The V.P. plot thickens

A donor to Hillary Clinton's campaign says Barack Obama told her Hillary is under consideration for VP -- but Bill's presence makes things "complicated." That and other political news in today's Election Central Saturday Roundup.

More below.

My hero (my senator) strikes again  Feingold Will Filibuster Telecom Immunity

The sound of unity:  Obama Asks Donors To Help Hillary With Her Campaign Debts

The sound of unity II: Clinton Urges Donors To Unite Behind Obama

More below.

McCain's Thursday Night Preacher Massacre  Fresh off the defenestration of Rev. Hagee, now he's dumping Rev. Parsley, the right-wing preacher-power-broker of Ohio, who says -- inter alia -- that America was founded to destroy Islam. http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpoi...
But as David Corn points out, the Parsley story was broken two weeks ago by Brave New Films, which unearthed the video of Parsley's anti-Islamic rants, and Mother Jones, which distributed the story on its website. McCain obviously knew about Parsley's views after that, but he didn't care. He only cared when it showed up on network TV and became an embarrassment to him. So much for a different kind of politics.http://www.motherjones.com/washingto...

John Hagee to John McCain - you can’t fire me I quit  http://www.benedictionblogson.com/20...

Chuckles and sighs follow below.

Happy* Vesak (or Wesak) everyone!

This is the time of year when Theravada Buddhists celebrate the birth, enlightenment, and death of the Buddha, which are believed to have all occurred on the full moon in May. It is also called the Visakha Puja, and in some places is known as the festival of lights, since lanterns, candles, and lamps are frequently used as part of the celebration.

(*I say "happy," though the disastrous events that have recently occurred in places with a large Buddhist population make this year's celebrations rather more somber; but it is still a time to remember the promise of awakening and to work toward improving the world as best as we can.)

More below the fold.

Seriously, what the hell is he talking about? Neural Buddhists?

Over the past decade, a new group of assertive atheists has done battle with defenders of faith. The two sides have argued about whether it is reasonable to conceive of a soul that survives the death of the body and about whether understanding the brain explains away or merely adds to our appreciation of the entity that created it.

The atheism debate is a textbook example of how a scientific revolution can change public culture. Just as “The Origin of Species reshaped social thinking, just as Einstein’s theory of relativity affected art, so the revolution in neuroscience is having an effect on how people see the world.

And yet my guess is that the atheism debate is going to be a sideshow. The cognitive revolution is not going to end up undermining faith in God, it’s going end up challenging faith in the Bible.

...

If you survey the literature (and I’d recommend books by Newberg, Daniel J. Siegel, Michael S. Gazzaniga, Jonathan Haidt, Antonio Damasio and Marc D. Hauser if you want to get up to speed), you can see that certain beliefs will spread into the wider discussion.

First, the self is not a fixed entity but a dynamic process of relationships. Second, underneath the patina of different religions, people around the world have common moral intuitions. Third, people are equipped to experience the sacred, to have moments of elevated experience when they transcend boundaries and overflow with love. Fourth, God can best be conceived as the nature one experiences at those moments, the unknowable total of all there is.

Does any of this make any sense whatsoever? Does any of it make sense being on perhaps the most valuable real estate in all journalism? Do any of those four propositions contradict anything in the Bible?

My brain hurts. I'd go meditate, but according to Brooks, that would make me an apostate.

"...an interesting picture develops: it is possible to set negative karma at
rest by one person offering the merit of his or her own religious training to others. This has been done since the beginning of Buddhism..."- BUDDHISM FROM WITHIN, by Daizui MacPhillamy

this doctrine is something I have trouble with- I don't see how one person can offer their merit from doing good to another entity.

(more)

Note by Rain - moved back up by request as the discussion is continuing...

“Buddhism” is a generalized term that covers a large number of different schools and sects. The major branches are Mahayana (“the Greater Vehicle”), also called the Northern School; Vajrayana (“the Diamond Vehicle” = the Tibetan Buddhist schools); and Theravada (“the School of the Elders”), also known as the Southern School. Mahayana and Vajrayana contain many sub-branches, and there are views and practices that differ between the schools within a given branch and between the main branches themselves. Buddhist practice is highly individualized, and many Buddhists combine elements of different traditions. Obviously, I can’t speak for all Buddhists here (or all Buddhists in general), but just as most Christians agree about many things, most Buddhists also tend to agree about the existence of the historical Buddha and the basics of his message.

The Buddhist roundtable discussion is set for this coming Wednesday, Feb 27, and I wanted to take a minute to talk about how to organize it.

Rather than page through each profile, I'd be curious to see how many members, especially active members, of Street Prophets are of what religious flavors?  If you don't find your particular flavor here, wait till the next poll.

Cross-posted from The 10,000 Things
(also available in orange)

Negative attacks are part and parcel of politics. Always have been. As the Presidential primary campaign is heating up the attacks are becoming more negative. This process will only continue. In my brief campaign for office the last few months my opponents felt the need to attack me negatively and anonymously (mis-)using words on this blog to do so.

It is easy to lose sight of right and wrong in the heat of such battles. Things one would not normally do to ones neighbor become "acceptable" behavior (for some). Or do they?

From Jack Kornfield's book Teachings of the Buddha:

Cross Posted from The 10,000 Things
(also available in orange)

A little bathroom reading today from Teachings of the Buddha

The Gospel of Buddha
by Paul Carus (1894)

On a certain day when the Blessed One dwelt at Jetavana, the garden of Anathapindika, a celestial deva came to him in the shape of a Brahman whose countenance was bright and whose garments were white like snow.

The deva asked questions which the Blessed One answered.

The deva said:
"What is the sharpest sword?
What is the deadliest poison?
What is the fiercest fire?
What is the darkest night?"

As we move into the gift-giving season, I thought I'd let you all know of a collection of books and resources on progressive religion that I've set up as part of this effort to promote progressive religious voices. You can get to the Progressive & Religious Store by clicking on the "Store" link on any page on the website.  If you want to link to it directly from outside, you can link to:
http://www.progressiveandreligious.org/store.html.

Proceeds from purchases originating there (including all items bought after clicking on the Amazon logo) will go to support this project promoting progressive religious voices in 2008.

The Store has resources in the following main categories:

• Religion and Progressive Politics
• Progressive Christianity
• Progressive Judaism
• Progressive Islam
• Progressive Buddhism
• Classics
• Music
• Children's Resources