Oh Man, this is the best! Get the pictures up, you guys! McCain tottering through the woods holding hands with the Dalai Lama. "What the fuck am I doing here?" is written all over him. In his hand a large sheet of paper. One can not help knowing, in one's heart, that whatever is written on that paper is in HUGE LETTERS.
I'm seeing the clip on David Gregory's MSNBC show, and it is a classic. It sums up McCain's Worst Week Ever.
What could top the Golf Cart Moment with Pappy Bush, the collapsing apple sauce, the nasty snark in front of the dairy case, the photo op outside the Fudge Haus, the aborted press conference on the oil rig (cancelled by an Angry God as fuel oil surged down the Mississippi and hurricane winds blasted Texas,} and the rewriting of history on CBS. Oh, and sausage time Happy Hour while Obama was knocking 'em dead in Berlin.
This could: McCain staggers hand in hand with a cute little old guy in a sheet and Lindsey Graham, looking like he wants to gnaw something.
Republican presidential candidate John McCain (R-Get Off My Lawn) is scheduled to meet with the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan spiritual leader, on Friday in Colorado.
"I’m certainly looking forward to it," said the Arizona Senator, "I’ve been a fan of her music for many years."
Lost in the July 3 rush to start July 4th partying is the Commander Athlete in Chief's announcement that he will support the athletes by attending the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics. This direct, single digit salute to people who care about human rights in China and who are concerned about the continuing genocide in Darfur, was delivered to avoid outcry. Put another way, it reeks of cowardice.
I am sympathetic to the earthquake victims in China and that tragedy definitely defused criticism of the Olympics in China but the depotic, anti-democratic "government" of China, the "clique" (to use their own over-used term) of oligarchs started this thing back up by running their mouths while in Tibet. These goons have shamed mankind with their system of totalitarianism.
The IOC, to their credit, criticized China for their petty denunciation of the Dalai Lama at an Olympic ceremony:
Tibetan peoplehood, culture, and society are inextricably bound up with Lamaism, as Tibet's distinct form of Buddhism is called. The Dalai Lama is both the spiritual and temporal leader of the Tibetan people. Imagine, if you can, Israel's head of state being, by law, a descendant of a High Priest from the days when the Temple still stood.
The question sometimes arises in discussions about Israel whether it is possible for a state to be both Jewish and democratic. Tibet and many European democracies provide interesting case studies that uniformly suggest an affirmative answer. Let's continue with Tibet before moving on to Europe.
I want
the Dalai Lama's
laugh,
that full throat rumble
straight from the Buddha belly
free
and smooth
as a strong stream
moving
big rocks
inexorably.
I want that laugh
and the wisdom
to let loose with it
often.
A government car and driver was waiting for me at the curb when I exited the airport doors. I got into the back seat and was handed a briefcase containing department requisition forms, some brochures from that evening’s seminar and a town map.
I was in town during the Olympic Torch Relay. Rumors were circulating that the Dalai Lama would make an appearance along the route; though that’s not the case I was assigned to.
Call me a cock-eyed optimist, but even a stopped clock is right twice a day. I can conceive of George Bush doing one right thing in his presidency--he could boycott the opening ceremonies of the Olympic Games. Gordon Brown is pledged to do it; in the tradition of Maggie and George Sr., why not? Even John McCain has said its OK:
The Olympic Torch Relay, which has been met with worldwide protests everywhere since it started its journey in Greece earlier this spring, and was met with more on- site protests in France, England, and San Francisco, US, before leaving for Argentina, has finally made it to its last stop near China, before entering Australia, Japan, South and North Koreas, and Vietnam,... then back to China finally... which is Jakarta, Indonesia. The Indonesians are taking no chances and are tightly regulating the venue. The flame is being kept in a secret location until the "show."
For security reasons, the original 20km (15-mile) route has been cut to a few laps around the capital's main stadium.
It will be watched by 5,000 people, who had to apply for special identity cards, and 2,500 security officers.
Although China never ruled Tibet in the modern sense until the mid 20th century, neither the Chinese emperors, nor the Republic of China, nor the People's Republic of China, ever renounced China's claim to sovereignty over Tibet, a geographically, historically, ethnically, socially and culturally distinct nation.
In 1950, the Communist Chinese People's Liberation Army invaded then independent Tibet, crushing all resistance and officially incorporating Tibet into the People's Republic of China. Although Tibet was supposed to be a highly autonomous area of China, it was treated like a colony.
Predictably, rebellion broke out (clandestinely supported by the USA) in June, 1956. Ultimately crushed by 1959, tens of thousands of Tibetans were killed and the 14th Dalai Lama (the politico-religious leader) fled to exile. In retaliation for the rebellion, the Chinese government implemented full-scale land redistribution in all areas of Tibet, importing members of other ethnic groups and replacing and supplanting ethnic Tibetans. Today, a majority of the residents of Tibet, including most government and military figures, are not "Tibetan".
It’s a very rare sight to see a sitting president greeting one of his guests planeside–at least he didn’t try to carry his bags
On Tuesday, Pope Benedict XVI arrived in Washington, DC for a 6-day, two city visit to the United States. Although he has been to this country on six other occasions, this is his first since ascending to the papacy after the death of Pope John Paul II in April 2005. The highlights of the pontiff’s pilgrimage will be two open-air masses (one today in the nation’s capital and the other at New York’s Yankee Stadium on Sunday afternoon), an address to the United Nations on Friday and a visit to ‘Ground Zero’. He will also visit with American church leaders and formally apologize for and fight against clergy sexual abuse that has spiritually and financially ravaged many Catholic dioceses over the past six years.
The Dalai Lama has been in Seattle over the last few days for the Seeds of Compassion series of events. Friday evening he had a conversation with Dave Matthews (who then did an acoustic concert with Tim Reynolds). Saturday afternoon there was a big event at Qwest Field. Today the Dalai Lama spoke at an event specifically for school children. (My 2 grade school kids were there!). And there were a number of other events, most avaliable on webcast.
I just finished watching today's event on the web and I was struck by this moment in history in which compassion and hope are actually getting people's attention. "We" is getting air time and pushing "me" aside.
Follow me below the fold for a little more on what the Dalai Lama said and how it connects to Barack Obama.
For thousands of years, the Passover Seder has focused solely on the liberation of the Jewish people -- whether anciently from Pharaoh or in liberations since. But beginning with the Freedom Seder in 1969, in the new atmosphere of an America in which Jews did not fear oppression from the state or from other communities, many Jews have seen that the liberation of other peoples echoes elements of that ancient struggle for liberation from Pharaoh.
This year, two calls for freedom have especially resounded across the Internet as Jews have prepared for Passover: the outcry of Tibetans bereft of their sacred land and leadership by a modern Empire, and the outcry of the earth itself and many of its peoples, suffering from an flood of suffocating gases that are bringing on a global climate crisis.
On behalf of Tibet, Rodger Kamenetz, author of The Jew in the Lotus that chronicled the unprecedented meeting of the Dalai Lama with a dozen rabbis and Jewish teachers in 1997, has proposed placing a symbol on the Seder table -- an empty picture frame! -- that authentically echoes the nonviolent resistance of Tibetans themselves:
Ok, this is really weird. Today, Bush National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley was on Fox talking about whether Bush would boycott the Olympics' opening ceremony, and talked about the issue of "Tibet." Later the same morning he went on ABC and discussed the same issue, but he consistently talked about "Nepal."
(As Think Progress and CrooksandLiars point out, these are 2 distinct places.) Very curious -- is Hadley just a moron? Or is there some diplomacy reason that someone would tell him to actively switch from "Tibet" to "Nepal" between shows?
His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Tibet's exiled spiritual leader, will be visiting Seattle for a weeklong "Seeds of Compassion" event.
On Monday, April 14, the "Children and Youth" day, the state of Washington will bus 14,500 children from all over the state to meet with the Dalai Lama. They will learn from the Dalai Lama what compassion is all about.
By now you've been inundated with breathless media reports and bien-pensant petitions about the "cultural genocide" in Tibet. That's why the Tibetans are rioting, right? Because they're uniquely put-upon by the Han Chinese, because they're stirred by millennia-old attachment to the lamaist hierocracy - that's why, right?
Wrong.
There's unrest in Tibet for the same reason there's unrest all over rural China.
That's right folks, times are so bad for ordinary Chinese they're eating cardboard flavored to taste like chicken. Join me below the fold if you have the stomach.
