May 2008 Archives

Forgive me for not providing the link right here, but just read an article in today's NYTIMES about the State Department revoking its Fulbright scholarship grants to a number of Palestinian students in Gaza. The reason? Because Israel is unwilling to let students leave the region as a punishment to the controlling Hamas militant group. The US State Department has subsequently determined that providing the scholarships is a potential waste of money and resources.

An article in the Washington Post On Faith in response to their question:
Greed, one of the seven deadly sins, is seen as a major factor in the housing market crash and the oil price spike. Can greed ever be justified morally or religiously?

A Washington Post article by Deepak Chopra in response to their question: The California Supreme Court has overturned that state's ban on gay marriage. Is marriage a legal right or a sacred rite? Should the state be involved in marriage? Should religious institutions?

   

With my new book on joy coming out ("Why Is God Laughing?") and my cameo in Mike Meyers' " Love Guru," I'd like to know--what does humor mean to you?

Anyone who wants to reform American politics has to seriously consider the pros and cons of lying. Telling people what they want to hear has rarely lost an election. Yet nobody wants to be on the Titanic, reassured that what they felt was just a tiny bump. To begin with, there's an assumption that no candidate can win by telling the whole truth . The Dennis Kucinich school of bald-faced candor is usually fatal. The phrase "lying politician" rolls easily off the tongue, and yet a balancing act is required. We expect politicians to lie in some areas but not others. Pollsters have not found a simple formula for success, although being positive comes as close as any. Voters don't elect whistle-blowers and Cassandras. In the present climate there are certain painful truths that cannot be safely uttered in public.

An article by Deepak Chopra in the Washington Post in response to their question: Some Christian leaders issued “An Evangelical Manifesto” last week to depoliticize the term ‘evangelical.’ “We evangelicals are defined theologically, and not politically, socially or culturally,”...

I have no patience for theories of universal evil -- that is, attributing evil to Satan, the fall of man, genes, human nature, or unnamed dark forces lurking in our unconscious. In one way or another, these theories have increased...

Time Magazine asks, Is it Time to Invade Myanmar? With reports of up to 100,000 people dead, and no signs of relief from the after effects of the cyclone, the humanitarian crisis is unraveling. Meanwhile, the government is blocking aid...

In a recent interview for his new book on democracy, Bill Moyers presented the bleakest face of goodness that one could imagine. He is too gentle to mount a jeremiad, yet Moyers' recent career has been one long lamentation. He...

An article in the Washington Post by Deepak Chopra in response to their question: The percentage of voters who find Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama "honest and trustworthy" is declining as the campaign wears on. Why? From a moral standpoint,...

In the generation before Shakespeare, the French essayist Montaigne remarked that cruelty and vengeance are so inherent in human nature that we wouldn't be ourselves without them. In so many words, Shakespeare said the same thing in his tragedies and...

Common sense tells us that people naturally seek pleasure and avoid pain, but common sense is wrong. Pain is rarely a deterrent from destructive behavior. Sometimes the greater the pain, the more fiercely someone will cling to it. We see...

An article in TIME magazine on the Dalai Lama The Dalai Lama...