Tag Archives: Republicans

Plain as the zit on your face….

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Ffolkes,
As the sun sets over the western horizon, we bid a fond farewell to another day in paradise….. or would, if a) the sun were setting, instead of rising, and b) we were in paradise….. I guess you can’t have everything. In this case we have nothing, so it would behoove us to try to get serious here….. and we would, if a) we wanted something, and b) gave half a damn…. neither of which is true, so it looks like we’re all out of luck, and ideas, too….

Actually, I’ve got lots of ideas this morning, but most of them are X-rated, and unsuitable for a family blog….. I could send some over to Kyle I guess; he likes to write that sort of stuff…. but he probably wants to use his own, so that’s a wash….. This batch of concepts will just have to go into the scrap pile, as do many, many such useless thoughts of mine….. uh oh, break time…

Okay, I’m back…. Don’t ask…. Once again, picking the material that will best serve to introduce today’s Pearl has become more than a mere search; it is now more of a desperate floundering, and I’m liable to start throwing out all sorts of stuff, just to see if it sticks…. We could write a poem, but we like you all too much. We could stop talking in the royal third person, and take actual responsibility for our words, but it’s so much fun to use the royal “we”, as “Thank you, we are in the pink!” ~~ Lord Peter Wimsey, from Busman’s Honeymoon by Dorothy L. Sayers….

Or, I could just get on with it, which now seems to be the right thing to do…. shall we Pearl?…..
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“There is no act of treachery or meanness of which a political party is not capable, for in politics there is no honor.” — Benjamin Disraeli

Considering that Mr. Disraeli was a politician himself, this becomes particularly rare; normally politicians won’t reveal their secrets like that, at least not until after the election. But, he’s dead, anyway, so what can he lose? You have to admit, you won’t see Mitt the Twitt, or Lyin’ Ryan admitting to stooping to such tactics… they do it, but they’ll never admit it….. Honesty is not one of Mitt’s strong points, as we’ve already had proven, repeatedly, and often….

It promises to be, if nothing else, a very interesting run-up to the election, now that Romney has used the biggest caliber bullet he could find to shoot his foot this time…. Not one day had passed when he (Romney) was forced to not comment (!!!!) on something his new Veep had said, as his position on that subject was documented elsewhere as in direct opposition to what Ryan had said….

“He’s racist, he’s homophobic, he’s xenophobic, and he’s a sexist. He’s a perfect Republican candidate!” — Commentator Bill Press on Pat Buchanan

Since the advent of the World Wide Web, it has become more difficult for Romney and his ilk, (which includes the Democrats; just because they aren’t as bad doesn’t mean they aren’t lying, too….) to tell their lies without a lot of preparation (otherwise known as “spin”) and denial. Websites such as FactChecker.com post daily reports on the lies that each candidate or politician utters publicly, checking the words against the Truth, as found by research and cross-checking of public records. Exaggerations, misquotes, taking out of context, all the different forms of promoting untruths are now exposed for all to see, if they wish….

Of course, many people don’t WANT to know if they are being lied to; in fact, it often seems to me that the folks who are supporting these idiots (Romney and Ryan in this instance…. the term “idiot” can be applied to almost any politician who opens their mouth..) are deliberately ignoring the truth, for the simple reason that they don’t care… As long as the candidates are white, they want them to get elected, because having a black President is fulfilling their worst nightmares, and making their racism obvious…. Of course, they will claim that they don’t like Obama because of his record, but that generally won’t wash, as much of his record shows that he has actually done them some good, a fact they are completely reluctant to admit….

“How pleasant then to be insane.” — F. Scott Fitzgerald

The fact that there are so many racists left in this country is disheartening, but I suppose it’s better to have the issue out in the open, where it can more easily be dealt with in a manner that is dignified; it’s hard to maintain dignity when slinging shit in the dark, a place in which conversations with racists often end up. However, I am still amazed that there are seniors, gays, immigrants, and women who are still supporting the conservative ticket the Republicans have decided to offer the voting public.

These men have made it clear that, if elected, they will send this country back into the middle of the previous century, in terms of societal progress, by eliminating Social Security, Planned Parenthood, making gay and lesbian marriage illegal, and completely eliminating abortion and women’s health rights, as well as curtailing all immigrant’s rights. They have promised to eliminate all of these, but the people who are supporting them seem to be as deeply insane as are their chosen candidates, and are obviously in deep denial….

“You know how dumb the average guy is?  Well, by definition, half of them are  even dumber than THAT.” — J.R. “Bob” Dobbs (paraphrased from a quote by George Carlin….. everybody plagiarizes sometimes….)

This is obviously a subject that I could rant about for days…. but, there are still over two months until the election, and I should save some energy for the material that I know will be forthcoming on a daily basis…. I think we need some poetry, as a relief from all this curmudgeonry…..
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Bankers Are Just Like Anybody Else, Except Richer

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

Ogden Nash

Providential indeed…. What better poem to follow a rant about politics, than an ode to Bankers from one of my all time favorite poets….. enjoy!
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Don’t even bother trying to tell me that there is no magic in the world….
    Human diplomats could learn a lot from just watching dogs and cats interact, when given the opportunity…..
    They always seem to come to terms with each other….
    Dogs get along pretty good with people, too….
    In fact, they like people a lot….
    So do cats….
    Sort of…. but, cats like dogs best, as much as they like people, though perhaps not as much as other cats…. it can be close though…..
    Why is it so hard for people to get along with each other, when we have these creatures to provide examples of how to do so?  Your guess is as good as mine…..

(All the pictures were found on Facebook….)
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Well, that certainly turned into an epic Pearl! And, one with so much effort put into it, that it is going out, no matter how it may or may not live up to my standards, such as they are….. Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

 

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

Dozer

Kowabunga!

Abstinence of compassion is considered immoral….

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Ffolkes,
Wasted moments come back to haunt, rattling chains and screaming demons; unrequited dreams of love moan in despair. Yet time passes, and all becomes dust in the end. No pain, no gain, but, the gains are one step forward, three steps back. Silvered memories of golden days shine off in the distance, while the fire of anguish cleanses the soul. No one leaves without singing the blues…

Sometimes, I know what is going to go down when I start typing, other times, such as today, I haven’t a clue, so that what I see on screen is as new to me as it is to you…. not efficient, maybe, but guaranteed fresh. I don’t yet have the patience to stay with one theme for long, probably due to not being able to sit for long without having to move…it’s hard at times to finish one of my more extensive rants, as I tend to lose the driving impetus of outrage when I take a break from writing about whatever it is that affronted me. It’s a delicate line to walk, but hey, like I said above, no pain, no gain…. and I love singing the blues….

Now that you are probably as confused as I am, I think we should go find some pearls…. shall we?….
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“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

Uh, oh…. I have a feeling that Abe’s fears have already been realized. The rich have become richer, and even now are making a bid to bring their completely self-centered agenda out into the open, by attempting to put one of the the 1% into the office of the Presidency, supported by a running mate who is a fawning sycophant of the elite, one of their unapologetic myrmidons, who parrots whatever the corporate masters decree with a big smile and a wink, hoping that someday, he, too, will be allowed into the inner circle of the beloved ruling class….

“Our congressmen are the finest body of men money can buy.” — Morey Amsterdam (written for Will Rogers)

If anyone has any remaining doubts about this scenario’s reality, let me point you to a simple set of facts… first, the average man has no representation in Washington, as every Senator in office makes over a million dollars a year; how can they possibly understand the issues important to their constituents, when they live in an entirely different social strata….

Unfortunately, they all send out the message that they are the “champions of the little guy” and know “how the average family feels” (which should set off an alarm right away…. how can they be both at once? They are mutually exclusive societal groups; you can’t be their champion, and be one of them, too….) Members of the House purportedly make less money on average than the Senators, but not by much, and who knows what they are getting from lobbyists?

The three branches of government: lobbyists, media, PAC’s. — Smart Bee

There is the second fact to remember…. more money is spent each year by lobbyists, to bribe and/or influence Congress into voting in their favor, than is spent on ALL domestic programs that aid the populace. The budgets for housing, education, transportation, food and drug administration, Medicare & Medicaid, and all other social programs are dwarfed by what is spent lobbying against them. Even more money is spent to lobby defense and security programs, but those budgets are far larger than they need to be by a factor of at least 10….

Then there is the cost of keeping Congress in perks…. they make a salary reminiscent of a corporate CEO, with medical and pension benefits that make the finest of HMO’s look paltry in comparison. A member of the House, who only serves one term of two years, is retired with a full salary, and full medical benefits for life; same for a Senator who only serves one four year term…. life-long benefits at a yearly rate of income that is larger than over 50% of the people in this country, including those still working. Now, what have any of them done that deserves that?

“The genius of our ruling class is that it has kept a majority of the people from ever questioning the inequity of a system where most people drudge along, paying heavy taxes for which they get nothing in return.” — Gore Vidal

Aye, indeed, Gore has hit the head of the nail in one sure shot…. Last year, between the federal and state government, I paid about 25% taxes on my income, which is what I’ve had to pay most of my life. If I should work overtime, or make money considered extra to my salary, that rate went up to over 40%….. When I hear about somebody like Mitt the Twitt paying 13%, it pretty much pisses me off about as much as I can be… and that is only the one he let the public see… I’ll bet anything he paid less in other years, and I’ll bet he has more than one year when he didn’t pay any at all…. oh yeah, that’s fair and equitable law, for sure…. NOT!…..

“This is the age in which thin and theoretic minorities can cover and conquer unconscious and untheoretic majorities. — G. K. Chesterton, International League of Nations, 12/20/1919

Don’t forget to get out the vote ffolkes, this time it makes a difference. Not that the Democrats are doing much better, but at least they apologize when they plow into our exposed butts…. and I made that image gross on purpose, because the shafting we get from our government, our beloved ruling class, is an ass-fucking of advanced degree…. Any who, vote, and keep your powder dry….
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Below you will find an example of why the powers that be are always trying to suppress free speech, and particularly that of writers and poets…. They, our beloved ruling class, know that such words as these pose the greatest threat to their oppression of the populace… and these are particularly powerful words, worthy of their fear….

Still I Rise

You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I’ll rise.

Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
‘Cause I walk like I’ve got oil wells
Pumping in my living room.

Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I’ll rise.

Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops.
Weakened by my soulful cries.

Does my haughtiness offend you?
Don’t you take it awful hard
‘Cause I laugh like I’ve got gold mines
Diggin’ in my own back yard.

You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I’ll rise.

Does my sexiness upset you?
Does it come as a surprise
That I dance like I’ve got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs?

Out of the huts of history’s shame
I rise
Up from a past that’s rooted in pain
I rise
I’m a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.
Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that’s wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise
I rise.

Maya Angelou
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“He who endeavors to serve, to benefit, and improve the world, is like a swimmer, who struggles against a rapid current, in a river lashed into angry waves by the winds.  Often they roar over his head, often they beat him back and baffle him.  Most men yield to the stress of the current…  Only here and there the stout, strong heart and vigorous arms struggle on toward ultimate success.” — Albert Pike (1809-1891)

I like this statement, on several levels…. First, even though it is a bit pompous in its language, the message it delivers is one of great insight into human nature, and manages, in spite of its rather stiff phraseology, to inspire the very actions it describes. Second, it appeals to my old-fashioned views in many areas.

I have no idea who Albert Pike was, but just seeing when he lived, through much of the 19th century, gives us a glimpse of him… He was fortunate to be born at a time when this nation was young, and full of promise, with burgeoning confidence in our nation’s future. In addition, he lived through times that many did not, observing the growth of the country from 13 states to over 40, the Civil War, and the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. He seems to have taken a lot of the best qualities he saw in society into his own thoughts, if this one is any indication. Let’s see what Google has to say about Albert….

From http://freedomfighter.co/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=285&Itemid=1

“In 1859, Albert Pike 1809-1891), a lawyer, and leader of the U.S. Scottish Rite Masonry (who was called the “Sovereign Pontiff of Universal Freemasonry,” the “Prophet of Freemasonry” and the “greatest Freemason of the nineteenth century.”), who was fascinated with the idea of a one-world government, was chosen to coordinate Illuminati activities in the United States. He said they needed to create a political party that would keep the world fighting, until they could bring peace. Pike said it would be done “with tongue and pen, with all our open and secret influences, with the purse, and if need be, with the sword…”

“Pike was born on December 29, 1809, in Boston, went to Harvard, then later served as a Brigadier-General in the Confederate Army. He was appointed by the Confederacy to be the Indian Commissioner in order to create an army of Indian warriors. He became Governor of the Indian territory, and succeeded in creating an army consisting of Chickasaws, Comanches, Creeks, Cherokees, Miamis, Osages, Kansas, and Choctaws. He became known to them as the “faithful pale-face friend and protector.” The savagery of their attacks caused Jefferson Davis, the President of the Confederacy to disband the Indian army. After the Civil War, Pike was found guilty of treason and jailed, only to be pardoned by President Andrew Johnson on April 22, 1866, who met with him the next day at the White House. On June 20, 1867, Scottish Rite officials conferred upon Johnson, the 4th – 32nd degrees, and he later went to Boston to dedicate a Masonic Temple. The only monument to a Confederate general in Washington, D.C. was erected in Pike’s honor, and can be found between the Department of Labor building and the Municipal Building, between 3rd and 4th Streets, on D Street, NW.”

Very interesting man… the web page also listed some correspondence to and from Mr. Pike, and other historical information; it’s worth a few minutes to check it out…..
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Well, that was an interesting trip…. I’m done for the day…. Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

gigoid

Dozer

Kowabunga!

Historically, it’s all a wash…..

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Ffolkes,
History is being made today. It’s not major history, just minor history…but significant to me. One year ago, on August 11, 2011, I wrote the first Pearl of Virtual Wisdom ever posted on WordPress. I had been publishing them on the social network site at SFGATE, for about 4 to 6 months, (I forget when I started there….), when I heard about WordPress, and came to check it out.

Publishing a blog is as simple as they say it is, and I have enjoyed learning their system, though not as thoroughly as I’d like. But, then, nothing I do is capable of being done as thoroughly as I would like it to be, not anymore. My ever-present back and hip pain makes sure of that…. In spite of this handicap, I have managed to publish a post every day, with numerous occasions of posting more than one, usually when I re-blog someone else’s work…. not bad for an old fart with flat feet and flatulence, eh?

In view of this anniversary, I am very……. wow, surprisingly, relieved is the right word. I guess I wasn’t sure I could write every day, while still keeping it good enough to suit me, and this definitely destroys that fear. Getting it done each day has required some discipline, which I can see is good for staying young when retired. The biggest reason people give up when they get old is they don’t want to make the effort to stay connected to living; it all seems so hard after a while. Writing every day has kept my mind sharp, and gives me plenty of reason to look forward.

As a bonus, interacting with the other WordPress authors gives me human contact, that, given my lack of ability to get around, or go out, has turned out to be extremely important. The people I’ve met on WP have been friendly, supportive, and have definitely kept me entertained, with as many different approaches to life as there are blogs. Every day, on many of the blogs I follow, I find wonderful poetry, beautiful imagery, and quite a few interesting viewpoints. I only wish my physical challenges didn’t make it so hard to spend a lot of time reading those blogs…..

Any who, we’d best get to today’s Pearl; as has previously been proven, I could ramble on here for a long time…. I hope you enjoy today’s effort, it is the anniversary version, and will get my best effort…. Shall we Pearl?…..
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“If the average man is made in God’s image, then such a man as Beethoven or Aristotle is plainly superior to God.” — H. L. Mencken

Ah, curmudgeons….. ya gotta love ’em…. Here is a statement typical of the kind I like to choose for these pearls. Short, succinct in its message, and sure to be, or to generate, controversy, the real meat in a curmudgeon’s diet. For a statement such as this, it is always helpful to point out, for those readers who may disagree vehemently, there is much more tangible evidence of no supernatural beings, than there is for the concept of an omnipotent God….. it gets them going every time…. I am reminded of the quote from Carl Sagan, which has been seen here before, but remains as valid as ever… to wit:

“…Another writer again agreed with all my generalities, but said that as an inveterate skeptic I have closed my mind to the truth.  Most notably I have ignored the evidence for an Earth that is six thousand years old.  Well, I haven’t ignored it; I considered the purported evidence and *then* rejected it. There is a difference, and this is a difference, we might say, between prejudice and postjudice.  Prejudice is making a judgment before you have looked at the facts.  Postjudice is making a judgment afterwards.  Prejudice is terrible, in the sense that you commit injustices and you make serious mistakes.  Postjudice is not terrible.  You can’t be perfect of course; you may make mistakes also.  But it is permissible to make a judgment after you have examined the evidence.  In some circles it is even encouraged.” — Carl Sagan, The Burden of Skepticism, Skeptical Enquirer, Vol. 12, pg. 46

Tongue firmly in cheek, Carl issued a very painful spanking to the faith-based crowd, and did so in a caring, gentle, almost sarcastic way…. I love the little dig at the end; it is an insult, but a very gentle one…. Gentle sarcasm seems to work better with that crowd, which makes sense, as they are often completely unwilling to even listen to the evidence that disproves their beliefs, or at the minimum, puts those beliefs  into the “highly unlikely” category. The priestly hierarchies do not encourage independent thought, as those who engage in it usually don’t last long as members of the congregation. To a priest, the perfect believer never questions what they are taught, accepting whatever the authorities say as truth…..

In addition to this area of brainwashing, the priests and preachers show themselves to be in complete collusion with the beloved ruling class, always teaching their constituents to respect authority, and submit…. “render unto Caesar what is Ceasar’s”, you know? Which kind of gives away the whole conspiracy, as we haven’t had any Caesar’s to deal with for over two millennia, yet the saying remains fresh in the language, used all the time.

Between the priestly hierarchies and the beloved ruling class, your average Joe Schmoe never stands a chance…. it is only those whose minds reject such teaching, that do not submit, who are able to put aside the attempted brainwash, and continue to think for themselves…..

Now, in today’s society, we have a new threat to our freedom. The current presumptive candidate for the Republican nomination for President has shown himself to be one of the faith-based crowd, and is firmly on the side of the priestly hierarchies. He sees no danger in this mixing and melding of Church and State, and is completely unaware of his own unsuitability for the office of the Presidency.

It has been said, more than once, by more than one person, that the best sort of President is one who just says what he is told to say, and signs the bills that come before him without examining them at all. His advisers, who could just as easily be called his masters, will tell him what to say, and what to sign. Mitt Romney is just that sort of person…. he is so happy to be counted among the rich and famous that he will literally say and/or do ANYTHING to get elected. He hasn’t a clue as to why, or how he got so far, but he doesn’t believe he did it by cheating, by lying, and by completely giving up his humanity to make money (his real God….)…. but, that is exactly what he did….

So, you decide, ffolkes. Do we want someone in the White House who hasn’t had a creative, or even independent, thought in his head since he was nine years old? Do we want a President who makes his decisions based on Mormon religious principles? Do we want a man in office who has NEVER held a real job, and has absolutely no idea how his whole existence is an insult to the veterans who protect this country, and the people who work so hard to just get by? Do we want a man who tells a lie with every other breath, not just with a straight face, but with no conscience whatsoever? Do we want a puppet of the corporations and bankers in charge of the economy? I can answer NO to all of those questions…. how about you?…..
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All Things will Die

All things will die

Clearly the blue river chimes in its flowing

Under my eye;
Warmly and broadly the south winds are blowing

Over the sky.
One after another the white clouds are fleeting;
Every heart this May morning in joyance is beating

Full merrily;
Yet all things must die.
The stream will cease to flow;
The wind will cease to blow;
The clouds will cease to fleet;
The heart will cease to beat;
For all things must die.
All things must die.
Spring will come never more.
O, vanity!
Death waits at the door.
See! our friends are all forsaking
The wine and the merrymaking.
We are call’d–we must go.
Laid low, very low,
In the dark we must lie.
The merry glees are still;
The voice of the bird
Shall no more be heard,
Nor the wind on the hill.
O, misery!
Hark! death is calling
While I speak to ye,
The jaw is falling,
The red cheek paling,
The strong limbs failing;
Ice with the warm blood mixing;
The eyeballs fixing.
Nine times goes the passing bell:
Ye merry souls, farewell.
The old earth
Had a birth,
As all men know,
Long ago.
And the old earth must die.
So let the warm winds range,
And the blue wave beat the shore;
For even and morn
Ye will never see
Thro’ eternity.
All things were born.
Ye will come never more,
For all things must die.

Alfred Lord Tennyson

And there you have it…. truth in motion…. not particularly uplifting, but true, nonetheless, for that…. Enjoy!
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A year has gone by
draped in melancholy tears
A mere stitch in time

gigoid
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Well, there you have it; the anniversary issue of gigoid’s Pearls of Virtual Wisdom. It might be a good time to restate the disclaimer….

“Pearls of Virtual Wisdom are not to be confused with real wisdom; gigoid declines any responsibility for any and/or all attempts to use them as such. When it comes to dealing with Consensual Reality, you are on your own…… and that is as it should be.”

Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

gigoid

Dozer

Kowabunga!

Mighty fancy footwork, pilgrim….

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Ffolkes,
Fast forward a few spaces….. there.! See it? It’s all broken, and we paid a bundle for those! That blasted driver did that deliberately! What are we going to tell the boss? Boy, he’s going to shit a brick when he sees this!….. Maybe we can get it replaced before….uh oh, I guess not…. Hi,  boss! Long time no see….. What, no, it’s not important, just a delivery that came overnight…. yeah, we know…. okay, I’ll get the boys started cleaning it up, while you call the vendor….

I suppose it might be interesting to stick around and hear the conversation with the vendor, but I’m not feeling curmudgeonly enough yet to pull off a conversation…. gotta have some angst in there for that to happen easily, and I’m keeping my angst at a minimum these days. Moving is going to be enough of a pain without getting all weirded out by it, thank you very much. 

I started the process yesterday, checking out potential places, and put in a good 4 miles of walking to do so…. not bad for an old fat guy with a limp….. I can see I’ll need to do a bit more looking online, and map out a route to use the buses to get there…. SIGH…. such a pain, when I just want to relax and read my books….

No more complaining, I swear…. I’m tired of hearing it myself. It’s probably for the best if we just get on with the business for which we are gathered this morning, yes? Yes…. Shall we Pearl?…..

Disclaimer: The following may contain coarse and violent nudity.  Occasional language will also be encountered…..
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“Calling him a pea brain would be an undeserved compliment.” — Smart Bee

Many of you who have visited here before will know, by this statement, exactly who will be our subject for dissection, er, discussion today. That’s right, Mitt the Twitt, who has been out there meeting and greeting the public, and living up to my expectations once more…. He has started to harp upon a piece of legislation in Wisconsin, I believe, or maybe Ohio…. some state, anyway…. that the Obama administration initiated via the Attorney General’s office.

Unfortunately for him, he is once again harping on a lie; he says the legislation is an attempt to limit the vote of military personnel, claiming Obama is anti-military. It’s really too bad for him that this isn’t true; in fact, it is the opposite of what he claims…. the legislation protects the voting rights of the military voters, as well as the other citizens who were affected by the law it proposes to overturn… a law initiated and pushed through by a Republican coalition…..

“Admit nothing, deny everything, and launch counter-accusations.” — Smart Bee

I was certain Mitt would continue to stick his foot where he seems to like it, (firmly entrenched in his mouth), and he didn’t disappoint…… He kept repeating this blatant untruth several times on Sunday, only stopping when it was pointed out to him by his own people that he was wrong. Now, of course, he is ignoring it altogether…. a typical ploy to get people to talk about anything other than his missing tax returns.

Which, by the way, isn’t working, as more and more Republicans are making pointed remarks about it. In a way, it reminds me of a little boy, trying to keep from having to admit to Mom he’d been in the cookie jar, while having cookie crumbs all over his face and fingers. It might be cute, if it wasn’t so pathetic in an adult….

“He who confesses to small faults hopes you’ll think he has no big ones.” — Smart Bee (Hmm, SB is really on the ball today….)

Mitt’s mouth has gotten him in so much trouble, both open and shut, that his handlers have gagged him. A full search of the front page of the SF Chronicle news site, SFGATE, shows that there are NO stories being pursued this morning, on either the presumptive candidate, nor the POTUS. Neither Romney nor Obama were mentioned anywhere on the front page. The landing of the newest Mars rover (successfully, YAY!….), the latest crazy white man gunning down innocent people of color, and the Olympics are the top stories today.

For a politician, this is extreme hiding…. the trick for them is to get their name out there, so people are talking about him, and he remains in the forefront of the national eye. For a candidate for any office, NO news is bad news…. and in this case, is most likely due to their candidate’s ingrained habit of opening mouth, inserting foot….

Just remember this, my girl, as you look up in the sky — You can see the stars and still not see the light. — The Eagles, from “Lyin’ Eyes”

It’s early yet, so perhaps by the end of the day, the Twitt will have once again proved his complete lack of intelligence with some ill-considered lie. I suppose it’s a good thing that he is so completely clueless; if he bothered to ever look up at the sky, he wouldn’t even see the stars, much less the light…. At this point, all we can do is make sure that enough ffolkes get to the polls to keep him from ever getting any closer to the Oval Office than the two-dollar White House tour….. and continue to watch as he continues his campaign of self-destruction, right there in front of God and everybody…..

“I used to be a FUNDAMENTALIST, but then I heard about the HIGH RADIATION LEVELS and bought an ENCYCLOPEDIA!!” — Zippy the Pinhead

“The broad mass of a nation… will more easily fall victim to a big lie than to a small one.” — Adolf Hitler (1889-1945), “Mein Kampf”
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Families, when a child is born
Want it to be intelligent.
I, through intelligence,
Having wrecked my whole life,
Only hope the baby will prove
Ignorant and stupid.
Then he will crown a tranquil life
By becoming a Cabinet Minister
— Su Tung-p’o

Born in 1036, Su Tung-po was a famous Chinese poet. He was also called Su Shih. Born in present-day Sichuan province, Su was from a literary family. During the Sung Dynasty he wrote very simple poems based on Buddhist Philosophy. Su occupied many official posts, rising to president of the board of rites (which regulated imperial ceremonies and worship). He designed the parks surrounding Lake Si in Hangzhou. Five emperors came to the throne during his lifetime.

Su’s poetry and art were inspired by Taoism and Buddhism, although his political views were founded in Confucian philosophy. Su is generally considered the greatest poet of the Sung dynasty. He is also noted for his fu, satiric poems which approach free verse, and for letters and essays. Although his writings were once blacklisted, even destroyed, his genius could not be repressed. His poetry and writing have been reprinted, studied, and enjoyed by generations since.

His satiric verses and opposition to official policies frequently lost him his official status and resulted in imprisonment and 12-times exiled. Su’s tumultuous career began around 1079, when he wrote a satirical poem on the New Policies promoted by Prime Minister Wang An-shih, who was infuriated and had Su arrested. Su served time in jail and was later released, but the following year he was banished to Huang-chou in the southern hinterlands. This proved to be a major turning point in his life. Beforehand, Su was a free and spirited personality, and his poetry was full of insight and energy. However, having barely escaped with his life and being banished to the harsh region of the south, he began to reflect on the beauty of nature and the meaning of life. In exile, he enjoyed the simple pleasures of farming and writing, taking joy in what life had to offer. In fact, many of his most popular works were done at the time. Though Su was later pardoned, he was never far from controversy. Even as an old man, he was banished to the furthest reaches of the land–Hainan Island in the South China Sea. The experience, however, only further enlightened him. Though pardoned once again, this time he did not make it back to court and died on the trip north.

Picture, poem, and biography from Poemhunter.com   Su Tung-p’o

I love finding new authors…. well, authors who are new to me. I’ve seen this poem before, and even used it once, I believe, as a pearl, but I didn’t realize there was more from the poet. Now I have a whole new bunch of stuff to read, that I’ve never seen before…. Life is good!….
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It’s time again for an old-school pearl…. these statements all lead to one cogent thought, one that can completely change your life, and how you look at that life…. just let your mind float freely, holding each thought, then adding the next one in, until all have been mixed together thoroughly, to a smooth consistency…. and you will SEE!…..

“Always store beer in a dark place.” — Lazarus Long

Be a hero! Teach your children to think for THEMSELVES! — Smart Bee

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

“You’re not supposed to be so blind with patriotism that you can’t face reality. Wrong is wrong, no matter who says it.” — Malcolm X

“Once you can accept the universe as being something expanding  into an infinite nothing which is something, wearing stripes  with plaid is easy.” — Albert Einstein (1879-1955)

And, as it has been said for centuries in the alleyways and hidden streets of the world’s greatest cities,….. there you go. You may now consider yourself a yogini of highest rank…..  or was that yogurt?  No matter, don’t you feel enlightened? I know I do….. with a nice blueberry aftertaste….
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I’d better stop here…. it’s threatening to get away from me, and it wouldn’t be pretty for that to happen today; too much built up angst-pressure. It would blow away this whole corner of the internet for a couple hours, minimum…. So be it….. Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

gigoid

Dozer

Kowabunga!

Measuring the Waves of Active Ingredients….

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2

Ffolkes,
The future has arrived, early. I don’t know about y’all, but I’m not quite ready for this. Especially when it’s tied up like this with a pretty bow; it only makes it look sleazy, not classy. And, of course, there’s no user’s manual…. how are we supposed to even get this thing running without a manual? When you open the box, a process not aided by the presence of the aforementioned big bow, 277 oddly shaped parts fall out, with no diagram, no labels, no screws or other fasteners, and, of course, no manual. Says here it was shipped by the Acme Future Shock company, St. Louis, Mo….. whoever they are….

Ah well, what’s one more incomplete project laying around? I’ll just kick all these weirdly shaped pieces of plastic into the corner over here, and….. there….. Voilá, organization strikes again….. Now, where were we? Ah yes, nowhere…. a place with which I’ve become very familiar in recent months, having been beguiled into getting off the bus there a couple of times. It’s the kind of place you don’t forget, as it isn’t the most pleasant of environs, and tends to wear thin after almost no time at all…. I’m just not a happy camper without something to read, and there ain’t nothing like that nowhere, no how….

Since there is nothing here to tempt us to stay, I suggest we get on with the normal business of the day, and go find some oysters to torment…. Shall we Pearl?…..
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From an Essay on Man

Heav’n from all creatures hides the book of fate,
All but the page prescrib’d, their present state:
From brutes what men, from men what spirits know:
Or who could suffer being here below?
The lamb thy riot dooms to bleed today,
Had he thy reason, would he skip and play?
Pleas’d to the last, he crops the flow’ry food,
And licks the hand just rais’d to shed his blood.
Oh blindness to the future! kindly giv’n,
That each may fill the circle mark’d by Heav’n:
Who sees with equal eye, as God of all,
A hero perish, or a sparrow fall,
Atoms or systems into ruin hurl’d,
And now a bubble burst, and now a world.

Hope humbly then; with trembling pinions soar;
Wait the great teacher Death; and God adore.
What future bliss, he gives not thee to know,
But gives that hope to be thy blessing now.
Hope springs eternal in the human breast:
Man never is, but always to be blest:
The soul, uneasy and confin’d from home,
Rests and expatiates in a life to come.

Lo! the poor Indian, whose untutor’d mind
Sees God in clouds, or hears him in the wind;
His soul, proud science never taught to stray
Far as the solar walk, or milky way;
Yet simple nature to his hope has giv’n,
Behind the cloud topp’d hill, an humbler heav’n;
Some safer world in depth of woods embrac’d,
Some happier island in the wat’ry waste,
Where slaves once more their native land behold,
No fiends torment, no Christians thirst for gold.
To be, contents his natural desire,
He asks no angel’s wing, no seraph’s fire;
But thinks, admitted to that equal sky.

Alexander Pope

Pearls of Virtual Wisdom are as random as I can make them, and today, that impulse called for me to start by bringing in something classic from Mr. Pope, one of the most quoted men in history…. Far be it from me to buck a trend…. or trend a buck, for that matter….  Enjoy!
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What we have here is a failure to…. wait, that’s been done…. Okay, here, I found it in the script…. What we have below is an old-school Sesame Street style pearl…. Taken together, in the order given, and with a relatively open mind, these quotes will lead one to the Thought For Today. If they don’t, well, that’s okay, too…. Once again, as we are going old-school, this will not be on the test….

“But a short time elapsed after the death of the great reformer of the Jewish religion, before his principles were departed from by those who professed to be his special servants, and perverted into an engine for enslaving mankind, and aggrandizing their oppressors in Church and State.” — Thomas Jefferson, [letter?] To S. Kercheval, 1810

“All national institutions of churches, whether Jewish, Christian, or Turkish, appear to me no other than human inventions, set up to terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolize power and profit.” — Thomas Paine

“One sure way to determine the social conscience of a Government is to examine the way taxes are collected and how they are spent.  And one sure way to determine the social conscience of an individual is to get his tax-reaction.  Taxes, after all, are the dues that we pay  for the privileges of membership in an organized society.” — Franklin Delano Roosevelt, campaign address, — Worcester, Mass., Oct. 21, 1936.

“The measure of a man’s real character is what he would do if he knew he never would be found out.” — Thomas Babington Macaulay

“When I was made presidential press secretary my father sent me a telegram: “Always tell the truth. If you can’t always tell the truth, don’t lie.” — Bill Moyers

“What is left when honour is lost?” — Publius Syrus (42 BC) — Maxim 265

What, indeed….. on that note, onward…..
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When it comes to learning how to get along with the differences we all have with each other, animals have it all over humans…. I know I have used this before, probably to make the same point, so….here is a picture I found on Facebook, that furnishes graphic proof of that assertion……
    Four species, all dreaming the same dream…. one of peace and beauty, with love as the basic coin of the realm…..
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So, there is less than usual of my particular brand of drivel today…. There are reasons for that; while intensely relevant to me, listing them here would no doubt bore y’all to tears…. Better to let this go out as is…. I’ll be posting again later today, anyway….

Mr. Crusher, make it so…. Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you….

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

gigoid

Dozer

Kowabunga!

These brass monkeys were stolen!….

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9

Ffolkes,
A shooting star flashed across the night sky, carving its bright path, until fading out near the horizon. Heartened by this hopeful sign, four silent figures moved quietly down the hillside, mere shadows moving through the night. With hours yet to first light, the forest through which they padded slept, unaware of the passage of the silent, nearly invisible group. No night birds sang their warning, only deep silence accompanied the group as they moved between the trees. As they reached the edge of the vast savanna which lay east of the forest, the group split, two finding cover on the ground, and two climbing swiftly up two trees overlooking the path leading back into the forest from the plain. They settled down to wait…..

Hmm… I kind of wonder what they are waiting for, or who they intend to ambush. But my curiosity is not so strong as to get me any further into the story, so we’ll just leave the group there, waiting, and go on to more dignified, if not more lucrative, pastimes…. whatever those may be…..

All things considered, it was a close call, but I’ve made it to the end of the month, alive, and that is definitely worth celebrating, given the effort it took to do so without committing mayhem, or biting someone, hard….. I think I’ll treat myself to breakfast, once I’ve tortured the language enough to put together a Pearl… It may or may not turn out well, only time will tell, and yes I rhymed on purpose…. I can’t help it, I’m a sick man….

Shall we Pearl?…..
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“It’s wisdom to recognize necessity, when all other courses have been weighed, though as folly it may appear to those who cling to false hope.” — Elrond

For those who don’t know, Elrond is the leader of the Elves of Rivendell, friend to Gandalf and hobbits, father of the elven beauty who becomes wife and queen of Aragon, King of Middle Earth. His age is unknown, but he remembers clearly the last time the Evil One, Sauron, made his bid for supremacy, thousands of years ago. How then, even if he is so wise, did he know how to best describe the state of American politics today?….. What he says above is what goes through my mind whenever I consider the possibility of Mitt the Twitt somehow being elected to the Presidency, as I make sure my rifle is clean and loaded, and my preparations complete for the upcoming target practice….

It’s kind of amusing actually. I have this image in my head, of how some true Americans might react if he is actually elected….. For example, when the Chief Justice tells the Twitt to put his hand on the Bible on Inauguration Day, 50 gunshots ring out, as the Marine color guards all open fire on the podium, with the first 50 rounds exploding Mitt’s head…. Then, when the confusion really starts, I’ll provide cover fire so the Marines can take off and get to their hiding spots, picked days before…..

I like either that scenario, or the other one, where, after the Marines put him down, the gathered crowd all surround the Marines, and pat them on the back, telling them , “good job.”  Whereupon the Sergeant in charge of the squad salutes and says, “No problem, ma’am, we are sworn to protect the country from all enemies, foreign or domestic”….. The crown applauds, they break up, and the country gets back to the business of reform…. Hey, we all have our fantasies, yes?….

It is unfortunate that these kinds of fantasies are necessary these days, to keep my blood pressure under control. It tends to spike whenever I think about the disastrous results should the Twitt get into the White House…. Of course, he’d probably live in one of his own houses…. the White House would be a a bit of a come-down for him, rich as he is…. No car elevator, or room for a dancing horse…. I suppose the Conservatory could be converted to a stable, and the rose garden could be taken out and turned into pasture….

You know, of course, how they teach those horses to do that dancing they do, right? They smack the horse on their forelegs to teach them to lift them up, then progress to both legs in sequence, producing the dancing motion…. which is actually a reaction to the pain of having a metal bat strike the shin, causing a short shot of agony…. I might pick my foot up, too, right before I planted it forcefully on the trainer’s nose… Nice folks, these Romneys….

Now, in most election years, I might not worry so much about an idiot in the White House. But, two factors have prompted me to keep plugging away at this subject…. One, Mitt Romney has clearly shown that should he be President, the United States would be in serious trouble. Every one of his stated goals is contrary to what I believe is needed, not just for stability in our country, but contrary to what is needed to keep us in the 21st century. Second, there are more racist, ignorant, frightened people in this country, who have been hoodwinked by this man’s lies and manipulations into giving him their support, and on election day, their votes, than I would have thought possible. Millions of them. It’s hard to swallow, I know, but it is true, nonetheless.

This is all a pretty long winded way to remind y’all to register and vote this November. You can bet that Romney’s supporters will be; they need to be notified, in no uncertain terms, that they are a minority in this country, and the rest of us will not sit by and watch this fool destroy all the progress we’ve made in the last twenty-five years…. Hell, for that matter, the last hundred and fifty years, because if he has his way, we all will be following the rules of his religion, in which the rights of women are completely ignored…. Believe it!
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A Bronze Head

HERE at right of the entrance this bronze head,
Human, superhuman, a bird’s round eye,
Everything else withered and mummy-dead.
What great tomb-haunter sweeps the distant sky
(Something may linger there though all else die;)
And finds there nothing to make its terror less
{Hysterica passio} of its own emptiness?

No dark tomb-haunter once; her form all full
As though with magnanimity of light,
Yet a most gentle woman; who can tell
Which of her forms has shown her substance right?
Or maybe substance can be composite,
profound McTaggart thought so, and in a breath
A mouthful held the extreme of life and death.

But even at the starting-post, all sleek and new,
I saw the wildness in her and I thought
A vision of terror that it must live through
Had shattered her soul. Propinquity had brought
Imagination to that pitch where it casts out
All that is not itself: I had grown wild
And wandered murmuring everywhere, ‘My child, my
child! ‘

Or else I thought her supernatural;
As though a sterner eye looked through her eye
On this foul world in its decline and fall;
On gangling stocks grown great, great stocks run dry,
Ancestral pearls all pitched into a sty,
Heroic reverie mocked by clown and knave,
And wondered what was left for massacre to save.

William Butler Yeats

After writing the mini-rant above, I was in need of some poetry to smooth my ruffled feathers. What I got was this, which is not soothing, particularly, but is nonetheless perfectly and surprisingly apt…. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did just now….
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“I consider the foundation of the Constitution as laid on this ground: That “all powers not delegated to the United States, by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States or to the people…”  To take a single step beyond the boundaries thus specially drawn around the powers of Congress is to take possession of a boundless field of power, no longer susceptible of any definition.” — Thomas Jefferson to George Washington, 1791

I had intended to write here a sober, reasoned discussion of the above from my second favorite Founding Father (okay, George Mason is my fave….), but decided first to search a bit more to see if I could find something to accompany this, to lighten it up a bit…. this is what I found…..

“History records no more gallant struggle than that of humanity against the truth.” — Smart Bee

Now, while I might suggest that the word “epic” is more apt, ‘gallant” still gives it an adequate emotional index rating. With either word, it rather goes beyond the statement by T. J., into the deeper issue of basic truth. Personally, I don’t understand the issue that most of humanity seems to have regarding the truth…. I’m not afraid of it, even though it is painful more often than not. Unfortunately, much of the rest of mankind seems to not have that sort of reaction to the pain it often brings, and will go to incredible lengths to avoid having to experience that pain, even if it means putting up with another, lesser pain in the process….

You can see, of course, the immediate similarity between those folks who avoid pain, and those folks who vote conservative, or are supporting the accomplished liar, Mitt the Twitt….. Sometimes, many times, in fact, the stuff that is coming out of the mouths of Romney and his supporters is a dead giveaway, one that shows their stark, malignant fear, fear that is rooted in their racism and bigotry. Their worst nightmare came true in 2008, and a BLACK MAN (gasp!) was elected President….

Without ever considering, or even looking at, his record while in office, these ignorant throwbacks will go to ANY lengths to elect ANYONE else, even if that person is actively trying to harm them, as is the case with Romney…. They don’t care, he’s white, so they’ll be more comfortable with him in office…. or so they think…. Should it happen, it will be a rude awakening when he starts his campaign to get the rest of any money they have left, and cheerfully squashes any hope of a better life that they might have retained…..

In reality, this discussion does relate back to Tom’s statement re: the rights of the people vs. the rights of the government. We, the people, have not tried hard enough to maintain the rights we were given, and those rights continue to be eroded. More and more, government is seizing control of various aspects of our lives that formerly were our own issues to deal with. The rights in the Bill of Rights are now amended, and every amendment is another nail in the coffin of freedom….

So, here is the truth, and painful or not, it would be wise to pay attention…. like Jerry Garcia said, “Choosing between two evils is still choosing evil.”  There are no heroes on the ballot. No matter which party is in office, they will continue their assault on the freedoms that Tom says are ours, not theirs. Go with what your reason tells you to do, and don’t be distracted by the lies. Put aside the fear, and the bigotry, and the cowardice. Only one of the two choices is making any effort toward transparency, and you don’t need me to point out which one. Nor would I be so rude as to suggest which you might choose; I just lay out the truth, and you pick….

The truth is Obama lies at times, for expediency, just like any politician. But, he also is genuinely invested in making reforms that will actually help the middle class, and as far as I can tell, has not overly abused his powers (there are anomalous blips on that radar screen, but another time for that….).

Romney lies all the time; time after time after time, it has been documented that he lies just about every time he opens his mouth in the public arena. In addition, he is unapologetic about the lies, and indifferent to any claims of his doing so; he lies again by denying his lies, even when they are laid out in front of him. He has made it abundantly clear that has no interest in making things better for anyone but his own core group of friends, the rich and powerful who occupy Wall Street offices, seats in Congress, and the religious right. The fact is, he is so out there, his own party is starting to get nervous….

These statements are truth. They can all be proven, if necessary, using documentation that is available to anyone in public archives. What you decide to do with that truth is up to you, as it always is…. What will you do with it?…..
___________________________________

Hmm…. I guess I had some political angst built up in there, & needed to get it out. “Better out than in”, for sure…. Remember, ffolkes, the above is my stuff, and is not intended to mess with anybody else’s stuff…. Remember also what Albert said….

“I never thought that others would take them so much more seriously than I did.” — Albert Einstein, about his theories

I guess that will serve as an adequate disclaimer….. good enough for government work, anyway…. Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

gigoid

Dozer

Kowabunga!

Objectionable nuns on parade….

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9

Ffolkes,
Once more, I find myself staring at the screen with an empty head, hoping for inspiration to strike. Apparently, hope isn’t enough….. I know, I’ll start off with some fiction….

Once upon a time, there was a young man who didn’t want to grow old. He did everything he could think of to keep from growing into an adult, but reality would not cooperate, so he ended up pretty much like everyone else…. an adult, with a job, and the whole nine yards. He thought being an adult would be okay; they certainly have more options than kids. But, he was quite certain that he didn’t want to grow old, and made up his mind to do something about it….

He read books about aging, and did all he could do to stop the march of time. He used specially made soaps, and ate only certain foods. He went to bed early, got up early, and ate a balanced diet. He never took chances, going so far as to never ride in cars, trains, airplanes, or buses, so he wouldn’t die in a crash. He avoided stressful activities. He prayed. He tried every new product that claimed to prolong life. He did everything he could think of to keep from growing old….. and guess what?  He got old………

I know, I know, pretty cheap, going for the easy laugh, but it kind of got away from me, and I had to do something to end it, or it would have gone on for pages and pages. We’d never get done with this Pearl if I let that happen….. And speaking of Pearls, it’s probably best now if we just get on with it. Goodness knows we’ve wasted enough time on this! Shall we Pearl?…..
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This will be an unusual Pearl…. structured like no other. Old school, yet brand new…. let’s see if it works….

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

I am having trouble with this statement…. there are just SO many wrong things in it.  I’m having a hard time with the fact that a U.S. Senator would utter such an incredibly STUPID statement. Especially considering he uses it as if it were some sort of actual argument in favor of whatever it is he is talking about. “Over-complicating life?”  How is that possible? The man has not a single clue about so much, it is difficult to decide where to start…. SIGH  He probably alternates his Sunday TV viewing between Wrestling Smackdown and NASCAR…..

Though man a thinking being is defined,
Few use the grand prerogative of mind.
How few think justly of the thinking few!
How many never think, who think they do!

— Jane Taylor (1783-1824) — Essays in Rhyme, (On Morals and Manners, Prejudice, ) Essay i, Stanza 45

I suppose I should just get over my surprise, and acknowledge the Senator’s statement as further proof of my assertion regarding people who seek public office. I’ve stated before that I think anyone who wants a job like that is already too crazy to give it to, and, not realizing that further indicates the public’s willingness to buy into the lies they tell to get into office. It’s not the way it SHOULD be, it’s just the way it is…. THIS is how it SHOULD be…..

“A man does not serve his country by canting, snuffling and marching in parades, he serves her by striving to make her clean, brave, just, intelligent and worthy of respect.” — H. L. Mencken, Baltimore _Evening Sun_, June 13, 1916

Clean, brave, just, intelligent, and worthy of respect….. The only one of these characteristics that I can believe about Mitt the Twitt is the first one, given that they are talking about showering, and not morals. If it refers to morals, the most accurate thing to say about Romney is that he has none at all.

He lies by every method available…. He makes it up. He gets it backwards. He takes it, and/or puts it, out of context. He pretends. He flip-flops from one belief, to the opposite, and back again, all in one day. There are documented examples of each of these types of lies, spewed by Mr. R at one time or another over the last few months, and I don’t think we’ve seen the end of his creativity in this arena yet….. he’ll find new ways to lie, just you wait…. He doesn’t even try to hide it most of the time, and never follows Twain’s advice….

“Get your facts first and then you can distort them as much as you wish.” — Mark Twain

Mitt is so good (or so he thinks…) he doesn’t even need the facts, as he proved when he couldn’t remember the name of the leader of the opposition he met in England, just a moment before….. instead he tried to cover his indifference to fact by calling the man “Mr. Leader”…..What a dolt! Remember the dog on top of the car trick he admitted to pulling?….

“The worst sin towards our fellow creatures is not to hate them, but to be indifferent to them; that’s the essence of inhumanity.” — George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950)

Okay, that is enough. I can only take thinking about Romney in small doses; much longer and I’d be risking an attack of nausea….. But, never fear…. there are now 99 days until the election, and I’m not finished taking shots at Mitt the Twitt. He’s just too attractive a target to let it pass by without letting off a few rounds….    🙂
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I have previously brought you poems from este poeta, but this one is special. She amazes me time after time with the passion, the power, and the beauty of what she writes….. which is only matched by her own luminous eyes…. there is only one thing to do with pieces such as this, and that is…. Enjoy!

Obligating Hums

surely we’ve met in midair
sometime ago
your stubborn neck disregarded my smile
apologetically you stirred these mediums
the melancholic instruments attached to my head
on a solid oaken table we wrote
the aloofness of a spell
critiquing the crafty shapes
with your index finger you pointed at me
and shivered
i waited
and thickened your space very slowly
my voice reached your core
i knew then how bitter your loneliness was
tempting these souls to write
and with your little murmur
a flame in my chest i saw
i slowly began to weep
you stroke my head listening to me pray
softening my thoughts
the names that inhabit my soles
the steady pure familiar calm
the wind the golden faces inside this life of mine
designed for staying here
urging trumpets to melodically banner my heart tonight . . .

Mari Sanchez Cayuso

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

Bob has certainly nailed that puppy right on the head this time…. (No, no, not a real puppy, just a metaphorical one…. good grief, get a grip! I wouldn’t do that to a real puppy, and neither would Bob….)  This is a deeply insightful observation on human nature, one I’m sure he learned, on his own, the hard way….  🙂     I would just like to add that there are humans who don’t learn at all, even the hard way…. we call them politicians….

Sure, I know, one would ask, “Why do you say that? Politicians SEEM to be smart, how would they do that if they don’t learn?” Well, maybe you wouldn’t ask, but that wouldn’t make a very good pearl, now would it? No…. so, I’ll explain to you, that what politicians display is called “low animal cunning”, and is a direct result of getting to the age they are by adaptation rather than actual learning.

By trial and error, they did learn, from a young age, to mimic those around them, copying the moves and lines that got them acceptance from their peers. Often, this cunning is enough, and they learn to mimic so well, it looks just like the real deal, i.e. they appear to learn, they seem like they can reason, etc., when in reality, it is all just a survival trait, based on their ability to adapt quickly……

This is why Mitt the Twitt has been having such a tough time overseas…. He really has no clue about why he even has to go over there, but his handlers, people who actually do engage in the reasoning process, told him he should, so he did.  It became apparent he was out of his depth before he even left for London. I’m sure his handlers were slapping their foreheads over that interview on NBC right before he left, in which he insulted most of the English people, and gave a little taste of the fun to follow, when he actually got to England….. What an idiot he is!….

Bob Heinlein’s statement above doesn’t just apply to politicians, and that is unfortunate. It seems that a lot of folks in this country are the same, and they have all adopted Mitt the Twitt as their savior, setting him up as the “Great White Hope”, the one who will save them from the trauma of having a black President. These folks don’t really even understand why they don’t like Obama, they just know he is black, and that is enough for them.

In this modern age, in a supposedly enlightened society, one would think racism has been eradicated….Unfortunately, it isn’t true…. racism never went away, it’s just not out in the open anymore….. The Ku Klux Klan has not disbanded, just because the law says they must…. they just went underground.

It may not be politically correct any more to display one’s bigotry, but that doesn’t mean it went away. The fact that it hasn’t serves as proof of what I’ve said before…. The only changes that will save this planet, and us, from dying out are changes in philosophy and belief. Humans need to change the way they look at the universe, in big ways and in small. We haven’t done a particularly good job at being the landlord of this planet; we need to learn how to be a good tenant, instead….

Instead of approaching life as one of God’s intended Lords of Creation, we need to see our real place in the environment, to realize that the rest of the universe is just as beautiful as we can be, and is merely waiting for us to realize our own place, not above the other creatures, but beside them, acting in concert….. We need to become part of the team of life on this planet, instead of trying to act as if we are the manager of the team…. or we are going to lose the game, joining T-Rex, the dodo, and Neanderthals on the list of failed experiments.

“The release of atom power has changed everything except our way of thinking…the solution to this problem lies in the heart of mankind…  If only I had known, I should have become a watchmaker.” — Albert Einstein (1879-1955)

Me too…..
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Such as it is, so let it be…. Mr. Sulu, take us home…. Not a bad effort for being up so late, and rushing so hard to get done…. It will have to do…. Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

gigoid

Dozer

Kowabunga!

All bets were on the used carbuncle….

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7

Ffolkes,
Oddity after oddity assails my senses. Torn between sleep and awake, and never ready for either one. Yes, I’d like to sleep, and yes, I’d like to dance, but the music isn’t very rhythmic, nor is the pillow soft. Clouds and colonoscopy don’t match my memory of how to succeed at business, but it does sell well. From yesterday all the way to today, I have counted the evens, and disregarded the odds, which is the only way to bet that the governor won’t tax it into submission. I don’t know, maybe we should just lay down our weapons, even if we aren’t going to surrender. Then we can have some pie ala mode…. and some coffee…..

Yes, please, some coffee…. I have made a serious miscalculation, and have run out of coffee. I am sitting here trying not to bite myself, hard, for being such an idiot. You see above what it can do to me…. that was supposed to be a haiku, and look what it turned into…. scary shit, if you ask me….. I think I’m hallucinating….. if not, then I wish I was, because this is the pits. I haven’t had this serious a withdrawal reaction in long time…. but then, it’s been a long time since I last had to do without coffee in the morning……

Rather than spend a long time complaining about it, I’m going to dive right in and start looking for material…. Shall we Pearl?

“Being normal isn’t one of my strengths.” — Smart Bee
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Caution: Old School Pearl Ahead. Gird Your Grids For A Big One…..

“Two babies were born on the same day at the same hospital. They lay there and looked at each other.  Their families came and took them away.  Eighty years later, by a bizarre coincidence, they lay in the same hospital, on their deathbeds, next to each other.  One of them looked at the other and said, “So. What did you think?” — Steven Wright

A monk said to Joshu, “I have just entered this monastery. Please teach me.”
“Have you eaten your breakfast?” Joshu asked.
“Yes, I have,” replied the student.
“Then you had better wash your bowl.”
— Smart Buddhist Bee

“TAPPING?  You POLITICIANS!  Don’t you realize that the END of the “Wash Cycle” is a TREASURED MOMENT for most people?!” — Zippy the Pinhead

“I’ll get you my pretty,  and your little dog too!” — Wicked Witch of the East

“Don’t underestimate the value of Doing Nothing, of just going along, listening to all the things you can’t hear, and not bothering.” — Pooh’s Little Instruction Book, inspired by A. A. Milne

There, that should do it…. I’ve made this as clear as mud, obviously…. Don’t worry, though, it won’t be on the test…. In fact, it won’t even count toward graduation, not that we care about stuff like that…. But, it does make a good point, yes?  Nod your head…..
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Because I could not stop for Death,
He kindly stopped for me;
The carriage held but just ourselves
And Immortality.

We slowly drove, he knew no haste,
And I had put away
My labor, and my leisure too,
For his civility.

We passed the school where children played,
Their lessons scarcely done;
We passed the fields of gazing grain,
We passed the setting sun.

We paused before a house that seemed
A swelling of the ground;
The roof was scarcely visible,
The cornice but a mound.

Since then ‘t is centuries; but each
Feels shorter than the day
I first surmised the horses’ heads
Were toward eternity.

— Emily Dickinson

I think this is Emily’s best known poem, and I know it is one of my favorites. It needs no adornment…. “Because I could not stop for Death, he kindly stopped for me…..”   Absolutely brilliant!
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If his IQ was two points higher he’d be a rock. — Smart Bee

Normally, (as if that word had any meaning here…) I don’t use derogatory digs such as this one, unless it fits the humorous point I am trying to inject. If I don’t like someone, I’ll usually just call them an asshole, and be done with it.  In Mitt the Twitt’s case, I am making an exception, as I believe, after having had to listen to his drivel now for ages too long, that he deserves every foul name or insulting phrase we can throw at him. Not since Nixon have I felt such a burning lack of respect for a political figure, bordering on murderous hatred. Yes, I know, I don’t hold any of them in particularly high regard, but this guy has reached new levels of audacity in his quest for the brass ring, and for the title of The World’s Richest Asshole.

I’ll bet I can guess why he doesn’t want to release his tax returns…. I mean, other than the fact that a closer look at them might have the IRS doing the same, and deciding that an audit of his returns might be in order.  No, I’m betting that those returns will show exactly how he got so damn rich.

I’m betting that most of the money he has made with Bain Capital and the other money-laundering corporations he created, came from investors who were cheated out of retirement funds, or out of their life savings, by the sharks at these companies who solicit money for their schemes. I’m betting that those returns show that he has lied and cheated the American people repeatedly and often, all at his instigation, and with his approval.

Well, okay, maybe not active approval so much as indifferent denial; he may not have signed off on the schemes that netted him so much return, but he sure didn’t make any effort to see that it was of benefit to anyone but himself. As long as the money keeps rolling in, he doesn’t give a damn who suffers because of that. To him, the man on the street is only a mark, a fool and his money, and he doesn’t care a whit about whatever suffering is created by his business practices. “It’s just business….”

It’s gotten to the point now where I am about ready to talk to the man myself. He is in dire need of a dose of being read to from the Book of Righteousness, and I would be happy to do the reading. And I will say this….. if it looks as if there is even the remotest chance of his election, this country will be in danger of another Civil War. His divisive tactics and complete dishonesty are already causing a lot of murmuring under the radar, and a political disaster, such as his actual election to office, will only make things worse than they are now.

Of course, such a conflict might cause him and his cronies to drop the charade, and order out the National Guard to fight against American citizens. Hell, it might go so far as to have him declare martial law, and throw the Constitution and the Bill of Rights all the way out the window…. It wouldn’t surprise me a bit, as it is something that the beloved ruling class has been hoping for, because, in spite of what may seem like otherwise, they have more guns, and they won’t hesitate to use them, even on their own countrymen….

Perhaps my bilious state just now can be attributed to a lack of coffee. If so, so what? It doesn’t alter reality, and the reality is that Mitt the Twitt is possibly the greatest danger this country has ever faced. He and his ilk are making their bid to take complete control of everything, right in front of us. Hell, they are such good liars they’ve got millions of really, really stupid people already convinced they are honest, upright men, and have the public’s well-being in mind. In fact, Mitt is a congenital liar, as well as a religious fanatic, who wants nothing more than the complete subjugation of all non-white, non-Mormon, poor Americans. (“Poor” being relative…. to Mitt, anything under $250,000/year is peanuts….).

Ptah! Thppt!  Talking about these assholes has given me a dry mouth….. I don’t know ffolkes…. It looks pretty bad some days, and today is one of those days…. Ah well, at least the Twitt is busy running around Europe sticking his foot in his mouth, and we don’t have to listen to him directly…. until he gets back…. Maybe we’ll get lucky, and he’ll get caught at the airport trying to smuggle in a new dancing horse…. or better yet, a new domestic servant that he picked up in Africa….. It could work….. Ya think?……
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All things considered, I feel lucky to have been able to complete today’s Pearl. If the rest of the day goes like this, well, I’m not sure what I’ll do…. I suppose I’ll just have to take it as it comes, and deal with it as best I may….. Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

gigoid

Dozer

Kowabunga!

All washed clean with decadence…..

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1

Ffolkes,

Unheard murmurs of savage rage,
Unseen images of screaming terror,
Unknown, adrift in a sea of ignorance and folly
Chained to reality with shackles of hate and fear.
Breathing in hope, while exhaling despair, cannot
Bring balance to broken intention.
Knocked down twice,
Get up thrice,
Strive to serve Life/Death
Children’s laughter, in a large, colorful cup.

Hmm….. It’s not bad, for an off-the-cuff effort. It is definitely a product of my sub-conscious, because none of this stuff was part of my thought stream this morning, until I started to type. I admit, it’s a bit grim, and I went for a ‘modern verse’ feel, by not trying to rhyme any of it, but, I’ve done a lot worse, and it did break the ice….

Rather than frighten you off any further, I think we should just forget all this, and go find some oysters….. Shall we Pearl?…..
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“Animals have these advantages over man: they never hear the clock strike, they die without any idea of death, they have no theologians to instruct them, their last moments are not disturbed by unwelcome and unpleasant ceremonies, their funerals cost them nothing, and no one starts lawsuits over their wills.” — Voltaire
    And, they provide us humans with daily examples of how to live life with compassion and unconditional love…. We could all stand to learn those lessons well….
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“There are people so addicted to exaggeration that they can’t tell the truth without lying.” — Josh Billings

Without me having to say a word, you may be able to guess who comes to my mind when I see this. Yes, indeed, Mitt the Twitt, who continues to amaze the world with his uncanny ability to find his mouth with his foot, no matter what the circumstances may be. His most recent attempts to make the Top Ten Idiot’s du Jour list came in England, as he spent three days there spouting gaffe after gaffe, insulting the English people, and generally making a fool of himself on an international stage.

I can hardly wait to see what he says and does in his next stop, which I believe is Italy…. That should be interesting, especially if he sees the Pope…. the richest Mormon in the world talking with the richest Catholic in the world…. they should get along like bacon and eggs…..

That’s all…. surprise, surprise!  I thought I’d give y’all, and me, a bit of a break, and not overdo it with the Twitt bashing today. A one and a half paragraph rant is all it really takes, anyway. He is, by far, the easiest political target I’ve ever had to work with, given his habit of shooting off his mouth, with a deadly aim, right at his own foot, on a multiple-times-daily schedule. So, enjoy the break today…. just keep your eye on the news, and rest assured, he will have provided material for more ‘discussion’ before the end of the day today….
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A man sought medical aid because he was crippled and could hardly walk. The foot doctor suggested surgery. After the operation, nothing changed. The man then consulted a bone surgeon, who suggested surgery on his legs. After this second operation, nothing changed. The man went to a chiropractor for six months, and no change was effected, although he was told his spine was out of line. Finally the man consulted a psychiatrist at great expense, and the doctor told him he was totally suicidal and would die within months. Despondent, the man went out and spent a great deal of money on a new wardrobe. At the shoe store, he ordered the finest, a size 10. The salesperson said he needed size 11, but the man insisted on a size 10. “Look here,” said the salesperson, “if you were a size 10 you are going to get crippled and wish you were dead.” — Smart Bee

“More people died from worrying than ever bled to death” — Robert Heinlein

“Do not let trifles disturb your tranquility of mind. The little pinpricks of daily life when dwelt upon and magnified, may do great damage, but if ignored or dismissed from thought, will disappear from inanition. Most men have worried about things which never happened, and more men have been killed by worry than by hard work. Life is so great in its opportunities and possibilities, that you should rise confidently above the inevitable trifles incident to daily contact with the world. Life is too precious to be sacrificed for the nonessential and transient… Ignore the inconsequential.” — Grenville Kleiser

I’ve included these three quotes here for a dual purpose…. The first is to give my readers some good food for thought, and I can think of no better than this lesson for that. We all tend to forget this truism, and forget what we all heard as a child, to wit: “Don’t sweat the small stuff….” 

If you didn’t hear that as a child, well, either somebody forgot to tell you, or you grew up on another planet. Regardless of the reason, it’s something just about everybody knows, and seldom does…. And that segues into the second purpose, which was to give myself a boot in the ass for forgetting it! Mission accomplished there….

I know perfectly well how important this is; it is one of the basic concepts that helped me overcome the worst of my depression years ago, right after the incident which triggered it. “Don’t sweat the small stuff….”   Why?  Because there isn’t anything to be done about it. All you can do, is all you can do…. and don’t you forget it……   🙂
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The picture used today was found, as usual, on Facebook, with no attribution given….. It’s been a long, strange trip today, from there to here. I think I should go do something else now…. Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you….

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

gigoid

Dozer

Kowabunga!

Using crow feathers as currency…..

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4

Ffolkes,
Inside my head is probably not the best place to take a vacation, but at the moment, it’s all I can afford. I’m limited, of course, to those places I’ve actually been, in order to enjoy again the great stuff I did at those locales. I could also use my imagination, and visit places I haven’t been, but I can never be sure if the real thing would be better or worse, since I have no real data on it, beyond what I can find in books or online…..

The world wide web has certainly added a new dimension to vacationing, whether in your head, or actually going to a different spot on the planet. We now are able to access video footage and pictures, along with descriptions, and even prices, of the vacation spots all over the world, and all the amenities and attractions that are available to the traveler when they arrive.

Cruise lines now give virtual tours of their ships, showing the staterooms, dining, entertainment, and shopping venues that are on board to cater to the passengers. Resorts and hotels also may offer virtual tours of their facilities, so that the traveler can look at the sites themselves. This advance information is very useful for anyone planning a vacation, or planning travel of any kind….

So, maybe this year, since I can’t yet go to Ireland physically, I think I’ll take myself on  virtual tour of the Emerald Isle, and make plans to see the places I want to see when I eventually can go….. or I might skip the virtual stuff, and take a few virtual weeks at one of the spots that are in my head already…. It may not be the best time I’ve ever had, but at least it’s a place I know I can enjoy myself, and at a price I can live with…. Of course, I won’t get a very good tan, but at my age, I’m not overly concerned with that anymore…..

Since I’ve now probably bored you to distraction, it might be a good time to get on with the business for which we are gathered…. Shall we Pearl?……
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“But oh, the perils of leadership in a species so anxious to be told what to do. How little they know of what they create by their demands.Leaders make mistakes. And these mistakes, amplified by the numbers who follow without questioning, move inevitably towards great disaster.” — Smart Bee

I don’t know who said this, but he sure nailed today’s political scene with it; it’s a perfect example of what is taking place in the Republican party this year. Or it will be, if they decide at last that Mitt the Twitt is their guy. The people who are ignorant enough to follow him are those in our society who earnestly place their complete trust in whoever tells them what they want to hear, and expect that person to fulfill that trust. Of course, they never do, but they are all in denial regarding most of reality, anyway….

According to the latest new reports, 44% of Republicans say that Mitt Romney should stop hiding, and publish his tax returns, as is the habit of all Presidential candidates, to show that they are transparent, and committed to honoring the tax laws. The longer he delays in doing so, the greater the outcry, which is now at high volume.

Of course, it is obvious that what those returns will show he has been consistently lying to the public regarding his income, among other things, and really has no connection with anyone who isn’t as wealthy as he is. The issue has grown to such proportions that his support base is beginning to crumble, and all this is taking place BEFORE he has been officially chosen to represent the GOP in the election.

What will happen if he continues to blow himself up, if his support deserts him until he no longer has enough votes to secure the nomination? Your guess is as good as mine, but I would bet serious money that there are a bunch of GOP party hacks, the cronies who actually run the party, sitting in some dark room, making contingency plans for just that possibility…..because the possibility gains more strength each day that the Twitt continues his delusional behavior.

Why do I say delusional? Well, because, by definition, it is just that…. He believes that he can continue to hide his money and tax record, and still maintain the level of support he needs for the nomination. Real, factual evidence is plentiful that this just isn’t true; his support is growing smaller and more restless each day. Holding on to a belief, in the face of all evidence to the contrary, is delusional, by definition.

The question now is, if Romney continues to kill his own campaign, who is out there to replace him? Obviously, none of the other candidates who participated in the round of GOP primaries gathered enough support to defeat the Twitt, so one question is whether any of them CAN regain the support of his former followers. If not, then who is out there who can?

I have no idea, but I’m definitely enjoying the spectacle, of a man with a delusional system as big as his ego blow himself up into little tiny pieces. I’m also rather enjoying observing the general decline of the GOP, as it falls into complete disarray …. As a welcome side effect, I’m feeling a whole lot more hopeful about the November election…… and so should everyone else, for having thus far dodged a bullet…
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A Crazed Girl

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

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

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

William Butler Yeats

I started to try to write a poem this morning, but after about 35 minutes, I decided to give up, as my hair was being pulled out at an alarming rate, and I don’t have all that much to spare… So, I am falling back on that old favorite, of mine and most of the English speaking world, Willie Yeats, who has, to my knowledge, never written a bad poem…. Of course, all the bad ones no doubt ended up in some Irish fireplace, but still….. not bad, not bad at all….
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Gun Control – the belief that government, with its great wisdom and moral superiority, can be trusted with a monopoly on deadly force. — Smart Bee

This short statement, which I sadly found unattributed, states perfectly why I resist all the efforts that people make to change my feelings about guns, and how society should deal with them. In 61+ years, I have never seen even one convincing argument that can even tempt me to believe that the government of this country is either morally superior or possesses great wisdom. In fact, all of the evidence I can find tells me the exact opposite.

If any of these people, advocating that all guns should be made illegal to possess by a common citizen, can provide me with ANYTHING, just one thing, that indicates that I am wrong in this matter, then let them show it. I’ve seen NOTHING that tells me that the government has ANY morals or ANY wisdom…. and I’m supposed to trust them with guns? I would as soon turn my back on a hungry leopard…..

I’m serious about this, as most of us are when speaking of deadly force and weaponry. But what I meant is, I am serious in my invitation to the people who advocate gun control,which I happen to believe in; my definition is just a bit different than the common conception. But, if they can provide me with even one piece of information to support their belief, then I’m willing to listen to it, and consider its validity, or lack of same. I’m fairly certain they cannot, or will not, do so, but I try to keep my mind open to new information. They have not provided any….

I don’t think that common citizens NEED to own automatic assault rifles, or bazookas, or tanks. But, access to these types of weapons CAN be regulated, in such a way, and firmly enough, that the number of people who obtain them for nefarious purposes, such as what happened in Aurora, Colorado recently, is reduced. (And in Orange county…. you just didn’t notice that near massacre because it was the police doing the shooting…. at scared women and children….) I would support requiring that a person wishing to obtain such weapons undergo psychiatric testing, and can also go along with registering the guns so the police know where they are, and how many. Regulation is possible, and in the case of weapons capable of mass mayhem, desirable, to my mind.

But, I DO NOT believe, for even one second, that any government in the world, including this one, can be trusted with a monopoly on deadly force… from that point to tyranny and slavery is one short step, as has been amply demonstrated throughout our species’ bloody, violent history.

“Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” We have all heard this, from the time we were small. It is a truism that nobody even bothers to try to disprove, as it has been proven to be true so many, many times, and it is so widely accepted as truth, no one even knows anymore who said it first.

So, when I hear the outcry that always comes after an incident like the one in Colorado, shouting that “guns are bad”, and “get rid of the guns”, I sigh, and shake my head, and wonder at the naivete of the people who believe that the government could be trusted with that kind of power. But, I guess it’s no more naive than the folks who believe that Mitt the Twitt wants to help make their life better…. and no less dangerous a belief to hold…..

“Remember kids, if there’s a loaded gun in the room, be sure that you’re the one holding it.” — Captain Combat
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Not a bad morning’s work, if I do say…. I’m content with it. Before I can come to my senses, I’m going to post it….. Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

gigoid

Dozer

Kowabunga!