A small collection of my Buddhist insights

I've been practicing Buddhism correctly for at least 10 years - or almost correctly, since I don't really meditate, which is considered a vital part of practice. I'd only tried this two or three times, and got good results. And I know meditation is supposed to connect us to the void, which is the source from which all creation springs. So, I know what I must do, even though I had overemphasized oral recitation of the Buddhist Bible - the Lotus Sutra. In that text, the Buddha said that correct practice after his passing is to read, write, ponder, and teach to the best of your ability the Lotus Sutra.

I've read aloud this Bible well over 175 times, all 335 pages of its text as rendered in English.

Today, I'm going to offer some comments which I hope will prove useful to others as they themselves seek a better spiritual path.

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I am a member of a Buddhist sect that has exactly one member - that would be me;

one leader - that would be me; I'm not recruiting but I welcome dialogue; and I don't want your fucking money.

* * *

I don't believe in brick-and-mortar religious establishments. So I established the Virtual Samgha of the Lotus. This is basically a website on which I post essays and welcome comments. Of course, I encourage others to create their own virtual samghas in order to benefit their own circle of friends. The one I've maintained over the last three years, has over 75 essays I'd written to which I've only received two comments. Oh well, all good things take time to catch on, I guess. Here's the link:

lotussutrachampions.blogspot.com

* * *

I also don't believe in hierarchies. We're all leaders, so we should encourage the shy ones among us to speak their pieces, instead of allowing Type A blowhards to suck all the oxygen out of a room. Even though the Buddha could be considered to be obviously a leader, he himself tried to de-emphasize his role in favor of encouraging his disciples to seek out and learn from greatly accomplished Bodhisattvas. He even referred to "wisdom that comes of itself, buddha wisdom, teacherless wisdom."

So when I see Buddhists fawn over the Dalai Lama, Daisaku Ikeda (of the SGI), and other famous teachers with starry-eyed followers, I think of these teachers as self-glorifying fame seekers. The Dalai is a heretic who is primarily a Tibetan nationalist, who has never mentioned the Lotus Sutra - the Buddha's highest teaching - even once. And Ikeda is a wealthy businessman - and also a nationalist.

I am a retired civil servant who never made over $40,000 per year who renounced his USA citizenship three years ago. I am not a nationalist but a self-declared citizen of the world.

* * *

Buddhists don't have:

friends, lovers, significant others, nor do they have any kinds of sex.

Buddhists do have or seek to have:

fellow, compassionate seekers and teachers of the Way, whom they teach and from whom they learn - together trying to forge understanding. But, lacking those, there's nothing wrong with practicing alone.

About that sex thing - I'm 63 years and was married for 25 years (divorced 14 years ago). I had an extremely high sex drive for 20 or so years, thinking, "If I was actually good looking, I'd be dangerous." But I reached a point where I thought, "The sex thing is more trouble than it's worth."

My crowning achievement was to have lived with a woman in a platonic relationship for four-and-a-half years.  I admit, I had occasional carnal yearnings for her, but I never touched her. She moved to another state over two years ago, though we stay in touch. I came to realize, "Sometimes, the ones that get away leave the strongest and sweetest impression." Pay attention to that, my female readers: It's too often true, once a guy get what he wants physically, it's amazing how quickly you become a whole lot less interesting to him." But...I guess this is something you already know at some level.

* * *

I was recently hospitalized for 21 days, though I'm now in a physical rehab facility to regain my strength. Here's a summary of my physical condition:

* Diagnosed with terminal liver cancer in Sept, 2012 - officially called metastatic colangio carcinoma;
* Colon cancer, non-terminal, since Sept, 2012;
* Deep Vein Thrombosis in my left leg (9/2012);
* Only 40% of my kidney function remains, due to the ravages of chemo therapy;
* Sarcoirdosis;
* fluid build-up in pericardial sac - needing two drainage operations two months apart;
* fluid build-up in the chest cavity - needing one operation;
* nerve damage in toes, but I can still walk without pain;
* pinched nerve in my L2 vertebrae which made it extremely painful to walk - though a recent operation fixed that problem;
* I have another pinched nerve in my right leg, resulting in a condition called "dropped foot," though I can still walk;
* Shingles broke out on my inner right thigh - though that is subsiding and never caused me any pain;
* I have the BRAC 2 gene, which could cause me to develop other cancers;
* I don't have diabetes, but I've been given occasional insulin shots due to high blood sugar.

So...in other words, I'm pretty much a train wreck, but I try to look on the bright side. In Sept of 2012, I was given only 5 to 8 months to live. But here I am, and I feel very good spiritually and mentally. And I see a whole lot more clearly than at any other time in my life.

I see my onslaught of illness as being karmic retribution for evils I've committed in this and past lives. And I feel my Buddhist practice has helped me survive and even thrive under these adverse conditions. Being in the hospital for three weeks served as a form of retreat - giving me a lot of think time as each form of pain taught me something about myself.

* * *

"I am an angry God" - thus spoke the God of the Abrahamists .That's okay for now - though if He works on His anger issues, He might someday achieve total enlightenment and become a Buddha. Meanwhile, take into account - if a person grows up with an angry father, he himself will have that in his life. Which goes a long way toward explaining why the sons of Abraham - Jews, Catholics, Protestants, and Muslims - have been responsible for the worst wars and persecutions suffered by humanity.

It's time to abandon this God and encourage Him to engage in Buddhist practice. He'll  be in the good company of the trillions of other Gods in the universe who are similarly engaged.

* * *

In the Bible, compare Genesis chapters 1 and 2 - which are very short - regarding the creation of man.

In Genesis 2, Adam (created from dust) and Eve are created by the LORD God, with Eve being made from one of Adam's body parts and the term "wife" was introduced. They were created on the day of rest - the 7th day - which God blessed but He did not bless them.

In Genesis 1, man and woman were created on the sixth day of Creation by God (not the LORD God) and they were blessed. And they were told to be vegetarians. And...we never hear about them again, perhaps because they were meant to work behind the scenes.

Since Moses wrote Genesis, I believe he saw the Genesis 1 unnamed man and woman as having been created. I believe they were bodhisattvas who had popped into existence to lead and guide this God. Their descendants walk among us today, stealthily and without fanfare, trying to help the descendants of Adam and Eve.

* * *

It's just as easy to say "God, who was uncreated and has always been, created the universe," as it is to say, "The universe was uncreated - it has always been and always will be; though things within it will live, die, and be reborn, the Universe as a whole will never die and was never created."

* * *

About that 100 year life span:

We are so impressed with our high level of tech achievement,  we fail to realize the meaning of having a 100-year life span. True enough, only a handful of us live that long, but many of us come close. We smirk at the people who lived at the time of the Buddha who lived much shorter lives. Even the Buddha lived only in his 80's, though scripture makes it clear he only gave the appearance of his death though he is alive and with us to this day: "I am always here, but through my transcendental powers I make it so that living beings in their befuddlement do not see me even when close by." - Lotus Sutra, chapter 16.

Scripture speaks of extraterrestrial societies in which the average lifespan is billions of years. And those societies don't have any technology, since each citizen has the personal power to do what machines could do. Scripture speaks of having a short lifespan as being the sign of a society in deep decline. And 100 years is considered such a short lifespan.

* * *

I can imagine Mohammad, if he were alive today, fighting side-by-side with Muslims while he routinely totes a rifle.

I can't imagine Jesus doing this, so how do the Christians justify war? It bothers me that Joan of Arc led and inspired troops into battle. But she herself, as she claimed, never killed anyone. But...she caused her troops to kill.

* * *

The new daimoku

Several sects of Buddhism believe that chanting the daimoku (the Great Invocation, Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo) is the highest form of Buddhist practice, though no buddha ever endorsed this. N-M-R-K is supposed to be the essence of Buddhism. However, it means, "I devote myself to the Lotus Sutra." Which is odd, since I've met many chanters who adamantly refuse to read the Lotus Sutra, even though the Buddha said that doing so is the appropriate practice for now and forever.

When I'm not reading the Lotus Sutra, I chant a daimoku of my own: Lotus, Buddha, Samgha. This comes from the vow that is respected by all Buddhists - that we take refuge in the Buddha, the Law, and the congregation of fellow believers. Note, however, that I didn't put the Buddha first - I put the Law first, specifically the Law known as the Lotus Sutra. I believe each of these three is indispensable in terms of our attainment of enlightenment, but I put the Buddha in second place so as to make a statement against hierarchy and the overemphasis on leaders.

I have a very liberal definition of the samgha, which I take to be everybody - even if they aren't Buddhists. Everybody, in his own words and in terms of his own faith, has a Buddhist insight or two to offer. Even though they don't call it Buddhist, it works that way for me.

* * *

Why did God cause Noah's flood? Doing so wiped out the sinners but...it also killed innocent animals. If God was so keen on killing sinners, no flood was necessary to do that. A truly omnipotent God could simply have zapped each individual sinner out of existence (as in, "poof, you're gone without a trace").

* * *

Jesus won't save you, He can't save you. Only you can save yourself, with the help of others and by means of you giving such help to others. Think of Jesus subbing for you this way:

If a guy came up to you and said, "Let me make love to your wife for you. It will be the same as if you did it, but you have to believe that's possible." Jesus didn't die for your sins - He died for His as surely as you will die for yours.

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Steven Searle, just another member of the

Virtual Samgha of the Lotus and

former candidate for US President (in 2008 & 2012) 

The GOP senators' open letter to Iran

Democrats are up in arms over a letter signed by 47 GOP members of the Senate, directed to Iranian leaders - see complete text below which is quoted after this heading:  QUOTE [see footnote 1]:

Democrats claim that this letter improperly interferes with diplomatic negotiations, in violation of the Logan Act.  This Act, passed in 1798, contains only 136 words. The language I highlighted in yellow I will comment on after the line that reads:   :UNQUOTE.

QUOTE [Text of the Logan Act: 18 U.S.C. § 953 (2004)]:

Any citizen of the United States, wherever he may be, who, without authority of the United States, directly or indirectly commences or carries on any correspondence or intercourse with any foreign government or any officer or agent thereof, with intent to influence the measures or conduct of any foreign government or of any officer or agent thereof, in relation to any disputes or controversies with the United States, or to defeat the measures of the United States, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than three years, or both.

This section shall not abridge the right of a citizen to apply himself, or his agent, to any foreign government, or the agents thereof, for redress of any injury which he may have sustained from such government or any of its agents or subjects.

:UNQUOTE.

My comments on yellowed highlights above:

without authority of the United States - I believe the Logan Act is unconstitutional for a number of reasons. For instance, what is meant by "the authority of the United States?" It doesn't say, "the authority of the President of the United States." If one wished to communicate with a foreign government, while making it clear he was doing so as a private citizen and not as a representative of the USA, should he be compelled first to obtain a note from the President and from the Senate, which has to ratify any resulting treaty?

indirectly...with any foreign government or any officer or agent thereof  :  Suppose I were to write a letter to a private citizen of a foreign country and he, in turn, without being urged by me, passed my comments on to officials of his government. Would that make me guilty of "indirectly" trying to influence that government?

defeat the measures of the United States:  If talks are in progress with the President having certain goals in mind, how can anyone know what the "measures of the United States" are, without knowing how the Senate (which might not ratify any resulting treaty), feels - which might be in opposition to how the President might feel?

If the "measures of the United States" can be so easily defeated by simply letting the Iranians know the mechanics of our system of law, then those measures would richly deserve to be defeated. In my own case, I posted an essay on Feb. 17, 2012 explaining how Iran could invoke Article X of the Nuclear Non-Provision Treaty, which would allow them to legally acquire nuclear weapons:


http://ind4prez2012.blogspot.com/2012/02/irans-long-range-strategy.html

My essay gives the Iranians a strategy to defeat US intentions, even though those intentions are in violation of a treaty we signed that has the Article X provision. US intentions at the current bargaining table can't be allowed to ignore our current legal obligations. Besides, I posted this essay before the current talks began and made no attempt to convey my ideas to the Iranian government. But even if I did, I would be within my rights since it should never be against the law to tell the truth.

And that's what that GOP letter did - it simply said, in effect, this is how our system works. How could that be wrong?

The Power of the President

Article II, Section 1 - which concerns the presidency - opens with this sentence

"The executive power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America."

The word "executive" isn't defined, but I take it to mean that the President is to "execute" the will of the Congress. Many Americans blithely assume that our Constitution created three separate but equal branches of government. That view is wrong - Article I created the Congress, which was meant to be the most powerful entity. And, in order of importance, Article II and III created the presidency and the courts.

If you have any doubts as to why the Congress should be considered supreme, remember this:

Congress can impeach the President and members of the judiciary. But Congress can't be dissolved by judges or the president.

The GOP letter mentions not only treaties, but two alternatives:

a congressional-executive agreement and an executive agreement.

However, these two options aren't mentioned in the Constitution - therefore they're illegal.


QUOTE [see footnote 1]:

An Open Letter to the Leaders of the Islamic Republic of Iran:

It has come to our attention while observing your nuclear negotiations with our government that you may not fully understand our constitutional system.  Thus, we are writing to bring to your attention two features of our Constitution — the power to make binding international agreements and the different character of federal offices — which you should seriously consider as negotiations progress.

First, under our Constitution, while the president negotiates international agreements, Congress plays the significant role of ratifying them.  In the case of a treaty, the Senate must ratify it by a two-thirds vote.  A so-called congressional-executive agreement requires a majority vote in both the House and the Senate (which, because of procedural rules, effectively means a three-fifths vote in the Senate).  Anything not approved by Congress is a mere executive agreement.

Second, the offices of our Constitution have different characteristics.

For example, the president may serve only two 4-year terms, whereas senators may serve an unlimited number of 6-year terms.  As applied today, for instance, President Obama will leave office in January 2017, while most of us will remain in office well beyond then — perhaps decades.

What these two constitutional provisions mean is that we will consider any agreement regarding your nuclear-weapons program that is not approved by the Congress as nothing more than an executive agreement between President Obama and Ayatollah Khamenei.  The next president could revoke such an executive agreement with the stroke of a pen and future Congresses could modify the terms of the agreement at any time.

We hope this letter enriches your knowledge of our constitutional system and promotes mutual understanding and clarity as nuclear negotiations progress.

Sincerely, [signed by 47 GOP senators]

[AND]

He added the GOP’s case rests on choices, not requirements: “Their argument isn’t that the president can’t make executive agreements. But, rather, that the president can’t make an executive agreement on an issue of this importance.


FOOTNOTES:

Footnote 1:

http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2015/03/09/text-of-gop-senators-letter-to-irans-leaders-on-nuclear-talks/

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Steven Searle, just another member of the

Virtual Samgha of the Lotus and

former candidate for US President (in 2008 and 2012)

Contact me at bpa_cinc@yahoo.com

 

The Buddha Keira's vagina

My name is Bodhisattva Yeah But, and I was part of a Great Assembly of trillions of other bodhisattvas. We were summoned by the Buddha Keira [Footnote 1]. The following is an account of what I saw.

We were all anxiously waiting, wondering why the Buddha Keira had summoned us. As we gazed at the Buddha, he underwent a unique transformation. Starting from the top of his head, a mass of hair suddenly appeared which moved down the entire length of his body. What we beheld looked more or less like a stack of hay, and we could no longer see the Buddha's body.

Then, starting at the Buddha's feet, this curtain of hair began to retreat revealing more and more of the Buddha's body which was completely naked. And female, complete with breasts and a vagina. She was also pregnant with a huge belly signifying imminent birth.

Without saying a word, the Buddha Keira arched her back, which made her huge belly even more prominent. And then we saw blood start to trickle from her vagina, from which also emerged trillions of what appeared to be grains of rice. Red grains of rice, which spewed forth, totally covering every square inch of the sky above us. I knew the Great Assembly was uneasy about this great red cloud, which they perhaps feared would start raining woman's detestable blood upon them.

The redness in the sky was so intense, the entire Great Assembly seemed to consist of countless bodhisattvas who were red in coloration down to their cores. We were so astonished at the appearance of all those seeds dominating the sky, we could not speak. And we further lost our power of speech when each of those seeds transformed into a red Buddha who was naked and female and also very pregnant.

How extraordinarily unprecedented! I'd never heard of a Buddha assuming female form. Though perhaps this was not an assumption, but was instead what this Buddha really looked like. But what does "really looked like" mean? The Buddha, like many of us in this Great Assembly, is a shapeshifter. So it would not make sense to ask what a shapeshifter "really" look like.

Most discomforting was the overwhelming silence of these seed buddhas, the Buddha Keira, and all the members of the Great Assembly. There weren't even any murmurs among my peers - we all seemed to have lost our power of speech. We had lost the power to ask questions or express our feelings. And none of those Buddhas spoke - they all seemed to be waiting.

I myself couldn't help but recall two seemingly contradictory teachings I'd heard from many buddhas in the past:

          And the Nirvana Sutra also says, "If all the desires and delusions
          of all the men throughout the major world system [one major
          world system equals one billion worlds] were lumped together,
          they would be no greater than the karmic impediment of one single
          woman." [Footnote 2].

          I look upon all things as being universally equal, I have no mind to
          favor this or that, to love one or hate another....At all times, for all
          things I preach the Law equally...[Footnote 3]

And then, breaking the silence by filling the whole universe with his words, was Bodhisattva Repentance [Footnote 4], standing next to me, who exclaimed:

         I apologize to all the red Buddhas hovering in the sky above us.
         I apologize to them and to all women everywhere for not having
         protested against those words spoken by the the Buddha, concerning
         the "karmic impediment of one single woman."

         I apologize for not having realized the Buddha who had expressed
         those words against women expected us Bodisattvas to rise up
         and say, "Those words are a lie." There are times when buddhas
         expect us to contradict them. [Footnote 5]

         I also deny these words of the Lotus Sutra [Footnote 6]:

              The girl said, "Employ your supernatural powers and watch me
              attain buddhahood...."

              At that time the members of the assembly all saw the [8 year old]
              dragon girl in the space of an instant change into a man [Footnote 7]
              and carry out all the practices of a bodhisattva...and attaining
              impartial and correct enlightenment.

         It is not necessary to "change into a man" in order to "carry out all the
         practices of a bodhisattva." Women, as women maintaining their female
         forms, can become buddhas. A buddha can manifest any form E pleases
         in order to attract and convert people to the Law.

After Bodhisattva Repentance had spoken these words, all the vaginally-spewed buddhas in the sky and the Buddha Keira spoke in one voice saying to Bodhisattva Repentance:

         Very good! Very good! It is just as you have said. And we are honored
         to witness your immediate attainment of Buddhahood

And then I saw, still standing next to me, Bodhisattva Repentance become a Buddha. I felt all the eyes of all the members of the Great Assembly staring at this new Buddha standing in their presence. There was a period of deafening silence as they stared, beholding in wonder. And then all of us, in unison in one voice, cried out:

       Hail to the Buddha Repentance! Hail to the female form this Buddha
       is manifesting!

All of this I witnessed a million years ago - and I'm still struggling to process its import. Though when I do, I feel an immense gladness filling my whole being.

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Footnotes:

Footnote 1:

           
NOTE: This quote is from a wikipedia article entitled "Kira (given name)," which gives "Keira" as a variant form:

QUOTE:

The girl's name Kira is pronounced [KEER-A].It might be a female form of the name Kiran,[which is] of Hindi and Sanskrit origin, meaning "beam of light". Besides Sanskrit, there might be other etymologies from Egyptian, where the word Ki-Ra means "like Ra" ... In Russian Kira (Ки́ра) is the feminine form of the male name Kir, meaning "mistress, ruler", but can translate to "leader of the people", "one the people look to" or "beloved".[5]  ... There is also a Japanese name, romanized as Kira, which is common in Japan, as both given name and family name. Kira kira also means "glittery, shiny" in Japanese. [7]

:UNQUOTE.

Personal note: Of course I couldn't help thinking of Keira Knightley who starred in a Buddhist movie, "Begin Again."

Footnote 2:

Source: Major Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, Vol. 3, p. 20.

Footnote 3:

SOURCE: Page 140 of The Lotus Sutra and Its Opening and Closing Sutras, copyright 2009 by Soka Gakkai, translated by Burton Watson.

Footnote 4:

I find it interesting that the word "repentance" isn't expressed even once within the Lotus Sutra, even though Bodhisattva Universal Worthy (the subject of chapter 28 - the Lotus Sutra's final chapter) has much to say about repentance in the closing section of the three fold Lotus Sutra which is entitled:

     Sutra on how to Practice Meditation on Bodhisattva Universal Worthy

Footnote 5:

As with all teachings of the Buddha, two determinations must be made:

ONE: Is the statement in question true?

TWO: If it is not true, then why did he say it? He might have said it as an "Expedient Means" - a teaching method which has been called the foremost device of the Buddhas. Or he might have said it, expecting his disciples to properly identify a lie - even one expressed by the Buddha as being truthful.

Footnote 6:

SOURCE: Page 227 of The Lotus Sutra and Its Opening and Closing Sutras, copyright 2009 by Soka Gakkai, translated by Burton Watson.


Footnote 7:

See the section "So why did the Buddha say this?" in this link:

http://lotussutrachampions.blogspot.com/2013/11/buddha-beholds-womankind-and-she-is-good.html

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Steven Searle, Just another member of

the Virtual Samgha of the Lotus Sutra and

former candidate for US President (2008 & 2012)

Contact me at bpa_cinc@yahoo.com

American Sniper & Karmic Retribution

I saw the film American Sniper, which I thought was vastly inferior to a film I saw three times - Fury, featuring Brad Pitt who was part of a brilliant ensemble (the crew of a WWII tank). As a Buddhist, I easily concluded - as I always will - that AS got what was coming to him when he was killed by a fellow veteran on a shooting range in Texas. AS never saw it coming, just as his targets in Iraq never saw their fates coming.

When the movie opened, we see AS targeting a middle-aged Iraqi male on a cell-phone. "I see a military-aged male on a cell-phone." I thought, "You're going to kill this man on that basis alone, you MF?" Suppose an invading army had come to his hometown in Texas with orders to shoot any military-aged males who had not left town in accordance with orders from the invaders. It's easy to say, anyone who remains is a terrorist but, face it, a lot of guys can't simply just leave town. They have nowhere to go and would worry about their possessions being looted.

That Iraqi might have been on the phone with his wife, saying, "I'll be home in half an hour - I found a guy who can sell me some eggs." Fortunately, AS didn't shoot because his target moved behind a pillar, blocking his shot.

I had more sympathy for AS's counterpart, an insurgent sniper who felt he was protecting his homeland from a foreign invader. I even feel more for the insurgents who got legs and arms blown off by our guys, but don't have a Wounded Warriors project to help them out. I would rather donate my money to those guys, but I'd probably be accused of giving material support to terrorists. Let's be very clear about this much: US forces engaged in their share of terrorist acts. So I don't want to hear about how nasty the other side was.

If we in the general US population don't atone for sins committed in our name, we too shall suffer karmic retribution.

As far as karmic retribution is concerned, there is no such thing as an innocent victim. Even newborn babies who are murdered are paying the price of the evil karma they'd generated in past lives. I'm a bit surprised, though, that AS's comeuppance was visited upon him in this lifetime. So he must have had some really heavy, negative karma for that to happen. One factor I look at is the fact that he engaged in self-glorifying behavior by writing a book about his exploits. SEALS aren't supposed to be fame-seekers, since that violates their code. Oh, well,  I guess codes are made to be broken.

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Steven Searle, just another member of the
Virtual Samgha of the Lotus and
former candidate for US President (in 2008 & 2012)

Contact me at bpa_cinc@yahoo.com

Selma, 30%, beating Rahm

How ironic! Seeing Barack Obama walk across the Edmund Pettus bridge in celebration of a march 50 years ago that led to the Voting Rights Act of 1965. And yet, there was only a 30% turnout of voters in the recent mayoral election in his hometown of Chicago. To think, all those demonstrators got their heads busted open back then, only to result in a 30% turnout now. To add further insult to injury, this election featured a candidate who the President himself saw fit to endorse.

And yet, only a 30% turnout for an election that was contested. So much so, there's going to be a runoff in April between the top two vote-getters - the incumbent Rahm Emanuel and long-time machine Democrat Jesus "Chuy"Garcia. Maybe, just maybe those who didn't vote knew that it wouldn't make any difference who won the election. Does it really matter which of these two assumes office in a system featuring a strong-mayor, weak/rubberstamp city council?

A Commercial for Chuy

I want to see Chuy on TV saying:

QUOTE:

When Rahm Emanuel left the Clinton administration, he got a job as an investment banker, earning $16M in three years. Rahm had no training or experience in finance, and yet he got this huge payout. Why? I figure he got paid off for services rendered to the financial elite, or for services about to be rendered. I figure Rahm is working harder for Chicago's financial elite than for the man in the street.

With Rahm as mayor, the rich will get richer and everybody else will be getting crumbs. Is that good enough for you and your children?

:UNQUOTE.

Chuy should be offering...

...to set up a second center of power in Chicago's depressed south/west sides. Set up a zone for finance and economic activity to compete with the only power center that currently exists - the monopoly centered in Chicago's downtown business district. Chuy could offer to use Tax Increment Financing money to kick-start this new zone. There are incentives at his disposal, and he'd be in a position to insist that only competitors of the downtown bankers be eligible for these incentives. And that they must invest in the local community.

The addition of a second power center, independent of the first, would mean competition. And the consumer - the voter - would benefit from such competition.

But...Chuy will do no such thing. He believes in the strong-mayor model as much as Rahm does. Which means, Chuy won't be advocating for voters to elect more independents to the council and for this council to have any real power to enact legislation at odds with mayoral preferences.

Hmm...maybe the voters of Chicago know all this, which would explain the 30% turnout. The lesson? It's okay to give people the power to vote as long as their votes won't matter.

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Steven Searle, just another member of
the Virtual Samgha of the Lotus and
former candidate for US President (2008 & 2012)

Contact me at bpa_cinc@yahoo.com

At the movies

Introduction

Today, I'm going to offer some random impressions of movies I've seen over the last year or so. My comments aren't meant to be comprehensive.

American Sniper

Fury, a WWII film starring Brad Pitt as a tank commander, was a far superior movie, hands down. I saw it three times while suffering through AS only once. Too bad Fury didn't get nominated for any of the Academy Awards, though the acting alone (by Pitt and his tank mates) was amazing. Bradley Cooper did a competent job in the lead role in AS, but couldn't hold a candle to how the "furious" managed to engage its audience. While all 5 actors of the tank crew were impressive, I was especially moved by Logan Lerman's performance.

Of course, the movie's "American Sniper" had a counterpart among the Iraqi insurgents, whom he manages to kill. I have to admit, though, that I felt a certain degree of respect for the Iraqi, who was trying to protect his land from the outside invading force.

As usual, I am bothered by any use of the word "American" to mean "United States of America." There is no such country as "America," though I have suggested that we enact legislation to change that. A better title might have been "SEAL Sniper," though I remember a media outlet down South that had passed a memo to its news team saying, Don't call our guys "snipers" since that's a pejorative word best used against the enemy's solo marksmen - call our guys "sharpshooters" instead.

Taken 3

I hope Liam Neeson gives up the action hero schtick - and the sooner the better. As his character uses his martial arts skills, aided for our benefit by fast-motion stutter camerawork, there are parts in the fight scenes where we can see how hard it is for Neeson to even walk without stiffness. He definitely showed his age in his footwork.

Then there's the scene in which Neeson, in a commandeered police car, is being chased by the police on a busy expressway. There were numerous crashes in which, easily, a dozen innocent motorists were killed - though (of course) we didn't see the mangled bodies. I thought, "Why didn't the cops break off the chase or Neeson surrender when this mayhem started?" Maybe Hollywood, by means of this scene and its callous disregard for innocents, is trying to sell us the oft-enforced theme of "the ends justify the means" or, put another way, "we should ignore collateral damage."

The scene in which Neeson gets the drop on the Russian mobster, but misses while using an automatic weapon, is unbelievable. Especially since he's supposed to be this highly trained CIA badass.

Dracula Untold (2014)

The story line of this movie doesn't follow the life of Vlad Dracula as depicted in this marvelous book:


Dracula, Prince of Many Faces: His Life and His Times by Florescu and McNally (1989).

This book, since it was written by two scholars, I had feared would be too dry (which it wasn't) to sustain my interest. And my first reading was also a challenge since the book contained a lot of necessary historical background, as convoluted as genealogies can sometimes get. But I was so impressed with this book overall that I read it two more times.

My conclusion? Dracula, Prince... should be the source material for a truly gripping movie about the historical figure of Vlad Dracula, since his real life story is far more astounding than as depicted in Dracula Untold. Furthermore, the lead actor in an updated version shouldn't be some hunk - though Luke Evans did a commendable job in this 2014 film. The lead should be someone who looks as close as possible to the portrait shown on the book's cover. Check out that cover - one hard look at that is worth more than any thousand of my words.

I truly hope someone makes a movie based on this gripping scholarly work. In fact, I'm amazed that no one has done so yet. My prediction? If done well and if faithfully following the book, any resulting movie would easily stand as a towering giant of this or any previous age.

Birdman

The acting by the entire cast was uniformly awesome, though I especially enjoyed Emma Stone's turn as Michael Keaton's daughter. But I had a problem with a supernatural element at the end of the movie, which showed Stone looking out of a window. Her father, while she was briefly out of his hospital room where he was recuperating, had jumped out of a window. When she saw the empty room, she went to the window and looked down. Seeing nothing, she looked up and smiled - at her father presumably flying though the audience didn't actually see this.

The set-up for supernatural expectations came at the very beginning of the film where we see Keaton in his underwear levitated a few feet above the floor in a lotus position. So far, so interesting. But about midway through the movie. There's a scene in which Keaton, fully dressed and in broad daylight, leaps off the roof of a building and does some gliding before he lands gracefully on the busy sidewalk below. Yet...none of the pedestrians react to this. This inconsistency bothered me and ruined an otherwise fine film.

Unbroken

Directed by Angelina Jolie, I saw only the trailer which was enough dissuade me from seeing the whole film. There's a scene in a WWII Japanese-run POW camp in which the hero is forced to take a punch to the face from his fellow prisoners. The trailer leads us to believe that all these men, maybe about 50, were to take turns delivering a blow under the watchful eye of the prison commandant. Totally unbelievable - no man could live through that ordeal, especially after having been starving on a life raft for 47 days.


Finding Vivian Maier

A brilliant documentary about a brilliant street photographer who had died unrecognized for her vast body of work covering decades. Vivian is such an endearing though unassuming character, I wondered how her genius managed to shine though she had been poor her entire adult life.


Nightcrawler

Jake Gyllenhaal gives us a master's performance as the sociopath in this tense drama in which he portrays a kind of "ambulance chaser" who uses a police scanner to learn where accidents have occurred. Racing to the scenes, he then videotapes the carnage and sells the footage to a local TV news program. This film was well-written and beautifully shot and edited. I'd say, one of the best films of the year.

Riz Ahmed does a notable turn as Gyllenhaal's assistant.

Point and Shoot

This is basically a story about a pampered young American who takes a road trip by himself, traveling mostly in the Middle East on a motorcycle. He eventually ends up joining the rebels in Libya, to fight against Gaddafi. Or at least that's what we're supposed to believe. Here's a brief blurb from Rotten Tomatoes:

QUOTE [See Footnote 1]:


Winner of the Grand Jury Prize at the 2014 Tribeca Film Festival, Point and Shoot chronicles the journey of Matthew VanDyke, a timid 27-year-old who leaves his home in Baltimore and sets off on a self-described "crash course in manhood" through the Middle East. The film begins in 2007, when VanDyke, armed with a video camera, embarks on a 35,000-mile motorcycle trip through Northern Africa and the Middle East. While traveling, he strikes up an unlikely friendship with a Libyan hippie, and when revolution breaks out in Libya, Matt joins his friend in the fight against dictator Muammar Gaddafi. With a gun in one hand and a camera in the other, Matt fights in - and films - the war until he is captured by Gaddafi forces and held in solitary confinement for six months.


:UNQUOTE.




When viewing this movie, I smelled a rat. I asked the theater manager, "Why are you showing what is obviously a CIA set piece?" The audience is expected to believe VanDyke traveled - alone - through some very dangerous territory. And yet he wasn't robbed or assaulted - "Hmmm...nice motorcycle you've got there. Hand it over or we'll kick your ass."


In the footage, shot by VanDyke or by whomever he could convince to hold his camera for him, we see him in a crisp, freshly-starched military uniform - always, never a wrinkle. Even though he was "fighting" in Libya (more likely, he was simply posturing for the camera), his clothing wasn't stained with sweat - which one might expect in a desert country like Libya. After a while, I got tired of seeing him mug before the camera while preening himself. He's got to be the most narcissistic person I've ever seen.


Then there was a highly suspect scene in which he's supposed to shoot an enemy. He aimed his weapon and carefully squeezed off one shot at his target, who was standing at a window in a nearby building. He missed - but I was baffled as to why he didn't fire with his weapon on automatic.


Too much in this movie seemed contrived - or composed - for the benefit of Americans who want to believe that some of their fellow citizens were willing to be the boots on the ground that President Obama wouldn't provide.




The Signal (2008)

One of the worst movies I've ever seen. And one of only two that I walked out on well before it ended. It pretended to be a zombie flick, but it violated certain rules. One of which: If you shoot a zombie in the head, that permanently stops him in his tracks. However, in this movie, a shot to the head didn't stop these zombies.

In its defense, I'll say this movie sustained a nice tension and had a good "look." But I couldn't tolerate more than 30 minutes of this gore fest. The other 5 people in the audience walked out before I did, so I was the last man standing so to speak. I only mention this movie as a prelude an even worse movie - "Goodbye to Language" by Jean-Luc Godard.

Goodbye to Language

This was only 70 minutes long, but I walked out after seeing only 20 minutes or so. I know, Godard is highly regarded as a long-established genius, per this quote:

QUOTE [see Footnote 2]:

Recently turned 84, Jean-Luc Godard is the seminal figure of modernist cinema, holding a position in film history roughly equivalent to that of James Joyce in literature, Paul Cézanne in painting, and Charlie Parker in jazz. As the early Godard champion and chronicler Richard Roud wrote, “There is the cinema before Godard and the cinema after Godard.”


:UNQUOTE.


Genius or not, this movie was a steaming pile of horse manure foisted on us by a filmmaker bent on taking a dump on his audience - and then laughing at his coup. I'm not sure what Godard was thinking when he titled this movie as he did. One might assume he was saying "Goodbye to written language." But this movie seemed to be his way of saying "Goodbye to the language of film itself." It was shot in 3D, but not to especially notable effect. It had minimal dialogue, which included a stupid question: "What's the difference between an idea and a metaphor?"


It also included a bit of gratuitous nudity and the occasional use of blaring audio.


Maybe I was wrong to walk out - nobody else in the packed theater did. But, as I had wanted to tell the theater manager (though I didn't bother), "I'm like that little kid in the story about the Emperor's New Clothes - I'm not afraid to yell out 'The emperor is naked.'"

Calvary

The believability of Calvary's story line was severely compromised when the good-priest killer spoke of how he'd been molested as a child, frequently and over a period of years. My question to this killer would have been: "And your mother, who did your laundry, didn't notice your bloody underwear or wonder why you acted so strangely after being raped by this (now deceased) dead-priest?"

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Steven Searle, just another member of

the Virtual Samgha of the Lotus and

former Candidate for USA President (in 2008 & 2012)

Contact me at bpa_cinc@yahoo.com



FOOT NOTES:

1) Per Martin Rubin at http://www.siskelfilmcenter.org/godard

2) http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/point_and_shoot/

Jackie Robinson West

By now, everybody has heard the story about how the Jackie Robinson West team was stripped of its world title by Little League Baseball for rules violations. The reaction of Father Michael Pfleger, as expressed in this tweet, is interesting:


QUOTE (see NOTE 1):

I am both angry and disgusted at the obsession of this man from Evergreen Park to try and take away the championship from the Jackie Robinson West Team...REALLY?  Is the fact the an African-American Team could do so well, Unite the City, and prove the Great Children that is the Norm on the South Side, is that so Distasteful to you Sir, that you have worked day and night to discredit these young children? GET A LIFE....and Leave these Children, leave our Children alone....THEY WON DAMN IT!!!!!!

:UNQUOTE.


And these words come from a priest, whom one would think would have shown more honesty!

The whistleblower, a coach from a rival team, had merely brought rules violations to the attention of Little League officials. What's wrong with wanting to get the truth out? He wasn't trying to "discredit these young children," he was trying to right a wrong. Shouldn't a good Christian, especially a priest, applaud that sentiment?

But, no. Father Pfleger is trying to play the race card. He calls this "an African-American Team," but I wonder: "Did the adults in charge of the JRW team feel compelled to use out-of-district ringers so they didn't have to consider using any white kids on the team?" Not only are all of the kids on the team black, but they're all the same shade of black. What's with that?

Supporters of the JRW team's attempt to coerce Little League Baseball into reinstating their world champion status come across as connivers trying to asshole the League into submission. These supporters claim something is being taken away from these kids, while failing to mention that the team did not earn this prize according to the rules. Some even believe that every team that competed should be investigated to assure they'd complied. LLB doesn't have the resources to micromanage to this extent. However, I'm sure if they'd been offered proof of non-compliance by other teams, they would have treated those teams as they'd treated JRW.

And then there's the perennial fame-seeker, the Reverend Jesse Jackson, who actually hailed the JRW team as "heroes." Aren't we all a little tired of hearing the H-word flung around so liberally? The kids on the JRW team are superb baseball players, but that alone doesn't make them heroes. To claim so would only debase that word.

It's sad that "supporters" of JRW are teaching these kids: "All you have to do in life in order to get your way - right or wrong - is to make enough noise and attract to your cause those who are really acting in their own interests." As for engaging legal counsel to push the envelope even further, there will never be any shortage of lawyers ready to take your money. And that's a pretty good life lesson for the young to learn as early as possible.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Steven Searle, just another member of

the Virtual Samgha of the Lotus and

former candidate for USA President (in 2008 & 2012)

Contact me at bpa_cinc@yahoo.com

NOTE:

http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2015/02/12/opinion-pfleger-emanuel-should-be-ashamed-in-wake-of-jrw-scandal/