Friday, December 30, 2005
Sunday, December 25, 2005
Sunday, December 18, 2005
Coca-riffic
Socialist coca farmer Evo Morales leads Boliva elections.
A socialist coca farmer as president. This is going to be interesting.
A socialist coca farmer as president. This is going to be interesting.
Saturday, December 17, 2005
Idea Bombs
Via MeejBlog.
The Zen of Iraq Today's koan comes to us from non...
The Zen of Iraq
Today's koan comes to us from none other than the aged master George Bush, bodhisattva of gratuitous bloodshed:
Like many of Bush's parables, this one plays with the contrast between reality and illusion: the tax cuts will shrink the deficit but the deficit is bigger than ever, America does not torture but America must keep torture legal. The worldly eye sees these as contradictions, lies, and distortions; the enlightened mind sees them as multiple facets of the same transcendent truth.
To those bound to the material world, there must be a material cause for a material war: physical weapons held by a physical enemy, actual ties to actual terrorists, a palpable and existing threat. The enlightened mind, however, sees past the facade of the Real to the broader world of Hypotheticality that lies beyond it. Thus, the enlightened man does not inspect the world of matter for physical weapons. He searches, deep within the unscapes of the mind, for Weapons of Mass Possibility, hypothetically ready to be used by imaginary terrorists on the helpless pretend citizens of the world. Bush does not invade Iraq to destroy weapons that aren't there, but to not-destroy the non-weapons that could have been there if things were entirely different.
The student now asks, "But if the threat is imaginary, shouldn't the war be imaginary as well?" Here we reach the crux of the dilemma: for while worldly life tries to convince us that the war is "real," costing billions of "real" dollars and killing thousands of "real" people, we must remind ourselves that the true war exists only in the mind, where abstract Freedom defeats conceptual Terror with idyllic idea-bombs. We must be as Bush, who turns the Real war lightly in his meditations, until it achieves the lightness of the lotus blossum and the butterfly and the air itself, and two thousand American fatalities and thirty thousand Iraqi corpses drift effortlessly from his thoughts.
To close, then, a final mystery to ponder in silence:
Today's koan comes to us from none other than the aged master George Bush, bodhisattva of gratuitous bloodshed:
One day a young monk came before Bush and said to him, "There were no weapons of mass destruction. There was no threat from Saddam. Why then is there a war?"A moment, now, to pause and reflect on the teachings of the war-buddha.
Bush replied, "True, there was no threat to justify the war. But still there was a threat, and the war is justified."
Like many of Bush's parables, this one plays with the contrast between reality and illusion: the tax cuts will shrink the deficit but the deficit is bigger than ever, America does not torture but America must keep torture legal. The worldly eye sees these as contradictions, lies, and distortions; the enlightened mind sees them as multiple facets of the same transcendent truth.
To those bound to the material world, there must be a material cause for a material war: physical weapons held by a physical enemy, actual ties to actual terrorists, a palpable and existing threat. The enlightened mind, however, sees past the facade of the Real to the broader world of Hypotheticality that lies beyond it. Thus, the enlightened man does not inspect the world of matter for physical weapons. He searches, deep within the unscapes of the mind, for Weapons of Mass Possibility, hypothetically ready to be used by imaginary terrorists on the helpless pretend citizens of the world. Bush does not invade Iraq to destroy weapons that aren't there, but to not-destroy the non-weapons that could have been there if things were entirely different.
The student now asks, "But if the threat is imaginary, shouldn't the war be imaginary as well?" Here we reach the crux of the dilemma: for while worldly life tries to convince us that the war is "real," costing billions of "real" dollars and killing thousands of "real" people, we must remind ourselves that the true war exists only in the mind, where abstract Freedom defeats conceptual Terror with idyllic idea-bombs. We must be as Bush, who turns the Real war lightly in his meditations, until it achieves the lightness of the lotus blossum and the butterfly and the air itself, and two thousand American fatalities and thirty thousand Iraqi corpses drift effortlessly from his thoughts.
To close, then, a final mystery to ponder in silence:
A young monk approached Bush and showed him an old dog. "Does this dog have buddha-nature?" he asked. Bush shot the dog and replied, "The dog was a threat, and you said he was, too." Years later they were both eaten by larger, angrier dogs, and the monk was enlightened.
Friday, December 16, 2005
Bush Ordered Secret Surveillance Without Warrants
Wow, the NSA is spying on American citizens in America, without a warrant.
http://talkleft.com/new_archives/013422.html
"Mr. Bush's executive order allowing some warrantless eavesdropping on those inside the United States including American citizens, permanent legal residents, tourists and other foreigners is based on classified legal opinions that assert that the president has broad powers to order such searches, derived in part from the September 2001 Congressional resolution authorizing him to wage war on Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups, according to the officials familiar with the N.S.A. operation."
http://talkleft.com/new_archives/013422.html
"Mr. Bush's executive order allowing some warrantless eavesdropping on those inside the United States including American citizens, permanent legal residents, tourists and other foreigners is based on classified legal opinions that assert that the president has broad powers to order such searches, derived in part from the September 2001 Congressional resolution authorizing him to wage war on Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups, according to the officials familiar with the N.S.A. operation."
Monday, December 12, 2005
Keep an eye out.
I was IM'ing someone who is English as a second language today...
Afterwards I wondered at the imagery of the phrase "I will keep an eye out for that".
Afterwards I wondered at the imagery of the phrase "I will keep an eye out for that".
Sunday, December 11, 2005
Bush bashing
Bush on the Constitution: 'It's just a goddamned piece of paper'
http://www.capitolhillblue.com/artman/publish/article_7779.shtml
I saw this on Jshep's Blog, and since he doesn't allow comments I'll respond here:
I like a good bit of Bush bashing as much as the next guy, but this seems to be a little too much to believe. I'm going to need a little more background than 3 unnamed people that were at the meeting...
http://www.capitolhillblue.com/artman/publish/article_7779.shtml
I saw this on Jshep's Blog, and since he doesn't allow comments I'll respond here:
I like a good bit of Bush bashing as much as the next guy, but this seems to be a little too much to believe. I'm going to need a little more background than 3 unnamed people that were at the meeting...
Monday, December 05, 2005
Windows (The real kind) part 2
West Coast Vinyl called back.. and apparently Mr. Casino was going for the jackpot, cause they cut the bid from $16,000 to $10,500.
In other casino news, I just purchased my tickets to LasVegas.
RedRock here I Come
Prince of Darkness is on the hit list
Maybe Epinephrine on Sunday
-JD
In other casino news, I just purchased my tickets to LasVegas.
RedRock here I Come
Prince of Darkness is on the hit list
Maybe Epinephrine on Sunday
-JD