Tag Archives: Society

A matter of beating the battery….

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Ffolkes,
O frabjous day! O happy times! At last, at last, the day is here…. and we will no longer have to put up with all the crap political ads, on the air and through the mails, both e- and snail-….. At least not for another four years. We only have to put up with whatever choices are made today…. I hope it all comes out okay…. If there are any more shenanigans on the part of the Republican Party in suppressing votes, or voting machines failing, I swear I will make it a personal campaign to drive that group into the grave, and I’m a literal sort of guy. Same goes for anyone else, Democrat, Libertarian, or whatever. I’m tired of all the lies I’ve had to listen to, and I’m tired of lying, cheating assholes who only want the keys to the treasury trying to convince me they are trustworthy, when I know for a damn fact that NONE of them come anywhere near that word….

Can you tell I’m glad this will be over? I am so tired of being lied to, and not having anything done about it. That is the part of this whole deal that gets to me the most. The idea that public figures can go on a public stage, make outrageous claims that are proven false, and never get called on it, or pinned down about it, just pisses me off royally. That fucker still hasn’t released any taxes, so how did he ever get so many idiots to support him, unless it was based on racism? Bah, humbug! I’m sick of the whole scene, and cannot wait until tomorrow, to see all the garbage that will be printed, and all the weird stuff that will be said, in victory and in defeat, by all the pundits. That part of this show is fun, if the results don’t depress you…. that is a risk….. If we have to spend another four years with the Republicans in power in the House, it’s going to get ugly, I assure you…. and that asshole Mitt the Lying Twitt in the White House would be a disaster for ALL of us….

Ah me, I guess I should have saved some of that angst and emotion for ranting below…. but, not necessary. I spent some time last night ranting about such stuff, so there is no lack of material this morning…. just a need to organize and get it all down…. GASP!…… I just realized that the material on this blog may be changing radically after today. If the incumbent is re-elected to office, as is right and proper, then the reforms being worked on should continue (and if the Dems win back the House, there may actually be some of them able to get past there, and into reality…..), and the material I have to pick from will be reduced a lot. I mean who wants to hear me rant about how cool things are? A rant, by definition, needs something about which to rant, and positive events don’t make the grade…. Ah well, I’ll take the trade-off, and gladly…. I can find more to write about, but I can’t afford to have those fools in the White House….

“People who have nothing to say often do and take a good long time doing it. People who have something to say, often do not. People who are unsure, often go ahead and say it anyway, thus putting them into the first category.” — Smart Bee (I’m pretty sure I don’t land in any of the given categories…. which makes this somewhat superfluous here, though ’tis true of many who write….)

The tone has been set for today, so I’d best get on with it… At this stage, I know not what sort of poem will be used, so you’ll have to take potluck there…. If I come up with an original piece, it should be a doozy…. but, if one doesn’t leak out, the rest is on me, such as it is…. Hopefully, something I write today will stimulate a laugh, or a groan, or a sense of outrage…. and if nothing else, will fill up a space of time you would have otherwise spent on something less fruitful, like another political ad….. rather than go through any of that again, Shall we Pearl?…..
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“Americans have the right and advantage of being armed – unlike the citizens of other countries whose governments are afraid to trust the people with arms.” — James Madison

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Christopher Marlowe
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50% of all people are below average….– Shocking Truth

This truth, which is mathematically indisputable, is quite a shock to many people. Oddly enough, human nature is such that nobody at all is constitutionally able to conceive of themselves being part of that 50% that makes up the lower half of the whole. If you ask anyone at all where they would place themselves on a scale of human intelligence, I would wager good money that not a single one would place themselves on that part of the curve. (It’s a bell curve…. Humanity, in all it’s measurable traits, exists on a bell curve….Trust me…..) Yet, the simple fact remains that SOMEBODY has to make up that part of the whole, and the chances that anyone at all is in the lower 50% are exactly even….

This is one of the hardest things for any human to accept, and the power of their denial is in direct proportion to how far below the average they fall. Myself, I would not trade being well above the average for anything…. It can be a pain, for sure, but the perks are very persuasive…. However, there is a lot to be said for the ability to absolutely refute the facts of reality… I think it’s been said before that “ignorance is bliss”, and this is the reason why that is true. Human beings have an incredibly strong sense of denial when it comes to reality, in spite of the obvious drawbacks (I guess if they were able to see the drawbacks, it would be different, but what is, is….), and probably nothing else in our make-up causes more problems for us than that single trait.

This ability to ignore what reality is saying to us can easily be shown to be responsible for the entire concept of global warming and climate change, two subjects that are now forcing their way into our awareness in the most dramatic fashion…. I really can’t recall a November in my 62 years where I was forced to turn on the air conditioning during the day, to combat the 85-90 degree temperatures that are currently par-boiling Northern California. It’s not as if fall hasn’t been nice before, but this is ridiculous. To have summer-like weather this far into fall, even here where the seasons tend to run together in similarity, seems to be to be pretty incontrovertible proof of the weather changes that are happening…. especially if one factors in all the OTHER places in the world where extreme weather is becoming normal.

No, global warming and climate change are FACTS, ffolkes. The evidence is right there for anyone to see…. but, most of the people who are responsible for much of it happening are in complete denial of those facts, so the problem just continues to worsen as time goes on. I suppose when the super-storms start hitting New York and Washington D.C. in mid-summer, flooding out the stock market and congress again, maybe they’ll start admitting to some of it…. Given the history of the power of ignorance and denial, though, I rather think it won’t happen until it’s too late to do much about it. I just hope by then, I’ve figured out how to emigrate to another planet, where, as a natural result of having weeded out the stupid, the more intelligent settlers of new worlds will perhaps learn to live without falling into the process of fouling our own nest…. SIGH…. A pipe dream, I know, but mine own….. and, I can’t see much else that will work, so in that respect, I’m asserting my own form of denial…..
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Well, that was a strange Pearl, to be sure. Smart Bee was playing with me, and ended up forcing that last section out of me without my actual approval. It’s just that after two and a half hours of being unable to hit on a good quote to write about, I had to make do with what Smart Bee insisted upon…. It worked out okay, I guess, but I feel used and abused by my software….. Tomorrow, I swear it will be different, and more humor will find its way into the pearls….It’s election day, so I guess I felt a need for sobriety, to indicate my sense of purpose, I suppose…. Hell, who cares? It’s done, and now I can go vote myself….   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!

Live sessions of prancing can be messy….

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Ffolkes,
Sometimes, the tears that come to me are not unwelcome…. even if they are attached to a small bit of painful awareness. Yesterday, I got to visit for a time with my two-year old grandson, Zackary. He is becoming a delightful child, sweet-natured and affectionate, and not yet fully engaged in being  two, so no tantrums. Any who, the tears are because he recognized me this time, and called  me “grandpa”, the first time he’s made that connection. THAT is definitely worth a few tears of joy…..

Since I don’t wish to spend the entire morning in tears, though, I’ll leave it at that; it is a complicated situation, and one I can do nothing about, so I let it go a lot. I know if I can live long enough, Zack and I will have our chance to get to know each other when he is older….. For now, though, it’s best if we just get on with normal business, so I don’t get all maudlin on you….. Too much salty water and the pearls get soggy and hard to manage…. Shall we Pearl?…..
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With the Presidential election coming up tomorrow, it seems appropriate to indicate some of my thoughts on the process. Here is an old school pearl, with a group of quotes that show various points about the candidates, or the choice to be made, or just thoughts on how the entire scene is merely a sham, a cover-up of what is actually happening in the world…. see any of George Carlin’s work from the last five years before his death for some of the finer points that I may miss…. He issued several precise condemnations of the beloved ruling class that spoke to the depth of corruption present…. but, maybe these will aid you in making a rational choice tomorrow, so…. here they are…..

“All riches come from iniquity, and unless one has lost, another cannot gain.  Hence that common opinion seems to be very true, “the rich man is unjust, or the heir to an unjust one.” Opulence is always the result of theft, if not committed by the actual possessor, than by his predecessor.” — St. Jerome (340?-420)

“Pessimism is not in being tired of evil but in being tired of good. Despair does not lie in being weary of suffering, but in being weary of joy. It is when for some reason or other the good things in a society no longer work that the society begins to decline; when its food does not feed, when its cures do not cure, when its blessings refuse to bless.” — G.K. Chesterton

“He was so crooked, you could have used his spine for a safety-pin.” — Dorothy L. Sayers, from “The Nine Tailors”
(Guess who THAT might fit; a clue: it rhymes with twit….)

“Government, today, is growing too strong to be safe. There are no longer any citizens in the world; there are only subjects.  They work day in and day out for their masters; they are bound to die for their masters at call.  Out of this working and dying they tend to get less and less.” — H.L. Mencken

“The people came to realize that wealth is not the fruit of labour but the result of organized protected robbery.” — Frantz Fanon

“A professional politician is a professionally dishonorable man.  In order to get anywhere near high office he has to make so many compromises and submit to so many humiliations that he becomes indistinguishable from a streetwalker.” — H.L. Mencken
(Mr. Mencken was smart, but he was an ass about some things, including his thoughts on women. This, to me, is accurate, regarding politicians, but is an insult to women, especially one trapped into a life as a streetwalker….. Being smart doesn’t preclude being an asshole, obviously….)

“The trouble with the rat race is that even if you win, you’re still a rat.” — Lily Tomlin
(Trust Lily to get right to the heart of the matter….)

‘When the legislature decides the rules of buying and selling, the first thing to be bought will be the legislators.” — P. J. O’Rourke

That is probably more than enough…. I don’t want to make you depressed, and unable to make a reasonable choice at the polls…. or make you too despondent to care…. just vote, ffolkes, this one will make a difference if it goes the wrong way…..
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No introduction needed for this lady’s work….

I had been hungry all the years-
My noon had come, to dine-
I, trembling, drew the table near
And touched the curious wine.

‘T was this on tables I had seen
When turning, hungry, lone,
I looked in windows, for the wealth
I could not hope to own.

I did not know the ample bread,
‘T was so unlike the crumb
The birds and I had often shared
In Nature’s dining-room.

The plenty hurt me, ‘t was so new,–
Myself felt ill and odd,
As berry of a mountain bush
Transplanted to the road.

Nor was I hungry; so I found
That hunger was a way
Of persons outside windows,
The entering takes away.

~~ Emily Dickinson
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I have been searching Smart Bee literally all day, and can’t seem to find an appropriate third section inspiration…. so I’m going with Art again…. this time we have three photos, any one of which serves me as a touchstone for the concept of sheer beauty. The pictures come from the web site of a friend, whose beauty of spirit rivals the pictures she takes of her flowers. These three are some of my favorites, so much so that when I am depressed, or need a fix of beauty, these are what I bring up on screen…. honestly. A couple of minutes of taking in the details of their sheer perfection of form and color, and my soul is much closer to serenity…. Her name is Carol, and her website address is….  http://carolwelsh.wordpress.com/

Enjoy!
    See? Proof positive that perfection exists…..
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Well, with a bit of creative cheating, it all got done, and none too soon. I’m going to leave this alone now, and trust to my instincts to let it fly…. I spent much of the day doing laundry, then recovering from that, as it is no longer a simple chore for me. Ah well, life goes on…. 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!

Grimly, he held on to the truth….

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Ffolkes,
Today’s Pearl will be a strangely constructed one again…. It is Sunday, and today I get to go visit for a short time with my grandson, while he visits with his dad. It is a sad situation, all in all, due primarily to the mother, who is, quite simply, a viciously vindictive, incredibly self-centered young woman. I try to view not being able to see him much as being the same as if I lived a long way away, such as back East. Then, I’d see him only by photograph or video…. so, getting an hour with him every month or two is better than that. Later, when he is older, and more independent of his mother, he will wish to know this part of his family, and we will get to know each other better then….

But, this means getting this done has to happen in between, or rather, outside, the visit hours, which are 11-12 this morning. I started a bit of it last night, but have yet to search for any other material for this morning. Should be interesting, to try to cobble together something that appears seamless, when the creation process will be anything but….. SIGH…. This means I have to be focused, and efficient…. boy, I HATE that! I’m retired, and I shouldn’t have to do that unless I want to…. Oh…. right, I do want to do this….. Okay, in that case, Shall we Pearl?…..
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Violence always settles everything. — Smart Bee

Violence never settles anything. — What most, if not all, of us were told as children….

I was cruising through Smart Bee, looking for oysters from which to extract pearls, when the first line above came up. I almost went past it, as the very short, unattributed quotes are often mundane or useless in some fashion or another. Then, I stopped, went back, and re-read it. After a moment’s thought, I decided that it was somewhat of an unwanted, but absolutely correct truism, if reality is viewed with certain restrictions of an ethical bent. History is rife with examples of how violence has been very effective in settling any number of issues; ours has been a history of constant warfare, someplace in the world, from the level of nations, to the personal.  All of these events to which I refer tend to be motivated by an insanity that is part of human nature, i.e. greed. Violence is the favorite tool of the avaricious, because it works, as long as one is the best at being violent.

The second idea is one that is promulgated by those among us who would manipulate us without violence; greed for power over others is the motivating factor here. Preachers and priests are fond of trying to pass this one off on people, using the famous quote by Jesus, re: turning the other cheek, as their justification for counseling people to use any other method than violence to achieve their ends.

From a purely ethical viewpoint, this is correct thinking; but, it does not allow for any other options, just in case one’s estimation of the risk of violence is wrong, and that is just plain stupid. Yes, violence is the last refuge of the incompetent (thanks to Isaac Asimov’s Salvor Hardin for that insight…. from “Foundation”), but even the most competent person must accept reality, and when reality is a fist flying at your face, well, my choice is to duck, and strike back hard and fast, not to turn my cheek…. unless it is a spinning move to bring my own fist around from another direction…. No, what the religious pundits would have their believers do is called appeasement; they counsel obedience to worldly governors, and have right from their beginnings, as they knew the only way to gain the trust of the ruling class was to help them to protect their hold on the public, and the keys to the treasury….

I admire Mahatma Ghandi, but I cannot agree with his policy of non-violence, for the simple reason that it is not consistent, and fails the test of reality. He makes the assertion that answering violence with violence can only breed further outbreaks of the same, and there is some truth in that assertion…. However, it is only true if the oppressor is stronger, and better at the violent skills that are employed.  At the same time, I have a philosophical problem with the concept of resistance with passivity, as I have always thought it to be just another form of aggression, called, naturally enough, passive aggression. I believe non-violence to be dishonest in its inability to face up to its own brand of aggressive response to an aggressive stimulus. You see, even saints can come to believe their own hype after a while…. While Ghandi’s methods are an effective method for a population unaccustomed to and unskilled at violence to resist a strong oppressor, for a person, or group of people, who are familiar with the skills involved, the matter becomes rather a question of who has the superior skills, tactics, and strategies.

I’ve had a lot of experience in my life with violence, in most of its forms. I was raised on Army bases, while my father was a member of the service, only moving away when he retired after 20 years in 1961….. so, violence was not a new subject to me, even at the age of 10. All of us, growing up, are exposed to some violence; kids aren’t pacifists by nature, and physical arguments are not uncommon among children. School, parents, sports, organized activities, all help to monitor and teach control of the violence within us, in their own ways, but experiencing violence is the most valuable teacher, as is always true for us humans. For myself, I learned early on that the most formidable weapon we all possess is located between our ears, and learning to use it, both as a tool, and as a weapon, is the most valuable lesson we can learn….

In college, I started on the true path of the warrior, when I started studying martial arts, which included reading the history and philosophy of the different styles and forms. This reading took me to areas of thought I had never entered, and I learned a LOT about myself, and, as a natural result, also learned a lot about other people….. All of what I learned is good material to use in AVOIDING violence, which, after enough experience, is always the ultimate goal of any warrior….. Dealing with violence is dangerous, and carries a risk of injury, and death. This risk is mitigated by our skill, our knowledge, and most importantly, by our attitude and alertness. The longer an incident of violence goes on, the higher the risk, so once begun, the goal is to end it as quickly as possible. The ultimate defense is to turn potential enemies into allies, before actual violence occurs, a goal which requires patience, intelligence, compassionate insight, and a willingness to compromise, to be flexible….

After studying martial arts, I later became involved in mental healthcare, in which field the actual physical use of my arts became habitual, and helpful to an extreme. Knowing how to deal with any kind of violent behavior exhibited tends to reduce the fear one feels in facing such events, which allows one to deal with the violence efficiently. I became expert at controlling people who were out of control, without injuring them, and without being injured. This expertise has cost me a lot, as I now suffer the long term effects of exposure to violence, i.e., PTSD, stemming from the death of a co-worker during an incident at Napa State Hospital, in 1984….. but, I can look back on my career, and know that nobody ever got hurt during my take-downs, and the only one affected in the long run was myself…..

I hate drama, and emotional turmoil, and, in the final analysis, violence. My life has, by my own unfortunate choices, contained far too much of all three. I learned to deal with violence and its effects because of that dislike, and that can be viewed as a form of cowardice, if you like. But, that knowledge has kept me relatively safe, and gave me the ability to deal with those kinds of events with dispatch, thus minimizing the overall negativity of the results. When I speak of violence, and its effects, I KNOW what I am saying…. and I say that trying to totally eliminate it from life is foolish. It is too much a part of human nature. In my world, it is best to deal with it quickly, and get it over with…. in the long run, this shows the most favorable results, for everyone involved….

This little pearl/rant/discussion could go on forever, and seems to have already made a goodly effort to get there. Life calls, however, and there are more pearls to find, including a poem, which may be inside me somewhere, thus requiring the opening of a vein or two. So, we’ll leave this here, with no further forays into the realm of violence for the time being. When one has the opportunity, one should always find something else to do, rather than focus on that side of human nature; it will manifest all on its own, all too often in the course of Life, and does not need our assistance to do so…. Stay alert, and stay safe out there ffolkes, and may the violence in Life continually pass you by…..

“Even in war, moral power is to physical as three parts out of four.” — Napoleon Bonaparte
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Well, I didn’t find it inside me, but, all things considered, this will do quite nicely…. enjoy!….

Fragment

I WALK’D along a stream, for pureness rare,
Brighter than sun-shine; for it did acquaint
The dullest sight with all the glorious prey
That in the pebble-paved channel lay.

No molten crystal, but a richer mine,
Even Nature’s rarest alchymy ran there,–
Diamonds resolv’d, and substance more divine,
Through whose bright-gliding current might appear
A thousand naked nymphs, whose ivory shine,
Enamelling the banks, made them more dear
Than ever was that glorious palace’ gate
Where the day-shining Sun in triumph sate.

Upon this brim the eglantine and rose,
The tamarisk, olive, and the almond tree,
As kind companions, in one union grows,
Folding their twining arms, as oft we see
Turtle-taught lovers either other close,
Lending to dulness feeling sympathy;
And as a costly valance o’er a bed,
So did their garland-tops the brook o’erspread.

Their leaves, that differ’d both in shape and show,
Though all were green, yet difference such in green,
Like to the checker’d bent of Iris’ bow,
Prided the running main, as it had been–

Christopher Marlowe
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Since I’m short on time today for the proper degree of cogitation, due to the above mentioned visit, (as well as the somewhat massive outpouring of stuff in section one…), this will be an old school pearl, and a fairly obvious one. All of these reflect my own beliefs, and are important pieces of the philosophy I try to live by…. Anyone could do worse to do the same…..

“As to values, I was taught — and still believe — that a sense of honor is necessary to personal self-respect; that duty, recognizing an individual’s subordination to community welfare, is as important as rights; that loyalty, which is based on the trustworthiness of honorable men, is still a virtue; and that work and self-discipline are as essential to individual happiness as they are to a viable society. Indeed, I still believe in patriotism — not if it is limited to parades and flag-waving, but because worthy national goals and aspirations can be realized only through love of country and a desire to be a responsible citizen.” — Lewis F. Powell (Former Supreme Court Justice)

“If you are patient in a moment of anger, you will escape a hundred days of sorrow.” — Chinese Proverb

“The best rule of friendship is to keep your heart a little softer than your head.” — George Santayana

I’m not crazy. I just have a unique sense of reality. — Smart Bee
(That’s me all over!!!…)

Living Dead
the path is
chosen, to live forever is to die
forever.

To not know when you’ll
die
is to find
life
wherever you are.

— Alagad

“You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation.” — Plato

“It is our responsibility to live with as much gusto as we can and to cause as little grief as possible.”– Smart Bee

Well…. Smart Bee is being particularly fruitful today…. quote after quote that fits this category keep popping up, and if I’m not careful, this could run as long as the first pearl, which, as you know, got away from me a bit…. So, one last good one, and we’ll be off to visit with Zack….

The sage manages affairs without action
And spreads doctrines without words.
All things arise, and he does not turn away from them.
He produces them, but does not take possession of them.
He acts, but does not rely on his own ability.
He accomplishes his task, but does not claim credit for it.
It is precisely because he does not claim credit
that his accomplishment remains with him.

— Lao-Tzu
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Done…. and well within the time frame…. there’s something to be said for the organizational and time-management skills that come with aging…. stuff that would have been a spectacular fail in my youth is now a piece of cake, and not just some simple sponge cake, either! All this needs now is a poem, and it’s good to go. Of course, having that extra hour this morning helped immensely, once I realized I had it….. You DID remember to turn back your clocks, right? I didn’t, naturally, so I discovered the extra hour available to me when I glanced up at the computer and saw that it was different than my clock…. that reminded me, and I changed the rest of them, and celebrated the time by, well, you don’t want to know…. Onward….

I’m going to go against normal policy and not worry overmuch about the grammar and spelling…. the spell checker seems to have handled everything I wrote so far without going bonkers, so it should be fine. The subject matter may be a bit stiff for some, but, hey, gotta go with what bleeds out…. In spite of how it may seem, I’m a pretty easy-going guy, and only aim to entertain, never to offend (unless deserved…. and They know who They are…. none of Them would be considered as ffolkes….ever….). Ah me…. enough for one 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!

Plainly, it’s a case of diet reality….

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5

Ffolkes,
As the moon looked down with massive disdain, several large specimens of domestic droid came rolling down the street. Each the size of a large dog, the droids bristled with cleaning arms and brushes, rolling on a strange assortment of wheels that looked like rubber balls on racks. One by one, they peeled off from the street to move toward houses on each side of the street, most rolling around to the back to enter. The spare shadows from the moon’s pale light gave the scene a soft, romantic air, as if the droids were off to visit their own true loves. But, even in this, a deep winter night in 2088, droids didn’t yet have girlfriends, and the man watching the parade of mechanicals was not interested in fanciful thoughts of droids in love. He only had one thought, and that thought was murder…..

Well, J.D. Robb could probably use it as a start to another novel about Eve Dallas and Roarke, but who knows if Lt. Dallas will still be a cop in 2088?…. She would only be in her late fifties to early sixties, and given the state of medical science, most likely would still be on the job. But, maybe Roarke will have convinced her to retire with him to another planet, where they’ll raise exotic food plants and little Roarkes and Eves…. Just as well, as this intro paragraph is well away from her usual opening chapters, which generally start after the murder is done…. But, it got that stuff out of my head, and that is all that really matters at this point….

Today will be another oddly constructed pearl, as I still haven’t finished the poem, and no other material has surfaced as yet….. Thus, we must begin the day searching for something about which to write. With the election so close, it might be time for a rant on politics, to drive home the need for everyone to make sure to get out there to cast their opinion, wrong-headed though it may be…. Just let me ask each of you heading to the polls to use your noggin to make you choices, not your fears or bigotry, should you be saddled with such.

Use that brain for something other than sitting on, and make the logical choice to vote for the incumbent. No President, good or bad, ever gets much done in just four years, and this one deserves more time to continue with the positive changes that he’s been able to accomplish, in spite of all the partisan opposition he has suffered due to the Republican party’s stated racist platform….. Don’t blame me, just go read what it says, and the racism is obvious…. even their own pundits are getting disgusted with it, as one of them so lucidly stated the other day…

Okay, wrong place to start ranting…. I’ll leave it for later, if that is what comes up in this morning’s dive…. I’ll quit fooling around now, and get on with the program…. Shall we Pearl?…..

Were I so tall to reach the pole,
Or grasp the ocean with my span,
I must be measured by my soul:
The mind ‘s the standard of the man.
— Isaac Watts (1674-1748) — Horae Lyricae, Book ii, False Greatness
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“Suppose that we are wise enough to learn and know and yet not wise enough to control our learning and knowledge, so that we use it to destroy ourselves?  Even if that is so, knowledge remains better than ignorance. It is better to know even if the knowledge endures only for the moment that comes before destruction than to gain eternal life at the price of a dull and swinish lack of comprehension of a universe that swirls unseen before us in all its wonder. That was the choice of Achilles, and it is mine, too.” — Isaac Asimov, The New Hugo Winners

In the intro section above, I started a rant, which mentioned the four years that the current President has had to try to accomplish his reforms. In that short rant, I mentioned the partisan opposition he has suffered at the hands of the Republican party. What Mr. Asimov states above may be considered as a large part of the reason that the Republicans have been so dead set against allowing him to make any progress. Bigotry and racism are a direct outgrowth of ignorance; this is not something disputable, or subject to debate. It is fact…. and bigotry and racism are the real reasons that these people are so set on defeating Obama. They don’t care at all about how he is doing, or whether or not his policies are good for the country or not…. they don’t even attempt to address those issues, other than to create great outcries at every little issue that comes up in the news, when it suits them to make noise about it.

The Republican party has spent four years blocking all legislation proposed by the White House. This is legislation that would have created millions of jobs, and gone a long way to repairing the damage that eight years of Bush’s unlimited spending and economic disaster caused, but, his opponents have blocked all of it, in spite of the millions of Americans who might have benefited from the bills. Their stated purpose, as outlined four years ago, right after the election in 2008, was to make Obama a one-term president, AT ANY COST, and using any means, including lying. Especially lying…. they’ve reduced that particular act to a science, and are not afraid to use it to their purpose at all. In pursuit of their ignorant, racist agenda, they have absolutely no shame…. It’s quite disgusting, actually, to those of us with more than two functioning brain cells….

“The foolish and the dead alone never change their opinions.” — James Russell Lowell

I have been noticing the people on Facebook who are posting political articles for others to read, and have noted a distinct difference in the two styles each side has shown. The liberals who support the incumbent post videos, mostly, that show the Republican candidates stating one of their asinine, dishonest attacks on the President, or an inspirational message from a supporter of the President. In addition, there have been a lot of videos of Republican candidates around the country who have bee voicing their party’s war on women lately, with these idiotic statements about rape, which, quite simply, is something to which they are not even entitled to an opinion, much less policy making powers. Any who, the liberals post this kind of stuff about half the time, along with another half that is supportive stuff that shows off the progress made by Obama, with a message of unity and hope for the future….

None of the Republican supporters I see have come out with anything at all on the “rape” issues…. no comments at all. It’s like they are in total denial, and think that if they ignore it (hmm… wonder what ignoring leads to?…. could it be…. ignorance?) it won’t be true, or will go away. I also see no ads that show Romney, or Ryan, as doing ANYTHING. Period. They have stopped talking to the public, and refuse to talk to reporters. They don’t want to make any more mistakes, as almost every time they’ve opened their mouths, it has benefited the liberals, because of the depth of stupidity shown every time. There are no admiring ads touting how wonderful a leader Mitt the Twitt would be…. There are no detailed explanations of his proposed policies, because every detailed study of those policies has shown them to be totally inadequate, lacking in any understanding of the issues involved, and in some cases, pure lies…. These were independent studies, by the way, not funded by the liberals.

No, the only things the Republicans are posting are negative attack ads on Obama, for all kinds of little BS, from the recent terrorist attack in Bhengazi, to birther nonsense (yes, it STILL gets thrown out there….), to thinly disguised references to his skin color, which just goes to show their real fear…. These people are scared to death because a BLACK man is President, and they will do literally ANYTHING to get him out of that position…. One of the most highly recognizable pundits from the Republican party recently came out to express his dismay at the outright racism and bigotry of the Republican campaign, and to acknowledge the despicable nature of the ignorance that is being displayed.

Yet, the polls (which I regard as purely fictional, and merely another attempt by the media to assert their own form of mind control….. I am of the firm opinion that publishing a poll before the election should be illegal…. let us go to the polls without any precognition…. which is how it is supposed to work, now, isn’t it?…)…. the polls say that the race is close, and that it may be decided in the electoral college, rather than at the polls themselves. Which is, to me, another opportunity for the Republicans to try to work their manipulation and voter suppression techniques to try to affect the outcome in their favor…. They did it successfully with GW Bush, twice, so it’s not like it hasn’t already been tested as a viable method of winning elections. It’s just that in this case, there is a distinct danger of the entire country falling back into the middle ages, should their cheating ways prevail again….

So, what I am suggesting, to all those out there with any shred of common sense and intelligence,  is that we remove that issue, by going to the polls in such numbers as to make their ignorance and bigotry immaterial. Let us show them that there are more of us than they think there are, and we are not going to allow them to drag us back over a hundred years, eliminating all the progress in social issues that we have struggled so hard to obtain in that time. The fate of millions of seniors, women, people of color, gays, and just about anyone who isn’t a rich white male will be seriously threatened by a Republican win in three days…. so let us remove their chances of winning, by going out to vote for Obama in record numbers everywhere, and make the electoral college  a matter of form. (Then we can start the process to get rid of the college altogether…. should’ve happened fifty years ago… it’s a relic of the past, and should stay there….)

Go vote, ffolkes, and please, get it right!…..
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Days and Nights of Eire

Wondrously comforting, a dream creeps oft into my mind
On the elven hills of Eire lives the vision I will find.
Elegant, gracious, everlastingly draped in beauty
Just payment of simple homage lives as joyous duty.

Fairies and druids walk abroad in ghostly parade
Gracing each hearth with its own welcoming shade.
Castles and heroes still live in tale and song
Proving love for the land in each heart strong.

From cold of winter into glorious young spring
Brown, and gray, to emerald green songs to sing
Soft rains always follow winter’s great tempest
As Eire dons an emerald coat from east to west.

Old and strong, connections call out in dreams
Nothing that was known remains as it seems.
Immersion in ancient runes and battle hymns
Offering sanity in place of grievous whims.

Time and place can tell a much different tale
Judgment should never be a final sale.
Yet something solid and real calls me to go see
Where dreams of loving beauty may actually be….

~~ gigoid

Whew! Finally…. Well, there you go… I hope it was worth the wait…. Actually, it may grow again; it’s okay, but feels not quite done, somehow… ah well, time will tell….
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:GIGO: /gi:’goh/ [acronym] 1. `Garbage In, Garbage Out’ — usually said in response to {luser}s who complain that a program didn’t “do the right thing” when given imperfect input or otherwise mistreated in some way.  Also commonly used to describe failures in human decision making due to faulty, incomplete, or imprecise data.  2. `Garbage In, Gospel Out’: this more recent expansion is a sardonic comment on the tendency human beings have to put excessive trust in `computerized’ data. — from The on-line Hacker Jargon File V423

Many years ago, I adopted the user name gigoid, taking it from the above definition, and adding an “id” for, of course, identification purposes; with that suffix, I am assured of human status, i.e. hominid, humanoid, etc.  I chose this acronym because it is the perfect reminder of the basic integrity that is built into all computers, i.e., they can only do what we tell them to do, and cannot lie. Thus, if our results are wrong, the error lies in our input, not in the computer; this automatically cuts in half the number of places to look for the problem. I like to think that my awareness of this principle characteristic of how computers work is what has allowed me to use computers without suffering many of the common difficulties such as crashes, freezes, and blue screens of death. Only once have I ever encountered one of those on my own computer, and that was the result of a virus my defenses missed… my fault, of course, I hadn’t updated soon enough…

Oh, I’ve encountered that famous blue screen before, when I worked as a computer tech back in the late 90’s, setting up LAN’s and office systems for H&R Block…. a significant percentage of machines were dead soon after coming out of the factory box. But, on my own computers, I am very careful never to break any of the basic rules that govern those kinds of mishaps…. and I owe it all to a wise choice of user name…. Well, it’s fun to think about it that way anyway….

So, who is gigoid? Well, if you’ve hung about this blog site for long, I’ve certainly given y’all enough of my inner workings to look at, in my rants, and in my old school pearls, as well as in my poetry, which is quite revealing, to me….. but, then, if it wasn’t, I most likely couldn’t write it…. Any who, to give the short answer to that question, I’ll post below some pearls that give insight into what I believe to be true, and how I try to live…. Like any weak human, I don’t always succeed at being as moral or ethical as I can be, but, I do try, and I do feel pangs of regret when I don’t, so cut me some slack, eh? Just kidding…. What I am is all what I am, though I’m not Popeye…. and these pearls are what I see in the mirror…..

“They are able because they think they are able.” — Virgil

“Excellence is an art won by training and habituation.  We do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but we rather have those because we have acted rightly.  We are what we repeatedly do.  Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.” — Aristotle

“An epigram often flashes light into regions where reason shines but dimly.” — E. P. Whipple

It is my firm belief that it is a mistake to hold firm beliefs. — Smart Bee

Computers can never replace human stupidity. — Smart Bee

“Do not confuse “duty” with what other people expect of you; they are utterly different. Duty is a debt you owe to yourself to fulfill obligations you have assumed voluntarily. Paying that debt can entail anything from years of patient work to instant willingness to die. Difficult it may be, but the reward is self-respect.
But there is no reward at all for doing what other people expect of you, and to do so is not merely difficult, but impossible. It is easier to deal with a footpad than it is with the leech who wants “just a few minutes of your time, please — this won’t take long.” Time is your total capital, and the minutes of your life are painfully few. If you allow yourself to fall into the vice of agreeing to such requests, they quickly snowball to the point where these parasites will use up 100 percent of your time — and squawk for more!
So learn to say No – and to be rude about it when necessary. Otherwise you will not have time to carry out your duty, or to do your own work, and certainly no time for love and happiness. The termites will nibble away your life and leave none of it for you. (This rule does not mean that you must not do a favor for a friend, or even a stranger. But let the choice be yours. Don’t do it because it is “expected” of you.) ” — Lazarus Long, from Time Enough for Love, by Robert Heinlein

“Do I look like someone who cares about what God thinks?” — Zippy the Pinhead

Well, that’s enough about me…. Hope this helps clear up any confusion, and if not, well, hey, life goes on…. all we can do is all we can do, and no more….
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Odd, indeed…. and long, too. I wasn’t sure the poem was going to make it, and it may not be all the way done, but, it’s out, and will stand as is for now…. I’m not sure about it right now, I’m too close to it to judge impartially…. so, I’ll take a chance, and let it go out as it is. I’m brave, sometimes…. but,then, what can happen, besides somebody hating it? I can handle that okay, so…. any who, enough of my rambling for one day…. I see that I have possibly gone a bit overboard in that respect today. Such is life, or as the French would say, literally, 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!

Safely ensconced in warm socks….

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1

Ffolkes,
Okay, so now I’m officially old. I can start using all those little tricks I’ve been practicing to take advantage of youngsters. Oh, wait, I don’t do that…. well, okay, so now I get to be grouchy, right? No? Why not? I’ve been looking forward a long time to getting old enough to be cranky, whattya mean people don’t do that anymore? 60 is the new 40? What the hell are you talking about? I’m no 40, and if I felt only 40 I’d be doing handsprings, believe me…. Damn it, I’ve waited a long time to be old, why don’t I get some of the perks?…. I don’t get it…..

There are supposed to be perks to this getting old business, you know. Senior discounts, early boarding, special menus, we old ffolkes have done our duty on the front lines of life, and deserve a break or two. When I was younger, there were times I didn’t understand all the fuss about aging, possessing, as I did, the invulnerability of youth; now, I understand, and fully agree that the ffolkes who make it this far really do deserve some time off from the harder aspects of living….

In fact, most of us are looking forward to getting a few breaks, especially if it helps us physically. To my mind, the physical drawbacks of aging are the hardest to deal with…. Yes, the bureaucracies one must encounter and handle are atrocious in their lack of help, but even that pales in comparison to an attack of diarrhea, or pain so bad one can’t walk….. and I don’t know about any of the other seniors around, but I really do miss volleyball, and softball with beer, and martial arts, and regular sex…. of course, the last one might be available, had I an appropriate companion, but….

Ah well, one must put away the toys of youth to live as an adult, and this is just the next stage…. I just thought there would be less stress involved, and that society really cared…. but, the sad truth is that society does whatever it can to keep the issue of age related problems out of the public eye, which means spending just enough on it to keep them quiet, but not enough to really be of help. It is a typical approach in our society to those issues that the beloved ruling class really doesn’t care about at all, but is forced to make concessions to keep the masses from revolting…. There are a number of such issues, but those are tales for pearls, not for this intro….

An intro, which, due to my tendency to ramble on, has grown past all decent proportion into another morass of conflicting, yet hopefully humorous statements, none of which are designed for anything other than typing practice, and mental limbering exercise…. Now that I am limber, so to speak. shall we Pearl?…..
__________________________________

“We could never learn to be brave and patient, if there were only joy in the world.” — Helen Keller

I am always struck by the depth of insight that Helen Keller displayed in her words, though, given her background, it shouldn’t be a surprise. For her first decade of life, or so, she lived in darkness and misery, never able to communicate with anyone, or come to any sort of comfortable terms with her environment, due to her lack of understanding and sensory handicaps. But, fortunately for the world, she met the one person of her time who had the kind of understanding needed to bring Helen out of the darkness, and into the light of knowledge and education. The trip she made in those years is an epic story, and one that never fails to bring tears (especially these days… I’m leaking as I write this, and I’m just doing background….) in sympathy for the effort she made to live her life in freedom, rather in self-made chains….

That effort is what makes her wisdom so much more powerful than it would, coming from anyone else. One KNOWS that what she says is true, because she obviously made too much effort to achieve the Truth to ever demean that by lying about anything. And, in the case of this statement, one must accept the truth of it absolutely, for who would know better than she how much bravery and patience are needed in order to be able to feel the joy that is also there. Our handicaps, and the obstacles thrown up for us by the world at large, are those very things that make our joys so sweet, for we know what has been overcome just to experience that feeling.

It would do us all well to pay heed to whatever Ms. Keller has to say about living, but this lesson is particularly important, especially in today’s world. There are so many issues and problems that we are all faced with every day, that finding any peace and joy becomes not merely difficult, but damn near impossible….. until, that is, one remembers the above statement. This allows us the emotional strength, and the space, to step back from our difficulties, and take a new look at what is happening; this often gives us the impetus to find what there is to be found to create our own joy, even if it is only the knowledge that we have struggled against our difficulties with honor and dignity…. In the correct light, even that can bring some satisfaction. And, in the best case scenario, one learns that our patience, and our strength, will always lead us back to those parts of our mind that keep the joyous feelings, and we can go there any time we wish….

Was there a time when dancers with their fiddles
In children’s circuses could stay their troubles?
There was a time they could cry over books,
But time has set its maggot on their track.
Under the arc of the sky they are unsafe.
What’s never known is safest in this life.
Under the skysigns they who have no arms
Have cleanest hands, and, as the heartless ghost
Alone’s unhurt, so the blind man sees best.

— Dylan Thomas (1914-1953), “Was There A Time”
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I had hoped to finish the poem I’ve been working on last night, or this morning, but it continues to resist my ministrations…. I’ve got the title and first stanza done, but it stalled there, so I’m letting it percolate some more, and maybe tonight I can open the correct vein so it will leak out onto the screen…. We can hope…. in the meantime, you will have to make do with another of history’s classic poets…. Let’s see what Google comes up with today….

Ah… perfect… I found the quote used in the final of today’s pearls, and it prompted me to look up Mr. Marlowe’s poems, which, as it turns out, are some of the more famous of those we studied in high school. Below I’ve included one of his most famous, and you will be able to see why it has survived the test of time….

The Passionate Shepherd to his Love

Come live with me and be my love,
And we will all the pleasures prove,
That valleys, groves, hills, and fields,
Woods, or steepy mountain yields.

And we will sit upon the rocks,
Seeing the shepherds feed their flocks,
By shallow rivers, to whose falls
Melodious birds sing madrigals.

And I will make thee beds of roses,
And a thousand fragrant posies,
A cap of flowers and a kirtle
Embroider’d all with leaves of myrtle:

A gown made of the finest wool,
Which from our pretty lambs we pull;
Fair lined slippers for the cold,
With buckles of the purest gold:

A belt of straw and ivy buds,
With coral clasps and amber studs;
And if these pleasures may thee move,
Come live with me and be my love.

The shepherd swains shall dance and sing
For thy delight each May morning;
If these delights thy mind may move,
Then live with me and be my love.

Christopher Marlowe
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What we have here is the oldest form of a pearl of virtual wisdom…. When I first started writing the Pearls, I was working in offices for the State of California Department of Mental Health, and the daily efforts were short and to the point, whatever it might be. I’d begin with a short introduction, leading the Gentle Readers into the desired frame of mind to absorb the lesson of the day. This intro, about a paragraph, generally, would then be followed by one, or two, or sometimes, for a deeper lesson, three pearls that would lead in the desired direction….. So, here are two pearls, that formulate one idea, about how mankind approaches life in general, and a life of reason in particular….. It also kind of summarizes my whole belief system, if you squint your eyes just right….. To wit:

“Suppose that a great commotion arises in the street about something, let us say a lamp post, which many influential persons desire to pull down. A grey-clad monk, who is the spirit of the Middle Ages, is approached upon the matter, and begins to say, in the arid manner of the Schoolmen, “Let us first of all consider, my brethren, the value of Light. If Light be in itself good…” At this point he is somewhat excusably knocked down.  All the people make a rush for the lamp post, the lamp post is down in ten minutes, and they go about congratulating each other on their unmedieval practicality. But as things go on they do not work out so easily. Some people have pulled the lamp post down because they wanted the electric light; some because they wanted old iron; some because they wanted darkness, because their deeds were evil. Some thought it not enough of a lamp post, some too much; some acted because they wanted to smash municipal machinery; some because they wanted to smash something. And there is war in the night, no man knowing whom he strikes. So, gradually and inevitably, today, tomorrow, or the next day, there comes back the conviction that the monk was right after all, and that all depends
on what is the philosophy of Light.  Only what we might have discussed under the gas lamp, we now must discuss in the dark.” — G. K. Chesterton, Heretics_, 1905

“There is no sin but ignorance.” — Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593)
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I find myself in a limbo-like mindset; it’s like my whole creative urge is being blunted, by the worry I’m feeling about my psychiatric appointment next week. Pearls are taking forever to find, or, if found, inspiration is lagging behind. It’s a pain, really, and I’ll be glad when that appointment is a thing of the past…. then I can go back into waiting mode, until the federal bureaucracy has finished chewing on my soon-to-be-corpse. I’m not even going to think about how hard THAT will be….

But, my tendency for groundless hope keeps telling me that once that wait is over, all should be well, so I’m buying into that, groundless though it may be…. Meanwhile, I hope these Pearls are not so bad they’re driving ffolkes away…. One of these days, I’ll have internet at home again, and I can take the time to read other ffolke’s blogs, instead of just cruising through and trying to catch up on the reader page…. Ah well, put it all aside, Ned, me lad, and get on with 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!

Trapped in porcine orbs of vision….

Posted on by
9

Ffolkes,
Herein is set forth the last will and testament of Ned Russell Moore…. Not really, but it is, perhaps, fitting to begin today’s Pearl with that opening line. I am now, as of some hours ago this morning, sixty-two (62) years old, or young, take your pick. The opening line is actually there as a reminder, that I have yet to take care of that little chore, i.e., making a will. Being a non-materialist for virtually all my life (I decided at age 12 I had no interest in getting rich…. seriously, that’s when it happened, because I remember making a conscious decision about it, as it kind of determined the path I would take, academically….), I won’t have a lot to leave, but, there are personal items to bequeath to my children, such as my father’s bronze star, and my books, and hopefully, before I check out, I’ll have saved some of the money I’ll make between now and the fateful day….. which, I hope, is still another 30 or 40 years away. With today’s medical knowledge, that is a distinct possibility, provided my own physical condition doesn’t get any worse than it already is….

It’s funny, in a way…. all my life I’ve never made enough to save a lot of money…. and have been successful at that, having thus far saved none, in fact,  other than the money that went into my retirement and SS accounts, and that was taken out before I saw it, so I’m not sure it really counts as savings. I have always believed that “if you wish a life full of trouble, fill your house with treasures,” so the accumulation of gelt never attracted me very much. I do like to make enough to be comfortable, with an occasional foray into luxury, but the acquisition of a lot of property just never appealed to me. I guess that makes me a bit different than most Americans, who seem to enjoy the piling up of stuff they’ll never be able to use in the next life, or often, even in this one….. makes no sense to me….

“The supreme irony of life is hardly anyone ever gets out of it alive.” — Robert Heinlein

Aha! Eureka! He said, happily…. sorry, silliness seems so appropriate today, somehow…. Any who, while searching for pearls, I found one that explains my whole problem, and gives me a solution, all at once. Gotta love that real wisdom when it rears its ugly if welcome head, right? It’s like this….

“The time to begin writing an article is when you have finished it to your satisfaction. By that time you begin to clearly and logically perceive what it is that you really want to say.” — Mark Twain

See? Perfect…. This is why it has all gone the way it has, and shows clearly the way to fix whatever may be wrong with it. Of course, that’s assuming there is something wrong with it, “it” being all the stuff I write. Of late, I’ve been less than totally thrilled with the quality, of the material,  of the discussion…. it all seems redundant, or repetitive, which, is, obviously, proof of that part of the assumption, if nothing else. Maybe I need some new subjects to discuss…. I’ll have to think about that…. I had thought that discussing Life, Society, Philosophy, and so forth would pretty much cover the bases, but I’m thinking I need something more down to earth, or lighter in nature, perhaps…. Ah me, the choices are endless, thank goodness…

As you can see, the introspection part of the birthday program has already begun, even though I spent some time at it already. I should probably save some of it for the pearls, rather than using up a bunch of good thoughts in this intro, but, hey, this only happens once a year, thankfully, so I don’t mind splurging a bit. It’ll all come out in the wash, so to speak….. I have yet to find any good material about which to expound, but, since I’ve been very productive already today (you didn’t even notice that I slipped out to go to the grocery store, did you?…. Hah!….), I can afford a bit of slack…. better up my meds though, I can feel the stiffness building…. no worries…. Shall we Pearl?…..
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T’is now almost 1030, and it has already been a very busy little day for me…. For reasons which I’ll not go into now, I got up early to go to the grocery store, and was back here by 0845, sweaty but unbowed, and still with time to work on a Pearl…. I’ve been dutifully doing that since then, and fell pretty accomplished, all in all, having written some decent prose, percolated a bit of poetry, and researched, formatted, and put together a very nice Art Deco pearl…. so, we are going for an old school pearl here…. they are less time consuming all in all, and require less pure cogitation on my part, since there is distinctly less original material to include…. Any who, all excuses and rationalizations aside, here is a pearl to think about, as it directs your mind hither and thither through the realms of madness and reality…. all at once, hopefully, because Life tastes better in Big Bites!….

“One of the most frightening things in the Western world, and in this country in particular, is the number of people who believe in things that are scientifically false.  If someone tells me that the earth is less than 10,000 years old, in my opinion he should see a psychiatrist.” — Francis H.C. Crick

“Too many people have decided that perfection is boring, preferring a mess that supports their habits instead of a quest that challenges them, but what they forget is that while perfection may be boring the quest for it never is for it reveals the human and the divine inside of us.” — Callan Williams

“I live in my own place have never copied nobody even half, and at any master who lacks the grace to laugh at himself — I laugh.”
— inscribed over the door to Friedrich Nietzsche’s house

This is my simple religion. There is no need for temples; no need for complicated philosophy. Our own brain, our own heart is our temple; the philosophy is kindness.” — H.H. the Dalai Lama

“All art is autobiographical. The pearl is the oyster’s autobiography.” — Federico Fellini
(So THAT’S what I’m doing here!….. Writing the autobiography of an oyster…. hmmm….)

“{I believe in looking reality straight in the eye and denying it.” — Garrison Keillor
(Now I know why this show was so popular with middle America….)

Eat with gusto and enthusiasm. — Things We Can Learn From Dogs

Well, there’s an eclectic group of pearls, eh, what? I’m not sure just what my subconscious mind was shooting for, but, I have to assume it knows and we’ll let it slide this time…. maybe next time, it will make it a bit more obvious, eh?…… I think it all works, anyway, even if I’m unsure of its precise purpose and meaning…. I guess that makes it a good metaphor for life…..
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The poem I’m gestating is stalled today…. couldn’t get it even a line further on toward completion. Oh well, you, and I, will just have to settle for whatever I come up with via Google when I get to the internet this morning…. let’s see, whom shall we persecute, er, sorry, peruse, today?….. Ah, here is one that appeals to that introspection of which I have spoken…. Enjoy!

A Dialogue Of Self And Soul

i{My Soul} I summon to the winding ancient stair;
Set all your mind upon the steep ascent,
Upon the broken, crumbling battlement,
Upon the breathless starlit air,
‘Upon the star that marks the hidden pole;
Fix every wandering thought upon
That quarter where all thought is done:
Who can distinguish darkness from the soul
i{My Self}. The consecrates blade upon my knees
Is Sato’s ancient blade, still as it was,
Still razor-keen, still like a looking-glass
Unspotted by the centuries;
That flowering, silken, old embroidery, torn
From some court-lady’s dress and round
The wooden scabbard bound and wound
Can, tattered, still protect, faded adorn
i{My Soul.} Why should the imagination of a man
Long past his prime remember things that are
Emblematical of love and war?
Think of ancestral night that can,
If but imagination scorn the earth
And intellect is wandering
To this and that and t’other thing,
Deliver from the crime of death and birth.
i{My self.} Montashigi, third of his family, fashioned it
Five hundred years ago, about it lie
Flowers from I know not what embroidery —
Heart’s purple — and all these I set
For emblems of the day against the tower
Emblematical of the night,
And claim as by a soldier’s right
A charter to commit the crime once more.
i{My Soul.} Such fullness in that quarter overflows
And falls into the basin of the mind
That man is stricken deaf and dumb and blind,
For intellect no longer knows
i{Is} from the i{Ought,} or i{knower} from the i{Known — }
That is to say, ascends to Heaven;
Only the dead can be forgiven;
But when I think of that my tongue’s a stone.
i{My Self.} A living man is blind and drinks his drop.
What matter if the ditches are impure?
What matter if I live it all once more?
Endure that toil of growing up;
The ignominy of boyhood; the distress
Of boyhood changing into man;
The unfinished man and his pain
Brought face to face with his own clumsiness;
The finished man among his enemies? —
How in the name of Heaven can he escape
That defiling and disfigured shape
The mirror of malicious eyes
Casts upon his eyes until at last
He thinks that shape must be his shape?
And what’s the good of an escape
If honour find him in the wintry blast?
I am content to live it all again
And yet again, if it be life to pitch
Into the frog-spawn of a blind man’s ditch,
A blind man battering blind men;
Or into that most fecund ditch of all,
The folly that man does
Or must suffer, if he woos
A proud woman not kindred of his soul.
I am content to follow to its source
Every event in action or in thought;
Measure the lot; forgive myself the lot!
When such as I cast out remorse
So great a sweetness flows into the breast
We must laugh and we must sing,
We are blest by everything,
Everything we look upon is blest.

William Butler Yeats
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_____oOOo_=^..^=_oOOo_____ — The cats ARE watching… — Smart Bee

No deep concept here…. I just thought this was cute, as well as creative. I miss my cat, Tony, who lived with Noah and I for several years…. He thought Noah was his big brother, and followed him around everywhere. When Noah got old, and it got hard for him to get up the stairs where we lived, Tony would walk behind Noah, batting at his butt with his paws to encourage and help him get him up the steps. His favorite place to sleep was cuddled up to Noah, too. Once, when Noah was feeling a bit stiff, and feeling his age, Tony walked up to him, sniffed gently at his ear, then gave him a couple of head bumps, then a couple licks on the muzzle, before settling in next to him, where he lay next to him and purred for hours…. He really loved ol’ Noah, Tony did….

I’m going to go for what I call an Art Deco pearl here…. below are some quotes about cats, and some very fine pictures that show the many sides of Cat…..

“The only mystery about the cat is why it ever decided to become a domestic animal.” — Compton MacKenzie, “Cats’ Company”

“A man who carries a cat by the tail is learning a valuable lesson. He’ll never be dim, or doubtful. Chances are he won’t carry the cat that way again, but, I say, if he wants to, let him!” — Mark Twain
In ancient Egypt, cats were worshiped as gods; they have not forgotten this. — Smart Bee
    And, how can we not love an animal who starts out life like this?…..
    I believe these pictures were all found on Facebook…. including this perfect picture to bid thee adieu!….
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“Hi there!  This is just a note from me, to you, to tell you, the person reading this note, that I can’t think up any more famous quotes, jokes,  nor bizarre stories, so you may as well go home.” — Smart Bee

Ack! Nooooooo! It can’t be true…. Smart Bee is just messing with me, I know it…. and I am so confident of that, I will trust that it will be there just chock full of new, funny stuff the next time I open it up…. And, if not, well, I’ll tear out my hair then, what little is left…. It has been a very interesting path this morning, getting to this point. Now that I’ve completed this Pearl, I must go out and deal with the real world, so as to get it posted today…. and take care of online business while I’m at it…. I’m having a very productive birthday, so here is wishing you all the same kind of positive energy today, and every 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!

Fabled moments of placid acceptance….

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Ffolkes,
Halloween has always been my favorite, as far as any holiday can be said to be so, given my opinion of most of them as corporate/government  manipulations of the economy. However, Halloween has two things going for it that most holidays don’t…. One, it is patterned after real cultural celebrations from history, giving it the veneer of authenticity, and, two, it is the day before my birthday, which is the Day of the Dead, or Dia de los Muertos in Mexico (And, if you don’t think THAT was a point of pride as a child, you don’t know jack….).

As a kid, this gave it the advantage over other holidays, hands down, and that preference has carried over through my adult years, for much the same reasons…. Costumes are fun, too, but, a bit undignified to fit in with my self-image as a curmudgeon; I haven’t indulged in a costume since my kids still were enthusiastic about holidays…. I just dress as always, and tell people I’m a serial killer…. they look just like everybody else….  🙂

This year, Halloween finds me up early, for unknown reasons. Actually, my recent schedule, of sleep, write, read, lather, rinse, repeat, etc. has been all over the map; probably has to do with the stress levels that go up and down, depending on how long I’ve been in the dark re: SS and their machinations and contortions. I’m hoping this early up means something in there is clamoring to get out, rather than waiting for me to persuasively seduce it onto the screen. We shall see shortly….

It could get ugly this morning, as I’ve no real material stashed, and I never know how Smart Bee will be about providing proper quotes in a timely manner…. it tends to listen to Murphy a lot when I’m not around. In fact, now that I think about it, I’m scaring myself, and I think I should go see how it is going to be…..

While I’m doing that, y’all can take a breather for a moment…..

There, feel better?…. Hmm… I don’t know about Smart Bee…. this is what I came up with right away….

“Be pleasant until ten o’clock in the morning and the rest of the day will take care of itself.” — Elbert Hubbard

Which isn’t bad, all things considered, but, it isn’t going to make much of a pearl. It’s too finished; there isn’t any more to be said on the subject…. Well, it’s not encouraging, but it was something, which is better than nothing, I suppose. I’ll just have to take my chances…. Since there seems to be no further excuse for heading on out, I’ll bid thee adieu, until the final lines, and wish you a pleasant dive today…. Shall we Pearl?…..
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And here, poor fool, with all my lore
I stand no wiser than before.
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832)

“This instant is thine; the next is in the womb of futurity, and thou knowest not what it may bring forth; maturity of the unborn is in the keeping of the Law. Each future state is that thou has created in the present.” — Akhenaton? (c. B.C. 1375)

“The question is not whether we will die, but how we will live.” — Joan Borysenko

Living life well is a subjective goal, and, as such, whether or not it we are successful in reaching the goal is purely a subjective judgment. This kind of judgment requires introspection, which makes it somewhat of a conundrum for many people, as their skills at that particular activity are severely limited from disuse. Very few people today spend much time in self-examination, from what I can see. If they did, they sure wouldn’t act the way the do, or dress the way they are, or carry on such a foolish, self-destructive course of living….

“The study of the errors into which great minds have fallen in the pursuit of truth can never be uninstructive. . . No man is so wise but that he may learn some wisdom from his past errors, either of thought or action, and no society has made such advances as to be capable of no improvement from the retrospect of its past folly and credulity.” — Charles Mackay

Introspection, however, requires both honesty and ruthlessness, in being able to recognize those things within us that are not of value, and to remove them from our persona. As such, it is what most folks would term as “hard” or “difficult”, and they will avoid it at all cost, laziness being a rather common human trait. It is much simpler, and easier, to just take what all the powers that be, (otherwise known as either the beloved ruling class, or those most heinous of criminal manipulators, preachers/priests), are selling as moral standards, and use them, regardless of whether or not they are truly moral or not…. and I assure you, mostly, they are not….

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

I often feel like Goethe, in what he stated above, as I believe myself to be one of the few who actually do use introspection on a regular basis. I believe this because, if other folks were using this process, the world would look a lot different. Women would feel safe walking the streets; old folks would feel cared for; gay, lesbian, and transgender individuals would not suffer discrimination for their orientation; racism would be dead, and religion would join mythology as a piece of mankind’s past, rather than its current status as our jailer/executioner…..

“Being good at being stupid doesn’t count.” — Smart Bee

All of these societal problems (bigotry, racism, discrimination, slavery, entitlement, misogyny, etc. )arise from the attitude of elitism held by those individuals among us who never look within, to see just how ugly their inner selves have become, from using the sick, twisted elitism as preached by the modern religious and political leaders. We, as a species, cannot afford to listen any more to the Judeo-Christian ethic as propounded by the beloved ruling class; this kind of entitlement and aggrandizement has led us to the very brink of extinction, as we continue to treat the planet as our toy, instead of as our home. We cannot keep pouring millions of tons of carbon monoxide into the atmosphere and expect nothing to happen, because what will happen is already happening…. our weather is changing, and not in a good way…. the planet is warming up, and when it is warm enough, the ice at the poles will melt, and everything on Earth will feel the effects….

“The faith in which I was brought up assured me that I was better than other people: I was saved, they were damned … Our hymns were loaded with arrogance–self-congratulation on how cozy we were with the Almighty and what a high opinion he had of us, what hell everybody else would catch come judgment day.” — Robert A. Heinlein

As Akhenaton pointed out over 3000 years ago, what we do in the present will determine how the future will be. What our species is doing now will guarantee that most of us won’t be around to see what happens in that future, because we will be dead within a hundred years, or less, if things don’t begin to change TODAY…. Since it is unlikely that will happen, well, we may as well take the advice given to many school children in the 50’s, in learning to deal with an atomic blast…. to wit: bend over and kiss your ass goodbye….  I hate to be so cynical, but, introspection requires honesty, so….

“You were s’posed to laugh!” — Zippy the Pinhead
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A Brave and Startling Truth

We, this people, on a small and lonely planet
Traveling through casual space
Past aloof stars, across the way of indifferent suns
To a destination where all signs tell us
It is possible and imperative that we learn
A brave and startling truth

And when we come to it
To the day of peacemaking
When we release our fingers
From fists of hostility
And allow the pure air to cool our palms

When we come to it
When the curtain falls on the minstrel show of hate
And faces sooted with scorn are scrubbed clean
When battlefields and coliseum
No longer rake our unique and particular sons and daughters
Up with the bruised and bloody grass
To lie in identical plots in foreign soil

When the rapacious storming of the churches
The screaming racket in the temples have ceased
When the pennants are waving gaily
When the banners of the world tremble
Stoutly in the good, clean breeze

When we come to it
When we let the rifles fall from our shoulders
And children dress their dolls in flags of truce
When land mines of death have been removed
And the aged can walk into evenings of peace
When religious ritual is not perfumed
By the incense of burning flesh
And childhood dreams are not kicked awake
By nightmares of abuse

When we come to it
Then we will confess that not the Pyramids
With their stones set in mysterious perfection
Nor the Gardens of Babylon
Hanging as eternal beauty
In our collective memory
Not the Grand Canyon
Kindled into delicious color
By Western sunsets

Nor the Danube, flowing its blue soul into Europe
Not the sacred peak of Mount Fuji
Stretching to the Rising Sun
Neither Father Amazon nor Mother Mississippi who, without favor,
Nurture all creatures in the depths and on the shores
These are not the only wonders of the world

When we come to it
We, this people, on this minuscule and kithless globe
Who reach daily for the bomb, the blade and the dagger
Yet who petition in the dark for tokens of peace
We, this people on this mote of matter
In whose mouths abide cankerous words
Which challenge our very existence
Yet out of those same mouths
Come songs of such exquisite sweetness
That the heart falters in its labor
And the body is quieted into awe

We, this people, on this small and drifting planet
Whose hands can strike with such abandon
That in a twinkling, life is sapped from the living
Yet those same hands can touch with such healing, irresistible tenderness
That the haughty neck is happy to bow
And the proud back is glad to bend
Out of such chaos, of such contradiction
We learn that we are neither devils nor divines

When we come to it
We, this people, on this wayward, floating body
Created on this earth, of this earth
Have the power to fashion for this earth
A climate where every man and every woman
Can live freely without sanctimonious piety
Without crippling fear

When we come to it
We must confess that we are the possible
We are the miraculous, the true wonder of this world
That is when, and only when
We come to it.

Maya Angelou
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“Hateful to me as are the gates of hell, is he who, hiding one thing in his heart, utters another.” — Homer (c. 700 B.C.)

I’ve gotta say, I’m with Homer on this one…. In looking back over my lifetime, in fact, just about every time in that lifetime that I’ve been subjected to emotional pain has been the result of this very thing, i.e., dishonesty, or betrayal of trust. My most recent example of such treatment at the hands of others took place about two and a half years ago, when I received a double whammy, from my boss at work, and from the woman with whom I had been in a relationship for nine years. My boss, without ever once indicating in any way she was unhappy with my work, had me bureaucratically removed from my job as “unfit for duty” as a result of my back injury and pain. In the same week, the woman I lived with went from telling me she loved me on Tuesday, to asking me to not call her for a couple months on Thursday, as she wanted some “space”…. a euphemism for “goodbye forever”….. Both of them stuck a knife straight into my heart, metaphorically speaking, and I bled pretty profusely from that trusting organ….

Emotionally, I’m pretty much over these two incidents, though I’m still dealing with the physical reality of the first one, but, whenever I think about either one, there is still residual pain, and the tears still flow freely with the pain…. What helps is to realize that a) I’m better off being out of each situation, even if I don’t know why either one happened, other than by speculation, and b) they won’t be able to do it again, at least not from that quarter of the compass…. It also helps being the age I am, as I’ve now been through this kind of pain more than once, and I know that I am not alone with that experience, and I only have to remain alone if I wish…. There are other people out there in the world who are worthy of my trust; the trick is to learn somehow to recognize them, and to learn how to judge the strength of their commitment to honor, and truth. Like Tom Robbins said in “Skinny Legs and All”, the question that needs to be answered is, “How do you make love stay?”…..

The tricky part, it seems, is how to keep on trusting, when so often it leads to betrayal. Society teaches dishonesty and cheating as skills to use against each other; witness our entire political scene, and then tell me otherwise. But, learning to trust is essential to being trusted, so it becomes a balancing act, with one’s fear of being hurt on one side, and the need for human contact on the other.  Somewhere in the middle lies the answer, and that is when love can show its face, even if only for a time. One just has to learn patience, for the search for an honest man, or woman, has been going on for a very long time, and as far as I’ve seen and heard, there has not been a great deal of success at finding one….

“…and I get on my knees and pray we don’t get fooled again.” — Pete Townshend
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Well, that certainly turned maudlin on me…. I could barely write my way out of that one. Ah well, at least, if nothing else, it is honest…. perhaps, some might say, shamefully so, but I gave that up years ago, so, hey…. In any case, it’s done, which is something, given how things have gone this morning. Not to complain, but it has been tough to grind this one out…. I did start a poem, but, only got two lines in before stalling; it’s just not ready yet. The first two lines are good, though, so I’ll stick with it….

Any who, I can’t think of how to cause any more damage than I already have, so I’m going to consign this one to the place where I can’t get it back, and publish it…. Don’t hate me for it, I beg you…. And, if so, well, sorry ’bout that, but, that’s the way it goes around here….  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!

Who will pay the price for sanity?….

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Ffolkes,
Times of great import are approaching, it is told. Events are to take place that will rock the foundations of our world, while I, an old man with sharp eyes, sit and watch the important people scurry about, involved in their important jobs, communicating their important ideas….. Only us old men see the truth, though…. Nothing is important, it is all an illusion, and nothing will ever change…. So it has been, for centuries, and so it will remain, as long as men wish to feel important…..

I don’t think it will come even close to winning the Bulwer-Lytton Award, but it’s pretty bad, nonetheless, don’t you agree? Sadly, when I wrote it, I wasn’t trying for bad, but was in fact, until the very end, shooting for a grim sort of eloquence. But, after one read-through, that goal went by the wayside….. Not everything can be worth writing, I suppose, and that paragraph certainly falls into that category…. We’ll just pretend it didn’t happen, and go on, okay?…. No need to mention this to the doctors, or the overseers, now is there?….. I wouldn’t want to lose my privileges over it…..

Actually, I’m sitting here this morning, a bit dazed…. I feel pretty good…. The pain pill I took two hours prior to getting up might have helped a lot, but, all in all, this is the best I’ve felt of a morning in, well, a long time… in recent memory at least, and damn if it isn’t encouraging! Payday is near, I have food left, thanks to those friends who won’t seem to let me go under, the coffee tastes like ambrosia, and I’m not feeling any blockage of my writing mode…. there is HOPE! It’s amazing, really, how much feeling better will improve the attitude we face the day with; I must say, it’s awfully nice to NOT have stuff to complain about….

I’m thinking, since I feel so good, even if only in a relative sense, I should get started without further delay. I’m actually looking forward with glee to this morning’s dive for pearls, which hasn’t happened in far too long…. In any case, Shall we Pearl?…..

“Three out of five people aren’t the other two.” — Smart Bee
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“How people play the game shows something of their characters. How they lose shows all of it.” — Smart Bee

This is SO true! Not only is it true, it is beyond true, because it also implies another truth, which also happens to be true…. Funny how that works, eh?…. Any who, what I mean by that is this: How people approach the idea of playing a game at all indicates a lot of things about their mental status, in short, their attitudes, as well as their character. I spent more than a few years providing psychiatric therapy to adolescent and adult individuals, and using games was one of my favorite therapeutic tools. It became a valuable one indeed in being able to gauge a young lad’s, or lass’s, mental attitude, after tossing them a ball, of some kind, and seeing what they did with it….. Within a minute or so, they would reveal a lot about themselves, that would often be useful later in figuring out how to help them.

If they missed catching it, or showed a lot of awkwardness, it would give an indication they hadn’t played much with balls, and perhaps were not sports oriented. If they caught it, then that showed they had some experience and/or interest. How they tossed it back also showed things about them, and the expressions and body language they displayed, while performing the basic physical skills, indicated their degree of familiarity with the movements involved in the different tasks of moving, catching, and throwing. Whether or not they reacted with pleasure, or fear, or surprise, or whatever emotion they display when the ball is tossed to them (a simple, easy toss, not a fastball…. give us a little credit….) also gives some pretty accurate data on how they deal with such surprises, showing how they feel about themselves in the process….

In a basketball game, one could observe to see whether the player understands the team concept, and how to adjust their own play to flow with others. How a person spends the slack time in baseball, while waiting for a pitch, or a delay, can indicate their inner state, as well as their investment in the game…. And if they refused to play at all, then that showed something about their social adaptation skills as well….. Almost everything these young individuals did in relation to playing games, of any kind, whether physical, or table, party, or other types would tell something about their psycho-social development stage, and even give clues about where problems might be encountered in helping them.

Humans have a very long history of experience with games, and though other animals have been noted to have created games, no species has been anywhere near as prolific, or creative, in the ways in which they test themselves, against each other, and against themselves. Historically, of course, many games were designed to develop the skills needed in the culture for warfare, or for business, or for other sorts of competitive interactions with others of other cultures, tribes, or nations.

In the modern world, of course, the business side of games, and the impulse to compete in every human is highly developed, in hundreds, even thousands of different venues…. Professional sports, amateur sports, computer gaming, Olympic sports, mountain climbing, all tests of various degrees of difficulty in the quest to improve the human spirit by improving the mind and body, under the most trying, demanding conditions that can be devised.

Games, whether we actively play them, or sublimate those impulses in other ways, are a part of human culture and society, and permeate all levels of societal interactions…. How many soccer moms are there who never played a game of soccer outside P.E. class in their lives? How many people enter the business world, and pit their minds and will against others in the financial arena…. No one can tell me that the whole stock market isn’t based on gaming theory, not without a lot of charts, easels, and time to expand equations…. and I wouldn’t believe them then….

Our society spends literally TRILLIONS of dollars each year on professional sports, with all their merchandising and high pressure sales of every single physical item involved in either the playing of the sport (Football, baseball, basketball, tennis, hockey, soccer, and literally hundreds of others….), or involved in the following the sport, equipment to play, equipment to watch the professionals play, tickets, posters, jerseys, and other fan merchandise, including the watching of the sport on the entertainment media of choice, also for sale at a store near you….. It is a HUGE part of the American economy, even the world-wide economy, at least in countries that are connected to the media world.

The impulse to play games, however sublimated it may be, is a basic piece of human nature, stemming from the inherent need for the species to improve itself, thereby improving chances for survival. Though society has advanced enough that not everyone has the need to be able to throw a spear or run fast to survive any more, we still have the part of our nature that says we do need to be able to do that…. so we want to practice somehow…. Games are how we practice those skills; always have been, and always will….

Today, practicing survival skills for many involves sitting in front of a TV, with a beer and like-minded former game-players, to watch a game of their favorite sport on TV, and cheer for the good plays…. Or it means taking your kids to soccer practice every week at three different fields around town, “because sports is good for them”…. Or it means a teenager becoming pale and wan from playing a video game for 36 hours straight….. Or, it can mean calling your broker when you’ve received a good stock tip….. We all find our ways to practice the age-old skills we no longer need, one way or another….

“It’s all a game — play it to have fun.” — Price’s Advice

“Life IS a game, but the rules are written down in so many different ways, there tends to be as many interpretations as there are players…. Do your best to play fair, by anybody’s rules, by keeping to a level field of play, and you stand a better chance of not only winning, but of enjoying the game…” ~~ gigoid
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A new poem from gigoid is still in the cooker, simmering until it is done. As you may know, I can’t rush it, or it will disappear, never to be seen again, at least in my fears, so it will be left to finish without any interference from my conscious mind…. In the meantime, here is something from another poet of no little note…. Enjoy!….

The day came slow…

The day came slow, till five o’clock
Then sprang before the hills
Like hindered rubies, or the light
A sudden musket spills

The purple could not keep the east,
The sunrise shook from fold,
Like breadths of topaz, packed a night,
The lady just unrolled.

The happy winds their timbrels took;
The birds, in docile rows,
Arranged themselves around their prince
(The wind is prince of those).

The orchard sparkled like a Jew, —
How mighty ‘t was, to stay
A guest in this stupendous place,
The parlor of the day!

— Emily Dickinson
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Old school! Old school!…. and all the better for it, eh, what? Since tomorrow is Halloween, we will celebrate by blowing away some of the cobwebs of ignorant fear associated with so many of the symbols of the holiday’s featured religion, Wicca…… from which much of the lore of this date is drawn. It was merely hijacked by the Christians as their own, back when they rewrote all the history books to suit themselves….. They’re good at that….

Below you will find a number of quotes, all targeted and locked on one of my ongoing peeves, deliberate ignorance, and the exploitation of that by the world’s religions…. Well, you know what I mean…. people are mean, sometimes, you know?….. They just like to cover it up with talk about redemption for original sins (of which I swear I have no recollection), and penance for sins, and confession of sins,  and hellfire, and such. I think they’d be better off getting a real job…..

“For “ignorance is the mother of devotion,” as all the world knows.” — Robert Burton (1577-1640) — The Anatomy of Melancholy, Part iii, Sect. 4, Memb. 1, Subsect. 2

“It is proof of a base and low mind for one to wish to think with the masses or majority, merely because the majority is the majority.  Truth does not change because it is, or is not, believed by a majority of the people.” — Giordano Bruno (1548- burned at the stake, 1600)

“Those who believe without reason cannot be convinced by reason.” — James Randi

“I call Christianity the *one* great curse, the *one* great intrinsic depravity, the *one* great instinct for revenge for which no expedient is sufficiently poisonous, secret, subterranean, *petty* — I call it the *one* mortal blemish of mankind.” — Friedrich Nietzsche

(Just threw this in to make it clear exactly “who” we were discussing…..) (Plus, I happen to agree with Freddy on this one….)

“It costs so much to be a full human being that there are very few who have the enlightenment or the courage to pay the price… One must abandon altogether the search for security and reach out to the risk of living with both arms… One has to embrace the world like a lover… One has to accept pain as a condition of existence… One has to court doubt and darkness as the cost of knowing. One needs a will stubborn in conflict, but apt always to total acceptance of every consequence of living and dying.” — Morris L. West, “Shoes of the Fisherman”

(Oops, sorry, this is 180 degrees from all of the above, talking about the other end of the scale of human nature….. Well, just use it for contrast, okay?…….)

“In Christianity neither morality nor religion come into contact with reality at any point.” — Friedrich Nietzsche

(Hmm…. Freddy seems to have a problem with Christians, doesn’t he?….. Can’t say as I blame him…..)

In regards to Oral Roberts’ claim that God told him that he would die unless he  received $20 million by March, God’s lawyers have stated that their client has  not spoken with Roberts for several years. Off the record, God has stated that  “If I had wanted to ice the little toad, I would have done it a long time ago.” — Dennis Miller, SNL News

“The most preposterous notion that H. sapiens has ever dreamed up is that the Lord God of Creation, Shaper and Ruler of all the Universes, wants the saccharine adoration of His creatures, can be swayed by their prayers, and becomes petulant if He does not receive this flattery. Yet this absurd fantasy, without a shred of evidence to bolster it, pays all the expenses of the oldest, largest, and least productive industry in all history.” — Lazarus Long, aka Robert A. Heinlein

Enough! I could do this all day, and not get the point across any better…. Plus, Smart Bee is getting testy, so we will now leave off our regularly scheduled daily battle against the advance of DUMB in society…… Stay alert, ffolkes, the world needs more lerts……
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“I’m having a BIG BANG THEORY!!” — Zippy the Pinhead

Well, all things considered, it could be worse…. That third section almost got away from me there for a while, but, all is well that ends well…. Life is good, except when it isn’t, and that’s about the best we can expect, I reckon….. I’ll take it….. Can you just wrap that up for me? Thanks…..  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!

A good deal in a truck school….

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Ffolkes,

“I’m confused – more than usual, that is.” — Smart Bee

I am considering using this as the opening line for this blog every day, much like the sig file I use at the end (“Sometimes I sits and….”)…. It certainly fits my usual state of mind when I sit down to write in the mornings. In fact, it occurs so often, it could be considered a ritualistic behavior, designed to mitigate the overall impact of having to wake up and get moving. I have learned enough in my years to make sure that I own a programmable coffee maker, that has my coffee ready for me when I get up. But, I still have to get up, stir in the condiments I use, then go stare at the computer while it boots up…. by the time I’ve sipped a few ounces down, and I’m beginning to be able to focus my vision on the screen, well, that is when the confusion becomes a factor…. right when, of course, it is of the least use to me…. See what I mean about Murphy?…..

I promised y’all, however, that I wouldn’t whine, so I won’t. I will merely note the state of confusion, and let it go at that, allowing you to snicker behind your hankies and roll your eyes at your discretion…. Let it never be said that I tried to limit your choices here, loud as I do tend to get sometimes in my enthusiasm for what I’m saying…. just chalk it up to the passion that goes along with being a triple Scorpio, and it will suffice, even if it doesn’t make any more sense. Remember, reality has no provisions listed that require ANYTHING to make sense, much less me….

You may be glad to know that most of the confusion has cleared, and been replaced by anger, or more accurately, frustration with my own body. Just when I had thought that things might start moving in a better direction, my lack of dietary balance rises up to cause other problems. I swear I don’t know whether to spit or whistle, not that either would help much, nor, in this case, make me feel much better….. not much will do so, in this instance. But, damn it, I’m not going to let this get me…… I am repeating that phrase to myself, over and over, in the hopes that my body will be persuaded to stop what it has begun…. I won’t, I won’t, I won’t….

Silly creatures, aren’t we? Apply a bit of pressure, and we retreat back to childhood in our reactions. I’m an adult, of this there is no further doubt…. whether I want to be or not. Responding to physical discomfort by chanting the mantra of all two-year olds is, as the years have impressed on me, not the most effective way of dealing with reality. Just because it fulfills some inner tape we run as part of our behavioral repertoire is no good reason to let it disturb our serenity, such as it exists. You know what, though? Our bodies don’t care how old we are, they just want the pain/discomfort to stop, and they don’t care if it takes a two-year old’s mentality and behavior to get it done…. in other words, maturity goes right into the toilet in the face of undue, or apparently unwarranted pain….

It seems as if the condition is backing off somewhat…. perhaps my inner appeal to reason has struck a chord, and persuaded whatever it is to mellow out for a while…. whatever, I’ll take it…. I started both the pearls below last night, getting a jump, as it were, so, I ‘ll do my best now to finish them off, then all we’ll need to do is either write, or find, an appropriate piece of poetry to fill in the central portion of today’s effort. I’m not sure how this will work out, but, we’ll see…. All you can do is all you can do, and no more….. so, let’s do what we can….. Shall we Pearl?….
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“It is a misconception that spirituality brings everlasting happiness. There is no such thing. Sadness still comes to the wise, but, unlike most people, their clarity of mind allows them to see beyond the temporal emotionalism of the moment. They are farseeing, and so happiness and sorrow become the same to them.” — Deng Ming-Dao

This is a very subtle and difficult concept for anyone, of Western or Eastern orientation to reality, to fully understand, and even harder to put into action in everyday life…. It is also an idea I’m not sure I can completely hold to be true, in one sense at least. I can see how learning to accept both happiness and sorrow as being equal in value, in terms of how reality is structured is important to understanding. The very fact that we perceive them as opposites reflects our way of seeing the universe, as a dichotomy, with each characteristic balanced by its spiritual opposite, its mirror image, as it were; it follows that being able to recognize this without experiencing any discomfort or imbalance would be a valuable approach.

But, I cannot say that they are the same to me, for as a human, it is part of my nature to “like” the happiness, and “dislike” the sorrow; as people, we are going to have an emotional reaction to what we perceive, regardless of any other factors. It seems to me that the lesson to be learned, then, is to not allow our emotional preferences to  influence our inner state, beyond the state of acknowledging it. Our task then becomes to learn to accept it, and appreciate it for its place in reality, without letting our feelings about that place bring us to imbalance within our own spirit….  As I said, subtle and difficult, and more easily said than done, to be sure…..

The events surrounding this morning’s Pearl, as outlined in the intro, serve well to demonstrate how this principle can be useful to us in a very real sense….. I am unbalanced this morning, with my physical being complaining in no uncertain terms that it is displeased with the current state of my diet. This imbalance takes the form of severe discomfort, with some pain located in specific areas of concern. In addressing how I would deal with the feelings it generates, in the above section, it could be said that I was attempting to see past the event itself, into the meaning of it. This encourages some distance between the mind, and the actual events, and consequently, some distance from the feelings. With the sense of panic that accompanies such feelings abated, it is possible to adjust one’s attention to other places in the mind, and the imbalance of the negative feelings is brought back into proper  alignment….

As with most types of pain, the feelings we have in reaction make the pain worse, if only by forcing our attention onto it. By creating some inner distance from those feelings, we take control of our attention, and by doing so, reduce the amount of pain/discomfort by a significant factor…. The pain doesn’t go away, but it is reduced enough so we can deal with it in a more productive fashion. It is by no means easy; the pain/discomfort doesn’t like giving up its position in the forefront of the mind’s attention. But, as can be seen by this very pearl, it can free us from the tyranny that our own bodies may try to impose upon us…. In a very real sense, learning this lesson, and how to apply it to the real world, can free our minds completely, to exist in a place where good and bad do not affect our inner balance….

“If you regard discomfort as a normal condition you are not likely to be troubled by want.” — Ieyasu’s maxims

This maxim points to one of the important attitudes one must cultivate, in order for this principle to work properly. It reminds me of the old story about the colonist and the Indian, walking through the forest in winter, sometime in the late 1600’s. The colonist is fully dressed against the cold in leathers, sweaters, jackets, furs, boots, and full beard; the Indian is in moccasins, breech cloth, and skin, despite the snow all around. The colonist says to the Indian, “Aren’t you cold?” The Indian asks in return, “Is your face cold?” “Well, yeah, but I’m used to that,” is the reply….. The Indian just smiles, and says, “Me all face….”

Put most simply, it’s all in what you are used to…. So, get used to learning to adjust your own mind, teaching it to control its reaction to events of all types, rather than letting the world, and its unwelcome events, adjust it for you….. Me, I’d hate to have the words “willy nilly” apply to me in ANY respect….. I prefer having some say in the matter…. and I’ll tell you, it has been an invaluable tool this morning, else there would be no Pearl today…..

And if I laugh at any mortal thing,
‘T is that I may not weep.
— Lord Byron (1788-1824) — Don Juan, Canto iv, Stanza 4
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Ogden Nash, I think….

Common Cold

Go hang yourself, you old M.D.!
You shall not sneer at me.
Pick up your hat and stethoscope,
Go wash your mouth with laundry soap;
I contemplate a joy exquisite
I’m not paying you for your visit.
I did not call you to be told
My malady is a common cold.

By pounding brow and swollen lip;
By fever’s hot and scaly grip;
By those two red redundant eyes
That weep like woeful April skies;
By racking snuffle, snort, and sniff;
By handkerchief after handkerchief;
This cold you wave away as naught
Is the damnedest cold man ever caught!

Give ear, you scientific fossil!
Here is the genuine Cold Colossal;
The Cold of which researchers dream,
The Perfect Cold, the Cold Supreme.
This honored system humbly holds
The Super-cold to end all colds;
The Cold Crusading for Democracy;
The Führer of the Streptococcracy.

Bacilli swarm within my portals
Such as were ne’er conceived by mortals,
But bred by scientists wise and hoary
In some Olympic laboratory;
Bacteria as large as mice,
With feet of fire and heads of ice
Who never interrupt for slumber
Their stamping elephantine rumba.

A common cold, gadzooks, forsooth!
Ah, yes. And Lincoln was jostled by Booth;
Don Juan was a budding gallant,
And Shakespeare’s plays show signs of talent;
The Arctic winter is fairly coolish,
And your diagnosis is fairly foolish.
Oh what a derision history holds
For the man who belittled the Cold of Colds!

Ogden Nash
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“Abolition of a woman’s right to abortion, when and if she wants it, amounts to compulsory maternity: a form of rape by the State.” — Edward Abbey

This is a difficult pearl to write, as it turns out….. I’ve been cutting and pasting it ahead now for a week or two, trying to get past the anger I feel whenever I think about the number of asshole men who actively perpetrate the oppression of women in our society, a number far too large for my taste, and one I hope to make smaller before I leave this world…. one way or another. I’d prefer to have them listen to me, and consider what I say to them, and subsequently change their ways…. but, if it takes more than that, say, the judicious application of brute force upon their person, well, I hope to be able to oblige them…. because, in my world, any man who is cowardly enough to try to assume his delusional superiority over women deserves whatever they get from other men, as well as from women strong enough to fight back….

“You’re a very strong woman… Though this would be a traumatic experience that you would never forget, I think that you would be very successful in
life.” — Senator Dan Quayle telling an 11-year-old girl — why he would want her to have the baby if she were raped by her father, 10/18/88 (reported in Esquire, 8/92)

Note, please that this quote from the Quail was made 20 years ago…. yet, the Republican party includes this very atrocity as a part of its platform…. disguised of course, and never directly addressed, or even obliquely alluded to, but, these attitudes are just the same now as they were then; perhaps even worse. A very similar statement, just one of several in the same vein, was made in the last couple of weeks by a currently running candidate for the Senate, and the R/R ticket has steadfastly refused to speak out against what the man said…. or about any of the other statements by the low-class misogynists now inhabiting the entire Republican party. In fact, Lyin’ Ryan is already on record as having made the same assertion as Mr. Quayle did in 1988, earlier in this year’s campaign.

“The moral test of government is how it treats those who are in the dawn of life — the children; those who are in the twilight of life — the aged; and those who are in the shadows of life — the sick, the needy and the handicapped.” — Hubert Humphrey

These asinine fools would have us believe that their entire concern in this issue is for the fetus…. when in reality it is their own sexual insecurities that they are protecting, by taking the decision about any such matters, involving women’s health, out of the hands of the women involved, and putting it in the hands of men, who are deathly afraid of the women’s sexuality, because they automatically feel inferior…. This creates the reaction of rage, or anger, which always covers our fears, and these cowards in men’s clothing cover it all by spouting their lies and insanity even more….

I find at this point that I must bring this to a (temporary) end…. I am not paying attention to the lesson of today’s first section, and my anger at these assholes is getting to the point where I want to put away the computer and pick up my stick, to go looking for a few of them to bludgeon until some of my anger is released. That, while satisfying in the short run, would no doubt lead to complications I’m not prepared to accept, so….. but, I’ll be back to this subject, be sure…. I need to ask all those women out there who are supporting Romney and Ryan just when it was they lost their minds….
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Boy, if it ain’t one thing, it’s another! Due to unforeseen but amicable changes in scheduling, this Pearl has been truncated a trifle, but apparently without harm…. at least on first pass. Since it is done, we’re going to let if fly without any further checks, other than to see what spell-checker has freaked about…. Tomorrow promises to be, well, different, which, I guess, is all we can really hope for…..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!

Unwrapping a silver cocoon under moonlight….

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Ffolkes,
On some bright future day, I’ll wake up, and inspiration will smite me forcefully on the forehead, sending me reeling to my keyboard, where the profound thoughts that have been circulating behind the scenes in my mind will all come pouring forth, to impart beauty and wisdom to the masses in inimitable style…. The sheer brilliance and enlightenment of what I will write will become as a beacon of knowledge that shines into every corner of the darkness that holds society at risk, saving mankind from the consequences of our insensitivity and foolishness….. SIGH…. sadly, that day isn’t today….

Had some mildly disappointing news soon after getting up to start this morning’s Pearl; my grandson isn’t feeling well, and the visit originally set  for today was put off to next week…. Since I’m not at top form today, that is alright with me, but I know it is much more disappointing for my son, who has to wait another week to see his boy, when he’d rather be taking care of him while he is sick…. Justice does not live in this country anymore, not with any consistency….. and, unfortunately, there are no requirements for motherhood regarding intelligence or benevolence of nature….

Yet the law thinks that…. ah shit, I’m not getting into it again…… The idiotic collection of nonsense that makes up family law in this state, and country, is a mess of major proportion, without any real connection to reality, as far as I can tell…. and is so entrenched in its own circular illogic, not only can’t I fix it, it can’t be fixed, so the entire subject just pisses me off…. as do so many things about modern society, and the way that it fails to act in the best interests of its children….

Rather than dwell on the legal and moral idiocy that prevails in this country, let’s go searching for dirt to throw at some of my favorite targets…. politicians,  priests, and the foibles of human nature…. Shall we Pearl?
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“I believed in the Constitution. I believed in Congress’ constitutional right to investigate the intelligence community; and I believed that, as head of that community, I was required by the Constitution to cooperate with the Congress. I also believed that any other approach just wouldn’t work.” — Said no head of the intelligence community, ever….

And, if one of them did say it, I would bet serious money he was lying through his teeth…. We all know that, first of all, military intelligence is an oxymoron. Even if it weren’t, the entire intelligence community, as it is named here, would, by necessity, and by definition, be based on Sun Tzu’s Art of War, which clearly states, “all warfare is based on deception.” (A direct, literal translation from the original Chinese….) Sun Tzu’s most valuable and respected form of warrior was the spy; he considered an accomplished spy worth more than whole armies, with good reason. One man, infiltrated and trusted by the enemy, can cause more damage, by spreading disinformation, than months of siege by massive numbers of troops, and will bring about success much more speedily….. Yet, this unknown head of the NSA, or the CIA, or whichever clandestine organization was under scrutiny, would have us believe that he was being entirely truthful in what he revealed of their activities to Congress…. Riiiiight….. and I’m the Queen of Sheba, reincarnated as an overweight, long-haired, overeducated, dyspeptic Caucasian male…. I guess it’s possible, but, not too likely….

“If the obstacles of bigotry and priestcraft can be surmounted, we may hope that common sense will suffice to do everything else.” — Thomas Jefferson

Tom made an error in judgment here, assuming, as is common, perhaps, that common sense is, well, common. Alas, such is not the case, and priestcraft, of which I regard warfare and politics to be mere offshoots, remains the greatest obstacle to maintaining the freedom and liberties that Tom and his mates secured for us in the 18th century. With the full support of corporate business, the other greatest enemy of freedom, churches and government officials have conspired to manipulate, obfuscate, and bamboozle the American public into allowing them to lie, cheat, steal, and control the legislature and courts, until the freedoms we were given as our legacy have all but disappeared…..

I read a number of articles today, in the newspaper, and on the internet, that spoke of a recent poll taken by some independent agency (i.e., not connected to any political parties…. at least not on paper….). Any who, this poll determined that the choices being made about who people were going to vote for in the 2012 Presidential election were not in any way being decided by any disagreement on issues. The votes were being made according to race….. period. Over 50% of the responders, if I recall the number correctly (it amazed me, and I consider myself to be pretty phlegmatic, so factor that in….), of those voting for Romney, said they had made their decision to vote for Romney simply because Obama is black…. Martin Luther King, no doubt, is crying, wherever he may be…. as are any number of true Americans, such as myself, who had hoped that our nation had gotten beyond that sort of bigotry manifesting itself in the mainstream of society.

“After all there is but one race – humanity.” — George Moore

Is it any wonder I was amazed? Though there has been constant evidence of the part that race has played thus far in the election campaign, I don’t think any of us expected the issue to be so polarizing as to reveal the vast number of cowardly, fearful, STUPID people who refuse to join the rest of the human race. They have apparently been hiding their ignorance, completely accepting on faith all the loud, flag-waving, faith-based slogans and fear-mongering, all designed to whip the peasants into a frenzy under the canopy of false patriotism, and to the cry of “Take back America”…. as if someone had snatched it away from them when they weren’t looking….

“The worst vice of the fanatic is his sincerity.” — Oscar Wilde

All of their noxious, bilious posturing is designed to ensure the racist, bigoted, ignorant cowards who buy into their lies will all come crawling out from under their rocks on election day, to cast their unwitting vote for the forces of Evil, never realizing they are signing their own warrants of economic doom, because they are only aware of their fear of the Black Bogie Man, and his liberal myrmidons…. a word they would have to look up, if they were in the habit of reading anything tougher than TV Guide…. (don’t worry, I had to look it up, too, when I first saw it, years ago, in a Sherlock Holmes story…. I love it, it is such a “precise” word….)

“Instead of giving a politician the keys to the city, it might be better to change the locks.” — Smart Bee

Here is a piece of that common sense so prized by our forefathers…. Unfortunately, instead of changing the locks, we keep allowing the politicians to make copies, and don’t even change the locks after they leave. Have you ever heard about the retirement system that the federal government has given itself? All federal judges, and federal court officials, along with both the House of Representatives and the Senate, are guaranteed their salaries, and their most excellent healthcare coverage, EVEN AFTER THEY RETIRE, OR ARE NOT RE-ELECTED.

For life….. including a health care system, with coverage for life, that is much superior to MediCare, or anything available to the unwashed masses, i.e. the general citizenry of the country. All of it is paid for by our taxes… for life, for all of them…. and guess who voted all that stuff into existence? Why, they gave it to themselves, of course! As a reward, I guess, for having screwed us in the first place, and sort of as an ongoing pat on the back for the success of their lies….

“Ignorance is not bliss — it’s oblivion.” — Phillip Wylie

Once again, I seem to have tapped into a subject ripe for ranting, and we’re still ten days shy of the election. Let’s let this percolate for a bit, and see what else we can find in there on this path to perdition or profundity, your choice…. Me, I always go for the perdition…. more exciting, like when Mom drove on the freeway….  🙂

Regardless of the truth or lie of any of the above, profundity has fled, no doubt concerned about its reputation, and further pearls along this line of thought are not forthcoming from Smart Bee…. it did, however, give me a couple of pretty good ending pearls, so I will go with the flow, and leave you with this final thought…..

Government is a necessary evil, and it makes sense to me that having to pick between the lesser of two evils, while distasteful, is nonetheless necessary, and in the case of this election, more than merely necessary…. It is essential in the current world that reason remain paramount, and the obvious decision here can be ascertained with one eye shut. If one is a woman, a senior, LGBT, or a supporter of gay marriage and human rights for trans gender individuals, a black, Latino, Asian, or anyone else who is not white, and who makes more than $250,000/year, then you will be voting to save your own civil rights, because it is for sure and for certain that if the Republican party gets into office, all of these categories of citizens will be in a new classification…. they will be known as victims…. Don’t trust me, read the papers, all of what I’ve just related is documented there…. So, get out there and vote, ffolkes, and for goodness sake, use your head about it!……

“If you don’t control your mind, someone else will.” — John Allston

“Hold the MAYO & pass the COSMIC AWARENESS…” — Zippy the Pinhead
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Li Po, in my mind, is one of the five best poets who ever lived (no, I’m not going to pin myself down to the other four right now, so forget it….); indeed, his translator deserves a lot of credit, as well, for being able to indicate the simplicity, power, and depth of Li Po’s words from Chinese to English, no simple task, for certain….. We all know of the Taoist/Zen koan about the man dreaming of being a butterfly…. this is how a poet of genius first asked that universal question…..

Chuang Tzu And The Butterfly

Chuang Tzu in dream became a butterfly,
And the butterfly became Chuang Tzu at waking.
Which was the real—the butterfly or the man ?
Who can tell the end of the endless changes of things?
The water that flows into the depth of the distant sea
Returns anon to the shallows of a transparent stream.
The man, raising melons outside the green gate of the city,
Was once the Prince of the East Hill.
So must rank and riches vanish.
You know it, still you toil and toil,—what for?

Li Po

Indeed, for what do we toil? As for me, I’m still trying to find an answer…. asking the right question is only half the task…. Hope you enjoyed this one as much as I did….   🙂
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In  keeping with the theme above, here is a group of pearls, collected old-school style, and put together to lead the gentle reader to more insightful ideas about human nature, and the importance of intelligence, or more accurately, the absence of same….

“In view of the fact that God limited the intelligence of man, it seems unfair that He did not also limit his stupidity.” — Konrad Adenauer

‘Man has made use of his intelligence, he invented stupidity.” — Remy De Gourmant

“A human being has a natural desire to have more of a good thing than he needs.” — Mark Twain

“The beauty of America is that the average person always thinks she is above average.” — Sam Levenson

“The problem with America is that the average person always thinks she is above average.” — Smart Bee

Cogito, ergo doleo. I think, therefore I am depressed. — Smart Bee

“In such a strait the wisest may well be perplexed and the boldest staggered.” — Edmund Burke (1729-1797) — Thoughts on the Cause of the Present Discontent, Vol. i, p. 516

“I can’t give you a brain, but I can give you a degree” — Wizard of Oz to the Scarecrow

In light of such wisdom, virtual or not, I rest my case……
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Some days, as Mama said, there will be days like that…. and we all know she was right, don’t we? Logically, this means that some days it will be easier than others, to find, do, or be what we wish…. even if we know what that may be. If you aren’t confused now, then you haven’t been paying attention…. and my work here is 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!