Changing Places

Rove leak is just part of larger scandal | csmonitor.com

Rove leak is just part of larger scandal
By Daniel Schorr

WASHINGTON – Let me remind you that the underlying issue in the Karl Rove controversy is not a leak, but a war and how America was misled into that war.

In 2002 President Bush, having decided to invade Iraq, was casting about for a casus belli. The weapons of mass destruction theme was not yielding very much until a dubious Italian intelligence report, based partly on forged documents (it later turned out), provided reason to speculate that Iraq might be trying to buy so-called yellowcake uranium from the African country of Niger. It did not seem to matter that the CIA advised that the Italian information was “fragmentary and lacked detail.”

Prodded by Vice President Dick Cheney and in the hope of getting more conclusive information, the CIA sent Joseph Wilson, an old Africa hand, to Niger to investigate. Mr. Wilson spent eight days talking to everyone in Niger possibly involved and came back to report no sign of an Iraqi bid for uranium and, anyway, Niger’s uranium was committed to other countries for many years to come.

No news is bad news for an administration gearing up for war. Ignoring Wilson’s report, Cheney talked on TV about Iraq’s nuclear potential. And the president himself, in his 2003 State of the Union address no less, pronounced: “The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa.”

Wilson declined to maintain a discreet silence. He told various people that the president was at least mistaken, at most telling an untruth. Finally Wilson directly challenged the administration with a July 6, 2003 New York Times op-ed headlined, “What I didn’t find in Africa,” and making clear his belief that the president deliberately manipulated intelligence in order to justify an invasion.

One can imagine the fury in the White House. We now know from the e-mail traffic of Time’s correspondent Matt Cooper that five days after the op-ed appeared, he advised his bureau chief of a supersecret conversation with Karl Rove who alerted him to the fact that Wilson’s wife worked for the CIA and may have recommended him for the Niger assignment. Three days later, Bob Novak’s column appeared giving Wilson’s wife’s name, Valerie Plame, and the fact she was an undercover CIA officer. Mr. Novak has yet to say, in public, whether Mr. Rove was his source. Enough is known to surmise that the leaks of Rove, or others deputized by him, amounted to retaliation against someone who had the temerity to challenge the president of the United States when he was striving to find some plausible reason for invading Iraq.

The role of Rove and associates added up to a small incident in a very large scandal – the effort to delude America into thinking it faced a threat dire enough to justify a war.

Dogged by investigation, Rep. Cunningham won’t seek re-election

SAN MARCOS – U.S. Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham, under federal investigation for his dealings with a defense contractor, announced Thursday that he will not seek re-election.

Cunningham made the announcement after calling a hastily arranged afternoon news conference.

The eight-term San Diego-area Republican read a brief written statement and did not take questions before ducking back into a library on the California State University, San Marcos campus.

“The time has come for me to conclude the public chapter in my life,” Cunningham said, his wife, Nancy, by his side. “Quite simply, right now I may not be the strongest candidate.”

One down, so many to go…..

Anita Rabinoff-Goldman, “Searching for God at Ramah” (quilt)

Where is Tao right now?
You say that it is all around me, but I
Only see my surroundings, only feel my own heartbeat.
Can you show me Tao without reasoning it out in my mind?
Can you help me see it here and now?
Can you help me feel it as doubtlessly as I touch?
You argue that Tao is beyond the senses,
But how do I know it exists?
You say that Tao is beyond definitions,
Then how will I understand it?
It is hard enough understanding the economy, my relationships,
The bewilderment of world events, violence, crime,
Drug abuse, political repression, and war.
With all these things requiring years to fathom,
How can I understand something that is
Colorless, nameless, flavorless, intangible, and silent?
Show me Tao! Show me Tao!

Look within, beyond the physical body; you have the faculties to do so. Focus your mind away from sensual input, and you will discover a new mode of perception. With this mode of perception, you can sense Tao. Once you search in this way, you will find Tao and have no doubts about it.

Deng Ming Tao, 365 Tao

The Tao
approaches those
who have stopped searching for
the Tao.

The Tao is not a concept
and cannot be spread by words.
The absolute needs no promotion,
for it is nowhere and everywhere.

How do you bring people into harmony with the Tao?
You can only point at the invisible.
It is like using sign language in the dark.
The mystery is that it works.

Even in slumber
I searched for her face,
like someone obsessed,
and when it became clear
I would never succeed,
and I stopped searching,
she appeared
not in glory but without trace,
and I saw my self in her face.

Look around you and see!
The world is overflowing with infinite Tao!
Everything comes from the Tao
and returns to the Tao.
She is neither cruel, nor kind.
She is vague, yet clear.
See her beauty in the setting sun!
She dances with the wind
and laughs with the clouds.
Her silence echoes across the valleys.
She is no thing, no where,
yet everywhere and everything.
She does not exist
and yet she has always been.
She does not know you,
yet she touches you everyday.

She is Tao,
Mysterious and Beautiful.

Jos Slabbert, The Tao is Tao

Others words speak better than mine today,
Of what I know, but can never say…

Namaste…

Mary Cassatt, Woman Bathing

When washing your face, can you see your true self?
When urinating, can you remember true purity?
When eating, can you remember the cycles of all things?
When walking, can you feel the rotation of heaven?
When working, are you happy with what you do?
When speaking, are your words without guile?
When you shop, are you aware of your needs?
When you meet the suffering, do you help?
When confronted with death, are you unafraid and lucid?
When you meet conflict, do you work toward harmony?
When with your family, do you express benevolence?
When raising children, are you tender but firm?
When facing problems, are you far-seeing and tenacious?
When you are finished with work, do you take time to rest?
When preparing for rest, do you know how to settle your mind?
When sleeping, do you slip into absolute void?

Deng Ming Tao, 365 Tao

“There are a thousand forms of subversion, but few can equal the convenience and immediacy of a cream pie.” — Noel Godin

“Living with the immediacy of death helps you sort out your priorities in life. It helps you to live a less trivial life.” — Sogyal Rinpoche

“Ideas came with explosive immediacy, like an instant birth. Human thought is like a monstrous pendulum; it keeps swinging from one extreme to the other.” — Eugene Field

Americans often seem to be most caught up in whatever is happening right now. It’s difficult to get people to focus on the long term, or to understand that whatever their problems are right now they will resolve themselves in time. We look for the quick answer, the immediate fix to whatever is bothering us, rather than learning to deal with issues on a long-term basis. We let things upset us to the point where we can’t rest, can’t quiet ourselves, can’t be still for even a few moments and let things take care of themselves without our interference.

We want a doctor to give us a pill to lose weight, instead of taking better care of ourselves. We get plastic surgery rather than accept that we are aging. We want to look like we are always young and vibrant and ready to tackle anything. We have no time to deal patiently with other people, with our children, with those who serve or wait on us. We must be satisfied NOW.

Things are easier to control while things are quiet.
Things are easier to plan far in advance.
Things break easier while they are still brittle.
Things are easier hid while they are still small.

Prevent problems before they arise.
Take action before things get out of hand.
The tallest tree
begins as a tiny sprout.
The tallest building
starts with one shovel of dirt.
A journey of a thousand miles
starts with a single foot step.

If you rush into action, you will fail.
If you hold on too tight, you will loose your grip.

Therefore the Master lets things take their course
and thus never fails.
She doesn’t hold on to things
and never loses them.
By pursuing your goals too relentlessly,
you let them slip away.
If you are as concerned about the outcome
as you are about the beginning,
then it is hard to do things wrong.
The master seeks no possessions.
She learns by unlearning,
thus she is able to understand all things.
This gives her the ability to help all of creation.

– Lao Tsu, Tao Te Ching

Informed Comment

Rove Unfit for Public Office

Whether the courts can and will punish Karl Rove for telling Time Magazine’s Matthew Cooper that Joe Wilson’s wife was a CIA operative should be beside the point. That’s for the courts to decide.

The real question is whether we want a person to occupy a high office in the White House when that person has cynically endangered US national security to take a petty sort of revenge on a whistleblower.

Ambassador Joe Wilson, who once dared Saddam to hang him while wearing a rope around his neck while acting ambassador in Baghdad in fall of 1990, was the first to let the American people know that the Bush administration lied about Iraq’s alleged attempt to purchase uranium yellowcake from Niger. Wilson went to that country, investigated the structure of the uranium industry (which is mainly in French hands anyway), and concluded it was impossible. Bush and Cheney had believed a set of forged documents manufactured by a former employee of Italian military intelligence. (In the US, the only major public intellectual with close ties to Italian military intelligence is pro-war gadfly Michael Ledeen of the American Enterprise Institute).

In revenge, Rove tried to discredit Wilson and perhaps also punish him and his family. The purpose of such punishment is always to bully and terrorize other employees, as well as to shut up the whistleblower. Since the Bush administration has done so many illegal things, if Washington insiders started blowing the whistle, there could be a hundred Watergates. Rove let everyone in Washington know that he would destroy anyone who dared step forward. The White House also dealt with former Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neil when he blew the whistle on the Bush planning for and Iraq War in January of 2001 (look at the date). They threatened O’Neill with jail time for revealing classified information, even though O’Neill had never been given any. He subsequently fell quiet. It is also said that the Bushies tried to prevent Anthony Zinni, a retired Marine Corps general, from getting any consulting gigs in Washington because he opposed the Iraq war.

But Rove’s revenge on Wilson was the ultimate. Plame was undercover as an employee of a phony energy company. She was actually investigating illegal proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. When Rove blew her cover to the US press, everyone who had ever been seen with her in Africa or Asia was put in extreme danger. It is said that some of her contacts may have been killed. Imagine the setback to the US struggle against weapons of mass destruction proliferation that this represents. Rove marched us off to Iraq, where there weren’t any. But he disrupted a major effort by the CIA to fight WMD that really did exist.

Moreover, the whole thing only makes sense if Rove is a wild-eyed conspiracy theorist to begin with. Why would it matter that Valerie Plame suggested to the CIA that they send her husband Joe Wilson to Niger? Wilson had excellent credentials for the mission, which the CIA immediately recognized.

Rove can only have thought it would discredit Wilson to associate his mission with the CIA if he viewed the CIA as the enemy. This is the Richard Perle line. If Wilson was sent to Niger on the recommendation of a CIA operative, then he was not an objective ex-ambassador but a CIA plant of some sort, attempting to undermine the Bush administration and the military occupation of Iraq.

This theory is that of a crackpot. The actions are those of a traitor. What is the difference between Robert Hanssen revealing key secret information for money to the Soviets and Karl Rove revealing it to the proliferators for political gain for the Republican Party and the Bush White House? Both are traitors who traded secrets for gain.

A man who would do what Rove did should not be in the White House in any capacity. And no person who tolerates a man like Rove in the White House should be commander in chief of American security. — Juan Cole

They don’t call ol’ Karl Turd Blossom for nuthin’, ya know!

My own new nickname for Rove shall be “The Confidence Man“:

“Any individual who works here at the White House has the confidence of the president. They wouldn’t be working here at the White House if they didn’t have the president’s confidence,” McClellan said.

Yes, and what a confidence man he is, indeed….

confidence man
n.
A man who swindles his victims by using a confidence game.

We’ve all been swindled by this confidence man – the entire nation.

UPDATE: Send Karl a Pink Slip!

Kelly Hawes, “A Party of Women”

I attended a friend’s birthday party yesterday. It was a spa party, with manicurists and a couple of massage people and lounging by the pool and lots of women. I am always uncomfortable in large groups of women. The expectation to make small talk, the desire of other women to get to know you somehow, as if in a few moments you can really get to know someone. It would take me many hours or days to explain a lot about myself, and whatever I can say in a few minutes is really nothing that will tell anyone what I am like, only what I am like in that particular moment, which is probably, uncomfortable. On the other hand, I’m pretty good at assessing other people very quickly, which probably just makes things worse. By the time I’ve figured them out, they are left wondering who the hell I even am. Being complicated is not an easy thing, ever. And I am quite slow to open up about myself, now even more than in the past.

After being dumped by the one really good woman friend that I truly trusted a couple years back, I’ve found it extremely hard to trust women again, and large groups of them just makes me that much more uncomfortable. I had other friends I thought were close, only to find them all seem to fall away as I became even more withdrawn from needing or desiring their company. I’ve reverted pretty much to being a loner in the last couple of years since being hurt by people I thought were friends.

Most of the time this doesn’t bother me. But to be surrounded by so many women who were friends of one of my few remaining friends felt strange. There was a mix of desiring to get to know people better and wanting to hide myself away. Not really out of fear, but out of that desire to not be hurt anymore by becoming close to someone only to find them resent or fear the way that I come to love and care about people, which as one past friend described it was “too intense”.

I know in my head that a lot of that intensity was due to the bipolar disorder, which makes desire an incredibly powerful force. But a part of it also seems to be built into the way I am wired, into the very fabric of my being. Even now, learning detachment, knowing how to love but also separate my desire for attachment, I still feel those feelings, that wonderful lure of emotion that draws me so strongly to some people, and I want to be intrigued again, to care deeply, to surround myself with interesting, exciting, stimulating people who make me laugh and cry and feel so deeply. The watcher in me is content to sit back and watch, to observe, and not need to feel involved. But the lover in me, that person who scares other people away, is feeling lonely. And I am not sure how to let her out to enjoy life in that way again, without the sorrow of the regrets when people walk away.

When in the arena,
Yield not to an aggressor.
When outside the arena,
Affirm compassion.

This world and this society are competitive. Tao uses the metaphor of the warrior to meet that competition. Warriors never yield to their opponents. They may sidestep, but they do not give way.

Whether you are a lawyer, police officer, fire fighter, doctor, businessperson, athlete, or any one of numerous other professions, you compete against either other people or natural forces. But there is a right way and a wrong way to compete. Avoid anger and greed. Use concentration and awareness.

Coincidentally, concentration and awareness are also necessary for spirituality. That is why the follower of Tao incorporates the way of the warrior into training. The warrior and the sage both seek to transcend emotion and petty thinking, to perfect themselves, and to live lives of the deepest truth.

But when outside the arena, do not forget to be kind. Leave behind competitive aggression. You must still have awareness, concentration, and reflex, but the expression will be different. Your compassion must not falter. That is why the combination of the way of the warrior with the way of Tao is the ultimate symbol of versatility. Such a follower of Tao commands the extremes of the universe.

Deng Ming Tao, 365 Tao

Battle, n., A method of untying with the teeth a political knot that would not yield to the tongue. — Ambrose Bierce

Speak the truth, do not yield to anger; give, if thou art asked for little; by these three steps thou wilt go near the gods. — Confucius

Yield to temptation. It may not pass your way again. — Robert A. Heinlein

Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy. — Winston Churchill

Nothing in the world is more flexible and yielding than water. Yet when it attacks the firm and the strong, none can withstand it, because they have no way to change it. So the flexible overcome the adamant, the yielding overcome the forceful. Everyone knows this, but no one can do it. — Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching

I can certainly be unyielding when it comes to things I believe strongly in, such as love. I will fight to the end for those I care for. But I am very yielding when it comes to those things that are really not so important after all. I work very hard to let people do as they will, unless I strongly believe that what they are doing will cause them or others harm. I am learning, slowly, to let go of other people when they want to harm themselves, however difficult that is. Sometimes that is the only way for people to learn the lessons they need to learn. Sometimes, it is simply what they will do no matter what I tell them. I still draw the line when it comes to harming others, though. There are people I will always have issues with for the harm they have done to others.

My unyielding love for others has caused me problems, but it is a deep part of who I am. Now, I love with far less attachment, even for those I am closest to. I know very well that all these loves will one day be gone, but I love anyway. The love itself will never yield, not to anything. And I would still do anything to fight for those I care about, even those who wouldn’t give me the time of day. It’s just who I am.

The American Street » Blog Archive » Will the pledges go straight to GOPAC?

Dona Nobis Pacem

FT.com / News in depth / Terror – Text of statement delivered by Ken Livingstone

“Finally, I wish to speak directly to those who came to London today to take life.

I know that you personally do not fear giving up your own life in order to take others – that is why you are so dangerous. But I know you fear that you may fail in your long-term objective to destroy our free society and I can show you why you will fail.

In the days that follow look at our airports, look at our sea ports and look at our railway stations and, even after your cowardly attack, you will see that people from the rest of Britain, people from around the world will arrive in London to become Londoners and to fulfil their dreams and achieve their potential.

They choose to come to London, as so many have come before because they come to be free, they come to live the life they choose, they come to be able to be themselves. They flee you because you tell them how they should live. They don’t want that and nothing you do, however many of us you kill, will stop that flight to our city where freedom is strong and where people can live in harmony with one another. Whatever you do, however many you kill, you will fail.”

“We are fighting these terrorists with our military in Afghanistan and Iraq and beyond so we do not have to face them in the streets of our own cities.” — George W. Bush

Update: what a jerk. He said it again!

Bush said the London attacks were a reminder of the “evil” of the Sept. 11 attacks and underscored that the United States and its allies were fighting a “global war on terror.”

“We will stay on the offense, fighting the terrorists abroad so we do not have to face them at home,” Bush said.

Oh, so I guess it’s ok, as long as they just attack London and Europe! What an IDIOT.

Happy Birthday to Resident Bush! We love your party dress!!

Artist Facing Blank Canvas, Norman Rockwell, 1938

Facing blank paper
Is an artist’s terror.

When an artist creates, he or she is like a shaman. Inspiration comes as a gift. Those who follow Tao are the same. Their awareness of Tao is not something they have cleverly formulated, nor is it something that they possess. Tao comes to them like a gift. That is why the arts and Tao are so closely allied : The act of receiving and expressing is the same.

Just as an artist dreads not being able to make art, so too does one who follows Tao dread not feeling Tao.

There are many times when we are called upon to be creative : an athlete on the field, a lecturer before an audience, a musician on stage, a cook at the stove, a parent with a child. How do we keep the channel open? Some people try by maintaining tidy and regular lives, others by being constantly active. We are all different, and there is no right or wrong. The only thing that counts is feeling Tao in your own life and maintaining that feeling as much of the time as possible. If you find those special things that are latent in you and learn to express them, then you will know Tao.

Deng Ming Tao, 365 Tao

Ah. A reminder that I need to get back to doing art again… I suppose I need that. I have focused a lot on being lately, and not much on doing. I wonder where I will be able to do art with two golden retrievers flopping all over the floor… what I really need is my own art space, and right now I don’t have one, so I put it off and put it off…

But yes, there are things that are latent and need expressing. Funny that I have been at one time or another all the things mentioned in this passage – an athlete (amateur soccer, but still…), a parent, a cook, a singer, an artist. And so many more. It’s difficult to think of a time in my life when I have not been creative in some way, even now, with my little blog space. I do truly love blogging – being able to put up my thoughts where anyone can find them, and yet, so few seem to come by, even fewer seem to comment, but it doesn’t bother me in the least. I feel as though I’ve finally reached the point in my life where I don’t mind the reaction or nonreaction of others, I don’t live for praise or fear condemnation anymore. I’ve been praised, I’ve been condemned, I’ve been told to feel guilt for things I never felt any guilt for doing, and people have tried to shame me for that, have punished me with their silence, but I no longer care.

And perhaps, that is the point one needs to get to in becoming an artist – or in becoming fully themselves. Being able to express yourself with no fear of what others may think of you, and no desire for them to praise you in any way. Like the Tao, art simply is. And an artist, a true artist or creator of any form, simply is, in their being if not always in their doing. I no longer fear the blank paper or the nothingness that surrounds the Tao. The Tao, and the art, will eventually fill them both.

See, John, I told you I would post it…

Our new puppy, Roxy

I have such conflicted feelings this evening. Our good friends, Kristin, Sven, and Smoop lost their wonderful dog Mana last night. And today, after hearing their sad news, I finally found my new golden girl to adopt after looking since December. A woman named Christy emailed me this afternoon offering her golden retriever Roxy for adoption, since they are going to be moving to Texas. Her husband works for Sony Online Entertainment and is transferring to the Austin studio, and with moving, two kids and one on the way, she had enough to worry about, so Roxy needed a new home. We talked a lot about Sony since my husband works for Sony Playstation (SCEA).

So I am sad for my friends’ loss and at the same time, welcoming a new family member to my home. Roxy is a big girl, somewhat overweight, but we will slim her down. Christy said she was seven, but I think she is probably a bit older than that – they adopted her two years ago from the shelter and didn’t really seem to know that much about her.

But this is how life is. Openings are created in our lives when we least expect or want them, and those openings are filled when we stop desiring so much for them to be filled, and simply let the space be empty so there is room to fill it again. I am learning to stop wanting and simply start accepting what life brings. And somehow, it brings what I need – perhaps not when I think I need it, but when others need me to be there for them. Roxy needed a home, I can provide her one – and that is more important than my need to have another golden. The space was opened, and now is filled, and a new connection has been made. My friends will find that their space fills again when they are ready, when they have mourned their loss and are ready to open their hearts again. Life is about change, and whether good or bad, we all must accept change in our lives. Farewell to our good friend Mana – we will miss you. And to Roxy, welcome, girl.

ActiveMysticism.com

Make the mind.
A single point.

The key to any meditation is to concentrate the mind into a single point. There are many methods for doing this, from singing, to listening to holy words, to contemplative procedures. But the end result is the same : to focus our minds sharply.

A point has a definite position in space but neither size not shape.
A point marks an actual place in time, such as a point of departure.
A point is the very essence of something, as in the point of an idea.
A point is a coordinate for navigation.
A point is the dominant center, as in the principle point of perspective.
A point determines our outlook, as in point of view.

Once the mind is made into a single point, it takes on the above attributes. In contrast, a mind that is not focused is dispersed over a wide area. Its thoughts are scattered, its energies are in disarray, and it cannot move clearly in any direction. It is at the mercy of a thousand influences and is easily disoriented. The result is confusion, ignorance, unhappiness, and helplessness. A mind that is clearly focused, however, receives all things and can abide in utter tranquility. It is no exaggeration to say that its world revolves around it. It no longer has to chase after all that appears before it.

Deng Ming Tao, 365 Tao

How do you bring people into harmony with the Tao?
You can only point at the invisible.
It is like using sign language in the dark.
The mystery is that it works.
(The Tao is Tao, 95)

In the pursuit of learning,
every day something is added.
In the pursuit of Tao,
every day something is dropped.
Less and less is done until
one arrives at nonaction [wu wei].
When nothing is done,
nothing is left undone.
The world is won by letting things
take their own course.
If you still have ambitions,
it’s out of your reach.
[Tao Te Ching 48]

“Leaves of Grass” 150 years old today….

Walt Whitman’s world – The Boston Globe

Whitman called ”Leaves of Grass” ”the new Bible.” He had a messianic view of himself as poetic Answerer come to heal American society. By absorbing and magnifying his culture’s best aspects, he believed his poetry could help unify a nation fractured by class conflicts, shady politics, and racial tensions. The poet, he wrote in his preface, ”is the equalizer of his age and land. . . he supplies what wants supplying and checks what wants checking.” He offered a recipe for healing: ”This is what you shall do . . . read these leaves in the open air every season of every year of your life.”

Imagine if everyone followed his advice. What would happen if millions of people read his poetry regularly, absorbed it, and applied its meanings to daily life? What, in short, would be the world according to Walt Whitman?

War would decline, since readers would learn from Whitman the meaninglessness of divisions of nationality, creed, or race. Whitman, the quintessentially American poet, announces the absolute equality of all people. His poetic ”I” identifies with everyone. He is:

Of every hue and rank and trade, of every caste and religion,

Not merely of the New World but of Africa Europe of Asia . . . a wandering savage,

A farmer, mechanic, or artist . . . gentleman, sailor, lover or quaker,

A prisoner, fancy-man, rowdy, lawyer, physician, or priest.

In a Whitmanian world, conflicts created by race or gender would diminish. Whites, for instance, would recognize blacks as fully human, worthy of equal treatment. Whitman writes of a black man:

“Within there runs his blood.the same old blood . . . the same red running blood;
There swells and jets his heart.
There all passions and desires . . . all reachings and aspirations.”

Men, too, would gain greater respect for women: ‘

‘I am the poet of the woman as same as the man,
And I say it is as great to be a woman as to be a man.”

The environment would be protected, since nature would be treasured for its miraculous beauty. For Whitman, every element of nature, no matter how small, is sacred. Here, in his words, is a flower:

”A morning-glory at my window satisfies me more than the metaphysics of books.”

Even a mouse is beautiful to him:

”A mouse is miracle enough to stagger sextillions of infidels.”

Not just nature but the human body would be prized: ‘

‘I believe in flesh and the appetites,
Seeing hearing and feeling are miracles, and each part and tag of me is a miracle.”

I CELEBRATE myself,
And what I assume you shall assume,
For every atom belonging to me, as good belongs
to you.

I loafe and invite my soul,
I lean and loafe at my ease, observing a spear of
summer grass.

…

On a personal note, I finally figured out who my friend Roger Mohling looks like…

Go read….

Hullabaloo

The public is much more likely to see this Plame leak for what it was. A cover-up by smear and intimidation. And it looks much more serious in this new light. Here’s how I would update it:

The Bush administration lied about its reasons for the war in Iraq. When a critic stepped up to expose one of the lies the Whitehouse blew his wife’s identity as an undercover CIA agent. They did this to exact revenge against what they saw as a political enemy and to intimidate those who would further expose the administration, potentially endangering both lives and intelligence operations around the world.

Indeed. And endangering the rest of us as well by creating in Iraq a new terrorist training camp, with real casualties instead of imagined ones. Bush has a lot to answer for, and it is time the public and the law took him to task for it.

These people still think they are above the law, and that is the greatest problem with the Republican party these days. It’s not just the incompetence and the lying – it’s the arrogance of believing, as a party, that they are somehow better than the rest of us, and entitled to do and say whatever they please with no consequences.

It must end, now.

La Mitad del Mundo “the middle of the world”

Those who attain the middle
Dominate the whole.

Today is the 183rd day. It is exactly the middle day out of 365. Once you reach the center of anything, you can dominate the whole in any way you please. In chess, those who gain the middle board are usually in the superior position. In a storm, those who reach the eye are safe. In making decisions, those who cleave to the center are wise.

There are 182 days on either side of today to make a year. There is no center day in an even-numbered period. It is the odd-numbered set that has a center. It is the odd numbered set that is dynamic.

In all areas of life, it is good to establish goals and parameters. Define the scope of anything that you do. That way, you will know when you have reached the center and perseverance will be easier.

Deng Ming Tao, 365 Tao

“We dance around the ring and suppose, but the secret sits in the middle and knows” — Robert Frost

How many people do you know who dance around the edges of their lives? The secret of life is to sit in the middle, always present in the center of your life, experiencing fully the things and people who are here with you now.