[Buddha-l] US Congress Honors HHDL -- Obama delays meeting him

[JKirkpatrick]

Calls for Obama to Reconsider Dalai Lama Rebuff By Michelle
Boorstein

There's some new pressure from Capitol Hill for President Obama
to reconsider his rebuff of the Dalai Lama.

Obama is the first U.S. president in nearly two decades not to
meet with the Tibetan leader during a D.C. trip, and Congressman
Frank Wolf of Virginia is pressing him to change his mind and not
"kowtow to the Chinese government, a government that brutally
oppresses its own people." Wolf made the comments on the House
floor yesterday.

Leonard Leo, chairman of the U.S. Commission on International
Religious Freedom (a federal body created to give guidance on the
subject to the highest U.S. officials), told the AFP the Obama
move is "a strategic snub."

Meanwhile, the Dalai Lama will appear before the Senate Foreign
Relations Committee later this afternoon (4 p.m.), right after he
attends an award ceremony for people who have boosted the Tibetan
cause. Among the interesting folks there will be a group of
Chinese who have spoke out in defense of the Tibetans. Our
colleague Maureen Fan a few months ago wrote a fabulous article
about the rise of Chinese pursuing Tibetan Buddhism.

Actor and celeb-Buddhist Richard Gere, a very longtime ally of
the Dalai Lama, will also be there today at the ceremony at 1:30
p.m. at Sidney Harman Hall downtown.

http://tinyurl.com/yca5zzg

from the Washington Post
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The comments to this article are pretty obviously CH propaganada.
Meanwhile, those who want the Pres. to meet with HHDL now, and
those who say it's not politically expedient, are doing the
petticoat dance to see which side has to wear it (see the NYT
article today).

Joanna