Robin Beck

"Now, the truth of the matter is I cannot abide by a candidate who runs with a VP (next in line) who is an "end-times" Christian."

That, like most of what the media is saying, appears to be greatly blown out of proportion. She seems to be very much a separation of Church and State person. Factcheck.org has the most in depth analysis I have seen. The Huffington Post people appear to be either incompetent or unethical. Daily Kos is despicable. That is the only reason I am commenting. If the left wants to take the moral high ground, they ought to be ethical. I think we will here more about her personal religious views in the coming days. I would not my faith judged by perceptions of some of the whackier Buddhists I have known. BTW; I saw Paster Kroon interviewed. He seems like a decent man.

"Ron Paul supporter"

I could support him on most issues.

Robin,

I certainly respect your knowledge and dedication to the practice and study Buddhism, as I aspire to do as well, but I must disagree. I struggled a bit with Barack Obama early on in the primaries. With great ease he seemed to say just the right things, perhaps falling just a bit short of inspiring me. I was more of a Ron Paul supporter (and still support his informed views), but it turns out that I was inspired by Barack Obama in a way not unlike the goals one succeeds in attaining through assidious practice and true faith in oneself. My view seemed to fuse with his message.

Now, the truth of the matter is I cannot abide by a candidate who runs with a VP (next in line) who is an "end-times" Christian. This is certainly dangerous when McCain himself is the victim of severe mental and physical trauma. These people cannot have their hands near the "red phone".

namaste

cl

Thanks for the kind, thoughtful comments Leon. Please stop buy and visit again. I noticed a trace of hostility there. I hope it does not affect your health adversely. I am certainly not a racist or sexist, as anyone who knows me can attest. I oppose centralization of authority, I support state's rights. I tend toward laissez faire economic policies and oppose stringent socio-economic controls. I am also an advocate of free speech, including the right to bray in public.

The only place where I have heard about censorship and racial quotas are on left leaning college campuses. Also, branding people one disagrees with as fascists strikes me as a form of terrorism, It might even be slander or libel. The massive media attacks on Sarah Palin seem to be real effective. McCain is surging in the polls. The abusive treatment of Sarah Palin appears to be a big reason.

As I commented to one of my liberal Buddhist friends, Buddhism tends to get checked at the door when American politics becomes the topic. Negative thoughts, emotions, or desires -- mental knots -- called Kleshas come into play.

Dosa or dvesha = hatred, dislike, repugnance, revulsion, loathing. Also: Upahana = resentment, Pradasa = spite, vindictiveness, vexation; Manyu: = grudge; Asuya = malice, malevolence; Krodha = fury, wrath, rage; Jighansa = treachery, vengefulness; and Vihimsa = violence, harmfulness.

Also, Viksepa = distraction; Musitasmrtita = heedlessness, forgetfulness, not mindful; Auddhatya or Uddhava = restlessness, dis-ease; Kukkucca = anxiety; and Asamprajanya = thoughtlessness.

Atrapa, Anapatrapya, Anottappa = lack of conscience, and Ahrikya = shamelessness, lack of embarassment.

Bonno soku Bodai means we can transmute these unhealthy mental into healthy mental states. The first step is to feel remorse and shame. This leads to confession, repentance, self reformation, and the cultivation of merits and healthy mental states.

I think that is a good application of the agitation theory of social activism.

Right now, I think I have a good understanding of Bonno Soku Bodai or Kleshas = Bodhi, in principal and methodology. My conceptual understanding still needs some work. The Buddha reduces kleshas to three roots; but the terms seem to vary. I think they can be reduced to attraction {yum}, revulsion {ugh}, and apathy {meh}. I might revisit that.

gassho

robin

R. Beck, you may not be a FASCIST but you certainly are an ignorant fool and a LIAR. Oh, Hell--you are a fascist too.

Fascism

fas·cism n.1. often Fascism
a. A system of government marked by centralization of authority under a dictator, stringent socioeconomic controls, suppression of the opposition through terror and censorship, and typically a policy of belligerent nationalism and racism.
b. A political philosophy or movement based on or advocating such a system of government.

Oppressive, dictatorial control.

I guess I could say that Obama is not a marxist, but some of his background is marxistic? Just joking. It seems like Buddhist teachings like kindness, compassion, forbearance, honesty, and even discernment get left at the door when American politics becomes the topic. I do not mean you; I mean in general. I am increasingly apolitical and lean libertarian. I do not see the value in hysterical rhetoric, and do not fear either BGP. I predict that McCain will win and Democrats will be sure the election was stolen. Or Obama wins, and the mainstream media will declare that the economy is suddenly great.

Whichever Party gets elected, I expect something will be done on health care that no one really likes. The logical move would be to loosen the medicaid rules that the CWA tightened. I do not see any significant change in Iraq policy, even though Obama and Biden voted for surrender. Someone needs to do something about energy costs, and I think that means drill here, drill now. Obama might be able to do it; just like Nixon went to China, and Clinton got welfare reform done. Energy costs are making the CPI and Colas meaningless.

Right now, the tone on the left is turning a lot of people off and energizing the right. I predicted on day one that there were roads to attack Palin, but those are land mined. Obama really should not want to compare notes on earmarks. He requested a lot with a 30% success rate. There are also question marks about his earmarks for James Crown, his sudden increase in wealth circa 2004, the financing of his 1.65 million home, among other things.

end of boring ramble

I have no wish to further offend the keeper of this blog. I think I've made made this kind of statement myself out of anger and not compassion. However, what the name-caller might be referring to is a kind of synergistic element of post WWII American culture that began to coalesce into a kind of authoritarian/uniform, myth-based, hero-worship, superman envy kind of jock-patriotic culture that many people call "fascistic" in error. On the other hand, the "rally" which Bush held right after he 'won'(check OHIO) the 04 election was , at least in decorum, somewhat 'fascist'...

whoops!