October 2008 Archives

I could not resist writing a little political parody for today's post. So here you go. - Jerry Kolber

McCain Accuses Obama of Being “A Robot”

CNN – October 31, 2008 – Ohio: Sen. John McCain stepped up his rhetoric against his Democratic rival in Ohio today, saying that in addition to being a socialist, his campaign had definitive proof that Barack Obama was “a robot”.

The remarks echoed a theme McCain has used since the final presidential debate, but his most recent comments were the first time he used the word to describe Sen. Barack Obama.

In his remarks to the crowd, McCain initially stopped short of calling Obama a robot, using the term “advanced humanoid electronic device.” But during a question-and-answer session, he agreed that what he was suggesting is that “Barack Obama is a very cleverly designed robot,” he said, then added “Probably from Japan.”

"You see, [Obama] believes in redistributing wealth, not in policies that help us all make more of it. He wants to help poor people by taxing rich people. Only a robot could think that's a good idea," McCain said Friday to tremendous applause. The McCain campaign said police estimated the crowd to be in excess of 300 people, making this one of the largest McCain rallies in recent weeks.

In an interview with ABC last week, Joe “The Plumber” Wurzelbacher said Obama's proposal to raise taxes by 3 percent on those making $250,000 and over is a "very socialist view."

Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin has used the word “socialist” in speeches over the past week as well. But today marked the first instance that the campaign has called Obama a robot.

McCain also said in his remarks, "At least in Europe, the socialist leaders who so admire my opponent are up front about their objectives. They use real numbers and honest language. And we should demand equal candor from Sen. Obama. It's time for my opponent to own up to the source of his programming.”

On the campaign trail later in the afternoon, he added that Americans have seen “sharing the wealth” in other countries before. But he quoted Obama as saying he “grew up around factories, people who knew how to work with metal, and also people who were good with computers." McCain went on to say “Let's put two and two together my friends. You don't need a calculator to know that people who work with metal and are good with computers make robots.”

In his speech, McCain also said, "This explains some big problems with my opponent's claim that he will cut income taxes for 95 percent of Americans. You might ask, how do you cut income taxes for 90 percent of Americans when more than 40 percent pay no income taxes right now?”

"How do you reduce the number zero? That's the key to Barack Obama's whole plan: Since you can't reduce taxes on those who pay zero, you bring in the robots. And the Treasury will have to cover the costs of all those robots by taxing other people.”"

Asked why McCain used the word "robot" for the first time today, a spokesman said, "That's what he is. 'Spreading the wealth' around can only be condoned by robots."

In a July interview with the Kansas City Star, McCain said Obama had the "most extreme" record in the Senate. He said in a comment he has since repeated on the trail, "his voting record ... is more to the left than the announced socialist in the United States Senate, Bernie Sanders of Vermont. No human would be foolish enough to, what does he call it, vote his conscience like that. The man is obviously a robot."

Pressed on whether he really considered Obama a robot, McCain shrugged and said, "I don't know."

Obama hit back against the McCain campaign's accusations immediately Friday and said the Republican nominee was ignoring the needs of America's middle class.

"John McCain is so out of touch with the struggles you are facing that he must be the first politician in history to call someone proposing a tax cut for working people a robot' " Obama told a massive crowd under the famous St. Louis arch. "The only robot in this campaign is John McCain's robo-calls trying to scare the you-know-what out of good people all over this great nation. But you know what folks? If I was a robot, god bless America for being the only country in the world where a robot can grow up and run for president."

"George Bush and John McCain are out of ideas, they are out of touch, and if you stand with me, in 5 days they'll be out of time," Obama added to wild applause.

The Obama campaign said police in St. Louis estimated the crowd size at 100,000 people.

In remarks this week, Palin referred to Obama's encounter with "Joe the Plumber" in Ohio on Sunday.

At a rally Friday in West Chester, Ohio, where one banner in the crowd read, "Obama is a Socialist/Marxist ROBOT," Palin said, "Joe suggested that that sounded a little bit like socialism. Whatever you call it, I call bringing in robots bad medicine for an ailing economy, and it's what Barack Obama will do, and we're willing to call Barack Obama a robot if that's what he is."

Palin invoked Wurzelbacher again Friday, needling Obama for having a "staged photo-op" interrupted by a voter asking him a question about taxes.

"So when he left Joe's neighborhood in Toledo, our opponent didn't look real happy," Palin, speaking in Pennsylvania, said of Obama. "Seems that the staged photo-op there got ruined by a real person's question – probably threw off his programming or whatcha-ma-callit."

A bit of campaign literature on All Hallow's Eve!

This past Saturday at Hardcore Dharma we settled atop our cushions to discuss one lens through which to view the Buddhist path, the three yanas (vehicles).  Descriptive of Tibetan Buddhism, the three yanas are the Hinayana (literally translated as the lesser vehicle, pertaining mainly to conduct), the Mahayana (the great vehicle) and the Vajrayana (the indesctructible/diamond vehicle). 

The historical facts about these yanas are best discussed by the precise-minded and research oriented so I plan on staying far far away from those, thank you very much.

That said, the issue that comes up for me when thinking about the three yanas is that it seems contradictory and perhaps discouraging to create a hierarchy out of the experience of awakening and the path of Buddhism.  I know that you'll always keep the hina with the maha an the vajra, but it feels psychologically restrictive to have to (the way practicing Buddhism works right now) spend a ton of money at Buddhism centers across the world in order to access those diamond teachings (and, implicitly suggested, diamond mind).  I'm not saying I'm going to get enlightened tomorrow, and I understand that basically all of these levels are indications of a growing commitment to the path, but I do want to feel as though awareness is available to me at any point and at any level.  What do you all think about that?  Is it an immature or incomplete view?  What are the benefits of this three pronged system?

Honestly, I feel a trifle over my head and under the weather so I'm going to leave it at that today, wish you well and in exchange for an abbreviated post provide some links for some of my all-time favorite Buddhist podcasts:

RAM
JACK
ROBINA
TENZIN
ALAN
and my main man, GIL

See you on the other side of Choose a President 2008.

Stay warm,

TF

*This joke belongs to Snow Lion Publications, brought to my attention by Eva.  I can take no credit, only dweeby delight.

I'm guessing about 30% of you saw Barack Obama's half-hour infomercial last night. It's worth watching as an example of the gentlest, most inviting, come-in-and-have-a-freshly-baked-cookie political propaganda that has ever been created in the history of political propaganda. But propaganda it was, with swelling Americana strings and a down-home folky blues guitar score that played under three vignettes of Ordinary Americans struggling to get by. In between stories, Obama would address the audience directly, reiterating the policy proposals he laid out (verbatim) during the debates. It ended with a live broadcast of the final three minutes of Obama's stump speech, where his rhetorical gifts were on fine display. Even Joe Biden was impressed. 

I thought he spoke effectively about policy, but taken as a piece of film or television, it was unmitigated visual schmaltz. 

As an Obama supporter, of course, I ate it up like candy on Holloween (spilled all over the living-room floor out of the hollow cranium of a plastic Jack-o-Lantern).

Both campaigns have been making their closing arguments this week (or in McCain's case, his closing growls, scowls, and eerie, molester-type smile/grimace), and I thought Bill in Portland Maine's Thursday "Cheers and Jeers" summed up the difference nicely:

Closing Appeals

Dear America,

Mine.

Mine mine mine.

Me Me Me Me Me Me Me!

Mine mine mine mine mine. Mine. Mine. Mine. Mine!

In conclusion: Fear fear fear fear. Very scary fear!

Sincerely,

The Republican Party

P.S. If you liked Joseph McCarthy, you'll love us!

-

Dear America,

We.

Us. We. Together. Americans. United States.

Hope compassion equality inclusiveness competence.

Brains common sense community respect hard work accountability.

Action change responsibility. More viewpoints, smarter solutions.

In conclusion: Yes we can.

Sincerely,

The Democratic Party.

P.S. Vote.

Damn. I'm still undecided.

So, there you have it. Go vote you happy voting voters!

Hi everyone,

We had a great integral activism/back to the sack meeting this past Sunday. Along with our normal meditation practice and status updates, we did a talking and listening exercise around the discussion of term limits in NYC. It was fascinating to practice awareness of our own reactions while listening to others talk about their political viewpoint. I noticed what a strong emotional reaction I have to political issues and how hard it is for me to not jump in with my own thoughts and opinions. Just listening can be a difficult thing to do. We came to the conclusion that we should try out some more listening exercises to get a better sense of how we react to both agreeing and disagreeing points of view.

We also reviewed some of the initial research that has been done on plastic bag taxes/bans in other locations. We have not gotten a chance to pull it all together, but the results are looking very interesting. Some “unconfirmed” common themes include: 1) much of the legislation (that we have looked at so far) has been initiated by local city council members or mayors and not by grassroots efforts. 2) Most of the plastic bag taxes/bans have faced opposition from grocery store retail associations and from Progressive Bag Affiliates of the American Chemistry Council. For example, the Seattle Times reported on Aug. 29, 2008 that The Coalition to Stop the Seattle Bag Tax (which is made up of Progressive Bag Affiliates and 7-Eleven) have submitted 22,252 signatures to the city in the hopes that voters will overturn the plastic bag tax by taking it to a vote on the 2009 ballot.

Most importantly I need to remind everyone to participate, or to support those who are participating, in One City walk in November which is helping to raise money for the Integral Activism project. We are going to be walking from Central Park to Prospect Park on Saturday November 8^th, 2008.

Last but not least, I am also very excited about the "Sit Down, Rise Up" Guest Lecture with Reverend Billy & Savitri Durkee from the Church of Stop Shopping this Wednesday evening (Oct. 29^th, 2008) from 7 to 9pm – it’s not too late to RSVP!! Hope to see you there!