Changing Places

Quan. To be cured, recovery from illness. When illness is overcome, recovery is complete.

Can we see illness as an opportunity?

Is it the medicine and the treatment that cure us, or do we cure ourselves? It’s like the old joke about the cure for a cold. If you take medicine, you’ll recover in a week, but if you simply rest, you’ll recover in seven days.

Whenever we’re sick, our bodies have to find the means to destroy the illness and recover health. There is a learning process and a creative process. No one has evr invented a medicine that duplicates the body’s talents. A vaccine alone doesn’t make you immune to a disease. It gives your body the impetus to create its own antibodies.

Therefore, minor illnesses are not occasions of malaise, but the necessary time to create our own care. It is not a moribund sign, but a wonderful sign of health.

Deng Ming Dao, Everyday Tao

________

Quan. To care for, to love, family. Below in the symbol for quan is the character for “eye”. Above is a phonetic, a contraction of a word that means “nourish”.

To care for others is to look after them.

It is natural to care for others. If you are the one doing the caring, then do it happily. A mother tiger, for example, will take care of her cubs, An older brother will look after the younger. Even in the temples, one monk looks after another. And the sages often looked after one another. Let us not be so concerned with our own practice that we do not look after others.

All is Tao anyway. Who is to say that the only way to be enlightened is to be sealed in a cave? Tao is movement. Tao is diverse. Our purpose is not to look for the Tao of books. Our purpose is to look for the Tao of our lives. If you have family, or children, or a spouse, or students, or classmates, or friends, then look after them. Not because it is the right thing to do. Not because you will get something in return. But because it is part of who you are.

Deng Ming Dao, Everyday Tao

________

Caring for people is hard sometimes. But if it is a part of who you are, you can’t help but do it. Sometimes people resent being cared about, and push you away. Some people even walk out of your lives, claining you care too much about them or insisting you must want something in return for your care. But there are other people who come into your lives and need your care as well. Most people accept care happily, some greedily, demanding more and more.

But I think caring is a part of who I am, and I have had to accept that. Just as for my mother, caring was an important part of life, it is for me as well. I don’t think I am like her in that I would care for others before taking good care of myself, though. I recognize that i need to keep myself strong in order to care for others. Sometimes, people get a bit tired of waiting for me to care for them again, but when they need me, I’ll be there. It’s just that they may be confusing what they want with things they really need.

Sometimes, I’ve even been accused of being selfish for caring for others. People confuse caring for others with neglecting loyalty to someone else. You can be loyal to one person and still care about someone else. But, obviously to those who only see selfish reasons for doing things, you must have selfish reasons to care for others. They can’t see that it’s just a part of who you are. They can’t separate your motives from what would have been their motives.

It bothers me a lot when people complain about others not living by the words of their books, like the Bible, but can’t see that these are people who obviously love and care for others. What good is preaching to someone else about their faults when it just shows that you lack caring and compassion in yourself? If you went beyond a book written thousands of years ago, by men whose motives you can’t know, and looked at what is really happening now, in the lives of people who you can know, maybe you can learn more about compassion than just what you read in a book.

Care because it is a part of who you are. Forget what anyone else says, or what a book tells you, or what you might get out of it, or if it’s right. Just care for those in your life, and don’t worry about the rest of it. Just because it is who you are.

Hui. Kindness, benevolence, favor, charity. The deepest kindness comes not from simply thinking of others, but in feeling what they feel.

We were all taught to do unto others as we would have them do unto us. That is fine, but there is still room for mistakes. True kindness comes not from those who just think of how it might feel to be hurt, but from those who actually do feel it. Can you feel hunger? Can you feel poverty? Can you feel homelessness? Can you feel disease? Can you feel injustice? Can you feel desperation?

If you felt any of these in your own life, you would surely do whatever was in your power to alleviate it. Similarly, if you meet others who are suffering and you have it within your power to help them, you will — if you can truly feel what they feel.

The masters lecture us over and over to be compassionate, so much so that even the least pious student would have to try. But just to try to be compassionate still makes it seem like an exercise or moral obligation. Those who are truly kind are not so because of theory or ethics, but because they feel the suffering of others as directly as they would their own.

That ability to feel human need can develop your sensitivity to feel Tao.

Deng Ming Dao, Everyday Tao

________

Is it possible that the real reason Clinton won his first election as president wasn’t “It’s the economy, stupid” but “I feel your pain?” When Clinton spoke those words, people believed he really understood how they felt. Who thinks Dubya really understands how anyone else feels? Kerry may, but doesn’t really show it that much, He needs to project more of his understanding about how people feel into his presentations.

Many of the problems I’ve had in life have been interactions with people who do not understand other people’s pain, because they choose to limit pain in their own lives. They shut themselves off from their own feelings and deny the feelings of others. They become cynical about life, thinking others are all just out for their own gain. They have no children, because that would add another person’s burden to their life. They cut off people they don’t want to have to deal with, thinking this is helpful, instead of working out problems and finding answers to getting along.

I tihnk this lack of kindness is the real problem in America right now. So many people have stopped simply being kind to each other. They take care of themselves and perhaps their family, and forget everyone else. They are rude to checkout clerks and waiters and carwash attendants, who they treat as their servants. They cut people off in traffic, and drive SUVs that use too much gas, even though they never take them off road. They take big tax cuts while leaving the huge debt of the country to other’s children and grandchildren. Then they dare to call themselves compassionate and Christian. These are not the actions of compassionate people.

But there is no real reward for kindness, other than it simply being the right thing to do. It is only in being kind to others that we begin to experience real kindness in ourselves. For me, to see the glow in someone else’s eyes when they have been treated fairly and appreciated, when they have been cared for or loved or touched in some way, is worth everything.

Ci. Compassion. At the root of the symbol for compassion is the symbol for “heart.” The upper part is a phonetic.

If you have a heart, you have compassion.

When it comes to suffering injustice, there are two types of people. The first says, “I can’t wait to turn around and do this to someone else.” The second says, “This was done to me, and I do not want to do it to someone else.”

When it comes to spiritual accomplishments, there are two types of people. The first says, “I will press on for myself because my knowledge was won so dearly.” The second says, “I will help others, because I know how difficult it is to walk a spiritual path.”

When it comes to facing death, there are two types of people. The first says, “My life is at an end, and I am bitter.” The second says, “In sharing, I became more than myself and cannot die.”

Deng Ming Dao, Everyday Tao

________

I think that is an interesting definition of compassion – becoming more than yourself. By showing your caring and concern for others, and helping them, you become more than yourself. I think that is what my mother tried hard to do in her life. I cannot remember a time when she was not involved in helping someone else. Sometimes I regretted that, thinking she was neglecting her family, but I think it made me stronger and more self-reliant, and also gave me a good example to follow of helping others. I am certainly not as good at it as she was, though.

My dad was active in helping others as well. He was a scoutmaster for over 35 years. I know he helped shape a lot of young men’s lives, and several showed up at his funeral and even spoke to thank him for being there for them. My dad was the one who was always there to help me, too. When my brother went to college, I became my dad’s helper, changing oil in cars, doing household projects, painting, yardwork, etc. I still love to paint and to garden, because of my dad.

Our kids have seen some good examples of helping others as well. When my sister in law left her husband, she lived with us for several months. She returned the favor by watching the kids while I went to school. They played with neighbor children who I was watching while their parents worked. My husband teaches classes as his way of passing along his knowledge to others.

I find myself very disturbed by the self-righteous lack of compassion in this country right now. Tax breaks for the wealthy, who do not need them, while the middle and lower classes struggle. The lack of understanding that we need to provide health care in this country. The lack of compassion for those less fortunate, thinking they are just lazy people. We cannot afford this as a nation. We cannot continue to pursue only our own goals at the expense of other people, of other nations. The anger that has built up towards us is becoming universal, and the costs of that anger will be enormous. To not see this is to be blind and ignorant.

We must become more than ourselves, or we will simply die in bitterness.

Lien. To combine, to connect. On the left of the character is the symbol for “ear.” On the right is a phonetic, a picture of silk on a loom that symbolizes union.

The correct approach to life is to pay attention — and harmonize — both sides of every issue.

If you are weight lifting, it is good to do pulling movements as well as pushing movements.

If you are a musician, it is good to sing the notes as well as play them on your instrument.

If you are an artist, sketching is as valuable as painting.

If you are a boxer, dodging has as much tactical usefulness as striking.

If you are a doctor, diagnosis is as critical as treatment.

If you are introspective, it is still beneficial to spend time with others.

If you are extroverted, it is still helpful to spend time alone.

Those who follow Tao understand that combining methods, rather than isolating them, yields the greatest results. It is not that we will never specialize. But whatever discipline we enter, we must make sure to survey the whole of it. Each technique we learn will then fit into the next one, until we amass a contiguous set of methods. By combining, we compuound learning to extrordinary dimensions.

Deng Ming Dao, Everyday Tao

________

I think our greatest challenge in the next few years will be to combine the best ideas of both sides of our poitical spectrum and come up with good solutions to our problems. There is so much separation in our viewpoints, and yet our children must become the ones who can take the best of these viewpoints and combine them to generate something that really works.

In my own practice, I’ve learned a lot about combining techniques. I practice both pilates and yoga, and the strength I build in Pilates makes my yoga practice better, while the flexibility from yoga makes the Pilates better. Both of these disciplines emphasize both stretching and strength. I work on strength training using weights, and do cardio, and find myself both stronger and with greater endurance. To be doing these exercises at my age makes me feel a lot better both physically and mentally.

But I have a lot to learn about combining techniques and methods. I’m a pretty introverted person, although I enjoy the company of others as well. But I still tend to get tired of others quickly and need my own space. I need to be more open to others and less stuck in my own head.

Neng. Ability, talent, skill, energetic.The symbol is the picture of a large bear. The bear possesses great vitality. To possess ability is to be self-reliant.

Tao is a person walking along a path. No one is carrying that person. There is no vehicle pictured. Following Tao is something each of us must do by ourselves.

But the path is difficult. It will test you. Walking in the mountains is hard enough. Rain and snow will fall on you. Storms wash away the mountainside. Earthquakes shake the ground. Steepness wears at your legs. In life, the spiritual path is even more difficult. Although everything you want out of life is on that path, there are people who will hinder you and situations that will oppress you.

What do you do when life is difficult? You could call for help, but that is not always reliable. Sooner or later, life will catch you with no one around.

You might be without food and shelter during a time of natural disaster. You might be alone at a time when help cannot come quickly enough. You may even suffer the tragedy of having all your friends abandon you. That is why those who follow Tao emphasize the importance of having many abilities. If you have the self-reliance that comes with having many skills, you will not lose your equanimity. This cannot be emphasized enough. You cannot truly walk the whole path of Tao until you can cope with any unknown.

People say that those who follow Tao are serene, but that serenity is not because of some meditative trancelike state. It comes from the confidence of one who has ability.

Deng Ming Dao, Everyday Tao

________

People sometimes remark on how calm I am. I guess a lot of that comes from having to deal with really difficult situations, so that things that bother most people on a day to day basis just really don’t bother me all that much. Perhaps that is some of the serenity of Tao.

I’ve been abandoned by friends. I think what it taught me most of all was to rely on myself, and not depend too much on the help of others. I’ve always been fairly self-reliant, but I think I cared a lot about what those I admired most thought of me. When those people who I loved abandoned me, it pretty much destroyed me. They never really appreciated what happened to me, thinking it was just me being overly dramatic. But it tore at my soul to lose these people from my life.

Losing my parents hurt a lot, but it is a loss that you have to expect with life. Losing friends, especially over things that could have been overcome with a little understanding and time, was not something I expected. It made me realize that there is truly nothing in life that is permanent, that you can count on without fail. I guess that is why the concepts of Tao and change are so appealing to me.

Most people think things in this country will never change, that we will continue to enjoy all the great benefits we have here. But I think we are on the edge of a dark time, and we will all need to learn self-reliance again, and who we can depend on. Perhaps those who abandoned me will even need help themselves sometime. I hope they are either self-reliant enough to survive, or have someone to depend on. I know they could depend on me, if they ever asked. But I doubt they will. As for me, I try to be self reliant, but always willing to share and be someone others can count on. And not too much of a bear.

Wu Xing

Wu Xing
the Five States of Change

Whereas Western thought developed the idea of elements as subtsances, and Indian thought as emenations, Chinese philosophy conceived of the five elements, or Wu Xing, as dynamic states of change.

The concept of Wu Xing is central to all elements of Chinese thought, including science, philosophy, medicine, astrology, andFengshui.

Although the term is generally translated as “five elements”, this is incorrect. The word Wu does indeed mean “five”. But there is no simple translation for Xing. Translations such as “five elements”, “five agents”, “five qualities”, “five properties” “five states of change”, “five courses”, “five phases” and “five elementals”, are all used. As Master Joseph Yu explains

“Wu Xing” is actually the short form of “Wu zhong liu xing zhi chi” or “the five types of chi dominating at different times”. Water dominates in winter, wood in spring, fire in summer, metal in autumn. At the intersection between two seasons, the transitional period is dominated by earth. It is customary in Chinese writing to summarize a longer phrase into a couple of characters. Sometimes the meaning is completely lost in the abbreviated form if the original phrase is not referred to. Wu Xing is one such example.

and

The names “water”, “wood”, “fire”, “metal” and “earth” are only substances whose properties resemble the respective chi in the closest possible way. They do help us understand the properties of the five types of chi but they also mislead us if we take everything in the literal sense.

Shi. Poem, song, rythym. On the left of the symbol for poetry is the symbol for “words”. On the right is a phonetic, the symbol for “temple”. Poetry is worship with words.

Even in temples
Where residents vow never to talk,
And silence is worshipped,
There is sound.
There are songs.
There is poetry.

Memories incarnated,
Lifetimes pulled through a thousand minds,
Cadences beating time,
Rhymes connecting life,
Stanzas stacked like the generations.

Those who follow Tao write poetry,
Read poetry,
Live poetry,
And enter Tao through its lines.

Deng Ming Dao, Everyday Tao

________

Mmm poetry… I loves me some good poetry! Some of my past poems can be found on my old website here. I haven’t written many new poems lately — something I need to start doing again. My favorite poem lately is I am becoming — it just so well describes where I am at in life.

Poetry has always affected me deeply. I write poems when I am in love, when I am distressed, when I am trying to reach out to people and they will not listen, when I want to tell someone something special and words simply won’t do. I love the rythym of poems, the various rhyming schemes and the simplicity of the haiku. Sometimes I like structured poems, sometimes simple prose.

So I think I will write a bit of a poem for today.

The Guardian

The guardian looks out to the west
Watching across the ocean
As the waves roll into the shore,
The gentle cove of this beach protected
By the bulk of his mountain base
And his watchful gaze.

The waves roll in gently here
To the crystal sands of this lovely place,
Gentle trade winds blow above
And the summer skies are clear and blue.
The sun sets off the far horizon
As I release the remains to the waves.

Here is your final resting place,
Where I have chosen to let you go,
In these islands you loved so well.
Where my father died, he rests forever,
My mother joins him now on this,
Their final journey together. Aloha.

Yahoo! News – U.S. Death Toll in Iraq Reaches Grim Milestone

1000.

Wen. Writing, script, literature, civil (as opposed to military), cultured, cultivated. This is a picture of a person standing very solemnly — originally this word meant a delightful and serious person. It was gradually borrowed to mean all things cultural.

Those who can read the patterns of life are the truly cultured.

Every person who has followed Tao has been a person of culture and refinement. Not only does Tao require study and intelligence, but it also demands the subtle mind of a sensitive person. You will not find that type of mind in the unthinking brute or the insensitive lout.

The wen person is someone who can read not just human language, but the languages of nature as well. There are patterns and secrets throughout the world — the rings of trees, and tracks of animals, and the traces of water down the sides of a valley are as clear as any scripture. The person who follows Tao does not blindly go through life, but is able to read it on every level. Those who follow Tao are those who know the many languages of life.

A person who can read literature in this extended sense cannot help but develop great character. After all, to follow Tao requires patience in adversity, great compassion, and understanding of the balance between action and stillness. We all need to experience more and more, strive to know life on deeper and deeper levels, and give consideration to all that happens to us. Such understanding must be ongoing, and those who revel in wen never tire of exploring what is around them. They always read the patterns of life.

Deng Ming Dao, Everyday Tao

________

I’ve always been a learner and a seeker of knowledge. When confronted with something new, my first goal is always to learn to understand it. Even if I don’t study something in depth, I want to know what it is and be able to understand how it works.

My favorite story about this is from my son when he was five years old. We were in a grocery store, and he wanted to know how the change machine worked, so he asked the cashier to explain it to him. The cashier tried to tell him there were elves inside that gave change, thinking this would interest a small mind. My son glared at him and said loudly, “No, that’s a machine, and I want to know how it works!” I think my son is even more of a wen person than I am.

I learned to garden and take care of my plants, and I think this taught me much about Tao. I’ve seen the cycles of life, and watched what makes some plants thrive and others die, and learned to plant natives that are well adapted to where I live, or plants from similar climates that can thrive and grow well. I gave up on the ones from other places that didn’t thrive here, no matter how pretty they were, and those that were difficult to care for. People think my garden must be hard to maintain, but in fact it is easier than most peoples, because it works with the environment around it.

I’ve learned to work with what I have, rather than be frustrated that I don’t have all that I may “want”. I’ve learned those things I seem to want that I don’t have are not really very important things after all– including some people I thought were friends, but turned out to be less than fully accepting of me. If people cannot accept you for who you are, they simply don’t belong in your life.

Right now my goal is to bring more natural things into my life — natural foods, products, skin care, crafts, and just simpler, easier things. I still enjoy the advantages of technology, of course. I’m an engineer at heart and love the workings of machines as much as the workings of nature. But I think we’ve brought too much artifical complexity into our lives, and need to use the technology to bring us the best of nature and the best communications, information sources and searching, and bring simplicity into our lives so more people have time to become wen people.

Who are the wen people in your life?

Kai. Open. The word depicts the two leaves of a door, with two hands taking away the bar. In learning, we should remove whatever bars the way.

There is no curse on humanity. There is no original sin. There is no bad karma from previous transgressions. There is no spiritual wisdom forbidden to people. The true spiritual downfall occurs only when people ignorantly and willfully close themselves to spiritual wisdom.

Those who put up walls and a gate and shut themselves away soon find that they have become ingrown and fearful of the world. Disease and stagnation heap up, and no good fortune comes their way. It is only when the doors of a home are open that clean air flows in, guests come to visit, and the melodious sounds of bird song float in.

A person’s mind is like a great house. Those who keep their minds closed cut themselves off from the life-giving vitality of Tao. Conversely, those who want Tao open themselves to it and so find an influx of great energy.

The two leaves of each person’s door are ignorance and selfishness. The ignorant think they know everything, and so they are not open to anything new. The selfish cannot think beyond themselves, and so they do not have the farsighted qualities needed to understand Tao. The wise open their doors wide and let the vitality of Tao flow freely.

Deng Ming Dao, Everyday Tao

________

OK, so I got up and opened my doors. And yes, it’s a gorgeous day outside, and now the breeze is blowing through the house, I hear the birds outside and the soft chimes of my wind chimes. Ah, that’s better.

So what doors do you need to open today? Are you choosing to remain ignorant, believing you know what is best already for you and for others? Are you being selfish and not seeing other people’s needs?

I was selfish for a long time, mostly saw my side of things and not other people’s. But I’ve long ago paid the price for that, and now I’m a lot more open to what others need and want. I know eventually, my own needs will be fulfilled.

I’ve tried pretty hard in my life to never be ignorant — willfull stupidity is just about the only thing that can still really piss me off. That’s why I’m so annoyed with the Republicans this year (oops, sorry, some politics seeped into my Tao!) But Tao is teaching me to accept what is happening and to know that this too will pass. Eventually their extremism will become their failure. They are definitely ingrown and fearful of the world, behind their gates and police protection.

I’ve certainly felt more energy in my life since I’ve started studying Tao. Drinking green tea helps with that too, I think. But I’m finding a lot more inner stillness, being able more and more to just be quiet and listen to what is going on around me. And now and then I find others who are in tune with life, and seeing the sparkle in their eyes and the laughter in their voice, and experiencing the joy of our conversations is so sweet. We share this wonderful secret, which is no secret at all. Such a beautiful joke Tao is.

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Such a clever son I have…. go see his cute widdle photoshop….

George W. Bush: King of the Flipocrites – The Angry Liberal

Let’s all define Bush as a flipocrite

Link to this fine article with the link pointing to flipocrite

George W. Bush: King of the Flipocrites

by The Angry Liberal

Main Entry: flip·o·crite
Pronunciation: ‘fli-p&-”krit
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English ypocrite, from Old French, from Late Latin flipocrita, from Greek flipokritEs actor, flipocrite, from flipokrinesthai
: a person, esp. a presidential candidate, who accuses his opponent of flip-flopping on issues, all the while knowing that his own record of flip-flopping is infinitely worse. See also: George W. Bush.

It’s nauseatingly ironic that the Bush Administration is accusing John Kerry of flip-flopping on some issues. It seems that supporting $87 billion in military funding when it’s paid for with a repeal of useless tax cuts, and later opposing the same funding when it’s borrowed from our children, counts as a flip flop. Gee, who could support a candidate who refused to vote to borrow $87 billion from unborn children? No wonder Bush opposes abortion. The country’s fetuses owe him too much money.

The truth is that anyone paying attention knows that Bush is the undisputed King of the Flip Flops. And Bush’s flip flops come without the need of the consideration and soul-searching required by thoughtful people. All the Bush campaign has to do to create a flip flop is change the text of a speech on his teleprompter.

Case in point: Bush recently surprised the world by making a startling announcement. On Monday’s Today Show, Bush responded to the question of whether we can win the war on terror as follows:

I don’t think you can win it. But I think you can create conditions so that the – those who use terror as a tool are – less acceptable in parts of the world.

Surprise! It turns out that we’re fighting a war we can’t win! Man, I bet troop morale in Iraq is going right through the roof!

There was good news for America, though. Although we can’t win the war, we can come in second. And I’m guessing the Supreme Court will take it from there. Seriously, it turns out that the rest of Bush’s answer was quite reasonable. It also turns out that unilaterally attacking a nation not involved with al Qaeda and killing around 12,000 civilian non-terrorists in the process, could easily be interpreted by the man on the street as creating conditions so that terrorism is less acceptable in parts of the world – if that man on the street is a moron.

The comical part is that Bush’s own words serve as an indictment of his entire policy on terrorism. Since there is little argument that terrorist groups are growing and diversifying, and that terrorism fares better in countries that are unfriendly to the U.S. – which describes pretty much everywhere above sea level these days – there is no reasonable argument to be made to support the position that Bush is creating the conditions he said were required to fare well in the war on terror.

Fear not, America! Within 24 hours, Karl Rove reinserted his hand in the back of Bush’s head, and the un-winnable war on terror became winnable again. In a speech in Tennessee on Tuesday, Bush had this to say:

We may never sit down at a peace table, but make no mistake about it, we are winning and we will win. We will win by staying on the offensive, we will win by spreading liberty.

Whew! What a relief! I’m so glad the president clarified his position by completely reversing it. On the other hand, Bush did say that we were winning three times, compared to saying we’re unable to win only once. Yep, I’ll sleep better tonight knowing that Bush is all over that terrorism thing.

Lest those with very little brain on the right claim that this was the only flip flop in Bush’s shoe rack, consider these little beauties:

Within two months of moving into the White House, Bush flip-flopped on a campaign pledge to treat carbon dioxide as a pollutant. This has allowed global warming to continue to build steam around the world for four additional years, and strengthened the damaging weather that will increasingly dominate our planet. East coast residents staring down a particularly nasty hurricane season can ponder this flip flop as they sit in traffic trying to evacuate their costal communities.

After spending a couple of years calling North Korea part of an axis of evil, Bush suddenly flip-flopped and tried to negotiate an end to its unchecked nuclear arms program. Yep, there’s nothing like repeatedly insulting your negotiating partner to warm him up to your proposals. This is undoubtedly a business skill that carried over from all of Bush’s oil ventures. I wonder why they all failed?

After furiously opposing the creation of the 9/11 commission, refusing to testify under oath, opposing a deadline extension, and stonewalling the commission’s information requests, Bush performed a perfect triple flip flop with a half-twist (kids, don’t try this at home) by endorsing the commission’s findings. I guess on some level, you have to respect that caliber of hypocrisy.

If you really want to see more flip flops, chug a bottle of Maalox and read the transcript of the 2000 presidential debate. Enjoy tasty morsels like this one, where Bush discusses low troop morale:

. . . even though we’re the strongest military, that if we don’t do something quickly, we don’t have a clearer vision of the military, if we don’t stop extending our troops all around the world in nation-building missions, then we’re going to have a serious problem coming down the road. And I’m going to prevent that. I’m going to rebuild our military power. It’s one of the major priorities of my administration.

Staggering, isn’t it?

My personal favorite flip flop gets very little notice in the press. When asked last month whether colleges should get rid of the “legacy” system (a system that allows admissions to schools ahead of more qualified applicants based on the legacy applicant’s family connections), Bush had this to say:

Well I think so, yes. I think it ought to be based upon merit.

Folks, you just heard George W. Bush condemn every accomplishment on his resume. There has never been a more perfect example of an unqualified individual using his family connections to succeed. Pick a Bush “achievement”: Admission to private school, Yale, Harvard, the Texas (and, some say, Alabama) Air National Guard all arranged by Bush, Sr. Oil businesses financed by Dad’s Saudi friends. Part ownership of the Texas Rangers arranged by Daddy’s baseball commissioner friend. And yes, the United States presidency arranged by Da-dah’s Supreme Court appointees. Without constant and forceful intervention by Bush I throughout his life, Bush II would likely now be a short-order cook at Denny’s, if he could pass the drug screening. With Dad’s help, he’s President of the United States. By stating that college admissions should be based on merit, Bush has flip-flopped on his very existence. By extending this premise to life in general, Bush has thrown into question his legitimacy as a college student, national guard member, businessman, and current position as the leader of the free world.

Of course, we can’t get rid of the Greatest Pretender by voting for Kerry. Kerry flip-flops.

. . .The Angry Liberal

Comments from a friend which tells a lot about “Bush-world”:

>Thanks, Harry. Is the nation drunk? Well, not in Oklahoma.
>
>My former neighbor and friend {omitted} sold her house here a few months
>ago, and moved to Tulsa to be close to her daughter and grand-daughter
>(following her husband’s sudden death two years ago). She sold here for
>over 400K and bought a brand-new house in Tulsa for 189K. She has had
>trouble with her neighbors and handimen ever since she moved there. She
>is a liberal who marched against the war in Vietnam even while her husband
>was serving at the Pentagon. Now this.
>
>She has commited several no-way-you-don’t, but she did. She built an
>outdoor patio, she is fencing her property with a solid wood
>fence. Initial offenses. Her brick layer, upon hearing that she listens
>to CNN, looked at her and said he would pray for her. Lately, things got
>worse. She put a Kerry/Edwards sticker on her car, and stuck same into
>her front lawn. Some neighbors came to her complaining she will drive
>down their property value. The Catholic church she joined produced some
>members who protested she should not be allowed to take communion because
>of the sticker on her car. Abortion is the issue. Finally, the priest
>approached and told her it’s alright with the sticker, as long as she
>doesn’t vote for Kerry. Recently, the builder confided to her that she
>bought her house in the most conservative part of Tulsa. The woman got
>herself into deep trouble.
>
>These folks are not drunk, they are insane, no, worse. They have no brain.

_______

Sad, really, that the conservatives believe they can force their viewpoint on everyone. Seems they just don’t get what America is really all about — not their little personal worldview, but allowiing everyone to live together in peace and freedom. It’s going to take a long time to bring that message back to the heartland.

Any older, California or other Expensive Area liberals, here’s a suggestion, especially if you have any family in the midwest or south: Sell the house, take the profits and buy outright a couple acres in the midwest with a nice house. Then get your viewpoint out there. We need to shake up this country….

Yi. Change, easy. The symbol for change is a picture of a swiftly moving lizard, the image of change.

Those who follow Tao spend a lifetime studying change.

The ancients observed that all life changed. Grain grew from seeds to tall, full plants. Deer were born in the spring and gradually learned to walk on their own. Human beings grew old and died, yet the generations succeeded one another.

Observing the continual alterations of birth and death, the ancients therefore said Tao had no fixed points; its only constant was change.

When aomething reavhes its extreme, it changes to its opposite. Just after a rice plant reaches a sweet fullness, it begins to yellow, wither, and die. Just as the deer comes to full vitality, it soon becomes old and passes from the earth. And when people reach the apex of their knowledge and strength, they inevitably begin to decline.

Thus it is that Tao is movement, and that movement is marked by constant change.

Deng Ming Dao, Everyday Tao

________

I feel change in the air these days. The seasons are changing from summer to fall, with the hottest weather now that will soon cool into fall’s pleasantness and then winter’s chill. My life is changing, moving from being very left-brain oriented and working in the technical area to wanting to become very right-brained and do something completely new to me.

In the midst of this week’s Republican convention, what I see is a right-wing agenda that has pushed to its extreme, and will now be forced back to more moderate positions, or be forced out of existence. I think some of the Republican party recognizes this, but much if not most of the subtext of the convention is still playing to the hard-core right wing base. I think this is probably going to end up being a big mistake, and lead to a lot of heartache for the country over the next few years.

The Democrats have been pushed to their limits as well. They will soon become the strong voices that push us to the rebirth of this country in a new form. The strength and power of the Democratic convention was amazing to me, the unison of its membership astounding. The march on Sunday was another example of this; people with very differing opinions all coming together and expressing them peacefully, in great unison and accord. I think this will be the new direction of America.

But the old guard does not want to recognize things are changing, and so they will not go down easily or peacefully. They are bound and determined to drag the nation through “four more years of hell” as Teresa so bravely put it. I fear it will be even longer than that, no matter which way the election goes. If Kerry wins, they will make his life and his administration go through hell. If Bush steals another election (no, I do not believe he will win, but I think the election may be stolen again), then the right-wing agenda will be in full force for four more years, and with no chance of being elected again their extremism in pushing their agenda and stealing as much as they can will be amazing.

America is, for the first time in my life, a scary place to live. Not because of the terrorist threats, but because of the possibility my kids will be drafted, the disruption of our freedoms for the sake of “security”, and the determination of the right wing to control people’s personal lives. Economically, we face a diaster with rising health care costs, which are a big part of our jobs going overseas, and a huge deficit and trade imbalance. If not for China and Japan propping up our dollar, it would be in massive decline. The defense spending is out of control and still not providing what we need, with money being wasted on missle shields and being sucked into Halliburton’s (and Dick Cheney’s) pockets. Not to mention the increasing Bush family fortune through the Carlyle group.

Health care is also a huge crisis waiting to happen, unless we start providing for it with some sort of national health care program. Social security needs to be reformed. Government as a whole needs to be revamped to operate more efficiently and effectively.

My generation can’t make these changes, since boomers are so evernly split in their diviosion between right and left. The kids will have to make the tough choices. But as the national nightmare really begins to unfold, it’s going to be a long dark winter.

Just remember, spring will be here eventually. Stay strong and hopeful, love your family and friends, and take care of *anyone* you can. We’ll get through this change, too.