soaring crane

The Dao Bums
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Content count

    5,254

  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    43

Everything posted by soaring crane

  1. When elephants fight ...

    soaring crane replied to soaring crane's topic in The Rabbit Hole

    The metaphor implies that the innocent grass is killed through the actions of the warring elephants. But the grass isn't killed. The grass, as all plants, lives beneath the surface, hidden from view, unconcerned with human and elephant activities. The grass pushes its green shoots up into our world to spread it's seed, but in truth can live many, many years without once showing itself to us. So, what really gets hurt during the elephant fight isn't the grass, it's the human image of the way things are supposed to be. There's supposed to be green grass there, to beautify our world and to benefit us. But when it it gets trampled on, our personal world is affected and we react with faux indignation, crying over the loss of green life when it's really our own priorities that we're lamenting. This is something to think about when 'standing like tree' - the real tree is the root system, below the surface. The trunk and branches and leaves are pushed upward and outward to keep the cycle of life going, but they're only a useful, and temporary, mechanism whose ultimate purpose is to nourish the mother organism which is below the surface. Always return to the roots, to the source.

  2. What is the True Nature of Thoughts?

    soaring crane replied to 4bsolute's topic in General Discussion

    totally OT but this reminded me of a poem from a long, long time ago: ~~~The Dewdrop~~~ Have you ever tried to caress the iridescence inside a drop of green morning dew? The drop will move for you, you can make it run to the tip of a blade of emerald green grass and leap to the earth in a free-fall dance of opalescent surrender. But you can't touch the magic inside of it! Loving you makes me feel as though the gods who govern the beauty in drops of rain granted me privilege to brush my fingers once across their most cherished creation.

  3. Questions for the scientists in our midst

    soaring crane replied to manitou's topic in General Discussion

    I love your first question! Here's my initial, irreverent answer to the second one: Walkie Talkie

  4. I now understand Limits on Editing

    soaring crane replied to Coaster's topic in Forum and Tech Support

    And?
  5. Did you catch my reference to Dagny Taggart? But Aaron is right in that the LP has a much more comprehensive and philosophical platform than the Tea Party. Even I wouldn't compare the two. There are personalities who overlap and the lines do become blurry, but the LP is far and away the more mature and independent of the two. I mean, who knows? Maybe the TP will be the purging the LP has needed for about twenty years now.
  6. I agree with this and I really don't like abortion for many reasons. But I am all for massive public funding for babies' and childrens' needs. And I like the idea of contraception and the day-after-pill (not so up to date on its effectiveness but what I've read about it sounds right to me). Outta here. Up next: Death Penalty (NO!)

  7. I now understand Limits on Editing

    soaring crane replied to Coaster's topic in Forum and Tech Support

    The needs of the many outweigh the deeds of the few (edited for typo)
  8. Wise... very wise
  9. In the Libertarian platform, it does; in the LP platform, everything does: "Education is best provided by the free market, achieving greater quality, accountability and efficiency with more diversity of choice. Recognizing that the education of children is a parental responsibility, we would restore authority to parents to determine the education of their children, without interference from government. Parents should have control of and responsibility for all funds expended for their children's education." A completely baseless claim, with no historic examples to back it up, but that doesn't matter in the minds of the Libertarians. Oh, and, if the parents don't have any funds to expend? Well, fuck you poor people. I don't like to use that kind of language but it sums up this clause in their platform perfectly. The Platform
  10. A little disclosure, I used to be a card-carrying member of the LP (and by that I mean I carried the 'card', the little political test in card format). Here's another weak link in the party platform: Advertising. A Libertarian society would be awash in unfettered, unregulated advertising. It would be omnipresent. There would be laws against 'false advertising' (with presumably drastic punishment for infractions), but just picture the little guy going up against big companies because an ingredient in their product caused him harm. I really don't have to provide illustration, do I? (perversely, a Libertarian may make the argument that an educated, informed consumer is responsible for the decisions he makes, while at the same time championing a system guaranteed to leave 90% of the population uneducated and uninformed). And that segues into the very weird 'personal contract' aspect of the platform. The government would essentially be replaced by a system of contracts, not well-defined, that would leave all business interactions (including private purchases) up to the parties to sort out among themselves. Well, that just can't work. And the logical result would be a court system so large and opaque that it would dwarf the current system of regulatory agencies, ineffective and inefficient as they are. No, sorry, the Libertarian platform sounds good on paper (and a couple of the specifics really are attractive and I'd welcome them) but a little time spent following the bulk of the ideas to their logical conclusion should result in nothing less than a shudder and shaking of the head.
  11. Well, you don't speak for all people and can't possibly psychoanalyze the deeper meaning of their words. So, this statement breaks down to simple rhetoric. Because you don't want to live in a third-world nation of downtrodden, uneducated, illiterate, faceless corporate-fodder, which is what you'll get if you leave it to the profit motive to decide who gets education or not. The school system in much of the US is a mess, but the answer cannot be turning the whole thing over to people who want to exploit it for their own gain. I think Healthcare in the US and much of the western world, Germany included, is primarily geared toward the profit motive already. Drugs that make money get to market, while less expensive therapies have no chance. If there's any industry that should be heavily regulated, it's the medical industry. Re mandatory insurance, I really have no opinions on this anymore when it comes to the US. I think the system is beyond corruption and irreversibly kaputt. The German healtcare system has been in operation since about the 1870s and it does quite well. I forgot that the LP platform does in fact aknowledge the legitimacy of the public police. A private police force would be a huge disaster ala Blackwater. No, and I didn't indicate that. My angle is that the LP is basically naive when it comes to human nature. I didn't say that, either. See above. The problem is that the LP would result in a government completely incapable of controlling the demons it releases. have to cut short....
  12. I didn't see it as inflammatory at all, I meant it quite objectively. But I apologize for my lapse in judgment. Edit: This is how you started this thread: "I think it's the only party that's sincerely trying to limit the amount of government intrusion into our lives." And this is my comment: "The weird thing is, there are people like Aaron who will tell you it's the politician's fault when he gets bribed by the businessman." I see the one as following the other quite consistently.
  13. Sounds great until you come to the realization that there is no even field, just as there are no John Galts or Dagny Taggarts out there. How do you think corporations 'gain subsidies'? Do you think it's the politicians who meet and discuss who they should hand money to? It's the other way round. The corruption starts on the private side and it infests the public domain. Always. How would the Libertarian Party deal with environmental issues? Education? Medicine? Policing? By unleashing the power of the free market, and completely destroying all of them for all but the extremely privileged few. For a pretty good view of a Libertarian future, take a good look at the private prison system already in place and growing.
  14. And governments who go to war on behalf of the private interests in their countries. The weird thing is, there are people like Aaron who will tell you it's the politician's fault when he gets bribed by the businessman. Yet it's the businessman who his following his nature.

  15. Haiku Chain

    soaring crane replied to Stigweard's topic in General Discussion

    mirrors don't self-scan Mountains bounce off lakes Dragons lurk below
  16. This. 'No one knows for sure what will happen' is a pretty flimsy ideological impetus, imo. Besides, most people are perfectly able to see where private powers would go if they were left to their own devices. If you think they have a hold on the gov't now, why in the world would you think that they'd behave more honorably when given the key to henhouse? I will grant the Libertarian view one thing - they have the right idea on foreign policy and especially the military. Hey it's Veterans' Day - respect today's Vets by making fewer of them in future!
  17. How does the Libertarian platform address poverty?

  18. Haiku Chain

    soaring crane replied to Stigweard's topic in General Discussion

    and bean sprouts for hair adorn the scalp of a head, a mind filled with dirt

  19. soaring crane replied to SonOfTheGods's topic in The Rabbit Hole

    wow, absolutely! I love this <3

  20. The Power of "Ignore"

    soaring crane replied to RiverSnake's topic in The Rabbit Hole

    that can't be a good sign
  21. The Libertarian approach is (in my view and based on my experience) the poster child for 'be careful what you wish for because you just might get it'. A consumption-based, market economy is one thing (and probably the best choice for large, complex societies) but privatization of all critical areas of modern life - education, medicine, policing, fire and other emergency services, etc - is a slippery slope that I think a lot of people would prefer to avoid, especially once they slide down it. The Libertarian Party, being the only really viable alternative available to Americans, attracts a whole slew of characters from the genuinely thoughtful and honest to the devious and deluded. As a political force, I think it's best if they remain on the fringes, frankly. Here's a conundrum - I've been living in Germany since 1995 and have slowly come to appreciate the political system here, and feel that I actually have far more personal freedom than I ever did back in the USA.

  22. So it turns out nobody really knows

    soaring crane replied to Coaster's topic in Daoist Discussion

    No that's not what I had in mind at all. I also come up blank when I search for the thread, I think it's maybe 3 years old? It was a long one. She does of course have a personal practice page, sure. Ask her there directly. Edit: ok, I just visited her page and see now what you quoted. In that old thread, some bums, myself included, had been offering their opinions on what Qi is and TM, as I recall, finally had enough and just let fly with a few paragraphs of sublime profundity. It was far and away the clearest description of Qi I've ever read. But I'm not intelligent enough to remember on that level; I read, I integrate, I move on... Anyway, like I said, you could always ask her for her view... Btw, Dr Yang always makes very clear from the outset that his knowledge is limited and he has more questions than answers. That's what I like about him, why I trust him.

  23. So it turns out nobody really knows

    soaring crane replied to Coaster's topic in Daoist Discussion

    Search the thread 'what is qi'. You may look at the topic a bit differently, especially after you get to Taomeow 's submission

  24. the tao bums map

    soaring crane replied to mantis's topic in General Discussion

    +1

  25. What are you listening to?

    soaring crane replied to sean's topic in The Rabbit Hole

    this is the most well-known use of the Theramin ever, starts at about the 30 second mark: those aren't women singing ...