoretically, supposed to elect the candidates who demonstrate the most honesty and integrity, but, due to the extreme gullibility of the public, we always end up with the candidate who is the most convincing liar, instead…. It drives me crazy, for sure, but, some might say that is a short drive…. I don’t care, I’m too pissed off to worry about it….

“The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning  ourself.” — Friedrich Nietzsche

“I love my country too much to be a nationalist.” — Albert Camus
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I’ve left the selection of today’s poem for last, though I found the little excerpt by Cowper earlier, and included it for its relevant beauty…. What I found can only be described as appropriate…. it is strange, disturbing, and esoteric by intent, thus making it the perfect counterpoint to what comprises the rest of today’s effort…. Not that what I’ve created isn’t strange or disturbing; I suppose it is more of a type of trim, than a counterpoint… Whatever it is, I hope you enjoy it, if only for its oddity….

There is a pleasure in poetic pains
Which only poets know.

— William Cowper (1731-1800) — The Task, Book ii, The Timepiece, Line 285

Father Death Blues

Hey Father Death, I’m flying home
Hey poor man, you’re all alone
Hey old daddy, I know where I’m going

Father Death, Don’t cry any more
Mama’s there, underneath the floor
Brother Death, please mind the store

Old Aunty Death Don’t hide your bones
Old Uncle Death I hear your groans
O Sister Death how sweet your moans

O Children Deaths go breathe your breaths
Sobbing breasts’ll ease your Deaths
Pain is gone, tears take the rest

Genius Death your art is done
Lover Death your body’s gone
Father Death I’m coming home

Guru Death your words are true
Teacher Death I do thank you
For inspiring me to sing this Blues

Buddha Death, I wake with you
Dharma Death, your mind is new
Sangha Death, we’ll work it through

Suffering is what was born
Ignorance made me forlorn
Tearful truths I cannot scorn

Father Breath once more farewell
Birth you gave was no thing ill
My heart is still, as time will tell.

~~ Allen Ginsberg ~~

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All things considered, it’s been a good morning…. This isn’t to say it hasn’t been without its difficulties, but, I’m trying really hard not to be a whiner, so we’ll pass over all that, and get on with it…. Here is a seven-star pearl for your delectation, lovingly selected over the last hour from Smart Bee, who has been a bit off, but, came through in the end. The point of this pearl is related to the above rant, but, not so’s you could tell at first glance…. Don’t sweat it, it’s all good stuff, even without the point, and who wants a point that’s all belabored, anyway, right?…. So, make sure you have your chopsticks, the protective bib provided for your convenience is in place, and you should be able to get through it without any new laundry bills…..

“You can best serve civilization by being against what usually passes for it.” — Wendell Berry

“All things come round to him who will but wait.” — Henry W. Longfellow (1807-1882) — Tales of a Wayside Inn, The Student’s Tale

“Against those skilled in the attack, the enemy does not know where to defend.  Against the experts in defence, the enemy does not know where to attack.” — Sun Tzu

“What matters today is not the difference between those who believe and those who do not believe, but the difference between those who care and those who don’t.” — Abbe’ Pierre

“If you make people think they’re thinking, they’ll love you; but if you really make them think, they’ll hate you.” — Don Marquis

“I don’t necessarily agree with everything I say.” — Marshall McLuhan

“The universe is full of magical things, patiently waiting for our wits to grow sharper.” — Eden Phillpotts
_____________________________

Having thus sharpened my wits as far as possible on the whetstone of virtual wisdom, and, convinced I can do no more damage, I will take my leave, once I’ve checked this over for typos, etc., a statement of intent which you are, no doubt, grateful to hear….. Okay, well, that took a while, but, we’re all good to go now…. Having once more defeated the forces of Murphy, if only for a time, I bid thee a fond adieu… Oh, yeah, only five days to go, four, if one looks at it right, and y’all won’t have me to kick around any more…. Just kidding…. Nixon pops up at the weirdest times; I just meant we’ll be off to Alaska on Saturday, come Hell or High Water…. Any who….  Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

Priceless moments of shared arrogance…..

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Ffolkes,
That was close…. I almost began today’s missive with a song…. Not just any song, mind you, but a particularly bright, bouncy, tuneful one from a particularly perky musical that shall remain nameless, lest I get sued for intellectual theft, or chastised by my readers for excessive tackiness, either of which is unacceptable to me, especially before I’ve finished my first cuppa….. It also saves you from having to go wash out your ears so early in the day…..

Since my morning routine has returned to some semblance of its former normalcy, or mendacity, depending on your relative point of observation, it seems my initial comments are turning on me as well. Not sure what to think about that, or what I should do, if anything….. It’s not as if what I do here in the intro section is written in stone; in fact, nothing like consistency has ever come into the equation at all. It has been both a stimulant, to be more creative, and a hassle, because I’m not always in a creative frame of mind first thing in the morning. I do prefer to write then, as I seem to have more energy than later in the day, but that preference isn’t based on how creative I can be, just how awake I am, and how long I can sit.

None of this is getting me any closer to an introductory section that will do what I wish it to do, which is pull the reader into what is written, like the siren call of the muses…. Oh, well, it’s probably a good thing I can’t seem to find a template for this; if I did the same thing every day, I’d go stark, raving sane, and lose all my sense of humor, most likely, turning this into merely another mass of poorly written garbage, in spite of how pompous and extensive my vocabulary gets, or how accurate my observations…. A conundrum is what it is, and I don’t like it….

Sadly, or fortunately, depending on your viewpoint, my likes and dislikes have absolutely no effect whatsoever on reality, so I’m going to have to just suck it up, and get on with the business of the day, just as if I knew what I was doing, or where I was going. I suppose that could be seen as another metaphor for life in general, but, I’m not in the mood right now for logical, or practical, metaphors, no matter how close to the truth they may be. I’m currently busy feeling curmudgeonly, grumpy because I can’t have my own way, and things aren’t being amenable to my manipulation today, especially my own attitude…. I can see I need to adjust it, so, pardon me if I spilled any of it on you….

I’m going to bring this section to a rapid close now, before I get into anything that could be construed as illegal, or even immoral, which is more of how I judge things in my life…. Not that I’m such that I could be held up as an example of anything other than how to grow old gracelessly, but, I do try to make my decisions based on morals, and/or ethics, rather than laws…. Always have, always will…. Regardless, I have to go now, or “bad things” could happen….. Shall we Pearl?…..
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Oooh! Did you see that? Oh, no, I guess not, since you’re not here in the room with me…. I just created a new pearl format, completely by accident, courtesy of Smart Bee, and the principle of serendipity….. The following pearl, composed of four parts poetry and three parts prose, is just about as perfect as it can be, in terms of being a clever and useful concept, artfully brought to light by the way the given quotes direct the mind’s eye, to the correct vision implied by the tenor of the presented metaphorical signs…. All a short, confusing way to say, look, look, it’s a plane, it’s a bird, it’s not any of that! It’s virtual wisdom at its best…..

Curse away!
And let me tell thee, Beausant, a wise proverb
The Arabs have,–“Curses are like young chickens,
And still come home to roost.”

— Edward Bulwer Lytton (1805-1873) — The Lady of Lyons, Act v, Sc. 2

“By the streets of “by and by”, one arrives at the house of “never”.” — Cervantes

The charge is prepar’d, the lawyers are met,
The judges all ranged,–a terrible show!

— John Gay (1688-1732) — The Beggar’s Opera, Act iii, Sc. 2

“The most interesting information comes from children, for they tell all they know and then stop.” — Mark Twain (1835-1910)

And oftentimes, to win us to our harm,
The instruments of darkness tell us truths,
Win us with honest trifles, to betray ‘s
In deepest consequence.

— William Shakespeare (1564-1616), Macbeth — Act i, Sc. 3

“Man is a credulous animal, and must believe something; in the absence of good grounds for belief, he will be satisfied with bad ones.” — Bertrand Russell, “An Outline of Intellectual Rubbish”

Death, be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so.

— John Donne (1572-1631), “Death, be not proud”

Sniff…. I couldn’t be prouder, and I’d like to thank the Academy, and my director, and my mum and dad, and…..
__________________________________

I’m in the mood for obscure genius, so…..

Two Lovers And A Beachcomber By The Real Sea

Cold and final, the imagination
Shuts down its fabled summer house;
Blue views are boarded up; our sweet vacation
Dwindles in the hour-glass.

Thoughts that found a maze of mermaid hair
Tangling in the tide’s green fall
Now fold their wings like bats and disappear
Into the attic of the skull.

We are not what we might be; what we are
Outlaws all extrapolation
Beyond the interval of now and here:
White whales are gone with the white ocean.

A lone beachcomber squats among the wrack
Of kaleidoscope shells
Probing fractured Venus with a stick
Under a tent of taunting gulls.

No sea-change decks the sunken shank of bone
That chucks in backtrack of the wave;
Though the mind like an oyster labors on and on,
A grain of sand is all we have.

Water will run by; the actual sun
Will scrupulously rise and set;
No little man lives in the exacting moon
And that is that, is that, is that.

~~ Sylvia Plath ~~

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I am running late, a bit, since I got up at a completely reasonable hour, and have been dawdling over getting this done, letting my mind wake up at its own pace…. and now, I don’t have the time, or the energy, to rant, not effectively…. Once again, though, the archives will come to the rescue…. Here is a politirant I wrote on 7/14/2012, a little less than a year ago, during the run-up to the Presidential election in November of that year….

I remember the piece quite well, and consider it one of my better rants, especially as it continued through two sections, of what, then, were the longer, five section pearls of the old format…. At that length, it’s a bit long, but it’s all quite accurate, and still pretty relevant, given that the political scenery hasn’t altered significantly since it was written… But, then, political scenery never does really change anything but the faces of the people at the top, does it?….. Enjoy, ffolkes, this one is pretty good, and on the mark…. “And that is that, is that, is that.”……
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Ignore the man behind the screen.” — The All Seeing, All Powerful, Wonderful Wizard of Oz

As the time passes and we draw ever nearer to the election this year, this becomes increasingly relevant. It is important to remember that ALL the political candidates are guilty of using the art of prestidigitation in their communications with the public. Of course, Mitt the Twitt and the GOP are showing particularly egregious new heights to which they are willing to take the art; they have paraded a series of lies before the public that are not even hidden, or palmed like cards; they’re just out there, proven as lies, but ignored. They don’t seem to care; they just deny, ignore, and issue their next false accusation or made up statistics….

‘Shit Happens’ according to… Denialism:      What shit? — Smart Bee

The Democrats aren’t completely free of this syndrome, either; if you believe they are, then you have entered the Twilight Zone, and may have trouble finding your way back to the real world. I admire Obama, much the same way I did Carter; they are both basically decent men trying to do an impossible job, while constantly having to contend with an entire segment of those who are supposed to support him who, instead, are attempting to thwart his every reform, simply for the sake of divisiveness. In their fight to get ANYTHING done, they have had to resort to chicanery of their own. I figure they, at least, feel a bit of guilt about it, whereas I can see no such reaction from Mitt or any of the GOP spokesbozos…. They just deny and ignore any such suggestions of wrong-doing….

Let’s consider Mitt the Twitt for a moment. Here is a man who admits to being rich as Croesus, yet finds it necessary to hide at least half of his real worth, as if it would tarnish his image of someone who can relate to the common man. I think the common man, to Mitt, is someone who only has $50,000 worth of investments, to go along with the house they own, their three cars, and the vacation home in Maine. In contrast to EVERY OTHER candidates policy of publishing their taxes, he continues to refuse to release any returns beyond the last one; there are inconsistencies and red flag items of interest to the public in that one, too, but he refuses to discuss any of it…

This is the same man who tied his dog to a kennel on the roof of a car, and went off on vacation, without ever thinking of how terrified the dog might be, barreling along at 80 mph, with the wind blowing straight through the kennel. He laughs about it, and turns questions about it to other subjects, refusing to even comment on it. This is the same man who, when asked about a serious incident of bullying and gay bashing during his last year in high school, shrugged it off as “youthful pranks and high spirits”…..

This is the same man who…. well, never mind. I could go on most of the day, and not get to all the little incidents from just the last few months that indicate the Twitt’s complete disregard for the majority of Americans, and show clearly how entrenched he is in the 1%, and how committed he is to solidifying the stranglehold that the banks and corporations have on the rest of American society. His total focus is on the agenda of the rich, to the detriment of the poor, and I am totally astounded at just how many IDIOTS are our there in this country supporting him, in the mistaken belief that he gives a shit about them….

No politician is acting in the best interests of the people they govern. None of them. But people continue to act as if they do, and it is driving me crazy! Normal, intelligent people are backing this asshole, thinking that he isn’t going to screw them over. It is incomprehensible to me how people can blind themselves to the obvious so completely that they would fall for this shit….  I will say it one more time, and I hope they can understand it….

And then shall many be offended,… — Matthew 24:10

You are being lied to, by every politician who is currently seeking office, and by every one currently in office. If you don’t see that, if you don’t believe that, then you are deliberately fucking yourself in the place it will most hurt, and apparently, enjoying it…. The man, the party, and 99% of everyone you see on TV is LYING TO YOU!!!!! They are doing so every day, every hour, every minute, and you are accepting it like you are a starving sheep and what they are saying is manna from heaven.

WAKE UP!…..  I’m stopping here, my blood pressure is spiking. That’s how worked up I get when I think of how deliberately stupid people can be…. I don’t so much mind the stupid part, but the fact that they have to CHOOSE to not see what is right in front of their face just sets me off…. and so much indignation, righteous or not, is giving me indigestion….. stay alert, ffolkes, the politicians are coming, and they’re dangerous when unregulated….
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Certain passages in several laws have always defied interpretation, and the most inexplicable must be a matter of opinion. A judge of the Court of Session of Scotland has sent the editors of this book his candidate which reads, “In the Nuts (unground), (other than ground nuts) Order, the expression nuts shall have reference to such nuts, other than ground nuts, as would but for this amending Order not qualify as nuts (unground)(other than ground nuts) by reason of their being nuts (unground).” — from the Guinness Book of World Records, 1973

I’m almost speechless. (I know, you’ll believe it when you see it…. I did say ‘almost’…. that’s something…) It’s absolutely beautiful! Perfectly priceless absolute nonsense, dressed only in legal briefs…. It is so impenetrable, I can’t tell if it is the law itself, or the judges written opinion on the law, or a passage from Nightmare on Elm Street! Which I’ve never seen, by the way….

How’s that for tangential? Any who, this was included today as a finishing touch to my Twitt-rant above. This goes to show just how the political hacks we are burdened with today work their verbal magic, to distract us from looking at things they don’t want us to see. Bureaucratese is what I’ve heard it called, a language and skill set that society has had practiced on them since the days of ancient Greece. When a document such as the one above reaches a certain level of impenetrability, the majority of people alive will either fall asleep halfway through reading it, or totally ignore it after reading the first 11 words or so. It’s a classic piece of distraction, and is probably used in courses for political science majors in college, and in law schools, as an example of how to carry off the trick.

To me, what this law indicates is that one, or more, of the people involved in writing the law have a monetary interest in being able to obfuscate the definition of “Nuts”, in order for them to achieve some financial reward owing to the indicated distinctions in that definition. In other words, a loophole or three is created, so the “Nut” vendors can make more money, charging more for each kind of Nut than could be accomplished without the legislation. It’s similar to the law in this country that was pushed through the Federal Courts back in the mid-1800’s, when a corrupt Federal judge awarded “personhood” to corporations, after being paid handsomely by those corporations for his verdict…. Same, same, alla same…. Evil is loose in the world….

— Bother! said Pooh, as he had another plate of Piglet sausage. — Smart Bee (Remember Mitt the Twitt at the NAACP?…..)

I suppose all I’m trying to say here is, once again….. Wake up ffolkes…. the beloved ruling class, the priestly hierarchies, and the corporate “persons” in the shape of banks and multi-national corporations, are continuing their campaign to hide from all of us the actual business they are pursuing, which has everything to do with benefiting them, and everything to do with screwing everyone else as much as they will allow…. I don’t know about y’all, but I’m about done with allowing ANY of it….

“I’m not tense, just terribly alert.” — Smart Bee

So, please…. DON’T ignore the man behind the screen…. he’s the one who is killing us all….
__________________________________

Ollie would be proud, I think… and just in time, too. The store is now open, and I’m done with this, so, all is right with the world, such as it is today. I’m not any more certain than you are what that may mean, or even whether it SHOULD mean anything, but, obscurity is what we’re always shooting for around here, and sometimes, it’s just easier than other times….. Especially when my fingers take over the keyboard like this, and just type away as fast as they can, without any idea of what will come out….. I’d better put a stop to it, before I hurt myself, or y’all….   Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

Massive portions of buttered peas….

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Ffolkes,
And then I woke up…. Another day dawns, bringing me one step closer to Europe. Today and tomorrow will be spent on planning, to make sure I’m not going to forget anything important, and packing what little I have left to put in, having spent much of the last two weeks slowly filling up the bag I’m taking. I’m so jazzed, I’ve essentially been ready to go for weeks. If I weren’t relatively ancient, I’d feel like a kid two days before Christmas; as it is, it takes all I have to keep from dancing a jig, or otherwise making an old fool of myself…

This is also affecting my writing, as I can barely keep my mind focused on the task at hand…. it just wants to think about what’s coming up, and will focus in on what I want to do only with great reluctance. I find myself unable to get mad about it, as the rest of my head is also caught up in the frenzy of emotion that goes with this…. So, I’ve come up with a semi-practical solution, which should serve to get the job done for the today, tomorrow, and Wednesday, before I leave at 0800…..

As I did yesterday, I’ll be dipping into the archives for one section, then go with a poem, chosen from the list in my head, and one old-school pearl, of the short, quick, but pointed variety, followed by the usual ridiculously egotistical closing remarks. This should allow me to get posted, with decent material, but take the minimum amount of time to put together. That’s the plan, anyway….

We’ll see just how much of it Murphy lets go without a response…. He’s been quiet so far today, so I’m hoping he’s focused on some other poor fool for a day or two…. He will, no doubt, have a trick or two to show me on the trip, but, I’m hoping he lets me slide here at home before I go…. Cross your fingers, or legs, or knock on some wood, or somehow help to guarantee my desire…. It won’t help much, but, it makes him feel good, and sometimes it will make him a bit more lenient…..

Once I’m on my trip, look for some more changes, as I intend to write about what I’m seeing, and put up some pictures of where I’ve been that day, rather than trying to maintain the long, rambling politico-religious ranting habits heretofore exhibited so regularly. Other changes my be instituted as well, like posting in the evening, after the day’s events, rather than beforehand, like now. So, stay tuned, as we evolve into a mobile state, and I learn how to put all of my adventures online. Hopefully, it will be entertaining, for y’all as much as me…. For now, ’tis enough to know it’s time to dive….. Shall we Pearl?…..
__________________________________

Here is an old-style Pearl, from September of 2011….

Ffolkes,

Taking pot shots at political figures is a time-honored pastime in this country, and though I try not to engage in doing so on a regular basis, I’m not above letting all my frustration drive me to rant. The current political scene certainly offers a multitude of opportunities, especially now that so many Republican candidates for the Presidential election next year have jumped out into the glare of public scrutiny.

Every day I can read any number of articles outlining the latest spate of nonsense that is uttered by one of them; the difficult part at this point is choosing only one about which to write. Got some rampant ignorance? Plenty of that going around. Want an outrageous claim or two? Step right up. Like to hear the real facts? We can help, it happens every day…..what is a body to do? There is so much to choose from, they all seem to blend together into one giant nightmare of avarice and ignorance.

I guess the part of all this that is most disturbing to me is just how clueless our beloved ruling class has become. Even the most honorable politicians these days must take part in the insanity, if only to maintain their position where they can do some good. The majority of people who have been elected in this country have no real understanding of the mainstream, whatever that may be.

The gap between the wealthy and the poor in this country has never been larger, and is growing every day. How can a person who makes $200,000 a year even conceive of what it is like to live on less than $10,000 a year?  Quite simply, they cannot. More importantly, they have no desire to even try, because their purpose is not to improve the lot of everyone, but to solidify and maintain their own position. They may feel momentary jabs in their atrophied consciences, but easily dismiss them in favor of enjoying the fruits of their public thievery.

The seeds of revolution have been sown, and are being nourished by the ongoing scenario in today’s world. The rich are getting richer, and the poor are getting poorer. The old saw about a watched pot is not entirely true; the pot will eventually come to a boil, given time and heat. I’ve been watching this pot for a long while, and note that the heat has been turned up. Whether I watch it or not, it WILL boil over…….

After that, I need some uplifting, so onward to the good stuff…..

“It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society.” — Krishnamurti   (Amen!)

“You can’t start worrying about what’s going to happen.  You get spastic enough worrying about what’s happening now.” — Lauren Bacall

“I maintain there is much more wonder in science than in pseudoscience. And in addition, to whatever measure this term has any meaning, science has the additional virtue, and it is not an inconsiderable one, of being  true.” — Carl Sagan, The Burden Of Skepticism, — The Skeptical Inquirer, Vol. 12, Fall 87

“What is beautiful is good and who is good will soon also be beautiful.” — Sappho

“Education is an admirable thing, but it is well to remember from time to time that nothing that is worth knowing can be taught.” — Oscar Wilde (1856-1900)

“The ideals which have always shone before me and filled me with the joy of living are goodness, beauty, and truth. To make a goal of comfort or happiness has never appealed to me; a system of ethics built on this basis would be sufficient only for a herd of cattle.” — Albert Einstein

Alone I sit, waiting for the future to become now. When it does, I’m goin’ there…… y’all take care out there….

__________________________________

No comments are necessary to introduce this, but I’ll just say that I wish I had learned of this woman’s poetry ages ago….

Medusa

Off that landspit of stony mouth-plugs,
Eyes rolled by white sticks,
Ears cupping the sea’s incoherences,
You house your unnerving head—God-ball,
Lens of mercies,
Your stooges
Plying their wild cells in my keel’s shadow,
Pushing by like hearts,
Red stigmata at the very center,
Riding the rip tide to the nearest point of
departure,

Dragging their Jesus hair.
Did I escape, I wonder?
My mind winds to you
Old barnacled umbilicus, Atlantic cable,
Keeping itself, it seems, in a state of miraculous
repair.

In any case, you are always there,
Tremulous breath at the end of my line,
Curve of water upleaping
To my water rod, dazzling and grateful,
Touching and sucking.
I didn’t call you.
I didn’t call you at all.
Nevertheless, nevertheless
You steamed to me over the sea,
Fat and red, a placenta

Paralyzing the kicking lovers.
Cobra light
Squeezing the breath from the blood bells
Of the fuchsia. I could draw no breath,
Dead and moneyless,

Overexposed, like an X-ray.
Who do you think you are?
A Communion wafer? Blubbery Mary?
I shall take no bite of your body,
Bottle in which I live,

Ghastly Vatican.
I am sick to death of hot salt.
Green as eunuchs, your wishes
Hiss at my sins.
Off, off, eely tentacle!
There is nothing between us.

~~ Sylvia Plath ~~

__________________________________

As promised, or threatened, take it as you may, here is an old-school pearl, fresh as I can make it from my immense stash of Smart Bee’s best….. I hope you get the point of this one, it’s a doozy…. and fun, too! Well, it’s fun if one is used to stretching the limits of the mind…. if not, well, probably not so much….

“Love is not all: it is not meat nor drink Nor slumber nor a roof against the  rain; Nor yet a floating spar to men that sink And rise and sink and rise and  sink again; Love can not fill the thickened lung with breath, Nor clean the blood, nor set the fractured bone; Yet many a man is making friends with death  Even as I speak, for lack of love alone.  It well may be that in a difficult  hour, Pinned down by pain and moaning for release, Or nagged by want past resolution’s power, I might be driven to sell your love for peace, Or trade the memory of this night for food.  It well may be. I do not think I would.” — Edna St. Vincent Millay

“Hang sorrow! care ‘ll kill a cat.” — Ben Jonson (1573-1637) — Every Man in his Humour, Act i, Sc. 3

“Stop thinking, and end your problems.” — Lao Tzu

Untwisting all the chains that tie
The hidden soul of harmony.

— John Milton (1608-1674) — L’Allegro, Line 143

“The truly brave are soft of heart and eyes, And feel for what their duty bids them do.” — Byron

“Life is never fair, and perhaps it is a good thing for most of us that it is not.” — Oscar Wilde, An Ideal Husband

“All of a sudden, I want to THROW OVER my promising ACTING CAREER, grow a LONG BLACK BEARD and wear a BASEBALL HAT!!…  Although I don’t know WHY!!” — Zippy the Pinhead

Alas, we never do really know why, do we?…..  TTFN….
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Well, I hope this works….. It does, at least as far as it goes…. I don’t believe I’ll need to worry about replying to the Pulitzer Committee anytime soon…. It’s done, though, and, at this point, that’s all that matters to me…. I’m outta here, ffolkes…. Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

We’ll have to spit-ball the hinges…..

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Ffolkes,
We’ve got Trouble, right here in River City, ffolkes….. Don’t worry, I won’t go all Robert Preston on you, and burst into song, or anything like that. I’m merely referring to the empty space here on the page, which, sadly, matches the empty space in my head, the space that SHOULD be composing an intro for today’s Pearl…. Extremely empty space, too…. So empty, I’m sitting here, writing about how empty it is, instead of looking around in the odd corners and niches in there, to find SOMETHING that would work to draw y’all in for the ride today…. but, I’m screwed, and the pooch knows it…. whatever that means….

Forgotten, old and grey, the ancient dogs march along the dusty street, searching for the possibility of food…. Scraggly weeds filled the cracks in the street; abandoned, stripped vehicles litter the sidewalks and alleys, many of them burned out, blackened and stark against the pale concrete of the buildings. Nothing moved, save the slowly searching pack of canines, not even rats, or any of the vermin usually seen in cities. No people walked the empty streets, and the silence bore down on everything in sight, oppressive, adding the weight of time to the heaviness of the air…..

No, I have no idea where that came from…. but it took up the space of a whole paragraph, so it stays…. I suppose apocalyptic scenes such as this one will become common in the future, if what I fear comes to pass….. When the Earth decides it has had enough of the depredations that mankind has perpetrated on this planet, our species will disappear, the same as the T-Rex, the dodo, and the auk, and Mother Nature will spend a few thousand years cleaning off the surface, which we scratched, dented, and broke apart so callously in our paroxysms of destruction, as we looked for sources of fuel for our machines…. and we won’t be missed at all…. Well, the dogs might miss us at first, but, they’ll get over it….

Okay, so now I have to balance the negativism with something lighter, so we don’t fall down into a pit of depression….. Hmm, I know….

“PUNK ROCK!!  DISCO DUCK!!  BIRTH CONTROL!!” — Zippy the Pinhead

There, that should balance things out…. Of course, Zippy has just mentioned three of the reasons that we will no longer be around…. Any species that comes up with Disco, AND Punk Rock, in the same century, deserves to become extinct, in my humble opinion…. But, then, I really, really HATE Disco…. and punks aren’t far behind in my estimation…. But, it did change the direction most satisfactorily, so, we’ll just sort of ignore the passions that may be present, and get on with the rest of today’s Pearl…. Which, I see, is coming right along, as we now have a sufficient number of paragraphs, and certainly a large enough quantity of BS, to qualify as an intro…. I’d better dive right away, before Murphy notices…. Shall we Pearl?…..
__________________________________

“Nasrudin returned to his village from the imperial capital, and the villagers gathered around to hear what had passed.  At this time, said Nasrudin, I only want to say that the King spoke to me. All the villagers but the stupidest ran off to spread the wonderful news. The remaining villager asked, What did the King say to you? What he said — and quite distinctly, for everyone to hear — was ‘Get out of my way!’ The simpleton was overjoyed; he had heard words actually spoken by the King, and seen the very man they were spoken to.” — Smart Bee

When I first read this, a long, complex, and wonderful rant took form in my mind, on the subject of the gullibility of the public…. Unfortunately, somewhere in the process of getting this moved over and formatted, the rant broke apart, like smoke from a fire, dissipating into the ether without a sound, and leaving me sitting here, with a wonderful pearl, and nothing in my head to write about it…. “Well, shit,” he said, with feeling…..

Smart Bee, or Murphy, or Nasrudin, whichever is responsible for this, thinks they have me trapped, and are probably sitting there, maybe even together, laughing, and waiting for me to explode…. Hah! They’re destined to be disappointment, I’m afraid, because I’ll just switch gears, and make this an old-school pearl, using the anecdote on Nasrudin to point the way for the rest of the group…. So, here you go, a five-star pearl, the point of which is now moot….

“It is important to do what you don’t know how to do. It is important to see your skills as keeping you from learning what is deepest and most mysterious. If you know how to focus, unfocus. If your tendency is to make sense out of chaos, start chaos.” — Carlos Casteneda

“Consistency is the last refuge of the unimaginative.” — Oscar Wilde

“A fool always finds a greater fool to admire him.” — Nicolas Bolleau-Despreaux

“He who knows best knows how little he knows.” — Thomas Jefferson

“Is it not a noble farce, wherein kings, republics, and emperors have for so many ages played their parts, and to which the whole vast universe serves for a theatre?” — Michael de Montaigne (1533-1592) — Essays, Book ii, Chap. xxxvi, Of the most Excellent Men
__________________________________

Wishes aren’t horses, and neither do I….. which, decoded, simply means I don’t have a new, fresh poem today. I did create a Haiku, which is below…. But, for today’s poem, another treat from the archives is called for, as I just can’t create a poem whenever I wish, much as I’d like to be able to do so…. Nevertheless, I AM making a new haiku each day, so that has to count for something, right?…. Any who….. As every day this month, these are being included as part of the April National Poetry Writing Month Challenge, with the updates to be found here:  http://www.napowrimo.net/    I hope you enjoy them…..

 

Haiku XExplore reality,
my mama said with a smile;
it will teach you truth.

~~ gigoid ~~

Momentary Terror

Absently casual, memories pester endlessly
   leaving only bleeding remnants, amiable and loving.
Coming awake, I cry to still the pain, shamelessly.

Elsewhen, time gives surcease, if only to live,
   shoring broken pilings, worn and gray.
Passing on, I laugh at the pain, accept all it will give.

Time will build a shelter, warm and ever safe
   save for Fate’s busy hands.
Enduring, I follow the pain, knowing it will chafe.

Fixed against a darkened sky of starry black
   such beauty brings us to our knees.
Entranced, I welcome the pain, ’tis all I lack…..

~~ gigoid ~~

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“A good indignation brings out all one’s powers.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson

Ah, yes, it does indeed….. This is the principle of human nature I exploit when I rant…. Well, I try, anyway…. It seems as if Ralph Waldo had the inclination to rant strike him on occasion, and, competent observer that he was, he examined how it made him feel, and act when he was in ranting mode. When in full flight, ranting makes one feel ten feet tall, able to leap arguments with a single quote, impervious to sarcasm or belittling remarks, and capable of chewing up the toughest pundit and spitting him out, before breakfast….. Whether or not one could actually do so doesn’t matter in the slightest, for it is what we THINK we can do that determines what we CAN do…. Like the dragons of Pern, who could lift any weight when flying, as long as they thought they could….

“Whenever you eliminate the inedible, whatever remains, however unpalatable, must be food.” — Smart Bee

Now, this is a truism; much as it seems like levity, it is quite serious, being a disguised version of a truth uttered by Sherlock Holmes, about Truth, to wit: “As I have previously stated, Watson, when one has eliminated the impossible, what remains, however unlikely, must be the truth.” (God, I hope I quoted it right… I’m lazy, and used the version in my head, rather than googling it to make sure…. but, I’m 100% positive that my paraphrase, if it be such, is completely accurate, in terms of meaning…..) Ranting is an area where this principle is key; it really doesn’t make sense to rant about something that isn’t true, unless the falsity is the actual subject of the rant…. as the following aphorism implies….

“It is a substantial advantage for any philosophy to be based on the truth.” — George Santayana

Of course, this doesn’t mean that being right will make reality conform to how we wish it to be. Much of the world, if not all, is controlled by a group of people who lie, constantly, without shame, completely indifferent to how it affects others, as long as their own needs are met first. But, they only do so because most of the public believes their lies, for the simple reason that it is too hard to believe otherwise. If they begin to see the truth of how they are controlled, they become frightened, often to the point of violence, because they don’t want to know the truth…. unless it comes from a suit on TV…..

“Given a sufficient number of people and an adequate amount of time, you can create insurmountable opposition to the most inconsequential idea.” — Devyver’s law

This is truth, too, sad as it may seem…. The general public will believe just about anything they are told, usually without any sort of critical thought applied to testing its veracity, if it is presented in a manner to which they are accustomed to being told what to do…. If the guy on the six o’clock news says it will rain money, most folks in this country would start looking for a barrel to catch it in, and wonder if it would rain in bills, or in coins… I kid you not…..

This may seem as if I have a poor opinion of the average intelligence of the average American, and in that estimation you would be absolutely correct…. I can say this with complete confidence, as it is a proven fact that the average American’s IQ is below the average for the human race at large….. fact, ffolkes, not supposition…. Of course, I could be lying, but, if so, you can just chalk it up to their bad influence…. If they can use untrue ‘facts’ to prove their assertions, I can, too….

Besides, I can show you almost 50 MILLION pieces of proof of my assertion, without having to look further than the Presidential election last year…. In that election, almost fifty million people voted for Mitt Romney, proof positive that they would believe ANYTHING…. How else could they decide to vote for a man who was PROVEN to have lied during the campaign (independent fact checking organizations showed that he lied just about 50% of the time, or, put more simply, every other time he spoke, he lied...), and indicated, on tape, his complete disdain for over half the people in the country?

It is such an incredibly huge number, it just isn’t possible to understand how gullible people can be, when one sees this statistic, (50 million votes for an asshole….). It is equally hard to believe that so many of our peers are this incredibly dumb, but, truth will out, as it always does….. It also speaks to the number of truly bigoted, racist people that are still in this country, hiding behind their cowardice, and their misguided, ignorant patriotism…. but, that’s a subject for another rant….. (All stupid people aren’t bigots and racists, but ALL bigots and racists are stupid people…..)

“Never underestimate the power of human stupidity.” — Lazarus Long

You won’t get a better, more clear warning than that; on that note, I proclaim this rant, such as it was, to be complete…..
__________________________________

All in all, not too bad…. No fresh poem yet, but a decent rant, and all the rest if fresh…. Now, let’s see if it hangs together well enough to publish…. Well, we have another vote for ‘all in all, not too bad’….. So, it’s good to go, and we’re gone….  Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

Viable ideologies have grown scarce….

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Ffolkes,
Knowing myself as I do, I am not going to allow myself to become upset, just because I REALLY, REALLY WANT TO KILL SOMEBODY!!!!  I also know this about myself…. if I use four exclamation points, it’s already too late, and someone is going to die, if only in a figurative sense….. As yet, I’ve managed to avoid any literal deaths, though it’s been a close call on at least two occasions…. One guy hurried me, and the other one, well, let’s just say he was lucky, this time…. Today, well, I’ll need to maintain my control, if I am to prolong my clear record, but it won’t be easy….

Hmm? What? Oh, that….. I was just thinking about my recent train trip to see my friend in Oregon, and thanks to the magic of PTSD, the emotions, like anger and embarrassment and frustration, come right back into my head, filling me up with the outrage I need to rant…. I’ve been letting it build now for a week or more, so that when I do sit down to write about it, all that emotional power will be there for the taking…. The only trick is to get that into what I write…. not always simple, but it makes for a more powerfully compelling rant, as it should be…. No sense in pulling punches in a fight to the death, now, is there?…. Nope…

I’m not quite ready, though, I think…. still some percolating to do before I sharpen up my figurative razor, and slide it neatly across Amtrak’s throat…. It’s a shame, really, as I do like trains, and would have enjoyed riding them around the country…. not going to happen now, as nobody gets two chances to treat me like they did. I’ll be flying where I need to go from now on, which, in the larger view, is probably best, as it is faster, and who knows how much time I have left, eh? I don’t, that’s for sure….

Having once again piddled and blathered through four paragraphs, chock full of diddly-squat, I declare this intro to be sufficiently complete, and will go forth to the daily dive, confident that all is well, routine-wise, and no sign yet of Murphy…. I probably shouldn’t mention that, it’s just a temptation for him, but, I figure, if he’s not fussing with me by now, he’s busy with some other poor fool, and I’m safe for a while…. long enough to try to get this done, anyway….. Shall we Pearl?…..
__________________________________

As mentioned above, my rant isn’t ready, so we’ll go now with a harlequin pearl; whether it turns out to be five-, or seven-star, remains to be seen….. I am feeling somewhat mellow and generous, so not only will this NOT be on the Quiz, you can earn bonus points for finding the correct point, even if you’re wrong….  What a deal!…..

“Sight is a faculty; seeing is an art.” — Smart Bee

How lov’d, how honour’d once avails thee not,
To whom related, or by whom begot;
A heap of dust alone remains of thee:
‘T is all thou art, and all the proud shall be!

— Alexander Pope (1688-1744) — To the Memory of an Unfortunate Lady, Line 71

“Eres encantador.” — Smart Bee

“No matter where you go, there you are.” — Buckaroo Banzai, Buckaroo Banzai – Across the 8th Dimension

“A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step.” — Lao-Tsu, The Way of Lao-Tsu

“He who adds not to his learning diminishes it.” — The Talmud

All is concentr’d in a life intense,
Where not a beam, nor air, nor leaf is lost,
But hath a part of being.

— Lord Byron (1788-1824) — Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage, Canto iii, Stanza 89

There you go…. maybe I shouldn’t have made it so easy….. Nah, it will do…. What it lacks in difficulty, it makes up in obscurity, I think…. enjoy!
__________________________________

Here is a fresh poem, written this morning, on demand (well, aside from one stanza, which came out last night…. the rest followed this morning, with the first verses as stimulus….)  Any who, it’s not too bad, considering, and it meets the necessary requirements for the task I’ve chosen…. So Be It….  As every day this month, this is for the April National Poetry Writing Month Challenge, with the updates to be found here:  http://www.napowrimo.net/ (I still don’t know if I’m doing this right, but, oh well….)

Savory

Blown across steppes of imagination, a spore
finds a niche, takes root,
tries to live longer than now, before
chaos/peace descends, and desire is moot.

Feathered into fecundity, another possibility
builds a nest, hatches kin,
aims at immortality, sans responsibility,
chance manifests, as it does, again.

Leading toward peril, entropy saves creativity,
making tools, and lazy time;
solid signs imply such simple nativity,
as another snitch drops his dime.

Subtle compassion billows, passion to unfold,
covering hearts bloodied by time,
burning flesh made valid, unwaveringly bold,
turning love to brilliant rhyme.

Years weigh lightly, supported by youth,
gaining weight with each year,
only the old men know the actual truth,
peace comes only by losing our fear.

~~ gigoid

__________________________________

Here’s the deal…. I still don’t have a rant ready, but I feel like ranting…. so, I’ll sublimate…. This is an article that I posted on Triond, another web site where I’ve published some of my work, in the latter part of 2012, near the election that took place in November….. All of it is still pretty valid, discounting the date-related issues…. all the rest, I stand by…..

Absence of Honor: The Untimely Death of The US Constitution


“Ignorance can be compounded, made denser, until the light of our spirits is smothered.” — Deng Ming-Dao

As I read this pearl, my immediate thought was that it is a very clear, very accurate take on the 2012 election process that is currently unfolding before us in the daily news. The end of the political scale that is represented so raggedly by what is left of the Republican Party, and the mislabeled liberal end of the scale who claim to be Democrats, are both engaging in ongoing battles to see who can display the deepest ignorance.

The leading candidate for the “loyal opposition” to the party in power, Mr. Romney, seems to have a proclivity for alienating the very people from whom he is trying to win votes; women, immigrants and Hispanics, animal lovers, seniors, teachers and students, all have been told, in no uncertain terms, that they matter not at all to him. His plan? We’ll stop taxing the rich altogether, and that will fix everything…. Sometimes I wonder if he is getting all of his information on voter wants and issues of importance from old newspapers from the 1980’s, because he certainly hasn’t a clue as to what is happening out in America in this decade….

The other party, led by our first Black President, is busy hiding what the left hand is doing by distracting everyone with the tax and healthcare issues, to keep them unaware of how few of the Bill of Rights are left to us. “Executive Orders” signed by the POTUS this year, beginning on New Year’s Eve, while the voters were all busy celebrating the advent of the new year, include provisions that allow police to stop, search, and arrest any citizen of this country whom they suspect of any form of terrorism, or even of protest against the provisions of those orders.

These same police who are arresting their ostensible fellow-citizens are not required to tell ANYONE that they have arrested and imprisoned a citizen, nor are they ever required to provide any evidence of their suspicions in a court of law. Even though there may be no evidence, they can subject these CITIZENS OF THIS COUNTRY to torture to obtain a confession, or whatever it is they are after. There is no oversight to these orders; they don’t go before Congress to be approved, nor are they reviewed by the courts. Both of those particular checks on the power of the Executive Branch are completely out of the loop on this…. and they aren’t even complaining about it!

Does it physically hurt to be that stupid? — Smart Bee

My guess at the answer to this is, No. It can’t hurt very much to be that stupid, as we continue to go out each time there is an election and vote these same lying, cheating, avaricious assholes back into the same positions from which they have been oppressing the American people for oh, a hundred or so years now. I’d say that around the time of the Depression was when the first real strangle-hold on the national throat was first achieved…. the pure bullshit the government was spewing back then can be seen to have been the first real time that the government’s outrageous lies were swallowed whole by a reluctant public, who had nothing else to eat, and thus nothing else to risk…

“He was born stupid, and greatly increased his birthright.” — Samuel Butler

So, how does it feel? Does it physically hurt to be so stupid as to be part of the crowd that continues to buy into all the bullshit lies that our own government heaps upon us every day? To keep going to the polls, just as if it really matters who gets elected? Get real, folks. You will not find a name on the ballot that belongs to someone who is not a willing tool of the powers of oppression, the money-changers who are the power behind the scenes of every government in the world. Not going to happen; they’ve been the real power in the world for centuries, and they’re not about to give up all they have, just to be nice, or because they’ve all of a sudden grown a heart.

I don’t know about you, but I’m getting pretty fucking tired of being lied to, and cheated, and looked at as just another idiot for them to shit on….. and I’m not going to put up with it for much longer, without some kind of return fire….. believe it…. I don’t think I am alone in this, either…. No way to tell for sure, but I find it hard to believe that EVERYONE is falling for all of it…. but, even if I’m alone in this, I refuse to knuckle under any further, and can only say that I will do all I can to see things turn in a direction that will return my Rights, and those of the rest of the American people…. or at least those not stupid enough to hand them over without a fight….

“He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it.” — Martin Luther King, Jr.
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Well, unless I can come up with a rant in twenty seconds, this is going to go, proofed or not…. Let’s take a look….  All in all, I think it will float…. it might not look nice in the water, but it will float…. Plus, you know, it’s done…. I’m going to go play now…..  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

Isn’t he just the bee’s knees?….

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Ffolkes,
What we have here, is a failure…. to cogitate. A scary one, too, since I can’t seem to get a handle on how to fire up the ol’ neurons this morning…. Dendrite, schmendrite, send me your nerve impulses…. Nope, not working, and the mojo I found yesterday has rolled into a corner again…. Okay, hang on, I’ll see if one of the fuses went out….  Oh, yeah, I don’t have the upgrade installed yet; I’m still on the old tube and knob wiring, so, no fuses….

Damn! Now I’m going to have to resort to emergency procedure # 4, which I haven’t employed since setting it up…. Since at least three of the stages it passes through on the way to getting my brain functioning are only marginally legal, please stand back, and put on the blindfolds that are conveniently located in your seat’s pocket, on the left side there…. got them? Okay, let ‘er rip, Biff!…. Oooh! That’s impressive!…..

Good morning….. Emergency procedure # 4 was apparently successful, though I will have to rely on you all to supply me with any evidence of that…. From this side of the procedure, there is a degree of amnesia produced, that lasts a few days, then passes away, leaving no scars or memories of the less than pleasant process involved in using #4…. Rather handy, all in all, as it gets things moving, but doesn’t waste any time on congratulations or other extraneous activities, but allows me to get right to work…. Of course, it can take several weeks to get all my memory back, but, hey, I don’t use it all at once anyway…. Some sacrifices must be made to pursue one’s art, you know…

Now that I have once again provided y’all with ample proof of my insanity, or at least enough to make it worth wagering on, I should, no doubt, move on to the main portion of today’s virtual circus. It’s getting more and more chancy here in the intro section, what with the weird hours I’ve been keeping in the mornings…. Again, today, I was up at 0430;  it is now 0522, and all I’ve been able to come up with is this detritus, even WITH coffee on board….. Hence my use of the word ‘scary’ above….. The fertile fields of my mind are becoming a trifle depleted, methinks, which, given my output, shouldn’t be a surprise….

Well, no matter how scary it is, the rest of today’s effort calls to me, so I suppose I’d best start diving. In the interests of full disclosure, shut your eyes…. I had to use my old dive suit today, and the pattern has been known to cause seizures if one gazes at it too long…. Shall we Pearl?…..
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“The essence of Christianity is told us in the Garden of Eden history. The fruit that was forbidden was on the tree of knowledge. The subtext is, All the suffering you have is because you wanted to find out what was going on. You could be in the Garden of Eden if you had just keep your fucking mouth shut and hadn’t asked any questions.” — Frank Zappa Playboy Interview, April 1993

Hmm…. Frank’s take on matters are such that I generally find myself in complete agreement with what he says. Here, he has again put his finger on one of the more obvious facets of Christianity, one that defies all logical explanation in lieu of subservient belief, to wit: faith vs. knowledge, and the Christian’s unfortunate tendency to embrace the former, without any appeal to the latter….. To my way of thinking, that is not only foolish, but cowardly….. but, perhaps, that’s just me….

The fruit of the tree of knowledge gives mankind the go-ahead, to use the brain with which we were furnished at birth; the preachers would have us abrogate that use, having us, instead, give over all our power of belief into the hands of the faithful, who, naturally, have only our best interests at heart….. Sure they do…. NOT….. I’m sorry, but, no matter how many times these folks say so, I am not going to accept that they know better than I what is best for me…. Nope, not even if there were twenty Bibles out there, all proclaiming how true they are…. Oh wait, there are twenty of them, aren’t there?…. Oh, well, you know what I meant….

Why do people fall for this? I cannot understand how people, who are normally reasonably intelligent, will, by conscious choice, bury their heads in the sand to buy into this, without ever taking even one moment to examine any of it for truth, or even logical assumption. Is there some kind of mind-control drug in that incense? Maybe in the sacramental wine…. Whatever it is, it turns normally competent, intelligent people into mindless slaves, and does so with their complete agreement and approval….. To my mind, it is one of history’s saddest, most incomprehensible features, when I look at just how easily people fall for such egregious, and so obviously self-serving propaganda, as most of the dogmatic proclamations of the major religions tend to offer up.

“I hope I never get so old I get religious.” — Ingmar Bergman

I am compelled to add, “Me, too!” to this sentiment…. In the recent past, I’ve been taking a lot of shots at religions, and need to make clear that I do not hate Christians, or Buddhists, or Muslims, or the followers of any religion. I think they are being silly, deliberately and evilly so, at worst, or at best, misguided, but I don’t hate, or fear them, as is the case on their part whenever they consider me, or my criticisms of their beliefs. I don’t hold that against them, either, as it is logically consistent for them to do so, given the limitations of their dogmatic position. Since, however, the fervor with which they will often defend their position can reach a rather fevered pitch, I tend to treat many of them like a stinging insect; I move, and speak, slowly and carefully, so as not to frighten them more than they already are….

Ethical and moral behavior is not confined to those who follow the precepts of one religion or another, despite what any of the proponents of those religions will try to tell you.  In fact, if you look closely, the number of folks who are believers have a much higher percentage of failure in that area than do the non-believers, which only makes sense…. The believers all have a sense of entitlement that gives them the idea that the rules of behavior don’t always apply to them, in terms of how they treat people who are not of the same faith, so, to those who are not of their own sect, they don’t bother being truthful, or honest, or ethical, as those people don’t count, in their eyes. People who make their own moral codes tend to follow them, and are much more tolerant of those who do not share their beliefs.

Basic human nature dictates these responses in people, so one can see how dangerous it is to remain ignorant, in the Biblical sense. Those who choose to buy into the myth of the Garden of Eden, giving up all their personal independence of mind for the comfort and safety of dogma, will fail to act according to their own morality much of the time, out of their sense of entitlement, and the belief that all of their sins will be forgiven, merely by the act of confessing them. Only those who consciously choose their moral code have the courage to act it out, it seems, except for those few people who actually try to live according to the morality that is espoused, but seldom embraced, by their less ethical peers.

Having the strength of mind to make one’s own moral code implies the courage to act it out…. This is why I choose to deny the dogma I’ve been exposed to all my life, as being illogical, and, ultimately, immoral…. It makes more sense to me to make my own decisions on such matters, and tell the busybodies who assume they know best for all to go jump in a lake…. Even better, just shut the hell up, and get out of the way, so the rest of us can get something relevant done, without having to put up with all the nonsense from that quarter….

“What is a church? Our honest sexton tells, ‘Tis a tall building, with a tower and bells.” — Crabbe
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Sometimes, I just gotta go with a classic…. if only for the patina of age that gives it such a shine…. Even reflected beauty is better than none, yes?….

Bright Star

Bright star, would I were stedfast as thou art–
Not in lone splendour hung aloft the night
And watching, with eternal lids apart,
Like nature’s patient, sleepless Eremite,
The moving waters at their priestlike task
Of pure ablution round earth’s human shores,
Or gazing on the new soft-fallen mask
Of snow upon the mountains and the moors–
No–yet still stedfast, still unchangeable,
Pillow’d upon my fair love’s ripening breast,
To feel for ever its soft fall and swell,
Awake for ever in a sweet unrest,
Still, still to hear her tender-taken breath,
And so live ever–or else swoon to death.

John Keats
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The following is a piece that I wrote just before the recent Presidential election, as section 1 of a Pearl I cannot find without more effort than I care to spend right now, even though it is still only 0633…. Tracking it down would mean scrolling through at least a month’s worth of old Pearls, from last year, and I’m not ready for that today…. However, I’ve re-read it, and consider it worth a second posting, as it covers a lot of things that remain relevant after the election, in spite of the fortunate outcome we saw…. Any who, without further ado, here is a pearl I entitled, “Considering the Etiquette of Ignorance”…….

SIGH…. the only reason I did not write this in 1988 is that I did not see it until today….. it is never a good policy to suffer a fool gladly, so my code of honor demands a response…. This begins the tale, but by no means ends it….. be warned, and be nervous, if not afraid…..

“I don’t know that atheists should be considered citizens, nor should they  be considered patriots. This is one nation under God.” — George Bush in Free Inquiry magazine, Fall 1988

Actually, George, the Pledge of Allegiance has no legal standing, in relation to the Constitution of this country, or for that matter, in relation to what our forefathers were thinking when they founded the nation. In fact, what was said here by such an upstanding Constitutional scholarly type, is, in reality, completely contrary to everything that makes a true patriot, or an American citizen.

The part in the pledge, (which no one at all is legally required to take, or state…), that says “under God” was only added in the middle of the twentieth century, by the same Congressional idiots who perpetrated McCarthyism, and the Red Scare, on the American public. It has nothing to do with the Constitution, and in fact, could be construed as a Constitutionally illegal statement, considering the intended separation of church and state that is the backbone of what our forefathers wished us to have as our legacy…. True freedom, not Christian usurpation of freedom….. A person’s religious belief, or lack thereof, is protected by the Constitution, and a patriot is one who supports the Constitution, not a church, or a corporation…..

And if his name be George, I ‘ll call him Peter;
For new-made honour doth forget men’s names.
— William Shakespeare (1564-1616), King John — Act i, Sc. 1

This kind of thinking from the Shrub, whichever one it was, Junior or Senior, is the same kind of narrow-minded fundamentalism that the colonists were escaping from in England back in the 16-1700’s when they came to the New World. The churches and corporations, both of which were singled out as dangerous to the republic by Jefferson, Franklin, Paine, Adams, Hamilton, and many of the other founding fathers, have tried to usurp the Constitution ever since it was ratified. Their writings, to each other, and in public venues, were filled with precautionary admonitions about allowing corporations and preachers to have access to, or influence over, members of government.

Ultimately, their fears were justified, as we now are facing just the situations they predicted….. corporations are manipulating our “professional thieves”, otherwise known as politicians, to vote for laws that favor them (really, “corporations are people?”… I don’t think so…), and the ranks of our leaders are rife with fundamentalists and religious nuts of all varieties.

“Men tend to have the beliefs that suit their passions. Cruel men believe in a cruel God and use their belief to excuse their cruelty.  Only kindly men believe in a kindly God, and they would be kindly in any case.” — Bertrand Russell (1872-1967)

It’s difficult sometimes to tell which ones are more dangerous, or more disgusting: the corporations who buy votes from those who fit the definition of “good politicians” (…. a good politician is one who stays bought…..), or the religious demagogues who want to oppress everyone who doesn’t believe the same set of dogmatic constraints as they do. Neither one is particularly hard to spot, but they are protected by their tame dogs in Congress, who will do and say anything to make sure the cash keeps flowing…. right into their pockets.

As may be extrapolated, if one is exceedingly clairvoyant, one may infer from the above that the 2012 Republican  Romney/Ryan ticket disturbs me; I have no problem ranting without end right off the top of my head about the lies and distortions of reality that continuously fall from their lips. As I mentioned in a separate post, a lot of people are catching on to this, as Ryan was roundly booed offstage at the AARP meeting he attended to try to sell their admitted intention to rape Social Security and Medicare (Smart? No. Arrogant? Completely.).

In retrospect, even this negative reception is disturbing to me, as it shows just how little they care, that they are showing themselves to be only interested in lining their own pockets, and the pockets of those who own them, without apparent shame or embarrassment. They aren’t even trying to hide their lies anymore; they just keep repeating them, even after having been shown to be false, believing that if they repeat the lies enough, people will buy them….

“Men are most apt to believe what they least understand.” — Michael de Montaigne (1533-1592) — Essays, Book iii, Chap. xi

Unfortunately, they are right, to a large extent. Millions of people in this country, who have hung on to their prejudices and bigotry with desperation as the minorities have become majorities, are supporting these assholes, merely because they are white. They don’t realize, or seemingly care, that these are the same assholes who will be screwing them over completely as soon as they get sworn in, preferring to trust in the lies, because it soothes their fears of having a black President.

Beware of the half truth.  You may have gotten hold of the wrong half. — Smart Bee

This is why I have been repeatedly reiterating that this election is bringing this country to a crossroads. The outcome will show whether we intend, as a nation, to continue to fight all attempts to curtail the freedoms that were bought and paid for by our forefathers, with blood, sweat, and tears, or will become just another religious, corporate-controlled entity, in a nation consisting of slaves and their masters.

I don’t know about y’all, but I’ll be at the polls as soon as they open, and will urge everyone I know to do the same…. vote early, and vote often (just joking…), but vote. We need to send a message to these fools, that there are still patriots and citizens of this country who believe in the vision embraced and established by the men and women who began this noble experiment in self-government…..

“Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.” — Aldous Huxley

As I said above, the election came out okay…. but, the rest of what is said here remains relevant, and always in need of being heard….
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Well…. Getting up early seems to be working for me, Pearl-wise….. Even though part of this was already written, it all holds together well, and will stand in the future as one of my most complete Pearls, if nothing else…. A bit of nonsense to begin, some pointed sticks thrown around at demagoguery, a bit of classicism in the center, for balance, and a long dissertation haranguing the BRC and PTB, as well as most of the religious institutions in the world…. I’m a happy camper, you betcha….

Not just that, but, it’s DONE!  Yay!….. I think…… Hmm… it’s now 0650…… Now what the hell am I going to do? Ah, perfect!…… I’m going back to bed now, ffolkes, & see if I can fall back asleep…. I’ll be back later to see how many people I’ve managed to offend, or better yet, how many found a good laugh….  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

Phlegm can be a fluid subject….

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Ffolkes,
Breaching the surface of reality, I swim into consciousness slowly, my mind already set on the first sip of coffee, which I can smell brewing in the kitchen. Daring Murphy to fuck with me before I have any of that which gives me reason to live, I sit up, groan, stiffly rise to press the power switch on the laptop, then walk over to switch on the lights. As soon as my eyes clear up a tad, I type in the password, and go pour that first, life-saving cup of auxiliary blood. Adjusting it to my preferred level of sweet & light, I listen as the computer goes through its boot sequence of whirs and beeps, sitting down in front of the monitor to take the first, life-giving sip.

As focus and power flow through my bloodstream, I realize that Murphy has once again respected my need for quiet and privacy, long enough to get that first sip into me…. Since this is the ONLY time he does that, I take a moment to silently thank his spirit, not that the asshole ever acknowledges it, or gives anyone a break for it….. I don’t care if he does come back at me for saying so, but, he’s really an asshole, you betcha. I’ve been trying for years to come to some sort of truce, or at least a sense of common respect, but the dickhead just keeps stepping in it, and doesn’t seem to care how it makes him appear to others…..

I suppose that is all one can expect from spiritual iconic forces of nature. They tend to pick up a sense of entitlement about their invulnerability, and lose all sense of tact and proportion. In short, he is a full-grown asshole, stuck with the attitude of a 13 year old prick (Picture the elitist son of some rich politician… that’s Murphy all over….. Vicious temper, lack of impulse control, no compassion, sick, perverted sense of humor, and acne, which explains why he’s uglier than the average bear….. I know, picture in your mind any of the Romney boys, add in some acne scars, and you’ve nailed that asshole perfectly…..)

Ah, well, sorry ’bout that…. didn’t mean to get all vicious myself, but I get carried away when talking about Murphy, and his ubiquitous presence in my Reality. I should no doubt just be thankful that I am grumpy enough to make him keep his distance in the morning before I’ve had my coffee; I can assure you, and him, that is a wise decision. There are several secret places in the world where the remains of those who didn’t observe that precaution are located, and I’d just LOVE to have him join those foolish people in eternity. Sometimes, I actively wish he WOULD bother me just then; it would be pretty satisfying to get back some of what he has taken from me over the years…..

Now that y’all are firmly convinced of my complete break down, it’s probably a good time to go for a dive. In looking back over this intro, it is clear that nothing further can be done to salvage the moment, so….. Shall we Pearl?…..
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“Not only does God play dice with the Universe he sometimes casts them where they can’t be seen.” — Stephen Hawking

Yesterday, I was standing outside where I live, enjoying a bit of winter sun, and for some reason started to think about Stephen Hawking, and his latest project, the search for a Unified Field Theory, a theory that will tie together and explain all of the various branches of science that we explore as humans in a strange and beautiful universe. I began to ponder just how he would go about it, and spent almost 10 minutes standing in one position, following the train of thought to its end. (I’m not sure how I was physically able to do so, and I was quite stiff when I emerged from my trance & realized I hadn’t moved for so long….)

It was the most amazing inner journey I’ve taken in a long time, ranging from the sub-atomic level of the building blocks of all matter, neutrons, protons, and electrons, to the composition of the galaxies farthest from our own position among the stars….. a truly epic journey. Alas, my own skill at mathematics is not deep enough to have suggested a possible path to the UFT equations, but, I felt a revelation nonetheless, as I realized something about the structure of the Universe, something that might just point to the solution, in a simplistic fashion.

I don’t think Mssr. Hawking, brilliant as he is, needs my assistance in his quest; he IS the most intelligent man alive, perhaps the most intelligent who ever lived. The rest of humanity is not even capable of understanding how his mind perceives the universe, as it obviously does so much more rapidly, more deeply, and with greater understanding, than any of the rest of us. But, all of us have something he doesn’t have, too, and that is our own unique perspective on what we perceive…. I think he is smart enough to know this, and has always been aware of not only the differences between him and those of lesser ability, but of the similarities, and the connection we all possess, with each other, and with the universe.

As I stood there yesterday and cogitated, it occurred to me that the structure of atoms that we have developed by observations and deductions, verified by experiment, is almost exactly the same as the structure of solar systems. The analogy goes even further, as one can assume the different size and colored stars, with their differing types of planets, could be likened to the way atoms of different numbers of elements form different types of matter. The way the solar systems come together to form galaxies, clouds, and globular clusters can be likened to the way different types of matter join to form biological systems of infinite variety. Though not exact, the similarities are startlingly alike in the way they can be combined in an infinite array of dissimilar objects and substances…..

So, I think that, when Mssr. Hawking is successful (and I truly hope he is…. a Unified Field Theory would mean an entirely new chance at life for our species, as it promises, by its very nature, to give us the key to unlimited energy, and unlimited possibilities that were never before even considered, as being out of the scope of our capabilities. Anti-gravity, telekinesis, telepathy, teleportation, faster-than-light ( FTL) travel to other stars, safe, reliable atomic energy, in the form of atomic fusion, all are just the beginning of what UFT can give to us…..) he will find there are a very large number of clues left lying around in the way that the universe is constructed, and that looking at one level can increase our understanding of another…. It works at a human level, and I think it will hold true for all levels of perception…..

And though the course may change sometimes,
Rivers always reach the sea.

— Led Zeppelin, Ten Years Gone
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I’ve been thinking a lot lately of Noah, my compatriot and best friend, who died a while back… I’m pretty sure I’ve shared this one previously, but I don’t mind repeating good stuff, and this poem is perfect for my current state of mind…..

A Dog Has Died

My dog has died.

I buried him in the garden
next to a rusted old machine.

Some day I’ll join him right there,
but now he’s gone with his shaggy coat,
his bad manners and his cold nose,
and I, the materialist, who never believed
in any promised heaven in the sky
for any human being,
I believe in a heaven I’ll never enter.
Yes, I believe in a heaven for all dogdom
where my dog waits for my arrival
waving his fan-like tail in friendship.

Ai, I’ll not speak of sadness here on earth,
of having lost a companion
who was never servile.
His friendship for me, like that of a porcupine
withholding its authority,
was the friendship of a star, aloof,
with no more intimacy than was called for,
with no exaggerations:
he never climbed all over my clothes
filling me full of his hair or his mange,
he never rubbed up against my knee
like other dogs obsessed with sex.

No, my dog used to gaze at me,
paying me the attention I need,
the attention required
to make a vain person like me understand
that, being a dog, he was wasting time,
but, with those eyes so much purer than mine,
he’d keep on gazing at me
with a look that reserved for me alone
all his sweet and shaggy life,
always near me, never troubling me,
and asking nothing.

Ai, how many times have I envied his tail
as we walked together on the shores of the sea
in the lonely winter of Isla Negra
where the wintering birds filled the sky
and my hairy dog was jumping about
full of the voltage of the sea’s movement:
my wandering dog, sniffing away
with his golden tail held high,
face to face with the ocean’s spray.

Joyful, joyful, joyful,
as only dogs know how to be happy
with only the autonomy
of their shameless spirit.

There are no good-byes for my dog who has died,
and we don’t now and never did lie to each other.

So now he’s gone and I buried him,
and that’s all there is to it.

Pablo Neruda

Translated, from the Spanish, by Alfred Yankauer
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All things being equal, I would normally (hah!) put another pearl here that stimulated my outrage, in order to rant; a news article headline, a quote from one of the Ignoramusi, or the latest lies from the political arena. All things, however, are not equal, nor do we ever approach normalcy here without first obtaining all the appropriate licenses and permits, which I consider a complete waste of my time. So, I’ve fallen back to my default position in such instances, and gathered together a string of pearls, in this case a grouping of random thoughts and comments on religion, philosophy, and/or spirituality. Each of these has the added distinction of my complete agreement with the sentiments expressed…. Enjoy!…. As a treat, the Quiz for this week is canceled…..

“We may not be able to persuade Hindus that Jesus and not Vishnu should govern their spiritual horizon, nor Muslims that Lord Buddha is at the center of their spiritual universe, nor Hebrews that Mohammed is a major prophet, nor Christians that Shinto best expresses their spiritual concerns, to say nothing of the fact that we may not be able to get Christians to agree among themselves about their relationship to God. But all will agree on a proposition that they possess profound spiritual resources.  If, in addition, we can get them to accept the further proposition that whatever form the Deity may have in their own theology, the Deity is not only external, but internal and acts through them, and they themselves give proof or disproof of the Deity in what they do and think; if this further proposition can be accepted, then we come that much closer to a truly religious situation on earth.” — Norman Cousins, from his book “Human Options”

“All cats are NOT gray after midnight.  Endless variety …” — Robert Heinlein

A man fell off a mountain and, as he fell, saw a branch and grabbed for it. By superhuman effort he was able to get a precarious grip on it.  As he was hanging there for dear life, he looked up and cried out, “Is anybody there?” A deep majestic voice answered, “Yes my son, I am here. What do you need?” “Help me!!” cried the man. “I will help you”, said the voice, “just let go of the branch and you’ll be safe.  All you have to do is trust.” The man thought for a moment and cried out, “Anybody ELSE up there?” — Smart Bee

“Things go better with Buddha.” — Smart Bee

“I am the Supreme Being, you know.  I’m not entirely dim.” — Sir Ralph Richardson (as God) in TIME BANDITS

Cogito cogito ergo cogito sum — “I think that I think, therefore I think that I am.” — Ambrose Bierce, “The Devil’s Dictionary”
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In the past two years or so, since I began blogging full time (i.e., posting daily, somewhere…), I’ve used a lot of quotes and material more than once, when it is appropriate. So much so, it is getting hard to remember whether I’ve used some things before, or not. I don’t help myself by not giving clues to the content in the title, but, that is too much a habit now to change; if I want to know what is in one of my posts, I have to find it and read it, just like everyone else.

My memory, however, is pretty good, and I can mostly keep from repeating myself too much without having to go back and find out for sure. Unfortunately, as happens all too frequently on days like today, I can also get so lost in my memory that I not only cannot figure out whether a pearl is old or new, but I forget entirely why I wanted to know. We have reached that point here, and now. When I started to write this closing section, I had a whole series of ideas and thoughts all ready to get down…. Well, they’re all gone now, and I’m stuck here wondering what the hell I had in mind…. if I wasn’t already done with the rest of the Pearl, it would be a pisser, for sure…

I did go back and proof it, for what that is worth, and can only say, well, it’s done. I like it, mostly, and it isn’t overly consistent, or too sane; with those characteristics, it could be considered one of the best. I will refrain from even guessing, however, as it isn’t my place to do so….. That is why I keep y’all around, so to speak…. and now I am truly rambling. Okay, I’m done…… 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

We’ll pick one of the lesser valued artichokes, please….

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Ffolkes,

“All statements contained herein may be accurate, but might also be carefully designed lies intended to induce an angry response.” — Mike Chapman, mike@hopper.acs.virginia.edu

I thought you should see this, just so you are aware, it applies here…. There IS a slight problem that is associated with that, which lies in my own  tendency to forget which one is true, or for that matter, which one isn’t true, for both are both true and false, and both are designed to create a response, though anger isn’t always my targeted emotional response…. Just sayin’….. I didn’t wish to make things more muddled than they already are in the natural state for gigoid-ECR, but, it appears that I did, anyway…. Oh well…. Onward….

I find myself at odds this morning, a most complicated affair, given the even nature of the issue. Wait, issue? I didn’t mean to say issue, I meant tissue. Wait, no I didn’t…. Well, this has gone completely to shit, before I even got very far into it. Common sense would dictate just tossing it, applying the delete button, and get on with something new; I’m not a common kind of guy, I guess, because I’m going to try to salvage this paragraph, or at least save the wear and tear on my poor laptop buttons. They’re looking a bit bedraggled, after the 750,000 words I put out last year in Pearls…. the ‘A’ key is now completely blanked out, as are the ‘E’ key, most of the ‘S’ key, and several others showing signs of wear…. not too shabby for an amateur, eh what?

There, saved it….. or saved it from the trash pile, anyway. I won’t comment on the level of expertise it shows, as that would be blowing my own horn. Yeah, yeah, I know, when has that ever stopped me before? Hush, you’re bothering me…. be still, and keep reading, or I’ll report this to the blog police….. Well, I would, if there were any….. It was worth a try, maybe…. It got y’all to quiet down for a moment, didn’t it? Works for me…..

This is rapidly deteriorating, and I don’t seem to have much control over what it is doing, so I’m going to stop trying to amuse myself, and you, any further, and get on with the program. I know there are some delightful pearls out there, just waiting for me to polish them up and set them before swine, er, Gentle Readers….. sorry, no puns intended….. Or implications, either, for that matter…. hey, it’s a JOKE!…. Ah, hell with it…. Shall we Pearl?…..
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“Any clod can have the facts, but having opinions is an art.” — Charles McCabe, San Francisco Chronicle

In one sense, one could say that this is what this blog is all about; the search for artistic value in my expression of opinions on Life, and Reality. I figure it is somewhat like Homer Simpson reportedly said one time, “Facts, schmacts…. you can use them to prove almost anything that is remotely true.” In the case of this being so, what I do here can easily be termed artistic…. as much so as can The Simpsons, that is certain….. I never did watch very much of the show; it reminded me too much of All in the Family, that old sitcom with Archie Bunker, and his poor wife Edith, who week after week consistently made Archie look like the world’s worst actor, by the mere example of grace and dignity in her performances as his oh-so-much more intelligent spouse…..

The character of Archie was, in my opinion (see how that works?….  🙂   ), probably one of two things, each of which could be considered to be the ultimate in their category. Either he was the single most ignorant, bigoted American asshole to ever walk the streets of Laredo, or he was a gruffly compassionate, steadfastly loyal American neighborhood hero, with a hard exterior covering a soft heart. Since I don’t consider Mr. O’Connor, the man who played Archie, to be an actor worthy of the title of thespian, much less hack, I’d say the former comes closer to the truth of the matter.

As such, IMHO, the character enters the arena of national tragedy, and can be seen to be actively toxic mental conditioning by the BRC.  For the entire run of the show, I was appalled at the number of people who expressed not just approval of his character, but applauded its victories over the other actors and the situations they created, no matter how egregiously inhuman…. The whole concept CELEBRATED this man’s consistent stupidity and ignorance, making him into an icon, and never even paying any attention to the real acting going on in the show, by his character’s wife…. I’d say the best acting she did was when she said she enjoyed working with her costar….. If one turns off the sound when she says that, her expression doesn’t match the words…. Her face tells a different story about Archie, and the idiot who played him….

Ah well, such is the public’s taste in such matters, I suppose. The entire phenomenon of that show, and others like it (Sherman Blakesly? Helmsley? something like that, got a chance to play the black Archie on the show, “Movin’ Uptown”, a spinoff of All in the Family), just goes to demonstrate how easy it is to fool the American public. I guess, in looking back on it, it makes the phenomenon we saw in the recent election more understandable, to some degree.

Since seeing the results of the election, I’ve had a hard time with the fact that close to 50 million adult Americans voted for the Republican ticket. When one lists the positions they took on the issues, and compares them with what can be easily seen as the public’s opinions on those issues, the contrast is stark and clear. The GOP had NO areas of concern in their platform that matched what the general public believes; their contact with, and understanding of, the Average American, is so completely out of date, one wonders how they still can find their way around town, as they are using maps of the world that have been out of date for a LONG time….

Yet, 50,000,000….. Fifty. Million. That is a lot of ignorance, or just plain weak spirited complacency, to pile up in one spot, and I’m surprised that the voting machines were able to deal with all of the wishful thinking that attached itself to the ballots. How can there be THAT many people out there who refuse to look at the truth? How can that many people make a decision to ignore the blatant lies, the flip-flopping positions, the outright immoral and unethical views on women, and people of color? How can there be that many STUPID people out there, in MY country, breathing MY air, and spreading their miasma of ignorance and bigotry?

It is appalling to me, to think that there are so many people in this country who can not only be fooled into believing lies, but will willingly join in the persecution and discrimination against others because they are different in some way….. To me, THAT is un-American, and worthy of being labeled as traitorous…..

“Never try to teach a pig to sing. It wastes your time and annoys the pig.” — Smart Bee

I considered for a moment going with Zippy as a closing remark for this subject, but my outrage at the cupidity of the massive number of folks who voted GOP is too strong to ignore. Even though all of the above is probably the equivalent of teaching a pig to sing, I figure it can’t hurt to get it off my chest, at least. It’s as appropriate as the other one I planned to use, which had to do with a comment about that fine day in the future we all know will come, when the Great White Hope will save us from the heathens, and darkies, and gays, and all those scary folks in the world… you know, when pigs fly?….
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From Poetryhunter.com, a classic….

I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings

The free bird leaps
on the back of the wind
and floats downstream
till the current ends
and dips his wings
in the orange sun rays
and dares to claim the sky.

But a bird that stalks
down his narrow cage
can seldom see through
his bars of rage
his wings are clipped and
his feet are tied
so he opens his throat to sing.

The caged bird sings
with fearful trill
of the things unknown
but longed for still
and is tune is heard
on the distant hill for the caged bird
sings of freedom

The free bird thinks of another breeze
an the trade winds soft through the sighing trees
and the fat worms waiting on a dawn-bright lawn
and he names the sky his own.

But a caged bird stands on the grave of dreams
his shadow shouts on a nightmare scream
his wings are clipped and his feet are tied
so he opens his throat to sing

The caged bird sings
with a fearful trill
of things unknown
but longed for still
and his tune is heard
on the distant hill
for the caged bird
sings of freedom.

Maya Angelou
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Finding, and creating, pearls as a part of the process for composing Pearls can be a challenging pastime, which is a big part of why I continue to do so after all this time. It is an odd procedure at times, as there is no set of instructions, or rules to go by. As far as possible, I use as little volitional direction as I can get away with, which, I’ve learned, is the best way to keep things fresh. This pearl is a perfect example of that process, though the full concept is a bit nebulous, and a fine way to end today’s effort.

These pearls were collected over the last three days, one at a time, but for the last two, which came together as the ‘coup de grace’ of the whole shebang. Bonus points if you can figure out which two those are, as they are not in the same order as they were found…. Sheesh, that wouldn’t make any sense, would it? No, they’re just as they should be, and should provide, if nothing else, a mild chuckle at life’s little jokes…..

“No one is fit to be trusted with power. … No one. … Any man who has lived at all knows the follies and wickedness he’s capable of. … And if he does know it, he knows also that neither he nor any man ought to be allowed to decide a single human fate.” — C. P. Snow, The Light and the Dark

“For how much longer can I howl into this wind?” — The Cure “A Thousand Hours”

“I choose a block of marble and chop off whatever I don’t need.” — Francois-Auguste Rodin, — when asked how he managed to make his remarkable statues

“You can no more win a war than you can win an earthquake.” — Jeannette Rankin (1880-1973)

“It is not a bad little planet, if you know the right people.” — Smart Bee

There you have it, another in a long series of obscure jokes from the mind of gigoid, deep within the confines of his maximally labyrinthine patterns of thought, for what the experience is worth….. Abondanza!
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Well, it’s another fine mess I’ve created here, Ollie…. I’m thinking I’ll make my getaway while the iron is hot, or something like that….. not to mix my cliches with my metaphors but, a man’s gotta do what he’s gotta do, right? Anything less would be dishonest…. and I’d rather not go there, thanks all the same…..  I’m off into the Big Blue Room…..  Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

gigoid

Kowabunga!

Clocks are intensely rabid this month….

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Ffolkes,
“Peculiar” seems to be the word that governs my current existence…. I’m giving up…. It’s not quite 5 AM, and I am once again sitting here staring at the screen, wondering what form today’s madness will take. I’ve been tossing and turning since about 3, trying mightily to convince myself to resume slumber, but two hours of that is enough. It means another day of intermittent fatigue, coupled and contrasted with periods of manic activity designed to keep my head occupied with anything but my situation. Fortunately, the pain is only half of what is keeping me from sleeping. Somehow, it is easier to deal with the angst and emotional distress that comes with the insomnia than it is with the pain when it is sufficient to cause me to awaken…. I can’t say why that is, but, there you go…. one more mystery for the ages…..

Since I’m up, I suppose I’ll start in on today’s Pearl; all the books I’m currently reading don’t seem to appeal this time of day. I’ve been reading some old mystery stories by G.K. Chesterton, whose work I knew only by reputation. I have used many of his aphorisms in my pearls, and, in reading some of his fictional stories, find him to be an extremely intelligent and insightful author, as well as an impressive wordsmith. Hmm, strange, Spell Checker doesn’t like that word, and it is such a good one; descriptive and precise… Ah well, I’ll have to add it to the dictionary, so SC won’t freak every time I use in in future; I hate having to cater to software, and I refuse to put a space between the two elements that make up such words, just because SC wants it….

Any who, enough with the aimless rambling, even though I’m getting rather good at it. One thing I am glad of, and that is how much easier typing has become over time. I guess writing over a million words using a keyboard has other effects than just wearing out plastic keys…. which is happening to this laptop. There are now five letters that are completely obscured, the paint having been rubbed off, and the space bar is developing a shallow depression from being struck so many times. It kinda makes me proud, ya know? My typing speed and accuracy has increased in the last two years, as well. I haven’t measured it, but I can compose, and edit, a 2000 plus word document in less than an hour, on a day when the ideas are flowing well. Not too bad for an old fart with flat feet and flatulence…..   🙂

On that elegant note, we should probably begin the day’s dive into my head, perilous as that may be. It can’t be any worse than what has already occurred today, and who knows? We might get lucky, and find something of value hiding around a random corner in the back corridors of my mind. Of course, there is always a risk, but have no fear…. nothing I write is intended to harm, and very little is contagious (hopefully, only the outrage is catching….). Just use gloves when handling it, and you’ll be fine….. Shall we Pearl?…..

No letters of the alphabet were harmed in the creation of this blog…..
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“An oppressed people are authorized whenever they can to rise and break their fetters.” — Henry Clay (1777-1852) American Statesman — Speech,  House of representatives, March 4, 1818

It is a most peculiar feeling, at my age, to become more radical in my opinions of society, and of the corruption and disparity that exists in equal measure at almost every level of that society. In my college years, of course, I spent my share of time and energy protesting the illegality and insanity of the war in Southeast Asia; in this I was not in any way different than many millions of my peers. The extent and depth of that urge to protest, however, was not as great as it is now, for the simple reason that I now have more experience in real life, and know far better just how corrupt our government has become.

Sure, we had Nixon to pick on, and Johnson, and Reagan. But, in retrospect, I can now see that the latter day politicians we now have in the public sphere are much more evil than any of those three (though, in Reagan’s case, that would be hard to top…. he was an evil man, to be sure….) (Nixon was just a pathetic loser, trying to be bigger than he was; Johnson was pretty evil in his own right, being the kind of guy who would smile as he inserted the knife in your back…..). The Shrubs are living proof that despotism and nepotism go hand in hand, and that an evil nature can be inherited.

In the recent election, I was encouraged to see that those in this country who value a life with honor over expedience were more numerous than those who are corrupt. The current President is, all in all, by all accounts, a good man, with the interests of the common people, if not foremost in his mind, at least present in his regard. But he is only one man, even if he is at the pinnacle; the man at the top operates under severe handicaps in getting anything done, especially now, with the large number of absolutely criminal psychopaths who inhabit the houses of Congress. This continuing disparity of purpose between honest men and those who are corrupt promises to become a battleground of some note in the next two years, leading up to the election in 2014, when the controlling percentage of the houses will next be addressed.

I have, in the last two years of living on low income, become more aware of the problems faced by so many of my peers in this country, and I am not anywhere near as handicapped as are many others. It has given me both an appreciation for the adaptability, and the courage and inner strength, of those in our society who are trying to live with less than the minimum amount necessary to do so, and a sense of outrage that such qualities are necessary. I have lived so long with enough, and more, that learning to do without has been a struggle of some proportion, a struggle different from those who are struggling to survive, and have done so for their entire lives. I have friends, and resources, that many do not have, and those will not allow me to sink into total poverty and despair. I also now have a strong desire to see some of this disparity eliminated from society, even if I have to resort to Robin Hood style activities to accomplish a redistribution of wealth….

Robin Hood…. hmmm…. You know, the more I think about it, the more attractive that sounds. Not the name itself, mind you, but the practice of robbing the rich to give to the poor. In fact, it sounds wonderfully attractive, and makes me all tingly with anticipation. I believe that it might just be possible to arrange things so that money that now resides in the pockets of corrupt officials, or asshole rich folks such as the recent failed candidate for Prez to find its way into the hands of ffolkes who would put it to more honorable, and more humanitarian use.

Actually, it just occurred to me that I could add churches to that list of potential…. let’s call them donors, okay? The coffers of almost any of the major religions are chock full of money they stole from the poor anyway, and very little of it ever finds its way into the charitable activities that they hold up in their defense, and in my opinion, would be much better utilized by taking it away from them, using whatever means are at hand, and giving it directly into the hands of the people who can put it to a more honest use.

I know this sounds like a bunch of talk, and as such is of little real value…. but, I tell you now, and with sincerity, that I will be thinking about this most seriously, and I intend to come up with a plan or two that will serve to achieve Robin’s purpose, and not just here on this blog, but in the real world. Those plans could take any number of shapes, but they all will have the net result of helping those who need it, by taking the resources they need from people who have either stolen them, or gotten them by chicanery, or merely hoarded that which they inherited, knowingly keeping it from being of any use to anyone but themselves…. You can take that to the bank…. where I will pick it up and take it to the poor…. So be it….

“And I’ll try not to sing out of key…” — Ringo Starr
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Old Men

People expect old men to die,
They do not really mourn old men.
Old men are different. People look
At them with eyes that wonder when…
People watch with unshocked eyes;
But the old men know when an old man dies.

Ogden Nash
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“..the television, that insidious beast, that Medusa which freezes a billion people to stone every night, staring fixedly, that Siren which called and sang and promised so much and gave, after all, so little…” — Ray Bradbury

I’ve never been a heavy TV watcher, always preferring a book to the tube. But, being an American, I did kind of keep track of what it was doing, if only to stay in touch with what most of the country was thinking, or whatever they do in place of that activity. Since retiring and moving to where I am, I haven’t had one, so I’ve now been pretty much completely out of touch with it for over two years. I think the only TV I’ve seen in that time has been whatever game was playing in the bars I used to go to…. Since my reduction in income almost two years ago, even that habit is non-existent, as I haven’t been into one in that time…. Oh, wait, okay, once, which was enough to convince me I’d lost my taste for it…..

In truth, I regard television the same way I do rattlesnakes…. interesting, but dangerous, and just easier to avoid than to engage. Most people never think objectively about either the act of watching the TV, or about the content, and intent, of what they watch. In fact, I would say the average American regards what he sees and hears on that medium to be the gospel truth, insofar as they have any idea of what that may be. It is almost as if they have come to believe that the activities of the people on TV are more real than their own lives, and therefore have more validity. How often have you heard a conversation between two followers of a soap opera talk about the characters on the show as if they are real people, with real problems, instead of being merely the imitation of life that springs from the fertile minds of the writers….

This is where the dangerous nature of the beast enters the picture, and it has never been more clearly indicated than in the recent election. The race for the Presidency was made out by all the TV pundits and polls to be close the entire time; the final results show just how inaccurate that was in reality. Polls, being composed of statistics, can be made to show whatever one wishes them to show, and the results can be manipulated by merely changing the demographics of the respondents. But, a clear-cut decision wouldn’t make for good TV, or for what the networks considered enough drama. Neither would it suit the networks to allow the voters to receive clear messages…..

So, all the pundits who supposedly “analyzed” the polls, and the opinions of the populace, talked about how close the race was, and doctored and manipulated the actual words of each candidate to suit whatever their own particular desires were, thus manipulating the voting public. Fortunately, a lot of their manipulations came to naught, as there was a large percentage of those who voted who never spoke to a poll taker, or let on, in any way, how pissed off they were at what was being promulgated by the TV media hounds….. It became clear late on election night that the actions of the challenger had angered and alienated far more of the voting public than was understood by either that party, or by the media, and the result was a landslide victory for the incumbent….. fortunately…..

It’s my firm opinion that there should be a lot more oversight when it comes to what the TV networks are allowed to do. Yes, we have free speech in this country…. but does that mean that they should be free to lie to, cheat, and manipulate the voting public without consequence? It seems to me that there should be some value placed on Truth in these events, and that the organizations which report on public or governmental activities should be held responsible when they deliberately lie, with or without the intent of manipulation. I also believe that there should be penalties exacted on any public official who is caught telling a lie to the public…. If that were the case, then at least two of the candidates for the highest offices in this country would now be facing jail time, for sure and for certain…. It disappoints, and even angers me no end, that none of what Romney and Ryan lied about in their campaign (which was practically everything that came out of their mouths….) will ever be challenged, or better yet, prosecuted…..

It seems that I could go on in this vein for a very long time without running out of things to say on the subject. My enthusiasm for it has waned a bit, though, as it does when I’ve said all that is important to say…. I say it should be law that anyone in an elected position should be held to an even higher standard than the public when it comes to honesty and truth, and the penalties should be severe enough to make anyone who wishes to run for office think long and hard before trying to fool the public. I know, I know, it would change the face of American politics forever, and people might not know exactly how to deal with the truth, after having been lied to for so long. But, in my mind, the end result would be a far more responsible government, one whose actual goal was to look after the best interests of the people, instead of being a sinecure, with the keys to the treasury given over into the hands of thieves…..

And the TV networks would have to find a new way to operate, without the advantages of being able to lie without subsequent punishment, or even mere disapproval….. who knows? We might even end up with something worth watching……

A man may well bring a horse to the water,
But he cannot make him drinke without he will.

— John Heywood (c. 1565) — Proverbes, Part i, Chap. xi
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“A little sincerity is a dangerous thing, and a great deal of it is absolutely fatal.” — Oscar Wilde

It appears that getting up so early stimulated my Opinion-o-matic, which apparently operates without a lot of dependence on Smart Bee, or any other form of mental goad. Only five pearls in the whole shebang, with well over 2500 words of rather sincere ranting (hence the quote from Oscar….). All in all, it should make for an interesting read, and hopefully will stimulate some random cogitation among the Gentle Readership. If not, well, I’ve been ignored before, and will be again…. I’m used to it.    🙂

If any of the above gives you cause to disagree strongly, or agree even weakly, feel free to let me know in the comment section, or, for those of you receiving this via email, tell me in a Reply…. I can take it, as long as you stick to logic and/or reason; constructive criticism will be sincerely considered, and, appropriately, flaming and other forms of antagonistic asininity will be cheerfully deleted…..  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!

A plethora of hothouse plants….

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Ffolkes,
Softly crept the morning light, filling the room in golden rays of warmth. As the eyes of the young maiden opened, they fell upon the worried face of her brother, standing by her bed, dressed for his morning ride. His fair, innocent face, marred by the worry in his eyes, looked down at her as if he could see into her mind with the intensity of his gaze. She smiled up at him, wanting to ease the worry out of his eyes and mind, and spoke, “I’ll be fine, Malcolm. There isn’t even a bruise.” He only frowned harder, replying, “I don’t care. I don’t like to hear that you’ve been hurt, even if it was your own cupidity that caused it….” “I just wanted to see….” “Bah!,” he interrupted, “…. ‘only wanted to see’… How many times have I heard you say that in our life, as I was dragging you to the healer again? You have no sense of danger, Malia, and it worries me. Especially when you try to climb up to see a dragon’s nest of eggs….. WHAT WERE YOU THINKING!” It burst out of him, with the force of his emotional storm, leaving him breathless and angry.

All done…. That just sort of leaked out as I sat down to start this morning. I don’t know if there is any significance to it, but it’s not bad, so maybe I’ll try to keep this one to work on and expand later…. Dragons always make for a good story…. Why is that, do you think? Is it some kind of racial memory of ancient days, when dragons roamed the Earth? Is it a prescient image in our minds, of a time in our future when dragons assume some pivotal role in our fate? Is it just imagination and wishful thinking? I don’t know for sure (though I tend to favor the first reason….), but there is something about the concept of dragons that fascinates the human mind. Even the most egregiously plagiaristic books with dragons as a key character seem to sell in today’s market, no matter how well, or how poorly written. I guess, if I’d like to sell a story, that might be a good way to go….

For now, though, we’ll drag ourselves out of the realms of imagination for a time, and go off in search of the oysters, with their hidden gems inside, that go together to make a Pearl of Virtual Wisdom. It’s not an easy task, nor one that furnishes me with much beyond the sanity it saves, but, hey, somebody’s got to do it, and I’m the only one here, so….. Shall we Pearl?
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A well known scientist (some say it was Bertrand Russell) once gave a public lecture on astronomy.  He described how the earth orbits around the sun and how the sun, in turn, orbits around the center of a vast collection of stars called our galaxy.  At the end of the lecture, a little old lady at the back of the room got up and said: “What you have just told is rubbish.  The world is really a flat plate supported on the back of a giant tortoise.”  The scientist gave a superior smile before replying, “What is the tortoise standing on?”  “You’re very clever, young man, very clever,” said the old lady.   “But it’s turtles all the way down!” — Stephen Hawking, “A Brief History of Time”

In other words, reality is, for you, whatever you believe it to be….. and, if you believe it, no logic, no evidence, and no kind of argument at all will ever change your mind. The human imagination is so powerful that it can actually make us see, and feel, things that are not real, just to fulfill the inner urgings our minds. This latest election is an example of this talent, as over 50 million people managed to convince themselves that their candidate was not a congenital liar, not a misogynist, not a thief, and instead was an honest, trustworthy human being. It took some really powerful self-deception to pull THAT off, as he spent six months and more exhibiting all three of those behaviors, and not a one of those who voted for him will admit to seeing any of it….. Makes one wonder, sometimes, just how some folks get to be as old as they are, since they are in such denial of reality….

“It is a mistake to believe that a science consists in nothing but conclusively proved propositions, and it is unjust to demand that it should. It is a demand only from those who feel a craving for authority in some form and a need to replace the religious catechism by something else, even it it be a scientific one.” — Sigmund Freud

Siggy was very often full of shit with his psychoanalytic conclusions, but he got this one dead on. There does seem to be a large percentage of people out there who want the universe to be easy to understand, and amenable to what they wish it to be, rather than being strong enough to accept it the way it is. I try to be tolerant of these folks, as they are obviously operating with a mental handicap, but it’s hard sometimes, when they try to make their idiocy spread to others.

The recent campaign we just suffered through helped to identify the people who feel this way, as they all, to a man, voted for the loser. I’ve never seen an election that so clearly and completely showed the schism in this country between those who use their minds to hide from reality, denying it as much as they can, and those who use their minds for something other than sitting on…. I saw a good one in Smart Bee recently, & can’t find it, but it says, “Where you keep your mind is much like a coin toss…. heads you win, tails you lose.”…..

“The release of atom power has changed everything except our way of thinking…the solution to this problem lies in the heart of mankind.  If only I had known, I should have become a watchmaker.” — Albert Einstein (1879-1955)

Albert, as we all know, was perhaps the greatest of us who lived in the last century. The knowledge and wisdom that he gave us through his lifetime is a legacy that we can never appreciate enough. This particular insight is one that I believe completely, for it expresses the whole issue very succinctly. The heart of men is fickle, and will follow the will of its owner, without knowing what is true or not. If the owner is deliberately ignorant of what is true, or if they deny it, because it doesn’t fit in with their prejudices and misconceptions, then the heart is led into realms of dishonesty, and dishonor, suffering changes that leave it forever blackened, and in despair.

“First you have to be able to see world as it is not as you wish it were. or because of your ignorance, misconceptions, and prejudices.” — Smart Bee

It is this sort of deliberate denial of reality that is leading us to perdition, and one of our own devising. No sane or educated person can deny any longer that our habits are killing the planet’s ecosystem….. the evidence is too great. (Not that the planet itself is in danger… oh no. It will just rain for a couple centuries, and wash away the crap we deposited, until we are just a memory, in nobody’s mind…..) It is not a matter any more of conjecture, or speculation; we can now see first hand the effects on climate, as super-storms, seasons changing, and ice-cap melting continues unabated, thanks to the millions of tons of carbon monoxide pumped into the air on a daily basis. No, only a person who denies reality, who refuses to consider evidence, even when it is poking them in the ribs, can argue that there is no problem. And, once again, the recent election serves to help identify those folks for those of us who do accept reality; it will be handy knowledge when it comes time for a reckoning…..

“It is only the ignorant who despise education.” — Publius Syrus (42 BC) — Maxim 571

The sea-change that is needed for us to make the changes necessary for survival don’t seem to be happening, as far as I can see. When almost one sixth of the entire population of this country, supposedly an educated one, can vote for such an egregious example of the very attitudes that got us here, then the chances of their hearts all of a sudden seeing the light of day are pretty slim, and approaching none rapidly. It’s sad, really, to think that it is the stupids who will win in the end, bringing the rest of us down with them…. If I were a bit stupider myself, I would start killing them, in an effort to stem the tide…. but, alas, by doing so, I would be joining their ranks, and I couldn’t live with that anyway…..
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I feel like a change of mood, so here is something about 180 degrees from the rest of today’s material…. Enjoy!

The face that launch’d a thousand ships

Was this the face that launch’d a thousand ships,
And burnt the topless towers of Ilium?
Sweet Helen, make me immortal with a kiss.
Her lips suck forth my soul: see where it flies!
Come, Helen, come, give me my soul again.
Here will I dwell, for heaven is in these lips,
And all is dross that is not Helena.
I will be Paris, and for love of thee,
Instead of Troy, shall Wittenberg be sack’d;
And I will combat with weak Menelaus,
And wear thy colours on my plumed crest;
Yea, I will wound Achilles in the heel,
And then return to Helen for a kiss.
O, thou art fairer than the evening air
Clad in the beauty of a thousand stars;
Brighter art thou than flaming Jupiter
When he appear’d to hapless Semele;
More lovely than the monarch of the sky
In wanton Arethusa’s azur’d arms;
And none but thou shalt be my paramour!

Christopher Marlowe
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“Integrity is when what you say, what you do, what you think, and who you ARE all come from the same place.” — Madelyn Griffith-Haynie

Okay, I know we are all probably sick to death of politics, and the election, and everyone would like to have a break from talking and thinking about it….. I know I am. So, I’ll try to make this fairly short, and make it the last political diatribe for at least a day or two. It may be possible, if nothing in the news jumps up to stimulate my outrage (which may be on a short vacation itself….. I hope. I could do with the emotional space….).

Any who…. here is what I was thinking when I came across this little gem…. What if we devised a test, that in some way would enable us, as voters, to determine the relative status of each of the candidates according to this rule? A way, as it were, to measure their degree of integrity, which is something I think we can all agree would be a good thing to see in a politician, unlikely as it may be. If we could, say, set up a scale of integrity, and make it law that a person had to score in the top 5% of the scale in order to merely be eligible for office, I think we might see a whole new set of politicians, who had never before been seen in public.

In fact, in thinking about the current crop of those in office, it is entirely possible that ALL of those in office now might not be eligible…. I am not excluding the President, out of fairness, though I personally believe he might score in the top 10%…. I still have questions about some of the stuff he has signed that didn’t seem to be very well publicized, as they didn’t exactly fit with his image….. The newest version of the Patriot Act, the NDAA, that he signed last New Year’s Day comes immediately to mind….

I don’t care if he did try to mitigate some of the deleterious effects of the law, he still signed the damn thing, thereby seriously endangering a number of the first 10 Amendments to the Constitution. Plus, the method he used to keep it from the public awareness was rather suspect, in my mind, and reminiscent of the old days under Nixon, Johnson, Reagan, and the two Shrubs, may they all rot in whatever level of Hell they are destined to occupy….. (I know, I know…. not being a Christian, that curse has little weight, but, hey, it’s a pretty clear indicator of my opinion of all of them….)

As I suspect it might, this grew to be somewhat more than I intended it to be, so I’ll cut it short here. But, my suggestion above, about the test for integrity that should be a given for political aspirants, is completely serious, and I wanted to get that out. Maybe by the next election, we can get the rest of the country to buy into it…. which should be interesting, and fun. I’ll be looking forward to the expressions on the faces of all the supporters of those now in office, when their people gloriously fail to pass the test…. and to the results it will have on society, should it ever be adopted…. I don’t see any way at all that it could do anything that wouldn’t improve the situation…..

And so I penned
It down, until at last it came to be,
For length and breadth, the bigness which you see.
— John Bunyan (1628-1688) — Pilgrim’s Progress, Apology for his Book
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I’m almost sorry to come to the end this morning. The thoughts are flowing easily, and Smart Bee is coming up with decent material…. but, all good things must come to an end…. otherwise it will never get posted.  🙂

I hope you enjoyed today’s little trip through the minefields in my head; I didn’t see any explosions that will cause serious injury, and around here, we call that a win….. 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!