A monk asked Ma-tsu [Baso]: What is Buddha? Ma-tsu replied: "The mind is Buddha" A monk asked Ma-tsu: What is Buddha? Ma-tsu replied: "The mind is not Buddha" --From the book "Zen Flesh, Zen Bones: A Collection of Zen and Pre-Zen Writings", … [Read more...]
On Asking Experts, Part One, Or, Do Democrats Really Understand Their LBGT Problem?
"We were liberated not only empty-handed but left in the power of a people who resented our emancipation as an act of unjust punishment to them. They were therefore armed with a motive for doing everything in their power to render our … [Read more...]
Halliburton Gets $2 Billion Contract For Florida “Cardboard Condos”
Nearly two years in development, the new product, officially known as the Emergency Living Device, Experimental, Regular Length, Yard (ELDERLY), is a response to the 2014 privatization of the Social Security program and the 2016 stock … [Read more...]
On Why Voting Matters, Or, Could You Outrun The Toxic Red Flood?
"...Oui, ma foi, c'est un bougre déterminé..." --A sailor aboard the French ship Héros describing his Admiral, Pierre André de Suffren de Saint Tropez, 1783. Quoted from the book "Command at Sea", by Oliver Warner. So here's the long and … [Read more...]
On Fence-Straddling, Or, And Now, A Few Words From Blanche Lincoln
And there is still this most difficult question of all: If we are eventually fortunate enough to find truth, who among us will know how to make good use of it? --Jean Jacques Rousseau, "Discourse on the Arts and Sciences" So here's the … [Read more...]
On Fear: The Islam Edition, Or, Do You Know My Friend Wa’el?
This world is a comedy to those who think, a tragedy to those that feel --Horace Walpole, Fourth Earl of Orford, in a letter, August, 1776 So all of this took place at Newsvine...and if you're not familiar with how things work there, users … [Read more...]
On Homeland Security, Or, We Visit A Terrorist Gathering Place
I can't give away too many details, for security reasons, but I can tell you that this particular distribution center is located about three miles from the Boeing Company's Renton, Washington, manufacturing site. (The assembly lines for the … [Read more...]
On Saving 319,000 Jobs, Or, Legislation Keeps Teachers Teaching
So across my desk have come documents that report how many jobs will be saved by the House coming back into session to vote out H.R. 1586 and send it to the President for his signature. Long story short, after all the commemorative pens … [Read more...]
On Organized Fearmongering Revealed, Or, “Lock Up The Kids It’s The Gay!”
So first things first: one of the sites where my postings are to be found is The Bilerico Project, and over there Dr. Jillian T. Weiss has gone to the time and trouble of explaining the nuts and bolts of this ruling in a very accessible … [Read more...]
Lee Surrenders To Grant, Obama Retains Slavery
Ohio Congressman Zebidiah Kucinich summed up the anger from the left: "We won the war, for God's sakes, which is a mandate if I ever saw one, and yet the first thing the President orders when putting together surrender terms is to take the … [Read more...]