Title

Dispatches from a Struggling Buddhist Studies Graduate Student

Monday, August 22, 2011

Music Mondays

The move into my new apartment is almost complete.  The internet is connected and I unpacked almost all of my boxes.  However, I am in Michigan for until Wednesday, so I will still post sparingly until I return to Madison. 

That aside, here is this week's music brought to you by Ludo:

 

Friday, August 12, 2011

Moving

I am in the process of moving to a new apartment, and most likely will not update until I am settled into my new apartment.  The internet connection will be set up on August 16th.

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Equating Religious Texts with Religious Practice

Howard Friedman over at Religion Clause has a post that directed me towards an article titled Behind an Anti-Sharia Push about the rise of anti-Sharia laws proposed in around two dozen states.  The entire article is worth reading, as it exposes how the anti-Sharia movement is not a grassroots movement, but a  well funded campaign by ultra-right wing conservatives seemingly hell-bent on crushing Islam in America.  Besides the obvious xenophobia, what irks me is when the article reports that a Tennessee State Representative named Rick Womick introduced an Anti-Sharia bill in the Tennessee legislature after reading the Quran
Tennessee’s latest woes include high unemployment, continuing foreclosures and a battle over collective-bargaining rights for teachers. But when a Republican representative took the Statehouse floor during a recent hearing, he warned of a new threat to his constituents’ way of life: Islamic law.

The representative, a former fighter pilot named Rick Womick, said he had been studying the Koran. He declared that Shariah, the Islamic code that guides Muslim beliefs and actions, is not just an expression of faith but a political and legal system that seeks world domination. “Folks,” Mr. Womick, 53, said with a sudden pause, “this is not what I call ‘Do unto others what you’d have them do unto you.’” [emphasis mine]

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Wisconsin Recall Elections are Today

The recall elections for the Wisconsin legislature are in full swing today, which place six Republicans at risk to lose their seats.  Two more Democrats will face recall next week.  As the article notes, the out-of-state, third-party money fund the recall efforts at an unprecedented rate from both conservative and liberal groups:

Cash flowing into the recall elections from third-party interest groups already has approached $30 million, election watchdogs say, and total spending by third-party groups and candidates could top $40 million.
That total would double spending on all 116 of last fall's state legislative races combined. About $19.25 million was spent in those races for 17 Senate seats and 99 Assembly seats, which included 312 candidates on the primary ballot and 225 candidates in the November 2010 general election, said Mike McCabe, Wisconsin Democracy Campaign executive director. 
The money spent so far in this summer's nine recalls — one already has been decided — is believed to have already broken Wisconsin's record for state Senate and Assembly races set in 2008, when candidates and groups spent about $20 million on 115 elections.

Monday, August 8, 2011

Wisconsin State Website Leads You to Jesus

The Isthmus broke the story of how the Wisconsin state website contains a link to a page for Care Net.   
A new link to a crisis pregnancy center on Wisconsin.gov, Wisconsin's state website, has led several area advocates to accuse Gov. Scott Walker's administration of blurring the lines between church and state.
The link, found under the "Family Services" subsection of "Health and Safety," leads to Care Net, an evangelical anti-abortion group that runs some 1,100 crisis pregnancy centers throughout the nation, including the Elizabeth House on Madison's east side. According to Care Net's website, its ultimate aim "is to share the love and truth of Jesus Christ."
It also claims to be a place where "those struggling with past abortions are finding God's healing and forgiveness."
Now, imagine if the same website, with the same exact services offered, instead claimed its aim was to share the true word of God as told by the last prophet, Muhammad.

Music Mondays

Like most people who listen to an unhealthy amount of Tom Waits, I plan to have this song played at my funeral:


Saturday, August 6, 2011

A New Blog Network

Ed Brayton of Dispatches from the Culture Wars, PZ Meyer of Pharyngula, Digital Cuttlefish, and others created a new Blog Network called Free Thought Blogs.  Although the new site is experiencing a few hiccups that their new server should solve, I highly recommend going over there to take a look.

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

You Have To Pay It Somehow...

This does not surprise me:
Saddled with piles of student debt and a job-scarce, lackluster economy, current college students and recent graduates are selling themselves to pursue a diploma or pay down their loans. An increasing number, according to the the owners of websites that broker such hook-ups, have taken to the web in search of online suitors or wealthy benefactors who, in exchange for sex, companionship, or both, might help with the bills.
The past few years have taken an especially brutal toll on the plans and expectations of 20-somethings. As unemployment rates tick steadily higher, starting salaries have plummeted. Meanwhile, according to Jeffrey Jensen Arnett, a professor of psychology at Clark University, about 85 percent of the class of 2011 will likely move back in with their parents during some period of their post-college years, compared with 40 percent a decade ago.
Besides moving back home, many 20-somethings are beginning their adult lives shouldering substantial amounts of student loan debt.  According to Mark Kantrowitz, who publishes the financial aid websites Fastweb.com and Finaid.org, while the average 2011 graduate finished school with about $27,200 in debt, many are straining to pay off significantly greater loans.

Monday, August 1, 2011

On the Subject of the National Budget...

This certainly is not the best deficit reduction plan, but it is the most awesome:

Student Loans Will Own My Soul Part 2

Because what this country needs is more student debt:
As part of the savings to trim the deficits, Congress would scrap a special kind of federal loan for graduate students. So-called subsidized student loans don't charge students any interest on the principal of student loans until six months after students graduated. 
A graduate student who borrows the maximum of $65,500 in subsidized loans would owe $207 a month in interest payments over the course of 10 years. But with a subsidized loan, the government pays that $207 each month the student attends school until six months after graduation...
A graduate student who borrows the maximum of $65,500 in subsidized loans would owe $207 a month in interest payments over the course of 10 years. But with a subsidized loan, the government pays that $207 each month the student attends school until six months after graduation. 
This change would shift some $125 billion in loan volume over to unsubsidized loans and would cost students $18.1 billion over the next decade, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
At least most of the money saved through the cuts to subsidized student loans will go towards funding Pell Grants, but the cuts will still leave the Pell Grant program short some $1.3 billion dollars.  

Music Mondays

During the rare times I feel light-hearted, Maxine Nightingale's "Right Back Where We Started From" usually appears on my playlist:

 

Victory Against the Obama DOJ in Two Espionage Cases

The invaluable Glenn Greenwald writes that the Obama DOJ suffered serious blows to two of their espionage prosecutions; one against former NSA executive Thomas Drake (see details about his prosecution) and the other a subpoena  to compel New York Times reporter James Risen to reveal his confidential source for his book State of War

Most of the charges against Drake, who originally faced up to 35 years in prison for leaking classified information, were dropped on June 9th, which left Drake to plead guilty to one misdemeanor of exceeding his authorized use of a government computer.  As Greenwald writes, the U.S. District Judge, Richard Bennett, blasted the DOJ for their sloppy and drawn-out prosecution and refused to acquiesce to the DOJ's demand that the court fine Drake for $50,000.  Judge Bennett acknowledged that the DOJ already destroyed Drake's life through their prosecution, writing: