Rev. Danny Fisher

Via the Tricycle Editors’ Blog:

“When a society comes together and makes decisions in harmony, when it respects its most noble traditions, cares for its most vulnerable members, treats its forests and lands with respect, then it will prosper and not decline…”

- Mahaparinirvana sutra

Whatever your political beliefs, your active informed citizenship is a part of a wise household practice. We are at a critical juncture in American history, with major decisions to make about the global environment, economics, foreign policy and social justice, decisions that will deeply affect all of us for generations ahead.

We urge you to engage, respectfully, and to act on your values: register voters, go to work in swing states, support what you believe to be wise social action and enlist others to join you in your work. Let the inner qualities of wisdom and compassion inspire your outer vision and find a way to support and embody these values for the benefit of all.

Lama Palden Alioto – Sukkhasiddhi Foundation
Sylvia Boorstein – Spirit Rock Center
Norman Fischer – Former abbot San Francisco Zen Center
Trudy Goodman – Insight LA
Jack and Liana Kornfield – Spirit Rock Center
Lew Richmond – Vimala Sangha
Sharon Salzberg – Insight Meditation Society
John Tarrant, Roshi – Pacific Zen Institute
Roger Walsh – Dzogchen Foundation

You can register to vote here.

The Associated Press is reporting that the National League for Democracy, the party of Nobel Peace laureate and Prime Minister-elect Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, is demanding that the ruling military junta set up a committee to review the their constitution. “The majority of the people do not accept the constitution which was illegally approved by force,” said a statement by Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy, which also charged the junta with using “coercion, intimidation, deception and misrepresentation to get voters’ approval.”

This via TrueMajority.org: Call the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121, and ask for your state’s senators. Tell them, “I am a TrueMajority member calling to urge the Senator to oppose the Bush corporate bailout. It’s time that the Government support ordinary Americans instead of bailing out their corporate cronies.” Or you can say something of your design. Then tell TrueMajority who you called, what you said, and how it went by following this link.

Even more from the Agence France-Presse about Burma a year after the “Saffron Revolution.” (There was this piece yesterday.)

This from The People’s Email Network:

The Democratic leaders must take control and demand that fresh, strong economists look at the “financial meltdown disaster capitalism stories” Paulson and Bernanke are selling and they must not allow themselves to be rushed into passing legislation like they did when they allowed Bush to take us into war.

Any legislation passed must instead DIRECTLY assist American homeowners who are ultimate victims of the mortgage and housing economic problems facing America, for that is the real and only way to save the banks.

We need to tell the leaders of congress and our own legislators that we’re watching them. We remember how they failed us before the Iraq war and we won’t let it happen again.

Send a letter to the editor of your nearest local daily newspaper and a personal message to all your government representatives by following this link.