Listen to the Quiet

"When anger rises, think of the consequences." Confucius

"People who call themselves religious without basic human values like compassion, they are not really religious people." Dalai Lama

I was actually getting ready to write this column yesterday when I came across the news about the passing of Paul Newman. I find it incredibly sad that he is no longer with us. As a theater major I was attracted to him because of his acting. I think a lot of Hollywood never got pass those blue eyes of his to realize that the man was a major acting talent. My favorite of his movies though will always be The Sting and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Newman and Robert Redford had to be the ultimate buddy actors. They were so perfect together.

A lot of young people today really only know Paul Newman because of his food. His Sesame-Ginger Dressing is one of my absolute favorites and I use it as a marinade in addition to a salad dressing. Paul Newman gave millions in charity to help others. He was a political activist and a human activist. He is someone who put his money to work helping others. He was an extraordinary human being and will be missed.

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Live Long and Prosper

"The resistance to the unpleasant situation is the root of suffering." Ram Dass

"Reach out and create positive atmosphere." Dalai Lama

Last week an event happened that really made me happy. On September 14th one of my favorite performers got married, George Takei. George married his partner of 21 years Brad Altman. Of course there has been the flurry of bigoted comments from homophobes who can not stand the idea of someone else being happy. Of someone else being able to enjoin with the person they love in legally binding show of that love.

I have been a long time Trekker and Whovian. I've worked many science fiction conventions and have had the privilege of working with George several times over the years. You couldn't ask for a nicer, more down to earth person to work with. He loves life and his fans and it shows. He cares as has been proven by his participation in the political and social life and in trying to help others. He is a community organizer. A community organizer is a good person. George is a good person. I am very happy for him.

The blogs have been getting very political lately as you can imagine including mine. I'm not making an apologies for my political views. I am a child of the 60's and the family’s token liberal and proud of it. My youngest brother got me into blogging and his blog is the political opposite of mine. Does it mean I am angry with him? No. It means we don't agree on politics. It isn't the only thing we disagree on. I love the Dave Clark 5 and he still doesn't. ;-)

You can disagree with someone without personal animosity. I'm sure Dude is just as frustrated with my politics sometimes as I am with his but it doesn't change the way we feel about each other. You have to hold onto the love even if you are on opposite ends of the political, religious, or what-ever spectrum.

So George and Brad congratulations. Jerry keep on blogging and we will cancel each others votes out again this presidential year. As for me today I'm sticking in Doctor Who tapes again this afternoon and knitting away. As you can see I am making progress but there are still ten color groups and the fringe to go and it needs done by Halloween. I promised my niece. Ah yes Princess Bride wedding dresses and Doctor Who scarves. As the song says What I Did for Love.

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Thoughts on a Rainy Sunday

“When you separate yourself by belief, by nationality, by tradition it breeds violence.” Krishnamurti

 

“Human violence is extremely dangerous if human intelligence and technological development are not put to good use.” Dalai Lama

 

I hadn’t planned on turning this into a political blog but I am so sick of what is going on in politics right now that if you get your “news” from Fox go elsewhere because I plan to deal in truth.

 

"I've been so focused on state government, I haven't really focused much on the war in Iraq." –Sarah Palin, interview with Alaska Business Monthly, March 2007

 

American Deaths since the war began: 4,155

Official total wounded: 30,568

 

That help you any lady?

 

"As for that VP talk all the time, I'll tell you, I still can't answer that question until somebody answers for me what is it exactly that the VP does every day?" --Sarah Palin, interview with CNBC's "Kudlow & Co", July 2008

 

A very interesting observation from a person who had previously voted straight Republican ticket all her life who works in my office. “McCain made such a big deal about how Obama had no experience and then he goes and picks her!” What unabashed hypocrisy the Republican show. Her experience is that her state is close to Russia, a place she wants to start a war with by the way. By that logic I need to call the Indianapolis Colts and offer to play quarterback while Payton Manning recovers because I have a signed picture of Joe Montana next to me so obviously I’m qualified to play quarterback.

 

Thanks but no thanks to the bridge from nowhere?

 

In the city Ketchikan, the planned site of the so-called "Bridge to Nowhere," political leaders of both parties said the claim was false and a betrayal of their community, because she had supported the bridge and the earmark for it secured by Alaska's Congressional delegation during her run for governor.

The bridge, a span from the city to Gravina Island, home to only a few dozen people, secured a $223 million earmark in 2005. The pricey designation raised a furor and critics, including McCain, used the bridge as an example of wasteful federal spending on politicians' pet projects.

When she was running for governor in 2006, Palin said she was insulted by the term "bridge to nowhere," according to Ketchikan Mayor Bob Weinstein, a Democrat, and Mike Elerding, a Republican who was Palin's campaign coordinator in the southeast Alaska city.

"People are learning that she pandered to us by saying, I'm for this' ... and then when she found it was politically advantageous for her nationally, abruptly she starts using the very term that she said was insulting," Weinstein said.

The state, however, never gave back any of the money that was originally earmarked for the Gravina Island bridge, said Weinstein and Elerding.

In fact, the Palin administration has spent "tens of millions of dollars" in federal funds to start building a road on Gravina Island that is supposed to link up to the yet-to-be-built bridge, Weinstein said. (Thanks to Reuter's news for the above info.)

Barack Obama is an “elitist.”

This from John McCain who has 7 homes, he thinks. He isn’t really sure. I mean how dare an African-American man believe in the American dream and rise to become a candidate for President of the United States. How bigoted and condescending can they get? Comments on elitism just prove how racist McCain and Palin really are. But then again they supported Bush and the Iraq war which was based on the lie of “weapons of mass destruction.” A lie that destroyed the career of another African-American, Colin Powell. A man that they fed lies to but kept the proof that they were lies from him. After all he was only Secretary of State what right did he need to know that their were reports that proved there were no WMD.

 

Remember the whole Republican controversy on Obama’s former minister? Try looking up Joel’s Army that Palin and company believe in. You want scary? Right up their with Scientologists.

 

John McCain is a maverick.

 

And voted Bush’s way 95% of the time. What an independent thinker right?

 

I believe it was Franklin Roosevelt who had commented that repeating a lie doesn’t make it the truth. Right now McCain/Palin keep repeating the same lies over and over hoping that no one will discover the truth. Like the X-Files always stated the truth is out there and the truth will be known.

 

Vote for Obama/Bidden. Stop the lies.

Fahrenheit 451

"There is no fire like greed, no crime like hatred, no sorrow like separation, no sickness like hunger of the heart, and no joy like the joy of freedom." The Dhammapada

"Since all things are subject to change, nothing exists in a permanent position, nothing is able to remain the same under its own independent power." Dalai Lama

Back in 1966 the great French director Francois Truffaut made the best translation of a Ray Bradbury book into a film. Bradbury is one of those lyrical writers whose works are hard to translate properly. The television production of The Martian Chronicles is a case in point. Truffaut in his first English language film rendered Fahrenheit 451 perfectly. Staring the late Oskar Werner and the still exquisitely beautiful Julie Christie this film showed a world in which books were banned.

I have made no secret of my love of books and reading. For me the idea of books being banned is a terrifying nightmare. The happiest job I ever had was the year that I worked for The Tattered Cover bookstore in Denver, Colorado. It was a book lover's paradise! I just redeemed 5,500 of my Visa points on a $10.00 gift card for Barnes and Noble Booksellers. I love books and I love reading.

I am currently reading a cult favorite by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman called Good Omens. Funny, funny, funny. You would think a book starring an eleven year old as the Anti-Christ and a demon and an angel working together to stop Armageddon would be highly controversial and right for banning but this book is fun and thought provoking at the same time. The satire in the book is perfect.

It is my love for reading and knowledge that has made me absolutely appalled by the choice of Sarah Palin for VP. It is hard to ignore someone who doesn't pay attention to Iraq, in her own words. It is hard to ignore someone who is a NRA supporter and fired a police chief who was opposed to the concealed gun law. But when she wants to fire a librarian who wouldn't tell her how to ban books that some people found the language “offensive”  I went ballistic. For her I guess words like freedom of thought, knowledge, freedom from fear, gay rights, etc. have to be pretty terrifying. In her regime the Declaration of Independence and The Constitution of the United States would have to be banned because they contain words that would let the people know that we are living in the United States with its freedoms and not in the nightmare world of Fahrenheit 451.

The picture is called Reading.