We are drowning in material goods, yet we crave ever more stuff.

See them floundering after their cherished possessions, like fish flopping in a river starved of water. 

Sutta Nipata 777 (From What Would Buddha Do? (1999)).

A friend of mine recently returned from an extended trip to Egypt.  He found it striking that the 18 million residents of Cairo lived in tightly packed conditions and that they owned so very few possessions.  Based on his own observations, the average resident of Cairo owned about 10% of the property owned by the average American family.  My friend’s estimate was about on the mark.  Most Americans would certainly describe most residents of Cairo to be “poor.” 

Amidst this material “poverty,” though, my friend noticed numerous signs of family togetherness and harmony that he doesn’t often see in the U.S.  Parents and children were spending time with each other, smiling at each other, playing together and apparently enjoying each others’ company.  How could this be, that people appeared to be so happy when they owned so little?  As my friend described what he saw, I couldn’t imagine Americans getting along that well if someone took away 90% of our possessions.  In fact, we’d become embittered and we’d be at each other’s throats.

My friend’s comments caused me to think of the enormous amount of material possessions that Americans have and crave.  We have shameful amounts of material possessions.  We have many times more stuff than we need.  Yet we work very hard to have ever more.

We are afflicted with the all-consuming epidemic “affluenza,” …

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Read All About It! Abortion Causes Labor Shortage! Stock Market Crash Looms From Lack Of Buyers and Sellers! Farmers Worry Over Too Few Mouths To Feed!

In Missouri, Republican legislators charged with getting to the bottom of a problem, have produced a fine example of spurious causal linkage that ought to go down in history with the assertion made by certain agents of the pope to Michelangelo that, since one of his marbles had taken seven years to complete, the new one for which he had requisitioned four helpers, would therefore take 28 years to complete–four times seven, you see, equals twenty-eight. It never occurred to them to divide, only multiply.

Which seems to be a problem Republicans have with regards to certain problems.

Their conclusion in this instance is that the rise in illegal immigration over that last three decades can be attributed to abortion. Specifically, because some forty-five million abortions have been performed since Roe v. Wade, those millions of potential Americans represent the short-fall in our labor pool which illegal immigrants are filling.

I haven’t laughed so painfully in a long time. Not over this sort of absurdity.

The Democrats on the same committee have refused to sign off on the report, but the report is now public, and all the Republicans signed it, hence alleviating any doubt (had there ever been any) where they stand on the issue of illegal immigration. Obviously, we should go on an accelerated program of creating a second baby boom to stem the tide of all those undocumented workers stealing American jobs. It will, of course, take about 18 years for the program to produce any tangible …

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Breast-feeding mom kicked off plane for reminding fellow passengers that humans are animals.

According to this recent news item on MSNBC, Emily Gillette, 27, filed the complaint with the Vermont Human Rights Commission late last week against Delta Air Lines, for kicking her off of a flight between Burlington and New York City. Gillette said she was breast-feeding her 22-month-old daughter as their…

Continue ReadingBreast-feeding mom kicked off plane for reminding fellow passengers that humans are animals.

Does constant exposure to advertising screw up our heads and lives?

I think so.  The rampant commercialization of the U.S. becomes powerfully evident whenever I return from an extended trip to a country where people don’t wallow in materialism (on this exact point, see this post by Mindy Carney).  Americans are professional buyers and horders of things they don’t need.  I believe that the trojan horse of ubiquitious advertising is largely to blame.  Before I go further, here are a couple of quotes to ponder.

Don’t tell my mother I work in an advertising agency – she thinks I play piano in a whorehouse.  ~Jacques Seguela

He who buys what he does not need steals from himself.  ~Author Unknown

Many people would argue that we can freely ignore advertisements. Therefore, it’s OK to make the all-American deal: allow as many ads as necessary to pay for news and entertainment. 

I disagree. Yes, we can ignore particular commercials or even dozens of commercials.  But the average person is exposed to two million television commercials by age 65.  In The Paradox of Choice: Why More is Less (2005), Barry Schwartz writes that “The average American sees three thousands ads a day.”  As advertising professor James Twitchell puts it, “Ads are what we know about the world around us.”  Just listen to Americans!  They have become the commercials they have been exposed to.   They just can’t stop craving the things they see advertised.  They recite skits they hear on commercials just like people often used to sing the melodies they heard on …

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Terrorism as a political tool exploited by the alleged victims

It should now be clear to everyone (though, sadly, it is not) that the threat of terrorism has been drummed up for political gain by neoconservatives. In the past, politicians often offered us hope. In recent years, they have found it more useful to claim that they are protecting us from nightmares. Thus, they often claim that they are rescuing us from horrible dangers we cannot see, by conducting their wars on "terror" and immorality. In reality, they have been offering us dark illusions and fantasies. Until two days ago, those politicians with the darkest imaginations had become the most powerful. For those of you wondering how this insanity came to be, consider viewing the BBC’s superb documentary: “The Power of Nightmares: The Shadows In The Cave.” Here is a taste of this gripping three-part documentary (If these links don't work, try Here's a new set of links that work on Google for the three parts of the documentary. Part I Part II Part III ):

There are dangerous and fanatical individuals and groups around the world who have been inspired by extreme Islamist ideas, and who will use the techniques of mass terror - the attacks on America and Madrid make this only too clear.

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