Tannishblog

A first for the usually dour Tannishblog: A fun and funny video! I bet you didn’t think I had it in me (A funnybone, that is…). I offer to you: A Gentleman’s Duel.

Nearly a thousand public school students and officials marched yesterday in downtown Chicago to protest a plague of student deaths on the city’s south side. The rally began in response to the slaying of Chavez Clarke, 18, in the parking lot of the Simeon Career Academy. As the Chicago Tribune reports:

Violence has claimed the lives of the 22 district students so far this school year, 20 of them by gun violence, a tally that does not include dropouts such as Shannon Brown, a former Fenger High School student who died hours before the rally, after a shooting on the Far South Side.

Chanting “We want futures, not funerals,” and displaying sign that read “Don’t Shoot. I Want To Grow Up,” the high school students and public officials marched around the James R. Thompson Center, which houses state offices.

The victims are often underprivileged kids who have turned to neighborhood gangs to gain stability and security in their lives. Low income, inner city youths have few options beyond street lives.

Kandyce Dean, a Simeon 11th grader who said she was friends with Clarke, believes getting guns off the street is the first step police must take to keep them safe. But she added that students, especially gang members, need more options, including job training, after-school programs and counseling.

“It’s gang-related. These boys are losing their minds. They don’t have anything to fall back on. They just look toward the streets,” Dean said. “They just don’t care.”

The usual posturing occurred. A prominent South Side Reverend called for $5,000 bounty on the shooters. Chicago’s Mayor Richard M. Daley asked the students to call authorities when they see a gun. But the kids know whats needed:

Bayti Dowling-Brown, a 12th grader at Truman Middle College Alternative High School, … and said officials should work with parents to help them keep their children away from gangs and violence.

“Many of these gang members don’t have parents home 24-7. . . . Being in a gang, it’s safety. You have a group that is going to back you up,” she said.

Students also called on police to take a more active role. Many said they want more police at schools and more officers working to get gangs and guns off the street.

Who says inner city students don’t get an education?

ABC News reports today that a Pentagon report that found no direct link between Saddam Hussein and Al Qaida is being suppressed. Plans to announce the report via press release are canceled. It wont be emailed to the media, nor is it a available online. the Pentagon will gladly mail the report on a CD to an “interested parties” requesting the information.

Speaking of suppression, the media has spent 3 days airing a certain governors soiled laundry instead of reporting a much more important event: the resignation of Admiral William J. Fallon, the military commander of US Middle East operations who hinted that he would resign if the government continued to push for war with Iran. Others have noted the media’s disinterest the good Admirals retirement. Or perhaps the Blaring Spitzer Story (no link, you already know…) is a smokescreen?

I’m not into conspiracy theories, most assume an incredible amount of coordination and secrecy. Most coincidences like this are a product of disparate forces working independently in close proximity. That said, I get worried at the pervasiveness of the pattern, wherein a monumental occurrence is foreshadowed in the Media by stories of - shall we say - Total Bimbosity.

Now Admiral Fallon steps down to little fanfare, and he will be just as quietly replaced by a more acquiescent soldier. Just as the General who opposed the surge quit to be replaced by General David Petraus. Even the ABC News story will be swept under a rock by tomorrow. We don’t need further proof of our National Gullibility.

But none of that is NEWS. It doesn’t have any sex in it. Or murder, or violence… or Missing Blonde Women…or Psychotic Celebrities… or…

Move Along. There’s nothing to see here.

As much as I would love to write about other subjects, I keep returning to News & Politics. I am appalled daily on how our nation has changed just in the last decade. This blog is developing a life of its own in enumerating the outrageous new course our nation has taken. What could be more enraging following image and the story behind it.

The Debate Link: Manchild in the Prison Land

Are you outraged yet? You should be.

The winners of the 2008 Blogisattva Awards were announced last Sunday. To my glee, I was honored with a win in the Best Achievement in Wonderful, Remarkable, Elegant Design category. But the best part is being introduced to so many remarkable Buddhist bloggers sharing their experiences and words. My bookmark files overfloeth.

Thank you all. Namaste.

The inclusion of this blog in a list of outstanding Buddhist blogs is surprising. I’m grateful, but perhaps unworthy. This is not exactly a “Buddhist Blog,” despite a few tentative attempts. Its more like a collection of political, leftist whining. Even in that aspect, it’s losing steam. Perhaps that’s a (insert appropriate judgment here) thing.

Neither do I necessarily feel I am a Buddhist, although I’ve taken vows, meditate (almost) daily and make continued progress to tame the mental patterns of my youth. I yearn to make a contribution to the social and spiritual awakening of your species. Reality says such an undertaking is yet beyond me; I am a Baby Buddhist, so I must make baby steps. For now, any influence I might own is small. So I focus on small tasks to positively improve the world around me:

• I can shed my rage in realization that is has done me only harm.
• I can stop dwelling on how I believe the world ought to function, in realization that “should” is a dangerous toy.
• I can speak only praise - or nothing at all, in realization that discretion is the better part of discussion.
• I can smile more - and mean it.
• I can shed excess emotive states, saving my energy for accomplishments.
• I can be gentle and courteous, professional and honest.

Having such modest aims as a centerpiece of Buddhist practice, I am amazed by its effectiveness. Within my tiny sphere of influence I has seen how these changes affect those around me and spread out exponentially. And when I forget, I recall the opening lines of the Metta Sutra:

This is what should be done
By one who is skilled in goodness,
And who knows the path of peace:
Let them be able and upright,
Straightforward and gentle in speech.
Humble and not conceited,
Contented and easily satisfied.
Unburdened with duties and frugal in their ways.
Peaceful and calm, and wise and skillful,
Not proud and demanding in nature.
Let them not do the slightest thing
That the wise would later reprove…

Such are the tentative steps of a spiritual toddler on the path toward enlightenment. Its Changing my world, One smile at a time. Most of the smiles aren’t even mine.

I just learned that this humble blog is a nominee for the 2008 Blogisattva Awards. Perusing their many nominees, I see they’re promoting primarily Buddhist bloggers whom, in my opinion, can use some recognition - if even amongst ourselves. The project is quite comprehensive, boasting “26 categories of awards with an aggregate 132 nominations.” I’d love to know how they found this little blog…

Look me up under the category of:
Best Achievement in Wonderful, Remarkable Elegant Design.

(It could use a few more superlatives, perhaps?) The winners will be announced, this Sunday, Feb 24, 2008.

Cool. Thanks, good people!

The Economic stimulus package just passed by congress is a joke. It will not affect our economy beyond furthering the budget deficit by $168 billion. The reason is simple: the money is already spent. The $1,500 I expect from the deal (if I read the fine print correctly) is mostly gone with a mortgage payment and a weeks groceries and gas. Poof! I will not be using it to buy that wall mounted, high definition television from the local store.

The idea of the US Government handing out checks is laughable. In the words of Shel Silverstein: “get your coat and grab you hat, son. There’s a nut down on the corner giving dollar bills away.”

Aparently I’m not the only one thinking this way. From MSNBC:

(J)ust 19 percent of the people surveyed said they planned to go out and spend the money; 45 percent said they’d use it to pay bills. And nearly half said what the government really should do is get out of Iraq.

Forty-eight percent said a pullout would help fix the country’s economic problems “a great deal,” and an additional 20 percent said it would help at least somewhat. Some 43 percent said increasing government spending on health care, education and housing programs would help a great deal; 36 percent said cutting taxes.

“Let’s stop paying for this war,” said Hilda Sanchez, 44, of Waterford, Calif. “There are a lot of people who are struggling. We can use the money to pay for medical care and help people who were put out of their homes.”

I concur.

My neighbor lady is 88 years old. Her husband died a few years back and they have no surviving children. A scattering of friends, neighbors and her husbands 2 elder brothers are her only lifelines. My wife shops for her, as she can’t drive anymore. As far as I know all she does during the day is watch television and read newspapers. Ever since her husband died, she’s been cleaning out her house of forty years of accumulation. She’s methodically cleaning up after her life, putting her affairs in order and awaiting the inevitable. Some days are good and some days are bad. What kind of life is that in terms of quality?

I think on this as I read a New York Times article on Assisted Suicide. Please read it, it may become a very important subject to you one day.

Gloria C. Phares, a 93-year-old retired teacher in Missouri, wrote:

“I was healthy until 90, and then Boom! Atrial fibrillation; deaf, can’t enjoy music or hear a voice unless 10 inches from my ear; fell, fractured my thigh and am now a cripple; had a slight stroke the day after my beloved husband died after 61 years of marriage.

“I’ve lived a happy life, but from here on out it’s all downhill. Is there any point in my living any longer? I’m not living — just existing. I very much want to die, but our society doesn’t let me. Oh for a pill to ease myself out and end my pain, pain, pain.”

No authority exists that has he right to tell anyone they cannot end their life. Not family, friends, the government nor the church can dictate what is best for any person. To the extent that all these entities will try to do so, is the extent to which our society is most wrongfully arrogant.

We have Assisted Living. Why not Assisted Dying. Its humane.

President Bush, acting as the Unitary Executive, is making secret deals with Iraq. Under the euphemism “Enduring Relationship,” a Declaration of Principles has been documented, which outlines in the most glowing terms, unending embroilment in the desert.

One of the “Principles” is “Supporting the Republic of Iraq in defending its democratic system against internal and external threats.” This is bothersome on many levels.

And under the law, the president is entitled to broker a status-of-forces agreement without congressional approval.

“The president, as the commander in chief, can enter into an agreement and in theory, certainly as complex an agreement as he deems appropriate and necessary under the circumstances,” says retired Gen. Michael Nardotti, formerly the Army’s top lawyer.

But in the case of Iraq, even the most optimistic assessments don’t expect the situation there to become as stable as Japan or South Korea for decades.

“Bases of the U.S. around the world are not situated in an occupied country,” explains Raed Jarrar, an Iraqi political activist who recently testified before Congress on this issue. “For example, U.S. forces in Japan can’t just go out of their bases and [set up] a checkpoint in Tokyo. They can’t go around Tokyo arresting Japanese people.”

And in Japan or South Korea, the U.S. military isn’t allowed to maintain internal stability. In other words, it can’t protect those governments from internal threats. Indeed, in South Korea, two governments have been overthrown in coups in the past 50 years. The U.S. military could not and did not intervene.

First we illegally occupy a sovereignty, destroy its government and prop up a puppetocracy in its place. Then we let the puppets kill the newly-deposed President. We next start negotiating - at gunpoint, of course - a business deal benefiting American oil companies. Since that failed, we are now negotiating to morph our armed forces into the Iraqi National Guard, to give us the right to protect the nation we broke from “internal and external threats.” We become their military. And, although unstated, I venture to guess that we will be the final arbiters as to who and what constitutes a threat.

Since the US is suffering the Pottery Barn effect (you break it, you buy it) with regards to Iraq, our Liar-in-Chief is tying up the loose ends of his failed hostile takeover bid of Saddam Hussein’s oilfields. As he does so, he is tying a noose around the necks of every single US Solider that will be killed in Iraq going forward, in perpetuity.

Coining vague catch phrases like “Enduring Relationship” or talk of an “Enduring Presence” in Iraq cannot sugar coat the reality that the US is an Imperial power creating a colony out of a previously autonomous nation. We’re there for the oil, and when it’s gone, we’ll leave. Not. Until. Then.

Luckily, people are asking the right questions, these days. Questions like “Is it legal.” the answer, as NPR notes, lies on the boundary between Agreement and Treaty. It’s down to semantics. Sadly, our government is ill equipped to handle the subtly of semantics. Bring in the lawyers.

Lawyering takes time, and our administration expects to broker this deal by Summer. We don’t have the time. We REALLY need to impeach these bastards.