Softly, softly banging drums….

Ffolkes,

‘Twill be sufficient unto the day to say this: Axiom # 2 is more right than even I had believed…. For those unfamiliar with Peruaosophy (my own response to Sartre, Plato, and the Stoics… If they can have their own philosophy, so can I…..), Axiom #2 says: “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.” Boy, did I hit that one on the head, or what? (I should tell you: anyone who actually says, “what?” will be shot where they sit…. or stand….)

All of that being said, I’ll leave it at that, to create a bit of confusion, and/or, frustration in the Gentle Reader. I heard somewhere it’s a good technique for getting someone interested enough to read further…. How’s it working? Oh, I guess maybe talking about it kinda ruins the effect, doesn’t it? Oh, well…

I guess it’s all going to be a wash today. Not surprising, considering I’m up two hours late, and not feeling up to much (as this intro section indicates clearly, so far….) I think I’m going to have to go all executive again, to get us out of here in any reasonable amount of time, or with any degree of competence at all…. Not only that, I’ll have to do it quickly, or, I have the feeling it won’t happen at all…. Ah, I’ve got it….

Ffolkes, we’re done here, so, we’ll go on to the rest of this massive collection of farcical…. hmm. Can’t think of a single word in English that would describe what’s happening here, so, I’ll just pretend I never said any of that…. We are done here, so, we’re going to dive now, just as if we knew what we were doing…. Stay alert, ffolkes, I think you’ll need it today….

Shall we Pearl?

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Guess who….

I’ve read just about every Sherlock story ever written, by Sir Arthur, or anyone else. I’ve watched as many of the movies as I could, too, with my favorite Sherlock played by Jeremy Brett (well, Basil Rathbone, of course, set the standard by which all the others are judged; even with that, I believe Brett was marginally superior in the role, as I feel his own personality was of a similar bent…. This video is one I haven’t watched yet; it has Peter Cushing in the title role, in one of the most entertaining stories Doyle wrote…. Enjoy!….

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    Since I am so late, I cannot complete the rant I’m working on today. As is my habit, then, here is one from the archives to take its place…. It’s a bit long…. Deal with it, it’s just words….

“No one is fit to be trusted with power. … No one. … Any man who has lived at all knows the follies and wickedness he’s capable of. … And if he does know it, he knows also that neither he nor any man ought to be allowed to decide a single human fate.” — C. P. Snow, The Light and the Dark

From 3/15/2013:

“Republican views of the world differ from Democratic views of the world. The reason for this is that these views are based on different compilations of misinformation.” — Smart Bee

There are moments, such as this one, when I believe the people, or person, who put together the database known to me as Smart Bee, is perhaps the most intelligent creature on this planet….. I’ve been ranting about politicians for years, trying to show people how dangerous it is to believe ANY of the stuff that either party is slinging at us to try to convince us they are worthy of our votes. Now, in one short aphorism, of two lines, we are given a perfectly reasonable explanation for all of the crap we hear from them…. Essentially, this says that every one of them is full of shit, and everything they say and do is destined to fail, because it is ALL based on incorrect information, or, to be more accurate, on unwarranted assumptions about reality…..

The most important part of this description is its impartiality of indictment. Both parties are brought into scrutiny, and found wanting, of any real knowledge of the truth, because they are both basing all of their premises on false beliefs, just for starters. Add to that, since they are politicians by choice, their genetic predisposition is to self-aggrandizement, and they show an inherent inability to tell the truth. It becomes rather easily seen why our society has become, well, insane…. It’s a short trip to crazy from where they begin the journey…. and they don’t take any detours on the road….

You see, both parties are convinced of a complete falsehood, one that humanity has been struggling with for centuries…. This lie is so basic, it colors and affects everything they do to try to manipulate the world into going the way they wish it to go. As long as they continue to try to do this, our society is doomed to failure in the long run, for the lie goes against the very nature of reality…. Simply put, these people believe they can legislate morality…. They believe that they can make laws, and people will go against their very nature to follow them, in spite of the fact that the law they propose is contrary to what comes naturally to humans, to wit: self-centered, grasping behaviors that only benefit the perpetrator, and no one else…..

We have laws against stealing…. and the most accomplished thieves we see in our culture wear suits and live in Washington D.C. We have laws against killing each other, but, people still get killed, and, if the killers do so while wearing a flag, or a badge, they are considered heroes, no matter how many they kill. We have laws that supposedly protect women, children, and the aged, from suffering abuse, but, just look around you, and you will see no end to the depredations that society allows to be perpetrated upon these three most vulnerable members of our society, all very much within the legal limits of the public morality, as given in the law books….

“[…] For all our conceits about being the center of the universe, we live in a routine planet of a humdrum star stuck away in an obscure corner […] on an
unexceptional galaxy which is one of about 100 billion galaxies. […] That is the fundamental fact of the universe we inhabit, and it is very good for us to
understand that.” — Carl Sagan

The people who get involved in politics, and religion, for much the same reason, believe they are special, and entitled to take all they can from the universe, because they are the be-all, and end-all of the evolutionary ladder. It says so right there in the Bible….. They don’t care that reality says differently, because their sense of denial has been fine-tuned since shortly after they were born, and they are capable of ignoring facts right up until they slap them in the face…. (Witness the Republican melt-down in the last Presidential election, when the Republican party got slapped in the face by their own lack of contact with reality…..)

In spite of all the massive amounts of evidence to the contrary, these folks believe in their own divine entitlement as the lords of creation, chosen by God to do with this planet as we would, without regard for any of the other creatures that live here with us, or for the beauty and balance of the land that sustains us. As far as they are concerned, other people and animals, and natural resources, are theirs to do with as they wish, with God’s blessing…. The fucking assholes…..

I apologize for the vulgarity, to my readers, but not to those at whom it is directed…. To them, I say, fuck you, and fuck you again…. I regard all politicians, priests, preachers, police, lawyers, judges, and corporate misogynists of all shapes and sizes to be INSANE…. floridly, and viciously insane, without any of the moral standards that the rest of mankind embraces. These assholes are responsible for our imminent demise through environmental destruction of the ecosphere, as well as for the endless preying on the weak and vulnerable to suit their own depravity, and lack of moral fiber.

“All ambitions are lawful except those which climb upward on the miseries or credulities of mankind.” — Joseph Conrad

Sexual slavery, corporate collusion to fix wages and prices, legislative corruption and oppression, judicial malfeasance and more corruption, governmental incompetence, religious repression and collusion with politicians, all serve the purposes of the ruling class to a T, no matter how much suffering it causes to others…. As long as they have what they want, nothing anyone else says or does matters at all….

I hate to be a harbinger of bad news, but, I call ’em as I see ’em, and I see what is real…. None of what is wrong in the world will change, until the major portion of mankind makes a change of spirit, and the people, as a whole, decide that the few among us who are bold enough to act must, in fact, act. The evil among us will not go away, or stop, of its own accord, and waiting for them to come around to a more amenable state of mind isn’t going to work, as that just isn’t going to happen.

If we wish to survive, they have to go, and mankind must find a new way to get along with each other than the out-dated ways we have been trying for millennia… Those old ways leave too much power in the hands of people who will give in to the temptation that goes along with such power over others, and must not be allowed to happen any more, not if we wish to survive to see any future at all….. The universe doesn’t care one way or another, so we’ll have to be responsible for our own actions…. as we have always been, and have always been afraid to admit….

“If we do not permit the earth to produce beauty and joy, it will not produce food either.” — Joseph Wood Krutch

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Well, that was fun, eh? We’ll let Zippy have the final word….

“I feel better about world problems now!” ~~ Zippy the Pinhead ~~

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    I use my own work today simply because it’s there, & I don’t have to go look for it…. This is one my personal faves, as it hits very close to home for me… go figure….

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    In keeping with today’s theme, the following is a pearl from a few years ago, created on another day where ranting was proscribed by circumstances completely within my control. I hope you enjoy it….

From 5/4/2013:

Ranting may or may not be on the agenda today; hard to tell what will happen out in the BBR to stimulate outrage, but, it’s a good bet I’ll see something to jerk me around…. In the meantime, I’ve got a bit of time, so we’ll go see what kind of trouble Smart Bee has up its sleeve today…..

— Bother! said Pooh, as he fell into the toilet.

“I take a simple view of life: keep your eyes open and get on with it.” — Laurence Olivier

“Always forgive your enemies– nothing annoys them so much.” — Oscar Wilde

“The modern conservative is engaged in one of man’s oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.” — John Kenneth Galbraith

“If you don’t like yourself, you can’t like other people.” — Robert Heinlein, Time Enough for Love

“If you are patient in a moment of anger, you will escape a hundred days of sorrow.” — Chinese Proverb

“Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it–even if I have said it–unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense.” — The Buddha

Not too shabby, I’d say…. all good words on how to live; taken together, you have a recipe for peace on Earth…..

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I’m not sure what to think of this one; I cheated unmercifully. But, it’s done; therefore, it’s done. I’m going to count my blessings, and escape before anyone can take me to task for it…. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes….

À bientôt, mon cherí….