Food-bama

What a dreadful headline. A hasty title for a hasty post, mainly to share a link on food policy.

Jill Richardson posts at Fire Dog Lake about the Obama Administration's approach to food policy. It is an overview, brief, and worth reading and following the links.

She cites educational examples of Haiti (a bad outcome attributable to the dominant approach), Cuba (a positive example, and an area where we can learn lessons from Cuba if we could relax the Cold War attitude for a few hours -- we might also examine their successes in delivering medical care, by the way), and the very important report commissioned by the World Bank and the U.N.

What she does not mention is that this compelling report has been dismissed out of hand by our current Secretary of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack, who is known as something of a shill for big ag.

Monday Morning Gabriel

This shot is from April 2009, the night we took Gabriel with us to see Thai classical dance in Las Cruces. At that time, his main form of communication was to blow a raspberry (as seen here). It's amazing, how many different things that raspberry could mean: delight, disgust, hunger, frustration, and much more.

In this shot, I am barely restraining him from joining the pretty ladies with bright spangled costumes in their undulations.

Censored by Barbara's Buddhism Blog!

Wow. Gosh. I feel as though I've been ejected from the classroom.

How much of the "Buddhist blogosphere" is like this?

The first time I have ever left a comment on Barbara's Buddhism blog will be the last.

On her forum, there was recently a very interesting discussion: do Buddhists "pray" or not? Barbara O'Brien and one reader engaged in a debate on this question over a dozen comments that was quite beneficial, as I found it challenged my assumptions about the practice that I do (which includes chanting the name of Kwan Seum Bosal and Amita Bul).

Suddenly, Ms. O'Brien announced that the posts by her inquisitor, one Jeff Wilson, had become "anal and meaningless" and that she was cutting him off.

So I left a comment thanking Ms. O'Brien and Mr. Wilson for their dialogue, as I had found it engaging, expressing appreciation for the way they had disagreed and debated quite civilly; in a single sentence, I expressed regret that their interaction had to be cut off so abruptly, and with name-calling.

My comment was deleted, and apparently Mr. Wilson has been shown the door as well, at least on that particular thread.

This is an ironic style for someone who professes expertise on the path of Buddha, a teacher who was known for teaching dialectically and welcoming challenging questions. Moreover, it is rather a shame, as I read through a few of the blog posts and she's rather a good writer with some very sensible views on Buddhist teaching and practice, even where I did not share her opinion.

Oh well. Who has time for all these blogs anyway? That's one off the list.

Tired of the Duopoly Yet? [UPDATED]

If, as the Los Angeles Times claims, Americans are deeply dissatisfied with both of the dominant political parties, my question is: are we ready to start supporting candidates from the other parties?

Are we willing to send a Libertarian to our state legislature? Or Congress? Someone who would likely caucus with Republicans but break with them on matters of principle, particularly with respect to budget and investment.

Or a Green? Maybe elect a Green to some local regulatory commissions? Or Congress?

Or a Socialist? Imagine an intelligent and policy-oriented socialist caucusing with Democrats in the House -- a new Bernie Sanders.

Or a Constitutionalist?

Americans like to grouse. Whether they will do anything remains to be seen. It is true that these two political parties are not serving the republic well, and I have been arguing for years to anyone who would listen that they need to lose their joint monopoly on power.

I'll believe Americans are truly dissatisfied when other parties attract more support.

Also, we do not have to content ourselves with the standing alternatives. The Greens are a frustrating party for those who believe in its principles. The same, perhaps, with the Socialist Party USA. These parties have their own internal divisions and battles. The Greens, I would argue, are not seriously preparing themselves to hold office at a national level, and rest instead on being a party of critique and protest. I would like to see more policy.

Anyway, the people can also form their own political parties: smaller, locally-focused political parties. This is a movement I would really like to see. For all our talk of democracy and representation, we Americans do not treat democracy like a participatory sport: we enact and re-enact the old habit of supporting nobility.

Having served on the platform committee of a new state party, I will testify to the value of creating a party and doing the work of defining its principles and its solutions to problems.

More parties, please, especially at the local level.

Stranded in Truth or Consequences

I didn't even clear the Chihuahuan Desert.

The town of Truth or Consequences is the seat of Sierra County, New Mexico. It was called Hot Springs until they renamed themselves after the radio quiz show in 1950. I had traveled about a hundred miles from Deming, past "T-or-C" (as it is called by New Mexicans) to Elephant Butte City, when the car began to struggle and slow down. Its acceleration had been sluggish in recent days, and I had vowed to take the car to Gigi, an honest mechanic in Deming, next weekend. (Payday.)

I pulled off the interstate hoping to struggle to a service station or at least a downhill road. No go. Literally. The car finally came to a stop and would go no further. By this time, I was on state road 181, a two lane road with no traffic or lights. There was a drizzle of rain falling, and with the mists falling on the heathland around me and the sense of total isolation, I felt as if I had just broken down in the first scene of Shakespeare's Macbeth.

Bubble bubble, engine trouble.
Deep blue lake and mountain rubble.

The kindly witches arranged a tow truck for me, after a brief misunderstanding where they waved their witchy fingers and --poof!-- an absurd and hideous apparition with a somewhat ingrown nail appeared in the road. "Oh!" said the first of the witches, "You wanted a tow truck! We were wondering."

Most luckily, I have a friend in town, and for the moment I am pleasantly stranded here, waiting for the diagnosis.

Going to Santa Fe

This blog will be silent for a couple of days, as I will be attending a winter conference for arts teachers, and a meeting of the state advisory council on the arts. In fact, I am presenting two workshops for the conference -- not sure how that's going to go, as I am sick (yet again) and lost my voice almost entirely yesterday.

You'll see posts here again by the end of the weekend or Monday.

Credit Unions, Too

A recent post on changing banks prompted some responses reminding me about credit unions. I will share a comment that was emailed to me, instead of being posted here, by reader Mr. B:

Being a member and having served as director this past year on the board of my local Credit Union, I've been getting quite an education on the wherefores and whys of the industry, and am happy to see this groundswell of interest in divorcing one's funds from large institutions. ...you failed to make one mention of "or your local Federal Credit Union", which said institutions are barely distinguishable from "banks" anywmore. CU's are the original small community institutions, heavily invested in the people and neighborhoods where they operate. By and large they are well capitalized and stable [in part because people like you and me are the directors].

Yep, you're right, and so is Adam. I just plain forgot to mention them, which is even more surprising as I recall my own previous experience as a customer of this credit union back in Rhode Island. It was wonderful.

Mea culpa.

Monday Morning Gabriel

This one was taken at Gabriel's first birthday party, last May. Happy in his mama's arms.