The erosion of America's freedoms - its all our fault!

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Ben
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The erosion of America's freedoms - its all our fault!

Post by Ben »

If you don't have time to watch all of this - which makes for salutory viewing - skip to 7.23.

“No lists of things to be done. The day providential to itself. The hour. There is no later. This is later. All things of grace and beauty such that one holds them to one's heart have a common provenance in pain. Their birth in grief and ashes.”
- Cormac McCarthy, The Road

Learn this from the waters:
in mountain clefts and chasms,
loud gush the streamlets,
but great rivers flow silently.
- Sutta Nipata 3.725

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daverupa
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Re: The erosion of America's freedoms - its all our fault!

Post by daverupa »

And then... fireworks!

---

It's such a stunning phenomenon, this, what... third of the population?
  • "And how is it, bhikkhus, that by protecting oneself one protects others? By the pursuit, development, and cultivation of the four establishments of mindfulness. It is in such a way that by protecting oneself one protects others.

    "And how is it, bhikkhus, that by protecting others one protects oneself? By patience, harmlessness, goodwill, and sympathy. It is in such a way that by protecting others one protects oneself.

- Sedaka Sutta [SN 47.19]
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Bhikkhu Pesala
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Re: The erosion of America's freedoms - its all our fault!

Post by Bhikkhu Pesala »

The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter. (Sir Winston Churchill).

The erosion of defilements is the best way to find freedom.
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Re: The erosion of America's freedoms - its all our fault!

Post by DNS »

Ben wrote:If you don't have time to watch all of this - which makes for salutory viewing - skip to 7.23.
Hilarious! Who would have thought it was our fault! I guess for her, "freedom of religion" means you can belong to whatever Christian denomination you want.

Elderly woman:
"Obama is a Muslim. His father was a Muslim. His father was an atheist."

Reporter:
"So was Obama's father a Muslim or an atheist?"

Woman: "both"
:rofl:
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Re: The erosion of America's freedoms - its all our fault!

Post by DNS »

Bhikkhu Pesala wrote:The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter. (Sir Winston Churchill).
That's for sure. The U.S. election is less than two days away. I have seen the polls go from Obama to Romney and now back to Obama. And it all changed on such superficial stuff:
Obama's personality and likability. >> Obama leads
The first debate where apparently Romney "won" >> Romney leads
The Hurricane Sandy where Obama looked all compassionate and presidential. >> Obama leads

Instead of real issues or policies, the average voter chooses on personality and trends; pretty scary, but at least it looks like Romney will lose (at the moment) whatever the motivations.
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Re: The erosion of America's freedoms - its all our fault!

Post by tiltbillings »

Ben wrote:If you don't have time to watch all of this - which makes for salutory viewing - skip to 7.23.

So much for Meatloaf. What you are seeing in this -- the subtext -- is a fear of the browning of America and having an uppity blackman in the White House has driven home the fact that America is changing in very pronounced ways. As for the 7:23 man, he is throwing a name, having no idea what it mean, because it sounds so completely other than what he knows.
>> Do you see a man wise [enlightened/ariya] in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him.<< -- Proverbs 26:12

This being is bound to samsara, kamma is his means for going beyond. -- SN I, 38.

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Ben
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Re: The erosion of America's freedoms - its all our fault!

Post by Ben »

Yeah,I also thought that it was interesting when the voters were asked about Romney's plan - no one had a clue. Still, that could have been edited that way.
From an outsider's perspective - I reckon O'Bama has been an excellent president - despite the mess he inherited.
Interesting days ahead, no doubt.
“No lists of things to be done. The day providential to itself. The hour. There is no later. This is later. All things of grace and beauty such that one holds them to one's heart have a common provenance in pain. Their birth in grief and ashes.”
- Cormac McCarthy, The Road

Learn this from the waters:
in mountain clefts and chasms,
loud gush the streamlets,
but great rivers flow silently.
- Sutta Nipata 3.725

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Mr Man
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Re: The erosion of America's freedoms - its all our fault!

Post by Mr Man »

Comedians everywhere must be hoping for a Romney victory.
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Re: The erosion of America's freedoms - its all our fault!

Post by BubbaBuddhist »

Well, America is the country which is giving the world (an on the behalf of my country let me offer my most sincere apologies) the adventures of Honey Boo-Boo. If you don't know what the heck a "Honey Boo-Boo" is, until yesterday neither did I. H.P. Lovecraft wrote that there are some things in the universe the knowledge of which would shatter the mind. Consumed by insatiable curiosity, I fell prey to demented madness and had to find out what all the talk of this "Honey Boo-Boo" was about. After a little research, and much verification to assure that it wasn't some kind of hoax, I now know what Lovecraft meant. My next move is finding a neurosurgeon to excise the portion of my brain containing the knowledge of this unspeakable horror. If I lose the use of the entire left side of my body, it's a small price. I suspect the people in that posted video would find Honey BB (no relation) unbearably CUTE.

History will no longer remember America as the land of the free and the home of the the brave, but the land of the chubby and the home of the southern deep-fried. Write the station, petition Congress, stage protests, boycott sponsors--whatever it takes--but bury this abomination for God's sake.

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Ben
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Re: The erosion of America's freedoms - its all our fault!

Post by Ben »

Hey Jon,
I'm too afraid to look. I haven't been the same since your good nation unleashed on us all the "car bra".

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-gqbx6g8JFrY/T ... /braGP.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
“No lists of things to be done. The day providential to itself. The hour. There is no later. This is later. All things of grace and beauty such that one holds them to one's heart have a common provenance in pain. Their birth in grief and ashes.”
- Cormac McCarthy, The Road

Learn this from the waters:
in mountain clefts and chasms,
loud gush the streamlets,
but great rivers flow silently.
- Sutta Nipata 3.725

Compassionate Hands Foundation (Buddhist aid in Myanmar) • Buddhist Global ReliefUNHCR

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marc108
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Re: The erosion of America's freedoms - its all our fault!

Post by marc108 »

Image
"It's easy for us to connect with what's wrong with us... and not so easy to feel into, or to allow us, to connect with what's right and what's good in us."
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Re: The erosion of America's freedoms - its all our fault!

Post by Modus.Ponens »

:rofl:

The whole video is full of gems, and the buddhist one is one of the best ones.
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Re: The erosion of America's freedoms - its all our fault!

Post by Kim OHara »

Ben wrote:Yeah,I also thought that it was interesting when the voters were asked about Romney's plan - no one had a clue. Still, that could have been edited that way.
From an outsider's perspective - I reckon O'Bama has been an excellent president - despite the mess he inherited.
Interesting days ahead, no doubt.
A columnist in Time magazine summed up the situation this way: Romney's plan is ridiculous and no-one really knows what Obama's plan is.
From where I stand it looks like Obama inherited a horrible mess and has done an incredibly good job at extracting the country from it in the face of viciously partisan opposition. I would support him (if I was in the US) just for those reasons, but I also prefer most of his social policies.
Both sides kept climate change out of the debate until a few days ago when Sandy forced it on people's attention (see, e.g., http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2012/1 ... ng-stupid/) but IMO Romney's policies in this area are absolutely pigheadedly disastrous while Obama's are about as good as any US president could realistically hope to achieve.

God bless America - it needs all the help it can get!!

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Re: The erosion of America's freedoms - its all our fault!

Post by Cittasanto »

Less respected around the world?
at 5:05 is laughable, if anything USA is more respected now than the hatred felt towards them under Bush.
Romney managed to "piss off" both the Conservative (middle right) Prime Minister of the UK and Mayor of London who should be ideologically closer than Obama. or how about his other insults to other countries.

But a serious question. Is the USA the only country that think free nationalised health care is communist?


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But if he is equally unable to refute the reasons on the opposite side, if he does not so much as know what they are, he has no ground for preferring either opinion …
...
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Modus.Ponens
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Re: The erosion of America's freedoms - its all our fault!

Post by Modus.Ponens »

Well, I guess I'll take the risk and find out what a Honey Boo Boo is. My curiosity is too big.
'This is peace, this is exquisite — the resolution of all fabrications; the relinquishment of all acquisitions; the ending of craving; dispassion; cessation; Unbinding.' - Jhana Sutta
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