.

And by a prudent flight and cunning save A life which valour could not, from the grave. A better buckler I can soon regain, But who can get another life again? Archilochus

Sunday, November 1, 2015

Rat Central

8 comments:

FreeThinke said...


___ A Big Ol’ Papa Bear Has Left Us ____

The news was sudden –– caught us unaware.
One never knows. They say, it’s up to God.
Finality is always in the air ––
Reaching out to claim us as we plod ––
Earnestly –– erratic, or dogmatic ––
Dogged –– fearful –– frivolous –– romantic ––
The pious –– the heroic –– the pragmatic ––
Hold on to Life, and try not to feel frantic.
Or lose heart while knowing we are stalked ––
Mercilessly –– from the day that we are born.
Papa Bear was taken while we talked.
Sadly, he won’t see another morn.
Of him now, as we contemplate his loss,
No one should speak unkindly or be cross.


~ FreeThinke (11/1/15)

In loving memory of Fred Dalton Thompson (1942-2015)
Truly an American Original. Rest in peace, Fred. We'll miss you.

Always On Watch said...

That top video is quite interesting! What, now, of groups such as AA and NA? Both groups seem to have struck some kind of deal with the legal system.

Joe Conservative said...

I can't vouch for its' veracity, but there may be something to it.

Always On Watch said...

Joe,
One of my younger cousins is out of the penitentiary. Drug addiction. I fear that the halfway-house programs will not help her at all.

Joe Conservative said...

I would fear the same. She needs a more "intimate" and committed social support system. It's a lot like old-world psychiatry (talking-cure) and no so much reliant upon pharmaceuticals.

Joe Conservative said...

The chemicals that matter are the self-administered "reward" centers in the brain (not so much the ones externally administered).

As Plato said in his Charmides...

Such, Charmides, I said, is the nature of the charm, which I learned when serving with the army from one of the physicians of the Thracian king Zamolxis, who are said to be so skilful that they can even give immortality. This Thracian told me that in these notions of theirs, which I was just now mentioning, the Greek physicians are quite right as far as they go; but Zamolxis, he added, our king, who is also a god, says further, 'that as you ought not to attempt to cure the eyes without the head, or the head without the body, so neither ought you to attempt to cure the body without the soul; and this,' he said, 'is the reason why the cure of many diseases is unknown to the physicians of Hellas, because they are ignorant of the whole, which ought to be studied also; for the part can never be well unless the whole is well.' For all good and evil, whether in the body or in human nature, originates, as he declared, in the soul, and overflows from thence, as if from the head into the eyes. And therefore if the head and body are to be well, you must begin by curing the soul; that is the first thing. And the cure, my dear youth, has to be effected by the use of certain charms, and these charms are fair words; and by them temperance is implanted in the soul, and where temperance is, there health is speedily imparted, not only to the head, but to the whole body. And he who taught me the cure and the charm at the same time added a special direction: 'Let no one,' he said, 'persuade you to cure the head, until he has first given you his soul to be cured by the charm. For this,' he said, 'is the great error of our day in the treatment of the human body, that physicians separate the soul from the body.' And he added with emphasis, at the same time making me swear to his words, 'Let no one, however rich, or noble, or fair, persuade you to give him the cure, without the charm.' Now I have sworn, and I must keep my oath, and therefore if you will allow me to apply the Thracian charm first to your soul, as the stranger directed, I will afterwards proceed to apply the cure to your head. But if not, I do not know what I am to do with you, my dear Charmides.

Always On Watch said...

Joe,
She has lost the family-support system. None of us can have her around anymore. Thievery, etc.

Joe Conservative said...

Well, sounds like she hasn't hit "bottom" yet. You've got to "want" to crawl out of the hole/cage.