THOUGHTS AT THREE A.M.

SOMETIMES THE DENSITY JUST MAKES ME WANT TO CRY!!!

This is a rant! Ordinarily I wouldn't be so blunt about it, but apparently, with some people you just have to be flat-footed and clear, or they just don't get it! A while back I did a blog on Sam Walter Foss's Poem," the Calf Path",which I recalled from my childhood with great delight. (you'll find it in archives, under poetry,roughly entitled,"From Amongst My Childhood Book-Shelves!" just in case you missed it, or are unfamiliar with the poem.) This was back in April of this year. With the whole background, and taking into consideration the fact that I first heard this poem when I was very small, I thought surely that the simple reprinting of this wonderful poem would be enough to jog a few memories, and introduce this jewel of witty, thoughtful commentary on the state of man's tendency to "follow the beaten path" rather than do something different, to stand alone, without any further assistance or explanation from me. I thought that right up until this evening,when I followed a referrer back and the search was... meaning of the calf-path! I was appalled! What is the meaning of the calf-path? The meaning of the calf-path! I admit to some mental stuttering over that! How is it possible that a person capable of reading and writing, and able to use a computer,can read this poem and not understand it's meaning? Now, I will admit that there have been some poems I have read,and shook my head, and wondered what the whole point of it was, but the Calf-path is not one of those incomprehensible pieces, full of symbolism and archaic references,that make you grab your thesaurus and start searching franticly for the meanings of words you've never heard before! It is in fact, so obvious as to the meaning that all three children in our family, of which I was the youngest, totally understood, enjoyed and loved from the first time our mother read it to us. Certainly, she had a flair for reading aloud that instantly made an amusing passage completely hilarious,but she never did have to stop and explain anything to us, during her rendition of it. So, keeping in mind that I was too young to read...what am I to conclude about this seeker of the meaning? Is this a person who has no interest in poetry, as a genre,and therefore feels that opening a book and reading the work for themselves is beneath them, or are they just too lazy to crack a book, and wants all their answers spelled out for them ? Or, am I reading too much into this,and the difficulty lies not in their inability to understand, but that all unknowingly, mine was a whole family of enlightened geniuses? I don't think so. If that were the case, I doubt very much that this incident would have thrown me into a tizzy, and grate on my nerves so badly that I felt I had to rant on it to get over this sensation of jangling irritation which makes me literally want to throw my hands in the air,and just cry with frustration over this glaring example of thick-headed,muddy-brained,"whose-was-the-hand-that-sloped-back-this-brow?" kind of ignorance!

Rant over.

If I have insulted you, I am sorry,but the truth is, all anyone has to do to understand the "Calf-Path" is to read it. It's meaning is so obvious a child can  understand it.

OUI?

BUFFETT & GATES POOL THEIR MONEY FOR...CHARITY?

Warren Buffett,the second richest man in America, gave Billions of dollars to...Bill Gates, the number one richest man in America! To help Bill Gates foundation, which has as it's goal to wipe out certain diseases...and also to improve education. To me, the whole thing sounds all very vague and uncertain, and I have my doubts as to whether any of that money will ever be used to make anyone's life any better than it is right now. Now, this is the same Warren Buffett who has a granddaughter to whom he gives...Nothing. Nada. Zip. Grampa doesn't believe in leaving money to his family, especially when he can get the applause and admiration of the world for giving it all to charity! His Granddaughter is living in a small apartment,working for people who don't have as much as she had when she was living at home! She barely squeaks by on an almost middle income job,and has very little in the way of comforts. I wouldn't doubt but what this latest revelation has come to her like a kick in the stomach. Didn't Grampa ever hear that charity begins at home? Say what you like about how generous, benevolent, and philanthropic Buffett is being, I just think he is mean,and sees this as a way to make himself look good. After all. This man is getting old,and must be thinking about where he is going. Maybe he thinks that by giving all this money to a "Good cause", that it's going to really earn him some points in heaven. He may even have heard that it is harder for a rich man to enter the gates of heaven, than for a camel to go through the eye of a needle. Well, I've got news for him. Bill Gates is not that proper Gate, and you can't earn points with God, by slighting your family,and giving money away willy-nilly to Charitable foundations that do nothing to further the cause of Christ. He would have done better to take a basket full of money, go up on the top of the tallest building in New York,and start throwing handfuls of bills in the air, and be a blessing to people that way,than to give his money to a foundation, run by the richest man in the country. His gesture is not only stupid, it's obscene. Giving Billions to a man who already has Billions is an insult to every person who had to go hungry this last week-end. To every homeless person, who prayed for a chance to put their lives back together,and to every church in Louisiana who still need repairs done to their structure,since last years Hurricane season.

OUI?

"CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM",HUH? NO PROBLEM!!

Enthusiasm, curbed. Forever! If you haven't heard of this particular piece of tripe, let me fill you in. This is an offering from HBO,and one of it's male "stars " was on Jay Leno's show, late night, last night. Understand me now, this was not the regular tonight show presented last night, this was the late night, last weeks offering,which runs after all the regular after the news shows, around two a.m. I don't know the man's name, and I have no desire to know it. He made it Crystal clear that this program uses profanity, and vulgar, obscene language as a matter of course, particularly the "F" word, because, to quote him, " That's the way people talk all the time, so..." and words to the effect that they want to attract the common man. Oh, really? Well, now I don't exactly consider myself royalty, but neither am I the sort that welcomes that kind of garbage in my home on a regular basis, either! To put it bluntly, I despise that kind of language! I won't tolerate it even from my grown children, and I certainly have no intention of watching a program that thinks this is the way everyone talks all the time! Far from being hip, cutting edge, or amusing, I thought his attitude was disgusting and insulting to the American public at large. Maybe Dennis Miller or George Carlin can get by with using that stuff, because they are brilliant,and have more to say than just filth, but trust me, this man is no George Carlin! To me, he just came off as a potty-mouthed pip-squeak,using this " every man" excuse to cash in on those whose lack of education draws them to the basest sort of entertainment they can find. I am sure his audience will be large. I, however, shall not be among them!

OUI?

PLAGIARISM IS A CRIME!

Plagiarism! The very word all by itself makes me want to grind my teeth! How anybody could want to be considered a writer, and then turn around and steal another persons work, without all that goes into creating something on their own just really gets me all worked up. I don't suppose it would bother me so much, had it not happened to me already, that I know of, at least twice.The first instance was done to me by a girl I knew in collage,whom I thought was my friend. She read a poem I wrote, that came out of much anguish and pain, and angst, and a while later, she had published it in, of all places, the personals section of the paper, looking for a guy to date! I mean, at the time she read it, she said she thought it was very good, but I had no idea that meant she wanted to use it, and call it her own! Oh...that reminds me. This same girl also used my essay on the story, "The Yellow Wallpaper" for one of her classes, but it really didn't sink in at the time that she had done so. That little nugget didn't come out until the end of the year, and by that time, she had already quit school. Another of our classmates and I were wondering why she had quit, and told me how wonderful she thought this girl's essay was, and  as she went on about it, I realized the work she was talking about was mine! So, that's three times! But, of course, I didn't say or do anything about it, because by that time, my claiming the paper to me mine would have sounded like sour grapes. But that is when I became a whole lot less open about sharing my work with my friends, but I still had something to learn about submitting manuscripts. My very first full length novel was accepted for publication, and I had it and the contract locked up in my desk,and someone came along and stole the whole thing, desk and all. Fortunately, it didn't show up in book form. No. It was not published as a novel. Instead, I recognized it when it showed up on television,as a long running and very popular sit-com! Again, I won't call the name of it, because again, sour grapes, but you would recognize it if I did. So, we have to protect ourselves and be careful who we submit to, and who we share our work with. But, I guess that is one reason why I enjoy blogging so much. No body can predict what I am going to say, or steal what I have written, because  I have my work so well documented, on line. And woe to the nincompoop who tries to put their name on my work from now on. I keep copies of everything I have ever written, and every book I write, I send original copies to myself, and leave them sealed, under lock and key, just in case, these things should fall into the wrong hands again.

Thou art not dealing with a stupid Genie!...Oops!

OUI?

YOU CAN LEAD A STUDENT TO EDUCATION, BUT CAN YOU MAKE HIM THINK?/OR,EPITHETS FROM OSCAR WILDE'S" PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY!!"

Hey,my dears. listen up. Teachers and collage professors use the Internet too. They see what you are looking for, by looking for it too, and they know what is available.That is why they have moved on beyond the simple request of asking for the plot of the book,"Picture of Dorian Gray." To be able to glean some Epithets from the book, you now must read the book!!

Pretty clever, huh?

Page 290 of, "How to lead students to knowledge,and make them think!"

(without them really knowing it!)

OUI?

WHERE IS ALL THIS SPAYING OR NEUTERING OF YOUR PETS COMING FROM!!?

I have just seen this commercial for the thousandth time, and frankly it's starting to get on my last nerve.Actually, it takes two forms, but the meaning is the same. One is the one where they are talking about cats,and how many kittens they have in their lifetime,and how many of their kittens Will have kittens,and how sad it all is that most won't last through their first year.Let's pause right there. If their point is that we are going to be, or are already overrun with cats and/or kittens, then, what is the problem? If they are concerned with the (unsubstantiated) numbers of the feline population, it appears to me that nature has a way of taking care of these things.Then,this cute little gray kitten, that supposedly has had a miserable life, with no where to go, to get away from cold and predators, vanishes before our very eyes,and this black cats face comes up on the screen,(with a darling white streak between it's golden eyes) and we are told imperiously:" Have your cat spayed or neutered. It's the right thing to do!" But, is it? Lets go on.The other commercial is usually done by a celebrity, who is associated with PETA.They stand up there, all sweet and talk about something, and also end with the line, have your pet spayed or neutered, or if you're looking for a pet, go get one from the shelter.All very warm and fuzzy, but the fact is, you cannot get a pet from the shelter that has any chance to live out a normal life, because you can't adopt a pet unless they have been spayed or neutered,and you get to pay for it! So, there is no chance you can have a cat or dog, unless you get it free out of the newspaper,that is going to be able to reproduce.That was the point where I said they could not live a normal life.For pets as well as people, it is only a normal life, if one has that option. Now, I ask you.What is going on here? Why this campaign to wipe out pets in America? For, if you think about it, that is the ultimate goal here.Once everyone is on the bandwagon to spay or neuter all cats and dogs, where will the next generation of pets come from? Only kennels, specially licensed to breed and raise,and sell dogs and cats will have them, and believe me when I say, when this happens, anyone desiring a pet will pay big bucks for a STERILE animal.The decision of whether or not to let fluffy or rover have a litter before they are "fixed" will be out of your hands. No more will the family dog suddenly come up with the miracle of birthing several little mites, to the delight and wonder of the children and the neighborhood.The family will have no pets scampering through the house,if the family is poor, or even middle class.Only rich folks will have dogs or cats, and most of them will be of the shivering, tiny, carried-on-the-arm variety.Okay, some,like Oprah will have larger pets,but there again, I think even she has fallen for this line, not thinking about the total ramifications of this trend.So, the big beautiful, life saving, working dogs,such as Collies,and German Shepards and Great Danes will be basically a thing of the past, but for the kennels, who will  make huge profits, and will be the only ones left to show them, or appreciate them. However,at the same time, we are hearing true stories of doctors, hospitals,and researchers who say that a pet brought to patients in hospitals and nursing homes, help people to have a better outlook on life after a visit with a dog or cat.Older people who live alone, but for a pet or two live longer, happier lives, compared to those of the same age and health, who have no animal companion. Likewise, children are happier if they have a pet to play with, than kids who are denied a pet. In view of this dichotomy, let's examine what is happening with the elderly and infirmed,and with children. Abortion is rampant,as is the abuse and killing of children.The elderly who have no way of speaking out and defending their lives are being taken off life support by their families, because it is too much trouble to take care of them.Too expensive.Mom or Dad wouldn't have wanted to live this way!(Besides,it's eating into my inheritance!) I think there is a connection here. Let's wipe out all the lives that aren't producing money.Let's get rid of the old.The unborn, the very young. Anything that is  dependent upon us must go.Why provide food and shelter for an animal that might make Grampa live longer? Why pay for anything that will make Grama's life happier, now that she's alone?

I don't know about you, but I don't think I like the view of a future world where there are no cats and dogs, no puppies, or kittens. No children, or pregnant ladies, no oldsters cuddling their grandchildren, and telling them stories,no families laughing together at the anitcs of the dog as he gallops across the lawn with a stick or a ball in his mouth. I want to hear those shrieking giggles of the babies watching a kitten with a catnip mouse, or a ball of yarn.There should be a dog in every kitchen, to clean up anything that gets dropped on the floor, that's their job! There should always be a Lassie or a Beethoven to watch over the baby so he or she doesn't tumble down the stairs, or keep them from opening the kitchen cupboards, where the harmful tools live,or there just to bark uproariously at a stranger coming into the house in the middle of the night,or to wake everyone should a fire start!

But beyond all that, once a cat or dog is spayed or neutered, they will be a puppy/kitten for a long time,and then they will turn old before their time, as though they know they have missed out on something important their lives should have contained,and they turn fat, and slow and cantankerous. I have had many,many dogs and cats over the years, and most have had that litter of puppies  or kittens before they were "fixed,"and I have seen the difference in them,when that chance was taken away while still young.It is a sad sight.

Therefore,I for one, will never,ever choose to buy a pet that has been sterilized. I'll continue to look for my pets, in the newspaper,and take them just the way God intended them to be...And THAT is the right thing to do!

OUI?

WHY BOTHER TO GO TO SCHOOL OR COLLAGE AT ALL, IF YOUR GOING TO CHEAT?

Well, it popped up again.Another student, type unknown, searching for information on the Internet, wanting to know the plot of a book they should have read themselves.But they didn't.Instead, they turned to the computer,and asked questions,improperly phrased, so that their little attempt for unworked for knowledge profited them nothing.My site came up, but it wasn't what they wanted,and the way they asked, the actual blog I wrote on that very subject,which, if I do say so myself was very informative and concise, did not come up,and so they didn't get what they needed.In a way, that is very funny.See, they asked for the Ploy...and what they were looking for was the Plot!

This explains another mystery to me.I have wondered for years why it is that young people, right out of Collage, end up flipping burgers, rather than working in an office.They cheat to get grades, and to pass from grade to grade, and get their degree, but once they have that piece of paper, they can't do the job,or they can't get the job, because they don't know enough about their own area in which they got their degree,to impress an interviewer.Now, why? Is it because they chose their major, on the basis of how much money they can earn in an entry level job, rather than take into account what they are interested in,and what they are suited for? I suspect that might be the case,and it's sad,because they are going for the Gold where there is no gold to be got. You cannot make yourself like or be good at something that your engaged in just for a dollar sign.Talent has got to come into play here.One must have that, and a passion for what they are doing, or they aren't going to be good at whatever it is.If your passion is for flowers,and you take accounting instead, because it pays better, then your going to be a poor accountant,gazing wistfully at flowers the rest of your life! By the same token, if you went to collage, to be a journalist, because you want the fame and glory of being a famous novelist, but you love cooking more, then you'd better plan on writing cook books, or your going to end up being a miserable starving writer. Now, let me qualify that by saying this.There is absolutely nothing wrong with being a starving writer,as long as the writing is what makes you happy.There are an awful lot of writers out there, who will never be world renowned, famous and making oodles of money.But if they are comfortable with that,and happy with what they do, then they chose wisely.But when making your choice, go with your interests and passions, and let the money take care of itself. Now, I know that what I am saying is not a popular way of thinking.It's all, go for the money, for what is going to make you rich in the long run. But what good is that advice, if your heart is panting after something else? So, if your Major is literature, but you don't want to read all the recommended works to fulfill your "required reading list", and you have to cheat to be able to pass tests, then what are you going to do, when the actual work begins,and you don't have the education to be successful?

Or, as my Dad used to say:"I don't care what you want to be.Even if it's a streetsweeper! Just be the best dang streetsweeper anybody ever saw!"

OUI?

GOD BLESS BASKETBALL,BASEBALL, FOOTBALL, CBS AND NBC!!

These are some fascinating, blessed, wonderful people who work at CBS & NBC, helping God break me of watching television, when I should be reading, or napping, or blogging...taking a bath, doing my nails,and on and on.There are so many things I should be doing. So, thank you Network programmers! Thanks, ever so much, for showing me the way to catch up on my reading, and doing all those other ordinary things that I ought to be doing, rather than watching t.v. You have so loaded up the airwaves with this unending string of basketball,football and baseball games,that I am completely and thoroughly fed up to my eyeballs with the whole lot of you! It's bad enough that the daytime programing is filled to the brim with mindless soaps, which, by the way, I used to watch too, until I finally got so frustrated with the fact that they all use the same formula: First Sammi is good, then she's bad, then she's good again, but she never seems to grow up enough to come to an understanding about how love works,and how to kill it,and she just goes on plotting and scheming, manipulating and lying,so no matter how pretty and smart she is, she ends up losing every time. And then, there's Passions, with Teresa, who is much sweeter, but just as bad in her own way...so what is the point of watching? Exactly! There is none! So, the only daytime show left worth watching is Jeopardy!,but even that is preempted for more GAMES. Oh! I left out Oprah! Well, shame on me.I do like to drop in to see who she's talking to, or who she's giving cars or other free stuff to today, from time to time, However, she is another one they like to preempt, and then of course, there are those shows that are sad and disgusting,but oh well, at least she isn't out there throwing around a basketball, so she can stay. And, naturally, I do tune in for the news,but there again, they also have to show you the HIGHLIGHTS? of the latest game! And then they close out the news at six, saying, stay tuned, for the evening broadcast of the news, at ten o'clock, After the Game! They call it March Madness, I call it sickening and insane.I am so tired of games I could scream. So, thanks guys. I am cured of incessant television watching, to the nth degree, and I couldn't have done it without you, and God!

Oh, by the way.It isn't just week-day watching I dislike. On the week-end there is worse junk to try to avoid....just try! It can be summed up in four words.

Tennis and Golf! Yuk!

OUI?

I LIKE COLIN POWELL, BUT HE'S WAY OFF BASE THIS TIME!!

This is not going to be, or rather, shall I say, not intended to be, a large blog. Yes, it is a rant, sorry folks, but I am upset, but what I have to say won't take a lot of words! Short, pithy and to the point! Colin Powell,  went on the Tonight show, with Jay Leno, to explain the position to the American public about the Dubi company having control  over our eastern seaboard ports. I don't care if the company, or the country in which it is based is friendly or not. No other country should have anything to say about an American port but American powers and forces.All question and debate over this matter was settled, as I understand it, over two hundred years ago,and is not open for change or revision at this late date. I don't care if turning them down hurts the Dubi's blasted feelings, the answer should be not only no, but heck no! We cannot allow even a toehold to be made by another country, on these Continental United States! That is lunacy! Government's fail, or are overthrown! Leaders change,and so do allegiances! If this intrusion is allowed to stand, we will find ourselves in a huge mess! Dubi is an Arab nation,and we cannot afford to go along with this company that was British based, and was sold to Dubi to take advantage of a business deal to make an inroad into our ports because of it. This whole thing has nothing to do with Protocol, and everything to do with being hoodwinked! We can't afford to be nice, and be STUPID! Think people, think! Did our Arab friends do anything to prevent OPEC  from raising the cost of crude oil so high? NO! But, that's our pals! Our buddies! UH-HUH! You think you know what a "Friendly" Nation is capable of, but let me tell you, they don't have any compunction whatever over stabbing a FRIEND in the back, if it suits them.Which brings me to the second point of my blog.Britain. They're supposed to be our friends.Now, I'm going to stop just short of suggesting that the company that brokered this deal was no friend of ours, or they wouldn't have set us up this way. After all, the government of a friendly country cannot be expected to watch out for every deal that is made with a foreign power...which brings me back to my original point. Even if the Government of another country is agreeably disposed towards us at the time, that does not mean that they always will be, nor that the company is going to have our best interests at heart, now, always, or forever.

As far as I am concerned, this whole thing stinks to high heaven. Other than their supposed reasonableness, what assurance do we have that there is no hidden agenda?

None whatever!

Write that down! That's the most important piece of evidence we have heard yet!

God help us. Mark my words. We need to be as wise as foxes,and as gentle as doves.....and People in power? Don't trust anybody!

OUI?

NBC NEW COMEDY SHOW; FOUR KINGS REVIEW!

I have been otherwise occupied on Thursday night lately, so tonight was the first chance I had to take in this rather hyped-up "comedy". Not having been in on the beginning of the series, I am not real sure of the background, nor any of the four men involved in the program, but the sets were nice, the plot, up to a point, was believable.However, I consider the title of the offering very UN- if you get my drift.The writers were reaching to come up with such a title. Four flakes would be more like it.Also, I didn't check the credits, but I would be willing to bet this was written by men.Men who haven't a clue just how lonely older women would handle or approach finding escorts for an evening.We will forget for the moment that this is supposed to be funny, and focus in instead on the notion that a group of widows wouldn't want all their friends to have the slightest idea that these young men were hired to spend their time with them.That is too demeaning.Men would do it, women normally would not.They would prefer their friends to be impressed over the fact that this nice looking young gentleman would, of their own free will, desire to be in their company.Being the age they are purported to be, these women would not make the first advances.That would completely out of character with that generation.There would be no carrot dangling in front of the donkey, no reminder of  how much money was on the line. It would come under the heading of:" If  you don't know, I'm certainly not going to tell you." It's not flattering to a lady of that era, or, if the truth be told, any era, to spell it out in so many words, or to spoil the illusion...the mood if you will, that I am paying you this, for this! After all, she wouldn't want mechanical performance, she wants romance! She would pay her money, and wait. Wait for flirting, flattering and if he was so inclined, (hope,hope) to be swept off her feet! In my estimation, this program shows promise that has not yet bloomed. Of course, if everyone did what they should do, there would be no story, however, the actors, the writers and men in general need to grow up enough to know that the type of individual who takes money for sexual favors are prostitutes, not w***es.A pro at least has the excuse of doing it for money.A w***e does it simply because they can't or don't know how to say NO! Not to be confused with S***s, who do it, indiscriminately, because they like it, and sadly, think that is what having a good time is all about,basically having never in their lives been shown an actual good time.

I don't plan to watch this program again, until I see a clip of an upcoming show that gives me the impression that the writers have brought up the tone of the language, to something suave, smart, and witty, and less reminiscent of a gorilla with a Stradivarius.

OUI?