Brad Warner's Hardcore Zen: Good Vs. Evil
This will be my last Suicide Girls posting before Americans will make their choice between shining, purest good and foulest, most vile evil.
Will we choose the candidate who supports needless death, war and bloodshed or the one who supports meekly kneeling before the terrorist hordes that seek to destroy our civilization?
Will we vote for the one who'll take a stand for making our environment clean and healthy for future generations or for the one who will build up our industries and get our economy back in order?
Will we elect the candidate who wants to murder innocent, unborn children or the one who will take away women's rights to choose and thereby create an overpopulated and impoverished world?
The choice this year is so black and white; the powers that be have even kindly given us color-coded candidates to help us choose. But could black be good and white evil?
Is anyone else as sick as I am of all the hype and rhetoric -- the way everything is presented as a choice between the rightest right and the wrongest wrong (as in the examples cited above)? And am I the only person in America who feels like hes living in an episode of The Prisoner these days? Doesnt all the stuff thats going on in world politics and economics feel a little too perfect to anyone else -- like the whole thing has been carefully scripted? When the hostages were freed in Iran the day after Reagan took office it was eight years before anyone seemed to notice that was just a little too easy. Isnt it funny how we got a full-on economic meltdown exactly a month before the elections?
Im not one for conspiracy theories and I dont have one to lay out for you here. I just think the whole thing reeks like a tub of rotten tuna. Thats all.
Even though a song by my band Zero Defex is being used by the Ralph Nader campaign in one of their official web commercials, Im not the least bit excited by the elections. Politicians stir up our emotions, fire our imaginations, present enticing visions of hope and prosperity or conjure up fearful specters of war and slavery.
Politics take place in the realm of the human mind, where good and evil exist. Politicians are like stage magicians using sleight of hand to draw attention away from reality.
Its none of my business who you vote for. Im sure you agree with that. But Ive been pretty horrified by what Ive seen from a number of American Buddhist teachers who think it is their business. Way too many Buddhist teachers and Buddhist centers in this country think that Buddhism and liberal politics are one and the same. Four years ago when Dubya won a second term I was contacted about contributing to a book about Buddhist reactions to the re-election. Writers were invited to talk about feelings of loss, disenfranchisement, and powerlessness as if not a single Buddhist in the United States had supported the Bush campaign. I wanted to write about how amazing Bush was just to provide some balance. Trey Parker said the most punk rock thing you could do in LA was walk into a party and say, I think George Bush is awesome! Same in the world of American Buddhism. The book never came out. Good.
My own teachers teacher, Kodo Sawaki, said, The right wing is completely wrong. The left wing is also completely wrong.
He also said:
A person who wants to become president doesnt know where hes going in life.
Their election is so important to them that presidents and congressmen campaign to rally votes. Idiots! Even if they asked me to become president, Id turn it down: How dumb do you think I am anyway?
One guy loses the presidential election, so he cries. Next time around he wins the election, and then he smiles into the camera. Its exactly the same way with a crying child: you offer him some candy and already a smile breaks out on his teary face. A little more maturity would be nice.
Everyone is talking about loyalty to the fatherland. The question is simply where this loyalty will take us. I too was completely convinced when I went to war against the Russians, but after our defeat, I realized that we had done something that we shouldnt have. In any case, its better not to make war in the first place.
Listen. Voting is good. So get out there and vote. But watch your level of excitement about the process. Those highs and lows are damaging. For all the feelings of loss, disenfranchisement, and powerlessness the guys who wanted to make that book about Bushs re-election felt, the world survived his second term more or less in tact. I may be too cynical about the whole thing, but Ive always loved that joke where an Englishman tries to explain American politics to a fellow Englishman. On the one hand they have the Republican party which is analogous to our Conservative party, he says, and on the other hand they have the Democratic party, which is analogous to our Conservative party.
Perhaps the very slight differences between one candidate and another have some value. I would never say they didnt. Just dont get your panties in a bunch if your guy loses or celebrate the ultimate triumph of good over evil if he wins. Im sure all of you politicos reading this will say you already know that. But any scan of the TV when the results are announced will prove otherwise. All that elation and all that hopelessness ripple outward like a wave.
The balance that you retain or lose right now will ultimately have a far greater effect upon the world than who gets elected.
Brad Warner is the author of Hardcore Zen and Sit Down and Shut Up!. He maintains a blog about Buddhist stuff and a MySpace page too. If you're in Southern California and you want to try some Zazen for yourself, he has a group that meets every Saturday in Santa Monica.
Buy the new CD by his band Zero Defex at CD Baby now!
Can You Believe It Hilary? I Cannot!
Hilary once appeared to be the perfect candidate for feminist voters intelligent, determined, and dedicated in her pursuit of valiant social causes like children's welfare and women's equality. Hilary was also the first first lady in American history to have a postgraduate degree and a full-time career.
"There is an assumption that because she's a woman, because of the excitement about the potential of a woman running for president, because of her first lady status, that women will automatically adhere to her in a strong way," said Kate Michelman, former head of NARAL Pro-Choice America, who is currently working to overturn the South Dakota abortion ban. "I don't think that's true. Hillary, along with every other candidate who aspires to this nomination, has to earn the women's vote."
She didn't manage it. Twice! Ouch. Obama picked Biden. So what about the new girl? Perhaps it would be sexist to view Palin as a Hilary replacement, but we can't help but wonder if the force that would invigorate the McCain vote was chosen for just that reason.
Hilary once said of her ambitious nature, "I suppose I could have stayed home and baked cookies and had teas, but what I decided to do was fulfill my profession, which I entered before my husband was in public life. I'm a big believer in women making the choices that are right for them. The work that I have done as a professional, as a public advocate, has been aimed at trying to assure that women can make the choices they should make."
No one can accuse Palin of spending too much time baking. Her power-hungry appetite would be better satiated by abusing her position and firing anyone who gets in her way. Anne Kilkenny, Wasilla resident, tells it like it is.
While Sarah was Mayor of Wasilla she tried to fire our highly respected City Librarian because the Librarian refused to consider removing from the library some books that Sarah wanted removed. City residents rallied to the defense of the City Librarian and against Palins attempt at out-and-out censorship, so Palin backed down and withdrew her termination letter. People who fought her attempt to oust the Librarian are on her enemies list to this day.
This is hardly a one-off case. Sarah seems to have a history of ruthlessness, whilst playing on her gender for sympathy. Too bad she tried to replace her victim with someone even worse.
As Mayor, Sarah fired Wasillas Police Chief because he intimidated her, she told the press. As Governor, her recent firing of Alaskas top cop has the ring of familiarity about it. He served at her pleasure and she had every legal right to fire him, but its pretty clear that an important factor in her decision to fire him was because he wouldnt fire her sisters ex-husband, a State Trooper. Under investigation for abuse of power, she has had to admit that more than 2 dozen contacts were made between her staff and family to the person that she later fired, pressuring him to fire her ex-brother-in-law. She tried to replace the man she fired with a man who she knew had been reprimanded for sexual harassment; when this caused a public furor, she withdrew her support.
Her staunch pro-life stance, even in the case of rape, would suggest that she doesn't seem to be interested in assuring women can make their own choices
She's chosen to be a working mother but she would deny other women the right to make their own decisions, and has even used her own underage, pregnant daughter as a political pawn for her own views. She even lied about it. She wants to abstinence-only sex education taught in schools. Because that worked out so well for her own family.
She knows how to spend! (... other peoples' money.) She served two terms as mayor of Wasilla (1996-2002) and left the city with a debt of over $22 million, having increased general government expenditure by over 33%. I've heard she has the decorating skills and moral fibre reminiscent of a young Martha Stewart...
While Mayor, City Hall was extensively remodeled and her office redecorated more than once.
Easy on the gold leaf, Sarah. Damn, that's expensive wallpaper!
So far, she doesn't seem like much of a feminist. But look at it another way. Hunting hardly seems the kind of activity befitting a dull stay-at-home Stepford wife. She used the tools handed her to get what she wanted out of life an education. Sometimes a girl gotta hustle.
Palin hunts, fishes, and was voted Miss Congeniality after winning a beauty pageant, which paved the way for a scholarship to pay her college fees in her small town in Alaska.
For some reason, she spent 5 years in 4 schools getting her degree. Perhaps it took her that many schools to find people she could threaten. Or put her beauty-pageant skills to work on.
And lastly, HERE's a video of Sarah and Hilary (sort of) standing side by side on Saturday Night Live, calling for an end to political sexism. Kinda.
Suck It Reverend Wright
Few of us were fortunate enough to escape the bizarre ape-shittery that was the Republican uproar over Barack Obama's former minister's comments regarding America. Even if Obama has distanced himself from the Reverend Wright, conservatives said, how could he have ever attended his church to begin with if he didn't share those beliefs?
Well Republicans, prepare to be tongue-tied with all your backpedaling. It seems that anti-female female Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin's former pastor (whose name is actually Tim McGraw) has some interesting views of his own.
Among them:
"faith healing" and the "end times" -- a violent upheaval that they believe will deliver Jesus Christ's second coming.
"Our basic belief is that God is God and he knows where history is going and he has a purposeful plan and within the middle of that plan we live in an environment in our world where certain events would take place," says McGraw. "Sarah wasn't taught to look for one particular sign -- a cataclysmic sign. She knew as every Christian does ... that God is sovereign and he is in control."
Okay, nothing too out of the ordinary there. Oh, wait, there's more from another one of her former preachers:
Senior Pastor Ed Kalnin, from Wasilla Assembly of God once said those who voted for John Kerry for president in 2004 would not go to heaven. The church has since said he was joking about those voters going to hell and has apologized. That same pastor also said that Alaska will be a refuge for the end days..that Alaska will serve as a shelter for Christians at the end of the world. Pastor Kalnin said God is going to basically reserve (Alaska) for the place of refuge because the earth is groaning for the return of God.
Couldn't God have chosen a warmer climate? Say, Hawaii?
Oh yeah, the church also talks in tongues:
Palin's former pastor, Tim McGraw, says that like many Pentecostal churches, some members speak in tongues, although he says he's never seen Palin do so. Church member Caroline Spangler told CNN, "When the spirit comes on you, you utter things that nobody else can understand ... only God can understand what is coming out of our mouths."
Well... hey, at least she's multi-lingual! All right, but still, she left that church in 2002...
But the Assembly of God says she still returns for special conferences and events, such as the graduation of ministry students in June. Video of a speech she gave at the church just two months before joining the Republican ticket is making the rounds on the Internet.
Speaking of the troops in Iraq, Palin says on the video, ""Pray for our military men and women who are striving do to what is right. Also for this country, that our leaders, our national leaders, are sending them out on a task that is from God. That's what we have to make sure that we're praying for -- that there is a plan, and that plan is God's plan."
Maybe it's just me, but the God I believe in sure as hell wouldn't have fucked up in Iraq this badly. And, to be fair, the church she joined in 2002 isn't exactly an improvement.
Palin now attends the Wasilla Bible Church. She was there on August 17, just days before entering the national spotlight. David Brickner, the founder of Jews for Jesus, was a speaker. He told congregants that terrorist attacks on Israel were God's "judgment" of Jews who haven't embraced Christianity. Brickner said, "Judgment is very real and we see it played out on the pages of the newspapers and on the television. When a Palestinian from East Jerusalem took a bulldozer and went plowing through a score of cars, killing numbers of people. Judgment -- you can't miss it."
The McCain campaign says his comments do not reflect her religious views. Palin's spokeswoman says she is pro-Israel.
So, just for the record, this is the storyline: Obama believes what his reverend (whom he has disavowed) said, but Palin doesn't believe what her current pastor says. Stick to the script, you sinful bastards, and we'll be fine.
Worst Mom Ever? McCain's VP Pick
What do you do if your sixteen-year old daughter is pregnant with a baby that's going to have Down's Syndrome? Tell her to have the baby, then pretend it's yours forever. This, at least, would appear to be the only option if you're a governor who got elected on an anti-choice/abstinence-only-education platform and are currently hoping to be elected to the second-most powerful office in the world. There are reasons to suspect that Sarah Palin, Republican presidential nominee John McCain's choice for Vice-President, did just that.
Let me stress here that this is, as of right now, a rumor on the Internet. SuicideGirls news is not a credible news source, and neither are any of the other places on the internet which allege Sarah Palin's youngest son actually belongs to her daughter Bristol. So why report it? Because unless a large number of non-credible sources makes some noise on this point, no credible news source will use its expense account to send a reporter to Alaska and go through hospital records and find out whether or not it's true. So what's the evidence so far?
The strangest piece of evidence, according to (credible and pro-Palin news source) The Wall Street Journal is that she allegedly started having contractions, then, against the advice of her doctor, made a speech in Dallas, and then flew to Anchorage -- a flight that could not have taken less than six hours -- to have the baby.
"Maybe they shouldn't have let me fly, but I wasn't showing much so they didn't know," she says.
Not only did they not notice she was pregnant, but neither did anyone else during her pregnancy--at least not until she mentioned it, seven months in, according to The Anchorage Daily News.
That the pregnancy is so advanced astonished all who heard the news. The Governor, a runner who has always been trim, simply doesn't look pregnant. Even close members of her staff said they only learned this week that their boss was expecting.
There are dozens of photos of the Governor during the late stages of her pregnancy, she doesn't look especially pregnant--but it's pretty hard to say either way. I will not sully SuicideGirls with fully-clothed MIDNLF photos.
Last and possibly least, the controversial and quite possibly unreliable DailyKos -- who started the story/rumor -- reports that Sarah Palin's daughter, Bristol Palin, was reportedly out of school for four months with "mono". Mononucleosis usually lasts a month at most, though symptoms can linger for up to three months. To be fair: in the "against" category, there is the fact that the child in question has Down's Syndrome. Down's is much more likely in older women, but is nonetheless a possibility for all mothers. Most babies born with Down's are born to younger mothers, following the pattern for fertility in general.
None of this evidence is conclusive at all, but considering that the possible future Vice-President may have forced her daughter to have a child in order to further her own political carrier and anti-choice policies, this non-reporter feels this is certainly an important enough issue to encourage real reporters to check this story out some time very soon. Maybe it's all a baseless lefty rumor, but if the real press doesn't do its job, we'll never know.