That does, however present us with a conundrum, to wit: now what? Having spoken to the picture, it’s too late to chime in with a bit on the quote from one of our favorite ancient sages, even if it went with the picture’s theme…. which it doesn’t, somehow…. I suppose there is some slight degree of similarity in the two, which COULD be exploited to create a bit more discussion, but, what would be the point, when I’ve already said it’s beyond the pale? That’s what I get for opening my trap so quickly, I guess…. There are still some things to learn about this business, I’d say….

Of course, I only need to learn them for MY benefit; I don’t imagine y’all care one way or the other…. Hell, I can barely get y’all to comment any more; too much material I suppose, with too many quiet questions in them to pick from…. I suppose it would also help to have a few more readers come by to take in what I’ve written, but, I’m not going to get my hopes up on that event ever happening; I don’t put any effort into increasing readership, with good reason…. I’m lazy, and I’m lazy…. Oh, and did I mention, I’m lazy?….

Not really; I used to be lazy, but then I discovered the power of metaphor, and I got even lazier…. Now, I work at it assiduously, with high hopes of qualifying for the national tournament next year, in Madison Square Garden, the big one held each spring, after the winter’s beard contest, whose entrant contestants are picked from the previous year’s finalists, has been completed…. It doesn’t always take place; some years they’re too lazy to get it done…. These folks are serious about their work, I tell you….

But, now that I’m retired, I’ve got all this time to practice, so, I know I can make a good run at the top spot this year; I’ve been aided by my recent pain levels, which have helped me to NOT do much, a firm prerequisite for any serious competitor in this field of non-endeavor. Nobody is going to look twice at someone who has a job, or any such regular form of activity of any variety…. It’s just too much work…. Hah! I guess that’s the whole point, isn’t it? Yep, ’tis, indeed….

On that note, we’ve definitely slipped out of reality, and into fantasy, which means we don’t have to pay any further attention to any of the rules of engagement…. and, we can leave the intro with no further nonsense needed…. Besides, I don’t know about y’all, but, I’ve had just about enough of this silliness…. In fact, more than….

Shall we Pearl?

“Don’t try to have the last word. You might get it.” — Lazarus Long

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Today’s video is another blast from the past…. In this particular case, it’s a blast from MY past…. I was AT this concert, and, if y’all watch closely, you could see me wandering around the stadium, dressed in a tuxedo without a jacket, to go with my wife, who dressed in gold lame with a glittering gold wig…. Just getting into the spirit of the night’s events, don’t y’know?….. Enjoy, ffolkes, I did…. for sure….

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“Since the whole affair had become one of religion, the vanquished were of course exterminated.” — Voltaire

“Philosophy is questions that may never be answered. Religion is answers that may never be questioned.” — Smart Bee

“Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.” — Voltaire

It has been a good long while since I ranted about religion…. It’s a big subject (which is why it takes three pearls to start us off….), which makes for big rants…. However, I try not to let them get away without at least a mention at least some of the time, especially when I’m talking about the BRC and the other Asininnies, with whom the major churches work hand in hand to keep mankind from ever reaching its true potential…. Yes, indeed, I DO see the established religions of the world as villains, though many of them are no more than unwitting fools, just more victims of their delusional belief system….. But, many more of them are just manipulative sociopaths, much like their counterparts, who infest, er, inhabit the political world….

Consider, if you will, preachers/priests/imams/rabbis, or other religious leaders, whom I tend to lump together in a group I call the Dogma Dogs, and politicians, whom I call Fools, (or, sometimes, Assholes….) of all varieties, whether elected, monarchical, tyrannical, or whatever…. These two seemingly separate, yet symbiotic groups, each of which is comprised in the main by sociopathic con artists, have been working hand in hand, quite efficiently, for millennia…. Each uses similar methods to work toward their ends, but, ultimately, their will is enforced, on the one hand, supposedly, by a distant, impartial, but all-powerful supernatural being, and, on the other hand, by their faceless police and military myrmidons, all for one simple purpose…..

That singular, shared purpose, is to maintain the status quo in re: power and control over the money, the resources, and thus, the majority of mankind, with themselves at the top of the societal heap…. The control these silent, faceless despots hold over the whole of mankind would never have lasted so long, without the help they receive from the religious brainwashing by the different churches, which is first applied to ALL the babies they can get to, an event generally occurring before people have the mental defenses to resist, or avoid it…. This mostly system of passing on an entire set of delusions to each new generation, without ever examining it for its relevance to reality, is a large part of the reason the aforementioned societal control has been in place for so many centuries, without most people ever being aware of it….

How can these people be aware of any of the truth of their beliefs? They have been told since they were small, by the people they most trusted to tell them the truth, that this supernatural being (over which they have NO influence beyond their mandatory worship, submission, and good behavior…. i.e, obedience to custom….), has decreed them to be part of the elite of the real world, thereby guaranteed to live forever, together with those others of our kind, in the world that comes after this one….

Of course, none of these claims, of immortality, of divine intervention, or, any of the other claims made, is provable by any physical means, but, these folks believe it, and pass it on to their kids, thus preparing them for the lifetime of mind control, and submission to both divine and temporal authority, just the state of mind the ruling class prefers them to have…. It makes things SO much easier for them, when the entire populace is trained to believe anyone in a position of authority….without question….

And yet, a few people manage to see through the early years of foggy thinking…. In fact, here’s one of them now….

“Whenever we read the obscene stories, the voluptuous debaucheries, the cruel and torturous executions, the unrelenting vindictiveness, with which more than half the bible is filled, it would seem more consistent that we called it the word of a demon than the Word of God. It is a history of wickedness that has served to corrupt and brutalize mankind.” — Thomas Paine — The Age of Reason

Even amongst themselves, the proponents of SOME religions, (not all, but, most..), get just a little carried away in the defense of their own particular interpretation of holy writings…. most of which are deemed holy because everybody has always said they’re holy…. That’s it…. that’s the best reason any of them will give me… Go figure…. Some of them get so carried away, I’m required by insurance law to mention that the following is a joke, but, only because I say it’s a joke….

“My god can beat up your god!” — Smart Bee

Well, okay, so it wasn’t me at all…. SB is obviously making a point, not a joke, about all the different Christian (Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist, etc.) sects, each of which seems to feel they worship a different God than all the others…. At least, that’s the way they act to each other all the time…. All of them, even when pressed to answer plain, visible evidence to the contrary, maintain their own vision over everyone else’s, even those, no, especially those, who profess not to believe any of it…. For example….

“Why, when no honest man will deny in private that every ultimate problem is wrapped in the profoundest mystery, do honest men proclaim in pulpits that unhesitating certainty is the duty of the most foolish and ignorant?  Is it not a spectacle to make the angels laugh?We are a company of ignorant beings, feeling our way through mists and darkness, learning only be incessantly repeated blunders, obtaining a glimmering of truth by falling into every conceivable error, dimly discerning light enough for our daily needs, but hopelessly differing whenever we attempt to describe the ultimate origin or end of our paths; and yet, when one of us ventures to declare that we don’t know the map of the universe as well as the map of our infinitesimal parish, he is hooted, reviled, and perhaps told that he will be damned to all eternity for his faithlessness…” — Leslie Stephen (1832-1904), “An agnostic’s Apology”, — Fortnightly Review, 1876

Rants about religion can get away from me; trust me, I’ve got priors…. Since I’ve already gone well past my comfort zone to accomplish this much, I’ll leave it here, sans any firm conclusions, or, for that matter, any real answers to the problems implied…. I don’t know the answers, anyway…. How does one go about changing human nature, which seems to be willing to allow this sort of degrading behavior without the blink of an outraged eye…. Ah well, all I can do is keep my own counsel, and avoid all the crap that tends to splash around whenever these idiots are spewing their bile…. Oh, and, I can rant every once in a while, if only to give myself some relief from having to watch this sad story unfold…. I think we’ll move on, after one appropriate pearl to seal the deal…..

Here we go…. Here is an alternate version of the first chapter of Genesis, which makes as much sense as the one currently in vogue throughout the Christian world….

Since today’s rant is on the perils of religion, here is a poem that fits right in with the theme….

“Q: How do you tell the difference between a dead snake, and a dead lawyer on the road? A: There are skid marks leading up to the snake….”

There is good reason for all those jokes, you know; you see, they’re NOT jokes…. They’re all true…. Don’t believe me? Let’s ask Smart Bee to see what it can find on the subject….

“Cato instigated the magistrates to punish all offenders, saying that they that did not prevent crimes when they might, encouraged them.” — Plutarch (46-120 AD) — Roman Apophthegms, Cato the Elder

Hmm… No, no SB… the OTHER direction…. sheesh…

“Lawyer: only person in whom ignorance of the law is not punished.” — Smart Bee

Okay,  right you are…. Now, THAT’s better… Okay, the rest, please… and, no worries as to the #; we’ve got time….

“One lawyer can steal more than a hundred men with guns.” — The Godfather

“It could probably be shown by facts and figures that there is no distinctly native American criminal class except Congress.” — Mark Twain  Following the Equator (1897)

Half, or more, of Congress, of course, is composed of lawyers; the other half never acts without consulting one of their own…. Most of the rest of them work in the Judicial Branch of the federal government….

“We could do that, but it would be wrong, that’s for sure.” — from the best-loved quotes of Richard Milhouse Nixon (Yes, he was…. Duke University School of Law, 1937)

“If it weren’t for lawyers we wouldn’t need lawyers.” — Smart Bee

LAWYER, n.  One skilled in circumvention of the law. — Ambrose Bierce, The Devil’s Dictionary

— How many lawyers does it take to change a light bulb? — None, he’ll have the paralegal do it. But, you’ll get the following bill:

“A man cannot be comfortable without his own approval.” — Mark Twain

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Given the state of my hands today, it’s a good thing this went swiftly…. It also helped that much of it was done yesterday, between bouts of agony…. Ah yes, cheating… the American way…. It’s now 0435, and, once again, I’m done…. Now, I get to wait for the rest of the world to wake up, so I can sit around and watch it sink a little further into insanity’s fatal dream…. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes, if Fate is kind….