Town Hall Meeting

30 Sep 2011

2009 Nobel Peace Prize Winner Kills 2 More People Today

Filed under: — Al @ 5:43 pm

Another sign we live in bizarro world. President Obama carried out the goal of killing Anwar al-Awlaki along with another US citizen today in Yemen. Apparently killing your own citizens is bad when Libya does it, or when Syria does it, but not when the US does it (or Bahrain or Yemen for that matter). Remember the good old days when we would get upset that President Bush would wiretap US citizens without a warrant or detain US citizens without charges. The Peace Prize winner has just taken that to a whole new level by killing without charges. Whoa this one is tough to get my head around.

Constitutional law expert Glenn Greenwald has great analysis on this here.

23 Sep 2011

Elizabeth Warren on “Class Warfare”

Filed under: — Al @ 11:11 am

It’s nice to see someone who is sane running for the U.S. Senate. The best point she makes is that no one gets rich alone.

22 Sep 2011

Troy Davis Executed

Filed under: — Al @ 4:00 pm

Somehow this tragedy finally became national news over the past few days, so you probably already know that last night at 11:08pm was the cold-blooded, premeditated execution of Troy Davis. It’s grotesque, repugnant, and evil. Even with all the facts behind you, the U.S. death penalty can still be used. My only hope now is this will lead to the outright abolition of the death penalty, so the U.S. can join the civilized world.

PS: Maybe I should make a list of how many things the U.S. has in common with our great bogeyman, the Taliban/al qaeda/etc, such as the death penalty.

02 Sep 2011

Four Noble Truths

Filed under: — Al @ 10:36 am

Since things are pretty ugly out there (endless wars, massive income inequality, etc.), I thought I’d share a little Buddhism with ya’ll on this Friday. Most of this information comes from Michael Benner, a great guy who teaches about mysticism and a class called The Ageless Wisdom. I am not religious, but I do believe some of this stuff.

“I teach about suffering and the way to end it.”
— Buddha

The Four Noble Truths are quite simple and straight-forward. They are pragmatic rather than dogmatic, and actually are closer to psycho-therapy than religion.

The basic idea is that we set ourselves up for misery — disappointment, sadness, depression, anger and hatred by desiring material things, money and power. We are so attached to what we desire, Buddha realized, that we miss the majestic beauty and awe in what is happening right in front of you, moment by moment. The unfolding moment is eternal, while everything material is impermanent and unfulfilling.

According to various sources, a simple rendition of the Four Noble Truths is as follows:

Suffering does exist
Suffering arises from attachment to desires
Suffering ceases when attachment to desire ceases
Freedom from suffering is possible by practicing the Eightfold Path

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Noble_Truths

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