Get Your Hands Off My Darjeeling

Tomorrow I go to the post office to put a very large check into the mail made out to the IRS.  Meanwhile, a bunch of Republicans are staging “tea party” demonstrations across the nation for lower taxes.   (And isn’t their W-onder Boy the one who grossly increased the national debt, increased the size of government, [...]

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Zen Riddle

Zen Saying:    All this world is in your own mind.
So does that mean that people who believe in life on other planets have multiple personality disorder?

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Barry and Liz Chat It Up

CNN was abuzz last night about all the protocol the Obamas would have to follow to meet Queen Elizabeth.  Fortunately, they were not required to bow.  Apparently American citizens don’t have to bow to the Queen of England.  
But there were other considerations.  They were not to speak until the Queen spoke first.  They were not [...]

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Chicken Zen

The mind, the Buddha, living creatures — these are not three different things.
                                                 — Seng-Ts’an
Susie and I can sit and watch the chickens for the longest time.   I can’t explain it, but there is an energy out there at the Dragon Bliss Chicken Palace that just feels good.   Susie came in this morning after feeding [...]

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Yin-Yang Economics

For the past few years, I’ve used credit cards as an emergency fund. 
Boy, when it’s in black and white, it sounds really stupid, huh?  But, I don’t have piles of cash laying around, and sometimes piles of cash are required.  As an independent contractor, I have to pay my own taxes.  Although I have tried [...]

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These Three Remain

If George W. Bush practiced the politics of faith,
And Barack Obama practices the politics of hope,
I wonder what the politics of love will look like? 
The greatest of these, I have no doubt.

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Dirt-Worshipping Tree-Hugger

Every day, priests minutely examine the Dharma
And endlessly change complicated sutras.
Before doing that, though, they should learn how to read the love letters
     sent by the wind and the rain, the snow and the moon.
                                                               — Ikkyu
You may freely replace priests with ministers, rabbis, imams, gurus, or televangelists.
You may freely replace Dharma with Bible, Torah, [...]

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Attention All Personnel:

I would like to announce to the world that if the government will bail me out, I will gladly accept a salary cap of $500,000 a year. 
I would also like to announce to all the Republican talking heads who are just determined to find something wrong with the Obama administration that defending how “necessary” it is [...]

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Homage to Fromage

This is day four in the Seven Solid Days of Smiling Salute To the Original Unsplit Atom for bursting forth into the Big Bang of Bounty that is this life.
Day 1 – Emily
Day 2 – Music
Day 3 – Magic
I don’t want to live in a world without cheese.
I need to lose a few pounds and [...]

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