To the Barricades !

Ayatollah Ali Khameni has issued a stern warning that street protests in Iran must end-

• In his first public remarks after days of protests, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said the outcome had to be decided at the ballot box, not on the street.

The Ayatollah has thrown his full support behind President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in a move that could either calm the recent street protests or backfire with (hopefully) disastrous consequences for himself and Mr. Ahmadinejad.

While the U.S. media pontificates about the response of President Obama to the crisis, roundly lambasting him for a decidedly weak response, they seem to be missing the larger point. The street protests, met with gunfire by the regime and their supporters, is more about throwing out a corrupt theocracy than backing any particular leader. With a large, youthful and educated population yearning to be free, we can only hope that they will overthrow their government, drag the parasitic mullahs through the streets and build a new country based on individual rights rather than the oppression of the religious fascist class.

Jackasses please steer clear of the G20

Reg Henry is an opinion columnist with the Pittsburgh Post Gazette. I usually like reading his pieces. They are often harmless little puff pieces full of local insight and humor, easily read and just as easily forgotten. In one of his latest articles, he takes a shot at anarchists, and other assorted "jackasses" that may be thinking about spoiling the G20 party this fall-

• Among jackasses, the anarchists are the worst type and not just because they are poseur men (and women) in black. Nobody would vote for anarchism, for the simple reason that it can be fairly defined as the Bush administration's response to Hurricane Katrina. Er, no thank you.

Wow. Mr. Henry, a self admitted liberal and proponent of free speech, uses most of the article to bash those that would have the gall to protest at the G20 gathering. As for Hurricane Katrina, that was a poor example to use. The wave of crime that followed the hurricane was not the result of anarchy, nor can it be totally blamed on the government failing to respond quickly enough. People died in New Orleans because they, and their families, had been dependent upon the state for generations and were completely unprepared to fend for themselves. The state enslaves its citizens by use of law, taxes and hand-outs. If the government gives you something, it always takes something in return.

Mr. Henry does make a couple of valid points. Yes, Pittsburgh's citizens tend to be very proud and defensive of their home town. Trashing downtown is not going to win points in the hearts and minds of the average American sheep watching the evening news. For the first time in a generation, the combination of economic catastrophe, unemployment, disillusionment in government and the capitalist system has given the Anarchist voice some sympathetic ears to fall on.

I also agree that within any group of protesting Anarchists you will find a group of late teens, early twenties kids protesting for nothing deeper than the chance to be part of a group and break things. Hopefully, more mature voices will be heard in September and a more positive message can be sent to rouse the public from the stupor of the Obama enhanced nanny state.

G20 Leaders making their reservations

It was reported today that some of the G20 leaders will be staying at the Nemacolin Woodlands Resort south of Pittsburgh. The resort is about 50 miles or so from Pittsburgh, located close to the small city of Uniontown. At $ 650 per night it's not cheap, but hey, why not when you're on an expense account being paid by the poor slobs paying their taxes back home ? For security purposes it makes sense too. There's only one major road leading to the resort and there is actually an airstrip next to the hotel which will be convenient for those bringing their own helicopters. Why stay in the confines of Pittsburgh with protesters beating drums and blowing whistles, when you can sip champagne in the mountains and decide which economy you want to wreck next ?

I've been to Nemacolin a number of times for business conventions. It was built by local boy made it big Joe Hardy who is famous for founding 84 Lumber, being a billionaire and marrying then divorcing hot young women. It's a nice place to visit but has a strange Disney World type feel to it. The main French Chateau inspired building looks jarringly out of place among the hills of Western Pennsylvania, but President Sarkozy might enjoy it. Plus he can compare notes with Mr. Hardy regarding their mutual taste in babes.

Penguins win 3rd Stanley Cup

Way to go Pens !

Japanese Buddhist based party wants to drop pacifism from constitution

Kyoko Okawa, leader of the Buddhism based Happiness Realization Party in Japan, has called for Article 9 (outlining Japan's pacifist based defense stance) to be dropped from the Japanese constitution in a recent interview. Her husband Ryuho Okawa founded the party (and the religious sect it is based upon) and believes he is the reincarnation of the Buddha. While Mr. Okawa's statements seem to discount his reincarnation story, he says Japan needs to take a more militaristic stance in its region-

• "If you take the 'thou shalt not kill' precept too far, you cannot protect your country. Historical fact shows that weakness in Buddhism," Kyoko said. "That's why we wanted to develop Buddhist teaching."

The Okawa's also believe that external threats from Korea and China justify a more proactive stance in the defense of Japan. Far from a fringe group, the Party claims 10,000,000 members and could have some impact on elections in October.

Buddhists in Japan calling for militarization is not as crazy as it sounds. All of the Zen Buddhist sects in Japan supported the Emperor and the militaristic Japanese government in World War 2 which inflicted horrifying atrocities upon the people of China, Korea and many other countries that were the targets of their imperialistic ambitions. While many Buddhists like to describe their beliefs as being based upon peace and love, and abhorring killing in any form, they have yet to come to grips with the actions of Zen Buddhists in World War 2.

I don't believe that Mr. Okawa's statements in any way tarnish or devalue the message of peace spread by the Buddha. As with many other philosophies and religions, the message can become perverted over time as individuals attempt to spin the teachings for their own gain. I hope that Mr. Okawa finds his way back to the proper path soon.

Newspaper Article on size of Flight 93 Memorial

A local columnist from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania is also asking why the Flight 93 Memorial needs to be so big at the expense of local landowners.

Russia willing to abandon nuclear weapons.

Wow. As if you needed any further proof of the global influence of "Confessions of a Buddhist Anarchist," Vladimir Putin signaled that Russia is willing to abandon nuclear weapons if other countries are willing to do the same. Story Here. Vladimir has been trying to add me as a friend on Facebook for months and I guess I better finally give in.

Russia is simply running into the same economic constraints that all nations owning nuclear weapons must face. These weapons are horrendously expensive to design, build and maintain. You don't simply drop a missile in a silo and forget about it. They need constant maintenance and testing, not to mention security. Given Russia's dependence upon oil prices, which have only recently started to move higher, it is no wonder that Putin wants to get rid of some of these useless Cold War toys.

Let them eat Plutonium

U.S. strategic and diplomatic efforts, along with those of the United Nations, have been geared towards the prevention of the development and proliferation of nuclear weapons by certain nations. Although the nuclear genie is apparently out of the bottle in North Korea, the U.S. government is hopeful that a mix of diplomatic, trade and military efforts will be enough to convince the Iranians to shelve their nuclear ambitions. Although it would be heresy to state it in Washington D.C., countries such as Iran should be free to develop any nuclear weapons that they want. Why ? Because they too will learn what a tremendous waste of money and national resources these weapons are.

It is estimated that by the year 1998, the United States had spent $ 5,800,000,000,000 ($ 5.8 Trillion- no, that is not a misprint) on developing and deploying nuclear weapons (and the delivery systems for them.) This figure is from a 1998 Brookings Report which estimated that annual maintenance was at least another $ 35 billion per year (so add another $ 350 billion or so to come up with the total price tag to date.) These numbers are staggering to say the least and do not include the amounts spent by the former Soviet Union, China, India, Pakistan, France and United Kingdom on their arsenals (not to mention Israel and possibly South Africa.) Taken in total, these numbers could easily double the amount spent by the United States.

Critics will argue that it was the very existence of these weapons that prohibited the Cold War from becoming a shooting war. They say the very deterrence based upon the threat of global annihilation was instrumental in creating one of the longest periods of peace in recent history. While global conflict may have been avoided, a new type of war by proxy was favored to keep the superpowers from conflicting head to head- as evidenced by Korea, Vietnam, the Arab-Israeli wars, Indo-Pakistani conflicts, Nicaragua and Afghanistan. Although the United States and Soviet Union faced no destruction on their own turf, many other nations were mercilessly destroyed in the game of global domination.

As nations like Iran and North Korea will learn, the deployment of nuclear weapons is easily countered by more nuclear weapons being deployed by your adversaries and so on, and so on. The rapid escalation in the sizes of the U.S. and Soviet arsenals matched this spiral as new generations of weapons were deployed leading to new weapons to counter them and so on. Eventually, the arsenal sizes far exceeded any possible strategic use and became the tremendous drain on national expenditures that they are. Moreover, they are tactically useless to these countries. They are vulnerable to adversaries first strike capabilities and guarantee virtual annihilation if unleashed.

Nuclear weapons represent the pinnacle in man's never ending quest to develop better ways to kill other men. Antiseptic terms like CEP, throw-weights, first strike and others totally ignore the horrific capabilities of these weapons which make them so appealing to the madmen who covet them. One document I read as a young intelligence analyst still sticks in my head twenty odd years later. It stated how the Soviets second strike on U.S. cities would utilize biological weapons, smallpox in particular, deployed by ICBM to kill off any survivors crawling around in the rubble. This wasn't fantasy concocted by anti-nuclear proponents, it was hard intelligence. The complete lack of humanity necessary to concoct such a plan (and probably the U.S. counter plan) is beyond frightening.

I would use a completely different diplomatic approach in dealing with these nations. First off, cut the U.S. nuclear arsenal by 90 % and encourage all other nuclear powers to do the same. Use the fuel for the peaceful generation of power and then negotiate to eliminate another 9%. Demonstrate to the wannabe nuclear powers how useless $ 5.8 Trillion worth of paperweights really are. Fears of proliferation can be countered by methods to track the origins of the materials used to make weapons. Every potential nuclear weapon has a return address. Make it clear that any use of such weapons by terrorists puts their host nation on the hook for retaliation. Keep 1% of today's weapons around as a safeguard. That is still adequate to annihilate anyone foolish enough to use them.

The enormity of the cost of nuclear weapons is not the only staggering part. The other is the way in which the U.S. government spent money with little or no oversight from the American people. We were sold a bill of goods by our elected officials based upon fear and propaganda in the same way the the citizens of the Soviet Union were. The entire sorry affair is yet another example of the innate corruption of governments and the economic rape of their citizenry which they indulge in. Imagine the good that these trillions of dollars could have done. The United States could stand, right now, completely debt free and funding the development of medicine, hospitals and transportation throughout the world. Instead, it was squandered in the name of the balance of power. What a different world it could have been.

Legalize It !

Gay marriage should be legally accepted in the United States. The government, state or federal, should have no role in dictating to free people whom they can, or cannot, marry. The government, state or federal, should not use religious definitions of marriage or justifications to allow, or not allow, marriage between consenting parties. Despite the efforts of the religious right to prove otherwise, we do not live in a theocracy and I refuse to accept non-secular arguments about how people should live their lives.

Ask yourself how complete acceptance of gay marriage would directly affect you. For the life of me, I cannot. It doesn't in anyway weaken, invalidate or cheapen my marriage to the woman that I love. It in no way encroaches upon my rights or civil liberties which, incidentally, were never granted by a state or religion to begin with. It does not prevent me from participating in the commerce at which I work or the pastimes at which I play. I could honestly care less what my neighbors do in their own homes and lives as long as they afford me the same consideration.

I have read many arguments against gay marriage from a religious perspective. I respect the views of others and the passion with which they feel them. However, the liberties that we are born with as free men and women trump all religious arguments against gay marriage. The Old Testament has prohibitions against homosexual behavior- as well as many other arcane laws that few modern Christians or Jews even know about, much less practice. Thank goodness in my own case, my parents didn't have a handy copy of the Old Testament lying around when I came home late on a Friday night-

• If someone has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey his father and mother, who does not heed them when they discipline him, then his father and his mother shall take hold of him and bring him out to the elders of his town at the gate of that place. They shall say to the elders of his town, "This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious. He will not obey us. He is a glutton and a drunkard." Then all the men of the town shall stone him to death. So you shall purge the evil from your midst; and all Israel will hear, and be afraid. (Deut. 21:18-21.)

Ouch.

If the Old Testament was truly dictated by God to Moses, why would it include a prohibition against homosexual acts ? Without going into theological gymnastics, it would appear that this would argue for a Deist point of view- God created the world and all living things upon it. Humans were given free will to go about their business and therefore divine laws were needed to guide them to live their lives. First, most modern Christians, especially those that are born again and converse with God, would reject the Deist argument that the world is basically God's model train display that he gave life to and walked away. Alternatively, given evidence that homosexuality has a biological causation we must conclude that God created homosexuals. This begs the question of why God would create homosexuals and yet ban their behavior. Does he have a really bad sense of humor or does he enjoy the shame and persecutions that these people enjoy ?

I would choose answer "c." Something created the universe, name him, her or it whatever you want. This brings to mind the Buddha's famous parable about the man wounded by the arrow. The Buddha asked a man if he was shot by an arrow would he enquire into who shot the arrow, the composition of the arrow etc. or would he ask a doctor to remove it. He answered correctly and the best path was to address the immediate problem and pull out the arrow. Instead of sitting around all day thinking about who shot the arrow, and bleeding to death in the process, think in the here and now and save the man. If God does exist, his true intentions and way of thinking are unfathomable. If he is a just and loving God, then he created everything- heterosexuals, birds, thunderstorms, homosexuals, you name it. All created things are equal and deserve equal treatment and respect.

From a civil perspective, homosexuals need marital rights in order to codify their rights especially in terms of property, living wills, decedents estates and employer benefits. All citizens regardless of sexual preference deserve these basic rights protected by law. Protecting the rights of homosexuals in no way infringes or reduces the rights of heterosexuals. But, you say, what about polygamy ? Actually, that's fine by me as well. As long as marriage is between consenting adults I could care less if you marry 1 woman, 3 women or another man. Want to marry your cousin ? Fine by me too. This is better regulated by families than the government.

If the religious crowd is dead set against the word "marriage" I would hope the gay marriage supporters would concede and allow it to be called something else. Let's get on with our lives. There are far more pressing issues facing us.

More on the Flight 93 Memorial

The government has shelved plans to use eminent domain to acquire land for the Flight 93 memorial- for now.

• From an article in the Pittsburgh Tribune Review. "The federal government backtracked today and decided not to seize the western Pennsylvania property needed to build a Flight 93 memorial, saying instead it would renew negotiations with landowners."

The federal government will attempt to negotiate with the landowners and pay them "fair value" for their properties in order to complete the memorial. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, however, does not rule out the use of eminent domain to seize the land stating that "I know that if we can't get it resolved, eminent domain is still a backstop." In other words, we will smile for the cameras and attempt to make nice, but make no mistake we are prepared to take your property if need be. Complicit in this scheme and present at the meetings with landowners was none other than Arlen Specter, Pennsylvania Senator and political survivor extraordinaire. Thanks for standing up for your fellow citizens, Arlen.

The proposed memorial will consist of over 2,000 acres of land. For comparison, the Washington Monument occupies 106 acres and Arlington National Cemetery consists of a little more than 600 acres. Why is such an immense piece of ground needed to commemorate this event thereby necessitating the taking of land from private citizens ? Wouldn't a small park of say 10 or 20 acres and a monument be sufficient ?

Plans for the memorial design are here. Look, I'm no landscape architect and I have zero artistic ability but the design looks hideous to me.

Flight 93 Memorial

The Pittsburgh Post Gazette reported today that the Federal Government is hopeful that eminent domain proceedings will not be necessary to acquire the land for the proposed Flight 93 memorial. Story here.

So let me get this straight. You are going to build a memorial to individual heroism in the face of terrorism by kicking your fellow citizens off of their property ?

A Tale of Two Cities (With Apolgoies to Dickens)

I love hockey. Sorry that I may disappoint my more radical Anarchist friends but give me a hockey game at any level, a beer and I'm one happy Buddhist camper. Right here in Pittsburgh we have game 4 of the Stanley Cup about to start. I love the Penguins. Sorry again. As Anarchists we are supposed to be sullen, moody individualists cursing such institutions that advocate mandatory dress codes in the form of the dreaded "white out." Sorry to my Buddhist pals, we are not supposed to be attached to anything, right ? Well, Nirvana just might be a little closer if # 87 hoists the cup over his head.

The Pittsburgh Penguins were born the same year as me, 1967. Like me, they've undergone a few changes in ownership, close brushes with bankruptcy and a will to fight on despite the fact that their fan base had dwindled. We've both been locked-out, cursed-out and nearly knocked-out by forces beyond our control but still we soldier on.

Many local, and national, news sources are starting to pick up on the whole "rust belt" Stanley Cup finals between two declining industrial towns. They point to Pittsburgh as what Detroit should aspire to, since Pittsburgh is (by their definition) so much further ahead. Here's a story from Detroit. And here's another from....Fort Worth ?? Pittsburgh is no longer a steel town, Detroit is no longer a car town. On and on and on.

What nobody wants to point out is that both cities were killed by the same gun- globalization. Pittsburgh's mills and Detroit's car manufacturing were both killed by political decisions. Both were done in by cheaper foreign labor and a government lacking the resolve to protect industries of national importance. I know, I know, you are screaming right now and jumping up and down- it was the unions that were paid too much, management that was paid too much, not enough innovation etc. etc. Believe it or not, I have an MBA and understand these things. In fact, I'm looking at it right now. Huh, nice. And where has globalization gotten us to ? Cheap Hyundais, and empty main streets in Detroit and Pittsburgh.

I remember when I was a kid heading home from the arena. On the right side of the road, sitting against the Monongahela River were massive steel works. Fire and smoke belched into the night sky. A vision of Hell but in some ways comforting as well. Roll down your window and hear the mill's roar, smell the stink. The slag piles were massive cliffs with burning saplings as new hot slag was dumped down the hill. I still remember that, small burning bushes in the night.

Ride up the River and the mills are gone. Redevelopment of office parks and technology companies. Mill towns are a shadow of their former selves. The Churches speak the names of where the workers were from- England, Russia, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Ireland, on and on. Except there are no parishoners. The kids have moved on. They are now living in enemy territory- home of the Atlanta Thrashers, Florida Panthers, Phoenix Coyotes. Towns with no hockey history, undeserving of even having a franchise. The homes of the suits and the fur coats, the place to be seen. But now that you can't win anything the pretty boys and girls have left the building.

Bring the teams back to where they belong. Working towns like the Original Six and their expansion brethren of 1967. We are the idiots still hanging on to a hope and a belief, a fierce love of where we are from and witnesses to how a team can briefly bring us all together. Pittsburgh is a strange place that way. A Bermuda Triangle of loyalty that can have have atheists hugging priests, conservatives hugging liberals and myself telling everyone to go fuck themselves. Good luck Pens, bring it on home.

Here Comes The Judge - Sort of

The June 3rd, 2009 issue of the Pittsburgh City Paper contains an excellent article entitled "Bench Strength" by Chris Young. The article examines one of the leftovers of Pennsylvania's English past namely the local magisterial (or district judge) system. As many citizens may (or may not) be surprised to hear, all you need to become a judge in this state is enough votes and completion of a training course.

I've stood in front of a couple of these stooges over the course of my life, not for anything major but for annoying inconveniences such as parking tickets, speeding and once in handcuffs (charges dropped later, but that's another story.) If you've ever paid a fine in one of these offices and taken the time to look at your receipt, you will see a long list of beneficiaries making money off of your transgressions. Therein lies the answer to why this system exists- to make money. Any political hack, regardless of legal training or lack thereof, can aspire to this well paid position ($ 75,000.00 plus) and enjoy all the benefits of wearing the black robes and being called "judge."

Working hand in hand with the magistrate system is another anachronism which should be put to rest- the constable system. These soldiers of misfortune work for the magistrate system serving warrants and bringing the accused before their magisterial masters. Like their legal counterparts, these individuals are not the most highly trained or intelligent fellows but they too like the perks of wearing a uniform, having cool flashing lights on their cars and the legal right to carry a weapon in the course of their duties. If you ever see a fat, disheveled and armed man in a wrinkled uniform, it's a fair bet it's your local constable.

I once received a parking ticket in Washington County. I didn't pay it. They wanted $ 5.00 for being 10 minutes late on a 0.25 meter. Sometime later I received a notice of a bench warrant. A local constable mailed me a badly spelled letter that looked like it had been copied twenty or thirty times over at the local gas station. It stated that "time had run out" and I was facing imminent arrest. I even found his business card taped to my garage door. Wishing to avoid a Ruby Ridge type scenario over a $ 5.00 ticket, I caved into the Man and paid $ 60.00 to take my name off of America's most wanted.

On another adventure to magistrate land, I found myself in the office of another one in Westmoreland County. I noticed that there was a helpful sign in the office that promised discounts at the local hot dog shop to local law enforcement (the magistrate also owned the hot dog establishment.) Seeing that my fate could be decided by a discounted hot dog and fries, I plead guilty and took my lumps. Incidentally, I had eaten at the hot dog shop some time earlier. It sucked. I mean, how hard is it to make a good hot dog ? Especially if your primary business is selling hot dogs ? Anyways, I digress.

The state should not be able to sub out its functions to district judges, constables, for profit companies which collect local taxes, privately owned prisons or any other entity without direct civilian oversight (such as police review boards.) This entire sorry system should be scrapped. Barring that, district judges should be lawyers in the hope that they at least didn't sleep through some ethics training and their constable counterparts should be held to a higher training standard as well. Maybe we can start with how to wear a uniform properly.

Say it ain't so Osel !

Well, this is a timely article given my recent tirade about religion. The boy chosen by the Dalai Lama as a reincarnation of a spiritual leader has renounced any such connection to Tibetan Buddhism. For those not familiar with Buddhism, there are many schools of thought regarding this belief and Tibetan Buddhism is but one. As someone studying Theravada Buddhism, I respect the Dalai Lama as a person who has quietly fought injustice in his homeland and abroad but I have no real belief in some of the more supernatural aspects of the Tibetan belief system.

One aspect of the article that caught my eye regarded what the young lad was allowed to watch on television-

• Yesterday he bemoaned the misery of a youth deprived of television, football and girls. Movies were also forbidden – except for a sanctioned screening of The Golden Child starring Eddie Murphy, about a kidnapped child lama with magical powers. "I never felt like that boy," he said.

Forcing anyone to watch that movie should be investigated as a violation of basic human rights.

Another, far more troubling quote from the article-

• By 18, he had never seen couples kiss. His first disco experience was a shock. "I was amazed to watch everyone dance. What were all those people doing, bouncing, stuck to one another, enclosed in a box full of smoke?"

I don't know what's more frightening- the fact that this kid was basically imprisioned by a bunch of rabid monks or the fact that disco still exists somewhere in this world.

Oh No Canada- Part Deux

Here is a follow-up opinion piece to the article posted yesterday regarding free speech in Canada. Apparently, governmental entities will now classify such activities as anti-police graffiti as deserving definition as a hate/bias crime and will be investigated as such.

From the article-

• It would seem the police are in the business of monitoring any type of protest, march or activity that could possibility result in a hate crime incident. That means protests about native land claims, environmental protection, poverty, public debt and homelessness; issues that have been raised before during economic summits and Olympics are now fair game to be classified as potential “hate crimes.”

I've long thought it a bad move for Anarchists to align themselves with Leftist and Progressive thinking regarding free speech issues. This is the boomerang that we now face. The State, Left or Right, is the enemy of the people. Anarchists that fought for hate crimes legislation now risk being hoisted by their own petard as the State uses the same laws to target all of us. By the way, what exactly is a bias crime in Canada ? Does professing a love for Molson over Moosehead get you shipped off to the Arctic Circle ?

Oh No Canada !

While I often think of Canada as our friendly, docile neighbors to the north, recent political developments have shown that it is increasingly being run as a semi-Fascist police state which is using "hate" crime and speech codes to crackdown on free speech and dissent. A news article from Hamilton, Ontario said that police were going to monitor a local anarchist book fair for signs of hate crimes. These crimes are defined in Canada (according to the article) as-

• Hate crimes, by definition, are ones committed “against a person or property which is motivated solely, or in part, by the suspect’s hate/bias against a person’s race, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, disability group, age or gender"
  

This small incident is reflective of the wider use of Section 13 of the Canadian Human Rights Act to stifle political debate and free speech by the government. How an anarchist book fair fits into crimes against any of the defined parties above requires an amount of legal gymnastics that is beyond me. The truth is that it has nothing to do with hate crimes against persons or property- the government fears hate directed at itself.

Sunday Sermon

I recently finished reading "God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything" by Christopher Hitchens. Although I obtained my copy from the public library, it is widely available in bookstores and recently came out in paperback. I've always enjoyed reading Hitchens' works and listening to him on radio and television. He is a throwback in some ways, a crumudgeonly anti-establishment ex-Trotskyite Englishman (now American citizen) who speaks for the oppressed and downtrodden regardless of who is doing the oppressing at the time. I've always liked him because he skewers both the Left and Right with equal abandon.

In "God Is Not Great" Hitchens takes the matter of religion head-on arguing that it is a sham created by man to oppress and control the masses. He bases his argument on an equal examination of Islam, Christianity and Judaism with some other cults thrown in for good measure. He methodically examines the basis of the writings of these religions, their interpretation and the countless lives lost due to them. Hitchens' goes as far as to argue that introducing children to religion at a young age is tantamount to child abuse. Although it seems light on evidence and rushed at times, I liked the book and would recommend it to both believers and non-believers alike.

I was raised as a Presbyterian in a generally religion free family. Church was a once or twice a year trip based around holidays and beyond a period of study for the confirmation process, I can say that my upbringing was generally devoid of any great spiritual message. That being said, I was encouraged to do a great deal of reading on the subject, on the history of the church and the scriptures themselves. I always enjoyed discussing the subject with my father as we asked each other questions on subjects such as the formation of the universe, who created God, the apocalypse and the meaning of life. Despite the fact that I never attended church regularly, I found that I was better acquainted with the bible, and the history behind it, than many others that went every Sunday.

My belief in the Theravada school of Buddhism was a slow and gradual process based upon study and reflection upon the Christian beliefs with which I was raised. Old gnawing doubts about Christianity arose and were reinforced by the actions of others that I considered to be devout Christians. If Hell really exists, for example, how could a devout Christian who attended church every week and ate dinner with her priest a couple of times per month steal money from my company ? If Hell was real, and some absolute punishment awaited her in the afterlife, how could she reconcile that with her actions which violated a Commandment and destroyed my life ?

A more recent reinforcement of this line of reasoning was confirmed by the governmental report on the horrifying, and long-term, abuse of children at the hands of religious orders in Ireland. If God is real, and he is all-seeing and all-knowing, and eternal hell awaits those that commit such terrible crimes, how could these people (especially as priests who are supposed to really believe this stuff) commit thousands of acts of child abuse including rape ? How could a religious institution not only cover up their crimes but transfer them to new areas so they could begin their perversions anew ? Incidentally, if you have the time, and the stomach, you can read the report for yourself here.

I was attracted to Buddhism because of its lack of proselytizing and the Buddha's message that everything he said should be challenged and debated- quite different from the absolute authoritarian positions of the three great monotheistic faiths. Buddhism, at least in the original conservative Theravada school, can also be better described as a philosophy rather than a religion. The Buddha rejected all talk that he was a deity or possessed any supernatural powers- he was simply a man with a new way to ponder the mysteries of the mind and to bring a new system of ethics for us to examine. He really didn't care if we debated these ideas, embraced them or rejected them. Indeed, I am still not completely sold on the Buddhist philosophy and have major disagreements with the concept of reincarnation which cannot be proven empirically. I am free to examine this issue further, however, without the judgment of a Priest, Rabbi or Imman.

As someone who has sought shelter in the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha, I am always open to discuss my beliefs with friends and family. I am amused, but not surprised, by the reaction of others when I tell them that I am a Buddhist (especially by fundamentalist Christians.) Far from taking a step back and examining their beliefs from all sides, I have found fundamentalists deaf to any discussion of their faith and validity of mine. The lack of knowledge regarding Buddhism, and many other beliefs, is a testament to the public educational system of our country. I sometimes think that if I was a Satanist, my Christian friends would at least know what I'm talking about.

As a heathen Buddhist, I have found out that I am damned to hell, but those who are born again are on the fast-track to paradise. While they attack Buddhism as one hand, they refuse to examine the evidence regarding who wrote the old and new testaments, the contradictions in some of the stories and the process by which the so-called word of God was handed down through history. Otherwise intelligent people would would closely analyze the difference in cell phone plans seem completely willing to believe the Christian story hook, line and sinker.

Faith is a personal issue which I respect to a point. As long as it stays out of the public and political arena, I believe that we all can believe to worship, or not-worship, in our own way. The frightening thing to me, and one of the factors that drove me away from both Christianity and the Republican Party, was the rise of the Christian Right and its battle for dominance of the Republican message. There is a very thin line between a supposed republic and a theocracy and I fear that we are taking the first tentative step across it.

The other problem that I have with some aspects of religion, like Hitchens, is how it is impressed upon our children through a process of indoctrination. Rather than allowing children to grow up with a wide education in varying faiths and philosophies, they are taught a very narrow view of the world and shown that anyone outside of these views is wrong and worth of contempt. At best, this creates arrogance and feelings of supremacy. At worst, it convinces children to strap their chests with explosives.

Returning to the Scene of the Crime

The local Pittsburgh media is already awash with G20 hype. The local television stations have been falling all over themselves to bring "team coverage" to the story. Pittsburgh is in reality a small city so this is big news for our crack local reporters to beat to death for the next few months. Every angle is being covered- the economic impact for local hotels and restaurants, political impact for the city's mayor and the prospect of both non-violent and violent protests.

What nobody seems to be saying is why would the G20 be even welcome in this city ? The G20 coming to Pittsburgh is like the serial killer that digs up his victims to play with the remains (Ted Bundy did this, but that's another story in itself.) While the White House is trying to spin this as a reward for Pittsburgh's "recovery" from its industrial past, the numbers just don't bear it out. Pittsburgh has continually lost population over the past 30 years as its industrial base withered away and moved overseas thanks to the same forces of globalization represented by the G20.

Sure, Pittsburgh is now a robotics and healthcare powerhouse but if you're not designing robots or working for UPMC, what do you have left ? I encourage the G20 to take a tour of Hazlewood, Braddock, Duquesne and maybe take a field trip to Brownsville in Fayette County for lunch. Take a look at the ghost towns that straddle the Monongahela River which once buzzed with activity. Take a long look at the silent, rusting industrial hulks that employed entire towns. Their departure has, in turn, led to empty storefronts, declining school districts and even closed and consolidated churches. I work for myself and travel quite extensively around Southwestern Pennsylvania on a daily basis. Some of the areas I drive through seem like something out of movie- little ghost towns, industrial ruins, turkeys and deer running amok as nature reclaims its place.

Pittsburgh's primary exports are no longer industrial- its our young people who, degree in hand, head off to Charlotte, Atlanta, Phoenix or any of a number of other metropolitan areas looking for educated kids with a good work ethic. Allegheny County (home of Pittsburgh) has the 2nd most geriatric population in the United States. Although many locals would say its because Pittsburghers have such strong roots and never want to leave the area, I would argue that many more would if they could afford to. The police planning for the G20 probably shouldn't worry about young kids spoiling the show- I would worry about platoons of grannies ramming their scooters into the barricades.

G20 Conference Coming to Pittsburgh

Break out the gas masks, the Gang of 20 is coming to Pittsburgh.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09148/973412-100.stm?cmpid=latest.xml

That's a Thursday and Friday. Why not make it a long weekend ?

Sewage Managers Gone Wild

Most of us assume that the federal and state governments are the prime forces of oppression in our daily lives. In reality it is your local government that given its proximity to you and your family probably has a greater unseen influence in how you live your life.

An ongoing case in central Pennsylvania highlights this. Amish families have been evicted by court order from their homes and had one of their family members jailed because they refuse to comply with local sewage codes concerning their use of out-houses. From the Pittsburgh Tribune Review-

• "The Millers and other Amish in the ultraconservative Swartzentruber sect have reached an impasse in a clash of culture, religion and law with government agencies responsible for protecting public health and safety. Although two families were forced to leave their homes and one man has been jailed, the Amish say they aren't defending themselves because aggression, confrontation and violence — like the regulations they're refusing to follow — are against their religion." Link Here

I'm not a civil engineer but I would have some faith that a group of people that have lived off of their own wits and knowledge for the past 200 years would probably be pretty good at disposing of their own waste. The fear of poisoned wells is also a red herring- wells are typically hundreds of feet deep and unless the Amish are planning on holding rock festivals this summer, I can't see how the waste from two farm families and a small school could infect the water table.

It isn't about public safety. The safety card is what is always played by government to gain compliance. No, this is about the undbendning, unyielding power of the state immune to common sense and completely oblivious to the fact that it was created to serve the populace. To quote a county manager from the same article-

• Deborah Sedlmeyer, director of the Cambria County Sewage Enforcement Agency, said her agency cannot practice selective enforcement.
  "They choose a simple life. That's OK, but they must do it legally," she said.

That quote should send shivers up the spine of free men and women everywhere. The implied message here is you can choose to live your simple life but you damn well better do it the way that we tell you to do it. Further on it the article we have a quote from a Sherrif's deputy that would have been thrown out as a defense at Nuremberg-

• Sheriff's deputies Jake Kehn and Clint Divido padlocked the empty barns May 15. Watching them from beneath the brim of his straw hat, Andy Miller, 5, scuffed clumps of mud with the duct-taped tips of his battered boots as he moved back and forth in a red Roadmaster wagon.
  "We're just following court orders," Kehn told the boy's parents. "Good luck."

Just following orders. A defense as vile and empty as it was in 1945. The power of the state, at all levels, relies on the compicity of millions of faceless bureaucrats, managers, employees, law enforcement and countless others "just following orders." Just trying to make it to retirement, to get that pension and leaving common sense at the front door when they enter the office building. Fortunately for law enforcement in this case, the Amish are pacifists that accept the naked brutality of the state turning them out of their own homes with stoic resignation.

So young Andy Miller, as you sat in your wagon and watched the Sherrif's deputies padlock your parent's barns I hope you remember this day for the rest of your life. Your ancestors fled Europe to escape the oppression of the state. Unfortunately, it has finally caught up with you.