Brown for U.S. Senate

Master Li Kim Grebnesi has gone into deep meditation, in order to give his alter ego, Michael Isenberg, an opportunity to work on a more partisan project: a web site promoting grass roots support for Republican Scott Brown in the January 19 Massachusetts Senate Race. See http://www.nexusofpower.com. Master Li Kim will be back after the election.

Koan of the Week

Boss Barry and Master Li Kim Grebnesi were at the counter in the coffee shop. Barry ordered the 32 ounce French Roast.

“Sounds like you need caffeination,” the Master observed.

“I was up all night with a crisis. Brother Hezekiah told me ‘be in the present’. So I was. For a year. Instead of planning I just took things moment to moment. Now I find out my sales are off, I’m losing money, and the stockholders are pissed.”

The Master replied, “Always be in the present when you’re planning the future.”

Master Li Kim’s Commentary: “Be in the present” is one of the Six Gates of Mindfulness Practice. But it doesn’t mean “don’t plan”. It means “when you are planning, only plan”. Focus your whole attention on that one task you are performing in the present. Especially when it’s a task as important as planning.

Master Li Kim’s Haiku:

A cat in the brush
Watches the mouse carefully
Before she pounces.

Rush vs. the GOP

Back in March I praised Rush Limbaugh’s CPAC speech as “profoundly philosophical”. Today Mr. Limbaugh displayed that side of himself again, this time talking about the anemic GOP response to the Health Care bill:

“They don't have faith in our principles. They don't have the will or energy to go on offense. I'm talking about the Republican leadership, wherever you find it. And they're incapable of explaining our philosophy or our purpose. I really believe that the way to fight this is on pure ideological terms. Liberals are liberals, and it's not helpful to them when they are so identified…We cannot allow our party to be based on what Olympia Snowe and Ben Nelson or Blanche Lincoln may or may not do. What's smart about that? You do [not] build a strong future on a foundation with unreliable keystones.”

Rush’s closing metaphor may not be correct architecturally (I’m pretty sure keystones don’t go in the foundation) but it is sound historically. From Mohammad to Luther to Lenin to Reagan, history’s winners have been those who fought on philosophical grounds, who believed in something and communicated it to others. Republicans need to learn that lesson if they are serious about stopping Obama’s plans for the expansion of government into every area of life; it’s a lesson Obama already knows.

How Would Jesus Vote?

I was in the parking lot at Shopper’s World and saw a bumper sticker that said, “Get real. Like Jesus Would Ever Own a Gun & Vote Republican.”

They got a point. The man who said, “Whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also” probably would not buy a Smith and Wesson. And the man who said, “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God” probably would not embrace a political party whose economic philosophy facilitates the accumulation of wealth.

Granted, I’m not taking sides.