No More Pencils - direction is important

Dao Dow

David Bennett on May 24, 2018

The tagline I used in various places, and probably still do here and there, is Treading a line between Dao and Dow. I like the play on the sound of the two words (pronounced identically where I come from – maybe not where you are) and I like the balance between the physical and spiritual worlds. And I like that it is short.

Today I took a peek at The Online Photographer. I often go there for a breath of fresh air, to read something about photography and read what people who are polite and well-rounded have to say.

I saw a comment that led to a community website for photographers to put their portfolios. I recognised the site but hadn’t visited it for years. I thought I might have an account, and I have and so I was able to log in. I looked at my profile and saw this that I wrote a long time ago and forgot about:

Dow Dao Dow Dao
Have you any wool
Yes, sir, yes sire,
But I gave it away.

It is, of course, a play on the rhyme, probably several hundred years old, that goes:

Baa, baa, black sheep,
Have you any wool?
Yes, sir, yes, sir,
Three bags full;
One for the master,
And one for the dame,
And one for the little boy
Who lives down the lane.

There is something pointed and contrary, disobedient, and transcendent in my version, and I like that.

Short Memories On The Iran Nuclear Deal

David Bennett on May 5, 2018

I don’t get it. I don’t get the attitude of those who are pleading with Trump to keep the Iran nuclear deal. They cannot have that short memories, can they? Back in 2017, when Trump was in Ryadh, he spoke at length about the newly cemented relationships, and about the country that was out in the cold.

I transcribed the whole of his speech in the post Trump in Ryadh, but here are a couple of paragraphs that should make his position clear:

Starving terrorists of their territory, of their funding, and the false allure of the craven ideology will be the basis for easily defeating them. But no discussion of stamping out this threat would be complete without mentioning the government that gives terrorists all three — safe harbour, financial backing, and the social standing needed for recruitment. It is a regime that is responsible for so much instability in that region. I am speaking, of course, of Iran.
From Lebanon to Iraq to Yemen, Iran funds arms and trains terrorists, militias, and other extremist groups that spread destruction and chaos across the region. For decades, Iran has fuelled the fires of sectarian conflict and terror. It is a government that speaks openly of mass murder, vowing the destruction of Israel, death to America, and ruin for many leaders and nations in this very room.

And yet commentators think if they plead then that he might want to continue the work of his predecessor, and keep the Iran nuclear deal?