Thought for the Week

One man with courage makes a majority.
--Andrew Jackson

Smear Bush? Why bother? I'm looking for icebergs!

From the message boards last week:

Most realize the aim on this blog is to smear the Bush administration but in doing so others have compromised their own integrity by resorting to the same level of dishonesty and untruthfulness they accuse the Administration of.

I don't know about your "compromised" integrity, but sorry, darling, that is not the aim of this blog. Maybe it once was, when Swami launched in '04, because back then it wasn't completely obvious that this war was an insane idea managed by morons. And because, back then, I didn't believe that our nation's fate was in the hands of men who had the crazy idea that the best way to shrink the federal government was to expand it and then do nothing--that is, to bankrupt the enterprise, on purpose.

But now, everyone knows. And that's not "dishonest" writing. Bush at 29 percent approval really means Bush at 20 percent plus 9 percent. That 20 percent is the hardcore "base," or all those folks who really believe Pat Robertson can bench 2,000 pounds and dinosaurs lived just a few years before Jesus. That 20 percent will stick with Bush right through the Rapture (when they'll go Up, and we'll get their stuff). You couldn't pry them away. They're the ones who want to nuke Iran, insert microchips in the necks of illegal Mexicans and weld chastity belts to their daughters. While I wish only the best for everyone, let me hope that these folks have expressed their patriotism by buying houses with adjustable rate balloon mortgages coming up for review in 2007--I'm in the mood to buy some distressed real estate.

This 20% has wielded amazing power over the last 5 years. For their loyalty, they've mostly gotten a lot of jawing. And they're catching on--this government has not come through on every single issue. Like the Mexicans. These folks like shoot to kill. The government favors catch and release. So they growl. They threaten. But really, they're not going anywhere.

The other 9 percent--a lonely number compared to what it used to be--can't go much lower. But it doesn't have to. Numbers this small--hell, even the full 29 percent--signal a government that has no mandate. Around the world, people understand this.

The President does not. (But then, George Bush is deluded in so many ways--starting with his belief that he is President.) He now thinks he is Harry Truman, the President best known for his remark, "The buck stops here." As everyone now knows, the only buck that has stopped at Bush's office is linguistic--he should not have said, "Bring it on."

So no, dear reader, no need to Bash the Bush. He doesn't read. And there's no one left to convince. We're in a different phase now. With two-and-and-half years of an AWOL Presidency still to go, we're playing Titanic and Iceberg. A very simple game--the U.S. is the ship, the iceberg lies dead ahead. Do we turn and pay we miss it? Do we plow on, unaware or unafraid? Or is it already too late--have we played "Chicken" with reality once too often?

You think not? Ask anyone who gets funding from the National Institute of Health. Fewer grants now. Harder to get. Longer approval process. Why? It's not because standards are higher. It's simple: There's LESS MONEY.

E-mail from a friend, who's on a government board:

White House/OMB cuts to 07/08 are disgraceful. Before there were increases and agendas. Complete reversal on domestic agendas ahead. ALL Iraqi--but cuts in domestic budgets. Forget Iraq, the new news is domestic. We're well beyond FEMA, but basic services of the government.

Get that? We've cut fat. We've cut muscle. Now we're cutting into the bone. The "freedom" of Iraq vs. your future (and the future of your kids)--if you'd been given that choice, which would you have chosen? Right. In a heartbeat.

So you tell me: Bash Bush, or look for the life rafts?

Speaking of which: Al Gore

Saw the movie, went to the dinner, wrote about it. Read my truth about "An Inconvenient Truth" --and RUSH to see the movie.

And it's not just Al Gore

From The New Mexican:

"About half of America's hunters and anglers--including many who said they voted for President Bush in 2004--told pollsters they are witnessing firsthand, in the outdoors, the effects of some form of climate change, according to the results of a nationwide survey of sportsmen released Tuesday by the National Wildlife Federation, an environmental group based in Washington, D.C."

If you see Rick Warren, please ask him about this

From Daily Kos, about a video game coming out in October:

"Imagine: you are a foot soldier in a paramilitary group whose purpose is to remake America as a Christian theocracy, and establish its worldly vision of the dominion of Christ over all aspects of life. You are issued high-tech military weaponry, and instructed to engage the infidel on the streets of New York City. You are on a mission--both a religious mission and a military mission--to convert or kill Catholics, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, gays, and anyone who advocates the separation of church and state--especially moderate, mainstream Christians. Your mission is "to conduct physical and spiritual warfare"; all who resist must be taken out with extreme prejudice. You have never felt so powerful, so driven by a purpose: you are 13 years old. You are playing a first-person shooter video game whose creators are linked to the empire of mega-church pastor Rick Warren, best selling author of 'The Purpose Driven Life.' "

Six Flags Over Jesus

Don't bother with the piece--it's the usual "liberal" exposé of a megachurch. Scroll down to the bottom of this for the flag the church sells: Washington and Lincoln blessing Bush. If you need a gift, this sure beats a lava lamp.

Thought for the Week

MSNBC: Let me ask you about your leadership. In the most recent survey, your disapproval rating is now one point lower than Richard Nixon’s before he resigned the presidency. [BUSH laughs] You’re laughing...
BUSH: I’m not laughing.
MSNBC: Why do you think that is?
BUSH: Because we’re at war. And war unsettles people. Listen, we’ve got a great economy. We’ve added 5.2 million jobs in the last two-and-a-half years, but people are unsettled. They don’t look at the economy and say, 'life is good.' They know we’re at war. And I’m not surprised that people are unsettled because of war. The enemy’s got a powerful tool—that is to get on your TV screen by killing innocent people. And my job is to continue to remind the people it’s worth it. We’re not going to retreat hastily. We’re not going to pull out of there before the job’s done and we’ve got a plan for victory.
MSNBC: They’re not just unsettled, sir. They disapprove of the job you’re doing.
BUSH: That’s unsettled.
MSNBC That’s how you see it?
BUSH: Yeah, I do. I see it as the war has… the war is… the war is difficult. And I understand that. I understand why people wonder whether we can win the war or not. But there’s a big difference between some of us who believe we’re doing the right thing and moving forward and a group of people who want to pull out before the jobs is done.

The wisdom of the people

From around the Web:

On Rudy Giuliani campaigning for Ralph Reed in Georgia
Rudy will be popular down South: he likes to have his cops beat minorities, he hates civil rights, he's a hypocritical hypermoralist, and he used to be married to his cousin--how could people from Georgia not love him?

On tradeoffs
Let me get this straight--because fewer than 5,000 people died in the past 20 years from domestic and international terrorism, I am supposed to give up all my rights and consent to the government having full access to all my records? Yet when illegally obtained guns kill 5,000 a month in the United States, we can't even have proper gun registration and tracking because it would infringe on gun owner's rights.

On the frog boiling in water
The government put the terrorists under surveillance, which was fine because I was not a terrorist. Then it put the leakers under surveillance, and I didn't speak up because I was not a leaker. Then it put reporters under surveillance, and I didn't speak up because I was not a reporter. Then it put me under surveillance. Soon we were all being watched or listened to, and no one dared to speak up for anyone.

Buddhism Sucks Too

I’ve been having fun with my message-board posters, some of whom are none too swift.

You would think an American smart enough to support him/herself in this grueling economy could tell the difference between “Christians” and “right wing crackpot Christians who don’t give a damn about Jesus, they just want an end to abortion and gay rights”--but no. I guess Pavlov was right. Dangle meat in front of a dog, he’ll leap--whether it’s prime steak or a sinewy old bone.

Ditto when I talk about Republicans. I mean, some of my best friends, etc. But also: a pack of crooks and traitors who, in a country of laws, would be sharing cells with inner-city fools who had the bad luck to get busted for selling more than a dime bag. Guess what? To some of my posters, they're all the same. Or so they think I think.

But we’re having such fun getting riled up. (While Rome burns.) So let’s throw some faggots-- hat’s Middle English for “bundle of sticks”--on the fire.

l) How about that Democrat who allegedly took bribes and put the $90,000 in his freezer. I say: Let’s hang him as high as Jack Abramoff. Ooops, I can’t say that. He’s on “my” side. What can I say? [Off-screen, a chip is put in Swami’s neck] Oh yes. Partisan politics! Innocent until proven guilty! Democrats are never bad!

2) Posters have discovered that the Dalai Lama has no heart for gay marriage. And that Japanese Buddhists supported the Emperor during World War II. This proves--and here comes a leap across a chasm that even Evil Knievel wouldn’t attempt--Swami is a hypocrite to attack Christians and only Christians.

Head’s up, kids. Swami knew all that. And if that’s the best you can do, don’t bother hanging around for the judges’ score--you’re toast.

Swami likes Buddhism first and foremost because it doesn’t hold up a God figure--not even the Buddha. [Shameless name drop: I once asked the Dalai Lama if Buddhism wasn’t really an advanced form of atheism. He said, “You have a point.”] It’s all about the Buddha in you--it’s about your spiritual progress. That’s why the DL calls himself a humble monk. It’s why they say, “If you see the Buddha on the road, kill him.”

But it is the way of man to need a hero. Or even a god. And this is where it all goes wrong for me. You want a good guide to spiritual hoo-ha? AS SOON AS THEY OPEN A GIFT SHOP, RUN THE OTHER WAY. Because then you are dealing with a business, not a spiritual enterprise. Oh, I know the sale of the crucifix--or whatever--supports nuns and heals lepers. And I am very much on the side of well-fed nuns and cared-for lepers. But I have noticed--as, perhaps have you--that the marketing department of a religion often seems more energetic than the healing side.

Take the Vatican. All that gold--where did it come from? Was it freely given? Hey, just asking.

And the American evangelicals. Does the money they collect go to help “the least of these”? Or does it pay for the new TV broadcasting antenna? Hey, just asking.

For those who care, yes, we have a Buddha. Bought it at a museum gift shop. No Buddhist benefited.

Why fight them over there when we can fight them here?

The rumor is that we will soon--like next week--start pulling troops out of Iraq. As will the Brits.

Why?

Gee, have you seen Bush and Blair’s approval numbers? No, I mean: We have established order. It’s time to go.

Or maybe it’s that we have finally pulled off a My Lai massacre in Iraq. And it begins to gag even the biggest of our war-criminal leaders. Oh, you missed it? Read this.

It seems a roadside bomb killed 15 civilians and a Marine. So, the next day, Marines slaughtered 15 unarmed Iraqi civilians (including seven women and three children.). An Iraqi girl, who said six members of her family died, told a reporter: “The Americans came into the room where my father was praying and shot him.” [But he wasn’t a Christian, so his death matters less.]

Ah, but we were moving on. To Mexico, the terrorist nation to the South. I didn’t used to fear the Mexicans. Now I’m afraid to eat a taco--it could have a bomb inside. And they cut the grass way too short. If I wanted my grass to have a crew cut, I’d call….gee, I don’t really know. I guess the crew cut is okay. As long as they water generously after.

But I digress. Do you know we are starting to kill Mexicans? With guns. Yes, we’re bringing the best part of the Iraqi war--the gun thing--home. Here you go: Guy sitting at a check point. A legal guy. But he was a beaner, so why ask questions first? Just cap him.

Yeah, this is gonna be just like Iraq. Better--the reserves will get to go home often. And nobody will ever be charged with a war crime. Man, I’d like to do the TV commercial for the Reserves now--this could be even more fun than Grand Theft Auto.

Mrs. Uptown saved from drowning

So I posted about the Philadelphia rally for Jesus--the one that, on a good day, could be described as "well-meaning but over the top" and, on a bad one... oh, but I cannot be invoking the "H" word.

And sparks flew on the message board. The usual sparks. You know, like when Swami attacks some monstrous imbecile move by the White House, he's "shrill" and "bashing Republicans." Or, as here, when he points out that some Christians seem to have trouble remembering Jesus was a man of peace, he's "attacking Christianity."

One poster wondered if, perhaps, there was something in Swami's past that set him off on these delightful Christian children, who were merely praising the Son of God with messages of might and murder.

Why, yes, child, there is.

And old-timers knows it, because once upon a time, when Swami was off for a rest cure, Mrs. Uptown sat in and told you all about it.

Mrs, Uptown was--oh, I can't type it....but I must--one of Them.

It's like this. She lived in a small town in Minnesota-- so small that, in the elementary grades, she went to a one-room schoolhouse. In the summer, lots of people came up from the cities; in winter, all was emptiness.

There were two activities for teens in the winter.

One was drugs.

The other was End-Times Christianity.

The Christians were reading books. And discussing them. Mrs. Uptown loved to read. She cast her lot with the Christians.

Oh, the Apocalypse! The Rapture! Flying demons! Warrior angels! Infidels! Satan!

Very racy stuff they discussed. But not so much about Jesus.

One day Mrs. U looked around. And this part you must get right. She did not look around and say, "My Gawd, these people are unattractive!" She did not say, 'These people are stupid." She said (to herself, of course, because one thing she's got is Manners), "These people all have a physical or mental defect."

And she ran off to New York and the comfort of Jewish men. And there she was saved from drowning by--years and years later--this Jew-Bu.

What, you may ask, is My Point?

It's this: I don't just sit here and spout. In my day, I have watched--granted, in the Owner's Box in Yankee Stadium--Rev. Moon spout some dimwit mumbo-jumbo. I have sat, stomping my feet, in the back of a Baptist Church in Jamaica during Revival Hour. I have attended a Catholic "Couples Weekend" and discussed holy relationships. Once, at a Maharishi lecture, I picked up a woman whose brother was Jimi Hendrix's music publisher. (If she's reading this... well, you know...)

And I do understand--really I do, for I have, despite my privileges, been broken in spirit and weary of heart--that religion means nothing unless it reaches out to "the least of these."

But--and please reflect a moment, posters, on the trouble some of you have holding two thoughts, two opposing thoughts, in your head at one time--I have also seen people reach out to the least of these with the intent of picking their pockets and enslaving their minds.

And I have seen--and so have you--Christian evangelist after Christian evangelist living high, collecting torrents of donations, and then, out of the blue, revealing that something funky happened in a motel room with his assistant.

And I have seen--and so have you--what happens next: the trotting out of the Faithful Wife, who, drenched in Christian forgiveness, Takes Him Back and Reaffirms Their Bond.

And I think: Who are you people to condemn the homosexuals? Who are you to speak against the foreign and the strange? Who are you, finally, to tell anyone how to behave?

And then--yesterday--I wrote on HeadButler.com a piece about the great Zen master Shunryu Suzuki. A wondrous teacher. Who gave very little guidance. Judged not. Lived humbly. And had no sense of his own greatness. Indeed, thought he was no great moral example.

Now, before you scream, Buddhists have scandals too. There's no end of wild sex-and-booze stories at some retreats. And high priests have turned out to be some of the worst offenders.

But there's a difference. The Buddhists do not exalt themselves. They don't hold themselves up. They say: Find the Buddha in you.

Now, I don't know if the leaders of the Philly March have evil intent. That's why I posted the article. And why I ask you again: Christians? Or Exploiters? What's their game? Are they into saving souls? Or just their savings accounts?

I'd love the message-board posters to dig into this. As opposed to taking easy jabs at me. Trust me on this, kids: I don't feel them.

Thought for the Week

I seen a young girl in a parking lot
preaching to a crowd
singin' sacred songs and
reading from the Bible
Well I told her I was lost
and she told me all about the Pentecost
And seein' that girl was the road to my survival

Just later on the very same night
she crept to my tent with a flashlight
and my long years of innocence ended
Well she took me to the woods sayin'
"Here comes somethin' and it feels so good!"
And just like a dog I was befriended
I was befriended

--Paul Simon, "Duncan" (His new CD, Surprise, is just as revealing)

I could use your help with a short piece I want to write.

It occurs to me--and isn't it scary when I start a sentence that way--that the best way to live free in America these days is to live like...a terrorist or drug dealer.

Consider:

1) You don't want your phone calls recorded? Do like terrorists and drug dealers: Use throw-away cell phones.

2) You don't want the government knowing about everything you buy and everything you do for money? Do like terrorists and drug dealers: Get paid in cash, use cash.

3) You don't want your e-mails read? Do like terrorists and drug dealers. Share an e-mail account and password with your colleagues. Log on to read messages and add your comments. But you never send the mail.

Any other ideas? Please post them or--if you dare--write me.

If You Give a Mouse a Cookie

From today's New York Times:

Headline: Conservative Christians Criticize Republicans

First paragraph: "Some of President Bush's most influential conservative Christian allies are becoming openly critical of the White House and Republicans in Congress, warning that they will withhold their support in the midterm elections unless Congress does more to oppose same-sex marriage, obscenity and abortion."

My thought: Congress can do MORE for these people? Oh, right. It can outlaw abortion, make cussin' illegal, and declare homosexuality a crime. Go to it, guys. Let's see in November just how big the "base" really is. And, at the same time, just how base.

Who's Crazier, Tom Cruise or George Bush?

As some of you know, one of my favorite stories has the great Zen master Shunryu Suzuki being asked at a public talk to summarize Buddhism in a sentence. The audience laughed at the impossibility of that challenge. “Easy,” he said. “Things change.”

Yes. They do. Once Tom Cruise was the biggest star in the world. Now--just a few months from his peak--he's semi-poison at the box office. Why? Stuff like this, as reported by the great Roger Friedman:

Katie's parents, Martin and Kathleen Holmes, didn’t get to see baby Suri up close and personal until the day of the "Mission: Impossible 3" premiere in Los Angeles. That would have been May 4. Suri was born in the late afternoon on April 17.

You do the math, fans. That's two and a half weeks. The Holmeses were specifically not invited until Tom was back home in Los Angeles after his worldwide promotional tour and could monitor the baby’s first visit with her maternal grandparents.

Tom’s mother, Mary Jo Mapother-South, was there for the delivery. So were Tom’s sisters. But, as widely reported, the Holmeses were at their vacation home in Florida when they got the news that their daughter had given birth to their first grandchild. "They are heartbroken,” says the source who filled me in on this, and this person knows what they’re talking about.

Cruise may never recover. Not, anyway, until he lets poor Katie Holmes out for an unsupervised walk with the baby and sees if she comes back. Not until he stops pushing Scientology in every public appearance. Hell, probably not until he has sex with a woman on national TV.

Bush? Strangely, he's better off--even though his approval rating is down to a near-record 29 percent. But guess what? He can get his numbers up quickly. For one thing, it appears that most of our citizens think it's quite a good thing for the government to have a record of every phone call they've made--and they really don't care if the government looked at reporters' phone records to find out who they called. As for the Mexicans who are here illegally, lots of our countrymen seem to favor the view that came around last week, in an e-mail falsely credited to Robin Williams:

All illegal aliens have 90 days to get their affairs together and leave. We'll give them a free trip home. After 90 days the remainder will be gathered up and deported immediately, regardless of whom or where they are. They're illegal!!!

Frightening? Well, only if you have something to hide. Or live in a state where there are lots of Mexicans who do things for you at less than the minimum wage. Otherwise, totalitarianism is looking pretty good. And so we can expect Bush soon to be more popular--at home, that is; outside our borders, the President's idea of an action movie doesn't play so well--than Tom Cruise.

The critical difference: Cruise is an actor. The number of lives he can actually wreck seem limited--his wife and baby, for starters and enders. But Bush can put 10,000 men on the Mexican border with their guns trained on illegals. He can bomb Iran. He can grind it out in Iraq until we rack up numbers of wounded and dead that make it right to compare Iraq to Vietnam.
Who's crazier? Bush gets my vote. Tom Cruise for President?

Hero of the Week

Boston College invited Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to give the commencement address. Steve Almond, a faculty member, was so incensed that he resigned. Here is his letter of resignation, addressed to William P. Leahy, SJ, president of Boston College:

Dear Father Leahy,
I am writing to resign my post as an adjunct professor of English at Boston College. I am doing so—after five years at BC, and with tremendous regret—as a direct result of your decision to invite Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to be the commencement speaker at this year’s graduation.

Many members of the faculty and student body already have voiced their objection to the invitation, arguing that Rice’s actions as secretary of state are inconsistent with the broader humanistic values of the university and the Catholic and Jesuit traditions from which those values derive.

But I am not writing this letter simply because of an objection to the war against Iraq. My concern is more fundamental. Simply put, Rice is a liar. She has lied to the American people knowingly, repeatedly, often extravagantly over the past five years, in an effort to justify a pathologically misguided foreign policy.

The public record of her deceits is extensive. During the ramp-up to the Iraq war, she made 29 false or misleading public statements concerning Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction and links to Al Qaeda, according to a congressional investigation by the House Committee on Government Reform.

To cite one example: In an effort to build the case for war, then-National Security Adviser Rice repeatedly asserted that Iraq was pursuing a nuclear weapon, and specifically seeking uranium in Africa. In July of 2003, after these claims were disproved, Rice said: ‘’Now if there were doubts about the underlying intelligence . . . those doubts were not communicated to the president, the vice president, or to me.” Rice’s own deputy, Stephen Hadley, later admitted that the CIA had sent her a memo eight months earlier warning against the use of this claim.

In the three years since the war began, Rice has continued to misrepresent or simply ignore the truth about our deadly adventure in Iraq. Like the president whom she serves so faithfully, she refuses to recognize her errors or the tragic consequences of those errors to the young soldiers and civilians dying in Iraq. She is a diplomat whose central allegiance is not to the democratic cause of this nation, but absolute power.

This is the woman to whom you will be bestowing an honorary degree, along with the privilege of addressing the graduating class of 2006.

It is this last notion I find most reprehensible: that Boston College would entrust to Rice the role of moral exemplar.

To be clear: I am not questioning her intellectual gifts or academic accomplishments. Nor her potentially inspiring role as a powerful woman of color.

But these are not the factors by which a commencement speaker should be judged. It is the content of one’s character that matters here—the reverence for truth and knowledge that Boston College purports to champion.

Rice does not personify these values; she repudiates them. Whatever inspiring rhetoric she might present to the graduating class, her actions as a citizen and politician tell a different story.

Honestly, Father Leahy, what lessons do you expect her to impart to impressionable seniors? That hard work in the corporate sector might gain them a spot on the board of Chevron? That they, too, might someday have an oil tanker named after them? That it is acceptable to lie to the American people for political gain?

Given the widespread objection to inviting Rice, I would like to think you will rescind the offer. But that is clearly not going to happen. Like the administration in Washington, you appear too proud to admit to your mistake. Instead, you will mouth a bunch of platitudes, all of which boil down to: You don’t want to lose face.

In this sense, you leave me no choice. I cannot, in good conscience, exhort my students to pursue truth and knowledge, then collect a paycheck from an institution that displays such flagrant disregard for both.

I would like to apologize to my students and prospective students. I would also urge them to investigate the words and actions of Rice, and to exercise their own First Amendment rights at her speech.
– Steve Almond

Okay, we can't call it a 'Hitler Youth' rally (But what can we call it?)

This is from May, but I've just seen it. It really happened--in Philadelphia. The event: a BattleCry rally. Read on:

It began with fireworks so loud and startling I screamed. Lights and smoke followed, and a few kids were pulled up on stage from the crowd. One was asked to read a letter.This was the letter that opened the event. Its author was George W. Bush. Yes, the president of the United States sent a letter of support, greeting, prayer and encouragement....Immediately afterward, a preacher took the microphone and led the crowd in prayer. Among other things, he asked the attendees to “Thank God for giving us George Bush.”On his cue, about 17,000 youths from upward of 2,000 churches across America and Canada directed their thanks heavenward in unison....

The first rock band that performed, Delirious, got the crowd festive and up on their feet with lyrics that were projected on large screens so that everyone could join in: “We’re an army of God and we’re ready to die.... Let’s paint this big ol’ town red.... We see nothing but the blood of Jesus....”

Between musical acts, Luce, the BattleCry founder, hammered away at the dominant theme of the night: his contention that “pew-sitters ... passive Christians ... the Christians who just want love, joy, peace ... ” were the problem, and that the world needed more radical and extreme God-worshippers—those who would be obedient and fully submit to Christ.
There was a session when, after a great crescendo, the stadium was brought to silence. Luce instructed individuals to stand up when they felt the spirit and cry out, “I want the cross!” The voices of hundreds rose up over the course of 10 minutes. These young people, declaring death unto themselves and rebirth in Christ, were called down to the floor of the stadium and directed to get on their knees and put their heads down and pray some more.

One other goodie. When the reporter was in the bathroom, she saw "something equally unsettling--a preteen girl wearing a shirt being sported by many attendees that night: Jesus on the cross, robes waving, and emblazoned across the front the words “Dressed to Kill.”

Now that's a Jesus for America--Jesus: armed and dangerous! Man, I want the action figure to round out my collection of GI Joes. Don't you?

The Beauty Part

Once upon a time, there was no "Simple Abundance." Then, in 1996, Oprah read it and passed a blessing over it. And suddenly five million copies sold and it was #1 on the Times bestseller list for so many months in a row that you just stopping looking at that page.

There were more books, then silence from the author, Sarah Ban Breathnach. To my mind, she was having what you or I might call a run of bad luck. But Ban Breathnach believes that things happen for a reason. And as she undertook a new round of self-excavation, she realized that she'd been in denial most of her life--and that maybe other women were as well. The issue was houses. They weren't really homes. No one wanted to admit that, but it was true: Women didn't feel comfortable in their own homes.

She's written a book about this. It's called Moving On.

I'm not trying to save the world

And I don't recommend it for you either.

Still, there are some who think I have taken on that work.

Like the message board poster who wrote yesterday: "Seems ironic to me for someone who claims to want to save the world to also say the most important thing to do is to save yourself. If we're all busy saving ourselves than how do we have time to save others?"

I never made such a claim. Although plenty of others have. Our President seems to have that in mind--democracy! everywhere!--and if that is the case, well, maybe he might have done better to have had some counseling/therapy about his drinking before he picked up the cross and urged us to follow him.

I am not even here to "save" my readers. I am here to "be" with them. To quote Anna Akhmatova, one of the greatest Russian poets:

Not under the protection of foreign skies
Or saving wings of alien birth –
I was then there – with my people –
There, where my people, alas, were.

The reason to save yourself first is because damaged souls who try to do good often do it through the lens of their damage--and they do damage. "Life waits patiently for true heroes," Thich Nhat Hanh writes. "It is dangerous when those aspiring to be heroes cannot wait until they find themselves. When aspiring heroes have not found themselves, they are tempted to borrow the world's weapons--money, fame and power--to fight their battles....False heroes often find it easier to make war than deal with the emptiness in their own souls."

Got that? A time and a place for everything. I do not believe we are yet at the moment of a True Test. Thus, I believe our first job is to prepare the self. And then--or maybe at the same time--be useful and kind to those we encounter.

I've made this analogy before: On a plane, they tell you if the oxygen masks drop, put yours on first--and then the masks of your kids. My message board poster might disagree?

Finally: Every night, as I put Little Uptown to bed, I ask her: "Who loves you the most?"

Gleefully, she shouts: "Me!"

And then I ask: "Who else?" and I get the laundry list: "You, Mommy...."

My message board poster might be appalled by Little Uptown's "selfishness." But I am happy that Little Uptown seems happily connected to her Buddha nature. She strikes me as utterly sane and totally healthy. On any given day, she could go out and save the world. Alas, she's only four.

Thought for the Week

"There is an anger. You can hear it in the slogans at Friday prayers: 'Death to America.' They're burning American flags. They're saying, 'The Americans won't leave except by the funerals of their sons.'

--Jaffar Mohammed Asadi, described as "spokesman for Ayatollah Mohammed Taqi Modaressi, a moderate and well-regarded cleric known more for his attempts to boost business in Karbala than for fiery anti-American speeches," in the Los Angeles Times

The View from Oz

When She Whose Name We Do Not Say departed Beliefnet blogspace, I expressed the hope we'd see a sweeter style from Swami. Alas, that has not been the case. And some message board posters have noticed this and given me bad marks.

Their line is that I am "shrill" and "partisan"--all I do is bash Republicans.

If Hillary Clinton runs for president, you will know that I am an all-purpose basher, but as to the current charges: Guilty, Your Honor.

I bash the Republicans in Washington for a simple reason: They are crooks. And incompetent. They endanger our lives and our children's.

These are not political judgments. They are statements of fact. And so my suggestion to the message board posters who seem not to know this is: Why do you bother to read me at all?

Let's deal with the "endanger lives" stuff.

For months now, I have been hearing that doctors in Europe have stockpiled Tamiflu for the families in the event that an Avian Flu epidemic strikes. I thought about this. And I thought about our undefended ports. And Katrina. And--but you get the picture.

So I asked my doctor for prescriptions for Tamiflu. He was not happy. That is, he understood why I was asking--a government that has offered no protection in a crisis for five years is not likely to turn competent now. But it troubled him that monied white people with good health plans would get these drugs and then, in an epidemic, there'd be an insufficient supply for the poor and minorities. I couldn't agree more. But we've got a little kid in the house--we owe it to her to defend ourselves.

I got that prescription. And got it filled. Tamiflu's in a drawer where we can easily find out.

And you? Do you have your prescription?

It might be a good idea if you did--because late last week, the government announced it really couldn't do much if Avian flu hit. This crisis will have to be handled by city and state health agencies.

And you guys accuse me of being shrill?

What eludes me is that everyone isn't screaming. I understand there is so much wrong that we don't know where to start. I get it that the White House serves up a fresh outrage every day, so reaction puts us at least a day behind. And I get that the White House doesn't listen to anyone who says anything it doesn't want to hear.

And I have said it here before: The most important thing you can do is Save Yourself. Make money and store up nuts for the winter. Work out regularly so you are strong and fit. Strengthen your relationships with friends and loved ones. Find a way, even in this darkness, to smile in the light.

I went to see Josh Ritter the other night. Great songs, great performance, fabulous night out. But what struck me most forcefully was how joyous he was. His music makes me happy--it's smart and accomplished, and the writing is of the highest level, and the band is killer--but that's not what I'm talking about. I mean that Josh was happy. I mean that he was grinning, start to finish. Even in the tough songs, he was ebullient, so full of the pleasure of making music that it really seemed he might jump out of his skin. And you can say he's young, and you can say he's a little corny, but after you say that, you have to also say--it works.

One of his songs is about our situation--helplessness. The singer is a guy whose girlfriend is in Iraq. And the refrain goes:

I got a girl in the war, and the only thing I know to do/Is turn up the music and pray that she makes it through.

Maybe that is the only thing. Maybe it's the smart thing. But let's not go there without acknowledging why the best we can do is shrug. Let's not forget that we we're in this fix because we have a President whose greatest skill is playing dress-up.

The bullhorn at Ground Zero. The flight suit on the Lincoln. The Heath Ledger gear at the ranch.

A little boy, totally over his head, who likes to role-play. The Wizard of Oz. A guy who, if he had your job, couldn't last a week.

Once upon a time, these would be called judgments. Now they are just the facts.

You think not? Really? Then post and share the Good News. Or just leave a conversation in which good people caught in a bad jam are still trying to do good things.

Personal Best

Just in case you haven't seen this, a German newspaper asked George Bush about the best experience he's had since becoming President. His response:

You know, I've experienced many great moments and it's hard to name the best...I would say the best moment of all was when I caught a 7.5 pound (3.402 kilos) perch in my lake.

Interesting that the World Record for lake-caught perch is 4 pounds 3 ounces. Sounds like our President is just too modest to have told us he beat the record by more than 3 pounds.

Porter Goss: Did you know who he really is?

I had read this stuff in bits and pieces. Thanks to Sploid for putting it all in one place. (And do click, there's more.)

Ready for some stunners? Porter Goss began his career as a spook at Yale, where he was member of "Book & Snake," a secret society dating back to 1863. (Former defense chief Les Aspin Jr. and White House storyteller Bob Woodward are also members of this bizarre club, said to be more secretive than Skull & Bones, which infamously produced the Bushes and John Kerry.)

Goss has been directly involved with almost every atrocity committed by the American government since the late 1950s. From the Bay of Pigs to the Death Squads of Central America, Goss was always on the job. His fingerprints can even be found on the JFK assassination cover-up. Someone tried to kill him in London back in 1970, but the poison wasn't strong enough or maybe it just doesn't work on his kind.

He "retired" to Florida--specifically, to a colony of CIA agents in Sanibel, Florida. It was here that Goss would launch his "political" career in the 1970s and cement his partnership with Democrat Bob Graham. Goss represented this congressional district--Florida's 14th--for 16 years, in which the multimillionaire Republican did little more than shovel money to the CIA and other intelligence operations.

Oddly enough, in this same 20-mile stretch of Florida gulf coast, most of the named 9/11 hijackers settled (including, notoriously, Mohammed Atta in Naples). Odder still, Atta and his buddies supposedly trained to be pilots at shady CIA-financed pilot schools involved in the usual clandestine activities of money laundering and drug running. All the files and records from those flight schools were loaded onto a military cargo plane in the middle of the night of Sept. 12, 2001--with Jeb Bush aboard, of all people--and flown to Washington, where they disappeared. So who really knows?!

All mathematical odds collapse in the presence of Porter Goss. He was in Pakistan weeks before the 9/11 attacks, planning a U.S. war in Afghanistan with Pakistani ISI chief Mahmoud Ahmad--the same Ahmad who directly funded the Taliban and worked directly with Osama bin Laden.

On the morning of the attacks, the Republican congressman and "former" CIA agent and lifelong Florida politician Bob Graham enjoyed breakfast with the same Mahmoud Ahmad, who was conveniently in Washington for high-level meetings on that infamous day.

It was Ahmad who arranged the transfer of $100,000 to alleged hijacker Mohammed Atta. This transfer was arranged in a top-secret conference room in the U.S. Capitol. The money passed through none other than Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, the Pakistani intelligence agent and British "terrorist" and Afghanistan terror-camp administrator who reportedly killed Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl. (The WSJ was the only major U.S. news organization pursuing the Ahmed-Sheikh-Atta connections, and Pearl was working on that very story when he was set up and kidnapped in Pakistan.)

Curiously enough, there is not a single mention of Goss and Graham's breakfast with Ahmad in the 868-page investigation chaired by ... Goss and Graham.And while Goss was fiercely against any investigation into the 9/11 attacks, once the investigation was in danger of becoming a reality, the lifelong spy Goss conveniently became the co-chairman of the Joint 9/11 Intelligence Inquiry ... with none other than Bob Graham.

As busy as he was in the days before and after Sept. 11, 2001, he again showed remarkable personal strength by sponsoring the Patriot Act, a massive pile of new laws to strip Americans of civil and financial rights. This amazing collection of detailed new laws to return American intelligence to its pre-Watergate levels of domestic abuses was ready for Congress so quickly that a few have even suggested the entire thing was prepared in advance of the Sept. 11 attacks.
After finding no fault with the CIA, White House, Pentagon, or any other intelligence agency, Goss must have been surprised when he was made the new CIA boss after the retirement of George Tenet--who did such a good job that the president gave him a medal!

On Not Executing the Insane

So a jury voted to let Zacarias Moussaoui live.

Good for those 12 citizens.

America's record in bringing to justice the men behind the 9/11 attacks is deplorable.

On the other hand, we have done a really terrific job in killing and maiming tens of thousands of innocent Iraqis.

It is hard to tell, on a given day, whose hands are bloodier: Bush/Cheney or Bin Laden.

As for Zacarias Moussaoui, he stands in the middle on the guilt spectrum.

Clearly, he delights in American planes crashing.

Without doubt, he revels in Americans jumping to their death from a high floor or being turned into ash in burning buildings.

He is also insane--a grinning fool, an idiot who grovels for scraps at the feet of any court that will let him in.

That court--the kingdom of Bin Laden--was smart enough to keep him at a distance.

He knew who, but not when. Not what. Not how. He was muscle.

To have killed him would have elevated him to the ranks of the great war criminals.

It would have given him the martyrdom that is, for him, triumph.

If only as an act of refusal--if only as a perverse gesture--thank God we did not make this man happy.

But this drama is far from over,

Now comes Act II.....the cry of our "patriots," for whom there is never enough misery, never enough death.

As long, of course, as they're not in any personal risk of dying.

Go to it, boys. Show the world the "real" America--not the one that had mercy on a lunatic, but the one that has no mercy at all.

Oh well.

But wasn't it sweet, for an hour or two, not to be ashamed of our country?

Thought for the Week

We keep digging a hole that leads away from the door through which we can't get our karma.
--James Tate

Dear Jay Leno, what's your problem with gays?

Jeff Whitty is a playwright--he wrote the hit musical "Avenue Q." He's also gay. And watching Jay Leno has troubled him. So he sent Jay a letter. Here's how it starts:

"When you think of gay people, it's funny. They're funny folks. They wear leather. They like Judy Garland. They like disco music. They're sort of like Stepin Fetchit as channeled by Richard Simmons.

Gay people, to you, are great material.

Mr. Leno, let me share with you my view of gay people:

When I think of gay people, I think of the gay news anchor who took a tire iron to the head several times when he was vacationing in St. Martin. I think of my friend who was visiting Hamburger Mary's, a gay restaurant in Las Vegas, when a bigot threw a smoke bomb filled with toxic chemicals into the restaurant, leaving the staff and gay clientele coughing, puking, and running in terror. I think of visiting my gay friends at their house in the country, sitting outside for dinner, and hearing, within hundreds of feet of where we sat, taunting voices yelling "Faggots." I think of hugging my boyfriend goodbye for the day on 8th Avenue in Manhattan and being mocked and taunted by passing high school students.

There's much more. Please read it all.

Gas Prices and Immigration: Excuse me while I yawn

I'm supposed to care about immigration. I ask: Okay, but why now? Nobody seems to know. We're all just supposed to care--on cue--about immigration.

Sure sounds like a Republican diversion to me. A nice election year issue. Whatever happens, it will bring out the hard-core "base"--red-blooded Americans whose trigger fingers get itchy when they hear the word "furriner."

By the same token, I'm all giggly about the fresh "solutions" for high gas prices. In Washington, I learn, Christian clergy from around the country will assemble at a Washington, D.C., gas station on Thursday to pray for lower prices. Is that not like an instant parody? Better, like the Jews in the Temple, they should pray that the oil in the Eternal Light burn longer--ooops, I mean that God bless our cars with better gas mileage.

As for the Republican plan to give every taxpayer $100 to soften the blow of $3+ gas, it was a thrill to see that trial balloon fail to gain lift-off. Considering the breaks rich people get for breathing, $100 sounds like an insult. Yeah, we've got a price, but that ain't it. You want to bribe us, you can't treat us like peasants--you must offer a payment at least equal to a bribe of a congressman.

Failing that, let's get gas prices higher, the better to encourage conservation. And let's get every citizen a copy of Boiling Point.

A real issue? Try WW III

So while we're not dealing with the environment but screaming about gas prices and immigrants, the rest of the world is moving on--toward war. So says Rosa Brooks, a professor at the University of Virginia School of Law, in a provocative Op-Ed piece in the Los Angeles Times. It begins:

"Let me tell you about the next war. It will start sooner than you think—sometime between now and September. And it will be precipitated by the $700-million Russian deal this week to sell Tor air defense missile systems to ran.

"When the war begins, it will be between Iran and Israel. Before it ends, though, it may set the whole of the Middle East on fire, pulling in the United States, leaving a legacy of instability that will last for generations and permanently ending a century of American supremacy. Despite the high stakes, the Bush administration seems barely to have noticed the danger posed by the Russian missile sale. But the signs are there, for those inclined to read them ..."

War by September? Gee, I thought we'd start it by bombing Iran next month. Well, you've got my attention, professor. And you? Read every word.

Stephen Colbert: Did you see this?

Stephen Colbert--once of "the Daily Show," now of "The Colbert Report"--was The Talent at the White House Correspondent's dinner on Saturday night.

If you've been on the Web, you know his smackdown of President Bush--a fake wet kiss that Bush didn't enjoy--was huge. I blogged about it on Huffington Post.

If you only read the newspapers and watch TV, it's like this confrontation never happened. (Ask yourself why. One answer, from a message board: "Colbert made these Bush-apologizing sycophants actually smell the s---t they've been shoveling out for so long--and in unison, they all went "peee-ewww" and held their snobby little noses!' )

Here is remedial viewing and the complete text. You're welcome.

Letter from a friend in Israel

"Today was Holocaust Remembrance Day, Yom haShoah. As seriously as we take it in the states, I've never seen anything like this. Yesterday, the stores closed early and there were programs all over. I went to Miriam's synagogue here in Elazar; it was packed, and after kaddish, the kids put on a show where they all read letters of children who had been murdered in the camps and carried a candle for each child they read. No one co