tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-111249592023-09-04T05:25:15.640-05:00Welcome to the Tannish Institute of Omphaloskepsis! Pull up a gomden and relax. The Koan I'll give you is this: "What's so funny about Peace, Love and Understanding?"Tannishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17467768113926528343noreply@blogger.comBlogger363125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11124959.post-1150545397292153112006-06-17T06:56:00.000-05:002006-06-17T06:56:37.300-05:00

The move has been made, the road full of potholes. Likely it's take time to smooth out the path to the new homestead. But I expect this to be the last Blogger post. Despite the recurring down-times, Blogger is a decent tool for the neophyte. I recommend it, still. My new Address, for my three readers: http://tannish.net. Please update your bookmarks. I might change the name and/or the focus of

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17467768113926528343noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11124959.post-1150240831611493762006-06-13T18:20:00.000-05:002006-06-13T18:22:00.596-05:00

I feel a breeze in the blogosphere. Perhaps its a natural progression of an Internet addict to advance from the free services toward the more robust control and flexibility of a web host. I've resisted the change for years (the Tannish Page, started when GeoCities was its own company, has been around the block a time or two.) It started yesterday evening with a conversation with my teenage

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17467768113926528343noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11124959.post-1150141804594820232006-06-12T14:27:00.000-05:002006-06-12T14:50:04.620-05:00

Isn't is creepy when you get a spam email with your full name in the header? Who else knows about you? That thought alone would keep some awake at night. I also receive email with my address writ in bold face in the header. Somehow, that troubles me more.We live in an increasingly transparent society. Wiretaps are passe, snoops now use computer to parse vast amount of voice transmissions,

Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11124959.post-1149900891568929682006-06-09T19:54:00.000-05:002006-06-09T20:00:16.403-05:00

As a modern American Buddhist, I sometimes feel pulled in two directions. While I practice the path, and study the sutras and the contemporary work of the likes of Thich Nhat Hahn, Pema Chodrön, and the Dalai Lama, I understand how humanity is fundamentally good. Underneath all the chaos and confusion, people want to love and be loved, to help one another and be nurturing. This week’s word of

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17467768113926528343noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11124959.post-1149810566419215902006-06-08T18:49:00.000-05:002006-06-08T18:49:26.430-05:00

Mornings are the times my brain likes to wander. During this morning’s commute I ponder generational monikers and the insufficiency of both of the Big Ones to adequately describe people like myself. The term Baby Boomers refers to the post WWII generation, and is sometimes extended to those born up to 1964. Generation X originally referred to those born in the ‘60’s through the ‘80’s, although

Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11124959.post-1149727831259558742006-06-07T19:49:00.000-05:002006-06-07T19:50:31.280-05:00

“You’re stupid. You want to know why? It’s because you don’t agree with my point of view. Do you want to hear my side? No? Well that just proves how stupid you are. Did you know the definition of idiot is a person uninterested in politics? My definition of moron is anyone who can’t see what needs doing in this country. I can’t believe you think like that! You and the Mainstream Media – you guys

Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11124959.post-1149597198387110772006-06-06T07:27:00.000-05:002006-06-06T07:33:18.416-05:00

I awoke this morning to a harsh reality: the world hasn't ended yet. While my mind has been embroiled all week in the ramifications of a major change in the office, the outside world limps on as usual. To some degree I am disappointed. This morning would have been a good time for closure, as I lay amongst my sleeping family. Who could not wish to be with loved ones at the End of All Things? Alas,

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17467768113926528343noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11124959.post-1149542760469677042006-06-05T16:26:00.000-05:002006-06-05T16:26:00.496-05:00

…Brown People are the enemy… All Muslims are terrorists… Buy more guns… I hear the will of Jesus… Defend our borders before the dark people destroy America… White Christians must defend themselves… AIDS is God’s retribution against Gays and Africans…. War is good… Iran has Weapons of Mass Destruction… Oil is our birthright…So sorry: I can’t get this foil helmet off. These damn things are supposed

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17467768113926528343noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11124959.post-1149541557100585052006-06-05T15:59:00.000-05:002006-06-05T16:07:17.033-05:00

Where sits the Media, really?I can’t count the many times the MSM gets bashed by all concerned parties. The Right has innumerable knee-jerk allusions of how far left the media is. Lately, the progressives – we dare not associate with the term “liberal” – are singing in counterpoint how the same media is in the pockets of the Repulsives… the Repugnants… the… Oh, you get the idea. Does this mean

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17467768113926528343noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11124959.post-1149431273880646072006-06-04T09:27:00.000-05:002006-06-04T09:27:54.003-05:00

Someday I hope to be half as eloquent as Frank Rich of the NY Times. In today’s editorial he bombasts the government with one of the strongest arguments I’ve recently heard for bringing the troops home.Enumerating our failed war policy is easy. To do so with as few words as possible is the trick. Frank delivers. Regarding the false claim of “Standing down,” he counters with:So let's do the math.

Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11124959.post-1149120200948107392006-05-31T19:03:00.000-05:002006-05-31T19:03:21.083-05:00

It’s comforting to note that our grandchildren will be fortunate enough to witness the end of humanity in their lifetimes. On a selfish level, I probably won’t be around to see it, so that’s a small comfort. On another level, it has been a long time coming, this self-extinction, so the sooner the planet is rid of us, the better. The fact that our foreseeable progeny must be witness to the

Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11124959.post-1149078276126903362006-05-31T07:24:00.000-05:002006-05-31T07:24:36.773-05:00

Too bad the concept of owning vanity plates for my car is antithetical to Buddhist philosophy. I would get some that read: MEDIT8Buddhism talks about how the mind is central to our experience; everything we perceive filters through the mind…(Have I lost you yet? It always amazes me how any mention of Buddhism, in any form glazes the eyes of my theistic friends and relations. Looking into their

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17467768113926528343noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11124959.post-1149026547459020752006-05-30T16:57:00.000-05:002006-05-30T17:02:27.483-05:00

Boy its tough changing gears. After a year of Bush bashing, I attempt to expand my subject matter only to encounter writers block. What will we leftist bloggers do if the unthinkable happens – like if we get a Democrat in the White House? That just might put Kos out of business. Certainly After Downing Street’s days are numbered regardless of outcomes.Wait… Do I hear cheering in the background?

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17467768113926528343noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11124959.post-1148824620380313562006-05-28T08:57:00.000-05:002006-05-28T09:01:35.533-05:00

It seems we’re supposed to get teary-eyed and maudlin over the Memorial Day holiday. Good Americans are to trot out their dusty flags and their threadbare national pride for display. We’ll open our Sunday papers to read OpEds about how free we are and how this directly relates to our fallen soldiers, and - most importantly – how we plebeians should be grateful for the generations of American

Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11124959.post-1148647385425217742006-05-26T07:43:00.000-05:002006-05-26T07:43:05.560-05:00

I found myself pondering our concepts of power during the commute to work this morning – I have no idea why. The struggle for power affects us all. It is a direct extension of our self-preferential worldview, in which we do anything to promote our will over others. Survival of the Fittest – not necessarily.Whether you’re a corporate CEO, a CEO President, or “just” the House Majority Leader, power

Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11124959.post-1148593373684543872006-05-25T16:42:00.000-05:002006-05-25T16:47:56.726-05:00

I’m just now catching up on the latest fiasco in Washington (here, here, and here among others). No doubt you’ve heard by now how Federal agents absconded with documents from the House of Representative office complex and declared them classified, to whisk them off to the inter-dimensional vortex to which only the FBI has the keys.For once – at least for now – I’m speechless. I can only shake my

Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11124959.post-1148513003024112112006-05-24T18:23:00.000-05:002006-05-24T18:23:23.160-05:00

Where I turn my car into and out of the parking lot at work there is a large double billboard. Raised only seven feet off the ground, the larger-than-necessary message has been working is subliminal magic. Mostly the message is uninteresting. I not sure what the left half is promoting; some radio station, I think… The right half is promoting the new Coca Cola Blak coffee drink. For the past two

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17467768113926528343noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11124959.post-1148387286807939352006-05-23T07:28:00.000-05:002006-05-23T07:31:11.860-05:00

Like The Boy Who Cried “Wolf”, the Bush who cried ”Democracy” is getting harder and harder to believe. Prince George was in Chicago yesterday, rehearsing his talking points for the National Restaurant Association, proudly preening progress in Iraq. Today, in my irritability, I cry “Bullshit!”No doubt, this version of the NRA is more interested in the impact of immigration upon their workforce

Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11124959.post-1148221467153008332006-05-21T09:24:00.000-05:002006-05-21T09:24:27.256-05:00

“What are you doing this weekend?” my coworker asked. An innocuous comment, social lubricant aimed more to fill the air or to act as a bonding agent. My chiropractor asks: “Do you have any big plans this weekend?” in the same vein, with a hint of bedside manner to foster the illusion that he cares. He does care, inasmuch as his business is involved, and because he’s a kind, well-meaning person.

Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11124959.post-1148130562127606562006-05-20T08:09:00.000-05:002006-05-20T08:13:28.036-05:00

I’m not supposed to write about politics today. I promised my friend, the Allergic Gardener Leucanthemum, to diversify this blog in an attempt at diminishing the shrillness of repeated Bush-bashing. Notwithstanding the joy of doing so, or the ease – as there is so much to ridicule, the monotony is showing up in my writings.But – and you knew there was a “but” involved here – I come across an

Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11124959.post-1148084818766091392006-05-19T19:26:00.000-05:002006-05-19T19:26:58.880-05:00

Now we can start counting the deaths in the War on Immigrants… ONE… Remember the War on Drugs? That one is still going on, I think. Meawhile designer drugs have emerged, the CIA has bee accused of drug trafficking, and still there are drug gangs, and the rest of the symptoms in the inner cities. That war is not going well. And then there’s the War on Terror. “Nuff said.Iran seems to be political

Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11124959.post-1147994542783896442006-05-18T18:10:00.000-05:002006-05-18T18:22:22.890-05:00

I can't help wondering if the sudden move to draw attention toward our southern border is a smoke screen to remove eyeballs from the real agenda, or from the carnage in Iraq. With the President's poll numbers going south in an election year, perhaps the floundering elephants are trying anything to divert attention from their mistakes, even if that risks making new ones. After all, the new

Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11124959.post-1147822883111107602006-05-16T18:41:00.000-05:002006-05-16T18:41:23.260-05:00

Two things puzzle me: First, what political expediency drives the new emphasis on immigration? Prince George the Unready has hinted at border policy for years. Now, it’s paramount to wave his magic stick and make the problem go away. Except I’ve noticed that his stick needs recharging – Harry Potter he’s not. Perhaps I’ve become overly skeptical of our poor excuse for leadership, a hyper-jaded

Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11124959.post-1147737784148185522006-05-15T19:03:00.000-05:002006-05-15T19:06:38.850-05:00

Today I got a nice surprise in the form of a response from a reader at my original web page, the Tannish Page. It’s nice to know that some people are stumbling upon my writings on occasion. Being a tiny fish in the cesspool of the vast internet, I find I enjoy such a rare event.Below I include the query as well as my reply, edited for anonymity:Original Message:name: Jim M.comment: Tannish,I

Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11124959.post-1147612690925717132006-05-14T08:18:00.000-05:002006-05-14T08:18:18.046-05:00

To all Mommies, Grannies, Bubies, Nanas, and aspiring mothers: Wishes for the best of days. Apart from a celebration of home makers and nurturers, Mothers Day is a celebration of women. Not being one, I go out on a limb by saying motherhood and the potential of childbirth is a central theme in all women’s lives. The mechanics of human reproduction is the domain of the woman, and this day attempts

Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0