One of the greatest sculptures ever: Laocoön

Laocoön [pronounced lay OH koh on]

See the story it represents here

Status Report

"HahYuhDooin?"
"How's it goin'?"
"Tsup?"
"And how are we today, Don?"

As almost everyone who knows me knows, I hate questions like this, for various reasons - not all of them misanthropic. So as is my habit, whenever anyone asks me one of these or a similar general question, I give a general answer here and refer them to it, if at all possible. That way, if the person really cares about the answer, we can get it behind us and return to the real personal meat of our own unique relationship.

Just got the question again today, so -

Status Report:

-Oldest son Blake, still in the Army but home from Iraq (for good, hopefully). Married to my precious daughter ("in law" - phooey!) Lauren. Because of them, Kathy and I are grandparents - twice. This is good for Kathy because she is a grown-up. For me, it's awkward, but I do enjoy Luke's and Grace's company quite often. See pictures elsewhere on this blog.

-Younger son Trent continues to be a VERY good drummer, primarily in Seattle, performing often. He is totally committed to making it big, no matter the cost, which I admire a great deal, since I gave up on that dream after a number of years. If he ever becomes a multi-millionaire in the music industry, I hope he remembers the significant people in his life who have made unwise financial decisions in the past.

-Kathy, intensive care nurse at a nearby hospital. ICU, as in "ICU need a doctor." Incredibly attractive - even for someone half her age. Lucky me. She also loves clean, orderly, beautiful things - house, yard, gardens, husband. Only the last one has created problems.

-Kathy's brother - one of my most favorite human beings in the whole world - is visiting soon from California with his family. That should be quite glorious.

-I LOVE LOVE LOVE Lauren's family, and actually the people in their whole neighborhood. Her Dad and I have been doing quite a bit of karaoke and also took a trip to Mexico. He is a treasured friend - beyond anything I could have expected.

-I teach online for one college and one university.

-We still have two cats, and they leave more fur laying around than Nicole Simpson naked.

-Two weeks ago, I actually got invited to talk about the Bible with some folks - for the first time since 2003. Pretty weird, eh? As far as I know, no one with the power to make my life a living hell was offended.

-Generally speaking, I have some sorrows that don't go away.

-Generally speaking, I have some blessings for which I am not sufficiently thankful.

-I think that Jesus is the best thing that ever came to earth, and that a professional clergy that gets paid to represent Him is the worst. I wish "the people in the pews" would finally "get" what Jesus came to bring them.

-I don't have an excessive amount of respect for most folks who think political elections can improve America's ultimate fate, or for people who claim to be Christians but who worry more about America than they do about God's greater purpose in history.

-I still write songs, and wish I had sufficient free time to produce another CD.

If you think the primary problem here is poverty, please don't vote.

The devil always sends errors into the world in pairs - pairs of opposites. And he always encourages us to spend a lot of time thinking which is the worse. You see why, of course? He relies on your extra dislike of the one error to draw you gradually into the opposite one. But do not let us be fooled. We have to keep our eyes on the goal and go straight through between both errors. We have no other concern than that with either of them.

-C. S. Lewis, Beyond Personality, Ch. 6

In 2007, of the 1,628 victims of an anti-religious hate crime:

8.7 percent were victims of an anti-Islamic bias.
69.2 percent were victims of an offender’s anti-Jewish bias.

-US government statistics - http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/hc2007/victims.htm

I wandered lonely, as a cloud:
Tired, puffy, portly, proud.
I hang out now with lightning only.
Now I know why clouds are lonely.

Beware of Opinionism

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If I could make one piece of writing a requirement for anyone wanting to graduate from high school or college, it would be Chapter 2 of John Stuart Mill's great work - "On Liberty." I fear for the future of any nation that forgets why this chapter needed to be written.

If anyone would like to give it a try, here are links to both a written and an audio version. At either site, skip down to "Ch 2 - Of the Liberty of Thought and Discussion."

Text:
http://www.constitution.org/jsm/liberty.htm

Audio:
http://librivox.org/on-liberty-by-john-stuart-mill/

Let me try to summarize what I think is the most significant theme that Mill is covering:

1. Many different forces and influences go into what people believe. It's NOT just a matter of looking objectively at facts and making a decision to believe "the truth." Our beliefs are influenced by things like past experience, personality, our desires, our preferences, the people we hang out with, the media we pay most attention to, the entertainment we choose, etc. All these create a mental environment that makes some things seem more true than others - regardless of whatever all the facts may be.

2. When a whole nation of people begins to accept some fundamental belief, there are a million subjective ways that that belief is being encouraged and strengthened, regardless of what the facts may be. There are many reasons for people to WANT others to believe certain things and to encourage such beliefs. It is quite possible - and proven many times in history - that an entire nation, society or culture can be taught to believe (or be forced to support) something that is simply not true. And of course, this can lead to tragedies on a wide scale.

3. Therefore, in order to remain healthy, a society must vigorously defend the rights of those who disagree with the status quo. The minority viewpoint on things MUST be heard, no matter how wrong it is judged to be by the majority. Once again, it is quite possible - and proven many times in history - that a minority opinion turns out to be closer to the facts. A group of people is on the way to self-destruction if it can no longer engage in civil, respectful dialogue about their disagreements. This is true of families, businesses, classrooms, etc. ...all the way up to nations and beyond.

A famous quote to ponder, "I may not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it."

I would add, please do the same for me.
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"Don, if you couldn't drive that awesome classy van of yours, what would you want instead?"

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Racist Rap

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You say "racist"? I say, "No waycist."
You're just jumping to your easy database list.
Getting in my face just debases your case
Civil dialogue should be a spacious marketplace.

No. If anything, my poison laced case
is against the whole two faced Human Race.
Take a taste test now that no one can ace.
Take a look at the case list that no one can erase.

Black as space, white as paste -
We're all in a haste to keep pace
Chasing and chased - down the down staircase.
And no one knows the wisdom of "About face!"

And on that basis, there's no race oasis
No race is a home base. Just base.
And just in case, I'll be the audacious one
and proclaim that I might be the basest.

But you don't know me, so please be graceous.
Cause if racism's a disgrace, that's the case in every case.
Stop the racist labels - including "racist."
Take my hand. We can find a better waycist.


Copyright 2010 Donald L. McIntyre All rights reserved.
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The Failure Through Excellence Tour at the playground

Lawyer Joke that isn't funny

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Question: Why do we stop telling lawyer jokes every four years?

Answer: Because we're trying to help them get elected.
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Choose Your Blindness

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Since each individual mind can only understand a small portion of the Whole,
each of us subconsciously chooses
our own personal brand of subconscious blindness.
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The Men's Club, ca. 1987, near Kernville, CA

Hey, look! Those hot, semi-clothed girls are taking our picture!

-or-

Food for four, beer for one.

-or-

Next time, no camping on a hill. The nerd always slides to the bottom of the picture.

-or-

Food? Eat it. Beer? Drink it. Wood? burn it.

The Tyrant and the Blade of Grass

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Yesterday,
The Tyrant pounded into the city
On tanks and soldiers and wanton laughter
Fire burned everywhere

Yesterday,
the grass that did not burn and burn, up and up
was trampled trampled down down
pointing to no escape

Yesterday,
He stood with medals and proclamations at the microphone
and removed the future
from all who did not scream

Yesterday,
beside the dull clamor
one blade of grass stood gentle
in the brown gray wind.

Today,
a children’s jingle giggles a tyrant’s name
the red-cheeked peasant woman carries apples
and the city is a pea on the vast green plain
-

-
In each
of hundreds of thousands of out of the way places within your body,
there is an approving grin
for every good and evil thing on Earth
-

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"Getting ahead in a difficult profession requires avid faith in yourself. That is why some people with mediocre talent, but with great inner drive, go much further than people with vastly superior talent."
- Sophia Loren
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A truth that's told with bad intent
beats all the lies you can invent.

-William Blake

Invisible Telescopes

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There are two ways to look through a telescope.
We can turn the narrow end to our eye, enhancing, enlarging and emphasizing what we observe.
We can turn the wide end to our eye, diminishing, reducing and deemphasizing what we observe.

Human nature includes invisible telescopes in front of each person's eyes.
They are continually, unconsciously turning round and round
as we choose what to enhance and what to diminish.

When what we observe reinforces the view of life we have chosen,
we stop the spinning telescopes with the wide end facing out.
When what we observe contradicts the view of life we have chosen,
we stop the spinning telescopes with the narrow end facing out.

Then we go about defending the "truth" we have perceived.