I became insane with long intervals of horrible sanity.
The trouble with fighting for human freedom is that one spends most of one's time defending scoundrels. For it is against scoundrels that oppressive laws are first aimed, and oppression must be stopped at the beginning if it is to be stopped at all.
Many people would sooner die than think; In fact, they do so
What I have been telling you, from alpha to omega, what is the one great thing the sigil taught me — that everything in life is miraculous. For the sigil taught me that it rests within the power of each of us to awaken at will from a dragging nightmare of life made up of unimportant tasks and tedious useless little habits, to see life as it really is, and to rejoice in its exquisite wonderfulness. If the sigil were proved to be the top of a tomato-can, it would not alter that big fact, nor my fixed faith. No Harrowby, the common names we call things by do not matter — except to show how very dull we are ...
October 04, 2014 - 4:37 p.m.
Welcome to a rare afternoon edition of Wise Madness there is of course an explanation for it. Now if I could only remember what it is
I had anxiety paralysis most of the day yesterday I did manage to write a poem. It was a limerick. I'm pretty good at limericks, it's a form that is internalized. I can make they meter work without thinking about it. I can't do that with iambic pentameter. I rarely write them as they are automatically a clich�. I will only attempt one if I find something clever. in this case I liked my primary rhymes. Can't show it to you yet because it was written for somebody and that somebody needs to see it first. I never showed you the first poem that I have discussed in my recent burst of poetry writing because that was written for somebody and the response was shall we say unenthusiastic. Here's a tip, if somebody writes you a nice poem, even if it sucks, don't have your only response, a week later, be "it was legible."
I finally got out of my house and went to pick up my mail from my PO Box near Columbus Circle. It got the slipper sock I ordered.
I'm posting pictures of slipper socks. Is that bad? Don't answer that .
Last night after I went to sleep I got a call from heather. You know that bed that I put together for her roommate? It collapsed. Her roommate was out and Heather needed help. I went over there because I take responsibility for my handiwork. The problem wasn't with my handiwork. It actually happened during the day and I thought it was taken care of. From what I was told it sounded like the problem was with the slats. It wasn't When Heather went to fix the slats at night she saw the frame had snapped. The roommate had put the bed up on bed risers but only the corners, not the center support. So of course it wasn't meant to hold the weight of the occupied bed unsupported so it snapped. When I got there I cleared out the frame and set up the mattress on the floor so the roommate would have someplace to sleep. I crashed at Heather's. She has a futon. I did not get much sleep and of course wasn't here to update in the morning.
OK now for some politics. I get hopeful when I read about the protests in Hong Kong. I got hopeful about the Arab Spring. Right now that's looking like a disaster but it's too early to judge. Look at France. The revolution morphed into the reign of terror which led to Napoleon and then the reestablishment of the monarchy. All those people died in the terror and the Napoleonic wars and for what? To bring things back where they started. But of course that's not quite what happened. the monarchy was never the same. The Second Empire didn't last. And eventually France became a stable and prosperous democracy. The Revolution failed in the short and even medium term but not in the long term. The people learned that they have power and the rulers learned that too. With all the destruction and chaos that lesson was not lost.
And there's a lesson for the US. You'll read about how the rich and well financed special interests always get their way, but how? Politicians cater to the big donors but why? It's because people can get elected even when going against the interests of the majority. And getting elected means getting the majority of the votes cast. How can the majority of the voters vote against the interests of the majority o the people? And the answer is that most people just don't care that much about most things. The best example is guns. The majority of gun owners are in favor of background checks on gun ownership but that's a political no go. Why? Because people are in favor of it but they aren't passionate about it. They won't vote against people who are against it. There's a minority that cares a great deal about it and for whom that drives their politics.. They spend a fortune mischaracterizing efforts to keep guns out of the hands of he wrong people or keeping the most dangerous weapons out of everyone's hands as a crusade to take away everyone's guns. And people don't care enough to find out that that isn�t what's going on and others will vote for people that care more about the NRA than their constituents because it just isn't that big a deal to them. They care more about their taxes or other issues.
This country is a democracy, the 0.1% can't control things if the majority won't allow it. But too often they do. Hardly anyone follows the Fed Policy which has a huge effect on our lives. But you know who does? The 0.1%. They will finance think tanks to create not thoughts but propaganda. They create what "everybody know" which means everybody the people with power have contact with. But they can be fought and they are more often than people are given credit for. We didn't privatize social security no matter how much the plutocrats wanted to because enough people cared about that.
I realize that a lot of what I do blogging, and even more posting on Facebook is efforts to get people to care about things. In the end democracy doesn't do what the majority wants but what the majority of people that care want. The rich and powerful have an advantage. They can spend money and influence to get people to care about the things they want even if that involves misinforming people. But in the end the power lies with the people. Even in China the power lies with the people. If enough care the government can't suppress them.
I signed the Pro-Truth Pledge:
please hold me accountable.
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Wise Madness is Now In Session - May 28, 2018
The NFL and the First Amendment - May 27, 2018
On The Road Again - May 26, 2018
Oliver the Three-Eyed Crow - May 25, 2018
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Horvendile October 04, 2014
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