INTERESTING TIMES

There are no facts in science,
only probabilities.
Only fools and zealots deal in absolutes.
--Peter D'Adamo

To be a warrior is to experience life on our own two feet, without the companionship of habitual patterns. In order to engage in bravery, we must be willing to be free of deception. The Shambhala tradition regards any aspect of life as a potential path of warriorship. But if we use our activities as a buffer that prevents us from being, those same activities become a nesting ground for habitual patterns and cowardly traits — elements of deception that allow us not to be fully present.
--The Sakyong Jamgon Mipham Rinpoche, in Bravery without Deception, Feb 2011

Mundus vult decipi: the world wants to be deceived. The truth is too complex and frightening; the taste for the truth is an acquired taste that few acquire.

Not all deceptions are palatable. Untruths are too easy to come by, too quickly exploded, too cheap and ephemeral to give lasting comfort. Mundus vult decipi; but there is a hierarchy of deceptions.

Near the bottom of the ladder is journalism: a steady stream of irresponsible distortions that most people find refreshing although on the morning after, or at least within a week, it will be stale and flat.

--Martin Buber in I AND THOU, pages 9-10

What is told in the ear of a man is often heard 100 miles away.
~Chinese Proverb
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Today is seven years after the event which has become known simply as 9/11. I can't deny that this event has had an impact in my life. It was when I realized that that those in power are entirely corrupt, and that we the people do not get much that could be considered factual news. I personally was able to avoid seeing television footage of the event for a couple of years afterward. I did not want to know. I tried to avoid it. But eventually it was in front of me, and what I saw caused me to question everything that I had been told, everything that I had read.
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With all the media squabble about Obama's attempts to distance himself from his preacher of 20 years, I can't help but to think this all sounds too familiar. It reminds me of Kerry's campaign, when he made the mistake of saying that less-educated American youths end up "stuck in Iraq". It was true, but he backpedalled his ass off trying to shed the implication that he was "anti-troop" or some such BS. Now it has come to light that Obama's preacher calls America's actions in the world "terrorism" and even though it is true, it is completely unacceptable to say so. So Obama is trying with all his might to avoid the implication that he also believes that our actions in the world are unrepentantly aggressive and self-serving. But I believe he does. And I also believe that he was correct in his assessment that many voters are "bitter" and "cling" to various schools of thought to shelter themselves from the storm of BS that they get from the media.

The shame of it is that to be a "successful" politician one absolutely must avoid the naked truth. To speak or be associated with the truth is "political suicide". This is proof to me of the cynical saying that politicians are like diapers and must be changed regularly for the same reasons. The only person now running for president who speaks the truth, consistently and without regard for media condemnation, is Ron Paul. I pray that enough "bitter" and less educated voters recognize the truth in "stuck in Iraq" and "American terrorism" to discredit the constant barrage of spin against the truth.

I wish that Obama had thrown his arms around Wright (his preacher) and said "YES this man speaks the same truth that I understand. LISTEN to him, and decide for yourself." Obama has declined several notches in the esteem of both sides; those who see the truth of our situation, and those who pretend that it is other than what it is.

You don't need logic once you successfully mistake your own sick fantasy for wisdom.
--Kinky Friedman
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