January 3, 2012, 11:17 pm
Filed Under Intolerance, Humor, rude, Politics | Comments Off
Being from a bordering state I agree, but it’s too bad that “unlimited money” bought the ouster of the judges that made one of the items stated true…
Forced Merriment: The True Spirit of Christmas
December 25, 2011, 3:23 pm
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Good reading on xmas (or any time of year for that matter). From the WSJ: Forced Merriment: The True Spirit of Christmas posthumously published article from Christopher Hitchens:
Ever since Tom Lehrer recorded his imperishable anti-Christmas ditty all those years ago, the small but growing minority who view the end of December with existential dread has had a seasonal “carol” all of its own:
Christmas time is here by golly: disapproval would be folly.
Deck the halls with hunks of holly, fill the cup and don’t say when.
Kill the turkeys, ducks and chickens, mix the punch, drag out the Dickens.
Even though the prospect sickens—brother, here we go again.
a little later…
In their already discrepant accounts of the miraculous birth, the four gospels give us no clue as to what time of year—or even what year—it is supposed to have taken place. And thus the iconography of Christmas is ridiculously mixed in with reindeer, holly, snow scenes and other phenomena peculiar to northern European myth. (Three words for those who want to put the Christ back in Christmas: Jingle Bell Rock.) There used to be an urban legend about a Japanese department store that tried too hard to symbolize the Christmas spirit, and to show itself accessible to Western visitors, by mounting a display of a Santa Claus figure nailed to a cross. Unfounded as it turned out, this wouldn’t have been off by much.
then…
I once tried to write an article, perhaps rather straining for effect, describing the experience as too much like living for four weeks in the atmosphere of a one-party state. “Come on,” I hear you say. But by how much would I be exaggerating? The same songs and music played everywhere, all the time. The same uniform slogans and exhortations, endlessly displayed and repeated. The same sentimental stress on the sheer joy of having a Dear Leader to adore. As I pressed on I began almost to persuade myself. The serried ranks of beaming schoolchildren, chanting the same uplifting mush. The cowed parents, in terror of being unmasked by their offspring for insufficient participation in the glorious events…. “Come on,” yourself. How wrong am I?
It’s definitely worth the read.
Grandma Got Indefinitely Detained
, 3:15 pm
Filed Under Humor, Civil Liberties, Politics | Comments Off
An xmas present to all from the… police-state-enabling congress and President:
Daily Words
December 20, 2011, 5:44 am
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Wonderful it is to train the mind,
so swiftly moving, seizing whatever it wants.
Good is it to have a well-trained mind,
for a well-trained mind brings happiness.
Dhammapada 3.35
Daily Words
December 11, 2011, 5:46 am
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Hate brings great misfortune,
hate churns up and harms the mind;
this fearful danger deep within
most people do not understand.
Itivuttaka 3.88
Daily Words
December 9, 2011, 5:47 am
Filed Under Buddha | Comments Off
“As I am, so are others;
as others are, so am I.”
Having thus identified self and others,
harm no one nor have them harmed.
Sutta Nipāta 3.710
Daily Words
December 5, 2011, 5:48 am
Filed Under Buddha | Comments Off
Learn this from the waters:
in mountain clefts and chasms,
loud gush the streamlets,
but great rivers flow silently.
Sutta Nipāta 3.725
Bummernacht 2011
December 4, 2011, 11:22 pm
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On this, the eighteenth Bummernacht, I would like to wish one and all a happy beginning to Zappadan.
This is the time of year we should all follow his example and call out the bullshit spewed around us and defend our rights (the First Amendment and the remainder of the Bill of Rights, let alone the Constitution).
Daily Words
December 1, 2011, 5:43 am
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Who is energetic and not indolent,
In misfortune unshaken,
Flawless in manner and intelligent,
Such a one to honour may attain.
Dīgha Nikāya 3.273
Hopefully there will be perp walk in her future…
November 20, 2011, 9:05 pm
Filed Under Torture, Activist | Comments Off
UC Davis Chancellor Katehi gets an ear full
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