Sunday, October 21, 2007

Free Speech

I have grown tired of talk shows yammering that we have "free speech" in the United States, so anyone can speak whatever drivel they want and suffer no consequences. The Constitution protects people from government constraint on speech. No government in the United States can stop me from speaking or writing what I choose. Other entities are free to try to constrain any speech that they find objectionable by any legal means.

This means that television networks can decide who can have air time; they can fire anyone that voices comments that the network heirarchy deems objectionable. I wish they would do more of this. Networks seem to think that they should not censure anyone and that there are two sides to any argument, each of equal value. Performers eccho these sentiments.

I believe as a society that we should object to some things that are said, that there should be economic consequences for making comments that the majority finds objectionable. This applies to religion in particular. Christians need to demand economic sanctions for attacks on the faith. Christians seem to think that Christ wants us to tolerate attacks on our faith. Christ stood up for what he believed, we can do no less. I do think he wants our response to be made in love, not hate. How do we do that?

One simple way is to respond to a celebrity's attack on Christianity with a clear statement of our beliefs. We need to be very aware that many who attack Christianity do so by creating a caricature of the faith or what they want to believe is Christianity. Some who believe they are Christians perpetuate these caricatures. We must object to such false prophets.

We need to stop pandering to celebrities that attack faith and demand unbelief. Do not watch or attend their performances. Boycotts are a legitimate protest vehicle. I fail at this, often viewing or listening to performers making outrageous statements about my faith because I want to learn their arguments. I think a better course is simply to turn them off.

Finally, I think we need to find ways to express Christian love for those that trash our faith. One way I would like to try is to give to the charity that these trashers support, to make my donation with the designation made in Christian love and say nothing more.

We must remember that we are free to speak and free to suffer the consequences. Only the government is barred from stopping our speech.

Saturday, October 13, 2007

Climate Changes

Today is a warm October day. Al Gore's crusade on global warming has netted him a well-deserved Nobel Peace Prize. I do believe that Gore is correct: our world is growing warmer. Most people seem to think that this means that our every day temperatures will be uniformly warmer. Climate change is more complicated than that. The best generalization is that we will see more weather extremes, so some locations may actually experience colder temperatures while others will broil.

Here in Texas, I think there has been a subtle seasonal shift. The weather that we used to experience earlier in the year comes later. Hence, a cooler, wetter summer-- spring shifted a couple of months. Now, we are in a warm, dry spell--summer drought in the fall. Oh, the pattern isn't perfect, but I do think the generalization works. What we used to expect in November--cold, wet skies--has shifted to late December. If I am right, Christmas will have miserable weather. I just wonder if anyone else has noticed.

Monday, October 8, 2007

Progress on the Dragon Book

I am still working on the dragon book. I have about two hundred hand-written pages so far. Lucas and Mattie (the kids) and Greenmist (the dragon kid) landed in Mongolia by accident and now are making their way back to Texas with the help of Greenmist's greatgrandmother, Auburntide, and her pet gryphon, Rupert. Oh, they have been joined by Auburntide's friend, Blackday. They will make it as far as San Francisco before meeting the villain of the series, the Orc, a dingy white dragon.

I wish I could write full time. The only time I am truly happy is when I am writing. I have had one mystery published, but it was not very successful. After that I tried to find an agent. Did find one bad one. That made me feel so terrible that I quit writing for several years. I suppose I will self-publish someday. I have a science fiction novel, two mysteries, and a screenplay completed. If I don't self-publish,the manuscripts will be thrown away by my heirs.

I hope to turn my cat blog into a book someday. I used to send out a Christmas letter every year with an illustrated cat story. Since I still have a house full of cats, I expect to have plenty of stories to come.

Tuesday, October 2, 2007

Missy, the Pink and Black Dog

Yesterday, a conversation jogged my memory about my dog, Missy, and the night I received my bachelor's degree. Missy was a black and white, border collie mix. She was a great dog, loyal, protective and extremely fast.

I was on top of the world the night I received by Bachelor of Science in Chemistry. I had managed financially only because I continued to live at home. My whole family celebrated with me.

By midnight, I was exhausted and had gone to bed. At one, I heard Missy barking wildly in the back yard, then her bark changed to ear piercing yelps. We lived just a few blocks north of the university in the middle of the city. I had no idea what had happened to her as I stumbled to the back door. I called her and she came at a hard run. When she was within a few feet I knew what was wrong. Missy had been skunked!

This was not the first time Missy had been sprayed. She was so fast we assumed that she would be up to the skunk before she realized her mistake. At our cabin near Lake Marble Falls, we kept a huge can of tomato juice to pour over her to neutralize the odor. We had never expected her to encounter a skunk in the middle of the city. We had no tomato juice.

When Missy reached me, I grabbed her and picked her up. The smell up close was stomach turning, but I knew that I had to keep her off the furniture.

"Take her to the tub," my grandmother ordered. I obeyed.

I stepped into the tub with Missy. This tub was an old, claw-footed one with high sides so it was no easy task to get in it with a squirming, stinking dog. I turned on the water and contemplated what to wash Missy with. My grandmother solved the problem.

"This is the best I could do," she said as she handed me two open cans of tomato soup.

I used both cans on Missy, and the odor did abate. I then washed her with soap and rinsed her thoroughly. As I dried her, I noticed that her white fur was distinctly pink. Tomato juice had never done that. I picked up one of the soup cans. Sure enough, tomato soup contained a red dye. I looked at Missy; evidently the red dye was very good at coloring dog fur.

With Missy in my grandmother's care, I took a bath. As I sat in the warm water, I contemplated my graduation night and God's sense of humor. I would never forget that night and its highs and lows.

The next morning it was clear that our black and white dog was now pink and black. Missy would take several weeks to lose the color. I am sure people wondered about the strange women that dyed their dog.

Missy did not care. I think she enjoyed the extra attention she received from visitors. Lucky for me, she never found another skunk in the city.