Hochul: Rhymes with 'Local'...

Twenty two years ago, in a country thousands of miles away, an unknown man stood in front of a tank and tried to stop a tank. The Chinese call that time simply 6/4 in the same way we say 9/11. Acts and images arise with those numbers that are indelibly etched on our psyche. The acts of courage and cowardice in these two times are powerful symbols but the thousands of other acts will never be known, remembered or imagined. Life is unfair.

A year and a half from now the giants will do battle for the hearts, minds and votes of the people to see who will lead our country for another four years. By then, we will have forgotten something that happened last week. No one will remember 5/24 or remember the name Kathy Hochul (or even how to pronounce it). Life...

But something extraordinary did happen on that day and, if the Dems and GOP are smart, they will etch this day in the glass of their Iphones as the day they lost or won those hearts and minds. You see, with very little hope, money or support, one woman took on a bastion of conservatism in western New York and beat the GOP congressional candidate with a single commercial and a singular message. 

They want to take a way your Medicare.

While we may not agree on Health Care, Abortion, Taxes, Guns, Gay Marriage, etc. I believe we can all agree that we will all, hopefully, grow old. We also all can agree that life is uncertain and that having money today is no guarantee for the future. The events since 9/11 have shaken our sure and, possibly arrogant, belief that our future is secure. Pensions raided, jobs lost, investments destroyed and a culture of entitlement has been replaced by one of survival of the fittest. The end result is a consensus of fear. Whatever you believe about Medicare, You or someone you love will need it one day or already do.

I'm not a one issue kind of a guy but where there is consensus there should be action. Should be. Life is unsure and, often, unfair. If life were fair we would remember the name of Kathy Hochul. If life were fair we would remember the thousands of people, Democrats, Republicans, Independents and Non-aligned who all realized something we all need to remember .We all need each other. We all need to care for one another. We all need care. Medicare.

We also need brave people like Kathy Hochul. Think Globally, act 'Hochully'.

Monty Python and the HOLY FAIL

A few days ago the Vatican released a set of guidelines regarding the new methods by which the Church will handle Priest Sexual Abuse going forward. This was in anticipation of the long awaited John Jay School of Criminology study and, it was assumed, that the guidelines addressed the findings. Several years ago we saw the first part of the 'impartial study' and its  damning conclusions make the much anticipated sequel's lame conclusions mind blowing. The flowering revelations of the first begged the answers in the second. It was not to be. Someone once said that you can tell by the flowers if the tree will bear fruit. Not so here. The 'fruit' of this second study was meant to kill the flowering truth  that was the first. Someone else said that by your fruits you'd be known... So be it.

Studying the Study

Over five years and nearly two million dollars were spent by the USCCB Bishops to address the scandal that has rocked the Catholic church. The stated mission was to find an impartial and scientific study to find the causes and context of the scandal  but a reading of the second study leaves one wondering if the stated mission bears any resemblance to the actual mission or to impartiality. Evidently, the choice of John Jay College is a good one for the Church:

"Providence has given our people the choice of their rulers, and it is the duty, as well as privilege and interest, of a Christian nation to select and prefer Christians for their rulers."

-Justice John Jay

The preferred Christians here are the United States Conference of catholic Bishops. Not so preferential is the treatment of the victims. The revelations of the first study are ignored or roundly refuted with new statistics, definitions and a dizzying array of pseudo-social commentary that comes from who knows where. It is uninformative and unapologetic. Odd, given the notion of a 'causal' study but, then again, it isn't a study. You may be happy to note that the college is paid for by city and state taxes. 

As noted, the actual study is not actually a study. It is a questionnaire. It is neither impartial nor does it seek to ‘discover’ the causes or the context. What arises is a carefully orchestrated question and answer period with the Bishops asking the questions and the Vatican via her priests giving the answer. While the study has not been fully analyzed and spun yet, you can read it for yourself as well as discover the methodology of the first John Jay study about the ‘nature and scope’ linked here for those who want to read that one.  The new one(summarized) is freshly out (whole) following a modified version of the previous methodology and the preliminary findings, and opinions have hit the media. Here is my take.

Who paid for it

Of the roughly 1.8 million dollar price tag of the study, $918,000 was paid for by the US Conference of Catholic Bishops. The remaining half was by the US Justice Department (a grant of $283,651), Knights of Columbus, ($250,000)

Donations, from $100,000 to $1,000, came from foundations including the Raskob Foundation, Catholic Mutual Group, SC (Sisters of Charity) Ministry Foundation, Luce Foundation, Greater Cincinnati Foundation, Assisi Foundation of Memphis and Daughters of Charity Foundation/Province of the West; and health-related organizations such as the Catholic Health Association of the United States and St. Joseph Health System in Orange, Calif.

There also was a $100,000 anonymous donation and donations totaling $242 from individual members of Voice of the Faithful. Hardly a broad crosssection of those involved, victimized or interested. Most interesting is a quarter of a million from the Justice Department. Our Money. Well Spent.

Now it isn’t impossible to be impartial if you are largely funded by the very body being accused but it certainly makes it difficult. More important is the media spin that this is a ‘secular and independent’ school of criminal justice.  As you can see in the next section, the ‘causes and context’ were a fait accompli.

Who defined the methodology

Like the first ‘study’, the methodology is a questionnaire designed to ascertain cause and context (the title of the study). The problem here is that, like the first ‘study’ the crucial evidence, documents, court documents, depositions and Vatican directives, memos, etc. were declared off-limits and, instead, the meat of the study focused on asking a set of questions to be answered by the priests, deacons, staff etc.


The rest is analysis of the first study and a contextual study of 'the times' 1950-2010. This is telling because the 'study is a thinly disguised debunking of the first disastrous study and a contextual analysis where they will eventually place the blame. The excuse is that the Church cannot divulge materials relevant to litigation but clearly this is being used to bolster those cases, so why can't facts be entered into the study? There are only questions...

So who wrote the questions? Not John Jay. Like the first study a person was appointed to write the parameters and questions to be asked and that was then turned ovwer to the College to create a study.  Despite the obvious problem of impartiality, there is the added problem of the questions themselves.

It is clear from the first study that the nature and scope was bigger, deeper, longer and worse than they (the Bishops) imagined. To circumvent a similar surprise finding, the Bishops elected to narrow the questioning to ‘the spike of reported incidences’ from the fifties on.

The biggest problem with the methodology is that when the current Pope centralized all information and administration dealing with the scandal under his then post as Cardinal for the Congregatrion of the Doctrine of the Faith, he began to systematically disseminate the official church position on all questions that may be asked. In other words, the Bishops wrote the questions and the Pope provided the answers. That is not the worst of it.

Who defined the terms

The terminology used in the  study was narrowly defined to guarantee a result. The first study taught them that open ended questions and broad connotations yielded the unwanted result of Truth. Here is how it works. If I asked you to reveal how many times you pooped your pants, the number might be staggering. If I redefine ‘pants’ as diapers and only ask how many times ‘after ten’, the results become infinitesimal. Ergo… You never pooped your pants… Science. Ridiculous?

In the study ‘Pedophilia’ was defined as ‘ten and under’ rendering a staggeringly small  5% of all accused priests (over 6000 recently accused) as pedophiles. The effect was then reported as a finding effectively minimizing the problem and insinuating (by omission) the other 95% as non-sexual run of the mill abuse, consensual sex or plainly a lie.

The results would be staggeringly different if we were to apply the psychological definition of thirteen or the common law definition of sixteen or the strict legal definition of ‘minor’ at eighteen. The fact that the other 95% is ignored speaks to the deviant nature of the study and its real aims. It speaks to the culture of Rome. But ignoring the vast majority of the evidence is evidence of the vast majorities ignoring the problem and the culture still in denial from the Pontiff on down.

Who defined the information sources

When asked about the evidence that might be more useful in a real study, the Bishops refer and defer to the Pope. The Pope feigns ignorance despite his previous position as Inquisitor General and the man who put himself personally in charge of all matters regarding the scandal. It is disingenuous of the Pope to claim ignorance in these matters or to put out a set of guidelines that runs contrary to what he knows to be true. There is no larger repository of evidence, allegations, findings, cover-ups and records then the one he personally oversaw.

The office of the Doctrine of the Faith provides no information to the John Jay study and so how can the study do anything but provide a five year stall and well rehearsed response froim the faithful? One only has to listen to the Pontiff's speech to the Irish to see the broad outlines of the official Church position and the resultant outcome of the study and how they coincidentally match.

The most startling piece of the study is not its methodology or the study itself but the conclusions. After the findings of the first study showed the nature and scope of the problem, the second seems to answer the first by denying that the priesthood, the Bishops, Vatican or Pope is  responsible. A feeble statement of cause claims that :

….the sex scandal is only a temporary problem, due partly to the influx of 'poorly trained priests' into seminaries. The rest of the blame goes onto the prevalence of “deviant behavior” like the sexual and drug experimentation during the 1960s and 70s,

Evidently, they simply weren’t trained well. So how has that changed? What training is there now? I think a different study may have asked, “How long  has this been going on and why were parishioners more likely to come forward during this time and less likely before and after?” The pressure to keep silent in the past and the strategies to hide and divide in the present leaves this gaping hole now conveniently blamed on Woodstock.

'Context is all'

So goes the mantra from Margaret Atwoods Dystopian ‘Handmaid's Tale’ in which a Theocracy takes over America before anyone realizes. And so it goes from the Dystopian nightmare that is the New Vatican's answer to the first study and critics of the Pope. After a swift rationalization and justification comes a mea culpa that sounds like ‘we just weren’t ready for the twisted priest candidates that you sent us… We blame you... and the Church Police concur. The final blow or conclusion sounds like something out of a Monty Python Sketch:

(Organ music. A huge hand descends and points at the man.)

Bishops:   All right, it's a fair cop, but society is to blame.

John Jay:   Agreed.

Bishops:   I would like drugs, sex and rock n’ roll to be taken into consideration.

John Jay:   Right. And now, I'd like to conclude this arrest with a hymn.

That hymn…

I hope that John Jay College doesn’t use this methodology to train cops. “Damn the evidence, question the accused, ignore the victims and acquit…” Today, as the study is released,  they are singing the Popes praises with the same effusion they had for the first million dollar study and, to quote the Pope, in his ‘Science: A Hymn Of Praise”

 “that between science and faith there is friendship, and that men of science can undertake, through their vocation to the study of nature, a genuine and fascinating journey of sanctity.”

Unless, of course, we mean the nature and sanctity of Truth.

 "But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in Me, 

it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, 

and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea" 


(Matthew 18:10, King James Version).

Send in the Clowns...

Dear Mr. Obama,

We here on the Liberal Elitist Left want to congratulate you on your recent successes on the World Stage. We particularly like your new SEAL trick and applaud you for working without a net (or washcloth). We also want to applaud you for sticking to the legitimate stage when others are going with the more popular Circus metaphor.

But even on the stage there are pitfalls and pratfalls. Anyone who has watched Shakespeare or Celebrity Apprentice can tell you that as soon as something dramatic, moving or triumphant has happened they do something to quickly change the mood, distract and appease the groundlings who didn’t come to see a death scene. They send in the clowns.

We send this warning because we know that you already have been besieged by other clowns and it may seem like they have all exited (stage right even). But the slapstick comedy of Sarah Palin, Michelle Bachmann, Mike Huckabee and Donald Trump are there to provide cover. You see, theatre employs two kinds of clowns. The first is the rustic, slapstick, banana peel fall on your bumpkin type clowns. They are there to distract, obfuscate and misdirect while the second type, the court jesters wait in the wings.

So this week said jesters came out in fool force as if drawn down by the fool moon. None of them stand a chance at gaining the nomination. They are not liked or wanted by the faithful or the party. They are well funded and are all playing a weird endgame and following the lead of wise-fool McCain who had the great good fortune of watching the real contenders in '08 all shoot each other and then he became the ‘fool on the hill’ made heir apparent (until he imPalined himself). The new fools hope that the real nominees (Pawlenty, Daniels,etc.) make a mistake, reveal a skeleton or all just shoot or bore each other to death.

We know you like to be the adult in the room and it would be easy to let these guys hoist themselves on their own petards (they will) but the GOP don’t suffer fools gladly, lightly or without cause. They are here to do damage in the way the serious contenders can’t. They are like those things on your food processer that push the cabbage in so you don’t  lose a finger. Make no mistake; they are here to shove meat in the grinder while the rest wait safely off camera.

Shakespeare tells us, “A man loves the meat in his youth that he cannot endure in his age.” You are not the candidate of ‘08’ and you cannot let these guys get traction and drag you down into birther type issues like Deathers, Torture, Culture War wedge issues and other fear based memes. It isn’t that we can’t have this discussion, but it means that we control the debate, choose the moment and use our words wisely.

They will eventually self destruct and you won’t face them in November but you must not let them get away before you make the real candidates disavow and ‘refudiate’ them. You must not let them cast immigration, race (yours or others) and class (medicare, welfare, unemployment) etc. as the problem. You must champion the less fortunate and cast them as racist, classist and the true elitists working towards an America that excludes, stratifies and privatizes our rights as they foist their responsibilities on the rest of us.

The Primary season is a funny thing. These clowns are here to excite the base and rattle the swords of the far right to get out the vote. They will make promises that the GOP has no intention of keeping and they will be discarded like the Kleenex Karaoke Kandidates they are but not until they have done their dirty work and job one, for them, is making it all about you.

Court Jesters have a short shelf life but you can, and must. turn it around. Force the GOP to talk about Medicare and Tax Credits for the rich. Force them to take sides whenever these bozos contradict each other or themselves and always ask the big question. What happened to the promise of Jobs? What significant piece of legislation in the first hundred days created a single job?

Job one is making it all about jobs. Keep ‘em on point and on their own petard…

Sincerely,

The Leftist Elites

PS- Don’t quote Shakespeare. 

MICHIGAN SEEMS LIKE A METAPHOR NOW

MICHIGAN SEEMS LIKE A METAPHOR NOW
Why the mitten matters…

My dad used to get mad at the family car. It wasn’t working right. It wasn’t as fast or as efficient as when he bought it and he was going to ‘fix’ it. He began by taking it apart and in the end, he rendered it completely useless. In the end it cost more to ‘fix’ it then to repair or rebuild it. In the end, the driveway was littered by ‘extra parts’. Things that he believed weren’t important. The car was dead. It wasn’t his fault.  He blamed Detroit. The Union. The Japs… He had successfully reinvented our family car. In the process, he destroyed it.

Then he sold off the parts…

Poor Michigan.

In the last few years it seems like every time the news comes on, something horrible is happening to my mitten shaped state. Auto industry bailouts, double digit unemployment, abysmal education rankings, Kwame Kilpatrick, Eagle Rock, are just a few of the headline makers that have landed us in the National News over the last few years. So it was understandable when Rick Snyder was elected promising to ‘reinvent government’ that many hoped for the best. No one expected the worst.

The first hundred days of reinvention have plastered our state all over the headlines again and it couldn’t be more embarrassing, disappointing or dangerous. ‘Reinvention’ apparently means ‘dismantling’. This isn’t hypothetical. Poor and primarily black Benton Harbor and the Detroit Public Schools have already lost their representative form of government and over twenty more are on the list.

A privatized Emergency Financial Manager has replaced the elected board of Education of the Detroit Public Schools and all executive decision makers. The Benton Harbor elected City Commission, Mayor, City Manager and all other administrative positions have absolutely no power. He is also dismantling the Unions. Governor Rick Snyder is dismantling representative government. Democracy.

There’s a lot of other bad stuff going on in Michigan but let’s stick to Democracy. The Emergency Financial Manager Law that was passed here in March, gives a single individual, hired by the governor, the power to dismantle any locally elected school board or city council if he deems it necessary. No vote. No appeal. No democracy.

Most people who watch the news from FOX to MSNBC may all come away with different but similar feelings. It is something akin to, “Too bad, so sad…” and then some version of, “They deserve it…” on the right; a resigned leftish “it was bound to happen1” and, in the middle, a “something had to be done” meme rationalizes while it justifies. Underneath it all is a belief or a prayer that Poor Michigan is somehow different. Michigan is not the Coasts. Michigan is not the Beltway. Michigan is the opposite of the South, the antithesis of the booming Southwest. Michigan is a past pleasant peninsula far, far from us out here in ‘Fortunate World’. Michigan must have made a mistake….

When I was growing up in my little town there were more movie screens here per-capita than anywhere in the country. Why? My Michigan town was a perfect cross section of America. If it played here it would play anywhere. What is happening here is happening because we are the most vulnerable, be it due to socio-economics, race or both, as in Benton Harbor. But this is just a test and a template. It is a deliberate laboratory using the convenient excuse of emergency and the present political climate of fear. If it works in Michigan it will work in your state; is working in your state. Ask Arizona. Ask Ohio. Ask South Dakota, Rhode Island, Minnesota. Ask your legislators and governor. Ask. Ask them if they write the laws or does someone else. Someone unelected. Michigan seems like a metaphor now…

The think tanks that are coming up with this legislation intend to test it here and they are taking their show on the road; to your state. This is not a threat. This is happening. They aren’t even hiding it. It isn’t a conspiracy theory. These groups even call it a template and your elected officials are members of these groups. Nearly 2000 of our legislators are members. That is about a third of all state legislators. Many are paying their steep membership and ‘conference’ fees with your tax dollars. Many get corporate ‘scholarships’. The remainder is being funded by the ever present Koch brothers and their ilk.

Check and see how many Legislators and Governors are preparing budgets that target collective bargaining. See how many are planning to gut public schools with voucher plans. See how many are planning to de-fund public arts or eliminate them altogether. Check and see if your state is planning on defunding health care, specifically for women. Most of all, check to see if there are Emergency Managers being planned in your state. See if the language all seems eerily alike.

It is happening here and it is happening all at once. The spare parts left on the driveway are human lives. Foreclosed homes. Broken dreams. We are no longer an asset but the overhead, the problem. We are now merely obstacles to a corporatized, privatized, homogenized and democracy free Pure Michigan. The biggest piece being left out of our ‘reinvented’ Engine of the State is democracy. Our democracy is no different, here in Michigan, than the democracy that runs the engine of your state except your vote still means something. For now.

Then he sold off the parts…

Here in my beautiful mitten state, one can find a type of tree that looks like many trees all clumped together They look different and they look separate but if you were to dig them up, you would find they are really ‘shoots’ that all share a single root system. They are really one tree and if you were to poison the weakest shoot they would all die.

The Naked Emperor... Top 10 Reasons to RECALL RICK SNYDER

Top Ten Reasons to RECALL RICK SNYDER

Are you getting your ‘Dollar’s’ worth? Here’s ten reason to sign that petition and VOTE…

10. He needs time to develop that ‘Rick In A Box’ idea.

9. FOX has a higher paying job in Beck’s old time slot.

8. We’re just trying to save the Koch brothers some money.

7. Hiring the CFO of Detroit as an EFM is like hiring Lindsey Lohan as a store detective 

6. He needs time to look up the words, 'emergency', 'financial' and 'manager'.

5. Thinks Democracy is just a suggestion and elected officials can be outsourced.

4. He supports Collective bargaining as long as there is no ‘collective’ or any ‘bargaining’.

3. Believes the Constitution is optional and the Bill of Rights more like a buffet.

2. Because he is 'reinventing government' the way Bin Ladin reinvented air travel.

And the number one reason to Recall Rick Snyder…..

1. BECAUSE YOU CAN!

Spin and Marti - RECALLING RICK SNYDER

A child who does not think about what happens around him and is content with living without wondering whether he lives honestly is like a man who lives from a scoundrel's work and is on the road to being a scoundrel.

-Jose Marti   

The poet Jose Marti wrote this in the rumblings of a Revolution. His war of words against Spain echoed the people's discontent and yearning to be free. They eventually got their wish and were freed from Spain but it did not take long before the people realized that the promises of the liberator are the lies of the next dictator. And the next . And the next... Who remembers Soccaro? Baptista? Who remembers that Fidel Castro was democratically elected as Prime Minister and then abolished the government and made himself President for Life?

Here, at home, they are already drafting language to abolish term limits. Here, in Michigan, we have already abolished representative government. We have privatized major governmental operations by fiat. Here, public schools are being gutted so a privileged few can use tax dollars to pay for private, exclusive and segregated education. Many of us weren't fond of Granholm, Engler and on down to Soapy. Remember Soapy? Neither do I. Hardly any of them remember-able and mainly because  none of them dismantled our democracy. None of them sold it to the highest bidder and taxed the poor to turn around and give it to the rich. This isn't bipartisan sour grapes, it is a plea, to you, to stop the flat out fascism of Fidel-like proportions. 



Fidel, after several years of economic distress, political failure and drastic job loss, was voted in by the people; a man who wrapped himself in patriotism and waxed the words of  founding fathers like Marti. Sound familiar. Here at home it is no different. Our new leader said he would 'reinvent government' and, when he said it, he wore the robes of the outsider, the wonk, the nerd. Denim on denim photo ops signaled that he was one of us. Just a guy who wants to make a difference. And he has. He has reinvented government the way Mussolini made the trains run on time...

Corporations get hundreds of billions of dollars from a governor that said we were broke. Hundreds of billions of dollars were cut from education, the environment and our healthcare from a governor who promised they were his priorities. Billions of dollars are being raised by taxing  the poor, the elderly and the workers from a man who said he would be their champion. The fellow who loved democracy forgot to tell us that it doesn't apply to everyone. Certainly not if you are poor and/or black. Suddenly 'Pure Michigan' sounds like a eugenics program and not an inviting tourist slogan. The man who wrapped himself in denim and flags showed up on inauguration day in his CEO suit and it was all over. What a difference a day makes. Voting day, that is...


Who's to blame?

Is Snyder to blame? Hardly. This is a democracy. Or it was until we gave it up. We. Did anyone really believe that his life and example was congruent to his promises? Of course they did. How do you think he won? That's how democracy works. We either voted  for him or against him or not at all. Can we blame rich old white men? Hardly. Even 93% poor minority in Benton Harbor voted 63% in favor of Snyder and that was true Statewide.

Certainly, we can argue that Snyder is ' man who lives from a scoundrel's work and is on the road to being a scoundrel.'  given his relationship to the Kochs and others but it is we who are the children 'who does not think about what happens around him and is content with living without wondering whether he lives honestly.'  We are the scoundrels now... The sad part is we were duped into believing he would share his scoundrels' work... with us. Many did not vote hoping he would win and they would be blameless because Virg was boring, we needed a change, he was more handsome, we like nerds and I'm sure i missed ten thousand 'really good' reasons...


Even after the foxes have revealed themselves for who and what they really represent, we don't collectively care. Our most recent local election here had a whopping 12% of registered voters show up. Perhaps I am preaching to the choir but I don't imagine that even fifty percent of those who read this actually voted. The 2010 elections were won not by the Tea Party but lost by Democrats, Independents and Moderate Republicans who did not vote.  


We are to blame.


Spin v. Marti


When I was young, I watched a show called 'Spin And Marty' (yeah, I'm that old). Every episode, it seemed, would start with the Poor Spin asking the Rich Marty "Whadda ya wanna do?". 


The reply was, "I dunno. Wha do YOU wanna do?" and usually the spoiled rich Marty would lead them into trouble and Spin would have to get them out.  Things haven't changed. We just switched places. Now Marti is the poor one and Spin gets us into trouble.  I am certain we all believe in our hearts and minds the wisdom of Marti but how easy it is to fall for 'the spin'. To stop thinking and wondering is at the heart of what Marti is telling us. Marti wrote poetry because people wouldn't read his rants. Maybe I should rhyme. No time. lime? lame... blame..No more rhymes now, I mean it.  Anybody want a peanut? OK... As you wish...

We need to think. 


Do we think that what happened to Benton Harbor and DPS can't happen to us. It can. Do we think that recalling one Governor will make a difference when there is a whole ticket that must go? Who makes the laws? The legislature? Think tanks like the Mackinac Group, ALEC and other Koch/DeVos sponsored entities? What do you think he is doing 'on the road'? He's not reading Kerouac. He is reading a prepared script and showing up for photo ops. Why. Because he believes us to be stupid and we haven't disappointed.


We need to wonder?

Why does Snyder think it is a good idea to be the Grand Marshall of the Benton Harbor parade? or show up in Detroit to tout education?  or do a book signing on Earth Day in an Ann Arbor Bookstore? or appear as the keynote speaker at a Non-Profit conference? Because most of us will never watch the footage of that tragic parade, that surrealistic booksigning or hear the hip hop of rapper 'Invincible' rapping Truth to Power - 'hip hop to hype' at the conference. We will only see the photo ops, posing and smiling and shaking hands with us so he can appear Loved, Concerned, Green, Compassionate and more... 


Picture = 1,000,000 words and now his denial is plausible. Pretty speeches with canned sound bites already highlighted for the media. "They welcomed me...", "I was there on Earth day...",  "Here I am with the common folk..." And the spin continues. Flat out denials with pretty pictures. Kiss the babies, pet the old folks and smile as the workers beg for jobs. Then shake his hand, look at the camera and 'presto!', problem solved. A poet much better than I (or Marti even) said it like this:

The world is still deceiv'd with ornament,
  In law, what plea so tainted and corrupt,
    But, being season'd with a gracious voice,
      Obscures the show of evil? 


Thanks Bill. Who reads poetry anymore?  We have no time for Marti only Spin. Sound-bytes, empty beats, photos-opped and photoshopped, blurbs and tweets... Sorry. I know. I lost you at 'We are to blame'. (Of course, If you aren't, you have my sincere apologies and can simply repost this and everyone will know you aren't to blame). For the rest of you?


You have a chance now to change things. 


RECALL GOVERNOR RICK SNYDER


Regardless of how you voted or didn't in the last election, you have an opportunity to change things. If you're a Conservative, do it for smaller government. If you are a Tea Party adherent, do it because he represents taxation without representation. If you are a Libertarian, do it for democracy. If you are an Independent do it because you believe that your vote should count. If you are a Democrat why do I even have to tell you why? Do something brave. When you see the petitioner at the supermarket don't assume that the 'activists' will take care of it. Be an activist...


SIGN THE PETITION




Then VOTE.  For all of us....

The Buddha who would kill Bin Ladin

The media has been abuzz about the words of HH The Dalai Lama who, in a question about killing Osama Bin Ladin stated, "in the case of Bin Laden, his action was of course destructive and the September 11 events killed thousands of people…so his action must be brought to justice.”

The implication in the media has been mulling over the seeming paradox of the famously non-violent priest who even admonishes his own countrymen from attacking the genocidal persecutors of his own rightful homeland. This does seem a bit confusing but not if you understand Tibetan Buddhism in a more historical context. It is also helpful if we stop syncretizing Buddhism as if it were a Western religion replete with a black/white right/wrong western theology. There isn't even a 'The' in their 'Ology'. Just as their 'justice' is not ours. They are not a sin/punishment religion, they are a consequences/responsibility philosophy.

Buddhism is a philosophy that looks at ethical choices in terms of Karmic actions and Dharmic actions. Kharmic actions are those of humans and have consequences desirable and undesirable. No good or evil judgments here. Dharma is the desired state where all is in harmony with the desires of the universe (at least in a nutshell) and the desired human potential. The workings of Man can be termed Evolutionary and summed up as 'Just Try'. The Universe; "Just Is'. Justice. There is a constant striving for the search (karma) for compassion and justice (dharma). One is not better either. 

If we look at what His Holiness is saying in this light many things emerge. He is not prescribing, he is describing. He is saying, 'when you do this, that happens'. Justice. He also says that he understands. What he does not say is that he would not ever do the same thing. That wouldn't fit in with Buddhist Philosophy. 


So would he ever prescribe violence? The gotcha type media of the Wall Street Journal would have you believe he was ambiguous and hypocritical or situationally politic. The left leaning press would have you believe he was equally ambiguous but still non-violent. Neither is being truthful.

In the Dharmnapada it is written that the Buddha himself tells us, "'He abused me, he struck me, he overcame me, he robbed me' — in those who harbour such thoughts hatred will never cease." But the Dalai Lama tells us in that same speech that 'forgiveness does not mean forgetting.'  So what does he mean?

"He abused me, he struck me, he overcame me, he robbed me..." Certainly there is a progression here and extended to its worst degree we might find the actions of Bin Ladin.  The Dalai Lama said that the killer of thousands must be brought to justice. His philosophy also prescribes who must mete out this justice. So why doesn't he attack China? Surely they have killed more than a few thousand... 

Tibetans have long practiced Boabom, their unique martial art. It too is a progression that steps from meditation, to movement, to dance, to physical art, to martial art, to weapons. Each person in the culture learns the moves one at a time and steps up the purpose of the basic movement. These various aspects of the practice equate to the steps of querant, novitiate, student, monk, warrior, master. Implicit in this progression is the idea that His Holiness is alluding to. Justice or right action. Right action is appropriate to the place in the progression. Yours and your enemies. A child does not attempt justice because of the consequences or karma that might happen.  A warrior might choose differently and a master like the Dalai Lama would also choose differently; for himself. For him, the master, 'Dialogue is the only way'  Boabom would teach, 'The only way for now...' For Now.

Because underneath the spate of recent Lama Bulls is an unmistakable message to China who is becoming increasingly genocidal to the monks. This most recent speech is part of a series of surprising speeches that speak on the uprisings in  North Africa, the unrest in China, Democracy, the rise of India and now, a not so veiled admonition to Pakistan and China in the guise of a his holiness homily. Like Jesus, the Lama is a very political warrior priest. His words are nuanced, layered and far reaching. While the world is playing International Chess, he is playing GeoPolitical 'GO'...

Compassion for the world might necessitate killing its predators. As countries we also are in an evolution. We (the US) are more warrior than priest and we also have the mastery to carry out justice with relatively little undesirable consequences. Not so for, say, Tibet. It has neither the strength or mastery to overcome its genocidal oppressors. But the Dalai Lama is not excluding the possibility. His alliances with India and the US has the GO playing complexity of a man who reads Sun Tzu. When the progression of Tibet is appropriate to action and China is weak or facing a third army, Tibet will not be meek. Wars and countries have been lost underestimating monks of every sort and, then, the Buddha will kill and we must not be surprised. Or judge... Because Dharma will have been forgotten. We can only hope the Peace Buddha comes before then.

Southern Comfort...

Two Muslim clerics, ironically going to a conference on religious intolerance, were ejected from a plane in Memphis when the pilot claimed that they made some passengers 'uncomfortable'. Delta and TSA representatives both tried to convince the pilot to let them reboard and also interviewed the passengers and could find no passengers who had filed such a complaint.

This is not the first time this has happened (even in Memphis) and not just in the south (Minneapolis) as my cheeky title may suggest. It is, however, the first time that a pilot would use the standard of 'they make me uncomfortable' to have two innocent citizens bodily ejected from the plane. Let me be clear that both men were checked and cleared twice before boarding and again after ejection and the Delta representative begged the Atlantic SouthEast pilot to let them reboard. He refused.

The men were dressed in the robes of an Imam and were wearing the traditional skullcaps and while it might be reasonable for the TSA, Delta or even a pilot to have concerns, once it had been proven that the men posed no threat at all, they should have been allowed back on the flight. This did not happen because one individual created his own standard based upon his own religious intolerance.

He is not alone. The NPR journalist Juan Williams was fired for these remarks, "Williams responded: "Look, Bill, I'm not a bigot. You know the kind of books I've written about the civil rights movement in this country. But when I get on the plane, I got to tell you, if I see people who are in Muslim garb and I think, you know, they are identifying themselves first and foremost as Muslims, I get worried. I get nervous." In the cited second article it was Hindi woman who expressed similar fears. 

Juan Williams is African American and has written eloquently about racism and so it is odd that he would hold such an opinion but listen carefully what he is saying. You can be Muslim but you are not allowed to identify yourself 'first and foremost as Muslims'. He further says, "I get worried. I get nervous." The pilot says the same thing.

It is not illegal to be worried, suspicious and or uncomfortable but we live in a world of laws. Your right to be those things does not extend to any right to take away the rights of others. To me the most egregious thing is that the TSA and Delta did nothing to enforce these innocent men's rights. Delta's apology said they apologize that 'it may have caused anyone inconvenience'. May have? Anyone? Inconvenience?

NPR was right to fire Williams. Southeastern based in Memphis has made no such statement. They should. Already the blogosphere is ripe with apologists and a 'better safe than sorry' meme is being touted. Nothing new. This was wrong. This was illegal and to pay lip service to the law sends a powerful message to the world. It is okay to do anything to people who are different. People who make you 'uncomfortable'. Will the pilot be fired? Probably not. Past investigations have frowned on the employees but protected their 'right' to make judgement calls such as this despite the law.

The events of 9/11 were the acts of 'terrorists'. The recent acts of Navy SEALS were the acts of patriots, liberators and heroes. I cringed, though' as I saw people celebrating  on CNN chanting USA with 'F**k Allah'. I understand and feel relief as well but these are the acts of the terrorized. I can celebrate liberation, heroism and patriotism but hate and violence can only be the results of misplaced and fearful posturing. To take away the rights of the innocents because you are simply 'uncomfortable' and afraid means one thing. The terrorists have won.

“Live your life, do your work, then take your hat” - Thoreau

In the last week, a prince found his bride, a dictator saw his child and grandchildren die, a dead pope became a saint, the president divulged his long form birth certificate and, all the while,our wars rage on, hundreds of tornadoes kill hundreds of people and state after state works to dismantle a hundred or so years of a great and compassionate society. What I will take away from this week? A young girl in a funny hat. What does this say about me? About us? 

Mae West said, “It isn't what I do, but how I do it.  It isn't what I say, but how I say it, and how I look when I do it and say it”. I don’t really think that she meant that we should all be shallow. I do think she means that if you don’t capture someone’s attention you won’t have their ear (or heart). Mae managed both. Hopefully, Princess Beatrice will attract someone who sees something besides a toilet seat wrapped with a ribbon.

We live in a time when so many things are scary, confusing, negative or just overwhelming. We can’t stop trying to help or fix or whatever but maybe we need a different way. Maybe all the arguing, debate and discourse has become wallpaper.  Bad wallpaper. The kind that has scenes of dogs killing wild pigs and hunters shooting foxes surrounded by hounds. In the dining room. In flocking. The British (who love this wallpaper) call their hats ‘fascinators’. Maybe we need to Fascinate more. Flock less...

Yesterday night I laughed so hard it hurt. Who was the comic? It was President Obama poking fun at Donald Trump. After weeks of  silence and working hard to be the adult in the room, the president let loose at the Correspondents' Annual dinner. In one monologue he successfully wiped out anyone’s hopes of seeing the Donald as a candidate. Mr. Trump did the rest by showing very publicly how thin skinned he was by scowling the entire time.

After weeks of silence while someone went on every network, cable channel and even AM radio to question his birth, his intelligence, his race and even his religion, the president leveled a single volley and won the war. With humor. When it was Obama's turn in the hot seat  it was Seth Mayer who was the hired gun for the evening. His machine gun delivery, dead panning and snarky boy SNL delivery was great and while he fired away we watched two men in the same room who would be our nation's leader. One laughing at himself; one scowling at the court jester.

Certainly it was the right place and time and certainly the President gave and took equally and skewered himself the most; his ‘Lion King ‘clip as his birth video was hysterically funny and he showed a great capacity for laughter even at his own expense. Ultimately, the well written jab may fascinate us but it is what happens afterwards that makes all the difference. All jokes aside, at the end of the day, he was still the adult in the room.

I will try to be funnier. I will wear a hat…