Nothing To See Here

I'm starting to get a little dizzy as concerns the news cycle. I get on the news one day and juicy details are revealed which surely must lead to something, the ones bringing these tidbits seeming to be reputable, and then the next day (couple of hours, an hour, fifteen minutes later) that which was brought forth is 

Disowned

Disregarded

Disputed

Disavowed

and 

Disparaged

which brings to me

Despair 

for I was hoping to see something good come of it. Surely there must be some substance to what is being presented because many of the people bringing information forth are 

Distinguished

far beyond my paltry level of recognition, and rightly so, for they have spent years, decades, and even entire careers in their fields and are privy to information that I, Joe General Public, may not be aware of. Strangely, though,

Distrust

of any and all sources is now 

Declared

to be the sensible course to take until each side has more than had their say and all the confusing 'facts' are in which begs the question "Do we now have to question everybody’s word?”. This seems ludicrous because I was raised to believe that the people who were in Public Service positions were already beyond much in the way of reproach or suspicion because they were honest, capable people who had been bestowed their lofty status by

Discerning

voters. Governing was a Noble Cause, attracting, at best, the brightest and most selfless but I have sadly over the years understood that many elected officials have issues with ethics. It is 

Discouraging 

to say the least,

Lots of people played a part in the building of this country.

Fabien Barral- Unsplash.com

Disheartening

as well, but not all hope is lost. It can never be lost because the intrepid pioneers that built this country brought hope with them and firmly instilled it into this land, hope being undoubtedly the most valuable thing in their possession! They were 

Determined

because what they were leaving behind was highly

Dysfunctional

and they wanted better. Bailing from The Homeland, any one, is a 

Desperate

move and I seriously doubt they were thinking 'adventure travel' when they left. It takes a crazy amount of

Determination 

to carve a civilization out of the wilderness, which most of this land was, and though the Native Americans had to lose for the interlopers to win, it only brings into sharp focus the precarious toehold on survival the settlers (immigrants) knew, for they had burned their bridges behind them to heaps of ash and weren’t going to be getting back on any ships.

They sought equality and mainly got 

Disparity

but maybe that was because they didn't try hard enough, as goes The Story. One that continues to this day because the governors of the land say it is 

Difficult

to 

Discover 

    why certain things are the way they are but they're 'working on it'. In the meantime, 

Display 

a brave face and think the kinds of thoughts that come into the minds of those assured they are in good hands.

And though the

Difference

between what is presented at this time as being 'real' and what is not is highly

Discombobulating

and

Dissatisfying

to any thinking person, 

Disrespectful 

as regards one's intelligence, not to mention

Distracting

Disorientating

Disinteresting

Disgruntling

Disgraceful

Disconcerting

and

Distasteful

to boot, I think that sooner or later some one(s) will step up and serve with 

Distinction,

they being 

Disinclined

to

Dismiss

Disproportional

levels of enfranchisement. Some may 

Disagree,

and vehemently so, because they are 

Disaccustomed

to having limits placed on their appetites but

Distressing

as that may be, it will not be met by 

Disapproval

from the sons and daughters of the pioneers. 

There's No 'I' In Team

Goes the saying, which coaches and companies use over and over as a motivational tool. I thought when I was born I was on a team, Team USA, but was I ever dreaming!

  Sure, there's been a general sense of being on the same boat, and of living under the same banner, star spangled, but damn...   ...lately...

     Doesn't mean this ship has to sail into the shoals though, or end up on the rocks. Maybe the multitude of captains we have on board can hash it out and agree upon a course of action that benefits the many of us along for the ride. 

The Original A Team

(Unsplash.com)

Just sayin'.

This ship has been in trouble before and has righted itself but "Oh man!" this ride we're on has suddenly taken us into the damn Bermuda Triangle or somethin' and the past, future, and present are all swirling and mingling in a dimensionally folding karmacological time warp! 

Which ain't good, way it looks, though looks can be deceiving.

Hard to make sense of which way to steer, hard to make sense of even what the people on deck are yelling into each other’s ears 'cuz that's all warbled. Forget about how we got here, the only question now is “How do we get out?”.

Mist is all around us and "Is that the sky above us or a reflection of the water?" many wonder while the compass spins 'round and 'round. I think I can see people from the past walking toward us right atop what looks like the ocean but that can't be happening!

(a squadron of planes swiftly flies by overhead, their engines droning like they did in the 1940’s)

"Sheesh! There goes Flight 19!" 

And then bam, not a minute after that, we're out of it. The mist clears and most of us are standing around feeling to see if we still have all our parts while others are slumped over on the deck moaning or are grasping railings and retching over the side. The sky is bright blue and the water is calm and we're making headway, the bow is throwing up spray and the mist is receeding behind us. 

Captain(s) we still have, and some of them are cornering their officers and telling them that they're going to have to write a full report but really, 

"WHO’S GONNA BELIEVE THIS?!”

The Art Of Belittlement

In the political arena is nothing new. If you do a little research on the internet you can find that puttin' down the opposition has always been Standard Practice. Politicians throughout the ages have minimalized their opponents through words, cut 'em down to size. 

And when you cut something down to size, then stand next to it, you seem bigger in comparison. Here's one from you know who, just the other day:

(referring to Justin Amash, Michigan GOP representative, who called for impeachment)

"A total lightweight...."     "....a loser...." (and a bunch of other 'commentary' that won't be repeated here. If you wanna know it, Google it).

Nothing good to say for a man of his own party! You'd think the response would've been more of a scolding nature, a "Tsk tsk!" sort of response, but to say a guy is a total lightweight and loser is hardcore, no holds barred stuff intended to reduce Amash's political career to rubble so don't think that this is a game for sissies. All or nothing is how you know who rolls. For- or against. No gray area.

Yeah. We know that.

But let's go back a hunnert plus years and hear what good old Abe Lincoln said about his opponent, Stephen Douglas:

"His argument is as thin as the homeopathic soup that was made by boiling the shadow of a pigeon that had been starved to death"

No Mr. Nice Guy there, Abe! 

Another thing I’d like to say about my esteemed colleague from across the aisle…

Remoind De Zuinga- Unsplash.com

Or how about some quips from across the pond, issued by those lovable British gents?

Former British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli on former British Prime Minister William Gladstone:

  "If Gladstone fells into the Thames, that would be a misfortune. If anybody pulled him out, that, I suppose, would be a calamity"

Ouch. 

Or this one, from John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich, after a heated argument with John Wilkes, British radical, journalist, and politician:

"Sir, I do not know whether you will die on the gallows or from the pox!"

(Wilkes) "That, sir, depends on whether I first embrace your Lordship's principles or your Lordship's mistressess".

(!!!)

I must say, the last three were pretty elegant and the first one was only minor league, like the lowbrow level of insults opponents jab each other with in All Star Wrestling but hey- you gotta play to your audience. 

Gonna leave you with this one, my fav, from Democratic presidential hopeful Adalai Stevenson, regarding the election of 1952:

"I have been thinking that I might make a proposition to my Republican friends… ...that if they stop telling lies about the Democrats, we will stop telling the truth about them".

(I don't think he was the guy that originally used this quote, thought it up, but it fits the times, the strange days we're in).

Keep breathing, stay present.

Quality Of Life

        In a legal first, I filed a 'Quality Of Life' lawsuit against the state I was living in, which may make its way (hopefully) to the Supreme Court. 

        I figured "Why not?" after overhearing my Nth 'Right To Life' argument, probably while washing dishes with the TV on, where I couldn't change the channel soon enough 'cuz my hands were covered in suds. Listening to the back and forth, I could see that a legal loophole existed for if nobody could agree whether or not certain ones had a right to life, the quality of that life couldn't be far behind. Those affected by deficient amounts of Quality Of Life were certain to sue, and I wanted to be first in line.

Conferring with my hastily assembled legal team, it was agreed that while my complaint had not been brought forth to any court before, it had sufficient legal grounds to be presented, i.e., it had merit. 

  Certainly it couldn't be dismissed as frivolous, for if one had a Right To Life it surely followed that one had an equal right to Quality Of Life. How 'quality' was presently determined was that some authoritative entity followed the usual guidelines used to determine the value of things. They scanned the overall reach of society, looked to see where ones were situated, and through doing that a certain mean was found, a middle ground, one that was used to ascertain a 'benchmark' level of quality. One that was deemed 'acceptable'.

But my legal team's argument was that not only was Quality Of Life a financial and moral issue it was also a highly personal one for wasn't it up to the individual to determine what 'Quality Of Life' meant? This could not come through governmental decree for it would deny the individual’s 'Right Of Expression', a concept highly tied to Quality Of Life. For example, if I personally determined that perpetual bass fishing was essential to achieve Quality Of Life, could I be expected to be content were I relegated to perform the drugery of Formula One racing? 

Furthermore, as an at-heart perpetual bass fisherman, now turned Formula One race car driver, I would be grieviously prevented from even going near a calm, still lake full of bass and would suffer immeasureable psychological anguish to the degree that I could bankrupt any of a number of municipalities, perhaps even counties, and maybe even a whole state (the pain and suffering awards that innocently injured subjects previously received setting legal and financial precedent in such cases). While being placed in a race car driver's position could be argued as less than accidental, I could still be deemed a 'victim' as the level of suffering amassed would be deemed equal to that which any innocent injured person ever endured, in my legal council's estimation. 

  As it was, I was not in my complaint denied Quality Of Life in soooo extreme a manner but on the basis of denial I filed my claim anyway, which went through a series of lesser courts and experienced favorable rulings. My argument was presented thus:

"The playing of basketball alone is not sufficient grounds for the gaping disparity of income that exists between worker bee me and Player A of the Phoenix Suns. It indisputably follows, then, that my Quality Of Life (key words there) is nowhere near that of Player A. In a sane and progressive world, such exposure to imbalance would be looked upon as monstrous, abhorrent, and abominable. Since I know what those words mean, it decries a degree of intelligence and discernment that brings to me full knowledge of said disparity and with it, intense and implacable feelings of suffering to which I plead relief from to this court. My lawyers have in their possession documents and statements attesting to the veracity of recurring distressing states of mind that such exposure has caused me, which they can bring up to the bench, and of the numerous times I have been placed in such extreme states of agitation that it has required consolation, psychoanalysis, meditation, medication, and intervention even, to be employed, due to this ongoing injustice"

The higher courts pondered my claim with calm deliberation before agreeing that indeed I was one so aggrieved but these victories of mine were only temporary, for they were immediately and repeatedly appealed by state's counsel. In order to secure relief I had to take my case all the way to the Supreme Court, the highest in the land, whose decision was final and would stand 'forevermore'. 

It took many years, nearly three and a half, to have my case upon their docket and when that momentous day came, my lawyers (and theirs) were prepared for battle. Fierce legalese was passed back and forth in the courtroom that day, and over the many ones that followed, as the justices heard passionate arguments for and against my case. They then heard final, closing arguments, after which they retreated to consider the verdict, one that was probably going to hinge on a single vote for or against. 

Perfect conditions for fishing!

Rose Elena- Unsplash.com

After many days of deliberation, a decision was reached and all parties involved in the suit were summoned privately into the hallowed arena to hear what the justices had determined. I was nervous in the extreme, yet confident that my cause, even if it should fail, had at least during the trial opened the eyes of the observing public and those of some in the nation. Stronger cases were certain to follow mine. When the verdict was read, however, all my trepidation vanishied. I found I was immensely pleased and high-fived my stellar legal team repeatedly. The justice's decison was this:

"Quality Of Life is a given. Those granted life must be allowed to express it to the fullest extent allowable by law, as well as within the moral bounds of mutual human respect and decency. Perhaps the most commonly followed bounds that apply here are the words brought down from Mt. Sinai by Moses, the words in our Constitution, and the words in our Bill Of Rights. Though some of those are moral guidelines- not laws- they create an outline for everyone to experience at least a baseline Quality Of Life.

'Quality Of Life' is believed to mainly come about through individual will and determination but we find that to be an incompletely scrutinized mere assumption. Through investigative examination it is revealed that the Game Of Life is one that is tremendously skewed, highly favoring the already advantaged. While it is true that some graduate from meager initial means to lofty heights the majority do not and thus cannot be said to even remotely experience or know what they are missing due to their being placed, and long conditioned, to accept realities far different from those above. This unfortunate fact of life has always been the case and to those many the court considers itself fortunate and stands relieved, for it cannot begin to address their complaints. The court's luck in this matter rests on the fact that any of them presenting or even conceiving of bringing an actual lawsuit to the bench is highly unlikely, almost ludicrous.

"However, in the matter of the one who stands before us, we award a basketball players' annual salary in compensation. Case adjourned!"

“What the @*$#!” cried the state's lawyers, in unison, as the justices rose and began to file towards their chambers. "This is ridiculous! It sets a precedent sure to be followed by tens of millions, if not hundreds of millions!"

The final Supreme Court judge stopped just before exiting. He turned to the state's lawyers and said "This decision will never be made public. It is to be an 'out of court settlement’ and you will pony up. The media will be told that the case was thrown out and sent back to the lower courts for reconsideration, which, as you know, is something that will likely tie it up for years".

"So why didn't you do just that? Send it back to the lower courts? Why did you make a ruling at all?!"

"We had to. The defendant's cause was just. It just doesn't have to be publicly known! Justice has to be served by us and sometimes that dish comes out frosty cold"

"But justice was not served! This will cost our state millions of dollars! How is that 'justice'?"

The final judge paused, scratched his chin some, looked upwards, then sighed resignedly before speaking. 

"Consider it a warning shot across the bow. The time for further favorable rulings in such matters has come. Times are a'changing. What used to be acceptable won't be for much longer. It can't be denied or explained away that the income gap doesn't cause damage any more than denying life itself causes damage, but what that damage is is left up to the courts to decide. We are placed in an unpleasant position, you see? We can't deny the reality of these issues away, like you do, for we're at the end of the line. Yes or no, we have to decide. Though you and your kind may dream up thousands of theories and explanations and then use them to befuddle minds, galvanize certain factions, and sway voters, we are tasked with bringing contentious matters down to detached and dispassionate reasonings. We then reduce those to the best plausible interpretation of the facts we have at hand. "What fits, in the current time, in our current understanding?" That is what we ask ourselves. We're not the end all, for civilization is always evolving, and though it's unlikely that our ruling will be overturned soon, at some point it will come back to us, only then it will be presented in a different way- and we will have to rule on that.

  Good day to you!"   

Tremors In The Force

    There's this undercurrent of sleaziness that has been encroaching lately, staining the corners of the fabric of society, and I don't like it. 

Takes a lot of water and suds to blot it out and then soon as you do, it starts creeping in from another angle. 

      I can sense this stain hovering in the shadows, trying to edge it's way in, but light and dark can't coexist. The stain thinks it can somehow figure out a way to be 'acceptable' but plain and simple, though numerous efforts are made to try and explain how the stain 'fits', people just can't turn off their senses. 

Their eyes can see the stain and try, as they are coached to by some, to interpret the stain as appropriate, suitable, or tolerable but nah, they can't see it that way. Ugly is ugly.

  Their ears can hear the sounds the stain makes (it makes sounds) but the stain's discordant notes jangle and wear upon listeners. The grating and irritating tones the stain makes cause only anguish.

The taste the stain has dampens any enthusiasm for another helping, completely dulling the appetite,

while the feeling the stain has is oily and wretchedly bumpy, like the tortured hide of a swamp creature, 

and the smell (oh the smell!) of the stain is beyond words. 

Princess Leia knew. Absolutely.

Mnm all- Unsplash.com

But even more than that, there is an energy around the stain that is foreboding. This energy is strangely hypnotic and alluring, like that of a snake, yet at the same time it is decisively abhorrent. Everybody has been exposed to the stain at least once, in all likelihood numerous times, and they to varying degrees recognize it and what it means. Obi Wan Kanobi could catch the tiniest wisp of the stain and it would drop him to his knees. 

  He knew about the stain.

  Luke Skywalker was innocent and protected, initially, from the stain and Han Solo was self absorbed and actually in league with aspects of the stain but for both, the true knowledge of it existed deep within them and that's why they did what they did…

  …for they knew, like Obi Wan did, that the stain is the destroyer of worlds.

An Interesting Assessment

  After the totalitarian viewpoint was established, at least in their minds, they focused then on how to implement it. For when the focus is such there can be no compromise. The ultimate takeover of Everything is ego's desire to assuage fear by attaining control.

     In the ego's vision control over Everything is desired but Everything (that which is to be ruled) doesn't desire to be fed and led by the unwise so the only way the ego can achieve utter dominance is either by force or guile, the former unimaginable 'reality' being some sort of fiery iron-forging slave camp populated by Orks and the second unreality being the current day 'news'cycle double-speak that is glazing over millions of eyes daily on various platforms.

     The Orks toiling away in their sweatshop never look happy or even know what happiness is and the people watching and being taken in by the news on certain stations might as well have their brains shut off for they aren't thinking critically anymore, they're only taking in more content provided by 'experts' (and if you question that, we'll raise our voices!). 

No this is not Elon Musk but whoever he is he is an independent entity reasoning, something all of us have to do.

Quin Stevenson- Unsplash.com

     Imagine a world filled with the mindless and the subdued and the moon looks like it's a sister planet in comparison for, like there, nothing really happy happens here and if you think that that is not the case, that we have SportsCenter and baseball and 'What's new to see on Netflix' every week we're living large. To that I simply say "Bah humbug".

All of this is made up and if it's made up it can be changed and it does change, all the time, yet The World is kept within certain parameters for there is a lot of fear present on the planet still. The fear is not so much in the minds of the many but it exists strongly in the minds of the few, who want to see the old ways continue. 

  Good luck with that. 

  "Won't be the future for us" say the manifestors of reality (which we all in truth are). Some of us know that our thoughts create, and the rest are gettin' it. There's a huge steamroller of momentum building that says "No thanks!" to outdated belief systems and the shoddy structures that those create on always perilous presumptions. 

"Mind is the builder" Edgar Cayce repeatedly admonished to the seekers of understanding, not so very long ago.

Fear not what is outside of you, then, but that which is housed within your own mind.

The Mystery Of Our History

Spent some time lately catching up on history, what's being newly presented about what's old in the metaphysical arena, as well as any current day scientific findings, and it's hard to discount what the evidence is pointing towards. A vastly different story than the one we were previously told. 

Now disinformation abounds, so navigating these waters takes skill and determination, but it can be done by anyone with a reasonable amount of intelligence because theories that point to preposterous conclusions can be discounted quite readily. Plausible theories are then left over to examine carefully, really pour over. 

Theoretical pondering about what has taken place in the past is not something I find terribly exciting to do but others seem to revel in the realms of archeological, geological, and anthropological focus. (Thank God that they are so driven for years of study and meticulous field work are as a rule required!) Many of these people are then compelled to collaborate with other experts and construct theories, try and connect the dots. The end results of their patient investigations, explorations, and research are they know what they are talking about. The foundation that supports their conjectures about what really happened is strong, graced by high degrees of credibility.

These degrees of credibility and subject matter knowledge enable them to easily withstand the attacks of low level critics, those who would offhandedly discount their theories. To the rest, those critics taking a more reasoning approach towards what is being presented, a certain degree of debate serves as healthy exercise for the presenters for it points out the weak spots in their theories and acts to strengthen them. This fortification process bolsters and over time creates ever more formidable theories supported by an increasing amount of evidence about what might have happened, for until all the evidence is in, no one can ever really know for sure.

That being said.......

.....it then follows that the idea that 'civilization' began on earth X number of years ago (roughly 6,000, as is commonly believed) and that any people existing before that were uncivilized bears (no pun intended) us to take another look.  

Silent witnesses. Just one of many ancient sites all over the world.

Jack B.- Unsplash.com

More has happened here than what we were told is my belief, and that comes from following people who have done the work and presented the evidence, evidence that is credible enough for me. I don't need to know every little thing that happened because if I know enough I can extrapolate the rest. Also, if the energy around what is being presented feels 'clean', that tells me that I'm on the right track. 

If it wasn't, I would feel compelled to dig deeper. 

So, kind of being ahead of this unfolding a little bit I can see that earth peeps got a lot of growing up to do and I don't mean that in a facetious way, a smart alecky way, I mean that in a compassionate way. Thank God we get time to process this 'cuz it's big, yeah, and it's gonna rock a lot of worlds. We're much older than we think and because of that we're a lot richer in experience and that prevents the worst part of our natures from coming out (true for most of us) which enables us to create bigger and better versions of what could be. That’s my idea of 'civilization'. We just get better and better at it because we've failed a number of times before and learned from those failings.

We've already learned the hardest lessons that could be concocted, tests we set up for ourselves, it appears, in order to see which way we would choose to go but it doesn't have to be this way forever. I think enough of us have learned what truly works by now and can take earth life up to the next level, the higher frequency, and as we do the full mystery of our history will then reveal itself because we'll be ready to finally know..... 

......’Humanity- The Rest Of The Story’ 

P.S.- I had a sneak peek of the trailer. This movie is going to pull out all the stops, there’s never been anything like it. High drama, absurd comedy, poignant heartbreak, and supreme challenge abounds. It’s going to be very long but, man oh man, it’s a must see.