Of course, once I’ve used the picture, or the quote (in this case, obviously, only the former…. the quote stands alone, and really doesn’t need anything from me today….), then I have to once more figure out where to go from there…. Sometimes, the picture, or the quote, or, most often, the combination of the two, will provide that direction…. I screwed it up today, going for the attribution, and the kung fu reference…. That, as you can see, has left me right here, in the middle of nowhere, with nowhere to turn…. I am, indeed, a Bozo, of the First Degree….

    However, even a Bozo gets productive on occasion; we just don’t like to let that get spread around too much, as it can de-sillify the image…. and, yes, I just made that word up, de-sillify, which means, to make a Bozo less silly than before… Before what? Why, before being de-sillified, of course… There isn’t a Bozo alive who can convince me they enjoy the process, even WITH all the modern improvements to keep the bleeding to a minimum, so don’t bother asking….

    There…. that feels better…. Sometimes, when the nose grows, you just gotta let is show, you know?…. Today, I think you may need all the silly I can provide, as the rant/discussion/essay/sober, reasoned discourse in section one, which I began yesterday, has grown beyond all reason, and is probably long enough for three Pearls…. In fact, it’s so involved, I’m going to use one of the best emergency methods for getting us out of here…. You may recognize it…. #4? I thought you might…. Here it is, in fact, so….

    Shall we Pearl?…..

“Try not to become a man of success, but rather try to become a man of value.” — Albert Einstein

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    Ffolkes, you will probably need to gird your grid for a big one….. The pearl below has been evolving for a full day, growing beyond my ability to restrict its size, due to the relatively verdant field of subject matter with which  I chose to work, the scope of the discussion, and the critical nature of the issue on which I am trying to focus, to wit: all of the available evidence at hand indicates that the human race has entered a stage of civilization that, in every historical case, has led directly to its demise, and disappearance. Moreover. because of the technological advances we have made, as a species, this time, that demise will be world-wide, and will preclude any possibility of ever rising again…

    Now, I know that sounds rather pessimistic, as well as cynical; I can’t help that. The evidence is too ubiquitous, and too convincing to me, to ignore, or to minimize. Below, I am going to provide links to articles from only ONE source of news. The breadth of the problems described in those articles are connected to the worst characteristics of human nature, and are symptomatic of the culture’s deterioration we are facing. Each one shows humanity at its worst, and the worst part of it is, all of the protagonists in the stories, on both sides of whatever issue is being discussed, all demonstrate those qualities that continue to cause the problems to be insoluble by any known means…

    Trust a poet to come up with exquisitely crafted, delicately balanced, subtly nuanced, completely negative statement (otherwise known as an insult….), about someone mostly everyone in the world admires, and make it almost sound as if he is administering praise, when, in fact, he just poked Willie S. with a very sharp stick in the reputation…. Of course, it is also obscure enough that you may question exactly how it applies to blogging here in section one, which is generally reserved for rants, or rant-like facsimiles…. and, it would be a good question, as the connection IS rather tenuous, at best…. However, I’ll try to make it clear….

    I speak often about how the world is screwed up, an assessment of existence for which I lay much of the blame on several aspects of human nature, and the way those characteristics affect our society and culture…. I think it can all be boiled down to one particular area of examination, which is the way we, as human beings, deal with the matter of Truth…. There is, of course, more than just this issue involved, but, how we handle clear, correct expressions of Reality, in our dealings with the world, and each other, is one that has far reaching side effects on every area of human discourse, which is a long winded way of saying, on our history….

“Honor isn’t about making the right choices.  It’s about dealing with the consequences.” — Midori Koto

    In today’s complex world of the Future, it can easily be shown how Truth is considered to be something that is susceptible to human alteration, according to whatever whim or reason they may have for doing so, whether honorable, or otherwise, whether selfish, or otherwise…. I’ve shown many, many instances of how the government of this country, and many of its other official entities, such as the courts, the police, the churches, and ALL of the bankers, continuously, and purposefully lie to the public…. Not only that, but, they spy on us, and keep their own secrets about doing so….

    Then, when confronted, they create a huge hullabaloo, all starting with denial, fading into reluctant admission, then justification, then distraction, then…. time passes, and the public is given some other catastrophic event to put fear into them, such as a mass shooting, or an alleged terrorist threat….. It always follows the same basic pattern, with the intent, and result, of nothing changing at all….

    Below you’ll find a number of links, to articles that show how the White House, the Congress, the Federal Courts, the police, and, even the public attitudes toward Truth, are shown in the light in which they use them, to wit: they all regard Truth as more of a myth than a reality…. The article on how resumes for work contain falsifications is particularly disturbing, for it shows just how far the corruption has spread to the general public…. Well over HALF the public saw fit to include lies on their resumes… The companies doing the hiring reinforced the corruption by, to some extent, rewarding almost half of the resumes with lies, by considering other factors other than the lies in the hiring process…. In other words, about half of the lies were accepted as OKAY….

    SIGH…. The last article is different from the rest, though it touches on the general issue quite nicely…. Mr. Carroll offers another viewpoint than mine, with some similarities, and some differences…. As always, his thoughts on the matter are quite insightful, making an excellent addendum, and ending note, for what would otherwise be completely depressing material….

    I’ll let you get to the articles now, with this bit of housekeeping… I tried to help a bit, to indicate the point being made by the inclusion of each article, by including the excerpts I pulled out below each link…. They show the most disturbing points in each article, to my way of seeing them…. Good luck, I know it’s a lot, but, this is turning out to be something of a manifesto of my world-view, & I think it will be worth the effort to cover all of it…..

http://www.sfgate.com/nation/article/Judge-won-t-force-U-S-to-release-spying-program-5681970.php?cmpid=hp-hc-bayarea

“Michael Rumold, a lawyer with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, said the lawsuit has been successful but the ruling was disappointing….”It’s troubling to see courts sign off on government secrecy arguments when the general public knows the truth,” he said.” — excerpted closing lines from the article, summing it up nicely….

http://www.sfgate.com/news/crime/article/Vandalism-looting-after-vigil-for-Missouri-man-5680580.php

“Witnesses have said that Brown had his hands raised when the unnamed officer approached with his weapon drawn and fired repeatedly. ” — excerpted from the article

http://www.sfgate.com/news/crime/article/Chief-Police-killed-California-robbery-hostage-5681892.php

“….. results of a preliminary ballistics report show that police in the city of Stockton fired the 10 bullets that struck Misty Holt-Singh, 41, and all her wounds likely came during a final burst of gunfire,….”

“33 officers fired at the vehicle, most of them during the final shootout. Officers were under constant fire and were concerned the suspects would kidnap other hostages, take over businesses or even a school.”….

“We believe July 16, 2014, brought dynamics never before seen in law enforcement,” he said, adding that the suspects attempted to kill officers, fired more than 100 bullets and had about 200 rounds remaining when the gunfire ended.” — excerpted from the article

http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/State-Supreme-Court-yanks-Citizens-United-measure-5682420.php

“If approved by the voters, it would have asked Congress to submit a constitutional amendment to the states that would authorize federal lawmakers to limit campaign spending and would specify that only people, not corporations, have the right of political free speech.”

“In the 2010 Citizens United ruling, a 5-4 majority of the nation’s high court said federal laws that limit spending by corporations or labor unions on political causes violated freedom of speech….. ” — excerpted from the article

http://blog.sfgate.com/gettowork/2014/08/12/most-memorable-resume-lies/#25719101=0

“58 percent of hiring managers in a recent CareerBuilder survey saying they have caught a resume lie.”….. “Fifty-one percent of respondents said they would automatically throw out a resume containing a lie, 41 percent would base their decision on the type of lie, and 7 percent would overlook a lie if they liked the job candidate.” — excerpted from the article

http://blog.sfgate.com/nov05election/2014/08/06/what-would-the-founders-say-cagop-barring-media-from-qa-with-party-chair/

“…. a response from GOP state vice chairwoman Harmeet Dhillon…. “There are open press and closed press events at every convention (Brulte) has run. There will be open press events and press conferences at this convention. Closed press is to allow delegates to ask him sensitive questions about strategy and finances that the public and our opponents are not entitled to know. … And neither does John Burton (the Democratic state chairman) invite the Chronicle to every meeting of delegates to his party.”

“We asked Tenoch Flores, spokesman for the California Democratic Party, about its rules regarding press coverage of convention events. His response: “It is our policy that any delegation meeting taking place at convention is open to press.”– excerpted from the article

    and, finally, a voice of reason….

http://www.sfgate.com/entertainment/carroll/article/Notice-your-urges-when-I-say-you-can-5682102.php

“I favor considered opinion over uninformed opinion. It’s a liberal bias…..”

“Experts are not always right. Scientists are not always right. But most of the time they are. We built a very fine country on the basis of Enlightenment rationality. Thomas Jefferson and those folks very much favored knowledge over ignorance, reason over superstition.”– excerpted from the article

    Truth. Lies. Human nature….. What a mess, eh? I can only hope that, somehow, the strength and beauty of human nature, the incredible creativity and passionate imagination our spirits have the potential to express, just as much as it does our flaws, will gain ascendancy in the coming years, becoming the rule of human behavior, rather than the exception, and that we can overcome the reckless, selfish, violent spirits among us to reach for that potential…. Being a curmudgeon, and somewhat of a cynic, at least in regard to human nature, I find myself reluctant to hope…. but, it’s like Emily always said….

    Here is a poem, that you may have seen just recently, as I only wrote it less than a month ago…. However, in  searching for another poem of mine I was going to use, I opened this one, and found it to be a perfect match for the theme in section one…. I wrote this last month, on the 19th, so all of it must have been in my head when I put together the above rant…. Any who, I hope you enjoy it, it’s not bad…

    Since the first section went so epic, we’ll go simple here in section three for today…. An old-school random harlequin pearl should do nicely, all fresh and sassy…. I’ve always wanted to call a pearl “sassy”…. I think seven stars today would be just fine….

“Lawyers: the larval form of politicians.” — Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, 37th edition (not really)

“To use words but rarely is to be natural.” — Lao Tzu

“We have met the enemy; in fact, we elected him.” — Cruickshank’s Law #1

“The opposite of bravery is not cowardice, but conformity.” — Dr. Robert Anthony

“Albert, stop telling God what to do.” — Niels Bohr

“The ability of our people to deceive themselves is the highest art of the nation.” — Smart Bee*** (see below)

***(It should be noted that, for this pearl, I Googled it, to see if anyone had actually claimed this bit of sardonicism…. and found that there were, literally, dozens of politicians who have used this…. I’m hoping they were making a joke, but, sadly, I don’t think they were…..)****

****(all of that, of course, is a big, fat lie…. It COULD be true, but, I did make it up…. Full disclosure: I didn’t want to tell you it wasn’t real…. It SOUNDS as if it could be, that’s the problem….)

    Now, for the final, most excellently silly pearl, we will rely on our old friend….

“Awright, which one of you hid my PENIS ENVY?” — Zippy the Pinhead

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    I could make excuses, but, I won’t. In fact, I’m so burnt from creating this, I’m going to put it up without even proofing it…. and the typos can just go to hell…. See ya tomorrow, ffolkes….