Tag Archives: Smart Bee

Bagels never travel in first class….

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Ffolkes,
My mind’s eye is clouded and grey this morning. No visions of beauty, or even of horror. No trite phrases, no witty repartee, and worst of all, no nonsense floating around in my head, clamoring for release. It’s all a void, empty space that I may have to try to rent out. I have fallen into writer’s limbo, that terrifying landscape where ideas run off the moment they arrive, and creativity is limited to sock colors. Where material is not merely hard to find, but actively resistant in spite of all efforts on my part to find something, anything to write about……

A hundred sinister eyes peered out from the darkness surrounding the traveler, closely following his progress on the road leading to the castle of the local lord. The traveler took no notice, his hooded face hidden as he stared downward at the back of his horse, seemingly asleep. In the darkness ahead, the vague outline of a building took shape, growing clearer as he approached, until a gatehouse revealed itself, tall and grim, seeming to lean over the roadway leading to the bridge over the river, which was now audible, as a low rumbling just at the edge of consciousness. In the swirling mist crawling out of the river, the traveler sensed a presence……

See, even my fantasies are failing me…. in re-reading this, it is apparent that this might make an entry for the Bulwer-Lytton Contest next year… that is the contest to find the worst opening paragraph that can be written each year, with a monetary prize for the top three entries, along with notice from publishers who follow such contests, looking for new talent. It’s certainly bad enough, and that second sentence in the second paragraph definitely stretches the boundaries of good writing; it is a run on-sentence of major proportions…..

Ah, well, fuck it…. let’s go Pearl, instead……
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“I must decline your invitation owing to a subsequent engagement.” — Oscar Wilde

Ah, Oscar! Such a wonderful way with insults he had! This is so subtle that I believe 99% of the English speaking world would accept this from him and never realize they had been insulted…. I’ll have to remember this one the next time I get invited to attend Sunday services somewhere….

Shoot, I know for sure I could say this to my own brother, and he wouldn’t realize it….until he was sitting in church, and took a moment to reflect upon it…. but then he’d decide he must have mis-heard what I said, and would forget it…. He’s not the brightest bulb in the box, my brother….but he is very good hearted, one of the few Christians I can tolerate for more than a few minutes…. And if you ever repeat what I said about him, I’ll deny it, right up to the point where you show it to him online…. then, I’d just grin and tell him he’s heard worse…. which he has….

I’ve always enjoyed insults, as a study, not as a habit. I do use them on occasion, when deserved, but generally I try to be play nicely with others. A well-delivered subtle insult, the kind I like best, is like this one from Oscar; couched in words that outwardly appear to be quite amicable and friendly, yet devastatingly sharp upon reflection. The very best will not even be recognized as an insult at all, but I like them when they wait an hour or two, and then come back and poke the recipient right in the mind’s eye….. after I am safely in another part of town……

I used to collect insults, and once had a list of the 100 most effective put-downs, as collected by the publishers of Mad magazine…. Some of them were pretty corny, even for me….such as “You should be on the stage…. There’s one leaving in an hour….”  That’s just sad, when you think of it…. but, it does get the point across. Then there is this type…. “So, did they ever catch the guy?”  “What guy?”  “The one who ran over your face….”  Pretty silly, yes?  Yes….

And silly is a word that could probably be accurately applied to this pearl. So accurate, it struck home, and I’m now no longer in the mood for insults…. we’ll just have to go on to something else a bit more engaging….. Shall we?….
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“You govern a kingdom by normal rules;
You fight a war by exceptional moves;
But you win the world by letting alone,
How do I know that this is so?
By what is within me!
The more taboo and inhibitions there are in the world,
The poorer the people become.
The sharper the weapons the people posses,
The greater confusion reigns in the realm.
The more clever and crafty the men,
The oftener strange things happen.
The more articulate the laws and ordinances,
The more robbers and thieves arise.”
— Tao Teh Ching #57, Lao Tzu

This is obvious. But don’t look at it too carefully, or it becomes unobvious, until you look at it for a long time, when it becomes obvious again. –Smart Bee

The above two pearls were sent to me by Murphy, so I have to write about them. How do I know he sent them? Well, when I was cruising my dB of quotes, the excerpt from the Tao Teh Ching was the very first quote that came into view after opening the program. I debated a discussion, as it is one of the most important of the lessons in that book.

But, I decided to go on, and find something a bit more amenable…. So I hit the key to bring up the next quote, and the second quote, the message from Smart Bee, came into view….. obviously, at least to me, the two were from Murphy, hence their presence here for me to comment….. although I don’t know why I should, since Murphy is such an ass. But, knowing him, if I don’t, I’ll pay for it, so…. here we go…

Each of the assertions in the above quote from Lao Tzu’s book is a subtle lesson, designed to teach the reader about the nature of the Tao.  As it says in the very first chapter of the Tao Teh Ching, the Tao that can be named is not the true Tao. To the Occidental mind, this seems to be a contradiction, and achieving an understanding requires a loosening of the rigid patterns of thought that are typical of the western mind. One must learn to hold two seemingly contradictory ideas in their mind simultaneously, to allow the meaning of each to mingle, and blend with the other, until the true nature of Tao is revealed, even though it cannot be touched, or seen, or heard.

This subtle process is difficult for westerners to use, as we tend to think in a straight line, from a to b; to understand the Tao, one must first understand that, to the eastern mind, a IS b. Instead of viewing the world as subject to cause and effect, the eastern way of looking at the world views cause and effect as the same concept, but looked at from a different vantage. As I said, subtle, but not completely inscrutable….

And now I know why Murphy sent them to me…. If one considers the second quote, and uses the lines from the Tao Teh Ching as the subject of discussion, then it is obvious. But don’t look at it too carefully, or it becomes unobvious, until you look at it for a long time, when it becomes obvious again…..

🙂   Murphy was obviously telling us that, in order to understand the eastern way of thought, use the second quote as the process for examination of the idea, and one can find their way through to an understanding that they formerly could not see….See, now what was so hard about that?…..
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“Eternal Vigilance Is The Price of Liberty” used to mean we watched the government – not the other way around.” — Bill Stewart

I don’t know who this Bill Stewart is, but he sure nailed this one…. but then, the American public lost its will to vigilance some years back, and we are now reaping the results of that lack of attention to what is important. The PTB, (Powers That Be) comprised of the beloved ruling class and their myrmidons, the priestly hierarchies, have been brainwashing the American public now for oh, I’d say about a hundred and fifty years or so. Since the confusion generated by the Civil War in the mid-1850’s, the PTB have relentlessly waged war on each of the freedoms that are guaranteed to us by the Bill of Rights and the Constitution.

First, a corrupt Federal judge made a landmark decision regarding businesses, and the rights thereof, giving “corporate personhood” to any corporation, but most specifically to those who paid him for that decision. This, in its essence, makes profit a right for these corporations, and just about any kind of process they may use to make that profit is made legal by this law. In other words, the law guarantees them a profit, no matter how much they may lie about their products, or to what lengths they may go to obtain a profit….

Since the beginning of the 20th century, this country has been involved in at least four major conflicts, and they all took place in the first half of the century. WWI, WWII, Korea, and Vietnam shoved the nation into war time culture, exactly as Field Marshall Goering, of the the Third Reich, explained when he was tried at Nuremberg for his war crimes. The PTB convinced the  public that our nation was under attack by the forces of Evil…. Evil that was given a different face for each war. And, at the end, each war found the rights of the average citizen curtailed just a little bit more….

In the latter half of the century, the country was not forced into battle until our oil supplies became problematic. The PTB were having a harder time coming up with a face to put on the ones who are reportedly attacking us, until Saddam came along. Since the first intervention in Vietnam in the 50’s and 60’s, to the intervention in Middle Eastern conflicts in the 1990’s, to now in 2012, all of our wars have been illegal, in my mind, according to our Constitution.

Ostensibly, Congress is the only entity who is authorized to declare war. But, time after time, beginning in Vietnam, the President of this country has used his Executive powers as the Commander in Chief to engage in wars in Kuwait, Irag, Afghanistan, and probably a few places that haven’t been published.

Each time we are dragged into another conflict, using the same old tired story of being under attack, the PTB manage to place more restrictions on the unsuspecting public, until many of the rights we were given in the Bill of Rights have now been eliminated.

We can no longer gather to protest the government’s actions; if we do, we are “disturbing the public peace” or we are “serving the interests of our enemies”, thereby turning ordinary American citizens into criminals for actions that used to be protected by the Constitution. It is no longer considered legal to criticize the PTB; it’s unAmerican and a threat to National Security….

Our vigilance has been spotty at best, and the PTB are very well versed in the scientific methods of controlling large numbers of people; they have been practicing their skills for thousands of years. They know exactly how to phrase their words to inflame the public, to make them afraid, and thus set themselves up as the saviors of society. And they know exactly who to target with their rhetoric…..

Their primary targets are the same people who look at Mitt Romney as a man of character, and cheer him on as he makes his bid to get into the highest seat of power in the land, never realizing that they will be counted as his very first victims…. This man has NO interest in making things better of the average American. His words and actions have clearly shown that he is one of the elite, the super rich, who are not subject to the laws the rest of us must follow, and if elected, he will waste no time in making life a living hell for anybody making less than $250,000 a year….

I’ve been watching the government now for about 60 years, and every word of what I’ve written above is based upon what I’ve seen and heard from them in that time. None of it is made up. The PTB in this country, and in every country in the world, live only for their own aggrandizement, and have no interest in making life better for the average man or woman. They are only interested in maintaining the power that they have, and seek only to solidify their stranglehold on the remainder of society.

If you think otherwise, I challenge you to offer some kind of evidence for that. All the evidence that I have gathered, and witnessed, tells me that I am not wrong to mistrust the politicians and priests, because everything they do is designed to keep me , and you, and the rest of society in the role of victim. They’re good at it, they’ve practiced a lot….

Obviously, this is a subject I can rant about for days, which only makes sense, as I have a lot of years of experience at watching the ruling class in action. But, the rest of the day calls me, and my butt is getting tired of this chair….. so, I’ll leave this here, and merely say this…The situation in the world today is a result of NOT being vigilant, of not paying attention to the PTB, and assuming that they are looking out for our interests.

Well, we were wrong, and now we are paying the price, in the loss of those freedoms that made this country the world’s example of how the common man can be free. Now we are merely another example of how the wicked and corrupted in society can completely dominate the law-abiding masses, who allow themselves to be turned into sheep….. SIGH, and we showed such promise!…..

“When you stay on the tracks, ignoring the facts, you can’t blame the wreck on the train”. — from the song, “You Can’t Blame . . ”
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Well, I certainly had a bit to get off my chest, didn’t I? Hopefully, I didn’t put anybody to sleep; I do tend to get carried away when I’m in the flow. But, we can all heave a big sigh of relief, and get on with 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!

He has a real flair for semantics…..

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Ffolkes,
Little spinning lights are dancing, dancing, far into the night. They have no partners, they dance alone, footsteps lightly tapping, tapping, echoes chase each other around. There is no music, no lilting melody, no booming bass, no triumphant horns, no weeping violins. There are only the spinning lights, dancing, dancing, far into the night….

Your guess is as good as mine…. I have no clue where that came from, or what it means. It may sound like a sham, but it’s true. I don’t know what any of it is supposed to mean. I just started typing, and that is what came out. It’s nowhere near as good as yesterday’s rude pixie, but it has a certain charm, stemming most likely from its very inscrutability.

When we read something like that, we tend to try to apply some kind of meaning to it, try to make it fit inside the rules of existence we acknowledge as our own reality. Well, good luck with that on this one…. it will be hard to ascribe meaning to something that deliberately has none….. but you’re welcome to try….

When you’ve finished playing around with the nonsense paragraph, maybe we could think about diving for some pearls. It is, after all, what we are here for, is it not? Why yes, yes it is….. okay, let’s go Pearl >>>>>>  Hmm, I kind of like those little arrowheads…. I think I’ll start using them more….. shall we Pearl?…..
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“The essence of Christianity is told us in the Garden of Eden history. The fruit that was forbidden was on the tree of knowledge. The subtext is, All the suffering you have is because you wanted to find out what was going on. You could be in the Garden of Eden if you had just keep your fucking mouth shut and hadn’t asked any questions.” — Frank Zappa Playboy Interview, April 1993

Good ol’ Frankie Z….. one of the twentieth century’s most acerbic, and accurate, social critics. He was, like most good prophets and philosophers, not well known during his own lifetime, at least not by the mainstream culture. He makes a point here that I have mentioned in numerous essays here on this blog, to wit: Christianity is a religion based on deception and lies, and has as it’s primary purpose the goal of keeping mankind as ignorant as possible, so that they may be more easily manipulated. Now, that may not sound like the goals that the heads of the church will admit to pursuing, but, taken in the context of the story of Genesis and the Garden of Eden, it becomes patently obvious that it is the truth.

Why else would it be a sin to seek knowledge? What possible reason could there be for the events that reportedly took place, if not to establish the original lie as truth? That is the sole purpose of that story, to convince people that trying to think will only make things worse. In this way, the church establishes itself as the sole authority for mankind, and plants the idea that the only people who are speaking the truth are the priests…. at least, that’s what they want you to believe….

The truth, of course, is that seeking knowledge is no sin at all. As a matter of fact, it is the one thing that will provide us with the answers we will need to find in order to overcome the foolishness, and the mess, that over 2000 years of wrong thinking has created. The elitism that is fomented as a result of the Christian model is possibly the worst thing that could have happened, as it gave a sense of entitlement to people who have no concern for others, telling them “you are the Lords of Creation… go forth and multiply, until there are so many of you, civilization will collapse under its own weight.”

Well, maybe not the last part, but the first part, the assumption of the mantle of Lord of the Beasts, has been a part of Christian beliefs since the beginning, and that single concept is what is killing the planet, and our own species. People believe that whatever they want to do is okay, no matter how destructive to other life forms it may be.

To those who feel themselves to be part of the elite, it is okay to level tropical rain forest to make room for new strip malls, with another McDonald’s, a movie theater, and some nice boutiques…. Never mind that cutting down any more rain forest area will cause the level of oxygen in the atmosphere to drop. It doesn’t matter to a Lord of Creation, because God said it was okay….

Well, guess what, kids…. it’s not okay. Continuing to exhibit the same patterns of behavior we have shown for the last 5000 or so years is leading us straight into the depths of hell, by altering the environment in ways that will ultimately make it unlivable for us. The time is closer than people realize, when there won’t be enough oxygen in the atmosphere to give us what we need to breathe. By the year 2050, the wearing of oxygen masks will be necessary if one wishes to go out of doors, because the air won’t support our life form’s needed levels of gases. We will be living in air that is mostly carbon monoxide, and struggling just to stay alive….

But, hey, that’s okay, because God said so….. and it’s a sin to go against what God says, right?…..

Although a man may wear fine clothing, if he lives peacefully; and is good, self-possessed, has faith and is pure; and if he does not hurt any living being, he is a holy man… — The Dhammapada (c. B.C. 300)
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When I was a Senior Psychiatric Technician, I spent about three years working with a group of individuals who were elderly, non-ambulatory, physically fragile, and developmentally disabled. They required complete nursing care 24/7, including feeding, bathing, dressing, getting out of bed, and were provided with all types of psychosocial activities…

It’s hard work, but very rewarding in a lot of ways. When working with so many disabled people, it is easy to become callous, and to start to look at them as less than people…. until being reminded of their humanity, by something like this…. I found this posted on Facebook….

An old man in Australia died while living in a nursing care home. When the nurses were going through his things, they found the following poem, and started it on a journey that has taken it around the entire world…. it is a statement, and a plea, written by an old man who knew he was going to die…… I started weeping in empathy at line seven, and I think you will, too…….

Cranky Old Man

What do you see nurses? . . .. . .What do you see?
What are you thinking .. . when you’re looking at me?
A cranky old man, . . . . . .not very wise,
Uncertain of habit .. . . . . . . .. with faraway eyes?
Who dribbles his food .. . … . . and makes no reply.
When you say in a loud voice . .’I do wish you’d try!’
Who seems not to notice . . .the things that you do.
And forever is losing . . . . . .. . . A sock or shoe?
Who, resisting or not . . . … lets you do as you will,
With bathing and feeding . . . .The long day to fill?
Is that what you’re thinking?. .Is that what you see?
Then open your eyes, nurse .you’re not looking at me.
I’ll tell you who I am . . . . .. As I sit here so still,
As I do at your bidding, .. . . . as I eat at your will.
I’m a small child of Ten . .with a father and mother,
Brothers and sisters .. . . .. . who love one another
A young boy of Sixteen . . . .. with wings on his feet
Dreaming that soon now . . .. . . a lover he’ll meet.
A groom soon at Twenty . . . ..my heart gives a leap.
Remembering, the vows .. .. .that I promised to keep.
At Twenty-Five, now . . . . .I have young of my own.
Who need me to guide . . . And a secure happy home.
A man of Thirty . .. . . . . My young now grown fast,
Bound to each other . . .. With ties that should last.
At Forty, my young sons .. .have grown and are gone,
But my woman is beside me . . to see I don’t mourn.
At Fifty, once more, .. …Babies play ’round my knee,
Again, we know children . . . . My loved one and me.
Dark days are upon me . . . . My wife is now dead.
I look at the future … . . . . I shudder with dread.
For my young are all rearing .. . . young of their own.
And I think of the years . . . And the love that I’ve known.
I’m now an old man . . . . . . .. and nature is cruel.
It’s jest to make old age . . . . . . . look like a fool.
The body, it crumbles .. .. . grace and vigour, depart.
There is now a stone . . . where I once had a heart.
But inside this old carcass . A young man still dwells,
And now and again . . . . . my battered heart swells
I remember the joys . . . . .. . I remember the pain.
And I’m loving and living . . . . . . . life over again.
I think of the years, all too few . . .. gone too fast.
And accept the stark fact . . . that nothing can last.
So open your eyes, people .. . . . .. . . open and see.
Not a cranky old man .
Look closer . . . . see .. .. . .. …. . ME!!

Remember this poem when you next meet an older person who you might brush aside without looking at the young soul within. We will all, one day, be there, too!  PLEASE SHARE THIS POEM (originally written by Dave Griffith)
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He’s got his own train of thought, and no one’s aboard. — Smart Bee

See, I was cruising through my quote database, looking for something to write about this morning, and this little piece kept popping up. The third time is showed itself, I thought to myself, “Self, that’s a sign!” , and copied it down for use. Now that it is here, on the screen, the only thing I can think of to write about is the one person in the public eye these days who most resembles this remark….. Can you guess who that might be?….

Yup, you’re right…. Mitt the Twitt. He is the perfect candidate for the Republicans…. he doesn’t flinch at lying his head off, he’s rich enough to afford the right clothes, and he doesn’t have an original thought in his entire head. He is the perfect mouthpiece for the rich, white, misogynistic bigots who are backing him, because he has already shown that he is a master of denial, and won’t hesitate to change his mind right in the middle of a thought. He has proven himself to be just their kind of guy….

I’m not going to turn this into a rant of any great length. I’ve already made clear my opinion of the Twitt and his cronies, and to do so further would no doubt bore us both to tears…. So, just consider this a fully developed rant, with the advantage of not having to take ten minutes to digest all the stuff I usually throw out there for consumption. I have denigrated him and his ilk sufficiently for one day, and would like to save anything else I have to use another day down the line…. just remember what Tommy Toilet says, ffolkes, “Always remember to wipe thoroughly; rectal itch is no picnic!” And, always remember to wash up after partaking of any political discussion; the parts that splash around can be toxic…..
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Strangely enough, I think this came out okay. I wasn’t sure there for awhile, but it kind of fell together there at the end….. All is well…. 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!

Acres and acres of plaintive gymnasts….

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7

Ffolkes,
Let’s try this again….. The first effort this morning was so bad, I deleted both paragraphs, and will now start over. I’m glad I took the time to read back over what I’d written, because if I hadn’t, it would have completely destroyed my reputation. They were some massively bad paragraphs, ffolkes…… you should feel lucky I caught them in time. Just thinking back over them gives me a slight case of nausea, so you can imagine what might have happened, had I let them go out without editing…. severe spew, for sure….

However, now that I’ve saved the day, my intro section is once again bereft of material for discussion. I’m reluctant to start anything very complicated, since we’re already running a bit late….. that rules out any fantasy or fictional intro. I suppose I could compose a haiku, that’s always popular…. hmmm, let’s see what happens….

Poems for breakfast
have never been my habit.
But, okay, why not?

gigoid

Hmph…. That was almost too easy…. that haiku must have been percolating in the back of my mind for a while, as it just flowed out onto the screen with almost no editing at all.  I guess I should learn to trust my instincts a little better….. I feel much better now.  What do you say to a bit of diving? Shall we Pearl?….

(in Robotman’s spaceship)
Robotman: Wait ’til I get this baby cruisin’…We’ll be movin’ faster than light!
Oscar Milde: But Einstein said nothing can go faster than light!
Robotman: Normally, that’s true.  But you can go faster than light when you go downhill…
Oscar: Wow…Einstein made a mistake!
Robotman: Be easy on him. Even geniuses have bad days…

Be easy on me, ffolkes, it’s been a long day already….

There once was an old man from Esser,
Who’s knowledge grew lesser and lesser.
It at last grew so small,
He knew nothing at all,
And now he’s a College Professor.
— Smart Bee
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“The world always makes the assumption that the exposure of an error is identical with the discovery of truth–that the error and truth are simply opposite.  They are nothing of the sort.  What the world turns to, when it is cured on one error, is usually simply another error, and maybe one worse than the first one.” — H. L. Mencken

H.L. Mencken’s words make an appearance here regularly; since he has made a habit of creating aphorisms that precisely describe my beliefs so many times, I tend to suspect him of channeling me. It’s spooky sometimes, how accurately his words echo what is in my mind. This statement is one of those, for sure…..

On the surface this seems subtle, but it is really quite a simple observation, of a habitual pattern of thinking that many of the general public fall prey to, especially in political matters. The current presidential race is a good example….

The Tea Party (side note: I don’t bring this group up often, because their purpose and goals are so unclear, even to themselves…. it can be hard to pin down any specific issue, as they tend to blend issues together, both by cause and by perpetrator…. kind of the shotgun method of protest….) and the conservative right, which now seems to constitute the bulk of the GOP, have decided that having a black president is an error, so they are desperately looking for anyone at all to replace him with, no matter how unqualified or unsuited to the job they may be. In doing so, they are definitely poised to trade one possible minor mistake for one major catastrophe….

In my sixty plus years of observing the American political circus, I’ve seen some pretty dumb choices make it to the presidential ballot, and if current trends are any indication, it’s about to happen again. But, in addition, I’ve also seen the growth of a political trend that is threatening to turn the entire American political circus into tragedy, rather than intermittent comedy. It is a trend that is most obvious when the President is a Democrat, but it happens no matter which party is currently sitting.

This trend is for the opposition party to spend all their time, after the swearing in of the new President, in throwing up obstacles to any reforms the new President may try to legislate. Any idea the incumbent comes up with is denigrated by the opposition; all his speeches are picked apart for nuances that they can attack. Character attacks are constant, and any legislation sent for voting to the House or Senate is blocked. After three years of fighting to keep the incumbent from accomplishing anything, the opposition party then starts attacking the President for not having gotten anything done while in office, completely ignoring their own part in that…..

The concept of the “loyal opposition” has been replaced by the “adamant opposition”. Loyal opposition implies acceptance, and the concept of working together for the good of all. Adamant opposition means outright war against the incumbent, with the good of the people removed from consideration. They don’t care about the people, as long as they have the power, and they will do almost anything to keep themselves in a position to continue to lie, cheat, and steal from the public.

What I find to be not just disheartening, but frightening, is the fact that this time around, they don’t seem to care that the covers are being blown. The candidate who has surged to the forefront of the available people to pick from may be the worst of the lot. He flip-flops on the issues according to whatever crowd he is addressing, and doesn’t even try to hide it; he just ignores it. He lies with every other breath, often making up his lies on the fly…. This also is ignored, even though it is recorded and cannot be denied. He touts himself as one of the “common folks”, but won’t let his tax returns be examined, despite every pressure to do so. This implies there is something in there that he does NOT want the public to know…. but he continues to refuse to release them, thus shooting himself repeatedly in the same foot…..

Yes, it is frightening to contemplate this man in the White House. I can only be encouraged by his habit of doing and saying things that will ensure that it never happens; he is his own worst enemy, in that respect. To be honest, I hope this run-up to the election has a couple of debates between Romney and the incumbent…. that will be a treat to watch, as he melts down on prime time, in front of the entire nation…. Hell, if there are debates, I’d bet that half of his would-be supporters will switch sides after just one…. now, that’s encouraging, for sure…. too bad there aren’t more encouraging aspects to discuss…..

Stay alert, ffolkes…. this promises to be an interesting four months……

“It was always thus; and even if ’twere not, ‘twould inevitably have been always thus.” — Dean Lattimer
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On this device

i look for you
disturbing the decorum of this bed

your maddening red heart
devouring headboards

can you hear me

recounting all of these days

my brief elbows object to complain

with i miss yous

but i do
i largely do
stubbornly i do

love . .

Mari Sanchez Cayuso

http://starsrainsunmoon.com/2012/07/17/on-this-device/

Since I’ve been including one outstanding poem in each Pearl, I’ve mostly relied on classical poets. Today I include a poem from a poetess you may not know. I have been reading her poems daily since I first came to WordPress, and am continually amazed at the depth, power, and passion the she infuses into her words. I think this poem stands up well next to any of those I’ve previously shown here…. She will someday be considered in the same light, I believe, and her work will be required reading for English, or Spanish literature classes, for she writes equally well in both languages…. I give you, Mari Sanchez Cayuso….Enjoy!
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A Native American elder once described his own inner struggles in this manner: “Inside of me there are two dogs. One of the dogs is mean and evil. The other dog is good. The mean dog fights the good dog all the time.” When asked which dog wins, he reflected for a moment and replied, “The one I feed the most.” — George Bernard Shaw

This is one of those pearls that really needs no accessories in order for it to be enjoyed, and fully appreciated. It is adornment enough on its own merit. And, in order to keep fresh that sense of surprise in you, dear reader, I will thus refrain from adding any accessory comments…. just enjoy, and then go feed your dogs….  🙂
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All right! That went fairly well…. for such a weak beginning, it ended well, I think. And, fortunately, what I think, goes. 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!

Trading virtue for vice…..

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Ffolkes,
Frankly, I hadn’t wanted to be there at all, but there I was. A mature, employed, stable, responsible person, standing next to huge plastic clown, in the small hours of the night, waiting in the freezing wind to meet someone. Not just someone, but an alien. Not from Mexico, from Procyon 5, part of a Galactic Union consisting of thousands of worlds, all of whom were no doubt home in bed, like I should have been….

Well, that’s not bad…. I could punch it up a little, but it got the creative juices flowing, so we’ll just leave it there, with more questions than answers, and go do something else more productive. I know, many of you are now thinking, “What does he mean, more productive? I want to see the alien!”

Shhhhh!… you’ll wake up Murphy! He’s been asleep in my armchair since I got up this morning, and I’d just as soon he stayed that way for the time being. Things are difficult enough without his two cents thrown in….  What I mean is, I’m never going to complete the story that goes with that beginning, so it is more productive to start a Pearl, which I know I will finish…. and the alien can go fly a kite…. I didn’t like him anyway….

Now that the ice is broken, though, I seem to be a bit at sixes and sevens for material. Fortunately, having already spewed out a sufficient quantity to qualify, I can go on to the eights…. which may sound confusing, but is actually quite logical. So, with no further fussing about, we shall now go Pearl…. Shall we be off and about it?….
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“But whether there’s some grand design really matters little to me. My only hope was this: to see what might be, to believe that it should be, and then to do all I could to bring it to pass, whatever the cost. When a life spins out as joyfully as mine has done, then the price, once paid so painfully, is now recalled in gladness. I have received full value. Here among the shepherds, my cup is filled with the water of life; it overflows.” — Orson Scott Card, “Treason”

In thinking back over the Pearls that I’ve put out in the last year, my general impression is that I spend too much time dwelling on the negative parts of Life and Society. There are reasons, no doubt, which will thankfully not be brought out today; I want to speak to a different point. In concentrating on those negative aspects of Life, my usual purpose is to create in the reader a desire to see that negative turned into a positive, to show that one’s own actions have an effect on reality, even if we can only make real changes within ourselves. Those internal changes lead to changes in action, which, as we all know, can spread influence like ripples on a pond. In short, I’m recruiting activists to fight against the forces of Evil that are at play in the world today….

The march of history, and human affairs, possesses an immense inertia; it takes hard effort over a long time to make changes in the direction in which we are heading. The forces of Evil are directing us to extinction, without even knowing that they do so. If they realized what their actions would lead to, they would change, for they are cowards, and don’t want to die any more than the rest of us.

It is just that they are so convinced of their own rightness, and their own right to do exactly as they please, they will not listen to the evidence that is so plentiful. Thus, it becomes the responsibility of the forces of Reason to find a way to change direction, with that kind of opposition as one of the first and biggest obstacles to get past, or resolve in some way.

I wish I had an answer, all laid out in logical lines, with ideas for getting the ignorant to learn. But, I don’t. I’ve been trying all my life to get people to look at things that are not merely beyond the end of their noses, but in fact, may be entirely outside their experience…. and they don’t HAVE to be afraid of it, just because it is unknown to them.

My efforts have been rather ineffective in the larger picture, with minor successes on an individual level…. not extremely encouraging. But, I soldier on, throwing facts and truth out there into their faces, hoping one or more of them will make them open their eyes a bit wider….. and if that includes a boot in the ass to get them going, then by golly, they can have a boot!….  And always remember…..

Truth is God’s daughter. — Smart Bee
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Flower of Love

Sweet, I blame you not, for mine the fault was, had I not been made of common clay
I had climbed the higher heights unclimbed yet, seen the fuller air, the larger day.

From the wildness of my wasted passion I had struck a better, clearer song,
Lit some lighter light of freer freedom, battled with some Hydra-headed wrong.

Had my lips been smitten into music by the kisses that but made them bleed,
You had walked with Bice and the angels on that verdant and enameled meed.

I had trod the road which Dante treading saw the suns of seven circles shine,
Ay! perchance had seen the heavens opening, as they opened to the Florentine.

And the mighty nations would have crowned me, who am crownless now and without name,
And some orient dawn had found me kneeling on the threshold of the House of Fame.

I had sat within that marble circle where the oldest bard is as the young,
And the pipe is ever dropping honey, and the lyre’s strings are ever strung.

Keats had lifted up his hymeneal curls from out the poppy-seeded wine,
With ambrosial mouth had kissed my forehead, clasped the hand of noble love in mine.

And at springtide, when the apple-blossoms brush the burnished bosom of the dove,
Two young lovers lying in an orchard would have read the story of our love;

Would have read the legend of my passion, known the bitter secret of my heart,
Kissed as we have kissed, but never parted as we two are fated now to part.

For the crimson flower of our life is eaten by the cankerworm of truth,
And no hand can gather up the fallen withered petals of the rose of youth.

Yet I am not sorry that I loved you -ah! what else had I a boy to do? –
For the hungry teeth of time devour, and the silent-footed years pursue.

Rudderless, we drift athwart a tempest, and when once the storm of youth is past,
Without lyre, without lute or chorus, Death the silent pilot comes at last.

And within the grave there is no pleasure, for the blindworm battens on the root,
And Desire shudders into ashes, and the tree of Passion bears no fruit.

Ah! what else had I to do but love you? God’s own mother was less dear to me,
And less dear the Cytheraean rising like an argent lily from the sea.

I have made my choice, have lived my poems, and, though youth is gone in wasted days,
I have found the lover’s crown of myrtle better than the poet’s crown of bays.

Oscar Wilde

I don’t much care if anyone doesn’t care for this one, though I hope they do…. but, no matter. I love it, and as far as I’m concerned, Oscar is Da Man!….. The problems he had in his lifetime in dealing with a society that did not understand him do not, in my mind, detract from the brilliance of his writing. I would give a lot to have had the chance to converse with him over dinner, but, since I can’t, his poetry makes a decent substitute…..
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I’m going old-school here again…. Failing to find within me the correct amount of outrage to fuel a rant, I will resort to my old method of stimulating cogitation among the masses…. Together, these quotes will direct your thoughts to a conclusion, one that, hopefully, you will heed, and share…. and that’s enough clues for anybody….

“To be happy one must be a) well fed, unhounded by sordid cares, at ease in Zion, b) full of a comfortable feeling of superiority to the masses of one’s fellow men, and c) delicately and unceasingly amused according to one’s taste. It is my contention that, if this definition be accepted, there is no country in the world wherein a man constituted as I am – a man of my peculiar weaknesses, vanities, appetites, and aversions – can be so happy as he can be in the United States.  Going further, I lay down the doctrine that it is a sheer physical impossibility for such a man to live in the United States and not be happy.” — H. L. Mencken (1880-1956), “On Being An American”

If you push something hard enough, it will fall over. — Fudd’s First Law of Opposition

“The land of the free!  This is the land of the free!  Why, if I say anything that displeases them, the free mob will lynch me, and that’s my freedom.  Free?  Why I have never been in any country where the individual has such an abject fear of his fellow countrymen.  Because, as I say, they are free to lynch him the moment he shows he is not one of them.” — D. H. Lawrence (1885-1930)

“I live in the Managerial Age, in a world of “Admin.”  The greatest evil is not now done in those sordid “dens of crime” that Dickens loved to paint. It is not done even in concentration camps and labor camps.  In those we see its final result.  But is conceived and ordered (moved, seconded, carried, and minuted) in clean, carpeted, warmed, and well-lighted offices, by quiet men with white collars and cut fingernails and smooth-shaven cheeks who do not need to raise their voice.”– Preface to ‘The Screwtape Letters’ by C.S. Lewis

PAYCHECK: The weekly $5.27 that remains after deductions for federal withholding, state withholding, city withholding, FICA, medical/dental, long-term disability, unemployment insurance, Christmas Club, and payroll savings plan contributions. — Smart Bee

If this is a joke–I don’t get it. — Written on grave

They say the number of criminals is still rising.  Where are we going to put them all? Prisons and government are already overflowing. — Smart Bee

That’s probably enough…. any more, and it would be too obvious, and I may as well have ranted….   Enjoy Life, brothers and sisters, while we still can….
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Not too shabby for what felt like a throw-away…. Perhaps not a top ten contender, but readable. I’ll take it….. Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…. and watch out for stobor…..    😉

 

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

 

 

gigoid

Dozer

Kowabunga!

Methodical methods for modified slavish sycophants….

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Ffolkes,
Today, I am a man. I was a man yesterday, too. Tomorrow, I’m turning in my papers, and will be out of the door, and well on my way to a better existence, as a cat.

Yep. A cat. I’m tired of this mankind nonsense…. this species has none of the characteristics with which I would prefer to live my life, spending it instead in mad paroxysms of idiotic warfare, abuse of women and children, and self-hatred disguised as racism and bigotry. Cats don’t do any of that stuff, and after long negotiations with the gods of reincarnation (they’re pretty nice once you get to know them), I have secured an appointment to change species…..

Day after tomorrow, my biggest decisions will involve when and where to nap, whether to annoy a human or comfort one, or whether to eat now, or later….. I won’t have to worry about Mitt the Twitt threatening to destroy all the progress our society has made in the last 100 years. I won’t have to worry about taxes. I won’t have to worry that some asshole banker wants more of my money, or that some politician is spreading more lies. None of that will have any more bearing on what I’m doing, and boy, am I looking forward to it…. After all, ignorance is bliss, right? Just ask any conservative American church-goer….. you can find a passel of them hanging around at the Westboro Baptist Church….

Today, however, I am tasked with once more heading into the breech, taking up the challenge, and producing a Pearl of Virtual Wisdom (affectionately known as “Pearls”…). Since that is a task that promises to be quite a challenge today, I’d best be about it….. Shall we Pearl?…..
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“Go not to the elves for counsel, for they will say both yes and no.” — J. R. R. Tolkien

What we think is less than what we know:
What we know is less than what we love:
What we love is so much less than what there is:
and to this precise extent, We are much less than what we are.
— R.D. Laing, The Politics of Experience

Psychobabble, by any other name, could not be any stupider than this. And that is a period at the end of that sentence, which means  no more that needs to be said about it. Since that goes against all the rules here, I’ll have to say this…. R.D. Laing was first caught spouting the above nonsense just about the time I was in Psych. Tech. school at Cuesta College/Atascadero State Hospital, and was one of the psychotherapists we studied in that school. At the time, he had a lot of followers, though not many in our class; our exposure to the individuals who received treatment at ASH made his techniques rather useless. But, it is another example of the power of human stupidity, and how it permeates every level of society….

A little learning is a dangerous thing;
Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring:
There shallow draughts intoxicate the brain,
And drinking largely sobers us again.
— Alexander Pope (1688-1744) — Essay on Criticism, Part ii, Line 15

Any fool can read a book or two, then write one that makes fun of those books. Then, they start spouting nonsensical, meaningless aphorisms such as the one above in public, on radio and TV talk shows, and go on a whirlwind tour of bookstores to encourage more people to buy the book, and spread their nonsense out over the whole of society. This is proof of Mssr. Pope’s first line, “A little learning is a dangerous thing,”, as the little bit of learning the author has engaged in becomes his/her tower of information, their bastion of expertise,  unassailable by either logical or intuitive reasoning, until their brand of ignorance joins the top-ten list of humanity’s follies, right up there with religion, and politics…..

“How many people eat, drink, and get married; buy, sell and build; make contracts and attend to their fortune; have friends and enemies, pleasures and pains, are born, grow up, live and die – but asleep!” — Joseph Joubert

Our culture is dying, if not already dead. When it reaches the point where 20 million people, or more, will choose a man like the Twitt over the incumbent president, just because his skin isn’t white, (yes, racists, all of them. They just use the healthcare, birther, and other issues they jump on to sublimate their fear of the “darkie” in the Oval Office….), then culture is dead. If not now, it certainly will go down in flames should that fool be elected, as he tries to guide society back to the Stone Age. Should he enter that office, I shudder to think of how our image to the rest of the world will suffer, as Mitt the Twitt knows NOTHING about other countries, other than how their tax laws may favor him in his goal to become a modern Croesus….

Face it, ffolkes, this election isn’t about healthcare, or jobs, or women’s rights, or immigration. It is about race, and the time has come for those of us who are aware of this to speak out, to shout out, and point out the ignorance and lies that are being bandied about like candy at Halloween. The forces of Evil are at large, and have taken control of the fanatic zealots on the conservative right. In addition they have recruited all those in our culture who are closet racists, supplying sublimation issues for the real reason they fight so hard against this president. It is the responsibility of those who are on the side of Reason to fight back, as best we may without resorting to the methods used by the other side, which would put us in the same hypocritical boat.

Stay alert, ffolkes, the time is coming when hard decisions will need to be made…. be ready, or we will all be going down the road to Hell in the same handbasket….. and remember….

“It is impossible for a man to be cheated by anyone but himself.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson
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A clock stopped — not the mantel’s
Geneva’s farthest skill
Can’t put the puppet bowing
That just now dangled still.

An awe came on the trinket!
The figures hunched with pain,
Then quivered out of decimals
Into degreeless noon.

It will not stir for doctors,
This pendulum of snow;
The shopman importunes it,
While cool, concernless No

Nods from the gilded pointers,
Nods from seconds slim,
Decades of arrogance between
The dial life and him.

— Emily Dickinson

I was in need of a bit of esoterica, to bring some balance after ranting, and this little piece of Emily does the trick just fine…. enjoy!
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Fetch the holy hand grenade …. — Smart Bee

I am perplexed. Perhaps you can help?….. This tagline popped up in front of me twice in a three-second period this morning while searching for pearls, so I figure Smart Bee wants me to use it pretty badly. Unfortunately, I can’t, as I’m uncertain as to its exact meaning.

Does the fact that it is holy come from being blessed by some earthly representative of a holy figure? Or was it created from nothing, a virgin-birth sort of thing, by God Himself? Or is it a holy hand grenade because it blows up holy stuff, or maybe because it leaves places all holy (full of holes…)? These are important things to know before I can commit to using it as basis for a rant. Ranting is a delicate undertaking, and it could be potentially embarrassing to rant for a while, then discover my subject is completely 180 degrees removed from what I thought it was; I blush easily, and don’t enjoy making such mistakes…

Ah well, it doesn’t matter in the long run, I suppose. Whether it is one, or the other, really shouldn’t matter to me; as a writer, I should be able to use it either way. But, I’m a stubborn old cuss, if nothing else, and I insist on knowing beforehand exactly who it is I am defiling, or exactly what weapon I’m using to cut through the bullshit to the core of meaning. It’s just a Ned-thing, you wouldn’t understand….

Four paragraphs of prattle isn’t too bad, especially on such short notice, so I guess we can call this a pearl, if just barely. I’m getting very close to 400 posts here on WP, and over a thousand pages of material have been created to fill those posts, so, as might be suspected, I am getting very short on material upon which  I haven’t previously expounded. Hence, fill-in material such as this, where I can waste a good three or four hundred words just fooling around, without ever approaching anything remotely important or relevant to our purpose. It’s a gift…..  🙂

Now, if you would please, sit down, remain silent, and no one will get hurt…. I don’t wish to harm anyone, but I will not be thwarted in my quest to finish this pearl on a dignified note. Just where that dignity is supposed to come from, I haven’t the foggiest notion, but, having done all I could possibly do to find some, I find myself stuck for an ending line.

Please, stop me! This damn pearl won’t let me finish. It keeps wandering from one non-concept to another, and dragging me along like a stupid dog. I guess I will have to resort to a hard re-boot. Here goes…..    Eureka! I have found it!  And I’m not giving it back….
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Well, that was interesting….. a new method of wasting time and energy. As if I needed any more…. Ah well, c’est la vie! 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!

Coping skills for bald penguins…..

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Ffolkes,
Nature will always tell us, in her inimitable style, when we are getting too weird. I’ve had this proven to me on numerous occasions, as I have a tendency toward weird, a genetic gift from my grandfather, who made his living as “a performance artiste” around the turn of the 20th century. She (Nature, of course…) generally lets us know we have strayed beyond the boundaries of propriety in some grand, publicly embarrassing fashion, such as slyly convincing us that, “Yes! Everyone at the soirée really WANTS to see me dancing on a table with a lamp shade on my head!” Of course, she lied, but that doesn’t come out until later, when one is already in the doghouse……

What, you might ask, does this have to do with the morning Pearl? Not a damn thing that I know of…. when I sat down to type, this is what came out….. Oh, it’s all true, though I believe it might have been a colander rather than a lamp shade…. I’m pretty sure I remember thinking (if what I do when deeply influenced by the Beast can be called such….) that the colander had a cool, spaceman look to it, which is why I wore it. But there is nothing from that night (a night whose memory, blurred as it is, I keep in the category of ~I-hoped-it-had-been-forgotten~….) that has anything to do with getting this Pearl finished. Or, rather, started….

I suppose it’s just another of the odd little mind-games I play with myself during this introductory section. Though it doesn’t have anything to do with creating a Pearl, one could say that it helped in the process, by giving me something to do for a beginning, even though it has absolutely no relation to anything remotely interesting. Of course, if you are the kind of reader who enjoys thinking of the author in embarrassing situations, well, then, I guess this is right up your alley…. Boy, and they call ME weird!

Regardless of why, or how, or even if, this intro section evolved into its present state, here it is, four paragraphs later, still trying to find the doorway into the diving area, so we can go find some pearls. Oh, wait, I see it now!…. Okay, we can now stop discussing this abysmal foray into weirdness, and get on with the day’s business…. Shall we Pearl?…..
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“Ninety-eight percent of the adults in this country are decent,  hard-working, honest Americans.  It’s the other lousy two percent that get all the publicity.  But then–we elected them.” — Lily Tomlin

During the Occupy Wall Street demonstrations, the true financial picture of humanity was drawn, with the ratio being 99% to 1%. It seems that Lily had noted this phenomenon somewhat earlier in time, using slightly different, but no less valid, figures of 98% to 2%. I think it would be safe to say that these two statements are equal, and pretty much describe accurately how society is structured, financially, and, as it turns out, morally….

That simple fact is what makes it so hard for me to accept what takes place in the public arena, without having to resort to ranting. Not that I mind ranting, far from it….. but it’s hard to accept the truth of the situation, because that truth is that people have actually CHOSEN to put themselves in the situation we have today. Actually, it is more accurate to say, it is due to the inaction of those who disagree with the politicians and corporate pirates; they get disgusted and don’t vote, so all the idiots who fall for the BS being flung around end up voting the thieves back into office, every time……

I mean, it’s not as if the truth isn’t out there to be found. Every day, people like me, and Jueseppi B., and 3hickspolitico, and a lot of other web sites, write the truth about what is being said in the public arena. We rant, and show, by way of incontrovertible recorded audio and video proof, that the talking heads are lying their butts off, and people just nod their heads and ignore it, preferring to bury their heads in the sand rather than accept the truth.

“If a million people believe a foolish thing, it is still a foolish thing.” — Anatole France

It is disheartening to say the least, when so many folks choose ignorance over truth; it is almost enough for me to wash my hands of it, and let them enjoy the fruits of their ignorant choices. Unfortunately, that means that I, too, must put up with the thieves who suck from the public tit, and that is not acceptable to me. I’m tired of having to look away, or ignore the latest outrage from that quarter, just to stay sane. SIGH….

Far from the madding crowd’s ignoble strife
Their sober wishes never learn’d to stray;
Along the cool sequester’d vale of life
They kept the noiseless tenor of their way.
— Thomas Gray (1716-1771) — Elegy in a Country Churchyard, Stanza 19

But, so be it. Hating it, and complaining about it won’t make it go away…. all I can do is this. I write, time and time again, warning people of the crap they are putting up with, and show them how they are being used and abused by the beloved ruling classes. It’s probably just shouting into the wind, but since it is all I can do, I’ll keep doing it. After all, all you can do is all you can do….

“A police state is great, so long as you’re the police.” — Smart Bee
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Okay, here is another “old-school” Pearl…. and yes, it makes a specific point. Read all of them, in order, and the message will be crystal clear…..

“The truth is that Christian theology, like every other theology, is not only opposed to the scientific spirit; it is also opposed to all other attempts at rational thinking. Not by accident does Genesis 3 make the father of knowledge a serpent- slimy, sneaking and abominable. Since the earliest days the church as an organization has thrown itself violently against every effort to liberate the body and mind of man. It has been, at all times and everywhere, the habitual and incorrigible defender of bad governments, bad laws, bad social theories, bad institutions. It was, for centuries, an apologist for slavery, as it was the apologist for the divine right of kings.” — H. L. Mencken

BIBLE : A bible is a book which one or more religions consider to be holy, and to be something that they should follow. It is of course generally rather impractical to follow books, not just because they  don’t often go anywhere, but also because they are not very good at public speaking, decision making, problem solving, or any of the other qualities recognized as being an advantage for leadership. A religion based around the teachings of any compilation of Toxic Custard would be very strange indeed. To subscribe to this new cult following, send $15 now. — Daniel Bowen’s TOXIC CUSTARPEDIA

“Angels, I read, belong to nine different orders. Seraphs are the highest; they are aflame with love for God; cherubs, who are second, possess perfect knowledge of him. So love is greater than knowledge; how could I have forgotten? The seraphs are born of a stream of fire issuing from under God’s throne… Moving perpetually toward God, they perpetually praise him, crying Holy, Holy, Holy… But, they can sing only the first ‘Holy’ before the intensity of their love ignites them again and dissolves them again, perpetually into flames. ‘Abandon everything,’ Dionysius the Areopagite told his disciple. ‘God despises ideas.’ — Annie Dillard, “Holy the Firm”

“Man has a single basic choice:  to think or not, and that is the measure of his virtue.  Moral perfection is an unbreached rationality — not the degree of your intelligence, but the full and relentless use of your mind, not the extent of your knowledge, but the acceptance of reason as an absolute.” — John Galt

“Men become civilized, not in proportion to their willingness to believe, but in their readiness to doubt.” — H. L. Mencken

“The sagacious reader who is capable of reading between these lines what does not stand written in them, but is nevertheless implied, will be able to form some conception.” — Goethe (1749-1832)  — Autobiography, Book xviii, Truth and Beauty

There you go…. I can’t make it any plainer than that…..
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A Party Of Lovers

Pensive they sit, and roll their languid eyes,
Nibble their toast, and cool their tea with sighs,
Or else forget the purpose of the night,
Forget their tea — forget their appetite.
See with cross’d arms they sit — ah! happy crew,
The fire is going out and no one rings
For coals, and therefore no coals Betty brings.
A fly is in the milk-pot — must he die
By a humane society?
No, no; there Mr. Werter takes his spoon,
Inserts it, dips the handle, and lo! soon
The little straggler, sav’d from perils dark,
Across the teaboard draws a long wet mark.
Arise! take snuffers by the handle,
There’s a large cauliflower in each candle.
A winding-sheet, ah me! I must away
To No. 7, just beyond the circus gay.
‘Alas, my friend! your coat sits very well;
Where may your tailor live?’ ‘I may not tell.
O pardon me — I’m absent now and then.
Where might my tailor live? I say again
I cannot tell, let me no more be teaz’d —
He lives in Wapping, might live where he pleas’d.’

John Keats

Hmm…. it seems that young Mr. Keats also had issues with society…. but he sure could make it sound important! I like the ending especially, with its tongue firmly entrenched in his cheek….. Enjoy!
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Often, reaching the end of a day’s work is a surprise, at least from a time-centered view. Nonetheless, I have done so again, and feel it would be best not to fuss with it any further. Knowing when to walk away is the most important skill we have, in a lot of ways…. 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!

Hastening Armageddon for pennies a day….

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Ffolkes,
With a clear eye, and a somewhat less than clear conscience, I take up the gauntlet once more, seeking new and innovative ways to befuddle the reading audience. Well, either befuddle, or titillate, take your pick; both are on sale today…..

That’s right, we’re having a sale. I have all this excess verbiage laying around, and I figured, “Hey, maybe somebody can use some of this stuff!”  Then I thought to myself, “Hey, maybe I can fool, er, talk them into paying for it! It’s worth a shot, right?”  So, I’ve taken some time to organize and label a bunch of stuff, and put prices on them.

Please, during your visit today, please take a moment to to look through the catalog on the table over there, and see if there isn’t a metaphor, or a witty response, or a partial poem, or a joke, or maybe even, gasp, an original idea, that you can use in your work…. all priced very reasonably….  Plus, if you buy your needed accessories to crime here, there is no guilt factor, so you can save the money you would have spent on plagiarism insurance. Every word will be shipped via email, so that cost is also zero…. How can you lose?

The bonus factor for me is a couple bucks extra to go into the old refrigerator….. No, I don’t mean I put my money in the fridge; I mean I’ll buy food, and put it in there….. although, come to think of it, I do know a lot of folks who think hiding money in the fridge is one NOBODY will ever think of…. I never bother to tell them it is the first place any experienced cop, guard, technician, or junkie will search in their quest for illegal substances or hidden treasures, mainly because EVERYBODY thinks that nobody else knows this…. another fine example of the quality of most folk’s thinking processes….

That’s probably enough silliness for one morning, or at least for intentional silliness. It starts to annoy even me after a bit…. What say we dive in and start the morning Pearl?….. Keeping in mind, of course, the morning words of wisdom….

PARANOIA: A healthy understanding of the way the universe works. — Smart Bee
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ART, n.  This word has no definition.  Its origin is related as follows by the ingenious Father Gassalasca Jape, S.J.

One day a wag — what would the wretch be at? —
Shifted a letter of the cipher RAT,
And said it was a god’s name!  Straight arose
Fantastic priests and postulates (with shows,
And mysteries, and mummeries, and hymns,
And disputations dire that lamed their limbs)
To serve his temple and maintain the fires,
Expound the law, manipulate the wires.
Amazed, the populace that rites attend,
Believe whate’er they cannot comprehend,
And, only edified to learn that two
Half-hairs joined so and so (as Art can do)
Have sweeter values and a grace more fit
Than Nature’s hairs that never have been split,
Bring cakes and wines for sacrificial feasts,
And sell their garments to support the priests.

— Ambrose Bierce, “The Devil’s Dictionary”

It seems that Mr. Bierce’s talent was not limited to merely prose with a sharp point, but displayed just as precisely, and pointedly, as poetry. Quite excellent poetry too, with couplets all a-rhyme, scansion dancing around the pole made of irony, with streamers of wit….. I’m impressed, more and more, each time I read from the Dictionary….

I guess I wasn’t quite done with being Silly….
___________________________________

“Ignore the man behind the screen.” — The All Seeing, All Powerful, Wonderful Wizard of Oz

As the time passes and we draw ever nearer to the election this year, this becomes increasingly relevant. It is important to remember that ALL the political candidates are guilty of using the art of prestidigitation in their communications with the public. Of course, Mitt the Twitt and the GOP are showing particularly egregious new heights to which they are willing to take the art; they have paraded a series of lies before the public that are not even hidden lies. They don’t seem to care; they just deny, ignore, and issue their next false accusation or made up statistics….

‘Shit Happens’ according to… Denialism:      What shit? — Smart Bee

The Democrats aren’t completely free of this syndrome, either, and if you believe they are, then you have entered the Twilight Zone, and may have trouble finding your way back to the real world. I admire Obama, much the same way I did Carter; they are both basically decent men trying to do an impossible job, while constantly having to contend with an entire segment of those who are supposed to support him as loyal opposition, who, instead, are attempting to thwart his every reform, simply for the sake of divisiveness. In the fight to get ANYTHING done, the incumbents have had to resort to chicanery of their own. I figure they, at least, feel a bit of guilt about it, whereas I can see no such reaction from Mitt or any of the GOP spokesbozos…. They just deny and ignore any such suggestions of wrong-doing….

Let’s consider Mitt the Twitt for a moment. Here is a man who admits to being rich as Croesus, yet finds it necessary to hide at least half of his real worth, as if it would tarnish his image of someone who can relate to the common man. I think the common man, to Mitt, is someone who only has $50,000 worth of investments, to go along with the house they own, their three cars, and the vacation home in Maine. In contrast to EVERY OTHER candidate’s policy of publishing their taxes, he continues to refuse to release any returns beyond the last one; there are inconsistencies and red flag items of interest to the public in that one, too, but he refuses to discuss any of it…

This is the same man who tied his dog to a kennel on the roof of a car, and went off on vacation, without ever thinking of how terrified the dog might be, barreling along at 80 mph, with the wind blowing straight through the kennel. He laughs about it, and turns questions about it to other subjects, refusing to even comment on it. This is the same man who, when asked about a serious incident of bullying and gay bashing during his last year in high school, shrugged it off as “youthful pranks and high spirits”…..

This is the same man who…. well, never mind. I could go on most of the day, and not get to all the little incidents from just the last few months that indicate the Twitt’s complete disregard for the majority of Americans, and show clearly how entrenched he is in the 1%, and how committed he is to solidifying the stranglehold that the banks and corporations have on the rest of American society. His total focus is on the agenda of the rich, to the detriment of the poor, and I am totally astounded at just how many IDIOTS are out there in this country supporting him, in the mistaken belief that he gives a shit about them….

No politician is acting in the best interests of the people they govern. None of them. But people continue to act as if they do, and it is driving me crazy! Normal, intelligent people are backing this asshole, thinking that he isn’t going to screw them over. It is incomprehensible to me how people can blind themselves to the obvious so completely that they would fall for this shit….  I will say it one more time, and I hope they can understand it….

And then shall many be offended,… — Matthew 24:10

You are being lied to, by every politician who is currently seeking office, and by every one currently in office. If you don’t see that, if you don’t believe that, then you are deliberately fucking yourself in the place it will most hurt, and apparently, enjoying it…. The man, the party, and 99% of everyone you see on TV is LYING TO YOU!!!!! They are doing so every day, every hour, every minute, and you are accepting it like you are a starving sheep and what they are saying is manna from heaven.

WAKE UP!…..  I’m stopping here, my blood pressure is spiking, and I’m starting to type in all caps to show I’m shouting, rather than just as contextual importance. That’s how worked up I get when I think of how deliberately stupid people can be…. I don’t so much mind the stupid part, but the fact that they have to CHOOSE to not see what is right in front of their face just sets me off…. So much indignation, righteous or not, is giving me indigestion….. stay alert, ffolkes, the politicians are coming, and they’re dangerous when unregulated….
___________________________________

Certain passages in several laws have always defied interpretation and the most inexplicable must be a matter of opinion. A judge of the Court of Session of Scotland has sent the editors of this book his candidate which reads, “In the Nuts (unground), (other than ground nuts) Order, the expression nuts shall have reference to such nuts, other than ground nuts, as would but for this amending Order not qualify as nuts (unground)(other than ground nuts) by reason of their being nuts (unground).” — from the Guinness Book of World Records, 1973

I’m almost speechless. (I know, you’ll believe it when you see it…. I did say ‘almost’…. that’s something…) It’s absolutely beautiful! Perfectly priceless absolute nonsense, dressed only in legal briefs…. It is so impenetrable, I can’t tell if it is the law itself, or the judge’s written opinion on the law, or a passage from Nightmare on Elm Street! Which I’ve never seen, by the way….

How’s that for tangential? Any who, this was included today as a finishing touch to my Twitt-rant above. This goes to show exactly how the political hacks we are burdened with today work their verbal magic, to distract us from looking at things they don’t want us to see. Bureaucratese is what I’ve heard it called, a language, and skill set, that society has had practiced on them since the days of ancient Greece.

When a document such as the one above reaches a certain level of impenetrability, the majority of people alive will either fall asleep halfway through reading it, or totally ignore it after reading the first 11 words or so. It’s a classic piece of distraction, and is probably used in courses for political science majors in college, especially in law schools, as an example of how to carry off the trick.

To me, what this law indicates is that one, or more, of the people involved in writing the law have a monetary interest in being able to obfuscate the definition of “Nuts”, in order for them to achieve some financial reward owing to the indicated distinctions in that definition. In other words, a loophole or three is created, so the “Nut” vendors can make more money, charging more for each kind of Nut than could be accomplished without the legislation.

It’s similar to the law in this country that was pushed through the Federal Courts back in the mid-1800’s, when a corrupt Federal judge awarded “personhood” to corporations, after being paid handsomely by those corporations for his verdict…. Same, same, alla same…. Evil is loose in the world….

— Bother! said Pooh, as he had another plate of Piglet sausage. — Smart Bee (Remember Mitt the Twitt at the NAACP?…..As Jueseppi, the Obabmacrat says, “he was jivin’, shuckin’ and jivin”….. with a mouth full of sausage….)

I suppose all I’m trying to say here is, once again….. Wake up ffolkes…. the beloved ruling class, the priestly hierarchies, and the corporate “persons” in the shape of banks and multinational corporations, are continue to hide from all of us the actual business they are pursuing, which has everything to do with benefiting them, nothing to do with benefiting the public; it’s all about screwing everyone else as much as they will allow…. I don’t know about y’all, but I’m about done with allowing ANY of it….

“I’m not tense, just terribly alert.” — Smart Bee

So, please…. DON’T ignore the man behind the screen…. he’s the one who is killing us all….
___________________________________

I’ll take it…. I don’t know about y’all, but I feel better for having gotten that out….. sorry if any of it got on your clothing. I don’t think any of it is toxic…. maybe a bit vitriolic, but vitriol won’t actually harm anything, unless it applies to the reader as well as the subject matter…. Was that obscure enough?… So be it. 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!

Maintaining a plethora of peregrines….

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Ffolkes,
Gosh…. I actually don’t have anything to complain about! What a novel concept! I think I like it…. The sun is shining, I’m not in pain, the birds are singing, and all is well in the world…. Perhaps this is an omen, of good things to come today. Sure, that’s it….

Now that we have dispensed with the shallow lies and dubious wishes, we can get on with the true business for which we are gathered…. and it has nothing at all to do with shallow lies….  🙂   Heh, heh, heh….

Sorry… sometimes I just can’t seem to help myself….. I start typing and this stuff just dribbles out, like the saliva that pools up on one side of your cheek when you lay on one side for awhile, and doze off…..  It’s probably just as hard to wipe off, I’m sure. Well, we’ll all just have to put up with it, because it obviously isn’t going to stop until I’ve driven you all completely batty, waiting for me to get around to something a bit more rational. Or at least funnier….

Funny, isn’t it? How funny is so relative…. and so personal. See, I thought the saliva piece was pretty good, but I also thought it was kind of tacky, y’know? Too much Benny Hill-style buffoonery, when I was really hoping for more of a George Carlineseque-style, an expansively witty, pretension-killing patter…… Maybe I should have used a locker room joke?….. Ah well, we’ll never know now….

Odds are, the way it’s going so far, nothing is going to happen unless I just seize control, and dive in. Y’all can join in, if’n y’wanta…. If nothing else, it should prove interesting….. and I mean that in a good way, really….
___________________________________

“I show a clear pattern of unpredictability.” — Smart Bee

This made me grin. I can’t help it, it just did. Since its uncanny resemblance to me is not quite enough to make it a pearl, as much as it may be a true and complete picture of me in today’s state of mind, I’ll play fair, and go on, without any further (intentional)  instances of unpredictable behavior….. Really, I will try…. But don’t blame me for what we end up with…. it could be more drivel relating to Mitt the Twitt, and you know what that means…. blood, & gore, & guts, & veins in my teeth!

It is alleged that when Einstein and his wife visited the Mount Wilson Observatory in California, Mrs. Einstein pointed to a particularly complex piece of equipment and asked its purpose. Their guide said that it was used to determine the shape of the universe. “Oh,” she said, not at all impressed, “my husband uses the back of an old envelope to work that out.” — Also Smart Bee

Now THAT is a story worthy of pearl status, and if I am not mistaken, has been utilized as one in the past. Not that I’m going to go check or anything like that, but I’m pretty sure I’ve already used this up, so we’ll try again….

“The people who say you are not facing reality actually mean that you are not facing their idea of reality. Reality is above all else a variable. With a firm enough commitment, you can sometimes create a reality which did not exist before.” — Margaret Halsey, No Laughing Matter (1977)

Bingo! This is the clear winner here, as we all are, provided we can take this idea in, and use it in a constructive fashion. It’s the finest kind of pearl, one that stimulates, and tickles, and surprises, and inspires, all at once. This brings into focus my entire purpose in exploring the boundaries, or lack thereof, of Consensual Reality, the one we all agree on….

We agree to acknowledge the perceptions we share, yet, even in our agreement, we are unique, because our vision, our perception of that reality, is one that only we can see, and our interpretation of that set of perceptions is one only we can make…. Ensuring and magnifying that uniqueness, it joins with all the other unique visions to make a reality that is whatever we wish it to be…..

“Reality is the leading cause of stress for those in touch with it.” — Jack Wagner

“Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn’t go away.” — Philip K. Dick

Stay real, my friends!…..
___________________________________

I Speak Not

I speak not, I trace not, I breathe not thy name;
There is grief in the sound, there is guilt in the fame;
But the tear that now burns on my cheek may impart
The deep thoughts that dwell in that silence of heart.
Too brief for our passion, too long for our peace,
Were those hours – can their joy or their bitterness cease?
We repent, we abjure, we will break from our chain, –
We will part, we will fly to – unite it again!
Oh! thine be the gladness, and mine be the guilt!
Forgive me, adored one! – forsake if thou wilt;
But the heart which is thine shall expire undebased,
And man shall not break it – whatever thou may’st.
And stern to the haughty, but humble to thee,
This soul in its bitterest blackness shall be;
And our days seem as swift, and our moments more sweet,
With thee at my side, than with worlds at our feet.
One sigh of thy sorrow, one look of thy love,
Shall turn me or fix, shall reward or reprove.
And the heartless may wonder at all I resign –
Thy lips shall reply, not to them, but to mine.

George Gordon, Lord Byron

I can only say, “Incredible!”  And, in spite of my usual habit of running off at the mouth, that is enough…. simply, incredible…
___________________________________

Here then is an old-school pearl…. Strung together, each of these distinct ideas blends with the others to become one scathing exposé of society today…. Just what that exposé consists of is, of course, left as an exercise for the Gentle Reader…..

“And it came to pass that in the hands of the ignorant, the words of the bible were used to beat plowshares into swords…” — Alan Watts

“Religion is the masterpiece of the art of animal training, for it trains people as to how they shall think.” — Arthur Schopenhauer

“What do you mean, “There’s no such thing as a free lunch?” *YOU* are the free lunch!” — Solomon Short

On a sidewalk near Portland State University someone wrote `Trust Jesus’, and, someone else wrote `But Cut the Cards’. — Smart Bee

Those Jesus Freaks
Well, they’re friendly but
The shit they believe
Has got their minds all shut.
— Frank Zappa, “The Meek Shall Inherit Nothing”

“Honesty isn’t any policy at all; it’s a state of mind or it isn’t honesty.” — Eugene L’Hote

and last, but certainly not least….

“Apes evolved from Creationists!” — Smart Bee

Well, there you have it…. perhaps a bit less scathing than sardonic, but attractively presented, if nothing else, eh? Don’t forget to offer a cut to the player on your right before you deal the cards ….   🙂
___________________________________

It is said that one day, a seeker will come, bringing the staff of power to the Monkey King…. oh, wait…. that’s another story, and the beginning at that. This is supposed to be an ending….

Since that is the case, I suppose there is nothing left to do but end 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!

Fussing as an Olympic event….

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Ffolkes,
It’s always amazing how the WP community rallies around other members with a problem. Since describing my troubles with accessing WP sites yesterday, a lot of ffolkes have commented, giving suggestions for fixes, or just to commiserate. This is truly a gathering of special people, who understand how to have friends, as in “if you want to have friends, you have to be a friend.” Thanks to everyone!…..

The issue was once again with my ISP (internet service provider). They use a function called Turbo to help their users get more speed out of the network. Unfortunately, this function messes with the WordPress code; it’s not compatible somehow. The fix is simple; I just disable the Turbo function. What I found yesterday when speaking with tech support at the ISP is that their system will disable the Turbo, but will automatically turn it back on after a period of time. So, I have to go back and toggle it off whenever I start having problems signing in. A big PITA, but at least now I know what to do when it occurs again…..

It’s a big relief, let me tell you, and it was nice to be able to go catch up on at least a few sites I’ve been missing out on. In the next few days I will try to get to everybody I follow at least once, so I’ll be busy. That’s a good thing, as retirement gets a bit slow when one is handicapped financially. I’m really looking forward to it….

And now that my ‘owee’ is all better, has been kissed and had a bandaid applied, I can concentrate on the Pearls. Shall we dive on in? Yes…..

“Here, pigs will fly, lightning will strike twice, hell will freeze over, and eventually, things will get really interesting…” — Smart Bee, regarding this blog….
___________________________________

Congresswoman:  “Well, Mr. Dallas… we’ve heard your smut masquerading as songs… and we’ve heard how teen prostitution pregnancy, drug use, cults, runaways, suicide and poor hygiene are sweeping this nation.  We thought you might like to share with the committee any particular causes you might see for those latter problems…”

Steve Dallas:  “I dunno.  Maybe the proliferation of narrow, suffocating zealotry masquerading as parenting in this country.” — Bloom County

When I first saw this in the paper, several years ago when it was first published, I literally almost fell out of my chair, laughing. It is just such a perfect description of how those Congressional hearings go, I couldn’t help it. This is a very accurate portrayal of how our society is in the habit of placing blame for problems, rather than finding solutions. At the same time, it delivers a strong punch to the gut of America, by placing the blame squarely on the shoulders of those who deserve it, to wit: ourselves.

“Narrow, suffocating zealotry”. What a wonderful use of adjectives and logic! It perfectly describes almost all of the people who complain about such things; they would rather cry, and moan, and cast about for a scapegoat, when the solution to their issue resides in their own hands. They are constitutionally unable to accept responsibility for how their own actions are creating the very issues they complain of, and generally will spend a lot of time trying to find someone, anyone, else to blame. It’s rather pathetic, when one stops to consider it….

Other than the environmental cataclysm that is imminent on our planet, I can’t think of any solutions to this problem. The difficulty in fixing it lies in human nature, and the changes that our species needs to make in that arena. Yes, having the environment crash around our ears, putting us on the brink of extinction will solve the issue. But, will it wait to happen until we can make the needed changes, or will it catch us with our pants down? I have a feeling the latter is more likely than the former, and I’m formulating my plans with that in mind…. Not that I think I can get out of it, but, hey, it’s worth a shot….

During the time when Congress was holding those hearings on the effects of music on teen issues, Frank Zappa was asked almost the same question. His reply was to the effect that, he had written and performed a number of songs that praised tooth brushing. He asked the committee if they had noted any significant numbers of teens had improved their dental hygiene…. which I thought was very relevant. The committee, however, was not amused…..

At the end of the movie “The American President”, Michael Douglas, as the President, makes a speech to the press corps wherein he states “We’ve got serious problems, and we need serious people to solve them. And I promise you, Dick Rumsen (the fictional candidate; in real life we have Mitt the Twitt in that role) has no interest in solving those problems. He’s interested in two things, and two things  only: making you afraid of it, and telling you who’s to blame for it. That is how you win elections….”  It’s a perfect example of Art imitating Life…. and that is exactly what we have going on today…..

We have a bunch of narrow-minded zealots trying to force the public into believing that the current administration hasn’t done anything. Of course, they don’t mention how hard they have worked to throw up obstacles to getting anything done. The House of Representatives has already voted to repeal the health care reform bill that was just upheld by the Supreme Court; it now must go to the Senate. They (the Republicans) don’t care that millions of Americans have already been helped by the bill’s provisions. They don’t care that it was originally THEIR idea. It was passed by the opposition, and that is all they care about, so they will fight it, no matter how many of their constituents don’t want them to do so…..

“It is terrible to contemplate how few politicians are hanged.” — G. K. Chesterton, The Cleveland Press, 3/1/21

This is the state of American politics today, and it SUCKS big time. Unfortunately, if I don’t vote, then I’m giving in to their pressure, and handing them carte blanche to screw with me. So, I’ll go vote for the lesser of two evils (yes, two…. this President has done the best he could do, and has been pretty good about transparency. But, he IS a politician, and we don’t know ALL of what he has done, or hasn’t done. ), and hope that we don’t end up with someone in office that will cause me to consider taking a more active part in providing a solution…. I’ve got better things to do than having to impeach a sitting President, or even to take other, more drastic measures…. Let us hope it doesn’t come to that…..

“It’s OBVIOUS..  The FURS never reached ISTANBUL..  You were  an EXTRA in the REMAKE of “TOPKAPI”..  Go home to your  WIFE. She’s making FRENCH TOAST!” — Zippy the Pinhead

(Well, it makes as much sense as anything Mitt has said lately…. and is just as pertinent as his remarks…..)
___________________________________

We’re taking a comedy break….

ACHTUNG!!!

Das machine is nicht fur gefingerpoken und mittengrabben.  Ist easy schnappen der springenwerk, blowenfusen und corkenpoppen mit
spitzensparken.  Ist nicht fur gewerken by das dummkopfen.  Das rubbernecken sightseeren keepen hands in das pockets.  Relaxen und
vatch das blinkenlights!!! — Smart Bee, pidgin Germanic version
—–

Balance the budget.  Declare politicians a game species! — Smart Bee
———-

Weather

Once I dipt into the future far as human eye could see,
And I saw the Chief Forecaster, dead as any one can be–
Dead and damned and shut in Hades as a liar from his birth,
With a record of unreason seldom paralleled on earth.
While I looked he reared him solemnly, that incandescent youth,
From the coals that he’d preferred to the advantages of truth.
He cast his eyes about him and above him; then he wrote
On a slab of thin asbestos what I venture here to quote–
For I read it in the rose-light of the everlasting glow:
‘Cloudy; variable winds, with local showers; cooler; snow.’

Ambrose Bierce
——

“A little nonsense now and then, is cherished by the wisest men.” — Willie Wonka

Okay, all done….. back to our regularly scheduled program….
___________________________________

“Boys become men by watching men, by standing close to men. Manhood is a ritual passed from generation to generation with precious few spoken instructions. Passing the torch of manhood is a fragile, tedious task. If the rite of passage is successfully completed, the boy- become-man is like an oak of hardwood character. His shade and influence will bless all those who are fortunate enough to lean on him and rest under his canopy.” — Preston Gilham

This is a wonderful piece of insightful observation. In many ways, the problems our society faces today can be traced back to this process being degraded. No matter what kind of nuclear family one is speaking of, this process of teaching boys to become men has been almost completely eliminated from our family process. There are a lot of reasons for this; social interaction is a very complex matter. But, the fact of its demise is not as complex, and is plain to anyone with any sort of discriminating intelligence. There are far too few men today who are following this example, and our society is suffering for that lack.

Again, I don’t know the answer. Or rather, I know the answer, for it is the same as I mentioned above; human nature must change. The policies and structures our society has adopted over time have become unsuitable, and counter-productive to our survival. The question is, how do we change human nature? I can only wish I knew….

Our future, as a species, and as a culture, is in serious jeopardy, and time is not slowing down to allow us to figure out how to deal with it. It is a frightening but unavoidable fact of life, at this point, with very little to be done. One can only hope that enough people wake up in time to at least make an effort…. but my hope of that is growing smaller every day…. I hate being a doom-Sayer, but the problem isn’t going to go away just because we ignore it…. so pay attention, please, and pass the humility…..

And as she looked around, she saw how Death the consoler,
Laying his hand upon many a heart, had healed it forever.
— Henry W. Longfellow (1807-1882) — Evangeline, Part ii
___________________________________

As we all know, time goes by quickly when we are having fun, and this just zipped on by…. It’s long, it’s wordy, it’s relevant, and it’s done…. 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!

Omelets don’t enjoy public exposure….

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Ffolkes,
For the last 5 weeks or so, I have been unable to overcome the WordPress technical glitches that are plaguing my system. I have to perform a workaround to sign in. If I try to access another WP site while logged in, I either get put into an infinite loop that refuses to even load the page, or I get logged off, and can’t sign back in on the other site, because I’m logged in on mine. Being a geeky sort, I’ve figured out how to keep publishing, using three separate techniques to get around the glitch, whatever it is.

Unfortunately, this glitch also means I have been totally unable to access any of the sites of all the people I follow, other than once or twice. I can get there, but I have to log out, find the site using Google, then sign back in to comment, so it is very time-consuming, making it impractical for me, as I just can’t sit that long. Just writing my own blog I have to take breaks every 10-15 minutes, and trying to follow and read the 100+ blogs I want to read is just too much.
    As a result, the traffic on my site has also gone down, because it is true what they tell you in those blog tutorials; the success of any blog depends on the blogger visiting other sites, and maintaining that community contact. Since I can’t get to other sites, the only folks that I can see that come to my site are the ones who either hit the Like button, or comment (all of which I answer….); of the 150 people who signed up to follow my blog, only about 20-30 of them seem to be regulars, as my Likes and comments are still less than double digits (i.e., less than 10).

Now, this in itself is not troublesome for me, as I don’t write just to gather followers. I write for self-therapy, and to create discussion. If it eventually leads to a lot of readers, that would be great, but it’s not what I’m trying for. I’d rather have a smaller number of regular readers who comment, or at least read what I have to say because they like the content.

But it does bother me that I cannot read the blogs I follow. I follow them because I like what the people there write, or post, or create (some are VERY creative….) and I miss the dialogue I usually have with them, as I am in inveterate commenter when I read a blog. I enjoy it when folks comment, as it shows me that I’ve written something that stimulated someone else’s mind; I comment because what they wrote stimulated mine, and I want them to know it….. but now I can’t, and it’s driving me bat-shit crazy.

I’ve hesitated to contact WP about the glitch, as the last time I tried to get help, it took weeks, and was very frustrating; it actually made my PTSD worse, so I’m a little reluctant to go through that again. But now, I’m going to HAVE to ask for help, because the glitch is either spreading, or morphing, or something; I’ve had to use two workarounds just to sign in today. It’s too much, and I have to do something. The annoyance factor has grown to exceed my reluctance, so I’ll contact them today to see if I can get it fixed…..

To all those ffolkes who stop by every day, THANK YOU…. I’m glad you enjoy the Pearls, and you can be assured they will continue. Thanks also to those who stop in at least weekly  (I know of at least 5 who do so, as they “Like” or comment on four or five every time they come by, catching up, as it were…), or even just occasionally. I do appreciate it. Thanks especially to those who comment regularly, or even sporadically; I love to dialogue. And to all those who just stop in occasionally, thank you for that, and I hope what I write continues to draw you back, even if only occasionally.

To all the folks I follow…. please be patient. I’ll work with WP to get this fixed, and will spend a couple of days catching up to all of them, as best I may. I’m just hoping the effort to identify and fix the glitch doesn’t turn into another soap opera…. time will tell, as always…..

Now that I have thoroughly bored all of you to tears, I think it’s time to Pearl. Shall we?…..
___________________________________

“A generation which ignores history has no past and no future.” —  Robert Heinlein, The Notebooks of Lazarus Long

This statement, I believe, is one that almost any historian would agree with, as it has been said at different times in different words for as long as humanity has had a history. It is a deduction that has been proven time after time since the beginning of civilization; there is no argument against it that hasn’t been answered, so it is generally held to have the weight of a natural law…. This is a frightening thought when applied in relation to modern America…..

“In our society, the Republicans set out to prove that the Democrats can not be trusted to run the government. And the Democrats set out to prove that the Republicans can not be trusted to run our government. The real problem here is that both the Democrats and the Republicans have come up with something which is absolutely true and perfectly correct. This means that the people get to pull some sort of horrible trick on themselves and live with their choice for four years.” — Smart Bee

I wish this had come with attribution, so I’d know who to congratulate for a very succinct, accurate statement of the current State of the Union. Combining the common sense of this statement with the proven accuracy of the first quote, we arrive at the conclusion that our society has not only ignored the past, but no longer cares at all about the future.

Every four years, the folks who make up the beloved ruling class start spouting off about all the stuff they think the sitting administration has done wrong, sending out endless distractions and lies that are designed to keep the public’s attention off what they are really up to. In doing so, they are not only distracting people away from history, but teaching them to ignore it.

“And it shall come to pass that idiots shall roam the earth, and morons shall rule the masses.” — Smart Bee

In this current fiasco leading up to November’s election of a new POTUS, or re-election of the old, the level of distraction and outright lying has reached new heights. The GOP, in its efforts to stop the reforms being instituted by the sitting POTUS, have been gathering money at unprecedented rates, all to finance the political ads that will determine the tenor of the campaign.

The Political Action Groups that support the GOP platform, which were formed to get around the campaign contribution reforms, have generated literally hundreds of millions of dollars to pay for advertisements for Mitt the Twitt (designed to convince the public that he actually does give a shit about the common man) and against Barack Obama (designed to picture him as the spawn of Satan).

SATAN, n.  One of the Creator’s lamentable mistakes, repented in sackcloth and axes.  Being instated as an archangel, Satan made himself multifariously objectionable and was finally expelled from Heaven.  Halfway in his descent he paused, bent his head in thought a moment and at last went back.  “There is one favor that I should like to ask,” said he.   “Name it.”   “Man, I understand, is about to be created.  He will need laws.”  “What, wretch! you his appointed adversary, charged from the dawn of eternity with hatred of his soul — you ask for the right to make his laws?”   “Pardon; what I have to ask is that he be permitted to make them himself.” It was so ordered. — Ambrose Bierce, “The Devil’s Dictionary”

It is a constant amazement to me how people, whom I normally consider to be well-grounded, can fall for the nonsense these political hacks are putting out. Especially those who are supporting the Twitt; it is absolutely astounding to me that ANYONE would believe anything that comes out of his mouth, as he flips from one concept to another, claiming to support, or oppose those concepts according to what he believes the crowd wants to hear. There are too many documented instances of this for them to deny it, so they don’t. They just ignore it, and THE MEDIA LETS THEM DO IT!

I’m really sick of it all; it is distasteful to my persona to hear this much lying, and not have it condemned. Mitt lies, Barack lies, Congress lies, and the rest of their compatriots are all lying as well. And the voting public, who ignores history, goes out and votes, not knowing, or seemingly caring, that there are NO candidates who are not lying.  I am a member of that number, though I do know I’m being lied to. But, if I don’t vote, then I’m throwing in the towel without even throwing a punch, and have no right to complain. I may have to choose between the lesser of two evils, but at least I have a choice.

“Constantly choosing the lesser of two evils is still choosing evil.” — Jerry Garcia (1942-1995), Musician, the Grateful Dead

The whole election scenario is pretty discouraging, for anyone with a modicum of common sense. It’s hard to watch society shoot itself in the foot every four years, and harder still to live with the lack of viable choices. Especially when I know that natural law, i.e., Mother Nature, will eventually assert itself, and our species will join the dodo and the T-Rex on the list of species that just didn’t have what it takes to make it in this universe. SIGH….. it’s too bad. Our species shows such promise, but then turns around and nullifies any progress with paroxysms of mass stupidity…. and then pats itself on the back for good measure.

We’re all idiots……

“Lord, grant me the serenity to accept the things that I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to hide the bodies of those people I had to kill because they pissed me off.” — Smart Bee
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“Some say that my teaching is nonsense. Others call it lofty but impractical. But to those who have looked inside themselves, this nonsense makes perfect sense. And to those who put it into practice, this loftiness has roots that go deep. I have just three things to teach: simplicity, patience, compassion. These three are your greatest treasures. Simple in actions and in thoughts, you return to the source of being. Patient with both friends and enemies, you accord with the way things are. Compassionate toward yourself, you reconcile all beings in the world.” — Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching

My morning rant above got a bit out of hand, and I had a hard time keeping it as short as it is. So, in order to provide some contrast, I will not say much here. This doesn’t need much help anyway; it’s about as clear as it can be. Sure, I could expand on it, give examples, provide an allegorical tale or two, but it wouldn’t improve it. So, I’ll leave it be, and just ask you to roll it around in your head for a while. It will give you all there is to give…. which is more than is apparent, as with any deep truth….. If you wish, you can just tell yourself I’m being compassionate, by not exposing you to further railings from this quarter….
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All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace

I like to think (and
the sooner the better!)
of a cybernetic meadow
where mammals and computers
live together in mutually
programming harmony
like pure water
touching clear sky.

I like to think
(right now please!)
of a cybernetic forest
filled with pines and electronics
where deer stroll peacefully
past computers
as if they were flowers
with spinning blossoms.

I like to think
(it has to be!)
of a cybernetic ecology
where we are free of our labors
and joined back to nature,
returned to our mammal
brothers and sisters,
and all watched over
by machines of loving grace.

Richard Brautigan, 1967

I may have used this a couple months ago, but it is possibly my favorite poem of all time, period, so I’m putting it in again…. I think you can handle it….. It’s one of my personal images of Heaven, or as we agnostics are fond of calling it, Utopia…. Or, as Oscar said….

“A map of the world that has no Utopia is not worth considering.” — Oscar Wilde
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Okay…. I feel pretty lucky. Not yet 0800, and I’ve got this whipped. It’s a bit windy, but it flies. Or it will, as soon as I get it sent out…. 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!