Handguns and Slingshots

 

I finally got a gun.

 Every so often I’ll think about getting a handgun for home defense and target practice, even rush hour traffic. This year I said yes. Mostly I waver about spending the money and time required to hit the range and practice. Ammo isn’t exactly cheap and then there are the range fees. I don’t know how much range fees are but I’ll soon find out. This is a new world in a sense. Gun culture is very strong here in Oklahoma; most people I know own at least one gun. Some only have a hunting rifle but it’s still a proud family heirloom passed from father to son. Others are a little, lets say "enthusiastic" about collecting. I knew a few in the Army like this. It's also a culture thing to some degree. Those who live in the country and use rifles, shotguns and all types of handguns are just more comfortable around them.  

I joke about buying a gun because I’m sick and tired of slow drivers in the left lane. But there are some people I worry about with road rage and daily slights. Some take offense very easy and threaten violence with guns. There was a road rage incident about a year ago in town. I don’t know the details but traffic was the catalyst. One person lost their life because the other had a gun. I don’t imagine I’d get that upset but who knows?

If I had to trace my reluctance to buy one it might start there. Also, I wasn’t raised in a gun family. Both my parents were against having one in the house because of accidents. Accidental deaths attributed to firearms are probably everyone’s worse fear, but also not a common occurrence. Does it happen? Of course. Are the numbers as high as kids accidentally drowning in swimming pools? Not even close. A gun is a weapon and as such should be treated like one—especially with 5 brothers. We managed to knock out my brother’s top 2 teeth with a slingshot and a rock. My grandfather brought home these very genteel looking slingshots from Israel. You know, go to a foreign land and get the kiddos a souvenir. My grandfather is a wonderful man but didn’t raise boys. He probably thought we would put them in a box with a nice label on it, LOL. "From the Holy Land" Ah yes, what might have been.

 Naturally with the kind of authentic slingshot that David used to kill the Philistine there’s only one thing to do--recreate the event with leaving no small detail to chance. Anything else would be unacceptable, a dereliction of duty.

Phillip insisted on being David, the plucky hero. Justin had to be the giant Goliath, even back then there were jobs Americans didn’t want. He protested but someone had to do it. I was "directing" the play so that only left him. Besides we gave him a garbage can lid to use for a shield, what could go wrong? We had already practiced whipping rocks at an actual barn door and missed every time. Every heard the phrase "You couldn't hit the broad side of a barn?" Well we couldn't. Anyone could see the danger was just infinitesimal. I don’t know if you’ve ever tried to use the old school slingshot with the pouch and ropes? It’s tough to be accurate. But our Goliath had a shield, just like the real big guy from 1 Samuel. True to the story it took Phil one rock. Just like David he wound up and fired at the mouthy brat. I wondered years later if Phil just pretended to miss the barn all those times and secretly hustle Justin into accepting the role. He bided his time and released, carefully and with malice.

Justin for his part played it like a champ. He always was a good actor. He dropped to his knees screaming as blood spurted from his mouth. His little bloodied hand grasping a tooth, an unwelcome reminder of his 3rd child status. What a performance though, genius!

 It was then our recreation started to look like a bad idea. I rushed inside to get my mom and do something with this screaming kid. I can’t be sure of the exact moment when both parents thought having a gun in the house was a bad idea. That one probably ranks high though.

I like to think I’m a little safer now. Armed, but not dangerous.

The Prepared Soul

 

I remember a great scene from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Indy fights with a Turkish man named Kazim, from a secret order designed to keep the Holy Grail safely in place. The fictional order is called the Brotherhood of the Cruciform Sword. They’re Christian Orthodox and look to me like cross between 1920s gangsters and your local Shriners' official. It’s an appropriate reference given their cult like dedication to preserving the relic.

Jones and Kazim are on a wooden boat and about to be chopped into bits by the propeller from a larger vessel. Dr. Jones threatens to kill Kazim unless he tells him where his missing father is. He refuses to answer and Jones reminds him “we’ll both die”. Kazim responds “My soul is prepared, how is your’s?”

 The line has always stuck with me. He doesn’t say “I’m ready” or “My soul is ready” he says “prepared”. The word fits too. It implies a lengthy, committed process to becoming a specific person. You say “ready” when you play hide and seek as kids. You take a few seconds to select a spot and cross your fingers, hoping they’ll walk right past your cover. But when you prepare for anything in life, you organize and select and plan. Readiness is a state of mind but preparation is deliberate.

The Heavenly Father doesn’t make our place ready, He prepares it. “If I go away and prepare a place for you, I will come again and take you to myself, so that where I am you may be also.” (John 14:3) CSB

When Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps prepares for competition he arranges his diet, exercise routine, sleep schedule and practices years in advance. I saw a special on him after the Beijing Olympics (maybe 60 Minutes?). His dedication to excellence is impressive but it doesn’t come naturally. You get the feeling by listening to him that he doesn’t want to work this hard. His forced preparation is the difference though. He even sleeps in a hyperbaric chamber to speed up recovery. Elite athletes do the extra work, day in and day out. From the mental toughness to the diet and exercise, being an Olympic athlete is a lifestyle of preparation.  

Kazim doesn’t hesitate when facing certain death. Instead he bravely throws the pressure back to Jones. When faced with unyielding dedication to cause, what’s a man to do? Indiana Jones hustles the man off the boat roughly and onto a passing one before the vessel is completely destroyed. After the close call on the boat, Kazim explains his purpose and dedication to cause. There is a lesson there for Christians today. Commitment flows from preparation. He is a disciple (essentially) whose life is committed to protecting something 'sacred' and larger than himself.

The thing itself, the grail, is only an inanimate object. It’s an artifact of a time that holds no significance other than its relation to Christ.

If you study history from the Resurrection through the late Roman Empire you learn how artifacts became currency. It’s really idolatry of sorts and churches participated too. Certainly fakes existed, ‘holy’ objects thought to offer the owner of the piece a measure of security in the magic relic. The seller of a cup or chair, supposedly owned by Saint Peter, need not describe its powers. Just being near the ‘sacred’ piece was thought to be enough. The Donovan character in the movie represents one of these collectors, believing that some mystical powers inhibit the grail. He chooses . . . ahem, poorly.

Given all the known relic chasing from the Middle Ages, Kazim and his order are out of place in the 1930s. His preparation of the soul stands in stark relief to the surrounding culture seeking treasure and losing their own.  But where the Brotherhood of the Cruciform Sword protects relics we seek relationship.

As believers in Christ we prepare for struggle in life, but knowing that our Savior lives makes our commitment hopeful. We don’t protect the past, we prepare for the future. Ours is not an exclusive order it’s an expansive family dedicated to sharing knowledge of the King.

And so it should be for the church and Christians-the commitment to spreading the gospel. Our souls prepared, for we know what awaits.    

Court Jesters

 

Right after my last blog post the Supreme Court shot Texas down.

I argued that the court would likely take a look and make those wayward states (Georgia, Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania) pay. Of course that didn’t happen. It’s why I try not to make specific predictions. The court’s refusal to even hear it made me realize what I already knew about lower courts, they don’t want anything to do with deciding elections. The Supreme Court wrote that Texas didn’t show a “cognizable interest” in how other states run their affairs. Which I guess means “Mind you own business and let cities get back to running scams and defrauding the rubes in the rest of the state”. Or at least that’s my reading of it. There was an issue of standing as well, Texas didn't have any.

 I was pretty upset about yet another setback for bringing this case to court and making these states pay for bypassing their own rules. But it’s probably better if election matters are handled in congress and not the courts. Conservatives don’t like ‘activist’ judges and if Americans keep pushing all matters of legislation to the courts we lose. We lose, because the race to put partisans in place at every bench opening will look like fantasy football-get wins or get lost. After a few decades they won’t bother interpreting the law, they’ll just figure out which side is the ‘home’ team and vote likewise.

Cynics might argue we’ve been there for years (I wonder myself). But it could get much worse without attempts to curtail the number of issues they rule on. At least in theory the Roberts court is more conservative in that way. When they aren’t though (Obamacare/ Obergefell) it seems SCOTUS manages all sorts of language to justify their ruling. Justice Roberts famously helped the Obama team by calling the penalty for not carrying insurance a tax. Penalties were illegal, taxes were not. It turned an illegal law into a legal one with a flourish that only a pompous judge can manage.

 During the Obergefell v Hodges (the same-sex marriage one) opinion Justice Kennedy stated “The Constitution promises liberty to all within its reach, a liberty that includes certain specific rights that allow persons, within a lawful realm, to define and express their identity.” Express their identity? What nonsense. Identity is not a legal term. It’s barely a concrete one. I didn’t even mention the more poetic stuff where he talks about “devotion” and “commitment”. This is not the language of an opinion or a dissent. Yet with a 5-4 majority vote the Supreme Court changed the plain meaning of the Constitution to pretend it always had same-sex unions in mind.

So spare me the argument that Texas doesn’t have standing. Anyone who the court wants to have standing can have it with some legal bullshit phrasing. But just the same, I get why they passed on it. I just wish they were consistent. If you think this court is bad try to imagine one with 6 Democrat appointed judges.

It reflects the larger problem of disenfranchisement. If big cities like Philadelphia and Detroit and Atlanta will use their party machines to manufacture votes for the Dem candidate then what’s to be done? Republicans won’t also cheat just to even the score, not on a party scale anyway. If these states get away with this we are in for a new day of lawlessness and corruption. What do you tell those who think their vote doesn’t count because it will get overwhelmed by ballots in trunks of cars that show up at 4:00 in the morning? If enough people believe the system is corrupted and that no legal recourse exists, where to from here?

We aren’t there yet. Believe it or not the Trump administration still has a few cards but no aces. I don’t think this election gets fixed in the courts and that’s probably a good thing. We might get a situation where governors refuse to certify electors, or congress refuses to accept the votes of electors. Or some states’ electors abstain from voting. This is why you don’t quit though. I’ve heard others say the longer the process goes the more it favors Trump. We have to pray too, that a lot of this fraud will be exposed to the point where the legacy media can’t ignore it.  

 

SCOTUS or Bust

 

I watched Steven Crowder yesterday. 

He had the Texas Attorney General Paxton on to explain the case that 18 states have signed on to. It’s not a terribly complex idea. Your state ruined my vote. I’m sure the legalese we will be subjected to will eventually confuse the hell out of me. But that’s the deal with legislation anyway, it seems designed to turn ordinary people off by using words we no one really uses. Like the Amicus (friend of the court) brief a lot of the states signed on to. Paxton said it just means those states can offer support, but that they aren’t a 'party' in the case. But Texas wants them to be an official party so why the discrepancy? Maybe it's less messy and the states in question can always become a party in the future.

 In a nutshell the case goes like this. Texas argues that because other states( Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Georgia) didn’t follow their own rules on election laws, it affected the national votes of the citizens of Texas. This is how it was explained by Paxton and in a number of summaries I’ve read or listened to. The solution to the mess of fraudulent voting machines, mail in ballots and not separating ‘past deadline’ from ‘under deadline’ might be this--ignore it and show how they abused their own process instead. 

As we’ve seen in all 4 states the testimonies from poll workers almost makes the problem worse. It adds another layer to investigate.  Proving fraud in a neat legal way seems insurmountable.

Federal judges threw out the cases from Trump’s team and Sidney Powell’s team because they didn’t want to open Pandora’s box. Well… that and they’re partisan hacks. Or they’re decent judges who lack the will to really get messy with this. In either case, fraud is easy to prove. Rudy Giuliani and Jenna Ellis already have a full slate of regular people on willing to go under oath and swear to the brazen maleficence. The Texas case doesn’t try to prove fraud even though plenty exists. It only shows how illegalities from governors and judges to change election laws without going through the proper channels, affected the national votes of Texans.

If the Supreme Court takes the case it’s a win right? I don’t pretend to be a legal expert (or even someone with a casual interest) but this seems like a winner. The logic is clean, your illegalities affected my vote. The same way that adding a little bleach to drinking water destroys it. The question for me is how does SCOTUS rule? If Texas is awarded a win, what happens to the votes or electors from the states that ignored their election rules? Are the votes of the citizens thrown out? Do they get a redo? I can’t see them awarding those votes to Trump. If the ballots can’t be sufficiently verified does the state forfeit all its electoral votes? SCOTUS under Roberts mostly takes a limited role in deciding big picture cases. The obvious non-example is the Obamacare mandate clause that he rewrote as a tax. Thanks for nothing Bob!

Otherwise they’ve taken a do no harm approach. I like the idea of kicking decisions back to the lower courts and supporting or rejecting cases based on technicalities. We might be in newish territory here. The last thing we want is a court that starts writing new laws or finding new language is old texts. Texas can’t be the first state to sue other states but with an election hanging in the balance the potential for a monumental decision is imminent. 

Of course they could always reject the whole thing and Trump could hope for better luck in the lower courts. So far though it’s been one defeat after another and I don’t see anyone but the Supreme Court sticking its neck out. Texas has nowhere else to go with their case. There is no lower court that adjudicates state to state disputes. It’s SCOTUS or bust.

Royal Pains: The Crown Season 4

 

I've been watching season 4 of the Crown on Netflix. I wanted to write about Thatcher because I think she is a more interesting person. She's an irritation in the show however and her droning voice makes me queasy. She is too wooden (in the show) and put off by most things related to the monarchy. I know she was tough in real life and made enemies. But her legacy is in cutting inflation and creating opportunities for home ownership. The economic boom came did happen after some slow years and union busting. I think this could have been shown more. Instead we get the sense that Thatcher doesn't care that people are out of work. She'd rather start a small war in the Falklands than have to help her own citizens.

The show is called The Crown though and so the royals get the most press.

Charles and Diana are already done by the late 80’s. They didn’t actually divorce until 1996 but it feels like a mess in the first year. If there is any truth to the characters in the story, and that’s asking a lot, neither come off very well. At first I thought they’d show Charles as a pompous, awkward ass and Diana as a put-upon mother just trying to survive. Thankfully it’s a lot more complicated than that. Charles is incredibly vain and insecure. He thinks of himself and his home, his happiness and his image in the Commonwealth above everything. Diana is also vain but slightly more sympathetic because of her young age and approachability. I don’t actually know if she was approachable but she pulls it off well in the Australia episode. The Australia-New Zealand trip was their first official visit as a couple. The excursion was apparently a smashing success for Diana, less so for Charles who just looks out-of-sorts and constantly moody.

 Diana refuses to put her newborn son up with a midwife and parade around the country waving at crowds and giving speeches. She insists on being with her baby in a secluded place. That endeared her to a lot of people because they understood the difficulty in leaving a baby for 6 weeks. She seemed like a loving, caring mother—not like a royal.

But she loves the adulation a little too much and her newfound celebrity turns her into the central character in her struggling marriage. That isn’t how it’s supposed to work. You don’t upstage a Windsor. It all goes south after their Australia trip but there is an overwhelming sense that these two just don’t work together. It’s more than age or status. They’re just different people with different interests and different goals. Charles wants his mistress (Camila Bowles) but can’t marry her because she is married to someone else. Even if he could, she wouldn’t leave her marriage easily and the Crown wouldn’t support it. But of course it does eventually happen and the Crown, reluctantly supports it.

Diana does some daft things to “prove” how much she loves Charles. She does a dance number at a local opera on his birthday. Charles is mortified. She then enlists a private orchestra and sings some musical numbers for him. He is mortified again.

These aren’t objects of affection for her man; they’re little bits of drama where she gets to play the star. But she acts hurt when he is understandably reviled at her lack of tact. That she didn’t her little performances for what they were proves how selfish she became, matching Charles in the adulation department. Especially when Charles has never expressed any interest in her singing, dancing or theater performances.

Diana was a young impressionable girl in the first episode who probably though marrying a royal was glamorous and exciting. But the dull ceremonial stuff eventually gets in the way and when you’re married to a lump like Charles, it’s splitsville for sure. I think this is likely what happened to her son Harry and his wife Meghan. She thought royalty meant parties with celebrities and fame. Instead it meant ceremonial duties and charities, putting the monarchy first at all costs. She was never cut out for it and I don’t think Harry is either.

There is great scene in the last episode where Prince Philip (Charles father) corners Diana at the Christmas party. The marriage is a shambles and everyone in the family knows it. He recounts his history with the queen and how difficult it was to take a lower position to her. His ego took a hit and they nearly separated a few times. Of course his extramarital affairs contributed quite a lot to it. But they figured out how to manage so the monarchy could survive and the queen maintained her role as central figure. He is really telling Diana that the maintenance of the Crown is the only thing that matters and she needs to realize it. In other words, you have your position, fame and connections because of it. He’s hoping that Charles and Diana can come to an arrangement and carry on, grow up a bit. Instinctively they know that royal divorces make the family look bad and might frustrate attempts from the public to keep supporting them.

With any of these true life stories you have to wonder how much is “true” and how much is fiction. The large events are certainly true, in both the lives of the royal family and the prime minister. But it’s impossible to tell a person’s life in movie form over the course of a season. It’s unfair by definition. So criticism of characters, stories and personalities are baked in with shows like this.

 I think it’s the best thing on Netflix right now.

King David's Heart of Desperation

 

Psalm 103

King David’s desperation for God is seen throughout the Psalms. We can learn from his complete reliance on the scripture for truth about Who God is and why our relationship grows in dependence on Him.

“Bless the Lord Oh my soul, and forget not all His benefits; Who forgives all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases, Who redeems your life from destruction, Who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies” (verse 2-4)

 It goes on because David relies solely on God as His strength. He doesn’t have a lot of people around him teaching him how to hear from God. There are certainly some like Nathan who correct him during his affair and subsequent murder, but nothing close to a group of intercessors exist. It’s why so often he calls God his “rock”, “shelter” and “strong tower”. These are words of dependence and consistency. Any ruler will carry a heavy burden of pressure and responsibility-doubly so when that ruler turns to heaven for answers.

 The Psalms are full of the king begging for justice from his oppressors, safety in storms, comfort from betrayal. We are fortunate today to have such rich teaching in the Word that we’ve probably lost a little of the David-esque dependence on the heavenly Father.

No question I’d rather have a rich tradition of worship and teaching and support. It fills the gap for those outside the faith. The simple gospel is a bridge to life and freedom. But we do rely on the external “benefits” of God's goodness to the point of weakness. We’ve forgotten how to hear from the Heavenly Father in a one on one relationship. We aren’t desperate the way the psalmist is. We aren’t needy for God’s immediate protection.

 I recently had the Corona virus and had to take a few weeks off. I spent a lot of that time in prayer for healing. But I won’t pretend I was desperate in the way that a dying man is desperate. I was a lot sicker than I imagined I’d be too. But even then I knew that I’d recover. The statistics for nearly everyone are around 98% or better to live, higher for the young.

I put my faith in the extreme unlikelihood that I’d need to go to the hospital or even need a ventilator. I’m not saying we need to be dying of a terrible illness to be desperate for God. Modern medicine is a gift. But few of us are in a position of deep reliance on God the way that David was. He lived there. He went to his Father for everything. It’s why he could list the benefits the way we list our family members and their kids. It was a source of strength and pride because he fought for it. He saw God’s mercy in his trials.  

“As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us. As a father pities his children, so the Lord pities those who fear Him. For He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust. (verse 12-14)

We don’t fear the Lord and so aren’t dependent on Him for strength, comfort, justice, healing. The fear of the Lord is a profound reverence and not a “fear” in the way a young child is afraid of the dark. It’s a core understanding that a just creator designed the world around us with boundaries. We are created in His image. That image comes with a built in recognition of who and what we are. Our software (if you will) contains code from our designer, Whose imprint is recognized by all living creatures. Our purpose is to reflect the design of our creator in what we accomplish and how we behave. If we ignore the design or try to replace it we tell lies to the next generation. We throw off restraint so much easier when we ignore what nature screams at us about Creation. 

We put up with the destructive notion that boys can be girls and girls can be boys. Just flip a switch, change the code. A wicked attempt to undermine God’s creation has hardly been conceived. It’s a direct threat to our kids and it needs to be resisted with boldness, not genteel discussions and compromises. It’s one example in a culture of many.

We need to find our desperation again. We need to seek the Lord and reset the imbalance in our lives. Let’s become like King David and beg justice for the innocent, comfort for the broken and restoration for the lost.  

“For as the heavens are high above the earth so great is His mercy towards those who fear Him…”( verse 11)

Hillbilly Elegy: Movie Review

 

This is usually where I tell you the book was better than the movie and the director didn’t understand the real thrust of the book. But Hillbilly Elegy hits the mark in tone and substance and paints a sympathetic portrait of the struggle to escape circumstance.

 I read the book years ago and thought it was perfect for anyone raised in rough circumstance because the struggles are similar.  You can trace the problems of poor white America to the same problems of poor ___ insert ethnic identity group here. There are dramatic exceptions of course. White’s never faced discrimination on anywhere near the level of blacks (in particular) or Native Americans. The laws were specifically written to exclude them and deny them basic rights. But family breakdown and addiction aren’t the sole problems of one group. Hopelessness feeds on poverty and runs through poor communities like a main road, reminding everyone where the demarcation lies.

 Hillbilly Elegy is a one man’s story about escaping the essential setback of a broken family with one parent who is an addict and the other one who is out of the picture.

J.D Vance is a struggling law student at Yale trying to get an internship with a prestigious firm. Right about that time he gets a call about his mother who nearly overdosed on heroin. He needs to leave his fancy dinner and help his sister out. While he goes home we see flashbacks to his young life and the difficulties of growing up with an abusive mother (Amy Adams) and no father. As the most stable person in his life, his grandmother Mamaw (Glenn Close) pushes him to focus on his education.

The mistake people make with both the book and the movie is assuming it represents a culture or identity of poor whites. As a result the critics thought the portrayals of his mother and grandmother a little cliqued. Critics want to make every story an attack on some existing institution, the church, the government, the patriarchy. Hillbilly Elegy is great because it’s hopeful and doesn’t point fingers at institutions. It says “Life is tougher for some than others but with help and dedication you can overcome and achieve.” It’s a pro-American movie that accepts responsibility and proves that paths exist to leave behind that which holds you back.   

 J.D Vance tells the audience about his kin and lifestyle as he experienced it. I don’t believe he set out to write a book about hillbillies and their misunderstood lives. It’s really a tribute to his grandmother who, despite her limitations and nastiness, provided a stable environment from which to move forward. He moved forward thanks to her, but she only provided him a lift. He made a decision at some point to succeed and keep moving forward.  

There is a telling scene at the start of the movie. J.D. goes swimming just down the road from his uncle’s rural abode. The kids there dunk him in the water and try to hold him under. He fights with them of course but there too many. He is eventually rescued by his extended family and brought back to the house, bloodied and beaten. It’s a perfect picture of how a community (defined anyway you want) can hold us down. Vance struggles in high school with drugs and alcohol and partying with losers. His grandmother sees it and becomes his lifeline away from it. She also sees that J.D.’s mother can’t be the foundation for him, her frivolous lifestyle a recipe for destruction.

There is also a hint from the grandmother (Mamaw) of a failed experience with her own daughter Bev. We are reminded that Bev (J.D’s mother) was a promising student who was the salutatorian of her class and headed for better. This feels like a second chance for Mamaw to actually put past wrongs right. Her life as a mother was equally abusive and her kids saw their parents in countless domestic fights. Mamaw even set her kid’s drunk dad on fire! Here the film shows these abusive relationships as part of the deal in this community. I don’t believe it’s exclusive to white hillbillies and I don’t believe Vance was saying this either. 

It’s a great American story with great acting and a hopeful finish. Because of the personal responsibility ethic it gets low marks from the critics. I liked it and I recommend it.

 

The Peloponnesian War: A book review

 

With any long war comes the unmistakable slide into ugliness.

 I’m reading VDH’s book A War Like No Other about the Peloponnesian War from roughly 431 BC to 406 BC. It’s a military tactics and strategy book and it’s almost more than the average reader needs to know. There is a great deal about logistical difficulties and the broad nature of the conflicts that broke out across the Aegean and Ionian communities. The two powers at the time were Sparta and Athens but a lot of the fighting took place between allies of both.

Most historians understand the conflict as between a rising power and a declining one. Or rather, Sparta attacked Athens before it could become an even bigger threat.

Athens as the great sea power had a lot of port cities that paid tribute to its sprawling empire. Not all allies of Athens wanted to fight for them and actually tried to switch sides. Sparta didn’t initially have a big navy. They were a feared infantry force (hoplites) with no equal across all of Greece. Had the Peloponnesian War been a series of battlefield clashes Sparta would’ve won in a few years. The conflict wasn’t exactly 30 straight years of fighting. There were years of calm and truce (Peace of Nicias) even with smaller city states warring with each other.

But the war is characterized by sieges and disease with the occasional hoplite battles going head to head. Sieges were easier for the Athenians to use, given their naval superiority and wealth. Sieges could take years if the community being surrounded had enough supplies to outlast an occupying force. A lot of cities used stone walls to surround their population and wait it out. During this time in history, no one was adept at making proper ladders to scale barriers or effective battering rams. It would be another hundred years until armies like Alexander the Great’s figured out how to scale walls effectively.

 The most common way for a besieged city to fall was for someone inside to open the gates and let the invading army in. It was usually the oligarchs or wealthier patrons making deals with the surrounding force. There were so many sieges it’s tough to list them all. They frequently became expensive to maintain for the invading army more so than the occupied city, and didn’t add much in the way of spoils. They tied up men and materiel for years.

If the siege proved a success, you could capture and kill the men or force them into your depleted army. But training and lodging took time and became a burden cost wise. You could sell the women and children into slavery and make a few bucks, but it wouldn’t be enough to overcome the cost of years spend surrounding the place. Play out these scenarios over the countless cities and you begin to see the problem. A lot of little wars, skirmishes and sieges made a long war into a conflict of attrition. There wasn’t much to be gained by surrounding a walled city and waiting for them to surrender. But it became the default method of fighting, despite the few hoplite battles in Delium and Sicily.

 Athens fell victim to a plague early in the war (430-429) and wiped out significant members of the military (1/3), including the great general Pericles. If not for the outbreak I think Athens would have won the war. But they never really recovered from the devastating pandemic.

It’s a fascinating read but it’s tough to keep track of all the disparate city states and regions and their allies. Hanson uses multiple definitions too for the same groups (democrats, Athenians) and introduces a torrent of new concepts and words I wasn’t familiar with before. This book requires a little prior knowledge and whatever I knew before about the war (not much) it wasn’t enough to keep up.

He doesn’t organize the text chronologically either. He sections it off in separate elements of fighting, horses, sieges, disease, hoplite infantry battles, naval warfare. I find it easier to follow along in a chronological fashion, if not only to understand the history told like an unfolding story. I found the overall reading difficult but not impossible. 

Do this. Open a map of ancient Greece and trace your finger along the Aegean sea and notice all the cities. Do the same with the Ionian Sea and imagine each city or tiny island is a sovereign territory with citizens and an army and an oligarchy. It’s impossible to keep track of them all.

If there is a general theme to the war it’s this. Warfare is ugly across all human societies and descends into increasingly worse behavior as it goes on. The collective conscious of any community at war is beset with memories of what the other side did. After a few years nearly everyone has a story about some tragedy. This bitterness increases across generations and leads to bloodier battles and outright slaughter, even whole scale genocide in some cases. It’s easy to see how this happens. When war is necessary we always want a quick resolution, so that the vitriol doesn’t set in and consume generations.

The Peloponnesian War failed in this regard and dethroned Athens as the great democratic power of the 5^th century. But their legacy is philosophy and democratic governance. They also had the first historian (Thucydides) who chronicled much of the war. If you love ancient history and warfare A War Like No Other is for you.

God's Truth or Familiar Patterns

 

What’s to be done about life’s ugly cycles of disappointment and loathing? Everyone has their own emotional tripwires that explode and render us helpless, incapacitated by thoughts of past failings. Those previous bad decisions can stack up chronologically like an encyclopedia of mistakes.

For me, past failures play out in my head like a bad movie I’ve seen too many times. It’s on a loop, reminding me of the poor decisions and lack of effort leading to increasing failures. If only I could find the stop button, or better still the delete button.

As a kid I remember walking out of baseball practice after getting shelled by a batter who zeroed in my fastball. Instead of figuring out what to change I plow ahead, angry, frustrated. All it took to knock me out was a patient hitter. Sports are perfect for exposing flaws in our character because competition is a cold hard teacher. We establish notions about ourselves early in life and getting over the false image we create is a big challenge. I’ve always envied those people who don’t obsess over loss of failure, I admire their ability to put difficulty behind them and move forward.  

I went fishing with my Dad this past summer. I never catch a lot except for carp (always the frigging carb) and usually spend the time trying to unsnag the line out of the tree branch sunk below the shoreline. Or we spend time changing bait and looking for a hole where the bass hide. I'm betting his lake is over fished because we’ve covered it multiple ways, it’s not that big. The poles and gear all his I just go along for the ride and try to watch a couple and real in just in time for the fish to flop off the hook. Dad likes to tie the line to the leader a particular way. I never quite figured it out, didn’t care too. But it’s supposed to be better so I watched him do it. I couldn’t get it after a couple of tries so I quit. I’m a kid in baseball practice again, not wanting to learn from coach. I’m too upset to learn how to throw the curve. Forget it, I quit. I don’t care anymore anyway. I can’t do it anyway what’s the use.

It’s a pattern I hate about myself, it’s childish. Every “failure” no matter how silly is a reminder of how I don’t measure up and never have. I guess it’s why the baseball reference is so apt. Whatever your first memory or failure or embarrassment is will haunt you like a blind spot, a red flashing light of embarrassment. When we don’t find out how to work through problems and solve them we find pathways around. We find side paths through the woods that push us further off the main trail. The issues don’t go away but they do define how we will interact with similar problems in life. Suddenly we’re on paths of our own making still heading in the right direction but avoiding a lot of the barriers we’re meant to climb. The familiar patterns determine our path.

I’ve seen avoidance play out in other areas of life from careers to house work. There is hope for change in everything but it takes recognizing the personal challenge and working towards improvement. How? First thing is to find a Bible verse that speaks to who you are as a person. You didn't think I was going to recommend another tiresome self help class did you? You have to know what God says about you and rest on that. Here is my power verse. It works every time. I'm replacing a negative with a positive.

“Being confident of this very thing, that he who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Jesus Christ” (Phillipians 1:6)

 You must repeat it to yourself whenever that attitude of self-loathing or depression or regret pops up and tries to drag you down. Say it out loud and repeat it as often as necessary until your mind is back on the path. Stop wandering around in the woods looking for your own way. God is with us wherever we end up, but His path is the one we walked away from while wallowing in failure. In other words, it’s a better idea than going alone and a lot less work.

As Christians we need to get used to fighting again; fighting the attacks on the mind and fighting to stay on the path. I’m convinced everyone has a personal battle rooted in past regrets or failure or cringe-worthy decisions. I can be so honest about it because struggle is a common to everyone. We have a way out. We can have victory through scripture that’s designed to change our thinking and renew our minds. It’s a life long struggle but we do get better at recognizing negativity and falling into familiar patterns. So when you feel that familiar "here we go again" self talk, take control and speak the Word over yourself. 

The idea is to replace false belief and insecurity with God's truth and show others how to do the same.

“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God[a] may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” (2 Timothy 3:16-17)

Whining about Trees

 

 

I’m not sure why my trees are the last ones in the neighborhood to drop their leaves. 

I live on the corner so I have a little more yard than most of my neighbors. I own 3 and half full grown trees that all drop quite a lot of leaves. The “half” is because I share one with my neighbor. I’m not sure where the property line is but the tree likely splits it. The colder weather up north means by early November the leaves are mostly on the ground. Here I don’t lose them all until about mid-December, which seems very late. Of course we don’t get a lot of snow so running into huge piles of the stuff that cover the leaves isn’t likely.

If I had the money I’d cut the big maple in the front down. It’s rotten right down through the middle and the branches droop lethargically and snap off with a stiff breeze. I spend each day following a storm cleaning up the weak ones that gave up, tired of being connected to the dying trunk. They lay scattered in peace around the green grass, the trash can their final resting place. A year ago I had a tree guy drive up and offer me a deal to cut it down. I wasn’t in a position to spend that much, so we settled on a few dead limbs near the top. He took a big chunk out of it but did away with some really dangerous “widow maker” limbs. That would have to do for now.

I’ve cut two trees down since moving here. I can’t imagine why the original owner went so crazy planting them. Two were very close to the house and I’m only surprised a massive limb didn’t crack a crossbeam on the roof. The first one I cut out within the first year of moving in. The heavy limbs leaned ominously over the roof waiting to crash down on it. The second tree was too close as well but hadn’t really developed heavy branches that would cause major damage. The worst thing that happened was during a summer storm. A blast of wind came through and cracked a good size limb from the base and pulled down my electric line running from my riser to the city utility pole. It also crushed my chain link fence. After the clean-up I decided the tree had to go. It took another year or so before I found the money, but I managed. Actually my neighbor offered to split the bill since it was near the line. It was a generous move, especially since the limbs always fell on my side. We still have one tree between us but it’s not much trouble.

This past summer I had another large limb crack off my pear tree in the back. Pears are notoriously weak trees and although they grow fast they rarely hold up in high winds. In Oklahoma that’s certainly true. We get some monstrous storms here that will make you wish you’d cut them all down. I like what trees offer, shade and cover. Old neighborhoods with big leafy trees that line streets show off the maturity of the homes but can be a lot of work. Most of the homes around here don’t have a lot of large trees and I think I know why. The storms make it tough to grow them sturdy.

I’m my wildest dreams I image having a big lot with trees around the property line. As Americans we like to move up in careers and status, big houses and estates are a part of that. I imagine everyone has an ideal home and setting in their mind. Some want sprawling green space with tree lined driveways and long showy gardens. Others like small lots with spacious rooms, theaters and man-caves for games and sports. Everyone has one key item or centerpiece to their dream home. For me it’s a pool. Not just any pool but a massive in-ground salt water filtered party space with grills, and outdoor dining. I get that pools are a lot of work, but I’d get a lot of use out of it from family and friends. You can keep the game rooms and the man cave and the big gardens, I’ll take a massive (how did you afford this type) pool that begs to be used.

Oh and I’ll take a gardener to clean up the trees in the yard after a big storm.   

Never mind the Ballot Bollocks

 

Nothing seems to matter as much as the election right now.

I’ve kept my political posts to a minimum but I won’t pretend I’m not following the election news. Too many opinions just feel like noise at this point so I take the quiet role until I can write something I've though about.

We’ve entered a ‘recount-Florida-in-2000-was-a-warmup’ phase.

I’ve been sick the last few days and home bound. I’m not sure if I contracted the dreaded virus or not but I should know in a day or so. It’s given me time to settle my soul about the uncertainty ahead. I don’t like to make predictions but I’m very concerned about the upcoming year for two reasons.

First, if the recounts show large scale fraud and Trump wins reelection the rioting will be epic. I actually think this is the likeliest scenario. Needless to say there are too many votes overall in a few states. Wisconsin shows that 89% of registered voters cast a ballot--really Wisconsin? The national average every year goes between 60 and 70% at the high end. That’s the most objective case I can make for fraud.

The second option is if Biden’s lead holds and he is inaugurated in January. I don’t expect rioting on a large scale but the country will take a dramatic shift in direction. I hear Republicans rejoicing because they managed to win back the Senate and pick up seats in the House. But with the radical left running shop in DC it won’t be business as usual where they put a bill together and coral enough votes to pass it. That’s how it should work. They’ll do as much as they can through edict and regulation.

Think it can’t happen? What laws exist that require citizens to mask up or give their contact tracing details? Answer, NONE. It’s done through edict, or pronouncement. Expect more of that kind of governing, all for ‘safety’ and ‘health’. The Massachusetts governor put a curfew on his state just before the election. He just ‘issued’ it because of rising cases, no legal process, no votes—just edicts. California issued Thanksgiving Day requirements for total number of people allowed to get together, no legal process, no votes. This won’t just apply to Covid-19 either. Once you establish that people will mostly acquiesce to pronouncements…pronouncements it will be. It’s much easier than passing laws anyway.

A weak Biden administration doesn’t need to pass laws and get Senate approval, they just put activists in place and move the football. So no I’m not excited about the Republicans maintaining the Senate if we lose the presidency.  When you control the White House you control a lot of federal judges and state’s attorneys, that’s real power. It means you’re able to prosecute specific crimes and go after enemies, the way the IRS did under Lois Lerner. They dragged Patriot and Tea Party groups through the legal swamps as intimidation. Has the Trump administration upset the Democrat party enough to be dragged into court again? I think you know the answer to that. The so-called crimes can be anything (they’re just a fig leaf) since the idea is to bankrupt the family even in no jail time is required. Would this majority Republican Senate prevent an aggressive judge from going after Trump? Ha!

At this point I’m leaning toward option one becoming a reality and an ugly, violent response on the streets. As a Christian I believe the United States is still the best hope for the world despite our patchy record abroad. A strong America is a bulwark against a rising tide of authoritarianism abroad. That doesn’t mean we wage war everywhere; it means we support and defend democracy and advocate for free people. We come up short constantly and even mix up our message on trade, Mid-east policy, immigration. If we can’t get elections right here then we are doomed.

With Trump’s first term we reset a lot of institutions and policies that I didn’t see coming. From our NATO alliance and trade war with China, to our wholesale reduction in new regulations and increasing domestic energy. With Trump our country resembles the vibrant, wealthy and freedom protecting place the world needs. A Biden presidency will put a lid on this country, restricting freedoms and limiting movement.

 I’ll be in prayer a lot over the next few months.  

 

The Indispensable Man

 

Currently reading A War Like No Other by VDH about the Peloponnesian War.

VDH is Victor Davis Hanson, also known as one of the best military historians alive today. That might not be exactly right though. It’s not like I know a lot about the world of Military History and academia but he is well regarded. Plus I see him on YouTube discussing current events through a conservative lens. He’s written for National Review for years and it’s how I first discovered him. I’ve seen him on the Uncommon Knowledge show with Peter Robinson and heard him on a regular podcast I listen too, Ricochet. I used to think of him as stodgy old professor with no sense of humor and a straightforward approach to history. I still think a lot of that is true but he’s such a wellspring of information that his speeches and interviews beg to be heard. It’s his clear thinking that comes through on any topic.

You must settle your mind when you hear him though. He won’t tell jokes or lighten the mood with a hilarious antidote about mixing up the foreign language in another country and ordering a blanket when he wanted a whisky or something. He plows through the material but doesn’t waste words or get sidetracked; it works well with his dry delivery. No one would listen at all otherwise. He’s been a solid defender of Trump since 2016 which put him on the outs with a lot of his National Review colleagues. At least outwardly the editorial staff went hard against Trump while VDH demurred, even writing a book called The Case for Trump. I haven’t read it but I’ve heard enough of his arguments for Trump that I think I’ve got a handle on it. I wouldn’t call him a cheerleader for the president, he doesn’t fit the mold. But of he was at 51% before Trump before I think he’s gotten to 75% by now.

It’s just a feeling I get but his defense of the man is as consistent as ever. I wonder if the Mueller report and the impeachment hearings reinforced his decision that Trump was getting a raw deal. Like a good historian he always brings former presidents and their administrations into discussion about how different this president actually governs. The way it works is like this, some pundit or interviewer will mention some egregious thing the president did and Victor will put it in context. I remember a few months ago when Trump considered putting troops into Portland to quell the riots. Victor mentioned at least 3 incidents of modern presidents doing this exact thing. The question about what would Trump do was asked with “We’ve never been here before” exasperation. No incident is exactly like something from the past, but the past presents a framework by which to interpret future actions. Hanson possesses a deep understanding of American history and a love for its people, traditions and importance to the rest of the world.

As a farmer in California, a part of the country overrun with illegal immigration, he is uniquely suited to opine on it. Unlike a lot his more cosmopolitan brethren, his family is in the trenches trying to keep the land from being overrun by gangs and squatters. I’m not disparaging those from wealthier backgrounds or even those not accustomed to watching your life change dramatically through illegal immigration. But they aren’t in the trenches the way a lot of Californians are. Culture and borders matter to preserving freedom and the rule of law. If not the future looks bleak for America. Until we get serious about defending the law we’ll lose every time to foreign invasion. We can still have a vibrant immigration policy that honors the immigrant and keeps the scoundrels (coyotes and other opportunists) at bay.

Anytime the great man is slated to be on a podcast or TV show I sit down and listen. Now that the election is in freefall mode I’ll be waiting to hear his take. It sounds like AP just called the national race for Joe Biden. With the legal challenges from Trump in key states, this thing is just beginning.  

Reluctant Medical Advice

 

I went for a 6 mile run this morning and the weather was perfect. I love the late fall crispiness to the air (mid 40’s) when the breeze is nonexistent and the traffic is light.

I didn’t plan it that way of course but with weather it either cooperates or punches you in the face. My foot pain is less of a problem than it used to be. It’s the sole (pun intended) reason for taking the last two months off from jogging Saturdays with the club. I needed the time off to recuperate so no complaints. I even went to the doctor a few weeks ago to make sure nothing was fractured in the foot. OK so I’m a bit dramatic. I don’t handle chronic pain well. So I paid the co-pay fee and had them X-ray it and----nothing. The doctor gave a pure genius tip though, “Ummmm…..make sure you stretch before you run”. Yeah? Thanks Doc. Guess that’s why they pay you so much. All you had to do was look at the little black and white transparency of my bone structure huh?

Am I a little bitter that they didn’t find something seriously wrong? Like I wanted the doctor to roll over on his desk chair to the padded table I’m sitting on and exclaim “My God man! How are you even still alive? Nurse, get in here and take this man to surgery at once! Can’t you see, he needs to be out there jogging! I've never seen such an extreme case of "stressed foot!"

Why am I not ecstatic that the prognosis is basically ‘Man being a sissy’?

The cure of course is an extra dose of ‘deal with it’ and ‘make whatever changes you have to’. So I’ve waited until the pain becomes so muted that I can deal with it on a short run again. I started last week on the treadmill and decided to run for 3 miles. More to point I ran for 30 minutes at a miserably slow pace to reduce the chance of worsening. One of the leaders from the run group mentioned trying a slow paced run, interrupted by a quick pace every 10 minutes. There is some data suggesting that distance improves and injuries decrease. I looked it up to be sure. The idea is to run 80% of the distance at a low heart rate and 20% at an elevated rate. So I did. That’s easy on the treadmill, less so when huffing and puffing through the neighborhoods.

Today was the first outdoor, middle distance jog I’ve done in a while. As per doctor’s orders I stretched like I haven’t done it in years. It sounds like an obvious thing to do but with age comes an increasing amount of stretching. I spend at least 10 minutes before and after now just to be sure. And I had stopped doing it pre-run, nothing feels worse than rolling out of bed bleary, irritable and putting immediate pressure on your hamstrings. Thanks for that doc “Why don’t you give a nice papercut and pour lemon juice in it”—Miracle Max (Princess Bride). I’d come around to the view by a lot of other runners that only an AFTER run stretch makes any sense. The muscles are too cold before a jog anyway. Well maybe I was wrong.

The stretching wasn’t the only thing different for me. I tried to consciously keep a slower pace than what I normally run. It meant looking at the watch constantly to see the average pace time. It’s tricky though. I’m not good at watch gazing for time or distance. Being aware at all times is like treadmill running, you can’t ease into the pace if your focus is on the measurables. But I stayed aware and managed to hit my quick burst every 10 minutes for 2 minutes. I did this for an hour for a total distance of 6 miles. 

The funny part of that is I didn’t really slow up at all. I stayed on my regular pace (basically) and instead just got really quick for two minutes. That’s not exactly the way it’s supposed to work but whatever. I enjoyed myself in the perfect weather and spend my Saturday morning the only way that feels right--After the stretching of course.  

Wait for it

 I wrote this a week ago and forgot to post it. Some of the info may have changed slightly.

This thing with Hunter Biden looks pretty legit. I read the New York Post article about the laptop the photos of him with a crack pipe and hookers. Honestly that stuff isn’t that bad for a non-politician considering the previous problems he’s had with drugs. It’s not a surprise; Hunter isn’t the target anyway.

I heard a soundbite from Giuliani explaining how the emails the FBI found on his laptop implicate Joe Biden running a scheme to get Hunter in front of wealthy foreigners and serve as a gate between the two. This is how it’s worked with the Chinese and the Ukrainians at least, probably a few more. I’m not sure how much is absolute and how much is going to be challenged in court but it doesn’t look good for Biden. Another angle is the potential child pornography and sex trafficking material that might be on this laptop. I heard Dana Loesch talking about the potential for it on the computer as well. How do they know? I guess an FBI investigator who handles these types of cases was on the case file signature sheet.

It does raise another question for me? Is this the reason the FBI sat on the case for so long? Or did they just memory hole the evidence to cover for the Bidens?  Apparently they’ve had this case opened since December when Rudy originally gave them the laptop. He told Steven Crowder that the FBI could have come out with this info a long time ago. The FBI is seriously bent. If it wasn’t apparent after the disgraced Director James Comey it should be now. At least when investigating powerful lawmakers, they’re as corrupt a group as exists. I’ve never been one for schadenfreude but I’ll be excited when the organization gets cleaned out (if it gets cleaned out). Some think that General Flynn will be the next FBI director and raze the place like a tornado through a trailer park. He’s still tied up in court with the incredibly arrogant judge Sullivan who is holding up his case with every motion for delay that he can.

I think this Hunter Biden laptop thing could be the crack in the damn that breaks causing a lot of damage to entrenched people in DC. How? Because it most certainly implicates Joe Biden and probably a lot of people from the Obama White House in corrupt. When does the media pay a price? FB and Twitter still block links to NY Post website that contains the Hunter Biden story. I don’t know if this is still true. Fox News popped up on a google search but everything else was opinion stuff about how Rudy Giuliani is hurting the Trump campaign with his wild theories. Some (Adam Schiff) are trying to blame Russian disinformation again, seriously.

I think a lot of conservatives keep thinking that with the right story the big news outlets have to cover it. But they don’t. They can keep shutting it out as if it doesn’t exist. How many people get their news from CBS or NBC anymore? However many, it’s too many. NPR said they wouldn't cover it at all because it can't be verified. That isn't their standard for Trump though.

I realize I’m concerned with justice for the ones who’ve broken laws with the expectation of skating by. I’m eager for news organizations to be shown for what liars and cover up artists they are. I’m eager for Big Tech to lose business and status because of how they hide and distort conservative leaning websites, authors, pages and articles. But I also hope I’m not too invested in this because if people don’t go to jail and aren’t arrested I need to be OK with it. Not in a moral sense OK with it, but in a “God is in control sense”. If not I might lose my mind. I’m continually frustrated by how Trump’s “grossness” is reason to vote for a half crazy, corrupt politician. These are friends of mine I’m talking about. They just can’t get past his awfulness and seem to think a more gracious individual will sweep in. But a more gracious individual would likely fool you with their charm.

If it wasn’t obvious already I’ll be voting straight Republican ticket this year. There may be individual local candidates on the Democrat ticket that are decent civil servants but they’ll take orders from the top.  

 

Leagues of Extraordinary Arrogance

 

 I’ve made a very tough decision to skip on sports this year. I try to work in at least one sports related piece per month but without the content I can’t write. I made the decision right after Drew Breese had to walk back his famous ‘I’ll never kneel to the flag’ interview in which he had the audacity to defend the anthem. What followed was faux outrage from players and media personalities.  This was a week or so after the George Floyd killing and subsequent rioting in Minneapolis. Actually it’s been a while ago, but it still feels fresh. I’ve done a few Colin Kaepernick-is-an-SOB articles and I wasn’t in the mood to do another one. We had this debate as a country a few years ago and I didn’t want to jump into it again. Better to just turn it off. That’s what people used to do when something bothered them, turn it off.

I decided if sports was going to be a platform for the woke I was out. That included baseball and football. Both firmly embraced Black Lives Matter, a cop hating Marxist organization that thinks white supremacy runs through the philosophical pillars of the nation like fluoride in the water. The NBA treats BLM like a brand that pays them with every mention, or hashtag or promotion. Yes, I’ve seen the uniforms and the courts and the dopey ads. I haven’t really been invested in basketball since college so I didn’t miss much there. I’m an avid sports talk radio listener, watcher too since the bigger shows simulcast their talent. It’s appropriate to put Colin Cowherd or Will Cain on the TV at a sporting goods store (where I work) so I watched a lot. About 1 week into the Floyd killing I’d seen enough, heard enough, had enough.

Not to disparage those particular shows but I just couldn’t hear anymore about America’s racist past, athletes’ and their dumb tweets or corporate sellout culture. The NBA comes off particularly bad. That they don’t recognize their inexplicable hypocrisy on China is reason enough to click it off. It’s understandable to want to sell into foreign markets and be apolitical when abroad, but wearing wokeness like a game jersey while in the US is a bit much. Whatever cause they’re about I’m against. Why? Because they play in a country where it’s possible to earn Scrooge Mcduck money playing basketball.

 There is a lot of extreme poverty and lot of extreme wealth in this country. Nathaniel Hawthorne said “Families are always rising and falling in America” and it’s still true today. There are some legitimate arguments out there on fairness in the tax system, inequality in minority communities and lack of access. The wealthy have built in advantages for nearly everything. But when you go Marxist you lose me. I’m not in the mood for having socio economic problems played out on T-shirt logos and hashtags connected with pro teams.

So yeah life after sports is slow and I’d like to pretend I’ve become a better man. Sadly I’m not using my time as wisely as I should. Don’t worry, I’m not a sour guy sitting in a corner scowling at a blank screen and stewing over the lack of decorum in sports, not during the week at least. I hope professional sports get back to what they do best make a sellable product without the cause-whoring. There has to be opposition within the front offices about all this forced wokeness. But people bend where the pressure is greatest. Like most organizations run by group think, no one wants to stick their head out lest it get cut off.

Some segment of professional sports has wanted this to happen for a while. They probably feel that their future audience wants a politically active (on the left) league, particularly in that prime 18-49 demographic. This could be right but I’d seriously doubt it. When you alienate half the audience you lose viewers. Even moderate types will be put off with in your-face-messaging enough to look elsewhere.   

 For now anyway professional football and baseball are spoiled products and like milk that’s gone bad we should dump them.

It's Your Flow

 

 Writing about writing is becoming a 2020 thing for me. 

Sitting down to put words to paper (text to word processor?) is tough. The discipline to just begin even with no thoughts in your head about where to go is hard to do. In order to call yourself a writer you need to write. When I started out doing a regular blog I had to learn this. Before the blog though I just had my own half baked theories. I’d start out with a few paragraphs and hope to get 500 words or so. That’s still the number I shoot for when everything else is off and I can’t seem to get enough words together on a particular topic. But writing paragraphs got me started.

The tradeoff I made with myself was getting to write whatever nonsense popped into my head. It didn’t need to make sense either and the topic could veer wildly from side to side like a terrorist firing an Uzi in a shopping mall. The idea was just start.  Complete the required word count and save it in some file you had to look at all the time. Every time I saved another one I’d get to see how many complete writings I’d had already. Well, complete means different things to different people. “Saved copies” is more to the point. But it felt like earned success. After a few months I started cleaning them up a bit for readability. Also I checked them for what I call “flow”. I can already hear my English teacher saying frustratingly “There is no such thing as flow. It’s not a descriptive word. It doesn’t mean anything”.

Here is what I mean by flow: lacking those awkward stumbling phrases that people trip over. If you’ve ever read anything technical you’ll know what I mean. Good writing is clear and doesn’t hurt your brain to read it. Some ideas might make you stop and read them again, their definitions not well understood. But tripping over words is as frustrating as tripping over rocks on a trail hike. The best way to avoid them is to read the sentence out loud and see if it sounds clunky or awkward. I learned this by writing marketing pieces for websites. Reading should be enjoyable. Don’t make a potential client unhappy with your laborious copy. Don’t make them say your flow is off, you’ll lose a job.

Flow also refers to cutting out sentences that are unnecessarily long. I used to say things like “Well, I think that…” and finish the thought within the frame of a sentence. Not realizing how unnecessary those words are. They don’t add weight in an intellectual sense. Everyone reading knows you think it because you said it. Extra words are easily clipped for the sake of flow, not mention redundant thoughts. I’m bad about repeating myself when I really want to hammer a point home. I like to repeat things is what I’m saying. They’re important see--so I say them again. I might even add a supporting quote to the exhaustive point I mean for you to get. 

 It’s a tough habit to break but being aware of the tendency is a start.

I learned how to re-write from Stephen King’s book “On Writing”. His method is to write whatever is in your head and go back and clean it up later. It sounds like common sense but what he means is, say everything no matter how nasty or false to get it out of your head. There may be some good ideas that come out of it. And the real concern is that we get caught editing our work while still trying to pull out ideas. Don’t worry about grammar until later or you'll miss a creative opportunity. Don’t worry about flow until later either—that’s me not Stephen King.

When attacking armies get overrun they fall back to a fixed position. My fixed position in writing is journaling. When I struggle for ideas (like right now for instance) on what to write, I fall back to it. It’s easy to remember what happened early in the day, yesterday or even last week. It’s personal and because it’s personal it’s easy to recall. It works by priming the pump of my creative juices and easing me into a typing groove. It has to be typing by the way. I can hardly write with a pen anymore. It’s really embarrassing when taking notes at work too. I take the laptop whenever possible.

Flow can also mean avoiding off topic information that doesn’t fit the style. It’s going all Tom Clancy on the detailed interior of a nuclear submarine when a one sentence description will do. I run into this myself when writing a particular article in two different takes or on two different days. The first doesn’t match the second because my frame of reference isn't the same. Research is the culprit. If I’d read quite a lot on nuclear subs the material will reflect it, even if the article is supposed to be light hearted. This is the equivalent of being at a dinner party and babbling on about the last Netflix show you watched. The guests will show interest for a while but eventually the details will bore even the most gracious of listeners. They might say your flow is off.

If any of the guests at the party are English teachers they certainly won’t. 

 

The Lesson in Gethsemane

 

Mathew 26

This is known as the ‘plot to kill Jesus’ chapter. The high priest Caiaphas launches a plan to arrest Him after the Passover celebration but waits until after the feast, afraid of an uproar among the people. I think the section on Gethsemane is critical for understanding how failure is instructive for leaders. Jesus teaches the disciples (especially Peter, James and John) the importance of responsibility and how to beat temptation.

“Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and said to the disciples, “Sit here while I go and pray over there.” And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and He began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed. Then He said to them, “My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch with Me.” (verse 36-38)

We normally think of this as the failure of Jesus’ support system. You know, they couldn’t stay up and pray with their Master. Their faith didn’t quite overcome sleep; they didn’t have the fire in the belly. It looks at times like Jesus is scolding them for dozing off and not understanding the significance of the moment. It’s true of course, but overlooks the heaviness Christ felt knowing what kind of pain awaited him. He is the only one who really could have felt this way. Responsibility, whether for others or yourself, imposes a weight that only responsible parties can feel. It’s nice to imagine that others have your back through tough moments in life. Some do, but no one can share the burden with you.

Jesus isn’t finger waging their laziness as much as making them understand that this position of responsibility will soon be theirs. It’s important that they understand how to navigate it.

Since Jesus was “exceedingly sorrowful” He sought support from his disciples. He must have known how little they could do for Him. I think He was giving them an option to avoid the coming betrayal. Jesus had already told them “All of you will be made to stumble because of Me this night, for it is written: I will strike the Shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.” But it feels like this scattering could have been avoided had they prayed with the Savior and avoided temptation. 

But they were scattered and instead, taught from experience what not to do.

Jesus found Peter sleeping and said “What! Could you not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing but the flesh is weak.” (verse 41). By pulling Peter and the two sons of Zebedee away to follow Him to a quiet place, He hoped to show them how to avoid temptation through prayer. This night probably stuck in their heads as a critical lesson in responsibility. Temptation in this case is for sleep, but can mean a lot of things. It’s rooted in fleshly desires and although not all are destructive, they occupy a critical place at a critical time. It’s a time when our focus should be on Him for inspiration, for direction.

This is a message for leaders. Jesus is teaching these future leaders through their mistakes, what responsibility looks like.

The final time Jesus comes back and finds them all still sleeping. “Then He came to His disciples and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? Behold, the hour is at hand and the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners.” (verse 45) the phrase “Are you STILL sleeping and resting” must have stung after they replayed it in their minds. Letting others down leaves us with a sick, empty feeling. We had a job to do and we failed.  

Jesus already knew their flesh was weak. Through their failure they learned what responsibility is all about. Through their weakness they learned the importance of focused prayer in pushing back temptation. The first church of Acts is where this lesson pays off.

 

Break Time--Again

 

I’m on a running hiatus again. It’s the damn foot. 

Early in the year I had what I assumed was plantar fasciitis. I’m sure that’s what it was based on the pain in the heel and trouble walking early in the morning. I thought I was over it but it’s flaring up again and no amount of ice and elevation seem to help this time. Hobbling around at work all day is not an option. Sadly it’s been like that for the last month or so. Saturday long runs lead to painful weeks where I limp around like I just rolled a pallet jack over my foot and weeping like I just lost a buddy to surprise grenade attack. Ok not the weeping, not much. Not every day is debilitating but enough of them are. It’s time to stop for a while to figure out why jogging beats me down so thoroughly.

Toughing is out isn’t working. I might be doing more damage to my foot by gritting my teeth and running with the group. I’m pretty consistent about exercise and this feels like a giant setback. Everyone needs to be good at something and I think consistent work outs are in my wheelhouse. I could have made bigger strides by following a tight schedule for lifting or by joining a class. Some people hire trainers to get back in shape. I’ve never had the money for that but it is effective. Consistency leads to effectiveness with anything, why should training be different? There is nothing magical about trainers but they do provide you with a strict plan. Not to mention a reason to keep going. Shelling out money tends to keep us honest. 

 I’ll continue going to the gym and lifting weights but instead I’ll mix in some extra cardio. Running 3 days per week eliminates the need to do any extra at the gym. So I’ll probably get very comfortable with the stationary bike for the next month or so. I’ll avoid the climbers and treadmills of course. Anything that requires extra weight on my foot is out. One of the coaches at Runner’s World mentioned starting an 80/20 plan when I feel like getting back to it. I’ve read a couple articles about it. The basic premise goes like this: 80% of the run should be at a low heart rate while 20% should be at an elevated rate. The idea is that slower running is better for endurance and actually increases race time. There is a little more to it, but that ratio is supposed to be great for runners over 40. I guess it’s worth a try.

Also, I don’t run to improve my race time. Maybe I’m not competitive enough, but I want to improve gradually and stay fit over my entirety of my life. Too many of us treat fitness like a final exam every semester. We cram hard for a short time and hope to get under some weight goal. But just like a test we studied all night for, we hardly remember anything the next year and have to cram all over. Gyms are full at the beginning of the year because we like to cram. Get in and study hard before summer, lose weight for a short time and forget why we did next year.

I’m not being critical but life gets in the way and it becomes increasingly difficult to keep the same schedule every year. Injury plays a role too as I’ve found on a few occasions. A lot of the time we just get lazy though. I have a giant hole in my schedule where running used to be. Will I fill it up with extra gym sessions or use it to sleep in late and sip coffee till the sun is bright and toasty?

Jogging is such a great activity for me, especially in the cooler weather. I hope to be back at it soon.

 

 

 

Halt and Catch Fire: Series Review

 

 

I have this tendency to watch shows years after they were popular. With Halt and Catch Fire though, it was never popular.

If you’re asking yourself “Wasn’t that on AMC a few years ago?” you’d be right. I don’t have cable so I don’t catch a lot of shows when they premier. But few people do that anymore. Who really checks the TV guide and plops down sharply at 8:00 PM anymore? But if you’re unfamiliar (I certainly was) it’s broadly about the tech industry from 1983 to 1995. Four main characters make up the core of the story. A cutthroat marketing guru with a knack for finding talent and exploiting it for big profits: Two married Berkeley grads with extensive knowledge of computer hardware, and a brilliant young coder with an authority problem.

The marketing guy, Joe McMillan, knows just enough about the business to be dangerous. He puts a small team together to sell his own ‘portable computer’ with its own operating system. Joe isn’t an honest dealer and cuts a lot of corners. He knows his end game and forces others to comply through subterfuge and half truths. You can’t help admiring his vision for the burgeoning world of tech and finance. To him there is always a wrinkle to exploit and it’s a race to the finish for a pot of gold. But it’s not pure greed, he loves creating. He also knows his limitations and finds help.

Candace is the punk rock coder who Joe pulls from a computer science class and convinces her to work for him. She’s brilliant but scattered and doesn’t work well with others. Gordon and Donna Clark are in the middle of a shaky marriage when Joe steps in to enlist Gordon for his project. Both Donna and Gordon eventually play key roles in the new business and see their share of booms and busts.  

What makes this show work so well? It’s the same formula that makes any TV show work, interesting characters in volatile situations. At its core, Halt and Catch Fire is a show about relationships and how they evolve over the course of years. The success and failure of their relationships matches the up and down world of any business in a growth phase. The same ideas that create success often create friction as employees once deemed critical get forced out when they don’t fit anymore. Competing visions can only survive for so long; growth demands a singular idea and a singular voice.

 I’m embarrassed to say, a lot of the tech stuff goes over my head. I get enough of it to follow the plot because it’s not really essential to the story line. Anyone who’s watched even one episode of Shark Tank will be familiar with venture capital and how essential it is for tech start-ups, especially in the 90’s.

Halt also works as a compelling historical fiction because it follows big developments that actually did happen, developing the World Wide Web, racing to create an adaptable browser, developing shooter games like Doom. A couple things are clear about the tech industry that’s exactly like energy or steel in a different era, cutthroat practices pay off. We like to think everyone plays fair but where windfall profits are in play the cheating multiplies. Ideas get stolen from small players or purchased before they have a chance to grow. Or, they get overwhelmed with debt and a lack of new expansion to add value. Only the strong survive.

Each season is a different take on the key characters, a 'reboot' if you will. In this way the series is able to add real depth as they succeed and fail in a volatile climate.  

The music is incredible too. It’s basically a catalogue of 80’s punk like the Talking Heads, the Eurhythmics, the Cars, and even 90’s stuff like Hole and the Pixies. Of course it helps to like this stuff already. It’s not all punk, but the quick pace of the 80’s tech world fits perfectly with a countercultural soundtrack.

The Guardian called it “the best show that nobody watched”. Maybe because, in this age of streaming channels like Netflix and Hulu we don’t bother as much with TV anymore. I know it was on AMC and not CBS but still, it must have needed a marketing boost. If there is any complaint for me it’s with the title. Halt and Catch Fire doesn’t tell me what kind of show it is unless it’s one of those industry terms that tech people know. In either case it’s a great show and I’m amazed by how much I got sucked in.