2009 July 15 « Rev. Danny Fisher

July 15, 2009

The Tricycle Editors’ Blog Looks at My Anger Post, and Asks Readers for Responses to Their Questions about Practicing With Anger

Over at the Tricycle Editors’ Blog, Rachel Hiles kindly posted on my recent post about contemplating anger at the grocery checkout. In writing about my post, she took the opportunity to ask readers the following:

Has anyone out there had an experience in which you chose to be proactive rather than reactive? Did it bring about a change in those around you?

Please stop by and leave an answer for the good people at Trike.

In other news related to that post, my mother, The Quilted Librarian, sent me a must-read poem on anger. Take a look.

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July 15, 2009

Bill Moyers On Money and Health Care

July 15, 2009

Burma News (7.15.09)

“Mr. Ban (right) had been criticised for appearing to secure little on his visit.” Image via the BBC.
Here are today’s headlines about Burma:

The Associated Press reports that U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Scot Marciel today “defended the United States’ ability to push for democratic change in Myanmar, saying an unfinished Obama administration review of Myanmar policy has not hindered U.S. diplomacy with the military-run country.”

Evelyn Leopard, veteran reporter at the United Nations, blogs at The Huffington Post that “Beijing broke from its usual uncontroversial statements on Myanmar (Burma) and told the West to stop ‘picking’ on the ruling junta and stop treating it with ‘arrogance and prejudice.’”

The BBC reports that “Burma is preparing to release political prisoners to allow them to take part in national elections next year…[and that] the move comes at the request of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who visited the country last week.”

The Washington Post reports that “political analysts cautiously welcomed the Burmese government’s promise of amnesty for prisoners but warned that proof of the authorities’ sincerity will be measured in how many political detainees are freed.”

The BBC also “assesses the mood of the country’s opposition movement” right now.

The Agence France-Presse reports that “medical charity Doctors without Borders (MSF) on Wednesday condemned an ‘aggressive and abusive’ attempt by Bangladeshi police to forcibly displace Rohingya refugees [from Burma] by destroying and looting their makeshift homes.”

July 15, 2009

Justin Whitaker’s Visit to University of the West

The author (right) with Justin Whitaker (left) at the office of the Buddhist Chaplaincy Program at University of the West in Rosemead, CA. Photo by Corrine E. Hinton.
My friend Justin Whitaker, of the great blog American Buddhist Perspective, was on the campus of University of the West (where I work) yesterday to deliver a lecture entitled “A Buddhist Reading Kant, a Kantian Reading the Buddha”. It was great to see Justin again–we roomed together at the American Academy of Religion’s 2008 Annual Meeting in Chicago–and he gave what I thought was a brilliant lecture. (I tend to be wary of attempts at systematic work in Buddhist Studies, but Justin may have turned me around on the whole thing!)

Luckily, our magnificent Extended Studies Coordinator Bil Owen was on hand to record Justin’s lecture for Open Campus–UWest’s free, open Buddhist Studies e-learning platform. Hopefully, it will posted soon, and I’ll be sure to point you all to it when that happens. In the meantime, you can check out other lectures at Open Campus from such Buddhist Studies luminaries as Lewis Lancaster, Robert Buswell, John McRae, and Robert Scharf. (I know I work for UWest and I’m biased, but really: Open Campus is way, way cool.)

Thanks, Justin! We were so glad to have you on campus to teach us!

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July 15, 2009

Tibet News (7.14.09)

A protestor arrested today outside the United Nations office in Kathmandu, Nepal. Image via Phayul.
Here are today’s Tibet-related headlines:

The Agence France-Presse reports that Nepalese police today arrested 25 Tibetan exiles as they “staged an anti-China demonstration outside the United Nations office in Kathmandu.”

According to the Associated Press, His Holiness the Dalai Lama will visit the University of Northern Iowa in 2010.

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