No way, no how, no Palin!

I'm not buying it. This is the most transparent move I've ever seen!

Yes, I know. I'm getting too political around here. The fact is that I'm becoming a bit too interested in these machinations. Or perhaps it's just been that I've been trapped in the house for three days because of the heat outside.

Still, there are a few political thoughts I have about McCain's choice.

Picking a woman who hunts, has a lifetime membership in the NRA, eats moose burgers and can keep up with the boys is hardly going to appeal to anyone's desire to see a more feminine influence in world politics. He might as well have picked Margaret Thatcher! (Well, if she was American anyway :)

If he'd really wanted to take some risks, he should have selected Condoleezza Rice as his running mate. At least she has real foreign policy knowledge and experience. She speaks ghu-knows how many languages and has a very, very solid understanding of international politics. I might not agree with her political positions but, Gawd, is she ever smart! She's a brilliant woman and would have had a real impact on the election.

Sarah Palin? Yawn-oh-rama! I'm a social conservative and can hardly stay awake for that woman! Geez! Britney Spears to Ruth Ginsburg!

This really raises an important issue though, one I am beginning to consider seriously. It's not a new phenomena certainly but one worth mentioning anyway.

Politics should not be about personalities. It should be about policies and governance. It doesn't matter whether someone is Black, white, male, female, Hispanic, gay, straight or transgendered. It shouldn't even matter if she's an arthritic old Thaiphile with a blog on the Internet. Seriously. It doesn't matter.

What matters is the kind of policy positions he or she supports. What direction do they want to take the country's foreign policy? What are his or her domestic policies? It's not a question of what he or she says from the lectern during a speech, either. What's their history? In the case of the senators, what has their voting record been on key issues? Who are their allies?

Does anyone remember John McCain and his birthday cake three years ago? While Katrina devastated New Orleans, he was eating birthday cake with George Bush. Does anyone remember McCain's rather putrid joke about bombing Iran?

History is telling.

The key issue for me is the one articulated by Mario Cuomo in the speech I posted a few days ago:

"We believe in a government strong enough to use words like "love" and "compassion" and smart enough to convert our noblest aspirations into practical realities."


Where does your candidate stand?

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Sun Poisoning and Personality Politics...

Thanks to everyone for the suggestions on dealing with this.... "stuff"... on my face.

I can't stand people who go into graphic details about their medical issues and I'm not going to be one of them. Let it suffice to say that I should only go out with a bag over my head. (Instead I'll settle for a wide-brim hat and sunglasses.) Sores are ugly. There's no getting around that. If I saw me in public, I'd wonder. The first few times I went out, I got a variety of questions, most people wondering if I'd been beaten up or been in an accident. That got me to thinking about the way we react when we see someone who is disfigured. In my case, scabs and a swollen eyelid.

Human beings are attracted to beauty by nature, even though our definitions might be different.

Maybe we become shocked by the potential of our body's rebellion, its ability to create such ugliness.

Maybe we're just afraid of what we don't know. It could be contagious.

So.. What do you think when you see someone in public who has obvious facial disfigurement?

The only significant outing I've had this weekend was a meeting at the wat that couldn't be avoided. I've sort of ended up on "the committee", the group of people who are actively involved with running the place. I don't "run" anything, of course, and don't have that aspiration but do believe that if I am going to go there, I have an obligation to be of service. The president of the wat calls me the "public relations person."

An ego title. Fundamentally meaningless. All it means to me is that I can make sure questions are answered, ads are placed for events, return phone calls, contact media when necessary, manage the website, update the blog - because I am retired and have the time. Most of the people work full-time. I think it's important to have those things done in a timely way. Some of you might remember how I reacted and the impression it left on me when my own email went unanswered for a long period of time. Not good. It doesn't show good faith - and this allows me to do something beyond complaining about it.

I made it clear to her that I am happy to do the work but don't care much about titles. It strikes me as rather odd to give people "titles" at a Buddhist wat, which is basically the same as a church. The idea of people behaving as though it is a corporate workplace is beyond my comprehension. During my two hours out there on Saturday afternoon, several people took me aside and told me about this one or that, why I should trust this one or that one ~ this one has a pure heart and that one doesn't.

I listened, even though it was a temptation to ignore all of it. I have an aversion to anything that smacks of group dynamics and competition within a group. Some of it may be valid enough and will explain certain things, like why one woman gave me stink eyes through the entire meeting. (In my opinion, it was purely racist since I was the only non-Asian in the place.) I'll do my best to try to avoid any kind of factionalizing because I honestly believe it has no place on holy ground. If I was Christian, I'd say it's like spitting in Christ's eye. The wat isn't a corporate workplace. It's a place for the practice of spirituality. That should be the one place we put all the ego crap aside and simply do the best we can to keep the place running well and that people are getting what they need.

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