Tag Archives: Samuel Butler

But, the sign says it will sing……

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Ffolkes,
It is a commonly held belief that Time is on our side; this, I can assure you, is not true, from at least one standpoint. I can attest from personal experience that Time, as has been previously noted, is a big PITA (Pain In The Ass)….. and I mean that in a bad way…..

Some women I’ve known have been known to call Time the Time Bitch, and watch in the mirror daily, to search for signs of her bitchiness, in the form of crow’s nests of lines around the eyes, and tangles of grey in the hair. We men, not quite as concerned with the outward signs of aging, nonetheless have our own issues with the Time Bozo, with no less degree of hatred involved…..

It’s hard on men in general to get old, especially since, for most of our lives, we are seen as, and view ourselves as, strong, competent, and able to withstand whatever the world throws at us, in order to accomplish our duty. This strength is hard to give up, but, give it up we must, as our muscles grow weaker, and we tire more easily, no matter how much conditioning we try to maintain. Yes, it’s possible to keep the worst effects at bay for a while, with proper exercise and rest, and a good diet, but, eventually, even the most athletic of seniors must put aside the bikes, and the hikes, and trade it in for an occasional waltz with your lover….

In my own case, I am incensed at how my body is losing function, as I’ve always thought of myself as invincible, perhaps even immortal…. Well, guess what? I’m not either of those things, other than in a metaphysical sense (We are immortal, but not in a recognizable fashion from our current viewpoint in Reality…..), and to be honest, I’m beginning to understand a little better exactly why there are so many older folks running around with a piss-poor attitude. After a while of trying to deal with the things that aging brings with it, the frustration builds up, and there is little choice but to find a way to let it out…. It’s just too bad that other people have to be in the way when that happens, but the other side effect of getting older is that we just don’t give a shit about that….

It’s the one thing that saves us oldsters from getting homicidal, actually, this license to grump. And, whether or not you feel that we are licensed to be so, just remember that we don’t give a shit what you think about it, do we?…. Nope, we don’t. So, get used to grumpy old farts like me toddling around, trying to get our shit done, pushing through our hazes of pain and difficult mobility (you try walking around with 50 lbs. of groceries, being pulled in a hand-cart, riding buses, when your hip is screaming with a pain level of about 7 out of 10, and pain and stiffness in the back at about 5 or 6, having to stand and wait, freezing, for buses that never came, for about 90 minutes…..), while we try to live the way we used to do, but much more slowly…..

I hadn’t intended to rant right off the bat this morning, but what I described in the last paragraph took place last evening, and I guess I’m still a bit pissed about it…. I was the victim of a bus system in the throes of destroying itself through budget cuts and piss poor management, and did actually have to stand at a bus stop for over 90 minutes for a bus that never showed up; I ended up calling a cab, and thank goodness I had a cell phone, or I’d have been stuck walking, two miles from home with 50 lbs. of groceries, part of which was thawing during the delay. By the time the cab arrived, I was in tears, and excruciating pain; it took me almost a full minute to be able to sit down in the seat, I was so stiff, cold, and in pain….

Ah well, I suppose I have to get used to that sort of thing, as our society doesn’t place a large emphasis on caring for the aged. Oh, there’s a lot of talk about respecting seniors, and showing them we care, but, I’m afraid I have to tell you, it’s all just smoke and mirrors…. When it comes down to the sticking point, senior programs are among the first to get budget cuts, far ahead of any cuts to the military, or to bailing out the bankers from their latest scheme to rip off the public….. No, I’m not bitter at all, why do you ask?…..

“Alas! it is not till time, with reckless hand, has torn out half the leaves from the Book of Human Life to light the fires of passion with from day to day, that man begins to see that the leaves which remain are few in number.” — Henry W. Longfellow (1807-1882) — Hyperion, Book iv, Chap. viii

Fuck it…. There isn’t anything I can do about it, so I may as well just bury it, down deep where all the other stuff is kept, the stuff I hate, but can’t do anything about…. That’s okay, though…. all that angst, and bitterness, will sit in there with the other stuff, and percolate, much like compost, until it comes bursting out sometime in the future, as a poem, or a steamy, messy, vicious indictment/rant against….. well, somebody…. In the meantime, I guess the only thing to do is go on with today’s dive, and see if it doesn’t calm me down a bit…. Shall we Pearl?…..
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“A sense of humor keen enough to show a man his own absurdities will keep him from the commission of all sins, or nearly all, save those that are worth committing.” — Samuel Butler

Smart Bee showed this quote to me this morning first off; I hesitated to use it, though it seems to lend itself to a discussion, and went on. A few moments later, after supplying a few nice pearls for an old-school format, it brought it up again. It usually knows what its doing, so this time I brought it up for treatment here, though still without a clear idea of what to discuss…..

It’s a good thought, and quite accurate in its assumption of human humor as moral mentor. To me, it seems quite obvious…. Then, I realized that, sadly, there is a significant percentage of humanity that possesses NO sense of humor that can be detected. These folks, handicapped as they are by their lack of chillness, often end up in a small category of life tasks, or jobs, as we call them today….

People without any humor tend to flock together in groups; they may not be fully human, but they do need the company of others of their ilk, just like the rest of us. So, they gravitate into professions where their lack of any sense of proportion, or irony, can be an asset rather than a liability, as it tends to be in most of Life’s activities.

Lawyers, accountants, politicians, preachers, all, by virtue of the nature of their work, don’t need a sense of humor; in fact, it slows them down to have one, as they see what they do as important and dignified, no place for levity. They never understand that, by doing so they are acting as the most hilarious of clowns, while being completely oblivious of how ridiculous they appear to the rest of mankind.

A guy calls 911, in breathless panic. When the operator answers, he cries out, “My buddy and I were hunting deer, and he accidentally shot himself! He looks dead! What should I do?” The operator, trained to be calm, says to him, “Okay, first, go make sure that he’s actually dead.” The guy say, “Okay.”, and puts down the phone, The operator hears some footsteps,then, a gunshot. The guy comes back online, and says, “Okay, he’s dead. Now what?”…..

See? That’s funny, right? Since this joke was chosen by a nation-wide search to find out what people thought was the best joke ever, we may assume it is…. Plus, if it isn’t funny to you, then you may want to get examined by a psychiatrist, as you may have lost the sense of humor you once had; quite frankly, it’s bloody hilarious, and quite true to human nature.

That’s all…. I’m going to leave this here, as I can feel my own sense of irony getting heated up, and I’m liable to start spouting off my own funniest stories…. Given my macabre, perilously close to perverted, and often unexplainable sense of humor about almost everything I perceive, especially if it has to do with people and their antics, that could be disastrous…. plus, we’ve got a long way to go yet today. So, I’ll leave this here, and just say this….

We are all Bozos on this Bus, whether we know it or not; it’s not something we have choice in, it is our nature to be clowns. The best, and easiest way to deal with the universe is to accept this, and not try to force Reality into an unnatural shape to suit our own folly, because when people try to do that, they just end up funnier than usual, to the rest of us, as Reality demonstrates its unwillingness to allow any such alteration. As the Firesign Theater said, so many years ago, “If the nose grows, let it show!”….

“Why is the alphabet in that order?  Is it because of that song?” — Steven Wright
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After my experience last night with the bus system here, I’m feeling pretty lazy, unwilling to make any effort to get past my recovery stage. I’m also feeling too tired to go searching for a good poem, so I’m going to resort to the ultimate cheat around here, and include here a poem of my own, from a few months ago; October of last year, to be precise….  It seemed appropriate for the occasion….. You may have seen it then, but, whether or not you did so, I hope you enjoy it….

Raging at Aging

As old as you feel, we are told, is old as you are,
custom assures such vision will carry us far.
Reality begs to differ, may it be so bold
it is really quite painful, and very, very cold.

The power and strength felt in our halcyon youth
desert us with age, yet another unwelcome truth.
Irony rules our time here on this bountiful earth
as we reflect the changes over time since our birth.

As physical powers fade from this fragile shell,
we learn our mind can serve us quite as well.
The strength that once filled our bones and hearts
is now applied by our will, to more arcane arts.

Life’s greatest gift is our freedom of choice
no matter how often we forget, we still get a voice.
Energy, or apathy, by our will we may choose,
failing to do so, our only way to lose.

Each of us lives in the grip of time and space,
always seeking our balance, our own chosen place.
One must accept reality, for it is true at the core,
all we can do, is all we can do, and nothing more.

~~ gigoid
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Today’s Pearl has apparently been taken over by Smart Bee…. In searching for a final pearl to discuss, it kept giving me a series of related quotes, as if it were trying to tell me which way to go…. Since I’m feeling so lazy today, I have allowed it to pick out a seven star pearl for your reading pleasure, and left it to chance that it will have some sort of relevance to reality….

Of course, each of the following, save the second pearl in line, by Mr. Graham, are worthy of an entire pearl alone…. Even the one by Graham is one I could rant on for a while, and have, in his case, in the past….. But, as I look at them all together, I find them to be not so much a pointed lesson, as a group of lozenges to treat the figurative sort throat that swallowing Reality can produce….. Enjoy!….. They taste almost like cinnamon…

“This universe is a trinity and this is made of name, form, and action. The source of all actions is the body, for it is by the body that all actions are done. The body is behind all actions, even as the Eternal is behind the body. — Upanishads (c. B.C. 800)

“God is more interested in your future and your relationships than you are.” — Billy Graham
(Sorry, couldn’t resist including this, as a contrast to the rational material on either side…. this is so full of shit, it would counteract five pieces of real wisdom…. and any number of pearls….)

“It is even harder for the average ape to believe that he has descended from man.” — H.L. Mencken
(Especially after being exposed to Billy Graham….)

“Say not, when I have leisure I will study; you may not have the leisure.” — The Mishnah

“Having a passionate commitment to social justice does not excuse you from knowing what in the hell you’re talking about.” — Smart Bee

“It is good for a man to eat thistles and to remember that he is an ass.” — E. S. Dallas

“If you keep on doing what you’ve always done, you’ll keep on getting what you’ve always got.” — W.L. Bateman
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As I sit here on my sore butt, it occurs to me that I need to get a better chair….. Any who, I’m done for now…. After a short break to clear out the cobwebs, we’ll see how it came out….. Hmm…. well, it will do…. Actually, considering the struggle I’m having today just to keep from screaming at something or somebody, it didn’t come out so badly…. good enough. I won’t tempt fate any further today…..  Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

 

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

gigoid

dozer3

Turn left at the ugly statue of Zeus….

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Ffolkes,
The world groaned, loudly, as the bleary, bloodshot, beady orb of the sun reluctantly peered over the eastern horizon. Nothing moved at first, as the burgeoning light moved across the bare landscape, bringing focus, if no hope, to a world already gone mad.

As the darkness fled, Zombies, tattered and torn, scattered quickly into the nearest caves, grunting and bellowing their rage at having to leave their feeding grounds, but none of them was willing to face what always came with the sunlight…. For with the sun came the vicious, insatiable Giant Platypi, the thunder of their rampaging waddle echoing against the stark hills.

Yes, the dreaded Giant Platypi, scourge of all life on this planet of nightmare….. a planet called….. Beelzebub’s Bottom….

Okay, that’s enough of THAT….. Being silly is one thing, but drifting over int0 stupid is another thing altogether…. It seems the bubbling fountain of words from which I generally take what I need to build a story is rather stunted, blocked off, as it were, by some kind of writer’s block, or, as we call it here at ECR, mental constipation in the old pipes.

We can’t have that, so I’m going to resort to my emergency stash of words, all of which are high in fiber content, to stimulate the proper degree of…. hmm, let’s be discrete, and call it….. movement. I’ve never known it to fail, though the resulting rush of words can be a bit disconcerting, coming out all at once as they tend to do….

There, fait accompli, as they say in Belgium…. Well, I’m assuming that is what they say there, as I’m told the Belgians speak French, for the most part; I wouldn’t know for certain, as I’ve yet to visit that fine, old, European anomaly, a country that has almost never had to go to war… Oh, they got caught up in the fight when everyone around them was engaged in their numerous historical battles for contested ground, but, they’ve somehow managed to avoid any terrible, long, drawn out affairs such as the rest of Europe seems to enjoy on a regular basis. Good food, too, and some nice wines, from what I hear….

Any who, if nothing else, Belgium provided a complete paragraph, totally irrelevant, but, filling space nicely. Sometimes, in dealing with the daily crisis of inspiration produced by having to write these introductions every bloody morning, that’s all I can expect from a paragraph, so I’m going to ignore the catcalls and criticisms being shouted out from the back, and move on to the next destination called for on our itinerary. Let’s see, what does that valuable piece of planning tell us?…..

Well, nothing…. It can’t tell us where to go next, because it, too, is just another literary device I made up to fill more space. Actually, it’s looking as if today’s intro is going to end up completely composed of fluff, sort of a case of “literary license” gone mad….. And if anyone says there’s nothing new in that, I’m going to strike you with my foot, straight on your butt….. Ah, hell, no I won’t…. I’m sorry, it’s all my fault… I’m the one blundering about, trying to find some direction, and it isn’t your fault I am now totally lost….

“If nothing went wrong today, you’re probably dead.” — Murphy’s Last Law

Since nothing else seems to be working, and, according to the above, I’m not dead, I am hoping to find my way back to some sort of control, by ending this now ridiculously over-long intro section, and trying to find a pearl worth the effort of writing something a bit more solid and real. Let’s hope Murphy is busy elsewhere, and doesn’t fuck with me any more today; I’m sure he had a hand in all of the above, even if it wasn’t out where we could see it….. Any who…. Shall we Pearl?….
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“I believe in god, I just don’t like him.” — Smart Bee

Having experienced blockage once today, I’m not willing to suffer it again; hence this first pearl, deliberately chosen for its controversial nature, and its obvious need for discussion…. You see, this is completely true for me… Well, not the believing in god part, but the not liking Him part…. Of course, it isn’t really His fault, you know, it’s just that the folks He hired to do His P.R. are such idiots…. If he had known in advance just how stupid His creation was going to act, He’d have gone about the whole thing differently… That’s not speculation…. I’ve heard Him say so….

What? You don’t think I’ve talked with God? (Notice how I promoted him from just a god, to God? Slick, eh?….)  Why not? You are willing to believe all the stuff in the Bible, and you are willing to believe in crank assholes such as Billy Graham and his ilk….. Why would you not believe me, when I say I’ve talked to Him? Is it so hard to believe that someone from modern times can speak to God, or is that something limited to the days when the issue of JC’s divinity first arose, two thousand years ago, when the general populace was much less educated, and easier to fool?

“A man who claims to know what’s good for others is dangerous.” — Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

I’m just as good as those others who have claimed to know what is in His mind, and, in many ways, I am much better equipped to be able to understand Him, I think. I’m not going to kowtow, or bother with all the worship bullshit, as I wouldn’t want all that myself, and have my doubts that any entity worthy of being called a god wouldn’t, either. He probably enjoys not having to deal with that when He talks with me…. I know it would drive me absolutely batty to have all those people whining and crying at me all day and night, asking for favors they don’t deserve, and patting themselves on the back for their piety….

In reality, these people, the pious and heavily devout, were the major factor in my original disillusionment with the Church (“Church” being a generic term for all the delusionally dogmatic dunderheads who make up the majority of Christian sects, including all the absurd claims made in their literature….), which took place before I even reached my teens. By that time, I was already convinced that most of the folks who got involved in Churches were so engaged only because it served their purpose, not because they actually believed any of it. Their daily actions and words were enough to put that idea to the lie; they failed every time, for what they said and did in no way matched what they preached as their belief…..

“Then he saw also that it matters little what profession, whether of religion or irreligion, a man may make, provided only he follows it out with charitable inconsistency, and without insisting on it to the bitter end. It is in the uncompromisingness with which dogma is held and not in the dogma or want of dogma that the danger lies.” — Samuel Butler, The Way of All Flesh

But, even this obvious hypocrisy, and the stubbornness with which it is held, wasn’t the real issue, to me…. It had to do with what I read in the Bible, and heard from the people who were interpreting those words….

For the most part, the things that people ascribed to God seemed to me to show the moral integrity of a pirate, more than a saint, and all the things we were told to do, i.e., be humble, be tolerant, be forgiving, seemed to me to be designed to allow them, and their allies, the politicians, to take advantage of people, by using God as their authority, more than being designed to help people.

This lack of ethics, both in what they said, and what they did, turned me off very quickly to the idea of God, and had me examining the entire philosophy for truth….. Truth is, as I found, a commodity not particularly common in religious writing, as it turns out…. Who knew?….

“If it turns out that there is a God, I don’t think that he’s evil.  But the worst that you can say about him is that basically he’s an underachiever.” — Woody Allen, “Love and Death”

Well… I know…. I know now anyway, and I continue to try to tell people what I know, but, I’m just one guy, with one little blog, and very few people hear my truths, compared to all those who need to hear….. And besides, most of them really don’t want to know what I know, because it’s scary, and real, and they would have to think, all three of which are things they avoid at all cost, unless we’re talking about a movie…. which, come to think of it, would preclude the thinking part of that…..

I don’t spend a lot of time any more arguing with religious folks; it’s time better spent in more productive activities. But, it doesn’t mean I can’t feel sorry for them, and the black and white world they live in, when there is a whole universe of complex, colorful beauty out there to be appreciated…..

“Until you walk a mile in another man’s moccasins you can’t imagine the smell.” — Robert Byrne
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Urge him with truth to frame his fair replies;
And sure he will: for Wisdom never lies.

— Alexander Pope (1688-1744) — The Odyssey of Homer, Book iii, Line 25

The Riddle of the World

Know then thyself, presume not God to scan
The proper study of Mankind is Man.
Placed on this isthmus of a middle state,
A Being darkly wise, and rudely great:
With too much knowledge for the Skeptic side,
With too much weakness for the Stoic’s pride,
He hangs between; in doubt to act, or rest;
In doubt to deem himself a God, or Beast;
In doubt his mind and body to prefer;
Born but to die, and reas’ning but to err;
Whether he thinks to little, or too much;
Chaos of Thought and Passion, all confus’d;
Still by himself, abus’d or disabus’d;
Created half to rise and half to fall;
Great Lord of all things, yet a prey to all,
Sole judge of truth, in endless error hurl’d;
The glory, jest and riddle of the world.

Alexander Pope
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— Bother! said Pooh, as he found a politician in his honey pot.

Eeeuuwww! Can you imagine the stench? And the waste of honey is appalling, to say the least…. Okay, sorry, but it was just too hard to resist…. I ranted above about religion, after which, Smart Bee presented me with four of the five pearls used in it, one after another, AFTER I had already finished it… The five pearls, you may note, if presented together, alone, would just about cover the same ground as the rant…. with perhaps a bit less verbiage, and, hopefully, equal humor….

Then, the above Poohism shows up, almost flashing by before I saw it, so short it is…. This tells me that Smart Bee has something to say about politicians today, so, old-school it is…. Here are what Smart Bee has autocratically decided to show us about the BRC, in general, and, in particular, the political branch of that entity…. Enjoy! Oh, and don’t fret, none of these will be on the Quiz, unless they are….

“Annual drug deaths: tobacco: 395,000, alcohol: 125,000, ‘legal’ drugs: 38,000, illegal drug overdoses: 5,200, marijuana: 0.  Considering government subsidies of tobacco, just what is our government protecting us from in the drug war?”  — William A. Turnbow

“I have short-term memory loss, though I like to think of it as Presidential  eligibility.” — Paula Poundstone

“According to the tax bill signed by President Reagan on December 22, 1987, Don Tyson and his sister-in-law Barbara run a “family farm.” Their “farm” has 25,000 employees and grosses $1.7 billion a year.  But as a “family farm” they get tax breaks that save them $135 million a year.” — Smart Bee

“Laws are only words words written on paper, words that change on society’s whim and are interpreted differently daily by politicians, lawyers, judges, and policemen. Anyone who believes that all laws should always be obeyed would have made a fine slave catcher. Anyone who believes that all laws are applied equally, despite race, religion, or economic status, is a fool.” — John J. Miller, And Hope to Die — (in _Jokertown Shuffle – Wild Cards IX_)

‘We may not imagine how our lives could be more frustrating and complex–but Congress can.” — Cullen Hightower

Okay, five should be enough to get the point across…. if not, well, there’s always tomorrow…..  🙂
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This process, some days, exhausts me, and today is one of those days, for some reason…. It’s too bad, too, because I still have a bunch of stuff I SHOULD do today…. Ack! Nooooo! Don’t say that!…. Brrt, brrt, brrt….. danger, danger, Will Robinson!…. Illegal operation, use of bad word, parameter, “should” = “don’t go there”, /end notes….

Fortunately, as you can see, I tend to react badly to the word “should”, as it is usually something somebody else told me to do, or told me I should do…. “Should” is a word that is handy to use as a channel marker, to show us where we don’t have any real need to go, unless we happen to agree with what somebody else thinks we need. They aren’t often right, in my experience, so it’s a good way to figure out what NOT to do….

That’s cool, as it means, since this is done, I can post it, then take a nap, a much more profitable and enjoyable activity than the other stuff I ‘should’ be doing…. I love rationalization, if only because I’m so good at 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

dozer3

She rides swiftly through dark shadows, pale and grim….

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Ffolkes,
I should know better…. Having applied for my SS Disability, I had thought that, since my last job let me go as “unfit for duty”, and since I AM unable to work due to back pain and my other physical challenges, the Federal Government, in the guise of the SS Administration, would be able to see that yes, I do need to get paid all the money I put into SS ahead of my 66th birthday.

However, in spite of my clear presentation of the facts, they denied my claim, having in their wisdom, without ever interviewing or seeing me in person, decided that I am well enough to work, able to stand for 6 or more hours a day (I can’t stand for more than 5 minutes before pain increases in my hips and back), lifting up to 50 lbs. on a regular basis, (which I can do, once, if I want to spend the next three days in bed, writhing with spasms all over my back), and working at a job for 8 hours/day (all I do now is sit in my chair, and I can’t go 8 hours without a nap being hard NOT to take….by the time I’m up for 5 hours or so, I’m exhausted, generally, from fighting against pain…).

Ah well, it isn’t unexpected, and I already have a lawyer who will no doubt be appealing the decision today. It just means that it will be probably 4-8 more months before I see any relief for the near-poverty level income I’m now living on…. oh, well, it’s a good thing I like Top Ramen……

There, whining finished for the day… no sense in worrying too much over stuff I can’t change… time will tell the tale, and all will be well…. I just have to survive until then, so, no worries….. and, it does leave me lots of time to dive for pearls. Now that my email is under control, in fact, I’m swimming in extra time. Hell, at this point, I have no idea what to do with myself once I’m done here for the day….

I guess I could be a good citizen, and get my tardy taxes done (I did finally get the forms from the library….)…. who knows? Maybe they’ll owe ME something this year…. though it would be a surprise. I haven’t found the IRS or the tax laws to be my friend in the past, so why should I expect any different now?  Oh, well, I suppose I won’t know until I do it, so…. now I have a project for the day…..

But not until I Pearl, which I have now delayed significantly with this little personal chatty session…. sometimes I just can’t shut myself up…. handy for a writer, but inefficient at times….. let’s Pearl, okay? Okay…..
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“Ignorance can be compounded, made denser, until the light of our spirits is smothered.” — Deng Ming-Dao

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

The leading candidate for the “loyal opposition” to the party in power, Mr. Romney, seems to have a proclivity for alienating the very people from whom he is trying to win votes; women, immigrants and Hispanics, animal lovers, seniors, teachers and students, all have been told, in no uncertain terms, that they matter not at all to him. His plan? We’ll stop taxing the rich altogether, and that will fix everything…. Sometimes I wonder if he is getting all of his information on voter wants and issues of importance from old newspapers from the 1980’s, or the 1890’s, because he certainly hasn’t a clue as to what is happening out in America in this century….

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

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

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

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

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

So, how does it feel? Does it physically hurt to be so stupid as to be part of the crowd that continues to buy into all the bullshit lies that our own government heaps upon us every day? To keep going to the polls, just as if it really matters who gets elected? Get real, folks.

You will not find a name on the ballot that belongs to someone who is not a willing tool of the powers of oppression, the money-changers who are the power behind the scenes of every government in the world. Not going to happen; they’ve been the real power in the world for centuries, and they’re not about to give up all they have, just to be nice, or because they’ve all of a sudden grown a heart.

I don’t know about you, but I’m getting pretty fucking tired of being lied to, and cheated, and looked at as just another idiot for them to shit on….. and I’m not going to put up with it for much longer, without some kind of return fire….. Believe it….

I don’t think I am alone in this, either…. No way to tell for sure, but I find it hard to believe that EVERYONE is falling for all of it…. No matter; even if I’m alone in this, I refuse to knuckle under any further, and can only say that I will do all I can to see things turn in a direction that will return my Rights, and those of the rest of the American people…. or at least those not stupid enough to hand them over without a fight….

“He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it.” — Martin Luther King, Jr.
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“A modest little person, with much to be modest about.” — Winston Churchill

Churchill is one of my heroes. His devotion to the principles of curmudgeonry is legendary among those of us who believe in those principles of interaction. This little insult is what I like to call “classic” in its simplicity. No extra words, just those needed to jab the sharp point right into the eye of the beholder, while the speaker steps back to avoid the blood splatter. Not only is it a perfect insult to use in cocktail conversation when discussing anyone who isn’t there to defend themselves (always a clever way to avoid being fired on unexpectedly….), but it is quite an accurate description of many of our beloved ruling class.

A number of public figures come to mind if I consider this, and all of them are wearing a blue suit, a white shirt, a red tie, and a flag pin on their lapel. Many of them are still breathing, and giving us the dubious benefits of what passes for wisdom amongst that mystical group who are the ancient enemies of the Illuminati, the all-knowing, all powerful, and very rich, order of the Ignoramitae…. an organization so secret, so powerfully capable, that most of Mankind has never even heard of them.

Hell, I wouldn’t have known of them, if their existence weren’t a mathematical certainty. There is no other explanation for the course of human history…. only a powerful force, acting behind the scenes, could have achieved such a long-term effect on the events that shaped our culture. Ignorance HAD to exist in such a form; nothing else makes sense….

Then, someone like Winnie comes along, and provides a sure-fire way to spot them…. just think about those folks who are always around in the background when you see photos of world leaders making nice…. the powers that truly be wouldn’t let their charges get together without at least a couple of their “handlers” present…

Well, I wouldn’t, if it were me, so I’m betting that they are nearby, just in case one of the beloved ruling class gets a wild hair, and tries to say something that actually makes sense…. I guess, if nothing else, it makes for good TV….. But, don’t count on ever getting a glimpse of one of the actual rulers of this planet… they avoid the light, like the creatures of the dark they are….
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JABBERWOCKY

And, as in uffish thought he stood,
The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
And burbled as it came!

One, two! One, two! And through and through
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went galumphing back.

“And thou hast slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!”
He chortled in his joy.
— Lewis Carroll, “Through the Looking-Glass”

It was time…. I haven’t used this in several months, I believe, and every once in a while it’s good to bring it out for perusal, just to give everyone that little jolt of joy that good, solid, sheer nonsense gives. I love to have this read aloud while I close my eyes and envision the Jabberwock, whuffling through the wood, the vorpal blade going snicker-snack, and the beamish boy galumphing back with the head…. absolute bliss! It is particularly effective after reading the daily news, to give one a sense of balance…. enjoy!

“Universe: All-purpose poem.” — Ray Hand
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“My girlfriend was crushed by Bambi meets Godzilla…” — Smart Bee

Well, I don’t blame her…. so was Bambi…. (You will only get this if you’ve seen the actual film short, “Bambi meets Godzilla”, which, IMNSHO, is quite possibly the best cartoon short ever made…. seriously….) (If you have seen it, well, convince me I’m wrong… )    😉
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“He had come to that time in his life (it varies for every man) where a human being gives himself over to his demon or to his genius, according to a mysterious law which orders him either to destroy or to surpass himself.” — Marguerite Yourcenar

Hmm…. a nicely expressed observation by Ms. Yourcenar (No, I have no idea who she is… give me a moment to commune with Google….)

It turns out she is a very interesting person, of whom I have never heard…. just goes to show we all have a lot to learn… Here is some information from Wikipedia on this literary jewel from the twentieth century….

“Marguerite Yourcenar (8 June 1903 – 17 December 1987) was a Belgian-born French novelist and essayist. Winner of the Prix Femina and the Erasmus Prize, she was the first woman elected to the Académie française, in 1980.

In 1951 she published, in France, the novel Mémoires d’Hadrien, which she had been writing with pauses for a decade. The novel was an immediate success and met with great critical acclaim. In this novel Yourcenar recreated the life and death of one of the great rulers of the ancient world, the Roman Emperor Hadrian, who writes a long letter to Marcus Aurelius, the son and heir of Antoninus Pius, his successor and adoptive son. The Emperor meditates on his past, describing both his triumphs and his failures, his love for Antinous, and his philosophy. This novel has become a modern classic, a standard against which fictional recreations of antiquity are measured. ”

Fascinating, and a whole new author to read…. Serendipity strikes again! Before I became distracted by the author, I was going to say this about her statement….

I find myself feeling both sad and glad that I have not yet come to this point in my life. Sad because it is unfilled destiny, yet glad for the same reason, as it means that it is still something that I have to look forward to experiencing, all but guaranteeing that I have enough time left on my clock to come to that point in my journey. Whether it is truth is not clear, but it is certainly a reasonable observation, insightful as it is in looking into the nature of Man, and this gives me hope…. for as long as I can keep my cynical side from looking at it too closely….   🙂
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Whew! Made it…. it was looking a bit chancy there for a little while, but I think it all came together pretty well. It’s a moot point, anyway, because no way in hell I’m starting over now…. This will have to fly under its own power, or not. I’m confident it will miss the ground, thus achieving its basic task…. and if not, well, there is always tomorrow…..

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

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

gigoid

Kowabunga!