Ffolkes,
Not to be grieved by blame,
But to know thoroughly ones own virtues or powers
Are the characteristics of an excellent man.~~ Saskya Pandita (1182-1251) ~~
Photo of Mars Terrain by NASA’s Curiosity Rover
Once again late, I have no choice but to ruthlessly trim all the dross and drivel from whatever happens here today. It would be nice to be able to find a routine again, but, since I don’t seem able to do so, I’ll continue to find some way to cope on a daily basis. Of late, this has required some rather extensive trimming of the amount of nonsense I’m using; not easy when it falls so naturally from my mind to the screen. But, it’s working, so, I’ll keep at it….
All that being said, as usual, to little purpose, I’ll use my new-found ruthlessness to make the executive, and therefore, least compassionate decision to yank the plug on this intro, regardless of how it may seem to those who don’t do this sort of thing on a regular basis. Or, for that matter, to anyone at all. It’s not personal; it’s bidness…. Don’t take it amiss, but, you all should DUCK! NOW!….. Whew, sorry, got a little close that time…. Never mind, we’re done, and now, we’re gone….
Shall we Pearl?
“I once wanted to save the world. Now I just want to leave the room with dignity.” — Lotus Weinstock
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Usually I try to put something relaxing, or entertaining here. Today, you’re out of luck in that respect, because I saw this yesterday (thanks, Lou!…) over at my friend’s blog site (https://talesfromthelou.wordpress.com/2015/04/06/john-oliver-government-surveillance/).
Ffolkes, this is a video EVERYONE needs to view…. So, go view it…. Sheesh, do I have to tell you EVERYTHING?….. Go on, now….
Last Week with John Oliver
Government Surveillance
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I’m late, and the video section covered the rant, so, here is an old politirant from 2013, to use the Churchill method of bringing a point home…. This is the tremendous whack, by those lights…. Probably falls a bit short, in that respect, but, it ain’t bad, and I like the words I coined for the political parties, too…. Enjoy!….
From 9/19/2013:
“A lie would have no sense unless the truth were felt as dangerous.” — Alfred Alder
So, I was going to forgo a rant today, giving my back, and your brains, a bit of a break, but, when I went to peruse the news, I saw the latest discussion of what is happening in the House of Idiots in Washington, D.C., regarding the budget resolutions being discussed, wherein the possibility of a shutdown is threatened, if the Retardicans and Demobutts can’t come to some kind of compromise. It seems the Retardicans are still upset about Obamacare, and the notion of helping the middle class, as well as the lower classes (gasp!), to obtain medical insurance coverage at a reasonable cost. This idea, of being fair and ethical, seems to have struck them in the wrong place, and they have been whining and complaining ever since it became law, frantically searching for ways to undermine the whole program, with the ultimate goal being to stop it altogether….
The entire issue, of course, is just smoke, to cover up the simple racism that these assholes won’t cop to…. It is STILL stuck in their craw that they somehow allowed a BLACK MAN to get elected to the highest public office. They have looked for, and desperately latched onto, every possible way they could find to block every piece of legislation the White House has espoused, no matter how much such legislation would help the public, ever since Obama was first elected. The publicly stated goal of the Retardican Party in 2008, right after the election, was to make Obama a one-term President; having failed at that, their new goal became the eradication of ANY laws, or any beneficial reforms, that were accomplished during his administration…. Hence, the campaign against healthcare reform, which, ultimately, is not in their best interests, but, hey, who needs common sense?….
I’m almost too disgusted with the entire bunch of them, Retardicans and Demobutts both, to even continue this rant….The right wing continues to shoot itself, and the public, in the foot with their intransigent inflexibility, and their unreasoning paranoia about the POTUS, while the left side continues to wander around letting whatever the administration says or does go without question or review, as if somehow a man who was politician enough to get elected to the Senate, then the Presidency, all of a sudden became the world’s most truthful man…. Sorry, folks, it just doesn’t follow….. such trust in ANYONE who is an elected official in this country is plain silly, and doesn’t show much real common sense….
I see NO ONE in the public venue whom I would trust to make decisions for me, on ANY subject, much less those that can affect my life, and the quality of same…. Sorry, I just don’t see ANYONE who seems to be honestly interested in anything beyond their own agenda, and those agendas have nothing to do with mine, or what I see as beneficial for everyone…. They just don’t…..
I also, unfortunately, don’t have any viable solutions, which is why my rants often are short…. I mean, I do know what would help, and that is for everyone in the world who does have common sense to get together, join forces, and tell the assholes to stop…. But, they have guns, which they are practiced in using to get their way, whereas, most of US aren’t willing to contest matters on that level, so, that probably isn’t ever going to happen….
Not until more of our side are willing to use force to get our way, just as they have always done…. Since I don’t see it happening, we may as well just kiss our asses goodbye, because the eventual outcome of such idiocy is death, and I don’t mean individually, but rather, as a species…. Stupid is as stupid does, as somebody once said, and when I look around the world these days, stupid is pretty much all I see…..
They find there what they planted and what dug,
A Lake of Spaces, and a Wood of Nothing,
And wander there and drift, and never cease
Wailing for substance.~~ William Butler Yeats ~~
~~ Responsibilities and Other Poems (1916).The Hour-Glass ~~
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Time for a bit of T.S…..
Sweeney Among The Nightingales
Apeneck Sweeney spreads his knees
Letting his arms hang down to laugh,
The zebra stripes along his jaw
Swelling to maculate giraffe.
The circles of the stormy moon
Slide westward toward the River Plate,
Death and the Raven drift above
And Sweeney guards the horned gate.
Gloomy Orion and the Dog
Are veiled; and hushed the shrunken seas;
The person in the Spanish cape
Tries to sit on Sweeney’s knees
Slips and pulls the table cloth
Overturns a coffee-cup,
Reorganized upon the floor
She yawns and draws a stocking up;
The silent man in mocha brown
Sprawls at the window-sill and gapes;
The waiter brings in oranges
Bananas figs and hothouse grapes;
The silent vertebrate in brown
Contracts and concentrates, withdraws;
Rachel née Rabinovitch
Tears at the grapes with murderous paws;
She and the lady in the cape
Are suspect, thought to be in league;
Therefore the man with heavy eyes
Declines the gambit, shows fatigue,
Leaves the room and reappears
Outside the window, leaning in,
Branches of wisteria
Circumscribe a golden grin;
The host with someone indistinct
Converses at the door apart,
The nightingales are singing near
The Convent of the Sacred Heart,
And sang within the bloody wood
When Agamemnon cried aloud,
And let their liquid droppings fall
To stain the stiff dishonoured shroud.
~~ T.S. Eliot ~~
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Since Smart Bee is still on strike, I’ve dipped into the archives again, for a pretty good old-school pearl…. Enjoy, ffolkes….
From 9/20/2013:
Oh boy! I’ve ranted, approximately, and found a really great poem, so, at this point, I get to go old-school, which just makes my day…. I love this process, as it makes me use my head just the way I like, with both discipline and randomness, all in a good cause…. Well, it’s a cause, anyway…. good and bad are distinctions I prefer to avoid, as they tend to rope one into certain positions, and I don’t like to let myself get trapped like that…. Any who, whatever the rationalization used, this one should come out well, as I’m going to use very loose reins, and allow Smart Bee to do most of the work…. What better way to start the day, as long as one has sufficient coffee as a prophylaxis against any undue conceptual manipulation.?… Let’s see what that little devil has going today, shall we?…..
All quit their sphere, and rush into the skies.
Pride still is aiming at the blest abodes:
Men would be angels, angels would be gods.
Aspiring to be gods, if angels fell,
Aspiring to be angels, men rebel.~~ Alexander Pope ~~
~~ Essay on Man, Epistle i, Line 123 ~~
“Everybody gets free BORSCHT!” — Zippy the Pinhead
Don’t lose your head to gain a minute.
You need your head, your brains are in it.
— Burma Shave
“Nothing is fool-proof to a sufficiently talented fool.” — Smart Bee
“When you are a Bear of Very Little Brain, and you Think of Things, you find sometimes that a Thing which seemed very Thingish inside you is quite different when it gets out into the open and has other people looking at it.” — A.A. Milne, The House at Pooh Corner
In looking back at this group, I see it would be possible, perhaps, even, advisable, to stop here, and use this as a five-star pearl, with a pretty good point to it, if one is slick enough to trip over it…. But, it just doesn’t feel done to me, so we’ll see what more SB can come up with to bring this to its full potential….
“No man is exempt from saying silly things; the mischief is to say them deliberately.” — Michel Eyquem de Montaigne (1533-1592)
“He is able who thinks he is able.” — Buddha
There you go….
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Well, it FEELS okay; it also seems a bit catch-penny, if I have that phrase correctly used, to mean choppy and ill-favored…. Ah well, it fulfills the primary characteristic we’re looking for; it’s done. So, I’m gonna fly, while I can…. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes….
and May the Metaphorse be with you;
Blessed Be, dearest Carole, Mark,Theresa, & Richy
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, the dubious
PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.
“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch

À bientôt, mon cherí….