As I sat down on the couch last night, I saw that there was a new show on the screen before me on the TV was a person just like I was he was sitting there a reality show and in the room decorated like mine he sat and watched the other side of the screen between us it was like some kind of test contest in which he would win a prize if he could just sit on that couch long enough to forget what he came there to see perhaps it's a flat screen plasma, they call it, a form of matter that flows beyond flowing and the strings of the atomic nucleus are set free almost to the point beyond points as they were half a second after the Big Bang but then, perhaps because of a light passing outside, the membrane shifts and I see that the power all throughout my house is off and the reality on TV has been me, a doppleganger on the glossy glass and been the more real for it, and even knowing this, the more I look, the more it seems to me that the room behind the screen is where I really was and I have been its depiction.

The natural environment of the Philippines was once one of the richest on Earth, but has been under assault for some time, with mass deforestation, plantation agriculture and abuse of the coral reefs through quick and easy fishing methods like cyanide and dynamite. Every year, the threats to what remain seem to keep on getting worse. This summer, there was a massive oil spill. In November, chemicals dumped into a Philippine river proved so noxious that nearby residents had to flee their town. Yet, not all hope is lost. There is still a great deal of biodiversity left to explore in the Philippines. Yet, earlier this year, a species of mouse and a species of parrot were newly discovered living on Camiguin Island, just to the north of Mindanao. If you're feeling in the mood to help, that's good, because, as much as the American dollar has been devalued over the last few years, it still has the ability to do a lot of good in the Philippines, when it put into the right hands. Two reliable Filipino environmental organizations that also work to help local human commuities are the Philippine Eagle Foundation and Haribon. Unfortunately, neither organization takes donations online. Still, isn't the cause is worth a little bit of extra effort? If you want a faster process, you might consider donating to the Filipino chapter of World Wildlife Fund. They take credit card donations for membership, but you might want to give them a telephone call or send an email to their membership department just to make sure that you're doing everything needed to process correctly.

Mike Gravel may not have the fundraising might of John Edwards, Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton, but he does have one thing these other Democratic presidential candidates don't have. The Gravel for President campaign has the endorsement of Granny D. Granny D. gained fame a few years back when she walked across America in support of campaign finance reform. In 2004, she ran for Senate against incumbent Republican Judd Gregg when no one else would. She has become an institution in New Hampshire politics, and her support just might bring Mike Gravel more than a few votes. Gravel was a US senator for Alaska from 1969 until 1981, and gained fame for filibustering in opposition to the military draft for the Vietnam War and helping to release the Pentagon Papers to the public. Now, Gravel is preparing to take many maverick positions in the course of his presidential campaign, including the elimination of income taxes and direct citizen voting on national legislation. Gravel also opposes the Iraq War and the many programs of government secrecy by the Bush Administration.

Use your imagination to picture Elizabeth Kucinich as First Lady, and you will have one of the most entertaining experiences possible in the entire 2008 presidential election season. Don't use your eyes. Just use your imagination now. it is true that Dennis Kucinich has the most stunningly beautiful mate of any presidential candidate, but there's more to her than just that. Elizabeth Kucinich is someone who dares to be a different kind of political wife than anything America has seen before. She doesn't follow the conventional model of the prospective First Lady. She expresses herself in a fresh and honest way, and with a radically different cultural perspective. Consider how she writes about what she believes to be the spiritual context of the 5th anniversary of the attacks of September 11, 2001:

"It is said in physics that every action causes a reaction. Similar too is the concept of Karma. These can be understood to be the material and spiritual laws of balance. When they are translated into our day to day life experiences, every action indeed causes a reaction, a karmic narrative. To awaken vision and to touch balance in Justice’s scales, we must introduce sincere reflection between the phases of action and reaction. This year marks the fifth anniversary of 9/11, a series of events that marked a day of awakening for the people of the world to the revelation of the very real and powerful forces at play in these times. Not falling prey to the black hole of 9/11 rhetoric which highlights the evil of otherness, rhetoric into which our lives have been sacrificed, together with our freedom and liberty. No, I am speaking of the forces at play within the depths of each of our hearts and the dark side of our souls traveling the shamanic journey into the underworld and the opportunity for our transformation into beings of light. "

What Elizabeth Kucinich writes here is not the kind of formulaic consideration we'd often hear from politicians about how the Christian God wants America to prevail, and will smite down evildoers. I'm not a believer in karma, and I'm not sure if the American public has really been going on a shamanic journey into the underworld, but I appreciate someone who is willing to deviate from the standard recipe for mixing politics and religion. Personally, I don't think that religious commentaries are helpful for dealing with secular issues, because religion divides Americans rather than uniting us in a common vision. However, if a political figure is going to get religious, it's certainly much more interesting when they do it from a perspective that is outside the cultural mainstream. I'm looking forward to seeing how the Religious Right reacts to Elizabeth Kucinich, showing us what they really think about freedom of religion. Lest you think that I'm getting too personal about Elizabeth Kucinich, let me note that this piece of writing is on a blog written by Elizabeth Kucinich that is part of the Kucinich for President in 2008 web site. What Elizabeth Kucinich has written about karma and shamanic journeys is part of the Kucinich presidential campaign. That's a pretty brave move for Dennis Kucinich to make, demonstrating a good deal of confidence in his wife, and in himself. Say what you like about the chances of the Kucinich for President campaign, but you can't say that it isn't earnest. Above all else, the Kucinich for President campaign should be imaginative and interesting. That alone makes it worth watching.

The comments of Mother Davis at Irregular Times on the significance of the Bush White House's request for 170 billion dollars to pay for the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan can be read below. Perhaps 170 billion dollars seems like an arbitrary threshold in the expense of these wars. Certainly, it is long past the time when President Bush promised that the Iraq War would only cost the United States between 50 and 60 billion dollars total. The larger context of this cost seems to be what Mother Davis feels is most important: There is no plausible scenario for an American victory in Iraq or Afghanistan. In fact, the longer these wars go on, the further away from victory we get. Conditions in Iraq and Afghanistan become more anti-American the more we fight against the Islamic radicalsin those countries. The more we strike at militant fundamentalism, the stronger it becomes. If this 170 billion dollars were going to an effective effort to combat terrorism and spread freedom, it would be worth the expense. Given that war has proven an ineffective tool, however, this expense is a wasteful insult to the American people. It's time for an honest admission that the military adventures in Afghanistan and Iraq alike have failed. Here's what Mother Davis had to say on the matter:

170 billion dollars more are about to be thrown away into wars that the United States military is losing in Iraq and Afghanistan. That's the amount that's being requested by the Bush White House for the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, to be spent in 2007 alone. Remember when 87 billion dollars seemed like a scandalous amount? Every year, the costs of the wars in Afghanistan and iraq get bigger. Every year, America's loss in both countries gets deeper. The Taliban in Afghanistan gets stronger the longer Americans stay there. The insurgents in Iraq get more violent the longer we stay there. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have failed. There will be no democratic, free and stable Iraq. Osama Bin Laden will not be captured. Opium production won't be stopped. The Taliban will not be defeated. I'm not saying this because I want it to be true. I'm saying it because it is true. It is stubborn foolishness to spend 170 billion dollars on the continuation of two failed wars. War has been an ineffective tool that has increased our insecurity and made the United States one of the most reviled nations on the planet. It is time for a new approach. No more staying the course. It is time to say no to these two failed wars. It is time for Congress to respond to President Bush's request for 170 billion dollars with a note that his credit is no longer any good. The only war budget President Bush should submit for 2007 is a request for the money necessary to bring our soldiers and their equipment back home.

Ram Bomjon, also called Palden Dorje by his supporters, is a teenage boy from the village of Ratanpuri, Nepal. Now 17 years old, but starting in 2005 at the age of 15, Bomjon claimed to have sat in one place under a pipal tree for ten months straight, without eating or drinking, and without moving at all even to go to the bathroom. This supposed accomplishment has earned Ram Bomjon the popular title Buddha Boy, with Bomjon's supporters saying that he was a new incarnation of the Buddha himself.

Suspicions arose that the supposed marathon meditation was a fraud when Ram Bomjon's supporters covered up the site of the meditation and would not allow anyone to see him during the night. A set of physicians sent to inspect the boy's claims were unable to do so when they were allowed to examine him only from a distance of 15 meters. Ram Bomjon's supporters said that any closer observation would interfere with the meditation, although the original Buddha was able to maintain his meditation even with thunderbolts, elephants, and angry armies hurled against him.

Just when scrutiny of all the donations, and of investigations of the veracity of Bomjon's meditation were becoming impossible to avoid, Ram Bomjon suddenly ran off into the forest. He appeared once more before a small group of his central group of supporters, who oddly just happened to have a video camera with them to film the appearance. Bomjon declared that he would go away deep into the forest to meditate for many years more, and then would make a new appearance.

Well, only a matter of months have gone by, but Ram Bomjon has been spotted again, with a change of plans. Ram Bomjon was found by villagers searching for him on the night of December 24, and then appeared more formally before villagers on the morning of December 25. Ram Bomjon was carrying a sword that he said was for his protection, although Buddha needed no such protection during the period of meditation that led to his own enlightenment.

Bomjon declared that he would set up a permanent spot of meditation near a pond five kilometers outside of the village where his original meditation took place. For the sake of not being disturbed by noise, however, Bomjon asked that no visitors be allowed to come within more than ten meters of him. Once again, there will be no opportunity to scrutinize the details of Ram Bomjon's claims. Those claims have changed, however. Now, Ram Bomjon acknowledges that he has taken medicinal herbs for nourishment.

Where will the donations to the new site of pilgrimage go? Ram Bomjon says he doesn't want the money to be used for business purposes or otherwise abused, but who will check on it? Who will audit the books? Who will stand to profit? We cannot know that now. We will, however, keep a close eye out for further reports.