Mental Meanderings of Babbling Bricks

(from http://www.asofterworld.com)

“CBS News ‘60 Minutes’ on Friday alleged that Bozeman philanthropist Greg Mortenson fabricated some of the most dramatic and inspiring stories in his bestselling book ‘Three Cups of Tea’ and one year spent more money promoting his book than building schools in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Mortenson, 53, founder and executive director of the Central Asia Institute, defended his work building schools for children, especially girls, in remote Islamic villages.

‘I hope these allegations and attacks, the people doing these things, know this could be devastating for tens of thousands of girls, for the sake of Nielsen ratings and Emmys,’ Mortenson told the Chronicle in a phone interview Friday.

‘I stand by the information conveyed in my book,’ he wrote in a statement, ‘and by the value of CAI’s work in empowering local communities to build and operate schools that have educated more than 60,000 students.’

Mortenson said CAI’s success in fundraising - last year it raised $23.7 million - means it can build 63 new schools this year, in addition to more than 170 already established.”

Read full article here: http://bit.ly/eblVRv Morten

Buddhism has resided on the periphery of my mind for some years now. Yet lately, for many reasons, I have brought it into a more central focus. I still feel like an infant, and I could in no way carry on an intelligent conversation about Buddhism and its history or tenants yet. But there is something about it that I cannot get away from. Over the last few years, there have been brief moments where Buddhism has arisen in my life in different forms and invited me to investigate it further.

The principals of compassion, selflessness, humility, peace, patience, and, as Mathieu Ricard puts it, well-being sing truth in some deep, ineffable sense. These are qualities with which I want to be identified, and they are also qualities that I still lack. These are principles at the heart of Buddhism. Also at its heart are the practices and methods for attaining these principles.

Through mind training (or meditation), our brains have the ability to change in remarkable ways that have now been observed, graphed, charted, and scientifically proven. I have read about brain plasticity in the last few years, but to think about its implications for emotional and personal development sends shivers up my spine! How liberating to know that you are not fixed or chained to the person you are now. You can change, develop, and grow for the rest of your life if you only take the time to focus on what you want to be. Want to be more compassionate? Meditate on compassion. Want lengthen that short fuse to the point that it burns out before it makes you explode? Meditate on patience.

It sounds daunting, but I like the way that Ricard presents this idea. He says,

“In itself, [anger] looks very menacing, like a billowing monsoon cloud or thunderstorm. We think we could even sit on the cloud, but if you go there, it’s just mist. Likewise, if you look at the thought of anger, it will vanish like frost under the morning sun. If you do this again and again, the propensity for anger to arise again will be less and less each time you dissolve it. And at the end, it may arise, but it will just cross the mind like a bird crossing the sky without leaving any track.”

For mor info on Mathieu Ricard, “The happiest man in the world”: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthieu_Ricard

This is truly an historic day, not only for Haiti, but also for the United States, whose goverment ousted Aristide from power twice. The Bush administration had no qualms about intervening and disrupting the democratic process of our sister nation in 2004. Though they initially denied direct involvement with the coup, they later admitted having a hand in his removal. Big surprise. Everyone knew that Bush had it out for Aristide and had no problem asserting his personal opinion and agenda onto other sovereign nations through military intervention. 

What is surprising, and perhaps I’m being naive, is that President Obama has strongly opposed Aristide’s return to Haiti from his exile in South Africa. I do understand why Obama (and many others) have concerns about what Aristide plans to do once he’s back in his home country, especially since he has insisted on returning before the March 20th elections. However, (and I cannot stress this enough) Haiti is a sovereign nation with a democratic process and a constitution. No country, especially the United States, which has had such a direct and negative impact on Haitian politics over the last two hundred years, has a right to intervene and prevent Aristide from returning to his country.

What the United States should be doing, especially now that former US supported dictator, Jean-Claude Duvalier, has returned to Haiti, is praising Aristide’s return while simultaneously encouraging and supporting a fair and unhindered election process. This is not the time for Aristide to use his political clout to influence the elections. Aristide has said that he has no political ambitions and want to work on education, which we should also praise and support. Once again, the United States thinks that it knows what is best for Haiti. Perhaps it’s time that we look back over the last century and reassess whether that opinion has any relevance to reality and let the Haitian people determine their own future.

Click here for a life blog about Aristide’s return to Haiti: http://bit.ly/eLnpzH

“In this view, $500,000 isn’t nearly enough taxpayer cash to retain government-funded bankers, but $48,000 (the average teacher salary in Wisconsin) is too much to pay educators. In this view, the government is “there to serve the banks,” as the new chairman of Congress’ Financial Services Committee said, but police and firefighters are expected to serve the population, even as those police officers and firefighters are berated for receiving middle-class wages.”

Read more: http://www.gazette.com/opinion/wisconsin-113557-showdown-sirota.html

Lyre bird of Southern Australia mimics other birds, camera shutters, and chainsaws…

“The point is that no self-respecting human being likes to be bullied, whether in Tripoli or in Madison. And in America, less urgently than in Libya but urgently enough, it’s high time we reclaimed an honest and legitimately popular politics.”

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ethan-casey/on-wisconsin-the-view-fro_b_826337.html