Ladybugs and Republicans

A little girl was singing and walking in circles on my way to school. It took me a minute to realize that her dress had ladybug wings, and big ladybug spots. I commented on her costume as her father beamed, but she was unimpressed and held up her stuffed zebra. It took me another minute to realize that her stuffed zebra had ladybug wings as well.

The compliments on here zebra's costume were better received. My apologies, little ladybug, for being so unobservant.

Freezing at the bus stop, an older gentleman in scruffy clothes checked the coin slot on the payphone. I say gentleman because despite his circumstances he had an air of dignity about him. Further down the line he quietly checked the money slot on the ATM.

I dug around in my purse and found 26 cents and ran after him. "Sir!" I tried to catch my breath. "I noticed you checked the coin slot and..." He looked a little evasive and I realized his dignity would not let him beg. "...you missed something," I lied as I handed him the 26 cents.

He knew he hadn't, and I knew he knew, but the polite fiction was maintained. Lying is against the rules for a Buddhist but when it is the compassionate thing to do, compassion overrules the rules.

And speaking of compassion. It's time to throw out the Republican congress. Vote, vote, vote! Pass it on:




If you have any question about getting rid of the current Republican-dominated congress, check out the Rolling Stone's cover story: The Worst Congress Ever: Incompetent, Lazy & Corrupt.

My favorite bit:

But in the Bush years, Republicans have managed the conference issue with some of the most mind-blowingly juvenile behavior seen in any parliament west of the Russian Duma after happy hour. GOP chairmen routinely call a meeting, bring the press in for a photo op and then promptly shut the proceedings down. "Take a picture, wait five minutes, gavel it out -- all for show" is how one Democratic staffer described the process. Then, amazingly, the Republicans sneak off to hold the real conference, forcing the Democrats to turn amateur detective and go searching the Capitol grounds for the meeting. "More often than not, we're trying to figure out where the conference is," says one House aide.

In one legendary incident, Rep. Charles Rangel went searching for a secret conference being held by Thomas. When he found the room where Republicans closeted themselves, he knocked and knocked on the door, but no one answered. A House aide compares the scene to the famous "Land Shark" skit from Saturday Night Live, with everyone hiding behind the door afraid to make a sound. "Rangel was the land shark, I guess," the aide jokes. But the real punch line came when Thomas finally opened the door. "This meeting," he informed Rangel, "is only open to the coalition of the willing."

Couple time and playing hookey (hookie?)

wildernessguru and I, feeling a little raw after the weekend, ran away from work and school today.

Okay, he already had the afternoon off for a dentist appointment and I blew off my (worthless) creative writing class to go with him. It turned out we had the day wrong, so we rescheduled and... had an afternoon free. An afternoon filled with Halloween costumes and trick or treaters. Little kids in perfect fireman costumes.

At first I thought I'd we'd "talk." Then I realized that's not what we needed right now.

So we went shopping.

WG loves to shop, especially at his favorite outdoor stores. Surrounded by sale racks, I hunted through bins of PolarMax ($30 PolarMax on sale for five bucks, no wonder he likes this place) while he tried things on in the dressing room, modeling for me. Quietly, in our own way, we healed, just enjoying each other's company.

Then we picked up "mystery photos" that turned out to be from Christmas five years ago. Tried to get haircuts but were driven away by a wait and really bad Musak. Drove around and enjoyed the costumes, the fall color and fading light. Went home and watched a movie together.

Breathing in, doing the Buddhist Sending and Receiving for him, I could tell that this weekend badly frightened him. I like to dig out problems, prod at them, fix them, even if it means bringing a lot of ugly stuff to light. But sometimes it's better to be gentle. Especially with wildernessguru. He's like Monte kitty. They both look like big, tough guys, but actually, they're rather delicate.

So we had chocolate cake.