There I go, trying to trick y’all into using your mental acuity first thing, just as if I had some reason to expect good results; I’ve barely had enough coffee to keep from biting myself, and I’m expecting skillful cogitation from my audience!  ❗  This does not bode well for the rest of this morning’s output, to say the least. In fact, we are approaching the point of no return, in terms of legality of assumption, and I may just have to cite myself, with a court date just far enough away to annoy me…. It’s one sure way to get me pissed off enough to focus…. It won’t improve my writing at all, but it does force me to concentrate on what is important, and keep stuff like this from falling out of my head and onto the screen….

I managed to somehow convince Murphy to take a few days off, by telling him about this other guy I met, who really was having a good life, with everything going well for him…. I lied, but he fell for it, and has gone to pick at the other guy for… well, I don’t know how long I’ll have, so I’m making the best of it….. I imagine he’ll be pissed when he gets back, as he will have figured out how I tricked him by then, but, I’ll deal with the consequences of that when they occur…. No sense in worrying about milk that isn’t on the floor yet…. Of course, I’ll probably have to also deal with the guy who got the brunt of his attention, if he ever finds out it was me who gave him the referral, but, he’s just a little guy, and I happen to know he disapproves of guns, so, I’m safe in that respect….

Well, for heaven’s sake (I know, I’m probably breaking several canonical laws, and heresying on several religions when I say that…. oh well….  😈  )…. Will you look at that? I’ve been babbling, not really paying attention, and a complete intro section has just sprung up around my words…. imagine that! I wonder how that happened?…. Is that ingenious enough? (Or is that disingenuous enough?) Is it too over the top?  I don’t want to make anyone nauseous with too much schmaltz…. that stuff can be dangerous, if one is unaccustomed to its use, and I try to be sparing with it…. Okay, that’s a lie, but, I do try not to get it on anyone’s best shoes….

Besides, we got here, didn’t we? I’m not going to sit here and be insulted, so… Well, yes, I am. I’m the one who babbled and meandered around again to fill in the intro with nonsense and meaningless BS, so I’m the one who should take the hits for it….. Go ahead, I’ll sit here and take it….. All done? Good, now we can get on with the remainder of our business, such as it is…. Shall we Pearl?…..
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“If good intentions are combined with stupidity, it is impossible to outthink them.” — Marion J. Levy, Jr.

Aha! So, THAT’S the problem with Reality! I should have noticed this sooner, and maybe, just maybe, you might have been saved from a rant or two…. Well, okay, so that’s a lie, but, it COULD have happened…. more’s the pity….

Actually, I’ve included this because it really is too true to be ignored…. This statement is a perfectly accurate description of many, many preacher/priests, and other delusional denizens of the organized religions, such as Catholicism, Islam, or even Hinduism, as the people who end up in those positions are generally motivated, originally, at least, by the desire to help their fellows, not to subvert them.

But, most are so weak-minded that they can’t even see that they, themselves, are being manipulated by their own leaders, manipulated until they believe the nonsense with which they are bombarded from day one in the seminary, or other school of divinity…. It is the Popes, and the Ayatollahs, and the other religious leaders, all of whom are well aware, down to the last decimal place of accuracy, of the degree of bullshit they are slinging, who are the evil minded ones, the true monsters who prey on their own kind, knowing full well that the religious dogma they are promoting is a pile of hogwash designed solely to keep the ignorant masses under control, in an attitude of submission….

Many of those at the top of the heap will even claim to be true believers, but, I have a hard time accepting that at face value, given the perks and privileges they seem to accept as their rightful due, even though those perks and privileges are directly in contrast, and directly in opposition to all they teach about worldly goods and their spiritual value…. Kind of blows their covers, wouldn’t you say? It’s hard to reconcile the talk about helping the poor, when one is wearing silk, and gold filigree, and dining on quail in aspic every night…. I don’t know about y’all, but I sense a bit of a conflict of interest there….

“If the Bible proves that God exists, then comic books prove the existence of Superman.” — Smart Bee

“After you’ve heard two or more eyewitness accounts of an auto accident it makes you wonder about any “recorded” history.” — Smart Bee

Unfortunately for all of us, whether we are sighted, or blind, to what is real, the validity of the first pearl in this section remains unchanged…. to wit: it is damnably true, and there isn’t a damn thing to do about it, except to keep on trying to throw out enough real, true information to counteract, or at least attempt to balance, all the delusional crap that pours out of the religiously oriented fools, who, though they believe they are doing the right thing, are merrily, and obliviously, carrying on the agenda of those above them, who have no scruples whatsoever, further placing themselves and their issue under the thumb of a group of folks who have been manipulating and robbing from society for millennia, all under the guise of concern for our welfare.

(Wow, I impressed myself with that paragraph, filling it up with one, continuous run-on sentence…. pretty slick, eh? Move over, Godot….)

This concept, little as it pleases those in the position of clerical authority, is the historical basis for the observation that everyone has heard, to wit: “The road to Hell is paved with good intentions.”  You will find that every priest or preacher, or for that matter, any politician, to whom you utter that phrase, immediately will launch into a well-practiced litany of reasons why you should pay it no mind, as it does not fit in with the manipulation they espouse as their modus vivendi, or for that matter, their modus operandi…. They don’t want people even THINKING of things like that, as it tends to lead to other revelations regarding their truthfulness… not an activity they wish to encourage among the flock….

Right there…. I’ve just used a word that is a dead giveaway…. Did you ever wonder why pastors and priests call their constituents their “flock”, and assume the position of being the shepherd in the analogy? Because it is quite accurate, in their minds, as they consider their constituents to be sheep, whose existence and meaning is to supply them with wool, lanolin, and a steady supply of mutton chops….. Not the whiskers, but the savory, er, well, distinctively flavored, tasty with mint-jelly type…. Yep, pretty subtle, as well as inherently cruel, but, hey, that’s what they do…..

“We lie loudest when we lie to ourselves.” — Eric Hoffer
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I believe I’m beginning to get a solid handle on how often I can rant, without becoming overly pedantic, or approaching a point where it becomes too much, too shrill and strident, which can decrease its attraction to the reader, as well as distract from the issue at hand, which mostly benefits from a dispassionate discussion, rather than an emotional one…. and all of that is just two and a half lines of self-indulgent back patting, so, I’ll cease and desist, and get on with the rest of today’s effort…. Which, as I was trying to get around to saying, will consist of yet another harlequin pearl…. Why fix what isn’t broken?…. Any point to today’s group of pearls will be a figment of your imagination, as I am going to try to deliberately get strange…. a rather easy task for me…. Enjoy!….

“Every society needs someone  whose job it is to tell the Emperor he’s naked.” — Smart Bee

“Ignorance is not bliss — it’s oblivion.” — Phillip Wylie

“Beauty is only skin deep, but ugly goes clean to the bone.” — Parker’s Law

1) A strong belief is more important than a few facts.
2) The stronger the belief, the fewer the facts.
3) The fewer the facts, the more people killed.

— Milton Rothman
(Taken directly from the Orientation Manual of the United States Congress, given to all newly elected officials….) (Honest….)

“God must love assholes — She made so many of them.” — Smart Bee

“If you are near the enemy, make him believe you are far from him. If you are far from the enemy, make him believe you are near.” — Sun-Tzu, The Art of War

“If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you’ll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don’t feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth.” — The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger, 1951
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