"Barbara O’Brien’s wide-ranging account of Zen history is conveyed with a master storyteller’s ability to keep the forest from getting lost in a myriad of trees. Wearing her scholarship lightly, she blends just the right amount of skepticism about her hagiographic sources with a deep appreciation for the Dharma." — Barry Magid, author of
Nothing Is Hidden and
Ending the Pursuit of Happiness Order here!
Indeed.
In the little pitre dish I call my office, I see militant evangelicals agreeing with the much maligned secular humanist over these exact topics. True, we are at odds over reproductive rights, gay rights, school prayer, and evolution “theory”.
The kicker is that the Republican agenda has seriously hurt Joe Sixpack’s bank account. Kill all the “Ragheads” you want, but when the nest egg is being diminished, we got a problem.
In my pitre dish, the main bones are increased property tax, crushing increases in the cost of home owner’s insurance, increased fuel (and energy in general) prices, skyrocketing food prices, dramatic drops in home values, job losses, and the grand daddy of all (which completes the perfect storm), the sub prime mess.
Working class Republicans are waking up to the reality that they have been used like a cheap date. They have sold out their rights and their future to a bunch of hucksters who promised cheap oil and a quick war against a tyrant and radical Islam.
They are realizing they have been had by the interests of big oil, big pharma, the Banking consortium,the weapons industry, and the Israel first lobby. One health crisis or legal transgression, and the average family is ruined financially.
Sic Semper Tyrannus……….
Krugman makes a good point – being partisan rather than allow your ideas and ideals be diluted by incompatible philosophies. I am paraphrasing his message but I am not off the mark. However, in his partisanship he fails to address the fact that the guys in the white hats (Democrats) have just as big an appetite for K-street money and are just as corrupt and corruptable as their Republican counterparts.
Somewhere along the line, we need to make democracy representative of the people. Granted, I like the speeches that Democrats make better than the speeches that Republicans make, but I am politically active becasue I want change, and not just a change of scenery.