[Buddha-l] Persecution in modern Colorado?

[Richard Hayes]

For some reason, I have never been able to get interested in psychoactive 
drugs, and therefore I can't get interested in the issue of their relevance 
to Buddhism. So while our esteemed colleagues are discussing that topic, 
which is no doubt of great interest to many people,, perhaps a few of you 
older fogies might be interested in reading the following article from the 
Denver Post.

A Colorado man accused a Secret Service agent today of arresting him on
 trumped-up allegations of assaulting Vice President Dick Cheney after he
 told Cheney the administration's policies in Iraq were "reprehensible." View
 Full Story http://www.denverpost.comnull/ci_4436043

For the past couple of months my lovely femme and I have been attending Quaker 
meetings and taking a course on the history and principles of Quakerism. 
Given my various penchants, I find it exhilarating to be reminded of (and to 
see in action) all the ways of protesting against the abuses of power and 
privilege that Quakers bring to the fore, and I realize it is this dimension 
above all others that I have missed in all the Buddhist communities I have 
belonged to. 

Has anyone else been disappointed with the lack of social and political 
engagement in their Buddhist communities? If so, what do you do about it? Try 
to become more complacent? Try to get Buddhists off their butts? Divide your 
time between Buddhists and Quakers? Watch TV? Take psychoactive drugs?

-- 
Richard P. Hayes
Department of Philosophy
University of New Mexico
http://www.unm.edu/~rhayes