Robin Beck

Hi Robin,

You're nothing like my ex, thank goodness. I think you are a kind, gentle, compassionate man.

Keep that blood pressure under control. We want you around for a long time to come.

M.

"racist tendencies"

I never really had any racist tendencies. I know a lot people who have subtle ones. I played ball with black kids as a kid, and just never felt out of place in the black community. I did, at one time have homophobic beliefs; but on the hand, I have had a lot of gay friends, and my homophobic beliefs exempted them.

One time I was the only white face at a soul party. My date was Asian. Some guy {who I knew hated white folks} approached me. The place got quiet. He told me he thought it was cool the way I got along. I told him I thought it was cool the way he got along too. Brought the house down.

I wonder how all the people who trash Sarah Palin would act to her face? People are just people. I know Obama gets some grief from the right, but I do not see the intense hatred I see coming from the left. Spiritually, I can not take being around that much pure intense dvesha / dosa. Some treat conservatives with the same contempt the KKK has for black people. I know some KKK people too, I can take being around them very long either.

btw, kids and animals generally like me. I would say old people too, but I am pretty much old now.

http://firedoglake.com/

I better not. My blood pressure.

A Sarah Palin factoid:

"Her husband, Todd, is a Native Yup’ik Eskimo. Outside the fishing season, Todd works for at an oil field on the North Slope and is a champion snowmobiler, winning the 2000-mile “Iron Dog” race four times. The two eloped shortly after Palin graduated college; when they learned they needed witnesses for the civil ceremony, they recruited two residents from the old-age home down the street. The Palin family lives in Wasilla, about 40 miles (64 km) north of Anchorage."

"Re: Nichols. As opposed to some Faux News folks who make up stuff and call it fact?"

Generally, they either give opinions and call them opinions, or they name the source, or have the source sitting there. There is little or no "an informed source told me" nonsense on the segments I watch.

gassho

robin

Robin, I am certain Sarah has never picked up a golf club in her life. To imply such is an insult to hockey moms everywhere!

Hi again Robin,

If you dislike HuffPo, you'll really hate this:

http://firedoglake.com/

Michele

Hi Robin,

Re: Nichols. As opposed to some Faux News folks who make up stuff and call it fact?

I'm well aware of Arianna's and David Brock's conversions. I prefer to think that they "saw the light." ;-)

Yeah, my ex voted for McGovern in 1972 and now, I think, he is somewhat of a Libertarian with subtle (and sometimes not-so-subtle) racist tendencies. I can live with the Libertarian leanings but not the racism. (Moral of that story is never-marry-someone-you-met-at-a-political rally. Of course, husband #2 I met at an NSA meeting. Worked out better and we are now both with Nichiren Shu. I digress . . .)

I look forward to all your Buddhist projects. I admire your dedication to study.

Who is John Nichols and how did he obtain this inside information? Does he have direct access to the inner workings of the Republican Party? Is he some 'Nation' dude who makes stuff and calls it fact? I do agree it was a move to balance the ticket. I think it was a good decision. I agree Palin balances the ticket; I am certain no one told McCain who he could and could not choose. He may have sought advice but he also made the call. What are Pawlenty, Powell, Romney, Lieberman, and Ridge saying about Palin? I mean them, not what some Daily Kos, Alternet, Nation, or Huffy Post person say they heard someone heard they said. The Daily Kos, Huffy Post and other shameless hacks were going to slime Lieberman or Ridge too. I am also sure the left would love to pick our candidates for us.

However, the campaign to portray Sarah as a neo-fascist is way over the top. They have connected the dots between some off hand comments and attributed the views of her former Pastor to her. It is shrill and hysterical. That sort of hatchet job can be done even more easily to Obama. I suppose it has, in a very subtle and restrained sort of way -- jokes that he was a community agitator -- er organizer. There is actually something behind that joke. The thing is, the mainstream print and broadcast news media would never allow an Internet, rumor and innuendo driven full bore attack on Obama. Meanwhile, they are willing participants in the sliming of Sarah Palin; who, btw, I think is strong enough to take it; she does not need a crying towel or handicap tee. The readiness of the left to believe massive right wing conspiracy theories, and their tactic of viciously destroying anyone who commits the thought crime of not agreeing with their views; are two of the reasons why I left the left years ago -- I voted for McGovern in 1972.

gassho

robin

BTW,

Did you know that the wealthy Ariana Huffington was once a flakey far right wing journalist hack? As was David Brock? They used to do the same thing for the far right that they now do for the far left. Ariana was even far left before she was far right. She seems to always be far something, attached to or enamored with some extreme view.

Oh, BTW; I am working on some other Buddhist projects:

Ninth Consciousness

Explorations of Nichiren Buddhism; Buddhist Meditation, Iconography, Epistemology, Healing, and wherever else my mind may roam.

mettasense.blogspot.com/

Gongyo on Line

Practical methods and resources to learn and enhance the dynamic Buddhist practice of Mandala Visualization, Sutra Recitation, & Mantra Chanting.

gongyosense.blogspot.com/

Gohonzon On Line

Pictures of and information about Nichiren Mandala Gohonzons.

honzonsense.blogspot.com/

Hi Robin,

I heard an interview of John Nichols on TYT at the Repubican Convention, where he said that a week before McCain picked Palin, Charlie [Something - can't remember the name], a Republican "fixer," sat down with McCain and told him all the reasons he couldn't pick Ridge or Lieberman to be his VP. He told him that if he picked someone like that, the convention would revolt. He had to pick sometime who would energize the base of the party; someone acceptable to Religious Right. So, he chose Palin.

Balance

Well, Robin, he did pich Palin so how liberal could he be? If he were a liberal Republican he would have picked Chuck Hegel.

Mark

Well, Robin, he did pich Palin so how liberal could he be? If he were a liberal Republican he would have picked Chuck Hegel.

Mark

Wow! Is McCain right wing now? I always saw him as a liberal leaning Republican.

Dear Michelle:

Obama is about as far left as David Dinkins and McCain is about as far right as Attila the Hun (despite his, "no one but I know the true horrors of war" bit). I guess a little personal suffering under Obama would be bettere than a collective suffering for the entire world. I just hope that Obama will stand up to the attacks of the Islamic fundamentalists because every sane person knows it isn't IF these attacks will occur, it is WHEN

Mark.

Read my lips Vanya; no more politics!

Hi Mark,

"Since you are eager to hear what I have to say about Obama, McCain, Palin and Biden . . ."

While I can't say that I was awaiting your response with baited breath, I do appreciate the clarification.

I find the term Dinkinizatin disturbing and it brings to mind what Rep. Westmoreland said the other day -- that Michelle and Barack Obama are "uppity." (Actually, he said that they think they are "uppity," which doesn't make a whole lot of sense. I don't know any African-Americans who think of themselves in pejorative terms or in terms that bring up deep, dark memories of slave and Jim Crow times.)

What we need to take out of this election cycle are racism and sexism. We ought to stick to the issues. And I mean that on both sides -- right and left.

Robin, you have said many times in the past that you will stop posting about politics.

Why can't you keep your campaign promises?

Dinkinization?

David Dinkins; the tax raiser who did not bother to pay his own? The one who said, "I haven't committed a crime. What I did was fail to comply with the law."

I kind of agreed with his reasoning. Not paying income tax is a "sin of omission." A real crime is a "sin of commission.

What to you mean by Dinkinization? I was thinking more the Barryization.

Hi Michele:

Robin interjected the following into his discourse:

"I should think Sean Haniity would have liitle trouble making mincemeat of Sullivan's snide innuendo. Now, that said, Ms, Palin's Church does look a tad exclusivist. That does not mean every member is an exclusivist, any more than every member of Nichiren Shoshu, Soka Gakkai, Kempon Hokke, or HBS is a bigot. I am a religious inclusivist personally. Most Christians I know are generally inclusivists; they are as conflicted over "the only way" business as many critically thinking Nichiren Buddhists are over Nichiren's harsher rhetoric. If they give voice to those thoughts; then they are prone to being assailed; much as some have here assailed Reverend Ryuei for being tolerant and questioning some of what Nichiren wrote."

Was it not this that I was commenting on? Since you are eager to hear what I have to say about Obama, McCain, Palin and Biden, my view is that we have a choice between advocates of perpetual war and the Dinkinization of America. Since a (near?) perpetual war is beyond the medicine of either McCain or Obama, we have no choice but to spread the Mystic Law. What do you think?

Mark

I am saying it is hard to pigeon hole a person's beliefs based on their Church. Not all members of a congregation are as extreme as their leaders.
That applies to Obama and Palin. The liberal bloggers apparently did not like Obama being associated with the views of a weirdo like Phlager or a hateful extremist like Wright. However, it is somehow fine to try to call Palin an anti-semite by association with a guest speaker at her Church.

Oh, and I doubt I will write much about politics, as I find it boring for the most part. If I do write or think about politics, I tend get sarcastic and cynical. The answer to human problems is spiritual. I saw more real compassion at the Republican Convention than the Democrats. especially liked Cindy McCain's segment.

The only political comment I ever see at Fraught with Peril is boiler plate left; I thought it would be fun to have some occasional balance.

Hi Robin,

I disagree with you politically, but respect your right to present your views, though I feel they are wrong-headed.

That being said, I hope you will continue to write thoughtful, interesting posts on Buddhism.

I'm still trying to figure out how Mark's comment relates to what you wrote about Sarah Palin . . .

Thanks for the assist Mark. That is exactly what I was talking about.

Dear Robin:

Anyone who calls themselves Nichiren Buddhist, let alone a Nichiren priest, should be a Nichiren Buddhist and not a Ryuei, Nichiki, Ikeda, Nichiju, or Beck Buddhist.

You write:

"I am a religious inclusivist personally. Most Christians I know are generally inclusivists; they are as conflicted over "the only way" business as many critically thinking Nichiren Buddhists are over Nichiren's harsher rhetoric. If they give voice to those thoughts; then they are prone to being assailed; much as some have here assailed Reverend Ryuei for being tolerant and questioning some of what Nichiren wrote."

I maintain that if you or Ryuei, for example, are conflicted over Nichiren's "harsh rhetoric", that you stop calling yourselves Nichiren Buddhists, immediately.

Mark