Tag Archives: Religion

We’re wondering if that CEO caught fire yet….

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Ffolkes,

I am indeed one of the world’s great Bozos….. I just realized, as I lay in bed this morning, thinking about the upcoming day, that for almost three years now, I’ve been approaching this whole process with a flawed perspective….. Now, for many, such an epiphany would constitute a great crisis, and cause a huge outcry, as the futility and sense of lost time would create a huge batch of disappointment, to say the very least. For me, it’s pretty much a normal thing to discover, as I can recall numerous occasions in my life when my nose became large, red, and noisy over the manifestation of one or another kind of stupidity, so it no longer embarrasses me quite so much, when I find myself guilty, again, of some measure of dumbness….

For all this time I’ve been blogging, I have been getting up and cudgeling my brain into submission, forcing it to think, and create, first thing in the morning…. I realized just now that this is NOT a good way to start the day, and I might find more to write about if I let my brain wake up at its own pace. I can’t be certain about it without some testing, but I have a feeling that it might be to my advantage to do so, if only for the simple reason that I would end up getting more sleep…..which may not sound like much, but, in my world, sleep is at a premium, and getting more of it, by any means necessary, is always high on my list of wants….

As it is, I’ve always used the Army method, which says to sleep whenever one has a free moment, as one never knows when the next opportunity to do so will come. I was raised that way, sort of, and have always regarded it as the lot of the common man, as we men tend to treat our lives as a stint in the military, if given half a chance…. It is a natural rhythm for us to adopt, so we naturally fall into it, unless forced into some other mode of existence, such as that of a night-shift morgue attendant, or some such exotic functionary, who necessarily changes their pattern of sleep and work.

The Army method is fine, for what it is, but, now that I’m retired, it isn’t so imperative for me to be up early, or up late, like when I was a Dad, making sure my family was tucked in each night….. Today, for some reason, I slept like a log for most of the night, (unusual in itself….), and kept falling back asleep at those times I would normally have arisen, until, now, it is after 0700, and I just got up…. a good hour, to an hour and a half, later than usual…. I feel energized, and clear headed, both of which are uncommon at this hour, and these four paragraphs have pretty much poured out, in just a few minutes time, all fairly clear, with no typos or misspellings, first time out….

Ah well, it’s all probably just an illusion that Murphy has prepared for me, to lull me into thinking that I can think this early….. It has been proven already that I’m human, and the years-long search for a template for this intro has shown me that early morning cogitation is not in my best interests, at least from an intellectual viewpoint…. I can sometimes come up with funny, or weird, or even, sometimes, beautiful prose when I first sit to write, but, I’m fairly certain I only do so due to serendipity, not intentional volition…. In other words, it’s mostly an accident, which explains why I keep a first-aid kit under the table where I keep my computer; it has come in too handy in the past to keep it anywhere else….

Still, accidental or not, I’m no longer certain that getting up to write in the morning is the best way to go about this….. But, since I don’t have a clue what I would do otherwise, I’m not going to worry about changing a thing…. I don’t get paid for this, nor do I do it for any other kind of compensation, beyond the friendship of good people, and a certain level of sanity that writing helps me to maintain… So, there isn’t any reason, really, to change anything, unless, of course, someone offers to pay me to do so…. I’m still holding out for the daily column in a major news network, which I doubt seriously will happen, so, I’ll just keep on keepin’ on, and produce the finest bits of virtual wisdom I can….

Shall we Pearl?….
_____________________________

“Banish Evil from the world? Nonsense! Encourage it, foster it, sponsor it. The world owes Evil a debt beyond imagination. Think! Without greed ambition falters. Without vanity art becomes idle musing. Without cruelty benevolence lapses to passivity. Superstition has shamed man into self-reliance and, without stupidity, where would be the savor of superior understanding?” — Magnus Ridolf

😆  I find this to be an extremely amusing little Analect, very bold and different than the twaddle that a lot of philosophy often resembles. It is, of course, a ridiculous set of assertions, but, it’s good exercise for the mind to look at things from a different perspective occasionally, as long as one knows they are wrong, based as they are on a flippant, egocentric point of view, one that categorizes according to self-set standards, not by any that are natural to the real world….. Who gets to decide? That, to me, is the sticking point when adopting a pose of intellectual superiority…. who decides?…. If it is the person who makes the utterance, then the viewpoint is inherently flawed, due to a severe lack of perspective….

I’m not sure why I chose this as a rant-stimulator, other than its cheekiness. It is true what is implied herein about contrast, and how the differences between good and evil are made clearer by their own natures, but, other than that, it fails to go far enough, logically speaking, leaving us stranded in a place where we have little or no control over what the universe does to us…. I, for one, refuse to go there, and will always feel compelled to point it out when I come across this kind of thinking, as it is a dangerous pattern to allow one’s mind to follow for long….. In fact, I am going to make an executive decision here, and turn this section 180 degrees around, into an old-school format, rather than a rant…. I think the point I’m trying to get to will be much easier to see than trying to show y’all what I mean with prose and logic…. Let’s see what Smart Bee can do for us….

“Man is ready to die for an idea, provided that idea is not quite clear to him.” — Paul Eldridge

“Don’t ever tell anybody anything. If you do, you start missing everybody.” — Holden Caulfield in J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye

“It is an important and popular fact that things are not always as they  seem.” — The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

19. Not one shred of evidence supports the notion that life is serious. — One of 21 Thoughts to Get You Through Almost Any Crisis

“The logic of writing is simply logic; it is not some system of arbitrary conventions interesting only to those who write a lot. All logical thought goes on in the form of statements and statements about statements. We can make those statements only in language, even if that language be a different symbol system like mathematics. If we cannot make those statements and statements about statements logically, clearly, and coherently, then we cannot think and make knowledge. People who cannot put strings of sentences together in good order cannot think. An educational system that does not teach the technology of writing is preventing thought.” — Richard Mitchell _Less Than Words Can Say_ P.45-6

Hah! See, I told you it would be a lot clearer this way…. and, if not, well, there’s always tomorrow, right?….
_____________________________

Some poems need no introduction, or comment; this is one of them…

Invictus

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll.
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

~ William Ernest Henley ~~

_____________________________

“The reason the Christians have murdered on such a vast scale and killed anyone and everyone in their way is purely and simply greed…  Their insatiable greed and overweening ambition know no bounds; the land is fertile and rich, the inhabitants simple, forbearing and submissive. The Spaniards have shown not the slightest consideration for these people, treating them (and I speak from first-hand experience, having been there from the outset) not as brute animals – indeed, I would to God they had done and had shown them the consideration they afford their animals – so much as piles of dung in the middle of the road.
They have had as little concern for their souls as for their bodies, all the millions that perished having gone to their deaths with no knowledge of God and without the benefit of the Sacraments.  One fact in all this is widely known and beyond dispute, for even the tyrannical murderers themselves acknowledge the truth of it:  the indigenous peoples never did the Europeans any harm whatever; on the contrary, they believed them to have descended from the heavens, at least until they or their fellow citizens had tasted, at the hands of these oppressors, a diet of robbery, murder, violence, and all other manner of trials and tribulations.” — Bartolome de Las Casas, — A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies, 1542

On most occasions, the discovery of such a wonderful indictment would be celebrated here with a rant of huge proportions…. However, on this occasion, I’m going to let go of my ego, and just present this by itself, in acknowledgment of its very real provenance…. This man, Señor de Las Casas, was there! He saw exactly what the invaders of the new world did, and who did it, and had the guts to write it down. At the time this was written, even the act of naming the perpetrators would have been dangerous, as those self-same Christians held strong sway in society then, and were not afraid to punish what they considered to be slanderous writings with severe penalties…. Blasphemous writings were even more dangerous; this one merely points out the very human nature of those who spearheaded the drive to conquer the Indians, but would have nonetheless been poorly received by Church authorities….

Any who, I intended to rant about this, but, it’s just so perfect by itself, I’m letting it stand alone, to teach the lesson to be learned here… It doesn’t really need my help to do so, so I’ll just step back out of the way…. Well, since I AM obsessive, a little bit, about being clear, I’ll add a couple of short pearls to help drive the point home, but, beyond that, you’re on your own today…. I know you’re capable, so be encouraged….

“Difference of opinion is helpful in religion.” — Thomas Jefferson

Q: Does a cow have Buddha-nature ?  A: Mu  — Smart Bee

Again, clarity strikes serendipitously from above!…. This one will definitely be on the Quiz, so I hope y’all were payin’ attention…..
_____________________________

There are times when this process is a bit frightening to behold, from the inside…. It can be kind of like the fastest, twistiest roller coaster you’ve ever had the misfortune to board…..  It has also been described as being like that instant of stark fear in a car wreck when you know it’s going to hurt…. Then, other times, it all comes out like a welcome session in the throne room, with a big sigh of relief, and a new attitude….

Before I get to the point of too much information, or even clarity, I’d best check out what I’ve done today; I suspect it of being, shall we say, NOT usual….  Yep, I was correct, it isn’t…. usual, that is. And, since unusual is one of the things I shoot for, we’ll call it a win, and mark it down as such, without even an asterisk….. I’m outta here, before anyone thinks to call the authorities… Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you….

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid

dozer3

They’ve pardoned all the equestrians….

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Ffolkes,

Did you ever have the feeling you’re stuck living in a Credence Clearwater Revival song? This morning, when I sat up, an old song of theirs popped into my head, first thing, and the lyric line “Oh Lord, stuck in Lodi, again…” is now playing over and over in my mind’s ear….. It wouldn’t be too bad, as it isn’t a bad song, but it won’t stop repeating that one line, endlessly….. Having been stuck in Lodi myself a time or two (I once had a girlfriend whose home town was in the hills above Lodi, in a little town in the Sierra Madre foothills, called Angel’s Camp….), I can attest that it isn’t the kind of place where one wants to spend a lot of time…. just another hick town in the boonies of California, whose residents didn’t even like John Fogarty….

You probably wonder how I can be so callous toward what is probably a group of nice folks, dismissing them offhand in such a cavalier fashion, not caring what my words may imply about innocent people…. Well, ffolkes, it’s called literary license, and is commonly used in literature to set up a joke, just like I did above. Of course, it is generally used to set up a joke that contains more than a mere dram of humor, but, one has to go with what is on hand, yes? I’m afraid that at this time of the morning, before coffee has worked its magic, that is about as humorous as it gets around here…. If I wanted to be really funny, I’d wait until the coffee kicked in, but I was trying to save a little time, and this is what happens…. I should know better than to try a short cut so early…

Is this stilted? Too formal sounding? It seems that way to me…. Of course, that’s me, and I’m not the best judge of what is appropriate at this time of day. I do try to keep from getting overly pedantic too early, but, that’s fairly easy, as it merely means keeping myself from ranting first thing… It’s the outrage that fuels such vituperation, which makes me feel all righteous and moral, which turns me into a pompous fool, a state that giving in to  righteous morality will always put me…. I don’t know why, but being angry at the immorality I see causes me to turn into a prig, at least from a writing standpoint…. Something about the formality of presenting logical arguments, and discussing serious subjects that makes it hard to stay casual in my writing style, or in my approach….. Probably, if I’d just break down and be vulgar, it would flow better…. Fuck it, I’ll try it…. eventually….

That isn’t to say that my style is always pedantic and pompous…. Hell, I’d have a hard time classifying my writing into any single category, as it tends to go all over the map, chasing off after tangential ideas, or attempting to follow some train of thought, as suggested by a group of old-school pearls. But, I do get pretty serious at times, especially when I’m ranting about the political or religious scenes we see every day, and have then a tendency to turn into a pompous old bozo…. An accurate one, but a bozo, nonetheless….

Once again, I’ve managed to blather on to such a degree as to find myself at the end of the intro section, without ever really saying anything useful, or even relatively coherent, at all…. I gotta say, it’s much less stressful when I let myself wander like this, without worrying overmuch about where it is going, or whether it is an appropriate start to the day’s effort…. Just letting it flow out seems to be getting it done, though not necessarily with any panache…. One mustn’t expect miracles, I guess, but, at least I’m not agonizing over something that seems to be unresolvable by ordinary means…. Since anything more than ordinary is too much to expect at this hour, I’m happy with whatever happens….. plus, it’s less fattening, or, so they claim…

Shall we Pearl?…..
_____________________________

It looks as though ranting may not be feasible today…. I just found a great quote, one that will eventually give me the impetus for a fairly good-sized rant on human nature, and the flaws that nature exhibits…. but, not today. I put the quote in place, and even got a decent first paragraph started, then started giggling, for some unknown, and apparently, uncontrollable reason…. I guess my spirit is rejecting all attempts to be serious today; sometimes, guys just wanna have fun, too. So, I’ll be putting together an old-school pearl, using the premise of the now-defunct rant I had begun, but, with an eye toward causing mirth rather than outrage…. Let’s see how it goes….

“Kids toot or poot. Men fart. Women pass wind. And Ladies never, EVER have gas.” — Smart Bee

Listen to the MUSTN’TS child,
Listen to the DON’TS
Listen to the SHOULDN’TS
The IMPOSSIBLES, the WON’TS
Listen to the NEVER HAVE’S
Then listen close to me-
Anything can happen, child,
ANYTHING can be.

— Shel Silverstein

“What do you call a short psychic who escapes from prison? A small medium at large.” — Smart Bee

“Is consciousness just a special form of hallucination?” — Frank Herbert

(Okay, so, not so funny, but, hey, it could be, if we put some makeup on it….)
(It’s also an interesting idea to contemplate as truth….)
(Hmm… If it IS truth, it would explain a lot of stuff about Congress, wouldn’t it?….)

“The SAME WAVE keeps coming in and COLLAPSING like a rayon MUU-MUU..” — Zippy the Pinhead

Okay, well, that’s just about perfect, for a five-star pearl, but I see it’s a bit dense…. Rather impenetrable, actually, so I’ll add a couple of clarification quotes….

“I don’t care what is written about me so long as it isn’t true.” — Dorothy Parker

“About them unfinished sentences and what they should be. And them subjects and objects which ought. Never no way should they not. Sometimes it is that they are and other times they aren’t. I took the Evelyn Woods Speed Reading Course and don’t know where I put it. Anyway, a sentence should always be.” — Smart Bee

Well, I don’t believe I can make it any clearer than that…. If it still isn’t gelling for you, don’t fret, it won’t be on the Quiz…..
_____________________________

Happy who in his verse can gently steer
From grave to light, from pleasant to severe.

— Nicholas Boileau-Despreaux (1636-1711) — The Art of Poetry, Canto i, Line 75

Aye, happy indeed, would he be…. Nothing new leaking out of my head so far today, so, we’ll go classic….

A Bard’s Epitaph

Is there a whim-inspired fool,
Owre fast for thought, owre hot for rule,
Owre blate to seek, owre proud to snool,
Let him draw near;
And owre this grassy heap sing dool,
And drap a tear.

Is there a bard of rustic song,
Who, noteless, steals the crowds among,
That weekly this area throng,
O, pass not by!
But, with a frater-feeling strong,
Here, heave a sigh.

Is there a man, whose judgment clear
Can others teach the course to steer,
Yet runs, himself, life’s mad career,
Wild as the wave,
Here pause-and, thro’ the starting tear,
Survey this grave.

The poor inhabitant below
Was quick to learn the wise to know,
And keenly felt the friendly glow,
And softer flame;
But thoughtless follies laid him low,
And stain’d his name!

Reader, attend! whether thy soul
Soars fancy’s flights beyond the pole,
Or darkling grubs this earthly hole,
In low pursuit:
Know, prudent, cautious, self-control
Is wisdom’s root.

~~ Robert Burns ~~

_____________________________

“A heart is not judged by how much you love but by how much you are loved by others.” — The Wizard of Oz

I spend a lot of time addressing what I call a flaw in human nature, without ever completely putting my finger exactly on the point I’m seeking to grasp, or to have y’all grasp, whatever… The point is, this flaw is one of choice, one that each person must decide within themselves, about how they will view life, and how they will approach living, especially concerning how they live with others, including animals, and our planet at large, which needs to be considered in any question of survival as a species. I see the flaw as most obvious in those people who end up in positions of authority, but it is a flaw that all of us have, to some degree, that concerns me, because it is the one that will ultimately seal our fate, as individuals, and as a species….

The above quote can be considered as the diametric opposite of the flaw, as it manifests in us. If one holds the above as true, then acting in a manner that will cause any loss or pain to another would be acting against that belief. In order to take advantage of another person, or thing, a human must first view that person, or thing, as being less important than they themselves consider themselves to be, by whatever standards are applied. By doing so, it objectifies the person, or animal, making it easier to detach emotions from anything done to them… In short, these people, who exhibit the flaw of choosing self over not-self, in all situations, consciously and deliberately decide to cause harm to others in order to achieve their own ends, and don’t feel any compunction, or guilt, about doing so, as they feel justified, by whatever rationalizations they have adopted….

This ability to disconnect from others is one of the most common features one observes in those people who make politics a career…. It is also commonly seen in certain professions, which, because of the key importance to people who need their services, tend to attract this type of personality, as such jobs offer many opportunities to take advantage of other people’s misery and trouble…. professions such as lawyer, preacher, doctor, judge, or any other areas that provide key services to people, that deal with situations that affect their lives and well-being…. These professions all provide sociopathic personalities with ample opportunities to carry out their agendas in life, which are focused on increasing their own control of resources, and power over other people….

Over time, these folks have gotten very good at what they do, and the whole world is now organized in such a way that almost everyone accepts the idea that there is no other better way to do things than the way they are being done… Any ideas to the contrary are either buried by those in positions of authority, or are ignored, or made superfluous by the construction of imaginary enemies…. Every time I hear from a government official that I should be afraid of someone who wants to kill us, or take away our rights and homes, I start to wonder just what it is they are trying to distract me from thinking about, or paying attention to….

You see, I make the automatic assumption, when ANY government source speaks, whether an elected official, or an official spokesperson, that that person is lying to me…. If the lies are not directly untrue material, then the lie is in what is NOT said, or in what is behind whatever they are speaking of, which, I always assume, means little or nothing beyond its intent to distract or befuddle me. Once that assumption is made, that the truth is not being told, then it becomes much easier to determine just what it is they are trying to do…. and, I find that what I see is never to the advantage of the public….

“DON’T STEAL – The government hates competition.” — Smart Bee

Actually, this sounds as if George Carlin might have said it; I know he had a short comment on why one couldn’t have the Ten Commandments displayed in courthouses; he believed it was because you couldn’t have all those exhortations against lying, cheating, and stealing around so many politicians and lawyers, as it would make for an uncomfortable work environment…. He saw exactly what I am talking about in society, and pointed it out clearly, and with sublime sarcasm, for all of us to see…..

Unfortunately, most folks don’t realize how close to the truth all of his assertions were, any more than most people know that the government lies to them on a regular basis, often, it seems, just to keep in practice. For those of us who DO see what is going on, it gets to be a challenge not to go around just slapping people left and right…. but, that doesn’t make any friends, and can lead to jail time if one isn’t careful…. Besides, nobody listens anyway, and even a two-by-four won’t make someone listen, if they don’t want to…..

I guess the Firesign Theater had it right, when they claimed we are all Bozos on this Bus….. It’s too bad that only clowns and comedians are the ones who seem to know what is going on in the world, because nobody votes for the clowns…. Hmm…. maybe we could get some of the comedians to run for office?…. It’s worth a shot…..

“He who laughs, lasts.” — Mary Pettibone Poole
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I feel better, even if I already know I’m shouting into the wind…. and, that’s what this blogging is all about, for me. If the NSA don’t like it, fuck ’em…. Assholes….(Occasionally, I am influenced by an imp, sometimes dangerously…. Today, he advises me that if I really want to grab the attention of the NSA, I should put the two words together, so they can’t miss the allusion…. which, I think, is brilliant, so, here…. NSA-Assholes….)

I have a feeling I’ll be ranting more in the next few days; some of the stuff I’m seeing in the news is disturbing my equilibrium, and I’m going to have to vent some of it, so, be warned…. Let’s see how today’s effort came out…..  I guess I I ended up in a state where I COULD be serious, but, at least I tied in the humorous aspects of the serious material…. Not too shabby, all in all, and certainly worth a moment or two of anyone’s time and mental energy…. Well, I think so, and that’s what counts for this purpose, if not for yours….

Don’t worry, none of what you’ve read today is toxic, unless, of course, you are heavily invested in maintaining that all is right with the world…. You Pollyanna, you…. Take that!… And, that!…. Oh, sorry, got carried away by the urge to be in a cartoon…. I suppose I’d best be going now….. Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you….

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid

dozer3

Further examples of filial chicanery….

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Ffolkes,

As some of y’all may have noted, yesterday’s Pearl was disrupted by Reality, whereas today’s will be characterized by Fantasy, or a reasonable facsimile thereof….The most pertinent item I recall seems to be the unexpected increase in planetary gravity that hit about 2 PM yesterday…. Didn’t you notice? It seemed quite significant to me;  I had been struggling all day to keep upright, as the normally severe sucking power of our planet pulled at me constantly, no matter what I was doing…. sitting, standing, walking, typing, driving, all of it seemed harder, as if I were swimming through heavy syrup, or wearing extra bags of sand or something…. By eight o’clock at night, I was exhausted from the effort to remain a simian of the modern variety, standing upright like a true hominid….

And, then, I woke up…. t’was a new day dawning, turning the blues and grays of the morning sky to a pale pinkish blue, lifting spirits along with hopes, unbidden. All the bad, mad stuff that filled the last days was gone, banished to wherever such things go when pinned with the light of day, and I am once again filled with piss and vinegar, so to speak, ready for whatever the new day will bring. Of course, being an inveterate planner, I already know what will happen today, at least, according to my schedule, but, Murphy has a tendency to ignore my schedules in favor of his own, with mine usually ending up in the trash, while I adjust to his…. the asshole….

I’m up at my usual hour, and intend to write as usual…. Intentions aren’t always enough, though, so we’ll see how it goes today. It has to be better than it was the last two days, which, even sans the kind attentions of the Murph, I spent in the dumps, thanks to the gift that keeps on giving (PTSD). I’m all better now, having thrown off the unreasoning sense of anxiety that pervaded my conscious mind, and gone beyond whatever it was that triggered the episode…. Once more, I am completely in the dark as to what that might be; I do wish I could figure it out, as it is a pain in the ass, and if I knew how to block its ascent into my consciousness, I would do so in a heartbeat…. Until I do, I am at the mercy of whatever it is, destined to fall into despair in an instant, never knowing why….

Ah well, so what else is new? Life with PTSD goes on, as I said, yesterday, sort of, if we don’t hang on to it too tight, and I’m determined NOT to grip it tightly enough to hold it in its place…. If you see me doing so, please tickle me, or throw some water, or something to let me know, as I’m done with feeling bad for no good reason…. It’s a waste of time I could use to be doing something more constructive….. Of course, writing this blog may or may not fall precisely into that category, but, it’s what I do, so deal…. And, speaking of what I do….  Shall we Pearl?
_____________________________

“One of the merits of democracy is quite obvious: it is perhaps the most charming form of government ever devised by man.  The reason is not far to seek.  It is based on propositions that are palpably not true — and what is not true, as everyone knows, is always immensely more fascinating and satisfying to the vast majority of men than what is true.” — H. L. Mencken

With this statement, Mr. Mencken has put his finger on the pulse of America, that is for certain. It goes a long way toward explaining why so many people in this country are so willing to believe the outright, egregious lies that are told to them every single day by the officials they elect every year at the polls that characterize our republic…. They do lie, you know, with almost every statement that comes out of their mouths…. They begin with the most important lie they tell, from which all the others spring, and that is the lie they tell when they tell you that they want to be elected so they can work for YOU! Each and every politician learns early in their career, if they are at all to be successful, they MUST portray themselves as a public-spirited, honest, and tireless worker whose only purpose is to make life better for their constituents….

Of course, nothing could be further from the truth…. NONE of them are at all concerned with any of that nonsense; they are there to carry out their own agenda, which has very little to do with what is good for the general run of mankind…. No, they are there to serve the interests of the men and women who pay them, those lobbyists and special interest representatives who run the businesses of the corporate masters.

The people on the street cannot provide them with the perks, or the cash, that the clandestine rulers are able to come up with, other than peripherally, by electing them in the first place…. Once elected, their true colors come out into the light of day, and it can be easily seen how their actions are never congruent with what they have promised to the people who elected them….

It’s all about power and money to these folks, not service. In my entire life of observing politics around the world, I have yet to see a single elected official who could be shown to be honest, not at the national level. The one who came the closest was Jimmy Carter, and his presidency was marked by how little got done, because he was so honest that the true politicians in Congress blocked every reform he tried to institute during his time in office. His actions during that time showed him to be the exception to the usual rule for politicians, which is why, I believe, he was so ineffective as a legislator….

“Invest in America — Buy Japan!”– Smart Bee

Other than Carter, I have seen concrete proof that EVERY President of this country has lied to the American people, not just once or twice, but continuously, about nearly everything. Time and time again, public outcries are heard or seen in the news about some new revelation regarding something some politician lied about, just like it is breaking news or something, when it is actually the normal state of affairs….

I don’t know why it is, but if a man on a TV set, wearing a suit and tie, makes a statement to the public, the general public will believe it, sometimes fanatically, without ever examining it for whether or not it is true… Then, when it turns out they were lied to, they get all upset and vocalize their displeasure, never once admitting it was their own cupidity that allowed the lie to occur in the first place…. It makes me wonder what happened to people in this country, to make them go soft in the head….

“Doctors are the same as lawyers; the only difference is that lawyers merely rob you, whereas doctors rob you and kill you too.” — Anton Chekhov

Did you ever notice how many politicians were lawyers, first? Most of them, as it turns out, for the simple reason that learning to be a lawyer gives a politician two advantageous types of training… One advantage is that law school teaches the student how to lie in every imaginable way, in order to ascertain which kinds of lies are legal…. The other advantage is their primary motivation….

If asked, a very large percentage of lawyers will tell you their reason for becoming a barrister in the first place is that it is a good way to get rich, ( without mentioning, of course, that this is true only as long as one doesn’t give a shit about other people, and what that might do to them)…. In other words they make their money by taking advantage of people’s misery, holding them as hostages against their own destiny, in order to gain resources, i.e. money, and its sidekick, power…..

Then the lawyers realize that their training is perfect for politics…. The ability to lie with facility comes in very handy to anyone who wants to be in the public eye, as that is how one gets elected in the first place…. Tell people what they want to hear, and they will vote for you, every time, coming back to the same trough to eat, even though they get screwed, time after time…. Having the facility to ignore what happens to others, due to their own actions, is the other skill so important to the political set, and the training one receives as a lawyer fits right into that category….

“Watching the democratic party in a presidential contest is like watching a washing machine with a defective bearing:  It starts up smoothly enough, but soon, it begins to wobble and shake, jumping violently from place to place, until it tears itself to pieces, spewing dirty laundry all over the room.” –Smart Bee

Some people will say that there ARE some good lawyers out there, and I won’t argue that…. but, they’re still lawyers, not politicians, aren’t they? They’re doing what they can to help ffolkes find their way through the morass of our legal system to get what they need, even occasionally finding some justice…. But, they aren’t going further, and going into public service, are they? They’re still in place, where they can help, but, they are so few and far between, they are hard to find, and so are very busy, seldom having the time or resources to work against their less honest colleagues. Plus, they really are very few in number, as altruists seldom become lawyers in the first place….

I can see that this has evolved into a full scale rant, and we’ve just begun the day, so I’ll call a halt here. I often feel as if I’m preaching to the choir, anyway, when I go through this stuff again…. It’s all familiar material around here, so it isn’t as if I’m presenting new ideas for your examination…. No, this is all old stuff, and, sadly, doesn’t seem to ever create the outrage that I feel in very many other ffolkes… which is too bad…..  I forget who said that “if you keep on doing things the same ways as you always have, things will always be the way they’ve always been….”, but, they were absolutely correct…. We are on a path to our own destruction, clearly, but, nobody seems to care…

Nobody, that is, who seems able to DO anything about it, and they are the ones who will need to make the changes….. The people in authority over the rest of us are wearing blinders in this respect…. The idea that what they are doing is wrong, and will eventually kill us all, doesn’t fit into their world-view, so they won’t believe it, and will continue to refuse to make any of the changes needed to re-direct our steps onto a path less dangerous.

It is up to the rest of us to get it done, and that may entail overthrowing the current crop of rulers, either by the vote, or by the less agreeable option of using the necessary force, while making sure the new crop will act in OUR best interests, rather than their own…. If it does happen, it will be the first time in history, which is fine with me…. just as long as it is not the LAST time in history….

“… democracy is not something you believe in, or a place you hang your hat, but it’s something you do.  You participate.  If you stop doing it, democracy crumbles and falls apart.” — Abby Hoffman
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At least one poem that has been marinating in my head has leaked out this morning, as I suspected it might….. I’m not sure where it came from, or what I should do with it, but, here it is…. any suggestions?….. Be nice, now…. I ain’t Yeats, but, I’ve done worse, too….

A Dubiously Soft Morning

Idiosyncratic images, clamoring for regard,
fill up the white, white screen on which I view
my life, never seeing, nor invited to sup
ambrosial remnants of anything new.

Still, but almost in motion, allegory sails away
bobbing gently, quick and easy to find,
signs of one happy child, seriously at play,
blissfully immersed, focused joy in mind.

Formidable cries of outraged simple justice
echo plaintive relevance, in half the time.
Maladaptive infants, destined for hospice
salvage an only child, daring to sing in rhyme.

Creativity equals unquestioning farce,
often reaching for absurdity, brazenly afire.
Instead, a blow is felt that no joy will soften,
accepting the price, added to the cost of desire.

~~ gigoid ~~

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“The belief that there is only one truth and that oneself is in possession of it seems to me the deepest root of all evil that is in the world.” — Max Born, physicist

I like this, mostly because of its clarity and brevity of expression…. It’s perfect no-frills wisdom, with no ups and no extras, all you need for enlightenment in one short, pithy phrase. It also exposes the basic untruth of the mindset against which Thomas Aquinas warned, when he cautioned us to “Beware the man of one book.” I often wonder how the Church scholars managed to rationalize that statement into their set of dogmatic rules, and still canonize Saint Thomas as one of the icons of their faith; this statement is so diametrically opposed to all they teach, how did it become his entry into sainthood, with all the perks that involves, like, I don’t know, what, a better seat at holy dinners?

Any who, all sarcastic smirking aside, it doesn’t make sense, but, then, most of what I have heard and read about the more popular Christian religious sects doesn’t make much sense, either…. People seem to find it compelling, though, and manage to invest a lot of time and energy fulfilling whatever agenda items having those beliefs will engender.

“History does not record anywhere at any time a religion that has any rational basis. Religion is a crutch for people not strong enough to stand up to the unknown without help. But, like dandruff, most people do have a religion and spend time and money on it and seem to derive considerable pleasure from fiddling with it.” — Lazarus Long

These, to me, are the folks who find it easier to go through life allowing what other people believe determine their own thoughts and feelings, as it is less troublesome for them to have someone else do it for them, than making the effort to understand the world on their own….. I suppose it’s okay, for them, to allow this, but, for me, it would drive me crazy in no time at all to try to believe some of what they would have me believe, because A) It doesn’t make any sense, and B) the assertions made, aside from the fantastic unbelievability of their nature, are offered without any evidence of their veracity, no proof of their actual truth. Given just those two requirements of mine for accepting something as true, none of what I heard in church makes the slightest bit of sense…

But, for well over two thousand years, this church, along with two or three competing churches, with slightly altered versions of the same set of beliefs on the same subject, has attempted to dominate human existence, saying it has the ONLY answers to the eternal questions, to wit: Is there a God? and, if so, What is He/She/It like?…. Simplistic, I know, but, an accurate paraphrased summarization, I think…. Honest, anyway, right? I mean, when one strips down the basic ideas to their bare bones, they sound ridiculous; then, when one sees there is also no real, incontrovertible proof of any of it, beyond logical constructions based on assumptions not proven, they become simply unbelievable, to my way of thinking….

Of course, one must actually THINK about this stuff, and not just assume it is true…. even what I’m saying should be examined for its own veracity…. I think all I need to do to offer proof of most of my assertions is point to either some part of reality, which generally proves without question what is real, or to something in the news that demonstrates the fallibility of what the churches offer as their dogma, which is legion. Then, once the information has been presented, it must be examined for it’s connections to what is real, in order to be able to determine for sure that it IS or IS NOT true…. Sadly, in my experience, most people skip that last step entirely, preferring to go along with what they’ve been told since they were little, because to examine it, one must first accept the possibility of being wrong in the first place…. and, that they are not willing to do….

That is the simple truth folks, no matter how much anyone tries to deny it. Reality determines what is true, not belief, or faith, and nothing anyone can say or do will ever change that simple fact of reality. There are no magic bullets, so, if we want to have magic in our lives, we have to make it ourselves, which leaves out the possibility of depending on anything in nature to do so for us, no matter how much we want it to be so, or how strongly we maintain our faith in what is unreal…. As some other philosopher has stated, “Just because a million people believe something is so, doesn’t make it so…. A lie is still a lie, even if a lot of people believe it…….. or, more colorfully…..

“If you call a dog’s tail a leg, how many legs does the dog have? Four. Calling a tail a leg, doesn’t make it a leg.” — Abraham Lincoln

So, spare me, please, the sermons, and pitying looks, because, quite frankly, the concept of Heaven bores me to tears; it sounds as if the Angel Satan throws a better party, and doesn’t expect his acolytes to curry favor…. plus, they never expect him not to lie to them, as he is right up front about it….

“I would rather be ashes than dust!  I would rather that my spark should burn out in a brilliant blaze than it should be stifled by dry-rot. I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet.  The proper function of man is to live, not to exist.  I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them.  I shall use my time.” — Jack London, Jack London’s Tales of Adventure
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Such an outburst! I can see that I am right to write every day…. This stuff tends to build up if I go too long without letting it out, and there’s no telling what kind of harm THAT may cause to the space-time continuum…. Let’s see if it reads half as well as it flowed out….. Hmph, well, I think that the Pulitzer committee may want to stand down, but, it’s better than most Pearls, all in all, and it’s all freshly made stuff, so, so be it….  WYSIWYG, today, anyway…. Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you….

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid

dozer3

Mostly, folks LIKE big portions….

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Ffolkes,

Life does go on, if we just let it do so without holding on too tight…. I managed to get through yesterday’s bout of depression, aided ably by my son, who called just to make sure I was okay, which made me cry, but this time in a good way…. I really am proud of the way he has turned out. In spite of the difficulties his life has presented him (some of which were his doing, but, most of which was not….), he remains a generous, caring, compassionate individual, and is living his life with honor, for the sake of his own son. He’s working at three jobs right now, since the modern business model refuses to hire people full time anymore, but still has the time and energy to worry about his old man…. It was definitely an uplifting call…

Today, I am much less bothered by my unwanted feelings of fear and angst; my only tears today are the result of good thoughts and feelings. Strange, how one day can make such a difference in our world; if I didn’t know better, I’d suspect myself of being human, and therefore subject to the whims of Father Time….. Oh, wait, that’s right, I am human, and Father Time laughs at me just as often as he does at anyone, and quite possibly, he laughs harder.

I don’t know if it hits everyone the same way it does me, but this aging process is giving me fits, at least part of the time. Add in the emotional lability to the mix of crap (sorry, couldn’t find the Thesaurus to find the exact right word…. ‘crap’ will do, though….) that aging brings us, and it all gets even more muddled up….

This Pearl is liable to be late getting posted, as I must leave soon to take milady to an appointment, and won’t get back to this for a while…. I could cheat, I suppose, but, after yesterday’s unexpected melt-down, I feel a need to produce a fresher product, without resorting completely to archived material, which is probably better than what I can come up with today, but, seems too much like giving up, or giving in, to my baser impulses, which I do far too often already. One must have a certain degree of honesty with self, or life just isn’t worth living…

Well, it’s like that for those of us raised by master-sergeants, anyway… I can’t say I see the same degree of self-honesty in many of our public figures, whom I suspect are often less than honest, with themselves, and even more often, with us….. Hell, I don’t suspect them of lying, I am sure they are lying to us; I was just trying to be discrete, but, what the hell, they’re up front with the lies, so I’ll be up front in pointing them out whenever I see them…. It keeps me off the streets, and gives me something relatively harmless to do, right?….

I’m blathering again, and meandering, but, hey, that’s what seems to work best here in the intro section. It seems obvious by now that I’m never going to get the hang of it, nor am I going to find a template that can be used every day; that would be too easy, and I’ve come to realize that Murphy is never going to allow that to happen. So, I’m becoming inured to the embarrassment, and calloused about the overall effect on the world at large. It’s just the way it is, and will have to remain, so I, and, concomitantly, you all, will just have to deal with it, because it’s not going to change anytime soon…. Well, not as long as I keep blogging, and who knows how long that will go on? I don’t, so, chances are, it will continue, until, as they are fond of saying in the military, they find someone better, or I’m dead….

Shall we Pearl?…..
_____________________________

“One of the merits of democracy is quite obvious: it is perhaps the most charming form of government ever devised by man.  The reason is not far to seek.  It is based on propositions that are palpably not true — and what is not true, as everyone knows, is always immensely more fascinating and satisfying to the vast majority of men than what is true.” — H. L. Mencken

What a beautiful beginning for a rant…. too bad it will have to wait another day….. please see the last section for an explanation, of sorts….
_____________________________

Theres no poem here…. you may be wondering why, and I will say this… see below….
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“The belief that there is only one truth and that oneself is in possession of it seems to me the deepest root of all evil that is in the world.” — Max Born, physicist

Another fine start for a dissertation on a particular religion, but, one that will have to wait, again…. I will reiterate…. see below, please….
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So, here’s what happened… I wrote the intro, and was done at 0730 this morning, whereupon I left to go take care of the business for the day….. As it turned out, that kept me busy, and/or distracted, enough to keep me from finishing this missive…. so, it has to wait until morning…. Rather than worry ffolkes who might wonder what became of me after yesterday, I’m posting this late, for any who care to peruse what is here…. I did like the into, section, after a fashion, and as much as I ever do, so, instead of throwing it out, here it is, in all its glory…. Tomorrow, I promise, I will have a fresh, complete Pearl of Virtual Wisdom for your delectation and elucidation….  Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you….

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid

dozer3

A maelstrom of multitasking clerics….

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Ffolkes,

I seem to have come up against some sort of wall with my writing in the last few weeks. I’m finding it harder each morning to get myself out of bed to begin, although the sheer habit of routine does compel me to pull myself up eventually, such as now…. Today, it is almost 0800, and I’m just beginning to think about what to write about today….. I’m guessing that even my prolific brain has a finite limit to how much it can produce, which now can be seen to lie at about one and a half million words, more or less…. That’s as close as I can figure, going by the average number of words per day, times slightly more than 760 posted blogs….

In looking over the last few posts, I see that my content has become a bit redundant; I’m relying on old-school pearls more, and ranting less. This has to do with living with less stress, I’m sure, but, the lack of angst isn’t helping me to produce the outrage I need to get vituperative enough for the purpose at hand, which is to chastise and indict those among us in society who are selfish in working toward their own agendas, not caring how it affects other people, or the world at large, as long as they get what they want.

I do this because the greatest number of those people are those who have sought public office in our world, and their shenanigans (for lack of a more angry word….) are going to kill us all if we don’t do something about it….. (It also gives me a chance to write long, wordy, incredibly boring sentences such as the one in the previous paragraph, that cover far too many subjects at one time, and would be better off just not existing at all, but, then what would I do, to keep myself interested in getting up each day? And, you’ll please note, the sentence just prior to this one is one of the same variety….  Whew, breathe, Ned, breathe…. Sorry, I get carried away, once I’ve had a couple sips of coffee….)

I’ve been looking at the world, and what happens in it, for a long time now, since just before I left home for college. For many years, I kept a lot of what I thought about things to myself, mostly, as it seemed to always provoke arguments or discussions of a passionate nature that never led to good outcomes; it was better in a social sense to not discuss either politics (the participants of which I hold to be primarily responsible for the mess we are in….), or religion (whose proponents and acolytes I hold to have the secondary responsibility, though only by a small margin, for the rest of our problems as a society….).

I’m not alone in my hesitation to discuss those subjects; everybody alive seems to have strong opinions on them, one way or another, and each is highly protective, and overly emotional, to my way of thinking, about all of it….. Investing one’s emotions in what is happening out in the real world is, in my experience, a sure way to have those feelings ripped apart, or turned upside down, or, in general, abused until they surrender, and either strike out, or turn within to hide….

Neither of those solutions is very practical, or comfortable, so I’ve learned to keep my emotional state separate from, and, thus, immune to the depredations of the discussion of politics and/or religion, at least, and am slow to hold any such talks in person…. Here, on this blog, I found the outlet for all the anger and frustration that builds up over time, anger at the selfishness of the politicians, and frustration at the insistent delusional support they receive from the preachers.

Each of them, in this country, and in my estimation, have lost sight of the intent our forefathers had when they created the separation of state and church that characterizes our form of government. These entities have worked, tirelessly, ever since the signing of the  Constitution, to undermine that principle, and turn our semi-democratic republic into a church hegemony, wherein all morality, as dictated by the church, becomes law, as dictated by the politicians…..

“I admire the serene assurance of those who have religious faith. It is wonderful to observe the calm confidence of a Christian with four aces.” — Mark Twain

That idea scares me to death, every day, as I read the latest nonsense in the news about the new abortion laws in Texas and Ohio, or the Martin/Zimmerman murder trial verdict. Even worse, I read of late all the latest revelations about how extensive the spying and data mining by the government has become, without any public disclosure, until exposed, with proof, by the bravery shown by Eric Snowden, the whistleblower extraordinaire, who is now, oddly enough, seeking asylum from our “freedom loving government” in that bastion of personal freedoms, Russia, or the USSR, or whichever name the government of Moscow is using now…. So far, I haven’t seen any articles that commented on the irony of THAT situation, a failure I find to be a very telling point….

I’m not sure where I’m going with this meander…. I’m not sure how much more I have in me to say. I kept my mouth shut for 60 years, and have been spouting off pretty regularly now for close to three years… It doesn’t seem like I should be running out of stuff to say, yet, though, even given my output level, so, I suppose I’ll keep on doing this for a while longer, unless I find a more compelling activity to take up my time and energy….

Moving from our apartments into a house nearby at the end of next month will probably cause at least a short hiatus, as the internet service may not get switched over smoothly…. One never knows with modern companies just how many obstacles they’ll throw up in our way…. But, if that looks like it may happen, or if I decide to take a longer break, to take inventory of what is in my head, and heart, I’ll try to let y’all know beforehand….

Meanwhile, shall we pearl?….
_____________________________

As noted above, I’ve been depending a lot on old-school style pearls to fill in these sections…. Fortunately, Smart Bee has been cooperative, to the point of giving me just the right category of quotes needed for whatever subject I’ve decided to use as a parameter for the search…. I hope that continues with today’s first pearl, as I’m so late, I may end up eating lunch before I get around to posting…. Ah well, it will be worth it to see what I can do when I’m operating during the same hours as everyone else in the 9 to 5 world…. I hope…. Let’s see what SB has to say today….

“It could probably be shown by facts and figures that there is no distinctly native American criminal class except Congress.” — Mark Twain  Following the Equator (1897)

Oh, what a grand start! Now that we have a direction, let’s see where it takes us, shall we?….

“How do you make a cat go moo?  Ask it “Does a dog have the Buddha-nature?” — Smart Bee

Hmm…. now I’m worried….

“..  I think I’d better go back to my DESK and toy with a few common MISAPPREHENSIONS…” — Zippy the Pinhead

Aha, now I see where it’s going…. okay, here is the rest, so pay close attention, as it promises to be a good one!…..

“Moral relativism is wrong. But that’s only my opinion.” — George Jones

“Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don’t resist them – that only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality.” — Lao-Tzu

“In a republic this rule ought to be observed: that the majority should not have the predominant power.” — Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 B.C.) Roman Orator, poet, statesman — De Re Publica (54-51 B.C.)

“Is not life a hundred times too short for us to bore ourselves?” — Friedrich Nietzsche

Indeed…..
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“We don’t read and write poetry because it’s cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion. And medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for. To quote from Whitman, ‘O me! O life!… of the questions of these recurring; of the endless trains of the faithless–of cities filled with the foolish; what good amid these, O me, O life? Answer. That you are here – that life exists, and identity; that the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse.’ That the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse. What will your verse be?” — John Keating, Dead Poet’s Society

Early Observations

Until I knew there was more,
I wanted to know God.
They said he was a nice guy,
and would let me live forever.

All I had to do, they said,
was live my life for Him,
always living by scripture
cleaving only to his Way.

But, everyone I saw in church,
acted different at home.
Living wild, cussin’ and fussin’,
nobody lived like they said.

Still, I tried to be like Jesus,
he was sort of cool.
He never hurt nobody
and walked on the right path.

‘Course they killed him for that,
they couldn’t stand his example.
Turned him into a martyr,
 hid his real words among their own.

Then I found the Buddha,
and met Lao Tzu at the gate.
They saw things real different,
showed me how to see straight.

Right thought, and right action
replace blind obedience and faith.
Reality becomes manageable,
fear retreats, the universe expands.

Brother John said it pretty well,
“Imagine there’s no heaven,
it’s easy if you try.”
Sounds like he knew why.

Day to day, life is grand,
we walk in eternal beauty.
Open your eyes and hearts,
find yourself already immortal.

~~ gigoid ~~

_____________________________

Today’s intro section was long, sort of rant-like, and the poem kind of went in a similar direction, so, rather than subject y’all to another long-winded self-indulgent exposition on something I can’t change, at least, not at this moment, I’ll go with another old-school pearl, one put together with fun, or irony, or sarcasm, or humor of one category or another in mind, to use as the search parameter for inclusion…. Enjoy!….

“Dope will get you through times of no money better that money will get you through times of no dope.” — Freewheelin’ Franklin, “The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers”

“My way of joking is to tell the truth. It’s the funniest joke in the world.” — George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950)

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

“Dear Auntie Em: Hate you, hate Kansas. Goodbye. I’m taking the dog.” — Dorothy

“I don’t see no p’ints about that frog that’s any better’n any other frog.” — Mark Twain (1835-1910), The Celebrated Jumping Frog

“Everyone knows that dragons don’t exist.  But while this simplistic formulation may satisfy the layman, it does not suffice for the scientific mind.  The School of Higher Neantical Nihility is in fact wholly unconcerned with what does exist.  Indeed, the banality of existence has been so amply demonstrated, there is no need for us to discuss it any further here.  The brilliant Cerebron, attacking the problem analytically, discovered three distinct kinds of dragon: the mythical, the chimerical, and the purely hypothetical.  They were all, one might say, nonexistent, but each non-existed in an entirely different way …” — Stanislaw Lem, Cyberiad

Okay, so that one’s not so funny…. until you really stop to think about it, and what it says about human nature…. You may not see it, but I about busted a garter…. Any who, lastly, I give you…. (Alright, I heard those huge sighs of relief…. you could have waited thirty seconds, couldn’t you?…. Ah well, try to enjoy it anyway…. )

“I don’t think it would have all got me down quite so much if just once in a while- just once in a while- there was at least some polite little perfunctory implication that knowledge should lead to wisdom, and that if it doesn’t, it’s just a disgusting waste of time.” — J.D. Salinger, Franny & Zooey

Okay, so it takes a certain type of person to find Salinger’s depressive style funny, but, that’s nothing new, just perverted…. which I’ve never denied for a moment…. It’s okay, ffolkes, I don’t understand me most of the time, either…
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“I have found power in the mysteries of thought.”– Euripides

Me, too, though I doubt seriously I’ll ever achieve the lasting fame for my thoughts that Euripides can claim; should that happen, well, I’ll be mighty surprised, for a lot of reasons…. Today’s effort was more original than I had intended when I began; somewhere along the way, I forgot to care about the time, which is, I suppose, a good thing…. Be right back after proofing…. Okay, so, knowing how low my standards are, it shouldn’t surprise me to see this exceeds them…. I should be resigned to it by now, but, hey, I suppose that’s at least partly why I can still do it at all….  Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid

dozer3

Savory redemption meatballs saved the day….

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Ffolkes,

Routine is important, I think, to just about everyone, whether they know it or not. Often, I think, people don’t know just how much they depend on routines to keep their lives running smoothly, which makes it harder for them to deal, when those routines suffer unpredictable changes. What any of that has to do with this morning’s blog, I haven’t a clue, but, it sounds good, doesn’t it? Kind of classy and intelligent, as if I were some Piled High and Deep (PhD) preparing to discourse on some esoteric principle, one that is only relevant to those in a small field of scholars, and which provided the subject for a thesis nobody will ever read outside the room where the degree committee reads the papers submitted by the candidates…..

That paragraph would fit right into a thesis, too, wouldn’t you say…. pompous, obsessively wordy, and all-too-sure of its own importance, just like one of the fat cats on Wall Street…. Hmm…. I don’t know where THAT vitriol came from; it’s especially harsh for me this early, even if I were leading into a rant on the BRC and the corporate assholes who pay them. Goodness knows they deserve whatever we can give them, as they are responsible for just about ALL of the misery that is still present in the world, and will ultimately doom the entire species to an ignoble death, choking on the fumes of our own folly, gasping in pain and anguish….

I suppose that’s a bit too graphic for pre-breakfast imagery, but, what can I do? Those responsible for our state don’t give a DAMN about anyone else, and aren’t going to change; unfortunately, I don’t see the masses rising up in protest, either, as most of them don’t even realize the danger, and will believe anything told to them by some guy on TV, if he’s got the right skin color, and accent. The public is well under the control of those in power over them, and can pretty much do anything they want to do, without even having to explain. They do hand out some information, but you can be sure it has nothing to do with what they are actually up to; it is only what they wish you to hear, and believe….

I’ve had a bad habit of late, of beginning my rants right here in the intro section… which is, I see, just another evolution of routine, if I look at it in a certain way. As that will fit right in with my plan for the day (oh, you didn’t think I had a plan? Hah!….), I will now look at it that way, and declare this intro invalid, as such, and rename it “section one”, thereby removing any implications as to format, or necessary information that needs to be included. It may not make things clearer, but, it will distract you, once again, from the real issue, which, given the way things look around here today, shall remain unresolved, in the words of Poe, forevermore….

Shall we Pearl?…..
_____________________________

I got up incredibly late, for me and my routine, but, it isn’t surprising, given that I was up to almost 1 AM, dealing with a friend in near-crisis mode, requiring my input and assistance…. (a discrete way of saying, helping her deal with a screwup….) It wasn’t a particularly onerous task, but, dragged out forever, as the people involved have their own sense of time, which only narrowly resembles the one the rest of us use…. The end result was that I had to stay up, waiting to complete a call to resolve the issue, before being able to go to bed, well after midnight…. So, this Pearl may be a bit of a throw-together, a patchwork pearl, so to speak, starting with this one right here, which I’m sure you’ll enjoy…. or else…. In addition, today, as a special treat, we will have the ever popular “comments in parentheses” from yours truly, just for fun….

Teach me to feel another’s woe,
To hide the fault I see;
That mercy I to others show,
That mercy show to me.

— Alexander Pope (1688-1744) — The Universal Prayer, Stanza 10
(Hard to find a better rephrasing of the Golden Rule….)

“Morality is moral only if it is voluntary.” — Lincoln Steffens
(Well, duh!…. As if there was any other way….)

“To find a fault is easy; to do better may be difficult.” — Plutarch (46 AD-120 AD)
(Huh? What does that MEAN? Oh, right…. people are selfish, and lazy, too…. got it….)

“Time, whose tooth gnaws away everything else, is powerless against truth.” — Thomas Huxley (1825-1895)
(Hmm… Sadly, time also give the unscrupulous opportunity to hide, or color, the truth, stealing some of its power, turning it to illusion….)

Ambidextrous, adj.: Able to pick with equal skill a right-hand pocket or a left. — Ambrose Bierce, “The Devil’s Dictionary”
(As is now well known, this is a primary skill for any politician, and is becoming more popular every day among the religious hierarchies….)

“Whenever people say we mustn’t be sentimental, you can take it they are about to do something cruel.  And, if they add, we must be realistic, they mean they are going to make money out of it.” — Brigid Brophy
(Wow…. rare honesty, and a damn clear vision of reality, wouldn’t you say?…. How many times have you heard these ideas, either plainly, or in paraphrase, pass the lips of an elected official, just in the last week or two?… A lot of times, I’d wager….)

“The fundamental delusion of humanity is to suppose that I am here and you are there.” — Yasutani Roshi

I coming out…. of the parentheses, that is, not the closet, where I’ve never been….. The last one for this group had to be an excellent pearl, and, to my way of thinking, I nailed that in one…. This is a very deep statement, when you take the time to explore its depth; if not, it just sounds like a Zen koan, or some mystical obscurity designed to confuse reality. In truth, this is elemental, and a truth from which there is no real escape, no matter how strong our delusional belief……

We are all in this boat together, ffolkes; what I do is going to affect others, just as what they do will affect me…. We cannot exist in reality without this connection, and it would, indubitably, be a good thing if we would get a handle on that, and start living as if we planned to survive past the next century…. Otherwise, reality is going to step in, and destroy all our delusions at once, along with our existence as a species…. Sorry to be the bearer of the bad news, but the evidence is plain, even though nobody wants to talk about it…. SIGH….. Ah well, onward….
_____________________________

Sometimes, introduction is superfluous…..

Gold Mouths Cry

Gold mouths cry with the green young
certainty of the bronze boy
remembering a thousand autumns
and how a hundred thousand leaves
came sliding down his shoulder blades
persuaded by his bronze heroic reason.
We ignore the coming doom of gold
and we are glad in this bright metal season.
Even the dead laugh among the goldenrod.

The bronze boy stands kneedeep in centuries,
and never grieves,
remembering a thousand autumns,
with sunlight of a thousand years upon his lips
and his eyes gone blind with leaves.

~~ Sylvia Plath ~~

_____________________________

Yesterday was a wasted day, physically, due to overusing my body the day before, when I pretended I wasn’t disabled for a short, but, telling period of time. Today, I find that I am still, in spite of all my wishes to the contrary, old…. or, at least, older than I would like to be….. I’m missing my youthful strength, and the ability to do anything I asked of my body, without regard for the consequences for that entity…. I’m tougher now, of course; that’s what happens over time…. but, my body no longer can do what I ask without consequences, and those consequences seem to last longer than ever before; certainly much longer than is convenient….

Now that I’ve meandered through a totally unnecessary explanation of something that isn’t really important to anyone other than me, and perhaps my doctor, I can get around to sharing the whole reason for bringing this up at all…. Essentially, it’s all a lead-in, a hook, so to speak, to demonstrate the point of the exercise, which is to make a simple statement, to wit:  I feel lazy today….  There, I’ve said it, and you may chastise me as you see fit….. later. Right now, I’m using this little break in routine to make that statement, which fulfills all legal requirements for notifying y’all of my intention to go old-school…. Hell, the law says I could not say anything at all, but, I’m a nice guy, mostly, so, there you go….

So, here is another old-school pearl, of the random, harlequin style we all love so well…..

Pretty! in amber to observe the forms
Of hairs, or straws, or dirt, or grubs, or worms!
The things, we know, are neither rich nor rare,
But wonder how the devil they got there.

— Alexander Pope (1688-1744)  — Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot, Prologue to the Satires, Line 169

“Nothing is so firmly believed as what we least know.” — Michael de Montaigne (1533-1592) — Essays, Book i, Chap. xxxi, Of Divine Ordinances

“To rebel against a powerful political, economic, religious, or social establishment is very dangerous and very few people do it, except, perhaps, as part of a mob. To rebel against the scientific establishment, however, is the easiest thing in the world, and anyone can do it and feel enormously brave, without risking as much as a hangnail. Thus, the vast majority, who believe in astrology and think that the planets have nothing better to do than form a code that will tell them whether tomorrow is a good day to close a business deal or not, become all the more excited and enthusiastic about the bilge when a group of astronomers denounces it.” — Isaac Asimov

“I used to sit on the banks with a raft and watch the water roll lazily by. One day I pushed my raft into the shallows of the water and found the water moved swifter than I thought, but my raft was actually a little rowboat. Then, after some time, I rowed my little boat into deeper water. There were great storms, mighty winds, tremendous waves, and sometimes I felt so alone. But I have noticed my little rowboat is now a mighty ship manned by my friends and loved ones, and beautiful calm seas, warm sunny days, and nights filled with comfortable dreams always double after a storm. Now, I could never go back and sit on the bank, in fact, I search for deeper water. Such is life when lived.” — B D Gulledge

“I have known a vast quantity of nonsense talked about bad men not looking you in the face.  Don’t trust that conventional idea. Dishonesty will stare honesty out of countenance, any day in the week, if there is anything to be got by it.” — Charles Dickens

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

“There’s a tendency today to absolve individuals from moral responsibility and treat them as victims of social circumstance.  You buy that, you pay with your soul.  It’s not men who limit women, it’s not straights who limit gays, it’s not whites who limit blacks.  What limits people is lack of character.  What limits people is that they don’t have the fucking nerve or imagination to star in their own movie, let alone direct it.” — Bernard Mickey Wrangle
_____________________________

I’m feeling like the White Rabbit, so I’d best get on with this….. Well, if that won’t do it, I don’t know what will…. In that vein, and on that note, I will leave you to get on with the day…..  Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid

dozer3

Acres of discount bishops, reduced cardinals, and one used pope…..

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Ffolkes,

“I have many CHARTS and DIAGRAMS!” — Zippy the Pinhead

I don’t, but, in spite of that lack, I’m pretty sure I can make it through the day. Not that I’m saying that they wouldn’t be useful, for something or other, but, for our purposes here, which are, happily, much more mundane activities, not requiring the use of scientific paraphernalia, I don’t think we need to get that precise in our calculations. In fact, taking the time to fill them out, or in, could conceivably cause problems, and work to our disadvantage.

This, I think, is the primary reason that more ffolkes don’t use them on a regular basis, and why the market for them is often depressed. I’m sure it makes life difficult for those poor people who manufacture them for society’s use, but, it can’t be helped…. Perhaps it would be in their best interests to find a new line of work, one that isn’t quite so dependent on the current whims of society…. but, then, I’m not sure just when the market for charts and diagrams is going to get better…. Maybe they could start making lullabies, or perhaps, yogurt?…..

Don’t know why I woke up silly….. And if you try to tell me that the above wasn’t silly, I’ll slap you until you cry for your mama…. Well, okay, it could  have been sillier, but I don’t see how, really, unless we dressed Zippy up in a clown costume…. Oh, wait, he already wears a clown costume….

Okay, well, that proves it, right? Silly is as silly does, and clown costumes define the parameters, I should think. If not, they should, especially when they are covered in polka dots, like his often are… Surely, there’s nothing sillier than a gangly, pasty-white, pointy-headed dude, in need of a shave, fetchingly clad in a polka-dot clown suit, unless it’s imagining his mother and father, and how THEY might be dressed…..

Now that I’ve spoiled any appetite for breakfast you might have had, it must be time to get on with the day’s business, such as it is. I realize it isn’t of much importance to y’all, other than as a means of wasting more time before you start your own day, but, it keeps me off the streets, at least for a few hours, and the public authorities are always appreciative of that, given the extra officers they feel they have to have on patrol when I’m out and about…. I don’t know why, though; I haven’t eaten anyone in years….. They get SO nervous and worked up, just because of a few youthful indiscretions….

Be sure, however, that period of my life is in the past, to stay; my diet these days is much more exotic, as I now stick to political pundits and religious dogmatists for the greater part my nourishment; they’re much less of a loss to society than your average man on the street, and, with generous amounts of mustard and cheese, can be quite tasty…. yum! Almost as good as a corporate elitist, or one of those savory military-industrialists, glazed with sugar and cinnamon….. Throw in the occasional sautéed police commander, and I’m a happy gourmand….

Hmm…. okay, you tell me…. Did that cross the line of good taste? It’s hard to tell, in the case of those assholes I consider responsible for the mess the world is in…. I mean, they have no compunctions about screwing over the rest of us, just so they can think of themselves as one of the elite, to whom the rules don’t apply. Why should I worry about offending them?

Essentially, I don’t, and I don’t care much what they, or anyone else, for that matter, thinks about it…. As long as they are out there, actively making decisions that affect the entire world based on their own perverted sense of entitlement, then I’ll feel no qualms about taking the odd shot or two at them, whenever I feel like it…. Fuck ’em, if they can’t take a joke….

On that note, shall we Pearl?…..

“If you’re going to tell people the truth, be funny or they’ll kill you.” — Billy Wilder

(Okay, NOW I’m officially worried…..)
_____________________________

The quote above is what I call a ‘settlefer’, because that is what I did…. settled fer it. It does fit, though, so it can stay…. Below you will find…. well, I don’t know, yet, what you’ll find, as I have yet to pick them out…. Let’s just say that I think you’ll like it, and leave it at that…. Nothing I seem to come up with to say about these harlequin style pearls ever seems to quite make the grade, accuracy-wise, so I’ll just trust to fate, and the inherent integrity of Smart Bee, to make it worthwhile…. it usually works…. Let’s see what we can find….

“The mind is not a vessel to be filled but a fire to be kindled.” — Plutarch

“If Stupidity got us into this mess, then why can’t it get us out?” — Will Rogers (1879-1935)

“I figure that if God actually does exist, He’s big enough to understand an honest difference of opinion.”  – Isaac Asimov

“In a philosophical dispute, he gains most who is defeated, since he  learns most.” — Epicurus

“Take away the right to say ‘fuck’ and you take away the right to say ‘fuck the government.'” — Lenny Bruce

Hmm… not too shabby at all….. I should leave it there, as it is quite perfect as it is, but, I’m an incurable meddler, when it comes to pearls, anyway…. Two more ought to round it out nicely, I think….

“Why did Nature create man? Was it to show that she is big enough to make mistakes, or was it pure ignorance?” — Holbrook Jackson

“In heaven all the interesting people are missing.” — Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

Alright, now you can slap me…. I’ll even hold your coat…. Sorry, couldn’t resist, but, at least it’s done for the day, eh? (Practicing my Canadian dialect…. or would that be the Canadian Dialectic?…. Eh?….)
_____________________________

The poem I have percolating is still doing just that, so, once more, I turn to one of the masters, with a poem that appeals to me, if for no other reason than the title…. as previously noted, I am easily entertained….

Another Song Of A Fool

This great purple butterfly,
In the prison of my hands,
Has a learning in his eye
Not a poor fool understands.

Once he lived a schoolmaster
With a stark, denying look;
A string of scholars went in fear
Of his great birch and his great book.

Like the clangour of a bell,
Sweet and harsh, harsh and sweet.
That is how he learnt so well
To take the roses for his meat.

~~ William Butler Yeats ~~

_____________________________

I’m not feeling lazy, but, I AM feeling lazy, so I’m dipping into the past to come up with today’s third section…. It has been some time since I posted this, which I try to do at least once a year, to keep new ffolkes apprised of my history, and provide some background for the stuff I write here…. some of the back story, as it were…. So, here is my philosophy of Life, and some of the rationalizations that prompted its creation….. Though Peruaosophy originally was composed in the 1980’s, this article was posted on the site, GoodBlogs.com, sometime in early 2011, prior to starting this blog on WordPress….

Birds Do It, Bees Do It
So Do I…

    In the dim, dark past, when I was, sort of, attending college at UC Berkeley, (1968-70) discussing philosophy was standard in many of the BS sessions in which I participated. In order to not be thought of as someone who was ignorant in the field, I naturally read the classic tomes by such philosophers as Friedrich Nietzsche, Soren Kirkegaard, Plato, Socrates, Epicurius, Solon, and Jung, as well as more modern folks, such as Bucky Fuller, Sartre, and John Lennon (yes, him too…his philosophy tends to lean way to the left…).

One day later on, sometime in the 80’s, I was involved in learning to raise kids, deal with a wife, and in general going quietly crazy trying to balance all the balls one must keep in the air to get by in today’s world. As I sat this particular day, it struck me how long it had been since I stretched my mind. It seemed as if I’d been buried in mundane details forever, and upon examination & reflection I decided I wanted to expand my consciousness, using the flight of imagination to lift me above the everyday cares and woes to which I had fallen prey. And I found, as well, that I had been unconsciously acting according to many of the precepts that I had learned in those halcyon days of my youth.

Encouraged by this revelation, I went one step further, and made the decision to codify my own personal philosophy, to put down in writing those things that I consider to be essential to becoming a well-grounded, well-rounded, productive and contented member of society. The process went more quickly than I had imagined, and I came up with seven basic concepts, all of which I hold to be an integral part of what I believe. Axiom #4 was added later as a necessary part of the whole, overlooked in the initial version, bringing the total number of axioms to eight.

The word I coined to describe this philosophy is Greek; “perua” means “pearl”, and of course, “osophy” is “the study of”.  Thus I give you Peruaosophy, the study of pearls of wisdom. Each axiom stands alone, and together they describe fairly well how I approach Life…..

Peruaosophy

The wisdom of pearls…
(The world is my oyster; which way to the pearls?)

Axioms

1)  I think I am; that’s close enough.

2) The nature of the Universe is Change.  Unpredictable, innovative
transformation of Reality is the Norm. If you have a problem with this, you’re in for a rough ride in Life.

3) Thou art God, you know.  Let’s do lunch.

4) Excellence is its own reward.

5) Girls think differently.  So do boys.  Don’t fight it.

6) Axiom #2 X axiom #5 = And God so loved the world, He said,
“Quit whining!”

7) Do your Duty.   Respect Life.   Honor the Truth.   Share your Love.

8)  Go back.  Everything you need to know is in the first seven axioms.

~~ gigoid ~~

_____________________________

Well, don’t I feel like an infinite number of monkeys with typewriters?!….. Well, at least it isn’t Shakespeare….. Let’s see how it holds up to scrutiny of the relatively easy sort….. All I can honestly say is that it’s a good thing I like my standards down where they are, and they’re getting used to the smell, so…. we’ll take it, and run….. Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid

dozer3

Entirely too much fun for one penguin….

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Ffolkes,
We made it, and now are happily sailing along the coast of the great Northwest, somewhere near Oregon or Washington, perhaps, headed for the Inside Passage. Not much scenery as yet, we’re a bit far from shore, and from the sea, one can see the effects of pollution, as most of the coastline we are passing is covered in a light to heavy haze, and it isn’t fog….. But, the water is calm, the sky is blue, and the food is plentiful…. Score!

This promises to be a wonderful trip, though I may not be as able to post as much as I did from Europe…. I’ve already realized that this time, I’m not alone, and my time isn’t as flexible as when I am…. I have to say, I am much happier with Patricia here with me than I was traveling alone, and not just because I love her, but because it means I can share all the good times….

That’s really all I have right now…. I’ve gotten my internet hookup done, and shouldn’t have a problem there, but, I’m not yet sure about the email version of the Pearls. This new computer is balking at installing Thunderbird, the email browser I normally use, so I may have to access it all online, which I am not sure will work for posting… I can access my yahoo mail, though, so contact is possible, just reduced…. Ah well, travel makes it all a bit more complicated, but, is well worth it…..

That’s all I really have to say today… I don’t have a rant, and I’m having too much fun to break away to write just now, so, I’m afraid y’all will have to wait for fresh material until tomorrow…. For today, I’ll merely dip into the archives for a couple of old school pearls, and find a nice, tasty poem…. Shall we Pearl?….
_________________________

Rather than an old-school pearl, I found this rant, from election day in 2012…. it’s a good one….

“Americans have the right and advantage of being armed – unlike the citizens of other countries whose governments are afraid to trust the people with arms.” — James Madison

I found this yesterday; I’d seen it before, and it seemed serendipitous that it showed up just in time for the event today (psst!…. go vote!….). In my mind, a good standard for figuring out if a person is a true patriot is to get their take on the Second Amendment, and the idea of gun control by the government. As I’ve stated before, I believe the risk of letting the government restrict our rights in this regard, IN ANY WAY, can only lead to the eventual loss of the right altogether, and that is an event that is completely unacceptable to me. Yes, it means that the world will be a dangerous place, but, guess what, ffolkes, that is something that happened a long time before guns. Taking them away from the general populace is not going to stop mass killings, or unjust, insane use of guns against innocent people. That occurs on a daily basis, anyway, but with the guns in the hands of police officers; that is a fact….. So, don’t tell me that the government is more qualified to use guns than I am, because that is just stupid….

Now that I’ve insulted many of you, we’ll try to go on to the election…. didn’t mean to get off into a rant on that, but, wanted to get it out of the way, so that the discussion may go on to other ways that the government is, quite simply, fucking us left and right…. George Carlin had a lot of good points about the corporate masters and their lackeys, the beloved ruling classes, and the priestly hierarchies. He often pointed out that the world has turned into a massive corporate conglomerate, with all the world governments at the mercy of those few individuals who actually control all the resources, and money. Those are people you never hear about, or see in the news, unless it is by intent…. they don’t allow accidents like that to happen…. But rest assured, they exist, and are perfectly content to let the world believe whatever it wants, as long as their profits, their power, and their control over others continues to grow….

“The rifle and handgun are “equalizers”–the weapons of a democracy. Tanks and bombers represent dictatorship.” — Edward Abbey

But, the invisible rulers don’t like the Second Amendment…. it leaves too much chance for independence in the hands of the people, and in case the people ever find out what they have been up to, they want to be able to know where all the guns are that might threaten them….. Having the general populace of this country continue to have access to any significant firepower is not in their best interests, so they work behind the scenes to get people to believe the nonsense about gun control, and how keeping guns from the hands of the citizenry will make life safer…. which is just so much bullshit… plain and simple.  Ultimately, the only real effect of making guns illegal will be to make a large percentage of the American people outlaws, because I don’t think any of us will give them up without resistance, whether overt, or covert…..

“The right to buy weapons is the right to be free.” — A. E. Van Vogt, The Weapon Shops, — in Astounding Science Fiction, December 1942

How, you may ask, does this relate to the election? Well, it doesn’t, directly…. it’s just a pet peeve of mine, and an example of another of our basic rights that are being eroded by politicians, preachers, and those who ignorantly buy into their lies. I don’t trust the Democrats any more than I do the Republicans; perhaps even less, because the Republicans seem to be far more open about their lack of concern with the rights of the people. In that sense, they are easier to spot, and to resist. The Dems are being more subtle, but that doesn’t make them trustworthy; they do, after all, seek that power over others as well. There just seem to be more of them who are motivated to do so out of some community feeling, and concern for others, and those are trying to encompass reforms that are sorely needed.

“A politician thinks of the next election; a statesman, of the next generation.” — James Clarke

The difference between the two parties that have the only chance at the seats of power is extreme in this election; very seldom has the choice that needs to be made been clearer. One can choose to move forward into a future of change, or one can try to return society to the middle ages, with all of its injustice, and misery. It is that simple, and anyone who wishes to argue with that is welcome to present their views…. I’ll knock them down easily, with headlines from the daily news that, although not exactly unbiased or always true, are nonetheless balanced out by the outrageousness of each side’s contributions.

“Giving every man a vote has no more made men wise and free than Christianity has made them good.” — H.L. Mencken

The facts are all our there to see, and they clearly show one candidate whose only interest is in increasing his own power and wealth, and protecting his cronies on Wall Street, his cultish church, and the ruling class; he cares noting about the common man, and makes his disdain obvious. The other is, well, definitely the lesser of two evils…. on the apparent surface he is a dedicated, honest man, seeking reform and change, but, there are indications of less than stellar activity in his administration, too.  But, he obviously cares about the common man much more than his opponent, and since the common man is the one who will be affected the most by what happens this time, the choice is clear. If you don’t want to have to take up regular use of Vaseline and Preparation H, then vote the incumbent…. If you really want to get a good screwing in the nether regions, then vote the opposition…. it is that simple ffolkes…..

“There is but one element of government, and that is THE PEOPLE.  From this element spring all governments.  “For a nation to be free, it is only necessary that she wills it.”  For a nation to be slave, it is only necessary that she wills it.” — John Adams (1735-1826), Letter to John Taylor, 1814
_________________________

I Must Have Wanton Poets

MUST have wanton poets, pleasant wits,
Musicians, that with touching of a string
May draw the pliant king which way I please:
Music and poetry is his delight;
Therefore I’ll have Italian masks by night,
Sweet speeches, comedies, and pleasing shows;
And in the day, when he shall walk abroad,
Like sylvan nymphs my pages shall be clad;
My men, like satyrs grazing on the lawns,
Shall with their goat-feet dance the antic hay;
Sometime a lovely boy in Dian’s shape,
With hair that gilds the water as it glides,
Crownets of pearl about his naked arms,
And in his sportful hands an olive-tree,
To hide those parts which men delight to see,
Shall bathe him in a spring; and there, hard by,
One like Actæon, peeping through the grove,
Shall by the angry goddess be transform’d,
And running in the likeness of an hart,
By yelping hounds pull’d down, shall seem to die:
Such things as these best please his majesty.

~~ Christopher Marlowe ~~

_________________________

Here is another good one from a day or two after the above rant was posted…..

“I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the community, and as long as I live, it is my privilege to do for it whatever I can.  I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work the more I live.  Life is no ‘brief candle’ to me.  It is a sort of splendid torch which I have got hold of for a moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations.” — George Bernard Shaw

Now, THAT is a good attitude toward living! Carpe diem, and all that, don’t y’know? I like to think that I approach life in much this same manner, even though I have my moments spent in depression and despair; those moments I consider to be anomalous, and not fully representative of my take on life in general. Many people may not feel this way, and I cannot disparage them for that, as living often requires more of our attention that can be spared to make sure we are positively motivated; it’s not easy to get by in this world, and maintaining a positive outlook can become secondary to just having the wherewithal to do anything at all. But, George points out a pretty good way to think about it, even if one hasn’t the time or resources to fully appreciate, or apply, the principle as given….. As such, it joins a number of other viewpoints of famous historical figures, all of whom had advice to give to people about how to live well…. below you will find several of these suggestions for living life as well as one is able to live….

“Believe nothing merely because you have been told it… Do not believe what your teacher tells you merely out of respect for the teacher.  But whatsoever, after due examination and analysis, you find to be kind, conducive to the good, the benefit, the welfare of all beings — that doctrine believe and cling to, and take it as your guide.” — Buddha

“Every great advance in natural knowledge has involved the absolute rejection of authority.” — Thomas Henry Huxley (1825-1895)

“Honor has not to be won; it must only not be lost.” — Arthur Schopenhauer, Parerga and Paralipomena

In dwelling, live close to the ground.
In thinking, keep to the simple.
In conflict, be fair and generous.
In governing, don’t try to control.
In work, do what you enjoy.
In family life, be completely present.
— Tao Te Ching

“A wise man first determines what is within his control; all else is then irrelevant.” — Epictetus

Well, there you go…. now, all you have to do is put all of this into practice…. sounds like fun, eh?….
_________________________

Okay, it’s long, but it’s done…. and being old pearls, I don’t have to proof them, having done so already, last time they were used….  I’m calling it a done deal, and going to go spend more time having fun…. See you tomorrow….  Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

gigoid

dozer3

Remnants of patent leather madrigals….

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3

Ffolkes,
I’ve started to write several times this morning, but each time was forced to begin again, having spewed pure garbage onto the page. Even this honest statement of dismay seems to me to be stilted and stupid; it seems doubtful, at this point, that anything worthwhile is going to be coming forth from the depths of my mind to grace our presence with wit and style. I’d give up, but, I’m stubborn….

Having thus disposed of at least the first paragraph, perhaps I can distract Murphy with my fuzzy brain….. If he thinks I’m already in a state of confusion, he will, sometimes, let me be, allowing me to fuck with myself, which, though no less destructive, is often less bloody, and takes less clean-up….. Funny, isn’t it, what we can learn to live with?…. Besides, even Murphy will have a hard time putting me in a depressed state today…. In a bit under eight hours, I’ll be getting into a limo, which will deliver me, and milady Patricia, to the cruise terminal to embark on our ten day trip to Alaska…. Very little in the universe could make me unhappy at this point….

The only hard part now is getting through these eight hours…. creating this Pearl will eat up some of it, and I’ve got some ideas of how to pass the time quickly…. but, nothing will make the clock move fast enough to suit us. Everything is done, and all we need to do is carry our bags to the curb to be on our way….. I’m so jazzed and excited, even coming up with the BS I can normally spew out on demand is a bit more than I feel easy with….. Oh well, such is life, as they say….

Shall we Pearl?…..
_____________________________

You knew it would happen today…. and, if you didn’t, you should have…. I had intended to make this a fresh pearl, old-school variety, and rant in the third section, provided I can find a rantable subject….. However, Smart Bee has gone over to Murphy’s side for the time being, and won’t cooperate with the plan…. so, I’m retreating to the archives for a short, pithy rant on religion, or religious philosophy, whatever that might mean…. This was originally posted in December of 2011…

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

Just so it’s clear…..I’m not an atheist, per se, at least, not in the classical sense of the word.  I do hold beliefs regarding the subject of divinity and spirituality, but they bear no great resemblance to those espoused by any organized faith, and I don’t discuss them with anyone. It just causes arguments.  I am not a Christian, or a Muslim, or a Unitarian, or a Buddhist, or any other of the virtually countless ‘isms’ people have come up with to try to understand those parts of the universe that we do not comprehend.

I’ve read the holy books of most of the major faiths; Buddhism, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, the Bibles of several different Christian sects , the Tao Teh Ching, the I Ching, and any other related material I could find. Not that I made a complete heavy study of each, but I learned enough to be able to draw comparisons, and judge the validity of each (which I admit, is purely subjective. But then, isn’t any religious belief purely subjective? Why yes, I do believe it is…..).

It occurred to me, just now, that, maybe, for all these centuries we (that’s the human “we”…. meaning all of us as a group….) have sought to explain what we do not understand, we have been looking at things from the wrong perspective, at least in terms of intelligence, with its defined value to us being such that man considers himself greater than “lower” forms of life. The attitude that we are the pinnacle of creation is a given in almost every approach taken by philosophers and scientists in any explanation of why things are as they are. Since we have not the ability to create worlds (yet), or stars (yet), or universes (yet?), we attribute the state of things as we know them to creatures of vast wisdom and power, as “far above us as we are above bacteria or amoeba.” How often have you heard the last part? Isn’t that part of any definition of a god, or even God, by whatever name one calls him/her/them/it?

But what if the amoeba IS God? Amoeba are the most ancient form of life we know of, utilizing the simplest means of reproduction available (as far as WE know anyway…), and are an essential step in the formation of other life. Perhaps the entire bacterial level is God’s nervous system, and the amoeba are the thoughts of God. And as other forms of life evolved, maybe each entered another part of the symbiotic whole that is life, non-life, energy, matter, and non-matter, all of which must be present in order for our universe to manifest itself.

All of which makes our viewpoint completely backwards; we are the bottom of creation, not the top. Every other part of the universe, and almost every animal and creature on our planet we know of, except ourselves and our vaunted intelligence, are functioning, and functioning well, according to their place in Nature because they have no need to do anything else.  Our intelligence is generally accepted to be that which makes us ‘better’ than the rest of creation, a convenient word to describe something that may not have been created at all, but might just happen to be the way it is, because it wants to be…..at least most of it does….so far we haven’t done too well at learning how to be at one with the rest of creation; quite the opposite, as a general rule…..

Hmmm…..well, I guess that’s one way to look at it…… at least with this credo, there’s no guilt, no shame, no incentives, and no rewards….. other than self-respect……

— How many amoebas does it take to change a light bulb?  One. No, 2. No, 4. No, 8. No, 16. No, 32……. — Smart Bee
_____________________________

Some years ago, on the occasion of her mother’s passing, Patricia, my lady love, wrote a memorial tribute, in which she put a poem that she wrote for her mother…. I think it is very touching, as well as quite beautiful, and include it here, not to depress anyone, but to celebrate the life of her mother by sharing what Patricia felt when she wrote the poem….. Enjoy!….

She sits quietly,
Eyes in a wrinkled face,
Watching nothing,
Seeing everything.
A kaleidoscope of memories
flickers past.

Laughter mingles with tears,
Fear and sorrow melt into contentment.
A lifetime of joy and passion,
sorrow and doubt pass by.
Don’t hurry so, take your time.
Stop and listen
and she will tell you tales.

Tales of far away lands, great adventures,
great passion and greater trials.

She takes out the memories, one at a time,
Views them re-lives them,
brings them to life for her listeners.

Then tenderly, reverently, she wraps them again,
and places them, one at a time,
into fragile bubbles.

If you look closely, you can see them.

Tiny little flashes in her eyes……
Look close,
See them?

Individual memories encased in fragile bubbles.

In loving memory of June. T. Miller
1919-1998
by
Patricia Miller Larsen

_____________________________

Okay, it’s time to drop any pretense I have assumed…. Smart Bee isn’t cooperating, and my head just isn’t ready to be creative…. so, once again, I’ll have to dip into the past for the material to complete this Pearl…. So be it…. Here is a rather long, involved pearl from late in 2012… I think it’s one of my best, so, it will do for the moment’s need….. Enjoy!….
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

What is the mind? Where is it, exactly? And how does it work?….. These are questions that have been asked throughout time, without ever finding answers on which all can agree…. Oh, there are many ideas, and every sage and his brother’s cousin’s friend’s uncle has a theory about it…. Finding pearls that discuss the matter was pretty simple, actually, as they just kept popping up in front of me…. for example, here are four that I found, all of which have an important part of the idea to discuss…..

“Whether time is long or short, and whether space is broad or narrow, depend upon the mind. Those whose minds are at leisure can feel one day as a millennium, and those whose thoughts are expansive can perceive a small house to be as spacious as the universe.” — Hung Tzu-ch’eng (1593-1665)

“An intelligent mind is a mind which is not satisfied with explanations, with  conclusions; nor is it a mind that believes, because belief is again another  form of conclusion. An intelligent mind is an inquiring mind, a mind that is  watching, learning, studying.” — J. Krishnamurti

“Hypotheses are not to be multiplied without necessity.” — Occam’s Razor (aka, the K.I.S.S. axiom….) (see Hanlon’s Razor, aka Heinlein’s Corollary to Occam’s Razor) (See logic) (See Dick and Jane run….) (Just wanted to make sure you’re paying attention….)

“To be a philosopher is not merely to have subtle thoughts, nor even to found a school, but so to love wisdom as to live according to its dictates, a life of simplicity, independence, magnanimity, and trust. It is to solve the problems of life not only theoretically, but practically.” — Henry David Thoreau, American Philosopher (1817-1862) in Walden

You probably noted that one of these four was not like the others (Sesame Street teaches critical thinking well, does it not?….). Occam’s Razor has done more to advance science and philosophy than any unified field theorem, or any other wide ranging thought that mankind has come up with over the years. It cuts through the bullshit, and reminds us to concentrate on what is important, to not to go off on tangents that detract from the final outcome. It’s a way of approaching science and the fields of knowledge, and even Life, that offers the superiority of having been proven true over and over, in every experiment, in every field of science since it’s publication, sometime around the Renaissance period. William of Occam was, reportedly, a mathematician, and no doubt a very good one, as his assertion regarding hypotheses implies a certain impatience with bullshit; he likely wasn’t one to put up with foolishness for long….

Of course, there are always a few who don’t have the intelligence, or the courage, to stand up to Life, and they too have had their two cents worth put in for consideration….

“Do not learn more than you absolutely need to get through life.” — Karl Kraus  (Seconded, I’m sure, by Homer Simpson….)

An obvious proponent of the entitlement crowd, this guy has expressed clearly the lack of courage that it takes to really retreat from life as can be done. These are the Republicans, the non-thinkers, the men and women who prefer to hide their heads in sand rather than meet reality with any dignity or bravery. Ignorance is their status of choice, as they don’t have to bother themselves to ever check things for truth, or even make up their own thoughts…. they just accept whatever the pundits, religious or political, tell them, because those pundits are the ones who are immoral and unethical enough to take advantage of their ignorance, and will tell them anything they want to hear, in order to soothe their bigoted fears, and, as a happy side effect, take all their money…. which they willingly give away, proving the old saw about fools and money…

I didn’t mean to get into a political rant, but I suppose it isn’t an ill-conceived idea at this point. Tonight will be the first of the Presidential debates between Obama and Romney, and a discussion of mind vs. no-mind seems appropriate somehow. We will get a pretty good picture drawn for us tonight, as one of the greatest speakers of our time, the POTUS, faces off in debate with one of the worst speakers I’ve ever seen, Mitt the Twitt, who has a proclivity for dropping bombs, and speaking without evidence of giving any thought at all to what he has just said to some group. This is an occupational hazard for someone who relies on lies and misrepresentations for the major portion of their message; it’s hard to sound true when one is obviously false…. No matter how much it gets dressed up and taught to sing and dance, a pig isn’t going to win any music contests with its squealing…..

“I’m not imaginary–I’m ontologically challenged” — Smart Bee

As might be guessed, the above is a joke, intended to poke fun at those who choose to live their lives without the benefit of using their minds…. to live one’s life in ignorance to me would seem to be the actions of a fool, by definition as well as practice. One may as well BE imaginary, if one is going to retreat from reality to the extent of turning off all curiosity, all doubt, and never using the mind for that which it was designed (if one believes in design….), or happened to evolve into…. The mind is our best, and possibly our only, ally against the harshness of reality, and it would behoove all of us to keep it in good working order, as befits a tool of such high quality…… T’is marginally better than treating it as a red-headed step-child, leaving it out to starve in the cold, harsh light of reality…..
_____________________________

Without even looking this over, I know it will do…. but, I’m anal about typos, so let’s see how it reads….. Given the handicaps under which I am operating today, it isn’t at all bad…. not terribly fresh, but still stimulating… and, it’s done…. Yay!  Now I can get ready to rumble….. Next time I post will be from the road, so I can’t predict exactly when, but, it will be soon…. count on it…..  Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid

dozer3

Moments of intense serenity…..

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3

Ffolkes,
One. More. Day…… Tomorrow, Patricia and I leave to go on our trip, and I am, officially, jazzed to beat the band. So much so, I’m not sure I can write at all. Normally, I can’t seem to shut myself up, nor do I make much of an effort to do so, but, today, I find myself to be rather disinterested in composing anything fresh… so, I’ll force myself to keep typing, as I don’t want to develop any bad habits….. I can’t predict at all how it will turn out, but, I’ll do the best I can…..

I didn’t mean for that last statement to sound like a threat…. I just meant that, given the tendency of this blog to be completely subject to the dangerously random, always mysterious, effects of universal entropy, NOBODY can predict how it will go, but, as the person most responsible for any property damaged in the process, I will do my best to keep it from entering the realm of perilous, in a physical sense. Beyond that, I don’t see what else I can do, without spending a fortune for insurance…

Oh, well, I’m sure y’all have no real interest in the bones of the operation, or in hearing about my problems with blog maintenance/management, so, even though this doesn’t quite meet the exacting standards for one of my intro sections, (no laughing….), it will have to do. I have a feeling it would be best for me to just jump in and start diving for pearls, before I stick more than just one foot in the soup…. and, sorry about mixing metaphors like that…. They just threw themselves together before I could stop them….. Any who….. Shall we Pearl?…..
_____________________________

“You can’t legislate morality. We tried to outlaw consumption of alcoholic beverages. We found that violation of the law led to bigger crimes and bred disrespect for the law.” — Jimmy Carter, 1976

This statement would be a perfect segue, into a rant on both politics and religion, together, or separately. It’s also a good one for a discussion of how both those entities encourage and support each other’s lies. However, starting to plow such a fertile field for our inquiries runs the risk of going on for a very long time, as it is a subject with a LOT of instances in real life from which to draw inferences and/or conclusions; the news is filled every day with stories that can be used to show how the government is screwing the public, with the complete support of the churches.

I could do that…. but, I won’t do it today. Instead, I’ll find some pearls which will lead your minds on a shorter trip than I could write in a rant, and get you to the same point, mostly…. and if not, well, it will be more fun, and less mental effort…. So, here we go….

“Deep down, most everyone is fairly superficial.” — Smart Bee

“If the life of natural things, millions of years old does not seem sacred to us, then what can be sacred?” — Edward Abbey

“In this world, you have to be oh so smart or oh so pleasant. I spent years being smart. I recommend pleasant.” — Elwood P. Dowd

“Ignorance is the soil in which belief in miracles grows.” — Robert Green Ingersoll (1833-1899)

“So if you know the place and time of a battle, you can join the fight from a thousand miles away.” — Sun Tzu

“A man must sit with his mouth open for a long time before a roast duck flies in.” — Chinese proverb

“We lie loudest when we lie to ourselves.” — Eric Hoffer

Perfect!… I love it when a plan comes together… A perfect seven-star pearl, sharp as a tack….. Okay, onward….
_____________________________

This is a poem that I’ve shared previously, but, is so good, I have no qualms about doing so again… It is timeless, and brilliant, and makes me wish I could write half as well….

Soliloquy Of The Solipsist

I?
I walk alone;
The midnight street
Spins itself from under my feet;
When my eyes shut
These dreaming houses all snuff out;
Through a whim of mine
Over gables the moon’s celestial onion
Hangs high.

I
Make houses shrink
And trees diminish
By going far; my look’s leash
Dangles the puppet-people
Who, unaware how they dwindle,
Laugh, kiss, get drunk,
Nor guess that if I choose to blink
They die.

I
When in good humor,
Give grass its green
Blazon sky blue, and endow the sun
With gold;
Yet, in my wintriest moods, I hold
Absolute power
To boycott any color and forbid any flower
To be.

I
Know you appear
Vivid at my side,
Denying you sprang out of my head,
Claiming you feel
Love fiery enough to prove flesh real,
Though it’s quite clear
All you beauty, all your wit, is a gift, my dear,
From me.

~~ Sylvia Plath ~~

_____________________________

I confess to feeling too hyped to write…. I have a lot in there that wants to come out, but, a bigger part of me just wants to dance, or fall asleep to pass the time until we leave, tomorrow, in the early afternoon….. So, I’ll cheat again, and dip into the archives…. This is a short little piece I wrote the day before Halloween in 2011, as part of a pearl created using a really old format, one that encouraged ranting a bit too much…. History aside, I like this one, just because, and it’s a good one to finish with on a day like today…..

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

“His philosophy was a mixture of three famous schools:  the Cynics, the Stoics and the Epicureans – and summed up all three of them in his famous phrase, ‘You can’t trust any bugger further than you can throw him, and there’s nothing you can do about it, so let’s have a drink.'” — Terry Pratchett, ‘Small Gods’

Laughter is probably my favorite part of Life; I can’t think of a single time in my life when laughter was unwelcome. Conversely, I can think of any number of times when it was not only welcome, but life-saving, or, at the very least, life-preserving. In its way it also affirms life; it lets you know that you are alive, and that life is good.

The sound of a child’s laughter can bring a smile to the grimmest curmudgeon, and the laughter of a beautiful woman can be either joyous, or cruel. Laughing is our best defense against the tyranny of repressive thought; it can bring a tyrant to his knees, for tyranny lives in fear of ridicule. Laughter cannot cure pain, but can ease it, and make it more bearable.

In a way poorly understood, but acknowledged, laughter prolongs life, actually reversing many of the effects of time. When laughter is in our lives, everything is more colorful; vision, hearing, touch, smell, all are more acute when under its influence. Conversely, when it is long absent, the world turns dreary, and washed of all color. Without laughter, our lives become drudgery, merely a time to survive, in silence and despair.

The Universe is one huge joke, and the punch line has yet to come. We can spend our lives in black and white, trudging along the dusty road of Time with head hanging down and steps heavy as sorrow. Or, we can look for the brighter side of Life, and laugh at ourselves and everything around us, marching ahead with eyes up and seeking new vistas, hopeful for the dawn of each new day. Your choice…..

“Excuse me, but didn’t I tell you there’s NO HOPE for the survival of OFFSET PRINTING?” — Zippy the Pinhead
_____________________________

It’s done…. tomorrow morning, I don’t know what I’ll do…. I’ll be a mess, I’m sure, and may or may not be able to post…. If not, look for the first post from the road on Sunday…. And, since I can’t see any typos of a major nature in one pass, it is “done”.  Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid

dozer3