Tag Archives: Philosophy

Tattered remnants are all that remain….

Posted on by
3

Ffolkes,

“Hey, buddy!”
“Yeah?”
“I don’t feel so good…Would you call me a doctor?”
“Sure, no problem…. you’re a doctor.”

Now, I’m sure you’ve heard or seen that particular joke at some point in your life; it’s too old, and too common to have missed. I kind of like these, even though I’m beginning to have a bit of trouble coming up with new ones…. I’ve run through almost all the really OLD jokes that would work, so I’m guessing it will take a bit of creativity to keep them going…. I’ll see what I can do about that; creativity is a finite substance here, so I have to ration it out with that in mind, or I run out completely….. Nobody wants that, as these Pearls could become distressingly pedantic, aka, BORING…

I’m having a hard enough time not going there already; I don’t need to spend more of what little I can spare for creativity on stuff that’s boring and unreadable…. But, what’s a poor daily blogger supposed to do when the well runs dry? I’ve used archived material, and I’ve gone back to fictional openings; both are okay, but are not the type of material that can be used every day, without further input of creative innovation….

I’ve blathered, and wandered, and meandered, around nowhere in particular in my own head, verbalizing the vague journeys endlessly, until finally finding my way to the next section… Those seem to work relatively well, but even my almost unlimited store of nonsense and piffle is getting stretched to the point where it’s complaining it can’t find anything new to pervert…

SIGH…. I don’t wish to complain, or seem like a whiner, but, it goes so well with the cheese plates! Oh, golly, no cheese plates? Boy, it’s getting hard to find good help these days; there were supposed to be cheese platters, with some savory crackers to go with, right there on the side table in the parlor, and, sure enough, there’s nothing there but some coffee, and a couple of stale croissants…. chocolate chip croissants, my absolute least favorite when stale…. (buttery golden flaky becomes crumbly greasy old baked flour, with stale chocolate chips….). It’s getting so I’m going to have to go back to a one-man operation, if I can’t find anyone with any common sense, some basic work ethics, and a memory longer than their nose….

Since there is no cheese, we can’t break out the whine, either….. Damn! Circumstances being as they are, it becomes a matter of critical importance to get this moving, requiring us (or, more accurately, ME….) to resort to another emergency method for getting past the intro section…. Hmm, which one shall we choose today?…. #4 is efficient, but we just used it last week, I think…. #7 always does the job, but the mess to clean up afterward is more than I want to deal with today…. We’ll have to go with #11, I guess, and just suffer the indignity that goes along with it….

Okay, ffolkes, since we’re using #11, I’ll have to ask you to fasten the extra set of restraints to your ankles and chest, and place the oxygen masks over your faces BEFORE we start to move, okay? Once the acceleration hits, G-forces won’t allow you to get it on, and the possibility of building up some significant brain-damage is high, if you don’t have that mask in place…. Everybody good to go? Okay, Captain Marty, fire that sucker up, & let’s go!….

Shall we Pearl?….

“We are the protagonists and authors of our own drama. It is up to us; there is no one left to blame. Neither the system, not our leaders, nor our parents. We can’t go out and hang the first amoeba.” — Rebecca McClen Novick

What is actual is actual only for one time
And only for one place

— T.S.Eliot. ‘Ash Wednesday’ (1930)
_____________________________

My original thought for this section involved a rant, but, I changed my mind (you wouldn’t believe how many words I just saved you by summarizing that thought, from what it was to, “I changed my mind”…. we might have been stuck here for days….). I was going to rant about the religious hierarchies here, just because it’s their turn, and I’ve been giving them a break of late, with only one rant on Billy G. so far this year (I think… I do lose track easily….), and that one was a blast from the past, itself…. In trying to pull together my thoughts, and in searching for an opening quote to use as a springboard for the discussion, I just got tired….

Maybe I’m old, maybe I’m burnt out, maybe I’m just lazy…. Whatever it may be, I don’t care, and I’m going old-school, no matter what you say…. Not that anyone cares much, or anything like that, but, hey, a man’s got to stand his ground, right?…. Any who, I decided, since I’m so damn lazy, I may as well just put together an old-school, and be done with it….

Since it’s my blog, and I’m the “decider”, as Shrub Jr. used to say, repeatedly…. (as if the more times he said it, the better chance of ANYONE believing it….), that’s the way it’s going to be, and there’s not a damn thing anyone can do about it….. Then again, why would they want to?…. Any who, here are some pearls, that might just save this from oblivion, or, at the least, from the Recycle Bin….

“A Senator, speaking of our current Vice President, whose name shall not be  mentioned (we don’t like hate mail written in crayon!): “I think if you put  his brain on the edge of a very fine razor, it would be like a BB, rolling down the middle of I-70.” — Smart Bee

“Faith is never identical with piety.” — Karl Barth

“As for the wealthy business owner and whether he ‘needs’ the extra dollars, I’ll simply relate the old adage of the man who said ‘I’ve never had my paycheck signed by a poor man’.” — Ron Paul (U. S. Representative from Texas, 2003)

“Give me a lever and place to stand and I will move the world.” — Archimedes (c. 287-212 B.C.), Pappus, Synagogue, VIII, 10, xi

“If the answer to crime was bigger prisons,and harsher sentences, then today the United States of America would be a Utopia.” — Canadian Justice Minister Allan Rock

“Administration maintains the status quo.” — Thomas L. Martin

Fill all the glasses there, for why
Should every creature drink but I?
Why, man of morals, tell me why?

— Abraham Cowley (1618-1667) — From Anacreon, ii, Drinking

On a scale of 10, this one scores about a 7 for obscurity…. that’s good, though, because the point, though subtle, is very sharp, and one should approach it with caution, as befits one so obscurely powerful in scope…. Or, conversely, it could all just be a figment of my own fevered imagination…. I’m afraid that’s been known to happen, too….
_____________________________

Today’s Pearl is one that I’m not sure of, on ANY level of judgment, so one of my poems will have to do, because I don’t want any of whatever backlash might be generated to splash on anyone else’s reputation….. or their clothing…. So, here is one from MY past efforts, such as it is…. Actually, this is one of my latest poems, created in October of last year, and is probably one of my best…. Again, such as that is….

After the odyssey….

Portraits of iconic symbols, crashing, singing, forgotten;
evolving into mature innovation, as yet pale, and rotten.
Still water justly breeds, impenetrable primal verses resound;
unholy moments tarry, emotion swirls in passion unbound

Spiritual ovulation precedes each pregnant pause;
gravid, time moves on, following destiny’s cause.
Cast adrift on waves of confusion, to a final, damp landing;
salvation beckons sweetly, fed well on understanding.

Dreams directly fall, in night’s grey bower, unbidden;
lingering flavors in simple taste, lovingly, cleverly hidden.
Childish laughter sounds, joyful, bright, and clear;
no need ever to hide, no more monsters to fear.

Temper most foul arrives under unregistered mail;
forgotten taunts live on, lashed by an ancient flail.
Plain dealing delivers such lasting specks of honest hate;
savage in retrospect, never hasty, always running late.

Forever, cries an ambient lover of the pending night;
his pale, weak issue forms its own failing light.
Still, fortune favors such as those who apprehend;
Sweet love of Gaia, let it never end.

~~ gigoid ~~

_____________________________

Okay, so, the gun control issue in this country is one that is never going to go away, not as long as there are laws that give the common man the right to have them…. The Powers That Be get too nervous thinking about having so many weapons NOT under their direct control, and continue the campaign they’ve waged for the past 200 plus years to repeal the Second Amendment, or at least gut it enough, it has no power to protect….

This campaign will continue until either the guns are under the control of the Asininnies, or the world comes to an end, whichever comes first…. I’ve given my take on it previously, but, it bears repeating now and again, because if no one else does, the Asininnies need reminders that we still have the means to keep our own rights intact, and we are still alert to the efforts they make to take them away…. All of the following remains valid, and true to the best of my knowledge…..

From May 16, 2012:

“Are we at last brought to such a humiliating and debasing degradation, that we cannot be trusted with arms for our own defense? Where is the difference between having our arms in our own possession and under our own direction, and having them under the management of Congress? If our defense be the _real_ object of having those arms, in whose hands can they be trusted with more propriety, or equal safety to us, as in our own hands?” — Patrick Henry

Here is the question that those who would get rid of the Second Amendment to the US Constitution would like to convince us to ignore. There are a large number of people, otherwise nice, intelligent folks, who have decided that the American people shouldn’t have guns available to them. Because they’ve been indoctrinated to believe that they are incapable of protecting themselves from random violence, these weak-minded, cowardly individuals fall right in with whatever some pundit on TV says to play into those fears….

Their apparent justification is that too many criminals have access to more firepower than do the police forces in each community, while their preferred solution is to make it illegal for anyone except the police and armed forces to carry weapons of that nature. Hell, it’s already illegal to carry a knife longer than 3 inches, because the PTB are afraid someone might stab someone. GASP! You mean there are bad people out there? People who would be less than nice to everyone else? What a surprise!

In case it wasn’t clear, those last three sentences, or queries, should be infused with heavy sarcasm if read aloud. Sarcasm is one of my natural responses to being taken for a fool, especially when it comes to human nature. I have discovered a couple of things about human nature in my time on this planet, things that may come as a surprise to some, though I don’t see why…. All I’ve done is look around me, and see what there is to see….. Anyway, I have some news for those who want to deny the truth….

Humans are violent. Period. It is in their (OUR) nature. Anyone who cannot acknowledge that fact probably still believes in the tooth fairy, and is a sure candidate for early Alzheimer’s disease, because they have a very strong sense of denial. Guns are NOT going to go away; they just aren’t. Believing that banning the public from possessing them will stop violence from happening is the same sort of logic as refusing to breathe because there is smoke in the air….

The tendency for humans to react with violence to what they perceive, or experience, is a FACT; trying to deny it, or even trying to pretty it up, by calling it a “tendency” just makes those people who indulge in expressions of violence that much more dangerous, because it means there are so very many idiots, out there running around in the world by themselves, who are NOT EXPECTING the violence that can happen at any time,…. And yet, the scariest part of the whole gun issue for me is the insistence, on the part of the police, and those Asininnies who want the guns taken away from us, that THEY can be trusted to use their guns rationally, and ONLY with honorable intent….. They assure us these sterling characters, who wear the uniforms of the trusted myrmidon, will always act within the limits of law, whereas the general public cannot be trusted to do so….

Now, I will ask you to think about that for a moment…. Don’t hurt yourself, but try to hold those ideas in your mind without judgment for a moment or two…. Now, can you think of any historical period, or any culture anywhere in the world, that demonstrates any sort of support of that assertion? Has there ever been an entirely trustworthy group of policemen, or politicians, or generals, anywhere? If so, please name that group for me, and I will add that information into the discussion.

I feel compelled to warn you, however, I’m pretty widely-read, having studied world history and culture most of my life, if only informally part of the time…. Yet, for all my study over the years, I cannot think of a single time in history, up to and including today’s world, wherein the police, or the government that controls them, (This include the armies, who are merely police who serve nations rather than cities….), could be considered more trustworthy than the populace. In fact, most of history proves the exact opposite, with most records providing evidence that the mere act of becoming a politician, judge, or police officer tends to corrupt those who are accepted as such…. Having such positions in society is a form of power over others; as such, they are guaranteed to attract those who are drawn to power for its advantages.

No, I’m sorry, I can’t place any credence at all in the assumption that the police, or the government, should be considered trustworthy, much less to believe any of them, just because they are what they are, are MORE trustworthy than the average man…. I can’t do it, not when there is NO evidence anywhere, or any when, that would indicate any such thing. The facts of the matter, and the evidence of recorded history, provide innumerable examples to show how UN-trustworthy most police and political armies are, and trying to say otherwise tends to give me cause to place that person squarely in the camp of the unmitigated LIARS who are always looking for ways to take advantage of other folks.

Our country’s founding fathers spent their time, their energy, their blood, sweat, and tears to ensure that we would not have to put up with that sort of situation, and anyone who tries to get rid of the Second Amendment, for whatever reason they claim as justification, brands themselves a traitor, in my eyes…. I believe the law calls for traitors to be shot, if I am not mistaken….

“Wars kill people. Governments cause wars. Let’s ban government!” — Smart Bee

There, I’ve ranted…. gigoid has spoken. So be it….
_____________________________

I suppose this means there is hope for me yet…. I’ve finished, and in excellent time. How’d it come out? Dunno…. I’m not sure how, or why, but, not bad, not bad…. Good enough to get done, and be gone…. 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

dozer3

Primarily, we rely on palliative measures, not prophylactic….

Posted on by
Reply

Ffolkes,

“Hey, you!”
“Yeah?”
“Pull over!”
“No, it’s a cardigan, but thanks for noticing!”

Though that line is probably about as old as the hills in County Wicklow, I think it’s cool…. I first heard it, or a remarkably similar version of it, of course, many, many moons ago, but, saw it again recently on the internet, as the accompanying text to a picture…. of what seemed to be very drunk baby…. Most likely wasn’t, (drunk, that is….), merely good timing with the camera, to catch the baby with the silly expression, smiling, with eyes half-mast, wearing a cardigan, while standing on a picnic bench, with a pint of Harp in front of him…. I crack up hard every time it rotates through on my screen saver….

Any who, now that the most simple of old jokes are becoming viral internet memes, once someone’s perverted sense of humor combines with some geek juice, (hard to resist Photoshop and babies….), it’s hard to know when or where some old piece comes from, or what it once meant…. Not that I care, or anything like that, but, sometimes I think about that kind of stuff…. Pretty boring, eh? SIGH…..

I do sometimes wonder about word origins, though, which really isn’t a boring subject…. for some. I forget my own love of words sometimes can make things interesting for me that others don’t see at all, but, hey, we all tend to become self-centered when it comes to our own preferences…. I mean, that’s why we call them “personal” preferences, right? Now I’m defending self-centered behavior, and we’re only two and bit of a paragraph into this mess…. What the hell happened in that short amount of time? How did I lose control so quickly?…. Who’s in charge here, anyway? Because it’s apparently not me….

It’s tough to be me, on days such as this…. I know there is a certain level of quality I expect from myself when I write, so, I really have very little choice about how to approach all of this…. It takes ALL of my focus and concentration to make it come out right, so, my inability to sit for long, due to the unfortunate intrusion of physical discomfort of one sort or another (back and/or joint pain, stiffness, gas or abdominal bloat, arthritic swelling, etc…. without even going into PTSD symptoms that may manifest at any time….) makes an ordeal out of getting these done each day….

It’s weird, too, because there is very little I can do EXCEPT sit…. walking causes pain and/or numbness after a short distance anyway, and trying to do ANYTHING such as cooking while standing turns my back into a mahogany, two-by-four piece ofhard wood, complete with concomitant levels of pain…. Attempting to do any sort of kitchen work, as I used to do when I was a chef, can put me in bed for a couple hours if I push it too hard past the very short limit that now exists for me…. I can bear no weight at the end of my arms without straining the lower back, and causing it to react poorly…. In short, I’m a mess…. I’m merely 63, but my back and skeleton is 85 or 90…. according to one doctor, anyway….

But, I’m not alone in any of this, and I’m not really complaining, other than as a side note to what I’m trying to say here…. Of course, we also need to remember about moments like this, when I come to the realization that this intro has reached a point of viability, and I don’t have to keep on rambling incoherently about nothing much, just to fill up space…. In looking over what is above, I can only shake my head in chagrin, offer my apologies, and extend my assurances that the rest of today’s Pearl will be different…. I won’t say it will be better, because that sort of value judgment must come from the Gentle Reader…. I just hope I can write something that won’t make me nauseous, or want to hide….

Shall we Pearl?…..

“All my life, I always wanted to be somebody. Now I see that I should have been more specific.” — Jane Wagner, _The Search For Intelligent Life In The Universe_ — [Performed by Lily Tomlin]
_____________________________

Below you will find, I hope, a pearl of virtual wisdom, random harlequin style…. I’m not setting any parameters for this one, since that seems to work pretty well for us…. My head is a bit off the exact center, and I’m having a bit of trouble connecting some of my neuronic pathways, because, hey, where are they?…. Nevertheless, we will continue, as I can use my new Acme Pathfinder to seek out new trails through the labyrinth of my mind; this should allow us to find our way, to somewhere in the vicinity of where we need to go, thus confounding the forces of evil that would keep us from our appointed tasks…. Or something like that….

“To know what is right and not to do it is the worst cowardice.” — Confucius

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

“I just forgot my whole philosophy of life!!!” — Zippy the Pinhead

“When two elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers.” — East African Proverb

“There is no difference between theory and practice in theory, but there is often a great deal of difference between theory and practice in practice.” — Chuck Reid

“Whenever doubt can be called into question, do so.” — Smart Bee

“We find it hard to believe that other people’s thoughts are as silly as our own.” — James Harvey Robinson

Not bad for pot luck, eh?…. Onward, with new enthusiasm… Oh, wait, that’s not enthusi…. what the hell IS that?…… EEEEUWWW!! Yuck…. Oh, well, see you at the next section…. I’ll catch up to y’all after I clean this off…. I have no idea where THAT came from…
_____________________________

Now that we’ve dealt with the obligatory episode of induced hallucination, let’s see if we can find a poem that won’t cause any real harm…. Better yet, lets go for something really good… Okay, here you go…. this fits that description exactly….. It’s a bit longer than is comfortable, perhaps, but, whoever said this would be easy?…. Not me….

On the Pulse of Morning

A Rock, A River, A Tree
Hosts to species long since departed,
Marked the mastodon.
The dinosaur, who left dry tokens
Of their sojourn here
On our planet floor,
Any broad alarm of their hastening doom
Is lost in the gloom of dust and ages.

But today, the Rock cries out to us, clearly, forcefully,
Come, you may stand upon my
Back and face your distant destiny,
But seek no haven in my shadow.

I will give you no more hiding place down here.

You, created only a little lower than
The angels, have crouched too long in
The bruising darkness,
Have lain too long
Face down in ignorance.

Your mouths spilling words
Armed for slaughter.

The Rock cries out today, you may stand on me,
But do not hide your face.

Across the wall of the world,
A River sings a beautiful song,
Come rest here by my side.

Each of you a bordered country,
Delicate and strangely made proud,
Yet thrusting perpetually under siege.

Your armed struggles for profit
Have left collars of waste upon
My shore, currents of debris upon my breast.

Yet, today I call you to my riverside,
If you will study war no more. Come,

Clad in peace and I will sing the songs
The Creator gave to me when I and the
Tree and the stone were one.

Before cynicism was a bloody sear across your
Brow and when you yet knew you still
Knew nothing.

The River sings and sings on.

There is a true yearning to respond to
The singing River and the wise Rock.

So say the Asian, the Hispanic, the Jew
The African and Native American, the Sioux,
The Catholic, the Muslim, the French, the Greek
The Irish, the Rabbi, the Priest, the Sheikh,
The Gay, the Straight, the Preacher,
The privileged, the homeless, the Teacher.
They hear. They all hear
The speaking of the Tree.

Today, the first and last of every Tree
Speaks to humankind. Come to me, here beside the River.

Plant yourself beside me, here beside the River.

Each of you, descendant of some passed
On traveler, has been paid for.

You, who gave me my first name, you
Pawnee, Apache and Seneca, you
Cherokee Nation, who rested with me, then
Forced on bloody feet, left me to the employment of
Other seekers- desperate for gain,
Starving for gold.

You, the Turk, the Swede, the German, the Scot…
You the Ashanti, the Yoruba, the Kru, bought
Sold, stolen, arriving on a nightmare
Praying for a dream.

Here, root yourselves beside me.

I am the Tree planted by the River,
Which will not be moved.

I, the Rock, I the River, I the Tree
I am yours- your Passages have been paid.

Lift up your faces, you have a piercing need
For this bright morning dawning for you.

History, despite its wrenching pain,
Cannot be unlived, and if faced
With courage, need not be lived again.

Lift up your eyes upon
The day breaking for you.

Give birth again
To the dream.

Women, children, men,
Take it into the palms of your hands.

Mold it into the shape of your most
Private need. Sculpt it into
The image of your most public self.
Lift up your hearts
Each new hour holds new chances
For new beginnings.

Do not be wedded forever
To fear, yoked eternally
To brutishness.

The horizon leans forward,
Offering you space to place new steps of change.
Here, on the pulse of this fine day
You may have the courage
To look up and out upon me, the
Rock, the River, the Tree, your country.

No less to Midas than the mendicant.

No less to you now than the mastodon then.

Here on the pulse of this new day
You may have the grace to look up and out
And into your sister’s eyes, into
Your brother’s face, your country
And say simply
Very simply
With hope
Good morning.

~~ Maya Angelou ~~

_____________________________

Perception is, perhaps, the most elementally intricate quality we possess as living creatures. Through the five-plus senses we bring to the process, we receive information from the universe that gives us what we require, in order to be able to interact with Reality, (another term for the Universe… for the purposes of this discussion, anyway….)  in some sort of way that is meaningful to us.

This information comes to us in a variety of forms, and our minds must utilize the complex, yet subtle qualities of imagination, reason, logic, and all those mental functions that our minds have discovered to organize the information, functions whose etiology are basically unknown to us, as part of our basic nature. We don’t think about, or feel in any way, the process of seeing, or smelling, or touching, except in the context of the sense itself…. We just DO it….

Yet each sense is such that it works WITH all the others, in ways we don’t really understand, to give us the pictures in our heads that show us how our minds perceive the world outside us…. We, being the imaginative creatures we are, have evolved all sorts of ways to organize and utilize our perceptions, all of which are again connected (remember that complexity part…) to another facet of Reality, which is our motivation for what we do, an outgrowth of our judgments of what we perceive…. We perceive, we judge, we act on that judgment, all according to our basic outlook on life, and how we choose to accept, and use, what we perceive….

This subject, I know, is a  bit esoteric for such a venue, but, I’m leading up to a point, which is this…. We all perceive the world differently, but, that doesn’t mean the world takes that into any account…. It’s one of our hardest lessons to accept when we are forced to admit that the Universe, in all its majestic glory, couldn’t give a tiny little crap for us, or for what we think of the way things are…. If we choose to interact with it in such a way that we are breaking the basic rules that everything works by, then we will have to pay the price, in the only way that the Universe uses to exact payment, to wit: extinction….

Now, given that, it seems to me that my ranting about all of this*** is a bit like that ant crawling up the elephant’s leg, with belligerent intentions…. In short, it’s not really a productive way to achieve whatever it is I’m trying to do, as I can see only one possible outcome, which, the odds, and logic, would tend to dictate doesn’t include any need for any worry on the part of the elephant….

All that is a long winded, pedantic way of saying that my rants, while satisfying on a personal level for the release they provide, are mostly a waste of breath, in a practical sense…. Nothing will change because I rant, in spite of the need for change being the whole purpose behind the rant…

The major part of that reason, I think, lies in the fact that I’m preaching to the choir…. None of the ffolkes, or folks, who read my blog, (with the possible exception of any bored NSA drones who may be assigned to do so merely because of my anti-government stance, shown by the  use of key phrases indicating my opposition….), are in any position to make any of the changes themselves, even though many of them would be willing to do so, I think…. But, the people who inhabit the halls of our government in Washington, and in other capitols around the world, DON’T read my blog, nor do they agree with most of the things about which I rant….

Why is that, do you think? Why don’t the people who govern us agree with any of what I say in my rants? It’s all stuff that can be proven, and is certainly important enough to all of us to warrant discussion… But, they don’t agree… They have their own agendas, which don’t look like anything that anyone in the great unwashed masses could come up with, even though they supposedly represent US…. These are our representatives, ffolkes…. I found this short comment in an old Pearl, which I think sums up most of my point pretty well…..

(From May 12, 2012):

“Such bickerings to recount, met often in these our writers, what more worth is it than to chronicle the wars of kites or crows flocking and fighting in the air?” — John Milton (1608-1674) — The History of England, Book iv

Did you ever wonder why a group of crows is called a congress? I didn’t. It makes perfect sense to me…. Dark, sinister looking creatures who act in odd ways, even for birds. Their behaviors tend to lean toward stealing shiny objects from wherever, or stealing the food of people or other animals and birds. When they speak, it is in a voice that grates on the ear like fingernails on a slate. In groups, they mill around, cackling and grumbling and jostling each other, until they all fly off to different areas to carry out whatever nefarious schemes they have hatched among themselves.

No, I have no problem envisioning a congress of crows; in fact, I believe they are in session, now, in Washington, D.C. …. Why, look! Here’s a list of them now!…..

http://blog.sfgate.com/nov05election/2014/01/10/congress-is-mostly-full-of-millionaires-but-who-are-the-richest/#19551101=0

Them’s some affluent crows, ain’t they?…. That’s what happens when any politician is given the keys to the treasury….. One last query…. Who gets to say how much money members of Congress get paid? Answer: They are authorized to set that themselves…. Okay, one more… Who authorized them? Why, they authorized that themselves, of course….

I’m tired now…. I’ve managed to spout off now about the Asininnies, or, at least, about the 545 of them who inhabit the top levels of OUR democratic bureaucracy, for a good, oh, thousand words or so, and once again, it will end up being read by those who mostly agree… (I’m making the assumption, reluctantly, but, with confidence, that if they DIDN’T agree, they’d leave a comment to say so…. I know MY Gentle Readers would do so….), so, I’m perfectly aware that no changes will happen because of what I’ve written….

I don’t feel any better, either, damn it!…..   😦

***  It must be noted that “all of this” should be understood to include: global warming, and the impending ecological disaster, overpopulation, criminality of the Asininnies, most especially the egregiously selfish actions of the Beloved Ruling Class, the Shadowy Corporate Masters, Snakeheads in general, (human predators…. pimps, slavers, pedophiles, and the ilk…), Priestly Hierarchies, and the Ignorant Paramilitary Myrmidons….. Oh, yes…. Also, on the rare occasion, we like to expose Shakespeare, and Pooh’s evil twin….
_____________________________

The afterglow that generally accompanies the completion of a Pearl just isn’t happening today…. Maybe if I just get on with the posting part, and stop fussing with this any more, I’ll start to feel a bit more in tune with Reality…. Can’t hurt, I guess…. See you tomorrow, ffolkes….

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

dozer3

Alloy sample #7 turned into fairy dust….

Posted on by
Reply

Ffolkes,

“Hey, buddy!”
“Yeah?”
“How’s it going?”
“Who the f__ are you? And why do you keep asking me these stupid questions?”

Okay, so that particular method of opening up might not work any more… I might have guessed, as things have been going too smoothly in the intro section; such a lack of turbulence always makes me nervous when it manifests around here, because I’m forever wondering where and when the other shoe will drop…. I’ve sustained too many concussions from Murphy to feel comfortable with such a trouble-free process, or to expect him to leave us alone for very long…. Oh, shucks, and I was JUST beginning to like him….. Right, sure, that’s the ticket….. NOT!

Very well, since we can’t depend on what we know, we’ll have to rely on what we don’t know, because, hey, there’s a lot more of that than there is of that, anyway…. I’m pretty sure that’s how it is with most ffolkes, and I KNOW for certain that there are a great many folks out there whose relative amounts of each definitely register on the negative side; what THEY don’t know would astound other people…. Hell, sometimes I wonder how those folks get through the day, because Reality has a bad habit of wanting us to walk and whistle, at the same time…. frequently.

It always amazes me, actually, to look around the planet, where I see all the really, really dumb people wandering around, obviously without a clue about practically anything, just sort of there, taking up space… I often end up thinking about how different things might have been in today’s world if, way back in the day, society had made the choice to pick the smarter, (but handicapped by honesty and virtue), cave guy to lead the tribe, instead of the most slick and persuasive liar….

Ah well, too late now…. The dumber, more vicious ones, with the facile tongues, no hearts, and the big clubs, along with the willingness to use them on others, are already in control, and there’s no time to go back for any do-overs; the clock is already run down to the end time, and we’re going to have to deal with things the way they are….

I’m really not ranting here again… No, really, I’m not…. I was just thinking about all the people in the world who haven’t a clue as to what is going on in their own minds, much less what is happening out in the real world, and how they are going to look at all the chaos and upheaval that is coming in the future…. Well, I suppose I’ll find out, won’t I?  I certainly will, and so will y’all….

Shall we Pearl?…..

“Ignorance doesn’t kill you, but it makes you sweat a lot.” — Haitian proverb

Just like the native islanders, to worry about the sweat…. besides, in this case, the cumulative effects of all that time spent sweating has caught up to us, and it WILL kill us, sweating or not….
_____________________________

Apparently, back in May of 2012, my mind was pretty well-tuned, if still struggling with the whole sleep issue, and I had nothing better to do than to spend a lot of time playing with it…. Kind of like now, come to think of it…. Any who here is another little discussion from that month, posted in a Pearl that produced four separate well-done pieces for me to re-use…. This one is not a rant, just a little self-revelation, with a taste of wistful hope…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From May 12, 2012:

“It may be irrational of me, but human beings are quite my favorite species.” — Doctor Who, Ark in Space

It probably seems to most folks reading this blog that I don’t like people very much. I tend to spend a lot of time finding and pointing out the things I see in them that I don’t like, and discussing them at nearly interminable length, a habit that would seem to indicate a lack of affection for the species as a whole. In reality, the opposite is true…. I love people…. I love watching them, listening to them, thinking about them, writing about them…. They afford me no end of intellectual stimulation, entertaining comedic genius, and fertile fields of thought and endeavor to explore, virtually and actually.

Human society and culture is an incredibly beautiful, complex tapestry of emotion and creativity; nobility, cruelty, heroes, villains, puppies, cats, love, hate, and all the rest of the things that make people what they are unfolds before us every day, growing and adding length and breadth to that tapestry of existence.

I can’t think of anything more interesting than the drama/comedy that is human history in the making…. I might wish it to be a more compassionate world, with less tyranny and oppression, without slavery and starvation. I might wish that my life would not be so complicated by ignorance and intolerance, and I might wish that the small percentage of humanity that holds the remainder in the grip of their own avarice would die horrible deaths worthy of their own evil natures.

But, I wouldn’t trade a single part of reality for anything. Nor would I say that any of these changes that are needed are particularly apt to happen, not without many more people in the world taking an interest in them…. Most folks just go through life trying to get by, trying not be bothered with anything more complicated than tying shoes; one can’t really blame them, bless their cowardly little hearts…. My own method of dealing with how much I’d like to see reality change is to write about what I see, and what I think can be different, with the right set of attitudes.

This desire to see, and stimulate the changes I believe are necessary arises out of my love for my fellow man, not from indignation or outrage, though they’re present. But, what I write, and what I’m trying to accomplish, is to help folks deal with life in a way that allows them more freedom, of whatever kind they wish to have, whether monetary, intellectual, religious, or physical; my motivation is to share the strength and freedom of thought that I have worked so hard to achieve…. Mankind has much more potential than we are showing in our actions, and I would love to see more of it fulfilled, rather than stifled, as in current society…. We can be so much more….

“Joy in looking and comprehending is nature’s most beautiful gift.” — Albert Einstein
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Concluding notes: Having seen the latest evidence about how serious the global warming crisis has become, with the newest estimates as to our remaining time now set at much less than previously thought, (possibly as little as a few MONTHS), I am somewhat unsure of how to approach the future…. From what I can see, from my vantage point (of having an adequate scientific background to make an accurate judgment about how much time we have left, whether it is several months, or as much as fifty years), it seems clear that we are down to a very finite time, one much shorter than we had thought… This is now a fact, easily demonstrated to even the most cynical non-believer….

What this means for me is to experience ever increasing sadness, for all the future we will not see…. I’m saddened by the loss of the beauty that will never be seen, or created by the mind of Man. I’m saddened that my grandson will never have the chance to look forward, to a life of joy and passion….. He’ll never get to travel to see the world, or meet new people, or fulfill any of his own promise…. and, GOD, it’s so damn hard to type when one has tears pouring down one’s cheeks…. It’s so infuriating! Our own stupidity and baseness is killing us all, and nobody seems to care!

Bah, humbug! I’m getting closer all the time to breaking…. If I do, there will be a reckoning, you may be sure… For now, I need to go look for, and read, some poetry, to calm down… Sorry, but when I start thinking about the future, and how my grandson really doesn’t have one, it kind of sets me off, you know?….

As I said in the above, I love people, and all the drama and beauty that we can create…. It’s really too bad we aren’t going to be around very much longer to appreciate any of it….

“In the bigger scheme of things, the universe is not asking us to do something, the universe is asking us to be something. And that’s a whole different thing.” — Lucille Clifton
_____________________________

I found this poem while looking through PoemHunter.com’s archives…. whereupon I cut, and pasted it in here before realizing just how perfectly it fits in with today’s apparent theme…. If I need to explain why it’s perfect, I’ve made an error in estimating my audience’s basic intelligence; it should be glaringly obvious to anyone how this applies to the current issues in our world, especially those I’ve been discussing today… If not, well, it’s still an enjoyable piece of verse, so, enjoy, okay?…..

Children’s Party

May I join you in the doghouse, Rover?
I wish to retire till the party’s over.
Since three o’clock I’ve done my best
To entertain each tiny guest.

My conscience now I’ve left behind me,
And if they want me, let them find me.
I blew their bubbles, I sailed their boats,
I kept them from each other’s throats.

I told them tales of magic lands,
I took them out to wash their hands.
I sorted their rubbers and tied their laces,
I wiped their noses and dried their faces.

Of similarities there’s lots
Twixt tiny tots and Hottentots.
I’ve earned repose to heal the ravages
Of these angelic-looking savages.

Oh, progeny playing by itself
Is a lonely little elf,
But progeny in roistering batches
Would drive St. Francis from here to Natchez.

Shunned are the games a parent proposes,
They prefer to squirt each other with hoses,
Their playmates are their natural foemen
And they like to poke each other’s abdomen.

Their joy needs another woe’s to cushion it,
Say a puddle, and someone littler to push in it.
They observe with glee the ballistic results
Of ice cream with spoons for catapults,

And inform the assembly with tears and glares
That everyone’s presents are better than theirs.
Oh, little women and little men,
Someday I hope to love you again,

But not till after the party’s over,
So give me the key to the doghouse, Rover

~~ Ogden Nash ~~

_____________________________

“Lawyers, I suppose, were children once.” — Charles Lamb

There, now, none of the irony dripping from this got on your clothing, did it? Mr. Lamb makes here an assertion that he has, no doubt, been forced to defend, physically, in more than one bar…. especially in those bars near the courthouse…. Actually, any OTHER bars would most likely appreciate this, and reward him with a groan, or even a chuckle or two, (in some parts of town, they’d even buy him a drink….) even though most folks tend to become angry and depressed when thinking about lawyers….It goes with the territory, you see. 

Lawyers, as all of us are aware, come in only two varieties, one of which is socially acceptable, and one that is socially outcast…. a distinction based upon how they approach their practice of law….

One type of lawyer is the kind who goes into the law because they believe in it; they like justice, they like to see that justice work….. These barristers try to help others find justice, even when the system of law is obstructive to that purpose, by the intent and influence of the OTHER kind of lawyers who inhabit the field. These good people use their knowledge of the ins and outs of the legal system to help others find their way through it, motivated by impulses of a morally superior nature….

The second type of lawyer is that group of people who make it through law school, with the sole purpose making the law work FOR them, to furnish them with power, money, and control over others, whether as a lawyer, a judge, a politician, or a banker, which are the four ways that most lawyers choose to use their education….. They are motivated by avarice, entitlement, and self-love, and have no investment at all in helping others, unless that somehow advances their own agenda….

Now I’m depressed, and pissed off…. I have had my own experiences with both kinds of lawyers; I even count one of them among my long-time friends, mostly because he is a person who spends a lot of time agonizing over the motivations involved in pursuing the law, and his own struggles with dealing with the other type in the system…. He would have been the first kind of lawyer, had he stuck with it; as it is, he is not currently practicing, and is much better off for it, IMHO….

But, there are so fucking many of the other kind, who are in it for what they can get out of it, they tend to seem like the ONLY kind…. It also seems as if every one of the lawyers in that group is involved in the government of this country, at one level or another, which, arguably, is a fucking nightmare for the rest of us…. These Asininnies have penetrated to all levels of society, taking over in positions that require their expertise, thus cementing their own part in keeping the status quo intact…. From the White House, to the halls of Congress and Senate, to the Supreme Court, our country is in the hands of assholes with law degrees, all vying for the primary position of power, and not a single one of them concerned AT ALL with anyone else in the country….

It’s been this way for a good long while now, and shows no signs of ever becoming different…. because people have stopped noticing, or don’t care, because they’re too busy trying to stay alive in the impossible world that has been created for us…. I could rant here about how this is going to kill us all, but, you’ve heard me on that subject before, and it won’t change anything to go over it now…. I don’t see that there are a lot of options left in the world for any of us, not without some seriously revolutionary spirit developing, enough to actually fight back AGAINST all those who would maintain things as they are….

That’s the issue, ffolkes, right there…. The people now in power want the status quo to be maintained, as long as they possibly can, so they resist all efforts to educate the world about the need for change. They won’t quit doing that, unless someone else MAKES them stop… and, honestly, do you see anyone at all who will do that? Neither do I….. I am willing to help, if I could see anyone at all who had any chance at making any changes, but, I just don’t see it anywhere….

“THEY” have too much control, and “THEY” are willing to let things go on the way they are as long as their profit margin doesn’t fall below their expectations…. Add to that the fact that “THEY” don’t give a shit about what anyone else wants, and you’ve got a pretty good idea of where we stand, here, January 11, 2014, in America, as well as on Planet Earth at large…. You can thank the Asininnies, and you can thank yourselves, as I do, for we all played our part in the story line….

And of course, No soap, radio….

(The Joke: Two elephants are sitting in a bathtub, scrubbing away. One elephant pauses and cries out to the other, “Pass the soap!” And the other elephant shouts back, “No soap! RADIO!” All the kids burst out laughing at the hilarious rejoinder and they slap one another on the back with glee. The sucker in the group cracks up, too and exclaims how funny it is — only to be mocked by the rest because there is no joke.)

Get it, ffolkes? This is no joke…..
_____________________________

Now that I’ve spent the entire morning depressing myself, and anyone who stumbles onto this little bit of curmudgeonry, I suppose I should try to do something a bit more on the positive side of the scale, to balance out the day…. otherwise, it could throw everything out of balance, and hasten the point where I crack like a cold vase in hot water…. The world isn’t ready for that, and neither am I….

That, having been said, shall be recorded, and remembered when the time comes to tally up one’s score, at the end of the game…. Fortunately for me, and unfortunately for the Asininnies, there’s still enough time left for me to fulfill some of what I consider to be my “honorable intentions” before the curtain rings down for the final time…. I’m done here for today, though, so….  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

dozer3

Renfield, settle our account…. Use the real money….

Posted on by
5

Ffolkes,

“Hey, mister!”
“What?”
“Got religion?”
“No, thank God.”

Okay, so maybe it’s not always the best way to begin…. I like it, though, if only for the degree of irony in the final line…. It probably doesn’t help soothe the minds of whatever readers may have ventured into today’s mess, but, dammit, this is ECR, and we won’t be pulling our punches for anybody! Not in THIS lifetime, even if it’s the only one we get this time (which is how it is beginning to appear….).

Life is too short, and too hard, to waste any time being hypocritical, especially when there has been enough trouble from that sector, (religion), historically, to last us, for as long as we want to hold a grudge…. Personally, I plan on holding it for a LONG time…. and, I LIKE looking myself in the eye every morning in the mirror….

Some days the ranting just jumps out of me, I guess. I’ve barely begun today, and I’m already deep into looking for new ways to say the same thing I’ve been saying for years now…. I hope to someday find the right words to awaken the sleeping dragon that is public sentiment, attempting, as I do, to engage society in the changes we will need to make in order to survive…..There are a lot of FOOLS alive today who insist on holding on to their ignorant denial of global warming and overpopulation, with FAR too many of those self-same fools in positions of leadership, they having persuaded society how harmless they seem to be….

These assholes are NOT harmless, though, and I’m getting really tired of seeing their denials in the news, given the same kind of coverage as what is true and necessary….. I’m sorry, but, at this point, I’m thinking it’s time to just quit being Mr. Nice Guy; these idiots will end up slowing things down enough that we ALL end up dead, when, in truth, THEY are the only ones who deserve to go the way of the dodo and the buffalo…. I’m very close to the point of making a decision to act…. If and when I make such a decision, it will be direct action, against those who would continue to argue that we have the time to allow their bullshit….

That won’t happen this morning, though…. I don’t have enough ammunition on hand; I’ll need to stock up…. and there’s a new cross-bow I’ve been looking at…. I like the cross-bow; quiet, powerful, with recyclable ammo…. an excellent weapon of choice for urban guerrilla warfare methodology…. As a weapon, its only drawback is its bulkiness…. If one has the time, and inclination, to recapture their used bolts, well, it’s easy to never run out of ammo… Plus, with some innovation, the bolts can be made into missiles of great destructive power, easily and accurately delivered from a reasonable distance from the target….

Any who, discussions of warfare technology and methodology aside, it seems we’ve come to a point where I need to make the decision to either continue on to the end of a rant, or end this here, and pretend it’s an intro section, as is our habit on most days…. Hmm, let me look back over what we’ve done here, and I’ll….

LOOK OUT! DUCK! INCOMING!….. Get down, ffolkes, we’ve got some heavy fire coming in…. Joe, get those guns online! Tom, activate the remote barriers…. Sally, fire up those catapults…. Let’s see how they like a bit of Greek fire raining down on their heads, eh?….

Sorry, ffolkes, you’ll have to excuse me, I’ve come under attack by unknown hostile forces, and must make a temporary foray out into the BBR to deal with the issue…. I’ll be back in a while, and will continue this Pearl at that time…. Until then, please enjoy the provided refreshments, over there on the table by the window, and be at ease…. You’ll be in no danger here; this facility is well-guarded, and is relatively impregnable to anything non-atomic in nature….

Shall we Pearl?…..

“But Rabshakeh said unto them, Hath my master sent me to thy master, and to thee, to speak these words?  Hath he not sent me to the men which sit on the wall, that they may eat their own dung, and drink their own piss with you?” — 2 Kings 18:27 (KJV)

“A taste for irony has kept more hearts from breaking than a sense of humor, for it takes irony to appreciate the joke which is on oneself.” — Jessamyn West  (Irony is when you buy a suit with two pair of pants, and then burn a hole in the coat.)
_____________________________

Having indulged myself shamelessly in the intro section, diving into fantasy, a tiny religipolitirant, a bit of technological gobbledygook, and some Sun Tzu, I feel as if a rant in this section would not only be over-doing it, but, could actually be considered to be tacky, and pushy…. Of course, there’s nothing wrong with being pushy when ranting; the whole point of a rant is to annoy the perpetrators, ultimately. It seldom does, of course, but, that’s the intent; we feel that intention should be honored, so we do…. But, today, and right now, it wouldn’t be right… for balance, and for integrity’s sake, we’ll go with an old-school pearl, with parameters such that we can find a bit of everything for our purposes….

“Yes, evil comes in many forms, whether it be a man-eating cow or Joseph Stalin, but you can’t let the package hide the pudding! Evil is just plain bad! You don’t cotton to it. You gotta smack it in the nose with the rolled-up newspaper of goodness! Bad dog. Bad dog.” — The Tick

“How prone to doubt, how cautious are the wise!” — Alexander Pope (1688-1744) — The Odyssey of Homer, Book xiii, Line 375

“By virtue we merely mean the avoidance of the vices that do not attract us.” — Robert Lynd

“I think too much or not at all.” — Isaac Asimov

There is a time for thinking and a time for NOT thinking.  And THIS isn’t one of them.” — Paul the Samurai

“‘And how do you do your job, then, if you don’t exist?’
‘By will power,’ said Agilulf, ‘and faith in our cause.’
‘Oh yes, yes, well said, that is how one does one’s duty. Well, for someone who doesn’t exist, you seem in fine form.'”

— Italo Calvino, “The Nonexistent Knight”

“Keep me away from the wisdom which does not cry, the philosophy which does not laugh, and the greatness which does not bow before children.” — Kahlil Gibran

Well, then, having achieved the balance so desperately sought, through the liberal application of empathetic synergy, I propose we move on…. Plus, those cops over there are giving us the hard eye, so, follow me, ffolkes….
_____________________________

I found this while perusing other poems, and just thought it would be a nice little change for all of us…. You can always count on Keats for something new and fun….

Ben Nevis: A Dialogue

There was one Mrs. Cameron of 50 years of age and the fattest woman in all Inverness-shire who got up this Mountain some few years ago — true she had her servants — but then she had her self. She ought to have hired Sisyphus, — ‘Up the high hill he heaves a huge round — Mrs. Cameron.’ ‘Tis said a little conversation took place between the mountain and the Lady. After taking a glass of Whiskey as she was tolerably seated at ease she thus began —

Mrs. C.
Upon my Life Sir Nevis I am pique’d
That I have so far panted tugg’d and reek’d
To do an honour to your old bald pate
And now am sitting on you just to bate,
Without your paying me one compliment.
Alas ’tis so with all, when our intent
Is plain, and in the eye of all Mankind
We fair ones show a preference, too blind!
You Gentle man immediately turn tail —
O let me then my hapless fate bewail!
Ungrateful Baldpate have I not disdain’d
The pleasant Valleys — have I not madbrain’d
Deserted all my Pickles and preserves
My China closet too — with wretched Nerves
To boot — say wretched ingrate have I not
Le[f]t my soft cushion chair and caudle pot.
‘Tis true I had no corns — no! thank the fates
My Shoemaker was always Mr. Bates.
And if not Mr. Bates why I’m not old!
Still dumb ungrateful Nevis — still so cold!

Here the Lady took some more whiskey and was putting even more to her lips when she dashed it to the Ground for the Mountain began to grumble — which continued for a few minutes before he thus began,

Ben Nevis.
What whining bit of tongue and Mouth thus dares
Disturb my slumber of a thousand years?
Even so long my sleep has been secure —
And to be so awakened I’ll not endure.
Oh pain — for since the Eagle’s earliest scream
I’ve had a dam[n]’d confounded ugly dream,
A Nightmare sure. What Madam was it you?
It cannot be! My old eyes are not true!
Red-Crag, my Spectacles! Now let me see!
Good Heavens Lady how the gemini
Did you get here? O I shall split my sides!
I shall earthquake —–

Mrs. C.
Sweet Nevis do not quake, for though I love
You[r] honest Countenance all things above
Truly I should not like to be convey’d
So far into your Bosom — gentle Maid
Loves not too rough a treatment gentle Sir —
Pray thee be calm and do not quake nor stir
No not a Stone or I shall go in fits–

Ben Nevis.
I must — I shall — I meet not such tid bits —
I meet not such sweet creatures every day —
By my old night cap night cap night and day
I must have one sweet Buss — I must and shall:
Red Crag! — What Madam can you then repent
Of all the toil and vigour you have spent
To see Ben Nevis and to touch his nose?
Red Crag I say! O I must have them close!
Red Crag, there lies beneath my farthest toe
A vein of Sulphur — go dear Red Crag, go–
And rub your flinty back against it — budge!
Dear Madam I must kiss you, faith I must!
I must Embrace you with my dearest gust!
Block-head, d’ye hear — Block-head I’ll make her feel
There lies beneath my east leg’s northern heel
A cave of young earth dragons — well my boy
Go thither quick and so complete my joy
Take you a bundle of the largest pines
And when the sun on fiercest Phosphor shines
Fire them and ram them in the Dragon’s nest —
Then will the dragons fry and fizz their best
Until ten thousand now no bigger than
Poor Alligators — poor things of one span —
Will each one swell to twice ten times the size
Of northern whale — then for the tender prize —
The moment then — for then will Red Crag rub
His flinty back — and I shall kiss and snub
And press my dainty morsel to my breast.
Block-head make haste!
O Muses weep the rest —
The Lady fainted and he thought her dead
So pulled the clouds again about his head
And went to sleep again — soon she was rous’d
By her affrighted servants — next day hous’d
Safe on the lowly ground she bless’d her fate
That fainting fit was not delayed too late.

But what surprises me above all is how this Lady got down again.

~~ John Keats ~~

_____________________________

I grew up having to listen to Billy G., far too many times…. Here is a rant from a couple years ago, with his words as the stimulus, which is as it should be….. Not that he, being who he is, would ever admit to any responsibility for them…. It’s more the habit of a Christian to blame what they do or say on Jesus…. and, since Billy is, perhaps. the most well-known, self-defined Christian in the Western world, he is VERY good at that….

From May 12, 2012:

“God is more interested in your future and your relationships than you are.” — Billy Graham

First, let me apologize…. I hadn’t meant to go into a rant this morning, especially about religion; sitting down is as difficult as standing up, or walking, so the time it takes to express the outrage necessary to produce a rant is more than I wanted to take. But then this popped up in front of me….

After I had picked myself up from the floor and recovered my breath, I still could barely stop chuckling and giggling long enough to use the mouse to cut and paste it to this page. Now that I have, I find myself almost speechless at the sheer arrogance, the complete lack of respect shown for humanity at large by this astounding statement.

In one short phrase, this deeply disturbed man has attempted to manipulate his listeners into a complete subjugation of their will, and in doing so, implies that they are not only unworthy in a moral sense, but are not smart enough to be allowed to think for themselves. I’m surprised he didn’t ask for money in the same sentence…. You can bet he did before the end of the night….

I remember seeing Billy Graham when I was quite young, speaking on TV to a football stadium full of enthusiastically cheering, excited, identical female clones in white cotton dresses, with skirts below the knees, and young, clean-cut, earnest looking young men in blue suits, with white shirts, no vests, and skinny ties. Even at the tender age of 11 or so when I saw it, my first impression of him was of a used-car salesman, with a smarmy-looking smile at inappropriate moments, and a smooth, fawning manner of speaking that ranged from sly confidences to outraged proclamations of evil and sin, all delivered in very obviously scripted stages.

The words and phrases he used, straight out of the King James Bible, mostly, seemed to promote love and tolerance, but the underlying message was one of elitism and divisiveness, as indicated by the insistence that only those who accepted JC according to their rules would be allowed into heaven…. The rest of us would be consigned to everlasting hell for having the audacity to think differently….. It was pretty over-the-top, as far as I was concerned, though entertaining in a circus sort of way…. (My five-year-old’s crap detector was on full, and rejected all of his words pretty much out of hand, as too obviously false to consider…. Just another adult spouting off stuff that made no sense….)

It is now 50 years since I saw that particular revival meeting; with a dismal display of stubborn perseverance, Mr. Graham has continued to spew his particular brand of ignorance for that entire time. He is indeed one of the men of whom St. Francis of Assisi warned us to beware, a man of one book. And the above statement, to me, is proof of just how little he thinks of the general run of human beings. His basic message, to paraphrase what he said above, is, “You are a miserable sinner, and have no right to exist, other than by the mercy of God. You are not smart enough to keep from sinning on your own, so just shut up and do what you are told….”

It is certainly proof, I guess, that it takes all kinds to make a world, for there are millions of folks out there who regard what Billy Graham says as just as much gospel as what is in the Bible…. but then in for a penny, in for a pound, I suppose…. Me, I’d rather listen to a ball game….

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Back in real-time, 2014, for some concluding comments: While searching for pearls for another section, I came across the following gem; it turns out to be a PERFECT example of the mind-set that one of Mr. Graham’s sermons can create in people…. I also wish to nominate this statement as the stupidest remark by an elected official in the latter half of the twentieth century  EVER MADE IN PUBLIC……  Perhaps one of you could call Guinness, or the Pulitzer Committee?….

“I can see stopping a car for a dog.  But a cat? You squish a cat and go on.  I think we’re over-complicating life.” — Iowa Democratic State Senator James Gallagher
_____________________________

I may be going a bit overboard this year; I can’t seem to shorten these Pearls back to the size I had evolved into creating. Ah well, such is life in blog land…. It’s done, and to my way of thinking, that’s good enough…. Remember, ffolkes, Life requires us to be honest with ourselves, if nobody else, and that means we need to live our lives so we have no regrets…. ever…. We are the only ones who can judge how we’re doing on that, which is where the honesty comes in…. 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

dozer3

Hey! These are good croissants!….

Posted on by
Reply

Ffolkes,

“Hey, buddy!”
“What?”
“Is the bus coming?”
“Pretty soon, now, I think, ….. it’s breathing pretty hard…”

You figure it out; anyone over 16 should get it, without having to resort to pictures, or dictionaries…. I’m feeling bone-deep lazy, and found a bunch of good stuff yesterday in the archives, so, with some judicious editing, you’re getting a stale, massively punched up, hybrid Pearl, composed of nearly all old stuff, that was good enough to be recycled, because, hey, it’s just that good, okay? Allow me a bit of egotism here, and just read on…. I think you might agree that fresh wouldn’t be any more relevant, or more satisfying….

From May 12, 2012:

“And torture one poor word ten thousand ways.” — John Dryden (1631-1700) — Britannia Rediviva, Line 208

Wow! Have you ever seen a better description of this blog?    🙂    I’ve been torturing words now for over 12 years, at least in a bloggy sense; that’s about how long I’ve been doing these Pearls……

I’ve learned over the years not to hear their screams, or read the petitions, or pay any attention to the ones who try to distract me with their flexibility of meaning; I just strap them into the rack and start hacking away. Sometimes, in the intro, I force them, admittedly with some glee, to assume the shape of a short fantasy; other times I will completely embarrass them by telling them they are haiku, or a poem, when they know for certain I am no poet. I can be pretty cruel to the words in my head….

I figure it’s only fair, considering how they treat me much of the time. I don’t ask much of them, really…. just the morning group of five good pearls I can use to create these missives, and I’d leave them be. But much of the time, such as today, they insist on playing games, hiding, shifting about, presenting only the quotes they know I’ve already used, or massive amounts of Shakespeare, which they KNOW just annoys me….

No, they’re not very nice to me, so I feel no compunction about torturing them to get them to do what I need them to do. If I didn’t, I’d never get anything written. If I didn’t write as much as I do, I’d build up all this incredibly strong angst and tension, and eventually it would have to come out…. at that point, it has been known to be dangerous, especially for anyone in the immediate vicinity of the blast zone….

So, you see, this blog is really a public service in disguise…. No thanks are necessary: since they are my words, I take responsibility for them, and consider it my duty to keep them from harming others (except, of course, when I want them to do so….). I just didn’t want y’all to think I was hiding anything important…. I like to call this my Literary Guantanamo Bay for Wayward Words, where we have the leeway, and the executive authority, to torture those nasty, little, terror-inducing buggers into submission….

Shall we Pearl?…..

“I had a dream which was not all a dream.” — Lord Byron (1788-1824) — Darkness
_____________________________

There will come a time, one fine day, when I’ll go back through my archives, and pull together all the stuff about which I’ve ranted, to put together into one homogeneous work that I can publish as a book, or perhaps, given the amount of material, two…. who knows? If the world lasts long enough to make something like that worthwhile for me, I’ll no doubt do it, as I’ve always had the dream of being a published author, with a real book, that I wrote, to hold in my hand…. For now, it’s nice to be able to occasionally take a day to work a bit less strenuously to be fresh, practicing instead the skills I’ll need to edit all of what I’ve written…. I’m told that editors can be bitchy that way, so I may as well get all my ducks in a row before I go into any power struggles with one of them….

I intend to take full advantage of this little break today; hopefully, I may even be able to spend some time reading other WP blogs, to at least get to the sites of those friends and loyal Gentle Readers who have been coming by to check out my blog each day…. There aren’t a lot of them, perhaps ten to twenty regular ffolkes who drop by every few days to catch up, but, I appreciate each and every one of them greatly, and prefer to get to THEIR  sites first, before cruising randomly to any of the many sites I follow…. Strange, too, is the fact that I keep getting notified of new followers, but the people are names of bloggers who never hit the Like button, or comment, so I have no idea what they think about all of it, which, I know, is a LOT of material…. I’m just happy they liked it enough to Follow….

Be all that as it may, I get guilty a lot, from not being able to go read other blogs as much as I’d like….. However, the process of getting all this crap out of my head remains my primary purpose, so, that has to be the way it is, with little I can do about changing the way I approach it…. Any who, I’ll get around some today, and hopefully, can do so more in the future…. for now, we’re going to a random old-school style pearl, just so we can say there is SOMETHING fresh in today’s Pearl….. ‘Kay? ‘Kay!…..

“I will not be as those who spend the day in complaining of the head-ache, and the night in drinking the wine that gives the headache.” — Goethe

“The real danger is the gradual erosion of individual liberties through the automation, integration, and interconnection of many small, separate record-keeping systems, each of which alone may seem innocuous, even benevolent, and wholly justifiable.” — U.S. Privacy Protection Study Commission, 1977

“For good men but see death, the wicked taste it.” — Johnson

“History is always written wrong, and so always needs to be rewritten.  …What is interesting is brought forward as if it had been central and efficacious in the march of events, and harmonies are turned into causes.  Kings and generals are endowed with motives appropriate to what the historian values in their actions; plans are imputed to them prophetic of their actual achievements, while the thoughts that really preoccupied them remain buried in absolute oblivion.” — George Santayana, The Life of Reason:  Reason in Science, 1918

“…Or, I may not feel that my belief-system needs to be self-consistent  in a post-Goedelian epoch.” — Dan’l Danehy-Oakes

We think our fathers fools, so wise we grow;
Our wiser sons, no doubt, will think us so.

— Pope

“I wouldn’t recommend sex, drugs or insanity for everyone, but they’ve always worked for me.” — Hunter S. Thompson (b. 1939), journalist

Well, serendipity certainly took a hand in THAT little collection of virtual wisdom, didn’t it? What a wonderful pearl this turned out to be! A little obscure, but, finely tuned to show off all those little twists that make me so happy….. Fret not, if you don’t see the underlying direction this takes, it won’t matter, as none of these will be on the Quiz…. Reading and understanding pearls is not the simplest skill we have to learn in our life; sadly, it’s also one nobody will ever pay you minimum wage for possessing, either….

It is useful, however, when reading the news, as it gives one a deeper understanding of how duplicitous the Asininnies can be, as well as the ability to dismiss nonsense in a trice…. And, if nothing else, it got us through that section without any casualties, so, from our standpoint here at ECR, it’s a win-win….
_____________________________

This is one of my own poems, written in 2012…. I think all in all, it’s one of my best…. That, perhaps, does not say too much, but, I like it anyway…. I hope you do as well….

“But groundless hope, like unconditional love, is the only kind worth having.” — EFF co-founder John Perry Barlow, “Cynthia Horner’s Eulogy”, Apr. 1994

Unsolicited Gratitude

Fear becomes familiar when reality bodes us ill
pain assumes first position, no matter our will.
Powerless, we founder, no strength to prevail
anguished and afraid, against unwanted Fate we rail.

Still, a grain of hope deep inside, hidden well against need
gives us reason to survive, our starving souls to feed.
Failure of courage burdens time, of being bested,
until our souls, in submission, become foully infested.

Bitter tears wash through us each day, with little care,
no thought, no feeling, no wish, or need to be fair.
Rendered clueless, confusion falls upon us, as prey,
we surrender a piece of our soul, little as we may.

Yet, always, a bright beam of hope is seen from afar,
no matter how dreary, or dark, it may seem where we are.
None knows, nor would consent to tell, it seems
from whence it hails, or why it so brightly gleams.

Saving our sanity, absolving our unwanted fears,
dispelling the myths and lies that come with the years.
Each man has known the precious gift that hope may give
And gives glad thanks, as long as he may live.

~~ gigoid ~~

_____________________________

Since beginning today, which was, in truth, quite some time ago, (much longer than one would think, for what is mostly cut and paste material…. I guess I’ve been wordier than I knew….), I seem to have lost my way…. Since I wasn’t planning to go anywhere in particular, that’s arguably exactly where I went…. and they’d be correct to say so…. (Huh?)(Oops…. sorry, brain fart….. I only thought I’d written the lead-in to that last line….) (SIGH….)(Picture it….. old, graying, roundish guy at a computer, solemnly banging his forehead on the wall next to the chair…. but, not quite crushing the BIG, RED, NOSE on his face…..) (Here’s the lead…. “Anyone of a reasonable nature might be compelled to mention that seemed a bit abnormal….” then, the next part, ” and they’d be correct, etc….”)

I just looked up, to check that paragraph, and realized that it had gone beyond hope, in spite of what it says in section two’s poetry… Oh, it’s all there, and correctly punctuated, but, it’s just so frigging scattered, in thought, in timing, in juxtaposition, I’d be surprised if anyone who isn’t me could make sense of it…. I’d be wasting the time of both of us if I tried to fix it; the same could be said of just starting over, too… What to do, what to do, oh, me, oh my, indecision hurts…. Ah, fuck it, okay…. Scrap the whole nine yards, says the consensus…. Onward into the final section now, naked and unafraid…. WAIT!…. One more thing….

There’s still quite a ways to go yet, I know, so, I won’t keep y’all long, but, I just wanted to say this…  Never mind, it’ll keep…. here, this is better than anything I could come up with today, anyway, so, please enjoy the following politirant from the past…. which, as always, remains as valid today as when it was first posted, because, hey, the same sharks be swimmin’ in the same pool, see?…. Any who…..Enjoy….

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

From 2/13/13: Thus, the election, of which much is spoken herein, would be the Presidential election of November, 2012, Obama vs. Romney…..

The following is a piece that I wrote just before the recent Presidential election, as section 1 of a Pearl I cannot find without more effort than I care to spend right now, even though it is still only 0633…. Tracking it down would mean scrolling through at least a month’s worth of old Pearls, from last year, (2012), and I’m not ready for that today…. However, I’ve re-read it, and consider it worth a second posting, as it covers a lot of things that remain relevant after the election, in spite of the fortunate outcome we saw…. Any who, without further ado, here is a pearl I entitled,

“Considering the Etiquette of Ignorance”….

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

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

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

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

And if his name be George, I ‘ll call him Peter;
For new-made honour doth forget men’s names.

– William Shakespeare (1564-1616), King John — Act i, Sc. 1

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Back in the future….. As I said above, the election came out okay…. but, the rest of what is said here remains relevant, and always in need of being heard….

Back, again, in the true future…. January 9, 2014, that is…. All I can say is, it’s done…. Really, I’m through here…. Nothing more to say…. As soon as the keyboard lets go of my fingers, I’ll end this section, and all of us can get on with our day…. What the F!…. Okay, who smuggled the handcuffs in past the scanner?….
_____________________________

Okay, so, luckily, I found the key to the cuffs, (well, I beat up the guy who had them…. so, sue me….), and we’re no longer stuck in the last section…. This means, should I accept the mission, we can be done here, at least for the day…. Let me go see if that will fly with the censors…. Well, not too shabby, if I do say so myself, and, I do…. Not too shabby…. See? I said it….. I mean it, too, but, before I do anything to affect that judgment, or change the space-time continuum permanently, I’m getting my sorry ass outta here…. See you tomorrow, if Barry and the NSA leave me alone….   😆

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

dozer3

All of that, in marmalade shoes?…..

Posted on by
Reply

Ffolkes,

“Hey, mister!”
“Yeah, kid?”
“What time is it?”
“Crying time….”

What? What’s that you say? Hold on, let me turn this off…. Okay, that’s better…. Now, what was that? Oh, that? I don’t know…. some random bozo left it on screen, and it kind of fit in, so…. Huh? No, not me, no way…. Oh, alright, I’ll confess, I did it…. I actually kind of like that little conversation at the beginning…. I don’t know, it just appeals to me, and it seems to be fairly flexible, as I’ve used it several days now, and it’s still coming across okay…. I’d ask y’all for opinions, but, I’ve never done well working by committee, and I don’t play well with others most of the time, so, it’s probably best for me to NOT ask for help with this….

I’m not sure exactly what I’m doing up this morning, anyway….I’m up way early…. I lost track of my pill timing in the night, and ended up missing a dose of my pain pill… This is not a good thing, generally, and tonight was no exception…. I wake up, with my pain increasing slowly, and a feeling of disturbance, a kind of edgy feeling, as if my nerves are vibrating…. This, of course, is the precursor to the dreaded dyskinesia, a side effect that occurs when the medication level in my blood falls too far below the optimum level, lasting until a pill is taken, and the blood level rises again into a therapeutic range. Until it passes, I am unable to do much but pace, or sit and vibrate…. Grand craic…. NOT….

Once I had figured it out, and taken the pill that went AWOL, all I had to do was get up, and try to keep from moaning and groaning so much I wake up Pat…. Well, and wait for coffee, so I don’t bite the cat…. Actually, I think it might be a good time to start a rant, as my anger level is perfect for letting out on some deserving asshole… I’ve got beau coups material below, what with the re-emergence of the Asininnies from their year-end hiatus from the news….

The politicians are starting to talk again, so we’ll have some good stuff to go over later…. Then there’s the news from the courts, regarding the half-hearted attempts to curb the bankers, trying to make them toe the line the rest of us stand on…. Of course, then I won’t have anything to do later, so, maybe I’ll wait on that…. Actually, I’m sort of wandering around in my head as much as I am on screen, trying to find some sort of direction… Maybe, the routine will need to adjust this morning; I can see now, this is going nowhere, and getting there fast….

Instead of any more of this nonsense, lovely as it may be, Shall we Pearl?…..

“It matters little what you believe, so long as you don’t altogether believe it.” — Bertrand Russell

“Thought and theory must precede all salutary action; yet action is nobler in itself than either thought or theory.” — William Wordsworth
_____________________________

http://blog.sfgate.com/nov05election/2014/01/06/house-democratic-leader-nancy-pelosi-says-edward-snowden-should-come-back-and-face-the-music-for-leaks/

Sometimes, I really do wonder how these people get to be as old as they are, much less understand how they go about convincing other people they are competent, intelligent human beings, who can count all the way to three without stopping, and tie their own shoes, in those cases where they are allowed to have them…. Nancy Pelosi, echoing the bullshit rationalizations that the administration has spewed from the start, yesterday made the completely idiotic suggestion that Eric Snowden should come back to the US and surrender himself for prosecution, or, in the words of the people who have been lying, and spying on their own citizens, he should “face the music”….. Music THEY want to play, and you can bet it is a funeral march….

What a completely asinine, idiotic statement! It’s as if they don’t have a clue as to their own duplicity and hypocrisy, to make such a suggestion, knowing full well that this man could no more receive a fair trial in this country than Bradley Manning got, or, everyone’s favorite whistleblower, Julian Assange, of Wikileaks, who, though admittedly an asshole himself, at least TRIES to help the common man, rather than siding with the Powers That Be automatically, as they would like us to do…. Nancy Pelosi, especially with quotes like this, and her compatriot, Dianne Feinstein, who has been parroting the exact same talking points, are becoming excellent examples of how out of touch our Congressional pundits are with their voting base….

I would wager that over 60% of the American voting public, especially here in California, is grateful to Mr. Snowden, considering him to be a whistleblower, a patriot, and a brave man, if not a hero…. Yet, in spite of the almost universal support for Mr. Snowden’s actions,  both of the elected Senator bozoettes from California continue to parrot the administration’s rote message, one of revenge, with no mercy, on this “outlaw” who exposed them as the criminals they are…. I know of very few people on the streets, those that I speak with, anyway, who believe he did wrong…. If anything, most folks I speak with feel he is a very brave man who made a tough decision, and is now paying the price….

The thing is, how stupid do these people have to be? How can Pelosi make such a completely obtuse statement, and expect it to have any positive effect at all? This whole scenario seems to have locked all of them, the politicians, into the same, inflexible mode of mind, where they just keep on saying the same thing, over and over, no matter how many times it takes, until they get their way…. I know that experience has taught them they can do this, and it will eventually work, but, it seems so foolish to me to continue the charade, especially when the opposition is so strong in his favor….

A lot of very influential people and organizations have already come forward to support the idea of clemency for him, and it seems to me that the administration would have the commons sense to see the way the wind is blowing, especially when it is blowing against their chosen direction…. But, then, they’ve had a lot of practice at getting people to ignore their chicanery in the past, and they have no doubt they can do so in this instance as well…. However, I think, this time, they may have underestimated the depth of the anger that many Americans feel at being spied upon, and lied to, by their own elected officials….

You see, THAT, to me, is the core principle here, and one that the public needs to stay aware of….. These assholes, the POTUS, the Congress, the bankers, and all those shadowy supporters of the status quo are spying on you, lying to you about that spying, and about almost everything they are doing, supposed on your behalf, and in your name…. The administration of this country is in the hands of 545 people, men mostly, who have ONLY their own agendas to follow, and have no interest whatsoever in any of the things that the American people want for themselves…. All they want is to secure their own power, their own entitlement, and their own control over everyone else….

If you believe anything else to be the case, I’d welcome hearing your evidence…. But, I’ve looked at all of it, and what I see is a small group of selfish, greedy assholes who are running the world for their own benefit, and leaving the scraps for everyone else…. In this case, they’re angry at a man who pulled their covers, and they want their revenge on him for daring to show them up….

This entire scenario is just that simple, ffolkes;  anything else you read, or hear, from almost anyone in the public eye, will make a bit show of outrage and indignant blather, in a blatant attempt to draw your attention away from that simple FACT…. They’re mad because they got caught, and now they’re scrambling around in anger, and will stop at nothing to bury the one they hold responsible for that, for they will never admit any of their own responsibility….. Hell, not only do they NOT take responsibility for what they’ve done, they’re trying to convince everyone they were RIGHT to do what they’ve done…. Assholes, every one of them….. and, now, they’re talking through those self-same defecatory orifices, if what is coming out is any indication…..

When I saw the following quote, I thought to myself, “I didn’t know Bertrand Russell was a seer.” This comment from the past could very well be taken as a very accurate description of the Obama administration’s response to the revelations about their spying…. It’s a perfect ending pearl for this rant, summing up a large part of my argument in one line….

“Conventional people are roused to fury by departures from convention, largely because they regard such departures as a criticism of themselves.” — Bertrand Russell  “The Conquest of Happiness” (1930)

There you have it for now, ffolkes, another in a long line of indictments of our Beloved Ruling Class, all polished up for your enjoyment…. As a retired chef, I can tell you, these rants will go best with a blueberry muffin, and a strong cup of coffee, sweet & light, as they say back East….
_____________________________

On ranting days, I often turn to this poet, to soften the mood a bit….. Enjoy!….

The Loser

Mama said I’d lose my head
if it wasn’t fastened on.
Today I guess it wasn’t
’cause while playing with my cousin
it fell off and rolled away
and now it’s gone.

And I can’t look for it
’cause my eyes are in it,
and I can’t call to it
’cause my mouth is on it
(couldn’t hear me anyway
’cause my ears are on it),
can’t even think about it
’cause my brain is in it.
So I guess I’ll sit down
on this rock
and rest for just a minute…

~~ Shel Silverstein ~~

_____________________________

http://news.yahoo.com/jpmorgan-chase-pay-2-0-bn-madoff-probe-100825763.html

http://www.sfgate.com/news/crime/article/JPMorgan-settles-Madoff-fraud-claims-for-1-7B-5120459.php

Normally, I wouldn’t rant twice in one day, but, these two articles made it imperative that I respond, at least to one part of what I read in there…. That part was this….. This is two quotes, both from the second article, on SFGATE….

“The nation’s largest bank will forfeit a record $1.7 billion to settle criminal charges, plus pay an additional $543 million to settle civil claims by victims. It also will pay a $350 million civil penalty for what the Treasury Department called “critical and widespread deficiencies” in its programs to prevent money laundering and other suspicious activity.”…….  “The settlement includes a so-called deferred prosecution agreement that requires the bank to acknowledge failures in its protections against money laundering but also allows it to avoid criminal charges. No individual executives were accused of wrongdoing.  ”

2.5 billion dollars….. Two point five billion dollars…. Two and a half BILLION dollars! That’s it…. They were responsible for allowing over 300 BILLION dollars get ripped off from the public, and they only have to agree to give up 2.5 of the profits they made to get out of any prosecution for their part in the scheme…. There was another point in the first article, in Yahoo, that mentioned that Chase had “put aside” 23 Billion dollars for legal defense funds on this issue alone…. 23 billion dollars folks, just to make sure none of their precious money-makers would be sued, or for that matter, be discomfited in any way…..

Now, normally, this wouldn’t set me off, as it’s a pretty common tale, but, what with all the other shit going down in the world today, the fact that these corporate assholes can buy their way out of trouble, well, it makes me pretty angry…. especially when a solitary brave man has to suffer persecution, and possible prosecution, for telling the truth about a government gone mad, while the corporate masters who have manipulated the whole world scenario to suit their own agendas can hide behind their mountains of money, and never suffer a moments angst or worry over what may happen to them….

The world has gone mad, ffolkes, and there isn’t a damn thing any of us can do about it at this point…. There are just too many battle fronts, too many serious issues, any one of which can, and will, bring society to the edge of either revolution, or self-destruction… According to all the evidence I can gather, and all I can extrapolate from that evidence, one of those two actions is pretty sure to come to pass in the next few years, if not months, and I’m getting a bit worried about how far I’ll be able to jump when the bang comes…..

Ah well, so much for one day’s efforts…. All I can do today is rant, and cry…. Cry for my people, and for a future that will never be…..

“If God hadn’t wanted me to be paranoid, He wouldn’t have given me such a vivid imagination.” — Smart Bee
_____________________________

“They seem to have learned the habit of cowering before authority even when not actually threatened.  How very nice for authority.  I decided not to learn this particular lesson.” — Richard Stallman

Well, nobody can say that today’s Pearl isn’t fresh…. It’s also probably enough to get me arrested, if anyone from the government really worried about my blathering indictments…. I haven’t read EVERY word of the NDAA regs, but, the administration seems well able to bend those regulations as they see fit, if they wish to do whatever it is they wish to do…. If they wanted me, they’d probably have enough legal reason to come and get me, or try, anyway….

Fortunately, the quote above is the perfect truth, and I’m ready and willing to discuss the matter with them, ANY WAY, ANY TIME, as long as it is in public… If they want to make me disappear, well, they may be able to do that, too, but, I guarantee, it won’t be as easy, or as simple, as they might think…. and, in order to maintain the security of those precautions I may or may not have taken… (they’ll never know, will they?….), that is all I’ll say on that…. other than, come on down, folks…. let’s dance….

As for this Pearl, it’s done, in every respect, and in every way I can make it done…. Hence, my decision to take my leave makes perfect sense, yes? You betcha…. See you mañana, ffolkes….

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

dozer3

Post-apocalyptic sticky buns for sale or mutilation….

Posted on by
2

Ffolkes,

“Hey, pal…”
“Yeah?”
“Got a match?”
“My butt, your face….”

Okay, so, this little furry, black alarm clock came stealing into our room this morning, loudly voicing its misguided insistence on company at 0430 in the morning, enforcing its tiny will with sharp claws to the mattress…. Since I was ready to get up, anyway, I let it have its way, to keep from awakening my partner, thus minimizing the damage to the furniture at the same time….

She (the cat…) has only begun this behavior in the last few days, having apparently taken this long, (four months since we moved in here…) to figure out my morning routine…. Or, she finally connected it in her head, to the coffee machine, which goes off at the same time each day, followed shortly by my ascent into the day….

Cats are funny about routines…. Once they are established in one, they do NOT like to have them change, either all of a sudden, or over time….. Any and all attempts to alter the routine are generally met with their full range of displeasure signs, including loud howling, pacing, scratching furniture, tail-whipping, and, the ultimate sign of anger from a cat, using your shoes as a litter box….

Of course, this doesn’t include the other worst type of cat reaction…. some of them are the nervous type, and a change in their environment, minor or major, will cause them to toss their cookies, in the most annoying and inconvenient places, such as behind your dresser, or under the bed….

Any who, since I was up, I went ahead and started this Pearl, with the nice little gift of a subject for the intro, provided most kindly by my small psycho kitty….. Now that I’m this far in, though, I’m wondering just how this is working…. Damn me, and my insistence on quality…. If I could get over trying to be “good” it would go a lot faster, and easier, that’s for sure…. Oh well, giving up is out of the question, given my father, and how I was raised, so, I may as well find something more amenable to complain about…. Perhaps the weather?…. No, that’s too crazy now, what with global warming playing its part….

I suppose I could go for some humor, but, it may too late for anything to save this…. Hell, I even started off today with a bit of mild, old humor (Very, very old…. I first heard this one BEFORE high school, though by the time I was IN high school, it was considered the highest form of humor…. especially if it could be scored off someone….), as sort of a visual, and mental, distraction, hoping to set the tone right away…. That seems to have worked alright… it’s the rest of it I’m not so sure about…. I suppose, though, now that it’s all done, there’s nothing more to be done about it…. not without starting over, and it’s far too late for that….

No, we’ll just have to take this in the manner in which we find it, and get on with our day the best we can….. Shall we Pearl?….

“Aha!  Pronoun trouble!” — Daffy Duck
_____________________________

http://news.yahoo.com/video/nsa-code-breaker-090826676.html

“The National Security Agency is building a computer capable of breaking encryptions used to protect medical, banking, business and government records around the world. ”

Doesn’t this just make you proud? Does it make you happy, all tingly with excited pleasure, that your government, with the tacit, if not overt, approval of the public, is now trying to totally eliminate all privacy from the world, (in a race with the other governments, of course….), to make it impossible for anyone to hide from them anything they feel entitled to know about anyone….

Other governments, of course, are now trying to do the same, so, what they have created, with their unbridled, unchecked fanaticism based on paranoia, is a world-wide effort to find two things…. a way to encrypt data so it CAN’T be broken, and a machine that CAN break any encryption…. Once we have those, boy, think of all the neat stuff we can find out!…..

Oh, wait, we don’t want them to find out that stuff, do we…. No, no we don’t, because they don’t have any idea what it means, beyond their own small, paranoid interpretations…. We are talking, of course, of the Asininnies, those idiots who WANT the world to be insane, so that it fits their own perverted vision of how things are, as long as it meets all of THEIR needs, and the hell with anyone else…. These fools are out of control, ffolkes, and we need to rein them in, quickly, or they’re going to get the idea they can do this kind of stuff whenever they want….

In fact, it just might be time to get pissed off, and begin the process of dumping them altogether, in a way that ensures they won’t return to cause more trouble…. Yes, I’m suggesting it is time for the Second American Revolution, ffolkes…. I, for one, am very tired of hearing about shit like this, where the Powers That Be are acting out their fantasies on the real world, with the rest of us are paying the price….

The planet is on the verge of killing us, as the only viable way to stop our nonsensical, insane pollution of the atmosphere, a process our species developed and began years ago, with no regard for any of the other creatures who share this world with us…. We, as a species, are showing all the signs of advanced mental illness, and in these cases, there is no other certain cure, but death….

I’m ready when anyone else is, to take away the reins of power from those who want it, and start putting it in the hands of those who are the most qualified…. I’m thinking, the first requirement for being elected ought to be that the person doesn’t WANT the job, but, will do so if elected…. We can provide incentive by telling them they can get out early if they do a good job…. (Thanks to Arthur C. Clarke for the idea…) Only then will we begin to see government by those who are capable of governing with intelligence, and compassion, rather than ambition and fear…..

There are a number of videos on the page link shown above, many of which cover different aspects of this particular issue, so it might be a good way to see just how far these assholes have gone in their quest to become the world’s information pirates, to effectively corner the entire market for their own purposes…..

As an American, I am not just ashamed of my government, but appalled by their sheer selfishness and paranoid entitlement…. Fuck them, and the damn white horses they THINK they rode in on!….. It’s time we, as Americans, stood up and actually acted like free men, rather than the pale imitation of formerly free men that now inhabit this land…

“Do you know Presidents talk to the country the way men talk to women?  They say, Trust me, go all the way with me, and everything will be all right.    And what happens?  Nine months later, you’re in trouble!” — Murphy’s Discovery

Hmph! These days, in light of the state of global warming, and the erosion of the air we breathe, the gestation period is down to just a few weeks or months, and, most likely, not even nine of them, once the process of melting permafrost is firmly established….

We are literally looking at a matter of a few MONTHS until we can no longer breathe, if certain scientific scenarios are correct…. I can only hope that, this time, out of all the times they have been right, they might be wrong…. We may then have one last chance to throw out the assholes, and begin to save our sorry little asses from our own stupidity…..
_____________________________

Back in my school days, we read a few of this woman’s poems, in English classes, but, beyond that, I never really looked into her work…. until recently, when I came across a fragment from one of her poems, in Smart Bee, and it sent me off to find more from her pen…. I’m really glad I went to look for more, for she is indeed a wonderful poet, worthy of all the fame she has enjoyed for the past two centuries…. Here is one that illustrates that quite well…. Short, to the point, and just plain brilliant….

Although they are

Although they are
only breath, words
which I command
are immortal

~~ Sappho ~~


One just isn’t quite enough, is it? Here is another, to soothe the urge for more….

He is more than a hero

He is more than a hero
he is a god in my eyes–
the man who is allowed
to sit beside you — he

who listens intimately
to the sweet murmur of
your voice, the enticing

laughter that makes my own
heart beat fast. If I meet
you suddenly, I can’t

speak — my tongue is broken;
a thin flame runs under
my skin; seeing nothing,

hearing only my own ears
drumming, I drip with sweat;
trembling shakes my body

and I turn paler than
dry grass. At such times
death isn’t far from me

~~ Sappho ~~

_____________________________

The rant above, while somewhat mild in its execution (no blood involved being the main requirement to achieve “mild” status….), does fulfill my daily obligation, at least from a technical standpoint…. In this section, I’m going to go a little off wire, combining an old-school pearl with a previously written religirant…. Together, I think, they form a quite nice little scalpel-like instrument with which to poke at the Priestly Hierarchies, those Asininnies responsible for a great deal of the misery in this world….. Boy, I get so mad, when I stop to think about where Mankind COULD HAVE BEEN, had we not been handicapped by these assholes and their personal delusions of adequacy….

That being said, I offer the following five-star pearl, with a side of religirant from very early last year…. post election, pre-outing of the NSA…. The old-school section is quite sharp, so use care when handling….

“…this would be the best of all possible worlds, if there were no religion in it.” — John Adams, Letter to Thomas Jefferson, 1816

“I would not attack the faith of a heathen without being sure I had a better one to put in its place.” — Harriet Beecher Stowe
(Such arrogance and ignorance, in one phrase! Enough to fill the world!….)

“The missionaries go forth to Christianize the savages–as if the savages weren’t dangerous enough already.” — Edward Abbey

“…and so — for weeks after — you won’t be able to swing a dead CAT in Jerusalem without hitting someone descended from the house of David… anointed by a close relative… riding into town on a donkey.” — The tantalizing tail end of the Judge’s soliloquy, from CEREBUS

“If a ferret bites you it is nearly always your own fault.” — Phil Drabble

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From 2/13/13:

“The essence of Christianity is told us in the Garden of Eden history. The fruit that was forbidden was on the tree of knowledge. The subtext is, All the suffering you have is because you wanted to find out what was going on. You could be in the Garden of Eden if you had just keep your fucking mouth shut and hadn’t asked any questions.” — Frank Zappa Playboy Interview, April 1993

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

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

Why do people fall for this? I cannot understand how people, who are normally reasonably intelligent, will, by conscious choice, bury their heads in the sand to buy into this, without ever taking even one moment to examine any of it for truth, or even logical assumption. Is there some kind of mind-control drug in that incense? Maybe it’s something in the sacramental wine….

Whatever it is, it turns normally competent, intelligent people into mindless slaves, and does so with their complete agreement and approval…. To my mind, it is one of history’s saddest, most incomprehensible features, when I look at just how easily people fall for such egregious, and so obviously self-serving propaganda, as most of the dogmatic proclamations of the major religions tend to offer up.

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

I am compelled to add, “Me, too!” to this sentiment…. In the recent past, I’ve been taking a lot of shots at religions, and need to make clear that I do not hate Christians, or Buddhists, or Muslims, or the followers of any religion. I think they are being silly, deliberately and evilly so, at worst, or at best, misguided, but I don’t hate, or fear them, as is the case on their part whenever they consider me, or my criticisms of their beliefs.

I don’t hold that against them, either, as it is logically consistent for them to do so, given the limitations of their dogmatic position. Since, however, the fervor with which they will often defend their position can reach a rather fevered pitch, I tend to treat many of them like a stinging insect; I move, and speak, slowly and carefully, so as not to frighten them more than they already are….

Ethical and moral behavior is not confined to those who follow the precepts of one religion or another, despite what any of the proponents of those religions will try to tell you.  In fact, if you look closely, the number of folks who are believers have a much higher percentage of failure in that regard than do the non-believers, which only makes sense….

The believers all have a sense of entitlement that gives them the idea that the rules of behavior don’t always apply to them, in terms of how they treat people who are not of the same faith, so, to those who are not of their own sect, they don’t bother being truthful, or honest, or ethical, as those people don’t count, in their eyes. People who make their own moral codes tend to follow them, and are much more tolerant of those who do not share their beliefs.

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

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

“What is a church? Our honest sexton tells, ‘Tis a tall building, with a tower and bells.” — Crabbe
_____________________________

Well, there you have it…. another Pearl, in a long series of such…. such as they are….. I have no regrets, nor do I fear retribution or angst; all I fear is indifference, and ignorance, which often go hand in hand…. Lest we join those ranks unknowingly, I’m outta here…. 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

dozer3

Would you care for a side of dignified acquiescence with your innuendo?….

Posted on by
6

Ffolkes,

“Hey, mister….”
“Yeah?”
“Got any change?
“Only this little jar of entropy….”

No, that’s not quite right….

“Hey….”
“Yeah?”
“What’s new?”
“My socks….”

No, that’s not very good, either….

“Hey, buddy…”
“Yeah?”
“Got milk?”
“No.”

Ah, that’s better…. now we can go on….

You may be asking yourself just what the hell this is all about, which would be a completely understandable, even logical reaction…. It won’t get you any closer to finding out, but, hey, it’s logical, and that’s something these days…. To explain…. The three little conversations above are another experiment, designed purely to see it it would be a feasible method for getting these silly introductions out of the way with a template, or possibly a new routine, like the “Who’s on first?” thing, that whatshisname and his partner used to do on stage…. !!! What was that name?…. His partner’s name was Lou…. Aha!!… Abbot & Costello, that’s them…. Any who, onward….

I’m still not happy with the way these introductory sections get done each day…. There’s no rhyme, nor reason to their construction, and no solid method to make sure it’s an intro that will be effective in its purpose, which is to say, it is compelling, drawing people in to read further…. The above, while not bad, is NOT something I could do every day, but, I might be able to work it into the routine on a rotating basis, maybe….. It seems like the kind of thing that might work if we don’t have to depend on it every day; But, an occasional foray into nonsensical comedic conversations could be a handy, and fairly effective method…. So, we’ll see how it works out….

Obviously, today’s version, while fairly silly, isn’t very good, all in all, and these little blurbs will have to be punched up, so that it really DOES draw ffolkes in to the blog, even if they’re only looking to get in out of the rain. We have umbrellas we can loan out, if necessary…. In fact, that’s a good idea…. Maybe people will be encouraged to come back, if we treat them with kindness…. Maybe they’ll want to come back to re-visit that site that loaned them an umbrella when they needed it….. Oh, wait, there’s that whole physical presence thing in the way there, isn’t there? Oh, yeah, forgot about that….

Never mind, then…. It’s a bit hard to loan out anything, when we’re not in physically proximate positions, so, that idea is shot down rather neatly, isn’t it? Silly me, such nonsense…. Of course, we encourage that around here, as you know…. Well, since all of this is now pretty well eliminated from the neighborhood of Reality, and I have little idea left of what I’m doing here, I guess I’ll get on with the regular stuff we do….

Shall we Pearl?…..

“Man is most nearly himself when he achieves the seriousness of a child at play.” — Heraclitus
_____________________________

Today will be a normal Pearl, insofar as what we do here is able to approach normal at all; all three sections will have the regular, normal inclusions in their appropriate places… This first section will be an old-school pearl, because I found three pearls waiting for me when I got here, and that’s just the way it is…. As you can see, curmudgeonry is also part of the somewhat random process for deciding things here at ECR….. Any who, these pearls, the ones I found here, all have a bit to say about people, and how they live…. or, in some cases, how they SHOULD live…. But, as they say, you can lead a horse to water, but, you can’t make them think…. er, drink…..

“Apollo said that every one’s true worship was that which he found in use in the place where he chanced to be.” — Michael de Montaigne (1533-1592) — Essays, Book ii, Chap. xii, Apology for Raimond Sebond

“An empty man is full of himself.” — Edward Abbey

“If you see a man approaching you with the obvious intention of doing you good, you should run for your life.” — Thoreau’s Law

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

“Life is just a mirror, and what you see out there, you must first see inside of you.” — Wally “Famous” Amos

“I hold it to be the inalienable right of anybody to go to hell in his own way.” — Robert Frost

“Go softly, for you tread on my dreams.” — Yeats
_____________________________

Below is a small piece of prose I did back in February of this year, prompted by a couple of lines by T.S. Eliot, one of my favorite poets…. I just like it, and hope you enjoy it as well…. It’s followed by, of course, a bit of Emily….

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From February 6, 2013:

Against the Word the unstilled world still whirled
About the center of the silent Word.
– T.S. Eliot

What is the silent Word?  The Word Is…. Not not, Is…. We may be, or not, but, what is, is, and needs no word, but the Word remains…. at the center, where it was seen and not heard by T.S….

Sometimes, powerful truth can be found in apparent nonsense, and T.S. Eliot was a master at creating very lean, very clean poetry whose very simplicity drove straight into the heart of Truth. I always feel more serene after reading his poems, disturbing as they can be, and find that reading his work brings me illumination, if not enlightenment….
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was not death, for I stood up,
And all the dead lie down;
It was not night, for all the bells
Put out their tongues, for noon.

It was not frost, for on my flesh
I felt siroccos crawl,–
Nor fire, for just my marble feet
Could keep a chancel cool.

And yet it tasted like them all;
The figures I have seen
Set orderly, for burial,
Reminded me of mine,

As if my life were shaven
And fitted to a frame,
And could not breathe without a key;
And ‘t was like midnight, some,

When everything that ticked has stopped,
And space stares, all around,
Or grisly frosts, first autumn morns,
Repeal the beating ground.

But most like chaos,–stopless, cool,–
Without a chance or spar,–
Or even a report of land
To justify despair.

~~ Emily Dickinson ~~

_____________________________

Per my statements above, this section would be where I begin to rant, but, I made that statement (re: today’s Pearl structure) prior to getting this far, so, let’s see if Reality will condescend to allow us to maintain our path, or make us take a different route to where we need to go…. Half a moment, please….

A funny thing happened on the way to this rant…. The BRC, PH, SCM, and IM who make up the category in which I usually can find my target of choice for the day have ALL apparently issued a blanket statement to the media, that no stories on them are to be published for a time, to allow them to bury any evidence that may have come to light while they were busy with their clandestine shenanigans…. What, you may well ask, does this mean?…. Well, let me explain…

I’ve been perusing the headlines in the news for the last few days, since the new year began, and there has been NOTHING about any of the Asininnies anywhere in there! The Congress, the courts, the POTUS, the White House, & all the government agencies who are normally all over the front pages are nowhere to be seen…. Of the eight most popular stories today on the front page, three were about yesterday’s football game, two were accident/injury reports, one reported on a court case, one on the death of a broadcaster, and the horoscope for the day…. To believe the evidence, one would think we had nobody in the government at all today….

Ah well, it can’t last forever…. Eventually, one of them will open their mouth near a reporter, another lie will pop out, and all will be back to normal…. In the meantime, however, we are left without a rantable subject, and must once again turn to the archives in order to complete today’s Pearl…. Here, then, is a piece from early last year, a discussion of…. well, you’ll see…. Enjoy!….

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

From January 20, 2013

“Nothing unreal exists.” — Kiri-Kin-Tha’s Law of Metaphysics

For the uninitiated, this is from Star Trek, a line from the fourth movie, The Voyage Home. It is the answer, and question, posed to Spock by the computer, near the beginning of the movie, just before it asks him, “How do you feel?” Though the quote, and its author, are part of a fictional story, and do not, as far as I know, exist in real life, the idea is nonetheless a potent philosophical assertion, and deserving of some meditation upon its implications, and ramifications. I like it, as it creates a series of doorways, one after another opening for welcome, inviting me to come in and examine its furnishings for their value…. A bit fanciful, perhaps, but then, it IS from Star Trek….

“Trekkies” have always taken the concept behind the show and movies much more seriously than most of us, and have created an entire panorama of alternate universe stories, legends, and characters as an adjunct to the original tales. I am certain that some fan, somewhere in the world, has put together a book that lays out Kiri-Kin-Tha’s philosophy for study, complete with Laws, Axioms, and Arguments. They probably even included material from other fictional works from the ST venue, weaving them into a coherent treatise, all of which is completely fabricated…. People can be pretty amazing when they are obsessed, indeed….

“Nothing unreal exists.”….. fascinating, as Spock would say. It is reminiscent, in a backwards fashion, of the question posed by the door to Ravenclaw Tower, in the final Harry Potter book, The Deathly Hallows, when Professor McGonagall is queried, “Where do Vanished objects go?” by the door, in order to gain entrance to the Ravenclaw common room. “Into non being, which is to say, everything.”, she answers immediately. “Nicely phrased”, replied the door…. I say backwards only because the ST movie came first in real time, by about 25 years or so…. As can be seen, however, the concepts involved in the two similar episodes are more than mere ideological throw-aways, but have some valid basis for their existence….

This is the power of Imagination at its finest, in my mind. People will take a good idea, and run with it into landscapes where it has never before been conceived, turning it into passionate variations on the original theme whose quality rivals that of it progenitor. At the height of the frenzy over the Harry Potter movies, a few years ago, I visited a site called MuggleNet.com, curious as to what the fans of the movie and stories were doing.

I was completely astounded by the prolific writings by fans, who wrote entire novels, short stories, and alternative plots by the dozens, all populated by the characters from the books by J.K. Rowling. Romances between the various characters abounded in the imagination of the fans, as well as the creation of new characters, and inventive new kinds of magical spells, objects, and creatures. The variety and depth of talent displayed is incredible, and goes to show how powerful is the influence of obsession on our imagination.

And hence one master-passion in the breast,
Like Aaron’s serpent, swallows up the rest.

– Alexander Pope (1688-1744) — Essay on Man, Epistle ii, Line 131

Of course, obsession has the unfortunate tendency to go beyond the bounds of reasonable action in pursuit of its object of attention. It can easily consume all of the mind’s available store of common sense, submerging it in the raging river of passionate belief in whatever idea has emerged as the passion of choice. Pope was speaking no more than simple truth when he wrote these lines, which point again to the same fatal flaw that exists in other areas of human nature, the weakness of will that makes us choose paths that are self-destructive in their intensity, or in their ultimate logical end. Too many of us tend to make our choices in life without using even the most basic of mental tools we have, including imagination; the use of those tools can be hard, in the sense that it is harder to think than it is to allow others to think for you….

Thus, we come to another point where the subject under discussion can be expanded, and further explored. Or, we can leave it here, with the ideas already discussed as a springboard for private consideration. I have a feeling it could get a bit esoteric from this juncture, and I’d lose a lot of ffolkes to the fatigue factor. I am feeling that a bit meself, having now been sparring with this Pearl for a bit over three hours. I should have eaten some philosophical oatmeal, to increase the fiber content of my output, I guess….

Rather than go any further down that road, we’ll bring this pearl to a close…. Perhaps you can take a bit of what we discussed with you, and chew on it later…. it doesn’t seem to get any less crunchy over time, so it can’t hurt…. Fewer calories than jerky, and it won’t require flossing afterward….

“You can get anything you want, at Alice’s restaurant (‘ceptin’ Alice).” — Arlo Guthrie
_____________________________

Without even looking at it, I will admit that today’s effort MAY not be per usual, even for around here…. I just discovered that I’ve created this entire Pearl without the benefit of brushing my hair, so there is no telling how crooked the thoughts contained herein might have become in the process…. Since it’s done, and I’m NOT going to do it over, it will just have to do, however it came out…. which, all in all, isn’t too bad…. It will fly, anyway, so, off it goes…. See you tomorrow, if all goes well….

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, a
nd sometimes
I just sits.

gigoid

dozer3

How many asparagus spears can we salvage for cloning?….

Posted on by
Reply

Ffolkes,

Ah, good morning…. You may want to consider coming back later, or, if that isn’t doable, then, it’s probably best if you DUCK!!!…. Whew! Close one…. So, how’s it going this fine, beautiful morning…. Huh? What was that? Oh, nothing important, not to worry. We’re testing out some drones for the CIA, for use in the upcoming revolution…. Why, you might ask, am I helping the CIA perfect weapons for use on our own citizens? Well, there’s quite a story behind that, so, take a seat, and I’ll tell you….

It’s like this, you see…. I was approached by an agent from Langley, the CIA HQ, with a proposition that I figured might be one to take, for a number of valid reasons… First, you need to realize that my helping them is a sham…. I’m actually undercover for those self-same forces of the revolution, gathering information to be used when it all breaks loose here in the next few years. It’s just a matter of keeping my enemies closer than my friends, so that I know what they’re up to behind all those closed doors and high walls…. metaphorical as those may be. I’m sure that is exactly what they are doing by hiring me, so, turnabout is fair play….

Second, its’ fun! Playing with all these neat toys the government gets to play with, all months before the technology is filtered down to the public, where watered down versions of what the BRC has to use are sold to amuse those in the public venue who like toys, and to make the public believe the state of the technology is less than it actually is…. What? You thought they’d give up the edge by giving us the same level of developed technology as THEY have? Think again, ffolkes, the public only sees the prototypes, not the finished versions… For example, I see how the Army now has functioning laser weapons that can target and destroy planes in flight…. How many of those do you think they’ll be allowing the public to have, eh?….

Okay, fantasy done…. I don’t feel much like carrying that any further; it was already too cumbersome to do much more with…. Those three paragraphs, I can tell, are going to need some serious punching up to get them right…. It’s a good concept, but clumsily started, so I’ll have to figure out how to clean it up for consumption…. I like the concept, but my execution wasn’t spot on…. I think the victim is dead…. I’m going to have to resort to one of the emergency methods for getting out of this intro, because this is starting to feel somewhat sticky, & hard to get off my fingers….

Okay, that sinks it…. Now, my carpal tunnel is chiming in, to let me know it doesn’t want to type right now, at least not as much as other parts of me want to keep at it….. I HATE internal struggles, they’re so…… ARRRGH!!!! Fuck, fuck, fuck…. Sorry, but, sometimes, vulgarity is the only thing that works to ease the pain, or end the frustration…. That’s it, I’m done….. Immediate deployment, method #4, on 3…. One…. two….. three….

Shall we Pearl?….

“What about these commandments then?”
“You again?  All right…  There shall be TWO commandments, and this shall be the first of them: “Keep the noise down.”
“Just that?  `Keep the noise down’?”
“You got it.”
“Hmmm.  And the second of Your commandments, Lord?”
“Do what thou wilst,” (sayeth the Lord), “just go away and don’t bother Me now.  For behold, some of Us are trying to get some sleep around here.”

— Seven Deadly Sins

(I dunno…. it works for me….. If one MUST put up with a deity, one who likes His naps would be a good one…. Just sayin’…..)
_____________________________

In terms of routine, I’m a dead man walking, and I’m not interested today in any false heroism or pride; I’m going to cheat all I can to get this done in a timely manner, and the hell with my integrity as an author…. Considering some of what I’ve foisted upon an unsuspecting public, I should probably be the most like candidate for the next public hanging, or, perhaps, a bit of time in the pillory, metaphorically speaking….

Regardless of all that, or whatever other silly crap I can come up with, the following is an excellent rant…. a politirant, but, with plenty of vituperation to go around, in case the PHs, SCMs, or the IMs feel like they’re missing out….. As I sat in the morning air after this section, it occurred to me that, though this rant was written almost exactly six months ago, every word in it is still valid, as related to the issues under discussion…. Not a lot of progress in that time, was there?….. Ah, well, life goes on….. Enjoy…..

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

From March 7, 2013:

“It is useless for sheep to pass resolutions in favor of vegetarianism while wolves remain of a different opinion.” — William Ralph Inge, D. D.  1860 – 1954

I’ve seen this little statement before, and like it a lot, for its honesty in describing our Beloved Ruling Class in relation to the flock of sheep that comprises most of mankind. And, yes, this is the beginning of another politirant…. This one is prompted by the most recent activities that our leaders, if such word applies, have been shown to be engaged in by the news outlets I watch…. to wit: the legislation under review and up for vote in the House of Reps that is concerned with the economy, to wit: the “sequester”, and the recent comments by the POTUS re: global warming and climate change…. Let’s see what we can note about these issues, shall we?….

I have noticed that the Congress, and the POTUS, are currently at odds, as usual, over the economy, and arguing over how to address an issue over which they have absolutely no control…. I just don’t get it, actually…. There is no evidence whatsoever that anything the government does, or has ever done, about the economy has any effect at all on it…. none.

Zero. Zilch. Nada damn thing…. The economy of the world, or even just this nation, is not subject to any manipulation by us; it’s too big, too amorphous…. It’s like trying to herd cats…. a lot of effort for small results, and you end up with a bunch of pissed off felines…. If you know anything about cats, you will realize that this is never a good thing….

Yet, because the public demands that something be done, the politicians start their idiotic posturing, pontificating, and, otherwise polluting the airwaves with nonsensical suggestions as to what should be done to fix the problems. NONE of those ever work, nor will they ever work; the economy does not move according to any rules that we can control, or even know, and any action we take is just as liable to have a bad effect as a good one…. But, the public wants the government to fix it, so the politicos in the BRC make noises as if they actually could do something helpful, when in fact, anything they do is as liable to hurt, as it is to help…. Sad, but, true as the day is long.

It’s actually kind of fun watching the contortions they go through for issues such as this; since I know for a fact that none of it will have any real effect on the issue, I can enjoy the parade without worrying about whether it will actually do anything useful, or cause any harm…. It is a bit depressing to watch, since I am aware of just how little can be done, but, the show can be entertaining, and it does pass the time….

The most depressing part is knowing that the public is actually buying all of what they are saying, and really do expect something to change for the better…. But, then, I am always amazed at the depth of human stupidity. I don’t know why, as I KNOW how dumb people can be…. I am one, you know…. but, it always is a surprise to see just how deeply that stupidity is ingrained in the human condition….

Of course, this stupidity is part and parcel of why we are experiencing the second issue I mentioned above…. global warming and overpopulation. I will be very interested to see exactly how the POTUS intends to address the issue, as he has promised to do, several times now since his inauguration. Since the issue is well advanced beyond the point that most people think it is, what he does, or proposes to do, will be a telling factor in deciding how seriously the issue is being taken, and whether or not it will have any chance at all of being either enough to help, or soon enough to make a difference…. Both of these are critical factors, as the point of no-return for the ecological balance of this planet is so near, it may have already been passed some months, or years, ago….

I’m not sure how scientifically minded many of y’all are, but, I am…. scientifically minded, that is, and I can tell you without fear of contradiction (from anyone with any reliable scientific knowledge, anyway….) that the atmosphere of this planet is, without doubt, and without evidence to the contrary, on the very edge of becoming unbreathable for humans….

The millions of tons of carbon monoxide, and other toxic substances, that are being pumped into the air EVERY SECOND, and that has been pumped in now for over a hundred years, has reached the point where it will begin a process of leaching oxygen from the air, and the balance of gases we need to survive will change…. Hell, it IS changing, and fairly rapidly…. It will continue to do so, ever more swiftly, until it is no longer of a balance that we can safely breathe; moreover, once begun, the process is irreversible. The process is beyond our capability of stopping…. This is scientific FACT, not speculation, not a guess….. The process has already begun, the only question remaining is, how quickly will it happen?

“In the game of life you get to choose where you keep your brain – heads you win, tails you lose.” — Smart Bee

So, we’ll see where the POTUS keeps his brain, as he speaks in the next few days about this issue…. Whatever he decides to do, I would be willing to bet that it won’t be enough, and it won’t make a damn bit of difference, other than in a few Presidential approval polls, perhaps. After all, even though he is a fairly reform-oriented politician, he is still a politician, and you can lay good money, without fear of losing, on the fact that whatever he does is designed to benefit him and his Presidency, and any benefit for the public is a secondary concern….

He IS a politician, after all, and his primary concern is for his own success; it’s NOT the welfare of the people…. He has merely discovered that being the “People’s Champion” is currently a good political stance to take…. If it ever becomes too itchy a coat to wear, he will take it off in a heartbeat…. Count on it…. You don’t get to that level of the game without being a complete asshole in some respects, and I don’t think anyone who WANTS to be President can be accused of not being ambitious, and, in the process, they brand themselves as sociopathic….

“No people in the world ever did achieve their freedom by goody-goody talk and moral suasion: it being immutable law that all revolutions that will succeed, must begin in blood, whatever the answer afterward. If history teaches anything, it teaches that.” — Mark Twain, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court (1889)

In this case, we aren’t talking about freedom, unless by that, one means the freedom to stay alive…. and the BRC isn’t going to do anything about it, I don’t believe…. Or, rather, I’ll believe it when I see it, and, so far, no dice in that respect. I’m enough of a cynic to believe, sadly, that it isn’t GOING to happen, either…. because I don’t believe that the POTUS, or the rest of the BRC, gives a damn about the rest of us, as long as they have their own…. This much is obvious from history, but, when did mankind at large ever pay any attention to history?….

If you have some evidence that contradicts that belief, I would dearly love to see it…. Truly, I would, because, quite frankly, my own intelligence, and the evidence I have now, forces me to conclude that we humans are shortly about to come to a bad end…. not with a bang, not with a whimper, but, choking to death in our own planet’s toxic air, victims to our own stupidity, and cupidity….

Daniel: “We’re damned if we do, we’re damned if we don’t; we need other options….” — from Stargate
_____________________________

Since I’m cheating already, there is no point in making anyone else feel at all guilty by association, so, here is a poem of my own, from September of 2012, which, apparently, was not a bad year for poetry…

Visible life

Forty-two days of pressure and internal rain,
leave marks of salvation, often in pain.
Such sharp reminders of yesterday’s remorse
fight heavily to keep a straight course.
Rash moments, bright, and routinely immense
Give us pleasure, bereft of common sense.

Still the night comes soft and eternally dear
to bring out wishful dreams so vitally clear.
Life’s myrmidons give freely in protest
lifting with skill, soul pieces first to infest,
Loudly brash, with no such voices to remain
Sealed in infamy, branded ugliness all too plain.

Now come brave signs of chapter and verse
Shielded by ignorance, irritable and terse.
Gravid portions of in-between retaliation
leave only pale marks of initial gestation
With hope even pallid warriors grow brave
Leading all humanity, to a warm, stale grave.

Hope never falters, nor leaves any trace
Yet lingers forever in a welcoming space.
Cheerful faces yet shine out of time
for tricking and fumbling sweet melody sublime.
Fill in the spaces with a long, strong retort
life is ever visible, if only as last resort.

~~ gigoid ~~

_____________________________

A couple of the following quotes were found prior to the collection of the remainder, because I found them at different times, in different places, and intended to use them for a couple of rants…. Since that is off the agenda for today, due to circumstances I have no desire to alter, even if possible, I’m including them as part of what I call an indictment pearl, one that takes as many hard shots at the BRC, et al, as I can fit into a short, five-star volley…. Let’s see if SB will cooperate today….

“Make no laws whatever concerning speech and, speech will be free; so soon as you make a declaration on paper that speech shall be free, you will have a hundred lawyers proving that “freedom does not mean abuse, nor liberty license;” and they will define and define freedom out of existence.” — Voltarine de Cleyre (1866-1912)

“I think our governments will remain virtuous for many centuries; as long as they are chiefly agricultural; and this will be as long as there shall be vacant lands in any part of America. When they get piled upon one another in large cities, as in Europe, they will become corrupt as in Europe.” —  Thomas Jefferson

“I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country…. Corporations have been enthroned, an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money-power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until the wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the Republic is destroyed.  — Former US President Abraham Lincoln, Nov. 21, 1864 — letter to Col. William F. Elkins — printed in “The Lincoln Encyclopedia”, — ed. Archer H. Shaw, Macmillan, 1950, NY

“He that would make his own liberty secure must guard even his enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty he establishes a precedent that will reach to himself.” — Thomas Paine

“The belief in a supernatural source of evil is not necessary; men alone are quite capable of every wickedness.” — Joseph Conrad, “Under Western Eyes”

“An experienced, industrious, ambitious, and often quite often picturesque liar.” — Mark Twain

Well, aside from Smart Bee pulling its covers, showing us it doesn’t know how to count, that came out well…. Maybe it needs one more….

“If we were to promise people nothing better than only revolution, they would scratch their heads and say: “Is it not better to have good goulash?” — Nikita Khruschev, quoted 1971

I love it when a plan comes together, even if the formatting has gone wonky….
_____________________________

For reasons unbeknownst to me, the formatting above decided to fuss with me, changing stuff without warning or purpose…. Since I don’t feel like tracking down the cause just now, it will have to do the way it is, and I’ll fix it on the fly, as it were…. Aha! Found it… Well, not exactly, but, the copy and paste process seems to have eliminated the wonkiness…. Okay, not bad, but, I still feel as if I’m in a panic, or should be…. I kind of feel like this man felt, back in the day…..

“I drank WHAT???????” — Socrates (470?-399 B.C.)

Ah well, we can only do our best…. or, as gigoid has so aptly put it, many times and many ways, in the recent, as well as the far-distant past, “All we can do, is all we can do….”  On that note, I shall bid thee adieu for another day….

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

dozer3

Preparing to salivate on command….

Posted on by
Reply

Ffolkes,

Living with cats is always more than one bargains for; they have a strong connection to the forces of chaos and entropy, and dealing with their capricious natures is as difficult as, well….. as difficult as trying to herd cats…. a well-used, and well-deserved cliche, if not actually an iconic adverbial state…. The potential volatility of a close relationship with a feline can be especially true when one is dealing with a cat with “issues”…… Now, you may ask, what kind of “issues” could such a “wee puir beestie” as these adorable creatures possibly have? Well, I’m here to tell you, they can be quite nasty issues, driven by dark emotional states, and made worse by the lack of human capability to understand the nature of Cat…..

At this point, I would be expected to outline some of the cuter, or perhaps, funnier episodes with our cat that demonstrate how adorable they are, and what wonderful companions they make for us seniors…. and, I would, if I could….. However, OUR cat does NOT do cute, or adorable, or even funny, for that matter…. She just does psycho…. She does that quite well, but I can’t say that as much of a recommendation, as her unfortunate destructiveness tends to keep us scrambling to the store to replace knick knacks at an alarming rate…. We’ve got Bed, Bath, & Beyond on speed dial from having to check their inventory so often, due to PC 14666,destruction of private property by a feline perpetrator acting in the guise of one of Satan’s minions….

This poor little devil started life with some handicaps, unfortunately, which are, sadly, compounded by her relatively obnoxious personality, an unfortunate trait caused by being raised feral for the first month of life…. She’s never really recovered all of the veneer of civilization that more domestic cats assume; she’s got a wild edge she has a hard time controlling, and which causes her, and us, a bit of conflict….. You see, she bites…. the little asshole never learned that it isn’t polite, or acceptable, to bite humans, not even for affection, and certainly not as a habit in anger…. Kitties who develop this habit often end up as recreational flying toys, aka, Frisbees, after having been unceremoniously been tossed on the interstate after biting their human in a pique of anger or warning….

This cat also has the usual cat arrogance, and a number of prerogatives upon which she insists; for example, upon arising in the morning, she informs whoever is up that she wants food, water, an open window, and company, NOW. Actually, anything she wants is required to be furnished NOW, but, this trait is one I don’t worry about, since to a cat, or dog, or other creature of their ilk, NOW is all there is….They don’t spend any mental time in the past, or in the future, so they always want whatever they want right away, simply because, for them, that’s all there is to time….

Now, if only she could learn that counter tops, refrigerators, cupboards, computers, and other parts of the house and furniture are NOT all her domain, and she does NOT have free rein to jump on or into everything she sees….. She also tends to believe that whatever falls on the floor belongs to her, but, in this, at least, she will negotiate, if one is prepared to give up some crumpled up paper, or, even better, tinfoil, in any compromise exchange of favors…. It’s lowering to have to negotiate with a cat, but, they’re very good at hostage situations, so, one must deal on their terms, at least until whatever she’s hidden is found, or rescued….

Now that I’ve demonstrated that we too have a cat, one that can provide nearly unlimited material for study or exposition, merely by existing side by side with us in our domiciles, I suppose I can get on with what we came here for today….. Learning the techniques needed for certain types of literature are well practiced, and better learned by writing about animals….. and, one will find, after a time of watching them closely, describing their behaviors can be a full-time, frustrating job; learning to do so well can be considered excellent training for any writer…. One MUST know how to set a scene, and make the reader see what the author wishes them to see; learning to describe the actions of a Cat are the perfect method for learning to do that well….

None of the above even begins to consider all the material that is also available in this category, of a more complex, personal nature, to wit: writing about our complex, loving, yet adversarial personal relationships with the cattus domesticus with whom we may end up sharing space…. People’s relationships with their cats are as deep, and loving, and complex as those they have with any person…. This, of course, gives us a fertile field from which to draw our subject matter, and makes writing about cats a staple exercise for anyone who wishes to consider themselves to be a competent author….

It’s also quite fun, re-living whatever experiences one has with their cats, who are, in truth, as much our best friends as dogs….. The long-standing agreement we humans have with the cat species is much different than the one we hold with dogs, but it is just as ancient, and just as strong on both sides….

Now that I’ve completely gone off, far afield, in a direction never before taken, there must be some way to get back on track, and get my butt into the water, diving for pearls to create some thoughts in those empty heads out there…. It seems I’d best get to it quickly today, too, as my carpal tunnel has picked today to act up, numbing my fingers as I type…. Oh boy, this will be FUN!….. NOT!  Oh well….

Shall we Pearl?…..

Tell me, O Octopus, I begs,
Is those things arms, or is they legs?
I marvel at thee, Octopus;
If I were thou, I’d call me us.

— Odgen Nash (1902-1971)
_____________________________

Ohmigosh, Most Puissant Keeper, Protector of the Forever Dubious, help us! Do not desert us in our hour of need! Give us this day our humble desire, for sustenance to feed the mind, to help them grow to become worthy tools in the hands of our Gentle Readers. (Hmm…. okay, to all those Gentle Readers out there today….. please ignore any and/or all anatomical inferences, or references, in that last little statement…. I’m afraid I got my metaphors mixed up with my euphemisms, and the results are a bit confusing…. so, never mind….. ) Let Smart Bee, that most excellent of databases, find and offer up the most intelligent, the most ironic, the funniest pearls, no matter how old, dusty, or what dark corner in which is was found….

There you go, ffolkes, my version of prayer…. Let’s hope Ohmisgosh was listening….

“Every day should be passed as if it were to be our last.” — Publius Syrus (42 BC) — Maxim 633

“Reality happens when you don’t make it to the bathroom.” — Smart Bee

“It does not matter whether the cat is black or white.  So long as it catches the mouse, it is a good cat.” — Deng Xiaoping

“Big Business and State Socialism are very much alike, especially Big Business.” — G. K. Chesterton, G.K.’s Weekly, 4/10/26

Men must be taught as if you taught them not,
And things unknown propos’d as things forgot.

— Alexander Pope (1688-1744) — Essay on Criticism, Part iii, Line 15

“Power must never be trusted without a check.” — John Adams
(Side note: When I first saw this, I read it as “never be trusted WITH a check!”….. but, it works either way, doesn’t it?….)

Knowledge by suffering entereth,
And life is perfected by death.

— Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1809-1861) — A Vision of Poets, Conclusion

Hmm…. Smart Bee is showing off, I think…. That, or it feels as if the contractual obligation for obscurity hasn’t been met, and is just doing its part to help the team…. I won’t bother to remind it that it’s only January, and we have a very long time to get that done…. It was a nice gesture, even if it does leave us scratching our heads a bit…. I suppose it’s one of those pearls that will sit in there, in our heads, until it ripens, whereupon it will explode, leaving us all in awe at the sheer genius thus displayed….     Or, maybe not…. Only time will tell, once again…. Funny how that keeps happening….
_____________________________

“Verbing weirds language.” — Calvin (from “Calvin and Hobbes”)

Someday, I believe Calvin & Hobbes will be on a par, reputation-wise, with Pogo, Doonesbury, Dilbert, and a few other comic strips that are, because of the genius of their authors, as much social commentary as humor. Calvin’s display of all of the most dramatic human characteristics, including the vices, is perfectly counterbalanced by Hobbes brilliantly wise (both in creativity and common sense…), compassionate, grounded yet wildly original, commentary, whether presented in an existential framework, or something more mundane. With the little complaint above, the creator, Bill Watterson, articulates a particular pet peeve of mine…. in three words…..

I am in awe of this statement, much as when I find a piece of poetry that displays such an innate understanding of language, while simultaneously showing the power of using it well…. Using verbs as nouns, and vice versa, is a habit of modern culture I deplore as much as any other in the field of language usage; seeing it is an issue for others is a big relief to me, especially in a media venue that can influence a lot of people’s attitudes….

Of course, it’s something that will fly right by those millions of folks who DON’T read, either books, or newspapers, but, hey, one can’t have everything…. Those particular folks won’t be worrying much about what a verb is, or a noun, anyway, and won’t be deliberately switching them around to try to appear clever…..

There, now you can never say I don’t just ramble incoherently for no reason at all…. I just saw the quote, and it ticked off this little mini-rant against a very minor form of linguistic ignorance…. As we say around here…. never mind….. Here’s a nice poem to make it all better….. You didn’t notice the spoiler above, in the intro section?…. Don’t worry, neither did I, until the proofing stage…. Our minds can play funny tricks on us, can’t they?….

Adventures Of Isabel

Isabel met an enormous bear,
Isabel, Isabel, didn’t care;
The bear was hungry, the bear was ravenous,
The bear’s big mouth was cruel and cavernous.
The bear said, Isabel, glad to meet you,
How do, Isabel, now I’ll eat you!
Isabel, Isabel, didn’t worry.
Isabel didn’t scream or scurry.
She washed her hands and she straightened her hair up,
Then Isabel quietly ate the bear up.
Once in a night as black as pitch
Isabel met a wicked old witch.
the witch’s face was cross and wrinkled,
The witch’s gums with teeth were sprinkled.
Ho, ho, Isabel! the old witch crowed,
I’ll turn you into an ugly toad!
Isabel, Isabel, didn’t worry,
Isabel didn’t scream or scurry,
She showed no rage and she showed no rancor,
But she turned the witch into milk and drank her.
Isabel met a hideous giant,
Isabel continued self reliant.
The giant was hairy, the giant was horrid,
He had one eye in the middle of his forhead.
Good morning, Isabel, the giant said,
I’ll grind your bones to make my bread.
Isabel, Isabel, didn’t worry,
Isabel didn’t scream or scurry.
She nibbled the zwieback that she always fed off,
And when it was gone, she cut the giant’s head off.
Isabel met a troublesome doctor,
He punched and he poked till he really shocked her.
The doctor’s talk was of coughs and chills
And the doctor’s satchel bulged with pills.
The doctor said unto Isabel,
Swallow this, it will make you well.
Isabel, Isabel, didn’t worry,
Isabel didn’t scream or scurry.
She took those pills from the pill concocter,
And Isabel calmly cured the doctor.

~~ Ogden Nash ~~

_____________________________

I did a search of the morning’s headlines when I sat down to begin today’s effort, but, found nothing worthy of a rant, or even minor outrage, other than the usual critical view I have regarding the media’s choice of what news is fit to disseminate…. To be fair in their defense, I also try to keep in mind that I don’t have access to, or time to look at, ALL of the information that is out there to be absorbed…. So, I content myself with what passes for mainstream news, without falling into the trap of getting it from any site or organization that has a vested interest in what is to be brought forth…. such as, say, Fox News, MSNBC, or any of the major networks or their affiliates…. In short, I don’t much trust any of the news outlets that have ANY connection to a vested interest, so, it can be hard to get the straight story on many events….

In the long run, this, along with just about anything else one might think of, is a moot point, which only serves to illustrate the reason today’s Pearl won’t have what might usually be expected in the way of a rant, or as my good friend Lou puts it, my “bitching” about society’s ills….. Due to the (apparent) sparsity of my audience, loyal as those few are, I can’t argue that what I’m doing often FEELS like bitching…. That’s okay, though, because I’m only concerned with the message, and getting it over to people who need to hear it; there’s no denying, for that purpose, bitching is good. Well, it feels good, anyway, so, I’ll keep at it….

In the meantime, though, in order to fulfill the formatting requirements of this blog, I have to put SOMETHING here…. This means, of course, it will have to be a random, old-school pearl, with no particular rhyme, reason, or parameters for inclusion, other than…. it must SOUND as if it means something….

“The most important reason for the drug laws in this country is to encourage a healthy distrust for the law.” — Smart Bee

“Common sense in an uncommon degree is what the world calls wisdom.” — Samuel Taylor Coleridge

“Orthodoxy is not thinking – not having to think. Orthodoxy is unconsciousness.” — George Orwell (1903-1950), “1984”

“Death is a commingling of eternity with time; in the death of a good man, eternity is seen looking through time.” — Goethe

“In this world there is always danger for those who are afraid of it.” — George Bernard Shaw

“Paradoxically though it may seem, it is none the less true that life imitates art far more than art imitates life.” — Oscar Wilde

“If the whole human race lay in one grave, the epitaph on its headstone might well be:’It seemed like a good idea at the time.'” — Rebecca West

Sometimes, this process works better than I know…. Upon due reflection, this may be one of those times…. Any ideas?….
_____________________________

Well…. instead of going into such a deep subject, or relying solely on what may be the oldest bad joke in the English language, I’ll just go on about my business as though nothing undue or immoral had occurred here…. which, you will note, it didn’t…. technically….. On that relatively positive note,  I bid thee adieu, until 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

dozer3