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The Daily Dose/November 27, 2007
By Gaylon Kent
The Writer's Shack
   
Notes from around the human experience, special Freedom Lovers Edition, with a special emphasis on religious tolerance, as we visit with the Dali Lama, our new bestest friend Pervez Musharraf and On This Date reflects on the start of The Crusades and relives an assassination in San Francisco. And, hot of the heels of the first ever Rachel Ray Weekend, The Column Four Foto presents another lovely brunette, Jaclyn Smith.
ITEM: The Dali Lama, the spiritual head of Tibetan Buddhism, raised the possibility Tuesday that he might well be the last Dali Lama. At a gathering of religious leaders from various faiths in Amritsar, India, the Dali Lama said the Tibetan people will hold a referendum before he dies on whether changes to who leads Tibet's Buddhists and this person is selected should be implemented.
This Is Not A Bulletin: The Dali Lama first said this way back in 1969, and has been reiterating it off and on since. Changes could range from allowing the current Dali Lama to name his successor while he is still alive, to completely doing away with Dali Lama position.
This is actually a pretty smart move. The Chinese, who have occupied Tibet since 1951, have taken steps to insure the current Dali Lama is the last one anyway, or at least the last one selected by Tibetans.
We Are Not Making This Up: Recall that the Chinese this past summer passed a law actually making it illegal for monks to reincarnate without government approval. Again, we are not making this up; a temporal government has actually claimed jurisdiction over spirtual reincarnation.
A Helping, Heavy Hand: According to the law, the government eases the burden on Tibetan Buddhists by 1) declaring whether or not a reincarnated teacher/Lama may be reincarnated again; 2) handling the recruiting and search for the reincarnation; 3) recognizing the reincarnation and handling the paperwork required for government approval; and 4) seating the reincarnation in a monastery and providing all religious training.
Well, This Is Great: A communist government providing reincarnation guidance and religious training. This is almost as stupid as computers picking the participants in a college football championship game, and almost as important.
The Big Picture: There is actually historical precedent for a Dali Lama being selected by someone other than Tibetan Buddhist. The fourth Dali Lama was Mongolian, appointed by Mongol leaders who didn't really have the jurisdiction, but, like the Chinese, they were interested in asserting power over Tibet and only after much debate did Tibetan's recognize his authority. This didn't stop a civil war from being fought, though, and the fourth Dali Lama may well have been assassinated.
Final Thought: The Dali Lama was unable to give a date for either his death or the referendum, though he did say that serious preparations should begin when his physical condition becomes weak.
ONE DOWN, TWO TO GO: Pakistani dictator Pervez Musharraf is scheduled to step down as head of the Pakistani army Wednesday. While some are hailing this move, it should be noted Musharraf has yet to renounce the emergency rule he declared earlier this month or reinstate judges he had purged from the judicial system because he didn't like them.
Bottom Line: All this really means is Musharraf is no longer a member of army. He is still dictator, so it is not completely unreasonable to presume he will still have some influence over the army and there are not a whole lot of reasons to take elections scheduled for January 8 too seriously - if they happen at all - especially if opposition candidates Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif decline to participate.
MORE GREAT MOMENTS IN DEMOCRACY: Russians are starting to complain about pressure from employers about how to vote in Sunday's parliamentary elections. Pressure ranges from being told when, where and how to vote, to providing lists of how family members will vote.
This Will Surprise You: The pressure is coming from the ruling party! We are not making that up. United Russia, led by President Vladimir Putin, is hell bent on making this election a mandate, especially since Putin is scheduled to leave office in May and if he can claim 100 percent of the vote, like Leonid Brezhnev used to, he may well decide he does not want to leave office.
On The Mailing List: Putin must subscribe to a Musharraf newsletter or something, because the Kremlin has started cracking down on pesky opposition party protests and even detaining some opposition leaders and advocates. This has been met by official, searing US and European 'concern', which has led Putin to decree everyone "stop poking their snotty noses" in Russian affairs.
ON THIS DATE: In 1095, speaking to a large group of French nobles and clergy at the Council of Clermont, Pope Urban II - himself a member of the French nobility and clergy - calls for a Christian war to recapture the Holy Land from the Muslims. The effects of this speech were wide, launching a series of nine Crusades that lasted until 1272. Besides the usual effects wars have, the Crusades served to bring Western Europe into close contact with various Middle Eastern civilizations, who, frankly, were more advanced then they were, which paved the way for the Renaissance
Go In Peace, Serve The Lord: Urban promised potential crusaders their participation would assure remission of all sins and take the place of all penances and maybe even provide clean drinking water and immunity from the plague.
I Do Solemnly Swear: On this date in 1973 the US Senate voted 92-3 to confirm Gerald Ford as Vice-President. Ford would later be confirmed by the House and take office on December 6.
Shameless Plug: Stay tuned to the Writer's Shack later this week for Capsule Book Review of Write It When I'm Gone: Remarkable Off The Record Conversations With Gerald R. Ford by Thomas DeFrank.
In 1978: Former San Francisco County supervisor Dan White shoots and kills San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk at San Francisco City Hall. White was annoyed at Moscone for not appointing him to the supervisors seat he had earlier resigned, and was angry with Milk for supporting Moscone.
After the shootings White conveniently turned himself in at a police station he used to work at. He was charged with first degree murder, but he pleaded insanity and, since California juries can be convinced of anything, White was merely convicted of manslaughter. He was paroled in 1984 and killed himself in October of 1985.
The Show Must Go On: Despite the assassinations, the San Francisco 49ers game that night against the Pittsburgh Steelers went on as scheduled. Pittsburgh won 24-7.
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