Tag Archives: US Constitution

Ah…. I see…. It’s the masticating jelly ….

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Ffolkes,

A powerful vortex begins to form in the open space in the air above the machine, outlined by crossing beams of laser-light, spinning swiftly, a maelstrom of flashing colors and shadows, assaulting the eyes with vibrating images sans identifiable form, nearly mesmerizing in their intensity. As the vortex spins, it begins to grow larger, until the edges push against walls of the machine, straining to break free of the light beams holding it at the size and shape to which it had grown, an oblong spheroid, about 6 feet long, by four feet wide through the middle…. A strong sense of Evil permeates the air of the room, seemingly emanating from the spinning shape, which is pulsing like a beating heart as it madly turns….. Doctor Mephistopheles looks over at me, grinning widely…. “Well,”, he says with satisfaction, “there’s your Doomsday Weapon, as requested.”…..

I’m not sure what prompted such an opening today…. I mean, it’s obvious, to me, what it is about, and what internal issues stimulated the mental images that bled out of my head…. I enjoy making up fictional beginnings for Pearls, as I like to think of myself as a writer of diverse skills, one of which is descriptive prose, that describes a physical scene, or an interaction between people… Of course, that opinion is most likely just a factor of my own gullibility, leading me to believe what isn’t remotely true….

No worries, mates, we all have our own set of delusions about Reality, which we use at our discretion to keep ourselves amused, and all of us tend to make those delusions a bit grandiose, given half a chance…. I may be smarter than the average bear, but, that doesn’t deter me from being a Bozo…. not at all…. Just look at my nose!….

That being said, and acknowledged, it may explain WHY the first paragraph came to be, but completely ignores HOW….. which is also okay, because, quite frankly, Scarlett, I don’t give a damn…. Y’all know by now this section is where I experiment with any number of techniques for introducing the rest of these Pearls, so whatever happens here is pretty much okay, since it’s all going to be ignored later, and nobody is being charged for any of it, in spite of the (almost) negligible costs involved…. I reconciled myself to that long ago, with no resentment at all, realizing from the start that a certain amount of sacrifice would be necessary….

Now, at this point, y’all are most likely wondering just WHAT THE HELL IS HE BABBLING ABOUT NOW? Hell, your guess is as good as mine…. I’ve slipped into a trance-like state, typing away madly, words going onto the screen, but, I really don’t have a clue as to any of what they’re saying, or where it might take us if it continues much longer…. it could be just about anywhere….

As I type, most of my mind is thinking about breakfast, or perhaps, a morning worship session at the throne; it’s all a blur, when observed from a third-party viewpoint. I suppose I could use one of the emergency methods again, as this seems to have burst its buttons, and no longer bears any resemblance to anything remotely appropriate for ANY style of literature….. Hell, at this point, a poem probably couldn’t save this….

Whoa, Nellie! What the hell was that? I think, ffolkes, I’ve completely lost all control, as well as my bearings. (That’s the loud, chalkboard-scraping, nerve-bending, strident noise you hear, like metal scraping on metal…..) Now I KNOW we’re going to have to go with an emergency ending for this…. In fact, I’m breaking out #4 right now…. Stand back, please….

Shall we Pearl?…..

“Everywhere I look I see NEGATIVITY and ASPHALT…” — Zippy the Pinhead
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“Feeling good about government is like looking on the bright side of any catastrophe. When you quit looking on the bright side, the catastrophe is still there.” — P. J. O’Rourke, Parliament of Whores (1991)

Of late, I’ve been using a lot of old material, from my archives…. I’ve ranted so much in the last two and a half years I feel as if I’m repeating myself, too often. This is frustrating, to some degree, because I really do want things to change, and my rants are intended to cause enough of a disturbance that people notice, and read what I have to say, thus, hopefully on my part, making some kind of difference in what is to come…. That is the intent, anyway…. Today, then, I give you the following freshly composed rant, about a rather old subject involving conspiracies at the highest levels of society, that were covered up as part of the circus of fear that accompanied the events of 9/11/01…..

Eric Snowden performed an act that will someday go down in history as one of two figures, depending on who gets to write the books…. Either he was a traitor of the first water, or his actions were an example of what patriotism REALLY means…. To my way of looking at the evidence, he obviously deserves to be included in the latter category, and I believe that will HAVE to be the eventual outcome, given the FACT that what he revealed is all the TRUTH…. and the TRUTH will always make itself known, one way or another…. It may or may not affect Reality, not enough to stimulate any changes, but, it will always be made clear…. even if I have to tell it myself….

That, of course, is my opinion, one not shared by those in the Beloved Ruling Class, who are bearing the brunt of the outrage over the information he revealed about our government’s illegal, immoral, and unethical spying on its own people, as well as on the rest of the world. He caused them no end of discombobulation and embarrassment, pulling the covers they had used to hide their activities for ten years, since the clandestine attack on 9/11/01, an event the BRC used to further its ends faster, and further, than it had ever before been able to accomplish….

In one short day, in the acts of a few hours time, the shadowy corporate slave masters forged the most valuable tool for control over others they’d ever had…. A massive outbreak of unreasoning fear, outrage and anger, felt by the entire nation, fresh and strong, all accomplished with a few thousand dollars, and the manipulation of some idiotic, fanatic, pathetic Jihadists, whose own set of delusions made them easy prey for those who wished to take advantage of the events that transpired that day…..

What? What’s that you ask? Where did I get the idea that 9/11 was a conspiracy? Oh, honey, I knew that was true the day it happened…. You mean you can’t see that? I clued into that the first time I saw that airplane hit the tower….

You can’t see how easily the whole scenario fell into place? Did anyone ever go look for the money? Who paid for the assholes who carried out the attacks? Who gave them the idea to attack the West using our own airplane in the first place? Who maintains a world-wide aura of anger and hatred against themselves, for the aggressive bombing, and ubiquitous meddling in the affairs of whomever we wish to oppress?

And, most suspiciously, why were the Saudis (whose rulers just HAPPENED to be in Washington DC, visiting their old friend, GWB Sr, the original shrub, who just HAPPENS to be an ex-CIA director….), able to get advance information on the attacks, such that they were advised to leave the country just prior to them?

A lot of other little discrepancies in the stories that emerged that day made it clear to me the whole set of terrorist acts had been planned, and probably paid for, by someone with an interest in diverting the public’s attention away from what was happening at the time on the political stage….

I do know the attacks came at what had to be the absolute most advantageous time to save the sorry ass of GWB Jr., whose butt was about to be put in a tight sling, for having cheated in a national election, stealing it through the egregious use of clandestine poll shenanigans, that caused a vital swing state to vote in the (idiotic) electoral college for Bush, when a vote for Gore would have swung the election the other way (remember the “broken” voting machines in Ohio?… No? Well, I do….).

In the days and weeks just prior to the attacks on 9/11, the office of the US Attorney General had announced it would be investigating the claims of election fixing on the part of the Bush camp, seeking to find out if they had manipulated the voting process to win the state in Ohio, and others…. This came with the intimation that, depending on the results of that investigation, the same would possibly be applied to examine the results of the previous election, in 2000, when voting irregularities in Florida gave the state’s electoral votes to the Bush campaign, as did the shenanigans in Ohio in 2004…. It was clear to me, at the time, that the Republican Party was in deep shit….

But, then came the attacks, and plans for any and all such investigations were lost in the flaring outrage that enveloped the entire country, the aftereffects of which are still being felt today, thanks to our egregiously selfish ruling class, and their shadowy masters behind the scenes…. This country has, in the past thirteen short years, lost the protection of more of the Bill of Rights than it had in the previous two hundred years, thanks to the events of that day, and I, for one, am not terribly happy about that…. In fact, I’ve gone beyond unhappy, through a bit upset, and on into downright pissed off….

…..and I don’t intend to stop feeling pissed off, until I start to see some of the people responsible start falling into the holes in the ground we’ve prepared for them, as they get picked off, one by one, by the soldiers of the upcoming revolution…. This world is ripe for revolution, ffolkes, anyone with half a brain can see that…. The gap between the rich and the poor is getting wider all the time…. when it gets to a certain point, the lines of human connection that keep society from bursting at the seams will be stretched beyond their strength, and they will break….

At that point, CHANGE will occur, whether we, (that means you, or I…. ), or the shadowy corporate slave masters and their myrmidons, wish it to do so, or not…. After all, the actual, true definition of the word “revolution” IS “change”….

I haven’t read the book listed below yet, (the link leads to a review), though I intend to do so….. Meanwhile, from looking at the review, this tome about Eric Snowden, one of the first to come out since his revelations became public, seems to present a fair-minded, equable view of the events leading up to the exposure of the illegal spying, as well as an accurate, even-handed look at the events since then. I intend to read it, if only to get some more details of what Mr. Snowden accomplished….

http://www.sfgate.com/books/article/The-Snowden-Files-by-Luke-Harding-5278264.php

I recommend y’all check it out, and think seriously about the stuff I’ve related in the above rant, about the Shrubs, (and their allies, all super-rich, arrogant, selfish, entitled assholes much like himself, and his idiot offspring….) and their chicanery….

I regard the senior Shrub as, perhaps, the single most egregiously dangerous, patently EVIL man alive, due to his background in dirty tricks (ex-CIA director), his proven complete lack of any kind of moral compass, and his painfully obvious absolute disregard for the rights of ANYONE else in the world…. but, that’s just me…. Nonetheless, I believe him to be personally responsible for most of the attacks on the Bill or Rights in the last 40 years…. In my less than humble opinion, he deserves every bit of disrespect and vituperation I can fling his way….

“There never was a bad man that had ability for good service.” — Edmund Burke (1729-1797) — Reflections on the Revolution in France, — Speech in opening the Impeachment of Warren Hastings, Third Day, — Vol. x, p. 54

Oh, by the way….. I may as well get this out of the way now….

Hi there, illegal spying drones of the NSA…. which means, hi to the CIA, FBI and anyone else you’re sharing my metadata with…. Hail, thou foul denizens of some basement in DC, somewhere in the depths of the US Cybersecurity complex, at an unknown location! Welcome to my blog! Enjoy the atmosphere, and feel free to record anything you want…. as if you weren’t already doing so….

😆
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First posted in June, 2012, & again in November, 2013, as presented both times:

“We don’t read and write poetry because it’s cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion. And medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for. To quote from Whitman, ‘O me! O life!… of the questions of these recurring; of the endless trains of the faithless–of cities filled with the foolish; what good amid these, O me, O life? Answer. That you are here – that life exists, and identity; that the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse.’ That the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse. What will your verse be?” — John Keating, Dead Poet’s Society

Early Observations

Until I knew there was more,
I wanted to know God.
They said he was a nice guy,
and would let me live forever.

All I had to do, they said,
was live my life for Him,
always living by scripture
cleaving only to his Way.

But, everyone I saw in church,
acted different at home.
Living wild, cussin’ and fussin’,
nobody lived like they said.

Still, I tried to be like Jesus,
he was sort of cool.
He never hurt nobody
and walked on the right path.

‘Course they killed him for that,
they couldn’t stand his example.
Turned him into a martyr,
 hid his real words among their own.

Then I found the Buddha,
and met Lao Tzu at the gate.
They saw things real different,
showed me how to see straight.

Right thought, and right action
replace blind obedience and faith.
Reality becomes manageable,
fear retreats, the universe expands.

Brother John said it pretty well,
“Imagine there’s no heaven,
it’s easy if you try.”
Sounds like he knew why.

Day to day, life is grand,
we walk in eternal beauty.
Open your eyes and hearts,
find yourself already immortal.

~~ gigoid ~~

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Having found that somewhat belated (belated in the sense that it’s way to late to do much about all of it now….) rant in my head this morning, I suppose it means this section will need to become an old-school pearl, for the balance such a charmingly structured pile of virtual wisdom provides, to a Pearl that might otherwise become wobbly (can’t have that!….)…..

Since all of what we do here at ECR is designed to support the universe in its quest to refrain from any such wobbles, I have no problem with going old-school…. In fact, it’s always one of my favorite activities to dispel the mild, but bothersome after-rant depression that can occur in some cases….

So, let’s take our fate firmly in hand, and go see what Smart Bee has for us today….

“Everything flows and nothing abides; everything gives way and nothing stays fixed.” — Heraclitus

“I found one day in school a boy of medium size ill-treating a smaller boy. I expostulated, but he replied: ‘The bigs hit me, so I hit the babies; that’s fair.’ In these words he epitomized the history of the human race.  — Bertrand Russell, Education and the Social Order

“You take your life in your own hands, and what happens? A terrible thing: no one to blame.” — Erica Jong

“Civilization, like an airplane in flight, survives only as it keeps going forward.” — Edward Abbey

“I have often wondered how it is that every man loves himself more than all the rest of men, but yet sets less value on his own opinions of himself than on the opinions of others.” — Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

“Remember what Simonides said,–that he never repented that he had held his tongue, but often that he had spoken.” — Plutarch (46-120 AD) — Rules for the Preservation of Health, 7

“You offend Shai-Hulud by sheathing your crysknife without having  drawn blood.” — Fremen proverb (from Dune, by Frank Herbert)

Ffolkes…. I gotta tell ya…. Sometimes, I just don’t know how these pearls will come out; other times, I’m confident of whatever may come. This pearl came together in a way that tells me it is special, so, pay close attention to the point that surfaces in your mind after absorbing the final line, while still holding there the jumble of thoughts from the previous six pearls…. I think what you find floating up into your consciousness is an idea, a concept, if you will, that you may find both stimulating, and enlightening, if not actually a revelation…. Of course, it may not happen at all, whereupon, you’ll find yourself in a quandary, bemusedly wondering where you went wrong….

No worries, young paduans, this one won’t be on the Quiz…. It may, however, be on your next reality check; tell them you got it here, and they’ll give you a discount…
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Well…. Hmm…. I hope y’all had your restraining belts fastened…. that one was quite a ride…. I’d decided yesterday to make this one completely original, in terms of the actual material under discussion, and managed to do that, only having to go to the archives for an original poem…. So, today’s effort, though not perfectly fresh, is all original, so, I’m happy with it, no matter how it came out…. which, having gone over it a number of times trying to proof it, seems pretty okay to me…. So be it…. gigoid has spoken.  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 the dubious

dozer3

If it were only REAL cheese!….

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Ffolkes,

Now I KNOW there’s a conspiracy! The US news media has been overcome by an act of sublimely random kindness, as evidenced by their recent refusal to publish news that will depress people, or make them feel blue…. I’m pretty sure they show all the symptoms of having been infected with pronoia, the condition wherein a person is convinced there is a conspiracy by the world to make them feel good; in reaction to this infection of uncommonly good sense, they have been forgoing the publication of news that is critical, or gross, or gory, or anything marginally depressive, in favor of articles about cancer survivors, heartwarming Olympic back stories, kid’s birthdays,  or other such positive crap….

I mean, it’s okay by me, mostly…. I really don’t mind not having bad stuff to look at all the time…. But, hey, we DO need to keep at least a weather eye on our beloved leaders, to ensure they’re not doing anything we wouldn’t approve of (as if THAT ever mattered to them!….). If the journalists continually refuse to even look at that, well, that wouldn’t be a good policy to continue, as it would make things worse than they already are….. We all know what wearing rose colored glasses will do in the long run…. and it isn’t pretty…

So, if you have the opportunity, talk to your local journalist, and tell him, or her, that while you appreciate their recent turn toward a more positive outlook on life, one must acknowledge reality, and reality dictates we keep the BRC and the rest of the Asininnies under scrutiny at all times, lest they come to feel an even greater sense of entitlement, if that is possible…. We don’t want to encourage them any more than is necessary to keep them under control….

Would that we, the people had that much control over our politicians! But, as y’all have probably figured out by now, this is all parody, and has no real connection to how the world really works…. It’s more of a wish, a dream of how things SHOULD be, or maybe, of how the world COULD be, if enough of us, who know the real score, were able to wrest back the control the BRC has clutched in their bony fingers for the last 5000 years….

Unfortunately, those of us who realize what has happened, and would be willing to try to change things, are too few, and too scattered to be able to organize effectively (besides being a bunch of independent assholes, who mostly don’t play well with others….).

So, the world will keep on muddling along as it always has, with the haves taking from the have-nots, and we’ll all dance the mambo down the path to Hell, wearing our fashionable handbasket clothes…. Well, most folks will…. Me, and a lot of ffolkes I know, we’ll just keep on keepin’ on, until the Grim Reaper comes to personally escort us to the other side of the River Styx…. Until then…..

Shall we Pearl?…..

“There has never been an intelligent person of the age of sixty who would consent to live his life over again. His or anyone else’s.” — Mark Twain — Letters from the Earth (1905-1909)
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I could, no doubt, under different circumstances, go surfing around the web, to some of the off-the-main-track, alternative sites for news, or to some of the international news sites, such as in Europe, or elsewhere around the world, to pick out some material about which to rant…. The US has their fingers into more than enough situations all over the globe to supply me with something about which to rant…. In addition, I have enough chops now, as a writer, I think, to be able to pick out almost anything, and write a few hundred words in exposition…. Howsomever, which is a word I just made up, I think, (well, Spellchecker never heard of it, that’s for sure..), what I don’t have is the wherewithal to sit long enough to do so…. An intro, and a paragraph, and I’m nearly at my limit…

Hence, the presence here, in section one, of an old-school pearl, freshly picked, but, without any particular standards or parameters to guide SB in the presentation process…. That way, I’ll get a wider list from which to choose the best…. That’s the plan, anyway…. Let’s be about it, shall we? I’m getting stiff…. not in a good way….

Have you ever wondered why you always run out of breath when you throw up? Ah, but a man’s retch should exceed his gasp, else what’s a heaving for? — Smart Bee

(Sorry, really, I couldn’t help it…. This was Smart Bee’s first entry today, and it caught me unawares…. I almost blew coffee out my EARS, laughing so hard without warning, and actually did strain a muscle in my jaw in grinning so fast and wide….. What do you expect, with no standards?….)

“I would have made a good Pope.” — Richard M. Nixon (1913-1994)

(I had an almost identical reaction to this one, which came mere moments later…. Too funny!….)

“Then again, e=mc^2 may only be a local phenomenon.” — Einstein

(Oh, I suppose one must keep an open mind, and not assume too much….)

“In much wisdom is much grief; and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow.” — Old Testament — Ecclesiastes i, 18

(See? See? What did I tell you? They want us to NOT think, to NOT question anything they tell us!…. And you thought I was kidding….. Okay, I’ll shush now….)

“Life is like an onion: You peel it off one layer at a time, and sometimes you weep.” — Carl Sandburg

“Remember all ye that existence is pure joy; that all the sorrows are but as shadows; they pass & are done; but there is that which remains.” — Affirmation from The Book of Law, an ancient sacred text….

“Intellect annuls fate. So far as a man thinks, he is free.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Laugh, about it, shout about it when you’ve got to choose–whichever way  you look at it you lose.” — Paul Simon

You may have noticed that this pearl has eight pearls in it, rather than the obligatory seven…. This is because I couldn’t choose between the last two, both of which make a good closing thought for this group…. though I do lean a bit toward the one that is sung over the one that merely speaks its piece…. You can make your own choice, or, do as I did, and just throw out the first one, which pretty much stands alone, anyway…. There you go….
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Having, up to now, completely screwed this up, in terms of anything original, or even terribly interesting to think about, I think it’s best if I use my own poems, so as not to create any guilt by association for any other author, or poet…. Try to enjoy it anyway, ‘kay?….. Hell, y’know what? I’ll even make it a two-fer, by leading off with a haiku, written as part of the daily poetry challenge last year on WP, a world-wide writing challenge to write a poem a day for the month of April….. The poem below the haiku came another time, and speaks about my muse, with whom I maintain a passionate love/hate relationship….

Haiku II

An inner light glows
shining out of open eyes;
madness or wisdom?

~~ gigoid ~~

Dreaming of Calliope

La belle dame sans merci speaks aloud, through endless night,
torturing dreams, with powerful words and stentorian phrases.
Manifest visions, bathed in unbearable grace and light,
destroying all direction, standing lost, in unfathomable mazes.

Fate plays a part, one that will never face denial,
as fear and courage eternally vie for ascendancy.
Conflict becomes valid, gifting strength in open trial,
but honest emotion wears no costume so fancy.

Blood, sweat, and tears stroll on avenues of gold,
unlikely heroines heralding as in ancient lore;
Sharp, competent knives cut through tales untold,
eternally shifting reality past the naked shore.

Drifting toward origin, bereft of mandate or cause,
finished, nay, abandoned, tied with a figurative bow.
No simple gift from muses to give comfort or pause,
save that all we need to know, we already know…..

~~ gigoid ~~

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As noted above, my physical condition this morning isn’t compatible with long periods in the chair…. My time in the chair, of course, must be balanced with a caveat firmly in mind, to wit: I also cannot stand or walk around for very long, before having to sit, to stop the numbness that begins to affect my legs after a few minutes upright, with or without walking…. Even in a chair now, I have to consider my skeletal posture, to avoid pinching off some part of my spine or sciatic nerve, and getting numb…. SIGH…. some parts of getting old really SUCK, you know?….

Fortunately, I have now a backlog, consisting of a couple of million words of reasonably coherent, intelligent discussion, from which to pull something adequate for the purpose at hand, i.e., a politirant, for which we are overdue today (Well, I’m not counting the mild little fantasy rant in the intro….)….  Here, then, is another blast from last February, just prior to receiving the news of my impending award of Social Security benefits, which, apparently, kept my mind in a state of curmudgeonly agitation, if the Pearls from that period are any indication…..

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

From February of 2013:

Quemadmoeum gladius neminem occidit, occidentis telum est. [A sword is never a killer, it is a tool in the killers hands.] — Lucius Annaeus Seneca “the younger” ca. 4 BC – 65 AD

The issue of gun control is currently a HOT BUTTON issue for a lot of people in this country…. (Sorry, didn’t mean to shout….) At least, it is for those who enjoy over-reacting to all the violence reported in the news….. They seem to forget that there are now significantly more than 7 billion people on this planet, with more crowding on every second; the increased violence we are seeing is a natural result of overpopulation, combined with stupidity, both of which exist in ample supply in our society…. The following is a piece I wrote in 2012, not long after one of the school shootings that occurred that year….. The piece, to my mind, pretty well summarizes my objections on this issue addressing the naive, foolish, unwarranted fear that has prompted the idiotic notion of repealing the Second Amendment altogether…. Here is my response to that idea….

“Firearms stand next in importance to the Constitution itself. They are the American people’s liberty teeth and keystone under independence…  From the hour the Pilgrims landed, to the present day, events, occurrences, and tendencies prove that to ensure peace, security, and happiness, the rifle and pistol are equally indispensable….  The very atmosphere of firearms every- where restrains evil interference – they deserve a place of honor with all that’s good.” — George Washington (bogus?)(who cares? I don’t, it doesn’t make it any less true if it was said by someone else…..)

I hear a lot of people these days spouting off about gun control, which, to them, means that all guns should be outlawed, or, at minimum, made so difficult to acquire the normal person won’t bother. This is a viewpoint that I have never understood, because it makes a totally unwarranted assumption (more than one actually, but we’ll address one of the most critical….), i.e., guns cause violent behavior…..

This fallacy is generally accompanied by the unwarranted assumption that, if people couldn’t legally own them, unwanted episodes of random violence would stop. This is naive, and unreasonable, given that there is absolutely no evidence to support such a contention.

There is no evidence whatsoever that violence is NOT part of human nature; this is a psycho-social FACT of human nature, with so much evidence in support, it isn’t really a matter of debate. People have violent tendencies, and violence is the primary response of a great many people who have never learned, or had reason to learn, how to use their reason to control their emotions.

Though I’ve never owned or carried a gun, I am a firm believer in the Second Amendment to the US Constitution, in its most literal sense. Without the right to bear arms in our own defense, we, as citizens, would be at the mercy of whomever was in office at the time, and would have no recourse at all to any redress of grievance against those officials, since they could not be forced to comply with law.

I do NOT trust any elected official to act in MY best interests; human nature also decrees that they will act in their OWN interests first, with no compulsion to even consider anything else. Making it a law that only police and government lackeys could legally be armed is a sure way to guarantee that the average citizen would be at the mercy of these so-called leaders, mercy being a quality that they have never heretofore demonstrated in any fashion.

As I said, I don’t own or carry guns, yet…. For much of my life, I’ve trained myself to be dangerous without the use of them, and feel no fear that I cannot deal with an armed man to my benefit; this is simply because it is the person holding the gun that is the danger, not the gun itself. Speed, power, and accuracy are the key elements to controlling a violent situation, along with some forethought and preparation, and the ability to keep a clear mind when under duress.

When a person is holding a gun, they feel ten feet tall, and invincible, but they remain human, and humans can be controlled with superior strategy and tactics. It does no good to hold a gun, when the target won’t sit still, or even remain visible….. and in these cases, that sense of being impervious becomes a liability to the gun-wielder, because, in reality, we are all nothing more than weak, slow, hairless apes, in comparison to most of the creatures on this planet. When dealing with a human trained to kill, the gun is only of use when the one holding it is of equal skill as the one at whom they intend to fire.

However, most Americans do not have this sort of skill set, nor the state of mind that makes it work. In the hands of a skilled warrior, a gun becomes a dangerous weapon indeed, for it will be used to achieve the warrior’s goals, as any weapon would, and not employed to merely bully others into doing what is desired, which is the usual use of these kinds of weapons in the hands of the ignorant and deceitful. Politicians, by the very nature of their sociopathy, do get rather deceitful in the pursuit of their self-centered ends. The desire to be in public office, to me, is a sure sign of a sick mind, since a healthy one has no need to assume power over others, being content to be in control of themselves.

At this point in the narrative, I feel I’m about to become a bit sarcastic, placing myself in jeopardy of becoming caustically so, even if I am justifiably directing my ire toward those shrill advocates of this kind of legal oppression, to wit: laws that attempt to legislate morality…. a pastime known to be fraught with proven danger…. So, I’ve unilaterally decided (Hey, if Barry O, the pOTUS can, I can, too!….) to stop this rant here, to avoid offending anyone unduly (Probably not why Barry does it…).

I agree with the need to tighten the regulations regarding assault weapons, in terms of keeping them out of the hands that have the most likelihood of misusing them, but, not NEARLY as far as is wanted by the fear-mongers. I think it is a good idea to keep guns out of the hands of children, (without proper adult supervision and training….), and people who have demonstrated the lack of emotional control needed by a free citizen of this country, to own and use a gun appropriately, i.e. the mentally ill, who are characterized by a lack of impulse control, or those who have previously shown their own lack of, or unwillingness to use, the necessary control, by having used guns in the commission of previous serious crimes…. None are good characteristics to see in someone with a gun in their hands….

But, once again, I must caution people to examine any laws that DO get passed, closely, paying attention to the details, to ensure they don’t go farther than is necessary, which the people in charge have a tendency to do; it’s part of their nature to attempt to slip stuff by the public…. I’ll try to wake up your precautionary instincts by asking this…..

If the insane are not to be allowed full rights as a citizen, who is it that gets to decide who is insane?  The same issues of trust are present, or absent, in that idea, as in the assumption that the Beloved Ruling Class will act in our best interests….. They can be trusted to act in their own interests first, and we all would do well to keep that in mind….. I’ll ask y’all to think about this, ffolkes, and remember what we all know about what happens to those who ignore history…..

“1935 will go down in History! For the first time, a civilized nation has full gun registration! Our streets will be safer, our police more efficient and the world will follow our lead to the future!” — Adolf Hitler (1889-1945), prior to confiscating all civilian firearms

“There are many here among us who feel that life is but a joke.” — Bob Dylan

Note from February, 2014: Just so it’s clear…. All of the above is true and complete to the best of my knowledge, accurately representing the opinion of gigoid the dubious, today, just as well as it did a year ago…. So be it, gigoid has spoken….

“I am not being paranoid. Paranoid is being afraid of things that aren’t there… trust me, I should know.” — Lauren Alexander
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Well, this has been a productive morning, all thing considered, so, I’m going to trust my luck up to now, and beat a hasty retreat, before anything untoward has an opportunity to throw a metaphorical wrench into the works…. 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 the dubious

dozer3

Feedback ISN’T good for electronic circuits…..

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7

Ffolkes,

Do you ever wake up feeling as if you’re stuck in a Disney movie? Neither do I…. Just thought I’d ask. Actually, more often, I feel as if I’m stuck in what might be called a senior film noir, wherein all the old, feeble, average looking characters spend their time moaning and groaning about getting old….a pastime which, of late,  seems to happen here a lot…..

I suppose that’s due to my own comeuppance in the aging contest, a test we all fail, ultimately; I’m harvesting an extensive crop of physical issues that are the direct result of mistaken policies regarding exercise that we were taught all of our lives…. You know the spiel, we all heard it, from JFK on…. “Exercise a lot, stay fit and healthy, you’ll feel better and live longer if you do…” Followed, of course, by that all-purpose, deliberately misleading lie, “you can trust ME!”…

We all got this message drummed into us all of our youthful days, while constantly being encouraged to join a sports league, or find some activity that simultaneously taught us life skills, worked our bodies until they were exhausted, and kept us out of our parent’s hair for as long as possible, so they didn’t have to try to figure out how to actually CONVERSE with their children, as well as to teach them to respect the authority of teachers, coaches, and “officials”…. i.e., brainwashing for later control by talking heads on the TV….

Now, of course, we know that the encouragement to exercise hard, and keep the body in prime condition, is a load of bilge water; in truth, such fanaticism about exercise is a good way to ensure spending your later years in misery and pain, as it turns out…. My doctor told me a few years ago that the medical field has changed its tune, and now encourages only MODERATE amounts of exercise, and no fanaticism about conditioning to the extreme… They’re coming to find just how many age related issues now being treated among the population are a direct result of a lifetime of overworking the skeleton and musculature…. Hence all the issues we have with muscle and ligament strains and breaks, arthritis, myalgia, neuralgia, and joint replacements, as our bodies continue to wear out from their life-long workout…..

SIGH…. Actually, this sort of ignorance is typical of society, as the people’s attention is pulled and manipulated by all the different forces in reality that seem to have the answers, but, in reality, are merely more folks who want a) to manipulate you into doing whatever it is THEY want, thereby, b) tricking you into giving them most of your money….

They’re very good at both of those things, since they’ve been practicing their deceptive messages for thousands of years…. There are a lot of evil people making a LOT of money off of the healthcare industry (Have you looked at the latest figures on the pharmaceutical makers, and how much they’re pulling down these days?…. It’s enough money to choke a horse, and, in reality, doesn’t leave a lot for the rest of us to share….)

But, that’s life here in Consensual Reality, as the forces of evil that have controlled this world for its entire history continue to rush us all down the path to extinction with their eyes wide open, staring hard at all the money they think they’ll be making off the global warming issue (see the link below….)…. and never realizing they are signing their own death warrants at the same time…. It’s the only piece of justice we have to focus on, ffolkes, but, at least we’ll know that when we humans die, they won’t be the only ones to survive…. They’ll be dying, too, and I’ll be enjoying immensely their sense of disbelief….

If that isn’t the oddest little intro/rant I’ve ever created, then I don’t know dick about anything…. No comments needed from the gallery, either…. No, it’s a bit strange, but, it’s all valid, and true, so, I guess it can stay…. Don’t know what set me off, but, hey, it got an intro done while I was busy ranting, so, I suppose it’s all good…. Enough for me to say….

Shall we Pearl?…..

“It is not necessary to light a candle to the sun.” — Algernon Sidney (1622-1683) — Discourses on Government, Chap. ii, Sect. xxiii
_____________________________

In looking over the news, I find that there is still somewhat of a moratorium in place in Washington D.C….. I think the BRC is taking a short break, doing some planning for their next little round of media manipulation…. They’re going to need some rather distracting issues to bring up, or find to deal with, in the coming months, as the weather continues to force upon us just how idiotic we’ve been, with it’s newest configurations of nasty storms and unpredictable changes in patterns to give us plenty to deal with…. (When was the last time the South had an ice storm? Sometime in the nineteenth century, I believe, or perhaps, once, early in the twentieth…. This is NOT normal , ffolkes….)

However, I did see this article in Rolling Stone, an article that provides a LOT of evidence in support of a theme I’ve been espousing for some years now, to wit: The shadowy corporate masters continue to lie, cheat, steal, and do whatever they feel they need to do to keep the rest of the world completely under their control….

The link leads to an article in Rolling Stone Magazine, which provides page after page of recorded instances of how the corporations and banks conspired, and continue to conspire, to control as much of the money and power in the world as they can possibly gather into their hands to control….. Read the article first, then, we’ll talk…. It’s rather long, but worth the effort…. I’ll wait here….

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-vampire-squid-strikes-again-the-mega-banks-most-devious-scam-yet-20140212?utm_source=dailynewsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter

Y’know….it occurs to me, belatedly, when it comes to money and/or power, these people are like junkies…. These are people who would steal your wallet, then lie to you about it; then, when it is discovered missing, they have the enormous chutzpah to offer to help you look for it…. for a fee…. Mark Twain used to say a banker was a fellow who would offer to lend you an umbrella when the sun was out, then demand it back as soon as it began to rain…. This, I think, was his way of being nice to them, because he could be a LOT more antagonistic than THAT….

They deserve all the antagonism that we can pile upon their shoulders, though, so I don’t feel bad at all about anything I say about them; the actual reality of their existence is far more ugly and evil than any name I could ever call them…. It’s difficult to insult a pig, because they enjoy being the way they are…. and, these assholes are the same way…. They feel no guilt, no compunctions at all about all the pain and suffering that their actions cause in the real world…. They could care less, as long as they get what they feel they’re entitled to, which is damn near everything….

As proof of the assertion that they have no conscience, follow this link to a page that gives you an idea of just how low people will sink in their quest for money, and the power over others that they so desire…. They are so lacking in compassion or any sort of humanity, they will go so far as to gleefully seek to make a profit off the process of global warming (helping you to look for the wallet they stole…), which, you will remember, is pretty much their fault to begin with….

https://www.google.com/search?q=windfall+amazon&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

These corporate masters, these evil, self-serving sociopaths, rich beyond all dreams of avarice, are the assholes who have bought out and hidden from sight all advances in technology over the last 100 years that would have allowed us to NOT become so dependent on the internal combustion engine, or fossil fuels, to keep society running…

We could have been switched over to solar and/or electric power 75 years ago, had these corporations allowed the appropriate research to continue; but, they were making too much money on cars, and oil, and all the dirty technology that went with it, to consider allowing things to change…. So, they bought up all the companies working on it, and stuck them on a back shelf, never to be seen again….

Hence, we have global warming, and no way to stop it, or to fix it…. If I had a solution, other than killing all them and starting over, I’d promote it, or go about trying to make it happen…. But, the fact is, I am currently of the opinion that there isn’t much hope of making the necessary changes in society, not in time to keep us from being extinct in about a hundred or so years….

All of us, the entire human race, by that time, will have to figure out a) how to breathe methane gas, or b) go somewhere else to live, because there is no stopping the processes, now well begun, that will spell our doom. I am referring, of course, to the melting of the permafrost that is NOW taking place all over the world, as the planet continues to get warmer and warmer, thanks to our ongoing contribution of several million tons of carbon mono- and dioxide into the atmosphere,  ( http://www.poodwaddle.com/clocks/worldclock/  At this site, you can watch as it happens….), every hour of every day we continue to operate automobiles…

Once a certain level of methane has been released by the melting permafrost into the air, it will proceed to act as a catalyst, causing unpredictable changes (more changes!..) to the ecological balance of the atmosphere of the entire planet, and to the weather that is the result of that balance, or, in this case, the “altered” balance…. Eventually, it will alter the overall chemical make-up of our atmosphere, rendering it unbreathable….

This is simple chemistry, and we know of nothing, no theory, no method that will stop the process, once it has begun…. In fact, our ignorance of the involved processes is so great, we know only that once a certain point is reached, the process will become what is called “hyperbolic” in nature, meaning the changes will begin to happen faster, and faster, and faster with each molecule added, until it is happening at maximum speed, approaching infinity….

There you have it, ffolkes… I wish I could pretty it up, or say there is a chance I’m wrong…. But, that chance is so slender, I hesitate to even mention its existence at all, because it is so small, it is not at all visible, or worthy of engendering hope…. I wish I did have a solution, but, all I have is speculation, which, at this point, isn’t going to cut it…. SIGH…. I guess I’ll go eat some worms…

“No falsehood lingers into old age.” — Sophocles (406 BC)
_____________________________

After ranting in the above section, I found myself still vibrating with angst and outrage at the BRC, and especially the SCM (Shadowy Corporate Masters…)…. So, I’m adding an extra section today, with an extra pearl, ranting on much the same subject, with a bit of a different focus…. It made me feel better, so, deal with it, ‘kay?…. I can’t help it, I’m an asshole, too, remember?…. All part of being human, y’know?….

First written early in 2012, posted on Triond, and in a Pearl on WordPress sometime that year, this is one of my all purpose rants on the BRC, so, enjoy, ‘kay?…..

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“What is politics, after all, but the compulsion to preside over property and make other peoples’ decisions for them?” — Tom Robbins, Skinny Legs and All

Absence of Honor: The Untimely Death of The US Constitution


“Ignorance can be compounded, made denser, until the light of our spirits is smothered.” — Deng Ming-Dao

As I read this pearl, my immediate thought was that it is a very clear, very accurate take on the 2012 election process that is currently unfolding before us in the daily news. The end of the political scale that is represented so raggedly by what is left of the Republican Party, and the mislabeled liberal end of the scale who claim to be Democrats, are both engaging in ongoing battles to see who can display the deepest ignorance.

The leading candidate for the “loyal opposition” to the party in power, Mr. Romney, seems to have a proclivity for alienating the very people from whom he is trying to win votes; women, immigrants and Hispanics, animal lovers, seniors, teachers and students, all have been told, in no uncertain terms, that they matter not at all to him. His plan? We’ll stop taxing the rich altogether, and that will fix everything…. Sometimes I wonder if he is getting all of his information on voter wants and issues of importance from old newspapers from the 1980’s, because he certainly hasn’t a clue as to what is happening out in America in this decade….

The other party, led by our first Black President, is busy hiding what the left hand is doing by distracting everyone with the tax and healthcare issues, to keep them unaware of how few of the Bill of Rights are left to us. “Executive Orders” signed by the pOTUS this year, beginning on New Year’s Eve, while the voters were all busy celebrating the advent of the new year, include provisions that allow police to stop, search, and arrest any citizen of this country whom they suspect of any form of terrorism, or even of protest against the provisions of those orders.

These same police who are arresting their ostensible fellow-citizens are not required to tell ANYONE that they have arrested and imprisoned a citizen, nor are they ever required to provide any evidence of their suspicions in a court of law. Even though there may be no evidence, they can subject these CITIZENS OF THIS COUNTRY to torture to obtain a confession, or whatever information it is they are after. There is no oversight to these orders; they don’t go before Congress to be approved, nor are they reviewed by the courts. Both of those particular checks on the power of the Executive Branch are completely out of the loop on this…. and they aren’t even complaining about it!

“Does it physically hurt to be that stupid?” — Smart Bee

My guess at the answer to this is, No. It can’t hurt very much to be that stupid, as we continue to go out each time there is an election and vote these same lying, cheating, avaricious assholes back into the same positions from which they have been oppressing the American people for oh, a hundred and fifty or so years now. I’d say that around the time of the Depression was when the first real strangle-hold on the national throat was first achieved…. the pure bullshit the government was spewing back then can be seen to have been the first real time that the government’s outrageous lies were swallowed whole by a reluctant public, who had nothing else to eat, and thus nothing else to risk…

“He was born stupid, and greatly increased his birthright.” — Samuel Butler

So, how does it feel? Does it physically hurt to be so stupid, as to be part of the crowd that continues to buy into all the bullshit lies that our own government heaps upon us every day? To keep going to the polls, just as if it really matters who gets elected? Get real, folks. You will not find a name on the ballot that belongs to someone who is not a willing tool of the powers of oppression, the money-changers who are the power behind the scenes of every government in the world. Not going to happen; they’ve been the real power in the world for centuries, and they’re not about to give up all they have, just to be nice, or because they’ve all of a sudden grown a heart.

I don’t know about you, but I’m getting pretty fucking tired of being lied to, and cheated, and looked at as just another idiot for them to shit on….. and I’m not going to put up with it for much longer, without some kind of return fire….. Believe it…. I don’t think I am alone in this, either…. No way to tell for sure, but I find it hard to believe that EVERYONE is falling for all of it…. but, even if I’m alone in this, I refuse to knuckle under any further, and can only say that I will do all I can to see things turn in a direction that will return my Rights, and those of the rest of the American people…. or at least those not stupid enough to hand them over without a fight….

“He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it.” — Martin Luther King, Jr.
_____________________________

“The best mirror is an old friend.” — George Herbert

In my second year at UC Berkeley, I lived in a cooperative housing facility, called Cloyne Court, an old wooden hotel one block off campus on the north side, just a few blocks from the Greek Amphitheater. My roommate in that second year, before gaining the seniority to attain a more private, single room, was a young man named Mark Gary…. We lived together in harmony for some months, then, after getting more private personal quarters, remained close friends for the rest of the time both of us lived in Berkeley, a matter of 3 or 4 years…. As my BFF of that era, I knew him as well as I did my own family….

We met numerous times for years after college, then fell out of touch in our late twenties, as can happen when one person moves into the wilderness, becoming a mountain man, while the other remains solidly employed, married, and pursuing such dreams as are based in urban/suburban society. (I have to confess, most of them concerned the process of finding, and trying to keep love…. but, that’s another story….)…. But, as late as 1999, or early 2000, we still conversed, and kept in light touch…

Our last meeting, in either ’99, or 2000, I forget exactly, was a double date, blind on his part, with my then-girlfriend/partner, and a friend of hers…. We had a great time, but, nothing came of the relationship for him after the date… My own relations with that woman ended some years ago, as well, but, we had lost touch again before then…

Last night, on a whim, Mark crossed my mind, so I Googled him, using what I knew from our last visit to locate him, only to find a posthumous  personal tribute, after his sudden death in March of 2001, written by one of his archaeological associates, another close friend, who wrote of his long acquaintance with Mark through their work on Indian sites…. Mark entered the field of Archeology when he discovered a Native American village archaeological site on his property in the mountains, a village that showed evidence of occupancy going back several hundreds, if not thousands, of years…. He went back to school, got his PhD, and a driver’s license, just so he could protect the site from development, along with other sites in the Western US that needed such protection…. for which, he received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the State of California, for his work with the California Division of Forestry as their resident archaeologist for northern California…

Today, as I sit here, I am remembering Mark, but, it has been long enough that my feeling of sadness isn’t quite enough to bring tears…. only a feeling of loss, and sorrow that we didn’t keep in better touch at the last…. For example, I didn’t know he had married, much less married a woman who worked with him in his own field; he must have met her right after I saw him in 1999…. It makes me want to look her up, but, that would probably cause more pain for her, than would be justified by the fulfillment of my curiosity…. Instead, I wrote a haiku in his memory, and here ’tis, such as it is….

Requiem; 1950-2001

My old friend Mark passed.
I’d have cried, then, had I known.
Now, I’ll say goodbye.

~~ gigoid ~~

_____________________________

Whew! If you’ve made it this far, you deserve a break, and so do I…. As a needed change of pace, and a bit of a treat, in that this won’t make you think any harder than you want to, I’ve put together an old-school pearl, with the only parameter being that it make me smile…. which it will hopefully do for you, as well…..

“If the Lord God Almighty had consulted me before embarking upon the Creation, I would have recommended something simpler.” — Alfonso the Wise, 13th Century King of Castile,  — Commenting on the Almagest, by Ptolemy

“There’s no room in the drug world for amateurs.” — Raoul Duke

“The earth is real. Only a fool, milking his cow, denies the cow’s reality.” — Edward Abbey

“After the lawyers are all dead, kill the Politicians!” — Smart Bee, egged on by gigoid

— Bother! said Pooh, as he seduced Christopher Robin’s mother. — Anonymous SB contributor…. (I don’t WANT to know who writes these, funny as they are…. They’re just a little bit too strange, even a bit evil, for me to need, or want, that information….)

“Ever notice that fifteen minutes into a Jerry Lewis telethon you start  rooting for the disease?” — Jim Sherbert

“If a man insisted always on being serious, and never allowed himself a bit of fun and relaxation, he would go mad or become unstable without knowing it.” — Herodotus

Well, that’s an unusual pearl…. all at least mildly humorous, but, apparently, completely without a final conclusion, other than what is asserted in the final pearl… which, given its age and proven wisdom, isn’t exactly unworthy; it just doesn’t quite reach hilarious…. Simple, elegant, not too bad for a throw-together on impulse, though…. I’ll take it….
_____________________________

If y’all know me at all, you’ll realize what an ironic statement the final line in the above section is, for me, in relation to whether or not I would take the pearl as it sits…. You see, I say it just as if there is any other decision that I’d make…. see, irony? 

Not for the first time, I believe I just lost all hope of coherence, so, it’s probably just as well I’m done for the day…. 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

Specializing in palatable solutions….

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Ffolkes,

As I entered the room where my computer resides, I heard a low moaning sound coming from just outside the back door…. I went to see what was there, and, lo! Lying on my back porch, bleeding copiously from a number of ugly looking wounds, was the most disreputable looking person I’d ever seen….

Since I didn’t want them bleeding all over the house, I grabbed some towels and bandaging materials, and went to work, attempting to stem the flow of blood as best I could, right where he lay on the wooden floor by the steps…. I could see immediately it was a futile task, as at least two of the wounds were pumping blood out, indicating an arterial cut, and I had no way to shut them off…

However, since he was merely a figment of my imagination, it was acceptable for me to just let him die where he lay…. I couldn’t for the life of me figure out any way to gracefully carry that paragraph’s story on any further, without getting into a lot more detail…. Since there are no details to be had, it being the off-the-cuff, improvisational piece it is, I thought it would be best to just abandon it after the first few lines, mainly because it wasn’t going anywhere interesting, but, partly because it was starting to become too real…. My imagination can be pretty scary at times, especially when I let if off leash like that….

Actually, it’s kind of hard to say WHAT might have come out of that one…. I don’t often lead with blood, but, when I do, it can turn in a lot of directions, that potentially can lead to fairly exotic results….. but, I digress…. From what, you ask? Well, hell, you had to ask, didn’t you? I have no clue…. You see, I’ve finally done it, and done it about as well as it could be done….

Again with the questions! Sheesh! Okay, I’ll spill…. Listen, when this gets out, you won’t tell anyone where it came from, will you? If the authorities ever find out for sure, I’ll be in deep do-do, and might even have to move to another country, where they don’t know me so well…. Okay, here’s the deal… I’m lost…. completely lost, with no clue at all as to how to find my way back anywhere near the realm of intelligent discourse….

Fortunately for all of us, our driver knows the way home, and will bring us there in due course… Meanwhile, I guess we’ll all have to just “go with the flow”, and try to enjoy the scenery that we pass through…. Hey, it could be worse…. I could be driving today, which would mean we would NEVER have gotten home, not today, anyway….. Since we WILL be getting home, I think I’ll go hide my face for a while, at least until called upon to pull the next section’s material out of my proverbial hat…..

Shall we Pearl?…..

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

The following is a public service announcement, with which gigoid fully agrees…. I would liked to have put the banner up on my site, but, I couldn’t figure out how to do it using the WordPress widget they provided…. I’m a geek, but apparently not up to date on the way to do this task… But, this definitely needs to be spread around, and shared…. So, please do so…. I HAVE included a link to the main site for the protest, where you can go to sign the petition…. Please do that as well…. Let’s all join together to give the Asininnies the finger, and let them know we won’t stand for any fucking around with our Internet, or in our private lives….

“On Tuesday, February 11th, EFF (the Electronic Frontier Foundation) will join thousands of other websites in demanding an end to mass surveillance through an Internet-wide digital protest.

Visitors will be prompted to contact members of Congress or sign a global petition opposing mass surveillance with a banner that can be inserted into any site This is a critical moment in the NSA surveillance fight.

Worldwide outrage at NSA spying helped pressure the Obama administration into making a few key concessions toward reform. But Obama’s reform plan falls woefully short.

That’s why we’re turning the heat up on Congress to finish the job. Help us end NSA mass spying. Use your website to join the protest, and help us spread the word on February 11th through social media with the hashtag #StoptheNSA.”

https://thedaywefightback.org/?r=eff

This is an extra pearl today….. The obligatory three standard entries follow below….
_____________________________

The article below was found yesterday, on 2/10/2014, on the SFGATE news site. I also saw other versions of the same story on Yahoo, NY Times, and just about every other major and minor news site I perused in my morning searches…. probably since it was an Associated Press article to begin with, I suppose. I’m including it today because carries some implications for all of us that, to me, are VERY, VERY disturbing…. I’ll let you read the article first, after which, I’ve put some short excerpts from the content of the article, to act as markers of what I wish to point out to you…. Take your time, but, please, come back for the discussion, which will follow the quoted text….

http://www.sfgate.com/news/politics/article/US-suspect-possibly-targeted-for-drone-attack-5220092.php

“An American citizen who is a member of al-Qaida is actively planning attacks against Americans overseas, U.S. officials say, and the Obama administration is wrestling with whether to kill him with a drone strike and how to do so legally under its new stricter targeting policy issued last year. ”

“….confirmed that the Justice Department was working to build a case for the president to review and decide the man’s fate. ”

“The Justice Department, the Pentagon and the CIA declined to comment. ”

… a professor of international law at the University of Notre Dame, said there is a school of thought that the Obama administration’s drone policy is “lawless.” “Why should the Justice Department issue the execution warrant for anyone abroad? The fact that they give extra scrutiny only because he’s an American exacerbates this negative impression,”

Online: Policy and procedures for the use of force in counterterrorism operations outside the U.S.:  http://1.usa.gov/1dy7de4

So…. My first question is, when did it become our national policy to kill individual citizens, including citizens of this country, anywhere in the world, if we decided they were guilty of a crime?…. Who decided, and when, that said decisions were to be left to a small set, of just a few individuals, all of  whom have a heavy investment in guilty verdicts, and no investment in verdicts of innocence. No courts, no legislative bodies are involved; now, if a person is labeled as a terrorist, they can be “terminated with prejudice” at the hands of the CIA, an agency that, I had thought, was still SUPPOSEDLY constrained from the long-used, never-acknowledged employment of “wet work”, aka, assassination,  as a means of protecting our national interests….

However, according to the information contained in this article, all that is now required, is for the president to define a person as a terrorist, whereupon Congress obligingly goes along with the charade, by docilely setting the legal classification of such terrorists as “enemy combatants”, which allows the president to act unilaterally, to wit: to kill them, using whatever tools are at hand in our clandestine arsenal of weaponry and/or technology, including the use of drones on American citizens, ostensibly overseas, not on US soil….. No, they wouldn’t do that, now, would they? Trust me, they say…. Now, where have we heard that phrase before?….

(Come to think of it, couldn’t that restriction be gotten around, by simply defining the soil on which an “enemy combatant” is standing as “enemy territory”, no matter where it is, in the US, or out?….. Thus, it would be legal to use drones to kill them, even in downtown Atlanta…. A bit paranoid, perhaps, but, how many legal arguments have you seen that are just as specious?….. Add to that, the obvious fact that the logic, pitiful as it may be, used in the administration’s current policy, is logic that matches this line of reasoning exactly…. Hence, it becomes clear, it is not a long stretch at all to imagine a time when we will be seeing drones pick off some poor sap in the bleachers at Fulton County Stadium….)

The point here, of course, that I’m dancing around so well with my sardonicism, is that we, as a nation, are now using the fine, ancient art of assassination, right out in the open, admitting to it publicly, with only the caveat that we should try to make it “legal” according to “US law and policies”, which, as might be guessed, are written by the very people who are using them as their legal defense…. That’s right, they’re not even hiding it anymore, so, let’s not miss the key operative word, and concept, here…. ASSASSINATION.

For this nation’s entire history, up to 9/11/01, when the American people were frightened to death because they got attacked on their own ground, we have never been considered a people that would use that particular political tool, (i.e., the deliberate murder of an individual, disguised as a political necessity), to pursue our national interests, either out in the open, or with discretion. It just doesn’t fit in with our self-proclaimed image as honest, fair-dealing, morally upright people, an image which, in a way, has always been the lynch pin of virtue that fit in the best with what my father taught me about honor, that which gave me a feeling of pride in this nation, as far as my meager nationalism allowed…. I liked the idea of this being an honorable country, that had no NEED to sink to that level of decadence, in order to feel safe in my own home….

“A power has risen up in the government greater than the people themselves, consisting of many and various and powerful interests, combined into one mass, and held together by the cohesive power of the vast surplus in the banks.” — Johann L. Uhland (1787-1862) — Speech, May 27, 1836

Then, along came (name withheld due to the probability of NSA surveillance…. There’s no need for them know ALL that I know, or think, now, is there?….), a former CIA wizard, to magically put together a spell to turn the minds of the average American into a quivering mass of fear, perfectly primed for manipulation, thus, easily fooled into accepting just about ANY sort of Bulls___t, if it made them feel safer….. All this, at the mere cost of about 3500 American lives on our own soil, a few buildings, and three airplanes….

That’s all it took for the shadowy masters of reality to be in position to destroy the US Bill of Rights completely, within 10 short years….. Plus, they got the bonus of using the incident to justify pursuing two wars in other countries, to the tune of another 20,000 lives on our part, along with a several hundred TRILLION dollar bill, all to be paid over time to the gun and war machine vendors, with whom we joined to fight those wars, at public expense…. What a bargain for them, eh?

They’ve done such a stellar job of this, they now are able to have their most clandestine crimes discussed in full public view (such as the assassination of a US citizen, by the government, without any oversight…. According to this article, that is an event which, please note, first took place over five years ago…. It is only now being discussed because they want to do it again…..

Since they, too, are human, and subject to the Theory of Bozoid Tendencies, they screwed their own pooch… To appease the public, trying to spin the image machine one more time, they changed one of the rules they made up, which apparently messed up one of their blankets, the one that allowed them to cover up the obvious use of the drones…. But, nobody is making a lot of noise about any of this, are they?

“The Justice Department, the Pentagon and the CIA declined to comment. ”

Well, of course they did!…. Was the reporter who wrote this story really expecting them to comment on this? This is, so far, the only article I’ve seen on this subject, (or, for that matter, on ANY subject near to this issue, ever since Obama announced his ghostly {ghastly?} reforms…. ghostly because they’re not really there, are they?), even though it was covered on several networks….

I will point out to you at this point, none of them, media, supporters, or opponents of the idea of us using this ancient political tool, are making any outcry, or expressing anything other than straight news reporting, just as if the issue. as to whether or not to use assassination as part of our national bag of tricks. had already been settled…. Well, it has, hasn’t it?   Yep, and they did it while you were watching, in plain sight, which patently indicates, to them, they do so with your tacit approval…..

I don’t know about y’all, but, the draconian nature of this pOTUS’s administration, with its smiling assurances of innocence on one hand, and obvious proof of evil intent on the other, is VERY disturbing to me…. and, I cannot but feel that my own reputation has been sullied by my government’s actions, both out in the world at large, and at home, in its manipulation of, and LYING to, its own citizenry…..

If you need proof, (my kind of person!) from another direction, if not a different news source, no worries…. there’s plenty of it….. Here is yet another article that addresses evidence of more obvious prevarication on the part of this president…. Read the article at this link, to see how another issue has received the old left hand/right hand treatment from Barry….  http://www.sfgate.com/politics/article/Obama-resists-using-his-power-to-ease-marijuana-5219705.php

Again, I don’t know about y’all, but, it kinda makes me feel….. I don’t know…. patriotically seditious? Yeah, that one….. and pissed off, too, that the assholes would think they can get away with trying to feed me this bullshite…. (Patriotic sedition is that condition that can best be stated as, “Let’s throw the lying bastards out!”….)

“They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” — Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) — Historical Review of Pennsylvania, 1759
_____________________________

Once again, today’s effort is all fresh material, so, rather than spend time trying to find someone else’s work that fits in with my theme today, here is one of my own poems, which I KNOW will fall seamlessly in with the parade of nonsense that is today’s Pearl….

Random Exposure

If I only knew what I was doing here,
I could give others a clue.
Reality gets stranger every year,
and I’m not sure what I should do.

Singing happy old tunes, in an old, gravely voice,
gives me a lot of pleasure.
I’m only glad I can still make a choice,
to look at life, to take its measure.

Memorable moments keep passing by
gilded, framed in precious emotion.
I never have to ask anyone why,
no need for a stronger potion.

Everything in life is clear, to me
there is no doubt, no misunderstanding.
We’re all good, as you can see,
members of Life, in good standing.

Life can be hard, or it can be great fun;
the right path is there for each of us to take.
That choice is often a difficult one;
pay close attention to the choice you make.

~~ gigoid ~~

_____________________________

Although I wrote the rant in section one yesterday, I went over it, editing and altering style points, so, it’s all quite fresh…. Originally, I’d planned to include here an older politirant, on gun control, from an archived Pearl…. but, then, the rant above grabbed me by the throat, made me sit down at the computer, and wouldn’t let me up until I had vented…..

So, rather than subject y’all to another 1500 words of my outrage, no matter how appropriately timed or well-written, we’ll go old-school, with parameters designed to help all of us find a bit of fun…. Hitting the funny bone… you know, that little spot on your elbow… hitting it in reality, hurts like hell….. but, when we strike it sharply on a corner of our imagination, the sharp pain could be considered as equivalent to electric joy….

Hmm…. I suppose, as a metaphor, or a euphemism, or even as a graphic example, that image leaves a bit to be desired…. Oh well, I’m sure Smart Bee can come up with enough distracting pieces of virtual wisdom to satisfy the most stringent appetite for coherency and grace…. or, not…. We’ll see, won’t we?….

“If only there were some indication the universe was doing it on purpose” — Smart Bee

“…[T]he lesson [comic books] taught children- or this child, at any rate- was perhaps the unintentionally radical truth that exceptionality was the greatest and most heroic of values; that those who were unlike the crowd were to be treasured the most lovingly; and that this exceptionality was a treasure so great that it had to be concealed, in ordinary life, beneath what the comic books called a ‘secret identity’.” — Salman Rushdie

“Gird your grid for a big one!” — random Bozo on the Bus

“Live in such a way that you would not be ashamed to sell your parrot to the town gossip.” — Will Rogers

I’m sorry…. Smart Bee has done it at last….. This group of pearls is SO esoteric, I can see no possible way to make it comprehensible in the time allowed… Oh, the pearls are hefty enough, but, they’re all so damn unconnected on the surface… Oh well, we’ll go with my instincts, which leads me to these final three pieces of wisdom that complement each other in a pretty obvious fashion…. I’m pretty sure that after reading all three, and assimilating the implications, you’ll agree with the thought that went through my head, to wit: “Hmm… I’m sensing a theme here….”

“God has no religion.” — Mahatma Gandhi

“Thou art God.” — Michael Valentine Smith – from Stranger In A Strange Land, by Robert A. Heinlein

“Thou art God, you know. Let’s do Lunch.” — gigoid, Peruaosophy, Axiom # 3

Well, there you have it, ffolkes…. I suppose I should apologize for this one, but, I just can’t….  It’s too damn cute….
_____________________________

Oops, poem…. be right back…..  Well…. It’s done, and I’m glad, even though it makes me a bit sad…. You see, this one is special…. It’s…. it’s…. well, it’s actually PRETTY DECENT!!

Now, I know, you’ll think me egotistical, and, you may be right, but, you know what… I had fun, and, if you’ve got a few functioning grey cells operating in there, you will, too…. See ya tomorrow….

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

Parachutists pack their own…..

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Ffolkes,

“So be it,” he said, simply. “I can’t do it, and, they won’t, so…. what else is there to do?”

Ah, yes, the old fictional start to the day…. If only my mind were in enough of a light-hearted space to continue it….. Sadly, it isn’t, nor will it be, possibly ever again….. Why, you may ask? Well, I’m not going to tell you, so there…. No, actually, I AM going to tell you, if I can ever find that little note I left lying around…. Oh, good, here it is….

Okay, so, why aren’t the fictional beginnings continuing as a viable technique for gigoid? Hell, I have no clue… It just sounded like the most dramatic thing I could think of on the spur of the moment…. Naturally, given its inner nature, damaged from the outset at having been created, and executed, in haste and worry, it isn’t very good, is it?

Since I have your attention, though, allow me to actually get started on this, so we can get away from this slippery reality in which I have inadvertently landed us. You know it’s going to be a tough day when the first stuff that comes out of the hopper is such that one can’t keep it even close to coherency, on much of ANY level, as far as I can tell, no matter how charming or erudite one may be…. It just isn’t working, so we’re going to rely on an old piece of magic, one I often neglect to remember to use, as it is just so easy, it’s downright decadent…. Here let me show you….

Howdy, ffolkes! Welcome back to ECR! We’ve got a grand program scheduled for your excitement and approval today, so let’s not waste another minute, and get right into it, shall we?

Okay, our first contestant is “gigoid”….. let’s see how he does at “Finding the REALITY You’re IN!”…. But, first, this word from our sponsors….

Shall we Pearl?

DO NOT ADJUST YOUR MIND: IT IS REALITY THAT IS MALFUNCTIONING — Robert Anton Wilson
_____________________________

Back in the day, when I was at UC Berkeley, I first read, or tried to read, a book called The Illuminatus Trilogy, by R. A. Wilson and Robert Shea. I got only a few pages read, for it was one of the most impenetrable tours de force I had ever tried to consume….

The level of thought used in this initial outing from “the Bobs” is at the very high end of human capability, and the words written are hard to place into proper context, as they are so flamboyantly outrageous, from the standpoint of normalcy, that one cannot even fathom what they’re talking about, without first gaining a certain handle on the style in which it is written…. a task that includes, and even needs, first, for the reader to let go of a great many preconceived notions about the real world….

For a long time after, I avoided Mr. Wilson’s work, as being more than I wished to work at for the time being…. Throughout the ensuing years, I’d see his newest book, but, never really kept up with him, or his philosophy…. This, as it turns out, is too bad, as what he tends to espouse is very close to what I believe myself, but, with even a greater degree of intellectual freedom than I have ever managed to achieve…. His work, and words, are definitely hard to keep up with, but, from what I can see now, it is well worth investigating, especially now, as the attitudes he promoted may just be what is needed to save us, in this, the time of our greatest failure of both spirit and mind….

One of my Gentle Readers was kind enough to furnish me with a reminder of Bob’s presence, and pointed me to his information via the links I’ve included below…. Over the years, I see that his ideas have grown with him, but, he remained, right up to his death a few years ago, very involved in the world of avant garde intellectualism, and quite vocal about the stupidity and cupidity of national politicians, especially the beloved Shrubs…. I do believe he disliked, and disrespected the Junior Shrub quite as much as I do, which makes my heart warm…. Great minds, you know….

All kidding aside, I intend to explore his work more deeply in the coming months, and you will most likely be seeing a lot of his ideas and words on these pages….    For example, the following quote is his; it shows me that he had a very firm grasp of the reality in which we are all trapped…. This doesn’t even mention what a FINE lead-in to a rant this would furnish….

“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.” — Robert Anton Wilson, The Illuminatus! Trilogy, Part I

Go ahead, ffolkes, check him out…. There is a lot of stuff on the Web about him, and his work continues, through the efforts of his wife and daughter, who have their own websites, available through these links…. Enjoy!

https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robert_Anton_Wilson

http://www.rawilson.com/home.html

http://www.rawilson.com/thoughts.html
_____________________________

As with any human of natural intelligence, R.A. Wilson wrote poetry, chiefly, from what I saw on his site, haiku…. However, this poem is one that graces the top of his poetry page, on his website, and is, apparently, dedicated to his wife, Arlen Wilson…. I like it, too….

Dove sta memora
 
You have not snared her,
                                    Scarecrow Death:
She’s in my pulse,
                                    My heart, my breath.
Eye sees only
                                    Local hardware;
Brain conceives
                                    Nonlocal software;
Brain knows more
                                    Than eye can see:
Brain can scan
                                    Eternity.

~~ Robert Anton Wilson ~~

_____________________________

Okay, so today’s Pearl is a wash, pretty much, in terms of freshness…. No rant, just a fan club piece…. admittedly, it speaks about a worthy subject, but, a fan club piece, nonetheless….. I could put in an archived rant, but, I’ll spare you that, and go with an old-school pearl instead…. I kind of think that Mr. Wilson would have enjoyed my pearls, especially those that shoot, and score, at the BRC, especially the Shrubs, for whom he held a GREAT DEAL of animosity, just like ME!….. Any who, enjoy, ffolkes, it may be your only chance to salvage today….

“Never let the future disturb you.  You will meet it, if you have to, with the same weapons of reason which today arm you against the present.” — Marcus Aurelius Antoninus

“Conservatives are not necessarily stupid, but most stupid people are conservatives.” — John Stewart Mill (1806-1873)

“Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich.” — Napoleon Bonaparte

“Education is the kindling of a flame, not the filling of a vessel.” — Socrates

“The militia of these free commonwealths, entitled and accustomed to their arms, when compared with any possible army, must be _tremendous and irresistable_. Who are the militia? _are they not ourselves_? Is it feared, then, that we shall turn our arms _each man against his own bosom_? Congress have no power to disarm the militia. Their swords, and every other terrible implement of the soldier, are _the birth-right of an American_…the unlimited power of the sword is not in the hands of either the _federal or state governments_, but, where I trust in God it will ever remain, _in the hands of the people_.” — Tench Coxe 20 Feb. 1788

“There is one sure way of telling when politicians aren’t telling the truth — their lips move.” — Felicity Kendall

“An apple a day keeps the doctor away – if you aim right!” — Smart Bee

Hmm…. Who knew? Not me…. It will do, though, if only for today…. In case it isn’t clear, the above pearl, when correctly viewed, with the proper attitudinal filters, is a brilliant rendering of the shape of life today in the USA….. Now, for some, myself included, that is a bit of a stretch, imagination-wise, but, it’s not an insurmountable difficulty…. Actually, having to work a bit harder to find it will make it more worthwhile when it hits you…. less bloody, too, which is always a bonus…..   😆
_____________________________

Once again, I’ve created a monster…. Oh, wait, no, that’s the other Reality…. never mind….. Actually, this one might deserve that moniker itself…. Let’s see how it flies before letting it go…. Oh, hey, that’s not bad at all…. That being the case, I’m outta here, ffolkes…. 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

I’d like to be made fully cognizant, please….

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Ffolkes,

“After all,” he said, with a small, sardonic smile, “it’s only a matter of time.”

“Of course it is,” she replied, smiling back in her sultry way, “but, whose time will tell the tale?”

Have you ever seen one of those big old, shuffling bears, with a red vest, and a silly top hat, that rides around on a unicycle, playing a squeeze box? No? Neither have I…. But, that’s probably alright, because I HAVE seen one of the other kind of bears, the kind that shits in the woods whenever the Pope’s existence gets confused with his own… Playground games have more solid effect on Reality than you knew, you know…. No soap, radio!…..

Now that we have established the proper tone for this morning’s episode of fun and frolic, otherwise known as pearling for dollars, not that we ever see any….. at least, not for this…. But, I do like to start with some nice, thick, obscure nonsense; it just gives something special to enhance the tenor of whatever comes out of my head, sort of like adding streusel to schnitzel. Plus, it makes for a better, more healthful start to the day, as all of what we’ve been so fortunate to offer up thus far has been organic in nature….

Yep, nothing but pure, 100%, government certified organic materials were used to construct the pearls you’ll see today…. It’s our newest product line, brought in to try to corner a piece of the vegan market, though the reason “why” escapes me completely. It has something to do with the diversification program the top management wants to put us through, to try to bring the bottom line up from 0, to some number that resides outside the negative realms where it typically stays…. I keep telling them, nobody will buy it, especially not here, but, hey, they’re committed to it…. probably, one of them married a vegan, and can’t get any at home unless he does this…

Now that we’ve prevaricated shamelessly (Silly readers, there’s no top management here at ECR…. there’s just ME!!….), I wonder what other kind of mischief I can get into before getting to the meat today…. I’m feeling a bit whimsical, as well as feeling like I want to bite someone (not sure as to WHY on that one…. just woke up with a stick in my ass, and SOMEBODY’s got to pay for that, right?….), or maybe dance a few steps of the Assholio on somebody’s head…. You know, the Assholio, those classic mambo-like moves guaranteed to take the skin off anyone… All I know is SOMEBODY is going to get an earful, before the day is done….

Shall we Pearl?…..

And through the spaces of the dark
Midnight shakes the memory
As a madman shakes a dead geranium

— T.S. Eliot
_____________________________

“Gentlemen, listen to me slowly.” — Samuel Goldwyn

On first attempt this morning to fill in this section, I wrote what is now residing in section three…. My intended material, presumably located somewhere in the semi-intelligent haze of thoughts that hovers around in my head at all times, which concerned the recent SOU by our beloved POTUS, apparently got lost in the shuffle….

In truth, it’s just as well, because, from what I could gather on first impression, the State of the Union he described in his speech had very little to do with the actual Reality of that State, or, for that matter, that Union, since he managed to leave out some rather important issues altogether, concentrating only on what he wants people to focus on….

This technique is common among prestidigitators, showing a shiny, squirmy object, in one hand, with some kind of feathers, metaphoric, or real, (real is good, they never fail to pull in the eye….), that draws the attention, while the other hand is hiding the actual important issues, perhaps even off stage, never referring to them, so as to not plant any unwanted ideas….

Now, I have yet to peruse the content of the entire speech, but, I’ve seen a couple of articles that touched on his high points, and there were … are a couple of what I think should be called glaring omissions…. For example…. no, can’t do it… I’d better go research the speech fully before I pick at a specific…. Be back in a bit….

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/obamas-2014-state-of-the-union-address-full-text/

Well…. That was educational, to be sure…. Yes, I just read the text of the whole speech; you can, too, using the link just above…. go ahead, I’ll wait….

In the speech, there were, as I mentioned, a couple of important issues that received only minimal mention, in passing…. (I know, I said they were omitted… I was wrong, they were merely minimized, and hidden in plain sight….). There was only one paragraph on gun control, wherein he promises to “try” to “stop more tragedies”, with one quick reference to Sandy Hook (gotta get those talking points in!… Shootings at elementary schools always bring out the tearful emotions, which is the intention…. such emotions are much more easily manipulated….).

This is an issue that has gripped the public attention all year, but, isn’t worth mentioning, except in passing…. Instead, the POTUS will deal with this “on his own”, through the use of the concept of the “Executive Order”, to limit assault weapon accessibility, along with other issues on his agenda, in which he is being blocked by Congress, or the Constitution….

There is also only one short, vague paragraph mentioning the issue of spying, prefaced, of course, by mentioning the illegal war in Afghanistan, reassuring us the number of troops there is decreasing, (We’re all gone from Iraq, he says….. Sure, sure we are….)…. while simultaneously fanning the embers of fear, by then stating “For while our relationship with Afghanistan will change, one thing will not: our resolve that terrorists do not launch attacks against our country……The fact is, that danger remains. ”

“In regard to disagreeable and formidable things, prudence does not consist in evasion, or in flight, but in courage. He who wishes to walk in the most peaceful parts of life with any serenity must screw himself up to resolution. Let him front the object of his worst apprehension, and his stoutness will commonly make his fear groundless” — Ralph Waldo Emerson, _Essays_, Prudence

This, of course, is the justification for the following complete wash on the clandestine spying issue that has been in the forefront of the news all year; he makes a passing, one-sentence statement on that…. ( The pertinent statement is in bold, and italicized….) ….”That’s why I’ve imposed prudent limits on the use of drones – for we will not be safer if people abroad believe we strike within their countries without regard for the consequence.  That’s why, working with this Congress, I will reform our surveillance programs – because the vital work of our intelligence community depends on public confidence, here and abroad, that the privacy of ordinary people is not being violated.”

That’s it…. That’s the sum total of what he had to say about the single most reported and discussed issue in the public arena in the entire year of 2013…. ONE sentence. Oh, the drones, too… They are another seriously disturbing factor in the clandestine activities they AREN’T talking about…. but, they’re nowhere near as critical for the public as the spying that continues to take place, in spite of the “welcome public debate” created by the actions that exposed the chicanery by the administration….

Oh, also, was that a crushing silence I heard on the subject of Eric Snowden, probably the most important character, definitely the most important of the last year in America, to enter the stage in the morality play that is our government? Why, yes, yes it was a crushing silence…. Maybe the president was still in shock; perhaps due to learning that Mr. Snowden had received his first nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize yesterday?…. That must be it….

His statements on climate change and global warming, while pointed in the right direction, still show no better willingness to face the true issues involved, as he said nothing that would disturb the bottom line of the corporate masters listening closely…. The entire speech, as far as I could see, had a very imbalanced viewpoint of Reality, much different, obviously, from a politician’s point of view than it is for the general public at large, and for me specifically…. His viewpoint paints a much rosier picture, of the past, the present, and the future, than the one I see, all without really making a single promise, or offering up a single detailed plan of action.

I guess I should have expected as much, seeing as this POTUS is one who is adept at painting pictures with words…. Unfortunately, the pictures he paints really don’t reflect Reality…. They’re very romanticized, vague, idealized, and lacking in clarity….. which, I believe, is a deliberate technique, designed to soothe the eyes and minds of the public at whom it is directed, distracting them from the harshness of the Reality that they can see whenever they look away from his pretty pictures…. Can’t have the natives getting too restless, now, can we?….

I think, given the evidence of this speech, along with some of the other issues that I’ve seen the POTUS take up, this is a far more dangerous individual than I had imagined, not because he is promoting reform, but, because he is using that pose, of being a reform politician, to cover up his much more egregiously oppressive policies, such as in the areas of intelligence, and executive power….. He has expanded the power of the office of the Presidency to an extent heretofore unseen, writing Executive Order after Executive Order, at times when Congress is out of session, or just to circumvent their blockage of what he is trying to accomplish….

This administration has brought suit against more journalists, for publishing leaked material, than any previous administration, by a factor of 10; they have aggressively and ruthlessly pursued any and all attempts by the media to obtain his vaunted, and non-existent “transparency”, which he so glibly promised in his first campaign for the office…

There are times I don’t blame him for some of it, because of all the actual, real reforms he, and every other president in the last 60 years, has tried to get past a divided Congress, and had blocked by their intransigent ignorance, and partisanship…. Except, that’s not how the Constitution says it is supposed to work….

He is writing LAWS, which is an act reserved for Congress…. He has issued orders on gun control that, according to the Second Amendment, he has no right to issue, for they restrict the public’s access to weapons of certain types altogether…. Not, I will admit, that they’re weapons they NEED, but, the Second Amendment doesn’t allow for any distinctions as to type or quantity of guns; change part of that, and it all changes, of that there can be no doubt…..

So, yes, I guess you could say that, once again, I’m disappointed in this POTUS’s assessment of Consensual Reality, or, at least, of his stated assessment, as well as in his lack of transparency, and willingness to lie to the public…. Oh, yes, ffolkes, lying by omission is still lying; just because he didn’t say anything about an issue, doesn’t mean he isn’t DOING anything illegal in that area… it just means he doesn’t want us to know about it…. You can be sure of that…. He’s already proven that transparency is just a word to him, one he is very glib and confident in using, but, one he has no intention of ever actually providing to the public….

In looking at the entire speech as a whole, what I see is a long, manipulative set of words and phrases designed to get the public, and his cronies, thinking about just those issues he wants to address, without giving any real information on any of it, beyond the necessary key phrases that identify his talking points.

He uses a lot of examples of what he calls typical Americans from the middle classes to illustrate his points, shamelessly using emotional stimuli to direct the people to the attitudes he desires to create in support of his agenda. In truth, he’s an adept, efficient speaker, never confusing the issues with facts, preferring to use insinuation and/or vague references to factoids….Sadly, none of what he said had any solid connection to what is actually real….. Ah well, I’m forced to admit, I wasn’t expecting to see anything better, and, I didn’t….

“Never be angry when a fool acts like a fool.  It’s better when fools identify themselves…it removes so much uncertainty.” — Lord Peace
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Once again, I’m putting in one of my own poems, to maintain the level of personal responsibility that must be assumed for whatever one may call this entire mess…. So be it…

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 ~~

_____________________________

“We’re not into science fiction because it’s _good literature_, we’re into it because it’s _weird_. Follow your weird, ladies and gentlemen. Forget trying to pass for normal. Follow your geekdom. Embrace your nerditude. In the immortal words of Lafcadio Hearn, a geek of incredible obscurity whose work is still in print after a hundred years, “woo the muse of the odd”.”  — Bruce Sterling, addressing a convention of SF writers

A few days ago, I experienced an epiphany regarding the solutions we need to find to the issues of global warming and climate change…. This statement is one that, though not exactly what I’m talking about, is in the right ballpark…. Finding answers to what is happening in the real world has been part of what science fiction writers have done, peripherally, for many years, in the sense that the stories they write explore the concepts involved in ways that demonstrate the questions, and can, hopefully, point the way to finding the answers we now need…

There have been many, many stories…. full length novels, novellas, short stories… all written over the last two hundred years or so, that talk about the most critical issue we now face, to wit: the climate changes produced by our insane pollution of the atmosphere. There has also been a lot of speculation and talk among the people who do the writing, and those who write about them, all discussing possible scenarios for possible futures….. Somewhere among all that talk and discussion, there MUST be an idea that we can use to turn the tide that we have so foolishly turned against us…..

In other words, in a metaphorical sense, we need to go out into the realms of fantasy and imagination, to find the elves, so we can benefit from the wisdom of their counsel…. Even though I already know what they will tell us…. The elves always give the same counsel…. we will need to find a Hero, who can step forward to assume the Quest to save mankind from the folly of his own greed and ambition…. Metaphorically, this is absolutely correct…. what it will translate to in real terms is yet to be seen, but, something needs to be done to find an answer, and soon, for the time we have to accomplish anything that will work is growing smaller rapidly….

“There is something inside all of us that yearns not for reason but for mystery… not for penetrating clear thought but for the whisperings of the irrational… not for science but for wizardry disguised as science.. not for rationally founded influence but for magic.” — Karl Jaspers

In the meantime, rather than ranting at you to get out there and try to find an elf, who can then lead us to his where his people have gone, far over the Western Sea,…. I’ll put together an old-school pearl, with some good advice and/or some snarky comments about the assholes who got us to this point in the first place….

“For me, all I can do is spit in the eye of my fears by living each day with as much passion and commitment as possible  to what truly counts, such as love and justice. To give the into the fear and hopelessness would be to declare defeat, something I am not ready to do while there is still the will to struggle.” — Lawrence Paradis

“You shouldn’t think about *how* we’re doing this.   You should ask yourself, ‘why?'” — Penn Jillette

“To the uneducated, an A is just three sticks.” — Pooh’s Little Instruction Book, inspired by A. A. Milne

“I like living. I have sometimes been wildly, despairingly, acutely miserable, racked with sorrow, but through it all I still know quite certainly that just to be alive is a grand thing.” — Agatha Christie

“A little folly is desirable in him that will not be guilty of stupidity.” — Michael de Montaigne (1533-1592) — Book iii, Chap. ix

“Education is an admirable thing, but it is well to remember from time to time that nothing that is worth knowing can be taught.” — Oscar Wilde (1856-1900)

“Must not all things at the last be swallowed up in death?” — Plato

See? There is a perfect example of why I seldom make precognitive assumptions about a particular pearl, especially BEFORE it is constructed…. This is a grand pearl, but, no snarky comments to be seen…. ‘S’okay, it doesn’t need them….
_____________________________

All things considered, this didn’t turn out so badly as I had feared…. As I said above, so be it…. 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

Never to forgive, no time to forget….

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Ffolkes,

Today’s Pearl is going to be a difficult one to write…. not because of the complexity or subtlety that is needed, nor for any great amounts of humor that I’ll be trying to infuse in it, though I’m sure humor won’t be out of place…. it just won’t have much effect. In order not to drive anyone away right off the bat, I’ll try to hold off any further spoiler remarks until its time for the actual event to unfold….. and, I’ll try not to drip tears on the keyboard as I type, a frequent problem with this sort of material….

In fact, the upcoming rant, and Pearl, could be considered as unique, beyond any reasons that already may apply for a blog such as this…. First, the title…. It actually has something to do with the content today; what it says refers directly to the rant that will go below, on global warming and climate change. This is unprecedented here on ECR; the one time it happened previously was an accident, when I forgot to do the title beforehand, and having written the Pearl already, the title ended up as a comment on it, after a fashion….. Other than that one instance, the title has never before directly referred to what is included in the Pearl itself….

Second, the content today will be not merely curmudgeonly, and my emotions regarding what is written about are much, much stronger than for most rants, because this is the BIG ONE, ffolkes. This one speaks to the End Times that we have brought upon ourselves with our massive stupidity, and lack of simple intelligent behavior. We’ve fouled our nest beyond redemption, and it is NOT an easy task to try to discuss it without involving my own feelings about the assholes who are to blame….

I am usually the kind of person who tries to fix the problem, rather than fixing blame… But, in this case, the problem is one I can’t fix…. nobody can, it’s too late. The physical processes involved in global warming have reached the stage where we not only don’t have the technology, or the smarts to know how to stop the process, but we don’t have enough TIME to figure it out…. The processes involved have already reached a point of no return, so the only option left for us is to adapt the best we can, which doesn’t appear to give us much time at all, as there is no adaptation we can make to learn how to breathe methane gas….

That’s enough of a preview in the intro section… I’d best leave some of my angst out for the actual rant. I’ve managed to blather about it long enough to cover the basic requirements, so, we’re good to go in that respect…. I only hope I can keep up the anger, and let go of the sadness and disappointment long enough to make this a good rant…. There’s certainly enough supporting material to prove my points….. Any who, I think I’ve been as clear, and as obscure as I could be in one short section, so….

Shall we Pearl?…..

“Only the good die young. Note the average age in Congress.” — Smart Bee
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Do you remember what the First American Revolution was about? I mean, really about? In school, we are given a dual message as to the motivation for the rebellion, with the message the BRC WANTS you to believe on the top, and the real reason as the subtext, gone over quickly and then dismissed…. This is how you control and manipulate people, by controlling their perceptions, and what they are allowed to see and hear; it’s a technique that has been applied to the American people, as well as most of the people in the world, ever since the ink dried on the Constitution and the Bill of Rights…..

You see, the subtext of the message about the Revolution was this, (and I’m sure you’ve heard it….)…. “No taxation without representation.” You see, ffolkes, it’s all about the money, and it always has been….. We are told about how we fought this war with England for our freedom… freedom of religion, and freedom of government…. This was the idea used by the colonists who owned the land, and the plantations, to convince the laborer classes, the small merchants, and small land holders, the rest of the folks living here, to join in the revolution with them, promising virtually unlimited freedoms (compared to what they had known all their lives….), and never once letting on that protecting their money was the underlying reason….

You see, what was really wanted by our forefathers was freedom to keep their money for themselves, rather than having it taxed by a king they never saw, for public services they also never saw…. Not being particularly fond of sending their money off to the king, and never getting anything for it, the aristocrats among the colonists fooled the rest of them into joining the fight, while they sat comfortably at home, paying for it…. thus, the scam and charade began, and has been going strong ever since….

“A politician,… one that would circumvent God.” — William Shakespeare (1564-1616), Hamlet — Act v, Sc. 1

Now, it’s 2014, and our culture has been evolving under the auspices of this charade for over 200 years. We have reached the point where certain of our societal habits and fillips are becoming significantly dangerous, in a very real, physical sense….. One of our ingrained societal habits is that of entitlement, that particularly human characteristic that gives people the false impression they are adequate as moral beings, just because they’ve agreed to the delusional claims of the religious hierarchies, or sociopathic, power seeking politicians, or, worst of all, the amoral financiers who live for self-interest, giving them carte blanche to assume their own prominence at the top of the food chain….

I mean, one of the religious books these fools pay so much attention to says it right up front, “Man was given dominion over all the other animals, made master of all the world, in God’s name….”    I know, that’s not an accurate quote, but the meaning is clear, and is exactly what they teach their constituency to believe….. This entitlement is what has led us to destroy our own nest, fouling the air and water to the point where we have outstripped our ability to adapt, either technologically, or biologically….

The article just below this paragraph is by one of my favorite authors, to give you another perception of what I’m seeing, and talking about today; I found some of the other links in his article, which will take y’all to material that will help understand the depth and severity of the problem we face now…. Please, take a few moments now to read it…. I’ll wait right here…..

http://blog.sfgate.com/morford/2014/01/21/fine-weather-for-creepy-melancholia/

The two links below are to other articles that contain some of the research facts that have brought this knowledge to the forefront of the news… The first is a summary of the current California drought, the second an assessment by experts about drought conditions world-wide in the upcoming year…. All of it is pretty grim, and pretty convincing, since none of it can be denied…. This stuff isn’t theory, it isn’t speculation, ffolkes, these are the FACTS…..

http://www.motherjones.com/blue-marble/2014/01/california-drought-scary-facts-snowpack

http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/expert_assessment/sdo_summary.html

The link below this paragraph is perhaps the scariest of these documents, as it is a discussion by the leading US government scientists in the appropriate fields, who have gotten together to file this report…. The opening lines are astoundingly frightening…. They paint a grim picture of WHATEVER future is in store for the US, with its immediate focus being on how the American people are now going to have to accept the FACT that what is happening is because of our own foolishness…. Go ahead, read the first page or two, then come on back here to finish this diatribe, as you can get back to the rest of that report later, should you wish to inundate yourself in evidence….

http://ncadac.globalchange.gov/download/NCAJan11-2013-publicreviewdraft-fulldraft.pdf

An old adage in writing talks about always leaving one’s audience wanting more…. I’d love to do so, but, that’s all there is, ffolkes. It’s too late for anything else, so all I can do is deliver the message, as clearly and as convincingly as I can, and, well, I almost said pray, or hope, that a miracle of some kind will happen, but, neither one of those looks like it will do much good…. We’ve already broken all the supposed laws that God might have given us, had He existed outside our own minds, a statement I make in complete confidence that there isn’t a priest, preacher, or Pope alive who would admit otherwise, by their own standards, if they were tasked to be honest….

Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune without the words,
And never stops at all,

And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.

I’ve heard it in the chillest land,
And on the strangest sea;
Yet, never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me.

~~ Emily Dickinson

Hope? Hope never dies, does it? As convinced as I am of our impending doom as a species, there is still a small, admittedly VERY small, piece of me that retains some hope that my assessment is incorrect….. But, even the power of Emily’s brand of unfounded, unasked-for hope, it is now getting very hard to retain any belief in it….

I WANT to believe there IS a feasible scientific or otherwise practical solution to the physical issues concerning the climate, with all its unknown, perilous changes, to which we will have to learn to adapt in a very short period of time…. or die. I want to, but, I don’t….. I cannot say I will welcome Death if it comes before I think it is my time, even though I have little fear of it….  Welcome or not, it is an issue I believe I WILL have to confront….

Dramatic? Yes. True? Yes. Don’t take my word for it, go read the articles, listen to the experts; they’ll all tell you the same thing, ffolkes. We have ignored Axiom #2** of Peruaosophy, and we are all about to become victims of our own ignorance. The change that is coming isn’t a matter of trying to decide on a new paint color, or even whether or not a politician is lying to us…. It is real, innovative, unpredictable in scope, if not direction, and is in our faces NOW….

**Axiom #2: The Nature of the Universe is Change. Unpredictable, innovative transformation of Reality is the Norm. If you have a problem with this, you’re in for a rough ride in Life.”

Addendum: You might ask, how did we ignore Axiom #2, as a culture? Perhaps the primary characteristic of those in power is their fear of change, and their insane need to maintain the status quo at all costs…. To me, this is simple logic, unassailable in its clarity, and its truth as a conclusion of both deductive and inductive reasoning…. If you doubt either assertion, perhaps this will help…. Proof of their fear of change? Ask a politician their opinion on term limits…. or, ask a banker their opinion of the Second amendment… Inductively, it seems obvious to me that only a very great fear of the unknown could account for the need for entitlement, or the desire to even possess power over others…. It isn’t sane, and nobody can tell me it is….

I will leave this gloomy discussion right there, with only the following three-star pearl as a final comment….

“The case has, in some respects, been not entirely devoid of interest.” — Sherlock Holmes [Sir Arthur Conan Doyle]

“While hunting in Africa, I shot an elephant in my pajamas.  How an elephant got into my pajamas I’ll never know.” — Groucho Marx

“Most of all, I’ve learned that a good time to laugh is anytime you can.” — Linda Ellerbee
_____________________________

”    . . .those who have never entered upon scientific pursuits know not a tithe of the poetry by which they are surrounded . . . Sad, indeed, is it to see how men occupy themselves with trivialities, and are indifferent to the grandest phenomena– care not to understand the architecture of the heavens, but are deeply interested in some contemptible controversy about the intrigues of Mary Queen of Scots!” — Herbert Spencer


The link above will take you to a copy, with annotations, of T.S. Eliot’s “The Wasteland”….. for some reason, my sense of irony demanded I include it today, in spite of the several hundred verses one must wend through to reach the end, and all the meaning…. Rather than take up your time further with it here, I am providing the link so you may peruse it at your leisure, little as we may have of that left to us….   Sorry, no more doom & gloom now…. we’re going on to have some fun, if I have to hurt myself….
_____________________________

I am bound and determined (what a clunky, awkward phrase! How did it ever survive in the English language for so long?….)… Any who, I am firmly invested in having a laugh or two now, even if I have to resort to picking on my own bozoid tendencies…. There are certainly enough of those to go around, which any of my exes would be happy to tell you….

Bozoid tendencies? What are those? Well, really, ffolkes, do you really feel the need for me to explain that? The very words are pretty self-explanatory…. but, I guess it’s been awhile since I expounded on my version** of this theory, so, to answer, quickly….

Bozoid tendencies are those human characteristics that are embedded in our species’ persona, hard-wired, as it were, into our psyches, that can only be described as being “clownish”, and cannot be suppressed, no matter how dignified or stuffy one tries to be…. It can be best expressed vocally by the phrase, “I came, I saw, I screwed up.”…..

At some point in life, each and every one of us will do something really stupid, right in front of the most embarrassing group of people possible, such as family, or an entire stadium of excitable fans, or a restaurant full of strangers…. Often it is something as simple as forgetting a wife’s birthday, or forgetting to close a zipper, ensuring a wardrobe failure at the wrong time, or it could be as compelling a moment as running the wrong direction in a Super Bowl…. but, we all do it at one time in our lives, without exception…. Hence, the theory of Bozoid Tendencies….

** Inspired by the metaphoric brilliance of the Firesign Theater’s audio improvisational album, “I Think We’re All Bozo’s On This Bus!”, the Theory of Bozoid Tendencies was first discussed and codified in Berkeley in 1969….

This is the period when gigoid (that’s me….) spent a lot of time in such discussions with other burgeoning social philosophers, all UCB students of various vintages, in various dark, smoky venues, in various stages of mindfulness due to either extreme use of sober imagination and logic, to the often brilliant scintillation of drug induced excitement of the imagination, whether the drug was wine, beer, MJ, or something more exotic, if infrequent.

Having obviously survived the experiences intact, the Theory has been shown to be valid in many, many instances over the years, in myself, and in the world at large…. with most of such proof provided in the daily news…. when not in the mirror….

With all of that in mind, we’ll now search for some pearls that can make me laugh…. you’re on your own, this one will be according to MY sense of what is funny, and what isn’t…. So there…. I TOLD you we all have a sense of entitlement, didn’t I?….. Besides, if nothing else, YOU can laugh at MY sense of entitlement, or my humorous standards, if you so desire, and I can laugh at myself (I’m easily amused….)…. just for making the effort, which goes to the evidence folder for the theory’s validity….

“A guinea pig is not from Guinea but a rodent from South America. A firefly is not a fly, but a beetle. A giant panda bear is really a member of the raccoon family. A black panther is really a leopard that has a solid black coat rather then a spotted one. Peanuts are not really nuts. The majority of nuts grow on trees while peanuts grow underground. They are classified as a legume-part of the pea family. A cucumber is not a vegetable but a fruit. — Smart Bee

(Just a few of the reasons I love the English language…. and the English mind, which is completely twisted…..)

“I think you ought to know I’m feeling terribly depressed.” — Douglas Adams — The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, Marvin

(And I think I have very good reason to be depressed, don’t you?….. So much so, I have to laugh, so I don’t cry….)

“The education of a man is never completed until he dies.” — Robert E. Lee

(Don’t know exactly why, but this, to me, is funny…. perhaps more funny, strange, because of the irony, than funny ha ha, but, funny….)

“Life isn’t fair.” — L.J. Smith

(This reminds me of my favorite line to use to try to gently remind someone they are whining for no reason; simply ask, “Who was the one who lied to you?” “Who was who?” “The one who told you life would be fair.”…. First heard from my father, at a young age….)

(Okay, so, I’m not funny today…. I’ll quit with the comments, and find a solid final threesome of pearls for ya….)

I met a traveler from an antique land
Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert.  Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read.
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed;
And on the pedestal these words appear:
“My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!”
Nothing beside remains.    Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,
The lone and level sands stretch far away.

— Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822), “Ozymandias” (1819)

“Everything that goes up must come down. But there comes a time when not everything that’s down can come up.” — George Burns (1896-1996)

You know it’s going to be a bad day, when you find a note on your door that says, “Knocked, you weren’t in. — Opportunity” — Smart Bee

You may well ask yourself why I felt compelled to include the excerpt by Shelley in there, but, I, being the curmudgeon that I am, will only say that I know that my Gentle Readers will be able to look at that, in juxtaposition with everything else I wrote today, and see why I fell over laughing when I saw it come up on the screen, and why it’s a particularly funny joke right now…. The others, well, as I said, you’re on your own…. I laughed….

😆
_____________________________

“Silence is the element in which great things fashion themselves.” — Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881)

Either this means I should never have started, but kept silent, or, it means I spent a lot of time in silence, fashioning a great Pearl. I’ll have to leave that particular judgment up to others, but, I gotta admit, I like this one quite a bit…. Long as it may be, I had fun, and I said what I had to say…. Now, I can go finish the day in good spirits, having completed what I now consider as my duty, or, at least, the initial one of the day…. See ya tomorrow, for now…..

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

Subject to random bourgeois scrutiny….

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Ffolkes,

Aha! I have found it! Eureka! as they used to say in Greece, a long time ago… No, seriously, I found out why this whole intro thing has been such a struggle…. Here, check this out….

“The point I have been patiently trying to make,” Godwin said impatiently, “is that you expect far too much of a first sentence. Think of it as analogous to a good country breakfast: what we want is something simple, but nourishing to the imagination. Hold the philosophy, hold the adjectives, just give us a plain subject and perhaps a wholesome, nonfattening adverb or two.” — Godwin to Danny Deck, Some Can Whistle

See? It’s all because I’m too complex and twisted with age-related mental afflictions, stemming from a healthy, but possibly delusional sense of adequacy…. However, by choosing to adopt the above concept, my entire problem is thus eliminated, with one swift, clear indication of what is needed to put everything aright. My only regret is that it took me so long to find this….

Ah well, serendipity chooses its own time to manifest, and I guess it’s like family…. we don’t get to pick. I’m just happy I finally have a clue as to how to get myself past this section without all the hullabaloo. I swear I’ve spent more time agonizing over these little pieces than I spend doing much of anything else, let alone something as critical to the success of this venture, such as it is….

Of course, in looking over the requirements as set forth above, this may be more of a challenge to me than I knew…. I mean, I can get fairly pedantic, and pomposity comes pretty naturally, too. Keeping to a simple subject, adverb, verb format might be more than I can do on short notice….. I may have to practice awhile before it starts to go smoothly… but, that’s acceptable, if it will get rid of the daily struggle to figure out what direction to take. I’ve had enough of trying to do it on my lonesome, so, I can only tell y’all I’ll give it my best effort….

Hmm, okay, let’s see what happens here…. Subject, verb, adverb/adjective/pronoun…. simple, simple, simple…

“Politicians are assholes.”  Whoa, that’s pretty good! Let’s try it again….

“Preachers are busybodies and thieves.”  Wow! What a feeling of power! I’m going for it, ffolkes…

“Pimps are sub-human piles of feces….” Damn, and it just flows out so smoothly!

Okay, so where has this been all my life? How could one know how liberating it is to stick to a simplistic style of speech, to just say what needs to be said, and be done with it?…. It gives what is written a definite panache, and power, to express the thrust of one’s ideas with such clarity and simplicity…. I like it, and we may indeed start to use it, in certain situations where such clarity is called for…. such as in the three above sentences, which would, patently, make excellent beginnings for a rant, of whatever sort one chooses…

Not only that, but, just talking about all of this has gotten us through today’s beginning, with no pauses to speak of, and no fiddling about trying to decide anything…. Pretty cool, I think… We’ll definitely be adopting this idea, at least partially…. I’m all for innovation, if it improves efficiency…. Plus, here ’tis only 30 minutes into this, and I’m already at a point where I can say, without any guilt or angst of any kind….

Shall we Pearl?….

“Pfui.  More people saying what they believe would be a  great improvement.  Because I do I am unfit for common  intercourse” — Nero Wolfe, “Blood Will Tell”
_____________________________

Below, you’ll find two articles that should be read before joining the discussion below…. The first is a report summarizing President Obama’s speech yesterday, outlining the administration’s plan to address the spying concerns that the public has, as a result of the leak of information by Eric Snowden. The second article is a group of analytical statements about the speech by several New York Times reporters who listened to it live…. Please read these, for informational purposes only…. Oh, you can do whatever else you like with them, but, it will help our efforts here for you to read them first…

http://www.sfgate.com/business/technology/article/Obama-proposes-new-limits-on-NSA-phone-collections-5151532.php

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/01/17/live-coverage-of-obamas-n-s-a-speech/?_php=true&_type=blogs&exprod=myyahoo&_r=0

There, now don’t you feel safer? Aren’t your fears soothed? The saintly president, in the power of his compassionate wisdom, has decreed that he will try to place some controls on the spying by his watchdog cyber agents, although he makes it clear that they’ve done nothing wrong, or illegal at all…. He will now make it necessary for them to get warrants, supposedly before, though it isn’t made exactly clear, mining telephone or other personal data on our citizens.

They must now get these warrants from a “special” court, whose sole purpose is to give them those warrants, and, which is manned by a group of judges, picked by ONE man, (That one man is the Chief Justice of the Supremes, but, who cares who it is? It’s ONE fucking person!…. One person, deciding for ALL OF US….); these judges, as it turns out, not surprisingly, are all, but for one, dedicated conservative hawks from one political party….

I’m sorry, ffolkes…. I know there are a lot of people out there who admire this president (I used to capitalize that word, but, I am a firm believer that the office, and the honorifics that go with it, must be earned; thus, the formerly capital P…. I haven’t seen any truly Presidential actions yet from him, thought I did have high hopes, going so far as to vote for him, again, in 2012…. That time, as the lesser of two evils, instead of in hope of change, which motivated me in 2008 …..

I saw in his first four years that change wasn’t going to happen, as anything he tried in the way of reform (which were, admittedly, pretty much limited, in truth, to his efforts to reform healthcare…. Otherwise, nothing much has been forthcoming in the way of change…. ), was effectively blocked by the other party, who have the numbers in Congress to do so…. So, I wasn’t TOO hopeful about the second term, anyway, more resigned…..especially after he signed the NDAA in that clandestine fashion….

That act, all by itself, should have acted as a warning to the American people that Obama isn’t anything other than another slick politician, who is in office to achieve HIS agenda, not the people’s….. Believe me, nothing of any significance is going to change on his watch, other than to watch the Bill of Rights slip further and further into memory, as rights we used to have….. There are other signs as well…. His administration has prosecuted more journalists and writers for security leaks than any previous administration, by a factor of 10 times as many…. This from the man who promised to have a “transparent government”….

Now we come to this speech…. From what I can tell, this is it…. This is the best they’re going to offer us (the public)…. They’ll put some minor, ineffectual rules in place to assuage the outcry, rules that will do nothing to change any of what the agencies are doing, as they have already gone light-years beyond any mandate given, and have no intention of stopping until they feel confident of their ability to hack into any computer, any telephone, or any communications device at their whim, to listen in for their “signs of terrorist activity”, and to mine all the information and data they can find, just because they know that knowledge is power….. (Whew, sorry, sometimes, my sentences tend to go beyond one breath….)

In this speech, Obama stated, unequivocally, that the agency “hasn’t been listening in, or reading your emails….”, making it seem as if the very idea were ludicrous, and beneath them…. I want to assure you, ffolkes, that is a bare-faced lie…. The documents already stolen and released prove that simply is NOT true…. He is lying now, he has lied all along, and he’ll continue to lie, just like any politician caught with their hand in a cookie jar, because that’s what they’ve always done, and it’s always worked for them…. They believe it’s going to work again; that’s why they came out with this namby-pamby, not-much-there-at-all, totally superfluous program to put restraints on the NSA’s activities at all…. They had to put out SOME response, so they put out this insult to our intelligence, hoping it would fly…..

I’m afraid I can’t regard this as any sort of rational or reasonable response to what the public is concerned about; it is a complete denial that anything at all was done wrong, and a half-hearted attempt at an insincere promise to do better, when they don’t believe they need to….. The message here is, “Whoa, dudes, what’s the upset? We didn’t do anything wrong, but, hey, since it bothers you, we’ll make some superficial, totally worthless alterations on the surface process, and continue to hide most of what we’re doing where you can’t see it…. Cool, right?”  To my mind, what the president voiced in his speech yesterday was even more insulting than that…. I guess I just don’t have the right kind of meanness in me to talk that way with any accuracy of tone…

But, what I said was accurate in detail…. He stated they’ve done no wrong, and that’s a lie, a pretty obvious one….. He also said they would try to put in some controls and restraints…. guess what the odds are that that is a lie as well? I don’t know much about your math skills, but, mine are pretty good, and I’d figure those odds as being extremely high….

Oh, just accept the obvious truth, ffolkes! He lied, he continues to lie, and won’t stop, because he’s good at it, and keeps getting away with it….

All of these assholes whom we have elected to high office are liars; it’s how they got their jobs, and it’s how they keep them. If y’all can’t see that, then I am sorry for you, because you are no more intelligent than an ostrich, sticking its head in the sand to avoid danger….

I’m not asking anyone to do anything other than read the fucking news, and try to see what is written there in the light of reason, not in the light of assumption…. The evidence of the lying is right out there in black and white for anyone with wit to see, so open your eyes, ffolkes, or, just bend over in acquiescence….

Not me, though…. I say fuck ’em, fuck ’em all, hard, deep, and for a long time, in holes where they’re not designed to be fucked….. just like they’ve been doing to me, and the rest of y’all, for my entire life, and yours…..

Today’s rant comes to you courtesy of Barack Obama, and the cast of 544 other asininnies who inhabit the hallowed halls of government, who have finally managed to push me over the edge….. I’ll be back, eventually, with more in this vein…. As a final note, this rant calls for some art…. This one, which I’ve used often, is here as a proclamation, of my intention to never look on and do nothing…. If all I can do is shout and point at the bad guys, then, that’s what I’ll do…. Can you see me pointing toward the halls of democracy?….
Albert E & true sin_____________________________

It’s one of those days when a poem of my own is called for, to protect the innocent….

Geezer to Congress, with Love

Politicos don’t care much ’bout seniors and their ilk,
except for their money, I thinks;
Though they talk as if they’d cozen them in silk,
what they actually do, it stinks.

“The banks are failing, we can’t allow that!”,
steal from the aged, that’s their plan.
“Their life’s ending, that’s plainly where they’re at,”
lie shamelessly, because they can.

Maybe just once, if we all act together,
it couldn’t miss.
Right on their shoes, no matter the weather,
take careful aim, and piss.

Why the hell not?
It’s worth a shot!

~~ gigoid ~~

_____________________________

Having fulfilled the daily percentage of rantable material produced at ECR, having, moreover, done so with some alacrity, I’m happy to find myself in a position to put together an old-school pearl, sans the pressure that generally goes along with that decision…. For a change, I’ve got time, and an idea or two to guide the process, so, let’s see what we can come up with today, shall we?….

ESOTERIC, adj.  Very particularly abstruse and consummately occult. The ancient philosophies were of two kinds, — _exoteric_, those that the philosophers themselves could partly understand, and _esoteric_, those that nobody could understand.  It is the latter that have most profoundly affected modern thought and found greatest acceptance in our time. — Ambrose Bierce, “The Devil’s Dictionary”

“The fact is, that civilization requires slaves. The Greeks were quite right there. Unless there are slaves to do the ugly, horrible, uninteresting work, culture, and contemplation become almost impossible. Human slavery is wrong, insecure, and demoralizing. On mechanical slavery, on the slavery of the machine, the future of the world depends.” — Oscar Wilde

“Any body of men who believe in hell will persecute whenever they have the power.” — Joseph M. McCabe (1867-1957)

“It’s said that ‘power corrupts’, but actually it’s  more true  that power attracts the corruptible.  The sane are usually attracted by other things than power.  When  they do  act,  they  think of it as service, which has limits. The tyrant, though, seeks mastery, for which he is  insatiable, implacable.  — David Brin, The Postman

“And it should be the law: If you use the word `paradigm’ without knowing what the dictionary says it means, you go to jail. No exceptions.” — David Jones @ Megatest Corporation

“Once you have said that in correlative conjunctions in the subjunctive mood there should be parity between the protasis and the apodosis, you have said about all there is to say on the matter.  But you have also, I think, left most of us as confused as before.” — from Bill Bryson’s, Troublesome Words

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

So, it took some turns that didn’t appear to make sense at first, but, as usual, Smart Bee managed to tie it all together with a nice, pretty bow there at the end…. I’ve used the last line many times, and will do so again, I’m sure, since the concept forms one of the pillars of Truth upon which my philosophy of life is based…. So much so, I’m going to Google it, and if nobody else wants it, I’m taking it as mine…. Just so’s you know….
_____________________________

I think, maybe, this whole idea of sleeping well is a good thing…. It sure feels better than trying to do all this without the boon of even the slightest drop of the soothing, restorative waters of Lethe….. In fact, this has gone so well, I may just go reward myself with a nap!…. Regardless of what happens in the future, it will do; I think this one may just cause a reaction, if not any actual damage, out in the BBR…. who knows?…. Moreover, who can say with any degree of accuracy?….. We’ll see, won’t we…. 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

Seduced by the smell of onions….

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Ffolkes,

So much for routine…. Whatever routine I had developed over time is now kaput. (A word old as your granny, yet with a powerful connotation as a word to describe anything that is finished, or no longer in context) And, there I go, getting distracted, going off on a tangent before I’m out of the first paragraph…. Hell, look at this! I didn’t even get to the third sentence before pulling myself into a separate trail of thought…. SIGH….. Being a polymath isn’t always what it’s cracked up to be….

Most of us tend to rely on routines to get us started each day…. Each of us figures out the most efficient methods for us to arise, groom, dress, and head out to meet the day; I don’t know about y’all, but my methods tend to rely heavily on those actions that can be performed without any conscious thought or effort, as it takes me until after several hits of coffee before I’m able to see past the end of my nose, or, for that matter, before I even WANT to see any further…. For me, the coffee, with condiments, of course, is the central issue, the one factor that can screw up the rest of whatever happens, if it doesn’t happen as it is supposed to….

Without coffee, I have no real idea what the world is like, nor do I wish to know. I don’t CARE how anyone else feels about it, either. Until I have downed at least a half a cup, talking with people, or interacting with them in any way, is an activity fraught with danger, for both of us, but, mainly for the other person…. Not that I’m totally dangerous (though I can be….), but, it’s not a fair fight when one persons level of grump is so much higher than another’s….. A certain level of grump is required to overcome it in another, and there’s just no way to soften that reality, so, I just have to be careful not to see, or interact with, anyone before I’ve had my brew….

At this point, it is becoming increasingly clear to me that I’ve again lost track…. I mean, I know what I’m talking about…. I just haven’t a clue about how I got here, or why I should continue in this direction, when it so obviously leads nowhere in particular….. Though that is a destination we are quite familiar with here at ECR, it isn’t where I’d planned to end up today…. Ah well, that’s what I get for meandering through my own head for inspiration…. I have to take whatever comes up, and deal with it…. and, in this case, so do you….

To mitigate any difficulties you may be experiencing with that particular issue, I’ll bring this to a crashing halt here…. Getting on with our business of the day seems like the best thing to do now, since I’ve again written myself to a point where I can do nothing else…. Funny how that works, isn’t it?

Shall we Pearl?

“I, for my own part, had much rather people should say of me that there neither is nor ever was such a man as Plutarch, than that they should say, “Plutarch is an unsteady, fickle, froward, vindictive, and touchy fellow.” — Plutarch (46-120 AD) — Of Superstition
_____________________________

Well, they’ve done it again…. I thought when I began today I would not have a rantable subject, since the BRC’s Asininnies seem to have taken some time off here in the beginning of the year….. But, then I found this article, tucked way down the front page of the news site at SFGATE…. I imagine the story’s placement has a little to do with who the story is about…. The shadowy corporate masters of society don’t like to see this kind of stuff up on the main part of the page; they don’t like to spotlight anything they do, and this one is one they’ll not wish people to hear about too quickly, before they’ve secured the position the ruling below gives them…..

Yes, ffolkes, another federal judge, handily in the pocket of big money, has ruled in favor of Verizon, a shadowy corporate master if ever there was one, on their suit to be able to charge what they want, and restrict what they want, from the Internet services they provide, thus giving them the ability to, essentially, control the flow of data and information that goes over the ‘Net, and charge people however much they want for it…..

This judge, in a ruling that echoes the corruption of the original ruling that gave corporations “personhood”, once again ruled that the corporation was entitled to rights and privileges over their network, even though previously, the FCC had ruled the request to be discriminatory, thus spotlighting it as a proprietary attempt by Verizon to monopolize the Internet for its own use….

“Judges said although the FCC has oversight of how Internet providers manage traffic, its regulations were overreaching considering the agency classified broadband providers as “information services” companies rather than telecom companies, which “exempts them from treatment as common carriers.”

“exempts them from treatment as common carriers.”….. In and of itself, this doesn’t LOOK like the insane viewpoint it really is… I mean, is it sane to define a corporation as a person, and give them not just the same rights, but a version of those rights that actually favors them, as they can now perform actions, as a corporation, that would earn a real person a jail cell?…. NOBODY IS SUPPOSED TO BE “EXEMPT” FROM THE LAW!

http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Will-net-neutrality-ruling-make-Web-like-cable-TV-5143669.php

“Verizon, which brought the case to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, argued that because it built its network, it has the right to manage its costs and services as it pleases.”

Here we have the basic statement of purpose, the one that shows just exactly how avaricious these assholes are…. “as it pleases”….. In other words, the company, because it has legal standing as a “person”, is thus given the right to do “as it pleases” with the Internet, or, that part of it that it can control (which, since they own much of the actual machinery over which the Internet users travel, means they would control ALL of it….)….

If that is NOT a statement of outright greed and selfishness, then my parents had no clue as what those words meant, because I was taught the exact opposite of what they are expressing…. As members of a society, we all have certain limits on what we can do “as we please”, limits that are connected to our own connection to other people, and the fact that those people have rights as well…

It seems to me that whenever a corporate person, and a real person end up in court, the ruling always seems to favor the corporation…. Now, why is that, do you think? Would it, perhaps, just maybe, be a result of who has the most money? Why, yes, I believe it would…. and has been that way since the mid-1800’s, when the Federal Appeals Courts first gave corporations their legal advantage over the rest of us…. That decision created today’s imbalanced situation, where it doesn’t matter at all that the agencies who fought against this presented very cogent, powerful arguments; the judge ruled the only way he could, and still preserve his position as one of the flunkies….

Those agencies who fought this suit included the FCC itself, which made this statement telling why it had resisted the suit brought by Verizon…. The agency, even though a federal bureaucracy itself, is well aware of what is at stake, and took the side of consumers for a change…..

“(FCC Chairman) Tom Wheeler said his agency is mulling a Supreme Court appeal, and insisted the FCC will not “abandon its responsibility to oversee that broadband networks operate in the public interest. (The FCC) will not disregard the possibility that exercises of economic power or of ideological preference by dominant network firms will diminish the value of the Internet to some or all segments of our society,” he wrote in a blog post.”

Other organizations with a stake also joined in to resist the suit in court…. The American Library Association said this, in describing the danger of giving up this power to the corporate world….

“Now that the Internet has become the primary mechanism for delivering information, services and applications to the general public, it is especially important that commercial Internet service providers are not able to control or manipulate the content of these communications,” said Barbara Stripling, president of the American Library Association. ”

Other organizations chimed in as well, in an effort to defend the FCC policies at stake….

“Rashad Robinson, executive director of the African American advocacy group ColorOfChange.org, fears that large private companies may start to squeeze out public discourse online.  “Our communities rely on the Internet to speak without a corporate filter, to access information and connect to the world, and to be able to organize and hold public officials and corporations accountable.”

The corporation, of course, had their slimy, young, personable snakes out in full force, issuing press statements, to counter any public discourse with assurances that the company wouldn’t make any real changes to internet services…. In fact, if I’m not mistaken, the spin doctor who made this statement even believes this, in spite of the FACT that the company has never once shown any sort of morality when it comes to its business practices…. He says, assuring us of the company’s good intentions….

“Verizon has been and remains committed to the open Internet which provides consumers with competitive choices and unblocked access to lawful websites and content when, where and how they want,” a spokesman said in a statement. “This will not change in light of the court’s decision.”

Sure, mister…. all that will be true, at the same moment when the pigs take off to fly from the White House lawn, and the weather notices from Hell are mentioning snow….. How do these assholes convince themselves to say things like that in public, when not only does everyone listening know they’re lying, but, they can barely keep a straight face, due to their own knowledge of just how dishonest they’re being?….

I find it interesting to note, this statement contains 3 assertions, all 3 of which can be shown to be bald-faced lies…. This company does NOT show any commitment to an open Internet, does NOT provide competitive choices, or unblocked access (unless forced to….), and, in truth, you can be very sure they have every intention of changing the prices and controls over their network to suit themselves, and their insane avarice for profit by any means….

Okay, ffolkes, now you know…. The assholes who decide for us how much we are to have, have now decided, and it is, once again, far less than we wanted, or needed…. In fact, this whole issue, to me, is just another good example to show folks about how screwed up the world is, and not have to look far for evidence…. Of course, that assumes those folks have left their ears, and their minds, open enough to hear it, and possess the wit to understand…. Sadly, I’m afraid there aren’t enough ffolkes out there who can do that, or, at least, not enough to make a difference any more….

This decision by the Appeals Court, and the ensuing circus to come when society reacts to it, in my mind, is just another sign, among many, that our world is winding itself down to the end…. The corporations keep on securing all the resources and power over others that they can, never knowing that, by doing so, by continuing the insanity in which they’ve engaged for centuries, they are sealing their own fate….. while the rest of us have only to watch in fascination as the scenario unfolds in all its mad glory…..

In truth, I’m kind of starting to look forward to all of the end-time shenanigans that will no doubt ensue when these idiots finally realize what is happening, and what they’ve done…. The expressions on their faces will be priceless, and their contortions of despair, as they go about dying in agony, will only bring a smile to my own face….. A little something to look forward to, in a situation where such gems are scarce…. SIGH….

People are strange, aren’t they?

“Gee, I feel kind of LIGHT in the head now, knowing I can’t make my satellite dish PAYMENTS!” — Zippy the Pinhead
_____________________________

When I began this morning, I had not intended to rant about anything…. Then, while looking through the headlines, I found the article under discussion above, and my outrage flared alarmingly…. So, I ended up with a fairly long rant, on a subject I will no doubt visit again…. Unexpected as it was, I am now a bit fatigued…. Writing from the position of outrage is not as easy as it looks; the emotional investment seems to suck energy as one types, due to the intense mental effort, and the concomitant emotional content that is connected…. All this is just to say, I got tired, and don’t want to work hard any more today…. Days such as this, Emily is the only poet that will do for me….

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’m definitely ready for this…. Below you will find a random harlequin pearl, sans directed parameters…. After a rant, and the rest of this morning’s solitary pursuits, this will be a cake walk…. Theoretically….

“I am mortified to be told that, in the United States of America, the sale of a book can become a subject of inquiry, and of criminal inquiry too.” — Thomas Jefferson

“People demand freedom of speech as a compensation for the freedom of thought which they seldom use.” — Soren Kierkegaard

“Individuality seems to be Nature’s whole aim — and she cares nothing for individuals.” — Goethe

“That’s right, yes, you’re going, you’re gone for ages, already gone, you’re still here, just arrived, haven’t even met you yet.  It all depends on who you are and how you look at it.  Strange business, time.” — Doctor, Dragonfire

“We are in no danger, since we have realized we are condemned.” — Andrei Siniavski, Sudden Thoughts

” Injustice is relatively easy to bear; what stings is justice.” — H. L. Mencken

“The ultimate value of life depends upon awareness, and the power of contemplation rather than upon mere survival.” — Aristotle (384-322 B.C.)
_____________________________

All things considered, this one went fairly well…. It’s done, and that’s the primary characteristic we look for around here…. In fact, it’s so done, it’s getting dry…. Before I abuse the language any further, I’m outta here…. See you tomorrow….

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

Tattered remnants are all that remain….

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Ffolkes,

“Hey, buddy!”
“Yeah?”
“I don’t feel so good…Would you call me a doctor?”
“Sure, no problem…. you’re a doctor.”

Now, I’m sure you’ve heard or seen that particular joke at some point in your life; it’s too old, and too common to have missed. I kind of like these, even though I’m beginning to have a bit of trouble coming up with new ones…. I’ve run through almost all the really OLD jokes that would work, so I’m guessing it will take a bit of creativity to keep them going…. I’ll see what I can do about that; creativity is a finite substance here, so I have to ration it out with that in mind, or I run out completely….. Nobody wants that, as these Pearls could become distressingly pedantic, aka, BORING…

I’m having a hard enough time not going there already; I don’t need to spend more of what little I can spare for creativity on stuff that’s boring and unreadable…. But, what’s a poor daily blogger supposed to do when the well runs dry? I’ve used archived material, and I’ve gone back to fictional openings; both are okay, but are not the type of material that can be used every day, without further input of creative innovation….

I’ve blathered, and wandered, and meandered, around nowhere in particular in my own head, verbalizing the vague journeys endlessly, until finally finding my way to the next section… Those seem to work relatively well, but even my almost unlimited store of nonsense and piffle is getting stretched to the point where it’s complaining it can’t find anything new to pervert…

SIGH…. I don’t wish to complain, or seem like a whiner, but, it goes so well with the cheese plates! Oh, golly, no cheese plates? Boy, it’s getting hard to find good help these days; there were supposed to be cheese platters, with some savory crackers to go with, right there on the side table in the parlor, and, sure enough, there’s nothing there but some coffee, and a couple of stale croissants…. chocolate chip croissants, my absolute least favorite when stale…. (buttery golden flaky becomes crumbly greasy old baked flour, with stale chocolate chips….). It’s getting so I’m going to have to go back to a one-man operation, if I can’t find anyone with any common sense, some basic work ethics, and a memory longer than their nose….

Since there is no cheese, we can’t break out the whine, either….. Damn! Circumstances being as they are, it becomes a matter of critical importance to get this moving, requiring us (or, more accurately, ME….) to resort to another emergency method for getting past the intro section…. Hmm, which one shall we choose today?…. #4 is efficient, but we just used it last week, I think…. #7 always does the job, but the mess to clean up afterward is more than I want to deal with today…. We’ll have to go with #11, I guess, and just suffer the indignity that goes along with it….

Okay, ffolkes, since we’re using #11, I’ll have to ask you to fasten the extra set of restraints to your ankles and chest, and place the oxygen masks over your faces BEFORE we start to move, okay? Once the acceleration hits, G-forces won’t allow you to get it on, and the possibility of building up some significant brain-damage is high, if you don’t have that mask in place…. Everybody good to go? Okay, Captain Marty, fire that sucker up, & let’s go!….

Shall we Pearl?….

“We are the protagonists and authors of our own drama. It is up to us; there is no one left to blame. Neither the system, not our leaders, nor our parents. We can’t go out and hang the first amoeba.” — Rebecca McClen Novick

What is actual is actual only for one time
And only for one place

— T.S.Eliot. ‘Ash Wednesday’ (1930)
_____________________________

My original thought for this section involved a rant, but, I changed my mind (you wouldn’t believe how many words I just saved you by summarizing that thought, from what it was to, “I changed my mind”…. we might have been stuck here for days….). I was going to rant about the religious hierarchies here, just because it’s their turn, and I’ve been giving them a break of late, with only one rant on Billy G. so far this year (I think… I do lose track easily….), and that one was a blast from the past, itself…. In trying to pull together my thoughts, and in searching for an opening quote to use as a springboard for the discussion, I just got tired….

Maybe I’m old, maybe I’m burnt out, maybe I’m just lazy…. Whatever it may be, I don’t care, and I’m going old-school, no matter what you say…. Not that anyone cares much, or anything like that, but, hey, a man’s got to stand his ground, right?…. Any who, I decided, since I’m so damn lazy, I may as well just put together an old-school, and be done with it….

Since it’s my blog, and I’m the “decider”, as Shrub Jr. used to say, repeatedly…. (as if the more times he said it, the better chance of ANYONE believing it….), that’s the way it’s going to be, and there’s not a damn thing anyone can do about it….. Then again, why would they want to?…. Any who, here are some pearls, that might just save this from oblivion, or, at the least, from the Recycle Bin….

“A Senator, speaking of our current Vice President, whose name shall not be  mentioned (we don’t like hate mail written in crayon!): “I think if you put  his brain on the edge of a very fine razor, it would be like a BB, rolling down the middle of I-70.” — Smart Bee

“Faith is never identical with piety.” — Karl Barth

“As for the wealthy business owner and whether he ‘needs’ the extra dollars, I’ll simply relate the old adage of the man who said ‘I’ve never had my paycheck signed by a poor man’.” — Ron Paul (U. S. Representative from Texas, 2003)

“Give me a lever and place to stand and I will move the world.” — Archimedes (c. 287-212 B.C.), Pappus, Synagogue, VIII, 10, xi

“If the answer to crime was bigger prisons,and harsher sentences, then today the United States of America would be a Utopia.” — Canadian Justice Minister Allan Rock

“Administration maintains the status quo.” — Thomas L. Martin

Fill all the glasses there, for why
Should every creature drink but I?
Why, man of morals, tell me why?

— Abraham Cowley (1618-1667) — From Anacreon, ii, Drinking

On a scale of 10, this one scores about a 7 for obscurity…. that’s good, though, because the point, though subtle, is very sharp, and one should approach it with caution, as befits one so obscurely powerful in scope…. Or, conversely, it could all just be a figment of my own fevered imagination…. I’m afraid that’s been known to happen, too….
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Today’s Pearl is one that I’m not sure of, on ANY level of judgment, so one of my poems will have to do, because I don’t want any of whatever backlash might be generated to splash on anyone else’s reputation….. or their clothing…. So, here is one from MY past efforts, such as it is…. Actually, this is one of my latest poems, created in October of last year, and is probably one of my best…. Again, such as that is….

After the odyssey….

Portraits of iconic symbols, crashing, singing, forgotten;
evolving into mature innovation, as yet pale, and rotten.
Still water justly breeds, impenetrable primal verses resound;
unholy moments tarry, emotion swirls in passion unbound

Spiritual ovulation precedes each pregnant pause;
gravid, time moves on, following destiny’s cause.
Cast adrift on waves of confusion, to a final, damp landing;
salvation beckons sweetly, fed well on understanding.

Dreams directly fall, in night’s grey bower, unbidden;
lingering flavors in simple taste, lovingly, cleverly hidden.
Childish laughter sounds, joyful, bright, and clear;
no need ever to hide, no more monsters to fear.

Temper most foul arrives under unregistered mail;
forgotten taunts live on, lashed by an ancient flail.
Plain dealing delivers such lasting specks of honest hate;
savage in retrospect, never hasty, always running late.

Forever, cries an ambient lover of the pending night;
his pale, weak issue forms its own failing light.
Still, fortune favors such as those who apprehend;
Sweet love of Gaia, let it never end.

~~ gigoid ~~

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Okay, so, the gun control issue in this country is one that is never going to go away, not as long as there are laws that give the common man the right to have them…. The Powers That Be get too nervous thinking about having so many weapons NOT under their direct control, and continue the campaign they’ve waged for the past 200 plus years to repeal the Second Amendment, or at least gut it enough, it has no power to protect….

This campaign will continue until either the guns are under the control of the Asininnies, or the world comes to an end, whichever comes first…. I’ve given my take on it previously, but, it bears repeating now and again, because if no one else does, the Asininnies need reminders that we still have the means to keep our own rights intact, and we are still alert to the efforts they make to take them away…. All of the following remains valid, and true to the best of my knowledge…..

From May 16, 2012:

“Are we at last brought to such a humiliating and debasing degradation, that we cannot be trusted with arms for our own defense? Where is the difference between having our arms in our own possession and under our own direction, and having them under the management of Congress? If our defense be the _real_ object of having those arms, in whose hands can they be trusted with more propriety, or equal safety to us, as in our own hands?” — Patrick Henry

Here is the question that those who would get rid of the Second Amendment to the US Constitution would like to convince us to ignore. There are a large number of people, otherwise nice, intelligent folks, who have decided that the American people shouldn’t have guns available to them. Because they’ve been indoctrinated to believe that they are incapable of protecting themselves from random violence, these weak-minded, cowardly individuals fall right in with whatever some pundit on TV says to play into those fears….

Their apparent justification is that too many criminals have access to more firepower than do the police forces in each community, while their preferred solution is to make it illegal for anyone except the police and armed forces to carry weapons of that nature. Hell, it’s already illegal to carry a knife longer than 3 inches, because the PTB are afraid someone might stab someone. GASP! You mean there are bad people out there? People who would be less than nice to everyone else? What a surprise!

In case it wasn’t clear, those last three sentences, or queries, should be infused with heavy sarcasm if read aloud. Sarcasm is one of my natural responses to being taken for a fool, especially when it comes to human nature. I have discovered a couple of things about human nature in my time on this planet, things that may come as a surprise to some, though I don’t see why…. All I’ve done is look around me, and see what there is to see….. Anyway, I have some news for those who want to deny the truth….

Humans are violent. Period. It is in their (OUR) nature. Anyone who cannot acknowledge that fact probably still believes in the tooth fairy, and is a sure candidate for early Alzheimer’s disease, because they have a very strong sense of denial. Guns are NOT going to go away; they just aren’t. Believing that banning the public from possessing them will stop violence from happening is the same sort of logic as refusing to breathe because there is smoke in the air….

The tendency for humans to react with violence to what they perceive, or experience, is a FACT; trying to deny it, or even trying to pretty it up, by calling it a “tendency” just makes those people who indulge in expressions of violence that much more dangerous, because it means there are so very many idiots, out there running around in the world by themselves, who are NOT EXPECTING the violence that can happen at any time,…. And yet, the scariest part of the whole gun issue for me is the insistence, on the part of the police, and those Asininnies who want the guns taken away from us, that THEY can be trusted to use their guns rationally, and ONLY with honorable intent….. They assure us these sterling characters, who wear the uniforms of the trusted myrmidon, will always act within the limits of law, whereas the general public cannot be trusted to do so….

Now, I will ask you to think about that for a moment…. Don’t hurt yourself, but try to hold those ideas in your mind without judgment for a moment or two…. Now, can you think of any historical period, or any culture anywhere in the world, that demonstrates any sort of support of that assertion? Has there ever been an entirely trustworthy group of policemen, or politicians, or generals, anywhere? If so, please name that group for me, and I will add that information into the discussion.

I feel compelled to warn you, however, I’m pretty widely-read, having studied world history and culture most of my life, if only informally part of the time…. Yet, for all my study over the years, I cannot think of a single time in history, up to and including today’s world, wherein the police, or the government that controls them, (This include the armies, who are merely police who serve nations rather than cities….), could be considered more trustworthy than the populace. In fact, most of history proves the exact opposite, with most records providing evidence that the mere act of becoming a politician, judge, or police officer tends to corrupt those who are accepted as such…. Having such positions in society is a form of power over others; as such, they are guaranteed to attract those who are drawn to power for its advantages.

No, I’m sorry, I can’t place any credence at all in the assumption that the police, or the government, should be considered trustworthy, much less to believe any of them, just because they are what they are, are MORE trustworthy than the average man…. I can’t do it, not when there is NO evidence anywhere, or any when, that would indicate any such thing. The facts of the matter, and the evidence of recorded history, provide innumerable examples to show how UN-trustworthy most police and political armies are, and trying to say otherwise tends to give me cause to place that person squarely in the camp of the unmitigated LIARS who are always looking for ways to take advantage of other folks.

Our country’s founding fathers spent their time, their energy, their blood, sweat, and tears to ensure that we would not have to put up with that sort of situation, and anyone who tries to get rid of the Second Amendment, for whatever reason they claim as justification, brands themselves a traitor, in my eyes…. I believe the law calls for traitors to be shot, if I am not mistaken….

“Wars kill people. Governments cause wars. Let’s ban government!” — Smart Bee

There, I’ve ranted…. gigoid has spoken. So be it….
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I suppose this means there is hope for me yet…. I’ve finished, and in excellent time. How’d it come out? Dunno…. I’m not sure how, or why, but, not bad, not bad…. Good enough to get done, and be gone…. 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