Speedlinking 8/28/06

Image of the day from kristaia at deviantART.

A little Buddhist wisdom to start the week:

Men cannot see their reflection in running water, but only in still water.
~ Chuang-tzu

And so we begin . . .

~ The Zero Boss joined a chorus of others, including Suburban Guerilla, who liked Little Miss Sunshine.

~ David Jon at Zaadz is tossing his cookies due to an overdose of . . . well, "too much love and light." His post begins:

Change the world my ass. Who even knows the world well enough to know how to change, who to change, what to change. Yeah, I know, a bunch of young folks hell-bent on their own presumed greatness are going to 'change the world.' Yeah, I know, these are the new revolutionaries! Yeah... yeah... yeah. Is anyone else sick of the talk? Is anyone else fed up with the same old tired cliches. God... would someone be original please and say something worthwhile. And not that some old tired tripe about love and light and compassion (not to mention it is easy to love people on-line, and much harder and way mroe challenging in person, eh?)

So, David, why don't you tell us what you really think. Seriously, check out the rest of his post -- he makes some valid points. As much as I enjoy certain elements of Zaadz, there is no Red meme revolutionary energy in that place for the most part.

~ My friend Alexis, also at Zaadz, is having "words" with a fundy family member -- which is never pretty. But I'll let her fill you in.

~ Dave Pollard at How to Save the World takes a look at the under utilized social networking options on the web.

~ Mugo at Moving Mountains posts a picture of one of my favorite mountains.

~ About Buddhism offers some thoughts to start the day with -- nice suggestions.

~ Buddhist_philosopher at American Buddhist is feeling a little stressed about his first day teaching. I remember that feeling from back in college. After many, many years of successful avoidance, I'll have to face it again this winter when Kira and I lead a workshop, so I can really feel his pain.

~ P2P Foundation offers up another collection of del.icio.us links.

~ Tom at Blogmandu is back with another Roundup -- filled with good stuff that I have not linked to.

~ Tuff Ghost at vomiting confetti posts a review of the final Sleater-Kinney show in Portland. In the day, when I lived in the PNW and went to shows, I got see to Sleater-Kinney a few times -- glad I did.

~ Kavita Chhibber at Intent Blog, asks Is Love Enough? This is a post about infidelity, and while it's interesting I think it's asking the wrong questions.

~ According to a new Time poll, people have quit believing anything Bush has to say about Iraq or "the war on terror." And I am forced to wonder what took them so long.

While President Bush may be getting a slight uptick in his job-approval numbers, the situation in Iraq and Lebanon has been a setback in the war on terrorism, Americans say. According to a new TIME poll, 54% of those surveyed said the U.S. involvement in the war in Iraq has hurt America's standing in the war on terrorism, vs. 40% who feel it has helped. U.S. handling of the conflict between Hizbollah and Israel has caused harm as well, said 51%, vs. 29% who said it has had a positive effect. The Bush Administration does not have "a clear and well thought-out policy to deal with terrorism," said 59%, vs. 36% who disagreed with that statement. Forty-nine percent said the Bush Administration is using the threat of terrorism for political reasons; 45% didn't feel that way.

The most significant number, to me, is that 49% of those polled have finally figured out that Bush has been using 9/11 for political purposes for the past five years. It sure helped him in 2004 when he issued all those "terror alerts" in the weeks leading up to the election -- all the while painting Kerry as weak on defense.

~ Al Gore thinks democracy is under attack in the US -- that the "conversation" has become too controlled and centralized. He thinks GWB is very uncurious. Very politic statement, that.

~ A year later, the poor who were displaced by Katrina have been forgotten by the president who promised they would get their lives back. It is now clear: Katrina was never really about race, but it was about class. And it's not just the Katrina victims, but all the poor people in this country have been pushed farther and farther into the margins during the Bush presidency.

And that's a wrap. It was a slow morning in the blogosphere.

Tags: George Bush, poverty, the poor, Al Gore, democracy, Time magazine, infidelity, Sleater-Kinney, Roundup, teaching, Mt. Shasta, fundamentalism, Zaadz, Little Miss Sunshine, deviantART