Swami Uptown Archive: August 2004

Thought for Today
August 31, 2004 | 3:30 p.m.

When that song [Willie's 2003 protest song, "Whatever Happened to Peace on Earth?"] was getting all that flak, some guy called me in San Antonio where I was doing a call-in radio show. I was talking about "Thou Shalt Not Kill." He said, "That really doesn't mean that. That means under certain conditions, it's ok." I said, "Well, you know, I think way back then, God knew how to spell. So if He says, 'Thou Shalt Not Kill,' that's what he meant.
--Willie Nelson, interviewed in No Depression Magazine

Does Bernard Kerik Make You Feel Safer?
August 31, 2004 | 3:30 p.m.

Bernard Kerik was Commissioner of Police in New York City on 9/11. Last year, he did a five-month tour in Iraq as adviser to the nascent Interior Ministry. He is a partner in Rudolph Giuliani's consulting firm. Here he is, speaking at the Republican Convention, last night:

Today in Afghanistan, the Taliban has been unseated from power and the Al Queda leadership is on the run.

And here is yesterday's news from Afghanistan:

American officials warned all U.S. citizens Monday to avoid high-profile locations and government facilities in the Afghan capital after Sunday's car bombing outside the office of an U.S. security firm here. Officials said the blast killed at least six people, including three Americans.

Spokesmen for the Taliban militia, the armed Islamic extremist group that claimed responsibility for the attack, vowed Monday to step up violence in Kabul and other cities where U.S. military forces and civilian projects are operating.

"We have started our attacks from Kabul under new planning and preparation," Mullah Dadullah, a Taliban leader, told news agencies here via telephone. "We will carry out more attacks and bombings in Kabul, and our [fighters] are present in cities where the occupation forces and infidels are present."

"Unseated" and "on the run?" Swami wonders: What would "totally defeated" look like to Bernard Kerik?

Vietnam: A Bush Question That Lacks An Answer
August 31, 2004 | 3:30 p.m.

Swami has looked high. Swami has looked low. Nowhere can he find the answer to this question:

Has George W. Bush, at any time in his life, visited the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington, D.C.?

Can you help? A nod of the virtual turban to Swami's Information Benefactor.

Another Sad Gay Man in a Straight Man's Role
August 31, 2004 | 3:30 p.m.

U.S. Rep. Edward L. Schrock (R, Virginia) just dropped his bid for a third term. They're definitely not thanking him for devoted service at the Republican Convention, even though Schrock, 63, is a retired career Navy officer and Vietnam veteran, the second most conservative person in all of Congress in 2003 (behind only Dennis Hastert) and co-sponsor of the Federal Marriage Amendment.

Here's the sad (but sort of predictable) irony. Schrock--a husband and father who opposes any possible rights for gay people, including non-discrimination in employment--seems to be gay.

Seems that a website devoted to exposing closeted gays in Congress learned that Schrock left messages--audiotaped sex requests--on a gay dating service. Pathetic, isn't it? Here's a guy who's been told to believe that homosexuals choose to be gay and that their choice is evil, and, in what looks like a textbook case of a self-hating gay man, he not only can't control his urges but creates evidence that wrecks his career.

How many other men in blazers and button-down shirts and striped ties are in New York this week, wondering if they dare make a call that they could never make back home?

Meet "Mr. Compassionate Conservative"
August 31, 2004 | 3:30 p.m.

In a recent column about the biggest controversy of this election campaign-- that's right: Vietnam--a columnist named Marvin Olasky wrote:

The other thing both of us [Olasky and Bush] can and do say is that we did not save ourselves: God alone saves sinners (and I can surely add, of whom I was the worst). Being born again, we don't have to justify ourselves. Being saved, we don't have to be saviors.

John Kerry, once-born, has no such spiritual support, nor do most of his top admirers in the heavily secularized Democratic Party.

For spiritually-inclined readers, Olasky seemed to be saying that Bush's "born again" status renders him superior to Kerry who, as a Catholic, is "once-born." And he seemed to be saying that this was true of all Christian adults who have not fallen to their knees, accepted Jesus and entered into the roster of the "born again" Elect.

If Marvin Olasky were just another syndicated columnist, his views would be compelling only to those who agree with him. But Marvin Olasky--though probably unknown to most of you--turns out to be one of the most important thinkers in America.

For George Bush, he may be the most important, for it was Olasky, a decade ago, who coined the phrase "Compassionate Conservativism"--a phrase sure to be heard often at the Republican Convention today, when the day's theme is "Compassion." (How much does Bush admire Olasky? As Governor, Bush wrote the introduction to Olasky's book, "Compassionate Conservatism." "Marvin is compassionate conservatism's leading thinker," Bush writes. He shows us how "we can make the world more welcoming.")

Beliefnet Editor-in-Chief Steve Waldman, clearly recognizing the blockbuster implications of Olasky's column, recently had an email chat with Olasky. There wasn't time for a full conversation, and Olasky's answers were oblique-- he likes to direct questioners to the Bible and deal in linguistic distinctions, like, say, the difference between "justify" and "justification"-- so Waldman wasn't able to get the kind of blunt answers that would really illuminate these issues.

No surprise there. Olasky is a professor of Journalism at the University of Texas at Austin. And he's smart enough to know, on the eve of the Republican Convention, not to draw attention from the President.

But that doesn't mean he's secretive about his views and goals. The web is rich in Olaskyisms that would thrill many of the President's supporters--and terrify many other Americans.

Here, from October of 2002, is Olasky's vision of what America would be like "if liberal Democrats had controlled all branches of government over the past two decades."

Over 3 million abortions per year. Euthanasia rampant. Gay "marriage" legal everywhere. Home schooling illegal. Christian schools facing severe restrictions. Propaganda in public schools more virulent. Tax rates higher. Nationalized and inferior health care our only choice.

Here's Olasky on journalists critical of Bush:

Now Mr. Olasky [has written a piece] for the Austin American-Statesman implying that journalists who are critical of Mr. Bush have "holes in their souls," practice "the religion of Zeus" and are therefore hostile to the Texas governor's Christianity.

Here are Olasky's views on homosexuals:

Homosexuality is a "problem" which can be healed, he says. "There are many ex-homosexuals."

Here's Olasky on women who have careers:

Women joining the workforce have had "dire consequences for society," he told a Christian magazine in 1998. Can women be leaders? "God does not forbid women to be leaders in society... but there's a certain shame attached to it," he said.

Here's why Olasky believes Americans who fear a Christian theocracy are wrong:

It's sad that Christianity (in terms of more than nominal identification) is a minority religion in America, but that's the situation in which God has placed us....The understanding that Christians are a minority should free non-Christians from fear of religious domination....

Just as compelling as Olasky's views is Olasky's biography, which shoots like an arrow from the far left to the Christian right. His father was a Hebrew teacher. He was, as he says, "bar-mitzvahed at 13 and an atheist at 14." He went to Yale (Class of 1971), where he discovered Marxism and joined the Communist Party USA.

In 1973, he was reading a Lenin essay when--suddenly--Marxism no longer made sense:

"At that point God changed my worldview by means of a small whisper that became a repeated, resounding question in my brain: 'What if Lenin is wrong? What if there is a God?'"

He resigned from the Communist Party. "We asked ourselves which denomination represented the extreme opposite of the hard left," his wife recalls. "Then we looked in the phone book and found the Conservative Baptist Church. By the end of that summer of '76, we had come to Christ."

A few years later, dressed as a beggar, Olasky made the rounds of homeless shelters in Washington. People fed him. But not with spiritual nourishment.

"People would put food in front of me. But they did not ask why I was there. It was like feeding time for dogs and cats."

So he wrote a book: "The Tragedy of American Compassion." William Bennett, Reagan's Secretary of Education, called it "the most important book on welfare and social policy in a decade." He gave a copy to Newt Gingrich. And Gingrich recommended it to every Republican.

Jump-cut to 1993. Someone--Swami's guess: Karl Rove--got the book to George W. Bush, then running for Governor of Texas. From a piece on Olasky's website:

It was 1993 when Olasky was first called to meet with Bush, who was at the time shopping for issues to defeat the incumbent governor of Texas, Ann Richards. Olasky and Bush, along with Bush adviser Karl Rove, talked for an hour...

Olasky has never been a full-time Bush adviser, yet his involvement would seem to have been something more than "maybe they met once or twice," the version preferred by those Bush aides made nervous by the enthusiasm with which Olasky airs his less marketable positions, on the role of women, say, or on the necessity of conversion.

No word of whether Olasky is at the Convention. But he doesn't need to be. His ideas are its intellectual underpinning. Alas, the announcement last week that 1.3 million Americans fell into poverty last year occurred too recently for him to comment in his columns or World, the Christian-based news magazine he edits. Should a journalist run into him, however, would he/she kindly ask just one question:

Professor Olasky, in 1996, you wrote, "Today's poor in the United States are not suffering thirst, hunger, or nakedness, except by choice, insanity, or parental abuse." Now come those newly-poor Americans--do you believe they chose poverty?

Thought for Today
August 30, 2004 | 3:00 p.m.

And all these years later--the name-calling and nitpicking about wounds suffered and medals earned and honorable service aside--the important matter is that, when push came to shove, Lieutenant Kerry turned his boat around and drove back into a firefight to fetch an Army Green Beret out of the river. I know that if it had been me in the water, I would surely remember the man's name, the look on his face, and the reach of his arm for the rest of my life; I would be sure to tell my grandchildren about him.
--Larry Heinemann, in The New York Times. Heinemann wrote "Paco's Story," which received the National Book Award, and a forthcoming memoir about his Vietnam experiences.

Weekend Report
August 30, 2004 | 3:00 p.m.

The Uptowns flew to Minneapolis for the weekend, a trip that began so badly for Little Uptown, who is mired in the terrible-twos, that we contemplated renaming her "Jihad" because it felt like she was waging a holy war on us. But her mood, as moods of Only Children will, considerably brightened when we took her along to the kid-studded ceremony-and-party that marked the 25th anniversary and renewal of vows of our friends Mary Kay and George. Deep emotion, lots of laughs and a congregation of warm-hearted Midwesterners (including a flurry of nuns who opened a homeless shelter on their porch and have been often arrested in anti-war demonstrations). When you break it down to individuals, this is a great country.

The next morning, we zoomed off to the Minnesota State Fair, stopping only to buy the new Steve Earle CD, "The Revolution Starts Now." (Don't be put off by the title. Some of the music sounds exactly like what the Beatles would have done after "Paperback Writer" and "Rain"). With Little Uptown bobbing to the music, we rolled into one of the most enduring and popular (100,000 people a day, for 10 days) get-togethers in the nation. The visit was poignant and nostalgic for Mrs. Uptown, who grew up on a farm in this state and, back in the day, won a drawerful of ribbons for Best Pig. Again, deep emotion, lots of laughs, and a warm and lively lunch with a WWII Marine. When you break it down to individuals, this is a great country.

We are back at the beach, though not by choice. Mrs. U and the junior member crave New York ("Noooo--city home," Little U begged when we turned into the driveway). But Mrs. U cannot be within ten miles of Tom DeLay. Even out here, she has declared the TV a "No Republican" zone. Swami may be the only guy in America who has to go to a bar to watch politics. Because once individuals form into groups....

The Swami Book Club: The Real Vietnam
August 30, 2004 | 3:00 p.m.

On Friday, Swami announced he was sick of debating Vietnam with people who lacked both Facts about the politics and Understanding about our troops. To talk to me, Swami said, you have to read Tim O'Brien's "The Things They Carried." And then you have to explicate two sentences from that book: "I was a coward. I went to the war."

Over the weekend, Swami received two letters.

Letter #1:

I didn't do as you said. I didn't read the book.

I don't need to read the book to understand the last two sentences.

Like the author, I thought about Canada.

Unlike the author, I thought I wanted to make the military my life.

When I was 17, I applied for the Air Force Academy but didn't get the appointment. I was offered Kings Point, but being 17 and having no clue I turned it down. Stupid.

Anyway, after deferments and outrunning three draft boards, they gave me a report to duty notice with only 72 hours to prepare. So in Dec '67, I became a US Army boot. After basic and Infantry AIT, I was on leave before shipping out to 'Nam. Orders got changed...I now go to Ft Jackson SC and spend 18 months training others to go to 'Nam. At 24 and not wanting to go, I thought it was great.

Here's the hook: For 30 years since then I have lived with shame, guilt, heartache--you pick the term--not because I didn't go, but because I sent to many others in my place. And the worse pain of all is because I didn't stand up and say, "Bulls---, none of us should be going."

I have only been to The Wall once and was overcome with grief. As I write this on a sunny afternoon in my home with my children all around me, I am crying--the silent cry that can only be heard inside and that no one would notice except for the tears on my face.

Some of us don't need to read the book to understand the last two sentences. We can't even retype them.

Letter #2:

This is what I know of war.

I know of a man who was so sweet that he couldn't pass me by without a kiss, a gentle look or telling me how beautiful he thought I was. I know of a man who sat and watched me as I slept on his couch, pulling the afghan up over me in case I got cold; who made me cups of tea while I relaxed. I know of a man who cried when he read the words that my daughters wrote on my birthday card because he was so touched. I know of a man who was with my daughter in her darkest hour and fought for them both when he thought they were being abused by an employer.

I know of this same man who cried out in anguish every July 4th, because of unspeakable acts that he committed in the name of his country. I know of the times he woke from nightmares yelling a fallen buddy's name, and how I held him and loved him until he was quiet. I know of the terrible destruction of this man who medicated his self repulsion with vodka, until he only vaguely resembled the strong, funny, affectionate man I fell in love with. In all the world, he was the only man I ever truly loved but he never felt he deserved to be loved because of the overwhelming guilt he suffered as a result of what he had done.

He never could reconcile what he did. He died because he wanted to die, he drank himself to death. I know he loved me but his shame was far greater. He could not get past it. My shame is that I left him because I couldn't bear to see him destroying himself. It almost killed me. He tried so hard to kick the booze and I saw it all, the DTs, the tremors, the shaking hands, and the eventual return of health, only to be sabotaged by the gaping wound that was exposed when the alcohol dried up. Where was he to go with that? Back to the booze. He is gone now and I have to carry on, but the world is a barren place without the man who was my heart's home.

He did the best he could, just like many of the Vietnam Veterans who protested the war. I wish he had taken that route so that there could be some meaning to his suffering. What I know is that John Kerry had the courage to stand up and make himself heard. He was there and he knows firsthand the toll that war extracts from the men, and now women, who serve their country in the trust that what they are fighting for is in the best interests of their fellow citizens. Who do we want in office? A man who knows the horrors of war directly, or one who took the easier way out and whose very attendance is in question. I trust that John Kerry would have done everything possible to avoid putting his fellow military members in harm's way. He knows the personal cost of war and how it impacts the people around the veteran of a senseless debacle.

We live with them and the pain of them everyday.

Swami will talk with these people as long as they wish.

The Jerry Falwell Convention Prayer
August 30, 2004 | 3:00 p.m.

In the end, the Repubs didn't choose Jerry to offer the opening prayer. But let's all bow our heads and murmur along with the winning entry in Swami's "What Should Jerry Pray?" contest. (First prize: cleansed karma.) Here you go:

I come to y'all here today, not to speak for our dear brother George, but to pray for him. I offer this prayer fo' his leadership, pray fo' the intelligence to move this country out of the light of so-called modern times and back, dear Lawd, back to the dark ages, where ya knew where a man stood. A man stood at the right side of God, or he stood tied to a stake. Yes, Lawd, bring us back to the good ol' days.

Bring us back to the days where men were men, who punched each other in the arm--or face--and whose only intimate contact was on a football field after a good play.

Bring us back, dear Lawd, to the days when our fear was our strength, when we feared God, and feared anythin' different and used the strength of our fear to subdue those who were different, from injuns, to Negros and homos, to Catholics and Jews. All heathens were at our heels in those days and it was good--fo' us anyways.

Bring us back to that fictitious Christian nation, one where all our forefathers bent on knee to one narrow idea of God, and let my idea of God be the one that everyone bows to. An' God help those who don't get wit' the program.

Our President George knows the program--he don't know much else, but he sho' knows the program. God, one version of God inna schools, one version of God in all the social programs, one version, my version--and George's--in the courthouses, from Montgomery to Monterey.

My version of God--and George's--in fo'rayne policy. Stomp them heathens, like inna good ol' days when we could do it here at home. Take it to wherever there's the potential that these heathens'll get uppity. Do it befo' hand, pre-emptive, they call it, coz we know what God's gonna want us to do--our version o' God. That's what bein' a prophet is all about.

So, Lawd, we know you support us, coz we know you, like we know our own egos -- I mean, hands. You have written your laws on the inside of our eyelids, so that when we close our eyes to the sufferin' in the world, we can still see what you want us to do.

We know you support us, God, coz all the right friends with all the right kinda money flows to us. We know you support us, just as you support Ken Lay, even in his hour of darkness. We know you support us, coz we got the cash inna bank.

We know you support George, Lawd, just like you did in 2000, by separating out those who did not vote for him in Florida. The hand o' God was in that election, even if we had to use our own hands (and fingers) to count on.

Amen. And thanks to the winner, whose name we'll protect to the grave.

Laura and George: The Odd Couple?
August 30, 2004 | 3:00 p.m.

So TIME Magazine sat down with Laura Bush last week:

TIME: Do you think these swift-boat ads are unfair to John Kerry?

LAURA BUSH: Do I think they're unfair? Not really.

This was really interesting, because just a few days later, on the Saturday morning "Today" show, the President talked with Matt Lauer about the accusations of the Swift Boats gang:

Asked if he believed that he and Kerry "served on the same level of heroism," Bush replied, "No, I don't. I think him going to Vietnam was more heroic than my flying fighter jets. He was in harm's way and I wasn't."

This discrepancy may strike you as odd, particularly because Mrs. Bush has recently said: "This job has made our relationship even closer because we have each other to comfort each other.

So did she not get the memo? Did Karl Rove give her the wrong talking points? No and no, saieth Swami. Mrs. Bush--who would later say in the TIME interview that she doesn't smoke cigarettes, although insiders say she lights up all day along--did exactly what she was supposed to. And then her husband, on the slowest media day of the week, directly contradicted her. Only it wasn't a contradiction. This is just how they do it.

Your Moment of Zen: The Last Word On the Bush Campaign
August 30, 2004 | 3:00 p.m.

""Get Your War On" (rated NC-17 for language and attitude) has been must-reading since October 2001. The new comics (Issue 39) may use clip art for the images. No matter. They're classics. Sample:

Panel 1: When is the real campaign? How do I get to see the real campaign?
Panel 2: This IS the real campaign.
Panel 3: Wait a minute. This IS the real campaign--even for the grown ups?

The Beauty Part
August 30, 2004 | 3:00 p.m.

What if you knew you had at most a year to live? Would you write a poem like this?

And did you get what
you wanted from this life, even so?
I did.
And what did you want?
To call myself beloved, to feel myself
beloved on this earth.

Head Butler has more about the poet Raymond Carver, and his last book, "A New Path to the Waterfall."

Thought for Today
August 27, 2004 | 4:00 p.m.

We were born before the wind
Also younger than the sun
Ere the bonnie boat was won as we sailed into the mystic
Hark, now hear the sailors cry
Smell the sea and feel the sky
Let your soul and spirit fly into the mystic
--Van Morrison, from Moondance

Things That Make You Go Hmmmmmm
August 27, 2004 | 4:00 p.m.

As Swami flew from New York to Minneapolis this morning, he alternated between reading the paper and looking out the window. It always amazes him: how empty this huge land really is, how much nature there is we haven't ruined.

And then this New York Times article in which George Bush belatedly said he believes John Kerry has accurately described his Vietnam experiences--"I think Senator Kerry should be proud of his record. No, I don't think he lied"--and revealed that he's out of the loop on his Aministration's shift in policy on global warming ("Ah, we did? I don't think so."). But here was the strangest paragraph:

Mr. Bush conducted the interview in an unusual setting: A cinderblock dressing room, outfitted with a conference table and leather reclining chairs, accessible only by walking through a men's room underneath a small stadium here, where he appeared for a campaign rally. The president was joined by one of his closest advisers, Karen P. Hughes, who is now traveling with him; the national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice; former Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani of New York, who was introducing him at rallies across the state; and his press secretary, Scott McClellan.

Does this strike anyone as ...odd? Does this not sound like...a bunker? Why such a hidden, protected place? (It wasn't like he had a girlfriend stashed in his hotel suite.) And why Karen and Condi and Rudy?

What was John Kerry doing yesterday? Dropping in unannounced at the Minnesota State Fair. No banners, no security guys the size of NFL tackles. And, yes, he ate a corndog. With ketchup and mayo. Make of that what you will....

The Swami Book Club
August 27, 2004 | 4:00 p.m.

Swami lists an email address, and you take him up on it. Good. Often to disagree. Good. But some of the disagreement comes down to factual issues--like, you listen to Hannity and don't know he's not telling the truth. (We're not talking about his Views here, but about his Facts.)

Specifically, many of you don't know much about Vietnam. And you know what? Even if Swami told you, you wouldn't believe him.

So here's the solution: You want to talk about Vietnam, first you have to read a book. It's an easy read, even if you're a slow reader--it's a collection of short stories. Title: "The Things They Carried." Author: Vietnam vet Tom O'Brien.

As Head Butler, Swami has written about this book. And, especially, about one story:

In "On the Rainy River," O'Brien tries to figure out whether to flee to Canada or face his fate in Vietnam. He has a summer job in his home town in Minnesota; abruptly, he flees and drives north, north toward the border. He gets as far as a lodge before he runs out of courage. No one is there but the aged proprietor, who instinctively knows that this young man is in the throes of crisis.

The old man doesn't invite O'Brien to talk about his problem, in that new-fangled Oprah way. He just takes him out fishing, and pretends not to notice that O'Brien is sitting there weeping. But his silence means everything: O'Brien makes his decision, and, even more, knows why he made it.

The story ends with O'Brien driving home: "The day was cloudy. I passed through towns with familiar names, through the pine forests and down to the prairie, and then to Vietnam, where I was a soldier. I survived, but it's not a happy ending. I was a coward. I went to the war."

Buy the book. Read it. Write me and tell me what those last two sentences--"I was a coward. I went to the war"--mean to you. Then we'll talk.

Who to Marry: George Bush or Bill Clinton?
August 27, 2004 | 4:00 p.m.

A woman asked: If you were a woman, and you had only two choices to be your lawfully wedded husband (and you HAD to choose one)...would it be George W. Bush or Bill Clinton?

Many responses. Some...R-rated. (Children, avert your eyes.) Let's start with Swami's virtual shrink, Dr. Frann:

This woman IS really perverse. However...George W. Bush. Why? Do I want a man who cheats and lies or a man who lies and is grammatically challenged? Well, character is more than suspect, to say the least, with both suitors. But the question is where could I do the most good? The bigger impact could be made with the current powers that be. A President in the oval office hand is better than one with a cigar in the.... With the current President, I could create programs and make a difference. And the divorce package, when it would come to that, would be hefty. Pre-nup not withstanding. And think of the all the contacts! All the interesting people! The visiblity would be exceptional. And I could get George into a good recovery program to boot.

And some more:

--I would marry W. but keep Willie on the side. Willie is a fling... not marriage material.

--A woman choosing to marry Bush or Bill? Well, people have been lookin' for the root cause of lesbianism. Could this be it?

--Bill Clinton. Flaws, warts, and all!

--Clinton, though his cheating would be awful. But he has sex appeal, intelligence, and isn't usually boring. The thought of even one 24 hour period alone with Bush is enough to send me up the wall. And the idea of listening to ideas which "come from God" would be more crazy-making than any lies Clinton tells.

Bill Clinton, because I already know not to believe anything he says and already know that he isn't afraid of assertive women.

Polls close this weekend. Cast your vote today...

Dick Cheney is Human (Hurrah! Hurrah!)
August 27, 2004 | 4:00 p.m.

Dick Cheney wandered off the reservation this week, when he said, about gay marriage:

People ought to be free to enter into any kind of relationship they want to. The question that comes up with the issue of marriage is what kind of official sanction or approval is going to be granted by government? Historically, that's been a relationship that has been handled by the states. The states have made that fundamental decision of what constitutes a marriage.

Why did he veer from the message the Religious Right installed in his chip? Because he has a gay daughter.

Many have attacked Cheney for being a hyprocrite. (And that he is, and more.) Swami comes to praise him. First, who knew this heartless bastard was human? Second, who knew he had love for anything in his heart?

A parent's love--it knows no limits. That is why we must, ironically, hope that misfortune does not overlook the Compassionate Conservatives. Their kids get sick? They'll be begging scientists to work deep into the night with stem cells. Their pregnant wives deliver babies sickened by mercury poisoning? They'll suddenly care about the environment.

None of this, of course, is about us. It's all about them and their exceptional needs. But it's a start. Dick Cheney, this Bud's for you, man.

Thought for Today
August 26, 2004 | 12:50 p.m.

I hear all the people of the world
In one bird's lonely cry
See them trying every way they know how
To make their spirit fly
--Rickie Lee Jones, "The Horses," from Flying Cowboys

The Swami Poll
August 26, 2004 | 12:50 p.m.

A bright and perverse female has sent Swami a question. A koan, really, for Swami is having a hard time unlocking it. You try--and do let Swami know how you'd vote:

If you were a woman, and you had only two choices to be your lawfully wedded husband (and you HAD to choose one)...would it be George W. Bush or Bill Clinton?

No, It Can't Be! They Believe in... Science?
August 26, 2004 | 12:50 p.m.

Mind-blowing news on Global Warming in The New York Times:

In a striking shift in the way the Bush administration has portrayed the science of climate change, a new report to Congress focuses on federal research indicating that emisions of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases are the only likely explanation for global warming over the last three decades.

In delivering the report to Congress yesterday, an administration official, Dr. James R. Mahoney, said it reflected "the best possible scientific information" on climate change. Previously, President Bush and other officials had emphasized uncertainties in understanding the causes and consequences of warming as a reason for rejecting binding restrictions on heat-trapping gases.

"God is not a Republican, or a Democrat"
August 26, 2004 | 12:50 p.m.

Well, it's about time. A Christian group stands up to the Religious Right to remind us "that Jesus taught us to be peacemakers, advocates for the poor, and defenders of justice." (How did they ever scrape together the money for this campaign?)

It's a pleasure to give thanks to Sojourners and to share their message:

We believe that poverty--caring for the poor and vulnerable--is a religious issue. Do the candidates' budget and tax policies reward the rich or show compassion for poor families? Do their foreign policies include fair trade and debt cancellation for the poorest countries? (Matthew 25:35-40, Isaiah 10:1-2)

We believe that the environment--caring for God's earth--is a religious issue. Do the candidates' policies protect the creation or serve corporate interests that damage it? (Genesis 2:15, Psalm 24:1)

We believe that war--and our call to be peacemakers--is a religious issue. Do the candidates' policies pursue "wars of choice" or respect international law and cooperation in responding to real global threats? (Matthew 5:9)

We believe that truth-telling is a religious issue. Do the candidates tell the truth in justifying war and in other foreign and domestic policies? (John 8:32)

We believe that human rights--respecting the image of God in every person --- is a religious issue. How do the candidates propose to change the attitudes and policies that led to the abuse and torture of Iraqi prisoners? (Genesis 1:27)

We believe that our response to terrorism is a religious issue. Do the candidates adopt the dangerous language of righteous empire in the war on terrorism and confuse the roles of God, church, and nation? Do the candidates see evil only in our enemies but never in our own policies? (Matthew 6:33, Proverbs 8:12-13)

We believe that a consistent ethic of human life is a religious issue. Do the candidates' positions on abortion, capital punishment, euthanasia, weapons of mass destruction, HIV/AIDS and other pandemics, and genocide around the world obey the biblical injunction to choose life? (Deuteronomy 30:19)

We also admonish both parties and candidates to avoid the exploitation of religion or our congregations for partisan political purposes.

By signing this statement, we call Christians and other people of faith to a more thoughtful involvement in this election, rather than claiming God's endorsement of any candidate.

This is the meaning of responsible Christian citizenship.

"Manners Maketh Man"
August 26, 2004 | 12:50 p.m.

So said William of Wykeham (1324-1404), founder of Winchester College and of New College, Oxford, and the "builder of the noblest part of Winchester Cathedral." That motto was inscribed on the dinner bell at the Master's Table in the Forbes House dining room at Milton Academy, the boarding school Swami attended during the very same years that George W. Bush attended Phillips Academy (Andover). As Swami recalls, they had cafeteria dining at Andover. The future President may well have graduated without nightly meditation on that bell's message.

"Manners maketh man" came to mind yesterday afternoon as Swami watched Max Cleland attempt to deliver a letter to George Bush. [For the background on Max Cleland--and how the Bush gang did to him what they're now trying to do to Kerry--go to August 11th in the Swami archives and read "The Sliming of Max Cleland."] As you know, the President was Otherwise Engaged yesterday. So, depending on your affection for theatrical stunts, the image of Cleland rolling around Crawford, Texas in his wheelchair is either appalling or potent.

Swami's interest is not, however, in Max Cleland, but in the President. What should the leader of the Free World have done about the crippled Vietnam veteran and his letter?

Steve Gilliard (cited in the daily must-read blog Eschaton) seems right on the money:

Yes, this was a campaign stunt, and yes, Cleland has his own grudges against these people, but a real man would have invited Cleland and Rassman up to the ranch house, gave them some sweet tea, taken the letter and let them go....

Now, let's be real. Cleland probably owes Kerry a $20 because one of them had to have bet Bush would live down to character, and the other bet that he couldn't be so stupid as to turn away a triple amputee from his home. But make no mistake, they knew what Bush would do, and they bet on him doing it.

Yet, once again, the Bush campaign walks into a trap set by Kerry. Two decorated veterans show up to your door and you hide from them? That's just stupid. It's bad politics if nothing else.

Well, maybe not sweet tea. But something inside the house, away from the cameras. Maybe Bush could have even uttered the deathless line Swami saw on a message board, clearly penned by someone who had seen "Fahrenheit 9/11"--or maybe just the previews: "Thanks for the letter, Max.....now watch this drive."

The Republicans and Hermann Hesse
August 26, 2004 | 12:50 p.m.

Those of you who are not now teenagers--and a big shout-out to any kids here; you ARE the future!--and can still remember their School Daze may recall reading a novel or three by Hermann Hesse. "Steppenwolf," "The Glass Bead Game," "Siddhartha"--Swami still recalls the high he got from this heady blend of mysticism, Nietzsche, Spengler and Lord knows what else.

Okay. Follow this: The guy Bush sent out to accept the Max Cleland letter is Jerry Patterson. As The New York Times reports:

A Texas state official and Vietnam veteran, Jerry Patterson, said someone from the Bush campaign contacted him Wednesday morning and asked him if he would travel to the ranch, welcome Cleland to Texas and accept the former senator's letter to Bush.

"I tried to accept that letter and he would not give it to me," said Patterson. "He would not face me. He kept rolling away from me. He's quite mobile."

Patterson, who spoke with the president on the phone, said the campaign asked him to give Cleland a letter for Kerry written by the Bush campaign and signed by Patterson and seven other veterans.

Forget, for the moment, that off-the wall, quote-of-the-week ("He's quite mobile"). Focus on the Hermann Hesse connection: The inimitable Josh Marshall--a prince of bloggers, all praise to Him--notes in Talking Points Memo that "Patterson, the guy who got the 911 call from the president, has received $150,000 in campaign contributions from the funder of the Swift Boat ads." (Sourcing: The Dallas News).

This made Swami think of the immortal line from Hesse: "Nothing ever happens by chance. Here, only the right guests meet. This is the Hermetic Circle...."

Swami can't speak for others, but in the Commie Pinko Liberal Hippie gulag he inhabits, this sort of stuff rarely happens. Oh, while walking with Mrs. Uptown, he will occasionally run into an old girlfriend. But Swami never crosses the path of a long-lost college classmate who wants to pay back an old debt--with 40 years interest.

These Republicans, though, live in a magic universe. It can't be coincidence that people who must--for public consumption--pretend not to know one another all turn out (like the President's campaign lawyer and the Swift Boat Vets) to know one another. It's destiny, man! Destiny! I mean, it HAS to be destiny, because otherwise it's the kind of corruption we haven't seen since the Harding Administration (or, to be fair, the rule of Mayor Daley the First in Chicago).

Forget Seymour Hirsch and Jon Stewart. Read Hesse. It's all there. The dude knew.

The Beauty Part
August 26, 2004 | 12:50 p.m.

Swami's pledge to himself and you--don't feed the trolls, look up--has triumphed over provocation for four days now. But there really ought to be meetings for this kind of problem. Like Alcoholics Anonymous: "I'm Swami Uptown, and I can't handle liars." Alas, there isn't. But there is poetry.

Swami is traveling this weekend--can you believe: exhibits of hogs at the Minnesota State Fair?--but he's toting one book everywhere: the poems of Rumi (1207-1273). He's written about this Sufi poet on HeadButler.com, and that little primer isn't the worst place to start.

To lure you in, contemplate this:

No matter how fast you run,
your shadow more than keeps up.
Sometimes, it's in front.

Only full, overhead sun
diminishes your shadow.

But that shadow has been serving you!
What hurts you, blesses you.
Darkness is your candle.
Your boundaries are your quest.

Thought for Today
August 25, 2004 | 3:00 p.m.

If you tell the truth, you don't have to remember anything.
--- Mark Twain

Iraq
August 25, 2004 | 3:00 p.m.

Casualties in Iraq: American casualties holding steady at 54 dead this month, 966 total

Domestic Violence
August 25, 2004 | 3:00 p.m.

So John O'Neill --- co-author of "Unfit for Command" and Swift Boat patriot --- says John Kerry's lies include his account of crossing the Cambodia border around Christmas of 1968. How does he know? Because, he says, "I was on the same river. I was there two months after him." And because you couldn't cross the border by river: "There isn't any watery border... There were gunboats stationed right up there to stop people from coming..... So it was a made up story." But memory plays tricks, and after 35 years, you can hardly blame O'Neill for not recalling that he said exactly the opposite to President Richard Nixon --- in an audiotape retrieved from 1971 [scroll down to "Ooops"]:

O'NEILL: I was in Cambodia, sir. I worked along the border on the water.

NIXON: In a swift boat?

O'NEILL: Yes, sir.

Does the White House really hate the press? You make the call. The Washington Post [bottom item] reports:

The White House travel office signed a contract last week with an airline called Primaris to fly the press corps to Bush events. The two-month-old company has only one airplane. True, media representatives gave their blessing to the deal. But that was before they learned that the company's president twice had his pilot's license revoked related to his flying of an "unairworthy" aircraft, that the chief executive flopped in his last attempt to start an airline and that the 15-year-old plane itself was damaged in a hailstorm a decade ago and spent most of the past two years mothballed in France.

Lisa Whelchel, who played Blair on the TV series Facts of Life, and now advocates putting a dab of hot sauce on a child's tongue when he/she lies, shows disrespect, etc, defends this kind of discipline:

"I prefer my child receive a small amount of pain from my hand of love than to encounter a lot more pain in life. It's a logical consequence. If you cause somebody pain, either by the words you say by lying and not being a trustworthy person or by biting, this is a logical consequence. It's your mouth that's the offender."

One Toke Over the Line, Sweet Jesus
August 25, 2004 | 3:00 p.m.

Before you bogart your next joint, consider a piece of legislation that could be coming your way: the Vital Interdiction of Criminal Terrorist Organizations Act of 2003, spawned in the office of Sen. Orrin Hatch.

As the legal blog Talk Left explains it:

In a nutshell, the bill reinvents drug offenses as terrorism crimes. The ho-hum label of "controlled substance offense" will get a glossy makeover as many routine drug crimes become elevated into crimes of "Narcoterrorism."

A Democratic aide for the House Judiciary Committee said the linking of drug-related crime and terrorism raises questions about the draft.

"This bill would treat drug possession as a 'terrorist offense' and drug dealers as 'narco-terrorist kingpins,' " the aide argued. "To say that terrorist groups use a small percentage of the drug trafficking in the United States to finance terrorism may be a fair point, but this bill would allow the government to prosecute most drug cases as terrorism cases."

Concluded the aide: "It really seems to be more about a political agenda to jail drug users than a serious attempt to stop terrorists."

American Civil Liberties Union staff attorney Jameel Jaffer added: "Absolutely nothing would prevent the attorney general from using these subpoenas to obtain the records of people who have no connection to terrorism, drug trafficking or crime of any sort."

And you thought the jails are overcrowded now? Pass this bill, and we can create millions of new "lifers." And the best part? They'll be young. White. Your kids. Maybe even you.

Suggestion box: Cut, paste, send to every kid you know who says it's pointless to register to vote.

A Beautiful Story (If Only It were True)
August 25, 2004 | 3:00 p.m.

Swami received this e-mail recently. Maybe you did too....

A sobbing little girl stood near a small church from which she had been turned away because it 'was too crowded.' "I can't go to Sunday School," she sobbed to the pastor as he walked by. Seeing her shabby, unkempt appearance, the pastor guessed the reason and, taking her by the hand, took her inside and found a place for her in the Sunday School class. The child was so touched that she went to bed that night thinking of the children who have no place to worship Jesus.

Some two years later, this child lay dead in one of the poor tenement buildings and the parents called for the kindhearted pastor, who had befriended their daughter, to handle the final arrangements. As her poor little body was being moved, a worn and crumpled purse was found which seemed to have been rummaged from some trash dump. Inside was found 57 cents and a note scribble in childish handwriting which read, "This is to help build the little church bigger so more children can go to Sunday school."

For two years she had saved for this offering of love. When the pastor tearfully read that note, he knew instantly what he would do.

Carrying this note and the cracked, red pocketbook to the pulpit, he told the story of her unselfish love and devotion. He challenged his deacons to get busy and raise enough money for the larger building. But the story does not end there!

A newspaper learned of the story and published it. It was read by a Realtor who offered them a parcel of land worth many thousands. When told that the church could not pay so much, he offered it for a 57 cent payment.

Church members made large subscriptions. Checks came from far and wide. Within five years the little girl's gift had increased to $250,000 -- a huge sum for that time (near the turn of the century). Her unselfish love had paid large dividends.

When you are in the city of Philadelphia, look up Temple Baptist Church, with a seating capacity of 3,300, and Temple University, where hundreds of students are trained. Have a look, too, at the Good Samaritan Hospital and at a Sunday School building which houses hundreds of Sunday scholars, so that no child in the area will ever need to be left outside at Sunday school time.

In one of the rooms of this building may be seen the picture of the sweet face of the little girl whose 57 cents, so sacrificially saved, made such remarkable history. Alongside of it is a portrait of her kind pastor, Dr. Russell H. Conwell, author of the book, "Acres of Diamonds" - a true story.

Nice. And, says UrbanLegends.com, only minimally true. The girl did die. She had saved 57 cents. It did go to the church. But that wasn't the price of the land....

[Conwell] talked the matter over with the owner of the property, and told him of the beginning of the fund, the story of the little girl. The man was not one of our church, nor, in fact, was he a church-goer at all, but he listened attentively to the tale of the fifty-seven cents and simply said he was quite ready to go ahead and sell us that piece of land for ten thousand dollars, taking -- and the unexpectedness of this deeply touched me -- taking a first payment of just fifty-seven cents and letting the entire balance stand on a five-per-cent mortgage!

Which just goes to show: Always check e-mails out on a site like Urban Legends.com before you forward it to a hundred of your closest virtual friends.

The Beauty Part
August 25, 2004 | 3:00 p.m.

We all have met at least one young woman like Maura O'Halloran. She's frighteningly bright (Maura, from Boston, won Ireland's highest academic award in 1973 and graduated from Trinity College, Dublin, in 1977 with a joint degree in economics and sociology). She's passionate about helping people (during college, Maura worked with Irish drug addicts and the poor). She doesn't care at all about "female" issues (Maura wore shabby clothes and doubted she'd ever marry). And then, just when everyone else is getting sane and making some accommodation with the Real World, she goes off on a great adventure.

For Maura O'Halloran, that adventure was Zen training in Japan . She went to the Toshoji Temple in Tokyo in 1979 for training under its distinguished teacher, Go Roshi. It's an impossible discipline: 20 hours of sitting at a time, begging in freezing weather, endless chores . She loved it. By 1982, she was enlightened. Maura was the last person on earth to brag about her accomplishments, but it's quite clear --- she reached a level of feeling and thinking that a great many of us would give a lot to have.

Maura's diaries and letters grew up to be an extraordinary book. If you're interested at all in the process of enlightenment, you'll want to go to the Head Butler review of "Pure Heart Enlightened Mind."

Thought for Today
August 24, 2004 | 5:00 p.m.

Optimism is a strategy for making a better future. Because unless you believe that the future can be better, it's unlikely that you will step up and take responsibility for making it so. If you assume that there's no hope, you guarantee that there will be no hope. If you assume that there is an instinct for freedom, there are opportunities to change things, there's a chance you may contribute to making a better world. The choice is yours.

Iraq: Important News, Worth Considering
August 24, 2004 | 5:00 p.m.

Casualties in Iraq: 54 Americans dead this month, 966 total

Semper Fi (but not, perhaps, Semper Paratus): Under growing pressure to ship Marines to Iraq, the Marine Corps is cutting in half the rigorous field combat training it gives units preparing to deploy.

Jimmy Breslin has been counting the war dead since the beginning. (By his count, which includes Afghanistan, the United States has more than 1,000 casualties.) Periodically, he profiles our casualties. Here's just one from his most recent column in Newsday:

Pfc. Raymond J. Faulstich Jr., 89th Transportation Company, 6th Transportation Battalion, 7th Transportation Group, Fort Eustis, Va. Died Aug. 5 in Najaf when enemy using small arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades attacked his convoy. Home, Leonardtown, Md.

"He had a problem with drugs and alcohol and went one place to the other," his mother, Linda, was saying last night. "Then he met a girl he loved. Her family said she couldn't see him unless he straightened out. He did. For her love. He joined the Army, and they married.

"When the two Army men came to the house to tell us, I was inside cleaning. I started to scream. 'Oh, my God! My son is dead!' He had his rosary beads in his pocket when he was killed. His wife, Crystal, had been out, and when she came over and saw the crowd in the yard she thought he was home on his two-week leave that he was supposed to be on. She's 19. She was going to go to college but she just can't do it now.

"My son was a beautiful young man. Everybody speaks about his smile. He had such a beautiful smile. My husband's smile. I say to my husband, 'Could you please smile so I can see my son's face?'"

Swift Boat Vets: You Mean, You Can Get in Trouble for Lying?
August 24, 2004 | 5:00 p.m.

Out in Oregon City, Oregon, veterans want the assistant district attorney who appeared in the SBV television ads to resign. Seems that in the ad--and an affidavit--Al French says he served with Kerry and that Kerry lied to get his Purple Heart medals. Now French says he didn't see what happened in those Swift Boat encounters.

Veteran Don Stewart says he believes it was outrageous that French would try to smear Kerry's military record.

"Mr. French signed an affidavit defaming John Kerry's military service and then he admitted that he had no first-hand knowledge of what he swore to," Stewart said on Monday. "Someone who the community trusts to carry out the law cannot be lying in sworn, legal affidavits."

The Oregon State Bar says they have received enough complaints to look into the matter, with the main question being whether French violated ethics.

Najaf: The Shrine of Imam Ali
August 24, 2004 | 5:00 p.m.

It's always good to see what you're fighting over. (And if you have a cable TV provider who offers EuroNews, you have a much better chance of looking at Iraq war footage than you do on any American network.) Here, for your inspection, is the Shrine of Imam Ali--built in 977 in Najaf, a city regarded by Shiite Muslims as the faith's third holiest in the world (after Mecca and Medina)--that our troops and Iraqi forces have surrounded. For an even more amazing look at the interior, click here.

Bush to the Olympics: Not Going for the Gold
August 24, 2004 | 5:00 p.m.

President Bush is so enthused about the Iraqi soccer team--"Fantastic, isn't it? It wouldn't have been free if the United States had not acted"--that he may go to the Olympics for the soccer finals. Clearly, he's not reading Sports Illustrated. There, Iraqi soccer stars mouth off:

Salih Sadir: "Iraq as a team does not want Mr. Bush to use us for the presidential campaign. He can find another way to advertise himself."

Ahmed Manajid: "How will he meet his god having slaughtered so many men and women? He has committed so many crimes." ...In fact, Manajid says, if he were not playing soccer he would "for sure" be fighting as part of the resistance. "I want to defend my home. If a stranger invades America and the people resist, does that mean they are terrorists?"

Iraqi soccer coach Adnan Hamad: "My problems are not with the American people. They are with what America has done in Iraq: destroy everything. The American army has killed so many people in Iraq. What is freedom when I go to the [national] stadium and there are shootings on the road?"

The Washington Post reports that a recent Bush commercial showcasing Iraq--"At this Olympics there will be two more free nations and two fewer terrorist regimes"--seems to be a big part of the problem:

Coach Hamad: "You cannot speak about a team that represents freedom. We do not have freedom in Iraq, we have an occupying force...Freedom is just a word for the media. We are living in hard times, under occupation. To be honest with you, even our happiness at winning is not happiness because we are worried about the problems in Iraq, all the daily problems that our people face back home."

The AOL/Cable News "Equal Time" Problem, Revisited
August 24, 2004 | 5:00 p.m.

You may recall that Swami was upset by an AOL News screen that offered members a chance to view the Swift Boat Vets commercial and the Kerry response--as if they merited equal time. Jon Stewart [scroll down], of the fake news "Daily Show," skewered that phony objectivity (or, to put a nice face on it, just-in-from-the-farm-naivete) last night, when he interviewed one of his fake correspondents, Rob Corddry:

STEWART: Here's what puzzles me most, Rob. John Kerry's record in Vietnam is pretty much right there in the official records of the US military, and haven't been disputed for 35 years.

CORDDRY: That's right, Jon, and that's certainly the spin you'll be hearing coming from the Kerry campaign over the next few days.

STEWART: Th-that's not a spin thing, that's a fact. That's established.

CORDDRY: Exactly, Jon, and that established, incontravertible fact is one side of the story.

STEWART: But that should be--isn't that the end of the story? I mean, you've seen the records, haven't you? What's your opinion?

CORDDRY: I'm sorry, my *opinion*? No, I don't have 'o-pin-i-ons'. I'm a reporter, Jon, and my job is to spend half the time repeating what one side says, and half the time repeating the other. Little thing called 'objectivity'--might wanna look it up some day.

STEWART: Doesn't objectivity mean objectively weighing the evidence, and calling out what's credible and what isn't?

CORDDRY: Whoa-ho! Well, well, well--sounds like someone wants the media to act as a filter! [high-pitched, effeminate] 'Ooh, this allegation is spurious! Upon investigation this claim lacks any basis in reality! Mmm, mmm, mmm.' Listen buddy: not my job to stand between the people talking to me and the people listening to me.

STEWART: So, basically, you're saying that this back-and-forth is never going to end.

CORDDRY: No, Jon--in fact a new group has emerged, this one composed of former Bush colleagues, challenging the president's activities during the Vietnam era. That group: Drunken Stateside Sons of Privilege for Plausible Deniability. They've apparently got some things to say about a certain Halloween party in '71 that involved trashcan punch and a sodomized piñata. Jon--they just want to set the record straight. That's all they're out for.

The Beauty Part
August 24, 2004 | 5:00 p.m.

Swami zoomed into the city last night to see some people about a nifty project he'd love to write (and, therefore, probably won't get). His spirits, having bottomed out over the past few days, rose considerably when he saw a big ad for "The Daily Show" at the entrance to the Midtown Tunnel: "Welcome to New York. What's that smell? It's called 'Freedom.'"

Swami awoke determined to stay on the path described here yesterday (avoid mud-wrestling with Wingnuts, focus on the Good and Noble, love friends and allies). Returned to much mail. Decided to share some (with permission). Realized that, more often than not, you are The Beauty Part. In this, Swami is blessed.

From a California reader:

The other day I followed the same car for miles on the freeway. I shouldn't have noticed this vehicle at all. But after several miles it became apparent that in the very midst of lurching lane changes, angry horns and shuddering metal, this car alone remained true to its course. It did not move except forward, dead even between the lines, mile after mile at a constant rate. I wondered about the driver's nature. I accelerated, hoping to glean the wisdom on this roadway seer's bumper sticker. At last I closed the gap and saw the driver--a woman in her late 50s, rigid and upright in her seat, eyes locked forward, hair disheveled--and her bumper sticker: I DO NOT BELIEVE THE LIBERAL MEDIA.

From a Regular Reader:

I too have moments where I wonder if compassion isn't just another sucker bet in a long line of losing propositions. E. L. Doctorow says that writing a novel is like driving a car on a dark country road. You can only see as far as the headlights, but you can make the whole journey that way. As we write the story of our lives, is it not the same?

And from Seamus Ennis:

I feel the despair in your recent posts. Been there, got the cub scout badges, so I had to share what I see.

Ya know, we coulda seen it coming, but I never believed that it would take this level of poison politics and rotting religion to see it.

These are the death throes of 2nd millennium thinking, the 20th century becoming a destructive culmination of the last 1679 years (since Constantine and the Council of Nicea made Christianity into a political force.)

Coulda seen it coming.... Politics creating fear. Fear becoming terror. Terror becoming politics. And 'round and `round and 'round we go, where we stop, nobody knows.

But the pressure behind this death throes politics, the religions of exclusion, the ugliness of being inhuman, is bubbling up like a boil. The skin is stretched tight, the painful poison under the skin causing us to shift to try to get comfortable again, but it's not happening.

We chafe at our own internal pressures, our immune response to our self-inflicted poison is causing a fundamental shift in our humanity; the DNA of consciousness is transforming because of it. And yes, even this discomfort, this grand human pain is necessary for our evolution.

What to do? Be aware. Begin to see the Essence of Humanity as designed: for peace, for wholeness and holiness, for each other and for God (however we describe It). Calling forth that Essence in every interaction, calling forth the beauty of one single smile, calling forth the greatness and God-ness in every heart.

This is what we're here for, why we're here now. This is what's been lying dormant and trying to rise up in us for centuries. The boil may pop, but under that, healing. Under that is wholeness. Under that is everything we were ever meant to be.

Thought for Today
August 23, 2004 | 3:00 p.m.

For the millions in a prison,
That wealth has set apart ---
For the Christ who has not risen,
From the caverns of the heart ---

For the innermost decision,
That we cannot but obey ---
For what's left of our religion,
I lift my voice and pray:
May the lights in The Land of Plenty
Shine on the truth some day.
-- Leonard Cohen, from Ten New Songs

Every Picture Tells a Story
August 23, 2004 | 3:00 p.m.

And, sometimes, it's the same story.

1) Here's George Bush at Yale.

2) And here, 35 years later, is a flyer that was passed out last week at a Bush-Cheney campaign office in Gainesville, Fla. (You know, don't you, that the White House has no connection to the Swift Boat Vets?)

Beats a thousand words? Oops, here come those thousand...

From a Hero to a Zero
August 23, 2004 | 3:00 p.m.

This is crazy, right? Guy A signs up for a war and, according to his records, serves with honor, courage and distinction. Guy B decides "I was not prepared to shoot my eardrum out with a shotgun in order to get a deferment" and leapfrogs his way into a reserve unit so lax no one can account for his whereabouts for much of his "service."

College classroom exercise. Put Guy A and Guy B side-by-side on a level playing field. Consider one question: Using traditional standards of patriotism (to serve is noble, to slack is not), who is the Better American? Inevitable Result: One guy is covered in glory --- the guy who served.

But thanks to the "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth," it hasn't played out like that, has it? Oh, every pundit who values Intelligence insists that, when the dust settles, Bush will be revealed as the "Coward-in-Chief" who, in the long tradition of his family, allows surrogates like the Swift Boat Lunkheads to do his dirty work for him. And although those pundits wish Kerry had fought back harder and earlier, they still have faith in the Intelligence of the American People.

Swami's not so sure.

Oh, he was plenty sure when we left off on Friday afternoon --- scroll down to "'The Swift Boats Vets for Truth' and Our President" and you'll see Swami concluding "The Vets' ship is sinking" --- but the weekend changed all that.

For one thing, Swami stepped back and looked at the general craziness out there --- and the unwillingness of those who are exposed to it to speak out against it. Look at the conservative female writers who, like Mafia initiates, "make their bones" by reviving causes that even their colleagues must consider long-lost: Ann Coulter's stirring defense of demagogue Joseph McCarthy, Michelle Malkin's love song to World War II internment camps, and even, just last week, Beliefnet's own Loose Canon finding nobility in The Crusades --- estimated casualties: nine million. (And did the Beliefnet message boards go wild? Not at all.)

And then Swami considered the astonishing dose of lies and illogic you have to swallow to take this stuff seriously.

For example: These Swift Boat Vets are liars. It's not even debatable. Either they lied when they praised Kerry all those years ago or they're lying now when they attack him --- but that disconnect hasn't made a dent on all those who want to believe they're truth-tellers.

For example: If the Swift Boat Vets are correct, then all medals awarded to vets are suspect. Because Kerry can't have been the only soldier who was honored for stuff he didn't do. "The Greatest Generation" --- hey, maybe Dad and Uncle Jim weren't so great.

For example: The financing of the SBV campaign turns out to be....but if you've been Paying Attention and are still capable of Critical Thought, you get the drift.

The point: Swami shouldn't have been surprised that attacks on John Kerry's heroism will, as pundits are now saying, soon be followed by attacks on Kerry's patriotism.

Swami shouldn't have been surprised that the Republicans will claim the demonstrations at their Convention are "Democrat-inspired."

Swami shouldn't have been surprised that some suddenly-redefined concept of "fairness" means otherwise smart media professionals are now giving equal time and space to the SBV boys.

But Swami WAS surprised. And that's the story of...

How AOL News, Struggling to be "Objective," Innocently Pimps for Liars
August 23, 2004 | 3:00 p.m.

Background: Swami spent five years as Editorial Director of AOL. He was, as you may expect, a controversial figure, beloved by some (the worker bees, mostly), reviled by others (management, mostly). To the distress of Mrs. Uptown and his closest friends, Swami has trouble cutting the cord (though AOL had no qualms about cutting Swami loose) --- despite massive evidence to the contrary, he still believes AOL wants to do better, it just doesn't know how. So Swami lobs the occasional e-mail over the transom.

That is what happened on Friday night, when Swami logged on, saw the Swift Boat controversy on the Welcome Screen, and clicked to see what AOL News had wrought. In fact, there was an impressive package. But it was sullied by a link to the almost-universally-discredited SBV TV commercial alongside a link to the Kerry response commercial --- as if they had even the remotest possibility of an equal claim to "truth." And then there was a poll which asked, "Who do you believe in the debate over John Kerry's Vietnam record?"

The ideal AOL member would have read the articles, perused the commercials, then taken the poll. Had that happened, you'd expect a vote that was lopsided --- in favor of Kerry. In fact, of 307,000 votes, 53% believed the Swift Boaters, 39% believed Kerry. (The poll's second question asked who had "more to gain" in a debate about Vietnam. An astonishing 55% said....George Bush.)

To his e-mail went Swami, writing everyone from the CEO to the News Director. Heated but civil discourse followed. Swami's conclusion: From now until election day, AOL is going to take every smear that gets any traction, treat it as legitimate discourse and ask its members who it believes --- a kind of "objective" and Solomonic approach that, at the same time, provides free ad space for the lowest element in the campaign.

Because AOL will conduct this oh-so-innocent pimping without much, if any, media scrutiny, what should Swami do The Next Time?

A poster on a message board suggested that news organizations accompany all unproven accusations, from either side, with the following:

"This is either a bunch of falsehoods propagated by the opponent or may have some truth to it. As a responsible news organization in a tight and important election, we will not repeat or report on this until we have investigated it on our own. In the meantime, it is our editorial policy, determined because of past incidences of unproven politically motivated allegations, to regard these claims as false. In other words, innocent til proven guilty. This is the American way, and this is our way of serving the best interests of the United States of America and its citizens, especially in a time of war."

Swami commends that approach to AOL. And encourages AOL members among you to post that on AOL News Message boards. But the issue is larger: Indeed, it's...

What Can We Do That Is Useful?
August 23, 2004 | 3:00 p.m.

It's tiresome calling liars liars and enablers enablers. If it generated change, Swami would accept the weary-making chore as worthwhile in the end. But Friday night's mail did nothing but drive AOLers deeper into their wrong-headed certitude.

This has led Swami to conclude that debating the Wingnuts who seem to have taken over the Republican Party is a bad idea. For several reasons:

l) It distracts from Real Issues: Iraq, the economy, the environment, our spiritual growth.

2) It reduces Us to Their level. (They like to say "we" are as dirty or dirtier than they are, but Swami can't think of a single political ally of his who believes, as these guys seem to, in "victory at any cost.")

3) If Kerry wins, we'll have done nothing to bridge the divide that They created.

4) If Kerry loses, we'll have done none of the spiritual/personal muscle-building we're going to need to survive a Bush second term.

In days to come, Swami will start to explain this point of view. Thanks in advance to those of you who have pushed his thinking in this direction.

Commercial for Important Topic #1: Iraq
August 23, 2004 | 3:00 p.m.

Casualties in Iraq: 52 Americans dead this month, 963 total

Commercial for Important Topic #2: Tony Blair
August 23, 2004 | 3:00 p.m.

How close to George Bush is Tony Blair?

So close he has no intention of coming to America before the election to help his good pal out!

The London Sunday Mirror reports:

Tony Blair has snubbed George Bush's pleas to fly to the US and pick up his "war medal" ahead of the Presidential elections.

The U.S. President knows the PM, who is massively popular in the States, would provide his flagging re-election campaign with a much-needed boost.

And he is putting huge pressure on Mr. Blair to pick up the Congressional Medal of Honor, awarded by America for his unswerving support in Afghanistan and Iraq.

But Mr. Blair's closest aides have warned him to resist the plan, insisting that a meeting with President Bush would torpedo Democrat rival John Kerry's bid for the White House.

The Beauty Part
August 23, 2004 | 3:00 p.m.

Apologies for what looks like advertising for myself. But Swami thinks you should know about Israel Kamakawiwo'ole, featured today on Head Butler.

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