Author's posts
Jun 30 2008
Covering Mud With Straw
Thich Nhat Hanh writes in Being Peace (1987):
The fourth practice is Covering Mud with Straw. You know when you walk in the countryside after a rain, it is very muddy. If you have straw to spread over the mud, you can walk safely. One respected senior monk is appointed to represent each side of the conflict. These two monks then address the assembly, trying to say something to de-escalate the feeling in the concerned people. In a Buddhist sangha, people respect the high monks. We call them ancestral teachers. They don’t have to say very much; whatever they say is taken very seriously by the rest of the community. One says something concerning this monk, and what he says will cause the other monk to understand better and de-escalate his feeling, his anger or his resistance. Then the other high monk says something to protect the other monk, saying it in a way that the first monk feels better. By doing so, they dissipate the hard feelings in the hearts of the two monks and help them to accept the verdict proposed by the community. Putting straw on mud– the mud is the dispute, and the straw is the loving kindness of the Dharma
I want to put straw on the mud. I am not a senior monk. I am just another person asking us to stop the fighting, to pause, unconditionally to cease the hostilities. Maybe if we just stopped and breathed, we could find refuge.
I am inhaling all of the darkness and misunderstanding and hurt feelings and anger and sadness of the past few days, and I am exhaling peace and relaxation. I am inhaling the disputes and arguments, and I am exhaling peace and happiness. This practice is called Tonglen.
Pema Chodron has written about tonglen:
This is the core of the practice: breathing in other’s pain so they can be well and have more space to relax and open, and breathing out, sending them relaxation or whatever you feel would bring them relief and happiness.
Enough talking. Enough explaining. Enough thinking. Enough. Let’s try breathing. Let’s try stopping and breathing. Let’s just stop.
Thich Nhat Hanh writes:
In the peace movement there is a lot of anger, frustration and misunderstanding. The peace movement can write very good protest letters, but they are not yet able to write a love letter.
He could be talking about blogs. He could be talking about us. May we be excellent to each other. May we all be safe. May we all be well. May we all be peace.
Jun 30 2008
Please Put A Blogger On Your Radio Show
June 29, 2008
The Media Project
WAMC, Northeast Public Radio
318 Central Avenue
Albany, New York 12206
Dear Alan, Ira, Elisa and Rex:
This evening, again, the subject of Blogs came up during your show, the Media Project. And, to nobody’s particular surprise, the usual, superficial analysis was quickly dispensed: bloggers are not journalists, blogs have no quality control, blogs are too quick, blogs have no restraints, blogs by anonymous writers are irresponsible, blogs don’t gather news, some blogs print “horrible” things. I’ve come to expect this.
The fact is that there are millions of blogs. For political and cultural analysis these come in two main types: group blogs (e.g., daily Kos in left Blogistan) and individual blogs. Individual blogs, like newspapers, radio, and TV, have enormous variations in intelligence and quality. Some are absolutely brilliant; others, unreadable. But both kinds of blogs are extremely democratic: anybody with access to a computer can be a writer and express an opinion or an analysis or spread a story. Anybody with a comment about a story is free to post it. Yoanni Sanchez, a prizewinning Cuban blogger, uses the computer at the local library. One doesn’t need money to be a blogger. Only time and desire. Bloggers who are no good remain unread and eventually give up. Bloggers who have something to say are ultimately recognized and build a readership.
Jun 29 2008
The End Of The World: Across America Cruising Dies
cross posted from The Dream Antilles
It’s another sign of the End of the World. The NY Times writes the obituary for summertime teenage cruising:
For car-loving American teenagers, this is turning out to be the summer the cruising died.
Kevin Ballschmiede, 16, pined for his 1999 Dodge Ram – “my pride and joy” – the other night as he hung out in a parking lot in this town outside Chicago. Given that filling the 26-gallon tank can now cost more than $100, he had left it at home and caught a ride.
From coast to coast, American teenagers appear to be driving less this summer. Police officers who keep watch on weekend cruising zones say fewer youths are spending their time driving around in circles, with more of them hanging out in parking lots, malls or movie theaters.
The price spike in gasoline, to an average of $4.07 a gallon for regular unleaded, is so recent that government statistics do not yet capture the teenage-driving trend. But the figures show that overall demand for gasoline is dropping. In dozens of interviews, teenagers and their parents said the price of gasoline was forcing hard choices on them.
Jun 26 2008
Obama: Stop Pandering To Barbarians
cross posted from The Dream Antilles
The Supreme Court ruled 5-4 this week that Louisiana’s statute permitting the death penalty for child rape was unconstitutional. The decision was a step against extending the barbarianism of the death penalty to crimes in which the victim was not killed.
Justice Anthony M. Kennedy wrote the opinion, saying, in essence, that the crime, awful as it is, does not merit capital punishment.
“The incongruity between the crime of child rape and the harshness of the death penalty poses risks of over-punishment and counsels against a constitutional ruling that the death penalty can be expanded to include this offense,” Kennedy wrote.
He was joined by Justices John Paul Stevens, David H. Souter, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen G. Breyer.
Put simply, a majority of the Supreme felt that as a substantive matter, the death penalty for child rape was cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth Amendment and could not be permitted.
Jun 22 2008
On National Numbness
cross posted from The Dream Antilles
This morning’s Docudharma Times led off with a New York Times story about the interrogation of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed. It’s worth reading all the way through. I found it extremely disturbing, and I haven’t been able to get it out of my mind. Hence, this essay is an expansion of this comment.
As Viet71 appropriately noted in the comments, the Times story
tries to put a “human face” on the CIA torture of prisoners by focusing on a CIA interrogator who doesn’t seem to be such a bad guy at all.
The writer displays absolutely no disgust for the topic about which he writes and paints a fairly calm picture of the CIA renditions and harsh methods.
There is no mention in the article of high-level administration approval of torture.
All in all, I believe this article is aimed at causing people to believe that what the CIA did in these renditions just wasn’t that bad.
In other words, the story appears to be propaganda for the acceptance of CIA behavior in extraordinary renditions illegal extraditions and harsh interrogation techniques torture.
I agree with the comment. How, I wonder, can the arrest, detention in a secret prison in Poland, illegal extradition, and yes, torture, of Khalid Shaikh Mohammad not provoke outrage? How, I wonder, did we end up with a story focusing on the “good cop” in the interrogation, and virtually ignoring the “bad cops”, the ones with whom the “good cop” was acting in concert in the interrogation, the “knuckledraggers” who admittedly, repeatedly abused the prisoner? Do we just overlook the war crimes and human rights violations? Are we numb?
Jun 19 2008
The End Of The World As We Know It
Or at the least that first effects of The Recession have finally arrived on privileged corners of Manhattan.
This from the The New York Times, which as you will recall, contains all the news that’s fit to print, and chronicles events in the world from its lofty perspective. The headline: “In weak economy, forgoing $4 lattes for home brews.”
The ”latte effect” of the go-go years had consumers spending $4 a day on coffee. Now the downturn is forcing them to rethink the wisdom of such habits.
As inflation squeezes budgets, middle-class Americans are taking fresh stock of their spending in search of ways to save a nickel or a dime. The result: People are giving up a variety of small financial vices. ..snip
While the idea that little costs add up is nothing new, it comes with added sticker shock as food and gas prices sprint along at a record pace. The result is that people are finally putting the breaks on vices once considered necessary — like frappuccinos. ..snip
The result is fewer latte runs. Literally.
Last month, Starbucks Corp. blamed rising food and gas prices when it reported a 28 percent drop in second-quarter earnings, and said sales at U.S. stores open at least a year had dropped — indicating some may finally be summoning their inner Scrooges.
This cute article is a sign that even the New York Times, which usually lives in an opulent world, recognizes that the economy is crashing and that even greater discomfort is coming. Being The Times, it says it’s no big deal. Ha ha ha. People are just tightening their belts a little bit. It’s not a big deal, really. We’re all doing fine, right?? Well, aren’t we?
Jun 15 2008
Argentina Breaks Up Farmers’ Protest, Strikes Continue (Updated)
cross posted from The Dream Antilles
Police Break Up Today’s Protest
This past Spring (Fall in Argentina) Argentina’s president, Cristina Kirchner, decided to raise export taxes on grains. This has led to more than three months of bitter protests by farmers, essayed here, and to shortages of meat, oil, flour and fuel. Kirchner has refused to repeal the tax increase, which she claims will cut inflation and increase food supplies to the poor. Farmers have responded by cutting off transportation routes in an effort to strike back at the government. And the government has said in response to blockades of roads by farmers that it would guarantee free travel on all roads in Argentina.
As a result, food that normally ships to Europe and Asia has not made it to port, and hundreds of thousands of gallons of spoiled milk have been dumped on rural routes, and there are huge shortages of food in the capital city and elsewhere. In other words, after more than 3 months, there remains a complete deadlock.
Please join me in Gualeguaychu.
Jun 13 2008
Tim Russert, RIP
From the NY Times:
Tim Russert, the host of “Meet the Press,” and NBC’s Washington bureau chief, has died. He was 58.
Mr. Russert was a towering figure in American journalism and moderated several debates during the recent presidential primary season.
Tom Brokaw, the former anchor of NBC Nightly News, came on the air at 3:39 p.m. and reported that Mr. Russert had collapsed and died early this afternoon while at work. He had just returned from Italy with his family.
“Our beloved colleague,” a grave Mr. Brokaw called him, one of the premier journalists of our time. He said this was one of the most important years in his life, with his deep engagement in the network’s political coverage, and that he “worked to the point of exhaustion.” Mr. Brokaw said Mr. Russert was a true child of Buffalo and always stayed in touch with his blue collar roots and “the ethos of that community.”
Jun 13 2008
What the Huck?
This will be really short. The Boston Globe reports:
Mike Huckabee, whose quips and one-liners livened up the Republican nomination race, has a new gig: political commentator for Fox News Channel.
Huckabee will regularly contribute to the “America’s Election HQ” coverage, the network announced this afternoon.
“Governor Huckabee’s campaign experience and knowledge of politics makes him a great addition to our ongoing election coverage,” Bill Shine, Fox senior vice president of programming, said in a statement.
Huckabee’s humor and homespun turns of phrase won’t hurt either. One recent joke fell flat, however, when at the National Rifle Association conference last month, he quipped about Barack Obama ducking for cover when a loud bang sounded offstage while Huckabee was speaking.
Pardon me while I barf.
Jun 12 2008
Is A Price Ceiling For Gasoline Off The Table?
Today, as I drove past a local intersection in upstate, Eastern New York with 2 gas stations, Mobil and Sunoco, and observed that the price of unleaded regular was now $4.169/gallon, I said aloud, making a terroristic hand gesture, “Basta ja! Enough already! Somebody needs to freeze the price right where it is before it gets even higher.” Sometimes the truth is said in anger.
Maybe what’s needed in the short term is a price ceiling on gasoline, diesel fuel, home heating oil. Admittedly this would not be a long term solution to America’s lack of an energy policy, but it might provide some short-term relief to consumers. And it would provide far more relief than the bogus McSame proposal for a “gas tax holiday.”
Jun 11 2008
BREAKING: Oil Addicted Economy Is In The Breakdown Lane
This is an extremely brief sequel to this gasoline essay.
Here you go:
Oil prices veered wildly on Wednesday, as they swung back from a spike higher on a sharp fall in crude oil stocks shown in weekly data. Crude oil in New York trading jumped $6.79, to $138.10 a barrel immediately after the release of the inventory data. It retreated to $134.66 but was trading up $4.25, to $135.56 at midday.
The government’s Energy Information Administration showed that American crude oil stocks fell 4.6 million barrels to 302 million barrels last week, four times the drop that analysts’ expected.
The price fluctuations came as the Energy secretary, Samuel W. Bodman III, representing the world’s top energy user [that would be the US], said on Wednesday that he would attend a meeting later this month in Saudi Arabia where global energy producers and consumers will grapple with record-high oil prices.
As oil prices have surged 40 percent since January, Washington has differed with Saudi Arabia – the world’s top exporter – on the reason behind the price increase.
Did you get that? Again:
where global energy producers and consumers will grapple with record-high oil prices
Producers and consumers will “grapple” in Saudi Arabia. This will be bigger than the Thriller in Manilla. Not. This “grapple” is being promoted by the alleged “free market,” supply side, tax cutting Ayn Rand fans in DC. I wouldn’t expect a caged, no rules, death match. I’d expect more kissy face and tea with “our Saudi friends.” And, of course, no short term solution, and no longer term energy policy changes. Crickets.
Folks, everything is breaking down. Since we don’t have a short term solution for gas prices, I have nothing new to offer, except maybe hiding your wallet.
Jun 09 2008
Gasoline: Widening The Gap Between Rich And Poor
cross posted at The Dream Antilles
Is lack of any US energy policy designed to drive the poorest Americans even deeper into poverty? To drive them to the cities? To drive them off their land? To drive their wages lower? It sure looks like it, and that rising gas prices are the means to those ends.
This morning’s NY Times, focusing on the Mississippi Delta, finally reveals the problem all of us suspected as soon as gas prices started to spike. The bleak news:
Here in the Mississippi Delta, some farm workers are borrowing money from their bosses so they can fill their tanks and get to work. Some are switching jobs for shorter commutes.
People are giving up meat so they can buy fuel. Gasoline theft is rising. And drivers are running out of gas more often, leaving their cars by the side of the road until they can scrape together gas money.
The disparity between rural America and the rest of the country is a matter of simple home economics. Nationwide, Americans are now spending about 4 percent of their take-home income on gasoline. By contrast, in some counties in the Mississippi Delta, that figure has surpassed 13 percent.
As a result, gasoline expenses are rivaling what families spend on food and housing.
“This crisis really impacts those who are at the economic margins of society, mostly in the rural areas and particularly parts of the Southeast,” said Fred Rozell, retail pricing director at the Oil Price Information Service, a fuel analysis firm. “These are people who have to decide between food and transportation.”
Put simply, gas at $4 a gallon and more means that the poor, who go without on a good day, are forced to go without even more. It’s not a pretty picture. It means that paying for gas competes with the utilities, food, health care, clothing, school supplies, and every other household item.