Hey Palin! Don’t you like to ski Ms. Wasilla?

I found this article about Sarah Palin today:

http://www.newsweek.com/id/160080

Besides the many things that the author points out about Palin, this quote sums up not only I am personally thinking, but what many are:

“Palin may be a perfectly wonderful person, a loving mother and a great American success story—but she is a beauty queen/sports reporter who stumbled into small-town politics, and who is now on the verge of stumbling into, or upon, world history.”

Which is scary, and unnerving, and I suggest checking in with your family doctor or psychologist if this doesn’t send off any alarm sounds in your cranium. We live in a country that leads the world. Even if you live in a small town, you have to understand that your government leads the free world, and if we get into any altercations outside of your little bubble, it will be YOU that is affected by it. How about the Iraq War, and all of the Americans who perished on foreign soil? I wonder if it occurs to her supporters that this is a global issue, one that could have been avoided, and that Iraq did not harbor the terrorists who bombed the Pentagon or The World Trade Center. I don’t know how anyone is sitting comfortable with knowing this. I digress…

Another thought I had today-

While it is of utmost importance that we protect the glaciers and ice caps, has anyone thought about the other kinds of geographical locations known for their ice and snow? I am talking about ski resorts. I was watching PBS, and I think it was an episode of Globe Trekker, where the male host of the show goes to The Alps and partakes in one of the infamous ski tours which is clearly the region’s highlight and main attraction. It seemed like an epic adventure, a once in a lifetime experience, or something that you would really save your $ for. It also seems like something that rich people do.

I may sound that I am speaking of stereotypes here, but what I present to you is based on much truth. Skiing is an expensive hobby, and most people who ski either save the cash to do it, or are wealthy enough that it becomes a seriously fun pastime for them? I don’t hear about too many impoverished or working class families going on ski resort vacations.  Which leads me to point out that I would think many wealthy Palin supporting families might value you that kind of getaway, and well…  believing that global warming doesn’t exist is ironic and foolish.  Palin doesn’t believe global warming exists, (Drill Baby drill!- you get me?) and I am positive that a large chunk of her supporters agree.

On this episode of Globe Trekker, our host stops along his ski tour somewhere in the high, snowy peaks of the The Alps, and his native tour guide points out how the snow is disappearing. (which then was followed up by showing Before and After pictures of the region from the 1990s and 2000’s. The pictures were frightening, and showed the recessed peaks and snowy landscape from a number of angles and pictures. It was a clear and defined difference.) The tour guide then went on to say that many resorts in the area  located on a point further down the mountains, are already going out of business because they are seeing as much snow throughout the year. This is not the first that I have seen something in the press or on television about snow disappearing in resorts or in mountainous regions. Watch a little Discovery Channel and you will see countless upon countless series about Alaska and it’s disappearing snowy caps.This is a world wide catasrophe. Hmmm.. did you catch that? I said the word catastrophe. We need the snow and ice to keep our planet balanced, and we need our wealthy to stay happy and entertained! Come on, you don’t want to see miserable rich people. They need to do something and go somewhere with all that money. It wouldn’t be fun for them to brag that they go to Disney World like the rest of us.  Imagine Buffy, Tyler, and Chase waiting online for Magic Mountain, miserable from heat, crowds, exhaustion, and the white noise caused by all the slobbering, loud poor people jumping around in Donald Duck costumes, with no end in sight to line, even with their VIP Express Line pass? Hahaha… OK, OK… Can’t I have my fun? Anyway…

Denying global warming just sounds insane. It’s now where we can see it. Please, wake up!

Those are my thoughts for the day but on a lighter happier note, I now have more cowbell.

thank you.

Playlist

I just feel like sharing music with you all today. Here is a playlist of some songs I have been spinning on my Rhapsody lately. They’re all kind of soft, reflective, and maybe a little unusual.  Some of them might not be available, but if you want to hear it, there is always a way. Try looking on one of your shady little free music sites for a version of the song.

http://rhaplinks.real.com/rhaplink?rhapid=5111304&type=playlist&title=Playlist&from=compaccount40001

A Good Article About Religion, Buddhism.

After realizing how un-zen my last post was, and even a bit perturbed that something so small set me off, I decided it’s about time to refocus and think about what’s really important. While I do think elitism is an ugly thing, and I do stand by what I say about not practicing it, it was not the best idea to let one little comment form the NY Times Food and WIne section through me into a spiral of contempt for this faceless person I don’t even know.  I have chalked it up to me becoming disgusted with the perspective of negative people and it makes me no better to participate in bitter behavior. I do sometimes feel like I want to stand up for the injustices in this world, and there are moments when I am watching TV and I want to ring a celebrity’s neck just for being so self-involved,  but I also see that lingering on those thoughts are counterproductive to myself and to society. So… moving along…

Take a moment to read or look over this article. It’s interesting if you’re the kind of person who has an objective viewpoint on religion and spirituality:

http://buddhism.about.com/od/becomingabuddhist/a/noconversion.htm

I just stumbled upon this article, and it describes exactly how I feel about religion. I have been leaning towards Buddhism for about 3-4 years now, and reading this finally justifies for me that this is where I want to be.  After reading this article I feel at home with the idea that Buddhism is not just a religious standpoint, but a state of mind, and viewpoint on the world.  I feel as though it is something that would really allow me to apply critical thinking without feeling any of the guilt of “abandoning” my old religion (Catholicism). It lets me declare my viewpoints without thinking they are the ultimate viewpoints and this serge of guilt is what I have found deters me from going to other religions. But like the author of this article says, it doesn’t make any other religion wrong. It’s is just the mechanism in which each individual experiences ultimate transcendence. For me transcendence is more possible with Buddhism. It just makes sense.

Here are some excerpts that really got me nodding my head up and down:

“The truth is, I don’t necessarily think everyone should convert to Buddhism….”

“The first assumption is that an omnipotent and omnipresent entity such as God — or Brahma, or the Tao, or the Trikaya — can be completely understood by human intellect, and that this perfect understanding can be expressed in words to form doctrines that transmit this perfect understanding to others with unfailing accuracy… And I say that’s nonsense. I say no doctrines of any religion, including mine, are the complete truth. All fall short of perfect understanding. All are frequently misunderstood…At the same time, it may be that most of the doctrines of most of the world’s religions reflect some small part of a great and absolute truth, so they aren’t necessarily false, either. As Joseph Campbell may have said, all religions are true. You just have to understand what they are true of.”

“The Buddha taught his monks that Nirvana cannot be conceptualized. In Exodus, God refused to be limited by a name or represented by a graven image. It may be hard for humans to accept, but there are places our almighty imaginations and intellects cannot go.”

“…Christianity because it no longer engaged my heart and mind. Well, the heart maybe, but the mind said “Nope.” But just because I walked away from Christianity doesn’t mean I think Christianity or any other religion is wrong for everyone else.“

“”Do not be idolatrous about or bound to any doctrine, theory, or ideology, even Buddhist ones. Buddhist systems of thought are guiding means; they are not absolute truth.”"

This is of great comfort and understanding to me. It makes sense. I have a long way to go into this foray of mind and soul, but realization is only the tip of the iceberg here.

Here’s to life and living.

RIchard Gere, Uma Thurman… here I come. Nice to meet you.