We don’t need no stinkin’ paradigms….

Posted on October 29, 2013 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

The title of today’s Pearl, somehow, got close to meaning something, as well as connecting that meaning to what is contained herein…. I’m positive, however misguided that may be, if I just ignore that, it will pass off without comment…. Hell, I’m not sure if there’s enough ffolkes out there TO comment, but, since that’s neither here, nor there, we’ll ignore that, too. It seems like the best thing to do on a day such as this promises to be…. I’m not sure exactly where my head’s at, but, it ain’t here, exactly, and I haven’t a clue as to how to go about finding out where it might be….. You know, just in case I need it? I’ve been told that I could use it around here, but, I don’t know what they mean by that…. do you?….

Honesty….. there’s a subject. Trust….. There’s another one… Honor, truth, integrity, compassion…. These are all good subjects, I think, and I’d love to be able to write about them directly, much more often than I do…. Mostly, though, I find myself ranting, about lies, intransigence, ignorance, and ambition, which is avarice by another name…. Oh, and stupidity…. Can’t forget THAT!…. Mankind possesses ALL of these characteristics, good and not-so-good alike, displaying them all at various times, when challenged by events, or while otherwise attempting to cope with reality. The funny thing is, ALL of them are available to us, but, we have to CHOOSE which ones we will use regularly to achieve our ends….

This is why I rant, or perhaps, more accurately, this is what I choose to rant about…. In today’s world, much as it has been for all of history, a small number of people spend an inordinate amount of time and energy achieving their desires, which involves the use of most of the negative qualities I mentioned, if only by implication, i.e., lying, cheating, stealing, and manipulating the rest of society, to ensure that they are in control of the most critical resources (you know, the law, and, therefore, the money….), thus ensuring that they possess the power to control the very large number of others (i.e., not them….) that make up society/humanity at large. This small percentage of humanity is very good at what they do; it really isn’t very hard to be a nasty person. It takes far more work, more inner strength, and more courage to live with integrity, than it does to live without it….

But, these folks prefer to live life “the easy way”, and allow their own vicious inner spirit to dictate how life will be for everyone else, for all those who don’t subscribe to their selfish need for self-aggrandizement, self-promotion, and a psychopathic need for power. They go into politics, (almost all of them start by studying law, so they know which ones are most easily circumvented….) or into the armed/police forces, or into the priesthood, ostensibly out of a sense of civic duty, or a desire to protect others (the “knight errant syndrome”), or of having received “a call from God” (they have medicines for that now, you know….), all of which have been used to rationalize their need to go forth and pester the people unto death….

My ranting has reached a certain limit though, one recognized, and most likely created, by my own mind…. I’m getting tired of pointing out all the obvious (to me) evidence that shows up every day on the news, evidence that supports my contentions about the Beloved Ruling Class, the Shadowy Corporate Masters, the Hierarchies of Priestly Delusion, and the misguided myrmidons that make up the armed/police forces, who act as the enforcement arm of the master classes, mostly without any idea of how they are being manipulated by them. I’m tired of it, not because I can’t find any more to show, or any more to say about their chicanery, but because it’s not having much of an effect….

I know that I shouldn’t EXPECT my ranting to have much effect on Reality…. It takes a lot of power and energy to have any effect at all on society, due to the massive inertia involved in any changes made, and I’m not so egotistical as to think that I’m such a great writer, everyone will fall right in with what I’m saying, or so full of myself as to think I can convince society to make changes that could conceivably make things better for a lot of people….But, after all, how much damage will it cause if we treated each other with more integrity, started telling the truth more often, and began working toward a better existence for ALL of us…. It certainly wouldn’t hurt, would it?

Nope, I don’t think so…. But, nobody’s listening, pretty much, and those who are, I believe, pretty much agree with me, so there’s little more to do in that direction…. I’m going to take a break from ranting, I think, at least in one respect, which is, I’ll confine my rants to old-school style pearls, which put the onus of the most critical ‘thinking’ part of the deal back onto the Gentle Reader….. Or, conversely, I’ll merely include links to articles of interest on the subjects I usually rant about, giving y’all, if nothing else, more evidence of what is going on out there, the stuff they do that can hurt y’all, if you don’t keep an eye on it… with, perhaps, a comment or two of an ironic, or even sardonic, nature, just to keep my hand in….

Shall we Pearl?…..

“We are as different from one another on the inside of our heads as we appear to be different from one another on the outside of our heads. The world “out there” is as much a projection from inside our heads as it is a perception. It is almost unbelievable that we are all dealing with the same reality. We operate on a kind of loose consensus about existence.” — Robert Fulghum “It Was on Fire When I Lay Down on It”
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To begin well, one must begin as you intend to go on…. or, so it has been said….. Who am I, then, to question such ancient wisdom? No one… No one at all…. Here is a pearl of the most ancient variety…. Deliberately obscure, yet pointedly cruel in its indictment of those who would be king….

“Arguments seem futile to me, for behind every argument I have ever heard lies the astounding ignorance of someone.” — Justice Louis D. Brandeis (1856-1941)

“To be forced by desire into any unwarrantable belief is a calamity.” — I.A. Richards

“Just because an animal is large, it doesn’t mean he doesn’t want kindness; however big Tigger seems to be, remember that he wants as much kindness as Roo.” — Pooh’s Little Instruction Book, inspired by A. A. Milne

“Custom is almost a second nature.” — Plutarch (46-120 AD) — Rules for the Preservation of Health, 18

“If you tell the truth you don’t have to remember anything.” — Mark Twain

“I hate mankind, for I think myself one of the best of them, and I know how bad I am.” — Samuel Johnson

“It is a sin to believe evil of others, but it is seldom a mistake.” — H. L. Mencken
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A poem is there, inside my head, but won’t come out to play yet…. A Pearl such as this one, however, should have one of mine, if for no other reason than to save anyone else from guilt by association… hence, this one, which I wrote in 2012….

“Poetry is what gets lost in translation.” — Robert Frost

Placidly falling in amber waves: old friends

Whiskey, oh, whiskey, I’d forgotten thy balm,
thy loving spread of lassitude, and nature’s own calm.
Misery and pain flee in squalid disorganization,
leaving mirth, happily embraced, in just consolation.

James, old friend, thou has not abandoned me at all,
steadfast and loyal, ever ready to answer my softest call.
Ephemeral illusions of normality come at your instigation
blessed moments of peaceful joy, sans vilification.

Gasps of coherence pound at the door to conscious thought,
muffled explosive memories of battles already fought.
Malleable as the changeable airs of time and circumstance
plaintive calls to reason stand not a single, honest chance.

Sober again, reality’s cold reign brings a new day
ringing in old changes in a new-fashioned way.
To know true freedom’s release from our everyday pain
Is worth a bit of headache, even in the cold, pouring rain.

~~ gigoid ~~
~~ two sheets to the wind, and back ~~

“You will find poetry nowhere, unless you bring some with you.” — Joseph Joubert
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As promised above, I’ll not rant any more than I already have done…. Also as promised, I’m including some links, to several articles regarding the continuing revelations about the extent of the spying our Beloved Ruling Class has been doing on, well, everyone in the world, it seems…. The scariest part of the whole deal, for me, is the one quoted piece of text after the first link. The quote comes from that article, and is scary because of its implications…. The President doesn’t sign off on this stuff? Does that mean they get to decide for themselves who to spy on? Well, yep, to them, I guess it does…. which means that nobody at all is overseeing what they decide…. Ah well, enough, see for yourself just how bad it is, ffolkes….

http://news.yahoo.com/us-ended-merkel-spying-program-report-062120305.html

“These decisions are made at NSA,” the unnamed official told the Journal….”The president doesn’t sign off on this stuff.”

http://www.sfgate.com/politics/article/Feinstein-plans-bill-to-codify-NSA-s-phone-spying-4931092.php

More proof that political chicanery is NOT limited to the Republican Party, but, rather, continues to run rampant on both sides of the congressional aisle….

“People believe it’s surveillance, but it’s not,” Feinstein said. Some may have a problem with the collection of data,” she said, but “realistically, it’s the only way we prevent an attack.”

Oh, really? The ONLY way? When did she get appointed to dictate what is realistic? The use of semantics to make a point like this is a clear indication that something is NOT being said, or, in other words, somebody isn’t telling the whole truth of the matter…. In short, it’s a lie….

http://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/Report-US-monitored-60-million-calls-in-Spain-4931617.php

“But it’s all for you own good!”….. Right, mm hmm, sure…..
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In the interests of reducing the average number of words I post each day, I’ll leave this here; as Lao Tzu said, “One who knows he has enough is rich.” See ya tomorrow….

Y’all take care out there,
and May the Metaphorse be with you;
Blessed Be, dearest Carole, Mark, and Theresa…
and everyone else, too…

When I works, I works hard.
When I sits, I sits loose.
When I thinks, I falls asleep.

Which is Why….

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

gigoid

Dancing away our cares in muffin colored shoes….

Posted on October 28, 2013 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

Foul! Foul! The convicted creatures of the night cried out in fear and hope, bleeding from a thousand wounds… Drifting, without pace, or price, no vector described, filling out the spaces between with animated visions of bright, colorful clouds, all with familiar faces. Barely alive, hovering over the warmth, of five distinct sources of valiant bravery, of arguable finality, those arguments fail in basic logical structure, thereby pinning their hopes on the last bus from town. We don’t know if they’ll have exact change, so the extensively fashionable wiper blades were turned on for a while to compensate. All will be copacetic, as long as no one tries to comprehend…

If you have, well, good luck with the headache you probably have by now…. Hell, I’ve got one, so, you should, too; it’s only fair…. Sorry for that one, folks….. The above paragraph is a leftover bad habit from my teens and early twenties, a form of what I like to call jabberwock, nonsense that makes sense, almost, just like the bandersnatch, a manner of wielding the vorpal blade of intellect and wit with style and elegance. It consists of words, phrases, and concepts in language that tends to confuse rather than illuminate. It is intended to stimulate cogitation of some form, as well as emotional disturbance of some degree, preferably up to the level of aggravation, without spilling over into violent objection of a physical nature (the latter has been threatened a time or two, when we got a little out of hand with it in public….)….

During my college years, a few friends and I would go into late-night diners to have coffee, and begin to talk in jabberwock, improvising as we went along… sort of improvisational philosophy for the mildly insane. We, of course, thought it hilarious that other people, the “normals” who were in the diner, listening to this, would often get up and leave, obviously in a huff, because they didn’t understand what they were hearing, and were too embarrassed, or perhaps too angry, to ask us to stop, or even ask what we were doing….

At our age, we didn’t care, and the more who left, the better…. until the owner objected because of losing customers…. Usually we went to those diners that catered to college kids, and understood the hi-jinx they perpetrate in the throes of their intellectual growth, but, sometimes, the local Denny’s was our targeted spot, to see how many folks we could get to leave quickly, jamming their food down as fast as possible, in order to get away from the crazies in the next booth…. SIGH…. those were the days!…..

There, now, don’t y’all feel better? I’ve managed to introduce today’s Pearl of Virtual Wisdom without resorting to any tricks…. This was pretty straightforward, with a flash of jabberwock to start, with a polite, if specious and of little real value, explanation of the opening, using some rather poignant memories from my youth…. I’d say this one is quite the little foray into normalcy for me, so, I hope you hate it, because it just about drove me crazy, trying to be that way…. Normal, I mean…

Ah hell, you know what I mean…. Shall we Pearl?…..

“Trouble rather the tiger in his lair than the sage amongst his books. For to you Kingdoms and their armies are things mighty and enduring, but to him they are but toys of the moment, to be overturned by the flicking of a finger.” — Chinese proverb
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This section has been growing on me, so I’ve decided to leave all previous formats behind, to engage in some sheer mental indulgence…. I’ll stop writing when I see a chance to do so gracefully, how’s that?….. First significant change to note is that this section has a title, which indicates the precise subject under discussion, to wit:

“A prosperous fool is a grievous burden.” — Aeschylus (525-456 BC) — Frag. 383

Yes, ffolkes, I’ve had time to peruse the news, (Hey, a rhyme! A good sign this early on…), and have seen a bit of what transpired while I was off ignoring the world at large, in favor of the world at hand. At this juncture, I can only say that it’s hard to be right so often…. That’s a joke, by the way…. What I mean is, I expected SOME sort of further evidence of how the Beloved Ruling Class continues to screw the public at every opportunity to present itself, at one point or another while I wasn’t watching…. and, I was right…. Sometime yesterday afternoon, after reading some stuff on the internet, I started this section, collecting the information I’ll discuss…. The collection of that information prompted the following, thanks to SB, and the FIRST beginning of this epic pearl-to-be….

“Just because you’re STUPID ain’t no excuse.” — Smart Bee

“Progress doesn’t enlighten people – it just makes them stupid in new ways.”– Smart Bee

“You’ve little to fear, brave knight…unless the dragon stops purring.” — Smart Bee

I’ve begun this section with a three-star pearl, an obvious set of matching earrings, with a ponderous pendant, which seemed to put just the right tone to the subject we are about to cover… Well, I’ll cover it, and you can read, or not, as suits you…. It’d be cool if y’all stuck around & hung in with it… I worked hard on this one, with research, quotes, extra time in SB, and the whole nine yards, not to mention the ranting that should ensue as a part of it….

I hope y’all enjoy today’s journey into the madness of Reality, as I fight my way back from the illusionary world of luxury travel…. As is obvious, it didn’t take long for me to catch up to what’s been going on while I ignored the rest of the world, so let’s get to it…. For starters, please peruse this article from yesterdays news on SFGATE…. several quotes, from the article will follow, with my comments, surrounded by nothing… ( quotes from the article are surrounded by this indicator: “~~” , two squiggly lines together,, then quotation marks around the text… I chose it because I like to write the word “squiggly”, thus making people think more squiggly, always a good thing….)

http://www.sfgate.com/news/politics/article/NSA-spying-threatens-to-hamper-US-foreign-policy-4928089.php

~~ “To Henry Farrell and Martha Finnemore at George Washington University, damage from the NSA disclosures could “undermine Washington’s ability to act hypocritically and get away with it.” ~~

My immediate reaction to this was, “Oh, those poor babies!”….. 😆 To think that a government official would have to go through a day without being able to resort to a lie…. boy, what cruelty! It amazes me that this line didn’t faze the public’s credibility, as I haven’t heard of very much backlash about what is essentially old news… By that I refer to the “acting hypocritically” by the government… It’s almost as if the public EXPECTS to be treated that way, and, like a horse that has been beaten too long, no longer flinches at the feel of the whip…

~~ “Madeleine Albright, secretary of state during the Clinton administration, recalled being at the United Nations and having the French ambassador ask her why she said something in a private conversation apparently intercepted by the French.

Albright says Snowden’s disclosures have hurt U.S. policymakers. “A lot of the things that have come out, I think are specifically damaging because they are negotiating positions and a variety of ways that we have to go about business,” Albright said at a conference hosted by the Center for American Progress in Washington. “I think it has made life very difficult for Secretary Kerry. … There has to be a set of private talks that, in fact, precede negotiations and I think it makes it very, very hard. The broad nature of NSA surveillance goes against the Obama administration’s claim that much of U.S. espionage is carried out to combat terrorism, she said.

The administration asserts that the U.S. is amassing intelligence of the type gathered by all nations and that it’s necessary to protect the U.S. and its allies against security threats.” ~~

Again, oh my goodness! These poor, abused diplomats and former pundits! To think that being responsible for their lies makes their job harder is the height of arrogance, for it assumes that the lies are not the issue, but rather, being caught in the lies…. The issue of most primary significance is, and always has been, the simple FACT that they lie to begin with….. They do this because, hey, we were elected, weren’t we?…. Thus, they believe they have the right to do so, no matter what the public may think…. After all, the public doesn’t know what’s good for them, do they?…. That’s why they elected us, isn’t it?…. So, see, nothing to see here, never mind, just go put the whistleblower in jail for the rest of his life for having the bad grace to tell the truth….

“The true, unacknowledged purpose of capital punishment (or life imprisonment for telling the truth — gigoid) is to inspire fear and awe–fear and awe of the State.” — Edward Abbey

~~ “The French government protested revelations this past week that the NSA had collected 70.3 million French-based telephone and electronic message records in a 30-day period.

Germany and France are demanding that the administration agree by year’s end to new rules that could mean an end to reported American eavesdropping on foreign leaders, companies and innocent citizens.

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff canceled her official state visit to the White House. She ordered measures aimed at greater Brazilian online independence and security after learning that the NSA intercepted her communications, hacked into the state-owned Petrobras oil company’s network and spied on Brazilians.

Brazil says it is working with other countries to draft a U.N. General Assembly resolution that would guarantee people’s privacy in electronic communications.

A European Parliament committee approved rules that would strengthen online privacy and outlaw the kind of data transfers the U.S. is using for its spying program.

European lawmakers have called for the suspension of an agreement that grants U.S. authorities access to bank data needed for terrorism-related investigations.

“We need trust among allies and partners,” said German Chancellor Angela Merkel, whose cellphone was allegedly tapped by the NSA. “Such trust now has to be built anew.” ~~

Aha! Somebody says the key word, at last…. Trust…. A simple word, yet one of the most powerful concepts in the human lexicon of ideas that affect reality most strongly. This one is a basic part of ANY and ALL human interactions, with other humans, with animals, with the universe, wherever… As humans, we rely on certain concepts to be true, and when they are not, our ability to retain our honor, and our sanity, are affected strongly…. Whether we are affected in a way that strengthens, or weakens, is immaterial…. It makes each interaction more stressful, because the trust must be there to deal with it efficiently, without precautions, extra effort, or rejection….

I know, that’s a bit esoteric for morning conversation…. But, it all affects what is happening in the world, and the BRC still refuses to acknowledge their own responsibility in making trust a scarce commodity…. They believe the problem is that the secrets were told, when the real problem is that the secrets exist, and are expected to be hidden without consequence…. The government does not EVER question the rightness of their own actions; it is a foregone conclusion, proven throughout our history, that to act on ANY assumption of that nature is a sure path to self-destruction… In this case, that path will not merely lead them, but will pull all of us with them…. Apparently, with our full permission…

Thomas Jefferson, along with others of the Founding Fathers of this country warned future generations to be mindful of corporate special interests, i.e. “bankers”…. Money, and more importantly, the desire for it, and for the power over others it brings, has long been recognized as the root of most of our problems as a society, and as individuals in that society…. It affects human behavior in a personal way, creating avarice, hatred, and mistrust between the best of friends; it also affects human behavior on a societal level, as those same characteristics come to play on the public stage….

The following article, by one of my favorite voices of reason, Jon Carroll, is an excellent discussion, and an excellent indictment of those people among us who act as wolves, viewing others as prey, in the pursuit of their own ambitions….

http://www.sfgate.com/entertainment/carroll/article/An-upright-salute-to-government-today-4920756.php

As any sage knows, enough is enough…. I may not be a sage, but, I know that…. Besides, if you haven’t gotten the picture by this time, it’s probably not working, anyway, so, ‘twould be best to exit now, with what grace can be summoned…. They’re not good people, ffolkes, though they would have you believe they are…. and, I don’t think I need to explain, at this point, who “they” are…. Take care of each other, as best you can, and try not to harm anyone without good reason…. At this point in the game, that’s about the best we can do….

“To date, there is only one animal in the Galaxy dangerous to man- man himself. He must supply his own indispensable competition. He has no enemy to help him.” — Lazarus Long
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I’ve never been able to completely explain why I enjoy the poetry of this woman…. Though she is acknowledged as one of the most creative and powerful poets in history, her work is an acquired taste…. But, with her, as with little girls and butterflies, no explanation is really needed… I speak, of course, of Miss Emily D….

Perhaps the most significant thing I like about her work is that she left the title of each poem up to the reader…. They may supply one, in their own mind, or not…. She doesn’t seem to care, or perhaps didn’t want to influence them with pre-conceived notions of the meaning of the poem to follow…. I like that, for some perverse reason….

Death sets a thing significant
The eye had hurried by,
Except a perished creature
Entreat us tenderly

To ponder little workmanships
In crayon or in wool,
With “This was last her fingers did,”
Industrious until

The thimble weighed too heavy,
The stitches stopped themselves,
And then ‘t was put among the dust
Upon the closet shelves.

A book I have, a friend gave,
Whose pencil, here and there,
Had notched the place that pleased him,–
At rest his fingers are.

Now, when I read, I read not,
For interrupting tears
Obliterate the etchings
Too costly for repairs.

~~ Emily Dickinson ~~

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Without even having to look, I know this is already nearing the point of the largest Pearl ever created on this blog; I must have buried more material in my brain while I was off cruising than I had imagined, because it’s all spilling out now… Ah well, it’s all been quite cathartic, so I’ll just make a last, quick, old-school group of pearls to make up the last pearl for today…. Enjoy, as we see what comes up on the Wheel of Philosophy, as interpreted by gigoid’s complex set of non-rules….

“No man is happy who does not think himself so.” — Publius Syrus (42 BC) — Maxim 584

“Humans hardly ever learn from the experience of others. They learn – when they do, which isn’t often – on their own, the hard way.” — Robert Heinlein, Time Enough for Love

“Heisenberg may have slept here.” — Smart Bee

“War loves to seek its victims in the young.” — Sophocles (496-406 BC) — Scyrii, Frag. 507

“Beginnings and endings are, for the most part, artificial constructs. You say you begin when you are born, but what of those months spent growing in the womb? Endings are hazier still, for further things may occur that extend and enlarge the earlier story. And that is my final sentence on the subject. Or perhaps this one is the final sentence. No, most assuredly what I write now is the final word on the matter. But now that I think upon it, perhaps this….” — The Teachings of Ebenezum, Vol. LVII (Abridged)

20. When you realize you’ve made a mistake, take immediate steps to correct it. — Instructions for life

“I know things about TROY DONAHUE that can’t even be PRINTED!!” — Zippy the Pinhead
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As noted above, this turned into a REAL epic Pearl…. Let’s go see just how epic…. If there ever was a more appropriate time to say, “Whew!”, I can’t imagine when it might occur…. So much so, I’m done, I’m gone, I’m outta here…. Whew!….

Y’all take care out there,
and May the Metaphorse be with you;
Blessed Be, dearest Carole, Mark, and Theresa…
and everyone else, too…

When I works, I works hard.
When I sits, I sits loose.
When I thinks, I falls asleep.

Which is Why….

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

gigoid

Plainly painful paroxysms of unnatural concern….

Posted on October 27, 2013 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

Well, I’m back. It seems as if I’ve been gone forever, but that’s probably the coffee’s fault. It’s so wonderful to be at home, where I can count on that first cup of coffee in the morning to be a good one…. I won’t go into great detail now, but, suffice it to say, I am less than totally happy with the coffee on cruise ships, and leave it at that, in celebration of the first good cup in a week, ready for me to drink, with the proper condiments, when I arise, at the very moment I need it the most…..

I’ve survived yet again, even without being able to post a blog each day as intended…. I also didn’t take very many pictures, finding it quite relaxing this time to NOT worry about that, or about writing. I’m sorry, but the internet they use on the ships is pretty bad, compared to just about any other I’ve ever connected to, and trying to work around their deficiencies just made it too much work.

So, I ate, and slept, ate some more, and walked around the ship doing stuff that seemed fun at the time… Or, we’d go ashore when in port, walk around a bit to see the sights, and have lunch in a different venue, if there was a nice place to go… In short, I did practically nothing for seven days…. I did so much nothing, I only had time to read two books…..’Twas grand, to be sure…. even though I’ll have to read a lot for a while to feel right….

For most of the time since receiving my disability status, and the money they owed me for the years they made me wait to get it, I’ve traveled, as I intended from the moment I heard I’d be getting back payments of my monthly checks… I’ve spent almost a full month of days on cruise ships, on three separate cruises, to Europe, Alaska, and Mexico; I’ve been to Texas twice, and to Oregon once. I’ve also used the money to live as comfortably as I can, with absolutely no regrets about how I spent much of it on myself, fulfilling my own dreams, an event which has never before occurred in my life….

Since the age of 28, when my kids came along, all of my money has gone to take care of was necessary for others, rather than what was desired by me, and I have NO problem with that; it’s the way it should be for a man with family to care for…. I’ve put off all of my youthful wishes to travel, without any regret at all, sublimating by traveling with the family when I could afford to do so…. In fact, taking them on a cruise, when the kids were pre-teens, is what hooked me on cruising in the first place….

There are times when I feel a pang or two of discomfort, but, that has more to do with my lifelong pursuit of truth, my political and social views, and the insidious way money corrupts, than it is about my own weakness for luxury… There is a part of me that KNOWS that cruising is really just another of the corporate masters’ illusions, only made available to the general public to keep their eyes focused on unreachable goals, and away from the nastiness they perpetrate in other areas of our existence….

Going on a cruise is fun, but one should always keep in mind that it is not normal, and people who actually live in a way that allows them to do that sort of thing on a regular basis are a big part of the problems we have in society. In addition, such industries, making billions of dollars annually, are a constant drain on the planet’s resources, put to use to keep the circus interesting for us, but actually keeping us under the thrall of those who actually control the money…. I KNOW all that, and it is all absolutely true, yet, I still enjoy the experience of living in decadence, even for a short time….

I think, over the next few weeks, I’ll discuss this further, as it is something I think is worth examination from a critical standpoint…. It will also give me a chance to get back into ranting before I really get back into the swing of things out in the real-time world…. For six days, I’ve ignored the news completely, and have no clue as to what is up in the world; I didn’t even read the headlines. It actually surprised me to find myself last night watching Game 3 of the World Series, as I had forgotten it was opening last week…. Actually, that’s a good feeling; I always enjoy my bouts of ignorance, and can see how it is an attractive state to live in, for those folks who are able to shut off their thinking apparatus…. Mine always pushes its own power button, so it never shuts off for long….

Okay, that should be enough…. I’ve rambled and blathered, I’ve made a few pointed remarks about the bad guys, and reasserted my geopolitical views. I’ve bragged about my travels, and been trite, and even a bit ashamed…. and, best of all, I haven’t spilled anything on anybody! Bonus! Any who, I think I’d best get on with this, and see if I can salvage any of my dignity…. Doubtful, but ever hopeful, I plod on….

Shall we Pearl?….

“Homo sum; humani nihil a me alienum puto.” [“I am a human, and nothing human is alien to me”] — Publius Terentius Afer, c.190-159 B.C. — Heautontimoroumenos, a. 1, sc. 1, v. 25
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First, to get the trip off my mind and out of my head, let’s put in the pictures I DID take while on the cruise…. As I mentioned, there aren’t a lot of them, as I ended up taking the trip off from ALL of my usual activities, including taking pictures…. I did manage to get a couple from each port we stopped in, but, only a couple, so there aren’t many to choose from, or worth showing… but, what I have are here for y’all to see, such as they are….

Our ports of call were, in order of visit, Santa Barbara, Long Beach, San Diego, all in California, and Ensenada, Mexico, leaving and coming back to home port in San Francisco…. I’ll try to put the pix up in order, but, I’m still not totally adept with the adding media functions in Word Press, so we’ll see how that goes….. Since I’m home, and don’t have to worry about network speed, it should be possible to add some comments, but, that is still to be determined…. At any rate, here are the best shots I DID take, and I hope you enjoy them….

The first stop was Santa Barbara… these were taken from the tender on the way to shore, on State Street, and more from the tender on the way back to the ship…
I was right… the order of the pix isn’t correct, but, hey, they’re here, so… Next came Long Beach, where I had lunch with one of my old friends, (he’s not so old, but we’ve been friends for almost 25 years…), on the Queen Mary I, right next to where our ship docked… Believe me, there wasn’t anything else to take a picture of… It IS the port of Los Angeles, don’t y’know….

Next came San Diego, where we docked next to the USS Midway, a WWII aircraft carrier, now a museum, and some old, tall ships on the other side, at the San Diego Maritime Museum….

Our last stop was in Ensenada, Baja Mexico, where I was so distracted by all the street vendors I got only one picture, and then forgot the camera was even in my pocket… This was the scene in the courtyard where the shuttle from the ship dropped off the victims, er, tourists in the downtown area….

Okay, ffolkes, that’s the extent of it… I told you I didn’t do much, and I meant it, didn’t I?… I hope I didn’t bore y’all too much… I had fun, any who, so, all is well in the land of gigoid….
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Choosing the first poem to post was tougher than I had imagined it would be; hopefully, you will enjoy this one, as it cost me a lot of effort to decide which one to choose…. In the end, I chose one that I’ve used before, a couple of times…. Each time, I see in it more of myself than I saw before, which convinces me of its universal relevance….. But, mostly I just like it…. that counts for something, I hope….

A Song About Myself

I.
There was a naughty boy,
A naughty boy was he,
He would not stop at home,
He could not quiet be-
He took
In his knapsack
A book
Full of vowels
And a shirt
With some towels,
A slight cap
For night cap,
A hair brush,
Comb ditto,
New stockings
For old ones
Would split O!
This knapsack
Tight at’s back
He rivetted close
And followed his nose
To the north,
To the north,
And follow’d his nose
To the north.

II.
There was a naughty boy
And a naughty boy was he,
For nothing would he do
But scribble poetry-
He took
An ink stand
In his hand
And a pen
Big as ten
In the other,
And away
In a pother
He ran
To the mountains
And fountains
And ghostes
And postes
And witches
And ditches
And wrote
In his coat
When the weather
Was cool,
Fear of gout,
And without
When the weather
Was warm-
Och the charm
When we choose
To follow one’s nose
To the north,
To the north,
To follow one’s nose
To the north!

III.
There was a naughty boy
And a naughty boy was he,
He kept little fishes
In washing tubs three
In spite
Of the might
Of the maid
Nor afraid
Of his Granny-good-
He often would
Hurly burly
Get up early
And go
By hook or crook
To the brook
And bring home
Miller’s thumb,
Tittlebat
Not over fat,
Minnows small
As the stall
Of a glove,
Not above
The size
Of a nice
Little baby’s
Little fingers-
O he made
‘Twas his trade
Of fish a pretty kettle
A kettle-
A kettle
Of fish a pretty kettle
A kettle!

IV.
There was a naughty boy,
And a naughty boy was he,
He ran away to Scotland
The people for to see-
There he found
That the ground
Was as hard,
That a yard
Was as long,
That a song
Was as merry,
That a cherry
Was as red,
That lead
Was as weighty,
That fourscore
Was as eighty,
That a door
Was as wooden
As in England-
So he stood in his shoes
And he wonder’d,
He wonder’d,
He stood in his
Shoes and he wonder’d.

~~ John Keats ~~

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“Ninety percent of everything is crud.” — Sturgeon’s Revelation

It’s always tempting to write a rant using this statement by one of Science Fiction’s most revered and highly respected authors; I usually refrain from doing so in order to avoid any chance of my thoughts becoming part of that ninety percent so eloquently highlighted…. It is also a temptation to discuss the merits of the statement in terms of accuracy, but, that also tends to enter the realm of surreality, as the truth of the statement is all too often proven, not only by those who are critical of it, but, also, by those who are asserting its veracity…. Personally, I find it best to merely accept it, just as it is, and be done with it….

In light of that, and in the interests of time management, (plus, I wouldn’t want to drive anyone away on my first day back by being too heavy-handed, or any more bozoid than is necessary….), this section will be the latest in a long line of pearls of virtual wisdom that chose themselves…. Well, the one parameter used today was the above revelation, so it should work out well, as we are, in new-age parlance, ‘going with the flow’…..

Remember, ffolkes, to correctly interpret the following, you will need to place the above revelation in its correct position among the others, an exercise that, as always, I will leave to you, as the prerogative of the Gentle Reader in all such instances….

“We rest here while we can, but we hear the ocean calling in our dreams, And we know by the morning, the wind will fill our sails to test the seams, The calm is on the water and part of us would linger by the shore, For ships are safe in harbor, but that’s not what ships are for.” from “Ships”, by Tom Kimmel & Michael Lille

“If it ain’t broke, maybe you need a bigger hammer.” — Smart Bee

“If there is no struggle, there is no progress. Those of us who profess to favor freedom yet depreciate agitation are men who want the crops without plowing up the ground. They want rain without thunder. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters…This struggle may be a moral one or a physical one, but it must be a struggle. Power concedes nothing without demand. It never has and never will. Show me the exact amount of wrong and injustices that are visited upon a person and I will show you the exact amount of words endured by these people. These wrongs and injustices may be fought with words or with blows or both. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppose.” — Frederick Douglass (1817-1895), Letter to Gerrit Smith [March 30, 1849]

“There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. books are well written, or badly written, That is all.” — Oscar Wilde (1854-1900)

“Blessed is he who expects nothing, for he shall never be disappointed.” — Alexander Pope (1688-1744) — Letter to Gay, Oct, 6, 1727

“What do they call a comedian who doesn’t get any laughs? A philosopher.” — Phil Proctor
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Oddly enough, this didn’t go too badly; I had some reservations when I sat down, but, I don’t think I’ve done anything here to be ashamed of…. Not any more than usual, anyway…. Let’s see how it holds up under scrutiny….. I can’t honestly say I think this is great literature, but, it won’t poke out your eyes, or, more importantly, make you want to poke out anyone else’s, mine included…. That being said, I’d best leave it as it is, and hope for the best…. I’ll try again tomorrow to get a few steps further toward coherence, and toward sanity….

Y’all take care out there,
and May the Metaphorse be with you;
Blessed Be, dearest Carole, Mark, and Theresa…
and everyone else, too…

When I works, I works hard.
When I sits, I sits loose.
When I thinks, I falls asleep.

Which is Why….

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

gigoid

North flew East, East turned West; South became irrelevant….

Posted on October 19, 2013 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

Normally, my travelogues feature more artwork, in the sense that I generally post pictures that I’ve taken myself, of the places and people I’ve seen in my ramblings for the day. Since it will be eight or so hours until I actually embark on the ship, which then sets sail at about 4 PM, I am as yet without my camera, which is packed away for the ordeal of getting through the security checkpoint….

I suppose I could have taken a few pix of me and my lady, or my son, who will be driving us today in his limo, but, none of us particularly care for fame, or photos of ourselves, (in my case, there is the danger to the camera itself; my visage has been known to freeze digital cameras instantly….), and who wants to see pix of a street corner, with no people in it?…. So, y’all will have to wait until tomorrow, when I’ll have some shots from the first night on board….

In past travelogues, I concentrated a lot on pictures of where I was visiting, and neglected to show off the ships I’ve been on, which are part of the attraction for me in traveling. It makes perfect sense to my hedonistic side to travel in luxury if possible; I’ve traveled the cheap way, staying in hostels or cheap motels, eating out of the markets and fast food joints, and taking trains and buses to where I wished to go. Often, before I was married, I’d even resort to hitchhiking for my travel mode…. cheap, and you meet some great ffolkes, but it can be a bit inconsistent if traffic is slow, and can take a LONG time to get anywhere…

That sort of travel is great fun, but requires a lot of energy and physical stamina that I no longer possess, so, having a place to take a nap when I get tired, in a five star hotel, with three gourmet meals a day (or more….), along with staff eager to provide service, is a better choice for someone of my age and condition…. Plus, on those voyages on which my luck holds, the casino can help reduce the overall cost of the trip….. I came out about $500 ahead of the game on my Alaska cruise, with my winnings exceeding my bar bills by about that much…. Of course, I went a bit crazy on souvenirs for everyone, but, hey, I tried….

This trip, I’ll try to remember to take more shots on board, to let y’all see what it’s like to cruise with a crazy old long-haired, long-winded blogger…. or, at least to give you a better idea of what it looks like on board…. Plus, it keeps me from having to think too hard about what to include in the Pearls, which will give me more time to just screw around and do nothing…. which is, after all, the whole point of cruising, to have all the time one wishes to just do nothing….

Doing nothing, in our culture, tends to be looked down upon severely, especially by those who suffer from Christian guilt, and the whole concept of “the near-occasion of sin”, wherein the church assumes that everyone WILL give in to temptation, and everyone WILL act on their worst impulses to (GASP!….) sit around and do nothing, thus becoming undisciplined, immoral, and worst-case for the dogmatists, reduce their guilt, making them less amenable, and more resistive, to behavioral control…. They HATE that!….

So, I encourage hedonism at every turn, as should every other person of a like mind; it’s the best method I’ve found for providing almost immediate relief from the constipated, bloated feeling of constriction that goes along with allowing the dogmatists to draw the patterns of your life. A good, meal, with just a little too much wine and conviviality, is the perfect antidote to the most stringent attitudes…. Why, a prime rib, and a bottle of good Cabernet, has been known to destroy six years of Catholic denial in one sitting, given the proper company, and perhaps some after dinner brandy…. And, even if it doesn’t completely eradicate ALL one’s prior conditioning, the process of removing it, meal by wonderful meal, is one that appeals to even the most hardened ascetic…

Hmm…. I seem to have strayed a bit afield from the concept of an intro…. not unusual, I suppose, and possibly much better than the typical rant I’ve been saddling y’all with of late. I can see that, no matter what I’ve been babbling about, it’s certainly long enough to meet the legal standards for which we shoot, so, I’m opting to go with my usual technique, to just go with it, without worrying at all about what the hell it means, or what it may or may not do in terms of stimulation of cogitation…. That, of course, is, ultimately, the personal responsibility of each gentle reader, at least for the cogitation part…. I’ll try to supply the stimulation, but, no promises, eh?…..

Shall we Pearl?…..

“If any man asks for greatness, let him forget greatness and ask for truth, and he will find both.” — Horace Mann
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“Anger is a tool, not a master. Anger is meant to be tapped into and drawn upon. Used properly, anger is useful. Sloth, apathy, and despair are the enemy. Anger is not. Anger is our friend. Not a nice friend, not a gentle friend, but a very loyal friend. It will always tell us when we have been betrayed. It will always tell us when we have betrayed ourselves. It will always tell us that it is time to act in our own best interests. Anger is not the action itself. It is action’s invitation.” — Julia Cameron “The Artist’s Way”

“He who conquers himself is the mightiest warrior.” — Confucius

I had originally intended to write a piece to accompany these three statements, the latter of which are from two of the most revered philosophers in history…. but, there really isn’t any need to expand on this idea…. It’s pretty perfect, as wisdom goes, so, I’m going to do the unusual, for me, and leave it alone, to allow you the space to consider the concept in your own way, and in your own time….

Just know this…. if there is a single key to being happy in life, this is it…. This is the key to ALL wisdom, ffolkes, so just let it become part of your inner self, and you’ll find your life has fallen into a pattern of serenity, and an inner peace that you have never known….. Oh, didn’t I say what that key is? Hmm, imagine that…. I guess I forgot…. Well, it’s probably best if you articulate it yourself; it seems to work better that way…. Okay, if you insist, one last hint….

“A person never so beautifully shows his own strength, as when he respects another’s weakness.” — Smart Bee

If that doesn’t do it, well, then, we’ll just have to try again another time, won’t we?…. 😆
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“I have thought many times since that if poets when they get discouraged would blow their brains out, they could write very much better when they got well.” — Mark Twain

Hmm…. I’m not sure, but, perhaps Mark was feeling a bit curmudgeonly toward poets that day…. If not, well, we all know his fondness for sardonicism, don’t we?…. Here’s one I think you’ll enjoy, from a poet I’ve only recently begun to explore….

Song

A rowan like a lipsticked girl.
Between the by-road and the main road
Alder trees at a wet and dripping distance
Stand off among the rushes.

There are the mud-flowers of dialect
And the immortelles of perfect pitch
And that moment when the bird sings very close
To the music of what happens

~~ Seamus Heaney ~~

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As might be guessed from what has gone before, I’m a bit anxious to be on the road… It will take all of my patience and fortitude to wait until 1 PM, when we leave for the embarkation pier in SF….. especially as leaving dead bodies behind me could conceivably cause problems upon my return…. SIGH…. People get SO upset when I do that!….

Any who, I’ll try to not kill anyone today, so I can have a worry free cruise…. In hopes of getting to that point sometime in the near future, I’m going for an old-school, random, harlequin pearl, to finish off this very skimpy Pearl….. Don’t worry, I’ll make up for it with art work tomorrow…. the camera’s all charged up and ready to shoot…. Until then, here are some thoughts from SB to help y’all get through the day…. or not….

ICONOCLAST, n. A breaker of idols, the worshipers whereof are imperfectly gratified by the performance, and most strenuously protest that he unbuildeth but doth not reedify, that he pulleth down but pileth not up. For the poor things would have other idols in place of those he thwacketh upon the mazzard and dispelleth. But the iconoclast saith: “Ye shall have none at all, for ye need them not; and if the rebuilder fooleth round hereabout, behold I will depress the head of him and sit thereon till he squawk it.” — Ambrose Bierce, “The Devil’s Dictionary”

(Oh! Oh! So, THAT’S what I’ve been doing all this time!! I love it, and now feel very justified in my work here…. I am just loving the idea of putting the OCI after my name, to signify my identity of a member of the Order of Curmudgeonly Iconoclasts…. My sig. line is starting to look impressive, with all my initials after it…. as in, gigoid, MCA, BS, OCI…. [which, BTW, is the correct way to write ‘gigoid’, with no capitals…. it’s a user-name, and caps aren’t required, nor, in this case, desired….]. If I’m not careful, all these titles will start to go to my head, or something equally inane… Okay, I’m done fooling around now…. We’ll get on with the rest of this pearl….sorry, got distracted…)

“Make your enemies by choice, not by accident. The same applies to friends.” — Xavier R. Quinton

“When the way comes to an end, then change – having changed, you pass through.” — I Ching

“In every country and every age, the priest has been hostile to Liberty.” — Thomas Jefferson

:interesting: adj. In hacker parlance, this word has strong connotations of `annoying’, or `difficult’, or both. Hackers relish a challenge, and enjoy wringing all the irony possible out of the ancient Chinese curse “May you live in interesting times”. Oppose {trivial}, {uninteresting}. — from The on-line Hacker Jargon File V423

(Note: This definition of the word “interesting” is the most frequently applied here at ECR, in terms of meaning and connotation, used almost exclusively; just so’s you know….)

“It seems, in fact, as though the second half of a man’s life is made up of nothing but the habits he has accumulated during the first half.” — Feodor Dostoyevski, “The Possessed”

“The zoo is not an exhibition
I view with much enjoyment,
when I notice beasts in a position
To learn the weaknesses of men.”

— John Brunner
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I’ve done it again, I suppose, and I’ll just have to deal with it…. I’ll be back shortly, I hope….

As I suspected, that took a while, but, it’s done now, and I can get on with my day…. which, as might be imagined, promises to be one of greater than usual import, and all around fun… or, as has been intimated, more interesting…. hopefully without the negative connotation that generally applies…. See y’all tomorrow, even if there are technical issues… I’ll figure out a workaround of some kind….

Y’all take care out there,
and May the Metaphorse be with you;
Blessed Be, dearest Carole, Mark, and Theresa…
and everyone else, too…

When I works, I works hard.
When I sits, I sits loose.
When I thinks, I falls asleep.

Which is Why….

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

gigoid

Alarms, and sirens, and gunshots, oh my!….

Posted on October 18, 2013 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

In spite of massive outpourings of attempted distraction, perpetrated by my own unconscious mind, I made it here, only to find myself confronted once again by the specter of a blank mind…. Vague, terrifying echoes of past Pearls, wherein I spent hours, nay, days, it seems, searching and searching, desperate and panicked, yet always managing to, somehow, find enough blather within to fulfill the minimum required standards…. It’s a gift, though not one most ffolkes will acknowledge… I, on the other hand, lost all pride years ago, and realize that there is nothing shameful at all in admitting one’s faults…. In fact, with the right spin, those faults can be turned into assets, of a sort….

Of course, one must never try to profit from using personal faults as tools; that borders not only on the immoral, but on creepy, and I’m not going there, no sir…. Naturally, you will never mention in public that I ever admitted to that, right? I could get in a lot of trouble with the morals police…. not to mention a harsh word or two from Stephen King, the master of creepy…. Tell you what, you keep my confidence, and I’ll do my best to avoid a rant in the intro today, how’s that? Seems like a fair trade to me….

Now we’ve settled that, we can go on… Of course, I have absolutely no idea where we’re going today, as is no doubt crystal clear by now. I started this Pearl without a clue, and haven’t discovered any since beginning, so, it’s looking like one of THOSE days…. a day of pulling rabbits from hats, and flowers from the sleeve…. A day of acting like a politician/preacher, spouting off nonsensical and/or simply untrue grandiosities to distract y’all from what I’m doing with my other hand…. You know, the one with all the hair growing out of the palm….

SIGH…. I hate days like this…. It’s really hard on my honest nature to pull the same tricks as our beloved rulers are accustomed to pulling…. I mean, I can tell a story with the best of them, but, I usually remember to tell ffolkes when they aren’t reality-based, but, rather, come from my imagination…. The pundits will NEVER show that courtesy…. I remember the last time one of them tried to tell the truth in public; it made a compelling video, watching this veteran talking head blushing, blustering, stuttering, fumbling, and basically undergoing a personal meltdown, all because he was cornered into telling the reporter an actual piece of truth…. very satisfying for one of my ilk….

Now that I’ve gone completely bonkers, by trying to pass off this large pile of shit as prosaic prose, or as entertainment, it would probably be a good thing for me to find a way to bring this to a close, and get on with something a bit less, well, pointless…. though, to be truthful, I’m not sure at this point whether or not I’ve got anything remotely truthful in me today….. I’m feeling rather political, and am experiencing a very strong urge to lie to people, just because I can…. Wait, is this a rant?…. Oops…

I’m going to have to exert some real effort today just to keep this from going completely off the rails…. and yet, it sure is attractive to think about letting myself be political for a day….. I mean, it must be really liberating to be able to lie whenever you feel like it. Even more liberating must be the feeling that one is entitled to lie in order to achieve one’s ends….

Ah well, that’s a state of mind that I would NOT be capable of assuming, anyway…. I’m afraid I have a tape in my memory, left there by my father, that would start playing if I ever lied for no justifiable purpose….. For me, it’s a foregone conclusion that, if I ever tried to lie like that, this tape, playing in my father’s voice, would leave me no peace at all until I had given up any such notion….

Now that I’ve completely lost my way…. Shall we Pearl?….

“A person of honor regrets a discreditable act even when it worked.” — Smart Bee

(I rest my case….)
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Now that the budget crisis in Washington has reached some kind of near-resolution, and the country’s credit rating remains up in the fantasy level, while the imaginary numbers used for calculating our debt ceiling are once again considered as real numbers, I guess we can assume that things will return to relative normal, for the time being, until the NEXT crisis that develops to take our eyes off the more important stuff they don’t want us to think about….

For example, I found this article yesterday, from Mark Fiore, the Pulitzer-winning video artist and political commentator, whose brilliant political cartoon videos have punched countless politicians right where it hurts the most…. in their non-functioning moral sense…. This one is, as usual, perfectly timed to bring the awareness of new revelations about the spying being done by the NSA, at our POTUS’s insistence….

http://blog.sfgate.com/fiore/2013/10/16/new-from-the-nsa-internal-patriot-discovery/

“To develop a complete mind: Study the science of art; study the art of science. Learn how to see. Realize that everything connects to everything else.” — Leonardo da Vinci

The talking heads in Washington don’t want us to know this little piece of wisdom from Leo…. If too many normal folks became aware of this, and started to use their heads for something other than a hat rack, politicians would go the way of the dodo bird, and in short order….. But, that wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing, would it? Well, I don’t think so….. I think we, as a nation, could use a break from these idiots, and their posturing…. It’s been really hard the last few weeks, watching the news as those Tea Party assholes paraded their ignorance for all the world to see….

This time, their rhetoric has backfired on them; public confidence in politicians in general, and Republicans specifically, has NEVER been lower, which makes me happy as a, well, a clam, which, if you stop to think about it, is usually pretty happy, by all the available evidence…. I’ve added a link below to some of the more pointed political cartoons that were published during this mess we’ve just witnessed…. Some of them are pretty sharp, and all of them indicate pretty well how LITTLE respect for politicians remains, in the public’s perception, of the responsible parties specifically, and government as a whole….

http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/editorials/slideshow/Shutdown-madness-Recap-of-cartoons-on-the-fight-71244.php

There…. I feel better, and didn’t have to rant. I’m sure, in the final analysis, you will appreciate that, too….
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Tomorrow begins another cruise for me, meaning this blog will go travelogue, but, one more Pearl will be posted before I take off for the boat…. The reason I note this now is because the anticipation is distracting me somewhat from getting this Pearl done with any dispatch…. I’m gazing off into space too much, thinking about stuff left to do today, and tomorrow, before we leave, at about 1 PM…. Thus, today’s poetry selection is one that you can trust, as I had to concentrate really hard just to get it done, so I went with what I know to be a winner…. I hope you enjoy today’s selections, both by the same author, as well as two of my favorite poems of all time….

A Caution To Everybody

Consider the auk;
Becoming extinct because he forgot how to fly, and could only walk.
Consider man, who may well become extinct
Because he forgot how to walk and learned how to fly before he thinked.

~~ Ogden Nash ~~

Bankers Are Just Like Anybody Else, Except Richer

This is a song to celebrate banks,
Because they are full of money and you go into them and all
you hear is clinks and clanks,
Or maybe a sound like the wind in the trees on the hills,
Which is the rustling of the thousand dollar bills.
Most bankers dwell in marble halls,
Which they get to dwell in because they encourage deposits
and discourage withdrawals,
And particularly because they all observe one rule which woe
betides the banker who fails to heed it,
Which is you must never lend any money to anybody unless
they don’t need it.
I know you, you cautious conservative banks!
If people are worried about their rent it is your duty to deny
them the loan of one nickel, yes, even one copper engraving
of the martyred son of the late Nancy Hanks;
Yes, if they request fifty dollars to pay for a baby you must
look at them like Tarzan looking at an uppity ape in the
jungle,
And tell them what do they think a bank is, anyhow, they had
better go get the money from their wife’s aunt or ungle.
But suppose people come in and they have a million and they
want another million to pile on top of it,
Why, you brim with the milk of human kindness and you
urge them to accept every drop of it,
And you lend them the million so then they have two million
and this gives them the idea that they would be better off
with four,
So they already have two million as security so you have no
hesitation in lending them two more,
And all the vice-presidents nod their heads in rhythm,
And the only question asked is do the borrowers want the
money sent or do they want to take it withm.
Because I think they deserve our appreciation and thanks,
the jackasses who go around saying that health and happi-
ness are everything and money isn’t essential,
Because as soon as they have to borrow some unimportant
money to maintain their health and happiness they starve
to death so they can’t go around any more sneering at good
old money, which is nothing short of providential.

~~ Ogden Nash ~~

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At last! I’ve finally reached the third section, and, having fulfilled the required degree of thoughtful composition, using rantable material, grade three or higher, I am allowed to stop trying to think, and let Smart Bee pick out some pearls, sans my direction, which, at this point, would be detrimental, anyway…. Best I keep my hands out of it, for now…. Let’s see what kind of mood Smart Bee is in today, shall we?…..

“If you’re a preacher, you talk for a living, so even if you don’t make sense, you learn to make nonsense eloquently.” — Andrew Young
(Unusual candor from one of his species….)

“If a person with multiple personalities threatens suicide…. is that considered a hostage situation?” — Smart Bee

“When an elephant is in trouble even a frog will kick him.” — Hindu Proverb

“It isn’t so astonishing the number of things I can remember, as the number of things I can remember that aren’t so.” — Mark Twain

“I didn’t understand this at first, but YOUR CONVINCING USE OF CAPITAL LETTERS HAS MADE IT ALL CLEAR TO ME.” — J. Nairn

“Wherever I go, there I am, Pooh mused.” — A.A. Milne

Try it, you’ll like it. Trust me.

I have no explanation…. I also have no excuse, but, I don’t think I really need one, do you?…. It’s all just a mirage, you know, and, reality is only that which we all agree on, or, as Phil said, that which, when we stop believing in it, doesn’t go away…. unlike me, who will now do so…. go away, that is….
_____________________________

Having been there when it was written, I have some serious qualms about having to go back over it to proof for typos and/or grammar; it could cause some serious Windows-like brain-freeze…. Oh well, life is a risk, n’est pas?…

I knew I should have stayed in bed longer…. That was an ordeal of some magnitude, and, I still am not sure that it’s all perfectly sane… I guess that makes it a perfect Pearl, and I should just shut up now, and accept the inevitable…. See ya….

Y’all take care out there,
and May the Metaphorse be with you;
Blessed Be, dearest Carole, Mark, and Theresa…
and everyone else, too…

When I works, I works hard.
When I sits, I sits loose.
When I thinks, I falls asleep.

Which is Why….

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

gigoid

Forlorn moments of epistemological apprehension….

Posted on October 17, 2013 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

The unconscious mind is a powerful thing, especially when its function spills over into the world of our conscious perceptions…. Today’s title enters that twilight zone for certain…. Beyond that, this deponent sayeth naught, lest the quest to understand bring me to the brink of insanity. Let it suffice to know that, as far as the title of today’s Pearl goes, I wrought better than I knew, and leave it at that…. I think all of us will be happier in the long run….

Thus it begins…. the slow, inevitable corruption of morality always begins with a single manipulation, performed “in their best interests”…. In this particular case, we are only speaking of our philosophical intentions, rather than any connected to actual manipulation of events, or reality. But, that really doesn’t matter at all, because the corruption doesn’t know that, or care. The weather change whereof I speak happens in the heart of the manipulator, at the moment the decision is made to alter the truth in order to achieve a certain result. Once that decision is made, it is irrevocable, and further manipulations will follow, as certainly as it follows the air will be clearer after it rains….

In light of the simple fact that I’ve only consumed about four ounces of coffee so far, it might be a bit dangerous to start such a discussion, one with the apparent depth of this one. In fact, the subtle and complex arrangement of thoughts that brought this on seems to be fading from my mind as I sit here and type…. It seemed like a good idea when I started, but, somehow, it’s just a little too deep to dive into first off. I know what it is I was trying to say, but, I’m not sure, at this point, I have the wherewithal to say it with the right degree of clarity…. I’m thinking we’ll shift focus here, and go on to more appropriate material for an intro….

Not that philosophy, or, in this case, epistemology, a branch of philosophy that investigates the origin, nature, methods, and limits of human knowledge, is an inappropriate subject for that…. it’s merely a bit too deep for my current state of intellectual comprehension to cope with efficiently, or more importantly, accurately…. I slept like a log last night, after a night of no sleep at all, and I’m a bit fuzzy thus far this morning; in this state, I’ll be lucky to be able to discuss the relevance of the wisdom of Daffy Duck, so, I think we’ll let the study of the meanings of human knowledge wait a bit longer before we try to take it on…. and, in the process, we’ll keep from making judgments about the morality of manipulation of that knowledge….

It’s too bad, really, as it would have made a great beginning for an epic rant about the mess in Washington D.C…… especially the current budget crisis, brought on by the immoral, not to mention ill-advised, manipulation of events, by a small group of fanatics who found themselves in a unique position, one of having more influence than their actual degree of relevance would normally command…. They took their opportunity in hand, and, being the truly ignorant bastards they are, used it for their own purposes, with complete disregard for the actual dictates of reality, or for the wishes and desires of their own constituents…. As far as I can tell, there isn’t a single point of view one can take in this that doesn’t end up exposing them to as immoral, and, in the final analysis, ignorant and selfish, with marked tendencies toward assholiness….

However, as it sits now, what has happened is that we’ve blathered enough to call this an intro, even though it didn’t introduce anything other than a state of confusion…. but, around here, that can be considered as the status quo for this time of day…. Okay, so this is where I stamp your papers, and say….

Shall we Pearl?…. In fact, let’s do it times three….

“The world is so constructed, that if you wish to enjoy its pleasures, you must also endure its pains. Whether you like it or not, you cannot have one without the other.” — Swami Brahmananda

“Life is not the way it is supposed to be. It is the way it is. The way you cope with it is what makes the difference.” — Virginia Satir

“A good friend, who points out mistakes and imperfections, and rebukes evil, is to be respected as if he reveals a secret of hidden treasure.” — Buddha
_____________________________

First, a word from the Founding Fathers….

“I place economy among the first and most important virtues, and public debt as the greatest of dangers. To preserve our independence, we must not let our rulers load us with perpetual debt.” — Thomas Jefferson

Now, a bit of insanity, on the identical subject, from a more modern source….

“By all accounts, though, an end seems near for the impasse that has once again exposed a government so divided that it sometimes borders on dysfunction. Though the House failed to muster sufficient support for a conservatives-only bill in the GOP-majority chamber on Tuesday, enough Republicans there seem likely to join House Democrats to approve a bipartisan version if it can be approved by the Senate and sent to them. ”

http://www.sfgate.com/news/politics/article/Senators-closing-in-on-deal-to-reopen-government-4895884.php

I was reading the news last night, online, and the latest reports from the capitol say that a deal will get done prior to today’s deadline…. as it always does…. The difference in the deals that get done and those that don’t get done are relatively insignificant, in terms of real life; they only make a difference to those involved in whatever struggle is current. Nobody really understands any of it anyway… not the politicians who spout all the platitudes and figures, not the experts who supply the detailed analysis of those figures, and certainly not the public, who don’t even WANT to understand the complexities…. which is something the pundits know well, and, in fact, depend on to assist them in their endeavors…

“Morality is a private and costly luxury.” — Smart Bee

Sadly, this statement, though found without attribution, was made by an observer who knows human nature well, one who has obviously observed our history closely, drawing from those observations the only possible conclusion…. Society, as exemplified by its leaders, in both the secular and clerical arenas, loudly and boldly tout the twin concepts of morality and ethics, laying claim to them as if they were a coat left lying about. The noise they make in making these claims is generally quite noisome, to my ears, but, serves to cover their asses when later accused of impropriety; they can point to their strident statements as being proof of sincerity, though, logically, sincerity and morality have no real connection.

However, sad as the statement is, it is accurate, and never more so when looking at the budget crisis that we are witnessing today. The assholes who inhabit Congress, especially the conservatives in the House of Representatives, ( an oxymoron, if I’ve ever heard one…. ), DO NOT represent the people who elected them, not even close…. They lie to them, they steal from them, they follow their own agendas, but, they DON’T represent them…

How can they? They are not even in the same economic class as most of them, and never have been…. and, please, DON’T try to tell me you don’t think we have economic classes in this society…. Sorry, ffolkes, but American society is NOT classless, and never has been…. It has ALWAYS been separated into classes, based primarily on economic factors, with those who have more money having more influence and, more importantly, more rights, than those with less money…. The most cursory examination of history, of the world, and of this country, will show this as a fact of little possibility of dispute.

The average US income (which doesn’t give a completely accurate picture, but is useful to make the point….) is somewhere in the tens of thousands of dollars ($10,001 to $99,999, somewhere between the two….). This translates into a basic demographic breakdown of being a very few people making more than they can possibly use, as contrasted by a moderate number of folks comfortably content, though unsure of their stability, and a very large number of people who are struggling to even eat on a daily basis…. This accounts for 99% of the population, and about 1% of the actual money available to that 99%….

On the other side of that coin, we have a few thousand people, the remaining 1%, who have 99% of the money, all making more than a million dollars a year, on average…. Of this tiny percentage, we find that ALL of the Senators, about half of the House members, and the President, of course, are all part of that 1% of the population, a part that has never had to worry about where their next meal came from…. I wish that this were not true, but, these are facts, with the supporting evidence available to anyone with a library card, which they can use to find these numbers….

Of course, the fact that they are “more successful” in economic terms is only proof, in their minds, of their inherent right to make the decisions for everyone else in the country, even though they have no real grasp of the needs of those people. The fact of their disconnection from reality cannot penetrate their sense of entitlement, and they fully BELIEVE in their own mandate…. “Somehow, it never hurts to step back occasionally and ask yourself “Am I contributing to the solution of the problem or aiding in making a bigger problem?”…. this is a process, and a question, that never occurs to them…

This is why I call them delusional, and can honestly claim that I believe them to be clinically insane; a person so disconnected to what is real cannot be considered sane…. except, perhaps, in an insane society. Making assumptions about having the right to decide about the wants and needs of others is a sure sign that one has an unreasonable belief in their own importance to the universe, an assumption that can only be termed as a delusion. This kind of behavior is one society cannot afford to allow, because, if nothing else, these types of delusions are dangerous to the rest of us. Allowing these “crazies”, for wont of a more accurate term, to act out their fantasies in the real world tends to lead to trouble for more than just themselves…..

“Lord, Lord, how this world is given to lying! I grant you I was down and out of breath; and so was he. But we rose both at an instant, and fought a long hour by Shrewsbury clock.” — William Shakespeare (1564-1616), King Henry IV — Act v, Sc. 4

I’m down, and out of breath, from shouting into the wind, at the mountain… A futile task, at best, I know, but, what else can one do at 5 AM? Mountain moving is my specialty, after all…. The truth of the matter is, after two hours by Shrewsbury clock, I’m tired of shouting at the mountain; it’s hard work, to little effect. I suppose it’s all I can do, and that is why I do it…. It’s cheaper, and, in the long run, less troublesome to my spirit and karma, than going out, buying a gun, and making a list of targets…. Less chance of getting shot back at, too…

There comes a time, however, when even I must admit to the futility of this particular task, and grow a bit discouraged…. I’m just not the kind of person who can give up completely, though, so, I’ll be back to rant on this subject another time…. “They” are always out there doing something on which I can comment. For the time being, I’ll leave you with this final lament…

“The world has taken on a thickness of vulgarity that raises a spiritual man’s contempt to the violence of a passion.” — Charles Baudelaire
_____________________________

No words of mine can add to this….

Finisterre

This was the land’s end: the last fingers, knuckled and rheumatic,
Cramped on nothing. Black
Admonitory cliffs, and the sea exploding
With no bottom, or anything on the other side of it,
Whitened by the faces of the drowned.
Now it is only gloomy, a dump of rocks —-
Leftover soldiers from old, messy wars.
The sea cannons into their ear, but they don’t budge.
Other rocks hide their grudges under the water.The cliffs are edged with trefoils, stars and bells
Such as fingers might embroider, close to death,
Almost too small for the mists to bother with.
The mists are part of the ancient paraphernalia —-
Souls, rolled in the doom-noise of the sea.
They bruise the rocks out of existence, then resurrect them.
They go up without hope, like sighs.
I walk among them, and they stuff my mouth with cotton.
When they free me, I am beaded with tears.Our Lady of the Shipwrecked is striding toward the horizon,
Her marble skirts blown back in two pink wings.
A marble sailor kneels at her foot distractedly, and at his foot
A peasant woman in black
Is praying to the monument of the sailor praying.
Our Lady of the Shipwrecked is three times life size,
Her lips sweet with divinity.
She does not hear what the sailor or the peasant is saying —-
She is in love with the beautiful formlessness of the sea.

Gull-colored laces flap in the sea drafts
Beside the postcard stalls.
The peasants anchor them with conchs. One is told:
“These are the pretty trinkets the sea hides,
Little shells made up into necklaces and toy ladies.
They do not come from the Bay of the Dead down there,
But from another place, tropical and blue,
We have never been to.
These are our crêpes. Eat them before they blow cold.”

~~ Sylvia Plath ~~

_____________________________

This pearl is of a type I don’t often use; I chose the pearls first, with an eye to randomness, but also a focus, on gathering quotes that had something to say about Life At Large, so to speak… I think it came out pretty well, but, then, I’m pretty easy…. Y’all may feel differently; if so, feel free to let me know….. though that won’t change any of them, at least I’ll know they’ve been perused….. 🙂 Sneaky, eh?….

“Duty is heavier than a mountain, death lighter than a feather.” — Robert Jordan

“Take Idaho’s license plates – they say ‘Famous Potatoes.’ Then there’s New Hampshire – their license plates say ‘Live Free … or DIE!!’ I don’t know, I think that somewhere between ‘Famous Potatoes’ and ‘Live Free or Die’ the truth lies. And I think it’s closer to ‘Famous Potatoes.'” — George Carlin

“We think that if we can label a thing we have understood it.” — Sangharakshita

“I am mortified to be told that, in the United States of America, the sale of a book can become a subject of inquiry, and of criminal inquiry too.” — Thomas Jefferson

When the ten thousand things are seen in their oneness
We return to the source to remain where we have always been.

— Seng Ts’un.

“We are more sensible of what is done against custom than against Nature.” — Plutarch (46-120 AD) — Of Eating of Flesh, Tract 1

“For it is the doom of men that they forget.” — Merlin
_____________________________

Once again, I’ve come to the end of a day’s Pearl, without realizing just how close it was to being done….. I suppose that’s a good thing, indicating that I’m well focused on the task at hand…. or, it could just mean I’m oblivious…. Who cares? Not me…. Any who, let’s see how typo-free it is….. or isn’t….

Okay, so much for that…. Several tweaks, adds, and contortions later, it’s done, and just in time, as the street repair trucks just pulled up, and the jackhammers are starting to sing their repulsive tune…. I think I’ll go somewhere, and get some breakfast…. See ya….

Y’all take care out there,
and May the Metaphorse be with you;
Blessed Be, dearest Carole, Mark, and Theresa…
and everyone else, too…

When I works, I works hard.
When I sits, I sits loose.
When I thinks, I falls asleep.

Which is Why….

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

gigoid

The full gamut, from ho to hum….

Posted on October 16, 2013 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

Yesterday, I dropped out…. I’ve been considering this for some time, especially so since the revelations by Mr. Snowden that proved the government hasn’t merely been spying on terrorists, but on its own citizens. After these insights were brought to light, several of the social media and large tech companies like Google,Twitter, Facebook, and others, revealed that the government had also forced them to release data about their users, including those of American citizens…. which includes me….

This information, naturally, concerns me, and, as an American citizen, disturbs me greatly; to think that my own government, founded upon the principles of freedom, and the right to be secure in my home, EVEN FROM THAT GOVERNMENT, is spying on me for no good reason, other than their own paranoia and ambitious avarice, is completely, unequivocally unacceptable….

As a firm critic of those policies of internal spying, and of the people who engage in that form of domestic terrorism on their own countrymen, I found myself even more concerned by what was revealed in the process of public discussion…. Facebook, in particular, has been gathering data about me ever since I first signed up for it, and has now given all that data, on me and every other user, to the NSA, which means it is now in the possession of every branch of the clandestine world, as, for a spy agency, those idiots in the NSA don’t seem to be very good at keeping their mouths shut…..

These criminals ( Yes, criminals…. they’re denying my Constitutional rights…. ) got stuff from Facebook about my likes, dislikes, as well as information about all of my friends (fortunately, I never did use it heavily, so I only had about 115 of them…. hmm…. I’m reminded of Aristotle, I believe, who said something about “a friend to all is a friend to none”, or something like that…)

Any who, to make an already too-long story shorter, I deactivated my FB account yesterday…. I hadn’t been using it a lot for quite a while anyway, since I didn’t want to give Facebook any more data on me than was absolutely necessary, and I never was real comfortable with having my ENTIRE life online…. I give up enough to write this blog each day, and there was no need to post my every act on Facebook for the entire world to see…. Oh, you ask, what about the Privacy Settings they use? Well, honey, if you believe everything you read online, especially about privacy policies, then have I got some deals for you…. cash only, please, no checks….

I may lose even more readers (???) over this, though, right now, I don’t see how that is possible, as I’m down as far as I’ve ever seen it in two-plus-years, as far as I can tell. But, I don’t care… I don’t intend to make it any easier for the assholes in the NSA, or the FBI, or any other police or government agency to gather data about me…. I use the most secure protocols I can, and I try to limit my traffic online to what is needed, and not give away too much of it without some kind of payoff for me…. However, I’m well aware of how easy it is for anyone with minimal skills to hack around on the internet for data, mining it for whatever they can that will turn a profit…. It only makes good sense these days to keep one’s online presence to a minimum, as far as possible, so as not to make it too easy for them….

In truth, I feel a greater feeling of relief than of any regret at leaving Facebook; I’m not sanguine about the fact that they already have more information on me than is comfortable, and I don’t really believe, or expect, them to destroy it…. Information is, of course, their business…. But, I’m not giving them any more of it for free; if they want it, they’ll have to get it here, or do without…. I hope. And, hopefully, it will throw a small wrench into the works for the assholes who try to steal it for the Beloved Ruling Class, and their corporate masters….

Shall we Pearl?…..

Scott: “Shut the deuterium from the main cryo pump to the auxiliary tank.”
LaForge: “The tank can’t withstand that kind of pressure.”
Scott: “Where’d you get that idea?!”
LaForge: “What do you where’d I get that idea? It’s in the impulse engine specifications.”
Scott: “Regulation 42/15? Pressure variances on the IRC Tank storage?”
LaForge: “Yeah!”
Scott: “Forget it. I wrote it. A good engineer is always a *wee* bit conservative, at least on paper.”

— “Relics”, Stardate Unknown

Or, as my dad taught me, and I taught my son, “Two ideas can be considered essential knowledge….. First, remember that just because I taught you all you know, I didn’t necessarily teach you all I know; never show all your cards until the bet is called….. Second, always cut the cards….”
_____________________________

I’m pretty certain that I could build a relatively decent rant today, but, I didn’t sleep well, and don’t think my mind is quite stable enough for that…. I was up and down all night long, unable to doze off…. only got about 1 or 2 solid hours of sleep, and that not deeply…. I am certainly in the right kind of mood for one, and intend to take out some of my angst and frustration on some innocent shopkeepers later on, but, for now, I think I’d best stick to an old-school version, to avoid the pitfalls of trying to sound reasonable when feeling rather vicious…. I might say something I’d regret later….. (Though I don’t know how I could think that, given what I’ve already said in this blog in the past….. I mean, how many blogs have you read recently that accused all three branches of the government of high treason?…. )

For now, though, unless something occurs to me that breaks through my initial reluctance, we’ll go with this…. a directed pearl, looking for ways to poke fun, even derisive fun, at the BRC, their corporate masters, and their myrmidons, the courts, churches, police, and armed forces…. may they all suffer from painful warts on their private parts!….

Words are like leaves; and where they most abound,
Much fruit of sense beneath is rarely found.

— Alexander Pope (1688-1744) — Essay on Criticism, Part ii, Line 109

“History is never written by the losers.” — Smart Bee

“If peace… only had the music and pageantry of war, there’d be no more wars.” — Sophie Kerr

“A bureaucrat is a Democrat who holds some office that a Republican wants.” — Alben W. Barkley

“Government is not reason, it is not eloquence, it is force; like fire, a troublesome servant and a fearful master. Never for a moment should it be left to irresponsible action.” — George Washington

“Grow your own dope. Plant a politician”– Smart Bee

“The enemy is fear. We think it is hate; but, it is fear.” — M. Gandhi

I think this is a fine group of pearls, if a bit esoteric for some; it’s the best I can do when I’m so angry at them (the politicians, et al, not the pearls….)
_____________________________

When I am in a mood such as this, with not a single good thought to be found anywhere in my mind, I turn to the classic poets, allowing the beauty of it bring me back into a more affable state of mind…. because it ALWAYS works….

A Faery Song

{Sung by the people of Faery over Diarmuid and Grania, in their bridal sleep under a Cromlech.}

WE who are old, old and gay,
O so old!
Thousands of years, thousands of years,
If all were told:
Give to these children, new from the world,
Silence and love;
And the long dew-dropping hours of the night,
And the stars above:
Give to these children, new from the world,
Rest far from men.
Is anything better, anything better?
Tell us it then:
Us who are old, old and gay,
O so old!
Thousands of years, thousands of years,
If all were told.

~~ William Butler Yeats ~~

_____________________________

I’m breathing hard, but nowhere near the finish line…. Ranting is still out of the question, even though I took a break to go read the headlines…. I’m more pissed of than ever, but, still don’t have the mental energy, after two hours of sleep, to do justice to a rant of that import…. Y’all know what THAT means, don’t you? Don’t tell me that you haven’t figured out by now that in these cases, I ALWAYS retreat to my default position? Please, please, don’t tell me that….. But, in case you do, here is the answer to the implied question….

“What happens to your fist when you open your hand?” — Zen Buddhism

“If it were possible to heal sorrow by weeping and to raise the dead with tears, gold were less prized than grief.” — Sophocles (496-406 BC) — Scyrii, Frag. 510

“Everything has been figured out, except how to live.” — Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980)

“A desire not to butt into other people’s business is at least eighty percent of all human wisdom… and the other twenty percent isn’t very important.”
“You butt into other people’s business. All the time.”
“Who said I was wise? I’m a professional bad example. You can learn a lot by watching me.”

— Stranger in a Strange Land, Robert A. Heinlein

“Je me presse de rire de tout, de peur d’etre oblige de’en pleurer.” – (I make myself laugh at everything, in case I should have to weep.) — Pierre-Augustin de Beaumarchais (1732-1799)

“We do not have to visit a madhouse to find disordered minds; our planet is the mental institution of the universe.” — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

“A man should not allow himself to hate even his enemies, because if you indulge this passion on some occasions, it will rise of itself in others; if you hate your enemies, you will contract such a vicious habit of mind, as by degrees will break out upon those who are your friends, or those who are indifferent to you.” — Plutarch
_____________________________

I have a lot to do today out in the BBR, so, I’m glad this is nearly done…. I’ve been at it for close to three hours now, and need to be done so I don’t run out of fuel before getting to the important stuff…. Let’s take a look at it…. Well, it will have to do…. I’ve got too much on my plate to go back & start over…. I’ll just leave you today with one final pearl of a hopeful, and hopefully inspirational nature..

“One final paragraph of advice: Do not burn yourselves out. Be as I am – a reluctant enthusiast… a part time crusader, a half-hearted fanatic. Save the other half of yourselves and your lives for pleasure and adventure. It is not enough to fight for the land; it is even more important to enjoy it. While you can. While it’s still here. So get out there and hunt and fish and mess around with your friends, ramble out yonder and explore the forests, encounter the grizz, climb the mountains, bag the peaks, run the rivers, breathe deep of that yet sweet and lurid air, sit quietly for a while and contemplate the precious stillness, that lovely, mysterious and awesome space. Enjoy yourselves, keep your brain in you head and your head firmly attached to the body, the body active and alive, and I promise you this much: I promise you this one sweet victory over our enemies, over those deskbound people with their hearts in a safety deposit box and their eyes hypnotized by desk calculators. I promise you this: You will outlive the bastards.” — Edward Abbey

Y’all take care out there,
and May the Metaphorse be with you;
Blessed Be, dearest Carole, Mark, and Theresa…
and everyone else, too…

When I works, I works hard.
When I sits, I sits loose.
When I thinks, I falls asleep.

Which is Why….

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

gigoid

Can we charge Congress and the POTUS with treason?….

Posted on October 15, 2013 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

Here at Exploring Consensual Reality, the blog, titles are always fictional, whereas the main body of the blog is not…. or, not always. The titles are composed prior to beginning to write, and almost never have anything to do with WHAT I’ve chosen to write. Today’s title is the exception, as it asks a question that has been running through my mind for some time now, even prior to the most current reason the idiot BRC supplied to give me cause to feel this way. The shutdown of the government, is, to my way of thinking, all in all, a good thing, since, when they’re NOT working, at least they’re not making things worse, which is pretty much always the scenario when they ARE working….

Now, some may feel that accusing them of treason is a bit harsh, but, not me, not even a little bit…. Perhaps we’re not technically at war, but, then, for the last 60+ years, since the Vietnam “conflict”, Congress has not seen fit, or had the honesty, or courage, to declare war on anything but the American public, with their wars on drugs, on poverty, on diseases, or whatever other problem they have no idea of what to do about. (Of course, none of these “wars” on crime or whatever, ever look at the root causes of the issues… they just throw money at them….)

Despite having never declared actual war, since 1940 or 1941, after the attack on Pearl Harbor, our military forces have been fighting in other countries without respite since 1954, when Eisenhower sent the first “training observers” to Vietnam, without even telling the public he was going to do so…. That doesn’t count the “Korean conflict”, which was ostensibly authorized by our United Nations involvement…

Ever since that time, every President of this country has involved us in a “conflict” of one type or another, using different justifications, (read: different lies…) each time to try to rationalize our involvement in issues that were, essentially, not our business…. Well, other than the fact that our business moguls had money invested there, and we needed to “protect our investments”…. Not because we were attacked, or were about to be overwhelmed with an invasion, but, to protect our business interests…. Sounds a bit fishy to me, but, hey, the public keeps falling for it, and no President has been indicted for waging war without Congressional declaration, even though that is a direct violation of the intent, and the wording, of the US Constitution….. Above, I spoke about Vietnam; remember this one?….

“If we fail to draw the line in Vietnam we may find ourselves compelled to draw a defense line as far back as Seattle and Alaska, with Hawaii as a solitary outpost in mid-Pacific.” — Senator Thomas J. Dodd, February 23, 1965

I therefore accuse the POTUS’s, ALL of them, of treason, for deliberately abusing their power as the Chief of Armed Forces to circumvent the Constitution, to pursue the ends of their corporate masters. I also accuse all of Congress, both House and Senate, of the same treason, for NOT doing their job in the face of this violation, and failing to remove the President from office. One may as well add in the Federal Court system, but their treason goes back further, to the mid-nineteenth century, when they gave those corporate masters the legal rights they required to maintain their stranglehold on government, and on the American people….. The courts aren’t as involved in the current issues as are Congress and the POTUS, but, they’re also not objecting very hard, are they?….

So, there you have my main rant for today…. I accuse the American government, in all three branches, of high treason, for acts of war directed against the American people in direct violation of the US Constitution…. Hell, I may even start a petition, to see how many others are out there like me, who are sick and tired of watching this country, and the world, go to hell because of the antics of the supposed leaders, who are not merely abrogating the duties of their offices, but are actively screwing the rest of us, with apparent glee…. Of course, if I do that, it will be giving them a convenient listing of those who are opposed to what they’re doing, but, it would be nice to see if there are as many of us as I believe there are….

I’m tired of being lied to…. I’m tired of paying outrageous taxes for nothing much… I’m tired of the politicians trying to take away my Social Security, which is NOT A FUCKING ENTITLEMENT!!! I paid money into SS for 49 years before being disabled so far as to not be able to work anymore; that money is MINE, not theirs…. I’m tired of watching the American people get screwed over by their own elected officials, partly because of their own ignorance, but mostly because those politicians are lying to the public at every turn…. It’s difficult to make an informed decision, when the data one is given to use is severely suspect….

The constant attempts by conservatives, AND liberals, to raid SS for money is a big part of the problem…. Politicians think that the money that is raised by the government is THEIRS, for them to do with is as they please, no matter how badly that screws the public…. and it isn’t just conservatives that do so…. In my mind, everyone who gets elected these days to a federal position (Congress, or POTUS… ), or to a State position (Assembly, Senate, Governor, etc….) is not going into public service because of any altruistic motives… Oh, they’ll SAY they are, but, when was the last time a politician told you anything but what they thought you wanted to hear? Never, that’s when…

Okay, that’s enough for now… The NSA certainly has enough to chew on for now, and I think I’d best cool my jets a bit, or they’ll come take me away before I get to go on this last cruise next Saturday…. I hope not, because I really don’t want to have to pull my covers, or leave any comatose special agents on my back trail… But, if they do, you will now know why…. I’m done with wearing gloves, ffolkes… I’m going to say exactly what I think, and the hell with the fallout…. On that note….

Shall we Pearl?…..

“A man who does not think for himself does not think at all.” — Oscar Wilde, “Oscariana”
_____________________________

Gosh! I hardly know what to do with myself, now that I’ve already put out close to a thousand-word-rant, right there in the intro section… It doesn’t leave me much room for that in this one, so, naturally, I’ll go old-school, and put together a five- or seven-star pearl for your edification and illumination…. I hope… I’ll look for pearls that support the above rant, but, one never knows what will happen with Smart Bee, do one?…..

(Side note: I use the term “old-school” to indicate a pearl of virtual wisdom that is of the same format as my original Pearls, first sent out to my email readers in the year 2000, or so, when I first got an email address….. That address was gigoid@inet.com, in case you wondered…. I first chose that user name, gigoid, when I went to a computer school in 1998, or so….Those first Pearls consisted of a short intro, then a pearl, or a short group of pearls, with a short, pithy point… so, now, when I do that, it’s “old-school”…. See?…. Okay, on with the program….)

— Bother! said Pooh, as he launched the nuclear warheads.

“Without civic morality communities perish; without personal morality their survival has no value.” — Bertrand Russell

ISMISM : Belief in any distinctive doctrine, theory or practice. Ismism was started up in the mid-1980s by a splinter group from “Atheists For Christ”. Ismism meetings gained quick popularity, and Ismism leader Ralph Snider traveled the world promoting his paper “Why I Argue A Lot”. The followers of Ismism are generally agreed to be very confused people.” — Daniel Bowen’s TOXIC CUSTARPEDIA

“Every one wishes to have truth on his side, but it is not every one that sincerely wishes to be on the side of truth.’ — Whately

“All revolutions have failed? Perhaps. But rebellion for good cause is self- justifying–a good in itself. Rebellion transforms slaves into human beings, if only for an hour.” — Edward Abbey

“Antagoras the poet was boiling a conger, and Antigonus, coming behind him as he was stirring his skillet, said, “Do you think, Antagoras, that Homer boiled congers when he wrote the deeds of Agamemnon?” Antagoras replied, “Do you think, O king, that Agamemnon, when he did such exploits, was a peeping in his army to see who boiled congers?” — Plutarch (46-120 AD) — Antigonus I

“The people always have some champion whom they set over them and nurse into greatness…. This and no other is the root from which tyranny springs.” — Plato (428-348? B.C.), “The Republic”
_____________________________

I love the internet!…. I just googled a site to find political poetry, and found a great one, with all sorts of new poems to use, all free of charge, or anything other than correct attribution…. Serendipity strikes again!…. I hope you enjoy this little poetic restatement of my rant from above….

Lest there be lingering doubt, let me assure you

Lest there be lingering doubt, let me assure you,
I don’t believe the half of what I say.
The point, after all, is winning, so I tell you
What you want to hear from me today.
Oh, yes, I have a point of view, and visions
To push for once in office, if and when.
But if I lose, then all my vain ambitions
And dreams will go the way of mice and men.
So I promise this and promise that
I’ll spend and cut your taxes and the debt,
And pay for it by cutting just the fat.
You’ll have your cake and eat it, too, I’ll bet.
And yet and yet and yet and yet and yet …
This is how the world is, isn’t it?

~~ Nicholas Gordon ~~

_____________________________

I’m getting a little suspicious of how easily today’s Pearl is coming together…. I managed to get back on my usual time schedule, arising at 0500 to begin, but, it’s going much faster than usual…. I guess having the rant in the intro flow out as it did, practically full-formed, seems to have influenced the process enough to keep it moving along swiftly… Nothing wrong with that, I say, so, let’s get on with our final pearl for today…. Here is my favorite kind, a random harlequin pearl, with no parameters used to choose, other than whimsy, a condition in which I dearly love to indulge….

“Everything has been said before, but since nobody listens we have to keep going back and beginning all over again.” — Andre Gide, Le traite du Narcisse (1891)

“There is a case for telling the truth; there is a case for avoiding the scandal; but there is no possible defense for the man who tells the scandal, but does not tell the truth.” — G. K. Chesterton, ILN, 7/18/08

“It matters not how long you live, but how well.” — Publius Syrus (42 BC) — Maxim 829

“I am going to seek a great perhaps.” — Francois Rabelais (1494-1553)

“It’s not that we don’t have enough scoundrels to curse; it’s that we don’t have enough good men to curse them.” — G. K. Chesterton, ILN, 3/14/08

“We are never deceived; we deceive ourselves.” — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832)

“Good generally conquers evil. Unless, of course, good is stupid.” — Smart Bee
_____________________________

I should have known better than to comment on how quickly this was going; SB immediately went into “coy” mode, and made me go through about a thousand or more quotes to find the right ones…. SIGH. I am SUCH a Bozo, sometimes…. Let’s go see how it came out…. Well, it’s per usual, that is to say, it’s done… I leave you today with this beautiful short piece from Mssr. E.A. Poe, to give just the proper tone to our ending…. See ya….

Take this kiss upon the brow! And, in parting from you now,
Thus much let me avow–
You are not wrong who deem
That my days have been a dream;
Yet if hope has flown away
In a night, or in a day,
In a vision, or in none,
Is it therefore the less gone?
All that we see or seem
Is but a dream within a dream.

— Edgar Allan Poe, A Dream Within A Dream

Y’all take care out there,
and May the Metaphorse be with you;
Blessed Be, dearest Carole, Mark, and Theresa…
and everyone else, too…

When I works, I works hard.
When I sits, I sits loose.
When I thinks, I falls asleep.

Which is Why….

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

gigoid

In politics, the cost of doing business is always integrity….

Posted on October 14, 2013 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

As I watch, entranced, the cranes dance…. formal, elegant, feathers spread to show off color, they dance around, spinning and cavorting with glee, mirroring each other with intense concentration and focus, in complex patterns of incredible beauty, never meeting eyes, yet completely in sync. No other creature is near, to witness their amazing dance of love, and lust for life, but for me…. To honor that life, to honor being allowed to witness such treasure, I concentrate on feeling every nuance of what I’m seeing, and experiencing, to save the beauty, if only in memory….

Okay, that’s enough of that…. Nice as it is, it doesn’t really suit my mood right now…. which is, sad to say, a bit rough and curmudgeonly…. It’s bound to happen when I awake at a few minutes before 3 AM, knowing I’m not going back to sleep…. So, here I am, at 3:13, dutifully pounding away at the keyboard, hoping to find it within me to write well enough to warrant being up now. Living with PTSD is so much fun….

I say “dutifully” because I can’t think of any other reason why I would put myself through this, other than my sense of duty; nothing else could convince me that it isn’t one of the dumbest things I’ve ever done. I mean, how much inspiration am I going to find at this hour, I ask you? Not much, that’s for sure and for certain, unless by some outlandish chance, I turn a corner and find the corpse of Murphy lying on my floor…. that would be inspiring, fer shure, man….

Since it’s not likely I’ll be coming across any dead forces of nature anytime soon, I suppose I’ll need to turn my head toward something a bit more mundane, like a rant, or something…. I’m not sure at all how that is going over, though in the last week, my output has jumped again…. I’ve been ranting so hard, my daily word average has jumped up into the 2750/words/day range, which may, or may not, have something to do with the reduction in the number of readers again….

I try not to pay much attention to the stats, but, it’s frustrating to think that I’ve been putting out so much effort to tell people of the danger they are in from their Beloved Rulers, and nobody is seeing it…. Yesterday, only one person, as far as I can tell, came by, and this person is perhaps my most faithful reader, in terms of visiting daily; I love seeing his icon, but know I’m again preaching only to the choir…. I guess it’s frustrating because I feel as if I’ve been doing some of my best ranting….. logical, yet not stiflingly so, with some biting humor, and bitter indictments, with evidential supportive proof, of the outrageous BS perpetrated every day by those assholes who lie to us for their living…… Jefferson, and Mason, and Paine, all warned us about “professional politicians”, but did we listen? No, we didn’t….

I often wonder about the wives of the politicians we see on TV…. I mean, it’s no secret that most women are smarter than their husbands; that is a statistical FACT, established many years ago by repetitive, and conclusive evidence, provided by scientific research…. So, how does it make them feel, to be married to, and thus give the impression that they approve of, the world’s most obvious, and most accomplished liars…. How frustrated THEY must feel, to be connected to such men, men with no basic integrity…. Yet, to say so would be to admit they made a mistake, (to marry them….), and making that admission is one thing a fundamentalist, a preacher, a politician, or a politician’s wife will never do….

I see that I’ve again fallen into a mini-sized sort-of-a-rant in the intro, when I had promised myself I wouldn’t…. So much for plans at this hour of the day, eh? It’s still shy of 4 AM, and I’ve about finished an intro; what comes next will be up to chance as much as planning on my part, I think…. It’s just the way of things around here when I start doing this before my brain has really engaged completely….. Of course, that isn’t a guarantee of success, either, but, chances are better, anyway…. I am starting to get the feeling that, at this point, I’d better just say….

Shall we Pearl?

“All the magick of creation exists within a single, tiny seed.” — Magi

“The difference between tragedy and humor is whether it is happening to you.” — Smart Bee
_____________________________

I just spent about 20 minutes online, looking for a news item about which to rant…. I found a couple that might do, but, it would have been a stretch to make them work, as it was a matter of beating on an equine in very poor health, to wit: the government shutdown. That subject is getting a bit shopworn, since the politicos themselves are now going out to the public and drumming up support for their own particular viewpoints, thereby tainting perfectly good public displays of public protest with their lies and silly attempts to court favor….

I saw where a couple of organizations got together in protest marches, and forced open one of the National Parks in Washington D.C., the WWII Memorial…. Then, at some point, they were joined by Ted Cruz, the young Republican hotshot, that party’s last best hope for relevance, who is a Senator from a western state or something, where the populace is severely confused by a Latino Republican, mostly voting for him out of surprise, or, of course, out of ignorance…. Sarah Palin, that paragon of fundamentalist ignorance, and one of the Tea Party’s darlings, (apparently because she isn’t afraid to be seen as “bat-shit-crazy” for the idiotic statements she makes, which are generally so ridiculous, even her own state ignores her….), also dropped by the protests to mouth some outlandish comments, per her usual public display of ignorance…..

Both pundits, usually seen as talking heads on TV, were pounding the pavement in person, taking photo ops and doling out their talking points heavily, even though they, and their cohorts, are the very people responsible for the mess we are seeing…. Ballsy, to say the least…. Their appearance at the protest tells me that most of the politicos are now in spin-mode, full-time, trying to find things to put before the public that will shore up the bad press they’re all getting right now….

In the process of doing so, they are completely ignoring the fact that they are NOT doing their jobs, and every day this shutdown continues will erode public sympathy even more… The part I like the most about all this is that it has become clear, even to those who don’t want to see it, that ALL OF THEM, Democrats, Republicans, and ALL of their supporters and co-conspirators, (lobbyists, bankers, corporate puppeteers, judges, police, military, religious leaders, all of them….) are guilty in this matter, and the trust they had is now less than it was…. thank goodness!….

But, none of what I saw in the news is worth a full-scale rant today, so, I’ll take the easy route, and go old-school…. Here is a pearl with some basic parameters, to find statements, or quotes, that will show the BRC and/or all their supporters in their true colors…..

“I love Saturday morning cartoons, what classic humour! This is what entertainment is all about … Idiots, explosives and falling anvils.” — Calvin and Hobbes, Bill Watterson

“The writers who have nothing to say are the ones you can buy; the others have too high a price.” — Walter Lippmann, “Preface to Politics”

Foul deeds will rise,
Though all the earth o’erwhelm them, to men’s eyes.

— William Shakespeare (1564-1616), Hamlet — Act i, Sc. 2

“To see what is right and not to do it is cowardice.” — Cervantes

“Blessed is he who expects nothing, for he shall never be disappointed.” — Alexander Pope (1688-1744) — Letter to Gay, Oct, 6, 1727

“A life directed chiefly toward the fulfillment of personal desires sooner or later always leads to bitter disappointment.” — Albert Einstein

Quemadmoeum gladius neminem occidit, occidentis telum est. – [A sword is never a killer, it is a tool in the killers hands.] — Lucius Annaeus Seneca “the younger” ca. 4 BC – 65 AD
_____________________________

Often, such as today, poetry needs no adornment…..

Apologia

Is it thy will that I should wax and wane,
Barter my cloth of gold for hodden grey,
And at thy pleasure weave that web of pain
Whose brightest threads are each a wasted day?

Is it thy will–Love that I love so well–
That my Soul’s House should be a tortured spot
Wherein, like evil paramours, must dwell
The quenchless flame, the worm that dieth not?

Nay, if it be thy will I shall endure,
And sell ambition at the common mart,
And let dull failure be my vestiture,
And sorrow dig its grave within my heart.

Perchance it may be better so–at least
I have not made my heart a heart of stone,
Nor starved my boyhood of its goodly feast,
Nor walked where Beauty is a thing unknown.

Many a man hath done so; sought to fence
In straitened bonds the soul that should be free,
Trodden the dusty road of common sense,
While all the forest sang of liberty,

Not marking how the spotted hawk in flight
Passed on wide pinion through the lofty air,
To where the steep untrodden mountain height
Caught the last tresses of the Sun God’s hair.

Or how the little flower he trod upon,
The daisy, that white-feathered shield of gold,
Followed with wistful eyes the wandering sun
Content if once its leaves were aureoled.

But surely it is something to have been
The best belovèd for a little while,
To have walked hand in hand with Love, and seen
His purple wings flit once across thy smile.

Ay! though the gorgèd asp of passion feed
On my boy’s heart, yet have I burst the bars,
Stood face to face with Beauty, known indeed
The Love which moves the Sun and all the stars!

~~ Oscar Wilde ~~

_____________________________

“…the greatest thing by far is to be a master of metaphor. It is the one thing that cannot be learned from others; and it is also a sign of genius, since a good metaphor implies an intuitive perception of the similarity in dissimilars.” — Aristotle, _Poetics_, 22, 1459a 5-7

Yet another piece of proof of the value, and validity, of these Pearls of Virtual Wisdom…. Here at ECR, we are well aware of the power of metaphor (May the Metaphorse be With You….), though I prefer to speak more plainly when targeting the talking heads, preachers, and myrmidons…. It’s easier, and causes fewer misunderstandings if I just call them spades, rather than trying to be cute, or erudite, by calling them by the name they choose to hide behind, i.e., spades….

At this point, you may be saying to yourself, “Huh? What the devil does THAT mean?”, but, really, you should know by now that if you don’t keep up, well, too bad, you’re on your own, because this train won’t stop to fix those kinds of disillusionments without falling completely off schedule, which eats into the profits…. Well, it would, if we made any profit from this…. Since we neither charge, nor collect, any kind of fees, it’s moot, anyway…. The point is, it’s all just a metaphor for life, which, if you stop to think about it, is pretty much what blogging is all about…. A large, amorphous metaphor for existence, spread willy-nilly across the far-flung reaches of the world wide net, providing not merely metaphor, but, also, some damn fine prose….

All of which tells you nothing important, or even compelling; it’s all just a lead in, anyway, to another old-school pearl, picked this time at random, with no parameters other than what seemed appropriate at the moment in time… This kind of pearl is probably my favorite kind to put together, and seems most often to produce the the finest, shiniest, metaphorical pearls of virtual wisdom….

I’m required by law to remind y’all at this point that these are pearls of “virtual wisdom”, and should not ever be used as if they are true wisdom…. If they are, we are not responsible for the ensuing consequences, up to and including the use of nuclear weaponry…. Enjoy!….

“Wear a smile and have friends; wear a scowl and have wrinkles. What do we live for if not to make the world less difficult for each other?” — George Eliot

“An improper mind is a perpetual feast.” — Smart Bee

“Don’t look back — something might be gaining on you.” — Satchel Paige

“If your advance is going well, you’re walking into an ambush.” — Sun Tzu

“If the person you are talking to doesn’t appear to be listening, be patient. It may simply be that he has a small piece of fluff in his ear.” — Pooh’s Little Instruction Book, inspired by A. A. Milne

“The one unforgivable sin, the offense against one’s own integrity, is to accept anything at all simply on authority.” — Maureen Johnson Long (Lazarus Long’s mother….)

“How to paint a perfect painting — make yourself perfect and then just paint naturally” — Robert M. Pirsig
_____________________________

Well, ffolkes, there you have it; one more trip down the pike on gigoid’s dime. Such as it is….. Let’s see what happened here….. Considering the state of my mind at this point, I’m going to let this go without a struggle, or even a qualm…. Never did like giving up qualms, anyway…. Damn! It’s really early still… 6:01 AM and all done, except for posting… which I will proceed to do now…. See ya tomorrow….

Y’all take care out there,
and May the Metaphorse be with you;
Blessed Be, dearest Carole, Mark, and Theresa…
and everyone else, too…

When I works, I works hard.
When I sits, I sits loose.
When I thinks, I falls asleep.

Which is Why….

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

gigoid

A special sale on Dear John letters…..

Posted on October 13, 2013 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

In just a couple of weeks, I’ll be celebrating my 63rd birthday….. Perhaps ‘celebrating’ is not the right word; let’s say I’ll acknowledge it, and let it go at that…. In truth, though, I’m not typical in how I look at birthdays; I actually enjoy aging, from an intellectual standpoint. However, I don’t feel old, at this moment, though, physically, I do feel my age frequently….. But, in my mind, I still feel as if I am 25 years old, and can still do anything at all with my body… which, back then, I did so, a lot. That’s why I’m so frail now, according to my doctor, but that’s neither here nor there… In most ways, I don’t feel as if death is near, even though I am aware of entering his neighborhood, so to speak….

I don’t believe that paragraph says what I am trying to say very well. That could be due to the hour of the day, or the insufficient number of ounces of coffee thus far consumed; most likely it’s my normal confusion expressing itself, in its own inimitable way. I suppose I’m trying to say that even though I’m getting older all the time, it only seems to affect my body, and not my mind…. For this I can only be grateful, as there are many, many things the mind can figure out how to do without having the full use of physical attributes. There is very little the body can do to make up for not having one’s mental faculties in full working order….. I mean, any complex math is out, if one has to count higher than 20, or so, and no way I’m trusting my body to write a Pearl…. It’s already hard enough to get them to work in tandem….

Okay, that’s silly, but, you get the drift, I hope…. I’m fresh out of cliches and aphorisms to get it said in any elegant way, so, what has transpired will have to do for the nonce. Since we are already at the cusp of giving up altogether (this is starting to look a bit like one that will go in the trash, and get started over…..), I’d best decide how much further I’ll go in trying to get to my point…. a point, I will add, that is now getting pretty foggy itself, and may have been lost completely by the time I get to the end of this paragraph…. It certainly has retreated well into the background, while I go through all these wordy contortions, trying to find my way back to my original thought….

I see that I’ve reached nearly enough material to call this an intro, even though nothing has been either introduced, or begun well, in any fashion. Maybe THIS is the mental deterioration people often speak of when talking about getting old; it certainly happens often enough to look that way. You COULD say this has been coming on for some time; if I go back over the Pearls from the recent past, I see that this section has undergone some rather odd changes over the course of this year….

I wander from subject to subject much more frequently, usually AWAY from any coherency…. I lose track of my thoughts, as I write them…. I cover that up by being silly, not even caring how it makes me look…. I tend to fall easily into ranting, though without providing as much factual evidence as opinion, which is fine, in and of itself, but, not a good policy over time…. people want proof. And, I’m easily distracted, as the ranting indicates…. Hmm….. all of these are symptomatic of age related issues, so, I guess this means what I’d hoped it didn’t….. Hell, I didn’t even go into how many trips to the bathroom I make, compared to my younger self….

I’m old, and there’s no way around it, so I may as well just go with the flow…. If that flow means verbal diarrhea for up to six complete paragraphs, such as this morning, well, then, I’ll just let it take me away, just as if I were pleased about it all…. I wonder, though, is it going with the flow, or getting flushed? I think…. that I don’t want to think about that one any further…. Instead, I’ll just say this…. Yeah, I’m old, but, so fucking what? I’m tough, too, and stubborn, and full of curmudgeonly passion…. and I’ve still got a lot to say about the people in this world who have it in for everyone else…. So, take it, or leave it, but, that’s the way it is….

Shall we Pearl?….

“I used to wonder about the meaning of life. But I looked it up in the dictionary under L and there it was, the meaning of life. It was less than I expected.” — Dogbert
_____________________________

Yesterday, I thought my rant was pretty accurate, showing how the BRC, the priestly hierarchies, and all those who manipulate others solely for their own benefit have worked together over centuries to enslave mankind…. I’m not going to claim any conspiracy to do so, even though the act itself, of controlling others, is evidence enough of intent to conspire; the system that exists today in the world has evolved rather than been constructed… Those who have the urge to power have always pursued it, and the rest of us have always suffered for it….

Now, we’ve come to a point in our history where each act of this nature assumes greater importance in the overall scheme of things; the more the shadowy masters of society work to keep their acts secret, the harder people try to uncover them…. and, since the ones who have all the power aren’t technicians, they have to depend on some of the unwashed masses to perform certain tasks…. As they suspected, that was a risk, which has led to the recent revelations in the news about how much our governments spy on us, and not unsurprisingly to some of us, showing how much of what the government does is NOT being honest.

Below I’ve put another link to an article, which, to me, is very good in its intent and delivery, but doesn’t go far enough in its implied criticism…. Eric Snowden, the NSA tech who blew the whistle on the NSA, makes one statement, (included just after the link below…), that outlines very well what I think; it’s a good summary statement of what our POTUS has done during his reign of office….. Not that this POTUS is any worse than any of the Shrubs, or for that matter, any of them…. But, he IS the one who got himself elected mainly by stating he would make changes long overdue…. As far as I can see, NONE of those necessary changes have occurred, at least, not so far….

http://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/Snowden-mass-surveillance-making-us-less-safe-4890413.php

“Snowden said the U.S. government was “unwilling to prosecute high officials who lied to Congress and the country on camera, but they’ll stop at nothing to persecute someone who told them the truth.” ”

This is truth, ffolkes….. The Obama administration, according to the article I put here yesterday, has instituted more prosecutions of security leaks against writers, news organizations, and anyone who showed how deeply the spying has been thrust into our lives, than ANY previous administration, which is having a very serious effect on how willing reporters are to exposing those leaks, or to even use them for material…. This is their policy, in spite of the fact that what they are doing is ILLEGAL, even according to the asinine Patriot Act that is at the root of the problem…. This administration has exceeded the limits of that Act ever since it was signed, deliberately; they don’t even bother to conceal it, as the proof has already been published, with documented emails and policy statements that make it clear they KNEW they were exceeding their authority….

“To disarm the people – that was the best and most effective way to enslave them ….” — George Mason ( Framer of the Declaration of Rights, Virginia, 1776, — which became the basis for the U.S. Bill of Rights ) — 3 Elliot, Debate at 380.

George is right in this, but he forgot another method for disarming the people, one that is just as effective in controlling the populace…., the one that is currently being used…. The people’s only and best weapon against depredations by the government is not guns, though they are useful, and essential in any free society… But, guns are only useful for enforcing one’s beliefs. Knowledge, and information about what is being done, is actually the most powerful weapon we have, as well as the most powerful tool the BRC has to keep us under their control… If we don’t KNOW what they’re doing, we can’t stop it. If we don’t KNOW they are fucking us over, we can’t stop them….

In this modern world, aptly called the Age of Information, correct data, or more accurately, the truth, is the most powerful weapon at anyone’s disposal… If the government continues to operate in the way they are now, then we won’t even KNOW that they’ve done something to us, until it’s all done… Our only real protection is the freedom of the press, and of speech, and the freedom to act to find redress for acts of infamy against us…. Those acts are now being perpetrated mostly by our own leaders, and if we don’t have the guts to stop them, well, then they are going to keep on controlling us all right into our graves….

I know this rant sounds a bit disorganized; I did that deliberately, because it is another form of get-back at the BRC…. If they’re going to take the time to look at what I write, to keep track of yet another dissatisfied citizen, who could conceivably cause them problems, should any significant number of people ever start listening to my ideas, well, then, I’m going to make it as long and complex as I can, just to thumb my nose at them…. They’ll have to dig through all this to get at whatever they see as the nuggets of seditious material, so I like to dress it up pretty for them…. and, bury it deep, so they have to sweat a bit to dig it out…

“What you see but can’t see over is as good as infinite.” — Thomas Carlyle

I’m going to end this here, not because I’ve run out of anger, or of material, but because I’m over-amped, and it’s too early for this kind of emotional storm…. It’s getting hard to NOT become angry at what I see in the news each day; though I am not a spring chicken, and don’t expect everything to go my way in the world, it would be nice to be able to count on something, or someone, in the real world to be truthful, or honest, or at least, not completely DIS-honest…. But, I guess that’s expecting a lot of human nature, given its track record….. There isn’t a lot of historical evidence of that kind of behavior, especially at the higher levels of government, or the higher levels of the priesthood….

Stay alert, ffolkes…. As axiom #7 says…. “Do your Duty. Respect Life. Honor the Truth. Share your Love.”,….. and watch your data…. Enough!….

“I believe that all government is evil, and that trying to improve it is largely a waste of time.” — H. L. Mencken

“If you’re facing the richest and most disgusting conspiracy in history, you have to do more than stick up two fingers and say “peace”.” — Ben Elton, Stark
_____________________________

Given the subject matter in today’s rant, I was going to put in another of my poems, with a clear message to the PTB… But, in looking for it, I came across this one, and it feels like a better one for today… With poetry, I tend to go with feelings more consistently than I do with reason, so….

Honorable Request

Days, filled to a brim with fluff and time, pass
dimly into memory, bit by combative bit,
ever mournful, yet loud with life and sass,
only in dream do we meet, and dance, and flit.

Souls, spinning ’round in gleeful wonder, comply
as they must, never given a reason,
somberly proper, yet limber and quite spry,
dancing on to greet each bright new season.

Storms, angered by apathetic care, rage
proceeding into ministerial glare, unknown,
clothed in colors, purified solely with sage,
past an infinite future, already flown.

Life, plumbed to its depths and secrets, keeps
flowing with currents, strong and fairly found,
love stands, asking release, as it slowly weeps,
seeking refuge unasked, to stay honor bound.

~~ gigoid ~~

_____________________________

Having dutifully, and necessarily, given in to the urge to rant, BEFORE I read the day’s headlines, I am now fully authorized to move on to a more light-hearted duty, to find the perfect string of pearls to make a necklace of virtual wisdom, one that shines with enough beauty to illuminate, and inspire… Or, if nothing else, give us a bit of a chuckle…. The Irish are fond of of saying, “A good laugh and a long sleep are the two best cures for anything.”….

“Any mental functions attempted in this area must be re- evaluated during a subsequent period. It has been discovered that standard logic works sideways in this area due to the influence of the occupant.” — Smart Bee

“That which leads us to the performance of duty by offering pleasure as its reward, is not virtue, but a deceptive copy and imitation of virtue.” — Cicero (B.C. 106-43)

“It [the Bible] is full of interest. It has noble poetry in it; and some clever fables; and some blood-drenched history; and some good morals; and a wealth of obscenity; and upwards of a thousand lies.” — Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) — Letters from the Earth (1905-1909)

PRESIDENT, n. The leading figure in a small group of men of whom — and of whom only — it is positively known that immense numbers of their countrymen did not want any of them for President.

If that’s an honor surely ’tis a greater
To have been a simple and undamned spectator.
Behold in me a man of mark and note
Whom no elector e’er denied a vote! —
An undiscredited, unhooted gent
Who might, for all we know, be President
By acclimation. Cheer, ye varlets, cheer —
I’m passing with a wide and open ear!
Jonathan Fomry

— Ambrose Bierce, “The Devil’s Dictionary”

“The purpose and function of government is not to preside over change but to prevent change. By political methods when unavoidable, by violence when convenient.” — Edward Abbey

“It is hard to let old beliefs go. They are familiar. We are comfortable with them and have spent years building systems and developing habits that depend on them. Like a man who has worn eyeglasses so long that he forgets he has them on, we forget that the world looks to us the way it does because we have become used to seeing it that way through a particular set of lenses. Today, however, we need new lenses. And we need to throw the old ones away.” — Kenich Ohmae, The Borderless World

“People fashion their God after their own understanding. They make their God first and worship him afterwards.” — Oscar Wilde

“Giving power and money to the government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys.” — P.J. O’Rourke, former Gulf War correspondent, — summing up what he learned — during two years of research on how our government functions

Well, rather than going for humor, it seems as if Smart Bee was paying attention earlier, and decided to collect a group of pearls that are obviously related to the rant above, if only in the indictment, by several of history’s more rational minds, of both the BRC, and the unholy perpetrators of any of the major religions…. I don’t know about y’all, but, I like it, so, it stays….
_____________________________

Someday, I suppose, I’ll figure this out, and just sit down each day to write, knowing in advance how it will go; today, however, has been typical for me, in that I’ve no clue as to how it got done, really…. but, there it is, so I’d best go proof it, so as not to embarrass myself any further than is absolutely necessary….

I’m shocked, shocked I tell you… This isn’t bad. It isn’t necessarily brilliant, but, it will do until brilliant comes along, for me anyway…. This means that once again, I’m done, and I didn’t even know it… See ya, got stuff to pack for the trip…. 🙂

Y’all take care out there,
and May the Metaphorse be with you;
Blessed Be, dearest Carole, Mark, and Theresa…
and everyone else, too…

When I works, I works hard.
When I sits, I sits loose.
When I thinks, I falls asleep.

Which is Why….

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

gigoid

Ned Moore, aka gigoid, is a 70 year-old, (!!!… When did that happen?….), retired dilettante, who would rather read than eat, most days. His first blog, "gigoid’s folly", has been emailed out to folks he knows for about 18 years now. He still considers it his best defense against angst, and the ever-present specter of sheer insanity..... Due to rigorous curmudgeon training requirements, he has discontinued his Facebook presence, but still indulges in the occasional Twitter session... In essence, he's socialized, but, not overly sociable; all labels and stereotypes are forbidden in his presence... and he doesn't care what anyone thinks about that..... In fact, he doesn't want to talk anymore.... If you feel you MUST contact gigoid, his email address is: alphagigoid@gmail.com You can go read now.... Go on, beat it.... gigoid, the dubious

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