I'm Gina Smith

Says T.S. Eliot (on foxes, poultry and politics)

"An election is coming. Universal peace is declared and the foxes have a sincere interest in prolonging the lives of the poultry." T.S Eliot.

The Natural Emergencies of the Self

by T.S. Eliot, "Burnt Norton"

At the still point of the turning world. Neither flesh nor fleshless;

Neither from nor towards; at the still point, there the dance is,

But neither arrest nor movement. And do not call it fixity.

Where past and future are gathered. Neither movement from nor towards.

Neither ascent nor decline. Except for the point, the still point,

There would be no dance, and there is only the dance.

I can only say, there we have been, but I cannot say where.

And I cannot say, how long, for that is to place it in time.

The inner freedom from the practical desire,

The release from action and suffering, release from the inner

And the outer compulsion, yet surrounded

By a grace of sense, a white light still and moving.

Erhebung without motion, concentraion

Without elimination, both a new world

And the old made explicit, understood

IN the completion of its partial ecstacy

'The resolution of its partial horror

Yet the enchainment of past and future

Woven in the eakness of the changing body,

Protects mankind from heaven and damnation

Which flesh cannot endure.

Time past and time future

Allow but a little consciousness.

To be conscious is not to be in time

But only in time can the moment in the rose-garden,

The moment in the arbour where the rain beat,

The moment in the drafty church at smokefall

Be remembered; involved with past and future.

Only through time time is conquered.

New JFK info released -- mob involvement?

Wow. Watch the news on tomorrow, 'Presidents' Day' here in America, for some blockbuster news out of Dallas. Excerpt from reuters, below. I bolded text particularly surprising.

DALLAS (Reuters) - A batch of old documents linked to the slaying of President John F. Kennedy has reportedly been unearthed, including a highly suspect transcript of a conversation between Lee Harvey Oswald and Oswald's killer Jack Ruby, the Dallas Morning News said on Sunday.

The newspaper said the Dallas County district attorney's office, which uncovered the documents, would display its discovery at a news conference on Monday morning.

The Morning News said the items found in an old safe in a Dallas courthouse included personal letters from former District Attorney Henry Wade, the prosecutor in the Ruby trial. Ruby shot Oswald two days after the president's death.

Also found were official records from Ruby's trial, a gun holster and clothing that probably belonged to Ruby and Oswald, District Attorney Craig Watkins told the newspaper.

But one potentially controversial item is a transcript of an exchange between Oswald and Ruby in which they discuss killing Kennedy to halt the mafia-busting agenda of his brother, Attorney General Robert Kennedy.

The Morning News said one theory about the transcript was that it was part of a movie script Wade was working on with producers, for a film that was never made.

The transcript resembles one published by the Warren Commission, which investigated Kennedy's assassination and concluded Oswald acted alone. The FBI had determined the conversation between Oswald and Ruby -- this time about killing Texas Gov. John Connally -- was definitely fake, the newspaper said.

Connally was riding in the car with Kennedy and was wounded in the attack.

The documents may be a Presidents' Day gift to conspiracy theorists who have long questioned the official U.S. government version that Oswald acted alone when he shot Kennedy on November 22, 1963, as the president's motorcade swept past the Texas School Book Depository in downtown Dallas.

Nightclub owner Ruby subsequently shot Oswald dead at point-blank range as police were escorting their prime suspect. Ruby died a few years later from cancer.

Zen Weekend (Alan Watts on Zen)

Instead of a Zen story, click here to hear and see Alan Watts talk about zen. Once you get there, look around. There are a surprising number of cool Alan Watts lectures to browse.

Hope you don't have a "love" stock. (Reuters)

As a journalist, I don't get to hold stock. Lucky for me. From IGS, Happy Valentines Day!

See Reuters excerpt below.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Cupid's arrow apparently missed many investors on Valentine's Day.

The shares of companies selling some of the typical Valentine's Day buys -- shiny baubles, chocolates and bouquets of roses -- were mostly lower on Thursday, following a sell-off in the broader stock market.

Shares of flower seller FTD Group Inc were down 4 percent at $12.85, while shares of luxury jeweler Tiffany & Co  were down 1.9 percent at $39.15 and shares of Hershey Co. slipped 0.7 percent to $35.63.

The business of Valentine's Day has become bigger than ever. Americans are expected to spend a total of over $17 billion on gifts for the holiday, according to a National Retail Federation survey conducted by BIGresearch.

But the buying binge didn't spill over into love stocks. Their declines came as the three major stock indexes tumbled more than 1 percent each, after Federal Reserve Chief Ben Bernanke's said he saw sluggish economic growth ahead and ratings agency Moody's downgraded bond insurer FGIC Corp's "AAA" rating.

In addition, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson warned about downside risks to economic growth.

"With Paulson speaking and Bernanke, in my portfolio I've got a few green things, but not a whole lot," said Brent Wilsey, president of Wilsey Asset Management in San Diego.

Still, Wilsey said investors shouldn't dump these love stocks.

An excellent non-commercial Valentine's Day idea

... that might actually help someone.

One of my former coworkers, Ben Calica, sent me this. I couldn't resist passing it on.

I'm working with a company that is doing a cool little something for Valentines Day.  Rather than the standard buy consumer goods, they have set up a pathway to let people do something good in the name/spirit of their sweetie.  For example, rather than give a stuffed animal, give a needy family a Llama through Heifer.org.

There is nothing nefarious here.  Names will not be used for any ill, they are just trying to be a conduit for getting some good done in the world.  The company, Polka.com has random acts of kindness a couple of times before, helping a family after the San Diego wildfires and adopting families in over the holidays, and they are building it into who they are as a company.

I'm hoping for your help in spreading out the word about it.

They are calling it Random Acts of Love

Link to find out more about it:

http://blog.polka.com/

Let me know if you have any questions, and thanks!

-Ben

The Poem of Hoshin (from 101 Zen Stories)

The Last Poem of Hoshin

The Zen master Hoshin lived in China many years. Then he returned to the northeastern part of Japan, where he taught his disciples. When he was getting very old, he told them a story he had heard in China. This is the story:

One year on the twenty-fifth of December, Tokufu, who was very old, said to his disciples: "I am not going to be alive next year so you fellows should treat me well this year."

The pupils thought he was joking, but since he was a great-hearted teacher each of them in turn treated him to a feast on succeeding days of the departing year.

On the eve of the new year, Tokufu concluded: "You have been good to me. I shall leave you tomorrow afternoon when the snow has stopped."

The disciples laughed, thinking he was aging and talking nonsense since the night was clear and without snow. But at midnight snow began to fall, and the next day they did not find their teacher about. They went to the meditation hall. There he had passed on.

Hoshin, who related this story, told his disciples: "It is not necessary for a Zen master to predict his passing, but if he really wishes to do so, he can."

"Can you?" someone asked.

"Yes," answered Hoshin. "I will show you what I can do seven days from now."

None of the disciples believed him, and most of them had even forgotten the conversation when Hoshin next called them together.

"Seven days ago," he remarked, "I said I was going to leave you. It is customary to write a farewell poem, but I am neither poet nor calligrapher. Let one of you inscribe my last words."

His followers thought he was joking, but one of them started to write.

"Are you ready?" Hoshin asked.

"Yes, sir," replied the writer.

Then Hoshin dictated:

I came from brilliancy.
And return to brilliancy.
What is this?

The poem was one line short of the customary four, so the disciple said: "Master, we are one line short."

Hoshin, with the roar of a conquoring lion, shouted "Kaa!" and was gone.

A short test to see which candidate best reflects your opinions. (EXCELLENT)

Thanks to IGS reader Don Allen, here's a 20 question quiz you can take to see which presidential candidate best matches your views.

I was blown away to see the non-withdrawn Dennis Kucinich (my favorite) was matched to me exactly.

Take the test. Fast and easy and extremely interesting.