Tag Archives: William A. Turnbow

Old dogs know all the tricks they need….

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Ffolkes,

“Waste no more time arguing what a good man should be. Be one.”

~~ Marcus Aurelius ~~

August 7 2014 003

    Good morning…. It’s been a hard day’s night. I haven’t been, as in the song, working like a dog, though I’ve seen some. And, also NOT as in the song, I haven’t been sleeping like a log, either, whether or not ‘should’ even enters the picture…. SIGH…. Ah well, someday soon, I’ll be all done with modern medicine’s last hold over me, and I’ll get some consistent hours logged in the rack…. Hope springs eternal…

That said, you may have guessed I’m not as sharp as most of the other crayons in the box, and my not achieve much more than I have already, merely by getting up, then, flogging myself until I could consider myself reasonably completely dressed, if not fully groomed. Since getting this far has been a major struggle, it bodes badly for today’s Pearl, unless I cheat…

Oh, hey!…. There’s an original idea…. I believe it was Shaw, or Wilde, who said something about amateur poets stealing lines with guilt, and real poets steal lines with gusto… Well, that was the drift, if you catch my meaning, knuckle-ball though it may be…. You know what, ffolkes? This is becoming dangerously creative…. I think we’d best get on with this, before I start trying to make it sound all elegant, or even witty…. Goodness knows what might happen if I actually tried to be funny…. I think, given the fragile mental health of my insurance dude, we’ll play it safe….

Shall we Pearl?

“Religion is the masterpiece of the art of animal training, for it trains people as to how they shall think.” — Arthur Schopenhauer

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Peace76

    I don’t need to introduce today’s artist; his music has been familiar to just about everyone in the world for many years…. I chose this particular album because I believe it to be his best work, the culmination of all he had done before…. Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t; it’s damn good, regardless…. Enjoy!

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Bob Dylan

Tangled Up In Blue

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We the People...

“As war and government prove, insanity is the most contagious of diseases.” — Edward Abbey

As made clear in the intro today, most of today’s Pearl will be some sort of cheat, if not outright thievery…. In that spirit, here is a short (lucky you!….) old-school indictment of our Beloved Ruling Class, for your morning enjoyment, and, to prepare you for the day’s news with a properly disgusted attitude….

From 2/6/2013:

— Bother! said Pooh, as he found a politician in his honey pot.

Eeeuuwww! Can you imagine the stench? And the waste of honey is appalling, to say the least…. Okay, sorry, but it was just too hard to resist…. I ranted above about religion, after which, Smart Bee presented me with four of the five pearls used in it, one after another, AFTER I had already finished it… The five pearls, you may note, if presented together, alone, would just about cover the same ground as the rant…. with perhaps a bit less verbiage, and, hopefully, equal humor….

Then, the above Poohism shows up, almost flashing by before I saw it, so short it is…. This tells me that Smart Bee has something to say about politicians today, so, old-school it is…. Here are what Smart Bee has autocratically decided to show us about the BRC, in general, and, in particular, the political branch of that entity…. Enjoy! Oh, and don’t fret, none of these will be on the Quiz, unless they are….

“Annual drug deaths: tobacco: 395,000, alcohol: 125,000, ‘legal’ drugs: 38,000, illegal drug overdoses: 5,200, marijuana: 0.  Considering government subsidies of tobacco, just what is our government protecting us from in the drug war?”  — William A. Turnbow

“I have short-term memory loss, though I like to think of it as Presidential  eligibility.” — Paula Poundstone

“According to the tax bill signed by President Reagan on December 22, 1987, Don Tyson and his sister-in-law Barbara run a “family farm.” Their “farm” has 25,000 employees and grosses $1.7 billion a year.  But as a “family farm” they get tax breaks that save them $135 million a year.” — Smart Bee

“Laws are only words words written on paper, words that change on society’s whim and are interpreted differently daily by politicians, lawyers, judges, and policemen. Anyone who believes that all laws should always be obeyed would have made a fine slave catcher. Anyone who believes that all laws are applied equally, despite race, religion, or economic status, is a fool.” — John J. Miller, And Hope to Die — (in _Jokertown Shuffle – Wild Cards IX_)

‘We may not imagine how our lives could be more frustrating and complex–but Congress can.” — Cullen Hightower

Okay, five should be enough to get the point across…. if not, well, there’s always tomorrow…..  🙂

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Comedy_Tragedy

Roses for Noses

I have a bozoid personality, of the first degree;
 nobody, I mean nobody, knows that better than me.
I often wonder, as the world goes around, and around
 how many others have realized just what I’ve found….

I know for a fact, I’m not the only bozoid one;
 too many people laughing out there, having fun.
Is their laughter, though, at themselves first?
 Or is it some other impulse, like purple liverwurst”….

I’ve always loved to make others laugh and giggle,
 since my tender youth, when my ears began to wiggle.
 The world is full of humor,  but not always easy to find
  so laughing at myself I learned never to mind….

We bozos know each other, here, there, and everywhere
 there’s no hiding such joy, it just wouldn’t be fair.
We all have one feature, our great bulbous nose,
 and there’s no doubt at all, cuz it just grows….

There’s nothing like a good, big mistake, a disaster,
 to show us the folly of living life faster and faster.
Nothing in the world can ever take the place,
 of seeing in the mirror, a happy, smiling face….

Don’t be shy, just let it all hang out;
 we bozos have more fun, there’s no doubt.
Life’s too somber and gray if we let it get on top
 if we don’t stay loose, the pain won’t ever stop….

My advice to all of you, out there in the world,
 let noses grow round & red, keep hair tightly curled.
Find a way to let your spirit out often to play,
 you’ll never once regret any price you pay.

~~ gigoid ~~


Written 1/27/2013.

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lao

    Our final pearl today is the freshest of the lot; it’s also a bit amorphous, in that it tends to go all over the map looking for the point it intends to make…. I’m not sure it got there, but, it’s all good stuff to remember as we walk the path to our own destiny…. Well, I think so….

“He bids fair to grow wise who has discovered that he is not so.” — Publius Syrus — Maxim 598

“Don’t make a big deal out of everything; just deal with everything.” — Smart Bee

“Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born.” — Anais Nin

“During my eighty-seven years I have witnessed a whole succession of technological revolutions. But none of them has done away with the need for character in the individual or for the ability to think.” — Bernard M. Baruch

“The reign of Antoninus is marked by the rare advantage of furnishing very few materials for history, which is indeed little more than the register of the crimes, follies, and misfortunes of mankind.” — Edward Gibbon — Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1776), Chap. iii

“It was a high speech of Seneca (after the manner of the Stoics), that “The good things which belong to prosperity are to be wished, but the good things that belong to adversity are to be admired.” — Francis Bacon — Of Adversity

“A hug is a heart to heart talk.” — Bobby Matherne

“In poverty and other misfortunes of life, true friends are a sure refuge. The young they keep out of mischief; to the old they are a comfort and aid in their weakness, and those in the prime of life they incite to noble deeds.” — Aristotle

I hold it true, whate’er befall;
I feel it, when I sorrow most;
‘T is better to have loved and lost
Than never to have loved at all.

~~ Alfred Lord Tennyson ~~

~~ In Memoriam, xxvii, 1850, stanza 4, line 27 ~~


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Well, I took the time to go back & look over what I’d done today; all I can say is, it’s done…. Actually, it’s not bad, all things considered. Since that is well beyond the minimum requirements, we’ll call it a day here at ECR. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes; in most circles, that’s considered fair warning…

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

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

The *only* duly authorized Computer Curmudgeon.

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch

dozer3


À bientôt, mon cherí….


					

		
		
	


				
					
	

		

						
Can we salvage any of the platitudes?….

			
						

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Ffolkes,


I’m confused, but, then, nothing new there, eh? Today’s confusion started upon arising, at my semi-usual hour of 4 AM, to find the cat already up, waiting for me, actually being a good kitty, staying out from underfoot until I’d punched the coffee machine on (it doesn’t brew itself until 0430….), and sat down to don my socks…. She then politely bumped my ankle for attention, accepted some ear scratches as if they were her due, then went to lie down in the middle of the floor, in her Mae West pose, looking at me as if I should be bowing and scraping in awe…. Cats are strange, aren’t they? Most mornings she’s a psycho kitty for the first hour I’m up; today, she’s a sphinx, unfathomably inscrutable…. or, that’s what she wants me to believe, anyway….


Cat antics aside, here I am, up in good time, but, with a severe lack of stuff going on in my head…. I’ve ranted enough lately that my angst level isn’t causing any discomfort….. even though there are plenty of issues in the news I could rant about. In fact, issues seems to be jumping off the page, shouting at me to be written up; remember a couple of days ago, I had gathered almost ten article links that needed discussion, piling seven or eight of them into one pearl?…. Ah, those were the days….


Sadly for me this morning, I don’t have the inner emotional turmoil so necessary to providing the driving force behind my rants, so, as usual, I’ll cheat, and use what I can find in my earlier material…. I can usually find something relevant, as the same issues are happening today as were there when I began this particular site, almost three years ago…. 


Plus, my opinions may evolve, but they don’t generally take a whole new direction, as they tend to follow the antics of the same group of idiots, most of whom act out their own particular brand of insanity in an elected office, or a court seat, or some other public position that, for some stupid reason, makes them believe they should open their mouths, and let everyone know just HOW stupid they can be….


In addition to my lack of drive for ranting today, my thumb is getting worse; I’m thinking it is the repeated use of the mouse that is doing it, as I don’t use it to do all that much knife work any more, which is what caused this the first time it happened. Whether it is the mouse, or the typing, is unclear, and I hesitate to tell my doctor about it, lest the treatment involve a hiatus from doing this specific activity, which is the worst culprit in terms of how often it makes it hurt…. Typing does, that’s for sure, so I’d bet I’ll have to at least cut back severely for a time, to allow the ligament at the base of the thumb time to heal….


Or, I could go to the doctor, & ask him to send me to an orthopedist, who would inject some cortisone, or other steroid, right into the thumb joint…. When that was done last time, it fixed it up right and tight in a jig…. Within seconds, my hand was back to completely normal range of motion, with no pain upon starting any of the activities that caused it previously…. It was like magic…. I just don’t like the idea of steroidal injections like that, unless there is some critical need; I believe it’s better to use more natural, less intrusively aggressive treatment modalities as a first choice….


Whatever I do, this Pearl will have to be done first, so, I suppose I’d best get on with it; the silly thing isn’t going to write itself, now, is it? No, probably not, if past issues are any indication…. That being said, and the usual, legally constructed amount of introductory blather having been produced, I suggest we do that now, before anything untoward has an opportunity to happen….


Shall we Pearl?…..


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


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As mentioned, since my own store of rantable emotion is a bit depleted, I’m dipping into the past…. This time, WAY into the past, to give you one of the first Pearls posted, with this one first showing its face here in May of 2011, as noted below….. Pearls of that time usually had a paragraph, or two, at the beginning, followed by a group of pearls…. It will appear a bit differently than it did then, as I’ll edit it using my current knowledge, to make it at least come close to what my writing should look and sound like today…. Regardless of all that, it’s a bit long, but, still pretty valid, so, I hope you enjoy it….


From 5/25/2011:


Ffolkes,

I’m not certain how or why, but this morning’s pearl took a serious turn on me, so bear with me. There will be pearls……


Humanity, and the societies that it formulates, are a never-ending source of interest to me.  It provides not only data for my overactive brain to chew on, but also gives me almost limitless subjects for this grist. After the grist is milled of course….. One of the more fascinating areas of observation is about honesty, and its’ root, honor.  When I grew up, half a century ago in the 1950’s, honor and honesty seemed to be part of the fabric of society, as least superficially.


What I didn’t know then was that those particular virtues were only given lip service, especially in the way the public was notified of the doings of government. It became de rigeur for politicians, and concomitantly government agencies, to lie to the public about what they were actually doing, claiming they were telling the honest truth. Truth to tell, it no doubt started well before that time period, but for me it was a disappointment to later find that the very people society chose (with promises of transparency and honesty) to lead them were bare-faced liars and cheats.


As partial proof of this, I offer the (already vetted) facts about the Vietnam conflict (Congress never declared war, so in my mind there was none). When I went to college in 1968 I found out the truth, which was that our government had been in the country, supplying ‘military advice and support’ since 1954, ten years before anyone in government admitted to it, having gone there to protect the interests of our ally, France, who had just been thrown out as colonial overseers, and the interests of the drug trade, in which both of those countries were heavily invested. Not 1964, when the government finally admitted we were there, because the number of troops sent there, and the money being spent, brought the situation into the public eye.


I have believed for a long time, and still believe, that the assassination of JFK was an act perpetrated by people in our own clandestine spook forces, who recruited and trained Oswald. It was designed to distract the American public from the chicanery in Southeast Asia, while at the same time removing Kennedy, who was proving to be an obstacle to the goals of the real government, and becoming far too popular. So, they gave us a martyr, blamed it on the Red Menace, and with the help of their (paid for) lackey, LBJ, proceeded to pour billions of dollars into the war, to continue to protect investments by our corporate classes in the heroin trade.


Today we find ourselves in ever more dire straits, as governments and politicians continue to lie, cheat, and steal, pretty much without any restrictions. The public, dazed and confused by a constant barrage of financial stress, is told lie after lie, confident-sounding utterances created by Spin-Meisters adept at making prevarication sound like truth. All of the politicians have become nothing more than talking heads, whose most valuable asset is their ability to lie with a straight face. And truth be told, there has to be some kind of character flaw in those people who run for office, for what sane person wishes to assume power over their fellow man?


It has gotten to the point that I spend each day fighting the urge to go buy a gun, and start hunting these assholes down.  But that would be giving in to their perversity; better to take up my pen (or laptop in this case) and start my campaign by offering to the public the Truth (as opposed to the so-called truths offered up daily in the news services), and do so in my own unique fashion, that is to say, with Pearls of Virtual Wisdom. With that in mind, we now go into the better part of this daily spew, with Truths from folks throughout the ages.  Enjoy!…..


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


“They say you shouldn’t say nothin’ about the dead unless it’s good. He’s dead. Good.” — Moms Mabley


(I particularly like this one. I made a list of folks to whom this would apply, and in less than a minute came up with more than 10 names. Only two of them were already dead, and the other eight were all still out there, spewing their malice onto an unsuspecting public, shamelessly. Doesn’t say much for my tolerance, but then it has been in short supply for some time now.)


Annual drug deaths: tobacco: 395,000, alcohol: 125,000, ‘legal’ drugs: 38,000, illegal drug overdoses: 5,200, marijuana: 0.  Considering government subsidies of tobacco, just what is our government protecting us from in the drug war?” — William A. Turnbow


“I don’t mind being screwed, but the government thinks I’m a nymph.” — Smart Bee


“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


Well, that is certainly enough for one morning. It can be a depressing subject, but we can consider ourselves fortunate that we have our own view of reality, and can modify it to suit ourselves.  Y’all take care out there…….


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“Men are born ignorant, not stupid; they are made stupid by education.” — Bertrand Russell, History of Western Philosophy.


While I don’t usually use section two for ranting, the following poem, by an American icon, stimulated the following discussion, as any really good poem might do to someone, at any time…. especially one as powerful as this one….


I hadn’t realized that Walt Whitman was an atheist/agnostic….. It isn’t part of what is taught in your average elementary or high school here in this hypocritical, unabashedly Christian nation, which continuously spouts off about the separation of Church and State, yet gives a tax immunity to churches, even those of other denominations, and/or names of gods worshiped…. (Nor was it made common knowledge that the prevailing opinion, both in his own time, and with modern scholars studying his life, that Walt was probably gay, or bisexual, in his gender preferences…. Not that it matters at all, in the ultimate sense, but, merely knowing it provides some interesting perspective on his work, and his life, eh?….)


I call this (single-mindedness re: Christianity vs. Reality) hypocritical because, while this generosity in tax status displayed to other sects covers their claim of non-discrimination, simultaneously, at every turn of events in society, these single-minded “men of one book” work to weave their “Christian values”, and strictly Christian morals into very fabric of society, negating the entire spectrum of beliefs held by its denizens, by influencing the majority of elected officials to write laws that favor the morality based on Christian dogma, none of whom dare risk their own excommunication, or chance at heaven…. Bless their point little heads….


Aha…. Thankfully for my embarrassment level, I checked with Wikipedia re: Whitman’s religious views…. While I stand by what I stated above completely, it’s slightly out of context, as he was NOT an atheist, or an agnostic, per se, though his beliefs were radically different than those of the average American, especially in the eighteenth century. He is described as a deist, similar to my own stand, as one who believed that ALL religions were correct, and true as far as their metaphorical principles were concerned…


The differing views by all those religions, of what God looks like, or what He/She/It may, or may not have said, or where, or when, held no interest for him (as they don’t for me); his understanding of reality, and, thus, his views on divinity and spirituality were much too tall, and wide, and deep, to ever be confined into one little philosophy, or any one set of dogmatic principles, as seen from only one viewpoint….


To my way of thinking, this is a very intelligent way to think; he has nothing but my admiration for his independent individuality, in the face of a society that could not understand his mind, or his spirit…. Well, and for this poem, which prompted the above, with only three or four lines…






A Child’s Amaze


SILENT and amazed, even when a little boy, 

I remember I heard the preacher every Sunday put God in his 

statements, 

As contending against some being or influence. 


~~ Walt Whitman ~~




“Poetry is sane because it floats easily in an infinite sea; reason seeks to cross an infinite sea and so make it finite… he poet only desires exaltation and expansion, a world to stretch himself in. The poet only asks to get his head into the heavens. It is the logician who seeks to get the heavens into his head. And it is his head that splits.” — G. K. Chesterton “Orthodoxy”


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Since most of today’s Pearl seems to have been produced at other times, I believe I’ll put together an old-school, but fresh, pearl for this section…. Let’s see what Smart Bee can find for us, with no hints as to what we should find, or see….


“Wisdom ceases to be wisdom when it becomes too proud to weep, too grave to laugh, and too self-full to seek other than itself.” — Kahlil Gibran


“I do not believe in the collective wisdom of individual ignorance.” — Thomas Carlyle


“Playing the banjo is a lot like throwing a javelin blindfolded… you don’t have to be very good to get people’s attention.” — Smart Bee


“Virtue is the beauty, and vice the deformity, of the soul.’ — Socrates (B.C. 469-399)


“Don’t believe your friends when they ask you to be honest with them. All  they really want is to be maintained in the good opinion they have of  themselves.” — Albert Camus


“They say you can’t do it, but sometimes that isn’t always true.” — Casey Stengel


“Let the greatest part of the news thou hearest be the least part of what thou believest, lest the greater part of what thou believest be the least part of what is true.” — Francis Quarles (1592-1644)


Hmm…. Not too bad, if a bit obscure…. But, all in all, I think it will do; it DOES make a point, though that point isn’t one usually found by any normal means….. But, then, we’ve never worried too much about normal, have we?….


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I’m only sure of one thing at this point…. and that one thing escapes me still….. Be that as it may, all I have to do now is figure out what to say to either make up for what I’ve just put y’all through, or pretend that it’s good for you…. I think…. yes. We’ll go with the second one, because, even if it ISN’T good for you, it WANTS to be…. Intent is 87% of meaning, you know, and though it isn’t quite a much of a sure thing as being 99% sure, it’s not bad…. and, it’s done, so, there’s nothing more that can be done for it now…. Since that’s the case, I’ll see y’all 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 the dubious


dozer3





		
	
					

		
		
	


				
					
	

		

						
Fatuous remarks can create structural instability….

			
						

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Ffolkes,


Dark days are coming, ffolkes, there’s no denying it. Hard as I tried to work WITH the humongous bureaucracy that constitutes my HMO, the intransigence so natural to such a beast has dictated, once again, that we must do battle…. This time, I may even need a lawyer to help me, to find and use the part of the law that will MAKE them pay attention to my humanity, instead of ignoring it in favor of their own corporate greed, and their own corporate cowardice…. But, it’s okay, cuz I’m ready to take them on this time…. This time we’re going down to the wire, where I will find a way to force them into compliance with what is best for ME, not for them…. If it kills me, well, then, so be it, I’ll be a martyr for the cause of freedom in our bodies, as opposed to having our medical needs abrogated and altered according to the whims of bureaucratic avarice, and corporate selfishness….


That all sounds pretty highfalutin’, doesn’t it? I thought so, mainly because that’s how I tried to write it…. Now that I see it on the screen, I see that it says a lot, with a lot of force, without really giving any clue as to what the hell I’m talking about…. and that’s okay, too. I’m not really going into it now, as it concerns matters best kept, to some degree, private… In addition, it’s not the right time, or place, for this rant; a better choice for that process is to wait until it is done, and I know the outcome of the battle, or at least the projected, most likely outcome…. At that point, I’ll have a better idea of exactly what to rant about, and for how long I should rant, given the level of built-up angst that is sure to accompany such an event…..


Suffice it to say, now, that this battle will be a major one, with consequences that are potentially far-reaching, that could conceivably have a ripple effect on other aspects of modern culture, and how healthcare organizations are allowed to operate…. I’m hoping, anyway…. If not, if I am crushed under the heel of the uncaring corporate machine, then nothing will change, and the HMO’s of our world will be able to continue to operate as they wish, without any consideration for anything other than their own profit line… Of course, that’s the way it is now, so, you might not notice any difference, except for the fact of my non-existence….


As is normal for me, I am, of course, blowing this up, somewhat out of proportion; it’s a natural tendency to do that when one is trying to pump up one’s own confidence, trying to build up the necessary courage to take on one of the behemoths of our society. I’ve been tilting at society’s windmills for a long time now, off and on ever since my college years, so I have at least a modicum of experience in these matters….. Corporations are not like other kinds of living creatures, even though the law gives them the same rights…. Actually, corporations have MORE rights than the average Joe, since THEY have been given the right to make a profit, which is NOT one of the rights of any other live, flesh and blood citizen….


In addition, it’s a hard thing to fight a corporation, because they’re so amorphous….. Their shape shifts each time one looks at them, to serve whatever purpose they currently pursue…. This makes them appear shapeless, always changing in aspect; the net result of this is, they don’t offer a lot of target area at which to aim and fire…. Also, since they are not really alive, killing, crushing, or otherwise destroying, or, simply excising one part of it barely draws its attention, as it has a million of those parts, easily sacrificed, that it can give up without suffering any real, lasting damage…. The trick is to get their hold on a certain law to loosen, so that society can wrest back some of the control that is seized by such entities when laws are written in their favor….


Ah well, I’m starting to rant, if I haven’t already done so, and I hadn’t intended to do that today…. I’ve got other stuff to rant about, and now I’ll have to review that, to see if it will hold to another day…. Damn! Sometimes, I wish I could learn to shut myself up…. but, that just causes other difficulties, when the angst and dross sits in my mind and festers…. NOBODY likes what happens then, so, I try to get this stuff out of my head, and on screen, as soon as I can…. For now, though, I think I’ll bring this once again meandering stroll through my early morning brain to a screeching halt, and call it an intro for today…..


Shall we Pearl?….


“It is not so much what you believe in that matters, as the way in which you believe it and proceed to translate that belief into action.” — Lin Yutang

_____________________________


So, there I was, cruising through the news site I frequent most often, when I saw the first article listed below, regarding a new public surveillance center being constructed in Oakland…. Apparently, the police forces in that city, who have been losing the battle with criminals in that city for many years, due to the complete and utter ignorance of the leaders of the city, and, a factor completely unknown to the police, their own misplaced,  intransigent sense of entitlement, have decided they need to be able to spy on the public much more effectively…. 


They haven’t a clue as to how to deal with any of the issues that cause the level of discontent in the city, as they are clueless as to their own part in creating those issues, so they figure they’ll just tighten down the screws even tighter…. never realizing that their own actions are the biggest part of the problem….


(Gee, does that sound suspiciously like the foreign policy attitudes displayed by the US federal government?… Why, yes, yes it does…. Why is it so hard for these idiots to understand, when you treat others like dirt, they aren’t going to like you?…..)


So, anyway, the police asked for a center where they could coordinate all the technological data they have been collecting, from publicly placed cameras, license plate readers, gun-shot detectors, radio dispatch calls, car cameras, and whatever else they can figure out to beg, borrow, or steal from the NSA… Apparently, encouraged by the success of the NSA programs at invading the privacy of normal citizens, the embattled officers have asked the city supervisors permission to build this center, so they can increase their data intake, and collaborate to join forces with other police agencies around the bay area, as well as make best use of all the surveillance they are now allowed to use….


It is a chilling story, all in all, not only in its bare tale of truth, but because of the reactions by the city supervisors, who have completely ignored all the public outcry against the new center, completely removing its construction from the public venue, and accepting no public input as to whether it should or should not be instituted as policy for the future… They just DID it, with no public input at all…. THAT, to me, is the most frightening part, and one that should immediately provoke a number of lawsuits against the city, the police, and whomever else will take the suit for consideration…. In addition, if they won’t change anything, then start actions against the courts and legislature themselves…. But, that’s just me, and the way I would deal with such effrontery…. I’m not one to tolerate a fool for long….



http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Oakland-moves-forward-with-surveillance-center-4995249.php


The revelations from Eric Snowden regarding the extent of the spying being done by the NSA are reaching well beyond our borders now…. A number of countries around the world have registered strong protests regarding the privacy invasions by our government, with a number of European countries demanding changes from President Obama in the wake of the news that they had been targets of the spying…. Australia, which has used the same data produced by our agency, and applied the spying techniques and data found by our agencies for their own clandestine spying, have so insulted their neighboring countries that one of them has severed all diplomatic relations with them, at least temporarily, in response to the reported breaches of privacy….


Below you’ll find a number of articles describing the extent of the hullabaloo around the world, which will give you an idea of how the rest of the world’s outrage matches our own here in ‘Amurrica’…..



http://dearkitty1.wordpress.com/2013/11/20/nsa-australia-spying-on-indonesian-president/



http://edition.cnn.com/2013/11/19/world/asia/indonesia-australia-spy-row/index.html


No apologies, no tolerance, no way they’re going to change what they’re doing…. Sound like someone else? Someone, say, from THIS country?….



http://edition.cnn.com/2013/11/05/world/europe/germany-uk-spy-report/


Oops, caught again…. and still no apology, and no indication of any intent to either stop, or alter what they’re doing…


So, how do our police forces respond to all this talk of spying on the public, and to the huge public outcry AGAINST such spying? Well, apparently, they ask for more ways to invade our privacy….



http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/nevius/article/S-F-police-seek-cameras-to-capture-whole-picture-4997404.php


Sick, just plain sick…. To protect their OWN asses, they are going to film ALL public interactions…. Can you say ‘paranoia’? Sure you can…


Oh, and what does our government DO with the data they get from their spying?  Here is an example…..



http://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/US-drone-kills-5-outside-of-Pakistan-tribal-region-4997699.php


It’s the day before the anniversary of the John F. Kennedy assassination…. do you know what YOUR government is up to?….

_____________________________


Mining old Pearls is bringing me in touch with a lot of my own old poetry…. Here is another of which I’m fairly proud….






Intelligent Crimes


The value of wit is often said to cause harm,

for those who think, such is its greatest charm.

The new and the bold cannot be fulfilled

if innovation and change is left unwilled.


Society behaves at its base as a mob

conformity and submission its primary job.

Any sign of rebellion against the mob’s rule

is met with resentment, naming such rebel the fool.


Intellect and talent are mostly viewed askance,

expressing artistry stands nary a chance.

To stand out from the rest of mankind

is fraught with danger, for body and mind.


Often I stand to watch in solemn dismay

as beauty and joy are left by the way,

ignored and reviled by the unwashed masses

who prefer darkness, and acting like asses.


With shouts of derision the normals make known

their fear of intelligence, greater than their own.

They hope to stop all semblance of progress;

for thoughts and ideas, they couldn’t care less.


The world struggles on in spite of all opposition, 

managing to maintain its advanced position.

Pulling the foolish along in spite of reluctance,

helping each to learn the survival dance.


Hard though it may be to keep up with the future

genius manages its plans to develop and nurture.

In the final analysis, those who live by reason

enjoy life the most, season to season.


~~ gigoid ~~


_____________________________


I’ve done my ranting for the day, so now I get to let Smart Bee help me pick out a group of pearls, that will make a statement of some sort, in the old-school style we’ve all come to know and love…. I have a feeling I know what kind of statement it will make today…. but, I’ve been wrong before… in this century, too! Any who, let’s see what happens when I give SB the reins…..


“Annual drug deaths: tobacco: 395,000, alcohol: 125,000, ‘legal’ drugs: 38,000, illegal drug overdoses: 5,200, marijuana: 0.  Considering government subsidies of tobacco, just what is our government protecting us from in the drug war?” — William A. Turnbow


“Political truth is libel; religious truth, blasphemy.” — William Hazlitt (1778-1830)


(The battle, begun long ago, goes on today, does it not?…..)


“It is not enough to be busy; so are the ants. The question is:  what are we busy about?” — Henry David Thoreau


“A banker is a fellow who lends you his umbrella when the sun is shining, but wants it back the minute it begins to rain.” — Mark Twain


“Soap, Ballot, Jury & Cartridge.” — The Four Boxes of Freedom


“The higher we soar, the smaller we seem to those who cannot fly” — Friedrich Nietzsche


“Let’s all face the facts. This world, in which many, if not most of us live, will never be a better place, until such time as it is occupied by a better class of tenants.” — Smart Bee


This last quote stimulated a thought, which I want to share…. I rant here, a lot, about politics, and religion, and how the people who engage in those particular pastimes are, essentially, sick puppies, and mostly just need to be put out of their misery, before they cause any further harm…. What occurred to me on reading the quote above is this: the real culprit responsible for our problems on this planet is not those who engage in those activities, precisely, though they are the outward manifestation of the problem…. The fatal characteristic that is guiding our downfall is a particular flaw in human nature, one that allows us to pursue those activities, but doesn’t give us, or make us use, the most important quality that makes them viable…


This flaw, which is a lack, (of restraint, a lack of ethics, or morals….) more than an actual flaw, is one that each of us, good and bad, possess, and display, at various times; I identify it as that part of us that can determine that we, as individuals, have the right to work our will on others, to seek and use power and resources to make other people follow what we wish to believe, to manipulate others so as to make what we want to happen the only outcome, to the exclusion of whatever others want, or need, or even think…. This power-hunger is all too prevalent in those who take up politics, as well as those who “are called by God” to enter the church (sorry, but being “called” by supernatural entities is deserving of medication and at best, compassion, not worship, or indulgence…) In the quote below, a wise man gives a short explanation of this flaw, and how it can affect all of us….


“Political tags — such as royalist, communist, democrat, populist, fascist, liberal, conservative, and so forth — are never basic criteria. The human race divides politically into those who want people to be controlled and those who have no such desire. The former are idealists acting from highest motives for the greatest good of the greatest number. The latter are surly curmudgeons, suspicious and lacking in altruism. But they are more comfortable neighbors than the other sort.” — Lazarus Long, aka Robert Heinlein


Until our species can manage to root out this particular part of our nature, or at minimum, achieve enough control of it so that those who display it cannot affect the rest of us, we, as a species, will never be able to really get any further down the evolutionary road, since the path we are currently following, thanks to this flaw in our nature, which allows the predators to prey on the the rest of us, will only lead us into extinction… and THAT will be sooner than most ffolkes, or folks, believe it will be….


“A certain monk had a habit of pestering the Grand Tortue (the only one who had ever reached the Enlightenment ‘Yond Enlightenment), by asking whether various objects had Buddha-nature or not.  To such a question Tortue invariably sat silent.  The monk had already asked about a bean, a lake, and a moonlit night.  One day he brought to Tortue a piece of string, and asked the same question.  In reply, the Grand Tortue grasped the loop between his feet and, with a few simple manipulations, created a complex string which he proffered wordlessly to the monk.  At that moment, the monk was enlightened.


From then on, the monk did not bother Tortue.  Instead, he made string after string by Tortue’s method; and he passed the method on to his own disciples, who passed it on to theirs.” — Smart Bee


Sadly, neither Tortue, nor his disciple, ever made a copy of the string, and no one now is alive who remembers what it looked like…. SIGH… If nothing else, it might have kept the predatory among us all so busy, (See, that part’s easy… we’d just tell them there was a treasure for them, if they could make the string correctly assume the shape of enlightenment….), they wouldn’t have time to fuck with anyone else….

_____________________________


Well, that was certainly a Pearl, if the way I’m huffing and puffing, and trying to blow down walls is any indication… Of course, the wall is fine, but I’m definitely huffed and puffed out, so I’d best go see just what I’ve done here….. Have some toast and butter, and I’ll be right back…. 


Once again I’ve created something that is a little bigger than intended, and, in this case, almost up to snuff, conceptually….. It’s certainly fresh, and real, so, if nothing else, it’s probably healthy for you…. or for me, whichever comes first… Let me guess, ah, that would be……. me, of course…. but, I think, if you consume all of this one, it might just healthy for you, too…. Regardless, it’s done, so it’s good to go…. See ya tomorrow, ffolkes, if my luck holds….


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



					

		
		
	


				
					
	

		

						
Turn left at the ugly statue of Zeus….

			
						

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Ffolkes,

The world groaned, loudly, as the bleary, bloodshot, beady orb of the sun reluctantly peered over the eastern horizon. Nothing moved at first, as the burgeoning light moved across the bare landscape, bringing focus, if no hope, to a world already gone mad. 


As the darkness fled, Zombies, tattered and torn, scattered quickly into the nearest caves, grunting and bellowing their rage at having to leave their feeding grounds, but none of them was willing to face what always came with the sunlight…. For with the sun came the vicious, insatiable Giant Platypi, the thunder of their rampaging waddle echoing against the stark hills. 


Yes, the dreaded Giant Platypi, scourge of all life on this planet of nightmare….. a planet called….. Beelzebub’s Bottom….


Okay, that’s enough of THAT….. Being silly is one thing, but drifting over int0 stupid is another thing altogether…. It seems the bubbling fountain of words from which I generally take what I need to build a story is rather stunted, blocked off, as it were, by some kind of writer’s block, or, as we call it here at ECR, mental constipation in the old pipes. 


We can’t have that, so I’m going to resort to my emergency stash of words, all of which are high in fiber content, to stimulate the proper degree of…. hmm, let’s be discrete, and call it….. movement. I’ve never known it to fail, though the resulting rush of words can be a bit disconcerting, coming out all at once as they tend to do….


There, fait accompli, as they say in Belgium…. Well, I’m assuming that is what they say there, as I’m told the Belgians speak French, for the most part; I wouldn’t know for certain, as I’ve yet to visit that fine, old, European anomaly, a country that has almost never had to go to war… Oh, they got caught up in the fight when everyone around them was engaged in their numerous historical battles for contested ground, but, they’ve somehow managed to avoid any terrible, long, drawn out affairs such as the rest of Europe seems to enjoy on a regular basis. Good food, too, and some nice wines, from what I hear….


Any who, if nothing else, Belgium provided a complete paragraph, totally irrelevant, but, filling space nicely. Sometimes, in dealing with the daily crisis of inspiration produced by having to write these introductions every bloody morning, that’s all I can expect from a paragraph, so I’m going to ignore the catcalls and criticisms being shouted out from the back, and move on to the next destination called for on our itinerary. Let’s see, what does that valuable piece of planning tell us?…..


Well, nothing…. It can’t tell us where to go next, because it, too, is just another literary device I made up to fill more space. Actually, it’s looking as if today’s intro is going to end up completely composed of fluff, sort of a case of “literary license” gone mad….. And if anyone says there’s nothing new in that, I’m going to strike you with my foot, straight on your butt….. Ah, hell, no I won’t…. I’m sorry, it’s all my fault… I’m the one blundering about, trying to find some direction, and it isn’t your fault I am now totally lost….


“If nothing went wrong today, you’re probably dead.” — Murphy’s Last Law


Since nothing else seems to be working, and, according to the above, I’m not dead, I am hoping to find my way back to some sort of control, by ending this now ridiculously over-long intro section, and trying to find a pearl worth the effort of writing something a bit more solid and real. Let’s hope Murphy is busy elsewhere, and doesn’t fuck with me any more today; I’m sure he had a hand in all of the above, even if it wasn’t out where we could see it….. Any who…. Shall we Pearl?….

__________________________________


“I believe in god, I just don’t like him.” — Smart Bee


Having experienced blockage once today, I’m not willing to suffer it again; hence this first pearl, deliberately chosen for its controversial nature, and its obvious need for discussion…. You see, this is completely true for me… Well, not the believing in god part, but the not liking Him part…. Of course, it isn’t really His fault, you know, it’s just that the folks He hired to do His P.R. are such idiots…. If he had known in advance just how stupid His creation was going to act, He’d have gone about the whole thing differently… That’s not speculation…. I’ve heard Him say so….


What? You don’t think I’ve talked with God? (Notice how I promoted him from just a god, to God? Slick, eh?….)  Why not? You are willing to believe all the stuff in the Bible, and you are willing to believe in crank assholes such as Billy Graham and his ilk….. Why would you not believe me, when I say I’ve talked to Him? Is it so hard to believe that someone from modern times can speak to God, or is that something limited to the days when the issue of JC’s divinity first arose, two thousand years ago, when the general populace was much less educated, and easier to fool?


“A man who claims to know what’s good for others is dangerous.” — Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj


I’m just as good as those others who have claimed to know what is in His mind, and, in many ways, I am much better equipped to be able to understand Him, I think. I’m not going to kowtow, or bother with all the worship bullshit, as I wouldn’t want all that myself, and have my doubts that any entity worthy of being called a god wouldn’t, either. He probably enjoys not having to deal with that when He talks with me…. I know it would drive me absolutely batty to have all those people whining and crying at me all day and night, asking for favors they don’t deserve, and patting themselves on the back for their piety….


In reality, these people, the pious and heavily devout, were the major factor in my original disillusionment with the Church (“Church” being a generic term for all the delusionally dogmatic dunderheads who make up the majority of Christian sects, including all the absurd claims made in their literature….), which took place before I even reached my teens. By that time, I was already convinced that most of the folks who got involved in Churches were so engaged only because it served their purpose, not because they actually believed any of it. Their daily actions and words were enough to put that idea to the lie; they failed every time, for what they said and did in no way matched what they preached as their belief…..


“Then he saw also that it matters little what profession, whether of religion or irreligion, a man may make, provided only he follows it out with charitable inconsistency, and without insisting on it to the bitter end. It is in the uncompromisingness with which dogma is held and not in the dogma or want of dogma that the danger lies.” — Samuel Butler, The Way of All Flesh


But, even this obvious hypocrisy, and the stubbornness with which it is held, wasn’t the real issue, to me…. It had to do with what I read in the Bible, and heard from the people who were interpreting those words…. 


For the most part, the things that people ascribed to God seemed to me to show the moral integrity of a pirate, more than a saint, and all the things we were told to do, i.e., be humble, be tolerant, be forgiving, seemed to me to be designed to allow them, and their allies, the politicians, to take advantage of people, by using God as their authority, more than being designed to help people. 


This lack of ethics, both in what they said, and what they did, turned me off very quickly to the idea of God, and had me examining the entire philosophy for truth….. Truth is, as I found, a commodity not particularly common in religious writing, as it turns out…. Who knew?….


“If it turns out that there is a God, I don’t think that he’s evil.  But the worst that you can say about him is that basically he’s an underachiever.” — Woody Allen, “Love and Death”


Well… I know…. I know now anyway, and I continue to try to tell people what I know, but, I’m just one guy, with one little blog, and very few people hear my truths, compared to all those who need to hear….. And besides, most of them really don’t want to know what I know, because it’s scary, and real, and they would have to think, all three of which are things they avoid at all cost, unless we’re talking about a movie…. which, come to think of it, would preclude the thinking part of that….. 


I don’t spend a lot of time any more arguing with religious folks; it’s time better spent in more productive activities. But, it doesn’t mean I can’t feel sorry for them, and the black and white world they live in, when there is a whole universe of complex, colorful beauty out there to be appreciated…..


“Until you walk a mile in another man’s moccasins you can’t imagine the smell.” — Robert Byrne

__________________________________


Urge him with truth to frame his fair replies;

And sure he will: for Wisdom never lies.


— Alexander Pope (1688-1744) — The Odyssey of Homer, Book iii, Line 25


The Riddle of the World


Know then thyself, presume not God to scan

The proper study of Mankind is Man.

Placed on this isthmus of a middle state,

A Being darkly wise, and rudely great:

With too much knowledge for the Skeptic side,

With too much weakness for the Stoic’s pride,

He hangs between; in doubt to act, or rest;

In doubt to deem himself a God, or Beast;

In doubt his mind and body to prefer;

Born but to die, and reas’ning but to err;

Whether he thinks to little, or too much;

Chaos of Thought and Passion, all confus’d;

Still by himself, abus’d or disabus’d;

Created half to rise and half to fall;

Great Lord of all things, yet a prey to all,

Sole judge of truth, in endless error hurl’d;

The glory, jest and riddle of the world.


Alexander Pope

__________________________________


— Bother! said Pooh, as he found a politician in his honey pot.


Eeeuuwww! Can you imagine the stench? And the waste of honey is appalling, to say the least…. Okay, sorry, but it was just too hard to resist…. I ranted above about religion, after which, Smart Bee presented me with four of the five pearls used in it, one after another, AFTER I had already finished it… The five pearls, you may note, if presented together, alone, would just about cover the same ground as the rant…. with perhaps a bit less verbiage, and, hopefully, equal humor….


Then, the above Poohism shows up, almost flashing by before I saw it, so short it is…. This tells me that Smart Bee has something to say about politicians today, so, old-school it is…. Here are what Smart Bee has autocratically decided to show us about the BRC, in general, and, in particular, the political branch of that entity…. Enjoy! Oh, and don’t fret, none of these will be on the Quiz, unless they are….


“Annual drug deaths: tobacco: 395,000, alcohol: 125,000, ‘legal’ drugs: 38,000, illegal drug overdoses: 5,200, marijuana: 0.  Considering government subsidies of tobacco, just what is our government protecting us from in the drug war?”  — William A. Turnbow


“I have short-term memory loss, though I like to think of it as Presidential  eligibility.” — Paula Poundstone


“According to the tax bill signed by President Reagan on December 22, 1987, Don Tyson and his sister-in-law Barbara run a “family farm.” Their “farm” has 25,000 employees and grosses $1.7 billion a year.  But as a “family farm” they get tax breaks that save them $135 million a year.” — Smart Bee


“Laws are only words words written on paper, words that change on society’s whim and are interpreted differently daily by politicians, lawyers, judges, and policemen. Anyone who believes that all laws should always be obeyed would have made a fine slave catcher. Anyone who believes that all laws are applied equally, despite race, religion, or economic status, is a fool.” — John J. Miller, And Hope to Die — (in _Jokertown Shuffle – Wild Cards IX_)


‘We may not imagine how our lives could be more frustrating and complex–but Congress can.” — Cullen Hightower


Okay, five should be enough to get the point across…. if not, well, there’s always tomorrow…..  🙂

__________________________________


This process, some days, exhausts me, and today is one of those days, for some reason…. It’s too bad, too, because I still have a bunch of stuff I SHOULD do today…. Ack! Nooooo! Don’t say that!…. Brrt, brrt, brrt….. danger, danger, Will Robinson!…. Illegal operation, use of bad word, parameter, “should” = “don’t go there”, /end notes….


Fortunately, as you can see, I tend to react badly to the word “should”, as it is usually something somebody else told me to do, or told me I should do…. “Should” is a word that is handy to use as a channel marker, to show us where we don’t have any real need to go, unless we happen to agree with what somebody else thinks we need. They aren’t often right, in my experience, so it’s a good way to figure out what NOT to do….


That’s cool, as it means, since this is done, I can post it, then take a nap, a much more profitable and enjoyable activity than the other stuff I ‘should’ be doing…. I love rationalization, if only because I’m so good at it….  Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..




—

Sometimes I sits and thinks,

and sometimes

I just sits.


gigoid


dozer3