Tag Archives: politics

The sheriff ain’t gonna like this, Billy-Bob….

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Ffolkes,

“He who has the courage to laugh is almost as much a master of the world as he who is ready to die.” — Giacomo Leopardi

I would add to this idea, “It should be noted, Reality often requires these qualities to be present in the same person….” Not that I’m a cynic, or anything like that…. I consider myself a realist, as anyone who deals with the slippery slope of Reality on a daily basis MUST be, in order to survive longer than a day or two… We, who dare the universe to defy our scrutiny at every turn of the planet, can testify to the veracity of this notion, as we deal with both laughter and death regularly in the course of our duties…. Of course, that is true ONLY of those of us who are clumsy about it, but, then, who is there, in this day and age, who can wrestle with Reality with grace, or any significant degree of aplomb?

Now that the proper tone of nonsense and nearly-coherent whimsy has been firmly established, I think it would be acceptable to turn away from the fantasy portion of this morning’s intro, and return to the more amenable, less controversial pathways that wind their way toward section one. As you are, by now, well aware of my propensity for pomposity (hmm, “propensity for pomposity”…. not bad at all…. almost cute….), I don’t think it will be necessary for me to set out the emergency flares to show the way to the escape hatch…. I’m actually pretty sure we won’t even need to issue the usual flak jackets that go with this portion of the trip…. Our new route seems to be working out well, in terms of not drawing any hostile fire….

Of course, that may be due to flying over the native villages late at night, so late, they’ve already put the ack-acks, the antiaircraft guns, to bed. It’s a bit harder to take pictures of the scenery, since there isn’t any, (well, there is, but, hey, it’s DARK out there….), but, it saves wear and tear on the plane, and we haven’t lost a passenger for weeks…. which, of course, makes the insurance folks VERY happy!…. Bloody bean counters…. charge me up the butt already, for what? Insurance? What a scam THAT whole thing is…. don’t get me started on that…. I’ve hated the whole idea of insurance since I was young, and figured out what a rip-off it is… Legalized gambling, and the only way to win, is to lose…. Boy, if THAT isn’t a euphemism for modern society, I don’t know what is!…..

But, I refuse to rant here in the intro again…. It puts my whole sense of rhythm off, making it hard to find a good, solid syncopated riff, or even a good line, afterwards…. Of course, I may not feel like ranting later, either, but, hey, at least I didn’t burden y’all with it right out of the gate….. Credit me with a little tact, if you please…. In fact, I am not only tactful today, I’m efficient…. Watch this….

Shall we Pearl?….

“First I must sprinkle you with fairy dust…”

“I leapt headlong into the sea, and thereby have become better acquainted with the soundings, the quicksands, and the rocks, than if I had stayed upon the green shore, and piped a silly song, and took tea and comfortable advice.” — John Keats
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http://www.sfgate.com/entertainment/carroll/article/The-long-war-for-gender-equality-5242861.php

At last! At last, a mainstream columnist approaches a subject of import with unflinching honesty, with no equivocation, and no excuses made to justify the behavior he is discussing, to wit: the ongoing abuse of women all over the world by cowardly men, afraid of their own sexuality, and thus,  displaying angry misogyny toward the other sex, whom he fears because he does not understand…. To my knowledge, this is one of the first times I’ve seen one of the mainstream’s most popular columnists address this issue, one that has bothered me for many years, due to my own inability to make any progress in changing it, even in those men whom I know and love….

Men in our culture, and in every culture since we lived in caves, are taught to mistrust women, and to assume their own superiority, without having any reason, or confirmed evidence, that would support either attitude…. It’s just the way it is, to them, with almost all of society blindly supporting the fallacies of attitude that keep women in a position of subjugation. It isn’t a pretty picture, and never has been; it is also one society has refused to address, at the insistence of its misogynistic masters, who are so afraid of women, they keep them subjugated so they can control their own fears….

This pearl is one I have been saving, but, there isn’t any good reason to NOT bring it out…. only my own male reluctance to pick up the ball, and run with it, when it goes against everything that I was raised to believe…. Our culture brainwashes all young men and women to play their roles in society; it has taken me most of my life to rid myself of many of the prejudicial attitudes I carried around with me for most of it…. and I still find myself falling into the same old mental traps, and thinking of women as lesser, somehow, even though it is patently a false notion, one the has no real basis in Reality, only in men’s minds….
jimmy sez    When I resort to Art to express myself, you know I’m too angry to write…. This subject is one I have a hard time with, as I tend to become so angry, at those men who exploit and abuse women and children, (it’s the same sickness… abusing those who are weaker is the mark of the true coward….), I lose my ability to speak…. I want to go out, into the world, and find me some pimps, to use for my sport, by hunting them down, and making them feel small and afraid, just like they do when they beat one of their slaves…. It makes me want to buy a gun, to go walking around the mean streets, picking off the predators that hang there, freeing their slaves, if they are able to free themselves when released from their slavery….

I’m so upset now, I’ve lost all ability to think clearly, or to present my arguments in an organized fashion…. So, here is a link, to a blog written by a most powerful woman, who has shown the incredible strength of mind and will to pull herself out of the sex trade, into which she was kidnapped, and forced into prostitution, at a young age…. She is a very powerful writer, with a lot of pain to express…. If you are at all squeamish, then you MUST read this…. It will make you cry (as I did….), it will make you ashamed, and it will make you angry, for her, as well as AT all of the insane men around the world who engage in this plague of evil…. The latest entry, posted yesterday, on the site of which I speak, can be found here:   http://rmott62.wordpress.com/2014/02/19/climbing-back-on-my-horse/

Please stop by her site, and read what she has written; it will shame you, it will anger you, and it will leave you with the feeling there is yet a long road to any real progress, and that it is high time we ALL joined in to fight this battle….

“All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.” — Edmund Burke, Irish orator, philosopher, & politician (1729 – 1797)
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There are times when nothing but a classic will do…. this is one of them….

 

When I Have Fears

 

 

When I have fears that I may cease to be
Before my pen has glean’d my teeming brain,
Before high-piled books, in charactery,
Hold like rich garners the full ripen’d grain;
When I behold, upon the night’s starr’d face,
Huge cloudy symbols of a high romance,
And think that I may never live to trace
Their shadows, with the magic hand of chance;
And when I feel, fair creature of an hour,
That I shall never look upon thee more,
Never have relish in the faery power
Of unreflecting love;–then on the shore
Of the wide world I stand alone, and think
Till love and fame to nothingness do sink.

~~ John Keats ~~

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The above material, in section one, is important, to me, so I’m a bit disappointed in myself for NOT having the proper rant inside me today to address the issue at hand, one about which I feel very strongly…. I’ll have to be content with knowing that no matter how powerful, or convincing my own words may be, the words the Gentle Reader will find on Ms. Mott’s web site are MUCH more so, and will do a better job at explaining the issue so that people can understand it…. because she is writing from INSIDE the issue, not from the viewpoint of one standing aside, viewing it with objectivity, a position which, in this case, is completely useless for the purposes it needs to address…..

That being said, I’m going to create an old-school pearl for this last section, one without any particular parameters I can put to voice, but, rather, some vague, amorphous feelings, that I’ll use to influence whatever choices Smart Bee gives me in the way of aphorisms, quotes, and/or bits of virtual wisdom…. Shall we dive in?…. It’s probably for the best if we do…. Mind the steps, now…. Got your mask and flippers? Let’s go!….

“If people were required to know the law rather than to obey it, the government would be overthrown the next day.” — Smart Bee

“You cannot put the same shoe on every foot.” — Publius Syrus (42 BC) — Maxim 596

“Under every stone lurks a politician.” — Aristophanes

“The roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet.” — Aristotle

“One of the great meaningless phrases of our times is: “I take full responsibility.” This does not mean that you are prepared to pay the consequences for what you have done. On the contrary, this statement is usually offered instead of taking the consequences.” — Thomas Sowell

”        …’fire’ does not matter, ‘earth’ and ‘air’ and ‘water’ do not matter.  ‘I’ do not matter.  No word matters.  But man forgets reality and remembers words.  The more words he remembers, the cleverer do his fellows esteem him.  He looks upon the great transformations of the world, but he does not see them as they were seen when man looked upon reality for the first time.  Their names come to his lips and he smiles as he tastes them, thinking he knows them in the naming.” — Siddartha, _Lord_of_Light_ by Roger Zelazny

“Virtue is but heroic bravery, to do the thing thought to be true, in spite of all enemies of flesh or spirit, in despite of all temptations or menaces.” — Albert Pike (1809-1891)

A bit esoteric, but, it works….. Can I go back to bed now?
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In truth, going back to bed might just be the best thing for me today, all around…. It is now 0532 in the morning, and this Pearl is 99.9% complete…. The cat, bless her little black heart, decided, at 0330 today, it was time for us to be up and doing, expressing this opinion by attacking the underside of the bed with her claws, to wake me up, and get me going…. She does this regularly, much as she KNOWS I HATE to be gotten up that way, as evidenced by the obligatory 5 minute chase around the house trying to squirt her with the water bottle for waking me…. SIGH…. They just don’t give a shit, you know?…. Maybe I’ll drug her cat food this morning, and get some actual uninterrupted sleep for a few hours….

Nah, I’ll let her be, and just shut her out of the bedroom for a while…. Of course, then I’ll have to spend an hour or so putting the living room back to order, after she tears it up in her frustration at not being able to get the door open…. Maybe, a few years from now, after she has aged and mellowed a bit, she won’t be such a psycho kitty, but, I’m not holding my breath…. she’s pretty crazy, even for a black cat…. At least she gives us something to contend with each day, although I’m not sure that “constantly challenging” is the most attractive description of a pet one can come up with, but, it fits…. Ah well, I’ve always preferred biological alarm clocks to any of the numerous technological varieties, anyway…. They don’t break when thrown at the wall….  I’ll see y’all tomorrow; at what hour that may turn out to be will be up to the cat….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

 

 

gigoid the dubious

dozer3

Salting hummus makes it nearly edible….

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SPOILER: The following introductory section contains an unusually powerful potential to affect the reader soporifically, without warning; should you find yourself yawning, or your eyelids becoming heavy and hard to blink, go immediately on to the second section, where oxygen will be provided….

Our apologies for any inconvenience this may cause in the consumption of today’s Pearl; it was unavoidable, as the intro was done before its strong, almost narcotic, sleep-inducing qualities were noted and recorded…. Fortunately, it was discovered during the proofing, (when I found myself nodding over the keyboard…) which prompted this warning….

I find, if you don’t hold your breath while reading the intro, and just treat it like the preface of a book you are about to read (which nobody ever does read…. the prefaces, that is….), and go on to the meat of today’s offering…. you can make it through without any difficulty, other than a vague, mild nausea…. Best of luck!….

Ffolkes,

And, when I woke up…. I looked around, only to find nothing had changed while I slept. More’s the pity…. Of course, I’m speaking only of the situation outside of my own little corner of reality…. In my corner, I have things nicely arranged, just the way I like them, with Patricia nearby, and nobody else (well, other than my children, and the odd old friend or two….) who has any claim on my time, or my attention…. This means that I can spend my time pursuing my own American Dream, which involves books, excellent coffee, the possibility of love, puppies, kittens, cannabinoids, and no bad food…. With the time I have left on this old ball o’mud, life’s too short to put up with anything else….

Anything beyond those are what I consider a bonus, but,those listed are essential to my personal well-being, items I am unwilling to go without for very long before becoming quite irritable, whereupon I generally find someone to sink my teeth into, for sublimation purposes…. It works for me, though I do have to keep a lawyer on retainer to deal with the occasional bout of antagonistic litigation. It also gets a bit expensive having to keep so much material handy for bandaging, and stopping blood flow; and, don’t ASK about the trash bill!….. Do you know what they charge now for hazardous bio-waste?…. It’s outrageous!….

If I haven’t said so before, let me now say, I really like being retired…. I didn’t think I would, but, as things have worked out, it’s a lot more comfortable than I’d thought, if you don’t count the physical issues that arise from getting older. That’s something we all have to deal with anyway, but, not all of us manage to arrange matters so that we aren’t struggling with poverty when we stop working….

Not having a retirement account is actually a scary, sad idea to consider, as I know several people my age who DON’T have a solid retirement set up, and must continue working in order to live; I was almost caught without a retirement in place, so I know the panicky feeling that comes from not knowing if you will be able to retire, with enough to live on comfortably, or have to keep plugging away at a job in order to eat, and sleep indoors…. As I approached my 55th birthday, I was in that boat; no job, and not enough time in to keep my retirement active with the State, so I was looking at NOT having anything in place when I reached the age to retire….

I guess I’m winding around this issue like this to get to the point where I can say this: I’m a lucky guy…. I managed to get my job with the State back, and reinstated my accumulated time, which reinstated my retirement eligibility, and left me in the position in which I find myself now…. which is a far better position than the majority of the world’s population can look forward to…. I have enough income to live in a warm, dry house, eat well, stay clothed, and have enough left for entertainment and/or travel, if I’m frugal enough to save up…. So, I really have little about which to complain, other than my physical issues, which all of us must bear….

As a man who was raised to be compassionate, and who has learned over the years that service to others is a requirement of maintaining one’s self-respect and honor, I feel like I should give back to society what I can, sharing my knowledge and expertise…. In my lifetime, I’ve learned a lot, and the only way now I have to share what I know is to write…. My physical condition is such that giving of my practical experience, in cooking, organizing, or other skills that are useful, has been curtailed; I can’t work in the kitchen anymore, nor do much that requires standing or sitting for long periods…. So, volunteering at the local senior center, as I’d planned to do, is not an option any longer….

So, I write…. I try to write about subjects that will help us all to survive the upcoming shit-storm…..You know, that impending massive planetary environmental crisis so ignorantly created by our Beloved Ruling Class, in their patently insane search for power and control over others? Yeah, that one….  It ain’t much, but, it’s what I’ve got, so, I’ll keep doing it as long as I can, if only to amuse myself…. If I can amuse someone else in the process, so much the better….

Shall we Pearl?…. With such a mundane, elementally, if elegantly boring intro, I think we need a two-fer to start…..

“He is able who thinks he is able.” — Buddha

“If the Bible proves that God exists then comic books prove the existence of Superman.” — Smart Bee, demonstrating perfectly sound logic
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Originally, I had intended to put a rant in this section…. I even had one started, dealing with a plague our society has endured since the beginning of time, but, writing that stiff, boring introduction has put me into a semi-deep depression, for some idiotic reason that my subconscious thinks will be more fun if it hides it from me….

In short, I’ve just been struck by a chemical imbalance in my brain that has created a miasma of karmic blueness, which surrounds my heart and soul, bypassing the brain altogether to make me feel as if the world is covered all in cotton, and nothing feels right…. and I don’t know WHY! It’s just as if a bunch of dementors had been sent to harass me by some perverse, antagonistic Ministry of Magic official….  Really a pisser, actually….

Ah well, it’s fortunate for us I have the perfect solution to this sort of marginally delusional, certainly self-induced emotional abuse…. It’s called an old-school pearl, sans any parameters beyond what pleases the inner eye, dreaming without focus, of peace, and illogical hope for our future…. In other words, potluck…. Enjoy! I intend to… In fact, I may even leave a comment or two, just to show y’all how MUCH I enjoyed it….

“He who receives a good turn should never forget it; he who does one should never remember it.” — Charon

(An obvious corollary to the Golden Rule, and an attitude one could only wish was more common in modern society….)

“It belongs to human nature to hate those you have injured.” — Tacitus (54-119 AD) — Agricola, 42

(Ahem!…. Well!…. I do declare, is it a bit warm in here?…. This certainly goes a long way toward explaining the reason why our Beloved Ruling Class expresses so much hatred and disdain for those who elect them…. as well as how the shadowy corporate slave masters can justify to themselves their insane obsession with money, and power over others….)

“The discipline of desire is the background of character.” — John Locke

“Just remember, when you’re over the hill, you begin to pick up speed.” — Charles Schulz

“One’s friends are that part of the human race with which one can be human.” — George Santayana

(No comments from me could possibly add anything to the last three pearls….. Let’s see if SB can finish this off with the same sort of style and grace….)

POLITICS, n.  “A strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles.  The conduct of public affairs for private advantage.” — Ambrose Bierce, The Devil’s Dictionary

“Thou shalt not get caught.” — The Eleventh Commandment

Hmm…. well, perhaps the ending didn’t quite live up to the rest of it…. But, when looked at in a certain light, one can see how that may well just be the best description of how human life stumbles along the way it does…. Then again, maybe not…. At this point, all of that is moot, and we are now free to go enjoy a poem…. Plus, the quicker we get out of this section, the faster it will fade into memory, yes?….
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I don’t know this poet, having never seen his work before…. though for some reason, this poem sounds familiar…. In any case, it’s good, if a bit obscure as to what it wants from the reader; I found it hard to connect to the emotions that so obviously were part of the shock of the ending. Perhaps that’s a sign of a good poem; it made me think about my own reaction to what it had to say….

Richard Cory

Whenever Richard Cory went down town,
We people on the pavement looked at him:
He was a gentleman from sole to crown,
Clean favored, and imperially slim.

And he was always quietly arrayed,
And he was always human when he talked;
But still he fluttered pulses when he said,
‘Good-morning,’ and he glittered when he walked.

And he was rich – yes, richer than a king –
And admirably schooled in every grace:
In fine, we thought that he was everything
To make us wish that we were in his place.

So on we worked, and waited for the light,
And went without the meat, and cursed the bread;
And Richard Cory, one calm summer night,
Went home and put a bullet through his head.

~~ Edwin Arlington Robinson ~~

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As a reward for hanging in there long enough to get this far, I’m not going to rant at all today…. Instead, here’s another fresh old-school pearl…. Let’s see if Smart Bee can come up with anything to lighten my depression, and give y’all a chuckle or two with your morning coffee, tea, or beverage of choice…. Myself, I advise NOT having any morning conversations with either of my old friends, John Daniels, or James Beam…. Nice fellows, but, as  breakfast companions, they tend to eliminate any prospect of accomplishing anything worthwhile afterward, for most of the rest of the day, after which, there remains the altogether unpleasant consequences to suffer through, as one recovers from the usual vicious hangover that comes with such foolishness…

As is apparent, I’ve been there, done that, and have no wish to go back, much as I love my old friends…. I’ll confine myself to shorter, more manageable conversations with them late at night, or before dinner, and leave it at that…. In the meantime, I got completely side-tracked…. Let’s see how amusing Smart Bee can be, shall we?….

“If at first you don’t succeed, you’re doing about average.” — Leonard Levinson

— Bother! said Pooh, as his ship failed to jump to light speed.

A mighty creature is the germ,
Though smaller than the pachyderm.
His customary dwelling place
Is deep within the human race.
His childish pride he often pleases
By giving people strange diseases.
Do you, my poppet, feel infirm?
You probably contain a germ.

— Odgen Nash (1902-1971)

“Believing ourselves to be possessors of absolute truth degrades us:  we regard every person whose way of thinking is different from ours as a monster and a threat and by so doing turn our own selves into monsters and threats to our fellows.” — Octavio Paz

(How did that slip in there?…. Hmm, sorry, it’s not remotely funny….. It’s also too good to toss away; such insight is rare…. Oh well, just imagine it’s funny, and go on…. I’ll make it right with the gods of consistency….)

“Sits he on ever so high a throne, a man still sits on his bottom.” — Smart Bee

(That’s better…. since we aren’t counting the fourth pearl, we’ll go with a three-fer to finish this off nice and balanced-like, just like the professionals do….)

“I spent 3 weeks childproofing my home. They still get in.” — Smart Bee

“It has been determined that most teenage girls lose their virginity during the summer months.  This stands to reason, since congress is recessed at that time.” — Smart Ass Bee

“HELLO, everybody, I’m a HUMAN!!” — Zippy the Pinhead

(It appears that balance was not going to be an element of note in today’s process…. but, I’m okay with that, especially if you consider the last line as the underlying battle cry for today’s effort…. )
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I swear, pulling out a coherent thought today has been like trying to pull a Tea Partier’s head out of his ass…. It’s hard work, and ultimately useless, in terms of improving his chances of reaching average intelligence; in other words, there’s no hope of making them smarter, so, they’re usually better off leaving it there… I figure if somebody is a registered Tea Partier, it’s a pretty sure sign they already lost the evolutionary lottery…. It’s why I’m usually nice to them; they’re to be pitied more than reviled, as being too naive to ever really have stood a chance to learn enough to make themselves anything than the malleable mind-slaves of the BRC they are…..

There, now I’ve ranted…. Are you happy? Good. Me too, and I know why both of us have reason to be so giddy…. We’re done here, and we can afford to let go of our death grip on sanity long enough to relax for a while…. Until 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 the dubious

dozer3

“I swear, Lemuel, them politicians is gettin’ tougher… this one took seven bullets, right in the heart!”….

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Ffolkes,

Somewhere, over the rainbow, there’s a place that I go to…. where there’s a flower-filled meadow, complete with peaceful, grazing deer, and a babbling brook running along the far edge, leading down the hill, into the forest….. It’s always in my memory, just waiting for me to wander there, to lay myself down in the sweet-smelling grasses for a rest, after walking through the beauty of the many-colored hills, all through the warm afternoon. As I lay my head down, drowsy in the afternoon sun, I hear a melody playing, as if on pan-pipes, drifting lazily out of the depths of the forest. As the lively, yet soothing tune continues to play, a sense of peace and contentment steals over me, nudging me gently into a dream-filled sleep…..

Then, I woke up, in my chair, sitting in front of the computer, shaking my head dazedly, with the dawning realization that I had managed to completely lose track of reality….. The smells of the forest, the sounds of the mice rustling in the grass, as the wind blew softly through my hair…. All of those were, for a moment, more real to me than the chair in which I’m sitting, not entirely comfortably, or the computer at which I’m staring now…. and a lot more pleasant, I’ll guarantee!

I decided when I sat down to begin that I’d try a new technique, of going into a meditative, creative trance, writing whatever I saw in my inner eye…. As I read over that first paragraph, I see it came out rather well, if a bit namby pamby in nature….. The probable next paragraph of what I started would, no doubt, have seen Bambi and/or Thumper give us a visit, to up the cuteness factor….. So, it’s probably a fortunate thing for us all that I gave it up after a single paragraph…. much more sweetness and light this early in the day would soon have me running for the bathroom, to worship at the throne of Ralph…. a euphemism I hope I don’t have to explain….

Thus, suitably warned, y’all should be able to have a pretty good time today…. I have no fucking clue as to what will follow today…. I’m in a capricious mood, with some stuff to do in the BBR that I’m stressed over (a little…. just the stress involved with working my will on a bureaucracy…. It can be done, but, it’s hard work, and takes some stubbornness….of which I have more than enough to suit my purposes….), as well getting this Pearl completed without any extra crap from Murphy’s corner…. So far, he’s behaving himself, so, we’ll see how it goes in that respect…. He’s tricky, ya gotta keep a sharp eye on that quarter, lest he catch us unaware, and unprepared to mitigate the effects of his kind attentions….. It helps to keep moving, so…..

Shall we Pearl?

“What is sauce for the goose may be sauce for the gander but is not necessarily sauce for the chicken, the duck, the turkey, or the guinea hen.” — Alice B. Toklas

Amen to that!….
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http://www.sfgate.com/business/energy/article/John-Kerry-mocks-those-who-deny-climate-change-5239626.php

Wow…. I am, as much as I ever am, impressed, in a good way, by this statement from one of the administration’s most important lackeys…. I read what John K. said yesterday, or the day before, doesn’t matter…. and for once, the tenor and strength of the message, which is about the imminence of the environmental crisis we face in the near future, is nearly strong enough to get through to some folks, and any ffolkes who see or hear it will be encouraged, if somewhat bemused by this belated, typical jump to join in the fight, onto a bandwagon they should have been driving TWENTY-FIVE FUCKING YEARS AGO, but, instead, act as if it’s a brand new model, which they, of course, claim as the first to be seen driving in town….

Of course, so far, I haven’t actually SEEN any action on this by the administration, but, boy-howdy, when they decide to jump on the wagon, they do it with both feet…. He actually used the word ‘sacrifice’ I think, or maybe it was ‘danger’…. regardless, he made a good effort, for a first try, to get the most important part of the message out there, that we have to act NOW, rather than later…. a necessity easily seen to be the most important key, if we are to have ANY chance to make any difference in the eventual outcome of events….

Personally, I don’t believe, not for a minute, that they’ll do enough, or be able to cut far enough into the influence of the corporate masters to make enough of a difference; no so far as to change the eventual outcome…. But, hey, they’re at least acknowledging that it needs to be done…. I just don’t think they can do it, not before they are blocked by those who hold the purse strings, and who are making a HUGE profit on global warming, as well as on the continuing use of fossil fuels….

To be honest with y’all, I really don’t much feel like ranting today, even with the advent of good news about which to write, or the importance of spreading the knowledge of the imminence of the problem…. I guess I’m in too mellow a mood, having slept long and well again…. Therefore, I’m going to finish this section with an old-school collection of pearls, to try to gain some perspective on this latest flip-flop by the political machine currently in power in Washington D.C…… Let’s see if SB has some good stuff in there for us today, shall we?…. But, hey, I know!…. Let’s let SB fire the shots randomly, so we can see some of the fat cat preachers do some dancing around, too, dodging figurative bullets alongside the politicians and corporate assholes….

“Capitalism did not arise because capitalists stole the land, but because it was more efficient than feudalism. It will perish because it is not merely less efficient than socialism, but actually self-destructive.” — J. B. S. Haldane

“All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.” — George Orwell (1903-1950), “Animal Farm” 1945

“I don’t know if God exists, but it would be better for His reputation if He didn’t.” — Jules Renard

“We know what happens to people who stay in the middle of the road. They get run over.” — Aneurin Bevan

“Circumstances rule men; men do not rule circumstances.” — Herodotus

“The beauty of religious mania is that it has the power to explain everything. Once God (or Satan) is accepted as the first cause of everything which happens in the mortal world, nothing is left to chance…logic can be happily tossed out the window.” — Stephen King

Come away, O human child!
To the waters and the wild
With a faery, hand in hand,
For the world’s more full of weeping than you can understand.

— William Butler Yeats, “The Stolen Child”
_____________________________

Poetry has power far beyond its apparent beauty; all the studies and historical research that we have made throughout the years have never identified for us exactly WHY poetry affects us so deeply, or why it has the power to move us, even if we don’t completely understand its every word…. This poem, to me, is a perfect example of that….

It was written several hundred years ago, precisely spelling the words used just as the current usage of the time demanded,turning common modern English into Middle English with a broad Scots accent, just about as thick a brogue as I’ve ever heard…. Yet, in spite of the unfamiliarity and strangeness of the words, and the odd structure of ideas the Scots are so fond of using, it is perfectly understandable, as well as incredibly moving, when the sorrow felt by the author is shared by the reader…. It’s a classic for a reason, a perfect expression of human emotions, simply, yet elegantly showing us the power of common experience to give us peace, and joy…. Enjoy!….

Highland Mary

Ye banks, and braes, and streams around
The castle o’ Montgomery,
Green be your woods, and fair your flowers,
Your waters never drumlie!
There Simmer first unfald her robes,
And there the langest tarry:
For there I took the last Fareweel
O’ my sweet Highland Mary.

How sweetly bloom’d the gay, green birk,
How rich the hawthorn’s blossom;
As underneath their fragrant shade,
I clasp’d her to my bosom!
The golden Hours, on angel wings,
Flew o’er me and my Dearie;
For dear to me as light and life
Was my sweet Highland Mary.

Wi’ mony a vow, and lock’d embrace,
Our parting was fu’ tender;
And pledging aft to meet again,
We tore oursels asunder:
But Oh, fell Death’s untimely frost,
That nipt my Flower sae early!
Now green’s the sod, and cauld’s the clay,
That wraps my Highland Mary!

O pale, pale now, those rosy lips
I aft hae kiss’d sae fondly!
And clos’d for ay, the sparkling glance,
That dwalt on me sae kindly!
And mouldering now in silent dust,
That heart that lo’ed me dearly!
But still within my bosom’s core
Shall live my Highland Mary.

~~ Robert Burns  ~~

_____________________________

Having thus completed my morning’s set of self-inflicted obligations with admirable dispatch,  so much so, we are looking at 66% completion of the assigned tasks only one and a half hours into the given period of time to work on it….. I guess I should either pat myself on the back, or take a break….. I hate to do that when I’m on such a roll, but, if I don’t, I’ll be done in just a few minutes, and I’m not ready for that…. So, break it is, as my shoulder joints are far too stiff and sore to reach my back…. Upon my return, I won’t say anything, I’ll just go on to the picking process for this old-school pearl, one with random, harlequin-flavored parameters of choice…. See ya on the other side…

“The First Amendment is often inconvenient.  But that is besides the point. Inconvenience does not absolve the government of its obligation to tolerate speech.” — Justice Anthony Kennedy, in 91-155

“You’ll never have a quiet world till you knock the patriotism out of the human race.” — George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950)

“Even the lion has to defend himself against flies.” — Smart Bee

“If it had not been for the discontent of a few fellows who had not been satisfied with their conditions, you would still be living in caves. Intelligent discontent is the mainspring of civilization. Progress is born of agitation. It is agitation or stagnation.” — Eugene V Debs (1855-1926), American socialist

“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]

“The normal American of the “pure blooded” majority goes to bed every night with the uneasy feeling that there is a burglar under the bed and gets up every morning with the sneaking fear that his underwear has been stolen.” — H. L. Mencken, Baltimore _Evening Sun_, July 16, 1923

“Hand me a pair of leather pants and a CASIO keyboard — I’m living for today!” — Zippy the Pinhead

Damn, I’m good sometimes…. with a bit of help from SB….
_____________________________

“Courage is the price that life exacts for granting peace. The soul that knows it not, knows no release from little things; knows not the livid loneliness of fear.” — Amelia Earhart

No doubt, there are those in the world who would say that what I do here is a waste of my time, as well as a waste of the time of anyone else who may stop by to read it…. All I can say about that, is, well, “Fuck you, AND the white horse you think you rode in on….. While you’re at it, on the way out, with my boot print firmly planted upon your extremely large and ugly ass, you can shut the door behind you, so the good ffolkes who generally stop in won’t be distracted by your idiocy”….  Or, something along those lines…. I’m getting a little crusty in my old age, I guess, and I just don’t give much of a damn about the mouthings of fools…. Take what I say, or leave it, but, don’t try to judge it without offering some evidence, and some dialogue…. (See the above quote re: Courage….)

That said, I’d better proof this damn thing, or I’ll end up regretting it later, I know…. Well, there you go…. Proofed, polished, and probably screwed up royally… but, it’s done, which, as we know, is the only characteristic that counts with me…. Hence, I’m outta here…. Hasta la mañana, amigos….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid the dubious

dozer3

Put down the matches, sir, & step away from the dead clown….

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Ffolkes,

Okay, now my feelings are REALLY hurt….. Well, not actually, but…. for the first time since I began this blog, which began in it’s current location on WordPress in August of 2011, as I sit down to write this morning, NOBODY…. that’s nobody at all, came by to read yesterday’s Pearl…. If they did, they didn’t like what they saw, and left without a comment….

If I cared much at all about whether or not this gets read, I’d be truly upset, or hurt, or some such reaction that would show how much I put into this, and care about what I write…. But, since that isn’t the case, I can’t say I’m upset, but, I’m definitely not sure WHAT to think….

I no longer HAVE to write this blog, as it no longer matters to me whether or not I stay sane, per se….         My retirement is all set, and all I have to do is keep breathing, stay solvent, and hope Social Security doesn’t get gutted before I get my share of what I put in there. So, the former, semi-original reason for doing this, to maintain my sanity while waiting for it all to sort itself out, is no longer valid…..

Plus, quite simply, I don’t much CARE any longer whether or not I appear to be sane, as the only one to whom it matters, milady Patricia, seems to enjoy my insanity, when it isn’t frustrating her trying to comprehend what I’m doing, or making her scramble to follow my often obscure trains of thought…. Come to think of it, my thoughts probably are more like a big room of cotton candy, dotted randomly with bourbon truffles, than a train…. Yes, I’m aware that’s a bit odd….

“Odd” doesn’t scare me, nor does “strange”…. I mean, it might bother me, if I cared at all about what people think, but, I learned, from cats, long ago, how to NOT give a shit about any of that….. Seriously, if you want to know how to not give a crap about what people think, just watch your cat. They’ve been perfecting their manner of ignoring people for many, many generations, and have become the acknowledged masters of the cold shoulder, and the complete indifference that so annoys other creatures….

So, in the final analysis, I don’t much care if nobody likes my work….. Realistically, that may merely be a function of the material about which I write, and the unpalatability of such difficult subjects as politics, religion, human nature, and global warming…. All of those tend to bring out passion in people, so I can see why many might not wish to deal with it every day…. Plus, my opinions generally run to the pessimistic, as I don’t have a lot of faith in human nature to be anything other than stupid and coarse, and to display every weakness of morality that we have identified….. Well, sorry, but, I’m just playing the odds there…

The part that bothers me isn’t my own ego-driven desire to be liked, or appreciated; those are issues I resolved a long time ago, and they don’t cause me any pain…. No, what bothers me is, the message I’m putting out there, about the BRC, the bankers, the politicians, the police, the judges, and the mundanes who support them in oppressing the rest of us, is not getting the distribution and attention that it deserves, or that people need, if we are to ever save our asses from our own stupidity…. I don’t care at all if people don’t like, or don’t agree with my take on most things, but, when it comes to the effects we are seeing of global warming, it is NOT something that ANY of us can afford to ignore…..

No, I wish I could figure out how to get somebody to start distributing what I’ve written to a wider audience, who might then be able to spread the word far enough that someone who can actually DO something will hear it, and be prompted to act…. It’s a bit frustrating to be saying all of this, to pour myself into what I’ve written, and then watch it die, in what for a literary work is an unnatural death, left to rot on the shelf, without being consumed…..

SIGH…. c’est la vie…. Perhaps, someday, my Prince will come…. (Maybe I should have used the word Publisher?….) Of course, a prince wouldn’t do much in the way of agreeing with me, or liking what I say, but, it sounds nice, doesn’t it?…. I suppose that’s all we have left, is to be nice to ourselves…. SIGH… Wanna come with me & eat some worms?….

Shall we Pearl?…..

“Have no fear – I never attack lesser beings.” — gigoid the dubious
_____________________________

“What is government itself but the greatest of all reflections on human nature? If men were angels, no government would be necessary.” — Thomas Jefferson

In a pearl from a day or two ago, I mentioned a business deal that struck my eye, as being another example of how little the 99% in the world actually have in the way of resources, in contrast to the shadowy corporate entities that inhabit the other 1%….. The deal referred to in the article, I pointed out, was to be made to the tune of forty-five BILLION dollars….. an amount the human mind isn’t capable of grasping, really…..

It’s more money than all of the 99% here in America typically has to spend in one day, (I did the math…it’s $136 for each of the 330 million of us here in the USA, not counting the 33,000 or so who don’t need any at all, because they’re in the other 1%) approximately; this huge amount of money is, no doubt, being spent, out of Comcast’s “petty cash drawer”, dipping only lightly into actual profits, to purchase the next biggest cable system besides themselves, thereby cornering more than 33% of the cable market for itself….

Read the article, then we’ll talk….

http://blog.sfgate.com/techchron/2014/02/14/follow-the-money-to-congress-on-comcast-time-warner-deal/

ECONOMY, n.  Purchasing the barrel of whiskey that you do not need for the price of the cow that you cannot afford. — Ambrose Bierce, “The Devil’s Dictionary”

First, let’s look at what Comcast had to spend bribing Congress, on the political tools they wish to cultivate….. According to the above article, Maplights says the amount they contributed to various members of Congress over the past two years, since this deal has been in the works, is $835, 525. That probably sounds a bit low to you; I know it does to me, until I realized that this is the amount they REPORTED, not the actual amount given, which, I’m sure, is much more cleverly hidden than the numbers they actually let us see…. Plus, this amount represents the CASH contributed, not any perks, or favors that were also tendered…

Still, it’s almost a million dollars, in cash, which you know they spent without even counting the cost, as money well-laundered, and well-used, to secure favors (to wit: votes to approve the deal)…. For that measly million bucks, they’re allowed to spend their “spare” 45 BILLION, to ensure that they continue to have the power and resources to continue to supply the public with the bread and circuses that comprises the TV and Entertainment Industry….

TV, now with the related usefulness of computers and the internet, is possibly the most influential industry the Beloved Ruling Class has, in terms of effectiveness in directing, and molding. the public’s attitudes….. These two communication tools form, together, a mega-industry which, as you know, includes the entire sporting world, and all the billions upon billions of dollars that people spend to vicariously re-live their youth, watching football, basketball, baseball, tennis, cricket, rugby, soccer, and all the other billion-dollar industries that each individual sport can generate, when turned into a professional competition, rather than amateur….

Hell, the cable companies even make money broadcasting the amateur sports, making an even larger profit, because none of the players are being paid! (…. on the surface….)…. If, like me, you paid attention to the little bit of history they teach in high school, you might remember the discussions on ancient Rome, and the public circuses they had in their era….. Most of the time, in the books and class discussions, the circuses were pointed out as a symptom of their dying culture, which subsequent events seemed to prove, as Rome’s culture declined, until it was sacked by barbarians not many centuries after the circuses began in earnest….

“America is the only nation in history which miraculously has gone directly from barbarism to degeneration without the usual interval of civilization.” — George Clemenceau (1841-1929) — Oscar Wilde (1854-1900)

In our own culture, we have television, movies, sports, and now, the Internet, all of which, the way they have evolved, are now used to augment and support the ruling classes, at the behest and direction of those who control society…. These are, collectively, nothing more than our version of the Roman circuses under Nero, effectively keeping the majority of our society quiet, content to laze around, peacefully watching Sex In The City, or the Olympics, or, googling gossip about their neighbors….

Okay, since nobody will probably read much of this, I’m going to save some of my angst, and conduct a test, an experiment, as it were…. I’m going to ask a couple of questions now, to see how many people it might stimulate into answering, in the comment section… The questions are such that I hope will make y’all think, at least a little…. then, if you have the time, let us know what your response might be, in your own inimitable style…. Me, I’m going to go find some pearls for section three, & a poem for section two, after which I’ll get out my candles, my chrysknife, and my amulets, to cast a spell of deep thinking, over whomever stops in to read, which will, if successful, MAYBE, give us something to discuss….

I’ve told you my opinions previously, at great length, so you know how I feel about these assholes…. What’s your take on any of this, eh?….. The question(s) is(are)….. Will Congress approve this deal? Or, will the money the shadowy corporate lackeys, the lobbyists who inhabit the halls of Congress alongside the legislators, spent on them have been wasted? If the latter, do you think it will matter in the long run?….

Finally, do you agree that the entire entertainment industry, including sports and movies, is merely one of the shadowy corporate masters’ techniques of crowd control, used for the most part to keep the populace quiet and content? …… Come on down, ffolkes, and let’s create an intelligent, stimulating dialogue…. Or, if you prefer, we can just grimace and call each other foul names….

Here the heart
May give a useful lesson to the head,
And Learning wiser grow without his books.

— William Cowper (1731-1800) — The Task, Book vi, Winter Walk at Noon, Line 85

“Me, I love the rich.  *Somebody* has to love them.  Sure, a lot of rich people are assholes, but believe me, a lot of poor people are assholes too. And an asshole with money can at least pay for his own drinks.” — Tom Robbins, “Jitterbug Perfume”
_____________________________

The poem for today is, as I sit to begin this section, an unsolved mystery…. I’m going to complete section three before I turn to that, so, we could end up with just about ANYTHING today…. I certainly hope so…. I’ll be back in a while, poem in hand (well, on the clipboard, anyway, ready to paste….)….

Yep…. I knew I could count on serendipity…. While searching for the pearls in section three, I realized I know the perfect poem for today’s theme, as it evolved (I’m trying to use that word a lot, to help people learn to accept the idea of things evolving…. maybe the general knowledge of that will leak over onto someone who actually needs it….)…. Any whom, here ’tis…

Bankers Are Just Like Anybody Else, Except Richer

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

~~ Ogden Nash ~~

_____________________________

So, I’ve ranted, enough to suit me, and a poem has yet to be found…. (Remember, I did this section first, before filling in the remainder of section two…. Kind of like being a Time Lord, isn’t it?….) This puts me in a quite dangerous place, to be honest, as I’m liable to do just about anything at this point to get a laugh, or, at minimum, a chortle…. Hell, I’d settle for an amused expression….

One should never trouble a rogue philosopher who has nothing to read or talk about; ’tis a pastime fraught with peril dire, or, dire peril, if you prefer…. If you couldn’t guess, today’s old-school variety pearl is going to concentrate on funny, with humorous being the primary, perhaps only, standard of inclusion…. Let’s see how my own sense of humor is doing, when joined with SB’s dB, shall we?….

“Christian life consists of faith and charity.” — Martin Luther

(What? Not funny? It is, too! Why, I damn near fell out of my chair, laughing so hard I damn-near spewed my last swallow of coffee!!….. Well, I think it’s funny, because, hey, do YOU know any Christians who live like that? Neither do I…..MOSTLY, the Christians I see spouting off about their piety or religion are better described as entitled, selfish, and bigoted, CERTAINLY not charitable toward those not of their “faith”…. I’d wager even Martin Luther had a hard time saying this with a straight face, except, he WAS German, and they’re known world-wide as a dour people in general, often found to be without a sense of humor at all…. Okay, I’m done now….)

“The one charm of marriage is that it makes a life of deception a necessity.” — Oscar Wilde

(A bit pessimistic, but perceptive….) (That’s all, I swear…)

“I love cats…they taste just like chicken.” — Bumper Sticker

“God bless Atheism.” — Smart Bee, being a smart ass…

“The ability to delude yourself may be an important survival tool.” — Jane Wagner

“You can’t cheat an honest man; never give a sucker an even break, or smarten up a chump.” — W. C. Fields

General Custer: “Look at all those f%*king Indians” — Famous people swearing…

That will do nicely, I think….. I don’t know about y’all, but, I chortled….
_____________________________

Having thus humiliated myself beyond redemption, I should probably just sign off and go…. In fact, you’re about to witness an unprecedented event, as I take my own advice, and do that…. See you tomorrow, if I don’t just give up altogether…. Don’t worry, that’s not bloody likely….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid the dubious

dozer3

If it were only REAL cheese!….

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Ffolkes,

Now I KNOW there’s a conspiracy! The US news media has been overcome by an act of sublimely random kindness, as evidenced by their recent refusal to publish news that will depress people, or make them feel blue…. I’m pretty sure they show all the symptoms of having been infected with pronoia, the condition wherein a person is convinced there is a conspiracy by the world to make them feel good; in reaction to this infection of uncommonly good sense, they have been forgoing the publication of news that is critical, or gross, or gory, or anything marginally depressive, in favor of articles about cancer survivors, heartwarming Olympic back stories, kid’s birthdays,  or other such positive crap….

I mean, it’s okay by me, mostly…. I really don’t mind not having bad stuff to look at all the time…. But, hey, we DO need to keep at least a weather eye on our beloved leaders, to ensure they’re not doing anything we wouldn’t approve of (as if THAT ever mattered to them!….). If the journalists continually refuse to even look at that, well, that wouldn’t be a good policy to continue, as it would make things worse than they already are….. We all know what wearing rose colored glasses will do in the long run…. and it isn’t pretty…

So, if you have the opportunity, talk to your local journalist, and tell him, or her, that while you appreciate their recent turn toward a more positive outlook on life, one must acknowledge reality, and reality dictates we keep the BRC and the rest of the Asininnies under scrutiny at all times, lest they come to feel an even greater sense of entitlement, if that is possible…. We don’t want to encourage them any more than is necessary to keep them under control….

Would that we, the people had that much control over our politicians! But, as y’all have probably figured out by now, this is all parody, and has no real connection to how the world really works…. It’s more of a wish, a dream of how things SHOULD be, or maybe, of how the world COULD be, if enough of us, who know the real score, were able to wrest back the control the BRC has clutched in their bony fingers for the last 5000 years….

Unfortunately, those of us who realize what has happened, and would be willing to try to change things, are too few, and too scattered to be able to organize effectively (besides being a bunch of independent assholes, who mostly don’t play well with others….).

So, the world will keep on muddling along as it always has, with the haves taking from the have-nots, and we’ll all dance the mambo down the path to Hell, wearing our fashionable handbasket clothes…. Well, most folks will…. Me, and a lot of ffolkes I know, we’ll just keep on keepin’ on, until the Grim Reaper comes to personally escort us to the other side of the River Styx…. Until then…..

Shall we Pearl?…..

“There has never been an intelligent person of the age of sixty who would consent to live his life over again. His or anyone else’s.” — Mark Twain — Letters from the Earth (1905-1909)
_____________________________

I could, no doubt, under different circumstances, go surfing around the web, to some of the off-the-main-track, alternative sites for news, or to some of the international news sites, such as in Europe, or elsewhere around the world, to pick out some material about which to rant…. The US has their fingers into more than enough situations all over the globe to supply me with something about which to rant…. In addition, I have enough chops now, as a writer, I think, to be able to pick out almost anything, and write a few hundred words in exposition…. Howsomever, which is a word I just made up, I think, (well, Spellchecker never heard of it, that’s for sure..), what I don’t have is the wherewithal to sit long enough to do so…. An intro, and a paragraph, and I’m nearly at my limit…

Hence, the presence here, in section one, of an old-school pearl, freshly picked, but, without any particular standards or parameters to guide SB in the presentation process…. That way, I’ll get a wider list from which to choose the best…. That’s the plan, anyway…. Let’s be about it, shall we? I’m getting stiff…. not in a good way….

Have you ever wondered why you always run out of breath when you throw up? Ah, but a man’s retch should exceed his gasp, else what’s a heaving for? — Smart Bee

(Sorry, really, I couldn’t help it…. This was Smart Bee’s first entry today, and it caught me unawares…. I almost blew coffee out my EARS, laughing so hard without warning, and actually did strain a muscle in my jaw in grinning so fast and wide….. What do you expect, with no standards?….)

“I would have made a good Pope.” — Richard M. Nixon (1913-1994)

(I had an almost identical reaction to this one, which came mere moments later…. Too funny!….)

“Then again, e=mc^2 may only be a local phenomenon.” — Einstein

(Oh, I suppose one must keep an open mind, and not assume too much….)

“In much wisdom is much grief; and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow.” — Old Testament — Ecclesiastes i, 18

(See? See? What did I tell you? They want us to NOT think, to NOT question anything they tell us!…. And you thought I was kidding….. Okay, I’ll shush now….)

“Life is like an onion: You peel it off one layer at a time, and sometimes you weep.” — Carl Sandburg

“Remember all ye that existence is pure joy; that all the sorrows are but as shadows; they pass & are done; but there is that which remains.” — Affirmation from The Book of Law, an ancient sacred text….

“Intellect annuls fate. So far as a man thinks, he is free.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Laugh, about it, shout about it when you’ve got to choose–whichever way  you look at it you lose.” — Paul Simon

You may have noticed that this pearl has eight pearls in it, rather than the obligatory seven…. This is because I couldn’t choose between the last two, both of which make a good closing thought for this group…. though I do lean a bit toward the one that is sung over the one that merely speaks its piece…. You can make your own choice, or, do as I did, and just throw out the first one, which pretty much stands alone, anyway…. There you go….
_____________________________

Having, up to now, completely screwed this up, in terms of anything original, or even terribly interesting to think about, I think it’s best if I use my own poems, so as not to create any guilt by association for any other author, or poet…. Try to enjoy it anyway, ‘kay?….. Hell, y’know what? I’ll even make it a two-fer, by leading off with a haiku, written as part of the daily poetry challenge last year on WP, a world-wide writing challenge to write a poem a day for the month of April….. The poem below the haiku came another time, and speaks about my muse, with whom I maintain a passionate love/hate relationship….

Haiku II

An inner light glows
shining out of open eyes;
madness or wisdom?

~~ gigoid ~~

Dreaming of Calliope

La belle dame sans merci speaks aloud, through endless night,
torturing dreams, with powerful words and stentorian phrases.
Manifest visions, bathed in unbearable grace and light,
destroying all direction, standing lost, in unfathomable mazes.

Fate plays a part, one that will never face denial,
as fear and courage eternally vie for ascendancy.
Conflict becomes valid, gifting strength in open trial,
but honest emotion wears no costume so fancy.

Blood, sweat, and tears stroll on avenues of gold,
unlikely heroines heralding as in ancient lore;
Sharp, competent knives cut through tales untold,
eternally shifting reality past the naked shore.

Drifting toward origin, bereft of mandate or cause,
finished, nay, abandoned, tied with a figurative bow.
No simple gift from muses to give comfort or pause,
save that all we need to know, we already know…..

~~ gigoid ~~

_____________________________

As noted above, my physical condition this morning isn’t compatible with long periods in the chair…. My time in the chair, of course, must be balanced with a caveat firmly in mind, to wit: I also cannot stand or walk around for very long, before having to sit, to stop the numbness that begins to affect my legs after a few minutes upright, with or without walking…. Even in a chair now, I have to consider my skeletal posture, to avoid pinching off some part of my spine or sciatic nerve, and getting numb…. SIGH…. some parts of getting old really SUCK, you know?….

Fortunately, I have now a backlog, consisting of a couple of million words of reasonably coherent, intelligent discussion, from which to pull something adequate for the purpose at hand, i.e., a politirant, for which we are overdue today (Well, I’m not counting the mild little fantasy rant in the intro….)….  Here, then, is another blast from last February, just prior to receiving the news of my impending award of Social Security benefits, which, apparently, kept my mind in a state of curmudgeonly agitation, if the Pearls from that period are any indication…..

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

From February of 2013:

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

The issue of gun control is currently a HOT BUTTON issue for a lot of people in this country…. (Sorry, didn’t mean to shout….) At least, it is for those who enjoy over-reacting to all the violence reported in the news….. They seem to forget that there are now significantly more than 7 billion people on this planet, with more crowding on every second; the increased violence we are seeing is a natural result of overpopulation, combined with stupidity, both of which exist in ample supply in our society…. The following is a piece I wrote in 2012, not long after one of the school shootings that occurred that year….. The piece, to my mind, pretty well summarizes my objections on this issue addressing the naive, foolish, unwarranted fear that has prompted the idiotic notion of repealing the Second Amendment altogether…. Here is my response to that idea….

“Firearms stand next in importance to the Constitution itself. They are the American people’s liberty teeth and keystone under independence…  From the hour the Pilgrims landed, to the present day, events, occurrences, and tendencies prove that to ensure peace, security, and happiness, the rifle and pistol are equally indispensable….  The very atmosphere of firearms every- where restrains evil interference – they deserve a place of honor with all that’s good.” — George Washington (bogus?)(who cares? I don’t, it doesn’t make it any less true if it was said by someone else…..)

I hear a lot of people these days spouting off about gun control, which, to them, means that all guns should be outlawed, or, at minimum, made so difficult to acquire the normal person won’t bother. This is a viewpoint that I have never understood, because it makes a totally unwarranted assumption (more than one actually, but we’ll address one of the most critical….), i.e., guns cause violent behavior…..

This fallacy is generally accompanied by the unwarranted assumption that, if people couldn’t legally own them, unwanted episodes of random violence would stop. This is naive, and unreasonable, given that there is absolutely no evidence to support such a contention.

There is no evidence whatsoever that violence is NOT part of human nature; this is a psycho-social FACT of human nature, with so much evidence in support, it isn’t really a matter of debate. People have violent tendencies, and violence is the primary response of a great many people who have never learned, or had reason to learn, how to use their reason to control their emotions.

Though I’ve never owned or carried a gun, I am a firm believer in the Second Amendment to the US Constitution, in its most literal sense. Without the right to bear arms in our own defense, we, as citizens, would be at the mercy of whomever was in office at the time, and would have no recourse at all to any redress of grievance against those officials, since they could not be forced to comply with law.

I do NOT trust any elected official to act in MY best interests; human nature also decrees that they will act in their OWN interests first, with no compulsion to even consider anything else. Making it a law that only police and government lackeys could legally be armed is a sure way to guarantee that the average citizen would be at the mercy of these so-called leaders, mercy being a quality that they have never heretofore demonstrated in any fashion.

As I said, I don’t own or carry guns, yet…. For much of my life, I’ve trained myself to be dangerous without the use of them, and feel no fear that I cannot deal with an armed man to my benefit; this is simply because it is the person holding the gun that is the danger, not the gun itself. Speed, power, and accuracy are the key elements to controlling a violent situation, along with some forethought and preparation, and the ability to keep a clear mind when under duress.

When a person is holding a gun, they feel ten feet tall, and invincible, but they remain human, and humans can be controlled with superior strategy and tactics. It does no good to hold a gun, when the target won’t sit still, or even remain visible….. and in these cases, that sense of being impervious becomes a liability to the gun-wielder, because, in reality, we are all nothing more than weak, slow, hairless apes, in comparison to most of the creatures on this planet. When dealing with a human trained to kill, the gun is only of use when the one holding it is of equal skill as the one at whom they intend to fire.

However, most Americans do not have this sort of skill set, nor the state of mind that makes it work. In the hands of a skilled warrior, a gun becomes a dangerous weapon indeed, for it will be used to achieve the warrior’s goals, as any weapon would, and not employed to merely bully others into doing what is desired, which is the usual use of these kinds of weapons in the hands of the ignorant and deceitful. Politicians, by the very nature of their sociopathy, do get rather deceitful in the pursuit of their self-centered ends. The desire to be in public office, to me, is a sure sign of a sick mind, since a healthy one has no need to assume power over others, being content to be in control of themselves.

At this point in the narrative, I feel I’m about to become a bit sarcastic, placing myself in jeopardy of becoming caustically so, even if I am justifiably directing my ire toward those shrill advocates of this kind of legal oppression, to wit: laws that attempt to legislate morality…. a pastime known to be fraught with proven danger…. So, I’ve unilaterally decided (Hey, if Barry O, the pOTUS can, I can, too!….) to stop this rant here, to avoid offending anyone unduly (Probably not why Barry does it…).

I agree with the need to tighten the regulations regarding assault weapons, in terms of keeping them out of the hands that have the most likelihood of misusing them, but, not NEARLY as far as is wanted by the fear-mongers. I think it is a good idea to keep guns out of the hands of children, (without proper adult supervision and training….), and people who have demonstrated the lack of emotional control needed by a free citizen of this country, to own and use a gun appropriately, i.e. the mentally ill, who are characterized by a lack of impulse control, or those who have previously shown their own lack of, or unwillingness to use, the necessary control, by having used guns in the commission of previous serious crimes…. None are good characteristics to see in someone with a gun in their hands….

But, once again, I must caution people to examine any laws that DO get passed, closely, paying attention to the details, to ensure they don’t go farther than is necessary, which the people in charge have a tendency to do; it’s part of their nature to attempt to slip stuff by the public…. I’ll try to wake up your precautionary instincts by asking this…..

If the insane are not to be allowed full rights as a citizen, who is it that gets to decide who is insane?  The same issues of trust are present, or absent, in that idea, as in the assumption that the Beloved Ruling Class will act in our best interests….. They can be trusted to act in their own interests first, and we all would do well to keep that in mind….. I’ll ask y’all to think about this, ffolkes, and remember what we all know about what happens to those who ignore history…..

“1935 will go down in History! For the first time, a civilized nation has full gun registration! Our streets will be safer, our police more efficient and the world will follow our lead to the future!” — Adolf Hitler (1889-1945), prior to confiscating all civilian firearms

“There are many here among us who feel that life is but a joke.” — Bob Dylan

Note from February, 2014: Just so it’s clear…. All of the above is true and complete to the best of my knowledge, accurately representing the opinion of gigoid the dubious, today, just as well as it did a year ago…. So be it, gigoid has spoken….

“I am not being paranoid. Paranoid is being afraid of things that aren’t there… trust me, I should know.” — Lauren Alexander
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Well, this has been a productive morning, all thing considered, so, I’m going to trust my luck up to now, and beat a hasty retreat, before anything untoward has an opportunity to throw a metaphorical wrench into the works…. See ya…..

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid the dubious

dozer3

All quiet on the western omelet….

Posted on by
5

Ffolkes,

I am never sure how one of these Pearls will turn out, due to several factors, the most telling of which is my refusal to plan them out from one day to the next; I’ve always insisted on using either fresh material, or material I created previously, from the archives here on WP, or my own backup copies here on Arthur’s hard drive (my computer’s name is Arthur, after the Dudley Moore character….Yes, it was whimsical….). Today’s Pearl may be the most different yet, as it will have been constructed under the most trying of conditions possible for me to imagine…

Yep, my coffee machine broke today…. This, of course, could have been a major disaster, which is, I’m sure, exactly what Murphy planned when he sabotaged the heating element…. (He tried to hide the fact of his chicanery… when I came out, and pushed the button to start the coffee maker, the light went on, just as if it were going to work…. but, three minutes later, no hot water, and an obviously dead machine….). However, having slept well, again, thanks to my new regime of night time medications that work like a charm, I didn’t panic at all…. I merely reached down, grabbed a sauce pan, heated water, and poured it through myself, then made a note to go by a store for a new machine later today….

It’s amazing how clear one’s head is when one actually sleeps during the night…. It has been so long since I had any consistent sleep, I’ve forgotten how it feels in the morning, which, to put it most simply, is wonderful…. clear-headed, and without unending waves of pain crashing through my awareness, demanding attention as soon as I am up, to begin the daily fight with gravity to remain upright…. What a bonus! There is pain, yes, but it is manageable, and responds well to the morning routine I’ve evolved…..

It is no doubt a mite confusing for y’all here today…. Y’all are probably as unused to my NOT complaining about my pain, or Murphy, or whatever issue has arisen upon my ascendancy from bed ( I’ll bet y’all are especially weary of hearing about my fears of the blank screen….), as I am unused to NOT having anything about which to whine…. It’s actually quite nice…. even fun…. Who the hell am I kidding? I’m boring myself to tears with all this nicey, nicey crap!….

Fuck it, I’m outta here, before I turn into a Pollyanna, and start writing love poems….

Shall we Pearl?….

“Great acts are made up of small deeds.” — Lao Tzu
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I’ve got rants in me today; I could easily turn all this goodwill I’m experiencing today into angst. All I’d need to do is go look through some headlines, & voilá! Instant outrage…. But, my precursor mood isn’t quite right to get me there, at least not yet today (It IS only 0430….)…. So, I’m going with the newest format, combined with some random pearls, chosen to replace any long-winded comments from me, for a new effect…. We’ll see how it works, and possibly include it again in future Pearls…. for now, enjoy the craziness that is our society at large, in action….

First, two statements that are the perfect opening pearls for this set of headlines….

“God is an invention of Man. So the nature of God is only a shallow mystery. The deep mystery is the nature of Man.” — Nanrei Kobori, — late Abbot of the Temple of the Shining Dragon, Kyoto, Japan

“Is being an idiot like being high all the time?” — Janeanne Garofolo

http://www.sfgate.com/crime/article/Ex-parks-ranger-sues-CHP-officer-over-use-of-force-5234039.php

“With tooth and nail.” — Du Bartas (1544-1590) — Divine Weekes and Workes, Second Day

Is there any worse temper displayed, (other than the fabled “woman scorned”, of course….) than that of one whose sense of entitlement has been usurped? If so, I’d like to know what it is, as it may be the absolute champion of all such egregiously stupid, and selfish attitudes that anyone can assume…. Yet, here we have, in this country, literally, MILLIONS of idiot assholes, such as the ones in this story, who harassed the officer who upheld the law at the expense of their peer, the speeding asshole…. Yes, there are millions of other, even stupider assholes manning the wheels of innumerable police cars in our cities, counties, and towns, driving around with their attitudes on full display…. When was the last time you observed an officer of the law making a legal turn signal?…. Yep…. I can’t remember, either….

http://blog.sfgate.com/techchron/2014/02/13/comcast-net-neutrality/

“Accumulate mannequins now; spare parts will be in short supply on D-Day.” — Safety Tips for the Post-Nuclear Existence

This article is here just so I can say I included something about the SCM’s, whom I believe to be the MOST responsible parties when it comes to assigning blame for the condition of our planet…. This story shows just how little the common man has to say in just about anything in society….. Here we have two more faceless corporate entities joining forces, with the end result one of increasing the degree of control each of them has over US…. the Internet is the McGuffin in this picture; it’s what they WANT us to focus on…. Yes, they want to control the Internet, but that is merely because it is a tool that helps US to learn more about what they’re up to…. thus, stealing control of it ensures they maintain the death-grip they have on our slave collars….

Need more evidence? Here:

“Another doctor reports that in a recent issue of the *American Journal of Family Practice* fleas were called “hematophagous arthropod vectors.” — Smart Bee

http://www.sfgate.com/business/article/Study-says-fracking-releases-more-methane-than-5233422.php

“…it doesn’t matter how beautiful your theory is, it doesn’t matter how smart you are — if it doesn’t agree with experiment, it’s wrong.” — Richard P. Feynman

“Fracking releases more methane than previously thought”…… Oh? Really? No kidding? Well, there’s a surprise, eh? Another fucking asinine method for ripping resources from the planet’s crust, using previously untested technology, and it’s causing more damage than we realized? Now, who would have guessed that?

If you haven’t realized yet that these are angry, rhetorical questions, then, you may as well go read somewhere else, because you’re just not getting it, or not paying attention, ffolkes…. The assholes who run the world don’t CARE if they fuck up the planet…. They believe they’re immune to the results of what they do…. dying is for the little people, don’t y’know?….. Bah! This one makes me so angry, I can barely speak, and certainly can’t write very well, so I’ll just call them assholes one more time, and let it go at that…. Fucking assholes….

“Where are we going? And why am I in this damn handbasket?” — Smart Bee, at gigoid’s instigation….

http://www.sfgate.com/news/politics/article/Ron-Paul-starts-Snowden-clemency-petition-5235280.php

“I’m all in favor of the democratic principle that one idiot is as good as one genius, but I draw the line when someone takes the next step and concludes that two idiots are better than one genius.” — Leo Szilard

I’d never in my life have ever thought I’d agree on ANYTHING with this guy, but, well, there you go…. The reasoning behind our opinions here are, very likely, completely at odds, but, we seem to have reached the same conclusion, to wit: Eric Snowden is NOT a traitor, but, rather, a hero, and should  be brought home in honor, not restraints…. In this particular instance, I don’t really CARE that I’m apparently getting into bed with one of the country’s most insane talking heads, a professional politician who turned his vocation into his legacy, making his son a hereditary politician, as well as a professional one. He got this one right, and he’s the first one to come out in public with this, in the face of the administration, so, in this at least, he has my support….

Yuck…. They were right when they said that politics makes for strange bedfellows…. And, now, I feel a little ill….
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One of my email services sent this poem to me a few days ago, so I saved it for just an occasion such as this, when my spirit is in need of something along a classical line….. and, please, no relevance to current events, either….. I just want to get away for a moment or two…. This is a good one for that….. Enjoy!

A Crazed Girl

THAT crazed girl improvising her music.
Her poetry, dancing upon the shore,

Her soul in division from itself
Climbing, falling She knew not where,
Hiding amid the cargo of a steamship,
Her knee-cap broken, that girl I declare
A beautiful lofty thing, or a thing
Heroically lost, heroically found.

No matter what disaster occurred
She stood in desperate music wound,
Wound, wound, and she made in her triumph
Where the bales and the baskets lay
No common intelligible sound
But sang, ‘O sea-starved, hungry sea.’

~~ William Butler Yeats ~~

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I was going to include an old-school pearl here, but, found this old politirant, from almost exactly a year ago, and thought it would make a good piece to demonstrate some of why it makes me ill to have to agree with Ron Paul, as noted above…. This will explain that delicacy quite well, I should think, and if not, well, you can always read it twice….

From 10/17/13:

First, a word from the Founding Fathers….

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Notes from 2014, almost precisely four months after being written: How is one ALMOST precise? Hmm…. well, that’s for another time…. for now, all I can say is…. I resemble that remark!…..
_____________________________

I find myself at loose ends…. It is now 0524, and I’ve been up, working on this Pearl for about an hour and a half, minus some time to deal with coffee production and consumption anomalies…. and, I’m done. I’ve done a new-style mini-headline-rant, included an archived rant, and found a great poem…. all that, and an intro, too!

But, it’s way too early…. If I stop now, there’s no telling what kind of mischief I can get into before the rest of the world in this longitude awakens…. Hell, it’s still pitch dark outside! Even in my reduced condition, I could go down the block, setting off car alarms, and be back inside in five minutes, none the worse for wear…. Then, everyone else would be up, and I could go back to bed, satisfied I had done my part to get the world started today…..

Instead, I’m going to take a break (necessary at this point…. No worries, I’ll leave the car alarms alone….), then come back and put together an old-school pearl, just to take up some time….. I’ll make it a good one, to soothe the hurt from having extra to read today….. Let’s go see what SB has been hiding from us, okay?….

“Indeed, man wishes to be happy even when he so lives as to make happiness impossible.” — St. Augustine

“I have never been so well pleased, as when I could shift power from my own, on the shoulders of others; nor have I ever been able to conceive how any rational being could propose happiness to himself from the exercise of power over others.” — Thomas Jefferson, letter to Monsieur Destutt de Tracy, January 26, 1811, — reprinted in The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, XIII, — ed. A. E. Bergh (1853)

— ‘Shit Happens’ according to…

Politician:  It’s shit, but it’ll get me elected.
If you elect me, there will never again be shit.
Shit is bad for the economy.

“Mistakes are at the very base of human thought, embedded there, feeding the structure like root nodules. If we were not provided with the knack for being wrong, we could never get anything useful done. We think our way along by choosing between right and wrong alternatives, and the wrong choices have to be made as often as the right ones. We get along in life this way.” — Lewis Thomas, The Medusa and the Snail

“As the caterpillar chooses the fairest leaves to lay her eggs on, so the priest lays his curse on the fairest joys.” — William H. Blake (1757-1827)

“They do not understand how that which differs with itself is in agreement: harmony consists of opposing tension, like that of the lyre and the bow.” — Heraclitus

“Impartiality is a pompous name for indifference, which is an elegant name for ignorance.” — G. K. Chesterton, The Speaker, 12/15/00

Well, once again, SB proves its merits…. I didn’t pay much attention as I gathered up these pearls, but, I think it came out pretty coherent, don’t you?…. Well, I guess it is if you have my own particular strange way of seeing patterns of thought in collected ideation…. or, whatever it is I’m doing when I go Pearling…. For that matter, who the fuck cares? It works for me, so, I just try to enjoy it, and don’t fret about how it works…..because I can’t always explain it, even to my own satisfaction….   🙂
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Well…. the Pearls seem to be growing again…. I’ve broken 3000 words several times already this year, and this looks like another one that will go over that count, easily…. Not that I’m counting, or anything…. I just keep track of it as a way of judging how much crap is left in here to get rid of…. The more I can get onto the screen in the morning, the less I have to shovel out during the day, into the BBR, where it can cause real problems, if I’m not careful where I put it…. But, that’s the world’s lookout, not mine…. In the meantime, I think I’m done here, 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

Save the more elegant platitudes for an emergency….

Posted on by
2

Ffolkes,

Having witnessed human history now for a reasonably long while, I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised to find a bit of perversity poking up its head into the realm of behavioral options, but, when it comes to my own personal life, I’d prefer to not see it gain any ascendancy over the more, shall we say, acceptable qualities we humans possess to display our motivation to the world…. With that said, it still remains for me to decide whether or not to include the thoughts, or rather, concepts, that the opening statement describes as part of today’s effort…

I know, that’s a bit obscure…. deliberately. If I include too much detail, then trying to keep it separate and non-inclusive becomes impossible, as what I’m wobbling about gets mixed up with the more usable material, so, I try to keep it from being too obvious…. which, today, seems to have driven it completely and thoroughly out of my mind… I can’t find it anywhere. That’s most likely a good thing, as I’m feeling a little strange today, even for me, and it’s probably best we don’t try to get terribly complicated, or complex, at least, not before I’ve actually absorbed some of this coffee into my system….

Perhaps I should take an early break, to allow some actual thought processes to get through their boot sequences, so they’re up and running when I come back….. But, where would the fun be in that? No chance for serendipity if you never take chances…. So, I’ll just keep typing, and hope something comes up that will make all this a worthwhile decision….

If not, well, it won’t be the first time we’ve started the day from a position of chaos, or tried to go for a dive before fully awake (not a good idea, usually; there are scary things down there hanging around the bottom of the www ocean, where some of the pearls grow…. some of the best, too, so, I have to stay alert and composed when I go diving there, lest I become just one more lesson for a new diver to learn….)

Since there doesn’t seem to be any way to find my path back to coherency, or anywhere near legitimate cognitive practices, as outlined in the manual, we’ll just use the ever-popular and oh-so-effective emergency ending #4, and get on with creating some joyful noise….

Shall we Pearl?….

“Let him that would move the world, first move himself.” — Socrates (B.C. 469-399)
_____________________________

I’m tired of ranting about stuff that won’t change, as well as writing such a massive amount of excellent prose to little purpose beyond my own catharsis…. My style of writing, apparently, is too involved for many ffolkes, as I’ve seen a rather significant drop-off in readership so far this year, over the two previous years….

So, rather than rant about stuff I can’t change, today we’ll go with the newest format style of pearling, with some headlines to articles that provide a bunch of evidence of how crazy the world has become, followed, in parentheses, by my comments (which, obviously, makes them “parenthetical” comments….     😉    Get it? No? Oh well….)….. which I will include, in spite of the bad omen indicated by such a bad joke, falling so flat, it’s only one-dimensional now….

http://www.sfgate.com/news/crime/article/Ex-New-Orleans-mayor-convicted-of-taking-bribes-5227784.php

(The amusement factor here, for me, is in the tone in which the article was written… The journalist wrote this as if it was some sort of big surprise to find a politician had been taking bribes…. What the hell did they expect from a politician? You put all that money in front of them, give them a key to the room where it’s kept, and then turn your back on them….. well, what else can a naturally born thief and con-man do? Why, he helps himself, of course, along with some bonuses for his “good buddies”…. What I don’t understand is WHY they are so surprised…. especially in New Orleans, which has a long history of corruption in all levels of government, from local police forces, all the way up to the governor’s chair…. Why should the mayor not join the parade?….)

http://www.sfgate.com/business/technology/article/Comcast-confirms-45B-Time-Warner-Cable-deal-5230283.php

(See that little piece in the title, that says 45B?…. That represents the forty-five BILLION dollars that Comcast will pay for Time-Warner…. I’m amazed only because it seems like such a paltry amount, compared to other deals I’ve seen of late…. This one, at a price that the human mind cannot fully grasp as a number, is rather a small one, but, it still just takes place out of the petty cash reserves for companies such as this…. Yeah, they’re “persons” alright…. I know LOTS of people who keep 45 billion in their pockets so they can buy up entire networks…..)

http://www.sfgate.com/news/texas/article/Ice-storm-causes-another-traffic-jam-in-the-South-5228735.php

(Just another mundane weather article, showing, once more, the ongoing evidence of global warming….. But, because the results of the warming on a planetary scale produce effects that look like ‘cold’ weather, we’ll continue to hear the pure bullshit from the deniers, who will point out, with a big grin, “Why, how could we be warming, when the South is covered in ice?” or some other display of absolute ignorance of how the process actually works….

I really do despair for humanity, especially when I smell the clearly identifiable miasma of horse manure flying, when these ignorant assholes spout off, with their stupidity leading the way….

That, by the way, is of the compelling reasons why I DON’T carry a gun…..  I’d be too tempted to use it on people like that, when it is the corporate masters who are responsible for causing them to have to speak up in the first place…. I’d rather shoot me a few bankers, or a CEO or three, and actually improve the world, than shoot a bunch of idiots, who know no better than to believe all the assholes tell them….)

http://www.sfgate.com/crime/article/Berkeley-sued-over-death-during-police-struggle-5230315.php

(This story is a hard one to reconcile into any sort of sensible picture, because any sort of intelligent response in these kinds of situations is mitigated by the sheer unpredictability of people in domestic crisis situations…. I guess what bothers me here is that, after reading the story, I don’t see ANY possible good outcomes, for anyone….

The police were caught in a situation where they had no really good options, and in the end, made some poor decisions…. At the same time, their hands were tied rather tightly by the way the victim responded, so, it’s hard to say who is at fault here…. only that it is a sad situation, one that can only be described as lose-lose, for everyone involved…. which goes to indicate the state of  a society where such events are even possible…..)

http://www.sfgate.com/news/us/article/Fla-trooper-who-stopped-cop-sues-after-harassment-5223424.php

(I often speak of how little respect I have for most of the people who end up as police officers; that’s because I’m not typical, and refuse to let the courage and integrity of those few of them who do possess such qualities, keep me from seeing the reality of the real situation, to wit: the MAJORITY of police officers DON’T possess such qualities, but rather are attracted to the work for the status and privileges it bestows upon those who are part of it….

Here we have the story of one of the “good” kind of cop, one who became an officer of the law with the motivation to protect and serve the public….. This officer was put in the position of having to arrest one of her peers in law enforcement, for displaying an egregious sense of entitlement, by endangering the public drastically, using his position of authority as a shield, while engaging in the fulfillment of a personal agenda.

This dangerous behavior on his part, clearly a violation of both the law, and of the supposed code of conduct for a police officer, was defended by numerous other assholes in various police agencies, all of whom obviously feel the same sense of entitlement, showing once again that the police forces in this country attract the very people who should NOT be given that sort of power over others…. I feel a short rant developing….)

“It is not power itself, but the legitimization of the lust for power which corrupts absolutely.” — Smart Bee

I do feel like ranting after that last one, but, I’ll forgo that indulgence for now…. The police aren’t going anywhere, and they’ll still be attracting all sorts of people who shouldn’t be allowed to carry guns, much less be allowed to have the authority of a badge…. I’ll save this outrage for another day…. which, you will note, makes me kind, and tactful, for a change…. Let’s go find a poem, ‘kay?….
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When I first read one of this woman’s poems, just a few days ago, I had a feeling I was going to enjoy her work, and I was correct in that assessment…. I’ve been reading a few of her poems, which, apparently, don’t get very long…. every one I’ve read is no more than five or six stanzas…. But, short poems often display much more power of imagery than longer ones do, with good reason…. which, I think, is part of why it appeals to me…. Any who, here is another, with some rather elegant chops….

“Like Barley Bending”

Like barley bending
In low fields by the sea,
Singing in hard wind
Ceaselessly;

Like barley bending
And rising again,
So would I, unbroken,
Rise from pain;

So would I softly,
Day long, night long,
Change my sorrow
Into song.

~ Sara Teasdale ~~


What a wonderful final stanza! “Day long, night long, change my sorrow into song.”  Brilliant!….
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I had originally intended to put an older, archive rant on gun control here, but, under the influence of the poem above’s last line, I’m not feeling in the mood now to even edit a rant…. Instead, I’m falling back on what I know, an old-school pearl, of course, with no set parameters, other than the whimsy so often found in Smart Bee’s choices… Let’s see what serendipity has for us today, shall we?….

Freedom = Responsibility — Smart Bee, being smart.

Call any vegetable,
Call any vegetable,
And the chances are good
That the vegetable
Will respond to you.

— Frank Zappa, Lyrics in “Absolutely Free”

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

“I’m a man of my word. In the end, that’s all there is really….” — Avon

“Enjoy your life. If you don’t, no one else will.” — Smart Bee, being smart, again….

“Is being an idiot like being high all the time?” — Janeanne Garofolo

“Years ago fairy tales all began with “Once upon a time…”, now we know they all begin with, “If I am elected…”” — Carolyn Warner

Serendipity, indeed…. This pearl came out so well, I’m considering the possibility I’ve been wrong all along, and there IS a God! Well, maybe not…. but, it DID come out rather well, don’t you think? Well, I do…. It’s very….. circular…..  I like it, and it stays…. Hmph….
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“Not every truth is the better for showing its face undisguised; and often silence is the wisest thing for a man to heed.” — Pindar

Oops! Maybe I should be like a politician, and not include that last line by Pindar; it’s rather like pulling my own covers, isn’t it? But, being the honest man I am, (for which I am eternally grateful to my father, for providing me with the impetus to make such honesty paramount in my life….) I’ll admit it makes some sense, and take it under consideration…. every day, just as soon as I finish the Daily Pearl…. Until then, fuck it, I’m not holding back anything…. 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

Feedback ISN’T good for electronic circuits…..

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7

Ffolkes,

Do you ever wake up feeling as if you’re stuck in a Disney movie? Neither do I…. Just thought I’d ask. Actually, more often, I feel as if I’m stuck in what might be called a senior film noir, wherein all the old, feeble, average looking characters spend their time moaning and groaning about getting old….a pastime which, of late,  seems to happen here a lot…..

I suppose that’s due to my own comeuppance in the aging contest, a test we all fail, ultimately; I’m harvesting an extensive crop of physical issues that are the direct result of mistaken policies regarding exercise that we were taught all of our lives…. You know the spiel, we all heard it, from JFK on…. “Exercise a lot, stay fit and healthy, you’ll feel better and live longer if you do…” Followed, of course, by that all-purpose, deliberately misleading lie, “you can trust ME!”…

We all got this message drummed into us all of our youthful days, while constantly being encouraged to join a sports league, or find some activity that simultaneously taught us life skills, worked our bodies until they were exhausted, and kept us out of our parent’s hair for as long as possible, so they didn’t have to try to figure out how to actually CONVERSE with their children, as well as to teach them to respect the authority of teachers, coaches, and “officials”…. i.e., brainwashing for later control by talking heads on the TV….

Now, of course, we know that the encouragement to exercise hard, and keep the body in prime condition, is a load of bilge water; in truth, such fanaticism about exercise is a good way to ensure spending your later years in misery and pain, as it turns out…. My doctor told me a few years ago that the medical field has changed its tune, and now encourages only MODERATE amounts of exercise, and no fanaticism about conditioning to the extreme… They’re coming to find just how many age related issues now being treated among the population are a direct result of a lifetime of overworking the skeleton and musculature…. Hence all the issues we have with muscle and ligament strains and breaks, arthritis, myalgia, neuralgia, and joint replacements, as our bodies continue to wear out from their life-long workout…..

SIGH…. Actually, this sort of ignorance is typical of society, as the people’s attention is pulled and manipulated by all the different forces in reality that seem to have the answers, but, in reality, are merely more folks who want a) to manipulate you into doing whatever it is THEY want, thereby, b) tricking you into giving them most of your money….

They’re very good at both of those things, since they’ve been practicing their deceptive messages for thousands of years…. There are a lot of evil people making a LOT of money off of the healthcare industry (Have you looked at the latest figures on the pharmaceutical makers, and how much they’re pulling down these days?…. It’s enough money to choke a horse, and, in reality, doesn’t leave a lot for the rest of us to share….)

But, that’s life here in Consensual Reality, as the forces of evil that have controlled this world for its entire history continue to rush us all down the path to extinction with their eyes wide open, staring hard at all the money they think they’ll be making off the global warming issue (see the link below….)…. and never realizing they are signing their own death warrants at the same time…. It’s the only piece of justice we have to focus on, ffolkes, but, at least we’ll know that when we humans die, they won’t be the only ones to survive…. They’ll be dying, too, and I’ll be enjoying immensely their sense of disbelief….

If that isn’t the oddest little intro/rant I’ve ever created, then I don’t know dick about anything…. No comments needed from the gallery, either…. No, it’s a bit strange, but, it’s all valid, and true, so, I guess it can stay…. Don’t know what set me off, but, hey, it got an intro done while I was busy ranting, so, I suppose it’s all good…. Enough for me to say….

Shall we Pearl?…..

“It is not necessary to light a candle to the sun.” — Algernon Sidney (1622-1683) — Discourses on Government, Chap. ii, Sect. xxiii
_____________________________

In looking over the news, I find that there is still somewhat of a moratorium in place in Washington D.C….. I think the BRC is taking a short break, doing some planning for their next little round of media manipulation…. They’re going to need some rather distracting issues to bring up, or find to deal with, in the coming months, as the weather continues to force upon us just how idiotic we’ve been, with it’s newest configurations of nasty storms and unpredictable changes in patterns to give us plenty to deal with…. (When was the last time the South had an ice storm? Sometime in the nineteenth century, I believe, or perhaps, once, early in the twentieth…. This is NOT normal , ffolkes….)

However, I did see this article in Rolling Stone, an article that provides a LOT of evidence in support of a theme I’ve been espousing for some years now, to wit: The shadowy corporate masters continue to lie, cheat, steal, and do whatever they feel they need to do to keep the rest of the world completely under their control….

The link leads to an article in Rolling Stone Magazine, which provides page after page of recorded instances of how the corporations and banks conspired, and continue to conspire, to control as much of the money and power in the world as they can possibly gather into their hands to control….. Read the article first, then, we’ll talk…. It’s rather long, but worth the effort…. I’ll wait here….

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-vampire-squid-strikes-again-the-mega-banks-most-devious-scam-yet-20140212?utm_source=dailynewsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter

Y’know….it occurs to me, belatedly, when it comes to money and/or power, these people are like junkies…. These are people who would steal your wallet, then lie to you about it; then, when it is discovered missing, they have the enormous chutzpah to offer to help you look for it…. for a fee…. Mark Twain used to say a banker was a fellow who would offer to lend you an umbrella when the sun was out, then demand it back as soon as it began to rain…. This, I think, was his way of being nice to them, because he could be a LOT more antagonistic than THAT….

They deserve all the antagonism that we can pile upon their shoulders, though, so I don’t feel bad at all about anything I say about them; the actual reality of their existence is far more ugly and evil than any name I could ever call them…. It’s difficult to insult a pig, because they enjoy being the way they are…. and, these assholes are the same way…. They feel no guilt, no compunctions at all about all the pain and suffering that their actions cause in the real world…. They could care less, as long as they get what they feel they’re entitled to, which is damn near everything….

As proof of the assertion that they have no conscience, follow this link to a page that gives you an idea of just how low people will sink in their quest for money, and the power over others that they so desire…. They are so lacking in compassion or any sort of humanity, they will go so far as to gleefully seek to make a profit off the process of global warming (helping you to look for the wallet they stole…), which, you will remember, is pretty much their fault to begin with….

https://www.google.com/search?q=windfall+amazon&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

These corporate masters, these evil, self-serving sociopaths, rich beyond all dreams of avarice, are the assholes who have bought out and hidden from sight all advances in technology over the last 100 years that would have allowed us to NOT become so dependent on the internal combustion engine, or fossil fuels, to keep society running…

We could have been switched over to solar and/or electric power 75 years ago, had these corporations allowed the appropriate research to continue; but, they were making too much money on cars, and oil, and all the dirty technology that went with it, to consider allowing things to change…. So, they bought up all the companies working on it, and stuck them on a back shelf, never to be seen again….

Hence, we have global warming, and no way to stop it, or to fix it…. If I had a solution, other than killing all them and starting over, I’d promote it, or go about trying to make it happen…. But, the fact is, I am currently of the opinion that there isn’t much hope of making the necessary changes in society, not in time to keep us from being extinct in about a hundred or so years….

All of us, the entire human race, by that time, will have to figure out a) how to breathe methane gas, or b) go somewhere else to live, because there is no stopping the processes, now well begun, that will spell our doom. I am referring, of course, to the melting of the permafrost that is NOW taking place all over the world, as the planet continues to get warmer and warmer, thanks to our ongoing contribution of several million tons of carbon mono- and dioxide into the atmosphere,  ( http://www.poodwaddle.com/clocks/worldclock/  At this site, you can watch as it happens….), every hour of every day we continue to operate automobiles…

Once a certain level of methane has been released by the melting permafrost into the air, it will proceed to act as a catalyst, causing unpredictable changes (more changes!..) to the ecological balance of the atmosphere of the entire planet, and to the weather that is the result of that balance, or, in this case, the “altered” balance…. Eventually, it will alter the overall chemical make-up of our atmosphere, rendering it unbreathable….

This is simple chemistry, and we know of nothing, no theory, no method that will stop the process, once it has begun…. In fact, our ignorance of the involved processes is so great, we know only that once a certain point is reached, the process will become what is called “hyperbolic” in nature, meaning the changes will begin to happen faster, and faster, and faster with each molecule added, until it is happening at maximum speed, approaching infinity….

There you have it, ffolkes… I wish I could pretty it up, or say there is a chance I’m wrong…. But, that chance is so slender, I hesitate to even mention its existence at all, because it is so small, it is not at all visible, or worthy of engendering hope…. I wish I did have a solution, but, all I have is speculation, which, at this point, isn’t going to cut it…. SIGH…. I guess I’ll go eat some worms…

“No falsehood lingers into old age.” — Sophocles (406 BC)
_____________________________

After ranting in the above section, I found myself still vibrating with angst and outrage at the BRC, and especially the SCM (Shadowy Corporate Masters…)…. So, I’m adding an extra section today, with an extra pearl, ranting on much the same subject, with a bit of a different focus…. It made me feel better, so, deal with it, ‘kay?…. I can’t help it, I’m an asshole, too, remember?…. All part of being human, y’know?….

First written early in 2012, posted on Triond, and in a Pearl on WordPress sometime that year, this is one of my all purpose rants on the BRC, so, enjoy, ‘kay?…..

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

“What is politics, after all, but the compulsion to preside over property and make other peoples’ decisions for them?” — Tom Robbins, Skinny Legs and All

Absence of Honor: The Untimely Death of The US Constitution


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it.” — Martin Luther King, Jr.
_____________________________

“The best mirror is an old friend.” — George Herbert

In my second year at UC Berkeley, I lived in a cooperative housing facility, called Cloyne Court, an old wooden hotel one block off campus on the north side, just a few blocks from the Greek Amphitheater. My roommate in that second year, before gaining the seniority to attain a more private, single room, was a young man named Mark Gary…. We lived together in harmony for some months, then, after getting more private personal quarters, remained close friends for the rest of the time both of us lived in Berkeley, a matter of 3 or 4 years…. As my BFF of that era, I knew him as well as I did my own family….

We met numerous times for years after college, then fell out of touch in our late twenties, as can happen when one person moves into the wilderness, becoming a mountain man, while the other remains solidly employed, married, and pursuing such dreams as are based in urban/suburban society. (I have to confess, most of them concerned the process of finding, and trying to keep love…. but, that’s another story….)…. But, as late as 1999, or early 2000, we still conversed, and kept in light touch…

Our last meeting, in either ’99, or 2000, I forget exactly, was a double date, blind on his part, with my then-girlfriend/partner, and a friend of hers…. We had a great time, but, nothing came of the relationship for him after the date… My own relations with that woman ended some years ago, as well, but, we had lost touch again before then…

Last night, on a whim, Mark crossed my mind, so I Googled him, using what I knew from our last visit to locate him, only to find a posthumous  personal tribute, after his sudden death in March of 2001, written by one of his archaeological associates, another close friend, who wrote of his long acquaintance with Mark through their work on Indian sites…. Mark entered the field of Archeology when he discovered a Native American village archaeological site on his property in the mountains, a village that showed evidence of occupancy going back several hundreds, if not thousands, of years…. He went back to school, got his PhD, and a driver’s license, just so he could protect the site from development, along with other sites in the Western US that needed such protection…. for which, he received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the State of California, for his work with the California Division of Forestry as their resident archaeologist for northern California…

Today, as I sit here, I am remembering Mark, but, it has been long enough that my feeling of sadness isn’t quite enough to bring tears…. only a feeling of loss, and sorrow that we didn’t keep in better touch at the last…. For example, I didn’t know he had married, much less married a woman who worked with him in his own field; he must have met her right after I saw him in 1999…. It makes me want to look her up, but, that would probably cause more pain for her, than would be justified by the fulfillment of my curiosity…. Instead, I wrote a haiku in his memory, and here ’tis, such as it is….

Requiem; 1950-2001

My old friend Mark passed.
I’d have cried, then, had I known.
Now, I’ll say goodbye.

~~ gigoid ~~

_____________________________

Whew! If you’ve made it this far, you deserve a break, and so do I…. As a needed change of pace, and a bit of a treat, in that this won’t make you think any harder than you want to, I’ve put together an old-school pearl, with the only parameter being that it make me smile…. which it will hopefully do for you, as well…..

“If the Lord God Almighty had consulted me before embarking upon the Creation, I would have recommended something simpler.” — Alfonso the Wise, 13th Century King of Castile,  — Commenting on the Almagest, by Ptolemy

“There’s no room in the drug world for amateurs.” — Raoul Duke

“The earth is real. Only a fool, milking his cow, denies the cow’s reality.” — Edward Abbey

“After the lawyers are all dead, kill the Politicians!” — Smart Bee, egged on by gigoid

— Bother! said Pooh, as he seduced Christopher Robin’s mother. — Anonymous SB contributor…. (I don’t WANT to know who writes these, funny as they are…. They’re just a little bit too strange, even a bit evil, for me to need, or want, that information….)

“Ever notice that fifteen minutes into a Jerry Lewis telethon you start  rooting for the disease?” — Jim Sherbert

“If a man insisted always on being serious, and never allowed himself a bit of fun and relaxation, he would go mad or become unstable without knowing it.” — Herodotus

Well, that’s an unusual pearl…. all at least mildly humorous, but, apparently, completely without a final conclusion, other than what is asserted in the final pearl… which, given its age and proven wisdom, isn’t exactly unworthy; it just doesn’t quite reach hilarious…. Simple, elegant, not too bad for a throw-together on impulse, though…. I’ll take it….
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If y’all know me at all, you’ll realize what an ironic statement the final line in the above section is, for me, in relation to whether or not I would take the pearl as it sits…. You see, I say it just as if there is any other decision that I’d make…. see, irony? 

Not for the first time, I believe I just lost all hope of coherence, so, it’s probably just as well I’m done for the day…. 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

These crib sheets are criminally inaccurate…..

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1

Ffolkes,

In retrospect, life tends to disappoint, at least for most people, much of the time…. This, I think, is why most people are reluctant to engage in any sort of introspection of their past actions, since humans, as a species, don’t show a lot of courage when it comes to changing the only thing in the universe that is actually under our personal control, to wit: ourselves…. For whatever reason that people decide is real for them, they refuse to look at their own past acts in the light of any critical examination of virtue, or even mere accountability…. Most folks would prefer to wear their blinders all the time, so they don’t have to look at anything that might conceivably persuade them use their brain, or act in any way that is other than self-serving…..

Now, some might say that’s a bit harsh for the first paragraph of the day, but, I believe in calling a spade a club, er, a spade…. For that matter, I should make clear that I don’t dis-include myself in this category, because I am no better and no worse than anyone else…. Maybe, part of the time, I’m a bit more on the ball between the ears than the general run of bozos on this bus, but, my vaunted intelligence hasn’t made me rich, or exempted me from having to struggle in life, just like anyone else….

Well, I think so, anyway…. others might disagree with that assessment, but, my point is that my being smarter than others doesn’t make me better, or better off… In fact, it could be considered a curse, as I am more aware than your average bear of all the stuff in our world that needs fixing, but, can do no more about it than those who cannot see…. Our species has, for that matter, made the world such that intelligence is no longer of much value as a tool for survival…. It’s a lot more comfortable to be stupid, to not realize what we are in for over the coming years….

It’s a frustrating place to exist, if you want to know…. I can see what is wrong in society, and even point it out to those who do not; what I can’t do is make anyone DO anything about it, as I just don’t have it in me to manipulate others, not like the Asininnies do as a matter of course, in achieving their goals, and meeting their agendas…. Sometimes it seems as if the world deserves what is coming, because the degree of sheer stupidity that has been displayed by our species is so massively egregious, it makes me sick…. This is usually right before I realize how unjust it is that the rest of us, who didn’t have anything to do with getting to this point in time, will suffer the same ugly end as those who are responsible…. Then, of course, I realize my own culpability, and the tears begin to flow….

Of course, I don’t HAVE to feel bad, about this, or about anything, for that matter….. I can feel any way I wish to feel, and that would be my reality, but, I’ve never been able to keep out of Consensual Reality for long…. One of my favorite columnists at SFGATE is Mark Morford, about whom I’ve previously written…. His column from yesterday is a really, really good one, with just the right viewpoint, of a part of reality we often ignore, or just forget about,  to take my mind away from its usual haunts, taking it to that place he describes so well with his exquisite  command of the English language, a place where everything makes sense again, and all is right with the world….

This time, he touches on one of my deepest beliefs, which, ultimately, may become the very thing we need to save ourselves from our own stupidity…. Read the post, it will open your eyes… If not, well, I’d suggest you just crawl back into your hole, and try your best to ignore what’s happening outside, because it will just frighten you….. Read, think, and be happy…. or not, up to you, as always….

http://blog.sfgate.com/morford/2014/02/11/believe-this-and-live-forever/

Meanwhile, it’s time for me to get on with the reason for my being here…..  Without any further blather, dross, drivel, or nonsense, let’s get on with it….

Shall we Pearl?…..

PANDEMONIUM, n.  Literally, the Place of All the Demons.  Most of them have escaped into politics and finance, and the place is now used as a lecture hall by the Audible Reformer.  When disturbed by his voice the ancient echoes clamor appropriate responses most gratifying to his pride of distinction. — Ambrose Bierce, “The Devil’s Dictionary”
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I’m up a bit early today, having again slept hard for longer than usual…. I guess getting some good sleep is now the usual, which is, I suppose, a good thing…. but, the changes are such that it’s getting hard to figure out which reality I’m in at any given moment…. Oh well, I’ve had that particular conundrum to deal with ever since I first started experimenting with altering it…. Reality, that is…. We all do it, to some degree, but, I think, in toto, I’ve been just a bit more enthusiastic about it than your average bear…. a fact which is, mostly, fine by me, but, as I said, it can be confusing at times, to know exactly which reality is one’s current place of residence, thus making it problematic knowing how to act appropriately….

Fortunately for me, I’ve NEVER worried overmuch about being appropriate…. In fact, I often seek out the opposite standard, just for fun, and the profit supplied by amusement…. So, never fear for me, ffolkes, I’m an old hand at switching realities in mid-metaphor….  Y’all don’t need to worry a bit about anything other than paying your fare…. and, since this ride always has been, is, and always will be free of monetary charge, you’re in like Flynn…. This is a good thing, because it’s now time to go old-school, and I can’t do it without you…. I mean, what would be the point, if there was no one to read what I write? Right? Right…. Enjoy yourselves, ffolkes, I intend to…. Let’s go see what SB has for us today….

According to the Theory of Dubious Theories: All of the following are true and complete to the best of my knowledge….. certified, 2/12/14, by gigoid the dubious…..

How admirable,
he who thinks not,
Life is fleeting,
When he sees the lightning!

— Basho

“It is folly to punish your neighbor by fire when you live next door.” — Publius Syrus

“I would far rather be ignorant than wise in the foreboding of evil.” — Aeschylus (525-456 BC) — Suppliants, 453

“There is no evil in the universe which is not the result of ignorance, and which would not, if we were ready and willing to learn its lesson, lead us to a higher wisdom, and then vanish away.” — James Allan

“The most glorious exploits do not always furnish us with the clearest discoveries of virtue or vice in men.” — Plutarch (46-120 AD) — Life of Alexander

“As far as we can discern, the sole purpose of human existence is to kindle a light of meaning in the darkness of mere being.” — C. G. Jung

“Don’t worry, nobody really LISTENS to lectures in MOSCOW, either! ..  FRENCH, HISTORY, ADVANCED CALCULUS, COMPUTER PROGRAMMING,  BLACK STUDIES, SOCIOBIOLOGY!..  Are there any QUESTIONS?? — Zippy the Pinhead

Ffolkes…. sometimes, it just happens this way…. I put together a pearl, with nothing really guiding my hand to indicate which pearls to choose for inclusion, and no conscious direction in mind…. Occasionally, on days such as this, a group of pearls is gathered that far outshines any chosen purpose I could have given it…. This pearl, on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 set as ‘excellent’….. well, this one scores about a 13…. The inclusion of three pearls of ancient age may have contributed, but, the balance, and the imagery, is such that mere age is only an enhancement…. Let these sit in your mind, mix together for a while, and you’ll have something you can feel pretty good about…. guaranteed….
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I recently subscribed to an email service from a poetry web site, which is a good way to discover new poets (new to me)….. This is one whose name I’d seen, and heard, without ever seeing any of her actual work…. If this one is any indication, my exploration of her body of poems will be a delightful new experience…. This is a lovely poem, short, and powerful in imagery…. I like it, and so should you….. Enjoy!…..

It Is Not a Word

It is not a word spoken,
Few words are said;
Nor even a look of the eyes
Nor a bend of the head,

But only a hush of the heart
That has too much to keep,
Only memories waking
That sleep so light a sleep.

~~ Sara Teasdale ~~

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In looking around some old folders the other day, I came across a folder of articles I’ve posted on Triond.com, a publishing hub site that solicits work from online writers, which they submit to various web sites pertaining to the subject matter of the article…. Mine usually end up on Socyberty.com, a social commentary site that covers a lot of the political subjects I write about in my Pearls…. This one is a religirant I edited to fit into essay format, and sent to Triond…. It has apparently been taken down, as I don’t find it when I search, but, honest, it was there….

Posted on Triond, original written 5/27/2012….

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Searching for God~Dog among the Sillistines


“…it still remains true that as a set of cognitive beliefs about the existence of God in any recognizable sense continuous with the great systems of the past, religious doctrines constitute a speculative hypothesis of an extremely low order of probability.” — Sidney Hook

Mr. Hook gives us here quite a long-winded, Shakespearean statement about the existence of God…. one that probably would better have been left at “Not bloody likely!”…. Both get the same point across, but the latter has more punch, as the listener doesn’t have to spend all that time trying to, first, figure out what the hell he said….

It’s a very good statement, in its way; accurate, logical, and with a proper reservation of judgment, proclaiming the idiocy of buying into such an implausible story without being snide about it. (It also has the advantage of being substantially true in reality….) But, as mentioned, it reminds me of a certain author, who shall now remain unnamed, who had the same habit when he wrote, to wit: “HEY! Lets cover up what this means with a bunch of extra words that will make the reader’s head spin with admiration….”.

Now, as one who writes (or types, anyway…. who’s to say whether it is writing?….), I tend to agree with Twain’s method of prose, which tends to be, by his own admission, somewhat spare, because he was determined to pare down what he wrote to its barest bones, leaving nothing but meaning and style; as with golf, one is trying for the lowest score. Twain, Hemingway, Steinbeck, all believed that good writing should be accessible, and clear, without having to be translated, or put into simpler terms, and Mr. Hook would have done better, I think, to keep that in mind. The idea he is promulgating is one that does need to be spread around, and should stimulate discussion. In its present form, it will only do that amongst the few readers and folks who can easily make out what he is talking about in his overly obese statement….

The idea he expresses here is one that is generally discouraged by those in leadership positions in modern religions. Discussing the veracity of the claims that religion makes is not encouraged by any of the sects I know of; in fact, doing so tends to produce some rather volatile reactions, to put it mildly. Most folks have a hard time maintaining their cool when their religious beliefs are challenged, due, I think, to the strong emotional connection they add to those beliefs. Their feelings are so tied into those beliefs that, in their minds, questioning one is the same as attacking the other….. Not logical, but true nonetheless, and not a good thing to leave out of one’s calculations; I try never to discuss religion without being rather heavily armed…. and not only with knowledge….

Here’s the thing that bothers me about the whole concept of an omnipotent entity…. How can we, who are not omnipotent, claim to understand either the actual form of a God, or the motivation of such a being? How can we claim to be certain that this omnipotent entity, capable of creating an entire universe, not only looks just like us, but actually wants us to bow down and worship Him, or Her, or It? Even when I was five years old, nobody could, or would, answer that question, other than to say, “because it’s in the Bible.” Even then, I recognized when I was being put off, and it just made me wonder more….

“Certainty is only a symptom of lack of imagination.” — Anonymous

Over time, as my knowledge of the world grew, I came to realize that religion, like government, is just another man-made institution, with the sole purpose of taking advantage of, and controlling, the general run of folks who are just trying to get by in life. I learned that the louder a person proclaims himself to be a Christian, the less like Christ they act. Being “safe in the arms of Jesus” is the perfect excuse to deny any responsibility for one’s own acts of immorality; Jesus forgives everything, right? Well, he does…. it says so right here in the New Testament, so it must be true….

“Our father who art in heaven..  I sincerely pray that SOMEBODY at this table will PAY for my SHREDDED WHEAT and ENGLISH MUFFIN..  and also leave a GENEROUS TIP…” — Zippy the Pinhead

I don’t claim to know God. I don’t know how God looks. I don’t know what God thinks, or even if what that entity does can be called thinking at all. I’m not omnipotent, so I have no frame of reference from which to approach such a question. I do know this, though…. whatever anyone says about God is bound to be wrong. It has to be; there is no way for us to understand anything about such a creature, not if we are to assume they are truly gods. If they are gods, or God, then I refuse to believe that what is important to me as a human is important to them; it just doesn’t make any logical sense. None….

ZEUS, n.  The chief of Grecian gods, adored by the Romans as Jupiter and by the modern Americans as God, Gold, Mob and Dog.  Some explorers who have touched upon the shores of America, and one who professes to have penetrated a considerable distance to the interior, have thought that these four names stand for as many distinct deities, but in his monumental work on Surviving Faiths, Frump insists that the natives are monotheists, each having no other god than himself, whom he worships under many sacred names. — Ambrose Bierce, “The Devil’s Dictionary”

Looking at a Universe without God doesn’t scare me…. I think it is quite beautiful, no matter how it came to exist. Knowing one way or another how it was created, or happened, or evolved, or whatever, isn’t important to me, in either the short, or the long run. Learning about it, experiencing its joys and trials, appreciating both its gifts and its burdens, these are much more important. Do your Duty. Honor the Truth. Respect Life. Share your Love. Do these, and the rest will take care of itself. I don’t think that God needs my approval, nor my worship, in order for the universe to carry on…. it’s just fine the way it is…..

“There are no physicists in the hottest parts of hell, because the existence of a hottest part implies a temperature difference, and any marginally competent physicist would immediately use this to run a heat engine and make some other part of hell comfortably cool. This is obviously impossible.” — Richard Davidson
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Having cheated shamelessly today, I am now about to enjoy the fruits of my lack of labor, which, as it turns out, is more of a curse than a blessing…. You see, it’s now only 0605, and I’m done writing for the day, unless some news article jumps up and pokes my outrage button, while my text editor is still open…. This means I have over three hours until the remainder of the world gets up and gets going, to the point where I can get anything done of a business nature…. SIGH…. I’m so damn smart, I’m stupid…. See you tomorrow, should my brain cells condescend to operate well enough to allow me to survive until then….

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

Specializing in palatable solutions….

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Ffolkes,

As I entered the room where my computer resides, I heard a low moaning sound coming from just outside the back door…. I went to see what was there, and, lo! Lying on my back porch, bleeding copiously from a number of ugly looking wounds, was the most disreputable looking person I’d ever seen….

Since I didn’t want them bleeding all over the house, I grabbed some towels and bandaging materials, and went to work, attempting to stem the flow of blood as best I could, right where he lay on the wooden floor by the steps…. I could see immediately it was a futile task, as at least two of the wounds were pumping blood out, indicating an arterial cut, and I had no way to shut them off…

However, since he was merely a figment of my imagination, it was acceptable for me to just let him die where he lay…. I couldn’t for the life of me figure out any way to gracefully carry that paragraph’s story on any further, without getting into a lot more detail…. Since there are no details to be had, it being the off-the-cuff, improvisational piece it is, I thought it would be best to just abandon it after the first few lines, mainly because it wasn’t going anywhere interesting, but, partly because it was starting to become too real…. My imagination can be pretty scary at times, especially when I let if off leash like that….

Actually, it’s kind of hard to say WHAT might have come out of that one…. I don’t often lead with blood, but, when I do, it can turn in a lot of directions, that potentially can lead to fairly exotic results….. but, I digress…. From what, you ask? Well, hell, you had to ask, didn’t you? I have no clue…. You see, I’ve finally done it, and done it about as well as it could be done….

Again with the questions! Sheesh! Okay, I’ll spill…. Listen, when this gets out, you won’t tell anyone where it came from, will you? If the authorities ever find out for sure, I’ll be in deep do-do, and might even have to move to another country, where they don’t know me so well…. Okay, here’s the deal… I’m lost…. completely lost, with no clue at all as to how to find my way back anywhere near the realm of intelligent discourse….

Fortunately for all of us, our driver knows the way home, and will bring us there in due course… Meanwhile, I guess we’ll all have to just “go with the flow”, and try to enjoy the scenery that we pass through…. Hey, it could be worse…. I could be driving today, which would mean we would NEVER have gotten home, not today, anyway….. Since we WILL be getting home, I think I’ll go hide my face for a while, at least until called upon to pull the next section’s material out of my proverbial hat…..

Shall we Pearl?…..

“The old proverb was now made good, “the mountain had brought forth a mouse.”” — Plutarch (46-120 AD) — Life of Agesilaus II
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The following is a public service announcement, with which gigoid fully agrees…. I would liked to have put the banner up on my site, but, I couldn’t figure out how to do it using the WordPress widget they provided…. I’m a geek, but apparently not up to date on the way to do this task… But, this definitely needs to be spread around, and shared…. So, please do so…. I HAVE included a link to the main site for the protest, where you can go to sign the petition…. Please do that as well…. Let’s all join together to give the Asininnies the finger, and let them know we won’t stand for any fucking around with our Internet, or in our private lives….

“On Tuesday, February 11th, EFF (the Electronic Frontier Foundation) will join thousands of other websites in demanding an end to mass surveillance through an Internet-wide digital protest.

Visitors will be prompted to contact members of Congress or sign a global petition opposing mass surveillance with a banner that can be inserted into any site This is a critical moment in the NSA surveillance fight.

Worldwide outrage at NSA spying helped pressure the Obama administration into making a few key concessions toward reform. But Obama’s reform plan falls woefully short.

That’s why we’re turning the heat up on Congress to finish the job. Help us end NSA mass spying. Use your website to join the protest, and help us spread the word on February 11th through social media with the hashtag #StoptheNSA.”

https://thedaywefightback.org/?r=eff

This is an extra pearl today….. The obligatory three standard entries follow below….
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The article below was found yesterday, on 2/10/2014, on the SFGATE news site. I also saw other versions of the same story on Yahoo, NY Times, and just about every other major and minor news site I perused in my morning searches…. probably since it was an Associated Press article to begin with, I suppose. I’m including it today because carries some implications for all of us that, to me, are VERY, VERY disturbing…. I’ll let you read the article first, after which, I’ve put some short excerpts from the content of the article, to act as markers of what I wish to point out to you…. Take your time, but, please, come back for the discussion, which will follow the quoted text….

http://www.sfgate.com/news/politics/article/US-suspect-possibly-targeted-for-drone-attack-5220092.php

“An American citizen who is a member of al-Qaida is actively planning attacks against Americans overseas, U.S. officials say, and the Obama administration is wrestling with whether to kill him with a drone strike and how to do so legally under its new stricter targeting policy issued last year. ”

“….confirmed that the Justice Department was working to build a case for the president to review and decide the man’s fate. ”

“The Justice Department, the Pentagon and the CIA declined to comment. ”

… a professor of international law at the University of Notre Dame, said there is a school of thought that the Obama administration’s drone policy is “lawless.” “Why should the Justice Department issue the execution warrant for anyone abroad? The fact that they give extra scrutiny only because he’s an American exacerbates this negative impression,”

Online: Policy and procedures for the use of force in counterterrorism operations outside the U.S.:  http://1.usa.gov/1dy7de4

So…. My first question is, when did it become our national policy to kill individual citizens, including citizens of this country, anywhere in the world, if we decided they were guilty of a crime?…. Who decided, and when, that said decisions were to be left to a small set, of just a few individuals, all of  whom have a heavy investment in guilty verdicts, and no investment in verdicts of innocence. No courts, no legislative bodies are involved; now, if a person is labeled as a terrorist, they can be “terminated with prejudice” at the hands of the CIA, an agency that, I had thought, was still SUPPOSEDLY constrained from the long-used, never-acknowledged employment of “wet work”, aka, assassination,  as a means of protecting our national interests….

However, according to the information contained in this article, all that is now required, is for the president to define a person as a terrorist, whereupon Congress obligingly goes along with the charade, by docilely setting the legal classification of such terrorists as “enemy combatants”, which allows the president to act unilaterally, to wit: to kill them, using whatever tools are at hand in our clandestine arsenal of weaponry and/or technology, including the use of drones on American citizens, ostensibly overseas, not on US soil….. No, they wouldn’t do that, now, would they? Trust me, they say…. Now, where have we heard that phrase before?….

(Come to think of it, couldn’t that restriction be gotten around, by simply defining the soil on which an “enemy combatant” is standing as “enemy territory”, no matter where it is, in the US, or out?….. Thus, it would be legal to use drones to kill them, even in downtown Atlanta…. A bit paranoid, perhaps, but, how many legal arguments have you seen that are just as specious?….. Add to that, the obvious fact that the logic, pitiful as it may be, used in the administration’s current policy, is logic that matches this line of reasoning exactly…. Hence, it becomes clear, it is not a long stretch at all to imagine a time when we will be seeing drones pick off some poor sap in the bleachers at Fulton County Stadium….)

The point here, of course, that I’m dancing around so well with my sardonicism, is that we, as a nation, are now using the fine, ancient art of assassination, right out in the open, admitting to it publicly, with only the caveat that we should try to make it “legal” according to “US law and policies”, which, as might be guessed, are written by the very people who are using them as their legal defense…. That’s right, they’re not even hiding it anymore, so, let’s not miss the key operative word, and concept, here…. ASSASSINATION.

For this nation’s entire history, up to 9/11/01, when the American people were frightened to death because they got attacked on their own ground, we have never been considered a people that would use that particular political tool, (i.e., the deliberate murder of an individual, disguised as a political necessity), to pursue our national interests, either out in the open, or with discretion. It just doesn’t fit in with our self-proclaimed image as honest, fair-dealing, morally upright people, an image which, in a way, has always been the lynch pin of virtue that fit in the best with what my father taught me about honor, that which gave me a feeling of pride in this nation, as far as my meager nationalism allowed…. I liked the idea of this being an honorable country, that had no NEED to sink to that level of decadence, in order to feel safe in my own home….

“A power has risen up in the government greater than the people themselves, consisting of many and various and powerful interests, combined into one mass, and held together by the cohesive power of the vast surplus in the banks.” — Johann L. Uhland (1787-1862) — Speech, May 27, 1836

Then, along came (name withheld due to the probability of NSA surveillance…. There’s no need for them know ALL that I know, or think, now, is there?….), a former CIA wizard, to magically put together a spell to turn the minds of the average American into a quivering mass of fear, perfectly primed for manipulation, thus, easily fooled into accepting just about ANY sort of Bulls___t, if it made them feel safer….. All this, at the mere cost of about 3500 American lives on our own soil, a few buildings, and three airplanes….

That’s all it took for the shadowy masters of reality to be in position to destroy the US Bill of Rights completely, within 10 short years….. Plus, they got the bonus of using the incident to justify pursuing two wars in other countries, to the tune of another 20,000 lives on our part, along with a several hundred TRILLION dollar bill, all to be paid over time to the gun and war machine vendors, with whom we joined to fight those wars, at public expense…. What a bargain for them, eh?

They’ve done such a stellar job of this, they now are able to have their most clandestine crimes discussed in full public view (such as the assassination of a US citizen, by the government, without any oversight…. According to this article, that is an event which, please note, first took place over five years ago…. It is only now being discussed because they want to do it again…..

Since they, too, are human, and subject to the Theory of Bozoid Tendencies, they screwed their own pooch… To appease the public, trying to spin the image machine one more time, they changed one of the rules they made up, which apparently messed up one of their blankets, the one that allowed them to cover up the obvious use of the drones…. But, nobody is making a lot of noise about any of this, are they?

“The Justice Department, the Pentagon and the CIA declined to comment. ”

Well, of course they did!…. Was the reporter who wrote this story really expecting them to comment on this? This is, so far, the only article I’ve seen on this subject, (or, for that matter, on ANY subject near to this issue, ever since Obama announced his ghostly {ghastly?} reforms…. ghostly because they’re not really there, are they?), even though it was covered on several networks….

I will point out to you at this point, none of them, media, supporters, or opponents of the idea of us using this ancient political tool, are making any outcry, or expressing anything other than straight news reporting, just as if the issue. as to whether or not to use assassination as part of our national bag of tricks. had already been settled…. Well, it has, hasn’t it?   Yep, and they did it while you were watching, in plain sight, which patently indicates, to them, they do so with your tacit approval…..

I don’t know about y’all, but, the draconian nature of this pOTUS’s administration, with its smiling assurances of innocence on one hand, and obvious proof of evil intent on the other, is VERY disturbing to me…. and, I cannot but feel that my own reputation has been sullied by my government’s actions, both out in the world at large, and at home, in its manipulation of, and LYING to, its own citizenry…..

If you need proof, (my kind of person!) from another direction, if not a different news source, no worries…. there’s plenty of it….. Here is yet another article that addresses evidence of more obvious prevarication on the part of this president…. Read the article at this link, to see how another issue has received the old left hand/right hand treatment from Barry….  http://www.sfgate.com/politics/article/Obama-resists-using-his-power-to-ease-marijuana-5219705.php

Again, I don’t know about y’all, but, it kinda makes me feel….. I don’t know…. patriotically seditious? Yeah, that one….. and pissed off, too, that the assholes would think they can get away with trying to feed me this bullshite…. (Patriotic sedition is that condition that can best be stated as, “Let’s throw the lying bastards out!”….)

“They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” — Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) — Historical Review of Pennsylvania, 1759
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Once again, today’s effort is all fresh material, so, rather than spend time trying to find someone else’s work that fits in with my theme today, here is one of my own poems, which I KNOW will fall seamlessly in with the parade of nonsense that is today’s Pearl….

Random Exposure

If I only knew what I was doing here,
I could give others a clue.
Reality gets stranger every year,
and I’m not sure what I should do.

Singing happy old tunes, in an old, gravely voice,
gives me a lot of pleasure.
I’m only glad I can still make a choice,
to look at life, to take its measure.

Memorable moments keep passing by
gilded, framed in precious emotion.
I never have to ask anyone why,
no need for a stronger potion.

Everything in life is clear, to me
there is no doubt, no misunderstanding.
We’re all good, as you can see,
members of Life, in good standing.

Life can be hard, or it can be great fun;
the right path is there for each of us to take.
That choice is often a difficult one;
pay close attention to the choice you make.

~~ gigoid ~~

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Although I wrote the rant in section one yesterday, I went over it, editing and altering style points, so, it’s all quite fresh…. Originally, I’d planned to include here an older politirant, on gun control, from an archived Pearl…. but, then, the rant above grabbed me by the throat, made me sit down at the computer, and wouldn’t let me up until I had vented…..

So, rather than subject y’all to another 1500 words of my outrage, no matter how appropriately timed or well-written, we’ll go old-school, with parameters designed to help all of us find a bit of fun…. Hitting the funny bone… you know, that little spot on your elbow… hitting it in reality, hurts like hell….. but, when we strike it sharply on a corner of our imagination, the sharp pain could be considered as equivalent to electric joy….

Hmm…. I suppose, as a metaphor, or a euphemism, or even as a graphic example, that image leaves a bit to be desired…. Oh well, I’m sure Smart Bee can come up with enough distracting pieces of virtual wisdom to satisfy the most stringent appetite for coherency and grace…. or, not…. We’ll see, won’t we?….

“If only there were some indication the universe was doing it on purpose” — Smart Bee

“…[T]he lesson [comic books] taught children- or this child, at any rate- was perhaps the unintentionally radical truth that exceptionality was the greatest and most heroic of values; that those who were unlike the crowd were to be treasured the most lovingly; and that this exceptionality was a treasure so great that it had to be concealed, in ordinary life, beneath what the comic books called a ‘secret identity’.” — Salman Rushdie

“Gird your grid for a big one!” — random Bozo on the Bus

“Live in such a way that you would not be ashamed to sell your parrot to the town gossip.” — Will Rogers

I’m sorry…. Smart Bee has done it at last….. This group of pearls is SO esoteric, I can see no possible way to make it comprehensible in the time allowed… Oh, the pearls are hefty enough, but, they’re all so damn unconnected on the surface… Oh well, we’ll go with my instincts, which leads me to these final three pieces of wisdom that complement each other in a pretty obvious fashion…. I’m pretty sure that after reading all three, and assimilating the implications, you’ll agree with the thought that went through my head, to wit: “Hmm… I’m sensing a theme here….”

“God has no religion.” — Mahatma Gandhi

“Thou art God.” — Michael Valentine Smith – from Stranger In A Strange Land, by Robert A. Heinlein

“Thou art God, you know. Let’s do Lunch.” — gigoid, Peruaosophy, Axiom # 3

Well, there you have it, ffolkes…. I suppose I should apologize for this one, but, I just can’t….  It’s too damn cute….
_____________________________

Oops, poem…. be right back…..  Well…. It’s done, and I’m glad, even though it makes me a bit sad…. You see, this one is special…. It’s…. it’s…. well, it’s actually PRETTY DECENT!!

Now, I know, you’ll think me egotistical, and, you may be right, but, you know what… I had fun, and, if you’ve got a few functioning grey cells operating in there, you will, too…. See ya tomorrow….

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid

dozer3