Tag Archives: Society

Look! It’s a black-frocked bible-thumper, moulting in the road!….

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Ffolkes,

A touch of research will, I hope, lead me to a greater understanding of what it is I am doing here today, or, for that matter, any day….. (Have you noticed the dots? Apparently, the number of them says something about where my head is headed, so to speak…. I just noticed…. That says something, too, I suppose, about my head….) Where did I…?…. Ah, okay… So, it turns out that much, or, even most, of what I do here is under the aegis of Clio. I wasn’t sure which of the nine muses was my own, so I went to look them up, and she is the one who seems to be most closely allied to what I usually end up writing….

She is the muse of History, as opposed to those of Epic Poetry, Love Poetry, Song or Elegiac Poetry, Tragedy (though we do get rather sad at times…. Sometimes, what I write could be construed as such, I suppose…. Or, I reckon the fact that I write at all could be mis-construed as such….), Hymns (none of that here, thank you…), Dance, Astronomy, (Urania, to whom I occasionally appeal), and, my favorite, even though I can’t always find her, Thalia, the muse of Comedy….

None of this can, or should, be considered as essential material; it’s just what occurred to me as I sat down to write today…. In truth, it’s put me rather behind schedule, as I’ve spent a good three-quarters of an hour researching and reading about the muses, when I could have been writing… Oh well, considering what usually falls out of my head when I write first thing, without some kind of mental warm-up, this is probably a good thing, and may even show a positive effect on the Pearl as a whole. It certainly can’t hurt, can it?….

Like all would-be perfectionists, I’m my own harshest critic, inside my head, where nobody can hear me yelling at myself (detracts from the image, don’t y’know, of a calm, composed personality, in harmony with all he sees…. Yep, that’s me alright….. on alternate universe days…. ). Nonetheless for all that, I’m thinking that doing research first thing is a better way to give myself a bit of a warm-up, before jumping right onto the keyboard to start emptying out the detritus laying around my mind after the night’s storms…. If nothing else, it can give me something distracting from my usual train of thought, which, of late, has been hijacked regularly into ranting about the idiots in Washington, before I’m even fully awake….

That, in and of itself, is probably a good thing; my sticks aren’t quite as sharply pointed when I start writing at the same time as I’m consuming my initial hits of coffee. There’s more chance of the target’s survival in that case, which allows me to take more shots at them later….. more fun for me, and better behavioral modification for them, hopefully….. And, if not, well, we can always just shoot them… Oh, wait, that’s THEIR solution to issues, not mine… sorry, forgot…. got confused as to which side of the issue I was on….

Oh, look! Isn’t that an intro? Why, yes, yes, I believe it is…. If not, it’s at least long enough for one, and silly enough for three of them, considering how many different subjects we wandered through before getting here…. I’m astonished that none of it got on our clothing; that particular group of subjects can get splashy, and will leave stains, if not treated instantly. If it ever does, there are soapy wipes in the hidden compartment in the arm of your seat…. Just push the big red button on the window, and the arm of your seat will….

WAIT! DON’T DO THAT! That’s the wrong button; if you push that, the pilot will immediately throw us into a spin, heading for the nearest landing point; THAT button is the cabin-fire button…. I meant to say, pull the little purple and pink ring on the OTHER arm of your seat, to find the arm that goes up, to reveal the soapy wipes…. Whew! Sorry, almost screwed the pooch big time…. Fortunately for all of us, this is all fictional, and no real danger was ever present…. No, really, none….

Shall we Pearl?….

“If tin whistles are made of tin, what are foghorns made of?” — Croll’s Query
_____________________________

“I love the Constitution and government of this land, but I hate the damned rascals that administer the government.” — Brigham Young

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_03/017456.php

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_09/020014.php

To this pair of articles, which provide incontrovertible proof of the ignorance rampant among the Republican members of the House of Representatives, (as of some years ago, admittedly, but, pal Joey is still in the House….), I will also add the link below, which, unlike the first two, was ripped from the CURRENT crop of articles online about the government shutdown we are witnessing, courtesy of assholes who think they’re better than everyone else…. This one is about the ostensible leader of those idiots, who also, unfortunately, also happens to be the Speaker of the House, a very dangerous position in which to see a man with no morality, other than his own, and no brain cells that continue to work in tandem with any others that may remain, in the empty shell of his mind….

http://www.sfgate.com/news/politics/article/Boehner-to-Obama-No-debt-hike-without-concessions-4873299.php

“Some Republicans, such as Rep. Steve King of Iowa, dismiss the warnings about a government default as an exaggeration, suggesting U.S. credit won’t collapse and calling the talk “a lot of false demagoguery.” (Of course, the “talk” to which he refers is the straightforward message on the most likely effects of the shutdown that was given by none other than the head of the Department of the Treasury, whom we MIGHT want to consider as a more competent judge of such matters as a lawyer from Iowa (I say lawyer, because, odds are, he is one…. if he’s not, well, no comment, as whatever he is, he ISN’T a financial expert….)

Asked how the standoff might end, Boehner said Sunday on ABC that he was uncertain: “If I knew, I’d tell you.””

“Privately, administration officials say they don’t think Boehner and Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell want a default as they realize it will be far worse than a shutdown, but the two don’t know how to avoid it or when to try.”

Clearly, the only issues at play here are a selfish, false sense of entitlement, and ruthless paranoia…. but, then, I’m a former psychiatric technician, and I tend to see how behaviors fit into patterns common to certain psychiatric disorders, of which paranoia, and delusional thinking are two primary examples. The behaviors currently being displayed on the national stage for all of us to witness is appalling to me, so much so, I’m going to abandon this mild rant here, in favor of going to an old-school indictment of these idiots….

So, here is what Smart Bee, under the influence of my parameters for today, has to say about what is going on in the political scene, here in America, today, October 7, 2013….

“You are not what you think you are; but what you think, you are.” — Smart Bee

“Everybody thinks himself so well supplied with common sense that even those most difficult to please. . . never desire more of it than they already have.” — Rene Descartes

“Vote for ME — I’m well-tapered, half-cocked, ill-conceived and  TAX-DEFERRED!” — Zippy the Pinhead

“Science never cheered up anyone. The truth about the human situation is too awful.” — Kurt Vonnegut’s TimeQuake

“Experience is the only prophecy of wise men.” — Alphonse de Lamartine

“I have been Foolish and Deluded, and I am a Bear of No Brain at All.” — Pooh

“There is no expedient to which a man will not go to avoid the real labor of thinking.” — Thomas Alva Edison
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Today’s choice of poems was, I like to think, destined. I like to think that because I’m a romantic at heart, and an optimist by choice; even if it isn’t true, it’s nice to think so…. I just thought about Oscar, and what he might have had to say in today’s world… So, with a bit of help from Google, and Poemhunter.com, I offer this sublime piece of social commentary from a master of words….

The Doer Of Good

It was night-time and He was alone.

And He saw afar-off the walls of a round city and went towards the
city.

And when He came near He heard within the city the tread of the
feet of joy, and the laughter of the mouth of gladness and the loud
noise of many lutes. And He knocked at the gate and certain of the
gate-keepers opened to Him.

And He beheld a house that was of marble and had fair pillars of
marble before it. The pillars were hung with garlands, and within
and without there were torches of cedar. And He entered the house.

And when He had passed through the hall of chalcedony and the hall
of jasper, and reached the long hall of feasting, He saw lying on a
couch of sea-purple one whose hair was crowned with red roses and
whose lips were red with wine.

And He went behind him and touched him on the shoulder and said to
him, ‘Why do you live like this?’

And the young man turned round and recognised Him, and made answer
and said, ‘But I was a leper once, and you healed me. How else
should I live?’

And He passed out of the house and went again into the street.

And after a little while He saw one whose face and raiment were
painted and whose feet were shod with pearls. And behind her came,
slowly as a hunter, a young man who wore a cloak of two colours.
Now the face of the woman was as the fair face of an idol, and the
eyes of the young man were bright with lust.

And He followed swiftly and touched the hand of the young man and
said to him, ‘Why do you look at this woman and in such wise?’

And the young man turned round and recognised Him and said, ‘But I
was blind once, and you gave me sight. At what else should I
look?’

And He ran forward and touched the painted raiment of the woman and
said to her, ‘Is there no other way in which to walk save the way
of sin?’

And the woman turned round and recognised Him, and laughed and
said, ‘But you forgave me my sins, and the way is a pleasant way.’

And He passed out of the city.

And when He had passed out of the city He saw seated by the
roadside a young man who was weeping.

And He went towards him and touched the long locks of his hair and
said to him, ‘Why are you weeping?’

And the young man looked up and recognised Him and made answer,
‘But I was dead once, and you raised me from the dead. What else
should I do but weep?’

~~ Oscar Wilde ~~

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The evolution of man is the evolution of his consciousness, and ‘consciousness’ cannot evolve unconsciously. The evolution of man is the evolution of his will, and ‘will’ cannot evolve involuntarily. The evolution of man is the evolution of his power of doing, and ‘doing’ cannot be the result of things which ‘happen.'” — Gurdjieff

This is just SO true! It has particular relevance for me when looking at this budget mess, as the whole situation is another example of how our culture just toddles along with no intelligent direction, no “conscious will” that takes us toward a defined goal…. Instead, the whole issue demonstrates how things just “happen”, not as the result of what anyone “does” but merely because of what is allowed to happen, due to the intransigence and selfishness of the people involved….

It is also typical of Gurdjieff, in that it’s stated in such a thick, unwieldy fashion that most people won’t take the time to fight their way through to the complete idea it expresses…. and, it’s an important idea, even if it DOES make your head hurt to think about it at all… It does mine, and I try to practice the advice given me by Lou, from http://talesfromthelou.wordpress.com/, blogger extraordinaire, when he reminded me how the Red Queen, or maybe it was the King, in “Through The Looking Glass” would think of at least six impossible ideas “before breakfast”, just for the fun of it….

I DO try to keep up, you see, no matter how fast, or how far a thought will take me…. The above idea, from Gurdy, is a good one on which to practice, as it lends itself well to internalization…. Sadly, my impression of humanity at large is that such internalizing, and an attitude toward thinking in such ways, is pretty uncommon amongst the general populace…. I’d wager serious gelt that if you showed this quote to 20 random people, on-the-street, average folks, no more than two of them would make a concerted effort to read the entire quote, much less try to decipher its meaning….. The other eighteen would give up at various points, depending on their own particular reading acuity, and make a joke, or, an excuse, like something in their eye, or in some way, try to distract you from questioning them about it.

SIGH…. Such is life, though, and crying and whining about it doesn’t help…. All I can do is try to stay amused by what happens around me…. Amused is better than abused, and it’s a whole lot better than going through life with blinders on, never using the mind we are given for anything other than sitting on, or finding your way home when drunk…. sort of a biological Garmin, y’know? I prefer to use mine for all I can figure out to do with it, and rejoice at every new, and strange, idea that comes my way…. So, here are some of today’s thoughts, that caught my eye as being erudite, or poignant, or deep, or some other characteristic that strikes my fancy…. Enjoy!….

“Cynicism is safe, optimism takes real intelligence.” –Smart Bee

“Any man who afflicts the human race with ideas must be prepared to see them misunderstood.” — H. L. Mencken

“Know, first, who you are; then adorn yourself accordingly.” — Epictetus

“Desire is both a very good servant and a very bad master.” — JoAnn Schwartz (1953 – )

“Happiness is the only sanction of life; where happiness fails, existence remains a mad and lamentable experience.” — George Santayana

“God is an invention of Man. So the nature of God is only a shallow mystery. The deep mystery is the nature of Man.” — Nanrei Kobori, — late Abbot of the Temple of the Shining Dragon, Kyoto, Japan

“I don’t know if God exists, but it would be better for His reputation if He didn’t.” — Jules Renard
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I’m more than just a little afraid to go back over this one; as I created it, I felt a stirring in the Metaphorse that disturbs my sense of balance, and fear that I may have inadvertently caused some real damage to some part of the space-time continuum… The danger here is that, often, when one goes to look for any such damage, it hides, or slips away, and just gets worse, thanks to mein Herr Heisenberg’s little observation as to the reality of reality…. If I look at it, it changes, and becomes something else, and there is no damn way around it…. Oh well, it’s got to be done, so, we’ll just have to take our chances, as we do each day…

Well, it looks as if the space-time continuum will survive another day, so, I’d best be on my way before anyone catches me…. See ya tomorrow, with a bit of luck….

Y’all take care out there,
and May the Metaphorse be with you;
Blessed Be, dearest  Carole, Mark, and Theresa…
and everyone else, too…

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid

dozer3

Patiently waiting for the flood waters to subside….

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Ffolkes,

It’s an odd feeling, for me, to wish NOT to write…. I am facing the screen today, not with the usual trepidation, but, with actual revulsion. I’m apparently just not in the mood to vent, or to rant, or even to go pearling…. all of it seems counter-productive in my current state of mind. Even though I’m up at the usual hour (0500), I’m not filled with my usual desire to dump the core, where my angst resides…. Instead, my mind is turning to methods whereby I can skip the whole deal, and get on with the day, whatever it may bring….

Rather than worry about it overmuch, I’m going to re-post a Pearl from the archives…. This one is appropriate, though I’ve no clue as to its content; I do know it was first posted on April Fool’s Day of this year, so, it should have something worth our time to go back over; All Fool’s Day is one of my favorite days of the year, so I’m sure I put stuff worth reading in whatever I wrote…. If not, well, April Fool!!!!….
_____________________________

4/1/13
Ffolkes,

As he stepped aboard the waiting train, he turned to look back at her, a small, forlorn figure standing in shadows near the exit turnstile. As he turned, she saw him, and raised a hand, as if to wave, but paused, locking eyes with his across the platform. The hiss of the train’s escaping steam mingled with the hum of the crowds boarding, but all faded into the background, unheard, as the two lovers gazed, with searing pain, into each other’s eyes, hers now flowing with shining tears. She again raised her hand, waving once before quickly turning, and rushing away, losing herself in the crowd. With heavy heart, he turned, walked past the conductor, and moved toward his seat, leaving the past behind…..

Now that my own tears are flowing, let’s leave the star-crossed lovers to their fates, and get on with the day’s work, such as it is….. It may be a bit more work than I usually have to do, as I’m supposed to come up with a poem for the April National Poetry Month Writing Challenge, in which I’ve agreed to participate…. I just spent a few minutes, trying to begin a verse, and experienced about that many minutes of sheer terror and exasperation, as I was able to come up with only two lines before the well went dry…. two….. not a grand start, to be sure. I may just have to resort to a haiku for my first effort; I know I can come up with one of those, as I’m pretty confident of my skill with them…. justified or not.

But, that’s for later…. right now, I still need to come up with a bit more of an intro, and I’ve written myself into a nasty little corner here, with no apparent way out….. I might have had a chance, had I gone one more paragraph into the opening story line, but, I didn’t, so here I am once again, stuck for anything intelligent to write…. I don’t know how I do it, but, maybe I could find some fool who would believe me when I tell them I know what I’m doing, and get them to pay me for this…. That will probably happen just about the time the pigs are ready to fly…..

Oh, look! There’s one taking off now! Gosh, it looks so brave, outlined against the morning sky, tiny wings beating to beat the band, weaving back and forth across the brightening sky like a drunken loon…. SIGH…. Such beauty is uncommon, and a joy to behold…. If you can buy into that statement, I have a deal in a bridge you might be interested in…. It’s a good deal, and a great source of income, once the toll booths are put in. I’ll need cash only, though, no checks, and all deals are final….

Now that we’ve entered into the spirit of the day, I think it’s best if I try to steal silently away, into the dark morning light, and get on with today’s dive…. I have a feeling that if I don’t do that now, this entire operation is going to go down in flames, which always annoys the insurance dudes…. I’ll avoid that whole issue, and get on with it, forthwith…. Shall we Pearl?…..
__________________________________

Today’s Pearl is going to resemble the coat of many colors that gave Joseph so much trouble back in Biblical days (I think it was Joseph…. oh well, doesn’t matter, y’all know the story anyway…..)…. It’s just got too much randomness to ever achieve any real coherence, so I’m not even going to try to explain it all…. Below you will find a very rare old-school pearl, a group of seven quotes, freshly chosen for their very randomness, in relation to each other…. As is sometimes the case, the point that emerged is one that defies normal expression, and is actually so intimate, it can only be experienced on a personal level; sharing it would be unwise, if not dangerous to both parties…. So, just enjoy them for what they may bring you, and go on with a bemused smile, and my good wishes….. not that they will help, but, I try…..

“It is a far, far better thing to have a firm anchor in nonsense than to put out on the troubled seas of thought.” — John Kenneth Galbraith

“We view things not only from different sides, but with different eyes — we have no wish to find them alike.” — Pascal

“Silence can be the biggest lie of all.  We have a responsibility to speak up; and whenever the occasion calls for it, we have a responsibility to raise bloody hell.” — Herbert Block

“Je me presse de rire de tout, de peur d’etre oblige de’en pleurer.
(I make myself laugh at everything, in case I should have to weep.)” — Pierre-Augustin de Beaumarchais (1732-1799)

“An assertion produces a stronger effect than an argument, at least among the majority of mankind. That is why public speakers seek to hammer home their party’s arguments with assertions.” — F. Nietzsche, _Human, All to Human_

“It is a very sad thing that nowadays there is so little useless information.” — Oscar Wilde (1854-1900)

“..  Should I get locked in the PRINCIPAL’S OFFICE today — or have a VASECTOMY??” — Zippy the Pinhead

Well, there you go…. I don’t think I can make that any more obscure than it is, so we’ll go on to further adventures in literary suicide…..
__________________________________

Rhyming is better than lying….

It’s all too, too much, he cried
   I can take no more!
It’s all crazy, my brain is fried,
   battered, bloody, and sore.

Talking heads shout out hatred and fear
   jam for my morning toast.
Pointing fingers far, middle, and near
   enemies everywhere, almost.

Women, gays, and seniors fall prey,
   easy targets, slow and weak.
Convenient fools, wanting only to play,
   used, and abused, even as we speak.

It enough to drive me floridly insane,
   or want to buy a gun.
I may end up in jail, or in massive pain,
   but, oh, it would be fun….

~~ gigoid ~~


April Fool! This, such as it is, is the first poem of the month for me, and the first entry in the National Poetry Writing Challenge for April….. It’s not my best effort ever, but, it’s okay, and it’s almost a rant, in its own little way…. I’ll do better as the month goes on, I promise…. Hell, I’m betting tomorrow’s effort will be better…. Just for the hell of it, here is a haiku, too….

To write a poem,
hard as it seems to be, is
not impossible.

~~ gigoid ~~

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I have a bunch of stuff to do today in the Big Blue Room, to finish preparations for my trip tonight to Oregon. So, I’m cheating again, and putting in here an old pearl, from the archives…. I can’t say exactly when this first appeared, as I don’t organize them well enough to do so, but, hey, it really doesn’t matter at all…… From the vantage point of the future, I see that Smart Bee was particularly helpful this day…..  Enjoy!….
—————————————————

A few random thoughts on the meaning of insanity, and by implication, sanity…….all came from one dive. Pearl after pearl on the same subject kept presenting itself for my perusal, so after a few, I just gave up & collected them. So here they are, all with a bit to say about those among us who perceive reality from a whole different place than you or me….. (My comments are in parentheses, like this one…. )

‘What garlic is to salad, insanity is to art.’ — Augustus Saint-Gaudens (1848-1907), Reminiscences

If sanity were dollars I’d be bankrupt. — Smart Bee

“I come from a long line of Southern psychotics and an environment where madness is currency and conversation is blood sport.” — Elizabeth Ashley

According to figures from the Justice Department, the average rapist serves only 5.2 years on jail, and the average murderer serves only 8.6 years. By contrast, the average time served for possession of LSD is 10.1 years, and many Americans are serving mandatory minimum sentences of 20 to 25 years for possession or sale of marijuana. — Smart Bee

(Insanity comes in many guises…… your choice as to which is real, and which is delusion….)

Avoid reality at all costs! — Smart Bee

And who (in time) knows whither we may vent
The treasure of our tongue? To what strange shores
This gain of our best glory shall be sent
T’ enrich unknowing nations with our stores?
What worlds in the yet unformed Occident
May come refin’d with th’ accents that are ours?

— Samuel Daniel (1562-1619) — Musophilus, Stanza 163

(Psychosis is rooted in fear, and fear assumes many masks…..)

I feel like one
Who treads alone
Some banquet-hall deserted,
Whose lights are fled,
Whose garlands dead,
And all but he departed.

— Thomas Moore (1779-1852) — Oft in the Stilly Night

(An accurate description of the onset of depression…..)

“Why ask me? I’m just visiting reality.” — Smart Bee

We now return you to our regularly scheduled program…..
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April Fool! None of the above exists, and we are all an illusion, alleged in our own minds….. Thank goodness! This day, being one of my favorite days of the year, due to its strong connection to the concept of nonsense and bozoid tendencies, is also a new beginning….

Today the future of this blog begins anew, as I will now be writing each day’s post from a different location, beginning tomorrow morning, with a Pearl that will be created on a moving train, as I speed through the Northwest toward Oregon… I’m looking forward to it with great anticipation…. Until then….. Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..
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You have now been returned to real time…. The current date is 10/6/13, the time is approximately 0610, PDT. There will be no further messages today from this quarter…. Thank you for your patience, and your custom…. See you tomorrow….. well, that’s the plan, anyway….

Y’all take care out there,
and May the Metaphorse be with you;
Blessed Be, dearest  Carole, Mark, and Theresa…
and everyone else, too…

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid

dozer3

Intent is seven thirteenths of the law….

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Ffolkes,

Unbeknownst to the remainder of the world, I struggle, here in the dark of the morning, waging war with the always-present, never-sleeping, force of evil, that the world calls Bob, or sometimes, Steve-a-rino….. No matter what name we use, by any other token, they are very, very bad evils, whether in their initial, merely bloody, sharp-sword incarnation, or if they’ve gone into complete chainsaw mode. Either way, somebody is in for a world of hurt….

“What the hell is he babbling about now?”, is probably the foremost question in your mind(s) right now…. (I know, assuming that more than one mind currently reading this is being, perhaps, too hopeful…. My readership has taken a severe dip lately….)…. I’m babbling because, hey, it’s what I’m best at, and nothing else seemed as if it was going to get me down the road toward a real Pearl, so, I just went with it…. It’s not as if y’all had gotten accustomed to a more elegant format around here, now, is it? No, we’ve been stuck in bourgeois mode for quite some time now, with no real change of venue in sight…

Not that there’s anything wrong with being bourgeois; it’s only when we start trying to break into proletariat mode that the trouble begins, as it always does in such cases….. The human animal, though it always seems to fall into some form of hierarchical society, seems to function most efficiently when categories such as bourgeois, proletarian, or any others based on financial worth, are NOT used to determine one’s relative place in society…. The only truly honorable form would be a society where one’s social standing was based solely on how much one gave back to that society…. This, however, is mere speculation, since no human society has ever been structured in such a manner that it could be considered as “honorable”…..

Society has always been structured to favor those with the most resources under their control, which is why we are seeing the issues we now have to deal with, as the effects of entropy over time wear away at the foundations upon which it is built. Money is an artificial concept, not really a part of reality, other than as we humans perceive it to be, and therefore, only has the importance that we place on it. Making it the primary social factor that determines how high up in society one rises in the estimation of peers is destined to become a problem, as human nature tends not to share very well…. in short, people get greedy, and hoard all the resources (money) to themselves, ensuring their own place, and keeping others in a place lesser than their own….

Politicians, bless their black, lying, little hearts, would have us believe we live in a classless society, that everyone is equal, and has equal rights…. Well, ffolkes, guess what?…. That’s just another of their ubiquitous lies, and society isn’t like that at all…. At every level, built in prejudices and misconceptions, guided and kept true by unseen, but iron-clad cliches, color people’s viewpoint with the brush of discrimination, based on how much money a person makes, or what color their skin may be, or where they were born, or whether or not they stand up to pee…

There are a myriad of ways people use to decide that other people aren’t as good as they are, all of which are lies; all of those thousands of prejudices are taught by, enforced by, and continuously enabled by the BRC, our Beloved Ruling Class, who believes their place at the top of society is inherently theirs. Given this long-held delusion, and the fact that it has held sway over the rest of society for over ten thousand years, it seems clear they have no intention  of ever relinquishing that place to anyone else….

Oops, it happened again, didn’t it? I fell right into another opening rant, never realizing what I was up to until I was a thousand words down the pike… I guess it’s okay; I don’t see any casualties, other than my own readership’s numbers, so, apparently nobody was standing close enough to get hit by the flying shrapnel….. The fact that there ARE no casualties is not necessarily a good thing, you know….. a couple of bodies would at least indicate that there is SOMEONE reading this stuff, but, I guess my ego doesn’t really need THAT kind of proof…. It’s all a wash anyhow, as I ran out of lime and sulfuric acid, and I’d have a hard time disposing of the corpses… so, it’s just as well….

On that note, I think I’d best get on with it…. Shall we Pearl?…..

“By space the universe encompasses and swallows me up like a dot; by thought I encompass the Universe.” — Pascal, Pensees, n. 265

“To sit silently,  and look wise, is not to be compared to drinking sake and making a riotous shouting.” — Ono No Tabitu
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Fortunately for y’all, I’m tired today, and not really feeling up to a full-fledged rant, intro-section notwithstanding…. This is good news for you, and for me, as it means I can let SB do all the hard work…. Here is a relatively straightforward pearl, with a few pointed sticks jabbed toward the eyes of our Beloved Ruling Class, and society at large…

“Ahhhh, it’s amazing what a cheat can do!!” — Smart Bee

“A mind not to be changed by place or time, the mind is its own place, and in itself can make a Heaven of Hell, a Hell of Heaven.” — John Milton

“The whole modern world has divided itself into Conservatives and Progressives. The business of Progressives is to go on making mistakes. The business of the Conservatives is to prevent the mistakes from being corrected.” — G. K. Chesterton, ILN, 4/19/24

PATRIOT, n.  One to whom the interests of a part seem superior to those of the whole.  The dupe of statesmen and the tool of conquerors.– Ambrose Bierce, The Devil’s Dictionary

“There is no more mean, stupid, dastardly, pitiful, selfish, spiteful, envious, ungrateful animal than the Public.  It is the greatest of cowards, for it is afraid of itself.” — William Hazlitt (1778-1830)

“Does history repeat itself, the first time as tragedy, the second time as farce?   No, that’s too grand, too considered a process.  History just burps, and we taste again that raw-onion sandwich it swallowed centuries ago.” — Julian Barnes

“Mr. Coolidge is the best Democrat we ever had in the White House. He didn’t do nothin’, but that’s what we wanted done.” — Will Rogers
_____________________________

No introduction needed, nor any comments…. just enjoy!….

A Song About Myself

I.
There was a naughty boy,
A naughty boy was he,
He would not stop at home,
He could not quiet be-
He took
In his knapsack
A book
Full of vowels
And a shirt
With some towels,
A slight cap
For night cap,
A hair brush,
Comb ditto,
New stockings
For old ones
Would split O!
This knapsack
Tight at’s back
He rivetted close
And followed his nose
To the north,
To the north,
And follow’d his nose
To the north.

II.
There was a naughty boy
And a naughty boy was he,
For nothing would he do
But scribble poetry-
He took
An ink stand
In his hand
And a pen
Big as ten
In the other,
And away
In a pother
He ran
To the mountains
And fountains
And ghostes
And postes
And witches
And ditches
And wrote
In his coat
When the weather
Was cool,
Fear of gout,
And without
When the weather
Was warm-
Och the charm
When we choose
To follow one’s nose
To the north,
To the north,
To follow one’s nose
To the north!

III.
There was a naughty boy
And a naughty boy was he,
He kept little fishes
In washing tubs three
In spite
Of the might
Of the maid
Nor afraid
Of his Granny-good-
He often would
Hurly burly
Get up early
And go
By hook or crook
To the brook
And bring home
Miller’s thumb,
Tittlebat
Not over fat,
Minnows small
As the stall
Of a glove,
Not above
The size
Of a nice
Little baby’s
Little fingers-
O he made
‘Twas his trade
Of fish a pretty kettle
A kettle-
A kettle
Of fish a pretty kettle
A kettle!

IV.
There was a naughty boy,
And a naughty boy was he,
He ran away to Scotland
The people for to see-
There he found
That the ground
Was as hard,
That a yard
Was as long,
That a song
Was as merry,
That a cherry
Was as red,
That lead
Was as weighty,
That fourscore
Was as eighty,
That a door
Was as wooden
As in England-
So he stood in his shoes
And he wonder’d,
He wonder’d,
He stood in his
Shoes and he wonder’d.

~~ John Keats ~~

_____________________________

We’re going old-school again for this section, and you can thank me later…. Right now, I’m trying hard to get this done in what may be a new record time…. we’ll see if SB will cooperate long enough to do that….

“Weird enough for all practical purposes.” — Smart Bee, while accepting the award for Strangest Blog O’The Week….

“There is so much good in the worst of us, and so much bad in the best of us, that is behooves all of us not to talk about the rest of us.” — Robert Louis Stevenson, “Good and Bad”

“If I could believe that this was said sincerely, I could put up with anything.” — Terence (185-159 BC) — Act i, Sc. 2, 96, (176.)

“I feed my pig apples by holding him in my arms and letting him eat the apples right off the tree. Some people say that takes too much time, but time don’t mean nothing to a pig.” — Grandpa Jones

“If a man will begin with certainties, he shall end in doubts; but if he will be content to begin with doubts, he shall end in certainties.” — Francis Bacon

“A person needs a little madness, or else they never dare cut the rope and be free.” — Nikos Kazantzakis

Not bad, all in all, even though it didn’t break through any time barriers…. But, it needs just the right finishing touch to be perfect, for which, less than that, never accept will we, as Yoda would say…. sort of…. If nothing else, this gives me the opportunity to throw in a bit of interactive fun, for at least one of my regular readers (hell, I wouldn’t mind if BOTH of them tried it out….  🙂  )….

I’ll put three aphorisms below, one of which is the perfect ending quote for this pearl… You get to pick, and whichever one you like, well, you just put it right in the comments, and I’ll look at it…. That’s all… I’ll look at it…. No prize (I’ve already spent too much this year on traveling, & have to start watching my expenditures….), no contest, just interactive fun…

Okay, okay, wait, don’t go away!!…. I’ll think of a prize…. First, somebody will have to make a comment, though, because there is little point in my going to the trouble of figuring out a reward, if nobody is going to even participate… If, however, I do get responses to this minor little manipulation (shhh!…), I WILL award a prize, of some sort…. and, since I’m not a politician, by either intent, or accident, you can trust me to tell you the truth… Sure you can, it’s easy…. If you can buy what the average politico is promising y’all, you can trust me not to lie about this…. Besides, there’s no profit in it for me to not tell the truth, so, it also appeals to my self-interest to come up with something worthwhile… so, I will… Now, look at these, and make a choice as to which one fits in the best with the rest….. if any….

“Shave daily with Occam’s razor.” — Smart Bee

“It is always a silly thing to give advice, but to give good advice is absolutely fatal.” — Oscar Wilde

“By letting go, it all gets done.” — Tao Te Ching
_____________________________

Having begun the day with an absolutely appropriate word, “unbeknownst”, I feel fortunate, indeed, to have survived thus far, with still enough moxie to complete what has turned out to be somewhat of an epic; for a (technically) rant-less wonder, it’s fairly involved. I’m again a trifle hesitant to proof it, lest it surprise me even more, but, typos make me crazy, so….

Well, that’s a relief! I’m not certain just how it got here, but, it definitely arrived intact; if that isn’t obscure enough for you, well, sorry, I’ll try to do better tomorrow…. In any case, this is, quite obviously, finished, and, possibly, overdone, again…. Since I have no illusions at all that what I’ve just said will cause confusion in at least one person, my duty is complete, and I’m outta here….

Y’all take care out there,
and May the Metaphorse be with you;
Blessed Be, dearest  Carole, Mark, and Theresa…
and everyone else, too…

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid

dozer3

Once limited to peripheral accusations of pyloric incompatibility….

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Ffolkes,

I AM one of the most stubborn people alive, it seems… Hmmm….  I had thought to write that line differently, using the words “must be” where now stands “AM”, in shouting mode, but, once written, it became clear that there was no doubt at all connected to the idea, so, I went with the more positively certain incarnation…. Come to think of it, though, if I am flexible enough to accept the change in words, then I’m not as stubborn about change as I had surmised, so, the entire exercise devolves into sheer obsolescence, as its internal logic falls apart…… So much for THAT beginning…

All that remains is the original concept, that I am, or must be, pretty damn stubborn, to continue writing this amount of material each day, when there is so little response to what is written…. For over 2000 words a day, I pour my soul into this blog, usually taking a few leisurely shots at national politics, or one or more of the churches that abound in our society, all for the purpose of getting my head emptied of the stuff that might sit in there and rot, causing more trouble than it’s worth, for me, and for others who may come in contact with me, thereby suffering the consequences of being the only one there when my angst blows…. It’s not a pretty sight….

Of course, I could stop watching the news altogether…. I did that for a while, but found that it creeps in around the edges, and forces itself into one’s sphere of attention, like it or not….. Plus, as an inveterate, addictive reader, I tend to inhale newspapers whenever I see one, no matter how old; I’ll read just about anything with words on it, including, in a pinch, cereal boxes (Some of them have some way cool stuff on the back for kids, so they’re fun!….Nutritional information is more interesting than it seems at first glance, too….). It’s hard to completely keep free of all the news in this society, as it tends to push into our awareness regardless of how much we try to avoid it….

It helped that for a long time, I had no television; not being current in the events of TV-world has been quite lovely, to be sure. I never did care much for most of it anyway, and find that I don’t miss it much. Now that I do live with one again, I find myself still preferring to read, or jump on the computer to fill my need for words to eat; my brain consumes a massive number of them on a daily basis, so I need a rather large supply, in ALL sizes and shapes, to keep up with my appetite for them. A book each day has been my goal since I was about 10 years old, a goal I’ve managed to achieve, and more….

I read as much as my physical condition allows me to do, which is not as much as I would like…. I tend to prefer to sit while reading, and that particular activity has a limit to it these days, due to the insidious advent of pain, that builds up if I sit still too long, or stand too long, or walk too long, or do ANYTHING for too long… “too long” being a very short period, unfortunately…. But, I find I can go from one position to another, from sitting, to standing, to sitting, to lying down, in rotation, for much of the day, if I’m careful, and never become too painful. It makes it a bit choppy when trying to write, but, for reading, a good place marker keeps me from wasting a lot of time when I change position or activity….

I suppose one of these days, I’ll have to break down and buy a smart phone, or a Kindle, or other tablet computer, so I can do all my reading on that, wherever I am, standing, sitting, or in between….. I’ve been waiting for the technology to become cheaper, as it does over time after new items come out; the prices now for smart phones and tablets is becoming reasonable…. They still are overcharging for access, but, that, too, will go down in time, as the competition in the market increases….. Soon, we’ll all have our Google glass computers, built right into our VR glasses frames, with complete audiovisual connection to the entire world network, probably with voice-activation and virtual monitors on any handy surface….

Oh well, all that will come soon enough… In the meantime, I’ll continue to read using all the different methods I’ve accustomed myself to using, and be content with that…. And, I’ll continue to write my 2000+ words every morning, to get the crap out of my head, and onto the Net…. where, hopefully, some of it may stimulate some cogitation amongst the other denizens… I can hope, can’t I?….

Shall we Pearl?…..

“Shake off all the fears of servile prejudices, under which weak minds are servilely crouched. Fix reason firmly in her seat, and call on her tribunal for every fact, every opinion.  Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason than that of blindfolded fear.” — Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Peter Carr, Aug. 10, 1787
_____________________________

“Learning to look in the mirror without judging too harshly, letting the voice of society cut us without judging too lightly, letting the voice of imagination blind us, but, rather, seeing ourselves with truth and compassion, aware of who we are, where we need to get better, where we need to forgive, is the goal of a healthy life.” — Callan Williams

Oh, how sweet! A beautiful sentiment, worthy of any true knight in shining armor…. Y’know what, though?…. Fuck that…. bugger them all, and let them figure out their own shit….  Sorry, my curmudgeon woke up…. and, though I usually agree with Mssr. Williams’ ideas, I’m sorry, but this sounds really, really new-age bullshitty….. In all honesty, if I heard someone say this to me, live and in person, I believe I would probably puke on their shoes….. What a bunch of Pollyanna crap! It reminds me of the current school of philosophy that tends to look at all students as poor, or victims, and attempts to build up what they believe to be the problem, i.e., self-esteem among the students, when all that is really needed is some damn honesty among the faculty….

Our culture is not only being held hostage by one party in one house of Congress, but by one attitude that tends to become overused, i.e. compassionate uplifting of the poor and ignorant, regardless of how they feel about it…. It’s the Mother Teresa syndrome, where the only way for the person to feel good about themselves, and to feel like they are “better”, they must be offering help and sustenance to someone poorer, and less able to fend for themselves…. never stopping to figure out the simple fact that viewing the world in this way is what keeps it that way….

It is their own insistence on helping those in poverty that creates the condition in the first place…. the proper solution is to change society so there are jobs and resources for these folks to help themselves, not to give them what we feel they need…. But, too often, ignorance walks hand in hand with compassion, because the compassionate tend to allow feelings to dictate their actions, rather than reason. Feelings are important, and need to be considered before acting, but, the actions should never be based simply on what is felt, or it will never achieve the necessary relation to reality to reach the necessary goal…. which is self-reliance, not universal empathy. Empathy is a useful tool, but, not the only tool we possess, to be relied upon exclusively….

“The truth of a proposition has nothing to do with its credibility. And vice versa.” — Lazarus Long, aka Robert A. Heinlein
_____________________________

I’ve never been completely sure exactly why I like the poems of Emily Dickinson so much, but, then, I’m not one to question my own taste. Whatever the exact reason may be, you’ve got to appreciate the absolute genius of her use of metaphor, so patently obscure, it is beautiful, if only for its ethereal sense of unreality….

The feet of people walking home
With gayer sandals go –
The Crocus – til she rises
The Vassal of the snow –
The lips at Hallelujah
Long years of practice bore
Till bye and bye these Bargemen
Walked singing on the shore.

Pearls are the Diver’s farthings
Extorted from the Sea –
Pinions – the Seraph’s wagon
Pedestrian once – as we –

Night is the morning’s Canvas
Larceny – legacy –
Death, but our rapt attention
To Immortality.

My figures fail to tell me
How far the Village lies –
Whose peasants are the Angels –
Whose Cantons dot the skies –
My Classics veil their faces –
My faith that Dark adores –
Which from its solemn abbeys
Such resurrection pours.

~~ Emily Dickinson ~~

_____________________________

I realize the rant today left a bit to be desired…. I just didn’t have the proper amount of anger and outrage collected to fuel it to the point of explosiveness I enjoy so much…. But, then, it’s hard to work up a lot of hard feelings over the improper use of empathy….. Hey, it got me through one section of today’s effort, so, it will have to do… They can’t all be brilliant, can they?….. Having thus forced down my portion of crow, we’ll get on down the line with an old-school pearl, my favorite excuse for actual work…. Here is a randomly chosen pearl, on a subject which is not yet clear…. Smart Bee will know what I’m looking for, to save this Pearl from obscurity, and the shame of irrelevance….

“How it is that our memory is able to retain the least triviality that happens to us, and yet not good enough to recollect how often we have told it to the same person?” — Duc de La Rochefoucauld

“I often have long conversations all by myself, and I am so clever that sometimes I don’t understand a single word I am saying.” — Oscar Wilde

“…there are periods of history when the visions of madmen and dope fiends are a better guide to reality than the common-sense interpretation of data available to the so-called normal mind.  This is one such period, if you haven’t noticed already.” — The Illuminatus! Trilogy

“Never argue with a Scorpio–even if you win, you lose” — Smart Bee

“It is the mark of our whole modern history that the masses are kept quiet with a fight. They are kept quiet by the fight because it is a sham-fight; thus most of us know by this time that the Party System has been popular only in the sense that a football match is popular.” — G. K. Chesterton, A Short History of England. 156

“The only game that can’t be rigged is peekaboo.” — Cruickshank’s Law #4

“I see a good deal of talk from Washington about lowering taxes. I hope they do get ’em lowered down enough so people can afford to pay ’em.” — Will Rogers

You know, I think this is the first time ever that SB has done this to me…. Taken together these seven pearls, each of which is relatively okay as a stand-alone thought, form a picture of an idea so outrageous, so amorphous, so irrelevant, it boggles the mind…. “What idea is that?”, you may well ask…. and that’s the problem…. I have no frigging idea where this went, or what it means…

The only part that makes any sense to me at this point is the one in the middle, because, hey, I’m a Scorpio… I guess that’s the ultimate point SB is making… If it doesn’t work for us Scorpio ffolkes, we just change the rules by which the game is being played…. It should be noted that this is far more effective when we don’t let the other players know we’ve done so… So, the rule for reading this pearl becomes, cast your mind free, and don’t expect to find a point…. It’s just a hedonist pearl, all feel-good, and no thorns…., other than those we poke ourselves with….
_____________________________

I am hesitant to even proof this one; it has a perilous feel to it…. Oh well, no whining aloud allowed…. Well, better than I’d hoped for; that’s something, I guess….. I don’t think Papa Hemingway has anything to worry about in terms of this ever being compared to anything of his, but, just in case, I’ll go ahead and post it anyway…. Sometimes, ya just gotta settle for what is, and not worry about what might have been…. See ya….

Y’all take care out there,
and May the Metaphorse be with you;
Blessed Be, dearest  Carole, Mark, and Theresa…
and everyone else, too…

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid

dozer3

Tarzan is refusing to wear the tuxedo, Jane….

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Ffolkes,

Bugger it…. I’m giving up, sort of…. I’m awake, again, with beau coups energy, safely silly yet potently real subject all picked out, and ample supplies of outrage at hand, all ready to rant…. whereupon I find myself, instead, staring at a blank page, trembling in fear, and wondering how in hell I’m going to pull this one out of the fire. I had a nice, controversial subject all ready to rant on, but, somehow, it broke down about four paragraphs in, and I can’t seem to find my way back to stable enough ground from which to fire my weapons; sarcasm must be accurately aimed, or it is useless…. So, I figure I’ll go start the intro, and what happens? Frozen brain! Stare as I might, nothing pops, and the moment of potentiality stretches into infinity, with me sweating, grunting, pulling my hair, and generally turning into a puddle of angst under my chair….

I had thought I’d outgrown this; it’s been months since I’ve been hampered by this kind of freeze-up, and, needless to say, I’m not happy about it….. I’m so damn frustrated, I’m not sure yet whether to apply an emergency method to get past this, or just have faith, and hope it will straighten itself out (a method of problem solving familiar to any Windows user…) …. Not being terribly adept at that part (having faith without evidence, and hoping for a magic bullet…), I suppose I’ll have to resort to an emergency procedure…. I hate that, as they tend to cause as much damage as they fix, but, if nothing else happens in the next few moments, we’ll find ourselves with no choice in the matter…. There ARE legal standards for safety that must be observed, you know….

Those safety standards are challenged by the procedures that may be employed, however, (that’s why they call them “emergency” procedures….), so, maybe we’ll just wait a few moments here, and see what happens…. I’m going to look away for a couple of seconds, and see what it’s like when I get back, okay?…. Okay….. Hang tight…. ‘Kay, I’m back…. let’s see where we are now….

“Cucumber should be well sliced, and dressed with pepper and vinegar, and then thrown out, as good for nothing.” — Samuel Johnson

You know, sometimes, I’m just not sure how to take Smart Bee…. Times such as this, it seems as if it is laughing at us, at the very least….. Then, I remember, it’s just a software program….. Theoretically, and experientially, it is not sentient; therefore, it cannot laugh at us…. But, dammit, they’re not here, listening, and feeling the sense of shame that having a damn database make fun of them produces, are they?…. No, they’re not, so they should just shut the hell UP!….

Uh oh, I may have tripped over into emergency procedure #2 accidentally….. That’s the one where I just let my frustration take over, turning me into a cursing, offensive caricature of those folks I am currently trashing, hurling insults and deprecations with both hands, and generally making an ass of myself, in order to offer some contrast to the normally serene atmosphere that is generally in place here at ECR…. It’s all in good fun, though, and it should be remembered that none of what may be said here is acceptable in court, as it is all fictional, technically…. Even when we speak of reality, it should be noted that by doing so, we remove ourselves at least two degrees from that reality, and thus have no real claim on its structure, or direction….

Nor, apparently, do we have any further claim to anything beyond the merely insane…. I’m babbling, aren’t I? It’s a shame, I know, but, it’s my gift, and it must be acknowledged, or problems can develop in the space-time continuum that aren’t amenable to the usual types of repair…. In other words, it’s best if we all just back away slowly now, and let this proceed as it will… Any further attempts at directing today’s process will certainly meet with not just resistance, but outright rebellion, so, ffolkes, do us all a favor, and don’t touch anything until the vehicle comes to a complete stop, and I have turned off the seat belt signs…. Thanks….

“My life is a patio of fun!” — Zippy the Pinhead
_____________________________

“Human beings are perhaps never more frightening than when they are convinced beyond doubt that they are right.” — Laurens Van der Post, The Lost World of the Kalahari (1958)

Can you think of a better description for the idiots in Congress who, thanks to their asinine insistence on having their own way, have stubbornly carried their conviction of rightness right up to the edge of Stupid, pushed it over, then jumped after it?…. I can’t…. These assholes are becoming more than just a little annoying with their undeserved sense of entitlement, and their completely misplaced elitism. In one way, I’m a bit encouraged, because this all seems like a swan song to me…. these fools have so alienated the majority of people in this country, they have sealed their fate, and I think we can consider this little glitch in things to be their last hurrah as a political force….

So far as I can tell from the news I read, the only people who continue to support these fools is themselves…. Nobody else in society is behind them, all the rest of us having become increasingly tired of the rhetoric and fanfare that accompanies all the issues these fools take up as part of their platform…. They have built their entire program on fear, and lies, producing the only result possible, to wit: more fear, and more lies…. We now see the natural result, as more and more mainstream voters recoil in disgust at the intransigence and intolerance these people have displayed. They just don’t seem to have a clue as to how out of touch with reality they are, and it is becoming increasingly obvious to the rest of society just how much their attitudes are causing trouble for all of us….

So, in that way, I am hopeful, that this entire shutdown of the government will be the straw that breaks the back of the Republican Party, and it can go the way of the Whigs, the Tories, and the dodo bird…. into extinction, where it belongs….  Hopefully, it will do so without dragging the rest of us along with them…. Oh, they’ll try; misery loves company…. But, I think, this time, they’re on their own, and they can sink into oblivion all by themselves, thank you very much….

As I just proved above, in the intro section, today’s effort is liable, at any moment, to turn on us, and become somewhat dangerous to handle without the proper equipment…. For example, this rant is now going to completely reverse direction, 180 degrees, and head off into the realm of intellectual stimulation, rather than the emotional stimulation that is the usual target for such pieces….. I’m too strange today to be logical, or organized, so, we’re going to switch horses in mid-stream, and take our shots with an old-school weapon, i.e., strangely apt sarcasm, instead of the relatively new-fangled bludgeon which comprises a proper rant…. So be it….

“I don’t pick on politicians. They ain’t done nothin’.” — Red Skelton

“The reported resort to astrology in the White House has occasioned much merriment.  It is not funny.  Astrological gibberish, which means astrology generally, has no place in a newspaper, let alone government. Unlike comics, which are part of a newspaper’s harmless pleasure and make no truth claims, astrology is a fraud.  The idea that it gets a hearing in government is dismaying.” — George F. Will, Washing Post Writers Group

“The fundamental cause of trouble in the world today is that the stupid are cocksure while the intelligent are full of doubt.” — Bertrand Russell

“Why won’t sharks eat lawyers?   Professional courtesy.” — Smart Bee

“You have all the characteristics of a popular politician: a horrible voice, bad breeding, and a vulgar manner.” — Aristophanes   c. 450-385 BC, Knights [424 BC] l. 217

“The wise man can pick up a grain of sand and envision a whole universe.  But the stupid man will just lie down on some seaweed and roll around until he’s  completely draped in it. Then he’ll stand up and go, “Hey, I’m Vine Man.” — Deep Thoughts, by Jack Handey

(Remind y’all of anyone? Someone in a blue suit, ruthlessly knotted red tie, with a cross for a tie-pin, a flag pin on the lapel, and a dumb expression?…. Oh come on, ffolkes… This little description could apply to ANY of the Tea Party Retardicans in the House of Representatives, and y’all know it…. Hell, I’ve heard Paul Ryan claim common ancestry with Vine Man, in more than one of his speeches…. )

“The art of leadership. . . consists in consolidating the attention of the people against a single adversary and taking care that nothing will split up that attention. . . .” — Adolf Hitler, “Mein Kampf”

(Keeping the attention of the public on the manufactured enemy is essential, because then they will not be looking at the true enemy, the leaders….)

“Any statistic that can be found which is interesting can be credited to the fact that this particular statistic is a mistake. If it is not a mistake, it is a misprint, and if it is not a misprint, it is unlawful release of classified information.” — Policy & Procedure Manual, National Security Administration, US Department of Shady Ethical Rationalizations

Just in case you hadn’t heard…. Monday, when the US government shut down, the NSA proudly, and perkily, announced that this week is National Cyber Security Awareness Week! (It’s true! I didn’t make it up….) Thought you might want to know….
_____________________________

After such a beginning, and such a weird first section, I need something that can only be described as wonderful…. This works…. Powerful, there’s another word that works…

How Many Moments Must(Amazing Each]

how many moments must(amazing each
how many centuries)these more than eyes
restroll and stroll some never deepening beach

locked in feverish time’s tide at poise,

love alone understands: only for whom
i’ll keep my tryst until that tide shall turn;
and from all selfsubtracting hugely doom
treasures of reeking innocence are born.

Then, with incredible the anywhere
eclipsing of a spirit’s ignorance
by every wisdom knowledge fears to dare,

how the(myself’s own self who’s)child will dance!

and when he’s plucked such mysteries as men
do not conceive– let ocean grow again.

~~ E.E. Cummings ~~

_____________________________

It’s been a strange morning, but, then, I have to go to the dentist later, and that always weirds me out, trying NOT to think about it…. In fact, I’m so weirded out about it today, I’m going to go with a completely random pearl, picked entirely at the whim of Smart Bee, just because I have no further mental energy, of a focused nature, to spare for it…. Hope it works out okay…. remember to hold your breath until the oxygenating drugs start to work…. Last time, we had to stop the bus, and proceed directly to the emergency exits….

“If you get to thinkin’ you’re a person of some influence, try orderin’ somebody else’s dog around.” — Bix Bender

“There exists in the human heart a depraved taste for equality, which impels the weak to attempt to lower the powerful to their own level, and reduces men to prefer equality in slavery to inequality with freedom.”  — Tocqueville, Alexis de (1805-1859)

“It is loneliness that makes the loudest noise. This is true of men as of dogs.” — Eric Hoffer

“Life may not be the party we hoped for, but while we’re here we should dance.” — Smart Bee

“Man is most nearly himself when he achieves the seriousness of a child at play.” — Heraclitus

“I’m a solipsist and, I have to say, I’m surprised there aren’t more of us.” — from a letter to Bertrand Russell

“The old proverb was now made good, “the mountain had brought forth a mouse.” — Plutarch (46-120 AD) — Life of Agesilaus II
_____________________________

On at least two occasions this morning, the effort to complete this process has nearly resulted in the use of emergency procedures, and that trend, I see, continued right up to the very last entry in section three, just above…. But, the necessity for such drastic action was mitigated at the very last second, by a final find in Smart Bee that put the entire piece into perspective…. That quote was placed where it belongs, in section one, and the whole shebang fell into balance… but, you’re no doubt severely disinterested in my occasionally elusive, but ever so-sincere gestalt. Suffice to say, it’s done…. On that note, I’ll bid thee adieu….

Y’all take care out there,
and May the Metaphorse be with you;
Blessed Be, dearest  Carole, Mark, and Theresa…
and everyone else, too…

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid

dozer3

Cross pollination of adverbs remains publicly undervalued….

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Ffolkes,

I won’t rant, I won’t rant, I won’t rant….. I find myself in need of some restraint, in order to keep from subjecting both of my readers (  😆  ) to a full-out, angry, vituperative tirade against the complete idiots currently inhabiting the Congressional buildings in Washington D.C…. Fortunately, for me, and for y’all, I’ve found a perfect quote to begin such a missive, so we’ll wait until section one, or three, to jump into the rant I know is there, anxiously waiting it’s chance to strike out at what may be the most widespread act of treason in our nation’s history….

Until I can begin, though, let’s talk about something else….. How ’bout the weather? No, no, that will merely get me started on global warming, an eminently rantable concept, given the state of the atmosphere, and the intransigent unwillingness of most everyone to PULL THEIR HEAD OUT OF THEIR ASSES….. Gee, I must be just a tad upset about that one; better not go there….

Hmm…. how about gun control? Well, there WAS a recent mass shooting…. Of course, this one was perpetrated by an obvious nut case, who, in spite of a long period of providing authorities with clues and hints of his inner conflict, managed to stockpile a shit-load of guns and ammo, then was adept enough to get around all the security measures at a major armed services facility to start shooting at his imaginary enemies, using real people as stand-ins for his hallucinations…..

I can see the events of 9/11 made a huge impression on the security at armed services facilities, didn’t it? It obviously caused them to review and tighten up their security measures…. NOT!….. I suppose they figured they were safe, because nobody would EVER think of shooting at a bunch of people making weapons for the war-making machine….. Nah, I think we’ll pass on this one, too…. there’s too much implied insanity, on both sides of the issue, to get into this one right now…

Well, let’s see, what else is going on in the world that we could talk about, without getting into how screwed up the world has become, one way or another…. It’s getting to be a hard task these days, to find ONE area of our lives that hasn’t been screwed over one way or another by what our beloved ruling class has been up to….. It seems like every time I turn around, some dipshit politico is bringing up some new asinine idea, or some old asinine idea, that serves to cause divisions between people, and create more problems than are ever solved…. They can’t seem to keep their greedy little hands out of everyone else’s business, whatever it may be, and their insane twisting of reality to suit their own purposes is getting really old….

It does make it relatively easy to come up with something to rant about, that much is certain; but, that isn’t necessarily to be considered a boon, is it? The more there is to rant about, the more screwed up things are…. It would be nice to get up one day to find the news empty of ANY new idiocy from those who seem unable to keep from screwing others, but, since I don’t believe I have EVER seen a day like that, I’m not particularly hopeful of that one ever coming true….

Oddly enough, I did manage to meander around sufficiently to reach legal intro level, which, after all, was the intent…. Does that mean we’ve succeeded today? No, I’m afraid not… but, it does mean we can go on to something a bit more compelling, and, theoretically, more interesting….

Shall we Pearl?…..

“On SECOND thought, maybe I’ll heat up some BAKED BEANS and watch REGIS PHILBIN..  It’s GREAT to be ALIVE!!” — Zippy the Pinhead
_____________________________

‘Tis written: ‘In the beginning was the word.’
Already I stick, and who shall help afford?
The ‘word’ at such high rate I may not tender;
The passage I must elsewhere render,
If rightly by the Spirit I am taught,
‘Tis written: ‘In the beginning was the Thought.’

By the first line a moment tarry,
Let not thine eager pen itself o’er-hurry!
Does ‘thought’ work all and fashion outright?
It should stand: ‘In the beginning was the Might.’
Yet even as my pen the sentence traces,
A warning hint the half-writ word effaces.

The Spirit helps me – from all doubting freed,
Thus write I: ‘In the beginning was the Deed.’

— Dr. Faustus, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, “Faust”

I made a statement above, using a very significant word of accusation, that I should explain, and I will…. but, first, consider Dr. Faustus’ words a moment….. The last line is the key, in my mind, the basic truth that the poetic train of thought leads us to, after a very pleasant rational exercise, couched in very elegant verse. But, the power of what is implied is what concerns me today…..

“In the beginning was the Deed.”….. A group of politicians who, by grace of some election chicanery, such as  manipulation of election districts, voting regulation changes to block certain voters, massive infusion of money into spreading lies to ignorant voters, and any other underhanded method they could legally or marginally-legally get away with, were able to elect a slight majority of Tea Party supported Republicans to a number of House seats, during the last national elections in 2012….

This group is characterized by certain common traits, such as disbelief in global warming, deliberate opposition to birth control fueled by disbelief in world overpopulation, along with a mistrust of  science in general, faith-based beliefs regarding gays, women, people of color, immigration, or anyone not a white Christian male, and most critically, a stubborn belief that they have the right to force their own out-dated beliefs on a society in which they are no longer a majority.

Since I must find a word to indicate the group when I am talking about them, a word that describes the group of them specifically, it’s hard not to just use the word, “assholes”, because that is exactly how they act most of the time…. However, today, I’d like to use the word that I believe is indicated in this situation, given their actions of the last few weeks regarding the budget, and Obamacare, and in truth, any reforms that would be of benefit to anyone other than, as mentioned, white Christian males…. Oh, yes, remember to add this word to the other descriptive adjectives I used, to wit: “millionaires”… because ALL of them are…. which just makes them that much further removed from, and out of touch with, the reality that most Americans live in…..

The new word I’ll use today to describe this group of Congressional Tea Party supported Republicans is, simply, traitors…. Yep, traitors, because that is exactly what they are….. These people, because of their sense of entitlement, completely unearned or deserved, and their deliberate isolation from reality, has led them to believe that they have the right to force their beliefs on the rest of this country, IN SPITE of their complete knowledge of the simple FACT that the majority of Americans do not believe the same way as they do anymore, and never will again…. They don’t CARE that others may suffer, or that they are completely out of touch with what is going on in the actual mainstream of society; they believe they ARE the mainstream, and by god, that’s the way it should be, to them…

But, they’ve lost touch with the real world, because the great mass of Americans no longer believe what they believe, and outside this country, there are not many at all who would agree at all with their position…. Most of what they purport to believe is just old news to much of the rest of the world, and makes them look all that much less sane, to hold on to what is so obviously not true in the face of so much evidence to the contrary….. If it wasn’t so dangerous, it would be rather pathetically sad…. But, it IS dangerous, to the rest of us, because, unfortunately, a lot of them are still in positions where they can cause damage beyond their actual influence… such as now, with this whole budget crisis idiocy….

“I wish Conservatives would be less liberal with their whining.” — Smart Bee

It sure would be nicer for the rest of us if they were, wouldn’t it? I get so tired of hearing stuff from these idiots, but, for that I blame the media, who are just as stupid in the way they pick and choose what to write about…. All the worst stuff, the least important, but most easily sold, is what ends up in the light, while all the stuff that NEEDS to be illuminated is passed over, or ignored, or made to be less important than it is…. Ah me, let’s not go too far into that subject, we’re still ranting against the traitorous congressional assholes….

They are traitors because they defaulted on their oaths of office, an oath which enjoins them, in intent, if not actual word, to uphold the law, and TO SERVE THE INTERESTS OF THE PEOPLE…. They have failed miserably in that respect, and there is NO ONE who can tell me that they haven’t…. None of these assholes even considered that what they are doing will harm more people than it could possibly help…. If they did, they didn’t care, and did it anyway, out of their sense of entitlement, which just makes it more traitorous, and well as more immoral and more unethical (both are correct…. these people have none of EITHER one….).

“The present contains nothing more than the past, and what is found in the effect is already in the cause.” — Henri Louis Bergson (1859-1941)

Knowing this only makes it hurt worse, for me, because it means that nobody in history has ever been able to cast off the shackles that the BRC and the shadowy masters of society have managed to place upon all of us….. They’ve had their way in the world for thousands of years, and the flaws in their control over the mass of humanity are few, not anywhere nearly large enough, or well-known enough, to cause the rest of humanity to protest, and throw them out…. Believe me, there is nothing the master class doesn’t know about how to control people in masses; just look at what they’ve accomplished in this country, in only two hundred years …..

“America will tolerate the taking of a human life without giving it a second thought. But don’t misuse a household pet.” — Dick Gregory, The Shadow that Scares Me, 1968

I’ve wandered around enough for one morning, and haven’t really taken more than a few shots at my intended targets…. But, they will manage to make themselves look foolish enough in the coming days, as this whole idiotic scenario plays itself out, so, I think I can let it go now, and not feel the worse for it…. I feel a bit better, having vented at least some of what built up over the last few days of watching it all unfold; it can be hard on us curmudgeons, having to hold stuff in like that…. Oh well, such is life…. thanks for listening….

Errors, like straws, upon the surface flow;
He who would search for pearls must dive below.

— John Dryden (1631-1700) — All for Love, Prologue
_____________________________

Ranting often leave me somewhat down, so, to bring myself up a bit, I’m going to use one of my own poems, one that, oddly enough, rings with some rather positive notes….

Tuesday’s Child, from an Oblique Angle
When I really stop to think, it isn’t too much to expect
a warm bed, a bite of food, a loving smile to reflect.
We all need such comfort and supportive attention,
so basic to our soul, there is no real need to mention.Life often offers opportunities disguised very well,
illusions are rampant, what’s real can be hard to tell.
To honor old ties may seem like the only thing one can do,
but evidence is real, despite one’s wish it were untrue.

Those who love us truly, without thought of any gain,
hate for us to experience life’s portions of pain.
They also know we each must follow our own chosen way,
for the lessons we learn, we all have our own price to pay.

Still, wishing and hoping can’t do any true harm
and wishing good things to friends feels welcome, and warm.
The pageant of society will pass on to the next day
what new sights and sounds it brings me, thankfully, I can’t say.

~~ gigoid ~~

_____________________________

I’ve ranted, twice, technically, if you count the intro, which COULD be considered a rant, as it’s long, makes little sense, and insults politicians at strategic moments…. So, any who, y’all can’t make me do it again, not legally, and not in reality, because I just won’t do it, so there…. I will, however, construct an old-school pearl, which, once again, you cannot prevent or delay…. Well, not without explosives… It’ll be okay, though, I’ll instruct SB to be really nice to everybody, and throw in some kind of incentive…. maybe, if we’re lucky, we won’t have to use the fire hoses….

“The promotion of “self-esteem” in our schools has been so successful that people feel free to spout off about all sorts of things — and see no reason why their opinions should not be taken as seriously as the views of people who actually know what they are talking about.” — Thomas Sowell

“Now, that the sovereign power and deity, whatsoever it is, should have regard of mankind, is a toy and vanity worthy to be laughed at.” — Pliny The Elder

“Till then we shall be content to admit openly, what you (religionists) whisper under your breath or hide in technical jargon, that the ancient secret is a secret still; that man knows nothing of the Infinite and Absolute; and that, knowing nothing, he had better not be dogmatic about his ignorance. And, meanwhile, we will endeavour to be as charitable as possible, and whilst you trumpet forth officially your contempt for our skepticism, we will at least try to believe that you are imposed upon by your own bluster.” — Leslie Stephen (1832-1904), “An agnostic’s Apology”, — Fortnightly Review, 1876

“He who knows that enough is enough will always have enough.” — Lao Tzu

IMMORTALITY, n.
A toy which people cry for,
And on their knees apply for,
Dispute, contend and lie for,
And if allowed
Would be right proud
Eternally to die for.
G.J.
— Ambrose Bierce, “The Devil’s Dictionary”

“BEWARE!  People acting under the influence of human nature.” — Smart Bee

“I love those who yearn for the impossible.” — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Faust
_____________________________

I love being able to end a piece with the same author, and work, as I started with; even if this turns out to be a pile of crap, it still makes the grade for being artistically balanced, if not intellectually so…. Let’s see what happened here…..

Whew! Longer, and tougher than I’d thought…. Not too bad, though, all in all, and certainly good enough for this venue…. Hell, a little bit of fluff, wax, and polish, I could probably post the rant in section one on another site, as an essay on current events, but, I’m lazy, and by the time I work up the wherewithal, energy-wise, to do that, it won’t be so current anymore…. C’est la vie! At least this one’s done, and I can go give my back, my fingers, and your credibility, a well-earned rest….. See ya….

Y’all take care out there,
and May the Metaphorse be with you;
Blessed Be, dearest  Carole, Mark, and Theresa…
and everyone else, too…

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

Which is Why….

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

dozer3

Initial ethical alignments are in progress….

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    Ffolkes,

I made a small tactical error this morning…. Before I started to write this, I read an email, and took a few moments to consider what it had to say….. It was yet another unwelcome begging letter from Organizing for Action, the grassroots fund raising organization formed after Obama’s second election victory… This organization sends me at least two emails every day, each with another call to action, based on whatever political dust-up is currently on tap, followed by a request for money. The calls to action lately relate mostly to the news of what is happening in Congress regarding the current budget mess….. Each email tells me how critical it is that I send them money, or the big, bad Republicans, who have already raised more money than we have (“we” being the good guys, the White House myrmidons as opposed to the Republican myrmidons….), will shut down the government…

I’m torn at the prospect of seeing the massive bureaucracy we call our government grind to a halt; if nothing else the NOISE that is generated is offensive, consisting as it does of the cries of innocent victims, the cacophony of outraged citizens, the outlandish accusations and blame-throwing by both political parties, and the wails of frustration from ffolkes like you and me, who cannot comprehend the depths of ignorance that are being displayed on a daily basis in Washington D.C….. However, on the other hand, as Will Rogers said, the people never suffer so much as when Congress is in session, so, having the whole ball of wax inactive could conceivably do some extensive good, just by not doing anything….

My mistake, as you can see, was allowing the email’s content to get under my skin…. Here we are, government shut down, everything in society at sixes and sevens, and the best they can come up with is, send us $5, so we can fight back?…. What a crock! How stupid do they think people are? Obviously, pretty stupid, as they just continue with their begging, no matter what is going on, or how much they’ve collected…. I guess, for every million emails they send out, they probably have a couple thousand assholes who would send money to Mars, if the politicians asked them to, so they just keep sending them out, relying on the power of statistical percentages to keep the money flowing into their coffers…..

This whole situation is one that brings me to a point where my only reaction is “So? They’re screwing us again? So, what else is new?” I am not only outraged, frustrated, and sad at the ignorance and sheer idiocy currently on display in Washington, I am becoming bored with it…. The same old bullshit, not even dressed in new clothes, keeps falling at our feet, disgorged on a daily basis by people who seem to be congenital liars, thieves, and just plain assholes, ‘scuse my French, which I’m allowed to say because their actions indicate nothing else…. As I said…. BOORRRING…..

We are hearing the same old story, told at the same old stand, by the same old shameless people, insulting us with the same old lies…. I’d be angry, but, it’s more depressing than it is enraging, because of the simple fact that most people in this country not only don’t know they’re being lied to, but, when it is pointed out to them, they try to rationalize, rather than reject…. Rather than admit they have been in error, they’d rather try to justify being wrong, and refuse to change….

It’s saddening, and maddening, to see the LACK of intelligence and independence of spirit that once characterized this country and its people… The American public has turned into a massive crowd of willing slaves to their corporate masters, proud of their ignorance, filled with a false sense of both their own worth, and their entitlement to rights and privileges not earned.

Hmm… I see that I’ve again usurped the intro section to vent… If I have any hope of completing this Pearl by the usual time, I’d better get on with it…. Just consider this your starting point, and I’ll dive in here to begin the search for some outsourced wisdom for us to consider this morning….

Shall we Pearl?…..

“If you are beginning to doubt what I am saying, you are probably hallucinating.” — The Firesign Theater, _Everything you know is Wrong_
_____________________________

“It does no harm just once in a while to acknowledge that the whole country isn’t in flames, that there are people in the country besides politicians, entertainers, and criminals.” — Charles Kuralt

Mr. Kuralt, while correct in his statement, mostly, forgets to include one stupidly large, important group connected to the groups he mentions above, to wit: the huge number of IDIOTS among the unwashed masses who support the politicians, admire the celebrities, and regard the criminals as just another form of entertainment, unless it touches on them directly. It is a disturbing thought to realize the number of people who believe that politicians are honest, who think celebrities are role models, and who regard TV as the closest approach to reality they intend to tolerate…..

In part, he IS right, though…. There ARE people who don’t hurt others as their basic modus operandi…. There are people who don’t vote for thieving assholes (Though that’s a tough one to avoid, given that practically everyone who runs for office falls into that category…. I guess I mean that a lot of people vote for someone on the ballot, without fully realizing they are being lied to…. Mostly, I think they have suspicions, but vote anyway, because they can’t imagine any alternatives….)

Society does not consist solely of those who monopolize the news every day; it is simply the case that those people don’t fit into one of those categories that make compelling news stories, so they aren’t ever written up like those who lie, cheat, and steal, whether that criminality is expressed in Washington D.C. in an office building, in a sound studio, or on the mean streets… Actors end up in this group because they show the unwashed masses what the politicians and criminals are up to in stories and films….

“You could drop a leaflet or a Hubbard squash on the head of a person in any land, and you would almost certainly hit a brain that was whirling in small, conventional circles.” — E. B. White

Hence, due to what sells the best, those three groups end up on the news, in theaters, and on our TV’s, phones, and computers, all day and night, with all the bells and whistles they can figure out how to hang on them…. Since that is all there is to see, it is easy to start to believe that these are all there is, and the world is nothing more than one big illusionary collection of people and events that has no direction, other than straight to Hell in a Hummer….

Yes, there ARE other people in this country other than those three groups…. but, they aren’t making the news, are they? They’re watching it, and, sadly, mostly keeping their mouths shut…. which is pretty much why Hell is only a few miles away now…..

“Democracy is based on the assumption that a million men are wiser than one  man. How’s that again?  I missed something.” — Robert A. Heinlein

This will be a short rant, since I count it as merely a continuation of the first section; it’s a slight change of subject, but, not much, if one looks closely…. Besides the entertainment value of ranting, for me, it’s also my indictment of the very people who are dominating today’s headlines, so, I’m good with however it comes out, to be honest…. I’m disgusted, and disappointed, and a large number of other adjectives that indicate similar feelings, directed at the ‘assholes on parade’ we’re forced to watch… So disgusted, I am going to stop here, because it’s just making me crazy, and want to break things….

“In a cruel and evil world, being cynical can allow you to get some entertainment out of it.” — Daniel Waters, screenwriter of HEATHERS
_____________________________

For me, poetry has as much, or more, power to take my mind away as does the best prose, or the best films, and runs a parallel course with the words of someone I love, in how strongly I can be affected in my emotions….. In that light, my favorite poets are favored, not because of how popular or famous they are, but because of how I feel when I read them… From this poet, I always find both the power of elegance and beauty, and hope for the spirit we entail as humans….

As Once the Winged Energy of Delight

As once the winged energy of delight
carried you over childhood’s dark abysses,
now beyond your own life build the great
arch of unimagined bridges.

Wonders happen if we can succeed
in passing through the harshest danger;
but only in a bright and purely granted
achievement can we realize the wonder.

To work with Things in the indescribable
relationship is not too hard for us;
the pattern grows more intricate and subtle,
and being swept along is not enough.

Take your practiced powers and stretch them out
until they span the chasm between two
contradictions…For the god
wants to know himself in you.

~~ Rainer Maria Rilke ~~

_____________________________

What you will find below is a Classic pearl… It chose itself, which is the primary characteristic that sets this type apart; when I furnish the parameters for inclusion, the outcome is of a different nature. For some reason, probably having to do with magic, or something, this kind always comes out stronger, and stranger, and more beautiful in execution of the humorous parts, if not always more elegantly attractive due to the identifiable sources involved….

If any of that is comprehensible to you, I think you could consider yourself to be a regular…. It’s clear that you have a “different” sort of mind, for which logic and compassion dictate that one suggest, it possibly would be smart to make an appointment with your psychiatrist, should you have one…. If you don’t, I’m bound to remind y’all, the law requires you to engage one, if you spend more than the recommended amount of time pearling; you can get around that requirement by keeping your certificate of sanity at hand, as provided to you at birth, and again at your graduation from high school….. That IS what they gave us, right?…. I lost the one I got at birth, but, I just thought they gave me a new on at the commencement exercises in 1968…. Oh, well, no es importante, si?…

Just so it’s all clear… If it doesn’t say who said it, I found it in Smart Bee without any attribution….. and Google didn’t know either…. or possibly, it didn’t care…..

“It’s so clean. It’s certainly uncontaminated by cheese.”

“My main reason for adopting literature as a profession was that, as the author is never seen by his clients, he need not dress respectably.” — George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950)

“Some professors asked a monk to lecture to them on  spiritual matters. The monk ascended a podium, struck it once  with his stick, and descended. The academics were dumbfounded.  The monk asked them, “Do you understand what I have told you?”  One professor said, “I do not understand.” The monk said, “I have concluded my lecture.”

“A thing moderately good is not so good as it ought to be. Moderation in temper is always a virtue; but moderation in principle is always a vice.” — Thomas Paine [Author of the Declaration of Independence and even more, but no politician.]

“Not a shred of evidence exists in favor of the idea that life is serious.” — Brendan Gill

“I hope I never get so old I get religious.” — Ingmar Bergman

NLTDB  🙂  🙂  :-):   Nothin’ Left To Do But Smile, Smile, Smile.
_____________________________

“Okay,” he said, self-consciously, “not bad.” Small cough…. “Not bad at all….” Larger cough…. “I wonder if anyone will read it?”, was his next plaintive question, so I kicked him out of my head…. But, after I caught my breath from coughing, I realized that, yes, it wasn’t bad at all, so, I can quit now, which is probably for the best, for all of us…. See ya tomorrow, ffolkes…

Y’all take care out there,
and May the Metaphorse be with you;
Blessed Be, dearest  Carole, Mark, and Theresa…
and everyone else, too…

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid

dozer3

Give us a piteous whimper, Number Six….

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Ffolkes,

    Today, like any other day, has yet to show its true potential, though even now, the feeling of pregnant possibility is almost palpable. It’s hard to describe, actually, this feeling of electric, buzzing anticipation of…. what?  The very unknown qualities of the future, far-distant or immediate, add a certain tingle of both fear, and burgeoning joy, to the mix of emotions that swirl as we ponder the day’s dawning….

    For some, this jittery, bouncy feeling is too much of a morning, so, they bury their nose in a paper, sip their coffee, and try not to think about what might happen… But, for others, such as meself…. well, let’s just say that there’s no better start to the day than to feel as if it will be filled with challenges, with problems, with solutions, and with both joy, and pain…. Not a bad day, for a human… It’s like Lazarus used to say….

“A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.” — Lazarus Long, from Robert Heinlein’s Time Enough For Love

    I can do all of the above, except program a computer (I can learn, though, and am in the process of doing so, slowly….), and balance my checking account…. Well, actually, not true… I have had it balanced, once or twice in the dim, dark past; now, I just let the bank do it, and keep track of it online… So, this means I can consider myself a human, by these standards, which I consider to be an accurate summation, and much the same as the conclusions I had already come to in my life. Of course, reading Heinlein’s work since the age of 11 hasn’t hurt a bit in developing those beliefs and standards….

    Nor did it hurt to be raised by a Master Sergeant…. I always call my dad that, but, I wouldn’t want to give the impression that was ALL he was… He lived for 72 years, but spent only 20 of that in the army, so, there was more to him than that…. But, in my mind, the fact that, after those 20 years of service, he ended up at that rank as his permanent billet, (though he was promoted after retiring; that is standard. By the time of his death, he had been promoted to major….), is an indication of what kind of man he was…. It is a well-known, and accepted, fact that in the army, Master Sergeants are the ones who actually run things…. smart officers leave the bulk of their duty to the sergeants, merely giving good orders, and staying out of their way….

    But, my father was more than merely a Master Sergeant; it’s just a convenient handle to describe him, and to give an idea of what sort of guy he was…. Any who, I’ve wandered around again, without much purpose, and seem to have ended up in a place where I can’t find an easy way out, and into the Pearl… Not unusual, I suppose, merely bothersome…. Oh well, I think I’ll use emergency procedure # 1, which is in its place at the head of the entire group of techniques for saving my ass because it always works… It’s called the Bail-Out, for good reason: it just stops, and…..
_____________________________

    And, you never hear from me again on whatever subject was at hand…. Pretty cool, eh? It ALWAYS works…. So, having been dumped here in the first section, clueless as to something to write (No, nothing new in that, I know, but a PITA, nonetheless….). I guess I’ll go old-school, like I had any intention of doing anything else….  😆

“An older student came to Otis and said, “I have been to see a great number of teachers and I have given up a great number of pleasures. I have fasted, been celibate and stayed awake nights seeking enlightenment. I have given up everything I was asked to give up and I have suffered, but I have not been enlightened. What should I do?” Otis replied, “Give up suffering.” — Camden Benares, “Zen Without Zen Masters”

“When the rich make war it’s the poor that die.” — Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980), “Le Diable et le bon Dieu”, 1951

“His seat back is not in the full upright and locked position.” — Smart Bee

“Food, sleep, fear, propagation; each is the common property of men with brutes. Virtue is really their additional distinction; devoid of virtue, they are equal with brutes.” — The Hitopadesa (600?-1100? A.D.)

“All but the hard hearted man must be torn with pity for this pathetic dilemma of the rich man, who has to keep the poor man just stout enough to do the work and just thin enough to have to do it.” — G. K. Chesterton, Utopia of Usurers, 1917

“There’s a world of difference between truth and facts. Facts can obscure truth.” — Maya Angelou

“Never commit yourself to a cheese without having first examined it.” — T. S. Eliot
_____________________________

    Poetry such as this needs no adornment from me…..

Love Is A Parallax

‘Perspective betrays with its dichotomy:
train tracks always meet, not here, but only
   in the impossible mind’s eye;
horizons beat a retreat as we embark
on sophist seas to overtake that mark
   where wave pretends to drench real sky.’

‘Well then, if we agree, it is not odd
that one man’s devil is another’s god
   or that the solar spectrum is
a multitude of shaded grays; suspense
on the quicksands of ambivalence
   is our life’s whole nemesis.

So we could rave on, darling, you and I,
until the stars tick out a lullaby
   about each cosmic pro and con;
nothing changes, for all the blazing of
our drastic jargon, but clock hands that move
   implacably from twelve to one.

We raise our arguments like sitting ducks
to knock them down with logic or with luck
   and contradict ourselves for fun;
the waitress holds our coats and we put on
the raw wind like a scarf; love is a faun
   who insists his playmates run.

Now you, my intellectual leprechaun,
would have me swallow the entire sun
   like an enormous oyster, down
the ocean in one gulp: you say a mark
of comet hara-kiri through the dark
   should inflame the sleeping town.

So kiss: the drunks upon the curb and dames
in dubious doorways forget their monday names,
   caper with candles in their heads;
the leaves applaud, and santa claus flies in
scattering candy from a zeppelin,
   playing his prodigal charades.

The moon leans down to took; the tilting fish
in the rare river wink and laugh; we lavish
   blessings right and left and cry
hello, and then hello again in deaf
churchyard ears until the starlit stiff
   graves all carol in reply.

Now kiss again: till our strict father leans
to call for curtain on our thousand scenes;
   brazen actors mock at him,
multiply pink harlequins and sing
in gay ventriloquy from wing to wing
   while footlights flare and houselights dim.

Tell now, we taunt where black or white begins
and separate the flutes from violins:
   the algebra of absolutes
explodes in a kaleidoscope of shapes
that jar, while each polemic jackanapes
   joins his enemies’ recruits.

The paradox is that ‘the play’s the thing’:
though prima donna pouts and critic stings,
   there burns throughout the line of words,
the cultivated act, a fierce brief fusion
which dreamers call real, and realists, illusion:
   an insight like the flight of birds:

Arrows that lacerate the sky, while knowing
the secret of their ecstasy’s in going;
   some day, moving, one will drop,
and, dropping, die, to trace a wound that heals
only to reopen as flesh congeals:
   cycling phoenix never stops.

So we shall walk barefoot on walnut shells
of withered worlds, and stamp out puny hells
   and heavens till the spirits squeak
surrender: to build our bed as high as jack’s
bold beanstalk; lie and love till sharp scythe hacks
   away our rationed days and weeks.

Then jet the blue tent topple, stars rain down,
and god or void appall us till we drown
   in our own tears: today we start
to pay the piper with each breath, yet love
knows not of death nor calculus above
   the simple sum of heart plus heart.

~~ Sylvia Plath ~~

_____________________________

    I haven’t ranted today, and I rather think I’ll not do so at all, being, as I am, in a state of mind NOT conducive to the proper critical assault of some deserving asshole in the public venue…. although, I’m certain, there is SOMEONE in the news today who deserves an insult or two as payback for their asininity…… Hell, I could easily take two or three minutes, peruse the news headlines, and come up with the name of one or two appropriate candidates…. I’m just too lazy this morning to do so….

    I’m gonna go for another old-school pearl, as you probably knew I would, once you saw the word ‘lazy’…. Let’s see what The Notebooks of Lazarus Long have for us along the lines of some ironic, or possibly sardonic, observations on that historically ubiquitous obstacle to the progress of mankind, Religion, or as we like to call it here, the Priestly Hierarchies…. All of these are from Robert Heinlein, via Lazarus, with just a bit of help from Smart Bee….

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

“One man’s theology is another man’s belly laugh.  “

“Men rarely (if ever) manage to dream up a god superior to themselves. Most gods have the manners and morals of a spoiled child.”

“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.”

“God split himself into a myriad parts that he might have friends.” This may not be true, but it sounds good — and is no sillier than any other theology.”

“God is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnibenevolent — it says so right here on the label. If you have a mind capable of believing all three of these divine attributes simultaneously, I have a wonderful bargain for you. No checks, please. Cash and in small bills.”

“Doubt is the beginning, not the end, of wisdom.” — Smart Bee

    Well, there you have it, ffolkes…. My own personal invitation to Hell, if the Christians have their way….   😉
_____________________________

    Okay, so, they can’t all be brilliant…. Now, if only I could get ONE of them to approach that, I’d be happy…. Let’s see where on the scale this one falls….

    Okay, well, I’m impressed… I was barely paying attention, and this came out pretty good…. I’ll have to try this more often, if I can figure out whatever the hell it is that I did differently…. See ya, ffolkes…..

Y’all take care out there,
and May the Metaphorse be with you;
Blessed Be, dearest  Carole, Mark, and Theresa…
and everyone else, too…

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid

dozer3

Surveys are calling for juicier burgers….

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Ffolkes,

It’s entirely possible that I’m drying up….. I’ve written so much in the last two years, it’s all starting to sound the same; if there is one thing I refuse to consider, it is repeating my self to no purpose. I’ve repeated myself here, of course, many times, as I have continued my campaign to show as many ffolkes as I can just how badly they are being disrespected by the BRC, the PH’s, their CM’s, and the blind, vicious masses of myrmidons who loyally, if immorally, support them all, hoping beyond hope enough people would hear the truths I’m shouting out, and begin to work toward stopping them from killing us all….

In that campaign, and to pursue the stated end,I HAVE repeated my assertions, any number of times, which is why I think I may not have much left. It all is beginning to seem futile, at the least, and completely pointless, at the worst; I cannot see much evidence that all I’ve been saying is getting us very far toward salvation as a society. Oh, don’t worry, I’m not a complete idiot (presumably); I don’t believe that I am the world’s savior, or that I have the only message worth hearing, and I certainly don’t claim to be the world’s most compelling writer, even if I do use a lot of big words…. 7 billion people who have NOT ever read what I write can’t be ALL wrong, can they?….

No, I can’t claim to be the most important, or the best, or even the most committed writer of what could be called “calls to action” (though, perhaps, the most prolific in word-count); a lot of people, who are (maybe) better writers, and who certainly have more readers, also write about this stuff, every day, in a lot of news outlets. There are organizations with web sites who have been formed solely for the purpose of counting all the lies that politicians tell us (fact checkers, they call themselves….), checking the claims made in their speeches against reality, to ascertain the level of truth being told….. At last check, the claims I’ve made, about ALL of them, that they are ALL lying, have been proven, beyond a doubt, to be absolutely correct…..

However, truthful as I may be, I’m getting a bit tired of continually promoting a message that, even though annoyingly and humiliatingly true, as well as bitterly ugly, does not seem to outrage others as much as it does me…. I don’t understand how the press can constantly print the crap they do, allowing the lies that are put out to be distributed beyond all hope of counteraction…. It is as if the entire society has accepted the lies as their only truth; even the media will breathlessly repeat anything said by a major politician, without ever checking the statements for truth, in full awareness that what they are repeating may not be the truth…. They know what they’re doing, but, because it makes a profit, or in some other way meets their need for expediency, they refuse to stop reporting what they KNOW, or, at least, suspect, to be false….

Actually, I don’t know if profit is the ONLY motive of those who report the news…. I do know it is the sole motive of those who own and control the media; their primary concern has always been one of control of information, not the undisciplined spread of it. But, it really doesn’t matter what their motive may be, as the end result is the same; a society controlled by shadowy masters who have no compunction about lying, cheating, or stealing their way into power, then using that power to consolidate their positions, making it damn near impossible to either remove them…. most of the time, they don’t allow the media, or anyone, to even identify them….

Those who have the real power in this world tend to stick to the shadows and back alleys, (which, oddly enough, look strangely like penthouses and country mansions….), never showing their faces to a public that would revolt and tear them limb from limb, had they any clue as to their real part in how reality is ordered….. They don’t like to be photographed, and they never walk in public venues without security at close hand, to protect them from the “mean streets”, filled with the mostly ignorant inhabitants, of the world they have created to suit themselves.

I would imagine that even the most powerful politicians in the world haven’t a clue that they are really puppets, controlled by people who will never give up their clandestine power. If the world’s political leaders were ever made aware of the degree to which they are no more than marionettes for their invisible masters, just like the unwashed masses they lord it over, it could conceivably cause problems for those who have the real power, which they aren’t going to allow…. The real rulers of this planet have had many thousands of years of practice at directing human culture into the channels they desire, wherein the great mass of humanity believes their leaders are good people, trying to make their lives better, when in reality, we are all headed straight to a Dante-esque version of Hell, of our own making….

On that positive note, I think I should go on to the rest of today’s outburst, before I rant myself into a coma…. As pleasant as that prospect may sound to some, I’ll pass, thank you….. Shall we Pearl?…..

“Sex! Lies! Drugs! Money! Power! Corruption! Man, I love Congress!” — Smart Bee
_____________________________

I’ve waited a long time, and spent a lot of time very diligently searching the Net for an article such as this one…. It is a very even-handed, and more importantly, realistic take on all the stuff that the politicians use to whip the public into a frenzy of fear, whenever there is a new mass shooting, or another terrorist attack somewhere. Such reports of terrorist activity doesn’t even have to be happening here, in this country, for some of the media pundits and politicians to use it as a method of creating panic and outrage in the public arena.

The author acknowledges a little known, and certainly under-appreciated fact, which can be stated thus: when the number of shootings are actually COUNTED, there are actually no more of them happening now than at any other time since statistics on the matter have been collected. In fact, several earlier periods of our history, especially in the last century, experienced significantly more terrorist bombings, and more mass shootings, than have occurred in the first 13 years of this century. These are numerical FACTS, ffolkes, not speculation, or guesses…. The pundits WANT the people in fear, so they promote that agenda, with no shame at all…

Because the political pundits would rather keep the public in a state of suppressed panic than tell them the truth, they flood the media with emotional diatribes against unseen, sometimes even non-existent dangers, in order to manipulate the great unwashed masses into accepting new limits on their freedom, in the form of “temporary” laws they tell us are only there to protect us, but, in reality, will be used to spy on their own people, operate clandestine prisons and courts with no oversight, and arrest even law-abiding citizens who fit their profiles of a possible terrorist….

Did you know that the right to publicly assemble to address the government with grievances has been done away with?…. Yep, look it up, ffolkes, the Patriot Act makes it a crime to gather a certain number of people without a permit…. which they are NOT giving out…. They — “They” being police authorities and/or military troops, or even agents of government bureaus, such as Homeland Security, the FBI, or the NSA, or ‘special agents’ of some other acronym we haven’t even been made aware of, acting blindly, but with full cooperation and agreement, under the orders of politicians — they no longer need to give it out, anyway, as it is now legal for them to arrest anyone at such an event, under suspicion of terrorist actions, and they don’t have to explain it to ANYONE!…. Truth, y’all…. Capisce?

Read the article ffolkes, it’s an eye-opener, and gives a good take on a subject most are afraid to even discuss….

http://www.sfgate.com/news/us/article/Terror-mass-shootings-don-t-mean-more-danger-4852423.php

“Although a wise man might urge that one should suffer fools gladly, this should not be construed as license for any fool to demand that one do so.” — Frederic William Kantor
_____________________________

Today’s Pearl has, so far, come from within the confines of my own mind, such as it is, and, as far as it goes, so, for the poetry selection, we’ll go with one of mine, as well, to maintain balance, and to ensure that no one else can be blamed for any of what has transpired here today….

Unheralded Sagacity…

To many, who will not see beyond their nose
the world becomes a dangerous place,
a bullet in every gun, a thorn with every rose,
no magic comes to save us, reality leaves no trace.

Minds closed, wrapped tight in manufactured fears,
men become clay, easily molded into complacent form.
No chains needed, held in thrall for years,
lies become gospel, when dishonesty is the norm.

Shed the chains you wear in durance, in kind;
Oh, ye of little faith, and much doubt
Strength is found in an unfettered mind,
Cry “freedom” with a great shout.

No help from any gods can hinder so much
as our own lack of confidence;
finding the light within, knowing it as such
confirms us, becoming consequence.

Illumination…..

~~ gigoid ~~

_____________________________

Thus far today, I’ve ranted, twice, if one cares to be technical, and used one of my own poems as ballast; that order of events dictates that this section will be an old-school pearl, and who am I to fuck with tradition, eh?….. I have no idea what direction it will take, but, I’m hoping for a good grouping, to finish off what feels like a good effort…. Let’s see what we can persuade Smart Bee to let loose….

— Bother! said Pooh, as the Borg assimilated him.

“There are many who consider as an injury to themselves any conduct which they have a distaste for, and resent it as an outrage to their feelings; as a religious bigot, when charged with disregarding the religious feelings of others, has been known to retort that they disregard his feelings, by persisting in their abominable worship or creed. But there is no parity between the feeling of a person for his own opinion, and the feeling of another who is offended at his holding it; no more than between the desire of a thief to take a purse, and the desire of the right owner to keep it.  And a person’s taste is as much his own peculiar concern as his opinion or his purse. It is easy for any one to imagine an ideal public, which leaves the freedom and choice of individuals in all uncertain matters undisturbed, and only requires them to abstain from modes of conduct which universal experience has condemned. But where has there been seen a public which set any such limit to its censorship? or when does the public trouble itself about universal experience? In its interferences with personal conduct it is seldom thinking of anything but the enormity of acting or feeling differently from itself; and this standard of judgment, thinly disguised, is held up to mankind as the dictate of religion and philosophy, by nine-tenths of all moralists and speculative writers.” — John Stuart Mill, _On Liberty_, Chapter IV

“A time to mourn, and a time to dance.” — Ecclesiastes 3:4

“Of course I lie to people. But I lie altruistically–for our mutual good. The lie is the basic building block of good manners. That may seem mildly shocking to a moralist–but then what isn’t?” — Quentin Crisp, 1984

“I’m going to live forever, or die trying!” — Spider Robinson

“All generalizations are dangerous, perhaps even this one. There are exceptions to the rule, but this does not appear to be one of them.” — Smart Bee

— You may be redneck… If the Borg refuse to assimilate you.

Okay, well, hmm….. I am speechless…. moreover, I’m in awe, of SB’s sheer genius at what Dorothy L. Sayers called piffle, what the world-at-large calls insane nonsense, and what I call damn fine irony…. I hope you enjoy this one…. I did…..
_____________________________

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

Yes! Yes! Now, THAT’S what I’m talkin’ about!!! Of course, once I read it through from start to finish, it could fall apart, but, for now, it feels like a good one…. Let’s go see….

For once, I was right, even though I’m a man, and I’m standing in a forest, by myself, talking…. I have it on good authority that in such cases, I am always wrong… Nonetheless, this is a good one, and I’m not going to listen to anything to the contrary… Well, wrong, I’ll listen, but, I won’t agree…. Not only that, but, it’s done! So, see ya…..

Y’all take care out there,
and May the Metaphorse be with you;
Blessed Be, dearest  Carole, Mark, and Theresa…
and everyone else, too…

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid

dozer3

Bolstered by the innuendo, he preened….

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Ffolkes,

Since the fear of the blank page that formerly caused me so much frustration is no longer a problem, I seem to have evolved a different type of issue in the introduction, to wit: long-winded ranting, before I’m even awake, or have had sufficient coffee to allow me to organize my thoughts with some elegance, rather than just emotionally-driven indictments of the BRC, the Priestly Hierarchies, and their myrmidons, the military/police wannabees….

I call them wannabees because the ones to whom I refer have a tendency to be those men and/or women who enter those groups in order to feel powerful, to exercise authority over others, which is a sublimation of their own feelings of inadequacy; becoming policemen, they believe,  allows them to let out their inner bully with societal approval. As a general rule, the self-image these folks have is poor, and they need the job to feel like they are a real tough guy, never realizing that real tough guys don’t NEED a position to feel self-confident…

The ranting I’ve been letting myself perform in the intros of late has been somewhat general, purposely. When I’m just railing away at the idiocy that I see being acted out in the public arena, I don’t usually try to bring in a lot of detailed evidence, relying on the evidence that is shown each day in the news, and can be easily found by anyone willing to keep an open mind. In that sense, what I see in the news is available for all to see, so I don’t feel I need to provide anything else to support my claims…. and I get very few challenges (I don’t know if that’s because everyone agrees, or nobody is seeing it, and it doesn’t matter, ultimately…. same result…).

Where this is going is not clear; I’m merely trying to get a handle on what has been happening in the mornings, so I can at least TRY to put some elegance, or a bit of pizazz into it….. (Wow… “pizazz” didn’t trip the spell checker!….). I don’t mind the ranting; it does give me a chance to go more old school in the three sections, which is good from my standpoint…. There is much less effort involved for me to put together a good random, harlequin pearl, than there is in using my reasoning powers to create a ranting pearl…. In the former case, Smart Bee does the hard part, and I just have to keep a sharp eye on the choices made; in the latter case, I must actually activate neurons, use deduction and intuition, and generally work a lot harder for the same net result….

Maybe that is why I’ve been ranting here, in the intro, to get the hard part out of the way first, allowing me to cruise downhill for the remainder of the day’s effort…. To believe that, however, I would have to attribute a greater degree of intelligence to my subconscious than it has heretofore shown; its usual efforts to manipulate my conscious mind aren’t very subtle, or complex, nor particularly effective, as a rule.

The sub-, or unconscious part of our minds is not fully understood, but, I’ve found mine to be stubborn, a bit selfish, and overly opinionated, but, with strong virtues that determine a lot of what it wants me to do…. Sadly, it doesn’t have a good grasp of reality, and will often make demands that cannot be met in the real world, causing a lot of angst if it doesn’t get its way….

Or, this all could be a trick that my conscious mind has developed, to distract y’all from what actually transpires here in the beginning of these missives….. Nah! No way….. I wouldn’t do that to anyone I respect…. And, if I did, I wouldn’t tell you, so, you can be sure, this time at least, we’re still dealing with the real world on this, not my inner fantasies and/or delusions… I’m pretty sure, anyway…. I mean, my unconscious COULD be screwing with me, and, therefore, you, but, that would indicate even less control over this process than even I had imagined, bringing this entire process into the realm of Entropy, or, as it is more commonly known, Chaos, devourer of minds….

Or, as is most likely, I’m just short of coffee, and it will all be better in a little while…. I’d say, of those I’ve seen fit to bring forth, this is the most likely scenario , so we’ll go with it, and count ourselves as lucky to have found our way…. somewhere….

Shall we Pearl?…..

“The day is committed to error and floundering; success and achievement are matters of long range.” — Goethe
_____________________________

I receive an email each week from the Electronic Frontier Foundation, or,  EFF, as it is known, an organization that is dedicated to keeping the Internet free… free of influence or control by the government, or anyone else who would try to limit the way that people can use its unlimited possibilities…. This, of course, fits in perfectly with my own view of the world, so I appreciate the job they are doing (which is excellent, BTW). In the latest email from them, a number of interesting articles were shown, each addressing a different issue, or another attempt by the PTB (Powers That Be) to shut down one or more of the ways people can find out just what our leaders are up to….

The article I’ve included below is a good one; it provides a clear picture of just how egregiously the NSA has abused its powers, and how far PAST the limits that were placed on its activities it has repeatedly gone, right from the first….. I could easily rant about this one, for days, but, it has ticked me off so much, I am incoherent with rage…. That much is obvious…. I only provide euphemisms for vulgarity (‘ticked’ instead of ‘pissed’…) when I am so mad, I have to deliberately tone down my language, or I become downright viciously vituperative…. It’s too early in the day for that much emotional output, so, I control it with severe pomposity….

I will point out, however, one part of the article, which seems, to me, to give a pretty good idea of just how little the people who get into office respect the public…. The NSA began EXCEEDING the limits placed on them by the Patriot Act on the very first day it was passed; that much is clear from the records they have released. Their own court, which supposedly oversees the actions they are taking, has stated that the agency cannot be trusted to observe the limits they are given, as they have repeatedly ignored those limitations, and continue doing so to this day…. Even the fact that the court TOLD them not to perform certain actions, they went ahead and did them anyway, just because they wanted to, and had the technology to do it….
See for yourself…

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2013/09/gems-mined-nsa-docs-released-today

“The United States has entered an anti-intellectual phase in its history, perhaps most clearly seen in our virtually thought-free political life.” — David Baltimore

I’ll be nice, and leave this here…. I AM trying to cut down on my ranting a bit; I was getting a bit overboard with it…. But, the damn fools just keep doing things that are outrageous, and I can’t help but react…. I’ve about given up hope of ever seeing enough change to save our collective asses from extinction, but, I continue to watch the show, and comment on the more obvious stuff going on right in front of us…. Not with any hope of seeing it change, but in hope of sharing the misery, since it loves company….

Ah, well…. I saw another article yesterday that confirmed that the unnatural levels of CO2 in the air have been conclusively found to be the result of the insane actions of our species, wherein we have been pumping, literally,  millions of TONS of CO2 into the atmosphere, EVERY HOUR OF EVERY DAY FOR THE LAST 60 YEARS!   This is not new news, but rather a confirmation of an idea that has been around for some time, one that is continuously challenged by the ignorant, when it isn’t being denied outright. This is merely the latest in a long series of reports in this vein, but, it takes away weight from an argument that should have had no basis in reality in the first place; only the stubborn denial of those ignorant fools who don’t WANT to believe it has kept it from being acknowledged as fact before now….

SIGH…. Face it, ffolkes, the world is going to hell in a handbasket, and nobody is giving us any viable alternatives to killing ourselves…. and the only real hope of staying alive would entail becoming as ignorant and violent as those who brought us to this point, in order to eliminate them from the picture…. As Nietzsche said, if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze long into you…..

“All mimsy were the borogoves.” — Lewis Carroll
_____________________________

We shall never cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.

 — T. S. Eliot

Seeing is Conducive to Belief

Folly sits so comfortably upon my fevered brow
one would easily believe that I would know how
to look at Life with a jaded, weary eye
seeing enough, and more, to know Why.

Such seems the case, as I will it to be,
an open book of a face, it looks so like me;
what’s known to be so, needs no close attention
familiar sights require no minding, nor mention.

The eye is drawn at once to the stark and new,
and sent back to sleep by successful review.
Once we find evidence we feel we understand,
curiosity languishes, dismissed at command.

Ancient sages knew the insidious value of illusion,
preachers and pundits know the power of confusion.
Each pair of eyes contains its own point of reference,
each mind sets its own standards of preference.

Seeing is believing, for those who live in thrall,
accepting what is perceived is all they ever recall.
Unknown to them, reality follows another set of rules,
Deeper, more dangerous, and no place for fools.

~~ gigoid ~~

_____________________________

Yay! I’ve finally reached the third section of today’s Pearl, and, having completed all the required regulatory entries, (a rant, one of my poems to avoid accusations of piracy, all with some sarcasm woven in), it is now legal for me to proceed to put together an old-school pearl for your delectation, and mine…. Without further ado….

“In politics, what begins in fear usually ends in folly.” — Coleridge

“Welcome to the Democratic Party, here’s your blindfold.” — Smart Bee

“Tilting at windmills hurts you more than the windmills.” — Lazarus Long, from Robert A. Heinlein’s “Time Enough For Love”

“Welcome to the Republican Party, here’s your cattle-prod.” — gigoid

“I deserve respect for the things I did not do.” — Vice President Dan Quayle

“Beautify America – Deport Congress!” — Smart Bee

“The basic delusion that men may be governed and yet be free.” — H.L. Mencken
_____________________________

I hadn’t intended to go political in that last section, but Smart Bee kept throwing those quotes at me, so, I went with the flow…. which turned out quite well, I think…. It does have the elegance and chic that comes from being DONE, so, I’m letting it fly, as is…. Now, let’s see if it all hangs together, or if we’ll need some caulking…

Not bad… a couple of tweaks, and we’re good to go…. For once, I’ll accept that without any further blathering, and just say…. See ya!….

Y’all take care out there,
and May the Metaphorse be with you;
Blessed Be, dearest  Carole, Mark, and Theresa…
and everyone else, too…

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid

dozer3