10 Days Left

On a strange day with both candidates campaigning here in ABQ,
a little levity might be in order:

You go Big O -- NY Times Endorsement! Over 40K in ABQ!! Get involved, Act Blue Blog! Don't Wait... Vote NOW! And, try the new Tax Cut Calculator widget (to the right.) I'll save several hundred with Obama (try FULL calculator for most savings.)

Truly Vile

In the final weeks of this Presidential campaign, I think it can't get worse, and then it does -- RNC mailings that portray Obama as a terrorist, and more abhorrent character smears against Obama from right wing racists like Rush Limbaugh. Joe Biden is absolutely correct when he begs McCain to stop now before this divisiveness ends in some unspeakable tragedy.

Have things always been this bad in the USA? I think so. This nation has always been divided from our inception, through Civil War times, to 1960's assassinations and now this awful bigotry over Arabic people, Muslims and blacks. Obama can check "none of the above." He's not Arabic nor Muslim, and being of mixed race, can identify with Caucasian if he wants. Sometimes I wonder why anyone would want to brag about being "white." I'm often terribly embarrassed to be associated with such intolerant and ignorant people. Which parts of the US are the Pro-American parts, Sarah? Good Grief!

Lest the Limbaughs and Palin-esk antagonists recall, America was founded by protesters and radicals. Those who had enough courage and backbone to get up and leave the oppressive English "mother land." Our Founding Fathers must be rolling in their graves when they hear McCain and Palin express American values. Ha! Real American values keep religion and governance totally separate. It's Un-American to have Pentecostal Holy Rollers dictating what religion means. No one knows more about Pentecostals than I do. I was raised with that crap before I totally rejected it as demonic insanity. Pentecostals are the most racist, bigoted bunch I've ever seen. They preach that Catholics, Muslims and Buddhists will all burn in hell. They only believe in their brand of Christianity, which surely isn't (Christian at all.)

So, maybe it's finally time that us radicals, you know the True Blood Patriots, "toss the bums out" meaning tell the right wing fascists to take a hike -- like to another country. Really. Go start your own government SOMEWHERE ELSE! This one belongs to independent minded radicals who appreciate someone who looks different than an uptight, white Archie Bunker bigot. I'll resume the meditation posture after the election. Drastic times call for drastic measures, and right now I guess I just don't have a Gandhi bone left in my aching body. Click to donate or help the Obama campaign stop McCain from taking the low road to our Whitehouse.

Letting Go

Wow, what a week of lessons about what we think we have and letting go. I was forced to let go of a substantial quantity of paper wealth.
(I think I could speak in the plural here, since I was not alone on this lesson, but I'll stay singular, thanks.) What are those six stages of grief? Shock -- Yep! seeing the Dow take the biggest one week plunge since the Great Depression was shocking in the extreme; Denial (yes, "please don't let this be happening"); Anger (oh my, yes... an understatement!); Depression (absolutely!); Bargaining (hmmmm "I will never again invest in stocks if you just let me live through this.") ; Acceptance? Not yet, but that's where I am at this moment and why I'm blogging. I'm trying to accept. Trying to let go. And, not just of the numbers on a piece of paper, but of the anger and frustration.

This particular anger is over feeling screwed for doing "the right thing" all these years. I didn't leverage myself to the hilt and buy some extravagant home beyond my means. I've stayed in my modest little house, with my modest mortgage and invested. And now I wonder, "Invested in what?" A bunch of a-hole CEO's that robbed their own corporations blind? The companies are now bankrupt -- GM (stock under $5), AIG (down from $70 a share to under $2) Citi Group (once at $55 was at $12 a share) and even my beloved tech stocks were ravaged -- values cut in half. At one point this week 1499 of the 1500 companies on the NYSE were at all time lows!! The companies are just as screwed as I am -- as you are, if you lost money in your IRA, 401K or even our PERA Plan which is down several Billion now.

So, yes, I'm angry at this situation and feeling grief for our country. How did WE (yes, in the plural) allow this to happen? As some of the commentators have asked, "Where were the grown ups?" It's as if a bunch of greedy, drunken juvenile delinquents robbed us blind. Only JD's are usually caught and sent to jail. These insanely greedy CEO's with their multi-million "Golden Parachutes" are somewhere laughing their asses off at our stupidity. Will any of them go to prison for this mess?

And, I'm angry that now we're in more hock (nearly a Trillion in this Bail Out Plan, TARP) and it isn't working. This could take years, just like the War in Iraq, to resolve. So, where's that Letting Go? That Lesson in all this?

Well, there are many. I could wax philosophical about Capitalism, materialism, even Socialism -- but there will be plenty of that in days to come. But, for now, looking at the Grief Model, psychologists say:

You will start to look forward and actually plan for the future. Eventually, you will be able to think about your loss without pain; sadness, yes, but eventually the gut wrenching pain will be gone. You will once again anticipate good times to come, and even find joy again in the experience of living.

And, with that, it's back to releasing my Kleshas for the Padawan, 'cause as the Buddhists are fond of saying --
"Contentment is the greatest form of wealth."

Out of the Muck

I've been trying to figure out how to reconcile my mindfulness practice (which is calm and inwardly focused) to my near rage and desire to blast out at the political fear-mongering McCain tactics. Then I realized how these issues are directly related.

In one of the Compassion parables, the story goes that a person leaves the market, arms full of produce and food for their family. Another person roughly bumps into them and both fall down amid broken eggs, running juice and bruised fruits and vegetables. The angry shopper is about to yell out, "Are you blind?" when he realizes the person who bumped him is indeed blind. His anger quickly vanishes, and he helps the blind person up out of the muck.

So, I want to yell out, "Are you stupid?" to the voters who seem so blind to the vicious and abhorrent McCain tactics, but then I realize many of them truly are ignorant -- oblivious to the facts. It's our responsibility to shed light on the facts, not join the name calling and same nasty tactics we despise. McCain, of all politicians, should have compassion recalling the unconscionable tactics Bush used to destroy him in the 2000 republican primary.

Resorting to character assassination by attempting to link Obama to a 1960's radical anti-war activist (when Obama was only a child at that time) is ridiculous. Clear-eyed facts are our only hope of winning this election. Irrational emotional responses will only escalate tensions and divisions.

This is why I must stop ranting here. As much as I want to rant, and ranting is my Number One Klesha, it's the absolute antithesis to converting even one voter to Obama. Compassion, not anger, is the only antidote to fear. And, fear is the issue. People are afraid of terrorists, evil, the economy, loss of jobs, wall street "fat cats", and mostly of losing the America they love. If we, as Democrats, aren't compassionate and assuring, republicans and even independents, will run ever further to the Right (you know, their "guns and religion" - yikes how offensive was that!)

Ranting won't help. Making fun of Palin on SNL, in the media and blogosphere, is a sure fire way to increase opposition to Obama. So is Maher's outrageous commentary and "Religulous" mocking movie. Kay's compassionate messages and taking time to speak one-on-one with people is our only hope. Thank you Kay, and may we all be more mellow and less hostile, in our message of Hope. Let's think before we curse at the blind person. And, even better, let's help them out of the muck.