"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!
I read that a professional firm hired by ABC to do crowd estimates came up with 87,000. That was with FOX running free weeklong advertising and promotion. That’s not a huge crowd considering the the MLK speech was heard by 250,000- and that wasn’t astroturf.
Swami,
Did you go to Beck’s “I Have a Scheme” rally?
Give us the details. I want to hear about what my favorite Rabbi, Lapin (Talmudic name – Rabbi Haim Ahore), and Sarah “The Whore of Babblin’ On” Palin had to say. Actually, never mind, I already know what they had to say. But I’d love to hear your take on this desecration of MLK’s great speach and message.
If I may, with apologies to Joni Mitchell:
By the time we got to Beckstock,
We were eighty thousand strong,
and everywhere was the sound
of white resentment.
And I dreamed I saw a Mama Grizzly
Throwing word salad at the sky
And Glenn Beck began to cry,
What a presentment!
We are white folk, we are entitled,
And we’ve got to get them folks
back out of the garden.
biggerbox — Brilliant! It ought to be recorded!
Ain’t Nothing like the ‘Tea-hadists” of Glenbeckistan.
Not bad, biggerbox, I think Joni would approve.
I really tried to keep a straight face but when the disembodied voice of Beck came down from on-high speaking to the poor, unwashed, beleaguered multitudes below, I lost it. On regaining my composure, I then waited for the Golden Tablets to descend from above – really thought they would when Holy-Mary-Mother-of-God-Sarah was standing at the podium, but alas they didn’t.
At that point I chalked the whole production off to just another infomercial – and thought the least the production could have done was to offer, for $19.95 a gadget that sliced, diced, minced and cooked something edible.
The fuller version is now at my newly-back-from-the-dead blog:
http://nosmallplans.com/rants/2010/08/beckstock/
gulag… I was in agreement with Al Sharpton for the first time in my life. I thought it was the lowest stunt possible for Beck to attempt hijack MLK’s legacy and claim he was unaware of the historical significance of the date and location chosen for his event, and then claim it must be divine providence that brought that coincidence to being . If to judge a man by the content of his character is to be the standard by which we judge, then Glenn Beck should rightly be judged a scoundrel and liar. I think it’s funny how Beck gets all weepy bearing the pain of America’s lost honor, but doesn’t see the disconnection between the deception he so freely utilizes and the honor he so desperately seeks.
Beck is just a big buffoon who is having his day in the sun. I hate to see it, but I know it will pass. He’ll come to nothing!