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Showing posts with label hillary clinton. Show all posts
Showing posts with label hillary clinton. Show all posts
The above image is one of my favorite pictures of late. U.S. President Barack Obama and U.S. Secretary of State Clinton recently visited Wat Pho monastery and head-monk, Chaokun Suthee Thammanuwat in Thailand, Bangkok (link). The American leaders both observed the Buddhist tradition of removing shoes before ending a temple. In the blue trousers is U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The one wearing socks and dark blue slacks is President Obama. The head-monk is the one wearing orange.
I find this image so striking and full of lessons. The photo is poignant reminder that regardless of our station in life, we are all sentient beings having the same worth and importance. If I didn't mention the names, we'd never know who those feet represent. In this angle, President Obama isn't the most powerful man in the world but simply another sentient walking the path of life.
The picture evokes letting go of our egos and the self-important images we sometimes display. This photo transcends their lofty titles of president, secretary and monk to expose them as being just like the rest of us. They must walk the path of samsara like all of us. They have weaknesses, attachments and set-backs like any other human being, regardless of their importance. How wonderful a lesson it is to view life from alternative perceptions and angles. In this case, literally!!
In this anti-Buddhist propaganda photo suggesting Buddhists monks (Tibetan lamas) are up to no good standing among corpses, what is really happening is quite the opposite. Lamas were brought in to bless and comfort victims after a massive Himalayan landslide in Tibet -- in this inflammatory, undated photo tagged with a url link to a video reporting atrocities committed against Burma's minority Muslim Rohingyas, which the world seems to be ignoring:tinyurl.com/93hqzme.
UPDATE: The editors of Wisdom Quarterly are not apologists (defenders the faith ready to explain any and every negative thing away). If monastics or nominal lay "Buddhists" harm others, we report it.Reports have reached us that Buddhists did NOT go on murderous rampages. They might have, but there is a more plausible explanation. Rohingyas are in a tense stand off with their coompatriot neighbors, Burmese Buddhist villagers and co-religionist Muslims in nearby Bangladesh. Buddhists are angry about a sensational rape of a Buddhist female by Rohingya boys, ongoing drug dealing, and general anti-social behavior. But it is alleged that Rohingyas set fire to their own villages using gun powder provided to them from some outside source agitating for change. Rohingyas want to have their plight recognized, so they had to do something to get sympathy and vital humanitarian relief from either the world in general or Bangladeshi officials in particular.
Burma has a history of massacring minorities.
The worldwide MIC (transnational military-industrial complex) has succeeded in sucking in some Buddhists, tragically pitting some poor Burmese villagers against their fellow countrymen, an ethnic minority known as the Rohingya. Neighboring Muslim Bangladesh has refused to help save lives and prevent this nascent genocide by admitting Rohingyas attempting to flee the violence, which goes both ways with Rohingyas attacking minority Bangladeshi Buddhist temples and villagers and majority Burmese Buddhists retaliating.
But this is not a simple case of neighbor-on-neighbor violence. Pres. Thien Sein of Burma hasadmitted that the monstrous Myanmar military -- which in 2007 attacked, imprisoned, and slaughtered uncounted Buddhist monks and pro-democracy protesters in the ongoing Saffron Revolution -- has been systematically executing Rohingya. The military junta headed by Burmese dictator Gen. Than Shwe have ruthlessly attacked and waged war against many of Burma's ethnic minorities, including Buddhists along the its mountainous borders with Thailand and China.
Stop! Consider the consequences of shortsighted action (karma)! Hatred will never cease by hatred. Every gain will mean even more loss (Ahsanul Bari).
We go to Bangladeshi Buddhist abbot and scholar Ven. Karunananda, Ph.D. for comment.
WQ: "Venerable sir, Buddhists are killing Muslims?"
VK: "Villagers are fighting, but this has absolutely nothing to do with religion. This is not a religious crusade or anything Buddhist monastics sponsor. Rohingya attacked Buddhists in Bangladesh; Buddhists in Burma are attacking Rohingya."
WQ: "Where is Hillary Clinton in all this?"
VK: "That is a good question."
WQ: "Worse yet, where is our heroine Nobel Peace Laureate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi?"
VK: "This is a very delicate matter, very tragic."
There is a dictum in Buddhism that any person who attacks another is wrong to do so, but a person who retaliates is worse. Revenge is NOT justified in Buddhism, contrary to Western conceptions of God and Jewish-Christian ideals of vengeance, following a tribal God(s) into war against neighbors.
Fortunately, New Testament Christians speak of a new ideal (forgiveness) and a new God (Issa/Jesus) replacing the warring eye-for-any-eye mentality attributed to YHWH.
But many Christians in the West (US, UK, EU, and the Holy See) do not distinguish Old and New Testament Gods when it comes to such things as revenge, war, imperial-crusades, and ethnic-genocides. Conducting war in the name of One God (peruse the Christian Bible's Book of Judges if there's any doubt) and world domination is a mainstay in the Far West and, sadly, the Middle East as well.
The CIA can't make all this war without some help from a minority of Muslims bent on upholding the eye-for-an-eye mentality of monotheistic tradition. But to whom are we to attribute most of the violence in the world today?
Who does what?
(americanbedu.com)
Photographer Kombizz Kashani rhetorically asks: "Who started the first world war? Muslims?? Who started the second world war? Muslims?? Who killed ten million aborigines in Australia? Muslims?? Who dropped nuclear bombs on civilian [non-combatants] in Hiroshima and Nagasaki? Muslims?? Who killed more than 100 million Native American-Indians in North America? Muslims?? Who killed more than 50 million indigenous-Indians in South America? Muslims?? Who trafficked ~180 million Africans as slaves with 88% of them dying or being thrown into the Atlantic?? Muslims??"
No, they weren't Muslims! They were mostly [nominal] Christians.
Let's define "terrorism." If a non-Muslim does something untoward, it's a "crime." But if a Muslim commits the exact same misdeed, it's "terrorism." We first have to disabuse ourselves of this biased double-standard.
Pat Macpherson, Ashley Wells, CC Liu, Pfc. Sandoval, Wisdom Quarterly
"Dad, could you vote for NOTA ('None of the Above') this year and leave it at that?"
It is good to have a Muslim. But it would be better to have one who tells the truth rather than reading a litany of pleasant lies from teleprompters(sociologicalimagination.org).
As Americans we are conditioned to yawn or gag at "politics" -- which weinstantly associate with boredom, deception, pointlessness... And that is the way the MIC (Military-Industrial Complex) wants it.
Stay out of it, public; it's none of your business. We run this show, selecting and "electing" the most cooperative candidates.
"Sold to the highest bidder!" M disapproves.
You tacitly consent because we manufacture your consent. You tacitly consent because you give up your voice, which could sway us (not that we will admit to having been swayed) and stave off or at least delay our more draconian plans. So hold your nose and stomach, and pick the "lesser of two evils."
He was an Indonesian Muslim, but so what?
Whomever you choose, the choice is the same: evil, to a lesser or greater degree. The MIC went too far to the right propping the Naziesque Bush Dynasty. So now we get a smooth talking "liberal" who SAYS all the right things, all the things the MAJORITY of Americans want to hear. He doesn't do them, but he does SAY them. (Thank you, PR Firms and Focus Groups, for the 411). Debates-schmebates!
There is nothing to choose when we have no choice. Our ONE-party system (two wings, moderate-right and extreme-right) offers no real choice at all. But there are other candidates. Wisdom Quarterly is rooting for Green Party candidate Dr. Jill Stein.
However, we would be happy to see just about anyone else elected:
Gov. Ventura, Congressman Kucinich, nun Pema Chodron, anchor Amy Goodman, Republicans Dr. Ron Paul or son Senator Rand Paul, Gary Johnson (Libertarian Party), Rocky Anderson (Justice Party), Virgil Goode (Constitution Party), Prof. Noam Chomsky, crank Ralph Nader, even billionaire Oprah Winfrey -- anyone other than the corporate shills engaged in this media-orchestrated horse race to the White House finish line.
Who will win, Barry or Mittens or "None of the Above"? What a nailbiter! Psychic Sean David Morton says Hillary Clinton is a surprise shoo in for 2012, but that may be on another timeline! (See Bruce Goldberg to go live in that segment of our multiverse). Here we present the the REAL debates:
DemocracyNow! expands the debate by including the voices of three presidential candidates shut out of the official debate with parts of the Obama-Romney excuse for a debate that excluded third-party candidates. Here they get a chance to respond.
From one dishonest broker to another: Donald Trump threatens to withhold $5 million dollars for charity unless Barry Soetoro (Pres. Barack Hussein Obama) releases his college and passport applications, which Barry cannot do without revealing that he was qualified to be President of the Corporation of the USA but not the country formerly known as the USA. His birth certificate was fake, a poor forgery, and he has a very questionable social security number, but details-schmeetails. He was installed with a mission to become a the benevolent face of a very violent dictatorship; he has no real power other than to be a mouthpiece. He killed that guy (Akbar Khan)he brags about killing; he did hard drugs with gay partners, getting them killed to ensure their silence... What are some more doctored documents going to do to his legacy? He is a so-so debater and a great orator, and isn't that all that matters? Pornographer Flint offered a million to see Romney's tax forms.
COX'S BAZAR, Bangladesh - A mob torched and vandalized a village of Buddhists in Cox's Bazar's Ramu Upazila early on Sunday in one of the worst religious attacks in Bangladesh apparently triggered by a Facebook posting allegedly defaming the Quran (Koran).
Eyewitnesses and police said the assailants set fire to at least six Buddhist temples and nearly 20 homes and looted and damaged more than a hundred others until 3:00 am in the hate attack.
Cox's Bazar is rocked by communal violence.
Cox's Bazar district's Superintendent of Police Selim Mohammed Jahangir acknowledged the violence in the Buddhist-dominated locality. He said around 3:00 am situation in the Ramu district headquarters was under control but in areas on the fringe, tension was palpable.
"Police patrols have been strengthened in the Buddhist-majority areas," SP Jahangir added.
Paramilitary BGB personnel have been called out to restore order in the affected areas, Suresh Barua, teacher at a local school, said.
Several houses and Mithhachharhi Bonbihar, some five kilometres from Ramu Sadar Upazila, were set on fire around 3:30 am, said General Secretary of Ramu Upazila Juba League Nitish Barua.
A 100-foot high under-construction Buddha sculpture was also ravaged in Bimukti Bidarshan Babna Centre in the locality, he added.
Gias Uddin Ziku, Office Secretary of Cox's Bazar district unit of Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal and Chairman of Jhilangja Union, said he dispersed Jamaat-e-Islami activists who had gathered around localities of ethnic minorities. He also said he had informed the police of the incident.
Local people said followers of an Islamist party led by several leaders took out a procession around 10:00 pm on Saturday alleging that a photo was uploaded on the Facebook to defame the holy book.
At a subsequent rally, they claimed a youth by the name of Uttam Barua had pasted the purportedly offensive photo in the social networking website and demanded his arrest.
Another militant procession was taken out that marched down towards the Barua Parha around 11:30 pm and some youths from the procession set some homes of the Buddhists on fire.
From then on, 15 homes, three temples including "Saada Ching" and "Laal Ching" were burned to the ground, Dipak Barua, a local, said.
Police, local administration officials and public representatives were trying to quell the arson and destruction that continued at least until 1:30 am.
Cox's Bazar, Banglandesh panoramic view in the morning (en.wikipedia.org)
A local journalist, who was hiding with family in the neighborhood that came under attack, told bdnews24.com the Cheranghata Barakyang Temple close to his home was set alight. He said the flames died out around 2:45 am.
Also, Ramu Maitree Bihar, Saada Chinglaal, Ramy Sina Bihar and Jadiparha Bouddha Bihar were torched, ransacked and looted.
At least 10 Buddhist villages were attacked and Purbo Merongloa locality that had around 20 houses was burned.
Chairman of Ramu Upazila Council Sohel Sarwar Kajal said efforts were on to quell the tension.
Several Facebook users, meanwhile, said Uttam Barua, the Ramu youth being accused of Quran defamation, did not post the photo deemed to be offensive to Islam. They said Uttam was tagged in the photo from a Facebook ID called "Insult Allah" and so he was in no way responsible.
Recently, there was much hullabaloo was created after Rohingya Muslims tried to cross the border into Bangladesh fleeing the religious riot in Myanmar's Buddhist-majority Rakhine state. A section of the civil society in Bangladesh reacted to the government refusing the refugees entry. The government believes communal forces were behind this incident.
Are Burma's troops slaughtering Muslims? Dhr. Seven, CC Liu, Ashley Wells, Wisdom Quarterly
The nominally "Buddhist" police state government of Burma (Myanmar) is killing its ethnic minorities. This has been going on for a long time. The hill tribes have been fending off the central government for decades hiding in the forests and retreating into Thailand and China.
Of course, this brutal regime which imprisoned Aung San Suu Kyi is the least Buddhist government in one of the most Buddhist countries in the world. But that country is largely closed off to the world, in spite of Hillary Clinton and the US military-industrial complex's recent attempts to win the resource-rich Burma over to Western interests instead of it being a pawn for Chinese rule.
Sadly, Muslims believe Buddhists in Burma and/or bordering Bangladesh are involved in the slaughter of ethnic minorities along their shared border. Burmese soldiers are more than happy to kill Buddhist monks in robes, Buddhists in the street, and anyone else the junta orders them to slaughter.
Ordinary Buddhists may indeed join in to ethnically cleanse their area and send Muslims into Islamic Bangladesh. And this would explain why Muslim extremists in Bangladesh would retaliate -- under the pretext that a Buddhist's Facebook posting of Islamic material is setting off their religious sensibilities -- and loot and burn Buddhist temples and homes.
But the problem is much more complex. There are minorities on both sides of the border. Bengalis (Bangladeshis) have become a problem even for Burmese Muslims living in Rakhine (Arakan) state, Burma. Similarly, Muslim Rohingyas are a problem in Buddhist parts of Bangladesh. These minorities are upset at their treatment by the larger society that considers them illegal aliens and displaced peoples.
Not surprisingly, they strike back when they can in what little way they can. Now army troops and soldiers will be called in for a police state solution. It seems to be the MIC's preferred answer to all fabricated and spontaneous disturbances around the world, particularly when they involve Occupy Movement activists here and "radical Muslims" abroad.
NOTE: It is not the job or intention of Wisdom Quarterly to be apologists for Buddhists, Buddhism, or any national government. Nor is it the intention of its editors to uphold the additional Mahayana precept of keeping quiet rather than criticizing the sangha (Buddhist community). In the name of fair reporting, we report material detrimental to the image and reputation of Buddhists just as we do anyone else. It is intolerable to show bias in favor of a favored ingroup while disparaging other. it is on account of such bias that deplorable secrets (as seen in the Catholic Church and its ministers as well as the US military and its leaders) have been allowed to flourish while most of the world sits on its hands in denial. The truth will out before long, and we intend to help it out sooner.
In Burma the massacre of Muslims is being carried out ruthlessly, and the world remains silent. The silence of the UN is deafening. US Secretary of State, who is busy currying favor with Burma at all costs, the world community, and the SAFMA do what?
Allegedly a genocide has already taken over 20,000 Muslims -- by murdering, burning, raping, and drowning. There has also been forced displacement of nearly 100,000 -- something triggered by a FALSE news report released by a journalist (as happened in India among the ethnic mountain minorities frightened into leaving other parts of the country).
Meanwhile, the world is silent rarely uttering the word "genocide." Many hold the Burmese government responsible for this atrocity. Islamic Bangladesh has refused to allow the poorest of Burmese-Muslim refugees (the Rohingyas) to enter. Why is Bangladesh reluctant to help them? It does not want more ethnic minorities, particularly as it deals with its tiny remaining population of indigenous Buddhists who inhabit the Chittagong, Hill Track, and Cox's Bazar areas of the country.
There is, of course, also a worldwide provocation and manipulation of Muslims ostensibly set off by an American YouTube video, which was only a trigger that ignited long simmering discontent about many other things. The problem has come to roost for ethnic Buddhists in Bangladesh, just as Burmese Buddhists have suffered for years under the dictator General Than Shwe and his junta's totalitarian regime, funded by China and largely ignored by the US, who has been pandering to China since at least the Clinton administration.
Innocents are caught in the middle. And religion is used to exploit delicate sensibilities for peoples who do not enjoy many personal freedoms, civil rights, or liberal educations. Religion becomes the focus of social, political, and economic thought and activity. The dangerous combination of religious sentiment, profound emotion, and manipulation by Western provocateurs (MIC agents), mainstream media mouthpieces, and temperamental religious leaders has created a powder keg with no easy answers.
Daw Suu appeared calm as she arrived to take her seat as an elected politician for the first time in the capital. "[I will] try my best for the country" (AFP/Soe Than Win).
NAYPYIDAW, Myanmar - Burma's opposition leader [the Lady Daw] Aung San Suu Kyi made her historic parliamentary debut Monday [July 9, 2012], marking a new phase in her near quarter century struggle to bring democracy to her army-dominated homeland.
Suu Kyi, whose unswerving campaigning saw her locked up for years by the former junta and earned her a Nobel Peace Prize, appeared calm as she arrived to take her seat as an elected politician in the [relocated] capital Naypyidaw.
"I will try my best for the country," she told AFP as she embarked on her first day of active public office.
Suu Kyi joined fellow members of her National League for Democracy (NLD), as both the party and its charismatic leader transform from [radical] dissident outsiders to [minor] mainstream political players in the wake of [rigged] landmark April by-elections.
The democracy champion's entrance into the legislature comes at an uncertain time for Burma, after recent communal violence and a series of student arrests cast a shadow over promising [whitewash] changes in the former pariah state. More
Every minute of every day, while we sit in the relative comfort of our homes, Buddhist monks in Burma are being tortured in prisons. And when they aren't being beaten, they are huddled in dirty, dark and disease ridden cells. All this they endure because they wouldn't sit by and watch the people of Burma be treated like garbage by the dictatorial regime. Their courage was driven, in part, by the deep compassion developed from practicing the Dharma. They are the conscience of the world standing up and saying, "enough!!"
The monks have gotten the most attention in the international news, but a lesser known campaign of ethnic cleansing is occurring in remote, ethnic areas. The remoteness of some of these regions is a curse for some ethnic minorities because less people know they are even there, let alone being killed, tortured and raped. If revered monks in Burma aren't treated well, then no one is safe. But, thanks to concerned citizens around the world, attention continues to grow about the plight of Burma (Myanmar).
At first, most people had no idea where Burma or Myanmar was on the globe, and the U.S. government showed little interest in the affairs in the Southeast Asian country. Today, after years of awareness and relentless calls for action, one of America's highest ranking leaders is in Burma to spread the message of concerned citizens to the military dictatorship, loud and clear. So, please, let your conscience be heard!! Click on this sentence to reach the secretary's email form and thank her for her action. Let her know that you are following the issue and urge her to keep up the pressure!! We would all hope our fellow humans would do the same for us if we were in a time of need, so let us stand up for our brothers and sisters in Burma
