Unknown Buddhist

So how do we proceed in our quest for happiness? Very often, we look outside. We think that if we could gather this and that, all our emotional needs would be met and realized. Thus we would have everything to be happy. That very sentence already reveals the fate of happiness: destruction.

To have everything, as if we miss something. And also, when things go wrong, we try to repair and control everything, but our control is limited, transitory, and misconception. For example, in the Middle East, in looking at all that violence for the Prophet Muhammad I have one question, “What exactly did all that killing accomplish?” What did all the hatred and anger create? How did all this better your world or humanity? Instead, as the days and months move forward, I look to the message of love Ambassador Christopher Stevens had for the people of Libya versus the despicable acts of Terry Jones, Nakoula Basseley Nakoula and others, by looking the depths of our soul, at the very anger itself.

Wouldn’t it be nice to build something greater from within than hatred itself?  Wouldn’t it be nice to live in the love that God and Allah had chosen for us? Isn’t it possible to transform our minds, to transform the very nature of who we are?

Our world is not that unlike a mirror, after a long sleep, everything, the good, the bad and the ugly, rises to the top and becomes reflective. Thus, the violent protests which erupted in Egypt, Yemen, Tunisia, Morocco, Sudan, Iran, Iraq, Israel and the Palestinian territories is nothing more than a part of our soul, of the world’s soul. It’s hurting. And thus, like any pain sensor of our own body, it rises and finds its way to all who surround us.

On CNN’s Belief Blog, noted author Brian D. McLarenr phrased the argument quite well:

“If I could get one message through to my evangelical friends, it would be this: The greatest threat to evangelicalism is evangelicals who tolerate hate and who promote hate camouflaged as piety.

The broad highway of us-them thinking and the offense-outrage-revenge reaction cycle leads to self-destruction. There is a better way, the way of Christ who, when reviled, did not revile in return, who when insulted, did not insult in return, and who taught his followers to love even those who define themselves as enemies.

Yes, “they” – the tiny minority of Muslims who turn piety into violence – have big problems of their own. But the way of Christ requires all who claim to be Christians to examine our own eyes for planks before trying to perform first aid on the eyes of others. We must admit that we have our own tiny minority whose message and methods we have not firmly, unitedly and publicly repudiated and rejected.“

Meditators and great meditators (unlike me) alike have been reflecting on pain for a very long time. In truth, meditation will not pay the bills, feed to poor, trim your nails, complete your daily tasks, paint the deck, wash the car, or fill the gas tank. But what it does do is allow us to release the pain and negativity of all that hatred and resentment.   And by releasing anger, we reveal compassion. And compassion is what can be placed into accomplishment.

If we do so, we will never have to hide.

Vice-Presidential nominee Paul Ryan spoke at the Values Voter Summit. A couple of quick comments are quoted as follows:

“We’re all in this together” – it has a nice ring. For everyone who loves this country, it is not only true but obvious. Yet how hollow it sounds coming from a politician who has never once lifted a hand to defend the most helpless and innocent of all human beings, the child waiting to be born.

Giving up any further pretense of moderation on this issue, and in complete disregard of millions of pro-life Democrats, President Obama has chosen to pander to the most extreme elements of his party.

“In the Clinton years, the stated goal was to make abortion “safe, legal and rare.” But that was a different time, and a different president. Now, apparently, the Obama-Biden ticket stands for an absolute, unqualified right to abortion – at any time, under any circumstances, and even at taxpayer expense.

When you get past all of the President’s straw men, what we believe is plain to state: These vital questions should be decided, not by the caprice of unelected judges, but by the conscience of the people and their elected representatives. And in this good-hearted country, we believe in showing compassion for mother and child alike.

We don’t write anyone off in America, especially those without a voice. Every child has a place and purpose in this world. Everyone counts, and in a just society the law should stand on the side of life.”

Ideally Mr. Ryan is right, but reality is far off the mark. Do you want a vision of what compassion for mother and child alike? Rebecca Onie, founder of Health Leads, has a viewpoint. Here’s a summary of her thoughts.

“We’ve had a clients about to be evicted because they haven’t paid rent. But they can’t pay rent because they’re paying for HIV, cancer, diabetes or some other medication. They simply can’t afford both.  One mother brought her in daughter. The daughter has asthma but wakes up covered in cockroaches. But since she is uneducated, has little access to resources paying better than minimum wage, she paid 60% of her income in a rancid housing unit, in one of the worst blocks of the city. Every day mothers bring children with an ear infections. The doctors prescribe antibiotics. But the real issue is there’s no food at home. The real issue is that child is living with 12 other people in a two-bedroom apartment. And we don’t even ask about those issues because there’s nothing we can do.

Each doctor has 13 minutes with each patient. And because the need is so great, patients pile up in the clinic waiting room. And for these people, help is rare. In one clinic in Boston, there are two social workers for 24,000 pediatric patients. That’s better than the rural poor.”

So, do you really think we, as in America, truly shows compassion for mother and child alike? And do you really believe either the Republican or Democrat Party will?

According to the 2012 Republican National Convention: “Romney claims to have a plan that will create 12 million new jobs.”

More or less, I believe the statement is a sales pitch to long-term unemployed who believe Romney and Ryan actually have a plan.  And while it sounds ambitious it’s not entirely impossible. But Romney would need to create 250,000 jobs per month for four years from the moment he takes office.  But Romney’s job plan specifics don’t exist and without them, there’s no telling how he and Ryan would increase military spending, cut taxes, restore over $700 billion to Medicare, meet the government’s core obligations and bring down deficits. In other words, it’s a pipe-dream to anyone willing to smoke it.

But’s let’s explore this a little. Maybe the economy will become reignited once the ‘Job Killing,’ ‘Job Crushing,’ ‘Job Destroying’ Health Care Bill gets repealed?  Yeah, yeah! That’s it. It’s about healthcare. Boehner and company have often quoted the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) as the source of their original analysis. But the budget office, which referees the costs and consequences of legislation, never produced an excessive ‘Job Killing,’ ‘Job Crushing,’ ‘Job Destroying’ number.

What the CBO actually said is that the impact of the health care law on supply and demand for labor would be small. Most of it would come from people, once covered, would no longer have to work or those that can downshift to less demanding employment because insurance will be available outside the job. That would reduce the amount of labor used in the economy by a small amount, roughly half a percent. And that half-percent equates to 650,000 jobs.

So, that leaves Romney with about 11.4 million jobs left to create. Well, damn … then it has to be the “…out of control government spending.” Yeah! Yeah! That’s it: an out of control government. According to Boehner’s website:

“The policies of the Obama Administration – out-of-control government spending, excessive regulations on small businesses, unnecessary barriers to responsible production of American-made energy, and the constant threat of increased taxes on private-sector job creators – continue to present a great challenge to economic growth in the United States. “

But as its been noted time and time again, on paper, the U.S. has a high statutory corporate tax rate. However, U.S. corporations actually pay incredibly low taxes due to the ever-proliferating loopholes, credits, and deductions in the tax code and the use of overseas tax havens.  Thus, U.S. corporate taxes actually paid fell to a 40 year low of 12.1 percent in fiscal year 2011, despite corporate profits rebounding to their pre-Great Recession heights.

The U.S. both taxes its corporations less and raises less in revenue from corporate taxes than its foreign competitors. In truth, US companies are still sitting on a trillion dollar plus cash mountain, but this hasn’t changed the fact that U.S. corporations continue to tuch away hundreds of billions of dollars in savings.

So in keeping with a “right speech” theme, I will lay it out for you. At the end of the day, the Republicans want the White House back and Romney does not need a job plan. So what’s the secret Romney-Ryan don’t expound upon? Well as the Washington Post points out, Moody’s Analytics predicts 12 million jobs by 2016, no matter who sits in the Oval Office.

That’s why Romney cannot produce a job’s plan: it’s simply part of the natural employment cycle.