[Buddha-l] Re: buddha-l Digest, Vol 32, Issue 17

[Richard Hayes]

On Thursday 18 October 2007 07:30, Elihu Smith wrote:

>  I must disagree with Kucinich - hatred for Bush and
> "Big Media" seems to have blinded him. 

Kucinich is one of the few American politicians who is not blinded by much of 
anything. He certainly is not motivated by hatred for anyone. Wanting to 
impeach an incompetent president and vice president who have histories of 
lying and getting the country into massive debt by starting reckless wars, 
despite being advised by their own military advisers and friendly governments 
from around the world to avoid war, hardly requires hatred. On the contrary, 
it requires a love of justice and responsibility and the principles embedded 
in the American constitution.

Look, Kucinich does Buddhist meditation. How can anyone who practices Buddhism 
not be worthy of being endorsed by buddha-l? (Knowing how influential 
buddha-l is in American elections, I have not wanted until now to declare our 
endorsement, lest it skew the democratic process. But times are calamitous. 
There is no time to lose making waffles.)

> "As the Imam said, Israel must be wiped off the map,"
> said Ahmadinejad, referring to Iran's revolutionary
> leader Ayat Allah Khomeini.

This is only part of the story. Ahmadinejad has also said that he thinks 
Israel should be given space in Europe. That seems a very reasonable 
suggestion to me, given that most Jews are Europeans. If one is going to 
report what a politician says, one should report it more fully rather than 
taking phrases out of context and making those carefully chosen phrases 
define the whole (wo)man. 

Although I find Ahmadinejad a bit of a crackpot, I quite like him. He's a 
charming crackpot, don't you think? Elihu, you'll probably want to read my 
blog in which I extend an apology on behalf of the American people for the 
unconscionably shoddy treatment the Iranian president received in New York 
and on 60 Minutes.

> Bows,

And I see that, as usual, your bows are well stocked with poisoned arrows.

-- 
Richard P. Hayes
Department of Philosophy
University of New Mexico
http://dayamati.blogspot.com