News and Politics

29 percent

President Bush’s job-approval rating has fallen to its lowest mark of his presidency, according to a new Harris Interactive poll. Of 1,003 U.S. adults surveyed in a telephone poll, 29% think Mr. Bush is doing an ‘excellent or pretty good’ job as president, down from 35% in April and significantly lower than 43% in January.

Roughly one-quarter of U.S. adults say ‘things in the country are going in the right direction,’ while 69% say ‘things have pretty seriously gotten off on the wrong track.’ This trend has declined every month since January, when 33% said the nation was heading in the right direction. Iraq remains a key concern for the general public, as 28% of Americans said they consider Iraq to be one of the top two most important issues the government should address, up from 23% in April. The immigration debate also prompted 16% of Americans to consider it a top issue, down from 19% last month, but still sharply higher from 4% in March.

(Via Daily Kos.)

Via MetaFilter: “First it was called The War on Terror. Then it was called the Global War on Terror. But now President Bush is simply calling it World War III.”

Mike Berman posted this list of why Buddhism is better. I’m not officially a Buddhist, but I’ve been interested in Buddhism for a long time.

As most readers probably know, I dislike religious dogma. The reason I like Buddhism is because it’s not dogmatic and doesn’t tell you that you have to believe a certain way or you’re going to hell. I have a problem with the whole idea that there’s a god that requires you to believe a certain way and that beliefs are more important than actions. If you do the right things (treat others with respect, be honest, don’t hurt others), it shouldn’t matter what you believe.

Here’s the list:

1. It generally doesn’t take itself too seriously. Buddhists are a light-hearted, peace-loving group.
2. Buddha encouraged people to “Make a proper investigation first.” Buddha did not proselytize aggressively, but suggested that people should take it or leave it according to their own personal assessment without relying on hearsay or mere tradition.
3. It doesn’t have a fixed, unquestionable ideology.
4. Buddhism is strictly a philosophy for rational, inquiring minds.
5. In Buddhism, there is no God, nor any gods or goddesses, seraphim, cherubim, archangels, demons, mythological beasts, familiars, pan-dimensional cyborgs, or talkative shrubbery.
6. Rather than submitting to a Supreme Being in whom you must believe (lest ye face lightning bolts, fire and brimstone, an eternity spent with Courtney Love), you instead accept the teachings because they’re supposed to make you happy.
7. It says that you should follow its teaching because you want to, not because there are consequences if you don’t.
8. Not having a central thesis or any current core figure of authority (such as the Pope), Buddhism has become richly diversified.
9. The Buddha was a man, and not a god.
10. The whole reason for becoming Buddhist is to achieve happiness and become “enlightened.” Not to achieve a dubious afterlife.
11. There are no free passes for sinful behavior. You are responsible ultimately to yourself.
12. The Five Precepts aren’t commandments given to you by an angry God who threatens you if you disobey; rather, they are guidelines meant to improve your karma and help you along the Eightfold Path to enlightenment.
13. A lay Buddhist (non-monk) isn’t necessarily required to go through any special ritual.
14. There’s no sacred law telling you that you ought to attend service at the temple every Wednesday and donate 10% of your income.
15. The only way to reach enlightenment is to accept the Noble Truths. It requires working hard at improving oneself, not just accepting a savior.
16. As a Buddhist, it is acceptable to participate in other religions.

Via Trail Mix: When Senator George Allen addressed a town hall meeting in Culpeper, VA on Tuesday, 16-year-old Tully Satre pressed the potential presidential candidate to ask why he withdrew his past support for hate crimes legislation and why Allen supported an anti-marriage amendment to the U.S. Constitution. “I, as of now, do not have the choice to be married,” the teen told Allen. “Yes, you do!” shot back the Senator, suggesting that he can marry a woman.

Satre stood his ground in front of the Senator, winning respect from the largely-conservative audience. Read a full account on Tully Satre’s blog.

People like Tully give me hope for the future. Small acts of defiance like this one and Cecilia Fire Thunder’s Planned Parenthood clinic will help turn the tide in our favor.

Via MetaFilter:

Remember HB 1215, the bill banning almost all abortion in South Dakota? Cecilia Fire Thunder, President of the Oglala Sioux tribe in South Dakota, has a solution: “I will personally establish a Planned Parenthood clinic on my own land which is within the boundaries of the Pine Ridge Reservation where the State of South Dakota has absolutely no jurisdiction.” An impassioned blogger has spoken to President Fire Thunder and is trying to drum up support for the proposed clinic.

Cecilia Fire Thunder is my hero. Thanks to tribal sovereignty this is a wonderful legal way to thumb their nose at Governor Michael Rounds and provide a service the state government denies its citizens.

Justin Watt received a cease-and-desist letter from Exodus International for posting this image.

Via Minipundit: A study has shown that “whiny, insecure” children grow up to be conservatives, while “confident, resilient, self-reliant” children grow up to be liberals.

In a must-read post, Glenn Greenwald (via MetaFilter) believes that the conservative movement — traditionally against big government, excessive spending, and federal intrusion into the private lives of Americans — has been hijacked by something much more dangerous: an authoritarian cult of personality, or as Greenwald puts it, “a form of highly emotional mass theater masquerading as political debate.”

This is one of the best things I’ve read at Daily Kos — The Great Franklin-Bush debate…in 6 rounds:

Bush: America must not ignore the threat gathering against us. Facing clear evidence of peril, we cannot wait for the final proof, the smoking gun that could come in the form of a mushroom cloud.
Franklin: All wars are follies, very expensive and very mischievous ones. In my opinion, there never was a good war or a bad peace. When will mankind be convinced and agree to settle their difficulties by arbitration?

–

Bush Health care reform must begin with Medicare; Medicare is the binding commitment of a caring society. We must renew that commitment by giving seniors access to preventive medicine and new drugs that are transforming health care in America.
Franklin: Well done is better than well said.

–

Bush: There is no “trust fund,” just IOUs that I saw firsthand, that future generations will pay—will pay for either in higher taxes, or reduced benefits, or cuts to other critical government programs. The office here in Parkersburg stores those IOUs. They’re stacked in a filing cabinet. Imagine—the retirement security for future generations is sitting in a filing cabinet. It’s time to strengthen and modernize Social Security for future generations with growing assets that you can control, that you call your own—assets that the government cannot take away.
Franklin: Half a truth is often a great lie.

–

Bush: The fact that somebody leaked this program [of illegally spying on Americans without a warrant] causes great harm to the United States. There’s an enemy out there.
Franklin: Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both.

–

Bush: I’m a uniter, not a divider. I refuse to play the politics of putting people into groups and pitting one group against another.
Franklin: Tricks and treachery are the practice of fools, that don’t have brains enough to be honest.

–

Bush: I’m not going to change my mind.
Franklin: For having lived long, I have experienced many instances of being obliged, by better information or fuller consideration, to change opinions, even on important subjects, which I once thought right but found to be otherwise. … When you’re finished changing, you’re finished.

Final score: Bush 0 Franklin 6