You Are Life Itself...

 


When you run after your thoughts, you are like a dog chasing a stick: every time a stick is thrown, you run after it. Instead, be like a lion who, rather than chasing after the stick, turns to face the thrower. One only throws a stick at a lion once.

Milarepa 

“Just as it is known that an image of one's face is seen depending on a mirror but does not really exist as a face, so the conception of "I" exist dependent on mind and body, but like the image of a face the "I" does not at all exist as its own reality."   Nagarjuna
"Thanks to impermanence, everything is possible.  Nagarjuna

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Mearsheimer & Varoufakis: China Could END U.S. Global Dominance...

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         Laozi: 'When you let go of what you are, you become what you might be'   When fascism came to America it came clutching a bible and waving the flag. On January 20, 2025. Israel in the present time is a state engaging in state terrorism against the Palestinian population of Gaza. The Zionist genocide of Palestinians is ungodly, un-Christian, and in every way horrific  evil. For Evangelical Christians, Christian Nationalists and MAGA who apparently know nothing of Jesus of Nazareth's position on wealth : Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. "A ll worldly pursuits have but one unavoidable and inevitable end, which is sorrow; acquisitions end in dispersion; buildings in destruction; meetings in separation; births in death. Knowing this, one should, from the very first, renounce acquisitions and storing-up, and building, and meeting; and, faithful to the co...
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The "Scandal" That Won't Go Away...

by: Les Carpenter Rational Nation USA Lib erty -vs- Tyr anny CBS - Obama administration officials who were in key positions on Sept. 11, 2012, acknowledge that a range of mistakes were made the night of the attacks on the U.S. missions in Benghazi, and in messaging to Congress and the public in the aftermath. The officials spoke to CBS News in a series of interviews and communications under the condition of anonymity so that they could be more frank in their assessments. They do not all agree on the list of mistakes and it's important to note that they universally claim that any errors or missteps did not cost lives and reflect "incompetence rather than malice or cover up." Nonetheless, in the eight months since the attacks, this is the most sweeping and detailed discussion by key players of what might have been done differently. "We're portrayed by Republicans as either being lying or idiots," said one Obama administration official who was part...
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Modern Conservatism In a Nutshell...

Rational Nation U S A Purveyor of Truth Conservatism is a reaction to democratic movements that challenge the authority of elites. After decades of "compassionate conservatism," "a thousand points of light," and "Morning in America," dark talk of class warfare on the right can seem like a strange throwback. So accustomed are we to the sunny Reagan and the populist Tea Party that we've forgotten a basic truth about conservatism: It is a reaction to democratic movements from below, movements like Occupy Wall Street that threaten to reorder society from the bottom up, redistributing power and resources from those who have much to those who have not so much. With the roar against the ruling classes growing ever louder, the right seems to be reverting to type. It thus behooves us to take a second look at the conservative tradition, not just its current incarnation but also across time, for that tradition provides us with an understanding of why th...
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April Job Numbers Appear Improved... Are They Really?

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by: Les Carpenter Rational Nation USA Lib erty -vs- Tyra nny The April job reports are out. The good news is unemployment fell to a four year low, certainly at year six in Obama's Presidential tenure strikes a positive note. Or does it? At the same time the number of people employed part time rose as well as strong indications are showing the Affordable Care Act (ACA aka ObamaCare) will have a long term negative impact on the USA economy. The following is an interesting analysis and one that certainly has some credibility. AEI - US job growth in April beat economist expectations as nonfarm payrolls rose 165,000, and the jobless rate fell to a four-year low of 7.5%. But the report contained worrisome signs that President Obama’s health care reform law is hurting full-time, high-wage employment. While the American economy added 293,000 jobs last month, according to the separate household survey, the number of persons employed part time for economic reasons — “involuntar...
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The Noble Lie...

by: Les Carpenter Rational Nation USA Purveyor of Truth Greek philosopher Plato introduced "the noble lie" to politics in his "The Republic." The concept is people are for the most part not bright enough to handle their own affairs so they need a few leaders who will feed them tales to keep them in line and presumably happy, thus avoiding revolution. Of course that is just a nutshell explanation but you get the drift. There of course have been many such instances of such leaders throughout human history and the following article by Christian Schneider writing in the JOURNAL SENTINEL makes the argument President Obama is prone to such shenanigans. Whether this is in fact true or not is for you to determine after considering all the facts. America's enlightened leader of today, President Barack Obama, appears to embrace the "noble lie" construct in order to feed the populace whatever he may be selling. Obama keeps reeling off the howlers, one b...
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The Final Farewell......

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After 10 years on Blogger it is time to say goodbye. It’s been an interesting up and down run, one that has been both fun and frustrating. In fact with so many ill-informed and hyper partisan folks out there it has even been maddening from time to time. I know our American politics have always been somewhat lively and partisan, but, I honestly don’t recall any time in my adult life that they have been as divided and nasty as they are right now. Trump bears a GREAT deal of responsibility for the rapid deterioration of civil and rational discourse over the last 3 + years. When America elected its first bi-racial President division took on a new and more sinister face. I say this not because Barack Obama actively attempted to divide our nation, I say this because the white conservative/republican/Evangelical alliance against President Obama set about to insure his Presidency would fail. You may remember the republican leadership actually verbalizing their desire to see Obama fail. Wh...
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More On Modern Conservatism In a Nutshell...

Rational Nation U S A Purveyor of Truth In a prior post , published with the intent to facilitate open, frank, and honest discussion of post 1979 modern day conservatism (although that was inadvertently omitted, a extreme rightwing insurgent high jacked the post with his pro NRA firearm nuttery. As is to be expected it was abundantly clear he had no intention of either frank or honest discussion. His only purpose was to push his over the top uncompromising agenda. This particular individual has been known to me for some time and while at one time we shared some common views on individual liberty and the proper role of government this is no longer the case. At any rate, unable to understand what I consider a compromise position on firearm regulation, the parameters being his position of no regulation beyond the NRA's position and an outright banning of all firearms in the hands of civilian individuals , the following is my position. A) The purpose of firearm regulation is...
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Is It Time To Consider Raising Top Marginal Tax Rates?...

by: Les Carpenter Rational Nation U S A Lib e rty -vs- Tyr a nny There is most definitely a huge gap between what proponents of low marginal tax rates argue and what the actual results of lowering said rates over the past 30 to 40 years has been. While reading the following article from The Guardian think long term effect. Many are arguing the policies of lower taxes and increased spending (much on defense and the MIC) during this time period is largely responsible for our present sorry fiscal state state of affairs. They may have a point and it is most certainly worth considering as we look to 2014 and 2016. At the very least the party of lower and lower taxes and increased spending, and we all know who that is, should rethink it's strategy for success. In the United States, the share of total pre-tax income accruing to the top 1% has more than doubled, from less than 10% in the 1970s to over 20% today (pdf) . A similar pattern is true of other English-speaking countries. ...
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Women Overwhelmingly Support Clinton Over Trump...

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Rational Nation U S A Purveyor of Truth FiverThirtyEight - We could be looking at the largest gender gap in a presidential election since at least 1952: Men are favoring the Republican nominee, Donald Trump, in typical numbers, but a historically overwhelming share of women say they will vote for the Democrat, Hillary Clinton. As my colleague Nate Silver has pointed out , women are winning this election for Clinton. Between the historic nature of Clinton’s candidacy, Trump’s record of misogynistic comments and now the Trump tape and allegations of sexual assault against Trump, American men and women are incredibly split on the 2016 election. But that split isn’t symmetrical. In an average of the most recent live-interview polls from each pollster to test the race in October, Clinton holds a 20-percentage-point advantage among women, and Trump is winning more narrowly among men. Apparently women at large are less easily fooled by republican con man DJT, as well as being signi...
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The Syria Solution: Obama Got Played by Putin and Assad, Or Did He?...

by: Les Carpenter Rational Nation U S A Lib e rty -vs- Tyr a nny Interesting possibility from the NEW REPUBLIC . This, apparently, is how diplomacy happens these days: Someone makes an off-hand remark at a press conference and triggers an international chain reaction that turns an already chaotic and complex situation completely on its head, and gives everyone a sense that, perhaps, this is the light at the end of the indecision tunnel. Speaking in London next to British Foreign Secretary William Hague on Monday, Secretary of State John Kerry said that perhaps the military strike around which the administration has been painfully circling for weeks could be avoided if Bashar al-Assad can "turn over every single bit of his chemical weapons to the international community in the next week. Turn it over, all of it, without delay, and allow a full and total accounting for that.” The fact that Kerry immediately followed with, “But he isn’t about to do it, and it can’t be don...
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