A period of swiftly diminishing returns….

Ffolkes,

    Gosh…. now that I really look at it, that’s a pretty nice picture, isn’t it? I put it there just because I had it, sort of; I took it a few days ago while on the way to visit with my grandson for Christmas…. a more memorable occasion than it sounds, as it is the first time I’d had the opportunity to see him at Christmas since he was born. I’m glad the picture turned out so nicely…. Now, when I get my printer up & running again, I can print a copy of this, as a reminder of the day….  The short video I shot will also be nice to have to look at when I think of him, or of my son, and our first holiday together as a family with three generations…. That’s a nice piece of serendipity….

Such a nice surprise helps; I’m still a bit unsteady, but, after a good talk with a friend, and a semi-successful battle yesterday, I feel somewhat more centered today…. There is more turbulence to come though, so, I’m not making any promises as to how much longer I’ll feel like doing this…. At the moment, I can see there is still too much inside me that will do better out than in (as almost everything is….), so, we’ll complete this Pearl before we make any binding decisions….

I can’t say for sure if that is good news, or bad news for y’all…. I suppose you’ll have to take Hobson’s choice, and be happy with it, won’t you? Besides, you’re stuck now…. We’ve already left the terminal, and are now 11,000 feet in the air…. Not a good time to head back to the ticket stand…

I won’t even bother to make any predictive statements as to whether or not I can pull this off…. I’m no politico, who will lie to you, straight-faced, without ever having any intention of doing what I say. Nor am I a bozo, (at the moment…. that may change at any time….), who will try to distract you with humor, or a mess, or a snack. I am, however, a realist, and a gentleman, so, that’s something, I suppose…. You can call me a fool, you can call me a radical, you can call me a cab, and that’s okay…. just don’t call me late for dinner….

“A little nonsense now and then, is cherished by the wisest men.” — Willie Wonka

It is an established fact that nonsense has saved my sanity on a number of occasions, too, so, we’re rather fond of it around here…. Not that we depend on it very often, but, it serves us well, and is always welcome…. In this particular case, it has saved us from the ignominious display of maudlin reminiscence, or otherwise mildly embarrassing emotionally-charged crap that might otherwise have ensued…. Whew! It may not be apparent, ffolkes, but, we just dodged a big bullet, I think…. So big, I think we’d best get on with this, if we have any hope of ever getting done…..

Shall we Pearl?

“He who knows does not speak, He who speaks does not know.” — Lao Tzu

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

In an attempt to maintain some balance, let’s go with a bit more nonsense, okay?…. Okay!…. This is just about as much nonsense as can be found; these fools need no introduction, I should think…

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

“The one duty we owe to history is to rewrite it.” — Oscar Wilde, _Intentions_, “The Critic as Artist.”

I would bet that 99% of Americans alive today are completely unaware that they are at war, not with any foreign powers that wish to destroy our way of life, but, with various branches of their own government, which has been treating them as adversaries since the end of WWII, when the NSA first began its ongoing campaign to monitor ALL communications between ALL people in the ENTIRE world….

At this point, they have been approximately, (from what I can surmise from what information is available…) 75% effective in learning methods to intercept and utilize the information that is exchanged between people, via telephone, snail mail, email, internet data transfers, even private conversations, face to face, in almost any place, anywhere in the world, if they so desire…. It takes extreme measures to communicate with anyone without them having access to the information that is sent and received; a very few encrypted systems, and a very few physical places on the planet which are safe from their eyes, ears, and electronic surveillance technology….

Be afraid…. be very afraid..

Still not convinced?…. Try reading this, and some of what has come before in this saga….

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2014/dec/26/aclu-nsa-documents-christmas-eve-lessens-impact

Well, duh! Of course they did…. After the article, there is a group of good articles summarizing timeline events in the ongoing saga of the NSA, and its ongoing war against the American public…. as well as the people of the entire world…. Nobody is safe from their prying, at all, and they continue to distract, hide, and fight any attempts to either rein them in, or shut them down…. But, then, what did we expect? Moral, ethical behavior? From the same people who have been doing this for over 65 years?…. I think it’s more than a bit naive to expect any such thing….

I wish I could come up with a solution that didn’t involve killing them all; that only plays into their strengths, and puts me at their level, karmically speaking…. Not going there, yet…. The day may come, but, for now, I’ll keep on shouting out whenever I see their chicanery, and encourage any and all trouble we can give them in return, without abrogating my own standards…. a tough row to hoe, but, been there, done that, so, oh well….

I had thought to let this go at this point, but, the following article caught my eye, as more proof of the lies, and the disregard for our rights that has been the hallmark of this “transparent” administration, under which we have lost more of our freedoms, than under any previous president…. and that, sadly, includes BOTH of the Shrubs…. This article describes how little they care anymore; they aren’t even bothering to pretend not to be hiding information….

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/12/the-nsas-ongoing-effort-to-hide-its-lawbreaking/384079/?single_page=true

Excerpted from the article:

“These actions do not represent mere violations of NSA policies… but willful violations of the law… If you, citizen, were caught illegally using an NSA database to check up on that girl you met on OkCupid, what do you think would happen?

Do you reckon that you’d get a cease-and-desist letter — or that you’d be scooped up by a team of thick-necked men with very short haircuts and dumped in the darkest oubliette Uncle Sam has available? …This is an inversion of the right order. In a sane society, people entrusted with state power — from NSA agents down to traffic cops — would be held to a higher standard rather than a lower one, and sanctioned more severely for wrongdoing rather than less.”

“The contest for ages has been to rescue liberty from the grasp of executive power.” — Daniel Webster

Unfortunately, ffolkes, it’s too late; this happened a few years ago, when the Supreme Court sided with Wall Street, and approved the formation of Super PAC’s as legitimate organizations, with full sanction to spend unlimited amounts of money to influence the election process…. The Supremes, you see, were one of the first branches to fall under the influence of corporate money, back in the 1800’s when they first approved the laws that made corporations “people”, ensuring that corporate rights would be preserved over those of humans….

Oh well…. Since there’s nothing to be done now, unless I want to buy a gun, I guess I’ll just go have a whiskey, or twelve, and try to forget it for a while…. Well, that, or I’ll find more articles, and be back again to rail against the assholes who are killing us all, and don’t care, as long as they can get theirs….

“How many Kennedys does it take to change a light bulb? None, at least until we get some corroborating witnesses.”– Smart Bee

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

This is another of my own poems, recently rediscovered, so to speak…. I thought at first this was a different poem, but, the title is a metaphor, which I’d forgotten…. It refers to Asininnies, and their shenanigans on the public stage, not the weather….

From 9/18/2012:

Odd, isn’t it, how we sometimes fall into a trance to write…. or, maybe that’s just me…. ah well, regardless, enjoy!….

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

The pearl you see below is one of the special ones… I know because it picked itself, so to speak…. It’s a bit hard to describe, sometimes, exactly how that works, but, the point to this one is pretty much made clear, if nowhere else, at the ending…. Enjoy, ffolkes, it’s all pretty good food for thought…. Personally, I like number five, too….

“Fear is strange soil. Mainly it grows obedience like corn, which grows in rows and makes weeding easy. But sometimes it  grows the potatoes of defiance, which flourish underground.” — Terry Pratchett, _Small Gods_

“Freedom is found in no form of government; it is in the heart of the free man. He takes it with him everywhere. — Smart Bee

“Alienation without must be accompanied by alienation within; that is the law for every social level, even individuals. To harm one’s fellows, even one’s enemies, harms you, takes away some essential element from your self-respect and self-image.” — Greg Bear

“We do not have to visit a madhouse to find disordered minds; our planet is the mental institution of the universe.” — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

“And now here is my secret, a very simple secret; it is only with the heart that one can see rightly, what is essential is invisible to the eye.” — Antoine de Saint-Exupery

“How prone to doubt, how cautious are the wise!” — Alexander Pope (1688-1744) — The Odyssey of Homer, Book xiii, Line 375

“Life is too short for grief. Or regret. Or bullshit.” — Edward Abbey

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

It’s done, and, while it remains a surprise, I’m going to take my leave, post haste, stage left, taking my sanity, such as it is, with me…. Not that it is of much use out here in the Big Blue Room, but, at least it’s safe in my pocket…. If things continue to look up, I’ll see y’all tomorrow…

À bientôt, mon cherí….